Hüsker Dü: …including New Day Rising (1985), Flip Your Wig (1985), and Warehouse: Songs and Stories (1987). Mould later had success with solo projects and as a member of the band Sugar.

roller coaster: Coney Island amusement park: …when Lina Beecher installed the Flip-Flap Railway at Paul Boyton’s Sea Lion Park in Coney Island. Though uncomfortable and still dangerous, the 25-foot (7.5-metre) circular loop became popular despite operating for only a few years.

computer memory: Semiconductor memory: Static RAM (SRAM) consists of flip-flops, a bistable circuit composed of four to six transistors. Once a flip-flop stores a bit, it keeps that value until the opposite value is stored in it. SRAM gives fast access to data, but it is physically relatively large. It is used primarily for…

Arabic literature: Modern Arabic drama: …whose celebrated play Al-Farāfīr (1964; The Farfoors, or The Flipflap) combined elements of traditional comic forms of dramatic presentation with such Brechtian effects as the presence of an “author” as a stage character and the use of theatre-in-the-round staging. Alfred Faraj took a somewhat different course, invoking tales and incidents…

Rob Reiner: Later films: Flipped (2010), a teenage romance, failed to find an audience, and The Magic of Belle Isle (2012), while remarked for the skill of Freeman’s performance as an alcoholic writer, did not reach a large viewership. Reiner’s next effort, And So It Goes (2014), a romantic…

cetacean: Locomotor adaptations: …but are reduced to finlike flippers having shortened arm bones and no individual fingers. The hind limbs are lost entirely; only vestigial elements sometimes remain internally. Pelvic remnants occur in all cetacea but the dwarf and pygmy sperm whales. Flippers help to steer, while the back muscles, which are very…

hydrocarbon: Cycloalkanes: …process of chair-chair interconversion (called ring-flipping) interconverts the six axial and six equatorial hydrogen atoms in cyclohexane. Chair-chair interconversion is a complicated process brought about by successive conformational changes within the molecule. It is different from simple whole-molecule motions, such as spinning and tumbling, and because it is a conformational…

police: Mobility: …passive infrared unit sometimes called forward-looking infrared (FLIR), provides night vision. FLIR units can measure the heat energy emitted by objects and living things, enabling ground units to be directed to a particular location. The police also employ fixed-wing aircraft for operations such as border patrols and drug surveillance, police-personnel…

figure skating: Ice shows: The show, called Flirting in St. Moritz, created a sensation in New York City, ran for 300 days, and inspired The Frozen Warning (1916), the first motion picture centered on skating. Another pioneer ice show, Ice Follies, was first produced in 1936 by Oscar Johnson, Edward Shipstad, and…

Alan Alda: … (1978), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989), Flirting with Disaster (1996), What Women Want (2000), Tower Heist (2011), Wanderlust (2012), The Longest Ride (2015), Bridge of Spies (2015), and Marriage Story (2019). He received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for

Sebastian Klonowic: In the Polish poem Flis (1595; The Boatman), he vividly described the valley of the Vistula River and the life and customs of its raftsmen. Worek Judaszów (1600; “Judas’s Sack”), also in Polish, is a satiric and didactic work on the low life of Lublin. In the satirical and…

Model T, automobile built by the Ford Motor Company from 1908 until 1927. Conceived by Henry Ford as practical, affordable transportation for the common man, it quickly became prized for its low cost, durability, versatility, and ease of maintenance. More than 15 million Model Ts were built in

Frederick Shepherd Converse: …idiom in the symphonic fantasy Flivver Ten Million (1927), written to celebrate the production of the 10,000,000th Ford automobile. He also wrote six symphonies, chamber music, and many songs.

Tómas Gudmundsson: During this period Fljótid helga (1950; “The Holy River”) was published. It addressed many of the social issues that were brought to light by World War II and revealed Gudmundsson as a mature philosopher of loss and resignation, though his light touch and rich humour remained. An edition…

Noam Chomsky: Philosophy of mind and human nature: The faculty of language in the “narrow” sense (FLN) amounts to the recursive computational system alone, whereas the faculty in the broad sense (FLB) includes perceptual-articulatory systems (for sound and sign) and conceptual-intentional systems (for meaning). These are the systems with which the computational system interacts…

National Liberation Front, the only constitutionally legal party in Algeria from 1962 to 1989. The party was a continuation of the revolutionary body that directed the Algerian war of independence against France (1954–62). The FLN was created by the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action

Democratic Republic of the Congo: Mobutu’s regime: …country’s main opposition movement, the Congolese National Liberation Front (Front de la Libération Nationale Congolaise; FLNC), operating from Angola, launched two major invasions into Shaba (which Katanga was called from 1972 to 1997). On both occasions external intervention by friendly governments—primarily Morocco in 1977 and France in 1978—saved the day,…

Corsican National Liberation Front, largest and most violent of a number of Corsican nationalist movements. It was formed in 1976 from two smaller groups that sought autonomy for Corsica through armed struggle. The main method of the FLNC was bomb attacks, and the main targets were the property of

New Caledonia: History of New Caledonia: …and reconstituted itself as the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale Kanake et Socialiste; FLNKS). The FLNKS boycotted the elections in that year and, in an uprising, temporarily captured most of the territory outside Nouméa.

fair trade: History: …the establishment of the worldwide Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) association in 1997. Labeling of fair trade products was instrumental in raising consumer awareness. It also allowed such products to be sold alongside non-fair trade counterparts in large supermarket chains, expanding their availability from fair trade shops to mass consumer…

undersea exploration: Measurements of ocean currents: …can be measured by drifting floats, either at the surface or at a given depth. Tracking the location of the floats is critical. Surface floats can be followed by satellite, but subsurface drifters must be tracked acoustically. A drifter of this sort acts as an acoustical source and transmits signals…

fishing: Methods: …cork or plastic, called a float in Britain and a bobber in the United States. The angler attempts to suspend the bait at a depth where foraging fish will notice it and in locations near the natural hiding places of fish—such as sunken weed beds, logs, and underwater rock formations.

Modest Mouse: …the backhandedly optimistic hit “Float On.” The band’s follow-up We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (2007) debuted at the top of Billboard’s Top 200 albums chart. After a prolonged hiatus, Modest Mouse released Strangers to Ourselves in 2015. The Golden Casket, their seventh album, appeared in 2021.

construction: Glass as a building material: …Brothers in England developed the float glass process, in which a continuous 3.4-meter- (11-foot-) wide ribbon of glass floated over molten tin and both sides were fire finished, avoiding all polishing and grinding; this became the standard method of production. Pilkington also pioneered the development of structural glass mullions in…

seaplane: …separate pontoons or floats as floatplanes. The first practical seaplanes were built and flown in the United States by Glenn H. Curtiss, in 1911 and 1912. Curtiss’ inventions led to the British F-boats of World War I, which originated such naval air missions as over-ocean patrol, antisubmarine warfare, mine laying,…

textile: Weft knitting: A float stitch is produced by missing interlooping over a series of needles so that the thread floats over a few loops in each course.

zone melting: Techniques of zone refining.: …found for zone refining, namely, float zoning, invented by a U.S. scientist to produce ultrapure silicon. This semiconducting element is even more useful than germanium for most transistor applications. In float zoning, a vertical silicon rod is held by end clamps, and a short molten zone is produced by induction…

construction: Glass as a building material: …Brothers in England developed the float glass process, in which a continuous 3.4-meter- (11-foot-) wide ribbon of glass floated over molten tin and both sides were fire finished, avoiding all polishing and grinding; this became the standard method of production. Pilkington also pioneered the development of structural glass mullions in…

lighthouse: Construction: …was possible to build a “float out” lighthouse, consisting of a cylindrical tower on a large concrete base that could be 15 meters (50 feet) in diameter. The tower was constructed in a shore berth, towed out to position, and then sunk to the seabed, where the base was finally…

surfing: Equipment and techniques: …face of the wave), “floaters” (“floating” the board along the top of a breaking wave), “reverses” (rapid changes of direction), 360s (turning the board through 360 degrees on the face of the wave), and “airs” (flying above the face of the wave).

eye disease: Floaters, blind spots, and flashes: One of the most common visual symptoms is the sensation of small black objects floating in front of the eye, known as “floaters.” These move with the eye but lag slightly at the beginning of an eye movement and overshoot…

insurance: Inland marine insurance: …greatly extended by means of “floater” policies. These are used to insure certain types of movable property whether or not the property is actually in transit. Business floater policies are purchased by jewelers, launderers, dry cleaners, tailors, upholsterers, and other persons who hold the property of others while performing services.…

water fern: cornuta); floating antlerfern, or water horn fern (C. pteridoides); triangle water fern (C. richardii); and water sprite (C. thalictroides). The plants are widespread in tropical and warm temperate regions around the world, and several are cultivated as aquarium plants. Although water ferns sometimes root in mud,…

Diane di Prima: …began a monthly poetry journal, Floating Bear, that featured their own poetry and that of other notable Beat writers such as Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs. Di Prima and Jones were charged with (but not indicted for) sending obscene material through the mail. Jones left Floating Bear after two years,…

harbours and sea works: Floating breakwaters: Because of the large quantities of material required and the consequent high cost of breakwaters of normal construction, the possibility of floating breakwaters has received considerable study. The lee of calm water to be found behind a large ship at anchor in the…

pontoon bridge, floating bridge, used primarily but not invariably for military purposes. See also military bridge. An early pontoon bridge was constructed in 480 bce by Persian engineers to transport Xerxes’ invading army across the Hellespont (Dardanelles). According to Herodotus, the bridge was

showboat: …this early period was the Floating Circus Palace of Spaulding and Rodgers (built 1851) that featured large-scale equestrian spectacles. By the mid-19th century, showboats were seating up to 3,400 and regularly featured wax museums as well as equestrian shows, but because of the American Civil War they disappeared entirely.

mining: Ore reserves: …the most common is the floating cone technique. In two dimensions the removal of a given ore block would require the removal of a set of overlying blocks as well. All of these would be included in an inverted triangle with its sides corresponding to the slope angle, its base…

crane: …more powerful derrick is the floating crane, which is built on a barge for such purposes as constructing bridges or salvaging sunken objects. The Musashi, a large crane of this type built in Japan in 1974, can lift a 3,000-ton load.

international payment and exchange: Short-term flows: A very important distinction must be drawn between the short-term capital that flows in the normal course of industrial and commercial development and that which flows because of exchange-rate movements. The first class of short-term capital may be thought of as going in…

dry dock: The principal such facility, the floating dry dock, is a trough-shaped cellular structure, used to lift ships out of the water for inspection and repairs. The ship is brought into the channel of the partly submerged dock, which is then floated by removing ballast from its hollow floor and walls…

money: Central banking: If a country has a floating exchange rate, it must choose a policy to go with the floating rate. At times in the past, many countries expected their central bank to pursue several different objectives. Eventually, countries recognized that this was an error because it focused the central bank on…

soil mechanics: A floating foundation consists of boxlike rigid structures set at such a depth below ground that the weight of the soil removed to place it equals the weight of the building; thus, once the building is completed, the soil under it will bear the same weight…

chinampa, small, stationary, artificial island built on a freshwater lake for agricultural purposes. Chinampan was the ancient name for the southwestern region of the Valley of Mexico, the region of Xochimilco, and it was there that the technique was—and is still—most widely used. It consists in

Xochimilco: …famous for its chinampas (floating gardens). The local agriculturalists constructed branch and reed rafts on the lake, covered them with mud from the bottom of the lake, and cultivated fruits, vegetables, and flowers, which they shipped to Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) via canal. In time the rafts took root…

flash memory: …that has two transistors, the floating gate and the control gate, at each intersection, separated by an oxide layer that insulates the floating gate. When the floating gate is linked to the control gate, the two-transistor cell has a value of 1. To change the value of the cell to…

Menyanthaceae: …water lily, water snowflake, and floating heart, comprises submerged plants with buried rootstalks and floating leaves. Most species bear yellow or white flowers, and many are popular aquarium plants. The genera Liparophyllum and Nephrophyllidium both contain a single species, while Villarsia is larger but not well known.

Floating Instrument Platform (FLIP), oceanographic study platform developed in the United States. It combines the advantages of extreme stability while floating on site and ease of movement to new areas. In the horizontal position, FLIP, 109 m (357 feet) long, can be towed behind a ship. When

theatre: The influence of Grotowski and the Polish Laboratory Theatre: His book The Floating Islands (1979) examines a theatre existing independently that creates from whatever material resources are at hand. Barba has sought to return to theatre as a way of life, seeing this pattern in the origins of the commedia dell’arte, the wandering players, and in…

fern: Annotated classification: …Azolla (about 6 species) and Salvinia (about 10 species), of floating aquatics, distributed nearly worldwide but most diverse in the tropics. Family Marsileaceae (clover ferns) Plants heterosporous; rhizomes long-creeping, slender, glabrous or hairy; leaves with 2 or 4 leaflets at the petiole tip or lacking a blade altogether, the venation…

American literature: Realism and metafiction: …In fact, Barth’s earliest fiction, The Floating Opera (1956) and The End of the Road (1958), fell partly within the realistic tradition, but in later, more-ambitious works he simultaneously imitated and parodied conventional forms—the historical novel in The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), Greek and Christian myths in Giles Goat-Boy (1966), and…

Gilbert R. Spaulding: …impresario, creator of the “Floating Palace,” an elaborate two-story steamboat that contained a regulation circus ring and a stage and toured the Mississippi and Ohio rivers during the 1850s. Spalding introduced the quarter poles (for supporting the tent roof), which enable circuses to use larger tents. He lit his…

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Works after Jeanne-Claude’s death: …gas storage tank in Germany; The Floating Piers (2016) connected two islands in Lake Iseo, Italy, via a floating saffron-coloured walkway that stretched 1.86 miles (2.99 km); and The London Mastaba (2018) stacked coloured barrels in the shape of the ancient building type atop a floating platform in the Serpentine…

money: Central banking: If a country has a floating exchange rate, it must choose a policy to go with the floating rate. At times in the past, many countries expected their central bank to pursue several different objectives. Eventually, countries recognized that this was an error because it focused the central bank on…

showboat: …the first showboat, the “Floating Theatre” (14 by 100 feet [4 by 32 m]), at Pittsburgh in 1831. He and his family floated from landing to landing, playing dramas such as The Stranger, by August von Kotzebue, and William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, with music and dance specialties…

Niger-Congo languages: Tone: …what are known as “floating tones.” Frequently, when a syllable is deleted or when vowels are elided, the tones carried by those syllables are retained, and they interact with preceding and/or succeeding tones to result in tonal perturbations.

computer: Central processing unit: …for graphics instructions or for floating-point calculations (arithmetic operations involving noninteger numbers, such as 3.27). With this “superscalar” design, several instructions can execute at once.

seaplane: …separate pontoons or floats as floatplanes. The first practical seaplanes were built and flown in the United States by Glenn H. Curtiss, in 1911 and 1912. Curtiss’ inventions led to the British F-boats of World War I, which originated such naval air missions as over-ocean patrol, antisubmarine warfare, mine laying,…

water supply system: Coagulation and flocculation: …heavier masses of solids called floc. Aluminum sulfate (alum) is the most common coagulant used for water purification. Other chemicals, such as ferric sulfate or sodium aluminate, may also be used.

flocculation, in physical chemistry, separation of solid particles from a liquid to form loose aggregations or soft flakes. These flocculates are easily disrupted, being held together only by a force analogous to the surface tension of a liquid. In industrial processes, flocculation may be a

serological test: …types of serological tests—for example, flocculation tests, neutralization tests, hemagglutinin-inhibition tests, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), and chemiluminescence immunoassays.

magnesium processing: Electrolysis: …seawater is mixed in a flocculator with lightly burned reactive dolomite. An insoluble magnesium hydroxide precipitates to the bottom of a settling tank, whence it is pumped as a slurry, filtered, converted to magnesium chloride by reaction with hydrochloric acid, and dried in a series of evaporation steps to 25…

cerebellum: The flocculonodular lobe, the first section of cerebellum to evolve, receives sensory input from the vestibules of the ear; the anterior lobe receives sensory input from the spinal cord; and the posterior lobe, the last to evolve, receives nerve impulses from the cerebrum. All of these…

animal social behavior: The range of social behavior in animals: Other groups include flocks or herds that form during migration and coalitions that form due to group advantages in holding or acquiring a reproductive vacancy. Coalitions of male African lions (Panthera leo) that compete for control of groups of females (called prides) are a classic example of the…

columbiform: Distinguishing characteristics: One, the flock pigeon (Phaps histrionica), makes long flights to its feeding and drinking places and has long wings, in many respects apparently living like the sandgrouse of Africa and Eurasia.

Avril Lavigne: …Fast Food Nation (2006) and The Flock (2007). She wrote the song “Alice” for Tim Burton’s film Alice in Wonderland (2010). In 2007 two songwriters sued Lavigne over her hit song “Girlfriend,” which they claimed had been plagiarized from their 1979 song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend.” The case was…

The True Story Behind Feud: Capote vs. the Swans: Lee Radziwill: …is played by American actress Calista Flockhart.

Ever anxious to protect themselves against their old enemy, the English, Scotland formed a mutual defense alliance with France in 1295, in which an attack on one nation would mean that the other nation would join the battle. The Auld Alliance, as it was known, proved to have disastrous consequences

children’s literature: Norway: …prominent and well-loved moderns are Halvor Floden, whose most famous work, centered on a gypsy waif, is Gjenta fra lands vegen (“The Girl from the Road”); the nonsense versifier Zinken Hopp; the poet Jan-Magnus Bruheim, three of whose collections have won state prizes; Finn Havrevold, whose toughminded boys’ teenage novel…

chromatography: Subsequent developments: In 1959 Per Flodin and Jerker Porath in Sweden developed cellulose polymeric materials that acted as molecular sieves for substances dispersed in liquids. This extended the molecular weight range of chromatography to polypeptides, proteins, and high-molecular-weight polymers. The generic term for such separations is size-exclusion

Flodoard was a chronicler whose two major works, the Annales, a chronicle covering the period 919 to 966, and the Historia Remensis ecclesiae (“History of the Church in Reims”), provide the essential documentation for this period. After returning from a visit to Pope Leo VII in Rome, Flodoard

flogging, a beating administered with a whip or rod, with blows commonly directed to the person’s back. It was imposed as a form of judicial punishment and as a means of maintaining discipline in schools, prisons, military forces, and private homes. The instruments and methods of flogging have

Kjartan Fløgstad is a Norwegian poet, novelist, and essayist best known for his novel Dalen Portland (1977; “Portland Valley”; Eng. trans. Dollar Road). Before he became a successful writer, Fløgstad was a blue-collar worker and a sailor. He remained sympathetic to the working class in his

Floian Stage, last of two internationally defined stages of the Lower Ordovician Series, encompassing all rocks deposited during the Floian Age (477.7 million to 470 million years ago) of the Ordovician Period. In 2002 the International Commission on Stratigraphy established the Global Stratotype

Floire et Blancheflor, French metrical romance known in two versions from the 12th and 13th centuries and thought to be of Greco-Byzantine or Moorish origin. Its theme of separation and reunion of young lovers is the same as that treated in Aucassin et Nicolette, though the roles and religion of

Florence Griffith Joyner was an American sprinter who set world records in the 100 metres (10.49 seconds) and 200 metres (21.34 seconds) that have stood since 1988. Griffith started running at age seven, chasing jackrabbits to increase her speed. In 1980 she entered the University of California,

Rabbe Enckell: …this collection and a sequel, Flöjtblåsarlycka (1925; “The Flutist’s Happiness”), Enckell describes with a painter’s eye the exquisite nuances in the phenomena of nature. A modernist, he was associated with the avant-garde journal Quosego in 1928–29. After writing a few semiautobiographical novels, including Ljusdunkel (1930; “Chiaroscuro”), Enckell returned to poetry…

printing: Preparing stereotypes and plates: In making stereotype plates, a flong, or mat, a thin sheet of pasteboard, pliant enough to register an impression and sufficiently heat-resistant to tolerate the molten type metal, is placed on the type form with paper and cotton packing. It is subjected to heavy pressures in a press at a…

flood, high-water stage in which water overflows its natural or artificial banks onto normally dry land, such as a river inundating its floodplain. The effects of floods on human well-being range from unqualified blessings to catastrophes. The regular seasonal spring floods of the Nile River prior

plateau: Formative processes: lava flows (called flood basalts or traps) and volcanic ash bury preexisting terrain, as exemplified by the Columbia Plateau in the northwestern United States. The volcanism involved in such situations is commonly associated with hot spots. The lavas and ash are generally carried long distances from their sources,…

conservation: Flood control: In much the same way that human actions suppress fire regimes, they also control water levels, and the resulting changes can have important consequences for endangered species. An example of a species so affected is the Cape Sable seaside sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus mirabilis)…

cost-benefit analysis: …not seriously applied until the 1936 U.S. Flood Control Act, which required that the benefits of flood-control projects exceed their costs.

flood myth, any of numerous mythologies in which a flood destroys a typically disobedient original population. Myths of a great flood (the Deluge) are widespread over Eurasia and America. The flood, with a few exceptions, is an expiation by the water, after which a new type of world is created. The

Amitav Ghosh: …River of Smoke (2011) and Flood of Fire (2015).

inland water ecosystem: Population and community development and structure: …rivers of variable hydrology, the flood pulse concept has been instructive. This concept regards seasonal or occasional flood events as important ecological phenomena determining the biology of the river.

irrigation: Water application: In the flood system, water is applied at the edge of a field and allowed to move over the entire surface to the opposite side of the field. Grain and forage crops are quite often irrigated by flood techniques. The furrow system is used for row crops…

ebb tide: …rising tides, is called the flood tide. See tide.

Curt Flood was an American professional baseball player whose antitrust litigation challenging the major leagues’ reserve clause was unsuccessful but ultimately led to the clause’s demise. Flood began playing baseball as a youth and was signed in 1956 by the National League Cincinnati Reds. He was

Curt Flood was an American professional baseball player whose antitrust litigation challenging the major leagues’ reserve clause was unsuccessful but ultimately led to the clause’s demise. Flood began playing baseball as a youth and was signed in 1956 by the National League Cincinnati Reds. He was

Henry Flood was an Anglo-Irish statesman, founder of the Patriot movement that in 1782 won legislative independence for Ireland. The illegitimate son of Warden Flood, chief justice of the Court of King’s Bench in Ireland, Henry entered the Irish Parliament in 1759. Irish Protestants were becoming

Ian Rankin: …would become his first novel, The Flood (1986). It was published by a student-run press in Edinburgh. Set in a small town based on Rankin’s own birthplace, the debut was an exploration of the prejudices and superstitions of a fading community as reflected in its casting out of a young…

theatre music: Music for television: …dance-film, or Stravinsky’s mixed media The Flood (1962)—original music to television is chiefly confined to the provision of theme passages or supporting music hopefully intended to enhance verbal or dramatic presentation. Like the cinema pianist who played for silent films, television music has a limited repertory of conventional gestures. Even…

Paolo Uccello: Later years: Human forms in The Flood, especially the nudes, were reminiscent of figures in Masaccio’s frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel (c. 1427), perhaps the most influential of all paintings of the early Renaissance. More than any other painting by Uccello, The Flood illustrates the artist’s love for perspective.

river: Peak discharge and flooding: In the longer term, flood-frequency analysis based on recorded past events can nevertheless supply useful predictions of future probabilities and risks. Flood-frequency analysis deals with the incidence of peak discharges, whereas frequency analysis generally provides the statistical basis of hydraulic geometry. Percentage frequency analysis has been much used in…

naval architecture: Subdivision and floodable length: …as a function of the floodable length of a ship. A convenient method of relating floodable length to the ship is by a floodable-length curve. The curve is plotted on the profile of the ship so that the vertical ordinate at each point equals the portion of the ship, length,…

floodgate, gate for shutting out or releasing the flow of water over spillways, in connection with the operation of a dam. Important safety features of many types of dams, floodgates and spillways direct excess water away from the dam and its foundation to prevent erosion that could lead to

flood, high-water stage in which water overflows its natural or artificial banks onto normally dry land, such as a river inundating its floodplain. The effects of floods on human well-being range from unqualified blessings to catastrophes. The regular seasonal spring floods of the Nile River prior

Fresnel lens: …lens is convenient for spotlights, floodlights, railroad and traffic signals, and decorative lights in buildings. Cylindrical Fresnel lenses are used in shipboard lanterns to increase visibility.

floodplain, flat land area adjacent to a stream, composed of unconsolidated sedimentary deposits (alluvium) and subject to periodic inundation by the stream. Floodplains are produced by lateral movement of a stream and by overbank deposition; therefore they are absent where downcutting is dominant.

Olav Duun: …novel, Menneske og maktene (1938; Floodtide of Fate), shows, the struggle between an uplifting human spirit and darker natural forces never ceased to enrich the outcome of his fiction.