The Daily Dose/July 22, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
3…2…1…BLASTOFF: America is able to put humans into space again, as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sent himself and some others 60 miles above the Earth, well above the space demarcation. He was the second civilian this month to fly into space, joining Briton Richard Branson, whose voyage actually began and ended in America. Both men financed their own flights.
Yay And Boo: Yay because this is what we humans do: we go where we’ve never been before. Branson and Bezos answered our age-old instinct to explore and find out what’s over there and they had the means and vision to make it happen. As a practical matter, though, all it means is rich people have another vacation option.
Oh, How The Mighty Have Fallen: Boo, though, because it illustrates how far America has fallen: 60 years after Alan Sheperd’s first suborbital flight we are still going ga-ga over suborbital flights.
Dry, Technical Matter: There was a time, albeit brief, when America was regularly putting men on the moon, but that time is long gone.
Oh, Jesus H: We’ve mentioned this once or twice here: maybe Apollo was ahead of its time. Maybe if President Kennedy had said let’s play touch football instead of let’s go to the moon the lunar surface would still be uncharted waters because personally, I don’t think the Soviets would have made it. Despite their many significant accomplishments in space, they were never able to get anyone out of low Earth orbit. Maybe Kennedy did what all great leaders do, led us to more than we even dared to think of.
The Bottom Line: Later, though, America took a pass on putting humans on Mars and we are still paying the price for it. We took a flier on our obligation to advance our species by going where we haven’t been before and we’re missing out on the technical advances such an effort would have provided. More than anything, though, we’re missing out on being able to say we did it, though America has long been such a partisan, fractured and bickering mess that going to Mars may well have not generated any national pride at all.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – At the hotel, Sparrow moves some sundry stand items. Today’s Diary.
…emergency reports hadn’t even been printed yet before ol’ Sparrow had over $20 in sundry stand sales…They were great sales, too…The first kid came up and got a pizza (pepperoni), one of the Reese’s ice cream sandwiches and some chips…I don’t know if he had already taken advantage of this state’s favorable weed laws or was planning ahead, but he was the sort that gave the impression that if he hadn’t yet, he soon would be.
Then his buddy, inspired by what he saw, came and was all but rubbing his hands together at the prospect of a late-nite snack…He got pizza, too, and also a Reese’s, but otherwise mixed it up, getting chocolate milk and a Push-Up!!!…I am not making that up…It’s the first Push-Up I can remember moving, tho they are restocked from time to time, so somebody’s selling them.
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On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1793 – Briton Alexander Mackenzie becomes the first known person to cross North America – north of Mexico – by land when his expedition stops at Bella Coola, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the British Columbia coast. He had set out the previous year after returning from Great Britain and had left Fort Chipewyan in northeast Alberta on Oct 10. The expedition was stopped from actually making the Pacific Ocean by hostile Indians.
In 1912 – The Stockholm Summer Olympics close with host Sweden winning the most medals (65) and the US winning the most gold medals (25). It was the Olympics to feature an arts competition, which awarded gold medals in architecture, literature, music and painting, and gold and silver medals in sculpture. The Stockholm Games were also the last to award pure gold medals and Japan became the first Asian nation to compete in the Games.
In 1989 – Martika is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of two consecutive weeks with Toy Soldiers. It was her second of four Top 40 hits and remains her only #1 song. The song also went to #1 in New Zealand and peaked at #5 in Great Britain and Martika later recorded versions of the song in both Spanish and Japanese. Martika was born Marta Marrero in southern California in 1969 and is of Cuban ancestry.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
An’ on dat staff a turtle was carved. Turtle stood for dat de key to livin’ is patience.
Alex Haley
Roots: The Saga of an American Family
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
Nat King Cole had one #1 song on a Billboard country chart, Straighten Up and Fly Right, which spent six non-consecutive weeks at #1 on the Most Played in Juke Boxes Folk Records chart in 1944. It was the seventh #1 song ever on a Billboard country chart.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
In what other year did Stockholm hold a Summer Olympics event? – Answer next time!
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