SimpleWindow

Grabski, Wladyslaw

2005-03-30T04:18:00.000-08:00

A Socialist in his youth, Grabski later joined the National Democracy Party and was elected a member of three successive sessions of the Duma (1906–12), the legislative body of the Russian Empire, of which

Subhah

2005-03-29T13:03:00.000-08:00

String of Muslim prayer beads whose units (100, 25, or 33) represent the names of God. As the beads (made of wood, bone, or precious stones) are touched one by one, Muslims may recite any of numerous formulas, the most common being “Glory to Allah.” But because prayer may also be recited in the secret of one's heart, a person can multiply his praises of God by merely moving the beads through his

Pordenone

2005-03-28T19:11:00.000-08:00

Originating as the Roman and medieval river port of Portus Naonis, it was a bulwark of the Trevisani in their war against Aquileia until it was destroyed by the latter in 1233. It later became a fief of the Holy Roman

Congo

2005-03-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

Congo's many ethnic groups and regions have developed a mosaic of traditional arts, including painting, sculpture, music, and dance. There has been a tendency to classify sculpture and carving according to the styles of the areas from which they originate. The South-West Group is represented by the Kongo people and is known for stone and nail-studded statues; the Yaka,

Scale Worm

2005-03-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

The somewhat arched back of the scale worm is covered with flattened pairs of overlapping scales. A

Epistemology, John Duns Scotus

2005-03-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

While he accepted some aspects of Aristotelian abstractionism and also held that there need to be some a priori principles of perception, principles that he attributed to Augustine, John Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308) did not rest the certainty of human knowledge on either of them. He distinguished four different classes of things that are certain: First, there are things that are

Aerospace Industry, World War I

2005-03-26T15:31:00.000-08:00

France and Germany, both aware of the military potential of aircraft, began relatively large-scale manufacturing around 1909. By the outbreak of World War I in 1914, France had built a total of 2,000 airplanes, of which 1,500 were military; Germany ranked second with about 1,000 military aircraft; and Britain a distant third with 176. The United States lost its lead in aeronautics as the combined

Boina

2005-03-26T04:07:00.000-08:00

The other son, Adriamandisoarivo, continued the migration

Utopia

2005-03-24T08:54:00.000-08:00

The word first occurred in Sir Thomas More's Utopia, published in Latin as Libellus . . . de optimo reipublicae statu, deque nova insula Utopia (“Concerning the highest state

Ford, Henry

2005-03-24T06:35:00.000-08:00

Ford spent most of his life making headlines, good, bad, but never indifferent. Celebrated as both a technological genius and a folk hero, Ford was the creative force behind an industry of unprecedented size and wealth that

Talence

2005-03-23T01:43:00.000-08:00

Town, Gironde département, Aquitaine région, southern suburb of Bordeaux, southwestern France. It is a centre for jet-aircraft production and has light industry and wine making. An extension of Bordeaux University (now Bordeaux University I), with housing for 30,000 students, was erected there in the 1960s and has since become a major educational and research centre. Pop. (1990) 36,172.

Ben Lomond

2005-03-22T20:02:00.000-08:00

Mountain mass in northeastern Tasmania, Australia, comprising a plateau of 30 square miles (78 square km) made up of igneous rock. It mostly lies above 4,500 feet (1,400 m), making it the highest land in the state. The loftiest portion stretches 7 miles (11 km) from Legge Peak (Legges Tor; 5,161 feet [1,573 m]) southeast to Stacks Bluff (5,010 feet [1,527 m]). The surface is also covered with many small hills and lakes. Ben Lomond

Karachay-cherkessia

2005-03-21T13:42:00.000-08:00

Also called Karachayevo-cherkessiya, republic, Stavropol kray (region), southwestern Russia. It extends south from the foreland plains across the northern ranges and deep intervening valleys and gorges of the Greater Caucasus range as far as the crestline, which reaches 13,274 feet (4,046 m) in Mount Dombay-Ulgen. Cherkessk is the administrative centre. The republic's scenery is spectacular, with densely forested

Dasa

2005-03-21T05:40:00.000-08:00

Also spelled dasyu member of an aboriginal people in India encountered and embattled by the invading Aryans (c. 1500 BC). They were described by the Aryans as a dark-skinned, harsh-spoken people who worshiped the phallus. This allusion has persuaded many scholars that worship of the linga, the Hindu religious symbol, originated with them; it may, however, have referred to their sexual practices.

U2

2005-03-20T16:49:00.000-08:00

Irish postpunk band that by the end of the 1980s had established itself not only as one of the world's most popular bands but also as one of the most innovative. The members are Bono (byname of Paul Hewson; b. May 10, 1960, Dublin, Ireland), the Edge (byname of David Evans; b. August 8, 1961, Barking, Essex [now in Greater London], England), Adam Clayton (b. March 13, 1960, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England), and Larry Mullen,

Sable

2005-03-20T14:33:00.000-08:00

(Martes zibellina), graceful carnivore of the weasel family, Mustelidae, found in the forests of northern Asia and highly valued for its fine fur. The common name is sometimes also applied to related European and Asian species and to the American marten. The sable ranges from about 32 to 51 centimetres (13 to 20 inches) long, excluding the 13–18-cm tail, and weighs 0.9–1.8 kilograms

p-n Junction

2005-03-19T00:43:00.000-08:00

In electronics, the interface within diodes, transistors, and other semiconductor devices between two different types of materials called p-type and n-type semiconductors. These materials are formed by the deliberate addition of impurities to pure semiconductor materials, such as silicon. Semiconductors of p-type contain holes, mobile vacancies in the electronic

Wright, Mickey

2005-03-18T22:46:00.000-08:00

Wright had begun playing golf by age 12. In 1952 she won the U.S. Golfing Association junior girls' championship. She attended Stanford University for one year before deciding to devote full time to golf. She was the 1954 World Amateur champion and also was

Anshar And Kishar

2005-03-18T21:42:00.000-08:00

In Mesopotamian mythology, the male and female principles, the twin horizons of sky and earth. Their parents were either Apsu (the watery deep beneath the earth) and Tiamat (the personification of salt water) or Lahmu and Lahamu, the first set of twins born to Apsu and Tiamat. Anshar and Kishar, in turn, were the parents of Anu (An), the supreme heaven god.

Vanadium Processing

2005-03-18T01:23:00.000-08:00

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

Quinidine

2005-03-17T23:20:00.000-08:00

Drug used in the treatment of abnormal heart rhythms (arrhythmia) and malaria. Obtained from the bark of the Cinchona tree, quinidine shares many of the pharmacological actions of quinine; i.e., both have antimalarial and fever-reducing activity. The main use of quinidine, however, involves its activity as a myocardial depressant—that is, it depresses the excitability

Manchu Language

2005-03-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

Vowel harmony, in which vowels

Tonga, Human settlement

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

The majority of the population live in

Fujiwara Tadahira

2005-03-15T08:58:00.000-08:00

Japanese statesman who assumed the leadership of the Fujiwara family in 909 upon the death of his brother Tokihira. Although in his later years Tokihira had begun to dominate the government, he had never assumed the title of kampaku (chancellor). The post had been created and first assumed by their father, Fujiwara Mototsune, and allowed to lapse by the emperor

Lilburne, John

2005-03-15T03:22:00.000-08:00

Coming from a family of gentry, Lilburne was apprenticed from about 1630 to 1636 to a London cloth merchant. Meanwhile, he joined the Puritan opposition to the Anglican High Church policies of King Charles I, and by 1638 he

Loren, Sophia

2005-03-14T09:22:00.000-08:00

Before working in the cinema, Sofia Scicolone changed her name to Sofia Lazzaro for work in the foto-romanzo, popular pulp magazines that used still photographs

Edgar

2005-03-13T23:06:00.000-08:00

The younger son of Edmund I, king of the English, Edgar was made king of the Mercians

T'ien Ming

2005-03-13T17:11:00.000-08:00

The continuation of the mandate was believed to be conditioned by the personal behaviour of the ruler, who was expected to possess i (“righteousness”) and jen (“benevolence

Nutrition, Competition for sites of absorption by the cell

2005-03-13T15:42:00.000-08:00

Since absorption of nutrients frequently occurs by way of active transport within cell membranes, an excess of one nutrient (A) may inhibit absorption of a second nutrient (B), if they share the same absorption pathway. In such cases, the apparent requirement for nutrient B increases; B, however, can sometimes be supplied in an alternate form that is able to enter the cell

Amis, Martin

2005-03-13T05:06:00.000-08:00

As a youth Amis, the son of the celebrated novelist Kingsley Amis, thrived literarily on a permissive home atmosphere and a “passionate street life.” He graduated from Exeter College, Oxford, in 1971 with first-class honours

T'ien Ming

2005-03-12T23:36:00.000-08:00

The most obvious method for obtaining the value of the astronomical unit would seem to be to measure simultaneously from two places on the Earth the position of the Sun against the background of the distant

Pageant Wagon

2005-03-11T03:39:00.000-08:00

Wheeled vehicle used in the processional staging of medieval vernacular cycle plays. Processional staging is most closely associated with the English cycle plays performed from about 1375 until the mid-16th century in such cities as York and Chester as part of the Corpus Christi festival, but it was also common in Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Each play in the cycle

Baden Powell

2005-03-11T02:47:00.000-08:00

Brazilian guitarist and composer (b. Aug. 6, 1937, Varre-e-Sai, Braz.—d. Sept. 26, 2000, Rio de Janeiro, Braz.), helped popularize the bossa nova (“new trend”), a romantic, sensual style of the 1950s and '60s that was created from a fusion of the samba, a Brazilian dance music, and cool jazz. He came from a musical family, and his father, who was a troop leader, named his son for Robert S.S. Baden-Powell, the British founder

Italian Literature

2005-03-10T13:59:00.000-08:00

The body of written works produced in the Italian language that had its beginnings in the 13th century. Until that time nearly all literary work composed in the Middle Ages was written in Latin. Moreover, it was predominantly practical in nature and produced by writers trained in ecclesiastical schools. Literature in Italian developed later than literature in French

Priesthood, Nonliterate cultures

2005-03-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

The office of priesthood in nonliterate society ranges from the medicine man, who magically manipulates the sacred power as a quasi-impersonal force, to the shaman, who, as an agent of divine or spiritual beings, may be at once a medicine man, a visionary, an occult diviner, and a genuine sacerdotal cult leader. Not infrequently, chiefs or headmen of a clan or village may

Narayanan, Kocheril Raman

2005-03-10T04:24:00.000-08:00

Despite his family's poverty and social status, Narayanan's intellect won him a government-sponsored scholarship. After graduating

Degenerate Art

2005-03-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

With Hitler's rise to power in 1933, the systematic suppression of contemporary art quickly spread throughout Germany. Sanctions were created to forbid the

Interference Fringe

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

A bright or dark band caused by beams of light that are in phase or out of phase with one another. Light waves and similar wave propagation, when superimposed, will add their crests if they meet in the same phase (the waves are both increasing or both decreasing); or the troughs will cancel the crests if they are out of phase; these phenomena are called constructive and destructive

Arden, John

2005-03-07T17:46:00.000-08:00

Arden grew up in the industrial town of Barnsley, the character of which he captured in his play The Workhouse

Gauss, Carl Friedrich

2005-03-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

Gauss was the only child of poor parents.

Sorel, Agnès

2005-03-06T23:22:00.000-08:00

Born of a family of the lesser nobility at Fromenteau in Touraine, Sorel was attached at an early age to the service of Isabel of Lorraine, queen of Sicily and wife of René of Anjou, who was the brother-in-law of

Visconti, Gian Galeazzo

2005-03-06T07:31:00.000-08:00

The son of Galeazzo II Visconti, who shared the rule of Milan with his brother Bernabò, Gian Galeazzo was married in 1360 to Isabella of Valois, daughter of the king of France. After his father's death

Malatesta, Sigismondo Pandolfo

2005-03-05T08:13:00.000-08:00

Sigismondo was one of three illegitimate sons of Pandolfo Malatesta, who had ruled over Brescia and Bergamo from about 1404 to 1421. Sigismondo was legitimated by Pope Martin V, but he felt no loyalty toward the papacy, which deprived his family of many of

Kalahari, Animal life

2005-03-05T07:34:00.000-08:00

The animal life of the Kalahari is also richer and more varied in the north than in the south. Yet even in the arid south, many individuals of several species stay for long periods of the year despite the absence of surface water. The principal species found in the south are springbok, gnu (wildebeest), and hartebeest—all of which occasionally are present in great

Valdepeñas

2005-03-05T03:30:00.000-08:00

City, Ciudad Real province, in the autonomous community (region) of Castile-La Mancha, south central Spain. The city lies on the left bank of the Río Jabalón, southeast of the city of Ciudad Real. Situated in a fertile area of La Mancha plain, it is the centre of a grape-growing district, the wines of which are among the most popular in Spain. Related industries are vinegar making,

Murrumbidgee River

2005-03-04T21:21:00.000-08:00

Major right-bank tributary of the Murray River, rising on the western slope of the Eastern Highlands (20 mi [32 km] north of Kiandra), in southeastern New South Wales, Australia. It flows at first southeastward and then, after a remarkable fishhook bend, directly northward through the Australian Capital Territory. At Yass it trends westward, being joined by the Lachlan between

Ob River

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

The Ob River is described in broad geographic surveys of North Asia that provide information on physical features and on economic, social, and cultural conditions: Paul E. Lydolph, Geography of the U.S.S.R., 5th ed. (1990); Michael T. Florinsky (ed.), McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Russia and the Soviet Union (1961), with short articles on the individual rivers; M.F. Grin, et al., Soviet Union: A Geographical Survey, ed. by S.V. Kalesnik and V.F. Pavlenko (1976; originally published in Russian, 1972); and Great Rivers of the World (1984), published by the National Geographic Society. M.I. L'vovich, Reki SSSR (1971), is a well-known work treating the hydrologic characteristics of the main rivers of the former U.S.S.R. Lev Konstantinovich Davydov, Gidrografiia SSSR, vol. 2, Gidrografiia raionov (1955), provides detailed studies of regional hydrology and hydrography. G.V. Voropaev and A.B. Avakian (eds.), Vodokhranilishcha i ikh vozdeistvie na okruzhaiushchuiu sredu (1986), examines the influence of water reservoirs on the environment. Robert Paul Jourdan, “Siberia's Empire Road: The River Ob,” National Geographic, 149(2):145–181 (February 1986), describes the life of the peoples of the area, the environment, and the economic situation. Useful discussions of landscape evolution, the extent of glaciation, and long-term climate change in this region include Mikhail G. Grosswald, “Late-Weichselian Ice Sheets in Arctic and Pacific Siberia,” Quaternary International, 45-46(1):3–18 (1998), and Valery Astakhov “The Last Ice Sheet of the Kara Sea: Terrestrial Constraints on its Age,” Quaternary International, 45-46(1):19–28 (1998).

China, Incipient Neolithic

2005-03-03T04:15:00.000-08:00

Study of the historical reduction of the size of human teeth suggests that the first human beings to eat cooked food did so in South China. The southern sites of Hsien-jen-tung in Kiangsi and Tseng-p'i-yen in Kwangsi have yielded artifacts from the 10th to the 7th millennium BC that include low-fired, cord-marked sherds with some incised decoration and mostly chipped stone

Ibn Battutah

2005-03-03T03:50:00.000-08:00

The greatest medieval Arab traveller and the author of one of the most famous travel books, the Rihlah (Travels), which describes his extensive travels covering some 75,000 miles (more than 120,000 km) in trips to almost all the Muslim countries and to regions as far as China and Sumatra.

Fiction

2005-03-02T17:57:00.000-08:00

Literature created from the imagination, not presented as fact, though it may be based on a true story or situation. Types of literature in the fiction genre include the novel, short story, and novella. The word is from the Latin fictio, “the act of making, fashioning, or molding.”

Aetolian League

2005-03-01T15:06:00.000-08:00

Federal state or “sympolity” of Aetolia, in ancient Greece. Probably based on a looser tribal community, it was well-enough organized to conduct negotiations with Athens in 367 BC. It became by c. 340 one of the leading military powers in Greece. Having successfully resisted invasions by Macedonia in 322 and 314–311, the league rapidly grew in strength during the ensuing period of Macedonian

Ob River

2005-03-01T14:06:00.000-08:00

Armoured North American dinosaur of the Late Cretaceous Period (99 million to 65 million years ago). Like its close relative Ankylosaurus and the more distantly related Nodosaurus, Euoplocephalus was a massive animal that likely weighed more than two tons. Euoplocephalus differed from these and most other ankylosaurs in having a bone that protected the eyelid. The

Lippe

2005-03-01T07:29:00.000-08:00

One of the smallest of the former German states, forming, since 1946–47, the northeastern corner of the Land (state) of North Rhine-Westphalia; the rather smaller Schaumburg-Lippe, now in the southern part of the Land of Lower Saxony, was founded in the 1640s under a separate branch of the House of Lippe. Both were until 1990 in West Germany. The Lippe lands lie north and south of the east–west

Caber, Tossing The

2005-02-28T23:19:00.000-08:00

A Scottish athletic event consisting in throwing a “caber,” a straight, approximately 17-foot- (5-metre-) long log (from which the bark has been removed) so that it turns over in the air and falls on the ground with its small end pointing directly opposite the tosser. See Highland Games.

Prichard, H.a.

2005-02-28T07:08:00.000-08:00

Prichard spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford, where he was fellow of Hertford College

Racine

2005-02-27T03:31:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1836) of Racine county, southeastern Wisconsin, U.S. It lies along Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River, just south of Milwaukee. Founded in 1834 as Port Gilbert by a lake captain, Gilbert Knapp, in 1837 it adopted its present name, which was derived either from the French word for “root” or from the Algonkian pakwasewin, meaning “a place where wild rice is gathered.” The improvement

Atherton Tableland

2005-02-26T04:18:00.000-08:00

Also called Atherton Plateau, highland region that is part of the Great Dividing Range (Eastern Highlands) in northeastern Queensland, Australia. The plateau region is bounded by the Palmer (north) and Burdekin (south) rivers and has an area of 12,000 square miles (31,000 square km). Its average elevation of 2,000–3,000 feet (600–900 m) induces relatively high rainfall, which, in conjunction with rich volcanic soils, makes the plateau

Automotive Industry, The industry in the United States

2005-02-26T03:05:00.000-08:00

At the end of World War II the American automobile industry had intact facilities, somewhat enlarged by construction for military needs. There was also a great demand for automobiles. This situation invited several attempts by newcomers to enter the industry, but all proved unsuccessful. The most promising, Kaiser-Frazer Corporation, lasted some 10 years but lacked

Lagutin, Boris Nikolayevich

2005-02-25T21:33:00.000-08:00

Fighting as a light middleweight (156 pounds [71 kg]), Lagutin was awarded a bronze medal at the 1960 Olympics in Rome after losing a split decision to the eventual champion, American Wilbert “Skeeter” McClure, in the semifinal round. At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Lagutin

Quantification

2005-02-25T19:41:00.000-08:00

In logic, the attachment of signs of quantity to the predicate or subject of a proposition. The universal quantifier, symbolized by (-) or (-), where the blank is filled by a variable, is used to express that the formula following holds for all values of the particular variable quantified. The existential quantifier, symbolized ($-), expresses that the formula following holds

Salado River

2005-02-25T03:16:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río Salado river in northeastern Buenos Aires province, Argentina. It rises at Lake El Chañar, which lies at an elevation of 130 feet (40 m) above sea level on the border of Santa Fe province. The river flows through the Pampas, generally southeastward for approximately 400 miles (640 km) to the Atlantic Ocean, where it empties into Samborombón Bay, 105 miles (170 km) southeast of the city of Buenos

Furniture, Near East and classical antiquity

2005-02-23T23:24:00.000-08:00

A. Lucas, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, 3rd ed. (1948), indispensable; Howard Carter and A.C. Mace, The Tomb of Thut-Ankh-Amen, 3 vol. (1923–27); Gisela H. Richter, The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans (1966), the standard reference work in this area.

Arzamas Society

2005-02-23T22:43:00.000-08:00

Russian literary circle that flourished in 1815–18 and was formed for the semiserious purpose of ridiculing the conservative “Lovers of the Russian Word,” a group dominated by the philologist Aleksandr S. Shishkov, who wished to keep the modern Russian language firmly tied to Old Church Slavonic. The Arzamas circle included the poets Vasily A. Zhukovsky, Konstantin Batyushkov

Metal Point

2005-02-23T19:53:00.000-08:00

Descendant of the stylus of classical times and ancestor of the modern pencil, a small, sharpened metal rod used for drawing precise compositions on paper or parchment. The metal could be lead, silver, copper, or gold, but silverpoint was the most common choice because it is the most suited to permanent drawing, its stroke adhering unerasably. The silverpoint was of

Anarchism, English anarchist thought

2005-02-22T10:21:00.000-08:00

The first sketch of an anarchist commonwealth in this sense was developed in England in the years immediately following the English Civil Wars (1642–51) by Gerrard Winstanley, a dissenting Christian and founder of the Digger movement. In his pamphlet of 1649, Truth Lifting Up Its Head Above Scandals, Winstanley laid down what later became basic principles among anarchists:

Yan

2005-02-21T22:18:00.000-08:00

Pottery yan first appeared during the so-called Longshan culture

Overijssel

2005-02-21T13:47:00.000-08:00

Provincie (province), northeastern Netherlands, extending northward “beyond the IJssel,” a distributary of the Rhine, from the provinces of Gelderland to Drenthe and Friesland and lying between Germany (east) and Flevoland Province (west). Drained by the IJssel, Vecht, Zwarte Water, and Regge rivers and the Twente, Overijssel, and numerous smaller canals, it occupies an

Cohens V. Virginia

2005-02-21T07:50:00.000-08:00

(1821), U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court reaffirmed its right to review all state court judgments in cases arising under the federal Constitution or a law of the United States. The Judiciary Act of 1789 provided for mandatory Supreme Court review of the final judgments of the highest court of any state in cases “where is drawn in question the validity of a treaty or statute

Nahcolite

2005-02-20T22:49:00.000-08:00

Colourless to white carbonate mineral (NaHCO3), a naturally occurring sodium bicarbonate. Its structure consists of planar chains of carbonate groups linked with hydrogen bonds; planes are linked together by sodium in six-fold coordination with oxygen. Nahcolite commonly forms by reaction of carbon dioxide with the mineral trona (q.v.) in evaporated lake basins.

Conductive Ceramics

2005-02-20T14:49:00.000-08:00

In addition to the well-known physical properties of ceramic materials—hardness, compressive strength, brittleness—there is the property of electric resistivity. Most ceramics resist the flow of electric current, and for this reason ceramic materials

Defender Of The Faith

2005-02-19T21:31:00.000-08:00

Latin Fidei Defensor, a title belonging to the sovereign of England in the same way as Christianissimus (“most Christian”) belonged to the king of France. The title was first conferred by Pope Leo X on Henry VIII (Oct. 11, 1521) as a reward for the king's pamphlet Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum (“Declaration of the Seven Sacraments Against Martin Luther”), written against Luther.

Celibacy

2005-02-19T02:20:00.000-08:00

The state of being unmarried and, therefore, sexually abstinent, usually in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, the term is applied only to those for whom the unmarried state is the result of a sacred vow, act of renunciation, or religious conviction. Celibacy has existed in one form or another throughout history and in virtually

France, History Of, The formative years (18711905)

2005-02-18T15:42:00.000-08:00

The repression of the Paris Commune left its mark on the emerging republic. The various socialist factions and the newly organized labour movement were left leaderless; the resultant vacuum eventually opened the way to Marxist activists in the 1880s. Much of the working class became more deeply alienated than before, but, to the moderate and conservative elements,

Cloture

2005-02-18T15:23:00.000-08:00

A cloture's

Beaker Folk

2005-02-18T06:51:00.000-08:00

Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age people living about 6,000 years ago in the temperate zones of Europe; they received their name from their distinctive bell-shaped beakers, decorated in horizontal zones by finely toothed stamps. (Their culture is often called the Bell-Beaker culture.) The graves of the Beaker folk were usually modest single units, though in much of western

Handel, George Frideric

2005-02-17T11:06:00.000-08:00

German (until 1715) Georg Friedrich Händel or Georg Friedrich Haendel German-born English composer of the late Baroque era, noted particularly for his operas, oratorios, and instrumental compositions. He wrote the most famous of all oratorios, the Messiah (1741), and is also known for such occasional pieces as Water Music (1717) and Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749).

Masaccio

2005-02-16T22:15:00.000-08:00

Byname of Tommaso Di Giovanni Di Simone Guidi important Florentine painter of the early Renaissance whose frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence (c. 1427) remained influential throughout the Renaissance. In the span of only six years, Masaccio radically transformed Florentine painting.

Sesson Shukei

2005-02-15T18:16:00.000-08:00

Sesson was a monk of the Soto sect of Buddhism and a self-taught artist who lived

Amidah

2005-02-15T14:20:00.000-08:00

Mittelfranken

2005-02-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

English Middle Franconia Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), west-central Bavaria Land (state), southern Germany. Mittelfranken is bordered by Baden-Württemberg Land to the west and the Regierungsbezirke of Unterfranken (Lower Franconia) and Oberfranken (Upper Franconia) to the north, Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate) to the east, and Oberbayern (Upper Bavaria) and Schwaben (Swabia) to

Füssen

2005-02-14T04:48:00.000-08:00

City, Bavaria Land (state), extreme southern Germany. It lies along the Lech River, at the east foot of the Allgäu Alps, near the Austrian border. The site of a Roman frontier station, the city developed around the Benedictine abbey of St. Magnus (founded 628) and was chartered about 1294. A treaty concluded there in 1745 led to the withdrawal of Bavaria from the War of the Austrian Succession.

Tivoli

2005-02-14T00:01:00.000-08:00

The park was opened in 1843 by the writer-architect

Anville, Jean-baptiste Bourguignon D'

2005-02-13T09:35:00.000-08:00

From an early age d'Anville continued the reform of French cartography begun by Guillaume Delisle, but he was also a reputable classical scholar, and many of his memoirs and maps relate to ancient and medieval geography. He displayed exceptional judgment

Gynecological Examination

2005-02-13T07:43:00.000-08:00

Procedures aimed at assessing the health of a woman's reproductive system. The general examination usually makes use of a speculum for a view of the vagina and cervix. More specialized procedures include the Pap smear (q.v.) for the detection of cancer of the cervix. In the diagnosis of possible infertility, useful procedures include the Rubin's test, which helps determine

F-4

2005-02-12T19:27:00.000-08:00

Also called Phantom Ii, two-seat, twin-engine jet fighter built by the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation (later the McDonnell-Douglas Corporation) for the United States and many other countries. The first F-4 was delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1960 and to the Air Force in 1963. By the time it went out of production in 1979, more that 5,000 Phantoms had been built, and it had become one of the most successful fighter aircraft

Aeschylus, Recommended editions

2005-02-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

Aeschylus, 2 vol. (1953–56, reissued 1967), contains English translations of all the plays and is part of The Complete Greek Tragedies series, ed. by Richmond Lattimore and David Grene. Recent editions of the trilogy are Oresteia, trans. by Hugh Lloyd-Jones, 3 vol. (1979, reissued in 1 vol., 1982); and The Oresteia, trans. by Robert Fagles (1975, reissued 1984).

Eakins, Thomas

2005-02-11T06:41:00.000-08:00

Although always respected for his ability, Eakins remained throughout his years something of an outcast. His contemporaries, rather than allowing themselves to be shaken by his frank statements of the human condition and his joyous appreciation of the human body, ignored him. He sold few pictures, but fortunately a small private income matched his modest needs.

Holbein, Hans, The Younger

2005-02-11T02:23:00.000-08:00

Holbein was a member of a family of important artists. His father, Hans Holbein

Mitaka

2005-02-09T21:49:00.000-08:00

City, Tokyo to (metropolis), Honshu, Japan. It lies on the western border of Tokyo city. The city developed from settlements in the rice paddies of the Musashino plateau during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). It served as a hawking field, and its name is Japanese for “three hawks.” The Mitaka station on the Chuo Line (railway) was opened in 1931, and industry subsequently developed there. Mitaka's

Mauna Loa

2005-02-09T17:34:00.000-08:00

Volcano, south-central Hawaii Island, Hawaii, U.S., and a part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (established as Hawaii National Park in 1916). One of the largest single mountain masses in the world, Mauna Loa (meaning “long mountain”) rises to 13,678 feet (4,169 m) above sea level. Its dome is 75 miles (120 km) long and 64 miles (103 km) wide, and its lava flows occupy more than 2,000 square miles (5,120 square km) of the island. Mokuaweoweo,

Bharatpur

2005-02-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

Former state of India ruled by Hindu princes of the Jat clan, or caste, situated in east Rajputana, India, lying to the south of Delhi and bordering on the Mathura and Agra districts of British India. In the 19th and 20th centuries its area was nearly 2,000 square miles (5,200 square km), and its population was something less than 1,000,000. The dominant castes were the Jats, who were sturdy cultivators, and

Interior Design, Commercial interiors

2005-02-08T21:53:00.000-08:00

Contemporary designers are much involved with commercial spaces—such as stores, hotels, motels, and restaurants. Many designers and design firms specialize in highly specific spaces such as restaurants, and others may become specialists in the design of showrooms for the garment industry. Frequently, the design of a restaurant, shop, or hotel must be keyed to a theme.

Diet

2005-02-08T04:53:00.000-08:00

Under the Meiji Constitution of 1889, the Imperial Diet was established on the basis of two houses with coequal powers. The upper house, the House of Peers (Kizokuin), was almost wholly appointive. Initially, its membership was slightly less than 300, but it was subsequently increased to approximately 400. The peers were intended to represent

I-lan

2005-02-07T21:35:00.000-08:00

Hsien (county), northeastern Taiwan, occupying an area of 825 square miles (2,137 square km) and bordered by the hsien of T'ai-pei (north), T'ao-yüan and Hsin-chu (west), and T'ai-chung and Hua-lien (south) and by the Philippine Sea (east). The Chung-yang Mountains extend over the southern part, and the Hsüeh-shan Mountains border the northwestern part of I-lan hsien. In the northeast, the I-lan River

Alba Fucens

2005-02-07T07:28:00.000-08:00

Modern Albe ancient fortified town at the foot of Mount Velino, Italy. It was originally a town of the ancient Marsi people but was occupied by a Latin colony about 303 BC. It was situated on a hill with three distinct summits, all of which were enclosed within the walls. Its strong position made it important in the Social War and in the civil wars of the 1st century BC; state prisoners of the Romans

Plovdiv

2005-02-06T03:32:00.000-08:00

Second largest city of Bulgaria, situated in the south-central part of the country. It lies along the Maritsa River and is situated amid six hills that rise from the Thracian Plain to a height of 400 feet (120 m). Called Pulpudeva in Thracian times, it was renamed Philippopolis in 341 BC after its conquest by Philip II of Macedonia. From AD 46 it was called Trimontium and was the capital of

Performing Arts, Latin America.

2005-02-05T22:03:00.000-08:00

Gerardo Tort's unsparing picture of street children in Mexico City, De la calle (Streeters), was based on a play by Jesús González Dávila. Marysa Sistach's Perfuma de violetas, nadie te oye (Violet Perfume: Nobody Hears You) dealt intelligently with rape in working-class Mexico City. Guillermo del Toro's Spanish co-production El espinazo del diablo (The Devil's

General Confederation Of Labourworkers' Force

2005-02-05T13:40:00.000-08:00

French Confédération Générale du Travail–Force Ouvrière (CGT–FO), French labour-union federation that is most influential among white-collar civil servants and clerical workers. It was formed in 1948 after a split within the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération Générale du Travail, or CGT). In 1947 the socialist minority withdrew from the CGT after communists had gained control of the federation's leadership apparatus. The

Agonism

2005-02-05T13:11:00.000-08:00

Ethologists believe that the most general and probably

Papaveraceae

2005-02-04T19:21:00.000-08:00

All species in the family have bisexual, regular,

SimpleWindow

Grabski, Wladyslaw

Subhah

Pordenone

Congo

Scale Worm

Epistemology, John Duns Scotus

Aerospace Industry, World War I

Boina

Utopia

Ford, Henry

Talence

Ben Lomond

Karachay-cherkessia

Dasa

U2

Sable

p-n Junction

Wright, Mickey

Anshar And Kishar

Vanadium Processing

Quinidine

Manchu Language

Tonga, Human settlement

Fujiwara Tadahira

Lilburne, John

Loren, Sophia

Edgar

T'ien Ming

Nutrition, Competition for sites of absorption by the cell

Amis, Martin

T'ien Ming

Pageant Wagon

Baden Powell

Italian Literature

Priesthood, Nonliterate cultures

Narayanan, Kocheril Raman

Degenerate Art

Interference Fringe

Arden, John

Gauss, Carl Friedrich

Sorel, Agnès

Visconti, Gian Galeazzo

Malatesta, Sigismondo Pandolfo

Kalahari, Animal life

Valdepeñas

Murrumbidgee River

Ob River

China, Incipient Neolithic

Ibn Battutah

Fiction

Aetolian League

Ob River

Lippe

Caber, Tossing The

Prichard, H.a.

Racine

Atherton Tableland

Automotive Industry, The industry in the United States

Lagutin, Boris Nikolayevich

Quantification

Salado River

Furniture, Near East and classical antiquity

Arzamas Society

Metal Point

Anarchism, English anarchist thought

Yan

Overijssel

Cohens V. Virginia

Nahcolite

Conductive Ceramics

Defender Of The Faith

Celibacy

France, History Of, The formative years (18711905)

Cloture

Beaker Folk

Handel, George Frideric

Masaccio

Sesson Shukei

Amidah

France, History Of, The formative years (18711905)

General Confederation Of Labourworkers' Force