Today is the birthday of journalist and inventor Thomas Paine (1737–1809). This is also the birthday of actor Tom Selleck (born 1945), best known for playing the title role of Magnum, P.I. He once dropped by my tables at the Reno gun show, and we had a great conversation. He is an avid shooter and quite pro-gun. – JWR
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.
January 27th is commemorated at International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Never again! o o o 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. o o o As most SurvivalBlog readers are aware, we recently published the autobiography of Rynier Kruger, a Christian missionary in northern Thailand. It is titled: My Thailand Calling. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today features another entry for Round 74 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3000 gift …
January 26th, 1945 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army. Established in 1941 Auschwitz was composed of a group of three large 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, the encountered 648 corpses and more than 7000 starving camp survivors along with storehouses filled with hundreds of thousands of …
On January 25th, 1995, the world was minutes from nuclear annihilation. Russia’s early-warning defense radar detected an unexpected missile launch near Norway and calculated that they only had minutes before impact on Moscow. Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the defense minister, and the chief of staff were informed of the missile launch and the nuclear command systems were switched to combat mode and the nuclear suitcases were activated for the first time in the history of the Soviet-made system. Five minutes after launch Russian command determined that the missile’s impact point would be outside Russia’s borders and three minutes after that …
January 24 is the birthday of Tamara K., the editor of the View From The Porch blog. This is also 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. o o o SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today features another entry for Round 74 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. …
January 23rd is the birthday of John Moses Browning, born 1855. He was the brilliant designer of dozens of guns, including the M1911 pistol, Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), and the venerable M2 .50 Caliber Machinegun. The latter is still in service in at least 95 countries, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it is still in service in 2075 or even 2100.
Between 1861 and 1865, more than 50,000 civilians died as a direct result of the American Civil War. In the years between 1914 and 1918, more than 7,000,000 innocent civilians died as a direct result of World War I. From 1939 to 1945, more than 23,000,000 innocents died as a direct result of World War II. (This number includes the 11 million deliberately killed in concentration camps.) Between 1922 and 1952, Stalin purged Russia of anyone whom he considered a threat or disloyal, murdering somewhere over 25,000,000 innocent people. Mao Tse-tung murdered more than 45,000,000 people from his own country …
January 21st Eliza Moore, the last surviving individual born into slavery before the Emancipation Proclamation died on this day, in 1948, in Montgomery County, Alabama, at age 105. Since 70 years have now elapsed since her death and 153 years have now elapsed since 1865, JWR perhaps presumptuously hereby declares that it is now fully high time for Americans to Get Over It, and instead focus on current slavery issues, like the uncounted thousands of slaves now being held by Muslims in North Africa. There is no cause for so-called White Guilt in our generation, but we should feel badly …
Today is the birthday of Congressman Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794) o o o SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today features another entry for Round 74 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3000 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 choice …
January 19th is the birthday of the late Carla Emery (born 1939, died October 11, 2005). She is well known in self-sufficency circles as the author of The Encyclopedia of Country Living. (This book re-released in a 40th Anniversary edition.)
Kevin Costner, who starred in Open Range, was born on this day in 1955. o o o Are you concerned about your storage of calcium hypochlorate to generate chlorine for water purification? Is it eating through your containers and/or destroying all metals nearby? What you need is a chlorine generator instead. With this product, all you need to store is plain, uniodized table salt and you can have chlorine on demand. It works on the same principle that salt water swimming pool filters work on so it’s proven technology. We’ve tried quite a few different models here at the Latimer …
In his farewell address to the nation on January 17th, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the American people to keep a careful eye on what he called the “military-industrial complex” that had developed in the post-World War II years. We didn’t do a very good job of listening to his warnings. o o o Seed for Security, LLC is having an exceptional sale. Their Colossal Security Pack is now 15% off. This pack is a total of 7 pounds of vegetable, herb and grain seeds. All are open-pollinated and non GMO. Included are their 3 most popular collections: Their …
The Space Shuttle Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16th, 2003. STS-107 would disentigrate on re-entry 15 days later, killing all seven of the crew members on board. SurvivalBlog salutes all seven cremembers: Commander Rick Husband, Pilot William McCool, Mission Specialist David Brown, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist Michael Anderson, Mission Specialist Laurel Clark, Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon. o o o Don’t forget! There are only two weeks left in Round 74 of the SurvivalBlog writing contest and there are still some openings left. Get your article finished up and sent in ASAP.
Today is the birthday of television and movie actor Lloyd Bridges (1913-1998), who starred in the series Sea Hunt.
