Daily Dose/June 23, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
The very best of the very worst of the week that was.
Leading Off will return.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
Friends, Read Free Fortnight is winding down. Click on the button to get 4Ever and Ever access to The Diary of a Nobody and Backstairs at the Monte Carlo for only $2.99. The offer ends Thursday – and new subscribers are entered into a drawing for an autographed, hardcover of Backstairs at the Monte Carlo – so for Pete’s sake, act now.
The Diary of a Nobody: The scratch paper pile at the hotel is getting low. Today’s Diary.
With the exception of a few scattered sheets, I haven’t replenished the scratch paper pile, underneath the back office monitor, since the Virus Era began three months ago…It’s pretty low, too…I haven’t measured it – I don’t know why I haven’t measured it, Lord knows I’ve had the time – but if I had to guess, I’d throw a quarter-inch out there, just for funsies.
Front Desk Manager Brandon hasn’t mentioned it, yet, but I think he will if I don’t get on the stick pretty soon…Business, of course, is increasing and we’ll all be back to five days a week by the end of the month probably and scratch paper needs, of course, will absolutely skyrocket and the crew is counting on me to have a decent supply on hand…Or at least I think they are…I don’t really know.
Backstairs at the Monte Carlo: It’s a slow night in the hotel, with a low Foot on the Desk Percentage.
I tabulated my Foot on the Desk percentage and it came in at 41 percent, which is low. I prefer a FOD percentage closer to 50.
But there wasn’t much I could do. We weren’t that busy, but what there was was time-consuming. There were a half-dozen or so guest assists and I was obliged to spend a half-hour in a room taking a report on a guest with a tummy ache, so I guess 41 percent isn’t too bad.
On This Date
History’s long march to today
In 2016 – Voters in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar vote to leave the European Union (EU), a vote commonly known as Brexit. There were 17.41 million ‘no’ votes out of 33.55 million cast, a 51.89 percentage. Immediately after the vote, Prime Minister David Cameron resigned and was replaced by Theresa May, who herself would resign in 2019 after she was unable to get House of Commons approval for her Brexit strategies. Britain and Gibraltar left the EU in January, but due to the coronavirus and the sheer magnitude of the effort, specifics are still being worked out.
In 1917 – Babe Ruth and Ernie Shore pitch the first combined no-hitter in major league history in a 4-0 win over the Washington Senators in the first game of a doubleheader. Ruth walked the first batter Ray Morgan and then was ejected for arguing and hitting home plate umpire Brick Owens. Morgan would be thrown out trying to steal and Shore retired all 26 batters he faced and for many years was credited with a perfect game in the major league record book. The Red Sox won the second game, too, 5-0.
In 1979 – Hot Stuff by Donna Summer is at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for the third and final non-consecutive week. It was the third of four #1 songs for Summer and her sixth of ten Top 10 hits. The song also went to #1 in Canada, Australia, Japan and Switzerland, peaked at #11 in Great Britain and at #3 on Billboard’s soul chart. It was Billboard’s seventh biggest hit of the year, its 12th biggest of the decade and ranked 87th on Billboard’s 60th Anniversary Hot 100 in 2018. Hot Stuff had first hit #1 on June 2 and was replaced at the top for one week by the Bee Gees’ Love You Inside and Out.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
{This} whole book…has been written under the influence of a kind of religious awe produced in the author’s mind by the view of that irresistible revolution which has advanced for centuries in spite of every obstacle and which is still advancing in the midst of the ruins it has caused. – Alexis De Tocqueville, Democracy In America
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Argentina won the 1986 World Cup. After defeating England in the quarterfinals, they defeated Belgium 2-0 in the semifinals and West Germany 3-2 in the championship match.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What was Donna Summer’s only #1 song in Great Britain? – Answer next time!
