History
Thomas Edison Lights The Night
After two years, Thomas Edison finally saw the light. In 1877, he had begun studying how to make an electric lamp and within a year had performed 1,200 experiments. In 1879, after spending $40,000, he made a bulb using a carbonized cotton thread for a filament. It burned for two days in the vacuum bulb. [...]
Writing: A Key to Success
More than 5,000 years ago in what is now Southern Iraq, people began living together in towns and cities. This set the stage for one of the most important advances in civilization: writing! The Sumerians of Mesopotamia were apparently the first to hit upon the idea of marking clay tablets with a sharp reed pen [...]
Vought F-8 Crusader
EAST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, USA The Vought Crusader was the first US Navy fighter capable of sustained supersonic speed in level flight. It was extremely well liked by its pilots and, because of its agility, was considered one of the most potent combat aircraft of the Vietnam War. It was also designed to have a reconnaissance [...]
What is Delicatessens?
Deli is short for delicatessen, and comes from the Greek word “delicatesse,” meaning delicacy. A deli is a store where ready-to-eat foods — especially foods of various ethnic groups — are sold. New York, home to many ethnic groups, has numerous delicatessens. Perhaps the best known are the Jewish and Italian delicatessens. Here, respectively, corned-beef [...]
Sigmund Freud: Searching the Mind
“Good morning,” says one psychiatrist as he passes another in the hallway. “Hmm,” thinks the other psychiatrist, “I wonder what he meant by that.” Is there some deep hidden meaning — as that joke suggests — in our every gesture, comment and slip of the tongue? Well, like most jokes, this one makes its point [...]
American Revolution Ends
The Yorktown Campaign in Virginia in 1781, marked the last great military action in the American Revolution and assured that America would be a free nation. In late summer 1781, General George Washington, in camp near New York City, learned that the British commander in the southern Colonies, Lord Charles Cornwallis, had failed to destroy [...]
America's Love Affair With Corn
Corn has been the food of sustenance for Native Americans as far back as records can be found. Some Native Americans refer to themselves as “children of the corn.” When European explorers and then settlers came to America, the native Indians gave them corn and showed them how to cook and eat it. The new [...]
America's National Anthem
Just before the start of sporting events and conventions around America, children and adults stand and sing — usually off-key — the “Star Spangled Banner,” America’s national anthem. The song was written by Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer, during the War of 1812. Key was watching a British attack on Baltimore’s Fort McHenry and [...]
America's Wild West Outlaws
The years following the Civil War were a time of great unrest. It was an era that gave rise to the Western outlaws. They were bandits, gunfighters, and rustlers — men guilty of a thousand crimes — but they were also to become an important part of American folklore.
American Buffalo: King Of The Prairie
In May 1894, Congress outlawed the hunting of buffalo in Yellowstone Park. This was the first step by the United States government toward protecting an animal that earlier American settlers had tried to eliminate. Before white people arrived, buffalo were abundant on the plains and prairies. Indian storytellers recall the days when a person could [...]