The Daily Dose/April 14, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience…
USA! USA! The first rumblings of getting back to normal are starting to be heard, from both business and government leaders. This was inevitable: we’re human and we are hardly disposed to twiddling our thumbs forever. Eventually, we are going to have to start making money again. It’s human nature to move and create and do things. Besides, we’re all going to need haircuts, soon.
Dry, Technical Matter: It’s not going to happen immediately, of course. We’re human and we are going to try and prevent as many deaths as possible. But eventually the number of deaths will start to subside and the prospect of preventing more deaths will be trumped by our need to get back at it.
Running The Numbers: The 119,757 worldwide deaths through yesterday represent 21% of cases that have had an outcome, 8% of those who currently have it and .0000115% of the world’s population.
Blood On Our Hands: The US death toll of 23,664 still sets the pace for the rest of the world and is, perhaps, ten times the number of people who would have died had America responded to the coronavirus immediately and competently. We didn’t, though. Any objective analysis of the American response to this shows we downplayed and ignored its significance from the start, were unprepared when we did get around to doing something about it and we’ve mucked it up since.
The Bottom Line: There is going to come a time when we are going to get back to normal. That time is not now, but it might be sooner than some think or want: eventually we will no longer be willing to remain on lockdown merely to postpone the deaths of a few thousand Americans. We will come to terms with COVID-19 and the deaths it causes, just like we’ve come to terms with the deaths caused by the other illnesses and accidents that attend our human experience.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow changes a password at the Veterans Service Office. Today’s Diary.
By the by, my new password ends in @@…Hopefully, I’ll remember that a year from now when I’ll have to change it again.
Click here get in on the laffs: Sparrow, The Bottom Ten, the funniest books you’ve ever read. We offer 4Ever and Ever access, or cheapskates can purchase books and columns individually.
On This Date
Great moments in us.
In 1828 Noah Webster publishes his American Dictionary of the English Language. While not the first dictionary – it wasn’t even Webster’s first – it was, at 70,000 entries, the largest and took Webster 28 years to complete. To aid in presenting the etymology of words, Webster learned 25 languages and his dictionary also formalized the Americanization of the spelling of some words. The dictionary came in two volumes and initially sold for $20 (about $540 in today’s money), though he lowered it to $15 when initial sales were slow.
In 1985 – Mark Eaton of the Utah Jazz concludes the NBA regular season having established new NBA records for most blocks in a season (456) and most blocks per game (5.6) following a 104-102 win over the San Antonio Spurs. Eaton broke the records established in 1973-74 by Elmore Smith of the Los Angeles Lakers, who had 493 blocks, averaging 4.85 per game. Eaton’s records still stand.
In 1973 – The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia by Vicki Lawrence is at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the second and final week. The song was Lawrence’s first chart single and remains her only Top 40 hit. It also went to #1 in Canada, peaked at #36 on Billboard’s country chart and was Billboard’s eleventh biggest song of the year. The song was written by Lawrence’s then-husband Bobby Russell and it returned to the charts in 1992 when a version by Reba McEntire reached #12 on Billboard’s country chart.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. – Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Alexander Hamilton was on the obverse side of the original $2 United States note issued in 1862.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
Who holds the NBA record for most blocked shots in a game? – Answer next time!
