A Brief History On January 5, 1956, producers and editors of the major Hollywood motion picture, Alexander the Great, starring Richard Burton in the title role, were hard at work preparing the movie for its March 22, 1956 release, cutting its running time from over 3 hours to 135 minutes. Digging Deeper The film is of course about the great Macedonian King and conqueror who ruled an enormous empire carved out of the Middle East and Mediterranean by his own leadership between 336 and 323 BCE. During his reign, Alexander defeated the great Persian Empire and all others that stood in…
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 Every year has champions in various sports and leagues, but certain sporting events just stand out above the rest to capture the attention of the media and fans. Here are our nominations for the Top 10 Sports Stories of 2015. Digging Deeper 10. Notable Sports Deaths. Baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra (90, 3 time MVP and 13 World Series titles), Harlem Globetrotter legend Meadowlark Lemon (83), Hockey player Dickie Moore (84, twice NHL scoring champ, 5 Stanley Cups in a row), 12 time NBA All Star and Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes (87), ABA 2 time…
A Brief History On January 3, 1521, Roman Catholic (Augustinian) priest and reformer Martin Luther was ex-communicated from the church by Pope Leo X. 440 years later, on January 3, 1962, Pope John XXIII ex-communicated Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, an avowed communist and therefore an atheist. Digging Deeper The reasons for each of these men to be ex-communicated from the church are obvious, since Luther went against church dogma and policy and ignored numerous warnings to desist in his heretical teachings. Luther made the unforgivable sin of going against church policy of selling indulgences, a money making scheme by which…
A Brief History As it is said, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it” (George Santayana, but you will see this quotation in many different forms), today we will go way back into History and find some things that may be worth repeating after all, the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This list consists of the generally accepted list of “wonders” but feel free to nominate anything you think belongs on this list. (Note: List is by age, starting with the oldest.) Digging Deeper 7. Great Pyramid of Giza (Egypt), 2561BC. The only one on…
A Brief History On January 1, 1950, a new method of designating what year it is (or was) went into effect with the BP system, meaning “Before Present.” The Anno Domini (“the year of our Lord”) choice of a starting date for modern counting of years was proposed by the colorfully named Dionysius Exiguus (a monk from what is now modern Bulgaria or Romania) back in 525 AD. (Yes, you can use the letters with or without the periods.) Digging Deeper The Lord referred to in AD is Jesus Christ, which of course seems to slight people of any religion…