Ridley’s Believe It Or Not For April 4, 2016. Only 291 days to go in President Obama’s pathetic lame duck term but if a UConn or Syracuse fan, yesterday was a great day and conversely if a Beaver or Washington Husky fan yesterday was an unmitigated disaster. Syracuse and Villanova play for the National Championship today. Great political theater as 11 million documents were leaked to the press from the Panamanian law firm Monsack Fonseca which purport to show massive money laundering by heads of state, including Putin and their associates. As Wisconsin gets ready to vote tomorrow, Trump and Cruz have toned down their rhetoric against each other to concentrate on keeping Kasich off the first ballot and Sanders and Clinton are in a snit festival on debate schedules for a debate prior to the New York primary. As always, I hope you enjoy today’s holidays and observances, music links to the Marcels, factoids of interest, a relevant quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. while looking forward to enjoying a large serving of chicken or veal cordon blue, 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. World Rat Day—chard to believe that since 2002 there is an observance to promote rats as pets but there is and it is today. From the hosts of the fleas that brought us the bubonic plague that killed millions to a household pet is somewhat mindboggling.
2. International Day of Mine Awareness and Mine Assistance Action—created the UN General Assembly in 2005 to promote awareness of the dangers to civilian population and economic development from the millions of unexploded mines that have been sown over the decades in the various conflicts that have plagued this planet in the 20th and 21st Centuries.
3. 1961 Number One Song—celebrating the number one song in 1961 on a run of three weeks in that position Blue Moon by the Marcels. Here is a link to the Marcels performing Blue Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoi3TH59ZEs
4. National Cordon Bleu Day—celebrating recipes for chicken or veal from Le Cordon Bleu, recognized as the finest cooking school in the world with locations in 35 countries including of course Paris where it was founded in 1895. Take chicken breasts or veal slices sandwiched with ham and Gruyère cheese, dipped in an egg mixture, rolled with bread crumbs and then baked or sautéed.
5. Why Does A Caged Bird Sing?—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1924 of noted African-American poet Maya Angelou who recited one of her poems at President Clinton’s inauguration in 1993 and whose autobiography I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings will provide the answer.
On this day in:
a. 1812 President James Madison announced a 90 day trade embargo with Great Britain as the U.S. and Great Britain headed toward war which was declared on June 18, 1812.
b. 1841 William Henry Harrison at 63 the oldest person to be elected president until Ronald Reagan, died from pneumonia after being sworn in on March 4, 1841. On a cold wet day he rode his horse rather than a closed carriage, wore no coat and complicated his exposure to the elements by delivering an inaugural speech of 8,445 words that took almost two hours to deliver. His death defied the nursery rhyme adage that “sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you.”
c. 1967 Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence” at the Riverside Church in New York City. Sadly he had only a year left in his young life as he was assassinated by James Earl Ray on this day in 1968.
d. 1975 Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
e. 1994 Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark founded Netscape Communications Corporation which went public in 1995 and was acquired for $10 billion by AOL in 1999.
Reflections on the idea that silence is betrayal: “…aAnd we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation's history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history.” Martin Luther King, Jr. announcing his opposition the Vietnam War in his “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence.”
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.
© April 4, 2016, Michael P. Ridley aka the Alaskanpoet
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