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

Thursday, April 9, 2020

April 9, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Prisoners of War Day of Recognition

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 9, 2020 The Trump Administration is moving to stop China Telecom’s ability to provide international service to and from the U>S>; The CV pandemic continues unabated with 1,593,499,637 cases worldwide (+6.26%), 355,262 of whom have recovered (22.3% an improvement from 21.32%) although the jury still on how long before they can still transmit CV and 95,047 deaths (+8.22% and a fatality of 6%) and in the U.S. which now ranks 1st in total number of cases, the number of cases has risen to 462,391 (+5.94%), 27,464 recoveries (+13.3% and a recovery rate of 5.44%) and 16,454 deaths (an 8.88% increase and 5.94% fatality rate); New York which is the epicenter of the virus in the U.S. with over 160,108 cases has the dubious distinction of having more cases of any country other than the U.S. with 7,069 deaths (4.4 % fatality rate) and 13,000 recoveries (8.12 % recovery rate); in a Garfield or McKinley déjà vu Biden has turned his basement podcasts in to a digital campaign porch in an attempt to remain relevant and in the news while Trumps is in the news (remains to be seen given his gaffes how productive that will be even assuming he has mastered the use of a teleprompter); on the California homeless front, San Diego is drawing fire for its plans to move over 800 homeless into the San Diego for fears of an outbreak of COVID-19 among those who also have major health problems, LA and San Francisco are scrambling to find hotel rooms for large numbers of homeless as concern increases that homeless tent encampments are ticking time bombs to spread the virus; in a if you can’t go to a bar to drink it keep it with you and spray it, some 600 distilleries have announced they are producing hand sanitizers which is great news to shoppers tired of looking at empty shelves where sanitizers use to be and a great testimony of the ability of American business to react to adversities; convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein has survived the coronavirus and is out of quarantine but fortunately not out of jail awaiting sentencing and Boris Johnson is still in the hospital with the virus but out of the ICU which is goods in terms of recovery; while this pandemic has brought the best in us it also has attracted the worst as Johnwill Baldonado of Buena Park was arrested for price gouging after selling a box of N95 masks for $300; Senators Graham and Coons signed a letter along with other bipartisan senators and sent it to the Chinese Ambassador to the United States demanding China immediately close down its “wet markets”; in Chicago, as of April 8, 2020, in a deadly day the total of shootings jumped to 611 of whom 111 have died; Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths has fallen to 36 behind Chicago with 75 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 more deadly and more numerous than random mass shootings?).

As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to Blondie, the fact that you do not suffer from ophidiophobia, and a quote by General Edward King on his surrender at Bataan, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find 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. You need only contact me for details.

1. National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day--created by Congress in 1988 to commemorate the surrender of American and Philippine on Bataan to the Japanese on April 9, 1942 in what was the largest surrender by Americans in our history.

2. National Alcohol Screening Day—created by the NIH in 1999 and celebrated on the Thursday of the first full week to promote awareness of alcohol abuse and alcoholism, the diseases associated with it and means to recovery from it.

3. 1981 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1981 on this day on a run of 2 weeks though in the position was “Rapture” by Blondie. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHCdS7O248g This band formed by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, who both overcome drug abuse early in their career, is still going strong.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “ophidiophobia” which means a fear of snakes which describes a fear of Indiana Jones and probably most of us to a tee.

5. No Sequels with Needles—celebrating the birth on this day in 1974 of Megan Connolly, noted Australian TV actress who was found dead from a heroin overdose on September 6, 2001 at the age of 27.

On this day in:

a. 1965 in the end of rain checks for baseball, the first indoor MLB game was played at the Houston Astrodome.

b. 1992 a Federal District Court found former Panamanian Dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug charges and racketeering for which he would be sentenced to 30 years in prison.

c. 2005 Prince Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall.

d. 2014 at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania, 16 year old Alex Hribal, a student, stabbed 20 students and a security guard before being subdued. He pled guilty to the offenses and was sentenced to 23.5 to 60 years in prison.

e. 2017 in a caught on camera chilling rebuke of “Fly the Friendly Skies” moment, Doctor David Dao Duy Anh refused to give up his seat on an overbooked United Airlines flight and was forcibly removed by airport security police.

Reflections on jthe surrender at Bataan: "We have no further means of organized resistance, we are low on ammunition, have virtually no medical supplies, and our food is all but gone. Our front lines are destroyed and both flanks severely weakened. The situation has become hopeless. If I do not surrender all forces to the Japanese today, Bataan will be known around the world as the greatest slaughter in history." General Edward King, commander of U.S. and Philippine forces on Bataan, April 9, 1942.

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.

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Wednesday, April 8, 2020

April 8, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not International Romani Dayeive

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 8, 2020 Linda Tripp who blew the whistle on the Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal has just died; the President of WHO, who is under attack for WHO’s pro-China views on the pandemic, fired back that countries must not politicize the pandemic or suffer a flood of body bags (China unleashed the perfect one two punch for COVID-19 by first lying and deceiving the world as to it and its ease of human to human transmission allowing it to become a pandemic and then as medical systems around the world were swamped and being overwhelmed tried to be the white knight by delivering vast quantities of medical supplies which recipients are now finding out were in many cases defective); Trump rightfully is considering a defunding of WHO by the U.S. which typically in a globalist world is the organization’s largest contributor (bare minimum the president of WHO needs to go and be replaced by someone who places health above politics and has a spotless integrity record); the CV pandemic continues unabated with 1,499,637 cases worldwide, 319,212 of whom have recovered (21.31%) although the jury still on how long before they can still transmit CV and 87,825 (5.86) deaths while in the U.S. which now ranks 1st in total number of cases, the number of cases has risen to 422,510, 22,187 recoveries (5.25%) and 12,230 deaths (2.89%); New York which is the epicenter of the virus in the U.S. has 140,386 cases with 5,489 deaths (3.9%) and NYC has suffered more deaths than in 9/11; the markets responded by soaring to a one two punch of good news—Russia agreed to cut back on its oil production and Sanders announced he was suspended his campaign for president; if one can suspend disbelief the news from China is that no new corona virus cases have surfaced in Wuhan and the lock down of Wuhan has ended but the wet markets still exist which most health experts indicate should be shut down to prevent another pandemic repeat; Suifenhe, China, a city of 100,000 near the Russian border has reported 26 coronavirus cases and has been shut down; in Riverside, California, the Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Facility with 90 beds was forced to close and move its residents after only 1 of 13 nursing assistants showed up for work and 34 residents and 5 staff members have tested positive for the virus; Kamala Harris who is capable of only slamming Trump and his policies mocked Trump for not being able to have multi-tasked the impeachment farce and the coronavirus outbreak (cringe is Biden picks her as his VP running mate and with his mental and physical issues wins and then dies or becomes incapacitated, putting her in the Oval Office and Adam Schiff in the Senate to replace her; the Wisconsin primary has been completed but due to coronavirus we may not see results until April 13, 2020 (will be interesting to see if the state Supreme Court Justice supported by Trump prevails); in Chicago, as of April 7, 2020, in a deadly day the total of shootings jumped to 598 of whom 107 have died; Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths has fallen to 32 behind Chicago with 75 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 more deadly and more numerous than random mass shootings?).

As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to Pink Floyd, the fact that you do not suffer from an ophidian character, and a quote by Hans Caldaras on gypsies, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find 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. You need only contact me for details.

1. International Romani Day—created by the 4^th International Romani Conference in 1990 to promote awareness of the Romani culture and accomplishments and the discrimination faced by Romanis.

2. International Feng Shui Awareness Day—celebrating a Chinese philosophy created over 3,000 years ago relating to the positioning of buildings and the placement of objects within them.

3. 1980 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1980 on this day on a run of 4 weeks though not continuous in the position was “Another Brick in The Wall Part II” by Pink Floyd. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U This band, formed in 1965 was one of the first British psychedelia groups and unlike many 60’s musicians did not see its members overdose on drugs but the deaths of two of its original founders in their 60’s marked the end of the band.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “ophidian” which means of or like a snake which describes Jerry Nadler in the political arena to a tee.

5. If You Swim Don’t Do Drugs and Swim Alone—celebrating the birth on this day in 1963 of noted investment manager and commentator Seth Tobias who began his career by processing trades for then unknown trader Jim Cramer and sadly drowned in his pool under the influence of cocaine, alcohol and Ambien on September 4, 2007.

On this day in:

a. 1952 President Truman, in order to prevent the nationwide steel strike scheduled to begin on April 9, 1952 while the Korean War was still raging, announced plans to seize all steel mills which he did only to subsequently have his actions set aside by SCOTUS..

b. 1959 a team of computer manufacturers, users and university academicians led by Grace Hopper met to discuss a new computer programming language that was to be known as COBOL.

c. 1974 at Fulton Stadium in Atlanta, Hank Aaron hit his 715^th home run to break Babe Ruth’s 39 year old record for most home runs in a career.

d. 1992 retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announced he had AIDS acquired from blood transfusions needed in one of his two heart surgeries and sadly since at that time AIDS was a death sentence died less than a year later on February 6, 1993 at the age of 49.

e. 2008 the construction of the first skyscraper to integrate wind turbines to produce electricity for it was completed in Bahrain.

Reflections on judging gypsies:”"I would not in any way excuse or defend the Roma who are criminal; they must atone for their crimes, of course. But to condemn an entire people as thieves and bandits, is in itself a criminal act and is a violation of the Geneva Convention and the current EU rules regarding Europe's citizens; namely, that every human being has the right to be treated fairly and judged as an inividul on their own merits.” Hans Caldaras, noted artist and activist.

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Tuesday, April 7, 2020

April 7, 2020 Ridley's Beleive It Or Not World Health Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 7, 2020 the CV pandemic continues unabated with 1,397,338 cases worldwide, 298,513 of whom have recovered (21.36%) although the jury still on how long before they can still transmit CV and 80,993 (5.8%) deaths while in the U.S. which now ranks 1st in total number of cases, the number of cases has risen to 386,011, 21,316 recoveries (5.5% and 12,230 deaths (3.2%) as we have been warned the U.S. is facing its Pearl Harbor in terms of new cases and deaths; in New York, the epicenter for the CV in the U.S., Cuomo announced that the three day average for hospitalizations has trended down while the daily death rate continues to increase which in his mind portends a plateauing of the virus; poor De Blasio, who has been castigated for ineptness, was hit with a new report indicating that the Bloomberg Administration after a warning of the effects of a pandemic on ventilator needs, purchased 500 additional ventilators only to have them auctioned off after De Blasio become mayor (no comment yet from the Mayor’s Office); Dems are pushing for extra hazard pay for first responders in any proposed additional stimulus as the Trump Administration is reviewing plans on how to roll out opening up the economy on a piece meal basis; MLB has come up with an idea to play baseball—play the games initially in Arizona which is a hub for spring training with 12 Major League quality stadiums before empty stadiums and quarantine the players and umpires so they do not contaminate anyone; Joy Behar continues to totally disgrace herself—this time calling on press reporters at White House briefings to call Trump a liar and walk out; the Wisconsin primary was held today after its delay sought by the Democratic Governor was blocked by the State Supreme Court but videos show voters standing in lines observing social distance and wearing masks as Blues will be engaging in a full court press to allow mail in voting despite the likely opportunity for voter fraud in the fall; on the politician CV front, Rand Paul has been retested negative after quarantine and volunteering his skills as a doctor at a hospital and Boris Johnson is in ICU on oxygen but not on a ventilator; as more an more Reds are demanding that the president of WHO resign for his pro China bias despite its deception and concealment, President Trump is considering whether the U.S. which is the top funder of WHO should reduce its contribution; House Reds are demanding an explanation of why after the Kennedy Center received a $25 million goody in the stimulus bill, it then fired many of its workers; in Chicago, as of April 6, 2020, 579 people have been shot of whom 100 have died; Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths is still 26 behind Chicago with 74 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 more deadly and more numerous than random mass shootings?).

As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to Gloria Gaynor, the fact that you do not suffer from breathing oose, and a quote by Dr Robert Beaglehole on the progress not being made on certain epidemics, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find 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. You need only contact me for details.

1. International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda—created by the UN to condemn genocide and promote efforts to insure it never occurs again.

2. World Health Day—created by the General Assembly effective 1950 to observe the creation of the World Health Organization which is rightfully under severe criticism for its failure to admonish China for its deception as to the dangers of the COVID-19 virus and the evidence of and ease of human to human transmission.

3. 1979 Number One Song— the number one song in 1979 on this day on a run of 4 weeks though not continuous in the position was “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARt9HV9T0w8 The song was her first number one song and after several albums in the 80’s and 90’s she returned to the recording studio in 2002 and is still performing today.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “oose” which means the furry dust that gathers under beds.

5. Makeup and Visual Effects Rule—celebrating the birth on this day in 1946 of Oscar winning and nominated for makeup and/or visual effects of Stanley Winston who died too early at 62 on June 15, 2008.

On this day in:

a. 1964 IBM announced the System/360 with its punch cards and reams of computer paper.

b. 1969 the symbolic birth of the internet with the Publication of RFC 1 to which Al Gore was not a contributor.

c. 1971 to the joy of an American population turning more and more against the Vietnam War, President Nixon announced an increase in the pace of Vietnamization of the war.

d. 2003 U.S. forces captured Baghdad, leading to the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime two days later but not combat against U.S. forces which continued until the withdrawal years later of combat forces.

e. 2009 former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison for having his security forces kill civilians and after serving time he was pardoned on December 24, 2017 only to have his pardon reversed by the Peruvian Supreme Court of October 3, 2018 and ordered back to prison where he was rushed to a hospital and returned to prison and after returning to prison he was rushed to a hospital and returned to prison on January 23, 2019.

Reflections on progress not being made on chronic endemics:” The real tragedy is that more hasn't been done to avoid this epidemic, as overweight and obesity, and their related chronic diseases, are largely preventable. Approximately 80% of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, and 40% of cancer could be avoided through healthy diet, regular physical activity and avoidance of tobacco use. "Low-cost, simple approaches are the key to saving 36 million lives by 2015."“Dr Robert Beaglehole,Director, Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion, World Health Organization.

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Monday, April 6, 2020

April 6, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not New Beer's Eve

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 6, 2020 the CV pandemic continues unabated with 1,337,715 cases worldwide, 277,757 of whom have recovered although the jury still on how long before they can still transmit CV and 74,223 deaths while in the U.S. which now ranks 1st in total number of cases, the number of cases has risen to 362,573, 19,313 recoveries and 10,720 as we have been warned the U.S. is facing its Pearl Harbor in terms of new cases and deaths; for 2 days in NYC, the increase in the number of new cases has dropped and the number of deaths have plateaued sparking a huge market rally of the Dow of over 1600 points (also helped by hopes relating to the stimulus program checks for which a starting to roll out); as Senator Scott is demanding and investigation of CV coverup of the pandemic and WHO complicity, WHO is eating crow with its January pronouncements that no human to human transmission was occurring; Boris Johnson who was hospitalized yesterday has now been moved into an ICU to fight his CV infection; in a sign of desperation or a sign that the FDA is pedal to metal in moving therapies and vaccine research forward, 4,000 CV victims in NYC are being treated with the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine (keep your fingers crossed that this drug in use combating malaria for years is the silver bullet to slow this disease in its tracks); another study has come out indicating that half of CV victims have no symptoms which supports the call for a national requirement that people wear masks in public which will not protector from getting the virus but will prevent the wearer from spreading it (Trump is missing the bully pulpit big win by not wearing one in public along with Pence and their wives); Blues are considering making their convention virtual and making a full court press for mandating mail in voting (mail in voting is a recipe for massive fraud in an election where small numbers of votes illegally cast could win swing states probably in favor of Blues); in an unexpected silver lining, auto insurers are implementing some refunds due to decreased driving due to expanded work at home increases and stay at home orders; Morning Joe continues to astound on how low they can go, implying Trump supports hydroxychloroquine because of a financial stake; Rep Tavia Galonski has managed to top Mika’s inanity with a demand that because he supports the use of hydroxychloroquine he is guilty of a crime against humanity (sad, very sad); in Chicago, as of April 5, 2020, 570 people have been shot of whom 99 have died; Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths is now 26 behind Chicago with 73 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 more deadly and more numerous than random mass shootings?).

As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to the Bee Gees, the fact that you do not suffer from an onnyxis, and a quote by Paul Kagame on genocide, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find 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. You need only contact me for details.

1. International Day of Sport for Development and Peace—created by the UN General Assembly on August 23, 2013 and supported by the International Olympic Association since this day in 2014 to promote the role of sport in development and peace which today the observance, as sporting events are being cancelled or postponed all over the world due to the CV pandemic, is having little impact.

2. New Beer’s Eve—celebrating the execution by President Roosevelt of the Cullen-Harrison on March 22, 1933 which allowed the production and sale of 3.2% beer starting on April 7, 1933.

3. 1978 Number One Song— the number one song in 1978 on this day on a run of 8 weeks in the position was “Night Fever” by Bee Gees. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AnKoumqcTg. This prolific group of brothers wrote their own songs and sold over 220 million records and today only Barry Gibbs is still alive.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “onyxis” which means an ingrown nail which can be a real pain in the hand.

5. Pen Always Beats the Bad Guy—celebrating the birth on this day in 1966 of noted author Vincent Flynn who started out with Kraft, was discharged from OCS of the Marine Corps Aviation program due to dyslexia, turned to writing and reading to overcome it and self published his first novel while working as a bartender and went on to write 9 novels involving the exploits of counter terrorism expert Mitch Rapp; sadly Mitch could not protect him on the personal health front and he died of prostate cancer on June 19, 2013 at age 47.

On this day in:

a. 1947 the first Tony Awards were presented for theatrical achievement.

b. 1994 a jet carrying Rwanda’s President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burandi’s President Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down killing all aboard and igniting the Rwandan Genocide, which started the next day with Huti Rwandan government forces massacring Tutsis and ended on July 15, 1994 with 500,000 to over a million dead.

c. 1998 in a the world has become a more dangerous place, Pakistan successfully tested a missile capable of delivering warheads to India leading to two arch enemies on the subcontinent both armed with deliverable nuclear weapons.

d. 1999 Travelers Group announced a $78 billion merger between it and Citicorp which was consummated on October 5, 1999 with the formation of Citibank.

e. 2917 after Syrian villages were bombed by Assad’s Air Force with nerve gas, in a there’s a new sheriff in town and yes Virginia there is a red line in the sand, Trump ordered the strike by 59 Tomahawk missiles at the Syrian air base from whence the planes were launched adding a chill to U.S. Soviet relations.

Reflections on the Rwanda Genocide 20 years after if started: “All genocides begin with an ideology — a system of ideas that says: This group of people here, they are less than human and they deserve to be exterminated.” Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda at the 20^th Commemoration of the Rwanda Genocide. Wise words to heed to keep genocide from happening ever again.

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Sunday, April 5, 2020

April 5, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Palm Sunday

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 5, 2020 the CV continues unabated with 1,268,636 cases worldwide, 261,134 who have recovered although the jury still on how long before they can still transmit CV and 69,381 deaths while in the U.S. which now ranks 1st in total number of cases, the number of cases has risen to 334,232, 17,177 recoveries and 9,557 deaths (chilling numbers but what is worse for the U.S. are models coming out that show deaths in the 100,000-200,000 range and hospitals being totally swamped by a surge in cases, loss of medical personnel due to their being infected and a bottleneck in terms of testing and assembling results of such testing); this may be in the future Britain’s finest hour but a Boris Johnson has just been hospitalized after testing positive 10 days earlier, after closing down all non essential businesses perhaps a too little, too late moment; as hospitals are being overwhelmed and running out of critical supplies, look for scams and price gouging as new breaking of a deal for 6 million N95 masks went south after serious questions over whether had ownership of the masks and 3M is in hot water being exposed by Florida shipping masks and ventilators to foreign countries as opposed to filling orders here in the U.S.; China whose lying enabled the virus to spread to its pandemic form is playing the propaganda we are the good guys on this as news that the New England Patriots have sent a plane to China to pick up 1.2 million N95 masks; with economic activity grinding to near halts around the world, seismologists have recorded that the Earth has dramatically reduced its shaking, enabling researchers to gather more data on smaller earthquakes and lava flow; President Bush warned the nation of a pandemic and built up the national stockpile of medical supplies which Obama drew down but never replaced which explains the difficulty New York is facing, forced to use veterinary ventilators in some cases (but in a ray of hope the increase in deaths in New York declined); in concrete terms setting forth the effect of Chinese complicity, a new report revealed that 430,000 Chinese, thousands of whom were from Wuhan, entered the U.S. on direct flights before Trump’s travel (unfortunately we do not have data on how many of these were already infected but a great chance that the number was significant); in another shocking example of the folly of youth, first responders to a coronavirus party in rural Pennsylvania arrived to find over 100 minor drunken party goers totally ignoring social distancing; in another chilling reminder that the CV pandemic does not respect fame or success in overcoming adversity, Tom Dempsey, a kicker for the New Orleans Saints who was born without any toes in his right foot and missing fingers in his right hand but went on to set the record for distance of a field goal at 63 yards, died yesterday at 73 from the coronavirus; in Chicago, as of April 4, 2020, 562 people have been shot of whom 94 have died; Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths is 21 behind Chicago with 73 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 more deadly and more numerous than random mass shootings?).

As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to Daryl Hall and John Oates, the fact you do not suffer from onychotillomania, and a quote by Margaret Sanger on controlling immigration, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find 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. You need only contact me for details.

1. Palm Sunday—celebrating the arrival of Christ into Jerusalem on the Sunday before he was crucified.

2. National Flash Drive Day—created by USB Direct in 2018 to promote awareness of the contribution of flash drives to how we store and move data we use in our daily lives.

3. 1977 Number 1 Number One Song— the number one song in 1977 on this day on a run of 2 weeks in the position was “Rich Girl” by Daryl Hall and John Oates. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ2itQvyBY8. This prolific duo that has been performing for some 50 years wrote most the songs they performed and were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “onychotillomania” which means compulsive picking at nails which is not a good idea as the coronavirus can hang out there.

5. Ultimate Sacrifice—celebrating the birth on this day in 1981 of Michael Monsoor, a U.S. Seal who won the Congressional Medal of Honor in a firefight on September 29, 2006 with insurgents in Iraq when he threw his body on top of a grenade to protect two fellow soldiers and died shortly thereafter.

On this day in:

a. 1922 the American Birth Control League, the forerunner to Planned Parenthood, was incorporated.

b. 1951 Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were sentenced to death for espionage in favor of the Soviet Union.

c. 1976 massive demonstrations to honor the death of Chou–En-Lai in Tienanmen Square led to the police forcibly clearing the square and removing all flowers, wreaths and banners in praise of him.

d. 1996 a bomb believed to have been set by Libyan intelligence agents detonated at the La Belle Discotheque in West Berlin, killing 3, 2 of whom were Americans and wounding 229, 79 of whom were Americans which prompted retaliatory airstrikes in an attempt to kill Khadafy.

e. 1999 2 Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland with a bomb planted on board were handed over to trial by the World Court and 1, Abdelbasert al-Megrahi, was convicted and sentenced to life in Mat, 2001 but released on compassionate grounds in August, 2009 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer with a diagnosis of 3 months left to live to die of the disease in May 2012.

Wondering why the left is so enamored by the views of Margaret Sanger: “…..keep the doors of immigration closed to the entrance of certain aliens whose condition is known to be detrimental to the stamina of the race, such as feebleminded, idiots, morons, Insane, syphilitic, epileptic, criminal, professional prostitutes, and others in this class barred by the immigration laws of 1924.” —“A Plan for Peace” Birth Control Review, April 1932, pages 107-108

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Friday, April 3, 2020

April 3, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not World Party Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 3, 2020 the CV continues unabated with 1,084,403 cases worldwide, 227,7453 who have recovered although the jury still on how long before they can still transmit CV and 58.155 deaths while in the U.S. which now ranks 1st in total number of cases, the number of cases has risen to 265,750, 11,983 recoveries and 6,803 deaths (chilling numbers but what is worse for the U.S. are models coming out that show deaths in the 100,000-200,000 range and hospitals being totally swamped by a surge in cases, loss of medical personnel due to their being infected and a bottleneck in terms of testing and assembling results of such testing); in a chilling find aggravated by the fact that far too many Americans are not being tested, new data suggests that half of those with the coronavirus are asymptomatic which is a reason why masks are being urged to be worn by anyone in a CV hotspot in addition to social distancing; at a time when more so than ever unity to face the CV plague, what we get is from Pelosi is the same old politics as usual launching an “Oversight Committee” aka partisan witch-hunt against the Trump Administration (will history disclose that any shortcomings in response to the CV plague were due to the Administration hobbled by the impeachment witch-hunt?); the economy lost over 700,000 jobs in March and the markets tanked again as we continue to wait for a flattening of the CV curve; the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt whose reports of the coronavirus on board his ship that were leaked to the news media has been relieved of command for going outside the chain of command and creating panic on his ship (as he left the ship he received tumultuous cheers and applause); as humans disappear from our parks, sidewalks and streets due to stay-at-home orders, animals across the world are being seen regaining their turf as this photo in Harold Hill, Romford, East London demonstrates:

we have come to believe that anything coming out of China on the CV plague should be taken with a ton of salt, but this takes the cake as the infamous “wet markets” in China are still operating, a fact that Dr. Fauci calls “mind-boggling”; JustCollege a trip planning company that organized a spring break trip for 70 University of Texas to Cabo San Lucas was downplaying any threat of the CV plague has a real publicity problem as 40 of the students who went have tested positive for the CV; AOC has been attracted to the CV plague like a shark to blood in the water for her leftist agenda, calling for the Medicare age to be reduced to 0 and that any stimulus aid should be viewed through the view of reparations to black and brown communities; just when you thought that Mayor Bill DeBlasio could not make more of a fool of himself he does, questioning the motives of Good Samaritan’s Purse, a Catholic charity that has just opened a 68 bed field hospital in Central Park; Queen Elizabeth II will address the UK and the Commonwealth on the CV pandemic this Sunday as her son and next in line to the British Throne, Prince Charles has tested positive and is in quarantine; in Chicago, as of April 2, 2020, 541 people have been shot of whom 91 have died; Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths is 19 behind Chicago with 72 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 more deadly and more numerous than random mass shootings?).

As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to Johnnie Taylor, the fact you are not a onychophagist, and a quote by Anthony Hincks on adverse effects of cell phones, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find 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. You need only contact me for details.

1. Hospital Admitting Clerks Day—celebrated on the first Friday in April and although I have no idea when created or by whom, given the chaos facing hospitals with the admission of CV pandemic patients and the cancellation of elective surgery and the shortage of beds, the job has to be a stressful one today so try to be understanding and nice to them.

2. World Party Day—celebrated first in 1996 and prompted by the novel Flight: A Quantum Fiction Novel by Vanna Bonta in which the world is united and celebrates with a huge party but today if in the era of social isolation due to the CV pandemic would have to be celebrated by virtual reality.

3. 1976 Number 1 Number One Song— the number one song in 1976 on this day on a run of 4 weeks in the position was “Disco Lady” by Johnnie Taylor. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3JkEoQ0Cz8 . The Blues Wailer passed at 66 on May 31, 2000 from a heart attack and after death it was revealed that he did more than disco dance with 6 accepted children and 3 more confirmed by paternity tests with different women.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “onychophagist” which means a nail-biter which is a bad habit to have but a very descriptive adjective of a close evenly matched sporting event.

5. If You Drink Life A Fish Swim Don’t Drive—celebrating the birth on this day in 1961 of Stan Crews who pitched for 6 seasons for the Los Angeles Dodgers but after being traded at the end of the 1992 season was traded to the Cleveland Indians and during spring training on March 23, 1993 drove his boat with a blood alcohol reading of 0.14 into an unlit dock, killing himself and another teammate and severely injuring another teammate.

On this day in:

a. 1973 in the end of privacy moment, Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first handheld mobile phone call to Joel Engel of Bell Labs.

b. 1996 suspected Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was captured while enjoying his last day of freedom at his ranch in Montana; he would face trial and accept a plea bargain to escape the death penalty and is now rotting in a federal penitentiary with a life without possibility of parole.

c. 2004 4 of the Islamic terrorists who had participated in the March 11, 2004 Madrid Train bombings that killed 193 people and wounded some 2,000 were cornered by Madrid police and taking the coward’s way out, punched their one way ticket to Paradise and killed themelves.

d. 2009 Jiverly Antares Wpng a naturalized citizen from Vietnam walked into the American Civic Associations immigration facility in Binghamton, New York and starting shooting, killing 13 and wounding 4 before killing himself.

e. 2018 disgruntled social media activist Nasim Agdham entered YouTube’s San Bruno’s headquarters to shoot and wound three people before shooting and killing herself.

Reflections on cell phones: “We have all become addicted to mobile phones. They have become our family, our friend, our confidant and to even some they have become our lovers.But at what cost have they taken over our lives?We now have less real conversations with real people, face to face. We ignore friends and family members because we are playing games or using apps. We neglect work, studies and learning to do the self same.Medically, mobiles emit radiation and microwaves which can distort memory and/or brain processes if they are used close enough and for prolonged period of times.We are losing our society and ourselves all for the sake of a metal and plastic box.True, phones can help, but along with money they may have also unwittingly become one of the main causes for the downfall of society as a whole.”― Anthony T. Hincks, noted quotable author

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Wednesday, April 1, 2020

April 1, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not April Fools' Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 1, 2020 the CV continues unabated with 917,913 cases worldwide, 193,333 who have recovered although the jury still on how long before they can still transmit CV and 45,602 deaths while in the U.S. which now ranks 1st in total number of cases, the number of cases has risen to 205,638, 8,762 recoveries and 4,528 deaths (chilling numbers but what is worse for the U.S. are models coming out that show deaths in the 100,000-200,000 range and hospitals being totally swamped by a surge in cases, loss of medical personnel due to their being infected and a bottleneck in terms of testing and assembling results of such testing); while two large Holland-Amsterdam cruise ships slowly heading to Florida to try to unload passengers from ships infected, Florida has still refused permission to dock and has issued a stay-at-home order for 30 days starting at midnight Thursday; Cuomo has ordered all playgrounds in NYC to be closed and continues to bemoan that large numbers of young people are ignoring social distances while NYC is swamped with CV deaths and cases with the peak still yet to arrive (Trump laid it out clearly yesterday at his CV briefing that this nation is facing a very tough time in terms of deaths and cases and as might be expected the market tanked today); the left wing bastion of “journalism” the Boston Globe editorialized Trump is not fit and has blood on his hands when earlier he was reamed by it for saving countless lives when he banned travel from China and Europe (given the amount of deceit and lying by China or reality of human to human transmission and the scope of the infections to editorialize based on hindsight verges on criminality when we need all of us on the same page fighting this pandemic; just when you thought the politicization of the pandemic could not get worse, Biden has been freed from the cobwebs of potential dementia to indicate he is willing to met with Trump to discuss pandemic strategy and lying Adam Schiff is proposing a Warren type commission to investigate the response to the pandemic; too early to know whether it is a continuing trend but Trump’s ratings on the rise and MSM ratings sinking off the deep end; in another example of why we need a secure border and why social distancing is critical, of the 70 University of Texas students who chartered a spring break plane to Cabo San Lucas, 28 has tested positive for the CV and frighteningly 4 positive tests were on asymptomatic students; other that Bacardi 151 or Everclear, most alcoholic beverages do not contain the minimum 120 proof alcohol content to destroy the CV, but that fact has not slowed the growth of sales of alcohol which have soared off the charts as online sales have soared in triple digits and more jurisdictions are allowing delivery; in Chicago, as of March 31, 2020, 532 people have been shot of whom 89 have died; Baltimore with a fraction of Chicago’s population and hoping against all hopes that 2020 will not be a record in terms of deaths is 20 behind Chicago with 69 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 more deadly and more numerous than random mass shootings?).

As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, factoids of interest for this day in history, a musical link to Patti Labelle, the fact you do not suffer from onychocryptosis, and a quote by Austin O’Malley on avoiding fools, secure in the knowledge that if you want to find 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. You need only contact me for details.

1. April Fools’ Day—celebrating a day of pranks and jokes on the unwary but today with the coronavirus ramping up a full speed in terms of cases and deaths, this unwanted joke is on us.

2. Fossil Fuels Day—celebrated by greens as a play on words and as a means to discourage the use of fossil fuels instead of renewable energy although whatever price advantages renewable fuels have obtained has largely been wiped out by the recent collapse of world petroleum prices.

3. 1975 Number 1 Number One Song— the number one song in 1975 on this day on a run of 1 week in the position was “Lady Marmalade” by Patti Labelle. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4LWIP7SAjY. The Grandmother of Soul is still going strong at 75.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “onychocryptosis” which means an ingrowing toenail, which is something most of us like to avoid.

5. Can’t Intercept a Bullet With Legs—celebrating the birth on this day in 1983 of Sean Taylor who played safety for the Washington Redskins and was shot on November 26, 2007 in the leg during a robbery in his house and suffered a wound to his femoral artery and died the next day due to a loss of blood.

On this day in:

a. 1970 in one of the first steps in the war against smoking, President Nixon signed into law the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act requiring the Surgeon General to create warning labels and banning cigarette ads on television and radio effective January 1, 1971. Unfortunately not enough people have gotten the message as some 40 million people continue to put their health and the health of others around them at risk by smoking cigarettes.

b. 1970 the first of over 670,000 Gremlins made by American Motors Company are released for sale in North America to compete with imported cars.

c. 1976 Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne formed Apple in Cupertino but Wayne is probably best remembered for the worst deal on record when he sold his 10% share in Apple for $800 12 days later plus another $1500 12 months later to forfeit any claims he might have against the newly incorporated Apple.

d. 1979 Nickelodeon was launched in the United States.

e. 2004 Google announced Gmail to the public.

Since April Fools Day jokes on the coronavirus will bring you a world of hurt and scorn here’s a quote on fools in general: “If you would avoid all fools go into a dense forest and there refrain from gazing into still pools.” ~Austin O'Malley Thoughts of a Recluse, 1898

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