OppositePluto

Scotland, Daily life and social customs

2005-04-05T20:54:00.000-07:00

Although bagpipes have ancient origins elsewhere and are found throughout the world, they are one of the most recognized symbols of Scottish culture. By the 16th century, various clans had established hereditary pipers, and later the instrument was used in wartime to inflame the passions of soldiers in battle. The form of the kilt, Scotland's national costume, has evolved

Kiev

2005-04-03T10:56:00.000-07:00

Ukrainian Kyyiv, Russian Kiyev, also spelled Kyiv oblast (province), north-central Ukraine. In the mid-1990s the oblast was separated administratively from the city of Kiev, which serves as the oblast capital though it is a self-governing city not under oblast jurisdiction. The oblast lies astride the Dnieper River, with the greater part on the western bank. Most of the oblast thus lies on the low, flat plain of the Dnieper

Ha'apai Group

2005-04-01T14:38:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Haabai Group, central island cluster of Tonga, in the South Pacific Ocean about 2,000 miles (3,000 km) northeast of Sydney. Comprising 36 coral and volcanic islands, the group has a total land area of 43 square miles (110 square km), dispersed over about 5,000 square miles (13,000 square km). The administrative headquarters and principal port in the group is Pangai, which is situated on the west coast of Lifuka, a crescent-shaped

Tea

2005-03-29T05:57:00.000-08:00

Beverage produced by steeping in freshly boiled water the young leaves and leaf buds of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis. Two principal varieties are used, the small-leaved China plant (C. sinensis sinensis) and the large-leaved Assam plant (C. sinensis assamica). Hybrids of these two varieties are also grown. The leaves may be fermented or left unfermented.

Azerbaijan, Russian suzerainty

2005-03-27T14:21:00.000-08:00

After a series of wars between the Russian Empire and Iran, the treaties of Gulistan (1813) and Turkmenchai (1828) established a new border between the empires. Russia acquired Baku, Shirvan, Ganja, Nakhichevan (Naxçivan), and Yerevan. Henceforth the Azerbaijani Turks of Caucasia were separated from the majority of their linguistic and religious compatriots, who remained in Iran.

Irminger Current

2005-03-26T14:50:00.000-08:00

Branch of the warm North Atlantic Current, flowing generally westward along the south coast of Iceland. It divides into two currents west of Iceland. One proceeds northward and then eastward around Iceland, and the other flows westward and then southwestward, merging with the East Greenland and, eventually, the West Greenland currents. The Irminger Current is a

Swaminathan, M(onkombu) S(ambisivan)

2005-03-24T00:49:00.000-08:00

Swaminathan, the son of a surgeon, was educated in India and at the University of Cambridge (Ph.D., 1952) as a geneticist.

Anthony, Katharine (susan)

2005-03-23T03:30:00.000-08:00

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

Hadano

2005-03-22T06:19:00.000-08:00

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

Porcupine Fish

2005-03-21T21:20:00.000-08:00

Porcupine fishes are short and broad-bodied, with large eyes, beaklike teeth, and skins set with spines, hence the name. These spines are short and permanently

Barmakids

2005-03-20T08:08:00.000-08:00

Khalid ibn Barmak is the first Barmakid about whom much is known. He first appears in the mid-8th century as a supporter of the revolutionary movement that established the 'Abbasid caliphate. In 747 Khalid was put in charge of the distribution of spoils when the 'Abbasid army moved toward Iraq. Afterward, he was sent to Dayr Qunna to administer the district. Under the 'Abbasid caliph

Quadrature

2005-03-20T04:47:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, that aspect of a heavenly body in which its direction as seen from the Earth makes a right angle with the direction of the Sun. The Moon at First or Last Quarter is said to be at east or west quadrature, respectively. A superior planet (outside the Earth's orbit) is at west quadrature when its position is 90° west of the Sun. It rises around midnight, reaches the meridian

Paderborn

2005-03-18T15:09:00.000-08:00

City, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), central Germany, on the Pader River, a small affluent of the Lippe, formed from rain seepage on the slope of the Eggegebirge and emerging from below the cathedral in about 200 springs. Paderborn was the birthplace of the Holy Roman Empire when Charlemagne met Pope Leo III there in 799 to discuss the founding of a German nation. Excavation

Settle

2005-03-18T01:11:00.000-08:00

Long wooden bench with backrest and arms, designed to seat several people. Originating in Europe in the 10th century, it was apparently derived from the chest, a resemblance often retained, with additional elements based on the monastic choir stall. It could be used for a variety of purposes: as a seat, a bed, a chest, and, in examples with a hinged backrest that can be turned

Soga Iruka

2005-03-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

In 587, after defeating the rival Mononobe clan, the Soga family completely dominated the imperial court. Soga Umako, Iruka's grandfather, was content to remain in the background

Mysticism, Union of opposites

2005-03-15T06:59:00.000-08:00

Mystical experience is flanked with a communication hazard, a “polar identity.” The linguistic liberties and extravagances are part of the logical impossibility of having to describe one order of experience in terms of another. Hence, the rhetoric of mysticism is largely one of symbols and paradoxes. The most striking of the strategies, as the medieval Christian

Gabor, Dennis

2005-03-14T16:10:00.000-08:00

A research engineer for the firm of Siemens and Halske in Berlin from 1927, Gabor fled Nazi Germany in 1933 and worked with the Thomson-Houston Company

Morris

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

County, northern New Jersey, U.S., bounded by the Musconetcong River and Lake Hopatcong to the west, the Pequannock and Pompton rivers to the north, and the Passaic River to the east. It consists largely of a piedmont and upland region, with swampy lowlands in the southeast, and is drained by the Black, Rockaway, and Raritan (south branch) rivers. Among its numerous lakes are

Hayek, Friedrich Von

2005-03-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

Hayek studied law, psychology, and economics at the University of Vienna, receiving a doctorate in 1923. He spent the following

Kikutake Kiyonori

2005-03-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Waseda University (1950), Kikutake worked for several architectural firms and then opened his own office (1953). The work that first brought him to international notice was Sky House (1957), his own home, a building of one room elevated on

Amphibole

2005-03-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

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

Conspiracy

2005-03-09T07:04:00.000-08:00

In common law, an agreement between two or more persons to commit an unlawful act or to accomplish a lawful end by unlawful means. Conspiracy is perhaps the most amorphous area in Anglo-American criminal law. Its terms are vaguer and more elastic than any conception of conspiracy to be found in the continental European codes or their imitators. In most civil-law countries,

Han-tan

2005-03-07T21:07:00.000-08:00

The area was already settled

Clapperton, Hugh

2005-03-07T14:52:00.000-08:00

The first European explorer in West Africa to return with a firsthand account of the region now known as northern Nigeria. Following service in the Royal Navy, he joined explorers Dixon Denham and Walter Oudney in a British government expedition that journeyed southward from Tripoli across the Sahara. Early

Adamawa

2005-03-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

The Mandara Mountains lie in the northeastern part of the state along the Cameroon border,

Amphibole Asbestos

2005-03-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

A variety of the silicate mineral actinolite (q.v.).

Ercker, Lazarus

2005-03-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

Ercker studied at the University of Wittenberg (1547–48) and in 1554 was appointed assayer at Dresden, the first of many such positions he held in the state bureaucracy of Saxony. After 1567 he became control tester of coins at Kutná Hora, near Prague. In his great work, Beschreibung

Mitchell, Mount

2005-03-04T09:13:00.000-08:00

Highest peak in North Carolina and in the United States east of the Mississippi River, reaching an elevation of 6,684 feet (2,037 metres). It is located in Yancey county, in the western part of the state, about 20 miles (30 km) northeast of Asheville in the Black Mountains. The peak, covered with a mantle of hardwoods, pine, spruce, and balsam, is within Mount Mitchell State Park and Pisgah National

Biochemistry

2005-03-02T14:42:00.000-08:00

Study of the chemical substances and processes that occur in plants, animals, and microorganisms and of the changes they undergo during development and life. It deals with the chemistry of life, and as such it draws on the techniques of analytical, organic, and physical chemistry, as well as those of physiologists concerned with the molecular basis of vital processes.

Abkhazo-adyghian Languages

2005-03-01T01:18:00.000-08:00

Also called Northwest Caucasian Languages, group of languages spoken primarily in the northwestern part of the Caucasus Mountains. The languages of this group—Abkhaz, Abaza, Adyghian, Kabardian (Circassian), and the nearly extinct Ubykh—are noted for the great number of distinctive consonants and limited number of distinctive vowels in their sound systems.

Armstrong, Henry

2005-02-28T23:52:00.000-08:00

Armstrong fought as an amateur from 1929 to 1932. Early in his career he boxed under the name Melody Jackson. He first won the featherweight (126-pound) title by knocking out Petey Sarron in

Romains, Jules

2005-02-27T07:13:00.000-08:00

Romains studied science and philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. After teaching philosophy

Kiangsi, Climate

2005-02-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

Situated in the subtropical belt, Kiangsi has a hot and humid summer lasting more than four months, except in spots of high elevation, such as Lu-shan. High temperatures in Nan-ch'ang in July and August average 95° F (35° C). In winter temperature variations between north and south are greater. January temperatures in the north at times fall to 25° F (-4° C), while those in the south average

Saint-gaudens, Augustus

2005-02-25T00:15:00.000-08:00

Saint-Gaudens was born to a French father and an Irish mother. His family moved to New York City when he was an infant and at age 13 he was apprenticed

Pietermaritzburg

2005-02-24T01:35:00.000-08:00

City, south-central KwaZulu/Natal province, South Africa. It lies in the Umsindusi River valley, at the base of a tree-covered escarpment, inland from Durban. Boers from the Cape Colony, who founded it in 1839 after a victory over the Zulus at Blood River, named it to honour their dead leaders Piet Retief and Gerrit Maritz. The British took control in 1843 and built Fort Napier (now

Judaism, Sa'adia ben Joseph

2005-02-23T23:52:00.000-08:00

This belief in reason, as well as some of the tenets of Mu'tazilite theology, were taken over by Sa'adia ben Joseph, who was also influenced, either directly or through the intermediary of an Arabic philosopher, by the arguments of a Christian 6th-century philosopher, John Philoponus, against certain Aristotelian and Neoplatonic positions. Sa'adia's main theological

As You Like It

2005-02-21T13:04:00.000-08:00

The play has two principal settings: the court that Frederick has usurped from his brother, the rightful duke (known as Duke Senior), and the Forest of Arden, where the Duke and his followers

Yeshiva University

2005-02-21T11:04:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in New York, New York, U.S. It is a comprehensive research university comprising six undergraduate schools and seven graduate or professional schools at the Main Campus in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, the Midtown Center in Manhattan's Murray Hill area, the Brookdale Center on Fifth Avenue in

Madonie, Le

2005-02-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

Also called Monti Madonie, mountain range in Palermo provincia, northwest-central Sicily. The range extends for 30 miles (48 km) between the Torto River and the Nebrodi Mountains. Of limestone formation, its highest peaks are Antenna Peak, 6,480 feet (1,975 m), and Carbonara Peak, 6,493 feet (1,979 m). The Madonie is the source of several rivers and is known for its underground drainage system, which provides drinking water for

Alligator

2005-02-19T10:06:00.000-08:00

(genus Alligator), either of two longsnouted, crocodilian reptiles usually placed with the South American caimans in the family Alligatoridae. Alligators, like other crocodilians, are large, lizardlike animals with powerful tails that are used both in defense and in swimming. Their eyes, ears, and nostrils are placed on top of their long

Denmark Strait

2005-02-18T22:29:00.000-08:00

Channel partially within the Arctic Circle, lying between Greenland (west) and Iceland (east). About 180 miles (290 km) wide at its narrowest point, the strait extends southward for 300 miles (483 km) from the Greenland Sea to the open waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. The cold East Greenland Current flows southward along the west side of the strait and carries icebergs, which originate

Cordia

2005-02-15T22:10:00.000-08:00

The leaves of the tropical American geiger tree, aloewood, or sebesten plum (C.

Mercer

2005-02-15T19:10:00.000-08:00

Algonquian-speaking Delaware Indians ceded control of the region

Carnivore, Natural history

2005-02-14T09:17:00.000-08:00

Canids are basically meat eaters, although some vegetable matter is taken. The gray or timber wolf (Canis lupus), the African hunting dog (Lycaon pictus), and the dhole, or wild dog of India (Cuon alpinus), are strictly carnivorous. The various foxes and jackals, coyotes, and the raccoon dog eat whatever food is abundant—small mammals, birds, insects, crustaceans, mollusks, fruits,

Defence Of India Act

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

By 1918 there were about 800 internees

Jupiter, Other satellites

2005-02-12T23:32:00.000-08:00

The only other Jovian satellite that was close enough to the trajectories of the Voyager spacecraft in 1979 to allow surface features to be seen was Amalthea. So small that its gravitational field is not strong enough to deform it into a sphere, it has an irregular, oblong shape (see Table). Like Io, its surface exhibits a reddish colour that may result from a coating of sulfur

Can Tho

2005-02-11T17:19:00.000-08:00

Municipality and provincial seat of Hau Giang tinh (province), Mekong delta region, southeastern Vietnam. Situated on the left bank of the Song (river) Hau Giang, 90 mi (145 km) southwest of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), it is an industrial centre and the largest city of the flat delta region, which includes the Ca Mau Peninsula and the principal rice-growing areas of the country.

Martyr

2005-02-09T17:12:00.000-08:00

The universality of persecution throughout its history has engendered in Judaism an explicit ideal of martyrdom. It begins with Abraham, who according to legend was cast into a lime kiln and saved from the fire by divine grace. The tradition was continued by Isaac, who consented to be sacrificed by his father, and by Daniel, whose example compelled the popular imagination.

Maharashtra

2005-02-07T17:26:00.000-08:00

State of India that occupies a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau in the western peninsular part of the subcontinent. Its shape roughly resembles a triangle, with the 450-mile (725-kilometre) western coastline forming the base and the interior narrowing to a blunt apex some 500 miles to the east. It has an area of 118,809 square miles (307,713 square kilometres). It is bounded by the states

Kodiak Island

2005-02-07T16:58:00.000-08:00

Island, southern Alaska, U.S. It lies in the Gulf of Alaska and is separated from the Alaska Peninsula by Shelikof Strait. Kodiak Island is 100 miles (160 km) long and 10–60 miles (16–96 km) wide. It has an area of 3,588 square miles (9,293 square km). Heavily forested in the higher eastern regions and covered with grasses in lower areas, it is primarily hilly (exceeding 5,000 feet [1,500 metres] near the eastern coast). The

Interlocutory Decree

2005-02-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

Generally, a judicial decision that is not final or that deals with a point other than the principal subject matter of the controversy at hand. An interlocutory decree of divorce in the United States or a decree nisi in England, for example, is a judicial decree pronouncing the divorce of the parties provisionally but not terminating the marriage until the expiration

Devil's Advocate

2005-02-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

Latin Advocatus Diaboli, in the Roman Catholic church, the promoter of the faith, who critically examines the life of and miracles attributed to an individual proposed for beatification or canonization. He is popularly called the devil's advocate because his presentation of facts includes everything unfavourable to the candidate. Pope Leo X, in the early 15th century, seems to have introduced

France, History Of, Gaul under the late Roman Empire (c. 250c. 400)

2005-02-03T15:12:00.000-08:00

High Roman Gaul came to an end in an empirewide crisis characterized by foreign invasions and a rapid succession of rulers, as increased pressure on the empire's frontiers exacerbated its internal economic and political weaknesses. Priority was given to holding the Danube and the East; despite sporadic visits by emperors, the West was neglected. In 260 and 276 Gaul suffered

Tsou Yen

2005-02-02T15:59:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Zou Yan Chinese philosopher of the ancient state of Ch'i (present-day Shantung), and leading exponent of the Yin–Yang school. The only account of his life is a brief one in the Shih chi (“Historical Records”). To him is attributed the association of the Five Agents theory with the Yin–Yang doctrine. Nature was thought to consist of changing combinations of the Five Agents (metal, wood,

Abel, Rudolf (ivanovich)

2005-02-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

Genrich Fischer (or Fisher), Abel's father and a friend of

San Clemente

2005-01-30T14:59:00.000-08:00

City, Orange county, southern California, U.S. It lies along the Pacific Ocean, midway between San Diego and Los Angeles. Founded in 1925 as a real-estate development, the site was named for offshore San Clemente Island, which was named by the Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno to honour St. Clement. Chiefly residential, the city gained national prominence in 1969 when President

Talat Pasa

2005-01-30T08:41:00.000-08:00

The son of a minor Ottoman official, Talat joined the staff of the telegraph company in Edirne, but he was soon arrested (1893) for subversive political activity. Released two years later, he was appointed chief

Holmium

2005-01-29T15:27:00.000-08:00

(Ho), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table, one of the most paramagnetic substances known. Among the least abundant of the rare-earth elements, holmium and its compounds have limited application except for research. Holmium has been used as a component of some electronic devices; the trivalent ion has been used as a catalyst

Padre Island

2005-01-28T03:09:00.000-08:00

Barrier island, 113 miles (182 km) long and up to 3 miles (5 km) wide, lying along the Gulf Coast of Texas, U.S. It extends south from Corpus Christi to Port Isabel and is separated from the mainland by Laguna Madre. The island consists largely of grassy dunes and a broad beach that yields shellfish such as clams and marine snails. The area is well known for its mackerel, sailfish, and tarpon

Papagos, Alexandros

2005-01-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

Papagos, commissioned in 1906, saw his first service in the Balkan Wars (1912–13). He took part in the Greek invasion of Turkey (1919–22), won promotion to the rank of major general (1927), and became corps commander and minister of war (1935); the following year he was named chief of

Koroec, Anton

2005-01-26T00:17:00.000-08:00

A Jesuit priest and a noted orator, he shared, and exploited politically, the Slovene fear of Italian expansion; his dislike of Italy outweighed his distaste for Serb domination

Bridgend

2005-01-25T07:02:00.000-08:00

Welsh Pen-y-Bont ar Ogwr county borough, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), southern Wales. Bridgend county borough extends from the mining valleys of Ogmore, Garw, and Llynfi in the north to the arable lowlands and an extensive coastline in the south. Discoveries of Bronze Age and Iron Age artifacts have been made near the village of Merthyr Mawr, and the remains of many Norman castles

Saldanha, João Carlos De Saldanha, Duke (duque) De

2005-01-24T20:06:00.000-08:00

Saldanha joined the Portuguese army at an early age and fought in the Peninsular War (1808–14) in Portugal and Brazil. He was appointed captain general of the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul in 1821 but returned to Portugal

Gyges

2005-01-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

According to all the ancient sources, Gyges came to the throne after slaying King Candaules and marrying his queen, but there are several versions of the event itself. Herodotus wrote that Candaules, who was inordinately proud of

Burglary

2005-01-22T15:14:00.000-08:00

In criminal law, the breaking and entering of the premises of another with an intent to commit a felony within. Burglary is one of the specific crimes included in the general category of theft (q.v.).

Spanish Literature, Drama

2005-01-21T21:41:00.000-08:00

With the new century, drama achieved renewed vigour under the stimulus of Jacinto Benavente y Martínez, a prolific playwright noted for his craftsmanship and wit. A social satirist preoccupied with ethics, Benavente stopped short of alienating the sympathies of his devoted upper-class public, as, for example, in Los intereses creados (1907; The Bonds of Interest). The bourgeois

Kiangsi, Climate

2005-01-19T04:14:00.000-08:00

Brazil, Visual arts

2005-01-19T04:11:00.000-08:00

The landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx has made urban Brazilians especially aware of the splendours of their natural environment by replacing the traditional, formal European-style gardens containing imported plants with a profusion of native species in approximation to their natural settings. Some of Marx's landscapes have been used to set off the imaginative

Morocco, The pre-World War II period

2005-01-17T15:57:00.000-08:00

Abd al-Hafid

Ben Nevis

2005-01-16T02:10:00.000-08:00

Highest mountain of the British Isles, in the Highland council area, Scotland. Its summit, reaching an elevation of 4,406 feet (1,343 metres), is a plateau of about 100 acres (40 hectares), with a slight slope to the south and a sheer face to the northeast. Snow lies in some parts all year, and permafrost conditions are almost reached. The mountain consists of a superstructure of volcanic rocks

Combinatorics, Characterization problems of graph theory

2005-01-15T18:42:00.000-08:00

If there is a class C of graphs each of which possesses a certain set of properties P, then the set of properties P is said to characterize the class C, provided every graph G possessing the properties P belongs to the class C. Sometimes it happens that there are some exceptional graphs that possess the properties P. Many such characterizations are known. Here is presented a typical

Textile, Napping and shearing

2005-01-15T04:04:00.000-08:00

Napping is a process that may be applied to woollens, cottons, spun silks, and spun rayons, including both woven and knitted types, to raise a velvety, soft surface. The process involves passing the fabric over revolving cylinders covered with fine wires that lift the short, loose fibres, usually from the weft yarns, to the surface, forming a nap. The process, which increases

Aroostook War

2005-01-13T17:38:00.000-08:00

(1838–39), bloodless conflict over the disputed boundary between the U.S. state of Maine and the British Canadian province of New Brunswick. The peace treaty of 1783 ending the American Revolution had left unclear the location of a supposed “highlands,” or watershed, dividing the two areas. Negotiators from Britain and the United States in subsequent years failed to come to an agreement,

Textile, Napping and shearing

2005-01-13T06:54:00.000-08:00

At a proposed merger between the ABA and the NBA, a class action was instituted by ABA players alleging violations of the

Usolye-sibirskoye

2005-01-10T16:08:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Usolje-Sibirskoje, or Usole-Sibirskoe, city, Irkutsk oblast (province), east-central Russia. It lies along the Angara River and the Trans-Siberian Railroad. The city is an old centre of salt production that continues as a major producer of caustic soda. Other plants produce machinery and synthetic rubber. A health resort is nearby. Pop. (1995 est.) 106,000.

Sardana

2005-01-10T03:30:00.000-08:00

Communal dance intimately bound up with Catalan national consciousness. It is danced by men and women who join hands alternately in a closed circle. As they dance to the music of tenores and tabales (shawms and small drums), their faces remain solemn and dignified. The basic pattern of the sardana is a series of long (llarg) and short (curt) steps; the precise combination

Sommer, Ferdinand

2005-01-09T06:45:00.000-08:00

During his academic career, Sommer held professorships at the universities of Basel (1902–09), Rostock (1909–13), Jena (1913–24), Bonn (1924–26), and Munich (1926–51). His most important works include Handbuch der lateinischen Laut- und Formenlehre (1902; “Handbook of Latin Phonology

Writ

2005-01-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

In common law, order issued by a court in the name of a sovereign authority requiring the performance of a specific act. The most common modern writs are those, such as the summons, used to initiate an action. Other writs may be used to enforce the judgment of a court (attachment, delivery) or to require a lower court to furnish certain records (error) or perform a certain act

Freedom Rides

2005-01-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

In 1946 the U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in interstate bus travel. A year later the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Fellowship of Reconciliation tested the ruling by staging the Journey of Reconciliation, on which

Qi Baishi

2005-01-05T04:19:00.000-08:00

Qi was of humble origins, and it was largely through his own efforts that he became adept at the arts of poetry, calligraphy, and painting. He was active to the end of his long life and served as head of the Beijing Institute of Chinese

Arochukwu

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

Also spelled Arochuku, town, Abia state, southern Nigeria. It lies along the road from Calabar to Umuahia. Arochukwu was the headquarters of the Aro, an Igbo (Ibo) subgroup that dominated southeastern Nigeria in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was the seat of the sacred Chuku shrine, the source of a much-feared oracle (called Long Juju by the Europeans) that acted as a judge for the Igbo supreme deity

French Confederation Of Christian Workers

2005-01-01T23:47:00.000-08:00

French Confédération Française des Travailleurs Chrétiens (CFTC), French labour-union federation that was founded in 1919 by Roman Catholic workers who opposed both the syndicalist and communist movements of the day. The confederation, based on Catholic social and anti-Marxist principles, rejected the theory of class warfare but occasionally collaborated on strikes with the leftist General Confederation of Labour (Confédération

Rzhev

2005-01-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Rzev city, Tver oblast (province), northwestern Russia. It lies along the upper Volga River at the crossing of the Moscow-Riga and St. Petersburg–Bryansk trunk railways. First mentioned in 1216 as an independent princedom, Rzhev has always been a route centre on the western approaches to Moscow. The city has had a stormy history. It was held at various times by the princes of Tver

Floral Decoration

2004-12-30T07:16:00.000-08:00

Many different kinds of plant materials are used in floral decorations, among them flowers, foliage, grasses, grains, branches, berries, seeds, nuts, cones, fruits, and vegetables. The materials may be living, dried, or artificial. Initially, man was restricted to using native wildings, or uncultivated plants, but as civilization developed over a period of thousands of

Drake, Alfred

2004-12-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

While a junior at Brooklyn College, Drake joined a summer company performing Gilbert and

Lockheed Martin Corporation

2004-12-28T17:31:00.000-08:00

Lockheed Corporation dates to 1912 when Allan Loughead, his brother Malcolm, and Max Mamlock, who at the time was head of Alco Cab Company, founded Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company to build the Loughead brothers' floatplane design, the Model G. After a year the company became dormant, but in 1915 the Loughead brothers bought out the interests of other investors to acquire control

Conscience

2004-12-28T05:42:00.000-08:00

Historically, almost every culture

Rackets

2004-12-26T06:48:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Racquets, game played with a ball and a strung racket in an enclosed court, all four walls of which are used in play. Rackets is played with a hard ball in a relatively large court, usually about 18 m (60 ft) long by 9 m wide—unlike the related game of squash rackets (q.v.), which is played with a soft ball on a smaller court.

Fabritius, Carel

2004-12-26T04:52:00.000-08:00

He was the son of a schoolmaster, who is said to have been a part-time painter, and both Carel and his brother Barent became painters; both

Paddle Tennis

2004-12-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

Small-scale form of tennis similar to a British shipboard game of the 1890s. Frank P. Beal, a New York City official, introduced paddle tennis on New York playgrounds in the early 1920s. He had invented it as a child in Albion, Mich. It became popular, and national championship tournaments are still held in the United States. Platform tennis, a later development, is sometimes called

Bioelectricity

2004-12-23T13:47:00.000-08:00

Bioelectric effects were known in ancient times from

Bahia

2004-12-22T17:23:00.000-08:00

Estado (“state”) of eastern Brazil. It is bounded on the northwest by Piauí state, north by Pernambuco state, northeast by Alagoas and Sergipe states, east by the Atlantic Ocean, southeast by Espírito Santo state, south by Minas Gerais state, and west by Tocantins and Goiás states. Bahia has an area of 216,613 square miles (561,026 square km). The capital, Salvador, a port commanding an inlet

Deighton, Len

2004-12-22T05:24:00.000-08:00

Deighton was educated at St. Martin's School of Art, London, and the Royal College of Art. He worked at a number of jobs after graduation, including pastry cook,

France, History Of, Principalities north of the Loire

2004-12-20T20:49:00.000-08:00

The northernmost of these was Flanders, whose founder, Baldwin I Iron-Arm (862–879), managed not only to abduct the Carolingian king's daughter and marry her but also to win that king's approval as count of Ghent. His authority

Rurik Dynasty

2004-12-17T11:47:00.000-08:00

Rurik's successor Oleg (d. 912) conquered Kiev (c. 882) and established control of the trade route extending from

Cheddar

2004-12-17T05:41:00.000-08:00

Village (“parish”), Sedgemoor district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, England, at the mouth of a spectacular limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills. The gorge (now owned by the National Trust) and caverns, in which human remains and artifacts dating back to the Stone Age have been found, attract many tourists. Cheddar cheese was first made there at or before

Spanish Literature, The Romantic movement

2004-12-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

Literature in Spain in the first third of the 19th century was still affected by the Napoleonic Wars and their long aftermath. Many liberals driven into exile by Ferdinand VII after 1823 sought refuge in France; and, when they returned to Spain after his death in 1833, they had been so influenced by French Romanticism that this date has been taken as the beginning of the Romantic

Drilling Machinery

2004-12-16T17:31:00.000-08:00

Most modern drilling machines are either percussive (chipping rock or ground intermittently

Lighter

2004-12-14T22:27:00.000-08:00

Shallow-draft boat or barge, usually flat-bottomed, used in unloading (lightening) or loading ships offshore. Use of lighters requires extra handling and thus extra time and expense and is largely confined to ports without enough traffic to justify construction of piers or wharves. Lighters are also used in transporting freight for short distances, as around harbours.

Natchez Trace Parkway

2004-12-14T05:43:00.000-08:00

Old road and one of the most scenic highways in the United States, about 450 mi (725 km) long, following an Indian trail, or trace, northeastward from Natchez, Miss., across northwestern Alabama to Nashville, Tenn. Originally an Indian trail, from 1800 to 1820 it was the most important highway in the Old Southwest—militarily, economically, and politically. With the advent of the river steamer

OppositePluto

Scotland, Daily life and social customs

Kiev

Ha'apai Group

Tea

Azerbaijan, Russian suzerainty

Irminger Current

Swaminathan, M(onkombu) S(ambisivan)

Anthony, Katharine (susan)

Hadano

Porcupine Fish

Barmakids

Quadrature

Paderborn

Settle

Soga Iruka

Mysticism, Union of opposites

Gabor, Dennis

Morris

Hayek, Friedrich Von

Kikutake Kiyonori

Amphibole

Conspiracy

Han-tan

Clapperton, Hugh

Adamawa

Amphibole Asbestos

Ercker, Lazarus

Mitchell, Mount

Biochemistry

Abkhazo-adyghian Languages

Armstrong, Henry

Romains, Jules

Kiangsi, Climate

Saint-gaudens, Augustus

Pietermaritzburg

Judaism, Sa'adia ben Joseph

As You Like It

Yeshiva University

Madonie, Le

Alligator

Denmark Strait

Cordia

Mercer

Carnivore, Natural history

Defence Of India Act

Jupiter, Other satellites

Can Tho

Martyr

Maharashtra

Kodiak Island

Interlocutory Decree

Devil's Advocate

France, History Of, Gaul under the late Roman Empire (c. 250c. 400)

Tsou Yen

Abel, Rudolf (ivanovich)

San Clemente

Talat Pasa

Holmium

Padre Island

Papagos, Alexandros

Koroec, Anton

Bridgend

Saldanha, João Carlos De Saldanha, Duke (duque) De

Gyges

Burglary

Spanish Literature, Drama

Kiangsi, Climate

Brazil, Visual arts

Morocco, The pre-World War II period

Ben Nevis

Combinatorics, Characterization problems of graph theory

Textile, Napping and shearing

Aroostook War

Textile, Napping and shearing

Usolye-sibirskoye

Sardana

Sommer, Ferdinand

Writ

Freedom Rides

France, History Of, Gaul under the late Roman Empire (c. 250c. 400)

Koroec, Anton