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Crestone, Colorado

The Town of Crestone is a Statutory Town in Saguache County, Colorado. According to the 2020 United States Census, the town's population was 141. Crestone is located at the foot of the western slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range, in the northern part of the San Luis Valley. Crestone was platted in 1880 by George Adams, owner of the neighboring Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4. In the 1970s, the Baca Grande land development was established on the lands of the Baca Grant to the south and west. Several hundred homes have been built there.

The Crestone area, which includes the Baca Grande and Moffat, Colorado, is a spiritual center for some religions, including a Hindu temple, a Zen center, several Tibetan Buddhist centers, and miscellaneous New Age happenings. Much of this spiritual development was catalyzed by the couple Hanne and Maurice Strong in the 1970s, who set out to make it an interfaith center.

Crestone is named for the 14,000-foot peaks that lie just east of the town: Crestone Peak and Crestone Needle. The Crestones, as they are known collectively, in turn, took their name from the Spanish word crestón, which, according to Walter Borneman and Lyndon Lampert's book A Climbing Guide to Colorado’s Fourteeners, means: “the top of a cock’s comb”; “the crest of a helmet”; or, in miners’ jargon, “an outcropping of ore”.

History
The first settlement in the Crestone area occurred after the American Civil War with the granting of the Luis Maria Baca Grant No. 4 in 1860 to the heirs of the original Baca Grant at Las Vegas, New Mexico. Title to the grant at Las Vegas was clouded by a second grant of the same land to the residents of Las Vegas, the Bacas having abandoned their grant after the deaths of the founder to a Mexican soldier in 1827 and of his oldest son at the hands of the Navajo in 1835. The Baca heirs were offered alternative lands from the public lands of the United States. The square tract selected is 12.5 mi on a side south of Saguache County Road T south of Crestone. The Bacas deeded the land to their attorney, but it soon passed by tax sale to a third party. The ranch headquarters were on Crestone Creek to the southwest of Crestone. The Baca Grant was one of the first large tracts of land to be fenced in the West and was the home of prize Hereford cattle.

In addition to ranching, there was some mining in the area to the east and south of Crestone of small shallow iron oxide copper gold ore deposits. In 1880, the town of Crestone was platted by George Adams, the owner of the Baca Grant. In 1900, with the help of Eastern investors, George Adams ignited a minor boom, reopening one of the more promising gold mines and building a railroad spur to the town and the mines along the Range south of town. However, lacking good ore, the boom was short-lived. A long period of decline followed.

By 1948, Crestone had declined to its post-war population of 40, mostly retirees and cowboys who worked on the Grant, a nickname for the Baca Grant. Many of the old cabins were used as vacation homes. By 1971, the Baca Grant came into the ownership of a corporation that subdivided a portion of the Grant, creating the Baca Grande, a subdivision originally platted for about 10,000 lots. At great expense, underground utilities were installed, and roads were built. However, sales lagged and by 1979 the development was considered a liability by the corporation. Maurice Strong, owner of a controlling interest, and his fiancée, Hanne Marstrand, visited the development and "fell in love with it". They were inspired to create a world spiritual center and began granting parcels of land to traditional spiritual organizations.

The population gradually began to increase and by 2006 several hundred homes had been built and small spiritual communities had become established. As the Baca Grande contained no provision for business uses, Crestone became the business center of the community and, having enacted a sales tax, was in a position to finance further improvements.

Geography
Crestone is located near the 38th parallel, in the San Luis Valley in south-central Colorado. It is platted on a quarter section of land, or 160 acres, on the alluvial fan of North Crestone Creek. Much of the land near the creek where the main part of the city sits, is well watered in normal times, but during a prolonged drought the creek may dry up and underground water levels may fall.

At the 2020 United States Census, the town had a total area of 0.996 km2, all of it land.

Access
Saguache County Road T is the main road into Crestone. It is a county road. It is "T" in a series of alphabetically named east–west roads that begin at State Highway 112, the south boundary of Saguache County, which would be Road A, if it were not a state highway. Road T is a through road across the valley, crossing U.S. Highway 285 at Swede's Corners about 6 miles south of Saguache, Colorado but is paved only from Moffat, Colorado east 12.5 miles to Crestone, Colorado. The eastern portion of Road T forms the north boundary of the Baca National Wildlife Refuge.

Public lands
Mountain terrain east of Crestone is managed by the Rio Grande National Forest including part of the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness. Public lands at the foot of the mountains including the forested public land surrounding Crestone are managed by the United States Bureau of Land Management. The combined office of the United States Forest Service and the BLM is in Saguache, Colorado, the county seat.

Demographics
The following is derived from the US census and covers only the town itself, thus giving only a partial picture of the area. About half of the homes in Crestone itself are used only on a seasonal basis. The Crestone community is much larger, consisting also of several hundred homes in the Baca Grande subdivision, the surrounding rural area, and the small town of Moffat, Colorado. The Moffat School District No. 2 operates a public school in Moffat and the Crestone Charter School in Crestone.

As of the census of 2000, there were 73 people, 45 households, and 18 families residing in the town. The population density was 290.8 PD/sqmi. There were 79 housing units at an average density of 314.7 /mi2. The racial makeup of the town was 95.9% White, 4.1% from other races. 1.4% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 45 households, out of which 8.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.9% were married couples living together, 4.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 60.0% don't fit into the above categories. 48.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.62 and the average family size was 2.22.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 8.2% under the age of 18, 4.1% from 18 to 24, 23.3% from 25 to 44, 45.2% from 45 to 64, and 19.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 52 years. For every 100 females there were 102.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.0 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $31,250, and the median income for a family was $40,000. Males had a median income of $22,813 versus $27,917 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,291. There were 18.8% of families and 19.7% of the population living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and none of those over 64.

Spiritual and intellectual centers

Crestone has become internationally known as a locus for a diverse range of religious and spiritual traditions. Accommodating of spiritual pilgrims and eco-tourists is the major industry in Crestone. The town's development as a spiritual and intellectual center was initiated by Maurice Strong, a multimillionaire businessman and United Nations Undersecretary, and his wife, Hanne Marstrand Strong. Using land acquired from the corporations Strong controlled, they established the Manitou Foundation and Manitou Institute. According to its website, the institute "provides grants and some financial support in Crestone/Baca, Colorado to qualified religious and spiritual projects." The foundation granted land in the area to several spiritual and intellectual centers.

Crestone is one of only a handful of places in the United States where open-air funeral pyres are legally permitted. Since 1998, over 75 individuals have been cremated on an open-air pyre in Crestone.

Spiritual centers in Crestone:

Intellectual and spiritual centers of historical interest:

Volunteer and community services
Emergency services for the town of Crestone and the Baca Grande are provided by the Crestone Volunteer Fire Dept. and the Baca-Crestone Ambulance Service.

The Crestone End of Life Project provides open-air cremation and end of life support. CEOLP is a non-denominational community-based group promoting informed end-of-life choices and supporting their fulfillment. Cost is modest but is available only to the 1,000 or so people who live in the local community.

Fairs and markets
The Annual San Luis Valley Energy Fair is held in Crestone's town parks over Labor Day weekend each year. The fair features ideas and products that relate to environmental sustainability such as solar power and straw bale construction as well as booths offering food and local products. Crestone hosts an annual Artists Open Studio Tour during the first weekend in October, allowing for visits to the many artist's studios in the area. Food and local products are offered regularly at the Saturday Market which happens in the middle of town in Little Pearl Park every Saturday during the summer. Crestone has a free box which is enthusiastically supported by the community.

Wildlife
Crestone has historically been a deer park; Mule deer are commonly seen grazing in yards in town. Black bears are also common, but usually only at night when they raid apple trees and the dumpsters at the cafes and stores in downtown Crestone. In 2011 a bear with two cubs was frequently seen during the day. This bear, which was generally well-behaved other than raiding trash, was killed by the Colorado Department of Natural Resources following a bear attack on a tethered goat. Local sympathizers complained bitterly the wrong bear had been killed, receiving extensive coverage through Channel 9 in Denver which was distributed nationally by the Associated Press, prompting an investigation of the incident by the Division of Parks and Wildlife and possible re-evaluation of management of bears in mixed rural-urban communities such as Crestone. An internal investigation by the Division of Parks and Wildlife came to the conclusion that the right bear had been shot.

title: Crestone, Colorado


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Jay Miner

Jay Glenn Miner (May 31, 1932 – June 20, 1994) was an American integrated circuit designer, known primarily for developing graphics and audio chips for the Atari 2600 and Atari 8-bit computers and as the "father of the Amiga".

Early life
Jay Miner received his first formal electronics education after joining the U.S. Coast Guard out of high school. Following his service he became a radio operator for the North Atlantic Weather Patrol who serviced meteorological duties on distant islands for three years. He returned to school to enroll in the University of California at Berkeley, for which he received a BS in EECS in 1958, focusing on electronics design.

Career
Miner first became a chip designer when he joined General Microelectronics in 1964, playing a role in the design of the first calculator to use the MOS ICs, the Victor 3900. He then worked at the companies Standard MicroSystems and American Micro Systems, at the latter of which he contributed to the design of the MP944 microprocessor. Subsequently he co-founded Synertek in 1973, where he served as the company's primary chip designer. One of the company's earliest contracts would be creating CMOS chips for the Bulova Watch Company, but they quickly became a second source manufacturer for chips designed by other firms such as Intel, Rockwell, and MOS Technology.

Atari
Due to its manufacturing of the MOS Technology 65xx series of chips, Synertek was recommended as a partner to Atari, Inc. after it had been decided to use the MOS 6507 for their upcoming Atari VCS home video game console. One of Atari's engineers, Harold Lee, had worked with Miner at Standard MicroSystems and suggested him as the designer for a custom chip which would power Atari's new console. Through an arrangement with Synertek, Atari hired Miner in late 1975 to lead the chip design for the Atari VCS, primarily that of the display hardware, the TIA.

Miner was also the designer on the follow-up technology intended for a successor console to the Atari VCS. The ANTIC and CTIA were created with enhanced capabilities compared to the TIA but the project was altered from a video game console into what would become the Atari 8-bit computers. Due to clashes with management over this and other decisions, Miner left Atari before the release of the computers and found his way into the medical world. He worked for a company called Zymos Corporation and received two patents for a microprocessor-driven pacemaker made into a product by the company Intermedics Inc. called Cosmos.

Amiga
In 1982, Miner was approached by Larry Kaplan, former console programmer at Atari, about starting a new company to create video game hardware without the oversight of a large corporation. They would become two of the co-founders of the company Hi-Toro (eventually renamed Amiga Corporation), where Miner headed the development of a chipset called Lorraine. The company suffered financial difficulties which led it first into a temporary deal with Atari, Inc. and then acquisition by Commodore International. The Amiga computer was released in 1985 and, though not successful in mass market penetration, gained a devoted following among specialized users and computer game players.

Miner continued to work for Amiga Corporation as a subsidiary of Commodore but once again grew frustrated with the management style of the company. His frustrations largely revolved around what he said was Commodore marketing executives' failure to penetrate the Amiga into the low cost computer market. He left to work as a consultant for the company sometime after 1988, during which time he would appear at various Amiga shows and user group meetings. Among the Amiga users he was known as "Padre" or "the father of the Amiga", recognized for his contributions to the power of the machine.

Miner's last electronics job was at the company Ventritex, operating medical instrumentation and designing chips which controlled a cardiac defibrillator.

Personal life
Miner married his wife Carolina (née Poplowski) in 1951 while attending an electronics school in Groton, Connecticut. His dog Mitchy, a cockapoo, accompanied him everywhere. While he worked at Atari, Mitchy even had her own employee ID badge with number 000, and an embossing of her paw print is inside the Amiga 1000 top cover, alongside staff signatures.

Miner's personal hobbies included cultivating bonsai trees, square dancing, and camping. He was a particular fan of flight simulators on computers, having been significantly inspired to design Amiga as an excellent flight simulator. He said at one time his favorite Amiga program was the game F/A-18 Interceptor published by Electronic Arts in 1988.

He endured kidney problems for most of his life, according to his wife, and relied on dialysis. His sister, Joyce Beers, donated a kidney to him in 1990. He died due to complications from kidney failure at the age of 62.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Jay Miner


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Dilleniales

The Dilleniales are an order of flowering plants, potentially containing one family, Dilleniaceae. The APG III system of 2009, like the earlier APG II system of 2003, left the Dilleniaceae unplaced as to order, while noting that the name Dilleniales was available. Stevens at the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website has subsequently placed Dilleniaceae in the order Dilleniales.

The Cronquist system, of 1981, recognized such an order and placed it in subclass Dilleniidae. It used the following circumscription:

 * order Dilleniales
 * family Dilleniaceae
 * family Paeoniaceae

The Takhtajan system of 1969 had the families Dilleniaceae and Crossosomataceae in the order.

The APG III system assigned the second of these families, the Paeoniaceae, to the order Saxifragales.

title: Dilleniales


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Kalamazoo, Michigan

Kalamazoo is a city in and the county seat of Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States. At the 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan area in southwestern Michigan, which had a population of 261,670 in 2020.

One of Kalamazoo's most notable features is the Kalamazoo Mall, an outdoor pedestrian shopping mall. The city created the mall in 1959 by closing part of Burdick Street to auto traffic, although two of the mall's four blocks have been reopened to auto traffic since 1999. Kalamazoo is home to Western Michigan University, a large public university, Kalamazoo College, a private liberal arts college, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College, a two-year community college.

Name origin
Originally known as Bronson (after founder Titus Bronson) in the township of Arcadia, the names of both the city and the township were changed to "Kalamazoo" in 1836 and 1837, respectively. The name “Kalamazoo” comes from a Potawatomi word, first found in a British report in 1772. The Kalamazoo River, which passes through the modern city of Kalamazoo, was located on the route between Detroit and Fort Saint-Joseph (nowadays Niles, Michigan). French-Canadian traders, missionaries, and military personnel were quite familiar with this area during the French era and thereafter. The Kalamazoo River was then known by Canadians and French as La rivière Kikanamaso. The name "Kikanamaso" was also recorded by Father Pierre Potier, a Jesuit missionary for the Huron-Wendats at the Assumption mission (south shore of Detroit), while en route to Fort Saint-Joseph during the fall of 1760. Legend has it that "Ki-ka-ma-sung", meaning "boiling water", referred to a footrace held each fall by local Native Americans, in which participants had to run to the river and back before a pot boiled. The word negikanamazo, purported to mean "otter tail" or "stones like otters", has also been cited as a possible origin of the name. Another theory is that it means "the mirage or reflecting river". Another legend is that the image of "boiling water" referred to fog on the river as seen from the hills above the current downtown. The name was also given to the river that flows almost all the way across the state.

The name Kalamazoo, which sounds unusual to English speakers, has become a metonym for exotic places, as in the phrase "from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo". Today, T-shirts are sold in Kalamazoo with the phrase "Yes, there really is a Kalamazoo".

History
The area on which the modern city of Kalamazoo stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell tradition, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to decline after the 8th century and was replaced by other groups. The Potawatomi culture lived in the area when the first European explorers arrived.

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, passed just southeast of the present city of Kalamazoo in late March 1680. The first Europeans to reside in the area were itinerant fur traders in the late 18th and early 19th century. There are records of several traders wintering in the area, and by the 1820s at least one trading post had been established.

During the War of 1812, the British established a smithy and a prison camp in the area.

The 1821 Treaty of Chicago ceded the territory south of the Grand River to the United States federal government. However, the area around present-day Kalamazoo was reserved as the village of Potawatomi Chief Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish. Six years later, as a result of the 1827 Treaty of St. Joseph, the tract that became the city of Kalamazoo was also ceded.

In 1829, Titus Bronson, originally from Connecticut, became the first white settler to build a cabin within the present city limits of Kalamazoo. He platted the town in 1831 and named it the village of Bronson—not to be confused with the much smaller Bronson, Michigan, about 50 mi to the south-southeast of Kalamazoo.

Bronson, frequently described as "eccentric" and argumentative, was later run out of town. The village was renamed Kalamazoo in 1836, due in part to Bronson's being fined for stealing a cherry tree. Today, a hospital and a downtown park, among other things, are named for Bronson. Kalamazoo was legally incorporated as a village in 1838 and as a city in 1883.

The fertile farmlands attracted prosperous Yankee farmers who settled the surrounding area, and sent their sons to Kalamazoo to become businessmen, professionals and entrepreneurs who started numerous factories. Most of the original settlers of Kalamazoo were New Englanders or were from upstate New York.

On August 27, 1856, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Kalamazoo during a campaign rally for John C. Fremont, the first Republican presidential candidate. The text of the speech was found by Lincoln historian Thomas I. Starr in a copy of the Detroit Daily Advertiser and published in a booklet. This was the only trip Lincoln ever made to Michigan. In July 2022, a local non-profit, the Kalamazoo Abraham Lincoln Institute, was given permission by the city to place a statue of Lincoln in Bronson Park to commemorate the event.

In the 1940s, the city became the first to install curb cuts.

In 1959, the city created the Kalamazoo Mall, the first outdoor pedestrian shopping mall in the United States, by closing part of Burdick Street to auto traffic. The Mall was designed by Victor Gruen, who also designed the country's first enclosed shopping mall, which had opened three years earlier. Two of the mall's four blocks were reopened to auto traffic in 1999 after much debate.

An F3 tornado struck downtown Kalamazoo on May 13, 1980, killing five and injuring 79.

On February 20, 2016, Kalamazoo became the site of a random series of shootings in which six people were killed. A prime suspect was apprehended by police without incident.

Economic history
In the past, Kalamazoo was known for its production of windmills, mandolins, buggies, automobiles, cigars, stoves, paper, and paper products. Agriculturally, it once was noted for celery. Although much of it has become suburbanized, the surrounding area still produces farm crops, primarily corn and soybeans.

Kalamazoo was the original home of Gibson Guitar Corporation, which spawned the still-local Heritage Guitars. The company was incorporated as "Gibson Mandolin - Guitar Co., Ltd" on October 11, 1902, by the craftsman Orville Gibson. One budget model was named the Gibson Kalamazoo "Melody Maker" Electric Guitar. Operations were moved gradually from Kalamazoo to Memphis, Tennessee (Electric Division) and Bozeman, Montana (Acoustic Division) in the 1980s. Some workers from the original factory stayed in Kalamazoo to create the Heritage Guitar company.

Kalamazoo was once known as the "Paper City" because of the paper mills in and near the city. The Allied Paper Corporation operated several mills and employed 1,300 people in Kalamazoo during the late 1960s. As the forests of West Michigan were logged, paper mills closed.

Early in the 20th century, Kalamazoo was home to the Brass Era car company Barley.

Kalamazoo was also headquarters of the Checker Motors Company, the former manufacturer of the Checker Cab, which also stamped sheet metal parts for other auto manufacturers. Checker closed on June 25, 2009, a victim of the Late-2000s recession.

Geography
Most of Kalamazoo is on the southwest bank of a major bend in the Kalamazoo River, with a small portion, about 2.8 sqmi, on the opposite bank. Several small tributaries of the Kalamazoo River, including Arcadia Creek and Portage Creek, wind through the city. The northeastern portion of Kalamazoo sits in the broad, flat Kalamazoo Valley, while the western portions of Kalamazoo climb into low hills to the west and south. Several small lakes are found throughout the area. It is 50 mi south of Grand Rapids and 75 mi southwest of Lansing.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Kalamazoo has a total area of 25.11 sqmi, of which 24.68 sqmi is land and 0.43 sqmi is water.

Kalamazoo's suburban population is located primarily to the south, in the city of Portage, and to the west in Oshtemo and Texas townships.

At least part of the municipal water supply for Kalamazoo is provided by the watershed contained within the Al Sabo Preserve in Texas Charter Township, Michigan, immediately southwest of Kalamazoo.

Another watershed, Kleinstuck Marsh, is popular with hikers and birdwatchers. Kleinstuck Marsh is south of Maple Street, between Oakland Drive and Westnedge Avenue, Kalamazoo's major north–south artery.

Climate
Kalamazoo has a humid continental (Köppen Dfa) climate. Summers can be hot, humid, and relatively long, comprising the months of May to September. Tornadoes are rare but possible in Kalamazoo. In fact, in 1980, a major tornado ripped through downtown Kalamazoo causing extensive damage. In winter, temperatures occasionally plummet below 0 °F (-18°). Kalamazoo has been known for brutal snow storms as late as early April, but there are occasional winter days with no snow cover on the ground at all. Lake-effect snowstorms are commonplace in the winter.

Demographics
As of 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $31,189, and the median income for a family was $42,438. Males had a median income of $32,160 versus $25,532 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,897. About 13.6% of families and 24.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.0% of those under age 18 and 11.3% of those age 65 or over.

2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 74,262 people, 29,141 households, and 13,453 families residing in the city. The population density was 3009.0 PD/sqmi. There were 32,433 housing units at an average density of 1314.1 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 68.1% White, 22.2% African American, 0.5% Native American, 1.7% Asian, 2.8% from other races, and 4.6% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race were 6.4% of the population.

There were 29,141 households, of which 25.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 26.1% were married couples living together, 15.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 53.8% were non-families. 36.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 3.04.

The median age in the city was 26.2 years. 20.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 27% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 24.9% were from 25 to 44; 18.2% were from 45 to 64; and 9.4% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 49.3% male and 50.7% female.

Neighborhoods

The city of Kalamazoo is commonly divided into 22 neighborhoods, many of which are served by a neighborhood association. The Neighborhood Development Division of the city's government works with these associations to invest federal, state, and local funds, including those from the Community Development Block Grant program, in community improvements and economic growth.

Economy

In 2007, Kalamazoo was named to Fast Company's 'Fast 50: Most Innovative Companies 2007', in recognition of the city's community capitalism approach to revitalize the economy. In 2012 Kiplinger's Personal Finance ranked Kalamazoo fourth of the Ten Best Cities for Cheapskates. The city was named in NerdWallet.com's 2014 'Top 10 Best Cities for Work-Life Balance'.

Breweries
Kalamazoo has many local breweries and brewpubs that produce a variety of beer styles.

Perhaps the best-known is Bell's Brewery, established as the Kalamazoo Brewing Company in 1985 by Larry Bell. The brewery has expanded from its original Kalamazoo location, which houses the Eccentric Cafe, to another brewery in nearby Comstock Charter Township. Bell's beer is distributed to 40 US states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico. Other local breweries include Tibb's Brewing Company, Rupert's Brewhouse (2013-2019), Boatyard Brewing Co. (2014-2019),  One Well Brewing, and Latitude 42 Brewing Company, the latter in the southern suburb of Portage. On a smaller scale, Olde Peninsula Brewpub, Bravo! restaurant, and Bilbo's Pizza and Brewing Company serve their own brews. The area is also a hotbed for home brewing and partners with neighboring Grand Rapids to form what is widely considered one of America's more important regions in American craft beer explosion. In recent years, at least two community events have evolved from the growing craft beer industry in the Kalamazoo area (Kalamazoo Beer Week (annual), Kalamazoo Craft Beer Festival ). In 2015, the Give a Craft beer trail and passport were introduced. A shuttle bus (Kalamazoo Brew Bus) service and party bike tour service became available in 2016.

Distilleries
In 2015, Rupert's Brew House entered the Kalamazoo craft spirits market. Two additional distilleries, Green Door Distilling, formerly Revival Distilling and Kalamazoo Distilling Company, are in the licensing stage.

Flavorings
The A.M. Todd Company, one of the lead producers of peppermint oil and other flavorings, is headquartered in Kalamazoo. Its founder, Albert M. Todd, was elected to the United States House of Representatives for the 55th Congress.

Kalamazoo is also home to Kalsec, another flavorings company, which was founded by Paul H. Todd Jr., Albert Todd's grandson and U.S. Representative in the 89th Congress. Founded as the Kalamazoo Spice Extraction Company, Kalsec is owned and managed by Todd family descendants.

Manufacturing
Stryker Corporation is Kalamazoo-based and makes medical equipment.

Kalamazoo Outdoor Gourmet designs and manufactures outdoor kitchen equipment.

Fabri-Kal, a supplier of food service and other containers produced from thermoform plastic or plant-based materials (Greenware product line), has operated corporate headquarters in Kalamazoo since the 1960s. The company closed the Kalamazoo-based manufacturing facilities in 1991, but returned and expanded manufacturing capacity in 2008 with the opening of a LEED-certified 400,000 sqfoot facility. In recent years, the company's product lines have introduced sustainable and plant-based materials, and innovations to reduce the plastic content of consumer and other packaging.

Parker Hannifin Aerospace's Hydraulic Systems Division (HSD) is located at 2220 Palmer Ave in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The 170,000-square foot facility designs, manufactures, and services hydraulic components for both military and commercial aerospace sectors. It produces hydraulic axial piston pumps and motors, electric motor-driven pumps, hydraulic power transfer/supply units, electrohydraulic power modules, hydraulic thrust-reverser & landing gear actuators, accumulators, reservoirs, filter modules and valve packs.

Life sciences
The Upjohn Company was a pharmaceutical research and manufacturing firm founded in 1886 in Kalamazoo; through a series of mergers and acquisitions that took place between 1995 and 2003, the Upjohn Company assets became a part of the Pfizer Corporation. Most of Upjohn's original facilities remain, many have been renovated and some new buildings have been constructed. The bulk of the former Upjohn Company facilities in the area exist in Portage, under Pfizer or Zoetis operation; others, located in downtown Kalamazoo, have been re-purposed as the campus of the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, the research and development headquarters of Zoetis, and office space for Bronson Methodist Hospital.

Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine (WMed) is a collaboration involving Western Michigan University and Kalamazoo's two teaching hospitals, Ascension Borgess and Bronson Methodist. The new medical school has been in planning since 2008, and was granted Preliminary Accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education in October 2012. Welcoming its first class in August 2014, the school is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation supported by private gifts, clinical revenue, research activity, student tuition, and endowment income. In March 2011, Western Michigan University received a gift of $100 million for the medical school from anonymous donors.

The global Research and Development organization of Zoetis, the world's largest producer of medicine and vaccinations for pets and livestock, is headquartered in downtown Kalamazoo.

The city is also home to the Stryker Corporation, a surgical and medical devices manufacturer.

Kalamazoo hospitals include: Kalamazoo Regional Psychiatric Hospital, Bronson Methodist Hospital, and Ascension Borgess Hospital.

Industrial design
In 2014, Newell Rubbermaid established a global product design center in Kalamazoo, consolidating fifteen global design units at a single location within the Western Michigan University Business Technology and Research Park. The Business Technology and Research Park is also home to design firm TEKNA Solutions. In 2015, Kalamazoo-based landscape design and manufacturing firm Landscape Forms, Inc., received five National Design Awards.

Research and economic development
The W. E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit research organization, has operated in Kalamazoo since its establishment in 1945. The institute conducts research into the causes and effects of unemployment, and measures for the alleviation of unemployment. The institute also publishes Business Outlook for West Michigan, a quarterly journal that provides economic analysis and forecasts on the West Michigan economy.

The Fetzer Institute promotes and funds holistic solutions to everyday problems. It was founded by John Fetzer, a broadcasting magnate and former owner of the Detroit Tigers and WKZO radio and television in Kalamazoo.

The economic development organization Southwest Michigan First was established in Kalamazoo in 1999, with a focus on community capitalism. The organization was recognized as a Best and Brightest Company to Work For in 2013, and has received Fast Company commendations for innovative strategies to improve the economy. In 2015, two members of Southwest Michigan First were selected for Development Counsellors International's "2015 40 under 40," top 40 young economic developers in the United States.

Businesses
Other notable Kalamazoo businesses include:
 * PNC Bank—Kalamazoo was formerly the corporate HQ of First of America Bank, which merged with National City Bank in 1997. National City has since been purchased and merged with PNC Bank which still maintains a large corporate building in Texas Township, and several locations downtown, along with numerous branches in the region.
 * Henderson Castle, an 1895 Queen Anne-Style house that sits on West Main Hill across from Mountain Home cemetery, overlooking the city. It is privately owned but open to the public and currently functioning as a bed and breakfast, restaurant and spa.

Government
Kalamazoo government is administered under a commission-manager style of government. The city commission is the representative body of the city, and consists of seven members—six city commissioners and a separately elected mayor—elected on a staggered non-partisan basis every four years. Whoever receives the most votes during an election becomes vice mayor of the city for the first two years of their term until a new vice mayor is selected. The current City Commission consists of Mayor David Anderson, Vice Mayor Don Cooney, and commissioners Jeanne Hess, Chris Praedel, Qianna Decker, Stephanie Hoffman, and Esteven Juarez. The current mayor, David F. Anderson, was elected to a second term on November 2, 2021, beating Ben Stanley with 78.7% of the vote.

The vice mayor of Kalamazoo is Don Cooney, who won election in 2021 with 69.37% of the vote.

The city manager is the city's chief administrative officer. The manager is hired by, and answers to, the city commission.

Crime
Kalamazoo has a higher crime rate than the national average. Crime is spread throughout Kalamazoo and is especially high in the inner neighborhoods such as Edison, the Northside and Vine. Crime is lower in the downtown area and most of the southwest area. The aggravated assault rate in 2015 was 793.3 per 100,000 —3.3 times the national average. The murder rate was 12.5 per 100,000 in 2010 and 7.9 in 2014. The 2016 Kalamazoo shootings by Uber driver Jason Dalton claimed 6 lives and caused 2 serious injuries in Kalamazoo County. Between 2008 and 2013 firearms were involved in 61% of homicides in Kalamazoo county compared to 77% statewide.

Education

Kalamazoo is home to Western Michigan University. The college has four campuses in Kalamazoo, (West Campus, East Campus, Parkview Campus and Oakland Drive Campus) as well as several regional locations throughout Michigan and two in Florida. West Campus, located just west of downtown, has the largest concentration of university students, programs and school services. In 2005, Western Michigan ranked as the no. 2 wireless campus in the United States, per a national survey done by the Intel Corporation. In 2014, the WMU Homer Stryker School of Medicine (WMed) opened, welcoming an inaugural class of 54 students.

Each May, WMU hosts the International Congress on Medieval Studies. Organized by the Medieval Institute's faculty and graduate students, the Congress brings some 3,000 professors and students from around the globe to present and discuss a variety of topics related to the Middle Ages.

Kalamazoo College, a private liberal arts college founded in 1833, is located on a hill opposite WMU's original campus.

Kalamazoo is home to Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Davenport University, and Kalamazoo Area Mathematics and Science Center (KAMSC). Construction of the new Kalamazoo Valley Community College Culinary and Allied Health campus began in August 2014. It had also been the home of Nazareth College, which closed in 1992.

K-12 education
The public schools for the vast majority of Kalamazoo are managed by Kalamazoo Public Schools. Every resident graduate of the Kalamazoo Public Schools is provided with a scholarship for up to 100% of tuition and mandatory fee costs for four years at any public university or community college in Michigan, starting with the class of 2006. This program is known as the Kalamazoo Promise.

Small sections of Kalamazoo are in other school districts: Parchment School District, Comstock Public Schools and Portage Public Schools.

Culture

The city has an Arts Council. On the first Friday of each month, the council organizes the 'Art Hop'. Art Hop is a free event, during which downtown businesses and galleries display works by local artists, and patrons 'hop' from venue to venue, enjoying art, live music, and the chance to interact with local artists. A popular site during Art Hop is the Park Trades Center, which houses the Kalamazoo Book Arts Center, Glass Art Kalamazoo, and many other studios.

On New Year's Eve, downtown Kalamazoo is the site of an annual New Year's Fest celebration. This celebration is centered at Bronson Park and surrounding venues, allowing patrons to walk from venue to venue to enjoy an all ages showcase of performing arts and other activities (music, magic, comedy, exhibitions, fireworks, food). Initiated in 1985, the event has grown in scope and popularity.

Music groups and other performing artists perform at the downtown State Theatre, Western Michigan University's Miller Auditorium, and Wings Event Center.

The annual "Eccentric Day" at Bell's Eccentric Cafe celebrates the brewery's Eccentric Ale on the December Friday that marks the end of finals at Western Michigan University.

The Moped Army was founded in Kalamazoo in 1997.

There is no longer a zoo in Kalamazoo. The Milham Park Zoo closed in 1974.

Next to Milham Park is the Milham Park Golf Course. Completed in 1936, the 18-hole, par-72 course is entirely within the city limits of Kalamazoo. During winter, sledding and cross-country skiing are popular activities at the golf course (free of charge). In recent years, the Kalamazoo Nordic Skiers club has groomed and maintained skate ski and classic ski trails for community use.

In 2002, the Kalamazoo Public Library was named "Library of the Year" by Library Journal. The library includes a main location and four branch libraries, and until 2010, a bookmobile system. In 2014, the library opened 'The Hub', a digital lab open to the public for digitizing photos and video, producing podcasts, preserving old vinyl records, cassettes and VHS tapes, and other services.

Kalamazoo's theaters and performing groups include the Kalamazoo Civic Theatre, The New Vic Theatre, Farmers Alley Theatre, Crawlspace Theatre Productions, The State Theater, and the Barn Theatre in nearby Augusta. Plays and musicals are also performed at Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan University.

Animation festival
A project of Kalamazoo Valley Community College, The Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI) encourages and educates animation artists, promotes Kalamazoo's animation industry, and provides community entertainment. In addition to a biannual festival, KAFI sponsors events such as film screenings and workshops throughout the year.

KAFI's first festival drew 235 submissions and nearly 1,000 attendees in 2002. A second festival was held in 2003. Since then, an every-other-year schedule has been adopted. The 2007 festival attracted more than 500 entries from 37 countries. In addition to an animated film competition with $15,000 in prizes awarded, the festival features events for students, artists, educators, filmmakers and the general public. Past KAFI award winners include Bill Plympton, Chris Landreth and John Canemaker.

Museums
The city's most prominent art museum is the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, whose collection has more than 3,600 works and a focus on 20th-century American art. The KIA regularly mounts temporary exhibitions.

The Kalamazoo Valley Museum, established in 1881, is an American Association of Museums accredited museum operated by Kalamazoo Valley Community College. The museum features "hands-on" exhibits aimed largely at children, and has a planetarium and a Challenger Learning Center.

Northeast of town, in Hickory Corners, is the Gilmore Car Museum, which includes cars used in Walt Disney movies.

The Kalamazoo Air Zoo, just south of town, in Portage has several dozen aircraft on display, from biplanes to jets.

Music
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, founded in Kalamazoo in 1902, spurred local musicians to play a wide variety of styles, from classical and folk to modern rock (the company relocated to Nashville in 1984). The Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1921, is directed by Raymond Harvey. The city also hosts the Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, a Bach Festival, the Michigan Festival of Sacred Music, and the Stulberg International String Competition.

The local and indie music scene has produced pop stars such as RCA recording artists The Verve Pipe and Metal Blade recording artists Thought Industry. Kalamazoo is also host to the Kalamashoegazer music festival, held for the last 13 years and a showcase for both local and national shoegaze and dream pop bands.

Sports

Kalamazoo plays host to three non-collegiate teams:
 * The Kalamazoo Growlers Summer Collegiate baseball team plays games in Homer Stryker Field. The team is currently a member of the Northwoods League.
 * The Kalamazoo Wings (aka K-Wings) minor league hockey team play games in Wings Event Center and has played since 1974. The team is currently a member of the ECHL, a development league for the NHL.
 * The Kalamazoo FC, a National Premier Soccer League team, was established in 2016.

The Western Michigan University Broncos, who compete in the NCAA Division I Mid-American Conference, play at the following on-campus venues:
 * Waldo Stadium (football)
 * Lawson Arena (hockey)
 * University Arena (basketball and Volleyball)
 * Hyames Field (baseball)
 * Ebert Field (softball)
 * Kanley Track (outdoor track and field)

Hyames Field played host to the first two College World Series held in 1947 and 1948. Future U. S. President George H. W. Bush was a first baseman for Yale in the 1947 series.

The Kalamazoo College Hornets and Kalamazoo Valley Community College Cougars also have several collegiate athletic teams.

Kalamazoo is the hometown of former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, former NFL wide receiver Greg Jennings, former NFL running back T. J. Duckett, the world's number one prize money winning pro bass fisherman Kevin VanDam, former MLB pitcher Scott Olsen, former NHL player Adam Hall and former Chicago White Sox first baseman Mike Squires. Kalamazoo was also the hometown of longtime Detroit Tigers owner John Fetzer, who owned the American League team from 1961 through 1984, when he sold the franchise to Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan.

The United States Tennis Association Boys 18 and 16 National Tennis Championships are hosted every summer by Kalamazoo College. The event has featured such players as Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, James Blake and Andy Roddick, before they turned professional.

The Kalamazoo Rugby Football Club, founded in 1988, competes in the Michigan Rugby Football Union.

Since 2006, Wings Event Center has been the home of the Kalamazoo Derby Darlins roller derby league teams. Following up on successful events in 2010 and 2015, Wings Event Center and the Kalamazoo Curling Club will host the 2019 U.S. National Curling Championship.

The annual Kalamazoo Marathon, a USA Track & Field-certified and Boston Marathon-qualifying event, is part of a weekend of running and walking events.

In 1984–1986, the Kalamazoo Kangaroos, a Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) team, played in Kalamazoo.

Newspapers
Kalamazoo is served by one daily newspaper, the Kalamazoo Gazette, which now prints three editions weekly as of early 2012. Business Review Western Michigan, a business-to-business publication headquartered in Kalamazoo, covering Western Michigan news, was rolled into MLive online coverage in late 2012. The ultimate parent company of both the Gazette and Business Review are Advance Publications, Inc.

Television
WWMT, West Michigan's CBS / CW affiliate, is licensed and operates out of Kalamazoo but serves the entire West Michigan region. The station was originally owned and operated by famous broadcasting pioneer (and former Detroit Tigers owner) John Fetzer, as "WKZO-TV". Along with television, Fetzer introduced Kalamazoo to radio in 1931, when AM 590 WKZO signed on the air. Fetzer also created Kalamazoo's first cable television system, then known as Fetzer Cablevision; it is a predecessor of Kalamazoo's current cable franchise, Charter Communications.

Public Media Network, located in downtown Kalamazoo, hosts media outlets including Charter cable channels 187-191 where daily public access programs are produced and aired to the public.

Kalamazoo is part of the West Michigan television market, which also includes Grand Rapids and Battle Creek. Most channels that serve the entire market are receivable in Kalamazoo, including WWMT, WOOD-TV (NBC), WXMI (Fox), WZPX (Ion) and WLLA (religious). Some channels based in the northern part of the market reach Kalamazoo through a satellite or translator, such as WTLJ Muskegon (religious, through W26BX), WGVU-TV Grand Rapids (PBS, through WGVK), and WXSP-CD Grand Rapids (MyNetworkTV, through WOKZ-CA). WOTV in Battle Creek broadcasts ABC programming for the southern part of the market, including Kalamazoo. Charter offers all West Michigan channels on its system to Kalamazoo subscribers, including WZZM, the ABC affiliate for Grand Rapids and the northern part of the market.

Radio
WIDR is the college student-run, commercial free radio station at Western Michigan University. It is known for playing obscure and underground music of all genres as well as some local news and talk. Broadcasting 100 watts on 89.1 FM, WIDR can be heard from about a 20-mile radius from campus.

WMUK is also on Western Michigan University's campus. It hosts many local music programs including jazz and classical performances as well as programming from NPR. WMUK broadcasts 50,000 watts in high definition on 102.1 FM.

WKDS is West Michigan's only high school student-run radio station. The station signed on in 1983 at 89.9 on the FM dial, broadcasting from Loy Norrix High School. The call letters stood for Kalamazoo District Schools (now Kalamazoo Public Schools). For most of its history, WKDS broadcast only during daytime hours and not at all on the weekend. In Fall of 2004, the station began broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in an attempt to prevent an outside organization to take over the time WKDS was off the air. WKDS was part of a county wide Education For Employment program for years. The radio station is still owned by Kalamazoo Public Schools although the EFE program has been discontinued. High school students from around the area continue to operate the station.

FM radio stations that originate or can be heard over the air in Kalamazoo:

 * WCXK 88.3 - Kalamazoo              - Christian Adult Contemporary
 * WIDR 89.1 - Kalamazoo              - College/Variety
 * WKDS 89.9 - Kalamazoo              - High School/Variety
 * WCSG 91.3 - Grand Rapids           - Christian Adult Contemporary
 * WZUU 92.5 - Mattawan/Kalamazoo - Classic Rock
 * WBCT 93.7 - Grand Rapids           - Country
 * WWDK 94.1 - Jackson/Lansing/Battle Creek/Kalamazoo  - Classic Country
 * WKLQ 94.5 - Grand Rapids - Adult Album Alternative
 * W238AL 95.5 - Kalamazoo - Urban Adult Contemporary (FM translator for AM 1560)
 * WLKM-FM 95.9 - Three Rivers           - Adult Contemporary
 * WMAX-FM 96.1 - Holland/Grand Rapids - Sports
 * WZOX 96.5 - Portage/Kalamazoo      - Modern Adult Contemporary
 * WGRD 97.9 - Grand Rapids           - Mainstream Rock
 * WNWN 98.5 - Coldwater/Battle Creek/Kalamazoo           - Country
 * WBCH-FM 100.1 - Hastings              - Country
 * WQXC 100.9 - Otsego/Kalamazoo      - Oldies
 * WMUK 102.1 - Kalamazoo - NPR/Talk/Classical/Jazz
 * WKFR-HD2 102.5 - Kalamazoo - Urban Contemporary //WBXX 104.9
 * WYHA 102.9 - Grand Rapids - Christian
 * WKFR 103.3 - Battle Creek/Kalamazoo - CHR/Top 40
 * WVGR 104.1 - Grand Rapids - NPR/Talk
 * WBXX 104.9 - Marshall/Battle Creek- Urban Contemporary
 * WSRW 105.7 - Grand Rapids          - Adult Contemporary
 * WJXQ 106.1 - Jackson/Lansing/Battle Creek       - Mainstream Rock
 * WVFM 106.5 - Kalamazoo - Variety Hits
 * WKZO 106.9 - Kalamazoo - News/Talk (FM translator for AM 590)
 * WTNR 107.3 - Greenville/Grand Rapids - Country
 * WRKR 107.7 - Portage/Battle Creek/Kalamazoo - Classic Rock

AM radio stations that originate or can be heard over the air in Kalamazoo:

 * WKZO 590 - Kalamazoo - News/Talk - (FM translator at 106.9)
 * WAKV 980 - Allegan/Otsego - Adult Standards
 * WKMI 1360 - Kalamazoo - Talk
 * WTOU 1660 - Kalamazoo - Urban Adult Contemporary

Highways

 * north of downtown Kalamazoo
 * north of downtown Kalamazoo
 * north of downtown Kalamazoo
 * north of downtown Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo is served by highways I-94, US 131, M-96 and M-343. It was on the original Territorial Road in Michigan of the 19th century, which started in Detroit and ran to Lake Michigan. Much of that, but not all, later became Old US 12—the "old" designation came about when I-94 was built parallel to it—and also was called Red Arrow Highway after a World War I army division. The name "US 12" was shifted south to what once was US 112 between Detroit and New Buffalo. Some parts of Old US 12 outside of town, especially in Van Buren and Berrien counties to the west, are still called Red Arrow Highway. The term "Old US 12" has faded from use.

Rail

 * Kalamazoo has rail service provided by Amtrak, with the station located downtown and combined with a newly renovated bus terminal. Kalamazoo serves as the hub and largest city in Amtrak's only high-speed corridor outside the Northeast, with 110 mph service between Porter, Indiana and Albion, Michigan.
 * Kalamazoo also has a freight service provided by Grand Elk Railroad running north to Grand Rapids, Michigan and south to Elkhart, Indiana. The line they lease was a former Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad mainline.

Bus

 * Bus service to and through the city is provided by Greyhound, Indian Trails and the Kalamazoo trolley.
 * Public bus services within the city are provided by Metro Transit.

Air

 * On the southern end of the city is the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport (AZO), which offers flights on various airlines to hubs and leisure destinations. Construction of a new $36 million terminal was completed in 2011.

Other
The Kal-Haven Trail, heavily used by cyclists, runners, walkers, and snowmobilers, extends to downtown Kalamazoo. It runs 34 mi between South Haven, to a trailhead just west of Kalamazoo. Between that trailhead and South Haven the trail is run by Van Buren County, even the parts within Kalamazoo County. A trail pass is no longer required. The Kal-Haven is a rail trail, built on the former right-of-way of the Kalamazoo and South Haven Railroad.

The section east of the trailhead was opened in 2008 and extends to downtown Kalamazoo. It is known as the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail and is run by Kalamazoo County. No pass is required on that section.

In popular culture
Kalamazoo's name is a familiar reference in popular music, since its unique sound makes it a "great word for a lyric." Its use as metonym for a remote place is discussed above—"although when it comes to both Timbuktu and Kalamazoo, most of that brag-worthy exotic allure is merely in their names." Nonetheless, numerous songs use the city's name in their song title or lyrics.

Probably the first and most famous was "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo" (1942) by the Glenn Miller Orchestra with Tex Beneke. The song was written by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren. It was recreated by the fictional Gene Morrison Orchestra (performing as the Glenn Miller Orchestra) and the Nicholas Brothers (performing the song as part of a dance sequence) in the 1942 movie Orchestra Wives. It was nominated for Best Original Song at the 15th Academy Awards (music by Harry Warren; lyrics by Mack Gordon).

At least a dozen (and many more versions) of "Kalamazoo" songs have been recorded. In chronological order, others include: "I've Been Everywhere" (1962) by Hank Snow (from the album of the same title) and the 1996 song "Unchained" (also from the album of the same name) by Johnny Cash —reworked from the original 1959 Geoff Mack Australian-place-names version made popular by the singer Lucky Starr, "Down on the Corner" (1969) by Creedence Clearwater Revival on their fourth studio album, Willy and the Poor Boys—covered by a dozen other groups—though the reference is not to the city but to the "Kalamazoo" line of budget priced guitars manufactured by Gibson, "Kalamazoo" (1995) by Luna on Penthouse, "Cold Rock a Party" (1996) by MC Lyte on Bad as I Wanna B, "Kalamazoo" (1997) by the rock trio Primus on Brown Album, "Top of the World" (1999) by Rascalz on Global Warning, "Isn't It Love" (2001) by Andrew Peterson on Clear to Venus (at one point, he sings that he lost his luggage in Kalamazoo), "Kalamazoo" (2002) by Mike Craver on Shining Down, and "Kalamazoo" (2004) by Ben Folds on the EP Super D.

The city was also mentioned in the opera Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass and in the chorus of the song "Gotta Get Away" by The Black Keys, from their album Turn Blue ("I went from San Berdoo to Kalamazoo/Just to get away from you..."). Like Miller, the Creedence and Axton lyrics probably use the word "Kalamazoo" as an oblique reference to Gibson, which made various models named "Kalamazoo" that were all prominently adorned with the city's name as their origin. In 2011, rap artist Young Jeezy mentioned the city in the song "Higher Learning" on his album TM:103 Hustlerz Ambition. In 2014, Kalamazoo was mentioned again by Rittz in the song "Bounce" on his album Next to Nothing.

The "Kalamazoo" was one of several names of a railroad handcar that was produced by the Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company.

In Dr. Seuss's classic children's book Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton the Elephant visits Kalamazoo while he is in the circus.

Sister cities
The city of Kalamazoo, Michigan has three sister cities.

 * 🇯🇲 Kingston, Jamaica
 * 🇯🇵 Numazu, Shizuoka, Japan
 * 🇷🇺 Pushkin, St. Petersburg, Russia

title: Kalamazoo, Michigan


text:
Talk:Iron Curtain

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Churchill's geographical description
The whole paragraph beginning "Churchill's geographical description of the Iron Curtain was ambiguous..." is totally unsourced (what looks like a citation is only a footnote in the same vein), and seems to be just the musings of a Wikipedia editor. It may or may not be apt, but in either case it is original research and should be removed. 2001:BB6:4703:4A58:68CC:4F8B:F0B1:F48F (talk) 11:58, 17 November 2017 (UTC)

, it is not cool to ignore a discussion on the talk page and then simply revert the resulting edit. Can you tell us who gave the critique of Churchill's geographical description described in that paragraph, i.e. cite a reliable published source. If not, then it is only the personal musings of an individual Wikipedia editor and should be removed per WP:NOR. 2001:BB6:4703:4A58:9C5A:A160:1CD2:A625 (talk) 11:28, 22 November 2017 (UTC)

 * if you open a discussion, then the matter of changing the article must wait until consensus is obtained. Asking for citations is also a first step before deleting text--as I have now done. Hmains (talk) 02:41, 23 November 2017 (UTC)

 * Consensus was obtained. The discussion was open for four days and nobody disagreed. Oh, and I also tagged the paragraph. I then carried out the consensus, with an edit summary linking to the discussion. Do it your way by all means, but leave off the blame game. 2001:BB6:4703:4A58:8975:F568:3DE1:5CBB (talk) 08:24, 23 November 2017 (UTC)

 * , you have not come back to finish what you started, so I am now going to delete the paragraph. Please do not revert me again. Proper procedures have been followed (twice). 2001:BB6:4703:4A58:2846:21:D8C3:92E7 (talk) 08:41, 30 November 2017 (UTC)

Biased / propagandistic language
Not that I have any desire to defend the former regimes of the Soviet bloc, but you can hardly claim that "...had the function of calling all European peoples still under the yoke of the national-communist regimes to freedom" is neutral language. Describing one form of government as a "yoke" and another as "freedom" is not the kind of language that belongs in an encyclopedia. 82.28.107.46 (talk) 19:55, 24 April 2019 (UTC)

Image
I think the image on the top should be changed into a time-lapse. First the image that depicts the curtain as orginally envisioned by Churchill (to Italy), then with the Tito-Stalin split, which gradually opens the borders, then Albania withdraws from the Warsaw Pact and utimately the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the opening of the border. Maybe there should be some more steps in between that I'm missing, but you'll get the point. PhotographyEdits (talk) 14:37, 4 April 2023 (UTC)

Origin of the term
Th German wiki locates the origin of the term to France in 1915 (so not Russia in 1918). Translation https://de.zxc.wiki/wiki/Eiserner_Vorhang 2A02:8109:1040:29B0:2664:6003:9DFB:CB9E (talk) 18:11, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Iron Curtain


text:
Italian euro coins

Italian euro coins have a design unique to each denomination, though there is a common theme of famous Italian works of art throughout history. Each coin is designed by a different designer, from the 1 cent to the 2 euro coin they are: Eugenio Driutti, Luciana De Simoni, Ettore Lorenzo Frapiccini, Claudia Momoni, Maria Angela Cassol, Roberto Mauri, Laura Cretara and Maria Carmela Colaneri. All designs feature the 12 stars of the EU, the year of imprint, the overlapping letters "RI" for Repubblica Italiana (Italian Republic) and the letter R for Rome. There are no Italian euro coins dated earlier than 2002, even though they were certainly minted earlier, as they were first distributed to the public in December 2001.

History
The choice of the design of the coins was left to the Italian public by means of a television broadcast where alternative designs were presented, letting the people vote by calling a certain telephone number. However, the 1 euro coin was missing in this election, because Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the then economy minister, had already decided it would sport the Vitruvian Man of Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo's work is highly symbolic as it represents the Renaissance focus on man as the measure of all things, and has simultaneously a round shape that fits the coin perfectly. As Ciampi observed, this represents the "coin to the service of Man", instead of Man to the service of money.

Italian euro design
For images of the common side and a detailed description of the coins, see euro coins.

title: Italian euro coins


text:
Boolean ring

In mathematics, a Boolean ring $R$ is a ring for which $x^{2} = x$ for all $x$ in $R$, that is, a ring that consists of only idempotent elements. An example is the ring of integers modulo 2.

Every Boolean ring gives rise to a Boolean algebra, with ring multiplication corresponding to conjunction or meet $∧$, and ring addition to exclusive disjunction or symmetric difference (not disjunction $∨$, which would constitute a semiring). Conversely, every Boolean algebra gives rise to a Boolean ring. Boolean rings are named after the founder of Boolean algebra, George Boole.

Notation
There are at least four different and incompatible systems of notation for Boolean rings and algebras:
 * In commutative algebra the standard notation is to use $x + y = (x ∧ ¬ y) ∨ (¬ x ∧ y)$ for the ring sum of $x$ and $y$, and use $xy = x ∧ y$ for their product.
 * In logic, a common notation is to use $x ∧ y$ for the meet (same as the ring product) and use $x ∨ y$ for the join, given in terms of ring notation (given just above) by $x + y + xy$.
 * In set theory and logic it is also common to use $x · y$ for the meet, and $x + y$ for the join $x ∨ y$. This use of $+$ is different from the use in ring theory.
 * A rare convention is to use $xy$ for the product and $x ⊕ y$ for the ring sum, in an effort to avoid the ambiguity of $+$.

Historically, the term "Boolean ring" has been used to mean a "Boolean ring possibly without an identity", and "Boolean algebra" has been used to mean a Boolean ring with an identity. The existence of the identity is necessary to consider the ring as an algebra over the field of two elements: otherwise there cannot be a (unital) ring homomorphism of the field of two elements into the Boolean ring. (This is the same as the old use of the terms "ring" and "algebra" in measure theory.)

Examples
One example of a Boolean ring is the power set of any set $X$, where the addition in the ring is symmetric difference, and the multiplication is intersection. As another example, we can also consider the set of all finite or cofinite subsets of $X$, again with symmetric difference and intersection as operations. More generally with these operations any field of sets is a Boolean ring. By Stone's representation theorem every Boolean ring is isomorphic to a field of sets (treated as a ring with these operations).

Relation to Boolean algebras
Since the join operation $∨$ in a Boolean algebra is often written additively, it makes sense in this context to denote ring addition by $⊕$, a symbol that is often used to denote exclusive or.

Given a Boolean ring $R$, for $x$ and $y$ in $R$ we can define

These operations then satisfy all of the axioms for meets, joins, and complements in a Boolean algebra. Thus every Boolean ring becomes a Boolean algebra. Similarly, every Boolean algebra becomes a Boolean ring thus:

If a Boolean ring is translated into a Boolean algebra in this way, and then the Boolean algebra is translated into a ring, the result is the original ring. The analogous result holds beginning with a Boolean algebra.

A map between two Boolean rings is a ring homomorphism if and only if it is a homomorphism of the corresponding Boolean algebras. Furthermore, a subset of a Boolean ring is a ring ideal (prime ring ideal, maximal ring ideal) if and only if it is an order ideal (prime order ideal, maximal order ideal) of the Boolean algebra. The quotient ring of a Boolean ring modulo a ring ideal corresponds to the factor algebra of the corresponding Boolean algebra modulo the corresponding order ideal.

Properties of Boolean rings
Every Boolean ring $x ∧ y = xy$ satisfies $x ∨ y = x ⊕ y ⊕ xy$ for all $¬x = 1 ⊕ x$ in $xy = x ∧ y,$, because we know

and since $x ⊕ y = (x ∨ y) ∧ ¬(x ∧ y).$ is an abelian group, we can subtract $R$ from both sides of this equation, which gives $x ⊕ x = 0$. A similar proof shows that every Boolean ring is commutative:
 * $x$ and this yields $R$, which means $x ⊕ x = (x ⊕ x)^{2} = x^{2} ⊕ x^{2} ⊕ x^{2} ⊕ x^{2} = x ⊕ x ⊕ x ⊕ x$ (using the first property above).

The property $(R, ⊕)$ shows that any Boolean ring is an associative algebra over the field $x ⊕ x$ with two elements, in precisely one way. In particular, any finite Boolean ring has as cardinality a power of two. Not every unital associative algebra over $x ⊕ x = 0$ is a Boolean ring: consider for instance the polynomial ring $x ⊕ y = (x ⊕ y)^{2} = x^{2} ⊕ xy ⊕ yx ⊕ y^{2} = x ⊕ xy ⊕ yx ⊕ y$.

The quotient ring $xy ⊕ yx = 0$ of any Boolean ring $xy = yx$ modulo any ideal $x ⊕ x = 0$ is again a Boolean ring. Likewise, any subring of a Boolean ring is a Boolean ring.

Any localization $F_{2}$ of a Boolean ring $F_{2}$ by a set $F_{2}[X]$ is a Boolean ring, since every element in the localization is idempotent.

The maximal ring of quotients $R / I$ (in the sense of Utumi and Lambek) of a Boolean ring $R$ is a Boolean ring, since every partial endomorphism is idempotent.

Every prime ideal $I$ in a Boolean ring $RS^{−1}$ is maximal: the quotient ring $R$ is an integral domain and also a Boolean ring, so it is isomorphic to the field $S ⊆ R$, which shows the maximality of $Q(R)$. Since maximal ideals are always prime, prime ideals and maximal ideals coincide in Boolean rings.

Every finitely generated ideal of a Boolean ring is principal (indeed, $R$. Furthermore, as all elements are idempotents, Boolean rings are commutative von Neumann regular rings and hence absolutely flat, which means that every module over them is flat.

Unification
Unification in Boolean rings is decidable, that is, algorithms exist to solve arbitrary equations over Boolean rings. Both unification and matching in finitely generated free Boolean rings are NP-complete, and both are NP-hard in finitely presented Boolean rings. (In fact, as any unification problem $P$ in a Boolean ring can be rewritten as the matching problem $R$, the problems are equivalent.)

Unification in Boolean rings is unitary if all the uninterpreted function symbols are nullary and finitary otherwise (i.e. if the function symbols not occurring in the signature of Boolean rings are all constants then there exists a most general unifier, and otherwise the minimal complete set of unifiers is finite).

title: Boolean ring


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Frank Drake

Frank Donald Drake (May 28, 1930 – September 2, 2022) was an American astrophysicist and astrobiologist.

He began his career as a radio astronomer, studying the planets of the Solar System and later pulsars. Drake expanded his interests to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), beginning with Project Ozma in 1960, an attempt at extraterrestrial communications. He developed the Drake equation, which attempts to quantify the number of intelligent lifeforms that could potentially be discovered. Working with Carl Sagan, Drake helped to design the Pioneer plaque, the first physical message flown beyond the Solar System, and was part of the team that developed the Voyager record. Drake designed and implemented the Arecibo message in 1974, an extraterrestrial radio transmission of astronomical and biological information about Earth. He is the father of Advanced SETI.

Drake worked at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cornell University, University of California at Santa Cruz and the SETI Institute.

Early life and education
Born on May 28, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois, Drake showed an early interest in electronics and chemistry. Drake first considered the possibility of life existing on other planets as an eight-year-old, after conjecturing that if human civilization was the result of chance then civilizations might also exist elsewhere in the universe.

He enrolled at Cornell University on a Navy Reserve Officer Training Corps scholarship. Once there he began studying astronomy. His ideas about the possibility of extraterrestrial life were reinforced by a lecture from astrophysicist Otto Struve in 1951. After receiving a B.A. in Engineering Physics, Drake served briefly as an electronics officer on the heavy cruiser USS Albany. He then went on to graduate school at Harvard University from 1952 to 1955 where he received a M.S. and Ph.D. in Astronomy. His doctoral advisor was Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.

Career
Drake began his research career as a radio astronomer, working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia from 1958–63. At NRAO, he conducted research into radio emissions from the planets of the Solar System: using the radio telescope at Green Bank, Drake discovered the ionosphere and magnetosphere of Jupiter, and observed the atmosphere of Venus. He also mapped the radio emission from the Galactic Center. Drake extended the capabilities of the under-construction Arecibo Observatory to allow it to be used for radio astronomy (it was originally designed purely for ionospheric physics).

In April 1959, Drake obtained approval from the director Otto Struve of NRAO to begin Project Ozma, a search for extraterrestrial radio communications. Initially, they agreed to keep the project secret, fearing public ridicule. However, Drake decided to publicize his project after Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison published a paper in Nature in September 1959, entitled "Searching for Interstellar Communications". Drake began his Project Ozma observations in 1960, using the NRAO 26-meter radio telescope, by searching for possible signals from the star systems Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. No extraterrestrial signals were detected and the project was terminated in July 1960. After learning about Project Ozma, Carl Sagan (then a graduate student) contacted Drake, initiating a lifelong collaboration between them.

In 1961, Drake devised the Drake equation, which attempted estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations that might be detectable in the Milky Way. The Drake equation has been described as the "second most-famous equation in science", after E=mc2.

In 1963, Drake served as section chief of Lunar and Planetary Science at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He returned to Cornell in 1964, this time as a member of the faculty (academic staff), where he would spend the next two decades. He was promoted to Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy in 1976. Drake served as associate director of the Cornell Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, as director of the Arecibo Observatory from 1966 to 1968, and as director of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center (NAIC, which includes the Arecibo facility), from its establishment in 1971 to 1981.

In 1972, Drake co-designed the Pioneer plaque with Carl Sagan and Linda Salzman Sagan. The plaque was the first physical message sent into space and intended to be understandable by any sufficiently technologically advanced extraterrestrial lifeforms that might intercept it. In 1974, Drake wrote the Arecibo message, the first interstellar message transmitted deliberately from Earth. He later served as technical director, with Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan, in the development of the Voyager Golden Record, an improved version of the Pioneer plaque which also incorporated audio recordings.

In 1984, Drake moved to the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), becoming their Dean of Natural Science. The non-profit SETI Institute was founded the same year, with Drake as president of its board of trustees. Drake left his role as dean in 1988, but remained a professor at UCSC while also becoming director of the SETI Institute's Carl Sagan Center. Drake was President of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific from 1988 to 1990. From 1989 to 1992, he was chairman of the Board of Physics and Astronomy for the National Research Council. He retired from teaching in 1996 but remained emeritus professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC. In 2010, Drake stepped down as director of The Carl Sagan Center but continued to serve on the SETI Institute's board of trustees.

On the subject of the search for the existence of extra-terrestrial life, Drake said: "[A]s far as I know, the most fascinating, interesting thing you could find in the universe is not another kind of star or galaxy … but another kind of life."

Personal life
Drake's hobbies included lapidary and the cultivation of orchids.

He had five children, including science journalist Nadia Drake.

Drake died on September 2, 2022, at his home in Aptos, California, from natural causes at the age of 92.

Honors

 * Asteroid 4772 Frankdrake is named after him.
 * Elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1972
 * Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1974.
 * 2001 Drake award from the SETI Institute
 * 2018 National Space Society's Space Pioneer Award for Science and Engineering
 * The Drake Lounge at the Green Bank Observatory is named after him

title: Frank Drake