Ridley’s
Believe It Or Not—June 28, 2015 Trust your weekend is
proving to be a great and your batteries are charging and as always,
I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances which are somewhat
meager, factoids of interest, a music
video by Bill Conti, a relevant quote by Virginia Postrel, looking forward to
enjoying a generous serving of ceviche, blessed with a positive attitude 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.
National
Log Cabin Day—created on June 28, 1986 by Virginia Handy,
founder of the Log Cabin Society and the Bad Axe Historical Society (I kid you
not) to promote the appreciation and preservation of log cabins.
2. International
Body Piercing Day—commemorating since last year the art form of body piercing
which if you have visited a Starbucks in California recently you will be
treated to a never ending tapestry of incredible designs and jewelry.
3. 1977
Number One Song—celebrating the number one song
in 1977 on a brief one week run, Gonna
Fly Now (Theme from Rocky) by Bill Conti. Here is a link to Bill Conti
performing Gonna Fly Now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR6FXpaECY8
4. National
Ceviche Day—celebrating another great way to enjoy seafood on hot summer
days.
5. Even
Billionaires Can Have a Bad Day—celebrating the birthday on this day in
1971 of Elon Musk, founder of PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX, a company that just had
its unmanned rocket with supplies for the international Space Station explode 2
and one half minutes after launch today from the Kennedy Space Center. With a
net worth of more than 15 billion, a slight hit to his net worth.
On this day in:
a. 1709
Peter the Great of Russia defeated Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of
Poltava, marking Russia’s emergence as a major continental power.
b. 1894
Labor Day became an official U.S. holiday.
c. 1902
the U.S. Congress passed the Spooner Act, authorizing the U.S. to acquire
rights to the Panama Canal from Columbia.
d. 1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife Sophie were
assassinated in Sarajevo by Serbian nationalists which act within two months
plunged the world into the carnage of World War I, misnamed “The War to End All
Wars.”
e.
1994 in a chilling wakeup call on the dangers of terrorists using WMDs fanatics
from the Aum Shinriyko sect released the nerve gas Sarin in Matsumoto, Japan,
killing seven and injuring over 600 innocent Japanese.
Reflections on the horror of war, especially
when the full weight of technology makes its debut on the battlefield. “European
nations began World War I with a glamorous vision of war, only to be
psychologically shattered by the realities of the trenches. The experience
changed the way people referred to the glamour of battle; they treated it no
longer as a positive quality but as a dangerous illusion.” Virginia Postrel,
noted libertarian writer, author and blogger Unfortunately in the 21 years
following the end of World War I despite all the vivid reminders of the
disaster that befell Europe, the lessons were too soon quickly forgotton.
© June
28, 2015 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
Alaskanpoet for Hire, Poems to Admire
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Rhymes for All the Memorable Times
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