Today is the 208th day of 2016 and the 37th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1775, the Second Continental Congress established a postal system.

In 1788, New York ratified the Constitution and became the 11th U.S. state.

In 1947, President Truman signed the National Security Act, uniting the Army, Navy and Air Force under the Department of Defense and creating the National Security Council, Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA.

In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans With Disabilities Act.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), playwright/critic; Carl Jung (1875-1961), psychiatrist; Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), author; Blake Edwards (1922-2010), film director; Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999), film director; Mick Jagger (1943- ), singer-songwriter; Helen Mirren (1945- ), actress; Nicholas Evans (1950- ), author; Dorothy Hamill (1956- ), figure skater; Kevin Spacey (1959- ), actor; Sandra Bullock (1964- ), actress; Jeremy Piven (1965- ), actor; Jason Statham (1967- ), actor; Kate Beckinsale (1973- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" has the longest title of any film nominated for the Best Picture Oscar.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1992, Nolan Ryan struck out his 100th batter of the season, setting a major league record of 23 consecutive seasons with at least 100 strikeouts.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "The trouble with fiction ... is that it makes too much sense. Reality never makes sense." -- Aldous Huxley, "The Genius and the Goddess"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 9 -- Joint Chiefs of Staff chairmen (out of 19) who have been Army officers. Only two (Peter Pace, 2005-2007, and Joseph Dunford, 2015-present) have been Marine Corps officers.

TODAY'S MOON: Last quarter moon (July 26).

Today is the 207th day of 2016 and the 36th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1952, Puerto Rico became a self-governing U.S. commonwealth.

In 1978, Louise Joy Brown, the first baby to be conceived via in vitro fertilization, was born in Manchester, England.

In 2005, two major unions, the Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, withdrew from the AFL-CIO.

In 2010, the website WikiLeaks released the "Afghan War Diary," containing more than 75,000 secret documents from the United States' war in Afghanistan.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Henry Knox (1750-1806), first U.S. secretary of war; Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966), painter/illustrator; Eric Hoffer (1902-1983), philosopher; Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958), biophysicist; Estelle Getty (1923-2008), actress; John Gibson (1946- ), radio/TV personality; Walter Payton (1954-1999), football player; Iman (1955- ), model/actress; Thurston Moore (1958- ), musician; Matt LeBlanc (1967- ), actor; Lauren Faust (1974- ), animator.

TODAY'S FACT: The Viking Orbiter 1 spacecraft, while searching for potential landing sites for the Viking 2 Lander, snapped the famous "Face on Mars" photo of the planet's surface on this day in 1976.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1976, American Edwin Moses ran in his first international track and field event at the Montreal Olympics -- the 400m hurdles -- and won a gold medal, with a record-setting time of 47.64 seconds.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "If you have nothing to say and want badly to say it, then all the words in all the dictionaries will not suffice." -- Eric Hoffer

TODAY'S NUMBER: 3.4 million -- approximate combined membership of the Teamsters and the Service Employees International unions in 2016.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (July 19) and last quarter moon (July 26).

Today is the 206th day of 2016 and the 35th day of summer.

TODAY'S HISTORY: In 1847, Brigham Young and the first Mormon pioneers arrived at Utah's Salt Lake Valley.

In 1866, Tennessee became the first Confederate state to be re-admitted to the Union following the Civil War.

In 1959, the "Kitchen Debate" between Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev took place in Moscow.

In 1998, a lone gunman opened fire in the U.S. Capitol building, killing two police officers.

TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS: Simon Bolivar (1783-1830), South American liberator; Alexandre Dumas, pere (1802-1870), playwright/novelist; Amelia Earhart (1897-1937), aviator; Pat Oliphant (1935- ), cartoonist; Gallagher (1946- ), comedian; Michael Richards (1949- ), actor/comedian; Gus Van Sant (1952- ), filmmaker; Karl Malone (1963- ), basketball player; Barry Bonds (1964- ), baseball player; Jennifer Lopez (1969- ), actress/singer; Elisabeth Moss (1982- ), actress; Anna Paquin (1982- ), actress.

TODAY'S FACT: In 1911, American historian Hiram Bingham rediscovered the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu, which had been largely forgotten by those outside the immediate area in Peru.

TODAY'S SPORTS: In 1983, umpires at Yankee Stadium in New York nullified a two-run home run in the ninth inning by George Brett of the Kansas City Royals, due to excessive pine tar on Brett's bat. The ruling was later overturned and the Royals won the restarted game 5-4 on Aug. 18.

TODAY'S QUOTE: "You are young, and your bitter recollections have time to change themselves into sweet remembrances." -- Alexandre Dumas, "The Three Musketeers"

TODAY'S NUMBER: 6.5 million -- reported membership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons) in the United States in 2016.

TODAY'S MOON: Between full moon (July 19) and last quarter moon (July 26).