Today is the 241st day of 2012 and the 70th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1917, 10 suffragettes were arrested for picketing the White House.

In 1963, the March on Washington drew hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists to Washington, D.C.

In 1968, the Democratic National Convention nominated Hubert Humphrey for president as demonstrators confronted Chicago police officers on the streets outside.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), writer; Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), writer; Bruno Bettelheim (1903-1990), psychologist; Donald O'Connor (1925-2003), actor/performer; Ben Gazzara (1930- ), actor; Lou Piniella (1943- ), baseball player/manager; Shania Twain (1965- ), singer; Jack Black (1969- ), actor; Jason Priestley (1969- ), actor; LeAnn Rimes (1982- ), singer.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1977, in Pele's last competitive game, his New York Cosmos defeated the Seattle Sounders 2-1 for the National American Soccer League championship.

TODAY'S FACT: Twenty-three nations in the world require all eligible citizens to vote in elections, but the policy is actively enforced in fewer than a dozen nations.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Boredom: the desire for desires." -- Leo Tolstoy

TODAY'S NUMBER: 641 -- people arrested at the Democratic National Convention in 1968.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Aug. 24) and full moon (Aug. 31).

Today is the 240th day of 2012 and the 69th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1859, the first successful oil well in the United States was drilled by Edwin L. Drake near Titusville, Pa.

In 1928, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which outlawed war and provided guidelines to peaceful conflict resolution, was signed in Paris.

In 1979, British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten was killed, with his grandson and two others, in a boat explosion for which the IRA claimed responsibility.

In 1999, the final crew left Russia's Mir space station.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), philosopher; Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945), novelist; Man Ray (1890-1976), artist/filmmaker; Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973), 36th U.S. president; Alice Coltrane (1937-2007), jazz musician; Paul Reubens (1952- ), actor; Chandra Wilson (1969- ), actress; Sarah Chalke (1976- ), actress; Aaron Paul (1979- ), actor.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1982, Oakland Athletics outfielder Rickey Henderson stole his 119th base of the year, setting a new single-season record. He went on to steal three more bases by the end of the game.

TODAY'S FACT: The Valles Marineris canyon system on Mars, also known as the Mars Grand Canyon, stretches for 2,500 miles and is up to four miles deep.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It is easier to discover a deficiency in individuals, in states, and in Providence, than to see their real import and value." -- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

TODAY'S NUMBER: 43,129,566 -- votes cast for Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1964 presidential election.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Aug. 24) and full moon (Aug. 31).

Today is the 239th day of 2012 and the 68th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1939, announcer Red Barber called the first Major League Baseball game to be broadcast on television.

In 1957, the Soviet Union announced it had successfully developed and tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In 1982, the Argentine government lifted its ban on political parties.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Lee de Forest (1873-1961), inventor; Albert Sabin (1906-1993), microbiologist; Ben Bradlee (1921- ), journalist; Will Shortz (1952- ), crossword editor; Branford Marsalis (1960- ), musician; Macaulay Culkin (1980- ), actor; Chris Pine (1980- ), actor.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1999, Randy Johnson, pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks, threw his 300th strikeout of the season, a mark Johnson reached in just 29 starts.

TODAY'S FACT: Lee de Forest invented the Audion tube, which amplified weak electronic signals and made broadcast radio possible.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all." -- Ben Bradlee

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,550 -- strategic nuclear warheads the United States and Russia are permitted to have deployed according to the terms of the New START treaty signed in 2010.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Aug. 24) and full moon (Aug. 31).