Today in HistoryToday is Saturday, August 5, the 217th day of 2006. There are 148 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE<$>

In 1864, during the US Civil War, Union Adm. David G. Farragut is said to have ordered, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” as he led his fleet to victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay, Alabama.

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.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

“We are all snobs of the Infinite, parvenus of the Eternal.” — James Gibbons Huneker, American author and critic (1860-1921).