Varco Stock has had a Profitable Year

National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NOV) is, as you have probably figured by now, involved in the oil and gas industry. They are a company that manufactures, sells, and sevices oil and gas drilling equipment for both land and off shore drilling. They are an international company and they have distribution centers around the world. In the last few years it has been in expansion mode and has aquired other companies such as NQL Energy and Grant Prideco in 2006 and 2007 respectivly. 2006 sales were in excess of 7 billion and it employs nearly 27000.
The stock rose all last year beginning in January of 07 when it stood at about $27 a share. In february it hit $30. March $35, April $40, May $45. In August it went over $60. In October almost $80. By early in this month it was still around $75 a share. Lately it has taken a hit and on January 30 2008 it closed at $63.80 but this is up from a low last week of $57 so as the market recovers from its bad spell so too is this stock. At $63.80 it represents an increase in value of over 100% in a year.

George Patton: Powerful Tip Of The Allied Spear

George Smith Patton Jr. was an American General during World war 2 whose daring and personal sense of destiny propelled him forward in the battles he fought against the Axis powers and eventually helped secure victory for the free world.
He was born in San Gabriel, California on November 11 1885 and educated at the U.S. Military Academy. He served under General Pershing before world war 1. During that conflict Patton was in France training tank commanders who were under him.
During World War 2 he commanded U. S. forces that captured The Island of Sicily and helped bring about the surrender of Italy in 1943. One year later he was given command of the entire Third Army and he played a key role in the push towards Berlin after D-Day. His armored divisions broke through the German defences and began rapidly advancing through France. By March of 1945 he had crossed the Rhine River Into Germany itself. By April, the Allies were in Berlin.
After the war Patton advocated for the possibility of confronting the Soviets whom he did not trust. For this reason as well as others he fell into conflict with his superiors. He was a very controversial figure throughout the war for his aggressiveness in combat and outspokeness which at times got him into more trouble than he otherwise would have been in.
No one doubts his significance in the Allied victory over Germany during the war. After playing such a vital role in winning the war Patton ended up dying from injuries that he sustained in an automobile accident on December 21 1945. He is buried in Luxembourg with a white cross marker in a cemetery where many of his men were buried as well. He was 60 years old.

Exposure To Pollution Greater When You Ride Inside Cars Study says

In 2006 researchers at The Imperial College in London undertook a study on people and their exposure to pollution. They equipped their volunteers with small pollution detection devices and had them travel throughout the city using various modes of transportation. They had them bike, bus, take trains, taxis, and walk all around the city for a total of 584 trips in all. The result was surprising to the researchers. It indicated that of all the methods of transportation it was riding inside of a taxi cab that exposed individuals in their study to the most pollution. They figured that the explanation for this was that taxis tend to get stuck in traffic due to the congestion of cars in the city streets and at these times they are surrounded by other vehicles that are spewing out pollution into the air and that this increases ones exposure levels. The study indicated that the least exposed people to pollution were the ones who walked around the city. They were the farthest away physically from any sources of pollution generally.

Teens, Virginity, And The Truth

When it comes to the issue of sex researchers found that teenagers generally are not forthcoming when it comes to talking about it honestly nor are they very good at avoiding its temptations or its risks or keeping promises when it comes to pledges about maintaining their virginity. According to a survey by the Harvard School of Public Health more than half of a group of teenagers in a study who signed a pledge of virginity vowing not to engage in any kind of sexual activity before marriage gave up the pledge within a year. In addition, of the 14,000 who participated nearly 75% of the participants who broke their pledge then denied that they ever made the commitment in the first place.

Celebrity Jobs Before They Made It

Befroe they became larger than life many of todays most famous people had to settle for what they could get before fame and fortune came calling. Listed below are some familiar names of famous people and what it is they had to do to make ends meet before they hit the big time.

George Clooney -- Originally he was from Kentucky and he used to sell Suits in a men's clothing store. He also worked as a stockman in a department store. When he first went out to Los Angeles he used to do odd jobs for his aunt Rosemary Clooney who was a famous and successful singer. He also did time as a construction worker and also used to clean a theater.
Simon Cowell -- He dropped out of High school at age 16 and ended up working in the mail room at EMI records where his boses remember that he used to constantly badger them for promotions and more pay.
Faith Hill -- She worked early on as a receptionist. She went from that to selling t-shirts and even did a stint packaging merchandise for Reba McEntire before she started selling out concerts in her own right.
Jay Leno -- He was a stand up comedian who also used to write material for the TV show "Good Times" in the 70's. He also used to perform as a warm up act for such stars as Tom Jones before he got his big shot on The Tonight Show.
Vince Vaughn -- He was a telemarketer in Waukogen, Illinois
Brad Pitt -- Used to wear a chicken costume to advertise for a fried chicken place out on the sidewalk in Los Angeles.

50 Year Old Post Card Delivered In Connecticut

In August of 1957 a woman named Alice wrote a post card and mailed it to a now deceased man named Harry Flood in which she wrote "...See you next week, Alice". The post card, which has a 2 cent stamp on it, was written to Mr. Flood, who was the town manager in Stratford. No one seems to know who the mysterious Alice was because she did not include her last name on the card. There is an active search currently going on at the Connecticut post office to try and track down who Alice may have been. They are combling through old census records and telephone books to try and find out who she was just to see if they can i guess. The card was successfully delivered finally in the first week of this year. Better late than never.

The Holocaust: Hitler's Final Solution Nearly Came To Be

The term Holocaust in modern usage has refered to perhaps one of the greatest examples of human tragedy. It refers most often to the systematic attempt on the part of the nazi's during world War 2 to eradicate the entire race of Jews from Germany and parts of Europe through mass murder on a scale not seen before or since.
When Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party were elected to power in Germany in 1933 they immediately began to take measures to attack the jews living there. They put forth a decree defining who was a jew based on parentage with terms like "mischlinge" (half-breeds) and once defined they were vilified.
The Jews in Germany were often blamed for the misfortunes of the nation and a systematic attempt was made to remove them from the economic life of the country. They were removed from jobs in the government, banks, and dismissed from civil service positions and their property excessively taxed. This process of Aryanization was the first big step in the persecution of jews on the whole.
In 1938, a German diplomat in Paris was assassinated by a young jew. The reaction in Germany was "The night of broken glass" (Kristallnacht) when all synogogues and jewish owned shops were set on fire and their windows smashed and thousands of jews arrested.
With the German invasion of Poland in 1939 the Nazi's gained control over 2 million more jews in the western part of the country. They almost immediately isolated them in Ghettos where they were put to work manufacturing goods for Germany while they were slowly starved due to rationing of foods that only provided for about 1000 calories a day, which is half of what is required. In 1941 came the formation of the "Einsatzgruppen" which were squads of nazi secret Police of about 3000 men each whose job it was to seek out Jews in Russia, after the German invasion, and shoot them "En Masse" on the spot, strip them of their valuables and quickly bury them in mass graves and ditches.
The same year "The Final Solution" was devised and undertaken. Under the direction of Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of Reich Security, an organized and efficient system of death camps were arrainged for the systematic dissolution of the Jewish people. The camps were set up in occupied Poland and managed at their peak to dispose of thousands at a time. The victims would be stripped naked and lured into facilities that were made to look like shower stalls. Once inside they would be gassed to death with either hydrogen cyanide or carbon monoxide gas and their bodies disposed of in ovens or crematoriums. The names of these camps were Aushwitz, treblinka, kulmhof, belzec, sobibor, and lubin. The victims were brought in by rail from all territories in Europe under Nazi control. Many died en route, others were worked and starved to death in the camps, others subjected to medical experiments, others died of disease or were shot.
It is estimated that over 11 million people were killed by the Nazis including 6 million Jews during the course of World War 2. After the war the remaining Jewish people pressed for the victorious Allies to provide them with a nation of their own. The Allies responded with the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

Whistle Blowers Save The Government Billions

As it turns out it does the government and the nations taxpayers a world of good when individual citizens decide to get involved and provide the federal government information or tips whenever they are aware of any kind of fraudulent activity designed to rip off the government. While it often costs certain amounts in terms of reward money that is offered to motivate individuals to come forward, the government recovers these amounts back many times over. According to the Department of Justice the government paid out in excess of 190 million dollars in fees and rewards to various informants and whistle blowers for tips about activity that was frauding the government. Once the information was aquired and the Justice Department had the nessessary information to pursue charges against offenders it secured favorable rulings and settlements in cases that resulted in the recovery of over 3.1 billion dollars in 2006. Most of the money was recovered from various hospitals and health care providers nationwide.

British Study Finds Most People Dislike Clowns

A study undertaken at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom finds that most people are bothered by clowns and images of clowns. They placed pictures of clowns on hospital walls and discovered that almost all of the children that were exposed to the images had a negative reaction to them. Researchers report that many of the children described the clowns as freightening, creepy, and scary and they generally are made uncomfortable by them and are uncertain and ill at ease around them.

Making Money Off A Dead Celebrity

Can anybody believe how they are jumping all over themselves on these tabloid tv shows about this Heath Ledger thing? Entertainmant Tonight and the Insider are Unbelieveable. Lara Spencer is outside his apartment taking close up shots of the flowers that fans are leaving. E.T. was promoting a lost interview that they had with Ledger. What was lost about it? It was from last November when he was promoting that Dylan Movie he was in "Im Not There". The movie poster was on the wall in the background. E.T. announces that they have new info just into our newsroom and then they go into a recap of the last three years of his life. He met his ex wife Michelle Williams on the set of Brokeback Mountain and they had a daughter blah blah blah and im like That was just into the newsroom? Then they go and get reactions from other celebrities and they get John Travolta who says "...He was my favorite actor probably..." Now somebody tell me what that means? The phony sincerity is really weird sometimes from these actors. E.T. used his death as an excuse to go dust off old footage of every other actor that died unexpectedly. They retold the deaths of John Belushi in 1982, River Phoenix in 1993, Chris Farley, Dana Plato, Chris Penn, even Marilyn Monroe, it was cheap and tacky. They said they were outside his apartment working the story. You know what that means? They were badgering the investigators coming out the front door and asking them leading questions about whether the death was drug related so they could report it as a more salacious story. It is such garbage the way they beat these people up when they die and try to milk every dollar they can out of it. This is like the third day in a row they have covered this story like a blanket. Look for a few more days of that at least. I cant wait until next week for Entertainment Tonight's "lost Photos" of the funeral.

McDermott Stock Way Up In Last Three Years

In the commercial and heavy construction industry McDermott International Inc. (MDR) has been doing well over the last three years. They are a global engineering firm that is active around the world in oil and gas construction and exploration. Through a subsidiary they also build facilities for deep water exploration. They also provide nuclear components to various agencies of the U.S. Government which accounts for a little less than 20% of its business.
Since January of 05 the stock has done almost nothing but rise except for lately. That month it was trading at $5 a share. One year later it was $15 a share. By July 06 it was $25. One year after that it was $45. In October of 07 it went over $60. Since then it has of course dropped a bit because of the markets instability lately and so it now stands at just under $47 a share on January 24 2008 before closing.
It is Another stock that has gained greatly in the last few years. From around $5 a share to around $50 is big gains over a short period really. If your in the market for the long term you should have no fears about the instability you have been experiencing lately. The market does this from time to time and it always recovers and carries on to new highs. It has even recovered from depressions in the past and soared higher. If your a short term investor it should scare the hell out of you because there is no way to tell where the market is headed from day to day. If your in it for the long term you should not let it bother you. History indicates that this too shall pass.

The Future Of TV Screens Is Really Big

Some of the new electronics that will soon be available are being displayed at the Consumer electronics expo in Las Vegas this month. Among the biggest items on display were the new generation of big screen super thin TV's. In addition to being in some cases less than 1 inch thick, the screens were larger and wider than ever. Almost 70 million are expected to be sold this year in the United States. Among the anticipated big sellers are Sharps 108 inch flatscreen LCD Hi-Def TV, which is due in stores this year. Panasonic has a 150 inch flatscreen coming soon too. These screens are about the same size as a wall and they are designed to give a theater like experience in your home.

Winston Churchill: His Dogged Determination Was Vital To His Country

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was the most important 20th century political figure in Britain who served twice as its Prime Minister and whose determination to resist the Germans during World war 2 was inspiring to his country both in terms of his leadership and the courage he displayed in some of his nations darkest and most desperate hours.
He was born on November 30 1874 the eldest son of Lord Randolph Churchill and his American wife Jenny Jerome. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and after serving in India he resigned from the cavalry and became a correspondent during the Boar War. In 1899 he was captured and held prisoner but he managed an amazing escape and returned to Britain a national hero. He spent the first decade of the new century in various positions in government starting with his election to Parliament in 1900. By 1911 he had become First Lord of the Admiralty, during which time he spent most of his efforts modernizing the Navy.
His career was nearly destroyed during World war 1 when he supported the campaign at Gallipoli which was a disaster and forced his resignation.
In the years before World war 2 he is engaged in opposing the appeasement policies of Prime Minister Nevillle Chamberlain and is boisterous in his insistance that England must arm herself to prepare for the Germans whom he believed correctly were planning for war. He rises to become Prime Minister just in time for some of the darkest days in his country's history when the bombings of London begin and France collapses to the Germans in 1940.
Under his leadership and tireless efforts to cordinate military strategy with England's greatest ally the United States, the Germans were defeated by 1945 and the "Great Alliance" as he called it prevailed in the war.
After the war ended there was a desire among the British public to put the war behind them and that included Churchill and so he was voted out as Prime Minister the same year the war ended.
He spent the following years writing as a historian of many works and giving speeches, most notably his famous "Iron Curtain" speech in 1946 in which he warned of the impending dangers that the Soviet Union posed to the west.
In 1951 He is elected Prime Minister for the second time and served for four years before he resigned in 1955 due to his poor health. At this point he was older and had lost much of his energy and vigor for leadership.
He would live for 10 more years in retirement spending the bulk of his time painting and writing books about history for which he won the Nobel Prize for literature and was knighted in 1953. He died on January 24 1965. After a state funeral he was buried at Bladon, near Blenheim Palace. He was 90 years old.

Panel Says F.D.A. in Bad Shape

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel consisting of members of academia, industry, and government has investigated the current state of the F.D.A. and concluded that it is in such bad shape that they question whether it can perform its function.
The F.D.A. regulates most of the food, drugs, vaccines, medical equipment and devices in the country but over the years its budgets and staffing have not kept up with the ever increasing workload and that is causing problems. One big problem are its inspections of food makers. It inspects them on average once every ten years. In the past 35 years F.D.A. inspections have dropped by almost 80%. The total number of staff have gone from about 35,000 in the past to about 6,000 now due to constant budget cuts.The staff that does exist often lacks scientists and other experts who understand emerging technologies. It also has a big problem with its rate of turn over with its staff which is twice that of most other government agencies. The panels conclusions overall contained very little good news. Unless there is an increase in funding for the agency problems there are likely to worsen.

New Talk About Congestion Pricing For Airports

The Federal Government is saying that it is interested in the idea of charging airlines using airports like JFK, Laguardia, and Newark based on when flights are scheduled and how busy certain times of the day are for air traffic. The government is claiming that a pricing scheme would encourage airlines to spread the number of flights each airline offers to the public more evenly throughout the day thereby reducing congestion. Even some supporters of the plan feel that it would be at best a temporary fix. Officials at the Port Authority say the real long term fix to the congestion problem at the nations airports is to expand in order to increase capacity nationwide and meet the demands of a flying public that is ever increasing.

Any Celebrities Left Who Are Not Drug Addicts?

I was watching the Television again today when all of a sudden a commercial came on teasing the evening news at five about a celebrity death. It was the usual teaser ad that does not tell you anything but urges you to tune in at 5 and get all the details, with all that overly dramatic action music going on in the background over the voice of the news person teasing the ad, sounding like its the end of the world and you have to go find out what happened. So my curiosity gets the better of me and i bite. I actually make a point of tuning in the local news, which i usually never do, to find out who died. So they start their news program and they finally tell you that Heath Ledger was found dead in his loft in Manhattan of some kind of a prescription overdose. Then they tell you that he has had a drug problem but he has been trying to fight it and he has supposedly been clean for over a year. Then the obvious hit me? Why are all these rich, young, and successful people all so miserable anyway? I mean God, how hard can it be exactly to be rich? Why the hell are they all so tormented? What exactly was the deal with that other actor, Brad Renfro? He actually got a tattoo two days before with an obscene word written across his back. He had an addiction too? Well O.k., what about Britney? What's her problem? she cant keep getting out of her own way. You know, If she would just stay away from the "stuff" she would have her kids. Do you know how reluctant a court of law in this country is to give custody of the kids over to the father and not the mother in these child custody cases? It's like most judges would rather pull their own arms off first. You have to be a complete train wreck as a parent before any court would do that.
Somebody please help me to understand why Amy Winehouse is so freaked out about anything? I think she is on her second Platinum cd in a row so what's the problem exactly? There are pictures of her smoking on a crack pipe and talking about being on like 6 valiums while somebody is shooting pics of her from a cell phone camera. I cant figure out why they would be so depressed? I mean o.k., I understand that its a drag to be chased around by the photogs all day but God is it really that big a deal? They have already made more money that they will ever need, they will never again have to worry about paying another bill, which is what regular people have to spend most of their waking lives worrying about, and they are still miserable and they cant take it and they have to medicate. I dont get it.
Somebody explain the madness of Tom Cruise to me? He does not take drugs i dont think but he just acts like he does. You see that's what you get when there isin't anybody left in your life who can take you aside and tell you that your going over the cliff. You get what Tom Cruise is. It's like he has no self awareness of his own weirdness anymore. Katie Holmes is in a cloud all day about WOW I'm Tom Cruise's wife that she's willing to do or be or wear whatever the great one wants her too. She's like a silly lovesick puppygirl. I'm surprised she don't salute him when he speaks to her. All that stuff with him on those scientology videos is cultish. When your at the top there is no one left who can veto you anymore. They are all too afraid to say anything to you because they dont want to jeopardize their relationship with you so they dont tell you anything and they just let you keep going even though they think they should say something. Tom Cruise is weird now but in ten more years it's probably really going to be something. He says he's in Scientology because he wants to help people. You wanna help people Tommy? Why dont you take about 300 million dollars of your own vast personal fortune, which you aquired from the working class stiffs who all go to your movies and pay $10 a pop to be entertained for a couple of hours, and do your own personal economic stimulus package? Invest that money back into the economy and start some new businesses and create a few thousand jobs? I mean if you really wanna help that is. If your scientology B.S. is for real then there is nothing like putting your money where your mouth is and giving some back. I think L.R.H. would approve don't you? Or would he?

Apple Looking To get In On Movie Rentals Online

In the near future Apple is planning on getting in on the online movie rental business by allowing customers to download movies from it's I-Tunes store for a fee. Apple already has deals with all the major studios including Disney and Fox. You will be able to rent a movie for about $3.99 for newer titles and $2.99 for older titles where in which you will have 24 hours to view it. You will be able to watch the movies from a wide screen tv, a computer, or an I-pod. The large selection of movies that they will be able to offer and the convenience is expected to be the attraction to the consumer. Some critics however do not like the 24 hour time limit you will have to watch the movie once you download it and other critics are expressing that the cost of $3.99 per title might be a little high.

Career Criminal Arrested For 99th Time.

Authorities in New York have arrested a 52 year old man on Long Island who they say has never had a job and who has supported himself all his life by stealing from others. Police say that Cedric McCance is a career criminal who has a long history of breaking into houses and stealing property and valuables and then selling the merchandise in order to maintain himself. He has been arrested a total of 99 times. Each time he is paroled he then resumes his activities as a burgler. He is now facing 25 years after his latest arrest due to his extensive record of offences.

Mixed News In Worsening Economy

It is now widely accepted as fact that the nation's economy is winding down slowly. Even at the Federal Reserve with Chairman Bernanke who is looking into ways that he can tweak the economy to get it started again. Despite the downturn however new unemployment claims fell in the first week of January for the third time in a row. This means that companies have not yet begun draining off jobs "en masse" and laying off people, Not just yet anyway. Housing starts however are not the same story. They are down overall by 25% from this time last year which is the worst downturn from one year to another in almost a quarter century.
The sub prime mortgage disaster is taking down some financial giants in its wake these days. Merrill Lynch suffered losses of 10 billion dollars in the last three months of last year which represents the worst hit that the company has ever taken in any quarter in its long history.

Actor Wesley Snipes Headed For Tax Evasion Trial

The tax evasion trial of actor Wesley Snipes is set to go in Florida this month. Snipes, who has appeared in such movies as Money Train, Demloition Man, and The Art of War, had his lawyer make an unsuccessful attempt to have the trial moved out of Ocala County in Florida on the grounds that the jury pool there had been prejudiced against him due to pre-trial publicity. He also claimed that the area was a hot bed for Ku Klux Klan activity and that this would make it impossible for him to receive a fair trial there. The jury has been selected and is all white. The actor is accused by the government of evading paying taxes on 11 million dollars of income.

Jane Austen: Her Lack Of Formal Education Did Not Prevent Her Brilliance

Considered one of the greatest of the British novelists, Jane Austen's insightful, witty, and satirical style has garnered her many years after her death a loyal and devoted literary following to her works.
Born on December 16 1775 she was educated almost entirely at home informally and when she reached maturity never married or left her family, which included 6 brothers and 1 sister. As a child she used to write novels for the entertainment of her parents and siblings as early as age 15. The first of her productive periods occured between 1796-1798 when she wrote her first three books, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey. They were not successful at first. These efforts took more than 15 years to find publishers.
Her second productive period as a writer occurs after a 12 year drought with the publication of Sense and sensibility in 1811 after which she quickly produces three more including Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion.
All 6 of her novels to some degree deal with the search for love and romantic entanglements and are occupied with heroines and characters who go on a journey of discovery and become transformed through their life lessons and learning experiences. All of her works are presented in the formal setting of the day to day life of upper middle class England with which she was familiar and are regarded as intelligent insights into the patterns and motives of human behavior.
By 1816, she bagan to experience ill health and had to give up writing. Her family was also at this time suffering some financial setbacks when her favorite brother Henry's business went bankrupt. With her health worsening she made out her will leaving everything to her only sister and closest confidante Cassandra. She died on a Friday, July 18th, 1817 of what is believed to have been Addison's disease. She was 41.

U.K. Plans Change in Organ Donor Laws To Save Lives

Britain, as everywhere else in the world, has a shortage of organ donors and the new Prime Minister Gordon Brown is seeking a change in the law to end this shortage. The change seeks to give doctors in the U.K. the right to harvest organs from the dead without permission. The way it is legally planning to do this is by changing the current law which states that organs can only be harvested if the deceased carried an organ donor card, to a law which states that a person must expressly indicate before death that they do not wish to donate any of their organs. There are over 7000 individuals in England currently waiting for organs for transplantation. This change in the law if executed could bring new hope to them but the change is not without controversy.

Millions in Lottery Winnings Unclaimed Each Year

A recent survey had discovered that a total of 570 million dollars worth of lottery winnings went unclaimed in 2006. Among the abandoned jackpots were dozens of winning tickets worth 1 million dollars or more and hundreds worth at least $100,000. The biggest unclaimed fortune was for almost 52 million dollars which was sold in the state of Indiana. In 2007 a 31 million dollar pot was unclaimed in New York City's Mega Millions Jackpot Game. Lottery officials site forgetfulness as the likeliest reason for this.

Game Stop Stock Up 400% Since January 05

By now many of us are familiar with the red background sign and white lettering of the Game Stop corp. (GME). They are the nations largest retailer of both new and used video games and systems. You can get some real bargains on older used titles often for about $5. The company has over 4700 stores both in the U.S. and overseas. Each store usually carries nearly 5000 titles. The company also has a website (Gamestop.com), and publishes a gaming magazine (Game Informer) with over a 2.5 million circulation.
In january 05 the stock was at about $10 a share. One year later it was at $20. By May of 07 it was $35. By July $40. By September $60. In November it took a step back and fell down to about $50. By Christmas it had recovered and almost reached $65 a share. Since the holidays it has fallen again and it is back down to its November 07 levels with a close of $49.32 on January 18th 2008.
Despite the recent falling it has done the stock still represents a 400% increase over three years which is not too bad now is it. For every $1 you would have put into it in January of 05 you would now have $5 even with the market and its recent troubles the last several months.

Robert E. Lee: His Military Genius Nearly Ended The United States

General Robert Edward Lee was a brilliant leader of the Confederacy whose genius as a military commander and strategist inflicted heavy losses on the Union Army during The Civil War and whose efforts in that conflict sought to end the U.S.A. and replace it in the south with the C.S.A. (Confederate States of America).
Lee was born on January 19 1807 in Stratford, Virginia. He was educated at The U.S. Military Academy where he graduated second in his class in 1829. By 1838 he had risen to the rank of army captain.
During the war with Mexico he fought with distinction and was wounded in the storming of Chapultepec in 1847 after which he was for the third time promoted in his career.
In early 1861 he was summoned to Washington when war between the states seemed imminent. The new President Abraham Lincoln offered Lee command of The Union Forces but he turned him down. One week after his home state of Virginia seceded from The Union he accepted the position of Commander-in-Chief of all of Virginia's military and naval forces on April 23 1861.
In his position he inflicted massive amounts of damage upon Union armies in battles at Antietam, Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg both in victory and defeat.
As a commander for the South during the war Lee was almost always facing Union forces that significantly outnumbered his own. His superiority of skill as a commander often meant that he was able to overcome this reality and inflict heavy losses on the North. He made skillful use of his lines of communications and reinforcements keeping them as short and direct as possible on the battlefield. He utilized field fortifications to help him maneuver. What he would do in battle is use a small force of men, protected by entrenchments, to hold off an attacking force much larger in size while he would divide his main body of forces and attack his enemy from either side thereby encircling them. This battle tactic was not only successful but years ahead of its time and it prolonged the war for far longer than it would have otherwise gone considering the North's superior strength of numbers. Lee's outnumbered forces were finally worn down sufficiently in the spring of 1865 and it forced his surrender to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9th.
After the war Lee applied for but was denied amnesty by the North. He lived for only five more years after the end of the war. He died on October 12 1870 of heart disease. He had been having issues in this way since the spring of 1863. He was buried in his beloved state of Virginia. He was 63 years old.

South Korean Boxer Defends Title Then Dies

Yo Sam Choi, South Korean International Flyweight Champion Defended his title in a fight that took place on Christmas Day in 2007 against challenger Henri Amoi. The fight was hard fought. It was close going into the 12th round. In that final round Henri Amoi succeeded in knocking Yo Sam Choi to the ground. Choi barely managed to get up before the ten count and won the fight. He then collapsed and was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where emergency brain surgery had to be performed. After the surgery he never regained conciousness and on January 2nd of this year he was taken off of his respirator after being pronounced brain dead by the doctors at the hospital. His heart, liver, kidneys, and corneas were removed from his body for transplant patients on an organ sharing patient list.

NYC Mugging Victim Has Been Through It Before

The 39 year old New York City man who was attacked by 3 teenage muggers in Harlem on January 10th has been through it before as it turns out.
Morris Parks actually killed a man in 1994 under similar circumstances when that man tried to rob him. The killing was ruled a case of self defense and no charges were brought against him at the time.
In the attack he suffered earlier this month he recieved serious knife wounds that have landed him in the hospital. He is reported to be doing well and recovering from his injuries but is on medication to reduce the pain.
Mr. Parks, who is trained in marshal arts, managed to fend off an attack by 3 teens trying to rob him and in the process stabbed and killed a 4th person whom he may have mistaken for another mugger but who police are suspecting may have been a good samaritan trying to assist him. He has not been charged with any crime in fighting off this attack.

Some U.S. Soldiers Return Home And Become Violent Stateside

With the decreasing number of volunteers joining the military over the last 5 years the army has had to lower its standards in order to maintain its recruitment levels. One of the negative effects of this is that the quality of the soldiers joining the military has gone down and fewer emotionally stable individuals are shipping out to Iraq to serve in the army. This in part explains some of the shocking abuses that the public has become aware of during the war such as the Abu Gharib prison abuse scandal. When they return home from war they are more likely to engage in violent activities against family members and others once they are back.
Nearly 120 U.S. soldiers have been involved in killings stateside after returning from combat duty in Iraq. The killings have involved shootings, stabbings, drownings, and driving accidents involving alcohol abuse.
Often times soldiers who are experiencing trouble adjusting to civilian life do not seek any kind of help for their emotional difficulties because in the military there is a culture that considers seeking out such help as a stigma and a sign of weakness.

Claus Von Stauffenberg: His Plot To Kill Hitler Was a Daring One

Claus Von Stauffenberg was a colonel in the German Army under Adolf Hitler during World War 2 who set in motion, with the help of others, a plot to kill the German leader not only because of their belief that he was inept as a military leader, but also over their objections about the war crimes they were ordered to commit against civilians and enemy troops.
By July 20 1944 the war in Europe was not going well for the Germans. It had been 5 weeks since the Normandy Invasion which gave the allies a beach head in France to begin their slow forward march towards Berlin and the Russian Army on the eastern front was closing in as well.
Stauffenberg was a young and rising star in the German military. Aristocratic by birth, he was the youngest officer to achieve the rank of colonel. He was the only one of the plotters who had regular and predictable access to the Fuhrer.
He was scheduled to attend a meeting with Hitler, along with several others in his command, at the German Military Headquarters at Rastenburg (now Ketrzyn, Poland). He arrived early that morning to prime 2 bombs before the meeting that was to take place that afternoon just after lunchtime. Stauffenberg had been injured in North Africa the year before. He had lost his right arm, his right eye, 2 fingers on his left hand, and much of his hearing, and despite all this he still volunteered to take this chance. At the meeting, he arrives and asks to be seated nearer to the Fuhrer in order that he could better hear him. He placed the bomb, (of the 2 bombs he brought he only had time to prepare one of them) which was in a briefcase, under the foot of the large wooden table on which the maps were laid for the meeting. As earlier arrainged, he is called out of the room to answer an urgent call by his Lieutenant, leaving the bomb behind.
After the explosion the briefing room is in chaos. Of the 24 men in the room, 11 were injured, and 4 killed. Hitler, at the far end of the table, is not only alive, but relatively well all things considered. He has suffered a swollen right arm, some cuts on his forehead, some splinters in his leg, and his ear drums have burst. After this incident he took it as a sign from God that it is his destiny to prevail in the war and bring Germany to victory. "Providence has given me a sign. I am indestructible." he later says to an aide. Hitler had a scheduled meeting later that day with Benito Mussolini which he kept despite his injuries.
It was quickly summized that the explosion was not the result of an Allied plan to kill Hitler but a plot from within. A roundup of the conspirators followed. In addition to Claus Von Stauffenberg, 8 other major players were identified including former General Ludwig Beck, and William Canaris, Head of Military Intelligence. Von Stauffenberg, who by this point had flown back to Berlin to assist with the next phase of the coup, was rounded up and taken out to the courtyard of Army Headquarters. In the early hours of July 21st he was executed by firing squad. He was 37 years old.

900 People Ride Subway Without Pants on In NYC

Over the weekend of January 12th a group calling itself Improv Everywhere pulled off a prank that they have been engaging in for 7 years and counting now. They say that they do it for fun and to provide the unsuspecting riders on the subways in New York City a little bit of levity. They take the trains from the Brooklyn Bridge Station to Union Square in Manhattan and back. Before they board the train all 900 of them, both men and women, take their pants off and undress down to their shorts and lingerie underwear. They report getting favorable reactions for the most part from the riding public but on occasion there is a look of bemusement from a subway rider or two.

New Gadgets Coming Out Soon Previewed at Consumer Electronic Show in Vegas

There are some interesting new products coming to market for consumers to feast their eyes and ears on. The Squeezebox by Logitech, which is a system that lets you play the music you have stored on your computer anywhere in your home. It has 2 componants, one hooks up into your speakers and the other is a remote control with an L.E.D. screen on it. After you set the device up you can roam all around your house with the ability to access all of your digital music files. The Eco TV by Phillips, which is a 42 inch L.C.D., is capable of running on the same amount of energy as an average light bulb. Hitachi showed off a series of new TV's that are about 1 inch thick and the I-River W-7 Media Player comes with a built in Global Positioning system.

Looming Recession Effecting High End Stores as Well as Discount

There are indications in the economy now that a recession is coming soon, if its not here already. This past Christmas season was a disappointment for most retailers on the low end of the retail scale but this was also the case for the high end luxury stores as well. Nordstrom's, Tiffany's, and Saks 5th Avenue all reported less than spectacular sales numbers over the holidays.
Analysts believe that consumers are pulling back on their spending in anticipation of the looming recession. Consumers seem to be waiting for it like a hurricane coming towards the shore. Also people are saddled with a record amount of debt and concerns over the recent drops that have been experienced in the stock market in addition to the high energy costs for fuel and for heating, and also the ever increasing cost for food, which has gone up 4% on average this past year, the fastest rate of increase since the early 1990's.

How American's Usually Die

It is the one great certainty about life, that one day you will die, but the way it can happen can vary in so many ways. There are so many possibilities out there and some are far more likely than others. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 2.5 million American's Die each year for various reasons. Below is a chart listing the most common causes from statistics that were compiled in the year 2003, the most recent year for which stats are available. The chart lists the cause of death followed by the number of victims claimed that year:

1. Heart Disease --------------685,089
2. Cancer -----------------------556,902
3. Stroke -----------------------157,689
4. Respiratory Disease--------126,382
5. Various Accidents-----------109,277 (Motor vehicles-44,757)
6. Diabetes----------------------74,219
7. Suicide -----------------------31,484
8. Homicide---------------------17,732
9. H.I.V. ------------------------13,658
10. Liver Disease --------------12,360

Alan Turing: A Genius Who's Suicide Brought An End To a Bright and Important Life

Alan Matheson Turing was a British scientist and mathematician whose work with computers in the 1930's and 1940's helped lay the ground work for the computer age and whose efforts in intelligence during World war 2 proved vital for the defeat of the Nazi's.
He was born in London on June 23 1912 and educated at Cambridge in England and Princeton in the U.S. In a paper he wrote in 1936 called "On Computable Numbers", while he was still a graduate student, he introduced the ideas and concepts of a theoretical computing device that became known as the Turing machine. It is considered one of the earliest forerunners of the modern digital computer.
During World war 2, Turing worked as a cryptographer and through his work actually broke the secret German enigma code which allowed the British and Americans to decypher secret German transmissions throughout the war. He discovered patterns in the German code that were repeticious and through analysis and deduction uncovered and revealed the secret language of the code.
After the war he turned some of his attentions to the study of artificial intelligence which again was some of the earliest work in forming many of the technological advancements we all are familiar with today.
He lived his last years in personal controversy. Turing was a homosexual and the revelation of this fact was a devastation to him both on a personal level and for his career. The entire matter drove him into a deep depression. He committed suicide on June 7th 1954 by poisoning himself with cyanide. He was only 41.

Why Is The Government Bothering With Baseball?

I was watching the House Oversite Committee on steroid abuse in baseball yesterday and i could not help but think to myself why is the government bothering with this matter at all? Surely the public servents of this country up on the Hill have more pressing matters to deal with than whether or not baseball players in general have been injecting themselves in their posteriors with human growth hormone in order that they could hit or pitch a baseball harder. I mean i am right about that arent I? They do have better things to worry about, dont they? You know, things like are there any loose nukes in Russia that Al Qaeda is trying to get its hands on so it could hit New York? Who are the North Koreans trying to sell their nuclear technology to for some quick cash because their country is completly broke and desperate for money? How are we going to lower the national debt which has nearly doubled in the last 7 years? What about the people who are still homeless in New Orleans after Katrina? These questions to me seem a little bit more pressing than whether or not Barry Bonds took steroids to break the all time home run record in baseball. I mean just let the people in baseball worry about it. Baseball has a commissioner and his name is Bud Selig. Let him go track down these athletes and worry about the integrity of his game, that's his job, not the job of any politician in Washington. In the grand scheme of things whether or not baseball players use performance enhancing drugs is trivial really. The truth be told, baseball likes the fact that its players are juiced, or at least the owners do, because its causing their revenues to skyrocket. The Yankees for example, had their best attendance year last season with well over 4 million people showing up to Yankee stadium to watch their juiced up players hit the ball farther than ever before and they loved it. The Red Sox too, The San Francisco Giants, where Barry Bonds played, had a similar experience. As long as that is the case there is only going to be tokenism in terms of baseball trying to crack down on steroid abuse. People forget that the ultimate goal of the owners of these baseball teams at the end of the day is to make money. It's their prime directive. The attempt to crack down on steroids is merely a public relations matter to try and pretent to the fans that they care about the integrity of the game. They care first and foremost as business people that their bottom lines are as fat as can be. Juiced up players make their bottom lines fat so they are not going to be too aggressive about getting to the bottom of it, especially if by doing so they would end up badly effecting their profit margins. If cracking down on steroids means that their organizations make even one less dollar than they made the year before, then they simply are not interested in doing it. They will pay lip service to it but behind the scenes they won't actually do it because they do not have an economic incentive to do it. The owners of these teams are wealthy successful business people. They never let ethics get in the way of profits. So at the end of the day, in light of this reality, any attempt on the part of the government or any other authoratative body to clean this up is futile. They should just stop wasting their time and move on to more pressing matters in these uncertain times.

Scientists say Winter Weather in Northeast Becoming Milder

Scientists and meteorologists who have been studying weather changes in the northeast have discovered that the weather in the winter months has in fact been getting warmer over the past 40 years.
They researched the weather between December and March from 1965-2005 and discovered that the average temperature increased over that period by nearly 3 degrees. Snowfall totals have fallen by almost 9 inches and the number of days with at least 1 inch of snowfall on the ground has decreased by an average of 9 days.

Dawson Geophysical Stock Doing Well For Over a Year

In the industry of oil and gas exploration Dawson Geophysical (DWSN) is always on the lookout for more and more of it. The company is involved in data acquisition and processing to assess potential underground oil and gas deposits. The data that they accumulate is used to determine where the best places are to look for oil and gas in order to maximise the greatest possibilities for success. The company was founded in 1952 and its crews work mainly in the continental United States out of the company's headquarters in Texas.
The stock has been doing well for a while now, since september of 2006 when it was about $25 a share. By December 06 it was at $40. By April of 07 it was at $50. In May $60. September at $70. In October $85. By Christmas of last year it had slipped and fallen to about $70 which is still where it is now. On January 16th it closed at $70.99 after a hit on the day of almost $4. Because of the volatility in the market lately all stocks have been falling back for the most part. Once the market straightens itself out, which it has always done in the past, things should return to normal and all this instability the market has been experiencing should be a memory. Economies have ups and downs and this economy is in a down right now. Despite all this however, Dawson Geophysical is up over all nearly 200% in a little over a year.

Compressed Air Car Coming This Year

Perhaps the most important development in the auto industry in decades is set to debut this year and it is going to come out of an unlikely place -- India.
India's largest auto maker, Tata, is set to debut this year the worlds first automobile that will be powered by compressed air. It has been 15 years in the development stage. Known as the Citycat, it is powered by 4000 p.s.i. of compressed air stored in carbon fiber tanks. It is said that it has a range of 90 miles (at a speed of 40 m.p.h.) before the compressed air tanks would run out and you would have to refill them which would cost you about $2 on average. The car is built from lightweight materials and has zero emissions. The auto company behind it has just debuted the worlds least expensive car in India earlier this month, The Nano, which runs about $2500. Mass production of the Citycat is anticipated this year.

Bush Administration Blocks Attempts To Regulate Cigarettes

According to the American Lung Association the Bush Administration has consistantly blocked efforts to tighten regulation of the tobacco industry and has done nothing to discourage smoking among Americans young or old. The A.L.S. is suggesting that the tobacco industry's heavy lobbying is influencing a good many politicians up on Capitol Hill to go easy on regulation of their industry. The A.L.S. is urging that the Congress give the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco.

Dealing With The Dead In The Civil War

It is estimated that during the Civil War as many as 700,000 may have been killed in the conflict. With carnage on a scale as massive as that there arose the problem during and after the war of how to dispose of such an enormous number of bodies, and body parts, quickly in order to prevent the rise and spread of disease.
In many instances after battles in the war the bodies were often left to lay where they had been felled for many days before the first attempts were begun to repose the dead in any kind of final resting place. Often times the burials were crude and make shift like. Often there were no coffins. The dead would be buried only in a cloth or the blood soaked uniforms they were wearing at the time they were killed.
The sheer number of dead also forced the decision to bury soldiers in mass graves. Pits would be dug and the dead bodies would be rolled or dragged into them and piled on to one another. Sometimes the diggers preparing these burials would tie ropes around the bodies of the dead to drag them into the pits to avoid having to physically touch them with their own bare hands. Once the mass graves were full what would often happen is that the diggers would jump into the pit on top of the bodies and use their own weight to crush down the piles of dead in order that they could lay even more bodies on top of those and fit even more dead into the mass graves.
The records about just how many were killed in the war are very incomplete due to the lack of reliable accounts being kept, especially on the part of the south, and also to the fact that soldiers were not issued any kind of identification tags or "dog tags" yet in the American military. Some soldiers improvised by pinning a piece of paper to their uniforms with their names on them just before a battle or placing a letter they had written or received in their pocket to facilitate their own identification after the battle should they not make it through. Despite this somewhat common practice many soldiers were not identified due to a lack of such identification on their persons at the time of their death.
The Civil War changed America politically, culturally, and spiritually. There were many in both the North and the South who were asking themselves and others: "How could God have allowed this to happen?" It was a time when their faith was being tested and deeply shaken. There is no way to go through such a tribulation without being altered in many ways significantly. The war was a horror. Perhaps it was said most simply and aptly by General William Sherman with his famous phrase "War is Hell."

Indira Gandhi: Her leadership Divided The World's Largest Democracy

Indira Gandhi was a controversial leader who was twice the Prime Minister of India and whose long career ended with her murder at the hands of conspirators in 1984.
She was born on November 19 1917, the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru (who would later himself become the first prime Minister of India) and was educated at Oxford in England. She became involved in India's independence movement by joining the National Congress Party in 1938. During World War 2, she was arrested by the British on charges of subversion and spent over a year in prison.
When India gained its independence in 1947, and her father became Prime Minister, she became his official hostess and unofficially his political confidante. In 1955 she became elected to the executive body of The Congress Party and began to establish herself as a political figure in her own right. By 1959, she was president of the party.
Following the death of her father in 1964 she became India's Minister of Information. In that office she promoted policies for family planning and maintained a liberal posture on censorship. When Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shasti died in 1966, she succeeded him. In 1967 she wins her first election to a five year term and does so again in a landslide in 1971.
In 1975 she begins to suffer political trouble when she is actually convicted of violating an election law during the campaign from 4 years before. She maintained her innocence and claimed that the move was an attempt on the part of her political rivals to remove her from power and reacted by declaring a state of emergency and began a crackdown on dissenters with imprisonment. In an effort to appease critics who were claiming that her actions were undermining Indian democracy, she called an election in 1977 which she lost and her party was beaten badly.
In early 1980 she makes an amazing political comeback and regains her office. That same year she lost one of her sons in a plane crash. During her term in the 1980's she began to surpress Sikh insergents who were active against her. On October 31 1984, she was shot to death by Sikh members of her own security guard. Her son Rajiv was then made Prime Minister. She had been grooming him to succeed her for years.

Study Says More Teens Using Cough Syrup To Get High

A new government report indicates that about 5% of Americans age 15-25 have used over the counter cough medications to get high. The effect of this usage is that it can cause halucinations and out of body experiences similiar to the effects of P.C.P. Parents should be aware that females 12-17 are more likely than males of that age to be engaging in this particular type of activity. Overall the level of abuse of over the counter medications for this purpose is about the same as the levels of abuse of L.S.D., Meth, and Ecstacy.

Hillary being Slammed For telling The Truth

In the new year it seems that Hillary Clinton cant stop generating controversey every which way with her words and deeds. First it was her moment of tears before the new Hampshie Primary last week. which some people in the Obama camp are saying was the main reason for her victory there, that it was in effect a sympathy vote. Then it was the dust up about her husband calling Barak Obama's opposition to the Iraq war more a fairy tale than a reality. It is the case that Obama's votes on Iraq are not so out of step with his fellow Senators since he joined the body in 2005. He has not been so opposed in effect. Now Hillary is being accused of downplaying the achievments of the greatest civil rights leader in our nation's history, which in my opinion is nonsense. She told the truth simply and some people didn't like it is what happened there. There is no denying that Martin Luther King Jr. was a monumental force for the advancement of civil rights in this country both in the times in which he lived and after through the influence that those who came after him felt from both his powerful words and actions. He did get some help though with the passage of the civil rights bill in 1964, and that help did indeed come from President Lyndon Johnson. That piece of legislation originally came into being under President kennedy in his administration but Kennedy didn't want to introduce it to Congress. He was worried about his chances for re-election in 1964 and the House was filled with Senators and members from the south who did not want to vote for a civil rights bill and Kennedy knew that. He knew if he tried to push it on them that there would be consequences for him in terms of loss of support in the south with his bid to win re-election in 1964 so he basically sat on it and did nothing with it. It did take Lyndon Johnson, who had ten years before been the Majority leader in the Senate, to use his rather famous powers of persuasion in what some people at the time used to refer to as "The Johnson treatment" to bully, threaten, and in milder cases persuade members of the House and Senate to pass legislation that he wanted passed. The Civil Rights Bill would have never become law had it not been for Johnson and his strong will to champion it. So Hillary is right about that. Martin Luther King was a powerful leader but he had no power to make laws. Lyndon Johnson had that power as president and it was his effeorts in that regard that turned the idea that King had into the law that Johnson made. It was very much a team effort in that way. It was the result of the work of a good many like minded people.

A U.S. Troop Surge Now Being Considered For Afganistan

The Pentagon is considering a plan to send over 3000 more U.S. soldiers to Afganistan this spring in a troop surge to fend off Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The move would be to counter an anticipated spring offensive that is usually mounted in a joint effort by both the Taliban and Al Qaeda each year when the weather warms up and the winter begins to thaw. Some of the troops would be sent directly into combat to take on the enemy outright in the south of the country while others would be involved in training Afgan soldiers and police. Secretary of Defense Gates came up with the plan after a U.S. request for more troops from our N.A.T.O. allies fell on deaf ears. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Michael Mullen, has described U.S. military success in Afganistan in the past year overall as "uneven".

Cleveland Cliffs Stock Up 100% Since The Fall Of 06

In the industry of metals and minerals, Cleveland Cliffs (CLF) has been doing well in the last year. The company produces iron ore pellets, which is vital in the process of steel making. Along with its other properties it is responsible for nearly half of North America's iron ore production capacity. it sells primarily in the United States and Europe but increasingly now in China and Australia.
In September of 2006 the stock was sitting at about $45 a share. By January of 07 it was $50. By March $60. By May it was $75. In June it hit $90. In the summer it spent much of its time falling back a little and by August it had gone back to about $60 a share. It recovered quickly however and so by September it was back up to $80 a share. In October it went over $100. In November it hit another bad patch and fell back to about $75. By earlier this month it had recovered those loses as well and was sitting at $105 a share. With the market the way its been lately a lot of stocks have been losing value a bit and this one is no exception and so by January 14th it closed at $94.77 after a $5.43 gain for the day. Thats a gain in value of over 100%, even with the dropping that it did over the summer and lately, in the past 15 months.

Two NYC Seniors Used Dead Friend To Try and Cash Check

Two men in their sixties are facing charges in New York in a rather strange case even for this city. Police say that the two men, David Valeria, and James O'hare, both 65, tried to wheel their dead friend into a check cashing place in Manhattan in an attempt to cash a check of his he had just gotten in the mail. The 66 year old man was a roommate of one of the suspects who had recently died. No foul play is suspected by police as far as murder goes but the pair have been charged with fraud, and petty larceny. The check they were attempting to cash was for $355.

Man Kills his 4 Kids After Fight With Wife Over Drug Money

A shocking story out of Mobile, Alabama where a man is accused of throwing 4 young children off of a bridge, the youngest of which was months old. Investigators have been searching a 100 square mile area of a waterway south of Mobile looking for the bodies. Police say that the man has confessed to throwing his 4 children off of the bridge after a fight with his wife where she refused to provide him with money for drugs. Police are currently recovering the bodies of the children.

How your Car is Making It Harder to Buy Food

If you have been noticing that the price of food lately has been rising at a faster pace than usual than you are not alone. The price of milk, for example, has gone up nationally on average about 35% in the past year. Well, analysts say you can blame your car for it.
Traditionally farmers have used corn to feed their livestock but in the last few years there has been less of it available. The reason is that corn is now being harvested to produce E-85 ethenol in order to make fuel to power automobiles. As much as 30% of the nation's corn harvest is now going towards this purpose. This is forcing farmers to seek alternative feeds that are more expensive and they are passing the costs on to the consumer.
The corn that the nation's farmers would need to keep prices down could actually be imported from overseas but lobbyists for the corn industry in Washington have put pressure on politicians on capitol Hill to slap huge tarriffs on imported corn and thereby making it too expensive for farmers to go this route. Some Senators, such as Democrat Chuck Schumer from New York, are calling to have the tarriffs lifted in order to ease the economic strain on consumers.

U.S. Army Regularly Tricked in Afganistan

In a Documentary called "Taxi to the Dark Side" the makers of the film focus on the story of an innocent Afgan taxi driver and how he ended up dead after 5 days in the custody of U.S. forces.
The taxi driver's name was Diliwar, and his story sheds light on the practices that go on at Bagram Airforce Base and the similarities between them and the practices at Guantanimo Bay, Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and other less well known places in terms of detainee abuse.
According to an army coroner, the victim died from a pulminary embulism that went to his lungs. His condition was caused by the soldiers who were detaining him and their repeated use of an interrogation technique known as a "Perennial Strike", which is a repeated motion of hitting or striking the subject in the upper thigh with the knee caps of the soldiers doing the interrogation. The result in this particular case was that it caused the subjects legs to become "pulpified" according to the army coroner, which led to his embulism and his death several days later. Had he lived both his legs would have had to have been amputated.
The Way Diliwar came to the attention of the American forces was that he was handed over by an Afgan militia who were claiming that he was responsible for a rocket attack. As it turned out it was the militia who handed him over that actually committed the attack and gave over the innocent villager to gain favor from the Americans so as not to be suspected themselves and also to appear to U.S. forces to be allied with them. This practice is a common occurance in the villages in Afganistan and the result is that the U.S. ends up detaining and torturing innocent Afgans while the militia members go free and later return to resume their attacks another day.
When Diliwar's body was returned to his family in his village it came with a tag that listed the cause of death as homicide. The family did not speak or understand english and only became aware of this fact when a New York Times reporter came to them inquiring about Diliwar's story.

William Tecumseh Sherman: His March To The Sea Made The South Pay

An important Union military leader during the Civil War, General Sherman was the Army commander whose successful campaign to split the Confederate Army in two was vital to victory.
Sherman was born on May 8 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio. After his education at The U.S. Military Academy he fell into an uneventful military career and actually resigned the Army in 1853 to go work at a banking firm in San Francisco. After some failure, his interest faded and by 1859 he had moved on to become president of a military college in Louisiana (now L.S.U.).
In 1861, Louisiana seceeded and Sherman offered his services to the Union. He was involved in The Battle of Bull Run, being promoted to Brigadier General in the wake of it. At the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, he again distinguished himself and was again promoted to Major General. By the end of that year he tried to take Vicksburg but failed. The following year, while fighting under General U. S. Grant, they suceeded in taking the city.
In 1864, Sherman was made Commander of the Union Armies in the west and was ordered to move on Atlanta, Georgia. After months of heavy fighting, on September 1st, he marched into the city. After ordering the burning of all military resources there he undertakes his march to the sea to capture Savannah. With about 60,000 men, he marches on the Atlantic Coast burning everything along the way in a successful effort to cut the Confederate Army in half and seperate it from its western states at Richmond, Virginia. Three months later, Confederate Commander in Chief, Robert E. Lee, surrendered his forces to General Grant on April 9th, 1865. The Confederate Army facing Sherman surrendered on April 17th.
Sherman lived for 26 more years after the end of the war, during which time he was commisioned a Lieutenant General in the regular army. When Grant became President in 1868, Sherman was appointed to full General and handed command of the entire army. He retired in 1883, after writing his memoirs. In 1886, he made his home in New york City. He died on February 14th 1891 at the age of 70. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. louis, Missouri.

Ringo's Childhood Home Was Set For Demolition

Ringo Star, who is known and loved by millions of fans around the world as the former drummer of arguably the most successful and creative rock band of the 1960's, The Beatles, grew up in a little cottage house in a section of Liverpool, England known as the Dingle. This house has now been condemned and is set to be torn down.
Along with his bandmates, John Lennon, Paul MaCartney, and George Harrison, they debuted in the U.S. on "The Ed Sullivan Show" less than 3 months after the assassination of President Kennedy in February of 1964 and launched a music phenomenon that has lasted ever since.
Ringo now has put out a new album and song called "Liverpool 8" in which he reminises about his life and his hometown. In the song, one of the lyrics goes: "...Liverpool i left you, said goodbye to Madrine Street..." Madrine Street is the location of his childhood home and that house, along with the other row of tiny connected cottages on the block are all boarded up and are set to be torn down. Before doing this however, there are plans to carefully take apart, brick by brick, the house where Ringo lived and relocate it to a national Beatles museum. There is a desire both on the part of fans and the British Government to preserve the building for posterity. Ringo Star is now a little more than 2 years away from turning 70.

Televangelists Being Probed By Senate Committee

In a recent Senate committee investigation, being headed by Republican Senator Chuck Grassley which began last fall, the government has been seeking "voluntary" replies to letters requesting credit card receipts and numbers to off shore bank accounts as a response to recent news reports regarding misappropriations of funds made by various religious organizations. The televangelists singled out are six of the most well known ministries that are part of an evangelical culture known as the Prosperity Gospel. They include Rev. Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Eddie Long, Joyce Meyer, and Paula White.
During the probe, which was undertaken in part to review the tax exempt status of these organizations, the extent of the wealth of these televangelists was more closely scrutinized. For instance, The two mansions and Rolles-Royces owned by Creflo Dollar, The private jet owned by Joyce Meyers, in addition to the reported $23,000 worth of furnishings in her commode. It is estimated that Meyer's ministry alone takes in over 120 million dollars annually at this point.
The churches all enjoy tax exempt status but part of the deal for that privledge with the government is that they are expected to take their revenues and put them back into the public welfare and not into private planes, trips to Hawaii, expensive automobiles, and lavish furnishings for their bathrooms.

Atwood Oceanic's Stock Steadily Rising for a year.

In the seemingly never ending search to meet the world's demand for more and more energy, oil and gas companies are picking up their pace to try and keep up. Now that's not good for the planet but the truth of it is that the world is not going to reduce its energy consumption anytime soon it seems so companies like Atwood Oceanics (ATW) are going to be busy for a while. Atwood is an oil and gas well drilling contractor. It owns 8 drilling rigs including a submersible and 4 semi submersibles. In 2007 over 90% of its sales came from its international operations. The company is active in oceans all over the world including the Gulf of Mexico and it is expanding its operations to include off shore Japan.
The stock had a very good year in 2007. It started in January at about $45 a share. By March it was $50. In April it hit $60. By July $70. In September $80. In December $90. This month in the new year it hit $105 a share early and has slid back a little bit and so by January 11th it closed at $94.16 after taking a hit of $4.47 in its value for the day. It basically doubled in value in one year.

Reality Check For The Right: Reagan Did not Win The Cold War

This is just a simple little bit of truth that should go out to people like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and that whole crowd, who I have been hearing repeat it over and over, that it was Ronald Reagan who won the Cold War. Stop lying to yourselves and the rest of the planet. The worst kind of dishonesty is the kind that one first purpetuates upon himself and then attempts to spread to others. Ever since the Berlin Wall fell we have been listening as a nation to this lie about how Reagan did that for us from people on the right who have repeated it to themselves so often that its just some kind of reflex action now every time they speak about the man. For the last time, Ronald Reagan did not win the Cold War. The American people won it. It took the people of this country nearly 70 years to do it too. All that time we were primarily involved in trying to keep the Russian's in check all over the planet through actions like the creation of the N.A.T.O. alliance, among other things. Ronald Reagan just happened to be the President who was in the White House when all those years of effort finally culminated in the fall of the Communist Empire, that's all. He was the night watchman on duty for the American people when it happened and for that, for some reason, he got all of the credit. Presidents are just caretakers for the people of this country, or they are supposed to be anyway, everything they do is on behalf of the people they serve. They never do anything on their own and it's wrong when they end up getting the credit for doing something that it took decades to do and cost the lives of countless others who's names are not printed in our memory like Reagan's is. When someone says that Reagan won the Cold War they deny credit to those people by never mentioning them and it diminishes and downplays their enormous contributions in favor of handing all the credit to an old man who spent most of his time in the White House in his 70's, keeping bankers hours, and taking naps.

Radio Controlled Armed Robots On Patrol In Iraq

The future is here, although some of the kinks are not yet worked out. The U.S. has deployed the first of its S.W.O.R.D.S. (special weapons operations remote recon direct action systems) robots and they are armed and on patrol in Iraq.
The swords are each equipped with an m-249 machine gun. They are refitted versions of bomb disposal robots that have been extensivly used throughout the country since 2004.
There have been issues in the past with the remote control devices. The biggest problem has been the tendency they have from time to time to just spin out of control. Officials at the pentagon believe that since the s.w.o.r.d.s retooling that the problem is now under control. Another issue the machines had was that there was often a lag time of over 8 seconds between the time an order was sent and the machine would respond, which could be a real problem in a combat situation. The Pentagon believes it has worked this kink out as well. The S.w.o.r.d.s have also been fitted with kill switches in order that they can just be shut down if they unexpectedly malfunction.
There is a desire on the part of the Pentagon to build and deploy more s.w.o.r.d.s but there are budget constraints and also there is a desire to see how the devices perform first before any further commitment is made to the program.

Letters To The Presidents

From time to time it is not unusual for members of the public, both young and old, to write letters to the president either to simply express an opinion or to request favors or assistance. The sitting presidents over the years have received thousands of such correspondence. Everyday people, as well as more famous people, have done this. Here below are excerpts from some interesting examples over the years:

To: President Richard Nixon
From: Elvis Presley
Date: December 21, 1970
Re: War on drugs

"I have done an in depth study of drug abuse and communist brainwashing techniques and i'm right in the middle of the whole thing where i can and will do the most good. I'm glad to help just so long as it is kept very private."
This letter led to a rather famous meeting between Elvis Presley and President Nixon during which Mr. Presley brought a pair of matching hand guns as gifts for the president, which Mr. Nixon declined to accept. There is a photograph of the two men shaking hands at this meeting in the Oval Office when it occured. Copies of that photograph are the most requested item at the Nixon Presidential Library in California by souvenir seekers who visit there.


To: President Ronald Reagan
From: Andy Smith (7th grade student from South Carolina)
Date: April 17th 1984
Re: A request for federal funds to clean up his room

"I would like to request federal funds to hire a clean up crew. I am prepared to provide the initial funds if you will provide matching funds for this project."
In this letter to the President Andy said that his mother had declared his room a disaster area and the young boy was requesting federal help to clean it up.
President Reagan's light hearted response was a hand written reply in which he pointed out that his mother, the person who declared the disaster, would have to request the assistance and also in light of the fact that the Reagan Administration was calling for more volunteerism at the time that he thought it would be a good idea if he cleaned up the mess himself.


To: President Franklin Roosevelt
From: Fidel Castro (at the time a 12 year old boy living in Havana)
Date: November 6th, 1940
Re: A request for ten dollars ---The letter was written in broken english

"I dont know very english but know as much as write to you. I am 12 years old. If you like give me a ten dollar bill green american in the letter because never i have not seen a ten dollar bill green american and i would like to have one of them."
There is no known written response to this letter on the part of President Roosevelt to the young Fidel Castro regarding his request.

Web based Boob Tube Coming Soon

Sources say that Panasonic, in conjunction with Google and You Tube, are working on an internet enabled flat screen television that will be specifically adapted for viewing on line video. It is expected to be available this coming spring. Among the features that it will have are buttons on the remote that will connect you directly to the You Tube website and Googles on line photo sharing site known as Picasa.

Earth to Democratic Party--Come In Please.

When is the Democratic party going to get it together this year? We have got to nominate a candidate that can win a general election. Will you please get this rather obvious fact into your skulls as a party. Barak cant win and neither can Hillary and nobody gives a damn about who John Kerry supports or does not support. This country does not need nor can it afford another 4 years of a republican president running all over capitol hill looking to make laws that call for more tax cuts for the super rich while the I.R.S. increases the number of tax audits on people who make less than $25,000 a year in some idiotic attempt to make up the difference. The thing that matters above all is that this nation go democratic in this election cycle. There is too much at stake right now to be engaging in experiments about whether this country is ready to elect a black man or a woman president, it isint. It needs to elect a democrat in order to save itself from going beyond the point of no return economically, politically, and in every other way. When is this party going to get on with that and stop all this self defeating nonsense with Barak and Hillary and build up a candidate that the entire nation would be willing to pull the lever for and cross party lines to vote for in at least one election cycle?

Internet Chat Hoax Leads to Teen Suicide

Authorities in Missouri are suspecting a woman, her teenage daughter, and another teen of being involved in an internet chatroom hoax that led to the suicide of a 13 year old girl from the same neighborhood.
The young teen believed that she was exchanging messages with a 16 year old boy online but it turned out not to be the case. The girl hanged herself after the exchanges began to get cruel and emotionally hurtful. One of the messages told her that the world would be better off without her. Investigators are looking onto what the connections might be between the girl and the other parties involved offline.

9-11 Attacks Causing Health Problems for Americans Years Later.

There is little doubt that the attacks on September 11th, 2001 did more than just the physical damage that was sustained at ground zero. There is now evidence to indicate that the nation has suffered phychological damage and that this is causing a manifestation of health issues for many Americans long after the attacks.
A University of California survey has found that a group of Americans who reported being anxious and stressed after the attacks are reporting higher rates of heart disease 3 years later. The results are from people who had no direct connection to the events on 9-11. They also say that they suffer from nightmares about the attacks, flashbacks, and increased fears and worries about future attacks.

Lyndon Johnson: A Presidency Overwhelmed by Vietnam

He was the 36th presisent of the United States who inherited the office upon the assassination of John Kennedy in November of 1963 and lead the nation through one of its most turbulent periods of unrest and crisis until he left office in 1969.
Born on a farm in Texas on August 27, 1908, he grew up in Johnson City. After excelling in High School he enrolled in Southwest Texas Teachers College from which he graduated in 1930. He taught High School for one year and then went off to Washington to become a congressional aide. He met and married Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor in 1935 who remained his wife until his death.
In 1937, he was elected to Congress as a Democrat where he was a great supporter and protege of President Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal policies. He picked up some ideas here that he would later incorporate into his own presidency in the form of the Great Society. During World War 2 he served in the Navy as an officer.
In 1948 he was elected to the Senate but not before a Texas Senatorial Primary where he prevailed by a margin of only 87 votes. It is widely believed that there may have been some impropriety in this particular contest in order to achieve that result.
In the Senate, he becomes Majority Leader by 1955. In July of that year he suffers a heart attack but recovers fully and resumes his career.
After his defeat in the 1960 Democratic Presidential nomination to Kennedy, he surprised most observers by accepting the offer to run with him as Vice-President on the ticket.
After J.F.K. was killed, Johnson took over the office and retained the former Presidents cabinet and began to send the first of hundreds of new pieces of legislation up to Congress for consideration. First up, an 11 billion dollar tax cut to stimulate the economy. Next were several bills aimed at fighting a "War on Poverty" including a bill for the establishment of Medicare and medicaid, and a civil rights bill in 1964. That same year he won a decisive victory in the general election to retain the office of President over Rival Barry Goldwater.
At the beginning of his new term, Johnson announced his "Great Society" program for the improvment of life in general for the American people. Among the new laws were a Voting rights act, A new housing department (H.U.D.), the abolition of immigrant qoutas, increased aid for public education, and legislation for gun control.
His foreign policy decisions are what destroyed most of the lagacy of his presidency in the eyes of most citizens and historians, especially his massive escalation of our involvment in Vietnam. In 1964, the U.S. has 17,000 troops in the south east asian nation. By 1968, the number had risen to 550,000 to no positive effect. He was constantly advised by his generals and Secretery of Defense Robert McNamara that victory was possible if we continue to escalate but it did not materialize.
In March of 1968, his popularity at an all time low, and with protests in the streets growing larger over the war, he announced that he would leave office at the end of his term by stating: "I shall not seek, and will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president."
Before he leaves office in 1969, he orders a de-escalation of the war and for peace talks to begin in Paris, France with the North Vietnamese.
When his presidency came to an end so too did a period in American Presidential history that was one of the most prolific in terms of legislative initiative. During his roughly 5 years in the office, he sent 252 bills up to the Congress for consideration to be made into law. The Congress passed 226 of them.
After his presidency, he retired to his ranch in Texas with his wife. He wrote his memoirs, "The Vantage Point" and worked on the building of his presidential library. He died of heart disease on January 22, 1973 at the age of 64.

The Largest Cities in America

The population of the United States for the first time in its history surpassed the 300 Million mark in the last few years. The distribution of the population is not evenly spread around the entire country however. Did you know that more than half of the countries population, over 150 million people, live within 50 miles of either the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, or the Gulf of Mexico? The populations on the coasts are larger than the interior of the nation. Similarly the two largest cities in America are located close to the oceans as well as some others. Listed below are the top ten cities in the U.S. population wise and their number of inhabitants as of July 2006

1. New York City ----8,250,567
2. Los Angeles ------3,849,368
3. Chicago -----------2,873,326
4. Houston ---------- 2,144,491
5. Phoenix ---------- 1,512,986
6. Philadelphia ------1,448,396
7. San Antonio ------1,296,682
8. San Diego -------- 1,250,951
9. Dallas ------------- 1,232,940
10. San Jose --------- 929,936

Fewer Innocent Civilians Caught in the Crossfire In Gaza in 07

According to an Israeli human rights group, more than 1/3 of the Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza strip in 2007 were innocent civilians who were not directly involved in hostilities. The group, Beth T'Selem, says that the total number killed that year (370) was less than half the number killed in 2006. The reduction is attrtibuted in part to the organization, as well as some others within Israel, shedding more light on the abuses that take place on the part of Israeli soldiers in the Gaza strip and the uproar it causes among the citizens of Israel and their general desire to see the abuses stopped.

A History Quiz if your Interested

Here is a little quiz for those of you who who might be interested just for fun. Listed below are 25 questions about events that have taken place in history. See how many you can answer without looking them up first. If you get stumped along the way the answers to all the questions can be found in the articles on this blog that date all the way back to last November. Good luck:

1. What is the name of America's first official "Baby Boomer"?

2. How many executions have been carried out in the state of Georgia between 1976-2006?

3. What do officials in Nevada suspect caused a levee break that flooded hundreds of homes on January 5th of this year?

4. How many more years after the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903 did Wilbur Wright live?

5. How old was Martin Luthur King Jr. when he was ordained a baptist minister?

6. How long was the Gettysburg Address?

7. In what year was Senator Huey Long Killed?

8. How did Hannibal die?

9. How many casualties did the U.S. suffer in The Gulf War in 1991?

10. What year did Galileo invent the telescope?

11. In 2000, how much did Ben and Jerry sell their Ice Cream Company for?

12. In what year did Spain launch it's Naval Armada against Queen Elizabeth I of England?

13. How old was Alexander Hamilton when he was shot?

14. What is the population of China?

15. What did Edwin Howard Armstrong invent that you have in your home?

16. what is the name of Brad Pitt's organization that is rebuilding homes in New Orleans?

17. How much money did Wal-Mart make in sales in 2006?

18. What did Stephanie Kwolek invent that made the world a safer place?

19. What year was Alfred Nobel born?

20. What was the Pentagon originally called?

21. What year was Mother Teresa born?

22. How many Christians are there estimated to be in the world?

23. How many years has Hugo Chavez been president in Venezuela?

24. When Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon who were the other two astronauts on the mission with him?

25. According to the Health Foundation study what is the healthiest state in the U.S. to live in?

Baby Boomers Threaten Economic Future

It has been talked about, anticipated, and worried about for over a decade and now its here. The first of the nations baby boomers is retiring in 2008 and economists are worried about what it may mean for the future.
Kathleen Kirshling, a former teacher from New Jersey, was born One minute after midnight on January 1st, 1946. On New Years day of this year she became eligible for social security benefits which makes her the first in a rather large army of future recipients.
The fear is that when the baby boomers begin retiring in large numbers they will reduce the number of people in the workforce which will mean the the country will have difficulty keeping up any rate of economic growth. The greater fear is that the boomers will begin claiming their social security and medicare benefits and that there wont be enough workers in the nations workforce to pay into the system to sustain them and it will go bust. Some economic analysts are predicting dyer consequences for the future as more and more boomers retire in the coming years.

Executions On The Decline In America Except for Texas.

The death penalty is dying a slow death in America. Out of the 36 states that still carry out the punishment only 10 did so in 2006. While some states no longer carry out executions as a matter of law, others continue to while they grapple with the moral issues and legal challenges. According to the Death Penalty Information center, there have been 1099 executions committed in the United States between 1976 and 2006. Every state in the Union has committed less than 100 executions during that time with the exception of one big holdout. Listed below are the top ten states for executions, and the number that occured in their jurisdiction within that 30 year time frame:

1. Texas -----------405
2. Virginia --------- 98
3. Oklahoma ------ 86
4. Missouri -------- 66
5. Florida ---------- 64
6. N. Carolina ----- 43
7. Georgia --------- 40
8. Alabama -------- 38
9. S. Carolina ------37
10. Arkansas -------27

Jewish Cemetery in New Jersey Vandalised

Police in New Brunswick, New Jersey are investigating a possible hate crime at a Jewish Cemetery in the city. On the morning of Sunday January 6th, workers arrived and discovered hundreds of headstones that had been smashed, toppled, and defaced the night before. Some of the family members of the deceased and some local Rabbi's believe that it is the work of an anti-semitic group. In what can only be described as an over exageration they have been comparing the damage to that which the Jewish people suffered through during the holocaust. Other members of the community have been expressing disbelief about why any person or persons would be willing or interested in disturbing the final resting places of the dead.
Police are trying to figure out how the vandalism was accomplished exactly in light of the large number of headstones overturned and their weight. At this point it is not being treated as a bias crime. Authorities are likely suspecting that it may have been a group of teens randomly committing an act of vandalism who chose the cemetery as a target over the weekend.

Ascent Solar Stock had a Good Year in 07

As long as the Sun keeps shining there will be companies in the World who will be trying to develop technologies to tap into that endless supply of energy in the sky. In the field of semi-conductor equipment and materials Ascent Solar Technologies (ASTI) is one of those companies. They are increasingly involved in this field in a larger way. In addition to solar panels for use here on Earth they are also involved in the manufacture of Photovoltaic cells for use in the space program for satellites and spacecraft like the International Space Station and telescopes for seeing deep into the Universe. Chairman Mohan Misra owns about 21% of the company.
The stock had a good year in 07, all it did was go up. In January it was around $2 a share. By March $4. By April $10. In the summer it didnt gain much or lose much either but by the end of the summer it started up again. By October $18 a share. By November $22. By December $28 a share. Lately it has fallen like every other stock it seems due to the markets worst start to a year in a while and so on January 8 2008 it closed at $23.48 a share after a $1.08 gain for the day.

Electronic Arts Expected to Fly High in 08

With most economists predicting an economic slowdown in 2008 most people are bracing themselves for rough times ahead. There is one segment of the market that is expected to be imune from a downturn and that is video game development.
One of the longtime players in the field is Electronic Arts (EA) which is in the middle of a rebirth. When former president Don Richitello returned as the CEO he brought some new life to the company first by reorganizing it, and then by aquiring 2 smaller game studios that are known for their cutting edge innovations in the industry. EA is now the number 2 designer of games for the Nintendo Wii game system. Analysts are expecting revenues to jump in 2008.

Gophers Break Levee and Flood Thousands in Nevada

Part of a levee that held back a canal in Nevada gave way on January 5th and flooded hundreds of homes and left thousands of people stranded. The Gov. of Nevada, Jim Gibbons, says its going to take a while to clean it all up. ..."people are not gonna be able to go home because you dont wanna put somebody in a home thats cold and wet with no electricity and no heat..."
Officials, after investigating the damage and the colapse of the levee, believe that it may have been caused by gophers burrowing into the base of it and weakening it over time.

Wilbur Wright: He and brother Orville Taught the World to Fly

As one of the famous Wright Brothers, Wilbur, along with his brother Orville, designed, built, and successfully flew the worlds first motorized airplane at Kitty Hawk on December 17 1903.
As the older of the two brothers, Wilbur was born on April 16, 1867 in Millville, Indiana. As very young boys the two brothers used to tinker and build their own simple mechanical toys. By 1888 they had built a large printing press on their own which they used to print and publish a newspaper called The West Side News. Having had success at this they then moved on to open up their own little bicycle repair shop in 1892 in order to pursue the interest that they both had in things mechanical. Their attentions soon turned to the idea of a flying machine and they began to manufacture their own tools to build one. They started by building a glider first and testing it to record data about what type of designs and shapes for wings worked best. They concluded through their research that the best way to fly a plane would be to have a "pilot" on board to control it instead of some kind of built in machine to fly it. By 1903 they had built their 750 lb. flyer and were ready for a test. First Orville and then Wilbur took turns flying the plane farther and farther with each successive flight. The response they got from the public was one of indifference. At the time no one saw the significance of the moment.
In the following years they played with the design of the flyer and kept improving it and so by 1908 Wilbur was setting new distance and altitude records while demonstrating his flyer in France. The first organization to show any real interest in the invention was the U.S. Army signal corps. They asked the Wright Brothers to produce a plane that could travel at speeds in excess of 40 mph.
While Orville lived for 45 more years after the initial flight in 1903, his brother Wilbur was less fortunate in terms of longevity. He contracted Typhoid Fever and died on May 30, 1912. This was about 6 weeks after the Titanic sank and less than 9 years after Kitty Hawk. He had just turned 45.

Health in America State by State

As far as the state of health in America goes these days there is both good news and bad. The good news is life expectancy is at an all time high of 78 years. The bad news is that the U.S. ranks 43rd worldwide in life expectancy.
Among the 50 states in the union as it turns out some are healthier than others. A group called The United Health Foundation undertook a study to determine which states are the healthiest to live in and which are not. Below is a list of the top ten most and least healthy according to their study:

10 healthiest states to live in:

1. Vermont
2. Minnesota
3. Hawaii
4. New Hampshire
5. Connecticut
6. Utah
7. Maine
8. North Dakota
9. Massechusetts
10. Nebraska

10 least healthy states:

1. Mississippi
2. Louisiana
3. Arkansas
4. Oklahoma
5. Tennessee
6. Alabama
7. West Virginia
8. Kentucky
9. South Carolina
10. Florida

"Smart Car" set to hit U.S. market

American automotive consumers will have a new, smarter option in their selection of automobiles when they head to their local dealer beginning this month in the form of a new fuel efficient car.
The car has been also dubbed the "Micro Car" due to the fact that it is less than 9 feet long and weighs only 800 lbs. Because of its small size and light weight it can get up to 40 mpg, which should work wonders in terms of lowering the average consumers fuel expenses, not to mention the good it can do for Mother Earth.
In Europe, where the cost of fuel is twice that in America in most places, the smart car has been around for a decade. Some industry insiders however are a little bit skeptical whether the car will "take off" in America given the American consumer preference for big trucks, mini vans, and suv's which account for more than half of the market. The makers of the car are hoping that this tendency will be overcome in time by the desire on the part of the driving public to be more environmentally friendly and socially responsible. The car will have a base price of $11,590 with the loaded convertible model going for $16,950.
30,000 people have already put down deposits to reserve their smart car and these people run the gammut from students to millionaires. The most orders so far have come from 5 states, Arizona, California, Florida, N.Y., and Texas. Sub compact sales in the U.S. make up 2.4% of the market currently.