Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. – John Wooden
John Wooden was the head basketball coach at UCLA from 1948-75. He won ten national championships, a record for a men’s basketball coach, including seven straight, a record for anyone and some regard him as the best there was at what he did. We went to his basketball camp a couple of times as a kid and still remember that Coach was a big believer in focusing on what you could control, like preparation, effort and patience, and not getting too worked up over matters that were out of your control. Today’s Thought is completely in step with how Wooden lived his life.
Today’s Thought is sometimes easier said than done. It’s human nature to fuss over things we have no control over and to lament when things don’t go our way, even if the event was caused by completely random factors.
While part of us might find this soothing, it’s wasted effort. As we note here regularly, there are an awful lot of people on this planet, every single one of them leading random lives, including some who directly influence how or if we are able to go about our business.
Focusing on what we can do, while ignoring what we cannot, is liberating because that means we are focusing on what we should be doing with our lives and not merely spending time worrying about – and reacting to – outside influences.
Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
The hard part in getting on in this world is not finding what we can do. That’s what our hearts and instincts are for. Our hearts tell us where to go and our instincts tell us how to get there. All we have to do is muster the courage to listen to them.
No, the hard part is doing what we can do every day. It doesn’t do us, or our fellow beings, any good to be on our path some days and not others, or some weeks or years and not others. We must be on our paths every single day. This is not always easy, either, because the focus required to do something every day is not easy to come by.
Doing what we can do is all we are capable of. We cannot do more, but we must not do less. If we have the courage and the diligence to do what we are capable of every day, what is meant to happen in our lives usually does.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
The Daily Dose/January 21, 2018 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Notes from around the Human Experience…
USA! USA!: The United States Navy has decided to press charges against the commanding officers of the USS Fitzgerald and McCain who were in the saddle when their ships collided with other vessels in 2017. The two collisions resulted in the deaths of 17 US sailors. Both collisions were preventable had both bridges been manned by properly trained, vigilant watchstanders. They were not.
Bravo Zulu: This is good news. All hands in the Navy, past, present and future, are entitled not only to know exactly what happened to cause 17 shipmates to die but to have those responsible held accountable because being held accountable is the fundamental tenet of command.
Dry, Technical Matter: Commanders Bryce Benson and Alfredo Sanchez have both been charged with negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and hazarding a vessel. Three others from the Fitzgerald and one other from the McCain have been charged as well and these charges follow administrative punishment, removals and forced retirements already handed out to others.
Please Pass The Dry, Technical Matter: While the Uniform Code of Military Justice does not define negligent homicide, a good definition is:
A person who, through criminal negligence, or without malice, allows another person to die.
It’s the lowest level of criminal homicide and in the service carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison.
More Dry, Technical Matter: Based on this definition, and our reading of the reports on the incidents, negligent homicide is a reasonable charge. Regular readers of this crap may – or they may not – recall an earlier column on St Louis police officer Jason Stockley who was acquitted of first-degree murder last year after he shot a black man to death. Like you probably did, we read the judge’s opinion and we concluded the officer was not guilty of first-degree murder. Under the circumstance, this was not a particularly reasonable charge and the prosecution did not serve the people of St Louis well by pursuing it. The Navy is serving America well by pursuing negligent homicide charges.
Warm, Personal Remembrance: Regular readers of this crap know we’ve navigated US Navy ships – at sea, no less – so we have some modest street cred in this matter. Our experience was that sailors who were well trained and standing the type of diligent, professional watch that would cause John Paul Jones to achieve and maintain a state of arousal do not run aground or occupy the same place on the ocean as other ships.
The Bottom Line: Whether the captains are found guilty or not, this shows the Navy is serious about holding commanders accountable for their actions. The Navy didn’t have to do this, they could have easily swept it under the rug and allowed Benson and Sanchez to leave the Navy without facing criminal charges. Neither deserves that, and the trials will be good for our country.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE!: The first American novel, The Power of Sympathy: or, The Triumph of Nature, by William Hill Brown, is published in Boston on this date in 1789. It was not-so-loosely based on an affair where Brown’s neighbor seduced his sister-in-law, who became pregnant and later killed herself.
Great Moments In Beheading The King: Louis XVI, arrested and deposed as King of France the previous year, is beheaded on this date in 1793. Louis had been arrested on charges of treason the previous year.
“Louis, The French Nation Accuses You…”: There were 33 charges against Louis, who by this time was referred to as Citizen Louis Capet. Like monarchs before him, Louis claimed the charges were invalid because as king he was immune from prosecution. He was found guilty, anyway, with 693 deputies voting yes, zero voting no, though some were absent and some abstained with some of those citing their job was to make laws, not sit in judgement of others.
“He Suddenly Let Go My Arm, And I Saw Him Cross With A Firm Foot…”:Accounts of Louis’ beheading state the former monarch appeared dignified and resigned. He had risen early, taken Mass and communion and, on advice, avoided a final scene with his family. The ride to the scaffold was long. After reiterating his innocence and pardoning those “who are the cause of my death” a general in the National Guard ordered a drum roll, drowning out the rest of his speech.
I Do Solemnly Swear…Or Did Solemnly Swear.: Deciding his loyalty was to his home state and not his country, Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate on this date in 1861. In his memoirs, Davis would state he believed each state was sovereign in and of itself and had the right to secede from any union. He also believed the South did not have the resources to defeat the North in a war, though that did not stop him from becoming president of the Confederacy a few weeks later.
More USA! USA!: The USS Nautilus, the world’s first operational nuclear submarine, is launched in Groton, Connecticut on this date in 1954. Nautilus didn’t go far. She remained tied to the pier for further testing and would be commissioned in September and would get underway for the first time the following January. Nautilus would serve America honorably until her decommissioning in 1980, and she is now a museum in Groton, Connecticut.
Quotebook:I grew fond of her company, and at this time being under no religious restraints, I attempted familiarities (another erratum), which she repulsed with proper resentment. – Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Before the passage of the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution, presidents and vice presidents were inaugurated on March 4.
Today’s Stumper: Who was Louis XVI’s wife? – Answer next time!
…the ultimate opponent is the warriors own self…To actually overcome one’s own defects is the nature of victory. Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao
It is not for the first time that Deng Ming-Dao is providing our Thought for the Day. As we tend to note every hour on the hour, 365 Tao’s influence on us has been profound, and we certainly hope you enjoy its insights when we offer them.
As we frequently note here, we were all issued assorted talents at birth. These talents vary from person to person. I can write and give a pretty good speech but if you need someone to help fix your car, call someone else. You have your talents, too, and those that get on in this world are usually those that have maximized their talents. And those talents don’t have to bring us fame and fortune, either, to ensure a happy life. All we have to do is get the most out of them, because when we do that, what is meant to happen in our life generally does.
…the ultimate opponent is the warriors own self.
But while all of have our own distinct talents, we also have our own, unique set of defects, because all of us were issued those at birth, too. It is not always easy to get the most out of our talents. Every day there are a hundred different distractions. Every day we must overcome ourselves, be it a fear of success or a fear of failure or the fear of the unknown that attends the start of any great enterprise. One of our many defects is we are amongst the greatest procrastinators our species has produced.
To actually overcome one’s own defects is the nature of victory…
When our time comes to die we are going to have to review our life. We will ask ourselves if we made our time serve us, or if we merely served a sentence while on this planet. But, really, we shouldn’t wait that long. Every day we should be asking ourselves this question and we must be our most stringent examiner because oftentimes the biggest barrier between us and what we want in this life looks us in the mirror every morning.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
The Daily Dose/January 20, 2018 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Notes from around the Human Experience…
USA! USA!: Nothing ever changes in our fractured, partisan, bickering government. In 2013 the Republicans forced a two-week government shutdown by holding a spending bill hostage over the funding of ObamaCare. This year the Democrats, showing that imitation remains the sincerest form of flattery, are holding a spending plan hostage over immigration.
The result is the same. Because an agreement wasn’t reached in the United States Senate before midnight Friday, the government lacks the legal authority to spend money and assorted non-essential government services will be shut down. Exactly what has yet to be announced. During the 2013 shutdown about 40 percent of the federal workforce was furloughed.
We’re In For Some Dry, Technical Matter, Aren’t We?: Officially, the government has shut down 18 times since the Congressional Budget Act was passed in 1974.
Dry, Technical Matter: The Act detailed, for the first time, Congress’ role in the budget process. It was passed by a frisky Congress in the final days of the Nixon Administration and while the Administration didn’t particularly like it, Nixon signed it because he was, of course, knee-deep in Watergate and hardly in a position to further annoy Congress.
Really Dry, Technical Matter: Before the 1974 Act, the government operated under the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which directed the president to submit a budget to Congress. It was designed to consolidate government spending and was signed by President Warren G Harding in 1921.
The Bottom Line: This is, of course, further manifestation that our government is fractured, partisan and bickering mess that we continue to tolerate every two years at the ballot box. We can blame Congress and the White House only so much because we elected everyone there.
And while it is true Congress and the White House bicker like this regularly, it is another instance of the GOP – in control of both the executive and legislative branches – showing they remain utterly incapable of governing.
IT’S GOOD TO BE THE KING, AT LEAST UNTIL THEY CHOP YOUR HEAD OFF: Charles I, king of England, Scotland and Ireland, goes on trial for treason and other crimes on this date in 1846. Charles had fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments from 1642 until his defeat in 1645 in what History refers to the English Civil War.
For his part, Charles I believed in the divine right of kings, which had gotten into this mess in the first place, and claimed that no court had jurisdiction over a monarch. The court trying him begged to differ, found him guilty and on January 26 condemned him to death. He was beheaded on February 2.
It’s Good To Be The King, At Least Until You Abdicate: Edward VIII becomes king of Great Britain on this date 1936, succeeding his father George V, who had died. Edward would serve less than a year, abdicating in December after it became clear he could not marry his love, the soon-to-be twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson and continue on the throne. Edward would be succeeded by his brother Albert, who reigned as George VI, the father of Britain’s current monarch Elizabeth II.
“I Do Solemnly Swear…”: Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes the first president inaugurated on January 20 on this date in 1937. Roosevelt was being sworn in for his second term, the change coming about as a result of the passage in 1933 of the Twentieth Amendment to the US Constitution.
About Time: 52 Americans, held hostage by Iranians at the US embassy in Tehran, are released from captivity on this date in 1981. The release came immediately after newly-inaugurated President Ronald Reagan finished his inaugural address.
The hostages were not flown immediately home. First, they were paraded around Algeria because Algeria had helped secure their release, then they were flown to an air force hospital in what was then known as West Germany, then they were obliged to spend no small amount of time in New York where the festivities included a ticker-tape parade.
FunFact: The embassy had been overrun on November 4, 1979. It was originally planned as a mere sit-in by some malcontent students, but the crowd kept getting bigger and support from Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini led to them taking the embassy over.
Not every diplomat was taken hostage. Some found refuge in the British, Canadian or Swedish embassies and some were eventually smuggled out using fake Canadian passports and masquerading as a film crew.
Quotebook:It was hard to believe he had evolved through the natural process of conception, birth and growing up. – McKinley Kantor, Andersonville
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Wake Island was named after Captain Samuel Wake, who rediscovered the island in 1796 while commanding the Prince William Henry.
Today’s Stumper: Before the passing of the Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution, on what date were presidential inaugurations held? – Answer next time!
I had always been good company for myself. – Charles Bukowski, Ham on Rye
Charles Bukowski (1920-94) was a German/American writer and poet and Ham On Rye is a profound book told in the first person by Henry Chinaski, a character of Bukowski’s who is actually his alter ego. Our introduction to this book came entirely by chance, us coming across the manuscript in the Huntington Library in San Marino, California a few feet from a Gutenberg Bible. The manuscript was open to a page where Chinaski is about to get beaten by his father for the first time, a passage we read many times before purchasing the book in the gift shop. As a side note, a column Bukowski once wrote for an underground newspaper in Los Angeles earned him is own FBI file.
It’s not easy to go it alone in this life. People need people. Whether it’s a kid needing his family or a husband needing his wife, very few people are cut out for being alone. It’s the way we humans are built. Heck, we’re cut out for solitude more than most and even we threw up our hands several years ago and got married, unable to further fend for ourselves.
I had always been good company for myself…
Those that get on in this life either are born with or acquire the capacity to be good company for themselves. This is important because the only way we can be comfortable with others is to be completely comfortable with ourselves. The way to do this is to resist outside influences and take the time to get to know ourselves from the inside out, to find the talents we were born with and to get the most out of them. We must learn to like ourselves despite our myriad faults and imperfections.
We are the only person we will see every day of our lives. Others will come and go, but every day we must look ourselves in the mirror. It’s important we like and are comfortable with what we see.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
The Daily Dose/January 17, 2017 By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
Notes from around the Human Experience…
WELL, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?: We were doing some browsing recently seeing what our fellow humans were up to when we came across this headline:
The 2017 Freshman All-American Football Team
The left-handed quarterback pictured looked as if he was still anticipating his first shave and some further research showed the list was an All-American team of freshmen high school football players!
Our first thought was this is insane. These are punk freshmen, they should be having trouble with algebra, popping zits and trying to scam on chicks. Putting them on an All-American football team cannot be doing them any good at all.
Oh Jesus H: You know, there was a time when freshmen didn’t play varsity sports. Heck, we made the varsity baseball team as a sophomore and that was pretty big news in the early 80’s, especially since we weren’t any good.
But times change, of course. Freshmen are making an impact now because for a generation or two a lot of high school athletes have been focusing on one sport the year round, in order to better their chances for a scholarship or professional contract.
Running The Numbers: Good luck. Of the just over one million kids that play high school football, roughly 73,600 – a bit less than seven percent – will play college football at any level. Of these 73,600, only 10,880 are scholarship players at major division universities.
FunFact: The prospect of a professional career are even bleaker because on any given week only 1,472 players suit up for a National Football League game.
Dry, Technical Matter: Now, if you’re one of the few with the talent required to give pro or college sports a shot, knock yourself out. The lessons taught by the focus and work required to get the most out of supreme talent will serve you well. Take your shot and for Pete’s sake make the most of it because you’re only getting one. Waste it and it’s gone.
Meanwhile, Back On Earth: But we don’t think the average kid with average talent is served well by playing only one sport because they are missing out not only on both the fun of other sports but in the lessons each sport has to teach.
Hut, Hut Hike: Football’s great lesson, of course, is you get hit, you get back up. It is the only way to succeed in football and it is the only way to succeed in life. But a lineman isn’t required to break tackles and cornerbacks seldom need to throw down a block or throw a pass. A kid needs other sports to complement his journey to adulthood.
Full Court Press: Basketball teaches you must be versatile enough to play defense, rebound and score and you must be adaptable enough to go from offense to defense and back to offense in a matter of seconds.
On Your Mark…: Track and field, where success can be objectively measured by a clock or a tape measure, does a very good job of teaching you that oftentimes the biggest obstacle between you and the success you want sometimes looks us in the mirror every morning.
Hey Batter, Batter: My favorite lesson from baseball was it’s a long season, so don’t get too worked up over a good game or a bad game, just like you don’t want to get too worked up over a good day or a bad day in life. Everything must be taken in stride.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE!: The United States takes possession of Wake Island on this date in 1899. The US, fresh off its annexation of Hawaii and seizure of Guam and the Philippines thought it would be a good location for a cable telegraph station and a good place to refuel ships with coal.
FunFact: Wake Island is located about two-thirds of the way between Honolulu and Guam and today has a transient population of about 150 servicemen and contractors that keep the airfield running. It is also the easternmost time zone in the United States. When it is 1am Monday in New York City, it is 6pm Monday on Wake Island.
USA! USA!: Executions resumed in the United States when Utah executes convicted murderer Gary Gilmore on this date in 1977. It was the first execution in the United States since Colorado executed Luis Monge in 1967.
Justice was swift in Gilmore’s case. He had only been convicted the previous October.
“I Would Like Them All…To Butt Out.”: Though Gilmore couldn’t be bothered to file appeals to save his life, his mother did, though the United States Supreme Court denied her petition on the grounds that Gilmore had waived his rights by not pursuing them. The ACLU, against Gilmore’s wishes, did muster a few stays against Gilmore’s wishes.
Oh Yeah: Gilmore had his choice between being shot to death and being hanged and he chose a firing squad because he thought there was less chance of that being botched.
Quotebook:You don’t have much hope of getting the truth if you think you know in advance what the truth ought to be. – Robert B Parker, Pale Kings and Princes
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: The United States first accomplished the docking of two manned spacecraft when the lunar and command service modules of Apollo 9 undocked and docked on March 7, 1969.
Today’s Stumper: Who was Wake Island named after? – Answer next time!
All righty, it’s all over. The 2017 Bottom Ten season is complete with this week’s Tenny Awards. This marks the longest season in Bottom Ten history. Recall college football games started a week earlier in 2017 so, flexible as ever, we kicked things off the first-ever Preseason Q&A before the usual weekly surveys started. Then we brought back the Best Of column and now the guaranteed-to-be-an-instant-classic Tenny Awards are being issued for the first time, so there were three (3) extra weeks of The Bottom Ten this season.
The Tenny Awards have knocking around my mind for a couple of years, but this was the first year we were moved to actually write them. They were referenced in an early survey and awards and lines started showing up in our minds a couple-three weeks ago.
As usual, it is both easy and tough to let The Bottom Ten go. Easy because it runs over all or part of six (6) calendar months and we’re pretty sure we’re ready for the offseason. Tough because it’s a lot of fun. In the spring the first lines will start creeping in, usually some stuff about Duke – even though they are seldom ranked anymore – or the service academies, and by the time August rolls around we are ready to go again.
In today’s Daily Dose we talk about the Hawaii missile alert imbroglio and how we actually got a chuckle out of it and British author John Creasey has today’s Thought.
The Bottom Ten/The 2017 Tenny Awards By Gaylon Kent America’s Funniest Guy
In the Bottom Ten pollsters never-ending quest to milk even more material out of this feature, they are pleased to present the first ever Bottom Ten Tenny Awards, an opportunity to not only celebrate the awards that were issued throughout the season, but a time to herald the remaining winners of new, coveted Bottom Ten hardware.
The 2017 Bottom Ten season will go down in infamy as the rarest of the rare: a Holy Trinity year where the NCAA and NFL champions, not to mention the Continental Cup winner, of course, all go winless!
So bring out the barf bags! The Tennys for 2017 go to:
Bottom Ten Hall of Fame Inductees Cleveland Browns – For meritorious achievement in becoming only second 0-16 team in NFL history.
Hue Jackson, Head Coach, Cleveland Browns – Own wing being designed as only NFL coach to go 1-31 over two-year span.
Nick Johnson, Head Coach, Earlham Quakers – Johnson off to historic 0-30 start with Quakers, with consecutive Continental Cups – issued to team with longest all-division losing streak in NAFTA sphere-of-influence – already in hand.
Game of the Year Tennessee at Cleveland NFL/Week 9 – 14 minutes of overtime, seven (7) field goals, 17 penalties and zero (0) touchdowns…B-10 pollsters “pretty sure” this is first game in NFL history where winning coach wins playoff game, loses job, losing coach goes winless, keeps job.
Team of the Year UTEP (0-12)- Toughest Team of the Year vote since 1960 when Dallas Cowboys, SMU, Tijuana Tech all went winless, Miners get nod over Cleveland Browns, Earlham based on Total Team Effort (TTE) that produced four (4) games of scoring ten (10) or fewer points, four games of giving up 40 or more points.
Coach of the Year Hue Jackson, Cleveland Browns – Steady-as-she-loses coach shows focus of B-10 champion, setting aside heartache of 2016’s 1-15 mark to lead Browns to perfect 0-16 record and second straight Dan Henning Trophy in 2017.
Line of the Year: The Medal Stand 1. Team so bad squad has Nike logo on jerseys even though they are sponsored by Under Armour. – Earlham NCAA/Week 9
2. StubHub Center spokesman assures LA football fans tarps will be taken off seats in time for next month’s high school football playoffs… – Los Angeles Chargers NFL/Week 6
3. Americans eagerly awaiting day when Amazon, Walmart give permission for holidays to begin with He Is Risen sales after Easter sunrise services. – 2017 Holiday Season NCAA/Interregnum Poll
3. Thomas Robinson Stadium almost as bad a bowl facility as Yankee Stadium, with 50-yard line seats a mere 130 feet from field, behind running track, long jump/triple jump pits, detention area for opposition leaders. – Bahamas Bowl NCAA/Bowl Game Edition
Previously Awarded Crap:
The ESPN Cup – Issued To The Collegiate Bottom Ten Champion: UTEP, 0-12 The Dan Henning Trophy – Symbolic of NFL Bottom Ten Supremacy: Cleveland Browns, 0-16 The Continental Cup – Issued to team with longest all-division losing streak in NATO: Earlham, 43 consecutive losses The Sgt Bilko Trophy – Symbolic of Service Academy Lousiness: Air Force The Tostitos Plaque – Issued to Team With Longest Losing Streak in Season That Actually Includes A Win: Kansas, 1-11 The Jim Hanifan Medallion – Symbolic of NFL Preseason Lousiness: Atlanta Falcons, 0-4 The Billy Cannon Certificate – Symbolic of Cajun Football Lousiness: UL-Lafayette NCAA Conference of the Year: Conference USA The Pete Rozelle Award – Issued to NFL’s Worst Division: AFC North
That’s A Wrap: Thank you for reading. See you in 218 days with the 2018 Bottom Ten Preseason Q&A!
…if his mind was preoccupied with emotions he couldn’t use it effectively. – John Creasey, A Sharp Rise In Crime
John Creasy (1908-73) was a British writer specializing in crime and science fiction. He was rather prolific, too, a veritable assembly line, producing over 600 novels under his own name and 28 pen names. It’s been years since we read this book, though there is another Creasey quote from Day of Fear, a couple of quotes above today’s Thought and we reckon we came across today’s Thought in the early 1990’s.
Emotions are everywhere. From the trivial, when someone cuts us off in traffic, to emotions stirred while earning a living to the profound family issues that affect all of us, we ask our minds to take on an awful lot.
Sometimes this can be used to advantage. After all, not all emotions are bad. Good things, sometimes great things, happen in this life and we channel these emotions both to enjoy the moment and to spur us on to even greater things.
…if his mind was preoccupied with emotions…
Sometimes, of course, emotions cause negative feelings and sometimes they can be so overwhelming they hinder or even incapacitate us. When this happens, our minds are completely caught up in emotion’s ruling power and are no longer doing us much good. When this happens we are completely out of step with our life’s march and our time is spent responding to outside influences, keeping us off balance and far from a centered and balanced life.
…he couldn’t use it effectively.
If we are going to accomplish what we are meant to accomplish in life our minds must be clear. As much as possible, at least. We’re not robots, after all, and it is not reasonable to expect any of us to shut out every emotion every time. But we can keep it clear of emotions – like anger or hatred or prejudice – that do not do us any good.
Our mind is our greatest tool, our greatest weapon and – with the possible exception of our good health – our greatest asset. If we are going to get the most out of our lives we must be getting the most our minds. As much as possible, we must dismiss the negative emotions that provide no dividend and that prevent our minds from humming on all cylinders.
The Thought for the Day runs regularly. Quotes are from Gaylon’s private stock.
