A Brief History On March 8, 1950, Volkswagen of Wolfsburg, Germany, began production on their second motor vehicle after the iconic Beetle, this time called Bus, Kombi, or Transporter, but known in the US as the VW Bus, the VW Microbus, or later, the Hippie-mobile. Digging Deeper One of the first van type vehicles, the Bus was originally intended as a light cargo van. Powered by engines making 24 to 54 horsepower in the 1st generation, the Bus was not meant for racing! Built until 1967 in Germany and until 1975 in Brazil, the 1st Generation was a versatile platform…
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 March 7, 2021, the military of Equatorial Guinea experienced one of those “oops moments” leading to disaster when a military base near the port city of Bata suffered a series of massive explosions of stored munitions that devastated the city and left over 100 people dead. Digging Deeper Authorities blamed local farmers and their “slash and burn” farming techniques for starting fires that triggered the explosions, although outside organizations claimed such farming fires had not actually been set anywhere near the military camp. President Obiang did admit that the storage of munitions had been “negligent,” and…
A Brief History On March 6, 2018, founder and former boss of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, was named by Forbes as the richest person in the world, with a net worth of $112 billion. Such wealth makes us wonder, what can you do with all that money? Digging Deeper Currently, the richest individual person is Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, worth $180 billion, while the family of Bernard Arnault of the LVMH commercial conglomerate is worth $211 billion, while the average American household has a net worth of $192,900. So, what can the super-rich buy with their wealth? A new…
A Brief History On March 5, 1933, Germany’s Reichstag elections were won by Adolf Hitler and his band of “national socialists” with only 43.9% of the vote, enough to allow Hitler, already appointed Chancellor, to become virtual dictator of Germany and lead the world to a path of ruin. Digging Deeper Germany’s Weimar Republic is not the only place where winning the most votes does not guarantee victory, as the US has experienced several Presidential elections where the winner won less than 50% of the vote. In 2016, Donald Trump was out voted by Hillary Clinton by 2.9 million votes,…
A Brief History On March 4, 2020, Nik Wallenda of the famous acrobat and daredevil family, became the first person to walk on a wire above the crater of the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua. Not to be outdone, his wife, Erendira, performed an aerial routine above the smoking crater! Digging Deeper The Wallenda family is famous for many of their death-defying firsts, with Nik personally holding 11 Guinness World Records, including being the first to walk across Niagara Falls on a high wire. Other daredevils have achieved epic firsts, including: Annie Edson Taylor, the first to survive going over Niagara…