KING OF THE ROAD: USA or CHINA?

                 

                           

USA started construction of a nationwide expressway system in 1956.  China opened its first expressway in 1988.  Even though the USA had a 32 year head start, China's expressway system now exceeds the USA by 25,000 miles.

 How could a country with limited access to capital build an expressway system so rapidly and extensively?

                                                                Answer:  TOLLS!

Expressway tolls in China are very expensive (about 12 cents per mile), but the "show me the money" technique for road building has enabled China to speed right past the USA in roadway expansion.  However, because 99% of China's expressways are tolled, and only 8% of expressways in the USA are tolled, the USA remains King of the FREEWAYS.

LOUDEST SOUND EVER HEARD? (It's Not Your Neighbor's Dog)

Krakatoa

On August 27, 1883 the volcanic island of Krakatoa erupted with sound so loud that it was heard over 3,000 miles away.  Anyone hearing the explosion at a distance of 3,000 miles was actually receiving the audio about 4 hours after the event (4.689 seconds for sound to travel 1 mile at speed of sound).  The speed of sound is about 25% faster than the speed of a tsunami wave, so anyone hearing the explosion had a brief window of time to escape the deadly waves that killed more than 36,000 people.  Of course, hearing and understanding are two very different things.

BOMBS & BODIES: Vietnam Overwhelms Civil Rights

On August 5, 1964, two seemingly unrelated events were headline news.  Lyndon Johnson, recently elevated to the presidency upon the assassination of President Kennedy, aspired to focus his administration on issues of social justice and civil rights.  Johnson had just signed the landmark Civil Rights Act.  However, events in Vietnam intervened and Johnson's focus changed to not "being responsible for America's losing a war to the Communists."  On the day he signed the Civil Rights Act, there were 16,000 America "military advisors" in Vietnam.  On the day he left office with a damaged presidency, there were 536,000 military personnel in Vietnam.  Effective enforcement of the Civil Rights Act, and enactment of supplementary social justice legislation, was temporized.

SLAVE EMANCIPATION Stipulation

Freedom for slaves?  Not completely!  The Emancipation Proclamation only granted freedom to slaves in the rebellious Confederate States.  Slave ownership was allowed to continue in Union border states and parts of the Confederacy under Union dominance.  During the Civil War, emancipation was a tactical political decision.  In 1862 President Lincoln wrote an open letter to the editor of the New York Tribune stating; "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery.  If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that."  Because of the political winds of the time, Lincoln settled on  "freeing some and leaving others alone."

x