DelicateCamera

Jovius, Paulus

2005-04-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

In about 1513 Jovius settled in Rome; he won the favour of Leo X (who compared him to Livy) and of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, later Clement VII, whom he helped during the sack of Rome in 1527. In 1528 Jovius became bishop of Nocera. He

France, History Of, Commitment to modernization

2005-04-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

The great peculiarity of the ancien régime, however, was that traditionalism, though deeply felt, was only one-half of a complicated institutional diptych. When first conceived by Cardinal Richelieu between 1624 and 1642 and developed after him by Mazarin, Colbert, Louvois, and the Sun King, the ancien régime was also committed to a program of modernization. Guided by a modern

Harald I

2005-04-01T18:48:00.000-08:00

He was the son of Gorm the Old, the first significant figure in a new royal line centred at Jelling (North Jutland). Harald completed the country's unification begun by his father, converted the Danes to Christianity, and conquered Norway. After Harald's Baptism (c. 960) his father's pagan

Azua

2005-03-29T01:29:00.000-08:00

In full Azua De Compostela, city, southwestern Dominican Republic. Founded in 1504 on the Caribbean coast, the original town was destroyed by an earthquake; the town was reestablished 3 miles (5 km) inland at its present site at the foot of the Ocoa Mountains. It is one of the leading cities in the region, trading mainly in agricultural products grown in the surrounding region: sugarcane, coffee, rice, corn

Guchkov, Aleksandr Ivanovich

2005-03-28T14:13:00.000-08:00

The son of a wealthy Moscow merchant, Guchkov studied at the universities of Moscow and Berlin, traveled widely, fought against the British in the South African (Boer) War (1899–1902), and headed the Russian Red Cross during the Russo-Japanese

Pigment

2005-03-26T20:05:00.000-08:00

Pigments are insoluble and are applied not as solutions but as finely ground solid particles mixed with a liquid. In general, the same pigments are employed in oil- and water-based paints, printing inks, and plastics. Pigments may be organic (i.e., contain carbon) or inorganic.

Wright Military Flyer Of 1909

2005-03-24T19:40:00.000-08:00

The

Wolf-ferrari, Ermanno

2005-03-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

The son of a German father and an Italian mother, Wolf-Ferrari studied music in Munich and then returned to Venice, where he became director of the Liceo Benedetto Marcello in 1902. He wrote Italian operas, of which five are based on the comedies of Carlo Goldoni.

Traube, Isidor

2005-03-19T03:54:00.000-08:00

In 1882 Traube joined the faculty of the Technische Hochschule, Berlin, and there became professor of chemistry in 1900. He left Germany in 1939 and accepted a position

Balbuena, Bernardo De

2005-03-18T22:13:00.000-08:00

Balbuena, taken to Mexico as a child, studied there and in Spain. Returning to the New World, he held minor church offices in Jamaica (1608) and became bishop of Puerto Rico (1620), remaining

Hino

2005-03-16T07:39:00.000-08:00

City, Tokyo no (metropolis), Honshu, Japan, on the railway linking Tachikawa and Hachioji. Located on the Tama River, Hino was a post town and ferry station during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867). The city is now part of the Keihin Industrial Region, producing automobiles, electrical machinery, and precision instruments. It also serves as a residential suburb of the Tokyo and Yokohama

Girdle-tailed Lizard

2005-03-16T04:35:00.000-08:00

Their name is derived from the rings of spiny scales that encircle the tail, and sometimes the body, in a series of whorls. In some species the armoured girdles serve effectively as protection

Beiderbecke, Bix

2005-03-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

As a boy Beiderbecke was expelled from Lake Forest Academy in suburban Chicago. In 1923 he joined the Wolverines, a youthful group with whom

Ta'mim, At-

2005-03-13T17:16:00.000-08:00

Muhafazah (governorate), in northeastern Iraq, created from the northern part of Kirkuk muhafazah. It has an area of 3,729 sq mi (9,659 sq km) and encompasses the eastern part of the alluvial plain of the Tigris River and the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. Its economy is based on petroleum and dry-farm agriculture, which produces wheat, barley, and fruits; sheep are grazed. Its capital, Kirk

Memory Abnormality

2005-03-12T07:33:00.000-08:00

Disorders of memory must have been known to the ancients and are mentioned in several early medical texts, but it was not until the closing decades of the 19th century that serious attempts were made to analyze them or to seek their explanation in terms of brain disturbances. Of the early attempts, the most influential

Chemical Compound, Nonbenzenoid aromatic compounds

2005-03-11T03:40:00.000-08:00

Of the two, cyclooctatetraene proved more accessible.

Self-fertilization

2005-03-10T23:00:00.000-08:00

Fusion of male and female gametes (sex cells) produced by the same individual. Self-fertilization occurs in bisexual organisms, including most flowering plants, numerous protozoans, and many invertebrates. Autogamy, the production of gametes by the division of a single parent cell, is frequently found in unicellular organisms such as the protozoan Paramecium

Absinthe

2005-03-08T23:34:00.000-08:00

Flavoured, distilled liquor, yellowish green in colour, turning to cloudy, opalescent white when mixed with water. Highly aromatic, this liqueur is dry and somewhat bitter in taste. Absinthe is made from a spirit high in alcohol, such as brandy, and marketed with alcoholic content of 68 percent by volume. Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium; see photograph

Mastoid Process

2005-03-08T07:43:00.000-08:00

The smooth pyramidal or cone-shaped bone projection at the base of the skull on each side of the head just below and behind the ear in humans. The mastoid process is important to students of fossil humans because it occurs regularly and in the specific form described only in hominids (i.e., members of the genera Homo and Australopithecus). The development of the mastoid

Europe, Caledonian orogenic belt

2005-03-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

The major factor that controlled the early mid-Paleozoic development of Europe was the opening and closing of the Iapetus Ocean, which gave rise to the Caledonian orogenic belt that extends from Ireland and Wales through northern England and Scotland to western Norway and northward to Finnmark in northern Norway. The belt is confined between the stable blocks

Peter Ii

2005-03-06T00:03:00.000-08:00

Peter married (1204) Mary, lady of Montpellier, and thus greatly extended Aragonese power in southern France. Despite the violent objections of his subjects, he had himself crowned by Pope Innocent III in Rome and declared his kingdom a feudatory of the Holy See (1204). Peter, with other Spanish kings,

Shamanism

2005-03-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

Although the classic model and most complete expression of shamanism is found in the Arctic and Central Asian regions, the phenomenon must not be considered as limited to those countries. It is encountered, for example, in Southeast Asia, Oceania, and among many North American aboriginal tribes (shamanism does not play a role of the first order in Africa). A distinction

Dan

2005-03-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

Also called Gio, or Yakuba, an ethnolinguistic grouping of people inhabiting the mountainous west-central Côte d'Ivoire and adjacent areas of Liberia. The Dan belong to the Southern branch of the Mande linguistic subgroup of the Niger-Congo language family. They originated somewhere to the west or northwest of their present lands, perhaps among the Malinke (Mandingo). The Dan are closely

Mindanao

2005-03-02T00:36:00.000-08:00

Alain-fournier

2005-02-28T20:47:00.000-08:00

Pseudonym of Henri-Alban Fournier French writer whose only completed novel, Le Grand Meaulnes (1913; The Wanderer, 1928, or The Lost Domain, 1959), is a modern classic. Based on his happy childhood in a remote village in central France, it reflects his longing for a lost world of delight. The hero, an idealistic but forceful

Raedwald

2005-02-28T18:53:00.000-08:00

Raedwald became a Christian during a stay in Kent, but on his return to East Anglia he sanctioned the worship of both the Christian and the heathen religions. For a time he recognized the overlordship of Aethelberht, king of Kent, but he seems to have shaken off the

Cloaca

2005-02-26T06:25:00.000-08:00

(Latin: “sewer”), in vertebrates, common chamber and outlet into which the intestinal, urinary, and genital tracts open. It is present in amphibians, reptiles, birds, elasmobranch fishes (such as sharks), and monotremes. A cloaca is not present in placental mammals or in most bony fishes. Certain animals have, within the cloaca, an accessory organ (penis) that is used to direct

Scheie's Syndrome

2005-02-25T13:28:00.000-08:00

Also called Mucopolysaccharidosis I S , or Mps I S uncommon hereditary metabolic disease characterized by clawing of the hands, corneal clouding, incompetence of the aortic valve of the heart, and painful nerve compression in the wrist (carpal tunnel syndrome). The disease was described by Harold Scheie of the United States in 1962 and is a mild variant of Hurler's syndrome (MPS I H), a disorder associated with subnormal

Tradición

2005-02-23T15:55:00.000-08:00

In Spanish-American literature, short prose sketch in which a historical incident is related in an imaginative and literary style. An evocation of the South American past, the tradición may be set in the precolonial era, the age of discovery and conquest, the prerevolutionary era of romance and political intrigue, or the time of the struggle for self-determination

Perche

2005-02-23T00:30:00.000-08:00

Region of northern France on the border of Normandie, mainly in the east of the Orne département, with extensions into neighbouring départements. Formerly a county, it was united to the French crown in 1525. It is largely hilly country, the Perche Hills having summits as high as 1,000 feet (300 m). Perche is a district of pastoral farming and dairying, famous for its breed of draft horses

Sans Serif

2005-02-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

In printing, a style of roman letter stripped of its serif—i.e., such embellishments as the vertical line at the end of the top right and lower left curved segments of the letter “s,” the base line on which the lowercase “n,” “m,” and “l” rest, etc. Though the concept of such a type has challenged recent designers, the face itself is used largely for display purposes, in which continuous

Serbia And Montenegro, The early Slav states

2005-02-19T16:08:00.000-08:00

Organization formed in the United States in 1916 at the instigation of Rodman Wanamaker, a Philadelphia businessman, with the stated purpose of promoting interest in professional golf, elevating the standards of the game, and advancing the welfare of its members. By the late 1980s the PGA had a membership of about 8,500 playing and teaching professionals. Its annual PGA national

Gum Nebula

2005-02-19T04:35:00.000-08:00

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

Arctic, Animals of the land and fresh water

2005-02-18T23:23:00.000-08:00

The typical and best-known Arctic land mammals and birds are those highly successful forms, most of them circumpolar in distribution, that survived the Pleistocene glaciations probably both south and north of the ice sheets: south along the ice perimeter and north in ice-free refuges such as northern Alaska, the Bering Strait (then dry land) and northeastern Siberia,

Cordillera

2005-02-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

(from old Spanish cordilla, “cord,” or “little rope”), a system of mountain ranges that often consist of a number of more or less parallel chains. Cordilleras are an extensive feature in the Americas and Eurasia. In North America the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevadas, and the mountains between them are collectively known as the Cordilleras, and the entire area has been termed

Bohemian-moravian Highlands

2005-02-15T22:33:00.000-08:00

Czech Ceskomoravská Vysocina , or Vrchovina plateau (125 miles [200 km] long and 35 to 50 miles wide) forming the southeastern boundary of the Bohemian Massif, which separates the former historic provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. The highlands are roughly defined by the Luznice River (west), the Dyje River (south), the Morava River (east), and the tributaries of the Elbe (Labe) River (north). They form a rolling,

Cd

2005-02-15T09:57:00.000-08:00

Abbreviation of Córdoba Durchmusterung (q.v.), an astronomical catalog.

Esquire

2005-02-13T23:43:00.000-08:00

Esquire's early notoriety became the subject of a celebrated

Libertarianism, Nonaggression axiom

2005-02-13T21:52:00.000-08:00

According to the principle that libertarians call the nonaggression axiom, all acts of aggression against the rights of others—whether committed by individuals or by governments—are unjust. Indeed, libertarians believe that the primary purpose of government is to protect citizens from the illegitimate use of force. Accordingly, governments may not use force

Menippus

2005-02-12T01:29:00.000-08:00

Menippus was allegedly a slave by birth who became rich by begging or by usury, afterward

Clothing And Footwear Industry

2005-02-10T23:44:00.000-08:00

Also called apparel and allied industries, garment industries, or soft-goods industries, factories and mills producing outerwear, underwear, headwear, footwear, belts, purses, luggage, gloves, scarfs, ties, and household soft goods such as drapes, linens, and slipcovers. The same raw materials and equipment are used to fashion these different end products.

United States, The European background

2005-02-09T16:57:00.000-08:00

During the years separating the failure of the Roanoke colony and the establishment in 1607 of the English settlement in Jamestown, English propagandists worked hard to convince the public that a colony in America would yield instant and easily exploitable wealth. Even men like the English geographer Richard Hakluyt were not certain that the Spanish colonization experience could or should be imitated but hoped nevertheless that the English colonies in the New World would prove to be a source of immediate commercial gain. There were, of course, other motives for colonization. Some hoped to discover the much-sought-after route to the Orient in North America. English imperialists thought it necessary to settle in the New World in order to limit Spanish expansion. Once it was proven that America was a suitable place for settlement, some Englishmen would travel to those particular colonies that promised to free them from religious persecution. There were also Englishmen, primarily of lower- and middle-class origin, who hoped the New World would provide them with increased economic opportunity in the form of free or inexpensive land. These last two motives, while they have been given considerable attention by historians, appear not to have been so much original motives for English colonization as they were shifts of attitude once colonization had begun.

Tobogganing

2005-02-09T05:16:00.000-08:00

The runnerless toboggan was originally an American Indian sled made of poles tied together with thongs. The modern version is usually built of thin, straight-grained

Guinea

2005-02-07T19:42:00.000-08:00

The shortage

France, History Of, Frankish expansion and the unification of Gaul

2005-02-06T17:42:00.000-08:00

During the years following his accession, Clovis consolidated the position of the Franks in northern Gaul. In 486 he defeated Syagrius, the last Roman ruler in Gaul, and in a series of subsequent campaigns with strong Gallo-Roman support occupied an area situated between the Frankish kingdom of Tournai, the Visigothic and Burgundian kingdoms, and the lands occupied

Botha, P(ieter) W(illem)

2005-02-05T21:49:00.000-08:00

A native of the Orange Free State, he studied law at the University of Orange Free State at Bloemfontein from 1932 to 1935 but left without graduating. Already active in politics in his teens, he moved to Cape Province at age 20 to become a full-time organizer for the National Party. He was

Radioactivity

2005-02-04T21:56:00.000-08:00

An unstable nucleus will decompose spontaneously, or decay, into a more stable configuration but will do so only in a few specific ways by emitting certain particles or certain forms of electromagnetic

New France

2005-02-04T01:44:00.000-08:00

The name Gallia Nova (New France) was first recorded in 1529 on a map prepared by the brother of Giovanni da Verrazano, who,

Alligator Rivers

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

Three perennial rivers, northeastern Northern Territory, Australia, that empty into Van Diemen Gulf, an inlet of the Timor Sea. They were explored in 1818–20 by Captain Phillip Parker King, who named them in the belief that the crocodiles infesting their lower swampy, jungle-fringed reaches were alligators (actually, Australia has no alligators). The South Alligator rises

Earth, Mid-oceanic ridges

2005-02-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

These structures represent the spreading axes of plate tectonics, along which hot volcanic material is ejected to become new oceanic lithosphere. Bathymetrically, the ridges are striking topographic features, rising one to three kilometres above the deep ocean floor on either side. That they are associated with geoidal highs can be seen on the global map of the

Armenian Highland

2005-01-30T03:56:00.000-08:00

Russian Armyanskoye Nagorye, also spelled Arm'anskoje Nagor'e, mountainous region of Transcaucasia. It lies mainly in Turkey, occupies all of Armenia, and includes southern Georgia, western Azerbaijan, and northwestern Iran. The highland covers almost 154,400 square miles (400,000 square km). The average elevation of the Armenian Highland is 5,000 to 6,500 feet (1,500 to 2,000 m), but several peaks exceed 14,000 feet (4,000 m). The highland is a segment of the Mediterranean alpine volcanic

Lahore

2005-01-29T18:31:00.000-08:00

Little is known of the history of the settlement prior to the Muslim period. Hindu legend attributes the founding of Lahore to Lava, or Loh, son of Rama, for whom it is said to have been named Lohawar. The city

Alwar

2005-01-29T15:10:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Alwur, city, northeastern Rajasthan state, northwestern India. The city is surrounded by a wall and moat and is dominated by a fort on a conical hill against a backdrop of a range of hills. Alwar was made the capital of Alwar princely state in 1775; it contains the 14th-century tomb of Tarang Sultan (the brother of Firuz Shah) and several ancient mosques. The palace, which adjoins a picturesque

Gabon, Education

2005-01-27T07:49:00.000-08:00

The educational system continues to be modeled closely after that of France. French remains the sole medium of instruction; Bantu languages are studied as electives at the secondary and higher levels. While education is officially mandatory from the ages of 6 to 16, the bulk of children do not attend long enough to achieve literacy or numeracy. The Omar Bongo University,

Penal Colony

2005-01-27T05:28:00.000-08:00

Distant or overseas settlement established for punishing criminals by forced labour and isolation from society. Although a score of nations in Europe and Latin America transported their criminals to widely scattered penal colonies, such colonies were developed mostly by the English, French, and Russians. England shipped criminals to America until the American

Finnish Literature

2005-01-26T07:10:00.000-08:00

Only in the 19th century did a strong literature in Swedish develop in Finland. Previously it had been somewhat sporadic, although there had been several excellent poets, notably Jacob Frese, Gustaf Philip Creutz, and Frans Mikael Franzén. In the work of Johan Ludvig Runeberg, the Finnish people and landscape first came to life in literature, and he became the national

Peter Iv

2005-01-25T23:51:00.000-08:00

Peter was the most cultivated of Spanish 14th-century kings but was also an inveterate political intriguer whose ability to dissemble was notorious. Through his voluminous correspondence, the workings of his mind are far better known than those of any contemporary Spanish

Gag Rule

2005-01-24T05:56:00.000-08:00

In U.S. history, any of a series of congressional resolutions that tabled, without discussion, petitions regarding slavery; passed by the House of Representatives between 1836 and 1840 and repealed in 1844. Abolition petitions, signed by more than 2,000,000 persons, had inundated Congress after the establishment of the American Anti-Slavery Society (1833). Gag rules, supported by proslavery congressmen,

La Plata River

2005-01-22T22:16:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río De La Plata, river in east-central Puerto Rico, rising on the western slope of Mount Santa (2,963 feet [903 m]), a peak of the Sierra de Cayey. Part of the stream is impounded by Lake Carite; the reservoir's outlet diverts waters for a series of hydroelectric stations on the Guamaní River in the coastal Guayama area to the south. The La Plata itself flows about 45 miles (70 km) northwest and north, dropping

Manx

2005-01-21T03:21:00.000-08:00

Breed of tailless domestic cat of unknown origin but presumed by tradition to have come from the Isle of Man. Noted for being affectionate, loyal, and courageous, the Manx is distinguished both by its taillessness and by its characteristic hopping gait. It is compactly built, with a rounded head; large, round eyes; and small, wide-set ears. The rump is also rounded and, because

Gooch, Sir Daniel, 1st Baronet

2005-01-20T15:49:00.000-08:00

After working under the pioneer railroad builders George and Robert Stephenson, Gooch was appointed, in 1837, locomotive superintendent of the Great Western Railway. In this capacity he developed such

Zakrzewska, Marie Elizabeth

2005-01-20T15:07:00.000-08:00

Zakrzewska early developed a strong interest in medicine, and at age 20 she was admitted to the school for midwives at the

Cambodia

2005-01-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

Khmer Kampuchea, French Cambodge, formerly (to 1970) Kingdom of Cambodia, (1970–76) Khmer Republic, (1976–79) Democratic Kampuchea, or (1979–89) People's Republic of Kampuchea, country lying in the southwestern Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Covering a land area of 70,238 square miles (181,916 square kilometres), it is bordered on the west and northwest by Thailand, on the northeast by Laos, on the east and southeast by Vietnam, and on the southwest by the Gulf of Thailand. The capital is Phnom Penh.

Neo-sinaitic Alphabet

2005-01-16T13:11:00.000-08:00

Writing system used in many short rock inscriptions in the Sinai Peninsula, not to be confused with the Sinaitic inscriptions, which are of much earlier date and not directly related. Neo-Sinaitic evolved out of the Nabataean alphabet in the 1st century AD and was in use perhaps until the 4th century AD; inscriptions date primarily from the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The chief importance

Desert Fathers

2005-01-16T08:06:00.000-08:00

Early Christian hermits whose practice of asceticism in the Egyptian desert, beginning in the 3rd century, formed the basis of Christian monasticism. One of these hermits, Pachomius of the Thebaid (c. AD 290–346; see Pachomius, Saint), who organized nine monasteries for men and two for women, is credited with being the founder of cenobitic (communal) monasticism in the Western

Pacific Islands

2005-01-15T05:42:00.000-08:00

Ron Crocombe, The South Pacific (1983); and Frederica M. Bunge and Melinda W. Cooke (eds.), Oceania, a Regional Study, 2nd ed. (1985), provide comprehensive information. Large-scale maps are found in Atlas of the South Pacific, 2nd ed. (1986), published by the New Zealand government. Herold J. Wiens, Atoll Environment and Ecology (1962), explores the physical characteristics of Pacific Islands environments. The classic demographic study is Norma McArthur, Island Populations of the Pacific (1967, reprinted 1983); see also Vern Carroll (ed.), Pacific Atoll Populations (1975). On physical anthropology, see William Howells, The Pacific Islanders (1973). F.R. Fosberg (ed.), Man's Place in the Island Ecosystem (1963); and Douglas L. Oliver, Oceania: The Native Cultures of Australia and the Pacific Islands, 2 vol. (1989), survey aspects of Pacific Islands societies. University of the South Pacific, Institute of Pacific Studies, Pacific Tourism, as Islanders See It (1980), analyzes the impact of tourism. Current writings about the area are found in Pacific Islands Business (monthly, Fiji); Pacific Magazine (bimonthly, Hawaii); and Pacific Islands Monthly (Australia). John Carter (ed.), Pacific Islands Yearbook, 15th ed. (1984), is a detailed reference work on contemporary conditions and events. For further research, see C.R.H. Taylor, A Pacific Bibliography: Printed Matter Relating to the Native Peoples of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia, 2nd ed. (1965); and Bibliographie de l'Océanie, published irregularly by the Société des Océanistes in Paris.

Heinrich Julius

2005-01-13T06:15:00.000-08:00

A gifted scholar, theologian,

Château-renault, François-louis Rousselet, Marquis De

2005-01-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

In 1689 he transported French troops to Ireland to aid the deposed Catholic King James II of Great Britain, and he obtained a short-lived advantage by defeating a British fleet off the south coast of

Scandinavian Literature, The heroic sagas

2005-01-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

The fantastic element was further developed in the fornaldar sögur, literally “the sagas of antiquity,” whose heroes were supposed to have lived in Scandinavia and Germany before Iceland was settled. The best known, the Völsunga saga (c. 1270), retold in prose stories from heroic lays of Sigurd, the Burgundians, and Jörmunrekr, and the Hrólfs saga kraka (c. 1280–1350) incorporated ancient

Kidder, Alfred V(incent)

2005-01-11T02:38:00.000-08:00

In 1907 Kidder began his career of fieldwork with studies in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University

Electron Spectroscopy

2005-01-08T03:07:00.000-08:00

Method of determining the energy with which electrons are bound in chemical species by measuring the kinetic energies of the electrons emitted upon bombardment of the species with X-ray or ultraviolet radiation. Details of the structure may be inferred from the results because differences in the arrangements of the atoms affect the amount of energy required

Rosidae, The order Proteales

2005-01-07T14:29:00.000-08:00

The Proteales consists of two families, Elaeagnaceae and Proteaceae, although this might not be a natural affiliation. The Proteaceae is composed of about 75 genera and more than 1,000 species distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions of the world, especially in South Africa and Australia. They are evergreen woody plants that thrive in nutrient-poor soils

Radar

2005-01-06T23:13:00.000-08:00

(from “radio detecting and ranging”), electromagnetic sensor used for detecting, locating, tracking, and identifying objects of various kinds at considerable distances. It operates by transmitting electromagnetic energy toward objects, commonly referred to as targets, and observing the echoes returned from them. The targets may be aircraft, ships, spacecraft, automotive

Essential Oil

2005-01-06T22:53:00.000-08:00

Distillation is the most common method

Mau Mau

2005-01-05T06:11:00.000-08:00

Militant African nationalist movement that originated in the 1950s among the Kikuyu people of Kenya. The Mau Mau (origin of the name is uncertain) advocated violent resistance to British domination in Kenya; the movement was especially associated with the ritual oaths employed by leaders of the Kikuyu Central Association to promote unity in the independence

Dadra And Nagar Haveli

2005-01-03T15:23:00.000-08:00

Dadra and Nagar Haveli came under

Small Arm, Single shot

2005-01-02T18:13:00.000-08:00

During World War I, most armies developed attachments for standard service rifles that permitted the launching of “rifle” grenades. However, although range was increased with these devices, accuracy remained poor. An effective answer was a shoulder-fired grenade launcher developed in the 1950s by the Springfield Armory. Resembling a single-shot, break-open, sawed-off

Moshav

2004-12-31T16:39:00.000-08:00

Plural Moshavim, in Israel, a type of cooperative agricultural settlement. The moshav, which is generally based on the principle of private ownership of land, avoidance of hired labour, and communal marketing, represents an intermediate stage between privately owned settlements and the complete communal living of the kibbutz. Moshavim are built on land belonging to the Jewish

Sup'ung Dam

2004-12-30T22:05:00.000-08:00

Korean Sup'ung-Dam , Chinese (Wade-Giles) Shui-feng Shui-pa , or (Pinyin) Shuifeng Shuiba hydroelectric project on the Yalu River at the Korean border with Liaoning sheng (province), China, upstream from Tan-tung. It was originally designed as a joint project of the Japanese-controlled Manchukuo government, which administered Manchuria from 1931 to 1945, and the Japanese administration in Korea to supply power for the industrial developments in Manchuria and

Yalow, Rosalyn S.

2004-12-29T04:50:00.000-08:00

Yalow graduated with honours from Hunter College

Indo-gangetic Plain

2004-12-28T05:13:00.000-08:00

Also called North Indian Plain, extensive north-central section of the Indian subcontinent, stretching westward from (and including) the Brahmaputra River valley and the Ganges Delta to the Indus River valley. The region contains the subcontinent's richest and most densely populated areas. The greater part of the plain is made up of alluvial soil, deposited by the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Fable

2004-12-27T06:20:00.000-08:00

The origins of fable are lost in the mists of time. Fables appear independently in ancient Indian and Mediterranean cultures. The Western tradition begins effectively with Aesop (6th century BC), of whom little or nothing is known for certain; but before him the Greek poet Hesiod (8th century BC) recounts the fable of the hawk and the nightingale, while fragments of similar

Amalthea

2004-12-27T01:16:00.000-08:00

Small, inner satellite of Jupiter discovered in 1892 by the American astronomer E.E. Barnard. It circles Jupiter once every 11 h 57 min at a distance of 181,000 km (112,220 miles) in a nearly circular, uninclined orbit. Photographs transmitted by the U.S. probes Voyagers 1 and 2 in 1979 show that Amalthea is an irregular body measuring 270 ´ 166 ´ 150 km (167 ´ 103 ´ 93 miles); the long axis always points toward Jupiter. Amalthea has a very

Ekoi

2004-12-26T05:33:00.000-08:00

Group of peoples situated in extreme southeastern Nigeria and extending eastward into neighbouring Cameroon. Ekoid Bantu languages are spoken by many groups, including the Atam, Boki, Mbembe, Ufia, and Yako. The Ekoi live in proximity to the Efiks of southeastern Nigeria and claim to have migrated from the north to that area. The inhabitants of Kwa, located near Calabar,

Yi Sang-cha

2004-12-24T04:46:00.000-08:00

Yi was originally a slave in a scholar's household, but his great artistic talents soon came to the attention of the king, and he was admitted to the Korean Royal Academy and made a member of the middle class. He is known for his landscapes as well as for his portraits of the royal

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Fable

2004-12-24T02:40:00.000-08:00

Organization formed in New York City in 1911 during a convention of state antisuffrage groups. Led by Josephine Dodge, the founder and first president, the NAOWS believed that woman suffrage would decrease women's work in communities and their ability to effect societal reforms. Active on a state and federal level, the group also established a newsletter, Woman's

Waterfall

2004-12-22T20:32:00.000-08:00

Area where flowing river water drops abruptly and nearly vertically (see video). Waterfalls represent major interruptions in river flow. Under most circumstances rivers tend to smooth out irregularities in their flow by processes of erosion and deposition. In time, the long profile of a river (the graph of its gradient) takes the form of a smooth curve, steepest toward

Gisbornian Stage

2004-12-22T08:54:00.000-08:00

Time division of the Ordovician Period in Australia and New Zealand. The Gisbornian Stage precedes the Eastonian Stage and follows the Darriwilian Stage; it is characterized by the presence of a graptolite fauna in which the genera Nemagraptus and Climacograptus are prominent.

Hyatt, John Wesley

2004-12-21T03:17:00.000-08:00

In the late 1860s, while searching for a substitute for ivory for making billiard balls, Hyatt combined nitrocellulose, camphor, and alcohol, heated the mixture under pressure to make it pliable for molding, and allowed it to harden under normal

Peregrine Falcon

2004-12-20T18:56:00.000-08:00

Bluish gray above with underparts white to yellowish with black barring, peregrines range from about 33 to 48 centimetres (13 to 19 inches) long. They are strong and fast. They fly high and dive at tremendous speeds, striking

Computers, Analog calculators: From Napier's logarithms to the slide rule

2004-12-18T23:31:00.000-08:00

Calculating devices took a different turn when John Napier, a Scottish mathematician, published his discovery of logarithms in 1614. As any person can attest, adding two 10-digit numbers is much simpler than multiplying them together, and the transformation of a multiplication problem into an addition problem is exactly what logarithms enable. This simplification

Kwara

2004-12-17T21:33:00.000-08:00

Kwara state consists mostly of wooded savanna, but there are forested regions in the south. Almost all of its savanna area was conquered by the Fulani in the early 19th century, and the region remained part

Marghilon

2004-12-17T01:50:00.000-08:00

Formerly Margilan, city, eastern Uzbekistan. It lies 19 miles (30 km) north of Fergana. Originally known as Marginan, it probably dates back to the 2nd–1st century BC, when one branch of the great Silk Road to the Orient ran through the Fergana Valley. It was an important commercial town in the 10th–12th century AD, and one of the largest cities in the valley in the 16th century. It formed part of the khanate of Kokand

World War Ii, Allied policy and strategy: Octagon (Quebec II) and Moscow, 1944

2004-12-16T15:29:00.000-08:00

The progress of the Soviet armies toward central and southeastern Europe made it all the more urgent for the western Allies to come to terms with Stalin about the fate of the “liberated” countries of eastern Europe. London had already proposed to Moscow in May 1944 that Romania and Bulgaria should be zones for Soviet military operation, Yugoslavia and Greece—whose royalist

Dehiwalamount Lavinia

2004-12-15T21:57:00.000-08:00

Urban area on the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka (Ceylon). The area lies south of Colombo, of which it is a residential suburb. It comprises Dehiwala, Galkissa, Mount Lavinia, and other communities, all governed by a single urban council. Mount Lavinia is a seaside resort known for its beaches, and Dehiwala is noted for its zoological garden. The area grew rapidly in the

Preston, May Wilson

2004-12-12T14:04:00.000-08:00

May Wilson displayed marked artistic ability from an early age. In 1889, when she was barely out of high school, she helped found the Women's Art

Didot Family

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

The founder of the family business was François Didot (1689–1757), who began business as a printer and bookseller in Paris in 1713. He was best known for publishing a 20-volume collection of the works of the Abbé Prévost. Didot's eldest son, François-Ambroise (1730–1804), altered

Genesis Apocryphon

2004-12-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

Pseudepigraphal work (not accepted in any canon of scripture), one of the most important works of the Essene community of Jews, part of whose library was discovered in 1947 in caves at Qumran, near the Dead Sea, in Palestine. The scroll, the last of seven scrolls discovered in Cave I, is also the least well preserved. Examination of the entire scroll showed it to be a collection

Pitt, William, The Younger

2004-12-08T13:43:00.000-08:00

British prime minister (1783–1801, 1804–06) during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He had considerable influence in strengthening the office of the prime minister.

Ribbon Seal

2004-12-07T02:48:00.000-08:00

(Histriophoca fasciata), earless seal of the family Phocidae found in the North Pacific and the Bering Sea. The male, growing to about 1.7 m (5.6 feet) in length and 95 kg (210 pounds) in weight, is dark brown with broad, yellowish, ribbonlike markings. The smaller female and the young are paler, and the bands are less conspicuous. The ribbon seal lives alone or in small groups and feeds on fish,