Portal:Oklahoma

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Oklahoma i/ˌoʊkləˈhoʊmə/ (Cherokee: Asgaya gigageyi / ᎠᏍᎦᏯ ᎩᎦᎨᏱ; or translated ᎣᎦᎳᎰᎹ (òɡàlàhoma), Pawnee: Uukuhuúwa, Cayuga: Gahnawiyoˀgeh) is a state located in the South Central United States. Oklahoma is the 20th most extensive and the 28th most populous of the 50 United States. The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people". It is also known informally by its nickname, The Sooner State, in reference to the non-Native settlers who staked their claims on the choicest pieces of land before the official opening date, and the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889, which opened the door for white settlement in America's Indian Territory. The name was settled upon statehood, Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were merged and Indian was dropped from the name. On November 16, 1907, Oklahoma became the 46th state to enter the union. Its residents are known as Oklahomans, or informally "Okies", and its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City. A major producer of natural gas, oil, and agricultural products, Oklahoma relies on an economic base of aviation, energy, telecommunications, and biotechnology. In 2007, it had one of the fastest-growing economies in the United States, ranking among the top states in per capita income growth and gross domestic product growth. Oklahoma City and Tulsa serve as Oklahoma's primary economic anchors, with nearly two-thirds of Oklahomans living within their metropolitan statistical areas. More about Oklahoma... The Golden Driller is a 76 foot tall (23 meter), 43,500 pound statue of an oil worker, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is claimed to be the "largest free standing statue in the world." It was originally built in 1953 by the Mid-Continent Supply Company of Fort Worth for the International Petroleum Exposition. Six years later, it was temporarily erected again for the 1959 show. Due to the positive attention it attracted, the company donated the statue to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds Trust Authority, which had it permanently installed in front of the Tulsa Expo Center for the 1966 International Petroleum Exposition. The statue's right hand rests on an oil derrick which had been moved from a depleted oil field in Seminole, Oklahoma. An inscription at the base of the statue reads, "The Golden Driller, a symbol of the International Petroleum Exposition. Dedicated to the men of the petroleum industry who by their vision and daring have created from God's abundance a better life for mankind." (Read more . . . ) Ardmore is the county seat of Carter County, Oklahoma, as of the 2006 census estimates, the city had a population of 24,535, while the Ardmore micropolitan statistical area totaled 56,665. Ardmore, Indian Territory began with a plowed ditch for a Main Street in the summer of 1887 in Pickens County, Chickasaw Nation. It owes much of its existence to the construction of the Santa Fe railroad through the area during that time. It grew, as most frontier towns grew, over the years into a trading outpost for the region. A large fire in 1895 destroyed much of the fledgling town, which forced residents to rebuild nearly the entire town. In the early 1900s, Ardmore became well known for its abundance of cotton growing fields and eventually became known as the world's largest inland cotton port. After the fields were stripped of their fertility, however, the city fortunately found itself positioned next to one of the largest oil fields ever produced in Oklahoma, the Healdton Oil Field. After its discovery in 1913, entrepreneurs and wildcatters flooded the area, and Carter County quickly became the largest oil-producing county in Oklahoma, and has remained so ever since. Ardmore has remained an energy center for the region ever since, with the region's natural wealth giving birth to such energy giants as Halliburton and the Noble Energy companies, among others. (Read more...) Credit: User:Okiefromokla The Glass Mountains in Oklahoma. Taken from the top of a mesa at Glass Mountains State Park. Template:/box-header Featured articles: Black Seminoles • Chickasaw Turnpike • Jim Thorpe • Oklahoma • Tulsa, Oklahoma • Woody Guthrie • Oklahoma City bombing • Brad Pitt Featured lists: Oklahoma birds • Tallest buildings in Tulsa • List of tallest buildings in Oklahoma City • List of birds of Oklahoma • List of Oklahoma Sooners football seasons • List of Oklahoma Sooners head football coaches • List of Oklahoma Sooners in the NFL Draft Template:/box-footer 180px William "Bill" Hader, born June 7, 1978 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is an Emmy- and Peabody award-winning American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and repertory player on Saturday Night Live. He first appeared alongside Owen Wilson and Matt Dillon in You, Me and Dupree. Since then he's had a wide range of roles such as Katherine Heigl's editor at E! in Knocked Up, the acid-taking mechanic Dave in Hot Rod (alongside SNL castmate Andy Samberg), a recumbent biker in The Brothers Solomon (which featured SNL castmate Will Forte in one of the film's co-leading roles) and, most famously, as Officer Slater in the Judd Apatow produced Superbad. His role in Superbad helped boost his public awareness and allowed him to appear on mainstream programs like Total Request Live, The Tonight Show, and MTV's Video Music Awards. Hader appeared in two other Apatow projects: Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Pineapple Express (with Seth Rogen). He appeared alongside Ben Stiller, Brandon T. Jackson, Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr., Matthew McConaughey, Steve Coogan, Jay Baruchel, Tom Cruise, and Nick Nolte in Tropic Thunder. Hader lent his voice to the critically acclaimed 2009 Sony Pictures Animation film Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, playing the lead role of Flint Lockwood. He voiced a gazelle in "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. (Read more...) United States Texas  New Mexico  Colorado  Louisiana  Kansas