Word: pillars
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...summer solstice (June 20-22). This meant that the sun was directly over Syene at that time. He also had a figure for the distance between Syene and Alexandria: 5,000 stadia. Only one observation was necessary. During a summer solstice, he measured the shadow cast by a vertical pillar in Alexandria. It turned out to be one-fiftieth of a full circle (about...
...Eratosthenes had all the information he needed. The shadow cast by the vertical pillar at Alexandria would have the same relation to a full circle that the distance from Alexandria to Syene (where sunlight was vertical) would have to the circumference of the earth. The answer: 250,000 stadia (21,913 nautical miles), which is remarkably accurate. The latest measurement of the earth's circumference around the poles: 21,580 nautical miles...
Peace in Cloud Valley. Born in the small farming hamlet of Akahama in 1420, young Oda Toyo entered a Zen Buddhist temple at twelve. According to popular legend, he was a wayward boy, overfond of drawing. Tied to a wooden pillar as corrective discipline, he at first wept copiously, says legend, stopping only when his tears made a pool on the floor which he used as ink, with his toes for brushes. Oda Toyo's talent was early recognized and fostered, including apprenticeship to the painter Shubun, the leading practitioner of Chinese-style paintings of his day. Not until...
...Pillar of Learning. In Garber, Okla., the editors of the Free Press, who had moved to a new office, apologized for a rash of misspellings in recent editions of the newspaper: "Please excuse. Most of the words we use frequently and cannot spell are written correctly on the wall in our old location...
Seven Wonders of the World (Stanley Warner Corp.), no matter how fine the publicity men sand it, is a travelogue. But the travelogue, as Cinerama presents it, has been firmly erected in recent years as a pillar of the movie community. Since Sept. 30. 1952, two Cinerama productions have grossed about $50 million, even though they have been shown in only 22 theaters. For the third Cinerama release, the producers have not bothered to refine their process much. The moviegoer is really watching three movies at once, and when, as still frequently happens, one half of a cathedral...