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Sunday, August 4, 2013
All the Awesome Stuff We Loved This Week
APNewsBreak: Sikhs added to hate crime stats
FOR USE AS DESIRED WITH SIKH TEMPLE SHOOTING ANNIVERSARY STORIES - FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2012, file photo worshipers from the Sikh community gather for a candle light vigil after prayer services in Brookfield, Wis. Twelve months ago, a white supremacist walked into a the temple and opened fire on worshippers he didn't know, killing six and devastating a Sikh community whose religion is based on peace and forgiveness. Monday is the one-year anniversary of the shooting. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
FOR USE AS DESIRED WITH SIKH TEMPLE SHOOTING ANNIVERSARY STORIES - FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2012, file photo worshipers from the Sikh community gather for a candle light vigil after prayer services in Brookfield, Wis. Twelve months ago, a white supremacist walked into a the temple and opened fire on worshippers he didn't know, killing six and devastating a Sikh community whose religion is based on peace and forgiveness. Monday is the one-year anniversary of the shooting. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
FOR USE AS DESIRED WITH SIKH TEMPLE SHOOTING ANNIVERSARY STORIES - FILE - In this undated file photo provided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is Wade Michael Page. Page walked into the Milwaukee-area Sikh temple a year ago Monday, Aug. 5, 2013, and opened fire. He killed six priests and worshippers and wounded five others, and then fatally shot himself after he was wounded in the parking lot by a police sniper. Authorities investigated the Page's background for months before concluding that his motive for attacking the temple died along with him. (AP Photo/FBI, File)
FOR USE AS DESIRED WITH SIKH TEMPLE SHOOTING ANNIVERSARY STORIES - FILE - In this Aug. 5, 2012, file photo bystanders stand outside the scene of a shooting at the Milwaukee-area Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wis. Twelve months ago, a white supremacist walked into a the temple and opened fire on worshippers he didn't know, killing six and devastating a Sikh community whose religion is based on peace and forgiveness. Monday is the one-year anniversary of the shooting. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Justice Department will begin keeping numbers on hate crimes committed against Sikhs and six other groups, in connection with Monday's one-year anniversary of the killing of six Sikh worshippers in Oak Creek, Wis.
Attorney General Eric Holder made the announcement Friday in a blog post, which The Associated Press obtained ahead of its official release. Holder said FBI Director Robert Mueller had approved a recommendation from the agency's advisory policy board to track hate crimes against Sikhs, Hindus, Arabs, Buddhists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses and Orthodox Christians.
"Having accurate information allows law enforcement leaders and policymakers to make informed decisions about the allocation of resources and priorities ? decisions that impact real people, and affect public safety in every neighborhood and community," Holder wrote in the blog post. "Today, I am proud to report that we have taken steps to collect this information."
The addition had long been sought by members of the Sikh community.
Holder also announced a $500,000 grant for mental health and trauma services to those affected by the Oak Creek shooting, including survivors and family members.
A year ago Monday, Wade Michael Page, who had ties to white supremacist groups, walked into the Milwaukee-area Sikh Temple of Wisconsin and opened fire. He killed six priests and worshippers and wounded five others, and then fatally shot himself after he was wounded in the parking lot by a police sniper. Holder on Friday called the attack a "heinous act of hatred and terror."
Pardeep Kaleka, son of former temple president Satwant Singh Kaleka, who died in the massacre, said he appreciated anything that can draw attention to people being victimized for things like their race, religion or gender.
"Progress is sort of a climb, and it takes a step at a time. This is one of those steps toward progress," he said.
Amardeep Singh, program director of the Sikh Coalition, said that while he welcomed the announcement as a "critical first step," the underlying conditions that caused the killings remain.
"The last year has once again seen violent shootings and beatings of Sikhs throughout the country," he said. "It will take more than tracking hate crime statistics to stem the tide."
Holder wrote that since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the Justice Department has investigated more than 800 incidents involving violence, threats, assaults, vandalism and arson targeting Arabs, Muslims, Sikhs, South Asians and those perceived to be members of these groups.
Federal officials in Milwaukee held a remembrance Friday for the local Sikh community, where U.S. Attorney James Santelle read Holder's announcement of the new policy. The event drew several hundred people, including the six victims' families, temple members and Wisconsin's senators, Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin.
Temple officials introduced the victims' relatives, who lit candles in memory of their loved ones. Dr. Kulwant Dhaliwal, the temple president, said his community was grateful for the chance to raise awareness of Sikh values and honor those who lost their lives.
Oak Creek Mayor Stephen Scaffidi told the audience he refused to let last year's rampage be his city's lasting legacy. When the nation thinks of Oak Creek, he said, it should be as a city of compassion and resilience, not as a town targeted by a hateful individual.
Baldwin said she was inspired by way the Sikhs reacted in the shooting's aftermath ? with gentleness and peace, not with calls for vengeance.
"You've reminded us of the American values that hold us together as one community," she said. "You've reminded us of the values that define us as one people."
____
Associated Press writer Dinesh Ramde in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
____
Follow Fred Frommer on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ffrommer
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NFL competition for young people being held in Morrow
MORROW, OH (FOX19) - The Village of Morrow Parks & Recreation Board is hosting a NFL Punt, Pass & Kick competition on Saturday, August 3.
This is the first year for the event where young football fans ages 6 - 15 will have the opportunity to exhibit their skills.
A number of NFL players have completed in NFL Punt, Pass & Kick, including top former and current NFL quarterbacks such as Dan Marino and Brett Favre.
The top finishers from each of ten age groups at the local competition will advance to a sectional competition. The winners at the sectional competition will have their scores compared with other sectional champions. The top four scorers from the pool of sectional champions advance to the Cincinnati Bengals Team Championship, to be held at one of their games in November of December of 2013.
The top four finishers in the boys? and girls? divisions within each age bracket from the pool of all Team Champions will qualify for the National Finals at an NFL playoff game in January.
Entry forms for the competition can be found online at www.NFLPPK.com or at the Morrow Municipal Building onn East Pike Street.
This event is free and will happen at Thornton Park from 9am - noon.
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Saturday, August 3, 2013
Healthy Grocery Shopping Guides - BenGreenfieldFitness.com
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Maximize Your Fitness Now With Ben's Free iPhone & Android Phone App. About · Podcast · Articles · Videos · Books ... to rush out and buy everything at once. But do print this list, jot down a few notes, or bookmark this page, and over the next year, make it a goal to gradually grow your arsenal of healthy nutrition options that will allow you to fuel your body with the thousands of calories necessary to maintain your performance goals?without killing your insides in the process. Ready?
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LeAnn Rimes Talks Rocky Relationship With the Media, Standing Up for Herself on Twitter
LeAnn Rimes is no stranger to judgment. So, she's come to the right place!
"You know, they can take it down one road or another," the singer explains to Joan Rivers & Co. on the latest episode of Fashion Police, airing tonight at 10 p.m. on E!, when Joan tells her that she thinks the press has treated her "abominably."
"You got together with a married man, blah blah blah...so did Angelina Jolie! And she's become a [bleeping] goddess," marvels Joan.
PHOTOS: LeAnn Rimes' many bikini looks
Smiling, LeAnn agrees that the media hasn't given her any free passes since she and now-hubby Eddie Cibrian got together, divorcing their respective spouses in the process.
"They can take it down a negative road," she says. "If they want you to be happy and they love you, they'll take it down that road! So it's amazing how much control they have over people's lives and the perception, you know...It's just been quite an interesting four-and-a-half years."
Joan also wonders, fabulously bluntly, why LeAnn bothers to engage with people on Twitter. Or, more specifically, why Leann picks fights via Twitter?
"I don't pick fights!" LeAnn insists. "I do stand up for myself every once in a while. But can you imagine the stuff that I just let go?"
Watch LeAnn talk life and style with Joan, Giuliana, Kelly and George on Fashion Police, tonight at 10 p.m., only on E!
PHOTOS: Judge the looks in our Fashion Police gallery!
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Tobacco Company Loses $37.5 Million Battle Over Lung Cancer ...
A South Florida jury this week found the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company partially responsible for the death of smoker Laura Grossman, who in 1995 died of lung cancer at the age of 38. The jury awarded $37.5 million to Grossman's family, which included $22.5 million in punitive damages against the tobacco company to deter R.J. Reynolds from trying to lure teenagers in the future, according to Marketwired.
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company has appealed the verdict, claiming that Grossman's husband, Jan Grossman, should be held responsible for Laura's death for "failing to change another person?s course of conduct.? As part of the court ruling, Grossman's husband and two children were also awarded $15 million in compensatory damages.
R.J. Reynolds did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Huffington Post.
During the 20-day trial in Broward County, Fla., attorneys of the family stated that Laura was too young to understand the risks of smoking when she started, and that R.J Reynolds specifically targets innocent teens with their products and marketing. Grossman began smoking when she was 15 years old, according to UPI.
The defense relied heavily on the warning labels placed on cigarettes to support their case during the trial, claiming that Grossman was well aware of the risk of smoking and thus should be held responsible, according to Associated Press.
R.J. Reynold's also argued that "the trial court improperly admitted lay witness testimony regarding the decedent?s addiction to cigarettes."
As a result of a 2006 Florida Supreme Court ruling, which stated that cases regarding tobacco users must be heard individually, smokers and their families only need to provide some proof of addiction and that smoking was the cause of their sickness or death, CBS News reports.
Also on HuffPost:
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/02/rj-reynolds_n_3697648.html
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Friday, August 2, 2013
IBIS Can Do What the Da Vinci Does (But for 90 Percent Less)
If Playing God taught us anything, it's that surgeons with shaky hands and crippling prescription painkiller addictions are not long for their profession. That's why robots like the Da Vinci
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College football coaches preseason poll: Alabama predictably at the top
The USA Today Top 25 football coaches preseason poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, 2012 records, total points based on 25 points for first place through one point for 25th, and ranking in final 2012 poll:
1. Alabama (58)?? ?13-1?? ?1,545?? ?1
2. Ohio State (3)?? ?12-0?? ?1,427?? ?NR
3. Oregon?? ?12-1?? ?1,397?? ?2
4. Stanford?? ?12-2?? ?1,262?? ?6
5. Georgia?? ?12-2?? ?1,250?? ?4
6. Texas A&M (1)?? ?11-2?? ?1,215?? ?5
7. South Carolina?? ?11-2?? ?1,136?? ?7
8. Clemson?? ?11-2?? ?1,047?? ?9
9. Louisville?? ?11-2?? ?1,010?? ?13
10. Florida?? ?11-2?? ?930?? ?10
11. Notre Dame?? ?12-1?? ?872?? ?3
12. Florida State?? ?12-2?? ?844?? ?8
13. LSU?? ?10-3?? ?797?? ?12
14. Oklahoma State?? ?8-5?? ?726?? ?NR
15. Texas?? ?9-4?? ?622?? ?18
16. Oklahoma?? ?10-3?? ?620?? ?15
17. Michigan?? ?8-5?? ?589?? ?NR
18. Nebraska?? ?10-4?? ?426?? ?23
19. Boise State?? ?11-2?? ?420?? ?14
20. TCU?? ?7-6?? ?400?? ?NR
21. UCLA?? ?9-5?? ?202?? ?NR
22. Northwestern?? ?10-3?? ?186?? ?16
23. Wisconsin?? ?8-6?? ?172?? ?NR
24. Southern Cal?? ?7-6?? ?165?? ?NR
25. Oregon State?? ?9-4?? ?135?? ?19
Others receiving votes: Kansas State 113; Miami (Fla.) 101; Michigan State 89; Baylor 80; Virginia Tech 65; Fresno State 62; Arizona State 51; Mississippi 32; Vanderbilt 29; Utah State 23; Brigham Young 20; North Carolina 19; Northern Illinois 19; Tulsa 9; Ohio 8; San Jose State 8; Arizona 5; Cincinnati 3; East Carolina 3; Kent State 3; Mississippi State 3; Washington 3; Central Florida 2; Arkansas 1; Arkansas State 1; Rutgers 1; Tennessee 1; Toledo 1.
Source: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2013/08/college_football_coaches_prese.html
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Hyderabad Real Estate will get a boost by Telangana formation
The anointing of Telangana as a new state has given ample reason for real estate developers in Hyderabad to rejoice. It is the general perception in realty circles in Hyderabad that with the political turmoil over Telangana done and dusted, real estate development with be on an upswing, resulting in a surge in the business of real estate developers.
With Hyderabad set to become the common capital for both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for 10 years, it would result in a fresh frenzy of real estate activity within the city as well as on the outskirts. It is felt that Hyderabad with its top class infrastructure facilites will attract tremendous global investments. This would result in an wider sphere of development activity in the commercial real estate market, thereby paving the way for the overall development of the city, including the outskirts.
The real estate market in Hyderabad was adversely affected since 2009 due to the Telangana issue and the ambiguity regarding its bifurcation. There was hardly a 10% increase in property prices since 2008. As a result, the residential capital values had reached a point of stagnation, prompting developers to seek other lucrative markets like Bangalore and Chennai. With Telangana all set to become a reality, realty in Hyderabad will be the biggest gainer.
Telangana becoming a state would asuage the fears that property developers earlier had with regard to instability in attracting investments. With that hurdle crossed, capital values on residential property in and around Hyderabad is expected to grow by 6-7% annually in 2013 and 2014. Increase in prices is expected to be faster and a narrowing down of the gap is expected in residential capital values with respect to other cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. However, due to the oversupply of commercial rental space, there is expected to be only a marginal rental appreciation.
Demand for commercial/residential property in and around Hyderabad is expected to surge within 2-3 months, with appreciation in value expected in many areas. Some of these areas are the Central Business District areas like Banjara Hills and Jubilee Hills, areas in and around Outer ring road, and places such as Hitech City, Kukatpally, Gachibowli, Chanda Nagar and Miyapur.
It was seen that 1,18,000 residential units were launched by developers in the past 3-4 years, in the region. Of these, as many as 33,000 houses remained unsold, mainly due to the volatile political situation prevailing with respect to Telangana. However, it was seen that there was a 11% increase in residential sales volumes in the first half of FY13 compared to the similar period of FY12. During this period, as many as 8,100 residential units were sold. A further 69,800 units were in various stages of completion, with 70% of them expected to be ready for possession by 2014 end.
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Commodities Tomorrow: Chinese PMI data
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Source: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?play=1&video=3000187055
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Thursday, August 1, 2013
China's army defends "sovereign territory" from Japanese - in video game
By Paul Carsten
BEIJING (Reuters) - He walks backwards, emptying the magazine of his rifle into the three soldiers charging toward him with bayonets raised. They drop dead, and a small Japanese flag, its red sun stylized to resemble a bullet wound, flashes onto the screen.
These are just some of the "guizi", the derogatory Chinese term for the Japanese occupiers during World War Two, that will die at the hands of Chinese troops defending their sovereign land, in a new Chinese video game released on Thursday, the anniversary of the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) founding.
"Glorious Mission Online" was developed by Giant Interactive Group, a Chinese developer and publisher, in collaboration with the PLA for use in training simulations.
Now it has been released as an online game, allowing players to defend contested islands in the East China Sea -- Diaoyu to the Chinese, Senkaku to the Japanese.
"Players will do battle alongside the PLA, with guns in hand, and tell the Japanese: 'You will not violate our sovereign territory!'" says a statement on the game's website.
The row over the barren clump of rocks in the East China Sea - administered by Japan - has badly affected relations between Beijing and Tokyo.
Japan's defense ministry declined to comment on the game's release.
The PLA was interested in having a 3D interactive game for simulations with virtual replicas of their weapons, said Richard Chiang, a spokesman for Giant Interactive.
"The military was 100 percent behind this game," he said. "Rather than playing the same foreign games like Call of Duty and being American Marines shooting Russians or whatnot, Chinese can actually play as Chinese soldiers."
Glorious Mission Online plays much like any other first-person shooter, though nationalism is prominent.
One mission has players fighting with "burning passion" from the deck of the Liaoning, China's first aircraft carrier, in a "life-and-death" battle.
"The guizi are coming!" warns the game in a scenario where players are tasked with defending a World War Two-era Shanghai and its cultural artefacts from Japanese invaders.
"The guizi have been obliterated!" Glorious Mission congratulates the player after a grenade explodes under the last enemy's feet. Shanghai's museums are saved.
(Additional reporting by Beijing Television and Antoni Slodkowski in Tokyo; Editing by Ron Popeski)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-army-defends-sovereign-territory-japanese-video-game-153904321.html
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The Case for Alien Life
On Feb. 9, 2013, NASA's Curiosity rover found something on Mars that set a milestone in the search for alien life. Packed with instruments, the rover was an SUV-size speck crawling across the floor of the Gale Crater, whose distant walls climbed 15,000 feet in the thin air. The rover had been lowered to the ground six months earlier by means of a complex, jet-propelled sky crane. Now, almost 221 million miles from home but just a quarter-mile from its landing site, Curiosity was exploring a shallow depression called Yellowknife Bay. The machine trundled up to an outcropping of bedrock, which lay dry and cracked beneath a yellow sky. It drilled into the rock and within minutes pulled a fine gray powder from the narrow borehole. Curiosity scooped up the dust and tasted it.
The sample contained smectite clay, which on Earth is found in alluvial plains and regions washed by monsoons. Today, Mars is a largely arid world whipped by global dust storms, where temperatures can swing 170 F in a day. Three billion years ago, it seems, a river of sweet water cascaded over the rim of Gale Crater and emptied into a lake in Yellowknife Bay. The sky was probably bluer then, and cloudier, and the terrain hadn't yet rusted from gray to red. Mount Sharp, which rises 18,000 feet above the crater floor, may have been capped in ice and snow.
Curiosity found in the ancient clay many of the elements needed for life: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus. We don't know whether bacteria, let alone Earth-like plants and animals, once teemed in Yellowknife Bay, but they could have. The rover was just the newest scout in humanity's decades-long exploration of Mars, an effort that currently includes the dogged 10-year-old Opportunity rover and three orbiters in space. But Yellowknife Bay is the first site ever observed, on Mars or anywhere else, that clearly could have supported extraterrestrial life.
Generations of scientists and science-fiction fans (often, those are the same people) have thought we'd find life strewn throughout the stars?if not civilizations, at least bacterial mats, or tentacled beasts on ocean floors, or something. But for decades the evidence was thin. Now, in 2013, the data is on the side of the believers. It has been provided by increasingly sophisticated probes, space telescopes, and rovers. Planets were once thought to be rare; by the time the Kepler space telescope ran into severe mechanical problems in May, it had proved that alien worlds actually number in the billions. Scientists imagined the universe to be parched; new studies show that it's filled with watery planets. And, surprise: Life isn't some delicate thing, like a pasty tourist stuck beneath a beach umbrella; it's now known to be more like a hardy soldier, able to infiltrate the harshest environments.The exciting exobiological news keeps coming: In April, astronomers identified a trio of planets that appear capable of supporting Earth-like life. They orbit their stars' habitable zones, the just-right distance where water neither freezes nor boils, but collects in sloshy, life-friendly oceans. One of the worlds, dubbed Kepler-62e, even shows signs of a humid atmosphere strewn with clouds. More such discoveries will come.
Louisa Preston, an astrobiologist at Open University in the U.K., investigates the telltale signs of biology that could help us locate life in space. "It's now predicted that there are 17 billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy alone," Preston says. "And since our galaxy is one of hundreds of billions in the universe, the chances of finding life are increasing exponentially." Here are three reasons, in detail and based on current research, why we are much more likely to find life than to discover we are alone.
Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/deep/the-case-for-alien-life-15756398?src=rss
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How To Take Beautiful Photos
Have you looked at a stunning photo and wished that you could take such a beautiful picture? Here are a few key points that can help you improve your photography skills.
The first thing to remember is that photography is an art. Just like art, once you understand the basics and start putting them into practice, you'll find your photography skills will improve.
Taking beautiful photos is all about light. Without light there would be no photography and taking a great photo means being in the right place at the right time to get the perfect light, particularly for outdoor shots. Variations in light conditions can make all the difference between a good photo and a great one. The best advice is to experiment and take lots of pictures under various lighting.
The amount of light that falls on your camera sensor when the shutter is opened is known as exposure and is another important factor in producing a great photo. Too much light, overexposure, will result in the photo appearing pale and washed out, while too little light, underexposure, will result in loss of details hidden in shadow.
Even if your exposure is correct, your potentially beautiful photo could be marred by lack of focus. Focus is controlled by the aperture setting. A wide aperture setting will produce a shallow depth of field while a small aperture will give a greater depth of field. Remember that you will need to increase the exposure to compensate for reduced aperture settings.
You can control items such as lighting and exposure by using additional lights and screens. You can also gain more control by arranging your subject and by using props to enhance the subject. This technique, known as staging, can add interest to your photo. It also allows you to compose your photo to get a better balance in the relationship between the subject and background.
The most important tip is to take photographs. The more you take, the more you experiment, the more experience you'll gain. Remember, practice makes perfect. Sure, you'll end up with loads of poor photos, but in the age of digital cameras, this is not a big deal. For every hundred photos you take, you'll see one that will excite you.
And don't despair. If that otherwise perfect shot is ruined by a blemish, there are always photo-editing software programs that can help you. Try Corel PaintShop Pro, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Serif Photoplus, ACDSee or Xara, just to mention a few.
A final tip, keep your eyes open and try to view every scene as a photo. Great photo opportunities are all around; you just have to see them. Good luck capturing the perfect shot!
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Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/how-to-take-beautiful-photos-334979
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Avis aux m?dias : D?veloppement ?conomique Canada
31 juil. 2013 10h00 HE
DRUMMONDVILLE, QU?BEC--(Marketwired - 31 juillet 2013) - Le ministre de l'Infrastructure, des Collectivit?s et des Affaires intergouvernementales et ministre de l'Agence de d?veloppement ?conomique du Canada pour les r?gions du Qu?bec, l'honorable Denis Lebel, proc?dera ? une annonce concernant les centres communautaires Drummondville-Sud et Saint-Pierre.
| Date : | le 1er ao?t 2013 |
| Heure : | 10 h 30 |
| Lieu : | Centre communautaire Drummondville-Sud inc. |
| Porte 2 | |
| 1550, rue Saint-Aim? | |
| Drummondville (Qu?bec) |
Pour rester au fait des derni?res nouvelles de D?veloppement ?conomique Canada, consultez le site www.dec-ced.gc.ca ou abonnez-vous au compte Twitter @DevEconCan
Source: http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=1816386&sourceType=3
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Xcel Energy-sponsored camp challenges students
Teens learned about solar energy, electricity, building things and how things work at a Solar Energy Camp sponsored by XCel Energy held at Brush High School, July 18-19. (Lisa Jager/News-Tribune)
Exploring how solar energy works while having some fun at the same time is the theory behind a Brush Solar Energy Camp for teens held recently at Brush High School.It?s also a way to inspire students to consider the possibilities of a career in science engineering or math, according to Xcel Energy?s Pawnee Station Director Jerry Lyne, who helps coordinate and lead the camp, along with Brush High School science teacher Dave Miner.
During the camp, students learn about electricity, gears, building things and making them work by building a drive box and mechanism powered by a solar panel. The solar collector panel contains reflective material that deflect the sunlight into solar cells to make the unit function. At the end of the two-day session students usually take their projects outside in the sun to see if they work. However, Lyne said this year due to overcast skies they were not able to test the collectors outside. However, they did use a flashlight just to test the control circuits and that the collector rotated in the correct direction.?
The camp has been held for several years now. Returning students, including two of Lyne?s own children, help mentor new students.
In past years, Lyne said they have also studied the science behind energy in rockets and also challenged themselves with a whimsical ?mental experiment ? ? calculate the size of a box needed in order to hold all the people on earth, challenging the students to determine if it?s something you could actually calculate.
Lyne said at the end of the camp this year students completed a survey which asked if they were also interested in other types of camps.? Some suggested botany, biology and chemistry.?
?If there are people in the community that would be interested, we could develop a week-long series of classes and the students could pick and choose based on their interests, of which the solar camp would be one," Lyne said. ?I am hoping this interest might prompt other individuals or businesses to have an interest to do similar types of camps.?
The camp, along with other science programs for students, is funded through a $17,500 grant from Xcel Energy to the Brush School District.
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Stomach bug hits new Iowa patients in outbreak linked to salad mix
By Karen Brooks
(Reuters) - A severe stomach illness linked to prepackaged salad has struck two new patients in Iowa, state health officials said on Wednesday, as the bug spread through 16 states.
The salad mix has been blamed for most of the 145 total cases in Iowa and the 78 in Nebraska of the rare parasite cyclospora, which causes gastrointestinal illness. The two states account for nearly two-thirds of at least 378 cases in the United States since mid-June.
The cause of outbreaks in other states is still under investigation, but officials with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they are working to determine whether the prepackaged salad mix, the brand name of which has not been released, is responsible for outbreaks in states from New York and New Jersey to Florida and Texas.
At least 21 people have been hospitalized in three states with the bug, CDC officials said.
Symptoms caused by the one-cell parasite include watery diarrhea, vomiting and body aches. The virus is commonly associated with contaminated fresh produce and can be difficult to wash off.
Officials in Iowa and Nebraska said the salad mix was distributed nationally and there is no indication that local produce was involved in the outbreak.
The mix, sold as prewashed and ready to eat, was described by health officials as a combination of iceberg lettuce, carrots and red cabbage.
The product has been pulled from the shelves in Iowa and appears to have been consumed by the stricken residents in mid-June, health officials said. It was unclear whether the product had been removed from distribution in Nebraska.
Nebraska health officials said earlier this week that the same salad mix appeared to be responsible for the outbreak there as well.
New cases are being reported in Nebraska daily, officials there said, but it is unlikely that the same batch is still on shelves or in refrigerators, as the product's shelf life is short.
Cyclosporiasis symptoms usually manifest within several days of eating the contaminated food, and include diarrhea, cramps, nausea and fatigue. If not treated, the illness may last from a few days to a month or longer and patients have been known to relapse, the CDC said.
The first cases were reported in Iowa in late June, with the majority of the illnesses logged in early July. The CDC has not released the age range of those infected, but said it was working closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and state officials to gather more information.
(Reporting by Karen Brooks in Austin, Texas; Editing by Greg McCune and Richard Chang)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stomach-bug-hits-iowa-patients-outbreak-linked-salad-195805766.html
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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
New EPA chief: Climate controls will help economy
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama's top environmental official wasted no time Tuesday taking on opponents of the administration's plan to crack down on global warming pollution.
In her first speech as the head of EPA, Gina McCarthy told an audience gathered at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass., that curbing climate-altering pollution will spark business innovation, grow jobs and strengthen the economy. The message was classic Obama, who has long said that the environment and the economy aren't in conflict and has sold ambitious plans to reduce greenhouse gases as a means to jumpstart a clean energy economy.
McCarthy signaled Tuesday that she was ready for the fight, saying that the agency would continue issuing new rules, regardless of claims by Republicans and industry groups that under Obama the EPA has been the most aggressive and overreaching since it was formed more than 40 years ago.
"Can we stop talking about environmental regulations killing jobs? Please, at least for today," said McCarthy, referring to one of the favorite talking points of Republicans and industry groups.
"Let's talk about this as an opportunity of a lifetime, because there are too many lifetimes at stake," she said of efforts to address global warming.
In Obama's first four years, the EPA has issued the first-ever limits on toxic mercury pollution from power plants, regulated greenhouse gases for the first time, and updated a host of air pollution health standards.
McCarthy acknowledged the agency had been the most productive in its history. But she said Tuesday that "we are not just about rules and regulations, we are about getting environmental improvement."
But improvement, she said, could be made "everywhere."
That optimistic vision runs counter to claims by Republican lawmakers and some industry groups that more rules will kill jobs and fossil fuel industries. The EPA under Obama has already put in place or proposed new rules to reduce carbon pollution from cars and trucks, large smokestacks, and new power plants - regulations that McCarthy helped to draft as head of the air pollution office. Next on its agenda is the nation's existing fleet of coal-fired power plants, the largest single source of carbon dioxide left. Obama in a June speech gave the agency until June 2014 to draft those regulations.
"It is not supposed to be easy. It is supposed to be hard," McCarthy said of the road ahead. "I don't think it is my job out of the gate to know what the path forward is. It is my obligation to let those voices be heard and listen to them."
A panel in the Republican-controlled House recently signed off on a plan to cut the agency's budget by a third and attached a series of measures that McCarthy said "do everything but say the EPA can't do anything."
Yet, last week, in a victory, a federal court dismissed challenges brought by Texas and power companies to EPA's plans to regulate the largest sources of heat-trapping gases.
"Climate change will not be resolved overnight," she added. "But it will be engaged over the next three years - that I can promise you."
_______
Follow Dina Cappiello's environment coverage on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dinacappiello
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/epa-chief-climate-controls-help-economy-160719135.html
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Microsoft recently filed a Digital Millenium Copyright Act takedown request agai...
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Source: http://www.facebook.com/RTnews/posts/10151735859034411
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Human cells respond in healthy, unhealthy ways to different kinds of happiness
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Human bodies recognize at the molecular level that not all happiness is created equal, responding in ways that can help or hinder physical health, according to new research.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/c_o3SoSxPvg/130729161952.htm
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Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Ted Cruz Wants YOU (To Help Get Rid of Obamacare)
In a talk at the Heritage Foundation on Tuesday, Ted Cruz argued in favor of his plan?along with fellow Sens. Mike Lee and Marco Rubio and other tea-party members?to use the continuing resolution debate at the end of September to defund Obama's health care law, emphasizing the importance of grassroots efforts to win the fight.?
Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas, presented the plan as the last and only chance to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. "If we don't do it now, in all likelihood we never will," Cruz said. "In modern times no major entitlement, once it was implemented, has ever been unwound." Once the exchanges and subsidies are in place next year, Cruz argued, the administration will likely have already succeeded in getting as many Americans as they can "addicted to the subsidies, addicted to the sugar," thereby drastically diminishing prospects for full repeal.
Cruz's plan risks a government shutdown unless Obama agrees to defund his signature legislation, a virtual impossibility. Yet Cruz emphasized the necessity of dramatic action and slammed Republicans in the House for their continued "empty symbolic votes with no chance of passing." The House is scheduled to vote for the 40th time this week to repeal Obamacare.
In order to convince the necessary 41 Republicans in the Senate or 218 in the House to support his plan, Cruz emphasized the need for "unprecedented levels" of grassroots efforts. He called upon individuals to join the fight and pressure their representatives to join in refusing to fund the law.
Cruz responded to Republicans' concerns that another government shutdown would harm the party and damage 2014 election chances, calling them "haunted by the ghost of shutdowns past." Although conventional wisdom is that Republicans were to blame for the 1995 shutdown, Cruz argued that government shutdowns are far from disastrous. "The world didn't end; planes didn't fall out of the sky, Social Security checks didn't stop, military paychecks didn't stop, we didn't default on our national debt." While saying he certainly didn't want shutdowns to continue indefinitely, Cruz emphasized the temporary nature of shutdowns and argued that it was important for Republicans to stand up for their principles.
Winding down his talk, Cruz's rhetoric became a kind of inspirational battle cry. He quoted Margaret Thatcher ("First you win the argument, then you win the fight"), and asked, "If we're not willing to fight on Obamacare, what are we willing to fight on?" Appealing to his audience of bloggers, he said they would be the ones to win it. "New media is a terrific destabilizing force," and a crucial element of the grassroots battle to defund the health care law, he said. ?
Cruz ended with a message to Republicans who do not like his approach: "What is your alternative?" It's a question that, ironically, many have posed to the GOP with regard to Obamacare.?
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ted-cruz-wants-help-rid-obamacare-161725526.html
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UMCS, Metering programs help military, federal agencies control utility use (The United States Army)
| United States of America | ||
|---|---|---|
| Motto:?In God We Trust??(official) E Pluribus Unum??(traditional) (Latin: Out of Many, One) | ||
| Anthem:?"The Star-Spangled Banner" | ||
| Capital | Washington, D.C. 38?53?N 77?01?W? / ?38.883?N 77.017?W? / 38.883; -77.017 | |
| Largest city | New York City | |
| Official language(s) | None at federal level[a] | |
| National language | English (de facto)[b] | |
| Demonym | American | |
| Government | Federal presidential constitutional republic | |
| ?-? | President | Barack Obama (D) |
| ?-? | Vice President | Joe Biden (D) |
| ?-? | Speaker of the House | John Boehner (R) |
| ?-? | Chief Justice | John Roberts |
| Legislature | Congress | |
| ?-? | Upper house | Senate |
| ?-? | Lower house | House of Representatives |
| Independence | from the Kingdom of Great Britain? | |
| ?-? | Declared | July 4, 1776? |
| ?-? | Recognized | September 3, 1783? |
| ?-? | Current constitution | June 21, 1788? |
| Area | ||
| ?-? | Total | 9,826,675?km2?[1][c](3rd/4th) 3,794,101?sq?mi? |
| ?-? | Water?(%) | 6.76 |
| Population | ||
| ?-? | 2012?estimate | 313,802,000[2]?(3rd) |
| ?-? | Density | 33.7/km2? 87.4/sq?mi |
| GDP?(PPP) | 2011?estimate | |
| ?-? | Total | $15.094 trillion[3]?(1st) |
| ?-? | Per capita | $48,386[3]?(6th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2011?estimate | |
| ?-? | Total | $15.094 trillion[3]?(1st) |
| ?-? | Per capita | $48,386[3]?(15th) |
| Gini?(2007) | 45.0[1]?(39th) | |
| HDI?(2011) |  0.910[4]?(very high)?(4th) | |
| Currency | United States dollar ($) (USD) | |
| Time zone | (UTC?5 to ?10) | |
| ?-? | Summer?(DST) | ?(UTC?4 to ?10) |
| Date formats | m/d/yy (AD) | |
| Drives on the | right | |
| Internet TLD | .us .gov .mil .edu | |
| Calling code | +1 | |
| ^ a. English is the official language of at least 28 states?some sources give a higher figure, based on differing definitions of "official".[5] English and Hawaiian are both official languages in the state of Hawaii. ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language. ^ c. Whether the United States or China is larger is disputed. The figure given is from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook. Other sources give smaller figures. All authoritative calculations of the country's size include only the 50 states and the District of Columbia, not the territories. ^ d. The population estimate includes people whose usual residence is in the fifty states and the District of Columbia, including noncitizens. It does not include either those living in the territories, amounting to more than 4?million U.S. citizens (mostly in Puerto Rico), or U.S. citizens living outside the United States. | ||
The United States of America (commonly abbreviated to the United States, the U.S., the USA, America, and the States) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington,?D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west, across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Pacific and Caribbean.
At 3.79?million square miles (9.83?million km2) and with over 312 million people, the United States is the third or fourth largest country by total area, and the third largest by both land area and population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[6] The U.S.?economy is the world's largest national economy, with an estimated 2011 GDP of $15.1?trillion (22% of nominal global GDP and over 19% of global GDP at purchasing-power parity).[3][7] Per capita income is the world's sixth-highest.[3]
Indigenous peoples descended from forebears who migrated from Asia have inhabited what is now the mainland United States for many thousands of years. This Native American population was greatly reduced by disease and warfare after European contact. The United States was founded by thirteen British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July?4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their right to self-determination and their establishment of a cooperative union. The rebellious states defeated the British Empire in the American Revolution, the first successful colonial war of independence.[8] The current United States Constitution was adopted on September?17, 1787; its ratification the following year made the states part of a single republic with a stronger central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.
Through the 19th century, the United States displaced native tribes, acquired the Louisiana territory from France, Florida from Spain, part of the Oregon Country from the United Kingdom, Alta California and New Mexico from Mexico, and Alaska from Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over the expansion of the institution of slavery and states' rights provoked the Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s, its national economy was the world's largest.[9] The Spanish?American War and World War?I confirmed the country's status as a military power. It emerged from World War?II as the first country with nuclear weapons and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union left the United States as the sole superpower. The country accounts for 41% of global military spending,[10] and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.[11]
In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseem?ller produced a world map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci.[12] The former British colonies first used the country's modern name in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the "unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America".[13] On November?15, 1777, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, which states, "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of America'." The Franco-American treaties of 1778 used "United States of North America", but from July?11, 1778, "United States of America" was used on the country's bills of exchange, and it has been the official name ever since.[14]
The short form "United States" is also standard. Other common forms include the "U.S.", the "USA", and "America". Colloquial names include the "U.S. of A." and, internationally, the "States". "Columbia", a once popular name for the United States, derives from Christopher Columbus; it appears in the name "District of Columbia".
The standard way to refer to a citizen of the United States is as an "American". Although "United States" is the official appositional term, "American" and "U.S." are more commonly used to refer to the country adjectivally ("American values", "U.S.?forces"). "American" is rarely used in English to refer to people not connected to the United States.[15]
The phrase "United States" was originally treated as plural?e.g., "the United States are"?including in the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1865. It became common to treat it as singular?e.g., "the United States is"?after the end of the Civil War. The singular form is now standard; the plural form is retained in the idiom "these United States".[16]
The land area of the contiguous United States is approximately 1,900 million acres (7,700,000 km2). Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at 365 million acres (1,480,000 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central Pacific, southwest of North America, has just over 4 million acres (16,000?km2).[17] The United States is the world's third or fourth largest nation by total area (land and water), ranking behind Russia and Canada and just above or below China. The ranking varies depending on how two territories disputed by China and India are counted and how the total size of the United States is measured: calculations range from 3,676,486 square miles (9,522,055 km2)[18] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[19] to 3,794,101 square miles (9,826,676 km2).[1] Including only land area, the United States is third in size behind Russia and China, just ahead of Canada.[20]
The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and the rolling hills of the Piedmont. The Appalachian Mountains divide the eastern seaboard from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest. The Mississippi?Missouri River, the world's fourth longest river system, runs mainly north?south through the heart of the country. The flat, fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a highland region in the southeast. The Rocky Mountains, at the western edge of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, reaching altitudes higher than 14,000?feet (4,300?m) in Colorado. Farther west are the rocky Great Basin and deserts such as the Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast. At 20,320?feet (6,194?m), Alaska's Mount McKinley is the tallest peak in the country and in North America. Active volcanoes are common throughout Alaska's Alexander and Aleutian Islands, and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. The supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in the Rockies is the continent's largest volcanic feature.[21]
The United States, with its large size and geographic variety, includes most climate types. To the east of the 100th meridian, the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to humid subtropical in the south. The southern tip of Florida is tropical, as is Hawaii. The Great Plains west of the 100th meridian are semi-arid. Much of the Western mountains are alpine. The climate is arid in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not uncommon?the states bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes occur within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[22]
The U.S. ecology is considered "megadiverse": about 17,000 species of vascular plants occur in the contiguous United States and Alaska, and over 1,800 species of flowering plants are found in Hawaii, few of which occur on the mainland.[23] The United States is home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[24] About 91,000 insect species have been described.[25] The Endangered Species Act of 1973 protects threatened and endangered species and their habitats, which are monitored by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. There are fifty-eight national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and wilderness areas.[26] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[27] Most of this is protected, though some is leased for oil and gas drilling, mining, logging, or cattle ranching; 2.4% is used for military purposes.[27]
The United States is a federal union of fifty states. The original thirteen states were the successors of the thirteen colonies that rebelled against British rule. Early in the country's history, three new states were organized on territory separated from the claims of the existing states: Kentucky from Virginia; Tennessee from North Carolina; and Maine from Massachusetts. Most of the other states have been carved from territories obtained through war or purchase by the U.S. government. One set of exceptions comprises Vermont, Texas, and Hawaii: each was an independent republic before joining the union. During the American Civil War, West Virginia broke away from Virginia. The most recent state?Hawaii?achieved statehood on August 21, 1959.[28] The states do not have the right to secede from the union.
The states compose the vast bulk of the U.S. land mass; the two other areas considered integral parts of the country are the District of Columbia, the federal district where the capital, Washington, is located; and Palmyra Atoll, an uninhabited but incorporated territory in the Pacific Ocean. The United States also possesses five major overseas territories: Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean; and American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific.[29] Those born in the major territories (except for American Samoa) possess U.S. citizenship.[30] American citizens residing in the territories have many of the same rights and responsibilities as citizens residing in the states; however, they are generally exempt from federal income tax, may not vote for president, and have only nonvoting representation in the U.S. Congress.[31]
Native American and European settlement[link]
The indigenous peoples of the U.S. mainland, including Alaska Natives, are believed to have migrated from Asia, beginning between 40,000 and 12,000 years ago.[32] Some, such as the pre-Columbian Mississippian culture, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level societies. After Europeans began settling the Americas, many millions of indigenous Americans died from epidemics of imported diseases such as smallpox.[33]
In 1492, Genoese explorer Christopher Columbus, under contract to the Spanish crown, reached several Caribbean islands, making first contact with the indigenous people. On April?2, 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de Le?n landed on what he called "La Florida"?the first documented European arrival on what would become the U.S. mainland. Spanish settlements in the region were followed by ones in the present-day southwestern United States that drew thousands through Mexico. French fur traders established outposts of New France around the Great Lakes; France eventually claimed much of the North American interior, down to the Gulf of Mexico. The first successful English settlements were the Virginia Colony in Jamestown in 1607 and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony in 1620. The 1628 chartering of the Massachusetts Bay Colony resulted in a wave of migration; by 1634, New England had been settled by some 10,000 Puritans. Between the late 1610s and the American Revolution, about 50,000 convicts were shipped to Britain's American colonies.[34] Beginning in 1614, the Dutch settled along the lower Hudson River, including New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island.
In 1674, the Dutch ceded their American territory to England; the province of New Netherland was renamed New York. Many new immigrants, especially to the South, were indentured servants?some two-thirds of all Virginia immigrants between 1630 and 1680.[35] By the turn of the 18th century, African slaves were becoming the primary source of bonded labor. With the 1729 division of the Carolinas and the 1732 colonization of Georgia, the thirteen British colonies that would become the United States of America were established. All had local governments with elections open to most free men, with a growing devotion to the ancient rights of Englishmen and a sense of self-government stimulating support for republicanism. All legalized the African slave trade. With high birth rates, low death rates, and steady immigration, the colonial population grew rapidly. The Christian revivalist movement of the 1730s and 1740s known as the Great Awakening fueled interest in both religion and religious liberty. In the French and Indian War, British forces seized Canada from the French, but the francophone population remained politically isolated from the southern colonies. Excluding the Native Americans (popularly known as "American Indians"), who were being displaced, those thirteen colonies had a population of 2.6?million in 1770, about one-third that of Britain; nearly one in five Americans were black slaves.[36] Though subject to British taxation, the American colonials had no representation in the Parliament of Great Britain.
Independence and expansion[link]
Tensions between American colonials and the British during the revolutionary period of the 1760s and early 1770s led to the American Revolutionary War, fought from 1775 to 1781. On June?14, 1775, the Continental Congress, convening in Philadelphia, established a Continental Army under the command of George Washington. Proclaiming that "all men are created equal" and endowed with "certain unalienable Rights", the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, drafted largely by Thomas Jefferson, on July?4, 1776. That date is now celebrated annually as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of Confederation established a weak confederal government that operated until 1789.
After the British defeat by American forces assisted by the French and Spanish, Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States and the states' sovereignty over American territory west to the Mississippi River. Those wishing to establish a strong federal government with powers of taxation organized a constitutional convention in 1787. The United States Constitution was ratified in 1788, and the new republic's first Senate, House of Representatives, and president?George Washington?took office in 1789. The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and guaranteeing a range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.
Attitudes toward slavery were shifting; a clause in the Constitution protected the Atlantic slave trade only until 1808. The Northern states abolished slavery between 1780 and 1804, leaving the slave states of the South as defenders of the "peculiar institution". The Second Great Awakening, beginning about 1800, made evangelicalism a force behind various social reform movements, including abolitionism.
Americans' eagerness to expand westward prompted a long series of Indian Wars. The Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed territory under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size.[37] The War of 1812, declared against Britain over various grievances and fought to a draw, strengthened U.S. nationalism. A series of U.S. military incursions into Florida led Spain to cede it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The Trail of Tears in the 1830s exemplified the Indian removal policy that stripped the native peoples of their land. The United States annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845, amid a period when the concept of Manifest Destiny was becoming popular.[38] The 1846 Oregon Treaty with Britain led to U.S. control of the present-day American Northwest. The U.S. victory in the Mexican-American War resulted in the 1848 cession of California and much of the present-day American Southwest. The California Gold Rush of 1848?49 further spurred western migration. New railways made relocation easier for settlers and increased conflicts with Native Americans. Over a half-century, up to 40 million American bison, or buffalo, were slaughtered for skins and meat and to ease the railways' spread. The loss of the buffalo, a primary resource for the plains Indians, was an existential blow to many native cultures.
Civil War and industrialization[link]
Tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments about the relationship between the state and federal governments, as well as violent conflicts over the spread of slavery into new states. Abraham Lincoln, candidate of the largely antislavery Republican Party, was elected president in 1860. Before he took office, seven slave states declared their secession?which the federal government maintained was illegal?and formed the Confederate States of America. With the Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, the Civil War began and four more slave states joined the Confederacy. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 declared slaves in the Confederacy to be free. Following the Union victory in 1865, three amendments to the U.S. Constitution ensured freedom for the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves,[39]made them citizens, and gave them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a substantial increase in federal power.[40] The war remains the deadliest conflict in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers.[41]
After the war, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln radicalized Republican Reconstruction policies aimed at reintegrating and rebuilding the Southern states while ensuring the rights of the newly freed slaves. The resolution of the disputed 1876 presidential election by the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction; Jim Crow laws soon disenfranchised many African Americans. In the North, urbanization and an unprecedented influx of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe hastened the country's industrialization. The wave of immigration, lasting until 1929, provided labor and transformed American culture. National infrastructure development spurred economic growth. The 1867 Alaska Purchase from Russia completed the country's mainland expansion. The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 was the last major armed conflict of the Indian Wars. In 1893, the indigenous monarchy of the Pacific Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown in a coup led by American residents; the United States annexed the archipelago in 1898. Victory in the Spanish?American War the same year demonstrated that the United States was a world power and led to the annexation of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines.[42] The Philippines gained independence a half-century later; Puerto Rico and Guam remain U.S. territories.
World War I, Great Depression, and World War II[link]
At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the United States remained neutral. Most Americans sympathized with the British and French, although many opposed intervention.[43] In 1917, the United States joined the Allies, and the American Expeditionary Forces helped to turn the tide against the Central Powers. After the war, the Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which established the League of Nations. The country pursued a policy of unilateralism, verging on isolationism.[44] In 1920, the women's rights movement won passage of a constitutional amendment granting women's suffrage. The prosperity of the Roaring Twenties ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that triggered the Great Depression. After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal, a range of policies increasing government intervention in the economy, including the establishment of the Social Security system.[45] The Dust Bowl of the mid-1930s impoverished many farming communities and spurred a new wave of western migration.
The United States, effectively neutral during World War II's early stages after Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939, began supplying materiel to the Allies in March 1941 through the Lend-Lease program. On December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, prompting the United States to join the Allies against the Axis powers as well as the internment of Japanese Americans by the thousands.[46] Participation in the war spurred capital investment and industrial capacity. Among the major combatants, the United States was the only nation to become richer?indeed, far richer?instead of poorer because of the war.[47] Allied conferences at Bretton Woods and Yalta outlined a new system of international organizations that placed the United States and Soviet Union at the center of world affairs. As victory was won in Europe, a 1945 international conference held in San Francisco produced the United Nations Charter, which became active after the war.[48] The United States, having developed the first nuclear weapons, used them on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. Japan surrendered on September 2, ending the war.[49]
Cold War and protest politics[link]
The United States and the Soviet Union jockeyed for power after World War II during the Cold War, dominating the military affairs of Europe through NATO and the Warsaw Pact, respectively. While they engaged in proxy wars and developed powerful nuclear arsenals, the two countries avoided direct military conflict. Resisting leftist land and income redistribution projects around the world, the United States often supported authoritarian governments. American troops fought Communist Chinese forces in the Korean War of 1950?53. The House Un-American Activities Committee pursued a series of investigations into suspected leftist subversion, while Senator Joseph McCarthy became the figurehead of anticommunist sentiment.
The 1961 Soviet launch of the first manned spaceflight prompted President John F. Kennedy's call for the United States to be first to land "a man on the moon", achieved in 1969. Kennedy also faced a tense nuclear showdown with Soviet forces in Cuba. Meanwhile, the United States experienced sustained economic expansion. A growing civil rights movement, symbolized and led by African Americans such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., used nonviolence to confront segregation and discrimination. Following Kennedy's assassination in 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed under President Lyndon B. Johnson.[50][51] He also signed into law the Medicare and Medicaid programs.[52] Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, expanded a proxy war in Southeast Asia into the unsuccessful Vietnam War. A widespread countercultural movement grew, fueled by opposition to the war, black nationalism, and the sexual revolution. Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, and others led a new wave of feminism that sought political, social, and economic equality for women.
As a result of the Watergate scandal, in 1974 Nixon became the first U.S. president to resign, to avoid being impeached on charges including obstruction of justice and abuse of power. The Jimmy Carter administration of the late 1970s was marked by stagflation and the Iran hostage crisis. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 heralded a rightward shift in American politics, reflected in major changes in taxation and spending priorities. His second term in office brought both the Iran-Contra scandal and significant diplomatic progress with the Soviet Union. The subsequent Soviet collapse ended the Cold War.
Contemporary era[link]
Under President George H. W. Bush, the United States took a lead role in the UN?sanctioned Gulf War. The longest economic expansion in modern U.S. history?from March 1991 to March 2001?encompassed the Bill Clinton administration and the dot-com bubble.[53] A civil lawsuit and sex scandal led to Clinton's impeachment in 1998, but he remained in office. The 2000 presidential election, one of the closest in American history, was resolved by a U.S. Supreme Court decision?George W. Bush, son of George H. W. Bush, became president.
On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists struck the World Trade Center in New York City and The Pentagon near Washington, D.C., killing nearly three thousand people. In response, the Bush administration launched the global War on Terror, invading Afghanistan and removing the Taliban government and al-Qaeda training camps. Taliban insurgents continue to fight a guerrilla war. In 2002, the Bush administration began to press for regime change in Iraq on controversial grounds.[54]Forces led by the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, ousting Saddam Hussein. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused severe destruction along much of the Gulf Coast, devastating New Orleans. In 2008, amid a global economic recession, the first African American president, Barack Obama, was elected. Major health care and financial system reforms were enacted two years later. In 2011, a raid by Navy SEALs in Pakistan killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The Iraq War ended with the pullout of the remaining U.S. troops from the country.
The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law".[55] The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the U.S. Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document.[56] In the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of government, federal, state, and local; the local government's duties are commonly split between county and municipal governments. In almost all cases, executive and legislative officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by district. There is no proportional representation at the federal level, and it is very rare at lower levels.
The federal government is composed of three branches:
- Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government.
- Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Senate approval) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.
- Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.
The House of Representatives has 435 voting members, each representing a congressional district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population every tenth year. As of the 2000 census, seven states have the minimum of one representative, while California, the most populous state, has fifty-three. The Senate has 100 members with each state having two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every other year. The president serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. The president is not elected by direct vote, but by an indirect electoral college system in which the determining votes are apportioned to the states and the District of Columbia. The Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of the United States, has nine members, who serve for life.
The state governments are structured in roughly similar fashion; Nebraska uniquely has a unicameral legislature. The governor (chief executive) of each state is directly elected. Some state judges and cabinet officers are appointed by the governors of the respective states, while others are elected by popular vote.
The original text of the Constitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the federal government and its relationship with the individual states. Article One protects the right to the "great writ" of habeas corpus, and Article Three guarantees the right to a jury trial in all criminal cases. Amendments to the Constitution require the approval of three-fourths of the states. The Constitution has been amended twenty-seven times; the first ten amendments, which make up the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment form the central basis of Americans' individual rights. All laws and governmental procedures are subject to judicial review and any law ruled in violation of the Constitution is voided. The principle of judicial review, not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, was declared by the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803).
Parties and ideology[link]
The United States has operated under a two-party system for most of its history.[57] For elective offices at most levels, state-administered primary elections choose the major party nominees for subsequent general elections. Since the general election of 1856, the major parties have been the Democratic Party, founded in 1824, and the Republican Party, founded in 1854. Since the Civil War, only one third-party presidential candidate?former president Theodore Roosevelt, running as a Progressive in 1912?has won as much as 20% of the popular vote.
Within American political culture, the Republican Party is considered center-right or conservative and the Democratic Party is considered center-left or liberal. The states of the Northeast and West Coast and some of the Great Lakes states, known as "blue states", are relatively liberal. The "red states" of the South and parts of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are relatively conservative.
The winner of the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama, is the 44th U.S. president. The 2010 midterm elections saw the Republican Party take control of the House and make gains in the Senate, where the Democrats retain the majority. In the 112th United States Congress, the Senate comprises 51 Democrats, two independents who caucus with the Democrats, and 47 Republicans; the House comprises 242 Republicans and 192 Democrats?one seat is vacant. There are 29 Republican and 20 Democratic state governors, as well as one independent.
The United States exercises global economic, political, and military influence. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and New York City hosts the United Nations Headquarters. It is a member of the G8,[58]G20, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Almost all countries have embassies in Washington, D.C., and many have consulates around the country. Likewise, nearly all nations host American diplomatic missions. However, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Bhutan, and the Republic of China (Taiwan) do not have formal diplomatic relations with the United States.
The United States has a "special relationship" with the United Kingdom[59] and strong ties with Canada,[60]Australia,[61]New Zealand,[62]the Philippines,[63]Japan,[64]South Korea,[65]Israel,[66] and several European countries. It works closely with fellow NATO members on military and security issues and with its neighbors through the Organization of American States and free trade agreements such as the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. In 2008, the United States spent a net $25.4 billion on official development assistance, the most in the world. As a share of America's large gross national income (GNI), however, the U.S. contribution of 0.18% ranked last among twenty-two donor states. By contrast, private overseas giving by Americans is relatively generous.[67]
The president holds the title of commander-in-chief of the nation's armed forces and appoints its leaders, the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The United States Department of Defense administers the armed forces, including the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. The Coast Guard is run by the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and the Department of the Navy in time of war. In 2008, the armed forces had 1.4 million personnel on active duty. The Reserves and National Guard brought the total number of troops to 2.3 million. The Department of Defense also employed about 700,000 civilians, not including contractors.[68]
Military service is voluntary, though conscription may occur in wartime through the Selective Service System.[69] American forces can be rapidly deployed by the Air Force's large fleet of transport aircraft, the Navy's eleven active aircraft carriers, and Marine Expeditionary Units at sea with the Navy's Atlantic and Pacific fleets. The military operates 865 bases and facilities abroad,[70] and maintains deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries.[71] The extent of this global military presence has prompted some scholars to describe the United States as maintaining an "empire of bases".[72]
Total U.S. military spending in 2010, almost $700 billion, was 43% of global military spending and greater than the next fourteen largest national military expenditures combined. At 4.8% of GDP, the rate was the second-highest among the top fifteen military spenders, after Saudi Arabia.[73] The proposed base Department of Defense budget for 2012, $553 billion, is a 4.2% increase over 2011; an additional $118 billion is proposed for the military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.[74] The last American troops serving in Iraq departed in December 2011;[75] 4,484 servicemen were killed during the Iraq War.[76] Approximately 90,000 U.S. troops were serving in Afghanistan as of April 2012;[77] as of April 4, 1,924 had been killed during the War in Afghanistan.[78]
The United States has a capitalist mixed economy, which is fueled by abundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity.[85] According to the International Monetary Fund, the U.S. GDP of $15.1 trillion constitutes 22% of the gross world product at market exchange rates and over 19% of the gross world product at purchasing power parity (PPP).[3] Though larger than any other nation's, its national GDP is about 5% smaller than the GDP of the European Union at PPP in 2008. The country ranks ninth in the world in nominal GDP per capita and sixth in GDP per capita at PPP.[3] The U.S. dollar is the world's primary reserve currency.[86]
The United States is the largest importer of goods and third largest exporter, though exports per capita are relatively low. In 2010, the total U.S. trade deficit was $635 billion.[87] Canada, China, Mexico, Japan, and Germany are its top trading partners.[88] In 2010, oil was the largest import commodity, while transportation equipment was the country's largest export.[87] China is the largest foreign holder of U.S. public debt.[89]
In 2009, the private sector was estimated to constitute 86.4% of the economy, with federal government activity accounting for 4.3% and state and local government activity (including federal transfers) the remaining 9.3%.[91] While its economy has reached a postindustrial level of development and its service sector constitutes 67.8% of GDP, the United States remains an industrial power.[92] The leading business field by gross business receipts is wholesale and retail trade; by net income it is manufacturing.[93] Chemical products are the leading manufacturing field.[94] The United States is the third largest producer of oil in the world, as well as its largest importer.[95] It is the world's number one producer of electrical and nuclear energy, as well as liquid natural gas, sulfur, phosphates, and salt. While agriculture accounts for just under 1% of GDP,[92] the United States is the world's top producer of corn[96] and soybeans.[97]Coca-Cola and McDonald's are the two most recognized brands in the world.[98]
In August 2010, the American labor force comprised 154.1 million people. With 21.2 million people, government is the leading field of employment. The largest private employment sector is health care and social assistance, with 16.4 million people. About 12% of workers are unionized, compared to 30% in Western Europe.[99] The World Bank ranks the United States first in the ease of hiring and firing workers.[100] In 2009, the United States had the third highest labor productivity per person in the world, behind Luxembourg and Norway. It was fourth in productivity per hour, behind those two countries and the Netherlands.[101] Compared to Europe, U.S. property and corporate income tax rates are generally higher, while labor and, particularly, consumption tax rates are lower.[102]
Income and human development[link]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the pretax median household income in 2010 was $49,445. The median ranged from $64,308 among Asian American households to $32,068 among African American households.[82] Using purchasing power parity exchange rates, the overall median is similar to the most affluent cluster of developed nations. After declining sharply during the middle of the 20th century, poverty rates have plateaued since the early 1970s, with 11?15% of Americans below the poverty line every year, and 58.5% spending at least one year in poverty between the ages of 25 and 75.[103][104] In 2010, 46.2 million Americans lived in poverty, a figure that rose for the fourth year in a row.[82]
The U.S. welfare state is one of the least extensive in the developed world, reducing both relative poverty and absolute poverty by considerably less than the mean for rich nations,[105][106] though combined private and public social expenditures per capita are relatively high.[107] While the American welfare state effectively reduces poverty among the elderly,[108] it provides relatively little assistance to the young.[109] A 2007 UNICEF study of children's well-being in twenty-one industrialized nations ranked the United States next to last.[110]
Between 1947 and 1979, real median income rose by over 80% for all classes, with the incomes of poor Americans rising faster than those of the rich.[111] However, income gains since then have been slower, less widely shared, and accompanied by increased economic insecurity.[111][112] Median household income has increased for all classes since 1980,[113] largely owing to more dual-earner households, the closing of the gender pay gap, and longer work hours, but the growth has been strongly tilted toward the very top.[105][111][114] Consequently, the share of income of the top 1%?21.8% of total reported income in 2005?has more than doubled since 1980,[115] leaving the United States with the greatest income inequality among developed nations.[105][116] The United States has a progressive tax system which equates to higher income earners paying a larger percentage of their income in taxes.[117] The top 1% pays 27.6% of all federal taxes, while the top 10% pays 54.7%.[118] Wealth, like income and taxes, is highly concentrated: The richest 10% of the adult population possesses 69.8% of the country's household wealth, the second-highest share among developed nations.[119] The top 1% possesses 33.4% of net wealth.[120] In 2011 the United Nations Development Programme ranked the United States 23rd among 139 countries on its inequality-adjusted human development index (IHDI), nineteen places lower than in the standard HDI.[121]
Science and technology[link]
The United States has been a leader in scientific research and technological innovation since the late 19th century. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone. Thomas Edison's laboratory developed the phonograph, the first long-lasting light bulb, and the first viable movie camera. Nikola Tesla pioneered alternating current, the AC motor, and radio. In the early 20th century, the automobile companies of Ransom E. Olds and Henry Ford popularized the assembly line. The Wright brothers, in 1903, made the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight.[122]
The rise of Nazism in the 1930s led many European scientists, including Albert Einstein, Enrico Fermi, and John von Neumann, to immigrate to the United States. During World War II, the Manhattan Project developed nuclear weapons, ushering in the Atomic Age. The Space Race produced rapid advances in rocketry, materials science, and computers. IBM, Apple Computer, and Microsoft refined and popularized the personal computer. The United States largely developed the ARPANET and its successor, the Internet. Today, 64% of research and development funding comes from the private sector.[123] The United States leads the world in scientific research papers and impact factor.[124] As of April 2010, 68% of American households had broadband Internet service.[125] The country is the primary developer and grower of genetically modified food, representing half of the world's biotech crops.[126]
Transportation[link]
Personal transportation is dominated by automobiles, which operate on a network of 13 million roads,[128] including one of the world's longest highway systems.[129] The world's second largest automobile market,[130] the United States has the highest rate of per-capita vehicle ownership in the world, with 765 vehicles per 1,000 Americans.[131] About 40% of personal vehicles are vans, SUVs, or light trucks.[132] The average American adult (accounting for all drivers and nondrivers) spends 55 minutes driving every day, traveling 29 miles (47?km).[133]
Mass transit accounts for 9% of total U.S. work trips,[134] ranking last in a survey of 17 countries.[135] While transport of goods by rail is extensive, relatively few people use rail to travel,[136] though ridership on Amtrak, the national intercity passenger rail system, grew by almost 37% between 2000 and 2010.[137]Light rail development has increased in recent years but, like high speed rail, is below European levels.[138] Bicycle usage for work commutes is minimal.[139]
The civil airline industry is entirely privately owned and has been largely deregulated since 1978, while most major airports are publicly owned. The three largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are U.S.-based; Delta Air Lines is number one.[140] Of the world's thirty busiest passenger airports, sixteen are in the United States, including the busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.[141]
Energy[link]
The United States energy market is 29,000 terawatt hours per year. Energy consumption per capita is 7.8?tons of oil equivalent per year, the 10th highest rate in the world. In 2005, 40% of this energy came from petroleum, 23% from coal, and 22% from natural gas. The remainder was supplied by nuclear power and renewable energy sources.[142] The United States is the world's largest consumer of petroleum.[143] For decades, nuclear power has played a limited role relative to many other developed countries, in part due to public perception in the wake of a 1979 accident. In 2007, several applications for new nuclear plants were filed.[144] The United States has 27% of global coal reserves.[145]
Education[link]
American public education is operated by state and local governments, regulated by the United States Department of Education through restrictions on federal grants. Children are required in most states to attend school from the age of six or seven (generally, kindergarten or first grade) until they turn eighteen (generally bringing them through twelfth grade, the end of high school); some states allow students to leave school at sixteen or seventeen.[147] About 12% of children are enrolled in parochial or nonsectarian private schools. Just over 2% of children are homeschooled.[148]
The United States has many competitive private and public institutions of higher education. According to prominent international rankings, 13 or 15 American colleges and universities are ranked among the top 20 in the world.[149][150] There are also local community colleges with generally more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition. Of Americans twenty-five and older, 84.6% graduated from high school, 52.6% attended some college, 27.2% earned a bachelor's degree, and 9.6% earned graduate degrees.[151] The basic literacy rate is approximately 99%.[1][152] The United Nations assigns the United States an Education Index of 0.97, tying it for 12th in the world.[153]
Health[link]
The United States life expectancy of 78.4 years at birth ranks it 50th among 221 nations.[155] Increasing obesity in the United States and health improvements elsewhere have contributed to lowering the country's rank in life expectancy from 1987, when it was 11th in the world.[156] Approximately one-third of the adult population is obese and an additional third is overweight;Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2013/07/30/UMCS_Metering_programs_help_military_federal_agencies_contro/
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