Greetings Readers,

The Wife, after five weeks away, finally returns to The Shire on today’s edition of The Diary of a Nobody. Sparrow spent no small amount fussing over her return, to include folding clothes and doing the lawn, and The Wife generally found favor with his efforts, though virtually the entire contents of the refrigerator had to be tossed because nothing except mayo and cheese had been touched for five weeks.

There was not a Thought for the Day either one or two years ago today, so we found one from American poet and diplomat James Russell Lowell, who discusses how an entire wilderness of warning is not a substitute for going out and doing something.

The initial rewrites of our latest novel Criminals, Courtesans and Constables are coming along rather slowly, frankly…This is not a bulletin, for us at least, because while few things get in the way of writing the first draft, we are always open to an excuse to put off rewriting it. This is not to say we are not thinking about it, however. New ideas and lines will regularly crop up, and we dutifully write them down for later use. (Actually, it’s the second decade of the 21st century, so we usually use the voice-to-text feature to message them to ourselves.)

On This Date:
In 2007: The first iPhones are released to the public, after two-and-a-half years and an estimated $150 million in development costs. The two models are priced at $499 and $599, depending on storage, and required a two-year contract. Through their 2017 fiscal year, Apple has sold over 1.2 billion iPhones.

In 1897: The Chicago Colts – now the Cubs – defeat the Louisville Colonels 36-7 to establish a major league record for runs in a game that still stands. The Colts became the seventh ML team to score in every inning of a nine-inning game and the first to have six players score four runs in a game.

In 1963: Kyu Sakamoto is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the third and final week with Sukiyaki. Sukiyaki is the Anglicized title, has no relevance to the song at all and is actually a Japanese beef dish. The song spent three months at #1 in Japan and Sakamoto was the first Asian to hit #1 in America. Sakamoto died in 1985 when Japan Airlines flight 123 crashed a few minutes after takeoff in what is still the deadliest single-aircraft crash in history.

As always, many thanks for reading, and have a reasonably good day.
Gaylon

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Greetings Readers,

A long day for Sparrow, including a full night at the hotel and a full day at the retailer on today’s edition of The Diary of a Nobody. Both are woefully shorthanded, too, though if you are thinking that is going to prevent Sparrow from enjoying his day off Thursday you are deluding yourself.

Today’s The Thought for the Day is from earlier this year, uttered by Dan Duffy, an old shipmate of mine on the USS Blueback, an old diesel submarine. Today Dan has some thoughts on taking risks, a thought uttered when we were partners playing spades.

On This Date:
In 1709: Peter the Great leads his Russian army to victory over Charles XII and his Swedish troops at the Battle of Poltava, now located in the Ukraine. The battle, a decisive Russian victory, marked the start of the decline of Sweden and the emergence of Russia as European powers.

In 1939: The New York Yankees establish American League (AL) and major league (ML) records for homes runs in one game, consecutive games and a doubleheader in Philadelphia against the A’s. The Yankees hit eight home runs in the opener and five in the second game and not surprisingly swept the doubleheader 23-2 and 10-0.  While the AL records for home runs in consecutive games and a doubleheader still stand, the others have been broken.

In 1975: The Captain and Tennile are at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second consecutive week with Love Will Keep Us Together. It was their first of two #1 songs and their first chart single. The song would spend four weeks at #1 was the biggest song of 1975. The couple divorced in 2014 after 39 years of marriage.

Thank you for reading and have a good day,
Gaylon

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Sparrow frets over whether or not he got the trash to the curb on time in today’s edition of The Diary of a Nobody. On the one hand, it was out before 8am and the trash guys never come before 8am, on the other hand, the neighbor’s trash can is turned to the side like it is after it’s been collected and Sparrow is unable to remember whether or not it the can had been left out all week.

We could be bothered to produce The Thought for the Day either one or two years ago, so today we offer one from earlier this year, from Will Durant, talking about ambition and patience. The quote comes from The Story of Civilization: The Reformation and concerns the artist Albrecht Durer. Durant asks a lot of his readers and he is not for everybody. In fact, we are enthusiastic readers here and it’s only in the past few years that we’ve been ready to read Durant, but his insights into our human experience are worth the labors he demands.

On This Date:
In 1898: Joshua Slocum completes the first solo circumnavigation of the world, having started out from Long Island in April 1995 and returning to his native Nova Scotia.  Originally he had planned to sail eastward, but when he got to Gibraltar he decided the danger of pirates was too great, and set sail westward, crossing the Atlantic again to Brazil. His voyage totaled over 46,000 miles.

In 1993: Anthony Young of the New York Mets establishes a new major league record with his 24th consecutive loss, breaking the record held by Cliff Curtis of the Boston Doves, later the Boston Braves and now the Atlanta Braves. The streak had started on May 6, 1992, and would end on July 28 after 27 straight losses.  During this streak Young also had 12 saves.

In 1987: Whitney Houston is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with I Wanna Dance With Somebody, the first of two weeks the song would spend at the top. It was Houston’s fourth of seven consecutive #1 songs, still a Billboard Hot 100 record. This was same day Houston’s album Whitney hit #1 on the album chart, marking the first time a woman had hit #1 on both charts simultaneously.

Thank you for reading,
Gaylon

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Good morning fans,

There are going to be some changes coming to the site pretty soon, as we begin charging for some features. The Thought for the Day will remain free because you cannot charge for the wisdom of the ages, and we may or may not charge for The Daily Dose when it returns. We haven’t decided yet.

However, we will begin charging for The Diary of a Nobody, The Sunday Bottom Ten and The Bottom Ten when that crap returns in August.

Subscriptions will be monthly ($4.99), yearly ($49.99, a pretty good deal, two months free) and forever and ever access ($99.99). All plans include both columns and books and the monthly and yearly plans renew automatically for your convenience.

Speaking of The Diary of a Nobody, Sparrow avoids needing a shower after using a plunger at the hotel, plus he whines his way out of two four-hour shifts at the retailer, only to be sentenced to an eight-hour shift. He also gets his first decent rest in a while, too.

One year ago in The Thought for the Day we featured a quote from one of History’s most translated writers, Robert Louis Stevenson. The author of Treasure Island and Kidnapped died young (44) and was never particularly healthy and today’s thought talks about our duty to be happy.

On This Date:
In 1409 – The Catholic Church has three claimants to the papacy – two more than usual – when the Council of Pisa elects Pope Alexander V. Alexander, along with Pope John XXIII had been elected in opposition to Pope Gregory XII, who would end up outliving both of them. After a two-year period without a pope, Martin V was elected in 1417.

In 1901 – Confusion in the American League (AL) office results in the Boston Red Sox, then known as the Americans, showing for their originally scheduled game in Philadelphia. For good measure, the umpire shows up, too. Unfortunately, the AL had changed the schedule and Philadelphia was in Washington playing the Senators, while Boston should have been in Baltimore, where a few thousand fans were waiting for them to show up.

In 1982 – Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder are at #1 on the Billboard Hot 1oo for the seventh and final week with Ebony and Ivory. The song remains Wonder’s biggest hit and McCartney’s biggest hit outside of the Beatles. It also went to #1 in Great Britain, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Norway and Spain.

Have a good day,
Gaylon

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Sparrow returns to The Shire on today’s edition of The Diary of a Nobody, triumphant after seeing The Wife and doing the Legion’s business – not to mention getting drunk Friday – this past weekend. He dives right in on the chores, too, tending to the cat and the yard, in that order.

Better late than never, we have The Sunday Bottom Ten for you, too. We had most of the entries filled in during the week, but we didn’t have time to write it when we usually do.

There was not a Thought for the Day one or two years ago today, so today we have from this past January, British novelist Anthony Trollope talking about having confidence because people generally take you as you offer yourself.

On This Date:
In 1950 – The Korean War begins when North Korea invades South Korea. Though Congress would never declare war on North Korea, the US would ultimately enter the war. Though an armistice was signed three years later, the two countries are technically still at war.

In 1904 – George Diggins, 9, becomes the youngest player in professional baseball history, appearing for the Concord Marines against the Lowell Tigers in a Class B New England League game.  Diggins, the team mascot, entered the game when an injury and an ejection left the Marines with only eight players…Diggins played right field and struck out in his only at-bat. It would be his only professional game.

In 1966 – The Beatles are at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with Paperback Writer, their 13th #1 song in America. It would be replaced at #1 the following week by Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra, and would return to #1 the following week.

Thank you for reading and have a good day.
Gaylon

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