RoundCake

Aztec Calendar

2005-11-18T14:40:00.000-08:00

Dating system that combines the tonalpohualli, a ritual cycle of 260 days, with the solar year of 365 days. Like the Mayan calendar from which it was derived, the Aztec calendar consisted of a ritual cycle that was divided into 13 periods of 20 days each and a civil cycle that was divided into 18 months of 20 days plus an additional 5 days, called nemontemi, considered to be very unlucky. Again

Kamchatka River

2005-10-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Kamcatka, river, far eastern Russia. It rises in the Sredinny (“Central”) Range of the Kamchatka Peninsula and flows north and east about 478 miles (758 km) past Milkovo, head of shallow-draught navigation, to the Bering Sea. The river freezes from November until May, except in places where hot springs come to the surface. The Kamchatka is used for timber transport. The port of Ust-Kamchatsk

West Flanders

2005-08-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

Drained

World War I, The Western Front, JanuaryMay 1917

2005-07-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

The western Allies had good reason to be profoundly dissatisfied with the poor results of their enterprises of 1916, and this dissatisfaction was signalized by two major changes made at the end of the year. In Great Britain, the government of H.H. Asquith, already turned into a coalition in May 1915, was replaced in December 1916 by a coalition under David Lloyd George; and that same

God, Peace Of

2005-07-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

The Peace of God is first heard of in the year 990 at three synods held in different parts of southern and central France—at Charroux, Narbonne, and Puy. It enlisted the immediate support of the regular clergy and of William V of Aquitaine, the

Yurok

2005-07-13T08:30:00.000-07:00

Yurok villages were small; a village was a collection of independent houses owned by individual families rather than a unified community with an overall political authority. Village

Oyapock River

2005-07-08T05:40:00.000-07:00

Portuguese Rio Oiapoque, river that forms the border between French Guiana and the Brazilian state of Amapá. It rises in the Tumuc-Humac Mountains and flows northeast for 311 miles (500 km) to empty into the Atlantic near Cape Orange. The country through which it passes is thinly populated and is mostly covered by an unbroken tropical rain forest. Near the river's mouth are the ports of Saint-Georges,

Alaska, Settlement patterns

2005-07-06T10:05:00.000-07:00

A large percentage of Alaskans live in the southern interior basins around Anchorage; most of the remainder live in the interior plains around Fairbanks or in the panhandle region, where Juneau is the major city and the administrative centre of the state. Tiny pockets of people are scattered in small villages, the most sparsely occupied being the Arctic plains,

Petaluma

2005-06-22T18:20:00.000-07:00

City, Sonoma county, western California, U.S., at the head of navigation on the Petaluma River, 38 miles (61 km) north of San Francisco. Founded in 1852, it derived its name from the Rancho Petaluma (Miwok Indian pe'ta, “flat”; lu'ma, “back”). The poultry and egg industry, dairying, and wine making are foremost commercial activities, supplemented by light manufactures (notably processing machinery

Fiduciary

2005-06-16T03:25:00.000-07:00

In law, a person who occupies a position of such power and confidence with regard to the property of another that the law requires him to act solely in the interest of the person whom he represents. Examples of fiduciaries are agents, executors and administrators, trustees, guardians, and officers of corporations. They may be contrasted with persons in an ordinary

Subatomic Particle, The weak nuclear force

2005-06-03T00:15:00.000-07:00

Since the 1930s physicists have been aware of a force within the atomic nucleus that is responsible for certain types of radioactivity that are classed together as beta decay. A typical example of beta decay occurs when a neutron transmutes into a proton. The force that underlies this process is known as the weak nuclear force to distinguish it from the strong nuclear

Macdiarmid, Hugh

2005-06-01T06:40:00.000-07:00

The son of a postman, MacDiarmid was educated at Langholm Academy and the University of Edinburgh. After serving in World War I he became a journalist in Montrose, Angus, where he edited three issues of the first

Italian Democratic Socialist Party

2005-05-17T21:45:00.000-07:00

In early 1947, socialists who opposed the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) for its cooperation with the Italian Communist Party (PCI) seceded to form the Socialist Party of Italian Workers (Partito

Ahmad Ibn Tulun

2005-05-16T03:25:00.000-07:00

As a child Ahmad was taken into slavery and placed in the private service of the 'Abbasid caliph (the titular leader of the Islamic community) at Baghdad. Later he studied theology in the city of Tarsus. He rose in the administrative structure of the 'Abbasid

Shu Ching

2005-05-14T01:20:00.000-07:00

The Shu Ching consists of 58 chapters. Of these, 33 (originally

Grabski, Wladyslaw

2005-03-14T06:37:00.000-08:00

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

Balas, Iolanda

2005-03-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

Balas cleared the bar in a variation of the scissors method; her coach was Ion S�ter, an outstanding high-jumper whom she later married. She already held the women's

Madder

2005-03-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

Also called �Dyer's Madder,� any of several species of plants belonging to the genus Rubia of the madder family, Rubiaceae. Rubia tinctorum and R. peregrina are native European plants, and R. cordifolia is native to the hilly districts of India and Java. Rubia is a genus of about 40 species; its members are characterized by lance-shaped leaves that grow in whorls and by small yellowish flowers that

Gunasthana

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

The initial stages of development are: (1) mithyatva

France, History Of, Social classes

2005-03-02T11:05:00.000-08:00

The collapse of Roman imperial power and the influx of Germans did not destroy the old Roman senatorial and landed aristocracy; the 6th-century kings called on its members to serve in the administration. A sort of military aristocracy had existed among the Germans: at the time of their settlement within the empire, its members were given tax revenues and lands confiscated

Aasen, Ivar

2005-03-01T05:38:00.000-08:00

After studying Old Norwegian, Aasen undertook a survey of the contemporary Norwegian dialects. These he judged to be the true offshoots of Old Norwegian, as distinct from the Danish-influenced

Locofoco Party

2005-02-27T06:05:00.000-08:00

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

Arianism

2005-02-26T00:13:00.000-08:00

A Christian heresy first proposed early in the 4th century by the Alexandrian presbyter Arius. It affirmed that Christ is not truly divine but a created being. Arius' basic premise was the uniqueness of God, who is alone self-existent and immutable; the Son, who is not self-existent, cannot be God. Because the Godhead is unique, it cannot be shared or communicated, so the Son

Adcock, Fleur

2005-02-25T18:12:00.000-08:00

Adcock received her early education in England and later earned degrees at Wellington Girls' College and Victoria University of Wellington. She served as lecturer and librarian at a number of New Zealand

Weldon, Fay

2005-02-24T06:23:00.000-08:00

Weldon grew up in New Zealand, attended St. Andrew's University in Scotland (M.A., 1952?), and became an advertising copywriter in London. In the mid-1960s she began writing plays. Her first novel, The Fat Woman's

Pecos River

2005-02-23T01:46:00.000-08:00

River in the southwestern United States, rising in Mora County, north-central New Mexico, in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and flowing about 926 miles (1,490 km) through eastern New Mexico and western Texas. It drains about 38,300 square miles (99,200 square km) before emptying into the Rio Grande at the Amistad National Recreation Area. After leaving the mountains, the Pecos flows over desertlike

Literature, Other Literature in English.

2005-02-22T14:08:00.000-08:00

Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa continued to provide critically acclaimed and commercially successful literary works in English in 2001. Australian Peter Carey became only the second two-time winner of Great Britain's Booker Prize. His fictional treatment of 19th-century Australian folk hero and outlaw

Arena

2005-02-20T00:42:00.000-08:00

Central area of an amphitheatre (q.v.).

Arena

2005-02-19T07:10:00.000-08:00

Central area of an amphitheatre (q.v.).

Nutrition, Competition for sites of absorption by the cell

2005-02-18T14:37:00.000-08:00

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

Alexander Aetolus

2005-02-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

Greek poet of Pleuron, in Aetolia. He was appointed by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, Macedonian king of Egypt, to arrange and catalog the tragedies in the library at Alexandria. Nothing remains of his own tragic writing except the title of one play, Astragalistae (�The Dice Players�). A few fragments of his shorter writings are extant, including a brief appreciation of Euripides.

Arguin Island

2005-02-16T10:03:00.000-08:00

Island off the coast of Mauritania; it lies about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Cape Blanc, in a sheltered Atlantic inlet (Arguin Bay). The island (4 by 2.5 miles [6 by 4 km]) was incorporated into the newly independent Mauritania in 1960. Aridity and poor anchorage have prevented the establishment of permanent settlements on it, but the coastal reefs, known as the Arguin Banks, are major fishing

Paraguay, Climate

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

The climate is subtropical in most of eastern Paraguay, which mainly lies south of the Tropic of Capricorn, and tropical in most of the Chaco Boreal extending to its north. Masses of humid air blanket the country in the summers, and the winters are subject to cold southern winds. Summer temperatures between October and March generally range from 77� F to 104� F (25� C to 40� C). Winter temperatures

Meliaceae

2005-02-14T20:58:00.000-08:00

The mahogany family of flowering plants, of the order Sapindales, comprising 51 genera and about 575 species of trees and (rarely) shrubs, native to tropical and subtropical regions. Most members of the family have large compound leaves, with the leaflets arranged in the form of a feather, and branched flower clusters. The fruit is fleshy and coloured or a leathery capsule.

Kyaikkami

2005-02-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

Formerly �Amherst, � resort town, southeastern Myanmar (Burma). It is situated on a peninsula about 30 miles (48 km) south of the town of Moulmein. Originally a settlement of the Mon peoples, modern Kyaikkami was founded by the British during the annexation of Tenasserim and Arakan states after the First Burmese War (1824 - 26) and was named for William Pitt Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst, then governor-general

Sentimental Comedy

2005-02-12T04:27:00.000-08:00

A dramatic genre of the 18th century, denoting plays in which middle-class protagonists triumphantly overcome a series of moral trials. Such comedy aimed at producing tears rather than laughter. Sentimental comedies reflected contemporary philosophical conceptions of humans as inherently good but capable of being led astray through bad example. By an appeal

Anthony Of Egypt, Saint

2005-02-11T21:18:00.000-08:00

Athanasius, The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus (1980), was written by a contemporary; this translation includes useful prefatory material.

Ligurian Language

2005-02-10T08:56:00.000-08:00

Language spoken by the Ligurians in northwestern Italy (and perhaps also in southern France and northeastern Spain) in pre-Roman and early Roman times. It is apparently an Indo-European language. Some scholars have maintained that Ligurian is closely related to the Italic and Celtic languages, holding an intermediate linguistic position between them. The language

Intaglio

2005-02-09T07:46:00.000-08:00

Intaglio printing is

Cypress

2005-02-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

Any of about 20 species of ornamental and timber evergreen conifers constituting the genus Cupressus of the family Cupressaceae, distributed throughout warm-temperate and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. Many resinous, aromatic evergreen trees called cypress belong to other genera of the same family, especially

Mordvin Language

2005-02-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

Member of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family, spoken in Mordvinia and neighbouring areas. The third largest Uralic language in number of speakers, ranking after Hungarian and Finnish, it has two major dialects: Erzya, spoken in the eastern portion of Mordvinia and the surrounding territory; and Moksha, spoken in the west. Although both dialects are

Masculine Rhyme

2005-02-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

In verse, a monosyllabic rhyme or a rhyme that occurs only in stressed final syllables (such as claims, flames or rare, despair). Compare feminine rhyme. Emily Dickinson used the masculine rhyme to great effect in the last stanza of �After great pain, a formal feeling comes - �: This is the Hour of Lead - Remembered, if outlived,As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow - First - Chill

Handke, Peter

2005-02-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

Handke, the son of a bank clerk, studied law at Graz University from 1961 to 1965 and contributed pieces to the avant-garde literary magazine manuskripte. He came to public notice as an anticonventional playwright

Dairy Product, Additions and treatment

2005-02-04T06:01:00.000-08:00

The addition of salt to butter contributes to its flavour and also acts as a preservative. Added in concentrations of approximately 2 percent, all the salt goes into solution in the water phase. Since the water content of butter is less than 16 percent of the total volume, each water droplet can contain more than 10 percent salt. Such a concentration in the water phase limits

South America, Iberians

2005-02-03T06:44:00.000-08:00

Until the end of the era of Iberian domination, only the Spanish and Portuguese were admitted to their South American colonies. The rigid exclusion of all other foreigners had but few exceptions, though a small number of non-Iberian Europeans settled as a result of illegal or tolerated immigration. Most of the Spaniards came from Castile and the southern regions.

Alipur Duar

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

City, northeastern West Bengal state, northeastern India, just north of the Kalyani River. Connected by road with Jalpaiguri, the city is an important market centre for rice, tobacco, and jute; an annual agricultural produce and stock fair is held there. Rice milling is an important industry. Alipur Duar was declared a municipality in 1951. Pop. (1991) 65,421.

Coracle

2005-02-01T08:14:00.000-08:00

Irish �curragh� primitive, light, bowl-shaped boat with a frame of woven grasses, reeds, or saplings covered with hides. Those still used, in Wales and on the coasts of Ireland, usually have a canvas and tar covering. American Indians used the similar bullboat, covered with buffalo hides, on the Missouri River, and the corita, often sealed with bitumen, on the Colorado.

Henr�quez Ure�a, Pedro

2005-01-31T10:46:00.000-08:00

Henr�quez Ure�a's father, a doctor, became president of the Dominican Republic, and his mother was a poet and teacher. After finishing

Valens

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

Eastern Roman emperor from 364 to 378. He was the younger brother of Valentinian I, who assumed the throne upon the death of the emperor Jovian (Feb. 17, 364). On March 28, 364, Valentinian appointed Valens to be co-emperor. Valens was assigned to rule the Eastern part of the empire, while Valentinian took the throne in the West. Soon Valens was challenged by the pagan Procopius, who had himself

Valens

2005-01-29T17:55:00.000-08:00

Kerouac, Jack

2005-01-28T14:06:00.000-08:00

Of French-Canadian descent, Kerouac learned English as a second language as a schoolboy. Discharged from

Cambridge

2005-01-27T01:41:00.000-08:00

City, regional municipality of Waterloo, southeastern Ontario, Can. It lies 55 miles (90 km) west-southwest of Toronto. Cambridge was created in 1973 from the consolidation of the city of Galt, the towns of Hespeler and Preston, and parts of the townships of Waterloo and North Dumfries. Galt was founded about 1817 and, along with Dumfries Township, became the home of large numbers of Scottish

Aym�, Marcel

2005-01-26T15:43:00.000-08:00

He grew up in the country among farmers, in a world of close-knit families bounded by the barnyard on one side, the schoolhouse on the other.

Petroleum Refining, Aromatics

2005-01-25T04:14:00.000-08:00

The aromatic compounds, produced in the catalytic reforming of naphtha, are major sources of petrochemical products. In the traditional chemical industry, aromatics such as benzene, toluene, and the xylenes were made from coal during the course of carbonization in the production of coke and town gas. Today a much larger volume of these chemicals are made as refinery

Computers, Herman Hollerith's census tabulator

2005-01-24T05:48:00.000-08:00

The U.S. Constitution mandates that a census of the population be performed every 10 years. The first attempt at any mechanization of the census was in 1870, when statistical data were transcribed onto a rolling paper tape displayed through a small slotted window. As the size of America's population exploded in the 19th century, and the number of census questions expanded, the

Great Bear Lake

2005-01-23T19:19:00.000-08:00

Great Bear Lake

2005-01-22T02:38:00.000-08:00

Biblical Literature, Jewish versions

2005-01-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

Though Jews in English-speaking lands generally utilized the King James Version and the Revised Version, the English versions have presented great difficulties. They contain departures from the traditional Hebrew text; they sometimes embody Christological interpretations; the headings were often doctrinally objectionable and the renderings in the legal

Optics, Theory

2005-01-20T17:12:00.000-08:00

Holography is a two-step coherent image-forming process in which an intermediate record is made of the complex optical field associated with the object. The invention of the wave-front reconstruction process (now called holography) was first described in 1948 by Dennis Gabor, a Hungarian-born physicist, with a specific application in mind - to attempt to improve the resolution

Thomas, Saint

2005-01-19T18:41:00.000-08:00

Thomas' character is outlined in The Gospel

Aerobatics

2005-01-18T07:31:00.000-08:00

For a historical overview of the sport, see Annette Carson, Flight Fantastic: The Illustrated History of Aerobatics (1986). Information on aerobatic techniques may be found in Geza Szurovy and Michael Goulian, Advanced Aerobatics (1997); and Peter Mallinson, The Handbook of Glider Aerobatics (1999). Detailed information on the latest competition events and their formats may be obtained by contacting the International Aerobatics Commission of the F�d�ration A�ronautique Internationale in Paris.

Metauro River

2005-01-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

Italian �Fiume Metauro, �also called �Metro, �Latin �Metaurus, � river, Marche region, central Italy, rising in the Etruscan Apennines (Appennino Tosco-Emiliano) and flowing for 68 mi (109 km) east-northeast into the Adriatic Sea just south of Fano. The lower valley of the river (the ancient Metaurus) was the scene of a great Roman victory over the Carthaginians in 207 BC, when the consuls Marcus Livius Salinator and Claudius Nero defeated and slew

Mahavairocana-sutra

2005-01-16T03:44:00.000-08:00

Japanese �Dainichi-kyo, � text of late Tantric Buddhism and a principal scripture of the large Japanese Buddhist sect known as Shingon (�True Word�). The text received a Chinese translation, under the title Ta-jih Ching, about AD 725, and its esoteric teachings were propagated a century later in Japan by Kukai. These teachings, which have been called cosmotheism, centre upon Mahavairocana (in Japanese,

Mahavairocana-sutra

2005-01-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

Epistemology, Knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description

2005-01-14T23:33:00.000-08:00

The distinction between knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description was introduced by Bertrand Russell in connection with his celebrated theory of descriptions. Here only the epistemological (as distinct from the logical) version of his theory will be considered. It was invented by Russell to lend support to the basic thesis of empiricism that all

Afghanistan, Habibollah Khan (1901 - 19)

2005-01-13T02:59:00.000-08:00

Habibollah Khan visited British

Wagner, Richard

2005-01-12T01:18:00.000-08:00

For a realistic analysis of Wagner's complex character, see Ernest Newman, The Life of Richard Wagner, 4 vol. (1933 - 47). Ronald Taylor, Richard Wagner: The Life, Art and Thought (1979), emphasizes the historical background of his life; Charles Osborne, Wagner and His World (1977), is a brief introductory biography. Important sources include The Diary of Richard Wagner, ed. by Joachim Bergfeld (1980); Cosima Wagner's Diaries, ed. by Martin Gregor-Dellin and Dietrich Mack (1978 - ); and Wagner's Mein Leben, 2 vol. (1870 - 81; Eng. trans., My Life, 1911). See also the official German and English biographies by C.F. Glasenapp, Das Leben Richard Wagners, 6 vol. (1894 - 1911); and W.A. Ellis, Life of Richard Wagner, 6 vol. (1900 - 08). Robert W. Gutman, Richard Wagner: The Man, His Mind and His Music (1968), is a largely hostile biography. An analytical introduction to Wagner's music dramas is Ernest Newman, The Wagner Operas (1949; republished with the title Wagner Nights, 1950). A detailed study of Wagner's development as a musical dramatist is Jack M. Stein, Richard Wagner and the Synthesis of the Arts (1960). A.O. Lorenz, Das Geheimnis der Form bei Richard Wagner, 4 vol. (1924 - 33), provides an exhaustive bar-by-bar analysis of the musical construction of his major works. George Bernard Shaw, The Perfect Wagnerite, 4th ed. (1922, reprinted 1967), which has much of value to say about the social, political, and economic ideas behind The Ring; Jungian interpretation of the same work is Robert Donington, Wagner's Ring and Its Symbols, 2nd ed. (1969).

Tiepolo, Giovanni Domenico

2005-01-11T16:16:00.000-08:00

Also called �Giandomenico Tiepolo � son of the Venetian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo; he was a talented genre painter, especially of scenes from contemporary life and the popular theatre (as in the decorations of his villa at Zianigo, Italy, now in the Civico Museo Correr, Venice). Notable among his early works are the paintings of the Stations of the Cross for S. Polo, Venice (1747 - 49), and

Dehon, L�on-gustave

2005-01-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

Educated at the Sorbonne, Dehon was ordained priest in 1868 at Rome. After attending the first Vatican Council

Dehon, L�on-gustave

2005-01-09T22:07:00.000-08:00

Educated at the Sorbonne, Dehon was ordained priest in 1868 at Rome. After attending the first Vatican Council

Hyrax

2005-01-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

Also called �Dassie, � any of the small hoofed mammals of the order Hyracoidea. Both hyraxes and the unrelated pikas (order Lagomorpha) are also sometimes called rock rabbits; the term is misleading for hyraxes, which are neither rabbits nor exclusively rock dwellers. The term cony (coney) in the Bible actually refers not to the true cony (also a lagomorph) but to the

Leonardo Pisano

2005-01-07T09:03:00.000-08:00

Little is known about Leonardo's life beyond the few facts given in his mathematical writings. During Leonardo's boyhood his father, Guglielmo, a Pisan merchant, was appointed consul over the community of Pisan merchants in the North African port of Bugia (now Beja�a, Alg.). Leonardo was sent to study calculation with an Arab master. He later went to Egypt, Syria, Greece,

Kirkman, Jacob

2005-01-06T00:08:00.000-08:00

Kirkman was trained as a cabinetmaker and went to England in the early 1730s to work for an obscure immigrant Flemish harpsichord maker in London. He eventually became harpsichord

Jeakins, Dorothy

2005-01-05T16:25:00.000-08:00

U.S. Academy Award-winning costume designer whose striking creations for Joan of Arc, Samson and Delilah, and Night of the Iguana merited her three Oscars (b. Jan. 11, 1914--d. Nov. 21, 1995).

Argentina

2005-01-04T20:38:00.000-08:00

The federal republic of Argentina occupies the eastern section of the Southern Cone of South America, along the Atlantic Ocean. Area: 2,780,400 sq km (1,073,518 sq mi). Pop. (1993 est.): 33,507,000. Cap.: Buenos Aires. Monetary unit: peso, with (Oct. 4, 1993) an official rate of 1 peso to U.S. $1 (1.52 pesos = � 1 sterling). President in 1993, Carlos Sa�l Menem.

Leninsk-kuznetsky

2005-01-03T23:42:00.000-08:00

Formerly �(until 1925) Kolchugino, � city, in Kemerovo oblast (province), central Russia. It lies along the Inya River, a tributary of the Ob. In 1912 a French company started coal-mining operations there; from the 1930s the city developed rapidly to become a major coal-mining centre, with many pits located in the city itself. Other industries produce chemicals, mining machinery, electric lamps, and timber goods. Pop.

Ryukyu Islands

2005-01-02T09:31:00.000-08:00

Also called �Nansei Islands�, Japanese �Ryukyu-Shoto�, or �Nansei-Shoto�, Ryukyuan �Okinawa� archipelago, extending almost 400 miles (650 km) southwest from Kyushu, southern Japan, to the northern tip of Taiwan bordering the Philippine Sea (east) and the East China Sea (west). Since 1972 the islands have comprised Okinawa ken (prefecture), Japan. With a total land area of 870 square miles (2,254 square km), they consist of 55 islands and islets divided into three major groups: the Amami island

Asheboro

2005-01-01T04:40:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1796) of Randolph county, central North Carolina, U.S. It lies in the forested Uwharrie Mountains about 25 miles (40 km) south of Greensboro. Asheboro (originally Asheborough) was founded in 1796 on land that was once the home of Keyauwee Indians; a prehistoric Native American burial ground nearby was excavated in 1936. The name honours North Carolina Governor Samuel Ashe (1725 - 1813). The community

Asheboro

2004-12-31T07:43:00.000-08:00

Ancient Italic People, The populations of the Picenum

2004-12-30T03:44:00.000-08:00

In historic times, expansion of the eastern Italic peoples placed them firmly along the Adriatic coastal tract corresponding to what is now the Marches region. Epigraphic and archaeological data give evidence also of the presence in the Picenum (an ancient region between the Apennines and the Adriatic) of the trans-Adriatic Liburni and the pre-Indo-European Asili.

Mies Van Der Rohe, Ludwig

2004-12-29T22:40:00.000-08:00

Original name �Maria Ludwig Michael Mies � German-born American architect whose rectilinear forms, crafted in elegant simplicity, epitomized the International Style (q.v.) of architecture.

Pacific Islands

2004-12-28T21:08:00.000-08:00

Geographic region of the Pacific Ocean. The term is commonly accepted as including all of those islands in the Pacific that are collectively referred to as Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, also sometimes known as Oceania. This usage rules out the Australian island continent, the Asia-related Indonesian, Philippine, and Japanese archipelagoes, and the Ryukyu,

Bruckner, Anton

2004-12-27T08:28:00.000-08:00

In full� Josef Anton Bruckner � Austrian composer of a number of highly original and monumental symphonies. He was also an organist and teacher who composed much sacred and secular choral music.

Cabal

2004-12-26T23:12:00.000-08:00

A private organization or party engaged in secret intrigues; also, the intrigues themselves. In England the word was used during the 17th century to describe the mystical interpretation of the Hebrew scripture (the Cabala, or Kabbala), as well as to describe any secret or extralegal council of the king, especially the foreign committee of the Privy Council. The term took

Celosia

2004-12-25T09:14:00.000-08:00

Genus of about 60 species of herbaceous plants, of the amaranth family (Amaranthaceae), native to tropical America and Africa and characterized by alternate leaves and showy flowers in spikes, which in cultivated forms are often fasciated and form compact or feathery clusters. Some species are called woolflower for their dense chaffy flower spikes

Zamoyski, Jan

2004-12-24T16:37:00.000-08:00

Educated in France and Italy, he returned to Poland in 1565 and was appointed secretary to King Sigismund II. After Sigismund's death (1572), he became one of the best-liked

Earth Sciences, Hydrologic and atmospheric sciences

2004-12-22T04:38:00.000-08:00

The only substance known to the ancient philosophers in its solid, liquid, and gaseous states, water is prominently featured in early theories about the origin and operations of the Earth. Thales of Miletus (c. 624 - c. 545 BC) is credited with a belief that water is the essential substance of the Earth, and Anaximander of Miletus (c. 610 - 545 BC) held that water was probably the source of life. In

Janssen, Johannes

2004-12-21T00:22:00.000-08:00

Reared in a staunchly Catholic home, he attended local schools and then studied at M�nster, the University of Louvain (1850 - 51), and the University of Bonn (1851 - 53). After

Biblical Literature, The Holiness Code

2004-12-20T23:22:00.000-08:00

Next (chapters 17 - 26) comes what has been designated the �Holiness Code,� or �Law of Holiness,� which scholars regard as a separate, distinctive unit within the P material (designated H). It calls upon the people to be holy as God is holy by carrying out his laws, both ritual and moral, and by avoiding the polluting practices of neighbouring peoples; and it proceeds to lay down laws,

Vieux Fort

2004-12-19T19:02:00.000-08:00

Town and former capital of St. Lucia island in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It lies 19 miles (30 km) south of the harbour of Castries and is situated near the island's extreme southeastern tip on fertile, flat ground overlooking Vieux Fort Bay. Named after a 17th-century fort (Old Fort), it was the site of St. Lucia's first sugar works (1765) and is still the centre of a sugar- and coconut-growing

Bench

2004-12-18T22:03:00.000-08:00

Long seat that may be freestanding, fixed to the wall, or placed against the wall. Paneled benches were used by the Romans, and they were the most common form of seating in medieval halls at a time when a chair was a rare luxury. Benches were not only used as seats but were normally wide enough to be used for sleeping on or eating from; as the Frankish ecclesiastic and historian

Maher, Bill

2004-12-17T15:44:00.000-08:00

The title of Politically Incorrect, the often controversial television talk show that nightly featured four outspoken guests from the world of entertainment, arts and letters, and politics, was never more appropriate than when its host, comedian Bill Maher, implied that the terrorists who had attacked the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, were braver than U.S. forces fighting

Biblical Literature, Slavic versions

2004-12-16T16:12:00.000-08:00

The earliest Old Church Slavonic translations are connected with the arrival of the brothers Cyril and Methodius in Moravia in 863, and resulted from the desire to provide vernacular renderings of those parts of the Bible used liturgically. The oldest manuscripts derive from the 11th and 12th centuries. The earliest complete Bible manuscript, dated 1499, was used for the first

Dahomey

2004-12-15T19:10:00.000-08:00

Kingdom in western Africa that flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries in the region that is now southern Benin. According to tradition, at the beginning of the 17th century three brothers vied for the kingdom of Allada, which, like neighbouring Whydah (now Ouidah), had grown rich on the slave trade. When one of the brothers won control of Allada, the other two fled. One went southeast

Ibrahim Lodi

2004-12-14T19:59:00.000-08:00

The son of Sikandar, Ibrahim succeeded to the throne on his father's death (Nov. 21, 1517) and was quickly faced with continuing disputes between the royal family and Afghani nobles. One noble, Dawlat Khan Lodi, governor of the Punjab, fearing

Chub

2004-12-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

The European chub (Leuciscus cephalus) is a popular, though not especially palatable, game fish found in Europe and Great Britain, primarily in rivers. A large-mouthed fish with

Adams, William

2004-12-12T04:23:00.000-08:00

At the age of 12 Adams was apprenticed in the merchant marine, afterward sailing in the British navy and later serving a company of Barbary merchants. In 1598 he shipped as pilot major with five Dutch ships bound from Europe for the East Indies via the Straits of Magellan.

Earth Sciences, Experimental study of rocks

2004-12-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

Experimental petrology began with the work of Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff, one of the founders of physical chemistry. Between 1896 and 1908 he elucidated the complex sequence of chemical reactions attending the precipitation of salts (evaporites) from the evaporation of seawater. Van't Hoff's aim was to explain the succession of mineral salts present in Permian rocks of

Caucasian Languages, The Avar-Andi-Dido languages

2004-12-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

Of these tongues,

Biblical Literature, The Letter of Jude

2004-12-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

The Letter of Jude, after a salutation that attributes it to Jude, the brother of James, and addresses itself to the church as a whole, develops the theme of the short letter - a polemic against heretics who have abandoned the transmitted traditional faith and who will thus be judged by the Lord. They deny Christ, and punishment similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah in the

RoundCake

Aztec Calendar

Kamchatka River

West Flanders

World War I, The Western Front, JanuaryMay 1917

God, Peace Of

Yurok

Oyapock River

Alaska, Settlement patterns

Petaluma

Fiduciary

Subatomic Particle, The weak nuclear force

Macdiarmid, Hugh

Italian Democratic Socialist Party

Ahmad Ibn Tulun

Shu Ching

Grabski, Wladyslaw

Balas, Iolanda

Madder

Gunasthana

France, History Of, Social classes

Aasen, Ivar

Locofoco Party

Arianism

Adcock, Fleur

Weldon, Fay

Pecos River

Literature, Other Literature in English.

Arena

Arena

Nutrition, Competition for sites of absorption by the cell

Alexander Aetolus

Arguin Island

Paraguay, Climate

Meliaceae

Kyaikkami

Sentimental Comedy

Anthony Of Egypt, Saint

Ligurian Language

Intaglio

Cypress

Mordvin Language

Masculine Rhyme

Handke, Peter

Dairy Product, Additions and treatment

South America, Iberians

Alipur Duar

Coracle

Henr�quez Ure�a, Pedro

Valens

Valens

Kerouac, Jack

Cambridge

Aym�, Marcel

Petroleum Refining, Aromatics

Computers, Herman Hollerith's census tabulator

Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake

Biblical Literature, Jewish versions

Optics, Theory

Thomas, Saint

Aerobatics

Metauro River

Mahavairocana-sutra

Mahavairocana-sutra

Epistemology, Knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description

Afghanistan, Habibollah Khan (1901 - 19)

Wagner, Richard

Tiepolo, Giovanni Domenico

Dehon, L�on-gustave

Dehon, L�on-gustave

Hyrax

Leonardo Pisano

Kirkman, Jacob

Jeakins, Dorothy

Argentina

Leninsk-kuznetsky

Ryukyu Islands

Asheboro

Asheboro

World War I, The Western Front, JanuaryMay 1917