The Daily Dose/March 4, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
This is part two of a two-part series on the minimum wage.
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
INCOMING!: Yesterday in this space we took a practical look at the minimum wage. Today we are going to take a philosophical look at it by asking a couple of questions. They are aimed at all of us, but particularly at those in the Fight for $15 movement, which wants a government-mandated $15/hour minimum wage.
This Should Be Exciting: The first question is:
Why are we limiting ourselves to $15/hour?
Good gravy, we’ve made $15/hour, or its historical equivalent, many times in the past. Heck, we’ve known what it’s like to want to make $15/hour, too. Our first job out of the Navy in 1988 – small-town radio announcer – paid $5.50/hour, about $12.50 in today’s dollars. That’s not much and $15/hour isn’t much, either.
Ladies And Gentlemen Of The Jury: Secondly:
Why are we limiting ourselves to what our government chooses to do for us?
Some Philosophy Crap: All of us have 24-hours every day to make something good happen for ourselves. What more do we want in this life? Do we want our government to provide cradle-to-grave coverage for us?
More Philosophy Crap: Getting on in this life isn’t easy, of course, and all of us have assorted circumstances to battle but by and large over the years we’ve found the biggest obstacle to what we want in this life looks us in the mirror every morning.
The Bottom Line: Every morning we have a choice: we can shrug and take what life doles out or we can make a plan for our life and execute that plan. We can maximize our talents or we can squander our talents. And friends, if we are choosing to accept what our government chooses to do for us, we are squandering our talents.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow whines about the mats for standing on being placed under the doggie beds at the hotel.
Now, look…No one takes a back seat to spoiling their pet like I do – cat licks are almost an FDA-approved ingredient now – but this is ridiculous, tho now that I think about it could merely be a convenient place to store them because not everyone uses the mats, something I don’t understand at all…I mean I spend – maybe, on a busy nite – an hour at the most standing at the front desk and wouldn’t be caught dead without one.
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On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1970 – The French diesel submarine Eurydice (S644) explodes and sinks off the coast of southern France, killing all 57 crew members. The ship was diving when it explodes, with shock waves being picked up by a French geophysical laboratory and the following month wreckage would be found in the area. Eurydice had been commissioned in 1964 and the cause of the explosion was never determined.
In 1976 – Bryan Trottier of the New York Islanders establishes a new NHL record for most points in a season by a rookie in a 3-3 tie with the Vancouver Canucks. Trottier had two assists, giving him 79 points for the year, eclipsing the mark of 77 established by Marcel Dionne of the Detroit Red Wings in 1971-72. Trottier finished the season with 95 points, a mark broken in 1980-81 by Peter Stastny (109) and now held by Teemu Selanne, who had 132 points with the Winnipeg Jets in 1992-93.
In 1989 – Debbie Gibson is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of three consecutive weeks with Lost In Your Eyes. It was Gibson’s eighth Top 40 hit, her fifth Top 10 song and her second and final #1 (Foolish Beat, one week, 1988). The song also went to #1 in Canada, peaked at #34 in Great Britain and was Billboard’s 13th-biggest song of the year. Gibson, now 50, last appeared on a Billboard chart came in 2006 when Say Goodbye peaked at #24 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
…if his mind was preoccupied with emotions he couldn’t use it effectively.
John Creasy
A Sharp Rise In Crime
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
Two songs spent three weeks at #1 on Billboard’s country chart in 1973, the most of any song: You’ve Never Been This Far Before by Conway Twitty and The Most Beautiful Girl by Charlie Rich.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
How many points did Wayne Gretzky have in his first NHL season? – Answer next time!
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