Author: Major Dan

A Brief History On February 22, 2014, the Headlines trumpeted the success story of Marit Bjørgen of Norway as she won the 30 km freestyle cross-country skiing event at the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, giving her her 10th Olympic medal. Digging Deeper Born in 1980, this remarkable athlete has so far won 6 gold medals, 3 silver medals and 1 bronze medal in the Winter Olympics of 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014.  Though she is tied with 2 other women for total number of Olympic medals, she has more Olympic gold medals than any other female athlete.  In addition…

A Brief History On February 21, 1973, the Israeli Defense Force sent American-built F-4 Phantoms to shoot down a Boeing 727 operated by Libyan Arab Airlines.  Flight 114 had taken off from Tripoli and was headed to Cairo when it got lost over Egypt due to weather and equipment malfunction.  Digging Deeper The two Phantoms intercepted the jet liner over the Sinai desert after it had strayed there from the Suez Canal.  The Sinai had been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.  The failure of Egypt to shoot missiles at the plane, and the seeming approach toward a secret Israeli nuclear (possibly bomb making?) facility exacerbated the situation, especially since…

A Brief History On February 20, 1952, Los Angeles-native Emmett Ashford became the first African-American umpire to work in integrated (mainly white) professional baseball when he left his Post Office job to work for the International Southwestern League. Digging Deeper Ashford then went on to umpire in other mostly white professional leagues, reaching his minor-league pinnacle as the Umpire-in-Chief of the Pacific Coast League, where he trained and directed all the umpires and mediated arguments over rules.  In 1966, Ashford became the first black major league umpire, officiating in the American League. Ashford worked as a major league umpire until 1970,…

A Brief History On February 18, 1930, Elm Farm Ollie (Also known as “Nellie Jay,” “Sunnymede Ollie,” and “Sky Queen.” Say, why does a cow need aliases???) made aviation history as the first cow to fly in a fixed wing airplane.  Since non-fixed wing aircraft include either helicopters or autogyros, we wonder if any cows flew in those first.  Just saying… Digging Deeper Not only did Elm Farm Ollie make the first bovine flight, but she also became the first cow to be milked while flying in an airplane.  (Who seriously keeps track of this stuff?  The FAA, Federal Animal Aviation?) …

A Brief History People have often fallen in love with performers whose songs strike the listener to the core.  Sometimes it is the look, the clothes, the words, the beat, the rhythm, the dance moves, the gyrations or just the plain old sex appeal oozing off the singer like drops of water dripping off a young Ursula Andress as she comes out of the ocean in Dr. No.  Other times, the song itself is the turn on, with a combination of the right words sung the right way with the right voice coming together in a sort of sexual serendipity that makes…