The Daily Dose/August 17, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.
Leading Off is running intermittently for the time being.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – There is something going on in the small town, but Sparrow isn’t entirely sure what it is. Today’s Diary.
Officer Friendly – who commands the local Legion post – doesn’t appear to be in need of any immediate assistance so I go and get the mail, which contains nothing particularly interesting and why ol’ Sparrow went and checked the mail at this unusual time is not immediately clear…On the return trip BOOM the patrol car’s cop lights are going full bore and no one is in sight, the two perps presumably in custody in the back with Officer Friendly in the front seat…It’s not over yet, tho, as on the drive in there are no less than two police cars – unknown if they’re state troopers or county sheriff’s deputies – are hightailing it in the opposite direction, presumable to help Officer Friendly but perhaps it was something else.
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On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1977 – The Soviet ship Arktika – a nuclear-powered icebreaker – becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole. The ship had been launched in 1972 and in 2000, the Arktika became the first civilian ship to spend a year at sea without pulling into port and was retired in 2008. The first ship to visit the North Pole was the American submarine Nautilus, in 1958.
In 1933 – Lou Gehrig of the New York Yankees establishes a new major league record for most consecutive games played in 7-6, 10-inning loss to the St Louis Browns. It was the 1,308th consecutive game for Gehrig, who broke the record established by Everett Scott of the Boston Red Sox and the Yankees from 1916-25. Gehrig would finish with 2,130 consecutive games played, a mark now held by Cal Ripken, Jr (2,632; 1982-98).
In 1974 – Paper Lace is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the only week with The Night Chicago Died. It was the second of three chart singles for the group and remains their only Top 40 hit. The song also went to #1 in Australia and New Zealand and peaked at #3 in their native Great Britain. Over the years, the song has had versions recorded in Spanish, Finnish and Korean.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
…how is it that we know any thing…except by the analogies of past experience? What has once happened will invariably happen again.
Abraham Lincoln
From Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
The heads of state for the US and Great Britain during the War of 1812 were President James Madison and King George III.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
Of the 20 major league players to have played in at least 600 consecutive games, who is the only player to do it twice? – Answer next time!
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