AUGUST 10TH

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Today is Sunday, August 10, the 223rd day of 2008.
There are 143 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

• On August 10, 1846, President Polk signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution, named after English scientist James Smithson, whose bequest of half a million dollars had made it possible.

On this date:

• In 1792, during the French Revolution, mobs in Paris attacked the Tuileries Palace, where King Louis XVI resided. (The king was later arrested, put on trial for treason, and executed the following January.)
• In 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.
• In 1874, Herbert Clark Hoover, the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa.
• In 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his summer home on the Canadian island of Campobello.
• In 1948, Allen Funt's "Candid Microphone," later titled "Candid Camera," made its television debut on ABC.
• In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense.
• In 1968, 35 people were killed in the crash of a Piedmont Airlines Fairchild FH-227 at Kanawha County Airport in West Virginia.
• In 1969, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were murdered in their Los Angeles home by members of Charles Manson's cult, one day after actress Sharon Tate and four other people were slain.
• In 1988, President Reagan signed a measure providing $20,000 payments to Japanese-Americans who'd been interned by the government during World War II.
• In 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as the second female justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Ten years ago:

• Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced a $2 million reward for information leading to the conviction of the terrorists who bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 12 Americans.

Five years ago:

• Liberian President Charles Taylor delivered a farewell address to a nation bloodied by 14 years of war.
• During a heat wave plaguing Europe, Britain topped 100 degrees for the first time in recorded history.
• Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, aboard the international space station, married his earthbound bride, Ekaterina Dmitriev, who was at Johnson Space Center in Houston, in the first wedding ever conducted from space.
• Atlanta Braves shortstop Rafael Furcal turned the 12th unassisted triple play in major league history against the St. Louis Cardinals. (St. Louis beat Atlanta 3-2.)

One year ago:

• Three men were killed in a southern Indiana coal mine when a nylon sling used to transport supplies up and down a shaft got caught, causing the bucket the men were riding in to tip and send them plummeting more than 500 feet to their deaths.

Today's Birthdays:

• Singer Al Alberts is 86.
• Actress Rhonda Fleming is 85.
• Singer Jimmy Dean is 80.
• Singer Eddie Fisher is 80.
• Actress Kate O'Mara is 69.
• Singer Ronnie Spector is 65.
• Actor James Reynolds is 62.
• Rock singer-musician Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull) is 61.
• Singer Patti Austin is 60.
• Country musician Gene Johnson (Diamond Rio) is 59.
• Actor Daniel Hugh Kelly is 56.
• Folk singer-songwriter Sam Baker is 54.
• Actress Rosanna Arquette is 49.
• Actor Antonio Banderas is 48.
• Rock musician Jon Farriss (INXS) is 47.
• Singer Julia Fordham is 46.
• Journalist-blogger Andrew Sullivan is 45.
• Singer Neneh Cherry is 44.
• Singer Aaron Hall is 44.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Lorraine Pearson (Five Star) is 41.
• Singer-producer Michael Bivins is 40.
• Actor Justin Theroux is 37.
• Actress Angie Harmon is 36.
• Country singer Jennifer Hanson is 35.
• Actress JoAnna Garcia is 29.
• Rhythm-and-blues singer Nikki Bratcher (Divine) is 28.
• Actor Ryan Eggold is 24.

Thought for Today:

"Conceit is God's gift to little men."
Bruce Barton, American advertising executive (1886-1967).

"Let's all be careful out there!"