Difference between revisions of "K"

Revision as of 20:58, 29 November 2006

Kabbalists
227; the "Tree of Life" tattoo-ed on Eskimoff; 318; Wikipedia entry

Kaffirs
169; "Kaffir" was used in English and Dutch, from the 16th century to the early 20th century as a blanket term for several different peoples of southern Africa. Outside this limited historical context, the word is used today only as a derogatory and offensive term of abuse; Wikipedia entry

Kailash, Mt.
437; a mountain located in far western Tibet that over 22,000 feet. It is the world's most venerated holy place but also the least visited. The sacred site of four religions, fewer than a thousand people make pilgrimage to Kalish every year--the only way to get there is by all-terrain vehicle, and the journey takes weeks, as no planes, trains or buses travel in the region. Mythologically, Kalish is the Axis Mundi, the center and birth place of the world; Wikipedia entry

Kaiser Wilhelm (1859-1949)
367; William II or Wilhelm II (born Frederick William Albert Victor; German: Friedrich Wilhelm Albert Victor) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling both the German Empire and Prussia from June 15, 1888 to November 9, 1918; hair pomade, 367; Wikipedia entry

Kali
709; goddess with a long and complex history in Hinduism (although sometimes presented in the West as dark and violent). Her earliest history as a figure of annihilation still has some influence, while more complex Tantric beliefs sometimes extend her role so far as to be the Ultimate Reality and Source of Being; Wikipedia entry

Kanuni
653; ancient code of conduct in Albania

Kashgar
676; an oasis city in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China; Wikipedia entry

Katie
337; waitress in Yew York City restaurant, Schultz's Vegetarian Brauhaus, from Chillicothe, Ohio; aspiring actress, 338;

Katie bar the door
8; The phrase "Katie bar the door!" (also as "Katie bar the gate!"; sometimes written as Katy) is a very American exclamation, more common in the South than elsewhere, meaning that disaster impends—“watch out”, “get ready for trouble” or “a desperate situation is at hand”. From WorldWideWords.org

Keeley Cure
Devised by Leslie Keeley, this was a proprietary system of treatment for the alcohol and opium habits. The Keeley Cure was a forerunner of certain measures adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous. Relying heavily on injections of Bichloride of Gold (a chemical impossibility), it was so well-known in its day that several popular songs, such as an Irish comic song, entitled "The Keeley Cure," parodied it unmercifully. More on Wikipedia

Kellner
525;

Kennedy, John Fitzgerald
626; "Ich bin ein Berliner" ("I am a citizen of Berlin") is a famous quotation from a June 26, 1963 speech of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in West Berlin. He was underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after the Soviet-supported Communist state of East Germany erected the Berlin Wall as a barrier to prevent movement between East and West. There is an urban myth that he should have said "Ich bin Berliner" ("I am from Berlin") and that by adding the article "ein" ("a"), he was a non-human Berliner; More about this at Wikipedia

Kensington Sid
602;

Kepler
115;

Khan, Jenghiz
439; in Nuovo Rialto

Khartoum
29;

Khäutsch, Max
47; a captain in the Trabants, and field chief of K&K Special Security, who had "proven himself useful at home as an assassin"; 679;

Kieselguhr Kid
171; "notorious dynamiter of the San Juans"; Dynamite, a blasting explosive, was invented in 1867 by Alfred P. Nobel by mixing nitroglycerin with kieselguhr, a porous silica-containing earth, in proportions that left an essentially dry and granular material, producing a solid that was resistant to shock but readily explodable by heat or sudden impact; Webb Traverse?, 214; 361; 370; Frank Traverse, 382; Note also the connection with a Gravity's Rainbow identity, probably a pseudonym/alternate identity for Tyrone Slothrop, the "Kenosha Kid."

Kimura, Mr. Shunkichi
29; 318; translated Tsurigane into English, 532; 567;

Kindred, Deuce
193; hired by mine owners to kill Webb Traverse; 261; and Lake Traverse, 260; on the move with Lake, 472;

Kindred, Hope
473; Deuce's sister;

Kinsley's
49; Famous Restaurant at 105-107 Adams St.;

Kipling, Rudyard (1895-1936)
227; "The Great Game"; a British author and poet, born in India, and best known today for his children's books, his poems, and his many short stories; "The Great Game," a term usually attributed to Arthur Conolly, was used to describe the rivalry and strategic conflict between the British Empire and the Tsarist Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia. Kipling popularized the term in his novel Kim. Wikipedia entry

Kipperville
348; "Saturday night in..."; "Kipperville" is most likely a reference to the story Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton, wherein Mike and promises to dig the cellar for Popperville's new town hall in one day using his steam shovel Mary Anne. The citizens from Kipperville and other nearby towns all come to watch. Read the Amazon description.

Klein, Felix (1849-1925)
324; German mathematician, known for his work in group theory, function theory, non-Euclidean geometry, and on the connections between geometry and group theory. His 1872 Erlangen Program, classifying geometries by their underlying symmetry groups, was a hugely influential synthesis of much of the mathematics of the day. He was appointed lecturer at Göttingen in early 1871; 565; 593; Wikipedia entry

Knott, Professor
531; from the Imperial University of Japan

Kovalevskaia, Sofia
500; Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (also known as Sonia Kovalevsky) (1850-1891) was the first major Russian female mathematician and a student of Karl Weierstrass in Berlin. In 1884, she was appointed professor at Stockholm University, the third woman in Europe to become a professor; 601; Wikipedia entry

Krakatoa
506; Indonesian island group where a volcano erupted in 1883, the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history; Wikipedia entry

Kronecker, Leopold
593; "sinister influence of..."; "the positive integers were created by God, and all else is the work of man" 593; Wikipedia entry

Kropotkin
373;

Ku Klux Klan ("KKK")
7; the name of a number of past and present fraternal organizations in the United States that have advocated white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism, anti-Catholicism, homophobia, and nativism; 178; Wikipedia entry

Kundschaftsstelle
716; Austrian