Today is Wednesday, November 24, the 328th day of 2010. 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)
1642 ― Abel Janzoon Tasman discovers Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)
1759 ― Destructive eruption of Vesuvius
1859 ― Charles Darwin publishes ``On the Origin of Species"
1874 ― Joseph F. Glidden patents barbed wire
1949 ― Britain nationalizes its steel and iron industry
1952 ― Agatha Christie's ``The Mousetrap" opens in London
1963 ― First live murder on TV-Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald
1966 ― 400 die of respiratory failure and heart attack in killer NYC smog