Today is the 181st day of 2012 and the 10th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1956, the Federal-Aid Highway Act was signed, creating the interstate system.

In 1972, in Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty as it was then applied in the United States was unconstitutional "cruel and unusual punishment."

In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian Mir station in orbit for the first time.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Harry Frazee (1881-1929), producer/Red Sox owner; Alan Blumlein (1903-1942), engineer; Leroy Anderson (1908-1975), composer; Harmon Killebrew (1936-2011), baseball player; Gary Busey (1944- ), actor; Richard Lewis (1947- ), actor/comedian; Matthew Weiner (1965- ), TV writer/producer; Joe Johnson (1981- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2004, Arizona Diamondback pitcher Randy Johnson became the fourth pitcher in Major League Baseball history to pass the 4,000-strikeout milestone.

TODAY'S FACT: Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, made the first "stereophonic" recording, Scriabin's "Poem of Fire," with Bell Labs on March 12, 1932.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The creative conquest of space will serve as a wonderful substitute for war." -- James McDonnell, designer of the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft

TODAY'S NUMBER: 46,876 -- miles of roads in the U.S. interstate highway system.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 26) and full moon (July 3).

Today is the 180th day of 2012 and the ninth day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1914, Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist, sparking World War I.

In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending World War I.

In 1950, North Korean troops captured Seoul.

In 2004, the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), painter; Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), philosopher; Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), violinist; Richard Rodgers (1902-1979), composer; Mel Brooks (1926- ), actor/director; Kathy Bates (1948- ), actress; John Elway (1960- ), football player/executive; John Cusack (1966- ), actor; Mary Stuart Masterson (1966- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1997, Mike Tyson was disqualified from a heavyweight title fight when the former champion twice bit titleholder Evander Holyfield's ears in the third round.

TODAY'S FACT: President Woodrow Wilson was the first of the leaders at Versailles to sign the treaty ending World War I.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I hate books; they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about." -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1 -- Academy Awards given to Mel Brooks (for "The Producers" in 1968) over his more than half-century-long career.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 26) and full moon (July 3).

Today is the 179th day of 2012 and the eighth day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1829, British chemist James Smithson died, leaving an endowment for "the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."

In 1950, President Harry S. Truman sent the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy to fight in the Korean War.

In 1969, police clashed with patrons of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, in an incident said to mark the beginning of the gay civil-rights movement.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Emma Goldman (1869-1940), labor leader; Helen Keller (1880-1968), activist/author; H. Ross Perot (1930- ), billionaire/politician; Vera Wang (1949- ), fashion designer; J.J. Abrams (1966- ), TV/film producer; Tobey Maguire (1975- ), actor; Ed Westwick (1987- ), actor.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2001, the NBA's Washington Wizards drafted Kwame Brown, the first No. 1 overall pick of a high school student.

TODAY'S FACT: Boston Red Sox legend Ted Williams flew 39 combat missions during the Korean War. Williams sat out nearly five Major League Baseball seasons due to his military service in World War II and Korea.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next." -- Helen Keller

TODAY'S NUMBER: 28.6 million -- visitors to Smithsonian Institution museums in 2011.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 26) and full moon (July 3).