August 7, 2016 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Purple Heart Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For August 7, 2016 Only 93  days to go for Trump to pivot before we elect a new president and 246 days since Hillary has held a formal press conference (although she has finally did meet informally with a group of black and Hispanic journalists to admit she may have “short circuited” her responses (whatever that means) but continued  to push the lies that the FBI did not find her untruthful and scolded the press for not holding Trump accountable (any hypocrisy here you think?); most of the political theater focusing today on the $400 million cash “ransom” paid to Iran to release 4 illegally held hostages and the fact that the payment has set a price tag for any American seized overseas; Trump’s economic plan to be released tomorrow and rumors floating that the “only adult on the stage” John Kasich will finally act like one and endorse Donald Trump.

       On the sports scene, A-Rod will play his last game this Friday going in to it four home runs shy of 700; Venus Williams lost her first match in Rio; the women’s beach volleyball team lost its first match to Poland (maybe global warming is affecting the beaches of the Baltic); and those paragons of virtue the Russians had their entire Paralympics team banned for doping.

       Going to www.lyingcrookedhillary.com is a great way to start your day along of course with www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com

       As always, I hope  you enjoy today’s meager holidays and observances, a music link to the Lovin’ Spoonful, factoids of interest, a relevant quote from Lynne Cox, while looking forward to enjoying a bowl of raspberries and cream, blessed with a positive attitude and  secure in  the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable events 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. Professional Speakers’ Day—commemorating the speaking skills of those eloquent speakers who inform, motivate and inspire by the content of their words and their style of delivery and bemoaning the fees paid to speakers who appear primarily due to their contacts like in the case of Bill Clinton while his wife was Secretary of State (can you only imagine what he could command if we are dumb enough to elect her as president?)

2. Purple Heart Day—celebrating a medal created by George Washington on this day for meritorious service of a member of the US Armed Forces and now awarded to anyone wounded or killed while serving in the armed forces and recently in controversy when a recipient gave his to Donald Trump to wear.        

3. 1966 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song in 1966 on a run of three weeks in that position “Summer In The City” by the Lovin’ Spoonful. Here is a link to the very young Lovin’ Spoonful who were not swamped by the British Invasion performing “Summer In The City”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5bUmx-hk-c

4. National Raspberries and Cream Day—celebrating another classic snack but if dieting scrap the cream and just enjoy the raspberries.   
5. A Whale of an Idea—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1966 and one of the reasons why Ridley's Believe It Or Not-This Day In History is much easier to create of entrepreneur Jimmy Wales, the creator of Wikipedia.       

On this day in:

a. 1794 President George Washington invoked the Militia Acts to call up the militia to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion.

b. 1944 IBM introduced the Harvard Mark I, the first programmed controlled calculator, marking the beginning of the end for the slide ruler many years later.

c. 1946 Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, the precursor to SONY sold its first transistor radio in Japan.  

d. 1964 in what many in Congress would come to regret, the United States Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution granting to the President broad war powers in Vietnam based on a second North Vietnamese patrol boat attack that history has proved never happened and over 58,000 Americans gave their lives as a result of such folly.     

e. 1987 Lynne Cox became the first person to swim the 2.4 miles between Little Diomede Island, U.S. and Big Diomede Island, Russia without a dry suit in water that was probably only a few degrees warmer than freezing.      

Reflections from probably the best long distance swimmer on the planet applicable to all athletes during the Olympics: “It’s better to be under-trained and rested than to be overtrained and tired.” Lynne Cox  Please enjoy the poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and 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 or go to Ridley's Believe It Or Not for just This Day in History.

© August 7, 2016, Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire

Poet Extraordinaire Beyond Compare
The Perfect Gift, All Recipients to Receive Lasting Lift