East Texas

East Texas is a distinct cultural, geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.

According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone County and then southeastward towards eastern Galveston Bay", though some separate the Gulf Coast area into a separate region.

Another popular, somewhat simpler, definition defines East Texas as the region between the Trinity River (or sometimes Interstate 45, when defining generously) as the western border, the Louisiana border as the eastern border, the Oklahoma border as the northern border, and Galveston Bay shores as the southern border.

Most of the region consists of the Piney Woods ecoregion, and East Texas can sometimes be reduced to include only the Piney Woods. Houston is rarely regarded as a part of East Texas and is more closely associated with the Coastal Bend along the Gulf of Mexico, as has been the case for most of the city's recent history. However, Houston, the fourth largest city in America, is located in Southeast Texas, a subregion of East Texas. At the fringes, towards Central Texas, the forests expand outward toward sparser trees and eventually into open plains.

Texas

Texas /ˈtɛksəs/ (Spanish: Texas or Tejas [ˈtexas]) is a state in the United States of America. It is the second most populous and second largest state by area in the US. Geographically located in the south central part of the country, Texas shares an international border with Mexico to the south and borders the states of New Mexico to the west, Oklahoma to the north, Arkansas to the northeast, and Louisiana to the east. Texas has an area of 268,820 square miles (696,200 km²) and a growing population of over 27.5 million residents (July 2015).

Houston is the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States, while San Antonio is the second largest in the state and seventh largest in the United States. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest United States metropolitan statistical areas, respectively. Other major cities include Austin (the state capital) and El Paso. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify Texas as a former independent republic, and as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico. The "Lone Star" can be found on the Texan state flag and on the Texan state seal. The origin of the state name, Texas, is from the word, "Tejas", which means 'friends' in the Caddo language.

East

East is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. East is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of west and is perpendicular to north and south.

Etymology

The word east comes from Middle English est, from Old English ēast, which itself comes from the Proto-Germanic *aus-to- or *austra- "east, toward the sunrise", from Proto-Indo-European *aus- "to shine," or "dawn". This is similar to Old High German *ōstar "to the east", Latin aurora "dawn", and Greek ēōs or heōs.Ēostre, a Germanic goddess of dawn, might have been a personification of both dawn and the cardinal points.

Navigation

By convention, the right hand side of a map is east. This convention has developed from the use of a compass, which places north at the top.

To go east using a compass for navigation, set a bearing or azimuth of 90°.

Cultural

East is the direction toward which the Earth rotates about its axis, and therefore the general direction from which the Sun appears to rise. The practice of praying towards the East is older than Christianity, but has been adopted by this religion as the Orient was thought of as containing mankind's original home. Hence, most Christian churches are oriented towards the east.

The Adicts

The Adicts are an English punk band from Ipswich, Suffolk, England. One of the more popular punk rock bands in the 1980s, they were often in the indie charts during that decade.

The Adicts originated as Afterbirth & The Pinz in late 1975. They soon changed their name to The Adicts and became known for their distinctive Clockwork Orange "droog" image, which along with their urgent, uptempo music and light-hearted lyrics, helped set them apart from other punk bands. In the 1980s, they temporarily changed their name to Fun Adicts (for a children's TV appearance) and then ADX (after signing to a major label).

Their music has catchy melodies and lyrics, and often features extra instruments and sound clips, such as carousel music in "How Sad", violin played by Derick Cook in "Joker in the Pack", and gongs and keyboard percussion by Anthony Boyd in "Chinese Takeaway".

The musicians wear all-white clothing with black boots and black bowler hats. The singer, Keith "Monkey" Warren, wears joker makeup, wildly patterned suits (such as checkerboard or polka dot), flared trousers, colorful dress shirts, bowler hat and gloves. The band's visual look is complemented by their stage shows, involving items such as streamers, confetti, playing cards, beach balls, joker hats, toy instruments, bubbles and glitter.

Blue hole

A blue hole is a large marine cavern or sinkhole, which is open to the surface and has developed in a bank or island composed of a carbonate bedrock (limestone or coral reef). Blue holes typically contain tidally-influenced water of fresh, marine, or mixed chemistry. They extend below sea level for most of their depth and may provide access to submerged cave passages. Well-known examples can be found in Belize, the Bahamas, Guam, Australia (in the Great Barrier Reef), and Egypt (in the Red Sea).

Blue holes are distinguished from cenotes in that the latter are inland voids usually containing fresh groundwater rather than seawater.

Description

Blue holes are roughly circular, steep-walled depressions, and so named for the dramatic contrast between the dark blue, deep waters of their depths and the lighter blue of the shallows around them. Their water circulation is poor, and they are commonly anoxic below a certain depth; this environment is unfavorable for most sea life, but nonetheless can support large numbers of bacteria. The deep blue color is caused by the high transparency of water and bright white carbonate sand. Blue light is the most enduring part of the spectrum; other parts of the spectrum—red, yellow, and finally green—are absorbed during their path through water, but blue light manages to reach the white sand and return upon reflection.