FoolishHospital

Antarctica, The land

2005-04-05T08:13:00.000-07:00

Robert, Henry Martyn

2005-04-05T03:09:00.000-07:00

A graduate (1857) of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., Robert was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers and retired (1901) with the rank of brigadier general. During the Civil War (1861–65) he constructed defenses for Washington,

Latin Literature, The 12th to the 14th century

2005-04-04T06:21:00.000-07:00

The Carmina Burana (“Songs from Bavaria”), the largest and greatest collection of secular lyrics, comes from the Benediktbeuern, a Benedictine monastery in Bavaria. It was put together in the 13th century, though most of the songs are much older, and contains work by many of the finest poets of the age. The contents are divided by subject into moral and satirical verse, love

Akhmim

2005-04-03T23:15:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Ekhmin, town, Sawhaj muhafazah (governorate), Upper Egypt, on the east bank of the Nile, above Sawhaj on the west bank. Extensive necropolises dating from the 6th dynasty (c. 2345–c. 2181 BC) until the late Coptic period reveal the site's antiquity. In 1981 remains of a temple (Roman period) with Ramesside statues were excavated in the city. The name apparently derives from the pharaonic Khent-min and Coptic

Lowboy

2005-04-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

A small dressing table with four or six legs and two or three drawers, resembling in some ways the lower portion of a highboy (q.v.). Lowboy and highboy were often made to match. In the versions made until about 1750, the legs are joined by stretchers, but after that date they usually assume a cabriole shape.

Sanhedrin

2005-04-02T22:37:00.000-08:00

Also spelled sanhedrim any of several official Jewish councils in Palestine under Roman rule, to which various political, religious, and judicial functions have been attributed. Taken from the Greek word for council (synedrion), the term was apparently applied to various bodies but became especially the designation for the supreme Jewish legislative and judicial court—the Great

Wesel

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

Town, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), northwestern Germany. It lies along the Rhine and Lippe rivers and the Lippe-Seiten Canal, northwest of the Ruhr. Chartered in 1241, it joined the Hanseatic League in about 1350 and has long been an important trade and shipping point. It was also a traditional district capital and cultural centre of the border area of the lower Rhine. The

Rabih Az-zubayr

2005-04-01T02:11:00.000-08:00

Rabih was enslaved as a child and later enrolled in the military service of az-Zubayr Pasha, a Sudanese prince. Rabih was loyal and capable, and he rose to a position of command. When in 1878 az-Zubayr rebelled against the Egyptian administration of the Sudan,

Water Strider

2005-04-01T01:46:00.000-08:00

With their short front legs they capture insects that fall onto the water surface. In crowded conditions water striders

Amram Bar Sheshna

2005-03-30T06:13:00.000-08:00

Head of the Talmudic academy at Sura, Babylonia, traditionally regarded as the first Jewish authority to write a complete domestic and synagogal liturgy for the year, the Siddur Rav Amram (“Order of Prayers of Rabbi Amram”). Amram's work, forerunner in this field of those of Sa'adia ben Joseph and Maimonides, laid the foundations for the liturgies of both the Sephardim

Green Mountain Boys

2005-03-29T06:07:00.000-08:00

Patriot militia in the American Revolution. The Green Mountain Boys began in 1770 at present-day Bennington, Vermont, as an unauthorized militia organized to defend the property rights of local residents who had received land grants from New Hampshire. New York, which then claimed present-day Vermont, disputed New Hampshire's right to grant land west of the Green Mountains.

Sa'ib

2005-03-28T08:02:00.000-08:00

Sa'ib was educated in Esfahan, and in about 1626/27 he traveled to India, where he was received into the court of Shah Jahan. He stayed for a time in Kabul and in Kashmir, returning home after several years abroad. After his

Income Tax, International variations in rate structures

2005-03-27T20:05:00.000-08:00

Attention has already been called to several types of variations found in the income tax practices of different countries, mainly those relating to the determination of taxable income. Something should now be said about variations in rate structures. The important variants in these structures are (1) the starting point and levels of first-bracket rates, (2) the top

Nilo-saharan Languages, Word order

2005-03-27T11:15:00.000-08:00

As observed by Greenberg in his language typology work, the position of the verb relative to the subject or object is known to correspond, in statistically significant ways, with other syntactic properties. Languages placing the verb before the subject and the object, for example, tend to have prepositions and auxiliaries preceding the main verb, whereas languages

Romanus Iii Argyrus

2005-03-26T20:01:00.000-08:00

He was an undistinguished Byzantine patrician, who was compelled by the dying emperor, Constantine VIII, to marry his daughter Zoe and to become his successor. Romanus showed great eagerness to make his mark as a ruler but was mostly unfortunate in his enterprises; and in his endeavour to relieve the pressure of taxation he disorganized

Bananal Island

2005-03-25T20:41:00.000-08:00

Portuguese Ilha Do Bananal, island, Tocantins estado (“state”), central Brazil. The island is formed by the Araguaia River, which for 200 miles (320 km) divides into major (western) and minor (eastern) branches, with Bananal Island lying between them. The major branch of the Araguaia forms part of the boundary between Mato Grosso and Tocantins states. Small boats navigate the minor branch. The island (maximum

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Renaissance

2005-03-24T17:40:00.000-08:00

Romance and romantic forms provide the main vehicle for the entrance of allegory into the literature of the Renaissance period. The old Arthurian legends carry a new sophistication and polish in the epics of the Italians Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso and in the work of Edmund Spenser. By interlacing several simultaneous stories in one larger narrative, the literary

Amphibole, Igneous rocks

2005-03-23T18:38:00.000-08:00

Calcic amphiboles are characteristically contained in igneous rocks. Igneous amphiboles are intermediate in composition between tremolite, tschermakite, edenite, and pargasite end-members. Typically, these amphiboles of intermediate composition are called hornblende. Hornblende occurs in various plutonic igneous rocks, including diorites, quartz diorites,

Clovis Complex

2005-03-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

Ancient culture centred primarily on the plateau or tableland of Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas. (It is so named from the first important site examined, in 1932, near Clovis, N.M.) This culture, which probably began sometime prior to 10,000 BC, is generally considered to be ancestral to the later Folsom complex. Like Folsom, the Clovis complex was part of the ancient big-game hunting

Arhat

2005-03-23T02:42:00.000-08:00

The state of an arhat is considered in the Theravada tradition to be the proper goal of a Buddhist. Four stages of attainment are described in

Wang Yang-ming

2005-03-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Wang Yangming , original name (Wade–Giles romanization) Wang Shou-jen , literary name Pe-an , canonized as Wen-ch'eng , Japanese Oyo-mei Chinese scholar-official whose Idealistic interpretation of Neo-Confucianism influenced philosophical thinking in East Asia for centuries. Though his government career was rather unstable, his suppression of rebellions brought a century of peace to his region. His philosophical doctrines, emphasizing understanding

Taconite

2005-03-21T19:39:00.000-08:00

A low-grade siliceous iron formation in Minnesota, U.S., from which high-grade iron ore is derived. The iron formation consists of fine-grained silica with variable ratios of hematite and magnetite totaling less than 30 percent iron. Recovery of the iron requires fine grinding and concentration of iron-bearing phases, which in turn are formed into pellets suitable for

Hull, Albert Wallace

2005-03-21T18:13:00.000-08:00

American physicist who independently discovered the powder method of X-ray analysis of crystals, which permits the study of crystalline materials in a finely divided microcrystalline, or powder, state. He also invented a number of electron tubes that have found wide application as components in electronic

Alexander Of Pherae

2005-03-21T06:41:00.000-08:00

Despot of Pherae in Thessaly, Greece, from 369 to 358, whose tyranny caused the intervention of a number of city-states in Thessalian affairs. The other Thessalian cities, refusing to recognize Alexander as tagos, or head magistrate, appealed to the Thebans, who sent Pelopidas to their assistance. Alexander imprisoned Pelopidas, and the Thebans had to send a large army to procure

Maratha Wars

2005-03-20T20:01:00.000-08:00

The first war (1775–82) began with British support for Raghunath Rao's bid for the office of peshwa (chief minister) of the confederacy. The British were defeated at Wadgaon (see Wadgaon, Convention of ) in January 1779, but they continued to fight the Maratha until conclusion

Great Mogul Diamond

2005-03-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

The largest diamond ever found in India. It was discovered as a 787-carat rough stone in the Golconda mines in 1650 and subsequently was cut by the Venetian lapidary Hortentio Borgis. The French jewel trader Jean-Baptiste Tavernier described it in 1665 as a high-crowned rose-cut stone with a flaw at the bottom and a small speck within. Its present location is unknown, and some believe

Mabley, Moms

2005-03-20T18:02:00.000-08:00

Byname of Jackie Mabley , original name Loretta Mary Aiken American comedian who was one of the most successful black vaudeville performers. She modeled her stage persona largely on her grandmother, who had been a slave. Wise, clever, and often ribald, Mabley dressed in frumpy clothes and used her deep voice and elastic face (and, in later years, her toothlessness) to great

Arab League

2005-03-19T22:50:00.000-08:00

Also called League Of Arab States (LAS) , Arabic Al-Jami'a Al-'Arabiyah, or Al-Jami'a Ad-Duwal Al-'Arabiyah, regional organization of Arab states in the Middle East, formed in Cairo on March 22, 1945. The founding member states were Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan (now Jordan), Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. Other members are Libya (1953); The Sudan (1956); Tunisia and Morocco (1958); Kuwait (1961); Algeria (1962); Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (1971); Mauritania (1973); Somalia (1974); the Palestine Liberation Organization

New Glarus

2005-03-18T07:58:00.000-08:00

Village, Green County, southern Wisconsin, U.S., on a branch of the Sugar River, 22 mi (35 km) southwest of Madison. Founded in 1845 by 193 immigrants from the canton of Glarus in Switzerland who had been driven from their homes by famine, it was organized on a semi-communal basis, with mineral rights and all streams and springs owned in common and the land apportioned by lot. The village (inc.

United Nations

2005-03-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

On several occasions during 1999 United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan acknowledged failures in UN actions and risked member states' ire by bringing forward important issues that they had acted badly upon or failed to act upon at all. In September he rebuked the U.S. Senate for rejecting the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and suggested that Israel had been singled

Mies Van Der Rohe, Ludwig

2005-03-17T17:01:00.000-08:00

Ludwig Mies (he added his mother's surname, van der Rohe, when he had established himself as an architect) was the son of a master mason who owned a small stonecutter's shop. Mies helped his father on various construction sites but never received any formal architectural training. At age 15 he was apprenticed to several Aachen architects for whom he sketched outlines of

Wainganga River

2005-03-17T01:45:00.000-08:00

River, tributary of the Godavari River, western India. It rises in the Mahadeo Hills in south-central Madhya Pradesh state and flows 360 miles (580 km) south to join the Wardha River (a headwater of the Godavari) northeast of Kagaznagar in Maharashtra state. Along the final 142 miles (229 km) of its course, the river forms the boundary between Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh states and is known as

Borsippa

2005-03-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

Modern Birs , or Birs Nimrud ancient Babylonian city southwest of Babylon in central Iraq. Its patron god was Nabu, and the city's proximity to the capital, Babylon, helped it to become an important religious centre. Hammurabi (reigned 1792–50 BC) built or rebuilt the Ezida temple at Borsippa, dedicating it to Marduk (the national god of Babylonia); subsequent kings recognized Nabu as the deity of Ezida and

East Germany

2005-03-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

Formally German Democratic Republic , German Ostdeutschland , or Deutsche Demokratische Republik European state (1945–90) that now constitutes the eastern portion of the Federal Republic of Germany. See Germany.

Mercedes

2005-03-16T07:52:00.000-08:00

City, southwestern Uruguay, on the Negro River. The city, which was founded in 1781, is noted for its colonial architecture, beaches, a river promenade, and summertime regattas and tennis tournaments. Although much of the city's income derives from tourism, it functions as an administrative, commercial, ranching, and agricultural centre and has several industries. Mercedes

Tharrawaddy

2005-03-15T09:11:00.000-08:00

Tharrawaddy in 1837 deposed his brother Bagyidaw (reigned 1819–37), who had been obliged to sign the humiliating treaty that ceded the provinces of Arakan and Tenasserim to the British. Upon his accession, Tharrawaddy

Responsorial Singing

2005-03-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

Style of singing in which a leader alternates with a chorus. Responsorial singing is found in the folk music of many cultures—e.g., American Indian, African, and African American. One example from the rural United States is the lining out of hymns in churches: a leader sings a hymn line, which is then repeated by the congregation. Responsorial singing of the psalms was practiced

China, Changes under Kublai Khan and his successors

2005-03-14T11:11:00.000-08:00

Kublai Khan's ascendancy in 1260 marked a definite change in Mongol government practice; Kublai moved the seat of Mongol government from Karakorum in Mongolia to Shang-tu (Upper Capital) near modern To-lun in Inner Mongolia. In 1267 the official capital was transferred to Chung-tu, where Kublai ordered the construction of a new walled city, replete with grand palaces and official

Iridaceae

2005-03-14T00:37:00.000-08:00

The Iridaceae contains some 80 genera and an estimated 1,700 species of mostly perennial herbs; there are a few shrubs and evergreen herbs as well. The family is nearly worldwide in distribution, but it is

Badminton

2005-03-13T18:15:00.000-08:00

On the men's side Indonesia came through its preliminary round-robin group without losing a single

Warfare In The 21st Century

2005-03-12T04:06:00.000-08:00

The war that began in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, demonstrated both the capabilities and the limitations of modern military technology. It should have come as no surprise that the U.S.-led 17-member coalition toppled the Taliban regime in only a few weeks. In conventional terms, the Taliban were a pushover; they possessed no air force, had very limited air defenses, and were an unpopular

Aldfrith

2005-03-11T23:42:00.000-08:00

King of Northumbria (685–704) and patron of literature. An illegitimate son of Oswiu, he succeeded to the throne when his brother Ecgfrith was killed at the Battle of Nechtansmere. Educated for the priesthood, he stimulated the growth of scholarship in Northumbria during his reign, producing conditions under which the historian Bede flourished.

Chinese Languages

2005-03-11T16:24:00.000-08:00

Modern Standard Chinese is based on the Peking (Beijing) dialect, which is of the Northern, or Mandarin, type. It employs about 1,300 different syllables. There are 22 initial consonants, including stops (made with momentary, complete closure in the vocal tract), affricates (beginning as stops but ending with incomplete closure), aspirated consonants, nasals, fricatives, liquid

Trevelyan, G(eorge) M(acaulay)

2005-03-11T02:13:00.000-08:00

The third son of Sir George Otto Trevelyan, he was educated

Wild Boar

2005-03-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

Also called Wild Pig, any of the wild members of the pig species Sus scrofa (family Suidae, order Artiodactyla), the ancestors of domestic pigs. See boar.

Allerdale

2005-03-10T13:37:00.000-08:00

District, administrative county of Cumbria, historic county of Cumberland, northwestern England, in the northwestern part of the county along the coast of the Solway Firth. Except for its coastal plain on the west and northwest, Allerdale is a scenic district of mountains and lake-filled valleys forming the northwestern part of the Lake District National Park

Furniture, England

2005-03-10T07:19:00.000-08:00

The classical reaction, which set in shortly after 1760, reimposed a classical discipline on design, though of a lighter and more delicate touch than that of the previous classicists, the Palladians. Robert Adam, whose name is inseparably associated with this movement, had, like earlier architects, studied in Italy. There he sought inspiration in the monuments of both

Water Parsnip

2005-03-08T07:57:00.000-08:00

Any of several aromatic herbs of the genus Sium, especially S. latifolium, belonging to the parsley family (Apiaceae), distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and Africa. They grow in moist areas, and some species are even partially submerged. All are perennial herbs with divided leaves and clusters of white flowers. S. sisarum, known as skirret, is cultivated

Jackson, Marjorie

2005-03-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

Jackson, known as the “Lithgow Flash” after her home town, was just 17 years old when she twice outran the great Dutch

Pacific Ocean, Early exploration and settlement

2005-03-07T20:42:00.000-08:00

The Pacific Islands are thought to have been peopled by influxes from both mainland and archipelagic Southeast Asia. The earliest migrations were to what is now generally referred to as Melanesia. From there generations of voyagers ranged northward into eastern Micronesia and eastward into Polynesia. The peopling of Polynesia, by means of long-range seagoing

Ory, Kid

2005-03-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

Byname of Edward Ory American trombonist and composer who was perhaps the first musician to codify, purely by precept, the role of the trombone in classic three-part contrapuntal jazz improvisation. Ory is often remembered as a “tailgate” trombonist, one whose style of playing fills in, or supports, other band instruments and is reminiscent of the

Cole, Thomas

2005-03-06T16:55:00.000-08:00

Cole's family immigrated first to Philadelphia and then settled in Steubenville, Ohio. He was trained by an itinerant portrait painter named Stein and then spent two years at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1825 some of Cole's

Anambra

2005-03-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

Anambra is bounded by the states of Kogi on the north, Enugu on the east, Abia on the southeast, Imo and Rivers on the south, and Delta and Edo on the

Joyeuse Entrée

2005-03-05T06:16:00.000-08:00

Most famous is the charter of liberties, confirmed on Jan. 3, 1356, and called the Joyeuse Entrée, which was presented to the duchy of Brabant (in the Low Countries) by Johanna

Azerbaijani

2005-03-05T04:44:00.000-08:00

Any member of a Turkic people living chiefly in the Republic of Azerbaijan and in the region of Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran. At the turn of the 21st century there were some 7,500,000 Azerbaijani in the republic and neighbouring areas and more than 15,000,000 in Iran. They are mainly sedentary farmers and herders, although some of those in the republic have found employment in various

Flood, Curt

2005-03-03T11:41:00.000-08:00

Flood began playing baseball as a youth and was signed in 1956 by the National League Cincinnati Reds. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in 1958 and played

Bukuru

2005-03-03T08:45:00.000-08:00

Town, Plateau state, central Nigeria, located on the Jos Plateau. It lies along a branch railway from Jos town (8 miles [13 km] north-northeast), and it is a major tin- and columbite-mining centre on one of the highest parts (more than 4,000 feet [1,200 metres]) of the plateau. The Bauchi Light Railway, which was closed in 1957, had been built in 1914 to carry tin from Bukuru to Zaria (120 miles [190 km] northwest) and connected

Alabama, Relief

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

The southern extremities of the Appalachians cover almost

Bradford, William

2005-03-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

He was a Quaker and a self-taught artist, painting the ships and the marine views he saw along the coasts of Massachusetts, Labrador, and Nova Scotia; he went on several Arctic expeditions with Isaac Hayes and was the first

Triton

2005-03-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, a merman, demigod of the sea; he was the son of the sea god, Poseidon, and his wife, Amphitrite. According to the Greek poet Hesiod, Triton dwelt with his parents in a golden palace in the depths of the sea. Sometimes he was not particularized but was one of many Tritons. He was represented as human down to his waist, with the tail of a fish. Triton's special attribute

Usakligil, Halit Ziya

2005-03-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

He was educated at a French school in Izmir, where he became devoted to the works of the 19th-century French novelists. A journey to France also contributed to his knowledge of European culture,

Nagodba

2005-03-01T08:21:00.000-08:00

(Serbo-Croatian: “Agreement”), English in full Croatian-hungarian Agreement Of 1868, pact that governed Croatia's political status as a territory of Hungary until the end of World War I. When the Ausgleich, or Compromise, of 1867 created the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy, Croatia, which was part of the Habsburg empire, was merged with Slavonia and placed under Hungarian jurisdiction. Although many Croats who sought full autonomy for the South Slavs of

Syriam

2005-02-28T15:58:00.000-08:00

Town and port, southwestern Myanmar (Burma). It is situated on the Yangôn River, a tributary of the Irrawaddy River, opposite Yangôn (Rangoon), the national capital. Formerly part of the Mon kingdom, Syriam subsequently became a port of the Portuguese and French. In 1756 Alaungpaya (1714–60), the Myanmar king, conquered the Mon and their French allies, whom he put into slavery; the town was

Nova Scotia, Cultural life

2005-02-28T07:07:00.000-08:00

Its geographic position has kept Nova Scotia somewhat removed from the mainstream of Canadian life, centred in Ontario and Quebec. The improvement of transportation, however, and the growing impact of the nationwide communications media have brought the province closer to the mainstream, enhancing a modern life-style in the province and eroding some features

Amorphous Solid, Melt quenching

2005-02-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

Preparation of metallic glasses requires a quite rapid quench. The technique shown in Figure 4C, called splat quenching, can quench a droplet of a molten metal roughly 1,000° C in one millisecond, producing a thin film of metal that is an amorphous solid. In enormous contrast to this, the silicate

Extinguisher Moss

2005-02-26T19:54:00.000-08:00

Any of the plants of the genus Encalypta (order Bryales), which form large tufts on limestone rocks, ledges, and walls. About eight species are native to North America. They are usually 1 to 3 cm (0.4 to 1.2 inches) tall, with erect capsules (spore cases) borne on setae (stalks) about 5 to 10 mm (0.2 to 0.4 inches) long. The calyptra (hoodlike covering) of each capsule resembles a candle snuffer, or extinguisher,

Aksak

2005-02-26T02:40:00.000-08:00

Also called Bulgarian Rhythm, variety of musical metre characterized by combinations of unequal units of beats, such as 2 plus 3 or 3 plus 2 and their extensions. Thus 3 + 3 + 2, or 2 + 3 + 3, produces 8/8 units quite unlike the 4/4 common to Western music. As non-Western music, as well as eastern European folk music, began to exert influence in the West, aksak rhythms found their way into the works of a number of 20th-century composers

Brazil, Visual arts

2005-02-25T15:29:00.000-08:00

The landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx has made urban Brazilians especially aware of the splendours of their natural environment by replacing the traditional, formal European-style gardens containing imported plants with a profusion of native species in approximation to their natural settings. Some of Marx's landscapes have been used to set off the imaginative

Amorphous Solid, Melt quenching

2005-02-25T01:17:00.000-08:00

The common fig (Ficus carica) is cultivated for its pear-shaped, edible fruits, which

Mcmillan, Terry

2005-02-24T09:29:00.000-08:00

The daughter of working-class parents, McMillan grew up near Detroit. She was a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (B.S., 1979) and Columbia University (M.F.A., 1979). She taught at the universities

Anatidae

2005-02-23T21:04:00.000-08:00

Anserinae—tribes Dendrocygnini (see whistling duck, or tree duck) and

Valdivia, Pedro De

2005-02-23T13:33:00.000-08:00

Valdivia served with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders before being sent to South America in 1534. During the Peruvian civil war (1538), he fought with Francisco Pizarro against Diego de Almagro. For the Chilean

Aquarelle

2005-02-23T11:45:00.000-08:00

Technique of painting in transparent, rather than opaque, watercolours. Although aquarelle was known to the ancient Egyptians, it did not achieve popularity in Europe until the 18th and 19th centuries. It was used especially in France and England by landscape painters.

Arabia, History Of, Resistance to the Ottomans

2005-02-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

Propagating the doctrines of 'Abd al-Wahhab, Ibn Sa'ud and his son mastered all Najd. Late in the 18th century the Wahhabis began raiding Iraq and then besieged Mecca, which they definitively conquered in 1806. The Ottomans became so alarmed at the Sa'udi-Wahhabi peril that they urged Muhammad 'Ali, viceroy of Egypt, to drive the Wahhabis from the Holy Cities. Egyptian troops invaded Arabia,

Buys, Paulus

2005-02-22T04:35:00.000-08:00

The harsh religious persecution and high taxes of the Duke of Alba's regime (1567–73) led Buys to join the resistance to the Spanish government, working

Constance, Lake

2005-02-21T15:20:00.000-08:00

Also called Lake of Constance , Constance also spelled Konstanz , German Bodensee , Latin Lacus Brigantinus lake bordering Switzerland, Germany, and Austria and occupying an old glacier basin at an elevation of 1,299 feet (396 m). It has an area of 209 square miles (541 square km) and is about 40 miles (65 km) long and up to 8 miles (13 km) wide, with an average depth of 295 feet (90 m) and a maximum depth of 827 feet (252 m). It has about 125 miles (200 km) of shoreline. In the west, near Konstanz (Constance), it is divided by the Bodan mountain ridge

Earth, Generation of a magnetospheric electric field

2005-02-21T01:50:00.000-08:00

An important consequence of reconnection is that it produces a magnetospheric electric field, as does viscous interaction. This comes about as a result of the connection between the interplanetary and geomagnetic fields. This process can be understood as follows. In the solar wind the Lorentz force separates positive and negative charges, just as it does in the

Metauro River

2005-02-20T23:31:00.000-08:00

Italian Fiume Metauro, also called Metro, Latin Metaurus, river, Marche region, central Italy, rising in the Etruscan Apennines (Appennino Tosco-Emiliano) and flowing for 68 mi (109 km) east-northeast into the Adriatic Sea just south of Fano. The lower valley of the river (the ancient Metaurus) was the scene of a great Roman victory over the Carthaginians in 207 BC, when the consuls Marcus Livius Salinator and Claudius Nero defeated and slew

Padilla, Heberto

2005-02-20T20:05:00.000-08:00

After elementary and secondary education in his native province of Pinar del Río, Padilla studied law at the University of Havana but did not finish a degree. From 1949 to 1952 and 1956 to 1959, he lived in the United

Pyrex

2005-02-20T18:08:00.000-08:00

(trademark), a type of glass and glassware that is resistant to heat, chemicals, and electricity. It is used to make chemical apparatus, industrial equipment, including piping and thermometers, and ovenware. Chemically, Pyrex contains borosilicate and expands only about one-third as much as common glass (silicate) when heated. As a result, it is less apt to break when subjected

Sarada Script

2005-02-19T18:34:00.000-08:00

Writing system used for the Kashmiri language by the educated Hindu minority in Kashmir and the surrounding valleys. It is taught in the Hindu schools there but is not used in printing books. Originating in the 8th century AD, Sarada descended from the Gupta script of North India, from which Devanagari (q.v.) also developed. The earliest inscriptions in Sarada script, found

Density Current

2005-02-18T03:46:00.000-08:00

Density currents in nature are exemplified by those currents

Epiclesis

2005-02-17T16:49:00.000-08:00

(Greek: “invocation”), in the Christian eucharistic prayer (anaphora), the special invocation of the Holy Spirit; in most Eastern Christian liturgies it follows the words of institution—the words used, according to the New Testament, by Jesus himself at the Last Supper—“This is my body . . . this is my blood” and has a clearly consecratory character. The epiclesis specifically

Baranagar

2005-02-17T10:39:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Barahanagar town, southeastern West Bengal state, northeastern India, just east of the Hooghly River, part of the Calcutta urban agglomeration. Originally a Portuguese settlement, it became the seat of a Dutch trading station and an important river anchorage for Dutch shipping; in 1795 it was ceded to the British. Constituted as the municipality of North Suburban in 1869, the town was renamed

Silas, Saint

2005-02-16T21:55:00.000-08:00

It is generally believed that the Silas in Acts and the Silvanus in 2 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 Peter are the same. Acts 15:22 first mentions him as one of the “leading men among the brethren” (i.e., the Christian community at Jerusalem);

Teresina

2005-02-16T04:49:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Piauí estado (“state”), northeastern Brazil. The city lies along the Parnaíba River (there bridged to Timon in Maranhão state), 220 miles (354 km) upstream from the Atlantic port of Parnaíba. Founded in 1852 as the new capital of Piauí, it was originally named Therezina after the Brazilian empress Teresa Cristina. Since then, it has become the chief commercial centre of

Romanian Orthodox Church

2005-02-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

Christianity first reached Dacia (roughly coextensive with modern Romania) under the Roman Empire at least as early as the 4th century

Israel, Transportation

2005-02-15T06:21:00.000-08:00

Israel has developed a modern, well-marked highway system, and road transport is more significant to the country's commercial and passenger services than transport by rail. Bus companies provide efficient service within and between all cities and towns, supplemented by private taxis and sheruts—privately owned and operated shuttles—which run on urban and interurban

Furniture, Flanders and Holland

2005-02-13T22:57:00.000-08:00

In Holland the Baroque style did not encroach on late Renaissance furniture until nearly 1640. Dutch

Anne Of France

2005-02-13T01:48:00.000-08:00

Anne's energy, strength of will, cunning, and political sense enabled her to overcome the difficulties threatening the kingdom,

Beja

2005-02-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

Distrito (“district”), southern Portugal. It is the largest district in Portugal and produces olives, olive oil, wheat, rye, cork, dairy products, and leather goods. There is mining for copper, silver, lead, and zinc near Beja city at the Castro Verde project. In 1974 the Portuguese government initiated an agrarian reform program by which most of the estate holdings of the district

Downhill Skiing

2005-02-11T16:32:00.000-08:00

Ski race for speed on an adjusted downhill course that is marked by gates formed by paired poles, set at least 8 metres (26 feet) apart, through which the racer has to pass. Contestants make at least one timed practice run, then compete singly in an order set by previous performance and starting in one-minute intervals. The one who completes the course in the shortest time, without

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

2005-02-11T05:44:00.000-08:00

English Dresden State Art Collections art museum in Dresden, Ger., that includes collections of painting, sculpture, graphic and applied arts, and coins. It is best known for its picture gallery, the core of which is the collection of paintings that originally belonged to the Kunstkammer, founded by Prince August in 1560. Its most popular works, however, were later acquisitions dating from the 18th century. There

Episcopus Vagans

2005-02-10T16:44:00.000-08:00

In the early Christian

Hebrew Literature, Formative influences

2005-02-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

The first formative influences on 20th-century Hebrew literature belong to the late 19th century. The middle classes of eastern European Jewry that read Hebrew books turned to Jewish nationalism, and Zionist activity, coupled with the movement for speaking Hebrew, widened the circle of Hebrew readers. Hebrew daily papers began to appear in 1886. Writers borrowed extensively

Middle English Language

2005-02-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

The history of Middle English is often divided into three periods: (1) Early Middle English, from about 1100 to about 1250, during which the Old English system of writing was still in use; (2) the Central Middle English period from about 1250 to

Tsuruga

2005-02-08T21:16:00.000-08:00

City, Fukui ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It faces Tsuruga Bay of the Sea of Japan. A flourishing port since early historic times, it was one of the main centres of communication with the Asian mainland and a major shipment centre for the former national capitals of Nara and Kyoto. Tsuruga's industrial base was developed after World War II with factories producing synthetic

Van Vogt, A.e.

2005-02-07T19:10:00.000-08:00

Van Vogt attended the University of Ottawa and began his writing career in the early 1930s, selling fictional

Protestantism, The rise of Pietism

2005-02-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

Dutch Pietism—influenced by Englishman William Ames (1576–1633), whose Medulla Sacrae Theologiae (1623; The Marrow of

Gabon, Ethnic and linguistic composition

2005-02-06T15:55:00.000-08:00

All of Gabon's 40 or so ethnic groups, except the few thousand Pygmies, speak Bantu languages and, on that basis, can be classified into 10 larger groups. The Myene group (including the Mpongwe and Orungu), though only a small part of the population today, has played an important role in the history of the country as a result of its location along the northern coasts. The Fang, who