2004: In the most eagerly anticipated initial public offering in years, Google Inc.'s stock begins trading. After refusing to let Wall Street underwriters pull their usual stunt of charging fat fees to price the stock too cheap, Google conducts a rare "Dutch auction" in which bidders (including individual investors) compete to create the price at which all shares can be sold. Initially priced at $85, the stock opens for trading at $100 a share and closes at $100.335 on volume of 22.4 million shares. Although most investment bankers jeer, the IPO is a success.

The Wall Street Journal, August 19 and 20, 2004, pp. A1, C1;The New York Times, August 19 and 20, 2004, pp. A1, C1;The Financial Times, August 20, 2004, p. 1

1983: The Washington Public Power Supply System, which has funded the construction of five nuclear power plants in the Pacific Northwest, defaults on $2.25 billion in municipal bonds — although its bonds are rated investment-grade by the credit agencies. Forever after, WPPSS is pronounced "WHOOPS" by bond investors.

Dennis Walters, "The WPPSS Debacle," The Bond Buyer Centennial Edition, August, 1991, pp. 43-44.

1906: Philo Taylor Farnsworth, the future inventor of television, is born in a remote log cabin in Utah.

1883: Jeanne Gabrielle Chanel is born in Saumur, France, the illegitmate daughter of Albert Chanel, an itinerant peddler, and Jeanne Devolle. Later known as "Coco," Chanel overcomes her shabby past and becomes the most elegant and powerful force in the world's fashion industry.

1871: Orville Wright is born in Dayton, Ohio. At age seven, he starts playing with a flying toy made of cork, bamboo and rubber bands; in 1903, he and his brother Wilbur make the world's first sustained airplane flight.