WrongWheel

Hölderlin, (johann Christian) Friedrich

2005-03-24T13:21:00.000-08:00

Hölderlin was born in a little Swabian town on the River Neckar. His father died in 1772, and two years afterward his mother married the burgomaster of the town of Nürtingen, where

Ijtihad

2005-03-19T00:20:00.000-08:00

In Islamic law, the independent or original interpretation of problems not precisely covered by the Qur'an, Hadith (traditions concerning the Prophet's life and utterances), and ijma' (scholarly consensus). In the early Muslim community every adequately qualified jurist had the right to exercise such original thinking, mainly ra'y (personal judgment) and qiyas (analogical

Mccloy, John J(ay)

2005-03-18T18:23:00.000-08:00

McCloy graduated from Harvard Law School in 1921. Thereafter he practiced law on Wall Street. His work on the “Black Tom” case, in which he proved that German agents had caused an explosion at a munitions factory, attracted

Extracellular Fluid

2005-03-16T22:08:00.000-08:00

In biology, body fluid that is not contained in cells. It is found in blood, in lymph, in body cavities lined with serous (moisture-exuding) membrane, in the cavities and channels of the brain and spinal cord, and in muscular and other body tissues. It differs from intracellular fluid (fluid within the cells) in that it generally has a high concentration of sodium and low concentration

Armour, Philip Danforth

2005-03-14T19:54:00.000-08:00

Armour earned his first capital in California mining endeavours and cofounded a grain-dealing and meatpacking business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1863. Anticipating a

Aleardi, Aleardo, Conte

2005-03-12T00:31:00.000-08:00

Brought up in Verona, then controlled by Austria, he studied law at the University of Padua. His love lyrics, Le lettere a Maria (1846; “The Letters

Boii

2005-03-10T21:22:00.000-08:00

A Celtic tribe, one section of which settled in Cisalpine Gaul around Bononia (Bologna, Italy) and another in what was later Bohemia, to which it gave its name. The Cisalpine group, after struggling against the Romans throughout the 3rd century BC, was subdued and made a Latin colony in 191 BC. The second group, which joined with another Celtic tribe, the Helvetii, to invade Gaul, was

Kuang-wu Ti

2005-03-08T01:15:00.000-08:00

Kuang-wu ti (“Shining Martial Emperor”) was a member of the imperial Liu family and a supposed descendant of Kao-tsu (reigned

Cabra

2005-03-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

Cabra has a ruined Moorish castle, and its parish church (the former cathedral) was originally a mosque. Called Baebro or Aegabro in ancient times, it was

May, Phil

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

His father, an engineer, died when May was nine years old. Three years later he began to earn his living; he worked as a timekeeper in a foundry, as a jockey, and then on the stage.

Janissary Music

2005-03-02T05:10:00.000-08:00

Characteristic of Janissary music is its use of a great variety

Trafford

2005-02-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

Metropolitan borough in the southwest of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, England. Most of the borough's area, including towns such as Sale and Altrincham, lies south of the River Mersey in the historic county of Cheshire, but the historic county of Lancashire encompasses the urban core of the borough north of the Mersey, including Stretford, the Trafford

Seven Oaks Massacre

2005-02-26T23:01:00.000-08:00

On June 19, 1816, a party of about 60 Métis (persons of mixed European and Indian blood) under Cuthbert Grant, a North West Company employee, set out to run provisions for North West Company canoes past the Red River colony; they plundered some

Ableman V. Booth

2005-02-24T16:57:00.000-08:00

Sherman Booth was an abolitionist newspaper editor in Wisconsin who had been sentenced to jail by a federal court for assisting a runaway slave—a clear violation of the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, which required

Valdivia

2005-02-22T18:50:00.000-08:00

Capital of Valdivia provincia, Los Lagos región, southern Chile. It lies at the confluence of the Callecalle and Cruces rivers, which there form the Valdivia River, 11 miles (18 km) from the Pacific Ocean. Although it was founded in 1552 and was a strategically significant outpost during the colonial era, Valdivia did not flourish until after the mid-19th century, when a large influx

East Hartford

2005-02-20T10:31:00.000-08:00

Urban town (township), Hartford county, central Connecticut, U.S., across the Connecticut River from Hartford. The area, called Podunk by the Indians, was first settled in 1639 by John Crow. Organized as a parish in 1746 and originally part of Hartford, it was incorporated as a separate town in 1783 and experienced early industrial development (papermaking and the manufacture of gunpowder,

Dunant, Henri

2005-02-17T09:21:00.000-08:00

An eyewitness of the Battle of Solferino (June 24, 1859), which resulted in nearly 40,000 casualties, Dunant organized emergency aid services

China, Renewed Communist-Nationalist conflict

2005-02-15T20:11:00.000-08:00

There were numerous clashes between Communists and Nationalists as their military forces competed for control of enemy territory and as the Communists tried to expand their political influence in Nationalist territory through propaganda and secret organizing. Though both sides continued the war against Japan, each was fighting for its own ultimate advantage.

Bogart, Humphrey

2005-02-14T13:20:00.000-08:00

In full Humphrey DeForest Bogart American actor who became a preeminent motion picture “tough guy” and was a top box office attraction during the 1940s and '50s. In his performances he projected the image of a worldly wise, individualistic adventurer with a touch of idealism hidden beneath a hardened exterior. Offscreen he gave the carefully crafted

Bonaparte, Pierre-napoléon

2005-02-11T16:40:00.000-08:00

A self-proclaimed republican after 1848 and deputy for Corsica, Bonaparte was reconciled to his cousin Napoleon III after the latter's coup d'etat in 1851. With this the republicans abandoned the Prince, and he had little effect on the politics of his time. His killing of the journalist

Urubamba River

2005-02-07T17:45:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río Urubamba, river in the Amazon drainage system, rising in the Andes of southern Peru, near the border between Cuzco and Puno departamentos. It flows for about 450 miles (725 km) to its junction with the Apurímac, where it forms the Ucayali. The upper part of the Urubamba, there called the Vilcanota, flows past the towns of Sicuani, Urcos, and Urubamba and is densely settled by Indian farmers.

Balanopales

2005-02-06T00:41:00.000-08:00

Order of dicotyledonous flowering plants comprising the family Balanopaceae, with a single genus (Balanops) and 12 species of trees and shrubs that have simple, alternately positioned or somewhat whorled leaves. The plants are further characterized by flowers that lack showy parts (sepals and petals). The male and female flowers occur on separate plants (i.e., the plants

Duras, Marguerite

2005-02-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

Duras spent most of her childhood in Indochina, but at the age of 17 she moved to France to

Q

2005-02-02T20:33:00.000-08:00

Pseudonym of Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (q.v.).

France, History Of, Mitterrand's first term

2005-01-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

Mitterrand moved at once to carry out what appeared to be the voters' mandate. He named as prime minister a longtime Socialist militant, Pierre Mauroy, whose Cabinet was almost solidly Socialist except for four Communists. Major reforms followed quickly. A broad sector of the economy was nationalized (including 11 large industrial conglomerates and most private

Resistivity

2005-01-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

Resistivity, commonly symbolized by the Greek letter rho, r, is quantitatively

Arts, South Asian, Indian sculpture in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC: relief sculpture of Orissa

2005-01-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

Sculpture decorating the monasteries cut into the twin hills of Udayagiri and Khandagiri in Orissa represents yet another early Indian local idiom. The work is not of one period but extends over the first two centuries before Christ; the stages of development roughly parallel the styles observed at Sanchi Stupa No. II, Buddh Gaya, and the Great Stupa at Sanchi, but they

Bahram

2005-01-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

Foaled by Friar's Daughter and sired by Blandford, Bahram was owned by the Aga Khan and bred at his stud in Curragh, Ireland. Trained by Frank Butters at Newmarket, Bahram always came in first, from his first race in 1934, which he won by a neck. In 1935, ridden by his usual

Silvassa

2005-01-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Silvasa town, capital of Dadra and Nagar Haveli Union Territory, western India. The town is located about 13 miles (21 km) southeast of Daman on the Daman Ganga River some 15 miles (25 km) inland from the Arabian Sea. It is the economic centre of the territory, which is primarily agricultural and produces rice, pulses, and fruit crops. Pop. (1991 prelim.) 11,720.

Laos, Relief

2005-01-21T04:54:00.000-08:00

Dominating the landscape of Laos are its inhospitable, forest-covered mountains, which in the north rise to a maximum elevation of 9,245 feet (2,818 metres) above sea level at Mount Bia and everywhere constitute an impediment to travel. The principal range lies along a northwest-southeast axis and forms part of the Annamese Cordillera (Chaîne Annamitique), but secondary ranges

Classical Scholarship, Late 19th-century developments in German scholarship

2005-01-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

Germany made so vast a contribution to 19th-century classical scholarship that it would be impossible to name all of the eminent scholars of the period. But from a time rather earlier than the establishment of the German Empire (1871), signs of decline might be observed; the new methods had begun to harden into orthodoxy, mechanically applied by a mass of inferior practitioners.

Amphibole

2005-01-16T05:06:00.000-08:00

Any of a group of common rock-forming silicate minerals.

Chicago Critics

2005-01-14T15:31:00.000-08:00

The group's members, associated from the 1940s with the University of Chicago, often were called “Aristotelian,” or, more accurately, “Neo-Aristotelian,

General Santos

2005-01-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1954) Buayan, city, southern Mindanao, Philippines. The city is named for General Paulino Santos, who directed the pioneer settlement (mostly by Christian Filipino migrants) and development of the Koronadal Valley that began in the mid-1930s. General Santos city is located at the head of Sarangani Bay of the Celebes Sea along the southern shore of Mindanao. The city is a principal shipping

Jacaranda

2005-01-11T22:42:00.000-08:00

Any plant of the genus Jacaranda (family Bignoniaceae), especially the two ornamental trees J. mimosifolia and J. cuspidifolia. They are widely grown in warm parts of the world and in greenhouses for their showy blue or violet flowers and attractive, oppositely paired, compound leaves. The genus includes about 50 species native to Central and South America and to the

Tasmania, Government and politics

2005-01-09T17:39:00.000-08:00

The state parliament comprises a House of Assembly and a Legislative Council, the latter by tradition a largely nonparty house. The system of elections for the House of Assembly is proportional representation by the single transferable vote; the system for the Legislative Council is the preferential system, with an obligation to record preferences, used for

Arts, Central Asian, Decorative architectural motifs

2005-01-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

For temples, monasteries, and official residences such as the Potala Palace of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa, the Tibetans used their own solid indigenous styles but embellished these with Indian, Nepalese, and (very much later) Chinese motifs. Tiered, ornamented temple roofs are of Indian origin, as received through Nepal and later through China. The magnificent interior

Anhydride

2005-01-05T16:30:00.000-08:00

Any chemical compound obtained, either in practice or in principle, by the elimination of water from another compound. Examples of inorganic anhydrides are sulfur trioxide, SO3, which is derived from sulfuric acid, and calcium oxide, CaO, derived from calcium hydroxide. Sulfur trioxide and other oxides formed by the removal of water from an acid are often called acid

Riddah

2005-01-03T19:34:00.000-08:00

Despite the traditional resistance of the Bedouins to any restraining central authority, by 631 Muhammad was able to exact from the majority of their tribes at least nominal adherence to Islam, payment of the zakat, a tax levied on Muslims to support

Sacasa, Juan Bautista

2005-01-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

Sacasa studied in the United States from 1889 to 1901, earning an M.D. from Columbia University. In 1924 he was elected vice president of Nicaragua as leader of the Liberal Party in a coalition government. The following year a coup d'état installed General Emiliano Chamorro

Vajra

2004-12-30T20:46:00.000-08:00

Vajra, in Sanskrit, has both the meanings of “thunderbolt” and “diamond.” Like the thunderbolt, the vajra cleaves through ignorance. The thunderbolt was originally the symbol of the Hindu rain god Indra (who became the Buddhist Sakra)

Wieser, Friedrich Von

2004-12-28T18:04:00.000-08:00

Wieser attended the University of Vienna from 1868 to 1872 and then entered government service. Like his colleague, Böhm-Bawerk, Wieser was permitted to study under the three founders of the German school

Condé, Louis Iii, 6e Prince De (6th Prince Of), Duc (duke) De Bourbon

2004-12-26T09:47:00.000-08:00

He was short, with an enormous head and a yellow complexion, and was notoriously malevolent and offensive. In 1685 he was married to one of Louis XIV's bastards, Louise Françoise de Bourbon (previously known as Mlle de Nantes). As a soldier

Race, Immigration and the racial worldview

2004-12-23T09:17:00.000-08:00

In the 1860s, when Chinese labourers immigrated to the United States to build the Central Pacific Railroad, a new population with both physical and cultural differences had to be accommodated within the racial worldview. While industrial employers were eager to get this new and cheap labour, the ordinary white public was stirred to anger by the presence of this “yellow

Biblical Literature, The translation of Miles Coverdale

2004-12-22T01:24:00.000-08:00

A change in atmosphere in England found expression in a translation that, for all its great significance, turned out to be a retrograde step in the manner of its execution, although it proved to be a vindication of Tyndale's work. On October 4, 1535, the first complete English Bible, the work of Miles Coverdale, came off the press either in Zürich or in Cologne. The edition was soon

Hess, Victor Francis

2004-12-19T01:28:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Graz, Hess received his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna in 1906. His research

Salat

2004-12-17T16:21:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Salah, Arabic Salat, the daily ritual prayer enjoined upon all Muslims as one of the five Pillars of Islam (arkan al-Islam). There is disagreement among Islamic scholars as to whether some passages about prayer in the Muslim sacred scripture, the Qur'an, are actually references to the salat. Within Muhammad's lifetime five ritual prayers, each preceded by ablution, were observed: salat al-fajr (dawn),

Religious Symbolism And Iconography, Relation to the literary and visual arts

2004-12-15T13:22:00.000-08:00

Religious symbols and pictures may be identical with, related to, or similar to those of language (metaphors) and to pictorial expressions in prose and poetry. They are related in allegory, parable, fairy tales, fables, and legends in which they can appear in a form that is closely related to that of religious symbolism. Religious symbols are used in the plastic arts, in

Wu Daoxuan

2004-12-13T23:22:00.000-08:00

He is recorded as having painted a wide variety of subjects, perhaps painting large wall compositions of an essentially Buddhist character more than anything else. He is especially noted for his imagination

Stilicho, Flavius

2004-12-12T14:43:00.000-08:00

Stilicho was half-Roman, half-Vandal by birth. Making the army his career, in 383 he served

Osei Tutu

2004-12-09T16:15:00.000-08:00

Osei Tutu had been a hostage in the Denkyera court but had escaped eastward to the powerful state of

Gu Kaizhi

2004-12-08T22:17:00.000-08:00

Gu Kaizhi's art is known today from both written records and paintings that are

Keyboard Instrument, The short octave

2004-12-06T14:42:00.000-08:00

Even after the present arrangement of five raised keys and seven natural keys per octave had become standard in the 15th century, two exceptions existed. The first of these—the “short octave”—concerned only the lowest octave at the bass end of the keyboard. In the short octave, not all keys actually sounded notes of the expected pitch; their respective strings were tuned

Sororate

2004-12-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

Marriage of a man to his wife's sister, whether in the lifetime of the first wife or after her death. The term was introduced by the British anthropologist Sir James George Frazer. Though related in principle, the levirate (marriage with a deceased husband's brother) and sororate are usually but not invariably associated and appear to be the most common of preferential

Metallic Fibre

2004-12-02T10:29:00.000-08:00

In textiles, synthetic fibre, known generically as metallic, including manufactured fibres composed of metal, metal-coated plastic, or of a core covered by metal (usually aluminum). Trademarked names include Chromeflex, Lurex, and Melora. Foil types are made with a metal foil that is coated with a plain or coloured plastic film and then cut into strips. Metallized types

Khuzestan

2004-11-29T13:03:00.000-08:00

The area that is now Khuzestan was settled about 6000 BC by a people with affinities to the Sumerians, who came from the Zagros Mountains region. Urban centres appeared there nearly contemporaneously with the first cities in Mesopotamia

Price, Leontyne

2004-11-28T22:22:00.000-08:00

Both of Price's grandfathers had been Methodist ministers in black churches in Mississippi, and she sang in her church choir as a girl. Only when she graduated from the College of Education and Industrial Arts (now Central State College) in

Argyll And Bute

2004-11-26T07:45:00.000-08:00

Council area, western Scotland, extending from the southwestern Grampian Mountains into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and North Channel in ragged peninsulas indented and separated by deepwater lochs (sea inlets). Freshwater lochs (lakes) dot the inland areas. It includes many islands of the Inner Hebrides—notably Mull, Islay, and Jura. The council area incorporates

Indian National Congress

2004-11-23T20:04:00.000-08:00

Byname Congress Party broadly based political party of India. Formed in 1885, the Indian National Congress dominated the Indian movement for independence from Great Britain and formed most of India's governments from the time of independence through the mid-1990s.

Fairbanks, Charles Warren

2004-11-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

Fairbanks had considered seeking the presidency in 1900 and was mentioned as a potential running mate to William McKinley. As a staunch conservative from a “doubtful” state, Fairbanks was chosen as Roosevelt's running mate in 1904 to balance the ticket. A typical vice president of his time, he did not attend cabinet meetings and was not one of Roosevelt's closest advisers. Although he was nominated by Indiana for president in 1908 and received 40 votes at the Republican National Convention, Roosevelt blocked his nomination in favour of William Howard Taft. When the party was divided in 1912, Fairbanks supported Taft, the eventual nominee, instead of Roosevelt, who ran as the candidate of his own Bull Moose Party. He also ran unsuccessfully for vice president on the 1916 ticket headed by Charles Evans Hughes.

Aba

2004-11-19T23:22:00.000-08:00

City, Abia state, southern Nigeria. It lies along the west bank of the Aba River, at the intersection of roads from Port Harcourt, Owerri, Umuahia, Ikot Ekpene, and Ikot Abasi (Opobo). Aba was a traditional market town for the Igbo (Ibo) people of the tropical rainforest before the establishment of a British military post there in 1901. With the construction of the railway in 1915 from

Schreiber, R(aemer) E(dgar)

2004-11-18T11:32:00.000-08:00

American experimental physicist who during World War II was one of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, N.M., to develop the first atomic bombs and then helped assemble the two bombs that were dropped on Japan; after the war he stayed on at Los Alamos in the weapons division and helped develop the hydrogen bomb, from 1955 led the nuclear rocket

Dalai Lama

2004-11-16T01:00:00.000-08:00

The first of the line was Dge-'dun-grub-pa (1391–1475), founder and abbot of Tashilhunpo monastery (central Tibet). In accordance with the belief in reincarnate lamas, which began to develop in the 14th century, his successors were conceived as his rebirths and

Abduction

2004-11-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

In law, the carrying away of any female for purposes of concubinage or prostitution. The taking of a girl under a designated age for purposes of marriage is in most jurisdictions also included in the crime of abduction. Abduction is generally regarded as a form of kidnapping (q.v.).

China, Popular uprising

2004-11-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

The third quarter of the 19th century saw a series of uprisings, again as a result of social discontent.

Gulf Stream

2004-11-09T21:10:00.000-08:00

The Gulf Stream is part of a general

Swimming

2004-11-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

Fu took the women's 3-m springboard

Vedic Religion

2004-11-06T15:25:00.000-08:00

The ancient Vedic worshipers offered sacrifices to these gods in the hope that they in return would grant abundant numbers of cattle, good fortune, good health, long life, and male progeny, among other material benefits. To ensure the efficacy of their prayers, the people came to believe that their offerings could be made more acceptable to the gods if accompanied

Joensuu

2004-11-04T06:25:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Pohjois-Karjalan lääni (province), southeastern Finland, at the mouth of the Pielisjoki (river), southeast of Kuopio. Chartered in 1848, the city is a rail junction and centre for lumber shipment and has connections by steamship, highway, and air. Local industry includes plywood and lumber mills. Notable landmarks include the town hall (1914), designed by the 20th-century

Venetia

2004-11-01T11:38:00.000-08:00

Historically Venetia was the mainland territory under the control of the Republic of Venice from the 14th and

Leaf Blister

2004-10-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

Also called leaf curl worldwide disease of many woody plants and ferns caused by fungi of the genus Taphrina. Following cold, wet weather at budbreak, leaves become swollen, crinkled, and distorted with yellow, red, purple, brown, whitish, or gray blisters. Such leaves usually die and drop early, weakening the plant. A second growth of healthy leaves often appears later. Young peach and nectarine

Coleman, Ornette

2004-10-28T03:34:00.000-07:00

Coleman began playing alto, then tenor saxophone as a teenager and soon became a working musician in dance bands and rhythm-and-blues groups. Early in his career, his approach to harmony was already unorthodox

Pitney, Gene

2004-10-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

In 1961 Pitney began recording his compositions, with “I Wanna Love My Life Away” demonstrating a passionate vocal style. However, he sold more

Amorphous Solid, Polymeric structural materials

2004-10-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

Polystyrene, the organic polymer listed in the Table, is a prototypical example of a polymeric glass. These glasses, whose atomic-scale structure has been discussed in connection with Figure 7B, make up a broad class of lightweight structural materials important in the automotive, aerospace, and construction industries. These materials are also ubiquitous in everyday

Bürger, Gottfried August

2004-10-23T20:52:00.000-07:00

Bürger was educated in theology at the University of Halle and in law at the University of Göttingen. It was in Göttingen that he first

Literature, Canada

2004-10-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

The past—personal, historical, and imaginary—was the chosen ground for many Canadian novels in 2001, ranging from Nega Mezlekia's exploration of precolonial Africa from a postcolonial perspective in The God Who Begat a Jackal to Robert Hough's 20th-century circus saga about a tiger-taming woman, The Final Confession

Ghana

2004-10-18T10:51:00.000-07:00

Although relatively small in area and population, Ghana is one of the leading countries

Hyperion

2004-10-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

One of the smaller satellites of Saturn, discovered in 1848 independently by the astronomers William Bond and George Bond of the United States and William Lassell of England. Hyperion orbits Saturn once every 21.3 days at a distance of 1,482,000 km (918,840 miles), between the orbits of the major satellites Titan and Iapetus. Its orbit is unusual in that it is somewhat eccentric (e = 0.104°) yet uninclined

Kagamigahara

2004-10-16T09:06:00.000-07:00

City, Gifu ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, east of Gifu city. Upon the Meiji Restoration in 1868, an army base was established in the city. It was taken over by the U.S. Army after World War II and is now used by the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force. The city contains aircraft and transport equipment factories and textile mills. It is included in the Chukyo Industrial Region. Pop. (1989 est.)

Powhatan War

2004-10-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

(1622–44), relentless struggle between the Powhatan Indian confederacy and early English settlers in the tidewater section of Virginia and southern Maryland. The conflict resulted in the destruction of the Indian power. English colonists who had settled in Jamestown (1607) were at first strongly motivated by their need of native corn (maize) to keep peace with the Powhatans

Cabot Strait

2004-10-14T22:11:00.000-07:00

Channel (60 miles [97 km] wide) between southwestern Newfoundland and northern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, eastern Canada. An important international shipping lane, it connects the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the Atlantic Ocean. The strait was named for John Cabot, the Italian navigator who, sponsored by the English king Henry VII, explored the area in the late 15th

Arp, Jean

2004-10-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

First trained as an artist in his native Strasbourg, he later studied in Weimar, Germany, and at the Académie Julian in Paris. In 1912 he went to Munich,

Tobruk

2004-10-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Tubruq port, northeastern Libya. It was the site of Antipyrgos, an ancient Greek agricultural colony, and thereafter of a Roman fortress guarding the Cyrenaican frontier. The town later became a way station on the coastal caravan route. Because it is Libya's only natural harbour, Tobruk was occupied by the Italians as early as 1911 and was subsequently used as a naval and air base

Brugmann, Karl

2004-10-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

As a young man Brugmann sided with the emerging Junggrammatiker, or Neogrammarians, who rejected

Hippocrates Of Chios

2004-10-10T02:34:00.000-07:00

According to tradition, Hippocrates was a merchant whose goods had been captured by pirates. He went to Athens to prosecute them but met with little success in recovering

Mid Suffolk

2004-10-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

District, administrative and historic county of Suffolk, southeastern England. It occupies the central part of the county and is mainly an agricultural area of low, rolling hills. Cereals (including wheat, barley, and oats), sugar beets, cattle, and pigs are intensively raised. The district contains many small villages and medieval churches. Stowmarket, Mid Suffolk's

Japanese Cedar

2004-10-08T15:06:00.000-07:00

The Japanese

Botucatu

2004-10-07T17:36:00.000-07:00

City, central São Paulo estado (“state”), Brazil. It lies near the Pardo River in the Serra de Botucatu at 2,549 feet (777 m) above sea level. It was given town status in 1855 and was made the seat of a municipality in 1876. Crops (including coffee, cotton, rice, sugarcane, feijão [beans], and potatoes) grown in the region are processed in the city, which also has foundries, textile mills, bakeries, and factories

Subtitle

2004-10-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

A secondary or explanatory title. Such titles can explain the form of the work, as in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Remorse: A Tragedy, in Five Acts; they can give an idea of the theme or contents of the book, as in George Eliot's Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life; or they can simply be an alternate title, which may or may not be a comment on the work, such as Pamela; or, Virtue

Biblical Literature, Nature and significance

2004-10-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

Biblical exegesis is the actual interpretation of the sacred book, the bringing out of its meaning; hermeneutics is the study and establishment of the principles by which it is to be interpreted. Where the biblical writings are interpreted on a historical perspective, just as with philological and other ancient documents, there is little call for a special discipline

Nora

2004-10-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

Ancient site about 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Cagliari (Caralis) on the island of Sardinia. Although tradition ascribes its foundation to Iberians from Tartessus, the site, which lies on a triangular promontory ending in a steep cliff, is characteristically Phoenician. Apart from remains of a Sardinian nuraghe, or towerlike monument, the earliest antiquities discovered

Zambezi River, Hydrology

2004-10-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

The Zambezi, according to measurements taken at Maramba (formerly Livingstone), Zambia, experiences its maximum flow in March or April. In October or November the discharge diminishes to less than 10 percent of the maximum. The annual average flow reaches about 247,000 cubic feet (7,000 cubic metres) per second. Measurements taken at Kariba Dam reflect the same seasonal pattern; the

Great Bend

2004-10-02T00:36:00.000-07:00

City, seat (1872) of Barton county, central Kansas, U.S. Great Bend lies on the Arkansas River where the High Plains begin to shade into tallgrass prairie. Situated in the alleged locality of the mythical city of Quivira sought by Francisco Coronado in the 16th century, the site was visited by the American explorer Zebulon Pike in 1806 and became a stopping point on the Santa Fe

Chancel

2004-10-01T09:31:00.000-07:00

This lattice is now more commonly

La Baule-escoublac

2004-10-01T03:57:00.000-07:00

Also called La Baule, fashionable resort, Loire-Atlantique département, Bretagne région, France. It lies along the Atlantic coast near the mouth of the Loire River, west of Saint-Nazaire. Facing south and protected from the north wind by 1,000 acres (400 hectares) of dune-stabilizing maritime pines, it is on a crescent-shaped bay in the centre of a fine sand beach 5 miles (8 km) long. Headlands at each end of

Dieudonné, Jean

2004-09-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Dieudonné was educated in Paris, receiving both his bachelor's degree (1927) and his doctorate (1931) from the École Normale Supérieure. He was a founding member of the Nicolas Bourbaki (q.v.) group in the mid-1930s. After

Bioethics

2004-09-29T04:49:00.000-07:00

The discipline dealing with the ethical implications of both biological research and the applications of that research, especially in medicine. The first bioethics study institute, the Hastings Center, was established in June 1969 and is now located in Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., U.S. In 1971 Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., established The Joseph and Rose Kennedy Institute

Marriner, Neville

2004-09-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

Marriner graduated from the Royal College of Music in London in 1944 and went on to study for five years with René Benedetti at the Paris Conservatory. His early career was as

Tracy, Spencer

2004-09-27T05:34:00.000-07:00

As a youth Tracy was bored by schoolwork and joined the navy at age 17. Despite his distaste for academics, he eventually became a premed

Ablution

2004-09-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

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