December 19th is the birthday of physicist Albert A. Michelson (born 1852, died May 9, 1931), who was the first American to be awarded a Nobel Prize in science, for measuring the speed of light. I’m related to the Michelson family by marriage, so his name often came up when discussing family history.
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On Dec 19, 1776, Thomas Paine published “American Crisis”. Paine wrote:
“These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”
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We’ve had several readers write us to ask us about the ordering availability of our waterproof USB archive thumbdrive sticks. Rest assured that we create a new edition every January, with another year of archives and even more bonus content. These USB sticks never omit anything from previous years. They only get larger. Starting with the upcoming 2005-2022 Archive, this will have to be on a 24 GB stick. That will leave you lots of room available to store your important documents and family photos, to have available in your bugout bag. Please mark your calendar to check our ordering page on January 28th, 2023. As usual, supplies will be limited, so be sure to get your order in by February 15th.
The additional bonus books planned for the new edition of the archive USB stick will include:
- Construction and Repair Work for the Farm, by F. Theodore Struck
- Great Poems of the English Language (1,500 pages!)
- How to Make Baskets, by Mary White
- Orcharding, by Victor Ray Gardner
- Practical Plant Propagation, by Alfred Hottes
- The Practical Book of American Antiques
- Beyond Khyber Pass, by Lowell Thomas
- The Royal Road to Romance, by Richard Halliburton
- Amateur Gunsmithing, by Townsend Whelen
Today’s feature article is a review written by Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.
We are in need of articles for Round 104 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $775,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 104 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.