FixedFrame

Plum Curculio

2005-04-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

Also called American Plum Weevil (Conotrachelus nenuphar), North American insect pest of the family Curculionidae (order Coleoptera); it does serious damage to a variety of fruit trees. The adult has a dark brown body, about six millimetres ( 1/4 inch) long, with gray and white patches and conspicuous humps on each wing case. It has the typical weevil's snout, strongly down-curved for puncturing the skin of young

Osei Tutu

2005-04-05T07:58:00.000-07:00

Osei Tutu had been a hostage in the Denkyera court but had escaped eastward to the powerful state of

Technical Assistance

2005-04-04T04:04:00.000-07:00

Form of aid given to less-developed countries by international organizations such as the United Nations (UN) and its agencies, individual governments, foundations, and philanthropic institutions. Its object is to provide those countries with the expertise needed to promote development. Most technical-assistance programs began after World War II, when much of

Middle East, Ancient

2005-04-03T00:50:00.000-08:00

History of the region from prehistoric times to the rise of civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and other areas.

Rawson

2005-04-02T19:44:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Chubut province, southern Argentina. It lies along the Chubut River near the latter's mouth, about 5 miles (8 km) upriver from the Atlantic coast. It was founded in 1865 by Welsh settlers and named after Guillermo Rawson (1821–90), then Argentine minister of the interior. Although the port has declined in importance, there are small installations for fisheries. A beach

Kan River

2005-04-02T13:07:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Kan Chiang, or (Pinyin) Gan Jiang, river, chiefly in Kiangsi sheng (province), China. The Kan River is one of the principal southern tributaries of the Yangtze River. Its headwaters rise in Kwangtung province, where the Ta-yü Mountains divide southwestern Kiangsi from Kwangtung. This upper stream is called the Chang River. Another stream, the Kung River, rises in the Chiu-lien Mountains in the far south

Objectivism

2005-04-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

The theory or practice of objective art or literature. The term was used by the poet William Carlos Williams in the 1930s to describe a movement in which emphasis was placed on viewing poems as objects that could be considered and analyzed in terms of mechanical features. According to Williams, this meant examining the structural aspects of the poem and considering

Refractive Index

2005-03-31T13:06:00.000-08:00

Also called Index Of Refraction, measure of the bending of a ray of light when passing from one medium into another. If i is the angle of incidence of a ray in vacuum (angle between the incoming ray and the perpendicular to the surface of a medium, called the normal; see figure), and r is the angle of refraction (angle between the ray in the medium and the normal), the refractive index n is defined as the ratio

Viscount

2005-03-31T03:16:00.000-08:00

In the Carolingian period of European history, the vicecomites, or missi comitis, were deputies, vicars, or lieutenants of the counts, whose official powers they exercised by delegation. As the countships eventually became hereditary, the lieutenancies did as well: for instance, in France the

Great Barrington

2005-03-30T18:23:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Berkshire county, southwestern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies along the Housatonic River, in the Berkshire Hills, 19 miles (31 km) south of Pittsfield, and includes the communities of Great Barrington and Housatonic. Settled in 1726, the site was set off from Sheffield and incorporated in 1761. It was probably named for the 2nd Viscount Barrington, a nephew of the Massachusetts

Cabot Family

2005-03-30T15:05:00.000-08:00

John and his son Joseph were highly successful merchants, trading in rum and slaves and also operating a fleet of privateers. Joseph's son George Cabot furthered the family fortune, but he is best remembered for

Wright, Richard

2005-03-30T06:09:00.000-08:00

Wright's grandparents had been slaves. His father

Tientsin Massacre

2005-03-28T19:39:00.000-08:00

(June 21, 1870), in Tientsin, China, violent outbreak of Chinese xenophobic sentiment that nearly precipitated international warfare and signaled the end of the “cooperative policy” between China and the Western treaty powers. Before the incident, rumours circulated in Tientsin that the French Sisters of Charity were kidnapping and mutilating Chinese children. Hostility

Mignet, François

2005-03-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

Educated at Avignon, Mignet became professor there in 1815; he returned to Aix for his law studies and was called to the bar in 1818. His first work, the Essai sur les institutions de Saint Louis, was acclaimed by the Academy of Inscriptions

Ch'i-lin

2005-03-27T22:32:00.000-08:00

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

Schechter, Solomon

2005-03-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

Schechter studied the Talmud, the authoritative rabbinical compendium of Jewish law, lore, and commentary, in Vienna, Berlin, and London. In 1890 he became lecturer in Talmudic

Sankt Wolfgang

2005-03-26T08:49:00.000-08:00

Also called Sankt Wolfgang Im Salzkammergut, town, Oberösterreich Bundesland (federal state), central Austria. It lies on the east shore of Wolfgang (Aber) Lake in the Salzkammergut lake region, west of Bad Ischl. A cog, or rack, railway ascends the Schafberg (5,850 feet [1,783 m]) from the town. The Late Gothic-style Pilgrimage Church (1430–77) has a magnificent carved wooden altar (1481) by the sculptor Michael Pacher. The town's Zum Weissen Rossl

Gonçalves Dias, Antônio

2005-03-25T00:56:00.000-08:00

Though Gonçalves Dias lived much of the time abroad following his education at the University of Coimbra in

Peru, Achievement of independence

2005-03-24T18:19:00.000-08:00

The Napoleonic invasion of Spain in 1808 sparked the Creoles (those of European descent born in America) in other Spanish colonies to struggle for independence between 1810 and 1821. But Peru remained loyal because of the conservative attitude of the Peruvian aristocracy, the presence of many Spaniards in Peru, the concentration of Spanish military power in Lima, and the effective

Airplane, Primary flight controls

2005-03-24T16:30:00.000-08:00

All four forces—lift, thrust, drag, and weight—interact continuously in flight and are in turn affected by such things as the torque effect of the propeller, centrifugal force in turns, and other elements, but all are made subject to the pilot by means of the controls.

Anglo-norman Literature

2005-03-24T14:05:00.000-08:00

In the 12th century the oldest substantial Anglo-Norman prose work, “The Book of Kings,” was written in England, as were many versions of the Psalter. Sanson de Nanteuil translated into verse the proverbs of Solomon, with commentary; and in the 13th century Robert of Greatham wrote the “Sunday Gospels” for a noble lady. The same century saw the beginning of the magnificent series

Germany, The consolidation of Brandenburg-Prussia and Austria

2005-03-22T20:26:00.000-08:00

Against an overall tendency among the empire's constituent units to keep things as they were, the larger territories pursued an insistent policy of dynastic and personal aggrandizement. A number of factors favoured state building in the post-1618 era. General economic exhaustion made central direction of, and active intervention in, commerce and production seem

Rya Rug

2005-03-21T19:32:00.000-08:00

Floor covering handmade in Sweden and Finland using techniques resembling those employed in Oriental carpets but having extremely long, recumbent pile and great flexibility. In one Swedish type the nap is produced by Ghiordes knots that include a third warp, the fabric having been made on a cloth loom with open shed. Early examples of rya rugs, which were intended

Sachs, (ferdinand Gustav) Julius Von

2005-03-21T13:09:00.000-08:00

Sachs became an assistant to the physiologist Jan Evangelista Purkinje at the University of Prague, where he received the Ph.D. in 1856. In 1859 he was appointed

Chadwick, Sir Edwin

2005-03-20T09:24:00.000-08:00

As secretary of the royal commission on reform of the poor laws (1834–46), Chadwick was largely responsible for devising the system under which the country was divided into groups of parishes administered by elected boards of guardians,

Uhf

2005-03-19T22:21:00.000-08:00

UHF waves are very weakly reflected by the ionized layers of the upper

Grotesque

2005-03-19T01:33:00.000-08:00

First revived in the Renaissance by the school of Raphael

Oadby And Wigston

2005-03-18T17:10:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative and historic county of Leicestershire, England. Both Oadby and Wigston, formerly villages lying outside the city of Leicester, have in recent years been engulfed by the outward spread of the city's suburbs. They lie to the southeast and south, respectively, of the city's centre. Oadby is almost entirely residential, while Wigston is

Tooth

2005-03-18T13:53:00.000-08:00

The teeth of vertebrates represent the modified descendants of bony dermal (skin) plates that armoured ancestral fishes. A tooth consists of a crown

Amphibian, General features

2005-03-17T09:20:00.000-08:00

The form and structure of the skeletal, nervous, digestive, and urogenital systems of amphibians are intermediate between fishes and reptiles, but those of other systems are specifically modified for amphibians. The integument (skin) and circulatory and respiratory systems exemplify these adaptations and act together to provide cutaneous respiration. Amphibians

Biblical Literature, Numbers

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

In the Hebrew Bible this book is entitled Bemidbar (In the Wilderness) after one of its opening words, while in English versions it is called Numbers, a translation of the Greek Septuagint title Arithmoi. Each of the titles gives an indication of the content of the book: (1) the narrative of “40 Years” of wanderings in the wilderness, or desert, between Sinai and Canaan; and (2) the

Pierce, Sarah

2005-03-16T06:59:00.000-08:00

The school Pierce opened in her home in 1792 was so successful that in 1798 a group of Litchfield citizens presented her with a building to house

Nathdwara

2005-03-16T03:54:00.000-08:00

Town, southern Rajasthan state, northwestern India, just south of the Banas River. Connected by road with Udaipur and close to the Malvi rail junction, Nathdwara is a place of Hindu pilgrimage; it contains a 17th-century Vaishnavite shrine that is one of the most famous in India. Within the temple is a celebrated image of the god Krishna, popularly said to date to the 12th century

'arab, Shatt Al-

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

(Arabic: “Stream of the Arabs”), river in southeastern Iraq, formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers at the town of Al-Qurnah. It flows southeastward for 120 miles (193 km) and passes the Iraqi port of Basra and the Iranian port of Abadan before emptying into the Persian Gulf. For about the last half of its course the river forms the border between Iraq and Iran; it

Guzmán Fernández, (silvestre) Antonio

2005-03-15T01:14:00.000-08:00

At the age of 15, Guzmán was working in his family's textile store. By age 17 he was already managing stores for the Curaçao Trading Company. He invested in land and started growing rice, soon expanding into other agricultural exports. Guzmán was

Maccabiah Games

2005-03-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

International games held in Palestine (later Israel) from 1932, sponsored by the World Maccabi Union, an international Jewish sports organization founded in 1921. Events held are such Olympic events as athletics (track and field), swimming, water polo, fencing, boxing, wrestling, football (soccer), basketball, tennis, table tennis, and volleyball and such non-Olympic events as

Wüthrich, Kurt

2005-03-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

After receiving a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Basel in 1964, Wüthrich took his postdoctoral training in Switzerland and the United

Molina, Mario

2005-03-13T23:23:00.000-08:00

In full Mario José Molina Mexican-born American chemist who was jointly awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, along with chemists F. Sherwood Rowland and Paul Crutzen, for research in the 1970s concerning the decomposition of the ozonosphere, which shields the Earth from dangerous solar radiation. The discoveries of Molina and Rowland—that some industrially manufactured

Development Bank

2005-03-13T07:32:00.000-08:00

The number of development banks has increased rapidly since the 1950s; they have been encouraged by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and its affiliates.

Craig, James

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

American ice hockey goaltender who was part of the U.S. hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, U.S. The American victory in the hockey tournament, known as the “miracle on ice,” was one of the greatest surprises in the history of the Olympics, and Craig, who started every game in goal, was a leading figure in the

Abs, Hermann J.

2005-03-12T09:03:00.000-08:00

Abs studied law for one year before joining a merchant bank in Cologne. After World War I, he obtained a series of posts, in Germany and abroad, learning the business of international banking. In 1938 he became a manager of Berlin's Deutsche Bank, which had,

Catastrophism

2005-03-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

Doctrine that explains the differences in fossil forms encountered in successive stratigraphic levels as being the product of repeated cataclysmic occurrences and repeated new creations. This doctrine generally is associated with the great French naturalist Baron Georges Cuvier (1769–1832). One 20th-century expansion on Cuvier's views, in effect, a neocatastrophic school,

Yudenich, Nikolay

2005-03-11T15:07:00.000-08:00

Having entered the Imperial Army in 1879, Yudenich graduated from the General Staff Academy in 1887, served on the General Staff from 1887 until 1902, and then became a regimental commander. After participating in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), he was promoted

Earth, Types of plate boundaries

2005-03-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

As explained earlier, there are three types of plate boundaries: divergent, convergent, and transform (or strike-slip). Plates move in opposite directions along the same line at divergent plate boundaries. These boundaries are located at mid-oceanic ridges (spreading ridges) such as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise. Ridges of this kind are part of a worldwide

Evolution, The gene pool

2005-03-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

The gene pool is the sum total of all of the genes and combinations of genes that occur in a population of organisms of the same species. It can be described by citing the frequencies of the alternative genetic constitutions. Consider, for example, a particular gene (which geneticists call a locus), such as the one determining the MN blood groups in humans. One form of the

Rupert's Land

2005-03-10T06:20:00.000-08:00

Also called Prince Rupert's Land, historic region in northern and western Canada. The name was applied to the territory comprising the drainage basin of Hudson Bay, granted by King Charles II in 1670 to the Hudson's Bay Company. Prince Rupert, cousin of Charles, was the first governor of the company, whence the name. Rupert's Land ceased to exist as a territorial entity in 1869, when the land became part of the Dominion

Mahabaleshwar

2005-03-09T21:16:00.000-08:00

Resort town, southwestern Maharashtra state, western India. It lies about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Bombay and northwest of the town of Satara at an elevation of 4,718 feet (1,438 m), in the Sahyadri Hills of the Western Ghats. The town commands an excellent view over the coastal Konkan Plain from the steep scarp slope of the hills. Recognized in ancient times as the site of the source of the Krishna

Biblical Literature, The lawbook

2005-03-08T23:30:00.000-08:00

The laws are the central core and purport of the book of Deuteronomy. They are couched in a hortatory, sermonic style that has led to their being categorized as preached law. Emphatic statements of what must or must not be done are connected with exhortations to fulfill these injunctions, pointing to the motivations and spirit in which they should be carried out. There

Arundel, Richard Fitzalan, 4th Earl Of, 10th Earl Of Surrey

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

He began as a member of the royal council during the minority of Richard II and about 1381 was made one of the young king's governors. About 1385 he joined the baronial party led by the King's uncle, Thomas of Woodstock, duke of Gloucester, and in 1386 was a member of the commission appointed to regulate the kingdom and the royal household.

Hydra

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

Genus of invertebrate freshwater animals of the class Hydrozoa (phylum Cnidaria). The body of such an organism consists of a thin, usually translucent tube that measures up to about 30 millimetres (1.2 inches) long but is capable of great contraction. The body wall is comprised of two layers of cells separated by a thin, structureless layer of connective tissue called the

Izu Peninsula

2005-03-07T21:11:00.000-08:00

Japanese Izu-hanto, peninsula in Shizuoka ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. The peninsula extends 37 miles (60 km) into the Pacific Ocean between Suruga Bay on the west and Sagami Gulf on the east. The entire peninsula is included within the Fuji Volcanic Zone. Its southern part consists primarily of volcanic breccia, and its northern section is an assembly of numerous volcanoes, among which are

Dai Jiten

2005-03-07T19:45:00.000-08:00

The work is a reduced-size reprint of the 26-volume edition of 1934–36, augmented substantially with new entries. Dai jiten contains more than 400,000 modern, classical, dialect, and technical words, many of them, especially in the technical and modern categories, of foreign origin.

Mujahadah

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

(Arabic: “striving”), in Sufism, struggle with the carnal self; the word is related to jihad (struggle), which is often understood as “holy war.” The Sufis refer to mujahadah as al-jihad al-akbar (the greater war) in contrast to al-jihad al-asghar (the minor war), which is waged against unbelievers. It is one of the major duties that a Sufi must perform throughout his mystical journey toward union

Tacuarembó

2005-03-05T02:56:00.000-08:00

Formerly San Fructuoso, city, north-central Uruguay. The Haedo Mountains dominate the adjoining area. Orchids and hardwoods, including quebracho, algarrobo, urunday, and guayabo, grow there. Founded in 1831 by Bernabé Rivera, it was first called Villa de San Fructuoso; later, it adopted the Guaraní Indian name Tacuarembó (from a firm, slender reed endemic to the region). The city's Indian and gaucho

Bradley, F(rancis) H(erbert)

2005-03-04T17:24:00.000-08:00

Elected to a fellowship at Merton College, Oxford, in 1870, Bradley soon became ill with a kidney disease that made him a semi-invalid

Puerto Rico Trench

2005-03-04T15:31:00.000-08:00

Submarine depression in the North Atlantic Ocean, roughly parallel to the northern coast of the island of Puerto Rico and lying about 75 miles (120 km) to the north. The Puerto Rico Trench is about 1,090 miles (1,750 km) long and 60 miles (100 km) wide. The deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean, the Milwaukee Depth, lies at a depth of 27,493 feet (8,380 m) in the western end of the trench, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Puerto

Zambia

2005-03-04T02:01:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Zambia , formerly (1911–64) Northern Rhodesia landlocked country in south-central Africa. It has an area of 290,586 square miles (752,614 square kilometres). Zambia has a long land border on the west with Angola but is divided from its neighbours to the south by the Zambezi River. To the southwest is the thin projection of Namibian territory known as the Caprivi Strip, at the eastern end of which four countries (Zambia, Namibia, Botswana,

Chabrias

2005-03-03T01:10:00.000-08:00

Chabrias defeated the Spartans in 388 and again in 378, when Athens joined Thebes against Sparta. On the latter occasion he invented a new defensive technique: he ordered each soldier to receive a charge kneeling on his left knee, with his shield

Yin-yang

2005-03-03T00:01:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Yinyang, Japanese In-yo, in Eastern thought, the two complementary forces, or principles, that make up all aspects and phenomena of life. Yin is conceived of as earth, female, dark, passive, and absorbing; it is present in even numbers, in valleys and streams, and is represented by the tiger, the colour orange, and a broken line. Yang is conceived of as heaven, male, light, active, and penetrating; it is present

Kerguelen Cabbage

2005-03-02T03:55:00.000-08:00

(species Pringlea antiscorbutica), plant resembling the common cabbage and belonging to the same family (Brassicaceae). It was named for Kerguelen Island. The leaves of the plant contain a pale-yellow, highly pungent essential oil rich in ascorbic acid (vitamin C), for which reason it was a useful dietary supplement against scurvy. It was discovered by the British explorer

Baby's Breath

2005-03-01T20:38:00.000-08:00

Annual baby's breath, up to 50 cm (20 inches) tall, is

Rzeszów

2005-03-01T00:19:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Rzeszów województwo (province), southeastern Poland. It lies along the Wislok River at the juncture of the Carpathian Mountains and the Sandomierz Basin. The town lies on the main Kraków-Lviv (Ukraine) road and rail line. The city's economy has expanded greatly since World War II, and some of Poland's largest metal-production plants are located there, as

Padilla, Juan

2005-02-28T20:15:00.000-08:00

After serving as a soldier, Padilla joined the Franciscans in Andalusia. He went to Spanish Mexico in 1528 and in the following year accompanied an expedition to Nueva Galicia (northwestern Mexico). There he spent most of his remaining

Individual Psychology

2005-02-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

Body of theories of the Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler, who held that the main motives of human thought and behaviour are individual man's striving for superiority and power, partly in compensation for his feeling of inferiority. Every individual, in this view, is unique, and his personality structure—including his unique goal and ways of striving for it—finds

Leviathan

2005-02-28T02:20:00.000-08:00

Hebrew Livyatan, in Jewish mythology, a primordial sea serpent. Its source is in prebiblical Mesopotamian myth, especially that of the sea monster in the Ugaritic myth of Baal (see Yamm). In the Old Testament, Leviathan appears in Psalms 74:14 as a multiheaded sea serpent that is killed by God and given as food to the Hebrews in the wilderness. In Isaiah 27:1, Leviathan is a serpent and a symbol of Israel's

Hussite

2005-02-27T08:51:00.000-08:00

Any of the followers of the Bohemian religious reformer Jan Hus, who was condemned by the Council of Constance (1414–18) and burned at the stake. After his death in 1415 many Bohemian knights and nobles published a formal protest and offered protection to those who were persecuted for their faith. The movement's chief supporters were Jakoubek of Stríbro (died 1429), Hus's successor as preacher

Nova Persei

2005-02-26T17:03:00.000-08:00

Bright nova that attained an absolute magnitude of -9.2. Spectroscopic observations of the nova, which appeared in 1901, provided important information about interstellar gas. The shell thrown off by the exploding star was unusually asymmetrical, and a bright nebulosity near the star appeared to be expanding incredibly fast, at practically the speed of light. This apparent

Babenco, Hector

2005-02-26T04:06:00.000-08:00

Babenco spent his late teen and early adult years studying existential philosophy and traveling the world, finally settling in Brazil in 1971. He became interested in filmmaking during the early '70s and directed shorts and commercials

Pitman Shorthand

2005-02-26T04:04:00.000-08:00

System of rapid writing based on the sounds of words (i.e., the phonetic principle) rather than on conventional spellings. Invented by Sir Isaac Pitman, an English educator, the Pitman shorthand method was first published in 1837 as Stenographic Sound Hand. Pitman's system classifies the sounds of a language into basic groups and makes use of simple abbreviations for rapidity.

Earth

2005-02-25T06:14:00.000-08:00

Scientists have applied the full battery of modern instrumentation to studying the Earth in ways that have not yet been possible for the other planets; thus,

Korolenko, Vladimir Galaktionovich

2005-02-24T19:34:00.000-08:00

Korolenko was expelled from two colleges for his revolutionary activities. In 1879 he was exiled to the Yakut region (now in Sakha republic) of Siberia, where he encountered the

Welsh Literary Renaissance

2005-02-24T14:33:00.000-08:00

Literary activity centring in Wales and England in the mid-18th century that attempted to stimulate interest in the Welsh language and in the classical bardic verse forms of Wales. The movement centred on Lewis, Richard, and William Morris, Welsh scholars who preserved ancient texts and encouraged contemporary poets to use strict metres of the ancient Welsh bards

Alabastron

2005-02-23T21:24:00.000-08:00

Elongated, narrow-necked flask, used as a perfume or unguent container. The Greek alabastron has no handles but often lugs (ear-shaped projections), sometimes pierced with string holes. There are three types of classical alabastron: a basic Corinthian bulbous shape about 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) high that appeared from the mid-7th century BC and was common in Greece (see ); a long, pointed

Middlesex

2005-02-23T01:00:00.000-08:00

County, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S., west and northwest of Boston and bordered on the north by New Hampshire. The county consists of an upland region drained by the Merrimack, Nashua, Assabet, Concord, Sudbury, and Shawsheen rivers. Other waterways include Whitehall and Cambridge reservoirs, Lake Cochituate, and historic Walden Pond. Parklands include more than

Race, The enslavement of Africans

2005-02-22T22:19:00.000-08:00

Between 1660 and 1690, leaders of the Virginia colony began to establish practices that provided or sanctioned differential treatment for freed servants whose origins were in Europe. They conscripted poor whites, with whom they had never had interests in common, into the category of free men and made land, tools, animals, and other resources available to them. African Americans

Levite

2005-02-22T22:07:00.000-08:00

Member of a group of clans of religious functionaries in ancient Israel who apparently were given a special religious status, conjecturally for slaughtering idolaters of the golden calf during the time of Moses (Ex. 32:25–29). They thus replaced the firstborn sons of Israel who were “dedicated to the service of the Lord” for having been preserved from death at the time of the

Anderson, Marian

2005-02-21T10:26:00.000-08:00

U.S. singer (b. Feb. 27, 1897, Philadelphia, Pa.--d. April 8, 1993, Portland, Ore.), maintained a quiet dignity while transcending the racial and cultural barriers imposed on her artistry and used her rich contralto voice brilliantly to interpret the works of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Mahler, Verdi, and Richard Strauss as well as spirituals. Though Anderson's birth certificate stated that

Irkutsk

2005-02-21T06:06:00.000-08:00

City and administrative centre of Irkutsk oblast (province), east-central Russia. The city lies along the Angara River at its confluence with the Irkut River. It was founded as a wintering camp in 1652, during the first Russian colonization of the area; a fort was built in 1661, and Irkutsk rapidly became the main centre of Cisbaikalia and of the Russian trade route to China and

China, Burma

2005-02-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

In 1867 the British gained the right to station a commercial agent at Bhamo in Burma, from which they could explore the Irrawaddy River up to the Yunnan border. A British interpreter accompanying a British exploratory mission to Yunnan was killed by local tribesmen on the Yunnan–Burma border in February 1875. The British minister in China, Thomas Wade, seized the opportunity

Hyderabad

2005-02-20T05:17:00.000-08:00

Hyderabad was founded by the Qutb Shahi sultans of Golconda, under whom the kingdom of Golconda attained a position of importance second only to that of the Mughal Empire in the north. The old fortress town of Golconda had proved inadequate as the kingdom's capital, and so

Guadalcanal

2005-02-19T20:01:00.000-08:00

Largest island of the Solomon Islands, southwestern Pacific Ocean. With an area of some 2,047 square miles (5,302 square km), it is of volcanic origin with a mountainous spine (Kavo Range) that culminates in Mount Makarakomburu (8,028 feet [2,447 m]), the highest point in the country. Many short, rapid streams, including the Mataniko, Lunga, and Tenaru, tumble from the wooded mountains to the coast,

Typhoon

2005-02-18T16:59:00.000-08:00

Local name in the western North Pacific area for any large, traveling tropical cyclone (q.v.).

Stafford, Thomas P(atten)

2005-02-18T09:12:00.000-08:00

A graduate (1952) of the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., Stafford transferred to the Air Force

Mon-khmer Languages

2005-02-17T11:43:00.000-08:00

Language family included in the Austroasiatic stock. Mon-Khmer languages constitute the indigenous language family of mainland Southeast Asia. They range north to southern China, south to Malaysia, west to Assam state in India, and east to Vietnam. The most important Mon-Khmer languages, having populations greater than 100,000, are Vietnamese, Khmer, Muong, Mon, Khasi, Khmu

Melito Of Sardis

2005-02-17T05:48:00.000-08:00

The 4th-century chronicles of Eusebius of Caesarea identify Melito as a bishop who addressed a discourse to the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, arguing that Christianity

Sahara

2005-02-16T22:47:00.000-08:00

Classical accounts describe the Sahara much as it is today—a vast and formidable barrier. The Egyptians controlled only their neighbouring oases and, occasionally, lands to the south; the Carthaginians apparently continued the commercial relationships with the interior that had been established during the Bronze Age. Herodotus described a desert crossing

World War I, The Turkish entry

2005-02-16T03:52:00.000-08:00

The entry of Turkey (or the Ottoman Empire, as it was then called) into the war as a German ally was the one great success of German wartime diplomacy. Since 1909 Turkey had been under the control of the Young Turks, over whom Germany had skillfully gained a dominating influence. German military instructors permeated the Turkish Army, and Enver Pasa, the leader of the Young Turks,

Zacconi, Lodovico

2005-02-15T06:33:00.000-08:00

Zacconi became a priest, later an Augustinian, and studied music with Andrea Gabrieli in Venice, where he was musical director for his order. He went to Vienna in 1585 at the invitation of the archduke Charles. In 1592 he published

Cronin, A.j.

2005-02-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

Cronin was educated at the University of Glasgow and served as a surgeon in the Royal Navy during World War I. He practiced in South Wales (1921–24) and then, as medical inspector of mines, investigated

Aerospace Industry, Airframe and engine overhaul

2005-02-13T17:53:00.000-08:00

To ensure the safe operation of airliners, airframes and engines of civil and military aircraft have obligatory major overhauls after specified time intervals. For the airframes of commercial airliners, this is required after about five years (22,000 flight hours) of operation. In such a major overhaul, the first phase is an evaluation of the technical “health” of the aircraft

Taiwan, Imperial Chinese rule

2005-02-13T04:39:00.000-08:00

In 1683, 20 years after Cheng Ch'eng-kung's death, the island fell to the Ch'ing and became part of Fukien Province. Meanwhile, sizable migrations of refugees, Ming supporters, had increased the population to about 200,000. As migrants streamed in from southeastern China, large areas in the north were settled. T'ai-nan (then called T'ai-wan) was the capital. By 1842 the population was estimated

Sangihe Islands

2005-02-12T21:09:00.000-08:00

Indonesian Kepulauan Sangihe , also spelled Sangi islands, constituting Sangihe Talaud kabupaten (regency), off the northeastern tip of Celebes, Indonesia. The islands are administered from Manado, the capital of Sulawesi Utara provinsi (“province”). The island group comprises Sangihe, Siau, Tahulandang, Biaro, and a number of islets, with a total area of 408 square miles (1,056 square km). The capital of the regency is Tahuna (Taruna),

Czerny, Carl

2005-02-12T08:26:00.000-08:00

He studied piano, first with his father, Wenzel Czerny, and later with Ludwig van Beethoven and knew and was influenced by Muzio Clementi and Johann Nepomuk Hummel. He began teaching in Vienna at the age of 15; among his pupils were Franz Liszt and Beethoven's

Manaslu I

2005-02-12T07:53:00.000-08:00

Also called Kutang I one of the world's highest mountains (26,781 feet [8,163 m]); it lies in the Himalayas of north Nepal, 38 miles (61 km) north of the town of Gurkha. The summit of this snow- and glacier-covered peak was first reached on May 9 and 11, 1956, by two separate Japanese parties.

Arts, Central Asian, The Himalayan peoples

2005-02-12T00:49:00.000-08:00

This region, including Tibet, Bhutan, Nepal, and Sikkim (which was annexed to India in 1975), occupies an important middle ground between India and China, and its central position is reflected in the local music cultures. Of utmost importance for musical life was the introduction of Buddhism from India via Turkistan, beginning in the 7th century AD. Music became an integral part

Medicine

2005-02-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

Developments in modern medical science have made it possible to detect morbid conditions before a person actually feels the effects of the condition. Examples are many: they include certain forms of cancer; high blood pressure; heart and lung disease; various familial and congenital conditions; disorders of metabolism, like diabetes; and acquired immune deficiency

Differential

2005-02-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

In mathematics, an expression based on the derivative (q.v.) of a function, useful for approximating certain values of the function. The derivative of a function at the point x0, written as f¢(x0), is defined as the limit as Dx approaches 0 of the quotient Dy/Dx, in which Dy is f(x0 + Dx) - f(x0). Because the derivative is defined as the limit, the closer Dx is to 0, the closer will be the quotient to the derivative. Therefore,

Locofoco Party

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

In U.S. history, radical wing of the Democratic Party, organized in New York City in 1835. Made up primarily of workingmen and reformers, the Locofocos were opposed to state banks, monopolies, paper money, tariffs, and generally any financial policies that seemed to them antidemocratic and conducive to special privilege. The Locofocos received their name (which was later

Renkum

2005-02-08T11:13:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (commune), Gelderland provincie, central Netherlands. Renkum is situated on the Lower Rhine (Neder Rijn) River, immediately west of Arnhem, and comprises the communities of Oosterbeek (the local government centre), Renkum, Doorwerth, Heelsum, and Wolfheze. The locality was especially associated with the Battle of Arnhem in World War II; on the Oosterbeek village

Felony And Misdemeanour

2005-02-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

U.S. jurisdictions generally distinguish between felonies and misdemeanours. A class of minor offenses that may be described as petty offenses or quasi-crimes is also recognized. These last offenses are created by local ordinance, and the requirement of trial