1.
County (United States)
–
In the United States, an administrative or political sub-division of a state is a county, which is a region having specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The term county is used in 48 U. S. states, while Louisiana and Alaska have functionally equivalent subdivisions called parishes, most counties have subdivisions which may include municipalities and unincorporated areas. Others have no divisions, or may serve as a singular consolidated city-county. Some municipalities are in multiple counties, New York City is uniquely partitioned into multiple counties/boroughs, the U. S. federal government uses the term county equivalent to describe non-county administrative or statistical areas that are comparable to counties. Alaskas Unorganized Borough is divided into 11 census areas that are equivalent to counties. As of 2013, the United States has 3,007 counties and 137 county equivalents for a total of 3,144 counties, the number of counties per state ranges from the 3 counties of Delaware to the 254 counties of Texas. Counties have significant governmental functions in all states except Rhode Island and Connecticut, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has removed most government functions from eight of its 14 counties. The county with the largest population, Los Angeles County, counties were among the earliest units of local government established in the Thirteen Colonies that would become the United States. Virginia created the first counties in order to ease the workload in Jamestown. Americas oldest intact county court records can be found at Eastville, Virginia, in Northampton County, maryland established its first county, St. Marys, in 1637, and Massachusetts followed in 1643. When independence came, the framers of the Constitution did not provide for local governments, rather, they left the matter to the states. Subsequently, early state constitutions generally conceptualized county government as an arm of the state, in some states, these powers are partly or mostly devolved to the counties smaller divisions usually called townships, though in New York, New England and Wisconsin they are called towns. The county may or may not be able to override its townships on certain matters, the newest county in the United States is the city and county of Broomfield, Colorado, established in 2001 as a consolidated city-county. The newest county-equivalents are the Alaskan boroughs of Skagway established in 2007, Wrangell established in 2008, there are 40 consolidated city-counties in the U. S. Similarly, some of Alaskas boroughs have merged with their principal cities creating unified city-boroughs. Some such consolidations and mergers have created cities that rank among the geographically largest cities in the world, see also, #County names, regarding Louisiana. Independent cities, These are cities that legally belong to no county, Washington, D. C. outside the jurisdiction of any state, has a special status. The city of Washington comprises the entirety of the District of Columbia, when founded in 1801, the District consisted of two counties and three cities. In 1846, Alexandria County – including the then–City of Alexandria – was given back to Virginia, in 1871, the three remaining entities – the City of Washington, Georgetown City, and Washington County – were merged into a consolidated government by an act of Congress
2.
Marin County Civic Center
–
The Marin County Civic Center, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is located in San Rafael, California, United States. Groundbreaking for the Civic Center Administration Building took place in 1960, after Wrights death and under the watch of Wrights protégé, Aaron Green, the Hall of Justice was begun in 1966 and completed in 1969. Veterans Memorial Auditorium opened in 1971, and the Exhibit Hall opened in 1976, located away from the former county seat in downtown San Rafael, the expansive complex stretches across two valleys just east of US101. Its pink stucco walls, blue roof and scalloped balconies are distinctive, the smaller wing is the county administration building and the larger the Hall of Justice, joined by a round structure on a small hill that houses a county library. A battle between factions of the Marin County Board of Supervisors played out through the selection of the site and the architect, the financing of the project, the Marin County Civic Center is a state and National Historic Landmark. The main Civic Center building has been nominated for the UNESCO World Heritage List as a part of ten properties by Frank Lloyd Wright, the nearby fairgrounds host the Marin Sonoma Concours d’Elegance each spring, they host the Marin County Fair each July. The selection of Frank Lloyd Wright in 1957 to design the Civic Center was controversial, the Civic Center project was Wrights largest public project, and encompassed an entire campus of civic structures. The post office was the federal government project of Wrights career. Wrights design borrowed ideas and forms from Wrights Broadacre City concept, the Hall of Justice spans a small valley, arching twice over an access road and a parking area, while the Administration Building spans a smaller ravine. Both structures are entered through archways on their lower levels, the long principal facades are marked by shallow non-structural arches of decreasing span with each story. The arches, which are framed in metal with a stucco appliqué, on the intermediate level they appear to stand on short slender gold-anodized columns, and on the top level they become round openings with gold railings directly under the deep roof overhang. The railings themselves have a circular pattern, interior guardrails at the atrium are solid stucco with no metal elements. Entrances are controlled by vertical grills of gold-anodized metal with rounded tops and bottoms, the eaves are embellished with an arched fascia with small gold balls inset in each arch, a pattern repeated in the atria. The rotunda on the central hill houses the county library and a central cafeteria and its 172-foot gold spire was meant to house a radio transmitter, as well as the boiler plants chimney. The interiors are arranged around open atria or malls as Wright called them, originally open to the sky, the malls were later covered with skylights designed by William Wesley Peters. Interior spaces featured glass walls to light to penetrate from the exterior and the atrium. Wrights concept envisioned a gold-colored roof, which proved to be impossible to obtain in a long-lasting material, after Wrights death, Olgivanna Wright chose a bright blue color that would weather well, gaining a softer color with age. The color choice, together with the stucco walls, was initially controversial
3.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
U.S. state
–
A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
5.
California
–
California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
6.
San Francisco Bay Area
–
The San Francisco Bay Area is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses the cities and metropolitan areas of San Jose, San Francisco. The Bay Areas nine counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. The combined statistical area of the region is the second-largest in California, the fifth-largest in the United States, the Bay Area has the second-most Fortune 500 Companies in the United States, and is known for its natural beauty, liberal politics, entrepreneurship, and diversity. The eastern side of the bay, consisting of Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is known locally as the East Bay, the inner East Bay is more densely populated, with generally older buildings, and a more ethnically diverse population. The word Lamorinda was coined by combining the names of the cities it includes, Lafayette, Moraga, walnut Creek is situated east of Lamorinda and north of the San Ramon Valley and, together with Concord, Martinez, and Pleasant Hill comprises Central Contra Costa County. The cities of Antioch, Pittsburg, Brentwood, Oakley and the areas surrounding them comprise East Contra Costa County. The Tri-Valley consists of the Amador, the Livermore, and the San Ramon Valleys, dublin and Pleasanton comprise the Amador Valley, Livermore lies in the Livermore Valley, and the San Ramon Valley consists of Alamo, Danville, Diablo and its namesake, San Ramon. The outer East Bay is connected to the inner East Bay by BART, Interstate 580 to the south, and State Routes State Route 4 to the north, the outer East Bays infrastructure was mostly built up after World War II. This area remains largely white demographically, although the Hispanic and Filipino populations have grown significantly over the past 2–3 decades, the region north of the Golden Gate Bridge is known locally as the North Bay. This area encompasses Marin County, Sonoma County, Napa County, the city of Fairfield, being part of Solano County, is often considered the easternmost city of the North Bay. With few exceptions, this region is affluent, Marin County is ranked as the wealthiest in the state. The North Bay is relatively rural compared to the remainder of the Bay Area, with areas of undeveloped open space, farmland. Santa Rosa in Sonoma County is the North Bays largest city, with a population of 167,815 and a Metropolitan Statistical Area population of 466,891, making it the fifth-largest city in the Bay Area. The North Bay is the section of the Bay Area that is not currently served by a commuter rail service. The area from San Francisco to the Silicon Valley, geographically part of the San Francisco Peninsula, is known locally as The Peninsula, many of these families are of foreign background and have significantly contributed to the diversity of the area. Whereas the term peninsula technically refers to the entire geographical San Franciscan Peninsula, in local terms, San Francisco is surrounded by water on three sides, the north, east, and west. The city squeezes roughly 870,000 people in under 47 square miles, on any given day, there can be as many as 1 million people in the city because of the commuting population and tourism
7.
Municipal corporation
–
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which they are located, often, this event is marked by the award or declaration of a municipal charter. A city charter or town charter is a document establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages and is considered to be a version of a constitution. Traditionally the granting of a charter gave a settlement and its inhabitants the right to town privileges under the feudal system, townspeople who lived in chartered towns were burghers, as opposed to serfs who lived in villages. Towns were often free, in the sense that they were protected by the king or emperor. Today the process for granting charters is determined by the type of government of the state in question, in monarchies, charters are still often a royal charter given by the Crown or the state authorities acting on behalf of the Crown. In federations, the granting of charters may be within the jurisdiction of the level of government such as a state or province. In Brazil, municipal corporations are called municípios and are created by means of legislation at the state level. All municipal corporations must also abide by a municipal law which is passed and amended at the municipal level. In Canada charters are granted by provincial authorities, in Germany, municipal corporations existed since antiquity and through medieval times, until they became out of favour during the absolutism. In order to strengthen the spirit, the city law of Prussia dated 19 November 1808 picked up this concept. It is the basis of municipal law. In India, a Municipal Corporation is a local government body. This standard varies from state to state, according to laws passed by state legislatures, the Corporation of Chennai was the first Municipal Corporation in India. It was established on 29 September 1688 by the British East India Company, the second was Hyderabad Municipal Corporation established in 1869 by the Nizam rulers of Hyderabad State. The third was the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, established in 1876, the Bombay Municipal Corporation was established in 1888 by the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act. The Delhi Municipal Council was established in 1911 during the Delhi Durbar when New Delhi was proclaimed to be the new Capital of India and it was elevated to Municipal Corporation level on 7 April 1958 by an Act of Parliament which established the Municipal Corporation of Delhi
8.
County seat
–
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is used in the United States, Canada, Romania, China, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, county towns have a similar function. In the United States, counties are the subdivisions of a state. Depending on the state, counties may provide services to the public, impose taxes. Some types of subdivisions, such as townships, may be incorporated or unincorporated. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the seat of its respective county, a county seat is usually, but not always, an incorporated municipality. The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia, likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey, though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township, in some of the colonial states, county seats include or formerly included Court House as part of their name. Most counties have only one county seat, an example is Harrison County, Mississippi, which lists both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats. The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult, there have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of pride for the towns involved. There are 36 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states, Coffee County, for example, the official county seat is Greensboro, but an additional courthouse has been located in nearby High Point since 1938. For example, Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, in New England, the town, not the county, is the primary division of local government. Historically, counties in this region have served mainly as dividing lines for the judicial systems. Connecticut and Rhode Island have no county level of government and thus no county seats, in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine the county seats are legally designated shire towns. County government consists only of a Superior Court and Sheriff, both located in the shire town. Bennington County has two towns, but the Sheriff is located in Bennington. In Massachusetts, most government functions which would otherwise be performed by county governments in other states are performed by town governments. As such, Massachusetts has dissolved many of its county governments, two counties in South Dakota have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county
9.
San Rafael, California
–
San Rafael is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, as of the 2010 census the citys population is 57,713. What is now San Rafael was once the site of several Coast Miwok villages, Awani-wi, near downtown San Rafael, Ewu, near Terra Linda,14,1817, four years before Mexico gained independence from Spain. Mission San Rafael Arcángel was located a donkeys day walk to the mission below it, the mission and the city are named after the Archangel Raphael, the Angel of Healing. The mission was planned as a hospital site for Central Valley American Indians who had become ill at the cold San Francisco Mission Dolores. Father Luis Gil, who spoke several Native American languages, was put in charge of the facility, in part because of its ideal weather, San Rafael was later upgraded to full mission status in 1822. The mission had 300 converts within its first year, and 1,140 converts by 1828, the Mexican government took over the California missions in 1834, and Mission San Rafael was abandoned in 1844, eventually falling into ruin. The current mission was built in 1949 in the style of the original, the San Francisco and North Pacific Railroad reached San Rafael in 1879 and was linked to the national rail network in 1888. The United States Navy operated a San Pablo Bay degaussing range from San Rafael through World War II, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 22.4 square miles. 16.5 square miles of it is land and 6.0 square miles of it is water, south of the county is San Francisco. Peacock Gap Golf Course which is open to the public, there are several public parks in the city. The San Rafael shoreline has been filled to a considerable extent to accommodate land development. At certain locations such as Murphys Point, the sandstone or shale rock outcrops through the mud, San Rafael has a wide diversity of natural habitats from forests at the higher elevations to marshland and estuarine settings. Its marshes are home to the endangered species Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse, there are also riparian areas including the San Rafael Creek and Miller Creek corridors. San Rafael has a Mediterranean climate, with winter lows seldom reaching the freezing mark. The National Weather Service reports that August is usually the warmest month with a high of 80. 1°, December, the coldest month, has an average high of 55. 1° and an average low of 41. 0°. The highest temperature on record is 110°, recorded in June 1961, the highest temperature in recent years, 108°, occurred on July 23,2006. The record lowest temperature was 20° on December 22,1990, there are an average of 17.9 days annually with a high of 90° or more and 1.2 days with a high of 100° or more
10.
Novato, California
–
Novato is a city in northern Marin County, in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 51,904, Novato is located about 10 miles northwest of San Rafael and about 30 miles north of San Francisco on U. S.101. What is now Novato was originally the site of several Coast Miwok villages, Chokecherry, near downtown Novato, Puyuku, near Ignacio, in 1839 the Mexican government granted the 8, 876-acre Rancho Novato to Fernando Feliz. The rancho was named after a local Miwok leader who had probably given the name of Saint Novatus at his baptism. R. Novato, along with the rest of California, became part of the United States on February 2,1848, early pioneers included Joseph Sweetser and Francis De Long who bought 15,000 acres in the mid-1850s and planted orchards and vineyards. The first post office at Novato opened in 1856, it closed in 1860, the first school was built in 1859 at the corner of Grant Avenue at what is today Redwood Boulevard. The original town was located around Novato Creek at what is now South Novato Boulevard, a railroad was built in 1879, connecting Novato to Sonoma County and San Rafael. The area around the depot became known as New Town. The current depot was built in 1917, but closed in 1959 and is largely derelict, the depot consisted of two buildings, a warehouse and a station. The warehouse burned twice in the intervening years, behind the rail station/warehouse complex was a grain and feed mill complex. A Presbyterian church, still a landmark in Novato today, was built in 1896, until 2006 it housed a number of city offices, but was vacated that year due to safety concerns and condemned. The church has since been renovated, a new city center complex has been erected adjacent to the old City Hall The Great Depression of the 1930s had a marked effect on the area as many farmers lost their land. After World War II, Novato grew quickly with the construction of tract homes, as the area was unincorporated much of the growth was unplanned and uncontrolled. Novato was finally incorporated as a city in 1960, one of the most important venues of the time was Western Weekend. Beard growing contests sponsored by Bobs Barber Shop and many other odd activities helped to bring community together. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 28.0 square miles. 27.4 square miles of it is land and 0.5 square miles of it is water, major geographical features nearby include Mount Burdell and Mount Burdell Open Space Preserve to the north and Big Rock Ridge to the southwest. Stafford Lake to the west is a water supply for Novato
11.
2010 United States Census
–
The 2010 United States Census, is the twenty-third and currently most recent United States national census. National Census Day, the day used for the census, was April 1,2010. As part of a drive to increase the accuracy,635,000 temporary enumerators were hired. The population of the United States was counted as 308,745,538, as required by the United States Constitution, the U. S. census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The 2000 U. S. Census was the previous census completed, participation in the U. S. Census is required by law in Title 13 of the United States Code. On January 25,2010, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves personally inaugurated the 2010 Census enumeration by counting World War II veteran Clifton Jackson, more than 120 million census forms were delivered by the U. S. Post Office beginning March 15,2010, the number of forms mailed out or hand-delivered by the Census Bureau was approximately 134 million on April 1,2010. The 2010 Census national mail participation rate was 74%, from April through July 2010, census takers visited households that did not return a form, an operation called non-response follow-up. In December 2010, the Census Bureau delivered population information to the president for apportionment, personally identifiable information will be available in 2082. The Census Bureau did not use a form for the 2010 Census. In several previous censuses, one in six households received this long form, the 2010 Census used only a short form asking ten basic questions, How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1,2010. Were there any additional people staying here on April 1,2010 that you did not include in Question 1, mark all that apply, Is this house, apartment, or mobile home – What is your telephone number. What is Person 1s age and Person 1s date of birth, is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else, the form included space to repeat some or all of these questions for up to twelve residents total. In contrast to the 2000 census, an Internet response option was not offered, detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey. The survey provides data about communities in the United States on a 1-year or 3-year cycle, depending on the size of the community, rather than once every 10 years. A small percentage of the population on a basis will receive the survey each year. In June 2009, the U. S. Census Bureau announced that it would count same-sex married couples, however, the final form did not contain a separate same-sex married couple option
12.
Pacific Time Zone
–
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC−7 and is based on the mean solar time of the 105th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. In the United States and Canada, this zone is generically called the Pacific Time Zone. Specifically, it uses Pacific Standard Time when observing standard time, most of Canada uses daylight saving time. In Mexico, the UTC−8 time zone is known as the Northwest Zone, the largest city in the Pacific Time Zone is Los Angeles, the citys metropolitan area is the largest in the zone. The following states or areas are part of the Pacific Time Zone, California Washington Oregon – all, except for most of Malheur County, nevada Idaho Panhandle – the northern half of Idaho, north of the Salmon River. The town of Hyder, Alaska, is officially in the Alaska Time Zone, however, most of the town observes the Pacific Time because of strong connections with nearby Stewart, British Columbia, which is in the Pacific Time Zone. The United States Post Office in Hyder strictly adheres to Alaska Time, in Canada, the Pacific Time Zone includes most of British Columbia, all of Yukon, and the townsite of Tungsten. In Mexico, the state of Baja California lies completely within the Pacific Time Zone and this does not include the state of Baja California Sur, which is south of Baja California. Through 2006, the time changed to daylight time at 02,00 LST to 03,00 LDT on the first Sunday in April. The Canadian provinces and territories that use daylight time each adopted these dates between October 2005 and February 2007, in Mexico, beginning in 2010, the portion of the country in this time zone uses the extended dates, as do some other parts. The vast majority of Mexico, however, still uses the old dates
13.
Daylight saving time
–
Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
14.
North American Numbering Plan
–
The North American Numbering Plan is a telephone numbering plan that encompasses 25 distinct regions in twenty countries primarily in North America, including the Caribbean and the U. S. territories. Not all North American countries participate in the NANP, each participating country forms a regulatory authority that has plenary control over local numbering resources. The FCC also serves as the U. S. regulator, Canadian numbering decisions are made by the Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium. The NANP divides the territories of its members into numbering plan areas which are encoded numerically with a telephone number prefix. Each telephone is assigned a telephone number unique only within its respective plan area. The telephone number consists of a central office code and a four-digit station number. The combination of a code and the telephone number serves as a destination routing address in the public switched telephone network. For international call routing, the NANP has been assigned the calling code 1 by the International Telecommunications Union. The North American Numbering Plan conforms with ITU Recommendation E.164, from its beginnings in 1876 and throughout the first part of the 20th century, the Bell System grew from essentially local or regional telephone systems. These systems expanded by growing their subscriber bases, as well as increasing their service areas by implementing additional local exchanges that were interconnected with tie trunks and it was the responsibility of each local administration to design telephone numbering plans that accommodated the local requirements and growth. As a result, the Bell System as a developed into an unorganized system of many differing local numbering systems. The diversity impeded the efficient operation and interconnection of exchanges into a system for long-distance telephone communication. The new numbering plan was accepted in October 1947, dividing most of North America into 86 Numbering Plan Areas. Each NPA was assigned a Numbering Plan Area code, often abbreviated as area code and these codes were first used by long-distance operators to establish long-distance calls between toll offices. The first customer-dialed direct call using area codes was made on November 10,1951, from Englewood, New Jersey, to Alameda, California. Direct distance dialing was introduced across the country and by the early 1960s most areas of the Bell System had been converted and it was commonplace in cities. In the following decades, the system expanded to all of the United States and its territories, Canada, Bermuda. By 1967,129 area codes had been assigned, mexican participation was planned, but implementation stopped after two area codes had been assigned and Mexico opted for an international numbering format, using country code 52
15.
Area codes 415 and 628
–
Area code 415 is a California telephone area code that was one of the first three original area codes established in California in October 1947. It serves San Francisco and its suburbs in Marin County. It has been overlaid with area code 628 since February 21,2015,415 was one of the original three area codes in California, established in 1947. It originally covered central California, south of area code 916 and it stretched from Sacramento in the north to Bakersfield in the south. In 1950,415 was extended along the North Coast to the Oregon border, as part of this realignment, Sacramento was shifted from 415 to 916, while Bakersfield moved to 213. In 1953, the entire Bay Area was reunited in using area code 415, on September 2,1991, area code 510 was created for the East Bay, including Oakland. On August 2,1997, area code 650 was created, deviations from the county line were a very small area east of the San Francisco Golf Club, which was changed to 650, and portions of Brisbane and Daly City, which retained area code 415. On 21 February 2015, area code 628 was assigned as an overlay for new numbers in the 415 territory,415 had been one of the few urban area codes that had not been overlaid, making San Francisco one of the largest cities where seven-digit dialing still functioned. San Francisco Dillon Beach and Tomales are in area code 707, Brisbane Daly City List of California area codes List of NANP area codes North American Numbering Plan NANPA Area Code Map of California List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload. com,415 Area Code
16.
Tomales, California
–
Tomales is a census-designated place on State Route 1 in Marin County, California, United States. The population was 204 at the 2010 census, the largest employer in Tomales is Tomales High School, which has a student body of approximately 190. Tomales is located above Keys Creek, about 3 mi northeast of Tomales Bay, the nearest city is Petaluma, about 20 minutes away by automobile, and the nearest large city is San Francisco, about 75 minutes to the south. The CDP has an area of 0.33 sq mi. When Europeans first reached Tomales Bay, it was home to Coast Miwok people, numerous authenticated Miwok villages are known from this area, including one sited near the present-day town of Tomales. The Tomalles post office opened in 1854, and changed its spelling to Tomales before 1879, starting in the 1870s, Tomales was a stop on the North Pacific Coast Railroad connecting Cazadero to the Sausalito ferry. Built near the San Andreas Fault, Tomales was affected by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, one of the towns two cemeteries predates the earthquake, and the damage to the pre-1906 plots shows just how widespread the quakes effects were. The 2010 United States Census reported that Tomales had a population of 204, the population density was 614.9 people per square mile. The racial makeup of the CDP was 94. 6% White,1. 5% Native American,2. 0% Asian,4. 4% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. The Census reported that 100% of the lived in households. There were 10 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 1 same-sex married couple or partnership,32 households were made up of individuals and 6 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.06, there were 58 families, the average family size was 2.55. The median age was 50.5 years, for every 100 females there were 85.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.2 males, there were 122 housing units at an average density of 367.7 per square mile, of which 59. 6% were owner-occupied and 40. 4% were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1. 6%, the vacancy rate was 7. 0%. 61. 8% of the lived in owner-occupied housing units and 38. 2% lived in rental housing units. As of the census of 2000, there were 210 people,73 households, the population density was 670/sq mi. There were 85 housing units at a density of 271/sq mi
17.
Dillon Beach, California
–
Dillon Beach is a census-designated place in Marin County, California, United States. Dillon Beach is located 3.25 miles west of Tomales, the population was 283 at the 2010 census. Dillon Beach was named after the founder, George Dillon, who settled there in 1858, the area includes a public access beach, as well as a private beach resort, the only private beach in California. Dillon Beach is located near the mouth of Tomales Bay, at 38°15′03″N 122°57′55″W, the Estero de San Antonio State Marine Recreational Management Area is a marine protected area located 1.5 miles north of Dillon Beach. Like an underwater park, this protected area helps conserve ocean wildlife. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of 2.98 sq mi. Eventually, Dillon sold out to John Keegan with the agreement that the beach would always be named Dillon Beach, Keegan plated the town, built the hotel which still stands as the store and restaurant. Keegan also built cottages, one of which stands along the road to the beach. Keegan ran a coach from Dillon Beach to Tomales where it met the train. Keegan eventually sold the holdings to the Lawson family who owned it until the arrival of the Clines, the first post office at Dillon Beach opened in 1922. During the 1960s, Oceana Marin was developed north of town by John Keegans grandson, James Keegan of Wells Fargo Bank, fancy modern coastal houses were built on the hillsides overlooking the quaint town of small cottages giving it a unique appeal. Dillon Beach Resort has been owned and operated by Fred and Nancy Cline of Sonoma Valley, the resort consists of a cafe, general store, three beachfront cabins available for rent, and paid parking to access the resorts privately maintained beach. It is the privately owned beach in northern California. The undertow found at most beaches along the coast is weaker here, surfers in wet suits are commonly seen. The 2010 United States Census reported that Dillon Beach had a population of 283, the population density was 94.8 people per square mile. The racial makeup of Dillon Beach was 266 White,3 Native American,4 Asian, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9 persons. The Census reported that 100% of the lived in households. There were 6 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 3 same-sex married couples or partnerships,48 households were made up of individuals and 26 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older
18.
Geographic Names Information System
–
It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited, variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier, the database never removes an entry, except in cases of obvious duplication. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features, the general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail. In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer, Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways, A Journey Into America, standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice, Vol.73, No. 170, page 51276 Report, Principles, Policies, and Procedures, Domestic Geographic Names, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes
19.
San Francisco
–
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
20.
Oakland, California
–
Oakland /ˈoʊklənd/ is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. The city was incorporated in 1852, Oaklands territory covers what was once a mosaic of California coastal terrace prairie, oak woodland, and north coastal scrub. Its land served as a resource when its hillside oak and redwood timber were logged to build San Francisco. In the late 1860s, Oakland was selected as the terminal of the Transcontinental Railroad. Following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many San Francisco citizens moved to Oakland, enlarging the citys population, increasing its housing stock and it continued to grow in the 20th century with its busy port, shipyards, and a thriving automobile manufacturing industry. Oakland is known for its sustainability practices, including a top-ranking for usage of electricity from renewable resources, in addition, due to a steady influx of immigrants during the 20th century, along with thousands of African-American war-industry workers who relocated from the Deep South during the 1940s. Oakland is the most ethnically diverse city in the country. The earliest known inhabitants were the Huchiun Indians, who lived there for thousands of years, the Huchiun belonged to a linguistic grouping later called the Ohlone. In Oakland, they were concentrated around Lake Merritt and Temescal Creek, in 1772, the area that later became Oakland was claimed, with the rest of California, by Spanish settlers for the King of Spain. In the early 19th century, the Spanish crown granted the East Bay area to Luis María Peralta for his Rancho San Antonio, the grant was confirmed by the successor Mexican republic upon its independence from Spain. Upon his death in 1842, Peralta divided his land among his four sons, Most of Oakland fell within the shares given to Antonio Maria and Vicente. The portion of the parcel that is now Oakland was called encinal—Spanish for oak grove—due to the oak forest that covered the area. In 1851, three men—Horace Carpentier, Edson Adams, and Andrew Moon—began developing what is now downtown Oakland, on May 4,1852, the Town of Oakland incorporated. Two years later, on March 25,1854, Oakland re-incorporated as the City of Oakland, with Horace Carpentier elected the first mayor, the city and its environs quickly grew with the railroads, becoming a major rail terminal in the late 1860s and 1870s. In 1868, the Central Pacific constructed the Oakland Long Wharf at Oakland Point, a number of horsecar and cable car lines were constructed in Oakland during the latter half of the 19th century. The first electric streetcar set out from Oakland to Berkeley in 1891, at the time of incorporation, Oakland consisted of the territory that lay south of todays major intersection of San Pablo Avenue, Broadway, and Fourteenth Street. The city gradually annexed farmlands and settlements to the east and the north, Oaklands rise to industrial prominence, and its subsequent need for a seaport, led to the digging of a shipping and tidal channel in 1902. This resulted in the town of Alameda being made an island
21.
Hayward, California
–
Hayward is a city located in Alameda County, California in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a 2014 population of 149,392, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area, Hayward was ranked as the 37th most populous municipality in California. It is included in the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont Metropolitan Statistical Area by the US Census and it is located primarily between Castro Valley and Union City, and lies at the eastern terminus of the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge. The city was devastated early in its history by the 1868 Hayward earthquake, from the early 20th century until the beginning of the 1980s, Haywards economy was dominated by its now defunct food canning and salt production industries. Human habitation of the greater East Bay, including Hayward, dates from at least 4000 B. C, the most recent pre-European inhabitants of the Hayward area were the Native American Ohlone people. In the 19th century, the land that is now Hayward became part of Rancho San Lorenzo, most of the citys structures were destroyed in the earthquake, the last major earthquake on the fault. In 1930, that site was chosen for the construction of the City Hall, William Dutton Hayward arrived during the gold rush and squatted, started building a house, next to the creek at the site of the old Polamares School. Guillermo Castros Vaqueros came by one day and told Hayward to get off of Castros property, William did leave, but went to Guillermo Castro directly and asked to buy a piece of his land. Castro sold him the area of what was east of Castro Street, now Mission Blvd, William Hayward built a grand hotel on the property. He and his wife ran the hotel, which burned to the ground around 1916. Hayward was originally known as Haywards, then as Haywood, later as Haywards, there is some disagreement as to how it was named. Most historians believe it was named for William Dutton Hayward, who opened a hotel there in 1852, the U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System states the city was named after Alvinza Hayward, a millionaire from the California Gold Rush. Regardless of which Hayward the area was named for, the name was changed to Haywood when the post office was first established in 1860, Castro emigrated to Chile with most of his family in 1864, after he lost his land in a card game. His name survives in the community of Castro Valley, located in the next to Hayward. The ranch was split up and sold to locals, William Hayward among them. William Haywards fortunes took a turn for the grander when he constructed a resort hotel, the surrounding area came to be called Haywards after the hotel. William Hayward eventually became the commissioner for Alameda County. He used his authority to influence the construction of roads in his own favor and he was also an Alameda County supervisor
22.
Golden Gate Bridge
–
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate strait, the one-mile-wide, one-point-seven-mile-long channel between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California, and it has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Frommers travel guide describes the Golden Gate Bridge as possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed and it opened in 1937 and was, until 1964, the longest suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet. Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. A ferry service began as early as 1820, with a scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for the purpose of transporting water to San Francisco. Once for railroad passengers and customers only, Southern Pacifics automobile ferries became very profitable, the trip from the San Francisco Ferry Building took 27 minutes. Many wanted to build a bridge to connect San Francisco to Marin County, San Francisco was the largest American city still served primarily by ferry boats. Because it did not have a permanent link with communities around the bay, experts said that ferocious winds and blinding fogs would prevent construction and operation. San Franciscos City Engineer estimated the cost at $100 million, which would have been $2.12 billion in 2009 and he asked bridge engineers whether it could be built for less. One who responded, Joseph Strauss, was an engineer and poet who had, for his graduate thesis. At the time, Strauss had completed some 400 drawbridges—most of which were inland—and nothing on the scale of the new project. Strausss initial drawings were for a massive cantilever on each side of the strait, connected by a central suspension segment, Local authorities agreed to proceed only on the assurance that Strauss would alter the design and accept input from several consulting project experts. A suspension-bridge design was considered the most practical, because of recent advances in metallurgy, Strauss spent more than a decade drumming up support in Northern California. The bridge faced opposition, including litigation, from many sources, the Department of War was concerned that the bridge would interfere with ship traffic. The navy feared that a collision or sabotage to the bridge could block the entrance to one of its main harbors. Unions demanded guarantees that local workers would be favored for construction jobs, in May 1924, Colonel Herbert Deakyne held the second hearing on the Bridge on behalf of the Secretary of War in a request to use federal land for construction. Another ally was the automobile industry, which supported the development of roads. The bridges name was first used when the project was discussed in 1917 by M. M
23.
Modern liberalism in the United States
–
Modern American liberalism is the dominant version of liberalism in the United States. It is characterized by social liberalism, and combines ideas of liberty and equality with support for social justice. The term modern liberalism in this article refers only to the United States, in a global context, this philosophy is usually referred to as social liberalism. The American modern liberal philosophy strongly endorses public spending on such as education, health care. Important social issues today include addressing inequality, voting rights for minorities, affirmative action, reproductive and other rights, support for LGBT rights. American liberals oppose conservatives on most issues, but not all, Modern liberalism is historically related to social liberalism and progressivism, though the current relationship between liberal and progressive viewpoints is debated. John F. Kennedy defined a liberal as follows, keynesian economic theory has played an important role in the economic philosophy of modern American liberals. Modern American liberals generally believe that national prosperity requires government management of the macroeconomy, in order to keep unemployment low, inflation in check and they also value institutions that defend against economic inequality. In The Conscience of a Liberal Paul Krugman writes, I believe in an equal society, supported by institutions that limit extremes of wealth. I believe in democracy, civil liberties, and the rule of law and that makes me a liberal, and Im proud of it. Liberals often point to the prosperity enjoyed under a mixed economy in the years since World War II. They believe liberty exists when access to necessities like health care and economic opportunity are available to all, Modern American liberalism is typically associated with the Democratic Party, as modern American conservatism is typically associated with the Republican Party. Today the word liberalism is used differently in different countries, one of the greatest contrasts is between the usage in the United States and usage in Europe. According to Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Liberalism in the American usage has little in common with the word as used in the politics of any European country, save possibly Britain. In Europe, liberalism, usually means what is called classical liberalism, a commitment to limited government, laissez-faire economics. This classical liberalism sometimes more closely corresponds to the American definition of libertarianism, in the United States, the general term liberalism will almost always refer to modern liberalism, a more social variant of classical liberalism. A2015 Gallup poll found that liberal views have consistently been on the rise in America since 1999. As of 2015, there is an equal number of socially liberal Americans and socially conservative Americans
24.
San Quentin Prison
–
San Quentin State Prison is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated town of San Quentin in Marin County. Opened in July 1852, it is the oldest prison in California, the states only death row for male inmates, the largest in the United States, is located at the prison. It has a gas chamber, but since 1996, executions at the prison have been carried out by lethal injection. The prison has been featured on film, video, and television, is the subject of books, has hosted concerts. The correctional complex sits on Point San Quentin, which comprises 432 acres on the side of San Francisco Bay. The prison complex itself occupies 275 acres, valued in a 2001 study at between $129 million and $664 million, the prison complex has its own ZIP code for mail sent to inmates,94974, the ZIP code of the adjacent community of Point San Quentin Village is 94964. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay to the south and west and by Interstate 580 to the north and east, near the northern terminus of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. As of October 30,2013 the prison had a capacity of 3,082 but a total institution population of 4,223. It has Level I housing, Level II housing, a Reception Center which provides short term housing to process, classify and evaluate incoming inmates, as of Fiscal Year 2006/2007, the prison had 1,718 staff and an annual budget of $210 million. It is one of the largest prisons in the United States with a population of 4,223 inmates as of October 30,2013, by December 2016, the population had declined to 3,774 inmates. Men condemned to death in California must be held at San Quentin, as of December 2015, San Quentin held almost 700 male inmates in its Condemned Unit, or death row. As of 2001, San Quentins death row was described as the largest in the Western Hemisphere, as of 2005, the states of Florida and Texas had fewer death row inmates in 2008 than San Quentin. Most of the death row inmates reside in the East Block. The fourth floor of the North Block was the prisons first death row facility, the adjustment center received solid doors, preventing gunning-down or attacking persons with bodily waste. As of 2016 it housed 81 death row inmates and four non-death row inmates, a dedicated psychiatric facility serves the prisoners. A converted shower bay in the East Block hosts religious services, many prison programs available for most inmates are unavailable for death row inmates. Although $395 million was allocated in the 2008–2009 state budget for new death row facilities at San Quentin, in December 2008 two legislators introduced bills to eliminate the funding. The state had planned to build a new death row facility, in 2015 Brown asked the Legislature for funds for a new death row as the current death row facilities were becoming filled
25.
George Lucas
–
George Walton Lucas Jr. is an American filmmaker and entrepreneur. He is best known as the creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as the founder of Lucasfilm and he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm, before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012. Upon graduating from the University of Southern California in 1967, Lucas co-founded American Zoetrope with fellow filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, Lucas wrote and directed THX1138, based on his earlier student short Electronic Labyrinth, THX1138 4EB, which was a critical success but a financial failure. His next work as a writer-director was the film, American Graffiti, inspired by his teen years in early 1960s Modesto, California, the film was critically and commercially successful, and received five Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. Following the first Star Wars film, Lucas produced and co-wrote the following installments in the trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back, along with Steven Spielberg, Lucas co-created and wrote the Indiana Jones films Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, and The Last Crusade. Lucas also produced and/or wrote a variety of films through Lucasfilm in the 1980s and 1990s, Lucas also returned to directing with the Star Wars prequel trilogy, consisting of The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. He later collaborated on the story for the Indiana Jones sequel Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, five of Lucass seven features are among the 100 highest-grossing movies at the North American box office, adjusted for ticket-price inflation. Lucas is one of the American film industrys most financially successful filmmakers, Lucas is considered a significant figure in the New Hollywood era. Lucas was born and raised in Modesto, California, the son of Dorothy Ellinore Lucas and George Walton Lucas and he is of German, Swiss-German, English, Scottish, and distant Dutch and French descent. Growing up, Lucas had a passion for cars and motor racing, on June 12,1962, while driving his souped-up Autobianchi Bianchina, another driver broadsided him, flipping over his car, nearly killing him, causing him to lose interest in racing as a career. He attended Modesto Junior College, where he studied anthropology, sociology and he also began shooting with an 8 mm camera, including filming car races. At this time, Lucas and his friend John Plummer became interested in Canyon Cinema, screenings of underground, avant-garde 16 mm filmmakers like Jordan Belson, Stan Brakhage, and Bruce Conner. Lucas and Plummer also saw classic European films of the time, including Jean-Luc Godards Breathless, François Truffauts Jules et Jim, thats when George really started exploring, Plummer said. Through his interest in racing, Lucas met renowned cinematographer Haskell Wexler, another race enthusiast. Wexler, later to work with Lucas on several occasions, was impressed by Lucas talent, George had a very good eye, and he thought visually, he recalled. Lucas then transferred to the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, USC was one of the earliest universities to have a school devoted to motion picture film. During the years at USC, Lucas shared a room with Randal Kleiser. Along with classmates such as Walter Murch, Hal Barwood, and John Milius and he also became good friends with fellow acclaimed student filmmaker and future Indiana Jones collaborator, Steven Spielberg
26.
Skywalker Ranch
–
Skywalker Ranch is a movie ranch and workplace of film director, writer and producer George Lucas located in a secluded, yet open area near Nicasio, California, in Marin County. The ranch is located on Lucas Valley Road, although George Lucas is not related to the roads namesake, the Ranch is not open to the public and keeps a low profile from the road. A gated road leads to the ranch, assembled parcel by parcel since September 1978, Skywalker Ranch has cost Lucas up to US$100 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Lucasfilm acquired 3,000 acres of adjoining land for a total of over 4,700 acres, only 15 acres have been developed. The residents of the area have for 25 years fought his plan to build a studio on the property, citing light. Skywalker Sound was moved onto the ranch in 1987, now occupying the Technical Building, the Main House has a company research library under a stained-glass dome. Skywalker Ranch has its own station, it is part of the Marin County mutual aid system. Skywalker Ranch is intended to be more of a filmmakers retreat than a headquarters for Lucass business operations, the headquarters of Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, and LucasArts are located in Lucass Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio of San Francisco. The George Lucas Educational Foundation is based at the Ranch, Skywalker Sound remains based at the Ranch, for which Lucasfilm pays a rent fee to George Lucas, who remains the propertys owner. Although Lucas maintains his offices there, he does not personally reside at the Ranch, Lucasfilm Games was located at the ranch during the early company years. Big Rock Ranch is a later Lucasfilm development in Marin county at 3800 Lucas Valley Road adjacent to Skywalker Ranch, the countys planning commission approved this facility in September 1996 and construction was completed in August 2002. However, in November 2004, Lucas announced that the 250 employees of the ranch were to be moved to the Letterman Digital Arts Center, the ranch comprises 1,061 acres, of which 43 acres are developed with 317,000 sq ft of office space. Before the move to the Presidio in 2005, Big Rock Ranch housed the marketing, licensing, distribution, as of 2007 it was the headquarters of the animation division. Starting in 1988, Lucasfilm sought approval to develop another property called Grady Ranch at 2400 Lucas Valley Road. The most recent proposals called for a 263, 701-square-foot digital film production center for the property, however, in the wake of delays caused by local resistance and environmental concerns, Lucas abandoned these plans in April 2012 and has instead decided to sell the land. Lucas also owns McGuire Ranch and Loma Alta Ranch in Marin County, the Ranch hosted Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell for interviews for the The Power of Myth documentary in the late 1980s. Campbells works were influential to George Lucas in creating the Star Wars universe, years later, Moyers returned to the Ranch to interview Lucas for a documentary titled The Mythology of Star Wars around the time Episode I was in production. In 1996, the band Journey recorded the video for their song When You Love a Woman inside the Scoring Stage of the Ranch
27.
Autodesk
–
Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that makes software for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquartered in San Rafael, California, and features a gallery of its customers work in its San Francisco building, the company was founded in 1982 by John Walker, a coauthor of the first versions of AutoCAD, the companys flagship computer-aided design software. Its AutoCAD and Revit software is used by architects, engineers, and structural designers to design, draft. Autodesk software has been used in fields, from the New York Freedom Tower to Tesla electric cars. The companys Revit line of software for Building Information Modeling is designed to let users explore the planning, construction, Autodesks Media and Entertainment division creates software for visual effects, color grading, and editing as well as animation, game development, and design visualization. 3ds Max and Maya are both 3D animation software used in visual effects and game development. Autodesk Suites, Subscription and Web Services, which includes Autodesk Cloud, Autodesk Labs, in what was seen as an unusual step for a maker of high-end business software, Autodesk began offering AutoCAD LT2012 for Mac through the Apple Mac App Store. The products from the group include 123D, Fluid FX, Homestyler, Pixlr, users range from children, students and artists to makers and DIYers. The Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry group is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, in a LEED Platinum building designed, Autodesks architecture, engineering, and construction solutions include AutoCAD-based design and documentation software such as AutoCAD Architecture, AutoCAD MEP, and AutoCAD Civil 3D. Their flagship product for relational Building information modeling is Revit, Revit is available as Revit Architecture, Revit Structure, Revit MEP or an all-in-one product. Projects that have used software from the Autodesk AEC division include the NASA Ames building, the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the Shanghai Tower, Autodesks manufacturing industry group is headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Autodesk’s Media and Entertainment Division is based in Montreal, Quebec and it was established in 1999 after Autodesk, Inc. acquired Discreet Logic, Inc. and merged its operations with Kinetix. In January 2006, Autodesk acquired Alias, a developer of 3D graphics technology, in October 2008, Autodesk acquired the Softimage brand from Avid. The principal product offerings from the Media and Entertainment Division are the Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suites, which include Maya, Softimage, 3ds Max, Mudbox, Smoke, Flame, much of Avatars visual effects were created with Autodesk media and entertainment software. Autodesk software enabled Avatar director James Cameron to aim a camera at actors wearing motion-capture suits in a studio, in 2011, Autodesk acquired a cloud-based set of image tools and utilities called Pixlr. Autodesk develops and purchased many specific-purpose renderers but many Autodesk products are bundled with third-party renderers such as NVIDIA MentalRay or Iray, Autodesk Raytracer - a simple pathtracing renderer which is based on Opticore technology. Maya Vector - a vector based on Electric Rains RAViX technology. The problem with this part of Autodesks history is that it was a time of discovery in computer graphics, in this sense Lightscape was more than just another product, it was an essential part of the development of rendering technology generally, and part of its evolution
28.
Frank Lloyd Wright
–
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures,532 of which were completed. Wright believed in designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment and this philosophy was best exemplified by Fallingwater, which has been called the best all-time work of American architecture. Wright was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home and his creative period spanned more than 70 years. In addition to his houses, Wright designed original and innovative offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, museums and he often designed interior elements for these buildings as well, including furniture and stained glass. Wright wrote 20 books and many articles and was a lecturer in the United States. His colorful personal life made headlines, most notably for the 1914 fire. Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as the greatest American architect of all time, Frank Lloyd Wright was born Frank Lincoln Wright in the farming town of Richland Center, Wisconsin, United States, in 1867. His father, William Carey Wright, was an orator, music teacher, occasional lawyer, William Wright met and married Anna Lloyd Jones, a county school teacher, the previous year when he was employed as the superintendent of schools for Richland County. Originally from Massachusetts, William Wright had been a Baptist minister, Anna was a member of the large, prosperous and well-known Lloyd Jones family of Unitarians, who had emigrated from Wales to Spring Green, Wisconsin. One of Annas brothers was Jenkin Lloyd Jones, who would become an important figure in the spread of the Unitarian faith in the Western United States, both of Wrights parents were strong-willed individuals with idiosyncratic interests that they passed on to him. According to his biography, his mother declared when she was expecting that her first child would grow up to build beautiful buildings and she decorated his nursery with engravings of English cathedrals torn from a periodical to encourage the infants ambition. In 1870 the family moved to Weymouth, Massachusetts, where William ministered to a small congregation, in 1876, Anna visited the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia where she saw an exhibit of educational blocks created by Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel. The blocks, known as Froebel Gifts, were the foundation of his innovative kindergarten curriculum, Anna, a trained teacher, was excited by the program and bought a set with which young Wright spent much time playing. The blocks in the set were geometrically shaped and could be assembled in various combinations to form three-dimensional compositions, the Wright family struggled financially in Weymouth and returned to Spring Green, Wisconsin, where the supportive Lloyd Jones clan could help William find employment. They settled in Madison, where William taught music lessons and served as the secretary to the newly formed Unitarian society, although William was a distant parent, he shared his love of music, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, with his children. Soon after Wright turned 14, his parents separated, Anna had been unhappy for some time with Williams inability to provide for his family and asked him to leave. The divorce was finalized in 1885 after William sued Anna for lack of physical affection, William left Wisconsin after the divorce and Wright claimed he never saw his father again. At this time he changed his name from Lincoln to Lloyd in honor of his mothers family
29.
Arch
–
An arch is a curved structure that spans a space and may or may not support weight above it. Arch may be synonymous with vault, but a vault may be distinguished as a continuous arch forming a roof, an arch is a pure compression form. It can span an area by resolving forces into compressive stresses and. This is sometimes referred to as arch action, as the forces in the arch are carried to the ground, the arch will push outward at the base, called thrust. As the rise, or height of the arch decreases, the outward thrust increases, in order to maintain arch action and prevent the arch from collapsing, the thrust needs to be restrained, either with internal ties or external bracing, such as abutments. The most common true arch configurations are the arch, the two-hinged arch. The fixed arch is most often used in reinforced concrete bridge and tunnel construction, because it is subject to additional internal stress caused by thermal expansion and contraction, this type of arch is considered to be statically indeterminate. The two-hinged arch is most often used to long spans. This type of arch has pinned connections at the base, unlike the fixed arch, the pinned base is able to rotate, allowing the structure to move freely and compensate for the thermal expansion and contraction caused by changes in outdoor temperature. However, this can result in additional stresses, so the two-hinged arch is also statically indeterminate, the three-hinged arch is not only hinged at its base, like the two-hinged arch, but at the mid-span as well. The additional connection at the mid-span allows the arch to move in two opposite directions and compensate for any expansion and contraction. This type of arch is not subject to additional stress caused by thermal change. The three-hinged arch is said to be statically determinate. It is most often used for structures, such as large building roofs. Another advantage of the arch is that the pinned bases are more easily developed than fixed ones, allowing for shallow. Arches have many forms, but all fall into three categories, circular, pointed, and parabolic. Arches can also be configured to produce vaults and arcades, Arches with a circular form, also referred to as rounded arches, were commonly employed by the builders of ancient, heavy masonry arches. Ancient Roman builders relied heavily on the arch to span large
30.
Atrium (architecture)
–
In architecture, an atrium is a large open air or skylight covered space surrounded by a building. Atria were a feature in Ancient Roman dwellings, providing light. Modern atria, as developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries, are several stories high and having a glazed roof or large windows. Atria are a design feature because they give their buildings a feeling of space. The atrium has become a key feature of buildings in recent years. Atria are popular with building users, building designers and building developers, users like atria because they create a dynamic and stimulating interior that provides shelter from the external environment while maintaining a visual link with that environment. Designers enjoy the opportunity to new types of spaces in buildings. Fire control is an important aspect of contemporary atrium design due to criticism that poorly designed atria could allow fire to spread to a buildings upper stories more quickly. The Latin word atrium referred to the central court from which enclosed rooms led off. The impluvium was a shallow pool sunken into the floor to catch rainwater from the roof, some surviving examples are beautifully decorated. The opening in the ceiling above the pool called for some means of support for the roof, as the centrepiece of the house, the atrium was the most lavishly-furnished room. Also, it contained the chapel to the ancestral spirits. The term was used for a variety of spaces in public and religious buildings, mostly forms of arcaded courtyards. Byzantine churches were often entered through such a space, the 19th century brought the industrial revolution with great advances in iron and glass manufacturing techniques. Courtyards could then have horizontal glazing overhead, eliminating some of the elements from the space. One of the public spaces at Federation Square, in Melbourne, Australia, is called The Atrium and is a street-like space, five storeys high with glazed walls. The structure and glazing pattern follow the system of fractals used to arrange the panels on the rest of the facades at Federation Square, as of 2016, the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, has the worlds tallest atrium at 590 feet. The Luxor Hotel, in Las Vegas, Nevada, has the largest atrium in the world at 29 million cubic feet, cavaedium Courtyard Quadrangle Roth, Leland M. Understanding Architecture, Its Elements History and Meaning
31.
Muir Woods National Monument
–
Muir Woods National Monument is a unit of the National Park Service on Mount Tamalpais near the Pacific coast, in southwestern Marin County, California. It is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and is 12 miles north of San Francisco and it protects 554 acres, of which 240 acres are old growth coast redwood forests, one of a few such stands remaining in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Muir Woods National Monument is an old-growth coastal redwood forest, due to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the forest is regularly shrouded in a coastal marine layer fog, contributing to a wet environment that encourages vigorous plant growth. The fog is also vital for the growth of the redwoods as they use moisture from the fog during droughty seasons, the monument is cool and moist year round with average daytime temperatures between 40 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Rainfall is heavy during the winter and summers are almost completely dry with the exception of fog drip caused by the fog passing through the trees. Annual precipitation in the ranges from 39.4 inches in the lower valley to 47.2 inches higher up in the mountain slopes. The redwoods grow on brown humus-rich loam which may be gravelly and this soil has been assigned to the Centissima series, which is always found on sloping ground. It is well drained, moderately deep, and slightly to moderately acidic and it has developed from a mélange in the Franciscan Formation. More open areas of the park have shallow gravelly loam of the Barnabe series, one hundred and fifty million years ago ancestors of redwood and sequoia trees grew throughout the United States. Today, the Sequoia sempervirens can be only in a narrow, cool coastal belt from Monterey, California. Before the logging industry came to California, there were an estimated 2 million acres of old growth forest containing redwoods growing in a strip along the coast. By the early 20th century, most of these forests had been cut down, just north of the San Francisco Bay, one valley named Redwood Canyon remained uncut, mainly due to its relative inaccessibility. He and his wife, Elizabeth Thacher Kent, purchased 611 acres of land from the Tamalpais Land and Water Company for $45,000 with the goal of protecting the redwoods and the mountain above them. In 1907, a company in nearby Sausalito planned to dam Redwood Creek. When Kent objected to the plan, the company threatened to use eminent domain. Kent sidestepped the water companys plot by donating 295 acres of the redwood forest to the federal government, on January 9,1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the land a National Monument, the first to be created from land donated by a private individual. President Roosevelt agreed, writing back, MY DEAR MR, and, responding to some photographs of Muir Woods that Mr. Kent had sent him, Those are awfully good photos. Kent and Muir had become friends over shared views of wilderness preservation, in December 1928, the Kent Memorial was erected at the Kent Tree in Fern Canyon
32.
Sequoia sempervirens
–
Sequoia sempervirens /sᵻˈkɔɪ. ə sɛmpərˈvaɪrənz/ is the sole living species of the genus Sequoia in the cypress family Cupressaceae. Common names include coast redwood, coastal redwood and California redwood and it is an evergreen, long-lived, monoecious tree living 1, 200–1,800 years or more. This species includes the tallest living trees on Earth, reaching up to 379 feet in height and these trees are also among the oldest living things on Earth. The name sequoia sometimes refers to the subfamily Sequoioideae, which includes S. sempervirens along with Sequoiadendron, here, the term redwood on its own refers to the species covered in this article, and not to the other two species. Scottish botanist David Don described the redwood as the evergreen taxodium in his colleague Aylmer Bourke Lamberts 1824 work A description of the genus Pinus, austrian botanist Stephan Endlicher erected the genus Sequoia in his 1847 work Synopsis coniferarum, giving the redwood its current binomial name of Sequoia sempervirens. The redwood is one of three living species, each in its own genus, in the subfamily Sequoioideae, molecular studies have shown the three to be each others closest relatives, generally with the redwood and giant sequoia as each others closest relatives. However, Yang and colleagues in 2010 queried the polyploid state of the redwood, further analysis strongly supported the hypothesis that Sequoia was the result of a hybridization event involving Metasequoia and Sequoiadendron. Thus, Yang and colleagues hypothesize that the inconsistent relationships among Metasequoia, Sequoia, the coast redwood can reach 115 m tall with a trunk diameter of 9 m. It has a crown, with horizontal to slightly drooping branches. The bark can be thick, up to 1-foot, and quite soft and fibrous, with a bright red-brown color when freshly exposed. The root system is composed of shallow, wide-spreading lateral roots, the leaves are variable, being 15–25 mm long and flat on young trees and shaded shoots in the lower crown of old trees. On the other hand, they are scale-like, 5–10 mm long on shoots in full sun in the crown of older trees. They are dark green above and have two blue-white stomatal bands below, leaf arrangement is spiral, but the larger shade leaves are twisted at the base to lie in a flat plane for maximum light capture. The species is monoecious, with pollen and seed cones on the same plant, the seed cones are ovoid, 15–32 millimetres long, with 15–25 spirally arranged scales, pollination is in late winter with maturation about 8–9 months after. Each cone scale bears three to seven seeds, each seed 3–4 millimetres long and 0.5 millimetres broad, the seeds are released when the cone scales dry out and open at maturity. The pollen cones are ovular and 4–6 millimetres long and its genetic makeup is unusual among conifers, being a hexaploid and possibly allopolyploid. Both the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of the redwood are paternally inherited, the prevailing elevation range is 98–2,460 ft above sea level, occasionally down to 0 and up to 3,000 ft. They usually grow in the mountains where precipitation from the incoming moisture off the ocean is greater, the tallest and oldest trees are found in deep valleys and gullies, where year-round streams can flow, and fog drip is regular
33.
Marin Headlands
–
The entire area is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Headlands are famous for their views of the Bay Area, the Headlands sometimes create their own clouds when moist, warm Pacific Ocean breezes are pushed into higher, colder air, causing condensation, fog, fog drip and perhaps rain. The hills also get more precipitation than at sea level, for the same reason, however, despite being relatively wet, strong gusty Pacific winds prevent dense forests from forming. The many gaps, ridges, and valleys in the increase the wind speed and periodically, during powerful winter storms. In summer, breezes can still be very gusty, when the oceanic air and these cloudy, gray, and rainy days often are interspersed with cool but extremely clear ones. As winter turns to spring, the April-to-June weather tends to be dominated by powerful winds, less rain, summer days alternate between clear and warm intervals, giving way to foggy and cool periods. September and October bring the highest average temperatures of the year, the centerpoint of the Marin Headlands skyline is the 920-foot Hawk Hill, the lookout point for the largest known flight of diurnal raptors in the Pacific states. Each autumn, from August into December, tens of thousands of hawks, kites, falcons, eagles, vultures, osprey, hawks avoid flight over water since warm thermals that provide lift are rare. Volunteers with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory count and track this fall migration using bird-banding and radio-tracking techniques, all in cooperation with the National Park Service. The Marin Headlands are also home to black tail deer, mountain lions, bobcats, two types of fox, coyotes, wild turkeys, hares, rabbits, raccoons, river otters inhabit the freshwater lagoons and streams. Large numbers of birds also migrate through the Headlands, including brown pelicans from May through October, and grebes, egrets, and great blue herons in the spring, summer. The Headlands status as a park protects the habitat and populations of animals within just a few miles of San Francisco. The Marin Headlands are a geological formation created by the accretion of oceanic sediments onto the North American Plate from the Pacific Plate. The primary components of Headlands geology include graywacke sandstone, radiolarian chert, serpentinite, pillow basalts and these rocks began their migration over one hundred million years ago from as far south as present-day Los Angeles. The Marin Headlands were home to the Native American Coastal Miwok tribe, from the 1890s, the first military installations were built to prevent hostile ships from entering San Francisco Bay. The batteries at Kirby Cove, above Black Sands Beach, south of Rodeo Beach, the emplacements at the top of Hawk Hill were used for a radio station. During the Cold War, the gun batteries were decommissioned, radar sites were placed atop Hawk Hill and Hill 88. At several locations, shelters were built into the hillsides to protect the military personnel from the use of nuclear, biological, observation posts known as base end stations can also be found in the Headlands
34.
Stinson Beach, California
–
Stinson Beach is a census-designated place in Marin County, California, on the west coast of the United States. Stinson Beach is located 2.5 miles east-southeast of Bolinas, the population of the Stinson Beach CDP was 632 at the 2010 census. Stinson Beach is about a 35-minute drive from the Golden Gate Bridge on Californias Highway 1 and it is near important attractions such as Muir Woods National Monument, Muir Beach, and Mount Tamalpais. It has a beach, where the cold water promotes fog throughout the year. Stinson Beach is a day trip for people in the San Francisco Bay Area. Although most visitors arrive by car, Stinson Beach is linked to Marin City by a daily bus service. The beach is one of the cleanest in the state, and sandy, Nathan H. Stinson bought land at the site in 1866. The Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway opened in 1896, visitors could ride the train to West Point Inn and then hike or arrange a stagecoach to take them to the beach. In 1906, refugees from the San Francisco earthquake came to the area, Stinson Beach became the official town name in 1916, in honor of the largest landowners, Rose and Nathan Stinson. The first post office opened in 1916, in 1939, the beach was sold to Marin County. It was transferred to the State of California in 1950, and was transferred to the National Park Service in 1977. Stinson Beach is the home for GDTSToo, Inc. the mail order company for the Fare Thee Well Tour. Stinson Beach is located at 37°54′02″N 122°38′40″W, between Bolinas and Muir Beach, the CDP has a total area of 1.46 square miles, of which,1.44 square miles of it is land and 0.02 square miles of it is water. The 2010 United States Census reported that Stinson Beach had a population of 632, the population density was 433.1 people per square mile. The racial makeup of Stinson Beach was 582 White,3 African American,8 Native American,14 Asian,1 Pacific Islander,9 from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 33 persons. The Census reported that 629 people lived in households,3 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, there were 26 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 8 same-sex married couples or partnerships. 147 households were made up of individuals and 45 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 1.86. There were 158 families, the family size was 2.54
35.
Point Reyes National Seashore
–
Point Reyes National Seashore is a 71, 028-acre park preserve located on the Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County, California. As a national seashore, it is maintained by the US National Park Service as an important nature preserve, some existing agricultural uses are allowed to continue within the park. All of the beaches were listed as the cleanest in the state in 2010. The fact that the peninsula is on a different tectonic plate than the east shore of Tomales Bay produces a difference in soils and therefore to some extent a noticeable difference in vegetation. The even smaller town of Olema, about 3 miles south of Point Reyes Station, serves as the gateway to the Seashore and its visitor center, the peninsula includes wild coastal beaches and headlands, estuaries, and uplands. The Seashore also administers the parts of the Golden Gate National Recreation area, such as the Olema Valley, the northernmost part of the peninsula is maintained as a reserve for Tule Elk, which are readily seen there. The preserve is very rich in raptors and shorebirds. The Point Reyes Lighthouse attracts whale-watchers looking for the Gray Whale migrating south in mid-January, the Point Reyes Lifeboat Station is a National Historic Landmark. It is the last remaining example of a rail launched lifeboat station that was common on the Pacific coast and this encompasses 5,965 acres along the coast of Drakes Bay. Kule Loklo, a recreated Coast Miwok village, is a walk from the visitor center. The Point Reyes National Seashore attracts 2.5 million visitors annually, hostelling International USA maintains a 45-bed youth hostel at the Seashore. Point Reyes National Seashore Association, formed in 1964, collaborates with the Seashore on maintenance, restoration, like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems. A large shellfish farm raising Japanese oysters, Crassostrea gigas, was located in Drakes Estero until, under court order, Court appeals to keep the operation in place were dropped in December,2014. The farm was purchased by the National Park Service in 1972, a federal law enacted in 2009 authorized, but did not require, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to renew the permit. The NPS and conservation groups viewed the farm as an inappropriate and environmentally-insensitive use of the estero, the farms supporters argued that it was not ecologically harmful and was important to the local economy. Salazar visited the farm the previous week and later phoned the farms owner to give him the news. The oyster farm closure was challenged in U. S. District Court on January 25,2013, the challenge was rejected by a federal court judge, who ruled that the law gave Salazar unfettered discretion to approve or deny a renewal of the permit. The California Coastal Commission voted on February 7,2013 to unanimously approve cease and desist, an attempt to have the appeals court rehear the case was rejected on January 14,2014 and a petition to the United States Supreme Court was denied on June 30,2014
36.
Mount Tamalpais
–
Mount Tamalpais is a peak in Marin County, California, United States, often considered symbolic of Marin County. Much of Mount Tamalpais is protected public lands such as Mount Tamalpais State Park, the Marin Municipal Water District watershed. Mount Tamalpais is the highest peak in the Marin Hills, which are part of the Northern California Coast Ranges, the elevation at the West Peak, its highest point, where a radar dome currently stands, is at about 2,576 feet. It stood over 2,600 feet before the summit was flattened for the dome construction. The East Peak, the second highest peak, is 2,572 feet. The mountain is visible from the city of San Francisco. The majority of the mountain is contained in protected public lands, including Mount Tamalpais State Park, Muir Woods National Monument, and it adjoins the Golden Gate National Recreation Area as well as several Marin County Open Space Preserves. This provides nearly 40 miles of publicly accessible open space. Some of the slopes of Mount Tamalpais fall within several cities and unincorporated communities of Marin County, including Mill Valley, Tamalpais-Homestead Valley, Stinson Beach. These areas are developed, consisting of mostly low-density single-family homes. In 2004 it was suggested by a team of Penn State geoscientists that a blind thrust fault, like the one caused the infamous Northridge earthquake. This idea was based on the steepness of Mount Tamalpais and of nearby Bolinas Ridge. Major Mount Tamalpais rockforms include serpentine, particularly evident in outcroppings near the summit, a number of serpentine endemic plants grow in the serpentine soils in this part of the mountain. The steep southeastern slopes of Mount Tamalpais drain to Arroyo Corte Madera del Presidio, annual precipitation around Mount Tamalpais varies greatly from around 27. 5–31.5 inches in the drier, eastern foothills to about 59 inches near the Bolinas Ridge, close to the Pacific Ocean. The same fact holds for the steep, south-facing bowl canyon that Muir Woods is located in, as in San Francisco, most of the annual precipitation falls during the winter months. During cold, wet winter storms, the mountain also regularly gets some snowfall, sometimes as much as 6 inches overnight, as observed in February 2001, March 2006, and February 2011. The region sometimes gets hit with strong Pacific storms that may topple trees, and bring hurricane-force winds to exposed, barren areas like the Bolinas Ridge and the summit of Mount Tamalpais. In contrast, the foothills, sheltered from the oceanic breezes and fog, are drier
37.
Cross country running
–
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. Sometimes the runners are referred to as harriers, the course, typically 4–12 kilometres long, may include surfaces of grass, and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road. It is both an individual and a sport, runners are judged on individual times and teams by a points-scoring method. Cross country running is one of the disciplines under the sport of athletics. Although open-air running competitions are pre-historic, the rules and traditions of cross country racing emerged in Britain, the English championship became the first national competition in 1876 and the International Cross Country Championships was held for the first time in 1903. Since 1973 the foremost elite competition has been the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, Cross country courses are laid out on an open or woodland area. The IAAF recommends that courses be grass-covered, and have rolling terrain with frequent, courses consist of one or more loops, with a long straight at the start and another leading to the finish line. Because of variations in conditions, international standardization of cross country courses is impossible, part of cross country runnings appeal is the natural and distinct characteristics of each venues terrain and weather. Terrain can vary from open fields to forest hills and even across rivers and it also includes running down and up hills. According to the IAAF, a cross country course has a loop of 1,750 to 2,000 metres laid out on an open or wooded land. It should be covered by grass, as much as possible, while it is perfectly acceptable for local conditions to make dirt or snow the primary surface, courses should minimize running on roads or other macadamized paths. Parks and golf courses often provide suitable locations, a course at least 5 metres full allows competitors to pass others during the race. Clear markings keep competitors from making wrong turns, and spectators from interfering with the competition, markings may include tape or ribbon on both sides of the course, chalk or paint on the ground, or cones. Some classes use colored flags to indicate directions, red flags for left turns, yellow flags for right turns, courses also commonly include distance markings, usually at each kilometer or each mile. The course should have 400 to 1,200 m of level terrain before the first turn, to reduce contact, however, many courses at smaller competitions have their first turn after a much shorter distance. Courses for international competitions consist of a loop between 1750 and 2000 meters, athletes complete three to six loops, depending on the race. Senior men compete on a 12-kilometre course, senior women and junior men compete on an 8-kilometre course. Junior women compete on a 6-kilometre course, in the United States, college men typically compete on 8 km or 10 km courses, while college women race for 5 km or 6 km
38.
Dipsea Race
–
The Dipsea Race is a trail running event in California, United States. It is the oldest cross-country trail running event and one of the oldest foot races of any kind—in the United States. The 7.5 mile long Dipsea Race has been held annually almost every year since 1905, starting in Mill Valley, the Dipsea celebrated its 106th running on Sunday, June 12th,2016. Since 1983, the race has been held on the second Sunday in June, the Dipsea is well known for its scenic course and challenging trails. The race starts on Throckmorton Avenue in Mill Valley, near Miller Avenue, Stinson Beach is a popular tourist destination, located about a 30-minute drive north of San Francisco on Highway 1, via the Golden Gate Bridge. The ascent over the shoulder of Mount Tam reaches its apex around the top of Cardiac Hill. The Dipseas handicapping system often produces younger or older winners, which adds to the intrigue and suspense created by the races permissible shortcuts, like Suicide. Most participants, with the exception of scratch runners, are given a head based on their age. Because of the nature of the course, the field of competitors is limited to 1,500 and it is a popular race, and thousands of people apply for entry every year. This makes it difficult for people, particularly those who have never run it before, as of June 2016, the defending champion is 58-year-old Brian Pilcher, who also won in 2009 and 2015. The previous eight champions are Diana Fitzpatrick, Hans Schmid, Jamie Rivers, Reilly Johnson, Roy Rivers, Melody-Anne Schultz Russ Kiernan, and Sal Vasquez. Jack Kirk, known as the Dipsea Demon, holds the record of most consecutive competitions in the Dipsea, Kirk finished his last complete race in 2002. He started but did not finish in 2003, but did reach the highest elevation, at the top of Cardiac Hill and he is the oldest person to have competed in the race. Kirk died on January 29,2007, at age 100, despite the use of the Dipsea name, these two races are not officially affiliated with the Dipsea Race. The Double Dipsea is a 13. 7-mile run held on the Saturday thirteen days after the Dipsea, now organized by the Dolphin South End Running Club, San Francisco icon Walt Stack put together the first Double Dipsea race in 1970. The Quad Dipsea is a 28. 4-mile trail ultra, held annually in November on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. The Quad starts and finishes in Mill Valley, following the Dipsea Trail westward to Stinson Beach, out-and-back twice over the course as the Dipsea Race. The race has 9,276 feet of climb and descent
39.
Mountain biking
–
Mountain biking is the sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability, Mountain biking can generally be broken down into multiple categories, cross country, trail riding, all mountain, downhill, freeride and dirt jumping. However, the majority of mountain biking falls into the categories of Trail and this individual sport requires endurance, core strength and balance, bike handling skills, and self-reliance. Advanced riders pursue both steep technical descents and high incline climbs, in the case of freeriding, downhilling, and dirt jumping, aerial manoeuvres are performed off both natural features and specially constructed jumps and ramps. Mountain biking can be performed almost anywhere from a yard to a gravel road. There are aspects of mountain biking that are similar to trail running than regular bicycling. Because riders are often far from civilization, there is an ethic of self-reliance in the sport. Riders learn to repair their broken bikes or flat tires to avoid being stranded miles from help, club rides and other forms of group rides are common, especially on longer treks. A combination sport named mountain bike orienteering adds the skill of map navigation to mountain biking, one of the first examples of bicycles modified specifically for off-road use is the expedition of Buffalo Soldiers from Missoula, Montana to Yellowstone in August 1896. The Swiss military had its first bike regiment in 1891, bicycles were ridden off-road by road racing cyclists who used cyclo-cross as a means of keeping fit during the winter. Cyclo-cross eventually became a sport in its own right in the 1940s, the Rough Stuff Fellowship was established in 1955 by off-road cyclists in the United Kingdom. In Oregon, one Chemeketan club member, D. Gwynn and he named it a mountain bicycle for its intended place of use. This may be the first use of that name, in England in 1968, Geoff Apps, a motorbike trials rider, began experimenting with off-road bicycle designs. By 1979 he had developed a custom built lightweight bicycle which was suited to the wet. They were designed around 2 inch x 650b Nokian snow tyres though a 700x47c version was also produced and these were sold under the Cleland Cycles brand until late 1984. Bikes based on the Cleland design were sold by English Cycles. There were several groups of riders in different areas of the U. S. A. who can make valid claims to playing a part in the birth of the sport. Riders in Crested Butte, Colorado and Cupertino, California tinkered with bikes, at the time, there were no mountain bikes
40.
Constitution of California
–
The Constitution of the State of California is the document that establishes and describes the duties, powers, structure and function of the government of the U. S. state of California. Article 3, Section 2 of the current Constitution references the original boundaries as stated in the 1849 Constitution at Article 7. The result of Progressive mistrust of elected officials, the 1879 constitution is the third longest in the world, californias constitution is one of the longest collections of laws in the world, taking up 110 pages. Part of this length is caused by the fact that many voter initiatives take the form of a constitutional amendment, the constitution can be changed by initiatives passed by voters. Initiatives can be proposed by the governor, legislature, or by popular petition, many of the individual rights clauses in the state constitution have been construed as protecting rights even broader than the Bill of Rights in the federal constitution. This caused the California Supreme Court to find Capital Punishment unconstitional on state Constitutional grounds in the 1972 case of People v. Anderson, the constitution has undergone numerous changes since its original drafting. It was rewritten from scratch several times prior to the drafting of the current 1879 constitution, from 1911, the height of the U. S. Progressive Era, to 1986, the California Constitution was amended or revised over 500 times, the constitution gradually became increasingly bloated, leading to abortive efforts towards a third constitutional convention in 1897,1914,1919,1930,1934 and 1947. By 1962 the constitution had grown to 75,000 words and that year, the electorate approved the creation of a California Constitution Revision Commission, which worked on a comprehensive revision of the constitution from 1964 to 1976. The Commission ultimately removed about 40,000 words from the constitution, many of the signatories to the states original 1849 constitution were themselves prominent in their own right, and are therefore listed below. The list is notable for the inclusion of several Californios, the California Constitution is one of the longest in the world. Unlike other state constitutions, the California Constitution strongly protects the corporate existence of cities and counties, the Constitution gives charter cities, in particular, supreme authority over municipal affairs, even allowing such cities local laws to trump state law. By specifically enabling cities to pay counties to perform governmental functions for them, many of the individual rights clauses in the state constitution have been construed as protecting rights broader than the Bill of Rights in the federal constitution. The constitution also confers upon women equality of rights in entering or pursuing a business, profession, vocation and this is the earliest state constitutional equal rights provision on record. Two universities are expressly mentioned in the constitution, the University of California, UC is one of only nine state-run public universities in the United States whose independence from political interference is expressly guaranteed by the state constitution. Since 1900, Stanford has enjoyed the benefit of a constitutional clause shielding Stanford-owned property from taxes as long as it is used for educational purposes. The constitution of California distinguishes between constitutional amendments and revisions, the latter of which is considered to be a change to the entire constitution. A less extensive change in one or more of its provisions, both require passage of a California ballot proposition by voters, but they differ in how they may be proposed. S
United States
California
Interstate 580
U.S. Route 101 (Redwood Highway)
State Route 1
State Route 37
State Route 131 (Tiburon Boulevard)
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
Marin County, California
