Ridley's Believe It Or Not April 25 History Parental Alienation Awareness Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not—April 25, 2015 Trust your weekend is off to a great start. As always, I  hope you enjoy the holidays and observances, factoids of interest, a music video of Southern Nights and a relevant quote by Jacqueline Novogratz, having enjoyed a slice of zucchini bread in a blanket, 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. Parental Alienation Awareness Day—commemorating since 2005 the need for parents going through a divorce and engaged in a custody dispute with respect to their children to do everything in their power not to deprecate the other parent so as not to alienate that parent from his or her children. Sadly with divorce rates near 50% this is a day that should be observed daily as the victims who cannot defend themselves are the children.
       2. DNA Day—commemorating on this day in 1953 the publication in Nature by James Watson, Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins, Rosalind Franklin and colleagues of papers outlining the structure of DNA; fifty years later on this day in 2003 the Human Genome Project was substantially completed.
       3. 1977 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song in 1977 on a one week run Southern Nights by Glen Campbell, a very popular country and western singer of the 60’s and 70’s who made Grammy history by winning 4 Grammies in 1977 and has sold over 45 million records. Sadly, in 2011 he was diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s disease and is now unable to speak and resides in a long term Alzheimer’s treatment facility. Here is a link to a music video of Glen singing Southern Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zJBVdQd8iA
       4. National Zucchini Bread Day—celebrating a unique way to utilize squash. 
       5. It Is Not What You Know But Who You Know Day—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1946 of Talia Shire, Rocky Balboa’s on screen girlfriend and Connie Corelone in The Godfather, and the sister of director of The Godfather Francis Ford Coppola.
       6. Red Hat Society Day—commemorating the founding by artist Sue Ellen Cooper of Fullerton on this day in 1998 of the Red Hat Society, a women’s social organization with over 40,000 chapters, originally for women over 50 but now open to women of all ages who love having tea parties while wearing their red hats (pink if under 50).
                                                             

                              7. International Malaria Awareness Day—commemorating the efforts to control and eradicate malaria, a disease spread by mosquitoes which kills over a million people each year. 
On this day in
       a. 1792 La Marseillaise (the French national anthem) was composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lilse—as national anthems go it is pretty moving-- Allons enfants de la patrie, Le jour de gloire est arrivé!
       b. 1859 British and French engineers broke ground for the construction of the Suez Canal (completed in November of 1869).
       c. 1901 New York became the first state to require automobile license plates confirming the old adage “if it moves, tax it.”
       d. 1938 the U.S. Supreme Court in Erie Railroad v. Tompkins ruled that the federal courts did not have the power to create common law when hearing cases brought on the basis of diversity jurisdiction. 
       e. 1959 the Saint Lawrence Seaway connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean was opened to shipping.
Reflections on malaria and a simple but effective way of preventing it: “Malaria is a disease that kills one to three million people a year. 300 to 500 million cases are reported. It's estimated that Africa loses about 13 billion dollars a year to the disease. Five dollars can save a life. We can send people to the moon; we can see if there's life on Mars - why can't we get five-dollar nets to 500 million people?”  Jacqueline Novogratz, CEO of Acumen, a nonprofit global venture capital fund investing in entrepreneurial approaches to address global poverty.
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