The Daily Dose/Monday, July 8th, 2019
The Daily Dose/July 8, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Leading Off will return.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow offers a variety of rates to potential guests at the hotel, plus he buys a different brand of toilet paper. Today’s Diary.
I jacked up rates for the guy who came in later…He’d annoyed me by not ringing the bell, so I quoted him an out the ass rate of $189 plus tax, a rate he was so pleased with he took two rooms, each with one king bed…As I made his reservation I noted the system was actually asking $169, plus tax, but that was for Sunday nite because I’d already done the night audit, so I kept it at $189, plus tax…Then the guy asked if that was the best I could do, obliging me to lie again:
“Oh, sir, I always quote the lowest possible rate…”
As I was leaving for the day I saw him and two younger women at the coffee service and I have sufficient experience in these matters so that my first thought – “pimp” – was probably accurate, but his credit card was approved – and he’s paying my jacked-up premium rate, of course – and stuff like this is nothing more than the free market at work so what the heck.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
The drivel simply does not stop: please click on the button to read The Diary of a Nobody. $5.99 includes all entries, past, present, and future:
On This Date
In 1932 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 41.22, following an intra-day low 40.56, its lowest point of the Great Depression. Recovery from the Depression was slow and even with the impetus of World War II, the Dow would not regain its post-depression high of 380 until November 1954. This past Friday the Dow closed at 26,922.12.
In 1889 – John L Sullivan defeats Jake Kilrain in Richburg, Mississippi to retain his world heavyweight boxing title in History’s final bare-knuckle title fight. The fight ended in the 75th round – rounds lasted until a fighter was knocked or thrown to the ground – when Kilrain’s second threw in the towel. The fight lasted 2 hours and 16 minutes, with some rounds lasting 15 seconds and others 15 minutes. Bare-knuckle fighting was illegal in most of the US, including Mississippi, and both fighters were later arrested. Sullivan had his conviction overturned, while Kilrain served a two-month sentence.
In 1967 – Aretha Franklin is at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot R&B singles chart – for the eighth and final week with Respect. Respect was Franklin’s second of a record-tying 20 #1s on the soul chart, a record she shares with Stevie Wonder. Earlier the song had spent two weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, the first of two Hot 100 #1s for Franklin. The song was written by Otis Redding, who had charted with it (#4 soul/#35 Hot 100) in 1965.
Quotebook
…the spirit of inquiry was alive here, and where it has free existence, ignorance cannot last.
Louis L’Amour
The Walking Drum
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Boris Becker won six Grand Slam tennis titles, all in singles. He won Wimbledon in 1985-86 and in 1989, the Australian Open in 1991 and 1996, and the US Open in 1989. Becker also won a double gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Games with Michael Stich.
Today’s Stumper
How many companies that were components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on July 8, 1932, are still components today? – Answer next time!
The Daily Dose/Sunday, July 7, 2019
The Daily Dose/July 7, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
The Sunday Bottom 5
Celebrating the worst of the week that was…
- President Trump – Fresh off of announcing Mr Moon is part of Mars, President Trump informs us American Revolution successful in part because Continental Army secured airports, probably before US nuclear submarines sank British warships.
- US Space Program – Don’t get us started…50 years after first landing on Mr Moon, humans not any closer to standing on Mars than ancient Greeks were…America could have done this in 1980s had they wanted to, but we didn’t and good luck getting anyone there before half-century is out.
- Founding Fathers – Unlikely Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, et al, would recognize country at all now…Washington would wonder why we haven’t elected someone like him, Jefferson would wonder why we haven’t had another revolution, while Franklin would marvel at 21st-century dating apps…Adams – who once said democracies end up eating themselves – would merely nod and say we are getting what we deserve.
- USA! USA! – America a 3rd rate country now, led by president who courts dictators, whose only real talent is drawing attention to himself and who thinks airports existed in 1776.
- Nike – Noted shoemaker pulls patriotic sneaker after malcontent former NFL quarterback privately protests its release…All right, do what you want, though Sunday Bottom 5 pollsters “pretty sure” Old Glory is entitled to more respect than to have been featured on sneaker in first place.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has to be firm with a guest at the hotel, then moves some good weight at the gym. Today’s Diary.
A really good workout tonight…I upped the weights on both the bicep z-bar and the tricep pulldown and a couple of other exercises are in danger of being upped, too…I undercooked my post-workout ground beef patty, but I usually do that, tho tonight it was a tad more undercooked than usual, tho that didn’t stop the cat from wanting to share it with me.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
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On This Date
In 1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time at the Chillicothe Baking Company in Chillicothe, Missouri. The slicing machine, which also wrapped the loaf of bread, was invented by Otto Rohwedder. After taking a degree in optometry, Rohwedder naturally became a jeweler and the trade, of course, convinced him he could invent a machine that would slice bread. It took over a decade, in no small part because a 1917 fire destroyed his designs and prototype. The original bread slicing machine is at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.
In 1985 – Boris Becker of Germany wins the men’s singles at Wimbledon, defeating Kevin Curren of the US 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4. It was the first of three Wimbledon titles for Becker who at 17 remains the youngest men’s Wimbledon champion ever. He was also the first German and the first unseeded player to win the title. It was Curren’s second and last appearance in a Grand Slam Singles final. He had lost the previous year in the Australian Open final, and finished his career three Grand Slam doubles titles and one mixed doubles championship.
In 1973 – Billy Preston is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first of two consecutive weeks with Will It Go Round In Circles. The song also went to #1 in Canada, peaked at #10 on Billboard’s soul chart, and was Billboard’s 10th biggest song of the year. The song was Preston’s second of three appearances at #1 on the Hot 100. In 1969 the Beatles with Billy Preston hit #1 with Get Back, and in 1974 he returned to #1 as a solo act with Nothing From Nothing.
Quotebook
…there was the powerful impulse of vanity, a motivation which has never had its due recognition in historical works.
William E. Woodward
The Way Our People Lived
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Hawaii consumes more Spam luncheon meat per capita than any other state in the Union, its 1.4 million residents consuming more than seven million cans per year.
Today’s Stumper
How many Grand Slam titles did Boris Becker win in his career? – Answer next time!
A Day Off
The Daily Dose/Friday, July 5, 2019
The Daily Dose/July 5, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Leading Off will return.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: The Sparrows have a very nice holiday together. Today’s Diary.
Then I got soaked by some punk with one of those squirt guns that looks like an Uzi…He was on the Future Wrestlers of America flatbed and they were shooting random people with water and I look up and he’s looking right at me like he’s the fucking Terminator or something and BOOM, let’s off a stream of water that hits me right in the chest…If this had been combat I’d’ve been dead…As it was, The Wife, sitting right next to me, laffed and was plainly waiting for me to start in on some whining, but in the Upset of the Year I took it like a man.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
The drivel simply does not stop: please click on the button to read The Diary of a Nobody. $5.99 includes all entries, past, present, and future:
On This Date
1937 – Spam luncheon meat is introduced by Hormel Foods. Spam’s popularity would grow during World War II when the US military produced over 150 million pounds of the product and Spam is actually cooked in the tins you buy it in. Today Spam is sold in 44 countries around the world and every second 12.8 cans of Spam are consumed worldwide. The meaning of the name remains a company secret.
In 1980 – Bjorn Borg defeats John McEnroe 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (16-18) 8-6 in the finals of Wimbledon Championships. Borg became the third gentleman to win at least five consecutive Wimbledon titles and the first to do so in the Open Era, a mark that would later be equaled by Roger Federer from 2003-07. William Renshaw won six consecutive titles from 1881-86 and Laurence Doherty won five consecutive from 1902-06. Martina Navratilova won six consecutive ladies’ titles from 1982-87.
In 1962 – David Rose is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for his only week with The Stripper. The Stripper was Rose’s only Top 40 hit, making him one of the few artists whose only top 40 song went to #1. He did have a long career in television, winning four Emmy Awards for his work composing music for TV shows. In fact, The Stripper was written in 1958 for a TV show and only became a hit when it was selected, in haste, for the B side of Rose’s record that featured Ebb Tide on the A side.
Quotebook
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Henry David Thoreau
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
There have been five extra-inning no-hitters in major league history: Sam Kimber (11 innings, 1888)l George Wiltsie (10, 1908), Fred Toney (10, 1917); JimmMaloney (10, 1965); Francisco Cordova and Ricardo Rincon (10, 1997).
Today’s Stumper
What state in the US consumes more Spam on a per capita basis? – Answer next time!
The Daily Dose/Thursday, July 4, 2019
The Daily Dose/July 4, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Leading Off will return.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow’s early-morning coffee service for the crew is going over well.
Coffee service did good business, too, and the oaf who takes a half-gallon of hazelnut creamer appears to be back from his days off…In fact, French vanilla and half-&-half did good business, too, and to avoid wasting coffee I put the coffee in the right pot in the left pot and made a fresh pot – and restocked the creamers – before the official 0500 start of coffee service for the other guests.
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
The drivel simply does not stop: please click on the button to read The Diary of a Nobody. $5.99 includes all entries, past, present, and future:
On This Date
In 1776 – Two days after declaring their independence from Great Britain, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, approves the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration had been presented to the Congress on June 28th, and by the 4th Congress had deleted a quarter of it and significantly rewrote what was left. Though not a governing document of the United States – and despite the fact it was primarily written by Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner who did nothing to end slavery either on his plantation or in his country – The Declaration of Independence rightfully remains one mankind’s most revered works.
In 1908 – George Wilste of the New York Giants retires the first 26 Philadelphia Phillies in a row before hitting pitcher George McQuillan with a pitch on an 0-2 count in the top of the ninth inning. The game was scoreless after nine innings and the Giants would win the first game of the doubleheader on an unearned run in the tenth. It was the second major league extra-inning no-hitter and the first at the modern pitching distance of 60 feet, 6 inches.
In 1964 – The Beach Boys are at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first of two consecutive weeks with I Get Around. It was their fifth Top 10 hit and their first of four #1 songs. The song also went to #1 in Canada and was Billboard’s 5th biggest song of 1964. Their gap of 22 years between #1 songs (Good Vibrations, 1966 and Kokomo, 1988) was a record until broken by Cher (24 years) in 1999.
Quotebook
It is natural for man to indulge in the illusion of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth…
Patrick Henry
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death Speech
Virginia legislature
3/23/1775
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
The major league record for most home runs in a game by a pitcher is three, done twice, by Guy Hecker of the Louisville Colonels of the American Association in 1886 and by Jim Tobin of the Boston Braves in 1942.
Today’s Stumper
How many extra-inning no-hitters have their been in major league baseball? – Answer next time!