It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Saturday. March 13 There was a group of hockey parents in the lobby when I reported for duty…They’d been there for a while, too, because they’d already reached the Drunk Philosophy stage of group drinking when I got there…There were beer cans and tequila bottles on the table and none appeared particularly full and as I walked past they started praising Assistant Front Desk Manager Q as if he were part of the Christian triumvirate…Good gravy, it turned out they’d even favored Q with a shot of their tequila, which Q hadn’t downed and even invited me to sniff, something I declined without thanks.
The Daily Dose/March 13, 2021 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off Notes from around the human experience.
USA! USA! The latest COVID relief bill is on the books and by any measure, it’s a monstrous piece of legislation. It received nary a Republican vote.
Pardon Us While We Waffle A Bit: It’s both good and bad.
Leading Off: On the one hand, the government had to do something. America’s response to the coronavirus – both by her government and her citizens – was as fractured as it was insufficient and the economic hardship is too widespread to do nothing. It would be like a mother doing nothing while her kid lies there with a broken leg.
And In This Corner: On the other hand, there are a lot of provisions for widening what is now commonly known as the social safety net. This is dangerous. Deep down, any real Democrat wants to provide cradle-to-grave coverage for every citizen and this is no small step in the direction. It’s akin to a mother taking her kid with the broken leg to the hospital and continuing to baby it long after the leg has healed. Eventually, the kid should be set out on its own again.
Get Your Official Daily Dose Policy Right Here: The best social safety net is an economy anchored in low taxes and free markets, an economy where entrepreneurs can make a satisfactory return on their time and efforts and where workers have the ability to make the living their talents and efforts allow them to make.
The Bottom Line: The Democrats first declared war on poverty in the 1960s and people are still poor because you are always going to have people who are unwilling or unable to take care of themselves. It’s the way the world is built. The latest COVID relief bill contains some necessary aid but boy, we must be careful. Making even more people dependent on the government is not what this country is about.
Today At The Site Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody– Sparrow’s back at The Shire, but can’t be bothered to clean house. Today’s Diary.
The cabin is still in need of a Level II cleaning and if ol’ Sparrow doesn’t perform a Level II cleaning anytime soon it might soon require professional help…
———
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 1988 – The Seikan Tunnel, the largest undersea tunnel in the world, opens in northern Japan. The tunnel connects the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido and the train track is about 330 feet below the seabed. At 33.4 miles long, the tunnel is two miles longer than the Channel Tunnel, though its actual undersea segment of 14.5 miles is less than that of the Channel Tunnel’s 23.5-mile undersea segment. Construction had begun in 1971.
In 1960 – The Chicago Cardinals are granted permission by the NFL to move to St Louis. The Cardinals are the oldest professional football team in the US, tracking their roots back to the Racine Cardinals of 1919 and they joined what would become the NFL the following years. They moved to Phoenix in 1988 and today are the Arizona Cardinals. On Nov 25, 1923, the Cardinals became the only team in NFL history to score four points in a game, a 10-4 loss to the Racine Legion.
In 1971 – The Osmonds are at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the fifth and final week with One Bad Apple. It was the second of ten Top 40 hits for the group, their first of four Top 10 hits and remains their only #1 song. The song also peaked at #1 in Canada, at #6 on Billboard’s soul chart and was Billboard’s 4th-biggest song of the year. From 1982-86 the Osmonds placed seven songs on Billboard’s country chart.
Some Philosophy Crap The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
If in the future we find ourselves with a lot of fourth-rate citizens, we have only ourselves to blame. Louis L’Amour Education of a Wandering Man
Answer To The Last Trivia Question Knowledge is power.
Johnny Ace made seven appearances on Billboard’s soul charts and one appearance on Billboard’s pop charts.
Today’s Stumper Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
How many members of the Osmond family hit the Billboard charts individually? – Answer next time!
The Daily Dose/March 12, 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, still at VSO training, makes a rare fashion statement. Today’s Diary.
The really big news is that I wore my new corduroy blazer all day…It’s brown and today was its debut and boy, it was love at first wearing…I bought this puppy last summer, an adorable time when regular readers of this crap will recall that ol’ Sparrow was completely losing his mind and buying clothes for The Crossing – the trans-Atlantic cruise he was going to take next month that the Virus Era ultimately canceled.
Well, there really isn’t much call for a blazer up here, for anyone, much less ol’ Sparrow, but today was a great time to wear it…The weather was made for it and it fit right in at VSO training, it made me look smart and stuff while browsing used book stores and it was utterly and completely at home at the restaurant.
———
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 2009 – Bernie Madoff, the architect of one of largest Ponzi schemes in history, pleads guilty to eleven felony charges in federal court in Manhattan. Madoff, arrested the previous November, had defrauded clients out of an estimated $65 billion and is currently serving a 150-year sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina. A Ponzi scheme is when someone uses funds from new investors to pay off old investors.
In 1966 – Bobby Hull of the Chicago Blackhawks establishes a new NHL record for most goals in a season in a 4-2 win over the New York Rangers. Hull’s third-period goal was his 51st of the season, breaking the record of 50 established by Maurice Richard (1944-45) and Bernie Geoffrion (1960-61), both of the Montreal Canadiens. Hull would finish the season with 54 goals, a mark that stood until he scored 58 goals in 1968-69 and the record is now 92, done by Wayne Gretzky in 1981-82.
In 1955 – Johnny Ace is at #1 on Billboard’s R&B Best Sellers in Stores chart – a predecessor of today’s soul chart – for the fourth of ten consecutive weeks with Pledging My Love. The song also peaked at #17 on Billboard’s pop Best Sellers in Stores chart and our usual sources for chart information were not available at press time. Ace was born John Marshall Alexander in 1925 and had died in December of an accidental, self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Some Philosophy Crap The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
Fortune had betrayed him for the moment, and the world had turned against him. Victory was slipping from his grasp even as he stretched out his hand to seize it. But his arm was long. J.R.R. Tolkien The Lord of the Rings
Answer To The Last Trivia Question Knowledge is power.
The NBA record for most steals in a game by a player us 11, done twice: by Larry Kenon (San Antonio Spurs, 12/26/76) and Kendall Gill (New Jersey Nets, 4/3/99).
Today’s Stumper Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
How many appearances did Johnny Ace have on Billboard pop and soul charts? – Answer next time!
After leaving the hotel, I stopped by The Shire, showered and fed the cat and I don’t know about other cat owners, but I always tell the cat goodbye when I’m leaving. I don’t know if after nine-plus years she equates “I’ll be back” with my ultimate return, but yours truly likes to think she does and cats are great about not shattering your delusions.
Share Gaylon! Go!
Posted in2021|Comments Off on The Daily Dose/Thursday, March 11, 2021
The Daily Dose/March 10, 2021 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Friends, your Heavyweight Champion of the World, The Daily Dose, is taking a couple of days off. Of course, there is a Diary entry.
Today At The Site Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody– Sparrow is pricing rooms to move at the hotel. Today’s Diary.
Well, regular readers of this crap know that while this is not a complete load of crap, it is neither completely true nor completely false, either…Rates – especially at this hour – are what ol’ Sparrow says they are…So, on the one hand, $189, plus tax, for one night is less than $129, plus tax, for two nights…On the other hand, the $129, plus tax, didn’t come from Mount Sinai, I more or less pulled it out of my ass so, sure, there’s a savings, but please don’t ask me to quantify it.
Share Gaylon! Go!
Posted in2021|Comments Off on The Daily Dose/Wednesday, March 10, 2021
The Daily Dose/March 9, 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 gets the rare 4 am delivery at the hotel. Today’s Diary.
I was about halfway thru my assigned task when – of all things, and with Movie of the Week timing – the Deluxe Dairy delivery guy comes in!!!…I am not making that up…He’s a pretty low-key guy, so trumpets didn’t herald his arrival, but the frozen pizza delivery guy showing up right when your stocking ice cream because you’re out of frozen pizzas is pretty good timing.
He said he had two days worth of deliveries to make today and he’s getting an (awfully) early start and not only does he have two boxes of pizzas for us, but a box of ice cream as well.
———
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 1842 – Six years before the California Gold Rush, gold is discovered in California, by Francisco Lopez, at Ranch San Francisco, a bit north of Los Angeles. The discovery – the first documented in California – produced a relatively minor gold rush, with an estimated 2,000 people converging on the area, and word of the discovery does not appear to have left Mexican territory.
In 1985 – Fat Lever of the Denver Nuggets establishes a new NBA record for most steals in a quarter in a 126-116 win over the Indiana Pacers. Lever had eight steals in the third quarter, breaking the record of seven established by Quinn Buckner of the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov 27, 1976, and Lever’s record still stands. Lever’s mark also tied the record for most steals in a half, done six times previously and a mark that was broken this past Thursday by T.J. McConnell of the Pacers, who had nine in the first half in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In 1959- Frankie Avalon is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of five consecutive weeks with Venus. The song also went to #1 in Belgium, peaked at #16 in Great Britain, at #10 on Billboard’s soul chart and was Billboard’s fourth biggest song of the year. It was the fourth of 13 Top 40 hits for Avalon, his third of seven Top 10 hits and his first of two #1s (Why, one week, 1959). Avalon’s given name was Francis Thomas Avallone.
Some Philosophy Crap The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
Epictetus (50 AD – 135 AD) Greek philosopher
Answer To The Last Trivia Question Knowledge is power.
The record for most weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Best Sellers in Stores chart is 13, done three times: Frenesi! (Artie Shaw, 1940-41), I’ve Heard That Song Before (Harry James, 1943) and Goodnight Irene (Gordon Jenkins and The Weavers, 1950). The chart ran from 1940-58.
Today’s Stumper Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
Who holds the NBA record for most steals in a game? – Answer next time!
