Friday, June 7, 2019

A family legend for National Donut Day plus the back catalog for the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News

Happy Flashback Friday and Happy National Donut Day!  CBS Sacramento has the story behind the food holiday in Friday Is National Donut Day.

Americans have been happily celebrating since 1938.
That's right, the Salvation Army created this holiday, not the donut shops, although they are quite content to tag along.

It turns out I have a family connection to the creation of the donut, even if it's more legendary than historical.
I'm descended from the brother of Johnny Fry, the first Pony Express rider out of St. Joseph, Missouri.  He's connected to the origin of donuts.
Fry quickly gained a reputation for never failing to deliver the mail, regardless of weather or danger, and was a fast rider, averaging a speed of 12.5 miles per hour, including all stops. Local lore says that the donut was invented as a cake for Fry to eat while speeding by young girls homes near Troy, Kansas.
This is also family lore.  My father told me that the girls would try to give him cakes and cookies, but he rode so fast that when they tried to give them to him, they would just crumble.  The solution was a fried cake with a hole in the middle, which he could hook like a ring on a carousel.  Thus the donut was invented.

That's a really cool story.  Unfortunately, it's not the accepted one.   Smithsonian Magazine gives credit to someone else a couple of decades earlier in The history of the doughnut...Johnny Fry and his female admirers are not mentioned at all, not even to debunk the legend.  Darn.  Just the same, Happy National Donut Day!
I found just the image to illustrate this entry.


Since it's Flashback Friday, follow over the jump for the final installment of the retrospective series about the back catalog.


Unlike last year, when only two entries from the all-time top ten at the start of the blogging year remained on the all-time top ten at the end of the year, six of the top ten at the end of last year are still there on the top ten through the end of the eighth year and remain there now.

Suit against John Oliver and HBO dismissed from March 2, 2018 was the most read entry during the seventh year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News with 20068 default page views, actually gained a few views to have 20076 as of March 20, 2019.  Despite that, it still fell behind Facebook knows your political affiliation and much more, a story I told in  'Frontline' updates 'Facebook knows your political affiliation and much more,' the top post of the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

The second most read entry on the all-time top ten list as for March 21, 2018, Vox explains how proportional representation can solve gerrymandering and help minor parties from November 9, 2017, fell to fourth.  Ironically enough, it was passed by its sequel, Update to 'Vox explains how proportional representation can solve gerrymandering and help minor parties,' the second most read entry for the seventh year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, plus minor parties, the second most read post of the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.  It maintained its page views at 12714.

Doctors to Congress: Fund gun violence research at the CDC and NIH from December 3, 2015 fell from third to fifth as the two posts that climbed over the entries above it also clambered over it.  The entry actually lost default page views, dropping from 10071 to 10065.  It is the oldest post on the all-time top ten, but not the one with the longest tenure, as it fell out of the top ten for more than a year before returning, a story I told in Update to 'Doctors to Congress: Fund gun violence research at the CDC and NIH,' the third most read entry of the seventh year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

Vox on Puerto Rico statehood and John Oliver on territories from February 3, 2018 also dropped two places from fourth to sixth.  It also lost page views from 8273 to 8262.

The fifth place entry on the all-time top ten last year, Spring ahead, although it's probably not good for you from March 12, 2017, fell two places like the posts above it to seventh.  It lost default page views from 8242 to 8241.

The top post for the sixth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News, Last Week Tonight examines Clinton and Trump foundations after winning three Emmy Awards, dated September 27, 2016, fell three places from sixth to ninth while maintaining its 7947 page views.  It was passed by A comparison of two measures of media bias shows readers and viewers respond to both ideology and quality from August 21, 2018, a story I told in Wonkette reacts to its Media Bias Chart placement, an update to 'A comparison of two measures of media bias shows readers and viewers respond to both ideology and quality'.  It is currently the second oldest post on the all-time top ten and the one that has resided there the longest, as Doctors to Congress: Fund gun violence research at the CDC and NIH fell out for more than a year, which I already mentioned.

Three posts from the back catalog made the top 40 last year and a fourth earned an honorable mention.  Here are their stories from previous retrospectives.


I wrote about the first in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Brexit, which is now delayed until October 31, plus John Oliver for the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
Speaking of recycling posts, the next most read entry is from the seventh year of the blog. John Oliver on marijuana legalization for 4/20 was posted on, no surprise, April 20, 2017.  It ended the posting year with 2793 total page views over its lifespan.  However, this post had 297 raw page views before being shared to the Join the Coffee Party Movement Facebook page at 10:00 P.M. on May 2, 2018.  2793-297=2496, so that's how many raw page views it had during the eighth year of this blog.  It finished May with 2763 total raw page views, so it earned 2466 raw page views during May, as well as 2444 default page views, placing it 6th for the month.

As with the above entry, I might recycle this paragraph, in this case for the retrospective on the back catalog.
True to my word, I did.


I told the story about the next old post to make the top 40 in 2019 Environmental Media Association Awards update politics in entertainment for the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
The 38th most read entry during the eighth year of the blog was Winners of the first Coffee Party Entertainment Awards for movies from March 18, 2018.  It earned a total of 2223 raw page views between its posting and the end of the blogging year on March 20, 2019.  It had 69 raw page views before being shared at the politics and movie communities on Google+ during the morning of March 31, 2018 and 116 raw page views before being shared at the Join The Coffee Party Movement Facebook page at 9:00 P.M. EDT on March 31, 2018.  Consequently, it is considered to have earned 2160 of its page views during the eighth year of this blog.  The entry earned ~1500 page views in the first two hours and ~2300 page views in the first 24 hours after being shared.  It maxed out at 2040 default and 2134 raw page views on April 17, 2018 and ended April 2018 with 2004 default page views, enough for it to rank as the 10th most read entry overall during April 2018.

Coffee Party USA reposted this entry on its website as 2017 Coffee Party Awards. And the Golden Coffee Cup Goes To …  I am happy to donate the article to them, as it really belongs to the organization anyway.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson on Colbert updates Space Force for the eighth year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News on National Space Day told the story of the third entry from the back catalog to rise into last year's top 40.
U.S. Space Corps and Orion -- rejected ideas for Moon Day from July 21, 2017 earned 2088 page views during the year to rank 40th overall.  The post also ended August 2018 with 2006 default page views during the month, enough to rank it seventh overall.  It earned its page views by being shared at the Coffee Party USA Facebook page.  It also ended the blogging year with 2397 total raw page views.

Seeker and TEDx explain how self-driving cars will change cities for Autonomous Vehicle Day told the story of the entry that earned an honorable mention.
I begin with a widely read holiday entry from the back catalog, Broken Peach: Singing Spanish goths and witches for Halloween from 2017.  I noted that in Broken Peach: Singing Spanish goths on parade for Halloween last October.
Speaking of liking things, Infidel 753 wrote "I did a Google search on 'Broken Peach' and your October post about them was in ninth place in the results. You may have a few of their fans reading" in a comment to Merry Christmas 2017 from Broken Peach and Crazy Eddie's Motie News.  My response was "I'm flattered by that. I hope they are!"  It looks we were both right, as this entry had earned 2117 raw page views on the first anniversary of my posting it.  It currently has 2322.  The first would have placed it 32nd among entries posted last year and the second 31st.  Wow!
The post ended the eighth year of blogging here with 3009 page views.  It currently has 3116.  It may not have been the most read holiday entry of the past blogging year, but it certainly came close.  For what it's worth, it is still the highest ranking Google result for "Broken Peach" other than the band's own website and social media accounts.
With that, I'm done with this series for the 2018-2019 blogging year.  I think I finished this year's series in record time.  May I be this expeditious next year.

Previous posts in this series
Previous retrospectives about the back catalog.
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