Monday, March 10, 2014

Ridley's Believe It Or Not-This Day In History March 10, 2014 Salvation Army Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not--March 10, 2014:  Another day in the creeping shadows of St. Patrick's Day.  Found these worthy holidays and due to popular demand in the Iditarod, the Last Great Race on Earth, Aliy Zirkle, is now one minute behind the new leader Jeff King with a pack of three about 3 hours behind, Buser, Dallas Seavey, and Lindner, mushing out Koyuk 804 miles from the start of the race.   Another update this afternoon on Ridley's Believe It Or Not.  Hope you enjoy the holidays, factoids and quote for the day.
           1. National Landline Phone Day--celebrated today, but maybe not many times more in the future as land line phones diminish and cell phones soar. Of course, when have you ever heard of a land line call being dropped or intercepted by the NSA or hackers or a tethered land line phone being misplaced or lost?
           2. National Nap Day--always celebrated on the first Monday after the switch to Daylight Saving Time especially if you stayed up as if it would not occur and are missing the hour of sleep lost.
           3. Paper Currency Day--honoring the first issuance by the United States of paper currency in 1862, which if we are not careful will not be worth, in the case of the dollar, more than its cost of  the paper and ink.
           4. Salvation Army Day--honoring a great charitable organization that does so much more than standing on street corners during Christmas season ringing bells to collect money from shoppers hurrying and scurrying to max out their credit cards.
           On this day in:
              a. 1849 Abraham Lincoln became the first President to apply for a patent; surprisingly for a man whose nickname was the "Rail Splitter," it was for a device to lift boats over shoals.
              b. 1891 a Topeka, Kansas undertaker, Alexander Strowger patented the Strowger Switch which led to the development of automatic telephone switching gear.
              c. 1959 fearing abduction by the Chinese, 300,000 Tibetans marched on Lhasa to spirit the Dalai Lama out the country.
We are a very fortunate human species that men like the Dalai Lama are not being stifled by regimes that fear the creativity and spirituality of the human mind:  "If you can cultivate the right attitude, your enemies are your best spiritual teachers because their presence provides you with the opportunity to enhance and develop tolerance, patience and understanding." Dalai Lama XIV Great words to live by especially if a member of Congress these days."
   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 Cindy Abbott, a half blind 54 year old mother suffering from a rare disease who competed in last year's Iditarod until forced out with a broken pelvis after 600 miles; an original poem on Bode Miller and the human spirit; an original poem for Cupid on Valentine's Day; an original poem to honor Cory Remsburg to join a great collection of my poems to inspire, touch, emote, elate and enjoy. Go to Rhymes On The Newsworthy Times for poems on Rutgers' faculty despicable attempt to ban Condi Rice from being a commencement speaker; the holiday creep of St. Patrick's Day; the crash of Malaysian Air; Obama's need for vacation time as Ukraine crisis unfolds; Newport Beach's assault on recovery homes including the Ohio House; food fight between Issa and Cummings as Lerner takes the 5th again; Sally Jewell, Department of Interior, telling the residents of King Cove, Alaska to take a hike in placing wildlife over their lives; on students protesting Keystone XL as the world's largest oil producer militarily occupies the Crimea: the banning the wearing of the American flag on Cinco de Mayo; Putin winning the Great Game against Obama; Obama need for fund raising trumping Russian moves into Crimea; Potomac fever infecting the Governors’ Conference; the Cal Ripken, Jr. equivalent in the House, John Dingell after almost 60 years announcing his retirement to join numerous other comments on news events always in rhyme of course.
©March 10, 2014 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

 
 

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