February 13th is

Clear Your Computer Day

International Condom Day *

Desperation Day *

Galentine’s Day *

Italian Food Day

Tortellini Day

         

World Radio Day *
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MORE! Galileo, Pauline Frederick and Led Zeppelin, click

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WORLD FESTIVALS AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

Canada – British Columbia:
Family Day

United States –
Brookings OR:
› Winter Art & Chocolate Festival
Madison WI:
› Israeli Film Festival
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On This Day in HISTORY

1462 – The Treaty of Westminster  between Edward IV of England and the Scottish Lord of the Isles gives control Scottish lands north of the Firth of Forth to the Lord of the Isles in the event of Scotland being conquered by England, cementing an alliance that reduces the threat to Edward posed by exiled English King Henry VI who was given refuge by Scottish King James III

1542 – Henry VIII has wife #5, Catherine Howard, executed for adultery

1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.

1692 – Mort Ghlinne Comhann: about 78 members of Clan Macdonald of Glen Coe, Scotland, are killed early in the morning, or die of exposure after their homes are burnt, for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange

1837 – Riot in New York over high food prices, especially flour, which rose from $7 a barrel to $12 , brought on by Andrew Jackson’s hard cash policies, which cause bank failures 

1870 – Leopold Godowsky born in Russia, American virtuoso pianist- composer

1879 – Sarojini Naidu born, Indian author-poet/activist-politician, first woman to be President of the Indian National Congress, first woman to be Governor of Uttar Pradesh

1892 – Grant Wood born, American painter

1900 – The Anglo-German accord of 1899 is ratified by Reichstag; Britain renounces claims to Samoa in favor of Germany and the U.S.

1903 – Georges Simenon, Belgian novelist; Jules Maigret mystery series

1906 – Pauline Frederick born, pioneering American broadcast journalist; WWII war correspondent, first woman journalist to broadcast from mainland China

1914 – The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is formed in NYC, to protect copyrighted musical compositions of its members

1920 – The League of Nations recognizes the continued neutrality of Switzerland.

1923 – Chuck Yeager born, USAF General, test pilot first to break the sound barrier

1933 – The House of Commons defeated a bill that would have prohibited the sale of alcohol in the U.K.

1937 – The comic strip Prince Valiant appears for the first time

1940 – Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines and his orchestra record “Boogie Woogie on St. Louis Blues”

1943 – Elaine Pagels born, biblical scholar, Princeton professor of religion, known for her work on Nag Hammadi manuscripts; Adam, Eve and the Serpent: Sex and Politics in Early Christianity

1950 – Peter Gabriel born, lead singer for Genesis

1955 – Israel acquires 4 of the 7 Dead Sea scrolls

1960 – France detonates its first atomic bomb

1965 – Gary Lewis records “Count Me In”

1967 – The Beatles release their single ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’

1972 – Led Zeppelin has to cancel a concert in Singapore when officials won’t let them off the plane because of their long hair

1990 – In Ottawa, the U.S. and its European allies forge an agreement with the USSR and East Germany on a two-stage formula to reunite Germany

1997 – Astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery bring the Hubble Space Telescope aboard for a tune up, allowing the telescope to see further into the universe.

2000 – The last original ‘Peanuts’ comic strip is published

2008 – The Writer’s Guild of America ends a 100-day strike in Hollywood

2010 – Galentine’s Day * coined for the February episode before Valentine’s Day of Parks and Recreation about Amy Poehler’s character throwing her annual Galantine’s Day party for her women friends the day before Valentine’s Day

2011 – Egypt’s military leaders dissolve parliament, suspend the constitution and promise elections in moves cautiously welcomed by protesters who’d helped topple President Hosni Mubarak

2011 – The How I Met Your Mother Valentine’s Day episode aired with storylines about the day before Valentine’s Day aka Desperation Day *

2011 – AIDS Healthcare Foundation launches International Condom Day * with condom distribution and safer sex awareness events

2012 – UNESCO starts World Radio Day * coordinated by UNESCO’s International Radio Committee, on the anniversary of the founding of United Nations Radio in 1946
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Visuals

• Tortellini
• World Radio Day
• International flags
• Henry VIII, Holbien the Younger (1540), and the doomed Catherine Howard
• Sarojini Naidu, want quote
• American Gothic, by Grant Wood
• Pauline Frederick, double standard quote
• Chuck Yeager, experience quote
• Prince Valiant comic strip
• Elaine Pagels, gospels quote
• Last Peanuts strip
• International Condom Day poster

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