Category: Note

Kevin Costner, who starred in Open Range, was born on this day in 1955. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 68 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 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 that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s …

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 With the Presidential Inauguration just a few days away, we are running a guest article by Samuel Culper from Forward Observer. With the planned protests and the potential for civil unrest, they will be running an Intel Exercise beginning January 19th, 2017 where you can …

The Space Shuttle Columbia launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16th, 2003. STS-107 would disintegrate on re-entry 15 days later, killing all seven of the crew members on board. SurvivalBlog salutes all seven crew members: 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.

Today is the birthday of television and movie actor Lloyd Bridges (1913-1998), who starred in the series Sea Hunt.

On January 14th, 1784, the Continental Congress ratified the Second Treaty of Paris, ending the War for Independence. In the document, which was known as the Second Treaty of Paris because the Treaty of Paris was also the name of the agreement that had ended the Seven Years’ War in 1763, Britain officially agreed to recognize the independence of its 13 former colonies as the new United States of America. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 68 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A …

This is the birthday of actor and shooter Robert Stack (1919 -2003.) o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 68 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 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 that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of …

On January 12, 1888, the “Schoolchildren’s Blizzard” killed 235 people, many of whom were children on their way home from school across the Northwest Plains region of the United States. The storm came with no warning, and some accounts say that the temperature fell nearly 100 degrees in just 24 hours. There were many instances of teachers keeping or rescuing children who would have been caught in the storm while walking home. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 68 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First …

January 11th is the birthday of Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804). It is also the natal day of the late Gunnar Fridtjof Thurmann Sonsteby, who was born in 1918. He was the most decorated hero of the Norwegian resistance under the German occupation. He died May 10, 2012. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 68 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 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 …

January 10th, 1776 is the day that North Carolina Governor Josiah Martin issued a proclamation calling on the king’s loyal subjects to raise an armed force to combat the “rebels”. This ultimately led to Colonel Donald McLeod leading the men on an assault on the Patriots that ended with fifty of his men dead and 880 captured. The Patriots lost only two of their number. Also on this day in 1976 the song “Convoy” by C.W. McCall was the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 68 of the SurvivalBlog …

On this day in 1776, writer Thomas Paine published his pamphlet “Common Sense,” setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence. Although little used today, pamphlets were an important medium for the spread of ideas in the 16th through 19th centuries.

On this day, in 1835, the U.S. National Debt reached zero for the first and only time. This is also the birthday of the late Algis Budrys (born 1931, died June 9, 2008). He was the Lithuanian-American science fiction author who wrote the classic survivalist novel Some Will Not Die.

This is the birthday of several notables: Senator Rand Paul (born 1963); Cresson Kearny (born 1914, died December 18, 2003); and Bent Faurschou-Hviid, known as The Flame (born 1921, died October 18, 1944). The Flame was a red-haired Danish resistance fighter in the Holger Danske Group during World War II. His exploits were dramatized in the movie Flame and Citron. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 68 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran …

Today is the birthday of musician Earl Scruggs, (1924-2012) and British comic actor Rowan Atkinson (born 1955). o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 68 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 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 that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for …

Today is the birthday of actor Robert Duvall (born 1931.) His roles in Open Range and Apocalypse Now are unforgettable. January 5th is also the birthday of the late John Pugsley(born 1934, died April 8, 2011), libertarian and economics author. Pugsley was well known in preparedness circles as the author of The Alpha Strategy. (The book is out of print, but a PDF is available for free download.) It is also the birthday of General Courtney Hodges (born 1887 – January 16, 1966). Kicked out of West Point for low math scores, he enlisted as a private but soon became …

January 4th is the birthday of George Hyde, who was born “Heide” in 1888, in Arpfingen, Germany. He was the chief gun designer for the Inland Division of General Motors (GM) in Dayton, Ohio during World War II. Hyde was best-known as the co-designer of the M3 “Grease gun” SMG and the Liberator pistol, but he also designed the Bendix-Hyde Carbine and the M2 Hyde submachinegun. He immigrated to the United States in 1927. A gent at the Nitro Express Forumsmentioned some details on his life before World War II: Before 1935 Hyde was the shop foreman and metal man …