THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2009

Today is Thursday, August 6, the 218th day of 2009. There are 147 days left in the year.

1181 _ Supernova observed by Chinese and Japanese astronomers

1787 _ Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia begins debate

1806 _ Holy Roman Empire ends; it was neither holy, Roman, nor an empire

1890 _ First use of electric chair in U.S., John Hart, in N.Y. for murder

1890 _ Cy Young pitches and wins first game

1914 _ Serbia declares war against Germany

1926 _ N.Y.'s Gertrude Ederle becomes first woman to swim the English Channel

1945 _ Hiroshima Peace Day _ atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima by ``Enola Gay"

1951 _ Typhoon floods kill 4,800 in Manchuria

1990 _ U.N. Security Council votes 13-0 (two abstentions, Cuba and Yemen) to place economic sanctions against Iraq