1.
Spalding (sports equipment)
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Spalding is an American sporting goods company founded by Albert Spalding in Chicago, Illinois in 1876. It is now headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the company specializes in the production of balls for many sports, but is best known for its basketballs. Spalding also makes a range of products for baseball, soccer, softball, volleyball. The company was founded in 1876 when Albert Spalding and Wilmer Jesús Pisco Calvo were pitcher and the manager of a team in Chicago. The company standardized early baseballs and developed the modern baseball bat with the bulge at its apex, in 1892, Spalding acquired Wright & Ditson and A. J. Reach, both rival sporting goods companies. In 1893, A. G. Spalding & Brothers purchased the Lamb Knitting Machine Company located in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts and it used this purchase to consolidate its skate manufactory from Newark and its gymnasium goods manufactory from Philadelphia to the Chicopee plant. Lamb, primarily engaged in manufacturing knitting machines, rifles, the Spalding League Ball was adopted by the National League and American Association of Professional Base Ball Clubs for the seasons of 1892–1896 and used by the National League since 1880. It was manufactured by A. G. Spalding & Bros, Chicago, New York & Philadelphia and sold for $1.50 in 1896. During World War II, the company joined five other firms to form the New England Small Arms Corporation for manufacture of M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles. Spalding produced the well-known Spaldeen high-bounce rubber ball, said to be a re-use of defective tennis ball cores, that was sold to city children from 1949. In baseball, Spalding manufactured the official ball of the major leagues through the 1976 season, using the Reach brand on American League balls, since 1977 the official ball has been made by Rawlings. Spalding became a division of the Russell Corporation in 2003, however, that deal did not encompass Spaldings golf operations, which included the Top-Flite, Ben Hogan and Strata brands, which were eventually bought by Callaway later the same year. Horween Leather Company supplies leather to Spalding for indoor Arena Football League footballs, Spalding is mostly known for its basketballs, although the company also manufactures balls and accessories for other sports such as American football, baseball, soccer and volleyball. Besides, softball equipment is offered through companys subsidiary Dudley, Spalding developed its first basketball in 1894 and is currently a leading producer. Since 1983, it has been the Official ball supplier to the National Basketball Association, the company also provides the official ball of the Arena Football League, an indoor American football league. The company was one of the first to use high-profile athletes to endorse its products when tennis player Pancho Gonzales was signed to an exclusive endorsement contract in 1951. In 2006, Spalding and the NBA announced that they would create a new NBA Official Game Ball, with interlocking segments and made with a synthetic material instead of leather. However, many NBA players complained that the new ball became extremely slick after use, wouldnt bounce as high and bounced awkwardly off the rim and backboard
2.
Olympic Games
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The Olympic Games are considered the worlds foremost sports competition with more than 200 nations participating. The Olympic Games are held four years, with the Summer and Winter Games alternating by occurring every four years. Their creation was inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded the International Olympic Committee in 1894, leading to the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. The IOC is the body of the Olympic Movement, with the Olympic Charter defining its structure. The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in changes to the Olympic Games. The IOC has had to adapt to a variety of economic, political, as a result, the Olympics has shifted away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to allowing participation of professional athletes. The growing importance of mass media created the issue of corporate sponsorship, World wars led to the cancellation of the 1916,1940, and 1944 Games. Large boycotts during the Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Games, the Olympic Movement consists of international sports federations, National Olympic Committees, and organising committees for each specific Olympic Games. As the decision-making body, the IOC is responsible for choosing the host city for each Games, the IOC also determines the Olympic programme, consisting of the sports to be contested at the Games. There are several Olympic rituals and symbols, such as the Olympic flag and torch, over 13,000 athletes compete at the Summer and Winter Olympic Games in 33 different sports and nearly 400 events. The first, second, and third-place finishers in each event receive Olympic medals, gold, silver, the Games have grown so much that nearly every nation is now represented. This growth has created numerous challenges and controversies, including boycotts, doping, bribery, every two years the Olympics and its media exposure provide unknown athletes with the chance to attain national and sometimes international fame. The Games also constitute an opportunity for the host city and country to themselves to the world. The Ancient Olympic Games were religious and athletic festivals held every four years at the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia, competition was among representatives of several city-states and kingdoms of Ancient Greece. These Games featured mainly athletic but also combat such as wrestling. It has been written that during the Games, all conflicts among the participating city-states were postponed until the Games were finished. This cessation of hostilities was known as the Olympic peace or truce and this idea is a modern myth because the Greeks never suspended their wars. The truce did allow those religious pilgrims who were travelling to Olympia to pass through warring territories unmolested because they were protected by Zeus
3.
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
4.
Invention
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An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition or process. The invention process is a process within an overall engineering and product development process and it may be an improvement upon a machine or product or a new process for creating an object or a result. An invention that achieves a unique function or result may be a radical breakthrough. Such works are novel and not obvious to others skilled in the same field, an inventor may be taking a big step in success or failure. A patent legally protects the property rights of the inventor. The rules and requirements for patenting an invention vary from country to country, another meaning of invention is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social behaviours adopted by people and passed on to others. The Institute for Social Inventions collected many such ideas in magazines, Invention is also an important component of artistic and design creativity. Inventions often extend the boundaries of knowledge, experience or capability. Brainstorming also can spark new ideas for an invention, collaborative creative processes are frequently used by engineers, designers, architects and scientists. Co-inventors are frequently named on patents, in addition, many inventors keep records of their working process - notebooks, photos, etc. including Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Evangelista Torricelli, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein. In the process of developing an invention, the idea may change. The invention may become simpler, more practical, it may expand, working on one invention can lead to others too. History shows that turning the concept of an invention into a device is not always swift or direct. Inventions may also more useful after time passes and other changes occur. For example, the became more useful once powered flight was a reality. Invention is often a creative process, an open and curious mind allows an inventor to see beyond what is known. Seeing a new possibility, connection, or relationship can spark an invention, inventive thinking frequently involves combining concepts or elements from different realms that would not normally be put together. Sometimes inventors disregard the boundaries between distinctly separate territories or fields, several concepts may be considered when thinking about invention
5.
Physical education
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Physical education, also known as Phys Ed. PE, Gym or Gym class, and known in many Commonwealth countries as physical training or PT, is a course related of maintaining the human body through physical exercises. It is taken during primary and secondary education and encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting to promote health, pupils are able to play games like football, badminton, captain ball, and basketball during most sessions. Unorthodox sports such as, fencing, and skateboarding are occasionally played, in more prestigious secondary schools and in junior colleges, sports such as golf, tennis, shooting, and squash are played. A compulsory fitness exam, NAPFA, is conducted in every school once every year to assess the fitness of the pupils. Pupils are given a series of fitness tests, students are graded by gold, silver, bronze or as fail. NAPFA for pre-enlistees serves as an indicator for an additional 2 months in the compulsory national service if they attain bronze or fail. In Malaysia, pupils from schools to secondary schools are expected to do 2 periods or 1 hour of PE throughout the year except a week before examination. In most secondary schools, games like badminton, sepak takraw, football, netball, basketball, pupils are allowed to bring their own sports equipment to the school with the authorization of the teacher. In the Philippines, PE is mandatory for all years, unless, the school gives the option for a student to do the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme instead for fifth and sixth year. In the Philippines, some schools have integrated martial arts training into their physical education curriculum, in Indonesia, students ranging from Kindergarten to High School have PE integrated with their curriculum. Starting from Junior High School, several games such as basketball, volleyball, cricket, tennis, badminton, kho kho, kabaddi. Several drills and physical training are taught, in Australia, physical education was first made an important part of the curriculum in Government primary and secondary schools in 1981. The policy was outlined in a Ministerial Statement to the Victorian Legislative Assembly by the Minister for Educational Services, in British Columbia, Canada the government has stated in the grade one curriculum that students must participate in physical activity daily five times a week. Also the teacher is responsible for planning Daily Physical Activity which is thirty minutes of mild to moderate physical activity a day not including curriculum physical education classes, the curriculum also requires students in grade one to be knowledgeable about healthy living. For example, students must be able to describe benefits of exercise, identify healthy choices that require them to be more physically active. Ontario, Canada has a procedure in place. On October 6,2005 in Ontario, Canada the Ontario Ministry of Education implemented a Daily Physical Activity policy in Elementary Schools, Grades 1-8
6.
Teacher
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A teacher is a person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competences or values. Informally the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone, in some countries, teaching young people of school age may be carried out in an informal setting, such as within the family, rather than in a formal setting such as a school or college. Some other professions may involve a significant amount of teaching, in most countries, formal teaching is usually carried out by paid professional teachers. This article focuses on those who are employed, as their role, to teach others in a formal education context. A teachers role may vary among cultures, Teachers may provide instruction in literacy and numeracy, craftsmanship or vocational training, the arts, religion, civics, community roles, or life skills. Formal teaching tasks include preparing lessons according to agreed curricula, giving lessons, a teachers professional duties may extend beyond formal teaching. In some education systems, teachers may have responsibility for student discipline, Teaching is a highly complex activity. This is in part because teaching is a practice, that takes place in a specific context. Factors that influence what is expected of teachers include history and tradition, social views about the purpose of education, so the competences required by a teacher are affected by the different ways in which the role is understood around the world. Broadly, there seem to be four models, the teacher as manager of instruction, the teacher as caring person, the teacher as expert learner, some evidence-based international discussions have tried to reach such a common understanding. Scholarly consensus is emerging that what is required of teachers can be grouped under three headings, knowledge craft skills and dispositions and it has been found that teachers who showed enthusiasm towards the course materials and students can create a positive learning experience. These teachers do not teach by rote but attempt to find new invigoration for the materials on a daily basis. One of the challenges facing teachers is that they may have covered a curriculum until they begin to feel bored with the subject. Students who had enthusiastic teachers tend to rate them higher than teachers who didnt show much enthusiasm for the course materials, Teachers that exhibit enthusiasm can lead to students who are more likely to be engaged, interested, energetic, and curious about learning the subject matter. Recent research has found a correlation between teacher enthusiasm and students intrinsic motivation to learn and vitality in the classroom, students who experienced a very enthusiastic teacher were more likely to read lecture material outside of the classroom. There are various mechanisms by which teacher enthusiasm may facilitate higher levels of intrinsic motivation, teacher enthusiasm may contribute to a classroom atmosphere of energy and enthusiasm which feeds student interest and excitement in learning the subject matter. Enthusiastic teachers may also lead to becoming more self-determined in their own learning process. The concept of mere exposure indicates that the teachers enthusiasm may contribute to the expectations about intrinsic motivation in the context of learning
7.
Tulane University
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Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. It is generally considered the top university and the most selective institution of education in the state of Louisiana. From a nationwide perspective, U. S. News & World Report categorizes Tulane as most selective, the school is known to attract a geographically diverse student body, with 85% of undergraduate students coming from over 300 miles away. The school was founded as a medical college in 1834. The institution was privatized under the endowments of Paul Tulane and Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1884, Tulane is the 9th oldest private university in the Association of American Universities, which consists of major research universities in the United States and Canada. The Tulane University Law School and Tulane University Medical School are considered the 12th oldest and 15th oldest law and medical schools, respectively, members of Congress, heads of Federal agencies, two Surgeon Generals of the United States, U. S. At least two Nobel laureates have been affiliated with the University, the university was founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 partly as a response to the fears of smallpox, yellow fever, and cholera in the United States. The university became only the medical school in the South. In 1847, the legislature established the school as the University of Louisiana, a public university. Subsequently, in 1851, the university established its first academic department, the first president chosen for the new university was Francis Lister Hawks, an Episcopalian priest and prominent citizen of New Orleans at the time. The university was closed from 1861 to 1865 during the American Civil War, after reopening, it went through a period of financial challenges because of an extended agricultural depression in the South which affected the nations economy. Paul Tulane, owner of a dry goods and clothing business. This donation led to the establishment of a Tulane Educational Fund and this act created the Tulane University of Louisiana. The university was privatized, and is one of only a few American universities to be converted from a public institution to a private one. In 1884, William Preston Johnston became the first president of Tulane and he had succeeded Robert E. Lee as president of Washington and Lee University after Lees death. He had moved to Louisiana and become president of Louisiana State University, in 1885, the university established its graduate division, later becoming the Graduate School. One year later, gifts from Josephine Louise Newcomb totaling over $3.6 million, Newcomb was the first coordinate college for women in the United States and became a model for such institutions as Pembroke College and Barnard College. In 1894 the College of Technology formed, which would become the School of Engineering
8.
New Orleans
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New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city was 343,829 as of the 2010 U. S. Census, the New Orleans metropolitan area had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,452,502. The city is named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as Regent for Louis XV from 1715 to 1723, as it was established by French colonists and it is well known for its distinct French and Spanish Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine, music, and its celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras. The city is referred to as the most unique in the United States. New Orleans is located in southeastern Louisiana, straddling the Mississippi River, the city and Orleans Parish are coterminous. The city and parish are bounded by the parishes of St. Tammany to the north, St. Bernard to the east, Plaquemines to the south, and Jefferson to the south and west. Lake Pontchartrain, part of which is included in the city limits, lies to the north, before Hurricane Katrina, Orleans Parish was the most populous parish in Louisiana. As of 2015, it ranks third in population, trailing neighboring Jefferson Parish, La Nouvelle-Orléans was founded May 7,1718, by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, on land inhabited by the Chitimacha. It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who was Regent of the Kingdom of France at the time and his title came from the French city of Orléans. The French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris, during the American Revolutionary War, New Orleans was an important port for smuggling aid to the rebels, transporting military equipment and supplies up the Mississippi River. Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez successfully launched a campaign against the British from the city in 1779. New Orleans remained under Spanish control until 1803, when it reverted briefly to French oversight, nearly all of the surviving 18th-century architecture of the Vieux Carré dates from the Spanish period, the most notable exception being the Old Ursuline Convent. Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, thereafter, the city grew rapidly with influxes of Americans, French, Creoles, and Africans. Later immigrants were Irish, Germans, and Italians, Major commodity crops of sugar and cotton were cultivated with slave labor on large plantations outside the city. The Haitian Revolution ended in 1804 and established the republic in the Western Hemisphere. It had occurred several years in what was then the French colony of Saint-Domingue
9.
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
10.
Game
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A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is carried out for remuneration, and from art. However, the distinction is not clear-cut, and many games are considered to be work or art. Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an educational, simulational, attested as early as 2600 BC, games are a universal part of human experience and present in all cultures. The Royal Game of Ur, Senet, and Mancala are some of the oldest known games, ludwig Wittgenstein was probably the first academic philosopher to address the definition of the word game. In his Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein argued that the elements of games, such as play, rules, from this, Wittgenstein concluded that people apply the term game to a range of disparate human activities that bear to one another only what one might call family resemblances. A piece of entertainment is an if it is interactive. Movies and books are cited as examples of non-interactive entertainment, if no goals are associated with a plaything, it is a toy. If it has goals, a plaything is a challenge, if a challenge has no active agent against whom you compete, it is a puzzle, if there is one, it is a conflict. Finally, if the player can only outperform the opponent, but not attack them to interfere with their performance, however, if attacks are allowed, then the conflict qualifies as a game. Crawfords definition may thus be rendered as, an interactive, goal-oriented activity made for money, with agents to play against. A game is a system in which players engage in a conflict, defined by rules. A game is a form of art in which participants, termed players, according to this definition, some games that do not involve choices, such as Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and War are not technically games any more than a slot machine is. A game is an activity among two or more independent decision-makers seeking to achieve their objectives in some limiting context, a game is a form of play with goals and structure. When you strip away the differences and the technological complexities, all games share four defining traits, a goal, rules, a feedback system. Games can be characterized by what the player does and this is often referred to as gameplay. Major key elements identified in this context are tools and rules that define the context of game
