Portal:United States
Introduction
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Did you know (auto-generated) -

- ... that a 1940s pin-up photograph (shown) of dancer and actress Martha Holliday reportedly "created a near-panic in the United States Senate"?
- ... that Mary Arthur McElroy was never given formal recognition as First Lady of the United States out of respect for Nell Arthur, the deceased wife of then-president Chester A. Arthur?
- ... that after his soccer career, Steve Palacios enlisted in the United States Army and played for the United States Armed Forces soccer team?
- ... that the prop currency produced by the Earl Hays Press for the 1965 film The Cincinnati Kid was so realistic that it entered circulation and the plates had to be destroyed by the United States Secret Service?
- ... that PBS Appalachia Virginia is the first all-non-terrestrial public TV station in the United States?
- ... that East Timor uses the United States dollar, but produces its own coins to facilitate smaller transactions?
- ... that Rawson Stovall became the first nationally syndicated video game journalist in the United States when he was only eleven years old?
- ... that Bradley Smalley, the political boss of the Vermont Democratic Party, once received the Republican nomination for alderman?
Selected society biography -
Surrounded by Boston's literary elite—which included friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and James Russell Lowell—Holmes made an indelible imprint on the literary world of the 19th century. Many of his works were published in The Atlantic Monthly, a magazine that he named. For his literary achievements and other accomplishments, he was awarded numerous honorary degrees from universities around the world. Holmes's writing often commemorated his native Boston area, and much of it was meant to be humorous or conversational. Some of his medical writings, notably his 1843 essay regarding the contagiousness of puerperal fever, were considered innovative for their time. He was often called upon to issue occasional poetry, or poems written specifically for an event, including many occasions at Harvard. Holmes also popularized several terms, including "Boston Brahmin" and "anesthesia".
Selected image -
Selected culture biography -
Active since 1983, he played various instruments in rock bands throughout the Midwest until 1989 when Greek composer Yanni hired him for his next tour, sight unseen, based on a tape of his own compositions. He was a featured concert keyboardist with Yanni through six major tours and appears in the 1994 multi-platinum album and video, Yanni Live at the Acropolis. Joseph then reunited with Yanni in 2003 for the 60-city Ethnicity tour. He also spent four years as musical director and lead keyboardist for Sheena Easton, including a 1995 performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
In 1994, Joseph's solo career began when he independently released Hear the Masses, featuring many of his Yanni bandmates. This debut release was followed by Rapture, an instrumental album recorded with a 50-piece orchestra, in which Joseph wrote and conducted all of the scores. It was released on the Narada label and reached NAV's "Airwaves Top 30". He has produced 15 albums, DVDs, and numerous piano books under his own record label, Robbins Island Music. Two of these albums, Christmas Around the World and One Deep Breath, also held positions on NAV’s Top 100 radio chart. His music is included in numerous various-artist compilation albums, most recently the 2008 release of The Weather Channel Presents: Smooth Jazz II.
Selected location -
Abundantly rich in water, the city has twenty lakes and wetlands, the Mississippi riverfront, creeks and waterfalls, many connected by parkways in the Chain of Lakes and the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway. Minneapolis was once the world's flour milling capital and a hub for timber. The community's diverse population has a long tradition of charitable support through progressive public social programs and through private and corporate philanthropy.
The name Minneapolis is attributed to the city's first schoolmaster, who combined mni, the Dakota word for water, and polis, the Greek word for city. Minneapolis is nicknamed the City of Lakes and the Mill City.
Selected quote -
Anniversaries for April 12
- 1776 – With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its delegation to the Second Continental Congress to vote for independence from Britain.
- 1861 – The first battle of the American Civil War begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
- 1865 – Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.
- 1934 – The Auto-Lite Strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.
- 1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies while in office; vice-president Harry Truman (pictured) is sworn in as the 33rd President.
- 1981 – The Space Shuttle Columbia launches on the STS-1 mission, the first manned mission of the STS program.
Selected cuisines, dishes and foods -
The Western United States has its cuisine, distinct in various ways from that of the rest of the country. States west of Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska would be considered part of this area, as would, in some cases, western parts of adjoining states. (Full article...)
Selected panorama -
More did you know? -
- ... that the domed atrium of Indiana's West Baden Springs Hotel (inside pictured) was the largest free-spanning dome in the United States for over 50 years and in the world from 1902 to 1913?
- ... that Nicholas Longworth built America's first commercially successful winery with a pink sparkling wine made from Catawba?
- ... that the phrase "more bang for the buck" was used to describe the United States' New Look policy of depending on nuclear weapons, rather than a large regular army, to keep the Soviet Union in check?
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