Alex North

Alex North (December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including A Streetcar Named Desire (one of the first jazz-based film scores), Viva Zapata!, Spartacus, Cleopatra, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. He was the first composer to receive an Honorary Academy Award.

Early life

North was born Isadore Soifer in Chester, Pennsylvania to Russian Jewish parents.

Career

North managed to integrate his modernism into typical film music leitmotif structure, rich with themes. One of these became the famous song, "Unchained Melody". Nominated for fifteen Oscars but unsuccessful each time, North is one of only two film composers to receive the Lifetime Achievement Academy Award, the other being Ennio Morricone. North's frequent collaborator as orchestrator was the avant-garde composer Henry Brant. He won the 1968 Golden Globe award for his music to The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968).

His best-known film scores include A Streetcar Named Desire, Death of a Salesman, Viva Zapata!, The Rainmaker, Spartacus, The Misfits, Cleopatra, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Dragonslayer and Under the Volcano. His music for The Wonderful Country makes use of Mexican and American motifs.

Dodge City, Kansas

Dodge City is the county seat of Ford County, Kansas, United States, named after nearby Fort Dodge. The city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town of the Old West. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,340.

History

Fort Mann was the first settlement of non-indigenous people in the area that became Dodge City, built by civilians in 1847 to provide protection for travelers on the Santa Fe Trail. Fort Mann collapsed in 1848 after an Indian attack. In 1850, the U.S. Army arrived to provide protection in the region and constructed Fort Atkinson on the old Fort Mann site. The army abandoned Fort Atkinson in 1853. Military forces on the Santa Fe Trail were reestablished farther north and east at Fort Larned in 1859, but the area remained vacant around what would become Dodge City until the end of the Civil War. In April 1865, the Indian Wars in the West began heating up, and the army constructed Fort Dodge to assist Fort Larned in providing protection on the Santa Fe Trail. Fort Dodge remained in operation until 1882.

City

A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town in general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.

Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, and transportation. The concentration of development greatly facilitates interaction between people and businesses, benefiting both parties in the process, but it also presents challenges to managing urban growth.

A big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are usually associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas, creating numerous business commuters traveling to urban centers for employment. Once a city expands far enough to reach another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. In terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai.

Origins

There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities. Some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces.

Ford Transit Connect

The Ford Transit Connect is a compact panel van developed by Ford Europe and derived from the Ford Focus. The first generation was designed by Peter Horbury and introduced in 2002 to replace the older Ford Escort and Fiesta-based Courier van ranges, which had ceased production in the same year. It has been imported to the North American market since the 2010 model year. In North America, the Transit Connect does not have a direct predecessor; the closest vehicle to its size was the standard-length Ford Aerostar cargo van, which ceased production in 1997.

The Ford Tourneo Connect, a leisure activity vehicle, is a Transit Connect with side windows and rear seats. All Transit Connects bound for the United States are imported in this configuration to avoid the 25% "chicken tax" on imported light trucks. In 2013, US Customs told Ford that they must stop this practice of importing vans disguised as passenger cars.

First generation (2002–2013)

The Transit Connect was introduced in Europe in 2002 as the replacement for sedan delivery vans based on the Escort and the Fiesta. Production of the Escort in Europe ceased in 2000 (although the vans carried on for another two years), whilst the Fiesta Courier was also planned to be discontinued when the fifth-generation Fiesta entered production in 2002. Ford elected not to develop a direct sedan delivery version of the Focus, instead pursuing a purpose built design.

Chrysler 200

The Chrysler 200 is a four-door mid-size car manufactured and marketed by Chrysler since 2010.

The 200 nameplate debuted on the 200C, a prototype hybrid vehicle shown at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit and based on the Chrysler 300. While Chrysler's sales chief, Steven Landry, said it had been approved for production, CEO Sergio Marchionne later said it was not practical. The 200C concept was engineered to accept either a traditional gasoline engine, hybrid or electric powertrain.

First generation (2010–2014)

The first generation Chrysler 200 was a restyled, rebadged and re-engineered version of the third generation Chrysler Sebring that began production in 2006. Although the JS platform had been retained, there were many cosmetic and powertrain changes to the 200. The 2.4 L four-cylinder 173 hp (129 kW) 166 lb·ft (225 N·m) engine with either a four-speed or six-speed automatic transmission carried over. Chrysler's new Pentastar 3.6 L V6 engine was also offered with a six-speed automatic transmission, generating 283 hp (211 kW) and 260 lb·ft (350 N·m) of torque. A flex-fuel version of the 3.6 L Pentastar engine was also available. Other changes included stiffer body mounts, revised suspension geometry with a softer ride rate, a new rear sway bar, and upgraded tires. The 200 was also more highly equipped than the Sebring. Chrysler added features such as LED lighting, thicker seat cushioning with higher quality materials, along with new measures to decrease noise, vibration, and harshness.