What’s Happening Today?

International Walk to School Day. It celebrates the joys of walking and opens the eyes of students, families, schools and community leaders. Held annually during the first Wednesday in October, this event involves communities from more than 40 countries. Over time the event, which began in 1997, has become part of a movement for year-round safe routes to school.

As students return to school after the long lockdown, there’s still the need to protect oneself and walking is the better option as using public transport could pose a huge risk of contracting COVID-19.

National Flower Day (USA). The rose is the national floral emblem, or national flower, of the United States. Senate Joint Resolution 159, which adopted the rose as the national floral emblem and asked the president to declare it as such with a proclamation, was passed in 1986 and was signed by President Reagan on October 7 of the same year. Accordingly, President Reagan signed Proclamation 5574 on November 20, 1986, certifying the rose as the national flower. 

What Happened Today?

1. In 1919, KLM, the official airline of the Netherlands was formed. Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V. or KLM is the oldest airline that still operates under its original name. The first flight of the airline took place on May 17, 1920, between London and Amsterdam in a leased aeroplane.

2. In 1959, people on Earth got the first glimpse of the dark side of the Moon. Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 took pictures of the far side of the Moon. The images sent by the probe covered about 70% of the far side of Earth’s natural satellite and they were instrumental in helping astronomers make the first atlas of the dark side of the Moon. The far or dark side of the Moon is the side of the Moon that cannot be seen from Earth because of the way the Moon orbits around the Earth and rotate on its own axis. Due to lunar libration, people on Earth can see about 59% of the Moon over time.

3. In 1996, Fox News broadcast for the first time. The 24-hour news channel with the slogan Fair and Balanced was created by Australian-American businessman and media tycoon, Rupert Murdoch. Today, it is one of the most-watched news channels in the United States.

Birthdays

1. 1952 – Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.

2. 1958 – Mugisha Muntu, Ugandan politician who is the president of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) party and aspirant for the presidency of Uganda in the upcoming 2021 general election..

Sources: Wikipedia, checkiday & bornglorious

Internet photo