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Parent Portals: Geography / North America / United States

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Introduction

Flag of the United States of America

The United States of America is a federal republic of 50 states, a federal district and 14 territories. It is located mostly in central North America. The U.S. has three land borders, two with Canada and one with Mexico, and has sea borders with Cuba, the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, Bermuda and Russia, and is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean, the Bering Sea, the Arctic Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 50 states, only Alaska and Hawaii are not contiguous with any other state. The U.S. also has a collection of districts, territories, and possessions in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Each state has a high level of autonomy according to the system of federalism. The U.S. traces its national origin to the declaration by 13 British colonies in 1776 that they were one free and independent state. They were recognized as such by the Treaty of Paris in 1783. Since then, the nation has grown to become a superpower and exerts a high level of economic, political, military, and cultural influence.

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  The Old Bay Line's District of Columbia in 1949

  
  The Baltimore Steam Packet Company, nicknamed the Old Bay Line, was an American steamship line from 1840 to 1962 that provided overnight steamboat service on Chesapeake Bay, primarily between Baltimore, Maryland, and Norfolk, Virginia. Called a "packet" for the mail packets carried on government mail contracts, the term in the 19th century came to mean a steamer line operating on a regular, fixed daily schedule between two or more cities. When it closed in 1962 after 122 years of existence, it was the last surviving overnight steamship passenger service in the United States.
  
  In addition to regularly calling on Baltimore and Norfolk, the Baltimore Steam Packet Company at various times provided freight, passenger and vehicle transport to Washington, D.C., Old Point Comfort, and Richmond, Virginia. The Old Bay Line, as it came to be known by the 1860s, was acclaimed for its genteel service and fine dining, serving Chesapeake Bay specialties. Walter Lord, famed author of A Night to Remember (and whose grandfather had been the packet line's president from 1893 to 1899), mused that its reputation for excellent service was attributable to "some magical blending of the best in the North and the South, made possible by the Company's unique role in 'bridging' the two sections...the North contributed its tradition of mechanical proficiency, making the ships so reliable; while the South contributed its gracious ease". (Full article...)
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  Isabel at peak intensity, northeast of the Leeward Islands, on September 11

  
  Hurricane Isabel was the strongest Atlantic hurricane since Mitch, and the deadliest, costliest, and most intense tropical cyclone in the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. Hurricane Isabel was also the strongest hurricane in the open waters of the Atlantic, both by wind speed and central pressure, before being surpassed by hurricanes Irma and Dorian in 2017 and 2019, respectively. The ninth named storm, fifth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season, Isabel formed near the Cape Verde Islands from a tropical wave on September 6, in the tropical Atlantic Ocean. It moved northwestward, and within an environment of light wind shear and warm waters, it steadily strengthened to reach peak winds of 165 mph (266 km/h) on September 11. After fluctuating in intensity for four days, during which it displayed annular characteristics, Isabel gradually weakened and made landfall on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, with winds of 105 mph (169 km/h) on September 18. Isabel quickly weakened over land and became extratropical over western Pennsylvania on the next day. On September 20, the extratropical remnants of Isabel were absorbed into another system over Eastern Canada.
  
  In North Carolina, the storm surge from Isabel washed out a portion of Hatteras Island to form what was unofficially known as Isabel Inlet. Damage was greatest along the Outer Banks, where thousands of homes were damaged or even destroyed. The worst of the effects of Isabel occurred in Virginia, especially in the Hampton Roads area and along the shores of rivers as far west and north as Richmond and Baltimore. Virginia reported the most deaths and damage from the hurricane. About 64% of the damage and 69% of the deaths occurred in North Carolina and Virginia. Electric service was disrupted in areas of Virginia for several days, some more rural areas were without electricity for weeks, and local flooding caused thousands of dollars in damage. (Full article...)
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  Spragens c. 1972

  
  Thomas Arthur Spragens (/ˈspreɪ.ɡɪnz/ SPRAY-ginz; April 25, 1917 – February 11, 2006) was an American administrator who was the 17th president of Centre College in Danville, Kentucky. A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Spragens worked for the state and federal government early in his career, before joining the staff at Stanford University as a presidential advisor. He was the president of Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, for a five-year term, and left Stephens to go to Centre in 1957.
  
  The first Centre president who was not a member of the clergy, Spragens worked to lessen the ties between the college and the Presbyterian Church, which led to a significant rise in students reporting that they were non-denominational; it also led to attendance at chapel becoming optional for students. Spragens was an effective fundraiser for the school; his Fund for the Future Campaign ultimately raised $34 million. He was instrumental in the integration of the school, and admitted Centre's first black student in 1962. The same year, he led an effort to consolidate the school's women's department, formerly the Kentucky College for Women, onto Centre's campus. Many parts of campus were upgraded during his presidency; after twenty years, three quarters of Centre's facilities had been either built or renovated. During his term, which ended in 1981, Centre's student enrollment and faculty numbers both nearly doubled, its endowment increased, and the property value of its campus rose. (Full article...)
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  North and west sides of Capon Chapel viewed from the northwest lawn

  
  Capon Chapel ( /ˈkeɪpən/ KAY-pən), also historically known as Capon Baptist Chapel and Capon Chapel Church, is a mid-19th century United Methodist church located near to the town of Capon Bridge, West Virginia, in the United States. Capon Chapel is one of the oldest existing log churches in Hampshire County, along with Mount Bethel Church and Old Pine Church.
  
  A Baptist congregation was gathering at the site of the present-day church by at least 1756. Primitive Baptist minister John Monroe (1750–1824) is credited for establishing a place of worship at this site; he is interred in the church's cemetery. The land on which Capon Chapel was built originally belonged to William C. Nixon (1789–1869), a member of the Virginia House of Delegates; later, it was transferred to the Pugh family. The first documented mention of a church at the Capon Chapel site was in March 1852, when Joseph Pugh allocated the land to three trustees for the construction of a church and cemetery. (Full article...)
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  The Maryland Tercentenary half dollar is a commemorative fifty-cent piece issued by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1934. It depicts Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore on the obverse and the Coat of Arms of Maryland on the reverse.
  
  The Maryland Tercentenary Commission sought a coin in honor of the 300th anniversary of the arrival of English settlers in Maryland. The state's two senators introduced legislation for such a piece, and it passed both houses of Congress with no opposition. A design had already been prepared by Professor Hans Schuler; it passed review by the Commission of Fine Arts, though there was controversy then and since over whether Lord Baltimore, a Cavalier and Catholic, would have worn a collar typical of Puritans. (Full article...)
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  Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co., 248 N.Y. 339, 162 N.E. 99 (1928), is a leading case in American tort law on the question of liability to an unforeseeable plaintiff. The case was heard by the New York Court of Appeals, the highest state court in New York; its opinion was written by Chief Judge Benjamin Cardozo, a leading figure in the development of American common law and later a United States Supreme Court justice.
  
  The plaintiff, Helen Palsgraf, was waiting at a Long Island Rail Road station in August 1924 while taking her daughters to the beach. Two men attempted to board the train before hers; one (aided by railroad employees) dropped a package that exploded, causing a large coin-operated scale on the platform to hit her. After the incident, she began to stammer, and subsequently sued the railroad, arguing that its employees had been negligent while assisting the man, and that she had been harmed by the neglect. In May 1927 she obtained a jury verdict of $6,000, which the railroad appealed. Palsgraf gained a 3–2 decision in the Appellate Division, and the railroad appealed again. Cardozo wrote for a 4–3 majority of the Court of Appeals, ruling that there was no negligence because the employees, in helping the man board, did not breach any duty of care to Palsgraf as injury to her was not a foreseeable harm from aiding a man with a package. The original jury verdict was overturned, and the railroad won the case. (Full article...)
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  Ho Ho Ho, also known as VH-1 Presents RuPaul: Ho Ho Ho, is a Christmas album and the third studio album by American singer and drag queen RuPaul. Released on October 28, 1997, by the record label Rhino, it is RuPaul's first album featuring Christmas music and serves as a follow-up to his 1996 album Foxy Lady. RuPaul co-produced the album with Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato from the production company World of Wonder. Ho Ho Ho consists of thirteen tracks, including ten covers of Christmas standards and carols, and three original songs written by Joe Carrano and RuPaul. Music critics frequently described the album as an example of camp though RuPaul clarified that it included several more serious covers, specifically "All Alone on Christmas" and "Hard Candy Christmas".
  
  Ho Ho Ho was praised by critics following its release and during retrospective reviews; its cheerful and humorous compositions were frequently cited as the album's highlights, though some commentators responded negatively to the record's use of humor and the lack of clarity in its overall message. It was included in a 2016 parody list discussing the alt-right, the "War on Christmas", and the bathroom bill. The album peaked at number 27 on the Heatseekers Albums Billboard chart, selling a little more than 4,000 copies in one week. To support the record, RuPaul filmed a television special as part of his VH1 talk show The RuPaul Show. (Full article...)
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  Brian Eaton in Malta, early 1950s

  
  Air Vice-Marshal Brian Alexander Eaton, CB, CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC (15 December 1916 – 17 October 1992) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Born in Tasmania and raised in Victoria, he joined the RAAF in 1936 and was promoted to flight lieutenant on the outbreak of World War II. He held training positions before being posted to No. 3 Squadron at the beginning of 1943, flying P-40 Kittyhawk fighter-bombers in North Africa. Despite being shot down three times within ten days soon after arriving, Eaton quickly rose to become the unit's commanding officer, and by year's end had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. His leadership earned him the Distinguished Service Order and Bar in 1944–45, and command of No. 239 Wing RAF in Italy, with the temporary rank of group captain. He was also awarded the US Silver Star in 1946 in recognition of his war service.
  
  In the decade following World War II, Eaton led No. 81 Wing in Japan, and No. 78 Wing in Malta. He commanded RAAF Base Williamtown from 1957 to 1959, after which he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. As Director-General of Operational Requirements in 1965, Eaton argued for increased RAAF co-operation with the Australian Army in light of growing involvement in the Vietnam War. He was promoted to air vice-marshal the next year, and became Deputy Chief of the Air Staff. Posted to Singapore as Air Officer Commanding (AOC) No. 224 Group RAF in 1967, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath for his work as chief of staff at Headquarters RAF Far East Air Force in 1969. He then served as Air Member for Personnel, before being selected as AOC Operational Command in 1973. Eaton retired from the RAAF in December that year, and became an executive for Rolls-Royce in Canberra. He died in 1992 at the age of 75. (Full article...)
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  Boys Don't Cry is a 1999 American biographical film directed by Kimberly Peirce, and co-written by Peirce and Andy Bienen. The film is a dramatization of the real-life story of Brandon Teena (played by Hilary Swank), an American trans man who attempts to find himself and love in Nebraska but falls victim to a brutal hate crime perpetrated by two male acquaintances. The film co-stars Chloë Sevigny as Brandon's girlfriend, Lana Tisdel.
  
  After reading about the case while in college, Peirce conducted extensive research for a screenplay, which she worked on for almost five years. The film focuses on the relationship between Brandon and Lana. The script took dialogue directly from archive footage in the 1998 documentary The Brandon Teena Story. Many actresses sought the lead role during a three-year casting process before Swank was cast. Swank was chosen because her personality seemed similar to Brandon's. Most of the film's characters were based on real-life people; others were composites. (Full article...)
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  The Olympic marmot (Marmota olympus) is a rodent in the squirrel family, Sciuridae. It occurs only in the U.S. state of Washington, at the middle elevations of the Olympic Peninsula. The closest relatives of this species are the hoary marmot and the Vancouver Island marmot. In 2009, it was declared the official endemic mammal of Washington state.
  
  This marmot is about the size of a domestic cat, typically weighing about 8 kg (18 lb) in summer. The species shows the greatest sexual dimorphism found in marmots, with adult males weighing on average 23% more than females. It can be identified by a wide head, small eyes and ears, stubby legs, and a long, bushy tail. Its sharp, rounded claws aid in digging burrows. The coat color changes with the season and with age, but an adult marmot's coat is brown all over with small white areas for most of the year. (Full article...)
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  An illustration depicting Excalibur firing at three nearby targets. In most descriptions, each could fire at dozens of targets, which would be hundreds or thousands of kilometers away.

  
  Project Excalibur was a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Cold War–era research program to develop an X-ray laser system as a ballistic missile defense (BMD) for the United States. The concept involved packing large numbers of expendable X-ray lasers around a nuclear device, which would orbit in space. During an attack, the device would be detonated, with the X-rays released focused by each laser to destroy multiple incoming target missiles. Because the system would be deployed above the Earth's atmosphere, the X-rays could reach missiles thousands of kilometers away, providing protection over a wide area.
  
  Anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems of the time only attacked the enemy nuclear warheads after they were released by ICBMs. A single ICBM could carry as many as a dozen warheads, so dozens of defense missiles were required per attacking missile. A single Excalibur device contained up to fifty lasers and could potentially destroy a corresponding number of missiles, with all of the warheads still on board. A single Excalibur could thus destroy dozens of ICBMs and hundreds of warheads for the cost of a single nuclear bomb, dramatically reversing the cost-exchange ratio that had previously doomed ABM systems. (Full article...)
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  One of the Boys is an American sitcom created by Blake Hunter and Martin Cohan that aired six episodes on NBC from April 15 to May 20, 1989. It was one of only a few United States prime time programs of the 1980s to feature a Latin American woman—María Conchita Alonso—as a leading actress. She plays Maria Conchita Navarro, a Venezuelan immigrant to the United States who begins working in the office of a small construction company and marries its widowed owner, Mike Lukowski (Robert Clohessy). Five production companies, led by Columbia Pictures Television, oversaw filming at Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood, where delays prevented critics from watching a preview in advance of the premiere. Critical reviews were poor to middling. The mid-season replacement received inconsistent Nielsen ratings and was not renewed for a second season by NBC. (Full article...)
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  An 1875 illustration of the engagement by William Bainbridge Hoff

  
  The action of 1 January 1800 was fought in the Gulf of Gonâve during the Quasi-War between the United States and France. A squadron of 14 armed barges from the French colony of Saint-Domingue unsuccessfully attacked a convoy of four American merchantmen escorted by the United States Navy schooner USS Experiment under Lieutenant William Maley. André Rigaud, a Black general in Saint-Domingue who became embroiled in the War of Knives against his rival Toussaint Louverture in June 1799, had ordered his forces to attack all foreign shipping within their range of operations. At the same time, the U.S. had been involved in an undeclared naval war with France since July 1798, resulting in American merchant convoys being escorted by warships to protect them from attacks by French ships.
  
  Once the American convoy neared the gulf, the French barges attacked it under heavy fire, being repeatedly driven off. Two U.S. merchantmen, Daniel and Mary and Washington, drifted away from the convoy and were abandoned before being captured. Experiment managed to prevent the other two merchantmen of the convoy, Mary and Sea Flower, from being captured and escorted them to a friendly port. On the American side, the captain of Mary was killed and a civilian and Lieutenant David Porter were injured, while Rigaud's forces lost three barges and suffered heavy casualties. Despite their significant losses during the engagement, ships under Rigaud's command continued to attack American merchant shipping in the region, with such attacks only ceasing after Louverture's army defeated Rigaud and forced him to go into exile in France by July 1800. (Full article...)
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  "Pilot" is the pilot episode of the American comedy television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 9, 2009. The episode was written by series creators Michael Schur and Greg Daniels, and directed by Daniels.
  
  The episode introduces the protagonist Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, as well as the other regular characters played by cast members Rashida Jones, Paul Schneider, Aziz Ansari, Aubrey Plaza and Nick Offerman. Knope is a mid-level bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. In "Pilot", Knope sets out to turn a construction pit into a park after local nurse Ann Perkins (Jones) complains about the dangerous pit during a town meeting. Her anti-government boss Ron Swanson (Offerman) reluctantly allows her to form an exploratory committee after her friend and colleague Mark Brendanawicz (Schneider) secretly intervenes on her behalf. (Full article...)
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  Giovanni Antonio Grassi SJ (anglicized as John Anthony Grassi; 10 September 1775 – 12 December 1849) was an Italian Catholic priest and Jesuit who led many academic and religious institutions in Europe and the United States, including Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., and the Pontificio Collegio Urbano de Propaganda Fide in Rome.
  
  Born in the Republic of Venice, Grassi was a promising student of mathematics and the natural sciences, especially astronomy. He completed his studies at the Jesuit College in Polotsk, in the Russian Empire, in 1804 and was appointed rector of the Institute for Nobles. The following year, he was ordered to replace the last remaining Jesuit missionary in China; this began a five-year journey across Europe in which he was ultimately unable to secure passage to the distant country. He instead began teaching at Stonyhurst College in England. (Full article...)
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  Collins in the early 1980s

  
  Colonel Martha Layne Collins (née Hall; born December 7, 1936) is an American former businesswoman and politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky; she served as the state's 56th governor from 1983 to 1987, the first woman to hold the office and the only one to date. Prior to that, she served as the 48th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, under John Y. Brown Jr. Her election made her the highest-ranking Democratic woman in the U.S. She was considered as a possible running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale in the 1984 presidential election, but Mondale chose Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro instead.
  
  After graduating from the University of Kentucky, Collins worked as a school teacher while her husband finished a degree in dentistry. She became interested in politics, and worked on both Wendell Ford's gubernatorial campaign in 1971 and Walter "Dee" Huddleston's U.S. Senate campaign in 1972. In 1975, she was chosen secretary of the state's Democratic Party and was elected clerk of the Kentucky Court of Appeals. During her tenure as clerk, a constitutional amendment restructured the state's judicial system, and the Court of Appeals became the Kentucky Supreme Court. Collins continued as clerk of the renamed court and worked to educate citizens about the court's new role. (Full article...)
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  Providence and Worcester GE B40-8W leads a passenger excursion for railfans at Plainfield, Connecticut in 2012

  
  The Providence and Worcester Railroad (P&W; reporting mark PW) is a Class II railroad operating 612 miles (985 km) of tracks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, as well as New York via trackage rights. The company was founded in 1844 to build a railroad between Providence, Rhode Island, and Worcester, Massachusetts, and ran its first trains in 1847. A successful railroad, the P&W subsequently expanded with a branch to East Providence, Rhode Island, and for a time leased two small Massachusetts railroads. Originally a single track, its busy mainline was double-tracked after a fatal 1853 collision in Valley Falls, Rhode Island.
  
  The P&W operated independently until 1888, when the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (NYP&B) leased it; four years later, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad obtained the lease when it purchased the NYP&B. The P&W continued to exist as a company, as special rules protecting minority shareholders made it prohibitively expensive for the New Haven to purchase the company outright. The New Haven continued to lease the Providence and Worcester for 76 years, until the former was merged into Penn Central (PC) at the end of 1968. Penn Central demanded the shareholder rules keeping P&W alive be rewritten, and also threatened to abandon the company's tracks. In response, a group of P&W shareholders launched a fight with PC, asking the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to cancel the lease and let the P&W leave the New Haven's merger and go free. Against expectations, the ICC agreed, and after court battles, P&W prevailed and began operating independently again after 85 years. Upon regaining its independence, the railroad purchased railroad lines from the Boston and Maine Railroad and PC successor Conrail in the 1970s and 1980s. The company turned a profit operating lines bigger companies lost money on, and invested heavily in its infrastructure. P&W also absorbed a number of shortline railroads in Connecticut and Rhode Island. (Full article...)
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  "Daisy", sometimes referred to as "Daisy Girl" or "Peace, Little Girl", was a controversial American political advertisement that aired on television as part of Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign. Though aired only once, it is considered one of the most important factors in Johnson's landslide victory over the Republican Party's candidate, Barry Goldwater, and a turning point in political and advertising history. A partnership between the Doyle Dane Bernbach agency and Tony Schwartz, the "Daisy" advertisement was designed to broadcast Johnson's anti-war and anti-nuclear positions. Goldwater was against the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and suggested the use of nuclear weapons in the Vietnam War, if necessary. The Johnson campaign used Goldwater's speeches to imply he would wage a nuclear war.
  
  The commercial begins with three-year-old Monique Corzilius standing in a meadow, picking the petals of a daisy as she counts from one to ten incorrectly. After she reaches "nine", she pauses, and a booming male voice is heard counting the numbers backward from "ten", in a manner similar to the start of a missile launch countdown. A zoom of the video still concentrates on the girl's right eye until her pupil fills the screen, which is then replaced by the flash and sound of a nuclear explosion. A voice-over by Johnson states emphatically: (Full article...)
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  Oregon State Capitol, view from Capitol Mall

  
  The Oregon State Capitol is the building housing the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in the state capital, Salem. Constructed from 1936 to 1938 and expanded in 1977, the current building is the third to house the Oregon state government in Salem. The first two capitols in Salem were destroyed by fire, one in 1855 and the other in 1935.
  
  New York architects Trowbridge & Livingston conceived the current structure's Art Deco stripped classical design in association with Francis Keally. Much of the interior and exterior is made of marble. The Oregon State Capitol was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 29, 1988. (Full article...)
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  USS Princess Matoika (ID-2290) under way in 1919

  
  USS Princess Matoika (ID-2290) was a transport ship for the United States Navy during World War I. Before the war, she was a Barbarossa-class ocean liner that sailed as SS Kiautschou for the Hamburg America Line and as SS Princess Alice (sometimes spelled Prinzess Alice) for North German Lloyd. After the war she served as the United States Army transport ship USAT Princess Matoika. In post-war civilian service she was SS Princess Matoika until 1922, SS President Arthur until 1927, and SS City of Honolulu until she was scrapped in 1933.
  
  Built in 1900 for the German Far East mail routes, SS Kiautschou traveled between Hamburg and Far East ports for most of her Hamburg America Line career. In 1904, she was traded to competitor North German Lloyd for five freighters, and renamed SS Princess Alice. She sailed both transatlantic and Far East mail routes until the outbreak of World War I, when she was interned in the neutral port of Cebu in the Philippines. Seized by the U.S. in 1917, the newly renamed USS Princess Matoika carried thousands of U.S. troops to and from France in U.S. Navy service from 1918 to 1919. As an Army transport after that, she continued to return troops and repatriated the remains of Americans killed overseas in the war. In July 1920 she was a last-minute substitute to carry a large portion of the United States team to the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. From the perspective of the Olympic team, the trip was disastrous and a majority of the team members published a list of grievances and demands of the American Olympic Committee in an action known today as the Mutiny of the Matoika. (Full article...)
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  Berman performing with Silver Jews at Webster Hall in 2006.

  
  David Cloud Berman (born David Craig Berman; January 4, 1967 – August 7, 2019) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and poet. In 1989, he founded – and was the only constant member of – the indie rock band Silver Jews with Pavement's Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich.
  
  With Malkmus, he developed the simple country-rock sound that characterized the early lo-fi recordings of both Pavement and Silver Jews. He worked extensively on his lyrics whose themes overlapped with his poetry, of which he only published one volume; his lyrics concerned many subjects, including his depression, which culminated in Berman attempting suicide in 2003. Afterward, he underwent rehabilitation, engaged with Judaism and toured for the first time, but soon dissolved the band. (Full article...)
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  U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the United States. It is part of the United States Numbered Highway System and runs for over 1,500 miles (2,400 km) along the Pacific Ocean. The highway is also known by various names, including El Camino Real in parts of California, the Oregon Coast Highway, and the Olympic Highway in Washington. Despite its three-digit number, normally used for spur routes, US 101 is classified as a primary route.
  
  The highway's southern terminus is at a major interchange with Interstate 5 (I-5) and I-10 in Los Angeles. US 101 follows several freeways in Southern California as it travels north of the Santa Monica Mountains and along the coast, where it is concurrent with California State Route 1 (SR 1). The highway travels inland from the coast after it splits from SR 1 and approaches the San Francisco Bay Area, where it becomes the Bayshore Freeway and later traverses San Francisco on city streets to reach the Golden Gate Bridge. US 101 continues north on the Redwood Highway and rejoins the coast before it enters Oregon. (Full article...)
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  A March 2006 aerial photo of Horseshoe Curve

  
  The Horseshoe Curve is a three-track railroad curve on Norfolk Southern Railway's Pittsburgh Line in Blair County, Pennsylvania. The curve is roughly 2,375 feet (700 m) long and 1,300 feet (400 m) in diameter. Completed in 1854 by the Pennsylvania Railroad as a way to reduce the westbound grade to the summit of the Allegheny Mountains, it replaced the time-consuming Allegheny Portage Railroad, which was the only other route across the mountains for large vehicles. The curve was later owned and used by three Pennsylvania Railroad successors: Penn Central, Conrail, and Norfolk Southern.
  
  Horseshoe Curve has long been a tourist attraction. A trackside observation park was completed in 1879. The park was renovated and a visitor center built in the early 1990s. The Railroaders Memorial Museum in Altoona manages the center, which has exhibits pertaining to the curve. The Horseshoe Curve was added to the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1966. It became a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 2004. (Full article...)
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  Solomon Porcius Sharp (August 22, 1787 – November 7, 1825) was an American lawyer and politician, serving as attorney general of Kentucky and a member of the United States Congress and the Kentucky General Assembly. His murder by Jereboam O. Beauchamp in 1825 is referred to as the Beauchamp–Sharp Tragedy or "The Kentucky Tragedy."
  
  Sharp began his political career representing Warren County in the Kentucky House of Representatives. He briefly served in the War of 1812, then returned to Kentucky and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1813. He was re-elected to a second term, though his support of a controversial bill regarding legislator salaries cost him his seat in 1816. Allied with Kentucky's Debt Relief Party, he returned to the Kentucky House in 1817; in 1821, he accepted Governor John Adair's appointment to the post of Attorney General of Kentucky. Adair's successor, Joseph Desha, re-appointed him to this position. In 1825, Sharp resigned as attorney general to return to the Kentucky House. (Full article...)
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  Fort Rosalie was destroyed in the 1729 massacre; its ruins now lie within Natchez National Historical Park.

  
  The Natchez revolt, or the Natchez massacre, was an attack by the Natchez Native American people on French colonists near present-day Natchez, Mississippi, on November 28, 1729. The Natchez and French had lived alongside each other in the Louisiana colony for more than a decade prior to the incident, mostly conducting peaceful trade and occasionally intermarrying. After a period of deteriorating relations and warring, Natchez leaders were provoked to revolt when the French colonial commandant, Sieur de Chépart, demanded land from a Natchez village for his own plantation near Fort Rosalie. The Natchez plotted their attack over several days and managed to conceal their plans from most of the French; colonists who overheard and warned Chépart of an attack were considered untruthful and were punished. In a coordinated attack on the fort and the homesteads, the Natchez killed almost all of the Frenchmen, while sparing most of the women and enslaved Africans. Approximately 230 colonists were killed overall, and the fort and homes were burned to the ground.
  
  When the French in New Orleans, the colonial capital, heard the news of the massacre, they feared a general Indian uprising and were concerned that the Natchez might have conspired with other tribes. They first responded by ordering a massacre of the Chaouacha people – who had played no role in the revolt – and wiped out their entire village. The French and their Choctaw allies then retaliated against the Natchez villages, capturing hundreds of Natchez and selling them into slavery, although many managed to escape to the north and take refuge among the Chickasaw people. The Natchez waged low-intensity warfare against the French over the following years, but retaliatory expeditions against Natchez refugees among the Chickasaw in 1730 and 1731 forced them to move on and live as refugees among the Creek and Cherokee tribes. By 1741, the Natchez had established a town in the northern parts of the Upper Creek Nation. There, with permission from the Abihka, they reconstituted their town and were signatories in the 1790 Treaty of New York and the 1796 Treaty of Colerain. They remain a constituent tribe of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated) -

• ... that during World War II, Oscar Holmes became the first black US naval aviator only because the still-segregated Navy initially thought that the light-skinned Holmes was white?
• ... that Donald Trump and his attorneys John Eastman and Rudy Giuliani spoke to some 300 Republican state legislators in an effort to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election?
• ... that the scenic fields of northern wyethia found in the western United States are sometimes a sign that an area has been overgrazed?
• ... that, upon ordination, Earl K. Fernandes will be the first Indian-American Latin Catholic bishop in the United States?
• ... that the August 2014 United States floods set rainfall records across cities in several states, including Michigan, Maine, and New York?
• ... that the Red Hill Band was commended by the United States Senate in 1965 for its "excellence and its state and community contributions"?
• ... that according to Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. Supreme Court justice David J. Brewer had "a sweetbread for a brain" and was a "menace to the welfare of the Nation"?
• ... that Continental Army soldier Adamson Tannehill, later the president of the Pittsburgh branch of the Bank of the United States, was also convicted of extortion?

Selected society biography -

Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006) was the thirty-eighth President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the fortieth Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974. He was the first person appointed to the vice presidency under the terms of the 25th Amendment, and became President upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974. Ford was the fifth U.S. President never to be elected for the position of President, but the only U.S. President to not even be elected as Vice President or President.

As president, Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, marking a move toward détente in the Cold War, even as South Vietnam, a former ally, was invaded and conquered by North Vietnam. Ford did not intervene in Vietnamese affairs, but did help extract friends of the U.S. Domestically, the economy suffered from inflation and a recession under President Ford. One of his more controversial decisions was granting a presidential pardon to President Richard Nixon for his role in the Watergate scandal. In 1976, Ford narrowly defeated Ronald Reagan for the Republican nomination, but ultimately lost the presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.

Selected image -

• 
  John Quincy Adams

  Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew Shiva

  John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) was an American statesman who served as a diplomat, minister and ambassador to foreign nations, and treaty negotiator, United States Senator, Congressman from Massachusetts, and the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. Involved in negotiating the treaties of Ghent, 1818, and Adams–Onís, Adams has been called one of the United States' greatest diplomats and secretaries of state. As president, he sought to modernize the American economy and promote education, paying off much of the national debt despite being stymied by a Congress controlled by opponents and lacking patronage networks. Historians have generally ranked him as an above-average president.
• 
  Point Cabrillo Light

  Photograph: Frank Schulenburg

  The Point Cabrillo Light is a lighthouse in northern California, United States, between Point Arena and Cape Mendocino, just south of the community of Caspar. It is part of the California state park system as Point Cabrillo Light Station State Historic Park. Completed in 1909, the lighthouse was manned by the United States Coast Guard from 1939 until it was automated in 1973. Beginning in 1996, the station was restored to the state it would have been in the 1930s.
• 
  Apollo 11 in popular culture

  Photograph: Jack Weir; restoration: CarolSpears

  Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two humans, commander Neil Armstrong and LM pilot Buzz Aldrin, on the Moon. On July 21, 1969, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon. This mission quickly captured the public's imagination and became prominent in popular culture. Over 530 million viewers worldwide watched the Moon landing, and it received widespread newspaper coverage. For example, the July 21, 1969, edition of The Washington Post—shown here—used the main headline "'The Eagle Has Landed'—Two Men Walk on the Moon". In subsequent years, the Moon landing has been frequently depicted or referenced in media, including in literature, films, and video games.
• 
  Situation Room

  Photo: Pete Souza

  Situation Room is a photograph taken by White House photographer Pete Souza in its namesake, the White House Situation Room, at 4:06 pm on May 1, 2011. It depicts U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, watching live drone feed of Operation Neptune Spear. A Navy SEAL team assaulted the compound of Osama bin Laden, the founder and head of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, in Abbottabad, Pakistan. This concluded an almost decade-long hunt for bin Laden following the September 11 attacks in 2001.
• 
  National Child Labor Committee

  Photo credit: Lewis Wickes Hine; restored by Michel Vuijlsteke

  A 1908 photo of child laborers in a glass factory in Indiana, United States, taken by Lewis Hine for the National Child Labor Committee, which formed after the 1900 census revealed that about 1 in 6 children between the ages of five and ten were gainfully employed. Hine's photos of children working in industrial settings resulted in a wave of popular support for federal child labor regulations put forward by the NCLC.
• 
  Great White Fleet

  Artist: William Allen Rogers; Restoration: Lise Broer

  An editorial cartoon from the New York Herald depicting (left to right) Uncle Sam, George Washington, and Theodore Roosevelt on a pier welcoming the Great White Fleet back into port. Roosevelt had ordered the fleet, which consisted of 16 battleships and various escort ships, to circumnavigate the globe as a demonstration of growing American military power and blue-water navy capability.
• 
  Abraham Lincoln

  Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew Shiva

  Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the Civil War, its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. Born in Kentucky into a poor family, Lincoln educated himself and worked as a lawyer in Illinois before entering politics. A powerful orator and astute politician, Lincoln used his Gettysburg Address to promote nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. He has been consistently ranked as one of the greatest US presidents, by both scholars and the public.
• 
  James Monroe

  Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew Shiva

  James Monroe (1758–1831) was an American statesman and Founding Father who served as the fifth President of the United States from 1817 to 1825. Monroe was the last president of the Virginia dynasty, and his presidency ushered in what is known as the Era of Good Feelings. An anti-federalist, Monroe had opposed ratification of the United States Constitution, claiming it gave too much power to the central government. After time as a senator in the first United States Congress and as Governor of Virginia, Monroe was easily elected president in 1816, winning over 80 percent of the electoral vote and becoming the last president during the First Party System era of American politics. During his presidency, he sought to ease partisan tensions and extend the country's reach from the Atlantic to the Pacific. He also supported the founding of colonies in Africa for freed slaves, and his declaration of the Monroe Doctrine became a landmark in American foreign policy.
• 
  Salem witch trials

  Lithographer: Joseph E. Baker; Restoration: Lise Broer

  A fanciful 1892 lithograph of the Salem witch trials. The trials, which took place between February 1692 and May 1693 in colonial Massachusetts, involved people accused of witchcraft, and have been used as a cautionary tale about the dangers of religious extremism, false accusations, lapses in due process, and governmental intrusion on individual liberties.
• 
  Altoona, Pennsylvania

  Lithograph: Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler and James Moyer; restoration: Adam Cuerden

  A lithograph by Thaddeus Mortimer Fowler and James Moyer showing the town of Altoona, Pennsylvania, in 1895. Founded in 1849 by the Pennsylvania Railroad as the site for a shop and maintenance complex, Altoona was incorporated in 1868. It grew rapidly, from a population of approximately 2,000 in 1854 to almost 20,000 in 1880. Presently the Altoona metropolitan area is home to 127,089, and the local economy has diversified to include healthcare and retail.
• 
  Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition

  Lithograph: Henderson Lithograph Company; restoration: Trialsanderrors

  An aerial view of the Tennessee Centennial and International Exposition, a belated celebration of the 100th anniversary of Tennessee's entry into United States held between May 1 and October 31, 1897, in what is now Centennial Park, Nashville. Various exhibits were held. For instance, the host city built a full-scale replica of the Greek Parthenon, whereas Memphis constructed a large pyramid.
• 
  Compromise of 1850

  Artist: Peter F. Rothermel; Engraver: Robert Whitechurch; Restoration: Lise Broer and Jujutacular

  U.S. Senator Henry Clay gives a speech in the Old Senate Chamber calling for compromise on the issues dividing the United States. The result was the Compromise of 1850, a package of five bills, the first two of which were passed on September 9. Ironically, these led to a breakdown in the spirit of compromise in the years preceding the Civil War, particularly after the deaths of Clay and Daniel Webster.
• 
  Battle of Leyte

  Photo credit: United States Army

  After being forced to leave the Philippines after the Japanese victory in 1942, General Douglas MacArthur vowed, "I shall return." 31 months later, he waded ashore at Palo Beach at the outset of the Battle of Leyte, fulfilling his pledge as the United States retook the island.
• 
  Rutherford B. Hayes

  Engraving: Bureau of Engraving and Printing; restoration: Andrew Shiva

  Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893) was an American soldier and politician who was elected the 19th President of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. The election, at the end of the Reconstruction Era, was highly contentious and he was declared the winner through the Compromise of 1877. As president he ended Army support for Republican state governments in the South, promoted civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and Reconstruction.
• 
  Half eagle

  Coin design credit: Robert Scot; photographed by Jaclyn Nash

  The half eagle is a United States coin that was produced for circulation from 1795 to 1929 and in commemorative and bullion coins since the 1980s. Made almost entirely of gold, it has a face value of five dollars. It was the first gold coin to be minted by the United States, authorized by the Coinage Act of 1792. Originally designed by Robert Scot, the design and composition of the half eagle has changed many times over the years. This half eagle, known as a "Turban Head", was minted in 1795 and is now part of the National Numismatic Collection. The coin's obverse depicts a personification of Liberty wearing a cap, while the reverse depicts a heraldic eagle.
  
  Other designs:
  '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-0000001C-QINU`"'
  

  
  * 1795
  * 1795–1798
  * 1797
  * 1807–1812
  * 1813–1834
  * 1813–1834 (alt)
  * 1834–1838
  * 1839–1866
  * 1866
  * 1908–1929
  

Selected culture biography -

Roman Vishniac was a renowned Russian-American photographer, best known for capturing on film the culture of Jews in Central and Eastern Europe before the Holocaust.

Vishniac was an extremely diverse photographer, an accomplished biologist and a knowledgeable collector and teacher of art history. Throughout his life, he made significant scientific contributions to the fields of photomicroscopy and time-lapse photography. Vishniac was very interested in history, especially that of his ancestors. In turn, he was strongly tied to his Jewish roots and was a Zionist later in life.

Roman Vishniac won international acclaim for his photography: his pictures from the shtetlach and Jewish ghettos, celebrity portraits, and images of microscopic biology. He is known for his book A Vanished World, published in 1983, which was one of the first such pictorial documentations of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe from that period and also for his extreme humanism, respect and awe for life, sentiments that can be seen in all aspects of his work.

Selected location -

Minnesota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. The 12th-largest state by area in the U.S., it is the 21^st most populous, with just over five million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the 32^nd state on May 11, 1858. The state is known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes".

Nearly 60% of Minnesota's residents live in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area known as the Twin Cities. The remainder of the state consists of western prairies now given over to intensive agriculture; eastern deciduous forests, also heavily farmed and settled; and the less populated northern boreal forest. The state's image of being populated by whites of Nordic and German descent has some truth, but diversity is increasing; substantial influxes of African, Asian, and Latin American immigrants have joined the descendants of European immigrants and of the original Native American inhabitants.

The extremes of the climate contrast with the moderation of Minnesota’s people. The state is known for its moderate-to-progressive politics and social policies, its civic involvement, and high voter turnout. It ranks among the healthiest states by a number of measures, and has one of the most highly educated and literate populations.

Selected quote -

Anniversaries for March 15

• 1767 – Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States, is born
• 1776 – South Carolina became the first American colony to declare its independence from Great Britain and set up its own government.
• 1820 – Maine becomes the 23rd U.S. state.
• 1916 – President Woodrow Wilson sends 12,000 United States troops over the U.S.-Mexico border to pursue Pancho Villa.
• 1919 – The American Legion forms in Paris.
• 1989 – The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (seal pictured) is established.

Selected cuisines, dishes and foods -

New York–style pizza, the original pizza in the United States

Pizza arrived in the United States in the early 20th century along with waves of Italian immigrants who settled primarily in the larger cities of the Northeast, such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore. After American soldiers stationed in Italy returned from World War II, pizza and pizzerias rapidly grew in popularity. (Full article...)

Selected panorama -

Skyline Boulevard in winter.

Skyline Boulevard stretches through the Santa Cruz Mountains, here near Palo Alto, California.

More did you know? -

• ... that Operation Power Flite, in which three U.S. Air Force B-52s flew non-stop around the world (route pictured), was made to show that "the United States had the ability to drop a hydrogen bomb anywhere in the world"?
• ... that the United States Supreme Court has ruled that interscholastic athletic associations have police power?
• ... that the Bacon Deluxe sandwich from Wendy's topped a list of the five most unhealthful gourmet burgers sold by national fast food restaurant chains in the United States?

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