March 31, 2016 Ridley's Believe It Or Not Cesar Chavez Day

Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For March 31, 2016. Only 295 days to go in President Obama’s pathetic lame duck term but fortunately March Madness is in full swing for both men and women and the Pac 12 has two teams in the Women’s Final Four. Great political theater as Trump admits that if abortion becomes illegal women should be punished, a statement which he walked back faster than Carl Lewis sprinting the 100 meters and Clinton appears to be dodging Sanders’ request for a debate prior to New York primary as Sanders now leads Clinton in Wisconsin and for the first time in decades the California primary might count for both Reds and Blues. As always, I hope  you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, a music link to Perry Como, factoids of interest, a  relevant quote from Cesar Chavez while looking forward to a large plate of clams on the half shell, 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. Cesar Chavez Day—celebrating the contributions of Cesar Chavez, born on this day in 1927, to the civil rights movement and the improvement of the pay and working conditions for the farm workers who harvest the food for our table; the day is an official state holiday in six states and has been celebrated in California since 1995.

2. International Day Of Transgender Visibility—observed since 2009 to celebrate transgenders and to create awareness of the discrimination faced by transgenders in their daily lives.                       

3. 1957 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song in 19576 on a brief run of one week in that position Round and Round by Perry Como. Here is a link to Perry Como performing Round and Round: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UCM-cb9hwc.

4. National Clams on the Half Shell Day—celebrating a great way to enjoy a tasty mollusk served chilled and raw with pinch of horseradish, lime juice and seafood cocktail sauce or to be adventurous baked or grilled on the barbecue with your favorite herbs and spices.   

5. Brevity Sharpens the Mind—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1972 of Evan Williams the cofounder of Twitter that only allows messages of 140 characters and whose stock unfortunately is still down over 50 percent from its IPO price.

On this day in:

a. 1774 in another step closer to the Revolutionary War Great Britain closed the port of Boston pursuant to the Boston Port Act—needless to say the Bostonians and most Americans were not pleased.      

b. 1854 Commodore Mathew Perry signed the Convention of Kanagawa with the Japanese government opening up the ports of Shimoda and Hakadate to American trade.         

c. 1889 the Eiffel Tower, that iconic symbol of Paris, was officially opened. 

d. 1951 Remington Rand delivered the world’s first commercial computer, the UNIVAC1, to the Census Bureau. UNIVAC1 weighed 29,000 pounds and used 5200 vacuum tubes and probably had less computing power than is found in today’s lap tops.     

e. 1998 Netscape released the source code for Mozilla under and open source license.  

Reflections on why Cesar Chavez is honored on this day: “It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity.” Cesar Chavez, co-founder of the United Farm Workers It seems like only yesterday in the mid sixties that students at places like Stanford to protest the meager wages and deplorable working conditions were boycotting table grapes.

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© March 31, 2016 Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet 
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