A Brief History On April 4, 1984, President Ronald Reagan made a public plea to the world to ban chemical weapons. Already outlawed by previous treaties, the widespread use of various chemical weapons in World War I was the peak of chemical warfare, but these terrible weapons have not totally disappeared. Today, we list 10 Fiendish, Horrible, Evil Weapons We’re Not Supposed to Use, either by International agreement or our own decision. At times even crossbows were banned for use against “Christians,” as were square projectiles. Digging Deeper 10. Poison Gas. Not to be confused with your baby nephew and…
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.
Read More
A Brief History On April 3, 1948, President Harry S Truman (there is no period after the “S” because it was just an initial, not standing for a name!) signed legislation authorizing $5 billion for the Marshall Plan, a foreign aid bill championed by former five star general George C. Marshall who was Secretary of State at the time. Digging Deeper Marshall was the first officer of five star rank promoted during World War II so that the US would have officers of a rank equal to or greater than Field Marshall. After the war he became Secretary of State…
A Brief History On April 2, 2017, the people of the United States are being bombarded by a new infinitive or transitive verb, “to surveil,” and its present and past tenses, “surveilling” and “surveilled.” As a Military Intelligence officer (Go ahead, make your jokes…) I had pointed out to me early in training that the word “surveillance” was a noun and that there was no verb, to surveil. Well, so many people misused this non-word, that not only is it now in the dictionary (Merriam-Webster), but politicians and news casters seem to have made it the most overused word in…
A Brief History On March 31, 2017, lab rats, chemistry students, and scientists will be celebrating Bunsen Burner Day, that ubiquitous lab fixture often seen heating secret potions in science fiction film labs. Of course, March is home to International Women’s Day (March 8th) and is Women’s History Month, but the month named after Mars, the Roman God of War, also has some other nifty days you may or may not have noticed over the past few weeks. Digging Deeper Robert Bunsen, a German chemist, invented his famous gas burner in 1852, but that was not the only invention named…
A Brief History On March 30, 1842, Dr. Crawford Long, an American surgeon, made the first known use of ether as a general anesthetic. Previous attempts at general anesthesia were not effective, and now for the first time major surgery could be accomplished without pain. Digging Deeper Before ether, people had used a variety of natural plant based poisons and drugs to dull pain, including Opium derived from the Opium Poppy. Alcohol was another popular attempt at easing the pain caused by surgery, but alcohol resulted in excessive bleeding and had minimal pain killing properties. Opium may have been used…