August 16th is Tell A Joke Day as well as Rollercoaster Day.
More than 1,200 tin homes were destroyed after a fire broke out in the Chalantika slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Over 566 wildfires swept through British Columbia in Canada, which led to a State of Emergency, and 3,000 people were evacuated.
Georgian heavyweight-lifting champion Lasha Talakhadze smashed a world record by lifting an incredible 473 kg.
Julian Assange, who founded WikiLeaks, was given political asylum by Ecuador.
Michael Phelps won the 100-meter butterfly swim in a record 50:58 at the Beijing Olympic finals.
A solar flare from the sun created a geomagnetic storm, which caused Toronto's stock market to halt.
NASA launched its Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers mission (AMPTE) from the Cape Canaveral launch pad.
Cyprus gained its independence from the United Kingdom.
The first issue of Sports Illustrated magazine is published.
The Junkers Ju 287, the first jet with forward-swept wings, made its first flight.
The world's first colored cartoon with synchronized sound was released.
Edwin Prescott was awarded a patent for the vertical loop Roller Coaster.
Queen Victoria of Britain sent the first-ever transatlantic telegraph to US President James Buchanan.
Nikephoros II Phokas was crowned emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
