A Brief History On May 30, 1883, panicked public people pushed, prodded, poked, and pummeled each other in a mad dash to get away from the Brooklyn Bridge when an unfounded rumor circulated that collapse was imminent. This ridiculous rumor was not true, and the incident provided the impetus for our previous article about Stupid Rumors. Today we take a look at more of these persistent beliefs that people have that get passed around to the point that vast numbers of people actually believe them to be fact, which of course they are not. Digging Deeper Covid vaccine has some…
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 23, 1945, notorious head of the dreaded German SS (Schutzstaffel), Heinrich Himmler, committed suicide by taking poison rather than face execution by hanging. Himmler is just one of many famous or infamous people that have killed themselves while in custody to avoid whatever retribution awaited them at the hands of their captors. Today we list some of those notorious incidents. Digging Deeper Heinrich Himmler, SS Chief and mass murderer (1945) A high-ranking Nazi official before and during World War II, this German weasel led the fanatic SS and was the leading head Nazi behind the…
A Brief History On May 16, 1957, Eliot Ness, former head of the “Untouchables” and former Safety Director of Cleveland, Ohio, died in relative obscurity, unlike the famous character of television and movies. Today we take a quick look at 5 famous lawmen, with the emphasis on “fame” rather than on any particular virtue or value. Digging Deeper Wyatt Earp, Frontier Lawman Wyatt, along with his brothers Virgil and Morgan, gained everlasting fame as the winners of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881. Despite his far greater fame, Wyatt was not the main lawman on the scene, as…
A Brief History On May 9, 1960, the Searle manufactured drug, Enovid, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States as a birth control measure, making Enovid the first oral contraceptive pill approved for use by any nation. While most American women rejoiced at the sexual freedom afforded by this “miracle” drug, not everyone was happy about the approval and to this day, such birth control drugs remain controversial. Digging Deeper A major boon to the Women’s Liberation Movement, American women largely celebrated the advent of this empowering drug that permitted women to avoid the “tyranny”…
A Brief History On April 25, 2019, NBA (National Basketball Association) Hall of Famer, John Havlicek, died in Jupiter, Florida at the age of 79. Born in 1940, Havlicek was already 6 years old when the NBA was born. We use this occasion of the passing of an NBA (and Ohio State University) legend to talk about the evolution of the NBA. Digging Deeper In June of 1946, the Basketball Association of America was formed as a major league of professional basketball in the United States and Canada. The BAA started out as a competitor of the already established (1937)…