1.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
2.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
3.
Smothers Brothers
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The Smothers Brothers are Thomas and Richard, American singers, musicians, and comedians. The brothers trademark double act was performing folk songs, which led to arguments between the siblings. Tommys signature line was, Mom always liked you best, tommy acted slow, and Dick, the straight man, acted superior. In the 1960s, the brothers appeared on television variety shows. Their own television variety show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, the brothers continued to work, both independently and as a team, on stage and television, and in films during subsequent decades. The brothers were born on Governors Island in New York Harbor, where their father, Thomas B. Smothers, Jr. a West Point graduate and U. S. Army officer, was stationed, Tom was born on February 2,1937, and Dick was born on November 20,1939. Major Smothers served in the 45th Infantry Regiment and died during World War II, while being transported from a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Fukuoka, Japan, to a POW camp in Mukden and they were raised by their mother in the Los Angeles area. They graduated from Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach, California, after a brief time in a folk group called the Casual Quintet, the brothers made their first professional appearance as a duo in February 1959 at The Purple Onion in San Francisco. They were an act in clubs and released several successful top 40 albums for Mercury Records. Their first national appearance was on The Jack Paar Show on January 28,1961. The brothers appeared in a segment of the television series Burkes Law, in 1964 and their first television series was a situation comedy, The Smothers Brothers Show. Tom played an angel come back to earth to oversee his brother Dick and it did not do well in the ratings and had little of the music that was identified with the brothers. Tom would later say Four Star gave me ulcers, the show also introduced audiences to pop singer Jennifer Warnes, who was a regular on the series. The television premiere of Mason Williams hit record, Classical Gas, took place on the show, the series showcased new musical artists that other comedy-variety shows rarely gave airtime, due to the nature of their music or their political affiliations. The song was censored on Seegers first appearance but permitted on a later appearance, in 1968, the show broadcast in successive weeks music videos for The Beatles popular songs Hey Jude and Revolution. Before a rowdy crowd at the Los Angeles Forum, Jimi Hendrix dedicated I Dont Live Today to the Smothers Brothers, the piece would end with guitarist Pete Townshend grabbing Tommys guitar and smashing it. On the Smothers Brothers show that night a small amount of explosive was put into the cannon that Keith Moon kept in his bass drum
4.
Tom Smothers
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Thomas Bolyn Smothers III is an American comedian, composer and musician, best known as half of the musical comedy team The Smothers Brothers, alongside his younger brother Dick. Smothers was born in 1937 at the Fort Jay army post hospital on Governors Island in New York City, the son of Ruth, a homemaker, Smothers, an army officer who died a POW in April 1945. After moving to California, he graduated from Redondo Union High School in Redondo Beach and he was a competitive unicyclist, and a state champion gymnast in the parallel bars. Smothers later attended San José State University, then known as San José State College, at SJSC, Smothers participated both in gymnastics and pole vault for the track team. The Smothers Brothers initially wanted to be folk musicians, Tom didnt feel that he was good enough to be a professional musician, but he was funny enough to do comedy. The two began adding comedy bits to their act and it was a series of performances when we started out as a duet in Aspen. Id just make up stuff for every song, and Dickie said, Why dont you try repeating some of that stuff. I didnt know that you could repeat the stuff, and I started repeating it and Dickie would say, Thats wrong. And pretty soon hed say, Thats wrong, youre stupid and it sort of became an argument. Toms first foray into the medium of television was as a regular on the The Steve Allen Show in 1961 and he followed that role with a single episode of Burkes Law. The Smothers Brothers next appeared on the CBS sitcom The Smothers Brothers Show from 1965 to 1966, Tom felt that the show didnt play to the brothers strengths and wanted creative control over their next venture. Tom Smothers negotiated creative control over their next CBS show, a variety show entitled The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967, the documentary Smothered describes how the brothers fought CBS censors to sneak in references to religion, recreational drugs, sex, and the Vietnam War. Smothers is widely quoted as saying, The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of not to listen. The brothers oppositional politics led to their shows demise, with David Steinberg later claiming The most innovative variety show on television shut down because of political pressure, during the same years, Tom wrote and recorded mainstream songs, such as Cant Help Falling in Love with You. Tom has since stated, When the Smothers Brothers came on the air we had no point of view or social consciousness. Smothers introduced some musical acts at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, and as he became more politically active, he befriended similarly inclined celebrities like John Lennon. In 1969, Smothers played guitar on John Lennons recording of his single Give Peace a Chance, the song was written and performed during Lennons Bed-In honeymoon on June 1,1969, in Room 1742 at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Canada. Smothers can be seen in the film about Lennon Imagine in the hotel room
5.
United States Army
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The United States Armed Forces are the federal armed forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, from the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the history of the United States. A sense of unity and identity was forged as a result of victory in the First Barbary War. Even so, the Founders were suspicious of a permanent military force and it played an important role in the American Civil War, where leading generals on both sides were picked from members of the United States military. Not until the outbreak of World War II did a standing army become officially established. The National Security Act of 1947, adopted following World War II and during the Cold Wars onset, the U. S. military is one of the largest militaries in terms of number of personnel. It draws its personnel from a pool of paid volunteers. As of 2016, the United States spends about $580.3 billion annually to fund its military forces, put together, the United States constitutes roughly 40 percent of the worlds military expenditures. For the period 2010–14, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found that the United States was the worlds largest exporter of major arms, the United States was also the worlds eighth largest importer of major weapons for the same period. The history of the U. S. military dates to 1775 and these forces demobilized in 1784 after the Treaty of Paris ended the War for Independence. All three services trace their origins to the founding of the Continental Army, the Continental Navy, the United States President is the U. S. militarys commander-in-chief. Rising tensions at various times with Britain and France and the ensuing Quasi-War and War of 1812 quickened the development of the U. S. Navy, the reserve branches formed a military strategic reserve during the Cold War, to be called into service in case of war. Time magazines Mark Thompson has suggested that with the War on Terror, Command over the armed forces is established in the United States Constitution. The sole power of command is vested in the President by Article II as Commander-in-Chief, the Constitution also allows for the creation of executive Departments headed principal officers whose opinion the President can require. This allowance in the Constitution formed the basis for creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 by the National Security Act, the Defense Department is headed by the Secretary of Defense, who is a civilian and member of the Cabinet. The Defense Secretary is second in the chain of command, just below the President. Together, the President and the Secretary of Defense comprise the National Command Authority, to coordinate military strategy with political affairs, the President has a National Security Council headed by the National Security Advisor. The collective body has only power to the President
6.
Prisoner of war
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A prisoner of war is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the prisoner of war dates to 1660. The first Roman gladiators were prisoners of war and were named according to their ethnic roots such as Samnite, Thracian, typically, little distinction was made between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although women and children were more likely to be spared. Sometimes, the purpose of a battle, if not a war, was to capture women, a known as raptio. Typically women had no rights, and were legally as chattel. For this he was eventually canonized, during Childerics siege and blockade of Paris in 464, the nun Geneviève pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so, many French prisoners of war were killed during the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. In the later Middle Ages, a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat, in Christian Europe, the extermination of heretics was considered desirable. Examples include the 13th century Albigensian Crusade and the Northern Crusades, likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during the Crusades against the Muslims in the 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed, their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the status of the captive. In feudal Japan there was no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, in Termez, on the Oxus, all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain. The Aztecs were constantly at war with neighbouring tribes and groups, for the re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, between 10,000 and 80,400 persons were sacrificed. During the early Muslim conquests, Muslims routinely captured large number of prisoners, aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved. Christians who were captured during the Crusades, were either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay a ransom. The freeing of prisoners was highly recommended as a charitable act, there also evolved the right of parole, French for discourse, in which a captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain better accommodations, if he swore to cease hostilities against the nation who held him captive, he could be repatriated or exchanged but could not serve against his former captors in a military capacity. Early historical narratives of captured colonial Europeans, including perspectives of literate women captured by the peoples of North America. The writings of Mary Rowlandson, captured in the fighting of King Philips War, are an example
7.
Verdugo Hills High School
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Verdugo Hills High School is a public school located in the Tujunga community of Los Angeles, California, United States within the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school serves students from areas of Los Angeles, including Sunland, Tujunga, Lake View Terrace, and portions of North Hollywood, Sun Valley. The school officially opened for classes for the first time on September 13,1937, Verdugo Hills High School was built on the site of a lemon orchard next to the original Plainview Avenue Elementary School. The 2009 opening of Sun Valley High School relieved Verdugo Hills of increasingly crowded conditions, Verdugo Hills is the only school in LAUSD to host the Copernican Block Schedule. VHHS has experienced success with this schedule since it was implemented in the fall of 1998. Most students have 3 classes per 10 weeks terms, each lasting for 90 minutes. Semester courses are now 10 weeks in length and previous year-long courses are now 20 weeks, athletics, band, and other activities have been moved to an optional 4th period. This gives an opportunity for a student to accomplish more before graduation, in addition, students taking the optional fourth period every semester can graduate a semester or more early. Students not opting to take a period are released at 1,12 every day. Nakasone, Former CEO of Toys R Us Steven A. Simpson, Rear Admiral, U. S. Griffin Safety Patrol Gotta Kick It Up
8.
Sunland-Tujunga, Los Angeles
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Sunland-Tujunga /təˈhʌŋɡə/ is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles located by the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the Crescenta Valley. The merging of these communities under a hyphenated name goes back as far as 1928, Sunland-Tujunga contains the highest point of the city, Mount Lukens. The neighborhood lies between the Verdugo Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains and it is contiguous on the east with La Crescenta-Montrose. Sunland and Tujunga are divided by Mount Gleason Avenue, with Sunland on the west, Mount Lukens within Tujunga is the highest point in Los Angeles at 5,074 ft. In 1925 there were no sidewalks or curbs in Tujunga, a state highway ran through the town. Streets within the Sunland and Tuna Canyon annex to Los Angeles were renamed in June 1929, the main east-west road, previously known as Michigan Avenue, became Foothill Boulevard. Sunset renamed to Commerce St. Manzanita Drive was renamed McGroarty Avenue in honor of John Steven McGroarty, exits in Sunland and Tujunga are, from west to east, at Sunland Boulevard, La Tuna Canyon Road and Lowell Avenue. The freeways right-of-way almost completely bypasses the main part of the community, today, the neighborhood has one major thoroughfare, Foothill Boulevard. Nearly all businesses in Sunland-Tujunga are located on or near Foothill Boulevard, Tujunga Canyon Boulevard is a heavily travelled north-south route, but is primarily residential. Sunland Boulevard and Wentworth Street are popular surface streets which connect the community to Sun Valley, Sunland-Tujunga is also served by the Interstate 210 freeway. Sunland-Tujunga has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate, Sunland and Tujunga were originally home to the Tongva people. In 1840 the area was part of the Rancho Tujunga Mexican land grant, the name Tujunga is assumed to have meant old womans place in the extinct Tongva language, where Tuhu old woman is a term for Mother Earth in Tongva mythology. Sunland began life as Monte Vista in 1885, when 2,200 acres of the Tejunga Park tract were divided into lots ranging from five to 40 acres. One of the first uses of the new tract was the planting of 40 acres of olives, in 1887 the Monte Vista Hotel was being served by the Sunland Post Office. By 1906, the appellation Sunland was being used by the Los Angeles Times rather than Monte Vista. A1907 story noted that Sunland was the first supply store, in 1908, Sunland was referred to as difficult to access, at a height of 1,500 feet over rough mountain roads. An automobile trip from Los Angeles took a day to complete. In 1910, a Los Angeles Times correspondent wrote about Sunland, one gets no inkling of the beauties till he is right in the town
9.
Redondo Union High School
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Redondo Union High School is a public high school in Redondo Beach, California. Redondo Union High School is a part of the Redondo Beach Unified School District, all residents of Redondo Beach are zoned to Redondo Union. In addition, residents of Hermosa Beach may choose to attend Redondo Union or Mira Costa High School of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. Since opening its doors in 1905, Redondo Union High School has developed into the second largest high school campus in the State of California, in addition, Redondo Union High School is considered to be the one of the most beautiful public campuses in Southern California. With a large teaching staff, RUHS is a high school offering various curricula for college-bound students, as well as diversified career path. Redondo Union High School was organized in the summer of 1905, the first classes were held in two upstairs rooms of the Masonic Building in Redondo Beach. In December of that year, a site known as Old Chautauqua Place was selected as the location for the school. Today, the campus of more than 50 acres extends from Pacific Coast Highway to Prospect Avenue. RUHS is said to be the second largest high school in the state, with 100 years of history, Redondo Union High School is rich with tradition. 1905, RUHS opens with one teacher and 10 pupils,2013, RUHS Boys Basketball defeats College Park to win the Division II CIF State Championship. Academy of Health and Fitness- a school within a school focusing on career paths in Health, the journalism program is one of the best in the United States, and has been by far the strongest in the area for two decades. In Newsweeks The Complete List,1,200 Top U. S, schools article in 2006, Redondo was listed as number 687. In 2007 Redondo was ranked 465th, in 2009 Redondo was ranked 738th. RUHSs Beach Cities Robotics team has won over 40 awards including an international first prize in 2001 against over 1000 other teams, redondos Academic Decathlon Team placed 7th out of 56 schools in the 2008 competition. The team received 18 medals and the plaque for most improved. That same year went to State for the 1st time in RUHS history. In 1995, the school placed 5th, its highest placement to date, the College and Career Center aims to provide students with the most up to date and comprehensive collection of information regarding career, education, financial aid, and scholarship information. Advanced Placement classes and Honors classes are weighted at RUHS, class ranking reflects the students total weighted grade point average
10.
Redondo Beach, California
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Redondo Beach is one of the three Beach Cities located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 66,748 at the 2010 census, up from 63,261 at the 2000 census, the city is located in the South Bay region of the greater Los Angeles area. Redondo Beach was originally part of the 1785 Rancho San Pedro Spanish land grant that became the South Redondo area. The citys territory has an unusual shape including an area along the beach and another strip inland from Manhattan Beach, the primary attractions include Municipal Pier and the sandy beach, popular with tourists and a variety of sports enthusiasts. The western terminus of the Metro Rail Green Line is in North Redondo Beach, the Chowigna Indians used the site of todays Hopkins Wilderness Park, formerly Nike missile site LA-57 from 1956 to 1963, in Redondo Beach, California, as a lookout place. The wetlands located at the site of todays AES power plant in Redondo Beach were a source of foods including halibut, lobster, and sea bass, and also of salt. In the 1700s, the Chowigna bartered salt from the old Redondo Salt Lake and their village by the lake was called Onoova-nga, or Place of Salt. The Chowigna were relocated to missions in 1854, when Manuel Dominguez sold 215 acres of Rancho San Pedro, including the lake, to Henry Allanson, moonstone Beach was a tourist attraction from the late 1880s to the early 1920s. Tourists gathered moonstones from the mounds that had washed ashore during storms. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 6.2 square miles. Redondo Beach was originally part of the 1784 Rancho San Pedro Spanish land grant of the 43, the ocean side of Pacific Coast Highway has restaurants and boating activities while inland of PCH is largely residential. Redondo Breakwall is a surf spot in the South Bay. This power plant sports Whaling Wall number 31, a 586 ft ×95 ft whale mural by world-famous artist Robert Wyland titled Gray Whale Migration. Redondo Beach has a division between the north and south sections of the city with 190th, Anita, and Herondo streets forming its east-west boundary line. South Redondo is along the beachfront with the pier and marina/harbor complex, the small business district near the pier and marina was revived in the 1990s by beachgoers and new residents who wanted to sell beachwear and surfing accessories. South Redondo has wide streets, wide beaches and laid-back feel make it a prime destination for those seeking a bike to the grocery store community. The main library is located in the Civic Center, North Redondo, north of 190th Street, is an inland community separated from the beachfront by Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach. It is also home to the South Bay Galleria shopping center, the North Branch of the Redondo Beach Library serves this area
