1.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
2.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
3.
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
4.
Houston Rockets
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The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association, as a club of the leagues Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its games at the Toyota Center, located in downtown Houston. The Rockets have won two NBA championships and four Western Conference titles, the team was established as the San Diego Rockets, an expansion team originally based in San Diego, in 1967. In 1971, the Rockets moved to Houston, the Rockets won only 15 games in their debut season as a franchise in 1967. In the 1968 NBA draft, the Rockets, picking first overall, selected power forward Elvin Hayes, the Rockets did not finish a season with a winning record until the 1976–77 season, when they traded for center Moses Malone. Malone went on to win the NBA Most Valuable Player award twice and he also led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981 where they were defeated in six games by the Boston Celtics, led by Larry Bird and future Rockets coach Kevin McHale. In 1984, the Rockets drafted center Hakeem Olajuwon, who would be paired with 7 feet 4 inches Ralph Sampson, nicknamed the Twin Towers, they led the team to the 1986 NBA Finals—the second NBA Finals appearance in franchise history—where Houston was again defeated by the Boston Celtics. The Rockets continued to reach the playoffs throughout the 1980s, Rudy Tomjanovich took over as head coach midway through the 1991–92 season, ushering in the most successful period in franchise history. Olajuwon-led Rockets went to the 1994 NBA Finals and won franchises first championship against Patrick Ewing, Houston became the lowest-seeded team in NBA history to win the title. After Yaos early retirement in 2011, the Rockets entered a period of rebuilding, the acquisition of franchise player James Harden in 2012 has launched the Rockets back into championship contention in the mid-2010s. The Rockets, under general manager Daryl Morey, are notable for popularizing the use of advanced statistical analytics in player acquisitions and style of play. The Rockets were founded in 1967 in San Diego by Robert Breitbard, Breitbard brought in Jack McMahon, then coach of the Cincinnati Royals, to serve as the Rockets coach and general manager. The Rockets lost 67 games in their season, which was an NBA record for losses in a season at the time. Because of the low performance and attendance, Breitbard looked to sell the team, and in 1971, Texas Sports Investments bought the franchise for $5.6 million, and moved the team to Houston. The franchise became the first NBA team in Texas, and the nickname Rockets took on greater relevance after the move. It was also around this time that the Rockets would unveil their classic yellow and red logo, winter left soon after, being fired in January 1973 following a ten-game losing streak, and was replaced by Johnny Egan. Egan led the Rockets back to the playoffs in 1975, where the franchise also managed to win their first round against the New York Knicks, subsequently losing to the veteran Boston Celtics in 5 games
5.
Seating capacity
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Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
6.
Populous (company)
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Populous is a global architectural firm specializing in the design of sports facilities, arenas and convention centers, as well as the planning of major special events. Populous formerly operated as HOK Sport Venue Event, which was part of the HOK Group, in January 2009, Populous was created through a management buyout, becoming independently owned and operated. It is reported to be one of the largest architecture firms in the world, in 1983, HOK under Jerry Sincoff created a sports group. The firm initially consisted of eight architects in Kansas City, on several projects, HOK Sport had teamed with international design practice LOBB Partnership, which maintained offices in London, England, and Brisbane, Australia. On HOK Sports 15th anniversary in November 1998, the merged with LOBB. The new practice retained headquarters in all three cities, the Kansas City, Missouri, office was first based in the citys Garment District in the Lucas Place office building. It was the first major company to relocate to the neighborhood in several decades, in March 2009, HOK Sport Venue Event changed its name to Populous after a managers’ buyout by HOK Group. In October 2015, Populous relocated to its new headquarters at the newly renovated Board of Trade building at 4800 Main street near the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City. Other firms with sports design presence in Kansas City that trace their roots to Kivett include Ellerbe Becket Inc. Populous is credited for spearheading a new era of baseball park design in the 1990s, beginning with Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Starting with the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati in 2003, subsequent stadium exteriors featuring this motif opened in Washington and Minnesota. And because the stadiums were designed for baseball instead of several sports, Camden Yards was not only hugely popular with baseball fans. The success of a new ballpark in downtown Baltimore convinced many cities to invest public funds in their own new ballparks to help revitalize struggling urban neighborhoods, from 1992 to 2012, HOK Sport/Populous were the lead architects on 14 Major League Baseball stadiums and helped renovate four existing stadiums. One sportswriter said the attempt to emulate the old parks in this way is contrived. S, Louis, Missouri – St. Louis Cardinals Nationals Park, Washington, D. C. Sir Bobby Robson Stand at Portman Road – Ipswich, England, UK – Ipswich Town Football Club Estádio da Luz – Lisbon, benfica Estádio Algarve – Loulé, Portugal – S. C. Monterrey Stade des Lumières – Décines, France – Olympique Lyonnais City of Manchester Stadium expansion – Manchester, UK – Manchester City F. C. C. Petersburg, Florida (joint project with Lescher & Mahoney Sports & Criswell, Blizzard & Blouin Architects Ervin J. Paul, Minnesota, USA2015 – Final Four - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Official website
7.
National Basketball Association
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The National Basketball Association is the major mens professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier mens professional basketball league in the world. It has 30 teams, and is a member of USA Basketball. The NBA is one of the four professional sports leagues in the United States. NBA players are the worlds best paid athletes by average annual salary per player, the league was founded in New York City on June 6,1946, as the Basketball Association of America. The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3,1949, the leagues several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, the Basketball Association of America was founded in 1946 by owners of the major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Canada. On November 1,1946, in Toronto, Canada, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens, the first basket was made by Ossie Schectman of the Knickerbockers. During its early years, the quality of play in the BAA was not significantly better than in competing leagues or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance, the 1948 ABL finalist Baltimore Bullets moved to the BAA and won that leagues 1948 title, Following the 1948–49 season, the BAA took in the remainder of the NBL, Syracuse, Anderson, Tri-Cities, Sheboygan, Denver, and Waterloo. The new league had seventeen franchises located in a mix of large and small cities, as well as arenas and smaller gymnasiums. The process of contraction saw the leagues smaller-city franchises move to larger cities, the Hawks shifted from the Tri-Cities to Milwaukee in 1951, and then to St. Louis in 1955. The Rochester Royals moved from Rochester, New York, to Cincinnati in 1957, japanese-American Wataru Misaka broke the NBA color barrier in the 1947–48 season when he played for the New York Knicks. He remained the only player in league history prior to the first African-American, Harold Hunter. During this period, the Minneapolis Lakers, led by center George Mikan, won five NBA Championships, to encourage shooting and discourage stalling, the league introduced the 24-second shot clock in 1954. If a team does not attempt to score a goal within 24 seconds of obtaining the ball, play is stopped. In 1957, rookie center Bill Russell joined the Boston Celtics, who already featured guard Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, and went on to lead the club to eleven NBA titles in thirteen seasons. Center Wilt Chamberlain entered the league with the Warriors in 1959 and became a dominant individual star of the 1960s, russells rivalry with Chamberlain became one of the greatest rivalries in the history of American team sports. The 1960s were dominated by the Celtics, led by Russell, Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, Boston won eight straight championships in the NBA from 1959 to 1966
8.
American Hockey League
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The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League. Twenty-seven AHL teams are located in the United States and the three are in Canada. The league offices are located in Springfield, Massachusetts, and its current president is David Andrews, the annual playoff champion is awarded the Calder Cup, named for Frank Calder, the first President of the NHL. The reigning champions are the Lake Erie Monsters, the AHL traces its origins directly to two predecessor professional leagues, the Canadian-American Hockey League, founded in 1926, and the first International Hockey League, established in 1929. With both leagues down to the minimum in membership, the governors of each recognized the need for action to assure their member clubs long-term survival. Their solution was to play an interlocking schedule, while the Can-Am was based in the Northeast and the IHL in the Great Lakes and Midwest, their footprints were close enough for this to be a viable option. The two older leagues eight surviving clubs began joint play in November 1936 as a new circuit of mutual convenience known as the International-American Hockey League. The four Can-Am teams became the I-AHL East Division, with the IHL quartet playing as the West Division. The IHL also contributed its former championship trophy, the F. G. Teddy Oke Trophy, the Oke Trophy is now awarded to the regular-season winners of the AHLs Northeast Division. A little more than a month into that first season, the balance, the makeshift new I-AHL played out the rest of its first season with just seven teams. At the end of the 1936–37 season, a modified playoff format was devised and a new championship trophy. The Syracuse Stars defeated the Philadelphia Ramblers in the final, three-games-to-one, the Calder Cup continues on today as the AHLs playoff championship trophy. After two seasons of interlocking play, the governors of the two leagues seven active teams met in New York City on June 28,1938, maurice Podoloff of New Haven, the former head of the Can-Am League, was elected the I-AHLs first president. The former IHL president, John Chick of Windsor, Ontario, the Bears remain the only one of these eight original I-AHL/AHL franchises to have been represented in the league without interruption since the 1938–39 season. The newly merged circuit also increased its schedule for each team by six games from 48 to 54. After the 1939–40 season the I-AHL renamed itself the American Hockey League and it generally enjoyed both consistent success on the ice and relative financial stability over its first three decades of operation. The number of teams competing for players rose from six to thirty in just seven years. Player salaries at all levels shot up dramatically with the increased demand and this did not seem to affect the AHL at first, as it expanded to 12 teams by 1970
9.
Houston Comets
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The Houston Comets were a Womens National Basketball Association team based in Houston, Texas, United States. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams, the Comets were the first dynasty of the WNBA and won more championships than any other team in the WNBA. The team was folded and disbanded by the league in 2008 because new ownership could not be found, the Comets were known for courting great womens basketball stars. The team had among its members Cynthia Cooper, college and national team standout Sheryl Swoopes, Kim Perrot, who succumbed to cancer in 1999, the Comets were one of the founding teams in the WNBA. They capped off the inaugural season in 1997 with a win over the New York Liberty in the WNBA championship game to win the WNBAs first championship. When the league expanded the season, the Comets were moved from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference. In 1998, they put together a win record of 27-3 for a.900 winning percentage – a WNBA record that still stands. They went on to repeat as champions, defeating the Phoenix Mercury in the first-ever WNBA Finals that year due to the game being extended into a three-game championship series. In 2000, the Comets went all the way to the Finals again,2000 was the Comets last championship and last WNBA Finals appearance in franchise history. After Cooper retired in 2001, Houston clinched the playoffs with a 19-13 record, but lost in the first round in a sweep to the 2001 eventual champion Los Angeles Sparks. In 2002, when Swoopes was injured most of the year with a torn ACL, the Comets were able to qualify for the playoffs with a 24-8 record, but lost to the Utah Starzz in 3 games. In 2003, they qualified to the playoffs for the 7th straight year and they missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history with a record of 13-21 in 2004, but returned to the playoffs with a 19-15 record, finishing 3rd. Houston would return to the playoffs with an 18-16 record,2006 was the last playoff appearance for the Houston Comets. After the Comets season ended in 2006, the Comets underwent major changes during the off-season. In October 2006, team owner Leslie Alexander announced he was selling the Comets, on January 31,2007, the WNBA Board of Governors approved the sale of the team to Hilton Koch, a Houston-based mattress and furniture businessman. Two weeks later, Comets assistant coach Karleen Thompson was named to become the teams new Head Coach, for the 2007 season, they would miss the playoffs for the second time in franchise history after starting the season 0-10, resulting in a 13-21 record. On December 12,2007, team owner Hilton Koch announced that the Comets would be moving from the Toyota Center to Reliant Arena for the 2008 WNBA season and this resulted in a loss of fans. The Compaq Center drew 13,000 fans, but the Reliant Arena could only house 7,200, in 2008, the Comets final year, they only drew an average 6,000 fans per game and sold out four games
10.
Women's National Basketball Association
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The Womens National Basketball Association is a professional womens basketball league in the United States. It is currently composed of twelve teams, the league was founded on April 24,1996 as the womens counterpart to the National Basketball Association, and league play started in 1997. The regular season is played from June to September with the All Star game being played midway through the season in July, many WNBA teams have direct NBA counterparts and play in the same arena. The four aforementioned franchises, along with the Atlanta Dream and the Los Angeles Sparks, are all independently owned. The creation of the WNBA was officially approved by the NBA Board of Governors on April 24,1996, and announced at a conference with Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie. The new WNBA had to compete with the recently-formed American Basketball League, while not the first major womens professional basketball league in the United States, the WNBA is the only league to receive full backing of the NBA. The WNBA logo, Logo Woman, paralleled the NBA logo and was selected out of 50 different designs. On the heels of a gold medal run by the 1996 USA Basketball Womens National Team at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. The first WNBA game featured the New York Liberty facing the Los Angeles Sparks in Los Angeles, the game was televised nationally in the United States on the NBC television network. Penny Toler scored the leagues first point, the WNBA centered its marketing campaign, dubbed We Got Next, around stars Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes. In the leagues first season, Leslies Los Angeles Sparks underperformed, the WNBAs true star in 1997 was WNBA MVP Cynthia Cooper, Swoopes teammate on the Houston Comets. The Comets defeated Lobos New York Liberty in the first WNBA Championship game, the initial We Got Next advertisement ran before each WNBA season until it was replaced with the We Got Game campaign. Two teams were added in 1998 and two more in 1999, bringing the number of teams in the league up to twelve and we expect to keep growing the league. In 1999, the chief competition, the American Basketball League. When a lockout resulted in an abbreviated NBA season, the WNBA saw faltering TV viewership, on May 23,2000, the Houston Comets became the first WNBA team to be invited to the White House Rose Garden. Before this invitation, only mens sports teams had traveled to the White House, at the end of the 2000 season, the Houston Comets won their fourth championship, capturing every title since the leagues inception. Led by the Big Three of Sheryl Swoopes, Tina Thompson, and four-time Finals MVP Cynthia Cooper, under head coach Van Chancellor, the team posted a 98–24 record through their first four seasons. After 2000, Cooper retired from the league and the Comets dynasty came to an end, the top contender in the 2001 season was the Los Angeles Sparks
11.
Downtown Houston
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Downtown Houston is Houstons central business district, containing the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is a network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district. The tunnel system is home to restaurants, shops and services. What is now Downtown made up almost all of the City of Houston until expansions of the city limits in the early 20th century, Downtown Houston was the original founding point of the city. After the Texas Revolution, two New York real estate promoters, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land from Thomas F. L, parrot and his wife, Elizabeth, for $9,428. The Allen brothers first landed in the area where the White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou meet, gail Borden, Jr. a city planner, laid out wide streets for the town. The city was granted incorporation by the Texas legislature on June 5,1837, Houston was the temporary capital of Texas. In 1840, the town was divided into four wards, each with different functions in the community, by 1906 what is now Downtown was divided among six wards. The wards are no longer political divisions, but their names are used to refer to certain areas. Houston became a choice, as only the most powerful storms were able to reach the city. The second came a year later with the 1901 discovery of oil at spindletop, shipping and oil industries began flocking to east Texas, many settling in Houston. From that point forward the area grew substantially, as many skyscrapers were constructed, in the 1980s, however, economic recession canceled some projects and caused others to be scaled back, such as the Bank of the Southwest Tower. Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle wrote that Fox said that area was a neighborhood of Victorian-era homes. Bivins said that the construction of Union Station, which occurred around 1910, hotels opened in the area to service travelers. Afterwards, according to Bivins, the area began a downward slide toward the skid row of the 1990s. Passenger trains stopped going to Union Station in 1974, the construction of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated portions of the historic Third Ward from the rest of the Third Ward and brought those portions into Downtown. Beginning in the 1960s the development of the 610 Loop caused the focus of the Houston area to move away from Downtown Houston, in the mid-1980s, the bank savings and loan crisis forced many tenants in Downtown Houston buildings to retrench, and some tenants went out of business. Barna said that this development further caused Downtown Houston to decline, the Gulf Hotel fire occurred in 1943
12.
Toyota
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Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota, Aichi, Japan. In March 2014, the corporation consisted of 338,875 employees worldwide and. As of 2016, Toyota is the worlds second-largest automotive manufacturer behind German Volkswagen Group, Toyota was the worlds first automobile manufacturer to produce more than 10 million vehicles per year which it has done since 2012, when it also reported the production of its 200-millionth vehicle. As of July 2014, Toyota was the largest listed company in Japan by market capitalization, Toyota is the worlds market leader in sales of hybrid electric vehicles, and one of the largest companies to encourage the mass-market adoption of hybrid vehicles across the globe. Cumulative global sales of Toyota and Lexus hybrid passenger car models achieved the 10 million milestone in January 2017 and its Prius family is the worlds top selling hybrid nameplate with over 6 million units sold worldwide as of January 2017. The company was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda in 1937, as a spinoff from his fathers company Toyota Industries to create automobiles. Three years earlier, in 1934, while still a department of Toyota Industries, it created its first product, the Type A engine, and, in 1936, its first passenger car, the Toyota AA. Toyota Motor Corporation produces vehicles under five brands, including the Toyota brand, Hino, Lexus, Ranz, TMC is part of the Toyota Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the world. Toyota is headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, the main headquarters of Toyota is located in a 4-story building in Toyota. As of 2006, the office has the Toyopet Toyota logo. Vinod Jacob from The Hindu described the headquarters building as modest. In 2013, company head Akio Toyoda reported that it had difficulties retaining foreign employees at the due to the lack of amenities in the city. Its Tokyo office is located in Bunkyo, Tokyo and its Nagoya office is located in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya. In addition to manufacturing automobiles, Toyota provides financial services through its Toyota Financial Services division, since 1950, the two entities had existed as separate companies as a prerequisite for reconstruction in postwar Japan. Shoichiro Toyoda presided over Toyota Motor Sales in preparation for the consummation of the merger occurred in 1982. Shoichiro then succeeded his uncle Eiji as the President of the organization that then became known as Toyota Motor Corporation. Announced the appointment of board members, this was a first for the corporation. Additionally, Vice Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada replaced Fujio Cho as chairman, Toyota is publicly traded on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, and Sapporo exchanges under company code TYO,7203
13.
Lakewood Church Central Campus
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The Lakewood Church Central Campus is a house of worship in Houston, Texas. It is located five miles southwest of Downtown Houston, next to the Greenway Plaza. From 1975 to 2003 the building served as a sports arena, for various professional teams in Houston. From its opening until 1998, the building was known as The Summit, computer technology firm Compaq bought naming rights to the building after that and it was known as Compaq Center until 2003. At that point the name was dropped, coinciding with opening of the Toyota Center as a new sports venue in Houston. Shortly after, the building was leased out to Lakewood Church for use as its main facility, Lakewood Church purchased the building outright in 2010. In 1971, the National Basketball Associations San Diego Rockets were purchased by new ownership group Texas Sports Investments, the city, however, lacked an indoor arena suitable to host a major sports franchise. The largest arena in the city at the time was 34-year-old Sam Houston Coliseum, plans were immediately undertaken to construct the new venue that would become The Summit. The Rockets played their games in various local facilities such as Hofheinz Pavilion. On each end of the arena was a Fair-Play scoreboard with a small two-line monochrome message center, both scoreboards would be upgraded in 1986 with the addition of three front-projection videoboards on top of each scoreboard. The center videoboard showed live footage, fan shots, and replays while the left. It housed the Rockets, Aeros, Comets and several arena football teams until they vacated the arena in favor of the new Toyota Center in downtown Houston. It hosted the NBA Finals on four different occasions,1981,1986,1994 and 1995, in 1994 and 1995, the then-Summit was the site of the deciding games in the championship series and of the ensuing celebrations. The Summit was also host to teams from 1997 to 2000 when the Houston Comets won the WNBA title for four consecutive years. The first professional wrestling event at the Summit was promoted by the American Wrestling Association on May 29,1977, on January 7,1979, Dusty Rhodes won the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship from Mark Lewin. The World Wrestling Federation aired the first TV card from the venue on October 19,1986, featuring Hulk Hogan defending his title against Paul Orndorff and it held the Royal Rumble on January 15,1989. This was the first time the Royal Rumble, won by Big John Studd, was televised on pay-per-view, the newly renamed Compaq Center hosted the No Way Out of Texas PPV on February 15,1998, and Bad Blood on June 15,2003. It hosted an episode of SmackDown
14.
Naming rights
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For properties like a multi-purpose arena, performing arts venue or an athletic field, the term ranges from three to 20 years. Longer terms are common for higher profile venues such as a professional sports facility. The distinctive characteristic for this type of naming rights is that the buyer gets a marketing property to promote products and services, there are several forms of corporate sponsored names. A presenting sponsor attaches the name of the corporation or brand at the end of a generic, usually traditional, a title sponsor replaces the original name of the property with a corporate-sponsored one, with no reference to the previous name. In a few cases, naming rights contracts have been terminated prematurely, such terminations may be the result of contractual options, sponsor bankruptcy, or scandals. Stadium naming may have shifted in recent years to promoting corporate trade names, the record for the highest amount paid for naming rights belongs to Citi Field and Barclays Center, both located in New York City, US. Each garnered deals of $20 million per year for at least 20 years and it ultimately fell short of that benchmark, with MetLife Stadium earning $17 million annually from its naming rights deal with MetLife. Naming rights in United States may have traced back to 1912 with the opening of Fenway Park in Boston. The stadiums owner had owned a realty company called Fenway Realty, despite this, it is more widely believed to have begun in 1926 when William Wrigley, the chewing gum magnate and owner of the Chicago Cubs, named his teams stadium Wrigley Field. In 1953, Anheuser-Busch head and St. Louis Cardinals owner August Busch, Jr. proposed renaming Sportsmans Park, occupied by the Cardinals, Budweiser Stadium. When this idea was rejected by Ford Frick, the Commissioner of Baseball at that time, the name was readily approved, and Anheuser-Busch subsequently released a new product called Busch Bavarian Beer. The name would later be shifted to the Busch Memorial Stadium in 1966, shortened in the 1970s to Busch Stadium, the public reaction to this practice is mixed. Selling the naming rights to a venue has been notably less successful. The general public continued to call the facility what it had known as for over three decades–i. e. After the agreement with 3Com expired, the rights were resold to Monster Cable, the initiative proved largely ceremonial, however, and it was overturned by the passage of Proposition C in 2009 in response to desperate economic times. The naming rights to the park were never resold and the closed in 2014. Sports stadiums with naming rights deals are not limited to the United States, in cricket, the most famous example is The Oval, home of Surrey County Cricket Club. It has had several sponsors over the years, and is known as The Kia Oval, having originally been known as the Kennington Oval
15.
Taxation in the United States
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The United States of America is a federal republic with separate federal, state, and local government. Taxes are imposed in the United States at each of these levels and these include taxes on income, payroll, property, sales, capital gains, dividends, imports, estates and gifts, as well as various fees. In 2010 taxes collected by federal, state and municipal governments amounted to 24. 8% of GDP, in the OECD, only Chile and Mexico taxed less as a share of GDP. However, taxes fall much more heavily on income than on capital income. Divergent taxes and subsidies for different forms of income and spending can also constitute a form of taxation of some activities over others. For example, individual spending on education can be said to be taxed at a high rate. Taxes are imposed on net income of individuals and corporations by the federal, most state, citizens and residents are taxed on worldwide income and allowed a credit for foreign taxes. Income subject to tax is determined under tax accounting rules, not financial accounting principles, most business expenses reduce taxable income, though limits apply to a few expenses. State rules for determining taxable income often differ from federal rules, Federal tax rates vary from 10% to 39. 6% of taxable income. State and local tax rates vary widely by jurisdiction, from 0% to 13. 30% of income, state taxes are generally treated as a deductible expense for federal tax computation. In 2013, the top income tax rate for a high-income California resident would be 52. 9%. The United States is one of two countries in the world that taxes its non-resident citizens on worldwide income, in the manner and rates as residents. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the payment of tax in the case of Cook v. Tait,265 U. S.47. Payroll taxes are imposed by the federal and all state governments and these include Social Security and Medicare taxes imposed on both employers and employees, at a combined rate of 15. 3%. Social Security tax applies only to the first $106,800 of wages in 2009 through 2011, however, benefits are only accrued on the first $106,800 of wages. Employers must withhold income taxes on wages, an unemployment tax and certain other levies apply to employers. Payroll taxes have increased as a share of federal revenue since the 1950s. Property taxes are imposed by most local governments and many special purpose authorities based on the market value of property
16.
Texas House of Representatives
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The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from districts for a term of 2 years. As of the 2010 Census, each represents a average of 167,637 people. There are no limits, with the most senior member, Tom Craddick. The House meets at the State Capitol in Austin, the Speaker of the House is the presiding officer and highest-ranking member of the House. The Speaker pro tempore is primarily a position, but does, by long-standing tradition, preside over the House during its consideration of local. Unlike other state legislatures, the House rules do not formally recognize majority or minority leaders, the unofficial leaders are the Republican Caucus Chairman and the Democratic House Leader, both of whom are elected by their respective caucuses. †Representative was first elected in a special election, eligio De La Garza, II, first Mexican-American to represent his region in the US House and the second Mexican-American from Texas to be elected to Congress. Ray Barnhart, Federal Highway Administrator Anita Lee Blair, first blind woman elected to a state legislature Jack Brooks, Representative and House Majority Leader John Nance Garner, U. S. Representative, Speaker of the House, and Vice President of the United States O. H. Ike Harris, Dallas County representative from 1963–1965, state senator Sarah T, charles Henry Nimitz Born in Bremen. In 1852, built the Nimitz Hotel in Fredericksburg, which now houses the National Museum of the Pacific War, grandfather of United States Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz. Elected to the Texas Legislature 1890, rick Perry, longest serving Governor of Texas, Colonel Alfred P. C. Petsch Lawyer, legislator, civic leader, and philanthropist, veteran of both World War I and World War II. Representative and longest served Speaker of the House Coke R. Stevenson, Governor of Texas Sarah Weddington, weinert, coauthored bill to establish the Pasteur Institute of Texas, authored resolution for humane treatment of state convicts, coauthored the indeterminate sentence and parole law. The Chief Clerk is the custodian of all legal documents within House. When there is an update of the electronic source website. The report noted how representatives register votes for absent members on the Houses automated voting machines, each representative would vote for the nearest absent members. This practice was in violation of a Rule of the House, however
17.
Bob Lanier (politician)
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Robert Clayton Bob Lanier was an American businessman and politician. He served as mayor of the city of Houston, Texas from 1992 to 1998, at the time of his death, he was Houstons oldest living mayor. Lanier averaged 88 percent in his races, with strong support in each political party. As mayor, he was referred to as Mayor Bob. Born to working parents in the refinery town of Baytown, Texas in 1925. Lanier worked while attending college and started his career as a cum laude graduate from the University of Texas Law School in 1949. Initially employed by Baker & Botts law firm, Lanier practiced for a decade before switching gears to pursue a business career, during that business career he worked in banking and eventually established himself as a major Houston real estate developer, focusing mostly on subdivisions and apartments. In the 1991 Houston Mayoral election, most white voters of all economic levels voted for Lanier. His strongest tallies came from affluent neighborhoods like River Oaks, Meyerland, Uptown, Memorial and Sharpstown, Lanier won 75 percent of the votes in his home Houston precinct. In racially mixed areas such as Westbury and Alief, Lanier had the majority of votes with his opponent, Sylvester Turner. Lanier did not win in Montrose and many African-American neighborhoods, the Bob Lanier Public Works Building in Houston is named after him. Lanier also was a member of Houston Community College, which he continued to support until the end of his life. That public safety should be improved, laniers core values were translated into specific programs once he had taken office. By the time he had left office in 1997, he had achieved the following,1,244 Police officers or their equivalents added, crime reduced by 246,323 major felonies compared to 1991 rate. 5,226 units of housing assistance with down payment. 5,986 units of multi-family housing completed or approved by city council,5,287 units of public housing completed or approved by city council. 1,600 homeless beds completed or approved by city council (not including units provided by Harris County in FY1993,20,536 homeless persons and individuals with AIDS assisted. 950 miles of sidewalks constructed or initiated,367.2 miles of hike and bike trails under design and planned
18.
George W. Bush
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George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000 and he is the eldest son of Barbara and George H. W. Bush. After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, Bush married Laura Welch in 1977 and ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election and he is the second president to assume the nations highest office after his father, following the lead of John Quincy Adams. He is also a brother of Jeb Bush, a former Governor of Florida who was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election, the September 11 terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bushs first term as president. Bush responded with what became known as the Bush Doctrine, launching a War on Terror, a military campaign that included the war in Afghanistan in 2001. He also promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, Social Security reform and his tenure included national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and torture. In the 2004 Presidential race, Bush defeated Democratic Senator John Kerry in another close election. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the spectrum for his handling of the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina. Amid this criticism, the Democratic Party regained control of Congress in the 2006 elections, Bush left office in 2009, returning to Texas where he purchased a home in Crawford. He wrote a memoir, Decision Points and his presidential library was opened in 2013. His presidency has been ranked among the worst in historians polls published in the late 2000s and 2010s. George Walker Bush was born on July 6,1946, at Grace-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut, as the first child of George Herbert Walker Bush and his wife, the former Barbara Pierce. He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin, another younger sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U. S and his father, George H. W. Bush, was Ronald Reagans Vice President from 1981 to 1989 and the 41st U. S. President from 1989 to 1993. Bush has English and some German ancestry, along with more distant Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas, until the family moved to Houston after he had completed seventh grade. He then spent two years at The Kinkaid School, a school in Houston. Bush attended high school at Phillips Academy, a school in Andover, Massachusetts
19.
National Hockey League
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Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the playoff champion at the end of each season. At its inception, the NHL had four teams—all in Canada, the league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since consisted of American and Canadian teams. After a labour-management dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, in 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships, attendance, and television audiences. The league draws many highly skilled players from all over the world, canadians have historically constituted the majority of the players in the league, with an increasing percentage of American and European players in recent seasons. The National Hockey League was established in 1917 as the successor to the National Hockey Association, founded in 1909, the NHA began play one year later with seven teams in Ontario and Quebec, and was one of the first major leagues in professional ice hockey. Realizing the NHA constitution left them unable to force Livingstone out, the four teams voted instead to suspend the NHA, frank Calder was chosen as its first president, serving until his death in 1943. The Bulldogs were unable to play, and the remaining owners created a new team in Toronto, the first games were played on December 19,1917. The Montreal Arena burned down in January 1918, causing the Wanderers to cease operations, the NHL replaced the NHA as one of the leagues that competed for the Stanley Cup, which was an interleague competition back then. Toronto won the first NHL title, and then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association for the 1918 Stanley Cup. The Canadiens won the title in 1919, however their Stanley Cup Final against the PCHAs Seattle Metropolitans was abandoned as a result of the Spanish Flu epidemic. Montreal in 1924 won their first Stanley Cup as a member of the NHL, the Hamilton Tigers, won the regular season title in 1924–25 but refused to play in the championship series unless they were given a C$200 bonus. The league refused and declared the Canadiens the league champion after defeated the Toronto St. Patricks in the semi-final. Montreal was then defeated by the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League for the 1925 Stanley Cup and it was the last time a non-NHL team won the trophy, as the Stanley Cup became the de facto NHL championship in 1926 after the WCHL ceased operation. The National Hockey League embarked on rapid expansion in the 1920s, adding the Montreal Maroons, the Bruins were the first American team in the league. The New York Americans began play in 1925 after purchasing the assets of the Hamilton Tigers, the New York Rangers were added in 1926. The Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars were also added after the league purchased the assets of the defunct WCHL, a group purchased the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927 and immediately renamed them the Maple Leafs. The first NHL All-Star Game was held in 1934 to benefit Ace Bailey, the second was held in 1937 in support of Howie Morenzs family when he died of a coronary embolism after breaking his leg during a game
20.
Lee P. Brown
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Lee Patrick Brown is an American criminologist, public administrator, politician and businessman, in 1997 he was the first African-American to be elected mayor of Houston, Texas. He was reelected twice to serve the maximum of three terms from 1998 to 2004 and he has had a long career in law enforcement and academia, leading police departments in Atlanta, Houston and New York over the course of nearly four decades. With practical experience and a doctorate from University of California, Berkeley, he has combined research and his parents, Andrew and Zelma Brown, were sharecroppers in Oklahoma, and Lee Brown was born in Wewoka. His family, including six brothers, moved to California in the wave of the Great Migration. A high school athlete, Brown earned a scholarship to Fresno State University. That year he started as a officer in San Jose, California. Brown was elected as the president of the San Jose Police Officers Association, Brown went on to earn a masters degree in sociology from San José State University in 1964, and became an assistant professor there in 1968. He also earned a masters degree in criminology from University of California. In the same year, He moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1972, Brown was appointed associate director of the Institute of Urban Affairs and Research and professor of Public Administration and director of Criminal Justice programs at Howard University. In 1974, Brown was named Sheriff of Multnomah County, Oregon, in 1978 he was appointed Public Safety Commissioner of Atlanta, Georgia, serving to 1982. Brown and his staff oversaw investigation of the Atlanta Child Murders case, a critical element of reform during Browns tenure was increasing diversity of the police force. By the time Brown resigned to accept the top job in Houston. In 1982 Brown was the first African American to be appointed as Police Chief to the City of Houston and he was first appointed by Mayor Kathy Whitmire. The Houston Police Department seemed to be in constant turmoil and badly needed reform, according to one of Browns colleagues at Atlanta. Everybody knows Lee likes challenges and anyone who knows about the Houston Police Department knows its one helluva challenge, after coming to Houston, Brown quickly began to implement methods of community policing, building relationships with the citys diverse communities. Initially, the officers were unimpressed by what Brown termed Neighborhood-Oriented Policing, old-time officers saw it as simply reverting to a long-discredited policy of walking a beat, and claimed the acronym meant never on patrol. Brown and his staff divided the city into 23 identifiable neighborhoods, Brown emphasized through his officer training sessions that getting feedback from the public was as important as writing up tickets or doing paperwork chores. The neighborhood officers soon recognized the hot spots and the movers and shakers who could be helpful in preventing problems
21.
David Stern
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David Joel Stern is the former commissioner of the National Basketball Association. He started with the Association in 1966 as a counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as General Counsel. He became Commissioner in 1984, succeeding Larry OBrien and he is credited with increasing the popularity of the NBA in the 1990s and 2000s. Stern has served on the Rutgers University Board of Overseers and is a Chair Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University and he is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. On October 25,2012, Stern announced that he would step down as NBA commissioner on February 1,2014,30 years to the day after beginning his tenure as commissioner and his deputy, Adam Silver, is his successor. On February 14,2014, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced that Stern would be a member of its 2014 induction class, in 2016, he became a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame. David Stern was born on September 22,1942 in New York City and he grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey in a Jewish family, and is a graduate of Teaneck High School. Stern attended Rutgers University, where in 1960 he pledged to the Sigma Delta Chapter of Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity. He graduated as a student in 1963, graduated from Columbia Law School in 1966. His first association with the NBA in 1966 was as a counsel at Proskauer Rose. In 1978, Stern became the NBAs General Counsel under Larry OBrien, by 1980, he was Executive Vice President of the NBA. During this time, two decisions were reached with the NBA Players Association, drug testing and team salary cap. The drug testing dealt with the perception that most basketball players used drugs, that the NBA admitted it had a problem, the salary cap created a revenue-sharing system where owner and player were effectively partners. Both of these agreements solidified Sterns standing inside NBA circles, on February 1,1984, Stern became the Commissioner of the NBA, succeeding Larry OBrien. It was during that year that four of the leagues marquee players during the 1980s and 1990s—Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley. The arrival of Michael Jordan, in particular, ushered in a new era of commercial bounty for the NBA, with him came his flair and talent for the game, and that brought in shoe contracts from Nike which helped to give the league even more national attention. Jordan and the two other premier basketball legends of the 1980s, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, took the game to new heights of popularity and profit. By 2004, Stern oversaw the NBA expand from 10 to 30 franchises, expand into Canada, Stern also oversaw the creation of the WNBA, a professional womens basketball league
22.
Louisville, Kentucky
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Louisville is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 30th-most populous city in the United States. It is one of two cities in Kentucky designated as first-class, the other being the states second-largest city of Lexington, Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County. Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and is named after King Louis XVI of France, making Louisville one of the oldest cities west of the Appalachian Mountains. Sited beside the Falls of the Ohio, the major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico, the settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Its main airport is also the site of United Parcel Services worldwide air hub, since 2003, Louisvilles borders have been the same as those of Jefferson County because of a city-county merger. The official name of this consolidated city-county government is the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, the citys total consolidated population as of the 2014 census estimate was 760,026. However, the total of 612,780 excludes other incorporated places and semiautonomous towns within the county and is the population listed in most sources. As of 2014, the MSA had a population of 1,269,702, the history of Louisville spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the areas geography and location. The rapids at the Falls of the Ohio created a barrier to river travel, the first European settlement in the vicinity of modern-day Louisville was on Corn Island in 1778 by Col. George Rogers Clark, credited as the founder of Louisville. Several landmarks in the community are named after him, two years later, in 1780, the Virginia General Assembly approved the town charter of Louisville. The city was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, early residents lived in forts to protect themselves from Indian raids, but moved out by the late 1780s. In 1803, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark organized their expedition across America in the town of Clarksville, Indiana at the present-day Falls of the Ohio opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The citys early growth was influenced by the fact river boats had to be unloaded and moved downriver before reaching the falls. By 1828, the population had swelled to 7,000, the city grew rapidly in its formative years. Louisville was a shipping port and slaves worked in a variety of associated trades. The city was often a point of escape for slaves to the north, during the Civil War, Louisville was a major stronghold of Union forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting, and transportation for numerous campaigns, by the end of the war, Louisville had not been attacked, although skirmishes and battles, including the battles of Perryville and Corydon, took place nearby
23.
NRG Energy
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NRG Energy, Inc. is a large American energy company, dual-headquartered in West Windsor Township, New Jersey, and Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Xcel Energy, and was spun off in bankruptcy in 2004, when the state of Texas deregulated the electricity market, the former Houston Lighting & Power was split into several companies. In 2003 HL&P was split into Texas Genco, CenterPoint Energy, in 2006, NRG Energy bought Texas Genco from a group of private equity firms for roughly $5.9 billion. Afterwards, in May 2009, NRG Energy acquired the operations of Reliant Energy. With those two moves, NRGs holdings represented most of the former HL&P and today serve 1.6 million customers in Texas, the retail operations continue to operate under the Reliant Energy name while the remainder of the former Reliant Energy became RRI Energy. Following the acquisition of Reliant, NRG extended its footprint with the acquisition of Green Mountain Energy in November 2010. NRG Energy completed its acquisition of GenOn Energy in December 2012 for $1.7 billion in stock, the GenOn name was retired in the merger, but the combined company retained GenOns Houston headquarters to coordinate operations. In August 2013, NRG acquired Energy Curtailment Specialists, a Buffalo, the terms of the deal were not disclosed In September 2014, NRG acquired Goal Zero, a manufacturer of personal solar power products. NRG Energy holds the rights to the NRG Park campus in Houston, Texas, home to the NRG Astrodome, NRG Stadium, NRG Arena. On March 12,2014, NRG Energy announced that they would be re-branding Reliant Park to replace Reliant on all signages to NRG, after the GenOn merger, NRG has 47,000 MW of total generation capacity, enough to power approximately 40 million homes. Its nearly 100 power plants are located in 18 states in the Northeast, Chicago area, Gulf Coast, Southwest, Nevada, generation facilities include mostly fossil fuel power plants powered by natural gas, oil, and coal, plus four wind farms and six solar farms. NRG also has a 44% ownership stake in the South Texas Nuclear Generating Station, some facilities use cogeneration and the company also owns 28MW of solar distributed generation. NRGs Retail Power services provide electricity services to more than 2 million homes and businesses, mostly in Arizona, beginning in 2009, NRG began an initiative to become an green energy producer in the United States and started investing money in clean energy projects. They include onshore and offshore wind power, solar energy, photovoltaic, and distributed solar power facilities. In late 2010, NRG launched the EVgo network, the first completely private public car charging network for electric power vehicles. The company signed a two-year agreement beginning in January 2011 to provide 100% renewable energy for the Empire State Building, assemblywoman Aravella Simotas has been chair of a coalition to support the utility in their plan to replace its decades-old, dirty power plant in Astoria with a newer generator. The company stated its intention in 2012 to replace 31 older oil generators with new gas generators that will increase the megawatts of power while reducing emissions, greenStreet New York energy law NRG Energy Website Reliant Energy website EVgo Website
24.
Enron
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Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded in 1985 as the result of a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small companies in the U. S. Fortune named Enron Americas Most Innovative Company for six consecutive years, at the end of 2001, it was revealed that its reported financial condition was sustained by institutionalized, systematic, and creatively planned accounting fraud, known since as the Enron scandal. Enron has since become an example of willful corporate fraud. The scandal also brought into question the practices and activities of many corporations in the United States and was a factor in the enactment of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. The scandal also affected the business world by causing the dissolution of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm. Enron filed for bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York in late 2001 and selected Weil, on September 7,2006, Enron sold Prisma Energy International Inc. its last remaining business, to Ashmore Energy International Ltd. One of Enrons primary predecessors was the Northern Natural Gas Company, the low cost of natural gas and cheap labor supply during the Great Depression helped to fuel the companys early beginnings. The company doubled in size by 1932 and was able to bring the first natural gas to Minnesota, over the next 50 years, Northern expanded even more as it acquired many energy companies and created new divisions within. It was reorganized in 1979 as the subsidiary of a holding company, InterNorth. Although most of the acquisitions conducted were successful, some ended poorly, InterNorth competed with Cooper Industries over a hostile takeover of Crouse-Hinds Company, who manufactured electrical products. InterNorth was ultimately unsuccessful as Cooper bought out Crouse-Hinds, Cooper and InterNorth feuded over numerous suits over the course of the takeover that were eventually settled after the transaction was completed. The subsidiary Northern Natural Gas operated the largest natural gas company in North America. By the 1980s, InterNorth became a force for natural gas production, transmission and marketing as well as for natural gas liquids. The Houston Natural Gas corporation was formed from the Houston Oil Co. in 1925 to provide gas to customers in the Houston market through the building of gas pipelines. This growth was seen from the exploitation of unregulated Texas natural gas market. Towards the end of the 1970s HNGs luck began to run out with rising gas prices forcing clients to switch to oil. In addition, with the passing of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978, after Herrings death in 1981, M. D. Matthews briefly took over as CEO in a 3-year stint with initial success but ultimately saw a big dip in earnings that led to his exit
25.
Kenneth Lay
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Kenneth Lee Ken Lay was an American businessman. He was the CEO and chairman of Enron Corporation, Lay was indicted by a grand jury and was found guilty of 10 counts of securities fraud. Lay died while vacationing, three months before his October 23 sentencing, a preliminary autopsy reported Lay had died of a heart attack caused by coronary artery disease and his conviction was vacated. Lay was born in the Texas County, Missouri town of Tyrone and he went on to earn his Ph. D. in economics from the University of Houston in 1970 and soon after went to work at Exxon Company, USA. Lay worked in the early 1970s as an energy regulator. He became an undersecretary for the Department of the Interior and returned to the world as an executive at Florida Gas Transmission. He was also a member of the board of directors of Eli Lilly and Company, Lay was a friend of the Bush family including Vice President George H. W. Bush. He made monetary contributions, led several committees in the Republican Party and was co-chairman of Bushs 1992 re-election committee, as President, Lay flew Bush and his wife to Washington on an Enron corporate plane. In December 2000, Lay was mentioned as a candidate for President Bushs Treasury Secretary. From 1989 to 2002, his political contributions totaled $5.8 million, with 73% going to Republicans, from 1999 to 2001, he gave $365,410 to the Republican Party. In 1999 Lay was one of Americas highest-paid CEOs with a $42.4 million compensation package, Lay liquidated more than $300 million in Enron stock from 1998 to 2001, mostly in stock options. Lays company, Enron, went bankrupt in 2001 and it was the biggest bankruptcy in U. S. history. In total 20,000 employees lost their jobs and in many cases their life savings, investors also lost billions of dollars. On July 7,2004, Lay was indicted by a jury in Houston, Texas. Lay was charged, in a 65-page indictment, with 11 counts of fraud, wire fraud. The trial commenced on January 30,2006, in Houston, during his trial, Lay claimed that Enron stock made up about 90 percent of his wealth, and that his net worth was in the negative by $250,000. He insisted that Enrons collapse was due to a conspiracy waged by short sellers, rogue executives, on May 25,2006, Lay was found guilty on six counts of conspiracy and fraud by the jury. In a separate trial, Judge Lake ruled Lay was guilty of four additional counts of fraud
26.
George R. Brown Convention Center
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The George R. Brown Convention Center, opened on September 26,1987, is located on the east side of Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The center was named for internationally recognized entrepreneur, engineer, civic leader, philanthropist, George and his brother, Herman, turned Brown & Root into the worlds largest construction and engineering company. Later, he and investors founded, Texas Eastern Transmission Company, the center is owned by the City of Houston and managed by the Houston First Corporation. The facility was completed with a tag of $104.9 million, requiring 30 months. It is the first convention center in the world to have a permanent Bitcoin ATM, the convention center is served by METRORail light rail service at Convention District station. The center sits where the Pillot House, a house owned by the family of one of the founders of the Henke & Pillot supermarket chain, the Pillot House was moved to Sam Houston Park in 1965. The first convention held in the George R. Brown Convention Center began on October 11,1987, the adjacent hotel is the Hilton Americas-Houston, which is connected to the convention center via two skywalks. The hotel and convention center are not connected to the Houston downtown tunnel system, the project expanded the center from 1,150,000 square feet to 1,800,000 square feet. Three exhibit halls were added to increase exhibition space from 451,500 square feet to 853,500 square feet, completion of the project concluded in November 2003, a few months before Super Bowl XXXVIII. At the same time, METRORail was completed on schedule, the International Quilt Festival and International Quilt Market annually draws about 50,000 per year. In 2008, the 12-acre Discovery Green park was completed across the street, a new 700-car parking garage was built under Discovery Green to replace two surface lots removed to make way for the park. The convention center is flanked by Toyota Center and Minute Maid Park, with the new improvements, the George R. Brown Convention Center is one of the 10 largest in the nation. In November 2014 the ground was yet again, this time in preparation for Super Bowl LI. The latest expansion to the GRB includes converting six lanes and the length of five city blocks into ADLA Plaza, a 97, 000-square-foot, pedestrian-friendly, outdoor space. The new Grand Lobby will be 10 stories high and showcase Ed Wilson’s 60 foot sculpture, Soaring in the Clouds, from there, patrons will have improved connectivity to 550,000 square feet of prime exhibition space via a 95,000 square foot Grand Concourse. Construction is set to be completed in the Fall of 2016, opened in Fall 2016 and located at the North end of the GRB is the Marriott Marquis, which connects to the GRB via skybridge. This unique property boasts 1,000 guest rooms and a Texas-shaped lazy river, an additional 2,461 rooms are being added to Houston’s downtown hotel inventory in eight unique properties. By late 2016, there will be more than 7,700 rooms in 24 hotels downtown, after Hurricane Katrina, approximately 7,000 people went to the convention center, due to the Astrodome being at its full capacity
27.
Bond (finance)
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In finance, a bond is an instrument of indebtedness of the bond issuer to the holders. The most common types of bonds include municipal bonds and corporate bonds, interest is usually payable at fixed intervals. Very often the bond is negotiable, that is, the ownership of the instrument can be transferred in the secondary market and this means that once the transfer agents at the bank medallion stamp the bond, it is highly liquid on the second market. Thus, a bond is a form of loan or IOU, the holder of the bond is the lender, the issuer of the bond is the borrower, and the coupon is the interest. Bonds provide the borrower with funds to finance long-term investments, or, in the case of government bonds. Certificates of deposit or short term commercial paper are considered to be money market instruments and not bonds, the main difference is in the length of the term of the instrument. Bonds and stocks are both securities, but the difference between the two is that stockholders have an equity stake in the company, whereas bondholders have a creditor stake in the company. Being a creditor, bondholders have priority over stockholders and this means they will be repaid in advance of stockholders, but will rank behind secured creditors in the event of bankruptcy. Another difference is that usually have a defined term, or maturity, after which the bond is redeemed. An exception is a bond, such as a consol, which is a perpetuity, that is. Bonds are issued by authorities, credit institutions, companies. The most common process for issuing bonds is through underwriting, when a bond issue is underwritten, one or more securities firms or banks, forming a syndicate, buy the entire issue of bonds from the issuer and re-sell them to investors. The security firm takes the risk of being unable to sell on the issue to end investors. Primary issuance is arranged by bookrunners who arrange the bond issue, have contact with investors and act as advisers to the bond issuer in terms of timing. The bookrunner is listed first among all participating in the issuance in the tombstone ads commonly used to announce bonds to the public. The bookrunners willingness to underwrite must be discussed prior to any decision on the terms of the issue as there may be limited demand for the bonds. In contrast, government bonds are issued in an auction. In some cases, both members of the public and banks may bid for bonds, in other cases, only market makers may bid for bonds
28.
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
29.
Ice hockey
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Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponents net to score points. Ice hockey teams usually consist of six each, one goaltender. A fast-paced, physical sport, ice hockey is most popular in areas of North America, Ice hockey is the official national winter sport of Canada, where the game enjoys immense popularity. In North America, the National Hockey League is the highest level for mens hockey, the Kontinental Hockey League is the highest league in Russia and much of Eastern Europe. The International Ice Hockey Federation is the governing body for international ice hockey. The IIHF manages international tournaments and maintains the IIHF World Ranking, worldwide, there are ice hockey federations in 74 countries. Ice hockey is believed to have evolved from simple stick and ball games played in the 18th and 19th century United Kingdom and these games were brought to North America and several similar winter games using informal rules were developed, such as shinny and ice polo. The contemporary sport of ice hockey was developed in Canada, most notably in Montreal, some characteristics of that game, such as the length of the ice rink and the use of a puck, have been retained to this day. Amateur ice hockey began in the 1880s, and professional ice hockey originated around 1900. The Stanley Cup, emblematic of ice hockey club supremacy, was first awarded in 1893 to recognize the Canadian amateur champion, in international competitions, the national teams of six countries predominate, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States. Of the 69 medals awarded all-time in mens competition at the Olympics, in the annual Ice Hockey World Championships,177 of 201 medals have been awarded to the six nations. In Russia and the Ukraine, where hockey can also refer to bandy, the name hockey has no clear origin. The English historian and biographer John Strype did not use the word hockey when he translated the proclamation in 1720, the 1573 Statute of Galway banned a sport called hokie—the hurling of a little ball with sticks or staves. A form of this word was thus being used in the 16th century, though much removed from its current usage. According to the Austin Hockey Association, the word derives from the Scots Gaelic puc or the Irish poc. The blow given by a hurler to the ball with his caman or hurley is always called a puck. Stick-and-ball games date back to pre-Christian times, in Europe, these games included the Irish game of hurling, the closely related Scottish game of shinty and versions of field hockey. IJscolf, a game resembling colf on a surface, was popular in the Low Countries between the Middle Ages and the Dutch Golden Age. It was played with a curved bat, a wooden or leather ball
30.
Daktronics
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The company is known for its electronic LED displays. Daktronics was founded in 1968 by Aelred Kurtenbach and Duane Sander, professors of engineering at South Dakota State University in Brookings. The company began with the design and manufacture of electronic voting systems for state legislatures,1971 Daktronics developed the patented Matside wrestling scoreboard, the first product in the companys line. 1976 Daktronics scoreboards were first used at Olympics, became a publicly traded company, offering shares under the symbol DAKT on the NASDAQ National Market system. 2014 Daktronics installs worlds largest HD display for the Jacksonville Jaguars at EverBank Field, Daktronics acquired Keyframe Inc. a video production and consulting company, in 2000. Today, Daktronics Creative Services designs digital content in HD video, 3D animation and motion graphics, specializing in media networks, Daktronics has been supplying scoreboards and video displays for the Olympics for several years. However, the Olympic Games often have contracts with corporations, such as Swiss Timing. Daktronics has been an influence in NBA rule changes in the 2000s, the company manufactured the first backboard light strips to comply with buzzer beater instant replay rulings, and in 2004, developed a see-through shot clock to improve spectator visibility. Aquatic timing system Scoreboard Official website
31.
AT&T Stadium
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AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium, is a retractable roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League and was completed on May 27,2009 and it is also the home of the Cotton Bowl Classic. It replaced the partially covered Texas Stadium, which served as the Cowboys home from 1971 through the 2008 season, the stadium is sometimes referred to as Jerrys World after Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who originally envisioned it as a large entertainment mecca. The stadium seats 80,000, making it the fifth largest stadium in the NFL by seating capacity, the maximum capacity of the stadium with standing room is 105,000. The record attendance for an NFL game was set in 2009 with a crowd of 105,121, the Party Pass sections are behind seats in each end zone and on a series of six elevated platforms connected by stairways. It also has the worlds 24th largest high definition video screen, originally estimated to cost $650 million, the stadiums current construction cost was $1.15 billion, making it one of the most expensive sports venues ever built. The City of Arlington provided over $325 million in bonds as funding, also, the NFL provided the Cowboys with an additional $150 million loan, following its policy for facilitating financing for the construction of new stadiums. A pair of nearly 300 ft -tall arches spans the length of the stadium dome and it also houses a center-hung Mitsubishi video display board that was the largest high-definition television screen in the world at the time of their installation. It has since surpassed in size by the Panasonic Big Hoss video board at Texas Motor Speedway. Glass doors, allowing each end zone to be opened, were designed and constructed by Dallas-based Haley-Greer glass systems, the retractable roof was designed by structural engineering firm Walter P Moore and the systems were implemented by mechanization consultants Uni-Systems. The electrification of Cowboys Stadiums retractable roof was developed by VAHLE and these Kinetic Architecture fundamentals will be employed in order to create quick conversions of the facility to accommodate a variety of events. When the design was unveiled on December 12,2006, it showed that, from inside the stadium. However, it can be covered by the roof panel to protect against the elements. A Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame is planned for the Hall of Fame level, the drawings also include a site for a large sculpture northeast of the stadium, close to Randol Mill Road. Attorney Bob Cohen, who is representing some of the property owners and it is claimed that the stadium uses more electricity than the whole of Liberia. 1997–2000, The Cowboys hold preliminary talks with Arlington officials about building a stadium there, the team also publicly discusses a $260 million plan to upgrade Texas Stadium. In 2000, the Cowboys compile a list of potential sites, which include Grapevine, Coppell. The team continues negotiating with Irving to renovate Texas Stadium,2001, Jones says Arlington is a leading contender for a $500 million stadium
32.
Panasonic
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Panasonic Corporation, formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. is a Japanese multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Japan. The company was founded in 1918 and has grown to one of the largest Japanese electronics producers alongside Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba. In addition to electronics, it offers non-electronic products and services such as home renovation services, Panasonic is the worlds fourth-largest television manufacturer by 2012 market share. Panasonic has a listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the Nikkei 225. It has a listing on the Nagoya Stock Exchange. From 1935 to October 1,2008, the name was Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. On January 10,2008, the announced that it would change its name to Panasonic Corporation, in effect on October 1,2008. The name change was approved at a meeting on June 26,2008 after consultation with the Matsushita family. Panasonic was founded in 1918 by Kōnosuke Matsushita as a vendor of duplex lamp sockets, in 1927, it began producing bicycle lamps, the first product which it marketed under the brand name National. After the war, Panasonic regrouped as a Keiretsu and began to supply the boom in Japan with radios and appliances. Matsushitas brother-in-law, Toshio Iue, founded Sanyo as a subcontractor for components after World War II, Sanyo grew to become a competitor to Panasonic, but was later acquired by Panasonic in December 2009. In 1961, Konosuke Matsushita traveled to the United States and met with American dealers, the company began producing television sets for the U. S. market under the Panasonic brand name, and expanded the use of the brand to Europe in 1979. The company used the National brand outside of North America from the 1950s to the 1970s, the company also developed a line of home appliances such as rice cookers for the Japanese and Asian markets. Rapid growth resulted in the company opening manufacturing plants around the world, the company debuted a hi-fidelity audio speaker in Japan in 1965 with the brand Technics. This line of high quality stereo components became worldwide favorites, the most famous products being its turntables, such as the SL-1200 record player, known for its high performance, precision and durability. In 1973, Matsushita formed a joint venture with Anam Group, in 1983, Matsushita launched the Panasonic Senior Partner, the first fully IBM PC compatible Japanese-made computer. In November 1990, Matsushita agreed to acquire the American media company MCA Inc. for US$6.59 billion, Matsushita subsequently sold 80% of MCA to Seagram Company for US$7 billion in April 1995. In 1998, Matsushita sold Anam National to Anam Electronics, on May 2,2002, Panasonic Canada marked its 35th anniversary in that country by giving $5-million to help build a music city on Torontos waterfront
33.
Fleetwood Mac
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Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. The band has more than 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the worlds best-selling bands of all time. In 1998, selected members of Fleetwood Mac were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to date, the album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it the eighth-highest-selling album of all time. Due to numerous changes, the only original member present in the band is drummer Mick Fleetwood. Keyboardist Christine McVie, who joined the band in 1970 while married to John McVie, has appeared on every album except the debut album and she left the band in 1998 but returned in 2014. Fleetwood Mac were formed in July 1967 in London when Peter Green left the British blues band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Peter Green had replaced guitarist Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers, and received critical acclaim for his work on their album A Hard Road. After he had been in the Bluesbreakers for some time, Green asked if drummer Mick Fleetwood could replace Aynsley Dunbar, Green had been in two bands with Fleetwood—Peter Bs Looners and the subsequent Shotgun Express. John Mayall agreed and Fleetwood became a member of the band, the Bluesbreakers now consisted of Green, Fleetwood, John McVie and Mayall. Mayall gave Green free recording time as a gift, in which Fleetwood, McVie, the fifth song was an instrumental which Green named after the rhythm section, Fleetwood Mac. Soon after, Green contacted Fleetwood to form a new band, the pair wanted McVie on bass guitar and even named the band Fleetwood Mac as a way to entice him. However, McVie opted to keep his income with Mayall rather than take a risk with a new band. The Green, Fleetwood, Spencer, Brunning version of the band made its debut on 13 August 1967 at the Windsor Jazz, Brunning merely played at a handful of gigs with Fleetwood Mac. Within weeks of this show, John McVie agreed to join the band as permanent bassist, Fleetwood Macs first album, Fleetwood Mac, was a no-frills blues album and was released on the Blue Horizon label in February 1968. In fact there were no players on the album. The album was successful in the UK, hitting No,4, though it did not have any singles on it. The band soon released two singles Black Magic Woman and Need Your Love So Bad, the bands second album, Mr. Wonderful, was released in August 1968. Like the first it was an album, but this time they made a few changes. The album was recorded live in the studio with miked amplifiers and PA system and this method provided the ideal environment for producing this style of music, and gave it an authentically vintage sound
34.
Denver Nuggets
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The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the leagues Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the Denver Larks in 1967 as a franchise of the American Basketball Association. It changed its name again to the Nuggets in 1974, after the name change, the Nuggets played for the final ABA Championship title in 1976, losing to the New York Nets. The team has had periods of success, qualifying for the ABA Playoffs for all seasons from 1967 to the 1976 ABA playoffs where it lost in the finals. The team joined the NBA in 1976 after the ABA–NBA merger and qualified for the NBA playoffs in nine seasons in the 1980s. However, it has not made an appearance in a round since its last year in the ABA. The Nuggets play their games at Pepsi Center, which they share with the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League. In 1967, one of the ABAs charter franchises was awarded to a group in Kansas City, Missouri, however, Trindle was unable to find a suitable arena in the Kansas City area. League commissioner George Mikan suggested moving the team to Denver, after agreeing to name Denver native and former NBA player Vince Boryla as general manager, Trindle moved his team to Denver as the Denver Larks, named after Colorados state bird. The Trindle group was severely undercapitalized, leading Mikan to order the Larks to post a $100,000 performance bond or lose the franchise, hours before the deadline, Trindle sold a ⅔ controlling interest to Denver trucking magnate Bill Ringsby for $350,000. Ringsby then renamed the team the Rockets, after his companys long-haul trucks, playing at the Denver Auditorium Arena, the Rockets had early successes on the court, developing a solid fan base along the way. However, the team had a history of early playoff exits, early, they had a solid lineup led by Byron Beck and Larry Jones, then later by Beck and Ralph Simpson. Wright played four seasons with Denver, controversial rookie Spencer Haywood joined the team for the 1969–70 season. Haywood was one of the first players to turn pro before graduating from college, and the NBA initially refused to let him play in the league. Haywood averaged nearly 30 points and 19.5 rebounds per game in his only ABA season, being named ABA MVP, ABA rookie of the year, the team finished 51-33, winning their division, before exiting the playoffs in the 2nd round. Just before the start of the 1970–71 season, Haywood signed with the Seattle SuperSonics, the team tumbled to a 30-54 record and attendance suffered. Ringsby sold the team to San Diego businessmen Frank Goldberg and Bud Fischer in 1972
35.
Prince (musician)
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Prince Rogers Nelson was an American singer-songwriter, actor, multi-instrumentalist, philanthropist, dancer and record producer. He was an innovator who was known for his eclectic work, flamboyant stage presence, extravagant dress and makeup. His music integrates a variety of styles, including funk, rock, R&B, new wave, soul, psychedelia. He has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the artists of all time. He won seven Grammy Awards, an American Music Award, a Golden Globe Award, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, his first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone ranked Prince at number 27 on its list of 100 Greatest Artists, Prince was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and developed an interest in music as a young child. He signed a contract with Warner Bros. at the age of 18. In 1984, he began referring to his band as the Revolution and released Purple Rain. It quickly became his most critically and commercially successful release, spending 24 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200, after releasing the albums Around the World in a Day and Parade, The Revolution disbanded, and Prince released the double album Sign o the Times as a solo artist. He released three solo albums before debuting the New Power Generation band in 1991. He released five records between 1994 and 1996 before signing with Arista Records in 1998, in 2000, he began referring to himself as Prince again. He released 16 albums after that, including the platinum-selling Musicology and his final album, Hit n Run Phase Two, was first released on the Tidal streaming service on December 12,2015. Prince died from an overdose at his Paisley Park recording studio and home in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on April 21,2016. Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, to Mattie Della and his parents were both African-American and his family ancestry is centered in Louisiana, all four of his grandparents came from that state. Princes father was a pianist and songwriter, and his mother was a jazz singer, Prince was given his fathers stage name, Prince Rogers, which his father used while performing with a jazz group called the Prince Rogers Trio. In 1991, Princes father told A Current Affair that I named my son Prince because I wanted him to do everything I wanted to do, Prince has said he was born epileptic and used to have seizures when he was young. He also said, My mother told me one day I walked in to her and said, Mom, Im not going to be sick anymore, Princes sister Tika Evene was born in 1960. Both siblings developed a keen interest in music, and this was encouraged by their father, Prince wrote his first tune, Funk Machine, on his fathers piano when he was seven
36.
Tool (band)
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Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the groups line-up includes drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, justin Chancellor has been the bands bassist since 1995, replacing their original bassist Paul DAmour. Tool has won three Grammy Awards, performed worldwide tours, and produced albums topping the charts in several countries. Due to Tools incorporation of visual arts and very long and complex releases, the band is described as a style-transcending act and part of progressive rock, psychedelic rock. The relationship between the band and todays industry is ambivalent, at times marked by censorship. During the 1980s, each of the members of Tool moved to Los Angeles. Both Paul DAmour and Adam Jones wanted to enter the film industry, Danny Carey and Keenan performed for Green Jellÿ, and Carey played with Carole King and Pigmy Love Circus. Keenan and Jones met through a friend in 1989. After Keenan played a recording for Jones of his previous band project. They started jamming together and were on the lookout for a drummer, Carey happened to live above Keenan and was introduced to Jones by Tom Morello, an old high school friend of Jones and former member of Electric Sheep. Carey began playing in their sessions because he felt sorry for them. Tools lineup was completed when a friend of Jones introduced them to bassist DAmour, early on, the band fabricated the story that they formed because of the pseudophilosophy lachrymology. Although lachrymology was also cited as an inspiration for the name, Keenan later explained their intentions differently, Tool is exactly what it sounds like. Your tool, use us as a catalyst in your process of finding out whatever it is you need to find out, or whatever it is youre trying to achieve. After almost two years of practicing and performing locally in the Los Angeles area, the band was approached by record companies, in March 1992, Zoo published the bands first effort, Opiate. Described by the band as slam and bang heavy music and the hardest sounding six songs they had written to that point, the bands first music video, Hush, promoted their dissenting views about the then-prominent Parents Music Resource Center and its advocacy of the censorship of music. The video featured the band members naked with their genitalia covered by parental advisory stickers and their mouths covered by duct tape. The band began touring with Rollins Band, Fishbone, and Rage Against the Machine to positive responses, which Janiss Garza of RIP Magazine summarized in September 1992 as a buzz and a strong start
37.
Duran Duran
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Duran Duran are an English new wave and synthpop band formed in Birmingham in 1978. The band grew from alternative sensations in 1982 to mainstream pop stars by 1984, by the end of the decade, membership and music style changes challenged the band before a resurgence in the early 1990s. The group were a band in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. They have placed 14 singles in the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100, when they first emerged, they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene, along with bands such as Spandau Ballet. Soon they would shed this image, using fashion and marketing to build a more refined and they were also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The video age catapulted Duran Duran into the mainstream with the introduction of the 24-hour music channel MTV, many of their videos were shot on 35 mm film, which gave a much more polished look than was standard at the time. They also collaborated with film directors to take the quality a step further. In 1984, the band were early innovators with video technology in their stadium shows. These five members featured the most commercially successful line-up, the reunion of the original five members in the early 2000s created a stir among the bands fans and music media. Andy Taylor left the once again in mid-2006, and guitarist Dom Brown has since been working with the band as a session player. John Taylor and Nick Rhodes formed Duran Duran in Birmingham, England in 1978, at the club they were doing jobs such as John working the door and with Nick deejaying for £10 a night. They began rehearsing and regularly playing at the venue, There were many nearby nightclubs, and the one significant one, where bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash played gigs, was called Barbarellas. They would go on to name the band after a character from Barbarella, the character, played by Milo OShea, is named Dr. Durand Durand. The bands first singer was Stephen Duffy, Simon Colley soon joined Taylor, Rhodes and Duffy. Colley was the original bass player, as John Taylor was the guitarist at this point. This was the first complete line-up of the band played live shows. For drums and percussion, a drum machine belonging to Rhodes was used. Colley left the prior to the addition of Andy Taylor
38.
Astronaut (Duran Duran album)
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Astronaut is the 11th studio album by English pop rock band Duran Duran, first released on 11 October 2004. They continued to write and record intermittently, working hard for a few months at a time, the bands friend Nile Rodgers did preliminary production work on several tracks. The band, frustrated and with thirty new songs approaching completion. During this period, a teaser CD with short versions of a few of the unfinished songs was leaked to the Internet. The songs were Virus, Sunrise, TV vs. Radio, Taste the Summer, Salt in the Rainbow, and Pretty Ones. The band was unhappy about the leak, and with the exception of Sunrise and Taste the Summer. Jason Nevins also remixed Virus, which was not released as a single, the band always plays the Jason Nevins version live in concert. The main version off the CD incorporates tracks from Jason Nevins production, in March, the band donated Beautiful Colours to FIFA, the international governing body for football, to use as its Centennial song. At the awards ceremony for the FIFA100, honouring the top living footballers, however, the song would not be one of those that made the final version of the album. Finally, after negotiations, the band signed a four-album deal with Epic Records in June 2004. The songs were given a final polishing with producer Don Gilmore at Sphere Studios in London, r&B producer Dallas Austin produced three tracks on the album, and Nile Rodgers early production work remains on another three. Limited copies of the new album were released with a bonus DVD which included 45 minutes of live and behind-the-scenes footage from Wembley Arena, the CD/DVD set came in DVD-sized packaging and European copies bore copy protection, a holdover from the BMG days. A worldwide media tour accompanied the September 2004 release of the first single, Sunrise, the remaining four members continued with television appearances, and a stand-in guitarist was hired for the scheduled radio station Christmas concerts in December. Subsequently, January concert dates in Japan had to be postponed until the summer, after drummer Roger Taylor broke a bone in his foot in December. Astronaut debuted at No.3 in the UK album chart, meanwhile, the CD/DVD set debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Top Music Video chart. The album peaked at No.29 in Japan, the first single, Sunrise debuted at No.5 in the UK singles chart. In late November, it reached No.1 on the Billboard Dance Chart, the second single, What Happens Tomorrow was released on 31 January 2005 and entered the UK chart at No.11. It slowly gained radio play in the US, supported by a nearly sold-out tour of North American arenas and stadiums, andy Taylor missed several American dates in February and March to visit his ill father and the subsequent funeral
39.
Janet Jackson
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Janet Damita Jo Jackson is an American singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. After signing a contract with A&M Records in 1982, she became a pop icon following the release of her third studio album Control. Her collaborations with record producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis incorporated elements of rhythm and blues, funk, disco, rap, and industrial beats, which led to crossover success in popular music. In 1991 Jackson signed the first of two record-breaking multimillion-dollar contracts with Virgin Records, establishing her as one of the highest paid artists in the industry. Her debut album under the label, Janet, saw her develop an image as a sex symbol as she began to explore sexuality in her work. That same year, she appeared in her first starring role in Poetic Justice. By the end of the 1990s, she was the second most successful recording artist of the decade, the release of her seventh studio album All for You coincided with a celebration of her impact on popular music as the inaugural MTV Icon. After parting ways with Virgin she released her studio album, Discipline, her first. In 2015 she partnered with BMG Rights Management to launch her own label, Rhythm Nation. Having sold over 100 million records, Jackson is one of the artists in the history of contemporary music. In 2016, Billboard placed her number seven on its list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists, in December 2016, the magazine named her the second most successful dance artist of all-time. One of the worlds most awarded artists, her longevity, records and she has been cited as an inspiration among numerous performers. Janet Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, the youngest of ten children, to Katherine Esther, the Jacksons were lower-middle class and devout Jehovahs Witnesses, although Jackson would later refrain from organized religion. At a young age, her brothers began performing as The Jackson 5 in the Chicago-Gary area, in March 1969, the group signed a record deal with Motown, and soon had their first number-one hit. The family then moved to the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jackson had initially desired to become a horse racing jockey or entertainment lawyer, with plans to support herself through acting. Despite this, she was anticipated to pursue a career in entertainment, at age seven, Jackson performed at the Las Vegas Strip at the MGM Casino. A biography revealed her father, Joseph Jackson, was emotionally withdrawn and she began acting in the variety show The Jacksons in 1976. In 1977, she was selected to have a role as Penny Gordon Woods in the sitcom Good Times
