Today is Friday, August 8, the 221st day of 2008. There are 145 days left in the year.
1609 _ Venetian senate examines Galileo Galilei's telescope
1709 _ First known ascent in hot-air balloon, Bartolomeu de Gusmao (indoors)
1815 _ Napoleon Bonaparte set sail for exile on St. Helena
1864 _ Red Cross Anniversary
1876 _ Thomas Edison patents mimeograph
1945 _ President Harry S. Truman signs U.N. Charter
1945 _ USSR declares war against Japan in WW II
1945 _ USSR establishes a communist government in North Korea
1953 _ U.S. and South Korea initial a mutual security pact
1974 _ President Richard M. Nixon announces he'd resign his office 12 p.m.