ColdPipe

Boucher, Jonathan

2005-04-04T18:39:00.000-07:00

In 1759 Boucher went to Virginia as a private tutor. After a visit to London in 1762 for his ordination, he became rector of Annapolis, Md., and tutored George Washington's stepson, thus becoming a family friend. His royalist views cost him his position: by 1775 he was keeping pistols

Gum Nebula

2005-04-04T04:50:00.000-07:00

Largest known nebula in terms of angular diameter as seen from Earth, extending over at least 40° in the southern constellations Puppis and Vela. A complex of diffuse, glowing gas too faint to be seen with the unaided eye, it was discovered by the Australian-born astrophysicist Colin S. Gum, who published his findings in 1955. The Gum Nebula lies roughly 1,000 light-years from the Earth

Orange, Councils Of

2005-04-04T02:43:00.000-07:00

Two church synods held in Orange, France, in 441 and 529. The first, under the presidency of St. Hilary of Arles, dealt mainly with disciplinary matters. The second, and by far the more important, was concerned with refuting the Semi-Pelagianism of Faustus of Riez. It was attended by 15 bishops and was under the presidency of Caesarius of Arles. Caesarius had sought the aid of Rome against

Clapton, Eric

2005-04-03T03:43:00.000-07:00

Clapton was raised by his grandparents after his mother abandoned him at an early age. He began playing the guitar in his teens and briefly studied at the Kingston College of Art. After playing lead guitar with

Eskimo-aleut Languages, Yupik

2005-04-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

Yupik, a dialectal form meaning “real person,” includes five languages: Central Alaskan Yupik, spoken southward from Norton Sound; Pacific Yupik, commonly called Alutiiq, spoken from the Alaska Peninsula eastward to Prince William Sound; Naukanski Siberian Yupik, whose speakers were resettled southward from Cape Dezhnyov, the easternmost point of the Eurasian

Aenesidemus

2005-04-02T07:09:00.000-08:00

Philosopher and dialectician of the Greek Academy who revived the Pyrrhonian principle of “suspended judgment” (epoche) as a practical solution to the vexing and “insoluble” problem of knowledge. In his Pyrrhonian Discourses Aenesidemus formulated 10 tropes in defense of Skepticism, four suggesting arguments that arise from the nature

Eakins, Thomas

2005-04-01T22:11:00.000-08:00

Painter who carried the tradition of 19th-century American Realism to perhaps its highest achievement. He painted mainly portraits of his friends and scenes of outdoor sports, such as swimming and boating (e.g., “Max Schmitt in a Single Scull,” 1871). Because of its frank and unsentimental nature, the work generally acknowledged as his masterpiece,

Antarctica

2005-04-01T00:34:00.000-08:00

A great many nations, large and small, played important roles in the discovery and exploration of Antarctica. Who first saw the continent is controversial. The Russian expedition leader Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, the Englishman Edward Bransfield, and the American Nathaniel Palmer all claim first sightings in 1820: Bellingshausen sighted a shelf edge of

Aerial Perspective

2005-03-31T07:10:00.000-08:00

Also called Atmospheric Perspective, method of creating the illusion of depth, or recession, in a painting or drawing by modulating colour to simulate changes effected by the atmosphere on the colours of things seen at a distance. Although the use of aerial perspective has been known since antiquity, Leonardo da Vinci first used the term aerial perspective in his Treatise on

Scherchen, Hermann

2005-03-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

Scherchen was musically self-taught. Early in his career he played the viola, and for a time he toured with the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg. Interned in Russia during World War I, he returned to Berlin after

Aegina

2005-03-30T09:35:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Aíyina island, one of the largest in the Saronic group of Greece, about 16 miles (26 km) south-southwest of Piraeus. With an area of about 32 square miles (83 square km), it is an eparkhía (“eparchy”) of the nomós (department) of Piraeus. The northern plains and hills are cultivated with vines and olive, fig, almond, and pistachio trees, while along the east coast stretches a ridge of light volcanic

Respiration, Amphibians

2005-03-29T19:59:00.000-08:00

The living amphibians (frogs, toads, salamanders, and caecilians) depend on aquatic respiration to a degree that varies with species, stage of development, temperature, and season. With the exception of a few frog species that lay eggs on land, all amphibians begin life as completely aquatic larvae. Respiratory gas exchange is conducted through the thin, gas-permeable

Binnig, Gerd

2005-03-28T16:40:00.000-08:00

Binnig graduated from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and received a doctorate from the University of Frankfurt in 1978. He then

Angola, Resources

2005-03-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

Angola's resources are considerable in comparison to those of most African countries, and they are particularly suited to the development of an industrial economy. There are large reserves of oil and natural gas, concentrated in the maritime zones off the Cabinda exclave and the Congo estuary. Total proven recoverable reserves of crude oil stood at more than 2 billion

Ligand Field Theory

2005-03-28T03:00:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, one of several theories that describe the electronic structure of coordination or complex compounds, notably transition metal complexes, which consist of a central metal atom surrounded by a group of electron-rich atoms or molecules called ligands. The ligand field theory deals with the origins and consequences of metal– ligand interactions as

Boucicault, Dion

2005-03-26T01:23:00.000-08:00

Educated in England, Boucicault began acting in 1837 and in 1840 submitted his first play to Mme Vestris at Covent Garden; it was rejected. His second play, London Assurance (1841), which foreshadowed the modern social drama, was a huge success and was frequently

Ray, Satyajit

2005-03-25T10:43:00.000-08:00

Bengali motion-picture director, writer, and illustrator who brought the Indian cinema to world recognition with Pather Panchali (1955; The Song of the Road) and its two sequels, known as the Apu Trilogy. As a director Ray was noted for his humanism, his versatility, and his detailed control over his films and their music. He was one of the greatest

Alerce

2005-03-23T19:09:00.000-08:00

Also called Patagonian Cypress (species Fitzroya cupressoides), coniferous tree that is the only species of the genus Fitzroya, of the cypress family (Cupressaceae), native to southern Chile and southern Argentina. In the wild it grows to become one of the oldest and largest trees in the world. The alerce is thought to be a southern relative of the giant sequoia of North America. The oldest known alerce

Shaduf

2005-03-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Shadoof, hand-operated device for lifting water, invented in ancient times and still used in India, Egypt, and some other countries to irrigate land. Typically it consists of a long, tapering, nearly horizontal pole mounted like a seesaw. A skin or bucket is hung on a rope from the long end, and a counterweight is hung on the short end. The operator pulls down on a rope attached to the

Cosmas

2005-03-23T04:03:00.000-08:00

Also called Indicopleustes merchant, traveler, theologian, and geographer whose treatise Topographia Christiana (c. 535–547; “Christian Topography”) contains one of the earliest and most famous of world maps. In this treatise, Cosmas tried to prove the literal accuracy of the Biblical picture of the universe, asserting in particular that the Earth is flat and trying to refute

Adams, John

2005-03-22T05:46:00.000-08:00

Adams remained the central figure of the Continental Congress for the following two years. He drafted the Plan of Treaties in July 1776, a document that provided the framework for a treaty with France and that almost inadvertently identified the strategic priorities that would shape American foreign policy over the next century. He was the unanimous choice to head the Board of War and Ordnance and was thereby made in effect a one-man war department responsible for raising and equipping the American army and creating from scratch an American navy. As the prospects for a crucial wartime alliance with France improved late in 1777, he was chosen to join Benjamin Franklin in Paris to conduct the negotiations. In February 1778 he sailed for Europe, accompanied by 10-year-old John Quincy.

Mascara

2005-03-22T01:15:00.000-08:00

Also called (after 1981) Mouaskar, town, northwestern Algeria, situated about 40 miles (60 km) south of the Mediterranean coast. Spread across two hills separated by the Wadi Toudman, it lies on the southern slope of the Beni Chougran Range of the Atlas Mountains. Mascara (meaning “mother of soldiers”) was founded as a Turkish military garrison in 1701. In about 1790 the town was abandoned by the Spanish Muslims who had

Heuneburg

2005-03-21T17:05:00.000-08:00

Celtic fortified site overlooking the Danube River in Baden-Württemberg Land (state), Germany. Recent excavations have shown that the Heuneburg fort community carried on a prosperous trade with the Greeks at Massilia (Marseille) during the 6th century BC. Imported Greek black-figure pottery and Massiliote wine amphorae have been uncovered. Mediterranean influence

Brundage, Avery

2005-03-20T23:26:00.000-08:00

Brundage competed in the pentathlon and decathlon at the

Maura Y Montaner, Antonio

2005-03-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

Maura was elected

Rack And Pinion

2005-03-20T04:05:00.000-08:00

If the pinion rotates about a fixed axis, the rack will translate; i.e.,

Maréchal, Pierre-sylvain

2005-03-18T16:52:00.000-08:00

By profession a lawyer and librarian, Maréchal was by philosophy a materialist and an atheist. After writing

Augustine, Saint, Sermons

2005-03-18T11:08:00.000-08:00

Almost one-third of Augustine's surviving works consists of sermons—more than 1.5 million words, most of them taken down by shorthand scribes as he spoke extemporaneously. They cover a wide range. Many are simple expositions of scripture read aloud at a particular service according to church rules, but Augustine followed certain programs as well. There are sermons

Australian Alps

2005-03-18T09:44:00.000-08:00

Mountain mass, a segment of the Great Dividing Range (Eastern Uplands), occupying the southeasternmost corner of Australia, in eastern Victoria and southeastern New South Wales. In a more local sense, the term denotes the ranges on the states' border forming the divide between the watersheds of the Murray River system, flowing west, and the Snowy and other streams flowing

Burn

2005-03-17T00:27:00.000-08:00

The use of topical antibacterial agents has reduced the incidence of post-burn infection, but infection remains one of the most serious complications of burns. Burn surgeons often obtain cultures of the burn wound and of sputum and other body secretions; these are examined for signs of infection. Early detection and prompt treatment of infection with antibiotics

Shahdol

2005-03-16T09:31:00.000-08:00

The surrounding

Jackstones

2005-03-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

Also called fivestones, jacks , or dibs game of great antiquity and worldwide distribution, now played with stones, bones, seeds, filled cloth bags, or metal or plastic counters (the jacks), with or without a ball. The name derives from “chackstones”—stones to be tossed. The knuckle, wrist, or ankle bones of goats, sheep, or other animals also have been used in play. Such objects have been found in prehistoric caves

Daedalus

2005-03-15T11:36:00.000-08:00

(Greek: “Skillfully Wrought”), mythical Greek architect and sculptor, who was said to have built, among other things, the paradigmatic Labyrinth for King Minos of Crete. Daedalus fell out of favour with Minos and was imprisoned; he fashioned wings of wax and feathers for himself and for his son Icarus and escaped to Sicily. Icarus, however, flew too near the Sun, and his wings

United Kingdom, The reconquest of the Danelaw

2005-03-13T23:48:00.000-08:00

When Alfred died in 899, his son Edward succeeded him. A large-scale incursion by the Danes of Northumbria ended in their crushing defeat at Tettenhall in 910. Edward completed his father's plan of building a ring of fortresses around Wessex, and his sister Aethelflaed took similar measures in Mercia. In 912 Edward was ready to begin the series of campaigns by which he relentlessly

Gondola

2005-03-13T01:41:00.000-08:00

Tapered, 32-foot- (10-metre-) long flat-bottomed boat historically associated with the canals and lagoon of Venice, carrying from two to six passengers. It is propelled from the starboard quarter by a single sweep (oar) manipulated by a gondolier standing on the stern cover, and it has an asymmetrical shape, being 9 inches (23 cm) wider on the port side. A prominent steel beak (ferro) rises

Decroly, Ovide

2005-03-12T15:06:00.000-08:00

Belgian pioneer in the education of handicapped and normal children. He was a physician who became involved in a school for abnormal children and consequently became interested in education. One outcome of this interest was his establishment in 1901 of the Institute for Abnormal Children in Uccle, Belg., a school that provided a homelike

Cardiovascular System, Conducting system of the heart

2005-03-11T02:02:00.000-08:00

Both the atrioventricular node, with an intrinsic beat of 40–60 beats per minute, and the Purkinje fibres, with an intrinsic beat of 15–40 beats per minute, are self-stimulating and capable of rhythmic contraction, but at a rate slower than that of the sinoatrial node, which possesses an intrinsic capacity to beat 72 times per minute. Therefore, since recovery time is faster in the

Sillanpää, Frans Eemil

2005-03-10T14:01:00.000-08:00

The son of a peasant farmer, Sillanpää began studying natural science but in 1913 returned to the country, married, and began to write. His first short stories were published in journals in 1915. From 1924 to 1927 he worked for a publishing company in Porvoo. A new creative

Mitford, Mary Russell

2005-03-10T08:59:00.000-08:00

She was the only daughter of George Mitford, a dashing, irresponsible character whose extravagance compelled the family, in 1820, to leave their house in Reading (built when Mary, at the age of 10, won £20,000 in a lottery)

Pedestal

2005-03-09T00:47:00.000-08:00

In Classical architecture, support or base for a column, statue, vase, or obelisk. Such a pedestal may be square, octagonal, or circular. The name is also given to the vertical members that divide the sections of a balustrade. A single pedestal may also support a group of columns, or colonnade. A pedestal is divided into three parts, from bottom to top: the plinth (or foot), the

Binney, Horace

2005-03-08T14:35:00.000-08:00

Binney graduated from Harvard in 1797 and was admitted to the bar in 1800. He became an expert on marine-insurance and land-title law, and from 1809 to 1814 he published six volumes of authoritative court reports of cases heard in the state

Nepalganj

2005-03-08T04:47:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Nepalgunj, town, southwestern Nepal. It is situated in the Tarai, a low, fertile plain northeast of Nanpara, India. Nepalganj is a trading centre for rice, wheat, corn (maize), oilseeds, and hides produced in the surrounding area. The largest town in western Nepal, it is 4 miles (6 km) from a railway terminus across the border in India. It also has road connections to villages to the west and to a nearby

Fu-shun

2005-03-07T06:23:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Fushun, city in central Liaoning sheng (province), northeastern China. It is situated some 25 miles (40 km) east of Shen-yang (Mukden) on the Hun River. In earlier times this area was on the frontier of Chinese settlement. It was the site of a customs station under the T'ang dynasty (618–907) in the 8th century, and again under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when it received the name Fu-shun. It was not until 1902 that settlement

Mitchell, Lucy Myers Wright

2005-03-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

Lucy Wright was the daughter of a missionary to the Nestorian Christians in Persia. In 1860 she was taken to the United States, and a short time later she entered Mount Holyoke Female Seminary

Zaporizhzhya

2005-03-05T18:55:00.000-08:00

Russian Zaporozhye, also spelled Zaporozhe, or Zaporozje, oblast (province), southeastern Ukraine. It encompasses the northwestern shore of the Sea of Azov and stretches inland across the coastal plain, the Azov Upland, and the Dnieper Plain to the Dnieper River to include a very small part of that river's right-bank area. The entire oblast lies within the steppe zone, although much of the natural grass cover has been plowed

Jeans

2005-03-05T11:04:00.000-08:00

Jeans are particularly identified as a standard item of “Western” apparel worn

Fish Owl

2005-03-05T08:27:00.000-08:00

The brown fish owl (K. zeylonensis) ranges from the eastern Mediterranean to Taiwan and Japan. Pel's fishing owl (S.

Azov

2005-03-03T20:30:00.000-08:00

Formerly Azak, or Tana, town, Rostov oblast (province), southwestern Russia. It lies on the left bank of the Don River, 4 miles (7 km) east of the Sea of Azov. The Greek colony of Tanais, the first known major city in the region, was founded there in the 6th century BC. It changed hands and was renamed several times over the ensuing centuries. It became the Genoese colony of Tana (established 1316–22), which in 1471 was captured

Earp, Wyatt (berry Stapp)

2005-03-03T01:42:00.000-08:00

Earp and his four

Güyük

2005-03-02T16:56:00.000-08:00

Güyük was elected to the throne in 1246, partly through the maneuvering of his mother. He was strongly influenced by Nestorianism, a form of Christianity considered a heresy by Western Christians, and he favoured Christian

Aiken, Howard Hathaway

2005-03-01T16:16:00.000-08:00

Aiken did engineering work while he attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After completing his doctorate at Harvard University in 1939, he remained there for a short period to teach before undertaking war work for the U.S.

Ghassaniy, Muyaka Bin Haji Al-

2005-03-01T00:42:00.000-08:00

Ghassaniy is known particularly as an outstanding composer of quatrains (the most popular Swahili verse form for both philosophical and topical themes). Although he experimented little with prosody, his work ranged widely in type from didactic verse to love poems and from poems on domestic

Calcutta

2005-02-28T04:38:00.000-08:00

Bengali Kalikata city, capital of West Bengal state, and former capital (1772–1912) of British India. It is India's largest city and one of its major ports. The city is located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, once the main channel of the Ganges River, about 96 miles (154 kilometres) upstream from the head of the Bay of Bengal; there the port city developed as a point of transshipment from water to land and

Bahubali

2005-02-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

After winning a duel with his half-brother for control of the kingdom, Bahubali is believed by the Jains to have realized the transience of temporal affairs and renounced the world. According

Epimenides

2005-02-27T13:05:00.000-08:00

Cretan seer, reputed author of religious and poetical writings. He conducted purificatory rites at Athens about 500 BC according to Plato (about 600 according to Aristotle). All surviving fragments, including a line quoted by St. Paul (Titus 1:12), are attributable to other sources. Stories of his advanced age (157 or 299 years), his miraculous sleep of 57 years, and his wanderings outside

Yan

2005-02-25T11:53:00.000-08:00

Pottery yan first appeared during the so-called Longshan culture

Rodeo

2005-02-25T04:11:00.000-08:00

The five standard rodeo events are calf roping, bull riding, steer wrestling (bulldogging), saddle bronc-riding, and bareback bronc-riding. (A bronc [bronco,

Jewish Religious Year, Importance

2005-02-24T10:54:00.000-08:00

The central significance of the Sabbath for Judaism is reflected in the traditional commentative and interpretative literature called Talmud and Midrash (e.g., “if you wish to destroy the Jewish people, abolish their Sabbath first”) and in numerous legends and adages from more recent literature (e.g., “more than Israel kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath kept Israel”). Some of

Bur Oak

2005-02-24T10:03:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Burr Oak, also called Mossy Cup Oak (Quercus macrocarpa), North American timber tree belonging to the white oak group of the genus Quercus in the beech family (Fagaceae), distributed primarily throughout the central United States. Often 25 metres (80 feet) tall, the tree may reach 50 m. Its leaves, about 25 centimetres (10 inches) long, are dark green and shiny above, dull and whitish beneath; the wide upper half of each leaf

Sabbatini, Nicola

2005-02-24T00:09:00.000-08:00

In his major and most enduring written work, Pratica di fabricar scene e macchine ne' teatri (1638; “Manual for Constructing Scenes and Machines in the Theatre”), Sabbatini described

Janin

2005-02-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

The original ancient settlement is mentioned in the Amarna Letters, a series of 14th-century-BC diplomatic documents

Mordant Dye

2005-02-22T06:13:00.000-08:00

Colorant that can be bound to a material for which it otherwise has little or no affinity by the addition of a mordant, a chemical that combines with the dye and the fibre. As the principal modern mordants are dichromates and chromium complexes, mordant dye usually means chrome dye. Most mordant dyes yield different colours with different mordants. Mordant dyes can

Moraceae

2005-02-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

The mulberry family of the nettle order (Urticales), with about 40 genera and some 1,000 species of deciduous or evergreen trees and shrubs, distributed mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. Plants of the family contain a milky latex and have alternate or opposite leaves and small, petalless male or female flowers. The fruits of many species are multiple because fruits

Stradivari, Antonio

2005-02-21T00:58:00.000-08:00

Stradivari was still a pupil of Nicolò Amati in 1666 when he began to place his own label on violins of his making. These at first followed the smaller of Amati's models, solidly constructed, with a thick yellow varnish. In 1684 Stradivari began to

Sanghar

2005-02-19T21:29:00.000-08:00

Town, Sind province, southern Pakistan. The town is connected by road with the cities of Hyderabad, Karachi, and Sukkur. Sanghar is a market town and has several cotton-textile factories. The surrounding area consists chiefly of semiarid land, a part of the great Thar Desert, and some cropped areas irrigated by the Mithrao Canal system, which feeds from the Indus River. Rice,

Chandrasekhar Limit

2005-02-19T13:59:00.000-08:00

This limiting value was named for the Indian-born astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who formulated it in 1930. Using Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity and the principles of quantum physics, Chandrasekhar showed that it is impossible for a white dwarf star, which

Clovis

2005-02-18T17:39:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1909) of Curry county, eastern New Mexico, U.S., in the High Plains (4,260 feet [1,298 metres] above sea level) near the Texas state line. It was founded in 1906 as a division point for the Santa Fe Railway. Centre of an irrigated farm and ranch area, it has extensive livestock-auction and cattle-feeding facilities and also markets sugar beets, sorghum, wheat, cotton, vegetables, poultry, and

Hebrew Literature

2005-02-18T11:01:00.000-08:00

In the 18th century the conservative mystical movement of Hasidism spread rapidly over all eastern Europe except Lithuania. There, Elijah ben Solomon of Vilna, a writer of unusually wide scope, advocated a better graded course of Talmudic training. Shneur Zalman of Ladi created the highly systematized Habad Hasidism, which was widely accepted in Lithuania. The Musar

Adams, Gerry

2005-02-18T04:27:00.000-08:00

Gerry Adams, Before the Dawn (1996), is an autobiography, and he discusses his goals in Free Ireland: Towards a Lasting Peace, rev. ed. (1995).

Armorica

2005-02-16T07:12:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Aremorica (from Celtic ar, “on,” and mor, “sea”), Latin name for the northwestern extremity of Gaul, now Brittany. In Celtic, Roman, and Frankish times Armorica also included the western part of what later became Normandy. In Julius Caesar's time it was the home of five principal tribes, the most important being the Veneti. Under the Roman Empire it formed part of the province of Gallia Lugdunensis,

Chemical Association

2005-02-16T04:58:00.000-08:00

The aggregation of atoms or molecules into larger units held together by forces weaker than chemical bonds that bind atoms in molecules. The term is usually restricted to the formation of aggregates of like molecules or atoms. Polymerization also denotes the formation of larger units by the union of like small units but usually with chemical bonds between the

Menderes River

2005-02-15T19:42:00.000-08:00

Turkish Büyük Menderes Nehri , historically Maeander river, southwestern Turkey. It rises on the Anatolian plateau south and west of Afyon and flows westward through a narrow valley and canyon. At Sarayköy it expands into a broad, flat-bottomed valley with a typical Mediterranean landscape, dotted with fig trees, olive groves, and vineyards. Near the town of Aydin the river turns southwest, emptying into the Aegean Sea

Byzantium

2005-02-14T19:06:00.000-08:00

Later Constantinople , modern Istanbul ancient Greek city on the shore of the Bosporus; also, an alternative name for the Byzantine Empire, which had its capital at Constantinople. See also Istanbul.

Caciquism

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

The word cacique is of Indian origin but was adopted by the Spanish conquistadores and used to describe heads of Indian tribes or, in the more developed Indian states, governors of districts.

Rushworth, John

2005-02-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

Rushworth studied law, perhaps at the University of Oxford (from which he received an M.A. in 1649), and in 1638 was made

Peregrinatio Etheriae

2005-02-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

English Pilgrimage of Etheria an anonymous and incomplete account of a western European nun's travels in the Middle East, written for her colleagues at home, near the end of the 4th century. It gives important information about religious life and the observances of the church year in the localities visited, which included the chief holy places of the Old and New Testaments in Egypt, Palestine, and

Cronjé, Pieter Arnoldus

2005-02-11T23:26:00.000-08:00

Cronjé was born in the Cape Colony but was taken in early life to the Transvaal, during the Great Trek. In the Transvaal, in November 1880, he began a rebellion against British rule, leading resistance to the distraint

Gironde

2005-02-11T23:19:00.000-08:00

The domination of Bordeaux has hindered the development of an active

East Devon

2005-02-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

District, administrative and historic county of Devon, southwestern England, in the southeastern part of the county and bordering Lyme Bay of the English Channel to the south. East Devon is historically known for its handmade lace and carpet-making industries in the eastern interior market towns of Honiton and Axminster. High-quality limestone has been quarried

Submarine Fan

2005-02-10T20:36:00.000-08:00

Accumulation of land-derived sediment on the deep seafloor; in configuration, a fan is like the section of a very low cone, with its apex at the lower mouth of a submarine canyon incised into a continental slope. Submarine canyons have steep courses with high walls and funnel occasional dense slurries of water and terrigenous sediment (turbidity currents) to the abyssal

Biblical Literature, Problems visual in origin

2005-02-10T06:57:00.000-08:00

The order of letters also might be inverted. Such metathesis, as it is called, appears in Psalms, in which qirbam (“their inward

Infection, Common worm infections

2005-02-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

The worm Ascaris lumbricoides causes one of the most prevalent infections in the world. It lives in the soil and its eggs are ingested with contaminated food. The eggs hatch in the human intestine and the worms then travel through the bloodstream to the liver, heart, and lungs. They can cause pneumonia, perforations of the intestine, or blockage of the bile ducts, but

Stabile

2005-02-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

The increasing monumentality of Calder's stabiles contributed significantly

Lupino Family

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

The earliest traceable Lupino—who spelled his name Luppino—flourished probably in Italy, c. 1612, and billed himself as Signor Luppino. His descendant, George William (1632–93), a singer, reciter, and puppet master, went to England as a political refugee. His son, George Charles (1662–1725), was a performer and puppeteer at the age of eight. After

Stefánsson, Davíd

2005-02-07T07:17:00.000-08:00

Stefánsson came of a cultured yeoman family and was brought up with a love for his homeland, its literature, and its folklore. He frequently journeyed abroad but lived most of his life in the town of Akureyri, where he was a librarian (1925–52). He wrote a powerful

Orange River

2005-02-06T13:19:00.000-08:00

The high valleys of the Orange River's headwaters are uninhabited, though the adjacent plateaus are used by the southern Sotho (Basuto) people for grazing land. Between the Lesotho border and the town of Aliwal North, corn (maize) is cultivated, and this region is also used as pasturage for cattle and sheep. The dry shrub country farther downstream is in general suitable

Wu Hsing

2005-02-05T06:01:00.000-08:00

The Wu hsing cycle served as a broad explanatory

Appoggiatura

2005-02-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

(from Italian appoggiare, “to lean”), in music, an ornamental note of long or short duration that temporarily displaces, and subsequently resolves into, a main note, usually by stepwise motion. During the Renaissance and early Baroque, the appoggiatura was of moderate length, averaging one-third of the main note, and was more in the nature of a melodic than a harmonic ornament.

Tzotzil

2005-02-04T01:45:00.000-08:00

Mayan Indians of central Chiapas in southeastern Mexico. Linguistically and culturally the Tzotzil are most closely related to the neighbouring Tzeltal (q.v.). The habitat of the Tzotzil is highland, with mountains, volcanic outcroppings, and valley lowlands. The climate at high altitudes is cool to cold, and summers are very wet. The native Tzotzil live mainly in the

Switzerland, The impact of the French Revolution

2005-02-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

In spite of economic expansion, Switzerland's political institutions were poorly prepared to meet the violent forces set loose by the French Revolution. The 13 cantons of the Helvetic Association had no central government; each had its own army; religious antagonisms still existed; the rural cantons were suspicious of the towns; and the small cantons were jealous

Succulent

2005-02-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

Stomata are small mouthlike structures

Byzantine Greek Language

2005-02-02T00:58:00.000-08:00

An archaic style of Greek that served as the language of administration and of most writing during the period of the Byzantine, or Eastern Roman, Empire until the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. During the Byzantine period the spoken language continued to develop without the archaizing tendencies of the written language. Byzantine Greek is still the liturgical

Zlatoust

2005-02-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

City, Chelyabinsk oblast (province), western Russia. It lies on both banks of the Ay River and on the Ufa-Chelyabinsk trunk railway, where river and rail cut through the Urenga Range of the Ural Mountains. In 1754 the Kosotur Iron and Copper Works were established there, and city status was granted in 1865. A major pre-revolutionary steel city noted for its engraved steel and swords,

Bel And The Dragon

2005-02-01T05:45:00.000-08:00

In full The History Of The Destruction Of Bel And The Dragon, Greek apocryphal addition to the biblical Book of Daniel. It is a deuterocanonical work in that it is accepted in the Roman canon but not by Jews or Protestants. It tells of the Jewish hero Daniel, who refuses to worship the god Bel and kills the dragon, thus being forced into a den of lions, which he is allowed to leave after seven days because he is unharmed. His enemies,

Thompson, David

2005-01-31T10:46:00.000-08:00

Thompson was apprenticed to the Hudson's Bay Company

Alaska, Flag Of

2005-01-30T22:39:00.000-08:00

The creator

Abbott, Sir John

2005-01-30T10:04:00.000-08:00

Educated at McGill University, Montreal, Abbott became a lawyer in 1847 and was made queen's counsel in 1862. He served as dean of the McGill faculty of law from 1855 to 1880. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the then-united province of Canada in 1857 and

Ossory

2005-01-29T03:19:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Osraighe, an ancient kingdom of Ireland that won for itself a semi-independent position as a state within the kingdom of Leinster, probably in the 1st century AD. In the 9th century it was ruled by an able king, Cerball, who allied himself with the Norse invaders and figured in later centuries as an ancestor of some important families in Iceland. When surnames were introduced, the dynasts

Hesilrige, Sir Arthur, 2nd Baronet

2005-01-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

A native of Leicestershire, Hesilrige succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1629. He sat in both the Short and Long Parliaments

Human Embryology, Allantois

2005-01-28T14:23:00.000-08:00

The allantois, a tube of endoderm (the innermost germ layer), grows out of the early yolk sac in a region that soon becomes the hindgut. The tube extends into a bridge of mesoderm (the middle germ layer) that connects embryo with chorion and will become incorporated into the umbilical cord (Figure 1K, O). The human