GeneralPot

Beira

2005-04-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Port city, central Mozambique. Beira is situated on the Mozambique Channel (Indian Ocean) at the mouths of the Púngoè and Búzi rivers. It was founded in 1891 as the headquarters of the Companhia de Moçambique (“Mozambique Company”) on the site of an old Muslim settlement. The city's administration passed from the trading company to the Portuguese government in 1942 and then to independent

D.c.v.o.

2005-04-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

Dame commander of the Royal Victorian Order, member of the second highest rank of a British order of knighthood. See Royal Victorian Order.

Aschelminth, Behaviour

2005-03-31T20:38:00.000-08:00

Although their nervous systems are simple, aschelminths can respond to a range of environmental stimuli by, for example, attraction, avoidance, feeding, or copulation. They respond to touch, temperature gradients, chemicals, and light. Some species in each class have two or more pairs of simple eyes capable of indicating the direction and intensity of light but unable

Corbett National Park

2005-03-30T16:22:00.000-08:00

National park in Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. Extending over an area of 201 sq mi (521 sq km) and established as Hailey National Park in 1935, it was first renamed Ramganga in 1954 and then Corbett in 1957, in memory of Jim Corbett, a well-known British sportsman and writer. Located in the foothills of the Himalayas about 36 mi (50 km) northwest of Ramnagar town, the park consists mainly of the broad

Azuela, Mariano

2005-03-28T16:53:00.000-08:00

Azuela received an M.D. degree in Guadalajara in 1899 and practiced medicine, first in his native town and after 1916 in Mexico City. His best-known work, Los de abajo (1916; The Under Dogs), depicting the futility of the revolution, was written at the

Lie, Trygve (halvdan)

2005-03-25T18:09:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Kristiania (Oslo), Lie practiced law and became a leading member of the Norwegian Labour Party

Sorbian Languages

2005-03-24T05:38:00.000-08:00

Also called Lusatian, or Wendish, closely related West Slavic languages or dialects; their small number of speakers in eastern Germany are the survivors of a more extensive medieval language group. The centre of the Upper Sorbian speech area is Bautzen, near the border with the Czech Republic, while Cottbus, near Poland, is the centre for Lower Sorbian. The oldest written record of Sorbian dates from

Asturias

2005-03-22T22:17:00.000-08:00

Asturias was an independent Christian kingdom between 718 and 910 and was formed by Visigothic nobles and officials

Space Station

2005-03-19T19:10:00.000-08:00

An artificial structure placed in orbit and having the pressurized enclosure, power, supplies, and environmental systems necessary to support human habitation for extended periods. Depending on its configuration, a space station can serve as a base for a variety of activities. These include observations of the Sun and other astronomical objects, study of the

Lancaster

2005-03-19T06:37:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Lancaster county, northern South Carolina, U.S., near the Catawba River. It was founded in the 1750s by settlers from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The architect Robert Mills designed the jail (1823) and the courthouse (1828). In the early 19th century the community was identified with the Waxhaw Revival, part of the Great Revival (a nationwide movement of religious vagaries), and

Ford, Francis Xavier

2005-03-17T23:33:00.000-08:00

Ford was ordained in 1917 and went to China the next year in the first group of Maryknoll missionaries sent to that country. He founded the Maryknoll Seminary for Chinese Boys in Yang-chiang in 1921 and in 1922 established the first overseas convent

Traffic Control

2005-03-17T00:44:00.000-08:00

Traffic is the movement of people and goods from one location to another. The movement typically occurs along a specific facility or pathway that can be called a guideway. It may be a physical guideway, as in the case of a railroad, or it may be an agreed-upon or designated route, marked

Sarcodine

2005-03-16T11:35:00.000-08:00

Any protozoan of the superclass (sometimes class or subphylum) Sarcodina. These organisms have streaming cytoplasm and use temporary cytoplasmic extensions called pseudopodia in locomotion (called amoeboid movement) and feeding. Sarcodines include the genus Amoeba (see amoeba) and pathogenic species, e.g., dysentery-causing Entamoeba histolytica. These protozoans'

Watercress

2005-03-14T07:09:00.000-08:00

Also called Cress (Nasturtium officinale), perennial plant, of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to Eurasia and naturalized throughout North America in cool, flowing streams where it grows submerged, floating on the water, or spread over mud surfaces. Watercress often is cultivated in tanks for its young shoots, which are used in salads. The plant bears four-petalled, white flowers

Würzburg

2005-03-13T14:41:00.000-08:00

City, northwestern Bavaria Land (state), south-central Germany. It lies along the canalized Main River. The site of a Celtic settlement, it was first mentioned as Virteburch in 704. A bishopric was established there by St. Boniface in 741/742, and the bishops had acquired ducal authority over eastern Franconia by the 12th century. Repeated revolts against the power of the bishops resulted

Khanty And Mansi

2005-03-12T15:18:00.000-08:00

Their present-day territory

Bhamo

2005-03-12T07:39:00.000-08:00

In ancient times Bhamo

Faridpur

2005-03-10T01:57:00.000-08:00

City, central Bangladesh, on the west bank of the Mara (Dead) Padma stream, a tributary of the Padma. It serves as a rail terminus for the branch line connecting Goalundo Ghat with Calcutta and is linked by road with Kushtia, Meherpur, Khulna, Barisal, and Jessore. The city takes its name from the Muslim saint Farid-ud-Din Mas'ud, whose shrine is located there. Constituted a municipality

Ben Bella, Ahmed

2005-03-09T00:25:00.000-08:00

Ben Bella was the son of a farmer and small businessman in Maghnia in the département of Oran. There, he successfully completed his early studies

Ear, Human, Transmission of sound waves in the cochlea

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

The mechanical vibrations of the stapes footplate at the oval window creates pressure waves in the perilymph of the scala vestibuli of the cochlea. These waves move around the tip of the cochlea through the helicotrema into the scala tympani and dissipate as they hit the round window (Figure 8). The wave motion is transmitted to the endolymph inside the cochlear duct.

Tabuaeran Atoll

2005-03-08T13:31:00.000-08:00

Also called Fanning Atoll, coral formation of the Northern Line Islands, part of Kiribati, in the west-central Pacific Ocean. Discovered in 1798 by an American, Edmund Fanning, the atoll is composed of several islets, with a total area of 13 square miles (35 square km), that surround a lagoon 32 miles (51 km) in circumference. It was annexed in 1888 by Britain as the site for a transpacific cable-relay station, which was in

Yadin, Yigael

2005-03-06T20:18:00.000-08:00

Yadin, the son of an archaeologist, was educated at Hebrew University (M.A., 1945; Ph.D., 1955). He was a member of the Haganah military organization from 1932 to 1948 and served as chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 1949 to

Trinidad And Tobago, Plant and animal life

2005-03-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

Vegetation zones are well defined on both islands. In general, the highest areas coincide with the most luxuriant tropical rain forest vegetation. Cultivated estates or small settlements are established in clearings on the hills. In the dry season the hills are dotted with the orange flowers of the mountain immortelle, a large flowering tree that grows to a height

France, History Of, The development of institutions in the Carolingian age

2005-03-04T21:58:00.000-08:00

The Carolingians contented themselves with refining their administrative system in order to strengthen royal control and to solve the problems posed by a large empire. The kingdom's cohesion was augmented by an oath of fidelity, which Charlemagne exacted from every free man (789, 793, 802), and by the publication of legislation—the capitularies—which regulated the administration

Turkey, Government

2005-03-04T13:18:00.000-08:00

Following a period of authoritarian, one-party rule under the first president of the republic, Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk; 1923–38), and his successor, Ismet Inönü (1938–50), multiparty democracy was instituted in 1950. Parliamentary democracy has for the most part remained in force since that date, although it has been interrupted by brief periods of military government at times when civilian

Agnus Dei

2005-03-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

(Latin), English Lamb of God designation of Jesus Christ in Christian liturgical usage. It is based on the saying of John the Baptist: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). In the Roman Catholic liturgy the Agnus Dei is employed in the following text: “Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us! Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy

Earth Sciences, Gravity, isostasy, and the Earth's figure

2005-03-02T10:46:00.000-08:00

Discoveries of regional anomalies in the Earth's gravity led to the realization that high mountain ranges have underlying deficiencies in mass about equal to the apparent surface loads represented by the mountains themselves. In the 18th century the French scientist Pierre Bouguer had observed that the deflections of the pendulum in Peru are much less than they

Cumberland Gap

2005-02-28T13:31:00.000-08:00

Natural pass (elevation 1,640 feet [500 metres]) that was cut through the Cumberland Plateau in the eastern United States by former stream activity. It is located near the point where Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee meet between Middlesboro, Kentucky, and the town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. The pass was discovered in 1750 by Thomas Walker, and the Wilderness Road blazed by Daniel

Kabylie

2005-02-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kabylia, mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria, between Algiers and Skikda. It comprises: (1) the Great Kabylie (Grande Kabylie) or Djurdjura Mountains bounded on the west by the Isser River and on the southeast by the Wadi Soummam; (2) the Little Kabylie (Petite Kabylie, or Kabylie des Babors) around the Gulf of Bejaïa (Bougie); and (3) the Collo Kabylie (Kabylie de Collo) forming

Madison, Dolley

2005-02-27T00:40:00.000-08:00

When Dolley Madison died in 1849 she was one of the most popular figures in Washington and the nation's favourite first lady. At her funeral President Zachary Taylor, his cabinet, the diplomatic corps, and members of Congress lined up to pay their respects. She was buried beside James Madison at a family plot near Montpelier.

Overseas Surveys, Directorate Of

2005-02-25T21:51:00.000-08:00

Surveying, mapping, and aerial photography agency of the Overseas Development Administration (ODA) of the United Kingdom, founded in 1946 to provide advice to the ODA and foreign governments and organizations on technical matters concerning all aspects of surveying and mapping. The maps are produced by modern aerial photography and photogrammetric methods. Aerial

Fabales

2005-02-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

The origin of the Fabales and its relationship to other plant families and orders are speculative. Traditionally the Fabales have been thought to have derived from the order Rosales, and even specific groups of the Rosaceae family have been postulated. A careful evaluation by the American botanist William C. Dickison has compared the Fabales with three families

Leschetizky, Theodor

2005-02-22T21:11:00.000-08:00

Leschetizky studied under Carl Czerny in Vienna and thus was linked indirectly with the playing of Czerny's teacher, Ludwig van Beethoven. In 1852 he went to St. Petersburg as a pianist and teacher.

Eybeschütz, Jonathan

2005-02-21T23:29:00.000-08:00

As a rabbi in a number of European towns, Eybeschütz became a celebrated master of the Talmud (the rabbinical compendium of law, lore, and commentary),

Vakhan

2005-02-21T16:34:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Wakhan, or Wakhan Corridor, a mountainous region and panhandle in the Pamir Mountains of extreme northeastern Afghanistan. From the demarcation of the Afghan frontier (1895–96), the panhandle formed a political buffer between Russian Turkistan, British India, and China. It is now bounded by Tajikistan (north), China (east), and Pakistan (south). The Vakhan River flows from west to east through Vakhan for 100 miles

Arts, Central Asian, Siberian tribes

2005-02-20T05:16:00.000-08:00

In the virtually contemporary metalwork of Siberian nomads, single animals of the cat family, such as panthers, carry the Altaic tendency of exaggeration further by twisting their bodies into a circle. In slightly later Siberian plaques, subtle openwork is used, a feature rarely present in Altaic or Scythian objects but frequently encountered in the more rounded

Novo Hamburgo

2005-02-19T06:15:00.000-08:00

City, eastern Rio Grande do Sul estado (“state”), southern Brazil. It was founded by Germans in 1927 and named for Hamburg, Germany. Novo Hamburgo lies at 115 feet (35 m) above sea level. An industrial city, it manufactures shoes, hides, and leather from the cattle and hogs raised in the surrounding area. It is linked by rail and road to Pôrto Alegre, the state capital, which lies to the south.

Stained Glass

2005-02-17T21:44:00.000-08:00

In the arts, the coloured glass used for making decorative windows and other objects through which light passes. Strictly speaking, all coloured glass is “stained,” or coloured by the addition of various metallic oxides while it is in a molten state; nevertheless, the term stained glass has come to refer primarily to the glass employed in making ornamental or pictorial

Byzantine Empire, Cultural revival

2005-02-17T13:39:00.000-08:00

Materially, the empire seemed almost beyond hope of recovery in the early 14th century, but spiritually and culturally it showed a remarkable vitality. The church, no longer troubled over the question of union with Rome, grew in prestige and authority. The patriarchs of Constantinople commanded the respect of all the Orthodox churches, even beyond the imperial boundaries;

Wolf, Christa

2005-02-16T22:11:00.000-08:00

Wolf was reared in a middle-class, pro-Nazi family. With the defeat of Germany in 1945, she moved with her family to East Germany. She studied at the Universities of Jena and Leipzig (1949–53), thereafter working as editor of the

Port Angeles

2005-02-15T10:38:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1890) of Clallam county, northwestern Washington, U.S., on Juan de Fuca Strait, linked by ferry to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 18 miles (29 km) north across the strait. Located at the base of Ediz Hook (a 3.5-mile- [5.6-km-] long, curving sand bar), the site was visited in 1791 by the Spanish explorer Francisco Eliza, who named the harbour Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles. Permanently

David Ap Gruffudd

2005-02-13T23:10:00.000-08:00

David's grandfather, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, had made Gwynedd the centre of Welsh power. After failing to prevent his brother, Llywelyn ap

Thompson, Sir J(ohn) Eric S(idney)

2005-02-13T06:51:00.000-08:00

Leading English ethnographer of the Mayan people. Thompson devoted his life to the study of Mayan culture and was able to extensively decipher early Mayan glyphs, determining that, contrary to prevailing belief, they contained historical as well as ritualistic and religious records. He also discovered that present-day

Esslingen

2005-02-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

On a commanding height above the city stands the old citadel, and in the inner

Plurality System

2005-02-10T03:04:00.000-08:00

Advantages of the plurality system are

Ibn Tibbon, Moses Ben Samuel

2005-02-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

Jewish physician like his father, Samuel ben Judah ibn Tibbon, and his paternal grandfather, Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon, and an important translator of Arabic-language works into Hebrew. His translations served to disseminate Greek and Arab culture throughout Europe. Besides original works, which included commentaries with an allegorical bias on

Espino, Héctor

2005-02-08T23:32:00.000-08:00

Espino started playing in the outfield but switched

Aurangzeb

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

Aurangzeb was the third son of the emperor Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal (for whom the Taj Mahal was built). He grew up as a serious-minded and devout youth, wedded to the Muslim orthodoxy of the day and free from the royal Mughal traits of sensuality and drunkenness. He early showed signs of military and administrative ability; and these qualities, combined with a taste for power,

Murayama Tomiichi

2005-02-06T02:18:00.000-08:00

One of 11 children born to a fisherman, Murayama graduated from Meiji University in Tokyo in 1946 and then returned to Oita, where he became an activist in the local fishermen's union. Most of his subsequent political career was spent in relative obscurity. He won election to the Oita city

Toadflax

2005-02-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

Also called Spurred Snapdragon, any member of a genus (Linaria) of nearly 100 herbaceous plants native to the North Temperate Zone, particularly the Mediterranean region. The common name refers to their flaxlike leaves; the flowers are two-lipped and spurred like snapdragons. Among the prominent members are common toadflax, or butter-and-eggs (L. vulgaris), with yellow and orange flower

Canadian Shield

2005-02-05T04:35:00.000-08:00

The Canadian Shield constitutes the largest mass

Aegirine

2005-02-04T07:54:00.000-08:00

A pyroxene mineral, sodium and iron silicate (NaFe+3Si2O6), that is commonly found in alkaline igneous rocks, particularly in syenites and syenite pegmatites. It also occurs in crystalline schists. Aegirine forms a continuous chemical series with aegirinaugite, in which calcium replaces sodium, and magnesium and aluminum replace iron. In this series, the name acmite

Gage, Thomas

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

Gage's military career in North America began in 1754, when he sailed with his regiment to serve in the last French

Yacht

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

Early sailing yachts followed the lines of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century until the second half of the 19th century. The design of large yachts was first greatly affected by the success of America, which was designed by George Steers for a syndicate headed by John C. Stevens and was the boat for which the America's Cup (q.v.) was named

Andaman Islands

2005-02-01T15:03:00.000-08:00

Island group, Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory, India, in the southeastern part of the Bay of Bengal. The Andamans constitute one of the two major groups of islands in the union territory. They include more than 300 islands (26 inhabited), with a land area of 2,474 square miles (6,408 square km). The three major islands are North Andaman, Middle Andaman, and South Andaman (closely

Abu Hanifah

2005-01-31T08:17:00.000-08:00

Muhammad Shibli Numani, Imam Abu Hanifah: Life and Work (1972), provides an introduction. Discussions of his work in its larger context can be found in Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law (1964, reprinted 1982); A.J. Wensinck, The Muslim Creed: Its Genesis and Historical Development, 2nd ed. (1979); and John Alden Williams (ed.), Islam (1961).

Scaffold

2005-01-29T20:11:00.000-08:00

In timber scaffolding, support for the planks is provided by a timber frame

Ushak Carpet

2005-01-29T11:48:00.000-08:00

Floor covering handwoven in the city of Usak (Ushak), Tur. By the 16th century the principal manufacture in Ottoman Turkey of large commercial carpets had been established at Usak, which produced for palace and mosque use and for export. By the 18th and early 19th centuries, this manufacture had come increasingly under European control. The carpets became coarser and rougher,

Interior Design, 20th century

2005-01-28T19:42:00.000-08:00

The principle behind a great deal of 20th century interior decoration was first expounded in Chicago in 1896 in a magazine entitled the House Beautiful. This journal opposed both the perpetuation of vulgar display and the excess of ornament that had characterized most of the 19th century. Other American magazines like The Ladies Home Journal soon followed House

Marsh Fly

2005-01-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

Any of several hundred insect species of the family Sciomyzidae (order Diptera), notable because the larval phase preys parasitically on slugs, snails, and other mollusks. These medium-sized flies occur worldwide; about 500 species are known, each associated with certain types of host, usually found in marshy habitats. Eggs are commonly laid on the host animal. After the

Land, Edwin Herbert

2005-01-25T02:20:00.000-08:00

While a student at Harvard University, Land became interested in polarized light, i.e., light in which all rays are aligned in the same plane.

Faridpur

2005-01-24T14:50:00.000-08:00

Ashford

2005-01-23T21:17:00.000-08:00

Town and borough (district), administrative and historic county of Kent, England. It was established in 1974 from the former urban district of Ashford, rural districts of East and West Ashford, and the metropolitan borough and rural district of Tenterden. The old town of Ashford was granted a market in the 13th century that later became a stock market for the pastoral farms

Léger, Fernand

2005-01-22T19:47:00.000-08:00

Léger was born into a peasant family in a small town in Normandy. He served a two-year apprenticeship in an architect's

Braddock, Edward

2005-01-22T16:17:00.000-08:00

Braddock, the son of Major General Edward Braddock (d. 1725), joined the Coldstream Guards in 1710 and served in the Netherlands during the siege of Bergen op Zoom in 1747. He was appointed major general in 1754 and arrived in Virginia the following

Alderfly

2005-01-20T02:29:00.000-08:00

Any insect of the megalopteran family Sialidae, characterized by long, filamentous antennae and two pairs of large wings (anterior wing length 20 to 50 mm [ 3/4 inch to 2 inches]), membranous and well-developed, with part of the hind wing folding like a fan. The adult alderfly is dark-coloured, 15 to 30 mm ( 3/5 inch to 1 1/5 inches) long, sluggish, and a weak flier. It usually inhabits shore vegetation,

Neo-confucianism

2005-01-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

In China, a rationalistic revival of Confucian philosophy in the 11th century AD that exercised profound influence on Chinese thought for the next 800 years. See Confucianism.

Cimarron River

2005-01-18T18:24:00.000-08:00

River rising in northeastern New Mexico, U.S., near Capulin Mountain National Monument and flowing 698 mi (1,123 km) to enter the Arkansas River near Tulsa, Okla. From its source, the Cimarron flows east past Black Mesa, a peak 4,973 ft (1,516 m) high, through the northern Oklahoma Panhandle and bends northward through the southeastern corner of Colorado and the southwestern corner of Kansas.

General Semantics

2005-01-17T05:47:00.000-08:00

A philosophy of language-meaning that was developed by Alfred Korzybski (1879–1950), a Polish-American scholar, and furthered by S.I. Hayakawa, Wendell Johnson, and others; it is the study of language as a representation of reality. Korzybski's theory was intended to improve the habits of response to environment. Drawing upon such varied disciplines as relativity theory, quantum

Earth Exploration, Excavation, boring, and sampling

2005-01-16T17:14:00.000-08:00

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

Lo-johansson, Ivar

2005-01-16T15:30:00.000-08:00

Lo-Johansson was first recognized in the mid-1930s for his detailed and realistic depiction of the plight of landless Swedish peasants, known as statare, in two volumes of

Transportation

2005-01-15T03:16:00.000-08:00

Almost without exception in 1996, in both developed and less-developed countries, city governments were pinning their hopes on public transportation as the backbone of urban regeneration, solving congestion problems and addressing issues of environmental degradation. Privatization was becoming increasingly important in this effort. In France 70% of all urban transit

Lutheran Synodical Conference

2005-01-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

Cooperative agency organized in 1872 by several conservative U.S. Lutheran groups. Its members accepted strict conservative interpretations of the Bible and the Lutheran confessions and insisted that fellowship among Lutheran groups could take place only after agreement was reached on doctrine and church practices. Over the years some of the original members

Felix (ii)

2005-01-13T01:38:00.000-08:00

Antipope from 355 to 358. Originally an archdeacon, Felix was irregularly installed as pope in 355 after the emperor Constantius banished the reigning pope, Liberius. In May 357 the Roman laity, which had remained faithful to Liberius, demanded that Constantius recall the true pope. The Emperor planned to have Felix and Liberius rule jointly, but Felix was forced

Roberts, Sir Charles G(eorge) D(ouglas)

2005-01-12T23:06:00.000-08:00

After graduating

Top

2005-01-10T17:07:00.000-08:00

A toy having a body of conical, circular, or oval shape, often hollow, with a point or peg on which it turns or is made to whirl. If given a knock, a spinning top will go around in a circle at a slant; if spun with a slant at the start, it will quickly stand upright until halted by friction. Its physical properties are similar to those of the gyroscope. Some tops, as the common peg top,

Hay River

2005-01-10T11:28:00.000-08:00

Town, southern Fort Smith region, Northwest Territories, Canada, on the southwestern shore of Great Slave Lake. The settlement, at the mouth of the Hay River, was established in 1868 as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post. With the arrival of the Mackenzie Highway in 1949 and the Great Slave Lake Railway in 1964, Hay River (82 miles [132 km] north of the Alberta border) became a busy commercial fishing

Aaron

2005-01-07T07:42:00.000-08:00

The traditional founder and head of the Jewish priesthood, who, with his brother Moses, led the Israelites out of Egypt. The figure of Aaron as it is now found in the Pentateuch is built up from several sources of traditions. In the Talmud and Midrash he is seen as the leading personality at the side of Moses. He has appeared in different roles in Christian

Hadano

2005-01-07T03:54:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Hatano city, Kanagawa Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, stretching between Tanzawa-yama (Mt. Tanzawa; north; 5,141 ft [1,567 m]) and the Hadano basin (south). It was a regional commercial centre during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867), when the cultivation of tobacco was introduced. The city is now a tobacco-trading centre, containing a processing plant of the Japanese Monopoly Bureau. Because of its convenient

Hadano

2005-01-05T14:08:00.000-08:00

Camarasaurs grew to a length of about 18 metres (59 feet) and were somewhat smaller than other sauropods of the time such as diplodocids and brachiosaurs. Camarasaurs

Orange

2005-01-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

County, southeastern New York state, U.S., located mostly in the Hudson River valley. It is bordered by Pennsylvania to the northwest (the Delaware River constituting the boundary), New Jersey to the southwest, and the Hudson River to the east. Among the other waterways are the Wallkill and Neversink rivers and Shawangunk Kill. Storm King Mountain is a massive granite

China, Livestock and fishing

2005-01-03T23:23:00.000-08:00

China has a long tradition of ocean and freshwater fishing and of aquaculture.

France, History Of, Charles Martel

2005-01-02T18:22:00.000-08:00

The situation was rectified by Pepin's illegitimate son, Charles Martel. Defeating the Neustrians at Amblève (716), Vincy (717), and Soissons (719), he made himself master of northern Francia. He then re-established Frankish authority in southern Gaul, where the local authorities could not cope with the Islamic threat; he stopped the Muslims near Poitiers (Battle of Tours; 732) and used this

East Falkland

2005-01-02T13:47:00.000-08:00

One of the two major islands of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is 90 miles (140 km) long and 55 miles (88 km) wide and rises to Mount Usborne (2,312 feet [705 m]). The total area is 2,550 square miles (6,605 square km), excluding adjacent small islands. The town of Stanley is on the northeast shore. Pop. (1986) 1,620.

Pembroke, William Marshal, 1st Earl Of

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

Marshal's father, John (FitzGilbert) the Marshal (d. 1165), fought for the empress Matilda (widow of the German emperor Henry V and daughter of Henry I of England) in her unsuccessful struggle to gain the throne

Objectivism

2004-12-31T04:18:00.000-08:00

The theory or practice of objective art or literature. The term was used by the poet William Carlos Williams in the 1930s to describe a movement in which emphasis was placed on viewing poems as objects that could be considered and analyzed in terms of mechanical features. According to Williams, this meant examining the structural aspects of the poem and considering

Earth Exploration, Geochemical methods

2004-12-30T07:07:00.000-08:00

Since the early 1970s researchers have developed extremely sensitive methods of chemical analysis, providing the ability to detect minute amounts of materials. Many chemical elements are transported in very small quantities by fluids flowing in the Earth, so that a systematic measurement of such trace elements may help in locating their sources. Trace elements

Enugu

2004-12-29T17:54:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Enugu state, south-central Nigeria, at the foot of the Udi Plateau. It is on the railroad from Port Harcourt, 150 miles (240 km) south-southwest, and at the intersection of roads from Aba, Onitsha, and Abakaliki. The town owes its existence to the discovery of coal on the plateau in 1909, which led to the building of Port Harcourt. With the completion of the railway from the

Nardi, Jacopo

2004-12-27T13:23:00.000-08:00

Nardi was born to a family that was long hostile to the Medici. He followed a military career until the expulsion of the Medici in 1494; he then served in several posts as a magistrate and became one of the principal republican

Amoco Corporation

2004-12-25T05:26:00.000-08:00

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

Owo

2004-12-25T04:29:00.000-08:00

Town, Ondo state, southwestern Nigeria, at the southern edge of the Yoruba Hills (elevation 1,130 feet [344 m]) and at the intersection of roads from Akure, Kabba, Benin City, and Siluko. A major collecting point for cocoa, it also serves as a market centre (yams, cassava, corn [maize], rice, palm oil and kernels, pumpkins, okra). Cotton and teak are cultivated in the surrounding area, which was

Gulbransson, Olaf

2004-12-23T20:19:00.000-08:00

Gulbransson studied at the Royal Norwegian Drawing School and worked for several Norwegian newspapers. After a visit to Paris in 1900, he returned to Oslo,

Hessian Fly

2004-12-22T19:24:00.000-08:00

In the spring the dark-coloured female lays about 250 to 300 reddish

Gag Rule

2004-12-21T22:52:00.000-08:00

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

Sotho

2004-12-21T03:29:00.000-08:00

Traditionally, most Sotho groups relied both on cultivation

Dublin

2004-12-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

Irish Dubh Linn, or Norse Dyfflin (“Black Pool”) , also called Baile Átha Cliath (“Town of the Ford of the Hurdle”), city, formally a county borough, and capital of County Dublin and of Ireland. Located in the east-central part of the country at the head of Dublin Bay on the Irish Sea, the city is the country's chief port, centre of financial and commercial power, and seat of culture. It is also a city of contrasts, maintaining an uneasy relationship between reminders of its colonial past

Tsvetayeva, Marina Ivanovna

2004-12-17T18:03:00.000-08:00

Tsvetayeva spent her youth predominantly in Moscow, where her father

Jordan, Relief and drainage

2004-12-17T16:49:00.000-08:00

The desert is mostly within the Syrian (or North Arabian) Desert and occupies the eastern and southern parts of the country, comprising more than four-fifths of its territory.

Biblical Literature, In Christianity

2004-12-16T06:52:00.000-08:00

The Hebrew Bible is as basic to Christianity as it is to Judaism. Without the Old Testament, the New Testament could not have been written and there could have been no man like Jesus; Christianity could not have been what it became. This has to do with cultural values, basic human values, as much as with religious beliefs. The Genesis stories of prehistoric events and people

Babcock, Horace Welcome

2004-12-13T20:50:00.000-08:00

American astronomer (b. Sept. 13, 1912, Pasadena, Calif.—d. Aug. 29, 2003, Santa Barbara, Calif.), led the effort to create, in 1969, Chile's Las Campanas Observatory, the first observatory to be built far from sources of light pollution. In the 1950s Babcock devised the system of adaptive optics that enabled telescopes to compensate for the distorting effect of Earth's atmosphere on light from distant