TODAY is Saturday, July 25, the 206th day of 2009. There are 159 days left in the year.

ON THIS DATE

In 1909, French aviator Louis Bleriot became the first person to fly an airplane across the English Channel, traveling from Calais to Dover in 37 minutes.

In 1946, the United States detonated an atomic bomb near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific in the first underwater test of the device.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

"No matter what side of an argument you're on, you always find some people on your side that you wish were on the other side." — Jascha Heifetz, Russian-born American violinist (1901-1987).