Category: Note

January 30th is the birthday of historian Barbara Tuchman (born 1912, died February 6, 1989). She wrote some very engaging history books. January 30th is also the anniversary of the 1945 Great Raid on Cabanatuan Prison Camp where US Army Rangers and Filipino Guerrillas liberated Allied prisoners. The book Rescue At Los Baños, by historian and bestselling author Bruce Henderson is fascinating reading. And the movie The Great Raid was loosely based on this raid’s history. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of …

Today is the birthday of journalist and inventor Thomas Paine (1737–1809.) And speaking of Toms, this is the birthday of actor Tom Selleck (born 1945), best known for playing the title role of Magnum, P.I. He is an avid shooter and quite pro-gun. — A special note on our waterproof 2005-2019 archive USB sticks: We discovered a formatting glitch on the first batch that were mailed out. So… We are mailing free replacements (properly formatted) for all of those customers. You may keep the old sticks–free of charge–and erase their contents, to be able to use those sticks for whatever …

January 28th is the anniversary of the rescue of General James L. Dozier from his Italian Red Brigades kidnappers. Tangentially, Colonel Jeff Cooper created a shooting drill in honor of those who freed him – The Dozier Drill. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course …

January 27th is commemorated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Today is the birthday of singer-songwriter Kate Wolf. (Born 1942, died December 10, 1986.)  Her untimely death of leukemia at age 44 cut short an amazing career and robbed America of a great songwriting talent. This is also the birthday of the late Helen Chenoweth (born, 1938, died October 2, 2006). She was a controversial Republican congresswoman from Orofino, Idaho. — Seed for Security, LLC is having a special sale: Their Colossal Security Pack is 15% off. This pack is a total of seven pounds of vegetable, grain, and herb seeds. …

January 26th, 1945 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army. Established in 1941 Auschwitz was a complex of three large camps and 40 smaller camps used for slave labor, unethical medical experiments, and monstrous killing grounds where prisoners were gassed and cremated. As the Soviets headed for Auschwitz, the German Gestapo began a murder spree and began destroying the facility in an attempt to hide the evidence of their crimes. When the Soviets arrived, they encountered 648 corpses and more than 7,000 starving camp survivors along with storehouses filled with hundreds of thousands of dresses, …

Today is the birthday of celebrated Scottish poet Robert “Bobby” Burns. He was born on January 25, 1759. — Some good news:  Our supply of Waterproof USB SurvivalBlog 2005-2019 Archive sticks has arrived!  Deliveries by mail have begun. But because of the recent rush of orders, please allow four to six weeks from when you placed your order. Orders are being filled in the sequence that they were received. Many readers are placing orders for 2, 3, and even 5 sticks, so these are going quickly. (When I last checked, there were only 485 remaining.) Get your order in soon, …

January 24th is the birthday of René Barjavel (born 1911, died November 24, 1985). This prescient French science fiction author wrote several books with survivalist themes, including Ravage, which was titled Ashes, Ashes in its English translation. It is also the birthday of Tamara K., the editor of the long-running View From The Porch blog. — A reader wrote to suggest that I re-post some items on surviving a pandemic. Since i plan ahead, there is already a static page for that: Protecting Your Family From an Influenza Pandemic — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round …

January 23, 1855 was the birthday of John Moses Browning. He was the brilliant designer of dozens of guns, including the M1911 pistol, Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), and the venerable M2 .50 Caliber Machinegun. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be …

On January 22 , 1944 Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s …

On this day in 1968, the siege of Khe Sanh began, as NVA regulars surrounded the USMC hilltop airfield near the Laotian border. Fearing a repeat of the French Army’s 1953 Dien Bien Phu debacle, the Pentagon assigned maximum round-the-clock air power to the region, including B-52 bomber strikes, to break the siege. According to the Infogalatic wiki this was “‘the most concentrated application of aerial firepower in the history of warfare’. On an average day 350 tactical fighter-bombers, 60 B-52s, and 30 light observation or reconnaissance aircraft operated in the skies near Khe Sanh.” More than 100,000 tons of …

Today is also the birthday of Congressman Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794) — On January 20, 1981, 52 American hostages were released by the Iranian government, following 444 days of captivity, to be reunited with their families. Not coincidentally, Ronald Reagan was sworn in is President, the same day. — I just heard about a new retreat property listing, over at SurvivalRealty.com: A remote lakeside house, at the very eastern tip of Maine. It is only about two miles to the Canadian border or to the Atlantic ocean.

January 19th is the birthday of General Robert E. Lee. — This is also is the birthday of the late Carla Emery (born 1939, died October 11, 2005). She is well known in self-sufficiency circles as the author of The Encyclopedia of Country Living. (This book was re-released in a 40th Anniversary edition.) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only …

Kevin Costner, who starred in Open Range, was born on this day in 1955. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the …

On this day in 1994 the 6.7 magnitude Northridge Earthquake struck Los Angeles. It caused about $20 billion in damage and killed 61 people. — On Jan. 17, 1920 the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution went into effect, establishing Prohibition. By one account, 286 distilleries, 992 breweries, and more than 300,000 bars and saloons were closed. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned …

The Space Shuttle Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16th, 2003. STS-107 would explode on re-entry 15 days later, killing all seven of the crew members on board. SurvivalBlog salutes all seven crewmembers: Commander Rick Husband, Pilot William McCool (pictured), Mission Specialist David Brown, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist Michael Anderson, Mission Specialist Laurel Clark, Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon. — Blog readers who live in Washington are reminded that there is a gun rights rally scheduled in Olympia on Friday (January 17, 2020.) Please be there! See the GOAL web site, for details. SurvivalBlog Writing …