William Henry Gates III (Bill) was born on October 28, 1955, in Seattle, Washington. Bill was the second of three children in an upper-middle class family. He enjoyed playing games with the family and was very competitive. He also loved to read. Bill became bored in public school so his family sent him to Lakeside […]
The Buffalo Bills have played in Buffalo, New York since they were founded in 1959. The Bills are the only team to play in the state of New York as both other “New York” teams, the Jets and Giants, play in New Jersey. The team plays in the American Football Conference (AFC) East Division.The name
Fried dough has been made all around the world. Dutch settlers who brought apple and cream pies, cookies and cobbler to the New World also introduced doughnuts. Their doughnuts were called olykoeks, or oily cakes – sweet dough balls fried in pork fat. Early doughnuts were often filled with apples, prunes or raisins. The name
A hurricane, also called a tropical cyclone, is the most powerful storm that forms on Earth. A hurricane forms over warm ocean water. As it grows in size and intensity, its powerful winds begin rotating around a centre like water going down a drain. Because of the physics phenomenon known as the Coriolis Effect, hurricanes
Despite the failure of the Lost Colony at Roanoke, King James I was eager to start a permanent English settlement in North America. He granted charters to a pair of English companies to establish those settlements. While one of the two companies was unsuccessful in establishing a colony in present-day Maine, the other, known as
Lightning is a streak of electricity that occurs in every thunderstorm. You see lightning before you hear thunder because light travels faster than sound. Lightning is caused when the negative charge of electricity in the rain clouds meets the positive charge of electricity in the falling raindrops. Most lightning occurs from cloud-to-cloud, but some lightning
Marquis De Lafayette was born in France on September 10, 1757. Lafayette is most remembered for his role as a major-general for the Continental Army under General George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War.During the American Revolution, Lafayette served admirably in many battles like the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of Rhode Island. During
Maya Lin was born in Athens, Ohio on October 5, 1959. In 1949, her parents fled Communism in China and came to the United States. In 1958 they moved to Athens, home of Ohio University, where they were professors. Her mother wrote poetry and taught literature; her father was a ceramic artist and became Dean
Mary Todd Lincoln was born on December 13, 1818, in Lexington, Kentucky. She was born into a wealthy Kentucky family, though her mother died when she was seven. The following year, her father married Betsy Humphries. The family lived in a fourteen room Kentucky mansion, which Mary shared with her 14 brothers and sisters! Her
Mickey Mantle was born on October 20, 1931 in Spavinaw, Oklahoma. When he was four, his family moved to Commerce, Oklahoma, where he spent the rest of his childhood. His dad taught him how to play baseball and how to be a switch hitter (bat right-handed and left-handed). Mickey was an outstanding athlete from an
Founded by John W. Mecom Jr. and David Dixon in 1967, the New Orleans Saints is the only professional sports team in Louisiana today. The team plays in the National Football Conference (NFC) South Division. The team’s colours are black and gold and the logo pays tribute to its Creole roots with a Fleur-de-lis symbol.
The New York Jets were established in 1959. Originally called the Titans of New York, the team was a founding member of the American Football League (AFL) in 1960. They now play in the American Football Conference (AFC) East Division and share a stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey with the New York Giants.The original
In recent years, there has been a growing movement to “retire” the penny or take it out of circulation. This movement has been countered by people passionate about preserving the penny. There are compelling reasons to eliminate the penny and to preserve it. What do you think?ELIMINATE THE PENNYAccording to the U.S. Mint, it costs
Phillis Wheatley was born in Gambia (in Africa) on May 8, 1753 and died in Boston on December 5, 1784.When she was 7 or 8, she was sold as a slave to John and Susanna Wheatley of Boston. She was named after the ship that brought her to America, The Phillis. The Poetry Foundation describes
The holiday of Thanksgiving was born from the Puritan settlement of Plymouth, on the coast of present-day Massachusetts.Puritan separatists, desperate for religious freedom, left England in 1607 for the Netherlands under increasing pressure from the crown to conform. Although they were allowed religious freedom yet they were not granted citizenship in the Netherlands, and hence,