The Daily Dose/May 16, 2023
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience. 

Leading Off will return.

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow notes the weather is starting to change. Today’s Diary. 

The big news is the first ice water of the season at the hotel is in the books…

———

Click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.

Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device. 

———

On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.  

In 1866 – The nickel is minted for the first time in Philadelphia. Like today, it was a copper-nickel alloy and had a shield on the obverse side and a 5 on the reverse side. The nickel joined the silver half-dime (through 1873) as five-cent pieces in circulation and today the nickel is 75% copper and 25% nickel. The Jefferson nickel was introduced in 1938 and costs about seven cents to produce. In 2020, over 827 million nickels were produced. 

In 1932 – The New York Yankees tie the American League record for most consecutive shutouts won in an 8-0 win over the Cleveland Indians. The Yankees tied the mark established by the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians and the record is now five, done twice, by the Baltimore Orioles in 1974 and 1995. The major league record is six, by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1903. 

In 1981 – Ray Parker, Jr. & Raydio is at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot Soul Singles chart – for the first of two consecutive weeks with A Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do). It was the fifth of eight Top 40 soul hits for Parker, his second and final Top 10, and remains his only soul #1. The song was written and produced by Parker and also peaked at #4 on the Hot 100. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

The future, good or ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have any power over the present…they were content with each good day as it came.
J. R. R. Tolkien
The Lord of the Rings

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

The Boston Red Caps won the first major league game at the Union Grounds in Brooklyn, defeating the New York Mutuals 6-5 in a National League game on April 25, 1876. 

Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.

How many #1 songs has Ray Parker, Jr. had on the Hot 100? – Answer next time!

Share Gaylon! Go!

The Daily Dose/May 15, 2023
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience. 

Leading Off will return.

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow mows the lawn, despite his best efforts. Today’s Diary. 

To not do it would be lazy, and while we have some, perhaps significant, street cred here, we headed out…

———

Click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.

Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device. 

———

On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.  

In 1252 – Pope Innocent VI issues a papal bull authorizing the use of torture while interrogating heretics during a period History refers to as the Medieval Inquisition. Innocent set limits, among them being that coercion must not cause the loss of life or limb. Innocent reigned from 1243-54 and research into when this bull was suspended or revoked was inconclusive. 

In 1862 – The first enclosed baseball grounds opens in Brooklyn with a game between local amateur players. Called the Union Grounds, it had dimensions resembling the Polo Grounds, cost $60,000 (about $2.1 million in today’s money) to build, and sat about 1,500 people. The grounds were bordered by Harrison Avenue, Rutledge Street, Lynch Street, and Marcy Avenue and stood until 1883 when it was replaced by Washington Field. The Union Grounds hosted 62 National League games (1876-78) and 253 National Association games (1871-75)

In 1961 – Faron Young is at #1 on Billboard’s country chart – then known as the Hot Country Sides chart – for the second of nine consecutive weeks with Hello Walls. It was the 16th of 36 Top 10 country hits for Young and his fourth of five #1s. The song also peaked at #12 on the Hot 100, Young’s fourth of six pop hits and his only Top 40 song, and also went to #13 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart. The song was written by Willie Nelson.

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

The wisest sage would need the perspective of a hundred lives to answer adequately.
Will Durant
The Story of Civilization, Vol. VI: The Reformation

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

Michael Jackson has had seven #1 songs in Great Britain. 

Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.

Who won the first major league game played at the Union Grounds? – Answer next time!

Share Gaylon! Go!

The Daily Dose/May 14, 2023
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

The Sunday Bottom 5
A ranking of some things.

1. NFL Schedule Reveal – Good job NFL of taking a routine administrative detail that should excite no more than the two dozen or so scheduling geeks still living in mom’s basement and turning it into a two-day extravaganza of zero substance…Sunday Bottom 5 pollsters, however, do send props to geekoid who discovered Rams, 49ers, only teams in 2023 with four games each against teams coming off bye week. 

2. College Baseball – Baseball! – Betting Scandals – Did we call it or what???…Betting scandals at Alabama, Iowa proved us right, that these were inevitable after college conferences, teams, decided to get in bed with legal sportsbooks…Anyone who thinks these are going to be the only ones are high, legally in more and more states.  

3. #USA! #USA! – The 3-hole staple…Americans continue to tolerate mass shootings that will not stop as long as violent US government continues to produce violent US citizens…Founding Fathers expected to continue rolling over in graves as we continue to allow 2nd Amendment – designed to allow citizens to carry weapons needed on regular basis – to become license to hold any weapon mankind can produce.

4. King Charles III – You know, Chuck, you’ve served the family business well and Lord knows you waited long enough but boy, any coronation, especially one of this magnitude, seems out of touch in the third decade of the 21st century…Sunday Bottom 5 pollsters are hardly oddsmakers, but “strongly suspect” it’s only 75/25 Prince William is crowned and less than 50/50 there’s a throne for Prince George to inherit. 

5. Disneyland Corn Dogs – Sunday Bottom 5 pollsters have “significant” street cred in this vital matter and are delighted to report red cart at end of Main Street, USA, remains 5-star dining…Just for funsies, you better get two as specific against lines being too long later in the day. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

Si, senor, es Read Free Sunday (RFS) este dia.

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow is adjusting to the nesting robins. Today’s Diary. 

With the robins in residence for reproduction duties on the meter next to the kitchen door we’re officially using the front door now all the time now…

———

Click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.

Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device. 

———

On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.  

In 1796 – Humans are inoculated with a smallpox vaccine for the first time when English physician Edward Jenner inoculates his gardener’s 8-year-old son with pus from a cowpox blister. Jenner was inspired after noticing that milkmaids, who got cowpox blisters, were immune from smallpox. The last known case of smallpox was in 1977, it was declared eradicated in 1980, and remains the only disease us humans have so disposed of. 

In 1989 – Kirby Puckett of the Minnesota Twins ties the major league record for most doubles in consecutive games in a 13-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Puckett had two doubles, giving him six in two games, tying the mark that had been done eight times previously. Puckett remains the last player to accomplish the feat and the previous day Puckett had tied the single-game major league record with four doubles against the Blue Jays. 

In 1983 – Michael Jackson is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the third and final consecutive week with Beat It, the 5th of his 13 #1 songs. The song went to #1 in four other countries, including Belgium and Canada, peaked at #3 in Great Britain, at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart, and was Billboard’s 5th-biggest song of the year. The song was written by Jackson and features a guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen, who declined to charge for his talents. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time…to stand on the meeting of two eternities, the past and the future, which is precisely the present moment. And to use the lessons of the past to profit the future.
Henry David Thoreau
Walden

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

The major league record for most career home runs by a pitcher is 37, by Wes Ferrell, from 1927-41. 

Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.

How many #1 songs has Michael Jackson had as a solo act in Great Britain? – Answer next time!

Share Gaylon! Go!

The Daily Dose/May 13, 2023
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience. 

Leading Off will return.

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow steps on the scale for the first time in two weeks. Today’s Diary. 

We found ourselves cackling this morning as we looked down at the scale…

———

Click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.

Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device. 

———

On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.  

In 1862 – The CSS Planter becomes the USS Planter when – with the captain ashore – slave Robert Smalls, the ship’s helmsman, steals it and maneuvers through Confederate lines before giving to the Union Navy in Charleston, South Carolina. Smalls would later be named commanding officer of the ship, the first Black to command a US Navy ship. The Planter was sold by the US after the war. 

In 1942 – Jim Tobin of the Boston Braves ties the major league record for most home runs in a game by a pitcher in a 6-5 win over the Chicago Cubs. Tobin had three home runs to tie the record established by Guy Hecker of the Louisville Colonels (American Association) in 1886. Tobin homered in the fifth, seventh, and eighth innings and would hit 17 home runs in nine major league seasons. Tobin also pitched a complete game, giving up five hits and the record still stands. 

In 1972 – Roberta Flack is at #1 on the Billboard 200 album chart for the third of five consecutive weeks with First Take. It was the first of 15 chart albums for Flack and remains her only #1. The album also went to #1 on Billboard’s soul album chart and peaked at #3 on its jazz chart. The album produced two chart singles, including the #1 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, which was in its fifth of six consecutive weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 and was included in the movie Play Misty For Me. The album was first released in 1969.

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

It is not what you look at, but what you see.
Henry David Thoreau
Diary entry, 8/5/1851

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

Billboard’s #1 song of the 1970s was You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone, which spent ten weeks at the top in 1976-77. 

Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.

Who holds the major league record for the most career home runs by a pitcher? – Answer next time!

Share Gaylon! Go!

The Daily Dose/May 12, 2023
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™

Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience. 

GOOD TO BE BACK: Two weeks of relentless vacationing are over, and your subjection to this crap hereby resumes. There is really nothing we’d rather do than write for you but, as always, we enjoyed the time away. 

Oh, Jesus H: Regarding this, rference to today’s Thought for the Day is made. 

Dry, Technical Matter: We visited Los Angeles, New Orleans, Chicago, and points north, toured three stadiums (SoFi, Wrigley, Lambeau), ate three schnitzels, and slept in ten different beds. In what must be considered an upset, we didn’t gain as much weight as we had anticipated, tho we ate whatever the hell we wanted whenever the hell we wanted to eat it.  

Plan B…And C-E Inclusive: Originally, we were planning a week in the Midwest, but then a trip to New Orleans came up so we could help someone celebrate their 60th birthday, and then Uncle Gilbert up and died and his celebratory get-together was a convenient way to kick matters off. 

While We Were Out: We live in a small town and nothing, of course, changed…The cat appeared to miss us not at all, greeting us as if we were coming home from work, at the door and demanding to be fed, though later she demanded, and received, head bumps and pets…The little bit of snow that was remaining is all gone, the lawn now needs a mowing, and the tulips, delayed a few weeks by excess snow, have finally appeared. 

Last Call: We drank a lot and, frankly, enjoyed every sip and we’re hoping, pretty hard, that we don’t miss it too much.

The Bottom Line: You can’t spend your life on vacation. You have to get back to normal life eventually, a life spent making your time serve you and not spent drinking and taking stadium tours. Though those honorable pastimes certainly have their place. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow is home from vacation. Today’s Diary. 

The big news upon return to The Shire is the robins are back…I am not making that up…Regular readers of this crap know they’ve been regular visitors over the years here when it’s time to lay their eggs, setting up on top of a meter that is next to the side kitchen door…

———

Click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.

Click here for complimentary chapters of all of Gaylon’s books.
It’s easy reading on any device. 

———

On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.  

In 1937 – King George VI of Great Britain and assorted realms and his wife Elizabeth are crowned at Westminster Abbey. George had ascended the throne in December following the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, who preferred to marry an American divorcee than be king and Edward’s coronation had originally been scheduled for this date. George reigned until his death in 1952, when he was succeeded by his daughter Elizabeth II. His widow Elizabeth then became known as the Queen Mother. 

In 1973 – The Indiana Pacers win the ABA title, defeating the Kentucky Colonels four games to three with an 88-81 win in Game 7 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. It was the third of four ABA titles for the Pacers and the second of three runner-up finishes for the Colonels. George McGinnis of the Pacers was the MVP of the playoffs, averaging 23.9 points and 12.3 rebounds in 18 playoff games. The ABA folded after the 1976 season, with the Pacers joining the NBA, while the Colonels folded. 

In 1973 – Dawn featuring Tony Orlando is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the fourth and final consecutive week with Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree. The song went to #1 in nine other countries, including South Africa, Norway, and Great Britain, was Billboard’s #1 song of the year, its 9th-biggest of the decade, and ranked 46th in Billboard’s 60th Anniversary Hot 100 in 2018. It was the fourth of six Top 10 hits for the group and was their second of three #1s. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.

We only need travel enough to give our intellect an airing.
Henry David Thoreau
Diary entry, 11/20/1857

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

The first instrumental #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 was The Happy Organ by Dave “Baby Cortez, which spent one week at #1 in 1959. There have been 25 instrumental #1s on the Hot 100 over the years. 

Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.

What was Billboard’s #1 song of the 1970s? – Answer next time!

Share Gaylon! Go!