January 9, 1943 was the birthday of gunsmith Paris Theodore, developer of the ASP modifications to the S&W M39 pistol.
January 9, 1890 birthday of Karel Capek, a Czech writer who wrote the play “R.U.R.” and coined the word “robot”.
On this day in 1776, writer Thomas Paine published his pamphlet “Common Sense,” setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence. Although little used today, pamphlets were an important medium for the spread of ideas in the 16th through 19th centuries.
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Today we present a guest article by author Joe Dolio.