A Brief History On February 19, 1978, Egyptian commandos raided Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus in an attempt to rescue hostages taken in the hijacking of a Cyprus Airways Douglas DC-8. The Egyptians were not authorized by Cyprus to engage the hijackers, and a firefight broke out between Cypriot forces against the Egyptians, resulting in at least 18 Egyptians killed and another 18 wounded, while eight Cypriots were wounded. Digging Deeper A pair of terrorists had assassinated two Egyptians at a conference in Cyprus, and then took hostages to the airport and boarded a jetliner. Not allowed to land anywhere…
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 February 18, 2013, eight robbers dressed up as police officers hit the Brussels Airport in Belgium with a brazen diamond heist that netted the crooks $50 million worth of the precious stones. Digging Deeper Using a van and a car made up to look like police vehicles and wearing police type uniforms while armed with AK-47 type rifles, the robbers entered the airport through a hole they cut in the perimeter fence and intercepted the load of diamonds as they were being transferred from an armored truck to a Fokker 100 jetliner operated by Helvetic Airways.…
A Brief History On February 17, 1996, Chess champion Garry Kasparov bested the IBM Deep Blue supercomputer in an historic chess game between man and machine. The battle between organic and electronic brains went far beyond a single match, as Kasparov beat the special-built chess playing machine three games to one and two ties. Digging Deeper Not content with beating the Grand Master once, IBM reworked their computer, doubling its computing speed, and a rematch was held in 1997, this time resulting in a win for Deep Blue. An irate Kasparov demanded a rematch, but IBM had taken the computer…
A Brief History On February 16, 2024, we celebrate another National Do a Grouch a Favor Day. Why would we want to do a grouch a favor? Are grouches a good thing? Digging Deeper Whether you call them a grouch, a crab, a whining sniveling malcontent, or a more formal name such as curmudgeon, grouches are all around, complaining about everything and snapping at others. Here are some reasons we should be thankful for grouches and do them a favor. Grouches are funny. Famous comedians such as Don Rickles, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Burr, Lewis Black, and Ricky Gervais made a…
A Brief History On February 15, 1949, even Indiana Jones would have been envious of the work of Gerald Lankester Harding and Roland de Vaux who began digging at the Qumran Caves where they later found the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Jewish documents that date back as far as the 3rd Century BC. Digging Deeper Some other contenders for the title of “Greatest Archaeological Find” include: The Rosetta Stone, found in 1799 by Napoleon Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt, finally allowed researchers to interpret Egyptian hieroglyphics. King Tut’s Tomb, found in 1922, totaled over 5,000 objects from Ancient Egypt, the…