Simon & Schuster, the publisher of Ernest Hemingway and Stephen King, is working with a multimedia partner to release four “vooks,” which intersperse videos throughout electronic text that can be read—and viewed—online or on an iPhone or iPod Touch. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/01/books/01book.html?_r=2&hp

By the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year. Relations between the colonies and the mother country had been deteriorating since the end of the Seven Years' War in 1763. The war had plunged the British government deep into debt, and so Parliament enacted a series of measures to increase tax revenue from the colonies. Parliament believed that these acts, such as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767, were a legitimate means of having the colonies pay their fair share of the costs to keep the colonies in the British Empire. See history and list of 56 delegates who eventually signed the Declaration at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence#List_of_signers

Timeline of the Revolutionary War
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/revwartimeline.htm

The end of the Revolutionary War
1782
January - Loyalists begin leaving America for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The British withdraw from North Carolina.
June - British evacuate Savannah, Georgia.
August - Loyalist and Indian forces attack and defeat American settlers near Lexington, Kentucky. Raids on settlements in Pennsylvania and Kentucky by Mohawk Indian Chief Joseph Brant. The last fighting of the Revolutionary War between Americans and British occurs with a skirmish in South Carolina along the Combahee River, South Carolina.
November - The final battle of the Revolutionary War occurs as Americans retaliate against Loyalist and Indian forces by attacking a Shawnee Indian village in the Ohio territory.
December - British forces evacuate Charleston, South Carolina.
1783
February - Great Britain officially declares an end to hostilities in America.
April - 7,000 Loyalists set sail from New York for Canada, bringing a total of 100,000 Loyalists who have now fled America.
June - The Continental Army is disbanded.
September - The Treaty of Paris is signed by the United States, Great Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. http://www.revolutionarywarmuseum.com/1782_1783.html

From its beginnings as a royal fortress to the public institution we see today, discover the Musée du Louvre http://www.louvre.fr/llv/musee/alaune.jsp?bmLocale=en

Condé Nast Publications Inc., facing a steep drop-off in advertising, said it would chop four magazines from its roster—including 68-year-old Gourmet, long considered one of the magazine world's most prestigious food magazines. The publishing giant has come face to face with a stark reality caused by the steep fall-off in advertising. Ad pages at 14 of Condé Nast's 23 print publications fell by more than the industry average of 29.5% in the second quarter, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. In addition to Gourmet, Condé Nast will eliminate Modern Bride and Elegant Bride, as well as a family magazine called Cookie.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125475373996964695.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular

Stephen Mather was the first director of the National Park Service. He used his wealth and political connections to take the national park idea in important new directions. Born in California to a family with deep, patrician roots in New England, Mather graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, worked as a reporter for the New York Sun, and then served as sales manager for the Pacific Coast Borax Company, where he demonstrated his special genius for promotion. He branded the product as 20 Mule Team Borax and inventively created so much publicity that sales skyrocketed. Mather then helped start a competing borax company and soon became rich beyond belief. http://www.pbs.org/nationalparks/people/nps/mather/

Antiquities act of 1906 by Robert H. McLaughlin
Signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt, the Antiquities Act of 1906 (P.L. 59-209, 34 Stat. 225) became the first major federal legislation to govern archaeology in the United States. The act prohibits the removal of antiquities from federal lands without first obtaining a permit for scientific investigation. Read rest of article at:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3407400023.html
Antiquities Act of 1906 http://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/anti1906.htm
Antiquities Act as amended http://www.nps.gov/history/local-law/FHPL_AntiAct.pdf

Norway means ‘the way to the north’. It is one of the most northerly countries in the world. North of mainland Norway are the islands known as Svalbard which are part of Norway. http://www.lookatnorway.org.uk/images/pdfs/Student%20Card%201.PDF

Norway is the best place in the world to live while Niger is the least desirable, according to an annual report by the United Nations. The 182 countries were ranked according to the quality of life their citizens experienced. Criteria examined included life expectancy, literacy rates, school enrolment and country economies. However the UN human development index used data collected in 2007—before the global economic crisis. Norway's consistently high rating for desirable living standards, is, in large part, the result of the discovery of offshore oil and gas deposits in the late 1960s.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8290550.stm

How to beat information overload Research clearly demonstrates that interruptions degrade accuracy, judgment, creativity, and effective management. The psychiatrist Edward Hallowell coined the term attention deficit trait to describe this phenomenon and found that it makes people perform far below their full potential. Creative thinking, essential to many engineering jobs, requires long stretches of uninterrupted time. Programmers are known for working odd hours, when they can have the quiet they need to concentrate. See five-page article at:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/it/how-to-beat-information-overload

How do you tell a story? Oral storytelling has been practiced for generations around campfires and dinner tables, in barrooms and barbershops. But there are also other ways to tell a story: there is music, there is dance, there is basket weaving and pottery. These too tell the stories of our culture, both individual and shared. The folk and traditional arts, passed down hand-to-hand, from elder to apprentice, bear our nation’s history—our story of a multitude of cultures uniquely stitched together—in songs, in dances, in crafts. Click on pictures to read the stories in NEA Arts Magazine:
http://www.arts.gov/about/NEARTS/indexNew.html

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Storytellers
If the audience isn't involved, you're lecturing, not storytelling. Modulating your voice is a must when you're telling a story; it's tough to stay focused on someone who speaks in a deadpan monotone. But modulation is only part of the performance. Like any good actor, you should change your facial expression, voice, posture and movements as you act out the different characters. More tips here: http://www.life123.com/parenting/education/storytelling/seven-habits-of-highly-effective-storytellers.shtml#STS=g0fnfuln.nbm