February 4, Ridley's Believe It Or Not

 

The Chinese “weather balloon” is no longer drifting across the U.S. with cameras clicking and gathering all manner of data whose path seems not completely controlled by the wind as it was shot down by a sidewinder missile over the Atlantic Ocean 6 miles off the coast of South Carolina in water believed to be 47 feet deep with a debris field of what the balloon was carrying estimated to be 7 miles wide making searching and recovering debris with a USN recovery ship 2 days away challenging to say the least. As might be expected China is protesting the fact that its “weather balloon” was shot down after being blown into U.S. airspace by a force majeure event that the protest omitted forced it to fly over U.S. ICBM bases. The U.S. already struggling to meet the pleas from Ukraine and Taiwan for weapons had better immediately start ramping up weapons production as too many signs point to a war with China. At least the Super Bowl LVII and its Super Bowl parties are only 8 days away.. I hope you enjoy today’s Ridley's Believe It Or Not  and find it worthy to read and if not reply “Unsubscribe” to be removed.  
Ridley’s Believe It Or Not February 4, 2023
          Noted Holidays: International Pisco Sour Day, created in 2003 by the Peruvian government to honor Pisco, the amber brandy which is the national liqueur of Peru and celebrated on the first Saturday of February.   The drink was invented in the early 1920s in Lima, Peru, by American bartender Victor Vaughen Morris, who developed it as a variation of the whiskey sour. In July of 1924, Mario Bruiget began bartending at Morris', and added egg whites and Angostura bitters to the drink, making it what it is today.   
          Word of the Day: The word of the day is “afflated” which means inspired a trait not found by most mere mortals after meeting one of  our political “leaders."     
          Number 1 Song of the Day: The number 1 song on this day in 1968 was “Hello Say Goodbye” by the Beatles on a run of 2 weeks following 1 week in December 1967  to share with 16 other songs achieving number 1 status, while 10 acts achieved their first number 1 song, including Otis Redding for “(Sittin on) the Dock of the Bay” as the first number 1 song awarded posthumously  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVjnBo96Ug.  Here is a recording with lyrics of The Beatles performing  “Hello, Goodbye”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rblYSKz_VnI 
          Noted Birthdays: Oscar Del La Hoya, noted boxer and promoter, born on this day in 1973, who won in the 1992 Summer Olympics a Gold Medal in the lightweight boxing division and as a professional boxer has won 11 world championships in 6 weight classes.
          Notable Events that occurred on February 4:
          1.     1941—The United Services Organization (USO) was created to provide social services to and entertainment for the troops until terminated in 1947 but then restarted during the Korean War and has continued in that mission since then.
          2.     1976—A 7.5 Richter Scale earthquake hit Guatemala and Honduras in the early morning hours, killing some 23,000 people, injuring some 76,000 and thanks to the adobe construction of many dwellings in the  130 mile length of the Montagua Fault destroyed 230,000 dwellings, leaving some 1.2 people homeless.
          3.     2000— The World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium, Charter of Paris was signed by French President Jacques Chirac and UNESCO’s Director General Koichiro Masuura, creating World Cancer Day which is celebrated annually on February 4.
          4.     2004—Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Severin.
          5.     2020—COVID-19 pandemic in Macau causes all casinos there to close for 15 days.
          Quotes of the Day: Franklin Foer, Staff Writer for The Atlantic and Former Editor of  New Republic on the negatives of social media like Facebook:  “The biggest problem is that Facebook and Google are these giant feedback loops that give people what they want to hear. And when you use them in a world where your biases are being constantly confirmed, you become susceptible to fake news, propaganda, demagoguery.”
Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com
Poems on events of the day
Commissioned unique poems