Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For February 27, 2016. Unfortunately, still 328 days to go in President Obama’s pathetic lame duck term but fortunately only 7 days until the start of and my daily updates on the Iditarod, the Last Great Race on Earth. Interesting theater today as the Blues vote in South Carolina in which due to support of African American votes Hillary is expected to win and on the Red side former inept and reluctant Mexican President Vicente Fox lashed out at Trump and his proposed wall using the f word. I trust your Saturday is off to a great start and as always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Bon Jovi, factoids of interest, a relevant quote by John Steinbeck looking forward to enjoying a bowl of strawberries, blessed with a positive attitude and secure in the knowledge that if you want to find a gift for any memorable events 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. International Polar Bear Day—observed to create awareness of the issues facing polar bears as their icy habitat may be shrinking due to climate change melting the arctic ice caps.
2. International Sword Swallowers Day--celebrating the rare art of swallowing a sword without gagging or slicing one’s esophagus or stomach in the process. Definitely and observance to watch but not try.
3. 1987 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song in 1987 on a run of four weeks in that position Livin’ On A Prayer by Bon Jovi. Here is a link to Bon Jovi performing Livin’ On A Prayer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDK9QqIzhwk
4. National Strawberry Day—celebrating a really tasty berry that goes great with ice cream, cereal, pancakes and just about everything.
5. Smokes of Wrath—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1902 of Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck whose novels include the Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men. Sadly like many lifetime smokers he died way too early with many more books left unwritten at the age of 66.
On this day in:
a. 1922 the SCOTUS in Leser v. Garnett upheld the ratification of the 19th Amendment which granted women the right to vote.
b. 1951 the 22nd Amendment limiting a president to two terms was ratified to the future dismay of our current president who touts that he would easily win if he were allowed to run.
c. 1964 Italy requested assistance to keep the leaning tower of Pisa from toppling over. Decades of stabilization studies and efforts followed culminating in the closure of the tower in 1989, followed by more studies and work and its reopening in 2001. In 2008 engineers announced that the tower had stopped moving for the first time in its history.
d. 1986 the U.S. Senate allowed television to cover its debates for the first time. Given the gridlock we have today a safe bet would be that the ratings are almost zero.
e. 2004 in one of the Catholic Church’s nightmare moments, the initial version of the John Jay Report, detailing the sexual predations of priests on boys was released. Reflections on the duty of a writer from Steinbeck’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech: “the writer is delegated to declare and to celebrate man's proven capacity for greatness of heart and spirit—for gallantry in defeat, for courage, compassion and love. In the endless war against weakness and despair, these are the bright rally flags of hope and of emulation. I hold that a writer who does not believe in the perfectibility of man has no dedication nor any membership in literature.”
Please enjoy the poems on events of interest on my twitter account below (if you like them, retweet and follow me) and follow my blogs. Always good, incisive and entertaining poems on my blogs—click on the links below. Go to www.alaskanpoet.blogspot.com for Ridley’s Believe It Or Not—This Day In History, poems to inspire, touch, emote, elate and enjoy and poems on breaking news items of importance or go to Ridley's Believe It Or Not for just This Day In History.
© February 27, 2016, Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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