Today is the 239th day of 2012 and the 68th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1939, announcer Red Barber called the first Major League Baseball game to be broadcast on television.

In 1957, the Soviet Union announced it had successfully developed and tested an intercontinental ballistic missile.

In 1982, the Argentine government lifted its ban on political parties.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Lee de Forest (1873-1961), inventor; Albert Sabin (1906-1993), microbiologist; Ben Bradlee (1921- ), journalist; Will Shortz (1952- ), crossword editor; Branford Marsalis (1960- ), musician; Macaulay Culkin (1980- ), actor; Chris Pine (1980- ), actor.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1999, Randy Johnson, pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks, threw his 300th strikeout of the season, a mark Johnson reached in just 29 starts.

TODAY'S FACT: Lee de Forest invented the Audion tube, which amplified weak electronic signals and made broadcast radio possible.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all." -- Ben Bradlee

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1,550 -- strategic nuclear warheads the United States and Russia are permitted to have deployed according to the terms of the New START treaty signed in 2010.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Aug. 24) and full moon (Aug. 31).

Today is the 238th day of 2012 and the 67th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1916, Congress created the National Park Service.

In 1944, Allied troops liberated Paris after four years of German occupation.

In 1967, American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell was shot dead by a former aide in Arlington, Va.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Allan Pinkerton (1819-1884), detective; Van Johnson (1916-2008), actor; Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), conductor/composer; Monty Hall (1921- ), TV personality; Althea Gibson (1927-2003), tennis player; Sean Connery (1930- ), actor; Regis Philbin (1931- ), TV personality; Tom Skerritt (1933- ), actor; Anne Archer (1947- ), actress; Elvis Costello (1954- ), musician; Tim Burton (1958- ), film director; Rachael Ray (1968- ), TV personality; Blake Lively (1987- ), actress.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2003, tennis champion Pete Sampras announced his retirement.

TODAY'S FACT: The National Park Service now oversees more than 84 million acres of land and 27,000 historic structures.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are dead." -- Aldous Huxley

TODAY'S NUMBER: 25 -- age at which Leonard Bernstein made his professional conducting debut.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (Aug. 24) and full moon (Aug. 31).

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).