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.

A Brief History On September 16, 1979, the Rap music trio The Sugarhill Gang released their groundbreaking hit, “Rapper’s Delight,” the first Rap song to land in the Billboard Top 40 as a mainstream hit song.  America was baptized into a new mainstream musical genre that has persisted over the years, a movement also called “Hip Hop.” Digging Deeper Finding its origins in New York City during the 1970’s, African American and to some extent Latino Americans developed the Rap style of talk music, which has evolved into the wider genre of Hip Hop which includes “beat box” singing, record…

Read More

A Brief History On September 14, 919, a united coalition of native Irish fought an epic battle against the Dublin based Vikings that had colonized Ireland, a battle known as the Battle of Islandbridge.  An indication of how real leaders used to put their own lives at stake in the interest of their realm, a stunning total of 6 Irish kings died in the battle, including their overall leader, King Niall Glúndub, the overking of Northern Uí Néill (Northwestern Ireland) and High King of Ireland.  As indicated by the loss the 6 kings, the Irish lost the battle to the…

Read More

A Brief History On September 11, 1826, Captain William Morgan was arrested in Batavia, New York, supposedly on a charge of failing to pay a debt.  The real reason for his arrest was that the ex-Freemason had threatened to publish an expose type book, The Mysteries of Free Masonry, a less than flattering description of the secret society.  His subsequent disappearance and presumed murder led to a groundswell of opinion against Freemasons in the United States. Digging Deeper In fact, the increase in anti-Masonic feeling in the US continued to rise to the point where on September 11, 1830, the…

Read More

A Brief History On September 9, 2015, a new record was broken!  On this historic date, Queen Elizabeth II (r. 1952-present) became Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.  The preceding line was our opening line in our 2016 article commemorating the achievement by Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, on becoming the longest reigning monarch in British history.  Today we take a look at some of the travails the Royal Family has gone through under her reign. Digging Deeper For starters, during her reign she has lost the sovereignty over many realms, losing her title as Queen of Pakistan, Queen of Ceylon,…

Read More

A Brief History On September 7, 1909, French pilot Eugène Lefebvre flew a newly French built Wright biplane into history when he crashed and died, becoming the first person ever to die in an airplane crash.  We have previously reported on “10 Famous People That Died in Airplane Crashes” and today we add to that list with more famous victims of aircraft disasters.  Who would you add to this list? Digging Deeper 1. Kobe Bryant, Basketball Star, 2020. Arguably one of the greatest basketball players of all time and a popular sports figure, Bryant was killed along with his daughter…

Read More