SlowGrass

Indo-european Languages

2005-04-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

Family of languages spoken in most of Europe and areas of European settlement and in much of Southwest and South Asia. The term Indo-Hittite is used by scholars who believe that Hittite and the other Anatolian languages are not just one branch of Indo-European but rather a branch coordinate with all the rest put together; thus, Indo-Hittite has been used for a family

Adam, Adolphe

2005-04-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

Adam wrote 71 operas, the best of which are generally considered to be Le Postillon de Longjumeau (1836) and Giralda (1850). In his ballets—which he composed for production in London, Berlin,

Astoria

2005-03-31T07:23:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1844) of Clatsop county, northwestern Oregon, U.S., on the south bank of the Columbia River (there bridged to Megler, Washington) near its mouth on the Pacific Ocean. It is near the site of Oregon's first military establishment, Fort Clatsop, built by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which wintered there (1805–06); the reconstructed fort, 4.5 miles (7.5 km) southwest, is a national memorial.

Earth Sciences, Paleontology and stratigraphy

2005-03-30T06:47:00.000-08:00

During the 17th century the guiding principles of paleontology and historical geology began to emerge in the work of a few individuals. Nicolaus Steno, a Danish scientist and theologian, presented carefully reasoned arguments favouring the organic origin of what are now called fossils. Also, he elucidated three principles that made possible the reconstruction

Insurance, Government regulation

2005-03-27T13:11:00.000-08:00

The insurance business is subject to extensive government regulation in all countries. In European countries insurance regulation is a mixture of central and local controls. In Germany central authority over insurance regulation is provided by the Federal Insurance Supervisory Authority (BAV), which exercises tight control of premiums, reserves, and investments

Gnome

2005-03-26T11:03:00.000-08:00

In European folklore, dwarfish, subterranean goblin or earth spirit who guards mines of precious treasures hidden in the earth. He is represented in medieval mythologies as a small, physically deformed (usually hunchbacked) creature resembling a dry, gnarled old man. Gob, the king of the gnome race, ruled with a magic sword

Sam Saen Thai

2005-03-24T21:22:00.000-08:00

The eldest son of Fa Ngum, founder of Lan Xang, Un Heuan was installed as king in 1373. While his father had been a conqueror, Un Heuan excelled in administration. He is remembered chiefly for his compilation of population registers in 1376, which inscribed the names

East Australian Current

2005-03-22T03:34:00.000-08:00

Surface oceanic current, a section of the counterclockwise flow in the Tasman Sea, southwestern Pacific Ocean. It is formed by water masses from the Coral Sea—equatorial water driven by monsoonal winds from January to March and eastward subtropical flow from April to December—which pass southeast between the Great Barrier and Chesterfield reefs (20° S latitude), paralleling

Vendsyssel-thy

2005-03-20T02:39:00.000-08:00

Danish Nørrejyske Ø (North Jutland Island), island at the north end of Jutland, Denmark, known as Vendsyssel in the east and Thy in the west. The Limfjorden separates it from the mainland, to which it was attached until 1825, when water erosion cut a channel through the narrow isthmus at Thyborøn. Several bridges, ferries, and a tunnel connect the island with the rest of Jutland. It is the second largest

Gabon, History Of

2005-03-17T03:41:00.000-08:00

Early history is presented in David E. Gardinier, “The Beginnings of French Catholic Evangelization in Gabon and African Responses, 1844–1883,” French Colonial Studies, no. 2 (1978), pp. 49–74, on the planting of Catholicism in Gabon, and “Les Frères de Saint-Gabriel au Gabon, 1900–1918, et la naissance d'une nouvelle élite africaine,” Mondes et Cultures, 46(3):593–606 (1986), on the education of the anticolonialist elite prominent in Gabon's political life since 1944. K. David Patterson, The Northern Gabon Coast to 1875 (1975), examines the economic and political evolution of northern Gabon. Brian Weinstein, Gabon: Nation-building on the Ogooue (1966), describes political development, especially from the 1940s to the early '60s. Charles F. Darlington and Alice B. Darlington, African Betrayal (1968), is an account by the American ambassador to Libreville who witnessed the coup of 1964 and the French intervention. François Gaulme, Le Gabon et son ombre (1988), traces the political, economic, and social evolution since 1960. Michael C. Reed, “Gabon: A Neo-Colonial Enclave of Enduring French Interest,” The Journal of Modern African Studies, 25(2):283–320 (June 1987), focuses on the recent modern period. David E. Gardinier, Historical Dictionary of Gabon (1981), concentrates on the political evolution in the 20th century, with a large bibliography.

Nichiren

2005-03-16T20:49:00.000-08:00

Original name Zennichi, also called Zenshobo Rencho, posthumous name Rissho Daishi militant Japanese Buddhist prophet who contributed significantly to the adaptation of Buddhism to the Japanese mentality and who remains one of the most controversial and influential figures in Japanese Buddhist history. After an exhaustive study of the various forms of Buddhism, he concluded (in 1253) that the Lotus Sutra teaching

Field Trial

2005-03-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

Any of the competitions among individual sporting dogs, under conditions that approximate or simulate those found in the hunting field. Competing dogs need not necessarily be of the same breed. In the United States many of the field trials in the bird-dog (pointing dog) category are staged under the sanction of the American Kennel Club, the official governing body

Maurice, Furnley

2005-03-14T13:17:00.000-08:00

At age 14 Wilmot worked in a Melbourne bookshop, rising to the position of manager. When the business was dissolved in 1929, he operated

San Justo

2005-03-12T13:33:00.000-08:00

Cabecera (principal built-up area) of La Matanza partido (political subdivision), Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, Arg. It lies directly southwest of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires province. In 1856 the poblador (person granted land as an incentive to settle an area) of San Justo, José Gorsch, donated the land for the founding of the town on behalf of the Justo Villegas family.

Antibiotic

2005-03-11T23:25:00.000-08:00

Although antibiotics are released naturally into the soil by bacteria and fungi, they did not come into worldwide prominence until the introduction of penicillin in 1941. Since then they have revolutionized the treatment of bacterial infections

France, History Of, The failure of reunification (613714)

2005-03-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

Territorial crisis was partially and provisionally averted during the first third of the 7th century.

Angola, Resources

2005-03-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

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

Eden, Garden Of

2005-03-09T03:24:00.000-08:00

In the Old Testament Book of Genesis, biblical earthly paradise inhabited by the first created man and woman, Adam and Eve, prior to their expulsion for disobeying the commandments of God. It is also called in Genesis the Garden of Yahweh, the God of Israel, and, in Ezekiel, the Garden of God. The term Eden probably is derived from the Akkadian word edinu, borrowed from the

Atisa

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

Traveling to Tibet in 1038 or 1042 from Nalanda, a centre of Buddhist studies in India, Atisa established monasteries there and wrote treatises emphasizing the three schools of Buddhism:

Terengganu

2005-03-06T22:25:00.000-08:00

Formerly Trengganu, traditional region of northeastern West Malaysia (Malaya), bounded by those of Kelantan (north and northwest) and Pahang (south and southwest). It has a 200-mile- (320-kilometre-) long coastline along the South China Sea (east). Terengganu is mentioned in 1365 as a vassal of the Javanese kingdom of Majapahit. The sultanate of Terengganu, ruled by members of the same family since 1701, was under

Tale Of Genji, The

2005-03-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

Japanese Genji Monogatari, masterpiece of Japanese literature by the Lady Murasaki Shikibu, written toward the start of the 11th century. It is considered the oldest full novel in the world and one of the finest. Most of the story is concerned with the loves of Prince Genji and the different women in his life, each of whom is exquisitely delineated. The work is supremely sensitive to human emotions

Crocoite

2005-03-04T16:59:00.000-08:00

Mineral consisting of lead chromate, PbCrO4, that is identical in composition to chrome yellow, the artificial product used in paint. The element chromium was discovered in this mineral in 1797. Crocoite occurs as long, well-developed, prismatic crystals; the most beautiful specimens are from Dundas, Tasmania. Other localities include the Urals, Brazil, and the southwestern

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

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

First suspension bridge across the Narrows of Puget Sound, connecting the Olympic Peninsula with the mainland of Washington state, U.S., and a landmark failure in engineering history. Four months after its opening, on the morning of November 7, 1940, in a wind of about 42 miles (67 km) per hour, the 2,800-foot (840-metre) main span, which had already exhibited a marked flexibility, went into a series

Vulci

2005-03-03T04:59:00.000-08:00

Etruscan Velch important town of the ancient Etruscans, the ruins of which are about 10 miles from the sea between the villages of Canino and Montalto di Castro, in Viterbo province, Italy. The site, excavated in 1956, has extensive cemeteries and a large network of streets and walls. Vulci grew out of a number of Villanovan villages and flourished chiefly in the 6th–4th century BC, largely as a result

Antiparticle

2005-03-02T16:01:00.000-08:00

Subatomic particle having the same mass as one of the particles of ordinary matter but opposite electric charge and magnetic moment. Thus the positron (positive electron) is the antiparticle of the negative electron (negatron). The spinning antineutron with net charge zero, like the ordinary neutron, has its magnetic polarity opposite to that of a similarly spinning

Andaman And Nicobar Islands, History

2005-03-01T23:04:00.000-08:00

The name Nicobar probably is derived from Nakkavaram (“Land of the Naked”). As with the Andamans, the Nicobars are located along a line of ancient trade routes. At various periods beginning in the 17th century, France, Denmark, Austria, and Great Britain all had obscure rights to the islands. In 1869 the Danes relinquished their claims to the British, who subsequently governed

Beast Fable

2005-02-28T18:07:00.000-08:00

A prose or verse fable or short story that usually has a moral. In beast fables animal characters are represented as acting with human feelings and motives. Among the best-known examples in Western literature are those attributed to the legendary Greek author Aesop. The best-known Asian collection of beast fables is the Pañca-tantra of India.

Aufklärung

2005-02-27T16:02:00.000-08:00

(German: “Enlightenment”), in Germany, the 17th- and 18th-century philosophical movement that emphasized rationalism. See Enlightenment.

Sayat-nova

2005-02-26T20:44:00.000-08:00

Sayat-Nova worked first as a weaver and later (1750–65) became the court minstrel of Irakli II of Georgia. In 1770 he entered a monastery in Haghbat, and he was martyred by the Persian invaders of Georgia. Most of his extant songs are in Azeri Turkish; the rest are in Armenian and Georgian.

China, The armed forces

2005-02-24T17:24:00.000-08:00

The command of the armed forces was also arranged so as to avoid giving excessive powers to a single individual. General officers were usually appointed in pairs, and, in times of emergency or when a campaign was being planned with a defined objective, officers were appointed for a specific task; when their mission was fulfilled, their commands were brought to a close.

Cambridge

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

City (district), administrative and historic county of Cambridgeshire, England, home of the internationally known University of Cambridge. The city lies immediately south of the fen country (a flat alluvial region only slightly above sea level) and is itself only 20 to 80 feet (6 to 24 metres) above sea level. Most of the city is built on the east bank of the River Cam, a tributary

Ibn Wahshiyah

2005-02-23T17:52:00.000-08:00

Middle Eastern agriculturist and toxicologist alleged to have written al-Fillahah an-Nabatiyah (“Nabatean Agriculture”), a major treatise dealing with plants, water sources and quality, weather conditions, the causes of deforestation, soils and their improvement, crop cultivation, and other similar subjects. The Arabic text, although not original, having been derived

Hooks, Bell

2005-02-22T17:57:00.000-08:00

Watkins grew up in a segregated community of the American South. At age 19 she began writing what would become her first full-length book, Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, which was

Vaccinium

2005-02-21T15:43:00.000-08:00

Genus of about 150 species of shrubs, in the heath family (Ericaceae), found widely throughout the Northern Hemisphere and extending south along tropical mountain ranges. The shrubs are erect or creeping, with alternate, deciduous or evergreen leaves. The small flowers resemble those of the true heaths (Erica), but the ovary is beneath the flower. The flowers are clustered

Soissons, Charles De Bourbon, Count (comte) De

2005-02-19T18:58:00.000-08:00

Louis I de Bourbon, the first prince de Condé, had acquired the countship of Soissons in 1557, and upon his death in 1569 it passed to his youngest son, Charles. This count fought for Henry of Bourbon (the future Henry IV) against Henry III of France at

Limassol

2005-02-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

Limassol's rise from a humble market town between the ancient settlements of Amathus and Curium took place at the end of the Byzantine Empire, when Richard I the Lion-Heart landed

Bulgaria, Slavic invasions

2005-02-18T02:24:00.000-08:00

The story of the modern Bulgarian people begins with the Slavic invasions of the Balkan Peninsula in the 6th and 7th centuries AD, a time when Byzantium was absorbed in prolonged conflict with Persia and could not resist the incursions from the north. Ancient sources refer to two Slavic tribes north of the Danube at this time, the Slavenae and the Antae. Evidence suggests

Cateau-cambrésis, Peace Of

2005-02-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

(April 3, 1559), agreement marking the end of the 65-year (1494–1559) struggle between France and Spain for the control of Italy, leaving Habsburg Spain the dominant power there for the next 150 years. In the last phase of the war, fought mostly outside of Italy, France was beaten at the battles of Saint-Quentin (1557) and Gravelines (1558). These defeats, coupled with the beginning of the religious struggle

Isaac

2005-02-16T15:12:00.000-08:00

In the Old Testament (Genesis), second of the patriarchs of Israel, the only son of Abraham and Sarah, and father of Esau and Jacob. Although Sarah was past the age of childbearing, God promised Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son, and Isaac was born. Later, to test Abraham's obedience, God commanded Abraham to sacrifice the boy. Abraham made all the preparations for

Yü Ta-fu

2005-02-14T21:41:00.000-08:00

Yü Ta-fu received his higher education in Japan, where he met other young Chinese writers, with whom he founded the Creation Society (Ch'ang-tsao

Curepipe

2005-02-13T16:50:00.000-08:00

Town (township) on the island of Mauritius, in the western Indian Ocean. It lies in the western highlands region of the country, about 11 miles (18 km) south of Port Louis, the national capital. The town, named after a similar township in France, developed quickly after a malaria epidemic in 1867, which forced Port Louis residents to relocate to safer areas in the highlands. Several

Kahn, Albert

2005-02-12T04:19:00.000-08:00

Kahn's father, a rabbi, brought his family to the United States in 1881. Kahn had little schooling but was taken on

La Calprenède, Gaultier De Coste, Seigneur De

2005-02-11T03:39:00.000-08:00

After studying at Toulouse, La Calprenède entered the regiment of the guards and campaigned

Hoopoe

2005-02-11T01:18:00.000-08:00

(Upupa epops), strikingly crested bird found from southern Europe and Africa to southeastern Asia, the sole member of the family Upupidae of the roller order, Coraciiformes. About 28 centimetres (11 inches) long, it is pinkish brown on the head and shoulders, with a long, black-tipped, erectile crest and black-and-white barred wings and tail. The hoopoe takes insects

La Calprenède, Gaultier De Coste, Seigneur De

2005-02-09T05:07:00.000-08:00

At the end of World War II, Christian Democratic parties

Ejido

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

In Mexico, village lands communally held in the traditional Indian system of land tenure that combines communal ownership with individual use. The ejido consists of cultivated land, pastureland, other uncultivated lands, and the fundo legal (townsite). In most cases the cultivated land is divided into separate family holdings, which cannot be sold although they

Tercet

2005-02-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

Also spelled tiercet a unit or group of three lines of verse, usually containing rhyme, as in William Shakespeare's “The Phoenix and the Turtle”: Death is now the phoenix' nest; And the turtle's loyal breastTo eternity doth rest,

Andrade, Mário Pinto De

2005-02-07T05:43:00.000-08:00

While studying classical philology at the University of Lisbon, Andrade, with Agostinho Neto and Amilcar Cabral, formed the Centre for African Studies. He then attended the Sorbonne in Paris, wrote anticolonialist poetry, and was an editor of Présence Africaine (1955–58). Beginning in 1956 he worked

Irrawaddy River

2005-02-06T10:42:00.000-08:00

The peoples living on the river's banks are culturally diverse. On the upper reaches, the Kachin, who practice shifting agriculture, predominate. In the middle and lower basins, the Burmese are the dominant group, cultivating wheat, cotton, and oilseeds in the central dry zone and rice and jute to the south and in the delta region, where rainfall is more plentiful. Also

Antarctica

2005-02-05T00:54:00.000-08:00

Ice averaging 2,160 m (7,085 ft) in thickness covers about 98% of the continent of Antarctica, which has an area of 14 million sq km (5.4 million sq mi). There is no indigenous human population, and there is no land-based industry. Human activity consists mainly of scientific research. The 43-nation Antarctic Treaty is the managerial mechanism for the region south of latitude 60° S, which includes

Gulf Series

2005-02-03T22:39:00.000-08:00

Major division of Upper Cretaceous rocks (66.4 to 97.5 million years old) in the Gulf coastal region of the United States. The Gulf Series has been divided into several groups of rocks. The lowermost groups of limestone and clay are overlain by the Eagleford Shale, about 145 m (475 feet) of clayey shales, which in turn is overlain by the Austin Chalk, about 130 m (420 feet) of chalks and marls. The Taylor

Gray, Harold (lincoln)

2005-02-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., in 1917, Gray joined the staff of the Chicago Tribune, to which he returned after brief service in the U.S. Army. After leaving the Tribune in 1919, he did commercial art and for a five-year period

Brialmont, Henri-alexis

2005-02-02T03:37:00.000-08:00

Educated at the Brussels military school, Brialmont entered the Belgian army in 1843 and rose to the rank of major general (1874) and the post of inspector general of fortifications (1875). Brialmont's innovations developed out of his plans to fortify Antwerp and

Aurangzeb

2005-02-01T18:26:00.000-08:00

Aurangzeb's reign falls into two almost equal parts. In the first, which lasted until about 1680, he was a capable Muslim monarch of a mixed Hindu-Muslim empire and as such was generally disliked for his ruthlessness but feared and respected for his vigour and skill. During this period he was much occupied with safeguarding the northwest from Persians and Central Asian

Trabzon

2005-01-30T22:13:00.000-08:00

Also called Trebizond , historically Trapezus city, capital of Trabzon il (province), northeastern Turkey. It lies on a wide bay on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea backed by high ranges of the Pontic Mountains, which separate it from the central Anatolian Plateau. The heart of the city is on a triangle of tableland between two deep ravines, with remains of an ancient Roman-built harbour at its base. At its southern

Force

2005-01-30T10:17:00.000-08:00

In mechanics, any action that tends to maintain or alter the position of a body or to distort it. The concept of force is commonly explained in terms of Newton's three laws of motion set forth in his Principia Mathematica (1687). According to Newton's first principle, a body that is at rest or moving at a uniform rate in a straight line will remain in that state until some force

Biblical Literature, The Catholic Letters

2005-01-29T01:32:00.000-08:00

As the history of the New Testament canon shows, the seven so-called Catholic Letters (i.e., James, I and II Peter, I, II, and III John, and Jude) were among the last of the literature to be settled on before the agreement of East and West in 367. During the 2nd and 3rd centuries, only I John and I Peter were universally recognized and, even after acceptance of all seven, their varying positions

Toch, Ernst

2005-01-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

Composer whose works, noted for their perfection of form, fused elements from the classical tradition with modern musical ideas. Although he rarely carried innovation to great lengths, he was considered a leader of the avant-garde composers in pre-Nazi Germany and, like many of them, went into exile when Adolf Hitler came

Ancient Rome

2005-01-26T18:21:00.000-08:00

Rome

Tunnels And Underground Excavations, Basic tunneling system

2005-01-25T22:11:00.000-08:00

Tunnels are generally grouped in four broad categories, depending on the material through which they pass: soft ground, consisting of soil and very weak rock; hard rock; soft rock, such as shale, chalk, and friable sandstone; and subaqueous. While these four broad types of ground condition require very different methods of excavation and ground support, nearly all tunneling

France

2005-01-23T03:43:00.000-08:00

Officially French Republic, French France, or République Française, country in western Europe. It is one of the oldest and historically and culturally most important nations of Europe and, indeed, of the whole Western world. It lies near the western end of the great Eurasian landmass, largely between latitudes 42° and 51° N, and covers a total area of 210,026 square miles (543,965 square kilometres). The capital is Paris. Roughly hexagonal in outline, its continental

Bacillite

2005-01-22T22:11:00.000-08:00

In geology, a type of crystallite (q.v.).

Earthquake, TokyoYokohama

2005-01-22T09:02:00.000-08:00

A great earthquake struck the Tokyo–Yokohama metropolitan area near noon on Sept. 1, 1923. The death toll from this shock was estimated at more than 140,000. Fifty-four percent of the brick buildings and 10 percent of the reinforced concrete structures collapsed. Many hundreds of thousands of houses were either shaken down or burned. The shock started a tsunami that reached a height

Columbia Encyclopedia

2005-01-21T00:20:00.000-08:00

First published in 1935 and continuing its indirect but important relationship with Columbia University, the encyclopaedia underwent major revisions in 1950 and 1963. The fourth edition (1975), with the present title, met a crucial

Pachymeres, George

2005-01-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

Upon the fall in 1262 of the Latin Eastern Empire and the return of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus, Pachymeres went to Constantinople and was ordained to the

Narcotic

2005-01-19T02:05:00.000-08:00

The main therapeutic use of narcotics is for pain relief, and hence they are often called narcotic analgesics. The best-known narcotics are the opiates—i.e., compounds

Cordial

2005-01-17T13:43:00.000-08:00

A liqueur (q.v.); though the term cordial was formerly used for only those liqueurs that were thought to have a tonic or stimulating quality due to the medicinal components of their flavourings, the terms cordial and liqueur are now used interchangeably.

Vesalius, Andreas

2005-01-17T11:05:00.000-08:00

(Latin), Flemish Andries Van Wesel Renaissance Flemish physician who revolutionized the study of biology and the practice of medicine by his careful description of the anatomy of the human body. Basing his observations on dissections he made himself, he wrote and

Transpacific Race

2005-01-16T08:58:00.000-08:00

Also called Honolulu Race, one of the world's oldest major ocean races for sailing yachts, a 2,225-mile (3,580-kilometre) event run from various California harbours to Honolulu, Hawaii. It was first held in 1906 and made a biennial event in 1939 to alternate with the Bermuda Race. Since 1941 the race has been from San Pedro, Calif. (Los Angeles' harbour), to Diamond Head Buoy, off Honolulu. Since the course is mostly downwind and

Silicic Acid

2005-01-15T15:15:00.000-08:00

A compound of silicon, oxygen, and hydrogen, regarded as the parent substance from which is derived a large family—the silicates—of minerals, salts, and esters. The acid itself, having the formula Si(OH)4, can be prepared only as an unstable solution in water; its molecules readily condense with one another to form water and polymeric chains, rings, sheets, or three-dimensional

Tientsin

2005-01-14T07:37:00.000-08:00

Central Tientsin (the municipality's urban core)

Black Lung

2005-01-12T19:06:00.000-08:00

Also called Black-lung Disease, or Coal-workers' Pneumoconiosis, respiratory disorder, a type of pneumoconiosis caused by repeated inhalation of coal dust over a period of years. The disease gets its name from a distinctive blue-black marbling of the lung caused by accumulation of the dust. Georgius Agricola, a German mineralogist, first described lung disease in coal miners in the 16th century, and it is now widely recognized. It

Dandakaranya

2005-01-12T16:28:00.000-08:00

Physical region in east-central India. Extending over an area of about 35,600 square miles (92,300 square km), it includes the Abujhmar Hills in the west and borders the Eastern Ghats in the east. The Dandakaranya includes parts of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh states. It has dimensions of about 200 miles (320 km) from north to south and about 300 miles (480 km) from east to west. The region derives

Stone, Fred (andrew)

2005-01-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

Stone was raised in Topeka, Kan., making his stage debut there at age 11, and soon joined his brother on tour with a number of small circuses. In the 1890s he teamed up with Dave Montgomery and together they toured in vaudeville and minstrel shows before appearing in their first Broadway

France, History Of, The Consulate

2005-01-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

The “revisionists” who engineered the Brumaire coup intended to create a strong, elitist government that would curb the republic's political turmoil and guarantee the conquests of 1789. They had in mind what might be called a senatorial oligarchy rather than a personal dictatorship. General Bonaparte, however, advocated a more drastic concentration of power. Within

Sokoto

2005-01-08T10:12:00.000-08:00

Sokoto was only a small village when selected to be the military headquarters

Chasing

2005-01-06T06:56:00.000-08:00

Metalwork technique used to define or refine the forms of a surface design and to bring them to the height of relief required. The metal is worked from the front by hammering with various tools that raise, depress, or push aside the metal without removing any from the surface (except when the term chasing, instead of the more appropriate term chiselling, is used to describe

Haddonfield

2005-01-04T22:51:00.000-08:00

Borough (town), Camden county, southwestern New Jersey, U.S., a southeastern suburb of Camden. First settled by Francis Collins in 1682, it was later named by Elizabeth Haddon, an English Quaker girl who settled there about 1701. The story of her romance with a Quaker missionary, John Estaugh, is told by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863). She lived to be 82, and her personal

Goulburn Islands

2005-01-03T09:55:00.000-08:00

Group of islands in the Arafura Sea off the northern coast of Arnhem Land in Northern Territory, Australia. They comprise South Goulburn Island (30 square miles [78 square km]), lying 2 miles (3 km) offshore across Macquarie Strait; North Goulburn Island (14 square miles [36 square km]), 10 miles (16 km) offshore; and some small sandy islets. Perhaps sighted in 1644 by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman,

Cancellaresca Corsiva

2005-01-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

Also called cancellaresca, littera da brevi , or chancery cursive in calligraphy, script that in the 16th century became the vehicle of the New Learning throughout Christendom. It developed during the preceding century out of the antica corsiva, which had been perfected by the scribes of the papal chancery. As written by the calligrapher and printer Lodovico degli Arrighi of Vicenza in the early decades of the 16th century, the cancellaresca

Gall, Saint

2005-01-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

Educated at the monastery of Bangor (in present-day North Down district, N.Ire.), Gall became a disciple of St. Columban and joined him on a mission to France. When Columban proceeded to Italy, Gall remained with the semipagan Alemanni,

Mitford, Jessica

2005-01-01T07:42:00.000-08:00

The fifth daughter of the 2nd Baron Redesdale, Mitford grew up in England with her brother and five sisters, one of whom was the novelist Nancy Mitford. She moved to the United States in 1939, became

Placental Mammal

2004-12-31T08:23:00.000-08:00

Any member of the mammalian infraclass Eutheria, characterized by the presence of a placenta, which facilitates exchange of nutrients and wastes between the blood of the mother and that of the fetus. The infraclass Eutheria includes all living mammals except marsupials and monotremes. Some authorities consider the marsupials (infraclass Metatheria) to be placental

Bonaparte, (marie-)pauline

2004-12-30T05:05:00.000-08:00

She married Gen. C.V.E. Leclerc (1772–1802), a staff officer of Napoleon, in 1797 and accompanied him to San Domingo. When Leclerc died of yellow fever she returned to Paris. She then married Prince Camillo Borghese (Nov. 6, 1803) and went with him to Rome, but soon tired of him,

Cytosine

2004-12-29T02:53:00.000-08:00

Cytosine is one of several types of bases that are incorporated into the nucleic acid molecule. Nucleic acids are composed of

Alamogordo

2004-12-27T23:21:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1899) of Otero county, southern New Mexico, U.S. It lies at the western base of the Sacramento Mountains and east of the Tularosa Basin. Founded by John A. and Charles B. Eddy in 1898 and named for its large cottonwood trees (Spanish: alamo “cottonwood,” gordo “fat”), it became a division point on the Southern Pacific Railroad and developed as a lumber town and agricultural-market

Jerusalem, Siegfried

2004-12-27T22:33:00.000-08:00

Siegfried Jerusalem's name and voice were both well suited to a Wagnerian heldentenor. Strong, clear, and expressive, with a slight vibrato to give it richness, his voice was, Jerusalem believed, perfect for the role of Siegmund in Die Walküre. He also was praised for his effortless phrasing and seductive tone. In addition, Jerusalem had the good looks and athletic build

Israel, Cultural institutions

2004-12-25T21:45:00.000-08:00

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

Aguilar, Grace

2004-12-25T05:05:00.000-08:00

Aguilar was the daughter of Sephardic Jews. She was tutored in the classics at home and (even in adulthood) was not permitted to move outside

Mcpherson Range

2004-12-24T11:08:00.000-08:00

Mountain range, eastern spur of the Great Dividing Range, eastern Australia; its crest constitutes the Queensland–New South Wales border from Point Danger to Wallangara (140 miles [225 km]). Occupying a well-dissected and rainforest-covered region, the range rises to its highest point at West Barney Peak, 4,459 feet (1,359 m). In 1770 the British navigator Captain James Cook sighted the range

Disney, Walt

2004-12-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

Byname of Walter Elias Disney American motion-picture and television producer and showman, famous as a pioneer of animated cartoon films and as the creator of such cartoon characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. He also planned and built Disneyland, a huge amusement park that opened near Los Angeles in 1955, and before his death he

Chagall, Marc

2004-12-22T02:33:00.000-08:00

Belorussian-born French painter, printmaker, and designer. He composed his images based on emotional and poetic associations, rather than on rules of pictorial logic. Predating Surrealism, his early works, such as I and the Village (1911), were among the first expressions of

Protein, Protamines and histones

2004-12-21T11:43:00.000-08:00

Protamines are found in the sperm cells of fish. The most thoroughly investigated protamines are salmine from salmon sperm and clupeine from herring sperm. The protamines are bound to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), forming nucleoprotamines. The amino acid composition of the protamines is simple; they contain, in addition to large amounts of arginine, small amounts

Spain

2004-12-20T18:13:00.000-08:00

Officially Kingdom of Spain , Spanish España or Reino de España country located in the extreme southwest of the European continent. It occupies about 85 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with its smaller neighbour, Portugal. Spain is bordered on the west by Portugal; in the northeast it borders France, from which it is separated by the tiny principality of Andorra and by the great wall of the Pyrenees Mountains. Spain's

Kiribati

2004-12-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Kiribati island country in the central Pacific Ocean. Of its 33 islands, only 20 are inhabited. The population is concentrated in the 16 Gilbert Islands, which straddle the Equator. From the Gilbert Islands, Kiribati extends 250 miles (400 km) to the west to Banaba (formerly Ocean Island) and 1,800 miles to the east, to the Line Islands, three of which are inhabited. In between lie the islands of the Phoenix

Cinerama

2004-12-18T22:41:00.000-08:00

In motion pictures, a process in which three synchronized movie projectors each project one-third of the picture on a wide, curving screen. Many viewers believe that the screen, which thus annexes their entire field of vision, gives a sense of reality unmatched by the flat screen. Invented by the New York City photographer Fred Waller, the first Cinerama movie, This

Anne Of Brittany

2004-12-17T16:34:00.000-08:00

Daughter of Duke Francis II of Brittany and Margaret of Foix, Anne succeeded to her father's duchy on Sept. 9, 1488. The future of the duchy depended on her marriage. In desperation Anne allied herself with

Puertollano

2004-12-16T11:33:00.000-08:00

City, Ciudad Real provincia, in the autonomous community (region) of Castile-La Mancha, south central Spain, just south-southwest of Ciudad Real city. Located on the Madrid–Ciudad Real–Mérida railway with rich coal, iron, lead, manganese, and copper pyrite mines in the vicinity, Puertollano's population has tripled in the 20th century. The mines form the basis of important

Syria

2004-12-14T16:40:00.000-08:00

Officially Syrian Arab Republic , Arabic Suriyah , or al-Jumhuriyah al-'Arabiyah as-Suriyah country located on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea on the southwestern fringe of the Asian continent. It has an area of approximately 71,500 square miles (185,180 square kilometres), including territory in the Golan Heights that has been occupied by Israel since 1967. It is bounded by Turkey to the north, by Iraq to the east and southeast, by Jordan to the south, and by Lebanon and

Termier, Henri-françois-émile

2004-12-14T04:47:00.000-08:00

Termier was a geologist for the Morocco Mine Service from 1925 until 1940, when he became head of the Morocco Geological Service; in 1945 he became a professor at the University of Algiers and in 1955 joined the Sorbonne, where he became the chairman

SlowGrass

Indo-european Languages

Adam, Adolphe

Astoria

Earth Sciences, Paleontology and stratigraphy

Insurance, Government regulation

Gnome

Sam Saen Thai

East Australian Current

Vendsyssel-thy

Gabon, History Of

Nichiren

Field Trial

Maurice, Furnley

San Justo

Antibiotic

France, History Of, The failure of reunification (613714)

Angola, Resources

Eden, Garden Of

Atisa

Terengganu

Tale Of Genji, The

Crocoite

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Vulci

Antiparticle

Andaman And Nicobar Islands, History

Beast Fable

Aufklärung

Sayat-nova

China, The armed forces

Cambridge

Ibn Wahshiyah

Hooks, Bell

Vaccinium

Soissons, Charles De Bourbon, Count (comte) De

Limassol

Bulgaria, Slavic invasions

Cateau-cambrésis, Peace Of

Isaac

Yü Ta-fu

Curepipe

Kahn, Albert

La Calprenède, Gaultier De Coste, Seigneur De

Hoopoe

La Calprenède, Gaultier De Coste, Seigneur De

Ejido

Tercet

Andrade, Mário Pinto De

Irrawaddy River

Antarctica

Gulf Series

Gray, Harold (lincoln)

Brialmont, Henri-alexis

Aurangzeb

Trabzon

Force

Biblical Literature, The Catholic Letters

Toch, Ernst

Ancient Rome

Tunnels And Underground Excavations, Basic tunneling system

France

Bacillite

Earthquake, TokyoYokohama

Columbia Encyclopedia

Pachymeres, George

Narcotic

Cordial

Vesalius, Andreas

Transpacific Race

Silicic Acid

Tientsin

Black Lung

Dandakaranya

Stone, Fred (andrew)

France, History Of, The Consulate

Sokoto

Chasing

Haddonfield

Goulburn Islands

France, History Of, The failure of reunification (613714)

Earthquake, TokyoYokohama