On April 2, 1968, Stanley Kubrick [1]‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey [2] had its world premiere in Washington, D.C.. The movie became a classic, setting the benchmark for sci-fi [3] films. The film also gave one of the first cinematic warnings about artificial intelligence.
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On April 2, 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León [4] landed on the coast of Florida [5].
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Today is the birthday of Sergei Ivanovich Mosin (April 2, 1849 – February 8, 1902. He was a Russian military officer, engineer, and a co-designer of the Mosin–Nagant rifle.
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This is the birthday of Émile François Zola, a novelist and essayist. He is most often remembered as the author of J’accuse (I Accuse!), his lengthy open letter to president Félix Faure, which accused the French government of anti-semitism.
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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest
Today we present another entry for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest [6]. The prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
- The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon [7]. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2,000.
- A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course [8] (a $1,095 value),
- A Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” [9] variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA — courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $359 value),
- American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses [10].
- Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, [11] (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
Second Prize:
- A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
- Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord [12] (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
- Two Super Survival Pack seed collections [13], a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
- A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company [14], toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!
Third Prize:
- A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters [15] (a $305 value),
- A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com [16], good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
- Three sets each [17] of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
- A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company [14], toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.
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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 [18]. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail [19] 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.