1.
Rick Riordan
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Richard Russell Rick Riordan, Jr. is an American author. He is known for writing the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and his books have been translated into 42 languages and sold more than 30 million copies in the US. Twentieth Century Fox has adapted the first two books of his Percy Jackson series as part of a series of films and his books have spawned related media, such as graphic novels and short story collections. Riordans first full-length novel was Big Red Tequila, which became the first in a series and his big breakthrough was The Lightning Thief, the first novel in the five-volume Percy Jackson series, which placed a group of adolescents in a Greco-Roman mythological setting. Since then, Riordan has written The Kane Chronicles trilogy and The Heroes of Olympus series, the Kane Chronicles focused on Egyptian mythology, The Heroes of Olympus was the sequel to the Percy Jackson series. Riordan also helped Scholastic Press develop The 39 Clues series and its spinoffs and his most recent publications are two books in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series, based on Norse mythology. The first book of his The Trials of Apollo series based on Greek mythology, Riordan was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from Alamo Heights High School, and first attended the program at North Texas State. He transferred to the University of Texas in Austin and studied English and History and he taught English and Social Studies for eight years at Presidio Hill School in San Francisco. Rick married Becky Riordan, originally from the East Coast, on June 5,1985, both had been born on June 5, she thirty minutes earlier. They moved from San Antonio to Boston in June 2013 when their two sons were of college and high school age, in conjunction with older son Patrick starting college in Boston, Haley Riordan inspired the Percy Jackson series as a bedtime story. Riordan has created several successful book series, Tres Navarre, an adult mystery series about a Texan private eye, won the Shamus, Anthony, and Edgar Awards. He conceived the idea for the Percy Jackson series as bedtime stories about ancient Greek heroes for his son Haley, Haley had been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia, inspiring Riordan to make the titular protagonist ADHD/dyslexic. Riordan published the first novel in the series, The Lightning Thief in 2005, four sequels followed, the last, The Last Olympian in 2009. Prior to Percy Jackson, Riordan had written the Tres Navarres series and his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series features the titular twelve-year-old who discovers he is the modern-day son of the ancient Greek god Poseidon. Twentieth Century Fox purchased the rights and released a feature film in 2010. Following the success of Percy Jackson, Riordan created The Kane Chronicles, Riordan also created a sequel series to Percy Jackson, The Heroes of Olympus. He also wrote the introduction to the Puffin Classics edition of Roger Lancelyn Greens Tales of the Greek Heroes, edited by Nan Cuba and Riley Robinson
2.
Mayor of Los Angeles
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The Mayor of the City of Los Angeles is the official head and chief executive officer of Los Angeles, California. The mayor is elected for a term and limited to serving no more than two terms. Under the California Constitution, all judicial, school, county, the 42nd and current Mayor is Eric Garcetti. Los Angeles has a mayor council form of government, giving the mayor the position of chief executive of the city. The mayor is given the authority to appoint general managers and commissioners, remove officials from city posts, most of the mayors appointments and proposals are subject to approval by the Los Angeles City Council, but the mayor has the power of veto or approval of City Council legislation. The organization of the mayors office changes with administration, but is almost always governed by a chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, director of communications, and several deputy mayors. The mayor has an office in the Los Angeles City Hall and resides at the Mayors Mansion, Getty House, as of Fiscal Year 2015–16, the salary for the mayor is set at $239,993. The mayor is elected in citywide election, the first round of the election is called the primary election. The candidate receiving a majority of the vote in the primary is elected outright, if no candidate receives a majority, the top two candidates advance to a runoff election, called the general election. The City Charter allows for candidates for the primary election. The mayor is elected to a term, with a limit of two consecutive terms. The office of Mayor is officially nonpartisan by state law, although most mayoral candidates identify a party preference, elections for mayor were held in odd-numbered years from 1909 until 2013. In October 2014, the Los Angeles City Council recommended consolidating city elections with gubernatorial and presidential elections in even-numbered years in an effort to increase turnout. On March 3,2015, voters passed an amendment to extend the term of the mayor elected in 2017 to five-and-a-half years. From 2022 and onward, mayoral elections will be consolidated with the gubernatorial elections held every four years. The most recent election was held in May 2013, incumbent mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was ineligible to run for reelection due to term limits. Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel received the most votes in the March primary, Garcetti assumed office July 1,2013, becoming the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles. In the case of a vacancy, the City Council has a choice to appoint a new mayor or to hold a special election
3.
Tom Bradley (American politician)
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Thomas J. Tom Bradley was the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles, serving from 1973 to 1993. He was the only African-American mayor of city, and his 20 years in office mark the longest tenure by any mayor in the citys history. His 1973 election made him the second African-American mayor of a major U. S. city, Bradley retired in 1993, after his approval ratings began dropping subsequent to the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Bradley unsuccessfully ran for Governor of California in 1982 and 1986 and was defeated each time by the Republican George Deukmejian, the racial dynamics that appeared to underlie his narrow and unexpected loss in 1982 gave rise to the political term the Bradley effect. In 1985, he was awarded the Spingarn Medal from the NAACP, Bradley, the grandson of a slave, was born on December 29,1917, to Lee Thomas and Crenner Bradley, poor sharecroppers who lived in a small log cabin outside Calvert, Texas. He had four siblings — Lawrence, Willa Mae, Ellis, the family moved to Arizona to pick cotton and then in 1924 to the Temple-Alvarado area of Los Angeles, where Lee was a Santa Fe Railroad porter and Crenner was a maid. He was captain of the team and all-city tackle for the high school football team. He went to UCLA in 1937 on a scholarship and joined Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. Among the jobs he had while at college was as a photographer for comedian Jimmy Durante, Bradley left his studies to join the Los Angeles Police Department in 1940. He became one of the just 400 blacks among the departments 4,000 officers and he recalled the downtown department store that refused him credit, although he was a police officer, and the restaurants that would not serve blacks. He told a Times reporter, When I came on the department and you either worked Newton Street Division, which has a predominantly black community, or you worked traffic downtown. You could not work with an officer, and that continued until 1964. Bradley and Ethel Arnold met at the New Hope Baptist Church and were married May 4,1941 and they had three daughters, Lorraine, Phyllis and a baby who died on the day she was born. He and his wife needed an intermediary to buy their first house in Leimert Park. Bradley was attending Southwestern University Law School while a police officer, upon his leaving the office of mayor in 1993, he joined the law offices of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, specializing in international trade issues. His entry into politics came when he decided to become the president of the United Club, the club was part of the California Democratic Council, a liberal, reformist group organized in the 1950s by young Democrats energized by Adlai E. Stevensons presidential campaigns. It was predominantly white and had many Jewish members, thus marking the beginnings of the coalition, which along with Latinos, Unruh, then an up-and-coming state assemblyman. The early stage of Bradleys political career was marked by clashes with African American leaders like onetime California Lieutenant Governor, representative Mervyn Dymally, an Unruh ally
4.
James Hahn
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James Kenneth Jim Hahn is an American lawyer, politician and member of the Democratic Party. Hahn was elected the 40th mayor of Los Angeles in 2001 and he served until 2005, at which time he was defeated in his bid for re-election. Prior to his term as mayor, Hahn served in other capacities for the city of Los Angeles, including deputy city attorney, city controller. Hahn is the individual in the citys history to have been elected to all three citywide offices. He is currently a judge on the Los Angeles County Superior Court. As mayor, Hahn appointed Bill Bratton, the former NYPD commissioner, as chief of Los Angeles. Brattons appointment is seen as leading to the sharp declines in Los Angeles crime rate. Hahn also led the campaign to defeat secession in the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood. Hahn was born on July 3,1950 in Los Angeles, the son of Ramona and Kenneth Hahn, Hahn attended Manchester Avenue Elementary School, Daniel Freeman Elementary School, Horace Mann Junior High School, and Los Angeles Lutheran Middle & Senior High School. He graduated from the Los Angeles campus of Pepperdine University in California magna cum laude with a degree in english. He received his Juris Doctor degree from the Pepperdine University School of Law, in 1994, he was selected as the School of Laws distinguished alumnus. Upon graduation in 1975 until 1979, Hahn worked as a prosecutor, from 1979–1981, he was in private practice with Robert Horner. In 1981 he was elected the city controller of Los Angeles. He was at the time the youngest person elected to that position. Hahn served from 1985 to 2001 as Los Angeles city attorney, as city attorney, Hahn worked to rid LAs neighborhoods of gang activity through the use of gang injunctions. He was involved in crafting state legislation regarding gang enforcement by writing the Street Terrorism Enforcement, during Hahns tenure as city attorney, he led the litigation to stop the Joe Camel ad campaign and reached a settlement of 312 million dollars for the city. He then created the Tobacco Enforcement Project to prevent the sale of tobacco to minors and he re-established a domestic violence unit and sponsored over 30 pieces of relevant legislation, ensuring that California had tough domestic violence laws. Special units in the office included AIDS/HIV discrimination, environmental protection, housing enforcement, consumer protection, special enforcement and he also managed a dispute resolution program
5.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
6.
Republican Party (United States)
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The Republican Party, commonly referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party. The party is named after republicanism, the dominant value during the American Revolution and it was founded by anti-slavery activists, modernists, ex-Whigs, and ex-Free Soilers in 1854. The Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932, there have been 19 Republican presidents, the most from any one party. The Republican Partys current ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats more progressive platform, further, its platform involves support for free market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defense, deregulation, and restrictions on labor unions. In addition to advocating for economic policies, the Republican Party is socially conservative. As of 2017, the GOP is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928, in addition to holding the Presidency, the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress, having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a majority of governorships and state legislatures, the main cause was opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise by which slavery was kept out of Kansas. The Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil, the first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement where the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party was held on March 20,1854, in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin. The name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jeffersons Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 6,1854, in Jackson and it oversaw the preserving of the union, the end of slavery, and the provision of equal rights to all men in the American Civil War and Reconstruction, 1861–1877. The Republicans initial base was in the Northeast and the upper Midwest, with the realignment of parties and voters in the Third Party System, the strong run of John C. Fremont in the 1856 United States presidential election demonstrated it dominated most northern states, early Republican ideology was reflected in the 1856 slogan free labor, free land, free men, which had been coined by Salmon P. Chase, a Senator from Ohio. Free labor referred to the Republican opposition to labor and belief in independent artisans. Free land referred to Republican opposition to the system whereby slaveowners could buy up all the good farm land. The Party strove to contain the expansion of slavery, which would cause the collapse of the slave power, Lincoln, representing the fast-growing western states, won the Republican nomination in 1860 and subsequently won the presidency. The party took on the mission of preserving the Union, and destroying slavery during the American Civil War, in the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. The partys success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s and those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished and was continued mostly to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant ran Horace Greeley for the presidency. The Stalwarts defended Grant and the system, the Half-Breeds led by Chester A. Arthur pushed for reform of the civil service in 1883
7.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
8.
California
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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
9.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
United States
United States Army
First lieutenant
