Today is Thursday, July 23, the 204th day of 2009. There are 161 days left in the year.
636 ― Arabs gain control of most of Palestine from the Byzantine Empire
1798 ― Napoleon captures Alexandria, Egypt
1829 ― William Austin Burt patents ``typographer" (typewriter)
1880 ― First commercial hydroelectric power planet begins, Grand Rapids, Mich.
1904 ― Ice cream cone created by Charles E. Menches during La Purchase Expo
1965 ― Beatles ``Help" is released in the U.K.
1967 ― 43 killed in racial rebellion in Detroit (2,000 injured, 442 fires)
1968 ― PLO's first hijacking of an El Al plane
1974 ― Greek military dictatorship collapses
1984 ― Vanessa Williams, first black Miss America, resigns due to posing nude