IOTD

 

Calendar day; January 20, 2016

Wednesday, the 20th of January, 2016 is the 20th day in 2016 and in the 3rd calendar week.

General Events:

Penguin Awareness Day
January 20, 2016 in the World

Penguin Awareness Day takes place on January 20, 2016. Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have evolved into flippers. Penguins spend about half of their lives on land and half in the oceans.

Penguins are superbly adapted to aquatic life. Their vestigial wings have become flippers, useless for flight in the air. In the water, however, penguins are astonishingly agile. Penguins’ swimming looks very similar to bird’s flight in the air. Within the smooth plumage a layer of air is preserved, ensuring buoyancy. The air layer also helps insulate the birds in cold waters. On land, penguins use their tails and wings to maintain balance for their upright stance.

Penguins either waddle on their feet or slide on their bellies across the snow, a movement called “tobogganing”, which conserves energy while moving quickly. They also jump with both feet together if they want to move more quickly or cross steep or rocky terrain.

Where is Penguin Awareness Day?
Worldwide

National Coffee Break Day
January 20, 2016 in the USA

What are the cherished moments of your day? Whether you are a stay-at-home parent who snatches a bit of peace and quiet watching the Mr. Coffee do its magic or a busy office worker who stops at a nearby coffeeshop for a cup of magic to ease the commute, my guess is that if you’re reading this blog, the Coffee Break is a big part of your routine. You treasure coffee for more than just its taste, or its smell, you look forward to more than just the sounds of grinding and brewing, and more than the warmth of a hot cuppa in your hand. You celebrate Coffee Breaks on the regular.

No matter our station in life, for the vast majority of the population that loves coffee, the Coffee Break is an institution to treasure. It’s National Coffee Break Day! How are you celebrating?

Where is the event?
Nationwide USA

National Cheese Lover’s Day
January 20, 2016 in the USA

Did you know that the average American consumes about 31 pounds of cheese each year? That may seem like a lot, but for the average French person it’s 50 pounds!

There are more than 900 known cheeses in the world, and they can all be classified by texture. Here are the primary classifications and some examples: fresh cheese (ricotta); soft cheese (feta); semi-soft cheese (Fontina); semi-hard cheese (Gouda); hard cheese (Cheddar); double or triple crème cheese (Brillat-Savarin); blue cheese (Gorgonzola); washed rind cheese (Limburger); and bloomy rind cheese (Brie).

People have been making cheese for at least 8,000 years, so the cheeses we enjoy today are all relatively young by comparison. Take Emmental (also known as Swiss cheese), for example. It’s only been around since the first century BC!

Visit your local cheesemonger and pick up your favorite kind of artisan cheese or cook a cheesy dish for dinner tonight in honor of National Cheese Lover’s Day!

Where is the event?
Nationwide USA

Historical Events on 20th January:

1156 – According to legend, freeholder Lalli slays English crusader Bishop Henry with an axe on the ice of Lake Köyliönjärvi in Finland

1613 – Peace of Knarod ends War of Kalmar between Denmark & Sweden

1840 – Dumont D’Urville discovers Adélie Land, Antarctica

1841 – China cedes Hong Kong to the British during the 1st Opium War

1870 – “City of Boston” vanishes at sea with all 177 aboard

1905 – The US begins supervision of the Dominican Republic’s national and international debts, testing Roosevelt’s ‘Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine

1914 – The first group of Transvaal Indian women satyagrahis are released from Pietermaritzburg Prison in South Africa after three months imprisonment

1921 – Republic of Turkey declared in remnants of Ottoman Empire

1942 – Nazi officials hold notorious Wannsee conference in Berlin to organise the “final solution”, the extermination of Europe’s Jews

1950 – Suriname becomes independent part in Realm of Netherlands

1972 – People out of work and claiming unemployment benifit in UK rises to over 1 million

1979 – 1 million Iranians march in Tehran in a show of support for the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini, fundamentalist Muslim leader

1981 – 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days freed

1986 – 1st federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr

1990 – Black January – crackdown of Azerbaijani pro-independence demonstrations by Soviet army in Baku

1991 – Sudan’s government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country’s Muslim north and Christian south

1999 – The China News Service announces new government restrictions on Internet use aimed especially at Internet cafés

2009 – Barack Obama, inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America, becomes the United States’ first African-American president