Ridley's Believe It Or Not--This Day In History: October 2020

Friday, October 30, 2020

October 30, 2020 Ridley's Beleive It Or Not Mischief Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not October 30, 2020
    CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 430,369 new cases (a .95% increase compared to a 1.75% increase yesterday) to bring the total over  45 million to 45,724,808, 11,370,206 of  which  are active, 34,354,602 of which have been closed with 33,163,598 recoveries (96.55% compared to  yesterday’s 96.55%) and 1,191,004 deaths (3.47% compared to yesterday’s 3.47%) to continue the trend of increased recovery percentages and decreased mortality percentages.
CV USA Cases: New cases of 57,492 with total cases over 9 million at 9,203,425 (a .62% increase compared to yesterday’s 2.21% increase) with 3,026,813 active cases of which 16,931 (.56% of active cases), recently on a disturbing upward trend with slight blips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (16,874 yesterday and 15,881 on September 1), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and may be continuing to go up, and 6,234,104 closures, 234,765 of which have been deaths (3.77% compared to yesterday’s 3.77%) and 5,999,339 of which have been recoveries (96.23% compared to yesterday’s 96.23%) (our death rate percentages continue to improve and are finally in single digits since Cuomo repealed on May 10 his order sending CV positive patients to nursing homes and ADL facilities and on a deaths per million population measurement at 708 ranks behind Peru (1037), Belgium (974), Spain (767), Brazil (747), Bolivia (742), Chile (739), and Ecuador (712),  and only slightly worse than Mexico (702), UK (680), Argentina (672) newly added to the list, Italy (634), and Sweden (586) that never closed its economy down like we did and we have now conducted 1,281,025 more tests to bring total to 142,950,353 tests (now at 431,030/M compared to Russia at 410,170/M so Trump is telling truth that we conduct more tests in number and on a per capital basis for nations (other than those nations that contain small populations like Bahrain, Denmark,  Israel, Singapore and UAE) but for the U.K. which remains off the testing charts at 492,175/M).
Non CV Case News: If you had any doubt that CNN and MSNBC are in the pocket of the DNC, that doubt should be erased as from them not a word of the 3^rd quarter 33.1% GNP growth (“fake news” by omission); Chuck Todd is usually clueless but when he said something astute like questioning whether Biden’s campaign was taking the CV pandemic too seriously by almost shutting down completely his campaign he was slammed by social media (the better question would have been whether concern over his mental lapses will convince voters he is not mentally fit); the family of the mentally disturbed Walter Wallace have called for justice and for calm and criticized the police for lack of training in their son’s death but indicated that murder charges were not called for; Ft. Lauderdale police arrested Junior Alexander Cabral, 28, and Vladimir Cabral Cuevas, 20 for stealing mail, including ballots, from a mail drop box in Ft. Lauderdale; Lemon bolstering his similarity to a car that is totally flawed and breaks down repeatedly after it leaves the lot, compared Trump supporters to drug addicts (and to think this biased “journalist” intones that bias as news daily); waive goodbye to the idea of journalists standing up for the freedom of the press as Cack News Network “journalist” Jake Tapper intones that the New York Post should cave into Twitter’s demands it delete its banned tweet on Hunter Biden’s e-mail scandal; even though being ignored by the MSM, Bobulinski is the perfect whistle blower who should be believed as he has contributed for years to Democratic candidates and is not some conservative ideologue (great that Ro Khanna, a Blue Representative has indicated as a recipient of his contributions he will defend him from the media and political smears; after starting to defund the police, Austin is joining the ranks of cities with retiring and demoralized police forces and rising violent crime rates; in a Marxist “we will hang the last capitalist with the rope he sold us” déjà vu, Silicon Valley techies are donating more money to Biden than they did for Clinton; while many public schools are banning in person teaching Governor Newsom’s kids are going to private schools which are not under such restrictions.
Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of October 29,  2020, the number of shootings increased to 3,540 of whom 605 have died (total travesty of BLM when blacks are shot and killed by blacks in droves and only sounds of silence and complete absence of any protests in front of City Hall demanding action to curb the killings and shootings); Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths but now seems to be shooting less and killing less and is now 328 behind Chicago at 277 murders (when will Chicago and Baltimore get serious about this carnage or is this the case of true racism as a Blue run city turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to the slaughter of people of color by people of color and when will the left focus on the problem of color on color shootings in Blue run cities which  have  been way  more  deadly and way more numerous than shootings by  police or by random mass shootings which occur far much less.
As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to “Baby Boy“ by Beyonce feat. Sean Paul, the fact that you do not experience excessive polypnea after a run and a quote from RAF Wing Commander H.R.Allen on the bombing of Dresden, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift for any memorable events like Father’s Day, college graduations, birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries, you know that the Alaskanpoet can provide you with a unique customized poem at a great price tailored to the event and the recipient. Please contact me for details.
       1.  Mischief Night—celebrated first in England on 1790 as a night to commit pranks and mischief on one’s neighbors, hopefully by not doing any serious physical damage to property.
   2.  National Publicists Day—created by the Jordanna Stephan on October 29, 2015 to honor the work of publicists with a date to celebrate being October 30, which is the anniversary date of the first press release written by Ivy Lee who is known as the “Father of PR.” The profession can be a make or break for a company trying to get its products and services accepted by the market place or to cope with adverse news or promote favorable news.

3. 2003 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 2003 on a run of 10 weeks not continuous was “Baby Boy” by Beyonce feat. Sean Paul to join 10 other songs that made the number 1 list and joining 9 other songs that made the number 1 list for the first time. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ucz_pm3LX8 Beyonce, a 39 year old singer and actress was formerly the lead singer for Destiny’s Child and is one of the more successful singers in terms of number of record sales. Sean Paul, a 47 year old Jamaican born reggae and dancehall musician has had many of his albums nominated for Best Reggae Album.
4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “polypnea” which means rapid breathing which describes to a tee what a good workout will do for your respiration.

5. Like a Chip Off the Block--celebrating the birth on this day in 1981 of Ivanka Trump, President Trump’s second child and first Jewish member of a First Family by way of conversion and a successful business woman and Special Advisor to President Trump.
On this day in:

a. 1941 in what would prove to be a life line to Great Britain President Roosevelt approved $1 billion under the Lend Lease Program.

b. 1961 in the ultimate Soviet airbrushing of history moment the tomb of Stalin next to Lenin’s was ordered removed due to violations of Lenin’s precepts for reburial in the Kremlin Wall marked by a granite marker.

c. 1985 Space Shuttle Challenger launched successfully into and returned from space in what would prove to be its last mission before it exploded on January 28, 1986, after 78 seconds into the flight, killing all seven crew members aboard, including the first civilian into space, school teacher Christa McAuliffe.
d. 2005 the Dresden Fraukenkirche destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden in 1945 and the rubble left as a war memorial in East Germany was reconsecrated after a 13 year rebuilding effort that started after German reunification.

e. 2014 Sweden became the first European Country to recognize the Palestine State.
Reflections on the 3 day incendiary bombing of Dresden, clogged with refugees fleeing from the Red Army: “The final phase of Bomber Command’s operations was far and away the worst. Traditional British chivalry and the use of minimum force in war was to become a mockery and the outrages perpetrated by the bombers will be remembered a thousand years hence” Wing Commander H.R. Allen of the Royal Air Force.

Please enjoy the poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good, incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs—click on the links below. Go to www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for Ridley’s Believe It Or Not—This Day in History, poems to inspire, touch, emote, elate and enjoy and poems on breaking news items of importance or go to Ridley's Believe It Or Not for just This Day in History.

© October 30, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Gift

Octoiber 29,2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not International Internet Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not October 29, 2020
    CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 780,007 new cases (a 1.75% increase compared to a 1.20% increase yesterday) to bring the total over  45 million to 45,294,439, 11,166,285 of  which  are active, 34,128,454 of which have been closed with 32,949,919 recoveries (96.55% compared to  yesterday’s 96.52%) and 1,185,535 deaths (3.47% compared to yesterday’s 3.48%) to continue the trend of increased recovery percentages and decreased mortality percentages.
        CV USA Cases: New cases of 199,032 with total cases over 9 million at 9,203,425 (a 2.21% increase compared to yesterday’s .68% increase) with 3,000,263 active cases of which 16,874 (.56% of active cases), recently on a disturbing upward trend with slight blips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (16,801 yesterday and 15,881 on September 1), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and may be continuing to go up, and 6,203,163 closures, 234,084 of which have been deaths (3.77% compared to yesterday’s 3.80%) and 5,969,079 of which have been recoveries (96.23% compared to yesterday’s 96.20%) (our death rate percentages continue to improve and are finally in single digits since Cuomo repealed on May 10 his order sending CV positive patients to nursing homes and ADL facilities and on a deaths per million population measurement at 706 ranks behind Peru (1037), Belgium (962), Spain (762), Brazil (746), Bolivia (742), Chile (736), and Ecuador (712),  and only slightly worse than Mexico (698), UK (676), Argentina (672) newly added to the list, Italy (631), and Sweden (586) that never closed its economy down like we did and we have now conducted 1,474,814 more tests to bring total to 141,669,328   tests (now at 426,123/M compared to Russia at 406,181/M so Trump is telling truth that we conduct more tests in number and on a per capital basis for nations (other than those nations that contain small populations like Bahrain, Denmark,  Israel, Singapore and UAE) but for the U.K. at 486,496/M).
Non CV Case News: Maybe the 50% or so of voters who are Trump supporters were turned off by a Rasputin like homeless like Jack Dorsey ranting about not censoring conservatives as daily users fell and the stock in after market trading fell 17.5%, Biden and Trump both campaigned in Tampa with a small group of cars in a drive in theater occasionally honking support when prompted to for Biden and a large, large cheering crowd who waited for hours to support Trump who touted the 33.1% annualized recovery in the 3^rd quarter as being the V shape he predicted ( if Biden wins good chance the V will morph into a M, going down for a long time); CV cases are on the rise and Biden is blaming Trump for the deaths and touting his plan which other than national shutdowns and mandatory mask wearing has already been implemented especially in tests, in development of vaccines and therapeutics and manufacture of medical equipment needed; Joe and his family members are circling the wagons around the Hunter Biden email scandal and refusing to answer any questions because the allegations are “smears” and they are secure in their belief that the MSM will continue to bury the story to protect Biden; Rapper Lil’ Wayne had a successful meeting with Trump on Trump’s Platinum Plan to improve black neighborhoods to be slammed by social media (at least this rapper of small frame has more stature than 50 Cent who folded when ex girlfriend Chelsea Handler invoked a Lysistrata on him when he indicated he was voting for Trump); Celebs are up in arms against Gruesome Newsom for his announced restrictions on Thanksgiving and Christmas family gatherings which is great that they are turning on this failure but not blasting him for his total and abject failure to provide for a timely and needed response for unemployment checks for record number of jobless claimants; as CV cases rise off the charts, BoA announced it was ending its hazard pay supplemental payments to employees raising some questions whether it would still honor its pledge not to lay off any employees during the CV pandemic which is now spiking big time.
Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of October 28,  2020, the number of shootings increased to 3,530 of whom 603 have died (total travesty of BLM when blacks are shot and killed by blacks in droves and only sounds of silence and complete absence of any protests in front of City Hall demanding action to curb the killings and shootings); Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths but now seems to be shooting less and killing less and is now 326 behind Chicago at 277 murders (when will Chicago and Baltimore get serious about this carnage or is this the case of true racism as a Blue run city turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to the slaughter of people of color by people of color and when will the left focus on the problem of color on color shootings in Blue run cities which  have  been way  more  deadly and way more numerous than shootings by  police or by random mass shootings which occur far much less.
As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to “Dilemma“ by Nelly feat. Kelly Rowland, the fact that you are not bombarded with polyphloisbic sounds and a quote from Scott Carpenter on the return of John Glenn to space, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift for any memorable events like Father’s Day, college graduations, birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries, you know that the Alaskanpoet can provide you with a unique customized poem at a great price tailored to the event and the recipient. Please contact me for details.
     1.  International Internet Day—celebrated first on this day in 2005 to commemorate the first computer to computer transmission of data on ARPANET on this day in 1969 launching the internet age to quickly become off to the races but sadly for conservatives soon to be saddled with the baggage of social media censorship which quickly came to be added.
         2.  World Stroke Day—created by the World Stroke Association in 2006 to promote awareness of the dangers of strokes and the steps people should take to avoid them especially in view of the fact that our potential new president Biden with his history of aneurysms may be a prime candidate.

3. 2002 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 2002 on a run of 10 weeks not continuous was “Dilemma” by Nelly feat. Kelly Rowland to join 6 other songs that made the number 1 list and joining 4 other songs that made the number 1 list for the first time. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyOtiz4o7i0 Nelly, a 46 year old rapper started his career in 2000 and had some minor brushes with the law and a tax lien of $2.6 million but is still performing today. Kelly Rowland rose to fame with the all female band Destiny’s Child and has been pursuing successfully a solo career.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “polyphloisbic” which means roaring or noisy which probably describes to a tee most Trump rallies as opposed to Biden’s where one hears the tepid sounds of silence.

5. Only Final Riot Is Quiet--celebrating the birth on this day in 1955 of Kevin DuBrow the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot who died quietly alone of an overdose of cocaine, painkillers and alcohol on November 19,2007 at age 52.
On this day in:

a. 1960 after the Cal Poly Football Team boarded their chartered plane for a long depressing flight back to San Luis Obispo after losing to Bowling Green 50-6, the plane crashed shortly after takeoff killing 22 of the 48 aboard, cancelling the rest of Cal Poly’s season.

b. 1998 Senator John Glenn returned to space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery to become the oldest person at age 77 to go into space and better yet return alive to talk about it.

c. 2008 Delta Airlines merged with Northwest Airlines reducing the number of legacy U.S. airlines to 5 and most likely reducing legroom given the reduced competition.
d. 2012 Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast causing some $70 billion in damages and killing 148 directly and 138 indirectly and leaving millions of people without power for weeks.

e. 2015 China announced the end of the policy of one child which probably saved an unimaginable number of female first born babies.
Sendoff to John Glenn’s historic at age 77 return to space on the Shuttle Discovery: “"Good luck, have a safe flight and ... once again, Godspeed, John Glenn." Mercury Astronaut Scott Carpenter, the second American to orbit the Earth repeating what he had wished John Glenn on his first flight.

© October 29, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Gift

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

October 28, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Statue of Liberty Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not October 28, 2020

    CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 527,432 new cases (a 1.20% increase compared to a 1.03% increase yesterday) to bring the total over  44 million to 44,544,732, 10,795,747 of  which  are active, 33,758,975 of which have been closed with 32,582,911  recoveries (96.52% compared to  yesterday’s 96.51%) and 1,176,074 deaths (3.48% compared to yesterday’s 3.49%) to continue the trend of increased recovery percentages and decreased mortality percentages.
       CV USA Cases: New cases of 60,807 with total cases over 9 million at 9,004,393 (a .68% increase compared to yesterday’s  1.09% increase) with 2,941,172 active cases of which 16,801 (.57% of active cases), recently on a disturbing upward trend with slight blips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (16,6126 yesterday and 15,881 on September 1), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and may be continuing to go up, and 6,124,047 closures, 232,459 of which have been deaths (3.80% compared to yesterday’s 3.81%) and 5,891,588 of which have been recoveries (96.20% compared to yesterday’s 96.19%) (our death rate percentages continue to improve and are finally in single digits since Cuomo repealed on May 10 his order sending CV positive patients to nursing homes and ADL facilities and on a deaths per million population measurement at 701 ranks behind Peru (1034), Belgium (951), Spain (758), Brazil (742), Bolivia (740),  Chile (732), and Ecuador (710),  and only slightly worse than Mexico (694), UK (672), Argentina (656) newly added to the list, Italy (627), and Sweden (586) that never closed its economy down like we did and we have now conducted 4,769,881 more tests to bring total to 140,194,814   tests (now at 422,175/M compared to Russia at 402,390/M so Trump is telling truth that we conduct more tests in number and on a per capital basis for nations (other than those nations that contain small populations like Bahrain, Denmark,  Israel, Singapore and UAE) but for the U.K. at 481,538/M).
Non CV Case News: Jack Dorsey looking like with his scraggly beard, he was auditioning for the latest Rasputin part, testified before the Senate today defending Twitter’s censorship of the NY Post article on Twitter’s censorship of its article on Hunter Biden and with a straight face indicating that Twitter does not censor conservatives (an “Iron Curtain” far more dangerous that the real one Stalin placed around Eastern Europe); the City of Brotherly Love was anything but that after another night of looting and rioting over the shooting death of Walter Wallace which also featured 12 shootings, 2 of which were fatal and prompted another curfew to try to stem the violence (the body cams and audio of the shooting will be released which hopefully will defuse the anger and looting); the myth of mail-in voting as being safe continues to be put to the test as another postal worker, this one in Kentucky, has been charged with dumping ballots in the trash; Hurricane Zeta has risen to a Cat 2 and is preparing to make landfall in Louisiana to bring massive rainfall to an area already hit by hurricanes and massive amounts of rainfall; in another example of the private sector prodded by Trump to move on CV a warp speed, Kroger has announced a national rollout of CV antibody rapid tests (already we are testing at phenomenal rates and the rapid antibody tests will be icing  on the cake); in a way to prevent businesses from hiring low wage skilled technical people to replace high wage Americans, Trump is revising the HB-1 Visa Program to prioritize higher wage applicants; Chelsea Handler may no longer be funny and getting up in her years in her 40’s but hot enough to do a political Lysistrata on Rapper 50 Cent to have him pull his support from Trump and support Biden (50 Cent watch your net worth free fall if Biden wins); Space X is scheduled to launch a rotation crew of 3 Americans and 1 Japanese for a 6 month stay at the International Space Station on November 14.
Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of October 26,  2020, the number of shootings increased to 3,520 of whom 602 have died (total travesty of BLM when blacks are shot and killed by blacks in droves and only sounds of silence and complete absence of any protests in front of City Hall demanding action to curb the killings and shootings); Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths but now seems to be shooting less and killing less and is still 328 behind Chicago at 274 murders (when will Chicago and Baltimore get serious about this carnage or is this the case of true racism as a Blue run city turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to the slaughter of people of color by people of color and when will the left focus on the problem of color on color shootings in Blue run cities which  have  been way  more  deadly and way more numerous than shootings by  police or by random mass shootings which occur far much less.
As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to “I’m Real (Murder Remix)“ by Jennifer Lopez feat. Ja Rule, the fact that you can be polyphiloprogenitive and a quote from Louis Gohmert on the Cuban Missile Crisis, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift for any memorable events like Father’s Day, college graduations, birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries, you know that the Alaskanpoet can provide you with a unique customized poem at a great price tailored to the event and the recipient. Please contact me for details.
        1.  International Animation Day—created by the International Animation Association, a member of UNESCO, in 2002 to honor the creations of animators and to promote the acceptance of animated films which today are almost always computer generated.            2.  Statue of Liberty Day—celebrating this day in 1886 when the Statute of Liberty after being reassembled from 214 crates and moved to Bledloe Island (renamed Liberty Island in 1956) was dedicated.

3. 2001 Number One Song— the number 1 songs in 2001 on a run of 2 weeks was “I’m Real (Murder Remix)” by Jennifer Lopez feat. Ja Rule to join 13 other songs that made the number 1 list and for Ja Rule joining 11 other songs that made the number 1 list for the first time. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjx9oSJDAVQ This 51 year old actress, singer and entrepreneur with an inappropriate nickname of “J-Lo” as she is probably one of the more influential Latin artists practicing her craft and currently engaged to A-Rod. Ja Rule a rapper has had some success but also time in prison for weapons charges and tax evasion.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “polyphiloprogenitive” which means very prolific which is trait many artists possess and many politicians do not unless it relates to raising campaign funds.

5. Open the Gates to Prosperity--celebrating the birth on this day in 1955 of Bill Gates who is probably Harvard’s most famous dropout and who with Paul Allen founded Microsoft which is the largest software company in the world and making money hand over fist, a tremendous amount of which Gates through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation puts to great philanthropic causes like malaria eradication around the globe.

On this day in:

a. 1993 in a how to leave on a high note Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Pathétique premiered in St. Petersburg 9 days before Tchaikovsky’s death.

b. 1922 Benito Mussolini and his fascists marched on Rome to take over the government to start the march for Italy to fight.

c. 1948 to the bane of Pelicans and other egg laying wild fowl, George Hermann Muller was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for his 1939 discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT which would be used to eradicate mosquitoes.
d. 1962 in global sigh of relief moment, Premier Nikita Khrushchev authorized the removal of Soviet missiles in Cuba, bringing a welcome end to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

e. 1968 in a move toward tolerance, Pope VI promulgated Nostra Aetate wherein the Catholic Church would recognize non Christian religions.
Reflections on the Cuban Missile Crisis, a state of events we should pray the world never ever comes to again: “Most people give Kennedy a passing grade, a good grade on the Cuban Missile Crisis handling, but what they don't realize, if he had had strength, if he had showed strength before, there would never have been a Cuban Missile Crisis.” Louie Gohmert, Red Representative from Texas

© October 28, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Gift

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

October 27, 2020 Ridley's Beleive It Or Not Navy Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not October 27, 2020
CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 446,842 new cases (a .84% increase compared to a 1.03% increase yesterday) to bring the total over 44 million to 44,027,370, 10,619,049 of which are active, 33,512,980 of which have been closed with 32,343,484 recoveries (96.51% compared to yesterday’s 96.50%) and 1,169,496 deaths (3.49% compared to yesterday’s 3.50%) to continue the trend of increased recovery percentages and decreased mortality percentages.

      CV USA Cases: New cases of 96,941 with total cases over 9 million at 9,004,393 (a 1.09% increase compared to yesterday’s  2.76% increase) with 2,919,035 active cases of which 16,612 (.57% of active cases), recently on a disturbing upward trend with slight blips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (16,296 yesterday and 15,881 on September 1), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and may be continuing to go up, and 6,085,357 closures, 231,671 of which have been deaths (3.81% compared to yesterday’s 3.83%) and 5,853,686 of which have been recoveries (96.19% compared to yesterday’s 96.17%) (our death rate percentages continue to improve and are finally in single digits since Cuomo repealed on May 10 his order sending CV positive patients to nursing homes and ADL facilities and on a deaths per million population measurement at 699 ranks behind Peru (1031), Belgium (939), Spain (755), Brazil (739), Bolivia (739),  Chile (732), and Ecuador (710),  and only slightly worse than Mexico (689), UK (667), Argentina (646) newly added to the list, d Italy (624), and Sweden (585) that never closed its economy down like we did and we have now conducted 2,195,605 more tests to bring total to 135,424,933   tests (now at 406,799/M compared to Russia at 398,917/M so Trump is telling truth that we conduct more tests in number and on a per capital basis for nations (other than those nations that contain small populations like Bahrain, Denmark,  Israel, Singapore and UAE) but for the U.K. at 476,731/M).
     Non CV Case News: Dodger beat the Rays in Game 6 to win the World Series; after the Senate “debate” which was more like a bunch of angry Blue anti-Trump sound bites, Judge Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed and sworn in by Justice Clarence Thomas; in Philadelphia 2 police officers responding to a black man with a knife call were forced after they backed and he kept advancing but refusing to drop the knife to shoot and kill him which prompted a riot that evening with 96 arrests and 30 officers injured including one intentionally run over by a pickup truck and the others by rocks, bricks and other projectiles thrown at them ( the victim  had mental problems and the officers were not armed with tasers (in a racially charged environment we live in where even a shooting of an armed black suspect pointing or firing at police brings out a Black Lives Matter protest, hard to imagine why the officers were not armed with tasers); Progressives are already counting their presidential chickens and want Sanders and Warren in Biden’s cabinet; the Wisconsin Supreme Court has put a damper on the endless election by upholding a requirement that mail-in ballots must be received on election day in order to count; Keith Raniere, the former leader of the self help group NXIVM  has been sentenced to 120 years for sex trafficking, a sentence that comes several weeks after heiress Clare Bronfman had been sentenced to 7 years in prison for her role in the federal conspiracy case; the Manchester Union may have endorsed Biden, but the Boston Herald further south has more sanity and has endorsed Trump; scientists from Washington State have successfully destroyed a nest of giant killer hornets and are on the hunt for more as the hornets pose a great threat to bees; Harley-Davidson which reported good third quarter earnings is in the electric motorcycle with its Livewire line able to go 0 to 60 in 3 seconds and up to a 100 miles on a single battery charge on the open highway ( starting at $29,799 which may be viewed as  a bit expensive for a quiet ride);
          Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of October 26,  2020,             the number of shootings increased to 3,515 of whom 601 have died (total travesty of BLM when blacks are shot and killed by blacks in droves and only sounds of silence and complete absence of any protests in front of City Hall demanding action to curb the killings and shootings); Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths but now seems to be shooting less and killing less and is still 328 behind Chicago at 273 murders (when will Chicago and Baltimore get serious about this carnage or is this the case of true racism as a Blue run city turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to the slaughter of people of color by people of color and when will the left focus on the problem of color on color shootings in Blue run cities which  have  been way  more  deadly and way more numerous than shootings by  police or by random mass shootings which occur far much less.
      As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to “Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You) by Christina Aguilera” , the fact that you can be a polymath and a quote from USMC Sergeant Beres on gays in the military, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift for any memorable events like Father’s Day, college graduations, birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries, you know that the Alaskanpoet can provide you with a unique customized poem at a great price tailored to the event and the recipient. Please contact me for details.
          1.  World Day for Audiovisual Heritage—created by UNESCO to promote awareness of the need to preserve sound recordings and audiovisuals and the risks involved in preserving them.
           2.  Navy Day—created by the Navy League in 1922 to honor the U.S. Navy and which is to be celebrated on this day which is the anniversary of the birthday of President Theodore Roosevelt, the proponent of “The Great White Fleet. "

3. 2000 Number One Song— the number 1 songs in 2000 on a run of 4 weeks was “Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)” by Christina Aguilera to join 16 other songs that made the number 1 list. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RQDIJ2CvbA&index=683&list=FL4EhUBxQPWsZZ_5yYQh-USw This 39 year old Mickey Mouse Club veteran has been knocking them dead for years as a 4 octave singer.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “polymath” which means a person having knowledge on many subjects,” a trait which most politicians sorely lack.

5. Confess and Sell--celebrating the birth on this day in 1925 of Sylvia Plath, noted poet and founder of the poetic genre confessional poet, but who struggled with depression and killed herself at age 30 on February 23, 1963 by carbon monoxide poisoning by putting her head in the oven and turning the gas on. Her last work was released posthumously and she became the first poet to posthumously be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

On this day in:

a. 1981 in a real oops moment, Soviet submarine S-363 ran aground on the rocks in Sweden.

b. 1992 U.S. Navy seaman Arthur R. Schindler, Jr., a gay, was stomped to death by his shipmate Robert Helvey aboard the USS Belleau Wood in a public restroom at Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan for being gay which prompted the policy in dealing with gays of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and Helvey’s trial and conviction for murder for which he is serving a life sentence.

c. 2004 the Boston Red Sox after 84 years finally overcame the hex of Babe Ruth and win a World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals.
d. 2017 Robert Gregory Bowers attacked a synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 and wounding 6, 4 of whom were cops involved in a shootout with him and after being wounded surrendered. He was charged with multiple federal and state felonies and and is being held without bail pending trial and if convicted faces over 500 years imprisonment.

e. 2019 the founder and leader of ISIS Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi detonated his suicide vest to avoid capture by U.S. Special Forces in Operation Kayla Mueller in western Syria, killing himself and his 3 children.
Reflections on gays in the military service: “When I joined the military it was illegal to be homosexual, then it became optional, and now it's legal. I'm getting out before the Democrats make it mandatory.”― Sgt. Harry Berres, USMC

© October 27, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
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Monday, October 26, 2020

October 25, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not International Artists Day R

Ridley's Believe It Or Not October 25, 2020
    CV World Cases: The CV pandemic across the planet continues with 369,127 new cases (a .86% increase compared to a 1.68% increase yesterday) to bring the total over  43 million to 43,217,109, 10,282,628 of  which  are active, 32,994.481 of which have been closed with 31,836,560  recoveries (96.49% compared to  yesterday’s 96.48%) and 1,157,921 deaths (3.51% compared to yesterday’s 3.53%) to continue the trend of increased recovery percentages and decreased mortality percentages.
          CV USA Cases: New cases of 214,199 with total cases over 8 million at 8,668,572 (a 2.47% increase compared to yesterday’s  1.69% increase) with 2,889,736,116 active cases of which 16,354 (.57% of active cases), recently on a disturbing upward trend with slight blips from a high of 19,155 on July 23  (16,204 yesterday and 15,881 on September 1), are in serious or critical condition as trend has shifted and may be continuing to go up, and 5,993,035 closures, 230,475 of which have been deaths (3.85% compared to yesterday’s 3.86%) and 5,762,560 of which have been recoveries (96.15% compared to yesterday’s 96.14%) (our death rate percentages continue to improve and are finally in single digits since Cuomo repealed on May 10 his order sending CV positive patients to nursing homes and ADL facilities and on a deaths per million population measurement at 695 ranks behind Peru (1030), Belgium (925), Spain (743), Brazil (737), Bolivia (736),  Chile (727), and Ecuador (708),  and only slightly worse than Mexico (686), UK (660), Argentina (631) newly added to the list, d Italy (618), and Sweden (586) that never closed its economy down like we did and we have now conducted 1,020,835 more tests to bring total to 133, 229,328   tests (now at 401,502/M compared to Russia at 392,588/M so Trump is telling truth that we conduct more tests in number and on a per capital basis for nations (but excluding nations with small populations like Denmark,  Israel and Singapore) but for the U.K. at 458,213/M).
Non CV Case News: Dodgers won Game 5 against the Rays to go up 3-2; the Senate has voted to  end the filibuster of the nomination of Judge Barrett and her nomination and expected confirmation will be voted on Monday evening (would be nice but unlikely for some Blues to vote in favor of this highly qualified judge); to the Blues and the left, Trump and his supporter are Nazis but in a Jews for Trump Parade in NYC, it looks like the true Brown Shirts are from the left as rocks and other objects were thrown at vehicles with Trump flags (dog whistles of violence are blowing long and shrill by the left); the collateral damage of the CV lock downs that gets little attention is the increasing deaths from opioid use  as California AG remarks that in some of his counties deaths from  opioid use are exceeding CV deaths; the “conservative” Manchester Union after endorsing Libertarian Gary Johnson in 2016,  for the first time in 100 years is endorsing  a Democrat,Joe Biden (must mean that they believe against all known facts that Biden’s 25^th Harris is a closet conservative); Susan Collins of Maine announced that she would follow precedence and vote against Amy ?Coney Barrett (with all due respect she is out to lunch 2016 was a Blue president trying to appoint someone to a Red Senate with nowhere near the qualifications or integrity or intellect of Judge Barrett); in a sign that the left is confident of keeping the House, AOC will not commit to supporting Pelosi for another stint as Speaker; the nation is facing a troika of confusing weather with high winds, snow and a tropical storm with the winds bringing blackout threats in Northern California and the snow to firefighters in Colorado fighting a massive wildfire being manna from heaven; another case of an attack on an unsecure mail-in ballot drop box this time an arson attempt outside the  Boston Public Library (when will we wake up to the fact that in this ends justifies the means highly charged election season, ballots must be secure not placed in public drop off boxes; the college admissions scandal may have set her mother Felicity Huffman back 11/14 days in jail and 250 hours of community service but did not derail her elder daughter’s academic career plans as she announced she is off to Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama.
  Chicago/Baltimore Gun Violence: In Chicago as of October 24,  2020, the number of shootings increased to 3,496 of whom 597 have died (total travesty of BLM when blacks are shot and killed by blacks in droves and only sounds of silence and complete absence of any protests in front of City Hall demanding action to curb the killings and shootings); Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths but now seems to be shooting less and killing less and is now 328 behind Chicago at 269 murders (when will Chicago and Baltimore get serious about this carnage or is this the case of true racism as a Blue run city turns a deaf ear and a blind eye to the slaughter of people of color by people of color and when will the left focus on the problem of color on color shootings in Blue run cities which  have  been way  more  deadly and way more numerous than shootings by  police or by random mass shootings which occur far much less.
As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to “Smooth” by Santana feat. Rob Taylor, the fact that you are normally not polyloquent and an editorial from El Tiempro on the invasion of Grenada, secure in the knowledge that if you want to send a gift for any memorable events like Father’s Day, college graduations, birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries, you know that the Alaskanpoet can provide you with a unique customized poem at a great price tailored to the event and the recipient. Please contact me for details.
        1.  International Artists Day—created by Canadian artist Chris McClure on this day in 2004 to celebrate the contributions to society of artists around the world.

2. National Mother-in-law Day—created in 2002 and celebrated on the 4^th Sunday in October to encourage spouses to recognize that the path to a happy stress free marriage is to win over the other spouse’s mother-in-law who far too often is the butt of many a comedian’s jokes.

3. 1999 Number One Song— the number 1 songs in 1999 on a run of 12 weeks (10 in 1999 and 2 in 2000) was “Smooth” by Santana feat. Rob Thomas to join 9 other songs that made the number 1 list for the first time and 14 other songs that made the number 1 list. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Whgn_iE5uc&list=PLuZdt4bijghMuVWF4bzOrUPZ3dq0izYfi Rob Taylor, a successful artist and lead singer of Match Box Twenty had a rough life with an alcoholic mother and an alcoholic grandmother who sold drugs and moonshine on the side but became a top singer and songwriter. Santana is a rock band formed by 73 year old Carlos Santana in 1966 and still growing strong with many new and changing participants around Carlos.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “polyloquent” which means loquacious which probably describes many political speeches to a tee.

5. Blow and Fast Breaks Together Don’t Go--celebrating the birth on this day in 1963 of actor, director and film producer Ted Demme who died way too early during a Hollywood charity basketball game at age 38 on January 13, 2002 of a heart attack which may well have been caused by the cocaine found in his system during his autopsy.

On this day in:

a. 1920 after a hunger strike lasting 74 days by Sinn Fein’s Lord Mayor of Cork, Terrence MacSwiney at Brixton Prison, Lambeth, England, he died at the age of 41.

b. 1962 in a you are lying through your teeth about Soviet ballistic missiles in Cuba “Gotcha” moment, UN Ambassador Adlai Stevenson showed the world on TV photographic evidence of Soviet missile sites being constructed on Cuba and the world moved closer to a nuclear war it has ever been.

c. 1971 the People’s Republic of China replaced the Republic of China (Taiwan) at the United Nations.

d. 1983 under the guise of protecting over 600 U.S. medical students but more likely an excuse to remove a Communist dictatorship that had just removed and executed several members of the ruling dictatorship and looking to complete a airport that would accommodate large Soviet bombers and transport plane, American military forces supplemented by some forces from Caribbean allies invaded Grenada, a successful invasion but which revealed that the U.S. Military had a lot of work facing it after the disaster of the Vietnam War.

e. 2001 Microsoft released its Windows XP operating system, probably the most successful operating system Microsoft ever created and many of which are still in use today.
Reflections on the invasion of Grenada October 25, 1983: “Fidel Castro said in Grenada there were 600 Cubans who were simple doctors, construction workers and teachers.’ And now it turns out that these ‘doctors, construction workers and teachers have been fighting check to jowl for two days with an entire naval flotilla from the most powerful nation in the world. That it is to say that it wasn’t a quiet, peaceful, goodwill group involved but a group armed to the teeth capable of direct combat in a direct and efficient manner…Now Fidel orders the Cubans dug in on the island to resist until the end, by which he virtually admit they had already invaded the island by other means and now refuse to allow themselves to be pushed away.” Editorial October 27, 1983 in Bogata, Columbia’s largest daily El Tiempo..

© October 25, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
Poet Extraordinaire, Beyond Compare
A Unique Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Gift