Today is...

[IceWizard]

04 Apr 2017



D.A.R.E. Day



D.A.R.E. Day is the day when local law enforcement officers will traditionally visit schools all over the United States spreading the word about drugs, how to avoid them, why they’re bad for you, and the penalties if you choose to become involved with them. Most Americans will remember the special and particularly snazzy car that would arrive at the school, often times with a K-9 unit in tow, and a variety of items to do a show and tell with.

This is a great day to sit down and talk with your kids about drug use, and what the inherent dangers are in using them. You can talk to them about how to deal with peer pressure, areas to avoid, how to say no, and how to identify drugs if they come across them. All of these can be very useful in the high pressure filled environment of the public school system combined with youth.

D.A.R.E. means ‘Drug Abuse Resistance Education’, and that is the core of this day’s experience. The education that takes place includes how to identify students that are high risk, and how to identify the secret language of the drug underground. Some of the great ways to celebrate this day is to help organize a method of educating the parents and kids in the school how to identify where there might be a drug problem.

Taking the lessons of the education offered by law enforcement, you can help put some of them into action. It takes an entire community working together to keep the terrible scourge that is the narcotics underground from taking hold in your neighborhood. Once these are identified you can help facilitate the drug prevention programs in your community.

D.A.R.E. is a program that was established in 1984, to help facilitate the education of communities in drug abuse resistance education. The level of education that police officers require is a complete 80 hours of training in areas such as classroom management, child development, and techniques for educating, complete with communication skills. Those who are going to be educating High School Students require an additional 40 hours.

They are invited by school districts to work with the students there. They are brought into the classroom and are not required to have licenses to teach. The program has different approaches for different age groups. The purpose of this education system is to permit officers and sheriffs to interact with students in a controlled environment, where safety is a major factor. One of the unintended side effects of this program is that police officers are viewed more favorably by those who have gone through this.

D.A.R.E. day is a great day for a reconnection with your kids and community, helping to prevent the introduction of drugs into their lives. This program has moved beyond the initial intent of covering just narcotics and street drugs. Education has since been expanded to cover tobacco smoking, inhalants from things like whippets, and how to handle peer pressure in their social network.

In this year, if you’re part of the 24% of schools in the United States that doesn’t have a D.A.R.E. program implemented, you can use this day to try to help organize a visit from your law enforcement agents to help present the dangers of drugs to the community. There’s nothing more important than keeping your kids safe from the dangers in the world, and implementing a D.A.R.E. program in your community is one fantastic and time proven method of helping them.



And




World Rat Day



Get two things straight right away – rats aren’t dirty, and James Cagney never said it anyway! These are just two of the myths and misconceptions that World Rat Day hopes to dispel as it celebrates the joys of fancy rats.

Anyone who keeps rats as pets or companions is already in on the secret: these animals are friendly, loyal, intelligent, and very endearing. Unfortunately they’ve had a bit of bad press over the years, what with the Black Death, Bubonic Plague and a thousand Pacific islands which have had their native wildlife chewed down to ground level and beyond. But what’s a few environmental and social catastrophes between friends?

Once you get to know rats on a one-to-one basis, then all of their finer qualities will come to the fore. Why not drop in to your local World Rat Day event and discover just how adorably lovable they really are?

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April 4 Birthdays




David Blaine - 44




Hugo (agent Smith - Matrix) Weaving - 57




Anthony Perkins - (1932 - 1992) (60)





Pick Withers - 69




Gary Moore - (1952 – 2011) (59)




Muddy Waters - (1913 – 1983) (70)




Eric Andre - 33





April 4th

2009: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was held in Cleveland for the first time since 1997 at Public Hall. The inductees included Metallica, Jeff Beck & Run-DMC.

2008: Procol Harum singer Gary Brooker won back full royalty rights to their biggest hit “A Whiter Shade of Pale” at The Court of Appeal in London due to organist Matthew Fisher had taken 38 years to bring his claim of contributing the organ theme and being entitled to co-authorship to litigation. Fisher would appeal the case & regain the rights to future royalties the following year.

2007: A Swedish couple ran into trouble with authorities after trying to name their baby daughter Metallica due to tax officials deeming their daughter’s name inappropriate since under Swedish law, authorities have to approve both first names and last names.

2003: The Rolling Stones performed their first concert in India at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore.

1998: Van Halen debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with Van Halen III, which was their last album until 2012’s A Different Kind of Truth.

1996: Grateful Dead singer & guitarist Bob Weir & Jerry Garcia’s widow Deborah scattered a portion of Garcia’s ashes into the Ganges River in India. Eleven days later, the other portion of Garcia’s ashes was strewn on waters near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

1987: U2 entered the Billboard 200 Album Chart at number seven with The Joshua Tree, which was the highest chart debut in the U.S. in seven years.

1981: Styx reached number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart for the first and only time with their concept album Paradise Theater which began the first of three non-consecutive weeks on top.

1968: Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Joni Mitchell, Al Kooper and Ted Nugent met up for an all-night tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. at the New Generation Club in New York City after receiving news of King’s assassination.



Birthdays:

Muddy Waters born in 1913

Dave Hill - Guitarist for Slade born in 1946

Berry Oakley - Bassist for The Allman Brothers Band born in 1948

Pick Withers - Drummer for Dire Straits born in 1948

Gary Moore - Guitarist for Thin Lizzy born in 1952