The Daily Dose/July 26, 2023
By Gaylon Kent – America’s Funniest Guy™
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
A LONG TIME AGO, IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR, AWAY: We don’t like to throw the words “awesome” or “amazing” out there too often because – much like the exclamation point – they are overused to the point of meaninglessness nowadays. But they’re appropriate to describe the images coming back from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Dry, Technical, Matter: The JWST was launched in 2021 and stands post in solar orbit 930,000 miles from Earth, its namesake the administrator of NASA in the 1960s. Its big-picture mission is to search for light from the earliest days of the universe and like all good explorers the JWST is finding what’s there.
Uh-Oh: There may well come a time when it will answer one of the two or three questions that matter: is there someone else out there? An affirmative answer will then bring up another fundamental question: what now?
Holy Living Crap: Well, us humans being human, after putting our soiled pants in the wash, we’ll probably jump to conclusions and provide knee-jerk reactions. It will be the landmark day in human history, the line of demarcation separating everything before from everything that follows and we probably won’t take it very well.
More From The Holy Living Crap Desk: We will never prove there isn’t anyone else out there, but if we do manage to prove there is, whoa Nelly. What if they need air and water, too, and are like us? What if their life system is something we didn’t even fathom – and what if they’re as in awe of us as we are of them?
The Bottom Line: Hell, we don’t know, either. But it is entirely possible the JWST will allow/force us to stop wondering about it and start considering it, or even act on it. It’s something we should not be afraid of.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody – At the gym, Sparrows finds someone using his usual tricep machine. Today’s Diary.
It would’ve been appropriate to’ve gone up and asked him how much longer he was going to be using the machine, but kids being kids today, he might have started weeping so we didn’t…
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On This Date
Extra, extra, read all about it.
In 2005 – Mumbai, India and the surrounding area receive over 39 inches of rain in 24 hours, killing 1,094 people, causing widespread flooding, disrupting air, rail, and highway transportation, and halting commercial activity for several days. The all-time record for rain in a 24-hour period is 71.8 inches at Reunion Island, a French possession east of Madagascar, in 1966.
In 1879 – Harry McCormick of the Syracuse Stars becomes the first major league pitcher to hit a home run in a 1-0, complete-game victory in a win over the Boston Red Caps. The feat has been accomplished several times since, most recently by Noah Syndergaard in 2019. It was the only home run of McCormick’s career and the Stars, in their only National League season, folded on September 10.
In 1980 – Bar Room Buddies by Merle Haggard and Clint Eastwood is at #1 on Billbord’s country chart – then known as the Hot Country Singles chart – for the only week. It was the 25th of 38 #1 country hits for Haggard, was the first of three country hits for Eastwood, and remains his only #1. The song was from the soundtrack to the movie Bronco Billy, also went #1 country in Canada, and was Billboard’s 6th-biggest country song of the year.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
Arthur C Clarke (197-2008)
English writer
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.
Mark Lindsay was the lead singer of Paul Revere & the Raiders. His song Arizona peaked at #10 in 1970.
Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard.
What was Clint Eastwood’s only Hot 100 hit? – Answer next time!
