Category: Note

Special Announcement:  We’ve just put our small remaining supply of waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB sticks on sale, at just $19.95 each.  This is just until we exhaust the existing batch. This is your chance to order some extras, for gifts. Order yours soon–before they are all sold out! — June 27th is the birthday of economist Dr. Ravi Batra. (Born 1943.) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 83  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 …

June 26th is the birthday of Marine Corps Lt. General Chesty Puller (born 1898, died October 11, 1971). Perhaps America’s finest-ever maverick officer, Puller was part of what I call the Even Greater Generation. — Today, we present a book review by our staff Book Review Editor, “S.A.”  

On June 25th, 1876, Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated the U.S. Army troops of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River. The Battle of Little Bighorn–also called Custer’s Last Stand –marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. While complicated, the generally accepted reason for the battle is that the discovery of gold in South Dakota’s Black Hills in 1875 led to the U.S. government disregarding previous treaty agreements. The gruesome fate of Custer …

June 24th the birthday of rifle-toting abolitionist pastor Henry Ward Beecher. (Born 1813, died March 8, 1887.) He and his adherents from his church smuggled so many Sharps rifles to Bleeding Kansas that the Sharps rifles picked up the nickname Beecher’s Bibles. Wikipedia states: Several of his brothers and sisters became well-known educators and activists, most notably Harriet Beecher Stowe, who achieved worldwide fame with her abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

On June 23, 1868, American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for a typewriter. Sholes invented the QWERTY keyboard. Along with Samuel W. Soule, Carlos Glidden and John Pratt, Christopher Sholes has been contended as one of the inventors of the first typewriters in the United States. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 83  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 …

During World War II, the U.S. 10th Army overcame the last major pockets of Japanese resistance on Okinawa Island on June 22nd, 1945, ending one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. The same day, Japanese Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima, the commander of Okinawa’s defense, committed suicide with a number of Japanese officers and troops rather than surrender. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 83  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 …

June 21st is the birthday of Rex Applegate (June 21, 1914 – July 14, 1998), author of Kill or Be Killed. He was the friend and mentor of SurvivalBlog’s Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio. — Today is the Summer Solstice. Here at our latitude, the nights are incredibly short, at or near the solstice. We have difficulty getting enough sleep. (It doesn’t get full dark until nearly 11 PM, and then dawn begins soon after 4 AM.) It is not quite like living up at Sommarøy, but close. I will actually be happy to have the days shorten, in the coming …

June 20th is the birthday of Audie L. Murphy. He was born in 1925. He died in a plane crash on May 28, 1971. This is also the anniversary of the death of novelist Vince Flynn. (Born April 6, 1966, died June 19, 2013.) His death at age 47 was a loss to the literary world. — I just heard that Ready Made Resources has started another AN/PVS-14 night vision sale: Photonis PVS-14 Autogated WHITE PHOSPHOR ECHO SPEC tube “Onyx” P-45 On Sale $2,599.  These are 4G scopes with a 10-year warranty. — Today’s brief feature article is by SurvivalBlog’s …

June 19, 1834 was the birthday of Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon, who died 31 January 1892. He was a British Particular Baptist preacher. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 83  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 …

June 18th is birthday of Pastor Douglas Wilson. Born in 1953, he is the pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho and a prodigious author of books and articles on Reformed theology. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 83  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 …

June 17th is the birthday of musician Red Foley (born, 1910, died September 19, 1968). His patriotic song Smoke on the Water topped the music charts for 13 weeks in late 1944 and early 1945, and charted for 24 weeks. This song, which describes the doom of tyrants, would be considered quite politically incorrect these days. This is also the birthday of Libertarian economist Harry Browne. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 83  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 …

On June 16, 1980 the musical comedy film The Blues Brothers debuted in Chicago. It was very successful in its theatrical release, and has had a cult-like following as a home video. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 83  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 …

Following a revolt by the English nobility against his rule, King John put his royal seal on the Magna Carta, or “Great Charter” on this day in 1215AD. This document, essentially a peace treaty between John and his barons, guaranteed that the king would respect feudal rights and privileges, uphold the freedom of the church, and maintain the nation’s laws. Although it was more a reactionary than a progressive document, the Magna Carta was seen as a cornerstone in the development of democratic England by later generations. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 83  of …

During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution on June 14th, 1777, stating that “the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white” and that “the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation.” The national flag, which became known as the “Stars and Stripes,” was based on the “Grand Union” flag– a banner carried by the Continental Army in 1776 that also consisted of 13 red and white stripes. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 83  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The …

On June 13, 1983, after more than a decade in space, Pioneer 10– the world’s first outer-planetary probe– left the solar system. The next day, it radioed back its first scientific data on interstellar space. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 83  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 …