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Phat means great or excellent. Other uses: Navy pilots making a good landing in a crosswind (1946-1947), Phat Bach, a great pun if you mispronounce "Bach" as "Back" (1957 jazz album), game of cards (an English trick-taking partnership card game derived from the 17th century game of All Fours), Pretty Hot and Tempting

A nanometer (also "nanometre") is a unit of measurement used to measure length. One nanometer is one billionth of a meter, so nanometers are certainly not used to measure long distances. Instead, they serve to measure extremely small objects, such as atomic structures or transistors found in modern CPUs. http://www.techterms.com/definition/nanometer

Journeying thousands of miles to New Zealand, Chad Furlong of Springfield, Ore. is one of a hard-core group of U.S. sheep handlers who competed in the recent Golden Shears World Championships. In a converted basketball court in this small town in a prime farming region, he tested his speed and dexterity with a pair of electric clippers, and strength in controlling a wriggling sheep, against 600 shearers from 25 other nations. At stake in New Zealand—the spiritual home of shearing and a country where sheep outnumber people about seven to one—is a prize of $2,000 and the title of world's best shearer. "It's like a martial art," said Angus Moore, 27, and New Zealand national champion, who was taking his third shot at the ultimate title. "Everything has got to be perfect. Your harmony with the animals makes you the best or not the best." Each round lasts about 14 minutes for the electric-powered machine shearers, but longer for divisions where cutting is done by hand. By the end, competitors are dripping with sweat and there are always a couple of injuries to contend with. Bad backs are par for the course and bangs and bruises are to be expected. "It takes the same amount of energy to work in a shearing shed for eight hours as it does to run a marathon twice," said Leann Brimmer, 38, of Biddle, Mont. Not only was she in New Zealand competing as a wool handler, but she travels the world following the shearing season each year sorting the fleeces as they come off the animals. New Zealander John Kirkpatrick, 41, took away the Golden Shears Open Shearing Final, which is open to all shearers whether they made their national team or not. Gavin Mutch, 32, who represented Scotland, won the World Open Machine Shearing event, for those on national teams. Winning was "surreal," he said. He had been battling injury and hadn't been sure he would be up to competing. Lucy Cramer http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203370604577266150012936434.html

The Court of Justice of the European Communities (often referred to simply as ‘the Court’) was set up under the ECSC Treaty in 1952. It is based in Luxembourg. Article 19 TEU provides that the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) is ‘(…) to ensure that in the interpretation and application of the Treaties the law is observed.’ It makes sure that EU legislation is interpreted and applied in the same way in all EU countries, so that the law is equal for everyone. It ensures, for example, that national courts do not give different rulings on the same issue. The Court also ensures that EU Member States and institutions do what the law requires. The Court has the power to settle legal disputes between EU Member States, EU institutions, businesses and individuals. The Court is composed of one judge per Member State, so that all 27 of the EU’s national legal systems are represented. The Court is assisted by eight ‘advocates-general’ whose role is to present reasoned opinions on the cases brought before the Court.
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/areas/industrialrelations/dictionary/definitions/EUROPEANCOURTOFJUSTICE.htm

The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a six-nation international organisation serving to unify Western Europe during the Cold War and create the foundation for the modern-day developments of the European Union. The ECSC was the first organisation to be based on the principles of supranationalism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Coal_and_Steel_Community

Find news about the European Court of Justice, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times at: http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/european_court_of_justice/index.html

There are several large drumlin fields in the Great Lakes region. One of the largest and most widespread drumlin fields in the Midwest lies in the Michigan's NW Lower peninsula, centered on Antrim and Charlevoix Counties. The drumlin field is cut into many smaller pieces by deep (dry) valleys, some of which contain long narrow lakes such as Torch Lake and Lake Bellaire. The Leelanau peninsula also contains a significant drumlin field, as does the Mission Peninsula. See maps at: http://www.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/drumlins.html

Drumlins are asymmetrical, canoe shaped hills with aerodynamic profiles made mainly of till. Their heights vary from 15 to 50 meters and they can reach a kilometer in length. The tilted side of the hill looks toward the direction from which the ice advanced (stoss), while the longer slope follows the ice's direction of movement (lee). Drumlins are found in groups called drumlin fields or drumlin camps. An example of these fields is found east of Rochester, New York, and it is estimated that it contains about 10,000 drumlins. It is believed that many drumlins were formed when glaciers advanced over and altered the deposits of earlier glaciers. Read more about glacial geology and see images at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier#Drumlins

Depiction of a library in the snow from The Bingo Palace by Louise Erdrich " . . . the lighted castle of a building draws me across the snowy street. And there it is. There are great squares of glass, rectangles of golden warmth that stream onto the snow in a rich, full invitation."

The United States has 58 protected areas known as national parks, which are operated by the National Park Service, an agency of the Department of the Interior. National parks must be established by an act of the United States Congress. The first national park, Yellowstone, was signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, followed by Sequoia and Yosemite in 1890. The Organic Act of 1916 created the National Park Service "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." National parks usually have a variety of natural resources over large areas. Many of them had been previously protected as National Monuments by the President under the Antiquities Act before being upgraded by Congress. Seven national parks are paired with a National Preserve, six of which are in Alaska. The newest national park is Great Sand Dunes, established in 2004. See list of national parks in the U.S. at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_parks_of_the_United_States

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