WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2010

Today is Wednesday, November 24, the 328th day of 2010. There are 37 days left in the year.

166 B.C. ― Origin of Era of Maccabees

1639 ― First observation of transit of Venus occurred (only two, record event)

1642 ― Abel Janzoon Tasman discovers Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)

1759 ― Destructive eruption of Vesuvius

1859 ― Charles Darwin publishes ``On the Origin of Species"

1874 ― Joseph F. Glidden patents barbed wire

1949 ― Britain nationalizes its steel and iron industry

1952 ― Agatha Christie's ``The Mousetrap" opens in London

1963 ― First live murder on TV-Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald

1966 ― 400 die of respiratory failure and heart attack in killer NYC smog