History and Headlines - A Bizarre Look at History...One Day at a Time!

December 9, 2018: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Animated Blockbuster Movie Review!

By Major Dan on December 9, 2018 Cinema & TV, December 9

A Brief History On December 9,2018, we take a minute to tell you about the latest blockbuster film based off of a Marvel Comics property, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, this time an animated feature film, although probably the best animation you have ever seen! Sadly, the film contains possibly the last cameo by the late Stan Lee, creator of Spider-Man and other characters, and in this case an animated cameo. (Reportedly, Lee will also appear in cameos in 2019’s Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, but as these films have not yet been released, we cannot confirm that his scenes will indeed be in…

December 8, 2018: Santa, I Want a BB Gun for Christmas!

By Major Dan on December 8, 2018 December 8, Inventions, Sports

A Brief History On December 8, 2018, we take a look at some of the really nifty air powered weapons available for adults and kids, usually called “BB Guns” in a generic sort of way, but in these modern times so much more than that name implies. For one thing, air (or other gas) powered rifles and pistols do not always shoot little round metal BB’s (.177 of an inch in caliber) at moderate velocities like the BB guns of the past. Some of these air guns are high powered weapons capable of launching large caliber (.22 to .50 caliber…

December 7, 1999: Whatever Happened to Napster?

By Major Dan on December 7, 2018 December 7, Music

A Brief History On December 7, 1999, A&M Records, Inc. filed a Federal lawsuit against the music sharing online giant, Napster. Napster, created on June 1, 1999, by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker, as a music sharing online platform in which millions of music lovers across the country and the world were able to download the latest musical releases at no cost to themselves, and by default no profit to the music/recording industry. As the saying goes, “There is no free lunch.” Another apropos saying, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is…” also applies, for it did…

Oops, My Bad! 10 More Dumb Decisions (Military Edition)

By Major Dan on December 6, 2018 December 6, Lists, Military

A Brief History On December 6, 1969, the motorcycle gang known as The Hell’s Angels were contracted to provide security at a Rolling Stones concert, a dumb decision that resulted in the Angels killing a concert goer, an incident we previously discussed in our article “December 6, 1969: 10 Dumb Decisions (Epic Blunders!).” Not content with pointing out blunders with a limit of only 10 massive mistakes, we expounded on the subject by listing “10 Business Blunders (Corporate Decisions Gone Bad!,” “April 15, 1861: 10 Times Military Needs Were Underestimated,” and “August 2, 1916: 10 Italian Military Catastrophes, Blunders, and…

December 5, 1955: Are Labor Unions Going Extinct?

By Major Dan on December 5, 2018 December 5, Politics

A Brief History On December 5, 1955, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged to form the AFL-CIO, the largest confederation of trade and labor unions in the world. By 1979 the AFL-CIO claimed to represent 20 million union workers, but today has only 12 million members. Are union jobs going the way of the dinosaurs and Dodo birds? Today we take a brief look at the history of labor unions in the United States and the trends that have developed regarding working people. Workers represented by unions almost always have better pay and benefits…