A Brief History On May 23, 1901, the Attorney General of Paris, France, received an anonymous note that a woman was being kept prisoner by her own mother. Police were dispatched to investigate and found a skeletal Blanche Monnier locked up in a small, windowless room in appalling mental and physical condition. Digging Deeper Blanche had been locked up in the tiny room since 1876, when her mother disapproved of Blanche’s choice for a husband (a lawyer, so perhaps the mom had reasonable cause…) and prevented the marriage by keeping Blanche prisoner. Of course, the mother was arrested, but died…
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 November 15, 1914, the pre-National Football League professional football world was saddened by the death of a seasoned pro, Center Harry Turner of the Canton Professionals (now there is a catchy name) of the Ohio League. Turner was playing in a game against Akron Indians when he suffered a broken back, completely severing his spinal cord. Digging Deeper When Turner died soon afterwards in the hospital, he became the first fatality caused by injury playing in a professional football game. Appropriately, Turner was from Canton, Ohio, the birthplace of pro football. A real home town guy,…
A Brief History On November 14, 1967, physicist Theodore Maiman, an American working for Hughes Research Laboratories, was finally granted a patent for the “optical maser” (maser: microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) device he called the Laser (laser: light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation), once the stuff of science fiction and now an everyday common electronic device. Digging Deeper Using a synthetic ruby to focus light pumped from a high energy source (the scientific details hurt my liberal arts head), the laser was featured in the James Bond film, Goldfinger (1964) demonstrating the powerful light’s ability to…
A Brief History On November 12, 1970, the people along the Pacific Coast of Oregon found out the answer to the question, “How many State Highway Department employees does it take to blow up a whale?” Unfortunately, no rational people had actually asked that particular question in the first place! Digging Deeper On that memorable November day, a 45 foot long, 8 ton Sperm Whale washed up dead on an Oregon beach. Stinky and unsightly, locals not surprisingly wanted it gone. In Oregon, for some reason beaches are considered highways, so the nasty task of removing the whale carcass fell…
A Brief History On November 11, 1673, General Jan Sobieski of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth successfully used military rockets designed by Kazimierz Siemienowicz in the Second Battle of Khotyn in the Ukraine, helping to defeat Ottoman forces. Siemienowicz was the greatest artillery officer of his day, perhaps in history, and yet much about him is unknown. Digging Deeper Historians argue over whether Siemienowicz was of Lithuanian, Polish, or Belarusian ethnicity, as the borders and identities of countries and alliances in those days was murky and changing all the time. Ambiguity in the personal accounts of Siemienowicz does not clarify the issue,…