Ridley's Believe It Or Not February 15 History Susan B, Anthony Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not—February 15, 2015 Trust your Valentine’s Day was a great one and your Sunday is off to a fine start and you are anxiously awaiting the start of the Iditarod in 22 days. As always, I  hope you enjoy the holidays and observances, factoids and relevant quote by Sergei Akhromeyev with a smile on your face, enjoying a handful of gumdrops, blessed  with a positive attitude even though you know you will have to wade through tons of spam in your inbox, and secure in the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable event like birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries, you know that the Alaskanpoet can provide you with a unique customized poem at a great price tailored to the event and the recipient.  You need only contact me for details.

       1. ENIAC Day—observed since 2011 to commemorate the unveiling on February 15, 1946 of the world’s first electronic computer developed by the University of Penn’s Moore School of Engineering.

       2. Susan B. Anthony Day—honoring the birthday on this day in 1820 of Susan B. Anthony and her efforts in the women’s suffragette movement.

       3. 2014 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song on this day in 2014 and looking forward to in one day going back to the 60’s and escaping rap and hip hop as part of a 4 week run Dark Horse  by Katy Perry, this year’s Super Bowl halftime performer.

        4. National Gumdrop Day—celebrating those chewy morsels of candy in assorted colors.

        5. Plains Reaper Day—celebrating not Grim Reaper that all of will someday meet but rather the birthday on this day in 1809 of Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the automated corn reaper. 

On this day in

     a. 1898 the battleship U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana harbor and sank, killing 274  sailors and although the explosion was probably caused by coal dust not Spanish mines, the sinking led to the United States declaring war on Spain.

     b. 1925 the diphtheria serum arrived in Nome, Alaska carried by a dog sled led by Balto, whose statute graces Central Park. The Iditarod which commemorates the mercy run will start on March 9 and you will be able to see race reports here.  

     c. 1933 in a miss that altered the course of history, Giuseppe Zaranga attempted to assassinate President-Elect Franklin Roosevelt but missed and hit Anton Cermak, the mayor of Chicago, instead; Cermak died of his wounds on March 6, 1933. 
     d. 1989 the soon to be dissolved Soviet Union joined the list of many conquerors who attempted to subdue Afghanistan but failed by announcing that all of its troops had withdrawn from Afghanistan.
     e. 2003 demonstrations against the Iraq War took place in over 600 cities worldwide with millions turning out in the largest antiwar demonstration in history.
Reflections on the difficulties we face in Afghanistan and why Obama is so reluctant to introduce combat operations against ISIS.  “There is no single piece of land in Afghanistan that has not been occupied by a Soviet soldier . . . no single military problem that has arisen and not been solved, and yet there is still no result.” Sergei Akhromeyev, Soviet General Chief of Staff, 1986
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© February 15, 2015 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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