The Daily Dose/January 13, 2017
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Notes from around the Human Experience…
CAPSULE UNDERWEAR REVIEW: Duluth Trading Company Buck Naked 93 Percent Nylon, Seven Percent Spandex Blend Boxer Brief: Underwear is a pretty standard present from The Wife for me and her kids, so it was not the Upset of the Year when she started making her usual noises about getting me some for Christmas. It was rather pressing, too, because for the past three weeks or so one pair of Under Armour boxer briefs had been MIA. We usually only roll with three pairs, so this meant I was down a full one-third of my personal underwear inventory.
So Much For Brand Loyalty: The switch to Duluth Trading Company comes after many years of loyalty to Under Armour boxer briefs. And, really, we had no complaints with UA. We never have. We go way back with Under Armour, having discovered them when back in our early sports officiating days. Under Armour is first-class gear and some are still providing good service after 15+ years.
But we have lots of Duluth Trading Company stuff, too. Boots, a vest for warmer weather and our winter coat, among other things, and this also is the first-class gear my snotty ass demands.
He Is Risen: At least they got here before Easter. The wife admitted she “probably” had not ordered them in time for Christmas, but she could’ve sworn she’d bought them in time for arrival before the New Year. She didn’t. We did some checking from time to time and were able to track its progress from Michigan to Nepal to Malaysia where, apparently, it was transferred to a Kon-Tiki type raft for transport to the States. They didn’t even make it in time for Epiphany.
Dry, Technical Matter: We go way back with underwear, too, having worn it since we outgrew diapers. At first, we went with the whitey tighties, first from Sears, then from JCPenny when Dad switched – for reasons which remain a family secret – sometime in the mid-70’s. We wore Penny’s briefs for years, too, the ones with the blue and gold stripes on the waistband
There really weren’t a whole hell of a lot of options back then. You had briefs and you had boxers because us humans had not yet evolved to the point where we were smart enough to combine them into boxer briefs.
There was a period in eighth grade when we did wear boxers. These were the late-70’s in Los Angeles and shorts were short back then and it was cool to have your boxers hanging below your cutoffs. I am not making that up. I did this for about month before deciding this was silly.
Final Rating: A: Duluth Trading Company puts out first-class underwear. Highly recommended.
ON THIS DATE! ON THIS DATE!: Robert C Weaver is appointed the first secretary of Housing and Urban Development by President Lyndon B Johnson on this date in 1966. He would take office on January 18, the first black presidential cabinet member. He would serve until December 1968 and would later serve as president of Baruch College and would later teach urban affairs at Hunter College.
“Hi Convicts, I‘m Johnny Cash”: Johnny Cash plays two shows at Folsom State Prison in California on this date in 1968. Cash was joined by his wife June, Carl Perkins and the Statler Brothers.
This Is Casey Counting Them Down: The resulting album, with 15 cuts mainly from the first show, would hit #1 on the country chart and #15 on the national album chart. The album marked a comeback for Cash, who had not had much chart success while be battled a drug problem. All told, including re-releases in 1999 and 2008, At Folsom Prison has sold over three million copies.
This Was Definitely A Violation Of Company Policy: The Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia runs aground and almost sinks off Isola del Giglio off the western coast of Italy on this date in 2012. The Costa Concordia was on the first leg of a cruise around the Mediterranean and of the 3,229 passengers and 1,023 crew members on board, 32 died.
The collision with underground rocks happened when the captain, Francesco Schettino decided to get cute and sail closer to the island than originally planned. The collision caused a 175-foot long gash on the port side and resulted in a loss of propulsion and electrical power.
Schettino bravely fled his ship, though he would later claim he had fallen into a lifeboat, which nobody really believed. He was found guilty of manslaughter in 2015 and sentenced to 16-years in prison, a sentence he began serving last May.
Some Places Have Interns For This: Salvaging the Costa Concordia took time. Fuel and oil were extracted the following March and the ship wasn’t righted until September 2013. In July 2014 it was towed to Genoa and complete scrapping of the ship was completed this past summer.
Quotebook: …there is not effort without error and shortcoming; – Theodore Roosevelt, Man in the Arena speech, 4/23/1910
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Oprah Winfrey has won one Oscar, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 2011.
Today’s Stumper: The Trivia feature will return.
