Today in history, greetings, and social banter here. (More)

Simon de Montfort convened England’s first parliament at the Palace of Westminster today (1265). Also, Władysław I the Elbow-high became King of Poland (1320), Martín Enríquez de Almanza founded the city of León, Mexico (1576), deposed King Charles I was placed on trial for treason, concluding the second phase of the English Civil War (1649), Britain, France, and Spain signed a treaty returning almost all of the territories seized from each other during the American War of Independence (1783), Britain occupied Hong Kong (1841), LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the roller coaster (1885), the U.S. Senate approved the lease of Pearl Harbor as a naval base (1887), the American Civil Liberties Union was founded (1920), Turkey adopted her first constitution (1921), In Old Arizona with Oscar-winner Warner Baxter as the Cisco Kid opened as the first full-length talking motion picture filmed primarily on location (1929), Fujifilm was founded in Tokyo (1934), Britain’s Edward VIII began his 11-month reign (1936), senior Nazi officials met at the Wannsee Conference to plan the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question” (1942), President Harry Truman proposed his Point Four Plan in his inaugural address (1949), the short-lived National Negro Network, the first black-owned radio network, was founded with 40 affiliates (1954), President Ronald Reagan was inaugurated and, minutes later, the 52 remaining U.S. hostages were released in Iran (1981), Martin Luther King Jr. Day was celebrated for the first time as a federal holiday (1986), at least 133 Azerbaijani civilians were killed by Soviet troops in Baku’s Black January (1990), China announced new restrictions on internet cafés (1999), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was sworn in as President of the Philippines, deposing Joseph Estrada to conclude the non-violent EDSA II Revolution (2001), witnesses spotted the Princess of Whales, a juvenile bottlenose whale who had swum up the Thames to London (2006), and Henry Cookson, Rupert Longsdon, Rory Sweet, and Paul Landry reached the Southern pole of inaccessibility after a 47-day, 1093-mile kite-skiing journey, making them the first team to do so without mechanical assistance (2007). And 1000-2000 Icelanders banged pots and pans outside the parliament building to protest the economic crisis, in what the media dubbed the Kitchenware Revolution (2009).

+++++

Yesterday on Campus

Things We Did This Week – Share your stories of offline political activism!
Morning Feature – Records in Pink (Meta Monday)
Midday Matinee – Linda Lee with A Bankrupt Church
Campus Question – With 1% soon to hold over half of the world’s wealth, will any nation implement OxFam’s seven-point plan to reduce inequality?
Our Earth – New Earth-like Planets

Today on Campus

Morning Feature – The Squirrel with President Obama vs. the Sheriffs of Nuttingham
Midday Matinee – Tuesday’s Tale: Toilet Paper
Campus Question at 6pm ET

+++++

Good morning! ::hugggggs::