Articles written by W D Adkins

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About me - W D Adkins

Hello all!

I'm a doctoral student (in history) and enjoy writing. A good thing too-history is mostly reading and writing. My interests are rather eclectic-so I really don't know what I'll be writing about tomorrow!

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Politics, News & Issues > US Elections US elections 2008: How Hillary Clinton won Texas and Ohio: 1 of 14

Hillary Clinton is a tough and tenacious political campaigner. Those qualities are a big part of why she was able to win last week in Texas and Ohio. But these personal strengths, as valuable to a politician as they are, cannot fully explain why she won. In fact, the reality is that these wins were less of a "comeback" than ...
Politics, News & Issues > Hunger, Disease & Poverty Taking concrete actions to help the third world: 1 of 9

Few people are unaware that much of the Third World remains mired in poverty and misery. Zimbabwe, once considered to be at the forefront of economic growth in Africa, is struggling with an economic collapse and escalating poverty. Over one billion people worldwide subsist on less than $1 per day. In the Darfur region of Afr...
Sports & Recreation > Scuba Diving Fun facts about scuba diving: 1 of 7

Former astronaut Scott Carpenter (one of the original Mercury astronauts) has spent much of his time working in on the development of advanced underwater habitats and technology. An avid scuba diver, he has even written two fiction novels ("The Steel Albatross" and "Deep Flight") describing the future of undersea exploration...
Politics, News & Issues > Hunger, Disease & Poverty How to lend to entrepreneurs in developing countries: 1 of 6

Whether it is money for supplies to enable a woman to buy supplies for making batik handicrafts in Indonesia or to purchase a cow to sell the milk, microloans are opening the door for millions of poor people, particularly women, to escape the grinding poverty that pervades so many Third World nations. Microloans are rapidly ...
Sciences > Atmosphere & Weather The anatomy of a hurricane: 2 of 10

We often hear meteorologists on television speaking of a tropical depression "becoming better organized" as it develops into a tropical storm and then a hurricane. And probably everyone has seen satellite images of the distinctive spiral shape of these great storms. That spiral shape is only the most obvious indication of th...
Sports & Recreation > Scuba Diving Understanding the health risks of scuba diving: 1 of 5

Millions of people now enjoy scuba diving and the opportunity to experience the underwater world of oceans and lakes. However, like other outdoor activities such as skiing, hiking, and skydiving, scuba diving is not without health risks. Fortunately, most injuries and illnesses are preventable if you have the proper training...
Travel > South & Central America Destinations Why some Central American countries are better than others for retirement: 1 of 5

When it comes time to retire, Americans usually want more than just being able to sleep late if they feel like it. A warm climate and relaxed atmosphere exert a powerful attraction for those of us fed up with traffic jams, smog, and scraping ice off the car windshield every winter! So it's no surprise that as the "Baby Boom"...
Arts & Humanities > Ancient History How Spanish conquistadors changed Central America: 2 of 9

They came in great boats with huge wings of cloth, these strange pale men clad in iron. They rode astride great beasts they bent to their will, just as the y bent the people to their will. Such might have been the words of a native of Central America in the early 1500s describing the Spanish conquistadors (literally, conquer...
Sports & Recreation > Scuba Diving The history of scuba diving: 1 of 4

Sometime around 360 BCE Aristotle wrote of Greek sponge divers who used a sort of inverted kettle to take air to the sea floor, enabling them to remain submerged for several minutes to harvest sponges. Two thousand years later in 1637, Chinese scholar Song Yingxing described how pearl divers used a long hollow pipe to breath...
Society & Lifestyle > African & Middle Eastern Culture The pros and cons of English as a medium of instruction in African schools: 1 of 4

Children learn better and more easily if they are instructed in their first language. Under ideal circumstances, therefore, there really is no debate. African children in primary school should be taught in their first language. However, as with most of the issues facing African societies, choosing a language to serve as the ...