The Daily Dose/July 20, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around out human experience.
“WE COPY YOU DOWN EAGLE…”: Today is the 51st anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon and of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin becoming the first humans to walk on another heavenly body.
Here We Go Again: Regular readers of this crap know our feelings on this matter: Apollo 11 – indeed, the entire Apollo program – was mankind’s finest hour, one of History’s few lines of demarcation separating all that came before from everything that followed. We mark the occasion every year in this space – either here or in On This Date, sometimes both – because we feel it’s important to look back and say “look what we did, not bad”.
We went to the moon!
Fly In The Ointment: And we haven’t gone back since. Apollo 17 left the lunar surface in 1972 and not only haven’t we returned to the moon, no American, no human, has left lower Earth orbit since then. Our own opinion is that had we wanted to, America could have put humans on Mars in the 1980s but we didn’t want to. Congress canceled Apollos 18-20 and there never was a push to go to Mars.
Dry, Technical Matter: Why this does not cause every one of us to go stand in the corner in shame is beyond me. Greatness – and its attendant failure – was there for the taking and America took a pass, ignoring man’s instinct to explore places they’ve never been.
The Bottom Line: And we’re the lesser for it. For a while now, Americans have been content to be well-fed and well-entertained and we can no longer be bothered to pay attention to our government and we are reaping that harvest right now, with our country now at the midway point between relevance and oblivion.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has big news from the small town. Today’s Diary.
And the restaurant across from the post office is open!!!…I am not making that up, noticing it on tonight’s walk…At first, there was no reason to think it was open…A couple of blocks away you could still see the “Now Hiring” signs but once you got there you noticed diners on the patio and people milling about inside…There’s isn’t an open sign and the back of the building still faces Main Street, which makes it hard to tell if it’s open or not…I wanted to walk up and see what their hours are but I don’t walk with a mask on so I didn’t.
Backstairs at the Monte Carlo: Jose and Gaylon find themselves on the hotel’s roof.
Since we are obliged to go check the roof, we both swear; I opt for a euphemism for excrement, while Jose goes with the F-word. We probably could’ve gotten away without checking the roof, but Jose and I are both past Graveyard Employees of the Month and we didn’t get it for sitting on our asses (well, I did) so even though it’s really cold out we go and check the roof. It was all code four.
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On This Date
History’s long march to today.
In 1997 – The USS Constitution, then and now the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat, sails for the first in 100 years in the waters north of Boston. The sailing came on the 200th anniversary of her maiden voyage and crew training for the voyage included spending time on a Coast Guard vessel and using an official US Navy sailing manual from 1819. Constitution has been moored in Boston since 1934 and today is commanded by Commander John Benda, her 76th commanding officer.
In 1987 – Don Mattingly of the New York Yankees ties the major league record for most putouts by a first baseman in a nine-inning game in a 7-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Mattingly had 22 putouts, including all three in the ninth inning, to tie the record established in 1906 by Tom Jones of the St Louis Browns and equaled by Hal Chase (New York Highlanders) later that year and by Ernie Banks (Chicago Cubs) in 1963. The record still stands and was equaled by Alvin Davis of the Seattle Mariners in 1988.
In 1963 – Jan and Dean are at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the first of two consecutive weeks with Surf City. It was the fifth of 15 Top 40 hits for the duo, their third of six Top 10 hits and remains their only #1 song. The song also peaked at #26 in Great Britain, at #3 on Billboard’s soul chart and was Billboard’s 22nd biggest song of the year. The song was originally written by Brian Wilson, who lost interest in it for his group the Beach Boys, and Jan Berry later added portions.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills. – John F Kennedy, president of the United States, 9/12/62
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
The 1926 Tour de France is the longest on record at 3,570 miles.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What was Billboard’s biggest song of 1963? – Answer next time!
