OLIVER

   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

          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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