Baryshnikov Vbo-'rish-no-.kofV Mikhail (Nikolayevich) (b. Jan. 28, 1948, Riga, Latvia, U.S.S.R.) Latvian-born U.S. dancer. After enter¬ ing the Kirov Ballet’s training school in St. Petersburg in 1963, he joined the company as a soloist in 1966. There he quickly became popular with Soviet audiences, dancing leading roles created for him in ballets such as Gorianka (1968) and Vestris (1969). He defected while on tour in Canada in 1974. He danced with American Ballet Theatre until 1978, winning enor¬ mous acclaim, and he served as its artistic director from 1980 to 1989. He danced and acted in several movies and on television.
barytes See barite
barzakh Vbar-,zak\, al- Arabic "obstacle" or "barrier" Term that appears in the Qur’an on three separate occasions and has been inter¬ preted in various ways by Muslim commentators. In one surah (chapter), it refers to the barrier that prevents the dead from returning to earth to accomplish the good they left undone in life. It has been understood as a physical barrier between heaven and hell and as a moral prohibition by God. The term is used elsewhere in the Qur’an to describe a barrier between two seas, one saltier than the other, whose waters meet but do not mix. In Sufism, barzakh is understood as the barrier between the mate¬ rial world and the world of God and the angels.
basalt \b3-'solt\ Dark igneous rock that is low in silica content and com¬ paratively rich in iron and magnesium. Some basalts are glassy (have no visible crystals), and many are very fine-grained and compact. Basaltic lavas may be spongy or pumice-like. Olivine and augite are the most common minerals in basalts; plagioclase is also present. Basalts may be broadly classified into two main groups. Calc-alkali basalts predominate among the lavas of mountain belts; the active volcanoes of Mauna Loa and Kilauea in Hawaii erupt calc-alkali lavas. Alkali basalts predominate among the lavas of the ocean basins and are also common in mountain belts.
base In chemistry, any substance that in water solution is slippery to the touch, tastes bitter, changes the colour of acid-base indicators (e.g., litmus paper), reacts with acids to form salts, and promotes certain chemical reactions (e.g., base catalysis). Examples of bases are the hydroxides of the alkali metals and alkaline earth metals (sodium, calcium, etc.; see caustic soda) and the water solutions of ammonia or its derivatives (amines). Such substances produce hydroxide ions (OH - ) in water solutions. Broader
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baseball ► Basho I 173
pitcher’s mound
(60.5 ft [18.4 m] from home plate)
A typical college or professional baseball field. The batter stands at home plate, the pitcher at the pitcher's mound. When a hit falls outside the foul lines, the batter may not run. Any ball over the fence represents a home run for the batter. Coaches at first and third base tell runners when to run. In the dugout, players wait to bat. Home-run fence distances and configurations vary from field to field. Softball is played on a similar field, but with bases closer together (typically 60 ft apart) and the pitcher's mound closer to the plate (40 ft for women, 46 ft for men), and the home-run fence may be as close as 200 ft.
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definitions of bases cover situations in which water is not present. See also ACID-BASE THEORY; ALKALI; NUCLEO¬ PHILE.
baseball Game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players (or 10, if a designated hitter bats and runs for the pitcher). Base¬ ball is played on a large field that has four bases laid out in a square, posi¬ tioned like a diamond, whose out¬ lines mark the course a runner must take to score. Teams alternate posi¬ tions as batters and fielders, exchanging places when three mem¬ bers of the batting team are put out.
Batters try to hit a pitched ball out of reach of the fielding team and com¬ plete a circuit around the bases in order to score a “run.” The team that scores the most runs in nine innings (times at bat) wins the game. If a game is tied, extra innings are played until the tie is broken. Base¬ ball is traditionally considered the national pastime of the United States. It was once thought to have been invented in 1839 by Abner Doubleday in Coopers town, N.Y., but it is more likely that baseball developed from an 18th-century English game called rounders that was modified by Alexander Cart¬ wright. The first professional asso¬ ciation was formed in 1871; in 1876 it became the National League. Its rival, the American League, was founded in 1900, and since 1903 (except in 1904 and 1994) the winning teams of each league have played a post¬ season championship known as the World Series. The Baseball Hall of Fame is located in Cooperstown. Professional baseball leagues also exist in several Latin American countries. The champions of leagues in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela compete in the Caribbean Series each February. In Asia there are professional baseball leagues in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Japan has two major leagues, the Central and the Pacific, that face off in the Japan Series every October.
Basel Vba-zolX or Basle \'bal\ French Bale Ybal\ City (2000: city, 166,558; metro, area, 402,387), northwestern Switzerland. It straddles the Rhine at the point where France, Germany, and Switzerland meet. It was originally a settlement of the Celtic Rauraci tribe. Its university, the first in Switzerland, was founded by Pope Pius II while attending the Council of Basel (1431—49). In 1501 Basel was admitted into the Swiss Confed¬ eration. When Desiderius Erasmus taught at the university (1521-29), the city became a centre of humanism and of the Reformation. Primarily German-speaking and Protestant, it is an important trading and industrial city and river port.
Basel, Council of (1431^-9) Council of the Roman Catholic church held in Basel, Switz. It addressed the question of ultimate authority in the church and the problem of the Hussite heresy. Its members renewed the decree Sacrosancta (issued by the Council of Constance), which declared the council’s authority to be greater than the pope’s, and voted to receive most Hussites back into the church on terms opposed by the pope. In 1437 Pope Eugenius IV transferred the council to Ferrara to negotiate reunion with the Orthodox church more effectively, but several members remained in Basel as a rump council and declared Eugenius deposed. They then elected a new pope, Felix V, and the renewed schism cost the council its prestige and popular support. On the death of Eugenius, his successor, Nicholas V, obliged the antipope Felix to abdicate, ended the rump coun¬ cil, and brought the conciliar movement to a close.
basenji \bo-'sen-je\ Ancient breed of hound native to central Africa, where it is used to point and retrieve and to drive quarry into a net. Known as the barkless dog, it produces a variety of sounds other than barks. Its finely wrinkled forehead, erect ears, and tightly curled tail give it a char¬
acteristic alert expression. It has a short, silky reddish brown, black, or black-and-tan coat and white feet, chest, and tail tip. It stands 16-17 in.
(41^43 cm) high and weighs 22-24 lbs (10-11 kg). It is clean and gentle.
BASF AG German chemical and plastics manufacturing company.
Founded in 1865, BASF (the full German name means “Baden Aniline and Soda Factory”) was part of the chemical cartel IG Farben from 1925 until 1945, when the latter was dis¬ solved by the Allies. Refounded in 1952, BASF expanded operations globally to become one of the world’s largest chemical companies. Its products have included oil and natural gas, fertilizers, synthetic fibers, dyes and pigments, inks and print¬ ing accessories. BASF sold its pharmaceutical company, Knoll, in 2001 to focus on its chemical businesses. Its headquarters are in Ludwigshafen am Rhein.
Bashan Vba-shsnX Ancient polity, eastern Palestine. Frequently cited in the Old Testament and later important in the Roman Republic and Empire, it was located in what is now Syria. In New Testament times, Bashan ranked as one of the great granaries of Rome. One of its towns, Bostra (Busra al-Sham), was important to both Nabataea and Rome. Augustus made Herod the Great ruler of Bashan, and in ad 106 Trajan brought the whole Nabataean kingdom under the empire in creating the province of Arabia, with Bostra as its capital. The country went into decline in the 7th cen¬ tury.