On This Day:
Wednesday July 17, 2013

This is the 198th day of the year, with 167 days remaining in 2013.

Fact of the Day: condiments

Condiments are food substances used to heighten the natural flavors of foods, stimulate the appetite, aid digestion, or preserve certain foods; the word comes from Latin condire "to preserve." The custom of using condiments is as ancient as cookery itself, the first ones being mainly of vegetable origin and used as a means of preserving. In the U.S., large quantities of bottled sauces and condiments are used to accompany salads, meats, vegetables, etc.

Holidays

Feast day of The Seven Apostles of Bulgaria, St. Clement of Okhrida and his Companions, St. Leo IV, pope, St. Ennodius, St. Kenelm, St. Speratus and his Companions, St. Marcellina, and St. Nerses Lampronazi.
Iraq: 17 July Revolution / Baath Revolution Day.
Korea: Constitution Day.
Puerto Rico: Munoz-Rivera Day.

Events

1754 - King's College opened in New York City; the Anglican academy would later become Columbia University.
1821 - Spain ceded Florida to the United States. 
1867 - Harvard School of Dental Medicine was established in Boston, Massachusetts -- the first dental school in the U.S.
1898 - During the Spanish-American War, Spanish troops in Santiago, Cuba, surrendered to U.S. forces. 
1945 - President Harry Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill began meeting atPotsdam in the final Allied summit of World War II.
1955 - Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California. 
1975 - The U.S. spacecraft Apollo 18 and the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 19 docked in space.
1996 - Shortly after takeoff from New York's Kennedy International Airport, a TWA Boeing 747 jetliner bound for Paris exploded over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 230 people aboard. Investigators concluded that the explosion resulted from mechanical failure.
1997 - After 117 years, the Woolworth Corp. closed its last 400 five-and-dime stores.
1998 - An earthquake registering 7.0 on the Richter scale, hits Papua New Guinea resulting in a tsunami which swept the coast.

Births

1889 - Erle Stanley Gardner, American detective writer, creator of the character Perry Mason.
1899 - James Cagney, American actor.
1912 - Art Linkletter, American television host.
1917 - Phyllis Diller (born Phyllis Ada Driver), American comedian.
1934 - Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor.
1952 - David Hasselhoff, American actor and musician.
1954 - Angela Merkel, German stateswoman and chancellor.
1960 - Mark Burnett, English-born television producer.

Deaths

1790 - Adam Smith, Scottish political economist.
1903 - James McNeill Whistler, American painter.
1959 - Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan), American jazz singer.
1961 - Ty Cobb, American baseball player and Hall of Famer.
1967 - John Coltrane, American jazz musician.
2005 - Edward Heath, British politician.
2006 - Mickey Spillane, American author.