Wednesday, November 27, 2019

8 Interesting Facts About the Irish American Population

8 Interesting Facts About the Irish American Population How many facts and figures do you know about the Irish American population? Did you know, for example, that March is Irish-American Heritage Month? If so, you belong to a small group of Americans. Too few people know that there is such a month at all, let alone which month it falls in, according to the American Foundation for Irish Heritage. While a number of events internationally take place in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, celebrating the Irish throughout the month of March has yet to become a routine practice. The American Foundation for Irish Heritage aims to make the cultural heritage month, first celebrated in 1995, as popular as Black History Month or Hispanic Heritage Month. The group even offers tips on how to get the public to take more of an interest in celebrating the month-long observance, such as contacting public radio and television stations, Irish-American organizations and state governors. The foundation already has one agency in its corner; the US Census Bureau. Each year, the bureau acknowledges Irish-American Heritage Month by releasing facts and figures about the Irish population. Irish Ancestry in the US Population Although Oktoberfest is nowhere near as popular as St. Patrick’s Day in the US, more Americans claim to be of German ancestry than any other. Irish is the second most popular ethnicity Americans claim. Nearly 35 million Americans report having Irish heritage, according to the census. That’s seven times the population of Ireland, which is an estimated 4.58 million. Where Irish Americans Live New York is home to the largest percentage of Irish Americans in the country. The state boasts an Irish-American population of 13%. Nationwide, the Irish-American population averages 11.2%. New York City also has the distinction of being host to the first St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It took place on March 17, 1762, and featured Irish soldiers in the English military. In the 5th century, St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland, but the day in his honor has now come to be associated with anything Irish-related. Irish Immigrants to America Precisely 144,588 Irish immigrants became naturalized US residents in 2010. Wealth Among Irish Americans Households headed by Irish Americans actually have higher median incomes ($56,363 yearly) than the $50,046 average for US households generally. Not surprisingly, Irish Americans also have lower poverty rates than Americans as a whole. Just 6.9% of households headed by Irish Americans had incomes at the poverty level, while 11.3% of American households generally did. Higher Education Irish Americans are more likely than the US population as a whole to be college graduates. While 33% of Irish Americans 25 or older have at least earned a bachelor’s degree and 92.5 have at least a high school diploma, for Americans generally, the corresponding numbers are only 28.2% and 85.6%, respectively. The Workforce About 41% of Irish Americans work in management, professional and related occupations, the census reports. Next in line are sales and office occupations. Just above 26% of Irish Americans work in that field, followed by 15.7% in service occupations, 9.2% in production, transportation, and material moving occupations, and 7.8% in construction, extraction, maintenance, and repair occupations. Median Age Irish Americans are older than the general US population. According to the 2010 census, the average American is 37.2 years old. The average Irish American is 39.2 years old. The Most Irish President John F. Kennedy broke the glass ceiling in 1961 by becoming the first Irish-American Catholic president. But he wasn’t the president with the most direct ties to Ireland. According to the Christian Science Monitor, Andrew Jackson holds this distinction. Both of his parents were born in Country Antrim, Ireland. They relocated to the United States in 1765, two years before his birth.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

7 Great Online Research Resources for Writers

7 Great Online Research Resources for Writers 7 Great Online Research Resources for Writers 7 Great Online Research Resources for Writers By Mark Nichol Doing research to strengthen a current story or article, or to get ideas for a new one? You can google all you want and hope for a productive return, but to engage in a focused search, try one of these mediated experiences instead: 1. Infoplease From current events to reference-desk resources to features about history, this site puts a remarkable array of information within reach. Guides to the nations of the world, timelines of political, social, and cultural developments, special quantitative and qualitative features like â€Å"The Worlds Most Corrupt Nations† and â€Å"Color Psychology,† and more cover just about anything you could think of. 2. The Internet Public Library Unlike the other reference centers on this list, the IPL is a portal to other Web sites, brimming with directories of links in topics like Arts Humanities. (Dictionary of Symbolism? Check. Ask Philosophers? Right. Legendary Lighthouses? We got your legendary lighthouses right here.) If you need background information on either fiction or nonfiction projects, stop by for a visit I just dare you to leave without a digressive click or ten. 3. The Library of Congress The online presence of the official repository of knowledge and lore of the United States is an indispensable resource not only for nonfiction writers seeking background information for topics but also for fiction authors seeking historical context for an existing project or inspiration for a new one. 4. Merriam-Webster Online The publishing world’s dictionary of record is at your fingertips online as well as in print, with a thesaurus and Spanish-English and medical compendia, to boot. The dictionary also includes refreshing can’t-we-all-just-get-along usage commentary. (That and which, as pronouns that introduce restrictive clauses, are interchangeable.) You’ll also find video tutorials on usage from dictionary staff, a Word of the Day feature, word games, and a variety of language-watch features. 5. Refdesk Refdesk.com, like Infoplease, is a clearinghouse for online research, with links to headline news and timeless information alike. You can easily get lost in its Daily Diversions directory, which includes links not only to humor, games, and trivia sites but also to more respectable resources like DailyWritingTips.com (whoo!). If you have a question, chances are you can find the answer on this site. 6. Snopes How do you verify that this self-described â€Å"definitive Internet reference source for urban legends, folklore, myths, rumors, and misinformation† is what it claims to be? Go to the site and find out. The fine folks at Snopes.com will set you straight about any one of hundreds of posts each with a prominent judgmental icon, and commentary to back it up about that one thing you think you remember you heard about that one thing. (For example: Posh comes from an acronym for â€Å"port out, starboard home† the ideal respective locations for accommodations on a luxury liner right? Cue the buzzer. Bogus.) TruthOrFiction.com is a similar site. 7. Wikipedia This user-generated online encyclopedia got a lot of flak a few years ago for some inaccurate information posted by someone with a grudge, but that was an isolated incident. Also, many sources warn against using Wikipedia as a primary source for research. That said, don’t hesitate to avail yourself of the wealth of information available on the site much of which is written by subject-matter experts in the field in question. Then click on one of the online sources linked in the footnotes, or take your search to one of the other sites in this list. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Grammar Test 1Writing the Century45 Idioms with "Roll"

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Diamond Trade in Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Diamond Trade in Africa - Essay Example Recounting this history shows how Africa and one f its most marketable resources have become entangled in the values f a cultural polyglot f political economies, and the image f the African suffers in its wake; a diminished ability to claim political representation for many African peoples, and a reduced place f participation in the world economies for African nations and Africa, as a global entity is the result. (Sherman 600-615) As the image f a "chaotic" Africa persists in the historical moment to de-legitimize it as viable agent in international political economies, divorced f its historical circumstances and left to the whim f market forces and subordinating cultural practices, more and more African peoples come to utilizing force and violence in an effort to attain their participation, perpetuating this tragic image. Diamonds, as a product f Western aesthetic values, through the circumstances f history and geology, becomes an ideal medium for this perpetuation. (Olsson 1133-1150) Although diamonds occur all over Africa, they are accessed most easily in riverbeds via alluvial mining. This requires far less physically intensive effort; as a result, the rivers begin to serve as borders. Mapped as diamond resources, they become instruments f power and ultimately, corruptive relations among the region. In 1997 the NGO Global Witness published an account f the local civil wars entitled Rough Trade. In Angola and Sierra Leone, where mined diamonds were and are being used to fund violent struggles over land, resources and political representation, the rivers have become charted as the cultural resources f various divisions under the patronage f military enforcement. Global Witness purpose was to expose the fraudulent efforts f the "legitimate" diamond trade, identifiably the brokers for DeBeers and the shadow traders-in-between. Although the purpose was to reveal and condemn these policies f marketing "blood diamonds", the publication depicted the struggle only as a moral one for Western business and consumers arguing in favor f not supporting the "violent chaos" f Africa. Emphasis was made on the political struggles, particularly in Angola, where the exertion for representation between political oppositions UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence f Angola) and MPLA continues to subdivide into struggles over diamonds alone. But currently the only political concern f the cultural factions involved is the enormous personal gain to be acquired through control f such abundant and valuable resources, ultimately pointing towards the need for military presence in mined areas. (Sherman 600-615) The diamond as an archetype f Western value becomes the perfect means f instilling economic chaos through the ease f exploiting other cultural values. There size, convenience, f transport and mining, as well as their fiscal value, can make them the ultimate source f finance for a revolution. This suits as a local example that is continental in its effect. It is arguable that every African knows what a diamond is, and what its worth, not so much to them, but to the non-African, and as such becomes a window f economic, and thus potentially political opportunity. The linking f Africa with diamonds is much the same image as the African with violence. The "treasure" f the continent is only so to the Western