Today is the 236th day of 2014 and the 65th day of summer.
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TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1814, British forces invaded Washington, D.C., and set fire to the White House.
In 1949, President Harry Truman formally announced that the North Atlantic Treaty was in effect.
In 1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York for the murder of John Lennon.
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union announced a new definition for "planet," which reclassified Pluto to as a "dwarf planet."
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), author; Paulo Coelho (1947- ), author; Mike Shanahan (1952- ), football coach; Mike Huckabee (1955- ), politician/TV personality; Stephen Fry (1957- ), actor/comedian; Cal Ripken Jr. (1960- ), baseball player; Jared Harris (1961- ), actor; Marlee Matlin (1965- ), actress; Reggie Miller (1965- ), basketball player; Dan Henderson (1970- ), mixed martial artist; Dave Chappelle (1973- ), actor/comedian; Rupert Grint (1988- ), actor.
TODAY'S FACT: In 1891, Thomas Edison received a patent for his Kinetograph motion picture camera and the Kinetoscope viewer.
TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1989, baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti banned Pete Rose from the sport for gambling on Major League Baseball games.
TODAY'S QUOTE: "There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure." -- Paulo Coelho, "The Alchemist"
TODAY'S NUMBER: 5 -- dwarf planets in our solar system currently recognized by the International Astronomical Union: Pluto, Ceres, Eris, Haumea and Makemake.
TODAY'S MOON: Between last quarter moon (Aug. 17) and new moon (Aug. 25).