Category: Note

Iyar 5th in the Jewish calendar (which this year falls on May 9th in the standard western calendar) is Yom Ha’atzmaut — Israel Independence Day. On May 9th, 1945, Herman Goering– commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, president of the Reichstag, head of the Gestapo, prime minister of Prussia, and Hitler’s designated successor– was taken prisoner by the U.S. Seventh Army in Bavaria. Goering, who was addicted to painkillers due to a wound, was instrumental in creating concentration camps for political enemies. It was Goering who ordered the purging of German Jews from the economy following the Kristallnacht program in …

May 8th is the birthday of missionary and U.S. military intelligence officer John Birch. (Born, 1918, died August 25, 1945.) He is considered by many to be the first American casualty of the Cold War. This is also the birthday of Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 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 …

On May 7, 1992, a 203-year-old proposed constitutional amendment barring the U.S. Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise was ratified—the 27th Amendment. On May 7, 1954, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu ended, and with it the French involvement in Indochina. The climactic French defeat influenced the 1954 Geneva Accords, which divided the country of Vietnam into North and South and set the stage for the 1960s/1970s Vietnam War. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3000 …

May 6th is the birthday of Tuvia Bielski. (Born 1906.) You may remember him as the main character in the movie Defiance This movie was based on the book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans by Nechama Tec. — Today we present a product review from our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio, as well as a tasty recipe. Please send us your favorite recipes! – JWR

May 5th is the birthday of Pat Frank (1908-1964). This was the pen name of newspaper journalist Harry Hart Frank. His novel Alas, Babylon is a survivalist classic. His personal life was marred by alcoholism, but his writing is admired and still surprisingly popular, today. (Alas, Babylon is still in print, after more than 50 years!) As an homage to Pat Frank, one of the settings in JWR’s novel Expatriates is Mt. Dora, Florida, which was fictionalized by Pat Frank as Fort Repose in Alas, Babylon. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the …

On May 4, 1994, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed an accord on Palestinian autonomy that granted self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho, creating what the world believed would be peace at last in the Middle East. Of course, the Palestinians then, as now, threw away the peace agreement and resumed hostilities towards Israel. Also on this day in 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on anti-war protesters at Kent State University, killing four students and wounding nine others. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog …

May 3rd, 1952 was the birthday of Pastor Chuck Baldwin. He has done yeoman service in promoting the American Redoubt movement. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 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), …

On May 2, 1945, the Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 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 …

May 1st is the birthday of the late Joel Rosenberg, a Canadian-born novelist and gun rights advocate (born 1954, died June 2, 2011). He is not to be confused with Joel C. Rosenberg (born 1967), who is another great novelist and the author of The Last Jihad series. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 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 …

Today is the birthday of sci-fi novelist Larry Niven (born April 30, 1938). Along with Jerry Pournelle, he co-authored the survivalist classic Lucifer’s Hammer. April 30th is also the birthday of Ed Yourdon, who was born in 1944. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 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 …

This is the birthday of actor Daniel Day-Lewis (born 1957), often remembered for his starring roles in Last of the Mohicians and in Lincoln.

April 28th is the birthday of Aimo Johannes Lahti. (Born in 1896.) This clever Finn designed (or co-designed) an amazing array of weapons including the L-35 Lahti pistol, the Suomi M-31 SMG, the Lahti-Saloranta M/26 LMG, the famous Lahti L-39 20mm anti-tank rifle, and even the 20 ItK 40 (a 20 mm dual anti-aircraft cannon.) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar …

On this day in 1789, the crew of the British ship Bounty mutinied, setting Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors adrift in a launch in the South Pacific. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 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, …

On April 26, 1986, one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents occurred at the Chernobyl plant in the Soviet Union. An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor sent radioactivity into the atmosphere; at least 31 Soviet citizens died immediately. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 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 …

Today is the birthday of physicist, inventor, and entrepreneur Guglielmo Marconi (1874–1937). He was known for his pioneering work on long-distance radio transmission as well as for the development of Marconi’s Law and a radio telegraph system. He is often considered the inventor of radio. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 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 …