name	U.S. state
alt name	Commonwealth (KY, MA, PA, VA)
map
category	Federated state
territory
current number	50
government	State government
subdivision4	}}

A U.S. state is a federated state of the United States of America that shares sovereignty with the United States federal government. Since the admission of Hawaii as a state in August 1959, there are fifty U.S. states. Because of the shared sovereignty between a U.S. state and the U.S. federal government, an American is a citizen of both the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia use the official title of ''Commonwealth'' rather than ''State''. State citizenship is flexible and no government approval is required to move between states, with the exception of paroled convicts.

The United States Constitution allocates certain powers to the federal government. It also places some limitations on the state governments. State governments are allocated power by the people (of each respective state) through their individual constitutions. By ratifying the United States Constitution, the people transferred certain limited sovereign powers to the federal government from their states. Under the Tenth Amendment, all powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited to the states are retained by the states or the people. Historically, the tasks of public safety (in the sense of controlling crime), public education, public health, transportation, and infrastructure have generally been considered primarily state responsibilities, although all of these now have significant federal funding and regulation as well (based largely upon the Commerce Clause, the Taxing and Spending Clause, and the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution).

Over time, the Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the federal government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a continuing debate over states' rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states' powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government as well as the rights of individual persons. Debates over states' rights were a contributing factor in the outbreak of the American Civil War.

Congress may admit new states on an equal footing with existing ones; this last happened in 1959 with the admission of Alaska and Hawaii. The Constitution is silent on the question of whether states have the power to leave unilaterally, or secede from, the Union, but the Supreme Court has ruled secession to be unconstitutional, a position driven in part by the outcome of the American Civil War.

Map[link]

''Click on a state on the map to go to its main article''

List of states[link]

Georgia

Federal power[link]

The Supreme Court of the United States has interpreted the Commerce Clause of the Constitution of the United States which has expanded the scope of federal power. The Cambridge Economic History of the United States says, "On the whole, especially after the mid-1880s, the Court construed the Commerce Clause in favor of increased federal power." In ''Wickard v. Filburn'' , the court expanded federal power to regulate the economy by holding that federal authority under the commerce clause extends to activities which are local in character. For example, Congress can regulate railway traffic across state lines, but it may also regulate rail traffic solely within a state, based on the theory that wholly intrastate traffic can still have an impact on interstate commerce. In recent years, the Court has tried to place limits on the Commerce Clause in such cases as ''United States v. Lopez'' and ''United States v. Morrison''.

Another source of Congressional power is its spending power—the ability of Congress to impose uniform taxes across the nation and then distribute the resulting revenue back to the states (subject to conditions set by Congress). A classic example of this is the system of federal-aid highways, which includes the Interstate Highway System. The system is mandated and largely funded by the federal government, and also serves the interests of the states. By threatening to withhold federal highway funds, Congress has been able to pressure state legislatures to pass a variety of laws. Although some object that this infringes on states' rights, the Supreme Court upheld the practice as a permissible use of the Constitution's Spending Clause in ''South Dakota v. Dole'' .

Governments[link]

States are free to organize their individual governments any way they like, so long as they conform to the sole requirement of the U.S. Constitution that they have "a Republican Form of Government," that is, each state government must be a republic.

Constitutions[link]

In practice, each state has adopted a three-branch system of government (with legislative, executive, and judiciary branches) generally along the same lines as that of the federal government — though this is not a requirement.

Despite the fact that every state has chosen to follow the federal model of government, there are significant differences in some states.

There are also significant similarities. For example, all 50 states allow tax exemptions for religious institutions.

Executive[link]

In all of the U.S. states, the chief executive is called the Governor. The governor may approve or veto bills passed by the state legislature. In forty-four states, governors have line item veto power.

Most states have a "plural executive" in which two or more members of the executive branch are elected directly by the people. Such additional elected officials serve as members of the executive branch, but are not beholden to the governor and the governor cannot dismiss them. For example, the attorney general is elected, rather than appointed, in 43 of the 50 U.S. states.

Legislative[link]

The legislatures of 49 of the 50 states are made up of two chambers: a lower house (termed the House of Representatives, State Assembly or House of Delegates) and a smaller upper house, always termed the Senate. The exception is the unicameral Nebraska Legislature, which is composed of only a single chamber.

Most states have part-time legislatures, while six of the most populated states have full-time legislatures. However, several states with high population have short legislative sessions, including Texas and Florida.

In ''Baker v. Carr'' (1962) and ''Reynolds v. Sims'' (1964), the U.S. Supreme Court held that all states are required to elect their legislatures in such a way as to afford each citizen the same degree of representation (the one person, one vote standard). In practice, most states choose to elect legislators from single-member districts, each of which has approximately the same population. Some states, such as Maryland and Vermont, divide the state into single- and multi-member districts, in which case multi-member districts must have proportionately larger populations, e.g., a district electing two representatives must have approximately twice the population of a district electing just one.

If the governor vetoes legislation, all legislatures may override it, usually, but not always, requiring a two-thirds majority.

Judicial[link]

States can also organize their judicial systems differently from the federal judiciary, as long as they protect the federal constitutional right of their citizens to procedural due process. Most have a trial level court, generally called a District Court or Superior Court, a first-level appellate court, generally called a Court of Appeal (or Appeals), and a Supreme Court. However, Oklahoma and Texas have separate highest courts for criminal appeals. New York state has its own terminology, in that the trial court is called the Supreme Court. Appeals are then taken to the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, and from there to the Court of Appeals.

Most states base their legal system on English common law (with substantial indigenous changes and incorporation of certain civil law innovations), with the notable exception of Louisiana, a former French colony, which draws large parts of its legal system from French civil law.

Only a few states choose to have the judges on the state's courts serve for life terms. In most of the states the judges, including the justices of the highest court in the state, are either elected or appointed for terms of a limited number of years, such as five years, eligible for re-election or reappointment if their performance is judged to be satisfactory.

Relationships[link]

Under Article Four of the United States Constitution, which outlines the relationship between the states, the United States Congress has the power to admit new states to the Union. The states are required to give full faith and credit to the acts of each other's legislatures and courts, which is generally held to include the recognition of legal contracts, marriages, and criminal judgments, and before 1865, slavery status. States are prohibited from discriminating against citizens of other states with respect to their basic rights, under the Privileges and Immunities Clause. The states are guaranteed military and civil defense by the federal government, which is also required to ensure that the government of each state remains a republic.

Four states use the official name of ''Commonwealth'', rather than ''State''. However, this is merely a paper distinction, and the U.S. Constitution ''uniformly'' refers to all of these subnational jurisdictions as "States" (Article One, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution, concerning the U.S. House of Representatives, in which Representatives are to be elected by the people of the "States"; Article One, Section 3, Clause 1, concerning the U.S. Senate, allocates to each "State" two Senators). For all of these purposes, each of the four above-mentioned "Commonwealths" counts as a State.

Admission into the union[link]

]]

Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50. The U.S. Constitution is rather laconic on the process by which new states could be added, noting only that "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union" and forbidding a new state to be created out of the territory of an existing state, or the merging of two or more states into one, without the consent of both Congress and all the state legislatures involved.

In practice, most of the states admitted to the union after the original 13 have been formed from Territories of the United States (that is, land under the sovereignty of the federal government but not part of any state) that were organized (given a measure of self-rule by the Congress subject to the Congress’ plenary powers under the territorial clause of Article IV, sec. 3, of the U.S. Constitution).

Generally speaking, the organized government of a territory made known the sentiment of its population in favor of statehood. Congress then directed that government to organize a constitutional convention to write a state constitution. Upon acceptance of that Constitution, Congress has always admitted that territory as a state. The broad outlines in this process were established by the Northwest Ordinance (1787), which predated the ratification of the Constitution.

However, Congress has ultimate authority over the admission of new states, and is not bound to follow this procedure. A few U.S. states (outside of the original 13) that were never organized territories of the federal government have been admitted: Vermont, an unrecognized but de facto independent republic until its admission in 1791 Kentucky, a part of Virginia until its admission in 1792 Maine, a part of Massachusetts until its admission in 1820 following the Missouri Compromise Texas, a recognized independent republic until its admission in 1845 California, created as a state (as part of the Compromise of 1850) out of the unorganized territory of the Mexican Cession in 1850 without ever having been a separate organized territory itself West Virginia, created from areas of western Virginia that rejoined the union in 1863, after the 1861 secession of Virginia to the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War

Congress is also under no obligation to admit states even in those areas whose population expresses a desire for statehood. For instance, the Republic of Texas requested annexation to the United States in 1837, but fears about the conflict with Mexico that would result delayed admission for nine years.

Once established, most state borders have been generally stable, with exceptions including the formation of the Northwest Territory in 1787 and the Southwest Territory in 1790 from various portions of the original states, the cession by Maryland and Virginia of land to create the District of Columbia in 1791 (Virginia's portion was returned in 1847), and the creation of states from other states, including the creation of Kentucky and West Virginia from Virginia, and Maine from Massachusetts. However, there have been numerous minor adjustments to state boundaries over the years due to improved surveys, resolution of ambiguous or disputed boundary definitions, or minor mutually agreed boundary adjustments for administrative convenience or other purposes.

Possible new states[link]

Today, there are several U.S. territories left that might potentially become new states.

Puerto Rico[link]

The most likely candidate for statehood is generally thought to be Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico called itself the "Commonwealth of Puerto Rico" in the English version of its constitution, and as "Estado Libre Asociado" (literally, Associated Free State) in the Spanish version. The island’s ultimate status has not been determined . A plebiscite will be held on November 6, 2012 to determine the future of the Island.

As with any non-state territory of the United States, its residents do not have voting representation in the federal government. Puerto Rico has limited representation in the U.S. Congress in the form of a Resident Commissioner, a nonvoting delegate.

History[link]

Puerto Rico has been under U.S. sovereignty for over a century. Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917.

The U.S. Congress directed the Puerto Rican government to organize a constitutional convention to write the Puerto Rico Constitution in 1951. Like the U.S. States, Puerto Rico has a republican form of government organized pursuant to a constitution adopted by its people and a bill of rights. The Approval of that constitution by Puerto Rico's electorate, the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. President occurred in 1952. The rights, privileges and immunities attendant to the United States Citizens are "respected in Puerto Rico to the same extent as though Puerto Rico were a state of the union" through the express extension by the U.S. Congress in 1948 of the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

President George H. W. Bush issued a memorandum on November 30, 1992 to heads of executive departments and agencies establishing the current administrative relationship between the federal government and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This memorandum directs all federal departments, agencies, and officials to treat Puerto Rico administratively as if it were a state, insofar as doing so would not disrupt federal programs or operations.

The commonwealth's government has organized several referenda on the question of status over the past several decades, though Congress has not recognized these as binding; all shown resulted in narrow victories for the status quo over statehood. On December 23, 2000, President Bill Clinton signed executive Order 13183, which established the President's Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status and the rules for its membership. Section 4 of executive Order 13183 (as amended by executive Order 13319) directs the task force to "report on its actions to the President ... on progress made in the determination of Puerto Rico’s ultimate status."

President George W. Bush signed an additional amendment to Executive Order 13183 on December 3, 2003, which established the current co-chairs and instructed the task force to issue reports as needed, but no less than once every two years. In December 2005, the presidential task force proposed a new set of referendums on the issue; if Congress votes in line with the task force's recommendation, it would pave the way for the first congressionally mandated votes on status in the island, and (potentially) statehood by 2012. The task force's December 2007 status report reiterated and confirmed the proposals made in 2005.

President Barack Obama appointed a new Task Force on Puerto Rico's Status. In March 2011, it recommended that all relevant parties—the President, Congress, and the leadership and people of Puerto Rico—work to ensure that Puerto Ricans are able to express their will about status options and have that will acted upon by the end of 2012 or soon thereafter. The report further recommends, "... if efforts on the Island do not provide a clear result in the short term, the President should support, and Congress should enact, self-executing legislation that specifies in advance for the people of Puerto Rico a set of acceptable status options, including the Statehood, that the United States is politically committed to fulfilling. This legislation should commit the United States to honor the choice of the people of Puerto Rico (provided it is one of the status options specified in the legislation) and should specify the means by which such a choice would be made. The Task Force recommends that, by the end of 2012, the Administration develop, draft, and work with Congress to enact the proposed legislation."

Washington, D.C.[link]

The intention of the Founding Fathers was that the United States capital should be at a neutral site, not giving favor to any existing state; as a result, the District of Columbia was created in 1800 to serve as the seat of government. The inhabitants of the District do not have full representation in Congress or a sovereign elected government (they were allotted presidential electors by the 23rd amendment, and have a non-voting delegate in Congress). Some residents of the District support statehood of some form for that jurisdiction—either statehood for the whole district or for the inhabited part, with the remainder remaining under federal jurisdiction. While statehood is always a live political question in the District, the prospects for any movement in that direction in the immediate future seem dim.

According to Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution, "New states may be admitted by the Congress into this union; but no new states shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state; nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as of the Congress." This was the case when Maine was split off from Massachusetts; and when West Virginia was split from Virginia during the Civil War. When Texas was admitted to the union in 1845, it was much larger than any other state and was specifically granted the right to divide itself into as many as five separate states.

Unrecognized entities[link]

: ''See also: Historical regions of the United States''

The State of Franklin existed for four years not long after the end of the American Revolution, but was never recognized by the union, which ultimately recognized North Carolina's claim of sovereignty over the area. A majority of the states were willing to recognize Franklin, but the number of states in favor fell short of the two-thirds majority required to admit a territory to statehood under the Articles of Confederation. The territory comprising Franklin later became part of the state of Tennessee.

The State of Superior was a proposed state formed out of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Several prominent legislators including local politician Dominic Jacobetti formally attempted this legislation in the 1970s, with no success. As a state, it would have had, by far, the smallest population, and remaining so through the present day. Its 320,000 residents would equal only 60% of Wyoming's population, and less than 50% of Alaska's population.

The State of Deseret was a provisional state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by the Mormon settlers in Salt Lake City. The provisional state existed for slightly over two years and was never accepted by the United States Congress. Its name was derived from the word for "honeybee" in the Book of Mormon. Its territory included most of what is now Utah and Nevada.

State of Jefferson

* On July 24, 1859, voters defeated the formation of the proposed State of Jefferson in the Southern Rocky Mountains. On October 24, 1859, voters instead approved the formation of the Jefferson Territory, which was superseded by the Territory of Colorado on February 28, 1861.

* In 1915, a second State of Jefferson was proposed for the northern third of Texas but failed to obtain majority approval by the Texas Senate.

* In 1941, a third State of Jefferson was proposed in the mostly rural area of southern Oregon and northern California, but was cancelled as a result of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This proposal has been raised several times since.

State of Lincoln

* Lincoln is another state that has been proposed multiple times. It generally consists of the eastern portion of Washington state and the panhandle or northern portion of Idaho. It was originally proposed by Idaho in 1864 to include just the panhandle of Idaho, and again in 1901 to include eastern Washington. Proposals have come up in 1996, 1999, and 2005.

* Lincoln is also the name of a failed state proposal after the U.S. Civil War in 1869. It consisted of the area south and west of Texas' Colorado River.

Secession[link]

The Constitution is silent on the issue of the secession of a state from the union. However, its predecessor document, the Articles of Confederation, stated that the United States of America "shall be perpetual." The question of whether or not individual states held the right to unilateral secession remained a difficult and divisive one until the American Civil War. In 1860 and 1861, eleven southern states seceded, but following their defeat in the American Civil War were brought back into the Union during the Reconstruction Era. The federal government never recognized the secession of any of the rebellious states. Following the Civil War, the United States Supreme Court, in ''Texas v. White'', held that states did not have the right to secede and that any act of secession was legally void. Drawing on the Preamble to the Constitution, which states that the Constitution was intended to "form a more perfect union" and speaks of the people of the United States of America in effect as a single body politic, as well as the language of the Articles of Confederation, the Supreme Court maintained that states did not have a right to secede. However, the court's reference in the same decision to the possibility of such changes occurring "through revolution, or through consent of the States," essentially means that this decision holds that no state has a right to unilaterally decide to leave the Union.

Commonwealths[link]

Four of the states bear the formal title of commonwealth: Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. This is merely a legacy of all four states' history, and their formal name has no effect on their legal status as states.

Somewhat confusingly, the U.S. territories of the Northern Marianas and Puerto Rico are also referred to as commonwealths, and that designation does have a legal status different from that of the 50 states. Both of these commonwealths are unincorporated territories of the United States.

Origin of states' names[link]

Twenty-four of the states' names originate from Native American languages. Of these, eight are from Algonquian languages, seven are from Siouan languages, one is from Uto-Aztecan languages and five others are from other indigenous languages. Hawaii's name is derived from the Polynesian Hawaiian Language.

Of the remaining names, 22 are from European languages: Seven from Latin (mainly Latinized forms of English names), the rest are from English, Spanish and French. Eleven states are named after people, including seven named for royalty and one named after an American president. The origins of six state names are unknown or disputed.

Regional grouping[link]

States may be grouped in regions; there are endless variations and possible groupings, as most states are not defined by obvious geographic or cultural borders. For further discussion of regions of the U.S., see the list of regions of the United States.

Borders[link]

The northern and southern borders of the Thirteen Colonies on the East Coast were largely determined by colonial charters and anchoring coastal settlements. The western boundaries were determined by the limits of transportation, the infeasibility of settling areas dominated by Native Americans and foreign powers, and the decision to create new states out of western territories.

River borders between states are common. At various times, national borders with territories formerly controlled by other countries (namely the British colonies of Canada, New France, New Spain including Spanish Florida, and Russian North America) became institutionalized as the borders of U.S. states. Alaska was formerly the colony of Russian America.

Most borders beyond the Thirteen Colonies were created by Congress as it created territories, divided them, and turned them into states as they became more populated. Territorial and new state lines followed various geographic features, economic units, and the pattern of settlement. In the West, relatively arbitrary straight lines following latitude and longitude often prevail, due to the sparseness of settlement west of the Mississippi River. Faster transportation also meant that larger states were more feasible to govern from a single capital. Vermont, California, and Texas were each briefly independent nations, as was Hawaii for a more extensive period of time. Some states were previously part of other states, including Maine, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Occasionally the United States Congress or the United States Supreme Court have settled state border disputes.

See also[link]

50 State Quarters

51st state

Extreme points of the United States

Geography of the United States

List of fictional U.S. states

List of regions of the United States

List of U.S. counties that share names with U.S. states

Lists of U.S. states

Organized incorporated territories of the United States

Political divisions of the United States

States' rights

United States Constitution

United States Declaration of Independence

* United States Declaration of Independence (text)

United States territorial acquisitions

Territorial evolution of the United States

United States territory

Territories of the United States

Comparison of U.S. state governments

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Stein, Mark, ''How the States Got Their Shapes'', New York : Smithsonian Books/Collins, 2008. ISBN 978-0-06-143138-8

External links[link]

Information about All States from ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''

State Resource Guides, from the Library of Congress

Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (in order of population)

Tables with areas, populations, densities and more (alphabetical)

State and Territorial Governments on USA.gov

StateMaster – statistical database for US States.

U.S. States: Comparisons, rankings, demographics

State United States 1 States, United States

af:Deelstate van die Verenigde State van Amerika ar:ولايات الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية an:Organización territorial d'os Estatos Unitos arc:ܐܬܪܘܬܐ ܕܐܬܪܘܬܐ ܡܚܝܕܐ ܕܐܡܪܝܩܐ frp:Ètats des Ètats-Unis d’Amèrica ast:Estaos d'Estaos Xuníos az:Ştat (ABŞ) zh-min-nan:Bí-kok ê hêng-chèng-khu be:Штаты ЗША be-x-old:Штат ЗША bg:Административно деление на САЩ bar:Listn vo de Bundesstootn br:Stadoù ar Stadoù-Unanet ca:Estats dels Estats Units cv:АПШ штачĕсем cs:Státy USA cy:Taleithiau'r Unol Daleithiau da:USA's delstater de:Bundesstaat der Vereinigten Staaten el:Πολιτείες των ΗΠΑ es:Estado de los Estados Unidos eo:Usona ŝtato eu:Ameriketako Estatu Batuetako estatu fa:ایالات آمریکا fr:États des États-Unis fy:Amerikaanske steaten ga:Stáit Mheiriceá gl:Estados dos Estados Unidos de América ko:미국의 주 haw:Nā mokuʻāina o ʻAmelika Hui io:Stati di Usa id:Daftar negara bagian di Amerika Serikat ia:Stato del Statos Unite is:Fylki Bandaríkjanna it:Stato federato degli Stati Uniti d'America he:מדינות ארצות הברית jv:Dhaptar negara bagéan Amérika Sarékat miturut tanggal mlebu Union kn:ಅಮೆರಿಕ ಸಂಯುಕ್ತ ಸಂಸ್ಥಾನದ ರಾಜ್ಯಗಳು pam:U.S. state krc:АБШ-ны административ бёлюнюую ka:აშშ-ის ადმინისტრაციული დაყოფა ku:Eyaletên DYA'yê mrj:Америкын Ушымы Штатвлӓн штатвлӓжӹ la:Civitatum Foederatarum civitas lv:ASV administratīvais iedalījums lb:Bundesstaate vun den USA lt:JAV valstijos jbo:mergu'e vipygu'e hu:Az Amerikai Egyesült Államok államai mk:Сојузни држави во САД mg:Faritany Amerikana mr:अमेरिकेची राज्ये xmf:ააშ-იშ ადმინისტრაციული დორთუალა ms:Negeri di Amerika Syarikat nl:Staten van de Verenigde Staten ja:アメリカ合衆国の州 no:USAs delstater nn:Delstatar i USA oc:Estats dels Estats Units pl:Podział terytorialny Stanów Zjednoczonych pt:Estados dos Estados Unidos ro:Stat al Statelor Unite ale Americii se:Amerihká ovttastuvvan stáhtaid oassestáhtat sco:U.S. state stq:Buundesstoat fon do Fereende Stoaten sq:Shtetet Federale të Amerikës simple:List of U.S. states sk:Štát (USA) sl:Zvezna država Združenih držav Amerike sr:Савезне државе САД sh:Savezne države Sjedinjenih Američkih Država fi:Yhdysvaltain osavaltiot sv:Lista över USA:s delstater och territorier tl:Estado ng Estados Unidos ta:ஐக்கிய அமெரிக்காவின் அரசியல் பிரிவுகள் tt:АКШ административ бүленеше th:รัฐ (สหรัฐอเมริกา) tg:Иёлатҳои ИМА tr:ABD'nin eyaletleri uk:Список штатів США ur:امریکہ کی ریاستیں vi:Tiểu bang Hoa Kỳ wuu:美国个州 yi:יו. עס. שטאט yo:Àwọn Ìpínlẹ̀ Orílẹ̀-èdè Amẹ́ríkà diq:Eyaletê Dewletanê Amerikayê Yewbiyayeyan bat-smg:JAV valstėjės zh:美国州份

US or U.S. usually refers to the United States of America, a country in North America.

US, U.S. or us may also refer to:

Language[link]

we, us is the objective case of we in English

Geography[link]

Us, Val-d'Oise, France

Education[link]

University of Salford, a university in the UK

University of Salzburg, a university in Austria

University of Seville, a university in Spain

Université de Sherbrooke, a university in Canada

University School, a private all-boys day school in Hunting Valley, Ohio, United States

University of Sussex, a university in the UK

Music[link]

''Us'' (Peter Gabriel album)

''Us'' (Mull Historical Society album)

''Us'' (Brother Ali album)

"Us" (Regina Spektor song)

''Us'', a 1974 album by Maceo Parker

"Us", a song by Ice Cube from ''Death Certificate''

"Us", a song by Céline Dion from ''Let's Talk About Love''

"US", a song by Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks from ''Pig Lib''

Urban Symphony, an Estonian music group

Other uses[link]

U.S., used in legal citations to refer to the United States Reports

Union of Russia and Belarus

US Airways' IATA designator

''Us Weekly'', an American celebrity magazine

''Us'' (TV movie)

.us, Internet TLD of the United States of America

''US'', Ultrasonic, Ultrasound

Urgences-Santé, an ambulance company in Montréal, Qc, Canada

See also[link]

µs, microsecond

United Services Club or ''US Club'', a golf club in Mumbai

United States (disambiguation)

Uz (disambiguation)

ca:Us cs:US de:US es:Us (desambiguación) eo:Us fr:US ko:US id:US it:US lv:US lt:US nl:US ja:US oc:Us pl:Us pt:US ro:US ru:US (значения) fi:Us sv:US zh-yue:Us zh:US (消歧義)

Jordan Roseman (aka DJ Earworm) is a San Francisco-based mashup artist who has achieved recognition for his technically sophisticated, songwriting oriented music and video mashups. His annual “United State of Pop” mashups, short mixes featuring the top 25 songs of the year according to Billboard magazine, have reached the Top 100 for national radio play.

Biography[link]

Roseman was born into a big family of musicians and raised in eastern Iowa and Evanston, Illinois. In his early life, he played piano and produced original electronic music on a computer, later majoring in music theory and computer science at the University of Illinois. He began using ACID recreationally in 2003. After encouragement from DJ Adrian at Club Bootie, Roseman created the moniker DJ Earworm ("earworm" referencing a song that repeats uncontrollably in one's mind) and began releasing mashups via a website.

DJ Earworm has a unique mashup style that consists of a compositional, songwriting approach. He gradually layers samples on top of one another, matching keys and subtly altering melodies. His mashups often convey an entirely new meaning than the original material, such as a political message in “No More Gas”. He has been contrasted with mashup artist Girl Talk, who has a more DJ-oriented style.

He is the author of ''Audio Mashup Construction Kit'' (Wiley, 2006), a how-to manual for creating mashups.

At the 2008 IDEA conference, he revealed that he has made mashups using Ableton Live₨, and now DJs live with the same software.

"United State of Pop" series[link]

2007[link]

Earworm's 2007 mashup, "United State of Pop” consisted of the top 25 songs of 2007 according to ''Billboard''. The song crossed beyond the online download market, reaching the Top 100 for national radio play in February 2008. Earworm is the first mashup artist to have a bootleg mashup enter Billboard’s charts. As of August 12, 2011, the song has surpassed 4.5 million views on YouTube, and it has peaked at number 71 on the CHR/Top 40 Mediabase radio chart.

Mix Includes:

"Irreplaceable" - Beyoncé

" Umbrella" - Rihanna feat. Jay-z

"The Sweet Escape" - Gwen Stefani feat. Akon

"Big Girls Don't Cry" - Fergie

"Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin')" - T-Pain feat. Young Joc

"Before He Cheats" - Carrie Underwood

"Hey There Delilah" - Plain White T's

" I Wanna Love You" - Akon feat. Snoop Dogg

"Say It Right" - Nelly Furtado

" Glamorous" - Fergie feat. Ludacris

"Don't Matter" - Akon

"Girlfriend" - Avril Lavigne

"Makes Me Wonder" - Maroon 5

"Party Like a Rockstar" - Shop Boyz

"Smack That" - Akon feat. Eminem

"This Is Why I'm Hot" - Mims

"It's Not Over" - Daughtry

"The Way I Are"- Timbaland feat. Keri Hilson

"Fergalicious" - Fergie

"Crank That (Soulja Boy)" - Soulja Boy Tell 'Em

"Give It to Me" - Timbaland feat. Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado

"What Goes Around... Comes Around" - Justin Timberlake

"Cupid's Chokehold" - Gym Class Heroes feat. Patrick Stump

"How to Save a Life" - The Fray

"Home" - Daughtry

2008[link]

On December 25, 2008 he released another mashup called "United State of Pop 2008 (Viva la Pop)", prominently featuring Coldplay's song "Viva la Vida" as the backing track, and an intro by Natasha Bedingfield's Pocketful of Sunshine beat. The official YouTube video of the song had 200,000 views within the first two weeks of release. The mashup peaked at number 58 on ''Billboard'''s Pop Airplay chart, and entered the Pop 100 chart. As of December 13, 2011, the video has received over 9.5 million views on YouTube, and it has peaked at number 81 on the CHR/Top 40 Mediabase radio chart.

Mix Includes:

"Low" - Flo Rida feat. T-Pain

"Bleeding Love" - Leona Lewis

"No One" - Alicia Keys

"Lollipop"- Lil Wayne feat. Static Major

"Apologize" - One Republic feat. Timbaland

"No Air" - Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown

"Love Song" - Sara Bareilles

"Love in This Club" - Usher feat.Young Jeezy

"With You" - Chris Brown

"Forever" - Chris Brown

"Sexy Can I" - Ray J feat. Young Berg

"Take a Bow" - Rihanna

"Viva La Vida" - Coldplay

"I Kissed a Girl" - Katy Perry

"Whatever You Like" - T.I.

"Disturbia" - Rihanna

"Don't Stop the Music" - Rihanna

"Pocketful of Sunshine" - Natasha Bedingfield

"Kiss Kiss" - Chris Brown feat. T-pain

" Closer" - Ne-Yo

"Bubbly" - Colbie Caillat

"Touch My Body" - Mariah Carey

"4 Minutes" - Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake and Timbaland

"So What" - Pink

"Paralyzer" - Finger Eleven

2009[link]

On December 27, 2009 he released a third year-end mashup, "United State of Pop 2009 (Blame it on the Pop)" The music video has reached over 40.2 million views as of December 13, 2011.

Mix Includes:

"Boom Boom Pow" - The Black Eyed Peas

"Poker Face" - Lady Gaga

"Just Dance" - Lady Gaga feat.Colby O'Donis

"I Gotta Feeling" - Black Eyed Peas

"Love Story" - Taylor Swift

"Right Round" - Flo Rida feat. Kesha

"I'm Yours" - Jason Mraz

"Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" - Beyoncé

" Heartless" - Kanye West

"Gives You Hell" - All-American Rejects

"You Belong with Me" - Taylor Swift

"Dead and Gone" - T.I feat. Justin Timberlake

"You Found Me" - The Fray

"Use Somebody" - Kings of Leon

"Knock You Down" - Keri Hilson feat. Kanye West & Ne-Yo

"Blame It" - Jamie Foxx feat. T-Pain

"I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)" - Pitbull

"Live Your Life" - T.I feat. Rihanna

"Kiss Me Thru the Phone" - Soulja Boy Tell 'Em feat. Sammie

"Down" - Jay Sean feat. Lil Wayne

"The Climb" - Miley Cyrus

"Best I Ever Had" - Drake

"My Life Would Suck Without You" - Kelly Clarkson

" Halo" - Beyoncé

"Hot n Cold" - Katy Perry

2010[link]

On December 28, 2010 he released the fourth year-end mashup, "United State of Pop 2010 (Don't Stop the Pop), which includes the top 25 singles of 2010. The music video has reached over 13.6 million views as of December 5, 2011.

Mix Includes:

"Tik Tok" - Kesha

"Need You Now" - Lady Antebellum

"Hey, Soul Sister" - Train

"California Gurls" - Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg

" OMG" - Usher feat. Will.I.Am

"Airplanes" - B.o.B feat. Hayley Williams

"Love the Way You Lie" - Eminem feat. Rihanna

"Bad Romance" - Lady Gaga

"Dynamite" - Taio Cruz

"Break Your Heart" - Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris

"Nothin' on You" - B.o.B feat. Bruno Mars

"I Like It" - Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull

"BedRock" - Young Money Entertainment feat. Lloyd

"In My Head" - Jason Derülo

"Rude Boy" - Rihanna

"Telephone" - Lady Gaga feat. Beyonce

"Teenage Dream" - Katy Perry

"Just The Way You Are" - Bruno Mars

"Cooler Than Me" - Mike Posner

"Imma Be" - The Black Eyed Peas

"Empire State of Mind" - Jay-Z feat. Alicia Keys

"DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" - Usher feat. Pitbull

"Billionaire" - Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars

"Not Afraid" - Eminem

"Replay" - Iyaz

2011[link]

The fifth year-end mashup, "United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)" was released on December 25 2011. This was the first time this was not based on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 chart, but on the weekly charts throughout the year, which "ensures that all the late-breaking hits are included in the 2011 mix". It used a combination of Rihanna's "We Found Love" , Katy Perry's Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) , Lady Gaga's Born This Way, and Britney Spears' "Till The World Ends" as the backing track. The music video for "United State of Pop 2011 (World Go Boom)" was viewed over 1.4 million times within the first day of release on YouTube.

The mashup included the following songs:

"Rolling In The Deep" - Adele

"Someone Like You" - Adele

"Just Can't Get Enough" - Black Eyed Peas

"Grenade" - Bruno Mars

"The Lazy Song" - Bruno Mars

"Till The World Ends" - Britney Spears

"F*** You!" - Cee Lo Green

"Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)" - Enrique Iglesias

"Pumped Up Kicks" - Foster the People

"On The Floor" - Jennifer Lopez

"Down On Me" - Jeremih feat. 50 Cent

"Firework" - Katy Perry

"E.T." - Katy Perry

"Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" - Katy Perry

"Born This Way" - Lady Gaga

"Party Rock Anthem" - LMFAO

"Sexy and I Know It" - LMFAO

"The Show Goes On" - Lupe Fiasco

"Moves Like Jagger" - Maroon 5

"Super Bass" - Nicki Minaj

"Good Life" - OneRepublic

"Raise Your Glass" - Pink

"Give Me Everything" - Pitbull

"S&M;" - Rihanna

"We Found Love" - Rihanna

Earworm states that "It doesn't match Billboard's U.S. year-end list, since I'm basing it off of the weekly lists this year in order to more reflect what was actually popular during 2011. Because of the Billboard's early cut off date and their emphasis on chart longevity, songs that are released after August are either split between the two years tor moved to the next year. I also don't want a track appearing two years in a row just because it happened to be peaking right at the cutoff. From my perspective, a song for a aveyear-end mix belongs in the year it will be remembered from, not the year it ended its run. For instance, "We Found Love", which has been #1 for the last 8 weeks of the year, is nowhere to be seen in Billboard's Top 25, and may not make it next year either due to the bias of the cut-off date. As a bonus I am able to spend more time on the mixes and more fully realize them."

Official Mashups[link]

While most mashup artists must rely on bootleg samples and public releases to make mashups, Earworm has been contacted by prominent musicians to make mashups from their source material. DJ Earworm was given multitracks by Annie Lennox to create a unique mashup piece called "Backwards/Forwards," which contains nine of her songs.

On September 12, 2009, Earworm released an official Sean Kingston mashup called "A Beautiful Mashup."

Like OMG, Baby[link]

"Like OMG, Baby", released in the summer of 2010, was shown as part of a concert at Wembley Stadium in London for Capital FM's Summertime Ball, where all fifteen of the featured artists performed. The mashup is Earworm's fourth song to chart on the CHR/Top 40 ''Mediabase'' radio chart, where it peaked at number 83. As of August 8, 2011, the video has received 10.2 million views and counting on YouTube, making it by far his most popular non-United State of Pop mashup and surpassing the 2008 year-end video. In 2011 the song was honored with two Sony Radio Academy Awards. Here is the list of songs used: #Alexandra Burke - All Night Long #Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love #Chipmunk feat. Esmee Denters - Until You Were Gone #Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers #Ellie Goulding - Starry Eyed #Jason Derulo - In My Head #JLS - One Shot #Justin Bieber - Baby #Ke$ha - Tik Tok #Pixie Lott - Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh) #Rihanna - Rude Boy #Scouting For Girls - This Ain't a Love Song #Tinie Tempah - Pass Out #Usher feat. Will.I.Am - OMG #The Wanted - All Time Low

Free At Night[link]

On December 10, 2010, Earworm released a Nelly Furtado mashup titled "Free At Night", composed of 13 songs from Furtado's recent greatest hits album, The Best of Nelly Furtado. The music video has over 541,000 views as of August 8, 2011. Here is the list of songs used: #I'm Like a Bird #Turn Off the Light #Powerless (Say What You Want) #Try #Força #Promiscuous #Maneater #Say It Right #All Good Things (Come To An End) #Girlfriend in This City #Night Is Young #Stars #Manos al Aire

The Only Time is Tonight[link]

To promote YouTube's Android app, Earworm released a mashup called "The Only Time is Tonight". The mashup heavily used Enrique Iglesias's "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)" instrumental and vocals. It was released on May 31, 2011 on YouTube's official account. On August 22, 2011, the video reached over 1.5 million views. Recently the official video for "The Only Time is Tonight" has been made unavailable for viewing on YouTube and DJ Earworm's website, although the audio for the mashup is available for download on djearworm.com and unofficial copies of the original video are still posted on YouTube. Here is the list of songs used: #Avril Lavigne - What the Hell #Black Eyed Peas - The Time (Dirty Bit) #Chris Brown - Yeah 3x #Enrique Iglesias - Tonight (I'm Lovin' You) #Kesha - We R Who We R #Rihanna - Only Girl (In the World) #Willow Smith - Whip My Hair

Party on the Floor[link]

Following up the previous year's "Like OMG, Baby", Earworm released another UK-oriented summertime mashup on June 12, 2011. It is entitled, "Party On The Floor". As of March 17, 2012, the music video has reached over 7 million views. This mash up was used at the start of the Capital FM summertime ball 2011 at Wembley Stadium. Here are the songs used: #Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull - On the Floor #Jessie J - Do It Like A Dude #Jessie J feat. B.o.B.- Price Tag #LMFAO feat. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock - Party Rock Anthem #Nicole Scherzinger - Don't Hold Your Breath #Example - Changed the Way You Kiss Me #Mike Posner - Cooler Than Me #Ne-Yo - Beautiful Monster #The Wanted - Glad You Came #Far East Movement feat. The Cataracs & Dev - Like A G6 #JLS feat. Tinie Tempah - Eyes Wide Shut #JLS - Love You More #Katy B - Katy on a Mission #Katy B feat. Ms. Dynamite - Lights On #Cee-Lo Green - Forget You #Cee-Lo Green feat. Wiz Khalifa - Bright Lights, Bigger City #Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull - I Like It #Wretch 32 - Traktor #Mann - Buzzin'

References[link]

External links[link]

DJ Earworm Homepage

Category:American DJs Category:Living people

id:DJ Earworm pt:DJ Earworm

Rizwan "Riz" Khan (Urdu: ريز خان; born April 1962) is a British television news reporter and interviewer who until April 2011 hosted his own eponymous television show on Al Jazeera English. He first rose to prominence while working for the BBC and CNN.

Life and career[link]

Khan was born in Aden, South Yemen, to a Punjabi father and Gujarati mother. His father's roots are in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, while his mother's roots go back to Kutch, Gujarat. He considers himself a British Pakistani. Khan moved with his family to London, at the age of four. He attended both Springwell Junior and Hounslow Manor Comprehensive Schools and joined the Air Training Corps, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Medical Physiology from the University of Wales, and then completed a postgraduate course in Radio Journalism at the University of Portsmouth.

In 1987 he was selected for the BBC News Trainee scheme - a two-year BBC training system, usually taking only 6 people per course. Khan progressed to jobs as a BBC reporter, producer, and writer, working in both television and radio, and would later become one of the founding News Presenters on BBC World Service Television News. He hosted the news bulletin that launched BBC World Service Television News in 1991. In 1993, he moved to CNN International, where he became a senior anchor for the network's global news shows. Events he covered included the 1996 and 1999 coverage of elections in India; the 1997 historic election in Britain; and in April 1998 the unprecedented live coverage from the Muslim pilgrimage, the Hajj.

In 1996 he launched his interactive interview show ''CNN: Q&A; with Riz Khan'', and he has conducted interviews with guests including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela, and genomic scientist J. Craig Venter. Khan also secured the world exclusive with Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf following his coup in October 1999. Khan also hosted ''Q&A-Asia; with Riz Khan''. These interactive shows put world newsmakers and celebrities up for viewer questions live by phone, e-mail, video-mail and fax, along with questions and comments taken from the real-time chatroom that opens half-an-hour before each show.

Until April 2011, Khan had his own show, ''Riz Khan'', on Al Jazeera English, in which he interviewed analysts and policy-makers and invited viewers to interact with them via phone, email, SMS messages or fax.

Khan speaks Urdu and Hindi and also understands other South Asian languages such as Punjabi and Kutchi. He has studied French, and can understand some other European languages, including Swedish and Norwegian.

In 2005 he authored his first book, ''Al-Waleed: Businessman Billionaire Prince'', published by Harper Collins.

In 2011 he authored a preface for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) annual report "Attacks on the Press 2010", which examined working conditions for journalists in more than 100 countries.

References[link]

"Why I'm Joining Al Jazeera", op-ed by Riz Khan, ''The Wall Street Journal'', 13 June 2005, p. A1

"Q&A; CNN Anchor: Riz Khan". ''India Today''. February 19, 2001.

External links[link]

Riz Khan's official website

Profile at Al Jazeera English

MySpace Profile

Interview with Baron Dave Romm of KFAI-FM at the Republican National Convention Sept. 2, 2008 and picture

Category:1962 births Category:Al Jazeera people Category:Alumni of Cardiff University Category:Alumni of the University of Portsmouth Category:British journalists Category:British Sunni Muslims Category:British television presenters Category:English Muslims Category:English people of Indian descent Category:English people of Pakistani descent Category:English Sunni Muslims Category:Gujarati people Category:Living people Category:People from Aden Category:Punjabi people

ar:ريز خان he:ריז ח'אן sw:Riz Khan no:Riz Khan