A Brief History On August 18, 2014, Dominick George “Don” Pardo, Jr. died at the age of 96. His voice was so excellent for announcing, deep and mellow, that he was the Saturday Night Live announcer from its start in 1975 right up until he died. Digging Deeper He had worked for NBC for an incredible 70 years, starting as a radio announcer in 1944. Pardo started a long run as a television game show announcer in 1952 on Winner Take All and soon took over the microphone for The Price is Right and then for Jeopardy! His stint at…
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A Brief History On August 17, 1945, George Orwell published his novella, Animal Farm, a cautionary tale that amounts to “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!” An allegory about the siren song of communism, Animal Farm was proven right when almost all the communist countries in the world reverted to at least somewhat of a market system. Digging Deeper Other authors have foretold the future, such as Jules Verne with his tales of submarines and space travel. Orwell himself struck again with Nineteen Eighty-Four in 1949, forecasting our descent into universal surveillance of the population and the…
A Brief History On August 10, 2024, we celebrated another World Lion Day, a day to educate people about the great feline hunter and support conservation of the species and its habitat. Of course, we are talking about Panthera leo, the big cat native to Africa and India. Digging Deeper Yes, they have lions in India! Back in the more recent Stone Age, lions were far more widely distributed, across much of Eurasia and North Africa as well as Sub-Saharan Africa and India. Other critters such as the “Mountain Lion” of North and South America are not actually real lions. …
A Brief History This article showcases a table featuring some of Dr. Zar’s favorite movies and documentaries for teaching history. Digging Deeper For more about the historical accuracy of the films listed above, check https://www.historyvshollywood.com/ and https://web.archive.org/web/20190330124144/https://www.stfrancis.edu/content/historyinthemovies/. The list below features notable historical people named in my favorite documentaries in chronological order. You can click on their names to be taken to Wikipedia articles about each of them. NOTE: Some people on this list may be legendary or even mythological rather than historical. Khufu (died 26th century BC) Hemiunu (fl. 2570 BC) Noah Ham (Genesis) Abraham (1948 AM – 2123 AM) Thutmose…
A Brief History On August 6, 1994, Italian singer, Domenico Modugno, died of a heart attack at the age of 66. Americans remember his 1958 hit song, “Nel blu dipinto di blu,” better known in the US as “Volare.” Digging Deeper Covered by many artists, “Volare” was the first foreign language song to rank #1 on the US Billboard Chart. Modugno won Grammys for Best Song and Record of the Year, as the singer and composer of the hit. There have been many songs not in English in the US but only eight hit #1. A Japanese song, “Sukiyaki,” by…