A Brief History On May 7, 1718, the city of New Orleans in what is now the State of Louisiana was founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the French Governor of Louisiana in what was then New France, the French colonial enterprise in North America. Digging Deeper Also called Sieur de Bienville, Bienville was born in Ville-Marie, now Montreal, Quebec, New France, now Canada, and was sent by French colonial authorities to the Gulf Coast to explore and establish a foothold for France. Bienville’s travels led to the founding of Mobile, Alabama and Biloxi, Mississippi as well as New…
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 May 6, 2014, Canadian author Farley Mowat died only a week before turning 93 years old. Digging Deeper A World War II veteran, Mowat saw combat in Sicily and Italy with the infantry and later served as an intelligence officer, including working with a German general to allow the Allies to drop food and supplies to Dutch civilians behind German lines. Promoted to the rank of Captain, Mowat would have been promoted to major had he stayed in the Army. After the war, he began a career in writing and environmental causes and was known as…
A Brief History On May 5, 1904, Denton “Cy” Young of the Boston Americans pitched an historic American League game against the Philadelphia Athletics, not allowing any base runners in the first major league “Perfect Game” of the modern baseball era. Digging Deeper The name “Cy” was a shortened form of “Cyclone,” a nod to his ability to demolish fencing like a cyclone with his fastball. Born in Ohio in 1867, Young first played professionally in Canton, Ohio, moving up to the Big Show with the Cleveland Spiders of the National League. Young embarked on a major league career that…
A Brief History On May 4, 2019, the W Series conducted their first and inaugural motor race at Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg, Germany, an all-Female auto racing event. Digging Deeper That initial race was won by Jamie Chadwick, a British race car driver, who went on to win that first season W Series Championship. Chadwick still drives competitively in the Indy NXT series for the Andretti Autosport team and is a major female example of top-notch drivers such as Danica Patrick, Shirley Muldowney, Janet Guthrie, Simona de Silvestro, Michèle Mouton, and Maria Teresa de Filippis. Apologies to the many great female drivers…
A Brief History On May 3, 1999, the state of Oklahoma experienced a catastrophic weather event known as the “1999 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak.” A series of tornadoes that lasted from May 2nd to May 8th, the highest wind speed recorded during the twisters was an incredible 301 mph, plus or minus 20 mph. Digging Deeper But of course, that is tornadic wind speed. Wind as measured as normal high-speed wind along the surface of the Earth has a lower record velocity. A candidate for the highest wind speed on Earth occurred at Barrow Island, Australia in 1996, an umbrella shattering…