Ridley's Believe It Or Not--This Day In History

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

July 23 History National Hot Dog Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not—July 23, 2014: Another meager day of holidays but you are probably on vacation anyway and do not need the time off. Hope you enjoy what is posted, along with the factoids and quote from Andrew Jackson with a smile on your face and a penuche in your hand.

1. National Hot Dog Day —celebrating an iconic summertime food either at the beach, picnic or at a baseball game.

2. National Vanilla Ice Cream Day—celebrating the most popular ice cream of all time—enjoy!

3. Sorrow on the Morrow Day—bemoaning the loss of actor Vic Morrow while after a helicopter crashed on him on this day in 1983 while filming the movie The Twilight Zone.

4. Blue Dress Day—celebrating not a get out the vote drive for Blue candidates but rather the birthday 41 years ago on this date of the most famous wearer of a blue dress ever Monica Lewinsky.

On this day in:

a. 1903 the Ford Motor Company sold its first car.

b. 1940 in a preview moment of what we are seeing in Ukraine Secretary of State Welles issued a statement of non-recognition over the Soviet Union annexing the Baltic Republics.

c. 1942 in a dark day for humanity moment the death concentration camp Treblinka was opened—never again!

A suggestion to Kerry and his open mike as the Hamas rockets continue to rain on Israel: “Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.” Yehuda Bauer, noted Holocaust historian

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Monday, July 21, 2014

July 22 History National Penuche Fudge Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not—July 22, 2014: Another meager day of holidays but you are probably on vacation anyway and do not need the time off. Hope you enjoy what is posted, along with the factoids and quote from Andrew Jackson with a smile on your face and a penuche in your hand.

1. Rat Catchers’ Day —celebrating not those saving the mainstream media washing up on shore leaping from the Obama ship but rather the Pied Piper of Hamlin, memorialized by who else but a poet Robert Browning on this July day in 1376.

2. Make It A Question Day—celebrating the birthday on this day in 1940 of Alex Trabek, the long time host of one of the more popular game shows of all times—Jeopardy.

3. National Penuche Fudge Day—celebrating that great tan colored fudge often laced with pecans.

4. National Hammock Day—celebrating right in the middle of the dog days of summer the only place to be in the shade when you are not working but resting on vacation—a hammock—life is good!

On this day in:

a. 1933 Wally Post completed the first solo circumnavigation flight of the globe in the time of 7 days 18 hours and 45 minutes, sadly to die two years later in a plane crash in Alaska taking Will Rogers with him.

b. 1937 the Senate rejected FDR’s proposal to increase the size of the Supreme Court, thereby continuing the court roadblocks to implementation of major parts of the New Deal, but preserving the independence of the judiciary as a separate but equal part of the U.S. government.

c. 1994 O.J. Simpson pled absolutely not guilty to the charges of murder of his ex-wife Nicole and Ron Goldman.

Jackson was a lot smarter than being relegated to a face on a twenty dollar bill: “All rights secure to the citizens under the Constitution are worth nothing, and a mere bubble, except guaranteed to them by an independent and virtuous Judiciary.” Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States. Unfortunately, an independent and virtuous Senate is MIA on this issue.

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July 21 History National Junk Food Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not—July 21, 2014: Found some holidays to enjoy with your Big Mac and fries and factoids and a quote by the mission commander of the last Space Shuttle Mission.

1. Belgian National Day —celebrated by the Belgians to commemorate the coronation of Leopold 1, Belgium’s first king after gaining independence from the Netherlands in 1830.

2. National Junk Food Day—celebrated to thumb one’s nose at Michelle Obama’s continued harping on the need to eat healthy and the tasteless school cafeteria menus that many kids do not like to eat.

3. Global Hug Your Kid Day—celebrated on the third Monday in July but really should be celebrated daily each and every day of the year if your child is present.

On this day in:

a. 1949 the U.S. Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty creating NATO as a deterrent to further Soviet aggression in Europe.

b. 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published, becoming the fastest selling book in history—15 million copies in the first 24 hours sold.

c. 2011 in an end to an era moment NASA’s Atlantis returned to Earth end the Space Shuttle Program.

We are an exceptional people: “The shuttle is always going to be a reflection of what this nation can do when it dares to be bold and commits to follow through. We're not ending the journey today ... we're completing a chapter of a journey that will never end.” -- Mission Commander Chris Ferguson, on the radio to Launch Director Mike Leinbach minutes before launch of the final shuttle mission. Given what comes out of Washington I sure hope he was right in his observation.

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July 20 History Moon Day

Ridley's Believe It Or Not—July 20, 2014: Totally skunked today on decent holidays, but at least found a few factoids and a quote by Lunar Astronaut Edgar Mitchel from Apollo 14 for you to enjoy.

1. Friends Day (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay) —celebrated as a day to greet old and new friends although should be observed more frequently than once a year as good friends are hard to find and even harder to keep.

2. Moon Day—celebrating not that great tradition of mooning the Surfliner as it passes through on the second Saturday in July but rather the landing of the first men on the moon on July 20, 1969.

3. National Ice Cream Day—to celebrate this day, do the obvious and enjoy a large bowl of ice cream.

4. National Lollipop Day—you do not have to be a kid to enjoy this day.

On this day in:

a. 1940 the first freeway the Arroyo Seco Parkway was opened connecting Los Angeles to Pasadena was opened.

b. 1944 Adolf Hitler survived a bomb assassination attempt in his bunker, thereby dooming the world to another 10 months of death and destruction in Europe.

c. 1968 the first International Special Olympics Summer Games was held in Chicago at Soldier Field with over 1,000 contestants.

d. 1997 the fully restored U.S. Constitution celebrated its 200^th birthday by settling sail again after 117 years of being berthed in Boston.

Another good reason for the U.S. to return to the Moon: “From out there on the Moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.’” Edgar Mitchel, Apollo 14 astronaut, speaking in People magazine on 8 April 1974. Pelosi, Reid, and Obama would be my first choice.

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