Today is the 183rd day of 2012 and the 12th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg began.

In 1867, Canada became a self-governing dominion of the British Commonwealth.

In 1966, the Medicare federal insurance program began functioning.

In 1997, the United Kingdom transferred sovereignty of Hong Kong back to China.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: George Sand (1804-1876), novelist; Walter White (1893-1955), NAACP leader; Olivia de Havilland (1916- ), actress; Sydney Pollack (1934-2008), filmmaker; Debbie Harry (1945- ), singer; Dan Aykroyd (1952- ), actor; Diana, Princess of Wales (1961-1997); Carl Lewis (1961- ), Olympic athlete; Pamela Anderson (1967- ), actress; Liv Tyler (1977- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1903, the first Tour de France bicycle race began in Paris. Of the 60 cyclists who began the nearly 2,500-kilometer race, only 21 finished, including champion Maurice Garin.

TODAY'S FACT: More than 47.5 million Americans were enrolled in Medicare in 2010.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The beauty that addresses itself to the eyes is only the spell of the moment; the eye of the body is not always that of the soul." -- George Sand

TODAY'S NUMBER: 156 -- years Hong Kong was formally controlled by Great Britain.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 26) and full moon (July 3)

Today is the 182nd day of 2012 and the 11th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was formed.

In 1982, the proposed Equal Rights Amendment failed when its ratification deadline passed.

In 2007, an SUV exploded at Glasgow airport in Scotland in a terrorist attack.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Lena Horne (1917-2010), singer; Paul Berg (1926- ), biochemist; Robert Ballard (1942- ), oceanographer; David Alan Grier (1955- ), actor; Vincent D'Onofrio (1959- ), actor; Mike Tyson (1966- ), boxer; Fantasia Barrino (1984- ), singer; Michael Phelps (1985- ), Olympic swimmer.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1994, Tonya Harding was stripped of the national figure skating championship and banned for life from the sport for attacking rival skater Nancy Kerrigan.

TODAY'S FACT: Susan B. Anthony registered and voted in Rochester, N.Y., in 1872. She was arrested and fined $100 for breaking the law.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "When one has much to put into them, the day has a hundred pockets." -- Friedrich Nietzsche

TODAY'S NUMBER: 8 -- record-setting number of gold medals Michael Phelps won at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Phelps had won six at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 26) and full moon (July 3).

Today is the 181st day of 2012 and the 10th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1956, the Federal-Aid Highway Act was signed, creating the interstate system.

In 1972, in Furman v. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty as it was then applied in the United States was unconstitutional "cruel and unusual punishment."

In 1995, the space shuttle Atlantis docked with the Russian Mir station in orbit for the first time.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Harry Frazee (1881-1929), producer/Red Sox owner; Alan Blumlein (1903-1942), engineer; Leroy Anderson (1908-1975), composer; Harmon Killebrew (1936-2011), baseball player; Gary Busey (1944- ), actor; Richard Lewis (1947- ), actor/comedian; Matthew Weiner (1965- ), TV writer/producer; Joe Johnson (1981- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2004, Arizona Diamondback pitcher Randy Johnson became the fourth pitcher in Major League Baseball history to pass the 4,000-strikeout milestone.

TODAY'S FACT: Leopold Stokowski, conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, made the first "stereophonic" recording, Scriabin's "Poem of Fire," with Bell Labs on March 12, 1932.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The creative conquest of space will serve as a wonderful substitute for war." -- James McDonnell, designer of the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft

TODAY'S NUMBER: 46,876 -- miles of roads in the U.S. interstate highway system.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (June 26) and full moon (July 3).