The year 2006 was the golden
anniversary, or the 50th birthday, of the Dwight D. Eisenhower
National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. This system, usually
referred to as The Interstate Highway System, is a system of freeways named
after the U.S. President who supported it. The system is the largest highway
system in the world, consisting of 46,876 miles (75,440 km) of freeways. The
construction of the interstate highway system is an important part of American
history. It has played a major role in preserving and maintaining the America way of life.
The interstate highway system has
several major functions. One of its major functions is to facilitate the distribution of US good. Because the
intestate passes through many downtown areas, it plays an important role in the
distribution of almost all goods in the United States.
Nearly all products travel at least part of the way to their destination on the
Interstate System. Another major function of the interstate is to facilitate
military troop movement to and from airports, seaports, rail terminals and
other military destinations. The Interstate highways are connected to route in
the Strategic Highway Network, which is a system of highways that are vital to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Today, most of the Interstate system
consists of newly constructed highways. The longest section of the Interstate
system runs from Boston, Massachusetts to Seattle, Washington. It covers
3,020.54 miles. The shortest two-digit interstate is from Emery, North Caroline
to Greensboro, North Caroline. It covers only 12.27 miles. All state capitals
except five are served by the system. The five that are not directly served are
Juneau, AK, Dover, DE, Jefferson City, MO, Carson City, NV, and Pierre, SD. The
Interstate Highway System serves almost all major U.S. cities.
EACH Interstate highway is marked
with a red, white, and blue shield with the word “Interstate,” the name of the
state, and the route number. Interstate highways are named with one or
two-digit numbers. North-south highways are designated with odd numbers; east-west highways are
named with even numbers. The north-south Interstate highways begin in the west
with the lowest odd number; the east-west highways begin in the south with the
lowest even numbers. There all mile markers at each mile of the interstate
system, starting at the westernmost or southernmost point on the highway. Every
Interstate highway begins with the number “0”. Interchanges are numbered
according to their location on the highway in relation to mileage; an exit
between milepost 7 and milepost 8 would be designated “Exit 7.” This system
allows drivers estimate the distance to a desired exit, which a road is leading
off the highway. Despite the common acceptance of the numbering system on the
Interstate highways, some states have adopted different numbering systems. For
example, a portion of the Interstate 19 in Arizona is measured in kilometers
instead of miles since the highway goes south to Mexico.
Since the Interstate highways are
freeways-highways that do not have signs and cross streets – they have the
highest speed limits in the nation. Most interstate highways have speed limits
between 65 – 75 miles per hour (105 – 120 kilometers per hour), but some areas
in Texas and Utah have an 80 mile-per-hour (130 kilometer-per-hour) speed
limit.
The federal government primarily
funds interstate highways. However, they are owned and operated by the
individual states or toll authorities in the states. The federal government
generally funds up to 90% of the cost of an Interstate highway, while the
states pay the remainder of the cost.
How does a driver leave an
Interstate highway?
Right now, I am looking at a shelf
full or relics, a collection of has-beens, old-timers, antiques, fossils. Right
now I am lolling at a shelf full of books. Yes that’s right. If you have some
spare cash (the doing rate is about $89) and are looking to enhance your reading
experience, then I highly suggest you consider purchasing an e-reader.
E-readers are replacing the books of old, and I welcome them with open arms (as
you should).
If you haven’t heard of an e-reader
and don’t know what it is, then please permit the following explanation. An
e-reader is a device that allows you to read e-books. An e-book is a
book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both,
and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other
electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book,
e-books can also be born digital. The Oxford Dictionary or English defines the
e-book as “an electronic version of a printed book, “but e-book can and do
exist without any printed equivalent.
So now you know what an e-reader is.
But you still may be wondering why they put printed books to shame. E-readers
are superior to printed books because they save space, are environmentally friendly,
and provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed books do not.
E-readers are superior to printed
books because they save space. The average e-reader can store thousands of
digital book, providing a veritable library at your fingertips. What is more,
being the size and weight of a thin hardback, the e-reader itself is relatively
petite. It is easy to hold and can fit in a pocketbook or briefcase easily. This
makes handling ponderous behemoths such as War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and
Les Miserables a breeze. Perhaps the only drawback to the space-saving aspect
of an e-reader is that it requires you to find new things to put on your
shelves.
In addition, e-readers are superior
to books because they are environmentally friendly. The average novel is about
300 pages long. So, if a novel is printed 1000 times, it will use 300,000
pieces of paper. That’s a lot of paper! If there are about 80,000 pieces of
paper in a tree, this means it takes almost 4 trees to make these 1000 books.
Now, we know that the average bestseller sells about 20,000 copies per week.
That means that it takes over 300 trees each month to sustain this rate. And
for the super bestsellers, these figures increase dramatically. For example,
the Harry Potter book series has sold over 450 million copies. That’s about 2
million trees! Upon viewing these figures, it is not hard to grasp the severe
impact of printed books on the environment. Since e-reader use no trees, they
represent a significant amount of preservation in terms of the environment and
its resources.
Finally, e-reader are superior to
books because they provide helpful reading tips and tolls that printed books do
not. The typical e-reader allows its user to customize letter size, font, and
line spacing. It also allows highlighting and electronic bookmarking.
Furthermore, it grants users the ability to get an overview of a book and then
jump to a specific electronic bookmarking. Furthermore, it grants users the
ability to get an overview of a book and then jump to a specific location based
on that overview. While these are all nice features, perhaps the most helpful
of all is the ability to get dictionary definitions at the touch of a finger.
On even the most basic e-reader, users can conjure instant definitions without
having to hunt through a physical dictionary.
It can be seen that e-readers are
superior to printed books. They save space, are environmentally friendly, and
provide helpful reading tips and tools that printed books do not. So what good
are printed books? Well, they certainly make nice decorations.
As used in paragraph 3, which of the
following describes something that has been “put to shame”?
