August 11 History Presidential Joke Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not—August 11, 2015 Trust your weekend was a great one and all batteries are fully charged to meet the challenges of the week; as always, I hope you enjoy Tuesday’s holidays and observances,  factoids of interest, a music video by the Commodores, a relevant quote from Martin Luther King, Jr., looking forward to enjoying some raspberry tarts, blessed with a positive attitude 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. Presidential Joke Day—celebrating one of Ronald Reagan’s great unknown live mike moment where on this day in 1984 on a sound check moment he jokingly declared that he had declared the Soviet Union illegal and that we would begin bombing in five minutes; needless to say there was not a lot of laughter coming out of Moscow.                              

       2. Annual Medical Checkup Day—celebrating a great habit, scheduling an annual physical especially as one gets older and more susceptible to disease.                                                         

       3. 1978 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song in 1978 on a two week run in that position Three Times A Lady by the Commodores.  Here is a link to the Commodores performing Three Times A Lady:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jLvnuf10uU

      4. National Raspberry Tart Day—celebrating another great snack and perfect way to end a meal.  

      5. Growing  An Apple Is Not Just A Job—celebrating on this day in 1950 the birthday of the engineering brilliance behind the creation of the Apple 1 and Apple II computer, Steve Wozniak.

On this day in:                                           

       a. 1934 the first federal prisoners arrived at Alcatraz to commence serving their time.  

       b. 1965 a black motorist was arrested in Los Angeles for drunk driving which amidst undercurrents of allegations of police racism spawned the Watts Riots which ended after intervention of the California National Guard and the deaths of 34 people and over 40 million dollars of property damage—sadly a trial run for the riots spawned by the not guilty verdict of the LAPD officers charged with the beating of Rodney King.

        c.  1972 the last American ground combat unit left South Vietnam.

        d. 1982 Pan Am’s Flight 830 was rocked by an exploding bomb while enroute from Japan to Hawaii, killing one and injuring 15 but surprisingly not bringing down the plane which was able to land in Hawaii. The radical Islamic terrorist Mohammed Rashed involved in the bombing was arrested, convicted, but unfortunately was not executed. 

       e. 2003 NATO took over command of combat operations in Afghanistan, the first operations outside of Europe since its founding.     

       Reflections on rioting that more and more in the Black Lives Matter may not be listening to:“The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility.” Martin Luther King, Jr.   
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© August 11, 2015, Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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