The Daily Dose/April 22, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience
FROM THE UP NORTH DESK: Lost in the cacophony of COVID-19 reporting and the dozens of daily NFL mock drafts was the latest mass shooting, an act of domestic terrorism that saw 22 people shot to death, as well as numerous buildings burned. It happened in Nova Scotia, a province on the east coast of Canada, a 12-hour spree lasting from Saturday night until Sunday morning and the killer was eventually shot to death by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Though hardly impressive by American standards, it’s the worst mass shooting in Canadian history, a country where these are rather rare.
FunFact: Canada is the country immediately north of the United States.
FunFact II: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for the banning of assault weapons, much as we do here in the United States, though gun control laws historically do not prevent people from shooting others.
Dry, Technical Matter: The incident was duly reported and updated, but it did not become a huge, blanket coverage story here in the United States. We got to thinking there might have been a time it would have, but then we thought that would have been a long time ago, maybe in the 1970s, before ‘going postal’ was introduced in the American vernacular and before there were dozens of outlets constantly reporting news.
The Bottom Line: Even considering the COVID-19 media frenzy, the slaughter of 22 Canadians probably should have been bigger news here. But it wasn’t. Americans have come to terms with the carnage produced by mass shootings.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
As district commander, my responsibilities are executive and inspirational…I announce where we’re going and provide the inspiration to get there and I am pleased to leave routine matters, like cancelling district conventions because of an international pandemic, to him.
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On This Date
History’s Long March
In 1983 – The German weekly news magazine Stern announces it has acquired a diary kept by Adolf Hitler. Stern had acquired the diaries for $3.7 million (about $9.7 million in today’s money) from one of their reporters, who had bought them from a German named Konrad Kujau. Stern began publishing excerpts the following week and the diaries were soon exposed as a hoax that had been produced by Kujau. Earlier in his forgery career Kujau – like Hitler a capable amateur painter – had produced and sold forged Hitler paintings. He served four-and-a-half years in prison and died in 2000.
In 1876 – Major league baseball begins when the Boston Red Caps defeat the Philadelphia Athletics 6-5 in the first game in National League history. Bill Parks, a Boston outfielder, is the only player from this game for whom this was their only major league game. The Red Caps are now the Atlanta Braves while the Athletics were in their only National League season and have no connection with any other major league team. The National League would remain the only major league until the formation of the American Association in 1882.
In 1967 – Aretha Franklin is at #1 on Billboard’s soul chart – then known as the Hot Rythym and Blues Singles chart – for the fifth of seven consecutive weeks with I’ve Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You). It was Franklin’s eighth Top 40 soul hit, her third Top 10 song her first of a record 20 #1 soul hits, a record she now shares with Stevie Wonder. The song also peaked at #9 on Billboard’s Hot 100. It was her first hit for Atlantic Records after Columbia Records had let her contract lapse without resigning her.
Quotebook
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
His mind was made up once and for all upon hundreds of subjects and maybe this was the sign that he had completed his course. – Saul Bellow, Ravelstein
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
Cy Young with 511 has the most career wins for any major league pitcher who has thrown a perfect game. Young had pitched a perfect game for the Boston Americans, now the Red Sox, against the Philadelphia Athletics on May 5, 1904.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
How many #1 songs did Aretha Franklin have on Billboard’s Hot 100? – Answer next time!
