Canks is a slang term that is a shortened form of cankles, which refers to the appearance of having no distinction between the calf and ankle, due to a buildup of fat in that area. It is often used to describe individuals who are overweight or obese.

Canks is a slang term that is a shortened form of cankles, which refers to the appearance of having no distinction between the calf and ankle, due to a buildup of fat in that area. It is often used to describe individuals who are overweight or obese.

a disposition or tendency to yield to the will of others

A leading indicator is a measurable or observable variable that changes or moves ahead of changes in economic trends or market events. It is often used in forecasting to predict future outcomes. Examples include stock market performance, unemployment claims, building permits, or consumer confidence indices. In essence, a leading indicator is a predictive sign that a certain event or trend is likely to occur in the future.

Metropolitan Theodosius was the primate of the Orthodox Church in America from 1977 until his retirement in 2002. On April 2, 2002, Metropolitan Theodosius submitted a petition to the Holy Synod of the OCA, requesting his retirement. The Holy Synod granted his request, and announced an election for his replacement to be held on July 22, at the OCAs Thirteenth All-American Council in Orlando He was succeeded by Metropolitan Herman.

black and gold grunt found from Bermuda to Caribbean to Brazil

to cause to move suddenly; to disturb suddenly; to startle; to alarm; to rouse; to cause to flee or fly; as, the hounds started a fox

Georges Méliès (1861–1938), a French filmmaker and magician, made a variety of short actuality films between 1896 and 1900. Méliès was established as a magician with his own theater-of-illusions, the Théâtre Robert-Houdin in Paris, when he attended the celebrated first public demonstration of the Lumière Brothers Kinetoscope in December 1895. Unable to purchase a camera from the Lumières, who insisted that the venture had no future, he bought a film projector and some films from the British film experimenter Robert W. Paul and began projecting them at the Théâtre Robert-Houdin. Meanwhile, Méliès studied the principles on which Pauls projector ran, and in 1896 was able to modify the machine so that it could be used as a makeshift camera. At first, Méliès followed the custom of the time, and the example memorably set by the pioneering Lumières, by producing actuality films—brief slice of life incidents made by preparing naturalistic scenes for the camera or by filming events of the day. These cityscapes, scenic views, and domestic vignettes closely followed the model already set by the Lumières and their salaried operators, who had already been sent to various points abroad to publicize the Lumière camera and bring home actualities filmed in foreign climes. All told, Méliès filmed 93 films, or 18% of his entire output, outdoors as actuality footage.However, Méliès was also interested in expanding his line of films to include less common genres. His second film, Conjuring, captured a theatrical magic act on film; his sixth, Watering the Flowers, moved into comedy, remaking the Lumières influential LArroseur Arrosé. Following his discovery of the substitution splice in 1896, Méliès moved further into fiction and trick films, building his own studio on his property in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis to allow for the filming of his theatrically inspired, storytelling-based scènes composées—artificially arranged scenes. His last nonfiction work was the seventeen-part Paris Exposition, 1900 film series. Because of his move away from actualities into fiction, he is generally regarded as the first person to recognize the potential of narrative film. In an advertisement, Méliès proudly described the difference between his innovative theatrical films and the actualities still being made by his contemporaries: these fantastic and artistic films reproduce stage scenes and create a new genre entirely different from the ordinary cinematographic views of real people and real streets.

divide or split up

a game in which players try to pick each jackstraw (or spillikin) off of a pile without moving any of the others

Crispate usually refers to something that is curled, crinkled, or wrinkled in appearance. It is often used in botany to describe the texture or form of leaves, petals or other parts of a plant.