DarkEgg

Avidius Cassius, Gaius

2005-04-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

The son of a high civil servant of the emperor Hadrian (ruled 117–138), Avidius directed operations in Rome's war against the Parthians (161–165). In 164–165 Avidius advanced into Mesopotamia and then sacked Ctesiphon, Parthia's capital, and Seleucia—both located in present-day central Iraq. Soon he was made commander of all Roman military

Narai

2005-04-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

Narai was a son of King Prasat Thong by a queen who was a daughter of King Song Tham, and he came to the throne after violent palace upheavals had cut short the reigns of his elder brother and his uncle.

Anawrahta

2005-04-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

During his reign Anawrahta united the northern homeland of the Burmese people with the Mon kingdoms of the south. He extended his dominion as far north as the kingdom

Arnhem

2005-04-03T16:04:00.000-07:00

German Arnheim, gemeente (municipality) and capital (1794), Gelderland provincie (province), eastern Netherlands, on the north bank of the Lower Rhine (Neder Rijn) River. Possibly the site of the Roman settlement of Arenacum, it was first mentioned in 893. Chartered and fortified in 1233 by Otto II, count of Geldern, it joined the Hanseatic League in 1443. As the residence of the dukes of Geldern, it was often

Avidius Cassius, Gaius

2005-04-02T08:52:00.000-08:00

Zokors are medium-sized rodents weighing from 150 to 560 grams

Robert The Strong

2005-04-02T02:22:00.000-08:00

Count of various regions between the Seine and Loire rivers, Robert served the Carolingian king of France Charles II the Bald and, by his bold and inspiring military leadership, succeeded in checking the depredations of the Northmen who were laying waste the settlements near the Loire. A great victory

Vienna, Siege Of

2005-04-01T07:59:00.000-08:00

The leader of the Hungarian Calvinists, Imre Thököly, appealed to the Turkish grand vizier, Kara Mustafa, to attack

Tabes Dorsalis

2005-04-01T04:27:00.000-08:00

, also called Progressive Locomotor Ataxia, rare neurologic form of tertiary syphilis, involving sensory deficits, loss of neuromuscular coordination, and diminished reflexes. Symptoms of this form of neurosyphilis chiefly affect the legs and may not appear for more than 25 years after the initial infection. Untreated, tabes dorsalis usually makes unassisted walking impossible and severely debilitates

San Francisco, Exploration and early settlement

2005-03-31T00:50:00.000-08:00

It is extraordinary that the site of San Francisco should have been explored first by land instead of from the sea, for San Francisco Bay is one of the most splendid natural harbours of the world, yet great captains and explorers—Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (1542–43), Sir Francis Drake (1579), and Sebastián Vizcaíno (1602)—sailed unheeding past the entrance. In 1769 a scouting party from an expedition

Iligan

2005-03-30T08:39:00.000-08:00

City, northern Mindanao, Philippines. On the southeastern shore of Iligan Bay, it is the island's major industrial city and an important port at the mouth of the Iligan River. Its growth has stemmed largely from the proximity of the Agus River, with its great hydropower potential harnessed at Maria Cristina Falls. Industries include steel, calcium-carbide, and ferroalloy

North Germanic Languages, Phonology

2005-03-29T23:06:00.000-08:00

Pitch is usually high on the stressed syllable, falling at the end of a statement,

Bucareli Y Ursúa, Antonio María

2005-03-29T02:42:00.000-08:00

Bucareli began his military career as a soldier for Spain in Italy, where he attained

China, KMT opposition to radicals

2005-03-28T19:15:00.000-08:00

The two parties competed for direction of nationalist policy, control of mass organizations, and recruitment of new members. Under Comintern coaching, the Communist strategy was to try to split the KMT, drive out its conservative members, and turn it to an ever more radical course. In August 1925, KMT conservatives in Canton tried to stop the leftward trend. One of the strongest

Torbay

2005-03-27T08:43:00.000-08:00

Unitary authority, geographic and historic county of Devon, England, on the English Channel coast. It comprises three old towns—Torquay, Paignton, and Brixham—grouped around Tor Bay. A village existed at Torre before the foundation of a Premonstratensian abbey in 1196. Cockington Court (Elizabethan and later) and its estate are part of the municipal park system. Torbay's

Rye

2005-03-26T11:31:00.000-08:00

(species Secale cereale), cereal grass and its edible grain that is used to make rye bread and rye whiskey. The plant grows to a height of 1 to 2 m (4 to 6 feet) and has spikes composed of two or more spikelets bearing florets that develop one-seeded fruits, or grains. Rye cultivation probably originated in southwestern Asia about 6500 BC, migrating westward across the Balkan Peninsula

Sacchi, Andrea

2005-03-26T01:21:00.000-08:00

His Bolognese training gave him an initial

Calarcá

2005-03-25T01:46:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern Quindío department, Colombia, on the western slopes of the Andean Cordillera (mountains) Central, at 5,039 ft (1,536 m) above sea level. Like neighbouring Armenia, the departmental capital, it is an important coffee-growing centre. Calarcá is on the major highway that crosses the Boquerón (pass) del Quindío to Ibagué, capital of Tolima department. Pop. (1973) city, 32,533; mun., 54,658.

Hanafuda

2005-03-24T23:12:00.000-08:00

Hanafuda evolved after the Portuguese had brought Western cards to Japan in the 17th century. Hanafuda bear no numbers

Devrient, Ludwig

2005-03-24T21:13:00.000-08:00

Born to a family of wholesale drapers,

Animal Interlace

2005-03-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

In calligraphy, rich, fanciful decorative motif characteristic of work by the Hiberno-Saxon book artists of the early Middle Ages in the British Isles. Its intertwined, fantastic animal and bird forms are often densely and minutely detailed—an example in the Book of Kells (c. 800) contains 158 interlacements in a space of 0.25 square inch (1.61 square cm). Another work of comparable stylistic

Race

2005-03-23T14:02:00.000-08:00

Race as a categorizing term referring to human beings was first used in the English language in the late 16th century. Until the 18th century, it had a generalized meaning similar to other classifying terms such as type, sort, or kind. Occasional literature of Shakespeare's time referred to a “race of saints,” or “a race of bishops.” Some historians have speculated that the English

Cubism

2005-03-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

Highly influential visual arts style of the 20th century that was created principally by the artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque in Paris between 1907 and 1914. The Cubist style emphasized the flat, two-dimensional surface of the picture plane, rejecting the traditional techniques of perspective, foreshortening, modeling, and chiaroscuro, and refuting time-honoured

Argonaut

2005-03-22T02:33:00.000-08:00

The Golden Fleece had originated

Cohenite

2005-03-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

The mineral iron and nickel carbide [(Fe,Ni)3C] that occurs as an accessory constituent of several iron meteorites, of all coarse octahedrites containing 7 percent or less nickel, and of at least one stony meteorite, an enstatite chondrite. Cohenite closely resembles the meteoritic mineral schreibersite, and it may be more common in meteorites than is supposed. When

Cologne, University Of

2005-03-20T17:39:00.000-08:00

The University of Cologne was abolished by the French in 1798 after they had occupied Cologne. The university was refounded in 1919 as an autonomous,

Deffand, Marie De Vichy-chamrond, Marquise Du

2005-03-20T00:35:00.000-08:00

She was born of a noble family, educated at a convent in Paris, and married at 21 to her kinsman Jean-Baptiste de La Lande, Marquis du Deffand, from whom she separated in 1722. She was by that time taking part in the extremely dissipated life that characterized the entourage of the

Burdwan

2005-03-19T00:41:00.000-08:00

Also called Bardhaman, or Barddhaman, city, central West Bengal state, northeastern India. The city is a major communications centre lying astride the Banka River just north of the Damodar River. Rice and oilseed milling and hosiery, cutlery, and tool manufacturing are the chief industries. Of historic interest are the Rajbari (the maharaja's palace and gardens), several ancient Muslim tombs, and 108 Siva linga,

Hooper, Franklin Henry

2005-03-18T21:03:00.000-08:00

In 1899 Hooper joined the staff of the Britannica, in which his brother Horace, James Clarke, and others had acquired an interest. Franklin Hooper was connected with five editions of the Britannica in the ensuing

West Bengal

2005-03-18T18:25:00.000-08:00

State of India. It is located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bounded on the north by Bhutan and the state of Sikkim, on the east by Bangladesh, on the northeast by the state of Assam, on the south by the Bay of Bengal, on the southwest by the state of Orissa, on the northwest by Nepal, and on the west by the state of Bihar. Its area is 34,267 square miles (88,752 square kilometres). Although

Theodebert I

2005-03-17T10:24:00.000-08:00

A proven soldier before he came to the throne, Theodebert exploited the war in Italy between Byzantium and the Ostrogoths to gain extensive territory in the Alpine regions and the northeast of the peninsula, though most of this was lost

Houtman, Cornelis And Frederik De

2005-03-16T05:08:00.000-08:00

Cornelis and Frederick were sent to Lisbon in 1592 as commercial representatives of nine Dutch merchants. The brothers were imprisoned by the Portuguese

Sorb

2005-03-16T00:04:00.000-08:00

German Sorben, any member of a Slavic minority living in eastern Germany. The Sorbs are concentrated in the Spree River valley, in the area of Bautzen (Budyšin) and Cottbus. This area was part of the traditional region of Lusatia (q.v.), whose history is intimately bound up with the Sorbs. The Sorbs are descendants of two small Slavic tribes, the Luzici and the Milcani, who were subgroups of the

Arts, South Asian, Chant intonation

2005-03-15T16:13:00.000-08:00

The chanting of the Rigveda and Yajurveda shows, with some exceptions, a direct correlation with the grammar of the Vedic language. As in ancient Greek, the original Vedic language was accented, with the location of the accent often having a bearing on the meaning of the word. In the development of the Vedic language to Classical Sanskrit, the original accent was replaced

Price Maintenance

2005-03-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

Also called resale price maintenance measures taken by manufacturers or distributors to control the resale prices of their products charged by resellers. The practice is more effective in retail sales than at other levels of marketing. Only a few types of goods have come under such controls, the leading examples being drugs and pharmaceuticals, books, photographic supplies, liquors, miscellaneous

Vischer Family

2005-03-13T06:03:00.000-08:00

Sculptors and brass founders working in Nürnberg in the 15th and 16th centuries. Hermann the Elder (d. Jan. 13, 1488) established the foundry. His son Peter the Elder (1460–1529) was the most celebrated member of the family, producing monumental brasswork and bronzework that attracted patrons from as far off as Poland and Hungary. Works by Peter, who was assisted by his five sons, include the tomb

Essen

2005-03-13T04:36:00.000-08:00

City, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany, between the Rhine-Herne Canal and the Ruhr River. It was originally the seat of an aristocratic convent (founded 852), still represented by the cathedral (the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop), completed in the 15th century. In the suburb of Werden, the abbey church was founded in 796 as part of a monastery. The convent and the

Jacksonville

2005-03-12T21:21:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1822) of Duval county, northeastern Florida, U.S., the centre of Florida's “First Coast” region. It lies along the St. Johns River near its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean, about 25 miles (40 km) south of the Georgia border. Jacksonville consolidated (1968) with most of Duval county and thereby became one of the nation's largest cities in area (841 square miles [2,178 square km]). The city is the focus of

Kagawa Kageki

2005-03-11T20:38:00.000-08:00

In 1796 he met Ozawa Roan, whose rejection of the

Nizhnekamsk

2005-03-11T02:32:00.000-08:00

City, Tatarstan, western Russia. It lies along the left bank of the Kama River, just southwest of Naberezhnye Chelny. It is an important petrochemical centre. Its synthetic-rubber plant, intended to become one of the world's largest, began operation in 1970. It also has a large tire plant and produces plastics. An oil refinery began operation there in 1979. Pop. (1995 est.) 209,500.

Zoo

2005-03-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

Also called Zoological Garden , or Zoological Park place where wild animals and, in some instances, domesticated animals are exhibited in captivity. In such an establishment animals can generally be given more intensive care than is possible in nature reserves or sanctuaries. Most long-established zoos exhibit general collections of animals, but some formed more recently specialize in particular groups—e.g.,

Haberler, Gottfried Von

2005-03-09T23:59:00.000-08:00

Austrian-born U.S. economist and educator (b. July 20, 1900, Purkersdorf, Austria--d. May 6, 1995, Washington, D.C.), was an expert on international trade and a staunch advocate of free-market principles. Haberler was educated (B.A., 1923; Ph.D., 1925) at the University of Vienna, where he adopted an "Austrian" school of thought that was identified with a generation of top economists who attended that university.

Furniture, Modern

2005-03-09T18:57:00.000-08:00

After World War I, the Bauhaus school in Germany became a creative centre for entirely revolutionary thinking, resulting, for example, in tubular steel chairs designed by the architects Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and others. During World War II, the aircraft industry accelerated the development of laminated wood and molded plastic furniture. The dominant

Alaska, Agriculture

2005-03-08T15:15:00.000-08:00

Only a small sector of Alaska's economy is agricultural, but a viable in-state market is still under development. More than 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) of tillable land are available for farming, but much clearing has yet to be done. Most acreage is near Anchorage and on the Kenai Peninsula, though there is some near Fairbanks, and stock ranching is practiced on Kodiak

Guinea-bissau, Relief

2005-03-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

The coastal area is demarcated by a dense

Bohol

2005-03-07T02:48:00.000-08:00

Island, Visayan group, south-central Philippines. Roughly oval in shape, the island has an area of 1,492 square miles (3,865 square km) and lies between the Camotes Sea (north) and the Bohol Sea (south). Its volcanic core is mostly covered with coralline limestone. The rivers are short, and there are few good anchorages. Settlement is mainly coastal, except for a low central plateau that

Pacific Islands, Climate

2005-03-06T23:03:00.000-08:00

To describe the climate as tropical and oceanic is to stress the influence of the lower latitudes and the tremendous expanse of the sea. Humidity and temperature tend to be high and are generally uniform throughout the year. Regional differentiation in climate is linked principally to rainfall patterns. Here, factors of altitude and longitude, as well as latitude,

Earth, Determining the form of the geoid with Stokes's formula

2005-03-06T09:52:00.000-08:00

Where g is the local value of the acceleration due to gravity. The effect of mass

Argali

2005-03-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

(Ovis ammon), the largest living wild sheep, found in the highlands of eastern Central Asia. It may stand 1.3 m (4 feet) high at the shoulders and weigh more than 140 kg (300 pounds). Large horns, present in the rams, are especially massive in the Pamir argali, or Marco Polo sheep, in which they may be 1.8 m (6 feet) or more in length.

Pacific Islands, Climate

2005-03-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

International cooperative agency of Lutheran churches, organized at Lund, Swed., in 1947. It developed from the Lutheran World Convention, which held conventions in 1923, 1929, and 1935. The effectiveness of the Lutheran World Convention during the war years was hampered because it had no constitution or defined organization. At the Lund conference in 1947 the Lutheran World Convention

Puertollano

2005-03-03T17:24:00.000-08:00

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

Jewish Agency

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

Zionists needed financial backing for their project of creating a Jewish national home in Palestine. The Jewish Agency became an external arm of

Arenig Series

2005-03-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

Also called Arenigian Series, the second of six divisions (in ascending order) constituting the Ordovician System, representing all those rocks deposited worldwide during the Arenigian Age (488 to 478 million years ago). The series' name is derived from the Arenig mountains in Gwynedd county in North Wales, which serve as the type area in Great Britain for rocks of this age. Welsh rock strata belonging

Teens

2005-03-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

The years 13 to 19 in the human life span, a period roughly equivalent to adolescence (q.v.).

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Fable

2005-03-02T02:18:00.000-08:00

Fable and parable are short, simple forms of naive allegory. The fable is usually a tale about animals who are personified and behave as though they were humans (see photograph). The device of personification is also extended to trees, winds, streams, stones, and other natural objects. The earliest of these tales also included humans and gods as characters, but fable tends

Croesus

2005-02-28T02:54:00.000-08:00

A member of the Mermnad dynasty, Croesus succeeded to the throne of his father, Alyattes, after a struggle with his half brother. Croesus is said to have acted as viceroy and commander in

Spondylolisthesis

2005-02-27T13:10:00.000-08:00

Forward slipping of the body of one of the lumbar (lower back) vertebrae on the subjacent vertebra or on the sacrum, the triangular bone at the base of the spinal column. The condition is often associated with incompleteness of the vertebral arch, which surrounds the spinal cord. Pressure transmitted to the arch from above encourages slippage. Deformity (lordosis)

61 Cygni

2005-02-27T00:51:00.000-08:00

First star whose distance from Earth (about 11 light-years) was measured (by Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel in 1838). The star is a visual binary the components of which revolve around each other in a period of about 650 years. They are of fifth and sixth magnitudes. Regular variations in the motion of the brighter component may indicate the presence of an invisible companion with about

Ike Taiga

2005-02-26T09:30:00.000-08:00

The son of a farmer, Ike was taught

Mckeesport

2005-02-26T03:29:00.000-08:00

City, Allegheny county, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S. It is situated at the junction of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers, 14 miles (23 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. First settled about 1769 by David McKee, a ferry operator, the town was laid out in 1795 by his son John. In 1794 it was a centre of dissident activity during the Whiskey Rebellion (an insurrection against an excise tax on

Sasolburg

2005-02-25T16:22:00.000-08:00

Town, northern Free State province, South Africa, south of Johannesburg. Established in 1954, it was built by Sasol Ltd. (the former South African Coal, Oil, and Gas Corporation Ltd.) to house employees at the world's first oil-from-coal plant producing commercial quantities of oil. The location was selected for its proximity to large coal deposits, the Vaal River, and the Witwatersrand

Shilling

2005-02-24T07:09:00.000-08:00

Former English (and British) coin, nominally valued at one-twentieth of a pound sterling, or 12 pence. A silver coin of 12 pence, called a teston, or testoon, was first struck in 1504, bearing a profile likeness of Henry VII and engraved by Alexander Bruchsal. This coin was continued by Henry VIII and was renamed the shilling during the succeeding reign of Edward VI. (The direct origin

Actinomyxidian

2005-02-24T05:53:00.000-08:00

Also called Actinosporean, any parasitic microorganism of the class Actinomyxidia (Actinosporea), phylum Myxosporidia (Myxospora). It inhabits the alimentary canal of certain aquatic worms. The characteristic spores develop in the host's gut after the union of large and small gametes. The spores contain three polar filaments (possibly anchoring devices) enclosed in capsules and one to many

Brianchon, Charles-julien

2005-02-23T13:54:00.000-08:00

In 1804 Brianchon entered the École Polytechnique in Paris, where

Urubamba River

2005-02-22T20:26:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río Urubamba, river in the Amazon drainage system, rising in the Andes of southern Peru, near the border between Cuzco and Puno departamentos. It flows for about 450 miles (725 km) to its junction with the Apurímac, where it forms the Ucayali. The upper part of the Urubamba, there called the Vilcanota, flows past the towns of Sicuani, Urcos, and Urubamba and is densely settled by Indian farmers.

Russell, John Scott

2005-02-22T20:20:00.000-08:00

A graduate of the University of Glasgow (at age 16), Russell became professor of natural philosophy in 1832 at the University of Edinburgh, where he first began his research into the nature of water

Arts, Islamic, Stringed instruments

2005-02-21T05:20:00.000-08:00

Chordophones, or stringed instruments, constitute the most important family. The favourite instrument of Islamic classical music is the 'ud, a short-necked lute having four or five strings and resembling the Western lute, which derived from the 'ud. In addition to holding musical supremacy, it was important in medieval theoretical and cosmological speculations. It

Indiana

2005-02-20T14:30:00.000-08:00

Indiana

Arts, Central Asian, Tashtyk tribe

2005-02-20T14:16:00.000-08:00

On the Yenisey River the Bronze Age Tagar culture was replaced by the Tashtyk culture, dating from the 1st to the 4th century AD. The physical appearance of the Tashtyk people has been preserved by a seriesof masks, some of them modelled, others cast from the dead. They were painted with the features rendered in blue, red, and green against a yellow ground. Spirals disposed

Latin America

2005-02-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

The countries of South America and North America (including Central America and the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants speak a Romance language. Most frequently the term Latin America is restricted to countries whose inhabitants speak either Spanish or Portuguese, but the French-speaking areas of Haiti, French Guiana, and the French West Indies may also

Baladhuri, Al-

2005-02-18T22:37:00.000-08:00

Al-Baladhuri lived most of his life in Baghdad and studied there and in Syria. He was for some time a favoured visitor at the Baghdad court of the 'Abbasid caliphs. His chief extant work, a condensation of a longer history, Futuh al-buldan (The Origins of the Islamic State, 1916, 1924), tells of the wars and

Frederick V

2005-02-18T17:40:00.000-08:00

After receiving a French education, Frederick succeeded his father, the elector Frederick IV, in 1610. When the Protestant Bohemian estates revolted against the Catholic

Steelyard, Merchants Of The

2005-02-17T01:04:00.000-08:00

In the later Middle Ages, members of the Hanseatic League, an association of north German towns, who resided at its London establishment, known as the Steelyard (probably from Low German stâlgard, a courtyard). German merchants from Cologne had enjoyed privileges in London from Anglo-Saxon times, and by the late 13th century had been joined there by others from east German

Economic Warfare

2005-02-16T07:05:00.000-08:00

The use of, or the threat to use, economic means against a country in order to weaken its economy and thereby reduce its political and military power. Economic warfare also includes the use of economic means to compel an adversary to change its policies or behaviour or to undermine its ability to conduct normal relations with other countries. Some common means of

Irish Language

2005-02-15T13:15:00.000-08:00

Grammatically, Irish still has a case system, like Latin or German, with four cases to show differing functions of nouns and pronouns in a sentence. In phonology

Balassi, Bálint

2005-02-15T10:24:00.000-08:00

Balassi was born into one of the richest Protestant families of the country and lived an adventurous life, fighting against the Turks and against his own relatives, who sought to despoil him of his heritage.

Marsh

2005-02-14T17:15:00.000-08:00

Marshes are common at the mouths of rivers, especially where extensive deltas have been built. The river brings a steady supply of water. The gradient

Roman-dutch Law

2005-02-13T03:05:00.000-08:00

A system of law that existed in the Netherlands' province of Holland from the 15th to the 19th century. Introduced by the Dutch into their colonies, it was retained in those areas that passed to the British—i.e., the maritime districts of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), the Cape of Good Hope, and the settlements on the coast of South America that made up British Guiana (now Guyana). In Ceylon

Cardiovascular Disease, Severe congestive heart failure

2005-02-12T18:22:00.000-08:00

Heart failure may become totally disabling, with severe respiratory distress and inability to lie flat and to exercise. Gross edema including abnormal amounts of fluid in the abdomen (ascites) and in the chest cavity (hydrothorax) is present. When such circumstances are prolonged, general body deterioration may develop, with various secondary effects, such as appetite

Mughal Glass

2005-02-12T05:05:00.000-08:00

Bottles, hookah bowls, dishes, and spittoons

Gaines's Mill, Battle Of

2005-02-12T01:37:00.000-08:00

In the American Civil War, one of the Seven Days' Battles, which ended the Peninsular Campaign. See Cold Harbor, battles of.

Vent, îles Du

2005-02-10T21:49:00.000-08:00

English Windward Group eastern group of islands within the Society Islands, French Polynesia, in the central South Pacific. The group is composed of volcanic islands surrounded by coral reefs. The far larger Tahiti and Moorea (qq.v.) lie at the centre of the group. Maiao, covering about 3 square miles (8 square km) and located some 60 miles (95 km) west of Tahiti, is sparsely populated and is cultivated for

Beaconsfield

2005-02-10T07:29:00.000-08:00

The wide main street of the old town of Beaconsfield, bordered by 18th-century houses, contrasts with the modern town, in which commuters to London—28 miles (39 km) to the southeast—reside. Beaconsfield was adopted by Benjamin Disraeli, the 19th-century British

Baraita

2005-02-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Baraitha (Hebrew: “Outside Teaching,” or “Exclusion”), plural Baraitot, Baraitoth, or Baraithoth, any of the ancient oral traditions of Jewish religious law that were not included in the Mishna (the first authoritative codification of such laws). The Baraitot that are found dispersed singly throughout the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds are often recognizable by such introductory words as “it was taught” or “the rabbi taught.” Other Baraitot are found in independent

Saint Andrews

2005-02-07T09:08:00.000-08:00

City, royal burgh (1160), university town, golfing mecca, and former fishing port in Fife council area and historic county, Scotland. Located on St. Andrews Bay of the North Sea 13 miles (20 km) southeast of Dundee, it occupies a plateau of sandstone rock about 50 feet (15 metres) in elevation, which breaks off to the north in precipitous cliffs. The Eden River enters St. Andrews Bay northwest

Tea And Coffee Service

2005-02-07T03:50:00.000-08:00

Set of vessels and implements for making and serving tea and coffee, the items often of matched design. Elaborate 18th-century examples had tea and coffee pots, a milk or cream jug, a pair of tea caddies, a sugar bowl and pair of tongs, teaspoons and a small tray for them, a tea strainer, and cups and saucers. All of these were normally placed on a tray, while an urn or kettle on a separate

Soria

2005-02-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

Province, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Castile-León, north-central Spain. Formed from part of Old Castile in 1833, it has an area of 3,972 square miles (10,287 square km). The terrain is varied: to the north are the Moncayo and Urbión mountain ranges; in the centre, around Soria city, the provincial capital, is a flat plain watered by the Duero (Portuguese: Douro) River; and

Iron Processing

2005-02-06T01:07:00.000-08:00

Iron (Fe) is a relatively dense metal with a silvery white appearance and distinctive magnetic properties. It constitutes 5 percent by weight of the Earth's crust, and it is the

Norilsk

2005-02-05T02:33:00.000-08:00

City, Krasnoyarsk kray (region), central Russia, in the Rybnaya Valley amid the Putoran Mountains. Founded in 1935, Norilsk lies north of the Arctic Circle and is one of the world's leading producing centres for nickel and platinum. Copper is also mined. Power is supplied to Norilsk by hydroelectric plants on the Khantayka and Kureyka rivers, and natural gas is piped from northern

Nephelinite

2005-02-04T13:40:00.000-08:00

Silica-poor (basic) lava that contains nepheline and pyroxene and is usually completely crystallized. Despite its wide geographic distribution and occasional extensive local development, it is a very rare rock. Known only from Tertiary strata (about 2,500,000 to 65,000,000 years in age), nephelinites are abundant in the Canary Islands, the Azores, the Cape Verde Islands, and Isla Fernando

Hawes, Harriet Ann Boyd

2005-02-03T10:36:00.000-08:00

Harriet Boyd graduated from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1892; thereafter she taught ancient and modern languages for four years, first as a private tutor in Henderson, North Carolina, and then at a girls' school in Wilmington,

Vendée, Wars Of The

2005-02-02T02:09:00.000-08:00

(1793–96), counterrevolutionary insurrections in the west of France during the French Revolution. The first and most important occurred in 1793 in the area known as the Vendée, which included large sections of the départements of Loire-Inférieure (Loire-Atlantique), Maine-et-Loire, Deux-Sèvres, and the Vendée proper. In this fervently religious and economically backward region,

Venus, Plains deformation belts

2005-02-01T22:56:00.000-08:00

These features are similar in some respects to mountain belts, but they display lower relief and lie primarily in lowland areas such as Lavinia and Atalanta Planitae. Like the mountain belts, they may have formed by compression and uplift of the crust.

Epistemology, Knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description

2005-02-01T06:03:00.000-08:00

The distinction between knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description was introduced by Bertrand Russell in connection with his celebrated theory of descriptions. Here only the epistemological (as distinct from the logical) version of his theory will be considered. It was invented by Russell to lend support to the basic thesis of empiricism that all

Appliqué

2005-01-31T01:52:00.000-08:00

Sewing technique in which fabric patches are layered on a foundation fabric, then stitched in place by hand or machine with the raw edges turned under or covered with decorative stitching. From the French appliquer, “to put on,” appliqué is sometimes used to embellish clothing or household linens. Like patchwork (piecing), it is a method of constructing or embellishing

Berbera

2005-01-30T10:05:00.000-08:00

Port, northwestern Somalia, on the Gulf of Aden. It lies at the terminus of roads from the towns of Hargeysa and Burko and has an airport. Known during classical times and to Ibn Sa'id (d. 1286) and other early Arab geographers, Berbera was one of the Muslim settlements of the medieval state of Adal. It was sacked by the Portuguese in 1518 and occupied by the sharifs of Mocha in the 17th century,

Glacial Landform, Permafrost, patterned ground, solifluction deposits, and pingos

2005-01-30T07:39:00.000-08:00

Permafrost is ground that remains perennially frozen (see permafrost). It covers about 20–25 percent of the Earth's land surface today. The “active layer” of soil close to the surface of permafrost regions undergoes many seasonal and daily freeze-thaw cycles. The constant change in the volume of water tends to move the coarser particles in the soil to the surface. Further

Nicholas Of Verdun

2005-01-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

The altarpiece (1181) of the Abbey Church of Klosterneuburg, Austria, is his best known

Kathiawar Peninsula

2005-01-28T14:44:00.000-08:00

Peninsula in southwestern Gujarat state, west-central India. It is bounded by the Little Rann (marsh) of Kachchh (Kutch; north), the Gulf of Cambay (east), the Arabian Sea (southwest), and the Gulf of Kachchh (northwest). From the northeast an ancient sandstone formation extends into the peninsula, which has an area of 23,000 square miles (60,000 square km). Most of the sandstone, however, is masked

Liquid-drop Model

2005-01-28T06:58:00.000-08:00

In nuclear physics, description of atomic nuclei formulated (1936) by Niels Bohr and used (1939) by him and John A. Wheeler to explain nuclear fission. According to the model, the nucleons (neutrons and protons) behave like the molecules in a drop of liquid. If given sufficient extra energy (as by the absorption of a neutron), the spherical nucleus may be distorted into a dumbbell shape

Strange Particle

2005-01-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

Subatomic particle, either a meson or baryon, that contains a strange quark (q.v.).