| | Home
The Daily Dose/September 6, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Pics will return. Honest!
Notes from around the Human Experience...
UH, WHERE'S THE NEAREST LEDGE? The official bank of the Writer's Shack failed Friday! We are not making that up! One of the nice things our government does - and you Constitutionalists out there can discuss whether this is a legitimate function of government on your own time - is to insure bank deposits up a certain amount we were in no danger of ever exceeding, so, outside of, perhaps, some minor inconvenience, we should not be selling apples or pencils next week.
Still, Though, Maybe We Should Set Up A PayPal Tip Jar: Of course, we knew the FDIC insures deposits, but it certainly is an interesting feeling reading that your bank has failed. For reasons that must be instinctive, you immediately think of the Depression stories you heard and pictures you saw and you picture yourself on the corner sleeping out of your car. And if a bank can fail, what happens if the government fails and they can't cover my insured deposits?
Well, You Certainly Are A Ray Of Sunshine: Jesus H, that's a depressing thought. Good thing The Woman can survive out in the wild, as proven on our recent camping trip, where we ate freeze-dried food one meal.
COMING BACK STRONG WITH EXCITING ON THIS DATE ACTION: On this date, in 1522, the Victoria, returned to Spain. The only surviving ships of the five-ship Magellan Expedition which left Spain in 1519, it was the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. Of the original compliment of approximately 270 sailors, 18 return on Victoria, though 17 others would return later. Magellan had died in the Philippines in April, 1521.
Can We Get More Of This Obscure, Ancient History, Please? On this date, in 1847, Hendy David Thoreau leaves Walden Pond, after having lived in a cabin near its shores for 26 months. Seven years later Walden, Or Life in the Woods would be published, which, though not highly regarded then, has since become a standard of Western thought.
Guns Don't Kill People, Anarchists Kill People: On this date, in 1901, President William McKinley was shot twice by a sorehead named Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley would was taken to a nearby private residence and for the next few days actually improved. However, while one wound was superficial, doctors were never able to find and remove the bullet from the second wound, and infection and gangrene set in and McKinley died in the early morning hours of Sept. 14.
Dry, Technical Matter: McKinley was the third US President to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln and John Garfield.
Fast Follow Up: Czolgosz, who was pleased with his work, was arrested immediately. On Sept. 23, following a day-long trial, Czolgosz was convicted and condemned, and he was executed on Oct. 29.
Editor's Note: Because we can, and largely to emphasize the fact it's been One Century since the Chicago Cubs last World Series victory, On This Date is thrilled to take a look back at the Cubs' 1908 championship season.
Let's Play Two, But Only Win One: The Cubs and Pirates spilt a doubleheader at West Side Grounds. The Cubs hand the Pirates the opener on a silver platter, giving them three goddamn runs in the seventh on a scratch double, a couple of errors and a wild pitch in a 3-0 defeat. Nick Maddox, winding down his best big league season (23 wins), pitches the shutout.
The Cubs rebound and take the nightcap 8-7, but they almost gift wrap that one, too, giving up three runs in the ninth. The Giants had the day off, so there is no change in the National League standings, as the Giants still lead the Pirates by a game and a half and the Cubs by two games.
FunFact: Unless You're Nick Maddox: Maddox had made his debut in Sept. of 1907, throwing a shutout in his first start and threw a no-hitter on Sept. 20, making him the second modern major league pitcher to throw a no-hitter as a rookie. He would win 13 games in 1909, 2 in 1910 and would not pitch in the big leagues again.
Play Ball, Again...And Again: On this date, in 1995, Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr., plays in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking the record that had been held by Lou Gehrig. Ripken's streak would end in Sept. 1998 after 2,632 games. By contrast, the National League consecutive games played record is a relatively paltry 1,207, held by Steve Garvey.
Write This Down: Ripken also holds the major league records for most seasons, and most consecutive seasons, playing all of his teams games, with 15. He also holds the American League records for most seasons playing 150 or more games with 15, and most consecutive seasons playing 150 or more games, with 12.
Uh, Yeah, Sure: The evil Soviet Union admitted to shooting down Korean Air flight 007. It claimed, with a straight face, the pilots mistook the civilian airliner for a military jet, despite the fact military jets don't say "Korean Air" on their fuselages.
Not A Great Day To Be A World Leader: South African Prime Minister Hendrik F. Verwoerd, the primary architect of apartheid, was assassinated on this date in 1966, stabbed before a scheduled speech before Parliament. As prime minister, Verwoerd oversaw the implementation of a variety of laws, including acts which prohibited mixed marriage and sexual relations between people of different races, formalized race classification, with accompanying identity cards, partitioned the country into areas, with each race relegated to a certain section, separate education, government and economic structures for different races, plus the usual laws prohibiting the organization and gathering of groups the government doesn't like.
You Know, We Thought This Looked Familiar: Verwoerd liked to say the inspiration for the nuts and bolts of his plan came from how America treated the Indians.
Thought For The Day: I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and to see if I could not learn what they had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. - Henry David Thoreau
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Chester Arthur was the last incumbent president to place his name in nomination for re-election, only to have it rejected by his party.
Today's Stumper: Who holds the major league records for most seasons and most consecutive seasons playing 150 or more games? - Answer next time!
Threats? Recipes? Trivia question answers? Email The Writer's Shack Here!
Home |
|