HangingFarm

Marrucini

2005-04-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

Ancient tribe that occupied a small area around Teate (modern Chieti) on the east coast of Italy. The Marrucini, though Samnite kinsmen, were probably not members of the Samnite league; they did, however, come into conflict with the Romans during the Second Samnite War, at the end of which they entered the Roman alliance (304 BC). They revolted in 91 BC and were thereafter enrolled in

Pacific Islands, Aboriginal groupings

2005-04-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

Natives of the Pacific tend to identify themselves by their home island or their mother tongue, saying, for example, that they are from Nauru or that they speak Fijian. Occasionally, however, they may invoke another, and larger, identity, claiming to be Polynesian, Micronesian, or Melanesian. As a geographic designation this representation has value, but as a mark of racial,

Radiation-damage Dating

2005-04-01T08:51:00.000-08:00

Method of age determination that makes use of the damage to crystals and the radiation from radioactive substances caused by storage of energy in electron traps. In the mineral zircon, for example, radiation damage results in a change in colour, the storage of energy in electron traps, and a change in the crystallographic constants of the mineral. Extensive damage

China, Growth of the economy

2005-03-29T15:20:00.000-08:00

The 8th and 9th centuries were a period of growth and prosperity. The gradual movement of the population away from the north, with its harsh climate and dry farming, into the more fertile and productive south meant a great proportional increase in productivity. The south still had large areas of virgin land. Fukien, for example, was still only marginally settled along

Cologne, University Of

2005-03-28T16:57:00.000-08:00

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

Craiova

2005-03-26T08:17:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Dolj judet (county), southwestern Romania. It is situated near the Jiu River, 115 miles (185 km) west of Bucharest. Settlement there is of long standing. Close to the city archaeologists have discovered the remains of a Roman fortress built under Trajan. From the late 15th to the 18th century Craiova was the residence of the military governors of the region. The city prospered

Voyageurs National Park

2005-03-24T05:26:00.000-08:00

Region of lakes and wilderness in northern Minnesota, U.S. The park lies along the Canadian border, east of International Falls. Authorized in 1971 and established in 1975, it was named for the mostly French Canadian frontiersmen called voyageurs (French: “travelers”), who were involved in fur trading in the area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The voyageurs used large birch

Ufa

2005-03-22T04:01:00.000-08:00

City and capital, Bashkortostan republic, western Russia. It lies along the Belaya (White) River just below its confluence with the Ufa River. A defensive site in a loop formed by the two rivers led to the foundation there of a fortress in 1574 to protect the trade route across the Ural Mountains from Kazan to Tyumen. It became a town in 1586 and derived importance from this trade

Electronics, Conduction in semiconductors

2005-03-19T18:05:00.000-08:00

In semiconductors such as silicon (which is used as the example here), each constituent atom has four outer electrons, each of which pairs with an electron from one of four neighbouring atoms to form the interatomic bonds. Completely pure silicon thus has essentially no electrons available at room temperature for electronic conduction, making it a very poor conductor.

Physical Science, Principles Of, Application of Newton's laws

2005-03-19T17:48:00.000-08:00

In the same way that the timing of a pendulum provided a more rigorous test of Galileo's kinematical theory than could be achieved by direct testing with balls rolling down planes, so with Newton's laws the most searching tests are indirect and based on mathematically derived consequences. Kepler's laws of planetary motion are just such an example, and in the two centuries

La Serena

2005-03-18T21:15:00.000-08:00

Capital of Coquimbo region, northern Chile, lying on a marine terrace overlooking Bahía (bay) de Coquimbo, just south of the Río Elqui and east of Coquimbo city. Founded c. 1543 on the river's northern bank, it was named after the Spanish birthplace of the conquistador Pedro de Valdivia. Razed by Diaguita Indians in 1549 and rebuilt on the present site the following year, La Serena

Bagirmi, Kingdom Of

2005-03-17T23:46:00.000-08:00

Bagirmi also spelled Baguirmi, historic African state founded in the 16th century in the region just southeast of Lake Chad. Europeans first learned about the existence of Bagirmi and the other powerful states of central Africa (Wadai Bornu-Kanem) when Dixon Denham penetrated the Lake Chad region in 1823. Details became known particularly from written records of the later explorers Heinrich Barth

Man Orchid

2005-03-14T04:47:00.000-08:00

The flower spike, about 10 to 45 cm (4 to 18 inches) tall, may bear up to 90 greenish or yellowish flowers, which have an unpleasant odour.

Aerospace Industry

2005-03-14T00:26:00.000-08:00

Technological progress is the basis for competitiveness and advancement in the aerospace industry. The industry is, as a result, a world leader in advancing science and technology. Aerospace systems have a very high value per unit weight and are among the most complex, as measured by the number of components in finished products. Consequently, it is economically

Abell, A.s.

2005-03-12T19:49:00.000-08:00

Abell left school at the age of 14 to become a clerk in a store dealing in West Indian wares. He had hoped to become a printer, and in 1822 he was taken on as an apprentice by the Providence

Biblical Literature, Prayer of Manasseh

2005-03-10T20:20:00.000-08:00

In some manuscripts of the Septuagint and in two later Christian writings, a pseudepigraphic Prayer of Manasseh is contained. This prayer was composed with reference to II Chron. 33:11–18, according to which the wicked Judaean king Manasseh repented and prayed. In the present form the prayer is Greek in origin, but it may have existed in a Hebrew version, of which the Greek is

Arts, Southeast Asian, Dvaravati Mon kingdom: 6th to 11th century

2005-03-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

Archaeology has recovered in central Thailand substantial glimpses of the magnificent early layer of Indianized culture, which includes a religious art that was produced between the 6th and 11th centuries by the eastern Mon kingdom of Dvaravati. The art was created predominantly to serve Theravada Buddhism. Remains of Dvaravati architecture so far excavated

Canada, The War of 1812

2005-03-09T13:19:00.000-08:00

The War of 1812 was to a large degree caused by the Anglo-U.S. rivalry in the fur trade. British traders and soldiers had supplied Indian tribes and afforded them moral support in their contest with the advancing U.S. frontier. Britain had surrendered the western posts by the Jay Treaty of 1794, but the cause of the Canadian fur trade and of the Indians remained the same—the preservation

Alalakh

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

Excavations also revealed a towered

Malakula

2005-03-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Malekula, French Mallicolo, second largest island (781 square miles [2,023 square km]) of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Volcanic in origin, it is 55 miles (90 km) long by 23 miles (37 km) wide and lies 20 miles (32 km) south of Espiritu Santo, across the Malo (Bougainville) Strait. Its central mountain range rises to Mount Penot, 2,884 feet (879 m). Harbours on the fertile eastern coast include Port Stanley, Bushman's Bay (former British

Dowson, Ernest (christopher)

2005-03-05T15:39:00.000-08:00

As a boy Dowson lived an unsettled life. In 1886 he entered Queen's College, Oxford, but left in 1888 when a decline in his father's fortunes obliged him to work at his father's dock in the Limehouse district in London. Dowson was an active member of the Rhymers' Club,

Elfin Woodland

2005-03-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

Stunted forest at high elevations in warm, moist areas. Its low, gnarled trees are heavily draped with air plants, and its floor is cushioned by mosses and other primitive plants. Elfinwood, or Krummholz, is a similar stunted forest characteristic of most Alpine regions. See also cloud forest.

Sexual Dysfunction

2005-03-04T19:08:00.000-08:00

Also called Psychosexual Dysfunction, the inability of a person to experience sexual arousal or to achieve sexual satisfaction under appropriate circumstances, as a result of either physical disorder or, more commonly, psychological problems. The most common forms of sexual dysfunction have traditionally been classified as impotence (inability of a man to achieve or maintain penile erection) and

Refraction

2005-03-02T20:24:00.000-08:00

In physics, the change in direction of a wave passing from one medium to another caused by its change in speed. For example, waves in deep water travel faster than in shallow; if an ocean wave approaches a beach obliquely, the part of the wave farther from the beach will move faster than that closer in, and so the wave will swing around until it moves in a direction perpendicular

Cole, Sir Henry

2005-03-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

At the age of 15 Cole started clerking for the public-records historian, and eventually he became assistant keeper of the public-records office. In 1845 the Society

Daniels, Josephus

2005-02-28T06:06:00.000-08:00

In 1933 Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Guzmán, Martín Luis

2005-02-27T18:15:00.000-08:00

After studying law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City, Guzmán joined the Mexican Revolution and served as a colonel in the revolutionary forces of Pancho Villa. From 1914 to 1934, he lived in exile in Madrid and New York

Wage And Salary, Wages-fund theory

2005-02-27T13:47:00.000-08:00

Smith said that the demand for labour could not increase except in proportion to the increase of the funds destined for the payment of wages. Ricardo maintained that an increase in capital would result in an increase in demand for labour. Statements such as these foreshadowed the wages-fund theory, which held that a predetermined fund of wealth existed for the payment

Central Pacific Railroad

2005-02-26T13:36:00.000-08:00

American railroad company founded in 1861 by a group of California merchants known later as the “Big Four” (Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker); they are best remembered for having built part of the first American transcontinental rail line. The line was first conceived and surveyed by an engineer, Theodore Dehone Judah, who obtained

Clodion

2005-02-24T21:34:00.000-08:00

In 1755 Clodion went to Paris and entered the workshop of Lambert-Sigisbert Adam, his uncle. On his uncle's death, he became a pupil of J.B. Pigalle. In 1759 he won the grand prize for sculpture at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, and in 1762 he went to Rome. Catherine II was

Scandinavian Literature, Icelandic

2005-02-23T19:04:00.000-08:00

Modern Icelandic prose writing did not really develop until the late 1870s, when a group of young men, influenced by the theories of the Danish critic Georg Brandes, began their literary careers. Unfortunately, they had absorbed Brandes' ideas uncritically, which resulted in introspective, self-pitying works believed by their authors to be realistically written. The

Clodion

2005-02-22T19:16:00.000-08:00

Tall with a dense, wide crown, a single breadnut tree can yield 1,000 kg (2,200 pounds) of nutritious

Aquinas, Thomas, Saint

2005-02-21T05:45:00.000-08:00

At Easter time in 1272, Thomas returned to Italy to establish a Dominican house of studies at the University of Naples. This move was undoubtedly made in answer to a request made by King Charles of Anjou, who was anxious to revive the university. After participating in a general chapter, or meeting, of the Dominicans held in Florence during Pentecost week and, having settled

Education, Philosophy Of, Lockean view

2005-02-20T06:45:00.000-08:00

John Locke, the 17th-century English philosopher, has been credited with formulating the classical liberal defense of individual freedom against the authorities of state and church. Opposed both to what he deemed the stagnation of unreflective tradition and the perils of enthusiastic radicalism, Locke saw science, reason, and experience as the best safeguards

Argentina, Discovery and settlement

2005-02-20T01:05:00.000-08:00

The main Atlantic outline of Argentina was revealed to European explorers in the early 16th century. The Río de la Plata estuary was discovered years before Ferdinand Magellan traversed the Strait of Magellan in 1520, although historians dispute whether the estuary was first reached by Amerigo Vespucci in 1501–02 or by Juan Díaz de Solís in his ill-fated voyage of 1516. Solís and a

Grackle

2005-02-19T17:14:00.000-08:00

Also called Crow-blackbird, any of several species of birds belonging to the family Icteridae (order Passeriformes) that have iridescent black plumage and long tails. Grackles use their stout, pointed bills to snap up insects, dig grubs from the soil, and kill small vertebrates, including fishes and baby birds; they can also crack hard seeds. Most grackles nest in colonies; after breeding, they

Great Barrier Island

2005-02-18T23:39:00.000-08:00

Known to the Maoris as Aotea, the island was

Amiens

2005-02-16T18:34:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Somme département, Picardie région, principal city and ancient capital of Picardy, northern France, in the Somme River valley, north of Paris. Famed since the European Middle Ages are its textile industry and its great Gothic Cathedral of Notre-Dame, one of the finest in France. Known as Samarobriva in pre-Roman times and capital of the Ambiani (whence

Condé, Louis Ii De Bourbon, 4e Prince De

2005-02-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

The princes de Condé were the heads of an important French branch of the House of Bourbon. The Great Condé was the elder son of Henry II de Bourbon, 3rd prince de Condé, and of his wife, Charlotte

Amoco Corporation

2005-02-14T14:06:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1889–1985) Standard Oil Company (Indiana), American petroleum corporation that was founded in 1889 by the Standard Oil trust (see Standard Oil Company and Trust) to direct the refining and marketing of oil in the Midwestern states. The company's first refinery, outside Whiting, Ind., produced fuel oil, kerosene, and other petroleum products. Beginning in the late 1890s, the company's production of gasoline rapidly increased

Heredity, In bacteria

2005-02-14T08:52:00.000-08:00

In 1961 the French molecular biologists François Jacob and Jacques Monod proposed a model for genetic regulation in E. coli. When grown on a minimum culture of carbohydrates and sulfur, these bacteria can synthesize all of their necessary amino acids. To accomplish this amino-acid synthesis, the bacteria must produce various enzymes, the activities of which can be detected

France, History Of, German reparations

2005-02-12T22:18:00.000-08:00

The general elections of November 1919 resulted in a massive majority for the right-wing coalition called the Bloc

Quantum Field Theory

2005-02-11T23:18:00.000-08:00

Body of physical principles designed to account for subatomic phenomena. The theory also has found applications in other branches of physics. The theory arises from the attempt to combine the principles of quantum mechanics with those of relativity in an effort to describe processes such as high-energy collisions in which particles may be created or

Cambridge, University Of

2005-02-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

The start of the university is generally taken as 1209, when scholars from Oxford migrated to Cambridge to escape Oxford's riots of “town and gown” (townspeople versus scholars). To avert possible troubles, the authorities in Cambridge allowed

Devers, Jacob L.

2005-02-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

At the outbreak of World War II (1940), Devers was commanding general of the 9th infantry division, becoming chief of armoured forces from 1941 to 1943. After serving as commanding general

Syria, The Ayyubids and Mamluks

2005-02-08T16:41:00.000-08:00

After Saladin's death his kingdom was split up among members of his family, the Ayyubids, who established principalities in Aleppo, Hamah, Hims, Damascus, Ba'labakk, and Transjordan and ruled them until 1260. The period of Nureddin, Saladin, and their successors was of great importance. Thanks largely to the establishment of Italian trading centres on the coast and better security,

Gwandu

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

Originally settled by the Kebbawa, a subgroup of the Hausa people, the town was named for the surrounding gandu (“royal farmlands”) that formerly belonged to Muhammadu Kanta, who founded the Kebbi kingdom in the 16th century. Although Fulani

Interior Design, Floors

2005-02-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

Basically, there are two kinds of floors for interiors: those that are an integral part of the structure and those that are applied after the structure is completed. Interior designers working together with architects have the opportunity to specify flooring such as slate, terrazzo, stone, brick, concrete, or wood, but in most interiors the flooring is designed at

Burgess, Guy; And Maclean, Donald (duart)

2005-02-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

At the University of Cambridge in the 1930s Burgess and Maclean were part of a group of relatively privileged young men who shared a fashionable disdain for capitalist democracy. Recruited

English Literature, Other poets of the early Romantic period

2005-02-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

Several of the lesser poets of this generation were more popular in their own time. The somewhat insipid Fourteen Sonnets (1789) of William Lisle Bowles were received with enthusiasm by Coleridge and Wordsworth. Thomas Campbell is now chiefly remembered for his patriotic lyrics such as “Ye Mariners of England” and “The Battle of Hohenlinden” (1807) and for the critical preface

Biblical Literature, The Reformation period

2005-02-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

The English theologian John Colet (c. 1466–1519) broke with medieval scholasticism when he returned from the Continent to Oxford in 1496 and lectured on the Pauline letters, expounding the text in terms of its plain meaning as seen in its historical context. The humanist Erasmus (c. 1466–1536) owed to him much of his insight into biblical exegesis. By the successive printed editions of his Greek

Ibn Zuhr

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

An intensely practical man, Ibn Zuhr disliked medical speculation; for that reason, he opposed the teachings of the Persian master physician Avicenna. In his Taysir fi al-mudawat wa al-tadbir (“Practical Manual of Treatments and Diet”), later translated

Henze, Hans Werner

2005-02-02T00:21:00.000-08:00

Henze was a pupil of the noted German composer Wolfgang Fortner and of René Leibowitz, the leading French composer of 12-tone music. One of Henze's early works, the Violin Concerto (1947), demonstrated his mastery

Malachowski, Stanislaw

2005-01-31T22:46:00.000-08:00

The son of Jan Malachowski, the royal grand chancellor, Malachowski was named marshal (speaker) of the Sejm (Diet) in 1788. He was the prime force behind a constitution, adopted in 1791, that embodied such modern western European

Obi Islands

2005-01-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

Also called Ombi Islands, group of the northern Moluccas, Maluku provinsi (“province”), Indonesia. They lie south of the island of Halmahera, north of the island of Ceram, and east of the Sula Islands. The principal island of the group is Obi Island, 52 miles (84 km) long and 28 miles (47 km) wide, which contains the only major village, Laiwui, located on the northeastern coast opposite Bisa Island. Obi Island is mountainous,

Felling

2005-01-30T05:13:00.000-08:00

Town, Gateshead metropolitan borough, metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Tyne. The town grew rapidly at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century with the extension of coal mining and later with the expansion of riverside industries such as shipbuilding and the manufacture of glass and heavy chemicals. New

Hooft, Gerardus 't

2005-01-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

Dutch physicist, corecipient with Martinus J.G. Veltman of the 1999 Nobel Prize for Physics for their development of a mathematical model that enabled scientists to predict the properties of both the subatomic particles that constitute the universe and the fundamental forces through which they interact. Their work facilitated the finding of

Karate

2005-01-28T23:23:00.000-08:00

Unarmed martial-arts discipline employing kicking, striking, and defensive blocking with arms and legs. Emphasis is on concentrating as much of the body's power as possible at the point and instant of impact. Striking surfaces include the hands (particularly the knuckles and the outer edge), ball of the foot, heel, forearm, knee, and elbow. All are toughened by practice

Arts, Central Asian, The study of Central Asian music

2005-01-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

In the West the study of Central Asian music has until recently been restricted largely to travellers' accounts and analyses of small samples of music. By far the bulk of collection and study of Central Asian music of Turkistan and Siberia lay in the domain of Soviet scholars, who instituted systematic fieldwork as early as the 1920s; this literature remains largely

Sinai, Mount

2005-01-26T06:12:00.000-08:00

Also called Mountain Of Moses, or Mount Hareh, Hebrew Har Sinai, Arabic Jabal Musa, granitic peak of the south-central Sinai Peninsula, Janub Sina' (South Sinai) muhafazah (governorate), Egypt. Mount Sinai is renowned as the principal site of divine revelation in Jewish history, where God is purported to have appeared to Moses and given him the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20; Deuteronomy 5). According to Jewish tradition, not only the decalogue but also the entire corpus

Lower Saxony

2005-01-25T23:22:00.000-08:00

German Niedersachsen, constituent Land (state) of Germany. The second largest Land in size, it occupies an important band of territory across the northwestern part of the nation. Lower Saxony stretches from The Netherlands border in the west to the border of Mecklenburg–West Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt Länder in the east. The neck of land occupied by Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, and, farther

Interior Design, Northern Europe

2005-01-23T19:17:00.000-08:00

In the Low Countries and northern Germany during the 16th-century Renaissance, ornament was adapted to form an entirely individual style, which can be seen in the pattern books

Cinerama

2005-01-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

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

Baranauskas, Antanas

2005-01-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

Roman Catholic bishop and poet who wrote one of the greatest works in Lithuanian literature, Anykyšciu šilelis (1858–59; The Forest of Anykšciai). The 342-line poem, written in East High Lithuanian dialect, describes the former beauty of a pine grove near his village and its despoliation under the Russians (“Hills with tree-stumps, bare

Triassic Period, Marine deposits

2005-01-21T00:57:00.000-08:00

Major linear depositional troughs developed around Panthalassa, the ancestor of the Pacific Ocean, during the Early and Middle Triassic. Great quantities of marine sediments collected in these troughs, as indicated by deposits—now mainly sandstones, shales, and graywackes—located in the western Pacific basinal belt (New Zealand and Japan) and the eastern basinal

Latin Literature, Comedy

2005-01-20T03:15:00.000-08:00

Roman comedy was based on the New Comedy fashionable in Greece, whose classic representative was Menander. But whereas this was imitation of life to the Greeks, to the Romans it was escape to fantasy and literary convention. Livius' successor, Naevius, who developed this “drama in Greek cloak” (fabula palliata), may have been the first to introduce recitative and song,

John (xxiii)

2005-01-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

After receiving his doctorate of law at Bologna, Cossa entered the Curia during the Western Schism, when the papacy suffered from rival claimants (1378–1417) to the throne of St. Peter. Pope Boniface IX made him cardinal in 1402. From 1403 to 1408 he served as papal representative in Bologna. The Schism worsened with the hopeless deadlock between

Aeneas

2005-01-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

Mythical hero of Troy and Rome, son of the goddess Aphrodite and Anchises. Aeneas was a member of the royal line at Troy and cousin of Hector. He played a prominent part in the war to defend his city against the Greeks, being second only to Hector in ability. Homer implies that Aeneas did not like his subordinate position, and from that suggestion arose a later tradition

Permafrost, Permafrost thawing and frost heaving

2005-01-16T06:48:00.000-08:00

Because thawing of permafrost and frost action are involved in almost all engineering problems in polar areas, it is advisable to consider these phenomena generally. The delicate thermal equilibrium of permafrost is disrupted when the vegetation, snow cover, or active layer is compacted. The permafrost table is lowered, the active layer is thickened, and considerable

Porson, Richard

2005-01-15T18:00:00.000-08:00

British master of classical scholarship during the 18th century, the most brilliant of the English school that devoted itself to the task of freeing Greek texts from corruption introduced through the centuries. His special critical talent lay in his insight into Greek metre and his unusual appreciation of the fine points

Catbird

2005-01-15T06:34:00.000-08:00

The three species of the

Muezzin

2005-01-14T11:26:00.000-08:00

Arabic Mu'addin, in Islam, the official who proclaims the call to prayer (adhan) on Friday for the public worship and the call to the daily prayer (salat) five times a day, at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and nightfall. To summon worshipers the Jews use a trumpet and the Christians use a bell, but the Muslims use the human voice. The muezzin is the servant of the mosque and is chosen for his good

Air Warfare, Strategic bombing

2005-01-13T20:26:00.000-08:00

The importance of ECM in long-range bombing became apparent in 1972, when U.S. B-52 Stratofortresses struck targets in North Vietnam. By flying under escort at night and at about 30,000 feet, the B-52s were reasonably safe from MiG fighters and antiaircraft guns, and Wild Weasel and chaff-dropping aircraft helped suppress the SA-2s. But the most important ECM was provided by jammers built

Andradite

2005-01-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

Calcium-iron garnet, perhaps the most spectacular garnet because of its high dispersion (separation of light into colours), even greater than that of diamond, and refractive index. It is found in various colours, some of the most beautiful being yellowish (termed topazolite, because of its resemblance to topaz) and yellowish green or emerald-green (Uralian emeralds,

Space Perception, Visual cues

2005-01-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the most important perceptual cues of distance and depth depend on so-called binocular disparity; that is, since the eyes are imbedded at different points in the skull, they receive slightly different (disparate) images of any given object. The two retinal images of the same object seem to be combined perceptually in the brain into one three-dimensional experience.

Yiddish Literature

2005-01-09T15:56:00.000-08:00

Yiddish literature culminated in the period from 1864 to 1939, inspired by modernization and then severely diminished by the Holocaust. It arose in Europe out of a tradition that gave precedence to Hebrew prayers, commentaries, and scripture.

Andalusite

2005-01-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

(Al2SiO5), aluminum silicate mineral that occurs in relatively small amounts in various metamorphic rocks, particularly in altered sediments. It is found in commercial quantities in the Inyo Mountains, Mono county, Calif., in the United States; in Kazakstan; and in South Africa. Such deposits are mined as a raw material for refractories and porcelain used in spark plugs

Connally, John Bowden, Jr.

2005-01-06T01:03:00.000-08:00

U.S. politician (b. Feb. 27, 1917, Floresville, Texas--d. June 15, 1993, Houston, Texas), was an ambitious political figure who, besides helping elect Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson, served as secretary of the navy in the Kennedy administration (1961), as a three-term governor of Texas (1963-69), and as secretary of the treasury (1971) under Pres. Richard M. Nixon; he was indelibly identified

B-17

2005-01-05T23:37:00.000-08:00

Also called Flying Fortress, U.S. heavy bomber used during World War II. The B-17 was designed by the Boeing Aircraft Company to specifications written in 1934. A prototype flew in 1935, and the craft was in small-scale production in 1937. The seventh substantial variation of the original design, the B-17G, was equipped with superchargers to allow it to cruise at 35,000 feet (10,670 m) at a maximum speed of 287 miles per hour (462 km/h). It was called

Nanshe

2005-01-04T17:38:00.000-08:00

In Mesopotamian religion, Sumerian city goddess of Nina (modern Surghul, Iraq) in the southeastern part of the Lagash region of Mesopotamia. According to tradition, Nanshe's father Enki (Akkadian: Ea) organized the universe and placed her in charge of fish and fishing. Nanshe was also described as a divine soothsayer and dream interpreter. Although at times overshadowed

Fuji, Mount

2005-01-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

Japanese Fuji-san , also called Fujiyama , or Fuji No Yama highest mountain in Japan, rising to 12,388 feet (3,776 metres) near the Pacific coast in Yamanashi and Shizuoka ken (prefectures), central Honshu, about 60 miles (100 km) west of Tokyo. It is a volcano that has been dormant since its last eruption in 1707 but is still generally classified as active by geologists. The mountain's name, of Ainu origin, means “everlasting life.” Mount Fuji, with its graceful

Biblical Literature, The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

2005-01-02T23:01:00.000-08:00

Except for the brief communication with Philemon

Vaginismus

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

Muscle spasm that closes the opening to the vagina in the female reproductive tract. The vagina serves as a birth canal for the delivery of babies and as the copulatory organ during sexual intercourse. The spasm may be so intense that the vagina seems pathologically obstructed. Vaginismus is a protective mechanism that sometimes develops when there are tender

Canth, Minna

2005-01-01T04:14:00.000-08:00

In 1863 she entered the seminary at Jyväskylä, where she married her teacher, J.F. Canth, in 1865. Widowed in 1879, with seven children, she went into business at Kuopio but still found time to produce literary works that had a powerful

Denon, Dominique Vivant, Baron

2004-12-30T22:07:00.000-08:00

Denon studied law in Paris but turned to the theatre, writing a successful comedy at age 23. He drew and painted and was commissioned by Louis XV to arrange a cabinet of carved gems. Between 1772 and 1787 he carried

Requiem Mass

2004-12-30T20:07:00.000-08:00

Musical setting of the Mass for the Dead (missa pro defunctis), named for the beginning of the Latin of the Introit “Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine” (“Give them eternal rest, O Lord”). The polyphonic composition for the requiem mass differs from the normal mass in that it not only includes certain items of the Ordinary—e.g., Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei (the joyful portions, Gloria

Middletown

2004-12-28T18:09:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Newport county, southeastern Rhode Island, U.S., on Rhode (Aquidneck) Island, in Narragansett Bay. It was named for its location between the other two towns on the island, Newport and Portsmouth. Closely related to Newport, from which it was set off and incorporated in 1743, Middletown has developed as a residential suburb of that city. Middletown is the home of

Brazil, Visual arts

2004-12-28T01:31:00.000-08:00

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

China

2004-12-27T04:09:00.000-08:00

Officially People's Republic of China, Chinese (Wade-Giles) Chung-hua or Chung-hua Jen-min Kung-ho-kuo, (Pinyin) Zhonghua or Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo country of East Asia. It is the largest of all Asian countries and has the largest population of any country in the world. Occupying nearly the entire East Asian landmass, it stretches for about 3,100 miles (5,000 km) from east to west and 3,400 miles from north to south and covers an area of about 3,696,100 square miles (9,572,900 square km), which is approximately one-fourteenth of the land area of the Earth.

Elbe River

2004-12-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

By means of the Elbe and its connecting waterways, vessels from Hamburg can navigate to Berlin, the central and southern sections of eastern Germany, and the Czech Republic. The Mittelland Canal, a short distance below Magdeburg, runs westward about 200 miles to the Dortmund–Ems Canal, carrying barges of up to 1,000 tons to the German industrial cities of Osnabrück, Hannover,

Byas, Don

2004-12-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

During the late 1930s Byas played in several swing bands, including those of Don Redman and Andy Kirk, and in 1941 he became a tenor saxophone soloist (as in “Harvard Blues”) with Count Basie. He also became

Gravitational Radius

2004-12-23T22:39:00.000-08:00

The gravitational radius (Rg) of an object of mass M is given by the following formula, in which G is the universal gravitational

Uttaradit

2004-12-22T14:47:00.000-08:00

Town, northern Thailand. It is a provincial capital and a farming market centre on the Nan River and the Bangkok–Chiang Mai railway. The town centre was rebuilt after being destroyed by a fire in 1967. The Pha Then Buddhist shrine is southwest of the town. Uttaradit is in one of Thailand's foremost fruit-growing regions, producing rambutans, mangosteens, durians, coconuts,

Densmore, Frances

2004-12-22T04:30:00.000-08:00

After studying at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Densmore conducted research in Indian music for the Bureau of American Ethnology in 1907. She subsequently worked

Cosenza

2004-12-20T18:09:00.000-08:00

Latin Cosentia, city, capital of Cosenza provincia, Calabria regione, southern Italy, on the Crati River at its confluence with the Busento, north-northeast of Reggio di Calabria. The ancient Cosentia, it was the capital of the Bruttii (an Italic tribe) before it was taken by the Romans in 204 BC. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, died there in 410 and is said to have been buried, together with his treasure

Sokol

2004-12-19T10:10:00.000-08:00

(Czech: “Hawk,” or “Falcon”), gymnastic society, originating in Prague in 1862 to develop strength, litheness, alertness, and courage. Originally patterned after the German turnverein, the Sokol traditionally emphasized mass calisthenics as a means of promoting communal spirit and physical fitness. Banned during the Nazi occupation, the Sokol movement was revived in 1945 but

Uganda

2004-12-18T22:51:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Uganda, Swahili Jamhuri ya Uganda landlocked country of East Africa. Covering a total area of 93,072 square miles (241,038 square km), the country is slightly smaller in size than its former colonial ruler, Great Britain. It is bordered by The Sudan to the north, Kenya to the east, Tanzania and Rwanda to the south, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo [Kinshasa]; formerly Zaire) to the west. The capital city, Kampala

Maccabees

2004-12-18T17:54:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Machabees priestly family of Jews who organized a successful rebellion against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV and reconsecrated the defiled Temple of Jerusalem.

Nigeria

2004-12-16T02:59:00.000-08:00

During 2000 Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo took a variety of steps to secure Nigeria's transition to democracy. Chief among these were reform of the military and the curbing of government corruption. President Obasanjo, himself a former general, continued to force the retirement of officers who had held political positions under previous military governments. In June he

Orléans, Louis-philippe, Duc D' (duke Of)

2004-12-15T01:27:00.000-08:00

Having served with distinction from 1742 to 1757, he lived in seclusion and devoted himself to the theatre, patronizing actors and musicians. After his first wife died (1759), he became so passionately enamoured of the Marquise de Montesson that he secured Louis