February 19 History Tet

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not—February 19, 2015 Trust your Thursday is off to a fine start and you are anxiously awaiting the start of the Iditarod in 18 days. As always, I  hope you enjoy the holidays and observances, factoids and relevant quote by Robert Elegant with a smile on your face, enjoying a chocolate mint, 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 any memorable event like birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries, 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. Tết—celebrating the Vietnamese Lunar New Year (Year of the Sheep); if in Orange County, California, Little Saigon is the place to be.
       2.  Prevent Plagiarism Day, an annual observance that raises awareness about high tech cheating with the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own. Very risky if one gets caught as Montana Senator John Walsh found out when allegations that his Master’s thesis was a work of plagiarism and he would forced to drop out of his reelection bid in 2014.

       3. 1961 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song on this day in 1961 as part of a two week run was Calcutta  by Lawrence Welk band leader who hosted the Lawrence Welk Show for 31 years and pioneered the music genre “champagne music.”

        4. National Chocolate Mint Day—the perfect end to a hard day of the road when your hotel provides a turn down service topped with one of these juicy morsels.
        5. Deflation Not Your Friend Day—commemorating not the decrease in commodity prices like oil but the birthday on this day in 1959 of Roger Goddell, the current commissioner of the NFL that has been rocked by drug abuse, concussion scandals, abuse of women and deflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game this year. 
On this day in
     a. 1847 the first group of rescuers reached the trapped Donner Party snow bound in the Sierra Nevadas and resorting to cannibalism to survive.
     b. 1953 in a blow to the freedom of expression most Americans hold dear, Georgia established the first censorship board in the nation.
     c. 1963 Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique was published, galvanizing the feminist movement in this country.
     d. 1976 in a better late than never moment, Executive Order 9066 which led to the forced relocation of Japanese-American citizens during World War II was rescinded by President Gerald Ford. 
Reflections on a Tet that occurred in South Vietnam in 1968 that changed the course of history and the “support” for the Vietnam War: "For the first time in modern history, the outcome of a war was determined not on the battlefield but on the printed page and, above all, on the television screen."  Robert Elegant, reporter for  the Los Angeles Times. Now it is the television screen and the social media.
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© February 19, 2015 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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