Today is the 188th day of 2012 and the 17th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1785, Congress chose the dollar as the monetary unit of the United States and adopted a decimal coinage system.

In 1854, the Republican Party was formally launched at a convention in Jackson, Mich.

In 1885, Louis Pasteur successfully tested his vaccine against rabies.

In 1957, future Beatles bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time in Liverpool, England.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Frida Kahlo (1907-1954), artist; Nancy Reagan (1921- ), actress/first lady; Merv Griffin (1925-2007), TV personality; George W. Bush (1946- ), 43rd U.S. president; Sylvester Stallone (1946- ), actor; Geoffrey Rush (1951- ), actor; 50 Cent (1975- ), rapper.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1933, Major League Baseball's first official All-Star Game was held at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The American League defeated the National League 4-2.

TODAY'S FACT: The Spanish dollar and Mexican peso remained legal tender in the United States until Congress passed the Coinage Act of 1857.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead." -- John Maynard Keynes

TODAY'S NUMBER: 4 -- new penny designs the U.S. Mint issued in 2009, in celebration of the Lincoln penny's 100th anniversary.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (July 3) and last quarter moon (July 10).

Today is the 187th day of 2012 and the 16th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1865, the U.S. Secret Service was formed under the Treasury Department.

In 1935, the National Labor Relations Act was passed, guaranteeing workers the right to organize and bargain collectively.

In 1971, the 26th Amendment, reducing the voting age from 21 to 18, was formally certified.

In 1996, Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, was born.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891), circus founder; Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902), British colonial financier/politician; John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), economist; Jean Cocteau (1889-1963), writer; Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (1902-1985), diplomat; Chuck Close (1940- ), artist; Bill Watterson (1958- ), cartoonist; Edie Falco (1963- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first black tennis player to win the Wimbledon men's singles title.

TODAY'S FACT: In the 1972 presidential election, which was the first in which 18-to-20-year-olds could cast a vote, the voter participation rate was 55.2 percent, down from 60.9 percent in 1968.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The fact that the talk may be boring or turgid or uninspiring should not cause us to forget the fact that it is preferable to war." -- Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.

TODAY'S NUMBER: 10 -- years of Secret Service protection that presidents elected after 1997 receive after leaving office. Presidents elected prior to 1997 receive lifetime Secret Service protection.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (July 3) and last quarter moon (July 10).

Today is the 186th day of 2012 and the 15th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the text of the Declaration of Independence.

In 1826, founding fathers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both died.

In 1895, the Congregationalist magazine published the poem "America the Beautiful," written by Wellesley professor Katharine Lee Bates.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), writer; Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), 30th U.S. president; Leona Helmsley (1920-2007), real estate developer; Eva Marie Saint (1924- ), actress; Neil Simon (1927- ), playwright; George Steinbrenner (1930-2010), New York Yankees owner; Geraldo Rivera (1943- ), TV personality.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1939, more than 60,000 baseball fans honored Lou Gehrig, who was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, at Yankee Stadium. Gehrig delivered the famous line, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."

TODAY'S FACT: Eleven different places in the United States have "independence" in their names. Independence, Mo., is the most populous place, with 116,830 residents.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "If you can go through life without ever experiencing pain, you probably haven't been born yet." -- Neil Simon

TODAY'S NUMBER: $3.6 million -- value of imported American flags in 2011 ($3.3 million worth of American flags were imported from China alone).

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (July 3) and last quarter moon (July 10).