Monday, February 6, 2023

February 5, 2023 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 but we are now finding out that some 4 months earlier another Chinese spy balloon crashed off the coast of Hawaii and other spy balloons may have crossed southern portions of the nation for a brief period of time which was discovered after Trump left office but the excuse of collateral damage against really sparsely areas of the nation like Montana and Alaska is being ridiculed. In the war against the 2nd Amendment a District Court in Oklahoma has ruled that a federal law banning users or addicts of controlled substance from owning firearms is illegal. Since federal law banning the use, possession and sale of marijuana is illegal most banks will not allow the use of credit cards which means legal dispensaries of marijuana have become a magnet for thugs wanting to rob  stores with large amounts of cash on the premises, incentivizing big time anyone working there to be armed. Tonight the Grammy Awards will be handed out and we wonder whether Woke announcements in favor of leftist causes will overshadow the artists’ performances. Add gas stoves to the list of products that the Biden Administration wants to ban that users are outraged  so bad that Senators Cruz and Manchin have introduced a bill to prevent the Biden Administration from banning gas stoves or imposing new regulations that would significantly increase their cost. The Stanford Women were upset by the University of Washington in a close game with numerous lead changes. 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 5, 2023
          Noted Holidays: California Western Monarch Butterfly Day created in 2004 by the California Legislature and celebrated on February 5 of each year marking the migration of the huge clouds of Monarchs that despite their frail gossamer wings head some 2500 miles to Mexico and then return to sites on the Central Coast.
          Word of the Day: The word of the day is “affreux” which means frightening which should describe how taxpayers must feel when they learn the size of our national debt which keeps growing at a staggering rate.
          Number 1 Song of the Day: The number 1 song on this day in 1967 was “I’m a Believer” by the Monkees on a run of 6 weeks following 1 week in December 1966  to share with 18 other songs achieving number 1 status, while 8 acts achieved their first number 1 song. Here is a recording with lyrics of The Monkees performing  “I’m a Believer”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB9YIsKIEbA
           Noted Birthdays: Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known to her fans as Barbara Seagull (adapted as a result of her in the film Endless Summer having to toss a seagull into the air to teach it to fly which had to be redone numerous times until the seagull’s neck was broken) and Barbara Hershey, a noted actress who has been in the silver screen and TV business since 1965 and whose early career was wallowing during her 6 year relationship with David Carradine but blossomed after they broke up.          Notable Events that occurred on February 5:
                   1.     1958—A B-47 bomber carrying a thermonuclear warhead from Homestead Air Force in Florida on a training bombing run collided near Savannah  with an F-86 Fighter that crashed after the pilot ejected and the bomber remained aloft but was granted authority to land at the nearest military airport but to first jettison the bomb which it did over the waters off the coast of Tybee Island. The bomb had its thermonuclear material but it is not clear whether the plutonium capsule which would be needed to create a thermonuclear blast had be installed. We do know the bomb did not detonate after falling into the waters of Tybee Island. The bomb has never been found which would provide the answer to that question despite extensive searches for it.
          2.     1971—After overcoming in flight some technical problems that would have terminated the landing and with the prior failure of Apollo 13 potentially resulting in a termination of the Apollo Program, Alan Shephard and Edgar Mitchell in Apollo 14 landed on the Moon while Stuart Roosa remained in the Command Module and orbited the Moon. Apollo 14 is probably best remembered for Alan Shepard smuggling two golf balls and the head of a Wilson 6 iron on board the command module and then after  landing and in full view of the TV cameras hitting two golf balls with a makeshift 6 iron which despite the Moon’s week gravity flew only 27 and 40 yards due to the movement limitations in his space suit.
          3.      1985—In a better late than never and what took you so long moment, Ugo Veter, the mayor of Rome, and  Chedli Klibi mayor of Carthage, a suburb of Tunis, Tunisia, met in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which had lasted 2.131 years.
          4.     1997—The Swiss National Bank, UBS and Credit Suisse aka the Big Three of Swiss banking announced the formation of a $71 million fund earmarked to assist Holocaust survivors and their families.
          5.     2020—President Donald Trump was acquitted by the Senate in his first impeachment trial with 52 Red Senators voting against impeachment for the charge of abuse of power and Mitt Romney voting in favor to become the first senator to vote in favor of removing a president of his own party and all 53 Red Senators voting against for the charge of obstruction of justice.
          Quotes of the DayMajor Howard Richardson, the pilot of the B-47 that collided with the F-86 reading from the receipt he signed when bomb was loaded abroad: “During this maneuver I will allow no assembly or disassembly of this item while in my custody, nor will I allow any active capsule to be inserted into it at any time.”
Lieutenant Colonel Derek Duke, USAF (retired), author of Chasing Nukes that quotes Howard H. Dixon a former Air Force crew chief who loaded nuclear weapons onto planes at Hunter Airforce Base in Savannah from 1957 to 1959 “Never in my Air Force career did I install a Mark 15 weapon without installing the plutonium capsule.”

Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com
Poems on events of the day
Commissioned unique poems

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