Category: Note

On March 18, 1837, Grover Cleveland, was born. He was the only U.S. president to serve two discontinuous terms (1885–89 and 1893–97). March 18th is the birthday of novelist John Updike. (He was born in 1932 and died in 2009.) It is also the birthday of Luc Besson, director and producer of films such as Nikita and The Fifth Element. He was born in 1959. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are …

March 17th is the birthday of Józef Franczak (born 1917, died 21 October 1963), who was a Polish Army Corporal who fought in the World War II resistance against the invading Germans. He then carried on after the war, to fight against the occupying Soviets and their Polish communist stooges. Eventually, he was one of the last of the Cursed Soldiers resistance in Poland. His nom de guerre was Lalek. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists …

A Special Note From JWR to SurvivalBlog Readers:  The Credit Suisse collapse has many analysts predicting a general credit market collapse in Europe. The sticking point, at least at the outset of this mess, will be Credit Default Swaps (CDSes.) Those are derivative contracts. The counterparty risk for banks, trading partners, and customers engaged with Credit Suisse is now off the charts. But that may be the case with the majority of European banks, within a few days. (BNP-Parabas, HSBC, Barclays, Société Générale SA, Banco Santander, Deutsche Bank, Lloyds Banking Group PLC, ING Bank, Standard Chartered, UBS, Rabobank, Commerzbank, Svenska …

This is the birthday of General and President Andrew Jackson, in 1767. He was the 7th President of the United States (1829-1837.) — I’m pleased to report that the ranch caretaker position that I had announced on behalf of one of my consulting clients has now been filled. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than …

On March 14, 1951, United Nations forces recaptured Seoul during the Korean War. This is the birthday of fighter ace Major Raoul Lufbery (born 1885). He was shot down and killed in 1918. This is the birthday of Marlin Perkins. He was a well-known television host (Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom). He was born in 1905 in Carthage. Missouri. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. …

Editor’s Update:  Don’t miss reading today’s Economics & Investing column. It is important! — Today is the anniversary of The Great Quebec Blackout. On March 13, 1989, the Hydro-Québec power grid failed after a solar storm, as a coronal mass ejection (CME) struck the Earth’s magnetosphere. The blackout lasted nine hours. Dr. David Boteler, head of the Space Weather Group at Natural Resources Canada described the event: “It was the biggest geomagnetic storm of the Space Age. March 1989 has become the archetypal disturbance for understanding how solar activity can cause blackouts.” — I noticed that Sawyer Mini Filters in …

On March 12, 2009, hedge-fund investment manager Bernie Madoff pled guilty to various crimes related to his operation of a Ponzi scheme that was one of the largest in the world; he was sentenced to 150 years in prison. — Today is the birthday of science fiction author Harry Harrison, who is best known for his Deathworld trilogy. (He was born in 1920 and died in 2012.) — On March 12, 1850 the first US $20 gold piece was issued. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes …

135 years ago today, on March 11, 1888, the Great Blizzard of ’88 struck the northeastern United States. Today is the birthday of author Douglas Adams (born 1952). He is the author of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. March 11th is the birthday of the late actor Anton Yelchin (born 1989, died June 19, 2016). He is remembered for his portrayal of Kyle Reese in Terminator: Salvation, and as Ensign Pavel Checkov, the most recent Star Trek movie series. He died in a freak accident wherein his parked Jeep Grand Cherokee unexpectedly rolled forward on an incline, pinning him to …

On March 10, 1910, China officially ended slavery. But unofficially, China now has one of the world’s largest slave populations. These are mostly political prisoners, working in laogai  prison factories. Sadly, there is no way of reliably knowing whether or not most of the “Made In China” merchandise that you buy might originate from these prisons. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the …

On this day in 1862 during the American Civil War, the ironclads Monitor and Virginia (formerly Merrimack) battled in the harbor at Hampton Roads, Virginia, marking the beginning of a new era of naval warfare. Today is the birthday of writer John McPhee (b. 1931), a master of creative nonfiction. One of McPhee’s most widely read books is Coming into the Country, which eloquently describes the Alaskan wilderness. March 9th is the birthday of Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – the first man to ever travel in space. He was born in 1934 and died in the crash of a MiG-15-UTI fighter …

On March 7, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone. March 7, 1707 was the birthday of Stephen Hopkins, (Governor of Rhode Island) one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. And March 7, 1944 was the birthday of Townes Van Zandt, a gifted Texan singer/songwriter. (He died in 1997.) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, …

Today is the birthday of Georg Johann Luger (March 6, 1849 – December 22, 1923). He was the Austrian designer of the famous Luger pistol and the now ubiquitous 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge.  Because there are now hundreds of other 9mm pistol designs, the “Luger” name is no longer printed on most 9x19mm ammunition boxes. March 6th was also the birthday of Leroy Gordon “Gordo” Cooper Jr., born in 1927 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. This U.S. Air Force pilot and astronaut was aboard Mercury 9 and Gemini 5. Cooper had his exploits well documented in Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff, and …

This is the birthday of Howard Pyle (1853-1911) an influential American book illustrator, painter, and author. He was the mentor of many great American artists including Thornton Oakley, Frank E. Schoonover, Allen Tupper True, and of course his most famous student, N.C. Wyeth. March 5th is also the anniversary of the Boston Massacre. (March 5, 1770. ) It was one of the key precipitating events for our War of Independence. — Well, we knew this was coming… On Friday, I received a writing contest entry that had some telltale marks of being written by an AI.  So, sadly, I had …

On March 4, 1789 the U.S. Constitution went into effect as the governing law of the United States, the date having been established by Congress. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 …