Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Ridley's Believe It Or Not--This Day In History December 31, 2013


Ridley's Believe It Or Not--December 31, 2013:  New Year's Eve and if a Scot like my mother, you would be celebrating the first day of Hogmanay ( Auld Year's Night) and if a procrastinator having delayed making your New Year's resolutions, celebrating Make Up Your Mind Day; and on this day in 1891 New York's immigration depot was opened on Ellis Island; in 1907 the first New Year's Eve celebration was held in Time's Square; in 1967 the Youth International Party, aka "Yippies" was founded (probably as a result of too much celebrating); and in 1991 the Soviet Union was officially dissolved (thank you President Reagan).
          In a texting, shortened communication world, here is the briefest and worthiest  resolution list of them all: “Let our New Year's resolution be this: we will be there for one another as fellow members of humanity, in the finest sense of the word.” -- Goran Persson, former Swedish Prime Minister and crusader in the fight against intolerance.
           A New Year's Eve Wish
           In the list of resolutions on New Year's Eve, here is one to put on top
           Celebrate, but if drinking--a cab or the car keys into another's hands drop
           Party hearty, but do not drink and then leave to drive
           Too much at risk, too many dreams to try and not to survive
           So on this day on December 31, 2014 for Ridley's Believe It Or Not
            "A first, on this day in 2013, the number of DUIs--nada, squat, zilch, zip, zero, naught."
           © December 18, 2013 Michael P. Ridley, aka the Alaskanpoet

HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR GO CARDINAL IN THE ROSE BOWL!   
            Before you start warming up the vocal cords for Auld Lang Syne  and preparing for the frenzy of the BCS bowls (Go Cardinal!), take five and please enjoy the 140 character poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them join 133 growing  followers and  please follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good and incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs--click on links below. www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for an original poem for Christmas just posted and poem on the year in review soon to be posted. 

Monday, December 30, 2013

Ridley's Believe It Or Not--This Day In History December 30, 2013


Ridley's Believe It Or Not--December 30, 2013:  No holidays worthy of note unless you are Tom Cruise celebrating Freedom Day, or in the Philippines celebrating Rizal Day or celebrating National Bicarbonate of Soda Day and its hundreds of uses from removing odor in kitty litter to removing odor in human beings from eating beans; and on this day in 1817 to the joy of future coffee lovers, the first coffee bush was planted in Kona, Hawaii; in 1940 California's first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway (looks like a goat trail compared to our more modern freeways) was opened; and in 1970 Paul McCartney filed suit to dissolve the Beatles (sad day in music almost as bad as the Day the Music Died--Buddy Holly, Ritchie Vallens, and The Big Bopper) .     
           How to understand Tom Cruise:"[The court record is] replete with evidence [that Scientology] is nothing in reality but a vast enterprise to extract the maximum amount of money from its adepts by pseudo scientific theories... and to exercise a kind of blackmail against persons who do not wish to continue with their sect.... The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard" Judge Breckenridge, Los Angeles Superior Court.
           New Year's Observation:
            It is not how worthy or complete is one's New Year's Resolution List
            But rather how long before the resolutions no longer exist
            Show me a man who solemnly swears each resolution he has kept
            I'll show you a man who has no mirrors and his actions too prone to forget
            Since New Year is almost identical to the day next and the day before
            Rather than beating on oneself as each resolution comes in with a losing score,         
            The Resolution Game is not a game of rugby where only in rugby do tries count
            And resolutions not perfect are subject to a deep discount
             Humanity is not a computer which speaks only in binary code
             Much more subtle, much more winding, more switchbacks, but a more rose adorned road
             Perfection is reserved only to bowlers and only because of its limit of ten frames
             We mere mortals can only to resolve to continue and thoughts of quitting tame
             So grab your horseshoe where “almosts” can rule supreme
             Quit not, each day of success is worthy of your dreams              
            Start each day with one easy goal you wish for that day to keep
            You will feel a lot less stress, lot less guilt and a lot less tossing and turning in your sleep
             Each day such goals are met, new habits will be born
             You will have gone beyond the acts you could not before reform.
             © December 30, 2013 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

             Happy New Year!  Smell the Roses! And, of course, Go Cardinal in the Rose Bowl      

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Ridleys Believe It Or Not: This Day In History December 29, 2013


Ridley's Believe It Or Not--December 29, 2013:  No holidays worthy of note unless in Mongolia enjoying a Mongolian Barbecue and celebrating Independence Day (from China 1911) or here honoring Pepper Pot Soup Day (the soup that won the Revolutionary War by enabling Washington's Army to survive the winter of 1777-8); on this day in 1890, the  U.S. Cavalry in one of its darker moments slaughtered 300 Sioux at Wounded Knee; in 1952 the first transistorized hearing aide was sold; and in  1959 Physicist Richard Feynman gave a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", which is regarded by many as the birth of nanotechnology.     
           We will still need large humans in mind and ethics to capitalize for our good on things so very, very small:   "Every technology—no matter how powerful—is never a solution in itself. It is only a tool, to be used by its owners for good or for ill. This is as true for nanotechnology as it was for electricity or for the printing press before it"  Mike Treder, managing director of Institute of Emerging Technologies and Ethicis. Biggest fear is that are political leaders who cannot balance a budget or create a functional website are not up to this momentous task.  
            Before you get into the frenzy of the BCS bowls (Go Cardinal!), take five and please enjoy the 140 character poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them join 133 growing  followers and  please follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good and incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs--click on links below. www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for an original poem for Christmas just posted and poem on the year in review soon to be posted. 
© December 29, 2013 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet




 

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Ridley's Believe It Or Not This Day In History December 28, 2013

     As species, humans are the only ones to be able to record and pass on in the form of oral traditions (Homer around a fire in muse regaling those listening with tales of the Trojan War), writing (Dead Sea Scrolls), photographs (Brady and the Civil War) TV, films, tapes, cds, and the list goes on. But as our knowledge of our past is recorded in greater detail, even as it occurs (killing of Bin Laden), it seems increasingly we are doomed to either forget the lessons, ignore them, or fail to appreciate, or be saddened or amused. In that vein, on this blog you will find each day starting today in brief format some holidays of note or nonnote, three events on this day in history, a quote that relates to the holidays or events, and occasionally a brief poem, and during football and basketball season an observation also brief of Stanford (with advance apologies to my Cal, SC, and UCLA friends) hope you enjoy...links to my twitter account and other blogs will be included. Hope you enjoy.

Ridley's Believe It Or Not--December 28, 2013:  No holidays worthy of note other than Proclamation Day (Australia), for those dying breed of cribbage players like me, National Play Cards Day, and, for those who received too many lumps of coal, National Whiners Day;  in 1948 nine years before Sputnik and Explorer 1, U.S. announced a study on launching an Earth satellite; and in 1973, to the bane of all developers, the Endangered Species Act (not including unbiased and truthful politicians on the list unfortunately) was passed; and in 1981 the first American test tube baby, Elizabeth Jordan Carr was born.  
           An Obama Care patient lament?   "I sometimes wish I were suffering for a good cause or risking my live for the good of others, instead of being just a gravely endangered patient."  Christopher Hitchens, noted Britishish-American commentator,  polemicist, and author who died from cancer in 2011.  Had he still been alive January 1, 2014 he would have shared a room with a gravely endangered quality of medical care system.  
             Go Cardinal in Rose Bowl:  Rose Bowl Thoughts
In the battle of the S’s, go with the Red
After all, no matter how brave, the 300 were all dead
Green reminds one of cronies on the energy bailout dole
Who with contributions to the White House have sold their immortal soul
But Red does have the color of green,
Both in its endowment and its tree dancing scene
Plus a color that is open both to the drinkers of coffee and of tea
Represents at times, though not all,  thoughts not at sea
To our green S guests clutching roses finally in their paled formerly gloved hands
He who lives with a sword, dies with a sword and for taps we have the perfect Band
 
           Before you get into the frenzy of the BCS bowls, take five and please enjoy the 140 character poems
on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them join 133 growing  followers and  please follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good and incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs--click on links below. www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for an original poem for Christmas just posted and poem on the year in review soon to be posted. 
© December 28, 2013 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet