EqualScrew

Amylase

2005-04-05T16:27:00.000-07:00

Alpha-amylase is widespread

Marechal, Leopoldo

2005-04-04T00:45:00.000-07:00

In the early 1920s, Marechal was part of the literary group responsible for Martín Fierro and Proa, Ultraista journals that revolutionized Argentine letters. His first book of poems, Aguiluchos (1922; “Eaglets”), employed Modernista techniques in the treatment

Independence

2005-04-02T17:46:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1870) of Montgomery county, southeastern Kansas, U.S. Independence lies on the Verdigris River, near Elk City Lake (dammed for flood control and irrigation). It was founded in 1869 by a company that purchased a portion of an Osage Indian reservation. The town had temporary economic booms with the discoveries of natural gas in 1881 and oil fields in 1903. Independence is now a trade

Interactive Multimedia

2005-04-02T03:43:00.000-08:00

Any computer-delivered electronic system that allows the user to control, combine, and manipulate different types of media, such as text, sound, video, computer graphics, and animation. Interactive multimedia integrate computer, memory storage, digital (binary) data, telephone, television, and other information technologies. Their most common applications include

Tierra Del Fuego

2005-04-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

Provincia, southern Argentina, consisting of the eastern half of the triangular island of Tierra del Fuego (Spanish: “Land of Fire”), lying between the Strait of Magellan (north) and Beagle Channel (south) at the southern extremity of South America. Argentina also claims as part of this province a number of South Atlantic islands and a portion of the Antarctic continent

Cyrene

2005-03-31T13:53:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, a nymph, daughter of Hypseus (king of the Lapiths) and Chlidanope (a Naiad). One day Cyrene wrestled a lion that had attacked her father's flocks. Apollo, who was watching, fell in love with her and carried her off from Mt. Pelion, in Thessaly, to Libya. There he founded the city of Cyrene and made her its queen. Cyrene was the mother by Apollo of Aristaeus (q.v.) and

Gte Corporation

2005-03-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

General Telephone was founded in 1926 as Associated Telephone Utilities by Sigurd Odegard, a Wisconsin phone-company owner who wanted to acquire small independent phone companies.

Alas (y Ureña), Leopoldo

2005-03-29T22:40:00.000-08:00

Byname Clarín novelist and the most influential literary critic of Spain in the late 19th century. His biting and often bellicose articles, sometimes called paliques (“chit-chat”), and his advocacy of naturalism and anticlericalism not only made him the nation's most feared critical voice but also created many enemies and greatly obscured his

Baden-baden

2005-03-28T17:34:00.000-08:00

City, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies along the middle Oos River in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). Baden-Baden is one of the world's great spas. Its Roman baths (parts of which survive) were built in the reign of Caracalla (AD 211–217) for the garrison of Strasbourg. The town fell into ruins but reappeared in 1112 as the seat (until 1705) of the margravate of Baden. Almost

U-boat

2005-03-27T00:51:00.000-08:00

The Armistice terms of 1918 required Germany to surrender all its U-boats, and the Treaty of Versailles forbade it to possess them in the future. In 1935, however, Adolf Hitler's Germany repudiated the treaty and forcefully negotiated the right to build U-boats. Britain was ill-prepared in 1939 for a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, and during the early months of World

Ch'i-lin

2005-03-26T11:55:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Qilin, in Chinese mythology, the unicorn whose rare appearance often coincides with the imminent birth or death of a sage or illustrious ruler. (The name is a combination of the two characters ch'i, “male,” and lin, “female.”) A ch'i-lin has a single horn on its forehead, a yellow belly, a multicoloured back, the hooves of a horse, the body of a deer, and the tail of an ox. Gentle of disposition,

Tsumeb

2005-03-25T06:40:00.000-08:00

In 1851 Sir Francis Galton, a British explorer, made note of copper ore deposits in the vicinity of what later became the town of Tsumeb. An Anglo-German company acquired

B-52

2005-03-24T04:53:00.000-08:00

Also called Stratofortress, U.S. long-range heavy bomber, designed in 1948 and first flown in 1952. Though originally intended to be an atomic-bomb carrier capable of reaching the Soviet Union, it proved adaptable to a number of missions, and some B-52s were thus expected to remain in service for the rest of the 20th century. The B-52 has a wingspan of 185 feet (56 m) and a length of 160 feet 10.9 inches (49 m). It is powered by eight jet engines

Manado

2005-03-23T04:08:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Menado, kotamadya (municipality) and capital of Sulawesi Utara provinsi (province), Celebes island, Indonesia, located near the tip of the north-northeastern arm of Celebes island on an inlet of the Celebes Sea. Manado lies at the foot of Mount Klabat (6,634 feet [2,022 m]), about 600 miles (970 km) northeast of Ujung Padang. A trade centre for the surrounding agricultural and lumbering area, it exports

Kaolinite

2005-03-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

Kaolinite, nacrite, and dickite occur as minute, sometimes elongated, hexagonal

Novembergruppe

2005-03-21T00:13:00.000-08:00

English November Group group of artists formed in Berlin in November 1918 by Max Pechstein and César Klein. Taking its name from the month of the Weimar Revolution, this group of Expressionist artists hoped to bring about a new unity in painting, sculpture, architecture, crafts, and city planning, and to bring the artist into close contact with the worker. In an attempt to reach the working masses,

Bouchardon, Edmé

2005-03-20T13:07:00.000-08:00

Bouchardon studied with Guillaume Coustou and in 1722 won the Prix de Rome. For the next 10 years he lived in Rome, executing marble replicas of antique statues as well as numerous

Harding

2005-03-20T09:28:00.000-08:00

County, northeastern New Mexico, U.S., bordered on the west by the Canadian River and its steep canyon. The county lies in the Great Plains, with the eastern area merging to the High Plains. Mesas, cliffs, and high hills rise from the landscape; Ute Creek flows southward through Harding county, receiving waters from Tequesquite Creek. The Kiowa National Grassland covers

Holstein, Friedrich Von

2005-03-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

Holstein was raised on his family's estate in Pomerania and their town house in Berlin. Throughout his youth, his family spent a great deal of time traveling abroad, and Holstein became fluent in several foreign languages. A sickly boy, he was educated mostly by private tutors, and, after studying at the University of Berlin, he joined the legal section of the Prussian

Biblical Literature, The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

2005-03-18T20:19:00.000-08:00

Except for the brief communication with Philemon

Sorbian Languages

2005-03-17T09:16:00.000-08:00

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

Water Mass

2005-03-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

Body of ocean water with a distinctive narrow range of temperature and salinity and a particular density resulting from these two parameters. Water masses are formed as the result of climatic effects in specific regions. Antarctic bottom water is an important water mass that forms on the Antarctic continental shelf as a cold, dense residual brine during the formation

Regino Von Prüm,

2005-03-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

Born to a noble family, Regino joined the Benedictine monastic order at the flourishing Abbey of Prüm and studied theology and canon law. He was elected

Ocaña

2005-03-14T23:23:00.000-08:00

City, Norte de Santander departamento, northern Colombia, in the Hacarí valley. Founded (c. 1570) as Nueva Madrid by Francisco Fernández, the city was renamed for Ocaña in New Castile, Spain. An independence convention that was held there in 1828 is commemorated by a triumphal arch. Barium mining and onion growing are basic economic activities. Ocaña is the superior court of a judicial

Thomas, E. Donnall

2005-03-14T05:59:00.000-08:00

Thomas studied at the University of Texas (B.A., 1941; M.A., 1943) and the Harvard

Thebes

2005-03-14T01:43:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Thívai major city of Boeotia nomós (department), northwest of Athens, Greece, and one of the chief cities and powers of ancient Greece. On the acropolis of the ancient city stands the present commercial and agricultural centre of Thebes. It is situated on a low ridge dividing the surrounding plain; the modern city is the seat of the Greek Orthodox bishop of Thebes and Levádhia.

Annapurna

2005-03-12T22:23:00.000-08:00

Massif of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal, forming a ridge 30 miles (48 km) long between the basins of the Kali Gandak and Marsyandi rivers. It contains four main summits, two of which, Annapurna I (26,545 feet [8,091 m]) and II (26,040 feet [7,937 m]), stand at the western and eastern ends of the range, respectively; III (24,786 feet [7,555 m]) and IV (24,688 feet [7,525 m]) lie between them. Annapurna I is one of the world's highest peaks. Although

Palestine, History Of, Israeli Arabs

2005-03-12T05:46:00.000-08:00

In the years following the 1967 war, circumstances changed dramatically for Israeli Arabs. As a result of their resumed contact with the Palestinians of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, they began to recover from their long period of inactivity. Following the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, Arab Israelis took a greater part in Israeli institutions. They also were significantly

Biblical Literature, Collations of the Masoretic materials

2005-03-11T20:41:00.000-08:00

The earliest extant attempt at collating the differences between the Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali Masoretic traditions was made by Mishael ben Uzziel in his KitaG Gi-Hulaf (before 1050). A vast amount of Masoretic information, drawn chiefly from Spanish manuscripts, is to be found in the text-critical commentary known as Minhath Shai, by Solomon Jedidiah Norzi, completed in 1626 and

Ibn Al-ash'ath

2005-03-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

A member of the noble tribe of Kindah of the old aristocracy, Ibn al-Ash'ath was at first friendly toward the Umayyad authorities but then began to smart under the governance of the plebeian administrators. Styling himself Nasir al-mu'minim (Helper of the Believers) in opposition

Anthony, Katharine (susan)

2005-03-09T08:57:00.000-08:00

A college teacher of geometry, Anthony was deeply interested in psychiatry. Eventually this interest came to shape her approach to biography,

Sundarbans

2005-03-09T02:36:00.000-08:00

Formerly Sunderbunds, vast tract of forest and saltwater swamp forming the lower part of the Ganges Delta, extending about 160 miles (260 km) along the Bay of Bengal from the Hooghly River Estuary (India) to the Meghna River Estuary in Bangladesh. The whole tract reaches inland for 60–80 miles (100–130 km). A network of estuaries, tidal rivers, and creeks intersected by numerous channels, it encloses flat, marshy islands

Gobineau, Joseph-arthur, Comte De

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

Gobineau was a member of an aristocratic royalist family. He went to Paris in 1835, held a succession of minor clerical

Mitchell, John Thomas Whitehead

2005-03-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

At an early age, Mitchell joined the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers and was appointed its secretary in 1857. He shaped the policy of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, established in 1863, and was its chairman from 1874 until his death. Mitchell emphasized

Furniture, Low Countries

2005-03-07T03:24:00.000-08:00

In the 16th century, Italian Renaissance ornament was adopted and transformed by artists and designers of northern Europe, particularly in northern Germany and the Low Countries, who created an independent style of decoration. Strapwork, cartouches, and grotesque masks are characteristic features of this northern Renaissance style, and are found repeatedly

Line-and-wash Drawing

2005-03-07T00:55:00.000-08:00

Also called Pen-and-wash Drawing, in the visual arts, a drawing marked out by pen or some similar instrument and then tinted with diluted ink or watercolour. In 13th-century China, artists used transparent ink washes to create delicate atmospheric effects. The line-and-wash technique was practiced in Europe from the Renaissance, and in the early 15th century Cennino Cennini gave detailed instructions

Wolfram Von Eschenbach

2005-03-06T07:39:00.000-08:00

An impoverished Bavarian knight, Wolfram apparently served a succession of Franconian lords: Abensberg, Wildenberg, and Wertheim are among the places he names in his work. He also knew the court of

Agung, Abulfatah

2005-03-05T11:09:00.000-08:00

Agung encouraged English and French trade but successfully opposed Dutch expansion into the area in the early part of his reign. In the 1670s, however, when he attempted to change the succession to his throne from his older son Sultan Haji to his younger son, Haji revolted and with Dutch help seized the throne. Haji

Vietnam

2005-03-04T22:22:00.000-08:00

Officially Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Vietnamese Cong Hoa Xa Hoi Chu Nghia Viet Nam, country occupying the eastern part of the Indochinese Peninsula. It has an area of 127,800 square miles (331,000 square kilometres). From north to south it extends about 1,025 miles (1,650 kilometres) and at its narrowest part is about 30 miles wide. Vietnam is bordered by China to the north, the South China Sea to the east and south, the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest, and Cambodia and Laos to the

Skate Sailing

2005-03-04T00:22:00.000-08:00

The skate sail is generally rectangular or triangular in shape and about 50 to 60 square feet (5 to 6 square m) in area. It is stretched to

Cheddar

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

In the traditional method of cheddar manufacture, the firm curd is cut, or “cheddared,” into small bits to drain the whey and then

Aerospace Industry, Prototype testing and certification

2005-03-02T10:39:00.000-08:00

In the prototype construction phase, emphasis shifts to testing. A customary procedure is to build several test airplanes solely to verify the design. The structural integrity of the aircraft is determined in static and dynamic tests. Ground testing requires an array of facilities, including ovens for applying high temperatures to materials, acoustic chambers

Colette

2005-03-01T22:48:00.000-08:00

Colette

Interactive Multimedia

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

Widener, Peter A.b.

2005-02-27T14:13:00.000-08:00

The son of poor parents, Widener began his working career as a butcher, eventually establishing a successful chain of meat stores. At the same time, he became active in Philadelphia politics, rising to the position of city treasurer in 1873. Later, making good use of his political

Gonionemus

2005-02-27T01:30:00.000-08:00

Genus of small marine jellyfish of the hydrozoan order Limnomedusae (phylum Cnidaria). Gonionemus species are bell-shaped and measure about 15 mm (0.6 inch) or more in diameter. From the centre of the bell hangs the manubrium, a tubular structure that contains the mouth, and around the bell's rim are hollow tentacles armed with stinging structures called nematocysts. Each

Crab

2005-02-26T21:11:00.000-08:00

Unlike those of other decapods (e.g., shrimp, lobster, crayfish), crabs' tails are curled

France, History Of, The sons of Clovis

2005-02-25T19:45:00.000-08:00

Following the death of Clovis in 511, the kingdom was divided among his four sons. This partition was not made according to ethnic, geographic, or administrative divisions. The only factor taken into account was that the portions be of equal value (defined in terms of the royal fisc, which had previously been the imperial fisc, and tax revenues from land and trade, which were

Abydos

2005-02-25T04:19:00.000-08:00

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

Arabia

2005-02-23T20:39:00.000-08:00

Introductions to the area include Sheila A. Scoville (ed.), Gazetteer of Arabia: A Geographical and Tribal History of the Arabian Peninsula, vol. 1 (1979); Robert W. Stookey (ed.), The Arabian Peninsula: Zone of Ferment (1984); Hassan S. Haddad and Basheer K. Nijim (eds.), The Arab World: A Handbook (1978); Alois Musil, Northern Negd (1928, reprinted 1978), on the Najd region of Saudi Arabia; and Derek Hopwood (ed.), The Arabian Peninsula: Society and Politics (1972). See also M.W. Dempsey (comp.), Atlas of the Arab World (1983). Early explorations are chronicled in Robin Bidwell, Travellers in Arabia (1976); and Zahra Freeth and H.V.F. Winstone, Explorers of Arabia: From Renaissance to the End of the Victorian Era (1978). The people of the peninsula are described in Peter Mansfield, The New Arabians (1981); H.R.P. Dickson, The Arab of the Desert, 3rd ed. rev. and abridged by Robert Wilson and Zahra Freeth (1983); Max Freiherr von Oppenheim, Die Beduinen, 2 vol. (1939, reprinted 1983); and Walter Dostal, Die Beduinen in Südarabien (1967). Religious life and history are detailed in Gonzague Ryckmans, Les Religions arabes préislamiques, 2nd ed. (1951); J. Spencer Trimingham, Christianity Among the Arabs in Pre-Islamic Times (1979); and A.J. Arberry (ed.), Religion in the Middle East, vol. 2, Islam (1969, reprinted 1976). Articles on the geography, history, and religion of the Arabian Peninsula may be found in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 4 vol. and a suppl. (1913–36), with a new edition in progress, beginning in 1960; and The Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam (1953, reprinted 1974), with articles taken from the larger work. Periodicals include Arabian Studies (annual); The Middle East and North Africa (annual); The Middle East Journal (quarterly); and Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies (annual).

Han-tan

2005-02-23T17:38:00.000-08:00

The area was already settled

Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke Of, Earl Of Surrey, Earl Marshal

2005-02-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

Howard was the brother-in-law of King Henry VII and the son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. In May 1513 he became lord high admiral,

Fajardo

2005-02-21T15:31:00.000-08:00

Town, eastern Puerto Rico, on the Fajardo River lowlands. Founded in 1772, it was the scene of fighting during the Spanish–American War (1898). Its principal manufactures are cigars, furniture, and metal and electronic components. It is linked by railway to San Juan and lies about 2 miles (3 km) from its port, Playa de Fajardo, which exports sugar. The town is a tourist centre. The University

Hendrix, Jimi

2005-02-21T14:53:00.000-08:00

Though his active career as a featured artist lasted a mere four years, Hendrix altered the course of popular music and became one of

Melanoma

2005-02-21T07:25:00.000-08:00

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,

United Airlines, Inc.

2005-02-20T14:21:00.000-08:00

United Airlines dates to 1929, when William E. Boeing (1881–1956), Frederick B. Rentschler (1887–1956), and their associates founded United Aircraft Transport Corporation, a conglomerate of both aircraft manufacturing and air transport.

Ovonramwen

2005-02-20T04:49:00.000-08:00

He was called Idugbowa

Breitenfeld, Battle Of

2005-02-19T05:35:00.000-08:00

(Sept. 17, 1631), the first major Protestant victory of the Thirty Years' War, in which the army of the Roman Catholic Habsburg emperor Ferdinand II and the Catholic League, under Johan Isaclaes, Graf von Tilly, was destroyed by the Swedish-Saxon army under King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden. The battle marked the emergence of Sweden as a great power and the triumph of the new Swedish

Italy, The early years

2005-02-18T14:41:00.000-08:00

Interest in the French Revolution was enhanced by the waning of the reformist impulse of the 1780s in the Italian states. Educated landowners and entrepreneurs who had put their trust in the enlightened rulers of their own states and had looked forward to important administrative and political reforms were disappointed. The French example gave them new hope. During

Moreau, Jeanne

2005-02-17T20:37:00.000-08:00

Moreau studied at the Conservatoire Nationale d'Art Dramatique and became at 20 years of age the youngest member of the Comédie-Française. Le Dernier Amour (1949; The Last Love) marked her film debut, but Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (1957; “Elevator to the Scaffold”; released as Frantic

Freiburg, Albert Ludwig University Of

2005-02-17T05:35:00.000-08:00

German in full Albert-ludwigs-universität Freiburg Im Breisgau, academically autonomous coeducational institution of higher learning at Freiburg im Breisgau, Ger., financially supported by the state of Baden-Württemberg. Founded in 1457 by Archduke Albrecht of Austria and confirmed by the Holy Roman emperor and the pope, the university was at first named after its founder, but at the beginning of the 19th century added “Ludwig” to the

Land Reform

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

The concept of land reform has varied over time according to the range of functions which land

Amphibious Warfare

2005-02-15T17:42:00.000-08:00

Military operations characterized by attacks launched from the sea by naval and landing forces against hostile shores. The main form is the amphibious assault, which may be conducted for any of several purposes: to serve as a prelude to further combat operations ashore; to seize a site required as an advanced naval or air base; or to deny the use of the site or area to

Kwangtung

2005-02-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Kuang-tung, (Pinyin) Guangdong, sheng (province) of South China. It is the southernmost of the mainland provinces and constitutes the region through which South China's trade is primarily channeled. Kwangtung has one of the longest coastlines of any province and has an area of 76,100 square miles (197,100 square kilometres). It is bounded by the Chuang Autonomous Region of Kwangsi to the west, by the provinces of

Myanmar (burma)

2005-02-14T19:54:00.000-08:00

Myanmar's ruling junta met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Sept. 20, 1994; it was their

Pack Ice

2005-02-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

Floating mass of ice formed from seawater in the Earth's polar regions. Pack ice expands during winter to cover about 5 percent of the northern oceans and 8 percent of the southern oceans. When melting occurs in spring and summer, the margins of the pack ice retreat.

Pribicevic, Svetozar

2005-02-13T00:31:00.000-08:00

Initially Pribicevic favoured a centralized Yugoslav nation rather than a federation of the South Slav peoples; as minister of the interior, he jailed Stjepan Radic, head of the Croatian Peasant

Wabash

2005-02-12T22:51:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1835) of Wabash county, northeastern Indiana, U.S., on the Wabash River, 45 miles (72 km) west-southwest of Fort Wayne. It was settled in 1835 on land ceded to the U.S. government by the Potawatomi Indian chief Pierish in the Treaty of Paradise Springs signed on a local hilltop in 1826. Completion of the Wabash and Erie Canal in the 1850s stimulated the community's growth. Wabash was one of the

Robert De Torigni

2005-02-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

Robert was born to a family apparently of high rank. In 1128 he joined the monastery at Bec, where he was ordained deacon (1131) and elected prior (1149). He became abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel in

Panama Canal, The canal

2005-02-12T06:10:00.000-08:00

The Panama Canal lies at a latitude of 9° N. The canal does not, as is generally supposed, cross the isthmus from east to west. It runs due south from its entrance at Colón on the Atlantic side through the Gatún (Gatun) Locks to a point in the widest portion of Gatún Lake; it then turns sharply toward the east and follows a course generally to the southeast until it reaches the

Cladonia

2005-02-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

Genus of lichens that includes those species commonly known as cup lichen, reindeer moss, and British soldiers (qq.v.).

Mckinney

2005-02-11T03:45:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1848) of Collin county, northeastern Texas, U.S., near the East Fork of Trinity River. Named for one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, it was platted in 1848. McKinney's home, formerly 17 miles (27 km) north, was moved in 1936 to Finch Park, where it was restored as a memorial. Many of the city's residents commute to work in Dallas or Plano, both located south of McKinney;

Heikal, Muhammad Hassanein

2005-02-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

Educated at Cairo University, Heikal became a reporter for the Egyptian Gazette

Pendle

2005-02-09T22:16:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative county of Lancashire, England, on the eastern boundary of the county. Most of the borough—including its largest towns Burnley, Nelson, and Colne—lies in the historic county of Lancashire, but an area in the northeast, including the towns of Barnoldswick and Earby, belongs to the historic county of Yorkshire. The borough takes its name

Stalin, Joseph

2005-02-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

During the quarter of a century preceding his death, the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin

Solfeggio

2005-02-08T18:37:00.000-08:00

French Solfège, vocal exercises sung to the solmization syllables (do, re, mi, etc.) and, by extension, vocalizes, or exercises sung to a single vowel, often florid and difficult to master. Solfeggio collections survive from the 17th century onward, with examples by leading composers of 18th-century opera, such as Nicola Porpora (also a singer and famed singing teacher) and Alessandro Scarlatti

Amazonas

2005-02-08T09:50:00.000-08:00

Departamento, southeastern Colombia, located in the warm, humid Amazon River basin. It is bounded on the northwest by the Caquetá River, on the northeast by the Apaporis River, on the east by Brazil, and on the south by Peru and the Putumayo River. Colombia's only direct contact with the Amazon River is through Amazonas. It is the largest departamento in Colombia but is

Steely Dan

2005-02-08T00:38:00.000-08:00

Named after a prosthetic phallus in William S. Burroughs's novel Naked

Saruhan Dynasty

2005-02-07T18:35:00.000-08:00

The dynasty was founded by Saruhan, a tribal chief and frontier prince in the service of the Seljuqs of Anatolia who traced his descent to the Khwarezm-Shahs of Central Asia; after its conquest of Manisa (1313), the dynasty's principality extended its territories to the Aegean Sea. Surrounded by the Turkmen

La Pampa

2005-02-07T05:29:00.000-08:00

Provincia, central Argentina, immediately west of Buenos Aires provincia and geographically straddling drier sections of the Pampa (northeast) and semiarid sections of the Patagonian Desert (southwest). Its western and southern parts are comprised of low-lying tablelands (with a broad depression in the central west) occasionally broken by hillocks, saline marshes

Mondovì

2005-02-06T21:06:00.000-08:00

Founded in 1198 by refugees from the regional wars between the city-states and communes, it was independent until the 13th century, when it was subordinated to the Angevins (French counts of Anjou). Regaining its freedom in 1290, it fell to Anjou again

Kitami-sammyaku

2005-02-05T05:40:00.000-08:00

(Japanese: Kitami Range), mountain range, northeastern Hokkaido, Japan, extending 180 mi (290 km) along the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. The range is basically an upwarped block except in the west, where it drops abruptly to the Teshio-gawa (Teshio River) valley. Elevations are generally between 2,500 and 3,100 ft (750 and 950 m). In the south central part of the range, however, the Wenshiri horst (block of

Alba

2005-02-05T04:17:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), western Romania, occupying an area of 2,406 square miles (6,231 square km). The Western Carpathians rise above the settled areas in intermontane valleys. The county is drained westward by the Mures River and its tributaries. Neolithic artifacts have been found at Alba Iulia (q.v.; the county capital) and other sites in the judet. A Celtic community (3rd century BC) was situated

Plainview

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

City, seat (1888) of Hale county, northwestern Texas, U.S. It lies on the Llano Estacado, a portion of the High Plains between Amarillo and Lubbock (40 miles [65 km] south). The site was surveyed in 1887 by Z.T. Maxwell and E.L. Lowe, who named it Plainview because of the unbroken view to the horizon. The settlement remained a trading post for cattlemen until the railroad arrived in 1907, when it was incorporated

Price, Reynolds

2005-02-03T20:16:00.000-08:00

Price grew up in small towns and attended Duke University in Durham, N.C. (A.B. 1955), where the works of Eudora Welty became a primary influence on his writing. After receiving a B.Litt. degree in 1958 from the University of Oxford in England, he began his

Ocean, Spreading centre zones and associated phenomena

2005-02-03T16:39:00.000-08:00

Spreading centres are divided

Moravia

2005-02-03T16:26:00.000-08:00

Traditional region in central Europe that served as the centre of a major medieval kingdom, known as Great Moravia, before it was incorporated into the kingdom of Bohemia in the 11th century. In the 20th century Moravia became part of the modern state of Czechoslovakia and subsequently of the Czech Republic. The region is bounded by Bohemia on the west and northwest, by

Aquinas, Thomas, Saint

2005-02-03T05:36:00.000-08:00

Works on St. Thomas' historical and doctrinal contexts include Pierre Mandonnet, Siger de Brabant et l'averroïsme latin au XIIIme siècle (1899, reprinted 1976); Étienne Gilson, The Spirit of Medieval Philosophy (1936, reprinted 1991; originally published in French, 1932), The Spirit of Thomism (1964), and History of Christian Philosophy in the Middle Ages (1955); M.D. Chenu, Nature, Man, and Society in the Twelfth Century (1968; originally published in French, 1957); and Fernand van Steenberghen, La Philosophie au XIIIe siècle, 2nd ed. (1991).

D.b.e.

2005-02-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

Dame commander of the British Empire, member of the second highest class of a British order of knighthood. See British Empire, The Most Excellent Order of the.

Punjab

2005-02-01T07:36:00.000-08:00

The foundations of the present Punjab (historical Pañjab) were laid by Banda Singh Bahadur, a hermit who became a military leader and, with his fighting band of Sikhs, temporarily liberated the eastern part of the province from Mughal rule in 1709–10. Banda Singh's defeat and execution in 1716 were followed by a prolonged struggle between the Sikhs on one side and the Mughals and Afghans

Los Islands

2005-02-01T02:08:00.000-08:00

French Îles De Los, small archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, off Conakry, the capital of Guinea, West Africa. They provide protection for the port of Conakry and include Tamara (Factory), Kassa, Roume (Crawford), Blanche (White), and De Corail (Coral) and several smaller islets. Tamara, the largest (8 miles [13 km] long and 1–2 miles [1.6–3 km] wide), has the highest point of elevation (499 feet [152 m]). Only Tamara and Kassa have

Slobozia

2005-01-31T21:30:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Ialomita judet (county), southeastern Romania. It lies along the Ialomita River in the middle of the Baragan Plain. The town was built on what remained of the Roman settlement of Netindava. It is a collecting and marketing centre for a rich agricultural region in which cereals and cattle predominate. Amara is a bathing and health resort lying just to the north.

Prodromus, Theodore

2005-01-31T17:28:00.000-08:00

He wrote many occasional pieces for a widespread circle of patrons at the imperial court. Some of the work attributed to him is unpublished and some of it may be wrongly attributed to him. Even so, there does emerge from these writings the figure of an author in reduced circumstances,

Guadalupe Peak

2005-01-31T08:52:00.000-08:00

Highest point (8,749 feet [2,667 metres]) in Texas, U.S. The peak is situated in Culberson county, 100 miles (160 km) east of the city of El Paso. Guadalupe Peak is part of the Guadalupe Mountains (a division of the Sacramento Mountains), and together with its twin, El Capitan (8,078 feet [2,462 metres]), it forms the focus of Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

Klamath Mountains

2005-01-30T20:46:00.000-08:00

Segment of the Pacific mountain system (q.v.) of western North America. The range extends southward for about 250 miles (400 km) from the foothills south of the Willamette Valley in southwestern Oregon, U.S., to the northwestern side of the Central Valley of California. The mountains rise to Mount Eddy (9,038 feet [2,755 m]) west of Mount Shasta in California and include numerous subranges. They

Alba Iulia

2005-01-30T07:59:00.000-08:00

German Karlsburg, Hungarian Gyulafehérvár, city, capital of Alba judet (county), west-central Romania. It lies along the Mures River, 170 miles (270 km) northwest of Bucharest. One of the oldest settlements in Romania, the site was selected by the Romans for a military camp. The remains of Apulum, an important city in Roman Dacia mentioned by Ptolemy in the 2nd century BC, are 6 miles (10 km) from Alba Iulia, and the Regional Museum has a rich

Quinte, Bay Of

2005-01-28T23:17:00.000-08:00

Arm of Lake Ontario, southeastern Ontario, Canada, extending for 75 miles (121 km) from its entrance near Amherst Island to Murray Canal at the western end. It is a narrow bay, ranging from one to six miles in width. The bay is scenic, having many small inlets; and it receives several rivers from the north, including the Trent, Moira, Salmon, and Napanee. The head of the bay connects with

Antibiotic

2005-01-28T14:01:00.000-08:00

Although antibiotics are released naturally into the soil by bacteria and fungi, they did not come into worldwide prominence until the introduction of penicillin in 1941. Since then they have revolutionized the treatment of bacterial infections

Thomas Jefferson University

2005-01-28T04:24:00.000-08:00

Private, state-aided, coeducational institution of higher education in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. It has one of the largest independent medical schools in the United States. The university comprises Jefferson Medical College, the College of Health Professions, the College of Graduate Studies, and a teaching hospital, the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Cypress Hills

2005-01-27T16:25:00.000-08:00

Isolated range in southeastern Alberta and southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada, extending for 100 miles (160 km) in an east-west direction, north of the Montana, U.S., border. Rising to 4,816 feet (1,468 m—the highest point in Saskatchewan), the hills are the most prominent relief in the southern prairies. Heavily wooded, they serve primarily as a recreation area with two provincial parks (51,200 acres