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 August 26, 2018, a nation mourns the loss of US Navy veteran John McCain, a prominent US Senator from Arizona and former Presidential candidate who finally succumbed to brain cancer on August 25, 2018, after a courageous fight.  As a high profile US politician, McCain became even more famous/infamous when he chose Sarah Palin as his Vice-presidential running mate in 2008.  We celebrate John McCain’s life and legacy today by chronicling his fascinating life, a life of incredible highs and lows, triumphs and terrible pain. Digging Deeper Born in the Canal Zone (Panama) to a prominent…

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A Brief History On August 25, 1823, mountain man and fur trapper Hugh Glass was attacked by a Grizzly Bear while on a fur taking and exploring expedition in what is now South Dakota.  The terrible injuries Glass suffered and his fierce determination to live have been recalled for history by not 1, but 2 major motion pictures, Man in the Wilderness (1971) and The Revenant (2015).  We have previously discussed this famous incident in our article, “10 Incredible Tales of Survival.”  Today we will discuss 10 cases of animal attacks on human beings that are famous or infamous, either…

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A Brief History On August 24, 1215, Pope Innocent III declared the Magna Carta that King John of England signed with a group of dissatisfied barons on June 15, 1215, a famous document that is often treated with similar respect as the American Declaration of Independence, null and void.  Pope Innocent III was not just meddling with the affairs of far away Britain, he also claimed supremacy over all the various Kings and Queens of Europe!  Innocent was not so innocent when he instigated the Fourth Crusade, which was a disaster that resulted in the sack of Constantinople and ultimately…

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A Brief History On August 23, 2007, the bodies of the remaining Romanov family members were found near Yekaterinburg, Russia, the remains being mere skeletons. Still, the discovery of the remains of Czarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov and his sister, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanov put an end to any realistic claims that either of these 2 children of the last Czar of Russia, Nicholas (Nikolai) II of the Romanov dynasty would be alive or have had children, thus producing possible heirs to the throne of Imperial Russia. For nearly a century people have claimed to be Alexei or Anastasia, or…

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A Brief History On August 22, 1962, the French ultra-nationalist terror group known as the OAS (Organisation armée secrete, which means “Secret Army Organization”) made a famous attempt on the life of Charles de Gaulle, president of France.  The OAS had tried and failed to kill de Gaulle before, but this particular attempt became all the more famous as the inspiration for the 1971 Frederick Forsyth novel, The Day of the Jackal.  The book became enough of a best seller to in turn inspire the 1973 major motion picture by the same name, starring Edward Fox and Michel Lonsdale.  The…

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