The Daily Dose/Friday, February 26, 2021

The Daily Dose/February 26, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy

Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.

INCOMING!: Yesterday in this item – which concerned America’s Perseverance rover landing on Mars – we did some modest whining about how us humans still have not set foot there. We’re going to do more whining about that today. 

Stop Us If You’ve Heard This Before: We should have had humans on Mars in the Reagan Administration and all of us should be ashamed we didn’t. Since time immemorial it’s been human nature to explore. First, we wondered what was on the other side of that hill, then what was across the river and soon enough we were sailing the seas. The next thing we knew we were discovering what was beyond the clouds and once we found that out, we should have kept going. 

Dry, Technical Matter: Now, the prospect that Apollo was ahead of its time cannot be entirely dismissed, but a full half-century ahead of its time? No, that is not reasonable. America has gotten lazy, failing to retain hold of the moment JFK commanded us to seize in 1961 and now America cannot even send men into space for any length of time now.  

The Bottom Line: There are those who say unmanned rovers can do everything on Mars a human would do. True enough, except for one thing: they cannot tell us what it’s like to be there! That alone is reason enough to go. The general spirit of daring and accomplishment fostered would have yielded advances in many other pursuits and we dare say America – encouraged by these successes – would not be the fractured, partisan and bickering mess it is now. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow enjoys a leisurely day off. 

In due course, listening proved to be more work than I was willing to put it into my day off because yours truly couldn’t be bothered to find something new to listen to after it ended and the only reason I didn’t go to bed was the cat had set up a command post on my chest.  

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On This Date
The long march to today. 

In 1616 – Italian scientist Galileo Galilei is banned by the Catholic Church from teaching heliocentrism, the nonsense that the earth revolves around the sun. Faced with either accepting the judgement or accepting the judgement, Galileo accepted the judgement, though he remained a rascal and would stand trial again in 1633 and would remain under house arrest for the remaining nine years of his life. 

In 2006 – Sweden wins the Olympic ice hockey gold medal at the Turin Winter Games with a 3-2 win over Finland in the championship game. The Czech Republic earned the bronze medal, marking the first time either Canada or the Soviet Union/Russia had not won a medal in men’s Olympic ice hockey. Earlier in the tournament, Canada had won the women’s gold medal with a 4-1 win over Sweden. 

In 1966 – Slim Harpo is at #1 on the Billboard soul chart – then known as the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart – for the first of two consecutive weeks with Baby Scratch My Back. The song also peaked at #16 on the Hot 100, was Harpo’s second of four soul chart singles and remains Harpo’s only appearance at #1 on a Billboard chart. Harpo wrote the song, though it was credited under his given name of James Moore. Though noted for clean living, Harpo died of a heart attack in 1970 at age 46. 

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever. 

…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
Knowledge is power.

Mexico (2011, 1975, 1955) and Canada (2015, 199, 1967) have both hosted the Pan American Games the most times. 

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

How many Olympic men’s ice hockey gold medals has Sweden won? – Answer next time!

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