MixedShelf

Berchtold, Leopold, Count (graf) Von

2005-04-04T16:18:00.000-07:00

A wealthy landowner in Hungary and Moravia, Berchtold, through marriage, became one of the richest men in Austria-Hungary. He entered the diplomatic service in 1893, held posts in Paris and London, and in 1906 was appointed

Felix Iii (or Ii), Saint

2005-04-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

Pope from 483 to 492. He succeeded St. Simplicius on March 13. Felix excommunicated Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, in 484 for publishing with the emperor Zeno a document called the Henotikon, which appeared to favour Monophysitism, a doctrine that had been denounced at the Council of Chalcedon (451). The excommunication created the 35-year Acacian

Spanish Succession, War Of The

2005-04-03T03:38:00.000-07:00

(1701–14), conflict that arose out of the disputed succession to the throne of Spain following the death of the childless Charles II, the last of the Spanish Habsburgs. In an effort to regulate the impending succession, to which there were three principal claimants, England, the Dutch Republic, and France had in October 1698 signed the First Treaty of Partition, agreeing that on the

Augustana College

2005-04-02T06:03:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational liberal arts college located in Rock Island, Ill., U.S. The college is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Augustana offers only Bachelor of Arts degrees and has a curriculum of education, business, and the liberal arts and sciences. It operates study-abroad programs in Latin America, Asia, Israel, and Europe. The campus

Balbo, Italo

2005-04-02T04:39:00.000-08:00

After studying at Florence University and the Institute of Social Science in Rome, Balbo served as an officer in the Alpine Corps during World War I. An early Fascist, he led the Blackshirt militia in the March on Rome (October

Agusan River

2005-04-02T04:03:00.000-08:00

Longest river in Mindanao, Philippines. It rises in the southeast and flows northward for 240 miles (390 km) to enter Butuan Bay of the Bohol Sea. The river forms a fertile valley 40 to 50 miles (65–80 km) wide between the Central Mindanao Highlands (west) and the Pacific Cordillera (east). Important population centres are clustered around the bay and include Butuan, Cabadbaran, and

Spondee

2005-03-31T23:32:00.000-08:00

Metrical foot consisting of two long (as in classical verse) or stressed (as in English verse) syllables occurring together. The term was derived from a Greek word describing the two long musical notes that accompanied the pouring of a libation. Spondaic metre occurred occasionally in classical verse. It does not, however, form the basis for any English verse, as there

Xavier University

2005-03-31T09:54:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. It is affiliated with the Jesuit order of the Roman Catholic church. The university comprises colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, and Social Sciences. In addition to undergraduate studies, Xavier offers about 25 master's degree programs, notably in the fields of education

Arsaces

2005-03-31T03:51:00.000-08:00

Iranian name borne by the Parthian royal house as being descended from Arsaces, son of Phriapites (date unknown), a chief of the seminomadic Parni tribe from the Caspian steppes. The first of his line to gain power in Parthia was Arsaces I, who reigned from about 250 to about 211 BC. (Some authorities believe that a brother, Tiridates I, succeeded Arsaces about 248 and ruled until 211; other

War Hawk

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

In U.S. history, any of the expansionists primarily composed of young Southerners and Westerners elected to the U.S. Congress in 1810, whose territorial ambitions in the Northwest and Florida inspired them to agitate for war with Great Britain. The War Hawks, who included such future political leaders as Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, fiercely and aggressively resented

Roberts, Sir Gilbert

2005-03-28T16:47:00.000-08:00

After attending City and Guilds College of the University of London (B.S., 1923), he became a civil engineer and worked on the Sydney Harbour Bridge

Handball

2005-03-28T06:28:00.000-08:00

Any of a family of games played in walled courts or against a single wall, with a small rubber ball that is struck with hand or fist against the wall. The object is to cause the ball to rebound with variations of power or speed and at such an angle that the opposition cannot return it. There are three versions of handball: four-wall, three-wall, and one-wall. Each may be played

O.m.

2005-03-27T18:56:00.000-08:00

Recipient of the Order of Merit, a British honour. See Merit, Order of.

Van Nu En Straks Circle

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

Group of writers associated with an influential Flemish review, Van Nu en Straks (“Today and Tomorrow”; 1893–94 and 1896–1901). Though holding a variety of opinions, they strove for an art that should comprehend all human activity and give universal significance to individual feelings. Led by August Vermeylen, they included Prosper van Langendonck, Emmanuel Karel de Bom, and Alfred Hegenscheidt.

Bearded Seal

2005-03-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

(Erignathus barbatus), nonmigratory seal of the family Phocidae, distinguished by the bushy, bristly whiskers for which it is named; it is also known as “squareflipper” after the rectangular shape of the foreflipper. Highly valued by Eskimos for its hide, meat, and blubber, the bearded seal is a grayish or yellow-brown animal that lives alone or in small groups in coastal

Yamashita Tomoyuki

2005-03-25T09:25:00.000-08:00

After graduating from the Army Academy (1905) and the Army War College (1916), Yamashita was an officer for the Army General Staff Office. He rose rapidly through the ranks of the Imperial Army, eventually becoming the highest-ranking general of its air

Factory Ship

2005-03-25T08:54:00.000-08:00

The present-day factory ship is an automated, greatly enlarged version of the

Graham, Katharine

2005-03-24T09:40:00.000-08:00

The daughter of the publisher Eugene Meyer and the educator Agnes Meyer, Katharine Meyer attended Vassar College from 1934 to 1936 and then transferred to the University of Chicago, graduating in 1938. After a year as a reporter for the

Kore

2005-03-23T21:47:00.000-08:00

Plural Korai, type of freestanding statue of a maiden—the female counterpart of the kouros, or standing youth—that appeared with the beginning of Greek monumental sculpture in about 660 BC and remained to the end of the Archaic period in about 500 BC. Over this period the kore remained essentially the same, although, as in all Greek art, it evolved from a highly stylized form to a more naturalistic

Vries, Hugo (marie) De

2005-03-23T18:36:00.000-08:00

Dutch botanist and geneticist who introduced the experimental study of organic evolution. His rediscovery in 1900 (simultaneously with the botanists Carl Correns and Erich Tschermak von Seysenegg) of Gregor Mendel's principles of heredity and his theory of biological mutation, though considerably different from a modern understanding

Lea

2005-03-20T10:23:00.000-08:00

County in the High Plains of southeastern New Mexico, U.S., bordered on the east and south by Texas. The northwestern area of the county is located on the Llano Estacado, or Staked Plain, above the Mescalero Escarpment at over 4,000 feet (1,200 m) above sea level; the land slopes to the southeast to under 3,000 feet. There are no streams in Lea county, which includes several dry lakes and creek

Farah River

2005-03-20T05:17:00.000-08:00

Dari Persian in full Darya-ye Farah Rud, river in western Afghanistan, rising on the southern slopes of the Band-e Bayan Range, flowing southwest past the town of Farah, and emptying into the Helmand (Sistan) swamps on the Iranian border after a course of 350 miles (560 km). The river fluctuates greatly with the seasons, sometimes flooding in the spring and becoming impassable. Its waters are used for irrigation along much

Philadelphus

2005-03-18T21:20:00.000-08:00

Genus of deciduous shrubs of the family Hydrangeaceae, including the popular garden forms commonly known as mock orange (from its characteristic orange-blossom fragrance) and sweet syringa. Philadelphus, comprising about 65 species, is native to northern Asia and Japan, the western United States, the southern Atlantic coast of the United States, and Mexico. These

Vanadinite

2005-03-18T21:07:00.000-08:00

Vanadium mineral in the pyromorphite series of the apatite group of phosphates, lead chloride vanadate, Pb5(VO4)3Cl. It is a source of vanadium and a minor source of lead. The mineral's typical occurrences are as orange, red, or brown hairlike or barrel-shaped crystals in the oxidized zone of lead deposits as in the Urals, Russia; Transvaal, S.Af.; Chihuahua, Mex.; and Arizona, U.S.

Kukenaam Falls

2005-03-18T18:11:00.000-08:00

Spanish Salto Cuquenán, high waterfalls on the Guyana-Venezuelan border. They spring from a table mountain, Kukenaam (8,620 feet [2,627 m]), to the northwest of Mount Roraima (9,094 feet) and are the beginning of the Cuquenán River, a tributary of the Caroni River. The falls have a 2,000-foot (600-metre) drop, one of the highest drops in South America.

Vacuum Flask

2005-03-18T17:39:00.000-08:00

The vacuum flask was devised to preserve liquefied gases by preventing the transfer of heat from the surroundings to the liquid. The evacuated space

Marechera, Dambudzo

2005-03-17T13:47:00.000-08:00

Marechera grew up in poverty. He reacted against his upbringing and adopted an increasingly self-destructive lifestyle. He studied at the

Ford, Henry

2005-03-16T10:20:00.000-08:00

Ford spent most of his life making headlines, good, bad, but never indifferent. Celebrated as both a technological genius and a folk hero, Ford was the creative force behind an industry of unprecedented size and wealth that

Alabama, The antebellum period

2005-03-16T08:17:00.000-08:00

Alabama was established as a separate territory in 1817 and became a state in 1819. By 1820 Alabama's population was more than 125,000, including about 500 free blacks. By 1830 there were 300,000 residents, 38 percent of them slaves, and cotton was the principal money crop. Until the Civil War, domestic politics centred on the removal of the Indians, land policy, the banking system, and the question of slavery. The

Water Hyacinth

2005-03-16T02:23:00.000-08:00

Any aquatic plant of the genus Eichhornia of the pickerelweed family (Pontederiaceae), consisting of about five species, native primarily to tropical America. Some species float in shallow water; others are rooted in muddy stream banks and lakeshores. All have slender rootstocks, feathery roots, rosettes of stalked leaves, and few to many flowers

Japanese Cedar

2005-03-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

The Japanese

Paer, Ferdinando

2005-03-15T03:48:00.000-08:00

Paer produced his first opera, Orphée et Euridice, in Parma in 1791. From 1797 to 1802 he was in Vienna, where his most successful opera, Camilla, was produced in 1799. He was in Dresden from 1802 to 1806 and then went

Vulgar Latin

2005-03-15T00:17:00.000-08:00

Spoken form of non-Classical Latin from which originated the Romance group of languages. Vulgar Latin was primarily the speech of the middle classes in Rome and the Roman provinces; it is derived from Classical Latin but varied across Roman-occupied areas according to the extent of education of the population, communication with Rome, and the original languages

Chaeronea

2005-03-14T03:12:00.000-08:00

In ancient Greece, fortified town on Mt. Petrachus, guarding the entry into the northern plain of Boeotia. Controlled by the Boeotian city of Orchomenus (q.v.) in the 5th century BC, it was the scene of the battle in which Philip II of Macedon defeated Thebes and Athens (338 BC). The battle is commemorated by a statue of a large lion sitting on its haunches. In 86 BC Chaeronea was the scene of

Camargo Society

2005-03-13T08:57:00.000-08:00

Group credited with keeping ballet alive in England during the early 1930s. Named after Marie Camargo, the noted 18th-century ballerina, the society was formed in 1930 by Philip J.S. Richardson, the editor of Dancing Times, the critic Arnold Haskell, and other patrons to stimulate interest in creating a national ballet. For the next three years the group annually commissioned

Rasmussen, Poul Nyrup

2005-03-13T08:09:00.000-08:00

When Prime Minister Poul Schlüter was forced from office by Denmark's ongoing "Tamilgate" affair on Jan. 14, 1993, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the leader of the Social Democrats, was faced not only with the challenge of forming a new government but also with the task of overseeing Denmark's key second referendum on the Maastricht Treaty. Furthermore, the country had just taken over

Algebra, Quaternions and vectors

2005-03-13T02:24:00.000-08:00

Remaining doubts about the legitimacy of complex numbers were finally dispelled when their geometric interpretation became widespread among mathematicians. This interpretation, initially and independently conceived by the Norwegian surveyor Caspar Wessel and the French bookkeeper Jean-Robert Argand (see Argand diagram), was made known to a larger audience

Louis

2005-03-12T03:41:00.000-08:00

Also called Louis D'or, gold coin circulated in France before the Revolution. The franc (q.v.) and livre were silver coins that had shrunk in value to such an extent that by 1740 coins of a larger denomination were needed. The French kings therefore had gold coins struck and called after their name Louis, or louis d'or (“gold Louis”). After the Revolution, Napoleon continued the practice but called the

Gainsborough Chair

2005-03-11T22:58:00.000-08:00

Type of English armchair made in the mid-18th century. A wide chair with a high back, it was normally upholstered in leather. The sides are open, and the short, upholstered arms are set well back from the seat, to which they are connected by a concave curving support. The arm supports and front legs are usually fluted or carved on the front face. The contemporary name was “French

Võrtsjärv

2005-03-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Võrts-järv, or Virtsjärv, Russian Ozero Vyrts-yarv, lake (järv) in south-central Estonia, with an area of about 110 square miles (280 square km). Võrtsjärv forms part of the 124-mile (200-kilometre) course of the Ema River (German Embach, Lithuanian Emajõgi), which enters the lake from the south and drains it north and east into Peipsi Lake on the Estonia–Russia border. The Võrtsjärv is navigable, as is the lower course of the Ema. The lake and river

Manchester

2005-03-10T11:50:00.000-08:00

Urban town (township), Hartford county, central Connecticut, U.S. It lies east of Hartford on the Hockanum River. The area was settled in 1672, when it was purchased from the Mohegan Indians by the Puritan clergyman Thomas Hooker and his company. Originally a part of Hartford (after 1694 in East Hartford) and called the Five-Mile Tract, it was organized as an ecclesiastical society

Hippocrateaceae

2005-03-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

Family of woody vines, shrubs, and trees, belonging to the order Celastrales, comprising 21 genera common in the tropics. They have simple leaves and small, greenish flowers. The genus Hippocratea has 80 or more species, including H. ovata, a high-climbing vine—in tropical America and the West Indies—with leathery, oval leaves. Salacia, with 200 species, differs from Hippocratea

Crailsheim

2005-03-09T16:44:00.000-08:00

City, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies along the Jagst River, about 45 miles (70 km) northeast of Stuttgart. A Frankish settlement in the 6th and 7th centuries, it was chartered in 1320 and passed to the Hohenzollerns in 1399 and to Württemberg in 1810. Most of the old city with its historic buildings was destroyed in World War II, but the Romanesque church of St. John

Earth, Earthquakes

2005-03-09T11:22:00.000-08:00

Most Earth scientists believe that virtually all naturally produced earthquakes occur as a result of movements along faults. The reason that the majority of such earthquakes occur along plate boundaries is that most faults lie along those boundaries.

Shimada

2005-03-09T04:18:00.000-08:00

City, Shizuoka ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, on the lower Oi River. During the Tokugawa era (1603–1867) it was an important post town on the Tokaido (Eastern Sea Highway) because fording the river was both difficult and dangerous. Since the early 20th century the city has become a trade centre for timber from the forest-covered Akaishi Range upstream. Shimada contains several large paper

Arts, Islamic, Philosophy: Averroës and Avicenna

2005-03-08T05:11:00.000-08:00

Philosophy, medicine, and theology, all of which flourished in the 'Abbasid East, were also of importance in the Maghrib; and from there strong influences reached medieval Europe. The influences often came through the mediation of the Jews, who, along with numerous Christians, were largely Arabized in their cultural and literary outlook. The eastern Muslim countries

Animal Behaviour, Habituation

2005-03-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

Habituation is learning to disregard stimuli that are without significance to the animal. In many respects it is the simplest form of learning, and it is sometimes regarded as a fundamental property of all living matter. Most animals inherit a response to be frightened by sudden and strong stimuli such as loud sounds, flashes of light, and the sudden intrusion of

Kingston Upon Hull

2005-03-07T20:55:00.000-08:00

Hull was a medieval wool port that passed from the monks of Meaux Abbey to Edward I, king of England, in 1293. Edward renamed the town Kingston upon

Tribological Ceramics

2005-03-06T17:59:00.000-08:00

Also called wear-resistant ceramics ceramic materials that are resistant to friction and wear. They are employed in a variety of industrial and domestic applications, including mineral processing and metallurgy. This article surveys the principal tribological ceramic materials and their areas of application.

Gia Dinh

2005-03-06T05:32:00.000-08:00

Town just north of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), southern Vietnam, in an area of intensive rice cultivation. It has several hospitals and an institution of higher learning. The Gia Dinh industrial park includes rubber tire and textile plants. It was largely ruined during the 1968 Viet Cong Tet offensive but subsequently rebuilt. Pop. (1971 est.) 400,109.

Jackson, Milt

2005-03-05T14:43:00.000-08:00

Jackson began playing the vibraphone (also called vibes or vibraharp) professionally at age 16. He attended Michigan State University and joined Dizzy Gillespie's sextet in 1945; he then worked with Gillespie's big band

Abydos

2005-03-05T05:30:00.000-08:00

Ancient Anatolian town located just northeast of the modern Turkish town of Çanakkale on the east side of the Dardanelles (Hellespont). Probably originally a Thracian town, it was colonized about 670 BC by the Milesians. There Xerxes crossed the strait on his bridge of boats to invade Greece in 480 BC. Abydos is celebrated for its vigorous resistance to Philip V of Macedon (200 BC) and

Korosten

2005-03-04T13:08:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Korosten ', city, Zhitomir oblast (province), north-central Ukraine. It lies along the west bank of the Uzh River about 80 miles (130 km) northwest of Kiev. The city, which was incorporated in 1926, is a small industrial centre, a railway junction, and an engineering centre. In addition, it manufactures equipment for the chemical industry and has woodworking, porcelain, food-processing, and clothing

Academy Award

2005-03-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

Ronald Bergan, Graham Fuller, and David Malcolm, Academy Award Winners (1994), is a lavishly illustrated chronological account. Emanuel Levy, And the Winner Is : The History and Politics of the Oscar Awards, new expanded ed. (1990), not only provides historical information but also compares the Oscars to other film awards and discusses the impact of winning an award. Charles Matthews, Oscar A to Z: A Complete Guide to More than 2,400 Movies Nominated for Academy Awards (1995), lists alphabetically the films nominated in the picture, performances, direction, design, and music categories and provides plot synopses, biographies, and other information. Robert Osborne, 65 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards, 2nd ed. (1994), is the chronological history presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Richard Shale (compiler), The Academy Awards Index (1993), is an easy-to-search reference. Mason Wiley and Damien Bona, Inside Oscar: The Unofficial History of the Academy Awards, 10th anniversary ed. (1996), is a comprehensive social history but includes many unverified rumours and anecdotes.

Wild Rice

2005-03-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

Also called Indian Rice, Water Rice, or Water Oats (species Zizania aquatica), coarse annual grass of the family Poaceae whose grain, now often considered a delicacy, has long been an important food of North American Indians. Despite its name, the plant is not related to rice (Oryza sativa). Wild rice grows in shallow water in marshes and along the shores of streams and lakes in north-central North America.

Hinduism, Sacrifice and worship

2005-03-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

Although the Vedic fire rituals were largely replaced in Puranic and modern Hinduism by image worship and other forms of devotionalism, many Hindu rites can still be traced back to Vedism. Certain royal sacrifices—such as the rajasuya, or consecration ritual, and the horse sacrifice (asvamedha)—remained popular with Hindu kings until very recently. Other large-scale

Fischer, Bobby

2005-03-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

Fischer learned the moves of chess

Abbevillian Industry

2005-02-28T20:05:00.000-08:00

Prehistoric stone-tool tradition generally considered to represent the oldest occurrence in Europe of a bifacial (hand-ax) technology. The Abbevillian industry dates from an imprecisely determined part of the Middle Pleistocene, somewhat less than 700,000 years ago. It was recovered from high terrace sediments of the lower Somme valley, in a suburb of Abbeville, Fr. The

Schmidt, Arno

2005-02-28T19:16:00.000-08:00

In full Arno Otto Schmidt novelist, translator, and critic, whose experimental prose established him as the preeminent Modernist of 20th-century German literature. With roots in both German Romanticism and Expressionism, he attempted to develop modern prose forms that correspond more closely to the workings of the conscious and subconscious mind

Franz, Robert

2005-02-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

Franz studied organ at Dessau from 1835 to 1837. Later he returned to Halle, where he became a friend of Wilhelm Osterwald, many of whose poems he set to music. About the time he published his first

Theatre, Developments in staging

2005-02-28T06:10:00.000-08:00

In the latter half of the 16th century, intermezzi became a popular element of theatrical production. These entertainments, inserted between the acts of a play and totally unrelated to it, were generally on classical themes and were originally mounted during masked balls and banquets. The need to change settings rapidly for the alternating segments of plays and

Xerox Corporation

2005-02-27T21:24:00.000-08:00

The company was founded in 1906 as Haloid Company, changed its name to Haloid Xerox Company in 1958, and to Xerox Corporation in 1961. In 1960 Xerox first marketed the 914 xerographic copier; the process, which made photographic copies onto plain, uncoated paper, had been known

Avogadro, Amedeo

2005-02-27T18:52:00.000-08:00

In full Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro, conte di Quaregna e Cerreto Italian mathematical physicist who showed in what became known as Avogadro's law that, under controlled conditions of temperature and pressure, equal volumes of gases contain an equal number of molecules.

Diethylcarbamazine

2005-02-27T04:56:00.000-08:00

Synthetic anthelmintic drug effective against certain parasitic filarial worms, which are endemic throughout most of the subtropical and tropical regions of the world. These parasites infect the blood and lymph channels in humans, causing the debilitating disease filariasis. Diethylcarbamazine is effective in treating filariasis caused by Wuchereria

Habeas Corpus

2005-02-26T01:07:00.000-08:00

An ancient common-law writ, issued by a court or judge directing one who holds another in his custody to produce the body of the person before the court for some specified purpose. Although there have been and are many varieties of the writ, the most important is that used to correct violations of personal liberty by directing judicial inquiry into the legality of

Sackville (of Drayton), George Sackville-germain, 1st Viscount, Baron Bolebrooke Of Sussex

2005-02-25T20:41:00.000-08:00

The third son of the 1st Duke of Dorset,

Keel

2005-02-25T20:16:00.000-08:00

In shipbuilding, the main structural member and backbone of a ship or boat, running longitudinally along the centre of the bottom of the hull from stem to stern. It may be made of timber, metal, or other strong, stiff material. Traditionally it constituted the principal member to which the ribs were attached on each side and to which the stem and sternpost were also attached.

Fuller, Ray W.

2005-02-24T20:54:00.000-08:00

U.S. biochemist who, as a pharmacological researcher at Eli Lilly & Co. from 1963, helped to create fluoxetine--the popular antidepressant drug known by the trademark Prozac. The drug, which combated depression by slowing the reabsorption of serotonin in the brain, was synthesized in 1972 and marketed in 1987 (b. Dec. 16, 1935--d. Aug. 11, 1996).

Torez

2005-02-23T05:03:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1964) Chistyakovo city, Donetsk oblast (province), Ukraine. Torez is a typical coal-mining centre of the Donets Basin coalfield, but in Soviet times its industrial base was considerably widened. It is now a centre for engineering industries, especially electrical engineering, and for building materials. The city of Torez has been replanned in modern style, and its streets have been widened.

Ibi

2005-02-22T21:42:00.000-08:00

Town and river port, Taraba state, east-central Nigeria, on the south bank of the Benue River, opposite the mouth of the Shemankar River. Founded in the 1850s by a slave of Hamman, the Fulani emir of Muri (to the northeast), it became a post for slave traders from Muri, known as the bayin Fulani. In the late 19th century British merchants of the Royal Niger Company observed Ibi's Hausa

Actinium

2005-02-22T19:53:00.000-08:00

(Ac), radioactive chemical element, in Group IIIb of the periodic table, atomic number 89. Actinium was discovered (1899) by André-Louis Debierne in pitchblende residues left after Pierre and Marie Curie had extracted radium and was also discovered (1902) independently by Friedrich Otto Giesel. A ton of pitchblende ore contains about 0.15 mg of actinium. The rare, silvery-white metal

Pakistan, Health and welfare

2005-02-22T01:05:00.000-08:00

Although Pakistan has made progress in improving health conditions, a large part of the population does not receive modern medical care. There are insufficient numbers of doctors and nurses, especially in rural areas. Sanitation facilities are also inadequate; only a small percentage of the population has access to safe drinking water and sanitary sewage disposal

Sogn Fjord

2005-02-21T22:04:00.000-08:00

Fjord, Sogn og Fjordane fylke (county), western Norway. It is the longest and deepest fjord in Norway, and its mouth is located 45 miles (72 km) north of Bergen. Its length, from Solund on the offshore island of Sula in the North Sea to Skjolden, at the head of its longest branch, Lustra Fjord, is 127 miles (204 km). The fjord's maximum depth is 4,291 feet (1,308 m), and its main axis is east-west. Its narrow, deep tributary

Korean War, Back to the 38th parallel

2005-02-21T21:25:00.000-08:00

As UNC troops crossed the 38th parallel, Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong received a plea for direct military aid from Kim Il-sung. The chairman was willing to intervene, but he needed assurances of Soviet air power. Stalin promised to extend China's air defenses (manned by Soviets) to a corridor above the Yalu, thus protecting air bases in Manchuria and hydroelectric

Denmark Strait

2005-02-21T13:52:00.000-08:00

Channel partially within the Arctic Circle, lying between Greenland (west) and Iceland (east). About 180 miles (290 km) wide at its narrowest point, the strait extends southward for 300 miles (483 km) from the Greenland Sea to the open waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. The cold East Greenland Current flows southward along the west side of the strait and carries icebergs, which originate

Mineral, Cyclosilicates

2005-02-21T10:12:00.000-08:00

Silicon-oxygen tetrahedrons are linked into rings in cyclosilicate structures, which have an overall Si:O ratio of 1:3. There are three closed cyclic configurations with the following formulas: Si3O9, Si4O12, and Si6O18. The rare titanosilicate benitoite (BaTiSi3O9) is the only mineral that is built with the simple Si3O9 ring. Axinite [(Ca, Fe, Mn)3Al2(BO3)(Si4O12)(OH)] contains Si4O12 rings, along with

Defoe, Daniel

2005-02-19T16:25:00.000-08:00

English novelist, pamphleteer, and journalist, author of Robinson Crusoe (1719–22) and Moll Flanders (1722).

Châtelet

2005-02-19T06:50:00.000-08:00

In Paris, the principal seat of common-law jurisdiction under the French monarchy from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. Located on the right bank of the Seine River, the building was originally a small fort that guarded the northern approach to the Île de la Cité. Frequently rebuilt, it was known as the Grand Châtelet to distinguish it from the Petit Châtelet

Szeryng, Henryk

2005-02-19T05:32:00.000-08:00

Szeryng studied with Carl Flesch in Berlin and with Jacques Thibaud in Paris. He made his debut in 1933, and from 1933 to 1939 he was a composition student of Nadia Boulanger in Paris. During World War II he was on the staff of the Polish government-in-exile.

Hydaspes, Battle Of The

2005-02-19T00:51:00.000-08:00

(326 BC), fourth and last pitched battle fought by Alexander the Great during his campaign of conquest in Asia. It took place after Alexander's conquest of the Achaemenidian Empire and immediately before his army began the journey homeward to Macedonia. Porus, the Indian ruler of the territory between the Jhelum and the Chenab rivers (in modern Pakistan), was his opponent. After

Augury

2005-02-17T22:58:00.000-08:00

Prophetic divining of the future by observation of natural phenomena—particularly the behaviour of birds and animals and the examination of their entrails and other parts, but also by scrutiny of man-made objects and situations. The term derives from the official Roman augurs, whose constitutional function was not to foretell the future but to discover whether

Displacement Activity

2005-02-17T16:27:00.000-08:00

The performance by an animal of an act inappropriate for the stimulus or stimuli that evoked it. Displacement behaviour usually occurs when an animal is torn between two conflicting drives, such as fear and aggression. Displacement activities often consist of comfort movements, such as grooming, scratching, drinking, or eating. In courtship, for example, an individual

Gur-e Amir

2005-02-16T15:03:00.000-08:00

Mausoleum in Samarkand, now in Uzbekistan, of the 14th-century Mongol conqueror Timur, or Tamerlane. Though it has suffered from time and earthquakes, it is still sumptuous. It consists of a chapel crowned with a dome, enclosed by a wall, and fronted by an archway. The interior walls are covered with elegant turquoise arabesques and inscriptions in gold.

Jansch, Bert

2005-02-16T01:39:00.000-08:00

Influenced by American folk-blues performers such as Big Bill Broonzy, Jansch was part of the folk scene in Edinburgh,

Nix

2005-02-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

Also called nixie , or nixy in Germanic mythology, a water being, half human, half fish, that lives in a beautiful underwater palace and mingles with humans by assuming a variety of physical forms (e.g., that of a fair maiden or an old woman) or by making itself invisible. One of three attributes may betray the disguises of nixes: they are music lovers and excellent dancers, and they have the gift of prophecy.

Braccio Da Montone

2005-02-15T10:29:00.000-08:00

Born of a noble Perugian family, Braccio became the pupil of Alberico da Barbiano, the first great Italian condottiere, initiating a lifelong rivalry with another

Bexhill

2005-02-15T01:51:00.000-08:00

Also called Bexhill-on-sea, town, Rother district, administrative county of East Sussex, historic county of Sussex, England, just west of Hastings on the English Channel. The coastal resort dates from the 1880s, but the old village inland on the cliff top is built around its ancient parish church. A central feature of the resort area is the De la Warr Pavilion, built in the mid-1930s by Bauhaus architects Erich

Atoll

2005-02-12T22:09:00.000-08:00

Most of the reef itself is a submarine feature, rising from the abyssal floors of the ocean to just beneath high-tide level.

'amiriyah, Al-

2005-02-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

Formerly Maryut industrial district of al-Iskandariyah (Alexandria) muhafazah (governorate), northern Egypt. The centre of the 913-sq-mi (2,365-sq-km) district, which adjoins Lake Maryut (Mareotis) on the southwest, is al-'Amiriyah town. This town was originally a small gypsum-mining centre on the desert roads leading south to Cairo and west along the coast to Marsa Matruh. Al-'Amiriyah's modern development began in

Melo

2005-02-12T01:25:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern Uruguay. It lies along the Arroyo (stream) de los Conventos, an affluent of the Tacuarí River, near the Brazilian border. It was founded in 1795 by Captain Agustín de la Rosa as a Spanish military post and was named for Pedro de Melo, then viceroy of the Río de la Plata territory. Melo serves as a distribution centre for wool, hides, textiles, meats, liquor, and dairy

Solomonid Dynasty

2005-02-12T00:09:00.000-08:00

Also called Solomonic Dynasty, line of Ethiopian emperors who, according to tradition, were descended from Menilek I, the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (Makeda). Until Haile Selassie I was deposed in 1974, their rule was supposed to have been continuous but for two periods, the reign of the Zagwe dynasty (12th–13th century) and the reign of Tewodros II (1855–68). Many scholars, however, trace the line back only as far

Ancient Lights

2005-02-11T23:29:00.000-08:00

In English property law, the right of a building or house owner to the light received from and through his windows. Windows used for light by an owner for 20 years or more could not be obstructed by the erection of an edifice or by any other act by an adjacent landowner. This rule of law originated in England in 1663, based on the theory that a landowner acquired an easement to the

Laatste Nieuws, Het

2005-02-11T19:49:00.000-08:00

A liberal paper with a serious approach to national and international news, it also publishes such features as comic strips, crossword puzzles, and cartoons. In the 1960s a large and attractive sports section of several pages

Saffarid Dynasty

2005-02-11T05:54:00.000-08:00

Iranian dynasty of lower class origins that ruled a large area in eastern Iran. The dynasty's founder, Ya'qub ebn Leys as-Saffar (“the coppersmith”), took control of his native province, Seistan, around 866. By 869 he had extended his control into northeastern India, adding the Kabul Valley, Sind, Tocharistan, Makran (Baluchistan), Kerman, and Fars to his possessions; with the overthrow

Tyutchev, Fyodor Ivanovich

2005-02-10T03:53:00.000-08:00

The son of a wealthy landowner, educated at home and at Moscow University, Tyutchev served his

Percussion Instrument

2005-02-09T05:01:00.000-08:00

Any musical instrument belonging to either of two groups, idiophones or membranophones. Idiophones are instruments whose own substance vibrates to produce sound (as opposed to the strings of a guitar or the air column of a flute); examples include bells, clappers, and rattles. Membranophones emit sound by the vibration of a stretched membrane; the prime examples

Hale Observatories

2005-02-09T00:46:00.000-08:00

The Palomar and Wilson observatories were operated

Africa, The Orange basin

2005-02-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

The Orange River is the longest in South Africa. Flowing across almost the entire width of the country, it makes its way from the highlands in the east through the Kalahari depression in the west to empty into the South Atlantic Ocean. Its major tributary, the Vaal River, is one of its northern headwaters; the two rivers together have a combined length of about 1,300 miles. Together

Radewyns, Florentius

2005-02-08T10:14:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Prague, Radewyns returned to Leerdam

Tabari, At-

2005-02-06T22:38:00.000-08:00

The young at-Tabari demonstrated a precocious intellect and journeyed from his native town to study in the major centres of learning in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. Over the course of many years he collected oral and written material from numerous scholars and libraries for his later work. At-Tabari enjoyed sufficient financial independence to enable him to devote the latter