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The Vietnam War

Even after being Allied Powers in World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union had a very touchy relationship and although no direct conflict broke out between the two, many smaller events occurred due to this rivalry. Some prime examples of this include the division of Germany into the East and West side, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War.

The Vietnam War is considered one of America's longest active wars, lasting from 1954 until the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. Because Vietnam was a seperated country at the time, the North and the South grew away from each other and each adopted a different set of ideas, and with them allies. For example, North Vietnam took on the Communistic view of living and gained the Soviet Union and other Communist nations as allies while South Vietnam grew towards a more "Western" side of thinking, gaining America and their allies for acquaintances.

One of the main reason this war stands out in technology standpoints is the first widespread use of Helicopters for combat. The Helicopter, compared to an airplane, allowed many new abilities to an army. First, they could quickly distribute a team of men right to the front line without having to risk a parachute landing. Second, they allowed quick medical aid and evacuation, saving numerous lives. And finally, some helicopters were fitted with large machine guns on the sides, which allowed closer air support than any plane of the time could give.

Another technological improvement in Vietnam was the use of Jet Fighters. Although they had been around since the end of World War II, Vietnam was the first place they were seen mass produced by both sides. The Americans produced for the most part dart-styled jets that proved very fast and effective. The North Vietnamese Army had jets produced by the Russian Aircraft company "МИГ" (or "MiG"), now "Mikoyan", that all had the signature open-styled nose cone that provided ventilation for the engine.

Written by Peter Mungenast for History Salon

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Snowless Mountains

When people imagine Colorado during the winter time, the typical picture that pops into their heads is an image of snow covered mountains with skiers and snowboarders going down steep slopes. However this year that image would prove false, at least the first part. While sometimes the annual snowfall can be a staggering 300 inches in some parts, this year that hasn’t been the case so far. Snowfall this year has been very sparse and popular resorts like Breckenridge and Keystone have only recently opened up many of the lifts. And, even though these resorts are open, much of the snow is man made with snowfall numbers this far being way under what was expected. I personally went to Colorado over Christmas break and I found out firsthand about the snow. I went snowboarding on Snowmass Mountain, and while there was still enough snow to snowboard, there were snow makers going very frequently. Most of the snow has already landed on resorts in Utah and states farther West, while skipping Colorado and much of the East. Fortunately for ski resort owners, the number of skiers coming in has not dropped too much. Skiing is still popular and people continue to come. Hopefully, for the sake of skiers and snowboarders, the snow conditions will improve soon!

Written by Joseph Schneider for History Salon.

Sources: http://www.aspensnowmass.com/onmountain/reports/conditions.cfm?area=Snowmass

http://www.onthesnow.com/colorado/snowmass/skireport.html

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Facebook Timeline

Anyone who has a Facebook, which is roughly 800 million people, has noticed the drastic changes which have happened lately on Facebook. Changes to Facebook occur very frequently, and, while most are subtle and unimportant, the latest could be the most drastic yet. The new concept Facebook has introduced is the Timeline. The makers of Facebook have completely redesigned the Facebook profile by giving users a choice to switch their profiles to a Timeline. The Timeline organizes all of facebook users' previous statuses and wall posts into a timeline. Facebook has also introduced the idea of a cover photo. A cover photo essentially takes the place of a profile picture, which was the main picture a user would see if they were to click on a profile. And, while the cover photo is much larger than the profile picture, researchers have found that profile pictures are still viewed more than these new cover pictures. But, while this aspect of the Timeline has been relatively unsuccessful, the Timeline in general is decently popular as many people switch to it every day. We will not know the overall success for a while because the Timeline idea is new and people are still getting used to it and trying it out, but hopefully this drastic change will pay off for Facebook.

Written by Joseph Schneider for History Salon.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/about/timeline.

           http://news.yahoo.com/review-time-curate-facebook-timeline-200903338.html

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The Manhattan Project

This article describes how the atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese was made. I found it interesting how much time and effort The Manhattan Project had to put into it. With 6 billion dollars being spent on this bomb, it sure was useful. When this bomb was dropped it changed the world. This was the first major bombing, or atomic bomb. With this being done, other nations received information on how to do this. I can make a comparison to that of the drone plane shot down. Once these were discovered, it could easily create war. With this bomb being dropped, it started a new era of warfare.

Written by Andrew Waller for The History Salon

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Computer Science

While coming across this video, I found it interesting where the most popular jobs are. This is the area of computer science.  94 percent of jobs in America are in computer science. A thought came to me while watching this video. This shows how our world has advanced and is focusing more on technology and the importance of it. With an average of a starting 66,000 dollars a year for a person in this area it is easy to understand why most American choose this job.   From the increasing amount of jobs in this area, technology at this rate seems that it will not slow down.

Written by Andrew Waller for The History Salon

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Redheads: The Facts, Information, and Future

Currently in the United States only 2% of the population has red hair. According to Wikipedia, red hair occurs when a person receives "two copies of a recessive gene on chromosome 16 which causes a mutation in the MC1R protein." Redheads are mainly found in Northern Europe where 13% of the population is redhead and Ireland is a close second with 10%. In the modern day redheads are associated with light skin, which is harmed by UV rays, freckles, and pale eyes. Many nicknames are also associated with redheads such as ginger and carrot top. Because the current view of redheads has become fogged, many do not see the advantages redheads possess. Redheads never acquire grey hair and they are the only ones allowed to the annual Red Hair Festival held in the Netherlands. Though not known by many people, there are several famous people in history and the present who have red hair. People from the past include: Queen Elizabeth I of England, King David, and Napoleon Bonaparte . Also the ancient mythical god Thor has red hair. Cultures across the world view people with red hair as hot tempered. During the Renaissance time, painters and play writers, such as William Shakespeare, had a obsession with red hair and there are many paintings of famous people with red hair, such as the Greek goddess Venus. Although containing a rich history, redheads are believed by some people to become extinct in the near feature but scientist have explained though the redheads may decline in numbers, the recessive gene which carries red hair is recessive and will never go away. 

Written by Alex Ferrara for History Salon

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair

http://www.divinecaroline.com/37/71866-red-hot-redheads-cool-facts-carrot/2

Picture:

http://blog.mojamix.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ginger-kid-297x300.jpg

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The Crüe

Founded in the year 1980 by lead bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, Mötley Crüe is a heavy metal/punk rock group which is known for partying, drugs, and woman but also rocking peoples faces off. Both Nikki and Tommy were looking for a lead singer and guitarist to complete there band. Both had to be willing to live for the band and love music. Nikki found lead guitarist Mick Mars through a newspaper add he submitted. Tommy recommended lead singer Vince Neil because they both went to high school together and Vince drove the girls crazy. Mötley Crüe started out by playing in clubs. They skyrocketed towards success due to there look, songs, and onstage antics. They were nothing like other bands in the early 80s. Mötley Crüe's first album was titled Too Fast for Love. It cost $7000 dollars to make and was a great success.  Gaining popularity and fame, Mötley Crüe was signed by Elektra Records in 1982 and started to gain world fame from then on. The Crüe's next couple albums included Shout at the Devil, Theatre of Pain, Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr. Feelgood all went double platinum and placed Mötley Crüe on the world stage. Along with the success of the late 80s, Mötley Crüe also encountered several scandals. Vince Neil was charged with involuntary manslaughter and a DUI in 1984 after crashing his car, while intoxicated, killing a fellow passenger. Neil paid two million dollars to the victims family and served 30 days in jail. Along with Vince, Nikki Sixx was pronounced dead on December 23, 1987, after he overdosed on Heroin, but was given two shots of adrenaline to the heart which revived him. The incident was the influence for the hit song Kickstart My Heart. Though Mötley Crüe encountered many infractions with drugs and the law, the group continued to party throughout the 80s and into the early 90s until Vince Neil and Tommy Lee both confronted each other and went on to solo careers. While Tommy and Vince worked on there solo careers, Sixx and Mars kept what was left of Mötley Crüe and experimented with lead singers and drummers. While Vince and Tommy were gone, fans of Mötley Crüe were demanded they return which lead to lower record sails. Eventually both Vince and Tommy returned to Mötley Crüe and in 2008 the band released the hit album Saints of Los Angeles which was based off the bestseller book The Dirt. The Dirt was written by the group and tells stories of the parties and situations they encountered through the years. Though disregarded by some people, Mötley Crüe has withstood the test of time and through the good times and bad has continued to stick together, rock peoples faces off, and party.

Written by Alex Ferrara for History Salon

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6tley_Cr%C3%BCe

Picture:

http://www.pcdesktopwallpaper.com/albums/wallpapers-music/Motley-Crue-005.jpg

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Haudenosaunee Story of Lacrosse

The Haudenosaunee Native Americans are the creators of the game we know today as lacrosse. According to the Haudenosaunee, the game was given to them by the Creator, and the sport was played to please the Creator and as a medicine game for healing people. A story has been passed down that emphasizes the importance of every player, big or small. Accorfing to the story, a game took place a long time ago between the four legged animal and the winged bird. The captains of the four legged animals were the Bear, the Deer, and the Turtle. For the birds, the captains were the Owl, the Eagle, and the Hawk. Before the game, a squirrel and a mouse asked the birds if they could be on their team because the four legged animals had rejected them. The birds accepted them onto their team after turning them into the bat and the flying squirrel. Due the birds skill and swiftness, with the help of the bat and flying squirrel, they won the game. Despite how unworthy an individual may feel, the story teaches, they are still valuable. 

By Sean McLaughlin for History Salon

"The Story Of Lacrosse." Iroquois Nationals Web Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2012. <http://iroquoisnationals.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=63

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The Transatlantic Cable

During the Industrial Revolution, the Great Transatlantic Cable, according to London's The Times, dried up the Atlantic and made the U.S. and England, once again, one people. The idea of the Transatlantic Cable was proposed by Samuel Morse as early as 1840, inspired by the invention of the telegraph in 1839,  but wasn't laid until 1858. The first public message sent via the cable was from Queen Victoria to President Buchanan, and it was 99 characters long and took 16 hours and thirty minutes to be transmitted. The reason for such a long time to transmit was due to problem with the cable itself. In 1866, a message sent along the transatlantic cable cost ten dollars a word with a ten word minimum, a cost that would take an skilled working man ten weeks to make. In 1867 the price was cut to about 47 dollars for ten words, which increased use of the cable. In 1869 a French group also laid a cable, and from there rates continued to drop as usage went up.

By Sean McLaughlin for History Salon

"American Experience | The Great Transatlantic Cable | People & Events | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. PBS, n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/cable/peopleevents/e_use.html>

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The Vibraphone

This is vibraphone professional Gary Burton playing with his M25 Vic Firth mallets. The vibraphone, more commonly known as the vibes, is a relatively young instrument that comes from a family that is one of the oldest in music's history. Played by striking bars corresponding to notes on a scale, it is related closely to the xylophone and marimba. What makes the vibraphone unique is its extra functions. Invented before the digital age, it is designed to mechanically create intriguing effects that add more dimension. One effect created by the vibraphone is a sustain pedal. unlike most barred percussion instruments, the vibraphone has the ability to hold a note without rolling (a technique used to sustain a note by hitting the bar repeatedly in rapid succession). to do this, the musician holds down a pedal with his or her foot which pulls down the felt that cuts the note off. when the pedal is released, the felt comes in contact with the vibrating bar and silences it. The second unique effect created by the vibraphone is the modulation of notes. This is much more complicated because it requires the resonating tubes located directly under the bars to increase the quality of sound to be fitted with a rotating disc or fan at the top. When the fan is open, the resonator has full function, and when closed, the sound is dampened. This creates a very fast pulsing that many jazz musicians find appealing.

Written by David Greaves for History Salon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibraphone

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Bishop Larry J, Baylor: A Local Hero

Bishop Larry J Baylor is the Senior pastor of Faith Miracle Temple Church and Genral Overseer of Higher Ground International Ministries (HGIM). Through HGIM Bishop Baylor has planted churches throughout the world. Thesse churches are in places like Russia, the Philippines, and in South Africa. As the Overseer of HGIM has led many relief projects in areas such as the Philippines and South Africa during times of natural disasters (the typhoon and the famine). Buth not only has Bishop Baylor made an impact internationally but he has also made impacts in the metro St. Louis area. He has started a new Outreach Center in Walnut Grove (muder zone) that serves as just a church right now but will utlimately serve as a place for youth, and a rehab center. Bishop Baylor has embarked on projects to help the people of Hopeville. His outreach continues to grow and enlarfe as his time on earth continues.

Written by TJ Daniels For the History Salon

Sources: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/bishop-larry-j-baylor/12/738/246

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Child Labor

Child labor is absoltely terrible. Factory managers should not let this happen. Although it isn't going on in many places today, there are a few places in the world that incorporate child labor into their factories. One reason why child labor is such a bad practice is for the safety of the children. The children work with machines twice their size, so the factory is a dangerous environment for them. If a child got caught in one of the machines, they could be killed or severly injured. Injuries may also occur if a child isn't properly trained or smart enough to know what to do in certain situations. Another reason child labor should not be permitted is for the future of our world. Each child that is born has the oppurtunity to make a huge difference in the world. By forcing children to work, factory managers take away that child's oppurtunity to receive an eduaction. Without children going to school, a cycle of uneducated and poverty begins to circulate, as seen at the beggining of the Industrial Revolution. Child labor is not only dangerous for the child, but also for the world's economy.

Picture From:http://www.google.com/imgres?q=child+factory+workers&um=1&hl=en&rlz=1T4TSND_en___US411&biw=1366&bih=532&tbm=isch&tbnid=LFiJM41zk926xM:&imgrefurl=http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2009/12/03/child-labor-in-america-1908-1912/&docid=bz0n4vm1-WZJDM&imgurl=http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/files/2009/11/empty.jpg&w=579&h=415&ei=WfQJT5XqKcrpsQLF5c2QCg&zoom=1

Written By Jordan Griffin for History Salon

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The History of Dubstep

Dubstep is the name given to electronic music that is mostly bass driven. The name came from a town in South London called Croydon. It is extremely new compared to other music. It's earliest forms came about in the 1990s. It is thought to evolve from Jamaican dub music. Jamaican dub music has a disco sound with many bass frequencies in the background. Jamaican dub music led to dub varieties of reggae. These varieties featured a new kind of bass that was extremely deep. It also added two step drums and distortion effects. All of these features were around before dubstep but this was the first time they had been used all at once. The two step drums that were added are what gave dubstep it's name. The first names of these sounds were jungle and garage. They seem like random names to me, but now it is called dubstep.

A club in Soho London called Foward>> is thought to be the first to use the word dubstep. The people who ran the club were known as Ammunition Promotions. They had a radio show that premiered the music where it became known as dubstep. In 2002 and record label in Tampa worked with their DJ to create the first dubstep CD. It was called "Dubstep Allstars Vol 1".

In 2003 DJ Hatcha, the DJ that made "Dubstep Allstars Vol 1", sent dubstep in a new direction by using ten inch dubplates. Dubplates are speakers that create a very deep sound. Dubplates are largely used in today's dubstep. BBC's DJ Mary Anne Hobbs mentioned dubstep on her radio show and soon after dubstep was regularly heard in clubs across the United Kingdom, the United States, Barcelona, and Tokyo.

Written By Kevin Hagemann for History Salon

Sources: http://www.udubstep.com/the-history-of-dubstep/

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Missionaries in Africa

Missionaries in Africa

As slave owning and the slave trade was slowly abolished throughout the British Empire in the early to mid-nineteenth century, many missionaries found that the only way to outlaw the slave trade was by spreading the a new religion throughout Africa. Most people living in Africa at the time were not Christian, but the added bonus of education appealed to many of them. Although the intentions of missionaries and the effects of education were good, the missionaries had several negatives impacts on Africa. One man by the name of Reverend Helm tricked an African King to give up all his land by telling the king the document was only a grant for limited mining. Another missionary, Friar Anthonio Barroso was able to get the signature of the King of Congo for an oath of loyalty to the King of Portugal by telling him it was a thank-you note. These incidents caused mixed reactions throughout Africa, with the attraction of education and the repulsion of deception.

Written by Jacob Hilmes for History Salon

Sources

"The Story of Africa| BBC World Service." BBC - Homepage. http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/8chapter4.shtml (accessed January 8, 2012).

(for picture

http://www.freedom.co.za/history2.html

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Chicken Farmer

Why would you be a Chicken Farmer?

As we saw in Food, Inc., there are many chicken farmers in the United States.  In Food, Inc. we saw an interview with one of the Tyson chicken farmers, who gave us an inside look at her chicken farm.  The chicken we poorly treated, and it did not look like she enjoyed having all the chickens treated that way, but she needed too, to keep her job.  I questioned why she was a chicken farmer, because it did not look like she enjoyed her job.  I know some people keep there jobs even if they do not like them for money, but chicken farming is not easy to make money.  On average Tyson chicken farmers have to buy there chicken farm for as much as three hundred thousand dollars and they only make around eighteen thousand dollars a year.  If you think about that it would take almost seventeen years to off set the payment for the chicken farm.

Written by Jack Armstrong for The History Salon

Sources: Food, Inc.. DVD. Directed by Robert Kenner. New York: Magnolia Pictures, 2008.

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Magic

                                               The History of magic or “stage magic” can be a complex thing to grasp depending on the definition of Magic one uses.  The definition of “stage magic” differs greatly from the definition of spiritual magic or paranormal magic.   Stage magic can be defined as “a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible.” The origin of the word magic derives from the word Greek word magica.  This was a term they used for the Persian priests  who were known as magosh.  Throughout history magic and witchcraft have gone hand in hand.  People who practiced the art of illusion where usually synonymized with being a witch.  Later efforts of Enlightenment figures came to believe the impossibility of magic and witch craft.  Magic was later accepted as a very valid form of entertainment.  The amount of things peoples could do varied from many types of performances such as productions, vanishes, escapes etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_(illusion)

Written by Tom Hunter For History Salon

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Come on Try...

Have you ever wanted to try something that you just have not gotten around to?  Matt Cutts makes a case saying that with a little time and effort, you can do it.  The way that he did so was to try it for thirty days.  Cutts main inspiration to try so was Morgan Spurlock, who was featured attempting this in his movie "Supersize Me."  Cutts not only learned that a thirty day trial of doing something could open oppertunities to explore, but it could also be good for kicking bad habits such as watching t.v. or drinking too many caffinated drinks.  Cutts also notes how the thirty days do not simply pass and leave your life for good, but can stay in you life and work its way into your everyday schedule, such as riding a bike to work or other places.  Although you might want to aim to give up something large in your life for a month, if aim too high, you might find yourself crashing and overloading on that thing the first day afterward.  Taking a thirty day trial could not only change your habits, but could also change the person you are.

Written By Jim Geoffrey for History Salon

Sources: http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days.html