Today is Thursday, August 12, the 224th day of 2010. There are 141 days left in the year.
1851 ― Isaac Singer granted patent for his sewing machine
1877 ― Thomas Edison invents the Edison phone, a sound recording device
1915 ― ``Of Human Bondage," by William Somerset Maugham, published
1941 ― French Marshal Henri Petain gave full support to Nazi Germany
1953 ― Soviet Union conducts secret test of its first hydrogen bomb
1955 ― President Eisenhower raises minimum wage from $0.75 to $1 an hour
1960 ― Echo 1, first communications satellite, is launched
1974 ― Nolan Ryan strikes out 19 Red Sox batters
1977 ― Space shuttle Enterprise makes first atmospheric flight
1985 ― Japanese Boeing 747 crashes, 520 die (worst in-flight toll)