A Brief History On October 13, 1307, King Philip the Fair of France had hundreds of the Knights Templar arrested on trumped up charges of heresy, even though Pope Clement knew the charges were false! Digging Deeper King Phillip IV of France was known as “Phillip the Fair,” but the nickname was based on his good looks, not his equitableness . His critics called him “The Iron King” and perhaps less flattering epithets. Reigning from 1284 to 1305, Phillip engaged in wars with England and with Flanders as well. Driving the country and the throne into financial straits, Phillip found…
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 October 12, 1901, President Theodore Roosevelt renamed the “Executive Mansion” the “White House,” giving America’s most famous home its name. Teddy was a man of many talents, adventures and firsts. Digging Deeper Born in 1858, Teddy went to Harvard and graduated in 1880, magna cum laude. He spent 1883 to 1887 in Dakota Territory, ranching and befriending former Deadwood sheriff Seth Bullock. Political jobs included NY City Police Commissioner, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and Governor of New York. He became Vice President in 1901. Meanwhile, Teddy served with the “Rough Riders” in combat during the…
A Brief History On October 11, 2018, the Russian manned space mission, Soyuz MS-10, suffered a booster failure shortly after liftoff, necessitating an emergency abort. Incredibly, both crew members survived the successful abort and reentry to safely land in Kazakhstan. Digging Deeper The Soyuz MS-10 spacecraft reached an altitude of 58 miles, not quite reaching outer space, and landed about 12 miles from the launch site. An error in assembly was blamed for the mishap, and the next flight, MS-11, went off successfully on December 3, 2018. Another example of a successful abort procedure took place on September 26, 1983,…
A Brief History On October 10, 2018, Hurricane Michael hit Florida hard, a category 5 hurricane that caused 57 American deaths and $25.1 billion of damage. Rating the worst hurricanes can be done by dollar amounts in either contemporaneous values or proportioned to today/s value, or by deaths. Obviously, estimates also vary, but we will attempt to rank some of the worst of these big Atlantic storms. Digging Deeper The worst hurricane by fatalities was the Great Hurricane of 1780, with around 22,000 people killed, 9000 on Martinique alone as it ravaged the Caribbean. The deadliest hurricane in US history…
A Brief History On October 9, 1967, Ernesto “Che” Guevara was executed in Bolivia only a day after he was captured. A Marxist revolutionary from Argentina, Che was a pal of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and was notorious for inciting communist rebellion in Latin American countries. Digging Deeper Amazingly, for some reason the image of Che emblazoned on T-shirts is common in America, causing one to wonder if the youngsters wearing those shirts have any idea who this guy really was. Despite being born into an upper-class family, young Ernesto showed concern for the wellbeing of the poor and quickly showed…