Today is the 236th day of 2012 and the 65th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1775, England's King George III described the American colonies as being in a state of "open and avowed rebellion."

In 1927, Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Charlestown, Mass., despite worldwide protests of their innocence.

In 1939, Germany's Adolf Hitler and the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin signed a nonaggression pact.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950), writer; Gene Kelly (1912-1996), actor/dancer; Vera Miles (1929- ), actress; Barbara Eden (1934- ), actress; Shelley Long (1949- ), actress; Rick Springfield (1949- ), singer/musician; Kobe Bryant (1978- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1969, Taiwan won its first Little League World Series. The nation went on to win nine more titles in the next 12 years.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1977, 50 years after the execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation stating that their trial had been "permeated by prejudice against foreigners and hostility toward unorthodox political views," and that "any stigma and disgrace shall be forever removed from their names."

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It takes life to love Life." -- Edgar Lee Masters

TODAY'S NUMBER: 22 -- listings with the surname Hitler in the New York City phone book prior to World War II. None were listed there when the war ended.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 17) and first quarter moon (Aug. 24).

Today is the 234th day of 2012 and the 63rd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1858, Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held the first of their seven debates.

In 1911, an employee stole the "Mona Lisa" from the Louvre in Paris. It was not recovered until two years later.

In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state.

In 1991, a coup by Communist hard-liners in the Soviet Union collapsed on the third day.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: William "Count" Basie (1904-1984), musician; Wilt Chamberlain (1936-1999), basketball player; Kenny Rogers (1938- ), singer; Peter Weir (1944- ), film director; Joe Strummer (1952-2002), musician; Kim Cattrall (1956- ), actress; Sergey Brin (1973- ), Google co-founder; Kelis (1979- ), singer; Usain Bolt (1986- ), Olympic sprinter.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1903, Tom Fetch and M.C. Krarup completed America's first transcontinental automobile race, traveling from New York City to San Francisco in 51 days.

TODAY'S FACT: The population of Russia is projected to shrink considerably in the coming decades, from about 142.5 million in 2012 to 129.9 million in 2050.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I hate (indifference to slavery) because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world -- enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites." -- Abraham Lincoln, first Lincoln-Douglas debate

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6 million -- people who view Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" at the Louvre in Paris annually.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 17) and first quarter moon (Aug. 24).

Today is the 233rd day of 2012 and the 62nd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1911, the first around-the-world telegram was sent, traveling 28,000 miles in 16.5 minutes.

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, allocating nearly $1 billion in an unprecedented anti-poverty measure.

In 1977, the United States launched Voyager 2, an unmanned satellite intended to relay data and photographs of planets.

In 1998, the United States attacked suspected terrorist bases in Sudan in retaliation for U.S. embassy bombings earlier in the month.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), 23rd U.S. president; H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), writer; Al Lopez (1908-2005), baseball player/manager; Eero Saarinen (1910-1961), architect; Connie Chung (1946- ), journalist; Robert Plant (1948- ), rock singer; Al Roker (1954- ), TV personality; Joan Allen (1956- ), actress; Amy Adams (1974- ), actress; Demi Lovato (1992- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1920, the American Professional Football Conference (later the APFA, the forerunner of the modern NFL) was founded in Canton, Ohio.

TODAY'S FACT: Before entering politics, President Lyndon Johnson taught public speaking and debate at a high school in Houston.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." -- H.P. Lovecraft

TODAY'S NUMBER: 55 -- languages in which greetings, along with nature sounds and music samples, were encoded on a 12-inch, gold-plated copper phonograph record that was launched into space aboard the Voyager 2 in 1977.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 17) and first quarter moon (Aug. 24).