Monday, January 2, 2017

January 2, 2017 Ridley's Believe It Or Not National Science Fiction Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For January 2, 2017 Looks like 2017 in Chicago is going to be a deadly repeat of 2016 in which 762 victims were murdered as 2017 opened with 3 homicides and 16 wounded; sadly being a black male in Chicago is a very dangerous place to be; Turkey still has not identified the cold blooded jihadist that killed 39 people at an Istanbul night club and wounded 70 others; the Russian diplomats and operatives expelled in a typical Obama “too little too late” move have arrived in Moscow as Trump continues to express doubt over hacking of the DNC by Russians while expending precious political capital he will need to undo the disasters of the Obama administration (for starters how about approving Keystone XL and creating thousands of high paying jobs); Obama is going to give his farewell address from Chicago (not sure what he is going to talk about but given his delusional view of the world he probably will extol how much better we are saddled with $20 trillion in debt and safer with ISIS running rampant, North Korea to test an ICBM and Iran on a path to nuclear weapons); Mariah Carey and Dick Clark Productions are in a snit fit over her total disastrous performance in Times Square; on the sports front, USC returns to the Rose Bowl to meet Penn State.
          As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances,  a music link to the Bay City Rollers, factoids of interest for this day in history, a relevant observation from Barry Goldwater coupled with a video link to the infamous “Daisy ad” that destroyed his candidacy, looking forward to enjoying  the Word of the Day, 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. National Weigh In Day—after celebrating way too much on New Year’s Eve and probably spending too much time on New Year’s Day watching football and eating way too much, today is the day to benchmark those resolutions to lose weight and enjoy more exercise by weighing in to see how much you can lose and keep lost—obesity is not one’s friend.                                                                            
          2. National Science Fiction Day—celebrating the genre of fiction that over the years has produced the reality of many of our scientific achievements from putting a man on the Moon to the bionic replacement parts of today; the day was chosen to honor one of the great science fiction writers Isaac Asimov who was born on this day in 1920.
          3. Number One Song in 1976—celebrating the number 1 song in 1976 on a run of 1 week in that position “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers. Here is a link to the Bay City Rollers performing (or better yet screeching) the song:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBn2ux5vRHk
          4. Word of the Day—The word of the day is “catoptromancy” which is the art of foretelling the future by the use of a mirror; maybe if someone can look at himself honestly in the mirror as opposed to delusional eyes he would have a better chance to predict it (makes sense as if our president were honest with himself, he would predict that his legacy will largely be flushed down the toilet).
          5. Count to Ten Forward and Backward—celebrating the birth on this day in 1909 of noted conservative Barry Goldwater who represented Arizona in the Senate for 30 years and whose candidacy for presidency in 1964 was obliterated by attack ads of the Democrats including the infamous “Daisy ad” that terrified voters that Barry Goldwater would cause a nuclear war with the Soviet Union (only because of her arrogance that she could not conceive of being defeated by Trump did Hillary not roll out a remake of the “Daisy ad”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-VzZQGWOqA
            On this day in:
1. 533 Mercurius became Pope and was the first Pope to adopt a new name, becoming Pope John II.
2. 1900 diplomat John Hay implemented the open door policy to promote trade with China a door which to the tune of over a $300 billion trade deficit has turned into a one way street which hopefully Trump will renegotiate.
3. 1920 in one of our total disregard for the Constitution moments in our history, the second roundup of communists and anarchists known as the Palmer Raid occurred led by J. Edgar Hoover, netting some 3,000 individuals who were in most cases illegally arrested and detained although some 500 noncitizens were deported.    
4. 1974 President Nixon signed legislation lowering the speed limit to 55 miles per hour to conserve fuel during the OPEC oil embargo arising out of our support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War.
5. 2016 in another example that Muslims are very likely to kill other Muslims, the Sunni led Saudis executed Shiite Sheik Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others (tiring day for the beheader) for seeking independence for Shiites in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
Reflections on extremism and moderation still valid today, even more so: “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”  Barry Goldwater  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.
© January 2, 2017 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet 
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