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| Health Status, Health Insurance, and Health Services Utilization: 2001 — How often do Americans use health care services? If you’re looking for an answer, this report may be “just what the doctor ordered.” It provides data on the frequency of visits to doctors, dentists and hospitals and whether or not people are taking prescription medicine — by characteristics such as self-reported health status, age and health insurance coverage status.
Internet address: <http://www.census.gov/prod/2006pubs/p70-106.pdf> | | |
| <tr align="center"><td colspan="2">Women’s History Month: March 2006</td> </tr><tr align="center"><td colspan="2"> </td> </tr><tr align="left"><td colspan="2"> In 1981, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution establishing National Women’s History Week. The week was chosen to coincide with International Women’s Day, March 8. In 1987, Congress expanded the week to a month. Every year since, Congress has passed a resolution for Women’s History Month, and the U.S. president has issued a proclamation.
( Read more... ) | | |
| FM radio as we know it is 65 years old today. That’s when the first commercial FM station went on the air — W47NV in Nashville. FM — standing for frequency modulation — was first proposed in a scientific paper written by Edwin Armstrong in 1922. By 1934, he demonstrated how FM was unaffected by static, unlike all the radio stations then on the air, which used AM or amplitude modulation. World War II interrupted the advance of FM broadcasting, which slowly began to gain popularity in the 1950s. Today, there are just over 11-thousand radio stations around the nation — nearly 6-out-of-10 of them operating on the FM band.
Sources: 440 International Calendar of Events
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2006, t. 1117
http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract.html | | |
| | Today marks the birthday of Edward Davis — the nation's first African-American new car dealer. Unable to land a franchise of his own with one of the big three automakers, Davis turned to the Studebaker Corporation in South Bend, Indiana. With its backing, he opened a dealership in Detroit in 1940 — which he operated until the carmaker closed 26 years later. In 1996, Davis was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame, and the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers has created the annual Edward Davis Pioneer Award. There are more than 4-thousand automotive dealers and service stations owned by African-Americans, generating nearly 7-billion dollars in revenue annually. | | |
| In the minds of children, probably the most recognized character after Santa Claus is being noted today — it’s National Tooth Fairy Day. Every child goes through the awkward time of losing baby teeth and the resulting uneven smile until adult replacements grow in. The tooth fairy adds a little fun and adventure to this transition. The idea of the tooth fairy is an American tradition, springing from some ancient European and Viking superstitions about the loss of children’s teeth. Today’s parents not only help the tooth fairy’s activities, but make sure their children visit one of America’s 167-thousand dentists regularly.
Sources: Chase's Calendar of Events 2006, p. 152
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2006, t. 604
http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract.html | | |
| | One of the pioneers who set out by wagon train to the West in 1844 was an African-American named George Washington Bush. His hope was to escape the discrimination of Missouri; but when he arrived in the Oregon Territory, he found the same attitudes flourishing there. This caused Bush to move north across the Columbia River into the British controlled area, in search of good land — into what is now the state of Washington. One of Bush's sons, William Owen Bush, was elected to the first Washington state legislature, where he introduced the bill that established Washington State University. In 1850, the area that is now Washington state had a population of 1-thousand. Now, the state is home to more than 6-million people. | | |
| Automobile insurance is both required and a major item in the budget of most households. The idea of insuring cars against accidents began this month in 1898 when the Traveler’s Insurance Company issued a policy to Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo. His policy cost $12.25 and gave him $5,000 in coverage. Martin was chiefly concerned about accidents between his automobile — one of only 4-thousand in the entire country at the time — and horses, which numbered about 20-million. Now, cars and trucks outnumber horses 231-million to just over 9-million. The average car costs its owner $774 a year to insure.
Sources: Statistical Abstract of the United States 2006, t. 1081, 1213
http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract.html | | |
| | Most Americans could not conceive of a life without their favorite electronic gadgets. Many of the technological advances that make these devices possible have come from the nation's space program. One man who has made many contributions is George Edward Alcorn Jr., the assistant director of Applied Engineering and Technology at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Honored as NASA's inventor of the year in 1984, he holds eight patents, and several of his inventions are used widely in the semiconductor industry. Alcorn holds degrees in nuclear and molecular physics from Howard University. Each year in the U.S., some 4-thousand men and women earn Ph.D.'s in the physical sciences. | | |
| There are many festivals around the U.S. each year, but one of the most unusual is winding up today in the southern California town of Indio. By the time it ends, nearly 300-thousand people will have visited the National Date Festival. These dates aren’t the Saturday night type, but the chewy fruit that grows on palm trees, used in baking such treats as date nut bread and fruitcake. While the festival has many of the events of most such gatherings — food, livestock exhibits and a carnival — it has its own exotic touches, such as camel and ostrich races and an Arabian Nights Pageant. California is a leading producer of fruits and nuts. Across the U.S., these crops are worth over 13-billion dollars to farmers.
Sources: Chase's Calendar of Events 2006, p. 137
United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2006, t. 806 http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract.html | | |
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