January 10 History National Cut Your Energy Use Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not—January 10, 2015:    Trust your weekend is off to a great start and you are following your 2015 resolutions. As always, I  hope you enjoy the holidays and observances, factoids and a relevant quote from Thomas Paine,  with a smile on your face, savoring a few pieces of bittersweet chocolate, blessed with a positive attitude even though you know you will have to wade through tons of spam in your inbox, and secure in the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for a memorable event, you know that the Alaskanpoet can provide you with a unique customized poem at a great price tailored to the event and the recipient.  You need only contact me for details.

       1. National Cut Your Energy Use Day—even with falling oil prices always a good idea to use energy more efficiently to keep more money in one’s pocket book.

        2. Mad Monk Day—commemorating or bemoaning as the case may be the birthday on this day in 1869 of Grigori Rasputin, a Russian mystic and adviser to the Tsarina Alexandra and whose antics helped to sour the Russian people on the Tsar and help bring about the seizure of the government by Lenin and the Communist Party.

       3. 1979 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song on this day in 1979 Too Much Heaven by the Bee Gees.

       4. National Bittersweet Chocolate Day—nothing like the taste of this sweetened chocolate made from cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla and as all chocoholics know is a great way to lower one’s blood pressure and provide the body with a tasty dose of antioxidants.

        5. The Lion King Day—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1930 of Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney, who headed up the animation department for Disney and helped make such animated blockbusters as the Lion King and was instrumental in leading a shareholder revolt that replaced Walt’s son-in-law with Michael Eisner.

On this day in

      a. 49 B.C. with his legions Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon River, signaling the start of civil war in Rome in which he prevailed and became Emperor until assassinated by members of the Roman Senate, including his friend Brutus.

       b. 1776 Thomas Paine published Common Sense Even after 239 years it definitely should be on one’s reading list.

       c. 1920 the Versailles Treaty was signed, officially ending World War I, “the War to End All Wars” but sowing the seeds for World War II which started less than 20 years later.

      d. 1990 Time Warner was created by the merger of Time, Inc. and Warner Communications thereby creating a cable company that most people love to hate.

Reflections on Common Sense: “Society is produced by our wants, and government by wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.” Thomas Paine Common Sense  Common sense is definitely an endangered commodity in D.C. and many state capitols today; no wonder we have so much dysfunction.

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© January 10, 2015 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet

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