On This Day: Monday August 22, 2005 This is the 234th day of the year, with 131 days remaining in 2005. Fact of the Day: punctuation Punctuation is the use of spacing, conventional signs, and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading of texts. The word is derived from the Latin punctus 'point.' From the 15th-18th centuries the subject was known in English as pointing; and the term punctuation, first recorded in the middle of the 16th century, was reserved for the insertion of vowel points (marks placed near consonants to indicate preceding or following vowels) in Hebrew texts. The two words exchanged meanings between 1650-1750. Holidays Feast day of St. Timothy, St. Andrew of Fiesole, St. Sigfrid of Wearmouth, and St. John Kemble. Events 1642 - The English Civil War began, between the supporters of Charles I and of Parliament, when the king raised his standard at Nottingham. 1762 - Ann Franklin became the first female editor of an American newspaper, the "Newport Mercury" (in Rhode Island). 1846 - The United States annexed New Mexico. 1851 - U.S.-built schooner America beat a fleet of Britain's finest ships in a race around England's Isle of Wight, in the first America's Cup. 1864 - The International Red Cross was founded by Swiss humanitarian Jean-Henri Dunant. 1902 - President Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. President to ride in an automobile, in Hartford, Connecticut. 1906 - The Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey began to manufacture the Victrola (record player). 1932 - The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began its first experimental TV broadcast in England. 1945 - The Vietnam Conflict began when a team of Free French parachuted into southern Indochina in response to a successful coup by Communist guerrilla Ho Chi Minh. 1966 - The United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), later renamed the United Farm Workers of America (UFW), was formed. Births 1834 - Samuel Pierpont Langley, American astronomer, physicist, aeronautics pioneer. 1862 - Claude Debussy, French composer. 1880 - George Herriman, American cartoonist. 1893 - Dorothy Parker (Rothschild), American author, columnist. 1904 - Deng Xiaoping, leader of the People's Republic of China (1970s-1997). 1920 - Ray Bradbury, American science fiction writer. Deaths 1922 - Michael Collins, Irish nationalist hero of the struggle for independence. 1989 - Huey P. Newton, American political activist and co-founder of the Black Panther Party shot to death in Oakland, California.