Ridley's Believe It Or Not -Febraury 21 In History-International Mother Language Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not--February 21, 2014:  Tough loss for the U.S. women after leading Canada 2-0 in closing minutes only to have Canada score 2 goals and then win in overtime on a power play goal. Still a Silver! Hope you enjoy the holidays, factoids and quote for the day:
             1. International Mother Language Day (Mezhdunarodnyy den' rodnogo yazyka in Russian in recognition of the Winter Olympics other than the U.N. being the venue with the most languages being heard today)  --another UN promulgated observance started in 1999 to promote cultural diversity and multilingualism, which is probably a good thing assuming the fluency in the national language which in our case is English. 
             2. Swim On Top Day--if you are a Pisces like me celebrate being the fish that swims on top and to the top, not the one on the bottom.
             On this day in:
             a. 1878 the first telephone book was published in New Haven, Conn. with 50 numbers.
             b. 1947 in New York City, Edward Land demonstrated the first instant imaging camera, the Polaroid Land Camera to the New York Optical Society.
             c. 1958 the peace symbol commissioned by the  Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was designed and completed by Gerald Holton--two lines down at 45 degrees representing in semaphore N and one line up and down representing  in semaphore D in a circle==Nuclear Disarmament.
Multi-lingual is a good thing, far beyond the ability to order sushi in a Japanese restaurant in Little Tokyo especially if you can read the fine print in English when you get your monthly credit card statement.  Apprendre une autre langue, c'est comme le commencement d'une autre vie.
Michel Bouthot ”Learn another language, it is like the beginning of another life." so translated by Michael P. Ridley, noted member of Stanford en France XIII.

Please enjoy the 140 character poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and join almost 140 growing followers and please follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good, incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs--click on links below. www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for an original poem to honor Bode Miller and the human spirit just posted; an original poem for Cupid on Valentine's Day; an original poem to honor Cory Remsburg, and original poem to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Just posted for your enjoyment on Rhymes On The Newsworthy Times poems on FCC plan to investigate diversity of news coverage to the great concern of the media; Nebraska judge saving Obama by enjoining Keystone XL;  Kerry calling global warming the new weapon of mass destruction; chaos in the Ukraine; OC Sheriff's Deputies getting paid for donning and doffing their uniforms;  the FAA grounding drone delivery of Valentine's Day Roses; Chairman of OC Board of Supervisors double dipping; a Perfect Gift for Valentine’s Day; Arctic Vortex slamming the U.S.; the freedom of the press taking nose dive; weed slowing HIV in monkeys; Obamacare as an albatross for Blues; whimsical note on Cordova, AK Ice Worm Festival to join a great list of comments on the newsworthy times, in rhyme of course.

©February 21, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

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