A Brief History On January 14, 1952, the Today Show, also simply called Today, made its debut on NBC television, the first daily morning television talk show. Digging Deeper Originally a 2-hour long show, the program has evolved into a 4 hour composite morning television powerhouse, basically unchallenged in its genre until the introduction of Good Morning America on ABC and the ascendance of that program in the 1980s. These 2 morning shows have exchanged the coveted #1 rating a few times over the years, and in keeping with the times, Today now also offers a 24 hours streaming show…
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 13, 2022, the National Shooting Sports Foundation warned American firearms enthusiasts of an online scam targeting those looking to buy a new firearm. Firearms are big business in the United States, with nearly 400 million guns owned by private citizens. Digging Deeper In a set of statistics that might just surprise you, the most popular single type of rifle in the US is the M-16/AR-15 family of weapons, with a total civilian ownership of between 20 million and 44 million, depending on the source. When other military looking types of guns are included in the…
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…
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…