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Sybil Ludington was 16 years old when she joined American Revolutionary War forces, riding 40 miles on horseback in the dark of night to obtain military reinforcements. It was because of 11-year-old Grace Bedell that Abraham Lincoln became the first U.S. president to wear a beard. When Lincoln was running for president, she sent him a letter saying, “You would look a great deal better, for your face is so thin… [people] like whiskers and they would…vote for you and then you would be president....

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Tobacco Companies Suffer a Defeat in the Supreme Court (December 15, 2008) The Supreme Court ruled that the cigarette companies can be sued by smokers who claim they were deceived by advertisements promoting “light” cigarettes. The 5 to 4 vote was a victory for a group of plaintiffs in Maine who accused a tobacco company of fraudulently advertising that “light” cigarettes deliver less tar and nicotine than regular brands.

Mary McLeod Bethune What Does American Democracy Mean to Me? New York, N.Y., Nov. 23, 1939http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/sayitplain/mmbethune.html Barbara Bush Commencement Address: Choices and Change Wellesley College, Mass., June 1, 1990 Carrie Chapman Catt The Crisis Atlantic City, N.J., 1916 Shirley Chisholm Equal Rights For Women Washington, DC, May 21, 1969 Mary Church Terrell What It Means to be Colored in the Capital of the United States Washington, DC, Oct. 10, 1906...

A fifth-generation Wisconsin native, Paul Ryan was born and raised in the city of Janesville. After graduating from Miami University in Ohio, Ryan worked as an aide to legislators Bob Kasten, Sam Brownback, and Jack Kemp. He worked as a speechwriter for Kemp, who became his mentor. Ryan also worked as a speechwriter for Empower America, a conservative think tank. Ryan was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998 and has won every re-election bid since....

Some facts: The only even prime number is 2. All other even numbers can be divided by 2.If the sum of a number’s digits is a multiple of 3, that number can be divided by 3.No prime number greater than 5 ends in a 5. Any number greater than 5 that ends in a 5 can be divided by 5.Zero and 1 are not considered prime numbers.Except for 0 and 1, a number is either a prime number or a composite number....

The Eccentric Bill Lear Lear never got beyond the eighth grade, but he developed the first car radio in the 1920s, and grew rich during WW II making electronic aircraft equipment. After inventing the eight-track stereo in the 1950s, he “retired” to Switzerland. But the restless Lear couldn’t stop tinkering. His Learjet design was based on the wings and basic structure of a short-lived Swiss fighter plane, the P-16. He moved the project back to the U....

Why is novel H1N1 virus sometimes called “swine flu”? This virus was originally referred to as “swine flu” because laboratory testing showed that many of the genes in this new virus were very similar to influenza viruses that normally occur in pigs (swine) in North America. But further study has shown that this new virus is very different from what normally circulates in North American pigs. It has two genes from flu viruses that normally circulate in pigs in Europe and Asia and bird (avian) genes and human genes....

The U.S. Supreme Court, founded in 1789, is the highest federal court in America. Located in Washington D.C., it has final jurisdiction over all federal and state court cases. Abortion is the act of deliberately terminating a pregnancy by removing or destroying the embryo or fetus. The debate around abortion rights is most commonly wagered between those who believe a fetus is a life that must be preserved (sometimes referred to as ‘pro-life’), and those who believe it is a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have a baby (sometimes referred to as ‘pro-choice’)....

Related Links Time Measurement, Time Zones, and the International Date Line Prime MeridianGreenwich Mean TimeUniversal TimeInternational Date LineLongitude / Latitude Daylight Saving Time Engineering Time All that changed when railroads began to move people across great distances quickly. In the early days of the railroads, train schedules were totally confusing because they were based on local solar time. This problem was particularly pronounced in the United States and Canada where transcontinental railroads moved people over thousands of miles relatively quickly....

1. Stay Immersed in the Flow Psychologists talk about a powerful kind of concentration called ’ the flow.’ It occurs when someone is focused and engaged in the task. If you write like this, it’s easy to write fluently. We all recognize this condition. “Time flies when you’re having fun” is one way to describe it. Meditation may be an alternative. This is different if you play video games or sports and feel at one with the activity....

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“A hat makes all the difference” was a U.S. advertising slogan used in 1930. For centuries, tradition linked hats with female status. Married women and mothers were required to cover their heads with hats as signs of respectability. Unmarried women went bare-headed. Headwear is also a sign of power, from the crowns worn by royalty to the feathered headdresses of tribal chiefs. Today, hats have become a fun topping. After a twenty-year lapse, they are back with a young, modern attitude....