Care Bears History and Facts

The lovable Care Bears were first created by the American Greetings company in the year 1981. They were intended to be used on greeting cards and become very popular to the public. Artist Elena Kucharik was the very first to create the images of our beloved Care Bears and by 1983 they were made into a series of plushy teddy bears popular amongst kids. Later on they were given their own cartoon series that lasted from 1985 to 1988 and then they got three major motion picture cartoon movies called, The Care Bears Movie, Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation, and The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland.

Each of the Care Bears comes in a different color and they have colorful graphics on their bellies. The Care Bears are able to make magical power beams shoot out from their bellies to help fix a lot of problems. Each of the Care Bears has a different beam that shoots out from their bellies and holds the all of their love and special care. Each Care Bear has a different specialized graphic and a different special care. For example, Bedtime Bear has a sleepy crescent moon on his belly. He is able to send out a beam of special sleepy time care. And Cheer Bear is a happy fellow who can help others feel happier with his beam of cheerful energy.

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Even today the Care Bears are popular among the kids. They just love to cuddle with their own special Care Bear. The Care Bears have all kinds of merchandising and entertainment available. You'll find them in cartoons, books, music, classic Care Bear toys, and video games and even in comic books. They still feature the Care Bears on greetings cards too, so you can send a Care Bears card to someone special on their birthday.

Care Bears History and Facts

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The History of Wicca - Where Did The Craft Originate

The history of Wicca or "The Craft" is complex but traditional Wicca is rooted in the so called "British Mystery Traditions", for example the Picts, who existed before the rise of Celtic consciousness, the Celts, and some Celtic Druidism.

Wicca predates Christianity by about 28 000 years.

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A variety of archaeological discoveries, reveal that the history of Wicca can be traced as far back as the Paleolithic peoples who worshipped a Hunter God and a Fertility Goddess. Cave paintings, that are dated at around 30,000 years old, depict a man with the head of a stag, and a pregnant woman standing in a circle with eleven other people.

Modern American Wicca has its roots in British Wicca, brought to the United States in the late 1950's by English and American initiates of Gardnerian, Alexandrian and Celtic Wicca. These are different forms of Wiccan tradition. All of these cultures form part and parcel of the history of Wicca.

The ancient Greek Mysteries of Eleusis, Italian Mysteries of Rome, Etruria and the general countryside, Mysteries of Egypt and Persia before Islam, and various Babylonian, Assyrian and other mid-eastern Mysteries also find a place in the history of Wicca and its beliefs and traditional practices. Perhaps the best way to describe Wicca is to call it a modern religion, based on ancient witchcraft traditions. But do bear in mind that not all those who practice witchcraft today are Wiccas.

Wicca is a both a belief system and a way of life. Over the years information about how Wiccan ancestors lived and worshipped has been lost due to actions of the medieval church. However, modern Wiccas have tried to reconstruct the history of Wicca in an effort to lay the foundation for their practices.

During ancient times Wicca was called "The Craft of the Wise". This name was derived from the fact that most Wiccas aligned themselves with the forces of nature. They also had knowledge of herbs and medicines, gave council and were important in the village and community as Shamanic healers and leaders. The history of Wicca indicates that Wiccas once had a prized place in society which is quite a contrast to how they are viewed today.

Ancient Wiccas felt that man was not superior to nature, the earth and its creatures. Instead they were only one aspect of the world. The idea of sustainable development to maintain balance and equilibrium was central to the belief systems of the ancient Wicca. The history of Wicca is a far cry from the way that man views the earth today.

In the last several hundred years, witchcraft and witches have been incorrectly labeled as evil and unrighteous. Where do these ideas that form so much a part of the history of Wicca originate? Some Wiccas believe that the medieval church of the 15th through 18th centuries created these myths.

This was done in an effort to covert people to Christianity. The history of Wicca contains many stories of the persecution of witches based on so called "evil" practices.

Another theory about the history of Wicca is that as medical science became more prominent in society those who did these initial studies did not understand female physiology, especially menstruation. This "mystery" seemed to fit in with the churches agenda in labeling healers as evil heathens and placing power and respect in the hands of male physicians.

Many of these myths and superstitions have survived in modern times giving The Craft a bad name. While Wicca is essentially witchcraft, those who practice it usually do not refer to it as such because of these negative connotations. The history of Wicca is important since it is the persecution of those who practiced it that has led to its current ethic of "religious freedom first".

The History of Wicca - Where Did The Craft Originate

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History of Mascots

Background of Mascots

The history of mascots dates back to cavemen and early societies who hunted for their livelihood. Early accounts of masked creatures, often resembling animals were drawn or etched on cave walls and depicted in ancient art. Totem poles were filled with likenesses of animals in ancient cultures. These likenesses are much like the concept of the team mascots evident on football fields and basketball courts. Usually in ancient times the history of mascots' shows that these likenesses were often worshiped. This was especially true during times of hunting and harvest. Ancient tribal people would dress up in the likeness of animals or those on totem poles to incite goodwill from them. They believed this would help with successful hunts and bountiful harvests. Also, ancient cultures would dress up in masks or animal like figures for purposes of fertility. Many would dance in the "mascot" like costume to bring about fertility for people in their tribe or village.

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Evolution of Mascots

Society has come a long way in its current version of mascots. Mascots as we know them today have been in the same style and incarnation since the 1800's. They began to spring up on high school and college playing fields during that era. Often live animals were used as the official mascots of teams, and athletes were proudly wearing a patch with the mascot on their uniform. The maintenance and upkeep of live animals became costly and cumbersome, so they were largely eliminated. They evolved to resemble the puppet-like versions we see today.

They've got Personality

Mascots are now seen as artists and entertainers with traits that now make it an art form. They have come to be an embodiment of what the team is and may correlate to the location of the team, or some other overriding characteristic that makes the team unique. Effective mascots do not learn their stage presence from a classroom. Having the ability to become one with the character and reflect this through physical action is crucial to being a believable mascot. The person must be able to put their individuality aside and really get into character. Mascots are especially popular with children. They need to act in a way that is child-friendly and not intimidating.

The more personable a mascot is, the more approachable they will be. Plus they will be well-received by fans of all ages. The position of mascot wields a lot of power over crowds at games. They have the ability to either really involve the crowd in the game, or make a poor attempt and cause the crowd to turn on them.

Mascots as Symbols

Throughout the history of mascots, symbology is a major component that keeps rising to the surface. Mascots are often tagged with names that indicate gender and/or certain attributes. For example, a mascot called Robbie the Rabbit would indicate a male rabbit that is fast on its feet. This does a lot to create an image in the mind of fans and anyone thinking about the particular team the mascot represents. Fans will also come to expect the mascot to react in consistent and specific ways to them on a continual basis.

If a mascot has a habit of doing a certain dance, fans may be disappointed if the mascot decides not to do the famous dance on game day. It is a unique job and the rich history of mascots continues to unfold as time goes by. It is a position that requires creativity, consistency, individuality, and strong symbology. Mascots may not be worshiped like they were in ancient societies, but they are powerful images etched upon the minds of fans everywhere. Many times the team is synonymous with the mascot itself.

History of Mascots

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A Short History of Toxic Waste

Toxic waste, sometimes called "hazardous waste," is material that can cause injury and/or death to living creatures.

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Toxic waste is often material that has been discarded yet still poses long term risks to the environment and health. Because most hazardous waste material can migrate relatively easily it can contaminate rivers, lakes, and oceans.

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The Industrial Revolution was the time when toxic waste started to become a significant issue. Mostly the product of commerce, hazardous waste can also be a byproduct of residential use. Lawn care products, cleaning products, and cosmetics have all done their part to harm the environment over the years.

Toxic material can also be part and parcel of some types of farming. Pesticides and fertilizers can wreck havoc on the land.

The list goes on and on.

The EPA - the United States Environmental Protection Agency - and the various state departments attempt to regulate hazardous waste in the US.

The U.S. EPA began to regulate toxic waste in 1976. The majority of the hazardous waste that is endangering communities today is waste that was dumped before the disposal of such toxic materials was strictly regulated.

The Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act regulates how toxic waste is to be stored and handled.

The Superfund Act, another act sponsored by the EPA, has rules about how to clean up hazardous waste that was illegally dumped.

The Environmental Protection Agency requires that special precautions be taken when hazardous materials are being handled. And they require that toxic waste is disposed of in one of the designated facilities that are around the USA.

Because waste facilities and waste transporters charge fees a lot of people end up dumping hazardous waste into their town dumps. If caught, they usually have to pay an expensive fine.

Since the EPA started to put laws such as these into effect corporations have been battling environmentalists and communities. Corporations want the government to remove or soften many of their rules. Environmentalists and communities want even stricter regulations.

The battle is still being waged.

However, a number of cities in the US are also fighting back. They have specific days when household toxic waste is collected. On those days, materials such as explosives, ammunition, hypodermic needles and syringes, other medical waste, smoke detectors, radioactive materials, and commercially generated waste are collected and disposed of properly.

If it is unlikely that toxic waste will migrate, and if it isn't dangerous, it is sealed in containers, placed under the ground in toxic waste facilities, and topped with hard clay. Eventually these facilities will often become parks or golf courses. Or they may be used for industrial or commercial purposes.

A Short History of Toxic Waste

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The History of Bee Cave, Texas

The city of Bee Cave had humble beginnings, and was nothing more than a small rural community for over 140 years. What started as an alternative to the city living of Austin slowly became a popular area to live and later successfully fought against annexation by Austin to become its own incorporation.

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In the early 1850s, a man named Dietrich Bohls decided that Austin was becoming too large a city for him to comfortably raise his children. The booming metropolis was quickly growing and as of 1850 had reached a staggering populace of 900 people. Bohls realized that he would need to move from the city in order to give his children the upbringing he desired for them. This would be the beginning of a tradition of resisting the control of "big government" that has stayed with Bee Cave ever since.

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When Bohls made this decision lands west of Austin were still teaming with Indian activity. This meant that there were a few settlers willing to relocate to this area, and as a result, it was relatively free of people living there. Bohls realized that this was exactly what he was looking for and set out to make a new home for his family.

By the mid-1860s, western Travis County was becoming a very popular place for people wanting to avoid the big city to live, yet still being close enough to reap its benefits. Upon seeing what Mr. Bohls had done to clear the land and make an idyllic setting for his family, a number of families decided to settle around him, creating the first incarnation of the small town that Bee Cave would become.

In the 1870s, Bee Cave had grown large enough to become an attraction to entrepreneurs. Carl Beck arrived in the community and open to general store on what is now the crossroad of State Highway 71 and Hamilton Pool Road. Travelers coming to and leaving Austin regularly stopped here to exchange goods, get information, and mill cotton. The success of Mr. Beck's general store led him to open a cigar factory and a cotton gin. The successful endeavors again increased the size of a small town and paved the way for a United States Post Office to be opened in the community.

Along with the creation of a Post Office came the need to come up with a name for their town. The area was lined with multiple hives and colonies of Mexican honeybees. Around the creek surrounding Mr. Beck's home, there were large numbers of these hives, which the locals referred to as caves. On a whim, Beck decided this would be a fitting name for their town, and named the post office "Bee Caves". His small joke turned out to be quite fitting and stays with the town even now.

Bee Cave stayed an incorporated small community for the next 110 years, happily considering itself a small, rural suburb of Austin. However in the 1980s, Austin started a campaign to annex the surrounding communities. Some communities took this in stride and look forward to becoming a part of the thriving city, but Bee Cave took pride in its history of resisting the government of Austin, and began a campaign to convince the state government to incorporate its village.

The fight was not an easy one, but through the hard work of some impassioned local residents, and the refusal to give up and simply be annexed, Bee Caves got its wish. In 1987, Bee Caves was successfully incorporated, and officially resisted the annexation.

The History of Bee Cave, Texas

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History Of The ESP Guitar

The first ESP Guitar was made in Japan in 1976. The ESP Company (Electric Sound Products) actually started up a year earlier but only provided guitar replacement parts at that time. ESP guitars and replacement parts continued to be sold exclusively in Japan for nearly a decade before moving into the U.S. market. In 1983 their replacement parts were made available in the U.S and in 1984 their guitars made their American appearance.

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In 1984/85 ESP guitars were attracting some attention from great guitarists such as Ronnie Wood (The Rolling Stones), Vernon Reid (Living Colour) and Bruce Kulick (Kiss).

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The next big name to discover ESP guitars was George Lynch (Dokken) while shopping for guitar parts when he was touring in Japan. When George found out that ESP made custom guitars, the model "Kamikaze" was made for him. The Kamikaze was the first signature model to be made.

More musicians began to take notice of ESP and started playing their guitars in the late 80's. Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield of Metallica were two of the bigger names.

Speaking of James Hetfield, an ESP guitar that he used when Metallica first started to become popular, got the ESP Company into some legal trouble. The guitar he used, known as the EXP, was a replica of the Gibson Explorer. Even though companies have been selling replicas of their guitars for years, Gibson decided to sue ESP. The quality of the EXP was so good that people were buying them up and this was allegedly cutting into the sales of Gibson's own guitars. ESP lost the lawsuit and changed their design.

In 2002, ESP sales started to grow at a rapid rate making them one of the fastest growing companies at that time. This increase in sales was directly connected to Fender buying out Jackson Guitars. Jackson was the company that ESP had competed with in the 80's and 90's.

With the buyout of Jackson, many of the high profile guitarists jumped ship and went over to ESP. Guitarists like Dave Mustaine (Megadeth), found it natural to move over to ESP products because of the high quality and similar designs.

The ESP guitar is still very popular today. At the 2008 Winter NAMM show, ESP introduced over 50 new guitar and bass models. They also have a great selection of high profile guitar players on their roster including James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom), Wayne Static (Static-X), Will Adler (Lamb of God), George Lynch, Ron Wood and newest member Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi). With the great quality of guitars ESP produces, they sure look like they are going to be around for many years to come.

History Of The ESP Guitar

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A Brief History of the Phase I Site Assessment

About forty years ago, property buyers in the United States started to undertake studies which resemble today's Phase iI site assessments. The purpose of their studies was to asses any potential risk of owning a commercial property if it was on a site where toxic chemicals were used and/or disposed.

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These studies often were used to determine the nature of the costs associated with cleaning up the property - especially if the property under consideration was going to be redeveloped, or if its land use was going to be changed.

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Then in 1980 the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) was passed. As a result the demand for this type of investigation dramatically increased.

That's because the courts in the United States now held that a lessor, buyer, or lender could be held responsible for remediation of hazardous substance residues, even if the contamination was caused by a previous owner.

Consequently, when a potential buyer now has a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment performed he, she, or the corporate entity creates a safe harbor. This has come to be known as the "Innocent Landowner Defense" and, in the eyes of the court, will help to protect new purchasers and/or their lenders.

In 1988 a hydrogeologist working for the HTS Environmental Group of Columbia, Maryland, registered a "Due Diligence Inquiry Checklist" and other information with the US Copyright and Trademark Office. The checklist was designed to address everything that would be required to satisfy the court's interpretation of the "innocent purchaser defense."

This work apparently became the basis of the modern ASTM E1527 Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase I ESA.

A decade later the Superfund Cleanup Acceleration Act of 1998 was passed. With this act congress underscored the necessity of performing a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment prior to the purchase of any commercial property. In order to satisfy the "Innocent Landowner Defense" the Phase I1 study would have to meet the specific standard of ASTM E1527 Process.

More recent legislation requires has become known as the EPA's "All Appropriate Inquiry" (AAI). This rule, called "Standards and Practices for All Appropriate Inquiries" 40 Code of Federal Regulations, Section 312, was based on ASTM E1527-05.

Although anyone who is considering purchasing any commercial property should have a Phase I Site Assessment done by a qualified professional, there are also certain "user responsibilities" that must be fulfilled by the individual who has commissioned the Phase I, including conducting an environmental lien search and providing the professional with any specialized knowledge they have about the site.

A Brief History of the Phase I Site Assessment

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