Today is Wednesday, August 31, the 243rd day of 2011. There are 122 days left in the year.
1535 ― Pope Paul II deposed and excommunicated King Henry VIII
1887 ― Thomas A. Edison patents kinetoscope, (produces moving pictures)
1907 ― England, Russia and France form the Triple Entente
1919 ― Communist Labor Party of America formed in Chicago
1955 ― First microwave TV station operated (Lufkin, Texas)
1955 ― First sun-powered automobile demonstrated, Chicago, Ill.
1957 ― Malaysia gains independence from Britain (National Day)
1968 ― Private Eye magazine reports a John Lennon and Yoko Ono album will have a picture of them nude on the cover
1971 ― Dave Scott becomes first person to drive a car on the Moon
1980 ― Poland's Solidarity labor union founded