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Murakami, Haruki

(Encyclopedia)Murakami, Haruki häro͞oˈkē mo͝orˌäkäˈmē [key], 1949–, Japanese novelist. He lived in Europe and the United States from 1986 to 1995. Widely considered one of Japan's most important contemp...

Miyazaki, Hayao

(Encyclopedia)Miyazaki, Hayao mēyäˈzäˌkē [key], 1941–, Japanese animator. Japan's preeminent maker of animated films (anime), Miyazaki is thought by many to be the world's finest living animator. He draws, ...

Midas

(Encyclopedia)Midas mīˈdəs [key], in Greek mythology, king of Phrygia. Because he befriended Silenus, the oldest of the satyrs, Dionysus granted him the power to turn everything into gold by touch. But when even...

Muni, Paul

(Encyclopedia)Muni, Paul myo͞oˈnē [key], 1895–1967, American actor, b. Austria, whose original name was Muni Weisenfreund. His parents brought him to the United States in 1902 and from 1903 to 1913 toured with...

avalanche

(Encyclopedia)avalanche, rapidly descending large mass of snow, ice, soil, rock, or mixtures of these materials, sliding or falling in response to the force of gravity. Avalanches, which are natural forms of erosio...

MacCready, Paul Beattie

(Encyclopedia)MacCready, Paul Beattie, 1925–2007, American engineer and inventor known for his achievements in human-powered flight, b. New Haven, Conn., Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1952. In 1997 he...

kite, in aviation and recreation

(Encyclopedia)kite, in aviation, aircraft restrained by a towline and deriving its lift from the aerodynamic action of the wind flowing across it. Commonly the kite consists of a light framework upon which paper, s...

whirlpool

(Encyclopedia)whirlpool, revolving current in an ocean, river, or lake. It may be caused by the configuration of the shore, irregularities in the bottom of the body of water, the meeting of opposing currents or tid...

Bryce Canyon National Park

(Encyclopedia)Bryce Canyon National Park, 35,835 acres (14,513 hectares), SW Utah; est. 1924. The Pink Cliffs of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, c.2,000 ft (610 m) high, were formed by water, frost, and wind action on alt...

Rapid City

(Encyclopedia)Rapid City, city (1990 pop. 54,523), seat of Pennington co., SW S.Dak., on Rapid Creek, in an irrigated farm region served by the Bureau of Reclamation's Rapid Valley project; founded 1876 after the d...