December 5, 2016 Ridley's Believe It Or Not International Volunteer Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For December 5, 2016 The body count at the fire at the warehouse in Oakland has risen to 36 and may still climb higher once walls in danger of collapsing have been shored up (the “Ghost Ship” should have been named the “firetrap” and heads hopefully will roll in Oakland building  and fire departments that allowed this menace to public safety exist); in yet another glaring example of Obama’s lack of spine and willingness to cave into the greens, the federal government revoked the permit of the builders of the Dakota Access Pipeline (I hope EPA Secretary McCarthy and her deputies have packed their bags); the theater of the absurd involving Jill Stein continues as she holds a press conference next to Trump Tower to vow going forward in federal courts to the bitter end (what this power, money, and publicity hungry candidate fails to grasp is after 8 years of a spineless, feckless nonleader that foes don’t fear and allies don’t trust is that our next president’s legitimacy is being eroded by all her recount nonsense and the mantra that he’s not our president because he lost the popular vote); in another example of China flexing military muscle, China for the first time sent nuclear capable bombers to circumnavigate Taiwan while in Europe, Russia has installed nuclear missiles in its enclave of Kaliningrad; in another example of how dangerous it is to wear a badge, in New York City an off duty corrections officer was executed while sitting in her car; on the sports front Washington drew the short straw and will face Alabama while this rabid Stanford’s worst nightmare is being realized by SC going to the Rose Bowl to face Penn State while Stanford plays unranked North Carolina in the Sun Bowl on December 30.
       As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances,  a music link to Tony Bennett, factoids of interest for this day in history, a relevant quote from Paula Patton on her birthday, while looking forward to enjoying a slice of a Sacher torte, 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. International Volunteer Day—commemorating and honoring since 1985 the contributions of volunteer organizations around the world to the betterment of society and the improvement of aid and assistance to manmade and natural disasters.

2. World Soil Day—created by the UN General Assembly to promote awareness of the preservation of our soil as a critical part of food production to feed the world’s growing population; the 30’s proved in spades, dust bowls are not your friends and need to be avoided at all costs.
3. 1953 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song in 1953 on a run of 6 weeks in that position “Rags to Riches” by Tony Bennett.  Here is a recording of Tony Bennett performing the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y22tIJ6toPY

4. National Sacher Torte Day—celebrating Austria’s most renowned torte created by a 16 year old apprentice chef in 1832 in response to Metternich’s demand for a new torte; Sacher hit it out of the culinary park with a three layer chocolate sponge cake with apricot jam between the layers and covered with a chocolate ganache.  

5. Here’s Less Blood and Guts and More Precious Paulas—celebrating the birth on this day in 1975 of Paula Patton (no relation to George S. Patton), a very attractive and talented American actress who has appeared in such great movies as Precious and Mission Impossible.          

On this day in:                                                                                   

a. 1496 in an example that Christianity even after 1500 hundred years still had a lot of intolerance King Manuel I of Portugal issued a decree expelling all “heretics” from the country (unlike ISIS he did not force conversion or behead them).

b. 1933 to the joy of tavern owners and patrons, the Twenty First Amendment repealing the Eighteenth Amendment which gave us Prohibition and 14 years of illicit booze smuggling and mob violence was ratified.       

c. 1964 Captain Roger Donlon was awarded the first of 258 Medals of Honor awarded for heroism in applying first aid under fire to fellow soldiers during the Vietnam, 162 of  which were sadly awarded posthumously.

d. 1964 Lloyd Old discovered the linkage between the histocompatibility complex (*HMC”) and the disease mouse leukemia thereby creating understanding of the importance of HMC in our immune system. 

e. 2007 at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, a nineteen year old troubled youth with a semi-automatic rifle opened fire and killed 8 people and wounded 4 before killing himself.

Reflections fame from an actress celebrating her birthday today: “If you're an actress and even one person knows your name, you're lucky.” Paula Patton Wise observation in our fast paced anonymous society and sadly an observation applicable to poets. 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.

© December 5, 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