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 June 14, 2016, Central Florida was rocked by its third horrific event within the past few days when an alligator snatched a 2 year old boy wading in shallow water at a Disney resort. Compounding the horror, the boy’s father tried to pull the child from the giant reptile, but the alligator was too strong, and pulled the child underwater where the boy was drowned. Digging Deeper This horror comes on the heels of the shooting death of internet and Voice singing sensation Christina Grimmie on June 11 in Orlando and the Pulse nightclub massacre on…

Read More

A Brief History On June 14, 1789, the Rev. Elijah Craig first distilled whiskey from maize (corn).  Since he was living in Bourbon County, Kentucky, he called his creation Bourbon.  Many foods and drinks derive their name from where they were invented or made popular, or for whatever reason were named after a city, region, or country.  Here we list 10 of the most popular of these “place named” foods and drinks.   10. 1000 Island Dressing. Going back to around 1900 or so, legend has it that this salad dressing and sandwich topping was made in the 1000 Islands Region of…

Read More

A Brief History On June 14, 1954, Flag Day that year, President Eisenhower signed a joint resolution of Congress amending the 1942 Flag Code, adding the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance.  The president had only recently been baptized a Presbyterian and was apparently in a religious feeling when he declared “the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.” Digging Deeper Not surprisingly, not everyone agreed.  The backdrop to this issue was the Cold War, the struggle of atheistic communism against “Christian” democracy and capitalism.  Eisenhower and Congress clearly wanted to differentiate us from them. Many people already were against the Pledge of Allegiance on…

Read More

A Brief History On June 13, 1966, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of Miranda in Miranda v Arizona, creating the requirement for police to inform people of their rights before questioning.  On March 13, 2014, we ran an article about that, and on May 20, 2014, we wrote a list about things commonly misunderstood about the law.  Here we list another 10 of those commonly misunderstood legal things.  Remember, laws may vary from state to state and local laws might have differences as well, so we are talking what is generally the case, not always.  If you need actual…

Read More

A Brief History On June 12, 1939, for the first time production began on a horror film filmed in “three strip” Technicolor.  At this time, color movies were just beginning to reach the masses and were still quite a novelty, so Dr. Cyclops was expected to make quite a stir. Digging Deeper The plot centers around a mad scientist (Dr. Thorkel) deep in the South American jungle that sends for several other scientists.  When they arrive, he has them look at samples under a microscope, is delighted by what they see, and then asks them to leave. Irritated that they traveled so…

Read More