Ridley's
Believe It Or Not—May 3, 2014: As always, after some searching, I found
these holidays worthy of mention or celebrating in culinary fashion, to go with
the factoids and quote to enjoy as you are starting the weekend and getting ready to bottle your
special and secret recipe home brew.
1. International
World Press Freedom Day –started in 1997 to honor the contributions of a
free press to good governance; sadly in many countries a free press is merely
an illusion and here it often seems that our press has become a cheerleader as
opposed to an objective watchdog of our political leaders.
2. National Train Day—celebrating the
contribution of train travel in the U.S.; what better way to see this great
nation or any portion thereof than looking out the window from a comfortable
seat.
3.
National Home Brew Day—celebrating that
great American tradition, brewing your own beer, tax free, and fresh to the
last drop.
4. Beer
Pong Day—first created by Jack Brosseit at the University of Arizona,
combining athletic skills of ping pong and the social graces of chugging; will
never become an Olympic sport but a great venue to introduce one’s home brew.
5. National
Raspberry Popover Day—celebrating one of this poet’s favorite desserts,
especially when served with Rocky Road ice cream—enjoy!
On this day
in:
a. 1915 one of the classic poems about World War I In Flanders Field was
written by Lt. Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian poet and physician who died from
pneumonia and meningitis on the Western Front in 1918.
b. 1948 the U.S. Supreme Court in
Shelley v. Kraemer struck down covenants in deeds prohibiting the sale of real
estate to blacks.
c. 2000 the sport of geocaching began with the first GPS cache coordinates
placed on Usenet.
After almost a hundred years, far too many crosses, far too many
Flanders Fields still exist and grow in number: “In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on
row,/That mark our place; and in the sky/The larks, still bravely singing, fly/Scarce
heard amid the guns below./We are the Dead. Short days ago/We lived, felt dawn,
saw sunset glow,/Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields./Take up our quarrel with the foe:/To you from failing hands
we throw/The torch; be yours to hold it high./If ye break faith with us who die/We
shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.” © 1915 John McCrae
. 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 poems on the 2014 Boston Marathon; on the Mustangs going to the Dance with
a losing record; 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; on Bode Miller and the human spirit;
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 the just released nonredacted Benghazi
emails; Kerry’s apartheid characterization of Israel; Obama’s admission that he
does not know whether new “sanctions” will work against Putin; the scandal of
vets dying in Phoenix while waiting to see a doctor; Blues in Illinois caught
in questionable procedures and forced to rescind $100 million to Obama
Presidential Library; coffee as the new wonder drug to curtail Type II
Diabetes; the futility of aiding Ukraine
with MRE’s to join numerous other comments on news events always in rhyme of
course.
©May 3, 2014
Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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