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Author Archives: Barry
Posts: 6 (archived below)
Comments: 7
Great Depression
This video would be playing on a television set in a shop window as the main character walks by, as though it was a news program. He stops to see what the rest of the world is watching about what he is living through. There is no sound as he is outside the shop. He walks away shaking his head as if to say, “if they only knew the half of it”.
Posted in 1920-1932, 1932-1940, Final Exam Component
Tagged Great depression
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Wilson and Sussex Pledge
The document that I have linked here is then President Woodrow Wilson delivering a speech to Congress on April 19, 1916 regarding the German attack on a French passenger ship called the Sussex.
Germany had a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare on armed ships but not passenger ships. When the German U-Boats shot down the Sussex, the US had Germany make the Sussex Pledge which said that if Germany were to continue in this manner of firing on passenger ships, then the US would have no choice but to join the war in order to stop them.
In 1917, Germany felt that they could successfully destroy British shipping boats and end the war without the US having time to respond. They were very wrong. Upon the breaking of the Sussex Pledge, and a few other actions such as the Zimmerman note, the US joined World War I on the side of the Allies and Triple Entente.
The US was trying to maintain a stance of isolationism, but the Germans forced the US’s hand, and the US helped the Allies end the war.
Posted in 1916-1920, June 28 assignment
Tagged germany, submarine, sussex, Woodrow Wilson, World War I, WWI
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Enron
Enron was an American energy company that went through a scandalous bankruptcy in 2001. It was a very powerful company that gained its popularity through marketing and having a very high stock market value. It was named the “Most Innovative Company” by Forbes for six years in a row. The company’s downfall appeared to come from its use of mark-to-market accounting, which is recognizing future revenue in the present. In this way, it appeared that the company’s revenue was sky high, and the company was thus able to hide its huge debt. This debt was eventually discovered after many questions were raised against the actions of the company, and Jeffrey Skilling, the former President and CEO, brushed them off without realizing the consequences. Shareholders, as a whole, lost around $11 billion in the bankruptcy of Enron.
Posted in 2001-present, June 21 assignment
Tagged bankruptcy, energy, enron, mark to market, scandal, skilling
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Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956
The Federal-Aid Highway Act was the creation of the Interstate system. It would connect each state through main, central roads that were centrally located.
President Eisenhower was quoted as saying, “Together, the united forces of our communication and transportation systems are dynamic elements in the very name we bear – United States. Without them, we would be a mere alliance of many separate parts.” The Interstate system would be an efficient way to intertwine the individual United States into the whole.
This was a very important point of the 50’s. Not only was it the largest public project in American History up to this point, it was an expression of the longing for unity throughout the country. This was also coming at a time when African-American equality protests were on the rise. Everyone desired a sense of alliance and unification, whether it be in their own village or countrywide.
Posted in 1953-1960, Economic History, June 15 assignment
Tagged 1956 american history, eisenhower, federal-aid, highway act, interstate, public project
1 Comment
The World Wide Web
This is a video of Sir Tim Berners-Lee at a conference in the Hilton at Kuala Lumpur, discussing the advent and instant popularity of the World Wide Web. It appears this video was taken in 2007, but it refers back to Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s inventing of the WWW in 1989.
I don’t believe it is necessary to explain why the World Wide Web is important to the world as we know it. The WWW made information universally accessible, allowed information sharing, and created an eventual expansion of communication.
Posted in 1989-2000, June 8 assignment
Tagged information sharing, internet, tim berners-lee, world wide web
3 Comments
Alexander Graham Bell and the telephone

Telephone Sketch
This is a picture of a sketch that Alexander Graham Bell drew of the telephone around 1876, one of the most important inventions of the common era. This picture is courtesy of the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress.
The invention of the telephone transformed communication into what it is today, every person being one touch and a few seconds away. What used to take weeks to do, for example contacting someone in Hong Kong from New York, takes only moments.
This has significance to me because my younger brother is currently studying abroad in Israel, and I can speak to him whenever I want to.
Posted in June 7 assignment
Tagged alexander graham bell, phone, telecommunication, telephone
2 Comments