Louis Armstrong was one of the most influential artists in the history of music. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 4, 1901, he began playing the cornet at the age of 13. Armstrong perfected the improvised jazz solo as we know it. Before Armstrong, Dixieland was the style of jazz that everyone was playing.
The nation's fleet of over 100 coal plants is responsible for 57 percent of the electricity generated in the U.S., more than any other single electricity fuel source. Coal is typically burned to create steam, which is then piped at high pressure over a turbine, causing it to rotate, producing electricity.
All in all, coal-powered generators produce 25 percent of electricity in the European Union, that figure rising to 87 percent in Poland. The Poles, with coal resources to see them through the next half-century, prefer their energy independence to buying cleaner natural gas from Russia.