1.
Honolulu
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Honolulu is the capital and largest city of the U. S. state of Hawaii. It is an part of and the county seat of the City and County of Honolulu on the island of Oahu. The city is the gateway to Hawaii and a major portal into the United States. The city is also a hub for international business, military defense, as well as famously being host to a diverse variety of east-west and Pacific culture, cuisine. Honolulu is the most remote city of its size in the world and is both the westernmost and the southernmost major U. S. city. For statistical purposes, the U. S. Census Bureau recognizes the area commonly referred to as City of Honolulu as a census county division. Honolulu is a financial center of the islands and of the Pacific Ocean. The population of the city of Honolulu was 337,256 as of the 2010 census, while the Honolulu CCD was 390,738, Honolulu means sheltered harbor or calm port. The old name is said to be Kou, a district encompassing the area from Nuuanu Avenue to Alakea Street. The city has been the capital of the Hawaiian Islands since 1845, as of 2015, Honolulu was ranked high on world livability rankings, and was also ranked as the 2nd safest city in the U. S. It is also the most populated Oceanian city outside Australasia and ranks second to Auckland as the most populous city in Polynesia, evidence of the first settlement of Honolulu by the original Polynesian migrants to the archipelago comes from oral histories and artifacts. These indicate that there was a settlement where Honolulu now stands in the 11th century, however, after Kamehameha I conquered Oʻahu in the Battle of Nuʻuanu at Nuʻuanu Pali, he moved his royal court from the Island of Hawaiʻi to Waikīkī in 1804. His court relocated in 1809 to what is now downtown Honolulu, the capital was moved back to Kailua-Kona in 1812. In 1794, Captain William Brown of Great Britain was the first foreigner to sail into what is now Honolulu Harbor, more foreign ships followed, making the port of Honolulu a focal point for merchant ships traveling between North America and Asia. In 1845, Kamehameha III moved the permanent capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom from Lahaina on Maui to Honolulu and he and the kings that followed him transformed Honolulu into a modern capital, erecting buildings such as St. Andrews Cathedral, ʻIolani Palace, and Aliʻiōlani Hale. At the same time, Honolulu became the center of commerce in the islands, an economic and tourism boom following statehood brought rapid economic growth to Honolulu and Hawaiʻi. Modern air travel brings, as of 2007,7.6 million visitors annually to the islands, today, Honolulu is a modern city with numerous high-rise buildings, and Waikīkī is the center of the tourism industry in Hawaiʻi, with thousands of hotel rooms. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of 68.4 square miles
2.
Hawaii
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Hawaii is the 50th and most recent state to have joined the United States of America, having received statehood on August 21,1959. Hawaii is the only U. S. state located in Oceania and it is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean. Hawaii is the only U. S. state not located in the Americas, the state encompasses nearly the entire volcanic Hawaiian archipelago, which comprises hundreds of islands spread over 1,500 miles. At the southeastern end of the archipelago, the eight main islands are—in order from northwest to southeast, Niʻihau, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi, Kahoʻolawe, Maui, and the Island of Hawaiʻi. The last is the largest island in the group, it is called the Big Island or Hawaiʻi Island to avoid confusion with the state or archipelago. The archipelago is physiographically and ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania, Hawaii has over a million permanent residents, along with many visitors and U. S. military personnel. Its capital is Honolulu on the island of Oʻahu, Hawaii is the 8th-smallest and the 11th-least populous, but the 13th-most densely populated of the fifty U. S. states. It is the state with an Asian plurality. The states coastline is about 750 miles long, the fourth longest in the U. S. after the coastlines of Alaska, Florida, the state of Hawaii derives its name from the name of its largest island, Hawaiʻi. A common Hawaiian explanation of the name of Hawaiʻi is that was named for Hawaiʻiloa and he is said to have discovered the islands when they were first settled. The Hawaiian language word Hawaiʻi is very similar to Proto-Polynesian *Sawaiki, cognates of Hawaiʻi are found in other Polynesian languages, including Māori, Rarotongan and Samoan. According to linguists Pukui and Elbert, lsewhere in Polynesia, Hawaiʻi or a cognate is the name of the underworld or of the home, but in Hawaii. A somewhat divisive political issue arose in 1978 when the Constitution of the State of Hawaii added Hawaiian as an official state language. The title of the constitution is The Constitution of the State of Hawaii. Article XV, Section 1 of the Constitution uses The State of Hawaii, diacritics were not used because the document, drafted in 1949, predates the use of the okina and the kahakō in modern Hawaiian orthography. The exact spelling of the name in the Hawaiian language is Hawaiʻi. In the Hawaii Admission Act that granted Hawaiian statehood, the government recognized Hawaii as the official state name. Official government publications, department and office titles, and the Seal of Hawaii use the spelling with no symbols for glottal stops or vowel length
3.
Downtown Honolulu
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Both modern and historic buildings and complexes, many of the latter declared National Historic Landmarks on the National Register of Historic Places, are located in the area, 21°18′12″N 157°51′26″W. Downtown Honolulu can be subdivided into four neighborhoods, each with its own central focus and these areas are the Capitol District, the Central Business District, Chinatown, and the Waterfront. The Capitol District, or Civic Center, contains most of the federal, state, and city buildings and is centered on the Hawaiʻi State Capitol, ʻIolani Palace. It is roughly bounded by Richards Street on the west, Ward Avenue on the east, Vineyard Boulevard to the north, significant buildings in this area include, Old Advertiser Building Aliʻiōlani Hale Bishop Estate Building Frank F. This area contains most of the buildings of Hawaiʻi-based companies. Central to this area is the open-air Oʻahu Market, the area around Nuʻuanu Avenue has become an Arts District, thanks to the renovation of the Hawaiʻi Theatre. S. Recently, cruise ships between the Hawaiian Islands now dock at Honolulu Harbor, the United States Postal Service operates the Downtown Honolulu Post Office at 335 Merchant Street. Downtown Honolulu travel guide from Wikivoyage
4.
Oahu
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Oʻahu or Oahu /oʊˈɑːhu/, known as The Gathering Place, is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to about two-thirds of the population of the U. S. state of Hawaii, the state capital, Honolulu, is on Oʻahus southeast coast. Along with the rest of the Hawaiian Islands, Oahu is one of the largest and northernmost islands of Polynesia, in the greatest dimension, this volcanic island is 44 miles long and 30 miles across. The length of the shoreline is 227 miles, the island is the result of two separate shield volcanoes, the Waiʻanae and Koʻolau Ranges, with a broad valley or saddle between them. The highest point is Kaʻala in the Waiʻanae Range, rising to 4,003 feet above sea level, the island was home to the Kunia Regional SIGINT Operations Center from 1941 to 2012, it is now home to the National Security Agencys Hawaii Cryptologic Center. The island is home to 953,207 people in 2010, Oʻahu has for a long time been known as the Gathering Place. The term Oʻahu has no confirmed meaning in Hawaiian, other than that of the place itself, ancient Hawaiian tradition attributes the names origin in the legend of Hawaiʻiloa, the Polynesian navigator credited with discovery of the Hawaiian Islands. The story relates that he named the island after a son, residents of Oʻahu refer to themselves as locals, no matter their ancestry. The city of Honolulu—largest city, state capital, and main deepwater marine port for the State of Hawaiʻi—is located here. As a jurisdictional unit, the island of Oʻahu is in the Honolulu County, although as a place name. Well-known features found on Oʻahu include Waikīkī, Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay, Kāneʻohe Bay, Kailua Bay, being roughly diamond-shaped, surrounded by ocean and divided by mountain ranges, directions on Oʻahu are not generally described with the compass directions found throughout the world. Locals instead use directions originally using Honolulu as the central point, to go ewa means traveling toward the western tip of the island, Diamond Head is toward the eastern tip, mauka is inland and makai toward the sea. Oʻahu is also known for having the longest rain shower in history, kaneohe Ranch, Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi reported 247 straight days with rain from August 27,1993 to April 30,1994. The island has many one of them being rainbow state. This is because rainbows are a sight in Hawaiʻi due to the frequent rain showers. The average temperature in Oʻahu is around 70 to 85 degrees, the weather during the winter is cooler, but still warm with the average temperature of 68-78 degrees. The windward side is known for some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, lanikai Beach on the windward coast of Oʻahu has been consistently ranked among the best beaches in the world. The 300-year-old Kingdom of Oʻahu was once ruled by the most ancient aliʻi in all of the Hawaiian Islands, the first great king of Oʻahu was Mailikukahi, the lawmaker, who was followed by many generation of monarchs
5.
United States dollar
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The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and its insular territories per the United States Constitution. It is divided into 100 smaller cent units, the circulating paper money consists of Federal Reserve Notes that are denominated in United States dollars. The U. S. dollar was originally commodity money of silver as enacted by the Coinage Act of 1792 which determined the dollar to be 371 4/16 grain pure or 416 grain standard silver, the currency most used in international transactions, it is the worlds primary reserve currency. Several countries use it as their currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Besides the United States, it is used as the sole currency in two British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. A few countries use the Federal Reserve Notes for paper money, while the country mints its own coins, or also accepts U. S. coins that can be used as payment in U. S. dollars. After Nixon shock of 1971, USD became fiat currency, Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution provides that the Congress has the power To coin money, laws implementing this power are currently codified at 31 U. S. C. Section 5112 prescribes the forms in which the United States dollars should be issued and these coins are both designated in Section 5112 as legal tender in payment of debts. The Sacagawea dollar is one example of the copper alloy dollar, the pure silver dollar is known as the American Silver Eagle. Section 5112 also provides for the minting and issuance of other coins and these other coins are more fully described in Coins of the United States dollar. The Constitution provides that a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and that provision of the Constitution is made specific by Section 331 of Title 31 of the United States Code. The sums of money reported in the Statements are currently being expressed in U. S. dollars, the U. S. dollar may therefore be described as the unit of account of the United States. The word dollar is one of the words in the first paragraph of Section 9 of Article I of the Constitution, there, dollars is a reference to the Spanish milled dollar, a coin that had a monetary value of 8 Spanish units of currency, or reales. In 1792 the U. S. Congress passed a Coinage Act, Section 20 of the act provided, That the money of account of the United States shall be expressed in dollars, or units. And that all accounts in the offices and all proceedings in the courts of the United States shall be kept and had in conformity to this regulation. In other words, this act designated the United States dollar as the unit of currency of the United States, unlike the Spanish milled dollar the U. S. dollar is based upon a decimal system of values. Both one-dollar coins and notes are produced today, although the form is significantly more common
6.
Mayor of Honolulu
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An office established in 1900 and modified in 1907, the mayor of Honolulu is elected by universal suffrage of residents of Honolulu to no more than two four-year terms. The mayor of Honolulu is one of two officers elected countywide, the other is the prosecuting attorney. The Mayor of Honolulu is the successor of the Royal Governors of Oʻahu of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the mayor of Honolulu conducts official business from Honolulu Hale, the historic city hall building of Honolulu constructed in 1928 in classical Spanish villa architectural styles. The building is located at the northeast corner of King and Punchbowl Streets in the Hawaii Capital Historic District near downtown Honolulu, other administrative officers under the mayor of Honolulu work from separate municipal buildings on the larger civic campus of which Honolulu Hale is a part. From the courtyard of Honolulu Hale, the mayor of Honolulu is mandated by the City and County charters to make an annual State of the City address, in this speech, the mayor of Honolulu outlines the administrative and legislative agenda for the year. It is also a summation of the budget to be implemented compared to the budget of the previous year, the mayor of Honolulu also organizes the major public services managed by the mayor’s office. He or she oversees dozens of departments, including, Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Honolulu Fire Department, Honolulu Police Department, unlike most United States mayors, the mayor of Honolulu does not oversee any schools, a jurisdiction of the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education. Assisting the mayor of Honolulu in overseeing these departments and other policy issues is the Managing Director of Honolulu. His or her most important role is to serve as acting mayor in absence or resignation, Honolulu is the site of several international governmental and non-governmental organizations and summits, as well as the site of high-profile multinational military exercises called RIMPAC. RIMPAC is conducted by the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Command whose headquarters is in Honolulu’s Salt Lake subdivision, the mayor of Honolulu serves as concurrent chairman of several multinational mayoral bodies and convenes special sessions of international summits regularly. As a Hawaiian tradition, the wife of the mayor of Honolulu is honored with the title of First Lady of Honolulu. Honolulu deemed it necessary to bestow the title to reflect her role in relation to her husband’s extensive international responsibilities. The title is not codified in law but is an honorific. D. G. Anderson Duke Bainum Kirk Caldwell, Acting Mayor of Honolulu, July–October 2010 Charles Djou Ben Lee Patsy Mink City & County of Honolulu Agencies and Departments Timeline of Honolulu
7.
Elvis Presley
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Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is referred to as the King of Rock and Roll. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis and his music career began there in 1954, when he recorded a song with producer Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a popularizer of rockabilly. RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, Presleys first RCA single, Heartbreak Hotel, was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. He was regarded as the figure of rock and roll after a series of successful network television appearances. In November 1956, Presley made his debut in Love Me Tender. In 1958, he was drafted into military service, in 1973, Presley featured in the first globally broadcast concert via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii. Several years of drug abuse severely damaged his health. Presley is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century and he won three Grammys, also receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. Presley was born on January 8,1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Love and Vernon Elvis Presley, Jesse Garon Presley, his identical twin brother, was delivered stillborn 35 minutes before his own birth. Thus, as a child, Presley became close to both parents and formed an especially close bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God, where he found his musical inspiration. Although he was in conflict with the Pentecostal church in his later years, rev. Rex Humbard officiated at his funeral, as Presley had been an admirer of Humbards ministry. Presleys ancestry was primarily a Western European mix, including Scots-Irish, Scottish, German, gladyss great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was possibly a Cherokee Native American. Gladys was regarded by relatives and friends as the dominant member of the small family, Vernon moved from one odd job to the next, evincing little ambition. The family often relied on help from neighbors and government food assistance, the Presleys survived the F5 tornado in the 1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of kiting a check written by the landowner, Orville S. Bean and he was jailed for eight months, and Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives
8.
American Idol
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It began airing on Fox on June 11,2002, and ended on April 7,2016. It started off as an addition to the Idols format based on the British series Pop Idol, the concept of the series involves discovering recording stars from unsigned singing talents, with the winner determined by the viewers in America through telephones, Internet, and SMS text voting. American Idol employed a panel of judges who critiqued the contestants performances, the original judges were record producer and music manager Randy Jackson, pop singer and choreographer Paula Abdul and music executive and manager Simon Cowell. The judging panel for the final consisted of country singer Keith Urban, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez. The first season was hosted by radio personality Ryan Seacrest and comedian Brian Dunkleman, the success of American Idol has been described as unparalleled in broadcasting history. The series was said by a rival TV executive to be the most impactful show in the history of television. It became a springboard for launching the career of many artists as bona fide stars. The series concluded after 15 seasons, American Idol was based on the British show Pop Idol created by Simon Fuller, which was in turn inspired by the New Zealand television singing competition Popstars. Television producer Nigel Lythgoe saw a version in Australia and helped bring it over to Britain, Fuller was inspired by the idea from Popstars of employing a panel of judges to select singers in audition. He then added elements, such as telephone voting by the viewing public. The show debuted in Britain in 2001 with Lythgoe as showrunner—the executive producer and production leader—and Simon Cowell as one of the judges, it was quite successful with the viewing public. In 2001, Fuller, Cowell, and TV producer Simon Jones attempted to sell the Pop Idol format to the United States, but the idea was initially met with poor responses from the Fox television network. However, Rupert Murdoch, head of Foxs parent company, was persuaded to buy the series by his daughter, Elisabeth. The show was renamed American Idol, The Search for a Superstar, Cowell was initially offered the job as showrunner but later turned down the offer, Lythgoe then took over that position. Much to Cowells surprise, it one of the biggest shows of the summer. The show grew into a phenomenon largely due to its personal engagement of the contestants, thereby prompting viewers to vote, by 2004, it had become the most-watched show on U. S. television, a position it then held for seven consecutive seasons. However, after a few years of declining ratings, the network announced that the fifteenth season would be its last. A fourth judge, radio DJ Stryker, was originally chosen, the show decided to continue with the three judges format until season eight
9.
Basketball
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Basketball is a non-contact team sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of five players each. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high that is mounted to a backboard at each end of the court. The game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket being defended by the opposition team during regular play. A field goal scores three points for the team if the player shoots from behind the three-point line. A team can also score via free throws, which are worth one point, the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time is mandated when the score is tied at the end of regulation. The ball can be advanced on the court by passing it to a teammate and it is a violation to lift, or drag, ones pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling. The game has many techniques for displaying skill—ball-handling, shooting, passing, dribbling, dunking, shot-blocking. The point guard directs the on court action of the team, implementing the coachs game plan, Basketball is one of the worlds most popular and widely viewed sports. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague, the FIBA Basketball World Cup attracts the top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for teams, like EuroBasket. The FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup features the top womens basketball teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA, whereas the EuroLeague Women has been dominated by teams from the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League, in early December 1891, Canadian Dr. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied, after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball and these laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable. Eventually a lace-free ball construction method was invented, and this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith, dribbling was not part of the original game except for the bounce pass to teammates. Passing the ball was the means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a part of the game around the 1950s
10.
Volleyball
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Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to points by grounding a ball on the other teams court under organized rules. It has been a part of the program of the Summer Olympic Games since 1964. The receiving team must not let the ball be grounded within their court, the team may touch the ball up to 3 times but individual players may not touch the ball twice consecutively. The team that wins the rally is awarded a point, the ball is usually played with the hands or arms, but players can legally strike or push the ball with any part of the body. A number of consistent techniques have evolved in volleyball, including spiking and blocking as well as passing, setting, the game took some of its characteristics from tennis and handball. Another indoor sport, basketball, was catching on in the area, having been invented just ten miles away in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, only four years before. Mintonette was designed to be a sport, less rough than basketball, for older members of the YMCA. The first rules, written down by William G Morgan, called for a net 6 ft 6 in high, a 25 ft ×50 ft court, and any number of players. A match was composed of nine innings with three serves for each team in each inning, and no limit to the number of contacts for each team before sending the ball to the opponents court. In case of an error, a second try was allowed. Hitting the ball into the net was considered a foul —except in the case of the first-try serve, Volleyball rules were slightly modified by the International YMCA Training School and the game spread around the country to various YMCAs. The first official ball used in volleyball is disputed, some say that Spalding created the first official ball in 1896. In 1917, the game was changed from 21 to 15 points, in 1919, about 16,000 volleyballs were distributed by the American Expeditionary Forces to their troops and allies, which sparked the growth of volleyball in new countries. The first country outside the United States to adopt volleyball was Canada in 1900, an international federation, the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball, was founded in 1947, and the first World Championships were held in 1949 for men and 1952 for women. The sport is now popular in Brazil, in Europe, in Russia, and in countries including China. Beach volleyball, a variation of the played on sand. Volleyball is also a sport at the Paralympics managed by the World Organization Volleyball for Disabled, nudists were early adopters of the game with regular organized play in clubs as early as the late 1920s
11.
Gymnastics
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Gymnastics is a sport involving the performance of exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, endurance and control. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shoulders, chest, alertness, precision, daring, self-confidence and self-discipline are mental traits that can also be developed through gymnastics. Gymnastics evolved from exercises used by the ancient Greeks that included skills for mounting and dismounting a horse, most forms of competitive gymnastics events are governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique. Each country has its own governing body affiliated to FIG. Competitive artistic gymnastics is the best known of the gymnastic events and it typically involves the womens events of vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Mens events are floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings, vault, parallel bars, other FIG disciplines include rhythmic gymnastics, trampolining and tumbling, acrobatic gymnastics and aerobic gymnastics. Disciplines not currently recognized by FIG include wheel gymnastics, aesthetic group gymnastics, mens rhythmic gymnastics and TeamGym. The word gymnastics derives from the common Greek adjective Greek, by way of the related verb γυμνάζω, whose meaning is to train naked, train in gymnastic exercise, generally to train, the verb had this meaning, because athletes in ancient times exercised and competed without clothing. It came into use in the 1570s, from Latin gymnasticus, from Greek gymnastikos fond of or skilled in bodily exercise, Gymnastics originated in ancient Spain and was originally intended for military training, where it was used by soldiers to prepare for warfare. Don Francisco Amorós y Ondeano, was born on February 19,1770 in Valencia and he was a Spanish colonel, and the first person to introduce educative gymnastic in France. Jahn promoted the use of bars, rings and high bars in international competition. The Federation of International Gymnastics was founded in Liege in 1881, by the end of the nineteenth century, mens gymnastics competition was popular enough to be included in the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. During the 1920s, women organized and participated in gymnastics events, the first womens Olympic competition was primitive, only involving synchronized calisthenics and track and field. These games were held in 1928, in Amsterdam, by 1954, Olympic Games apparatus and events for both men and women had been standardized in modern format, and uniform grading structures had been agreed upon. At this time, Soviet gymnasts astounded the world with highly disciplined and difficult performances, television has helped publicize and initiate a modern age of gymnastics. Both mens and womens gymnastics now attract considerable international interest, in 2006, a new points system for Artistic gymnastics was put into play. With an A Score being the difficulty score, which as of 2009 is based on the top 8 high scoring elements in a routine, the B Score, is the score for execution, and is given for how well the skills are performed. The following disciplines are governed by FIG, Artistic Gymnastics is usually divided into Mens and Womens Gymnastics
12.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
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Crosby, Stills & Nash were a folk rock supergroup made up of American singer-songwriters David Crosby and Stephen Stills and English American singer-songwriter Graham Nash. They were known as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young when joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young and they were noted for their intricate vocal harmonies, often tumultuous interpersonal relationships, political activism, and lasting influence on US music and culture. Crosby, Stills & Nash were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Neil Young has also been inducted as a solo artist and as a member of Buffalo Springfield. Prior to the formation of CSN, each member of the band had belonged to another prominent group, due to internal friction, Crosby was dismissed from the Byrds in late 1967. By early 1968, Buffalo Springfield had disintegrated, and after aiding in putting together the final album. He and Crosby began meeting informally and jamming, the result of one encounter in Florida on Crosbys schooner was the song Wooden Ships, composed in collaboration with another guest, Jefferson Airplanes Paul Kantner. Graham Nash had been introduced to Crosby when the Byrds had toured the United Kingdom in 1966, and when the Hollies ventured to California in 1968, Nash resumed his acquaintance with him. At a party in July 1968 at Joni Mitchells house, Nash asked Stills and Crosby to repeat their performance of a new song by Stills, You Dont Have To Cry, the vocals gelled, and the three realized that they had a unique vocal chemistry. Creatively frustrated with the Hollies, Nash decided to quit the band and work with Crosby, from the outset, given their previous experiences, the trio decided not to be locked into a group structure. They used their surnames as identification to ensure independence and a guarantee that the band could not continue without one of them, unlike both the Byrds and the Hollies. They picked up a management team in Elliot Roberts and David Geffen, Roberts kept the band focused and dealt with egos, while Geffen handled the business deals, since, in Crosbys words, they needed a shark and Geffen was it. Stills was already signed to Atlantic Records through his Buffalo Springfield contract, Crosby had been released from his Byrds deal with Columbia, as he was considered to be unimportant and too difficult to work with. Nash, however, was signed to Epic Records through The Hollies. Ertegun worked out a deal with Clive Davis to essentially trade Nash to Atlantic in exchange for Richie Furay and Poco, the trios first album, Crosby, Stills & Nash, was released in May 1969. The eponymously-titled album was a hit in the United States. The album ultimately earned a RIAA triple platinum certification in 1999, retaining Taylor, the band tried initially to hire a keyboard player. Stills initially approached virtuoso multi-instrumentalist Steve Winwood, who was occupied with the newly formed group Blind Faith. Stills and Nash initially held reservations, Stills because of his acrimoniously fraternal history with Young in Buffalo Springfield, but after several meetings, the trio expanded to a quartet with Young a full partner
