The Daily Dose/Friday, July 30, 2021
The Daily Dose/July 30, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
Friends, Leading Off will run intermittently for the near future.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow gets a new sprinkler. Today’s Diary.
It was put into immediate use at The Shire, on the front lawn facing Main Street…There are controls for both length and width that are easy to use and, get this, an on/off valve so you can make adjustments “in the field” without getting soaked…The only fly in the ointment is the new sprinkler moves at a slower rate than the old one did and I’m not bright enuff to figure out if this means I need to water for a shorter or longer period to time to get the same coverage.
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It’s easy reading on any device.
Columns, books, shopping lists, click here to get in on the laughs.
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On This Date
The long march to today.
In 762 – The city of Baghdad is founded, its construction commissioned by a caliph named Al-Mansur on the Tigris River in the heart of what was then Mesopotamia. Baghdad initially was round and walled and today has a population of 8.1 million and is the second-largest city in the Arab world behind Cairo and is the fourth-largest in the Middle East. Residents of Baghdad are known as Baghdadis.
In 1908 – A team lead by driver George Shuster of the US wins the first around the world automobile race in Paris. The race – held in an era where roads were primative or non-existent – started with six teams and went through San Francisco, Alaska, Japan and then Asia and Europe. The Americans were actually the second team to make Paris, but the Germans were penalized 30 days for not following the prescribed route. It remains the longest motorsport race ever.
In 1977 – Fleetwood Mac is at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart for the twelfth of 31 non-consecutive weeks with Rumours. The album produced four chart singles, including the #1 hit Dreams, was Billboard’s biggest album of 1977 and its third-biggest of 1978. The album has made Billboard’s year-end charts several times since including a #53 ranking last year and its worldwide sales are estimated at 40 million copies.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
Each people is, I believe, inclined to believe it is the purpose of history, that all that has happened is leading to now, to this world, to this country. Few see ourselves as fleeting phantoms on a much wider screen, or that our great cities may someday be dug from the ruins…
Louis L’Amour
The Education of a Wandering Man
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
The Doors had one #1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, Waiting for the Sun, which spent four non-consecutive weeks at #1 in 1968.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
When did Baghdad become the capital of Iraq? – Answer next time!
Go Gaylon! Visit Gaylon on Facebook here.
The Daily Dose/Thursday, July 29, 2021
The Daily Dose/July 29, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
Friends, Leading Off will run intermittently for the near future while we work on another of our reader-depleting projects.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow has the latest from the back office at the hotel. Today’s Diary.
In shredder news…
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Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device.
Columns, books, shopping lists, click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.
———
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 2019 – A prison riot between rival drug gangs in northern Brazil kills 62 people. The riot began about 7 am when one gang set fire to the cell block of another gang and 46 of the deaths were due to suffocation or smoke inhalation, while the remaining 16 were beheaded. Though two guards were initially taken hostage, they were released and all deaths were of inmates.
In 1965 – The Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates establish a new major league record for most strikeouts in a game in a 5-0 Philadelphia victory. The teams combined for 26 strikeouts, 16 by the Phillies and 10 by the Pirates, with research into whose record they broke proving inconclusive. The record is now 35, done by the Washington Nationals and New York Mets in 2015.
In 1967 – The Doors are at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first of three consecutive weeks with Light My Fire. It was the first chart single for the group and first of eight Top 40 hits, three Top 10 hits and two #1 songs. The song also peaked at #7 in Great Britain and in 1991 went to #1 in Ireland. A version by Jose Feliciano peaked at #3 the following year, with the Doors’ version recharting, too, peaking at #87.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
The first lesson of philosophy is we cannot be wise about everything. We are fragments in infinity and moments in eternity; for such forked atoms to describe the universe, or the Supreme Being, must make the planets tremble with mirth.
Will Durant
The Story of Civilization, Vol. III: Caesar to Christ
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
Panama (1), Malta (0) and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe (3) have combined to win four Summer Olympic gold medals.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
How many #1 albums did the Doors have in the US? – Answer next time!
Go Gaylon! Visit Gaylon on Facebook here.
The Daily Dose/Wednesday, July 28, 2021
The Daily Dose/July 28, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
Friends, Leading Off will run intermittently for the near future.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow’s seminal research into coffee creamer usage at the hotel continues. Today’s Diary.
French vanilla is starting to put some distance between itself and half & half and hazelnut as the most used creamer testing wrapped up its third day…The French vanilla box is already at the halfway mark, while half & half and hazelnut are tied for second, each not even a quarter done, yet.
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Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device.
Columns, books, shopping lists, click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.
———
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1996 – The remains of what is known as the Kennewick Man are found on the banks of the Columbia River in southern Washington. DNA testing showed the remains to be between 8,900 and 9,000 years old and related to Native Americans in the area, and the remains were subject to a nine-year court battle between Native American tribes and scientists who wanted to study the remains, a case ultimately decided in favor of the scientists.
In 1928 – The Amsterdam Summer Olympics open in Denmark, featuring 46 nations, including first-time participants Panama, Malta and Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. They were the first Games to be condensed into a fixed, 16-day schedule as previous Olympiads had been spread over several months and they were the first Games where the Olympic flame burned for the entire Games. The US won the most gold (22) and overall (56) medals.
In 2018 – Lauren Daigle is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Singles chart for the first of a Billboard all-chart record 130 non-consecutive weeks with You Say. It’s the third of five #1 Christian songs for Daigle and the song also peaked at #29 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 2018. The song has moved in out of the #1 spot eight times and is still on the chart, three years after its release, at #2 behind her song Hold On To Me. The song was Billboard’s second-biggest Christian song of the 2010s.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
How not to be forgotten? How to retain the floor for life? That was the question ambition asked but did not answer.
Gore Vidal
Washington, D.C.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
Two countries that no longer exist have won the Davis Cup: Czechoslovakia (1980) and West Germany (1988-89).
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
How many gold medals have Panama, Malta and Rhodesia/Zimbabwe won in the Summer Olympics? – Answer next time!
Go Gaylon! Visit Gaylon on Facebook here.
The Daily Dose/Tuesday, July 27, 2021
The Daily Dose/July 27, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
Friends, Leading Off will be running intermittently for a while.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Someone is farting around with how Sparrow stocks Push-Ups at the hotel’s sundry stand. Today’s Diary.
Now, someone is changing the way yours truly stocks Push-Ups in the sundry stand freezer.
I am not making that up…Lately, they’ve been sharing space on the bottom shelf, in the middle of the original Klondike bars and those frozen Reese’s ice cream sandwiches and they’ve been laid out so the ice cream (or whatever the heck a Push-Up is, I’ve long forgotten) is facing the front on the fairly logical assumption someone might actually want to see what is for sale.
Someone – typically, there are no suspects – turned them around, so the stick is at the front…This makes some zero sense…Your goal in displaying items you have for sale is to make them appealing to the eye at first glance, and what can possibly be appealing about a stick???…I don’t understand this at all and, of course, I switched them back this morning.
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Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device.
Columns, books, shopping lists, click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.
———
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1996 – A pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park at the Atlanta Summer Games, killing two and injuring 111 others. There had been a 911 call 18 minutes before and the bomb was discovered by a security officer beneath a bench and the bomb exploded during the evacuation. Eric Rudolph would not be arrested until five years later after being linked to other bombings. Rudolph pleaded guilty, received consecutive life terms and today is housed at the federal Supermax prison in Colorado.
In 1937 – The United States defeats Great Britain in the Davis Cup final 4 matches to 1 at Centre Court at the All England Club at Wimbledon. The US team consisted of Don Budge, Bryan Grant, and Gene Mako, and it was eleventh of 32 Davis Cup titles for the Americans. Earlier, the US had defeated Nazi Germany in the Inter-Zonal Final, while Britain, as defending champion, was automatically entered in the final round. This would be Great Britain’s last appearance in a Davis Cup final until 1978.
In 1940 – Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra with Frank Sinatra and the Pied Pipers are at #1 on the Billboard’s National Best Selling Retail Records chart with I’ll Never Smile Again, the first #1 song on the first Billboard chart. The song spent twelve weeks at the top, a record that would be tied twice and not broken until 1950. Billboard introduced its soul chart in 1942, the country chart in 1944 and the Hot 100 in 1958. Billboard magazine was first published in Cincinnati in 1894, dedicated to billboard advertising.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
To defeat them, almost anything was fair game. To lull your opponents into underestimating you was the art of a winning gamble.
Evan Thomas
Ike’s Bluff
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
The first postage stamps in the US were issued in 1847, five and ten cent stamps featuring Benjamin Franklin and George Washington.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
How many countries that no longer exist have won the Davis Cup? – Answer next time!
Go Gaylon! Visit Gaylon on Facebook here.
The Daily Dose/Monday, July 26, 2021
The Daily Dose/July 25, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
Leading Off will return.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow is going to conduct the seminal research into creamer usage. Today’s Diary.
It hit me this morning as morning coffee service was being prepared that changing out all three creamer boxes last night is an excellent – nay, unprecedented – opportunity to see which creamer is used the most…Now, frankly, I don’t think the results will be earth-shattering as past casual observation (PCO) has shown that half & half is the most used, followed by French vanilla and then hazelnut, but I’m certain we will all be glad to finally have confirmation of this.
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Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device.
Columns, books, shopping lists, click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.
———
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1775 – The United States Post Office is formed by the Second Continental Congress with Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia appointed the first postmaster. Today there are over 34,000 post offices in the United States with the postal service delivering over 430 million pieces of mail every day. Street addresses began becoming mandatory with the advent of city delivery in 1863 and zip codes debuted in 1963. Franklin would serve as postmaster until leaving to serve as minister to France the following year.
In 1984 – Pete Rose of the Montreal Expos ties the major league record for most career singles in a 5-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rose’s seventh-inning single off Don Robinson was the 3,052 of his career, tying the mark established by Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Athletics. Rose would break the record the following day and would retire in 1986 with 3,215 singles, a record that still stands.
In 1969 – Johnny B. Goode by Buck Owens & His Buckaroos is at #1 on Billboard’s country chart – then known as the Hot Country Singles chart – for the first of two consecutive weeks. It was the 27th of 29 Top 10 country hits for Owens and his 17th of 18 #1 songs. The song was written and first charted by Chuck Berry and despite its popularity and significance, this remains the song’s only appearance at #1 on a Billboard chart.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
This is our diamond and must be treated like a diamond. Never settle. It’s never good enough until it is your best.
Michael Bennett
Creator
A Chorus Line
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
East Germany won the most swimming gold medals at the 1980 Moscow Summer Games with 12.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
When were the first postage stamps in the US issued? – Answer next time!
Go Gaylon! Visit Gaylon on Facebook here.