:: wikimiki.org ::

Jewelry District, Los Angeles, California

Jewelry District, Los Angeles, California

The Jewelry District is a section of Downtown Los Angeles where a variety of jeweled products are sold and is the largest jewelry district in the United States (according to the Los Angeles Convention Center and Visitor's Bureau). The annual reported sales from the Jewelry District is just under $3 billion. It comprises close to 5,000 businesses, with vendors on Hill Street, Olive Street, and Broadway Avenue between 5th and 8th Streets. Shoppers can find designer jewelry, precious stones, and gold and silver items at street level as well as in some of the jewelers found in the Pacific Center, the California Jewelry Mart, and the International Jewelry Center. The Jewelry District can be accessed by public transportation through the Red Line to Pershing Square station. The district is southeast of the square. All other Downtown-destined Metro Rail lines are viable for reaching the Jewelry District as well, with a connection to the Red Line at either Union Station or 7th St/Metro Center. See also:
- [http://www.mta.net/ MTA.net] Category:Los Angeles neighborhoods

Downtown Los Angeles

:see also: Central Los Angeles Central Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles is the center of the metropolis of Los Angeles, California, if not necessarily its heart. The sprawling mega-city is so large that its downtown is, in many ways, a district like Hollywood, as much as the leading area of the city. It is home to the city and county's government, many of the city's major arts institutions and sports facilities, a variety of skyscrapers and associated large corporations and an array of public art, unique shopping opportunities and the hub of the city's freeway and public transportation networks. Downtown Los Angeles is generally thought to be bounded by the Los Angeles River on the east, the 101 Santa Ana Freeway on the north, the 10 Santa Monica Freeway on the south and the 110 Harbor Freeway on the west.
History
110 Harbor Freeway Most major upscale department stores once operated in downtown Los Angeles. Many of them were shuttered in the 1970s and 1980s, and some moved into newer more modern office, hotel and shopping complexes in the Financial District. Macy's Plaza and Robinsons-May are just two examples. With the movement of the city's commercial center westward, downtown Los Angeles was devoid of much nightlife from the 1950s until recent years as the residential population increased. (What little nightlife existed was concentrated in Little Tokyo.) Several developers discovered around 2000 that there was a market for renovated lofts and well-secured luxury apartment complexes among workers fed up with the city's notorious traffic commuting to and from the suburbs. Another sign of the fledgling downtown renaissance is that the Ralphs supermarket chain recently agreed to open its first downtown store; the opening of which has been pushed back to the spring of 2007 (according to the Downtown Center Business Improvement District).
Subdistricts
Downtown Center Business Improvement District Downtown Center Business Improvement District
- Civic Center
- Gallery Row
- Little Tokyo
- Fashion District
- Toy District
- Jewelry District
- Bunker Hill
- Pueblo-Chinatown
- South Park
- Old Bank District
- Wholesale District/Skid Row (aka "The Nickel"--for its location on 5th street).
- Historic Core Some of the buildings of the Downtown core date from the early 1900s, with the topmost floors of most of the office buildings at mostly 14 and 15 stories. This was enforced because of the earthquake risk; thus, the Los Angeles City Hall was the tallest building for decades at 454 ft., until the development of Century City, in the western part of the Los Angeles basin. The unique Bradbury building was the largest cast iron structure at the turn of the century, with a lacy, airy interior. The Grand Central Market somehow captures an early 1900s feel, with customs in distinct contrast to the current supermarkets of the U.S.
- South of the Downtown core, the Nickel contains large eateries, again, distinctly reminiscent of the early 1900s.
- On the south edge of Downtown, the bustling Union Station is an example of the massive buildings, on a heroic scale, that served a vanished rail passenger market until the 1990s when a subway line and six commuter rail lines began taking passengers there; adjacent to Union Station is the historic center of the city, enshrined for local consumption as Olvera Street.
- Up the hill from Union Station, the Civic Center buildings devoted to federal, state and city administration, Parker Center (LAPD headquarters) and City Hall fill the side of the hill up to the Music Center, a complex of music and theatrical halls which imitates the architecture of New York's Lincoln Center. In 2003 the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened to increase the number of major theaters at the Music Center to four. Also in the building is the smaller Redcat theater and art studio. Near the Music Center are the Museum of Contemporary Art, or MOCA, and the Colburn school of performing arts.
- Down the hill, Little Tokyo still contains businesses with Japanese roots. Some of the buildings and sidewalks date back to the 1800s and still include hitching posts for horses. Little Tokyo also contains the Japanese American National Museum and another Museum of Contemporary Art campus.
- South of Bunker Hill is the Library Tower, now known as the U.S. Bank Tower. At 1018 ft (310m), it is the tallest building between Chicago and Hong Kong. Built in 1989, it was initially called Library Tower because the purchase of the air rights from the Los Angeles Central Library, located across the street, were used to allow a building of such height to be built. The money went towards expanding and renovating the library, which had suffered two arson fires in 1986. The library itself was built in 1926.
- The South Park area of town includes the Los Angeles Convention Center and Staples Center. Many lofts and apartments are being built in this area, which is seeing a much needed revival.
- The Old Bank District is the center of the loft movement downtown. A number of developers have purchased old buildings and are converting them into residential lofts.
- Gallery Row is a creative district in the Downtown Historic Core. Starting with 3 art galleries in 2004, Gallery Row now claims 17 art galleries in 2005.
Skyline
Despite its relative decentralization, Los Angeles has one of the largest skylines in the United States, and its development has continued in recent times. The skyline has seen rapid growth due to improvements in building standards, which has made some buildings highly earthquake-resistant. Many of the new skyscrapers are housing, especially in Downtown - what the office tower rush in the 1970s and 1980s added to the skyline is now occurring again in the form of residential. Some recent examples of skyscraper construction include:
- Grand Avenue Project
- Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District
- Elleven, a tri-tower complex (13-, 19-, and 23-story towers) at the north-west block from 11th and Grand to 12th and Grand.
- 11th and Grand, a 27-story tower at 11th and Grand, opposite Elleven.
- Metropolis, a mixed-use tri-tower (38, 47, and 52 stories, respectively) at Franciso and 9th Street.
- 9th and Flower Lofts [http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/bu/?id=214405], a 38-story residential tower at 9th and Flower Streets. This is a brief list, and there are many more. The recent "rise" of South Park, the low-rise district of downtown south of Bunker Hill (roughly south of 8th Street and north of the Santa Monica Freeway), is bringing skyscrapers that will be high enough in quantity and height to create an extended downtown skyline within a few years from 2005. The skyline of Los Angeles consists of several different clusters of high-rise buildings; most of these clusters are not directly connected to each other. Century City and the parts of Wilshire Boulevard through Westwood together form a rather busy skyline that is often confused with the downtown skyline.
External links

- [http://you-are-here.com/info/map.html Downtown Los Angeles interactive map: "You Are Here"]
- [http://www.ladowntownnews.com/dtvg/index1.html Downtown Los Angeles Visitors Guide]
- [http://www.usc.edu/dept/geography/losangeles/lawalk/ Downtown Los Angeles Walking Tour]
- [http://www.geocities.com/los_angeles_coast/index.html Los Angeles A World Class City]
- [http://map.cartifact.com/CARTIFACT/DTLA/DTLA4.HTML Downtown L.A. Interactive Map]
- [http://www.downtownnews.com Los Angeles Downtown News]
- [http://dlanc.com Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council]
- [http://www.galleryrow.org Gallery Row Organization]
- [http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1493905,00.html L.A.'s plan to revitalize downtown (Guardian.co.uk)] Category:Los Angeles neighborhoods Category:Central business districts

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded¹ from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18

Los Angeles Convention Center

The Los Angeles Convention Center is a convention center in Los Angeles. Abbreviated LACC. The LACC hosts the E3 expo annually. External links: [http://www.lacclink.com/ LACC website]
Category:Convention centers in the United States Category:Los Angeles landmarks

Gold

Gold is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Au (L. aurum) and atomic number 79. A soft, shiny, yellow, dense, malleable, ductile (trivalent and univalent) transition metal, gold does not react with most chemicals but is attacked by chlorine, fluorine and aqua regia. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks and in alluvial deposits and is one of the coinage metals. For millennia, gold has served as money and is also used in jewelry, dentistry, and in electronics. Gold forms the basis for a monetary standard used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Its ISO currency code is XAU.

Notable characteristics

Gold is a metallic element with a characteristic yellow color, but can also be black or ruby when finely divided, while colloidal solutions are intensely colored and often purple. These colors are the result of gold's plasmon frequency lying in the visible range (due to a relativistic effect), which causes red and yellow light to be reflected, and blue light to be absorbed. It is one of only three metals which have an actual easily-identifiable color; the other two are copper, which is red, and caesium, which has a pale golden color. It is the most malleable and ductile metal known; a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of one square meter, or an ounce into 300 square feet. A soft metal, gold will readily form alloys with many other metals. This can be done to increase its strength, or create several exotic colors, sold for instance in the western United States to the tourist trade as "Black Hills" gold. Adding copper yields a redder metal, iron blue, Silver produces green, aluminium purple, platinum metals white, and natural bismuth together with silver alloys produce black. Native gold contains usually eight to ten per cent silver, but often much more — alloys with a silver content over 20% are called electrum. As the amount of silver increases, the color becomes whiter and the specific gravity lower. Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity, and is not affected by air and most reagents. Heat, moisture, oxygen, and most corrosive agents have very little chemical effect on gold, making it well-suited for use in coins and jewelry; conversely, halogens will chemically alter gold, and aqua regia dissolves it. Common oxidation states of gold include +1 (gold(I) or aurous compounds) and +3 (gold(III) or auric compounds). Gold ions in solution are readily reduced and precipitated out as gold metal by the addition of virtually any other metal as the reducing agent. The added metal is oxidized and dissolves allowing the gold to be displaced from solution and be recovered as a solid precipitate. Recent research undertaken by Frank Reith of the Australian National University shows that microbes play an important role in the formation of gold deposits, transporting and precipitating gold to form grains and nuggets that collect in alluvial deposits. [http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/enviro/EnviroRepublish_1032376.htm]

Applications

Pure gold is too soft for ordinary use and is hardened by alloying with silver, copper, and other metals. Gold and its many alloys are most often used in jewelry, coinage and as a standard for monetary exchange in many countries. Because of its high electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion and other desirable combinations of physical and chemical properties, gold also emerged in the late 20th century as an essential industrial metal.
- Gold can be made into thread and used in embroidery.
- Gold performs critical functions in computers, communications equipment, spacecraft, jet aircraft engines, and a host of other products.
- The resistance to oxidation of gold has led to its widespread use as thin layers electroplated on the surface of electrical connectors to ensure a good connection.
- Gold is used in restorative dentistry especially in tooth restorations such as crowns and bridges.
- Colloidal gold (a gold nanoparticle) is an intensely colored solution that is currently studied in many labs for medical, biological and other applications. It is also the form used as gold paint on ceramics prior to firing.
- Chlorauric acid is used in photography for toning the silver image.
- Gold(III) chloride is used as a catalyst in organic chemistry. It is also the usual starting point for making other gold compounds.
- Disodium aurothiomalate is a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (administered intramuscularly). It inhibits lymphocyte proliferation, lysosomal enzyme release, the release of reactive oxygen species from macrophages, and IL-1 production. However, it can also cause photosensitive rashes, gastrointestinal disturbance, and kidney damage.
- The gold isotope Au-198, (half-life: 2.7 days) is used in some cancer treatments and for treating other diseases.
- Gold is used as a coating enabling biological material to be viewed under a scanning electron microscope.
- Many competitions and honors, such as the Olympics and the Nobel Prize, award a gold medal to the winner (with silver to the second-place finisher, and bronze to the third.)
- Since it is a good reflector of both infrared and visible light, it is used for the protective coatings on many artificial satellites.
- Gold flake is used on and in some gourmet sweets and drinks. Having no reactivity it adds no taste but is taken as a delicacy.
- White gold (an alloy of gold with platinum, palladium, nickel, and/or zinc) serves as a substitute for platinum.
- Green gold (a gold/silver alloy) is used in specialized jewelry while gold alloys with copper (reddish color) are more widely used for that purpose (rose gold).

History

rose gold Gold (Sanskrit jval, Greek χρυσος [khrusos], Latin aurum for "shining dawn", Anglo-Saxon gold, Chinese 金 [jīn]) has been known and highly valued since prehistoric times. It may have been the first metal used by humans and was valued for ornamentation and rituals. Egyptian hieroglyphs from as early as 2600 BC describe gold, which king Tushratta of the Mitanni claimed was as "common as dust" in Egypt. Egypt and Nubia had the resources to make them major gold-producing areas for much of history. Gold is also mentioned several times in the Old Testament. The south-east corner of the Black Sea was famed for its gold. Exploitation is said to date from the time of Midas, and this gold was important in the establishment of what is probably the world's earliest coinage in Lydia between 643 and 630 BC. The European exploration of the Americas was fueled in no small part by reports of the gold ornaments displayed in great profusion by Native American peoples, especially in Central America, Peru, and Colombia. Gold has long been considered one of the most precious metals, and its value has been used as the standard for many currencies (known as the gold standard) in history. Gold has been used as a symbol for purity, value, royalty, and particularly roles that combine these properties (see gold album). Gold in antiquity was relatively easy to obtain geologically; however, 75% of all gold ever produced has been extracted since 1910.[http://www.goldsheetlinks.com/production2.htm] It has been estimated that all the gold in the world that has ever been refined would form a single cube 20 m (66 ft) a side. The primary goal of the alchemists was to produce gold from other substances, such as lead — presumably by the interaction with a mythical substance called the philosopher's stone. Although they never succeeded in this attempt, the alchemists promoted an interest in what can be done with substances, and this laid a foundation for today's chemistry. Their symbol for gold was the circle with a point at its center (☉), which was also the astrological symbol, the Egyptian hieroglyph and the ancient Chinese character for the Sun (now 日). For modern attempts to produce artificial gold, see gold synthesis. During the 19th century gold rushes occurred whenever large gold deposits were discovered, including the California, Colorado, Otago, Australia, Witwatersrand, Black Hills, and Klondike gold rushes. Because of its historically high value, much of the gold mined throughout history is still in circulation in one form or another.

Value

Klondike] Klondike Like other precious metals, gold is measured by troy weight and by grams. When it is alloyed with other metals the term carat or karat is used to indicate the amount of gold present, with 24 carats being pure gold and lower ratings proportionally less. The purity of a gold bar can also be expressed as a decimal figure ranging from 0 to 1, known as the millesimal fineness, such as 0.995. The price of gold is determined on the open market, but a procedure known as the Gold Fixing in London, originating in 1919, provides a twice-daily benchmark figure to the industry. Historically gold was used to back currency in an economic system known as the gold standard in which one unit of currency was equivalent to a certain weight of gold. As part of this system, governments and central banks attempted to control the price of gold by setting values at which they would exchange it for currency. For a long period the United States government set the price of gold at $20.67 per troy ounce ($664.56/kg) but in 1934 the price of gold was set at $35.00 per troy ounce ($1125.27/kg). By 1961 it was becoming hard to maintain this price, and a pool of US and European banks began to act together to defend the price against market forces. On March 17 1968, economic circumstances caused the collapse of the gold pool, and a two-tiered pricing scheme was established whereby gold was still used to settle international accounts at the old $35.00 per troy ounce ($1.13/g) but the price of gold on the private market was allowed to fluctuate; this two-tiered pricing system was abandoned in 1975 when the price of gold was left to find its free-market level. Central banks still hold historical gold reserves as a reserve asset although the level has generally been declining. The largest gold depository in the world is that of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, held at Fort Knox. Since 1968 the price of gold on the open market has ranged widely, with a record high of $850/oz ($27,300/kg) on 21 January 1980, to a low of $252.90/oz ($8,131/kg) on 21 June 1999 (London Fixing). Prices have risen to the $500/oz mark in late 2005, due to a depreciation of the US dollar and inflation due to rising energy costs.

Gold and the money supply

In January 1959 US M3 money supply was $288.8 billion, and the Official Gold Holdings of the United States was then 17,335.1 Tonnes, or about 557 million ounces (there are 32,150.7 Troy Ounces in a Tonne). That means that in 1959, there were $518 in circulation for every ounce of gold reserves held by the USA. Although the theoretical price should then have been $518 per ounce, the actual price, as fixed under the gold standard was only $35 an ounce. By August 2005, the US M3 money supply had risen to $9,873.9 billion, whilst at the same time the Official Gold Holdings of the United States had fallen to just 8,133.5 Tonnes, or about 261 million Troy Ounces. This means that today, in 2005, there are $37,831 in circulation for every ounce of gold held by the United States. The above numbers show the falling influence of gold in the monetary system of the world today. Goldbugs believe, or even hope, that one day gold's importance will return as the printing of paper money gets out of control and we end in a hyper-inflationary fiat money collapse.

Restrictions on gold ownership

Because of its use as a reserve store of value, the possession of gold is sometimes restricted or banned. Within the United States, the private possession of gold except as jewelry and coin collecting was banned between 1933 and 1975. President Franklin D. Roosevelt confiscated gold by [http://www.the-privateer.com/1933-gold-confiscation.html Executive Order 6102], and President Richard Nixon closed the gold window by which foreign countries could exchange American dollars for gold at a fixed rate.

Return of a Gold Standard?

In the first few years of the 21st century, reports started to circulate that Malaysia was planning a return to the gold standard -- to issue and use gold dinars as currency in international trade. The purported purpose of this move would be to reduce dependence on the United States dollar as a reserve currency, and to establish a non-debt-backed currency in accord with Islamic law against the charging of interest. [http://www.islamidag.dk/ulamaongold.html] Nonetheless, gold dinar currency has not yet emerged. [http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E7515CEE-880E-492F-B225-A94E21D90D2B.htm] [http://www.mineweb.net/columns/american_notes/336075.htm]

Gold in investment portfolios

As a tangible investment gold is sometimes held as part of a portfolio because over the long term gold has an extensive history of maintaining its value. It has in the last century gained ground in relation to fiat currencies owing to inflation. Gold becomes particularly desirable in times of extremely weak confidence and during hyperinflation because gold maintains its value even as fiat money becomes worthless. People who enjoy investing in gold are known as goldbugs. Futures contracts based on gold currently trade on various exchanges around the world. In the US this occurs primarily on COMEX (Commodity Exchange) which is a subsidiary of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Speculation about the future price of gold and other commodities is carried on at COMEX. Recently, gold-based ETFs like [http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=GLD GLD] have emerged as a more convenient investment vehicle. In some countries such as Switzerland, it is possible to hold physical gold as part of an investment portfolio, due to the absence of taxes and narrow bid-ask spreads, however in other countries portfolio managers sometimes hold gold shares or gold bullion securities as a proxy for the metal itself. Exchange Traded Funds such as Gold Bullion Securities are securities sponsored by the World Gold Council and which are fully backed up by allocated gold held by a custodian. The main Gold Bullion Securities are as follows:
- New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), Symbol:GLD (Streettracks Gold Shares, ISIN No. US8633071043)
- London Stock Exchange (LSE) Symbol GBS (Gold Bullion Securities ISIN No. GB00B00FHZ82)
- Euronext France Symbol:GBS (Gold Bullion Securities ISIN No. GB00B00FHZ82 )
- Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), Symbol:GOLD (Gold Bullion Securities ISIN No. AU00000GOLD7)
- Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE), Symbol:GLD (New Gold Debentures ISIN No. ZAE000060067 )

Occurrence

Exchange Traded Fund Due to its relative chemical inertness gold is usually found as the native metal or alloy. Occasionally large accumulations of native gold (also known as nuggets) occur but usually gold occurs as minute grains. These grains occur between mineral grain boundries or as inclusions within minerals. Common gold associations are quartz often as veins and sulfide minerals. The most common sulfide associations are pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, arsenopyrite, stibnite and pyrrhotite. Rarer mineral associations are petzite, calaverite, sylvanite, muthmannite, nagyagite and krennerite. Gold is widely distributed in the Earth's crust at a background level of 0.03 g/1000 kg (0.03 ppm by weight). Hydrothermal ore deposits of gold occur in metamorphic rocks and igneous rocks; alluvial deposits and placer deposits originate from these sources. The primary source of gold is usually igneous rocks or surface concentrations. A deposit usually needs some form of secondary enrichment to form an economically viable ore deposit: either chemical or physical processes like erosion or solution or more generally metamorphism, which concentrates the gold in sulfide minerals or quartz. There are several primary deposit types, common ones are termed reef or vein. Primary deposits can be weathered and eroded, with most of the gold being transported into stream beds where it congregates with other heavy minerals to form placer deposits. In all these deposits the gold is in its native form. Another important ore type is in sedimentary black shale and limestone deposits containing finely disseminated gold and other platinum group metals. Gold occurs in sea water at 0.1 to 2 mg/t (0.1 to 2 ppb by weight) depending on sample location.

Production

ppb Economic gold extraction can be achieved from ore grades as little as 0.5 g/1000 kg (0.5 ppm) on average in large easily mined deposits, typical ore grades in open-pit mines are 1–5 g/1000 kg (1-5 ppm), ore grades in underground or hard rock mines are usually at least 3 g/1000 kg (3 ppm) on average. Ore grades of 30 g/1000 kg (30 ppm) are usually needed before gold is visible to the naked eye, therefore in most gold mines you will not see any gold. It is claimed, that all the gold that has been mined throughout the history of mankind could be incorporated in a solid ball with a diameter of 27 metres. metre Since the 1880s South Africa has been the source for a large proportion of the world's gold supply. Production in 1970 accounted for 79% of the world supply, producing about 1,000 tonnes, however production in 2004 was 342 tonnes. This decline was due to the increasing difficulty of extraction and changing economic factors effecting the industry in South Africa. The city of Johannesburg was built atop the world's greatest gold finds. Gold fields in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal are deep and require the world's deepest mines. The Second Boer War of 1899–1901 between the British Empire and the white Boers was at least partly over the rights of miners and possession of the gold wealth in South Africa. Other major producers are Canada, United States and Western Australia. Mines in South Dakota and Nevada supply two-thirds of gold used in the United States. Siberian regions of the USSR also used to be significant in the global gold mining industry. Kolar Gold Fields in India is another example of a city being built on the greatest gold deposits in India. In South America, the controversial project Pascua Lama aims at exploitation of rich fields in the high mountains of Atacama, at the border between Chile and Argentina. The idea of producing gold out of lesser metals or other cheap substances has fascinated people throughout the centuries. Scientists, kings and charlatans obsessed with the secret art of alchemy accidentally invented practically useful materials (e.g. porcelain), while searching in vain for the philosopher's stone, which was supposed to turn mercury into gold. Modern science has since proven the impossibility of making gold from other elements via chemical reactions. However, it is possible to obtain infinitesimally small amounts of gold by artificial nuclear transformations in particle accelerators The gold isotopes produced would likely be radioactive. No economically feasible method to manufacture gold artificially has been found and published yet. The possibility of cheap man-made gold would have unforeseen economic and political consequences.

Compounds/isotopes

Although gold is a noble metal, it can form many compounds, auric chloride (AuCl₃) and chlorauric acid (HAuCl₄) being the most common. Gold compounds can be aurous (univalent, +1) or auric (trivalent, +3). Gold also can under extreme conditions form a +5 state with fluorine (gold pentafluoride, AuF₅), as well as (unusually for a metal), a -1 state. Such compounds containing the Au^- anion are called aurides and include caesium auride, CsAu, rubidium auride, RbAu, and tetramethylammonium auride, (CH₃)₄N⁺ Au^-. Gold also forms:
- The AuCl₄^- ion after dissolving in aqua regia
- Gold halides (F,Cl,Br,I)
- Gold chalcogenides (O, S, Se,Te)
- Gold cluster compounds
- Gold hydrazide: an olive-green powder, AuN₂H₃, one of several explosive compounds known archaically as aurum fulminans There is only one stable isotope of gold, and 18 radioisotopes with Au-195 being the most stable with a half-life of 186 days.

Precautions

The human body does not absorb gold very well, thus compounds of gold are not normally very toxic. Liver and kidney damage has, however, been reported for up to 50% of arthritis patients treated with gold-containing drugs. Gold used in dentistry is widely regarded as the safest form of restorative material, as well as the most successful.

Symbolism

Gold has been associated with the extremities of utmost evil and great sanctity throughout history. The Golden Calf is a widely-recognised symbol of idolatry and revolt against God; concentration camp guards removed the golden teeth from the mouths of gassed Holocaust victims. In Communist propaganda, the golden pocket watch and its fastening golden chain were the characteristic accessories of the class enemy, the bourgeois and the industrial tycoons. On the other hand, eminent orators such as John Chrysostom were said to have a mouth of gold with a silver tongue. Gold is associated with notable anniversaries, particularly in a 50 year cycle, such as a golden wedding anniversary, golden jubilee, etc. Great human achievements are frequently rewarded with gold, in the form of medals and decorations. Winners of races and prizes are usually awarded the gold medal (such as the Olympic Games and the Nobel Prize), while many award statues are depicted in gold (such as the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards and the British Academy Film Awards). In the software development cycle "going gold" means releasing a version that is ready for distribution to customers, rather than a buggy beta version. Medieval kings were inaugurated under the signs of sacred oil and a golden crown, the latter symbolizing the eternal shining light of heaven and thus a Christian king's divinely inspired authority. Wedding rings are traditionally made of gold; since it is long-lasting and unaffected by the passage of time, it is considered a suitable material for everyday wear as well as a metaphor for the relationship. In Orthodox Christianity, the wedded couple is adorned with a golden crown during the ceremony, an amalgamation of symbolic rites. The symbolic value of gold varies wildly around the world, even within geographic regions. For example, gold is quite common in Turkey but considered a most valuable gift in Sicily.

References

- [http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/79.html Los Alamos National Laboratory – Gold]
- [http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0821152.html The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed]

External links

- [http://www.webelements.com/webelements/elements/text/Au/index.html WebElements.com – Gold] (also used as a reference)
- [http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/elements/gold/gold.htm Mineral Galleries - Native Gold]
- [http://www.lateralscience.co.uk/gold/auriferous.html Getting Gold 1898 book]
- Gold Category:Chemical elements Category:Transition metals Category:Numismatics Category:Historical trading items ms:Emas ja:金 simple:Gold th:ทองคำ

LACMTA Red Line

right The Metro Red Line of the Los Angeles County Metro Rail is a heavy rail metro line in Los Angeles. It is Los Angeles's only all underground subway line, and also the busiest of the four Metro Rail lines (the other three are light rail, largely surface lines). Red line has 117,000 daily boardings in late 2005. The Red Line is the only rail line in the LA Metro Rail system that does not extend beyond the city limits. Trains run along two branches; both lines begin at Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles, with one line running to Koreatown/Wilshire Center and the other running to North Hollywood in the San Fernando Valley. In late October 2005, the new Orange line (busway) with train-like two-cabin articulated bus bodies, went into service, linking the Red line to 13 stops over a 14 mile, exclusive use corridor, to Warner Center in the far west San Fernando Valley. A series of minor accidents began almost at once, raising safety concerns for the busway's intersection of major valley surface arteries. The busway had been constructed in lieu of further Red line rail extension in the valley at a relatively low cost. Within days the traffic was doubling predicted levels and most "bus-trains" were running full. San Fernando Valley

History

San Fernando Valley The Red Line opened in several segments. The first segment, from Union Station to MacArthur Park, opened in 1993. An western extension into Koreatown at Wilshire/Western opened in 1996. In 1999, the second branch was extended from Wilshire/Vermont to Hollywood/Vine station, and in 2000, to North Hollywood. The line was originally intended to run along the Wilshire Corridor to Santa Monica, but a 1985 methane gas explosion at a Ross clothing store in the Fairfax area incited Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) in 1986 to legislate a ban on Federal money used for tunneling under certain portions of Wilshire Blvd ostensibly due to methane gas safety concerns. The MTA has maintained that technological advances will allow it to tunnel safely. In 1995, during construction of the subway, a sinkhole appeared on Hollywood Boulevard, barely missing several workers and causing damage to buildings on the street. Subway construction was halted until the situation was resolved. A 1998, Los Angeles County initiative banned the use of existing sales tax revenues for subway construction (which has been linked to voters perceptions of problems with Red Line construction and costs). in 2000, an urban art group placed "Coming soon" signs advertising the "Aqua Line" extending the Red Line to the ocean at ten perspective station stops. It was a hoax, but showed the frustrations of a lack of subway connecting the Westside with Downtown.

Possible extensions

The Red Line was originally intended to run east to East Los Angeles and west to the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus depot near Pico and San Vicente Boule