Today is the 212th day of 2015 and the 41st day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1914, trading on the New York Stock Exchange stopped in response to the outbreak of World War I. It did not resume until December of that year.

In 1964, the American space probe Ranger 7 transmitted the first close-up photographs of the moon.

In 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union signed the START 1 treaty, an agreement to reduce both countries' nuclear arms stockpiles.

In 2006, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro underwent surgery and transferred presidential power to his brother Raul.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Milton Friedman (1912-2006), economist; Primo Levi (1919-1987), chemist/author; Geoffrey Lewis (1935-2015), actor; Evonne Goolagong Cawley (1951- ), tennis player; Michael Biehn (1956- ), actor; Mark Cuban (1958- ), Dallas Mavericks owner; Wesley Snipes (1962- ), actor; J.K. Rowling (1965- ), author; B.J. Novak (1979- ), actor; DeMarcus Ware (1982- ), football player; Charlie Carver (1988- ), actor; A.J. Green (1988- ), football player.

TODAY'S FACT: The first U.S. patent was issued to inventor Samuel Hopkins on this day in 1790, for a process of making potash, an ingredient used in fertilizer.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1961, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game ended in a tie for the first time, when officials in Boston called the game with a 1-1 score after the ninth inning due to rain.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "I want people to take thought about their condition and to recognize that the maintenance of a free society is a very difficult and complicated thing and it requires a self-denying ordinance of the most extreme kind." -- Milton Friedman

TODAY'S NUMBER: 11 million -- estimated population of Cuba in 2015.

TODAY'S MOON: Full moon (July 31).

Today is the 211th day of 2015 and the 40th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1619, America's first legislative assembly met in Jamestown, Virginia.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a resolution establishing "In God We Trust" as the national motto of the United States.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Social Security Act into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon released subpoenaed White House recordings related to the Watergate cover-up.

In 1975, former Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared from suburban Detroit.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Emily Bronte (1818-1848), author/poet; Henry Ford (1863-1947), industrialist/automaker; Casey Stengel (1890-1975), baseball player/manager; Bud Selig (1934- ), baseball commissioner; Paul Anka (1941- ), singer-songwriter; Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947- ), actor/former governor; Laurence Fishburne (1961- ), actor; Lisa Kudrow (1963- ), actress; Terry Crews (1968- ), actor; Christopher Nolan (1970- ), filmmaker; Hilary Swank (1974- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: "Top of the Pops," the longest-running radio show in history at 42 years, was broadcast for the final time on BBC Two on this day in 2006.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1930, the Uruguayan national football team defeated Argentina to win the inaugural FIFA World Cup in Montevideo, Uruguay.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "He wanted all to lie in an ecstasy of peace; I wanted all to sparkle and dance in a glorious jubilee. I said his heaven would be only half alive; and he said mine would be drunk: I said I should fall asleep in his; and he said he could not breathe in mine." -- Emily Bronte, "Wuthering Heights"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 27 -- age at which Emily Bronte finished writing "Wuthering Heights."

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (July 23) and full moon (July 31).

Today is the 210th day of 2015 and the 39th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1948, the first Olympic Games since 1936 began in London.

In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, creating NASA.

In 1965, the first 4,000 paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division arrived in Vietnam.

In 1981, Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were married at St. Paul's Cathedral in London.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859), writer/historian/political scientist; Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), Italian dictator; Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898-1988), physicist; Clara Bow (1905-1965), actress; Dag Hammarskjold (1905-1961), Swedish diplomat; Elizabeth Dole (1936- ), U.S. senator; Peter Jennings (1938-2005), TV news anchor; Ken Burns (1953- ), documentary filmmaker; Tim Gunn (1953- ), TV personality; Martina McBride (1966- ), singer-songwriter; Wil Wheaton (1972- ), actor; Josh Radnor (1974- ), actor.

TODAY'S FACT: General Motors Corp. acquired the Cadillac Automobile Co. for $4.5 million in GM stock on this day in 1909.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 2003, Bill Mueller of the Boston Red Sox became the only major league batter in history to hit grand slams from both sides of the plate in a single game. The Red Sox defeated the Texas Rangers 14-7.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You wake from dreams of doom and -- for a moment -- you know: beyond all the noise and the gestures, the only real thing, love's calm unwavering flame in the half-light of an early dawn." -- Dag Hammarskjold, "Markings"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 700 million -- estimated number of people worldwide who watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer on television.

TODAY'S MOON: Between first quarter moon (July 23) and full moon (July 31).