Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — February 20, 2024

On February 20, 1962, John H. Glenn, Jr., the oldest of seven astronauts selected by NASA for Project Mercury spaceflight training (and later a U.S. senator), became on this day in 1962 the first American to orbit Earth, doing so three times.

On February 20, 1902, Ansel Adams, the most important landscape photographer of the 20th century, was born in San Francisco.

Today is also the birthday of novelist and screenwriter Richard Matheson (1926–2013). He wrote many sci-fi television scripts. His novella I Am Legend later was adapted into three different movies over the course of five decades, and his story Bid Time Return became the charming movie Somewhere In Time.

Today we present a short guest article by a SurvivalBlog reader.  It was too short to qualify for the writing contest judging.

We are now seeking entries for Round 111 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 111 ends on March 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.