A Brief History On June 25, 1997, an unmanned Russian spacecraft called Progress-M blundered into the Russian manned Mir space station. Despite considerable damage, no lives were lost, and the space station continued its mission. Digging Deeper Launched in 1986, Mir was a Soviet space venture that was built up through 1996, and eventually abandoned and burned up on reentry to the Earth’s atmosphere in 2001. Manned by a crew of 3, Mir was the largest human built satellite of the Earth until the International Space Station was built starting in 1998. Holding space records eventually beaten by the ISS,…
Author: Major Dan
Major Dan
Major Daniel Zar is a retired veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served during the Cold War and has traveled to many countries around the world. Prior to his military service, he graduated from Cleveland State University, having majored in sociology. Following his military service, he worked as a police officer eventually earning the rank of captain prior to his retirement.
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A Brief History On June 24, 1949, NBC premiered the first Western themed TV show, an adaptation of a character created by Clarence E. Mulford in 1904, Hopalong Cassidy. Digging Deeper The character, played by William Boyd on television, was a tough cowboy who had a funny walk due to an old injury from being shot in the leg. Prior to the TV show, Boyd appeared in 66 films between 1935 and 1948 as Cassidy. The TV show started out showing edited versions of the films before transitioning to fresh material. Airing until 1952, Hopalong Cassidy broke major TV ground…
A Brief History On June 23, 2023, Americans celebrate National Detroit Style Pizza Day, a day to honor perhaps America’s favorite food in a unique style. Digging Deeper While most are familiar with “New York Style” and “Chicago Style” pizza, the variety invented by Buddy’s Pizza in Detroit, Michigan back in 1946 is a major player in gustatory wars that define pizza. Detroit Style is different, starting with its square shape, baked with a thick, airy crust in a square pan, spread with plenty of Wisconsin Brick Cheese all the way to the ends, covered with “racing stripes” of pizza…
A Brief History On June 22, 1918, a passenger train carrying US military troops plowed into the rear end of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train that had stopped on the tracks for repairs. Sadly, 86 of the over 250 circus people died and 127 were injured, making the Hammond Circus Train Wreck one of the worst in US railroad history. Digging Deeper The name of the wreck derives from the location, near Hammond, Indiana. The driver of the troop train had fallen asleep and missed at least two warnings about the stopped train ahead. Luckily, the relatively fragile wooden circus cars…
A Brief History On June 21, 1973, the US Supreme Court handed down a decision in Miller v. California, establishing a way to determine if something is “free speech” guaranteed by the 1st Amendment or if it is obscene. Digging Deeper Referred to as the “Miller Test,” SCOTUS determined that three factors must be present for some sort of expression to be considered obscene and not covered under “free speech.” These three factors are: “Whether ‘the average person, applying contemporary community standards’, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest, Whether the work depicts…