seaplane Aircraft that can land, float, and take off on water. The first practical seaplanes were built and flown in 1911-12 by Glenn H. Curtiss, who developed both the float seaplane, essentially a land plane with pon¬ toons instead of landing wheels, and the flying boat, a boatlike plane that combined a main float and fuselage in a single body. A retractable land¬ ing wheel was later added to create an amphibian aircraft. By the late 1920s seaplanes held the speed and range records for aircraft. During the 1940s their utility diminished with the building of long-range land-based airplanes, new airports, and aircraft carriers.
search and seizure In law enforcement, an exploratory investigation of a premises or a person and the taking into custody of property or an individual in the interest of gaining evidence of unlawful activity or guilt. The latitude allowed police in carrying out searches and seizures varies greatly from country to country. In the U.S., the 4th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and requires that a warrant be issued following a finding of probable cause. The war¬ rant must specify the place to be searched and the persons and things to be seized.
search engine Tool for finding information, especially on the Internet or World Wide Web. Search engines are essentially massive databases that cover wide swaths of the Internet. Most consist of three parts: at least one program, called a spider, crawler, or bot, which “crawls” through the Internet gathering information; a database, which stores the gathered information; and a search tool, with which users search through the data¬ base by typing in keywords describing the information desired (usually at a Web site dedicated to the search engine). Increasingly, metasearch engines, which search a subset (usually 10 or so) of the huge number of search engines and then compile and index the results, are being used.
Sears, Isaac (b. July 1?, 1730, West Brewster, Mass.—d. Oct. 28,1786, Canton, China) American patriot. A merchant in New York City, he sup¬ ported the patriots’ cause in the Stamp Act riots. As a member of the radi¬ cal Sons of Liberty, he headed a boycott of British goods to protest the Townshend Acts. He led the ouster of loyalist officials from New York City and seized control of the municipal government until George Wash¬ ington’s troops arrived (1775). From Boston he organized privateers to prey on British ships. He died while on a trading venture in China.
Sears, Roebuck and Company U.S. merchandising company, his¬ torically one of the world’s largest retailers. It was founded in 1893 by Richard W. Sears (1863-1914) and Alvah C. Roebuck (1864-1948). The company grew rapidly, selling mail-order merchandise at low prices to rural dwellers who lacked access to competitive retail outlets. Under Rob¬ ert E. Wood (president 1928-54), Sears built stores across the U.S., and by 1931 its retail sales had topped its mail-order sales. It diversified into finan¬ cial services in the 1980s and introduced the Discover credit card in 1985, but in 1992 it began shedding its financial-services subsidiaries. It discon¬ tinued its famous catalog in 1993 and spun off insurance subsidiary Allstate (founded by Sears in 1931) in 1995. A merger with Kmart in 2005 brought the two retail chains under the leadership of Sears Holdings Corporation.
Sears Tower Skyscraper office building in Chicago. With 110 floors and a height of 1,450 ft (442 m), it became the world’s tallest building at
its completion in 1974. Its architect, Fazlur Khan (1928-1982), designed it as a bundled-tube (see skyscraper) structure to resist lateral forces. It is modular in plan, with nine 75-ft- (23-m-) square, column-free units. The exterior is sheathed in black aluminum and bronze-tinted glass. Louvers clad the four floors devoted to the building’s mechanical operations. It was the world’s tallest building until 1996, when it was surpassed by the Petronas Towers (1,483 ft [452 m]) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
season Any of four divisions of the year according to consistent annual changes in the weather. In the Northern Hemisphere, winter formally
The primary cause of Earth's seasons is the change in the amount of sunlight reach¬ ing the surface at various latitudes over the course of a year. Because Earth is tilted on its axis with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun, different parts of its surface are in direct (overhead) sunlight at different times of the year.
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1712 I seasonal affective disorder ► Second Empire
begins on the winter solstice, December 21 or 22; spring on the vernal equinox, March 20 or 21; summer on the summer solstice, June 21 or 22; and fall (autumn) on the autumnal equinox, September 22 or 23. In the Southern Hemisphere, the dates of onset of summer and winter are reversed, as are those of spring and fall.
seasonal affective disorder (SAD) Cyclical depression occurring in winter, apparently caused by insufficient sunlight. It is most common in places at high latitudes and therefore with long winters and very short daylight hours. Symptoms can include all those of major depression, and there is a risk of suicide. The cause may be related to regulation of the body’s temperature and hormones and may involve the pineal gland and melatonin. Exposure to intense full-spectrum light from a set of fluores¬ cent bulbs in a light box with a diffusing screen has proved effective as treatment. Dawn simulation (exposure to low light levels in the final sleep period) and negative-ion therapy can also help.
Seastrom, Victor See Victor Sjostrom SEATO See Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
Seattle City (pop., 2000: 563,374) and seaport, Washington, U.S. It is the largest city in the state and the commercial, industrial, and financial centre of the Pacific Northwest. Situated between Elliott Bay (Puget Sound) and Lake Washington, it is flanked by the Olympic Mountains and the Cascade Range. Laid out in 1853, it withstood an Indian attack (1856), anti-Chinese riots (1880s), and a disastrous fire (1889) to emerge as the gateway to the Orient and Alaska. It was the main supply depot for the Yukon and Alaskan gold rushes (see gold rush) in the 1890s. World War II brought a great boom to the city, with shipyards and the aircraft indus¬ try playing important roles. Seattle Center, site of the 1962 World’s Fair, contains the 607-ft (185-m) Space Needle. Seattle’s educational institu¬ tions include the University of Washington (1861).
Seattle Slew (foaled 1974) U.S. Thoroughbred racehorse. He was the first unbeaten racer ever to win the Triple Crown (1977). In his racing career of 17 races, he won 14, was second twice, and fourth once. He was retired to stud in 1978.
seawater Water that makes up the oceans and seas. Seawater is a com¬ plex mixture of 96.5% water, 2.5% salts, and small amounts of other sub¬ stances. Much of the world’s magnesium is recovered from seawater, as are large quantities of bromine. In certain parts of the world, sodium chloride (table salt) is obtained by evaporating seawater. In addition, desalted seawater can theoretically furnish a limitless supply of drinking water, but the high processing costs are prohibitive. Large desalination plants have been built in dry areas along seacoasts in the Middle East and elsewhere to relieve shortages of fresh water.
seaweed Any of certain species of red, green, and brown marine algae that generally are anchored to the sea bottom or to a solid structure by rootlike holdfasts that perform the sole function of attachment and do not extract nutrients as do the roots of higher plants. The most obvious sea¬ weeds are brown algae; mosslike carpets of red algae are seen at low tides. Seaweeds are often dense in shallow water. Brown algae commonly found as seaweeds include kelp, which include the largest algae, and sargassum. Some seaweeds have hollow, gas-filled floats that keep their fronds at the surface of the water. Ulva species, commonly called sea lettuce, are among the relatively few green algae that are seaweeds. Seaweeds are used as food, and brown algae are used in fertilizers. The red alga Gelid- ium is used to make the gelatin-like product called agar.