Interesting Facts about Virgin Islands

• The history of the islands is turbulent. It is filled with warring colonial powers, slavery, and the annihilation of its native people.
• Columbus visited the islands in 1493. Spanish forces later defeated the native Caribes and claimed the territory in 1555.
• By 1596, the native population had been wiped out.
• The Danes established the first permanent settlement in the territory in 1672. They set up plantations. Later African slaves were imported to produce sugar, cotton, indigo, and other products for Denmark.
• Pirates also used the islands as bases to prey upon Spanish treasure ships, galleons, and visiting merchant ships. Henry Morgan, Sir John Hawkins, and Blackbeard are among the famous pirates who sailed the Caribbean waters.
• During the 17th century, the Danish and the English divided the archipelago into two territorial units.
• The sugar cane produced on the plantations was central to the islands' economy during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
• Slavery was abolished in 1848. When the slaves were emancipated, the plantations went into economic decline.
• In 1917, the United States purchased the islands from Denmark. This was because of their strategic position in the Caribbean passage to the Panama Canal.
• St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John, and 50 smaller islands now comprise the U.S. territory.
• U.S. citizenship was granted to the islanders in 1927.
• In 1970, they elected a governor in a popular election.
• Since 1973, the Virgin Islands also send one non-voting member to the U.S. House of Representatives.
• The population of the U.S. Virgin Islands was 123,498 in 2002.
• The islands are 80 percent black and 15 percent white. There are also West Indian, French, and Hispanic ethnic groups.
• St. Thomas has one of the best natural deepwater harbors in the Caribbean.
• All of the islands boast beautiful beaches and a subtropical climate. There are gentle trade winds and a pleasant constant temperature. However, seasonal hurricanes do occur.
• Tourism is the primary industry in the islands in terms of both economics and employment. There are over 2 million visitors per year.
• Manufacturing dominates the rest of the islands' industry. Products made on the islands include pharmaceuticals, rum, watches, textiles, and electronics.
• One of the world's largest petroleum refineries is at St. Croix.
• Virgin Islands National Park covers more than half of St. John. The park is known for its beaches, reefs, and forests.

Interesting Facts about Texas

• Texas was inhabited by some 3,000 Native Americans when the first Europeans discovered the area in 1519. The largest tribe, the Caddo, lived in the east. Some of its members had formed the Hasinai Confederacy. The first Europeans came under the Spanish Governor of Jamaica and the leadership of Alonso Alvarez de Pinedo to explore the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico.
• The 17th and 18th centuries saw expanded Spanish settlement in Texas and the building of missions and accompanying forts. Texas had become a strong part of the Spanish colonial territory. In 1821, Mexico dissolved its relations with Spain and became independent. In 1824, Mexico became a republic under a constitutional democracy.
• In 1820, Moses Austin asked the Spanish advisors of Mexico permission to set up a small colony of Americans in Texas. The request was granted, but not until after Moses' death. Austin's son, Stephen, organized his father's dream and led 300 families into Texas in 1821, settling at Washington-on-the-Brazos and Columbus. In the next decade, several Americans established colonies in Texas. The Spanish word for these colonizers was empresarios. In 1830, due to the alarming increase in American population in Texas, Mexico ceased immigration from the United States into Mexico.
• In 1835, a year after General Lopez de Santa Anna had overthrown the government of Mexico, the Texans started a revolution to gain their independence from Mexico. Many Texans were killed at the Battle of the Alamo and at Goliad. In 1836, the Texans captured Santa Anna and gained their own independence.
• After the war, Texas became the Republic of Texas. But the new republic struggled, and in 1845, in heavy danger of collapsing due to colossal debt and danger from Mexicans and Native Americans, Texas was admitted to the United States through a joint resolution of Congress and as the last act of outgoing President John Tyler.
• In 1861, Texas abruptly left the Union to side with the other Confederate States in the Civil War. Despite strong Union feelings and a governor who refused to take oath to the Confederate constitution, Texas supplied the Confederate war effort with people and supplies, and when the Union had defeated them, underwent Reconstruction with the rest of the South.
• The twentieth century has seen a steady increase in Texan industry. Beginning with the oil booms at the beginning of the century, industry has steadily risen, accompanied by an increasing population. Today, Texas is a land of wealth, industry, and diverse people. Texans claim a rich heritage, and are rightly proud of their Lone Star State.
• The Houston Astrodome was the first domed stadium in the United States. It opened in April 1965.
• The world's first rodeo was held in Pecos, Texas on July 4, 1883.
• With over 1,000 deaths along the Gull Coast and the city of New Orleans left in chaos. Hurricane Katrina may be considered the worst U.S. natural disaster in living memory. However, on the evening of Sept. 8, 1900, an unnamed hurricane struck the low-lying Gull Coast island city of Galveston, TX, in what is still considered the most deadly U.S. natural disaster. Although they had some warning that a storm was approaching, residents were not prepared for what happened. Many reportedly had gone to the seaside to watch the rising surf, when a Category 4 hurricane, with a storm surge 15 feet or higher and wind howling at 130 mph or more, barreled into Galveston. The storm destroyed about half the homes in the city and killed 8,000 people or more, about one-fifth of the population, in just a few hours.

Interesting Facts about Puerto Rico

• Roberto Clemente was the first Puerto Rican named to baseball's Hall of Fame.
• Residents of Puerto Rico have one nonvoting delegate in the U.S. Congress.
• In addition to states, the U.S. has 12 territories and two commonwealths, Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Interesting Facts about Pennsylvania

• The Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania took place from July 1-3, 1863 and was one of the most important battles of the Civil War. More than 50,000 soldiers died in the battle. The Union (Northern States) was victorious against the Confederacy (Southern States). After the Confederate troops retreated on July 4, 1863, the Confederacy made no more advances against the Union.
• Before President Lincoln's inauguration in March 1861, seven of the ten states that would form the Confederacy had already seceded from the Union (left the United States).
• Fort Bragg in North Carolina was established in 1918. It was named for General Braxton Bragg, a Confederate artillery officer from North Carolina.
• At the beginning of World War I, there were 403 nurses serving active duty. By the end of the war, 22,000 nurses had served. In 1947, the Army Nurse Corps was established as a part of the Department of the United States Army.
• General Colin Powell was the first African-American to head the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1989. He is also the highest ranking African-American officer to have ever served in the United States Army.
• On July 28, 1866, Congress passed the Reorganization Act. Six regiments, the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st Infantry Regiments, were designated for black men.
• During the Civil War, drummer boys/men were used to lead the United States Army onto the battlefields. Drummers ranged from age 10-48. The United States Army purchased 32,000 drums between 1861 and 1865.
• Willie Johnston was the drummer for Company D of the 3rd Vermont Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War. He was the 7th soldier in the United States Army to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, and he remains the youngest soldier to receive the medal. Willie Johnston was almost twelve years old when he received the award on September 16, 1863.
• In 1964, President Johnson signed legislation that increased the corps of cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point from 2,529 to 4,147. West Point had to be expanded to hold all the new cadets.
• Though the exact day is not known, once in 1818 Abraham Lincoln was kicked in the head by a horse and almost died.
• Lincoln, who was ten years old at the time, was at Gordon's Gristmill near his family's home in Kentucky. He was performing one of his regular chores by taking some of his family's corn to the gristmill to be ground down.
• While whipping a horse to get it to move faster, the horse kicked with its hind legs, hitting Lincoln in the head and knocking him out. Noah Gordon, the mill owner, thought he was dead. Lincoln was violently ill all night and did not wake up until the next day.
• George Washington was appointed commander in chief of the Continental Army in 1775. He was never paid, nor did he ask to be paid, for his services.
• Kristine Baker graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1990. She later became the first female Brigade Commander of the United States Corps of Cadets.
• John Adams was the 2nd President of the United States and the first President whose son would later hold the same office. John Quincy Adams, that son, became the 6th President of the United States in 1825.
• In 1921, an unknown American soldier, who was killed in World War I, was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. This was the first soldier laid to rest in the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier." In 1958, two more unknown soldiers (one killed during World War II and the other killed during the Korean War) were laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.
• In 1984, the fourth unknown soldier (killed in the Vietnam War) was buried in the Arlington National Cemetery. In 1998, the remains of that unknown soldier were identified using DNA testing. The remains of Lieutenant Joseph Blassie were removed from Arlington National Cemetery and returned to his family in Missouri on July 10, 1998.
  Robert M. Green invented the ice cream soda in Philadelphia in 1874.
• Benjamin Franklin founded the Philadelphia Zoo. It was the first public zoo in the United States.
• Little League Baseball's first World Series was held in 1946 in Williamsport.
• The Pennsylvania Turnpike is home to 5 of the 15 longest land vehicular tunnels in the U.S. It was known as the "tunnel highway" when it opened in 1940, running through 7 former railroad tunnels along a 160-mile route. In the 1960s a campaign called "Peace, Love and the Pennsylvania Turnpike" promoted safe driving with signs such as "The road to success is always under construction" and "Spread the love, let someone merge."

Interesting Facts about New York

• Chittenago, New York is the home of L. Frank Baum, author of the "Wizard of Oz." It features a yellow brick inlaid sidewalks leading to Aunti Em's and other Oz-themed businesses. Chittenago is the location of an annual Munchkins parade.
• New York was the first state to require license plates on cars.
• While being constructed in 1929, the Chrysler Building and the Bank of Manhattan Building (now the Trump Building) in New York City were locked in a "race for the sky" to become the world's tallest building. The Bank of Manhattan Building was finished first, at 927 feet — just 2 feet taller than the announced height of its rival. However, Chrysler Building architect William Van Alen had concealed a 27-ton, 185-foot steel spire inside the structure. When it was raised into place, it brought the total height to 1,046 ft, more than 100 feet taller than the Bank of Manhattan Building.
• Of the 70 largest cities in 2004. New Orleans, LA, ranked as the place where U.S.-born residents were most likely to also be natives of their state -- 88% were. Of ail states, Louisiana and New York had the highest percentage of U.S.-born residents still living in the state where they were born-82%. The states with the lowest percentage of U.S.-born residents who were also state natives were Arizona and Nevada, each with only 28%.
• The Empire State Building turns 75 this month! The famous New York City landmark opened on May 1, 1931. President Herbert Hoover pressed a button in Washington, D.C., to turn the building's lights on for the first time! Not including its antenna, the skyscraper is 1,250 feet tall--among the 10 tallest buildings in the world!

Interesting Facts about Massachusetts

• Springfield physical education teacher James A. Naismith invented basketball in 1891. He did so in response to the lack of team sports that are played indoors during the winter months.
• Baseball's first World Series was played in Boston in October 1903, between the Boston Pilgrims and the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Interesting Facts about California

• In four U.S. states the "minority" population (defined by the Census Bureau as all those except non-Hispanic whites) is now really the "majority." Population estimates for July 1, 2004, show that Texas had a minority population of 50.2%, joining three other "minority-majority" states. Hawaii's population was 77% minority, and New Mexico and California had minority populations of 57% and 56%, respectively. Five states had minority populations of around 40%: Arizona, Georgia. Maryland, Mississippi, and New York.

Interesting Facts about District of Columbia

• Roosevelt Island in the Potomac River at Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge "grows" about 20 acres every hundred years, as new land forms around the brush and branches that have floated down the river.

Interesting Facts about Wyoming

• When the Indians saw the first two white women in Wyoming, they were astonished that such pale creatures could survive the trip, and they killed the fattest dogs to prepare a feast for their guests.
• The Indian name for Bull Lake was "the lake that roars." The strange sound comes from the action of the wind on the ice.
• The prehistoric Medicine Wheel is similar to Stonehenge in England and one in the Gobi Desert. It remains a mystery to scholars.
• The first telephone poles in Wyoming made such attractive scratching posts for buffaloes that as many as 30 of the huge animals might sometimes be seen waiting their turn to rub against one.

Interesting Facts about Wisconsin

• Believing that he had reached China and the Far East, Jean Nicolet stepped ashore near the Winnebago village of Red Bank, shooting pistols and wearing embroidered Chinese silk robes, to the astonishment of the Indians.
• Prairie du Chien (Prairie of the Dog) was named for Chief Alim, a prominent Indian whose native name means Dog.
• During pioneering days the Wisconsin region was so sparsely settled that Justice of the Peace Pat Kelly reputedly was sometimes forced to use trees as witnesses for wedding ceremonies.

Interesting Facts about West Virginia

• The discovery of wild marijuana growing in Moorefield brought a marked increase in tourism to the town, but the weed was destroyed by officials.
• The West Virginia "panhandle" is so narrow that the city of Weirton stretches from border to border. The only U.S. city that extends from one state border to another, it is wedged in between Ohio and Pennsylvania.
• A touring circus is said to have decided the choice of Charleston as state capital. Its supporters lured voters statewide with a flamboyant circus and won handily.
• Ann Royall became the first woman journalist to interview a president. While John Quincy Adams was swimming, she stole his clothes and would not return them until he gave her a hearing.
• Entomologist Romeo D. Erdie gained fame for his bug factory. Uses for his model insects have ranged from exterminator ads to fine jewelry. He turned them out by the millions.
• The community of Shepherdstown was on George Washington's list for choice of a national capital, but it lost out in the final selection.
• Bluefield, 2,558 feet above sea level, is the highest city east of Denver.

Interesting Facts about Washington

• Point Roberts on the mainland is American territory but juts out from Canada and cannot be reached by land from the rest of the United States.
• The Indian custom of potlatch was observed at parties, when the host or hostess of the event gave away most of his or her possessions to the guests.
• The "Pig War" started when both the United States and Canada claimed the San Juan Islands, and the British threatened to place one Lyman Cutler on trial for shooting a pig owned by a Briton. The matter was settled when arbitration gave the islands to the United States.
• Early Seattle had a shortage of females. Asa Mercer went east and persuaded 11 girls of good families to return to meet the many eligible bachelors. Several prominent families trace their roots back to the Mercer girls.

Interesting Facts about Virginia

• Virginia might be considered a midwestern as well as an eastern state because it extends as far west as Detroit.
• George Washington was said to be as proud of his estate as of his public service. One of his many prizes was awarded for the largest jackass.
• The old apothecary shop in Alexandria, where Martha Washington bought castor oil in quarts, is still standing. One jokester said she probably used it to make her candy.

Interesting Facts about Vermont

• In the late 1700s, schoolteacher Justin Morgan developed the Morgan horse, the only breed originating in the United States.
• The Indians were so devoted to the chapel they had built at Swanton that when the French were driven out, the faithful Indians went with them and took the chapel apart, rebuilding it stone by stone at their new home in Canada.
• In the 18th-century dispute between Vermont and New York, the Green Mountain Boys tore the roof from the home of New York supporter Benjamin Spencer. After he took an oath to support Vermont, the "boys" restored his roof.
• Although ridiculed by some as a do-nothing president, Calvin Coolidge had the support of many Vermonters who agreed that government should interfere as little as possible in the affairs of the people.
• James Johns of Huntington printed by hand every copy of every issue of the newspaper he published for 40 years.
• At the Haskell opera house at Derby Line, the audience sits in the United States and the stage is in Canada. According to one account, an American police officer once had to sit in the audience and watch a wanted criminal performing on the stage.

Interesting Facts about Utah

• The beautiful Seagull monument at Salt Lake City pays tribute to the bird that saved the first Mormon crops.
• The Navajo banned their ancient symbol of friendship during World War II because it resembled the Nazi swastika.
• Celebrating the completion of the first transcontinental railroad, Governor Leland Stanford of California swung his sledgehammer at the gold spike--and missed.
• Zion Narrows canyon is so narrow and deep that even in bright daylight stars are visible from the canyon bottom.
• When Bishop Whipple of Minnesota asked a Utah chief if his belongings were safe in his tent, the chief replied, "Yes, there is not a white man within a hundred miles."
• Brigham Young did not choose the Salt Lake valley for its beauty but rather because it was so desolate he thought no one would ever try to take it away from his Mormon people.

Interesting Facts about Tennessee

• The only known defeat of a naval force by cavalry was carried out in a Civil War raid by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest.
• On November 4, 1864, Forrest's cavalry attacked the federal supply base at Johnsonville on the Tennessee River. The base, with its fleet of 30 gunboats, transports, and barges, was virtually destroyed.
• When Tennessean Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812, his fans in Tennessee spread the word that Jackson had left immediately to conquer England.
• Confederate heroine Antoinette Polk was so close to capture by Union forces that they managed to pluck a feather from her hat, but she escaped to warn Confederate troops of Union plans.

Interesting Facts about South Dakota

• In the floods of 1881, a church at Green Islands was swept away intact. The story was told that it was seen floating down the river with its bell tolling.
• During the skirmish at the murder of Sitting Bull, his horse performed many of the tricks his owner had taught him as they traveled with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
• On his visit to the Black Hills, President Calvin Coolidge gained a reputation as a golfer. He did not know that the greens had been altered for his benefit, so as to slope toward the holes.
• The Nystrom Bank at Wall did not close during Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1933 bank holiday--the only one in the country not to. No one had thought to notify the owner.

Interesting Facts about South Carolina

• When the chief of an early Indian group died, his horse was buried alive with him. There were so many such burials that Indian Hill is known as a mountain.
• A group of Seewee Indians decided to take their grievances directly to the king of England. A pirate crew spotted their canoes at sea, and they were never heard from again.
• Corporal Jesse Gillespie was wounded, then recovered in a French hospital during World War I. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army had issued a death certificate. When he returned home he was made to sign an affidavit that he was not dead.
• On the way to a Lancaster cemetery, the body of Andrew Jackson's father was taken from bar to bar on a sled, until some mourner found it had disappeared. The body turned up in a snowbank and finally reached the intended burial place.
• Theodosia Burr Alston, Aaron Burr's daughter, was the wife of South Carolina Governor Joseph Alston. In 1812 she sailed from Charleston to New York and was never heard from again. Later, a pirate confessed that she had been made to walk the plank, but his story was never verified.
• The state's first steam locomotive produced such a hiss of steam that the fireman sat on the safety valve to reduce the noise; there was an explosion, and he was killed.
• Onlookers at Beaufort Bay thought that a man named Jones had finally reached his long-sought goal of perpetual motion, as his boat dashed about the bay. However, he had hooked a stingray, was being pulled by it, and could not cut the line.

Interesting Facts about Rhode Island

• The smallest state has the longest official name, the "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."
• Gentlemanly Indian men would serenade an Indian woman. If interested, she would throw out her moccasin, then come out for an engagement walk. Less honorable braves sometimes knocked their prospective brides unconscious and carried them off.
• Samuel Gorton fled to Rhode Island after he was banished from Massachusetts for defending his maid, who had been punished for smiling in church.
• Many protests against the British tax on tea were made in Rhode Island. One man dashed around Providence crossing out the word "tea" on every sign he found.
• A lover of good jokes, Mrs. William Astor once invited Newport society to meet the Prince del Drago, who turned out to be a tiny monkey resplendent in a full dress suit.

Interesting Facts about Oregon

• The Indians thought the squeaks of the wheels of the settlers' wagons sounded like their words "chik-chik-chaile-kikash," and that became their name for wagon.
• At 1,932 feet, Oregon's Crater Lake is the nation's deepest lake--and one of the most beautiful.
• Oregon's madrona tree sheds its bark as well as its leaves.
• The giant insect-eating cobra lily is another unusual form of plant life.
• Oregon students earn money for school by picking up the innumerable pinecones for seed.
• More than two centuries ago, the ship Manzanita foundered on the coast; beachcombers are still picking up lumps of beeswax from its cargo.

Interesting Facts about Oklahoma

• Because of its shape on the map, Oklahoma has been called "the nation's largest meat cleaver."
• With a mountain being defined as any elevation over 2,000 feet, Oklahoma claims that the 1,999-foot rise known as Cavanal is the world's highest hill.
• In an attempt to scalp an enemy, Chief Pawhuska once pulled at a man's white hair. The man's wig came off in his hand. The chief kept this powerful "magic" the rest of his life and took the name meaning "white hair."
• More languages are spoken in Oklahoma than in Europe. Each of the state's 55 Indian tribes has a separate language or its own distinctive dialect.

Interesting Facts about Ohio

• A part of one of the lead claim plates buried by Bienville in 1749 was found by small boys, and the historic relic went to a Massachusetts museum.
• If Connecticut claims in Ohio had not been settled, the present-day Ohio city might have been known as Cleveland, Connecticut.
• The design for the great seal of Ohio was inspired by the rising of the sun over the Ohio mountains after an all-night meeting of early Ohio officials.
• Technically, Ohio did not legally become a state until 1953 because Congress had up to then neglected to give its formal approval.
• Harry M. Stevens of Niles saw a cartoon of a dachshund dog as a wiener. He called his sandwich invention a "hot dog."
• The first cash register was named a "mechanical money drawer" by its inventor, James Ritty.

Interesting Facts about North Dakota

• When he signed the statehood bills for the two Dakotas on the same day, President Benjamin Harrison would not reveal which one he signed first. Consequently, no one knows whether North Dakota is technically the 39th or the 40th state.
• Seventeen years before Theodore Roosevelt was elected president, Medora storekeeper Joe Ferris publicly predicted the event.
• Among the state's interesting archaeological discoveries are the rows of carved turtles and the rings of boulders. The turtles were thought to have pointed to water sources, and the rocks probably held down the bottoms of tepees.
• A Crow Indian drew a message in the Missouri River sand. It consisted of a cluster of dots representing U.S. troops within a circle. Then he slashed out the dots with a stick. A river captain understood the message and carried the first news of the Custer massacre down the river to Bismarck.
• Inventor D. H. Houston named his new film Kodak, a variation of Dakota that became known around the world.
• A Portal golf course is probably the only place where a golfer might make a tee shot in the United States and end up in a hole in Canada.

Interesting Facts about North Carolina

• A prehistoric group known as the Early Farmers was notable for its careful burial of dogs.
• Trader John Lawson revealed that traders looked for the Indians with the smallest mouths. The Indians filled their mouths with as much rum as they could and spit it into a container before giving up a pelt.
• Colonel Benjamin Cleveland was noted not only for his courage in the Battle of Kings Mountain but also for his weight of 450 pounds.
• The women of Edenton opposed the British tax on tea by deciding not to drink it. A teapot-shaped monument pays tribute to this decision.
• Blowing Rock is a unique natural formation. When handkerchiefs are tossed over the ridge, the currents of air waft them back.
• In the course of the Civil War, General Bryan Grimes of Grimesville had six horses shot from under him.

Interesting Facts about New Mexico

• In the Four Corners region, where four states touch (New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado), visitors often sprawl out so they can say they have slept in all four at once.
• Pueblo Bonito housed as many as 1,500 people in its 800 rooms, becoming perhaps the first "condominium."
• Just before his sentence of hanging was carried out, the outlaw Black Jack Ketchum demanded of the hangman, "Hurry it up; I'm due in hell for dinner."
• One of the principal attractions of Carlsbad Caverns is the evening flight of millions of bats. Winging their way out of the cavern entrance, the swarm of bats look like a column of smoke.

Interesting Facts about New Jersey

• Johan Printz, governor of New Sweden, was so heavy (400 pounds) that the gangplank almost collapsed when he arrived at his colony. The Indians called him "Big Tub."
• When American Revolutionary heroine Molly Pitcher's husband was killed, she fought in his place at his cannon.
• The first real game of baseball (played under the Cartwright rules) was played at Hoboken in 1846.
• The first derby in the country was run at Passaic in 1864.
• One William Campbell, a non-Indian, founded a wampum mint near Hackensack; it operated until 1889.
• Colonel John Stevens of Hoboken operated an experimental railroad track of 630 feet near there.
• Standard Time was devised in 1883 by William F. Allen of South Orange.

Interesting Facts about New Hampshire

• One of the world's notable natural features is the Old Man of the Mountain. This granite profile looms 48 feet from chin to forehead.
• New Hampshire's state House is the largest of all the states, with a total of 400 members. If the U.S. Congress were in proportion, it would have 100,000 members.
• Horace Greeley learned to read while his mother read to him as he sat on her lap. But he learned upside down because of the angle at which she held the book. He was able to read the Bible by age four.

Interesting Facts about Nevada

• In order to meet a deadline for statehood, the entire constitution of Nevada was sent to Washington by telegram at a cost of $3,400.
• Virginia City was named for James Fenimore, whose nickname was "Old Virginy." He celebrated too much one night, fell, and broke a bottle of whisky. Not wishing to waste the liquid, he called out, "I baptize thee Virginia Town," and the name stuck.
• Mark Twain offended a local newspaper writer, who challenged him to a duel. The challenger backed out, but not before Twain had been charged with breaking the law and had to flee from Virginia City on his way to fame elsewhere.
• Many of the horses of Virginia City sported multicolored polka dots. Chemicals from the mineral crushing mills where they worked caused the unusual decorations.
• Once when Nevada Senator William Stewart asked to meet with President Lincoln, the president sent a note saying he would see him the next morning. Lincoln was assassinated that night, and the note probably contained Lincoln's last written words.
• The discovery of moccasins a foot and a half long caused archaeologists to consider that Nevada might at one time have been inhabited by a race of giants.

Interesting Facts about Nebraska

• During the Civil War, Nebraska had a population of only about 30,000. Of these, 3,307 served in the war.
• In 1862, Daniel Freeman of Beatrice was the nation's first recipient of land granted under the unique Homestead Act.
• President Andrew Johnson vetoed the Nebraska statehood bill of 1866, but Congress overrode his veto, and Nebraska became a state on March 1, 1867.
• President William McKinley opened the Mississippi International Exposition at Omaha in 1898.
• During World War I, 47,801 Nebraskans were called into service, and 1,000 lost their lives.
• In 1934, Nebraska became unique among the states when it installed its unicameral (one-house) legislature, consisting only of a Senate.
• Of the 120,000 Nebraskans in World War II service, 3,830 lost their lives.
• In 1992, Omaha claimed the title of "Telemarketing Capital of the U.S.A."
• On May 6, 1877, famed Chief Crazy Horse surrendered with 1,000 of his followers near Camp Robinson. On September 7, 1877, he was killed because he was said to have resisted his captors.

Interesting Facts about Montana

• On the present site of Helena, a little party of gold miners agreed that they had reached their "last chance" to find wealth. Then they made a strike on what is now the city's main street, Last Chance Gulch.
• In 1867, Montana's territorial governor, Francis Meagher, a hero of the Civil War, boarded a Missouri River steamboat at Fort Benton, went to his stateroom, and was never seen again.
• Montana Indians believed that stealing a horse was the best way to show bravery.
• Early visitors to Montana prairies noted the many mounds of earth covered with flowers and were startled to learn that these were the sod houses of the settlers.
• In a house near Frenchtown, four brothers were born, but each was born in a different territory. Before statehood Montana had been a part of five territories.
• Montana shepherds spent many lonely hours piling rocks into high stacks called cairns. Some cairns can still be seen.

Interesting Facts about Missouri

• From the first steamboat on the Missouri River, smoke poured out of a stack made like a dragon's head to frighten the Indians.
• St. Louis is perhaps the only major city to have been founded by a 14-year-old boy--Auguste Chouteau, who undertook the task at the request of his patron, Pierre Laclede Liguest.
• The ice cream cone is said by some to have originated at the St. Louis world's fair of 1904.

Interesting Facts about Mississippi

• Among geographic curiosities is the so-called Singing River, the Pascagoula. It sometimes makes a sound like the humming of bees, and this has never been explained.
• When Hernando de Soto died, his followers were so afraid of the Indians that they slipped his body into the Mississippi in the dead of night, at a spot thought to have been near present-day Natchez.
• The mother-daughter combination of Maria and Miranda Younghans manned the Biloxi lighthouse for a total of 62 years.
• The five sons of the William Henry Cox family all died tragic deaths. Among the tragedies were one son who was killed riding his horse up a stairway, one who killed his bride and committed suicide, and another who died in a wagon as it crashed over a cliff.
• Mississippi is the only state whose state flower is the blossom of the state tree.

Interesting Facts about Minnesota

• There are so many lakes in Minnesota that novel names are scarce. There are 91 Long Lakes, and other bodies of water also have identical names.
• In 1838 an unsavory character built a cabin at present-day St. Paul and called the place Pig's Eye. Fortunately, Father Lucian Galtier renamed the place after St. Paul when he built a chapel there in 1841.
• The execution of 37 Sioux for their part in the Sioux War was the largest official wholesale execution in U.S. history. The Indians went to the scaffold singing a war song.
• The Falls of St. Anthony have "traveled." Their waters have continued to cut into the soft limestone, causing them to move upstream about 4 miles since their discovery.
• Charles Mayo, of the famed Mayo medical family, began his career at age nine by administering ether during operations.
• The great Cuyuna iron range was named for Cuyler Adams and his dog Una (Cuy-Una).
• The red-colored stone of Pipestone National Monument is found nowhere else. It was a sacred place to the Indians, who carved their peace pipes from its soft redstone.

Interesting Facts about Michigan

• Chief Black Hawk passed through Detroit after the Black Hawk War, and the whole city turned out to see the well-dressed leader in a Fourth of July celebration.
• Michigan history took a peculiar turn when Mormon leader James Strang proclaimed himself King of Beaver Island. He was assassinated in 1856, and mainland forces took over the Mormon properties.
• Disguised as a man, Sarah Emma Edmonds fought through four major Civil War campaigns before her identity was discovered.
• Michigan's shoreline of 3,177 miles is second only to that of Alaska.
• Ann Arbor's name came from the habit of two wives named Ann chatting under a grape arbor. Their husbands named the town for them.

Interesting Facts about Maryland

• Near the town of Hancock, Maryland is only about 1 mile wide, the narrowest width of any state.
• The British attack on Fort McHenry during the War of 1812, with its "rockets' red glare," inspired onlooker Francis Scott Key to write the poem that is now the national anthem.
• Jan Frazier of the Cumberland area was expecting a child when she was captured by the Indians. The Indians raided another settlement to get clothes for the infant, who nevertheless died. The mother escaped, walking for 300 miles and living on herbs and bark until she reached a house of friends, only to find her husband had remarried.
• One of the king's colonial grants was known as the Thumb Grant, because the grantee was given as much land as his thumb could cover on a map.
• Maryland is the only state to have developed a distinct breed of dog--the Chesapeake Bay retriever.
• Maryland has the only official state sport -- jousting.

Interesting Facts about Maine

• The first European settlers in Maine brought timber in their ships to build houses and were astonished that their new home had its own magnificent forests.
• Because Cushnoc Island in the Kennebec River at Augusta was a navigation hazard, the people there hitched 200 oxen to the island, but they failed to move it an inch.
• Thanksgiving in Maine predated the Pilgrims. The Etchimin Indians celebrated for two weeks in autumn. Their feasts included turkey, cranberries, popcorn, and other familiar delicacies.
• Barney Beal of Beal's Island was a noted strongman who could knock out a horse with one blow and who once bested 15 men in a tavern dispute.
• During the Revolution, 19-year-old Aaron Burr fell in love with Indian Princess Jacataqua; Burr moved on to later fame and notoriety.
• Samuel Francis Smith of Waterville gave the nation "America" ("My Country, 'Tis of Thee"), which many believe should be the national anthem.

Interesting Facts about Louisiana

• When the Bonnet Carre Spillway was completed, 6,000 goats were put to work keeping the grass down so that flood waters could flow without resistance.
• Shipwrecked explorer Marcos de Mena was wounded by the Indians and buried alive; a small airhole permitted him to breathe. After his followers were killed, he managed to wriggle out and make his way back to Mexico.
• Jean Lafitte and his pirate crew were pardoned as reward for their services in the War of 1812, but soon returned to their ways.
• Huey Long was noted for his brilliant mind and often spellbound his opponents with apt quotations from the Bible, Shakespeare, and innumerable other sources, related with his great eloquence.
• Membership in the Live Oak Society was limited to the trees themselves. There was a senior membership of trees 100 years old, and a junior group. The society died out with the death of its founder--a man, not a tree.
• The Indians painted a conspicuous tree bright red as a marker. The French called this tree "baton rouge" (red stick), giving the Louisiana capital its name.

Interesting Facts about Kentucky

• Captured by the Indians at Boonesborough, Elizabeth Calloway broke off pieces of brush and twigs and tore off pieces of her clothing to leave a trail for possible rescue. Following this trail, a party led by Daniel Boone caught up with her captives, who fled.
• Prehistoric bones were not so highly regarded in 1773, when explorer James Douglas used the ribs of mastodons for tent poles.
• Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Union President Abraham Lincoln were both Kentucky natives.
• The admirers of a large sycamore tree at Pippa Passes bought 36 square feet of land on which it stood and registered the tree as the landowner.
• Handicapped U.S. Senate candidate John Pope received one man's vote because "he has only one arm to thrust into the treasury."
• Because Mammoth Cave has a constant 54 degree F temperature, it "breathes" in when the outside temperature is high and "exhales" when the temperature is lower.

Interesting Facts about Kansas

• The legendary lawmen of Dodge City, such as Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp, were not always as heroic as they have been portrayed. On one occasion, Earp was said to have "amateurishly loaded all six chambers of his revolver and blasted a hole through his coat."
• Pioneering the Santa Fe Trail, the Becknell party almost died of thirst on the dry bed of the Cimarron River until they discovered by accident that the river was "flowing" beneath the sand.
• With the slaughter of the buffalo, the scattered bones became so valuable that they were collected by the tons, and Dodge City bankers and businesses accepted them as legal tender.

Interesting Facts about Iowa

• When the Fox Indians refused to do a favor for Julian Dubuque, he threatened to burn the Mississippi. At the mouth of Catfish Creek, Dubuque set fire to oil poured into the creek upstream by an assistant. The frightened Indians quickly came to terms, and Dubuque called on the fire to die just as the oil gave out.
• The honey trees of a region disputed between Iowa and Missouri were so prized that the two states almost came to blows in a territorial dispute called the Honey War.
• Iowa's Civil War Greybeard Regiment, made up of men over the legal age of 45, was the only one of its kind ever authorized.
• The first "road" in Iowa consisted of a furrow plowed by Lyman Dillon from Dubuque to Iowa City, thought to be the longest continuous furrow ever plowed.
• James "Tama Jim" Wilson of Traer holds the all-time record for service in any cabinet office--16 years as secretary of agriculture.

Interesting Facts about Indiana

• The British governor of Indiana, Henry Hamilton, was known as the "Hair Buyer" because he encouraged Indians friendly to the British to take American scalps, for which they were paid.
• Indiana's Lost River travels 22 miles underground.
• Indiana General Ambrose Burnside's bushy whiskers were originally called "burnsides" and now are known as "sideburns."
• Indiana is known for its many unusual place names, such as Gnaw Bone and Bean Blossom.

Interesting Facts about Illinois

• One of the most mysterious of all prehistoric remains is the huge figure of a monster, known as the Piasa Bird, painted high on the bluff near Alton. Its origin has never been determined.
• Lincoln, Illinois, was the only town named for Abraham Lincoln during his lifetime. Invited to dedicate the town, he christened it with watermelon juice and provided watermelon for the crowd.
• When a gang of counterfeiters tried to steal Abraham Lincoln's body from his tomb in exchange for a jailed member's freedom, quick Secret Service work foiled the bizarre ransom attempt.

Interesting Facts about Idaho

• Thirsty travelers on the brink of Hells Canyon could look down on the waters of the Snake River but had no way to get down to drink.
• Wood River is known as the Upside Down River. At one place it flows through a gorge 4 feet wide and 104 feet deep. At another point the gorge is 104 feet wide and the river 4 feet deep.
• A pioneer family of Palouse country once gave an Indian family a meal. From that time on, the pioneer family found a large salmon left at their door at the same time each year.
• During the gold boom in the early 1860s, Idaho City was a large, rip-roaring boom town, where crime and "frontier justice" ran rampant. Of the 200 people buried in the pioneer cemetery of Idaho City, only 28 died of natural causes.
• A unique Idaho attraction is Thousand Springs. Each spring spouts out from the side of a single cliff.
• The 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington State brought great clouds of ash to Idaho, and the Palouse crop the next year increased 30%.

Interesting Facts about Hawaii

• As many as 100 people often crowded into a single Polynesian double-hulled canoe as the seaworthy ships sailed the thousands of stormy ocean miles from the South Pacific to populate Hawaii.
• When the Hawaiians killed Captain Cook in 1789, they prepared his body as they would have their own great chief, removing the flesh from the bones before burial.
• In 1825, Hawaiian chieftess Kapiolani defied the volcano goddess Pele and ate the sacred ohelo berries to prove that the old religion was no longer effective.
• Hawaiian kings were noted for their great size and strength. Kamehameha I once moved a 4,500-pound stone. His Queen, Kaahumanu, weighed 300 pounds.
• The Robinson family, owners of the island of Niihau, have for years done everything in their power to preserve the ways of early Hawaii, making the island an off-limits place of mystery.

Interesting Facts about Georgia

• Rivalry between Indian tribes did not always lead to war. Some disputes between Cherokee and Creek groups were settled by a ball game.
• In the 1740s, Mary Jones was the skillful and successful captain of Fort Wimberley during a Spanish attack.
• Polio victim Franklin D. Roosevelt often visited and enjoyed the waters of Warm Springs. That small community gained world fame when he became president.
• The sculpture created by Gutzon Borglum on the side of Stone Mountain was so grand that Borglum once hosted 20 guests at breakfast on the shoulder of the Robert E. Lee carving. The work was later destroyed to make way for a smaller monument.
• One of the famed incidents of the Civil War was later known as "the Great Locomotive Chase," when Confederate forces pursued and retook a captured locomotive.

Interesting Facts about Florida

• During the hurricane of 1926, the barometer at Miami reached the country's record low, causing hundreds to faint from lack of oxygen.
• When a British captain's ear was cut off in a war between Spain and England, the conflict, which was waged in Florida, became known as the War of Jenkins's Ear.
• The demand was so great for Florida property during the great land boom that investors paid up to $25,000 for lots that had not yet been dredged up from the ocean.
• Once endangered, alligators increased to become something of a nuisance, sometimes even swallowing small pets. The stomach of one was found to contain a pickle jar, dog collar, and several golf balls.
• After fishing, Florida's anhinga, or water turkey, must dry its feathers in the sun. These birds lie in groups with wings outspread, looking much like a wash left out to dry

Interesting Facts about Delaware

• Johan Prinz, capable governor of New Sweden from 1643 to 1653, was the "greatest" of all colonial governors. He weighed 400 pounds and was called the "Big Tub."
• When a ship carrying peas wrecked on a sandbar, the peas grew and collected so much sand that a new island formed, now Pea Patch Island.
• When one of the Du Pont men saw sparks flying from a machine in their blasting powder plant, he dipped his tall silk hat in water and put out the fire before a tremendous explosion could occur.
• One of the most curious exhibits to be found at the Delaware Historical Society is a cigar store white man, a carving of George Washington.
• When Shadrach Cannon of Seaford was bitten by a rabid dog, some of the town's best citizens were selected to smother him to death between two feather beds, in an early mercy killing.

Interesting Facts about Connecticut

• Early Hartford, described as a Puritan theocracy, was known for its strict religious law. Its "blue laws" called for the death penalty for any son who cursed or struck his parents. Elder Malbone once flogged his daughter Martha on the green for going on a date with a young gentleman.
• The great charter of 1662 extended Connecticut west even to the Pacific Ocean.
• During the American Revolution, Lime Rock metal workers forged a huge chain that was stretched across the Hudson River to keep British ships from sailing up that strategic waterway. Each link was three feet long.
• During the American Revolution, at the age of 15, Samuel Smedley of Fairfield became a captain of a privateer ship. By war's end he had captured more enemy prize ships than any other captain, surpassing even the small U.S. Navy.

Interesting Facts about Colorado

• Many explanations have been given for the decline of the Pueblo culture. According to one of the most interesting, the people ground their grain in stone grinders; fine stone mixed with the meal, and their teeth were ground down until they no longer could eat.
• In 1936 in a unique ceremony, Middle Park officially became a part of the United States. The area supposedly had never been included in any of the cessions of territory to the federal government.
• Mining tycoon Auguste Rische was asked to donate a large chandelier to a church he financed. He refused, saying that he could not play a chandelier, and he thought no one else in the congregation could do so.
• Mrs. James J. (Molly) Brown, socialite wife of a Colorado mining tycoon, survived the sinking of the liner Titanic. She became famous as "the Unsinkable Molly Brown" in the Broadway hit of that name. Her home is now a Denver museum.

World's Tallest Tower

The the worlds newest tallest building is about to be completed, lookx amazing, should be safer than going to space to get a better view of earth

SPECIFICATIONS - BURJ DUBAI (DUBAI TOWER) AND DUBAI MALL, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Key Data
Order year
2003
Construction start
2004
Project type
Mall, residential and retail facilities and world's tallest skyscraper
Location
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Estimated investment
Dh800 million (mall, residential and retail facilities); Dh3.9 billion (tower)
Completion
2006 (mall); 2007 (tower)
Retail space
5 million square ftІ
Shops
>1,000
Car parking
16,000 spaces
Key Players
Sponsor
EMAAR Properties PJSC
Lead contractors, designers, architects and engineers
DC Architects PTE Limited, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Bauer Spezialtiefbau, Middle East Foundations, Turner Construction Corporation, Grocon, Lerch, Bates and Associates Incorporated



this image is from BBC comparing the biggest buildings,


You can't say they don't have a vision. Remarkably, the inspiration for the tower comes from - a flower. The Hymenocallis is a plant widely cultivated in Dubai, India and around the region. It's harmonious structure is one of the organizing principles for the design.



The Foundation

Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million.

They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.
And what did the Russians do...?? They used a pencil.

San Francisco / Safer Sex Info Goes High-Tech

The condom broke. You think you could be pregnant or been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease.

So you turn to your cell phone for help: "if u hve sex, u can get an STD + not know it. Chlamydia, gonorrhea=no symptoms most of the time Dropin get chcked FREE," reads the text message tip, followed by an address and hours of a health clinic.

This week, San Francis