The Daily Dose/December 30, 2019
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience…
Leading Off will return after the first of the year.
Today At The Site
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has the latest gas mileage figures for the new ride. Today’s Diary.
And the MPG figures for the new ride are back above 30!!!
It’s Sparrow, an average man passing an average life.
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On This Date
In 1853 – A treaty between Mexico and the United States selling what is now parts of Arizona and New Mexico is signed. Known as the Gadsden Purchase, Mexico sold the US, for $10 million (about $305 million in today’s money), territory extending roughly from Yuma to Phoenix, Arizona to Las Cruces, New Mexico. Mexico wasn’t entirely thrilled with the sale, but Mexican President Santa Ana, perhaps, figured it was better than having the US take it away from them. It was the last significant land acquisition by the US in the lower 48 states.
In 1961 – Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scores 41 points in a 116-111 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics, snapping his NBA-record streak of seven consecutive games with 50 or more points. Chamberlain had broken the record of five consecutive games with 50 or more points he had established earlier in the month. This was also the 14th and final consecutive game Chamberlain would score 40 or more points, an NBA record he would equal in January and which still stands. Chamberlain this season also established still-standing NBA records for most consecutive games with 30 points (65) and 20 points (80, the entire season). For the year, Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points per game, an NBA record that also still stands.
In 1967 – The Beatles are at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of three consecutive weeks with Hello, Goodbye. It was the 13th overall and third consecutive #1 song for the group. The song also went to #1 in nine other countries, including West Germany, Norway and Great Britain. Though a commercial success, the song was panned by some critics and derided by John Lennon, who was peeved his composition, I Am the Walrus, was not selected as the A side of the record.
Quotebook
Dinah was a self-taught genius, and, like geniuses in general, was positive, opinionated and erratic, to the last degree. – Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Rhianna (14) and Mariah Carey (19) are the female solo acts who have had more #1 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100 than Madonna’s twelve. Elvis Presley (20) has had more than anyone.
Today’s Stumper
Why did the United States want the territory it bought from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase? – Answer next time!
