April 10, 2020 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Good Friday

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 10, 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 1,639,772 cases worldwide (+2.25%), 355,262 of whom have recovered (22.5%) although the jury still on how long before they can still transmit CV and 100,157  deaths (+4.67% and  a fatality rate of 4.46%) and in the U.S. which now ranks 1st in total number of cases, the number of cases has risen to 477,953 (+2.0),  26,098 recoveries (recovery rate of 5.46%) and 17,910 deaths (a 7.3% increase and 3.75% fatality rate); New York may be seeing a plateau but with funerals not being held, two dozen victims from the corona virus are being buried in a potter’s field on Hart Island in the Bronx: 

this country was forced to shut down significantly due to modeling that showed cases and  deaths exponentially higher than that being experienced prompting House Reds to call for hearings on the modeling (statistics lie is an often quoted adage but perhaps assumptions used for models lie also); Reds in the Senate are calling for the head of the W.H.O to testify on its handling of the pandemic and its relationship with China (do not be surprised to see Reds conditioning any further funding subject to the current president’s resignation); the Cack News Network was holding a video town hall and allowed a question “Is Stage 4 TDS considered to be an underlying morbidity” to be displayed on the screen (if hydroxychloroquine is shown to be the drug many doctors and recovered patients believe to be the mockers at CNN of Trump for encouraging its possible use should be eating massive amounts of crow); being confined to one’s house is a bummer but residents with second homes on the Outer Banks are suing to get access to those homes now prevented by a lockdown of the Outer Banks (wonder if those wealthy individuals are bemoaning plans to house the homeless in hotels during the pandemic); Schiff in the House and Feinstein and “please pick me as VP” Harris in the Senate have introduced legislation to have a 9/11 “bipartisan” committee to investigate our response to the corona virus pandemic (this troika of rabid partisanship must have a hard time keeping a straight face knowing the sole purpose of this endeavor will be to prevent the reelection of Trump); the plunge in oil prices may have hit a snag as Mexico has agreed with OPEC to reduce production by 100,000 barrels a day; in Chicago, as of April 9, 2020, 612 shootings of whom 112 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 remains 36 behind Chicago with 76 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 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, the fact that you do have to lug any opisthographs of stone, and a quote by Katherine J. Walden reflecting on Good Friday, 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. Good Friday—commemorating the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ which may be celebrated by Christians around the world in a viral manner other than in person due to corona virus fears.

2. Global Work at Home Day—enabled in 2019 by Global-How and probably celebrated on an expanded basis since the beginning of this year as the corona virus which the Chinese assured us was not transmitted human to human spread outside of China to become a worldwide pandemic.

3. 1982 Number One Song— the number 1 song in 1982 on this day on a run of 7 weeks in the position was “I Love Rock and Roll” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5ecqUhec-s. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts are still going strong and are self-quarantining and hoping they will be able to perform a concert in Las Vegas in June.

4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “opisthograph” which means a document or slab written or chiseled on both sides which is a good way to cut down on the use of paper or stones.

5. Funk and a Bottle Don’t Play Well—celebrating the birth on this day in 1950 of noted guitarist and pioneer in funk music Eddie Hazel who sadly was a heavy drinker and died at age 42 on December 23, 1992 from internal bleeding and liver failure.

On this day in:               

       a. 1912 RMS Titanic began its maiden and only voyage.

       b. 1939 A.A.’ ”Big Book” is published.

      c. 1971 in an attempt to thaw U.S. Red China relations, Red China hosted the U.S. table tennis in a week long series of games.

      d. 1972 American B-52 bombers beginning bombing North Vietnam again for the first time since 1967.

  e. 2019 scientists with the Event Horizon Telescope announced the first ever image of a Black Hole in the galaxy M87 located some 55 million light years away from us.

Reflections on Good Friday:  “How great is the love of God! He loved me long before I knew His name. He wooed me, chased me, enthralled me, and captured my heart. He didn’t prove His love at a candlelight dinner. There were no long-stemmed roses, but there were thorns. Yes, there were thorns.” ― Katherine J Walden, noted author of Seasons.

 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.             

          © April 10, 2020 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

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