Interesting Facts

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square is an open square in the center of Beijing, China - one of the largest public squares in the world. It was originally designed and built in 1651, then enlarged to four times that size in 1958; it now covers 100 acres and each flagstone is numbered for assembling parade participants. The square gets its name from the massive stone Tiananmen ("Gate of Heavenly Peace"), which was once the main gate of the former Imperial Palace.

Bahamas

The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is a string of about 700 islands (and 2400 uninhabited islets) in the West Indies, spread across the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south of Florida and north of Cuba. It is believed that Christopher Columbus first stepped on San Salvador when he found the Americas in 1492. The Arawak Indians were the first inhabitants of the Bahamas. Many of the islands are uninhabited and the rest are flooded with tourists looking for beautiful beaches. The main islands are New Providence, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Abaco, Andros, Cat Island, and San Salvador (Watling's Island). More than 80 percent of the 230,000 people are black, having descended from slaves brought to the island. The Bahamas were a British colony until 1973 when they became an independent member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The capital is Nassau and there is approximately 5,380 sq. mi. of land.

Copyright

President George Washington signed the first U.S. copyright law in 1790, which gave protection for 14 years to books written by U.S. citizens. Copyright developed out of the same system as royal patent grants, though the purpose of such grants was not to protect authors' or publishers' rights but to give the government revenue and control over the contents of publication. In a major revision of copyright law in 1976, the U.S. Congress specified that copyright subsists in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression. The general term of copyright protection is now the life of the author plus 70 years. For anonymous works, pseudonymous works, and works made for hire, the term of copyright protection is 95 years from first publication or 120 years from the date of creation of the work, whichever is shorter.