The Permian is a geologic period and system which extends from 299.0 ± 0.8 to 251.0 ± 0.4 Ma (Million years ago). It is the last period of the Paleozoic Era, following the Carboniferous Period and preceding the Triassic Period of the Mesozoic Era. It was first introduced in 1841 by geologist Sir Roderick Murchison, and is named after the Perm Krai in Russia, where strata from the period was originally found.

The Permian witnessed the diversification of the early amniotes into the ancestral groups of the mammals, turtles, lepidosaurs and archosaurs. The world at the time was dominated by a single supercontinent known as Pangaea, surrounded by a global ocean called Panthalassa. The extensive rainforests of the Carboniferous had disappeared, leaving behind vast regions of arid desert within the continental interior. Reptiles, who could better cope with these dryer conditions, rose to dominance in lieu of their amphibian ancestors. The Permian Period (along with the Paleozoic Era) ended with the largest mass extinction in Earth's history, in which nearly 90% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial species died out. It would take well into the Triassic for life to recover from this catastrophe.

James "Boobie" Miles (born April 16, 1970 in Houston, Texas) was a high school football tail back, and was a primary subject in the book Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger, and the movie inspired by the book. He attended Permian High School in Odessa, Texas.

Miles is a major figure in Bissinger's book as one of the top high school running backs in Texas. He was sought by dozens of top college football schools, but his promising career was derailed by a knee injury.

Miles was born en route to St. Luke's Hospital in Houston with a police escort on April 16, 1970. He lived with his parents until he was three when his mother left him with his maternal grandmother in Houston and moved permanently to Oklahoma without him. Around the age of five Miles went to live with his father, James Sr. The elder Miles was working two jobs, as a truck driver and printing-plant laborer. His father lost custody of Boobie when he started dating a woman who, Boobie claims, physically harmed him. He was placed in a foster home in the Houston area, and eight months later he was put in the care of his uncle L.V. Miles in Odessa, Texas. The two shared the house with L.V.'s wife, Ruby, and her three daughters.