Today is...

[IceWizard]

Monday 20 June 2016

World Refugee Day



On 4 December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 55/76 decided that, from 2001, 20 June would be celebrated as World Refugee Day. In this resolution, the General Assembly noted that 2001 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees.

Each year on June 20th the United Nations, United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and countless civic groups around the world host World Refugee Day events in order to draw the public's attention to the millions of refugees and Internally displaced persons worldwide who have been forced to flee their homes due to war, conflict and persecution.

The annual commemoration is marked by a variety of events in more than 100 countries, involving government officials, humanitarian aid workers, celebrities, civilians and the forcibly displaced themselves.

And

National Ice Cream Soda Day



An ice cream float or soda (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa and East Asia), coke float (United Kingdom), root beer float (United States, Canada) or spider (Australia and New Zealand), is a beverage that consists of ice cream in either a soft drink or in a mixture of flavored syrup and carbonated water.

The ice cream float was invented by Robert McCay Green in Philadelphia, PA, in 1874 during the sesquicentennial celebration.

The traditional story is that, on a particularly hot day, Mr. Green ran out of cold ice for the flavored drinks he was selling and used vanilla ice cream from a neighboring vendor, thus inventing a new drink.

And

National American Eagle Day



In 1995, at the request of the American Eagle Foundation, President Bill Clinton and Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist each proclaimed the first American Eagle Day.

Since then, Governors from a combined total of 47 states have signed Proclamations or Letters of Recognition giving our National Bird, the Bald Eagle, its own “official day” in their state!

Until American Eagle Day was established, there had never been a “national day” set aside to annually recognize our country’s inspirational national bird and the role that it has played in our lives, past and present.

Together, we can make June 20th an annual day to remember and commemorate this majestic and important American symbol.

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Fun Facts and Daily Trivia for Monday, June 20, 2016

The 172 day of the year 194 days left to go

ON THIS DATE...

1782: -- The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.

1793: -- Eli Whitney applied for a cotton gin patent.

1837: Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.

1840: Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph

1863: --West Virginia became the 35th state.

1877: -- Canadian inventor Alexander Graham Bell installed the world's first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario.

1887: -- On Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, Buffalo Bill Cody staged a Royal Command Performance of his famous Wild West Show and four European kings boarded the original Deadwood stagecoach driven by Cody.

1893 -- A jury in New Bedford, Massachusetts, found Lizzie Borden innocent of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.

1924: -- The most decorated soldier in World War II was born in Kingston, Texas. Audie Murphy also became a successful actor. He died in a plane crash at age 46.

1948 -- The variety series "Toast of the Town," hosted by Ed Sullivan, debuted on TV; it became "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1955.

1949: -- American tennis player Gussie Moran incited a scandal at Wimbledon when the crowd caught glimpses of lace- trimmed panties under her knee-length skirt.

1963 -- The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to establish a hot line between Washington and Moscow.

1967: Boxer Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston of violating Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted. Later, the Supreme Court overturned the conviction.

1969: Newport ‘69 drew 150,000 music fans. Rocker Jimi Hendrix got $120,000 to appear.

1972: The old Tallahatchie Bridge, made famous in Bobbie Gentry’s 1967 blockbuster "Ode to Billy Joe," collapsed in Mississippi.

1973: "American Bandstand" celebrated its 20th anniversary with a 90-minute television special featuring Little Richard, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Cheech and Chong, Three Dog Night and, of course, Dick Clark.

1975: A guerrilla group in Buenos Aires was paid a $60-million ransom to release the kidnapped brothers Jorge and Juan Born.

1977: Charlie, history’s oldest caged budgerigar, died in London at age 29 years 2 months. A budgie is an Australian parakeet.

1986: In Rochester, New York, eating champ Peter Dowdeswell ate 144 prunes in 32 seconds.

1988: Price Is Right model Janice Pennington was knocked out cold by a TV camera.

1993: The Chicago Bulls won their third straight NBA championship, the first team to "three-peat" since the 1966 Boston Celtics.

1994: A downcast O.J. Simpson pleaded not guilty to the slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and waiter Ronald Goldman.

1996: Police seized 10-thousand ice cream bars and pad-locked the factory in Xuzhou, China, after children reported the sticks in their ice cream bars turned out to be plastic models of naked women.

2001: A woman in Panama City, Florida, got so angry with her husband over what was termed "a minor matter," she took one of his shirts from a closet and set it on fire. The blaze spread and burned down their house. The wife was charged with arson. Investigators said insurance would not pay the $65,000 damage because the fire was started by one of the owners.

2002: The U.S. Supreme Court declared unconstitutionally cruel the execution of mentally retarded murderers.

2004: Retief Goosen won his second U.S. Open Golf championship in four years at Shinnecock Hills in Southampton, New York.