March 24th is the birthday of Dr. Art Robinson, who was born in 1942. Robinson was recently made ineligible for re-election to the Oregon legislature by the Oregon courts, as punishment for his principled stand in denying the state assembly a quorum. Now that those who denied a quorum have been drummed out, the democrat supermajority in Oregon’s senate, assembly, and governor’s mansion can run roughshod over the electorate. This is just one more reason why Oregon’s central, eastern, and southwestern counties should either seek separate statehood or shift their state lines, to become part of Idaho.
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On this day in 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground, spilling some 11 million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska and creating the largest oil spill in U.S. history up to that time.
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80 years ago, on March 24, 1944, more than 75 Allied prisoners undertook a daring escape from a POW camp in Sagan, Germany, though most were eventually recaptured; it inspired the classic World War II movie The Great Escape (1963).
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A Solar Flare CME Warning: There were a pair of Earth-facing X-Class solar flares on Saturday (March 23, 2024), with one substantial Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). Readers are advised to put all of their spare electronics in Faraday cans for the next couple of days. Oh, and watch for some nice Northern Lights, if your locale has clear night-time skies.
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We are in great need of entries to finish up 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.