jump rope, children’s game played by individuals or teams with a piece of rope, which may have handles attached at each end. Jump rope, which dates back to the 19th century, is traditionally a girls’ playground or sidewalk activity in which two players turn a rope (holding it by its ends and

jump rope rhyme, any of innumerable chants and rhymes used by children, traditionally girls, to accompany the game of jump rope. Based on a few simple forms, such rhymes characteristically travel very quickly in variation from child to child, in contrast to nursery rhymes, which are passed on by

click beetle, (family Elateridae), family of approximately 7,000 species of beetles named for the clicking noise made when seized by a predator. Taxonomy See also list of insects. Most click beetles range between 2.5 and 18 mm (less than 0.75 inch) in length and are brown or black in color with

herring: …the family Clupeidae, including the skipjack herring (Alosa chrysochloris) and the alewife (A., or Pomolobus, pseudoharengus). Various other, less common species in the family are also called herrings. The term herring is also used for certain fishes in families other than Clupeidae, such as the wolf herring (Chirocentrus dorab).

perciform: bonitos, and skipjacks (family Scombridae), billfishes and marlins (Istiophoridae), swordfish (Xiphiidae), sea basses (Serranidae), and carangids (Carangidae), a large family that includes

saury: …saury (Cololabis saira) and the Atlantic saury (Scomberesox saurus), found in the Atlantic and the seas near Australia.

skipper, (family Hesperiidae), any of the approximately 3,500 species of insects (order Lepidoptera) that occur worldwide and are named for their fast, darting flight. Skippers are considered an intermediate form between butterflies and moths. The head and small, stout body of the adult tend to

skipper, (family Piophilidae), any member of a family of insects in the fly order, Diptera, in which the larvae are known for jumping or skipping when alarmed. The family name means “fat-loving,” and many species breed in fatty materials such as cheese and meat, where they can become serious pests.

Norwegian literature: The 19th century: Hans Henrik Jæger’s Fra Kristiania-Bohêmen (1885; “From the Christiania Bohemia”) created a scandal for its perceived assault on morality. The novelist Amalie Skram was a prominent exponent of naturalism. Arne Evensen Garborg, who was a novelist, poet, playwright, and essayist, achieved prominence in the 1880s and 1890s.

John Grisham: Other novels: Other nonlegal novels followed, including Skipping Christmas (2001; film 2004 as Christmas with the Kranks), Bleachers (2003), Playing for Pizza (2007), Calico Joe (2012), and Sooley (2021). The crime thrillers Camino Island (2017) and Camino Winds (2020) center on a female writer

Honourable Artillery Company: Philip Skippon, whom Charles I had appointed captain of the company in 1639, joined the Parliamentary army and served as major general chief of staff to the earl of Essex and as general of the foot. Oliver Cromwell nominated Skippon in 1655 to revive the…

Norman Taurog: Early comedies and family films: …and Hattie (1931) before making Skippy (1931), an adaptation of a then-popular comic strip. Jackie Cooper, Taurog’s nephew, starred as a resourceful boy who tries to raise $3 so that his friend Sooky (Robert Coogan) can get his dog out of the pound. A surprise hit, Skippy earned several Academy…

Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion: …Hebrew Union College Museum (now Skirball Museum) was established in 1913. HUC-JIR’s publications include the Hebrew Union College Annual and Studies in Bibliography and Booklore.

tactics: The French Revolution: …of an increased reliance on skirmishers. Previous armies had also made use of skirmishers, but these were mostly irregulars such as the Austrian Pandours or the farmers who fired the opening shots in the American Revolution. Since desertion was less of a problem in post-1793 French armies, they could afford…

Germanic religion and mythology: Freyr: The Eddic poem Skírnismál (“The Lay of Skírnir”) relates the wooing of Freyr’s bride, Gerd (Gerðr), a giant-maiden. This story has often been considered as a fertility myth. Gerdr (from garðr, “field”) is held fast in the clutches of the frost-giants of winter. Thus, Freyr, as sun-god, would…

Skirophoria, annual Athenian festival held at threshing time on the 12th of Skirophorion (roughly June/July). Under the cover of a large white umbrella, which symbolized the protection of the Attic soil against the Sun’s burning rays, the priestess of Athena (city goddess of Athens) and the priests

Skyros, island, the largest and easternmost of the northern Sporades in the Aegean Sea, eastern Greece. The island constitutes a dímos (municipality) in the periféreia (region) of Central Greece (Modern Greek: Stereá Elláda). On the island’s western coast is found the main harbour, Linariá, while

water parsnip: sisarum, known as skirret, is cultivated for its edible tuberous roots. The more common S. latifolium, however, is known to be poisonous to livestock.

air-cushion machine: History: …incorporated a 6-inch- (15-centimetre-) deep skirt of rubberized fabric. This development provided a means whereby the air cushion could easily be contained despite unevenness of the ground or water. It was soon found that the skirt made it possible to revert once again to the plenum chamber as a cushion…

dress: Ancient Egypt: Men wore a short skirt tied at the waist or held there by a belt. As time passed, the skirt became pleated or gathered. Important people wore in addition a decorative coloured pendant hanging in front from the waist belt and a shoulder cape or corselet partly covering their…

Sidney Lanfield: Later films: Lanfield’s last picture was Skirts Ahoy! (1952), an Esther Williams outing with Debbie Reynolds and Vivian Blaine.

Perle Mesta was an American socialite and diplomat who entertained the world’s business and political elite from the 1930s through the ’50s and who also served as the first U.S. minister to Luxembourg. Perle Skirvin grew up in an affluent family in Oklahoma City and was educated privately. In 1917

dogfish: The spiny dogfishes of the family Squalidae possess a sharp spine in front of each of their two dorsal fins. The most widely known species is Squalus acanthias, called the spiny dogfish, spurdog, or skittle dog. It is abundant along northern Atlantic and Pacific coasts; a…

skittles, game of bowling at pins, played primarily in Great Britain. Skittles was played for centuries in public houses or clubs, mostly in western England and the Midlands, southern Wales, and southeastern Scotland. The rules and methods of scoring varied from place to place, but the basic

Skive, city, central Jutland, Denmark, on southeastern Salling Peninsula and Skive Fjord. It was mentioned in the 13th century and chartered in 1326. Skive has one of the busiest harbours on Limfjorden, and its industries include iron foundries, machine shops, meat-packing, tobacco factories, and

Hardanger Fjord: …notably the Vørings Falls and Skjeggedals Falls, flank the fjord’s clear waters. There are many smaller branch fjords, including Kvinnherads, Granvin, Sør, Eid, and Osa fjords. From Sør Fjord there is a magnificent view of Folgefonna Glacier. The area is frequented by tourists, and there are hotels at the principal…

Adam Zagajewski: …poetry, Komunikat (1972; “Communiqué”) and Sklepy mięsne (1975; “Meat Shops”), came out of the Polish New Wave movement, which rejected the falseness of official communist propaganda. Zagajewski was a major figure in the Solidarity movement of the 1980s, and his volume List: oda do wielości (1982; “Letter: An Ode to…

Marie Curie was a Polish-born French physicist, famous for her work on radioactivity and twice a winner of the Nobel Prize. With Henri Becquerel and her husband, Pierre Curie, she was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics. She was the sole winner of the 1911 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. She was

Fergana, city, eastern Uzbekistan. It lies at the foot of the Alay Mountains in the southern part of the Fergana Valley. It was founded by the Russians in 1877 as the military and administrative centre of the province of Fergana, formed from the newly conquered khanate of Kokand (Quqŏn). It became

Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev was a military officer who played prominent roles in Russia’s conquest of Turkistan and in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. Sent to Tashkent (in modern Uzbekistan) in 1868, Skobelev participated in General Konstantin P. Kaufmann’s successful campaign (1873) against

Mikhail Dmitriyevich Skobelev was a military officer who played prominent roles in Russia’s conquest of Turkistan and in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78. Sent to Tashkent (in modern Uzbekistan) in 1868, Skobelev participated in General Konstantin P. Kaufmann’s successful campaign (1873) against

Lidiya Skoblikova is a Russian speed skater who became the first athlete to win four gold medals in a single Winter Olympic competition (1964). The combination of these four medals with the two she had won in 1960 made her also the first athlete to earn six gold medals in the Olympic Winter Games.

Lidiya Skoblikova is a Russian speed skater who became the first athlete to win four gold medals in a single Winter Olympic competition (1964). The combination of these four medals with the two she had won in 1960 made her also the first athlete to earn six gold medals in the Olympic Winter Games.

Slovenia: Services: …is the system of limestone caves at Škocjan, which was designated a World Heritage site in 1986. Another draw for tourists is Triglav National Park, featuring Mount Triglav. Hot-springs and mineral-water resorts have gained popularity; one such spa, Rogaška Slatina, is housed in a Neoclassical building from the Habsburg era.…

Theda Skocpol is an American political scientist and sociologist whose work significantly shaped the understanding of states and social policy. Skocpol attended Michigan State University (B.A., 1969) and later received a Ph.D. (1975) from Harvard University. She subsequently spent her teaching

Czech Republic: Manufacturing: …major Czech car manufacturer remains Škoda, eastern Europe’s oldest car manufacturer, whose main plant is located in Mladá Boleslav. Taken over in the early 1990s by the German company Volkswagen and thoroughly modernized, Škoda became the Czech Republic’s biggest export earner in the early 2000s, accounting for about one-tenth of…

Emil von Škoda was a German engineer and industrialist who founded one of Europe’s greatest industrial complexes, known for its arms production in both World Wars. After studying engineering in Germany, Škoda became chief engineer of a small machine factory in Plzeň (Pilsen), which three years

broken windows theory: The theory in practice: …the work of political scientist Wesley Skogan, who found that certain types of social and physical disorder were related to certain kinds of serious crime. However, Skogan prudently recommended caution in the interpretation of his results as proof of the validity of the broken windows theory. Even this qualified support…

Norwegian Forest Cat, a breed of long-haired domestic cat known for its large size, strong, muscular body, and double coat of fur. The Norwegian Forest Cat originated in Norway, where it is known as a skogkatt (“forest cat”). Its thick water-resistant overcoat and woolly, insulating undercoat make

Skokie, village, Cook county, northeastern Illinois, U.S. A suburb of Chicago, it is located 16 miles (26 km) north of downtown. Called Niles Center until 1940, Skokie (renamed for the Potawatomi word for “swamp”) was settled in 1834 by immigrants from Germany and Luxembourg. A trading centre in

Lake Mälaren: The château of Skokloster, south of Uppsala, on the northern arm of Lake Mälaren, has a remarkable collection of trophies, including an armoury, from the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48).

Carpathian Mountains: Geology: …fringe is formed by the Skole Nappe, and in the western part it is formed by the Silesian Nappe, both of which are split by the longitudinal central Carpathian depression. Overthrust on the Silesian Nappe is the Magura Nappe, the counterparts of which in the east are the Chernogora (Chornohora)…

Infinitesimals: In 1934 the Norwegian Thoralf Skolem gave an explicit construction of what is now called a nonstandard model of arithmetic, containing “infinite numbers” and infinitesimals, each of which is a certain class of infinite sequences.

N.F.S. Grundtvig: , in Skolen for livet (1838; “Schools for Life”)—he stressed the need for the thorough knowledge of the Danish language and of Danish and biblical history, in opposition to those who favoured the study of the classics in Latin. His criticism of classical schools as elitist inspired…

History of film: Eastern Europe and Russia: Veteran filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski returned to Poland after decades abroad to make 30 Door Key (1991; Ferdydurke) and later, Cztery noce z Anna (2008; Four Nights with Anna). Marek Koterski won praise for Dzień świra (2002; Day of the Wacko), Wszyscy jestesmy Chrystusami (2006; We’re All Christs),…

sexuality: The spectrum of sexuality: Skoliosexuality, an infrequently used term, describes attraction to transgender or nonbinary individuals.

Sami: Religion and culture: The Skolt Sami of Finland (and perhaps also the Russian Sami) belong to the Russian Orthodox faith; most others are Lutheran. The shaman was important in non-Christian Sami society, and some shamanistic healing rites are still performed. There is, at least in most of the northern…

mumming play: Mummers were originally bands of masked persons who during winter festivals in Europe paraded the streets and entered houses to dance or play dice in silence. “Momerie” was a popular amusement between the 13th and 16th century. In the 16th century it was absorbed by…

English National Ballet: Matz Skoog, and Wayne Eagling. Tamara Rojo was appointed to the position in 2012.

Skopje, principal city and capital of North Macedonia. Standing on the banks of the Vardar River amid mountainous country, Skopje began as ancient Scupi, an Illyrian tribal centre. It became the capital of the district of Dardania (part of the Roman province of Moesia Superior) under the emperor

Skopje, principal city and capital of North Macedonia. Standing on the banks of the Vardar River amid mountainous country, Skopje began as ancient Scupi, an Illyrian tribal centre. It became the capital of the district of Dardania (part of the Roman province of Moesia Superior) under the emperor

Belarus: Literature: In the 16th century Francisk Skorina of Polatsk translated the Bible into Belarusian and wrote extensive explanatory introductions to each book. His editions, produced in Prague (now in the Czech Republic) in 1517–19 and in Vilnius (Lithuania) in 1522–25, were the first printed books not only in Belarus but…

Belarus: Literature: In the 16th century Francisk Skorina of Polatsk translated the Bible into Belarusian and wrote extensive explanatory introductions to each book. His editions, produced in Prague (now in the Czech Republic) in 1517–19 and in Vilnius (Lithuania) in 1522–25, were the first printed books not only in Belarus but…

Ukraine: World War I and the struggle for independence: Pavlo Skoropadsky. A collateral descendant of an 18th-century Cossack hetman, Skoropadsky assumed the title “hetman of Ukraine” (which he intended to become hereditary), abrogated all laws passed by the Rada, and established a conservative regime that relied on the support of landowners and the largely…

Otto Skorzeny was a Nazi SS officer, who gained fame in 1943 for his daring rescue of Benito Mussolini from confinement at Campo Imperatore in the Abruzzi mountains where he had been imprisoned by Marshal Pietro Badoglio. Skorzeny joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and became a colonel in the Waffen SS

Olaf was the king of Sweden (c. 980–1022) whose apparent efforts to impose Christianity were frustrated by the leading non-Christian Swedish chieftains. The son of King Erik the Victorious and Gunhild, the sister of Bolesław, the Christian king of Poland, Olaf opposed the development of a strong

Jens C. Skou was a Danish biophysicist who (with Paul D. Boyer and John E. Walker) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1997 for his discovery of the enzyme called sodium-potassium-activated adenosine triphosphatase (Na+-K+ ATPase), which is found in the plasma membrane of animal cells and

Greece: Philikí Etaireía: The three founders—Emmanuil Xanthos, Nikolaos Skouphas, and Athanasios Tsakalov—had little vision of the shape of the independent Greece they sought beyond the liberation of the motherland.

Robert Gober: …Medal for Sculpture by the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. He participated in the 2001 Venice Biennale and was the subject of a retrospective in 2007 at the Schaulager Museum in Basel, Switzerland. In 2014 the Museum of Modern Art in New York organized a major survey…

Catherine I was a peasant woman of Baltic (probably Lithuanian) birth who became the second wife of Peter I the Great and empress of Russia (1725–27). Orphaned at the age of three, Marta Skowronska was raised by a Lutheran pastor in Marienburg (modern Alūksne, Latvia). When the Russians seized

Amalie Skram was a novelist, one of the foremost Naturalist writers of her time in Norway. The daughter of an unsuccessful speculator, Skram had an unhappy childhood in a divided home. She was then disappointed by her early marriage to an older man and their subsequent divorce. Later on, she

Aleksandr Scriabin was a Russian composer of piano and orchestral music noted for its unusual harmonies through which the composer sought to explore musical symbolism. Scriabin was trained as a soldier at the Moscow Cadet School from 1882 to 1889 but studied music at the same time and took piano

Molly Keane was an Anglo-Irish novelist and playwright whose subject was the leisure class of her native Ireland. Born into the Anglo-Irish gentry (the daughter of an estate owner and the poet Moira O’Neill), Keane was educated by a governess. She began to publish novels while in her 20s, under the

Theresa May: The novichok attack in Salisbury, air strikes in Syria, and the Windrush scandal: In March 2018 Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer who had acted as a double agent for Britain, and his daughter were found unconscious in Salisbury, England. Investigators determined that the pair had been exposed to a “novichok,” a complex nerve agent that had been developed by…

Aleksandr Scriabin was a Russian composer of piano and orchestral music noted for its unusual harmonies through which the composer sought to explore musical symbolism. Scriabin was trained as a soldier at the Moscow Cadet School from 1882 to 1889 but studied music at the same time and took piano

Vyacheslav Molotov was a statesman and diplomat who served as foreign minister and the major spokesman for the Soviet Union at Allied conferences during and immediately after World War II. A member and organizer of the Bolshevik party from 1906, Molotov was twice arrested (1909, 1915) for his

Ukraine: Soviet Ukraine: …of such national-minded Bolsheviks as Mykola Skrypnyk to declare the CP(B)U an independent organization. As well as being subordinate to Moscow, the CP(B)U was overwhelmingly non-Ukrainian in ethnic composition: at the time of its founding, the membership of fewer than 5,000 was 7 percent Ukrainian. The Ukrainian component in the…

Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki was a Polish general who organized the Polish army in the revolution of 1830. After completing his education at the University of Lemberg, Skrzynecki entered the Polish Legion formed in the Grand Duchy of Warsaw and distinguished himself at the Battle of Leipzig (1813). At

Aleksander Skrzyński was a Polish statesman, foreign minister of Poland in different governments from 1922 to 1925, and premier from November 1925 to May 1926. Skrzyński entered the diplomatic service in 1906 and, when the new Polish state was established, was appointed Polish minister

SKU, a code number, typically used as a machine-readable bar code, assigned to a single item of inventory. As part of a system for inventory control, the SKU represents the smallest unit of a product that can be sold from inventory, purchased, or added to inventory. Applied to wholesale, retail, or

Five Great Kings, in Tibetan Buddhism, a group of five deified heroes popularly worshiped as protection against enemies. Some accounts suggest they were five brothers who came to Tibet from northern Mongolia, and they are usually shown wearing broad-rimmed helmets. Diverse traditions exist, but

skua: …also known in Britain as skuas are called jaegers in the United States (see jaeger). All belong to the family Stercorariidae (order Charadriiformes).

skua, any of several predatory seabirds. In American usage, the name is restricted to Catharacta skua, called great skua in Britain; three smaller birds also known in Britain as skuas are called jaegers in the United States (see jaeger). All belong to the family Stercorariidae (order

Carolina Klüft: …victory over Lithuanian silver medalist Austra Skujyte was greater than Skujyte’s margin over the 25th-place competitor. In 2005 Klüft, then aged 22, became the youngest athlete ever to have won the “grand slam” of the five track-and-field championship titles available to Europeans: the Olympics plus both the indoor and the…

biblical literature: Scandinavian versions: …displaced by the revision of Thorlákur Skúlason (1627–55), based apparently on Resen’s Danish translation. The Icelandic Bible Society published a new New Testament in 1827 and a complete Bible in 1841 (Videyjar; Reykjavík, 1859), revised and reprinted at Oxford in 1866. A completely new edition (Reykjavík, 1912) became the official…

Norn: …name them Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, perhaps meaning “past,” “present,” and “future.” They were depicted as living by Yggdrasill, the world tree, under Urd’s well and were linked with both good and evil. Being frequently attendant at births, they were sometimes associated with midwifery. The name Norn appears only in…

Haakon IV Haakonsson: …been crushed, Haakon’s elder kinsman Earl Skuli Baardsson, who had chiefly conducted the government, attempted to gain sovereignty for himself. When Haakon’s efforts to conciliate him failed, Skuli revolted openly and proclaimed himself king but was quickly defeated and killed by Haakon’s forces (1240). In 1247 the king was crowned,…

skull, skeletal framework of the head of vertebrates, composed of bones or cartilage, which form a unit that protects the brain and some sense organs. The upper jaw, but not the lower, is part of the skull. The human cranium, the part that contains the brain, is globular and relatively large in

Jolly Roger: …most recognizable by its white skull-and-crossbones design on a black background, but the flags of individual pirates also carried other design elements for identification or to communicate specific intentions. The Jolly Roger, or some variation of it, was most notably used during the “golden age of piracy,” which spanned the…

Skull and Bones, secret society of senior (fourth-year undergraduate) students at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, that was founded in 1832. Male society members are called Bonesmen, and many have ascended after graduation to positions of prominence in business or government. Three of

Jolly Roger: …most recognizable by its white skull-and-crossbones design on a black background, but the flags of individual pirates also carried other design elements for identification or to communicate specific intentions. The Jolly Roger, or some variation of it, was most notably used during the “golden age of piracy,” which spanned the…

P.D. James: …for a Woman (1972) and The Skull Beneath the Skin (1982), which centre on Cordelia Gray, a young private detective. The first of these novels was the basis for both a television movie and a short-lived series. James expanded beyond the mystery genre in The Children of Men (1992; film…

skull cult, veneration of human skulls, usually those of ancestors, by various prehistoric and some modern primitive people. Begun probably as early as the Early Paleolithic Period, the practice of preserving and honouring the skull apart from the rest of the skeleton appears to have continued in

Parmelia: The so-called skull lichen (Parmelia saxatilis) is a common variety that grows in flat gray-brown rosettes (5 to 10 centimetres across). According to folk superstition, it was believed to be an effective treatment for epilepsy if found growing on an old skull, especially that of an executed…

mask: Funerary and commemorative uses: The skull mask is another form usually associated with funerary rites. The skull masks of the Aztecs, like their wooden masks, were inlaid with mosaics of turquoise and lignite, and the eye sockets were filled with pyrites. Holes were customarily drilled in the back so the…

cribbage: The play and the showing: …is “lurched” (“left in the lurch”) and, if the play is for stakes, loses doubly. (As sometimes played, the winner must be able to count out to exactly 121, just as, in playing for a go, he tries to reach 31 exactly. Thus, for example, if a player’s score is…

skunk, (family Mephitidae), black-and-white mammal, found primarily in the Western Hemisphere, that uses extremely well-developed scent glands to release a noxious odour in defense. The term skunk, however, refers to more than just the well-known striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis). The skunk family

teledu, species of badger (q.v.) found in Southeast

wolverine, (Gulo gulo), member of the weasel family (Mustelidae) that lives in cold northern latitudes of North America and Eurasia, especially in timbered areas. The wolverine is noted for its strength, cunning, fearlessness, and voracity, and the species is renowned for its ability to face down

skunk cabbage, any of three species of plants that grow in bogs and meadows of temperate regions. In eastern North America the skunk cabbage is Symplocarpus foetidus, which belongs to the arum family (Araceae, order Arales). In French-speaking parts of Canada it is called tabac du diable (“devil’s

Skunk Hour, poem by Robert Lowell, published in Life Studies (1959). It is modeled on “The Armadillo,” a poem by Elizabeth Bishop; both poets dedicated their respective poems to each other. Composed of eight six-line stanzas, “Skunk Hour” is one in a series of confessional poems that characterized

Skunk River, river in central and southeastern Iowa, U.S. It rises in Hamilton county near Webster City as the South Skunk River and flows generally south to Ames, where it veers to the southeast. It is joined by its principal tributary, the North Skunk River, about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of

Lockheed Martin Corporation: Lockheed Corporation: …established a highly secret section, Advanced Development Projects (ADP), to design a fighter around a British De Havilland jet engine. The result was the P-80 Shooting Star, the first American jet aircraft to enter operational service (1945).

Jiří Trnka: …organized by the Czech puppeteer Josef Skupa in 1921. He worked with Skupa at his studios for more than 10 years, but his own efforts to start a puppet theatre failed. By 1935 he was designing for the stage and illustrating children’s books. Between 1938 and 1945 he primarily worked…

Serbia: The nascent Serbian state: In 1805 a Skupština (assembly) was summoned, and it submitted a list of proposals to the sultan. The proposals included a number of demands for local autonomy that were unacceptable to the sultan, and a large force was sent to quell the rebellion. The rebels continued to hold…

skutterudite, one of a series of cobalt and nickel arsenide minerals that occur with other cobalt and nickel minerals in moderate-temperature veins. The members of the series, which all form crystals of isometric symmetry, are skutterudite and smaltite; their compositions approach that of

sunlight: …the varying colour of the sky at different times of day. When the sun is high overhead, its rays pass through the intervening atmosphere almost vertically. The light thus encounters less dust and fewer air molecules than it would if the sun were low on the horizon and its rays…

Wilco: …sales for the gently introspective Sky Blue Sky (2007) and the career-spanning compendium Wilco (The Album), released in 2009. On a track from the latter, “Wilco (The Song),” Tweedy even demonstrated a sense of humor, singing, “Wilco will love you, baby.”

Angelina Jolie: Film roles: …Paltrow and Jude Law in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, a sci-fi thriller set in 1930s New York City.

Witi Ihimaera: …myth about warring birds in Sky Dancer (2003). The Trowenna Sea (2009), a fictionalized version of the story of a Māori man imprisoned on Tasmania in the 1840s, became the focus of a controversy after several passages were discovered to have been plagiarized. Ihimaera attributed the lapse to lax research…