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Tallest Buildings in the World
The race is always on. Within the span of just two years, the world’s tallest building was built three times in New York City – the 282.5-meter Bank of Manhattan in 1930, the 319-meter Chrysler Building in a few months after, and then 11 months later the 381-meter Empire State Building in 1931. The era of architectural horse-racing and ego-boosting has only intensified in the decades since. In 2003, the 509-meter Taipei 101 unseated the 452-meter Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur after a seven-year reign as the world’s tallest. In 2010, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai far surpassed Taipei 101, climbing up to 828 meters. Bold builders in China want…
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American Flag’s History & Proper Display
Congress first approved the flag on June 14, 1777. Link to PDF This date is now observed as Flag Day throughout America. It was first stated that there be a star and stripe for each state, making thirteen of both. Over the years, the number of stars has been changed to include one star for each of the 50 states, while the stripes remained the same to represent the 13 original colonies. Later, the colors of the flag were given special meaning. The red is for valor and zeal – white is for hope, purity, and cleanliness of life – and blue, the color of heaven, loyalty, sincerity, justice,…
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Levitt Houses
A Brief History of Levittown, New York Few communities in America are as easily recognizable by name as Levittown, New York. In addition to its distinction as the childhood home of world famous singer/songwriter, Billy Joel, (who was actually raised in a Levitt home in nearby Hicksville) Levittown is the model on which scores of post World War II suburban communities were based – a place that started out as an experiment in low-cost, mass-produced housing and became, perhaps, the most famous suburban development in the world. Many volumes have been written which provide comprehensive histories of Levittown, including its “pre-history” as a center of early Long Island aviation and…
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Paris’s Catacombs
Paris, France (CNN) — Beneath the streets of the City of Light lies a world draped in darkness and shrouded in silence. The tunnels are narrow, the ceilings are low and death is on display. The skulls and bones lining the walls, arranged in a macabre fashion, make up what is known as the Empire of the Dead — the Catacombs of Paris. The catacombs snake below the city, a 321-kilometer (200-mile) network of old quarries, caves and tunnels. Some Parisians are drawn to this largely uncharted territory — a hidden network of adventure, discovery and even relaxation. They are known as ‘cataphiles’ and the catacombs are their playground. It…
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United States Women’s Gymnastics Team Wins Gold
“For Jordyn Wieber, the team victory was sweet redemption after she failed to qualify for the all-around final.” For the first time since the Magnificent Seven won in 1996, the U.S. gymnastics team for women, has won a gold medal in the team event. According to the New York Times article for July 31, 2012, they “did it in dominating fashion.” Their performances were solid and led from start to finish with a wide gap between them and the Russian team who won the silver medal. There was an even larger gap between the Romanian team who won the bronze. They stood restrained, not showing a celebratory spirit, until the official score displayed…
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Discrimination Still Occurring in 21st Century America
It has been almost 50 years, since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, yet discrmination is still happening. A black couple seeking to be married in a Mississippi church, First Baptist Church of Crystal Springs, were asked to marry elsewhere by Rev. Stan Weatherford. He said that he was honoring a request by some congregants who didn’t want the couple married at the church. Church refuses to marry black couple in Mississippi. Timeline of the events involved in the Civil Rights Movement.
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Civil Rights Movement Events
April 1948 Gladys Noel Bates, a teacher in the Jackson Public School system, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Jackson Public School Board for its refusal to pay black teachers and administrators salaries equal to those paid to whites with similar experience and educational background. May 17, 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas The Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, ruled unanimously that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. The court argued that segregation hurt both black and white students by instilling in each group false feelings of inferiority and superiority, respectively. The court added that the damage segregation did to blacks…
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A Letter Arrives 66 Years Late
The U.S. Postal System , established on Jul 26, 1775, doesn’t have a clue why the letter to Miss R.T. Fletcher was lost for so long. The postmark on this long lost WWII-era letter is Aug. 9, 1944. It was sent to Station Hospital, Camp Roberts which ranked, at that time, as one of the world’s largest military training facilities. But since the hospital is no longer there, having been torn down, it was instead delivered to Camp Roberts Historical Museum. Read more: Letter arrives in California 66 years after it left Alabama
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Largest Drought Areas in the U.S.
We are in the largest U.S. drought area since 1954. Two larger area droughts were during the Dust Bowl in the years of 1934 and 1939. Extended wide covering droughts are disastrous in many ways: ruining crops, shrinking water supplies and exacerbating wildfires. Read more: Areas in worst drought categories rise by 50 percent, US says
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Time Travel in 1971
Time magazine covered the historic flight made in October of 1971 that proved Einstein’s notion of Time dilation, an effect of Einstein’s theory relativity, takes place during everyday activities Abstract from Time article To most of the passengers on Pan American Flight 106 from Washington’s Dulles International Airport, it was simply a routine trip to London. But for Physicist Joseph C. Hafele and his companion, Astronomer Richard Keating, it was the beginning of a journey into the most esoteric realms of modern science. Occupying four seats in the big 747’s tourist compartment—two for themselves and two for their scientific gear—they were setting off on an extraordinary round-the-world odyssey: an expedition to…
