311 résultats pour "building"
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Ancient Greece - history.
Palace of KnossosThe ancient city of Knossos was a center of the Minoan civilization, an advanced society on Crete named after Minos, a legendaryCretan king. Skilled in such fields as engineering and architecture, the Minoans constructed the palace at Knossos in 1700 bc. Aserious fire at least three centuries later caused the collapse of the palace and foreshadowed the subsequent decline of the city.Wolfgang Kaehler Settlers had begun sailing from Asia Minor to Crete about 6000 BC because the i...
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Cairo (Egypt) - geography.
Prize-winning author and Cairo native Naguib Mahfouz, whose fiction has provided a chronicle of the city. VI POINTS OF INTEREST The pyramids of Egypt, which served as tombs for the ancient pharaohs, and the statue of the Sphinx, which dates from about 2500 BC and is probably the country's most famous monument, are located just west of Cairo in the suburb of Giza. Depite the desert background usually depicted in photographs, the pyramids areextremely close to Cairo and are likely to be affecte...
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Los Angeles - geography.
size and population) among all the cities in Los Angeles County. It is irregular in shape because it has grown over the years through the annexation of surrounding territoryand cities. The city proper is shaped like a lighted torch, its narrow handle extending north from the Port of Los Angeles to downtown Los Angeles, and its flames flickeringirregularly to the north, west, and northwest. Several separate cities—such as Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Culver City—are partly or completely surro...
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San Antonio (city, Texas) - geography.
The SBC Center is the home venue for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the San Antonio Silver Stars of the Women's NationalBasketball Association (WNBA). The dome also serves as the site for the Alamo Bowl, an annual post-season college football game. Large themed amusement parks inthe San Antonio area are Fiesta Texas and Sea World of Texas. San Antonio’s major annual event is the Fiesta, a ten-day celebration in late April with carnivals, ethnic feasts, art...
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Martin Luther King, Jr.
disorder that local white officials would be forced to end segregation to restore normal business relations. The strategy did not work in Albany. During months ofprotests, Albany’s police chief jailed hundreds of demonstrators without visible police violence. Eventually the protesters’ energy, and the money to bail out protesters,ran out. The strategy did work, however, in Birmingham, Alabama, when SCLC joined a local protest during the spring of 1963. The protest was led by SCLC member FredShut...
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Martin Luther King, Jr.
disorder that local white officials would be forced to end segregation to restore normal business relations. The strategy did not work in Albany. During months ofprotests, Albany’s police chief jailed hundreds of demonstrators without visible police violence. Eventually the protesters’ energy, and the money to bail out protesters,ran out. The strategy did work, however, in Birmingham, Alabama, when SCLC joined a local protest during the spring of 1963. The protest was led by SCLC member FredShut...
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Rome (Italy) - geography.
country’s best, and in the summer at the Baths of Caracalla. The city also has some 20 theaters and 6 major concert halls, which offer a varied repertory during the fall,winter, and spring. The museums of the city deal with all aspects of the arts and sciences and are among the world’s finest. The oldest art collection in Rome, housed in the CapitolineMuseum, was established in 1471 and contains exceptional antiquities. Among other Roman museums are the National Museum of the Villa Giulia, which...
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Thomas Edison.
While Edison was working on the electric light, he made a scientific discovery that would become important to future generations. Edison noticed that particles of carbonfrom the filament blackened the insides of his light bulbs. This effect was caused by the emission of electrons from the filament, although Edison made the discoverybefore he and other scientists knew the electron existed. Not until 1897 did British physicist J. J. Thomson prove that the blackening observed by Edison was caused b...
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Thomas Edison - USA History.
While Edison was working on the electric light, he made a scientific discovery that would become important to future generations. Edison noticed that particles of carbonfrom the filament blackened the insides of his light bulbs. This effect was caused by the emission of electrons from the filament, although Edison made the discoverybefore he and other scientists knew the electron existed. Not until 1897 did British physicist J. J. Thomson prove that the blackening observed by Edison was caused b...
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Costa Rica - country.
protection from future deforestation is not guaranteed. Deforestation places Costa Rica’s rich biodiversity in danger. The country’s location on the cusp between Northand South America and its abundance of tropical forests make it home to a great variety of species, many of them rare and threatened. Deforestation also contributesto the country’s problematic rate of soil erosion. Costa Rica is party to international treaties concerning biodiversity, climate change ( see Global Warming), endangere...
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Aztec Empire.
tribute to the empire in agricultural products, which were used to finance public projects. All able-bodied men owed military service to the empire. Citizens could also bedrafted to work on public lands or build temples, dikes, aqueducts, and roads. Although Aztec society had strict classes, a person’s status could change based on his or her contribution to society. Commoners could improve their rank, especially byperforming well in battle, and become prosperous landowners. Young people of some...
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Aztec Empire - USA History.
tribute to the empire in agricultural products, which were used to finance public projects. All able-bodied men owed military service to the empire. Citizens could also bedrafted to work on public lands or build temples, dikes, aqueducts, and roads. Although Aztec society had strict classes, a person’s status could change based on his or her contribution to society. Commoners could improve their rank, especially byperforming well in battle, and become prosperous landowners. Young people of some...
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Panama Canal - Geography.
The size of ships using the Panama Canal has steadily increased. About 27 percent of the vessels that use the canal are built to the maximum dimensions that can passthrough it (a category called “Panamax”). This has prompted further widening of Gaillard Cut, so that the larger Panamax vessels may transit safely. However, some ofthe world’s commercial and military ships are too large for the canal. Since the 1940s, new U.S. battleships and aircraft carriers have been built exceeding the canal’sdi...
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Vice President of the United States.
naval operations. Located in northwest Washington at Massachusetts Avenue and 34th Street, the three-story Queen Anne-style house is within easy driving distance ofCapitol Hill and the White House. The vice president receives an annual salary of $189,300. The vice president has a staff and offices in the Everett M. Dirksen Senate Office Building, near the Capitol, toassist with legislative matters, as well as a personal office near the Senate lobby. The vice president also has staff and offices...
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Louis XIV
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INTRODUCTION
Louis XIV (1638-1715), king of France (1643-1715), known as the Sun King.
he could defend against attack from his enemies. In the first instance, Louis worked to tighten central control over the array of departments, regions, and duchies that together made up France. To this end, he revivedthe use of regional intendants, officials who were sent to the provinces with instructions to establish order and effective royal justice. Although agents of the centralgovernment, intendants worked closely with the local nobility and legal institutions to establish efficient admini...
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Louis XIV.
he could defend against attack from his enemies. In the first instance, Louis worked to tighten central control over the array of departments, regions, and duchies that together made up France. To this end, he revivedthe use of regional intendants, officials who were sent to the provinces with instructions to establish order and effective royal justice. Although agents of the centralgovernment, intendants worked closely with the local nobility and legal institutions to establish efficient admini...
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Birding - biology.
swallows, and rock doves nest on buildings in cities, towns, and farms. The chimney swift has abandoned hollow trees for chimneys as a nest site in urban areas.Mallards and Canada geese—once exclusively wild, migratory species—now live year-round in the open spaces found in city parks and golf courses. Nearly all purplemartins, a songbird species that once used the abandoned nests of woodpeckers or the natural cavities of cliffs or dead trees, now live primarily in structures specificallyconstru...
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Yemen - country.
port. Al Ḩudaydah (155,110), in the Tih āmah, is the second largest port. Ta‘izz, (178,043), in the highlands above Aden, is an important commercial and light industrialcenter. Among Yemen’s larger towns are Şa‘dah, far to the north; Dham ār, Yarim, and Ibb, in the middle region; Al Mukall ā, on the southern coast; and in Hadhramaut,the towns of Shib ām, Say‘ ūn, and Tar īm. C Language Nearly all Yemenis speak Arabic. However, the country’s extremely rugged terrain, widely separated population...
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Toys.
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INTRODUCTION
Toys, objects that serve as playthings for children. Although the
clay. These readily available elements were also used to make more elaborate toys as human society advanced. Archaeologists have found primitive, handmade toys such as wooden or cloth dolls, clay marbles, and terracotta figures that date back thousands of years. In ancientEgypt, Greece, and Rome, people placed dolls or clay figures in the graves or tombs of children for them to play with in the afterlife. The yo-yo may seem like a 20th-century fad, but it actually dates back at least 2,500 years...
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Bosnia and Herzegovina - country.
Serb military campaigns in 1992 and 1993 and Croat campaigns in 1993 and 1995 were aimed at expelling others from areas claimed by these groups. By the end ofthe war almost all non-Serbs had been expelled from Serb-claimed lands in eastern and northern Bosnia, and non-Croats from Croat-claimed lands in southwesternBosnia. In turn, most non-Muslims had left land under Muslim control in northwestern Bosnia. The largest cities had mixed populations in 1991, but the war and its aftermath made them a...
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Human Nutrition.
is one of the most preventable types of cancer. Nutritionists caution that most Americans need to eat more complex carbohydrates. In the typical American diet, only 40 to 50 percent of total calories come fromcarbohydrates—a lower percentage than found in most of the world. To make matters worse, half of the carbohydrate calories consumed by the typical American comefrom processed foods filled with simple sugars. Experts recommend that these foods make up no more that 10 percent of our diet, bec...
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Honduras - country.
A Principal Cities The capital and largest city of Honduras is Tegucigalpa (2006 estimate, 1,324,000), located in the south-central highlands region. The country’s second largest city isSan Pedro Sula (549,498). The principal city and commercial center in the north, it lies in the heart of the vast banana plantations on the Caribbean Sea. La Ceiba(127,590) and Puerto Cortés (90,161) are among the leading Caribbean ports. B Language and Religion Spanish is the official language and is spoken by...
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Nova Scotia - Geography.
summer. Nova Scotia receives an average of more than 1,140 mm (45 in) of rain annually, with the Atlantic shore receiving 1,400 mm (55 in) or more. Most of the provincereceives about 1,900 mm (about 70 in) of snow, and considerable winter precipitation comes in the form of rain or ice storms. The average temperature in January, thecoldest month, is generally about -4°C (about 25°F) near the coast and somewhat colder toward the interior. The average temperature in July, the hottest month, isabout...
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Nova Scotia - Canadian History.
summer. Nova Scotia receives an average of more than 1,140 mm (45 in) of rain annually, with the Atlantic shore receiving 1,400 mm (55 in) or more. Most of the provincereceives about 1,900 mm (about 70 in) of snow, and considerable winter precipitation comes in the form of rain or ice storms. The average temperature in January, thecoldest month, is generally about -4°C (about 25°F) near the coast and somewhat colder toward the interior. The average temperature in July, the hottest month, isabout...
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Rocket.
the vacuum of space, however, demonstrated that this belief was not true. In fact, rockets produce more thrust in the vacuum of space than on Earth. Air pressure andfriction with the air reduce a rocket’s thrust by about 10 percent on Earth as compared to the rocket’s performance in space. B Thrust and Efficiency Thrust is a measurement of the force of a rocket, or the amount of “push” exerted backward to move a rocket forward. Thrusts vary greatly from rocket to rocket.Engineers measure thrust...
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Rocket - astronomy.
the vacuum of space, however, demonstrated that this belief was not true. In fact, rockets produce more thrust in the vacuum of space than on Earth. Air pressure andfriction with the air reduce a rocket’s thrust by about 10 percent on Earth as compared to the rocket’s performance in space. B Thrust and Efficiency Thrust is a measurement of the force of a rocket, or the amount of “push” exerted backward to move a rocket forward. Thrusts vary greatly from rocket to rocket.Engineers measure thrust...
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History of Colonial America - U.
Despite the lack of settlement, New France prospered as a vast fur-trading enterprise. French explorers traveled deep into the North American continent seeking newsupplies of deerskins and beaver pelts. In 1673 French missionary Jacques Marquette reached the Mississippi River in present-day Wisconsin. In 1681 explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, traveled down the majestic Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. He honored the reign of King Louis XIV (1643-1715) by creating the newcolony...
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Antarctica - Geography.
The maximum area of sea ice surrounding Antarctica each winter varies from year to year. A marked decline during the 1970s appears to have reversed in more recentdecades, except in the Antarctic Peninsula area. This area has lost almost 40 percent of its sea ice since the start of the 1980s. Sea ice is important to marine life. Krillfeed on algae that live under the sea ice and are released when the ice melts in spring and summer. In turn, many marine animals feed on krill. Emperor penguinsbreed...
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Ukraine - country.
a major hazard, especially to Ukraine’s water supply. The Chernobyl’ complex was finally shut down completely in December 2000, with the financial assistance ofWestern nations. The funds were to pay for the completion of two other nuclear power plants that would produce enough power to make up for the loss of the powersupply from the Chernobyl’ plant. III PEOPLE OF UKRAINE The population of Ukraine was estimated in 2008 at 45,994,287, giving the country a population density of 76 persons per s...
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Astronomy - astronomy.
Telescopes may use either lenses or mirrors to gather visible light, permitting direct observation or photographic recording of distant objects. Those that use lenses arecalled refracting telescopes, since they use the property of refraction, or bending, of light ( see Optics: Reflection and Refraction ). The largest refracting telescope is the 40-in (1-m) telescope at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, founded in the late 19th century. Lenses bend different colors of light by d...
- picasso
- gratte-ciel - architecture.
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- Cathedral
- Le Corbusier Le Corbusier, professional name of Charles Édouard Jeanneret (1887-1965), Swiss-French architect, painter, and writer, who had a major effect on the development of modern architecture.
- Le Corbusier.
- the great exhibition
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Manhattan
manufacturer, stood 612 feet (187 m) high until 1967, when it became the tallest building ever demolished. [135] The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower , standing 700 feet (213 m) at the foot of Madison Avenue , wrested the title in 1909, with a tower reminiscent of St Mark's Campanile in Venice. [136] The Woolworth Building , and its distinctive Gothic architecture , took the title in 1913, topping off...
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Washington, D.
South of the Federal Triangle is the Mall, a narrow park stretching roughly 1.6 km (1 mi) from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. Although the Mall officially ends at14th Street, landscaped greenery extends to the Potomac. The Washington Monument, whose marble shaft dominates the skyline, stands 169 m (555 ft) high near thecenter of this parkland. The interior of the monument is hollow, and visitors may either climb its 898 steps or ride its elevator 150 m (500 ft) for a magnificent view. A...
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Library of Congress.
manuscripts, books, and films. The Digital Library’s eventual goal is to make available 80 million items from the Library of Congress’s collection that are not easilyavailable elsewhere. V ORGANIZATION AND FUNDING The librarian of Congress serves as the director of the institution. Tradition, politics, and strong personalities have shaped the function of this office. Although the Libraryof Congress was established in 1800, the office of librarian was not created until passage of a law in 1802....
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Boullee, architecte futuriste
magnificent monuments and founded a architectura current; but who influenced the architects nowadays and almost all the monuments of our time are influenced by his works. Why Boullée Louis Etienne is not considered one of the greatest the history of architects? And his name is not on the list of revolutionary architects as Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies Van der Rohe and Le Corbusier? Can we named him The architect disappointed? It is true that the three architects are titles in modern architectures an...
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- architecture, religious
- Taj Mahal - geography.
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St. John's (city, Newfoundland and Labrador) - geography.
I
INTRODUCTION
Harbor of St.
Standing above the Narrows, at the top of Signal Hill, is Cabot Tower, built in 1897 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Newfoundland by John Cabot andthe diamond jubilee marking the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Victoria to the British throne. The tower has been a national historic site since 1958. In 1901Italian scientist Guglielmo Marconi set up a listening post just below the tower and successfully received the first wireless transmission from Europe. St. John...
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Earthquake.
III CAUSES Most earthquakes are caused by the sudden slip along geologic faults. The faults slip because of movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates. This concept is called theelastic rebound theory. The rocky tectonic plates move very slowly, floating on top of a weaker rocky layer. As the plates collide with each other or slide past eachother, pressure builds up within the rocky crust. Earthquakes occur when pressure within the crust increases slowly over hundreds of years and finally exceeds...
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Warsaw - geography.
(after Katowice in the south). Warsaw, more than anywhere else in the country, has benefited from the boom in construction and commerce that followed the fall ofCommunism in 1989. Warsaw’s unemployment was negligible in the 1990s (3 percent in 1997 compared with a national average of 11 percent), wages in Warsaw werebetter than average, and the city is the top destination for foreign investment. For example, an Italian company took over the Warsaw steelworks, a South Korean firmpurchased an auto...
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Lima (Peru) - geography.
Market in Lima, PeruShoppers and workers mingle in an outdoor market in Lima, Peru.M. Mcintyre/Hutchison Library On the city’s margins, however, vast squatter settlements have mushroomed, as large numbers of rural Peruvians have migrated to the city seeking a better life. More thanone-third of Lima’s population is estimated to live in such settlements, known as pueblos jovenes (young towns) or barriadas (shantytowns). Often these squatter settlements have developed relatively close to wealth...
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Washington, D.
structures built according to L’Enfant’s plan. During the War of 1812, British troops set fire to the White House, destroying its interior. President James Madison and hisfamily lived in the Octagon while the White House was being rebuilt. South of the Federal Triangle is the Mall, a narrow park stretching roughly 1.6 km (1 mi) from the Capitol to the Washington Monument. Although the Mall officially endsat 14th Street, landscaped greenery extends to the Potomac. The Washington Monument, whose m...
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Maya Civilization - history.
III CLASSIC PERIOD Maya Ruins, El SalvadorThe Maya occupied a large part of Central America, and their civilization reached its height between ad 300 and 900. Many ruins ofthe ancient civilization have been excavated in El Salvador, including huge limestone pyramids.Susan McCartney/Photo Researchers, Inc. Classic Maya civilization became more complex in about AD 300 as the population increased and centers in the highlands and the lowlands engaged in both cooperation and competition with each o...
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Observatory - astronomy.
Ultraviolet radiation, X rays, and gamma rays have shorter wavelengths than visible light has. These types of radiation tell astronomers about the hottest and mostviolent phenomena in the universe. Earth’s atmosphere blocks most of this radiation, so astronomers must send their observatories above the atmosphere aboardballoons, rockets, or satellites. Ultraviolet telescopes are much like visible light telescopes, but X-ray telescopes must have special nested cylindrical mirrors to prevent Xrays...
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World Energy Supply.
In the 1990s, oil production by non-OPEC countries remained strong and production by OPEC countries rebounded. The result at the end of the 20th century was aworld oil surplus and prices (when adjusted for inflation) that were lower than in 1972. Experts are uncertain about future oil supplies and prices. Low prices have spurred greater oil consumption, and experts question how long world petroleum reservescan keep pace with increased demand. Many of the world’s leading petroleum geologists beli...