AUGUST 5TH

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Today is Tuesday, August 5, the 218th day of 2008.
There are 148 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:
On August 5, 1858, the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable, the dreamchild of American businessman Cyrus Field, was laid between Newfoundland and Ireland. (However, after several weeks of use, the cable burned out.)
On this date:

• In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Adm. David G. Farragut led his fleet to victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay, Ala.
• In 1884, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty's pedestal was laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.
• In 1914, one of the first, if not the first, electric traffic light systems was installed in Cleveland, Ohio, at the intersection of 105th Street and Euclid Avenue.
• In 1924, the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie," by Harold Gray, made its debut.
• In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the National Labor Board, which was later replaced with the National Labor Relations Board.
• In 1953, Operation Big Switch began as prisoners taken during the Korean conflict were exchanged at Panmunjom.
• In 1962, actress Marilyn Monroe, 36, was found dead in her Los Angeles home; her death was ruled a probable suicide from an overdose of sleeping pills.
• In 1963, the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union signed a treaty in Moscow banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in space and underwater.
• In 1968, the Republican national convention convened in Miami Beach.
• In 1981, the federal government began firing air traffic controllers who had gone out on strike.

Ten years ago:

• Iraqi President Saddam Hussein broke off cooperation with U.N. weapons inspectors and demanded the commission monitoring the weapons be reorganized.
• Marie Noe of Philadelphia was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, accused of smothering eight of her children to death between 1949 and 1968. (Noe later received 20 years' probation.)

Five years ago:

• Episcopal leaders in Minneapolis voted to approve the election of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay clergyman, as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire.
• A car bombing at the Marriott hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, killed 12 people.

One year ago:

• President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai began meeting at Camp David to discuss security issues in Afghanistan.
• Lorena Ochoa won the Women's British Open — the first women's professional tournament played at venerable St. Andrews — for her first major title.
• Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, one of the most influential Roman Catholic figures in France, died in Paris at age 80.
• Comedian Stanley Myron Handelman died in Panorama City, Calif., at age 77.

Today's Birthdays:

• Former astronaut Neil A. Armstrong is 78.
• Country singer Vern Gosdin is 74.
• Actress Cammie King ("Gone with the Wind") is 74.
• Actor John Saxon is 73.
• Actor Zakes Mokae is 73.
• Country songwriter Bobby Braddock is 68.
• Rock musician Rick Huxley (The Dave Clark Five) is 66.
• Actress Loni Anderson is 62.
• Actress Erika Slezak is 62.
• Rock singer Rick Derringer is 61.
• Actress Holly Palance is 58.
• Singer Samantha Sang is 55.
• Actress-singer Maureen McCormick is 52.
• Rock musician Pat Smear is 49.
• Actress Tawney Kitaen is 47.
• Country musician Mark O'Connor is 47.
• Rapper MCA (The Beastie Boys) is 44.
• Actor Jonathan Silverman is 42.
• Country singer Terri Clark is 40.
• Actor Brendon Ryan Barrett is 22.

Thought for Today:

"I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty; I woke, and found that life was Duty."
Ellen Sturgis Hooper, American poet (1816-1841).

"Let's all be careful out there!"