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The Daily Dose/March 2, 2010
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
HERE WE GO AGAIN: More than a quarter-century after England and Argentina fought a war over them, the two nations are feuding about the Falkland Islands again.
Playbill: In addition to the fact they don't jurisdiction over islands that are only three hundred miles off their east coast, Argentineans are whining about British oil exploration around the Falklands.
FunFact: The British have occupied the Falkland Islands since 1833. Not only that, Falkland residents are, by all accounts, rather pleased with British rule.
Hot President On Secretary Of State Action: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who is pretty foxy for a world leader, met with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton - who is somewhat less attractive but still no Maggie Thatcher for God's sake - Monday to ask for US interference in the matter. Clinton, who doesn't want to annoy the British any more than you would if you were Secretary of State, was non-committal beyond agreeing to ask Britain to sit down and discuss the matter with Argentina.
Eat Your Heart Out: Fernandez, and this has to have Clinton more than a teeny bit envious, succeeded her husband as Argentine Presidnet. Fernandez was elected in 2007 succeeding her husband Nestor Kirchner, who is now the First Gentleman of Argentina.
Higher, Stronger, Faster: The Falkland Islands are among a group of islands that participate, in odd-numbered years, in the Island Games. The Island Games are contested by countries that are either in or a territory of various countries, like Spain, Britain, Finland, Greece, Norway and other of those types of countries. The most recent Island Games were contested in Aland Finland and we are unable to put that circle thing on top of the eye, which we regret and issue apologies for, though we are so ethnocentric here at the Writer's Shack we are not going to lose too much sleep over it.
Maybe We Can Get A New Writer's Shack Fave Out Of This: The 2011 Island Games are scheduled for the Isle of Wight.
AS LONG AS WE'RE HERE: Chile continues to reel following Saturday's 8.8 magnitude earthquake as tsunamis ravaged Chile's south-central coast as entire towns have been destroyed.
USA! USA! Neighbors Argentina and Brazil are sending field hospitals, water treatment plants and aid workers.
Clinton, meanwhile, showed up with 20 satellite phones. It should probably be noted, however, that this token was merely a symbolic prelude to a larger aid package.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: King Kong, a landmark in gorilla-explotation filmmaking, debuts at Radio City Music Hall and the RKO Roxy in New York City on this date in 1933.
Spoiler: King Kong is a film verison of the classic gorilla-meets-girl stories that have thrilled mankind since time immemorial. Fay Wray plays an actress going to a remote Indian Ocean island to make a movie. On arrival she gets kidnapped by natives who want to sacrifice her to Kong, the big ape they share the island with. She escapes, but Kong pursues the group, who eventually subdue and capture him by using smoke grenades. They bring Kong back to the United States and put him on display in New York City where he escapes, finds Wray, and, like you no doubt would, takes her to the top of the Empire State Building, where he dies in a blaze of glory.
FunFact: King Kong's roars are actually lion's roars recorded in a zoo.
FunFact II: King Kong grossed about $2 million, about $32 million in today's dollars, which was pretty good for a movie in 1933.
Up, Up And Away: The Lady Luck II, a US Air Force B-50 Superfortress, completes the first non-stop around the world airplane flight at an air force base in Ft. Worth, Texas on this date 1949. Commanded by Captain James Gallagher, the Lady Luck II had taken off from Carswell Air Force Base in Ft. Worth on February 26 and passed Carswell's control tower at 10:22am on March 2nd.
Flight Plan: The plane carried a crew of 14, was refueled in the air four times and landed at Carswell two minutes ahead of schedule.
Century Mark: Wilt Chamberlain becomes the only NBA player to score 100 points in a game on this date in 1962. It came in a game against the New York Knicks in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
This was the second time in the 1961-62 season that Chamberlain had set the NBA's single-game scoring mark. On December 8, Chamberlain scored 78 points in a triple overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Footnote: On January 13, in a game against the Chicago Packers, Chamberlain scored 73 points, a new NBA record for points in a non-overtime game.
Lay-Up: A legend, not particularly difficult to believe considering that Chamberlain claimed to have had sex with 20,000 women, says that Chamberlain had spent the previous night in New York with a lady, so in addition to being hung over he had a sleep deficiency.
Dry, Technical Matter: Chamberlain also established NBA records for points in a half (59) and a quarter (31), as well as field goals attempted (63), field goals made (36) and free- throws made (28). The combined record of 316 combined points in a game would stand for 20 years.
Thought For The Day: I have said to myself a thousand times that I should be happy if I were but as ignorant as my old neighbor; and yet it is a happiness which I do not desire. - Voltaire, The Good Brahmin
One More Thought: We would like to lodge an official protest. We're not sure with whom this protest should be lodged, but here's our complaint: pitchers and catchers reported for spring training a week after the Super Bowl. Spring training began before the Winter Olympics and the first spring games begin a couple of days after the Winter Games ended. Preseason NBA games for next season begin before the this season's NBA Finals end sometime after Labor Day. We could use some down time, that's all we're saying.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: China, India, Russia, the United States, Indonesia and Japan are the countries currently on the list of the ten most populous nations that were also on the same list in 1900. In 1900 Indonesia was known as the Dutch East Indies.
Today's Stumper: How wide is Chile at its widest point? - Answer next time!
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