Steve Jobs’s speech - June 12, 2005 - Stanford University

Steve Jobs’s speech - June 12, 2005 - Stanford University

     “You’ve got to find what you love”

     This is a prepared text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005.

     I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That’s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

     The first story is about connecting the dots.

     I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

     It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: “We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?” They said: “Of course.” My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

     And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents’ savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn’t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn’t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

     It wasn’t all romantic. I didn’t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends’ rooms, I returned Coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

     Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

     None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backward 10 years later.

     Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

     My second story is about love and loss.

     I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents’ garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

     I really didn’t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down — that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

     I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

     During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple’s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

     I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

     My third story is about death.

     When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

     Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

     About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

     I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

     This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

     No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

     Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: It was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

     Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

     Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

     Thank you all very much.

     Steve Jobs

Nicknames, slogans and mottos of the fifty states of United States of America

Each of the fifty US states has a nickname. It is one of the most folkloric customs of the United States of America for many reasons, from patriotism to remember some of the historical peculiarities that the state has been in the past 240 years. Plants, animals, ideas. It all goes well for being written on placards or official flags and to outline in two words the history of each state.

Below are reported the nicknames of the US states, including (in bold type) those officially used or traditionally assigned to states or districts in the United States.

1.      Alabama

Yellowhammer State, Cotton Plantation State, Cotton State, Heart of Dixie, Lizard State, Camellia State

2.      Alaska

The Last Frontier,

Great Land, Land of the Midnight Sun, Land of the Noonday Moon, Seward’s Folly, Seward’s Ice Box, Icebergia, Polaria, Walrussia, and Johnson’s Polar Bear Garden

3.      Arizona

The Grand Canyon State

Apache State, Aztec State, Baby State, Copper State, Italy of America, Sand Hill State, Sunset State, Sweetheart State, Valentine State

4.      Arkansas

The Natural State

Bear State, Bowie State, Hot Spring State, Land of Opportunity, Razorback State, Toothpick State, Wonder State, Diamond State

5.      California

The Golden State

El Dorado State, The Land of Sunshine and Opportunity, Golden West, Grape State, Land of Milk and Honey, Land of Fruits and Nuts, Where Stars are Buried, The Cereal Bowl of the Nation, The Eureka State, The Bear State (or Republic), The Sunshine State (disused)

6.      Colorado

Centennial State

Buffalo Plains State, Colorful Colorado, Columbine State, Highest State, Lead State, Mother of Rivers, Rocky Mountain Empire, Rocky Mountain State (disused), Silver State (disused), Switzerland of America

7.      Connecticut

Constitution State

Nutmeg State, Charter Oak State, Blue Law State, Freestone State, Land of Steady Habits

8.      Delaware

The First State

Chemical Capital, Corporate Capital, Diamone State, Blue Hen State or Blue Hen Chicken State, Home of Tax Free Shopping, New Sweden, Peach State, Small Wonder, Uncle Sam’s Pocket Handkerchief

District of Columbia

The District

A Capital City, The Federal City

9.      Florida 

Sunshine State

Alligator State, Citrus State, Everglade State, Flower State, God’s Waiting Room, Gulf State, Hurricane State, Manatee State, Orange State, Peninsula State or Peninsular State, Tropical State

10.  Georgia 

Peach State

Cracker State, Empire State of the South,  of the South, Yankee-land of the South, Goober State

11.  Hawaii 

Aloha State

Paradise, The Islands of Aloha, Paradise of the Pacific, Pineapple State, Rainbow State, Youngest State

12.  Idaho  

Gem State

Gem of the Mountanis, Little Ida, Spud State, Potatonia,

13.  Illinois

Land of Lincoln

Prairie State

Corn State, Inland Empire State, Garden of the West

14.  Indiana

Hoosier State

Crossroads of America, Hospitality State, Sunshine State

15.  Iowa  

Hawkeye State

Land of the Rolling Prairie, Tall Corn State

16.  Kansas  

The Wheat State

Sunflower State

America’s Bread Basket, Wheat State, Home of Beautiful Women, Central State, Jayhawker State

17.  Kentucky 

Bluegrass State

Corn-cracker State, The Dark and Bloody Ground State, Hemp State, Tobacco State

18.  Loiusiana  

The Sportsman’s Paradise

Pelican State

Bayou State, Child of the Mississippi, Creole State, Fisherman’s Paradise, Holland of America, Sugar State

19.  Maine 

Vacationland

Pine Tree State

Lumber State

20.  Maryland
Old Line State

Chesapeake State, America in Miniature, Cockade State, Crab State, Free State, Monumental State, Oyster State, Queen State, Terrapin State,

21.  Massachussets 

The Spirit of America

The Bay State

Baked Bean State, Codfish State, The Commonwealth, Old Colony State, Pilgrim State, The People’s Republic of Massachusetts, Taxachusetts

22.  Michigan 

The Greate Lake State

Wolverine State

Mitten State, Winter Water Wonderland, The World’s Motor Capital, America’s High Five

23.  Minnesota 

The North Star State

Butter Country, Gopher State, Land of 10,000 Lakes, Land of Lakes, Land of Sky-Blue Water, New England of the West, State of Hockey, Vikings State, Bread and Butter State

24.  Mississippi

Magnolia State

Hospitality State, The South’s Warmest Welcome, The Birthplace of America’s Music, The Bayou State

25.  Missouri 

Show-Me State

Bullion State, Cave State, Gateway State, Bellwether State, Lead State, The Great Rivers State, Ozark State

26.  Montana 

The Treasure State

Big Sky Country, The Last Best Place

27.  Nebraska 

The Cornhusker State

Beef State, Tree Planter’s State, Blackwater State

28.  Nevada 

Battle Born

Silver State

Battle Born State, Sagebrush State

29.  New Hampshire 

Granite State

The Live Free or Die State, Mother of Rivers, White Mountain State

30.  New Jersey 

Garden State

The Crossroads of the Revolution, The Tomato State

31.  New Mexico 

Land of Enchantment

Cactus State, The Colorful State, Land of Sunshine or Land of Enchantment, New Andalusia, The Outer Space State, The Tex-Mex State, The Spanish State

32.  New York 

The Empire State

Excelsior State

33.  North Carolina 

The Tar Heel State

Old North State, Turpentine State, Variety Vacationland, Rip Van Winkle State, Land of the Sky, First in Flight State

34.  North Dakota 

The Peace Garden State

Flickertail State, Rough Rider State, Sioux State

35.  Ohio 

The Buckeye State

Birthplace of Aviation, Mother of Modern Presidents, The Heart of it All

36.  Oklahoma 

Sooner State

Native America, Land of the Red Man

37.  Oregon 

The Beaver State

Union State, Pacific Wonderland, Sunset State, Webfoot State

38.  Pennsylvania 

The Keystone State

Liberty Bell State, Independence State, Quaker State, Toll Booth State

39.  Rhode Island 

The Ocean State

Little Rhody

40.  South Carolina 

Palmetto State

Sandlapper State, Iodine Products State (disused)

41.  South Dakota 

The Mount Rushmore State (since 1980)

Sunshine State (before 1980), Artesian State, Blizzard State, Coyote State, Land of Infinite Variety

42.  Tennessee 

Volunteer State

Big Bend State, Butternut State, Hog and Hominy State, The Mother of Southwestern Statesmen

43.  Texas 

The Lone Star State

Friendship State, Chili State

44.  Utah 

The Beehive State

Mormon State, Friendly State (in disused), Greatest Snow on Earth

45.  Vermont 

The Green Mountain State

46.  Virginia 

The Dominion State

Mother of Presidents, Mother of States, The Commonwealth

47.  Washington 

The Evergreen State

Apple State

48.  West Virginia 

The Mountain State

Panhandle State

49.  Wisconsin 

America’s Dairyland

Badger State

Cheese State

50.  Wyoming 

Equality State 

Cowboy State, Park State, Like No Place On Earth, Forever West

Insects and animals. The top new species of 2016

     Humans have made their way to the moon, landed rovers on Mars and sent spacecraft to the outer reaches of the solar system. But the Earth remains a little-known planet. That becomes clear when naturalists look for creatures closer to home and find unknown gems. Here are our favorite new species of 2016.

     UNKNOWN TUMBLER

     Tumbleweeds are synonymous with the American West. At some point, two of them interbred to form a new species, Salsola ryanii, which is about 5 feet in height and nearly as wide. Usually, such hybrids are sterile, but in this case, the plant underwent an unusual genetic event that led to a duplication of its entire genome. That allowed it to reproduce and also made it incompatible with either of its parents. It has been found at 15 sites throughout California. "It's extremely rare to catch a new species in the act of appearing and expanding," says Norm Ellstrand, a professor of genetics at the University of California, Riverside, "and very exciting."

     HOW MANY PENISES?

     When biologist Jean Krejca unearthed an extremely leggy millipede in a remote cave in California's Sequoia National Park, she knew it was special, so she sent it to the millipede experts Bill Shear and Paul Marek. They determined it was a new species and gave it the name Illacme Tobini. With 414 legs, it's one of Earth's leggiest creatures. It is closely related to Illacme plenipes, which lives about 150 miles away and has 750 legs—the most of any animal. The millipede also has four gonopods, the millipede equivalents of penises, and boasts zoo poison glands.

     A VEGETARIAN PIRANHA

     Piranhas are famous for their fearsome teeth and ability to quickly devour flesh. But not all creatures in this biological family are so brashly carnivorous. Researchers from Brazil's Federal University of Para have discovered a new species of piranha-like fish with chompers specialized for grinding seeds and other vegetable debris that falls into the tributaries of the western Amazon, where it lives. It grows to a length of i8 inches and has reddish coloration, with yellow on its fins and belly, and it is sought after by fishermen for its meat. The biologists named it Myloplus Zorroi, after the fictional character Zorro, a hero in Latin America.

     WHIP SCORPIONS

     Whip spiders, also known as tailless Whip Scorpions, display more variety than scientists knew. Brazilian researchers uncovered eight new species of these animals in the Amazon rain forest of northern Brazil. They aren't true spiders—they lack silk and venom glands—but they do possess fearsome-looking appendages called pedipalps that look like arms with claws and are used to grab prey. These spiny freaks hang out in caves or leaf litter. To tell the species apart, researchers Gustavo Miranda and Alessandro Giupponi counted the hairs on their pedipalps.

     THE LEAF THAT WASN'T

     When is a leaf not a leaf? When it's a spider. Max Kuntner, an arachnologist at the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Science and Arts, and colleagues discovered the creature on a night-time walk through a rain forest in southern China. They placed it in the genus Poltys with orb-weaving spiders that live in China and produce distinctive circular webs. It's the first arachnid known to mimic foliage, a survival strategy that helps it avoid predation by wasps and other insects.

     SNAKE IN THE SUN

     The Bahamas are hardly an unexplored place. It came as quite a shock, then, to herpetologist Graham Reynolds when he found a handsome, undescribed silver serpent on a small uninhabited Bahaman island. Reynolds, who works at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, called it the Conception Bank silver boa (Chilabothrus Argentum), and it's already listed as critically endangered: Reynolds and his colleagues found only 33 of them on the island.

     GLOWFISH

     These fish don't need a light—they carry their own, thanks. In August, scientists reported that they had found two new species of deep sea fish with this unusual arrangement. They have light-producing bacteria in a pouch within their gut that makes them appear to glow. They can change the size of this pouch, contracting it to hide the light and expanding it to reveal the light, which then passes through transparent scales on their underside. The scientists dubbed these new species the gray mirrorbelly and black mirrorbelly—Monacoa Griseus and Monacoa niger.

     PARASITE IN PURPLE

     While most plants rely on the sun for energy and food, some pursue an alternative stratagem: thievery. Japanese scientists have found a bizarre new plant they call Sciaphila yakushimensis (after Yakushima, the lush Japanese island where it was found). This species, like its relatives, makes its way aboveground only when it flowers—in this case with a purple blossom. It gets its sustenance by stealing nutrients from the roots and root-bound fungi of other plants.

     JOHNNY'S FAVORITE CRAWLER

     How many kinds of tarantulas exist in the United States? Until evolutionary biologist Chris Hamilton investigated, nobody knew. He and his colleagues spent nearly a decade looking for tarantulas and sorting through contradictory past studies. The team turned up 14 new tarantula species, mostly in the Southwest. An all-black species found near California's Folsom Prison—where Johnny Cash, the Man in Black, recorded a live album—was dubbed Aphonopelma johnnycashi.

     TEENY-TINY PEACOCKS

     Australian biologist Jurgen Otto has spent the past decade cataloguing Peacock Spiders, the males of which engage in adorably strange jigs to woo females, extending their furry legs and flashy abdomens. He's discovered dozens of new varieties, and in May, he co-authored a paper in the journal Peckhamia identifying seven more. The spiders range in length from 0.1 to 0.2 inches, and they are often brightly and brilliantly colored. 

     Source: Newsweek, 6.01.2017 – 13.01.2017, by Douglas Main, pp. 52–53.  

1830 Abraham Lincoln: letter to his son’s teacher

He will have to learn, I know, that all men are not just, all men are not true, but teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero; that for every selfish politician, there is a dedicated leader.

Teach him that for every enemy there is a friend.

It will take time, I know, but teach him, if you can, that a dollar earned is of far more value than five found… Teach him to learn to lose… and also to enjoy winning.

Steer him away from envy, if you can, teach him the secret of quiet laughter.

Let him learn early that the bullies are the easiest to lick…

Teach him, if you can, the wonder of a book… But also give him quiet time to ponder the eternal mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun, and flowers on a green hillside.

In school, teach him it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat…

Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong…

Teach him to be gentle with gentle people, and tough with the tough. 

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting on the bandwagon…

Teach him to listen to all men… but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth, and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him, if you can, how to laugh when he is sad…

Teach him there is no shame in tears.

Teach him to scoff at cynics and to beware of too much sweetness…

Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders, but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul.

Teach him to close his ears to a howling mob… and to stand and fight if he thinks he is right.

Treat him gently, but do not coddle him, because only the test of fire makes fine steel. 

Let him have the courage to be impatient… let him have the patience to be brave. 

Teach him always to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind.

This is a big order, but see what you can do…

He is such a fine little fellow, my son! 

     Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was the sixteenth president of the United States. He abolished slavery. He was recalled in many ways. Some American cities bear his name, as the Lincoln the capital of Nebraska. USA dedicated to him the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, and is depicted on the five dollar bill and the one cent coin. His face was carved in the monument of Mount Rushmore (the first right).

Focus on the USA

The USA is not the same thing as America! America refers to the whole continent and includes North, South and Central America. It stretches from Canada to Argentina.

The USA’s national symbol is the bald eagle. It is a symbol of freedom, strength and victory.

The USA has more than six million kilometres of road – more than any other country – and Los Angeles has the greatest density of traffic.

The first inhabitants of the USA were the Native Americans.

The USA’s flag is called the Stars and Stripes. There are 50 stars on it, one for each state in the union, and 13 stripes which symbolize the original 13 states.

The USA’s national motto is In God We Trust. But every state has a motto that reflects some of its history and ethnic heritage.

The Star Spangled Banner is the national anthem of the USA, but most of the states have at least one state song.

Hamburgers and hot dogs are the favourite food in the USA. On average, every American eats more than 200 hamburgers each year.

Regions

Alaska

Alaska is separated from the other states by Canada. Situated north of Canada, it is huge, with fewer people than any other state. Part of it is covered with snow, ice and glaciers. But it also has vast forests, and modern cities. It is an important oil producing region. Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America, is in Alaska. The Inuit (Eskimo) people live here.

The Pacific West

States: California, Washington, Oregon, Nevada.

It is a rich region with rocky coasts, high mountains, fertile valleys and thick rain forests with tall trees. Many people visit California for its mild climate, and Hollywood is the home of many movie stars, despite the risk of earthquakes.

The Southwest

States: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma.

An area of contrasts, with dry, hostile desert areas, and wide open plains. The Grand Canyon in Arizona is one of the most magnificent sights in the world. Texas, famous for its cowboys and rodeos, is also an important oil- and gas- producing region and has many big cattle ranches.

Hawaii

Hawaii is about 3,700 km from the coast of California.

People live on seven of These 130 beautiful, sub-tropical islands in the Pacific. Volcanoes formed these islands millions of years ago and some are still active. It is a popular tourist destination.

The South

States: Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky.

The states of the South once formed a separate union and fought a war with the northern states in the 19^th century. One reason for the war was that the South wanted to keep slavery. Many black people live and work here — their ancestors were brought from Africa as slaves to work on the tobacco and cotton plantations. New Orleans was originally a French city, and it is still famous for its Mardi Gras carnival and jazz music.

The Rocky Mountain region

States: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado.

This spectacular region with its high peaks, deserts and river canyons, is visited by millions of tourists, particularly for winter sports. There are several national parks, which are famous for their dramatic scenery and wildlife.

The Midwest

States: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio.

This is the USA’s, most important agricultural region with large farms, cattle and sheep ranches and massive fields of corn, oats, wheat and soya beans. But it is also the heart of industrial production, particularly around the Great Lakes. Detroit is the main centre for the automobile industry.

New England

States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont.

There are six New England states. Many of the original settlers came here from England, including the Pilgrim Fathers, who first settled in Massachusetts. This region is well known for its beautiful scenery and the colour of its leaves in the fall.

Mid Atlantic region

States: West Virginia, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Virginia.

It is a very heavily populated and industrialized area with a lot of big titles, although Virginia is famous for its scenery. Washington DC is the capital of the USA where the American president lives and works. New York, the biggest city in the USA, is known as the 'melting pot' for its incredible mix of different nationalities.

Florida

Sunny weather, sandy beaches and interesting places like the Everglades National Park with its alligators, the Kennedy Space Center and Disneyworld attract millions of tourists to the peninsula of Florida — the Sunshine State. Many Americans choose to retire here. 

Source: Excursion, an old Italian book. 

The making of Australia

     The settlement of Australia by the Aborigines is at least 25,000 – 40,000 years old. They immigrated from South East Asia and there were about 300,000 of them when Europeans arrived.

     The Dutch came in 1616, and in 1644 Australia was called New Holland. The British first arrived in 1688. It Was in 1770 that James Cook, a British explorer, took scientists to study the plants, animals and native people, in his first ship, the Endeavour. He wanted to claim the land for Britain and, in April 1770, he charted the east coast of Australia, and named it New South Wales. There was a scientist on the ship, Joseph Banks who was so fascinated by the range of plants in a bay, that the British named it Botany Bay.

     Sailing north, the ship was damaged when it ran into coral on the Great Barrier Reef. After repairing the ship they sailed back to Britain, arriving in July 1771. In London, Joseph Banks suggested that Botany Bay would be a very good place to start a colony.

     In 1788 the first feet of eleven ships from Britain landed in Botany Bay to establish the colony of New South Wales. There were about 1,050 people, mostly prisoners from British prisons sent to begin a colony. They moved from Botany Bay to Sydney Cove where there was fresh water and better soil. The settlers called the place The Rocks. Later free settlers began to arrive from Britain wanting to start a new life. Most immigrants to Australia for the next 150 years were of British origin. 

Source: Excursion, an old Italian book.