Ridley's Believe It Or Not--This Day In History-February 16, 2014 National Almond Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not--February 16, 2014: Choices, choices this Sunday--to watch the NBA All Star Game, missing Kobe Bryant due to injury, or to watch the Winter Olympics at Sochi; but pausing in either event to breathe a sigh of relief that the Russian Kosmos 1220, 9,000 pounds of metal around a nuclear power plant burned up this morning entering the atmosphere and did not strike the planet. Hope you enjoy the factoids, holidays and quote:

             1. Kyoto Protocol Day--observing the Kyoto Protocol calling for nations to lower their greenhouse emissions to combat global warming--hard sell concept in the Northeast and Southeast which have been pelted by Arctic storm after storm and in the Midwest where Lake Superior is almost completely frozen over.

              2. National Almond Day--celebrating the use of almonds--my favorite nut and no political controversy and, as you enjoy them, no PC issues there either.

              3. Daytona Pole Day-- Kyoto Protocol Day be damned, celebrating the fastest trial times in the Daytona 500 to be raced on 2/23/2014, this year won by Austin Dillon in Car No. 3.           

On this day in:
             a. 1968 the first operating 911 emergency phone system in the U.S. went operational in Haleyville, Alabama, almost one year after LBJ's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice recommended one number to call police wherever the caller was located.
             b. 1978 the first community computer bulletin board system was established in Chicago; can you imagine a world without Facebook, Twitter and the growing social media--what would our kids do with their time?
             c. 2006 the last operating MASH unit was decommissioned by the U.S. Army; fortunately after we had thoroughly enjoyed the TV series and movie.
Interesting observation as President Obama proposes a new $1 Billion climate relief plan and news of birds being fried out of the sky by solar panels:  "Billions of dollars of grant money [over $50 billion] are flowing into the pockets of those on the man-made global warming bandwagon. No man-made global warming, the money dries up. This is big money, make no mistake about it. Always follow the money trail and it tells a story." James Spann, American Meteorological Society
 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 Cupid, just posted; 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 16, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

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