On October 6, 1866: The first reported train robbery on a moving train in the United States. Brothers John and Simeon Reno took $13,000. The train was traveling on the Ohio and Mississippi railroad. The train was robbed in Jackson County, Indiana.
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October 6th, 1960: The American adventure film Spartacus, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas, had its world premiere; it won several Academy Awards, including best supporting actor for Peter Ustinov.
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On this day in 1973, on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel, which suffered heavy casualties, but Israeli forces successfully fought back, and the war eventually ended inconclusively.
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October 6 is the birthday of Thor Heyerdahl. (Born 1914, died April 18, 2002.) Although his east-to-west theory of Pacific Ocean transmigration was later disproved by genetics studies, his many adventures were still remarkable.
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Today is also the birthday of science fiction author David Brin. (born, 1950.) He wrote The Postman, which was very loosely the foundation of a movie by Kevin Costner.
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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest
Today we present another entry for Round 115 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
- The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
- A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
- A Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” 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 $350 value),
- American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses. Their course catalog now includes their latest Survival Gunsmithing course.
- HSM Ammunition in Montana is providing a $250 gift certificate. The certificate can be used for any of their products.
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 (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
- A Laptop EMP Shield and a Smartphone Faraday Bag (a combined value of $200), courtesy of MobileSecSolutions.com.
- Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
- Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
- A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, 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 gun purchasing privacy!
Third Prize:
- A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters (a $305 value),
- Three sets each 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 $200 credit from Military Surplus LLC that can be applied to purchase and/or shipping costs for any of their in-stock merchandise, including full mil-spec ammo cans, Rothco clothing and field gear, backpacks, optics, compact solar panels, first aid kits, and more.
- A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.
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More than $925,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 115 ends on November 30th, 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.