Today is the 237th day of 2012 and the 66th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted in southern Italy, destroying the cities of Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum.

In 1814, British forces set fire to the White House.

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 demoted Pluto to its current status as a "dwarf planet."

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), writer; Paulo Coelho (1947- ), author; Mike Shanahan (1952- ), football coach; Mike Huckabee (1955- ), politician/TV personality; Cal Ripken Jr. (1960- ), baseball player; Craig Kilborn (1962- ), TV personality; Marlee Matlin (1965- ), actress; Reggie Miller (1965- ), basketball player; Dave Chappelle (1973- ), actor/comedian; Rupert Grint (1988- ), actor.

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 FACT: The White House was first painted white in 1798, when a lime-based whitewash was applied. The earliest-known written mention of the "White House" is from 1812. President Theodore Roosevelt made the name official in 1901.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The flattery of posterity is not worth much more than contemporary flattery, which is worth nothing." -- Jorge Luis Borges

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: First quarter moon (Aug. 24).

Today is the 236th day of 2012 and the 65th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1775, England's King George III described the American colonies as being in a state of "open and avowed rebellion."

In 1927, Italian anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were executed in Charlestown, Mass., despite worldwide protests of their innocence.

In 1939, Germany's Adolf Hitler and the Soviet Union's Joseph Stalin signed a nonaggression pact.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Edgar Lee Masters (1868-1950), writer; Gene Kelly (1912-1996), actor/dancer; Vera Miles (1929- ), actress; Barbara Eden (1934- ), actress; Shelley Long (1949- ), actress; Rick Springfield (1949- ), singer/musician; Kobe Bryant (1978- ), basketball player.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1969, Taiwan won its first Little League World Series. The nation went on to win nine more titles in the next 12 years.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1977, 50 years after the execution of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis issued a proclamation stating that their trial had been "permeated by prejudice against foreigners and hostility toward unorthodox political views," and that "any stigma and disgrace shall be forever removed from their names."

TODAY'S QUOTE: "It takes life to love Life." -- Edgar Lee Masters

TODAY'S NUMBER: 22 -- listings with the surname Hitler in the New York City phone book prior to World War II. None were listed there when the war ended.

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

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).