A Brief History On October 11, 1975, television audiences in the United States experienced one of those magic moments when an icon was born, as the comedy skit show, Saturday Night Live (SNL) debuted with George Carlin as host. Digging Deeper Carlin, one of history’s great comedians, and originator of “Seven words you can never say on television,” died in 2008 at age 71 of heart failure. His guests on that epic night included singer Janis Ian, singer Billy Preston, and comedian/actor Andy Kaufman. Kaufman went on to make a total of 16 SNL appearances, but tragically died in 1984 at…
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 On October 10, 1967, the Outer Space Treaty, formally known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (we will stick to the short version!) went into effect. Digging Deeper The treaty had been signed on January 27, 1967, by the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom, while in the years since over 100 other countries have subsequently signed. The basic idea of the treaty is to declare outer space, the Moon and other celestial bodies (planets,…
A Brief History On October 9, 1966, the war torn nation of South Viet Nam was the scene of not one, but two notable massacres you may never have heard of. While much scorn has been heaped on alleged massacres and atrocities by Americans, by the forces of South Viet Nam, by the Viet Cong, and by the North Vietnamese Army, these massacres were committed by another entity entirely. Digging Deeper On this fateful day, the Republic of Korea (ROK) forces (aka South Korean) allied with the US and South Viet Nam perpetrated massacres at separate locations, Binh Tai and…
A Brief History On October 8, 2013, a 66-year-old Denver, Colorado man and his 35-year-old female partner were accused of felonious child abuse in a sickening case of neglect and mistreatment. The four boys, ages two to six, were malnourished, did not speak or have any sort of education and were kept in filthy conditions, with cat feces and urine throughout the insect-infested house. Only able to communicate through grunts to the horrified child authorities, the filthy children could not even describe their mistreatment. Unfortunately, police have to confront terrible crimes like this on a regular basis, a depressing and…
A Brief History On October 6, 1977, the Soviet aircraft design bureau, Mikoyan-Guryevich, flew their MiG-29 supersonic fighter for the first time. In service since 1983, over 1600 of these highly capable air superiority and fighter bomber jets have been built, and incredibly (for a fighter aircraft) the plane is still in production. Digging Deeper Conceived as the lower end mix of fighter jets, similar to the American F-16 vis a vis the F-15, the MiG-29 is the smaller, cheaper half of the Su-27/MiG-29 mix of Soviet (now Russian) fighters. (Note: Twice as many MiG-29’s have been built as have…