On August 19, 1960, American pilot Francis Gary Powers [1] was sentenced to 10 years’ confinement by the Soviet Union [2] for espionage following the U-2 Affair [3], but in 1962 he was later released in exchange for the Soviet spy Rudolf Abel [4].
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August 19th is also the birthday of Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906-1971). Farnsworth was an American inventor who is best known for his image pickup device that formed the basis for the fully functional and complete all-electronic television system. Among his many other inventions was the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor, a small nuclear fusion device that remains a viable source of neutrons. At his death, he held over 300 patents, mostly in radio and television.
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We are seeking entries for Round 108 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest [5]. More than $840,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics [6]. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 108 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail [7] 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.