A Brief History In October 1934, state prisoners at the Cummins State Farm in Lincoln County, Arkansas recorded a folk song, “The Rock Island Line.” The song is about a train engineer that sneaks a load of pig iron on his train past the toll collectors by claiming his train is carrying only produce, a cargo not levied. Since this is the only song I know of about pig iron, it will be the inspiration for today’s subject! Digging Deeper Many notable artists, Black and White, have recorded the song originally written and recorded by African Americans. Some of those…
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 18, 2017, in honor of the month that brings us Halloween, perhaps the greatest of all holidays, we list our 10 favorite horror themed television series that are airing this month, some of which may have finished their season in October and others that are just starting. (See our list, 10 Greatest Sci-Fi and Horror Television Shows from October 2.) Digging Deeper 1. Channel Zero, SyFy. Another anthology series, this one has a unique approach where the “season” is only 6 episodes long. Currently in its 2nd season (ending October 25, 2017) a 3rd season will…
A Brief History On October 17, 2001, Jay Livingston, American composer of famous songs for movies and television, died at the age of 86. Livingston is one of several famous musicians that died on October 17th, and today we honor these wonderful writers and singers by telling you a little about them. Even if you do not know the people, you almost assuredly know the music. (Okay, some are before your time.) Digging Deeper 1. Jay Livingston, composer, 2001. Born Jacob Levison in Pennsylvania in 1915, Jay wrote famous songs featured in movies such as “Tammy” (Patti Page), “Mona Lisa” (Nat…
A Brief History On October 16, 1991, a disturbed man crashed his pick-up truck into a Luby’s cafeteria in Texas, and proceeded to shoot and kill 24 people, including himself. George Hennard wounded another 27 with gunshots, which up until June 11, 2016 had been the worst non-school mass shooting in United States history. (On that day 49 people were gunned down at the Orlando, Florida gay nightclub called “Pulse.”) When Stephen Paddock, age 64, opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino in Las Vegas on a crowd attending a country music concert and…
A Brief History On October 15, 2017, people all across the world celebrate Global Handwashing Day, a day to encourage sanitary hand washing behavior in an effort to cut respiratory (notably pneumonia) and diarrheal diseases. Getting people to wash their hands as prescribed can save an estimate half million lives of children per year, and of course, reducing the amount of people with diarrhea by 30+% is darn near worth the effort alone! Digging Deeper Global Handwashing Day was started in 2008 by a consortium of producers of soap products and medical associations. The Public Private Partnership for Handwashing initiated…