Georgias' Newspaper "The Times Herald".
Rubrics:
четвер, 25 квітня 2013 р.
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the Southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. The state's diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U.S. Interior Highlands, to the densely forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River and the Arkansas Delta. Known as "the Natural State", the diverse regions of Arkansas offer residents and tourists a variety of opportunities for outdoor recreation.
| Central The center of the state includes the state capital Little Rock |
| Delta The eastern section of the state along the Mississippi River Delta and includes Jonesboro and West Memphis |
| Ozarks The northwest and north central areas of the state that includes Fayetteville, Bentonville and Eureka Springs |
| Ouachitas West central part of the state that is home to the Ouachita mountains (including the state's highest peak, Mt. Magazine) and Ouachita National Forest |
| River Valley The area in northwest Arkansas along the Arkansas river and includes Fort Smith |
| Timberlands The southern section of the state and includes El Dorado, Magnolia, Pine Bluff, Hope, and Texarkana |
For interesting information visit:
http://portal.arkansas.gov/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.arkansas.com/
http://www.infoplease.com/us-states/arkansas.html
http://wikitravel.org/en/Arkansas
The Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is one of the most well known rivers in the world. It ranks up there with the The River Nile, The Amazon River, and The Chang Jiang River. It was formed and shaped by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet during the most recent Ice Age. As the ice began to recede, hundreds of feet of rich sediment were deposited along the rivers edge, creating the flat and fertile landscape of the Mississippi Valley. The Mississippi Riverhas changed over the years and has taken a different shape than the original path that was carved out by the glaciers. This change is due to the many dams that have been built along the river.
- The length of the Mississippi River is approximately 2,320 miles (3,730 km), slightly shorter than the Missouri River.
- The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers combine to form the longest river system in the USA and North America. It is also the fourth longest in the world.
- At its widest point, the Mississippi River stretches out over 7 miles (11 km) in width.
- The Mississippi River lies in the following ten US states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
- The Mississippi River has had strong historical significance in the USA from Native American tribes through to European explorers, the American Civil War, the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and its modern commercial uses.
- The first bridge built across the Mississippi River was in 1855 with the first railroad bridge finished a year later in 1856.
- Martin Strel, a Slovenian swimmer who is famous for swimming the length of entire rivers conquered the Mississippi over 68 days in 2002.
- Many of Mark Twain’s famous stories are related to or take place near the Mississippi River, this includes the well known ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’.
Questions and Answers about the Mississippi River:
http://www.thefreeresource.com/the-mississippi-river-fun-facts-and-resources
For more information visit:
http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/geography/mississippiriver.htm
http://primaryfacts.com/403/the-mississippi-river-facts-and-information/
Easter
Like pagans, Christians celebrate the end of death and the rebirth of life; but instead of focusing upon nature, Christians believe that Easter marks the day that Jesus Christ was resurrected after spending three days dead in his tomb. Some argue that the word Easter comes form Eostur, the Norse word for spring, but it’s more likely that it comes from Eostre, the name of an Anglo-Saxon goddess.
Dating Easter:
Easter can occur on any date between March 23rd and April 26th and is closely related to the timing of the Spring Equinox. The actual date is set as the first Sunday after the first full moon that occurs after March 21, one of the first days of spring. Originally Easter was celebrated at the same time as Jews celebrated Passover, the 14th day of the month of Nisan. Eventually this was moved to Sundays, which had become the Christian sabbath.
Origins of Easter:
Although Easter is probably the oldest Christian celebration aside from the Sabbath, it wasn’t always the same as what people currently think of when they look at Easter services. The earliest known observance, Pasch, occurred between the second and fourth centuries. These celebrations commemorated both Jesus’ death and his resurrection at once, whereas these two events have been split up between Good Friday and Easter Sunday today.
Early Easter Celebrations:
Early Christian church services included a vigil service before the Eucharist. The vigil service consisted of a series of psalms and readings, but it is no longer observed every Sunday; instead, Roman Catholics observe it only one day of the year, on Easter. Aside from the psalms and readings, the service also included the lighting of a paschal candle and the blessing of the baptismal font in the church.
For more information visit:
понеділок, 25 березня 2013 р.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
Born in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York--now a national historic site--he attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School. On St. Patrick's Day, 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt.
Following the example of his fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt, whom he greatly admired, Franklin D. Roosevelt entered public service through politics, but as a Democrat. He won election to the New York Senate in 1910. President Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920.
In the summer of 1921, when he was 39, disaster hit-he was stricken with poliomyelitis. Demonstrating indomitable courage, he fought to regain the use of his legs, particularly through swimming. At the 1924 Democratic Convention he dramatically appeared on crutches to nominate Alfred E. Smith as "the Happy Warrior." In 1928 Roosevelt became Governor of New York.
He was elected President in November 1932, to the first of four terms. By March there were 13,000,000 unemployed, and almost every bank was closed. In his first "hundred days," he proposed, and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those in danger of losing farms and homes, and reform, especially through the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
By 1935 the Nation had achieved some measure of recovery, but businessmen and bankers were turning more and more against Roosevelt's New Deal program. They feared his experiments, were appalled because he had taken the Nation off the gold standard and allowed deficits in the budget, and disliked the concessions to labor. Roosevelt responded with a new program of reform: Social Security, heavier taxes on the wealthy, new controls over banks and public utilities, and an enormous work relief program for the unemployed.
In 1936 he was re-elected by a top-heavy margin. Feeling he was armed with a popular mandate, he sought legislation to enlarge the Supreme Court, which had been invalidating key New Deal measures. Roosevelt lost the Supreme Court battle, but a revolution in constitutional law took place. Thereafter the Government could legally regulate the economy.
Roosevelt had pledged the United States to the "good neighbor" policy, transforming the Monroe Doctrine from a unilateral American manifesto into arrangements for mutual action against aggressors. He also sought through neutrality legislation to keep the United States out of the war in Europe, yet at the same time to strengthen nations threatened or attacked. When France fell and England came under siege in 1940, he began to send Great Britain all possible aid short of actual military involvement.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt directed organization of the Nation's manpower and resources for global war.
Feeling that the future peace of the world would depend upon relations between the United States and Russia, he devoted much thought to the planning of a United Nations, in which, he hoped, international difficulties could be settled.
As the war drew to a close, Roosevelt's health deteriorated, and on April 12, 1945, while at Warm Springs, Georgia, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Read more:
Great Depression
Unemployed men vying for jobs at the American Legion Employment Bureau during the Great Depression.
In the 1930s, Texas' poor struggled to adjust to rapidly increasing unemployment and homelessness plus the emotional scares that lasted long after the economy recovered.
The Great Depression dramatically changed the way Americans viewed their government and themselves. In Texas, unemployment and homelessness destroyed lives and families. Even though many New Deal programs provided assistance to Texas’ families, the negativity surrounding the Depression caused emotional hardships that could not be easily overcome.
Psychological impacts of the Great Depression
Many Texans, black and white, were unable to adapt to the sudden unemployment. For instance, just before shooting himself a distraught Houstonian left a note indicating that the Depression had gotten the best of him since he could not find work and felt too “proud” to ask for help from one of the numerous charities in the city. Suicide seemed his only option. He wrote, “So I see no other course. A land flowing with milk and honey and a first-class mechanic can’t make an honest living. I would rather take my chances with a just God than with an unjust humanity.”
People living in miserable poverty. August 1936. Photographer: Dorothea Lange.
Unemployed and homeless, thousands of Texans hitchhiked across the state in search of work, while being frequently forced to seek shelter in “abandoned buildings, caves, dugouts, and shanties made of discarded boxes.” [ii] San Antonian Lonita Gourley was so desperate for employment, she wrote to Franklin Roosevelt asking for his assistance in finding employment with the Works Progress Administration (WPA).
However, in Dallas, dire economic contradictions were everywhere. For example, there still existed communities of neatly manicured lawns of the city’s elite who paid “homage to God and educate [their] children in magnificent churches and schools that are second to none in beauty and facilities.” Conversely, in other parts of the city the working class lived in slums and shantytowns that made those homes inhabited by antebellum slaves seems luxurious.
Racism and the Activities of Depression-era Private Organizations in Texas, as in other communities across the country, private organizations initiated relief activities to care for the hungry and homeless. In Houston, the First Presbyterian Church provided meals to over 75 thousand individuals during the winter of 1930. Unfortunately, the problems associated with racism were evident in the activities (clothes, and/or cash distributions) of private relief agencies, which often denied minorities access to their services.
Dorothea Lange's "Migrant Mother," destitute in a pea picker's camp, because of the failure of the early pea crop. These people had just sold their tent in order to buy food. Most of the 2,500 people in this camp were destitute. By the end of the decade there were still 4 million migrants on the road.
Racism and the New Deal
Racism also affected the operations of federal agencies. In Houston, for example, blacks and Hispanics were told not to apply for relief because there was not enough money to take care of the city’s white families. When Governor Allred requested additional funds to increase the number of Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) camps, many Texans opposed new CCC facilities fearful they would become predominately “Negro” camps, even though the existing CCC facilities were already racially segregated.
Therefore, it was not surprising that blacks and Hispanics experienced the hardships of the Great Depression to a greater degree than most whites. While white families certainly experienced the despair of homeless and poverty, the state unemployment rate for blacks was twice that of their white contemporaries. Meanwhile, Texas’ Hispanic community also experienced hardships during the 1930s but there was no significant change from the post Reconstruction era when they struggled for recognition and survival in a changing economy.
Strikers guarding window entrance to Fisher body plant number three. Jan.-Feb. 1936. Photographer: Sheldon Dick.
Apathy and Violence in the Great Depression
Additionally, high levels of economic disenfranchisement from the Great Depression led to high instances of crime and violence. In a study of black high school graduates in 1933, 31 percent had no real career or educational plans after high school. Violence had always been a part of the urban black community, and Houston’s urban communities were no different. By the 1940s and 1950s, the Fifth Ward became known as the “Nickel” and “the Bloody Fifth” because of frequent violent confrontations in the community.
There is little question that the Great Depression changed American society by introducing Rooseveltian paternalism and the welfare state. Texans tried to survive the crises the best way they knew how. Some relied upon the government while others turned to the more familiar for help. Nonetheless, the emotional scares existed long after the economy recovered as minority communities in urban areas experienced increased social tensions leading to higher than average crime and violence.
See more:
http://www.erroluys.com/HowAmericansHelpedEachOtherDuringtheGreatDepression.htm
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/npg01
http://www.harlandavidson.com/txhist/4e/chap11ov.htm
четвер, 21 березня 2013 р.
Texas
Capital: Austin
State abbreviation/Postal code: Tex./TX
Governor: Rick Perry, R (to Jan. 2015)
Lieut. Governor: David Dewhurst, R (to Jan. 2015)
Senators: John Cornyn, R (to Jan. 2015); Ted Cruz, R (to Jan. 2019)
U.S. Representatives: 36
Historical biographies of Congressional members
Secy. of State: Hope Andrade (apptd. by gov.)
Comptroller: Susan Combs, R (to Jan. 2015)
Atty. General: Greg Abbott, R (to Jan. 2015)
Entered Union (rank): Dec. 29, 1845 (28)
Present constitution adopted: 1876
Motto: Friendship
State symbols:
| flower | bluebonnet (1901) |
| tree | pecan (1919) |
| bird | mockingbird (1927) |
| song | “Texas, Our Texas” (1929) |
| fish | guadalupe bass (1989) |
| seashell | lightning whelk (1987) |
| dish | chili (1977) |
| folk dance | square dance (1991) |
| fruit | Texas red grapefruit (1993) |
| gem | Texas blue topaz (1969) |
| gemstone cut | Lone Star cut (1977) |
| grass | sideoats grass (1971) |
| reptile | horned lizard (1993) |
| stone | petrified palmwood (1969) |
| plant | prickly pear cactus |
| insect | monarch butterfly |
| pepper | jalapeño pepper |
| mammal | longhorn |
| small mammal | armadillo |
| flying mammal | Mexican free-tailed bat |
Nickname: Lone Star State
Origin of name: From an Indian word meaning “friends”
10 largest cities (2010 est.): Houston, 2,099,451; San Antonio , 1,327,407; Dallas, 1,197,816; Austin, 790,390; Fort Worth , 741,206; El Paso, 649,121; Arlington, 365,438; Corpus Christi, 305,215; Plano, 259,841; Laredo, 36,091
Land area: 261,797 sq mi. (678,054 sq km)
Geographic center: In McCulloch Co., 15 mi. NE of Brady
Number of counties: 254
Largest county by population and area: Harris, 4,092,459 (2010); Brewster, 6,193 sq mi.
State forests: 5 (7,314 ac.)
State parks: 115 (600,000+ ac.)
Residents: Texan
2010 resident population est.: 25,145,561
2010 resident census population (rank): 25,145,561 (2). Male: 12,472,280 (49.6%); Female: 12,673,281 (50.4%). White: 14,799,505 (71.0%); Black: 2,404,566 (11.5%); American Indian: 118,362 (0.6%); Asian: 562,319 (2.7%); Other race: 2,438,001 (11.7%); Two or more races: 514,633 (2.5%); Hispanic/Latino: 6,669,666 (32.0%). 2010 percent population 18 and over: 72.7;65 and over: 10.3; median age: 33.6.
Texas was the 28th state in the USA. It was admitted on December 29, 1845.Texas is the second largest and second most populous state in the United States of America. Owing to its remarkable size, distinctive culture and politics, and colorful history, many Texans maintain a fiercely independent attitude, with Texan identity often superseding American identity.
Americans, led by Stephen F. Austin, began to settle along the Brazos River in 1821 when Texas was controlled by Mexico, recently independent from Spain. In 1836, following a brief war between the American settlers in Texas and the Mexican government, the Independent Republic of Texas was proclaimed with Sam Houston as president. This war was famous for the battles of the Alamoand San Jacinto. After Texas became a state in 1845, border disputes led to the Mexican War of 1846–1848.
Possessing enormous natural resources, Texas is a major agricultural state and an industrial giant. Second only to Alaska in land area, it leads all other states in such categories as oil, cattle, sheep, and cotton. Texas ranches and farms also produce poultry and eggs, dairy products, greenhouse and nursery products, wheat, hay, rice, sugar cane, and peanuts, and a variety of fruits and vegetables.
Sulfur, salt, helium, asphalt, graphite, bromine, natural gas, cement, and clays are among the state's valuable resources. Chemicals, oil refining, food processing, machinery, and transportation equipment are among the major Texas manufacturing industries.
Millions of tourists spend over $50 billion annually visiting more than 100 state parks, recreation areas, and points of interest such as the Gulf Coast resort area, the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, the Alamo in San Antonio, the state capital in Austin, and the Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
The 2011 drought gave Texas its hottest, driest 12 months on record. The drought brought up the same questions of water supply as the state's seven year drought back in the 1950s. With the state's population predicted to double by the year 2060, Texas began researching new water sources in 2011.
Read more: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/texas/
http://www.50states.com/texas.htm
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/us/texas-geography.html
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-259381062.html
http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/us/texas.html
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