Today is Monday, August 27, the 240th day of 2012. There are 126 days left in the year.
26 B.C. ― Origin of Egyptian Era
1783 ― First hydrogen balloon flight (unmanned); reaches 900-meter altitude
1789 ― French National Assembly issues ``Declaration of the Rights of Man & the Citizen"
1859 ― First successful oil well drilled, near Titusville, Penn.
1896 ― Zanzibar loses to England in a 38-minute war (9:02 -9:40 a.m.)
1912 ― Edgar Rice Burroughs' publishes Tarzan
1913 ― Lt. Peter Nestrov, of Imperial Russian Air Service, performs a loop in a monoplane at Kiev (first aerobatic maneuver in an airplane)
1975 ― Veronica & Colin Scargill (England) complete tandem bicycle ride, a record 18,020 miles around the world
1978 ― Reds Joe Morgan is first to hit 200 homeruns and have 500 stolen bases
1990 ― WWF Summer Slam; Ultimate Warrior beats Rick Rude