Today is the 248th day of 2015 and the 77th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1774, the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia.

In 1836, Sam Houston was elected the first president of the Republic of Texas.

In 1957, Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," a defining novel of the postwar generation, was published by Viking Press.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford survived an attempt on his life when Secret Service agents tackled would-be assassin Lynette Fromme.

In 1986, Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jack Daniel (1846-1911), distiller; Jesse James (1847-1882), legendary outlaw; Arthur Nielsen (1897-1980), market researcher; Darryl Zanuck (1902-1979), film producer; John Cage (1912-1992), composer; Bob Newhart (1929- ), comedian/actor; Raquel Welch (1940- ), actress/model; Werner Herzog (1942- ), filmmaker; Freddie Mercury (1946-1991), singer-songwriter; Cathy Guisewite (1950- ), cartoonist; Michael Keaton (1951- ), actor; Rose McGowan (1973-), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Jack Kerouac typed the manuscript of "On the Road" on a 120-foot-long scroll of paper.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1960, boxer Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) won the gold medal in light heavyweight boxing at the Olympic Games in Rome.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "What I'm proposing, to myself and other people, is what I often call the tourist attitude - that you act as though you've never been there before. So that you're not supposed to know anything about it. If you really get down to brass tacks, we have never been anywhere before." -- John Cage

TODAY'S NUMBER: 12 -- colonies represented at the First Continental Congress in 1774. Georgia declined to send delegates.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (Sept. 5).

Today is the 247th day of 2015 and the 76th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1781, 44 Spanish settlers founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de Porciuncula, now known as Los Angeles.

In 1882, Thomas Edison flipped on the switch at the world's first commercial electrical distribution plant, powering downtown Manhattan in New York City.

In 1888, George Eastman patented his roll-film camera and registered the Kodak trademark.

In 1917, the U.S. expeditionary force suffered its first World War I fatalities in France.

In 1998, graduate students Sergey Brin and Larry Page filed paperwork to incorporate Google, their 2-year-old research project.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Richard Wright (1908-1960), author; Paul Harvey (1918-2009), radio broadcaster; Dick York (1928-1992), actor; Tom Watson (1949- ), professional golfer; Drew Pinsky (1958- ), radio/TV host; Damon Wayans (1960- ), actor/comedian; Mike Piazza (1968- ), baseball player; Wes Bentley (1978- ), actor; Beyonce Knowles (1981- ), singer-songwriter/actress; Whitney Cummings (1982- ), actress/comedian.

TODAY'S FACT: The average salary of a Google intern is $6,788 per month.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1972, American swimmer Mark Spitz became the first athlete to win seven gold medals at a single Olympic Games.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all." -- Richard Wright, "American Hunger"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3,928,864 -- estimated population of the city of Los Angeles in 2014, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Aug. 29) and last quarter moon (Sept. 5).

Today is the 246th day of 2015 and the 75th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1783, the signing of the Treaty of Paris officially ended the Revolutionary War.

In 1838, abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass escaped slavery in Baltimore.

In 1939, France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declared war on Germany in response to the country's invasion of Poland.

In 2004, a three-day hostage situation at a school in Beslan, Russia, ended with a gun battle that killed more than 300 people, including 186 children.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Louis Sullivan (1856-1924), architect; Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951), automotive engineer; Kitty Carlisle (1910-2007), actress; Alan Ladd (1913-1964), actor; Mort Walker (1923- ), cartoonist; Eileen Brennan (1932-2013), actress; Malcolm Gladwell (1963- ), journalist/author; Charlie Sheen (1965- ), actor; Jennie Finch (1980- ), softball player; Shaun White (1986- ), snowboarder/skateboarder.

TODAY'S FACT: Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the automobile company of the same name, designed the first hybrid gasoline-electric car. Known as the Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid, the car went into production in 1900.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1950, Guiseppe "Nino" Farina won the Italian Grand Prix to become the first Formula One World Drivers champion.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "He who knows naught of dreaming can, likewise, never attain the heights of power and possibility in persuading the mind to act. He who dreams not creates not." -- Louis Sullivan

TODAY'S NUMBER: 13 -- record number of Winter X Games gold medals claimed by Shaun White from 2003 to 2013.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (Aug. 29) and last quarter moon (Sept. 5).