Author: Major Dan

Major Dan

Major Dan 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 15, 1969, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, touted to be “An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace and Music” opened in the Catskills region of New York State.  The 3 day weekend blast saw 32 music acts perform rock and folk music, with just about all forms of rock (of the time) represented.   About 400,000 people attended, and the event is often considered one of the most important and famous musical events in rock and roll history. Digging Deeper Located on a farm owned by Max Yasgur near Bethel, New York, the site is…

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A Brief History On August 14, 1947, the independent country of Pakistan came about, a mostly Muslim country consisting of the Northeast and Northwest portions of the Indian sub-continent carved out of the British colony of India.  The next day, India also gained her long awaited independence, a fitting thing for the world’s second most populous country. Digging Deeper India had been the target of British colonialism since the 1600’s, and by 1820 the entire subcontinent was basically under British rule.  Indians chafed under this rule, a situation not helped by religious and ethnic differences in a giant country of…

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A Brief History Last year on August 14, 2014, we ran a list of wonderful products named after the city they are associated with or came from.  This year we will repeat the process, and name 10 more such wonderful products.  We will try to cover many different types of products.  (We may get a little liberal with what we include as a city, and expand it to include a state, region, or country this time.) Digging Deeper 10. Kentucky Long Rifle. The long barreled, graceful looking, muzzle loading rifle of the 18th and 19th Centuries was designed as a…

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A Brief History On August 13, 1913, Harry Brearley began production of stainless steel in Britain.  A form of low carbon, high chromium (10.5% minimum, sometimes as much as 27%) steel, this wonderful stuff makes modern technology possible.  Metallurgists had discovered the addition of chromium to steel increased the resistance to corrosion of the metal long before, and an American, Elwood Haynes, had applied for a patent to process and produce stainless steel in 1912. Digging Deeper Even before both of these groundbreaking metallurgists others had made serious contributions to the development of stainless steel, including Pierre Berthier of France…

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A Brief History On August 12, 30 BC, Cleopatra VII Philopater committed suicide by means of an asp bite (small cobra snake) to the breast.  (Yes, that Cleopatra.)  Through the centuries many people have killed themselves for a wide variety of reasons, including but not limited to shame, grief, to avoid execution, to avoid jail, terminal illness, and depression.  Here we list 10 of the most famous or most interesting of these, with no significance to the order listed. Digging Deeper 10. Cleopatra, 30 BC. Having aligned herself with Julius Caesar and then Marc Antony, Cleo picked the losing side…

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