WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2008

Today is Wednesday, September 24, the 268th day of 2008. There are 98 days left in the year.

312 _ Start of Imperial Indication

1493 _ Columbus' second expedition to the New World

1845 _ First baseball team is organized

1852 _ A new invention, the dirigible, is demonstrated

1865 _ James Cooke walks tightrope from Cliff House to Seal Rocks, S.F.

1895 _ First round-the-world trip by a woman on a bicycle (took 15 months)

1963 _ Senate ratifies treaty with Britain and USSR limit nuclear testing

1976 _ Newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst sentenced to seven years for her part in a 1974 bank robbery. Released after 22 months by President Carter

1988 _ Canada's Ben Johnson runs drug-assisted 100 meters in 9.79 seconds

1990 _ Supreme Soviet gives approval to switch to free market