There have been many comic book/television masked heroes introduced to the world such as Batman, Batgirl, Iron Man, Spiderman and the Green Hornet. The Green Hornet was first introduced as a children’s radio program for Detroit station WXYZ in January 1936. While the Green Hornet has been slightly altered since its introduction, in the majority of version its alter ego goes by the name of Britt Reid.

A Look At Green Hornet’s Alter Ego: Britt Reid

Who is Britt Reid? He is a young, wealthy and highly respected Daily Sentinel newspaper publisher. Reid is about public service, which is why at night he wears a mask and becomes the Green Hornet, who is a vigilante crime fighter. The Green Hornet does have a sidekick who goes by the name Kato. He also wears a mask and drives the duo’s technologically advanced vehicle dubbed “Black Beauty”. The Green Hornet battles the criminal element in the city by infiltrating the groups, leaving behind evidence and criminals for police to find and nab.

From Radio To Movies: The Adaptation Of The Green Hornet

Now, the Green Hornet was modified into two movie serials:

- 1940 The Green Hornet
- 1941 The Green Hornet Strikes Again

Now, the first adaptation had 13 chapters while its predecessor had a couple more for a total of 15. In every serial, the pair were linked to one huge criminal syndicate that ended up utterly defeated in the finale. The radio version had several factions that worked entirely independent from one another.

The Introduction Of The Green Hornet Comic Books

Bear in mind that in December 1940, the Green Hornet comic book made newsstands. Fran Striker wrote the series while Helnit Comics published it under the title Green Hornet Comics. It ran for just six issues.

Beginning at issue number seven, Harvey Comics took over and published an additional 41 issues. In issue 34, the title was modified to Green Hornet Fights Crime and, with issue 44, it was changed to Green Hornet, Racket Buster. He was also featured in War Victory Comics in 1942. Here, he assisted in encouraging Americans about the war that wasn’t going well at that time. He also made appearances in All-New Comics issues 13 and 14 in 1946 with a cover shoot on issue 13.

A Move To The Small Screen and Big Screen

The television network ABC created the Green Hornet television series, which aired from 1966 to 1967 and starred Van Williams. Williams played both the publisher and masked hero. Bruce Lee was his sidekick Kato.

With the help of the Green Hornet and his other accomplishments, Lee rose to international stardom and became the United States’ first naturalized citizens from China. Lee not only became an actor; he was also a film producer, film director, screenwriter and philosopher. He also founded the Jeer Kune Do martial arts. During the 1970s, he starred in five movies that kick-started the martial arts film industry.

A little irony about Lee’s success and his Kato role: it’s mostly responsible for the attention the TV series got in later years. In the live action 1960s Batman TV series, both the Green Hornet and Kato made appearances as anti-heroes during episodes Batman’s Satisfaction and A Piece of the Action, which were in the series’ second season. For 14 issues in 1989, the Green Hornet showed up in NOW Comics, with another 40 issues between 1991 and 1995.

Since the 1990s, a film version for the masked hero was thrown about by both Miramax and Universal Pictures. However, it would be Sony Pictures that would release the action-comedy Green Hornet on Jan. 14, 2011. It starred Seth Rogen who co-wrote the film script with the help of Evan Goldberg. The film took Britt Reid’s character a different direction by portraying him as a drunken playboy who takes life more seriously after his father dies. The cast of the movie includes:

Jay Chou – Kato
Cameron Diaz – Lenore Case
Christoph Waltz – Chudnofsky
Edward James Olmos – Mike Axford

It’s true that the Green Hornet doesn’t have the same exposure or following as the other popular crimefighters such as Spiderman and Batman. However, the Hornet’s legend is likely to continue far off into the future.

The Green Hornet is a U.S. comic book, radio and TV hero behind a mask who made his debut on a children’s radio program on January 31, 1936, on WXYZ, the same local Detroit station that originated The Lone Ranger. Although the character has been slightly modified over the years, in the majority of his versions Britt Reid, a young, rich and respected newspaper publisher and owner of the Daily Sentinel was the secret identity of the Green Hornet. He is all about public service so at night he donned a mask and became the Green Hornet, a vigilante crime-figher. He is accompanied by his confidant and sidekick, Kato, who also wears a mask and pilots their futuristic and technological automobile, the “Black Beauty”. In his role as the Green Hornet, Reid poses as a crook in order to penetrate and then fight underworld elements, leaving evil-doers behind for the police along with the evidence necessary to convict them.

The Green Hornet appeared in two serials in movie theaters: The Green Hornet in 1940 and The Green Hornet Strikes Again in 1941! The Green Hornet had a total of 13 installments while The Green Hornet Strikes Again! lasted a bit longer at 15 chapters, with the Green Hornet and Kato foiling a different crime in every chapter. The radio program had presented the duo as fighting numerous different criminal organizations but in each of the film serials they battled just one syndicate until they ultimately defeated it in the final episode.

Green Hornet comic books also appeared on news stands in December of 1940. A series, titled Green Hornet Comics, was published by Helnit Comics, written by Fran Striker and ran for six issues. Harvey Comics took over beginning with issue number seven and published another forty-one issues! The title was changed to Green Hornet Fights Crime as of issue number 34, and Green Hornet, Racket Buster with issue number 44. The Green Hornet was also featured in a public-service issue of War Victory Comics in 1942 where he helped encourage Americans whose war wasn’t going too well. He also appeared in issues thirteen and fourteen of All-New Comics in 1946 and even appeared on the cover of number thirteen!

The Green Hornet also appeared as a U.S. TV show that aired on the ABC TV network. It was broadcast during the 1966–1967 TV season with actor Van Williams starring as both the Britt Reid and the Green Hornet, with Bruce Lee co-starring as his sidekick Kato. Lee became an international icon due to his numerous accomplishments and the fact that he was one of the first naturalized U.S. citizens from China to find fame in America. Lee was a philosopher, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and founder of the Jeet Kune Do martial arts movement. He starred in five movies that brought martial arts films to the U.S. in the 1970s. Ironically, Lee’s sidekick role and later fame on the big screen is most responsible for the attention that the TV series received in later years. The Green Hornet and Kato also appeared as anti-heroes in the second season of the live-action 1960s Batman TV series, in the two part episodes “A Piece of the Action” and “Batman’s Satisfaction”. The Green Hornet also appeared in NOW Comics for fourteen issues in 1989 and another forty between 1991 and 1995.

A movie version of the Green Hornet has been given serious consideration begining in the 1990s, with Miramax and Universal Pictures both wanting to produce a movie. Finally, Sony Pictures, a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, succeeded in bringing a comedy-action Green Hornet film to the big screen on January 14, 2011, starring Seth Rogen who penned the script along with Evan Goldberg. The movie added a new, never before mentioned concept to the story showing Britt Reid as a drunken playboy who only got serious about life after the death of his father. Jay Chou also starred in the film as Kato along with a megastar cast including Edward James Olmos, Chrisotph Waltz and Cameron Diaz.

While the Green Hornet has not had the attention that fellow crimefighters like Batman and Spiderman, his legend has endured and will most likely continue into the future!

Many people think most about how to improve their lives when a new year is approaching. Everyone wants to make different changes in life but one thing is clear … all of the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions on everyone’s list are things that they feel will make them happier.

The three main categories that appear over and over again on everyone’s lists are changes involving improvement in health, finances and personal relationships. It makes perfect sense that true happiness requires a healthy body, freedom from financial concerns and other people with whom you can share your life.

Most of us have room for improvement in more than one of these general categories. If that’s so in your case then you should probably have more than one New Year’s Resolution. Rather than deciding to get in such great shape that you can run a marathon next year, why not plan to exercise thirty minutes per day and also improve the relationship with a loved one? True happiness requires at least a moderate success in each of the three categories. Being the most fit person on Earth won’t make you happy if you are sitting home alone or if you’re dealing with debt collectors. The smart thing to do when making resolutions is to set reasonable goals in all three areas. Then once you’ve accomplished those goals you can always set further ones.

The number one New Year’s Resolution in the developed nations today is to lose weight. If that’s your goal, first ask yourself why that is important to you. Just being thinner won’t necessarily make you happier. If you want to feel better and increase your endurance, that’s a great reason! If you think that being thinner will increase your chances of finding love, that might be helpful but it also might not. Being aware of why you want to achieve a goal can be very useful in deciding how much effort to put into that goal. And remember that if it took you five years to gain the weight, you shouldn’t expect to take it off in a month. Would it be the end of the world if it took a full year to be fit for the rest of your life?

The number two New Year’s Resolution is often to quit smoking. All you have to do is visit an old age home and see the elderly people with persistent coughs and unable to survive without an oxygen bottle to know that quitting is just common sense. It’s not always an easy goal to achieve. Nicotine is an extremely addictive drug! Many people who have quit failed several times before they were successful. You shouldn’t use that as an excuse to give up but also don’t give up just because you failed the first time. Smoking can interfere with all three main categories of happiness. Some employers won’t hire you. Some potential mates won’t have you. You are far less likely to be healthy. ‘Nuff said!

The third most common New Year’s Resolution is another health-related issue. Getting more exercise is important for decreasing your chances of getting so many life-ending illnesses. When your heart, lungs and muscles work more efficiently you feel great! You’ll look better! You’ll feel better! You’ll most likely live longer! You’ll work harder and probably earn more money! You’ll play harder in your free time! While exercise seems like a lot of work at first, you actually get to the point where it’s enjoyable in a very short amount of time. A minimum effort of only 30 minutes per day of vigorous exercise is all you need. It won’t reduce your time for other things because fit people require less sleep. Play racquetball with the boss and you might also improve your finances. Or play tennis with a family member, frien or an appealing potential mate to also improve your relationships. Walk a treadmill while watching television. Make exercise fun and you’ll stick with it for life.

Several further New Year’s Resolutions involve improving one’s financial situation. Learning a new career or saving money or getting out of debt are often mentioned. During hard economic times simply getting a job is often at the top of some people’s list. This is an area where many people over-emphasize the increase in happiness that they’ll receive. Obviously, you must have enough money to afford a safe place to live, decent food, dependable transportation, clothing and all of the other things neccesary for a decent life. But do you need a bigger boat to be happy? Or a bigger house? Or the best restaurants when you dine out? These things are nice but not necessary. They are likely to increase happiness but they usually also come at a cost. Do you have to work 70 hour weeks to afford that bigger boat? That could be taking time away from getting healthy or from building personal relationships. On your deathbed will you be more likely to remember those great times on the boat or the picnics with your family? Or the evenings at home with friends. So there’s nothing wrong with wanting more money and things but when you set those types of goals don’t forget about the other things that make you happy!

In fact, another common New Year’s Resolution is spending more quality time with family and friends. When is the last time you asked a loved one what their day was like? Do you have friends that you know would be there for you in a pinch? Are you involved in a fully committed relationship or one that’s lost its juice? Find common interests with your family members and set dates to do those things with them. Ask your mate out on a romantic date and leave the kids with Grandma. Help a good friend with a problem in their life.

Unfortunately, some of us have really serious problems. A common New Year’s resolution is to stop abusing alcohol or a drug. Addictions are especially important to defeat as they nearly always destroy all chances of happiness in all three main categories. If you are addicted to something, understand that you almost certainly won’t be able to solve these types of problems by yourself. We’re all human … no one is perfect. Swallow your pride and ask for help! Not sometime next year. Do it today! You’re never so deep in that hole that you can’t pull yourself out with help. If you don’t know what to do, ask a loved one, a friend or a cop if necessary to refer you to someone who can help you. There’s a rainbow at the end of every storm but you have to take action.

One New Year’s Resolution that isn’t made nearly often enough is to help someone who is less fortunate than yourself or someone in need. You don’t need money to do this. The lonely old man who sits on his porch alone all day might love it if you’d just take 15 minutes once in a while to talk to him. He might appreciate it if you’d take him along to the grocery store when you’re going anyway. Spend an evening each month serving food at the local homeless shelter. Call the numbers on bingo night at the old folks’ home. If you’ve got limited financial resources, donate those canned goods from the pantry that your family won’t eat. Drop a dollar in the Salvation Army bucket during the holidays. It’s only a dollar and others are hungry! When you pass that donation site by it makes you feel bad or resentful. When you drop one dollar in there you’ll feel good about it! Isn’t that worth a buck? If you’re more fortunate do a little more. Some charities can feed dozens of people in poor nations for a 25 dollar per month premium. Happiness given to others comes back several times over! It really does!

Other miscellaneous New Year’s Resolutions include falling in love, learning something new, stopping procrastination and getting organized. All of these desires can greatly improve your happiness but remember to be reasonable in setting goals and don’t concentrate so heavily on one thing that you ignore everything else.

Happy New Year!

Thank you for visiting our “What Are the Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions” post!

EBay allows sellers and buyers worldwide to make transactions in a virtual environment. This method allows users to sell on eBay a few items that would normally be sold at garage sales for most likely a lower price because the number of potential buyers is much larger. Experienced sellers can also use eBay to resell wholesale products by creating an eBay store or simply at auction. Success rates will improve by learning how to sell on eBay.

First, a new user of eBay must register as a seller with them by providing a valid name, address and phone number, as well as establishing preferred payment options. PayPal provides convenience, processing speed and confidentiality; however, varied circumstances may require other payment options. For example, you may want to accept money orders for those customers who don’t have a bank account. Of course, you don’t ship your items to such customers until their money order has cleared your account. Just be sure to state that policy in your listings.

Sellers are encouraged to make a few purchases before attempting to sell on eBay. Buying items from eBay will help new users become familiar with the format and experience. It will also allow the new seller to receive some feedback from completed purchases. The feedback system can help bolster the credibility of the seller. This is a very important point, perhaps the most important one in becoming a successful eBay seller. You want to do everything in your power to prevent bad feedback. More than one or two percent of your buyers or sellers complaining about you could hurt your sales dramatically. Don’t make promises you can’t deliver. If it might take a day or two to ship an item don’t promise expedited delivery. If your item is used don’t say that it is brand new. That might help you make that one sale but the negative feedback you will receive will cost you many more.

After establishing an account and becoming familiar with the environment, determine what to sell on eBay. Common items include used electronics, computers, collectibles, and uniquely crafted items. EBay can also be used to promote products for a physical store, in order to expand the customer base of a product or business. Some businesses solely operate online, selling wholesale products on eBay. Hand made items do very well if they are either useful or unique in function or appearance.

It is important to be familiar with the rules that eBay has defined; failing to follow the rules by selling forbidden or restricted items can result in account suspension or termination. Products most likely to sell on eBay include a complete description that specifies the weight and measurements to determine shipping costs. Noteworthy information about the product should be stated clearly, especially any defects or flaws. Remember, negative feedback from disgruntled buyers can impact future sales. If you think that you have found some “trick” that will bring more buyers to your listing than it deserves, you are probably wrong. It’s most likely been tried many times before and eBay is looking for it. Honesty is without a doubt the best possible policy.

Include a descriptive title that uses key words relevant to the product; searching for similar products helps with developing the description. Pictures add to the description and help to instill confidence in a potential buyer. Use correct grammar and spelling as well as proper terminology to refer to the product; buyers are more likely to purchase from a seller who seems knowledgeable and informed about the product listed.

Products can be set at a fixed price, or products can be sold through an online auction with a minimum bid and a deadline. An auction can be useful for items that have an uncertain value or a value that fluctuates rapidly. However, if a seller has a price in mind for a product, a fixed price may be more suitable. You can also elect to do both. List some of your items at a fixed price and others at an auction. On auctions you can also list a price that you will accept immediately which is higher than the minimum bid. For example, your item starts bidding at one dollar. You have a minimum guarantee of three dollars before you will let the item go but you could also list a buy it right away price of five dollars. If a customer doesn’t want to mess with watching the auction throughout its run and possibly lose the item, they may prefer to skip the one dollar minimum bid and be sure they will get it for five bucks. As you can see, there are many options on how to sell on eBay.

When all options are completed, the seller must submit the product in order for it to become available to buyers. The seller should then monitor the listing for questions and answer them promptly, in order to avoid missed opportunities. Answwering questions from buyers quickly will result in fewer negative reviews from disgruntled buyers and also get more sales from satisfied customers. Once the item has sold, the seller must still process the sale and obtain feedback to ensure buyer satisfaction.

Processing the sale includes verifying the payment was received and shipping the product. The seller should package the product well to ensure it arrives intact, and ship it via the agreed upon method. The seller should follow up with the buyer and answer any questions, including providing tracking to ensure the package arrives. In fact, it’s highly recommended to email the buyer and let them know that their item has been shipped. Also advisable is to add a note to that email about how you want them to be satisfied with their purchase and to let you know if the package doesn’t arrive on time or if they are unsatisfied in any way. Once any questions are resolved, the seller should request that the buyer leave feedback on eBay to add to future credibility. Continuing to sell on eBay successfully will increase positive feedback and ensure success.

Hopefully you have found this post useful in determining how to sell on eBay. If you follow these guidelines you will have few problems with buyers or with the staff at eBay. Congratulations on your decision to become an online entrepreneur!

FTP is an acronym for “File Transfer Protocol”. In simple terms, it’s a standard of ways to do things that allows different types of computers and those using different operating systems to send files to each other over the internet.

Before FTP, computer users had to use relatively complex techniques in order to transfer files from one system to another. Different computers and operating systems were not designed to work together. If you wanted to transfer a file, you had to tell each computer how to work with the other one using command line codes. This severly limited file sharing to the very computer literate only.

The ftp protocol was first offered to ARPANET users in 1971 (read more about ARPANET in our article, “Who created the Internet?”). While it did greatly improve the ability to transfer files, it was still not very intuitive, requiring some technical knowledge in its use. By 1973, many changes to the protocol took place and it became much easier to use.

Further improvements have been made since then and, today, FTP can be used to transfer files between computers by simply selecting the file on one computers hard drive, selecting the destination folder on the other computers hard drive, and clicking a transfer button!

The development of links on the internets made this transfer even more available those with little or no technical knowledge of computers. When you click on a link, your web browser uses FTP to transfer the file to your computer with no additional action needed by you!

Thank you for visiting our “What Does FTP Stand For?” page!

Do you have old wood floors in your home that are scratched or the finish is worn out? You can in many cases make those old floors magnificent again! This is often a repair that can be done by a handy non-professional. You may want to consider hiring a professional, however, if your wood needs more than basic refinishing. Are there areas that need major repair? Termite damage or bleach stains? It is possible to hire an expert to fix just those problems and then refinish your wood floor yourself.

The first of our wood floor refinishing tips is to make sure you have everything you need before you begin the job. Nothing kills the feeling of accomplishment on a home repair like having to stop six times to run to the home center for something. Here’s a basic list of what you’ll need:

1. A large, wide push broom (for the main floor)
2. A regular upright straw broom (for corners)
3. A shop vacuum
4. Several dust masks
5. Plastic sheeting to block doorways and keep sawdust out of other rooms/areas
6. Ten to fifteen rags
7. Paint thinner, small can
8. Workman’s gloves
9. A floor sander and edger if necessary (Orbital sander preferred, drum sanders are hard to control)
10. Sandpaper that fits the rental sander (Grits 36, 60, 80, and 100). Ask if they take back unused sandpaper!
11. Wood Stain
12. Brushes
13. Rollers with handle that’s long enough to prevent bending over
14. A finish of either floor wax (less refinishing/more upkeep) or polyurethane (most popular)

Ask an employee at the place where you are renting the sanders how much sandpaper, stain, and finish you’ll need. You will, of course, have to know how many square feet of wood floor you are refinishing and approximately how much wood you’ll be removing. If they can’t answer your question, you may want to consider doing business with someone else. You may need expert advice half way through the job!

Once you have all of the supplies that will be needed, the next step is to clear everything out of the room or area where you’ll be refinishing your wood floor. Remember that there will be sawdust in the air so you might even want to remove pictures, mirrors, and other items from the walls. It typically pays to cover the openings to adjacent rooms with plastic sheeting in order to confine the dust to the area where you’ll be working.

Now you’re ready for our actual wood floor refinishing tips! You will certainly want to get the floor ready for sanding by removing any carpeting, removing carpet tacks and strips, and making sure that anything sticking out of the floor (like nails or staples) are either pulled out or pounded down below the point where you intend to sand. Otherwise, you will rip up the expensive sandpaper!

Insert the coarsest grit of sandpaper onto your orbital sander. The lower the grit number is, the more coarse the sandpaper. So if you bought grits–—36, 60, 80, 100 as recommended above, you start with #36. Always move the sander in the same direction as the grain in the wood. Never sand against the grain when refinishing a wood floor. Pushing and pulling tends to work better than swinging the sander from side to side. Keep the sander moving. If you concentrate too long in one area, your floor may end out concave in areas. If you do accidentally put a gouge in your wood floor, use long strokes of the sander until it eventually evens out. And don’t forget to use those filter masks! Your lungs are worth more than a new floor!

Once any big nicks or gouges have been removed and your wood floor looks reasonably even, vacuum up all of the sawdust and change to the next size sandpaper (#60). This time will require much less sanding. You are simply making the floor a bit smoother rather than removing imperfections in the floor.

Then vacuum again and change to #80 sandpaper … vacuum and change to #100 sandpaper … and the sanding of the main floor is complete!

If the orbital sander you rented didn’t refinish the floor’s surface all of the way to the edge of the floor, you now have to follow the identical sanding procedure with your edge sander. Start with #36, vacuum, change to #6, vacuum, etc. The final vacuuming is very important as you want a perfectly clean surface before you apply a stain or a clear finish. You should also use a rag after vacuuming that is first soaked with water, wrung as dry as possible, and then soaked with paint thinner and wrung until wet but not dripping.

Before you begin actually applying a finish to your wood floor, there are two additional things to consider. Floor finishes create hazardous fumes so you need to open window and doors if necessary to get adequate ventilation. You also have to consider whether you want to stain your floor or you want to maintain a more natural look. In both cases you will still have to apply a finish coat.

If you decide to stain your wood floor, first try a small area in an unseen corner of a closet or in the most unseen location possible. Stain dries to its final hue in less than 15 minutes so you’ll be sure that you like the finished product. Once your happy with the stain finish, use a brush to apply a first coat if you want a darker finish or with a rag if you want a lighter finish. If you use a brush you should still go over it with a rag to just smooth everything out and avoid dark and light spots. Whether using a rag or brush, be sure to apply the stain in long strokes with the grain. Never apply stain or final finishes against the grain!

You may have to apply a second coat of stain to achieve the look you want for your wood floor. Sometimes you only need to touch up the lighter spots. Of course, you should let the first coat dry completely before applying the second coat.

Whether your wood floor refinishing included applying a stain or you just want a natural look, you still have to apply a finish coat of floor wax or clear polyurethane. Be sure to stir, not shake, the polyurethane as shaking it will create bubbles that will dry in place on your floor! Again, only apply your finish “with” the grain. If you feel that the floor needs a second coat, wait at least 3 hours before applying it and be gentle walking on the floor. Polyurethane dries very slowly so you will have to wait at least 10 hours and as long as 72 hours before allowing normal “traffic” on the floor or moving rugs and furniture back into the room or area after the final coat.

Refinishing your wood floor is a lot of work but if you have a decent foundation with no wood rot or other major problems, wood floor refinishing is a relatively cheap way to add a beautiful detail to your home that is easy to maintain!

Thank you for visiting our Wood Floor Refinishing Tips post!

In order to understand why the sky is blue, you must first learn a bit about the properties of light. While the light from the Sun or an artificial source such as a light bulb may look white, it’s actually composed of many colors. A rainbow displays those colors by splitting the light through water droplets in the air. All of those colors, when combined, appear to be white.

You’ve probably heard the term “light wave”. Each of the colors that make up the white light have a different wavelength. It’s not necessary that you totally understand this in order to understand why the sky is blue. Just so you know that the different colors have different properties (wavelengths).

Waves can be affected by the world around them. Light waves can be reflected. That’s why you can see your “reflection” in a mirror. Light waves are reflected off your face, then reflected off the mirror’s surface, and then back to your eyes and you see yourself!

Waves can also be absorbed. Light waves can be absorbed by the gas molecules in Earth’s atmosphere. We mentioned earlier that the different colors in light have different wavelengths. Some wavelengths are absorbed by the atmosphere better than others. Therefore, some of the colors pass through the atmosphere (sky) and some are absorbed.

The color whose wavelength is most readily absorbed just happens to be blue! The other colors of sunlight pass straight through the atmosphere and illuminate the surface of the Earth and everything on it. The blue light, however, after being absorbed by the gas molecules, re-radiates away from them in all directions. So when you look at the sky, it is literally “shining with blue light”.

To put it in very simple terms … the sky is blue because it absorbs the blue light from the Sun while letting the other colors pass through.

So what makes a sunset look red or orange? Is the atmosphere absorbing orange lightwaves? The answer is no. The same effect that causes the sky to be blue causes a sunset to appear red or orange. Let’s look at how that occurs.

When you look at a sunset, you’re not looking at the sky … you’re looking at the Sun. You’re seeing the light waves that are least absorbed by the molecules in the atmosphere. The ones that pass through and make it to your eyes. The color that is least absorbed just happens to be red. As the Sun gets lower and lower in the sky, its light passes through more and more of the atmosphere before reaching your eyes. That results in not only more and more of the blue light being absorbed … the molecules start absorbing more and more of the other colors too. If you see the sunset in the flatlands where its light is passing through a maximum amount of atmosphere, all of the lightwaves are being absorbed more and more than the red ones. That’s why the color of the sunset changes as it gets lower in the sky!

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Veterans Day actually began on November 11, 1919 but was called “Armistice Day”. The word “Armistice” means “a suspension of hostilities by agreement between the opponents” and referred, in this case, to the end of World War I. On May 13, 1938 Armistice Day became a legal Federal holiday dedicated to the idea of world peace and also became an occasion to honor the veterans who served in World War I.

On May 26, 1954 President Eisenhower signed a bill declaring that Armistice Day be expanded to honor all U.S. Veterans, not just those from World War I. In November of the same year Congress officially amended that bill by changing the word “Armistice” to “Veterans” and we still honor the service of all U.S. Veterans on Veterans Day each year.

Veterans Day is celebrated each year on November 11th unless that day falls on a weekend. If it’s a Sunday, we celebrate it on the 12th (Monday). If it falls on a Saturday, it can either be held on Saturday or the 10th (the preceding Friday).

While the name of the holiday is often written as “Veteran’s Day” (with an apostrophe), that is not the official spelling which contains no apostrophe. That makes sense if you consider that the holiday is not technically the Veteran’s day. It is a day for all of us to honor and thank Veterans for their service to us. For risking (and giving) their lives for our freedom.

Many countries have a moment of silence at 11:00 AM on November 11th as the Armistice of World War I was signed on November 11th at 11:00 AM (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month)!

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In order to answer the question, “Why did the revolutionary war start?”, we have to begin even further back in time. In the summer of 1747, a French expedition into their territories in the New World found that the native Indians were very friendly and actively trading with the British merchants. The leader of the expedition told the Indians and British Merchants to end their relationships and recognize French ownerships of the land. Both the native Americans and the new British Americans pretty much told them to “buzz off”!

During 1752 and 1753, the French sent Marines into “their” territory to punish British traders for not stopping their business with local Indians. Many British citizens were killed. In October of 1753, the Governor of Virginia sent Major George Washington of the Virginia militia to tell the French to leave Virginia territory.

Anyway, this disagreement over who had a right to trade in those territories evolved into the “French and Indian War” of 1954-1763. The years 1756-1753 saw it magnify into a world-wide war known as the “Seven Years War”. The British colonist and British troups fought together in this war so how did it start the Revolutionary War?

As in most things political, the answer is money! The war was extremely expensive. The British people and government felt that the American colonies should pay the bulk of the cost since the war was to protect their lands. Of course, the vast bulk of those lands were actually owned by the Crown and rich British citizens and the French never intended to harm the colonists unless they were infringing on what the French considered to be their territory. Far, far fewer than 1% of the colonists lived in those lands.

In most cases the taxes were huge and on items that the typical person of that day felt they had no choice but to buy. The three best known examples were sugar, paper, and tea. The American colonists formed a “Stamp Act Congress” that constructed a letter of protest to the British Government and actually got the tax repealed!

The long, drawn out process of getting that tax repealed, however, only made the Americans more aware of how little control they had over their lives. A government in London made all of their decisions and no colonist sat in that government. The colonists began insisting on no taxation without representation. King George and the Parliment wondered who those upstarts thought they were! To demand anything of your King was unthinkable! But, of course, it wasn’t unthinkable to the colonists. Their destruction of shiploads of Tea in Boston harbor was the last straw.

So the rulers in England and their representatives in the colonies cracked down hard on the colonists. In 1770, unarmed colonial tax protesters were shot and killed by British troops. The Intolerable Acts of 1774 pushed the colonists to their limits. The worst one was the “Administration of Justice Act” which made it easy to move a trial against any Royal official to another venue including all the way to Great Britain! George Washington called this act the “Murder Act” because it allowed British officials to do just about anything they wanted to do and then have their trial where no colonial witness could afford to go due to long travel times. About all the Intolerable Acts did was motivate the colonists to form the “First Continental Congress” to organize a protest to the acts. Of course, eventually that same Continental Congress would declare independence from Britain!

There were many other Acts including the “Boston Port Act” that closed the port of Boston until the cost of the Tea dumped at the Boston Tea Party was repaid and the “Massachusetts Bay Regulating Act” that said all law officers had to be appointed by the royal governor. Local colonial governments could no longer choose their own cops!

By the end of 1774, relations between the colonies and the British officials were almost non-existant. Britain passed laws and the colonists said no! At some point, a majority of colonists wanted a war to drive their oppressors out of the new world! It became obvious to the British that a large military force would be necessary to bring the colonists back under their control.

On April 19, 1775, Paul Revere made his famous ride to warn the people of Concord and Lexington that the “Britist Are Coming” and the Revolutionary War started with the battle of Lexington Green!

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There are many factors that contribute to why gas prices are so high but there are four main reasons.

The first main factor is the supply of crude oil. There are many different opinions about how much crude oil remains to be extracted from the Earth. One thing that everyone agrees on, however, is that the supply is finite. When supply decreases, prices rise. It is therefore inarguable that gas prices will rise as time goes by due to increased scarcity. One common argument to this is that we are constantly finding new places to drill for oil but that doesn’t change the fact that the total amount to be found is finite. In addition, the oil fields that were the easiest and cheapest to access are either dried up or drying up. Future oil will be much more expensive due to increased costs. Also, new oil discoveries have been less than the oil consumed since 1980 so supply is decreasing despite the discovery of new, more expensive supplies.

The second factor for why gas prices are so high is the accelerating increase of demand. As nations with huge populations like China and India increase their technological infrastructure, they will be consuming more and more gas. The combined populations of those two nations alone is eight times that of the United States! The vast majority of those people are or soon will be disposing of their bicycles and buying automobiles. They will junk their wood stoves when they purchase homes with central heating and air-conditioning. So with supplies of gasoline decreasing and demand increasing, gas prices will certainly continue to get higher.

A lesser but important third factor that can cause higher gas prices is the trading of oil futures. Commodity traders know that crude oil prices are destined to rise so they buy oil futures. This creates an increase in current oil prices. Why should oil companies sell oil at prices that should be lower than what they will definitely get for them in the future?

The final factor that determines the price of oil is the declining value of the U.S. dollar. As the dollar becomes less valuable, crude oil sellers want more dollars for their oil. The dollar has lost nearly 50% of its value over the last decade due to many factors including the balance of trade deficit and the budget deficit. When the government spends more money than it receives in taxes, it prints more money. That decreases the value of all U.S. currency. When consumers purchase more goods and services from other nations than we sell to them, the supply of dollars in foreign banks goes up. That also reduces the value of the dollar.

In simpler terms, the reason why gas prices are so high is because:

1. There is less crude oil available every day and what is left costs more to get out of the ground.

2. More people are “bidding against us” for that oil every day.

3. Investors make money betting on future oil prices and their profits are added to the price.

4. We Americans and our government spend more than we earn and that devalues our money.

While we can temporarily somewhat decrease gas prices by driving less, recycling waste, spending less on foreign goods, selling more to foreign markets, and regulating futures traders, the best answer to decreasing oil prices is by developing alternative energy sources. Every dollar spent on solar, wind, nuclear, and other alternative energy technologies is one less dollar of demand for crude oil. And eventually, we won’t need gas at all!

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The U.S. Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776 by 56 members of the Continental Congress. John Hancock got to sign first with his huge signature because he was the President of the Congress. It’s commonly believed that John Hancock said, “There, I guess King George will be able to read that!” when he signed, referring to the King’s bad vision, but there’s no actual proof that he really said that.

The youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence (Edward Rutledge of South Carolina) was only 26-years-old and the oldest (Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania) was 70-years-old! Two of the signers would go on to be Presidents of the United States. They were John Adams (the 2nd President from Massachusetts) and Thomas Jefferson (the 3rd President from Virginia).

Most of the members of the Continental Congress had notable achievement of their own but their connections to other famed historical characters were often almost unbelievable! One of the best examples of this is Benjamin Harrison. Besides his intense involvement in the development and execution on the American Revolution, Harrison also was the Governor of Virginia from 1781-1784. He went on after that to be elected to the Virginia State Legislature and rose to the Speaker of the House!

But the really interesting stuff about Harrison that is so common with many Continental Congress members is not his great personal achievements. Harrison’s son was William Henry Harrison, the ninth President of the United States, and his great-grandson, Benjamin Harrison VI, was the 23rd President! Harrison’s father was also an ancestor of civil war General Robert E. Lee. The fellow who succeeded Harrison as the Governor of Virginia was Patrick Henry, famed for his “Give me liberty or give me death” speech.

In any case, these wonderful characters from U.S. history have a nearly unlimited number of tantilizing stories that should make delightful reading for any history buff! Below find a list of all 56 Continental Congress members who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Connecticut

Samuel Huntington
Roger Sherman
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott

Delaware

Thomas McKean
George Read
Caesar Rodney

Georgia

Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Maryland

Charles Carroll
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone

Massachusetts

John Adams
Samuel Adams
John Hancock
Elbridge Gerry
Robert Treat Paine

New Hampshire

Josiah Bartlett
Matthew Thornton
William Whipple

New Jersey

Abraham Clark
John Hart
Francis Hopkinson
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon

New York

William Floyd
Francis Lewis
Philip Livingston
Lewis Morris

North Carolina

Joseph Hewes
William Hooper
John Penn

Pennsylvania

George Clymer
Benjamin Franklin
Robert Morris
John Morton
George Ross
Benjamin Rush
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson

Rhode Island

William Ellery
Stephen Hopkins

South Carolina

Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Edward Rutledge

Virginia

Carter Braxton
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Jefferson
Richard Henry Lee
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
George Wythe

The original Declaration of Independence is badly faded but it is on view in the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom in Washington, DC. There are also twenty-four copies of the Declaration that were printed by John Dunlap and are known today as “Dunlap Broadsides”.

Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in less than three weeks at the “Declaration House” located at 7th and Market Streets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The house was nearly new, built in 1775 and was rebuilt from original photographs in 1975. Jefferson often complained about the numerous houseflies that were coming from the stable across the street but soothed his soul after work each day at the City Tavern where he had an account! Jefferson took pride in his writing abilities and wasn’t thrilled when the Continental Congress made changes to “his” declaration in June of 1776.

The common U.S. citizen did not get to see the Declaration of Independence until July 6, 1776 when it was printed in the Pennsylvania Evening Post. It was then officially read to the public on July 8th in Philadelphia.

By the way, despite what you saw in the exciting 2004 and 2007 National Treasure movies, there is no mysterious message on the back of the Declaration of Independence. The only thing written on the back is “Original Declaration of Independence / dated 4th July 1776″. It was originally rolled up for storage and that was most likely written on the back so it could be identified without unrolling it.

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