144 USA - The City of Dallas

Dallas is the ninth-largest city in the United States and the third-largest city in the state of Texas. The city's prominence arose from its historical importance as a center for the oil and cotton industries, and its position along numerous railroad lines. The bulk of the city is in Dallas County, of which it is the county seat. However, sections of the city are located in Collin, Denton, Kaufman, and Rockwall counties. According to the 2010 United States Census Bureau, the city had a population of 1,197,816. The U.S. Census Bureau's estimate for the city's population increased to 1,241,162 as of 2012. The city is the largest economic center of the 12-county region. Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area had a population of 6,700,991 as of 2012. The metropolitan economy is the sixth largest in the United States, with a 2012 real GDP of $420.34 billion. In 2013 the metropolitan area led the nation with the largest year-over-year increase in employment, and advanced to become the fourth-largest employment center in the nation (behind NYC, LA and Chicago) with more than three million non-farm jobs.

Dallas was founded in 1841 and formally incorporated as a city in February 1856. The city's economy is primarily based on banking, commerce, telecommunications, computer technology, energy, healthcare and medical research, transportation and logistics. The city is home to the third-largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the nation. Located in North Texas, Dallas is the main core of the largest inland metropolitan area in the United States that lacks any navigable link to the sea. It was developed because of construction of major railroad lines here; it became a hub in 1873. It was connected to Houston and other major cities that were railroad cities. It was booming by the late 19th and early 20th century, and was the world center of leather manufacture and harnessmaking. The interstate highway system in the 1950s and 1960s reinforced and consolidated Dallas' prominence. As with the railroads, east/west and north/south highways converged here. Four major interstate highways converge in the city, and a fifth interstate loops around it. Dallas developed a strong industrial and financial sector, and a major inland port, due largely to the presence of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, one of the largest and busiest airports in the world. In the latest rankings released in 2013, Dallas was rated as a "beta plus" world city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group & Network. Dallas is also ranked 14th in world rankings of GDP by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

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Kevin Grimes (holiday card) sent from Pocatello (USA) on 02.01.2014

137 USA - Cowboys Stadium in Arlington

AT&T Stadium , originally known as Cowboys Stadium, is a city-owned stadium with a retractable roof in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. It replaced the partially covered Texas Stadium, which opened in 1971 and served as the Cowboys' home through the 2008 season. It was completed on May 27, 2009. The stadium seats 80,000, making it the fourth largest stadium in the NFL by seating capacity. The maximum capacity of the stadium, including standing room, is 105,000. The Party Pass (open areas) sections are behind seats in each end zone and on a series of six elevated platforms connected by stairways. It has the world's largest column-free interior and the fourth largest high definition video screen, which hangs from 20-yard line to 20-yard line. The facility can also be used for a variety of other activities outside of its main purpose (professional football) such as concerts, basketball games, boxing matches, college football and high school football contests, soccer matches, and motocross races.

The stadium was designed by the Dallas architectural firm HKS, Inc. Besides the Cowboys, the new stadium is used by college football teams and other organizations for other sporting and non-sporting events. The Cotton Bowl Classic was moved to the stadium beginning in 2010. Originally estimated to cost $650 million, the stadium's current construction cost was $1.15 billion, making it one of the most expensive sports venues ever built. To aid Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones in paying the construction costs of the new stadium, Arlington voters approved the increase of the city's sales tax by 0.5 percent, the hotel occupancy tax by 2 percent, and car rental tax by 5 percent. The City of Arlington provided over $325 million (including interest) in bonds as funding, and Jones covered any cost overruns. 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 (91 m)-tall arches spans the length of the stadium dome, anchored to the ground at each end. The new stadium also includes "more than 3,000 Sony LCD displays throughout the luxury suites, concourses, concession areas and more, offering fans viewing options that extend beyond the action on the field". and a center-hung video display board that was the largest high-definition television screen in the world. It has since been surpassed in size by the video board at Charlotte 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 electrificationof Cowboys Stadium's retractable roof was developed by VAHLE, Inc. 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 officially unveiled on December 12, 2006, it showed that, from inside the stadium, the roof (membrane installed by K Post Company of Dallas) will look very similar to the Texas Stadium roof, with its trademark hole. However, it can be covered by the retractable 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.


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Kevin Grimes (friend of mine) sent from Pocatello (USA) on 02.01.2014

129 USA - Forth Worth, TEXAS

Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly 350 square miles (910 km²) in Tarrant, Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise counties—serving as the seat for Tarrant County. According to the 2010 census, Fort Worth had a population of 741,206. The city is the second-largest in the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area. The city was established in 1849 as an Army outpost on a bluff overlooking the Trinity River. Today Fort Worth still embraces its Western heritage and traditional architecture and design. USS Fort Worth (LCS-3) is the first ship of the United States Navy named after the city. Fort Worth is home to the Kimbell Art Museum, considered to have one of the best collections in Texas, and housed in what is widely regarded as one of Texas' foremost works of modern architecture. Also of note are the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Amon Carter Museum, the latter of which houses one of the most extensive collections of American art in the world, in a building designed by Philip Johnson. The city is also home to Texas Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, Texas A&M University School of Law, and many multinational corporations including Bell Helicopter, Lockheed Martin, American Airlines, Radio Shack, and others.

Downtown is mainly known for its Art Deco-style buildings. The Tarrant County Courthouse was created in the American Beaux Arts design, which was modeled after the Texas State Capitol building. Most of the structures about Sundance Square have preserved their early 20th-century façades. The city of Fort Worth contains over 1000 natural gas wells (December 2009 count) tapping the Barnett Shale. Each well site is a bare patch of gravel 2–5 acres (8,100–20,200 m²) in size. As city ordinances permit them in all zoning categories, including residential, well sites can be found in a variety of locations. Some wells are surrounded by masonry fences but most are secured by chain link.

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Kevin Grimes (one of my friends) sent from Fort Worth (USA/Texas) on 02.01.2014