A Brief History On June 30, 2009, one of those fantastic tales you think you would only see in the movies or in a fantasy novel really happened when an airliner crashed near the Indian Ocean island of Grande Comore, killing 152 of the 153 aboard the Airbus A310 jetliner. The sole survivor on the flight from Yemen to the Comoros Islands was a girl of 14 years of age, found 13 hours after the crash bobbing in the ocean while clinging to floating wreckage. Digging Deeper Yemenia Flight 626 featured an Airbus twin engine jet airliner, model Airbus A310-324,…
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 July 2, 2019, the latest Marvel superhero movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home, makes its debut across the United States. Having already premiered in Hollywood, the 27th film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe already holds an incredible 91% approval rating on critical aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. (Audience scores are not yet available as of the writing of this review.) Acting performances and directing are all spot on, and of course, the special effects are indeed something special. Lots of eye candy for fans of bright, colorful eye-popping effects. Digging Deeper Once again starring Tom Holland as the…
A Brief History On June 27, 2015, the Formosa Fun Coast waterpark in Bali, New Taipei, Taiwan, experienced a massive explosion that killed 15 people and injured an additional 497. Among the injured, 199 were in critical condition. The cause of the explosion was colored corn starch powder used in a “Color Play Asia” party, a ritual of the Hindu religious festival “Holi” (“Festival of Colors.”) A performance on a music stage observed by hundreds of park goers was the setting for the disaster. Digging Deeper The recreational waterpark had been open since 1989, and was closed after the explosion. …
A Brief History On June 26, 2019, the third installment of the Annabelle haunted doll movie franchise opens across the United States. We had the opportunity to preview the film last week, and as fans of the first 2 films, we were anxiously awaiting this third movie in the Annabelle portion of the Conjuring movie universe. This time, instead of the doll itself being possessed by a malevolent spirit, the doll is a portal for other malevolent spirits. Digging Deeper The departure in the concept of how the evil works may bother some finicky “purists” that insist all prequels and…
A Brief History On June 23, 1942, Oberleutnant Armin Faber of the German Luftwaffe made an historic blunder when he landed his state of the art Focke-Wulf 190 fighter plane at a Welsh airfield at RAF Pembrey, handing the British Germany’s latest and best fighter aircraft complete and in flyable condition. Faber apparently mistook the Bristol Channel for the English Channel which caused his navigational error. So eager were the British to capture an example of the FW-190 they actually considered mounting a commando raid in order to steal one of the high performance fighters. Lucky for the British, Armin…