A Brief History On January 12, 2005, the American space exploration agency known as NASA launched a mission called Deep Impact, a probe designed to violently impact the comet Tempel 1. Digging Deeper The goal of the Deep Impact project was to have an “impactor” strike the comet hard enough to dislodge material from the comet’s core for NASA scientists to study the material that makes up the core. On July 4, 2005, the impactor performed as designed and struck the comet a mighty blow, leaving a crater and dislodging core material. Analysis of the dislodged material revealed a greater…
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 January 11, 1569, the first documented example of a lottery in England took place. Although 1569 seems like a long time ago, lotteries actually go back much, much farther! Digging Deeper The first evidence of any sort of government run lottery for money game takes us back to the Chinese Han Dynasty somewhere between 205 and 187 BC. This money raising scheme was for the purpose of financing public works, including The Great Wall of China. Lotteries first showed up in Europe in the Roman Empire, first in private parties and later under Emperor Augustus as…
A Brief History On January 10, 1927, Fritz Lang’s classic film Metropolis was released in Germany. This iconic film, made during the “silent film era,” cost the modern equivalent of 21 million Euros and is considered to be among the greatest films ever made. Digging Deeper Oddly enough, Orson Welles, creator of another candidate for “Greatest Movie,” Citizen Kane, called Metropolis, “Silly.” Some of the other films others have called, “The Greatest,” include Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Vertigo, Jaws, The Seven Samurai, The Godfather, Battleship Potemkin, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Obviously, criteria such as biggest…
A Brief History On January 9, 1861, the State of Mississippi seceded from the United States of America, the second of the slave holding states to do so. The states that seceded and formed the Confederate States of America included South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Digging Deeper Slave holding states that chose not to secede were Maryland and Delaware. Two other states were split between those that wanted to secede and those that remained loyal to the Union, and actually belonged to BOTH sides during the American Civil War, namely, Kentucky…
A Brief History On January 8, 1835, President Andrew Jackson saw fit to celebrate the rarest of events in American history, the only time the US has ever had a zero balance for a National Debt. This rare and wonderful situation lasted until 1837, never to be seen again. Digging Deeper Today, we routinely talk about our national debt, which is about $31.5 Trillion at this time. Our spending for Fiscal Year 2023 has exceeded our tax revenues by about $336 billion, adding that amount to our national debt. The last time the US had a balanced budget, where spending…