Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Ridley's Believe It Or Not-February 18, 2014-National Drink Wine Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not--February 18, 2014: Today is the closest day I have come to being skunked on holidays--when National Milk a Cow in an Airplane Day or Pluto Day (not the Disney canine but the deplanetized 9th speck orbiting our Sun) are in the running, you know you have a problem. If this happens again by the power vested in me by the gods of muse, I am going to create my own--Fiddlehead Day or Halibut Cheeks Day anyone? Hope you at least enjoy the factoids and quote for the day:
             1. Thumb Appreciation Day--honoring the opposing thumb that enables us to grab tools, write and if wearing togas in the Roman Senate on the Ides of March to vote thumbs up for Caesar to live and thumbs down for him to die--you know the results.
             2. National Battery Day--honoring the birthday of the inventor of the electric battery, Alessandro Volta, born on this day in 1795--where would we be without them, especially on a child's birthday or Christmas when all the toys came with that dreaded note-"batteries not included"-and we either forgot to buy or snatching defeat from the jaws of victory bought the wrong size.
             3. National Drink Wine Day-- have no idea where this one came from but suspect the California vintners were behind it.
             On this day in:
             a. 1970 the Chicago Seven  were found not guilty of inciting a riot at the 1968  Democratic National  Convention in Chicago--amazing time and in terms of theater and media attention the trial before Judge Julius Hoffman would have won an Emmy for best Reality Show of the Century had it been televised.
             b. 1978 on Oahu the first Iron Man Triathlon was held, won by Gordon Haller (what a way to ruin a vacation of sipping Mai Tais overlooking the beach at the Royal Hawaiian).
             c. 2001 NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt was killed while competing in the Daytona 500.                  
Observations on the Chicago Seven Trial from a defendant and a juror: "It's going to be a combination Scopes trial, revolution in the streets, Woodstock Festival and People's Park, all rolled into one." Abbie Hoffman 60's era radical and founder of the Yippie movement  "Would you like your children to grow up like them?"  A Chicago Seven Trial juror. Probably not but a testament to the jury system where jurors do have the ability to set aside bias and prejudice and arrive at a verdict. 
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 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; federal regulations limiting calories in school lunches while putting on lavish state dinners; Michael Sam declaring he's gay before the NFL draft; the Beatles' 50 year anniversary of appearing on the Ed Sullivan to join a great list of comments on the newsworthy times, in rhyme of course.
©February 18, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet


 
 
 

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