Did America Create Fireworks, Too?

America is known for many things. We won the Revolutionary War, we defeated the Japanese in World War II, we conquered the Great Plains, plus more. We are also know for our ingenuity. I have to say, we have created quite a lot of stuff. From the atomic bomb to new battle strategies, we are a creative bunch.

In 1873, an Illinois farmer named Joseph Glidden created barbed wire on his kitchen table. Now sure I can make an owie fence, too, but the fact that an American made it is what really matters and besides, that's something I probably wouldn't think of making. Within ten years, a billion acres of the mid-west are parceled up by half a billion miles of barbed wire. That was a pretty ingenious idea. I can see where it was more helpful then to keep cows out of your yard, but it's still used today. They still use barbed wire to keep the cows in their pasture, but now it is also used on other places too, to keep the robbers away.

In 1879, Thomas Edison invents the electric light bulb. It would soon get a thousand patents. It's almost funny to think about how the light bulb has helped us. It is really helpful. Before the light bulb we had to go try and kill whales to get whale oil. He also created the first commercial power grid. In two years, he sets up 5,000 power plants. Five more years and he creates a further 127,000. The power plants are the ones giving the power to the light bulb so we have it to thank for the light bulb's light. It wouldn't be a light bulb without the light. Then it would just be a useless bulb.

In the 1940s, a single computer was the same size as a Greyhound bus with the same power as a modern PC. It needed as much power as a small town. Many people didn't believe the computer would go very far. Trust me, I don't think I can fit a school bus in my bedroom. In 1976, in a garage in northern California, two computer hobbyist, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, create the first practical, personal, computer (PC). In the 1980's there are just 300,000 PCs, but in the 1990s there are 67,000,000. I thought the 300,000 was a big number, well, compared to the people in the US that number is tiny.

America has created a lot of things. As I'm typing I am thinking of more. We would probably top on the list of "country that has invented the most stuff." I wouldn't be amazed if America had invented fireworks, too. Happy Fourth of July!

America: The Story of Us - Part One

Last night, I watched the movie America: The Story of Us part one. Part one told us the story of the Revolutionary War. It told me many things I already knew and just as many that I didn't.

I never knew that one of the main reasons America won the Revolutionary War was because we gathered sharpshooters to hide in the bushes and trees and shoot the British as the hiked to a battlefield. The British were used to fighting on battle fields and they were surprised when a bullet came out of the bushes and killed one of their many Indian guides. The job of the sharpshooters was to kill all the Indian guides and the British leaders. The British needed the guides because they didn't know the area compared to the sharpshooters who knew it very well. The sharpshooters had killed all the guides and all the British leaders but one. The leader of the sharpshooters chose a man named Tim Murphy, an Irish man, to shoot the last British leader. He shot three bullets: the first missed, the second skinned his horse, and the third "hit home." The sharpshooters shot the British and about a half of them died under no leadership, that's double how many Americans died in the Battle of Lexington.

One of the reasons the Revolutionary War started was because mobs of angry prostitutes roamed the streets on May 5th, 1770. They gathered because they had lost their jobs and blamed the British gathered on King Street in Boston.  The hundreds of protesters faced off against the eight armed red-coats who were told not to fire. Edward Garrick, a 17-year old wig maker's apprentice "lights the fuse." He is hit in the head with a red-coat's gun. This is how wars start. British Private Hugh Montgomery is hit with a club. Edward Garrick was the first to be shot. African-American Crispus Attucks dies instantly. When the smoke clears, four more are dead.

I would love to tell you more about the movie, but I don't want to ruin it for you. To watch it, go to the History Channel.