On April 2, 1792 The Coinage Act passed, establishing the United States Mint and authorizing the $10 Eagle, $5 Half-Eagle, $2.50 Quarter-Eagle gold coins, as well as the silver dollar, half dollar, quarter, dime, and half-dime. Although gold was removed from circulation by President Franklin Roosevelt, our silver coinage remained undebased until 1964.
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April 2, 1968, Stanley Kubrick [1]‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey [2] had its world premiere in Washington, D.C.; it became a classic, setting the benchmark for modern sci-fi [3] films. The film also gave one of the first cinematic warnings about artificial intelligence.
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The staff of SurvivalBlog wish the crew of NASA’s Artemis II [4] godspeed and a safe flight to the Moon and back. – JWR
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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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We now need entries for Round 124 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest [5]. More than $984,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 124 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail [6] 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics [7]. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.