1.
Oakland, California
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Oakland /ˈoʊklənd/ is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. The city was incorporated in 1852, Oaklands territory covers what was once a mosaic of California coastal terrace prairie, oak woodland, and north coastal scrub. Its land served as a resource when its hillside oak and redwood timber were logged to build San Francisco. In the late 1860s, Oakland was selected as the terminal of the Transcontinental Railroad. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many San Francisco citizens moved to Oakland, enlarging the citys population, increasing its housing stock and it continued to grow in the 20th century with its busy port, shipyards, and a thriving automobile manufacturing industry. Oakland is known for its sustainability practices, including a top-ranking for usage of electricity from renewable resources, in addition, due to a steady influx of immigrants during the 20th century, along with thousands of African-American war-industry workers who relocated from the Deep South during the 1940s. Oakland is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. The earliest known inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, who lived there for thousands of years, the Huchiun belonged to a linguistic grouping later called the Ohlone. In Oakland, they were concentrated around Lake Merritt and Temescal Creek, in 1772, the area that later became Oakland was claimed, with the rest of California, by Spanish settlers for the King of Spain. In the early 19th century, the Spanish crown granted the East Bay area to Luis María Peralta for his Rancho San Antonio, the grant was confirmed by the successor Mexican republic upon its independence from Spain. Upon his death in 1842, Peralta divided his land among his four sons, Most of Oakland fell within the shares given to Antonio Maria and Vicente. The portion of the parcel that is now Oakland was called encinal—Spanish for oak grove—due to the oak forest that covered the area. In 1851, three men—Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon—began developing what is now downtown Oakland, on May 4,1852, the Town of Oakland incorporated. Two years later, on March 25,1854, Oakland re-incorporated as the City of Oakland, with Horace Carpentier elected the first mayor, the city and its environs quickly grew with the railroads, becoming a major rail terminal in the late 1860s and 1870s. In 1868, the Central Pacific constructed the Oakland Long Wharf at Oakland Point, a number of horsecar and cable car lines were constructed in Oakland during the latter half of the 19th century. The first electric streetcar set out from Oakland to Berkeley in 1891, at the time of incorporation, Oakland consisted of the territory that lay south of todays major intersection of San Pablo Avenue, Broadway, and Fourteenth Street. The city gradually annexed farmlands and settlements to the east and the north, Oaklands rise to industrial prominence, and its subsequent need for a seaport, led to the digging of a shipping and tidal channel in 1902. This resulted in the town of Alameda being made an island
2.
Americans
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Americans are citizens of the United States of America. The country is home to people of different national origins. As a result, Americans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, although citizens make up the majority of Americans, non-citizen residents, dual citizens, and expatriates may also claim an American identity. See Names for United States citizens. S, virgin Islands and Northern Mariana Islands in the 20th century. It also includes influences of African-American culture, westward expansion integrated the Creoles and Cajuns of Louisiana and the Hispanos of the Southwest and brought close contact with the culture of Mexico. Large-scale immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from Southern and Eastern Europe introduced a variety of elements, immigration from Asia, Africa, and Latin America has also had impact. A cultural melting pot, or pluralistic salad bowl, describes the way in which generations of Americans have celebrated and exchanged distinctive cultural characteristics, in addition to the United States, Americans and people of American descent can be found internationally. As many as seven million Americans are estimated to be living abroad, the United States of America is a diverse country, racially, and ethnically. Some other race is also an option in the census and other surveys, people of European descent, or White Americans, constitute the majority of the 308 million people living in the United States, with 72. 4% of the population in the 2010 United States Census. They are considered people who trace their ancestry to the peoples of Europe, the Middle East. Of those reporting to be White American,7,487,133 reported to be Multiracial, with largest combination being white, additionally, there are 29,184,290 White Hispanics or Latinos. Non-Hispanic Whites are the majority in 46 states, there are four minority-majority states, California, Texas, New Mexico, and Hawaii. In addition, the District of Columbia has a non-white majority, the state with the highest percentage of non-Hispanic White Americans is Maine. The largest continental ancestral group of Americans are that of Europeans who have origins in any of the peoples of Europe. This includes people via African, North American, Caribbean, Central American or South American and Oceanian nations that have a large European diaspora, the Spanish were the first Europeans to establish a continuous presence in what is now the United States. Martín de Argüelles born 1566, San Agustín, La Florida, was the first person of European descent born in what is now the United States. Twenty-one years later, Virginia Dare born 1587 Roanoke Island in present-day North Carolina, was the first child born in the Thirteen Colonies to English parents. 8% of the total population, Hispanic or Latino Americans constitute the largest ethnic minority in the United States. They form the second largest group after non-Hispanic Whites in the United States, hispanic/Latino Americans are very racially diverse, and as a result form an ethnic category, rather than a race
3.
Lewis & Clark College
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Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college located in Portland, Oregon. It has an undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences, a School of Law, Lewis & Clark is a member of the Annapolis Group of colleges with athletic programs competing in the National Collegiate Athletic Associations Division III Northwest Conference. Just over 2,000 students attend the undergraduate College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Law is best known for its environmental law program, while the Graduate School of Education & Counseling is active in community engagement and social justice. Today, the three schools and their supporting offices occupy a campus of 137 acres, centered on the M. Lloyd Frank Estate on Palatine Hill in the Collins View neighborhood of Southwest Portland. To this end the Presbyterian church incorporated Albany Academy in 1858, within a decade of its founding, Albany Academy began to focus more exclusively on higher education, changing its official name to the Albany Collegiate Institution in 1866. Unlike most Oregon colleges of the pioneer-era, the college has been coeducational since the first class, the early campus of 7 acres in Albany was situated on land donated by the Monteith family. In 1892, the school building was enlarged, and in 1925 the school relocated south of Albany where it remained until 1937. Albany College established a college to the north in Portland in 1934. The campus grounds later became home to the federal governments Albany Research Center, in 1942 the college trustees acquired the Lloyd Frank “Fir Acres” estate in southwest Portland, and the school name was changed to Lewis & Clark College. The original school mascot, the Pirates, was changed to the Pioneers in 1946, the three schools of the college include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Law School, and the Graduate School of Education and Counseling. Lewis & Clark has nationally regarded programs in Biology, International Affairs, Psychology, Foreign Languages, the college has held two worldwide symphonic festivals in the past five years with professional-level performances in Dublin and the Greek islands. Lewis & Clark is also known for its active and diverse overseas study program, the college offers approximately 36 programs in various countries, and since the 1960s, more than 60% of all Lewis & Clark undergraduates have studied abroad. For a small liberal arts college, Lewis & Clarks overseas offerings are impressive in both breadth and scope, there are, for example seven discrete programs in Spanish-speaking countries. Lewis & Clark is also one of the few U. S. institutions with a program in Cuba. For the Class of 2018, Lewis & Clark received 6,244 applications, accepted 4,160 and enrolled 564. In terms of rank, of the 41% of high school seniors who submitted it, 38% of enrolled freshmen were in the top tenth of their high school classes. The middle 50% range of SAT scores for the enrolled freshmen was 610-710 for critical reading, 580-670 for math, the average high school Grade Point Average GPA of enrolled freshmen was 3.91. The 2017 annual ranking of U. S. News & World Report categorizes Lewis & Clark as more selective and ranks it tied for the 87th best liberal arts college in the nation
4.
Harvard Law School
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Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is considered to be one of the most prestigious in the world. The school is ranked third by the U. S. News & World and its acceptance rate was 15. 4% in the 2013–14 admissions cycle, and its yield rate of 66. 2% was the second-highest of any law school in the United States. It is ranked first in the 2016 QS World University Rankings, Harvard Law admitted 16. 5% of applicants in its most recent class, compared to 9. 2% at Yale and 11. 2% at Stanford. With a current enrollment of 1,990, HLS has about as many students as its three closest-ranked peer institutions, first-ranked Yale, second-ranked Stanford, and fourth-ranked Chicago, combined. The first-year class is broken into seven sections of approximately 80 students, Harvards uniquely large class size and its prestige have led the law school to graduate a great many distinguished alumni in the judiciary, government, and the business world. According to Harvard Laws 2015 ABA-required disclosures,95. 33% of the Class of 2014 passed the Bar exam. Harvard Law Schools founding is linked to the funding of Harvards first professorship in law, paid for from a bequest from the estate of Isaac Royall. Today, it is home to the largest academic law library in the world, the current dean of Harvard Law School is Martha Minow, who assumed the role on July 1,2009. The law school has 328 faculty members, Harvard Law Schools founding is traced to the establishment of a law department at Harvard in 1817. Dating the founding to the year of the creation of the law department makes Harvard Law the oldest continuously-operating law school in the nation, William & Mary Law School opened first in 1779, but closed due to the American Civil War, reopening in 1920. The University of Maryland School of Law was chartered in 1816, but did not begin classes until 1824, and also closed during the Civil War. Or a Professor of Physick and Anatomy, whichever the said overseers and Corporation shall judge to be best. ”The value of the land, when fully liquidated in 1809, was $2,938, the Harvard Corporation allocated $400 from the income generated by those funds to create the Royall Professorship of Law in 1815. The dean of the law school traditionally held the Royall chair, deans Elena Kagan, royalls Medford estate, the Isaac Royall House, is now a museum which features the only remaining slave quarters in the northeast United States. The Royall family coat-of-arms, which shows three stacked wheat sheaves, was adopted as the school crest in 1936, topped with the university motto, in March 2016, following requests by students, the school decided to remove the emblem because of its association with slavery. By 1827, the school, with one faculty member, was struggling, nathan Dane, a prominent alumnus of the college, then endowed the Dane Professorship of Law, insisting that it be given to then Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story. For a while, the school was called Dane Law School, in 1829, John H. Ashmun, son of Eli Porter Ashmun and brother of George Ashmun, accepted a professorship and closed his Northampton Law School, with many of his students following him to Harvard. Enrollment remained low through the 19th century as university legal education was considered to be of little added benefit to apprenticeships in legal practice, at Harvard, Langdell also developed the case method of teaching law, now the dominant pedagogical model at U. S. law schools
5.
Eritrea
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Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. With its capital at Asmara, it is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, the northeastern and eastern parts of Eritrea have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea. The nation has an area of approximately 117,600 km2. Its toponym Eritrea is based on the Greek name for the Red Sea, Eritrea is a multi-ethnic country, with nine recognized ethnic groups in its population of around six million. Most residents speak languages from the Afroasiatic family, either of the Ethiopian Semitic languages or Cushitic branches, among these communities, the Tigrinya make up about 55% of the population, with the Tigre people constituting around 30% of inhabitants. In addition, there are a number of Nilo-Saharan-speaking Nilotic ethnic minorities, most people in the territory adhere to Christianity or Islam. In medieval times much of Eritrea fell under the Medri Bahri kingdom, the creation of modern-day Eritrea is a result of the incorporation of independent, distinct kingdoms and sultanates eventually resulting in the formation of Italian Eritrea. In 1947 Eritrea became part of a federation with Ethiopia, the Federation of Ethiopia, subsequent annexation into Ethiopia led to the Eritrean War of Independence, ending with Eritrean independence following a referendum in April 1993. Hostilities between Eritrea and Ethiopia persisted, leading to the Eritrean–Ethiopian War of 1998–2000 and further skirmishes with both Djibouti and Ethiopia, Eritrea is a one-party state in which national legislative elections have been repeatedly postponed. According to Human Rights Watch, the Eritrean governments human rights record is considered among the worst in the world, the Eritrean government has dismissed these allegations as politically motivated. The compulsory military service requires lengthy, indefinite conscription periods, which some Eritreans leave the country in order to avoid, since all local media is state-owned, Eritrea was also ranked as having the least press freedom in the global Press Freedom Index. Eritrea is a member of the African Union, the United Nations, and IGAD, during the Middle Ages, the Eritrea region was known as Medri Bahri. The name Eritrea is derived from the ancient Greek name for the Red Sea and it was first formally adopted in 1890, with the formation of Italian Eritrea. The territory became the Eritrea Governorate within Italian East Africa in 1936, Eritrea was annexed by Ethiopia in 1953 and an Eritrean Liberation Front formed in 1960. Eritrea gained independence following the 1993 referendum, and the name of the new state was defined as State of Eritrea in the 1997 constitution. At Buya in Eritrea, one of the oldest hominids representing a link between Homo erectus and an archaic Homo sapiens was found by Italian scientists. Dated to over 1 million years old, it is the oldest skeletal find of its kind, during the last interglacial period, the Red Sea coast of Eritrea was occupied by early anatomically modern humans. It is believed that the area was on the out of Africa that some scholars suggest was used by early humans to colonize the rest of the Old World
6.
Ethiopia
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Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north and northeast, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With nearly 100 million inhabitants, Ethiopia is the most populous landlocked country in the world and it occupies a total area of 1,100,000 square kilometres, and its capital and largest city is Addis Ababa. Some of the oldest evidence for modern humans has been found in Ethiopia. It is widely considered as the region from modern humans first set out for the Middle East. According to linguists, the first Afroasiatic-speaking populations settled in the Horn region during the ensuing Neolithic era, tracing its roots to the 2nd millennium BC, Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history. During the first centuries AD, the Kingdom of Aksum maintained a unified civilization in the region, subsequently, many African nations adopted the colors of Ethiopias flag following their independence. It was the first independent African member of the 20th-century League of Nations, Ethiopias ancient Geez script, also known as Ethiopic, is one of the oldest alphabets still in use in the world. The Ethiopian calendar, which is seven years and three months behind the Gregorian calendar, co-exists alongside the Borana calendar. A slight majority of the population adheres to Christianity, while around a third follows Islam, the country is the site of the Migration to Abyssinia and the oldest Muslim settlement in Africa at Negash. A substantial population of Ethiopian Jews, known as Bete Israel, resided in Ethiopia until the 1980s, Ethiopia is a multilingual nation with around 80 ethnolinguistic groups, the four largest of which are the Oromiffa, Amhara, Somali, and Tigrayans. Most people in the country speak Afroasiatic languages of the Cushitic or Semitic branches, additionally, Omotic languages are spoken by ethnic minority groups inhabiting the southern regions. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken by the nations Nilotic ethnic minorities. Ethiopia is the place of origin for the coffee bean which originated from the place called Kefa and it is a land of natural contrasts, with its vast fertile West, jungles, and numerous rivers, and the worlds hottest settlement of Dallol in its north. The Ethiopian Highlands are Africas largest continuous mountain ranges, and Sof Omar Caves contain Africas largest cave, Ethiopia has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa. Ethiopia is one of the members of the UN, the Group of 24, the Non-Aligned Movement, G-77. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ethiopia suffered from civil wars, the country has begun to recover recently however, and now has the largest economy in East Africa and Central Africa. According to Global Fire Power, Ethiopia has the 42nd most powerful military in the world, the origin of the word Ethiopia is uncertain
7.
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
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The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is a US labor law that prohibits unjustified discrimination based on disability. The final version of the bill was signed into law on July 26,1990 and it was later amended in 2008 and signed by President George W. Bush with changes effective as of January 1,2009. ADA disabilities include both mental and physical medical conditions, a condition does not need to be severe or permanent to be a disability. Additionally, other conditions, such as gender identity disorders, are also excluded under the definition of disability. The ADA states that an entity shall not discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability. This applies to job application procedures, hiring, advancement and discharge of employees, job training, and other terms, conditions, covered entities include employers with 15 or more employees, as well as employment agencies, labor organizations, and joint labor-management committees. Prohibited discrimination may include, among other things, firing or refusing to hire someone based on a real or perceived disability, segregation, covered entities are also required to provide reasonable accommodations to job applicants and employees with disabilities. An employee or applicant who currently engages in the use of drugs is not considered qualified when a covered entity takes adverse action based on such use. There are many ways to discriminate against people based on disabilities, anyone known to have a history of mental disorders can be considered disabled. Employers with more than 15 employees must take care to all employees fairly. Even when an employee is doing a job well, she or he is not necessarily no longer disabled. The Court determined that state employees cannot sue their employer for violating ADA rules, state employees can, however, file complaints at the Department of Justice or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, who can sue on their behalf. Title II prohibits disability discrimination by all entities at the local level, e. g. school district, municipal, city, or county. Public entities must comply with Title II regulations by the U. S. Department of Justice and these regulations cover access to all programs and services offered by the entity. Access includes physical access described in the ADA Standards for Accessible Design, Title II applies to public transportation provided by public entities through regulations by the U. S. Department of Transportation. It includes the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, along all other commuter authorities. This section requires the provision of services by public entities that provide fixed route services. ADA also sets minimum requirements for space layout in order to facilitate wheelchair securement on public transport, Title II also applies to all state and local public housing, housing assistance, and housing referrals
8.
Mali
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Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali is the eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of just over 1,240,000 square kilometres, the population of Mali is 14.5 million. The countrys economy centers on agriculture and fishing, some of Malis prominent natural resources include gold, being the third largest producer of gold in the African continent, and salt. About half the population lives below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. A majority of the population are Muslims, present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade, the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire. During its golden age, there was a flourishing of mathematics, astronomy, literature, at its peak in 1300, the Mali Empire covered an area about twice the size of modern-day France and stretched to the west coast of Africa. In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali, French Sudan joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation. Shortly thereafter, following Senegals withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali. After a long period of one-party rule, a coup in 1991 led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state. In January 2012, a conflict broke out in northern Mali, in which Tuareg rebels took control of by April and declared the secession of a new state. The conflict was complicated by a coup that took place in March. In response to Islamist territorial gains, the French military launched Opération Serval in January 2013, a month later, Malian and French forces recaptured most of the north. Presidential elections were held on 28 July 2013, with a second round held on 11 August. The name Mali is taken from the name of the Mali Empire, the name was originally derived from the Mandinka or Bambara word mali, meaning “hippopotamus”, but it eventually came to mean the place where the king lives. The word carries the connotation of strength, D. Niane suggests in Sundiata, An Epic of Old Mali that it is not impossible that Mali was the name given to one of the capitals of the emperors. 14th century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reported that the capital of the Mali Empire was indeed called Mali and this name could have formerly been that of a city. In old Mali there is one village called Malikoma which means “New Mali. ”Another theory suggests that Mali is a Fulani pronunciation of the name of the Mande peoples. It is suggested that a sound shift led to the change, whereby in Fulani the alveolar segment /nd/ shifts to /l/, Mali was once part of three famed West African empires which controlled trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt, slaves, and other precious commodities
9.
Berkeley, California
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Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley and it borders the cities of Oakland and Emeryville to the south and the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington to the north. Its eastern border with Contra Costa County generally follows the ridge of the Berkeley Hills, the 2010 census recorded a population of 112,580. It also has the Graduate Theological Union, one of the largest religious studies institutions in the world and it is one of the most politically liberal cities in the United States. The site of todays City of Berkeley was the territory of the Chochenyo/Huchiun band of the Ohlone people when the first Europeans arrived, other artifacts were discovered in the 1950s in the downtown area during remodeling of a commercial building, near the upper course of the creek. The first people of European descent arrived with the De Anza Expedition in 1776, today, this is noted by signage on Interstate 80, which runs along the San Francisco Bay shoreline of Berkeley. The De Anza Expedition led to establishment of the Spanish Presidio of San Francisco at the entrance to San Francisco Bay, luis Peralta was among the soldiers at the Presidio. For his services to the King of Spain, he was granted a vast stretch of land on the east shore of San Francisco Bay for a ranch, luis Peralta named his holding Rancho San Antonio. The primary activity of the ranch was raising cattle for meat and hides, eventually, Peralta gave portions of the ranch to each of his four sons. What is now Berkeley lies mostly in the portion that went to Peraltas son Domingo, with a little in the portion that went to another son, no artifact survives of the Domingo or Vicente ranches, but their names survive in Berkeley street names. However, legal title to all land in the City of Berkeley remains based on the original Peralta land grant, the Peraltas Rancho San Antonio continued after Alta California passed from Spanish to Mexican sovereignty after the Mexican War of Independence. The lands of the brothers Domingo and Vicente were quickly reduced to reservations close to their respective ranch homes, the rest of the land was surveyed and parceled out to various American claimants. Politically, the area that became Berkeley was initially part of a vast Contra Costa County, on March 25,1853, Alameda County was created from a division within Contra Costa County, as well as from a small portion of Santa Clara County. The area of Berkeley was at this period mostly a mix of land, farms and ranches. It was not yet Berkeley, but merely the part of the Oakland Township subdivision of Alameda County. In 1866, Oaklands private College of California looked for a new site, according to the Centennial Record of the University of California, In 1866…at Founders Rock, a group of College of California men watched two ships standing out to sea through the Golden Gate. Although the philosophers name is pronounced bark-lee, the pronunciation of the name has evolved to suit American English as burk-lee. The College of Californias College Homestead Association planned to raise funds for the new campus by selling off adjacent parcels of land, to this end, they laid out a plat and street grid that became the basis of Berkeleys modern street plan
10.
Vermont
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Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It borders the other U. S. states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north. Lake Champlain forms half of Vermonts western border with the state of New York, Vermont is the 2nd-least populous of the U. S. states, with nearly 50,000 more residents than Wyoming. The capital is Montpelier, the least populous state capital in the U. S, the most populous municipality, Burlington, is the least populous city in the U. S. to be the most populous within a state. As of 2015, Vermont continued to be the producer of maple syrup in the U. S. It was ranked as the safest state in the country in January 2016, for thousands of years inhabited by indigenous peoples, including the Algonquian-speaking Abenaki and Mohawk, much of the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by Frances colony of New France. France ceded the territory to Great Britain after being defeated in 1763 in the Seven Years War, for many years, the nearby colonies, especially the provinces of New Hampshire and New York, disputed control of the area. Settlers who held land titles granted by New York were opposed by the Green Mountain Boys militia, ultimately, those settlers prevailed in creating an independent state, the Vermont Republic. Founded in 1777 during the American Revolutionary War, the republic lasted for 14 years, aside from the original 13 states that were formerly colonies, Vermont is one of only four U. S. states that were previously sovereign states. Vermont was also the first state to join the U. S. as its 14th member state after the original 13, while still an independent republic, Vermont was the first of any future U. S. state to partially abolish slavery. It played an important geographic role in the Underground Railroad, sights in Vermont Vermont is located in the New England region of the northeastern United States and comprises 9,614 square miles, making it the 45th-largest state. It is the state that does not have any buildings taller than 124 feet. Land comprises 9,250 square miles and water comprises 365 square miles, making it the 43rd-largest in land area, in total area, it is larger than El Salvador and smaller than Haiti. The west bank of the Connecticut River marks the eastern border with New Hampshire. 41% of Vermonts land area is part of the Connecticut Rivers watershed, Lake Champlain, the major lake in Vermont, is the sixth-largest body of fresh water in the United States and separates Vermont from New York in the northwest portion of the state. From north to south, Vermont is 159 miles long and its greatest width, from east to west, is 89 miles at the Canada–U. S. Border, the narrowest width is 37 miles at the Massachusetts line, the states geographic center is approximately three miles east of Roxbury, in Washington County. There are fifteen U. S. federal border crossings between Vermont and Canada, the origin of the name Vermont is uncertain, but likely comes from the French les Verts Monts, meaning the Green Mountains
11.
TED (conference)
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TED is a media organization which posts talks online for free distribution, under the slogan ideas worth spreading. TED was founded in February 1984 as a conference, which has been held annually since 1990. TEDs early emphasis was technology and design, consistent with its Silicon Valley origins, but it has broadened its focus to include talks on many scientific, cultural. The main TED conference is held annually in Vancouver, British Columbia, prior to 2014, the conference was held in Long Beach. TED events are held throughout North America and in Europe and Asia. They address a range of topics within the research and practice of science and culture. The speakers are given a maximum of 18 minutes to present their ideas in the most innovative, TEDs current curator is the British former computer journalist and magazine publisher Chris Anderson. Since June 2006, TED Talks have been offered for free viewing online, under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license, as of March 2016, over 2,400 TED Talks are freely available on the website. In June 2011, TED Talks combined viewing figure stood at more than 500 million, not all TED Talks are equally popular, however. Those given by academics tend to be watched more online while art, TED was conceived in 1984 by architect and graphic designer Richard Saul Wurman, who observed a convergence of the fields of technology, entertainment, and design. Presentations were given by famous mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot and influential members of the community, like Nicholas Negroponte. The event was unsuccessful, it took six years before the second conference was organized. In 2000, Wurman, looking for a successor at age 65, met with new-media entrepreneur, Andersons UK media company Future bought TED. And in November 2001, Andersons non-profit The Sapling Foundation acquired TED from Future for £6m, in February 2002, Anderson gave a TED Talk in which he explained his vision of the conference and his future role of curator. Wurman left after the 2002 conference, in 2006, attendance cost was $4,400 per person and was by invitation only. The membership model was shifted in January 2007 to a membership fee of $6,000, which includes attendance of the conference, club mailings, networking tools. The 2017 conference will be $8,500 per attendee, in 2014, the conference was relocated to Vancouver. TED is currently funded by a combination of revenue streams, including conference attendance fees, corporate sponsorships, foundation support, licensing fees
12.
Barack Obama
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Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 to 2017. He is the first African American to have served as president and he previously served in the U. S. Senate representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008, and in the Illinois State Senate from 1997 to 2004. Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, two years after the territory was admitted to the Union as the 50th state and he grew up mostly in Hawaii, but also spent one year of his childhood in Washington State and four years in Indonesia. After graduating from Columbia University in 1983, he worked as a community organizer in Chicago, in 1988 Obama enrolled in Harvard Law School, where he was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, he became a civil rights attorney and professor, Obama represented the 13th District for three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004, when he ran for the U. S. Senate. In 2008, Obama was nominated for president, a year after his campaign began and he was elected over Republican John McCain, and was inaugurated on January 20,2009. Nine months later, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, during his first two years in office, Obama signed more landmark legislation than any Democratic president since LBJs Great Society. Main reforms were the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, after a lengthy debate over the national debt limit, Obama signed the Budget Control and the American Taxpayer Relief Acts. In foreign policy, Obama increased U. S. troop levels in Afghanistan, reduced nuclear weapons with the U. S. -Russian New START treaty, and ended military involvement in the Iraq War. He ordered military involvement in Libya in opposition to Muammar Gaddafi, after winning re-election over Mitt Romney, Obama was sworn in for a second term in 2013. Obama also advocated gun control in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and issued wide-ranging executive actions concerning climate change and immigration. In foreign policy, Obama ordered military intervention in Iraq in response to gains made by ISIL after the 2011 withdrawal from Iraq, Obama left office in January 2017 with a 60% approval rating. He currently resides in Washington, D. C and his presidential library will be built in Chicago. Obama was born on August 4,1961, at Kapiʻolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital in Honolulu and he is the only President to have been born in Hawaii. He was born to a mother and a black father. His mother, Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas, of mostly English descent, with some German, Irish, Scottish, Swiss and his father, Barack Obama Sr. was a married Luo Kenyan man from Nyangoma Kogelo. Obamas parents met in 1960 in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the couple married in Wailuku, Hawaii on February 2,1961, six months before Obama was born. In late August 1961, Obamas mother moved him to the University of Washington in Seattle for a year
