SlowShirt

Arabia, History Of, Central and northern Arabia

2005-04-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

The oasis of Tayma' in the northern Hejaz emerged briefly into the limelight when the Neo-Babylonian king Nabu-na'id (Nabonidus, reigned c. 556–539 BC) took up his residence there for 10 years and extended his power as far as Yathrib. A few important monuments of this time are known.

Blondel, Jacques-françois

2005-04-04T17:05:00.000-07:00

Of a famous architectural family, Blondel was reared by an uncle. Though the nephew early went along with the Rococo ornamentation of the

Lutfi As-sayyid, Ahmad

2005-04-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

Lutfi studied law and accepted a job in the legal department of the central government. In March 1907 he founded a newspaper, al-Jaridah, to present the views of the Ummah Party, representing the moderate wing of Egyptian nationalism. With the advent of

Japanese Baseball Leagues

2005-04-03T03:47:00.000-07:00

The two main leagues in Japan are the Central League and the Pacific League. Each league is composed

Furniture, Greece and Rome

2005-04-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

The typical Greek chair, the klismos, is known not from any ancient specimen still extant, but from a wealth of pictorial material. The best known is the klismos depicted on the Hegeso Stele at the Dipylon burial place outside Athens (c. 410 BC). It is a chair with a backward-sloping, curved backboard and four curving legs, only two of which are shown. These unusual legs were presumably

Hokitika

2005-03-31T15:38:00.000-08:00

Town, West Coast local government region, on the west coast of South Island, New Zealand. It lies at the mouth of the Hokitika River, which rises in the Southern Alps and, fed by the Mungo, Whitcombe, and Kokatahi rivers, flows northward 40 mi (64 km) to Westland Bight of the Tasman Sea. A store was erected at the river mouth in 1864. Hokitika grew with the discovery of gold and reached a peak

Trichloroethane

2005-03-31T05:12:00.000-08:00

One isomer, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, is used as a replacement for carbon tetrachloride as a cold-cleaning solvent for machinery; it is not used in vapour degreasing processes because no stabilizer is available that will prevent its decomposition at high temperatures.

Attalus, Priscus

2005-03-31T05:03:00.000-08:00

Attalus was born a pagan and was baptized by an Arian bishop. He was a senator at the time of Alaric's second siege of Rome, and he was named emperor of the West by the Goths after the city surrendered in 409. Attalus then urged the legitimate emperor, Honorius, to vacate his throne.

Girardon, François

2005-03-30T20:12:00.000-08:00

Giradon attracted the attention of Chancellor Pierre Séguier, who brought him to Paris to study under François Anguier and afterward sent him to Rome. He returned to France about 1650, becoming a member of the

Policy

2005-03-30T04:34:00.000-08:00

Policy, a true lottery initiated in the United States by Italian-Americans, derives its name from the Italian polizza (“receipt,” or “ticket”) and retains only occasional

Warning System, Air defense systems

2005-03-29T01:54:00.000-08:00

Radar and identification friend or foe (IFF) equipment constitute the forward elements of complex systems that have appeared throughout the world. Examples include the semiautomatic ground environment (SAGE), augmented by a mobile backup intercept control system called BUIC in the United States, NATO air defense ground environment (NADGE) in Europe, a similar

Atatürk, Kemal

2005-03-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Kemal then embarked upon the reform of his country, his goal being to bring it into the 20th century. His instrument was the Republican People's Party, formed on Aug. 9, 1923, to replace the defense-of-rights associations. His program was embodied in the party's “Six Arrows”: republicanism, nationalism, populism, statism (state-owned and state-operated industrialization

Architecture, History Of Western, From the 17th to the 19th century

2005-03-27T15:15:00.000-08:00

A Gothic Revival was in a sense initiated early in England during the late 16th century under the influence of Elizabethan and Jacobean notions of chivalry and again between 1620 and 1630 under the impetus of William Laud's Anglicanism; but it is in the Gothic experimentalism of the late 17th century, particularly that of Wren's circle, in which seeds of a Gothic Revival can be discerned.

Norwegian Language

2005-03-27T11:12:00.000-08:00

Norwegian Norsk, North Germanic language of the West Scandinavian branch, existing in two distinct and rival norms—Dano-Norwegian (Bokmål, or Riksmål) and New Norwegian (Nynorsk). Dano-Norwegian stems from the written Danish introduced during the union of Denmark and Norway (1380–1814). New Norwegian was created by the language scholar Ivar Aasen during the mid-19th century, primarily from the

Arabian Desert, Geology

2005-03-26T06:07:00.000-08:00

The Arabian Desert consists of two major regions. The first, the ancient Arabian platform (a segment of the African Shield) is in the west; composed mainly of Precambrian gneiss dated to between 2.6 billion and roughly 543 million years ago, it was assembled roughly 900 to 543 million years ago. The second region, in the east, comprises sedimentary rock layers deposited over the past

Stahl, Franklin W.

2005-03-26T00:05:00.000-08:00

Educated at Harvard (A.B., 1951) and the University of Rochester (Ph.D., 1956), Stahl pursued his research

Bingham, Hiram

2005-03-25T06:09:00.000-08:00

As a boy Bingham learned mountaineering from his father, a well-known Pacific missionary. This skill vastly aided

Anson, Cap

2005-03-24T05:56:00.000-08:00

Anson played in the National Association, the first professional baseball league, with the Forest City

Ujung-kulon National Park

2005-03-24T01:09:00.000-08:00

English Point Kulon National Park

Morales, Luis De

2005-03-23T17:59:00.000-08:00

Morales may have studied with the Flemish painter Hernando

Advertising Coloration

2005-03-22T23:25:00.000-08:00

In animals, the use of biological coloration to make an organism unique and highly visible as compared with the background, thereby providing easily perceived information as to its location, identity, and movement. Such advertisement may serve the function of attracting individuals in order to enter into some advantageous interaction (e.g., courtship for reproductive

Zahir Shah, Mohammad

2005-03-21T16:35:00.000-08:00

The sons of Mohammed Nader Shah, Zahir Shah and his brothers reasserted central government control during a period of anarchy and banditry in the late 1920s. Zahir Shah came to the throne at the age of 19, after the assassination of his father in November 1933, having previously served as

Schrieck, Sister Louise Van Der

2005-03-21T05:04:00.000-08:00

Van der Schrieck was educated at the school of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Belgium. In 1837 she became a novice of the order, and in 1839 she became Sister

Lupine

2005-03-19T14:43:00.000-08:00

The

Lemur

2005-03-19T14:40:00.000-08:00

Generally, any of the more primitive primates except the tree shrews. In this sense, the term covers not only the typical lemurs (family Lemuridae) but also the avahi, indri, sifaka, aye-aye, loris, potto, and galago (qq.v.). All these animals are characterized by a naked, moist tip to the muzzle; comblike, forward-directed lower front teeth; and a clawlike nail on the second toe of

Haavikko, Paavo

2005-03-19T04:09:00.000-08:00

With his first collection of poems, Tiet etäisyyksiin (1951; “The Roads That Lead Far Away”), Haavikko demonstrated a rare command of rhythm and image in his virtuoso handling of the language. In his next collection, Tuuliöinä (1953; “In Windy

Ramla

2005-03-18T20:22:00.000-08:00

City in Israel, on the coastal plain southeast of Tel Aviv–Yafo. Ramla is the only city founded by the Arabs in Palestine. It was established in 716 by the caliph Sulayman ibn 'Abd al-Malik (reigned 715–717), who made it the administrative capital of Palestine, replacing nearby Lod (Lydda). He built marketplaces, fortifications, and, above all, the White Mosque (Al-Jami' al-Abyad). Only ruins of

Armillary Sphere

2005-03-18T14:51:00.000-08:00

Early astronomical device for representing the great circles of the heavens, including in the most elaborate instruments the horizon, meridian, Equator, tropics, polar circles, and an ecliptic hoop. The sphere is a skeleton celestial globe, with circles divided into degrees for angular measurement. In the 17th and 18th centuries such

Andaman And Nicobar Islands, The people

2005-03-18T02:06:00.000-08:00

The Andamanese, the islands' indigenous population, are classified among the Negrito peoples. Traditionally they formed tribes, each comprising small isolated groups with a common language. They used the bow and the dog (introduced c. 1857) for hunting but knew no method of making fire. Turtle, dugong, and fish were caught with nets or harpooned from single outrigger canoes.

Amphibian, Reproduction

2005-03-17T22:36:00.000-08:00

The three living groups of amphibians have distinct evolutionary lineages and exhibit a diverse range of life strategies. The breeding behaviour of each order will be discussed in its individual section below. One similar tendency among amphibians has been the evolution in some species of direct development of young in terrestrial eggs, thus eliminating the

David I

2005-03-16T23:28:00.000-08:00

One of the most powerful Scottish kings (reigned from 1124). He admitted into Scotland an Anglo-French (Norman) aristocracy that played a major part in the later history of the kingdom. He also reorganized Scottish Christianity to conform with continental European and English usages and founded many religious communities, mostly for Cistercian

Costa, Lúcio

2005-03-16T09:59:00.000-08:00

After graduating from the National School of Fine Arts, Rio de Janeiro, in 1924, Costa entered into a partnership with Gregori Warchavchick, a Russian-born architect and early advocate of modern architecture in

Printmaking, France

2005-03-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

Most 18th-century French etchings were drawings transferred to copper, in which the effects of pencil, pen, or chalk were imitated. Although some distinguished painters, such as Antoine Watteau, made etchings, no prints of importance were produced. Jean-Honoré Fragonard made a few lovely etchings reminiscent of Tiepolo. They have a luminous, transparent quality and

Arts, Central Asian, Khitans

2005-03-15T15:26:00.000-08:00

The figural style is believed to have been transmitted to the Mongols by the Khitans when the latter were living on the middle reaches of the Yenisey. The wealth of the Khitan princes is reflected in the furnishings of burial mounds discovered at Kopeni, some 200 miles (300 kilometres) to the south of Krasnoyarsk. Dating from the 7th to 8th century, these mounds were similar in

Germanic Religion And Mythology, Minor Aesir

2005-03-15T08:57:00.000-08:00

A number of minor deities are also ranked among the Aesir. The god Heimdall (Heimdal[l]r) is particularly interesting, but rather enigmatic. His antagonism with Loki, with whom he struggles for the possession of the Brísingamen necklace, results in their killing each other in the Ragnarök, according to Snorri. Heimdall is of mysterious origin: he is the son of nine mothers,

Atbasar

2005-03-14T14:12:00.000-08:00

City, north-central Kazakstan, on the Zhabay River. Founded as a Cossack settlement in 1846, it became known for its annual fair. Atbasar is now a railway junction and a centre for processing local grain and livestock. Pop. (1991 est.) 40,000.

Rhythmic Mode

2005-03-14T08:59:00.000-08:00

Rhythmic organization in triple patterns underlying all polyphonic (many-voiced) music of the late 12th and 13th centuries, beginning with the descant sections of two-part organa of the Notre-Dame school in Paris and culminating in the multilingual motets of the 13th century; the latter forms feature two or three rhythmic modes simultaneously in different parts of the

Anger, Per Johan Valentin

2005-03-13T22:56:00.000-08:00

Swedish diplomat (b. Dec. 7, 1913, Göteborg, Swed.—d. Aug. 25, 2002, Stockholm, Swed.), helped save thousands of Hungarian Jews from being transported to Nazi death camps during World War II. Anger, a member of the Swedish legation in Budapest when the Germans occupied Hungary in 1944, set up safe houses around Budapest and issued temporary passports and identity cards that identified Jews as Swedes.

Sogn Og Fjordane

2005-03-13T10:27:00.000-08:00

Fylke (county), western Norway, bordering the North Sea. Its inland extension includes the Jostedals Glacier and part of the Jotunheim Mountains. In the northern part of the fylke is Nord Fjord, which penetrates 55 miles (90 km) inland, and in the south is Norway's longest fjord, Sogn Fjord (q.v.). Centrally located on the northern bank of Sogn Fjord is the village of Leikanger, administrative

Maclaine, Shirley

2005-03-12T07:21:00.000-08:00

After graduating from high school, MacLaine, who had studied ballet since age three, moved to New York City, where she worked as a dancer and model. In 1954 she was hired as a chorus girl and understudy

Adamson, Joy; And Adamson, George

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

Following an education in Vienna and two divorces, Austrian-born Joy Gessner, living in Kenya from 1939, married George Adamson (1944), a British game warden who had

Mahananda River

2005-03-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

River in northern India and Bangladesh. It rises in the Darjeeling Hills in extreme northern West Bengal state. The river flows south through a rich agricultural area in Bihar state, enters West Bengal state, flows past Ingraj Bazar, and then continues southeastward into Bangladesh to join the Ganges River after a 225-mile (360-kilometre) course. The Mahananda forms in its upper

Adamawa

2005-03-10T11:21:00.000-08:00

Traditional emirate centred in what is now Adamawa state, eastern Nigeria. The emirate was founded by Modibbo Adama, who was one of Sheikh Usman dan Fodio's commanders and who began a Fulani jihad (holy war) in 1809 against the non-Muslim peoples of the region. Adama moved the capital of his kingdom, which was then known as Fumbina, several times before settling it finally in

La Roche, Sophie Von

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

German writer whose first and most important work, Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim (1771; History of Lady Sophia Sternheim), was the first German novel written by a woman and is considered to be among the best works from the period in which English novels, particularly those of Samuel Richardson,

Insurance, Property insurance

2005-03-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

Two main types of contracts—homeowner's and commercial—have been developed to insure against loss from accidental destruction of property. These contracts (or forms) typically are divided into three or four parts: insuring agreements, identification of covered property, conditions and stipulations, and exclusions.

Adamson, Joy; And Adamson, George

2005-03-09T00:47:00.000-08:00

Of the two organizations, the AEU was larger and older, though both originated as unions of skilled craftsmen and only later opened their

Shimada

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

City, Shizuoka ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, on the lower Oi River. During the Tokugawa era (1603–1867) it was an important post town on the Tokaido (Eastern Sea Highway) because fording the river was both difficult and dangerous. Since the early 20th century the city has become a trade centre for timber from the forest-covered Akaishi Range upstream. Shimada contains several large paper

Mars-la-tour And Gravelotte, Battles Of

2005-03-07T23:01:00.000-08:00

(Aug. 16–18, 1870), two major engagements of the Franco-German War in which the 130,000-man French Army of the Rhine, under Marshal Achille-François Bazaine, failed to break through the two German armies under General Helmuth von Moltke and were bottled up in the fortress of Metz. It was followed by the Count de Mac-Mahon's abortive attempt to rescue Bazaine, which ended in Mac-Mahon's crushing

Eugenikos, Markos

2005-03-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

After a classical and theological education under tutors antagonistic to Rome, Eugenikos at 26 gave his property to the poor and became a monk

Argentina, Finance

2005-03-07T02:41:00.000-08:00

Economic troubles in the 1970s and '80s caused the near

Cyclosilicate

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

Compound with a structure in which silicate tetrahedrons (a central silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms at the corners of a tetrahedron) are arranged in rings. Each tetrahedron shares two of its oxygen atoms with other tetrahedrons; the rings formed may have three (e.g., benitoite), four (e.g., axinite), or six members (e.g., beryl). The cyclosilicates have chemical formulas

Gairdner, Lake

2005-03-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

Largest of a group of shallow depressions west of Lake Torrens in central South Australia, 240 mi northwest of Adelaide. It measures 100 mi (160 km) long by 30 mi wide. Lying at the base of the Eyre Peninsula, the lake is a dry salt pan (playa) intermittently filled with water. Visited in 1857 almost simultaneously by Stephen Hack and Peter E. Warburton, it is named after Gordon Gairdner, former

Yakushi-ji

2005-03-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

Temple complex dedicated to Yakushi, the Healing Buddha, in Nara, Japan. It was established about 690 outside Nara, and in 718 it was refounded within the city. The only one of the original buildings to have survived is the three-storied eastern pagoda, which is one of the finest examples of religious architecture of the Nara period (AD 710–784). Yakushi-ji has many treasures of Japanese

Christian Vii

2005-03-05T14:03:00.000-08:00

The son of Frederick V, Christian VII came to the throne in 1766. His mental instability has been attributed to a brutal childhood governor and to morally corrupt court pages. After his 1766 marriage

Guzmania

2005-03-04T21:15:00.000-08:00

Guzmania leaves are stiff, often stemless or short-stemmed,

Channel Islands

2005-03-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

French Îles Normandes, or Anglo-normandes, archipelago in the English Channel, west of the Cotentin peninsula of France, at the entrance to the Gulf of Saint-Malo, 80 miles (130 km) south of the English coast. The islands are dependencies of the British crown (and not strictly part of the United Kingdom), having been so attached since the Norman Conquest of 1066, when they formed part of the duchy of Normandy. They comprise four

Hohenzollern Dynasty

2005-03-03T03:14:00.000-08:00

Dynasty prominent in European history, chiefly as the ruling house of Brandenburg-Prussia (1415–1918) and of imperial Germany (1871–1918). It takes its name from a castle in Swabia first mentioned as Zolorin or Zolre (the modern Hohenzollern, south of Tübingen, in the Land Baden-Württemberg). Burchard I, the first recorded ancestor of the dynasty, was count of Zollern in the 11th century. In the

Melanoma

2005-03-02T18:16:00.000-08:00

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,

Martin

2005-03-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

Martin's life was marked chiefly by the continued Aragonese intervention in Sicily. When Frederick III of Sicily died in 1377, leaving a daughter, Mary, as his heiress, there ensued a long period of disorder. Peter IV of Aragon, on the grounds

Bene Israel

2005-03-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

The largest and oldest of several groups of Jews of India. Believed by tradition to have shipwrecked on the Konkan coast of western India more than 2,100 years ago, they were absorbed into Indian society, maintaining many Jewish observances while operating within the caste system. Of some 67,000 Bene Israel at the turn of the 21st century, less than 5,000 remain in India, the great majority

Metachromatic Leukodystrophy

2005-03-01T02:19:00.000-08:00

Rare inherited metabolic disease in which the lack of a key enzyme causes loss of the protective myelin sheath from the white matter of the brain, resulting in psychological disturbances, mental deterioration, and sensory and motor defects. The absence of the enzyme cerebroside sulfatase (arylsulfatase A) allows certain specialized lipids (sphingolipids) to

Gable, Clark

2005-02-28T18:07:00.000-08:00

The only son of an itinerant oil-field worker, Gable embarked on an acting career while in his early 20s

Atar

2005-02-28T02:46:00.000-08:00

Town, west-central Mauritania. It is an oasis and a caravan stopping point and lies on a road leading southwest to Nouakchott, the national capital. The oasis produces dates and grains and supports cattle, sheep, and goat grazing. Atar is the site of an airstrip; it also has a school for traditional weaving, and it is an important source of rugs. Pop. (1977) 16,326; (1988) 21,366.

Amstelveen

2005-02-27T22:04:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (commune), Noordholland provincie, western Netherlands, near the Amstel River. Amstelveen (meaning “peat bog on the Amstel”) was formerly a village in the municipality of Nieuwer-Amstel. A residential suburb of Amsterdam, it is a water-sports centre with some agriculture and light industry. Schiphol international airport is nearby to the west. Pop. (1999 est.) 77,737.

Apure

2005-02-27T17:38:00.000-08:00

The state is famous for its llaneros (cowboys), who were key fighters in the independence movement of the early 19th century. Mounted llaneros

Aquaculture

2005-02-27T11:08:00.000-08:00

Fish may be confined in earth ponds, concrete pools, barricaded coastal waters, or cages suspended in open water. In these enclosures, the fish can be supplied

Refrigeration

2005-02-26T22:16:00.000-08:00

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

Salih, 'ali 'abd Allah

2005-02-26T16:06:00.000-08:00

Salih attended the local Qur'anic school and joined the army at age 16. Four years later, on September 26, 1962, he led a military coup that replaced the Islamic monarch of North Yemen with

Aetius, Flavius

2005-02-26T05:52:00.000-08:00

The son of a magister equitum (“master of the cavalry”), Aetius in his youth spent some time as a hostage with the Visigothic leader Alaric, and later with the Huns, thus acquiring valuable knowledge of the leading

Biblical Literature, III Maccabees

2005-02-24T21:48:00.000-08:00

The Greek book called The Third Book of Maccabees itself has nothing to do with the Maccabean period. Its content is a legend, a miraculous story of deliverance, which is also independently told—in another historical context—by Josephus (Against Apion II, 5). In III Maccabees the story takes place during the reign of Ptolemy IV Philopator (reigned 221–203 BCE). The central episode

Wang Pi

2005-02-24T11:45:00.000-08:00

By the time of his death at the age of 23, Wang was already the author of outstanding commentaries on the Taoist classic, the Tao-te Ching, or Lao-tzu, and the Confucian mystical classic, the I Ching (“Classic of Changes”). Through these commentaries he helped introduce metaphysics into Chinese

Bhagavadgita

2005-02-24T08:08:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “Song of God”), one of the greatest and most beautiful of the Hindu scriptures. It forms part of Book VI of the Indian epic the Mahabharata (“Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty”) and is written in the form of a dialogue between the warrior Prince Arjuna and his friend and charioteer, Krishna, who is also an earthly incarnation of the god Vishnu. The Bhagavadgita is of a later

Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

2005-02-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

A child prodigy, at age 11 Korngold composed the ballet Der Schneemann (“The Snowman”), which caused a sensation at its first performance in Vienna (1910). He was still a teenager when his operas Der Ring des Polykrates and

Ayres, Anne

2005-02-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

Ayres moved to the United States with her family in 1836 and settled in New York City. Until 1845 she supplemented the family income by teaching daughters of well-to-do families. In the summer of that year she heard William Augustus Muhlenberg, an Episcopal clergyman, preach

Skeet Shooting

2005-02-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

Sport in which marksmen use shotguns to shoot at clay targets thrown into the air by spring devices called traps. It differs from trapshooting (q.v.), from which it derived, in that in skeet, traps are set at two points on the field and targets may be thrown diagonally across the shooter's field of vision as well as directly away from him (see illustration). The sport was developed

Jazz, Jazz meets classical and the third stream begins

2005-02-22T06:27:00.000-08:00

It was also in the 1950s that a greater rapprochement between jazz and classical music began to emerge. Like Lewis, many other jazz musicians were studying much of the great classical literature, from Bach to Béla Bartók, to expand their musical horizons. Classical musicians, too, were listening more seriously to jazz and taking a professional interest in it. The ideological

Mountain

2005-02-20T14:18:00.000-08:00

Mountainous terrains have certain unifying characteristics. Such terrains have higher elevations than do surrounding areas. Moreover, high relief exists within mountain belts and ranges. Individual mountains, mountain ranges, and mountain belts that have been created by different tectonic processes, however, are often characterized by different

Parachute

2005-02-20T07:45:00.000-08:00

Device that slows the vertical descent of a body falling through the atmosphere or the velocity of a body moving horizontally. The parachute increases the body's surface area, and this increased air resistance slows the body in motion. There is some mention, but no evidence, dating to the 1100s of the Chinese using parachutes for amusement. In the West, however, parachutes

Military Affairs

2005-02-20T01:01:00.000-08:00

The movement against live-fire military training gained momentum during the year. President Bush announced that the U.S. Navy would cease using the island of Vieques, off the coast of Puerto Rico, for bombing exercises by 2003. A group of islanders had filed a $100 million lawsuit claiming that the bombing caused significant damage to the environment and public health. The

Taldy-kurgan

2005-02-19T09:18:00.000-08:00

Kazak Taldyqorghan city, southeastern Kazakstan. It is situated on the left bank of the Karatal River and in the western foothills of the Dzungarian Alatau Range. It grew up on the site of Gavrilovka village, founded in the second half of the 19th century, and it developed particularly after the construction of a branch line from the Turk-Sib Railway in 1949. Food products, construction materials,

Karatepe

2005-02-18T23:27:00.000-08:00

(Turkish: “Black Hill”), site of a Late Hittite fortress city, located in the piedmont country of the Taurus Mountains in south-central Turkey. The city, dating from the 8th century BC, was discovered in 1945 by Helmuth T. Bossert and Halet Çambel. It was built with a polygonal fortress wall and an upper and lower gateway of monumental proportions. The gate chambers are lined with inscribed

Quince

2005-02-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

Fruit tree of the genus Cydonia, of the rose family (Rosaceae). The much-branched shrubs or small trees have entire leaves with small stipules and bear large, solitary, white or pink flowers like those of the pear or apple but with leafy calyx lobes and a many-celled ovary, in each cell of which are numerous horizontal ovules. The fruits may be round and flattened or somewhat

Roumanille, Joseph

2005-02-18T02:59:00.000-08:00

While teaching at the Collège Royal of Avignon

Hevajra

2005-02-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

Tibetan Kye-rdo-rje , Mongolian Kevajra in northern Buddhism, a fierce protective deity, the yab-yum (in union with his female consort, Vajrayogini) form of the fierce protective deity Heruka. Hevajra is a popular deity in Tibet, where he belongs to the yi-dam (tutelary, or guardian, deity) class. His worship is the subject of the Hevajra Tantra, a scripture that helped bring about the conversion of the Mongol emperor

Davies (of Hereford), John

2005-02-16T23:32:00.000-08:00

Davies settled in Oxford and became known as the best penman of his day. As well as other religious verse treatises, he wrote Wittes Pilgrimage . . . (c. 1610), a collection of love sonnets; and Humours Heav'n on Earth; with the Civile Warres

Kwanza River

2005-02-16T05:54:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Coanza, Cuanza, Quanza, or Kuanza, river in central Angola, rising about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Chitembo in the Bié Plateau at 5,000 feet (1,500 m). It flows northward for about 320 miles (510 km) and then curves westward to enter the Atlantic Ocean 30 miles (48 km) south of Luanda, after a course of 600 miles (960 km). The Kwanza drains much of central Angola and is the only Angolan river of economic significance. At intervals during much of its

Roman Script

2005-02-15T01:41:00.000-08:00

Also called Antiqua Script, Italian Lettera Antica, in calligraphy, script based upon the clear, orderly Carolingian writing that Italian humanists mistook for the ancient Roman script used at the time of Cicero (1st century BC). They used the term roman to distinguish this supposedly classical style from black-letter and national hands. It was upon the model of antica, or roman, scripts that Renaissance scribes evolved

Ghatam

2005-02-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

Large, narrow-mouthed earthenware water pot used as a percussion instrument in India. Unlike other Indian percussion instruments, such as the tabla and mridanga, the ghatam does not have a membrane over its mouth. Ghatam produce a distinctive metallic sound and are made in several sizes, each size having a different pitch. As used in Carnatic music, the ghatam is positioned

Bearbaiting

2005-02-14T07:32:00.000-08:00

In England many large groups of bears were kept expressly for the purpose. Contemporary records reveal, for example, that 13 bears were provided

Aung San Suu Kyi

2005-02-13T15:53:00.000-08:00

Aung San Suu Kyi was two years old when her father, then the de facto prime minister of what would shortly become independent Burma, was assassinated.

Crocoite

2005-02-13T06:35:00.000-08:00

Mineral consisting of lead chromate, PbCrO4, that is identical in composition to chrome yellow, the artificial product used in paint. The element chromium was discovered in this mineral in 1797. Crocoite occurs as long, well-developed, prismatic crystals; the most beautiful specimens are from Dundas, Tasmania. Other localities include the Urals, Brazil, and the southwestern

Nitrogen Group Element, Commercial production and uses

2005-02-12T14:56:00.000-08:00

High-grade or enriched stibnite reacts directly with scrap iron in the molten state, liberating antimony metal. The metal can also be obtained by conversion of stibnite to the oxide, followed by reduction with carbon. Sodium sulfide solutions are effective leaching agents for the concentration of stibnite from ores. Electrolysis of these solutions produces

Pelusium

2005-02-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

Greek Pelousion, ancient Egyptian city on the easternmost mouth of the Nile River (long silted up). The Egyptians likely called it Sa'inu and also Per-Amon (House of Amon), whence perhaps the site's modern name, Tell Farama. It lies about 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Port Said, in the Sinai Peninsula. In the Bible the city is called (Ezekiel 30:15) “the stronghold of Egypt” (the name being given in the King James

Italy, The south, 7741000

2005-02-12T01:40:00.000-08:00

When Charlemagne conquered central and northern Italy, Duke Arichis II of Benevento (758–787) responded by titling himself princeps and claiming the legitimist tradition of the Lombards. Lombard princes then ruled in the south for 300 years, until the Norman Conquest. Arichis and his son Grimoald III (787–806) were powerful rulers who held off the Franks, even if Grimoald temporarily

Brooks, Gwendolyn

2005-02-11T22:12:00.000-08:00

Brooks graduated from Wilson Junior College in Chicago in 1936. Her early verses appeared in the Chicago Defender, a newspaper written

Economic Development

2005-02-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

The process whereby simple, low-income national economies are transformed into modern industrial economies. Although the term is sometimes used as a synonym for economic growth, generally it is employed to describe a change in a country's economy involving qualitative as well as quantitative improvements. The theory of economic development—how primitive and

Kenya, Drainage

2005-02-10T04:52:00.000-08:00

The major features of the drainage pattern of Kenya were created by the ancient crustal deformation of a great oval dome that arose in the west-central part of the country and created the Central Rift. This dome produced a primeval watershed from which rivers once drained eastward to the Indian Ocean and westward to the Congo system and the Atlantic Ocean. Still

France, History Of, The second revolution

2005-02-09T20:25:00.000-08:00

The insurrection of Aug. 10, 1792, did not of course stop the Prussian advance on the capital. As enthusiastic contingents of volunteers left for the front, fear of counterrevolutionary plots gripped the capital. Journalists like Jean-Paul Marat pointed to the prisons bursting with vagrants and criminals as well as refractory clergy and royalists and asked what would

Aquino, Benigno Simeon, Jr.

2005-02-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

The grandson of a Philippine general and the son of a well-known politician and landowner,

Cambrai, Treaty Of

2005-02-09T05:32:00.000-08:00

Also called Paix Des Dames (French: “Peace of the Ladies”; Aug. 3, 1529), agreement ending one phase of the wars between Francis I of France and the Habsburg Holy Roman emperor Charles V; it temporarily confirmed Spanish (Habsburg) hegemony in Italy. After a series of successes, Charles had defeated the French forces at Pavia in Italy in 1525 and forced Francis to sign the punitive Treaty of Madrid. Fearful of Charles's

SlowShirt

Arabia, History Of, Central and northern Arabia

Blondel, Jacques-françois

Lutfi As-sayyid, Ahmad

Japanese Baseball Leagues

Furniture, Greece and Rome

Hokitika

Trichloroethane

Attalus, Priscus

Girardon, François

Policy

Warning System, Air defense systems

Atatürk, Kemal

Architecture, History Of Western, From the 17th to the 19th century

Norwegian Language

Arabian Desert, Geology

Stahl, Franklin W.

Bingham, Hiram

Anson, Cap

Ujung-kulon National Park

Morales, Luis De

Advertising Coloration

Zahir Shah, Mohammad

Schrieck, Sister Louise Van Der

Lupine

Lemur

Haavikko, Paavo

Ramla

Armillary Sphere

Andaman And Nicobar Islands, The people

Amphibian, Reproduction

David I

Costa, Lúcio

Printmaking, France

Arts, Central Asian, Khitans

Germanic Religion And Mythology, Minor Aesir

Atbasar

Rhythmic Mode

Anger, Per Johan Valentin

Sogn Og Fjordane

Maclaine, Shirley

Adamson, Joy; And Adamson, George

Mahananda River

Adamawa

La Roche, Sophie Von

Insurance, Property insurance

Adamson, Joy; And Adamson, George

Shimada

Mars-la-tour And Gravelotte, Battles Of

Eugenikos, Markos

Argentina, Finance

Cyclosilicate

Gairdner, Lake

Yakushi-ji

Christian Vii

Guzmania

Channel Islands

Hohenzollern Dynasty

Melanoma

Martin

Bene Israel

Metachromatic Leukodystrophy

Gable, Clark

Atar

Amstelveen

Apure

Aquaculture

Refrigeration

Salih, 'ali 'abd Allah

Aetius, Flavius

Biblical Literature, III Maccabees

Wang Pi

Bhagavadgita

Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

Ayres, Anne

Skeet Shooting

Jazz, Jazz meets classical and the third stream begins

Mountain

Parachute

Military Affairs

Jazz, Jazz meets classical and the third stream begins

Italy, The south, 7741000