MilitaryBird

Mahesh Yogi, Maharishi

2005-04-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

Little is known of the Maharishi's early life. He studied physics at the University of Allahabad and worked for a time in factories. He later left for the Himalayas, where for 13 years he studied under Guru Dev, the founder of TM. When Guru Dev died in 1952, the Maharishi organized

Cart

2005-04-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Two-wheeled vehicle drawn by a draft animal, used throughout recorded history by numerous societies for the transportation of freight, agricultural produce, refuse, and people. The cart, usually drawn by a single animal, is known to have been in use by the Greeks and the Assyrians by 1800 BC (although it is generally assumed that such vehicles could have been used as early as

Calendar, The French republican calendar

2005-04-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

In late 18th-century France, with the approach of the French Revolution, demands began to be made for a radical change in the civil calendar that would divorce it completely from any ecclesiastical connections. The first attacks on the Gregorian calendar and proposals for reform came in 1785 and 1788, the changes being primarily designed to divest the calendar of all its Christian

Metz

2005-04-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

Metz derives its name from the Mediomatrici, a Gallic tribe who made it their capital. It was

Pacorus

2005-04-02T03:23:00.000-08:00

In the summer of 51 BC Pacorus was sent to invade Syria with an army commanded by Osaces, an older warrior. Osaces, however, was killed in battle, and early the next year Orodes, learning that one of his satraps was conspiring to make Pacorus king, recalled his son. In 45, Pacorus intervened in

Bahmani Sultanate

2005-04-01T07:39:00.000-08:00

The Bahmani sultanate's

Spalding, A.g.

2005-04-01T06:31:00.000-08:00

In his youth Spalding pitched and batted right-handed with such authority that the Forest City (Rockford, Ill.) team became well known.

Châtelet, Gabrielle-émilie Le Tonnelier De Breteuil, Marquise Du

2005-03-31T19:15:00.000-08:00

She was married at 19 to the Marquis Florent du Châtelet, governor of Semur-en-Auxois, with whom she had three children. The marquis then took up a military career and thereafter saw his wife only infrequently. Mme du Châtelet returned to Paris and its dazzling social

Permafrost, Features related to seasonal frost

2005-03-30T06:00:00.000-08:00

Many microgeomorphic features common to the periglacial environment may or may not be associated with permafrost.

Economic Regionalism

2005-03-29T07:07:00.000-08:00

Institutional arrangements designed to facilitate the free flow of goods and services and to coordinate foreign economic policies between countries in the same geographic region. Economic regionalism can be viewed as a conscious attempt to manage the opportunities and constraints created by the dramatic increase in international economic ties since

Computers, Ubiquitous computing

2005-03-29T01:15:00.000-08:00

The Internet also has inspired new ways of programming. Programmers are developing software to divide computational tasks into subtasks that a program would assign to separate processors in order to achieve greater efficiency and speed. This trend is one of various ways that computers are being connected to share information and to solve complex problems.

Pitney, Gene

2005-03-28T23:59:00.000-08:00

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

Monticelli, Adolphe

2005-03-28T03:32:00.000-08:00

In full Adolphe-Joseph-Thomas Monticelli French painter whose finest works, derived from scenes by Antoine Watteau, are dreamlike images of courtly revels. Using thick daubs of paint, applied to achieve a swirling effect, he created a poetic, visionary expression with radiant lights and deep shadows. His work was much admired by Vincent van Gogh and had a greater

Russell, Morgan

2005-03-27T05:57:00.000-08:00

After studying under Robert Henri in New York City, Russell moved to Paris in 1906 and lived there for 40 years. In 1913–14 he and Stanton Macdonald-Wright established Synchromism (q.v.) as an avant-garde movement, issuing manifestos and exhibiting together in Munich, Paris, and New York

Abu 'l-fadl 'allami

2005-03-26T22:27:00.000-08:00

Abu 'l-Fadl 'Allami studied with his father, Sheikh Mubarak Nagawri, a distinguished scholar, and after teaching in his father's school was presented to Akbar in 1574 by the poet Fayzi, Abu 'l-Fadl's older brother. Through his criticism of the traditional Muslim religious leaders, he

Caecilius Of Calacte

2005-03-25T17:28:00.000-08:00

Only fragments of Caecilius' works are extant, among which may be mentioned: On the Style of the Ten Orators; On the Sublime, which was attacked by the so-called Longinus in a more famous work of the same title; History of the Servile Wars, or slave

Shining Path

2005-03-24T22:05:00.000-08:00

The Shining Path was founded in 1970 in a multiple split in the Communist Party of Peru. It took its name from the maxim of the founder of Peru's first communist party, José Carlos Mariátegui: “El Marxismo-Leninismo abrirá el sendero luminoso hacia la

Flood

2005-03-24T05:47:00.000-08:00

High-water stage in which water overflows its natural or artificial banks onto normally dry land, such as a river inundating its floodplain. The effects of floods on human well-being range from unqualified blessings to catastrophes. The regular seasonal spring floods of the Nile River prior to construction of the Aswan High Dam, for example, were depended upon to

Amphibole

2005-03-24T04:55:00.000-08:00

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

Diego, Gerardo

2005-03-22T15:46:00.000-08:00

Diego received a doctorate from the University of Madrid in 1920. During the 1920s he wrote experimental poetry and joined the avant-garde Ultraísmo and Creacionismo movements. He taught for a time in the ancient town of Soria in north-central Spain; the location inspired the

Priesthood, Buddhism, Taoism, and Shinto in China and Japan

2005-03-22T06:03:00.000-08:00

In the Mahayana Buddhist sects, the monks, and those who are popularly known as bonzes, can hardly be said to exercise definitely sacerdotal functions in the temples, monasteries, and shrines. For the most part these functions have been confined to recitations and invocations, which all of the believers share. In China the Taoist “priesthood” emerged as an organized institution

Denham, Sir James Steuart, 4th Baronet

2005-03-21T11:44:00.000-08:00

Denham was educated at the University of Edinburgh (1724–25). In the course of continental travels following his qualification as a lawyer (1735), he became embroiled in the Jacobite cause. His involvement in the 1745 rebellion of the Stuart pretender to the throne

Arts, Central Asian, Siberian tribes

2005-03-19T17:47:00.000-08:00

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

Ejaculatory Duct

2005-03-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

Either of two hollow tubes, each formed by union of the ampulla of a ductus deferens (q.v.) and the excretory duct of a seminal vesicle (q.v.). The ducts, which open into the urethra about halfway through the prostate gland (q.v.), function to mix the sperm stored in the ampulla with fluids secreted by the seminal vesicles and to transport these substances to the prostate.

Permafrost, Polygonal ground

2005-03-19T05:42:00.000-08:00

One of the most widespread geomorphic features associated with permafrost is the microrelief pattern on the surface of the ground generally called polygonal ground, or tundra polygons. This pattern, which covers thousands of square miles of the Arctic and less in the subarctic, is caused by an intersecting network of shallow troughs delineating polygons 3 to

Roman Script

2005-03-18T20:28:00.000-08:00

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

Endocrine System, Human, Hyperaldosteronism (Conn's syndrome)

2005-03-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

In 1955, an American internist, Jerome Conn, described a form of high blood pressure associated with hypokalemia and reduced acidity of the blood (alkalosis) in patients who harboured a benign tumour of adrenal glomerulosa cells. These patients were found to have high levels of aldosterone in the circulation, and for most the hypertension and hypokalemia disappeared

Tabula Rasa

2005-03-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

Comparison of the mind to a blank writing-tablet occurs in Aristotle's De anima (4th century BC), and the Stoics as

Siddur

2005-03-17T17:40:00.000-08:00

Plural siddurim , or siddurs Jewish prayer book, which contains the entire Jewish liturgy used on the ordinary sabbath and on weekdays for domestic as well as synagogue ritual. It is distinguished from the mahzor, which is the prayer book used for the High Holidays. The prayers and benedictions of a siddur breathe Old Testament sentiments of praise, thanksgiving, petition, intercession, acknowledgment

Ashfield

2005-03-16T19:31:00.000-08:00

District, administrative and historic county of Nottinghamshire, England. The name is ancient and appeared in the names of the two major towns within the district even before its formation. The two towns are the coal-mining centres of Kirkby-in-Ashfield and Sutton-in-Ashfield, forming, as does the whole district, part of the heavily industrialized western rim of the

Syrian Catholic Church

2005-03-16T11:12:00.000-08:00

An Eastern Catholic church of the Antiochene rite, in communion with Rome since the 17th century. The Christians of Syria had been Monophysites since the 5th century; that is, they rejected the rulings of the Council of Chalcedon (451) and believed in the existence of only one nature in Christ. Attempts at unification with Rome were made, without success, in 1237 and 1247. With the establishment

Aaron

2005-03-16T07:45:00.000-08:00

Aaron continued to live as a symbol in Jewish religion and traditions, and the position of the priests was strengthened after the exile. Also, in the Qumran sect, a Jewish community that flourished in the era just before and contemporary with the birth of Christianity, Aaron was a symbol for a strong priesthood, as can be seen from the Dead Sea Scrolls. At the end of time,

Uzziah

2005-03-16T05:55:00.000-08:00

During the period of Uzziah's

Stabiae

2005-03-15T00:31:00.000-08:00

The town was originally settled by Oscan-speaking people, the native inhabitants of Campania. It entered the Social War (the “war of the allies” against Rome) in 90 BC and was destroyed

Vienna Porcelain

2005-03-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

Ceramic ware made at the Vienna factory in Austria between 1719 and 1864. Claudius Innocentius du Paquier (d. 1751), a Dutchman, began making porcelain there with the help of two workmen from Meissen in Germany. In 1744 he sold the enterprise to the Austrian state. After a succession of different directors, Konrad von Sorgenthal took over the direction in 1784. After Sorgenthal's

South American Nomad, Shellfish gatherers

2005-03-13T18:53:00.000-08:00

In the south the Chono, Alacaluf, and Yámana Indians occupied the whole Chilean archipelago southward to Cape Horn. This is a rugged terrain of islands and fjords with heavy rainfall, an average winter temperature of 32° F (0° C), and an average summer temperature of 50° F (10° C). The dense forests make land travel extremely difficult and horticulture impracticable. The area is poor

Port Hawkesbury

2005-03-13T14:33:00.000-08:00

Town, Inverness county, northeastern Nova Scotia, Canada. It lies along the Strait of Canso, at the southern end of Cape Breton Island, 36 miles (58 km) east of Antigonish. Originally called Ship Harbour, the town was renamed in 1860, possibly for Charles Jenkinson, Baron Hawkesbury (1729–1808). It was a transportation hub, serving as the island terminus for the rail and highway ferries to the

Mordenite

2005-03-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

Hydrated sodium, potassium, and calcium aluminosilicate mineral (Na2,K2,Ca) Al2Si10O24×7H2O, in the zeolite family. It is one of the most abundant zeolites in altered volcanic deposits, and it commonly occurs as white, glassy needles filling veins and cavities in igneous rocks. It is also found in marine sediments, as in the Ural Mountains and in dikes where water has attacked and

Midas

2005-03-12T18:03:00.000-08:00

Abbreviation of Missile Defense Alarm System, any of a series of unmanned U.S. military satellites developed to provide warning against surprise attacks by Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles. Midas was the first such warning system in the world. Launched during the early 1960s, the reconnaissance satellites were equipped with infrared sensors capable of detecting the heat of a ballistic missile's rocket

Belize, Daily life

2005-03-11T17:26:00.000-08:00

The social class of the people—whether they are poor or middle class—affects whether they will have such amenities as a car or television and influences as well whether their children will complete secondary school. Belizeans who have television watch mostly foreign programs, such as Mexican soap operas and North American sports; and the music they listen to largely

Antarctica, Early scientific progress

2005-03-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

The period from the 1760s to about 1900 was one dominated by exploitation of Antarctic and subantarctic seas, particularly along Scotia Ridge. Sealing vessels of many nations, principally American and British but including Argentine, Australian, South African, New Zealand, German, and Norwegian, participated in hunting that eventually led to near extinction of the southern

Feld, Eliot

2005-03-10T20:10:00.000-08:00

Feld performed in the original stage and

Habsburg, House Of

2005-03-10T10:12:00.000-08:00

To allay British and Dutch misgivings, Leopold I and his elder son, the future emperor Joseph I, in 1703 renounced their own claims to Spain in favour of Joseph's brother Charles, so that he might found a second line of Spanish Habsburgs distinct from the imperial; but when Joseph I died, leaving only daughters, in 1711, and was succeeded by his brother as emperor (Charles VI) and as

Stead, Christina Ellen

2005-03-09T21:55:00.000-08:00

Stead was educated at New South Wales Teachers College; she traveled widely and at various times lived in the United States, Paris, and London. In the early 1940s she worked as a screenwriter for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios,

Grayling

2005-03-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1879) of Crawford county, north-central Michigan, U.S., on the Middle Branch of the Au Sable River, one of the most celebrated trout streams in the Midwest, 52 miles (84 km) east of Traverse City. Named for the once plentiful grayling, the city developed as a resort for summer and winter sports. Nearby are the Hartwick Pines, North Higgins Lake, and South Higgins Lake state parks

Augustinian

2005-03-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

Also called Austin, in the Roman Catholic Church, member of any of the religious orders and congregations of men and women whose constitutions are based on the Rule of St. Augustine, instructions on the religious life written by Augustine, the great Western theologian, and widely disseminated after his death, AD 430. More specifically, the name is used to designate members of two main branches

Bilandic, Michael Anthony

2005-03-08T22:47:00.000-08:00

American politician and judge (b. Feb. 13, 1923, Chicago, Ill.—d. Jan. 15, 2002, Chicago), succeeded Richard J. Daley as mayor of Chicago and later served as chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. Bilandic had been a corporate lawyer for 28 years and was serving as chairman of Chicago's City Council finance committee by the time Mayor Daley died in his sixth term in office in December 1976. The City

Sea Hare

2005-03-08T16:34:00.000-08:00

Any marine gastropod of the family Aplysiidae (subclass Opisthobranchia) that is characterized by a shell reduced to a flat plate, prominent tentacles (resembling rabbit ears), and a smooth or warty body. Sea hares eat large seaweeds. An example is the 10-centimetre (4-inch) spotted sea hare (Aplysia dactylomela), a ring-spotted green species living in grassy shallows

Tachinid Fly

2005-03-07T03:58:00.000-08:00

Tachinids are of great importance in the

Earth, Decay of the ring current

2005-03-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

The particles of the ring current have a finite lifetime before being lost to the Earth's atmosphere. Two processes—charge exchange and wave-particle interactions—contribute to this loss. Charge exchange is a process wherein a cold atmospheric neutral particle interacts with a positive ion of the ring current and exchanges an electron. The ion is converted to

Shiels, Robert

2005-03-05T13:21:00.000-08:00

Moving to London, where he was a printer, Shiels was employed by Samuel Johnson as an amanuensis on the Dictionary of the English Language. When this work was completed, Shiels, with others, began the compilation of a five-volume The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland, to the Time of Dean

Porcellanite

2005-03-05T13:06:00.000-08:00

The porcellanite of some authorities is a silicified tuff, a rock composed of volcanic fragments that has been altered

Oss

2005-03-05T10:43:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (commune), Noord-Brabant provincie, south-central Netherlands, east-northeast of 's Hertogenbosch and about 3 miles (5 km) south of the Maas (Meuse) River. A food-processing town noted for margarine and meat products, it also manufactures pharmaceuticals (especially insulin and vitamins), electrical equipment, wool products, boxes, and metalware. Mainly Roman Catholic,

Orzeszkowa, Eliza

2005-03-03T22:55:00.000-08:00

Née Eliza Pawlowska Polish novelist and a leading writer of the Positivist period (the Polish Positivists took their name from Auguste Comte's philosophy but were themselves mainly utilitarians). Questions of education, independence, and marriage in Orzeszkowa's works were eventually overshadowed by issues such

Narasimha

2005-03-03T22:44:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “Man-Lion”), fourth of the 10 avatars (incarnations) of the Hindu god Vishnu. The demon Hiranyakasipu, twin brother of the demon overthrown by Vishnu in his previous incarnation as Varaha, obtained a boon from Brahma that he could not be killed by man or beast, from inside or outside, by day or by night, and that no weapon could harm him. Thus, feeling secure, he began to trouble

Insurance, Underwriting cycle

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

Profits in property and liability insurance have tended to rise and fall in fairly regular patterns lasting between five and seven years from peak to peak; this phenomenon is termed the underwriting cycle. Stages of the underwriting cycle may be described as follows: initially, when profits are relatively high, some insurers, wishing to expand sales, start to lower

Amorphous Solid

2005-03-02T21:05:00.000-08:00

Solids and liquids are both forms of condensed matter; both are composed of atoms in close proximity to each other. But their properties are, of course, enormously different. While a solid material has both a well-defined

Switzerland, History

2005-03-02T05:40:00.000-08:00

Historical overviews are provided by Handbuch der schweizer Geschichte, 2 vol. (1972–77); Peter Dürrenmatt, Schweizer Geschichte (1957, reissued in 2 vol., 1976); Edgar Bonjour, H.S. Offler, and G.R. Potter, A Short History of Switzerland (1952, reprinted 1985); Georg Thürer, Free and Swiss: The Story of Switzerland (1970; originally published in German, 3rd ed., 1964); Marc-R. Sauter, Switzerland, from Earliest Times to the Roman Conquest (1976); and William Martin, Switzerland: From Roman Times to the Present (1971; originally published in French, 6th ed., 1966). Hektor Ammann and Karl Schib (eds.), Historischen Atlas der Schweiz, 2nd ed. (1958), is an excellent atlas of Swiss history.

Gaucher's Disease

2005-03-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

Rare inherited metabolic disorder characterized by anemia, mental and neurologic impairment, yellowish pigmentation of the skin, and bone deterioration resulting in pathological fractures. Gaucher's disease results when a defect in the body's synthesis of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase allows the lipid glucocerebroside to accumulate in the body's storage

Acre River

2005-03-01T03:13:00.000-08:00

Portuguese Rio Acre, river, chiefly in western Brazil, rising on the Peruvian border, along which it continues eastward to form part of the Brazil–Bolivia border. Turning north at Brasiléia, the remainder of its 400-mi (645-km) course flows in a north-northeasterly direction, through the Brazilian states of Acre and Amazonas, to join the Rio Purus, a tributary of the Amazon, at Bôca do Acre. It was formerly

Süssmayr, Franz Xaver

2005-02-28T05:53:00.000-08:00

Süssmayr was educated at Kremsmünster, a monastery school. In 1788 he settled in Vienna and became a music teacher. He became acquainted with Mozart in 1790/91 and sometimes collaborated with him. From 1792 to 1794 Süssmayr

Socialist Party

2005-02-28T05:13:00.000-08:00

Socialism in France dates back to such Revolutionary figures as Jacques-René Hébert and François-Noël Babeuf and had an illustrious history in the 19th century with such writers and theorists as the Count de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Auguste Blanqui, and Louis Blanc.

Caldecott Medal

2005-02-28T03:17:00.000-08:00

Annual prize awarded “to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.” It was established in 1938 by Frederic G. Melcher, chairman of the board of the R.R. Bowker Publishing Company, and named for the 19th-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is presented at the annual conference of the American Library Association along with the

The Environment

2005-02-27T00:58:00.000-08:00

To the surprise of professional horticulturists, computers had a large impact on the field in 1997. Academics led the way, and numerous universities in industrialized countries converted their reference resources to on-line, searchable form, making them freely available via the World Wide Web. The types of information that were obtained from these sites included

Abemama Atoll

2005-02-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Apamama , formerly Roger Simpson Island coral atoll of the northern Gilbert Islands, part of Kiribati, in the west-central Pacific Ocean. Captain Charles Bishop, who discovered the atoll in 1799, named it Roger Simpson Island for one of his associates. Seat of the area's ruling family in the 19th century, the atoll was the site of the formal British annexation of the Gilbert Island group in 1892. Occupied by Japanese forces

Ekrem, Recaizade Mahmud

2005-02-26T03:10:00.000-08:00

The son of a poet and scholar, Ekrem was apprenticed to a number of government offices after his formal education. Later he became an official in the Council of State and a teacher of Turkish literature at the

Handa

2005-02-25T11:56:00.000-08:00

City, Aichi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. Handa lies on the Chita Peninsula, facing Chita Bay of the Pacific Ocean. It served as an important commercial port during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), when the local production of processed foods and cotton began. An irrigation system in the hills behind the city was opened in 1962. Vegetables, fruit, and flowers are raised in the vicinity

Berezniki

2005-02-24T14:01:00.000-08:00

City, Perm oblast (province), west-central Russia. It is situated on the left bank of the Kama River at the head of the Kama Reservoir. Huge local deposits of salt and potassium have resulted in the city's development as one of the largest chemical centres of Russia, producing nitrogenous fertilizers, potash, nitric and sulfuric acids, soda, chlorine, titanium sponge, and

Fyt, Jan

2005-02-24T07:15:00.000-08:00

Apprenticed to a painter when scarcely more than 10 years old, Fyt was accepted into the Guild of St. Luke as a master at age 20 and over the next 30 years produced a vast number of pictures with facility and power. His forte was the depiction

Windsor

2005-02-24T06:57:00.000-08:00

Town, Windsor and Maidenhead unitary authority, historic county of Berkshire, England. Windsor is situated on the south bank of the River Thames and lies to the west of London. The modern town is dominated by Windsor Castle, standing on the outcrop of chalk on which William I the Conqueror (reigned 1066–87) built the original fortress. The castle is in regular occupation as a

Blondel, Jacques-françois

2005-02-24T02:29:00.000-08:00

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

China, The tide begins to shift

2005-02-22T13:46:00.000-08:00

Although government forces overran Yen-an in March 1947, the strategic initiative passed to the PLA during that year. In midsummer Liu Bocheng started moving toward the Yangtze; by late in the year the Communists had concentrated strong forces in central China. Chen Yi operated on both sides of the Lung-hai, east of K'ai-feng; Liu Bocheng was firmly established in the Ta-pieh

Cinq-mars, Henri Coiffier De Ruzé, Marquis De

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

Cinq-Mars was the son of the marshal Antoine Coiffier-Ruzé, marquis d'Effiat, a close friend of Richelieu, who took the boy under his protection on his father's death in 1632. Richelieu

Kamehameha Iv

2005-02-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

Original name Alexander Liholiho Hawaiian sovereign known for his firm opposition to the annexation of his kingdom by the United States. As Kamehameha IV, he strove to curb the political power of the American Protestant missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands. Dedicated to protecting his people, who were rapidly dying out because of disease, he sponsored

Museum And Picture Gallery

2005-02-21T03:27:00.000-08:00

Art museum in Vadodara (Baroda), Gujarat state, India. It was founded by the Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda in 1894 as a representative collection of masterpieces. The building was constructed between 1908 and 1914, and the gallery formally opened in 1921. The museum displays European paintings, especially English portraits by George Romney and examples from the schools of Sir Joshua Reynolds

Manaus

2005-02-21T01:19:00.000-08:00

City and river port, capital of Amazonas estado (“state”), northwestern Brazil. It lies along the north bank of the Negro River, 11 miles (18 km) above that river's influx into the Amazon River. Manaus is situated in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, 900 miles (1,450 km) inland from the Atlantic coast. The city, on a terrace overlooking the river, is traversed by several side channels called

World War I, Eastern Front strategy, 1914

2005-02-20T23:43:00.000-08:00

Russian Poland, the westernmost part of the Russian Empire, was a thick tongue of land enclosed to the north by East Prussia, to the west by German Poland (Poznania) and by Silesia, and to the south by Austrian Poland (Galicia). It was thus obviously exposed to a two-pronged invasion by the Central Powers; but the Germans, apart from their grand strategy of crushing France

Sunday Times, The

2005-02-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

Founded in 1822 as a nationally circulated paper with an independent editorial policy, The Sunday Times reflects the dignified,

Taboret

2005-02-19T17:00:00.000-08:00

The name acquired a more specialized meaning in France in the late 17th century, when it referred to upholstered stools provided at the palace of Versailles for the more privileged ladies of the court of Louis XIV to sit

Holdenville

2005-02-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1907) of Hughes county, central Oklahoma, U.S. Founded in 1895 and originally called Fentress, the town site was renamed for J.F. Holden, general manager of the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad. The city lies on the edge of the Greater Seminole Oil Field and is a market centre for locally grown agricultural goods. Lake Holdenville, just outside the city, is a popular recreation

Sunday Times, The

2005-02-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

The massive body measured nearly 9 metres (30 feet) long and must have weighed four to five

Aalto, Alvar

2005-02-17T09:19:00.000-08:00

Aalto, whose work exemplifies the best of 20th-century Scandinavian architecture, was one of the first to depart from the stiffly geometric designs common to the early period of the modern movement and to stress informality and personal expression. His style is regarded as both romantic and regional. He used complex forms and varied materials, acknowledged the character

Bukhari, Al-

2005-02-17T07:15:00.000-08:00

In full Abu 'abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Isma'il Al-bukhari one of the greatest Muslim compilers and scholars of Hadith (the recorded corpus of the sayings and acts of the Prophet Muhammad). His chief work is accepted by Sunnite Muslims—i.e., those following the majority tradition—as second only to the Qur'an as both a source of religious law and a sacred

Defiance

2005-02-17T02:57:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1845) of Defiance county, northwestern Ohio, U.S., where the Auglaize and Tiffin rivers meet the Maumee, 60 miles (97 km) southwest of Toledo. Laid out in 1822, Defiance became a market for the farm produce of the Maumee valley and developed industrially after the completion of the Miami and Erie Canal (1845). Manufactures now include screw machine products, hand tools, ferrous castings,

Doyle, Richard

2005-02-16T23:25:00.000-08:00

A student of his father, Doyle regularly contributed (from 1843) decorations, theatre sketches, and political caricatures to Punch. The cover

Oruro

2005-02-16T14:54:00.000-08:00

City, west-central Bolivia. It lies at 12,150 feet (3,702 m) above sea level in the Altiplano region, 30 miles (48 km) north of Poopó Lake. Founded in 1606 as Real Villa de San Felipe de Austria (“Royal Town of St. Philip of Austria”), Oruro rose to prominence during the Spanish colonial period as the centre of a rich silver-mining region. It lost importance with the decline of silver production in the 19th

Tacoma Narrows Bridge

2005-02-16T00:08:00.000-08:00

First suspension bridge across the Narrows of Puget Sound, connecting the Olympic Peninsula with the mainland of Washington state, U.S., and a landmark failure in engineering history. Four months after its opening, on the morning of November 7, 1940, in a wind of about 42 miles (67 km) per hour, the 2,800-foot (840-metre) main span, which had already exhibited a marked flexibility, went into a series

Natural Bridges National Monument

2005-02-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

The largest bridge, Sipapu, rises 220 feet

Devonport

2005-02-13T22:53:00.000-08:00

Town, northern Tasmania, Australia. It lies near the mouth of the River Mersey, which empties into Bass Strait. One of the state's largest communities, it was formed through the amalgamation in 1893 of the villages of Torquay (east bank) and Formby (west), both of which had been founded in the 1850s. A major service centre with port facilities, Devonport is on the Bass Highway and a rail

Kambalda

2005-02-13T16:53:00.000-08:00

Mining town, southern Western Australia. It lies 37 miles (60 km) south of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Gold was mined there from 1896 to 1906, but the site's modern importance dates from 1966, when deposits of high-grade nickel were discovered in the vicinity. The nickel ores are smelted at Kalgoorlie-Boulder, refined at Kwinana (south of Perth), or carried southward to the port of Esperance for shipment.

Bruno Of Querfurt, Saint

2005-02-13T15:44:00.000-08:00

A member of the family of the counts of Querfurt, Bruno was educated at the cathedral school at Magdeburg, Saxony, and at the age of 20 he was attached to the clerical household of the Holy Roman emperor Otto III. In 997 he accompanied Otto to Rome, where he was

Brazil, Guiana Highlands

2005-02-13T07:21:00.000-08:00

Brazil shares the rugged Guiana Highlands with Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Forested mesas and mountain ranges, scenic waterfalls, and white-water rivers characterize the area. The highest point in Brazil is Neblina Peak, which reaches 9,888 feet (3,014 metres) along the Venezuelan border in the Serra do Imeri. The Serra da Pacaraima, farther east, rises to 9,094 feet

Radar, Interference

2005-02-12T23:04:00.000-08:00

Signals from nearby radars and other transmitters can be strong enough to enter a radar receiver and produce spurious responses. Well-trained operators are not often deceived by interference, though they may find it a nuisance. Interference is not as easily ignored by automatic detection and tracking systems, however, and so some method is usually needed to recognize

Coral Sea, Battle Of The

2005-02-12T15:24:00.000-08:00

By the end of April 1942 the Japanese were ready to seize control of the Coral Sea (between Australia and New Caledonia) by establishing air bases at Port Moresby in southeastern New Guinea and at Tulagi in the

China, Economy

2005-02-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

Information on railway, air, and highway communication may be found in general works on the Chinese economy cited in the previous paragraph. For the role of transportation in the history of Western influence on China and on regional economics, see Shun-hsin Chou, “Railway Development and Economic Growth in Manchuria,” China Quarterly, no. 45, pp. 57–84 (1971). Articles on transportation appear intermittently in Beijing Review (weekly).

Ambrose D'évreux

2005-02-10T21:53:00.000-08:00

Norman poet and chronicler who accompanied Richard I of England as a minstrel on the Third Crusade. Nothing more is known of him than that he was probably a native of Évreux and was a noncombatant making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. His account of the Crusade is preserved in the Estoire de la guerre sainte (“History of the Holy War”), a poem of over 12,000 lines extant in an Anglo-Norman

Lipton, Sir Thomas Johnstone, 1st Baronet

2005-02-10T09:48:00.000-08:00

Lipton, whose Irish parents ran a small grocery, immigrated to the United States in 1865. After five years at various jobs, he returned to Glasgow and opened a small provision shop, whose success led him to open other shops throughout the United Kingdom. To supply his retail

Biblical Literature, The version of Aquila

2005-02-09T08:24:00.000-08:00

About 130 CE, Aquila, a convert to Judaism from Pontus in Asia Minor, translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek under the supervision of Rabbi Akiba. Executed with slavish literalness, it attempted to reproduce the most minute detail of the original, even to the extent of coining derivations from Greek roots to correspond to Hebrew usage. Little of it has survived, however, except

Hunan, Industry

2005-02-09T06:16:00.000-08:00

The main coal measures are located in the south. Coal was little developed

Biblical Literature, The version of Aquila

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

Founded in New York City in 1976 as little more than a social club, the charter organization of the AWU grew into a major clearinghouse and support agency for Asian and Pacific American women in the United States. Having absorbed several scattered