Monday, May 19, 2014

Ridley's Believe It Or Not-May 20 History-Day Of Remembrance (Cambodia)



Ridley's Believe It Or Not—May 20, 2014:  Kudos to California Chrome and hope the horse gets an exemption for the nasal strip for the Belmont; today is another holiday wasteland of all holidays. Hope you enjoyed the weekend and if in California the cooling temperatures and will enjoy these meager holidays, or celebrate in a culinary fashion, found for today along with the factoids and quotes.
             1. International Weights and Measures Day—honoring the treaty signed in 1875 to create an International Bureau of Weights and Measures so your meter or gram or liter is uniform throughout the world.   
             2. Day of Remembrance (Cambodia)—commemorating the horror of the genocide of the Khmer Rouge, best portrayed in The Killing Fields.  
            3. National Quiche Lorraine Day—in a day devoid of holidays at least one celebrating something savory and tasty.             
On this day in:
            a. 1927 (same year Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs) Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic, landing in Paris the next day.
            b. 1980 in a referendum in Quebec to determine whether the province should secede from Canada, 60% vote no.
            c. 1983 the first notice that the HIV virus causes AIDS was published by Luc Montagnier in the journal Science.
            d. 1996 the Supreme Court in the case of Romer v. Evans  struck down a law that would have prevented any city, town, or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, judicial, or executive action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.                               
Amazing how quickly we forget and history repeats itself, sadly to often in a brutal and bloody fashion. “Yet, only years after the Nazi-era, millions were sent to their deaths in places such as Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda, and the world once again took too long to act."  Allyson Schwartz Democratic House member in Pennsylvania
Please enjoy the 140 character poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and join almost 140 growing followers and please follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good, incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs--click on links below. www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for poems on volunteering to work at Second Harvest so food can be distributed to the needy;  climbing into the mountains to be nearer to God; the 2014 Boston Marathon; on the Mustangs going to the Dance with a losing record; to honor Cindy Abbott, a half blind 54 year old mother suffering from a rare disease who competed in last year's Iditarod until forced out with a broken pelvis after 600 miles to join a great collection of my poems to inspire, touch, emote, elate and enjoy. Go to Rhymes On The Newsworthy Times for poems on the death of academic freedom; senior prom students wearing surgical masks so fellow student undergoing chemo could attend;  Sudan preparing to hang a pregnant apostate wife for marrying a Christian; Eleanor Clift’s assertion that Ambassador Stevens wasn’t murdered only died from smoke inhalation; CA AB1965 allowing dogs in outside dining areas; Blues and Reds uniting to force approval of Keystone XL to join numerous other comments on news events always in rhyme of course.
©May 20, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

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