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All articles starting with B

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Bessel's correction

Bessel's correction is the use of n − 1 instead of n in the sample variance denominator, giving an unbiased estimator of the population variance.

Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad

The Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad is a freight railroad hauling iron ore and coal between Conneaut, Ohio, and Pittsburgh-area steel mills, part of Canadian National since 2004.

Bessemer process

The Bessemer process, patented by Henry Bessemer in 1856, is a steelmaking method that blows air through molten pig iron to remove carbon, making cheap steel possible.

Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners is an American venture capital firm that grew out of steel magnate Henry Phipps's family office and became a venture firm in 1975.

Bessemer, Alabama

Bessemer, Alabama: Jefferson County city southwest of Birmingham, founded 1887 by Henry F. DeBardeleben and named for steel pioneer Sir Henry Bessemer; iron and coal boom town, now about 25,000 residents and site of the $14 billion Project Marvel data center.

Bessie (film)

Bessie is a 2015 HBO Films biographical drama directed by Dee Rees, starring Queen Latifah as blues singer Bessie Smith, with Mo'Nique as Ma Rainey. Developed over 20 years, it won four Primetime Emmys including Outstanding Television Movie.

Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman was an American civil aviator who became the first African American woman and first Native American woman to earn a pilot's license, in 1921.

Bessie Head

Bessie Head (Bessie Amelia Emery Head) was a South African-born novelist exiled in Botswana, known for the novels When Rain Clouds Gather, Maru, and A Question of Power.

Bessie Smith

Bessie Smith (1894-1937), the Empress of the Blues, was a Chattanooga-born blues and jazz singer whose 1923 Columbia recording Downhearted Blues sold about 800,000 copies; she made some 160 recordings, became the highest-paid Black entertainer of her day, and died in a 1937 car crash in Mississippi.

Bessus

Bessus, also known as Bessos, was a Persian noble and satrap of Bactria who murdered Darius III in 330 BC, proclaimed himself king as Artaxerxes V, and was executed by Alexander the Great in 329 BC.

BEST (tokamak)

BEST, or Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak, is a compact superconducting tokamak under construction in Hefei, China, targeting scientific breakeven in deuterium-tritium plasmas by 2030.

Best alternative to a negotiated agreement

BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement), coined by Fisher and Ury in Getting to Yes (1981), is a negotiator's best fallback if no deal is reached; it sets the walk-away standard, drives leverage, and defines the ZOPA.

Best Artist (music)

Best Artist (ベストアーティスト) is an annual year-end live music special produced by Nippon TV in Tokyo, first aired in 2001 and hosted since 2009 by Sho Sakurai of Arashi.

Best Artist of the Year (Daesang)

Artist of the Year (올해의 아티스트) is a grand prize, or Daesang, of the Melon Music Awards, given to the act with the best streaming performance on Melon each year.

Best boy

Best boy: second-in-command of a film set's electric or grip department; best boy electric assists the gaffer, best boy grip assists the key grip, managing crew, equipment, trucks, and paperwork.

Best Boy (2025 film)

Best Boy (Le meilleur fils) is a 2025 Canadian black comedy-thriller written and directed by Jesse Noah Klein, premiering at Edinburgh 2025. Three siblings (Aaron Abrams, Caroline Dhavernas, Marc Bendavid) compete for a $100,000 inheritance in a sadistic childhood contest at their family cottage, released theatrically in Canada in May 2026. Distinct from other 2025 'boy' titles such as Good Boy, Boy, and The Unbreakable Boy.

Best Buy

Best Buy is an American consumer electronics retailer operating 1,068 stores across the United States and Canada with over 80,000 employees, generating $41.7 billion in revenue in fiscal 2026.

Best Choice Ever (承欢记)

Best Choice Ever (承欢记, Cheng Huan Ji) is a 2024 Chinese urban romance drama adapted from Yi Shu's 1996 novel, directed by Tian Yu, starring Yang Zi and Xu Kai, 37 episodes on CCTV-8 and Tencent Video from April 9, 2024.

Best Cinematography (film award category)

Best Cinematography film award category honoring directors of photography; the Academy Award version dates to 1929, uses Cinematographers Branch shortlist voting, and in 2026 saw Autumn Durald Arkapaw become its first woman winner.

Best Coast

Best Coast is an American indie rock duo formed in Los Angeles in 2009 by Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno, known for lo-fi pop drawing on 1960s surf rock and girl groups.

Best evidence synthesis

Best evidence is a narrative review method devised by Robert E. Slavin in 1986, which combines systematic search and the effect-size of meta-analysis with critical discussion.

Best execution

Best execution is the duty of brokers and investment firms to obtain the most favorable terms reasonably available for client orders, considering price, costs, speed, and size.

Best F(r)iends

Best F(r)iends: 2017 two-part black comedy thriller by Justin MacGregor, written by Greg Sestero, reuniting Sestero and Tommy Wiseau 15 years after The Room; drifter and mortician sell corpse gold.

Best Friend of Charleston

The Best Friend of Charleston was a steam locomotive built in New York in 1830, the first in the United States to run regularly scheduled passenger service.

Best Friends

Best Friends is a 1982 American romantic comedy directed by Norman Jewison, starring Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn as a Hollywood writing team whose marriage strains their relationship.

Best Friends Animal Society

Best Friends Animal Society is an American animal welfare nonprofit, founded in 1984, that runs a large sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, and works to end shelter killing nationwide.

Best friends forever

Best friends forever (BFF) is an informal English acronym for a lifelong best friendship, popular from the 1990s via IM and texting sign-offs; related to bestie, friendship bracelets, adolescent intimacy research, and Hall's 300-hour estimate.

Best Friends Forever (sculpture)

Best Friends Forever: 12-foot faux-bronze 2025 sculpture by anonymous collective The Secret Handshake showing Trump and Epstein holding hands on the National Mall; permitted, removed within 24 hours, reinstalled October 2, 2025.

Best Friends Whenever

Best Friends Whenever: Disney Channel sitcom (2015-2016) created by Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas; teens Cyd and Shelby gain time travel after Barry's lab mishap; 31 episodes, 2 seasons, TV-G.

Best in Miniature

Best in Miniature is a Canadian CBC reality competition series (2022–2023, marblemedia) hosted by Aba Amuquandoh, judged by Emma Waddell and Michael Lambie, in which artists build 1:12-scale dream homes for a $15,000 prize; three seasons, 26 episodes, canceled.