The Daily Dose/August 30, 2022
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW: Gambit by Rex Stout: Mystery fans are familiar with Rex Stout, the creator of Nero Wolfe, the New York City private detective who never leaves his brownstone home, letting his confidential assistant Archie Goodwin do the legwork while Wolfe, a genius, actually solves the case.
A Warm, Personal Remembrance: Our introduction to Wolfe was actually the old NBC series starring William Conrad and Lee Horsley…We asked dad who the fat guy was and he said Nero Wolfe and we were intrigued enough to find a Nero Wolfe mystery at the school library the following day and the affair continues to this day.
Oh Yeah: Stout writes some of the best mysteries ever. We’re no dummies and we were never able to crack one on the first read and sometimes even on the second and third readings.
Dry, Technical Matter: The book also provided what remains our working definition of a genius: someone who can play chess without a board. Early on Wolfe has a suspect in his office and chess is relevant because the victim was killed at a chess club where he was playing twelve matches simultaneously while blindfolded. Wolfe and the suspect start in playing without a board and while Wolfe plays adroitly for four moves, the suspect is too dimwitted to continue and retires. Seeing as Wolfe does not regularly play chess anymore and seeing as we can’t play chess even with a board this remains our standard for genius.
Get Your Standard Daily Dose Rating System Right Here: 1 – The very best; 2 – Very good; 3 – Good; 4 – Average; 5 – A steaming pile.
Final Rating: 3: This is a pretty standard Nero Wolfe mystery: the whodunnit is solid but you don’t read and reread Nero Wolfe stories – or anything else for that matter – for the mystery, you do so because you’re visiting old friends. From Wolfe’s non-negotiable habits to Archie’s witticisms to Fritz, to Saul, Fred, and Orrie, it’s always a treat to revisit the brownstone on 35th Street. (The address has varied over the years, though as a practical matter it’s generally somewhere in the Hudson River.)
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – Sparrow receives a call from a woman who wants him to neuter her rooster. Today’s Diary.
Word has obviously reached the hinterlands that we’ve expanded our range of services at the VSO to not only include filing claims with the VA but to also assist in the fixing of fowls…
The Bottom Ten is on the house for the first couple of weeks.
The Bottom Ten/NCAA Week 1 – The race for the ESPN Cup – symbolic of collegiate Bottom Ten supremacy – begins with Nebraska already showing how tough it is going to be for Florida International to repeat.
Two (2) double-digit leads blown???…Check…Inane onside kick no one will ever, ever, understand???…Check, as once-proud Huskers top B-10 survey for first time…
If Panthers are going to defend B-10 title, defense absolutely must improve over 2021 squad that only ranked 128th – out of 130 – in Total Defense and 126th in Scoring Defense.
Rainbow Warriors blow out circuit boards on patented B-10 TitleTrak Radar with stunning blowout home loss, snapping of Vanderbilt’s seven (7)-game losing streak.
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On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.
In 70 AD – The Roman Army, led by future emperor Titus, ends the siege against the Jews in Jerusalem after destroying the Second Temple, also known as Herod’s Temple. The siege had begun in April, after unrest that followed the collapse of a provisional Roman government. According to the historian Josephus, the siege resulted in murder, famine, and cannibalism among the Jews with over one million Jews dying.
In 1991 – Mile Powell of the US establishes a new world long jump record at the World Track and Field Championships in Tokyo. Powell jumped 29 feet, 4.25 inches to beat the record of 29 feet, 2.25 inches established by Bob Beamon of the US at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and Powell’s mark still stands while Beamon’s mark is still the Olympic record. Of the eleven men who have held the world long jump record since 1901, seven have been American.
In 1941 – Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra is at #1 on Billboard’s National Best Selling Retail Records chart – Billboard’s first national record chart – for the first of four consecutive weeks with Green Eyes (Aquellos Ojos Verde). It was the eleventh of 42 Top 10 hits for Dorsey and his fourth of five #1s. Vocals were sung by Bob Eberly and Helen O’Connell and earlier in the year the flip side of the record, Maria Elena, with Eberly singing, had spent two weeks at #1.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
What is modesty but hypocritical humility….No doubt when modesty was made a virtue it was a very advantageous thing for the fools; for everybody is expected to speak of himself as if he were one.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
Ritchie Valens’ biggest hit on the Hot 100 was Donna, written for his girlfriend Donna Ludwig, which spent two weeks at #2 in 1959.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
Who was the last non-American to hold the world long jump record? – Answer next time!
