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Black

Specialty Definition: Black

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Specialty Definition: African American

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

An African American is an American of predominantly, or at least partial, African descent, or rather a black American (see also below).

Most African Americans are descendants of persons brought to the Americas as slaves between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. (Those whose ancestors were brought as slaves to the Caribbean, or to Latin America, but who have come to the United States as free people, are sometimes classified as African-American, but are sometimes classified as Latin-American or Caribbean-American instead. Those who have come from Africa in the 20th or 21st centuries are often identified by their country of origin—for example, Nigerian-American.)

While the term had been used in print in some circles at least since the 1920s (and often shortened to Afro-American, the name of a famous Baltimore newspaper founded in 1892) it came to much wider use in the United States since the 1970s as the preferred term, as requested by some black Americans themselves. As of 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau identifies 12.9% of the US population as Black or African-American.

To be considered Black in the United States of America not even half of one's ancestry must be African Black. But will one fourth do, or one-eight, or less? The nation's answer to the question "Who is Black?" has long been that a Black is any person with any known African black ancestry. This definition reflects the long experience with slavery and later with Jim Crow laws. In the south of the country it became known as the one-drop rule, meaning that a single drop of "black blood" makes a person black. Some courts have called it the "traceable amount rule", and anthropologists call it the "hypo-descent rule", meaning that racially mixed persons are assigned the status of the subordinate group. This definition emerged from the American South to become the American's definition, generally accepted by whites and blacks. Since the end of legal sanctions on African Americans, some have chosen to identify themselves as "mixed" instead of African American. Additionally throughout US history, very pale persons sometimes chose to pass as white and joined the white community, oftentimes completely separating themselves from contact with darker members of their family. This at some times and places was a dangerous action, in light of anti-miscegenation laws and lynch mobs.

The term's use has sometimes been criticized as political correctness, while those who prefer the term say it is a matter of respect and politeness. However, using the word black is accepted by most, while some object to African American because it incorrectly implies that all Africans are black. In addition, even if some of one's remote ancestors descend from Africa, a dark-skinned immigrant from, for example Haiti or Cuba (or even an European nation) might prefer not to be identified as African. However, the term Negro, which was widely used until the 1960s, is today generally considered inappropriate and derogatory by many, largely because of its close association with the term nigger.

Another term to define African-American is "mulatto" and colored. The term "mulatto" was originally used to mean the offspring of a "pure African black" and a "pure European white". Although the root meaning of mulatto, in spanish or portuguese is hybrid, mulatto came to include the children of unions between whites and so called "mixed Blacks". For example, in the early twentieth century African-American activists such as Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass, who had slaves as mothers and white fathers, were referred to as mulattoes. To whatever extent their mothers were part white, these men were more than half white.

The term "quadroon" refers to a person who is one-fourth African in descent, perhaps someone born to a Caucasian mother and a mulatto father. Someone of one-eighth African descent is an "octoroon", although the term has been used loosely to refer to anyone with a small-but-present amount of Black blood. The word "méamelouc" became the standard label for someone whose ancestry was one-sixteenth sub-Saharan African, while a one-thirty-second mix was a "demi-méamelouc". The word "sang-melé" covered someone who had at least one known ancestor from Africa, but was less than one-thirty-second Black. Someone who has three-fourths Black (the progeny of a mulatto and a pure African, ideally) was traditionally called a "griffe".

The term "colored" seemed for a time to refer only to mulattoes, especially lighter ones, but later it became an euphemism for darker Blacks, even including unmixed Blacks. With widespread racial mixture, "Black" or "Negro" came to mean any slave or descendant of a slave, no matter how much mixed. Eventually in the U.S, the terms mulatto, colored, Negro, black, African-American all came to mean, people with any known black African ancestry. Mulattoes are racially mixed, to whatever degree, while the terms black, Negro, African-American and coloured include both mulattoes and unmixed blacks.

A discussion of this subject can be found in the journal article "The Politicization of Changing Terms of Self Reference Among American Slave Descendants" in American Speech v 66 is 2 Summer 1991 p. 133-46.

Slavery and oppression

People of Sub-saharan Africa, often kidnapped and sold into slavery by Arabs and other black Africans (sometimes as a result of inter-tribal warfare), were brought to the United States involuntarily by slave traders from many European nations as well as the United States from 1619 through 1806, when the trade was declared illegal. After the abolition of slavery at the end of the Civil War, African Americans continued to be denied fully equal civil rights in many jurisdictions. This happened both legally and through extra-legal cultural practices, including in the most extreme form lynchings and terrorism by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Legal barriers to equality were removed as a result of the work of the civil rights movement during the years between the end of World War II and the end of the 1960s (see Lyndon Johnson).

African Americans are seen as the most oppressed and disadvantaged racial group in North America, along with Native Americans. African-American males are more likely to be imprisoned than any other demographic group, especially between the ages of 20 and 39. Africam-American public school students are most likely to be assigned to special-education classes.

See also

• List of African-Americans, Uncle Tom, Great Migration

External Link

• African Americans in the Caribbean and Latin America
• African-Americans by the numbers
• Black History Month

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "African American."

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American Black Bear

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

American Black Bear
larger image
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Ursidae Genus: Ursus Species: americanus
Binomial name
Ursus americanus

Ursus americanus is the scientific name of the American Black Bear (also known as simply the black bear or cinnamon bear). It is the most common bear in North America

The black bear occurs throughout much of North America from northern Canada and Alaska south into Mexico and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This includes 39 of the 50 U.S. states and all Canadian provinces. Populations in east-central and the southern United States remain in the protected mountains and woodlands of parks and preserves. While there were probably once as many as two million black bears in North America, recent estimates put their numbers at less than 200,000.

Appearance

The black bear is approximately 5 feet (1.5 metres) long. Females typically weight about 90 pounds (40 kg), while males weigh about 290 pounds (130 kg). However, some can weigh up to 700 pounds (318 kg). Cubs usually weigh about 1 pound at birth. It has small eyes, rounded ears, a long snout, a large body, and a short tail. The shaggy hair varies in color from white through chocolate brown, cinnamon brown, and blonde to black, but most black bears are indeed black or a darker shade of brown.

While black bears are capable of standing and walking on their hind legs, the usual posture is on all fours. The black bear's characteristic shuffle results from walking flat-footed, with the hind legs slightly longer than the front legs. Each paw has five strong, non-retractable claws used for tearing, digging, and climbing. One blow from a powerful front paw is enough to kill an adult deer. But in spite of their size and strength, black bears are surprisingly agile and careful in their movements.

Habitat and Behavior

Black Bears prefer forested and shrubby areas but use wet meadows, high tidelands, ridgetops, burned areas, riparian areas, and avalanche chutes. They also frequent swampy hardwood and conifer forests. After emerging from their winter dens in spring, they seek southerly slopes at lower elevations for forage and move to northerly and easterly slopes at higher elevations as summer progresses. Black Bears use dense cover for hiding and thermal protection, as well as for bedding. They climb trees to escape danger and use forested areas as travel corriders. Black bears hibernate during winter and may build dens in tree cavities, under logs, rocks, in banks, caves, or culverts, and in shallow depressions.

Black bears reach breeding maturity at about 4 or 5 years of age, and breed every 2 to 3 years. Black bears breed in the spring, usually in May and June, but the embryos do not begin to develop until the mother dens in the fall to hibernate through the winter months. However, if food was scarce and the mother has not gained enough fat to sustain herself during hibernation as well as produce cubs, the embryos do not implant (develop).

Black bear cubs are generally born in January or February. The blind cubs weigh about « to 3/4 of a pound at birth, and twins are most common. By spring thaw, when the bears start leaving their dens, the cubs are fur-balls of energy, inquisitive and playful. They are weaned between July and September of their first year, and stay with the mother through the first full winter. They are usually independent by the second winter.

Cub survival is totally dependent on the skill of the mother in teaching her cubs what to eat, where and how to forage (find food), where to den, and when and where to seek shelter from heat or danger.

Black bears eat a wide variey of foods, relying most heavily on grasses, herbs, fruits, and mast. They also feed on carrion and insects such as carpenter ants (Campanotus spp.), yellow jackets (Vespula spp.), bees (Apidae), and termites (Isoptera). Black bears sometimes kill and eat small rodents and ungulate fawns. Some common plant foods are listed below: oak (Quercus spp.) and hazel (Corylus spp.) mast, mountain ash (Sorbus spp.), tree cambium, dogwood (Cornus spp.), manzanita and kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos spp.), cranberry (Vibernum spp.), blueberry and huckleberry (Vaccinium spp.), raspberry and blackberry (Rubus spp.), rose hips (Rosa spp.), gooseberry (Ribes spp.), sarsaparilla (Aralia nudicaulis), rhubarb (Polygonum alaskanum), lupine (Lupinus spp.), northern bedstraw (Galium boreale), lousewort (Pedicularis spp.), Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicus), California coffeeberry (Rhamnus californicus), squawroot (Conopholis americana), dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), clover (Trifolium spp.), thistle (Cirsium spp.), buffaloberry (Shepherdia canadensis), lomatium (Lomatium spp.), cowparsnip (Heracleum lanatum), and pine nuts . Black bears also eat salmon (Oncorynchus spp.) and raid orchards, beehives, and crop fields. They pick from garbage dumps and trash bins of private homes. Black bears may occasionally prey on domestic sheep and pigs when their natural foods are scarce.

Black bear predators include man, the brown bear (Ursus arctos), and other Black Bears. Coyotes (Canis latrans) may prey on cubs.

Black bears are as much an important game species as they are the center of controversy across the continent. Because their behavior has been little understood, Black bears have been feared and hated. They have also been portrayed as harmless play toys by film and television. Their low reproductive rate and late sexual maturation make them vulnerable to overharvest. Their active foraging habits and habitat encroachment by man have created man-bear conflicts

Taxonomy and Subspecies Ranges

The American Black Bear is classified as being in the class Mammalia, order Carnivora and family Ursidae.

Currently accepted subspecies (with their respective ranges) include:

Ursus americanus altifrontalis	the Pacific Northwest coast from central British Columbia through northern California and inland to the tip of northern Idaho and British Columbia
Ursus americanus amblyceps	Colorado, New Mexico, west Texas and the eastern half of Arizona into northern Mexico; southeastern Utah
Ursus americanus americanus	from eastern Montana to the Atlantic; from Alaska south and east through Canada to the Atlantic and south to Texas
Ursus americanus californiensis	the Central Valley of California, north through southern Oregon
Ursus americanus carlottae	Queen Charlotte Islands, Alaska
Ursus americanus cinnamomum	Idaho, western Montana, and Wyoming, eastern Washington and Oregon, northeastern Utah
Ursus americanus emmonsii	southeastern Alaska
Ursus americanus eremicus	northeastern Mexico
Ursus americanus floridanus (Florida black bear)	Florida, southern Georgia and Alabama
Ursus americanus hamiltoni	the island of Newfoundland
Ursus americanus kermodei	the central coast of British Columbia
Ursus americanus luteolus (Louisiana black bear)	eastern Texas, Louisiana, southern Mississippi
Ursus americanus machetes	north-central Mexico
Ursus americanus perniger	Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Ursus americanus pugnax	Alexander Archipelago, Alaska
Ursus americanus vancouveri	Vancouver Island, British Columbia

Current Legal Protections

Today, a major threat to the American black bear is widespread poaching, or illegal killing, to supply Asian markets with bear gall bladders and paws, considered to have medicinal value in China, Japan, and Korea. The demand for these parts also affects grizzly and polar bears. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (also known as CITES), a treaty among more than 120 nations, provides measures to curb illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products across international boundaries, helping to protect the black bear from poaching.

While black bears are abundant in most parts of the West, some Eastern populations are at critically low levels. Two subspecies found in the southeastern U.S., the Louisiana black bear and the Florida black bear, still face decline mainly due to habitat loss and degradation.

In 1992, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Louisiana black bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, meaning it could become in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range in the foreseeable future. The American black bear also is protected by the Act in the affected states (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas) due to its close resemblance to this subspecies. The Florida black bear is a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Miscellaneous

• The Black Bear is the mascot of the University of Maine.

External Links

• US Forest Service Fire Effects Database - http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/animals/mammal/uram/index.html
• US Fish and Wildlife Service - http://species.fws.gov/bio_bear.html and http://ecos.fws.gov/servlet/SpeciesProfile?spcode=A0G1
• North American Bear Center - http://www.bear.org

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "American Black Bear."

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Black

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Black can mean several things:

Color or light

Black can be defined as the absence of visible light. For example collapsed stars, which due to their intense gravity can neither reflect nor emit light, are called "black holes". Pigments that absorb light rather than reflect it back to your eye "look black." Conversely, the combination of all colors of light is called white.

In terms of pigment, however, black is the combination of all (pigment) colors. If equal proportions of primary pigments are mixed, the result reflects little light and so is "black."

This creates two opposite yet complementary definitions of black. Black is the lack of all colors of light, or the combination of all colors of pigment. See also Primary colors and Primary pigments.

This can be explained as follows: the red pigment, for example, absorbs all light except red light; red light is reflected, and thus our eye sees the pigmented object as red. When many pigments are combined, whatever would have been reflected by one of the pigments is absorbed by the others. Thus no light escapes. (no visible light, that is; ultraviolet, for example, might still be reflected, unless some kind of "ultraviolet pigment" were added.)

Race

The term black is also used for people with dark skin color, usually of sub-Saharan African origin (in fact the color of the skin is not black, but any of a variety of shades of brown).

In the USA, African Americans are commonly called, and call themselves, "black." However, some have argued that due to the growing scientific consensus against race as a biological category, that "blackness" is merely a social construct. After all, many African-Americans who call themselves "black" are also of European, Native American and/or Asian descent. In addition, many so-called "white" Americans are of African descent, due to the practice known as "passing", whereby some African-Americans who were also of European ancestry, and who possessed extremely light complexions and features, were able to hide their African heritage from public (and sometimes, private) knowledge.

But, especially in the United States, there is still a strong (though weakening) social stigma against those persons identifying themselves as part of more than one perceived racial category. Hence, it may be truer to say that people who perceive themselves or are perceived by others as African-American are often called "black."

The term "negro" was widely used to describe these people until the 1960s, and remains a constituent part of the names of several African-American-led organizations, but is today generally considered inappropriate and derogatory by many, and the term "nigger", once used widely to refer to people of African descent, is usually considered extremely offensive. However, some African-Americans have sought to reclaim the term from its racist history by transmuting it to the variant "nigga", used between some African-Americans as a term of endearment. It is important to note, though, that although "nigga" may be used endearingly between African-Americans, it is still generally considered offensive when uttered by someone who is perceived as not being of African ancestry.

In the United Kingdom, the term usually refers to Afro-Caribbean people. It is sometimes used to refer to all non-white people, especially in a political context. This has also been the case in South Africa.

Australian Aborigines are also commonly called black.

Usage, symbolism, colloquial expressions

In Western societies black is most often used with a negative connotation, with a few notable exceptions. For instance, a "black day" would be used in these cultures to refer to a sad or tragic day. However, to say one's accounts are "in the black" is used to mean that one is free of debt (a very positive thing in a capitalist society).

In arguments things can be black or white, or shades of gray, the intensity used as an analogue for things such as truthfulness or right and wrong. (Note that when referring to the intensity of pigment or light, black is always the complete lack of intensity.)

In Western cultures and their colonial offshoots, the color black is often used in painting, film, and literature to evoke a sense of the unknown or of death. In these cultures, the color black is often seen as the color of mourning, though this convention is less strict than in earlier times, when widows and widowers were expected to wear black for a year after the death of their spouses.

However, in other cultures, such as the Maasai tribes of Kenya and Tanzania, the color black is associated with rain clouds and is thus a symbol of life and prosperity.

People whose surname is or was Black include

• Bob Black -- anarchist
• Cilla Black -- British singer and entertainer
• Clint Black -- American country singer
• Conrad Black (Conrad Moffat, Lord Black of Crossharbour) -- newspaper magnate
• Davidson Black -- Canadian anthropologist
• Frank Black -- American musician
• Hugo Black -- Supreme Court Justice
• Karen Black -- American actress

Black Army: a supporter club for AIK, Stockholm, Sweden. The athletic teams which represent the country of New Zealand often have the word "black" in their names. For example, the All Blacks are the country's national rugby union team; less well-known, the Tall Blacks represent New Zealand in basketball.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Black."

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Black metal music

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Black metal is a subgenre of heavy metal rock music. Black metal generally consists of heavily distorted, extremely fast guitar playing, screamed vocals, and fast drumming. The genre makes extensive use of repetition, with some songs being quite simple musically. An abraded, very low-fidelity recording style is common to the early albums associated with the genre. Also common are overtly Satanic lyrics which blaspheme against Christianity, as well as other occult themes. A distinct feature of the early bands' image was the use of corpse paint, a special kind of black and white make-up which emphasized their demonic appearance. There has been some concordance in recent years between the black metal sub culture and right-wing nationalist movements in some countries.

The progenitors of modern black metal are bands like Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate, Bathory, Venom and Slayer. The movement can be seen in its mature form with the recordings of Bathory in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Black metal congealed in its current form through the influence of Norwegian bands such as Darkthrone, Carpathian Forest, Burzum, Mayhem, Immortal and Emperor, who began with the earlier style and introduced elements from mainstream heavy metal, classical music and hardcore punk and popularized the style to a growing underground audience. Their influence is most apparent in the satanic imagery, blasphemous lyrics and occult themes.

History

The most prominent figure of the original Norwegian scene was Øystein Aarseth, (Euronymous), the guitarist in the band Mayhem. In many ways, he was the godfather of the Norwegian black metal scene, being its most vocal proponent and visible figure. The scene was deeply anti-Christian, and had a stated goal of removing the influence of Christianity and other non-Scandinavian religions from Norwegian culture and to effect a return to the nation's Norse roots. The movement was largely directed by an 'Inner Circle', made up of Aarseth and a few close friends, from the basement of Aarseth's record store, Helvete (Hell). That location also housed a recording studio, where records were made by Mayhem and a number of other bands that were signed to Aarseth's independent label, Deathlike Silence. Deathlike Silence's stated goal was to release records by bands "that incarnated evil in it's (sic) most pure state."

Also around this time there was a rash of church burnings in Norway that Aarseth's circle claimed responsibility for inspiring, if not necessarily perpetrating. The most notable church was Norway's Fantoft Church, which was burned by a member of Euronymous's inner circle, and the man behind the one-man band Burzum, Kristian "Varg" Vikernes, aka "Count Grishnakh". Black metal enthusiasts also started to terrorize other notable "death metal" bands that were touring their country or in neighboring countries, on the basis of their lack of apparent "evilness".

The Black Metal scene gained some unasked-for mass media attention in 1990 when Mayhem's frontman Dead committed suicide by a shotgun blast to his head. His note simply read "Please Excuse the mess". His body was discovered by Aarseth who, instead of calling the police, ran to a nearby convenience store and bought a disposable camera which he used to photograph the corpse for a future Mayhem album cover. Apocryphal reports also claim that he then took some pieces of Dead's splattered brains and made a stew out of them and/or members of the band took bone fragments from their friend's skull and made necklaces out of them.

The 'Inner Circle' got even more exposure in 1993, when Vikernes murdered Aarseth in his home over some sort of interpersonal feud, stabbing him 23 times in the head and back. Vikernes was sentenced to 21 years in prison and has since distanced himself from the black metal movement, becoming involved in the Neo-Nazi movement and writing extensively on the subject.

By the last few years of the 1990s, the black metal scene had lost much of its appeal to the underground, when recordings from commercially oriented bands such as Dimmu Borgir, using classical-sounding arrangements and prominent keyboards, began to get regular play on European airwaves. Far from the rough, DIY sounds of the early Norwegian bands, this latest wave employed polished sounds more accessible to a mass audience.

However, since the mid-90s, an Eastern European black metal scene has been developing. Bands from these former Iron Curtain lands are recording albums more in keeping with the primitive nature of the early Norwegian artists. Many of these bands' lyrics glorify the pagan roots of their home countries, occasionally injecting elements of indigenous folk music into their arrangements. The Latvian band Skyforger is a prime example of this new aesthetic. The black metal scene in Russia and Ukraine has produced many bands more in keeping with the carefully arranged sounds coming from Scandinavia, but with more appreciation for the low fidelity aesthetic of early black metal. The Ukrainian band Nokturnal Mortum has achieved some recognition in the west; their earlier albums relied heavily on synthesizers, but their current work has a grimmer, more abrasive feel flavored with Slavic folk instruments. Poland's neo-nazi band Graveland has, in recent albums, strived for a 'medieval' feel, much like a much more developed version of later 'viking' Bathory albums, but in the past made much rawer music which still held a certain intangible folk flavor.

There are a relatively small number of American bands playing black metal (sometimes called USBM bands). This movement has not taken a particularly clear form, but better-known groups are Judas Iscariot and the death metal-influenced Averse Sefira.

Sub-genres

There are many smaller genres related to, or sub-genres of Black Metal. The main ones are listed below:

• Battle metal (Bal-Sagoth, Mortiis)
• Celtic metal (Cruachan, Geasa)
• Folk metal (Skyclad, Cruachan, Waylander)
• Medieval metal (Satyricon, As You In Agony Cry, Borknagar)
• Melodic black metal (Abyssos, Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir)
• National Socialist black metal or Nazi black metal (Burzum, Thor's Hammer, Kataxu)
• Symphonic black metal (Cradle of Filth, Emperor)
• Tolkien metal (Isengard, Summoning)
• Troll metal (Arckanum, Mortiis)
• Vampyric black metal (Cradle of Filth)
• Viking metal (Bathory, Vintersorg, Enslaved)

Although those above are real sub-genres, with a number of bands in each, there are an extremely large amount of "sub-subgenres" like "forest metal," "mass murder metal," "dragon metal" and others distinct to very small regions or specific bands.

See also: Black metal fashion.

Literature

• Michael Moynihan, Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground (Feral House) ISBN 0922915482

External Links

• http://www.anus.com/metal/about/blackmetal.html
• http://www.barbarianwrath.org/
• http://www.darksymphonies.com/
• http://www.theorderofthedragon.com/
• http://www.fmp666.com/
• http://www.arkana.de.vu/
• http://www.geocities.com/james_montague/ed4.htm
• http://www.cymophane.com/
• http://www.blackmetal.com/
• http://www.demonichorde.com/

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Black metal music."

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Black Sea

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Black Sea (also known as the Euxine Sea) is an inland sea between southeastern Europe and Asia Minor. It is connected to the Mediterranean Sea by the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara, and to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch. There is a net inflow of seawater through the Bosporus, 200 km³ per year. There is an inflow of freshwater from the surrounding areas, especially central and middle-eastern Europe, totalling 320 km³ per year. The most important river entering the Black Sea is the Danube.

Countries bordering on the Black Sea are Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia. The Crimea is an Autonomous Republic of Ukraine.

Important cities along the coast include: Istanbul (formerly Constantinople and Byzantium), Burgas, Varna, Constanţa, Tulcea, Odessa, Sevastopol, Batumi

Geology

The Black Sea is the largest anoxic, or oxygen-free, marine system. This is a result of the great depth of the sea and the relatively low salinity (and therefore density) of the water flowing into it from rivers and the Mediterranean; freshwater and seawater mixing is limited to the uppermost 100-150m, with the water below this interface (called the pycnocline) being exchanged only once every thousand years. There is therefore no significant gas exchange with the surface, and as a result decaying organic matter in the sediment consumes any available oxygen. In these anoxic conditions some extremophile microorganisms are able to use sulfate (SO₄^2-) for oxidation of organic material, producing hydrogen sulfide (HS) and carbon dioxide. This mix is extremely toxic (a lungful would be fatal to a human), resulting in a sea that has almost all of its ecology living in that top layer down to a depth of approximately 500 feet -- for the rest of the over 7000 feet of depth, there is basically no life at all.

Large amounts of organic material reach the bottom of the sea and accumulate in the sediments in concentrations of up to 20%. These kinds of sediments are called sapropel.

History

The Black Sea region is thought to have been the original homeland of "Proto-Indo-European", the progenitor of the Indo-European language family, by some scholars. Others move the heartland further east towards the Caspian Sea.

In 1997, William Ryan and Water Pitman from Columbia University published evidence that a massive flood through the Bosporus occurred about 5600 BC. Glacial meltwater had turned the Black and Caspian Seas into vast freshwater lakes, while sea levels remained lower. As the glaciers retreated, rivers emptying into the Black Sea reduced their volume and the water levels lowered. Then, about 5600 BC, as sea levels rose, the Mediterranean spilled over a rocky sill at the Bosphorus. Ryan and Pitman wrote: "Ten cubic miles of water poured through each day, two hundred times what flows over Niagara Falls. ... The Bosporus flume roared and surged at full spate for at least three hundred days." The event flooded 60,000 square miles of land, and significantly expanded the Black Sea shoreline to the north and east. The Black Sea's water level raised many hundreds of feet, and it was transformed from a fresh-water landlocked lake into a salt water sea connected to the ocean. The displacement of early agricultural peoples has been linked with the rapid spread of agriculture north and west into Europe. It has been popularly suggested that the survivors' memory of this event was the source of the legend for Noah's Flood. Initial resistance came from those who looked for more detailed correlation with the Book of Genesis (see Noah's Ark and Mount Ararat) or preferred as prototype the similar marine ingression that formed the Persian Gulf in the lower Tigris and Euphrates valley. Subsequent work by marine archeologist Robert Ballard has identified ancient shorelines, freshwater snail shells, drowned river valleys and tool-worked timbers in 300 feet of water off the coast of modern Turkey.

The name (initially Pontus Euxinus) was coined by the Ancient Greek navigators, because of the unusual dark colour, compared with the Mediterranean Sea. Visibility in the Black Sea is on average approximately 15 feet (as compared to up to 100 feet in the Mediterranean). The land at the eastern end of the Black Sea, Colchis (now Georgia) marked for the Greeks an edge of the known world.

• William Ryan and Walter Pitman, Noah's Flood, 1999

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Black Sea."

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Black suit

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

In contract bridge the black suits are spades and clubs, because most Anglo-American playing cards print these suit symbols in black. There is nothing special about these two suits as a combination in bridge, but it is often convenient to be able to talk about suit combinations in this way. Other games such as Canasta may give special functions to black cards or red cards.

See: two suiters.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Black suit."

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Black triangle

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

An inverted black triangle has two unrelated meanings:

Public Health

In the UK, the inverted black triangle is used to indicate a medicine under intense scrutiny.

External links

• Brief description of the black triangle scheme for medicines under intense surveillance.

Gender and Sexuality

An inverted black triangle is a lesbian or feminist symbol of pride and solidarity. It originates from Nazi Germany, where it was used in concentration camps to designate women considered 'anti-social' (i.e., a threat to Nazi family values) such as lesbians and prostitutes. As a symbol of lesbian pride it is considered the female counterpart to the pink triangle, which was a symbol for gay men.

See also homosexuals in Nazi Germany, rainbow flag.

External links

• A short explanation of the origin of pink and other queer triangles

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Black triangle."

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Black, Alabama

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Black is a town located in Geneva County, Alabama. As of the 2000 census, the population of the town is 202.

Geography

Black is located at 31°0'40" North, 85°44'40" West (31.011112, -85.744365)¹. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 8.0 km² (3.1 mi²). 8.0 km² (3.1 mi²) of it is land and none of it is covered by water.

Demographics

As of the census² of 2000, there are 202 people, 85 households, and 57 families residing in the town. The population density is 25.3/km² (65.6/mi²). There are 102 housing units at an average density of 12.8/km² (33.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the town is 94.06% White, 5.45% Black or African American, 0.50% Native American, 0.00% Asian, 0.00% Pacific Islander, 0.00% from other races, and 0.00% from two or more races. 0.00% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 85 households out of which 29.4% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.9% are married couples living together, 9.4% have a female householder with no husband present, and 31.8% are non-families. 28.2% of all households are made up of individuals and 16.5% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.38 and the average family size is 2.93. In the town the population is spread out with 23.8% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 22.3% from 45 to 64, and 17.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 39 years. For every 100 females there are 72.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 79.1 males. The median income for a household in the town is $31,250, and the median income for a family is $36,250. Males have a median income of $27,857 versus $15,924 for females. The per capita income for the town is $12,628. 19.2% of the population and 13.2% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 32.4% are under the age of 18 and 8.0% are 65 or older.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Black, Alabama."

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Mediterranean Sea

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea between Europe, Africa and Asia covering an approximate area of 2.5 million km².

The sea is connected to the Atlantic Ocean by the Strait of Gibraltar on the west and to the Sea of Marmara and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and the Bosporus on the east. The Sea of Marmara is often considered a part of the Mediterranean Sea, whereas the Black Sea is not. The Suez Canal in the southeast connects the Mediterranean with the Red Sea.

Tides are very limited because of the narrow connection with the ocean.

Its major islands are:

• Cyprus, Crete, and Rhodes in the east
• Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, and Malta in the center
• Majorca and Minorca in the west

Countries bordering the sea are:

• Spain, France, Monaco, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Greece and Turkey on the north shore
• Lebanon, Syria, Israel and the Gaza Strip (part of the Palestinian territories), on the east
• Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco on the south shore
• The island states of Cyprus and Malta. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus also has a Mediterranean coastline but is recognised only by Turkey.

The climate is generally one of wet winters and hot, dry summers. Special crops of the region are olives, grapes, orangess, tangerines, and cork. The region has a long history of civilization.

Parts of the Mediterranean are given their own names.

The commonly named seas are (from west to east): the Ligurian Sea north of Corsica, the Tyrrhenian Sea enclosed by Sardinia, Italy and Sicily, the Adriatic Sea between Italy and the Dalmatian coast, the Ionian Sea between Italy and Greece, the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, with the Thracian Sea in its north, the Mirtoon Sea between the Cyclades and the Peleponnesus, and the Sea of Crete north of Crete, and the Sea of Marmara between the Aegean and Black Seas.

There are a larger number of gulfs and straits as well.

External Links

• Mediterranean directory at Google

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Mediterranean Sea."

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Race (US Census)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The United States Census Bureau uses the federal government's definitions of race when performing a census. These definitions have and may change between each census. For the 2000 census the census bureau considers race to be separate from Hispanic origin.

Because of changes to definitions the census bureau warns the following:

The question on race for Census 2000 was different from the one for the 1990 census in several ways. Most significantly, respondents were given the option of selecting one or more race categories to indicate their racial identities. Because of these changes, the Census 2000 data on race are not directly comparable with data from the 1990 census or earlier censuses. Caution must be used when interpreting changes in the racial composition of the U.S. population over time.

Definitions

The following definitions apply to the 2000 census only.

• White refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicated their race or races as "White" or wrote in entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, or Polish.
• Black or African American refers to people having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicated their race or races as "Black, African Am., or Negro", or wrote in entries such as African American, Afro American, Nigerian, or Haitian.
• American Indian and Alaska Native refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintain tribal affiliation or community attachment. It includes people who indicated their race or races by marking this category or writing in their principal or enrolled tribe, such as Rosebud Sioux, Chippewa, or Navajo.
• Asian refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent. It includes people who indicated their race or races as "Asian Indian", "Chinese", "Filipino", "Korean", "Japanese", "Vietnamese", or "Other Asian", or wrote in entries such as Burmese, Hmong, Pakistani, or Thai. (See also: Asian American)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicated their race or races as "Native Hawaiian", "Guamanian or Chamorro", "Samoan", or "Other Pacific Islander", or wrote in entries such as Tahitian, Mariana Islander, or Chuukese. (See also: American Pacific Islander)
• Some other race was included in 2000 census for respondents who were unable to identify with the five Office of Management and Budget race categories. Respondents who provided write-in entries such as Moroccan, South African, Belizean, or a Hispanic origin (for example, Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban) are included in the "Some other race" category.

Reference

• http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/c2kbr01-1.pdf

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Race (US Census)."

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Sirius Black

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Sirius Black is a fictional character in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series of novels.

Warning: Spoilers follow

Sirius Black is said to have been one of the last members born to the House of Black, a prominent family of evil sorcerers. Known members of the family include Narcissa Black, who is married to Lucius Malfoy as Narcissa Malfoy, Andromidia Black, who married Ted Tonks and had Nymphadora Tonks, Bellatrix Black, who married Rudolphus Lestrange and Regulus Black, who was killed on Voldemort's orders.

Sirius Black was best friends with James Potter, Harry Potter's father. Indeed, James and Lily Potter made Sirius Harry's godfather. Sirius is an Animagus, and went by the nickname "Padfoot" because of his form, that of a dog. When Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger communicated with him throughout Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (when he is in hiding), they call him "Snuffles" and pretend that he is a friendly stray dog.

Sirius' family sympathized with Lord Voldemort's desires to cleanse the wizarding world of non-purebloods, and this may have led to Sirius' incarceration at Azkaban due to accusations of murdering eleven people. (Note that Rowling has not explained why Veritaserum is not used in trials such as these; perhaps powerful witches and wizards can fool even that potion.)

During the course of events described in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Sirius escapes. After a good deal of confusion, Harry comes to realise that Sirius is definitely on the side of good; however, being on the run, Sirius can communicate with Harry only sporadically.

During the events described in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Sirius donates his family home for use as the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. He is effectively trapped there due to the manhunt for him, even though the Auror assigned to his case is also a member of the Order. When he leaves for a short time to see Harry to the train station on his journey to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he is recognised.

Despite this, Sirius makes a number of attempts at contacting Harry through the Floo system, which is eventually monitored by the Ministry of Magic and Dolores Umbridge. Lord Voldemort uses his growing power to influence Harry's mind, making him believe that Sirius is being held captive in the Department of Mysteries. In the ensuing battle, Sirius actually disappears; he falls through an arch and does not reappear, presumably dead. He was killed by Bellatrix Lestrange, his own cousin.

References

• Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. ISBN 0-439-35806-X
• Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. ISBN 0-7475-4629-0

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Sirius Black."

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Black

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Synonyms within Context: Black

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Modern Usage: Black

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Commercial Usage: Black

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Image Slideshow: Black

Photos: Black More pictures...

Illustrations: Black More pictures...

Computer Images: Black More pictures...

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Photo Album: Black

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	A technique called in situ hybridization shows whether a gene is actively expressed in cells, and also provides clues to the gene's function. This technique has helped identify activated oncogenes in cancer cells, and their normal counterparts in normal cells, in many different species. In this photograph, a labeled DNA segment (a known oncogene) has been put into a mouse oocyte, a cell that develops into a mature egg cell. The labeled DNA has paired with (or hybridized to) multiple copies of RNA in the mouse oocyte. The presence of this RNA (shown here as black dots inside the nucleus of the immature cell) shows that the normal cellular counterpart of the oncogene is active, suggesting that it is critical for normal germ cell development. Expression of genes is manifested by the production of RNA transcripts within cells. Hybridization histochemistry (in situ hybridization) permits localization of these transcripts with cellular or greater resolution. Furthermore, the relative amounts of transcripts detected within different tissues or the same tissues under different states (e.g., physiological or developmental) may be quantified. See artwork: GA-17. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.		This is a histological slide stained with H&E of a human herpesvirus (HHV-6), a type of human herpes virus. In this photomicrograph of infected cells, the black specks indicate the location of a radioactive isotope that has been attached to the viral RNA. In this case, a large number of black specks indicate that this lymphocyte has been infected. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.
	Closeup of fixed, cut surface shoes multiple cavities lined by heavy black carbon deposits. Credit: CDC.		Iodamoeba bütschlii cyst. Chlorazol black stain. Protozoon, ameba, parasite. Credit: CDC.
	Black Brant XII Launch. Credit: NASA.		Hubble Space Telescope's ongoing black hole hunt has bagged yet another supermassive black ... Credit: NASA.
	Medium-size black holes actually do exist, according to the latest findings from NASA's Hubble ... Credit: NASA.		Black hole at the center of a galaxy. (NGC 4438). Credit: NASA.
	Black and white images of five smaller satellites of Saturn. Credit: NASA.		Deploying Fluxgate magnetometer on EXPLORER Harris B. Stewart in black shirt. Credit: Coast & Geodetic Survey Historical Image Collection.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Black
 

"Black cat in tree" by Kristof Van Cauwenberg Commentary: "Black cat in tree."	"Black guitar 1" by Matt Wheeler Commentary: "My black washburn acoustic guitar against a white wall."
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Sounds Captioned with "Black".

Play	Caption
	Black leopard growling and hissing.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Familiar Quotations: Black

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Historic Usage: Black

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Use in Literature: Black