OLIVER

This blog site has officially shifted to: 

New SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for PLANET EARTH AND HUMANITY

I will maintain this current site, but only until the end of the year.  Then, this blog will become my testing ground for new books I will be drafting, plus a few jokes and photos of general interest.

From Worldometer:

           DAY USA  WORLD  Brazil     India   South Africa

June     9     1093    4732         1185      246         82

July    22     1205     7128        1293     1120       572

Aug    12     1504     6556       1242       835       130

Sept     3     1094     5886         830     1083       174
            9     1208     6222       1136      1168         82

Oct      8       957     6420          730       967       160

          12       316     3757          203       710         83

          13       843    5006           354       723       165

          14       970    6075           716       694       123

          15       873    6106           734       835       158

          17       638    5639           461     1032         38

          18       448    4040           215       578         63 

          19       442    4392           321       594         21

          20       952    6169           662       714       164         

          21     1225    6849           571       703         85 

          22       973     6470          503       683       102 

          23       903     6526          566       656         48 

          24       784     5599          398       575         53

Summary:

• On Friday, with 85,000 new cases, the USA broke it's all-time high for one day by 10, 000.  Yesterday, it was 79,449.
• Several countries in Europe also hit new highs.  France, for example, with one-fifth the population of the U.S., yesterday had 45,422 new cases.  That would be the equivalent of 227,110 new cases in the USA.

I was planning today to have a posting on God in China.  I've personally had a potentially serious religious encounter in Hangzhou.   The punchline was supposed to be that there is a God in China and his name is Xi Jinping.  I might still do this sometime in the future.

But today, someone sent me something about police officer Oliver.  This is worthy of a Sunday:

Oliver Davis is a 9-year old living in Kansas City.  His mother says Oliver thinks he is a real police officer, and that in a discussion of how they are there to help people, it was his idea to pick up flowers to hand them to patients at his grandmother's nursing home.  He asked if it was okay to also give them a hug.  Two years later, he continues to visit two nursing homes each week in Overland Park, spending 2-3 hours, purchasing the flowers with his own money.  He has now handed out 15,000 flowers.  To quote this article:

"We have people cry when they hug him and not want to let him go," Davis said. "We have to pry him out of their arms."

Finalists for my favorite song #66:

• Moonglow and the Theme from Picnic:  Morris Stoloff
• Memory:  Elaine Paige
• Music of the Night:  Sarah Brightman
• I Dreamed a Dream:  Susan Boyle

Moonglow came from the 1955 movie Picnic, featuring a sterling cast:  William Holden, Kim Novack, Rosalind Russell, Susan Strasberg, Cliff Robertson and Arthur O'Connel, directed by Josh Logan, but only got 50/54 ratings from Rotten Tomatoes.

Memory, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, is the song from 2019 Cats (only 20/53 ratings from Rotten Tomatoes), was sung by Grizabella and originally recorded by Elaine Paige.

Music of the Night was originally sung by Sarah Brightman as Kristin from Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 Phantom of the Opera.  Here with Michael Crawford.

I Dreamed a Dream came from the 1980 musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, which opened in Paris.  Rose Laurens was the original Fantine, with Patti LuPone taking over when the show moved to London in 1985.  The movie was crucified by RT reviewers with a 33 score, but audiences bestowed an 84.  Ann Hathaway actually did the singing in the film.    But the version I most identify with, earning #66, is the audition by Susan Boyle in 2009.

Tropical Storm Zeta is heading for the Gulf of Mexico, with landfall expected midweek anywhere from Lake Charles to the Florida Panhandle.

Let me end with President Trump, the Village People, YMCA and Saturday Night Live last night.

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