Today is Thursday, August 4, the 216th day of 2011. There are 149 days left in the year.
1181 ― Supernova seen in Cassiopeia
1693 ― Dom Perignon invents champagne
1753 ― George Washington becomes a master mason
1914 ― Germany declares war on Belgium; Britain declares war on Germany
1916 ― U.S. agrees to buy Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million
1944 ― Anne Frank, 15, (Diary of Anne Frank) is arrested by Nazis
1945 ― Golfer Byron Nelson records most tournament wins (18) in a season
1948 ― Five-day southern filibuster succeeds in maintaining poll tax
1964 ― Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney found buried inside an earthen dam in Mississippi
1984 ― Prince's ``Purple Rain," album goes to No. 1 and stays No. 1 for 24 weeks