The Daily Dose/November 20, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
YEAH, THIS IS EXCITING GAYLON, THANKS: It’s rare when the researcher has to correct a source, but that happened this week when we were obliged to correct one of the sources that provides Billboard chart information for us.
Dry, Technical Matter: What happened was this: we were listening to an old American Top 40 countdown from 1978, and as any Casey Kasem fan knows, the Billboard Hot 100 is the source for the countdown. We picked the countdown up at #25 or so and, as is our wont, we checked the source to see if any fave songs are coming up and, as luck would have it, one was and the source listed this song as the #21 song that week.
Fly In The Ointment: The only problem was Casey played another song #21 and my favorite song actually came in at #19. I verified the songs for the week at the official Billboard site and the source had, in fact, made a mistake.
Deep Lutheran Feels: We had 13 years of Lutheran schooling here and we still don’t like pointing out the fault in others, but we felt strongly this needed to be brought up, so we apologized profusely when writing the guy who runs the site. We were firm, though, noting the site was, in fact, in error. Our overall graciousness worked – as it usually does – because he wrote back he was “grateful” for our “astute observation”.
The Bottom Line: Finding errors in source materials is troubling, too, because immediately you wonder how many other mistakes there might be. But we’re human and these things happen sometimes, and you tend to let them go. Besides, it’s a hell of a service. It’s not a free service, but the cost is so low and the service is so convenient we’d probably pay three times as much for it, but don’t tell the owner this.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow cleans house. Sort of.
Cleaning the cabin went OK, tho it will hardly be the Upset of the Year to learn ol’ Sparrow didn’t completely lose his mind and spend all day it…I got the dishes washed and the laundry going (three loads, including the tablecloth and the bathroom mats) and the floor swept and I went to do the vacuuming, but recall yours truly disassembled the vacuum cleaner to dump the canister out and clean the filter and couldn’t be bothered to reassemble it and while willing to reassemble it today yours truly was unable to…You wouldn’t think it would be that hard, and while I was able to get the filter to fit into the canister, for the life of me the damn top wouldn’t screw back into the canister and after a while I threw up my hands and stopped, so I could fail again some other time.
Columns, books, shopping lists, click here to get in on the laughs.
4Ever & Ever ($8.99) and monthly ($2.99) plans available.
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1820 – The whaling ship Essex, out of Massachusetts, is attacked and sunk by a sperm whale 2,000 miles off the west coast of South America. The 21 members – some accounts say 20 – of the crew put to sea in three whaleboats with inadequate provisions. Dead crewmembers were used for food and when they ran out lots were drawn to see who would be eaten next. Eight crew members survived, some rescued at sea, some on an island, three months later and were later reunited. The last Essex survivor, a cabin boy 14 at the time, died in 1887.
In 1977 – Walter Payton of the Chicago Bears establishes a new NFL record for most rushing yards in a game in a 10-7 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Payton rushed 40 times for 275 yards to break the record of 273 yards established by O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills the year before. Payton’s mark was broken in 2000 when Corey Dillon of Cincinnati rushed for 278 yards in a game and the record is now 296 yards, done by Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings in 2007 with Payton’s mark now good for fifth on the all-time list.
In 1976 – Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr are at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot Soul Singles chart – for the only week with You Don’t Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show). In January, the song would spend a week at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and remains their only #1 appearance on either chart and the song later earned the duo the Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Previously McCoo and Davis had been members of the group the 5th Dimension.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
…live justly, and look for happiness at your elbow.
Will Durant
The Story of Civilization, Vol. I: Our Oriental Heritage
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The first song to go to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 by different artists was Go Away Little Girl, which went to #1 in 1963 by Steve Lawrence and in 1971 by Donny Osmond.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
How many #1 songs did the 5th Dimension have on the Hot 100? – Answer next time!
