9 August: Better Late Than Never, But Never Better Late; "It's Too Late/For Sharon Tate"; Also, Nagasaki

Today is Sunday, Aug. 9, the 221st day of 2009. There are 144 days left in the year. UPI Almanac. Today's Highlight in History: On Aug. 9, 1945, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, the United States exploded a nuclear device over Nagasaki, killing an estimated 74,000 people.On this date:In 480 B.C., after one of history's most famous battles, Persian forces overran the heavily outnumbered Spartan defenders of the narrow pass at Thermopylae in Greece. In 1842, the United States and Canada resolved a border dispute by signing the Webster-Ashburton Treaty. [Between this & the "Peace Bridge" of 1927 (last Friday's trivia section) we don't think we've even seen two wussier countries. Look at the Frogs & the Krauts. Say what you will, neither nation is scared to go a few rounds w/ its neighbor. — Ed.] In 1848, the Free-Soil Party convened in Buffalo, N.Y., where it nominated Martin Van Buren for president. In 1854, Henry David Thoreau's "Walden," which described his experiences while living near Walden Pond in Massachusetts, was first published. In 1902, Edward VII was crowned king of Britain following the death of his mother, Queen Victoria. In 1936, Jesse Owens won his fourth gold medal at the Berlin Olympics as the United States took first place in the 400-meter relay.Sixty-five years ago, in 1944, 258 African-American sailors based at Port Chicago, Calif. refused to load a munitions ship following the explosion of another ship that killed 320 men, two-thirds of them black. (Fifty of the sailors were convicted of mutiny, fined and imprisoned.) Couple pictures here. Forty years ago, in 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four other people were found brutally murdered at Tate's Los Angeles home; cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his followers were later convicted of the crime.In 1974, President Richard Nixon's resignation took effect. Vice President Gerald R. Ford became the nation's 38th chief executive.Ford: "our long national nightmare is over" In 1985, a federal judge in Norfolk, Va., found retired Navy officer Arthur J. Walker guilty of seven counts of spying for the Soviet Union. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan nominated Lauro Cavazos to be secretary of education and the first Hispanic to serve in the Cabinet. In 1989, in Mexico, a train fell into the San Rafael River after a bridge collapsed, killing 112 people. Ten years ago: Russian President Boris Yeltsin dismissed Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin and the entire Cabinet, marking the fourth time in 17 months he had fired the government. Yeltsin named Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, the new prime minister. In 2000, Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. announced it was recalling 6.5 million tires that had been implicated in hundreds of accidents and at least 46 deaths. In 2001, President George W. Bush approved federal funding for existing lines of embryonic stem cells. In 2002, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 600th homer, becoming the fourth major leaguer to reach the mark. Five years ago: Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, addressing a court for the first time, asked victims of the blast for forgiveness as a judge sentenced him to 161 consecutive life sentences. In the worst-ever accident at a Japanese nuclear power plant, a corroded cooling pipe burst, killing five workers. One year ago: Todd Bachman, the father of 2004 volleyball Olympian Elisabeth "Wiz" Bachman, was stabbed to death by a Chinese man in Beijing in an apparently random attack just hours after the start of the Olympic Games. (The assailant took his own life.) Mariel Zagunis led a US sweep of the women's saber fencing for the first American medals of the Games. Today's Birthdays August 9: Former baseball manager Ralph Houk is 90. Basketball Hall of Famer Bob Cousy is 81. Tennis Hall of Famer Rod Laver is 71. Jazz musician Jack DeJohnette is 67. Comedian-director David Steinberg is 67. Boxing Hall-of-Famer Ken Norton is 66. Actor Sam Elliott is 65. Singer Barbara Mason is 62. Former baseball player Bill Campbell is 61. College Football Hall of Famer John Cappelletti is 57. Former football player Doug Williams is 54. Actress Melanie Griffith is 52. Actress Amanda Bearse is 51. Rapper Kurtis Blow is 50. Singer Whitney Houston is 46. Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hull is 45. TV host Hoda Kotb is 45. Actor Pat Petersen is 43. Former football player-turned-broadcaster Deion Sanders is 42. Actress Gillian Anderson is 41. Actor Eric Bana is 41. Hockey player Rod Brind'Amour is 39. TV anchor Chris Cuomo is 39. Rock musician Arion Salazar is 39. Rapper Mack 10 is 38. Actress Nikki Schieler Ziering is 38. Latin rock singer Juanes is 37. Actress Liz Vassey is 37. Basketball player Derek Fisher is 35. Baseball player Brian Fuentes is 34. Actress Rhona Mitra is 34. Actress Jessica Capshaw is 33.

Today In Entertainment -- On August ninth, 1963, the British TV show "Ready Steady Go" premiered. Most of Britain's most popular bands appeared on the show. In 1967, concert officials at the Sunbury Jazz and Blues Festival in England asked Jerry Lee Lewis to leave the stage because they thought the crowd had gotten too wild during Lewis' performance. In 1969, actress Sharon Tate and four other people were found brutally murdered in Tate's Los Angeles home. Cult leader Charles Manson and a group of his young disciples were later convicted of the crime. In 1978, Muddy Waters performed for President Jimmy Carter at a White House picnic. In 1991, singer Rick James pleaded innocent to charges he imprisoned, tortured and sexually assaulted a woman in his California home. Five years ago: Oscar-nominated movie and TV composer David Raksin died in Van Nuys, Calif. at age 92. In 1995, Grateful Dead singer and guitarist Jerry Garcia died of a heart attack while undergoing drug rehabilitation. He was 53. In 1995, Jerry Garcia, lead singer of the Grateful Dead, died in Forest Knolls, Calif., of a heart attack at age 53. In 1999, guitarist Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs quit Oasis. Barely two weeks later, bassist Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan quit.

One year ago, comedian Bernie Mac died in Chicago at age 50. Thought for Today: "The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything." — Edward John Phelps, American lawyer and diplomat (1822-1900).