BadBath

Florida

2005-04-05T04:14:00.000-07:00

The surrounding region is characterized by rolling hills. In addition to its

Arabia, History Of, Yemen

2005-04-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

To quell a rising in Yemen, the 'Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun dispatched Ibn Ziyad, who refounded in 820 the southern city of Zabid and became overlord of Yemen, Najran, and Hadhramaut. About a century later, the Najahids—Ethiopian slaves or local Afro-Asians—supplanted the Ziyadids in Zabid; however, though independent, neither dynasty renounced vague 'Abbasid suzerainty. The Banu Ya'fur

Apollo Theater

2005-04-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

The Apollo was the central theatre on Harlem's main commercial street, and its position reflects its central role in Harlem's culture. Designed by New York architect George Keister, the building was leased by Jules Hurtig

Brian, Havergal

2005-04-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

In his youth Brian played the violin, organ, piano, and cello. His chief love, however, came to be composition. Between the ages of 20 and 45, he wrote more than 100 songs and some dozen orchestral works, in addition to two cantatas and an opera, The Tigers (begun in 1916), considered a remarkably

Backgammon

2005-03-31T10:53:00.000-08:00

Precursors of backgammon

Black, Conrad

2005-03-31T07:47:00.000-08:00

In 1994 financier Conrad Black, whose inherited wealth and acquisitive nature helped establish him as an international press baron, expanded his already vast empire by purchasing the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. As head of one of Canada's largest conglomerates, he was a symbol of Canadian capitalism. Black began in 1967 as part-owner and operator of two small Quebec weeklies.

Literary Criticism, Medieval period

2005-03-30T16:16:00.000-08:00

In the Christian Middle Ages criticism suffered from the loss of nearly all the ancient critical texts and from an antipagan distrust of the literary imagination. Such Church Fathers as Tertullian, Augustine, and Jerome renewed, in churchly guise, the Platonic argument against poetry. But both the ancient gods and the surviving classics reasserted their fascination,

Wake Island, Battle Of

2005-03-29T05:30:00.000-08:00

Battle for a small atoll named Wake Island in the central Pacific in December 1941, waged between U.S. Marine and civilian defenders and Japanese invaders. At that time, Wake Island was the site of a half-completed U.S. air and submarine base. The Japanese first attacked Wake with 36 bombers at noon on Dec. 8, 1941 (Wake time; December 7, Hawaiian time), a few hours after the Pearl Harbor attack.

Kshitigarbha

2005-03-27T21:28:00.000-08:00

Bodhisattva (“buddha-to-be”) who, though known in India as early as the 4th century CE, became immensely popular in China as Dicang and in Japan as Jizo. He is the saviour of the oppressed, the dying, and the dreamer of evil dreams, for he has vowed not to stop his labours until he has saved the souls of all the dead condemned to hell. In China he is considered the overlord of hell and is

Lima

2005-03-27T05:00:00.000-08:00

Department of central Peru and site of the national capital of Lima. The department stretches from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Cordillera Occidental of the Andes in the east. There is little rainfall along its coastal section, and irrigation is possible only where rivers descend from the Andes. Fog often blankets the coast, especially from June to October;

Antideuteron

2005-03-25T04:53:00.000-08:00

Composite antiparticle consisting of an antiproton and an antineutron, first produced with a 30-GeV (giga-electron volt) synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Long Island, N.Y., in 1965. Having a charge of negative one unit and an atomic mass of two units, it may be considered as the antinucleus of the hydrogen isotope deuterium.

Ikeja

2005-03-23T21:59:00.000-08:00

Town and capital of Lagos state, 10.5 miles (17 km) northwest of Lagos, southwestern Nigeria. Originally settled by the Yoruba people, the locality was raided for slaves until the mid-19th century. Early in the 20th century it became an agricultural hinterland for Lagos; kola nuts were first grown in Nigeria in this area. The opening of the Lagos-Ibadan railway in 1901 and the growth of

Juàzeiro Do Norte

2005-03-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

Juàzeiro do Norte was given city status in 1914. Its economy depends primarily on sugar milling and cotton processing. Cereal grains

Ear Disease, Acoustic neuroma

2005-03-23T06:02:00.000-08:00

An acoustic neuroma is a benign tumour that grows on the auditory nerve near the point where it enters the labyrinth of the inner ear. The tumour causes gradual and progressive loss of auditory and vestibular nerve function on one side. Eventually the tumour grows out into the brain cavity, causing headaches and paralysis. If it is not removed, blindness and death

Bog

2005-03-22T19:06:00.000-08:00

Type of wetland ecosystem characterized by wet, spongy, poorly drained peaty soil. Bogs can be divided into three types: (1) typical bogs of cool regions, dominated by the growth of bog mosses, Sphagnum, and heaths, particularly Chamaedaphne (northern bogs with trees growing on them are often called muskegs); (2) fens, dominated by grasslike plants, grasses, sedges, and reeds;

Johannsenite

2005-03-22T03:44:00.000-08:00

Silicate mineral in the pyroxene family. It has a molecular formula of Ca(Mn,Fe)Si2O6. A calcium-manganese-iron silicate mineral, johannsenite is produced either by metamorphic processes in altered limestones or is associated with pyrite or other minerals in copper, lead, and zinc ores. It is moderately hard, has a glassy lustre, and forms brown, gray, or green crystals

Roberts (of Kandahar, Pretoria, And Waterford), Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl, Viscount St. Pierre

2005-03-21T20:09:00.000-08:00

Roberts first distinguished himself during the suppression

Orléans, Louis-philippe-joseph, Duc D' (duke Of)

2005-03-20T11:35:00.000-08:00

The cousin of King Louis XVI (ruled 1774–92) and the son of Louis-Philippe (later duc d'Orléans), he became duc de Chartres in 1752 and succeeded to his father's title in 1785. Orléans's hostility to Louis XVI's queen, Marie-Antoinette, caused him to live away from the royal court

Byzantine Chant

2005-03-20T02:35:00.000-08:00

Monophonic, or unison, liturgical chant of the Greek Orthodox church during the Byzantine Empire (330–1453) and down to the 16th century; in modern Greece the term refers to ecclesiastical music of any period. Although Byzantine music is linked with the spread of Christianity in Greek-speaking areas of the Eastern Roman Empire, it probably derives mostly from Hebrew and early

Callas, Maria

2005-03-20T01:06:00.000-08:00

Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants and early developed an interest in singing. Accompanied by her mother, she left the United States in 1937 to study at the Athens Conservatory with soprano Elvira

Jacobs, Joseph

2005-03-18T23:56:00.000-08:00

After attending primary school Sydney, Jacobs

Intel Corporation

2005-03-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

The company was founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon

Reification

2005-03-17T08:25:00.000-08:00

The treatment of something abstract as a material or concrete thing, as in the following lines from Matthew Arnold's poem “Dover Beach”: The Sea of FaithWas once, too, at the full, and round earth's shoreLay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.

Kyoga Lake

2005-03-16T23:17:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kioga Lake, lake in central Uganda, East Africa, north of Lake Victoria, formed by the Victoria Nile in its middle course. The many-armed lake is shallow, with swampy, papyrus-reeded shores; masses of papyrus are broken loose by strong winds and sometimes have completely blocked the river. Navigation for shallow-draft vessels is possible between Namasagali and Masindi Port. The

Conductus

2005-03-15T09:35:00.000-08:00

In the 13th century the conductus was one of three genres that dominated French polyphonic music. Unlike the organum and the motet, however, which were based on preexisting chants,

Space

2005-03-15T04:33:00.000-08:00

Space is treated in a number of articles. For a philosophical consideration of the subject, see metaphysics. For a discussion of the relativity of space and time, see relativity. For a description of space as the region of the universe beyond the Earth

Italic Script

2005-03-14T23:15:00.000-08:00

In calligraphy, script developed by the Italian humanists about 1400 from antique Latin texts and inscriptions. The humanists called the Carolingian minuscule in which most of these sources were preserved lettera antica, mistakenly regarding it as a Roman script from the time of Cicero. The Florentine scribe Niccolò Niccoli (d. 1437) combined the rhythm and fluidity of

Cereal Processing, Pasta products

2005-03-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

Alimentary pastes include such products as macaroni, spaghetti, vermicelli, and noodles. Such products are often called pastas. Italy is regarded as the place of origin of macaroni products, and annual consumption in that country is as high as 30–35 kilograms (65–75 pounds) per person. Annual consumption is about 6.3 kilograms in France, 3.7 in the United States, and only 0.4 kilogram in the

álvarez Quintero, Serafín And Joaquín

2005-03-14T07:49:00.000-08:00

Spanish brothers who collaborated in almost 200 dramas depicting the life, manners, and speech of Andalusia. Their work was among the most popular in Spain during the early 20th century and greatly added to the revival of the Spanish theatre. Their dramas are remarkable for a vivacious and skilled presentation.

Lustre

2005-03-11T23:05:00.000-08:00

In mineralogy, the appearance of a mineral surface in terms of its light-reflective qualities. Lustre depends upon a mineral's refractive power, diaphaneity (degree of transparency), and structure. Variations in these properties produce different kinds of lustre, whereas variations in the quantity of reflected light produce different intensities of the same

Refuse Disposal System

2005-03-11T22:02:00.000-08:00

Although all societies have had some systematic form of refuse disposal, it was not until relatively recent times that the modern concept of solid-waste management became recognized as an essential

Carlsberg Ridge

2005-03-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

Submarine ridge of the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. The ridge is a portion of the Mid-Indian Ridge and extends from near Rodrigues Island to the Gulf of Aden, trending basically northwest to southeast. The ridge separates the Arabian Sea to the northeast from the Somali Basin to the southwest. The mean depth of the Carlsberg Ridge is about 9,600 feet (3,300 m) below sea level,

Baalbek

2005-03-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

Nothing is known of Baalbek earlier than the Greek conquest of Syria (332 BC). After the death of Alexander the Great (323), the region fell to the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, under which the town was called Heliopolis, probably after its Egyptian namesake.

Aquifoliaceae

2005-03-10T14:50:00.000-08:00

The Aquifoliaceae differ from other

Ambrym

2005-03-09T08:43:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ambrim, island of Vanuatu, southwestern Pacific Ocean. It has an area of 257 sq mi (665 sq km) and is known for its two active volcanoes: Mt. Marum, 4,167 ft (1,270 m), which last erupted in 1973; and Mt. Benbow, 3,720 ft, which had major eruptions in 1894, 1913, 1929, 1942, 1950, 1972 and 1973. The 1950 eruption was serious enough to warrant the evacuation of several hundred persons for resettlement on Éfaté. The island produces copra. Pop. (1979) 6,311.

Frederick Iv

2005-03-08T17:41:00.000-08:00

Frederick's father died in October 1583, when the young elector came under the guardianship of his uncle John Casimir, an ardent Calvinist. In January 1592, on the death of John Casimir, Frederick undertook the government of the Palatinate and continued his uncle's

Radar

2005-03-08T04:27:00.000-08:00

(from “radio detecting and ranging”), electromagnetic sensor used for detecting, locating, tracking, and identifying objects of various kinds at considerable distances. It operates by transmitting electromagnetic energy toward objects, commonly referred to as targets, and observing the echoes returned from them. The targets may be aircraft, ships, spacecraft, automotive

Zacatecoluca

2005-03-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

City, southern El Salvador. It lies in the Lempa River Valley, at the foot of San Vicente Volcano. A commercial centre for the surrounding agricultural area, it also trades in cotton goods, baskets, salt, and lumber and produces cement. An earthquake in 1932 caused severe damage to the city. Zacatecoluca was the birthplace of José Simeón Cañas, who fought successfully to end

Knickerbocker School

2005-03-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

Group of writers active in and around New York City during the first half of the 19th century. Taking its name from Washington Irving's Knickerbocker's History of New York (1809), the group, whose affiliation was more a regional than an aesthetic matter, sought to promote a genuinely American national culture and establish New York City as its literary centre. The most important

Wage And Salary

2005-03-06T14:26:00.000-08:00

The purchasing-power theory of wages involves the relation between wages and employment and the business cycle and is not, therefore, a theory of wage determination. It stresses the importance of spending through consumption and investment as an influence upon the activity of the economy. The theory gained prominence during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when

France, History Of, Society and culture under the Third Republic

2005-03-05T05:46:00.000-08:00

Under the Third Republic the middle and lower sectors of society came to share political and social dominance with the rich notables. Universal suffrage gave them a new political weapon; France's peculiar socioeconomic structure gave them political weight.

Israel, Cultural institutions

2005-03-04T23:48:00.000-08:00

Israel has a rich and varied range of cultural institutions, including major libraries, an art institute and artists' colonies, art museums, institutes for archeology and folk life, theatres, concert halls and performing arts centres, and movie houses. A thriving film industry has emerged. In 1953 the Israeli government established the Academy of the Hebrew Language

Doolittle, Hilda

2005-03-04T14:24:00.000-08:00

Doolittle was the daughter of an astronomer, and she was reared in the strict Moravian tradition of her mother's family. She entered Bryn Mawr College in 1904 and while a student there formed friendships with

Chares

2005-03-04T14:19:00.000-08:00

In 357 BC Chares regained for Athens the Thracian Chersonese from the Thracian king Cersobleptes. During the Social War (Athens against her allies, 357–355), he commanded the Athenian forces; in 356 he was joined by Iphicrates and Timotheus with reinforcements. Having blamed the subsequent defeat on his colleagues, Chares was

Cradle

2005-03-01T16:49:00.000-08:00

In agriculture, rakelike harvesting implement of wood, devised in ancient times for gathering the stalks of wheat, oats, barley, and other grains (first cut with the sickle) and laying them in rows for binding. The later cradle scythe invented in Europe consisted of a framework of long, fingerlike prongs attached to the cutting edge of a long-handled scythe. The device

Outardes River

2005-03-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

French Rivière Aux Outardes, river in Côte-Nord (“North Shore”) region, east-central Quebec province, Canada, rising in the Otish Mountains and flowing southward for 300 miles (480 km) through Lake Plétipi to the St. Lawrence River, 18 miles southwest of Baie-Comeau. Named after the numerous wild geese for which it is famous, the Outardes River, with its many rapids and falls, attracted hydroelectric development

Metamorphic Rock, Amphibolite facies

2005-02-28T06:39:00.000-08:00

The amphibolite facies is the common high-grade facies of regional metamorphism, and, like the greenschist facies, such rocks are present in all ages from all over the world. Their characteristic feature is the development of the most common amphibole, hornblende, in the presence of a plagioclase feldspar and garnet. The rocks are normally highly foliated or schistose.

Khon Kaen

2005-02-28T06:36:00.000-08:00

Town, northeastern Thailand, on the Khorat Plateau. It is a rice-trading centre on the railway between Nakhon Ratchasima and Udon Thani. Khon Kaen University was founded in 1965; the Rajamangala Institute of Technology, Khon Kaen Campus (1963) is also there. Khon Kaen lies in a region drained by the Chi and the Phong rivers. A dam was built on the Phong in 1966 for irrigation and hydroelectricity.

Mclennan, John Ferguson

2005-02-27T22:41:00.000-08:00

McLennan was admitted to the bar in 1857, and he became a parliamentary draftsman for Scotland in 1871. His interest in survivals of practice and behaviour from earlier cultures

Aquinas, Thomas, Saint

2005-02-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

Works on St. Thomas' historical and doctrinal contexts include Pierre Mandonnet, Siger de Brabant et l'averroïsme latin au XIIIme siècle (1899, reprinted 1976); Étienne Gilson, The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy (1936, reprinted 1991; originally published in French, 1932), The Spirit of Thomism (1964), and History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (1955); M.D. Chenu, Nature, Man, and Society in the Twelfth Century (1968; originally published in French, 1957); and Fernand van Steenberghen, La Philosophie au XIIIe siècle, 2nd ed. (1991).

I Am Movement

2005-02-25T16:43:00.000-08:00

Although not consistent in their teachings, the Ballards essentially

Mürren

2005-02-25T00:37:00.000-08:00

Alpine village, Bern canton, south central Switzerland, situated high above the Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Bernese Oberland (highland), opposite the Jungfrau (13,642 ft [4,158 m]). It is the highest village in the canton (elevation 5,450 ft) that is inhabited all the year round. A noted health and international winter-sports resort, it is also a ballooning centre with an annual international

Fang

2005-02-24T11:26:00.000-08:00

The Fang speak languages of the Bantu subgroup of the Niger-Congo language family. They can be divided into three

Uvarovite

2005-02-24T08:18:00.000-08:00

Calcium chromium garnet found as small, brilliant, green crystals. It is the rarest of all the garnets, and its crystals commonly are too small to be cut. Otherwise, it would rival emerald as a popular gemstone because of its beautiful colour. Typical occurrences are in chromite, as in the northern Urals, California, Canada, Finland, and Silesia in Poland. For details of

Saudi Arabia

2005-02-23T22:04:00.000-08:00

Officially Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , Arabic Al-Mamlakah Al-'Arabiyah As-Sa'udiyah country with an area of approximately 868,000 square miles (2,248,000 square kilometres), occupying about four-fifths of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait on the north; by the Persian (Arabian) Gulf, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman on the east; by a portion of Oman on the southeast; by Yemen on the south and southwest; and by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba

Macaroon

2005-02-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

Cake flour is often used as a base for the essential ingredients of macaroons. These are worked together and flavoured with

Banda Sea

2005-02-22T06:54:00.000-08:00

Bahasa Indonesia Laut Banda portion of the western South Pacific, bounded by the southern islands of the Moluccas of Indonesia (Alor, Timor, Wetar, Babar, Tanimbar, and Kai on the south and Ceram, Buru, and Sula on the north). It occupies a total of 180,000 square miles (470,000 square km) and opens to the Flores (west), Savu (southwest), Timor (south), Arafura (southeast), and Ceram and Molucca (north) seas. The sea's North Banda Basin,

Sexual-predator Law

2005-02-21T10:56:00.000-08:00

Statute that mandates lengthy periods of preventive detention for habitual sexual offenders and sexual psychopaths beyond their criminal sentences. Sexual-predator laws became popular in the United States in the 1990s, and their passage raised constitutional questions about double jeopardy and the balancing of the rights of offenders against those of the wider

Xirgu, Margarita

2005-02-20T21:38:00.000-08:00

Xirgu made her professional debut in Barcelona in 1906 and five years later joined the Teatro Principal. She made her first appearance in Madrid in 1914, performing exclusively in the Catalan language. Over the next

Ursins, Marie-anne De La Trémoille, Princesse Des

2005-02-19T09:17:00.000-08:00

Ursins moved to Italy with her first husband, and after his death she married an Italian duke, who died in 1698. She remained in Rome until 1701, where her salon became a centre of French

Abel

2005-02-18T03:07:00.000-08:00

In the Old Testament, second son of Adam and Eve, who was slain by his older brother, Cain (Genesis 4:1–16). According to Genesis, Abel, a shepherd, offered the Lord the firstborn of his flock. The Lord respected Abel's sacrifice but did not respect that offered by Cain. In a jealous rage, Cain murdered Abel. Cain then became a fugitive because his brother's innocent blood put a curse

Baboon

2005-02-18T00:49:00.000-08:00

Hans Kummer, In Quest of the Sacred Baboon: A Scientist's Journey, trans. from German (1995), is a narrative account of this primatologist's study of the hamadryas baboon. Baboon Tales (1998), directed by Gillian Darling Kovanic, explains and portrays on video the life of a baboon troop during a newborn's first year.

Chechnya

2005-02-17T05:06:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia republic in southwestern Russia, situated on the northern flank of the Greater Caucasus range. Chechnya is bordered by Russia proper on the north, Dagestan republic on the east and southeast, Georgia on the southwest, and Ingushetia republic on the west. Chechnya falls into three physical regions from south to north. In the south is the Greater Caucasus, the crest

Gujarat, Education

2005-02-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

Primary schools for all children between the ages of 7 and 11 have been opened in nearly all villages with 500 or more inhabitants. Special schools are run for tribal children and for the teaching of arts and crafts. There are many secondary schools, as well as nine universities and a large number of institutions for higher education. Technical education is provided by engineering

La Chalotais, Louis-rené De Caradeuc De

2005-02-15T14:24:00.000-08:00

La Chalotais became advocate general in the Breton Parlement at Rennes in 1730 and attorney general in 1752. In

Ibn Ezra, Abraham Ben Meir

2005-02-14T17:29:00.000-08:00

As a young man, he lived in Muslim Spain. Not much is known about his early life. He was on friendly terms with the eminent poet and philosopher Judah

Channel-port Aux Basques

2005-02-14T00:03:00.000-08:00

Town on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, Canada. It is the terminal for car ferries across Cabot Strait from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and is the connecting point for the 570-mile (917-kilometre) semicircular final stage of the Trans-Canada Highway to St. John's (east). Fishing and fish processing are local industries. A monument commemorates those who died when the ferry

Olympias

2005-02-13T06:05:00.000-08:00

The daughter of Neoptolemus, king of Epirus, Olympias apparently was originally named Myrtale. Later she may have been called Olympias as a recognition of Philip's

Hadejia

2005-02-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

Town and traditional emirate, eastern Jigawa state, northern Nigeria. It lies on the northern bank of the Hadejia River (a seasonal tributary of the Komadugu Yobe, which flows into Lake Chad). The emirate's savanna area originally included Hadejia and six other small Hausa kingdoms that paid tribute to the kingdom of Bornu. About 1805, Umaru, a Fulani leader who held the title

Koussevitzky, Serge

2005-02-12T11:17:00.000-08:00

Koussevitzky studied the double bass in Moscow, becoming a virtuoso, and in Russia, Germany, and England gave recitals at which he played his own compositions;

Bach, Johann Sebastian, The Arnstadt period

2005-02-10T05:35:00.000-08:00

At Arnstadt, on the northern edge of the Thuringian forest, where he remained until 1707, Bach devoted himself to keyboard music, the organ in particular. While at Lüneburg, he had apparently had no opportunity of becoming directly acquainted with the spectacular, flamboyant playing and compositions of Dietrich Buxtehude, the most significant exponent of the north

Anderson, Maxwell

2005-02-09T05:22:00.000-08:00

Anderson was educated at the University of North Dakota and Stanford University. He collaborated with Laurence Stallings in the World War I comedy What Price Glory? (1924), his first hit, a realistically ribald and profane view of World War I. Saturday's

Epictetus

2005-02-09T04:34:00.000-08:00

His original name is not known; epiktetos is the Greek word meaning “acquired.” As a boy he was a slave but managed to attend lectures

Waterford Glass

2005-02-08T22:13:00.000-08:00

Heavy cut glassware produced in Waterford, Ire., from 1729. Waterford glass, particularly the early variety, is characterized by thick walls, deeply incised geometric cutting, and brilliant polish. The smoky, bluish gray colour of early Waterford glass was considered a drawback, and a clear crystal was produced after 1830. It is the darkened glass, however, that is most prized

Florida State University

2005-02-08T18:26:00.000-08:00

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. It is part of the State University System of Florida and consists of eight schools and eight colleges, including a college of engineering that is jointly operated with Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University. Branch campuses are located in Panama City and the Central American

Mountain, Volcanoes and island arcs surrounding the Northwest Pacific Basin

2005-02-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

A chain of volcanoes extends from mainland Alaska down the Alaska Peninsula along the Aleutian Islands and then southwestward down the peninsula of Kamchatka in northeastern Siberia and along the Kuril Islands to Japan. The Pacific Plate is being subducted beneath this long volcanic chain. Most of the relief is the result of volcanism. The Aleutians and Kurils

Jansson, Tove

2005-02-06T08:31:00.000-08:00

Jansson was the

Giovanni Da Pian Del Carpini

2005-02-05T03:07:00.000-08:00

Giovanni was a contemporary and disciple of St. Francis of Assisi. By 1220 he

Wailua River

2005-02-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

River on Kauai Island, Hawaii, U.S. It flows from the slopes of Mount Waialeale about 10 miles (16 km) inland, to the east-central coast. The Wailua River Reserve, a 587-acre (238-hectare) coastal state park along the river, is rich in Hawaiian tradition. The first migratory Tahitians, including the great chief Puna-nui, arrived in the 12th century and settled near the present coastal towns

Tureen

2005-02-03T04:34:00.000-08:00

Covered container, sometimes made to rest on a stand or dish, from which liquids, generally soup or sauce, are served at table. The earliest silver and pottery examples, dating from the early 18th century, were called terrines or terrenes (from Latin terra, “earth”), which suggests a pottery origin for the form. Most tureens are crafted in a bowl-like shape that has been influenced

Durant

2005-02-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1907) of Bryan county, southern Oklahoma, U.S., in the Red River valley, a few miles north of the Texas border. Settled about 1870 and named for a well-known Choctaw family, the city grew steadily after the arrival of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad in 1872. Durant developed as a service centre for a diversified farming area, and in 1909 Southeastern State Normal (teacher-training)

Anthony Lagoon

2005-02-02T16:09:00.000-08:00

Settlement, east-central Northern Territory, Australia, on the Barkly Tableland. Named for a permanent water hole in the course of Creswell Creek, sighted in 1878 by Ernest Favenc, it became an important watering point on a cattle route from Western Australia to Queensland. Anthony Lagoon has an airfield and is an important station on the “beef road,” which carries linked

Internationale, L'

2005-02-01T10:52:00.000-08:00

About 1871 a Parisian transport worker, Eugène Pottier, wrote the words (as a poem), which begin, “Debout, les damnés de la terre” (“Arise, the wretched of the earth”) and acclaim, “Nous n'étions rien—donc, soyons tout!” (“We were

Puerto Rico Trench

2005-01-31T06:21:00.000-08:00

Submarine depression in the North Atlantic Ocean, roughly parallel to the northern coast of the island of Puerto Rico and lying about 75 miles (120 km) to the north. The Puerto Rico Trench is about 1,090 miles (1,750 km) long and 60 miles (100 km) wide. The deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean, the Milwaukee Depth, lies at a depth of 27,493 feet (8,380 m) in the western end of the trench, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Puerto

Tegal

2005-01-31T06:07:00.000-08:00

Kotamadya (municipality) and port Jawa Tengah provinsi (“province”), central Java, Indonesia, located on the Java Sea about 160 miles (257 km) east-southeast of Jakarta. Roads and railway link it with Cirebon on the west, Semarang on the east, and Kroya and Yogyakarta on the south and southeast. Its population is mostly Javanese, and Islam is the dominant religion. Tegal is a centre for

Olaf V

2005-01-30T00:53:00.000-08:00

Olaf was educated at the Norwegian military academy and at the University of Oxford in England. As crown prince he was a celebrated athlete and sportsman, excelling at ski jumping and yachting. He won a gold medal in yachting at the 1928 Olympic Games

English Literature, Secular prose

2005-01-29T17:43:00.000-08:00

Secular compositions and translations in prose also came into prominence in the last quarter of the 14th century, though their stylistic accomplishment does not always match that of the religious tradition. Chaucer's “Tale of Melibeus” and his two astronomical translations, the Treatise on the Astrolabe and the Equatorie of the Planetis, were relatively modest

Albanian League

2005-01-28T21:19:00.000-08:00

In full League For The Defense Of The Rights Of The Albanian Nation, also called League Of Prizren, first Albanian nationalist organization. Formed at Prizren, Serbia, on July 1, 1878, the league, initially supported by the Turks, tried to influence the Congress of Berlin, which was formulating a peace settlement following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 and which threatened to partition Albania (then part of the Ottoman Empire) and transfer some of its districts to Montenegro,

Annelid, Distribution and abundance

2005-01-28T18:35:00.000-08:00

Annelids are found worldwide in all types of habitats, especially oceanic waters, fresh waters, and damp soils. Most polychaetes live in the ocean, where they either float, burrow, wander on the bottom, or live in tubes they construct; their colours range from brilliant to dull, and some species can produce light. The feather duster (Manayunkia speciosa) inhabits the Great

Nebuchadrezzar Ii

2005-01-26T14:54:00.000-08:00

Nebuchadrezzar II was the oldest son and successor of Nabopolassar, founder of the Chaldean empire. He is known from cuneiform inscriptions, the Bible and later Jewish sources,

Stahl, Georg Ernst

2005-01-26T13:20:00.000-08:00

German physician and chemist who developed the phlogiston theory of combustion and of such related biological processes as respiration, fermentation, and decay. The theory dominated chemical thought for almost a century. He also, at times, believed in alchemy and animism.

X-ray Diffraction

2005-01-26T01:06:00.000-08:00

A phenomenon in which the atoms of a crystal, by virtue of their uniform spacing, cause an interference pattern of the waves present in an incident beam of X rays. The atomic planes of the crystal act on the X rays in exactly the same manner as does a uniformly ruled grating on a beam of light. See also Bragg law; Laue diffraction pattern.

Saint Albans, Battles Of

2005-01-25T21:01:00.000-08:00

The battle of 1455 was the first in the wars. Richard, Duke of York and King Henry VI's cousin, had a better right to the throne, by primogeniture, than the king himself. The

Vajrayogini

2005-01-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

In Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism), female embodiment of the cognitive function leading to Buddhahood. Vajrayana emphasizes experience over speculation but uses the terms of speculative philosophical Buddhism in an imaginative way. This practice means that images taken from the ordinary life of the individual become the means to further a deeper understanding

Shimane

2005-01-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Because of its distance from central Honshu and its unfavourable

Gnetophyte

2005-01-23T06:23:00.000-08:00

Any member of the division Gnetophyta, a small group of vascular gymnospermous plants that are represented by three genera: Ephedra, Gnetum, and Welwitschia. There are about 35 species in the genus Ephedra, 30 or more in Gnetum, but only one in Welwitschia. The three genera exhibit their great diversity in the immense variety of form and size among the various species.

Talbot, Mary Anne

2005-01-23T00:10:00.000-08:00

Talbot's mother died at her birth, and she believed herself to be the illegitimate child of William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot. She was seduced in 1792 by Captain Essex Bowen and accompanied him to Santo Domingo in the Caribbean, disguised

Aargau

2005-01-22T13:13:00.000-08:00

French Argovie, canton, northern Switzerland. It borders Germany to the north and is bounded by the demicanton of Basel-Laandschaft and by the cantons of Solothurn and Bern to the west, Luzern to the south, and Zug and Zürich to the east. It forms the northeastern section of the great Swiss Plateau between the Alps and the Jura Mountains, taking in the lower course of the Aare River, whence

Edgar

2005-01-21T04:28:00.000-08:00

The younger son of Edmund I, king of the English, Edgar was made king of the Mercians

Permafrost, Types of ground ice

2005-01-20T14:54:00.000-08:00

The ice content of permafrost is probably the most important feature of permafrost affecting human life in the north. Ice in the perennially frozen ground exists in various sizes and shapes and has definite distribution characteristics. The forms of ground ice can be grouped into five main types: (1) pore ice, (2) segregated, or Taber, ice, (3) foliated, or wedge, ice, (4) pingo ice,