A Brief History On December 28, 1999, Western actor/action hero Clayton Moore died. If you are not familiar with this star of the small and large screen, he played The Lone Ranger from 1949 to 1957 on television and starred in 2 related big screen movies about the same character. Even if you never saw the Clayton Moore versions of the Lone Ranger, you are probably familiar with “The William Tell Overture” by Rossini, the theme music played for Moore’s Lone Ranger character. In the Covid-19 plagued year of 2020, we have lost another host of notable people, both to…
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.
Read More
A Brief History On December 25, 2020, people around the world celebrate the Christian holiday of Christmas, honoring the birth of Jesus Christ. During this Christmas season, we are likely to hear many Christmas carols and holiday songs, but none of them are arguably as touching and universal as “O Holy Night,” also known as “Cantique de Noël” in the original French. We take this opportunity to reflect on the song that, in our opinion, is the greatest Christmas carol. Digging Deeper While the famous carol is of course, Christian, the backgrounds of the men involved in creating the song…
A Brief History On November 5, 2020, we screened an advance showing of the new motion picture starring Kevin Costner and Diane Lane, Let Him Go, a film set to open the next day. (Release was delayed from August 2020 to November 6, 2020, because of the coronavirus pandemic.) Set in the late 1950’s in the remote areas of Montana and North Dakota, the movie takes us to dark places of life altering events and decisions. Neither eye candy nor uplifting, the film is drama with a hint of horror. If you have read our previous movie reviews, you will…
A Brief History On December 14, 1909, the last paving brick was laid at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana, giving the venue its iconic nickname, The Brickyard. Previously, the racing surface was a miserable concoction of limestone, gravel, tar and oil, a surface that ate the tires of cars and motorcycles for lunch! Road surfaces and the motor vehicles that drive on them have improved immeasurably in the years since 1909, and today we take a look at some of the automotive gadgets and features we believe best illustrates those advances. As always, feel free to nominate those automotive…
A Brief History On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy conducted a surprise (or less politically correct, “sneak”) attack against the US military installations and ships at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The early morning attack undoubtedly caught many Americans in the bathroom, doing their “duty.” Those American heroes had to be desperate to finish their business with “John” and get to their military duties, undoubtedly having no time to contemplate the fantastic advances in bathroom technology that makes our lives so much more bearable. Today we look at a sampling of things you might take for granted but were actually…