By Princessa
Newton's Laws Of Motion:
1. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.
2. The relationship between an object's mass M, its acceleration A, and the applied force F is F = MA. Acceleration and force are vectors (as indicated by their symbols being displayed in slant bold font); in this law the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector.
This we recongnize as essentially Galileo's concept of inertia, and this is often termed simply the "Law of Inertia".
3. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
This is the most powerful of Newton's Three Laws, because it allows quantitative calculations of dynamics: how do velocities change when forces are applied. Notice the fundamental difference between Newton's 2nd law and the dynamics of Aristotle: according to Newton, a force causes only a change in velocity (an acceleration); it does not maintain the velocity as Aristotle held.
This is sometimes summarized by saying that under Newton, F=MA, but under Aristotle F=MV, where is V is the velocity. Thus, according to Aristotle there is only a velocity if there is a force, but according to Newton an object with certain velocity maintains that velocity unless a force acts on it to cause an acceleration (that is, a change in the velocity). As we have noted earlier in conjunction with the dicussion of Galileo, Aristotle's view seems to be more in accord with common sense, but that is because of a failure to appreciate the role played by frictional forces. Once account is taken of all forces acting in a given situation it is the dynamics of Galileo and Newton, not of Aristotle, that are found to be in accord with the observations.
Gravity:
The easiest way to think of gravity is that it's the thing that makes you stick to the earth. It's like a giant hand that reaches up from the ground, grabs your ankle and holds you down. Gravity affects the amount of force that you exert on the ground. It's like you are pushing on the ground.
Have you ever wondered why you don't just float off into space? It's because of gravity.
When you see movies with astronauts in space and they are floating all around, it's because they aren't close enough to Earth (or to another planet) to get pulled down by gravity. When you see the astronauts on the moon (or on another planet in a movie), they are getting held down by that thing's gravity. In fact, it's the Earth's gravity that holds our moon in it's orbit... Without gravity, the moon would just go flying out into space.
Mass is just the amount of 'stuff' you are made of... No matter where you go in the Universe, you are still made of the same amount of stuff, so your mass is always the same. (Unless, of course, you grow. Then your mass increases.)
The force of gravity that you push ground with is called weight. You might weigh 66 pounds on the Earth... But you would weigh 1/6 of this on the moon (only 11 pounds) because the moon's gravity is 1/6 as strong as the Earths.
Inertia:
This is a really important thing. It's so important we call it "The First Law Of Motion", it's a pretty easy idea...
If something is moving, it will keep moving until something stops it. If something is not moving, it will just sit there until something comes along to move it.
An object in motion will continue to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. An object at rest will continue to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.
What if you put a book on a table... It would just sit there unless you moved it. You could pick it up... Or push it... Or lift one side of the table so it would side off. That's Inertia!
Notes:
Sir Issac Newton's law of universal gravitation was published in 1687.
Gravity is what holds objects on Earth's Surface.
An object's mass is the same, regardless of where the object is in the Universe.
Weightlessness is a condition experienced when an object is in free fall, which means that the only force acting on the object is Earth's Gravity.
The weight of an object varies and depends on where the object is in the Universe.
The strength of gravitation between any two objects is related to the product of their masses divided by the square of distance between their centers.
Gravitation is the attractive force between any two objects.
An objects weight depends on where it is in the Universe.
The weight of an object on Earth is equal to its mass times gravity.
A brief period of microgravity lasting less than 30 seconds occurs at the peak.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Johann Sebastian Bach
By Princessa
- Born: 21 March 1865.
- Birthplace: Eisenach, Thuringia (now Germany).
- Died: 28 July 1750.
- Best Known As: German Baroque Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach, the most reowned member of a distinguished family of German musicians and composers, is considered one of the greatest composers in history. A virtuoso organist who was famous throughout Germany durinbg his career, Bach served as a court musician and composer in Arnstadt, Weimar, Köthen and finally as cantor and director of music at Leipzig (1723~50). His most famous works include The Brandenburg Concertos, Well-Tempered Clavier and Art of the Fugue. Bach's fame during his lifetime was due to his ability as an organist more than his reputation as a composer, but since the 19th century he has been hailed as a genius whose work represents the peak of the Baroque era.
Bach fathered 20 children, some of whom were also celebrated musicians, and he was the grandfather of noted composer Johann Christian Bach (1735-82).. Bach's music inspired a 1968 hit record: Switched-on Bach by electronic music pioneer Wendy Carlos.. Popular cellist Yo- Yo Ma is known for his interpretations of several 
Bach pieces.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Deadlock At Greenland Whale Plan
By Princessa
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) annual meeting has seen deadlock on its second day over Greenland's plans to expand its Inuit whale hunt.
But proposals from indigenous groups in the US, Caribbean and Russia passed.
Subsistence whaling rights are given to groups with traditional whaling culture and a nutritional need for whale meat.
On the sidelines, Japan met with anti-whaling nations to try to resolve differences over its plan to include humpbacks in its Antarctic hunt.
The plan has caused outrage in Australia and New Zealand, which have healthy whale-watching industries with humpbacks as their star turn.
Species controversy
Subsistence (aboriginal) hunting is a relatively uncontroversial issue, with most governments and activist groups supporting the notion that indigenous peoples should be entitled to catch whales on a not-for-profit basis, despite the 21-year global moratorium on commercial hunting.
Quotas are reviewed every five years, and this meeting is supposed to set allowances for the period 2008-12.
But the West Greenland bid proved unusually controversial. It wanted to increase the number of minke whales taken from 175 to 200, and include 10 humpbacks and 2 bowhead whales for the first time.
Greenland Inuit delegate Amalie Jessen said her people had demonstrated a need for 730 tonnes of whale meat each year rather than the current 450 tonnes.
"We like to see whales alive as well, but we see hunting them as an important part of our cultural life," she said.
Scientists advising the IWC believed there was not enough reliable information available to assess humpback stocks in the target region.
"We can only support a quota that's scientifically based," said Netherlands commissioner Giuseppe Raaphorst.
"On the scientific basis and the precautionary principle, we cannot accept this proposal."
But with pro-whaling nations amassing behind the Greenland bid, a decision was deferred.
The other bids, from the Chukchi of north-eastern Russia, Alaskan Eskimos, the Makah tribe of Washington State in the US, and the Beqians of St Vincent and the Grenadines, involved maintaining existing quotas, and passed without problem.
Talks about talks
The fiercest row currently concerns Japan's plan to add 50 humpback whales to its annual Antarctic hunt, which it conducts in the name of scientific research.
Before the meeting started, Japan offered to consider abandoning the humpback element if the anti-whaling bloc could consider its request to allow limited commercial hunting by four coastal communities.
The offer was dismissed instantly; but Japanese commissioners met informally with ministers from anti-whaling countries Australia, the UK and New Zealand in an attempt to find a way forward.
After the session, New Zealand's conservation minister Chris Carter told BBC News that they had agreed to continue talking, with the future of the IWC one item on which it might be possible to find common ground.
However, he said, the Japanese coastal whaling proposal would not be endorsed, while his government's opposition to the humpback hunt remained as implacable as ever.
Japanese delegates declined to comment.
The International Whaling Commission (IWC) annual meeting has seen deadlock on its second day over Greenland's plans to expand its Inuit whale hunt.
But proposals from indigenous groups in the US, Caribbean and Russia passed.
Subsistence whaling rights are given to groups with traditional whaling culture and a nutritional need for whale meat.
On the sidelines, Japan met with anti-whaling nations to try to resolve differences over its plan to include humpbacks in its Antarctic hunt.
The plan has caused outrage in Australia and New Zealand, which have healthy whale-watching industries with humpbacks as their star turn.
Species controversy
Subsistence (aboriginal) hunting is a relatively uncontroversial issue, with most governments and activist groups supporting the notion that indigenous peoples should be entitled to catch whales on a not-for-profit basis, despite the 21-year global moratorium on commercial hunting.
Quotas are reviewed every five years, and this meeting is supposed to set allowances for the period 2008-12.
But the West Greenland bid proved unusually controversial. It wanted to increase the number of minke whales taken from 175 to 200, and include 10 humpbacks and 2 bowhead whales for the first time.
Greenland Inuit delegate Amalie Jessen said her people had demonstrated a need for 730 tonnes of whale meat each year rather than the current 450 tonnes.
"We like to see whales alive as well, but we see hunting them as an important part of our cultural life," she said.
Scientists advising the IWC believed there was not enough reliable information available to assess humpback stocks in the target region.
"We can only support a quota that's scientifically based," said Netherlands commissioner Giuseppe Raaphorst.
"On the scientific basis and the precautionary principle, we cannot accept this proposal."
But with pro-whaling nations amassing behind the Greenland bid, a decision was deferred.
The other bids, from the Chukchi of north-eastern Russia, Alaskan Eskimos, the Makah tribe of Washington State in the US, and the Beqians of St Vincent and the Grenadines, involved maintaining existing quotas, and passed without problem.
Talks about talks
The fiercest row currently concerns Japan's plan to add 50 humpback whales to its annual Antarctic hunt, which it conducts in the name of scientific research.
Before the meeting started, Japan offered to consider abandoning the humpback element if the anti-whaling bloc could consider its request to allow limited commercial hunting by four coastal communities.
The offer was dismissed instantly; but Japanese commissioners met informally with ministers from anti-whaling countries Australia, the UK and New Zealand in an attempt to find a way forward.
After the session, New Zealand's conservation minister Chris Carter told BBC News that they had agreed to continue talking, with the future of the IWC one item on which it might be possible to find common ground.
However, he said, the Japanese coastal whaling proposal would not be endorsed, while his government's opposition to the humpback hunt remained as implacable as ever.
Japanese delegates declined to comment.
On This Day
By Princessa
Not to be confused with the fictional planet Krypton (birth planet of comic book hero Superman) or "kryptonite" (which robs Superman of his strength), krypton is one of the six inert (noble) gasses in the air (along with helium, neon, argon, xenon, and radon).
When English chemist Morris William Travers and Scottish chemist Sir Willam Ramsay boiled away liquid air, a colorless element remained. The two scientists named it krypton, from the Greek word meaning "hidden." Krypton, which appears in Group 18 of the the periodic table with a molecular weight of 83.7, is used in flashes in high speed photography, fluorescent lightbulbs, and green-yellow neon signs.
Not to be confused with the fictional planet Krypton (birth planet of comic book hero Superman) or "kryptonite" (which robs Superman of his strength), krypton is one of the six inert (noble) gasses in the air (along with helium, neon, argon, xenon, and radon).
When English chemist Morris William Travers and Scottish chemist Sir Willam Ramsay boiled away liquid air, a colorless element remained. The two scientists named it krypton, from the Greek word meaning "hidden." Krypton, which appears in Group 18 of the the periodic table with a molecular weight of 83.7, is used in flashes in high speed photography, fluorescent lightbulbs, and green-yellow neon signs.
Word Of The Day
By Princessa
chortle: to utter, or express with, a snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle.
chortle: to utter, or express with, a snorting, exultant laugh or chuckle.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Planet Hunters Spy Distant Haul
By Princessa
A haul of 28 new planets beyond our solar system has been detected by the world's most prolific planet hunters.
The finds were among 37 objects seen orbiting distant stars by a US and Anglo-Australian team in the last year.
Other objects reported by the group, at an American Astronomical Society meeting in Honolulu, included five failed stars, known as brown dwarfs.
The finds increase the total number of known exoplanets to 236, more than half of which were discovered by the team.
"The more we look, the more we find planets," said Professor Tinney of the University of New South Wales, head of the Australian part of the Anglo-Australian Planet Search.
"Super-Earth"
Among the finds were at least four multiple-planetary systems. All of the planets were so-called gas giants, similar to Jupiter, with no solid surface.
"Something like 10 to 15% of stars host gas giants," said Professor Tinney. "A larger fraction of stars may host planets too small for us to detect."
These could include Earth-sized objects, which could harbour life.
Earlier this year, scientists using the European Southern Observatory (ESO) 3.6m Telescope in Chile discovered the smallest exoplanet - as astronomers call planets that orbit a star other than the Sun - yet.
The "super-Earth" orbited the faint star Gliese 581, 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra. Its radius was just 1.5 times that of the Earth.
Intriguingly, the planet could have liquid water on its surface, a key ingredient of life.
It was discovered using a sensitive instrument that can measure tiny changes in the velocity of a star as it experiences the gravitational tug of a nearby planet.
It was the same method used to detect the latest batch of extra solar planets.
According to Dr Jason Wright of the University of California, Berkeley, one of the members of the US California and Carnegie Planet Search, the technique has become more sophisticated, improving detection rates dramatically.
"We're just now getting to the point where, if we were observing our own Solar System from afar, we would be seeing Jupiter," he said.
These techniques allow scientists to detect changes in the motion of stars as small as one metre per second.
Astronomers are stuck with such indirect methods of detection because current telescope technology struggles to image very distant and faint objects - especially when they orbit close to the glare of a star.
Ice planet
The discovery of the 28 new planets has given astronomers new targets to analyse in more detail.
Presenting the findings, Professor Geoff Marcy singled out a planet discovered two years ago, which had already yielded a mass of "extraordinarily rich" information.
Circling the star Gliese 436, 30 light years from Earth, was an ice-giant planet that was calculated by Swiss and Belgian scientists to be at least 22 Earth masses, slightly larger than the mass of Neptune.
Their studies had also revealed its density.
"It must be 50% rock and about 50% water, with perhaps small amounts of hydrogen and helium," said Professor Marcy.
"This planet has the interior structure of a hybrid super-Earth/Neptune, with a rocky core surrounded by a significant amount of water compressed into solid form at high pressures and temperatures."
However, the planet is not thought to be capable of supporting life.
A haul of 28 new planets beyond our solar system has been detected by the world's most prolific planet hunters.
The finds were among 37 objects seen orbiting distant stars by a US and Anglo-Australian team in the last year.
Other objects reported by the group, at an American Astronomical Society meeting in Honolulu, included five failed stars, known as brown dwarfs.
The finds increase the total number of known exoplanets to 236, more than half of which were discovered by the team.
"The more we look, the more we find planets," said Professor Tinney of the University of New South Wales, head of the Australian part of the Anglo-Australian Planet Search.
"Super-Earth"
Among the finds were at least four multiple-planetary systems. All of the planets were so-called gas giants, similar to Jupiter, with no solid surface.
"Something like 10 to 15% of stars host gas giants," said Professor Tinney. "A larger fraction of stars may host planets too small for us to detect."
These could include Earth-sized objects, which could harbour life.
Earlier this year, scientists using the European Southern Observatory (ESO) 3.6m Telescope in Chile discovered the smallest exoplanet - as astronomers call planets that orbit a star other than the Sun - yet.
The "super-Earth" orbited the faint star Gliese 581, 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra. Its radius was just 1.5 times that of the Earth.
Intriguingly, the planet could have liquid water on its surface, a key ingredient of life.
It was discovered using a sensitive instrument that can measure tiny changes in the velocity of a star as it experiences the gravitational tug of a nearby planet.
It was the same method used to detect the latest batch of extra solar planets.
According to Dr Jason Wright of the University of California, Berkeley, one of the members of the US California and Carnegie Planet Search, the technique has become more sophisticated, improving detection rates dramatically.
"We're just now getting to the point where, if we were observing our own Solar System from afar, we would be seeing Jupiter," he said.
These techniques allow scientists to detect changes in the motion of stars as small as one metre per second.
Astronomers are stuck with such indirect methods of detection because current telescope technology struggles to image very distant and faint objects - especially when they orbit close to the glare of a star.
Ice planet
The discovery of the 28 new planets has given astronomers new targets to analyse in more detail.
Presenting the findings, Professor Geoff Marcy singled out a planet discovered two years ago, which had already yielded a mass of "extraordinarily rich" information.
Circling the star Gliese 436, 30 light years from Earth, was an ice-giant planet that was calculated by Swiss and Belgian scientists to be at least 22 Earth masses, slightly larger than the mass of Neptune.
Their studies had also revealed its density.
"It must be 50% rock and about 50% water, with perhaps small amounts of hydrogen and helium," said Professor Marcy.
"This planet has the interior structure of a hybrid super-Earth/Neptune, with a rocky core surrounded by a significant amount of water compressed into solid form at high pressures and temperatures."
However, the planet is not thought to be capable of supporting life.
On This Day
By Princessa
In his theory of relativity Albert Einstein reasoned that, because energy and matter are one, gravity affects not only matter, but also energy. Einstein proposed that the light energy of stars bends when subjected to a strong gravitational field (such as the field of a planet). In 1919, teams from the Royal Astronomical Society set up in Brazil and West Africa to observe and measure the position of stars during a solar eclipse. They found that starlight did indeed bend as it passed through the sun's gravitational field, just as Einstein had predicted. By testing Einstein's hypothesis, astonomers proved that the theory of relativity was valid. They could then use the theory as a basis for further scientific investigation.
In his theory of relativity Albert Einstein reasoned that, because energy and matter are one, gravity affects not only matter, but also energy. Einstein proposed that the light energy of stars bends when subjected to a strong gravitational field (such as the field of a planet). In 1919, teams from the Royal Astronomical Society set up in Brazil and West Africa to observe and measure the position of stars during a solar eclipse. They found that starlight did indeed bend as it passed through the sun's gravitational field, just as Einstein had predicted. By testing Einstein's hypothesis, astonomers proved that the theory of relativity was valid. They could then use the theory as a basis for further scientific investigation.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Killer Bananas
By Princessa
A rumour spread by text message has badly hit the price of bananas from China's Hainan island, state media say.
The messages claim the fruit contains viruses similar to Sars, the severe respiratory illness which has killed hundreds of people worldwide.
Producers in Hainan say the resulting price slump is costing them up to 20 million yuan ($US2.6m) a day.
China's Agriculture Ministry has dismissed the Sars claim as baseless. Police are investigating its source.
"It is utterly a rumour," a Chinese Health Ministry official was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
"There has not been a case in the world in which humans have contracted a plant virus, and there is not any scientific evidence."
Safety scares
Hainan bananas had already been subject to rumours they caused cancer, after the banana plantations were hit by blight earlier this year.
The banana fears come amid international concerns over tainted Chinese exports, including allegations of poisons in pet food and toothpaste.
The state-owned China Daily newspaper recently criticised China's food safety regulators and called on the government to do more to protect Chinese consumers.
A rumour spread by text message has badly hit the price of bananas from China's Hainan island, state media say.
The messages claim the fruit contains viruses similar to Sars, the severe respiratory illness which has killed hundreds of people worldwide.
Producers in Hainan say the resulting price slump is costing them up to 20 million yuan ($US2.6m) a day.
China's Agriculture Ministry has dismissed the Sars claim as baseless. Police are investigating its source.
"It is utterly a rumour," a Chinese Health Ministry official was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
"There has not been a case in the world in which humans have contracted a plant virus, and there is not any scientific evidence."
Safety scares
Hainan bananas had already been subject to rumours they caused cancer, after the banana plantations were hit by blight earlier this year.
The banana fears come amid international concerns over tainted Chinese exports, including allegations of poisons in pet food and toothpaste.
The state-owned China Daily newspaper recently criticised China's food safety regulators and called on the government to do more to protect Chinese consumers.
On This Day
By Princessa
In order to "test the waters" before sending a human astronaut into space, scientists at Cape Canaveral, Florida, launched female monkeys Able and Baker 300 miles into space. The monkeys flew more than 1,500 miles (2,413km) in the nose-cone of Jupiter missile AM-18, which reached the speed of 10,000 mph (16,090kmh). The flight lasted 15 minutes, and Able and Baker were recovered from the launch in the South Atlantic near Puerto Rico, in "perfect condition." The two were carefully monitored during the flight (pulse, temperature, breathing, etc.), especially during their nine minutes of weightlessness. Little was known at the time about the effects of space travel on the body, so the safe recovery of the primates was considered a "green light" for further research.
In order to "test the waters" before sending a human astronaut into space, scientists at Cape Canaveral, Florida, launched female monkeys Able and Baker 300 miles into space. The monkeys flew more than 1,500 miles (2,413km) in the nose-cone of Jupiter missile AM-18, which reached the speed of 10,000 mph (16,090kmh). The flight lasted 15 minutes, and Able and Baker were recovered from the launch in the South Atlantic near Puerto Rico, in "perfect condition." The two were carefully monitored during the flight (pulse, temperature, breathing, etc.), especially during their nine minutes of weightlessness. Little was known at the time about the effects of space travel on the body, so the safe recovery of the primates was considered a "green light" for further research.
Word Of The Day
By Princessa
enunciate: to utter articulately; also, to state or set forth precisely or systematically.
enunciate: to utter articulately; also, to state or set forth precisely or systematically.
Memorial Day
By Princessa
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday that is observed on the last Monday of May. It was formerly known as Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country. It began first to honor Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it expanded to include those who died in any war or military action. One of the longest standing traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, which has been held in conjuction with Memorial Day since 1911.
Many people observe this holiday by visiting cemeteries and memorials. A national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 P.M. Washington time. Another tradition is to fly the U.S. flag at half-staff from dawn until noon local time. Volunteers place a U.S. mini-flag upon each gravesite located in a National Cemetery.
In addition to remembrance, Memorial Day is also a time for picnics, family gatherings, and sporting events. Some Americans view Memorial Day as the unofficial beginning of summer and Labor Day as the unofficial end of the season. The national click it or ticket campaign ramps up beginning Memorial Day weekend, noting the beginning of the most dangerous season for auto accidents and other safety related incidents. The USAF "101 Critical days of Summer" also begin on this day as well. Some Americans use Memorial Day to also honor any family members who have died, not just servicemen.
Memorial Day formerly occurred on May 30, and some, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), advocate returning to this fixed date, although the signifigance of the date is tenuous. The VFW stated in a 2002 Memorial Day Address, "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general's public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."Hawaii's Senator Daniel Inouye, a World War II veteran, has repeatedly introduced measures to return Memorial Day to its traditional day since 1998.
General Logan had been impressed by the way the South honored their dead with a special day and decided the Union needed a similar day. Reportedly, Logan said that it was most fitting; that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had honored their dead, particularly their heroes, by chaplets of laurel and flowers, and that he intended to issue an order designating a day for decorating the grave of every soldier in the land, and if he could, he would have made it a holiday.
General Logan had been impressed by the way the South honored their dead with a special day and decided the Union needed a similar day. Reportedly, Logan said that it was most fitting; that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had honored their dead, particularly their heroes, by chaplets of laurel and flowers, and that he intended to issue an order designating a day for decorating the grave of every soldier in the land, and if he could he would have made it a holiday.
Logan had been the principal speaker in a citywide memorial observation on April 29, 1866, at a cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois, an event that likely gave him the idea to make it a national holiday. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans' organization, Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle. The tombs of fallen Union soldiers were decorated in remembrance of this day.
Many of the states of the U.S. South refused to celebrate Decoration Day, due to lingering hostility towards the Union Army and also because there were very few veterans of the Union Army who lived in the South. Many Southern States did not recognize Memorial Day until after World War I since many veterans of World War I were from the south, although they continued to have a separate Confederate Memorial Day, with the date varying from state to state. A notable exception was Columbus, Mississippi, which in its 1866 Decoration Day commemorated both the Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery.
The alternative name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882, but did not become more common until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967 . On June 28, 1968, the United States Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved four holidays from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. The holidays included Washington's Birthday (which evolved into Presidents' Day), Columbus Day, Labor Day, and Memorial Day. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971 . After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply at the state level, all fifty states adopted the measure within a few years, although Veterans Day was eventually changed back to its traditional date. Ironically, most corporate businesses no longer close on Columbus Day or Veterans Day, and an increasing number are staying open on President's Day as well. The holiday has endured as one where most businesses stay closed because it marks the beginning of the "summer vacation season" (similar to neighboring Canada's Victoria Day, which occurs on the prior Monday).
Given its origins in the American Civil War, Memorial Day is not a holiday outside the U.S.. Countries of the Commonwealth, as well as France and Belgium, honor members of the military who died in war on or around Remembrance Day (November 11), which has its origin in World War I. The U.S. uses that date as Veterans Day (formerly Armistice Day) and honors all veterans, living and dead. In Ireland, the National Day of Commemoration commemorates all Irish men and women who died in past wars or on service with the United Nations.
Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday that is observed on the last Monday of May. It was formerly known as Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country. It began first to honor Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it expanded to include those who died in any war or military action. One of the longest standing traditions is the running of the Indianapolis 500, which has been held in conjuction with Memorial Day since 1911.Many people observe this holiday by visiting cemeteries and memorials. A national moment of remembrance takes place at 3 P.M. Washington time. Another tradition is to fly the U.S. flag at half-staff from dawn until noon local time. Volunteers place a U.S. mini-flag upon each gravesite located in a National Cemetery.
In addition to remembrance, Memorial Day is also a time for picnics, family gatherings, and sporting events. Some Americans view Memorial Day as the unofficial beginning of summer and Labor Day as the unofficial end of the season. The national click it or ticket campaign ramps up beginning Memorial Day weekend, noting the beginning of the most dangerous season for auto accidents and other safety related incidents. The USAF "101 Critical days of Summer" also begin on this day as well. Some Americans use Memorial Day to also honor any family members who have died, not just servicemen.
Memorial Day formerly occurred on May 30, and some, such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), advocate returning to this fixed date, although the signifigance of the date is tenuous. The VFW stated in a 2002 Memorial Day Address, "Changing the date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed greatly to the general's public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day."Hawaii's Senator Daniel Inouye, a World War II veteran, has repeatedly introduced measures to return Memorial Day to its traditional day since 1998.
Following the end of the Civil War, many communities set aside to mark the end of the war or as a memorial to those who had died. Some of the cities creating an early memorial day include Charleston, South Carolina; Boalsburg, Pennyslvania; Richmond, Virginia; Carbondale, Illinois; Columbus, MIssissippi; many communities in Vermont; and some two dozen other cities and towns. These observances eventually coalesced around Decoration Day, honoring the Union dead, and the several Confederate Memorial Days.
According to Professor David Blight of the Yale University History Department (YUHD), the first memorial day was observed in 1865 by liberated slaves at the historic race track in Charleston. The site was a former Confederate prison camp as well as a mass grave for Union soldiers who had died while held hostage. A parade with thousands of freed blacks and Union soldiers was followed by patriotic singing and a picnic.
The official birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York. The village was a credited with being the birthplace because it observed the day on May 5, 1866, and each year thereafter, and because it is likely that the friendship of General John Murray, a distinguished citizen of Waterloo, and General John A. Logan, who led the call for the day to be observed each year and helped spread the event nationwide, was a key factor in its growth.
General Logan had been impressed by the way the South honored their dead with a special day and decided the Union needed a similar day. Reportedly, Logan said that it was most fitting; that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had honored their dead, particularly their heroes, by chaplets of laurel and flowers, and that he intended to issue an order designating a day for decorating the grave of every soldier in the land, and if he could, he would have made it a holiday.General Logan had been impressed by the way the South honored their dead with a special day and decided the Union needed a similar day. Reportedly, Logan said that it was most fitting; that the ancients, especially the Greeks, had honored their dead, particularly their heroes, by chaplets of laurel and flowers, and that he intended to issue an order designating a day for decorating the grave of every soldier in the land, and if he could he would have made it a holiday.
Logan had been the principal speaker in a citywide memorial observation on April 29, 1866, at a cemetery in Carbondale, Illinois, an event that likely gave him the idea to make it a national holiday. On May 5, 1868, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, a veterans' organization, Logan issued a proclamation that "Decoration Day" be observed nationwide. It was observed for the first time on May 30 of the same year; the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of a battle. The tombs of fallen Union soldiers were decorated in remembrance of this day.
Many of the states of the U.S. South refused to celebrate Decoration Day, due to lingering hostility towards the Union Army and also because there were very few veterans of the Union Army who lived in the South. Many Southern States did not recognize Memorial Day until after World War I since many veterans of World War I were from the south, although they continued to have a separate Confederate Memorial Day, with the date varying from state to state. A notable exception was Columbus, Mississippi, which in its 1866 Decoration Day commemorated both the Union and Confederate casualties buried in its cemetery.
The alternative name of "Memorial Day" was first used in 1882, but did not become more common until after World War II, and was not declared the official name by Federal law until 1967 . On June 28, 1968, the United States Congress passed the Uniform Holidays Bill, which moved four holidays from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. The holidays included Washington's Birthday (which evolved into Presidents' Day), Columbus Day, Labor Day, and Memorial Day. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971 . After some initial confusion and unwillingness to comply at the state level, all fifty states adopted the measure within a few years, although Veterans Day was eventually changed back to its traditional date. Ironically, most corporate businesses no longer close on Columbus Day or Veterans Day, and an increasing number are staying open on President's Day as well. The holiday has endured as one where most businesses stay closed because it marks the beginning of the "summer vacation season" (similar to neighboring Canada's Victoria Day, which occurs on the prior Monday).
Given its origins in the American Civil War, Memorial Day is not a holiday outside the U.S.. Countries of the Commonwealth, as well as France and Belgium, honor members of the military who died in war on or around Remembrance Day (November 11), which has its origin in World War I. The U.S. uses that date as Veterans Day (formerly Armistice Day) and honors all veterans, living and dead. In Ireland, the National Day of Commemoration commemorates all Irish men and women who died in past wars or on service with the United Nations.
Friday, May 25, 2007
Warm Spring 'Affecting Wildlife'
By Princessa
A warm spring has brought about the early arrival of some UK wildlife, the first results of the Springwatch 2007 survey suggest.
Over the past few months, amateur naturalists have logged more than 24,000 first sightings of six key species of plants and animals.
Some, such as the peacock butterfly and frogspawn, have been spotted earlier than expected.
The Woodland Trust said it was worried "because the changes are so rapid".
Springwatch, now in its third year, is run by the Woodland Trust and the BBC.
The survey data is being compiled to build up a picture of the season as it unfolds across the UK so that it can be compared to previous years.
As the survey has been running for a limited time, the results cannot be interpreted as definitive guide to how a changing climate is affecting wildlife, but researchers are already examining the data for trends.
Recent weather in the UK has been extremely mild, and records show it has been the warmest spring since the Springwatch survey began in 2005.
Nick Collinson, head of conservation policy at the Woodland Trust, believes the warm conditions may be responsible for some earlier-than-expected sightings.
He said: "This has been our earliest Springwatch year, well ahead of the normal time we would have expected to see these events 30 years ago."
Members of the public were asked to record the dates they have first seen red-tailed bumblebees, frogspawn, flowering hawthorns, seven-spot ladybirds, peacock butterflies and swifts.
Some of the preliminary findings of this year's survey include:
Frogspawn spotted on average two weeks earlier than in 2006 and three weeks earlier than the "phenological norm" (an average first-sighting date based on data gathered over the last 30 years).
Peacock butterflies sighted on average one month earlier than 2006, two weeks earlier than 2005, and one month earlier than the norm.
For swifts, the data is still returning, but initial results suggest the date has stayed much the same as 2006, 2007 and the phenological norm.
Mr Collinson was worried about the possible impact of increasingly warm springs.
He said: "We are concerned because the change seems to be so rapid.
"And we know there is a mismatch of timing, so, for example, when insects would pollinate flowers, the flowers are coming out earlier than the insects are available, and we know this is happening.
"It is very difficult to tell what that means, but certainly we know that wildlife is under pressure."
A warm spring has brought about the early arrival of some UK wildlife, the first results of the Springwatch 2007 survey suggest.
Over the past few months, amateur naturalists have logged more than 24,000 first sightings of six key species of plants and animals.
Some, such as the peacock butterfly and frogspawn, have been spotted earlier than expected.
The Woodland Trust said it was worried "because the changes are so rapid".
Springwatch, now in its third year, is run by the Woodland Trust and the BBC.
The survey data is being compiled to build up a picture of the season as it unfolds across the UK so that it can be compared to previous years.
As the survey has been running for a limited time, the results cannot be interpreted as definitive guide to how a changing climate is affecting wildlife, but researchers are already examining the data for trends.
Recent weather in the UK has been extremely mild, and records show it has been the warmest spring since the Springwatch survey began in 2005.
Nick Collinson, head of conservation policy at the Woodland Trust, believes the warm conditions may be responsible for some earlier-than-expected sightings.
He said: "This has been our earliest Springwatch year, well ahead of the normal time we would have expected to see these events 30 years ago."
Members of the public were asked to record the dates they have first seen red-tailed bumblebees, frogspawn, flowering hawthorns, seven-spot ladybirds, peacock butterflies and swifts.
Some of the preliminary findings of this year's survey include:
Frogspawn spotted on average two weeks earlier than in 2006 and three weeks earlier than the "phenological norm" (an average first-sighting date based on data gathered over the last 30 years).
Peacock butterflies sighted on average one month earlier than 2006, two weeks earlier than 2005, and one month earlier than the norm.
For swifts, the data is still returning, but initial results suggest the date has stayed much the same as 2006, 2007 and the phenological norm.
Mr Collinson was worried about the possible impact of increasingly warm springs.
He said: "We are concerned because the change seems to be so rapid.
"And we know there is a mismatch of timing, so, for example, when insects would pollinate flowers, the flowers are coming out earlier than the insects are available, and we know this is happening.
"It is very difficult to tell what that means, but certainly we know that wildlife is under pressure."
On This Day
By Princessa
In 1961, the formal announcement of hopes for an American lunar landing was made by President John F. Kennedy in his inaurual address: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space program in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish." The challenge was taken up by NASA, the American space program began, and, in 1969, six years after Kennedy's death, the U.S succeeded in landing a man on the moon.
In 1961, the formal announcement of hopes for an American lunar landing was made by President John F. Kennedy in his inaurual address: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space program in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important in the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish." The challenge was taken up by NASA, the American space program began, and, in 1969, six years after Kennedy's death, the U.S succeeded in landing a man on the moon.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Brazil
By Princessa
Geography: Brazil covers nearly half of South America and is the continent's largest nation. It extends 2,965 mi (4,772 km) north-south, 2,691 mi (4,331 km) east-west, and borders every nation on the continent except Chile and Ecuador. Brazil may be divided into the Brazilian Highlands, or plateau, in the south and the Amazon River Basin in the north.
Over a third of Brazil is drained by the Amazon and its more than 200 tributaries. The Amazon is navigable for ocean steamers to Iquitos, Peru, 2,300 mi (3,700 km) upstream. Southern Brazil is drained by the Plata system—the Paraguay, Uruguay, and Paraná rivers.
Government: Federal republic.
Population: 188,078,227.
History: Brazil is the only Latin American nation that derives its language and culture from Portugal. The native inhabitants mostly consisted of the nomadic Tupí-Guaraní Indians. Adm. Pedro Alvares Cabral claimed the territory for Portugal in 1500. The early explorers brought back a wood that produced a red dye, pau-brasil, from which the land received its name. Portugal began colonization in 1532 and made the area a royal colony in 1549.
During the Napoleonic Wars, King João VI, fearing the advancing French armies, fled Portugal in 1808 and set up his court in Rio de Janeiro. João was drawn home in 1820 by a revolution, leaving his son as regent. When Portugal tried to reimpose colonial rule, the prince declared Brazil's independence on Sept. 7, 1822, becoming Pedro I, emperor of Brazil.
Harassed by his parliament, Pedro I abdicated in 1831 in favor of his five-year-old son, who became emperor in 1840 (Pedro II). The son was a popular monarch, but discontent built up, and in 1889, following a military revolt, he abdicated. Although a republic was proclaimed, Brazil was ruled by military dictatorships until a revolt permitted a gradual return to stability under civilian presidents.
President Wenceslau Braz cooperated with the Allies and declared war on Germany during World War I. In World War II, Brazil again cooperated with the Allies, welcoming Allied air bases, patrolling the South Atlantic, and joining the invasion of Italy after declaring war on the Axis powers.
After a military coup in 1964, Brazil had a series of military governments. Gen. João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo became president in 1979 and pledged a return to democracy in 1985. The election of Tancredo Neves on Jan. 15, 1985, the first civilian president since 1964, brought a nationwide wave of optimism, but when Neves died several months later, Vice President José Sarney became president. Collor de Mello won the election of late 1989, pledging to lower hyperinflation with free-market economics. When Collor faced impeachment by Congress because of a corruption scandal in Dec. 1992 and resigned, Vice President Itamar Franco assumed the presidency.
A former finance minister, Fernando Cardoso, won the presidency in the Oct. 1994 election with 54% of the vote. Cardoso sold off inefficient government-owned monopolies in the telecommunications, electrical power, port, mining, railway, and banking industries.
In Jan. 1999, the Asian economic crisis spread to Brazil. Rather than prop up the currency through financial markets, Brazil opted to let the currency float, which sent the real plummeting—at one time as much as 40%. Cardoso was highly praised by the international community for quickly turning around his country's economic crisis. Despite his efforts, however, the economy continued to slow throughout 2001, and the country also faced an energy crisis. The IMF offered Brazil an additional aid package in Aug. 2001. And in Aug. 2002, to ensure that Brazil would not be dragged down by neighboring Argentina's catastrophic economic problems, the IMF agreed to lend Brazil a phenomenal $30 billion over fifteen months.
In Jan. 2003, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former trade union leader and factory worker widely known by the name Lula, became Brazil's first working-class president. As leader of Brazil's only Socialist party, the Workers' Party, Lula pledged to increase social services and improve the lot of the poor. But he also recognized that a distinctly nonsocialist program of fiscal austerity was needed to rescue the economy. The president's first major legislative success was a plan to reform the country's debt-ridden pension system, which operated under an annual $20 billion deficit. Civil servants staged massive strikes opposing this and other reforms. Although public debt and inflation remained a problem in 2004, Brazil's economy showed signs of growth and unemployment was down. Polls in Aug. 2004 demonstrated that the majority of Brazilians supported Lula's tough economic reform efforts. He combined his conservative fiscal policies with ambitious antipoverty programs, raising the country's minimum wage by 25% and introducing an ambitious social welfare program, Bolsa Familia, which has pulled 36 million people (20% of the population) out of deep poverty.
In 2005, an unfolding bribery scandal weakened Lula's administration and led to the resignation of several high government officials. Lula issued a televised apology in August, promising drastic measures to reform the political system. By the following year, his popularity had rebounded as he continued a successful balancing act between fiscal responsibility and a strong social welfare system. But after another corruption scandal surfaced right before the Oct. 2006 election, Lula won only 48.6% of the vote, forcing a runoff election on Oct. 29 in which Lula garnered 60.8% of the vote, retaining his office.
Location: Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean.
Geographic Cordinates: 10,00 S, 55,00 W.
Climate: Mostly tropical, but temperate in South.
Terrain: Mostly flat to rolling lowlands in north; some plains, hills, mountains, and narrow coastal belt.
Capital: Brazilia.
Chief Of State: President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva (since January 1, 2003).
Vice President: Jose Alencar (since January 1, 2003).
National Anthem: The placid banks of the Ipiranga heard
the resounding cry of heroic people
and brilliant beams from the sun of liberty
shone in our homeland's skies at that very moment.
If we have fulfilled the promise
of equality by our mighty arms,
in thy bosom, O freedom,
our brave breast shall defy death itself!
O beloved, idolized homeland,
Hail, hail!
Brazil, an intense dream, a vivid ray
of love and hope descends to earth
if in thy lovely, smiling and clear skies
the image of the (Southern) Cross shines resplendently.
A giant by thine own nature,
thou art a beautiful, strong and intrepid colossus,
and thy future mirrors thy greatness.
Beloved Land
amongst a thousand others
art thou, Brazil,
O beloved homeland!
To the sons of this land
thou art a gentle mother,
beloved homeland,
Brazil!
Eternally lying in a splendid cradle,
by the sound of the sea and the light of the deep sky,
thou shinest, O Brazil, garland of America,
illuminated by the sun of the New World!
Thy smiling, lovely fields have more flowers
than the most elegant land abroad,
"Our woods have more life,
"our life" in thy bosom "more love."
O beloved, idolized homeland,
Hail, hail!
Brazil, let the star-spangled banner thou showest forth
be the symbol of eternal love,
and let the laurel-green of thy pennant proclaim
'Peace in the future and glory in the past.'
But if thou raisest the strong gavel of Justice,
thou wilt see that a son of thine flees not from battle,
nor does he who loves thee fear death itself.
Beloved Land,
amongst a thousand others
art thou, Brazil,
O beloved homeland!
To the sons of this land
thou art a gentle mother,
beloved homeland,
Brazil!
Largest City: São Paulo.
Official Languages: Portuguese.
President: Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva.
Vice President: José Alencar Gomes Da Silva.
Brazilian Food: Brazilian cuisine is creative and tasteful, yet simple, and generally not spicy. The dishes are well seasoned, and mainly based on garlic, onions, parsley and salt.
Perhaps Brazil's greatest treasures is her bounty of fruits. Many varieties of tropical fruit are not cultivated but grow freely in the wetland areas or in the uplands. Some are palm fruits. Even today, some of these exotic fruits are only known in the region in which they grow. To the tourist, the sheer variety of new and unusual types can be an overwhelming experience. A beverage made from the fruit called Guarana is the nation's favorite.
An assortment of amazing fish tempt the palate. Menus in the north feature the mammoth pirarucu, whose delicous flesh is quite meaty, almost like chicken; and the tasty tambaqui, a fruit and seed-eating fish equipped with powerful, molar-like teeth adapted for crushing its food. Other noteable fish are the salmon-like dourado in the center-west and the tucunare, the beautifully-colored peacock bass.
Meat reigns in the south. One must experience the popular churrasco, a showy orgy featurong grilled meats of all kinds. In certain resturaunts, the Cariocas (inhabitants of the city of Rio De Janeiro) have adopted it as a specialty of their own. For pork, the southeast features delicious roast suckling pig and cracklings of fried pork skin.
Vegestables and edible tubers abound, but leafy green lag in popularity. Menus feature yams, sweet potatoes, squash, peppers, beans and peanuts, to name a few. A hot, red pepper named malagueta is one of three characteristic ingredients of Bahian cookery in the northeast. The other two are coconut milk and a palm oil called Dende. Manioc (cassava), however is the main staple, both as a vegestable and as a condiment.
In the breads and rolls category, an outstanding entry is pao de queijo, cheese rolls made with tapioca starch and grated cheese. They are especially popular in the center-west, southeast and south.
A rich Portuguese heritage is evident in desserts characterized by lavish use of eggs and sugar. The slaves in the colonial sugar plantation mansions often modified them by adding indigenous ingredients. A representative confection is the irresistible egg and grated coconut upside-down dessert knows as quindim.
There is an infinite variety of fruit juices. Try them all, and if you like, mix in some Brazilian brandy, or cachaca, made from sugar cane to make a batida. If you mix some crushed lemon, they're small, green and tart like our limes, you have the caipirinha, Brazil's national cocktail.
The cuisine of Brazil, like Brazil itself, varies greatly by region. This diversity reflects the country's mix of native Amerindians, Portuguese, Africans, Italians, Spaniards, Germans, Syrians, Lebanese and Japanese among others. This has created a national cooking style marked by the preservation of regional differences.
~North~
Acre, Amazonas, Amapa. Para, Rondonia, Roraima and Tocantins the region is known as Amazonia for it includes a large part of the rain forest, and tributaries flowing into the Amazon River. Culturally, the Amazon basin is heavily populated by native Indians or people of mixed Inian and Portuguese ancestry who live in a diet of fish, root vegestables such as manioc, yams, and peanuts, plus plam or tropical fruit. TP The cuisine of this region is heavily influenced by indigenous cuisine. Popular dishes include Picadinho de Jacare (a meal made from alligator meat), Tacaca and Acai.
Pictures:
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Seal: The seal is called "Coat Of Arms".
Picture:
Customs: Brazilians are outgoing, fun-loving people. Friends and acquaintances are greeted with kisses, more kisses and big hugs.
While Brazilians eat a light breakfast, the customary complimentary one in hotels for tourists often is an elaborate spread: several varieties of fruits and fruit juices, cheeses, breads, cereals, cakes, eggs and meat. In restaurants, breakfast, or cafe da manha, generally is served from 7 to 10 AM.
The main meal of the day is lunch, or almoco, which is served from about 11:30 AM to 3 PM. Dinner, or jantar, is served from 7 to 11 PM. In metropolitan areas Brazilian dine late. If you arrive much before 10 PM on the weekends, you'll probably be in the company of other tourists.
Festivals & Feasts:
*Religous*
~July~
The Festa De Sao Benedito, or Festival of St. Benedict, is featured in the center-west. Traditional dances and foods such as little balls, or bolinhos, of deep fried rice or cheese mark to this celebration.
In full leather regalia, cattlemen of the northeast gather to celebrate a special outdoor Cowboy's Mass, or Missa do Vaqueiro, in the Pernambuco back lands, remaining on their horses during the ceremony. Included in the blessings are some that are specifically said for the cowboys' gear, their hats, saddles and saddlebags containing foods they brought to share, Manioc (Cassava) meal, Queijo Do Sertao, a popular hard cheese made of mostly goat's milk, and Rapadura, hard chunks of raw brown sugar eaten as candy.
~October~
In the city of Belem in the north, the two week celebration called Cirio De Nazare begins with a parade to transport the statue of the virgin of Nazare from the cathedral to the basilica. It ends with her return to the cathedral. The traditional feast on the first day of the festival includes Pati Ao Tucupi, or roast duck marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and garlic, then boiled in Tucupi, a seasoned sauce made with the juice extracted from Manioc (Cassava) root.
~New Years Eve/Day~
Candomble worshippers gather at the beaches to pay homage to Iemanja, godess of the sea. In hope of recieving blessings for the coming year, offerings of fruits, rice and flowers are set out to sea.
*Religous/Secular*
~June~
Festas Juninas are the joyous midwinter festival days when the feasts of St. John, St. Anthony and St. Peter are celebrated throughout Brazil with traditional foods, games and dances. While these customs originated with the Portuguese, the foods associated with these holidays are based obn native preparations such as baked sweet potatoes and corn-based dishes.
A popular folk celebrations in the northeast, apparently originating as a pagan festival, is part of the repertoire of these winter festival days. It is the burlesque pantomime called bumba-meu-boi, or "hit my bull." Its performances are traced to colonial times when it served as a diversion for the slaves on the cattle estates. As is typical with folklore, the tale has many versions. The general theme is a satire pitting the oppressive master against a black slave, or sometimes a lowly worker, who gets into mischief that causes the death or disfiguration of the master's prize bull and finishes joyfully with the bull's miraculous resuscitation.
Secular:
Carnival, the pre-Lenten celebration that consumes Brazil, is world famous and needs no further explanation.
August
The region around the city of Parati in the southeast is known for its production of cachaca, or pinga, Brazil's brandy made from cane sugar. The Pinga Festival celebrates this enormously popular alcohol.
October
In the south, Octoberfest is celebrated in Blumenau. It is based on the Bavarian harvest festival and involves much merrymaking, beer drinking and sausage eating.
Tribes: There are many tribes in Brazil. Some of them are quite isolated from other people where as others are very visible and active in urban society. The most known of these tribes are the Kayapo and the Yanomami.
The Kayapo people are found in eastern Amazon region. Most Kayapo live along the Xingu River near Para. The government has shown an interest in this area because they want to create dams on the Xingu river. The Kayapo are opposed to this as these actions would threaten their traditional way of life and the existence of the Rain Forest. The Kayapo have become very involved with the media and are very active in social action projects that threaten the Amazon Rainforest and their culture.
The Yanomami people live in a region along the Brazilian Venezuelan boarder. They live in small villages. Sometimes they settle in an area or move around. These people are both nomadic and sedentary. They have had many negative experiences with the government wanting to take their land away for dam building or road construction. The Yanomami are being put on reserves in order for the government to work around them. The Yanomami are very unhappy as they are giving up almost 70% of the land rights they used to have.
Geography: Brazil covers nearly half of South America and is the continent's largest nation. It extends 2,965 mi (4,772 km) north-south, 2,691 mi (4,331 km) east-west, and borders every nation on the continent except Chile and Ecuador. Brazil may be divided into the Brazilian Highlands, or plateau, in the south and the Amazon River Basin in the north.
Over a third of Brazil is drained by the Amazon and its more than 200 tributaries. The Amazon is navigable for ocean steamers to Iquitos, Peru, 2,300 mi (3,700 km) upstream. Southern Brazil is drained by the Plata system—the Paraguay, Uruguay, and Paraná rivers.
Government: Federal republic.
Population: 188,078,227.
History: Brazil is the only Latin American nation that derives its language and culture from Portugal. The native inhabitants mostly consisted of the nomadic Tupí-Guaraní Indians. Adm. Pedro Alvares Cabral claimed the territory for Portugal in 1500. The early explorers brought back a wood that produced a red dye, pau-brasil, from which the land received its name. Portugal began colonization in 1532 and made the area a royal colony in 1549.
During the Napoleonic Wars, King João VI, fearing the advancing French armies, fled Portugal in 1808 and set up his court in Rio de Janeiro. João was drawn home in 1820 by a revolution, leaving his son as regent. When Portugal tried to reimpose colonial rule, the prince declared Brazil's independence on Sept. 7, 1822, becoming Pedro I, emperor of Brazil.Harassed by his parliament, Pedro I abdicated in 1831 in favor of his five-year-old son, who became emperor in 1840 (Pedro II). The son was a popular monarch, but discontent built up, and in 1889, following a military revolt, he abdicated. Although a republic was proclaimed, Brazil was ruled by military dictatorships until a revolt permitted a gradual return to stability under civilian presidents.
President Wenceslau Braz cooperated with the Allies and declared war on Germany during World War I. In World War II, Brazil again cooperated with the Allies, welcoming Allied air bases, patrolling the South Atlantic, and joining the invasion of Italy after declaring war on the Axis powers.
After a military coup in 1964, Brazil had a series of military governments. Gen. João Baptista de Oliveira Figueiredo became president in 1979 and pledged a return to democracy in 1985. The election of Tancredo Neves on Jan. 15, 1985, the first civilian president since 1964, brought a nationwide wave of optimism, but when Neves died several months later, Vice President José Sarney became president. Collor de Mello won the election of late 1989, pledging to lower hyperinflation with free-market economics. When Collor faced impeachment by Congress because of a corruption scandal in Dec. 1992 and resigned, Vice President Itamar Franco assumed the presidency.A former finance minister, Fernando Cardoso, won the presidency in the Oct. 1994 election with 54% of the vote. Cardoso sold off inefficient government-owned monopolies in the telecommunications, electrical power, port, mining, railway, and banking industries.
In Jan. 1999, the Asian economic crisis spread to Brazil. Rather than prop up the currency through financial markets, Brazil opted to let the currency float, which sent the real plummeting—at one time as much as 40%. Cardoso was highly praised by the international community for quickly turning around his country's economic crisis. Despite his efforts, however, the economy continued to slow throughout 2001, and the country also faced an energy crisis. The IMF offered Brazil an additional aid package in Aug. 2001. And in Aug. 2002, to ensure that Brazil would not be dragged down by neighboring Argentina's catastrophic economic problems, the IMF agreed to lend Brazil a phenomenal $30 billion over fifteen months.
In Jan. 2003, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former trade union leader and factory worker widely known by the name Lula, became Brazil's first working-class president. As leader of Brazil's only Socialist party, the Workers' Party, Lula pledged to increase social services and improve the lot of the poor. But he also recognized that a distinctly nonsocialist program of fiscal austerity was needed to rescue the economy. The president's first major legislative success was a plan to reform the country's debt-ridden pension system, which operated under an annual $20 billion deficit. Civil servants staged massive strikes opposing this and other reforms. Although public debt and inflation remained a problem in 2004, Brazil's economy showed signs of growth and unemployment was down. Polls in Aug. 2004 demonstrated that the majority of Brazilians supported Lula's tough economic reform efforts. He combined his conservative fiscal policies with ambitious antipoverty programs, raising the country's minimum wage by 25% and introducing an ambitious social welfare program, Bolsa Familia, which has pulled 36 million people (20% of the population) out of deep poverty.
In 2005, an unfolding bribery scandal weakened Lula's administration and led to the resignation of several high government officials. Lula issued a televised apology in August, promising drastic measures to reform the political system. By the following year, his popularity had rebounded as he continued a successful balancing act between fiscal responsibility and a strong social welfare system. But after another corruption scandal surfaced right before the Oct. 2006 election, Lula won only 48.6% of the vote, forcing a runoff election on Oct. 29 in which Lula garnered 60.8% of the vote, retaining his office.
Location: Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean.
Geographic Cordinates: 10,00 S, 55,00 W.
Climate: Mostly tropical, but temperate in South.
Terrain: Mostly flat to rolling lowlands in north; some plains, hills, mountains, and narrow coastal belt.
Capital: Brazilia.
Chief Of State: President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva (since January 1, 2003).
Vice President: Jose Alencar (since January 1, 2003).
National Anthem: The placid banks of the Ipiranga heard
the resounding cry of heroic people
and brilliant beams from the sun of liberty
shone in our homeland's skies at that very moment.
If we have fulfilled the promise
of equality by our mighty arms,
in thy bosom, O freedom,
our brave breast shall defy death itself!
O beloved, idolized homeland,
Hail, hail!
Brazil, an intense dream, a vivid ray
of love and hope descends to earth
if in thy lovely, smiling and clear skies
the image of the (Southern) Cross shines resplendently.
A giant by thine own nature,
thou art a beautiful, strong and intrepid colossus,
and thy future mirrors thy greatness.
Beloved Land
amongst a thousand others
art thou, Brazil,
O beloved homeland!
To the sons of this land
thou art a gentle mother,
beloved homeland,
Brazil!
Eternally lying in a splendid cradle,
by the sound of the sea and the light of the deep sky,
thou shinest, O Brazil, garland of America,
illuminated by the sun of the New World!
Thy smiling, lovely fields have more flowers
than the most elegant land abroad,
"Our woods have more life,
"our life" in thy bosom "more love."
O beloved, idolized homeland,
Hail, hail!
Brazil, let the star-spangled banner thou showest forth
be the symbol of eternal love,
and let the laurel-green of thy pennant proclaim
'Peace in the future and glory in the past.'
But if thou raisest the strong gavel of Justice,
thou wilt see that a son of thine flees not from battle,
nor does he who loves thee fear death itself.
Beloved Land,
amongst a thousand others
art thou, Brazil,
O beloved homeland!
To the sons of this land
thou art a gentle mother,
beloved homeland,
Brazil!
Largest City: São Paulo.
Official Languages: Portuguese.
President: Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva.
Vice President: José Alencar Gomes Da Silva.
Brazilian Food: Brazilian cuisine is creative and tasteful, yet simple, and generally not spicy. The dishes are well seasoned, and mainly based on garlic, onions, parsley and salt.
Perhaps Brazil's greatest treasures is her bounty of fruits. Many varieties of tropical fruit are not cultivated but grow freely in the wetland areas or in the uplands. Some are palm fruits. Even today, some of these exotic fruits are only known in the region in which they grow. To the tourist, the sheer variety of new and unusual types can be an overwhelming experience. A beverage made from the fruit called Guarana is the nation's favorite.
An assortment of amazing fish tempt the palate. Menus in the north feature the mammoth pirarucu, whose delicous flesh is quite meaty, almost like chicken; and the tasty tambaqui, a fruit and seed-eating fish equipped with powerful, molar-like teeth adapted for crushing its food. Other noteable fish are the salmon-like dourado in the center-west and the tucunare, the beautifully-colored peacock bass.
Meat reigns in the south. One must experience the popular churrasco, a showy orgy featurong grilled meats of all kinds. In certain resturaunts, the Cariocas (inhabitants of the city of Rio De Janeiro) have adopted it as a specialty of their own. For pork, the southeast features delicious roast suckling pig and cracklings of fried pork skin.
Vegestables and edible tubers abound, but leafy green lag in popularity. Menus feature yams, sweet potatoes, squash, peppers, beans and peanuts, to name a few. A hot, red pepper named malagueta is one of three characteristic ingredients of Bahian cookery in the northeast. The other two are coconut milk and a palm oil called Dende. Manioc (cassava), however is the main staple, both as a vegestable and as a condiment.
In the breads and rolls category, an outstanding entry is pao de queijo, cheese rolls made with tapioca starch and grated cheese. They are especially popular in the center-west, southeast and south.
A rich Portuguese heritage is evident in desserts characterized by lavish use of eggs and sugar. The slaves in the colonial sugar plantation mansions often modified them by adding indigenous ingredients. A representative confection is the irresistible egg and grated coconut upside-down dessert knows as quindim.
There is an infinite variety of fruit juices. Try them all, and if you like, mix in some Brazilian brandy, or cachaca, made from sugar cane to make a batida. If you mix some crushed lemon, they're small, green and tart like our limes, you have the caipirinha, Brazil's national cocktail.
The cuisine of Brazil, like Brazil itself, varies greatly by region. This diversity reflects the country's mix of native Amerindians, Portuguese, Africans, Italians, Spaniards, Germans, Syrians, Lebanese and Japanese among others. This has created a national cooking style marked by the preservation of regional differences.
~North~
Acre, Amazonas, Amapa. Para, Rondonia, Roraima and Tocantins the region is known as Amazonia for it includes a large part of the rain forest, and tributaries flowing into the Amazon River. Culturally, the Amazon basin is heavily populated by native Indians or people of mixed Inian and Portuguese ancestry who live in a diet of fish, root vegestables such as manioc, yams, and peanuts, plus plam or tropical fruit. TP The cuisine of this region is heavily influenced by indigenous cuisine. Popular dishes include Picadinho de Jacare (a meal made from alligator meat), Tacaca and Acai.
Pictures:
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Seal: The seal is called "Coat Of Arms".
Picture:
Customs: Brazilians are outgoing, fun-loving people. Friends and acquaintances are greeted with kisses, more kisses and big hugs.While Brazilians eat a light breakfast, the customary complimentary one in hotels for tourists often is an elaborate spread: several varieties of fruits and fruit juices, cheeses, breads, cereals, cakes, eggs and meat. In restaurants, breakfast, or cafe da manha, generally is served from 7 to 10 AM.
The main meal of the day is lunch, or almoco, which is served from about 11:30 AM to 3 PM. Dinner, or jantar, is served from 7 to 11 PM. In metropolitan areas Brazilian dine late. If you arrive much before 10 PM on the weekends, you'll probably be in the company of other tourists.
Festivals & Feasts:
*Religous*
~July~
The Festa De Sao Benedito, or Festival of St. Benedict, is featured in the center-west. Traditional dances and foods such as little balls, or bolinhos, of deep fried rice or cheese mark to this celebration.
In full leather regalia, cattlemen of the northeast gather to celebrate a special outdoor Cowboy's Mass, or Missa do Vaqueiro, in the Pernambuco back lands, remaining on their horses during the ceremony. Included in the blessings are some that are specifically said for the cowboys' gear, their hats, saddles and saddlebags containing foods they brought to share, Manioc (Cassava) meal, Queijo Do Sertao, a popular hard cheese made of mostly goat's milk, and Rapadura, hard chunks of raw brown sugar eaten as candy.
~October~
In the city of Belem in the north, the two week celebration called Cirio De Nazare begins with a parade to transport the statue of the virgin of Nazare from the cathedral to the basilica. It ends with her return to the cathedral. The traditional feast on the first day of the festival includes Pati Ao Tucupi, or roast duck marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and garlic, then boiled in Tucupi, a seasoned sauce made with the juice extracted from Manioc (Cassava) root.
~New Years Eve/Day~
Candomble worshippers gather at the beaches to pay homage to Iemanja, godess of the sea. In hope of recieving blessings for the coming year, offerings of fruits, rice and flowers are set out to sea.
*Religous/Secular*
~June~
Festas Juninas are the joyous midwinter festival days when the feasts of St. John, St. Anthony and St. Peter are celebrated throughout Brazil with traditional foods, games and dances. While these customs originated with the Portuguese, the foods associated with these holidays are based obn native preparations such as baked sweet potatoes and corn-based dishes.
A popular folk celebrations in the northeast, apparently originating as a pagan festival, is part of the repertoire of these winter festival days. It is the burlesque pantomime called bumba-meu-boi, or "hit my bull." Its performances are traced to colonial times when it served as a diversion for the slaves on the cattle estates. As is typical with folklore, the tale has many versions. The general theme is a satire pitting the oppressive master against a black slave, or sometimes a lowly worker, who gets into mischief that causes the death or disfiguration of the master's prize bull and finishes joyfully with the bull's miraculous resuscitation.
Secular:
Carnival, the pre-Lenten celebration that consumes Brazil, is world famous and needs no further explanation.
August
The region around the city of Parati in the southeast is known for its production of cachaca, or pinga, Brazil's brandy made from cane sugar. The Pinga Festival celebrates this enormously popular alcohol.
October
In the south, Octoberfest is celebrated in Blumenau. It is based on the Bavarian harvest festival and involves much merrymaking, beer drinking and sausage eating.
Tribes: There are many tribes in Brazil. Some of them are quite isolated from other people where as others are very visible and active in urban society. The most known of these tribes are the Kayapo and the Yanomami.
The Kayapo people are found in eastern Amazon region. Most Kayapo live along the Xingu River near Para. The government has shown an interest in this area because they want to create dams on the Xingu river. The Kayapo are opposed to this as these actions would threaten their traditional way of life and the existence of the Rain Forest. The Kayapo have become very involved with the media and are very active in social action projects that threaten the Amazon Rainforest and their culture.
The Yanomami people live in a region along the Brazilian Venezuelan boarder. They live in small villages. Sometimes they settle in an area or move around. These people are both nomadic and sedentary. They have had many negative experiences with the government wanting to take their land away for dam building or road construction. The Yanomami are being put on reserves in order for the government to work around them. The Yanomami are very unhappy as they are giving up almost 70% of the land rights they used to have.
Tracks Suggest Dinosuars Could Swim
By Princessa
Ancient footprints have provided compelling evidence that some dinosaurs were able to swim, scientists report.
The 15m (50ft) trackway that reveals the animal's underwater odyssey was discovered in the Cameros Basin in Spain, once a vast lake.
The S-shaped prints suggest the beast clawed at sediment on the lake floor as it swam in about 3m (10ft) of water.
The marks are about 125 million years old, dating to the Early Cretaceous, the team writes in the journal Geology.
They were left by a large, bipedal, carnivorous dinosaur.
"We came across them about three or four years ago," explained Dr Loic Costeur, a palaeontologist at the University of Nantes, France, and a co-author of the paper.
"The Cameros Basin has thousands of walking footprints from diverse dinosaur fauna, but when we saw these it was obvious straightaway that this was a swimming dinosaur."
The underwater trackway, which is well-preserved in sandstone, is made up of 12 consecutive prints each consisting of two to three scratch marks.
"The footprints are really peculiar in their shape and morphology - they are not at all like walking footprints," Dr Costeur told the BBC News website.
"In walking footprints, you can recognise the shape of the foot; but here it is not at all the case: it is sets of grooves on the sediment surface.
"You get the idea that the animals' body was supported by water as it was scratching the sediment."
Ripple marks around the track suggested the dinosaur was swimming against a current, attempting to keep a straight path, the team said.
Further investigation of the well-preserved track revealed more about the beast's swimming style.
"The dinosaur swam with alternating movements of the two hind limbs: a pelvic paddle swimming motion," said Dr Costeur.
"It is a swimming style of amplified walking with movements similar to those used by modern bipeds, including aquatic birds."
For many years, the question of whether dinosaurs were able to swim remained unanswered.
Investigations into dinosaur anatomy and ecology suggested it was possible, but very little hard evidence existed documenting this behaviour.
But Dr Costeur described the find as "extremely exciting" and said it provided the first compelling evidence that dinosaurs were able to swim.
"The trackway at La Virgen del Campo opens the door to several new areas of research," said Costeur.
"New biomechanical modelling will increase our understanding of dinosaur physiology and physical capabilities, as well as our view of the ecological niches in which they lived."
Ancient footprints have provided compelling evidence that some dinosaurs were able to swim, scientists report.
The 15m (50ft) trackway that reveals the animal's underwater odyssey was discovered in the Cameros Basin in Spain, once a vast lake.
The S-shaped prints suggest the beast clawed at sediment on the lake floor as it swam in about 3m (10ft) of water.
The marks are about 125 million years old, dating to the Early Cretaceous, the team writes in the journal Geology.
They were left by a large, bipedal, carnivorous dinosaur.
"We came across them about three or four years ago," explained Dr Loic Costeur, a palaeontologist at the University of Nantes, France, and a co-author of the paper.
"The Cameros Basin has thousands of walking footprints from diverse dinosaur fauna, but when we saw these it was obvious straightaway that this was a swimming dinosaur."
The underwater trackway, which is well-preserved in sandstone, is made up of 12 consecutive prints each consisting of two to three scratch marks.
"The footprints are really peculiar in their shape and morphology - they are not at all like walking footprints," Dr Costeur told the BBC News website.
"In walking footprints, you can recognise the shape of the foot; but here it is not at all the case: it is sets of grooves on the sediment surface.
"You get the idea that the animals' body was supported by water as it was scratching the sediment."
Ripple marks around the track suggested the dinosaur was swimming against a current, attempting to keep a straight path, the team said.
Further investigation of the well-preserved track revealed more about the beast's swimming style.
"The dinosaur swam with alternating movements of the two hind limbs: a pelvic paddle swimming motion," said Dr Costeur.
"It is a swimming style of amplified walking with movements similar to those used by modern bipeds, including aquatic birds."
For many years, the question of whether dinosaurs were able to swim remained unanswered.
Investigations into dinosaur anatomy and ecology suggested it was possible, but very little hard evidence existed documenting this behaviour.
But Dr Costeur described the find as "extremely exciting" and said it provided the first compelling evidence that dinosaurs were able to swim.
"The trackway at La Virgen del Campo opens the door to several new areas of research," said Costeur.
"New biomechanical modelling will increase our understanding of dinosaur physiology and physical capabilities, as well as our view of the ecological niches in which they lived."
On This Day
By Princessa
Arthur Cobb Harvey invented a new spectrophotometer and received a patent for it in January, 1935. The patent was acquired by General Electric Co., who sold the first device in May of that year. A spectrophotometer is a photometer (a device for measuring the intensity of light) that measures intensity as a function of color. That is, it measures the wavelength of light. Harvey's was not the first to be invented. G.M.B. Dobson had created a spectrophotometer a decade earlier in order to investigate changes in atmospheric ozone, but it was not commercially. The GE spectrophotometer was much more sensitive; it could distinguish and chart some two million different shades of colour.
Arthur Cobb Harvey invented a new spectrophotometer and received a patent for it in January, 1935. The patent was acquired by General Electric Co., who sold the first device in May of that year. A spectrophotometer is a photometer (a device for measuring the intensity of light) that measures intensity as a function of color. That is, it measures the wavelength of light. Harvey's was not the first to be invented. G.M.B. Dobson had created a spectrophotometer a decade earlier in order to investigate changes in atmospheric ozone, but it was not commercially. The GE spectrophotometer was much more sensitive; it could distinguish and chart some two million different shades of colour.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Nuclear Power 'Must Be On Agenda'
By Princessa
Nuclear power is needed to help reduce carbon emissions and to ensure that the UK has secure energy supplies in the future, Tony Blair has told MPs.
He spoke as the government's Energy White Paper backed a rise in renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
It also says the "preliminary view" is to for more nuclear plants, with a new consultation launched on its merits.
But critics called the consultation a "farce" and nuclear power would be a "dangerous, dirty white elephant".
Industry Secretary Alistair Darling told MPs a decision on nuclear power was needed by the end of the year because many nuclear and coal-fired power stations are due to close within the next 20 years.
Other key points include:
Free "real time" displays given on request to show homeowners how much electricity they are using.
Working with industry to "phase out" inefficient goods such as energy-consuming standby switches.
Tougher environmental standards for new build homes, and other products.
Consultation launched on possible sites for new nuclear plants - based on assumption environmental impact is not "significantly different" to other forms of energy generation.
Triple the amount of electricity from renewable sources such as wind and wave by 2015.
Set up the world's first carbon trading scheme for large organisations such as banks and government departments.
Encourage mining of UK coal where it is economically and environmentally appropriate to reduce reliance on exports.
Mr Darling said the measures outlined could save between 22 million and 33 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2020.
He said he wanted British industry to be at the forefront of new, green technologies, but added: "We can't become a low carbon economy in a single step."
The government had reached a preliminary view that it would be in the public interest to allow energy companies to invest in nuclear power, he said.
But, although the planning system for nuclear power stations is being streamlined, and work done to identify possible site, he said no final decision would be made until the consultation ends in October.
However Lib Dem trade and industry spokeswoman Susan Kramer said: "This consultation is a total farce. Ministers have clearly already decided to back nuclear."
Delayed
Immediately before the statement was published Mr Blair told MPs at the prime minister's questions: "If we want to have secure energy supplies and reduce CO2 emissions, we have got to put the issue of nuclear power on the agenda."
Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell had accused him of appearing to "disregard the issue of risk and cost and toxic waste" and asked for more investment in renewable energy and "clean coal technology".
But Mr Blair replied: "We are not going to be able to make up through wind farms all the deficit on nuclear power. We are just not going to be able to do it."
The planning process for power stations is set to be streamlined by changes outlined on Monday.
And Chancellor Gordon Brown - who will take over as prime minister in June - is also thought to back building more nuclear power stations.
The White Paper was originally due to be published in March, but the government was told to consult again after a legal challenge by environmental campaign group Greenpeace.
'Total honesty'
The Lib Dems, and some environmental groups, said that allowing new nuclear power stations to be built would draw investment away from renewable energy and other "green technologies" - like carbon capture.
Friends of the Earth's Roger Higman told the BBC: "The fear we have is that by investing in nuclear, we will invest in a dangerous, dirty white elephant."
For the Green Party, Caroline Lucas said: "By prioritising the construction of new nuclear power stations over reducing demand for energy ... the government is not only missing a trick, it is undermining efforts to tackle climate change."
Shadow trade and industry secretary Alan Duncan said: "Whatever the rhetoric, there is nothing in this White Paper that will guarantee that a single nuclear power station will be built."
"Business will only invest in nuclear power if it knows its costs - it needs certainty about carbon, decommissioning, and waste."
He added that the government's failure to agree a pilot "carbon capture" project, meant any chance of it happening had been seriously delayed.
The Tories are in favour of nuclear power as a alast resort but oppose subsidies or price guarantees for nuclear firms.
But in Scotland the SNP minority government reiterated its opposition to any new nuclear power stations.
Trade and industry spokesman Mike Weir said there was much the party could support in the White Paper - especially on renewables and energy efficiency.
He added: "There is, however, a massive white elephant in the room in the shape of nuclear power.
"The Scottish people are against new nuclear power stations and the government of Scotland will not allow the construction of new nuclear power stations in our country."
BBC Scotland Political Editor Brian Taylor said there was unlikely to be a "big clash" between the two parliaments, as there was already "something approaching a deal" to allow Scotland's energy requirements to be met by a huge increase in renewable energy.
Nuclear power is needed to help reduce carbon emissions and to ensure that the UK has secure energy supplies in the future, Tony Blair has told MPs.
He spoke as the government's Energy White Paper backed a rise in renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
It also says the "preliminary view" is to for more nuclear plants, with a new consultation launched on its merits.
But critics called the consultation a "farce" and nuclear power would be a "dangerous, dirty white elephant".
Industry Secretary Alistair Darling told MPs a decision on nuclear power was needed by the end of the year because many nuclear and coal-fired power stations are due to close within the next 20 years.
Other key points include:
Free "real time" displays given on request to show homeowners how much electricity they are using.
Working with industry to "phase out" inefficient goods such as energy-consuming standby switches.
Tougher environmental standards for new build homes, and other products.
Consultation launched on possible sites for new nuclear plants - based on assumption environmental impact is not "significantly different" to other forms of energy generation.
Triple the amount of electricity from renewable sources such as wind and wave by 2015.
Set up the world's first carbon trading scheme for large organisations such as banks and government departments.
Encourage mining of UK coal where it is economically and environmentally appropriate to reduce reliance on exports.
Mr Darling said the measures outlined could save between 22 million and 33 million tonnes of carbon emissions by 2020.
He said he wanted British industry to be at the forefront of new, green technologies, but added: "We can't become a low carbon economy in a single step."
The government had reached a preliminary view that it would be in the public interest to allow energy companies to invest in nuclear power, he said.
But, although the planning system for nuclear power stations is being streamlined, and work done to identify possible site, he said no final decision would be made until the consultation ends in October.
However Lib Dem trade and industry spokeswoman Susan Kramer said: "This consultation is a total farce. Ministers have clearly already decided to back nuclear."
Delayed
Immediately before the statement was published Mr Blair told MPs at the prime minister's questions: "If we want to have secure energy supplies and reduce CO2 emissions, we have got to put the issue of nuclear power on the agenda."
Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell had accused him of appearing to "disregard the issue of risk and cost and toxic waste" and asked for more investment in renewable energy and "clean coal technology".
But Mr Blair replied: "We are not going to be able to make up through wind farms all the deficit on nuclear power. We are just not going to be able to do it."
The planning process for power stations is set to be streamlined by changes outlined on Monday.
And Chancellor Gordon Brown - who will take over as prime minister in June - is also thought to back building more nuclear power stations.
The White Paper was originally due to be published in March, but the government was told to consult again after a legal challenge by environmental campaign group Greenpeace.
'Total honesty'
The Lib Dems, and some environmental groups, said that allowing new nuclear power stations to be built would draw investment away from renewable energy and other "green technologies" - like carbon capture.
Friends of the Earth's Roger Higman told the BBC: "The fear we have is that by investing in nuclear, we will invest in a dangerous, dirty white elephant."
For the Green Party, Caroline Lucas said: "By prioritising the construction of new nuclear power stations over reducing demand for energy ... the government is not only missing a trick, it is undermining efforts to tackle climate change."
Shadow trade and industry secretary Alan Duncan said: "Whatever the rhetoric, there is nothing in this White Paper that will guarantee that a single nuclear power station will be built."
"Business will only invest in nuclear power if it knows its costs - it needs certainty about carbon, decommissioning, and waste."
He added that the government's failure to agree a pilot "carbon capture" project, meant any chance of it happening had been seriously delayed.
The Tories are in favour of nuclear power as a alast resort but oppose subsidies or price guarantees for nuclear firms.
But in Scotland the SNP minority government reiterated its opposition to any new nuclear power stations.
Trade and industry spokesman Mike Weir said there was much the party could support in the White Paper - especially on renewables and energy efficiency.
He added: "There is, however, a massive white elephant in the room in the shape of nuclear power.
"The Scottish people are against new nuclear power stations and the government of Scotland will not allow the construction of new nuclear power stations in our country."
BBC Scotland Political Editor Brian Taylor said there was unlikely to be a "big clash" between the two parliaments, as there was already "something approaching a deal" to allow Scotland's energy requirements to be met by a huge increase in renewable energy.
On This Day
By Princessa
More than 100 children and six teachers have been taken hostage in a primary school in northern Holland.
The Dutch Prime Minister, Joop den Uyl, said the hostage-takers - who are from the South Molucca islands (formerly part of the Dutch East Indies) - had still not made any demands.
But he said they would probably want the release of 20 Moluccans imprisoned in 1975 for hijacking a train not far from the current sieges and raiding the Indonesian consulate in Amsterdam.
This second generation of Moluccans are campaigning for the Dutch government to press for an independent state for their people in Indonesia, even though most of them have never set foot in their homeland.
Their parents, many of whom fought on the side of the ruling Dutch during Indonesia's war of independence between 1945 and 1949, left Indonesia for fear of reprisals.
They hoped to return but were gradually integrated into Dutch society.
There are now some 40,000 South Moluccans living in the Netherlands. Many refuse to take on Dutch citizenship and tensions between the communities are at an all-time high.
The gunmen took over the school in the village of Bovensmilde at around 0900 local time. They released 15 South Moluccan children, gathered the rest in two classrooms and covered the windows with newspapers.
Police and troops moved into the area and worried parents are waiting outside. The gunmen have accepted blankets and some food for their hostages.
At one point a mentally handicapped women ran into the school grounds. At the insistence of the hostage takers police had to undress to escort her off the premises to show they were unarmed.
Seven other South Moluccans seized a train at the same time with about 50 passengers on board in open countryside near the city of Groningen.
The Rotterdam-Groningen express was brought to an abrupt halt when a young Moluccan girl pulled the emergency cord just before it reached its destination. Five heavily armed men then boarded the train from surrounding fields, released children and the elderly and separated women and men.
They have been given a telephone to negotiate with the government.
Mr Den Uyl indicated the government would take a hard line on any demands made to them. "Patience is the watchword but we are prepared to use controlled violence if necessary," he said.
More than 100 children and six teachers have been taken hostage in a primary school in northern Holland.
The Dutch Prime Minister, Joop den Uyl, said the hostage-takers - who are from the South Molucca islands (formerly part of the Dutch East Indies) - had still not made any demands.
But he said they would probably want the release of 20 Moluccans imprisoned in 1975 for hijacking a train not far from the current sieges and raiding the Indonesian consulate in Amsterdam.
This second generation of Moluccans are campaigning for the Dutch government to press for an independent state for their people in Indonesia, even though most of them have never set foot in their homeland.
Their parents, many of whom fought on the side of the ruling Dutch during Indonesia's war of independence between 1945 and 1949, left Indonesia for fear of reprisals.
They hoped to return but were gradually integrated into Dutch society.
There are now some 40,000 South Moluccans living in the Netherlands. Many refuse to take on Dutch citizenship and tensions between the communities are at an all-time high.
The gunmen took over the school in the village of Bovensmilde at around 0900 local time. They released 15 South Moluccan children, gathered the rest in two classrooms and covered the windows with newspapers.
Police and troops moved into the area and worried parents are waiting outside. The gunmen have accepted blankets and some food for their hostages.
At one point a mentally handicapped women ran into the school grounds. At the insistence of the hostage takers police had to undress to escort her off the premises to show they were unarmed.
Seven other South Moluccans seized a train at the same time with about 50 passengers on board in open countryside near the city of Groningen.
The Rotterdam-Groningen express was brought to an abrupt halt when a young Moluccan girl pulled the emergency cord just before it reached its destination. Five heavily armed men then boarded the train from surrounding fields, released children and the elderly and separated women and men.
They have been given a telephone to negotiate with the government.
Mr Den Uyl indicated the government would take a hard line on any demands made to them. "Patience is the watchword but we are prepared to use controlled violence if necessary," he said.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Science Team Lands On Ice Island
By Princessa
Scientists in the Arctic have just carried out the first research on a huge iceberg the size of Manhattan.
Some 16km long and 5km wide (10x3 miles), Ayles Ice Island broke away from the Canadian Arctic coast in 2005, but has only recently been identified.
Researchers have now landed on the giant berg with a BBC team and planted a tracking beacon on its surface.
This will allow the island's progress to be monitored as currents push it around the Arctic Ocean.
For 3,000 years, this colossal block of ice was securely fixed to the coast as part of the Ayles Ice Shelf - but now it is drifting free.
Its current location is about 600km (400 miles) from the North Pole, in what is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth.
We approached the island in a small plane. From the air, the vast expanse of white stood out as unusually smooth compared with the much rougher sea ice that forms and thaws with the changing seasons.
The island's surface was judged safe enough to land on - our plane was fitted with skis - and after a bumpy touchdown we ground to a halt, the first expedition of its kind.
Soon the scientists were at work - time was limited with the risk of the weather changing.
First, Dr Derek Mueller of the University of Alaska Fairbanks dug down through the surface layer of snow to reach the mass of the ice below.
Then he and Dr Luke Copland, of the University of Ottawa, carried out a series of measurements using a ground-penetrating radar.
They found that the average of thickness of the ice was 42-45m (138-148ft) - the equivalent of the height of a 10-storey building.
This was slightly thicker than expected.
One implication is that the island is may prove even more durable than predicted - the sheer weight of ice estimated at two billion tonnes may take longer to melt than initially thought.
But according to Dr Copland, the fact that such thick ice could split apart in less than an hour - as it did back in August 2005 - illustrates a more alarming point.
"This shows how climate change can trigger very sudden changes even on a massive scale - when the ice shelf broke away, the rupture registered with the force of a small earthquake," he said.
The records show that this region of the Arctic - the northern coast of Ellesmere Island - has lost 90% of its ice shelves in the past century.
Much of this occurred during the warmer period of the 1940s but then in the cooler decades that followed, some of the ice shelves showed signs of reforming.
According to Dr Mueller, "the difference now is that with the current rate of warming, those ice shelves are likely never to be reconstituted."
Climate scientists predict that the Arctic will continue to warm - so the expectation is that the five remaining ice shelves here could also break away. The effect already is that the map of the Arctic will have to be redrawn.
Before we left, the scientists planted a satellite tracking beacon - because if the island continues to drift to the west, it could threaten the oil and gas installations off Alaska.
In the next few days, a website run by the Canadian Ice Service should mark the beacon's location and show exactly where the island is headed.
Scientists in the Arctic have just carried out the first research on a huge iceberg the size of Manhattan.
Some 16km long and 5km wide (10x3 miles), Ayles Ice Island broke away from the Canadian Arctic coast in 2005, but has only recently been identified.
Researchers have now landed on the giant berg with a BBC team and planted a tracking beacon on its surface.
This will allow the island's progress to be monitored as currents push it around the Arctic Ocean.
For 3,000 years, this colossal block of ice was securely fixed to the coast as part of the Ayles Ice Shelf - but now it is drifting free.
Its current location is about 600km (400 miles) from the North Pole, in what is one of the fastest warming regions on Earth.
We approached the island in a small plane. From the air, the vast expanse of white stood out as unusually smooth compared with the much rougher sea ice that forms and thaws with the changing seasons.
The island's surface was judged safe enough to land on - our plane was fitted with skis - and after a bumpy touchdown we ground to a halt, the first expedition of its kind.
Soon the scientists were at work - time was limited with the risk of the weather changing.
First, Dr Derek Mueller of the University of Alaska Fairbanks dug down through the surface layer of snow to reach the mass of the ice below.
Then he and Dr Luke Copland, of the University of Ottawa, carried out a series of measurements using a ground-penetrating radar.
They found that the average of thickness of the ice was 42-45m (138-148ft) - the equivalent of the height of a 10-storey building.
This was slightly thicker than expected.
One implication is that the island is may prove even more durable than predicted - the sheer weight of ice estimated at two billion tonnes may take longer to melt than initially thought.
But according to Dr Copland, the fact that such thick ice could split apart in less than an hour - as it did back in August 2005 - illustrates a more alarming point.
"This shows how climate change can trigger very sudden changes even on a massive scale - when the ice shelf broke away, the rupture registered with the force of a small earthquake," he said.
The records show that this region of the Arctic - the northern coast of Ellesmere Island - has lost 90% of its ice shelves in the past century.
Much of this occurred during the warmer period of the 1940s but then in the cooler decades that followed, some of the ice shelves showed signs of reforming.
According to Dr Mueller, "the difference now is that with the current rate of warming, those ice shelves are likely never to be reconstituted."
Climate scientists predict that the Arctic will continue to warm - so the expectation is that the five remaining ice shelves here could also break away. The effect already is that the map of the Arctic will have to be redrawn.
Before we left, the scientists planted a satellite tracking beacon - because if the island continues to drift to the west, it could threaten the oil and gas installations off Alaska.
In the next few days, a website run by the Canadian Ice Service should mark the beacon's location and show exactly where the island is headed.
On This Day
By Princessa
In 1888, Architect Leroy S. Buffington patented the system for building skyscrapers using a metal skeleton frame. Although Buffington said he was the originator of this frame, which made building tall structures feasible, his claim to be the inventor of the skyscraper has been refuted. In fact, credit for the invention of the skyscraper lies with George A. Fuller (1851-1900), who worked on solving the problems of the load-bearing capacities of tall buildings. However, using the designs created by Harvey Ellis, Buffington played a pivotal role in refining the new method of construction.
Because of the need to rebuild after the devastating fire of 1871, the city of Chicago was the first to adopt the skyscraper as a regular part of the city landscape, including the first skyscraper ever, the Home Insurance Building. Chicago is also the site of the world's tallest building, the Sears Tower.
In 1888, Architect Leroy S. Buffington patented the system for building skyscrapers using a metal skeleton frame. Although Buffington said he was the originator of this frame, which made building tall structures feasible, his claim to be the inventor of the skyscraper has been refuted. In fact, credit for the invention of the skyscraper lies with George A. Fuller (1851-1900), who worked on solving the problems of the load-bearing capacities of tall buildings. However, using the designs created by Harvey Ellis, Buffington played a pivotal role in refining the new method of construction.
Because of the need to rebuild after the devastating fire of 1871, the city of Chicago was the first to adopt the skyscraper as a regular part of the city landscape, including the first skyscraper ever, the Home Insurance Building. Chicago is also the site of the world's tallest building, the Sears Tower.
Technology At Work
By Princessa
************************************************************************************
~Vocabulary~
Vacuum tube: An electron tube from which all or most of the gas has been removed, permitting electrons to move with low interaction with any remaining gas molecules.
Electrons: Elementary particles consisting of a negative electric charge.
Microwave: A comparatively short electromatic wave; especially: one between about 1 milimeter and 1 meter in wavelength.
Revolution: A sudden, radical, or complete change.
Satellite: A manufactured object or vehicle intended to orbit the earth, the moon, or another celestial body.
GPS: Global Positioning System - a navigation system which utilizes a network of satellite signals for navigation.
Depleting: Using up.
************************************************************************************
~Good Things And Bad Things About Technology~
*Good Things*
(THEY ARE GOING TO BE 5 OF GOOD AND 3 OF BAD.)
1. They can help you make food.
2. They can help you with school (like a computer)..
3. They can help you communicate with people that are far away..
4. They can help you make clothing.
5. They can help you excersise.
*Bad Things*
1. They can cause fires.
2. Some machines are easy to break.
3. With machines you don't even know what to do!!! (That is because some machines don't come with instructions!!....)
************************************************************************************
~Vocabulary~
Vacuum tube: An electron tube from which all or most of the gas has been removed, permitting electrons to move with low interaction with any remaining gas molecules.
Electrons: Elementary particles consisting of a negative electric charge.
Microwave: A comparatively short electromatic wave; especially: one between about 1 milimeter and 1 meter in wavelength.
Revolution: A sudden, radical, or complete change.
Satellite: A manufactured object or vehicle intended to orbit the earth, the moon, or another celestial body.
GPS: Global Positioning System - a navigation system which utilizes a network of satellite signals for navigation.
Depleting: Using up.
************************************************************************************
~Good Things And Bad Things About Technology~
*Good Things*
(THEY ARE GOING TO BE 5 OF GOOD AND 3 OF BAD.)
1. They can help you make food.
2. They can help you with school (like a computer)..
3. They can help you communicate with people that are far away..
4. They can help you make clothing.
5. They can help you excersise.
*Bad Things*
1. They can cause fires.
2. Some machines are easy to break.
3. With machines you don't even know what to do!!! (That is because some machines don't come with instructions!!....)
Monday, May 21, 2007
Critical Review For Mars Over
By Princessa
Europe's plans to send a robotic rover to the Red Planet in 2013 face a critical review this week.
A top-level panel will meet in Paris to choose a single design concept for the mission and determine whether the ambitious proposals are affordable.
The European Space Agency delegates are being asked to approve an upgraded - and much more expensive - vision than the one originally outlined.
This would see ExoMars travel with an orbiter to relay data back to Earth.
Enhancing the mission in this way would free the rover from having to rely on American spacecraft for communications with home.
It would require the whole package be launched on a bigger, more powerful rocket; but this also means the robotic vehicle could traverse the Martian surface with additional, or heavier, instruments to search for signs of life.
"What we've been looking for is a concept that will maximise the scientific return," Bruno Gardini, a member of the ExoMars project team, told BBC News.
The team's recommendations will be subject to a review on Tuesday before being handed to the Programme Board for Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration.
The latter should settle on a final design concept and assess the need to increase ExoMars' 650m-euro budget. Many tens of millions of euros may be needed. A decision is expected on Thursday.
Tight challenge
For months, scientific and industrial groups across Europe have been developing a number of concepts in parallel.
The early "baseline option" called for a rover to be launched on a Soyuz-Fregat booster and landed on Mars using the bouncing gas bags employed so successful by the current US vehicles, Opportunity and Spirit.
In this baseline configuration, the European rover would have the capacity to carry 8kg - perhaps a little more - of instrumentation, including a drill or "mole" for burrowing beneath the Martian soil.
A Geophysics/Environment Package (GEP) would also be landed with the rover. This fixed station, once placed on the planet's surface, could sense "Marsquakes" and monitor the weather.
But the closer this concept has been investigated, the more limiting its capabilities seem. The bouncing bags put tight constraints on the volume of space into which the rover must be stowed.
This in turn restricts the maximum mass that can be given over to instruments and makes it virtually impossible to carry a meaningful GEP payload.
Disquiet has been expressed, too, at the configuration's intention to use American orbiting spacecraft at Mars to relay commands and data. If the US were to experience a spacecraft failure - as happened late last year - communication could still be possible but the ExoMars mission would be severely compromised.
It is for such reasons that design teams have been considering a beefed-up concept. This would launch the rover on a heavy-lift rocket - an Ariane 5 or Proton.
Heavy rationale
A bigger boost at launch would provide extra mass capacity for ExoMars to travel with its own orbiter, which itself could do remote sensing of the planet.
This concept also envisages using novel "vented airbags" to cushion the rover's landing. The military technology inflates like pillows under the vehicle and can support heavier payloads.
"For the rover's scientific instruments, the option of a bigger launcher gives us something in the range of 16kg, which is twice as much at the American rovers," explained Mr Gardini.
"In this case, we would also be able to carry a geophysical package - and we are still doing the final calculations - probably in the range 20-30kg."
EADS-Astrium has been developing the rover's chassis at its UK base in Stevenage. It has built a testbed to examine the vehicle's locomotive capability, and to try out the autonomous navigation software that will eventually guide ExoMars over the Red Planet's rock-strewn landscape.
Like all the design groups, Astrium has had to grapple with the different mission scenarios and what they would mean for its segment of the project.
The company's ExoMars group leader, Mark Roe, is convinced a heavy-lift option is the most appropriate way forward.
"First of all, it would be good news because we would then get maximum science benefit. And that's good news for Britain because we have people here who are well positioned to be principal investigators in a significant number of instruments," he explained.
"It's still going to be very challenging for the launch mass. You feed that back and you find the mass of the vehicle, which is now about 190kg to accommodate 16.5kg of payload. The smaller launcher will not give us the mission that we really want."
Bigger picture
Some commentators are worried that this week's events could lead to a "go, no-go" decision.
If it is felt that the heavy-lift option is simply too expensive and the current baseline design is viewed as delivering insufficient science, then ExoMars could be shelved according to this viewpoint.
But few would be prepared to contemplate such an outcome. The rover mission is the first step in an ambitious programme of Solar System exploration, known as Aurora, which could eventually see European astronauts walking on Mars.
To abandon ExoMars now would make a mockery of the programme and raise serious questions about Europe's space capability.
It would also knock back a generation of scientists who have pinned their hopes on the Aurora roadmap to deliver a Red Planet sample return mission - a mission to bring back pieces of Mars rock for study in Earth laboratories, where the full panoply of modern analytical technologies can be deployed.
"The idea of sample return missions is generally becoming the thing people really want to do in the planetary science community," observed Dr Ralph Cordey at Astrium.
"Japan has had a go with its little Hayabusa probe and in Europe we are very much hoping there will be a mission to an asteroid to do a sample return.
"There is a limit to what you can do in situ, however many instruments you take to these bodies. Bringing material back to Earth would represent a huge step change in what you could achieve."
This week's meetings have to deliver clarity. Time is running short. The launch of ExoMars has already been put back from 2009 to 2013, and industrial contracts need to be issued soon to keep the present schedule on track. If a single technical baseline is adopted this week, design teams can then refine the concept.
"It would enable us to start to optimise it, which hopefully will bring some mass benefit which, hopefully, we can then feed back and, maybe, even get a slightly bigger payload. That would be terrific," said Mark Roe.
Europe's plans to send a robotic rover to the Red Planet in 2013 face a critical review this week.
A top-level panel will meet in Paris to choose a single design concept for the mission and determine whether the ambitious proposals are affordable.
The European Space Agency delegates are being asked to approve an upgraded - and much more expensive - vision than the one originally outlined.
This would see ExoMars travel with an orbiter to relay data back to Earth.
Enhancing the mission in this way would free the rover from having to rely on American spacecraft for communications with home.
It would require the whole package be launched on a bigger, more powerful rocket; but this also means the robotic vehicle could traverse the Martian surface with additional, or heavier, instruments to search for signs of life.
"What we've been looking for is a concept that will maximise the scientific return," Bruno Gardini, a member of the ExoMars project team, told BBC News.
The team's recommendations will be subject to a review on Tuesday before being handed to the Programme Board for Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration.
The latter should settle on a final design concept and assess the need to increase ExoMars' 650m-euro budget. Many tens of millions of euros may be needed. A decision is expected on Thursday.
Tight challenge
For months, scientific and industrial groups across Europe have been developing a number of concepts in parallel.
The early "baseline option" called for a rover to be launched on a Soyuz-Fregat booster and landed on Mars using the bouncing gas bags employed so successful by the current US vehicles, Opportunity and Spirit.
In this baseline configuration, the European rover would have the capacity to carry 8kg - perhaps a little more - of instrumentation, including a drill or "mole" for burrowing beneath the Martian soil.
A Geophysics/Environment Package (GEP) would also be landed with the rover. This fixed station, once placed on the planet's surface, could sense "Marsquakes" and monitor the weather.
But the closer this concept has been investigated, the more limiting its capabilities seem. The bouncing bags put tight constraints on the volume of space into which the rover must be stowed.
This in turn restricts the maximum mass that can be given over to instruments and makes it virtually impossible to carry a meaningful GEP payload.
Disquiet has been expressed, too, at the configuration's intention to use American orbiting spacecraft at Mars to relay commands and data. If the US were to experience a spacecraft failure - as happened late last year - communication could still be possible but the ExoMars mission would be severely compromised.
It is for such reasons that design teams have been considering a beefed-up concept. This would launch the rover on a heavy-lift rocket - an Ariane 5 or Proton.
Heavy rationale
A bigger boost at launch would provide extra mass capacity for ExoMars to travel with its own orbiter, which itself could do remote sensing of the planet.
This concept also envisages using novel "vented airbags" to cushion the rover's landing. The military technology inflates like pillows under the vehicle and can support heavier payloads.
"For the rover's scientific instruments, the option of a bigger launcher gives us something in the range of 16kg, which is twice as much at the American rovers," explained Mr Gardini.
"In this case, we would also be able to carry a geophysical package - and we are still doing the final calculations - probably in the range 20-30kg."
EADS-Astrium has been developing the rover's chassis at its UK base in Stevenage. It has built a testbed to examine the vehicle's locomotive capability, and to try out the autonomous navigation software that will eventually guide ExoMars over the Red Planet's rock-strewn landscape.
Like all the design groups, Astrium has had to grapple with the different mission scenarios and what they would mean for its segment of the project.
The company's ExoMars group leader, Mark Roe, is convinced a heavy-lift option is the most appropriate way forward.
"First of all, it would be good news because we would then get maximum science benefit. And that's good news for Britain because we have people here who are well positioned to be principal investigators in a significant number of instruments," he explained.
"It's still going to be very challenging for the launch mass. You feed that back and you find the mass of the vehicle, which is now about 190kg to accommodate 16.5kg of payload. The smaller launcher will not give us the mission that we really want."
Bigger picture
Some commentators are worried that this week's events could lead to a "go, no-go" decision.
If it is felt that the heavy-lift option is simply too expensive and the current baseline design is viewed as delivering insufficient science, then ExoMars could be shelved according to this viewpoint.
But few would be prepared to contemplate such an outcome. The rover mission is the first step in an ambitious programme of Solar System exploration, known as Aurora, which could eventually see European astronauts walking on Mars.
To abandon ExoMars now would make a mockery of the programme and raise serious questions about Europe's space capability.
It would also knock back a generation of scientists who have pinned their hopes on the Aurora roadmap to deliver a Red Planet sample return mission - a mission to bring back pieces of Mars rock for study in Earth laboratories, where the full panoply of modern analytical technologies can be deployed.
"The idea of sample return missions is generally becoming the thing people really want to do in the planetary science community," observed Dr Ralph Cordey at Astrium.
"Japan has had a go with its little Hayabusa probe and in Europe we are very much hoping there will be a mission to an asteroid to do a sample return.
"There is a limit to what you can do in situ, however many instruments you take to these bodies. Bringing material back to Earth would represent a huge step change in what you could achieve."
This week's meetings have to deliver clarity. Time is running short. The launch of ExoMars has already been put back from 2009 to 2013, and industrial contracts need to be issued soon to keep the present schedule on track. If a single technical baseline is adopted this week, design teams can then refine the concept.
"It would enable us to start to optimise it, which hopefully will bring some mass benefit which, hopefully, we can then feed back and, maybe, even get a slightly bigger payload. That would be terrific," said Mark Roe.
On This Day
By Princessa
In 1936, commercial production of Lucite® was begun in the U.S. by the DuPont Chemical Company in Wilmington, Delaware. Lucite® is their trademark name for a plastic (polymethyl methacrylate) that is non-conducting and virtually unbreakable, which also has low moisture absorption. Manufacturers world-wide now produce the plastic under other names, including Perspex and Plexiglass. The polymer’s crystal-clear appearance and its strength were far superior to nitrocellulose-based plastics. The durability of Lucite® kept it much in demand during World War II for use in windshields, nose cones, and gunner turrets for bombers and fighter planes. After the war, DuPont found a variety of new uses for it, both decorative and functional, such as jewelry and hairbrushes. Today, chairs, lamps and even church pulpits are often made of Lucite®.
In 1936, commercial production of Lucite® was begun in the U.S. by the DuPont Chemical Company in Wilmington, Delaware. Lucite® is their trademark name for a plastic (polymethyl methacrylate) that is non-conducting and virtually unbreakable, which also has low moisture absorption. Manufacturers world-wide now produce the plastic under other names, including Perspex and Plexiglass. The polymer’s crystal-clear appearance and its strength were far superior to nitrocellulose-based plastics. The durability of Lucite® kept it much in demand during World War II for use in windshields, nose cones, and gunner turrets for bombers and fighter planes. After the war, DuPont found a variety of new uses for it, both decorative and functional, such as jewelry and hairbrushes. Today, chairs, lamps and even church pulpits are often made of Lucite®.
On This Day
By Princessa
In 1936, commercial production of Lucite® was begun in the U.S. by the DuPont Chemical Company in Wilmington, Delaware. Lucite® is their trademark name for a plastic (polymethyl methacrylate) that is non-conducting and virtually unbreakable, which also has low moisture absorption. Manufacturers world-wide now produce the plastic under other names, including Perspex and Plexiglass. The polymer’s crystal-clear appearance and its strength were far superior to nitrocellulose-based plastics. The durability of Lucite® kept it much in demand during World War II for use in windshields, nose cones, and gunner turrets for bombers and fighter planes. After the war, DuPont found a variety of new uses for it, both decorative and functional, such as jewelry and hairbrushes. Today, chairs, lamps and even church pulpits are often made of Lucite®.
In 1936, commercial production of Lucite® was begun in the U.S. by the DuPont Chemical Company in Wilmington, Delaware. Lucite® is their trademark name for a plastic (polymethyl methacrylate) that is non-conducting and virtually unbreakable, which also has low moisture absorption. Manufacturers world-wide now produce the plastic under other names, including Perspex and Plexiglass. The polymer’s crystal-clear appearance and its strength were far superior to nitrocellulose-based plastics. The durability of Lucite® kept it much in demand during World War II for use in windshields, nose cones, and gunner turrets for bombers and fighter planes. After the war, DuPont found a variety of new uses for it, both decorative and functional, such as jewelry and hairbrushes. Today, chairs, lamps and even church pulpits are often made of Lucite®.
Friday, May 18, 2007
China Launches Nigerian Satellite
By Princessa
China has successfully launched a communications satellite for Nigeria.
The official Xinhua news agency says it is the first time that a foreign buyer has purchased both a Chinese satellite and its launching service.
The Nigerian Communication Satellite NIGCOMSAT-1 is expected to offer broadcasting, phone and broadband internet services for Africa.
China beat 21 other bidders in 2004 for the $311m contract to launch the satellite, Xinhua says.
The satellite, lofted by a Long March 3-B rocket, is expected to reach its final position later this year and to remain in operation for 15 years.
The launch is being portrayed as part of a drive to enhance rural access to technology and the internet and boost Nigeria's and Africa's knowledge economy.
"It gives you bandwidth to enable you to communicate from point A to point B, from rural Africa to urban cities," Dr Bashir Gwandu, a member of the Satellite Launch Committee and a director at the Nigeria Communications Commission told the BBC's Focus on Africa.
Nigeria has been experiencing a communications revolution in recent years, says the BBC's Alex Last, and is one of the fastest growing mobile phone markets in Africa and the world.
Having a space programme is also symbolic of how Nigeria wants to be seen as a growing player on the world stage.
Critics say the majority of the population live in poverty and the internet can be made redundant by the simple fact that electricity is sporadic at best.
The government should rather spend all this money on power, job creation and basic public services, they say.
Co-operation
This is the latest example of growing economic co-operation between China and Africa.
China is buying African raw materials, and building infrastructure such as roads.
The launch represented "China's wish to cooperate with developing countries in the peaceful use of outer space and to promote a closer relationship between China and African countries," Xinhua says.
China is expanding its space programme, and in 2003 became only the third country to launch a man into space.
This is one of 30 foreign satellites China has been commissioned to launch, Xinhua reports.
Nigeria already has a weather satellite launched in 2003 with Russian assistance.
China has successfully launched a communications satellite for Nigeria.
The official Xinhua news agency says it is the first time that a foreign buyer has purchased both a Chinese satellite and its launching service.
The Nigerian Communication Satellite NIGCOMSAT-1 is expected to offer broadcasting, phone and broadband internet services for Africa.
China beat 21 other bidders in 2004 for the $311m contract to launch the satellite, Xinhua says.
The satellite, lofted by a Long March 3-B rocket, is expected to reach its final position later this year and to remain in operation for 15 years.
The launch is being portrayed as part of a drive to enhance rural access to technology and the internet and boost Nigeria's and Africa's knowledge economy.
"It gives you bandwidth to enable you to communicate from point A to point B, from rural Africa to urban cities," Dr Bashir Gwandu, a member of the Satellite Launch Committee and a director at the Nigeria Communications Commission told the BBC's Focus on Africa.
Nigeria has been experiencing a communications revolution in recent years, says the BBC's Alex Last, and is one of the fastest growing mobile phone markets in Africa and the world.
Having a space programme is also symbolic of how Nigeria wants to be seen as a growing player on the world stage.
Critics say the majority of the population live in poverty and the internet can be made redundant by the simple fact that electricity is sporadic at best.
The government should rather spend all this money on power, job creation and basic public services, they say.
Co-operation
This is the latest example of growing economic co-operation between China and Africa.
China is buying African raw materials, and building infrastructure such as roads.
The launch represented "China's wish to cooperate with developing countries in the peaceful use of outer space and to promote a closer relationship between China and African countries," Xinhua says.
China is expanding its space programme, and in 2003 became only the third country to launch a man into space.
This is one of 30 foreign satellites China has been commissioned to launch, Xinhua reports.
Nigeria already has a weather satellite launched in 2003 with Russian assistance.
On This Day
By Princessa
At one time scientists referred to volcanoes that had not erupted in a long time as "extinct." They were proved wrong when Washington state's Mount St. Helens, which had been dormant since 1857, became active in late March, 1980. It began to bulge noticeably in mid-April, and at 8:32 A.M. on May 18, belched out a hot (660 degrees Fahrenheit) cloud of gas and ash that destroyed every living thing within a two hundred mile radius, including entire coniferous forests, tens of thousands of animals, and fifty-seven people. The direct cause of the disaster was a 5.1 magnitude earthquake about a mile beneath the surface. The resulting landslide (including "lahars," mudslides from melted snow), the largest in U.S. history, broke open the peak, allowing the gas and ash to escape and shortening the mountain by 1,313 feet. The eruption lasted nine hours. Particles of ash reached the east coast in three days and within fifteen days had circled the globe. Today Mount St. Helens and the surrounding area have been set aside as a National Volcanic Monument for both recreation and research.
At one time scientists referred to volcanoes that had not erupted in a long time as "extinct." They were proved wrong when Washington state's Mount St. Helens, which had been dormant since 1857, became active in late March, 1980. It began to bulge noticeably in mid-April, and at 8:32 A.M. on May 18, belched out a hot (660 degrees Fahrenheit) cloud of gas and ash that destroyed every living thing within a two hundred mile radius, including entire coniferous forests, tens of thousands of animals, and fifty-seven people. The direct cause of the disaster was a 5.1 magnitude earthquake about a mile beneath the surface. The resulting landslide (including "lahars," mudslides from melted snow), the largest in U.S. history, broke open the peak, allowing the gas and ash to escape and shortening the mountain by 1,313 feet. The eruption lasted nine hours. Particles of ash reached the east coast in three days and within fifteen days had circled the globe. Today Mount St. Helens and the surrounding area have been set aside as a National Volcanic Monument for both recreation and research.
Skillswise Mental Math ~ Add And Subtract
By Princessa
Special Thanks to BBC Skillswise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5 Ways To Add And Subtract In Your Head:
Mental methods are about trying to get to the correct answer in the quickest and easiest way!
There are lots of ways to add and subtract numbers in your head.
By the time you have looked through the factsheets in this module you will have used 5 different methods for mental addition and subtraction!
Try to remember them by using the word "Shared".
When you've read about them, practise the methods you like and can remember most easily.
Ask other people about the methods they use - and share your methods too!
Keep practising, and HAVE FUN!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reminders To Help You Add And Subtract:
Here are three reminders to help you with mental addition and subtraction.
A reminder about place value...
Have a look at the number 623.
6 is the hundreds digit.
2 is the tens digit.
3 is the units digit.
A reminder about adding..
Have a look at these sums.
Here you can see that the same numbers added together in a different order will give the same answer.
Addition and subtraction are opposites.
You can check the answer to a subtraction sum by turning the numbers around and adding them up. Have a look below.
Here you've done the sum 10 - 25 and got the answer 15.
To check the answer, turn the sum around to 15 + 10 and see if you get 25.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Splitting Up Numbers:
Splitting up numbers is a good method to use for both addition and subtraction. It is sometimes called partitioning.
Addition
Take a look at this addition sum:
80 + 49
To make it easier, split the 49 into 40 + 9. This makes the sum:
80 + 40 + 9 = 129
First, add the first two numbers:
80 + 40 = 120
Then add the result of that sum to the third number to get the answer:
120 + 9 = 129
Subtraction
Take a look at this subtraction sum:
150 - 34
To make it easier, split the - 34 into 30 - 4. This makes the sum:
150 - 30 - 4
First, subtract the 30 from 150:
150 - 30 = 120
Then, subtract the 4 from the 120 to get the answer:
120 - 4 = 116
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hundreds, Tens, And Ones:
To make addition sums easier, you can separate the hundreds, tens and units and add them up separately.
Have a look at how separating works for this sum:
31 + 22
Using this method you can work out that 31 + 22 = 53.
Now look at this sum with hundreds as well as tens and units:
125 + 100 + 235 + 132
Using this method you can work out that 125 + 100 + 235 + 132 = 592.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rounding ~ Addition:
Rounding is a method for mental addition which is useful in many different situations.
Imagine you are in a shop and you have to quickly work out an amount.
£3.70 + £1.00 = £4.70. Taking away 10p gives £4.60
Have a look at how this addition sum can be solved with rounding:
75 + 19
First, round the 19 up to 20 and work out the sum:
75 + 20 = 95
As 20 is 1 more than 19, you then need to subtract 1 from the total.
95 - 1 = 94
Then you can see that:
75 + 19 = 94
Further reading.
These tables have some more information to help you with addition by rounding.
The first shows methods and examples for adding a number between 11 and 14 to another number.
This table shows methods and examples for adding a number between 15 and 19 to another number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rounding ~ Subtraction:
Rounding is a method for mental subtraction which is useful in many different situations.
Imagine you are shopping and need to work out an amount quickly.
£3.70 - £1.00 = £2.70. Adding 10p gives £2.80.
Have a look at how this subtraction sum can be solved with rounding:
64 - 17
First, round the 17 up to 20 and work out the sum:
64 - 20 = 44
As 20 is 3 more than 17, you have taken 3 too many from the total. So you need to add 3:
44 + 3 = 47
So you can see that:
64 - 17 = 47
Further reading.
These tables have some more information to help you with subtraction by rounding.
The first shows you a methods and examples for subtracting a number between 11 and 14 from another number.
This table shows methods and examples for subtracting a number between 15 and 19 to another number.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Empty Number Line For Counting On:
Counting on using an empty number line is a good method for subtracting numbers mentally.
Use this method to find the difference between 37 and 50. This is the same as the sum
50 - 37.
When you have pictured that line, count on from 37 to 40, which makes 3. Keep that 3 in your head. Then, count from 40 to 50, which is 10.
Have a look below to see how this works.
Now all you need to do is add the 3 to the 10. This makes 13. So:
The difference between 37 and 50 is 13.
Or..
50 - 37 = 13
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Doubling:
If you are adding together two numbers that are nearly the same, you can double one of them and then adjust the difference. Imagine you are adding together 38 and 35.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keywords For Mental Addition:
Here are some of the words which will crop up when doing addition sums.
Have a look below to see how they can be used in the simple sum 3 + 4 = 7.
Add
3 add 4 is 7
Altogether
Altogether, 3 and 4 make 7.
Increase
If you increase 3 by 4 you get 7.
More
7 is 3 more than 4.
Plus
3 plus 4 is 7.
Sum
The sum of 3 and 4 is 7.
Total
The total of 3 and 4 is 7.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Keywords For Mental Subtraction:
Here are some of the words which will crop up when doing subtraction sums.
Have a look below to see how they can be used in the simple sum 8 - 5 = 3.
Decrease
If you decrease 8 by 5 you get 3.
Difference
The difference between 8 and 5 is 3.
Fewer than
3 is 5 fewer than 8.
Less than
3 is 5 less than 8.
Minus
8 minus 5 is 3.
Reduce
If you reduce 8 by 5 you get 3.
Subtract
8 subtract 5 is 3.
Take away
8 take away 5 is 3.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Special Thanks to BBC Skillswise.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5 Ways To Add And Subtract In Your Head:
Mental methods are about trying to get to the correct answer in the quickest and easiest way!
There are lots of ways to add and subtract numbers in your head.
By the time you have looked through the factsheets in this module you will have used 5 different methods for mental addition and subtraction!
Try to remember them by using the word "Shared".
When you've read about them, practise the methods you like and can remember most easily.
Ask other people about the methods they use - and share your methods too!
Keep practising, and HAVE FUN!
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Reminders To Help You Add And Subtract:
Here are three reminders to help you with mental addition and subtraction.
A reminder about place value...
Have a look at the number 623.
6 is the hundreds digit.
2 is the tens digit.
3 is the units digit.
A reminder about adding..
Have a look at these sums.
Here you can see that the same numbers added together in a different order will give the same answer.
Addition and subtraction are opposites.
You can check the answer to a subtraction sum by turning the numbers around and adding them up. Have a look below.
Here you've done the sum 10 - 25 and got the answer 15.
To check the answer, turn the sum around to 15 + 10 and see if you get 25.
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Splitting Up Numbers:
Splitting up numbers is a good method to use for both addition and subtraction. It is sometimes called partitioning.
Addition
Take a look at this addition sum:
80 + 49
To make it easier, split the 49 into 40 + 9. This makes the sum:
80 + 40 + 9 = 129
First, add the first two numbers:
80 + 40 = 120
Then add the result of that sum to the third number to get the answer:
120 + 9 = 129
Subtraction
Take a look at this subtraction sum:
150 - 34
To make it easier, split the - 34 into 30 - 4. This makes the sum:
150 - 30 - 4
First, subtract the 30 from 150:
150 - 30 = 120
Then, subtract the 4 from the 120 to get the answer:
120 - 4 = 116
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Hundreds, Tens, And Ones:
To make addition sums easier, you can separate the hundreds, tens and units and add them up separately.
Have a look at how separating works for this sum:
31 + 22
Using this method you can work out that 31 + 22 = 53.
Now look at this sum with hundreds as well as tens and units:
125 + 100 + 235 + 132
Using this method you can work out that 125 + 100 + 235 + 132 = 592.
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Rounding ~ Addition:
Rounding is a method for mental addition which is useful in many different situations.
Imagine you are in a shop and you have to quickly work out an amount.
£3.70 + £1.00 = £4.70. Taking away 10p gives £4.60
Have a look at how this addition sum can be solved with rounding:
75 + 19
First, round the 19 up to 20 and work out the sum:
75 + 20 = 95
As 20 is 1 more than 19, you then need to subtract 1 from the total.
95 - 1 = 94
Then you can see that:
75 + 19 = 94
Further reading.
These tables have some more information to help you with addition by rounding.
The first shows methods and examples for adding a number between 11 and 14 to another number.
This table shows methods and examples for adding a number between 15 and 19 to another number.
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Rounding ~ Subtraction:
Rounding is a method for mental subtraction which is useful in many different situations.
Imagine you are shopping and need to work out an amount quickly.
£3.70 - £1.00 = £2.70. Adding 10p gives £2.80.
Have a look at how this subtraction sum can be solved with rounding:
64 - 17
First, round the 17 up to 20 and work out the sum:
64 - 20 = 44
As 20 is 3 more than 17, you have taken 3 too many from the total. So you need to add 3:
44 + 3 = 47
So you can see that:
64 - 17 = 47
Further reading.
These tables have some more information to help you with subtraction by rounding.
The first shows you a methods and examples for subtracting a number between 11 and 14 from another number.
This table shows methods and examples for subtracting a number between 15 and 19 to another number.
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Empty Number Line For Counting On:
Counting on using an empty number line is a good method for subtracting numbers mentally.
Use this method to find the difference between 37 and 50. This is the same as the sum
50 - 37.
When you have pictured that line, count on from 37 to 40, which makes 3. Keep that 3 in your head. Then, count from 40 to 50, which is 10.
Have a look below to see how this works.
Now all you need to do is add the 3 to the 10. This makes 13. So:
The difference between 37 and 50 is 13.
Or..
50 - 37 = 13
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Doubling:
If you are adding together two numbers that are nearly the same, you can double one of them and then adjust the difference. Imagine you are adding together 38 and 35.
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Keywords For Mental Addition:
Here are some of the words which will crop up when doing addition sums.
Have a look below to see how they can be used in the simple sum 3 + 4 = 7.
Add
3 add 4 is 7
Altogether
Altogether, 3 and 4 make 7.
Increase
If you increase 3 by 4 you get 7.
More
7 is 3 more than 4.
Plus
3 plus 4 is 7.
Sum
The sum of 3 and 4 is 7.
Total
The total of 3 and 4 is 7.
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Keywords For Mental Subtraction:
Here are some of the words which will crop up when doing subtraction sums.
Have a look below to see how they can be used in the simple sum 8 - 5 = 3.
Decrease
If you decrease 8 by 5 you get 3.
Difference
The difference between 8 and 5 is 3.
Fewer than
3 is 5 fewer than 8.
Less than
3 is 5 less than 8.
Minus
8 minus 5 is 3.
Reduce
If you reduce 8 by 5 you get 3.
Subtract
8 subtract 5 is 3.
Take away
8 take away 5 is 3.
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Thursday, May 17, 2007
Early America
By Princessa
Paul Revere (1735-1818):
Paul Revere was born on January 1, 1735 in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied at the North Grammar School in Boston. He served for a short time in the French and Indian War. After the war, he married Sarah Orne and entered his father's silversmith business.
Paul Revere soon became interested in the issue of American liberty. He received lots of attention from political cartoons he drew. Paul Revere was a member of the "Sons of Liberty." On December 16, 1773, he took part in the Boston Tea Party.
On April 18, 1775, Revere and William Dawes were sent to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of British plans to march from Boston to seize patriot military stores at Concord. A signal was established to warn if the British were coming by land or by sea. From the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston, two lanterns would mean the British were coming by sea, and one would mean by land. One lantern was lit. The British were coming by land.
Revere left Boston around 10 PM. Along the road to Lexington, he warned residents that "The British are coming!". He arrived in Lexington around Midnight riding a borrowed horse. At 1 AM, Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott left for Concord. Revere was captured. Only Prescott got through to Concord.
Revere was released without his horse and returned to Lexington. At Lexington he joined Adam and Hancock and fled into safety in Burlington. Revere returned to rescue valuable papers in Hancock's trunk. When the British arrived on April 19, the minutemen were waiting for them. In 1778 and 1779, Revere commanded a garrison at Castle Williams in Boston Harbor. Revere left the service in disrepute.
During and after the war, Revere continured his silversmith trade in Boston. He died on May 10, 1818.
George Washington And The Continental Army:
After an overland journey from Philadelphia, that partook of the nature of an ovation, Washington arrived in Cambridge two weeks after the Bunker Hill battle, mid the next day, beneath the shade of a great elm tree that still stands as a living monument of that heroic age, he formally assumed command of the Continental army.
The new commander was warmly welcomed by the army. The local officers yielded gracefully to his superior authority. Some of them were men destined to achieve abiding fame in the coming war. By far the ablest man among them was Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island. As a farmer boy, and later a blacksmith, he had lacked the means of a classical education, but being fond of books, he acquired much knowledge by private study. He read law, general literature, and especially military tactics. He was a born soldier, and before he knew that he was to spend a portion of his life in the field he was thoroughly familiar with the theory of warfare. He was in most of the battles of the war, and was implicitly trusted by Washington, to whom he was scarcely inferior in generalship. Greene was a man of rare sweetness of character and purity of morals. In the later years of the war he became the savior of the Southern states; and after peace had come to the newborn republic, he left his native state to spend the evening of his days among the people of Georgia, who, in grateful remembrance of his services, had presented him with a fine plantation.
From the hills of New Hampshire had come two men, opposite in characteristics, both of whom have left a permanent name in the annals of their country -- John Sullivan, who represented wealth, refinement, and culture, and John Stark, who had shown his mettle at Bunker Hill, and whose dashing vigor, undaunted courage, and almost fierce patriotism mark him as one of the most heroic figures of the war. Here also was Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller, a corpulent man with a winning smile and a jolly laugh, who soon won his way into Washington's heart, and who many years later became a member of his first Cabinet.
But the most picturesque figure of all was Daniel Morgan, the leader of the Virginia sharpshooters. Morgan was a giant in size, genial and affable, but fierce and recklessly daring in battle. In youth he had received five hundred lashes for insulting a British officer, but his spirit was unsubdued. He had escaped a murderous band of Indians on horseback after a musket ball had passed through his neck. He now joined the army of Washington and did valiant service for liberty throughout the war. These and many other Sons of Liberty now made the acquaintance of the commander in chief on the Cambridge Common.
Sir William Howe had succeeded Gage as commander of the British army, and his brother, Lord Richard Howe, was made admiral of the fleet. The contempt that Gage had felt for the Americans had worked to their benefit at Lexington and Bunker Hill. Howe seemed now to entertain the opposite opinion of his enemy; he remained inactive during the summer and autumn, and this again proved a great advantage to the Americans, for Washington needed the time to drill and reorganize his army and to secure an adequate supply of ammunition. The new-made soldiers soon grew tired of warfare, and as their terms of enlistment expired they departed for their homes by hundreds. Reënlistments were slow, and it was with great difficulty that Washington kept an army about him. He practically disbanded one army and another -- all within musket shot of the British regiments.
Within this period a remarkable expedition to Canada had been undertaken by General Richard Montgomery. From Ticonderoga Montgomery pressed northward in September with two thousand men, and two months later he had possession of Montreal. The expedition promised succes. To join this army in Canada Washington had dispatched eleven hundred men under Benedict Arnold, who, after a march of incredible hardships through the Maine wilderness, reached the valley of the St Lawrence in November. Arnold, whose name in our history was to become famous, then infamous, was a man of military skill and intrepid courage. With Arnold on this perilous journey was another whose name, like his, was yet to be honored, then dishonored, by his countrymen. The fragments of the two armies met in the valley of the great Canadian river, and together they made a desperate and fruitless assault on Quebec,1 on the last day of the year 1775. Montgomery was shot dead, and Arnold was wounded; Ethan Allen had been taken prisoner and sent in irons to England; hundreds of the brave Americans perished through cold and hunger and the ravages of smallpox; and, on the whole, the expedition ended the following spring in disastrous failure.
Washington was severely criticised for his long delay before Boston; but he was wiser than his critics. He spent every day in perfecting his army and preparing to strike a blow. By the 1st of March, 1776, a great many of the cannon captured at Ticonderoga the year before had been drawn on sledges all those hundreds of miles to the Continental army at Cambridge. The commander now determined to wait no longer. He sent two thousand men on the night of the 4th of March to fortify the peninsula south of Boston, known as Dorchester Heights, which commanded the city and harbor even better than did Bunker Hill. During the night the Americans kept up an unceasing cannonade from Roxbury and other points for the purpose of drowning the sound of the pick and the hammer, the noise of the moving wagons, and of the dragging of siege guns; and Howe, all unwittingly, aided him in the good work by replying with his cannon.
At the dawn of day the British general opened his eyes in astonishment upon the work that had been wrought in the night on the heights of Dorchester. What could be done? Washington could now destroy every ship in the harbor with shells. Howe determined to storm the works; but his men remembered Bunker Hill, and the memory left them spiritless. Yet something had to he done, and Howe in desperation set apart three thousand men under Lord Percy to undertake the perilous business; but a terrific storm swept over the harbor and delayed the project until the morrow. Then it was too late: for the American works had been made so strong that only suicidal folly would attempt their reduction by storm. There was but one thing left for the English to do -- to abandon Boston and the Boston harbor; and ere the end of the month General Howe, with all the British ships, bearing eight thousand soldiers and nearly two thousand American loyalists, launched out upon the deep and sailed away to Halifax. Thus the old Bay colony, the home of the Pilgrims and the Puritans, the scene of the opening acts of the Revolution, after six years of incessant annoyance,2 was set free from the enemy; and never again, from that day to the present, has a foreign army trod the soil of Massachusetts.3
This was Washington's first stroke in the war, and it was one of his most brilliant. With little loss he had cleared New England of the enemy, and had sent a thrill of joy over the whole country. In their haste the British left behind more than two hundred cannon and great quantities of muskets and ammunition, all of which became the property of Washington's army. Furthermore, the news of Howe's departure did not reach England for several weeks, and meantime vessels were being sent to Boston to supply the wants of the army -- and so they did, but not of the British army. They sailed innocently into the harbor, and were captured, and their contents went to increase the stores of the Continental army.
Thomas Jefferson And The Declaration Of Independence:
Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgetable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The politicsl philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Contintinental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in "self-evedient truths" and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country. Here is a transcription of the complete text of the Declaration.
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IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred. to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
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What Should We Expect From A President?:
We should expect a leader that cares about our country, knows best for our people, is nice, (mabye even a little funny), who cares about the people's health and responsible.
Paul Revere (1735-1818):
Paul Revere was born on January 1, 1735 in Boston, Massachusetts. He studied at the North Grammar School in Boston. He served for a short time in the French and Indian War. After the war, he married Sarah Orne and entered his father's silversmith business.
Paul Revere soon became interested in the issue of American liberty. He received lots of attention from political cartoons he drew. Paul Revere was a member of the "Sons of Liberty." On December 16, 1773, he took part in the Boston Tea Party.
On April 18, 1775, Revere and William Dawes were sent to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of British plans to march from Boston to seize patriot military stores at Concord. A signal was established to warn if the British were coming by land or by sea. From the steeple of the Old North Church in Boston, two lanterns would mean the British were coming by sea, and one would mean by land. One lantern was lit. The British were coming by land.
Revere left Boston around 10 PM. Along the road to Lexington, he warned residents that "The British are coming!". He arrived in Lexington around Midnight riding a borrowed horse. At 1 AM, Revere, William Dawes, and Dr. Samuel Prescott left for Concord. Revere was captured. Only Prescott got through to Concord.
Revere was released without his horse and returned to Lexington. At Lexington he joined Adam and Hancock and fled into safety in Burlington. Revere returned to rescue valuable papers in Hancock's trunk. When the British arrived on April 19, the minutemen were waiting for them. In 1778 and 1779, Revere commanded a garrison at Castle Williams in Boston Harbor. Revere left the service in disrepute.
During and after the war, Revere continured his silversmith trade in Boston. He died on May 10, 1818.
George Washington And The Continental Army:
After an overland journey from Philadelphia, that partook of the nature of an ovation, Washington arrived in Cambridge two weeks after the Bunker Hill battle, mid the next day, beneath the shade of a great elm tree that still stands as a living monument of that heroic age, he formally assumed command of the Continental army.
The new commander was warmly welcomed by the army. The local officers yielded gracefully to his superior authority. Some of them were men destined to achieve abiding fame in the coming war. By far the ablest man among them was Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island. As a farmer boy, and later a blacksmith, he had lacked the means of a classical education, but being fond of books, he acquired much knowledge by private study. He read law, general literature, and especially military tactics. He was a born soldier, and before he knew that he was to spend a portion of his life in the field he was thoroughly familiar with the theory of warfare. He was in most of the battles of the war, and was implicitly trusted by Washington, to whom he was scarcely inferior in generalship. Greene was a man of rare sweetness of character and purity of morals. In the later years of the war he became the savior of the Southern states; and after peace had come to the newborn republic, he left his native state to spend the evening of his days among the people of Georgia, who, in grateful remembrance of his services, had presented him with a fine plantation.
From the hills of New Hampshire had come two men, opposite in characteristics, both of whom have left a permanent name in the annals of their country -- John Sullivan, who represented wealth, refinement, and culture, and John Stark, who had shown his mettle at Bunker Hill, and whose dashing vigor, undaunted courage, and almost fierce patriotism mark him as one of the most heroic figures of the war. Here also was Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller, a corpulent man with a winning smile and a jolly laugh, who soon won his way into Washington's heart, and who many years later became a member of his first Cabinet.
But the most picturesque figure of all was Daniel Morgan, the leader of the Virginia sharpshooters. Morgan was a giant in size, genial and affable, but fierce and recklessly daring in battle. In youth he had received five hundred lashes for insulting a British officer, but his spirit was unsubdued. He had escaped a murderous band of Indians on horseback after a musket ball had passed through his neck. He now joined the army of Washington and did valiant service for liberty throughout the war. These and many other Sons of Liberty now made the acquaintance of the commander in chief on the Cambridge Common.
Sir William Howe had succeeded Gage as commander of the British army, and his brother, Lord Richard Howe, was made admiral of the fleet. The contempt that Gage had felt for the Americans had worked to their benefit at Lexington and Bunker Hill. Howe seemed now to entertain the opposite opinion of his enemy; he remained inactive during the summer and autumn, and this again proved a great advantage to the Americans, for Washington needed the time to drill and reorganize his army and to secure an adequate supply of ammunition. The new-made soldiers soon grew tired of warfare, and as their terms of enlistment expired they departed for their homes by hundreds. Reënlistments were slow, and it was with great difficulty that Washington kept an army about him. He practically disbanded one army and another -- all within musket shot of the British regiments.
Within this period a remarkable expedition to Canada had been undertaken by General Richard Montgomery. From Ticonderoga Montgomery pressed northward in September with two thousand men, and two months later he had possession of Montreal. The expedition promised succes. To join this army in Canada Washington had dispatched eleven hundred men under Benedict Arnold, who, after a march of incredible hardships through the Maine wilderness, reached the valley of the St Lawrence in November. Arnold, whose name in our history was to become famous, then infamous, was a man of military skill and intrepid courage. With Arnold on this perilous journey was another whose name, like his, was yet to be honored, then dishonored, by his countrymen. The fragments of the two armies met in the valley of the great Canadian river, and together they made a desperate and fruitless assault on Quebec,1 on the last day of the year 1775. Montgomery was shot dead, and Arnold was wounded; Ethan Allen had been taken prisoner and sent in irons to England; hundreds of the brave Americans perished through cold and hunger and the ravages of smallpox; and, on the whole, the expedition ended the following spring in disastrous failure.
Washington was severely criticised for his long delay before Boston; but he was wiser than his critics. He spent every day in perfecting his army and preparing to strike a blow. By the 1st of March, 1776, a great many of the cannon captured at Ticonderoga the year before had been drawn on sledges all those hundreds of miles to the Continental army at Cambridge. The commander now determined to wait no longer. He sent two thousand men on the night of the 4th of March to fortify the peninsula south of Boston, known as Dorchester Heights, which commanded the city and harbor even better than did Bunker Hill. During the night the Americans kept up an unceasing cannonade from Roxbury and other points for the purpose of drowning the sound of the pick and the hammer, the noise of the moving wagons, and of the dragging of siege guns; and Howe, all unwittingly, aided him in the good work by replying with his cannon.
At the dawn of day the British general opened his eyes in astonishment upon the work that had been wrought in the night on the heights of Dorchester. What could be done? Washington could now destroy every ship in the harbor with shells. Howe determined to storm the works; but his men remembered Bunker Hill, and the memory left them spiritless. Yet something had to he done, and Howe in desperation set apart three thousand men under Lord Percy to undertake the perilous business; but a terrific storm swept over the harbor and delayed the project until the morrow. Then it was too late: for the American works had been made so strong that only suicidal folly would attempt their reduction by storm. There was but one thing left for the English to do -- to abandon Boston and the Boston harbor; and ere the end of the month General Howe, with all the British ships, bearing eight thousand soldiers and nearly two thousand American loyalists, launched out upon the deep and sailed away to Halifax. Thus the old Bay colony, the home of the Pilgrims and the Puritans, the scene of the opening acts of the Revolution, after six years of incessant annoyance,2 was set free from the enemy; and never again, from that day to the present, has a foreign army trod the soil of Massachusetts.3
This was Washington's first stroke in the war, and it was one of his most brilliant. With little loss he had cleared New England of the enemy, and had sent a thrill of joy over the whole country. In their haste the British left behind more than two hundred cannon and great quantities of muskets and ammunition, all of which became the property of Washington's army. Furthermore, the news of Howe's departure did not reach England for several weeks, and meantime vessels were being sent to Boston to supply the wants of the army -- and so they did, but not of the British army. They sailed innocently into the harbor, and were captured, and their contents went to increase the stores of the Continental army.
Thomas Jefferson And The Declaration Of Independence:
Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgetable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The politicsl philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Contintinental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in "self-evedient truths" and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country. Here is a transcription of the complete text of the Declaration.
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IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred. to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
— John Hancock
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
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What Should We Expect From A President?:
We should expect a leader that cares about our country, knows best for our people, is nice, (mabye even a little funny), who cares about the people's health and responsible.
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