Jackass is an American television series showing irresponsible, dangerous, self-harming stunts such as kicking oneself in the head. Despite or perhaps because of it's adults-only classification, the Jackass television series and film (Jackass: The Movie) The television series inspired a world-wide teenage phenomena known as 'Jackass' in which bored, attention-seeking teenagers video themselves and their friends as they carryout dangerous and stupid stunts, and then publish the footage on web sites. A notorious British group of Jackass boys are known as 'Live Now Die Later', a group from the north West of England who formed around 2003, and soon afterwards lost one ten-year old member after he quit after he received major burns to almost his entire body. The type of stunts performed include spraying the hair with aftershave and then igniting it, having a large fishing hook placed through the ear lobe and then ripped out, setting light to oneself and then cycling into a river, and most popular leaping from tall buildings into a nearby tree - or not. Research Jackass
Jacobinism, as a belief in a nationally uniform and centralised government, hostile to the division of parcellization of sovereignty remains in current political usage, especially in France. Robespierre's Jacobins established a revolutionary dictatorship when France was at war with and encircled by the reactionary European powers. Their conduct of government, through the Committee of Public Safety, gave rise to a different meaning of Jacobinism in which the Reign of Terror from 1793 to 1794 was seen as the logical end- product. In this sense Jacobinism is understood as a form of elitist insurrectionary politics, in which an elite possessed of true social and political knowledge, believes itself entitled to seize and hold political power in the name of the people. Thus Jacobinism is used pejoratively to describe groups which advocate the overthrow of the state or regime without regard to the will of the people or the majority and in this sense,
Jacobinism is often seen as a forerunner of Bolshevism. Jacobinism is also sometimes used to describe the practice of those who engage in nation- building, forging national homogeneity out of diverse peoples, without much regard to their consent. Research Jacobinism
The Jacobins were a radical French political group. The Jacobins stood for the establishment of a single, uniform, rational and centralised nation- state, which would be a democratic republic, expressing the sovereignty of the people. Jacobins were entirely hostile to aristocratic privileges and to all feudal forms of government. They were originally called the Club Breton when they were formed in Versailles, but on moving to Paris in 1789 were renamed the Jacobins. After successive purges they became the instrument of the Reign of Terror under Robespierre's dictatorship. See Jacobinism Research Jacobins
Jade carving is the process by which the surface of jade stone is embellished through abrasion. The earliest known carved jades were made in China during the New Stone Age, or Neolithic period. Neolithic jades were usually fashioned as blades, although it is unclear whether they served a utilitarian or ceremonial function.
Excavations conducted at sites settled during the Shang dynasty have yielded a number of carved jades in a variety of forms. Certain shapes predominate, such as the round disk (pi), the ax (kuei), and a cylindrical tube (tsung). These objects probably served a ritual function, either as symbols of rank or as grave furnishings. The most beautiful examples of Shang jade carving, however, are small sculptures and plaques. The discovery, in 1975, of an undisturbed tomb from the Anyang era of the Shang dynasty has yielded the richest group of jade carvings to date. The excavation revealed plaques depicting dragons and various birds, along with near-miniature sculptures of human figures, mythical creatures, and recognisable animals, including an elephant.
The achievements of the Shang jade carvers were adopted and ultimately surpassed by artists of the Chou dynasty. Surface decoration became increasingly sophisticated, with open- work featuring birds and dragons, as well as tiny, individually carved curls. The development of the iron drill is probably responsible for the technical advancements seen in the carvings of this period. Elaborate jade carving continued in popularity during the Han dynasty; in addition, a most notable jade artefact was the so-called funerary suit. Various excavations have yielded corpses encased in a jade form made of thousands of rectangular pieces of jade, sewn together with gold thread, and fitted to the body. Other small jades, previously objects for burial, were now fashioned for the uses of the living. Toilet boxes, drinking vessels, and delightful adornments for the scholar's desk have been preserved from the Han period.
The dating of jade carvings from after the Han dynasty through the Ch'ing dynasty has been highly problematic, as the archaeological evidence is often incomplete. Throughout this period, however, small decorative forms of jade, often depicting animals, flowers, or children, continued in popularity. T'ang and Sung carvers favoured small figures. Drinking and desk vessels, and jadejewellery as well, were widely produced in the Yuan and Ming epochs. During the Ch'ing period, particularly in the 18th century, large jade carvings attained great favour with the emperors and royal officials. Forms were often taken from ancient bronze vessels, reflecting the continuing interest in early art. Landscapes, often paralleling those found on carved bamboo or in paintings, were carefully transcribed onto the surface of enormous jade slabs. Much of this intricacy is still found in Chinese jade work today; traditional design motifs and carving styles also have been retained. China's continuous interest in jade carving was never found in other Asian nations.
The Indians practised a degree of jade work, most notably the Islamic Mughals, who favoured ceremonial weapons with highly decorative jade blades. The most important centre of jade carving outside the Orient was pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America under the Olmec, Aztec, and Mayan rulers. Splendid ceremonial objects-axes, knives, masks, and large animal figures-were produced; the objects are sophisticated in style and highly advanced in technique. Research Jade Carving
Jainism is the religion of between two and three million Indians, founded by Mahavira in the 6th century BC. Right belief, knowledge, and conduct enable monks to obtain release from the endless round of rebirth caused by karma; others aim for a better rebirth. Jainism has no god, although there are lesser spirits and demons. Research Jainism
Jansenism was a Roman Catholic movement of the 17th and 18th centuries based on the teaching of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Jansen. Their belief in predestination brought them into conflict with the Jesuits and was condemned by the Church. Jansenists also argued that the effectiveness of the sacraments depended on the moral character of the person receiving them. One of the most famous Jansenists was Pascal. Research Jansenism
January derives its name from Janus, an early Roman god. January was added to the Roman calendar by Numar in 713 BC, he placed it about the winter solstice and made it the first month because Janus was supposed to preside over the beginnings of all business. In 1751 the legal year in England was ordered to begin on January 1st instead of 25th March. Research January
Japan gold size (writer's gold size) is a quick-drying short-oil varnish used as an adhesive for gold leaf in lettering, lining and ornamental work where a sharply defined outline is required. Research Japan Gold Size
Japanese drama commenced around the 7th century and to date has evolved a wide variety of genres characterised generally by the fusion of dramatic, musical, and dance elements. The music and dance, as well as the subjects, settings, costumes, and acting styles, were rigidly stylised and, until recent times, offered relatively few realistic or naturalistic qualities. Some genres utilise almost exclusively a fixed repertoire of plays, often many centuries old. The earliest known type of Japanese theatrical entertainment is gigaku, which was introduced into Japan in 612 from southern China; it is thought to have been ultimately of Indian or possibly even of Greek origin. Gigaku dances, performed with masks, seem to have been humorous. In the 8th century gigaku fell into disfavour because its frivolous character displeased the Japanese rulers of the period. It was supplanted largely by bugaku, an entertainment introduced from China. Bugaku dances portrayed simple situations such as the return of a general from war.
The performers wore impressive robes, and their dances had exotic splendour. Japanese rulers, intent on imitating Chinese courtetiquette, favoured bugaku, both because of its solemnity and because of its similarity to Chinese court entertainments, and it quickly acquired a ritual character. Bugaku may now be seen only at ceremonies. A type of acrobatic entertainment known as sangaku, transmitted similarly to Japan from the Asian continent and popular in the 8th century, also influenced Japanese drama. Typical acts included tightrope walking, juggling, and sword swallowing. A Combination of these secular entertainments and the sacred dances and songs associated with the Shinto religion gradually evolved into more complex forms of drama. Surviving documents from the 11th century describe comic playlets, and one play still performed, the ritual dance Okina, may date from this period.
Plays were also performed at shrine festivals in support of prayers for harvests or to depict the history of the shrine. The actors and musicians were organised into troupes. By the 14th century the theatre had developed one of its foremost artistic achievements, No drama. These plays included solemn dances intended to suggest the deepest emotions of the principal character and were written in the poetic language of the Japanese classics. A program also often included kyo gen, or farces written in colloquial language. No was brought to the level of great art by the genius of two dramatists, Kanami Kiyotsugu and his son Zeami Motokiyo. No was patronised by the Ashikaga shogunate after a shogun saw the boy Zeami perform in 1374. Zeami developed No into refined aristocratic drama, but after his death it tended to lose its creative vitality and become ritualistic. Many No plays performed at present are by Zeami, and his books of criticism are considered the final authority on the subject.
For a short period after the Meiji restoration in 1868, No was threatened with extinction because of its connections with the discredited shogunate. It survived the threat, however, and thereafter enjoyed popularity with specialised audiences. An entire program of No drama traditionally consists of five No plays in poetry with music and four kyo gen farces in prose without music, performed alternately. Kyogen farces feature representational acting, and the actors wear neither masks nor makeup. No plays avoid representational accuracy in favour of a symbolic treatment of subjects concerning the worlds of the living and the dead. The principal types of No plays are those dealing with deities, the ghosts of warriors, women with tragic destinies, mad persons, and devils or festive spirits. The actors, who often wear masks, are richly and elaborately costumed. The No drama is performed in a theatre with a roofed stage. The audience is seated on two or, less commonly, three sides of the stage. The actors reach the stage by a passageway, called the bridge, which is marked by three pine trees. The only backdrop is a large painted pine. The scenery consists entirely of impressionistic props suggesting the outlines of a building, a boat, or any other object of importance to the play. Only male actors perform in No dramas. When they play the roles of women or of men whose age is markedly different from their own, they wear masks, many of which are exceptionally beautiful. The No drama also includes a chorus that sits at one side of the stage and recites for the actors when they dance, but the chorus has no identity in the drama. Full programs are seldom presented any longer, but kyo gen continues to be an indispensable part of the entire performance, for it presents the humorous aspects of life with which No is never concerned.
At the end of the 15th century two new popular forms appeared; they were the puppet theatre, jo ruri, also called bunraku, and a form known as kabuki. The puppet theatre combines three elements: the puppets; the chanters who sing and declaim for the puppets; and the players of the samisen, a three-stringed instrument, who provide the accompaniment. The greatest Japanese dramatist, Chikamatsu Monzaemon, wrote chiefly for the puppet theatre, the artistic level of which is perhaps higher in Japan than anywhere else in the world. The puppet theatre, after attaining its greatest popularity in the 18th century, lost in public favour to the kabuki, which has continued to be the most popular traditional dramatic genre. By the mid-1980s kabuki was popular with American audiences, and troupes made annual appearances in the USA Kabuki tends to be spectacle rather than drama. Original kabuki texts, as opposed to those adapted from the puppet theatre, are of lesser importance than the remarkable acting, the music and dance, and the brilliantly collared settings.
Kabuki plays are performed in large theatres, with a hanamichi, or raised platform, extending from the back of the theatre to the stage. In addition to the traditional drama, a modern theatrical repertoire consisting of original Japanese plays in a modern idiom and of translations of European plays has been active in Japan since the beginning of the 20th century. Some 20th-century playwrights have attempted to compromise between traditional Japanese forms and essentially Western idioms, either by introducing modern psychology into their treatment of the ancient tales or by making kabuki-style plays out of such European classics as Shakespeare's Macbeth. Highly successful modern presentations of traditional themes are offered in Five Modern No Plays (1956) by Mishima Yukio. Other plays, notably Twilight Crane, produced in 1949, by Kinoshita Junji, are derived from old folktales. Many contemporary Japanese playwrights deal with such themes as conflict in modern Japanese society and problems of social injustice; other playwrights prefer to work out Japanese equivalents of modern symbolic drama or of the American musical comedy. Research Japanese Drama
Jargon is a vocabulary used by a special group or occupational class, usually only partially understood by outsiders. The special vocabularies of medicine, law, banking, science and technology, education, military affairs, sports, and the entertainment world all fall under the heading of jargon. Examples of occupational jargon include such formal technical expressions as perorbital haematoma (black eye, to the layperson), in medicine, and escrow and discount rate, in finance, and informal terms such as liquorice stick (clarinet, among jazz musicians).
Cant, sometimes defined as false or insincere language, also (like argot) refers to the jargon and slang used by thieves and beggars and the underworld. Colourful terms and phrases such as mug (either a police photograph or to attack a victim), payola (graft or blackmail), hooker (prostitute), and to rub out or to blow away (to kill) are examples of cant that eventually became commonly known to, and adopted as slang by, society in general. Some writers reserve the term jargon for technical language. Applied to colourful occupational expressions such as liquorice stick, the concepts of jargon and slang overlap greatly. In general, however, slang is more casual and acceptable to outsiders than jargon.
Slang and cant are more vivid than jargon, with a greater turnover in vocabulary. The special in-group speech of young people and of members of distinct ethnic groups is generally called slang, especially when it is understood by outsiders. Some writers use the term argot in a generalized way that covers cant, in-group slang, and occupational jargon- no uniform terminology has been adopted for these common ways of using language. The term jargon, however, also pertains in general to gibberish and unintelligible language and to over inflated, needlessly technical language. In addition, it can refer to specific dialects resulting from a mix of several languages (as in Chinook Jargon, used by American Indian traders). Research Jargon
Jarrah is a very close-grained Australian hardwood used in building and furniture making. Jarrah is so close grained that normal wood primers will not penetrate it, and instead it needs to be treated with a thin aluminium or synthetic primer prior to painting. Research Jarrah
Jay's Treaty was a treaty negotiated in 1794 by the American statesman and jurist John Jay and the British foreign secretary BaronWilliam Grenville. The agreement was intended both to settle long- standing differences between the USA and Great Britain and to secure American neutrality during the time of the French Revolution in Europe. Anglo-American differences arose in part from violations of the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which had ended the American Revolution. The Jay treaty provided for the evacuation of British posts on the north- western frontier of the USA and for the appointment of arbitration commissions to define boundaries between the USA and Canada. It also provided for a commission to determine America's compensation from Britain for the illegal seizure of ships and for the payment by Americans of pre-war debts owed to British merchants.
The treaty failed to resolve a dispute over American trade with the British West Indies, and provisions granting Britain most-favoured-nation status prevented the USA from strengthening its own commerce by restricting British shipping and goods. The treaty aroused great opposition among the public and in the Congress. It was ratified by a very narrow margin in the US Senate in June 1795; the House of Representatives then waged a lengthy, but unsuccessful campaign to withhold appropriations for its implementation. Its ratification was critical in the formation of the first national political parties. Despite its unpopularity, the treaty has long been regarded as the best the US could have obtained under the circumstances. American neutrality was preserved and commerce flourished under its terms until it expired in 1805. Research Jay's Treaty
The Jehovah's Witnesses are a religious movement, first known as Bible Students, organised in the early 1870s by Charles Taze Russell in Pittsburgh. Jehovah's Witnesses accept the Bible as their sole authority, worshipping Jehovah and acknowledging Jesus Christ as God's son and spokesman. They believe that 144000, the Christian congregation, will rule with Christ in his heavenly kingdom over the rest of an obedient mankind, who will live on a paradise earth. They do not engage in politics or blood transfusions and are pacifists. Research Jehovah's Witnesses
A jester, or courtfool, was a buffoon or person maintained by the noble and wealthy to entertain them by jests. The professional jesters usually wore a motley or brightly coloured dress and a cap or cowl of bright colours furnished with bells and asses' ears, or crowned with a cockscomb. Licensed jesters carried a short stick ornamented with ass's ears, known as a bauble. In Britain the last jester regularly attached to the royal household seems to have been Archie Armstrong, the jester of James I and Charles I. Research Jester
A jinricksha (commonly abbreviated to rikshaw) is a light, two-wheeled, hooded carriage drawn by one or more people, popular in the Far East. Research Jinricksha
The John Birch Society was an American organisation founded in December 1958 by Robert Welch Jr with the chief aim of suppressing Communism in the USA. Research John Birch Society
A John Roberts was an enormous tankard holding enough drink for any ordinary drinker to last through Saturday and Sunday. The measure was introduced in Wales in 1886 to compensate for the Sunday closure. It was named after the author of the Sunday Closing Act, John Roberts MP. Research John Roberts
The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland., was chartered in 1867, and named in honour of its principal benefactor, who bequeathed a fund of $3,000,000. It was intended especially for post-graduate work, and has since done much for research. Research Johns Hopkins University
The Jones Case was a typical fugitive slave case in the USA. George Jones, a respectable black man, was arrested in New York in 1836, on a fictitious charge of assault and battery. He was taken before Recorder Riker and was released to his kidnappers as their property, their word being taken as sufficient evidence. This was a favourite method of kidnapping blacks for selling as slaves. Research Jones Case
Jougs or juggs were jointed collars of iron, by which misdemeanants were held captive in Scotland. The culprit's neck being encircled by the jougs, the two free ends of the iron band were slipped over each other and secured by a padlock. On the opposite side was a movable iron ring fastened into the collar by a small fixed ring, and by this ring the jougs were attached to a stone projecting from a conspicuous part of the churchyard wall. Research Jougs
July was the fifth month of the Roman calendar, and was originally called Quintilis before being changed by Marc Antony to Julius in honour of Julius Caesar who was born in the month. Research July
Jyllands-Posten is a Danishnewspaper. The newspaper shot to international fame in December 2005 and January 2006 after publishing twelve caricatures of the prophetMohammed after reports that Danish artists were refusing to illustrate works about Islam, out of fear of fundamentalist retribution. One particular caricature depicted Mohammed wearing a turban which was actually a classical cartoonbomb with a burning fuse, implying the connection between the prophet and terrorists. In December 2005, Louise Arbour the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights appointed two UN experts on racism to carry out a detailed investigation into what she characterized as a 'disrespect for belief.' By the newspaper. Following the publication of the cartoons, Muslims around the world violently protested, many carrying banners calling for the death of those who in their eyes insult Islam. Research Jyllands-Posten
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
General Information
Research Jack
