Today is the 197th day of 2012 and the 26th day of summer.
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TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1916, William Boeing incorporated Pacific Aero Products, later named the Boeing Co.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon announced his intent to visit China in search of a "normalization of relations."
In 2002, U.S. citizen John Walker Lindh pleaded guilty to having fought as a soldier with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), painter; Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863), author/poet; St. Francesca Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917), founder of charitable religious order; Linda Ronstadt (1946- ), singer/songwriter; Arianna Huffington (1950- ), Internet publisher; Jesse Ventura (1951- ), wrestler/former governor; Terry O'Quinn (1952- ), actor; Forest Whitaker (1961- ), actor.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2007, the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team became the first professional sports franchise to record its 10,000th loss.
TODAY'S FACT: Clement Clarke Moore named his most famous poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas," but it is widely known by its first line, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas."
TODAY'S QUOTE: "What we have done is broken the ice. Now we have to test the water to see how deep it is." -- Richard Nixon
TODAY'S NUMBER: 171 -- total length (in miles) of wires found in one Boeing 747-400.
TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (July 10) and new moon (July 19).