Category: Note

August 18th is the birthday of Meriwether Lewis, an American explorer, soldier, politician and public administrator that is best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. An interesting side note is the Girandoni Air Rifle carried by Lewis during that expedition. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 84  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 …

While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory on August 17th, 1896, George Carmack reportedly spotted nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparked the last great gold rush in the American West. His two companions later agreed that Skookum, Jim–Carmack’s brother-in-law, actually made the discovery. — The Philadephia police have fessed up to what really happened, in triggering a shootout and lengthy standoff earlier this week. They now admit that while exercising a court-issued warrant at one address, they decided to do a so-called “safety sweep” on a different house in the neighborhood, …

On August 16th, 1841, President John Tyler vetoed a second attempt by Congress to re-establish the Bank of the United States. In response, angry supporters of the bank gathered outside the White House and burned an effigy of Tyler. — By way of Claire Wolfe’s blog, I just heard that her co-author Kit Perez had fairly major surgery for melanoma. She was caught without medical insurance on this, so donations would be greatly appreciated. Claire reports: “The pathology and prognosis are unknown at this point, but it’s frighteningly likely Kit’s going to need long-term medical follow-up. Friends of Kit’s have …

On August 15, 1961, two days after sealing off free passage between East and West Berlin with barbed wire, East German authorities began building a wall–the Berlin Wall–to permanently close off access to the West. For the next 28 years, the heavily fortified Berlin Wall stood as the most tangible symbol of the Cold War–a literal “iron curtain” dividing Europe. The wall has now been torn down for longer than it stood, but the scars in memory are still there. — All of the major stock indices were down dramatically on Tuesday (August 14, 2019), with the S&P 500 down …

August 14th, 1945 was Victory In Japan (“V-J”) Day. — Please contact your U.S. Senators, and urge them to oppose the now much-touted and innocuous-sounding “Universal Background Checks” legislation. Dubbed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, this is a horrible piece of legislation that will ban private party sales of used guns. This probably would not survive a test by the Supreme Court. The key issue is that it is a ban on inherently intrastate commerce (sales of used merchandise between private party residents of the same state) by grossly stretching the intent of the Interstate Commerce Clause. Clearly, …

Today is the birthday of screenwriter, director, and producer Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980). His many films spanned five decades. — This is also the birthday is shared by sharpshooter, entertainer, and folk heroine Annie Oakley (1860–1926.) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 84  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 …

This the birthday of country singer/songwriter Buck Owens (1929–2006). His songs typified what has been called “The Bakersfield Sound.” — We are pleased to announce that an new prize has been added to the third prize package, for our bi-monthly nonfiction writing contest. The fine folks at Good2GoCo.com are now providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets. — Listen up, folks: Just as I warned you back in January, a legislative onslaught is now upon us. The gun grabbers simply waited until …

On August 11, 1857, N. H. Wolfe and Company, the oldest flour and grain company in New York City, failed. This failure shook investor confidence and began a slow selloff in the market which continued into late August. Several other failures followed, and this cascaded into what was later called the Panic of 1857. — On this day in 1807, David Atchison was born. He was president pro tempore of the U.S. Senate, and president of U.S. for one day (March 4, 1849), the Sunday before Zachary Taylor was sworn in. So, technically Donald J. Trump is the 46th U.S. …

On August 10th, 1984, Red Dawn, the first PG-13 rated movie, starring Patrick Swayze was released. The movie (the 1984 original, not the watered-down 2012 remake) is a favorite of both JWR and HJL. The characters embody the independent, indomitable spirit that created this country. — Today I’m posting a short follow-up article by “Tunnel Rabbit.” Because it is less than 1,500 words, this is not part of the writing contest judging.

An important update: We are about to be stabbed in the back by the Senate Republican leadership, with the consent of President DJT. Read this: McConnell suggests Senate could look at assault weapons ban, background checks. Please call your senators, and remind them the banning private party intrastate sales is outside of Federal jurisdiction! And they must STOP red flag pre-crime laws, and any attempts to ban our ARs or full capacity magazines. — August 9th, 1831 was the birthday of James Paris Lee (August 9, 1831 – February 24, 1904). He was a Scottish-Canadian and later American inventor and …

August 8th is the birthday of Terry Nation (August 8th, 1930 – March 9th, 1997), who was a Welsh television writer and novelist. Nation wrote two series, Survivors and Blake’s 7, in the 1970s. Survivors was re-made a few years ago. — Please contact your senators and congressmen repeatedly, and tell them: No more gun laws! The RINO Republicans seem to be caving-in, on this issue. The latest attacks on our freedom are proposed Red Flag laws and Extreme Risk Protective Orders (ERPOs). These are unconstitutional proceedings that deny the right to face one’s accusers, or to attend their hearings, …

August 7th, 1933 was the birthday of the late Jerry Pournelle. He, along with Larry Niven authored the survivalist classic Lucifer’s Hammer. Pournelle passed away on September 8, 2017. — Today, we present two brief guest articles. These re too short for inclusion in the writing contest judging.  (The minimum length for contest entries is 1,500 words.)

On August 6th, 1945 at 8:16 a.m. (Japanese time), an American B-29 bomber– the Enola Gay– dropped the world’s first war-time atom bomb over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a result of the blast, with another 35,000 injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. History is always written by the victors, so the reasoning and justification for this will be argued for years to come. But one thing is for sure: this action officially ushered in the nuclear age in war and …

August 5th is the sad anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana that took the lives of 13 firefighters (including 12 smokejumpers and one former smokejumper), in 1949. The intense, fast-moving forest fire took place in what later became the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The events of that fire were chronicled in the book Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean and immortalized in the haunting lyrics of the ballad Cold Missouri Waters by James Keelaghan. (Warning: Grab a box of tissue, before listening.) — Today, we present a product review by our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio. …

On August 4th, 1944, 15 year old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family were captured by the Nazi Gestapo. The Franks had taken shelter is a small space in a sealed off area of an Amsterdam warehouse along with another Jewish family and a single Jewish man. They were aided by Christian friends who brought them food and supplies. Her diary survived the war, overlooked by the Gestapo, but Anne and nearly all of the others perished in the Nazi death camps. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 84  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing …