Today is Saturday, August 21, the 233rd day of 2010. There are 132 days left in the year.
1841 _ John Hampson patents venetian blind
1858 _ First Lincoln-Douglas debate (Illinois)
1959 _ Hawaii becomes 50th and last U.S. state
1963 _ Martial law declared in South Vietnam
1965 _ Gemini 5 launched into Earth orbit (two astronauts)
1968 _ Radio Prague (Czech) at 12:50 a.m. announces a Soviet-led invasion. Warsaw Pact forces enter Czechoslovakia to end reform movement
1972 _ First hot-air balloon flight over the Alps
1986 _ Lake Nios Volcanic eruption in Cameroon releases poison gas, killing 1,746
1989 _ Voyager 2 begins a flyby of the planet Neptune
1991 _ Communist coup is crushed in USSR in two days