The Daily Dose/Sunday, November 1, 2020
The Daily Dose/November 1, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
The Sunday Bottom 5
The very best of the very worst of the week that was. More or less.
1. President Donald Trump – You would think a lying sexual predator who believes 1) the moon is part of Mars and that the Revolution was won when the Continental Army secured British airports would not be in danger of being reelected, but you’d be wrong.
2. Joe Biden – From the start we thought Biden was only running to prevent Trump’s reelection – a noble cause – and would not have minded staying retired…No matter…Democrats could have nominated a picture frame and we would have voted for it.
3. Lauren Daigle – Latest single You Say at 108th non-consecutive week at #1 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Singles chart, two weeks shy of tying Wendy Carlos’ all-time Billboard record of 110 weeks at #1 (Switched-On Back, 110 weeks, Classical Album chart)… Zach Williams and Dolly Parton still bravely holding down runner-up spot with There Was Jesus.
4. United States Congress – Show of hands member of Congress, how many think perpetual war and mindless spending are bad???…Good, everyone…Another show of hands: how many of you did anything about it???…All hands down…Thank you for playing…It’s time for a change.
5. President Trump Fact Check – The 5-hole staple, click here for the latest from the man who believes the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic helped end World War II…Hot off the presses from the Associated Press.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow goes to a room whose guest whined about her heater not working.
I get to 259 and knock and after more time than you’d think the door is answered, by a rather attractive woman about my age and ol’ Sparrow – just for funsies – is about to cue the cheesy porn music until a rugrat is spotted sleeping on the pull-out couch immediately inside the door…I strongly suspect the woman had, rather recently, been taking advantage of our state’s rather permissive weed laws because after opening the door she looked at me for a few seconds as if wondering why I was there…In fact, she may not have been entirely clear I was a hotel employee…I mean, technically, it’s Halloween so maybe she thought I was the stripper she ordered costumed up as a nite auditor.
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1512 – Michelangelo’s frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are displayed to the public for the first time. Michelangelo had been commissioned for the work in 1508 by Pope Julius II and – considering himself primarily a sculptor – had wanted to decline the work, also believing it was a plot by his enemies to discredit him. The paintings are a combined 131 feet long and 43 feet wide and a 10-year restoration project was completed in 1994.
In 2010 – The San Francisco Giants win their first World Series since moving from New York in 1958, defeating the Texas Rangers 3-1 in Game 5. The Giants scored all their runs in the seventh inning on a home run by Edgar Renteria and Tim Lincecum pitched eight innings and Brian Wilson earned the save. It was the sixth World Series title for the Giants since winning their first in 1905 and they would also win the World Series in 2012 and 2014.
In 1980 – Barbra Streisand is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second of three consecutive weeks with Woman in Love. It was ninth of ten Top `10 hits for Streisand and her fifth and final #1 song. The song also went to #1 in 19 other countries including Norway, Zimbabwe and Great Britain though due to when it charted it was Billboard’s 35th biggest hit of 1981. The song was written by Barry and Robin Gibb.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
I work harder than anyone who has ever lived. I am not well and worn out with this stupendous labor, and yet I am patient to achieve the desired end.
Michelangelo
Letter to brother, while painting Sistine Chapel
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The Rolling Stones have had nine #1 albums in the United States.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
How many #1 songs has Barbra Streisand had in Great Britain? – Answer next time!
There are two ways for you to get in on the laughs.
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The Diary of a Nobody/October 31
Of course, it is Read Free Sunday at The Diary of a Nobody. Enjoy.
Meet Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Saturday, October 31
About 0300 there was a call from 259 that I didn’t like at all: she reported her heater wasn’t working, bad on a night when it’s below freezing outside…Longtime readers of this crap know, however, that usually when you go in expecting a fiasco problems tend to fix themselves and that’s what happened here…I geared up tho, like the building was burning down, making keys for two vacant rooms in case worse came to worse and they had to be moved and I got the maintenance keys in case I had to go scrounging for a heater…Neither of these precautions was necessary.
The Daily Dose/Saturday, October 31, 2020
The Daily Dose/October 31, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
USA! USA!: The headline – considering the times – was not particularly unusual:
An Election Day role for National Guard? Maybe but limited.
Hardly surprising because it’s America in the third decade of the 21st-century, after all. Both our country and our government are partisan, fractured and bickering messes and to expect Tuesday’s election to go off without a hitch is probably folly. Something either slight or significant will get buggered up and someone will whine or, as likely as not, sue over it.
How The Mighty Have Fallen: On the other hand, even the prospect of troops being needed in a national election in the United States of America is, should be, should have been, beyond comprehension. We’re the United States, we invented modern democracy, goddammit. We’ve been electing presidents since 1789 and peaceably transferring power since 1797.
Dry, Technical Matter: This had always been something reserved for third world countries with little history of democratic government. Now, we have the prospect of it here and this prospect cannot be entirely dismissed. In fact, as noted, good luck to us getting through Tuesday’s election without some sort of fiasco happening somewhere.
#TeamAmerica: Adding to the thrills is the spectre of President Trump not relinquishing power should he lose, a chance we think is remote – Trump is not evil, he is merely ignorant and selfish – but cannot be entirely dismissed.
Stop Us If You’ve Heard This Before: All of this illustrates something we’ve been saying every hour on the hour for a while now, both here and in campaigns for the US House and Senate: our country is dying. America – always with faults but always a beacon to others, both individually and collectively – is now at the midway point between the influence, respect and esteem we once had and the oblivion that awaits us.
The Bottom Line: As always, though, our government is in our hands. We can vote for a lying sexual predator who believes the moon is part of Mars and who has blood on his hands for his incompetent handling of the coronavirus, or we can vote for a veteran public servant who is none of these things. The choice is not between freedom and socialism, it’s between an America that will be here two generations from now and an America that will not.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has a busy day at the Veterans Service Office.
My 1500 appointment turned out to be rather poignant…
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1517 – The Protestant Reformation begins when Martin Luther, a professor of theology at the University of Wittenberg, Germany posts the 95 Theses to the door of All Saints Church. The theses protest assorted practices of the Catholic Church, including the selling of indulgences. Luther had intended the theses to form the basis for academic disputation, but they were quickly translated from the original Latin into German and distributed throughout Europe. The original doors the theses were nailed to no longer exist, replaced by bronze doors with the theses inscribed on them.
In 1987 – Marcel Dionne of the New York Rangers becomes the third NHL player to score 700 career goals in an 8-2 loss to the New York Islanders. Dionne had a power-play goal late in the third period, joining Phil Esposito (717) and Gordie Howe (801) on the 700-goal list. Dionne would retire after the 1989 season with 731 goals, a mark now good for fifth on the all-time list.
In 1981 – The Rolling Stones are at #1 on the Billboard 200 for the seventh of nine consecutive weeks with the album Tattoo You. The album went to #1 in five other countries and peaked at #2 in Great Britain and yielded three Top 40 hits: Start Me Up (#2), Waiting on a Friend (#13) and Hang Fire (#20). Due to the fact the members of the band weren’t all speaking to each other at the time, the album is mainly cuts from previously recorded material with additional vocals and instrument work added as needed. The album cover won the Grammy Award for Best Album Package for artist Peter Corriston.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
The cat does not negotiate with the mouse.
Robert K Massie
Peter the Great
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Dion, of Dion and the Belmonts, was named Dion Francis DiMucci.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
How many #1 albums have the Rolling Stones had on the Billboard 200? – Answer next time!
The Diary of a Nobody/October 30
Meet Sparrow, an average man passing an average life…
Friday, October 30
Ol’ Sparrow received not one, but two compliments on his Veterans Service Office (VSO) website today…I am not making that up…It’s hardly Site of the Year, but both veterans found useful information on there which is nice to hear.
The Daily Dose/Friday, October 30, 2020
The Daily Dose/October 30, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
Leading Off will return.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow moves the microwave from the top of the dryer to the a counter.
During the Bachelor Days, clean clothes were always placed on top of the dryer and I’ve missed that the past few months…Sometimes, rarely, I’d put them away, but usually, they’d end up on the kitchen table – annoying the cat – on the floor in front of the dryer or – incredibly but not surprisingly – on top of the dresser but not actually in a drawer.
That nightmare is over…I cleared out the end of the counter and moved the microwave back to its original position…It’s pretty big and takes up a lot of room, but yours truly doesn’t keep ingredients in bowls so it’s no big deal and later that day the first clean clothes were put on top of the dryer…It was a good feeling.
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1961 – The Soviet Union detonates what History refers to as the Tsar Bomba on an island in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic Circle. The hydrogen bomb yielded an explosion measuring 50 megatons, about 50 times more than the 0.15 megatons yielded by the Hiroshima atomic blast and remains the most powerful explosive device ever deployed on Earth. The crew of the plane that delivered the bomb survived, but the bomb was so powerful they were only given a 50/50 chance of returning safely.
In 2015 – Adalberto Mondesi of the Kansas City Royals becomes the first player to make his major league debut in the World Series in a 9-3 loss to the New York Mets in Game 3. Mondesi pinch-hit in the fifth inning and struck out and had spent the 2015 season in the Texas League (AA). In 1885 Bug Holiday of the Chicago White Stockings – now the Cubs – made his big league debut in a postseason series against the American Association champion St Louis Browns, though these series are not considered part of the modern World Series.
In 1961 – Dion is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the second and final week with Runaround Sue. It was the second of 14 Top 40 hits for Dion as a solo act, after seven hits with the Belmonts and remains his only #1 song. The song also went to #1 in Canada and New Zealand and peaked at #11 in Great Britain and at #4 on Billboard’s soul chart, his biggest hit of six soul chart appearances. A version by Leif Garrett peaked at #13 in 1978.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
Mere longevity is a good thing for those who watch life from the sidelines. For those who play the game, an hour may be a year, a single day’s work an achievement for an eternity.
Gabriel Heatter
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The NFL record for most receiving yards in a season is held by Calvin Johnson of the Detroit Lions who had 1,964 yards in 2012.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What was Dion’s real name? – Answer next time!
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The Daily Dose/Thursday, October 29, 2020
The Daily Dose/October 29, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
DON’T THINK, YOU’LL HURT THE TEAM: Oh, baby, this might be a seminal moment in baseball history, Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash taking starting pitcher Blake Snell out of Game 6 of the World Series despite the fact Snell was pitching a hell of a game. Seminal because it was a head-on collision of old school and new school.
The Rays, needing a win to stay alive, were leading 1-0 in the sixth inning when Cash came out and removed Snell, who had given up exactly zero runs and two hits. Soon enough, the Los Angeles Dodgers were leading 2-1 and would win the game 3-1 to clinch the title.
Dry, Technical Matter: Cash wasn’t doing anything he hadn’t been doing all season. This is new-school Rays thinking: they do not let their starting pitchers go through the lineup a third time, a philosophy that got them to the World Series in the first place.
Running The Numbers: In some respects, Cash’s move made sense because Snell hadn’t pitched as late as the seventh inning since, almost incredibly, May of 2019. Heck, it would have been news had they left him in and if Snell had given up two runs Cash would be taking the same amount of heat he is now.
More Running The Numbers: While not completely extinct, the complete game has, of course, been an endangered species for years…Big league teams threw 29 complete games in 2020, about one every 30 games or so. Ten teams did not throw a complete game at all.
The Bottom Line: You live by the numbers you die by the numbers. Old school thinking would have dictated when your man is giving up a hit every three innings and is striking out a batter-and-a-half every inning you leave him in. Old School vs New School, analytics vs guts. Cash, though, was the only one who had to make the decision then and, as noted, he was merely doing what got him there in the first place.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow and Gloria have some laughs.
I was in the mood for a burger and mentioned the chain restaurant in the next county…Head Housekeepr Gloria looked at me as if I had said I was thinking of lunching at the water treatment plant.
“There are better burgers in the next county…”
She then named the place and yours truly made a mental note to scope it out and the second she left for her office I’m online doing just that…Christ, the pics were incredible…I felt like the English bloke when he opened King Tut’s tomb for the first time and when asked if he saw anything and he replied “yes, wonderful things”.
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1863 – The International Red Cross is formed when five committee members and signatories from 12 nations sign the resolutions now known as the Geneva Convention. The Red Cross was formed to improve medical services for soldiers and civilians on the battlefield and has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize three times: in 1917, 1944 and 1963. The terms of the Geneva Convention have been updated several times, most recently in 1977.
In 1995 – Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers establishes a new NFL record for most career receiving yards in an 11-7 loss to the New Orleans Saints. Rice had eight receptions for 108 yards, giving him 14,040 career yards, breaking the record of 14,004 yards established by James Lofton between 1978-93. Rice retired in 2004 with 22,895 yards, a record that still stands.
In 1955 – Roger Williams is at #1 on Billboard’s Best Sellers in Stores chart – a predecessor to the Hot 100 – for the first of four consecutive weeks with Autumn Leaves. The song was an instrumental version of a song that had been written in 1945, originally with French lyrics. It was the first chart single for Williams, the first of seven Top 40 hits and remains his only #1 song. The song charted again in 1965, appearing on the Hot 100 for three weeks, peaking at #92.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
I recognized at once the look of the official who does not know if one is about to be executed or raised to the throne.
Gore Vidal
Julian
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Chuck Berry had three #1 songs on Billboard’s soul chart: Maybelline (eleven weeks, 1955), School Day (five weeks, 1957) and Sweet Littel Sixteen (1958, three weeks).
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
Who holds the NFL record for most receiving yards in a season? – Answer next time!
Cheap Sales Pitch
Get out your plastic.
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