Author: Major Dan

A Brief History On September 3, 2004, the 3 day long nightmare at Beslan School Number 1 in Beslan, Russia finally came to an end.  The long hostage crisis and eventual shootout and massacre left 385 people dead, nearly 10 times more than the second deadliest school massacre in history!  (Not counting wartime activities.) Digging Deeper The horrible event was engineered by Islamic separatists from Chechnya and Ingushetia, 32 terrorist by government accounts, but the actual number of terrorists is debatable.  Over 1100 hostages were taken, almost ¾ children under 18 years old.  The terrorists were from the Chechnyan based…

A Brief History On September 2, 2013, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge completed a rebuild project that resulted in it becoming the widest bridge in the world, as certified by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2014. Digging Deeper A $6.5 billion project that was started in 2002, the Eastern half of the bridge was made into 10 lanes side by side instead of the previous double decker arrangement of 5 lanes in each deck.  This made the bridge an incredible 258.33 feet wide, compared to the original 57.5 feet.  Original construction cost only $77 million, but the completion…

A Brief History On September 1, 1914, the last known living Passenger Pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo.  When Martha the Pigeon died, her species became extinct, and extinct because of over hunting by people.  Once in flocks so great people said you could knock them from the air with a broom, the birds were slaughtered without regard to conservation, and now they are gone, just like many other species.  Here we list 10 notable animal species or varieties that are either totally extinct or nearly so because of the actions of people.  Perhaps cloning can bring some of them…

A Brief History On August 31, 1854, a seminal moment in the history of illness and scientific application of anti-disease efforts struck the Broad Street area of Soho, London, England, when a severe cholera outbreak began.  Before it was over, 626 people would die of the disease, but scientific study of the outbreak would lead to the saving of millions of lives in the future.  (Note: The neighborhood of the outbreak is now known as Carnaby Street.) Digging Deeper Small outbreaks of cholera had plagued London in 1854, and on August 31 the Broad Street area was hit.  The cholera…

A Brief History On August 31, 1965, fans of super-different airplanes could add another oddity to their list when the Aero Spacelines Super Guppy made its first flight.  A bulbous looking whale of an airplane, the Super Guppy was the successor to the Pregnant Guppy, an equally goofy looking giant cargo plane. Digging Deeper As stated above, the Super Guppy had been developed from the Pregnant Guppy which in turn was based on the C-97 military cargo plane, itself based on the Boeing 377 airliner which in turn was originally based on the B-29 Superfortress bomber.  (It would appear Boeing…