The Daily Dose/December 24, 2018
By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off Leading Off will return at the first of the year.
Today At The Site The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow leaves Hotel B, is in no mood to serve others at the retailer, and finds C note in his box at Hotel C.
We were slammed and understaffed, too, which didn’t help matters, either…I was the only one at the service desk and, again, everything we’d sold the previous 24 hours had been returned and for the last hour or so I was also the only one manning self-checkout, too, and not everyone got the service they really deserve.
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On This Date In 1906 – Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian and American inventor, transmits the first radio show from his laboratory in Massachusetts. Fessenden offered a poetry reading, some live violin music and closed with a Bible passage. Radio receivers were rare then, and his audience was mainly naval vessels, though his show was heard as far away as Virginia.
In 1967 – Joe Namath of the New York Jets, then of the American Football League (AFL), throws for 343 yards against the San Diego Chargers, finishing the season with 4,007 yards, the first professional player to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a season. The Jets won the game 42-31 and the single-season NFL passing mark is now held by Peyton Manning of the Denver Broncos, who threw for 5,477 yards in 2013. Namath’s mark was good for 107th place on the all-time list heading into this season.
In 1966 – Jack Greene is at #1 on Billboard’s country chart – then known as the Hot Country Singles chart – for the first of seven consecutive weeks with There Goes My Everything. It was Greene’s second hit on the country chart and the first of five #1s. The following year Engelbert Humperdinck took the song to #20 on the Billboard Hot 100 and in 1971 Elvis Presley hit #9 on the country chart with it.
Quotebook …very often it is not possible to see what is right in front of you because you happen to be looking in the wrong direction. Gore Vidal Creation
Answer To The Last Trivia Question The USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19), an amphibious command ship commissioned on 11/14/70, is the oldest US Navy ship actively deployed.
Today’s Stumper Where does Joe Namath rank on the NFL’s career passing list? –Answer next time!
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The Daily Dose/December 23, 2018
By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off Another year, another budget stalemate, another government shutdown. We’ve been through this before and it’s hard to believe we won’t go through this again. The actual effect it will have on us really isn’t that great because anything really essential is still getting done. Social Security checks will go out as scheduled. The FBI, Border Patrol and Coast Guard will still be on the job. Some national parks are receiving state or private funding and will remain open. As a practical matter, it means about one-quarter of the government is not being funded.
The usual people are ranting and railing about the usual things but none of this should be a surprise:
A contentious and fractured, partisan and bickering country once again elected a contentious and fractured, partisan and bickering government.
Two years ago we elected as president a petulant man-child whose only real talent is drawing attention to himself. This past November we re-elected 91 percent of incumbent Congressmen and 84 percent of incumbent Senators, taking a flier on making substantive changes to the way we are governed. We are not demanding anything better so we are not getting anything better. We can whine about this from here to Reno but, kind of like acquiring a case of the clap, we brought this on ourselves: we elected everyone there.
We will always – and always means every single time – get the government we deserve. As long as we keep electing substandard government we will keep receiving substandard government. We Americans and our government will always mirror each other.
The fault for all this is ours.
Today At The Site The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow makes biscuits and gravy at the hotel for the first time in a couple of months, The Wife makes short ribs for dinner and it is wall-to-wall go-backs at the retailer.
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On This Date In 1968 – The 83-member crew of the USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is released from North Korean captivity, eleven months after their ship was attacked and captured off the coast of North Korea. A spy ship that had left a Japanese US naval base on January 5, the US maintains Pueblo was in international waters, however, Pueblo deck log entries say otherwise. Despite the fact it if remains moored to a North Korean pier, Pueblo remains a commissioned US vessel, the second oldest in the US Navy behind the USS Constitution and the only one currently being held captive.
In 1972 – The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Oakland Raiders 13-7 in the opening round of the AFC playoffs. Trailing 7-6 with 22 seconds remaining, Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw a pass that was deflected by Raiders defensive back Jack Tatum and picked up right before it hit the ground by Steelers running back Franco Harris, who ran it 43-yards for a touchdown. History refers to this play as the Immaculate Reception.
In 1972 – Billy Paul is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second of three consecutive weeks with Me and Mrs. Jones. The song also in its third of four weeks at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart. Paul, born Paul Williams in Philadelphia, served in the Army in the late 1950’s with, among others, Elvis Presley. Elvis, however, preferred to drive the colonel’s jeep, so Paul toured Germany in a band he formed with Gary Crosby, Bing Crosby’s son. Me and Mrs. Jones remains Paul’s only appearance at #1 on any Billboard chart.
Quotebook There is always something else to be done. But if you want the world you must forget insignificant places… Gore Vidal Creation
Answer To The Last Trivia Question Kordell Stewart finished his NFL career with 38 rushing touchdowns, fourth on the all-time list of quarterbacks behind Cam Newton (58), Steve Young (43) and Jack Kemp (40).
Today’s Stumper What is the oldest commissioned ship in the United States Navy that remains actively deployed? –Answer next time!
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The Daily Dose/December 22, 2018
By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off: Capsule Book Review: Presumed Lost by Stephen L Moore The story of our lost submarines in World War II, and the imprisonment of their survivors by the Japanese is a story that is not often told. Heck, we rode a diesel submarine back in the 1980’s and we can’t remember hearing much about it. (What was discussed from time to time were boats that were more recently lost, like Thresher and Scorpion.)
Presumed Lost takes care of this, covering the final patrols of the Perch, Grenadier, S-44, Tang, Tullibee, Robalo and Sculpin. Perch and Grenadier were so badly depth charged the crew scuttled the ships. Robalo hit a mine, Sculpin and S-44 went down fighting while Tang and Tullibee were brought down by their own torpedoes that had circled back.
(The title comes from the fact the Japanese did not report their sinking of these ships or the fact they had taken prisoners, with the US Navy telling family members the boats “were overdue and presumed lost”. The prisoners were never reported to either the Navy or the Red Cross as POWs.)
Of the 525 total crewmen on the seven boats, 158 survived to be taken prisoner by the Japanese and 121 prisoners returned home. Of the 37 who died, two were thrown overboard shortly after being pulled from the sea, deemed too injured to be taken prisoner. The beatings and deprivations began immediately upon being taken aboard their rescue ships and only stopped in August 1945 when it became clear to the Japanese they were going to lose the war.
I’ll tell you what, in the past, it was not particularly difficult reading about what POWs from other branches of the service went through, but for reasons we are not prepared to explain reading about shipmates who also rode diesel boats and were taken prisoner was difficult.
Difficult but compelling. Beaten and starved, with inadequate clothing and virtually non-existent medical care, they suffered the deprivations the Japanese subjected all their prisoners to. Most weighed less than a hundred pounds when liberated.
Final Rating (A-F): B – A heck of a book, as Moore uses interviews with those who lived through the experience to anchor his narrative and highlight a little-known aspect of World War II. Highly recommended to Navy and World War II buffs, and recommended to everyone else.
Today At The Site The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow and The Wife have been eating very well of late and results are starting to show. Plus, two customers return black Christmas trees at the retailer, while another customer wants to whine to a manager after Sparrow declines her request to be charged a lower price. One of the funniest entries yet, we put it in the Hall of Fame.
Of course, you can see a manager…Regular readers of this crap know you can always see a manager…They can solve everything…In fact, I’m waiting for the president and Congress to request to see a salaried member of management to break their budget impasse…
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On This Date In 1807 – The Embargo Act is signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson, a response to the effect the war between Great Britain and France was having on US shipping. After initially responding with restraint, Jefferson then requested the Embargo Act, and Congress passed it four days after it was introduced. The Embargo Act ended up hurting the US as much as Britain and France, and was repealed shortly before Jefferson left office in 1809.
In 1996 – Kordell Stewart of the Pittsburgh Steelers runs 80 yards for a touchdown against the Carolina Panthers, establishing a new NFL record for the Longest Touchdown Run by a Quarterback. The run gave the Steelers a 14-9 lead, though the Panthers would win the game 18-14. The record is now held by Terrelle Pryor of the Oakland Raiders, who ran for a 93-yard touchdown in 2013.
In 1958 – Lonely Teardrops by Jackie Wilson is at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot R&B Chart – for the second of seven consecutive weeks. It was the first of six #1s for Wilson on the soul chart and Lonely Teardrops was also Wilson’s first hit on the Hot 100, peaking at #7. While Wilson never topped the Hot 100, a re-release of his 1957 hit Reet Petite went to #1 in Great Britain in 1986.
Quotebook The man who finds the smell is the one who sniffs. Nicholas Monsarrat Smith and Jones
Answer To The Last Trivia Question None of the three Apollo 8 astronauts ever walked on the moon. Frank Borman (1970) and Bill Anders (1969) left NASA and while Jim Lovell commanded Apollo 13, his spacecraft suffering an oxygen tank explosion heading out, doing well to make it back to Earth. Lovell the only person to fly to the moon twice and not walk on it.
Today’s Stumper How many career rushing touchdowns did Kordell Stewart have, and where does that rank him on the all-time list for quarterbacks? –Answer next time!
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The Daily Dose/December 21, 2018
By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off Congress is at it again, attempting to butt in where it has neither the moral nor practical authority to do so. Two US Senators Charles Schumer and Orrin Hatch, have introduced legislation that would give the federal government control of sports betting in America. Recall the Supreme Court recently ruled that states can offer it to residents.
This quote is from Schumer:
I knew that Congress had an obligation to ensure that the integrity of the games we love was never compromised…
Oh, please. The states are, as Nevada has shown since 1949, capable of doing this on their own. Congress is trying to solve problems that don’t exist because nobody wants an uncompromised game more than a sports book. Besides, people bet on sports all the time, most of it illegally through their neighborhood bookie and game-fixing is not a problem now. If it’s not a problem with the mob in charge, you can bet, so to speak, it won’t be a problem when legal sports books start taking most of the action.
There is no role for federal government regulating sports books that are sanctioned by one of the several states. None whatsoever. The federal government should have nothing to do with it. Yes, professional leagues are on board with this, but that’s only because they have the prospect of making money off it, which they are calling integrity fees. Watch out for this. Once a league starts making money of a sports book that gives them a vested interest in how much is wagered and, ultimately, in who wins and loses their games, the antithesis of what legalized sports wagering is about.
Nevada has long shown that state regulation is sufficient to ensure both a competitive marketplace for casinos and a square deal for gamblers. Sportsbooks are also amongst the first know when a game is fixed because they can immediately see betting patterns shift.
Congress must butt out of this. They will only screw it up.
Today At The Site The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow and The Wife enjoy their annual Winter Solstice BBQ even though the solstice isn’t until Friday. Plus, new trash cans are delivered because their small town has changed trash companies. Their new service begins on January 1.
…I did some research and ended up telling The Wife the winter solstice was when Mr Sun reached its lowest point in the sky and began working its way back up, when it will be directly overhead by summer…To accent this I made some hand motions that were supposed to indicate a moving sun, but which probably only served to further confuse the issue.
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On This Date In 1968 – Apollo 8, manned by Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders, lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Two-and-a-half hours later they became the first humans to leave lower-Earth orbit and would become the first humans to visit another celestial body when they begin orbiting the moon on December 24. In an interesting anomaly, the crew did not actually see the moon until they were in orbit on the far side. Apollo 8 returned to Earth on December 27.
In 1981 – Cincinnati defeats Bradley 75-73 in seven overtimes, establishing a new NCAA Division I record for the longest game. The game was tied 61-61 at the end of regulation and the shot clock had not been adopted yet and neither team shot much. In fact, neither team scored in the third overtime and only a last-second jump shot in the seventh overtime prevented another scoreless period. Seven appears to be the maximum number of overtimes college teams are willing to play as it is also the NCAA Division II and III record, and the all-time NAIA record as well.
In 1974 – Cat’s in the Cradle by Harry Chapin is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for its only week. Despite strong album sales and critical acclaim, Chapin had indifferent success on the singles chart. Cat’s in the Cradle was his only Top 10 hit and one of only four songs to make the Top 40. Chapin died in 1981 in a car crash on a freeway on Long Island, New York at the age of 38.
Quotebook The American dream is not about money. It is about using your abilities and being the best you can be. J.C. Watts, United States Congressman
Republican National Convention
8/13/96
Answer To The Last Trivia Question I’ll Hold You in My Heart (Until I Can Hold You in My Arms) record of 21 weeks at #1 on Billboard’s country chart was matched in 1950 (I’m Moving On by Hank Snow) and 1955 (In The Jailhouse Now by Webb Pierce) and broken in 2012-13 by Florida Georgia Line, who spent 24 weeks at #1 with Cruise. Regular readers of this feature know the record is now 50 weeks, held by Meant to Be by Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line, the longest any one song has spent on top of any Billboard chart.
Today’s Stumper Of the three Apollo 8 astronauts, how many would later walk on the moon? –Answer next time!
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The Daily Dose/December 20, 2018
By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
In The News Twenty-nine years ago today America invaded Panama. Despite the fact it was an armed invasion of a sovereign country, Congress did not bother to declare war, something it hasn’t done since World War II. The invasion was unilaterally authorized by President George Bush.
The official reasons given included combating drug trafficking, maintaining the integrity of the Panama Canal and the usual safeguarding of American lives and defending freedom and human rights. The real reason was to depose dictator Manuel Noreiga, though he proved difficult to catch, remaining at-large for a few days before holing up at the diplomatic mission of the Vatican before surrendering on January 3.
(Noriega was brought to the U.S. to stand trial. He was subsequently convicted on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering and sentenced to 40 years in prison, later reduced to 30 years. Noriega was later extradited to France and then extradited back to Panama where he died in 2017.)
Whatever the reasons and whatever the outcome, the invasion of Panama started a streak that has not yet been stopped: America has been at war every day since. That is darn near three decades – 30 years – of non-stop warfare. War is all a generation of Americans and their kids know and after 30 years of non-stop warfare there is still not any prospect of peace, the only dividend war providing is more war.
Thirty years of non-stop warfare has taken its toll both internationally and domestically. Internationally, a violent America has meant a planet that is, except for our two world wars, as violent as its ever been. Domestically, a violent American government has produced violent citizens: our country is a shooting gallery now, with gunfire almost as common as saying “good morning”.
No nation has survived perpetual war and America will not be the exception to that. Eventually, combined with our fiscal insanities and probably before this half-century is out, America will collapse, tossed aside the scrap heap of history with, among others, the Roman Empire and the Soviet Union.
We deserve better than that. The time has come for the everyone – our country, our planet your aunt in Leadville – to see the world that would be produced by an America at peace.
Today At The Site The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow heads to the next county, where he goes to his favorite Mexican joint and buys some hair tonic and index cards.
Then it hit me: there is no reason someone – like ol’ Sparrow, for instance – can’t have his usual Mexican joint faves for breakfast…One of the staples, after all, is chorizo, a sausage made up of God knows what that you scramble with eggs…I didn’t even stop by the house, merely waving at the cat as I passed by on Main Street…
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On This Date In 1968 – Teenagers David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen are shot to death in Benicia, California, the first victims of the serial killer History refers to as the Zodiac Killer. Over the next eleven months, there would be five more murders attributed to the Zodiac Killer, though the killer claimed to have murdered more than three dozen. The killer was never found and assorted killings are still open cases in several California jurisdictions.
In 1985 – Dennis Potvin of the New York Islanders has an assist as the Islanders tie the New York Rangers 2-2. With the assist, Potvin establishes a new NHL record for Most Points in a Career by a Defenseman with 916, breaking the mark held by Bobby Orr. Potvin would retire after the 1987-88 season with 1,052 points, now good for seventh on the all-time NHL scoring list for defensemen. The record is now held by Ray Borque, with 1,579 points.
In 1947 – I’ll Hold You in My Heart (Until I Can Hold You in My Arms) by Eddy Arnold and his Tennessee Plowboys is at number one on Billboard’s country chart – then known as the Most Played Juke Box Folk Records chart – for the seventh consecutive week and eighth overall. The song would ultimately spend 21 weeks at #1, establishing new Billboard overall and country chart records for Most Weeks at #1.
It was the beginnings of an unprecedented streak of 55 consecutive weeks at #1 for Arnold and his band, a streak that included 17 non-consecutive weeks at #1 with Bouquet of Roses, seven non-consecutive weeks with Just a Little Lovin’ (Will Go a Long Way), three non-consecutive weeks with Texarkana Baby and nine weeks with Anytime. It remains the most consecutive weeks any act has spent on top of any Billboard chart.
Quotebook …all excellent things are as difficult as they are rare. Baruch Spinoza
Answer To The Last Trivia Question Andrew Johnson was the first president of the United States to be impeached by the House of Representatives, in 1868. He was acquitted by one vote in his trial by the Senate.
Today’s Stumper What songs matched and then broke I’ll Hold You in My Heart (Until I Can Hold You in My Arms) record for most weeks at #1 on Billboard’s country chart? –Answer next time!
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