A Brief History On November 14, 1910, self-taught aviator Eugene Ely took off from the deck of the USS Birmingham, near Norfolk, Virginia. Piloting a Curtiss Pusher airplane, Ely made history by becoming the first person to take off from a ship in an airplane. Digging Deeper The temporary runway constructed over the front portion of the cruiser was only 83 feet long, barely long enough to allow the plane to take off. In fact, on the historic flight, the wheels of the primitive plane dragged in the water and Ely’s goggles were covered with spray! After the brush with…
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 November 13, 1922, the United States Supreme Court decision called Zucht v. King, upheld the discretion that allowed a Texas school board to require mandatory vaccination of school children against smallpox. Digging Deeper The court cited a previous decision, Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905), that allowed states to force vaccination and claimed that the “police power” of the state to maintain “health and safety” of the public justified such measures. Today, smallpox is virtually eradicated, but other old diseases keep cropping up as do new germs and viruses. As we found out in 2020, mankind is always…
A Brief History On November 12, 2011, Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, resigned due to a debt crisis, not the many accusations of sexual misconduct that would mar his career, including holding “bunga-bunga” sex parties! Despite all the sordid reports and corruption, he died in 2023 as the third richest man in Italy. Today, we list a few of the worst political sex scandals and ask you to tell us which was the worst. Digging Deeper In the 15th Century, Pope Alexander VI allegedly had sex orgies and incest with his daughter. In 1998, President Bill Clinton lied about…
A Brief History On November 11, 2014, a horrible bus crash occurred in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Known as the “2014 Khairpur bus crash,” the accident happened when the bus collided with a truck, killing 56 people. For perspective, the deadliest bus crash in US history was the 1963 Salinas Valley Drunk Driver Train Crash in California when a jury rigged truck/bus was hit by a train, killing 32 people. Some other deadly bus wrecks include: Digging Deeper The Hida River Bus Crash of 1968, when two buses were swept off the road by a landslide during a typhoon,…
A Brief History On November 10, 1975, the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank in Lake Superior, taking the 29 men aboard to a watery grave. The most famous shipwreck on the Great Lakes, largely because of the smash hit song by Gordon Lightfoot, the Edmund Fitzgerald is not the only notable casualty of the Great Lakes, so today we list a couple of those other freshwater disasters. Digging Deeper SS Leecliffe Hall sank in 1964 with three deaths after colliding with a Greek freighter in the St. Lawrence Seaway. The 730 foot long, 18,071 ton ship was hauling 24,500 tons of…