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Today in History: July 10
1520 The Spanish explorer Hernan Cortes is driven from Tenochtitlan and retreats to Tlaxcala.

1609 The Catholic states in Germany set up a league under the leadership of Maximilian of Bavaria.

1679 The British crown claims New Hampshire as a royal colony.

1776 The statue of King George III is pulled down in New York City.

1778 In support of the American Revolution, Louis XVI declares war on England.

1850 Millard Fillmore is sworn in as the 13th president of the United States following the death of Zachary Taylor.

1890 Wyoming becomes the 44th state.

1893 Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performs the first successful open-heart surgery, without the benefit of penicillin or blood transfusion.

1943 American and British forces complete their amphibious landing of Sicily.

1945
U.S. carrier-based aircraft begin airstrikes against Japan in preparation for invasion.

1951
Armistice talks between the United Nations and North Korea begin at Kaesong.

1960
Belgium sends troops to the Congo to protect whites as the Congolese Bloodbath begins, just 10 days after the former colony became independent of Belgian rule.


1962
The satellite Telstar is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, beaming live television from Europe to the United States.

1965
""(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" becomes the Rolling Stones' first No. 1 single in the USA.

1967
Singer Bobbie Gentry records "Ode to Billie Joe," which will become a country music classic and win 4 Grammys.

1976
In Seveso, near Milan, Italy, an explosion in a chemical factory covers the surrounding area with toxic dioxin. Time magazine has ranked the Seveso incident No. 8 on its list of the 10 worst environmental disasters.

1985
Coca-Cola Co. announces it will resume selling "old formula Coke," following a public outcry and falling sales of its "new Coke."


1991
Boris Yeltsin is sworn in as the first elected president of the Russian Federation, following the breakup of the USSR.

1993
Kenyan runner Yobes Ondieki becomes the first man to run 10,000 meters in less than 27 minutes.

JOTD
A woman joins a country club and when she hears the guys talking about their golf round, she says, "I played on my college's golf team. I was pretty good. Mind if I join you next week?" No one wants to say 'yes', but they're on the spot…
Long
Finally, one man says, "Okay, but we start at 6:30 a.m."

He figures the early tee-time will discourage her.

The woman says this may be a problem and asks if she can be up to 15 minutes late.

They roll their eyes, but say, "Okay."

She's there at 6:30 am. sharp and beats all of them with an eye-opening 2-under par round.

She's fun and pleasant and the guys are impressed.

They congratulate her and invite her back the next week.

She smiles, and says, "I'll be there at 6:30, or 6:45."

The next week she again shows up at 6:30 sharp.

Only this time, she plays left-handed.

The three guys are incredulous as she still beats them with an even par round, despite playing with her off-hand.

They're totally amazed.

They can't figure her out.

She's very pleasant and a gracious winner.

They invite her back again, but each man harbors a burning desire to beat her.

The third week, she's 15 minutes late, which irritates the guys.

This week she plays right-handed and narrowly beats all three of them.

The men grumble that her late arrival is petty gamesmanship on her part.

However, she's so charming and complimentary of their strong play, they can't hold a grudge.

This woman is a riddle no one can figure out.

They have a couple of beers in the Clubhouse and finally, one of the men asks her, "How do you decide if you're going to golf right-handed or left-handed?"

The lady blushes, and grins. "When my dad taught me to play golf, I learned that I was ambidextrous." she replies. "I like to switch back and forth."

"When I got married after college, I discovered my husband always sleeps in the nude. From then on, I developed a silly habit. Right before I leave in the morning for golf practice, I pull the covers off him. If his willie points to the right, I golf right-handed; if it points to the left, I golf left-handed."

The guys think this is hysterical.

Astonished at this bizarre information, one of the guys says, "What if it's pointing straight up?"

She says, "Then, I'm fifteen minutes late."