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Camp Fire Boys and Girls

(Encyclopedia)Camp Fire Boys and Girls, American organization for boys and girls from birth to age 21, originally the Camp Fire Girls, for girls 6 to 18 years old. It was founded (1910) by Luther Halsey Gulick (186...

Cardamoms, mountains, Thailand and Cambodia

(Encyclopedia)Cardamoms kärˈdəməmz [key], Thai Banthat, Khmer Kravanh, mountain group extending c.100 mi (160 km) along the Thai-Cambodian border, E of Chanthaburi, SE Thailand. The mountains receive monsoon ra...

Caribbean Community and Common Market

(Encyclopedia)Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM), organization founded by the Treaty of Chaguaramas (Trinidad; 1973, revised 2001) and including Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica...

Carlos, Spanish and Portuguese kings

(Encyclopedia)Carlos. For Spanish and Portuguese kings thus named, use Charles.

vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

(Encyclopedia)vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (VTOL), craft capable of rising and descending vertically from and to the ground, thus requiring no runway. While a balloon or an airship has obvious VTOL capabil...

Vienna, city and province, Austria

(Encyclopedia)Vienna vēĕnˈə [key], Ger. Wien, city and province (1991 pop. 1,539,848), 160 sq mi (414 sq km), capital and largest city of Austria and administrative seat of Lower Austria, NE Austria, on the Dan...

Ursa Major and Ursa Minor

(Encyclopedia)Ursa Major ûrˈsə [key] and Ursa Minor [Lat.,=the great bear; the little bear], two conspicuous northern constellations. Known to many peoples from ancient times, these constellations have had vario...

waterproof and water-repellent fabrics

(Encyclopedia)waterproof and water-repellent fabrics, materials treated with various substances so as to make them impervious to water. Permanent waterproofing is achieved by first coating fabrics with rubber or pl...

Chateaubriand, François René, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Chateaubriand, François René, vicomte de fräNswäˈ rənāˈ vēkôNtˈ də shätōbrēäNˈ [key], 1768–1848, French writer. Chateaubriand was a founder of romanticism in French literature. Of n...

Li Po

(Encyclopedia)Li Po lē tī-bô [key], c.700–762, Chinese poet of the T'ang dynasty. He was born in what is now Sichuan prov. Most authorities believe that he was a Taoist; Li Po's unconcern for worldly prefermen...