November 28, 2006

milium

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DEFINITION: (noun) A small, white or yellowish cystlike mass just below the surface of the skin, caused by retention of the secretion of a sebaceous gland. SYNONYMS: whitehead. USAGE: The soap promised to eradicate milia by thoroughly cleansing the skin and unclogging pores.
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Claude Lévi-Strauss

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Claude Lévi-Strauss was one of the 20th century's great thinkers. In Structural Anthropology, he theorizes that culture is a system of symbolic communication that, like phonemic differences in language, owes its meaning to structure. Borrowing heavily from contemporary linguistics, his theory was a major departure from earlier "functionalist" theories and led to critical insights into formative social phenomena. What role does the incest taboo play in his theory?
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First Female British MP Elected

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Nancy Witcher Astor, or Viscountess Astor, was the second woman elected to the British Parliament's House of Commons and the first to take a seat (the first female elected member had chosen not to do so). She attracted a great deal of attention, much of it for her caustic and witty comments, and was re-elected many times, serving until 1945. She was a Conservative member who concentrated on women's issues, temperance, and child welfare. What was the Cliveden Set?
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Wilhelm Steinitz

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Steinitz was an Austrian chess player and the first official world chess champion. Adopting a scientific approach to his study of the game, he formulated his theories in scientific terms and defended his title from 1886 to 1894. After he lost his title, however, he developed severe mental health problems and spent his last years in a number of institutions in New York, dying a pauper in 1900. Who took the title from Steinitz, and what did he say with regard to Steinitz and his unfortunate fate?
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November 27, 2006

Lightning Likely Cause of Spokes in Saturn’s Rings

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Researchers at the Max Planck Institute in Germany speculate that the smudges that sometimes appear in Saturn's rings could be caused by massive lightning strikes in the planet's atmosphere. According the researchers, the strikes are ten thousand times more energetic than those on Earth, and "release beams of electrons that surge up from Saturn's surface to whack into the rings and blast out jets of electrically charged dust."
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firedrake

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DEFINITION: (noun) A fire-breathing dragon of Germanic mythology. SYNONYMS: dragon. USAGE: Unlike other firedrakes, the dragon in this story liked to recite poetry and was a connoisseur of fine wines.
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James Agee

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Agee was an American novelist, screenwriter, journalist, poet, and film critic who worked for Fortune, Time, and The Nation. His first major book, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, a commentary on the life of tenant farmers in the South in the 1930s, is ranked among the greatest literary works of the 20th Century by the NY School of Journalism and the NY Public Library. His second major book, A Death in the Family, won the Pulitzer Prize. What is the book based on?
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Restoration of Colonial Williamsburg Begins

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The restoration of Colonial Williamsburg, one of the largest historic restorations ever undertaken, was championed by the Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who wanted to celebrate the early history of America. Today, Colonial Williamsburg is almost completely restored. It features shops, taverns, and open-air markets in the colonial style, and it has become a popular tourist destination. Of the approximately 500 buildings in the historic area, how many are original?
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Rudyard Kipling

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Every woman knows all about everything.
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Synthetic Diamond

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Diamond simulants are materials with gemological characteristics resembling those of real diamonds. Simulants are distinct from synthetic diamonds, which, unlike simulants, have material properties identical to those of natural diamonds. The most common diamond simulants are high-leaded glass, or rhinestones, and cubic zirconia, both artificial materials. The most historically notable natural simulant of diamond is what mineral that has been mined in Sri Lanka for over 2,000 years?
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