The Daily Dose/June 22, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy

Leading Off:
This past Thursday an American drone, flying about 20 miles off the coast of Iran, was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile. President Trump so far has declined to retaliate, wisely if you ask us. Lt General Joseph Guastella, commanding general of the US Air Force Central Command, called the attack:

Dangerous and escalatory…

Adding that:

This attack is an attempt to disrupt our ability to monitor the area following recent threats to international shipping and the free flow of commerce.

These statements are funny and you can believe them if you want. We don’t. It’s the typical government claptrap you would expect under the circumstances. One, it’s only dangerous and escalatory if we allow it to be. Let’s be honest, if their drones are flying around within 20 miles of the US coast, we’d probably shoot them down, too. And two, we would be surprised if the mission had anything to do with the free flow of commerce. It was a spying mission.

For many years America has been nothing more than this planet’s bully, willing and able to stick its nose wherever it saw fit. The result is a violent world. This should not be a surprise: violence begets violence and the only dividend America’s wars have produced is more war.

Friends, war and infernal US meddling is not working: we are not going to have a peaceful world without a peaceful America. We are not even going to have a peaceful America without a peaceful American government.

The years have shown the misery and destruction an America at war causes. We see it every day. The time has come for an America at peace. The time has come for you and me – we the people of the United States and of the world – to see the world that would be produced by an America at peace.

Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has some laffs at the retailer with Mamadou, and it’s a rather slow day at the VSO.

Then I registered for a conference call with the president of the United States and VA secretary…I am not making that up, either…It’s next Tue morning and while I won’t be at the office, I can do this from home…I don’t have anything in particular to ask either man, but how often do you get to participate in a conference call with the president of the United States???

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 1633 – Italian astronomer Galileo is found “vehemently suspect of heresy” by the Catholic Church for having the nerve to insist that the earth and other planets rotate around the sun. The Church, which believed the earth was the center of the universe, had been pestering Galileo since 1616 when it conducted its first inquisition against him. Galileo was sentenced to prison, which the following day was reduced to house arrest, where he died in 1642. In 1758 the Catholic Church would rescind its ban on books advocating heliocentrism, tho0ugh Galileo’s books weren’t formally removed from the list of banned books until 1758.

In 1986 – Argentina defeats England 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, a match that produced two of the most famous goals in soccer history. At the 51 minute mark, Argentina’s Diego Maradona gave his country a 1-0 lead by scoring a goal with his hand – known to History as the Hand of God Goal – a violation of the rules not seen by referee Ali Bin Nasser of Tunisia. Four minutes later Maradona dribbled his way from his team’s zone through several English defenders for a goal History knows as the Goal of the Century. Later, Argentina would defeat West Germany 3-2 for the championship, while Bin Nasser never again worked the World Cup.

In 1963 – Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the second of three consecutive weeks, the first Asian to hit #1 in America. The song also went to #1 in Norway, Australia, Canada, and his native Japan and remains Sakamoto’s only Top 40 hit in America. While exact figures aren’t available, Sukiyaki is estimated to have sold over 13 million copies worldwide and is generally regarded as one of the 20 biggest selling singles in history. Sakamoto was one 520 people who died in the 1985 crash of Japan Airlines Flight 123.

Quotebook
When the time comes for truth to speak, it may choose an unfamiliar tongue; the task is to heed what is said.
Robertson Davies
The Lyre of Orpheus

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Medley by Stars on 45 interrupted a nine-week run at #1 by Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes.

Today’s Stumper
How many times has England won the World Cup? – Answer next time!

Share Gaylon! Go!

The Daily Dose/June 20, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy

Leading Off: Some thoughts on free college
With 732 candidates running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination it was, we suppose, inevitable that some started talking about offering free college. They’re Democrats. It’s what they do, spend money on the theory that the more money they spend, the better off society will be. Plans vary, with some calling for a free four-year college education, some a free two-year college education and there are other plans, too.

We do not favor any of these plans. Unless you are attending a service academy or taking advantage of whatever veteran’s benefit Congress chose to provide, it is not the purpose of the federal government to provide anyone with a free college education, just like it is not the purpose of government to mandate we buy health insurance. Government’s only purpose is to ensure we can do want we want with the 24 hours each of has every day.

As usual, though, the Democrats mean well because college tuition has gotten so expensive only those families of substantive financial means can afford even a public college education without government assistance.  Since 1978 college tuition has risen almost twice as much as the cost of medical care and two-thirds as much as the cost of living.

We will use Yale University, a private school in New Haven, Connecticut, as an example, because we’ve found tuition figures for them through the years are readily available. To make it easier on all of us, all figures are in 2019 dollars.

It will cost $72,000 in tuition, room, and board (known as a term bill in the industry) to attend Yale this school year, a figure that has gone up $25,000 this century, $20,000 of that this decade. For the 1939-40 school year tuition was $16,000 in today’s dollars. To put it another way, a Yale education in 1939-40 would have cost $4,000 in 1940 dollars, not the $900 it actually cost back then. 

And even if this is approved, what are the limits? Can I go back to college, at age 53, for free? Are trade schools included? They should be because college isn’t for everyone.

Politicians can say this and they can say that, but if college tuition costs are going to stay in line with the cost of living the federal government must get out of the higher education racket. They must stop providing grants or loans or any other form of financial aid for going to college. Consider this: you run a business where your customers get generous government support to buy your product or service. What are you going to do? You’re going to raise prices, of course. It’s human nature and colleges are no different. 

Colleges, both public and private, are entitled to the same access to the free market as any other business.

Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow’s neighbor finally mows his lawn, and it’s a slow day at the VSO. Today’s Diary.

…he didn’t mow in the back corner or, and this is annoying, along our fence, so the grass is still 2-3 feet high there…Still tho, those driving into town no longer see a national forest on the left immediately upon entering tho, of course, this puts the pressure on ol’ Sparrow to keep The Shire’s lawn looking sharp…I might be able to get a mowing in Thu, or I might now…As has been usual for this spring up here, rain is in the forecast and even if it’s sunny.

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.

In 1960 – Floyd Patterson knocks out Ingmar Johansson in a fifth-round knockout at the Polo Grounds in New York City to win the world heavyweight title, becoming the first heavyweight to regain the crown. Patterson had first won the title when he defeated Archie Moore 1956 and after four defenses had lost it to Johansson the year before. An Olympic gold medalist as a middleweight at the 1952 Helsinki Games, Patterson was also the first Olympic gold medalist to win a professional heavyweight title.

In 1981 – Stars On 45 is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for their only week with Medley: Intro Venus/Sugar Sugar/No Reply/I’ll Be Back/Drive My Car/Do You Want to Know a Secret/We Can Work It Out/I Should Have Known Better/Nowhere Man/You’re Going To Lose That Girl/Stars on 45. A Dutch studio group led by former Golden Earring member Jaap Eggermont, they changed their name for the US to Stars On and had one more chart single, a medley of Stevie Wonder hits that peaked at #28. With 41 words, the song remains the Hot 100’s longest titled #1 song.

Quotebook
The four seasons come and go without anxiety because they follow the Way. The wise man contemplates this order, and begins to understand the harmony implicit in the universe.
Gore Vidal
Creation

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It took the United States 121 years – from the time the first patent was issued in 1790 – to issue the one-millionth patent on August 8, 1911.

Today’s Stumper
What song’s nine-week reign at #1 did Stars On 45 interrupt? – Answer next time!

Share Gaylon! Go!

The Daily Dose/June 19, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy

Leading Off
This will be the third consecutive day we’ve written about George Zabel, an otherwise undistinguished major league pitcher who on June 17, 1915, pitched 18 1/3 innings as a relief pitcher, the longest relief stint in major league history. On Monday we noted the feat in On This Date and yesterday in this space we added it our list of sports records that will never be broken.

Today we are taking it off that list. Not because we’ve changed our mind. We haven’t. No one will ever throw 18 ⅓ innings in a relief appearance in a major league game, but we removed it simply because neither of our baseball record books (by the Sporting News and the Elias Sports Bureau) list this as a record. This really wasn’t a bulletin because as we wrote the first item we remember it odd we hadn’t heard of this record before, because few know their way around a big league record book like we do.

But it’s not there. We checked and neither record book lists a record for Most Innings, Relief Pitcher, Game. There is a record listed for Most Innings Pitched, Game, (26) but that’s it which, when you think about it, makes sense. This isn’t the first time we haven’t found something in the record book we thought would be there: we once looked for the record for most runs in a season by a pinch-runner, and there is not a record listed for that feat, either.

After more thought than this vital issue probably deserved, we decided that to be included on our list of unbreakable sports records the mark must be listed in an official record book because if it isn’t it really isn’t a record, it is merely an achievement. Apologies are issued, and the three records on our Records That Will Never Be Broken List remain Wilt Chamberlain’s 55 rebounds in an NBA game, the Isner/Mahut 7-68 fifth set at Wimbledon and Johnny Vander Meer’s consecutive no-hitters.

Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Please, ring the bell at the front desk. It could save you some money. Today’s Diary.

Around 0500 there was another wizard who didn’t ring the bell…I heard him milling about out front, too…Usually, I don’t do this, but I made him wait until he either rang the bell or said something…In a bit he said something and I went out and he had a couple of waters and a phone charger and some Oreos…Usually I toss the water in with my compliments, but I was peeved enough to charge him full price.

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.

In 1846 – The first recorded baseball game in America is played, at Elysian Park in Hoboken, New Jersey. Using rules written by Alexander Cartwright, the New York Nine defeated the New York Knickerbockers 23-1 in four innings. Under the Cartwright rules, innings were known as hands and today the site is the intersection of 11th and Washington streets, though there is a monument in a nearby median. The first baseball game in North America was played in Ontario, Canada, in 1938.

In 1971 – Carole King is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of five consecutive weeks with the double-sided hit It’s Too Late/I Feel the Earth Move. The songs also went to #1 in Canada and were Billboard’s third-biggest songs of the year. It’s Too Late also won the 1972 Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Though one of the most prolific and successful songwriters of the Rock Era, It’s Too Late/I Feel the Earth Move remain King’s only #1 songs as an artist.

Quotebook
To be free, the slave must first refuse the master’s gruel.
Vin Suprynowicz
Columnist, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
The act who spent more weeks at #1 in a calendar year before Webb Pierce was Eddy Arnold and Tennessee Plowboys who spent 48 consecutive weeks at #1 with five different songs in 1948.

Today’s Stumper
How long did it take the United States to issue one million patents? – Answer next time!

Share Gaylon! Go!