Author: James Wesley Rawles

On April 2, 1968, Stanley Kubrick‘s 2001: A Space Odyssey had its world premiere in Washington, D.C.. The movie became a classic, setting the benchmark for sci-fi films. The film also gave one of the first cinematic warnings about artificial intelligence. — On April 2, 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León landed on the coast of Florida. — 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. — This is the birthday of Émile François Zola, a novelist and …

Created this day in 1999 by carving a vast region from Canada‘s Northwest Territories, the Canadian territory of Nunavut stretches across much of the Canadian Arctic and encompasses the traditional lands of the Inuit. — On April 1, 1621, at the Plymouth settlement in present-day Massachusetts, the leaders of the Plymouth colonists, acting on behalf of King James I, make a defensive alliance with Massasoit, chief of the Wampanoags. The agreement, in which both parties promised to not “doe hurt” to one another, was the first treaty between a Native American tribe and a group of American colonists. According to …

On March 31, 1854, U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry signed the Treaty of Kanagawa in Japan, ending that country’s period of seclusion. — Lyman Cornelius “L.C.” Smith was born March 31, 1850. Lyman Smith was the namesake of the famous L.C. Smith Shotgun. Smith later went on to found the Smith-Premier Typewriter Company, which would later become Smith-Corona Typewriter Company. Smith Corona or the SCM Corporation is a US typewriter and calculator company. Lyman Cornelius Smith passed away on November 5, 1910. — March 31 is also the birthday of the late economist Dr. Walter E. Williams, PhD., who was born …

On March 30, 1867, William H. Seward, secretary of state under U.S. President Andrew Johnson, signed the Alaska Purchase, a treaty ceding Russian North America to the United States for a price—$7.2 million—that amounted to about two cents per acre. — On March 30, 1981, President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C. hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House news secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and District of Columbia police officer Thomas K. Delahanty. Agent McCarthy took a bullet protecting Reagan. McCarthy was not wearing a bullet-proof vest. He …

On March  24, 1974, farmers drilling a well near Xi’an, China, penetrated a subterranean chamber that led to the discovery of the terra-cotta army: 8,000 life-size terra-cotta soldiers and horses in the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. — Today is the birthday of the gifted electronic and orchestral musician Vangelis. (Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou.) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 111 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, …