Today is the 195th day of 2014 and the 24th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1789, the French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille in Paris.

In 1881, infamous outlaw Billy the Kid was shot to death by Sheriff Pat Garrett near Fort Sumner in New Mexico.

In 1951, the George Washington Carver National Monument in Joplin, Missouri, was dedicated, becoming the first U.S. national monument to honor an African-American.

In 2004, the U.S. Senate voted 50-48 against a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), painter; Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), painter; Woody Guthrie (1912-1967), musician; Gerald Ford (1913-2006), 38th U.S. president; Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007), screenwriter/director; Harry Dean Stanton (1926- ), actor; Vincent Pastore (1946- ), actor; Jane Lynch (1960- ), actress; Matthew Fox (1966- ), actor; Brian Selznick (1966- ), writer/illustrator; Darrele Revis (1985- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The French revolutionaries were called "sans-culottes," or "without breeches," which referred to their preference for wearing long trousers rather than the breeches of the aristocracy.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1999, the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 79-61 to win the first WNBA All-Star Game.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Any fool can make something complicated. It takes a genius to make it simple." -- Woody Guthrie

TODAY'S NUMBER: $192.7 million -- total price fetched for four paintings by Gustav Klimt at a Christie's auction in 2006.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (July 12) and last quarter moon (July 18).

Today is the 194th day of 2014 and the 23rd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1863, New York City draft riots began. An estimated 1,000 people were killed or wounded.

In 1973, Alexander Butterfield, deputy assistant to President Richard Nixon, revealed the existence of the "Nixon Tapes" to a senatorial committee investigating the Watergate scandal.

In 1977, a 25-hour blackout hit the New York City area, leaving some 9 million people in darkness and resulting in looting and disorder.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: John Clare (1793-1864), poet; John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912), businessman; Bob Crane (1928-1978), actor; Jack Kemp (1935-2009), football player/politician; Patrick Stewart (1940- ), actor; Robert Forster (1941- ), actor; Harrison Ford (1942- ), actor; Cheech Marin (1946- ), actor/comedian; Tony Kornheiser (1948- ), sportscaster; Cameron Crowe (1957- ), filmmaker; Tom Kenny (1962- ), actor/comedian; Ken Jeong (1969- ), actor/comedian.

TODAY'S FACT: Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison all proposed that Congress pass some form of mandatory military conscription or registration, but none of the proposals succeeded.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1930, France defeated Mexico 4-1 and the United States defeated Belgium 3-0 in the first World Cup soccer matches, held in Montevideo, Uruguay.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "Language has not the power to speak what love indites: The soul lies buried in the ink that writes." -- John Clare

TODAY'S NUMBER: 1.9 billion -- estimated global audience (in 150 countries) that watched the Live Aid concerts, broadcast on this day in 1985 to raise money for African famine relief.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (July 12) and last quarter moon (July 18).

Today is the 193rd day of 2014 and the 22nd day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed into law a measure creating the U.S. Army Medal of Honor.

In 1871, rioting between Irish Catholics and Protestants in New York City left more than 50 dead.

In 1984, Democratic Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York became the first female vice presidential candidate on a major party ticket.

In 2006, Hezbollah guerrillas raided northern Israel, marking the beginning of a 33-day conflict.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), author/philosopher; Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983), architect; Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960), lyricist; Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), poet; Milton Berle (1908-2002), comedian; Bill Cosby (1937- ), comedian/actor; Richard Simmons (1948- ), fitness trainer; Julio Cesar Chavez (1962- ), boxer; Brock Lesnar (1977- ), wrestler/mixed martial artist; Topher Grace (1978- ), actor; Michelle Rodriguez (1978- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Mary Edwards Walker, who served as a surgeon for the Union Army during the Civil War, is the only female recipient of the U.S. Army Medal of Honor.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1979, rioting during the Chicago White Sox's "Disco Demolition Night" promotion, in which an explosive-rigged dumpster filled with disco records was destroyed between games of a planned doubleheader, led to 39 arrests and caused the team to forfeit the second game against the Detroit Tigers.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." -- Henry David Thoreau

TODAY'S NUMBER: 270 -- stacked height (in feet) of Buckminster Fuller's "Dymaxion Chronofile," a systematic record of personal notes and ephemera that he kept from 1920 until his death.

TODAY'S MOON: Full moon (July 12).