Ritter Sport is a brand of chocolate bar from the family-owned Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG, which has its headquarters in Waldenbuch, Germany.
Each 100 g square bar is divided into 16 smaller squares, creating a four-by-four pattern. In 2013 the company introduced a new version divided into 9 bigger squares using a three-by-three pattern. Large bars weighing 250 g and 16.5 g mini bars are also available, although in fewer varieties.
In 1912 Alfred and Clara Ritter founded a chocolate factory in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt. Later it introduced its own brand of chocolate, named "Alrika (Alfred Ritter Cannstatt)".
By 1926 the company had 80 employees and had bought their first company truck to transport the chocolate. When production needs required a factory expansion in 1930, the company moved to Waldenbuch, a site a couple of miles outside Stuttgart. The chocolate brand known today, Ritter's Sport Schokolade, was launched in 1932 after Clara suggested creating a chocolate bar that would fit into any sport jacket pocket without breaking but weighed the same as a normal bar.
The Second World War halted production and Ritter chocolates disappeared until the 1950s, when chocolate rationing was ended in West Germany. The end of chocolate rationing did not mark the end of troubles for the firm since in 1952 the company's founder, Albert Ritter, died. His son, Alfred Otto Ritter, took over and focused the company on the chocolate square.
In 1966 Clara Ritter also died and the company was left solely in the hands of Alfred Otto. He dispensed with many other product lines in order to push the square bar.
The 1970s saw Ritter packaging become more colourful with a brighter unique colour assigned to each flavour. The brighter labels were seen in parallel with colour television, on which Ritter advertised. Another advance in packaging came with the snap-open pack (called the 'Knick-Pack'), which Ritter marketed as "practical and modern".
After Alfred Otto Ritter's death the company was managed by his wife, Marta, and in 1978 the company passed into the hands of the third generation, brother and sister Alfred T. Ritter and Marli Hoppe-Ritter.
In 1990 they launched project(s) "Cacaonica", which supports organic cocoa agriculture and reafforestation in Nicaragua, and "Ritter Solar", now the European market leader of solar thermal products and large solar thermal systems. The Ritter company owns a CHP power plant, which supplies 70% of the factory's energy needs, and since 2002 the company has been run entirely on renewable energy. The monomaterial chocolate packaging is designed to minimize its ecological footprint and is recyclable. The company has been certified to ZNU standard.
The Ritter Museum, opened in 2005, contains the collection of Marli Hoppe-Ritter, which consists of nearly 600 paintings, objects, sculptures and graphic works, a breadth of painterly and sculptural confrontation with the square form used as the design for the Ritter chocolate. The museum is an extension of the factory's 'ChocoShop', which was opened in 2001. The museum, on Alfred-Ritter-Straße 27, is a cubical building with limestone wall covering; a 12-metre-high central open passage is meant to draw in the landscape, and the large window allows a view through the building. It was designed by Max Dudler and Susanne Raupach.
On the whole their products are neither certified organic nor certified fair trade. However in April 2008 they launched an organic product line called "Ritter Sport Bio".
The firm celebrated its centenary in 2012 by touring 19 German cities between March and September on 'the Colourful ChocoTour'. A limited-edition anniversary bar was released: Edel-Nuss Mix – Plain milk chocolate with macadamias, cashews, and almonds. Also in 2012 Ritter expanded its initiative in Nicaragua by setting up a new cocoa plantation. The first harvest was in 2017.
In 2013 Ritter opened another shop at Ravensburger Spieleland, a German theme park, and the next year Ritter's first pop-up shop appeared in Hamburg for four months.
In 2017 Ritter released its first certified vegan bars, Dunkle Voll-Nuss Amaranth (hazelnut cream chocolate with amaranth and nuts) and Dunkle Mandel Quinoa (hazelnut cream chocolate with quinoa and almonds). As of February 2017 they were on sale only in Germany. The new releases, costing €2 each, target the growing vegan population in Germany. A third bar, Sesam (almond cream chocolate with sesame), was released in February 2020.
Air Jordan is an American brand of basketball shoes, athletic, casual, and style clothing produced by Nike. Founded in Chicago, Air Jordan was created for Hall of Fame former basketball player Michael Jordan during his time with the Chicago Bulls. The original Air Jordan sneakers were produced exclusively for Michael Jordan in late 1984, and released to the public on April 1, 1985. The shoes were designed for Nike by Peter Moore, Tinker Hatfield, and Bruce Kilgore.
Air Jordan I
The first Air Jordan was produced for Michael Jordan during his time with the Chicago Bulls in 1984 and designed by Peter b. Moore. The red and black colorway of the Nike Air Ship, the prototype for the Jordan I, was later outlawed by then-NBA Commissioner David Stern for having very little white on them. (This rule, known as the "51 percent" rule, was repealed in the late 2000s.)
Air Jordan II
The success of the Air Jordan I encouraged Nike to release a new Air Jordan in 1986 for the new basketball season. Designed by Peter Moore and Bruce Kilgore, the Air Jordan II was unique in that it was made in Italy. In early tests, MJ actually wore a prototype that fused the upper of the original Air Jordan with the cushioning being designed for the new model. The Air Jordan II featured a full-length Air-Sole unit intended to cushion's MJ's sore feet. The shoe bore a similar silhouette to the Nike Air Python that would release the following year. The AJ II featured a faux lizard skin and swooping lines that resembled the detailing of a sports car. This design aesthetic would factor into the Air Jordan line later in the series. The AJ II introduced better cushioning with a polyurethane midsole and a full-length encapsulated Nike Air capsule for maximum comfort. The Air Jordan II was the first Jordan not to have the Nike swoosh featured on the upper, though "Nike" was stitched across the heel counter. MJ only got to wear the Air Jordan II for 18 games in the 1986-87 season due to a broken foot. The shoe originally retailed at $100 when it was released from 1986 to 1987. The shoe later re-released, as the Jordan Retro 2, in 1994, 2004–05, 2008, 2010, 2014–18.
Air Jordan III
Originally released in 1988, in 2009 the Jordan Brand reintroduced the highly sought after Air Jordan III in the True Blue colorway. It was an international-only release, meaning they were not sold in the US. In 2011, the brand released a Black History Month (BHM) Air Jordan III colorway in commemoration of the 35th anniversary of Black History Month. Also, the same year saw the release of the "True Blue" III on June 4. The Stealth colorway of the III was released in September and the Black Cements were released in November.
On February 15, 2020, the most recent version of the shoe Air Jordan 3 SE "Red Cement" was released in celebration of Chicago, Illinois hosting the 2020 NBA All-Star Game. The brand also debuted a Chicago-exclusive version of the colorway. This pair features "Nike Chi" branding on the heel, replacing the traditional "Nike Air" branding.
Action video game by reflections
Driver: Parallel Lines is the fourth installment in the Driver video game series. It is a departure from previous titles in the series that focused on multiple cities, as the game takes place in New York City, within the periods of 1978 and 2006. It is also the only title not to involve the undercover cop, John Tanner, but instead focuses on a getaway driver named TK, who seeks revenge on a gang he worked with during his youth, after they framed him for the murder of a drug lord they held for ransom. Due to the underwhelming performance of Driver 3, particularly the often-derided on-foot sections, Parallel Lines returns to the formula used in earlier games in the series, focusing on driving, although shooting remains in the game, while the game is more open-ended than previous titles. It was released in March 2006 on PlayStation 2 and Xbox by Atari, and on Microsoft Windows and the Wii in June 2007 by Ubisoft.
Driver: Parallel Lines takes place in an entirely open world environment, in which mini-games are now accessed from the in-game world instead of from a menu, while the game also features some new elements that are common with Grand Theft Auto - visible blood when someone is shot, an "Auto-aim" feature (with manual aim also available), a money system, fully modifiable vehicles (with a test track to test out upgraded vehicles), and environment destruction (i.e., lamp posts can now be run over and fire hydrants can break, spewing water into the air). A new felony system is incorporated in Parallel Lines, which can differentiate between personal felony and felony "attached" to vehicles the player has used. If the player attracts police attention on foot or in a certain vehicle, the player can suspend their wanted level by losing the police and entering a "clean" car, though it can be reactivated if they spend too much time in the sight of a police officer, who will eventually recognize the player as "wanted". The same principle applies to out-of-car activities such as weapon use, in which players can holster their weapon in order to lose police attention until spotted committing illegal acts again. For the Wii version, the felony bar is replaced with a "stars" system, similar to that of Grand Theft Auto, which light up when the player attracts police attention. Like Grand Theft Auto, the game features fictional, yet distinct styles of vehicles based upon real automobiles that were in use within New York between the two periods.
The game was originally intended to include online multiplayer, but this was scrapped when it became apparent to the developers that they could not deliver a strong multiplayer mode and wanted to focus entirely on the single-player portion of the game. The control layout differs slightly from Driv3r in that swimming and jumping abilities were removed from the game, along with a separate control to do "burnouts". While this was practical on the pressure-sensitive buttons of the PS2 controller, it meant that if the game was played using a PC keyboard to drive vehicles, most of them would constantly do a burnout when accelerating at low speeds and thus reduce control. The instant replay film director mode of previous Driver games was also removed, with the only available cinematic mode being the fixed-perspective slow-motion "Thrill Camera".
The game's appearance changes significantly between 1978 and 2006. Not only does TK's appearance change from his 1970s look to a more modern appearance in 2006, but also weapons, pedestrians and vehicles. Vehicles stored in the garage from 1978 can be used in the 2006 era and vice versa, while modifications are more expensive in the modern era than in 1978. New York's scenery changes quite significantly in places, with Times Square's lights and commercial posts changing to reflect the era they are in. While the 1978 World Trade Center appears, in 2006 it's a cleared and closed site. In addition, the New York of 1978 has a rather sepia tone to it, whereas in 2006 the sky has been blue-tinted. The game's HUD, which is updated from that of Driv3r featuring a speedometer, a nitrous oxide meter, and an odometer displaying how many miles the player has driven in-game also changes in appearance, from a chrome style to an LED look. While the players can change between eras manually, it can only be done after completing the 32 missions of the story mode and unlocking the "Era Change" option. While the game completely lacks any kind of weather, it does retain a day-to-night cycle that provides notable atmospheric changes.