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The Daily Dose/May 30, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
Rested, as usual, your Daily Dose comes back strong with the latest from Mars, great On This Date action including Joan of Arc getting burned, then sainted, Andrew Jackson finally getting in the win column plus our 1908 Cubs take two from those losers from St. Louis. Plus Trivia and Writer's Shack fave Danielle Bollinger returns as The Column Four Foto!
TO BOLDLY GO WHERE WE'VE ALREADY GONE BEFORE: Mankind is on Mars again, as NASA's Phoenix landed in northern Martian latitudes this week, at about 68 degrees north. Unlike the Mars rovers, Phoenix is staying right where it is, thank you, and is depending on its robotic arm to do all the work.
Uh-Oh: The only problem is NASA is setting itself up for failure. By declaring that the purpose of Phoenix is to search for signs of life, it is saying that finding such signs is the only way to judge the mission a success.
Wrong, Wrong, Wrong: Good explorers do not go in with preconceived notions, for precisely this reason. If you go in declaring you are looking for signs of life and you don't find any, well, gee, thanks for playing, but the whole mission is now a failure.
Look: We're not descendants of Magellan or Columbus, though we are members of the Auto Club, but even we know the purpose of exploring is simply to find out what's there. To NASA's credit, Phoenix will do an excellent job of finding what's there, but it may or may not be what NASA cheerleaders are hoping for.
OTOH: Now, don't get us wrong. We'd love to find out there's other forms of life out there, especially the guys at The Bottom Ten, who don't get out much and are hoping any extra-terrestrials could help Duke out on the offensive line. But the first mission is to find what's there. If it shows what we're looking for, that's all right. If not, that's okay, too.
FunFact: This is the sixth successful Mars landing by us Americans. Shamefully, none of them have carried human beings, but we do get points for not quitting, I suppose.
FunFact2: The above picture of Phoenix - with its parachute deployed in the Martian atmosphere - is the first picture ever taken by a spacecraft of another spacecraft landing on another planet.
GOING BACK, A WAAAAY BACK: On this date, in 1431, Joan of Arc is burned at the stake in Rouen, France.
No, Really, Trust Me, I Saw God: Acting on what she claimed were visions from God, she gained favor with the French army, then at war with England, and was part of several important victories, though she was ultimately captured, tried for treason by the English, and executed. 24 years later - a tad late to do Joan any good but thanks anyway - Pope Calixtus III authorizes a retrial where Joan is not only exonerated, but declared a martyr and was declared a saint in 1920.
Popes Were Really Named Calixtus?: We are not making that up, though, mercifully, Calixtus III was the last pope so named. Calxitus I (217-222) was, according to legend, a former slave, and Calixtus II (1119-1124) was born a French aristocrat who had do defeat an anti-pope before he was able to consolidate power.
Today It Would Make A Great Reality Show: On this date, in 1806, future President of the United States Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson had the nerve to accuse Jackson's wife of bigamy. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson were open to the bigamy charge because they had married believing then Mrs. Rachel Robards had been divorced from Mr. Robards when in fact, she hadn't been.
Well, Thanks Guys: Dickinson had been goaded into getting Jackson into a duel by Jackson's political opponents. Dickinson finished with a lifetime mark of 26-1 in duels while Jackson, interestingly, registered his first kill in 13 duels with his homicide of Dickinson.
Editor's Note: To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Chicago Cubs last World Series championship, On This Date is pleased to present a look back at the 1908 Chicago Cubs season.
Let's Play Two! The Cubs deliver the smackdown twice on the hated Cardinals, 10-2 and 11-2 at Robison Field in St. Louis. In the first game, pitcher Orval Overall gets hit with a batted ball in the second inning and is forced to leave, and the Cubs get 16 hits in the second game.
Scoreboard, Bay-bee: Elsewhere in the National League, Pittsburgh took two from Cincinnati, 4-1 and 1-0, and New York defeated Brooklyn 5-0. The Cubs continue to lead the National League with a 22-12 mark, 3.5 up on both the Phillies and the Giants, and four up on the Pirates and Reds.
Gentlemen, Start Your Engines: On this date, in 1911, Ray Harroun wins the first Indianapolis 500.
We The People: On this date, in 1922, the Lincoln Memorial is dedicated by former President and current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court William Howard Taft.
What The Hell's Going On Here?: There was a time when a baseball player approaching the 600 home run milestone would have been cause for a significant amount of hype, the type only the modern American media is capable of bestowing. Heck, there was a time when reaching the 400 mark was a big deal. But not now. Ken Griffey, Jr. of Cincinnati is at 598 home runs and no one outside of Cincinnati is issuing more than a golf clap. Even the staff here at the Writer's Shack, who take a back seat to no one in their appreciation of records and milestones, isn't getting all that worked up.
Yeah, Well, You Know: Part of it is home runs are nothing new anymore. There was a time when hitting 500 home runs, or even 400 home runs in a career meant something, but that time is past. Since Mike Schmidt joined the 500 home run club in 1987, when he was the 14th to do it, nine more hitters have joined the list.
600 though, is still an exclusive club, and Griffey will become just the sixth player to reach it.
So What's Going On Here?: I think part of the reason is baseball fans are really home runned out. I mean, the amount of home runs hit in the past ten years has been phenomenal, although in that time only Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa have joined the 600 club.
And Griffey's a good guy, not surly like Bonds or generally annoying like the selfish Sosa, and, unlike both of them, no one's accused Griffey of doing steroids, not that we care because official Writer's Shack policy still states that professional athletes should be able to put whatever they want into their bodies.
This Aint It, Either: And it certainly cant be that Junior has never shined in the post-season spotlight, having played in only one League Championship Series and having yet to play in a World Series. I mean, those are the exact same playoff credentials as Sosa, and though Bonds did play in one World Series, he was 2-7 in career post-season series'.
Who Really Knows: I suspect it's because Junior hasn't really been at the top of his game for a long time. He's only hit 30 or more home runs in a season twice since 2000 and he hasn't won a Gold Glove or home run title since 1999. It also doesn't help the Reds have basically blown chunks since Griffey's arrival, playing in zero (0) playoff games and finishing above .500 only once, in 2000.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Whenever That Was: Sherry and Big Girls Don't Cry, both by The Four Seasons, were prevented from being consecutive #1 singles by Monster Mash by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett and He's A Rebel by The Crystals.
Today's Stumper: What was the first spacecraft to land on Mars? - Answer next time!
Threats? Recipes? Trivia question answers? Email The Writer's Shack Here!
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