ElasticBox

Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services, including estate agent london and estate agent central london. Their centrally located ground floor offices, minutes from Oxford Circus offer an ideal marketing base for your property.

Dead Sea

2005-04-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

Arabic Al-Bahr al-Mayyit , Hebrew Yam HaMelah , also known as Salt Sea landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan, which lies some 1,300 feet (400 metres) below sea level—the lowest elevation and the lowest body of water on the surface of the Earth. Its eastern shore belongs to Jordan, and the southern half of its western shore belongs to Israel. The northern half of the western shore lies within the Palestinian West Bank and has been under Israeli

Mitchell, John Thomas Whitehead

2005-04-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

At an early age, Mitchell joined the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers and was appointed its secretary in 1857. He shaped the policy of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, established in 1863, and was its chairman from 1874 until his death. Mitchell emphasized

Domeykite

2005-04-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

A copper arsenide mineral (formulated Cu3As) that is often intergrown with algodonite, another copper arsenide. Both are classified among the sulfide minerals, although they contain no sulfur. They occur in Chile, in Keweenaw County, Mich., and in other localities. Domeykite crystallizes in the isometric system. For detailed physical properties, see sulfide

Lattes, C.m.g.

2005-04-02T21:42:00.000-08:00

Lattes studied at the University of São Paulo with Giuseppe Occhialini in the 1940s and accompanied him in 1946 to the

Cadence

2005-04-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

In music, formula signifying the end of a phrase or half-phrase, section, or entire composition. The concept of cadence implies broadly acknowledged conventions, especially of a harmonic nature, conveying a sense of relative completion, analogous to the use of punctuation in literature. The term derives from the Latin word cadere (“to fall”) and originally referred

Dacier, André

2005-03-31T11:09:00.000-08:00

Dacier studied at Saumur with the Humanist Tanneguy Lefèbvre, whose daughter Anne he married in 1683. He was made keeper of the library of the Louvre and, elected to the French Academy in 1695, became

Solanaceae

2005-03-30T20:47:00.000-08:00

The nightshade, or potato, family of flowering plants (order Solanales), with about 95 genera and at least 2,400 species, many of considerable economic importance as food and drug plants. Among the most important of these are the potato (Solanum tuberosum); eggplant (S. melongena); tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum); garden, or capsicum, pepper (Capsicum annuum and C. frutescens); tobacco

Typhus

2005-03-30T18:49:00.000-08:00

Acute, infectious series of diseases that are characterized by a sudden onset with headache, chills, fever, and general pains, a rash appearing on the third to fifth day, and toxemia (toxic substances in the blood), and terminating after about two to three weeks. Originally considered a single clinical entity, it is now regarded as a group of closely related diseases caused

Cinerama

2005-03-29T22:39:00.000-08:00

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

Hans Adam Ii, Prince Of Liechtenstein

2005-03-29T05:40:00.000-08:00

Along with his brothers and his sister, Hans Adam, the eldest son of Prince Francis Joseph II, spent his early youth in the castle of Vaduz, but he and his siblings were not isolated from the everyday life of the principality's citizens. He attended primary school in the town,

Madách, Imre

2005-03-28T07:56:00.000-08:00

Madách possessed keen and varied interests; he was successively a lawyer, a public servant, and a member of the Hungarian parliament (from 1861). His masterpiece,

Aerospace Industry, Between the wars

2005-03-27T13:54:00.000-08:00

The world's aircraft industry fell into sharp decline following the Armistice. Within days most contracts were canceled. The wartime-oriented industry was overcapitalized, overstocked with raw materials, overorganized, and overmanned for peacetime needs. In Europe, national governments realized that maintaining a strong air force in case of war required an

Balas, Iolanda

2005-03-27T00:49:00.000-08:00

Balas cleared the bar in a variation of the scissors method; her coach was Ion Söter, an outstanding high-jumper whom she later married. She already held the women's

Platonism, Augustinian Platonism

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

Each of the great Christian Platonists understood Platonism and applied it to the understanding of his faith in his own individual way, and of no one of them was this truer than of Augustine with his extremely strong personality and distinctive religious history. Augustine's thought was not merely a subspecies of Christian Platonism but something unique—Augustinianism.

Ejido

2005-03-25T15:14:00.000-08:00

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

Gheyn, Matthias Van Den

2005-03-24T23:06:00.000-08:00

He was born into a celebrated family of Flemish bell founders. He moved with his family to Louvain in 1726 and probably received his first musical education

Samothrace

2005-03-23T06:49:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Samothráki, Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea off the Thracian coast, included in the nomós (department) of Évros. The 69-sq-mi (178-sq-km) island is geologically complex, consisting chiefly of ancient granites, clayey deposits, and softer volcanic materials. Hot springs are located near the north coast. Near its centre the island rises to 5,250 ft (1,600 m) in Korifí Fengári (Fenári Peak), the highest

Abbot, Charles Greeley

2005-03-23T03:11:00.000-08:00

An informal autobiography is provided by Charles Greeley Abbot, Adventures in the World of Science (1958). David H. DeVorkin, “Charles Greeley Abbot,” in Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 73, pp. 3–23 (1998), is a short biography; and David H. DeVorkin, “Defending a Dream: Charles Greeley Abbot's Years at the Smithsonian,” Journal for the History of Astronomy, vol. 21, part 1, no. 63, pp. 121–136 (February 1990), discusses Abbot's influence on the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.

Czartoryski, Michal Fryderyk, Prince (ksiaze)

2005-03-22T20:13:00.000-08:00

Educated at Paris, Florence, and Rome, Czartoryski attached himself to the Saxon court and obtained the vice chancellorship of Lithuania. He was one of the nobles who, on the illness of King Augustus II of Poland in 1727, signed the secret

West Germanic Languages, Characteristics of modern Standard German

2005-03-21T18:47:00.000-08:00

German has the following consonants, given here in phonetic symbols because the spelling often varies: stops, p, b, t, d, k, g; fricatives, f, v, ç~x; sibilants, s, z, š, z; nasals, m, n, ; liquids, l, r; glides, h, j. German ç~x, spelled ch, is the voiceless velar fricative x after a, a, o, o, u, u, and au but is the voiceless palatal fricative ç in other phonetic environments. The German sound z occurs only in loanwords

Babbage, Charles

2005-03-21T15:51:00.000-08:00

In 1812 Babbage helped found the Analytical Society, whose object was to introduce developments from the European continent into English mathematics. In 1816 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London. He

Lancaster, Sir James

2005-03-20T03:32:00.000-08:00

In 1588 Lancaster served under Sir Francis Drake as commander of the Edward Bonaventure against the Spanish Armada. On April 10, 1591, commanding the same ship, he sailed from Plymouth for the

Lancaster, Sir Osbert

2005-03-19T19:32:00.000-08:00

Lancaster took his B.A. degree at Lincoln College,

Valencia

2005-03-19T01:53:00.000-08:00

Capital of Valencia province and the autonomous community (region) of Valencia, and of the former kingdom of Valencia, eastern Spain. Located on the Mediterranean coast at the mouth of the Río Turia (Guadalaviar), it is surrounded by orchards in a region known as the Huerta de Valencia. The earliest mention (Valentia) is by the Roman historian Livy, who states that the consul

Furniture, Near East and classical antiquity

2005-03-19T00:43:00.000-08:00

A. Lucas, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, 3rd ed. (1948), indispensable; Howard Carter and A.C. Mace, The Tomb of Thut-Ankh-Amen, 3 vol. (1923–27); Gisela H. Richter, The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans (1966), the standard reference work in this area.

Moncton

2005-03-18T22:08:00.000-08:00

The site, which was originally occupied by a Micmac Indian village, was settled by French Acadians after 1698. Subsequently, Pennsylvania Germans

Chad, Flag Of

2005-03-17T07:33:00.000-08:00

When French West Africa was under colonial rule, little was done to develop a sense of nationality; emphasis was on the culture and political and economic systems of France. The independence movement in Africa in the mid-20th century therefore found Chad, like most other territories, with few precedents for establishing its own symbols. When the Republic of Chad was

Go

2005-03-16T08:54:00.000-08:00

(Japanese), also called i-go, Chinese (Pinyin) weiqi , (Wade-Giles) wei-ch'i , Korean baduk or pa-tok board game for two players. Of East Asian origin, it is popular in China, Korea, and especially Japan, the country with which it is most closely identified. Go, probably the world's oldest board game, is thought to have originated in China some 4,000 years ago. According to some sources, this date is as early as 2356 BC, but it is more likely to have been in the 2nd millennium BC. The game was probably

Vestini

2005-03-16T05:18:00.000-08:00

The Vestini's local dialect, belonging to the Northern Oscan group, probably survived until this time. The oldest known

Asansol

2005-03-15T22:38:00.000-08:00

City, West Bengal state, northeastern India. Situated in the heart of the Raniganj coalfield, it is the centre of the Kulti-Burnpur industrial complex. Asansol is connected by the Grand Trunk Road and by rail with Calcutta, Durgapur, and Burdwan. The city is an important coal-trading and railway centre, with large railway workshops and a railway colony. Its major industries

Wyoming Massacre

2005-03-14T22:42:00.000-08:00

In early June, Colonel John Butler led a force of 1,000 loyalists and Iroquois allies against the 5,000 inhabitants of the valley—mostly American women and children gathered at Forty Fort. About

Amphibole, Igneous rocks

2005-03-14T05:54:00.000-08:00

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,

Ghanimah

2005-03-14T01:20:00.000-08:00

In the early Islamic community (7th century AD), booty taken in battle in the form of weapons, horses, prisoners, and movable goods. In pre-Islamic Bedouin society, where the ghazw (razzia, or raid) was a way of life and a point of honour, ghanimah helped provide the material means of existence. After the leader of the ghazw received a fourth or a fifth of the booty, the rest was divided

Sports-car Racing

2005-03-13T19:23:00.000-08:00

Form of motor racing involving cars built to combine aspects of racing and touring cars. Although there are many conflicting definitions of sports cars, it is usually conceded that in normal production form they do not resemble Grand Prix (Formula One) racing machines. Whereas the latter is a single-seat design carrying spartan cockpit furnishings and utterly

Burgos

2005-03-13T00:28:00.000-08:00

Province, in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), north-central Spain. Created in 1833, it has an area of 5,525 square miles (14,309 square km) and includes the enclave of Treviño, which is administratively part of Álava province. Burgos is crossed by the Ebro (north) and the Duero (south) rivers, neither of which is navigable. Burgos is one of the great forested provinces

Aurelian Wall

2005-03-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

It was originally constructed of tufa concrete, with a facing of triangular

Skate

2005-03-12T03:30:00.000-08:00

In sports, one of a pair of bladelike devices worn on the feet for skating on ice or, when wheeled, for skating on a surface other than ice. See ice skating; roller-skating.

Mosan School

2005-03-11T15:16:00.000-08:00

Regional style of Romanesque manuscript illumination, metalwork, and enamelwork that flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries and was centred in the Meuse River valley, especially at Liège and the Benedictine monastery of Stavelot. Two of the most important artists associated with the Mosan school were Godefroid de Claire, a goldsmith from Huy, and Nicholas of

Amatitlán, Lake

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

Spanish Lago De Amatitlán, lake, south-central Guatemala, in the central highlands at 4,085 feet (1,248 m) above sea level. The volcanic lake, 130 feet (40 m) deep, is 7 miles (11 km) long and 2 miles (3 km) wide and has an area of about 6 square miles (15 square km). It is fed by the Villalobos River and drained by the Michatoya River. A popular tourist area, the lake and the town of Amatitlán, at the head of the Michatoya, are situated by highway

Sports-car Racing

2005-03-10T08:05:00.000-08:00

South African political party and black nationalist organization. Founded in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress, it had as its main goal the maintenance of voting rights for Coloureds (persons of mixed race) and black Africans in Cape Province. It was renamed the African National Congress in 1923. From the 1940s it spearheaded the fight to eliminate apartheid

Palamedes

2005-03-10T06:14:00.000-08:00

In Greek legend, the son of Nauplius, king of Euboea, and a hero of the Trojan War. Palamedes is a prominent figure in post-Homeric legends about the siege of Troy. Before the war he exposed the trickery of Odysseus, who had feigned madness to avoid military service; by placing the infant Telemachus in the path of Odysseus' plow in the field, he forced that king to admit his

China, The end of Mongol rule

2005-03-08T22:15:00.000-08:00

The basic dilemma of Mongol rule in China—the Mongols' inability to achieve a durable identification with Chinese civilian institutions and to modify the military and colonialist character of their rule—became more apparent under Kublai's successors and reached a maximum under Togon-temür, the last Yüan ruler. Togon-temür was not unfriendly toward Chinese civilization,

Mammal, Excretory system

2005-03-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

The mammalian kidney is constructed of a large number of functional units called nephrons. Each nephron consists of a distal tubule, a medial section termed the loop of Henle, a proximal tubule, and a renal corpuscle. The renal corpuscle is a knot of capillaries, called a glomerulus, surrounded by a sheath, Bowman's capsule. The renal corpuscle is a pressure filter, relying

Anderson

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

City, seat (1828) of Madison county, east-central Indiana, U.S. It lies along the West Fork of the White River, in a corn- (maize-) and wheat-producing region, 38 miles (61 km) northeast of Indianapolis. Founded in 1823 on the site of a Delaware Indian village, it was named Andersontown for a subchief, Koktowhanund, also known as William Anderson. In 1886 the town's industrial growth was assured with the

Biblical Literature, Early versions

2005-03-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

Even with all these witnesses, there remain problems in the Greek text. These include variants about which there is no settled opinion and some few words for which no accurate meaning can be found because they occur only once in the New Testament and not in prior Greek works. Very early translations of the New Testament made as it spread into the non-Greek-speaking

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Parable

2005-03-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

In the West the conventions of parable were largely established by the teachings of Christ. The New Testament records a sufficient number of his parables, with their occasions, to show that to some extent his disciples were chosen as his initiates and followers because they “had ears to hear” the true meaning of his parables. (It has already been noted that the parable

Rackets

2005-03-06T18:24:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Racquets, game played with a ball and a strung racket in an enclosed court, all four walls of which are used in play. Rackets is played with a hard ball in a relatively large court, usually about 18 m (60 ft) long by 9 m wide—unlike the related game of squash rackets (q.v.), which is played with a soft ball on a smaller court.

Volkswagen Ag

2005-03-05T06:51:00.000-08:00

The company was originally operated by the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront), a Nazi organization; and Ferdinand Porsche was brought in to design the car. Production was interrupted by World War II, and by the

Indonesia, Flag Of

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

The flag, a simple design of red and white stripes, has a long history. It was first associated with the Majapahit empire, which flourished from the 13th to the 16th century

Votic Language

2005-03-04T15:15:00.000-08:00

Member of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family, very nearly extinct. The few remaining Votic speakers live in the border area between Estonia and Russia (a region in which pressures to speak Russian or Estonian are not so great as they are in places of easier access). See also Finno-Ugric languages.

Abu Kalijar Al-marzuban Ibn Sultan Ad-dawlah

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

When his father, Sultan ad-Dawlah, died in December 1023/January 1024, Abu Kalijar's succession to the sultan's Iranian possessions of Fars and Khuzistan was challenged by his uncle Abu al-Fawaris, the ruler of Kerman, to the west. By 1028 Abu Kalijar was

Luristan Bronze

2005-03-03T15:52:00.000-08:00

Luristan also spelled Lorestan, any of the horse trappings, utensils, weapons, jewelry, belt buckles, and ritual and votive objects of bronze probably dating from roughly 1500–500 BC that have been excavated since the late 1920s in the Harsin, Khorramabad, and Alishtar valleys of the Zagros Mountains in the Lorestan region of western Iran, especially at the site of Tepe Sialk. Their precise origin is unknown. Scholars

Merchant Of Venice, The

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

Bassanio, a noble but penniless Venetian, asks his wealthy merchant friend Antonio for a loan so as to impress and woo the heiress

India, Recreation

2005-03-03T01:28:00.000-08:00

Virtually all regions of India have their distinctive places of pilgrimage, local saints and folk heroes, religious festivals, and associated fairs. There are also innumerable festivals associated with individual villages or temples or with specific castes and cults. The most popular of the religious festivals celebrated over the greater part of India are

Boisguillebert, Pierre Le Pesant, Sieur (lord) De

2005-03-02T04:54:00.000-08:00

Boisguillebert was opposed to the economic policy of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, finance minister to Louis XIV, who attempted to increase the manufacturing potential of France by keeping agricultural

Analytic Philosophy, Divergence of ordinary language from formal logic

2005-03-01T23:19:00.000-08:00

Ordinary language, however, seems to differ from the artificial language of symbolic logic in more respects than its lack of precisely stated rules. On the surface, it often appears to violate the rules of symbolic logic. In the English statement “If this is gold [symbolized by p], then this will dissolve in aqua regia [symbolized by q],” for example, which in symbolic logic is

Samaritan

2005-03-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

Member of a community of Jews, now nearly extinct, that claims to be related by blood to those Jews of ancient Samaria who were not deported by the Assyrian conquerors of the kingdom of Israel in 722 BC. The Samaritans call themselves Bene-Yisrael (“Children of Israel”), or Shamerim (“Observant Ones”), for their sole norm of religious observance is the Pentateuch (first five books

Biblical Literature, The medieval period

2005-03-01T01:58:00.000-08:00

By the beginning of the Middle Ages the Masoretes of Babylonia and Palestine (6th–10th century) had fixed in writing, by points and annotation, the traditional pronunciation, punctuation, and (to some extent) interpretation of the biblical text. The rise of the Karaites, who rejected rabbinic tradition and appealed to Scripture alone (8th century onward) stimulated exegetical

Price, Reynolds

2005-02-28T17:28:00.000-08:00

Price grew up in small towns and attended Duke University in Durham, N.C. (A.B. 1955), where the works of Eudora Welty became a primary influence on his writing. After receiving a B.Litt. degree in 1958 from the University of Oxford in England, he began his

Philodemus

2005-02-27T21:59:00.000-08:00

After studying under the Epicurean Zeno of Sidon at Athens, he moved to Rome c. 75 BC and became the mentor of the Roman aristocrat Lucius Calpurnius Piso, who invited Philodemus to live in his villa at Herculaneum, near Naples. In the ruins of that villa

Sunbury

2005-02-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

Town, south-central Victoria, Australia, on the road and rail route between Bendigo and the state capital, Melbourne, 24 miles (39 km) to the southeast. The Aboriginal name for the area was Koora Kooracup, but, when a gold rush to Bendigo began in 1851, a hotel (built on Jacksons Creek to house travelers to the goldfield) was named Sunbury, after Sunbury, Middlesex, England; the town took

Idku

2005-02-27T01:27:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Edkou, town, northern al-Buhayrah muhafazah (governorate), Lower Egypt. It lies on a sandy strip behind Abu Qir Bay, in the northwestern Nile River delta. Immediately south is Lake Idku, a 58-square-mile (150-square-kilometre) lagoon that stretches some 22 miles (35 km) behind and parallel to the coast and has a maximum width of 16 miles (26 km). Drained by al-Ma'addiyah Channel, connecting with the Mediterranean,

Jerne, Niels K.

2005-02-27T00:22:00.000-08:00

Jerne was born of Danish parents and grew up in The Netherlands. After studying physics for two years at the University of Leiden,

Malabarese Catholic Church

2005-02-25T13:23:00.000-08:00

A Chaldean rite church of southern India (Kerala) that united with Rome after the Portuguese colonization of Goa at the end of the 15th century. The Portuguese viewed these Christians of St. Thomas, as they called themselves, as Nestorian heretics, despite their traditional alignment with Rome since about the 6th century. Although the Malabarese formally acknowledged

Mycosis

2005-02-25T05:27:00.000-08:00

Plural Mycoses, in humans and domestic animals, a disease caused by any fungus that invades the tissues, causing superficial, subcutaneous, or systemic disease. Superficial fungal infections, also called dermatophytosis, are confined to the skin and are caused by Microsporum, Trichophyton, or Epidermophyton; athlete's foot, for example, is caused by Trichophyton or Epidermophyton

Nacogdoches

2005-02-24T04:44:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1837) of Nacogdoches county, eastern Texas, U.S., near the Angelina River, 140 miles (225 km) north-northeast of Houston. In 1716 a Spanish mission (Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) was first established near a Nacogdoche Indian village (a pyramidal mound from that village is still extant). Abandoned in 1718, the site was resettled in 1779 when Antonio Gil Y'barbo built the Old Stone Fort (reconstructed

Olympic Games, Los Angeles, California, U.S., 1932

2005-02-24T03:17:00.000-08:00

Only about 1,300 athletes, representing 37 countries, competed in the 1932 Games. The poor participation was the result of the worldwide economic depression and the expense of traveling to California. The Los Angeles Games featured the first Olympic Village. The village was located in Baldwin Hills, a suburb of Los Angeles, and covered 321 acres (130 hectares). The male athletes were housed

Ashley, Maurice

2005-02-23T19:56:00.000-08:00

Ashley moved to Brooklyn, New York, with his family when he was 12 years old. He soon took up chess and excelled at the game, becoming a national master in 1986 and an International Master in 1993. From 1991 to 1997 Ashley was the chess director of the Harlem Educational Activities Fund, Inc., where

Triassic Period, Invertebrates

2005-02-23T04:34:00.000-08:00

Ammonoids were common in the Permian but suffered drastic reduction at the end of that period. Only a few genera belonging to

Anderson, Elizabeth Garrett

2005-02-22T06:09:00.000-08:00

Refused admission to medical schools, Anderson began in 1860 to study privately with accredited physicians and in London hospitals and was licensed to practice in 1865 by the Society of Apothecaries. She was appointed (1866) general

Muktafi, Al-

2005-02-21T14:09:00.000-08:00

The son of al-Mu'tadid, al-Muktafi ascended to the throne in 902 with somewhat more popular support than his predecessors, thanks to his liberal rule and abolition of dungeons in Baghdad. He immediately faced battle with the Qarmatians, a schismatic

Mena (y Medrano), Pedro De

2005-02-21T10:34:00.000-08:00

Beginning as a student of his father, the sculptor Alonso de Mena, Pedro worked in the studio of Alonso Cano from 1652 to 1657. After Cano departed for Madrid, Pedro went in 1658 to Málaga to begin

Lupton, Thomas Goff

2005-02-20T17:30:00.000-08:00

Lupton was apprenticed

Prosper Of Aquitaine, Saint

2005-02-20T07:33:00.000-08:00

Latin Prosper Tiro early Christian polemicist famous for his defense of Augustine of Hippo and his doctrine on grace, predestination, and free will, which became a norm for the teachings of the Roman Catholic church. Prosper's chief opponents were the Semi-Pelagians, who believed in the power of man's innate will to seek God, but at the

Piciform, Vocalizations

2005-02-19T18:06:00.000-08:00

The voices of Piciformes are rarely melodious and are often harsh or strident. The vocalizations of jacamars are squeaky, the notes sometimes being run together into a trill. Whistles or trills may be alternated or mixed, forming a simple song. Puffbirds are relatively quiet, producing thin whistles, peeps, and twitters. The vocalizations of toucans are loud and often

Ghi

2005-02-18T04:23:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ghee, clarified butter, a staple food on the Indian subcontinent. See butterfat.

Moree

2005-02-18T01:42:00.000-08:00

Town, northern New South Wales, Australia, on the Gwydir River, in the Western Slopes district. Originating in 1848 as a livestock station, it became a village in 1852, a town in 1862, and a municipality in 1890. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word for “rising sun,” “long spring,” or “water hole.” At the junction of the Gwydir and Newell highways, with regular air and rail service to Sydney (319 mi [513 km] southeast),

Literature

2005-02-18T00:57:00.000-08:00

In 1998 Arabic literature was characterized by two recurring themes: death and revival. Several works, many reminiscent of the writings of the Jahili poet al-Khansa', eulogized writers and thinkers who were victims of tragic assassinations, especially in Algeria. The analogy to al-Khansa' was reinforced by the fact that many of these writers were women. Assia Djebar, who eulogized

Moscow State University

2005-02-17T22:36:00.000-08:00

In full Moscow M.V. Lomonosov State University , Russian Moskovsky Gosudarstvenny Universitet Imeni M.V. Lomonosova state-controlled institution of higher learning at Moscow, the oldest-surviving, largest, and most prestigious university in Russia. It was founded in 1755 by the linguist M.V. Lomonosov and was modeled after German universities, its original faculty being predominantly German. In the second half of the 19th century, Moscow State University became the most important centre

Adams, Gerry

2005-02-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

Gerard Adams was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Oct. 6, 1948, into a prominent Irish nationalist

Theatre Guild

2005-02-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

A theatrical society founded in New York City in 1918 for the production of high-quality, noncommercial American and foreign plays. The guild, founded by Lawrence Langner (1890–1962), departed from the usual theatre practice in that its board of directors shared the responsibility for choice of plays, management, and production. The first two seasons, which included plays by Jacinto

Photometry

2005-02-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

The earliest observations of the apparent brightness of the stars were made by Greek astronomers. The system used by Hipparchus about

John

2005-02-15T04:53:00.000-08:00

The son of Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, and Margaret of Flanders, John was born in the ducal castle at Rouvres, where he spent the greater part of his childhood. In 1385 he married Margaret of Bavaria, and in the following decade

Xingu River

2005-02-15T04:47:00.000-08:00

Portuguese Rio Xingu, river in Mato Grosso and Pará states, Brazil. The river rises on the Planalto (plateau) do Mato Grosso, in the drainage basin framed by the Serra do Roncador and the Serra Formosa mountain ranges. Formed by several headstreams, principally the Curiseu, Batovi, and Romuro rivers, the Xingu meanders generally northward for approximately 1,300 mi (2,100 km), emptying into the Amazon

Hypotension

2005-02-14T04:18:00.000-08:00

Extensive bleeding is an obvious cause of reduced blood volume that leads to hypotension. There are other possible causes. A person

Jane Seymour

2005-02-13T23:24:00.000-08:00

Jane's father was Sir John Seymour of Wolf Hall, Savernake, Wiltshire. She became a lady in waiting to Henry's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and then to Anne Boleyn,

Macdonald, Sir John (alexander)

2005-02-13T01:57:00.000-08:00

Macdonald emigrated from Scotland to Kingston, in what is now Ontario, in 1820. He was called to the bar in 1836. After the British Parliament united Upper and Lower

Chase, William Merritt

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

Chase studied at the National Academy of Design in New York City and under Karl von Piloty for six years in Munich. He worked for a time in the grays and browns of the Munich school, but in the 1880s

Argentina, Economic development, 182050

2005-02-12T07:33:00.000-08:00

Argentina's society and economy underwent considerable changes in the 30 years after 1820. Buenos Aires was the province best adapted to the new era of free trade, exporting cattle products in return for consumer goods from overseas. The interior provinces adjusted slowly, replacing their traditional markets in Upper Peru with new ones in Chile, where a great expansion

Bessières, Jean-baptiste, Duke D'istrie

2005-02-10T17:38:00.000-08:00

In 1792 Bessières joined Louis XVI's constitutional guard as a private. After serving in Catalonia as a captain, he was chosen to command Napoleon's escort

Ob River

2005-02-10T17:11:00.000-08:00

Politically, most of the Ob basin is within Russia, but its southern portion forms the northernmost part of Kazakhstan. Russians and other Slavs constitute the majority of the population, but there also are numerous non-Slavic peoples. These include the Kazakhs in the south, the Altay and Shor peoples of the mountains, the Tatars of the Irtysh basin, the Khanty (Ostyak)

Atwood, Margaret (eleanor)

2005-02-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

In her early poetry

Popish Plot

2005-02-10T00:44:00.000-08:00

(1678), in English history, a totally fictitious but widely believed plot in which it was alleged that Jesuits were planning the assassination of King Charles II in order to bring his Roman Catholic brother, the Duke of York (afterward King James II), to the throne. The allegations were fabricated by Titus Oates (q.v.), a renegade Anglican clergyman who had feigned conversion

Grito De Dolores

2005-02-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

Hidalgo was involved in a plot against the Spanish colonial government, and, when the plot was betrayed, he decided to act immediately. After arming the people, he addressed them from the pulpit,

Tacloban

2005-02-09T00:40:00.000-08:00

Chartered city, northeastern Leyte, Philippines, on San Pedro Bay at the southern entrance to San Juanico Strait. It is the largest city and distributing centre in the eastern Visayas (Leyte and Samar). A port since 1874, Tacloban has a long deepwater wharf, a bulk petroleum depot, and an airport. Hemp, copra, and lumber are exported, and commercial fishing is important. The city

Anticoagulant

2005-02-08T14:50:00.000-08:00

Any drug that, when added to blood, prevents it from clotting. Anticoagulants achieve their effect by suppressing the synthesis or function of various clotting factors that are normally present in the blood. Such drugs are often used to prevent blood clots (thrombi) from forming in the veins or arteries. Anticoagulants are generally of two types. One type is heparin

Permafrost, Active wedges, inactive wedges, and ice-wedge casts

2005-02-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

Ice wedges may be classified as active, inactive, and ice-wedge casts. Active ice wedges are those that are actively growing. The wedge may not crack every year, but during many or most years cracking does occur, and an increment of ice is added. Ice wedges require a much more rigorous climate to grow than does permafrost. The permafrost table must be chilled to -15° to -20° C (5° to -4° F) for

Hesperorthis

2005-02-07T11:06:00.000-08:00

Extinct genus of brachiopods, or lamp shells, which as fossils are especially characteristic of Ordovician marine rocks (438 to 505 million years old). The plano-convex shell of Hesperorthis consists of two units (or valves), the brachial valve being flat and the pedicle valve convex. The shell has a radiating pattern of ribs and a relatively broad, triangular area at the dorsal

Raymond Vii

2005-02-07T06:01:00.000-08:00

After helping to recover lands of which his