It’s Read Free Sunday! Enjoy today’s entry with Sparrow’s compliments.
Meet Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Saturday, November 21 The Christmas tree’s up in the hotel lobby, a bit earlier – I think, I don’t really know – than usual, but they join a couple of neighbors that already have their holiday lights up and ol’ Sparrow still thinks this is too early, but nobody consulted me on the matter…The tree, as we’ve noted here before, is really nice…I’ve heard a rumor it’s professionally done, tho as nite auditor I’m hardly on the distribution list for stuff like this so nobody tells me anything.Continue reading →
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Regular readers of this crap know this is almost identical to last week’s figure, but there’s an asterisk next to this one because I didn’t reset the odometer, so the mileage entered figure, while in the ballpark, is not exact, to the MPG is not exact, either…I reset the odometer at the pump, so we will have an accurate figure next time.
I filled up at the convenience store in our small town and the big news, tho, is I used the store’s app to pay for the fillup…I downloaded it last week after deciding I spend enuff money there to warrant some freebies…It’s not much, but a free breakfast sandwich or a 10-cent gas discount is better than a kick in the face, as Pa Sparrow used to say…I got to the pump, opened the app and it recognized I was at a store and asked what pump I was at and I entered Pump 8, my home pump, and after a couple of seconds the pump beeped and BOOM, I was set because my credit card number had been already been entered in the app.
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On This Date The long march to today.
In 1783 – Man flies freely for the first time, when two Frenchmen, Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d’Arlandes fly a balloon above Paris. The pair flew for 25 minutes, attaining a height History generally recognizes as 3,3000 feet and flying about five miles to the southwest, then the outskirts of Paris. Earlier, French King Louis XVI had decided the first untethered flight would carry condemned criminals but was later talked out of it.
In 1942 – The NHL announces it will eliminate overtime from regular-season games because of restrictions due to World War II and conflicts with train schedules. Despite the war ending in 1945, the NHL would not reinstate overtime until the 1983-84 season, when a five-minute sudden-death period was introduced. Before the 1942 stoppage, NHL overtime consisted of one full 10-minute period.
In 1992 – How Do You Talk to an Angel by the Heights is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the second and final consecutive week. It was the theme song from the TV show The Heights, which would be canceled the following week. It was the only chart single for the group – mainly studio musicians – making the Heights one of 14 ultimate one-hit wonders, an act whose only Hot 100 appearance went to #1.
Some Philosophy Crap The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
I must stop this brooding or I shall become as mad as those emperors who feared the long night of death more than they loved the brief living day. Gore Vidal Julian
Answer To The Last Trivia Question It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The 5th Dimension had two #1 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100, both in 1969: Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In and Wedding Bell Blues.
Today’s Stumper Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What is the current hot air balloon altitude record? – Answer next time!
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The Daily Dose/November 20, 2020 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off Notes from around our human experience.
YEAH, THIS IS EXCITING GAYLON, THANKS: It’s rare when the researcher has to correct a source, but that happened this week when we were obliged to correct one of the sources that provides Billboard chart information for us.
Dry, Technical Matter: What happened was this: we were listening to an old American Top 40 countdown from 1978, and as any Casey Kasem fan knows, the Billboard Hot 100 is the source for the countdown. We picked the countdown up at #25 or so and, as is our wont, we checked the source to see if any fave songs are coming up and, as luck would have it, one was and the source listed this song as the #21 song that week.
Fly In The Ointment: The only problem was Casey played another song #21 and my favorite song actually came in at #19. I verified the songs for the week at the official Billboard site and the source had, in fact, made a mistake.
Deep Lutheran Feels: We had 13 years of Lutheran schooling here and we still don’t like pointing out the fault in others, but we felt strongly this needed to be brought up, so we apologized profusely when writing the guy who runs the site. We were firm, though, noting the site was, in fact, in error. Our overall graciousness worked – as it usually does – because he wrote back he was “grateful” for our “astute observation”.
The Bottom Line: Finding errors in source materials is troubling, too, because immediately you wonder how many other mistakes there might be. But we’re human and these things happen sometimes, and you tend to let them go. Besides, it’s a hell of a service. It’s not a free service, but the cost is so low and the service is so convenient we’d probably pay three times as much for it, but don’t tell the owner this.
Cleaning the cabin went OK, tho it will hardly be the Upset of the Year to learn ol’ Sparrow didn’t completely lose his mind and spend all day it…I got the dishes washed and the laundry going (three loads, including the tablecloth and the bathroom mats) and the floor swept and I went to do the vacuuming, but recall yours truly disassembled the vacuum cleaner to dump the canister out and clean the filter and couldn’t be bothered to reassemble it and while willing to reassemble it today yours truly was unable to…You wouldn’t think it would be that hard, and while I was able to get the filter to fit into the canister, for the life of me the damn top wouldn’t screw back into the canister and after a while I threw up my hands and stopped, so I could fail again some other time.
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On This Date The long march to today.
In 1820 – The whaling ship Essex, out of Massachusetts, is attacked and sunk by a sperm whale 2,000 miles off the west coast of South America. The 21 members – some accounts say 20 – of the crew put to sea in three whaleboats with inadequate provisions. Dead crewmembers were used for food and when they ran out lots were drawn to see who would be eaten next. Eight crew members survived, some rescued at sea, some on an island, three months later and were later reunited. The last Essex survivor, a cabin boy 14 at the time, died in 1887.
In 1977 – Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears establishes a new NFL record for most rushing yards in a game in a 10-7 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Payton rushed 40 times for 275 yards to break the record of 273 yards established by O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills the year before. Payton’s mark was broken in 2000 when Corey Dillon of Cincinnati rushed for 278 yards in a game and the record is now 296 yards, done by Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings in 2007 with Payton’s mark now good for fifth on the all-time list.
In 1976 – Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr are at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot Soul Singles chart – for the only week with You Don’t Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show). In January, the song would spend a week at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and remains their only #1 appearance on either chart and the song later earned the duo the Grammy Award for Best R&BVocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Previously McCoo and Davis had been members of the group the 5th Dimension.
Some Philosophy Crap The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
…live justly, and look for happiness at your elbow. Will Durant The Story of Civilization, Vol. I: Our Oriental Heritage
Answer To The Last Trivia Question It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The first song to go to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 by different artists was Go Away Little Girl, which went to #1 in 1963 by Steve Lawrence and in 1971 by Donny Osmond.
Today’s Stumper Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
How many #1 songs did the 5th Dimension have on the Hot 100? – Answer next time!
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You don’t see many homeless wandering around fancy-pants health clubs – or any health clubs, really – but maybe he’s got some income and chooses to spend some of it on a membership…Or maybe he’s not homeless, maybe he chooses to carry a large bag of possessions with him and look scruffy.
Anyway, he left his boots and his large bag by a door, but he brought his warm shirt – which smelled – and, get this, a gallon jug of milk to the heart spring, resting it all on a ledge…I am not making that up: he brought a jug of milk to the spa…I’d never seen that before and you probably haven’t, either…He’d take a swig from time to time, too…I’ve never seen the need for poolside milk service, but it takes all kinds.
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On This Date The long march to today.
In 1943 – The Nazis kill everyone at the Janowska concentration camp, located in what is now the western Ukraine. The mass extermination came after Jewish prisoners had revolted against the Nazis and tried to escape, with an estimated 6,000 Jews killed that day and it is estimated between 35,000 and 41,000 people were killed at Janowska during the two years it was operational. The site today has some housing, an industrial area and a penal colony.
In 1983 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scores 20 points and joins Wilt Chamberlain as the only other NBA player to surpass 30,000 points in a career in a 117-110 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. On April 5, 1984, Abdul-Jabbar would break Chamberlain’s all-time NBA career scoring mark with his 31,420th point and would retire in 1989 with 38,387 points, still the all-time NBA record.
In 1966 – The Supremes are at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of two consecutive weeks with you Keep Me Hangin’ On. The song also peaked at #8 in Great Britain and later spent four weeks at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart and was the eighth of twelve #1 songs for the group on the pop chart and their fifth of eight #1 soul songs. A version by Vanilla Fudge peaked at #6 on the Hot 100 the following year and a version by Kim Wilde went to #1 in 1987, making the song the sixth of nine songs that have gone to #1 by separate artists on the Hot 100.
Some Philosophy Crap The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
For a while they stood there, like men on the edge of a sleep where nightmare lurks, holding it off, though they know that they can only come to morning through shadows. J.R.R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings
Answer To The Last Trivia Question It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The NHL records for most consecutive shutouts by a goaltender and a team is six, done by Alec Connell of the Ottawa Senators, from January 31, 1928 through February 18, 1928.
Today’s Stumper Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What was the first song to go #1 on the Hot 100 by separate acts? – Answer next time!
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Strong weight in the gym tonight…I slept a tad longer than ideal for Tuesday (see Sleep Log below) so I made the command decision to truncate morning routine so I could get in the gym by 1930…I moved the upped bench press weight eight times again on the final set, and the upped leg extension weight was moved ten times and everything else was strong, too.
The Bottom Ten/NFL Week 12: Hut, hut, hike, the race for The Dan Henning Trophy – symbolic of NFL Bottom Ten supremacy – rolls on. The Bottom Ten is free this season. Enjoy.
6. Philadelphia Eagles (3-5-1; lost to New York Giants 27-17) – Eagles easily avenge earlier win against Giants, showing mastery of fundamentals with eleven (11) penalties…B-10 pollsters “pretty sure” Eagles first team in danger of earning NFL playoff spot, B-10 medal stand finish in “like, dude, quite a while and stuff”…Next Loss: at Cleveland
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On This Date The long march to today.
In 1095 – The Council of Clermont begins in Clermont, France, then part of the Duchy of Aquitaine. It was a meeting of clergy and laymen of the Catholic Church called by Pope Urban II, whose call to reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslims resulted in what History refers to as The Crusades. The first crusade resulted in the capture of Jerusalem four years later, generally regarded by the victors as the work of God and spurred further crusades, the final one ending in 1271.
In 1930 – Lorne Chabot becomes the first NHL goaltender to start a season with three consecutive shutouts in a 3-0 win over the Montreal Maroons. Previously, Chabot had shutout the New York Americans in a 0-0 tie on Nov 13 and then shutout the Philadelphia Quakers 4-0 on Nov 15 and the feat has not been duplicated. Toronto got shutouts in their next two games from goalie Benny Grant, setting a team record of five consecutive shutouts that still stands.
In 1978 – Chaka Khan is at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot Soul Singles chart – for the second of three consecutive weeks with I’m Every Woman. The song also peaked at #21 on the Hot 100 and #11 in Great Britain. It was the first solo chart single for Khan after several years with the band Rufus and her first of six #1 songs on the soul chart. In 1993 a version by Whitney Houston went to #5 on the soul chart and #4 on the Hot 100 and the song was written by Ashford and Simpson. Chaka Khan’s real name is Yvette Marie Stevens.
Some Philosophy Crap The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
In this troublesome world, we are never quite satisfied. Abraham Lincoln
Answer To The Last Trivia Question It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The following cities have served as meeting places of the Continental Congress, Congress of the Confederation and/or the United States Congress over the centuries, some more than once: Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, York, Pennsylvania, Princeton, New Jersey, Annapolis, Maryland, Trenton, New Jersey, New York City, Washington, D.C.
Today’s Stumper Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
Which goaltender holds the NHL record for most consecutive shutouts? – Answer next time!
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