1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
2.
Las Cruces, New Mexico
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Las Cruces, also known as The City of the Crosses, is the seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2010 census the population was 97,618, Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern New Mexico. The Las Cruces metropolitan area had an population of 213,676 in 2014. It is the city of a metropolitan statistical area which encompasses all of Doña Ana County and is part of the larger El Paso–Las Cruces combined statistical area. Las Cruces is the economic and geographic center of the Mesilla Valley, Las Cruces is the home of New Mexico State University, New Mexicos only land-grant university. The citys major employer is the government on nearby White Sands Test Facility. The Organ Mountains,10 miles to the east, are dominant in the landscape, along with the Doña Ana Mountains, Robledo Mountains. Las Cruces lies 225 miles south of Albuquerque,48 miles northwest of El Paso, spaceport America, which lies 55 miles to the north and with corporate offices in Las Cruces, has seen the completion of several successful manned, suborbital flights. The city is also the headquarters for Virgin Galactic, the worlds first company to offer sub-orbital spaceflights, the area where Las Cruces rose was previously inhabited by the Manso people, with the Mescalero Apache living nearby. The area remained under New Spains control until September 28,1821, the area was also claimed by the Republic of Texas during this time until the end of the Mexican–American War in 1846–48. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 established the United States as owner of this territory, Mesilla became the leading settlement of the area, with more than 2,000 residents in 1860, more than twice what Las Cruces had. The first train reached Las Cruces in 1881, Las Cruces was not affected as strongly by the train as some other villages, as it was not a terminus or a crossroads, but the population did grow to 2,300 in the 1880s. Las Cruces was incorporated as a town in 1907, pat Garrett is best known for his involvement in the Lincoln County War, but he also worked in Las Cruces on a famous case, the disappearance of Albert Jennings Fountain in 1896. Growth of Las Cruces has been attributed to the university, government jobs, New Mexico State University was founded in 1888, and it has grown as Las Cruces has grown. The establishment of White Sands Missile Range in 1944 and White Sands Test Facility in 1963 has been integral to population growth, Las Cruces is the nearest city to each, and they provide Las Cruces work force many high-paying, stable, government jobs. In recent years, the influx of retirees from out of state has also increased Las Cruces population, in the 1960s Las Cruces undertook a large urban renewal project, intended to convert the old downtown into a modern city center. As part of this, St. Genevieves Catholic Church, built in 1859, was razed to make way for a pedestrian mall. The original covered walkways are now being removed in favor of a traditional main street thoroughfare
3.
United States
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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.
New Mexico State University
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New Mexico State University, is a major public, land-grant, research university in Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of education in the state of New Mexico. It was founded to teach agriculture in 1888 as the Las Cruces College, and it received its present name in 1960. NMSU has 18,497 students enrolled as of Fall 2009, NMSU offers a wide range of programs and awards associate, bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees through its main campus and four community colleges. NMSU is the only research-extensive, land-grant, U. S. -Mexico border institution classified by the government as serving Hispanics. In 1888 Hiram Hadley, an Earlham College-educated teacher from Indiana, one decade later, the Territorial Assembly of New Mexico provided for the establishment of an agricultural college and agricultural experiment station with Bill No. 28, the Rodey Act of 1889, designated as the land-grant college for New Mexico under the Morrill Act, it was named the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Las Cruces College then merged with the New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts and it began with 35 students and 6 faculty members. The college was supposed to graduate its first student in 1893, classes met in the two-room adobe building of Las Cruces College until new buildings were erected on the 220-acre campus three miles south of Las Cruces. In February 1891, McFie Hall, popularly known as Old Main, McFie Hall burned down in 1910, but its remains can be seen in the center of Pride Field on the University Horseshoe. In 1960, in move to better represent its operations, New Mexico A&M was renamed New Mexico State University by a constitutional amendment. New Mexico State University now has a 6, 000-acre campus, full-time faculty members number 694, with a staff of 3,113. The university has an international student population from in Central America, the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Asia. The main campus of New Mexico State University occupies 900 acres in the city of Las Cruces and it is located adjacent to Interstate 25, surrounded by desert landscape and greenhouses. The main campus is bordered by Interstate 10, which is the main east-west interstate highway across the southern part of the United States. To the east of Interstate 25, the facilities consist of the Presidents residence, NMSU Golf Course, the A Mountain west slope. About six miles south of campus on 203 acres of land is the Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center, the Las Cruces campus is home to a nesting population of Swainsons hawks, a raptor species currently protected by federal law. The hawks are known for attacking pedestrians randomly, pedestrians are advised to be careful when walking on Stewart Street, as signs have been posted all across
5.
Golf course
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A golf course is the grounds where the game of golf is played. It comprises a series of holes, each consisting of a ground, a fairway, the rough and other hazards. A standard round of golf consists of 18 holes, most courses contain 18 holes, some share fairways or greens, and a subset has nine holes, played twice per round. Par-3 courses consist of nine or 18 holes all of which have a par of three strokes, many older courses are links, often coastal. Courses are private, public, and municipally owned, and typically feature a pro shop, many private courses are found at country clubs. Although a specialty within landscape design or landscape architecture, golf course architecture is considered a field of study. While golf courses often follow the landscape, some modification is unavoidable. This is increasingly the case as new courses are likely to be sited on less optimal land. Bunkers and sand traps are almost always artificial, although other hazards may be natural, the layout of a fairway follows certain traditional principles, such as the number of holes, their par values, and the number of holes of each par value per course. It is also preferable to arrange greens to be close to the tee box of the next hole, to minimize travel distance while playing a round. Combined with the need to all the fairways within what is frequently a compact square or rectangular plot of land. In complex areas, two holes may share the same tee box, fairway, or even green and it is also common for separate tee-off points to be positioned for men, women, and amateurs, each one respectively lying closer to the green. Eighteen-hole courses are traditionally broken down into a front 9 and a back 9. On older courses, the holes may be out in one long loop, beginning and ending at the clubhouse, and thus the front 9 is referred to on the scorecard as out. More recent courses tend to be designed with the front 9, a successful design is as visually pleasing as it is playable. Most golf courses have only par-3, -4, and -5 holes, typical distances for the various holes from standard tees are as follows. Terrain can also be a factor, so that a long downhill hole might be rated par 4 and this compensates for the generally longer distance pro players can put on tee and fairway shots as compared to the average bogey golfer. The game of golf is played in what is called a round and this consists of playing a set number of holes in an order predetermined by the course
6.
Par (score)
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In golf, par is the predetermined number of strokes that a scratch golfer should require to complete a hole, a round, or a tournament. Pars are the component of stroke play, the most common kind of play in professional golf tournaments. The term is used in golf-like sports such as disc golf. The length of each hole from the tee placement to the pin mostly determines par values for each hole, almost invariably, holes are assigned par values between three and five strokes. For a casual player from the middle tees, a hole will be 100–250 yards from the tee to the pin. Par-five holes are typically 470–600 yards, but in the modern game holes of over 600 yards are becoming common in championship play. Other relevant factors in setting the par for the hole include the terrain, some golf courses feature par-sixes and, very rarely, par-sevens, but the latter are not recognised by the United States Golf Association. Typical championship golf courses have par values of 72, comprising four par-threes, ten par-fours, championship course par can be as high as 73 to as low as 69. Most 18-hole courses not designed for championships have a par close to 72, Courses with par above 73 are rare. Courses built on small parcels of land will often be designed as Par-3 Courses in which every hole is a par-three. A golfers score is compared with the par score, if a course has a par of 72 and a golfer takes 75 strokes to complete the course, the reported score is +3, or three-over-par and takes three shots more than par to complete the course. If a golfer takes 70 strokes, the score is –2. Tournament scores are reported by totalling scores relative to par in each round, if each of the four rounds has a par of 72, the tournament par would be 288. For example, a golfer could record a 70 in the first round, a 72 in the round, a 73 in the third round. That would give a tournament score of 284, or four-under-par, scores on each hole are reported in the same way that course scores are given. Names are commonly given to scores on holes relative to par, Bogey means one shot more than par. Going round in bogey originally meant an overall par score, starting at the Great Yarmouth Golf Club in 1890, and based on the phrase bogey man, nationally, players competed against Colonel Bogey, and this gave the title to a 1914 marching tune, Colonel Bogey March. As golf became more standardised in the United States, par scores were tightened and recreational golfers found themselves scoring over par, bogeys are relatively common, even in professional play
7.
Professional Golfers' Association of America
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The Professional Golfers Association of America is an American organization of golf professionals. Founded in 1916 and headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, the PGA of America’s undertaking is to establish and elevate the standards of the profession and to grow interest and participation in the game of golf. The origins of the PGA may be traced to Charles Campbell Worthington and he built the Buckwood Inn, an exclusive resort near Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania, with an eighteen-hole golf course designed by A. W. Tillinghast and completed around 1910. In 1912 Worthington invited a group of golfers to compete on his course. In February 1916 the Professional Golfers Association was established in New York City, one month earlier, the wealthy department store owner Rodman Wanamaker hosted a luncheon at the Wykagyl Country Club in New Rochelle. This gathering of Wanamaker and the leading golf professionals of the day prepared the agenda for the organization of the PGA in New York City a month later. The organizations first president was Robert White, one of Wykagyls best known golf professionals of the time, Golf historians have dubbed Wykagyl The Cradle of the PGA. White is also notable for designing the Ocean Forest Country Club at Myrtle Beach, on April 10,1916, The PGA of America was created via the 35 charter members signing the constitution and bylaws. The first PGA Championship was held October 1916 and won by Jim Barnes, in November 1961, the PGA of America dropped its caucasian only clause by amending its constitution. The 1962 PGA Championship was scheduled for Brentwood Country Club in Los Angeles, with an increase of revenue in the late 1960s due to expanded television coverage, a dispute arose between the touring professionals and the PGA of America on how to distribute the windfall. The tour players wanted larger purses, where the PGA desired the money to go to the fund to help grow the game at the local level. Following the final major in July 1968 at the PGA Championship, several leading tour pros voiced their dissatisfaction with the venue, the increased friction resulted in a new entity in August, what would eventually become the PGA Tour. Tournament players formed their own organization, American Professional Golfers, Inc. independent of the PGA of America, the board consisted of four tour players, three PGA of America executives, and three outside members, initially business executives. It hired its own commissioner and was renamed the PGA Tour in the mid-1970s, in October 2014, PGA president Ted Bishop responded to Ian Poulters criticism of the Ryder Cup captaincy of Nick Faldo and Tom Watson by calling Poulter a lil girl, which led to Bishops firing. The PGA called Bishops statements unacceptable and insensitive gender-based, the PGA enhances the skills of its 28,000 men and women professionals and provide opportunities for amateurs, employers, manufacturers, employees, and the general public. The PGA elevates the standards of the professional golfers vocation, enhance the economic well-being of the individual member, and stimulates interest in the game of golf. These men and women have the option to pursue the PGA education through self-study, by the use of accredited PGA Golf Management Universities, the PGA conducts major events including the PGA Championship, the Womens PGA Championship, and the Senior PGA Championship. The PGA conducts more than 30 tournaments for its members and apprentices, including the PGA Professional National Championship and it also co-organizes the biennial Ryder Cup and PGA Cup
