Today is the 234th day of 2012 and the 63rd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1858, Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held the first of their seven debates.

In 1911, an employee stole the "Mona Lisa" from the Louvre in Paris. It was not recovered until two years later.

In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th U.S. state.

In 1991, a coup by Communist hard-liners in the Soviet Union collapsed on the third day.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: William "Count" Basie (1904-1984), musician; Wilt Chamberlain (1936-1999), basketball player; Kenny Rogers (1938- ), singer; Peter Weir (1944- ), film director; Joe Strummer (1952-2002), musician; Kim Cattrall (1956- ), actress; Sergey Brin (1973- ), Google co-founder; Kelis (1979- ), singer; Usain Bolt (1986- ), Olympic sprinter.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1903, Tom Fetch and M.C. Krarup completed America's first transcontinental automobile race, traveling from New York City to San Francisco in 51 days.

TODAY'S FACT: The population of Russia is projected to shrink considerably in the coming decades, from about 142.5 million in 2012 to 129.9 million in 2050.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I hate (indifference to slavery) because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world -- enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites." -- Abraham Lincoln, first Lincoln-Douglas debate

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6 million -- people who view Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" at the Louvre in Paris annually.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 17) and first quarter moon (Aug. 24).

Today is the 233rd day of 2012 and the 62nd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1911, the first around-the-world telegram was sent, traveling 28,000 miles in 16.5 minutes.

In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, allocating nearly $1 billion in an unprecedented anti-poverty measure.

In 1977, the United States launched Voyager 2, an unmanned satellite intended to relay data and photographs of planets.

In 1998, the United States attacked suspected terrorist bases in Sudan in retaliation for U.S. embassy bombings earlier in the month.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901), 23rd U.S. president; H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937), writer; Al Lopez (1908-2005), baseball player/manager; Eero Saarinen (1910-1961), architect; Connie Chung (1946- ), journalist; Robert Plant (1948- ), rock singer; Al Roker (1954- ), TV personality; Joan Allen (1956- ), actress; Amy Adams (1974- ), actress; Demi Lovato (1992- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1920, the American Professional Football Conference (later the APFA, the forerunner of the modern NFL) was founded in Canton, Ohio.

TODAY'S FACT: Before entering politics, President Lyndon Johnson taught public speaking and debate at a high school in Houston.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." -- H.P. Lovecraft

TODAY'S NUMBER: 55 -- languages in which greetings, along with nature sounds and music samples, were encoded on a 12-inch, gold-plated copper phonograph record that was launched into space aboard the Voyager 2 in 1977.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 17) and first quarter moon (Aug. 24).

Today is the 232nd day of 2012 and the 61st day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1839, details of Louis Daguerre's pioneering photographic process were first released in Paris.

In 1934, a German plebiscite approved giving then-Chancellor Adolf Hitler the additional office of president.

In 2010, the last U.S. combat troops left Iraq.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Coco Chanel (1883-1971), fashion designer; Ogden Nash (1902-1971), writer; Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), publisher; Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991), Star Trek creator; Bill Shoemaker (1931-2003), jockey; Bill Clinton (1946- ), 42nd U.S. president; John Stamos (1963- ), actor; Kyra Sedgwick (1965- ), actress; Clay Walker (1969- ), singer.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1909, Louis Schwitzer won the first race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but two drivers and several bystanders died in related accidents.

TODAY'S FACT: President Bill Clinton was born William Jefferson Blythe III, after his biological father, who died a few months before Clinton was born. The future president legally changed his surname to Clinton (his stepfather's surname) as a teenager.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I do not like to get the news, because there has never been an era when so many things were going so right for so many of the wrong persons." -- Ogden Nash

TODAY'S NUMBER: 11 -- Triple Crown horse races won by thoroughbred jockey Bill Shoemaker. He never won all three jewels in the Triple Crown in the same year.

TODAY'S MOON: Between new moon (Aug. 17) and first quarter moon (Aug. 24).