Category: Note

On this day in 1769, George Washington launched a legislative salvo at Great Britain’s fiscal and judicial attempts to maintain its control over the American colonies. He brought a package of non-importation resolutions, drafted by George Mason, before the Virginia House of Burgesses. This initiated a chain of events that led to Britain’s House of Lords demanding that men involved in the extra-legal Massachusetts convention of towns be tried in England. Britain’s plan backfired and created an American identity where before there had been none. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 of the SurvivalBlog …

Today is the birthday of clarinetist, saxophonist, and bandleader Woody Herman.  (Born 1913, died Oct. 29, 1987.) — On May 16, 1997, Zaire’s president, Mobutu Sese Seko, ended 32 years of dictatorial rule, giving control of the country to rebel forces. — Black Ovis (one of our affiliate advertisers) is running a 25% off Memorial Day sale on Mystery Ranch packs!  This sale ends on the 18th, so order soon. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists …

On May 15,1859, Physical chemist Pierre Curie, co-winner of the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics, (along with his wife, Marie Curie), was born in Paris. Today is also the birthday of Evelyn Ernest Owen (15 May 1915 – 1 April 1949) He was an Australian who developed the Owen submachine gun which was used by the Australian Army in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. On May 15th, 1942, gasoline rationing began in 17 Eastern states as an attempt to help the American war effort during World War II. — Today’s feature is a review by …

May 14th, 1686 was the birthday of Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, who invented the thermometer. On May 14th, 1948, in Tel Aviv, Jewish Agency Chairman David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel, reestablishing the Jewish state after 2000 years. In an afternoon ceremony at the Tel Aviv Art Museum, Ben-Gurion pronounced the words “We hereby proclaim the establishment of the Jewish state in Palestine, to be called Israel,” prompting applause and tears from the crowd gathered at the museum. Ben-Gurion became Israel’s first Prime Minister. — Today’s feature article is too short for consideration as an entry for Round 106 of the …

May 13th is the birthday of firearms engineer Theodor Koch (born 1905, died 1976.) Koch, along with Edmund Heckler and Alex Seidel salvaged tooling from the bombed-out Mauser factory at Oberndorf, Germany, and with it founded Heckler und Koch (“HK”). — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 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. …

In May of 1921 a solar storm began, dubbed The Great Geomagnetic Storm of May 1921. These were some of the headlines: “Telegraph Service Prostrated, Comet Not to Blame” — declared the Los Angeles Times on May 15, 1921. “Electrical Disturbance is ‘Worst Ever Known’” — reported the Chicago Daily Tribune. “Sunspot credited with Rail Tie-up” — in the New York Times. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 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 …

On May 11, 1949, Israel was admitted into the United Nations. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 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 value), Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of …

May 10th is the birthday of the late Janis Pinups (born 1925, died 15 June 2007). He was one of the last of the Forest Brothers anti-communist resistance fighters. He came out of hiding, after five decades, to obtain a Latvian passport in 1994, after the collapse of Eastern European communism. (He was never issued any communist government identity papers and by necessity lived as a nonexistent “ghost” during the entire Soviet occupation of Latvia.) The history of the Forest Brothers movement certainly deserves more recognition. May 10th is the birthday of the late Col. Jeff Cooper. He was born …

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 Kristallnacht in 1938, initiating an “Aryanization” policy that confiscated Jewish property and businesses. Tried and convicted at the Nuremberg trials, he was sentenced to hanging, but before …

Today is the 78th anniversary of VE Day, otherwise known as Victory in Europe Day. 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. — Today’s feature article is a product review penned by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

On May 7, 1867 Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel patented dynamite in England. This was the first of three patents he would receive for the explosive. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 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 …

May 6th is the birthday of Tuvia Bielski. (Born 1906, died 1987.) You may remember him as the main character in the movie Defiance, portrayed by Daniel Craig. This movie was based on the book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans by Nechama Tec. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 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 …

This 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 64 years!) As an homage to Pat Frank, one of the settings in my novel Expatriates is Mt. Dora, Florida, which was fictionalized by Pat Frank as Fort Repose in Alas, Babylon. — Perhaps of interest to survivalists, the new Silo television series will begin streaming today (May 5, …

May 4th is informally known as “Star Wars Day”, because of a silly play on words: “May The Fourth Be With You.” May 4th 1943: A patent for helicopter controls was obtained by Igor Sikorsky. Sikorsky invented fixed-winged and multi-engined aircraft, transoceanic flying boats and helicopters. On May 4, 1415, reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus were condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance. The death of Hus inspired the later Hussite revolution in Bohemia. — I just read that Ready Made Resources — an advertiser that has been with us since SurvivalBlog’s launch —  is running a special …

May 3rd, 1952 was the birthday of Pastor Chuck Baldwin. He has done yeoman service in promoting the American Redoubt movement. — I just heard that Canada’s troubadour Gordon Lightfoot has passed away at the age of 84. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 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 …