A Brief History On July 27, 1890, painter Vincent van Gogh shot himself, dying 2 days later. Commemorated in the Don McLean song, Vincent, van Gogh was a tormented person. It seems that great painters, sculptors, writers, musicians, actors and other creative people are often beset by their own demons that leads them to self-destruction. Here we list 10 of those sad cases, representing a variety of art forms. Digging Deeper 10. Mary Kay Bergman, 1999. The voices of South Park’s Ms. Cartman (Cartman’s mom) and Wendy, she also was the official voice of Snow White for Disney. Bergman was the voice of Timmy Turner in The Fairly Odd Parents…
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 July 27, 2002, a Ukrainian Air Force Su-27 fighter jet crashed into a crowd of spectators, killing 77 and injuring 534, the worst air show disaster ever. The crowd was watching a demonstration by the Ukrainian Falcons, the Ukraine acrobatic military flight team, at Sknyliv airfield (near Lviv). The jet being flown was the Sukhoi Su-27, a modern, cutting edge fighter jet, roughly equivalent to the US F-15. It is a 2 seat plane, with experienced pilots flying at the air show. Digging Deeper In what was later ruled to be pilot error, the fighter got…
A Brief History On July 26, 1948, President Truman issued Executive Order 9981, which ordered the desegregation of the US military. At times presidents cannot or will not wait for congress to act on a subject and they take it into their own hands by issuing an “Executive Order.” President Obama is currently under attack by Republicans for using this non-legislative authority, somewhat hypocritically when in fact George W. Bush used many more executive orders than Obama (291 to 183). Franklin Roosevelt holds the record for the most executive orders with a whopping 3721. Second place is Woodrow Wilson with…
A Brief History On July 26, 1945, the leaders of the major Allied countries fighting Japan in World War II met in Potsdam, Germany to issue the conditions by which the Japanese were to surrender to the Allies. Also known as “unconditional surrender” the Allies left no room for negotiation, which soon became a point of controversy and is debated to this day, as the declaration is seen by some as having prolonged the war by leaving Japan no honorable way to stop the fighting. Digging Deeper President Truman, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and Chinese premier…
A Brief History On July 25, 1969, President Nixon declared the “Nixon Doctrine,” stating that from this point on Asian countries were expected to defend themselves rather than rely on the US to defend them. This policy began the pathetic process of “Vietnamization” of the Viet Nam War, turning over responsibility for the war to South Viet Nam. Presidents have been declaring “doctrines” all the way back to James Monroe. Here we list 10 of those presidential doctrines. Whether or not they were/are a good idea is for you to decide. Digging Deeper 10. Monroe. The original policy labeled a…