AcidShoe

Organic Underwear

2006-10-29T07:20:00.000-08:00

Natural soft Organic Clothinggoods are hard to find as they can often be a little course. Liv Organic Cotton Goodsare soft and luxurious and their Organic Underwear is to die for.

Ibadan

2005-04-04T06:46:00.000-07:00

Ibadan's beginnings are shrouded in mystery; they were recorded only in oral tradition. It is said that the earliest group of settlers at Ibadan were fugitives from justice who were expelled from nearby villages.

Asansol

2005-04-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

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

Landau

2005-04-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

In full Landau In Der Pfalz, city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), southwestern Germany. It is picturesquely situated along the Queich River, at the slope of the Haardt Mountains. The settlement was first mentioned in 1106, and an Augustinian monastery was founded there in 1276. Landau became an imperial free town in 1291. It was occupied by the French (1680–1815) and granted to Bavaria in 1816. The city's Gothic Protestant

Margate

2005-03-31T21:22:00.000-08:00

Town, Thanet district, administrative and historic county of Kent, England. It lies east of the Thames River estuary. A Roman villa existed just outside the town, which has a Norman church. During the 18th century the town, which is endowed with sandy beaches, became a bathing resort. The large influx of summer visitors is presently Margate's mainstay. An industrial estate

Argentina, Flag Of

2005-03-30T06:14:00.000-08:00

The blue cockades worn by patriots in May 1810, when the Spanish viceroy in Buenos Aires yielded authority to the local government, and the uniforms worn by Argentines in 1806, when the British attacked Buenos Aires, may have been the origin of the celeste-white-celeste horizontally striped flag first hoisted on February 12, 1812, by General Manuel Belgrano. On July 9, 1816, Argentina, then

Madariaga Y Rojo, Salvador De

2005-03-29T11:59:00.000-08:00

The son of a Spanish army officer, Madariaga was trained at his father's insistence as an engineer in Paris but abandoned his career to become a journalist. In 1921 he joined

Decapolis

2005-03-27T14:43:00.000-08:00

League of 10 ancient Greek cities in eastern Palestine that was formed after the Roman conquest of Palestine in 63 BC, when Pompey the Great reorganized the Middle East to Rome's advantage and to his own. The name Decapolis also denotes the roughly contiguous territory formed by these cities, all but one of which lay east of the Jordan River. According to Pliny the Elder (Natural

Coiba Island

2005-03-26T07:14:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Quibo Island, Spanish Isla De Coiba or Quibo, Central American island in the Pacific Ocean, administered by Veraguas province, Panama. Lying 15 mi (24 km) offshore and separated from the mainland by the Gulf of Montijo on the east and the Gulf of Chiriquí on the northwest, the island measures about 20 mi from north to south and 10 mi from east to west. It has an area of 191 sq mi (494 sq km) and rises to a maximum elevation of 1,400 ft (425 m). Coiba is the

Antarctic Peninsula

2005-03-25T03:31:00.000-08:00

Also called Palmer Peninsula, Graham Land , or Tierra de O'Higgins peninsula claimed by Britain as part of the British Antarctic Territory and also claimed by Chile and Argentina. It forms an 800-mile (1,300-kilometre) northward extension of Antarctica toward the southern tip of South America. The peninsula is ice-covered and mountainous, the highest point being Mount Jackson (13,750 feet [4,191 m]). Marguerite Bay indents the west coast, and Bransfield

Fischer-dieskau, Dietrich

2005-03-24T17:29:00.000-08:00

Fischer-Dieskau studied with Georg Walter before serving in World War II and with Hermann Weissenborn afterward. In 1947 he made his concert debut in Johannes Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem at Freiburg, and the next year

Earth Exploration, Excavation, boring, and sampling

2005-03-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

Direct sampling, usually by means of boreholes, is required to make positive identification of ores, fuels, and other materials. It is also necessary for determining their quantity and for selecting methods of recovery. Most deep boreholes are drilled by the rotary method, in which a drill bit is rotated while fluid (“drilling mud”) is circulated through the bit to lubricate

Sorin, Edward Frederick

2005-03-22T02:58:00.000-08:00

Sorin was ordained a priest in 1838, and two years later he joined the Congregation of Holy Cross, a group of priests and brothers organized at Le Mans, Fr. Sorin and six brothers went to Vincennes, Ind., in 1841 at the invitation of Bishop Célestine

Brugge

2005-03-21T06:07:00.000-08:00

French Bruges, capital of West Flanders province, northwestern Belgium, about 10 miles (16 km) south of Zeebrugge, its port on the North Sea. Originally a landing place on the Zwijn estuary, into which the Reie River flowed, it was mentioned in the 7th century as the Municipium Brugense (a name derived from a Roman bridge over the Reie). After it was evangelized by St. Eloi, bishop of Noyon-Tournai,

Hayward

2005-03-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

City, Alameda county, California, U.S., at the eastern terminus of the San Mateo Toll Bridge across San Francisco Bay. Named for William Hayward, a disappointed gold seeker who arrived in 1851 and opened a hotel, it was originally an Indian campsite on grazing lands of Mission San José (established 1797) and later part of the Guillermo Castro Rancho. Promoted by San Francisco businessmen,

Scandinavian Literature, The impact of the reformation on Swedish letters

2005-03-19T20:10:00.000-08:00

Two dates mark the beginning of modern Swedish history: 1523—the breach with Denmark and Gustav I Vasa's accession; and 1527—the breach with Rome and the establishment of a national Lutheran Church. The political revolution that eventually brought Sweden to the position of a European power had no considerable effect on literature until a century later, but the Reformation

Tabari, At-

2005-03-19T04:25:00.000-08:00

In the Commentary, at-Tabari's method of composition was to follow the Qur'an text word by word, juxtaposing all of the juridical, lexicographical, and historical explanations

Zacynthus

2005-03-18T10:45:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Zakynthos , Modern Greek Zákinthos , French Zante , Italian Zacinto island, southernmost and third largest of the Ionian Islands (q.v.) of Greece, lying off the west coast of the Peloponnese. Including the tiny Strotádhes Islands to the south, it constitutes the nomós (department) of Zákinthos. Zacynthus is indented by a deep bay with high cliffs on its south coast. The island has an area of 155 square miles (402 square km), the nomós 157 square miles (407 square

Ijsselmeer Polders

2005-03-17T21:27:00.000-08:00

The Zuiderzee project, which involved the construction of a dam (Afsluitdijk; completed 1932) enclosing the IJsselmeer

Epipolae

2005-03-17T11:01:00.000-08:00

Ancient fortified plateau west of Syracuse, Sicily, which was enclosed with walls some 12 miles (19 km) long by the tyrant Dionysius I the Elder (c. 430–367 BC). The southern wall, of which considerable remains exist, was probably often restored. Epipolae narrows to a ridge about 180 feet (55 m) wide at one point, and there stand the ruins of the most imposing fortress to survive from the Greek period.

Malaria

2005-03-17T07:46:00.000-08:00

A serious, acute and chronic relapsing infection in humans, characterized by periodic attacks of chills and fever, anemia, splenomegaly (enlargement of the spleen), and often fatal complications. Malaria also is found in apes, monkeys, rats, birds, and reptiles. It is caused by various species of protozoa (one-celled organisms) called sporozoans (subphylum Sporozoa) that

Ciudad Ojeda

2005-03-15T16:35:00.000-08:00

City, Zulia state, northwestern Venezuela. Lying on the northeastern shore of Lake Maracaibo, Ciudad Ojeda is an important oil centre. Just to the south lies the Lagunillas oil field, the largest in Latin America. From derricks on land and in the water, oil is piped to refineries at Cabimas, approximately 20 miles (32 km) to the north, and on the Península de Paraguaná. Ciudad Ojeda

Dragonfish

2005-03-15T09:48:00.000-08:00

Also called sea moth any of about five species of small marine fishes comprising the family Pegasidae and the order Pegasiformes. Dragonfish are found in warm Indo-Pacific waters. They are small (to about 16 centimetres [6 1/2 inches] long), elongated fish encased in bony rings of armour. The armour is fused on the head and body but not on the tail, which is thus flexible. The pectoral

Perfume

2005-03-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

Fragrant product that results from the artful blending of certain odoriferous substances in appropriate proportions. The word is derived from the Latin per fumum, meaning “through smoke.” The art of perfumery was apparently known to the ancient Chinese, Hindus, Egyptians, Israelites, Carthaginians, Arabs, Greeks, and Romans. References to perfumery materials and

Newhouse, Theodore ("ted")

2005-03-14T00:44:00.000-08:00

American publisher who with his brothers founded a publishing empire that grew to comprise such holdings as 26 newspapers, the Condé Nast magazine group, business journals, and cable television systems (b. July 19, 1903, Bayonne, N.J.--d. Nov. 28, 1998, New York, N.Y.).

Melanoma

2005-03-13T05:59:00.000-08:00

A spreading and frequently recurring cancer of specialized skin cells (melanocytes) that produce the protective skin-darkening pigment melanin. In the United States melanoma represents less than 5 percent of all cases of skin cancer, yet it is responsible for nearly three-quarters of all skin cancer deaths and is increasing in frequency. Unlike other skin growths,

Arts, East Asian, Painting and calligraphy

2005-03-13T05:58:00.000-08:00

Settled conditions and a tolerant atmosphere helped to make the Northern Sung a period of great achievement in landscape painting. Li Ch'eng, a follower of Ching Hao who lived a few years into the Sung, was a scholar who defined the soft, billowing earthen formations of the northeastern Chinese terrain with “cloudlike” texture, interior layers of graded ink wash bounded

Vanadium Processing

2005-03-12T08:11:00.000-08:00

Vanadium (V) is a grayish silver metal whose crystal structure is a body-centred cubic (bcc) lattice, with a melting point of 1,926° C (3,499° F). The metal is used principally as an alloying addition to high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels and, to a lesser extent, in tool steels and iron and steel castings. It is also an important strengthener

Hupeh, Industry

2005-03-11T17:53:00.000-08:00

Hupeh's mineral wealth consists chiefly of iron, copper, and phosphorus ores; coal; and gypsum. Some of China's richest and best iron ore is found at Ta-yeh in southeastern Hupeh. The exploitation of this ore and of coking coal from P'ing-hsiang in Kiangsi was the basis for the founding of an ironworks at Han-yang at the end of the 19th century. Ore from Ta-yeh and other mines was

Rushdie, Salman

2005-03-10T19:36:00.000-08:00

Rushdie was the son of a prosperous Muslim businessman in India. He was educated at Rugby School and the University of Cambridge,

Hinchinbrook Island

2005-03-10T09:42:00.000-08:00

Island off the northeastern coast of Queensland, Australia. It is situated opposite the port of Cardwell and 60 miles (95 km) northeast of Townsville. About 22 miles (35 km) long and 152 square miles (394 square km) in area, it is separated from the mainland by Hinchinbrook Channel. The thickly wooded, mountainous island, now a national park, is noted for its waterfalls and caves. Its rugged

Alberta, Relief and drainage

2005-03-10T02:06:00.000-08:00

Along the southwest border, Mount Columbia (12,294 feet [3,747 metres]) is the highest of 26 magnificent peaks reaching above 11,000 feet. Beyond the narrow foothills, soft rocks form an undulating plateau falling from over 3,000 feet to under 1,000 feet in the northeast, where the ancient rocks of the Precambrian shield outcrop. Outliers of higher ground include the Cypress and Swan hills and the Caribou

Boxing, Amateur boxing

2005-03-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) of the United States was formed in 1888 and instituted its annual championships

Atkins, Chet

2005-03-08T16:38:00.000-08:00

Born into a musical family, Atkins began playing the guitar as a child and during his teen years performed professionally as a fiddler. By the late 1940s he had become a sought-after

Phase Diagram

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

Graph showing the limiting conditions for solid, liquid, and gaseous phases of a single substance or of a mixture of substances while undergoing changes in pressure and temperature or in some other combination of variables, such as solubility and temperature. The Figure shows a typical phase diagram for a one-component system (i.e., one consisting of a single pure

Outer Hebrides

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

Islands in Scotland, off the northwestern coast of the Scottish mainland. They constitute the Western Isles council area. Lewis, the northern part of the island of Lewis and Harris, lies in the historic county of Ross-shire in the historic region of Ross and Cromarty, while the remainder of the Outer Hebrides belong to the historic county of Inverness-shire. Stretching

Kofoid, Charles Atwood

2005-03-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

Kofoid graduated from Harvard University (1894) and in 1900 began a long affiliation with the University of California at Berkeley. He became a full professor there in 1910, and for most

Siskind, Aaron

2005-03-07T04:44:00.000-08:00

Carl Chiarenza, Aaron Siskind: Pleasures and Terrors (1982); Boston College Museum of Art, Aaron Siskind: Toward a Personal Vision, 1935–1955 (1994).

Terbium

2005-03-06T05:53:00.000-08:00

(Tb), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table. One of the least abundant of the rare earths, terbium, when reduced to metallic form, is silvery white and is slowly oxidized by air at room temperatures and by cold water. The element was discovered in 1843 by Carl Gustaf Mosander in a heavy rare-earth fraction called yttria, but its existence

Tobolsk

2005-03-06T05:41:00.000-08:00

City, Tyumen oblast (province), northwestern Russia. It lies at the confluence of the Irtysh and Tobol rivers. Founded in 1587, it was one of the chief centres of early Russian colonization in Siberia because it lay along an important river route to the east, but it declined when bypassed by the Trans-Siberian Railroad in the 1890s. Today it is a river port and station on the Tyumen-Surgut

Ferroaugite

2005-03-05T13:13:00.000-08:00

Iron-rich variety of the mineral augite (q.v.).

Medicine, Naval and air force medicine

2005-03-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

Naval medical services are run on lines similar to those of the army. Junior medical officers are attached to ships or to shore stations and deal with most cases of sickness in their units. When at sea, medical officers have an exceptional degree of responsibility in that they work alone, unless they are on a very large ship. In peacetime, only the larger ships carry a

Alvensleben-erxleben, Gustav, Graf Von (count Of)

2005-03-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

As a member of the Prussian general staff (1847–58), Alvensleben participated in the suppression of the revolution of 1849 in Baden and was named chief of staff for the troops that remained in occupation. In 1854 he

São João Del Rei

2005-03-04T00:34:00.000-08:00

City, south-central Minas Gerais estado (“state”), Brazil. It lies along the Lenheiro River on a site sandwiched between two hills, at 2,822 feet (860 m) above sea level. Originally a gold-mining town, it was given city status in 1838. The city retains a colonial atmosphere and has two notable 18th-century Baroque churches, the Carmo and the Church of São Francisco de Assis, with sculptures by

Lynch, Charles Birchell

2005-03-03T21:49:00.000-08:00

Canadian journalist and author (b. Dec. 3, 1919, Cambridge, Mass.--d. July 21, 1994, Ottawa, Ont.), was a gifted storyteller who attracted a wide and loyal readership as the longtime (1958-84) Ottawa syndicated columnist for Southam News Services. Lynch's folksy approach endeared him to English-speaking readers throughout much of the country. In his political commentaries, he boasted of "slipping

Andes Mountains

2005-03-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

As mentioned above, the Andes have been populated for millennia. By the time of the Spanish conquest in the 1530s, the indigenous highland peoples had developed a thorough knowledge of the Andes and had built in them an extensive network of cities and connecting roads. Early Spanish exploration of the mountains consisted of plundering raids, although in the process

Highland Games

2005-03-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

Originally, athletic meetings carried out in the Scottish Highlands. The name now denotes similar athletic competitions in any part of the world, usually conducted under the auspices of a local Caledonian society and held according to what are believed to be traditional customs. The games originated in impromptu competitions at clan assemblies summoned by

Neo-expressionism

2005-03-02T18:07:00.000-08:00

Diverse art movement (chiefly of painters) that dominated the art market in Europe and the United States during the early and mid-1980s. Neo-Expressionism comprised a varied assemblage of young artists who had returned to portraying the human body and other recognizable objects, in reaction to the remote, introverted, highly intellectualized abstract art production

Durmitor

2005-03-01T16:42:00.000-08:00

Mountain massif in Montenegro, Yugoslavia, part of the Dinaric ranges and a national park region that includes 15 peaks of more than 6,600 ft (2,000 m) in height, the highest, Bobotov Kuk, reaching 8,274 ft (2,522 m). Between the peaks are deep valleys and glacial lakes; dense pine and fir forests surround the lakes. The highest settlement in Yugoslavia, Zabljak, is a tourist centre; winter sports are

Ponca

2005-02-28T15:45:00.000-08:00

North American Indian people of the Dhegiha branch of the Siouan linguistic stock. Under pressure of settlement by whites, the Ponca migrated westward from the Atlantic coast, settling first in Virginia and the Carolinas. After a time they moved to what is now western Missouri. The Ponca then moved north to present-day Minnesota, where they lived until the late 17th

Alabama, European rivalry, settlement, and growth

2005-02-28T10:02:00.000-08:00

The first known European explorers were of Spanish descent and arrived at Mobile Bay in 1519. The main thrust of exploration came in 1540, when Hernando de Soto and his army of about 500 men entered the interior from the valley of the Tennessee River to search for gold. His expedition, which extensively crisscrossed the area, was important because of his discovery of the Mississippi

Mandalay

2005-02-28T08:20:00.000-08:00

Mandalay was built mainly in 1857–59 by King Mindon to replace Amarapura as his capital. It was the last capital of the Myanmar kingdom and

Avvakum Petrovich

2005-02-27T21:38:00.000-08:00

Archpriest, leader of the Old Believers, conservative clergy who brought on one of the most serious crises in the history of the Russian church by separating from the Russian Orthodox church to support the “old rite,” consisting of many purely local Russian developments. He is also considered to be a pioneer of modern Russian

Oryol

2005-02-27T10:45:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Or'ol, or Orel, oblast (province), western Russia, occupying an area of rolling hills of the Central Russian Upland, into which are cut many broad, shallow river valleys. The greater part is in the basin of the upper Oka River. The oblast, centred on Oryol city, lies on the boundary of the mixed forest and forest-steppe zones. The soils indicate a former widespread forest cover, but this has

Ravinia Park

2005-02-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

One of the oldest outdoor summer music and cultural centres in the United States, located in Highland Park, Ill., 25 miles (40 km) north of Chicago's Loop. It was established in 1905 on land purchased by the A.C. Frost Company, a subsidiary of the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad (the Chicago and North Western Railroad now bisects the property). Originally an amusement centre

Dragonfly

2005-02-25T08:33:00.000-08:00

(suborder Anisoptera) also called darner, devil's arrow, or devil's darning needle, any of a group of aerial, predatory insects most commonly found near freshwater habitats throughout most of the world. Damselflies are sometimes also called dragonflies in that both are odonates—members of the order Odonata. The 2,500 dragonfly species (Anisoptera) are characterized by long bodies with two narrow pairs of intricately veined, membranous

Wangaratta

2005-02-24T21:47:00.000-08:00

City, northern Victoria, Australia. It lies at the confluence of the Ovens and King rivers, northeast of Melbourne. The site was first settled in 1837 by a sheepherder, George Faithfull, and was proclaimed a town in 1845. Its name is derived from an Aboriginal term meaning either “meeting of the rivers” or “home of the cormorants.” The city is a junction of the Hume and Ovens highways

Abedi Ayew Pelé

2005-02-24T20:51:00.000-08:00

Having been given the nickname "Pelé" in recognition of his superior

Spanish Fork

2005-02-24T20:21:00.000-08:00

City, Utah county, northern Utah, U.S. The city takes its name from the Spanish Fork River, along which the Spanish missionary-explorers Domínguez and Escalante traveled in their 1776 survey of the region. In 1854 Mormon settlers established a fort alongside the river, around which a town grew. Prosperous farms and food-production industries provided the economic basis for

Sthanakavasi

2005-02-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

The Sthanakavasi, whose name refers to the subsect's preference for performing religious duties at a secular place such as a monks' meetinghouse (sthanak) rather than at a temple, differs from the Shvetambara sect

Mountain

2005-02-23T02:29:00.000-08:00

Most mountains and mountain ranges are parts of mountain belts that have formed where two lithospheric plates have converged and where, in most cases, they continue to converge. In effect, many mountain belts mark the boundaries of lithospheric plates, and these boundaries in turn intersect other such boundaries. Consequently, there exist very long mountain systems

Beard Lichen

2005-02-22T17:25:00.000-08:00

Any member of the genus Usnea, a yellow or greenish fruticose (bushy, branched) lichen with long stems and disk-shaped holdfasts, which resembles a tangled mass of threads. It occurs in both the Arctic and the tropics, where it is eaten by wild animals or collected as fodder. In the past it was used as a remedy for whooping cough, catarrh, epilepsy, and dropsy. It has been used

Congé D'élire

2005-02-22T13:36:00.000-08:00

English permission to elect formal message conveying the English sovereign's permission for the dean and chapter of the cathedral of a vacant bishopric to proceed in regular chapter to a new election. Before the Norman Conquest (1066) it was the king's prerogative to appoint bishops to vacant sees. This came to be contested by the popes, though the sovereign usually was able to secure the appointment

Nagercoil

2005-02-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

City, southernmost Tamil Nadu state, southern India. Nagercoil lies west of the Aramboli Gap in the Western Ghats. It controls the major routes between Madras and Trivandrum and is a commercial centre for a rich agricultural area. Its name, meaning “snake temple,” indicates the early significance of the town's Saiva temple. Although historically a part of the Hindu kingdom

Sea Crayfish

2005-02-20T21:35:00.000-08:00

Any of several lobster species of the family Palinuridae. See lobster.

Apricot

2005-02-20T10:22:00.000-08:00

(Prunus armeniaca), stone fruit of the family Rosaceae that is cultivated throughout the temperate regions of the world. Apricots are eaten fresh or cooked and are preserved by canning or drying. The fruit is also widely made into jam and is often used to flavour liqueurs. Apricot trees are large and spreading with broad, ovate leaves that have pointed

Sentimental Comedy

2005-02-20T00:08:00.000-08:00

A dramatic genre of the 18th century, denoting plays in which middle-class protagonists triumphantly overcome a series of moral trials. Such comedy aimed at producing tears rather than laughter. Sentimental comedies reflected contemporary philosophical conceptions of humans as inherently good but capable of being led astray through bad example. By an appeal

Sea Crayfish

2005-02-19T10:56:00.000-08:00

DES is used therapeutically to replace estrogen

Hohe Tauern

2005-02-19T03:52:00.000-08:00

Segment of the Eastern Alps in southern Austria, extending for 70 miles (110 km) between the Zillertal Alps and the Italian border (west) and Katschberg Pass (east). Within the range lie many lofty peaks, including Grossglockner (q.v.; 12,457 feet [3,797 m]), the highest point in Austria. The range is crossed by road through the Felber Tauern Tunnel (east of Grossvenediger) and through the Hochtor

Agrippina The Elder

2005-02-18T17:45:00.000-08:00

Agrippina was married to Germanicus Caesar (great-nephew of Augustus and nephew and adopted son of Tiberius). She accompanied her husband to Germany and to the East, where he died

Dinosaur, Pachycephalosauria

2005-02-18T11:58:00.000-08:00

In important respects the pachycephalosaurs conformed to the basic ornithopod body plan, and there is some evidence that pachycephalosaurs actually evolved from (and are therefore members of) ornithopods, perhaps similar to hypsilophodontids. All of them appear to have been bipedal. They bore the typical ornithopod ossified tendons along the back, and they

Babuyan Islands

2005-02-17T11:51:00.000-08:00

Island group of the Philippines that is a northerly extension of the Philippine archipelago. The Babuyan Islands lie in the Luzon Strait, south of the Batan Islands and Balintang Channel. They lie 20 miles (32 km) north of Luzon across the Babuyan Channel. With a total area of 230 square miles (600 square km), they comprise 24 volcanic-coralline islands, the chief of which are Babuyan,

Arias Sánchez, Oscar

2005-02-16T15:58:00.000-08:00

Born into one of the wealthiest coffee-growing families in Costa Rica, Arias studied economics at the University of Costa Rica and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Essex in England. In the 1960s he began working for the moderate socialist

Shimazu Family

2005-02-16T02:56:00.000-08:00

Powerful warrior clan that controlled the southern tip of the Japanese island of Kyushu from the 12th to the 19th century. Ensconced in their isolated stronghold on the frontier of Japan, the Shimazu were the only feudal family to play a leading role in Japanese history in both medieval and modern times. During the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867), the family's Satsuma fief was the

Turfan

2005-02-14T19:51:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) T'u-lu-p'an, or (Pinyin) Turpan, city in the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China. It lies about 95 miles (150 km) southeast of the city of Urumchi (Wu-lu-mu-ch'i) in a mountain basin between the Po-ko-ta Mountains (an eastern extension of the Tien Shan) and the K'u-lu-k'o-t'a-ko range, on the northern side of the Turfan Depression. It has long been the centre of a fertile oasis and an important trade centre on the main

Hawthorn

2005-02-14T10:50:00.000-08:00

Also called Haw, or Thornapple, any of a number of thorny shrubs or small trees of the genus Crataegus, in the rose family (Rosaceae), native to the North Temperate Zone. Many species are native to North America. The hawthorn's leaves are simple, and usually toothed or lobed. The white or pink flowers, usually in clusters, are followed by small applelike, red fruits, or more rarely by blue or black

Bridle

2005-02-14T09:29:00.000-08:00

The reins, lines

Respiratory Disease

2005-02-14T04:12:00.000-08:00

Diseases of the respiratory system may affect any of the structures and organs that have to do with breathing—the nasal cavities, the throat (pharynx), the larynx, the windpipe (trachea), the airways (bronchi), and the lung tissue. In addition, respiration is dependent on normal functioning of the muscles

Visible Trade

2005-02-13T11:41:00.000-08:00

Countries lacking various raw materials will import needed substances such

Botta, Carlo Giuseppe Guglielmo

2005-02-12T16:06:00.000-08:00

Having graduated in medicine at the University of Turin in 1786, Botta was in his youth inspired by the ideas of the French Revolution. Arrested as a spy for the French in 1794, he left Italy for France the following year and from 1796 to 1798 served as a physician

Taborite

2005-02-12T08:19:00.000-08:00

Czech Tábori member of a militant group of Bohemian Hussite reformers who in 1420 gave the biblical name of Tabor (Czech: Tábor) to their fortified settlement south of Prague. Like their more moderate coreligionists, the Utraquists, they were strict biblicists and insisted on receiving a Eucharist of both bread and wine, though they denied transubstantiation and the Real Presence.

Lear, Edward

2005-02-12T03:02:00.000-08:00

English landscape painter who is more widely known as the writer of an original kind of nonsense verse and as the popularizer of the limerick. His true genius is apparent in his nonsense poems, which portray a world of fantastic creatures in nonsense words, often

Fürstenwalde

2005-02-11T03:04:00.000-08:00

City, Brandenburg Land (state), eastern Germany, on the Spree River near its junction with the Oder-Spree Canal, east of Berlin. Founded between 1252 and 1258 by the margraves of Brandenburg and chartered in 1285, it was the seat of the bishops of Lebus from 1385 to 1571. The cathedral, begun in 1446, was destroyed in 1945. Fürstenwalde's largest enterprise is the nationally owned tire plant; chemicals, metal

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Parable

2005-02-10T09:36:00.000-08:00

Parables do not analyze social systems so much as they remind the listener of his beliefs. The moral and spiritual stress of the form falls upon memory rather than on the critical faculty. The audience hearing the parable is assumed to share a communal truth but perhaps to have set it aside or forgotten it. The rhetorical appeal of a parable is directed primarily toward

Allegheny Mountains

2005-02-10T07:05:00.000-08:00

Also called Alleghenies, mountainous eastern part of the Allegheny Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains, U.S. The Allegheny range extends south-southwestward for more than 500 miles (800 km) from north-central Pennsylvania to southwestern Virginia. Rising to Mount Davis (3,213 feet [979 m]; highest point in Pennsylvania) and Spruce Knob (4,862 feet [1,482 m]; highest point in West Virginia), the mountains consist of nearly

Justus, Saint

2005-02-09T09:30:00.000-08:00

In 601 he was sent by Pope St. Gregory I the Great to assist Archbishop St. Augustine of Canterbury in the conversion of England to Christianity. He was consecrated by

Bene Beraq

2005-02-09T08:06:00.000-08:00

Near the presumed location of ancient Bene Beraq, a

Cable, George W.

2005-02-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

Cable's first books—Old Creole Days (1879), a collection of stories, and The Grandissimes (1880), a novel—marked Creole New Orleans as his literary province and were widely praised. In these works he sought to recapture the picturesque life of the old French-Spanish

Refrigeration

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

In the industrialized nations and affluent regions in the developing world, refrigeration is chiefly used to store foodstuffs at low temperatures, thus inhibiting the destructive action of bacteria, yeast, and mold. Many perishable products can

Régnier, Henri (-françois-joseph) De

2005-02-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

Born of an old Norman family, Régnier began to prepare for a career as a diplomat, but while studying law in Paris he came under the influence of the Symbolist poets and published his first volume of poems, Lendemains (“Tomorrows”), in 1885. Other volumes followed: Les Jeux rustiques et

Duck

2005-02-07T05:45:00.000-08:00

The fabric, in its various qualities and colours, is used for an enormous variety

Waterberg Series

2005-02-07T04:58:00.000-08:00

Also called Waterberg System, major division of rocks in southern Africa. The age of the Waterberg is in doubt; it is possible that the Waterberg is late Precambrian or Early Paleozoic (older or younger than 540 million years, respectively). Waterberg rocks consist of several thousand feet of brown, red, and purple sandstones and some rather minor shales. Sedimentary structures such as ripple marks,

World War I, The collapse of Austria-Hungary

2005-02-06T23:15:00.000-08:00

The duality of the Habsburg monarchy had been underlined from the very beginning of the war. Whereas the Austrian parliament, or Reichsrat, had been suspended in March 1914 and was not reconvened for three years, the Hungarian parliament in Budapest continued its sessions, and the Hungarian government proved itself constantly less amenable to dictation from the military

Mcmillan, Edwin Mattison

2005-02-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

McMillan was educated at the California Institute of Technology and at Princeton University, where he

La Tuque

2005-02-05T05:01:00.000-08:00

Town, Mauricie–Bois-Francs region, southern Quebec province, Canada, situated on the Saint-Maurice River. During the French regime, the site was occupied by a trading post of the Company of New France. The original lumbering settlement of 1908 was named for a rock on the river's edge that was shaped like a tuque, the woolen headgear that was worn by early French trappers. The

Pacorus

2005-02-04T11:54:00.000-08:00

In the summer of 51 BC Pacorus was sent to invade Syria with an army commanded by Osaces, an older warrior. Osaces, however, was killed in battle, and early the next year Orodes, learning that one of his satraps was conspiring to make Pacorus king, recalled his son. In 45, Pacorus intervened in

Tadoba National Park

2005-02-03T23:23:00.000-08:00

National park in Maharashtra state, western India. Extending over an area of 45 square miles (117 square km), the park consists of dense forests of sal (Shorea), margosa, mahua, and mango, interspersed with lakes and plains; stretches of bamboo thickets are found around Tadoba Lake, for which the park is named. It was established as a wildlife sanctuary in 1935 and declared a national park

Alexander I, Saint

2005-02-03T00:32:00.000-08:00

Fifth pope after St. Peter and successor to St. Evaristus. His 10-year rule (105–115 or 109–119) is attested by Pope St. Eusebius (309/310). Some Catholic writers ascribe to him the introduction of holy water and the custom of mixing sacramental wine with water, and he may have made additions to the liturgy. It is believed he suffered martyrdom, possibly by decapitation, under the

Omen

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

Observed phenomenon that is interpreted as signifying good or bad fortune. In ancient times omens were numerous and varied and included, for instance, lightning, cloud movements, the flight of birds, and the paths of certain sacred animals. Within each type of sign were minor subdivisions, such as the different kinds of bird in flight or the direction of flight in relation

Ablution

2005-02-02T01:03:00.000-08:00

In religion, a prescribed washing of part or all of the body or of possessions, such as clothing or ceremonial objects, with the intent of purification or dedication. Water, or water with salt or some other traditional ingredient, is most commonly used, but washing with blood is not uncommon in the history of religions, and urine of the sacred cow has been used in