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 20, 1893, Charles Duryea and his brother, J. Frank Duryea, tested their gasoline powered automobile, the first gasoline powered car in the United States.  Since that historic day, Americans have been building and buying cars and other motor vehicles like no other country on Earth.  Here today we list 10 Amazing Facts About American Cars, their history of manufacture, sales, performance and the like. Digging Deeper 1. First Ever Automobile, 1885-1886. Karl Benz of Germany came out with his Benz-Patent-Motorwagen a whopping 7 years before the Duryeas made the first American gasoline powered auto.  Benz used…

Read More

A Brief History On September 19, 1846, two shepherd children in La Salette-Fallavaux, France experienced a vision or an encounter with what has officially been recognized by the Catholic Church as a meeting with the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ.  The event, known as Our Lady of La Salette became an important influence on religious thought, influencing such theologians as Saint John Bosco, Saint John Vianney, and writer JK Huysmans. Digging Deeper The encounter began as the 2 children, Maximin Giraud and Melanie Calvat, were returning from a local mountain where they had been tending to their families’ cows. …

Read More

A Brief History On September 18, 1997, Atlanta billionaire Ted Turner (aka, Mr. Jane Fonda from 1991 to 2001) donated a massive one billion dollars to the United Nations.  His donation was used to create the United Nations Foundation, of which Turner serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors.  Having become super wealthy through his media businesses, including a billboard and advertising business, CNN (the first 24/7 cable news network) and television station WTBS, a cable pioneering giant “super-station.”  His 2017 net worth is estimated at $23 billion, so he could afford such an enormous gift.  We list 10…

Read More

A Brief History On September 17, 1939, only a couple weeks after World War II in Europe began, the German U-boat, U-29, sunk the British aircraft carrier HMS Courageous with two of the three torpedoes fired striking the unlucky carrier.  Courageous sank with 519 of her crew going down, becoming the first aircraft carrier ever sunk by a submarine.  Here we list all the aircraft carriers ever sunk in combat by submarines, a dangerous prey as carriers are inevitably well protected by escorting ships.  Note that no aircraft carrier has been sunk in combat from any source since the end…

Read More

A Brief History On September 16, 1961, Hurricane Esther became the target of the United States National Research Project to drop Silver Iodide into an active hurricane in an attempt to reduce the magnitude of the storm.  When eight cylinders were dropped into the eyewall of the storm near Puerto Rico, a 10% drop in windspeed was noted, giving rise to Project Stormfury. (The dropping of Silver Iodide crystals was tried from 1962 to 1983 until ended because it really did not work.)  Today in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma, we will tell you at least 10…

Read More