Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

BC

Specialty Definition: BC

Top     

Specialty Definition: Anno Domini

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Anno Domini, (or more correctly Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi meaning In the Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ) commonly abbreviated "A.D.", refers to the conventional numbering of years in the Gregorian calendar. It uses an epoch based on the traditionally reckoned year of the birth of Jesus Christ. The A.D. era is the only system in everyday use in the Western hemisphere and Europe, and is also the common system in regular commercial use in the rest of the world. Timewise it is equivalent to Common Era.

Anno Domini means "[in the] year of [Our] Lord" in Latin. The name comes from Jesus Christ being referred to as "Lord" in Christianity.

The Anno Domini nomenclature for the chronological era in which we live is somewhat controversial for some people. The alternative Common Era (abbreviated C.E.) is often suggested but not universally used.

History of Dating in the Christian World

Anno Domini dating was not the initial choice of Christians in the Mediterranean world. Like all people in the Roman Empire, early Christians dated by their local system. On the pan-Mediterranean scale, that meant the regnal year of the emperor ("in the Xth year of Emperor Such-and-such") and the tax indiction cycle (15 indictions make up a tax cycle, an indicition is near a year in duration, more or less). A great many local systems were also important, such as the year since the foundation of your particular city, the regnal year of the neighboring Persian emperor, and eventually even the year of the reigning Caliph. For example, the City of Rome dated from its foundation in 753 B.C., and the date ab urbe condita, "from the foundation of the city" (abbreviated A.U.C.), shows up on occasion in records. The dating of documents in antiquity and the Middle Ages was a process with a high level of redundancy. This redundancy, in fact, allows historians to construct parallel regnal lists for many kingdoms and polities by comparing chronicles from different regions which include the same rulers.

After the Roman Empire

As the Roman Empire declined, imperial regnal year dating became sloppy, but remained the norm for 400 years in Christian Church circles. The Papacy was in regular contact throughout the Middle Ages with enovys of the Byzantine world, and had a clear enough idea (sudden deaths and deposals intervening) of who was the Byzantine emperor at any one time.

The Anno Domini system was developed by a monk named Dionysius Exiguus (often described as a Scythian) in Rome around the middle of the 6th century, but was not widely adopted. Byzantine chroniclers like Theophanes continued to date each year in their world chronicles on a different and much more popular Judaeo-Christian basis — from the notional Creation of the World as calculated by Christian and Jewish scholars in the first 5 centuries of the Christian era. These eras, sometimes called Anno Mundi, "year of the world" (abbreviated A.M.), by modern scholars, had their own disagreements. The most popular formulation was that established by Eusebius of Caesarea, a historian at the time of Constantine I. The Latin translator Jerome had made a comparison of Eusebius with certain dates deduced from the Old Testament which helped popularize Eusebius's A.M. count in the West.

The Popularization of Anno Domini

The first historian or chronicler to use A.D. as his primary dating mechanism was the Anglo-Saxon monk Bede, in his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, published around 730. Bede was different from historians working in more important places in two ways: First, he was in Northumbria, outside the bounds of the later Roman Empire. Unlike the Mediterranean-focused countries of Italy, France, and Spain, his people had little knowledge of or interest in who the Roman Emperor was in any particular year. Second, he was confronted with the problem of seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and their overlapping regnal years. He had also previously written a chronicle going back to Creation, so he had the numbers at his fingertips. He adopted A.D. dating as a way of keeping track of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and trying to bring their dates into line with the fragmentary evidence he had for imperial regnal years.

It should be noted that technically for correctness, the "A.D." should appear before the year, e.g. A.D. 2001. This is in keeping with the original Latin meaning: "in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 2001". However in practice common usage places it ungrammatically at the end, which if taken literally would read "2001 in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ". Other era markings, B.C., C.E., and B.C.E. are placed after the year, e.g., 2001 C.E. They are also generally typeset in small caps.

On the continent of Europe, A.D. was first used as the dominant dating system by Charlemagne and his successors. It was this influence of the Royal Frankish court that popularized the usage and spread it east into German speaking territories. The Carolingian use of A.D. may well have had twin ideological reasons of breaking away from using the Byzantine era and defusing certain strains of apocalyptic thought.

Attempts at Alternative Eras in the West

The French Revolution and the Italian Fascists each tried seriously to displace the A.D. system by dating from their own initiation–a non-royal regnal year system. (see French Revolutionary Calendar) The Italian fascists actually used the standard system along with Roman numerals denoting the number of years since the establishment of the fascist government in 1922. Therefore, 1934, for example, was Year XII. It did not replace the standard calendar in the same way the French Revolutionary Calendar did.

Alternative Nomenclature for the Same Era

As a substitute for "Anno Domini", many people now use the abbreviation C.E. which is sometimes understood as meaning Common Era and sometimes as Christian Era. Correspondingly, as a substitute for "Before Christ", the abbreviation B.C.E. is used, which is understood either as Before the Common Era or Before the Christian Era. This terminology is preferred by some academics for various reasons, but probably mainly because it need not be interpreted as making religious reference.

The term "Common Era" has been in use since the late 19th century. Indeed, in its article on "Chronology", the 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia uses the sentence: "Foremost among these [dating eras] is that which is now adopted by all civilized peoples and known as the Christian, Vulgar, or Common Era, in the twentieth century of which we are now living."

This terminology is seen by some Christians, and others, as a move by nonbelievers to make Christianity less visible. By contrast, the use of C.E. and B.C.E. is often presented by some in the academic community as a matter of sensitivity to those who are not Christians. That justification is not accepted by some Muslims, some of whom accept that the A.D. era is based on the life of an important historical figure.

Oddly, almost no one uses the meaningful and historically correct name "Gregorian Calendar" or G.C. Yet not even the Catholic Church claims that Pope Gregory's calendar starts from the birth of Jesus. Most historians agree that Jesus of Nazareth was born year 4 or 5 before the start of the year chosen as the start of the Gregorian calendar.

See also : A.C

Other Eras in Common Use

Despite the prevalence of the A.D. system, many religious and ethnic groups keep track of their lives and celebrate holidays according to various calendars and eras. For instance, Muslims operate on an era based on the Hegira, the flight of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in A.D. 622. However, because the Hegira occurred in September and the Muslim lunar calendar diverges from the beginning of the Western year, subtracting 622 from the A.D. date does not produce a reliable Anno Hegirae or A.H. date (see Islamic calendar).

Other calendar eras include the Jewish eras (see Hebrew calendar) and Chinese dynasties (see Chinese calendar). The Japanese use both A.D. and a system based on the coronation of the emperor. The current era, Heisei, began with Heisei year 1 in 1989, making 2003 the Heisei year 15.

External link

• Catholic Encyclopedia, entry on Chronology

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Anno Domini."

Top     

BC

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

BC may stand for:

;"before Christ" (B.C. or BC): an abbreviation used to refer to a year before the beginning of the year count that starts with the supposed year of the birth of Christ. Some people use ACN or BCE instead. For a discussion, see the entry on Anno Domini and Common Era. ;British Columbia, province of Canada: "B.C." is the traditional use, while "BC" is the more modern, being used as the official Canada Post code for mail, and in domain names such as vancouver.bc.ca. It is also part of the province's ISO 3166-2 code CA-BC, ;B.C. (comic): syndicated comic strip by Johnny Hart, which has run since 1958 and features wisecracking cavemen [1] ;BC powder

"BC Powder": name brand of pain reliever containing aspirin, caffeine, and salicylamide [1]

"B.C. powder": can also refer to the light and fluffy snow which attracts skiers and snowboarders to British Columbia,

"B/C powder": powdered chemicals in a fire extinguisher effective against burning liquids (B-rated) and gases (C-rated).

;BC wheel: the impossible wheel, an unicycle, named after the comic strip B.C ;BookCrossing (BC): releasing books from your shelf (where they will be of no use to anyone) into the world.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "BC."

Top     

Bc (Unix)

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

bc is the basic calculator program for Unix and Unix-like operating systems.

Unlike dc, it is not stack based, and interprets mathematical statements in plaintext in a natural way.

Example session

% bc
3+2*4
11
3^4+12
93
(3^4+12)/11-22
-14

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Bc (Unix)."

Top     

British Columbia

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

British Columbia

(In Detail) (In Detail)
Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Splendour without diminishment)
Capital	Victoria
Largest city	Vancouver
Area  - Total  - % fresh water	5th largest (3rd lgst prov.) 944 735 km² 2.1%
Population  - Total (2001)  - Density	Ranked 3rd 4 095 900 4.34/km²
Admittance into Confederation  - Date  - Order	Colony of B.C. joined Confed. 1871 7
Time zone	UTC -8 & -7
Postal information Postal abbreviation Postal code prefix	BC V
ISO 3166-2	CA-BC
Parliamentary representation  Seats in the House  Seats in the Senate	34 6
Premier	Gordon Campbell (Lib.)
Lieutenant-Governor	Iona Campagnolo
Government of British Columbia

British Columbia, or simply B.C.; (French: la Colombie-Britannique) is the westernmost of Canada's provinces. It was the sixth province to join the confederation of Canada (in 1871). As of 2001, the population was 4,095,934 (British Columbians).

Geography

Its capital is Victoria, at the extreme south-east of Vancouver Island. Its largest city is Vancouver, which is in the south-west corner of the mainland of Canada (the city is near, but not on Vancouver Island). Other major cities include Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, New Westminster in the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD), Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, and Kelowna, and Kamloops in the "interior". Prince George is located in the north of the province.

British Columbia is located on the extreme west of Canada, on the Pacific coast. It is bounded on the northwest by the U.S state of Alaska, directly north by Yukon and the Northwest Territories, on the east by Alberta, and on the south by the states of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The southern Border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty.

British Columbia is renowned for its spectacular scenery which forms the backdrop and context for a growing outdoor adventure and ecotourism industry. The Okanagan region is one of the premier wine-growing regions in Canada. Small rural towns Penticton, Oliver or Osoyoos have some of the warmest summer climates in Canada and provide hospitality to visitors from around the world.

Much of Vancouver Island is covered by a temperate rain forest.

Parks

British Columbia contains 7 of Canada's national parks:

• Glacier National Park
• Gulf Islands National Park
• Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site
• Kootenay National Park
• Mount Revelstoke National Park
• Pacific Rim National Park Reserve
• Yoho National Park

BC also contains a large network of provincial parks, run by BC Parks of the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection.

History

British Columbia started as two British colonies, New Caledonia (created in 1846) and Vancouver's Island (created in 1849). New Caledonia was renamed British Columbia in 1858. The two colonies merged in 1866, agreeing upon the name British Columbia for the newly created political region.

The Cariboo region ("Central Interior") of British Columbia experienced a gold rush in the years 1862 to 1865. This created a rapid influx of miners and settlers, about 30,000 in all. This period in the province's history is acknowledged today in the Gold Rush Trail: historic and other sites along the route from Lillooet to Barkerville and beyond. Some of the towns along this route are numbered according to their distance from the end of the navigable part of the Fraser River at Lillooet. Best known of these is the town of 100 Mile House which, along with the residential hub of 108 Mile Ranch, forms a substantial trading, tourism, and population centre for this region. The colonial authorities feared the gold rush might spread beyond B.C.'s northern border (54°40′ north), so the Stickeen Territory was created in 1862. However, the following year this new territory was disestablished, most of its area going to B.C., whose northern limit was increased to its current location, 60° north.

Several factors played in the decision of British Columbia to join the Dominion of Canada in 1871. These were the fear of annexation into the United States, the overwhelming debt created by rapid population growth and the need for government-funded services to support this population, and the slight economic depression caused by the end of the gold rush.

The decision to join Canada was made largely because the Canadian government offered to link British Columbia to the more settled parts of Canada via the Canadian Pacific Railway and offered to pay off the $1,000,000 British Columbian debt (British Columbia itself is today served by BC Rail, Canada's third largest railroad). On July 20, 1871, British Columbia became a member of the Dominion of Canada.

(public domain Mercator map)

See also

• Canada
• List of Canadian provinces and territories
• List of cities in Canada
• List of British Columbia premiers
• List of communities in British Columbia
• List of British Columbia Regional Districts
• List of Canadian provincial and territorial symbols
• British Columbia Ferry Corporation
• BC Hydro
• List of British Columbians
• List of British Columbia provincial highways
• List of British Columbia Universities

  Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "British Columbia."

Top     

Coenzyme Q - cytochrome c reductase

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Coenzyme Q - cytochrome c reductase complex, sometimes called the cytochrome bc₁ complex, and at other times Complex III, is the third complex in the electron transfer chain (PDB 1KYO, EC 1.10.2.2). It is a transmembrane lipoprotein, and it catalyzes the reduction of cytochrome c by accepting reducing equivalents from Coenzyme Q (CoQ):

CoQH₂+ 2 Fe⁺³-cytochrome c → CoQ + 2 Fe⁺²-cytochrome c

In the process, protons are translocated across the mitochondrial membrane. Therefore, the bc₁ complex is a proton pump.

Compared to the other major proton pumping subunits of the electron transport chain, the number of subunits found can be small, as small as three polypeptide chains. This number does increase, and as many as eleven subunits can be found in higher animals. The major prosthetic groups in the complex are a pair of cytochromes, the b cytochrome and the c₁ cytochrome, and a two iron, two sulfur iron-sulfur cluster.

More information can be found on the Cytochrome bc₁ complex page.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Coenzyme Q - cytochrome c reductase."

Top     

Green Party of British Columbia

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The Green Party of British Columbia received over 10% of the vote in the May 2001 provincial election but elected no members.

The GP of BC's main competitor for members and votes is the BC New Democratic Party, which often accuses it of 'splitting the vote' and electing members of the BC Liberal Party. There is some validity to this accusation, since under the electoral system presently in effect in BC, the three-way split reduced the BC New Democrats below the number of seats (four) required for official party status and access to funds for staff and research. Although it could have granted the NDP (or some joint opposition composed of the NDP and other parties such as the Greens) this official party status, Premier Gordon Campbell chose not to do so, in effect leaving British Columbia with no official opposition whatsoever.

The GP of BC is particularly strong in lower mainland BC, where leader Adrianne Carr and former punk musician Joe Keithley (of the D.O.A) ran, and each received over 25% of the vote. As with the Green Party of the United States, the BC Greens seem to get support from both career activists and political figures from the arts.

See also: Green Party of Canada, BC New Democratic Party, BC Liberal Party.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Green Party of British Columbia."

Top     

Abbreviations & Acronyms: BC

Top     

Top     

Modern Usage: BC

Top     

Commercial Usage: BC

Top     

Image Slideshow: BC

Illustrations: BC More pictures...

Computer Images: BC More pictures...

Top     

Photo Album: BC

Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	The Grand Tetons from Bar BC Ranch, Jackson's Hole, Wyoming. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Top     

Digital Photo Gallery: BC
 

"Sunny Harbour" by Michael Nixon Commentary: "Victoria Harbour, BC, Canada, May 2003."	"Stanley Theater" by Geoff Richardson Commentary: "Stanley Theater, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Movie theater."
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

Top     

Non-Fiction Usage: BC

Top     

Usage Frequency: BC

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

Top     

Usage in Company Names: BC

Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.

Top     

Expressions: BC

Top     

Frequency of Internet Keywords: BC

Top     

Modern Translation: BC

Top     

Derivations: BC

Top     

Anagrams: BC

Top