Today is Monday, November 24, the 329th day of 2008. 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)
1759 _ Destructive eruption of Vesuvius
1859 _ Charles Darwin publishes ``On the Origin of Species"
1871 _ National Rifle Association organized (NYC)
1874 _ Joseph F. Glidden patents barbed wire
1949 _ Britain nationalizes its steel and iron industry
1952 _ Agatha Christie's ``The Mousetrap" opens in London
1966 _ 400 die of respiratory failure and heart attack in killer NYC smog
1989 _ Communist Party resigns in Czechoslovakia