State Reports by ClassBrain

Texucation – Fun Texas Facts

BrainStorm — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 18:13:30 +0000

Texucation – A Video of Fun Texas Facts

Texucation- get educated about the great state of Texas in a fun video. Learn the basics about the state of Texas, as well as some additional interesting facts; such as Texas comes from Tejas which means friendship. There is information on the history of the state, the Texas state symbols, and general facts about Texas. It is a great introduction to the state of Texas. In addition, the narrator’s Texas drawl gives this video a taste of local color.

Learn more about Texas Symbols from ClassBrain

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West Virginia State Gem – Chalcedony

The Brains — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 23:05:25 +0000

Chalcedony, Lithostrotionella- West Virginia State Gem

Legislation as the West Virginia State Gem

Designated by the House Concurrent Resolution No. 39, on March 10, 1990, as the West Virginia State Gem

Angeline Chalcedony courtesy of Kris Northern CC-2.0

For more beautiful photos of Angeline Chalcedony please visit Kris Northern’s Cabinet of Curiosities.

Description of Chalcedony

According to Wikipedia,

Chalcedony /kælˈsɛdəni/ (The West Virginia State Gem) is a cryptocrystalline form of silica, composed of very fine intergrowths of the minerals quartz and moganite.These are both silica minerals, but they differ in that quartz has a trigonal crystal structure, while moganite is monoclinic. Chalcedony’s standard chemical structure (based on the chemical structure of quartz) is SiO₂ (silicon dioxide).

Chalcedony has a waxy luster, and may be semitransparent or translucent. It can assume a wide range of colors, but those most commonly seen are white to gray, grayish-blue or a shade of brown ranging from pale to nearly black.

Varieties of Chalcedony

Chalcedony occurs in a wide range of varieties. Many semi-precious gemstones are in fact forms of chalcedony. The more notable varieties of chalcedony include:

Fire Agate courtesy of David Lawrence. Fire agate is a form of chalcedony which contained goethite arranged in thin lines, giving this stone an iridescent quality.

Agate
Aventurine
Carnelian
Chrysoprase
Fire Agate
Heliorope
Moss Agate
Mtorolite
Onyx
Other types of Chalcedony include: carnelian, sard, plasma, prase, bloodstone, onyx, sardonyx, chrysoprase, thundereggs, agate, flint, chert, jasper, petrified wood, and petrified dinosaur bone just to name a few of the better known varieties. The USGS points out that Chalcedony is a catch all term that includes many well known varieties of cryptocrystalline quartz gemstones, and that they are found in all fifty states.

Learn more about the other State Symbols of West Virginia

Source: ClassBrain.com

The West Virginia State Cookie: The Sugar Cookie

Source: ClassBrain’s Coast2CoastRecipes.com

Some Notable Examples of Chalcedony by State

from the USGS

Alaska Chalcedony – Alaska has several varieties of chalcedony found at different locations, including agates, jaspers, and petrified wood. Various types of agates can be found in gravel pits and gravels of stream and river beds at several locations in the Chicken Creek area near the border with the Yukon Territory.Agates, jasper, and petrified wood can be found on many beaches, including those on the islands of Adak, Admiralty, Attu, Kuiu, Kupreanof, Nelson, Popof, Tanaga, Unalaska, and Zarembo. These same materials can be found in the gravels or in many of the streams and rivers of the State.

Petrified wood from the Arizona Petrified Forest National Park, Courtesy of Kumar Appaiah CC-2.0

Arizona Chalcedony – Arizona is well known for its petrified wood because of the Petrified Forest National Park, and petrified wood ranks third in value of commercially produced gemstones. It is generally accepted that the Park contains the most colorful examples of silicified logs in the world.Petrified wood occurs in every county in the State, but the commercial production is essentially from privately owned lands in Navajo and Apache Counties near the Petrified Forest. Federal regulations restrict collecting petrified wood on public lands to 250 pounds plus one piece per person per year, none of which is supposed to be sold commercially. The regulation essentially eliminates production from federal lands. Pieces as small as 1/4-inch to sections of logs 5 feet in diameter are recovered from the surface of the ground or with minimum excavations for use in the lapidary trade.Arizona is the only State currently to have commercial production of fire agate. Fire agate is a form of chalcedony which contains inclusion of iron oxides that result in a play of colors much like that of precious opal. Eleven operations in Arizona report either commercial production of fire agate or dig-for-fee production. The material is produced in Graham, Greenlee, Maricopa, Mohave, and Yuma Counties.
California Chalcedony – California’s “Mojave Blue” agate has gained a great deal of attention in the past several years. This pastel blue or blue-gray agate cuts into attractive cabochons for jewelry and, in the hands of an expert carver, makes outstanding carvings.
Colorado and Utah Chalcedony – These States have deposits of fine quality jasper, agate, petrified wood, and agatized dinosaur bone. These deposits are found over a large area of both States and on both sides of the continental divide in Colorado.
Florida Chalcedony – The famous silicified coral, first found in the Tampa Bay area around 1825 is the only gemstone of note from the State. Since its discovery in Tampa Bay, the agatized coral also has been found at Tarpon Springs, south of New Port Richey, near the town of Kathleen, and along the banks of the Suwanee River in Hamilton, Columbia, and Suwanee Counties. The material is found in two forms, as geodes, which represent partial replacement of coral, and as solid pieces which represent total replacement.The coral is replaced by a waxy, translucent, botryoidal, varicolored chalcedony. The geodes are most often used as mineral specimens, but cabochon and tumbled gems can be made from the thin geode lining. The total replaced coral can be cut into attractive cabochons. The material can be blue, red, brown, amber, white, black, or a combination of these colors.
Idaho Chalcedony – Jasper mining was beginning to make a comeback in the State, particularly with the operation of the Willow Creek jasper mine when in 1992, the untimely death of one of the partners mining the property, resulted in jasper mining reverting to hobbyist and professional collectors. Production of the various jaspers should be adequate to meet demand for the foreseeable future.
Montana Chalcedony – Montana moss Agate is the grayish-white to gray translucent chalcedony containing dendrites. The black, brown, or red tree-like or scenic dendritic growths are actually included minerals of manganese and iron. Most of the moss agate is found as water worn cobbles in the Yellowstone River or its drainages between Billings and Sidney. The material can be collected in Yellowstone, Treasure, Rosebud, Custer, Prairie, Dawson, and Richland Counties. The agate has long been a favorite of hobbyist and professional cutters because of the beautiful and highly variable patterns, the durability, and ease in cutting and polishing.
New Mexico Chalcedony – Varieties of agate, jasper, chert, or petrified wood are found in 15 of New Mexico’s 32 counties. An area of about 100 hectares near Deming, New Mexico Rockhound State Park, is set aside for the non-commercial collecting of agate, jasper, and petrified wood.
Oregon Chalcedony – The State is known for the production of various picture and scenic jaspers, agates, thundereggs, and petrified wood. Graveyard Point, Priday, and Polka Dot are names that are familiar to most agate collectors rockhounds, and many lapidaries. These are also names that are uniquely associated with Oregon and with beautiful agates. The same is true for the relationship between the names Biggs, Deschutes, and Sucker Creek and high quality picture or scenic jasper.Oregon’s State rock, the “thunderegg,” may be the best known gem material from Oregon. Thundereggs were not, as believed by some people, ejected from volcanos, but formed in very soft and friable volcanic ash beds. Solutions containing silica permeated the cinders until favorable points for chalcedony deposition were achieved. Aggregations of chalcedony were deposited, but before the material could fully solidify the center of the concretion split apart, possibly because of shrinkage, permitting the later introduction of additional materials. The resulting star-shaped centers of chalcedony may be in the form of agate, jasper, or in some cases different varieties of opal.
South Dakota Chalcedony – The State’s best known chalcedony is its colorful and beautiful Fairburn agates. Named after a community near a very prolific agate deposit in Custer County, these brightly colored banded agates are similar to Lake Superior agates found in Michigan and Dryhead agates from Montana. The color patterns are alternating bands with one of the bands always white. The colors that alternate with white include yellowish-brown, dark red, salmon pink, black, yellow, grayish-blue, and milky-pink.
Tennessee Chalcedony – Agates can be collected from many different locations and geological formations across the State. The material includes golden tone agate from Hawkins Co., agatized oolites from Greene Co., carnelian, blue, ivory, pink, finely banded, dendritic, moss, iris and Fairburn style agate from Bedford Co., and Lake Superior type agate and agatized corals and sponges from Shelby Co. All of the material is suitable for cutting and takes a good polish.
Texas Chalcedony - Some of the best agate, jasper, chert, and petrified wood (particularly petrified palm wood) found in the nation comes from Texas. Blue banded, moss, and red and black plume agates are found near Alpine in Brewster County. Similar agates are found in Jeff Davis, Hidalgo, Hudspeth, Presidio, Reeves, San Patrico, and Starr Counties. Petrified wood can be found in Amarillo, Bastrop, Brazo, Comal, Duval, Fayette, Gonzales, Lavaca, and Uvalde Counties, with fine-quality palm wood coming from Live Oak and Webb Counties. Good-quality chert can be found in limestone formations in McCulloch, Moore, and San Saba Counties. The material from Moore County also is called Alibates flint and was used by prehistoric and modern-day Indians to make weapons and tools. The quarry from which the Indians obtained their flint is now Alibates State Park.
Washington Chalcedony – Washington’ s petrified woods are some of the finest in the nation. The woods not only represent a broad range of colors and patterns, but also represent a wide range of identifiable species. Species identified include redwood, oak (more than 10 varieties), cypress, elm, maple, willow, cedar, poplar, chestnut, alder, birch, persimmon, laurel, and ginkgo. The preserved woods have been used to make cabochons, table tops, pen bases, and other objects of art.Deposits in the State also furnish a selection of agates that include moss, blue, and carnelian. The blue agate from Kittitas County, known as Ellensburg Blue, is highly prized by local lapidaries.
Wyoming Chalcedony – Wyoming’s claim to fame is its fine-quality agates and petrified wood. Deposits across the State supply a variety of seam, moss, banded, fortification, and turritella agates. Colorful and attractive specimens of petrified wood can be found in many areas in the State.

It’s easy to see why Chalcedony was chosen as the West Virginia State Gem, and what a fascinating group of gemstones it comprises.

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El Reno, Oklahoma tornado, largest in US history

The Brains — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 19:12:29 +0000

Path of the El Reno, Oklahoma Tornado

El Reno Tornado path – Image courtesy of the National Weather Service

El Reno, Oklahoma tornado size

The El Reno, Oklahoma tornado that occurred on May 31,2013 was the largest recorded tornado in the United States. At its peak, the twister reached a level F5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale*, a diameter of 2.6 miles (the widest tornado ever measured), and a top wind speed of just shy of 300 mph (296 mph to be exact). As a comparison, the fastest tornado ever recorded on Earth was 301 mph. In the course of approximately 40 minutes, the El Reno tornado laid waste to an area over 16 miles long.

The El Reno tornado killed at least 9 people, and over 100 people were treated for injuries at the local hospitals; but things could have been much worse if the tornado had shifted its path slightly. Luckily the tornado missed the downtown area, and most of the housing communities.

EF5 Note: According to NOAA, The old scale lists an F5 tornado as wind speeds of 261–318 mph (420–512 km/h), while the new scale lists an EF5 as a tornado with winds above 200 mph (322 km/h), found to be sufficient to cause the damage previously ascribed to the F5 range of wind speeds.

Video of the El Reno, Oklahoma

Learn more about Oklahoma

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Corpus Christi A Treasure Trove of US Latino history

The Brains — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:12:59 +0000

By Russell Contreras / Associated Press

Corpus Christi: A Treasure Trove of US Latino history

Corpus Christi – photo courtesy of Jim Capaldi, Philadelphia PA CC-2.0

A Texas Day Trip

CORPUS CHRISTI — For most residents from bigger Texas cities, the South Texas city of Corpus Christi has always been a day-trip destination for a quick beach getaway.

But often overlooked are the coastal city’s deep roots in Mexican-American history, some of it wrapped up in the civil rights movement.

And while Corpus Christi doesn’t have a huge number of museums or landmarks connected to Latino history, visitors can find plenty of interesting things to see, from an exhibit about a physician and civil rights leader to a statue of the late Tejano star Selena.

The Founding of Corpus Christi

Corpus Christi was formally founded in 1839 as a trading post, but it’s likely that shipwrecked Spanish explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca explored the city’s shores in the 1500s with African slave Estévanico. …

The League of United Latin American Citizens

In more recent times, Corpus Christi served as the launchpad for the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), once the largest Latino civil rights group in the nation.

Founded in 1929 by World War I veterans, the group served as a key player in some of the most dramatic moments in the Mexican-American civil rights movement. The group helped raise money for a legal team led by San Antonio lawyer Gus Garcia and Houston attorney John J. Herrera to successfully take a case to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954 challenging …

Read the Complete Article at ReporterNews.com

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Tea, Taxes, and The American Revolution

BrainStorm — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 12:12:19 +0000

Tea, Taxes, and The American Revolution:

Crash Course World History #28

Crash Course – American Revolution with John Green

In which John Green teaches you about the American Revolution and the American Revolutionary War, which it turns out were two different things. John goes over the issues and events that precipitated rebellion in Britain’s American colonies, and he also explores the ideas that laid the groundwork for the new American democracy.

Find out how the tax bill from the Seven Years War fomented an uprising, how the Enlightenment influenced the Founding Fathers, and who were the winners and losers in this conflict.(hint: many of the people living in the Colonies ended up losers) The Revolution purportedly brought freedom and equality to the Thirteen Colonies, but they weren’t equally distributed. Also, you’ll learn about America’s love affair with commemorative ceramics and what happens when rich white guys take the reins from reins white guys, and put together a society of, by, and for rich white guys.

Crash Course American Revolution Video

The Crash Course Poster

The Crash Course Poster, number 1 of 3 in the beautiful, awesome poster series is now available

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North Carolina Symbols: State Butterfly

The Brains — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:12:43 +0000

Eastern Swallowtail butterfly – photo courtesy of Robert Benner CC-2.0

The Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, a North Carolina State Symbol

John White, a mapmaker, artist, and Governor of Roanoke Colony, which would later become North Carolina, drew beautiful maps and illustrations of Native American people and natural species of fauna. One of the first species he drew, was the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, one of the most beautiful butterflies in the region.

In the same way the John White probably chose the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail because of its beauty and widespread inhabitation of the area, the butterfly was chosen as the North Carolina State Butterfly, in part, because the Papilio glaucus species is found in all 100 counties in the state.

Learn all about this stunning state symbol of North Carolina in the following video.

More North Carolina State Symbols

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Utah Symbols Slideshow

BrainStorm — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:13:40 +0000

Utah Symbols

This two minute video on Utah’s State Symbols was created by bittster19/YouTube and was based on one standard/objective from the Utah State Core Curriculum. The Utah Symbols slideshow also features the Utah State Song.

Additional Resources on Utah Symbols from ClassBrain

Also Visit ClassBrain’s Coast2CoastRecipes for Information on Utah State Food Symbols

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Massachusetts State Symbols Slideshow

The Brains — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:12:21 +0000

Some of the official symbols of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have been assembled into the following slideshow by Brent Abrahamson. The state symbols are accompanied by the Official Folk Song, which is sung by the famous folksinger, Arlo Guthrie.

Some Symbols of Massachusetts Slideshow

More Information on the Symbols of Massachusetts from ClassBrain

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Oklahoma History Center

BrainStorm — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:12:21 +0000

Oklahoma history center

Explore Oklahoma’s History at the Center

Explore Oklahoma’s story within the thirty-five thousand square feet of the Oklahoma History Center. From the American Indians, to the states natural resources, to the land run and beyond. Relive the birth of a state, the rise of new cities, and the technological pioneers like Wiley Post. And research million of documents at the one and only Oklahoma City Center.

Native Americans at the Oklahoma History Center

The Oklahoma History Center is a great place to learn about the culturally rich state of Oklahoma. The Native American section is unique, since the materials were created by the local Indian tribes. Learn new moments in history through this amazing historical center. It’s a great place to visit, if you are visiting the state.

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Big Bear Wildflowers

The Brains — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 05:05:26 +0000

Big Bear Lake, California (2013)

Big Bear is home to more than 20 endemic wildflowers not seen anywhere else in the world. This spring, Big Bear visitors have an opportunity to see these rare wildflowers up close at the Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve with guided wildflower hikes led by a botanist and volunteers of the Southern California Mountains Foundation. The free interpretive hikes depart at 11:30 a.m. each Saturday, April through June 29.

Phlox Photo courtesy of Liz West CC-2.0

The Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve at Big Bear

The Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve is east of Big Bear Lake in an open plain covered by small quartz rocks, known as pebbles, with low-growing, tufted plants rooted in the crevices. Research shows the Big Bear area was once a glacier lake during the Pleistocene era 10,000 years ago, which formed the clay soil of the pebble plains. With a combination of unique soils, thousands of years of the swelling and shrinking of the soils, annual freezing conditions in the winter and isolation from other similar areas has created various wildflower species that are found nowhere else on planet Earth. In fact, the Baldwin Lake pebble plains area is so unique that it has been compared to coral reefs with more than 20 species in a square mile.

Wildflowers Abound in the Big Bear Area

Wildflowers, such as Cushenberry Buckwheat, Douglas’ Violets, Big Bear Valley Phlox, Ash Grey Paintbrush, Parish’s Daisies, and Bear Valley Sandwort can be seen in the pebble plains. Most pebble plain species are only one-inch high, best known as “belly flowers,” because these plants are best appreciated close-up while lying flat on ones belly. The pin-cushion blooms create a landscape with shades of yellow, purple and red. As the season progresses new waves of flowers will bloom. The best time to visit and enjoy the Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve is during April and early May when wildflowers are blooming and the temperature is relatively cool.

Free Guided Tours of Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve

Big Bear isitors can either take a free guided hike with the Southern California Mountains Foundation each Saturday at 11:30 a.m. now through June 29, or take the self-guided interpretive trail that starts at the Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve Visitor Center. The half-mile trail is a loop that has 11 marked posts that point out key facts about the pebble plains and the rare wildflowers that grace the unique terrain.

How to Get to Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve

The Reserve can be accessed by driving east of Big Bear Lake on Highway 18. Look for roadside signage that marks the entrance. Good footwear is recommended. Parking and restrooms are available.
Download a Directional Map to Baldwin Lake Ecological Reserve in PDF format

Information on the Southern California Mountains Foundation:

The Southern California Mountains Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that (1) supports youth development through conservation initiatives integrating environmental education, training and hands-on service projects; (2) protects our natural resources through adult and family-led programming; and (3) provides interpretive services focused on outdoor recreation, responsible use, and stewardship of our natural environment. Visit www.MountainsFoundation.org

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