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The Daily Dose/January 29, 2009
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
Notes from around a rather dull Human Experience...Jennifer Coolidge is the Column Four Foto!
A DRY, TECHNICAL IMPEACHMENT: Good gravy, is there a way to liven this a little? I mean, we are aware this is an impeachment trial, but he requirement that none of the testimony or exhibits in Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's impeachment trial can compromise the US Attorney's case against the governor is making for a pretty dull trial. Not to mention the fact the governor can't be bothered to show up. This trial has turned out to be so matter-of-fact it might all be over this week. Even the phone calls of Blagojevich are dull.
Dry, Technical Matter: In fact, the phone calls offered into evidence have nothing to do with the selling of President Obama's US Senate seat, instead they focus on Blagojevich's efforts to get a $100,000 "contribution" out of a race track operator before the end of 2008.
Oh Well: We were hoping for something more exciting. Maybe some phone calls with hookers will show up or something.
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW UPDATE: Our last capsule book review earlier this month, may be our last for awhile. Recall that it was of the first two books of W.E.B. Griffin's Brotherhood of War series. We've read it before and are enjoying it so much we decided to re-read the entire series, all eight books, and we just started book five. We are rather leisurely readers here at the Writer's Shack, so it will be awhile before this treasured feature returns because we don't see the point to reviewing each individual book in the series.
Certainly You Have Something To Tide Us Over: Well, we do have the wizards over in Research and Development working on some stuff, but are still ironing out the details of the Capsule Oil Change and Capsule Quesadilla reviews. We don't get out much.
R & D Is Nice, But Couldn't You Fork Over For A Decent Copy Editer? Don't even start.
Hey, You're Not Just Looking To Fill Space Are You? No, no, of course not. We have entirely too much respect for our reader(s).
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS: In yesterday's column we noted the Green Bay Packers had not won the NFL title since 1954 prior to Vince Lombardi's hiring as head coach in 1959.
What we meant to say was that the Packer had not won the NFL title since 1944. We regret, though are not particularly surprised by, the error. Many thanks to one "Antoine" over on the official Writer's Shack message boards for pointing that out.
HERE'S SOME GOOD NEWS: The International Monetary Fund forecasted this week the planet's economic growth this year will be just .5 percent, the lowest rate since the end of World War II, which, according to one IMF worry wart would be a virtual standstill.
Gee, This Is Great, Too: The UN's International Labor Organization has chimed in by predicting up 51 million jobs could be lost this year throughout the world.
Thanks, We Get The Point: Better times appear to be right around the corner though, with one World Bank official predicting:
"The current projection is a protracted recession and we have not reached the bottom yet."
Higher, Stronger, Bankrupter: The organizers of the 2012 London Olympics are choking on their tea and biscuits. Dried up credit markets have meant they have been unable to raise over a billion pounds of private capital for the Olympic Village and media center and the downturn might be so bad that Olympic activity in London might account for as much as seven percent of area economic activity.
Can't We Do Anything Normally? Londoners have to be wondering what they have to do host a normal Olympics. They hosted the 1908 Games only because Rome backed out after Mount Vesuvius erupted and the Italian government decided to rebuild Naples instead of hosting a track meet. The 1944 Games, also scheduled for London, were cancelled because of World War II, though they did host the 1948 Games. The 2012 Games are projected to be the first to be held during a world-wide depression since the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.
GREAT MOMENTS IN ANDREW JACKSON: On this date, in 1834, Andrew Jackson becomes the first president to use federal troops to quell a labor dispute when he sends troops to Maryland to break up rioting Irishmen working at the C&O Canal.
Once Upon A Midnight Dreary: The Raven, a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, is published on this date in 1845 in the New York Evening Mirror, where Poe was employed as a critic. The following year, after a change of editors, Poe would sue the Mirror for defamation of character following the publication of a letter Poe deemed less than flattering. Poe was awarded damages of $225.06, a tad less than $5,000 in today's dollars, plus $101.42 in court costs.
Almost All Men Are Created Equal: Kentucky Senator Henry Clay proposes bills that would eventually become the Compromise of 1850 on this date in 1850. The Compromise admitted California as a free state, organized the Utah and New Mexico territories, with their inhabitants to decide the slavery issue, bribed Texas into relinquishing claims to lands in what is now New Mexico, prohibited the slave trade, but not slavery, in the District of Columbia and, through the Fugitive Slave Law, required all citizens to return runaway slaves, even if slavery was illegal in their particular state. All the Compromise really did was put off the Civil War for a decade.
Thank You Your Majesty. This Will Make Up For Me Bloody Lost Legs: The Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for valor in the face of the enemy, is instituted by Queen Victoria on this date in 1856. It has been awarded 1,356 times. Three men, two English doctors and a New Zealand infantryman, have won it twice.
Great Timing: Just in time for the Civil War, Kansas is admitted to the Union as a free state on this date in 1861.
Gentleman, Start Your Engine: German Karl Benz is granted a patent for the first gasoline powered vehicle on this date in 1886. It had three wheels, one in front and two in the rear. Benz would sell his first car in 1888.
Play Ball: The American League declares itself a major league on this date in 1901. The American League had been formed as the Western League in 1894, and had renamed itself prior to the 1900 season. For the 1901 season, it has teams in Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore, Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Washington. Cleveland, Chicago, Boston and Detroit are still in their original cities.
Anchors Aweigh: The USS Missouri (BB 63), the last battleship commissioned by the US Navy, is launched on this date in 1944. She was decommissioned in 1955, recommissioned in 1984 and decommissioned for the final time in 1992.
Thought For The Day: Ignorance is not bliss, it is unconsciousness and slavery. - John Dewey
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Signalman First Class Douglas Munro is the only member of the Coast Guard to receive the Medal of Honor. It was awarded posthumously for actions at Guadalcanal in September, 1942.
Today's Stumper: Of the original Western League teams in 1894, which one is still in the American League in its original city? - Answer next time!
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