1. International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression—created by the U.N. on August 19,1982 to commemorate the physical, emotional and mental suffered by innocent children due to conflicts of arms.
2. Old Maid’s Day—not sure where this observance came from but suspect it celebrated the number of women forced to remain single during the 1941-45 World War II years as over 14 million men were in uniform and therefore not able to walk down the aisle.
3. 1956 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song in 1956 on an eight week run Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. Here is a link to Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel with an apology for having sound only, not video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PotB76gi2
4. National Applesauce Cake Day—celebrating a tasty old fashioned cake.
5. Leave the Crypt If You Want a Winning Script—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1975 of Angelina Jolie, noted actress and humanitarian and director of The Unbroken who fortunately decided against pursuing a career in the funeral business instead of acting.
On this day in:
a. 1855 Major Henry C. Wayne departed from on the USS Supply to procure camels for the U.S. Camel Corps, an ill fated experiment to utilize camels in the Southwestern United States. Although renowned for their ability to go great distances without water, the camels proved difficult to handle and with advent of the Civil War, the experiment was ended.
b. 1912 Massachusetts became the first state to adopt a minimum wage.
c. 1917 the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded: Laura E. Richards, Maude H. Elliott and Florence Hall received the first Pulitzer for biography (Julia Ward Howe); Jean Jule Jusserand received the first Pulitzer for history for With Americans of Past and Present Days; and Howard Swope received the first Pulitzer for journalism at the New York World.
d. 1939 in a moment that is worthy of shame and disgust, the MS St. Louis carrying 963 Jewish refugees flying the persecution of the Nazis after being denied permission to land in Florida was forced to return to Europe; in a chilling footnote over 200 of the passengers met their death in concentration camps.
e. 1989 the true face of repression of the Chinese government is revealed at Tiananmen Square as the People’s Liberation Army cracked down of the peaceful protests occurring there with over 240 demonstrators killed.
Reflections on the end of the minimum wage as Los Angeles joins the growing trend of raising the minimum wage: “My mom worked at McDonald's, and she decided she wanted to make more money, so she got into the management program at McDonald's. And that's how you move up the chain. It's not by demanding that minimum wage is raised; it's by actually acquiring the skills. That's the way that people get ahead in life.” Raul Labrador, Republican Congressman from Idaho born in Puerto Rico. He’s right—the American Dream can quickly become the American Nightmare if by raising the minimum wage to a “living wage” forces employers to cut back on employment or employees do not try to move on to other high paying jobs.
Please enjoy the 140 character poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and join 160 growing followers and please follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good, incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs—click on the links below. Go to www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for Ridley’s Believe It Or Not—This Day In History, poems to inspire, touch, emote, elate and enjoy and poems on breaking news items of importance. Go to Rhymes On The Newsworthy Times for comments on important and breaking news events that should be of interest. www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com Ridley's Believe It Or Not Rhymes On The Newsworthy Times
© June 4, 2015 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare
Rhymes for All the Memorable Times
The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive a Lasting Lift
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