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Palestinian Liberation Organization Leader Yasir Arafat Related Links Conflict from 2000-2010Conflict from 2011-presentIsraelPalestineGlossary of TermsConflict Timeline The Partition of Palestine and the Formation of Modern Israel As part of the 19th-century Zionist movement, Jews had begun settling in Palestine as early as 1820. The effort to establish a Jewish homeland received British approval in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. During the 1930s, Jews persecuted by the Hitler regime poured into Palestine....

The Banshee: This Irish fairy is more often heard than seen. Her mournful wail, called keening, is heard outside the home of a dying person. The Bogeyman: Also called bogies or bugbears, these fairies are nasty to children and frighten them in the dark. Only children can see their furry bodies and fiery red eyes. Brownies: Brownies are helpful little men with brownish skin and brown clothing. They have been said to visit farms in Scotland and do household chores while the family sleeps....

Related Links Shakespeare on FilmRoyal Shakespeare CompanyQuiz: Shakespeare’s Life and Times

Norma Sklarek was the first African American woman to earn a fellowship from the American Institute of Architects. She graduated from Columbia University’s School of Architecture in 1950. The American architect Eleanor Raymon established her own practice in 1928. She was constantly experimenting with new building materials and designed one of the earliest solar homes in 1948. Natalie DeBlois was part of the team that designed Lever House in 1952, the Pepsi Cola building in 1959, and the Union Carbide building in 1960, all very large and famous corporate buildings....

Super Giant Atlas was one of the Titans in Greek mythology. After the Titans lost a battle with the god Zeus, Atlas’s punishment was to carry the earth on his shoulders for eternity. Gentle Giant Paul Bunyan, an American folk hero, was a giant of the north woods. He was taller than the trees, and when his footprints filled with water, they created the ten thousand lakes of Minnesota. Biblical Giant Goliath, a warrior giant, terrorized whole armies with his size and strength....

Number of U.S. Colleges and Universities and Degrees Awarded Major U.S. and Canadian University Libraries, 2006 Ten Happiest Colleges Top 25 Colleges for Black Student, 2012 Top 25 Colleges for Black Students, 2011 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Milestones in African American Education Selected Degree Abbreviations The Seven Sisters Colonial American and Ivy League Colleges The Big Ten Conference Most Expensive U.S. Colleges and Universities, 2015–2016 Most Expensive U....

The Egyptians had calculated that the solar year was actually closer to 3651/4 days, but instead of having a single leap day every four years to account for the fractional day (the way we do now), they let the one-quarter day accumulate. After 1,460 solar years, or four periods of 365 years, 1,461 Egyptian years had passed. This means that as the years passed, the Egyptian months fell out of sync with the seasons, so that the summer months eventually fell during winter....

Related Links 2014 Winter OlympicsMemorable Olympic MomentsBirth of the Modern OlympicsEncyclopedia: Ancient Olympics Did You Know? In 1956, the Summer Games were held in Melbourne, but the equestrian events were held in Stockholm. The flame was carried to the Stockholm events entirely on horseback. In 1976, the flame was converted into an electronic pulse, which was transmitted via satellite from Athens to Ottawa. In 1992, a burning arrow carrying the flame was shot across the stadium and into the cauldron by a Paralympic archer....

Artemisia Gentileschi lived in Europe from 1593 to 1652. She was only 17 when she finished her well-known painting, Susanna and the Elders. Angelica Kauffman was born in Switzerland in 1740. She began to paint with her father when she was just 11 years old. She soon achieved her own fame as a decorative painter of buildings. Some of her work can be seen today on buildings in London, England....

More Stuff To Be Scared Of The Truth About DraculaMenacing Monster GuideThe Hoax FilesUnlucky No. 13Sports and the Number 13Top 10 All-Time Scariest Movies Quiz: Phobias, Part II If you’re afraid to get near a swimming pool, you might be suffering from . . . Quiz: Phobias, Part IIII Somebody with necrophobia would have no business applying for a job as . . . Our Favorite Phobias, from A-Z Acrophobia: fear of heights Agoraphobia fear of crowds, public places, or open areas Ailurophobia fear of cats Algophobia fear of pain Anglophobia fear of (or hatred for) England or anything English Aquaphobia fear of water Arachnophobia fear of spiders Aviophobia fear of flying in an airplane Ballistophobia fear of missiles, bullets, or being shot Bibliophobia fear (or mistrust) of books Claustrophobia fear of enclosed spaces Cynophobia fear of dogs Francophobia fear of (or hatred for) France or anything French Germanophobia fear of (or hatred for) Germany or anything German Gerontophobia fear of old people or old age Hemophobia fear of blood Logophobia fear of words Monophobia fear of being alone Necrophobia fear of death or dead bodies Nosophobia fear of disease Nyctophobia fear of night or darkness Ophidiophobia fear of snakes Paraskavedekatriaphobia fear of Friday the 13th Philophobia fear of love or falling in love Phobophobia fear of developing a phobia Photophobia fear of (or sensitivity to) light Pyrophobia fear of fire Russophobia fear of (or hatred for) Russia or anything Russian Sitophobia aversion to food Taphephobia fear of being buried alive Technophobia fear of advanced technology Thalassophobia fear of the sea Thanatophobia fear of death Toxiphobia fear of being poisoned Triskaidekaphobia fear of the number 13 Xenophobia fear (or hatred) of foreigners, strangers, or things that are foreign or strange Xylophobia fear of forests or wooden objects Zoophobia fear of animals

Area: 14.2 million sq. km (5.5 million sq. mi.). Geographic South Pole: Earth’s southernmost point, at latitude 90°S, where all lines of longitude meet. Magnetic South Pole: The magnetic South Pole shifts about 5 miles (km) a year and is now located at about 66°S and 139°E on the Adélie Coast of Antarctica. Terrain: About 98% thick ice sheet and 2% barren rock; glaciers form ice shelves along about half of the coastline, and floating ice shelves constitute 11% of the area of the continent....

For more than a billion Muslims, Ramadan is a time of prayer, fasting, and charity. Related Links Major Islamic Holidays Islam Primer Islamic Holidays, 2010-2016 For more than a billion Muslims around the world—including some 8 million in North America—Ramadan is a “month of blessing” marked by prayer, fasting, and charity. Ramadan focuses on self-sacrifice and devotion to Allah (God). Why this Month? Muslims believe that during the month of Ramadan, Allah revealed the first verses of the Qur’an, the holy book of Islam....

The teams used data collected with powerful telescopes to observe the light emissions of quasars, the most distant known objects in the universe. Quasars, which are amazingly bright, can essentially offer snapshots of the universe from hundreds of millions of years ago. The Sloan team observed fog around a quasar that they believe began shining just as the dark ages were drawing to a close. The quasar studied by the Djorgovski team was slightly closer and glowed more brilliantly; it had probably sent forth its light after the fog began to dissipate, some 100 million years later....