• Today is Please Take My Children to Work Day, sponsored by MommaSaid.net.

    • Today is NOW Day, marking the founding of the National Organization for Women on this date in 1966.

     • Today is National Ice Cream Soda Day.

     • Today is Go For a Stroll Downtown Day.

     • Today is Independence Day in The Congo.

     • Today is Armed Forces Day in Guatemala.

     • Today is Revolution Day in Sudan. 

On this date in . . .

1859: French acrobat Blondin (real name: Jean Francois Gravelet) crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope as 5,000 spectators watched.

1926: McGraw Electric Company of Minneapolis sold the world's first pop-up toasters.

1934: The NFL Portsmouth Spartans became the Detroit Lions.

1953: The first Chevrolet Corvette rolled off the assembly line in Flint, Michigan. It was the first laminated plastic car. Sticker price: $3,250.

1974: Steven Spielberg filmed the famous July 4th scene for his movie, Jaws. A crowd of 400 screaming extras in bathing suits ran from the water — again and again and again.

1975: Cher married Gregg Allman. The marriage lasted nine days.

1985: Continental Baking executive James A. Dewar died at age 88. In the early 1930s, he invented Twinkies.

1985: Actor Yul Brynner ended his reign as the King of Siam in "The King and I" after playing the role on and off for 34 years in over 4,500 performances. He won two Tonys and an Oscar.

1986: Calling his Playboy Bunny a symbol of the past, Hugh Hefner closed Playboy clubs in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

1992: Newspapers reported singer Tom Jones' new television series was rated lower than British TV's hymnfest "Songs of Praise."

1994: Twelve miles of highway in Waverly, Tennessee, became Loretta Lynn Parkway.

1994: The U.S. Figure Skating Association stripped Tonya Harding of her 1994 national title and banned her for life for the attack on competitor Nancy Kerrigan.

1995: The movie "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" opened throughout the U.S.

2002: Brazil won its 5th World Cup soccer championship with a 2-0 victory over Germany.

2005: A Solomon Islands man who had lived as a hermit in a jungle cave for 40 years returned home when his fire went out. After relatives welcomed him home, 80-year-old Philip Uduota decided to stay.