International American Schools
International American schools are educational institutions located outside the U.S designed to promote an American-style program and provide a core curriculum that prepares students to enter schools, colleges, and universities in the United States and in a great number of countries throughout the world. American schools are greatly in demand among students wishing to enter into the best private colleges and universities in the world.
The U.S. Department Of State keeps a list of all international American schools that can be found here.
Sources: U.S. Department Of State and World Schools
2. Effects Of Extreme Weather On Crime In Caracas, Venezuela in 90s
Venezuela has one of the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and when the country nationalized oil industries in 1976, an oil crisis caused prices to skyrocket, leading to a massive increase in income. With the increase in income also came increases in public spending and external debts, and when oil prices collapsed during the 1980s, it crippled the Venezuelan economy. The Venezuelan government attempted to pay off its financial obligations, devaluing its currency in the process. A number of failed economic policies and increasing corruption in government led to rising poverty and crime, worsening social indicators, and increased political instability. The state of the country was made even worse when Hugo Chávez was elected president in 1998. Collapsing confidence in the current party system led to the coup leader, anti-establishment political figure gaining the presidency as well as his supporters gaining 93% of the constitutional assembly (similar to Congress in America).
A year later, in Vargas State, Venezuela, just north of the capital city of Caracas, something coined the Vargas Tragedy occurred. Starting December 15th, 1999 and lasting about 10 days, torrential rains caused major flooding and mudslides. Flooding killed tens of thousands of people, destroyed thousands of homes, and led to the complete collapse of the state's infrastructure.
These severe storms, coupled with the failing government and instability led to an increase in violent crime. In the four year period of 1999 to 2003, the murder rate had increased from 25 per 100,000 to 44 per 100,000. The rise of murders in Venezuela following the Chávez presidency has also been attributed by experts to the corruption of Venezuelan authorities, poor gun control and a poor judiciary system. Crime has grown so pervasive in Venezuela that the military is ordered to avoid public places during nighttime hours since criminals often attempt to steal their weapons, with robberies in the country often targeting unaware individuals using a kill first, steal later method. Many other types of serious criminal activity occurs in Venezuela, such as human and drug trafficking as well as other organized crime, but specific data on that is unknown since the Venezuelan government has slowly denied access to homicide and other statistics, and non-governmental organizations are believed to be under-reporting their data. Venezuela is believed to currently be among the countries with the highest murder rates in the world.
Sources: Harvard University, University of Chicago, Wikipedia and Wikipedia
3. Slip, Slop, Slap! Sunscreen PSA/Commercial in Australia
One of the most successful health campaigns in Australia's history was launched by the Cancer Council in 1981. Sid the seagull, wearing board shorts, t-shirt and a hat, tap-danced his way across TV screens singing a catchy jingle to remind viewers of three easy ways of protecting against skin cancer: Slip, Slop, Slap! Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat. At a time when melanoma rates were climbing and evidence of the link between UV radiation and skin cancer was mounting, the Cancer Council Victoria wanted to come up with a campaign that would encourage Australians to protect their skin. The campaign is widely credited as playing a key role in the dramatic shift in sun protection attitudes and behavior over the past several decades. In 2007, the slogan was updated to Slip, Slop, Slap, Seek, Slide to reflect the importance of seeking shade and sliding on sunglasses to prevent sun damage. The original commercial can be found here.
Source: Cancer Council Victoria
4. Bass Guitar Banter - What Is a Rickenbacker?
Rickenbacker International Corporation is a string instrument manufacturer located in Santa Ana, California. Founded in 1931 as Ro-Pat-In Corporation (ElectRo-Patent-Instruments) by Adolph Rickenbacher and George Beauchamp to sell electric Hawaiian guitars, they were credited as the first known makers of electric guitars when they came out with their first steel guitar in 1932. The Ro-Pat-In brand name would eventually transform into the 'Rickenbacher' brand, and ultimately the modern 'Rickenbacker’ was adopted. Today, the company produces a wide range of electric guitars and basses.
Source: Wikipedia
During the early days of the Beatles, bassist Paul McCartney had been using a Höfner 500/1 Violin Bass, custom-ordered because he is left-handed. In October of 1965, he switched to a Rickenbacker Model 4001S, during the recording of their sixth studio album Rubber Soul, which became the main bass guitar he used during the remainder of his career with the Beatles.
Source: Wikipedia
5. Menudo Boy Band With Ricky Martin
Menudo was a Puerto Rican boy band that hit its peak popularity in the 1980s. Regarded by many as the "Most Iconic Latino Pop Music Band," Menudo was formed (well before popular boy bands like Backstreet Boys) in Puerto Rico in 1977 by producer Edgar Diaz. Original members of the group included brothers Ricky Melendez, Carlos Melendez, and Oscar Meléndez, as well as the Sallaberry brothers, Fernando and Nefty. As time passed, several members came and went, but the biggest star to come out of the group was iconic Latino pop artist Ricky Martin. Martin was a member of the group from 1984 to 1989, but it was after his departure from the group that he released his album Ricky Martin in 1999 that really shot him into stardom. This album contains the hit song “Livin’ la vida loca,” which was co-written by former Menudo bandmate Robi “Draco” Rosa.
Sources: Wikipedia, AARP and Latin Post
6. School Attendance Laws For Children in Australia and Venezuela
Australia: Australian laws regarding school attendance are similar to the U.S. Children must be enrolled and attending school by the age of six and must remain in school until they are 17. Children are required to attend school every day that it is open, and parents can be fined if their children miss a significant number of school days. Children can leave school for another program(such as a vocational school) or full-time employment before their 17th birthday if they meet certain requirements.
Venezuela: Similar to the U.S. and Australia, children are required in Venezuela to regularly attend school starting at the age of six until they reach 15. Students usually attend classes in shifts, some go to school from early in the morning until about 1:30 PM and others attend from the early afternoon until about 6:00 PM. Uniform laws require that all students wear uniforms, and the color uniform they wear is dependent on what grade the student is in.
Sources: Wikipedia and Britannica
7. Bass Lines Of ABBA band - Chris Says They Are Awesome
8. Bass Line Of Muse Song “Hysteria”
The Muse song “Hysteria” can be found here.
9. “Fair Dinkum” Phrase In Aussie Lingo
“Fair dinkum” is Australian slang for something that is unquestionably good or genuine. An example using it in a sentence is:
These cigars are fair dinkum.
Source: Merriam-Webster
10. Rest In Peace: Mary Jo Coll and Howlers
Mary Jo Coll, also known by many in the Pittsburgh music scene as Mama Jo, was the concert promoter and booker at Howlers and Hambone's. Sadly, she passed away on December 26th, 2021 from stomach cancer at the age of 64.
Source: Pittsburgh City Paper
11. Where Did The Cleveland / PGH Rivalry Come From?
There are several reasons these two cities have such a well-known rivalry, but the main reason is definitely sports-related. Often called the “turnpike rivalry” the two cities are located fairly close to one another – Pittsburgh is only about 130 miles southeast of Cleveland. Football teams the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns have played each other twice a season since the 1950s, and since the cities are so close, many fans of either team can easily travel between cities for games. These games are always highly anticipated by fans, and this has led to a lot of trash-talking and a general dislike between fans of the two teams. While there may be some genuine animosity between residents of the two cities, much of the rivalry is good-natured and based on a friendly sense of competition.
Sources: Quora
12. Boomerangs: Origins And How They Work
There are actually two different types of boomerangs: the returning boomerang and the non-returning boomerang.
Evolving out of non-returning boomerangs, the returning boomerang, as the name suggests, is shaped in a way that, if thrown correctly, will fly in a circular shaped path and “return” back to its origin point. These boomerangs are usually lighter and smaller than their non-returning counterparts, and aren’t typically used in hunting as doing so wouldn’t allow them to return to the thrower, defeating the purpose of their design.
Non-returning boomerangs are heavier and longer than returning boomerangs (as mentioned above) usually 3 feet (1 meter) or more in length. They are effective hunting weapons because they are easy to aim and travel a good distance at a high rate of speed. There is even a subclass of non-returning boomerang called the battle boomerang, which is a basic NR boomerang used in hand-to-hand combat.
At its heart, a boomerang is just a propeller that isn't attached to anything. The wings are set at a slight tilt and they have an airfoil design -- they are rounded on one side and flat on the other, just like an airplane wing. This design gives a wing lift. The air particles move more quickly over the top of the wing than they do along the bottom of the wing, which creates a difference in air pressure. The wing has lift when it moves because there is greater pressure below it than above it.
The experts aren't really sure when and where people first developed returning boomerangs, but the Aborigines of Australia are generally credited with the invention. Aborigines used non-returning boomerangs, which they call kylies, extensively in hunting, and the theory is that at some point, one or more Aborigines used a kylie with the particular shape of a boomerang and noticed that it traveled in an arc. This might have been a pure accident or it might have been the result of design experimentation. One theory is that an Aboriginal hunter fashioned a smaller kylie with a more angled curve because he or she noticed how a bird held its wings in a pronounced V shape while soaring through the air.
Source: How Stuff Works
13. “Dippy” As a Pgh Word - Do People Use It Anywhere Else?
The word “dippy” means “appropriate for dipping into” and is part of the vocabulary of a dialect of English called “Western Pennsylvania English”, or more commonly known as “Pittsburgh English”, or “Pittsburghese.” Users of the dialect are colloquially known as "Yinzers", and are native primarily to the western half of Pennsylvania. The dialect has been seen used as far north as Erie County, and as far west as Youngstown, Ohio, however as the name suggests, it is primarily used by people in and around the area of the city of Pittsburgh.
Dippy is usually used to describe eggs, but can also be used to describe things like gravy or coffee. When ordering “dippy eggs” outside of Pittsburgh, the type that would most resemble them are over medium eggs.
Sources: Wikipedia and Pittsburgh City Paper
コメント