What’s Happening Today?

Belgian National Day. Belgian National Day celebrates the birth of the Belgian nation, Belgian culture and pride and Belgium’s independence from the Netherlands. On July 21, 1831, Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg and Gotha swore allegiance to the Belgian constitution and became King Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians. The new King’s swearing-in marked the beginning of a constitutional monarchy that ruled over the independent state of Belgium.

Junk Food Day. Junk Food Day is devoted to junk food, which is food mostly devoid of nutritional value, but instead high in fat, sugar, and salt, and often highly processed. When eaten in high amounts, junk food may impact energy levels, contribute to obesity and cardiovascular disease, and advance other health problems. It may even alter brain activity and affect emotional well-being.

What Happened Today?

1. In 1969, the first person walked on the Moon. Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon. He stepped on the Moon's surface almost 7 hours after Apollo 11, the spacecraft that carried them, landed on the Sea of Tranquillity on the Moon. After stepping on the Moon, Armstrong uttered his famous words, "one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.

2. In 1983, the lowest temperature ever on Earth was measured. Vostok Station, a Russian station on Antarctica experienced the lowest temperatures ever measured in recorded human history. The temperatures fell to −128.6 °F (−89.2 °C).

3. In 2001, at the conclusion of a fireworks display on Okura Beach in Akashi, Hyōgo, Japan, 11 people were killed and more than 120 got injured when a pedestrian footbridge connecting the beach to JR Asagiri Station became overcrowded and people leaving the event fell through.

Birthdays

1. 1997 – Abdu Lumala, Ugandan footballer was born at Kataba, Kampala.

2. 1899 – Ernest Hemingway, American Journalist and author who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. He died in 1961.

Sources: Wikipedia, checkiday & bornglorious.com

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