The beauty of educating oneself is there is no limits to what can be learned. – Louis L’Amour, Education of a Wandering Man
Louis L’Amour is a regular contributor to The Thought for the Day, so we are going to dispense with the usual introductory paragraph except to note Louis got his education when and where he could. Born in North Dakota, his family hit the road when the local economy tanked when Louis was a teenager. Louis traveled often in his early years, including time as a merchant seaman and in the Army during War II. Since he was a boy he was a voracious reader and he always took care to draw some profit from every situation, whether it was reading or hitchhiking across the country.
Like Benjamin Franklin, L’Amour is a great example of what someone can accomplish when they choose to educate themselves. It’s not that hard, either. All you really need is some curiosity, a willingness to live and learn – which is all we really have to do with our time, anyway – and the ability not to force matters, to be content putting nature and circumstance to work for you.
All education is self-education, too. If you choose to utilize the resources of a great university, what you get out of your time educating yourself depends on the work you put into it. If you spend your time merely binge drinking, taking notes and passing tests, you really aren’t doing yourself much good. In a few years, you’ll get a piece of sheepskin with some flowery writing that announces you’ve met the requirement for a degree. You are probably much the same person you were when you entered the academy.
On the other hand, those who go to college and do their work, who utilize and maximize the resources available will be on a summit looking down on what they used to be when they are issued their degree.
When you have some curiosity, when you decide there are things you want to know and then go and find them out, when you fear neither the attendant successes or failures life brings, when you know exactly what you are about, then all things come to you. The life you were meant to live will happen.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
The Daily Dose/January 31, 2018 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Notes from around the Human Experience…
THE STATE OF OUR UNION…: President Trump’s state of the union message Tuesday was sort of like putting a child in front of a map and asking where they thought the family should go on vacation.
Here! No, wait here! And here. And here and here and here and here!
President Trump talked about an awful lot of issues but offered no solutions, only goals. There were the usual calls for bipartisan cooperation. There was the nonsense about building “a great wall” on the southern border. He seemingly mentioned every American but your aunt in Duluth.
He certainly did his darndest to sound inspirational:
This, in fact, is our new American moment. There has never been a better time to start living the American dream.
So, to every citizen watching at home tonight, no matter where you have been or where you have come from, this is your time. If you work hard, if you believe in yourself, if you believe in America, then you can dream anything, you can be anything. And together, we can achieve absolutely anything.
These would be spurring words from a president who was actually leading our country, a president who had our collective confidence and respect. Coming from our most divisive president ever, who lies and talks about grabbing women by the pussy and whose only real talent is drawing attention to himself, they mean nothing.
Trump was consistent, however. Fact checking a Trump speech keeps hundreds of reporters gainfully employed and the Associated Press counted no less than 19 falsehoods or inaccuracies in the speech.
LOL: Trump’s showed be might be the funniest president ever:
The state of our union is strong…
He was just kidding of course, because the state of our American union is not strong. Far from it. Between our perpetual wars and our widening social divide and our mindless debt, the state of our union is not strong. The American foundation is cracking and has been for about a generation. We’re not ready to be tossed aside the scrap heap of history yet, but we’re getting there, probably before this half-century is out if we don’t start taking action at the ballot box pretty soon.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE!: John Marshall becomes Chief Justice of the United States on this date in 1801, four days after being confirmed by the US Senate. Marshall replaced Oliver Ellsworth, who had resigned in December due to poor health.
Marshall was not President John Adams first choice because John Jay – the first chief justice – declined an encore performance. Adams didn’t really have time to dawdle. Not only had he lost the 1800 presidential election to Thomas Jefferson, his Federalist party had lost control of Congress to the Democratic-Republicans, all of whom would take office in March. When Adams received Jay’s letter declining the position, Marshall, then secretary of state, happened to be in the office with Adams, who immediately offered him the position.
Marshall’s impact on America was profound. His court’s declaring certain parts of the Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional in Marbury v. Madison established the principle of judicial review in America and went a long way to making the judicial branch an equal part of the government. Marshall also ended the practice of justices wearing those infernal white wigs on the bench and began having the court issue one opinion instead of each justice issuing his own opinion. For his part, Adams said that his gift of Marshall to his country was his proudest moment.
Dry, Technical Matter: It is almost interesting to note that back then the Supreme Court usually only met in February and March. The rest of the time the justices were out attending to matters on their assigned judicial circuit.
The Long And Winding Road: Marshall served until his death in 1835 and his tenure remains the longest by a chief justice in American history.
Great Moments In Ending Slavery In America: Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution on this date in 1865 and sends it to the several states for ratification. The House, after much contentious debate, actually passed the amendment. The Senate had passed it the previous April.
USA! USA!: The amendment was ratified in December when it was ratified by Georgia.
He Shoots…He Scores!!!…And Scores!!!!…: Joe Malone of the Quebec Bulldogs establishes an NHL record for goals in a game, scoring seven against the Toronto St Pats – now known as the Maple Leafs – on this date in 1920. Malone broke the record of six goals established three weeks earlier by Newsy Lalonde.
The Postgame Show Is Brought To You By Don Cherry: Malone’s record still stands and while we are not ready to put it on our list of records that will never be broken, it is worth noting no NHL player has scored six goals in a game Darryl Sittler of Toronto in 1976.
Oh Yeah: Quebec defeated Toronto that night 10-6.
“OK, Father. I’ll Pray That You Don’t Follow Me Too Soon.”: Army Private Eddie Slovik is executed in France by the US Army for desertion on this date in 1945. Slovak was one of 21,000 servicemen convicted of desertion, one of 49 death sentences issued but his was the only one carried out. He was the first American executed for desertion since the Civil War.
Quotebook:I have said to myself a thousand times that I should be happy if I were but as ignorant as my old neighbor; and yet it is a happiness which I do not desire. – Voltaire
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Wilhelm Frick (Minister of the Interior) and Hermann Goring (Minister of the Interior for Prussia) were the other two senior Nazi leaders who took office the day Hitler became chancellor of Germany.
Today’s Stumper: What is the longest interval between ratification of consecutive Constitutional amendments? – Answer next time!!
At Disneyland, nothing is impossible. – Walt Disney
Walt Disney was an American entrepreneur and film producer. Among other things, Disney created Mickey Mouse, virtually defined American animation and built Disneyland. His early interest in life was drawing and he is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame three times, twice on his own and once as Mickey Mouse. His 26 Oscars are far and away a record.
Disneyland completely revolutionized the amusement park racket. Instead of merely a collection of rides, Disneyland was a collection of experiences. You could go on a submarine ride or go to the moon. You could ride futuristic transportation modes such as the Monorail or People Mover or you could go into a tropically themed room and listen to island birds sing songs.
The only limits Disney put on himself where those where is imagination could not take him. He expected a lot out of himself and those who worked for him and he expected it every day.
…nothing is impossible.
This isn’t entirely true, of course. Lot’s of things are impossible. For example, me winning an Olympic sprinting medal is impossible. On the other hand, me writing something worthwhile for you to read every day is very possible. The key is sticking to your strengths having reasonable goals.
But reasonable goals do not mean low goals. We must set our sights high because that is the only way great things are accomplished. The only way people look down from the summit to where they used to be is because they aimed high. As we say here from time to time, nobody ever climbed Mount Everest while wandering around the Gobi Desert.
Sometimes the biggest obstacle to our success looks us in the mirror every morning. With some courage to give something a try, with sufficient diligence to do it well and patience to do it every day and see it through to the end, you might be surprised at what you can accomplish because the only limits to what we can do are those we impose on ourselves.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
The Daily Dose/January 30, 2018 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Notes from around the Human Experience…
KEEP EXPECTATIONS LOW, AS USUAL, AND NOBODY WILL BE TOO DISAPPOINTED: President Donald Trump – President Donald Trump! – will deliver the State of the Union address in the House of Representatives chamber at the United States Capitol tonight. Trump being Trump, he could sound downright presidential or he could blather. He will probably do both.
Dry, Technical Matter: A presidential address to Congress is mandated in the Constitution, Article II, Section 3 stating, in part, that the president:
…shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.
Please Pass The Dry, Technical Matter: President Washington delivered the first State of the Union address on January 8, 1790. From 1821 through 1832 presidents delivered them exclusively in December and in 1934 President Franklin Roosevelt started the tradition of delivering them in January.
Back On Message: The economic numbers aren’t too bad. Wall Street is flourishing and the unemployment rate is a bit less than five percent but boy, anybody who has had to pound the street looking for work the past few years knows it’s tough to make a go of it. Employers figured out how to make a profit in tough times during the Great Recession and they are still hiring that way.
This really isn’t an indictment. One of the functions of businesses in a free market is adapting to current conditions. It’s what American business has been doing since the Pilgrims first traded with the Indians. American workers, spurred on by the disappearance of the once-proud private-sector American union, are currently content to take what employers choose to offer.
Fly In The Ointment: Now, nothing is perfect, but there are some aspects of our American Experience that if not checked will destroy our country, probably before this half-century is out.
American society, like it’s government, is partisan, fractured bickering mess. Gunfire is now our primary form of social interaction. We are coming up on three decades of non-stop warfare and President Trump is not stopping this.The American military presence in both Afghanistan and Syria is up and President Trump – correctly, really, – doesn’t fret too much over the details but he has given area commanders greater authority to take offensive action. None of these wars have been declared by Congress.
Gaylon For Congress…Vote Early, Vote Often: We have said this time and time again on the campaign trail:
We will not have a peaceful world – or peaceful American citizens – without a peaceful American government.
In Other News: Americans are so thrilled with their lives we are drugging ourselves to death in record numbers. In the 12-month period beginning in July 2016 and ending in June 2017 nearly 67,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, a 16-percent increase.
The Bottom Line: America continues to get the government it elects. We elect lousy leaders, we get lousy government. Nothing will change until we have the courage to toss the status quo aside.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE!: Richard Lawrence, a malcontent house painter, attempts to assassinate President Andrew Jackson on this date in 1835. Jackson was leaving a funeral at the United States Capitol when Lawrence jumped out of a crowd and bravely tried to shoot Jackson in the back, however his pistol misfired.
Jackson got lucky again because Lawrence’s second pistol also misfired. By this time Jackson sensed something wasn’t quite right behind him, turned around and began beating the snot out of Lawrence with his cane.
The Postgame Show Is Brought To You By The First Bank Of The United States: Lawrence was arrested and would spend the rest of his life in mental institutions. This also marks the first known assassination attempt against a sitting president.
Great Moments In Adolf Hitler: Adolf Hitler is inaugurated as Chancellor of Germany on this date in 1933. Recent parliamentary elections had not resulted in a majority government and Hitler had been offered as, of all things, a compromise candidate, though he had been reluctantly appointed by President Paul von Hindenburg.
Hitler would serve as Chancellor of Germany – while also adding other titles like Fuhrer and Most Evil Person in History – until his death in April 1945.
Oh, Bloody Hell: British paratroopers opened fire on unarmed protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland on this date in 1972. The protestors, between 10,000 and 15,000 strong, were protesting the arrest and confinement without trial of over 300 suspected members of the Irish Republican Army.
14 people were killed, 13 immediately and one later, and at least that many were injured. History refers to this incident as Bloody Sunday.
Quotebook:We are going to sing so that they will remember this for the rest of their lives. There is no other reason to do it, folks, none. – Garrison Keillor, Love Me
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: France has hosted the Olympic Games five times. They hosted the Summer Olympics in 1924 and 1900 and hosted the Winter Games in 1924, 1968 and 1992. They will again host the Summer Olympics in 2024.
Today’s Stumper: Two other men who would end up as senior members of the Nazi Party were sworn into cabinet offices in Germany the same Hitler became chancellor. Who were they? – Answer next time!
Better add January 28, 2018 to the list, too, as today marks the debut of an exciting new feature, The Sunday Bottom Ten.
The idea had actually been knocking around the old noggin for many years, but the inspiration never hit to make a go of it. Since we have an income independent of writing we have the luxury of writing what we want when we want, which allows new ideas to mature, sometimes in less than a decade. The Thought for the Day, which debuted a couple-three years at the old Writer’s Shack, is another example of an idea that took some time to come to fruition. The Diary of a Nobody is an example of a project whose inspiration came and went in a flash.
What really forced us to seriously consider The Sunday Bottom Ten was the backlog of Daily Dose column ideas we had in the docket. This is rare. Sometimes we might have an idea or, at most two, for future columns, but usually Daily Dose inspiration hits the day we write the column. Some readers have suggested a non-football Bottom Ten over the years but writers dislike advice almost as much as they need it, and this gave us an excuse to put it off again.
It will, of course, remain a work in progress, though soon enough we should have the same banal recurring lines and awards we’ve come to know and love in the football Bottom Tens.
We anticipate this will cut the number of Daily Dose columns down to four per week, but perhaps not. We’ll see. The Thought for the Day should not be affected, though that feature is being given a day off.
As always, you’re feedback, no matter how positive, is welcome. Please leave them in the Facebook comments box below.
The Daily Dose/January 25, 2018 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Notes from around the Human Experience…
TAKE ME OUT TO THE HALL OF FAME: This used to be one of the more enjoyable columns to write: comparing the merits of who was and who was not elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. It capped off an offseason of bickering about it and was no small part of the Hot Stove League. Back in the days before 24-hour news channels and non-stop college basketball, it was one of the ways you passed the time until spring training started.
Fly In The Ointment: But, as long-time readers of this crap know, the election of Gary Carter to the Hall in 2003 took all the fun out of it because it made Carter the official Hall of Fame Line of Demarcation. If you were as good or better than Carter, welcome aboard. If you were not as good as Carter, you’re not admitted, end of story. There was no need to bother with comparing batting average or ERA’s or Gold Gloves. Either you were as good or better than Carter or you weren’t. If you follow the game your instincts will probably do a good job of telling you if a certain player was or was not as good as Gary Carter.
Dry, Technical Matter: All four of the 2018 enshrinees – Chipper Jones, Trevor Hoffman, Vladimir Guerrero and Jim Thome – are richly deserving of their spot in Cooperstown.
Running The Numbers: Carter was a good major league baseball player. In 19 seasons Carter hit .262, had 324 home runs and 1,225 RBIs. He also won three Gold Gloves. In the biggest at-bat of his life, the bottom of the tenth, two outs, his team down two runs to Boston in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, Carter singled and would later score in a game, and World Series, his New York Mets would ultimately win.
Now, we’re not saying Carter does not belong in baseball’s Hall of Fame. It’s their Hall and they can let in Tito Fuentes for all I care. On the other hand, we didn’t chair his campaign committee, either.\
The Bottom Line: But Carter’s enshrinement opens the door pretty wide. If there is room for Carter there should also be room for others on this year’s ballot like Scott Rolen, Jeff Kent, Mike Mussina, Gary Sheffield and Curt Schilling because all pass muster under the Carter Criteria.
It is, thankfully, well beyond the scope of this column to list every former major league player who meets the Carter Criteria, but If Carter’s in, there should also be plaques for Thurman Munson, Steve Garvey, Richie Allen, Tommy John, Dale Murphy, Don Mattingly, among others.The list goes on.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE! Despite the fact he already has a queen, Henry VIII, the King of England, marries Anne Boleyn on this date in 1533. Henry and Catherine had been married in 1509 but Henry had grown weary of her and had been pursuing Anne for several years. Anne, however, had resisted becoming his mistress and Henry’s letters to Anne indicate their relationship remained unconsummated until shortly before their wedding.
Henry did his darndest to get his marriage to Catherine annulled. He appealed to Pope Clement VII who said no. Not satisfied with the pope’s opinion on the matter, Henry ordered Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to look into the matter and Cranmer, no idiot, declared in May that Henry’s marriage to Catherine was null and void and that his marriage to Anne was valid.
The Postgame Show Is Brought To You By Goat And Compass Ale: Both Catherine and Anne would die in 1536, Catherine, then the dowager princess of Wales, would die in in detention, perhaps poisoned, but History is not clear on that matter.
Anne was unable to produce a male heir, so Henry had her tried for treason. She was found guilty and was beheaded in May.
FunFact: Though Henry VIII was married six times, technically he only had three wives because three of his marriages were annulled.
Scoreboard, Baby: Newspaper reporter Nellie Bly completes her quest to travel around the world in less than 80 days, arriving in New New Jersey on this date in 1890. Her quest had been inspired by the novel Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne. All told Bly had traveled a bit less than 25,000 miles. She had left New Jersey on November 14. Before her trip, Bly had done pioneering investigative reporting on the lives of working women and those in insane asylums.
Higher…Stronger…Colder: The first International Week of Winter Sport, now known as the first Winter Olympics, open in Chamonix, France on this date in 1924. Previously, winter events – like hockey and figure skating – had been held at the Summer Games. 16 countries sent athletes and Norway and Finland led the gold medal count with four each.
The Chamonix Games also marked the Olympic debut of figure skater Sonja Henie of Norway. She was eleven at the time and finished last, though she was popular with the fans and, of course, would win the gold medal in figure skating at the next three Winter Games.
Quotebook:If in the future we find ourselves with a lot of fourth-rate citizens, we have only ourselves to blame. – Louis L’Amour, Education of a Wandering Man
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: There wasn’t a Trivia feature last time, silly!
Today’s Stumper: How many times have the Olympic Games been held in France? – Answer next time!!
The Daily Dose/January 23, 2018 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Notes from around the Human Experience…
KEEP EXPECTATIONS LOW, AS USUAL, AND NO ONE WILL BE TOO DISAPPOINTED: One year and three days after his inauguration as president of the United States, nothing President Donald Trump as done, or not done, should be too surprising.
Trump was a misfit as a private citizen and an utter embarrassment as a candidate and it is hardly the Upset of the Year Trump has turned out to be both as president of the United States. His only real talent remains drawing attention to himself. Everything else is ancillary to that.
Dry, Technical Matter: None of this is a bulletin. When he got into the race for the GOP nomination in the summer of 2015 Trump did not have a substantive, long-term plan for our country. There was a time when the American media would have had an attention-needing billionaire without a plan out of the race within a week, but that time has passed. Trump meant clicks and ratings, so the media played along.
Trump’s complete lack of a long-term plan for this country didn’t bother GOP voters, either, who ushered him right into the general election. Trump couldn’t be bothered to produce anything of substance then, either, though that didn’t stop us from electing him president and it is folly to expect him to produce one now.
Fly In The Ointment: The only leadership Trump has shown has been guiding the GOP to a complete inability to govern, having brilliantly parlayed control of both the White House and Congress into a clinic in how not to get anything done.
Their biggest accomplishment was a half-assed tax reform bill that might do some good for some people, but likely will mean little for most of us. More than anything, the GOP tax bill does nothing to either simplify the tax code or stop the government from taking more of our money than they are entitled to.
The Bottom Line: Towards the end of the Obama Administration we wrote that the official Daily Dose position was that Bush and Obama were the two worst consecutive presidential administrations our nation has been obliged to endure. Trump is making it a three-peat. Not only is Trump an embarrassment who has some zero regard for anything other than himself, nothing will be done to address our two most pressing issues: our perpetual wars and our mindless debt, two elements that if not addressed pretty soon will result in our nation’s collapse, probably before this half-century is out.
“MOUNTAINS AND RIVERS CHANGED PLACES…”: What is generally considered to be History’s deadliest earthquake occurs in Shaanxi province in China on this date in 1556. There are assorted accounts of the earthquake and the death toll is estimated at over 800,000 people, about 60 percent of the region’s population.
The Classic Cavalry/Navy Battle: Fighting in the War of the First Coalition, French soldiers riding horses capture Dutch warships on this date in 1795. Known as the Capture of the Dutch Fleet at Den Helder, the ships were frozen at anchor, and the French cavalry forces merely had to charge across the frozen bay to capture 14 ships and 850 guns. It is one of the few instances in military history of horses capturing ships.
To Boldly Go…: Man reaches the deepest part of the ocean on this date in 1960 when US Navy Lieutenant Dan Walsh Jacques Piccard ride the Trieste to Challenger Deep, 35,797 feet below the surface. Challenger Deep is 189 miles southwest of Guam.
It took Trieste four hours and 47 minutes to reach the bottom, and voice communications took seven seconds to reach the surface. Trieste took three hours and 15 minutes to get back to the surface.
FunFact: While on the bottom Piccard and Walsh noticed some sole and flounder swimming on the bottom and noted the floor looked like ooze.
Thanks For The Memories: Pioneer 10, the first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter, sends its last signal back to Earth on this date in 2003. The signal is so weak it produces no usable data.
Dry, Technical Matter: Pioneer 10 had been launched in March 1972 and reached its closest point of approach to Jupiter in December 1973. In June 1983, Pioneer 10 crossed the orbit of Neptune, then the planet farthest planet from the Sun, becoming the first man-made object to leave the vicinity of the Solar System.
Quotebook:…a man does what the situation demands. …we do not have heroes, only people doing what is necessary at the time. – Louis L’Amour, The Lonesome Gods
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Doe v Bolton, which overturned Georgia’s abortion laws, was issued the same day as Roe v Wade.
The Daily Dose/January 22, 2018 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Notes from around the Human Experience…
USA! USA!: The great thing about our latest government shutdown is it shows how nothing really changes. As usual, fingers are being pointed and rhetoric is flying. Republicans are blaming Democrats and Democrats are blaming Republicans over who is really to blame for our current government shutdown.
Fly In The Ointment: Really, though, the only ones to blame look us in the mirror every morning because you and me – we the people – are the ones ultimately responsible for this imbroglio. Year in and year out we continually reelect the rats who continually provide the partisan, fractured and bickering government that gets us into these messes. And as long as we keep tolerating lousy government those we keep sending back to Washington will only be too happy to continue delivering it. We will always get the government we deserve.
Dry, Technical Matter: This shutdown will resemble the others. Some national parks are open, some are not. Some government services have the money to keep going for another week or two and they’ll remain open, but those that do not will close. During the 2013 shutdown, roughly 40 percent of the federal workforce was furloughed and it will probably be about that this time, too.
Show Them The Money: Even though they’re not doing what they’re paid to do, members of Congress will continue to receive their salaries during the shutdown, though it should be noted some members of the House and Senate have announced plans to either not accept their salary or to donate it to charity. Also, a couple of bills to block Congressional pay during shutdowns have been introduced.
Interestingly, those in the service do not get paid during a shutdown, though eventually that will be made up to them. This despite the fact they must continue to report for duty every day.
FunFact: President Trump would get paid if he were accepting his presidential salary of $400,000 a year. He declines it, however, joining President Kennedy as the only presidents to do so.
Some Places Have Interns For This: Technically, Herbert Hoover accepted his presidential salary, but gave it all away, while George Washington tried to decline his, but Congress paid him anyway.
Play Ball…Or Not: Another victim of the shutdown is the sports program at the Air Force Academy, which was obliged to shut down all its winter sports. Navy and Army, however, since their funding is independent of the government, are continuing to play.
The Bottom Line: This will not be resolved until everyone in the Senate decides it is in their best interest to do so. Until then the posturing and finger pointing will continue.
IT HAS A GOOD BEAT AND YOU CAN DANCE TO IT: Columbia Records, then known as the Columbia Phonograph Company, is founded in Washington, DC on this date in 1887. At first, Columbia sold and serviced phonographs and phonograph cylinders, though within a few years it started releasing its own music. Columbia began selling vinyl albums in 1901 and by 1908 was selling records pressed on both sides. It was acquired by CBS in 1935 and CBS Records was acquired by Sony in 1991.
FunFact: Columbia remains the oldest brand name in recorded sound.
Insert Your Own Funny Lead Line Here: The United Mine Workers is formed in Columbus, Ohio when the Knights of Labor and the National Progressive Miners Union merge on this date in 1890. The union would hold its first strike the following year, which resulted in ten members being shot to death by elements of the national guard, and it achieved an eight-hour workday for its members in 1989.
Blimey! This Should Be Bloody Interesting: Soccer is broadcast on the radio for the first time when Teddy Wakelam offers commentary on the thrilling 1-1 ties between Arsenal and Sheffield United match on this date in 1927. A few days earliers Wakelam provided radio coverage of a rugby game or match or whatever they’re called and later that year Wakelam would announce both cricket and the Wimbledon tennis tournament.
Now Hear This: The United States Supreme Court issues one if its most famous rulings, Roe vs Wade, which legalized elective abortion in the US, on this date in 1973. The court ruled 7-2 that a Texas law violated a woman’s right to privacy under the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Attention Kmart Shopper(s): Kmart becomes the largest retailer in US history to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on this date in 2002. Kmart emerged from bankruptcy the following year and was acquired Sears in 2004.
FunFact: Though the first Kmarts didn’t open until 1932, it can trace its lineage back to 1899 when Sebastian Spering Kresge opened two five-and-dime stores in Detroit. At its peak at the turn of the century, Kmart operated 2,171 stores and today operates over 500.
Quotebook:The strong are saying nothing until they see. – Robert Frost
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Louis XVI’s wife was Queen Marie Antoinette, who was executed in October, 1793.
Today’s Stumper: What other ruling did the United States Supreme Court issue the same day as its Roe v Wade opinion? – Answer next time!
