Wednesday, February 21, 2018

February 21, 2018 Ridley's Believe It Or Not International Mother Language Day


Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For February 21, 2018 On the police shooting front, an officer in Alabama and an officer in Maryland were shot and killed; on the SCOTUS front thee court will hear a case in Illinois involving the right of the state to force public service workers to pay union dues whether they agree with the unions or not (this case will put Gorsuch in the limelight and if decided in favor of plaintiff could be the death knell to public unions and their bloated and largely unfunded pension plans) and a case in California contesting the law that anti-abortion centers must disclose to their clients the availability of free or low cost abortions provided by the state; on the ”sports” front ESPN’s Jemele Hill defended her claim that Trump is a “white supremacist” on The View as ESPN wisely removed her as a co-host of Sports Center; on the sexual harassment front, a suspect was caught on video dragging a bikini clad barista in Kent, Washington out the order window at knife point and tried to rape her before  fleeing due to a car coming up to the drive in window; on the sexual harassment front USDA was holding a Black History Month for its staff only to have an employee take the stage and accuse her supervisor of having sex with her in exchange for a promotion in a relationship that continued for 8 months which she broke off when he demanded that she perform an act which she considered unnatural; Trump is listening to a group of Parkland students, parents and teachers and appears to be amenable to increased background checks and increasing the age limit to buy an AR-15; on the Olympics front the lackluster performance of the combined North and South Korean Women’s Ice Hockey Team has members from the North fearful of their well being when they return in shame to the North; in Chicago through February 19, 2018 309 people have been shot of whom 60 have died.
        As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Monica,  factoids of interest for this day in history, the chance to use lithogylph in Scrabble and a relevant quote by Richard Nixon on the Great Wall of China and other non physical walls,  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. International Mother Language Day—a General Assembly observance created in 2008 to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and promote multilingualism.
2. National Card Reading Day—not sure who is behind this other than I suspect Hallmark; easy to observe by buying a card and on any subject write a note in it to keep your penmanship skills up to snuff and they send it to a friend or relative.
3. 1999 Number One Song— the number one song in 1999 on a run of 4 weeks in that position  was “Angel of Mine” by Monica. Here is a recording of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eOuK-pYhy4
4. Word of the Day—today’s word of the day is “lithoglyph” which is an engraving on stone.
5. Can You Digg It--celebrating the birth on this day in 1977 of computer programmer and geek Robert Rose who founded Digg with $1200 of his own money and subsequently raised $2.5 million of venture capital. Digg today is worth north of $250 million.
          On this day in:                                                               
a. 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published The Communist Manifesto.
b. 1921 Reza Shah in a successful coup seized control of Iran.
c. 1947 Edwin Land demonstrated in New York City his Polaroid instant developing camera which was the toast of the photographic world until supplanted by the digital camera.
d. 1952 the British government under Winston Churchill abolished the requirement of identity cards.
e. 1972 Richard  Nixon  visited China to embark on the road to normalizing Sino-American relations.
Reflections on walls: “What is most important is that we have an open world. As we look at this Wall, we do not want walls of any kind between peoples. I think one of the results of our trip, we hope, may be that the walls that are erected, whether they are physical walls like this or whether they are other walls, ideology or philosophy, will not divide peoples in the world; that peoples, regardless of their differences and backgrounds and their philosophies, will have an opportunity to communicate with each other, to know each other, and to share with each other those particular endeavors that will mean peaceful progress in the years ahead.” Richard M. Nixon speaking to reporters in front of the Great Wall of China February 24, 1972. As the debate rages over whether a wall will be built on our southern border with Mexico, wonder what Nixon’s thoughts would be if he were alive today.
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.
© February 21, 2018 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

No comments:

Post a Comment