BitterWing

Abatement

2005-04-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

In law, the interruption of a legal proceeding upon the pleading by a defendant of a matter that prevents the plaintiff from going forward with the suit at that time or in that form. Pleas in abatement raise such matters as objections to the place, mode, or time of the plaintiff's claim. At one time, abatement of proceedings in equity differed from abatement in law in that

Coquecigrue

2005-04-02T14:54:00.000-08:00

An imaginary creature regarded as an embodiment of absolute absurdity. François Rabelais in Gargantua uses the phrase à la venue des cocquecigrues to mean “never.” Charles Kingsley in The Water Babies has the fairy Bedonebyasyoudid report that there are seven things he is forbidden to tell until “the coming of the Cocqcigrues.” The word is of French origin.

Mies Van Der Rohe, Ludwig

2005-03-31T03:42:00.000-08:00

Ludwig Mies (he added his mother's surname, van der Rohe, when he had established himself as an architect) was the son of a master mason who owned a small stonecutter's shop. Mies helped his father on various construction sites but never received any formal architectural training. At age 15 he was apprenticed to several Aachen architects for whom he sketched outlines of

Termite

2005-03-30T04:20:00.000-08:00

Any of the cellulose-eating social insects that constitute the order Isoptera. Although they are referred to popularly as white ants, they are not closely related to ants, which are grouped with bees and wasps in a higher order of insects, the Hymenoptera. The social system of termites shows remarkable parallels with those of the Hymenoptera,

Narcolepsy

2005-03-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

The syndrome usually occurs in youth or early adult life and is presumably due to dysfunction of the diencephalic reticular system. The narcoleptic can fall asleep anywhere, anytime—while in conversation, at work, while eating,

Tallchief, Marjorie

2005-03-26T16:32:00.000-08:00

Born in a town on an Osage Indian reservation in Oklahoma, Marjorie and her sister Maria were of Osage and Scotch-Irish descent. Both sisters began dancing as children and later studied with Bronislava Nijinska and David Lichine,

Beyer, Absalon Pederssøn

2005-03-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

Born on a farm, Beyer was adopted by a bishop after the death of his parents and educated at the universities of Copenhagen and Wittenberg, where he studied under the famous Protestant Reformation scholar Philipp Melanchthon. Beyer was a lecturer at the Bergen Cathedral

Keeler, James (edward)

2005-03-24T00:37:00.000-08:00

Interested in astronomy from an early age, Keeler became assistant to the noted astronomer Samuel P. Langley at the Allegheny Observatory, Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1881. From 1886 to 1891 he was on the staff of the Lick

Afghanistan, Urban settlement

2005-03-21T22:12:00.000-08:00

Most urban settlements have grown along the road that runs from Kabul southwestward to Kandahar, then northwest to Herat, northeast to Mazar-e Sharif, and southeast back to Kabul. The rural population of farmers and nomads is distributed unevenly over the rest of the country, mainly concentrated along the rivers. The most heavily populated part of the country is between

Kschessinska, Mathilde

2005-03-21T04:13:00.000-08:00

Kschessinska also spelled Kshessinska, Russian in full Mathilda-maria Feliksovna Kshesinskaya prima ballerina assoluta of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the first Russian dancer to master 32 consecutive fouettés en tournant (“whipped turns” done in place and on one leg), a feat previously performed only by Italian dancers and considered in that era the supreme achievement in dance

Papini, Giovanni

2005-03-20T05:35:00.000-08:00

Though largely self-educated,

Paraguay, Relief

2005-03-19T00:58:00.000-08:00

The Región Oriental, with an area of about 61,700 square miles, is an extension of the Brazilian Plateau and

Biblical Literature, The life of Jesus

2005-03-17T15:07:00.000-08:00

Though the fact that Jesus was a historical person has been stressed, significant, too, is the fact that a full biography of accurate chronology is not possible. The New Testament writers were less concerned with such difficulties than the person who attempts to construct some chronological accounts in retrospect. Both the indifference of early secular historians

Clampitt, Amy

2005-03-17T14:07:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Grinnell College (B.A., 1941), Clampitt worked as a reference librarian and as an editor, publishing her first book of poetry, Multitudes, Multitudes (1973), at her own expense. Her first full-length collection was The

Music

2005-03-16T22:47:00.000-08:00

Both the simple folk song and the complex electronic composition belong to the same activity, music. Both are humanly engineered; both are conceptual and auditory, and

Pindus Mountains

2005-03-15T01:22:00.000-08:00

In antiquity, the name Pindus applied to ranges south of the Aracynthus (Zygós) Pass west of Thessaly. Occasionally the Pindus is said to extend into Albania but also to include the Tymphrestos (Timfristós) massif and

Ramadier, Paul

2005-03-14T22:57:00.000-08:00

After receiving his doctorate in law from the University of Paris, Ramadier became an advocate at the Paris Court of Appeals. He became mayor of Decazeville in 1919 and represented Villefranche-de-Rouergue in the Chamber of Deputies from 1928 to 1940. In 1936–37 Ramadier served in the public

Auction

2005-03-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

The buying and selling of real and personal property through open public bidding. The traditional auction process involves a succession of increasing bids or offers by potential purchasers until the highest (and final) bid is accepted by the auctioneer (who is usually an agent of the seller). At a so-called Dutch auction, however, the seller offers property at successively

Ska

2005-03-12T06:51:00.000-08:00

Pioneered by the operators of powerful mobile discos called sound systems, ska evolved in the late 1950s from an early Jamaican form of rhythm and blues that emulated American rhythm and blues, especially that produced in New Orleans, Louisiana. A new beat emerged that mixed the shuffling rhythm of American pianist Rosco Gordon

Hooker, Sir William Jackson

2005-03-11T20:34:00.000-08:00

Hooker was the son of a merchant's clerk and descendant of Richard Hooker, noted theologian of the 16th century. A fortuitous discovery in 1805 of

Estaunié, Edouard

2005-03-09T22:27:00.000-08:00

A theme recurrent in the 12 novels of Estaunié is expressed by the title of one of them, La Vie Secrète (1908; “The Secret Life”): each man's outward life masks another,

Amarillo

2005-03-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

At first called Oneida, the city originated in 1887 as a railroad construction camp and in the 1890s grew to become one of

Mason City

2005-03-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1855) of Cerro Gordo county, northern Iowa, U.S., along the Winnebago River, about 120 miles (195 km) north of Des Moines. The area was inhabited by Winnebago and Sioux peoples when Freemasons arrived to settle the site in 1853; its earlier names were Shibboleth, Masonic Grove, and Masonville before the present name was adopted. The city is underlain by deposits of clay and limestone,

Kyongsang-puk

2005-03-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

Do (province), eastern South Korea. It is bounded on the east by the Sea of Japan (East Sea), on the south by Kyongsang-nam do, on the west by the do of Cholla-puk and Ch'ungch'ong-puk, and on the north by Kangwon do. It is South Korea's largest do in both size and population. The homeland of the Silla kingdom (57 BC–AD 935), of which there are historical remains, mainly in the Kyongju area, Kyongsang-puk has

Kermadec Islands

2005-03-05T06:24:00.000-08:00

Volcanic island group in the South Pacific Ocean, 600 mi (1,000 km) northeast of Auckland, New Zealand; they are a dependency of New Zealand. They include Raoul (Sunday), Macauley, and Curtis islands and l'Esperance Rock and have a total land area of 13 sq mi (34 sq km). Raoul, the largest (11.3 sq mi), has rugged coastal cliffs that rise to Mt. Mumukai (1,723 ft [525 m]). It is heavily wooded and fertile, but its indigenous

Laghouat

2005-03-04T07:23:00.000-08:00

Town and oasis north-central Algeria, at the southern edge of the Saharan Atlas, on the route linking Algiers with central Africa. The oasis (625 acres [253 hectares]) was probably settled in the 11th century after the Banu Hilal invaders, supported by the Fatimids of Egypt, crossed the area. Laghouat subsequently passed through Moroccan and Turkish hands and was divided by two warring

Monagas

2005-03-03T14:35:00.000-08:00

State, northeastern Venezuela, bounded northeast by the Gulf of Paria, southeast by the Orinoco River, and north and west by the states of Sucre and Anzoátegui. It has an area of 11,158 sq mi (28,900 sq km). Except for a coastal range in the north and the marshes of the Orinoco Delta, Monagas is a land of savannas and is typical Llanos (plains) country. Cattle raising is dominant, although corn

Biqa', Al-

2005-03-01T19:31:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Bekaa , or Beqaa , classical Coele Syria broad valley of central Lebanon, extending in a northeast-southwest direction for 75 miles (120 km) along the Litani and Orontes rivers, between the Lebanon Mountains to the west and Anti-Lebanon Mountains to the east. The valley contains nearly half of Lebanon's arable land but is not as intensively farmed as the country's coastal plain because of less rainfall and a wider variation

Wu-kung Mountains

2005-03-01T01:13:00.000-08:00

Wade–Giles romanization Wukung Shan, Pinyin Wugong Shan, mountain range, chiefly in west-central Kiangsi Province, China, forming a part of the frontier area between Kiangsi and Hunan provinces. The range is about 80 miles (130 km) long and extends northeastward from Ch'a-ling in Hunan to near I-ch'un in Kiangsi, being divided from the Chiu-ling Mountains farther north by the valley route between Chu-chou and I-ch'un. The western section

Liguria

2005-02-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

Shaped like a crescent reaching from the mouth of the Roia River to that of the Magra and from the French frontier to Tuscany, Liguria is dominated by the Maritime Alps as far as the Cadibona

Todos Os Santos Bay

2005-02-27T03:45:00.000-08:00

Also called All Saints Bay, Portuguese Baía De Todos Os Santos, sheltered bay of the Atlantic Ocean, eastern coast of Brazil. A natural harbour, it is 25 miles (40 km) long and 20 miles (32 km) wide. Salvador, the principal seaport and capital of Bahia state, is on the peninsula that separates the bay from the Atlantic. Todos os Santos Bay receives the Paraguaçu River and is surrounded by the Recôncavo, a fertile coastal lowland. Its main channel is

Land Crab

2005-02-26T05:34:00.000-08:00

Any crab of the family Gecarcinidae (order Decapoda of the class Crustacea), typically terrestrial, square-bodied crabs that only occasionally, as adults, return to the sea. They occur in tropical America, West Africa, and the Indo-Pacific region. All species feed on both animal and plant tissue. Cardisoma guanhumi, a land crab of Bermuda, the West Indies, and the southern

Frederick Iv

2005-02-24T19:26:00.000-08:00

King of Denmark and Norway (1699–1730), who succeeded his father, King Christian V. He continued the Danish efforts to sever the House of Gottorp's link with Sweden, but his first attempt to do so, in 1700 at the outbreak of the Great Northern War, was checked by Charles XII of Sweden. Frederick then accepted the Treaty of Traventhal (1700), but he reentered the war

Boiling

2005-02-22T06:18:00.000-08:00

Boiling is used primarily

Shinran

2005-02-19T05:54:00.000-08:00

Original name Matsuwaka-Maru, also called Han'en, Shakku, Zenshin, or Gutoku Shinran, posthumous name Kenshin Daishi Buddhist philosopher and religious reformer whose concern for the salvation of the masses apart from those endowed with self-enlightenment led him to establish (1224) the Jodo Shinshu (True Pure Land sect), the largest school of Buddhism in modern Japan. His monumental anthology Kyogyoshinsho (1224; “Teaching-Action-Faith-Attainment”) made an original contribution

Human Evolution, Dating the fossils

2005-02-17T18:27:00.000-08:00

In the early 1970s a number of new carbon-14 datings gave rise to a radical revision in the then-accepted dating of the African Stone Age. The resulting picture has since been confirmed by a variety of newer methods. Accordingly, the African Middle Stone Age no longer is considered to have begun some 40,000 years ago and ended c. 10,000 years ago but instead to have begun c. 200,000 years ago and ended

Sarda River

2005-02-16T10:41:00.000-08:00

River rising in the Himalayas and flowing south-southeast along the India–Nepal border to join the Ghaghara River after a course of about 300 miles (480 km). In its upper course, where the stream is known as the Kali River, it enters the Gangetic Plain at Barmdeo Mandi, widening there above the Sarda Barrage; below this point it is known as the Sarda River. Its major tributaries are the

La Farina, Giuseppe

2005-02-13T08:48:00.000-08:00

The son of a Sicilian magistrate and scholar, La Farina received a law degree in 1835 and soon became involved with a secret committee for Italian unity; he was forced into exile after it attempted an insurrection in 1837. Receiving

Scylla And Charybdis

2005-02-12T03:31:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, two immortal and irresistible monsters who beset the narrow waters traversed by the hero Odysseus in his wanderings (later localized in the Strait of Messina). Scylla was a supernatural creature, with 12 feet and 6 heads on long, snaky necks, each head having a triple row of sharklike teeth, while her loins were girt with the heads of baying dogs. From her

Hawk

2005-02-10T20:04:00.000-08:00

Any of many small to medium-sized diurnal birds of prey, particularly those in the genus Accipiter, known as the true hawks, and including the goshawks and sparrowhawks. The term hawk is often applied to other birds in the family Accipitridae (such as the kites, buzzards, and harriers) and sometimes is extended to include certain members of the family Falconidae (falcons

Grafström, Gillis

2005-02-07T03:10:00.000-08:00

Grafström won his first gold medal at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, despite breaking

Le Maistre De Sacy, Isaac-louis

2005-02-03T03:21:00.000-08:00

Important figure in the Jansenist religious movement in France, a member of the Arnauld family (q.v.).

Amoghasiddhi

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

(Sanskrit: “Unfailing Success”), in Mahayana and Vajrayana (Tantric) Buddhism, one of the five “self-born” Buddhas. See Dhyani-Buddha.

Water Treader

2005-01-31T22:51:00.000-08:00

Mesoveliids are predaceous and are usually seen on floating vegetation or on the water surface. One species, Phrynovelia papua of New Guinea, lives in leaves on the forest

Côte D'ivoire

2005-01-29T07:57:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, French République de Côte d'Ivoire, also called in English (until 1986) Ivory Coast, country located on the coast of western Africa. With a coastline more than 300 miles (480 kilometres) long, it forms an almost square block of territory with an area of 123,847 square miles (320,763 square kilometres). It is bounded to the north by Mali and Burkina Faso, to the east by Ghana, to the south by the Gulf of Guinea, to the southwest by Liberia, and to the northwest by Guinea. The de facto capital

Muhallab Ibn Abi Sufra, Al-

2005-01-27T06:25:00.000-08:00

Al-Muhallab first served under the caliph Mu'awiyah, campaigning in India and raiding the country between Kabul and Multan. Later he was stationed in the eastern provinces, leading expeditions against the Central Asian city

Palamas, Saint Gregory

2005-01-25T21:26:00.000-08:00

Orthodox monk, theologian, and intellectual leader of Hesychasm, an ascetical method of mystical prayer that integrates repetitive prayer formulas with bodily postures and controlled breathing. He was appointed bishop of Thessalonica in 1347. In 1368 he was acclaimed a saint

Kofoid, Charles Atwood

2005-01-23T20:46:00.000-08:00

Kofoid graduated from Harvard University (1894) and in 1900 began a long affiliation with the University of California at Berkeley. He became a full professor there in 1910, and for most

Barahona De Soto, Luis

2005-01-21T03:37:00.000-08:00

After completing his education in Antequera and service as a soldier, Barahona began practicing

Price, Reynolds

2005-01-19T10:41:00.000-08:00

Price grew up in small towns and attended Duke University in Durham, N.C. (A.B. 1955), where the works of Eudora Welty became a primary influence on his writing. After receiving a B.Litt. degree in 1958 from the University of Oxford in England, he began his

Canada, Bank Of

2005-01-17T19:12:00.000-08:00

Canadian financial institution established under the Bank of Canada Act (1934). It was founded during the Great Depression to regulate credit and currency. The Bank commenced operations on March 11, 1935. It not only acts as the fiscal agent for the Canadian government but also has the sole right to issue paper money. The Canadian Ministry of Finance has ultimate direction of

Tasmania, Government and politics

2005-01-14T19:54:00.000-08:00

The state parliament comprises a House of Assembly and a Legislative Council, the latter by tradition a largely nonparty house. The system of elections for the House of Assembly is proportional representation by the single transferable vote; the system for the Legislative Council is the preferential system, with an obligation to record preferences, used for

Xie Jun

2005-01-13T14:59:00.000-08:00

At the age of six Xie began to play Chinese chess, and by the age of 10 she had become the girls' champion of Beijing. At the urging of government authorities, she soon began playing Western chess. Despite indifferent training opportunities, Xie

Warfare In The 21st Century

2005-01-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

The war that began in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, demonstrated both the capabilities and the limitations of modern military technology. It should have come as no surprise that the U.S.-led 17-member coalition toppled the Taliban regime in only a few weeks. In conventional terms, the Taliban were a pushover; they possessed no air force, had very limited air defenses, and were an unpopular

Japanese Law

2005-01-08T07:41:00.000-08:00

The law as it has developed in Japan as a consequence of a meld of two cultural and legal traditions, one indigenous Japanese, the other Western. Before Japan's isolation from the West was ended in the mid-19th century, Japanese law developed independently of Western influences. Conciliation was emphasized in response to social pressures exerted through an expanded

Caecilius Of Calacte

2005-01-07T21:15:00.000-08:00

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

Allegheny River

2005-01-04T15:05:00.000-08:00

River rising in the hilly plateau region of Potter county, Pa., U.S., and flowing generally northward for about 80 miles (130 km). The river enters New York state where the Allegheny Reservoir is impounded at Allegany State Park; turning southwest, it continues for 120 miles (190 km), meandering to the southeast and again southwest and eventually joining the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh

Körner, Wilhelm

2005-01-03T02:53:00.000-08:00

German organic chemist who in 1874 showed how to determine the relative positions of two substituents, such as methyl, on the benzene ring. For example, o-xylene forms two different mononitro derivatives; m-xylene forms three; and p-xylene forms only one. This method permitted further advances in the study and development

Cinna, Gaius Helvius

2004-12-31T09:54:00.000-08:00

Roman poet who wrote a mythological epic poem Smyrna. He was a friend of the poet Catullus. The early Christian-era historians Suetonius, Valerius Maximus, Appian, and Dio Cassius all state that at Caesar's funeral (44 BC) a certain Helvius Cinna was killed by mistake for Cornelius Cinna, the conspirator. The last three writers identify him as a tribune of the people,

Dagens Nyheter

2004-12-29T02:49:00.000-08:00

Morning daily newspaper published in Stockholm. It is one of the largest and most influential newspapers in Sweden. It was founded in 1864 by Rudolf Wall. Dagens Nyheter has long been noted for its thorough coverage of the arts, foreign news, and domestic political news. The paper has generally followed a liberal policy politically. For a time in the 1960s, its circulation was

Domingo, Plácido

2004-12-27T06:53:00.000-08:00

Domingo's parents were noted performers in zarzuela, a form of Spanish light opera. He grew up in Mexico, where he studied piano at the National Conservatory of

Vancouver Aquarium

2004-12-25T14:49:00.000-08:00

Aquarium located in Stanley Park, Vancouver, B.C., Can., that has the largest collection of fishes and marine invertebrates in Canada. The collection includes nearly 3,000 specimens of about 300 fish species and more than 3,500 representatives of approximately 150 different kinds of invertebrates. The aquarium's specialty is marine fish species native to the eastern part of the North

Arakan Mountain Range

2004-12-24T01:49:00.000-08:00

Burmese Arakan Yoma mountain arc in western Myanmar (Burma), between the Arakan coast and the Irrawaddy River valley. The arc extends northward for about 600 miles (950 km) from Cape Negrais (Myanmar) to Manipur (India) and includes the Naga, Chin, Lushai, and Patkai hills. The mountain range itself is about 250 miles (400 km) long. Its highest point is Mount Victoria (10,150 feet [3,094 m]). Dividing the Arakan coast from the rest

Frescobaldi, Girolamo

2004-12-21T08:37:00.000-08:00

Italian organist and one of the first great masters of organ composition. He strongly influenced the German Baroque school through the work of his pupils, J.J. Froberger and Franz Tunder. Frescobaldi began his public career as organist at the church of Sta. Maria in Trastevere in Rome, in 1607. He travelled to the Netherlands the

Earnhardt, (ralph) Dale, Sr.

2004-12-20T00:25:00.000-08:00

American race-car driver (b. April 29, 1951, Kannapolis, N.C.—d. Feb. 18, 2001, Daytona Beach, Fla.), was one of the most successful stock-car racing drivers in history. He won a total of 76 races in his career, and he captured the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing's (NASCAR's) Winston Cup season points championship seven times—a feat equaled by only one other driver, racing legend Richard

Celadon

2004-12-17T03:58:00.000-08:00

Chinese, Korean, Siamese, and Japanese stoneware decorated with green glazes. To create this ware, artisans apply a wash of slip (liquefied clay), which contains a high proportion of iron, to the body of the stoneware before glazing. The iron interacts with the glaze during the firing and colours it one of various shades of green. First made in China, a wide demand led to the

Felling

2004-12-16T08:27:00.000-08:00

Town, Gateshead metropolitan borough, metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Tyne. The town grew rapidly at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century with the extension of coal mining and later with the expansion of riverside industries such as shipbuilding and the manufacture of glass and heavy chemicals. New

Chabrol, Claude

2004-12-14T17:37:00.000-08:00

After attending the School of Political Science at the University of Paris, he was a critic and public relations man for Twentieth Century-Fox's French office. Le Beau Serge (1958; “Handsome Serge”; Bitter Reunion), written and produced by Chabrol, was an important

Sorbon, Robert De

2004-12-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

Born into a poor rural family, Sorbon was educated in Reims and in Paris, where his piety and diligence drew the patronage of the comte d'Artois and King Louis IX. In 1251 he became canon

Sorbon, Robert De

2004-12-10T19:20:00.000-08:00

In biology, a highly convoluted membrane within the cytoplasm of a eukaryotic cell that is important in the biosynthesis of proteins and lipids. The ER usually constitutes more than half of the membrane of the cell and is continuous with the outer membrane of the nuclear envelope. Endoplasmic reticulum has two distinct regions: the rough ER (RER; so-called because

Panama Canal, The canal

2004-12-07T05:49:00.000-08:00

The Panama Canal lies at a latitude of 9° N. The canal does not, as is generally supposed, cross the isthmus from east to west. It runs due south from its entrance at Colón on the Atlantic side through the Gatún (Gatun) Locks to a point in the widest portion of Gatún Lake; it then turns sharply toward the east and follows a course generally to the southeast until it reaches the

Béla Iii

2004-12-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

Béla was educated at the Byzantine court and placed on the throne by force of arms by the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus in 1173. He made the Hungarian monarchy hereditary by naming his infant son, Imre, his successor. He also made his court among the most brilliant in Europe. Béla adopted

Framingham

2004-12-03T18:38:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Middlesex county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies along the Sudbury River, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Boston. Settled in 1650, it was incorporated in 1700 and derived its name from Framlingham, Suffolk, England. Framingham Center, just north of the downtown area, was the original village. Framingham's industrial development dates from 1835, with the utilization of local

India, House Of

2004-12-02T13:55:00.000-08:00

Also called House Of Guinea, House Of Guinea And Mina, or House Of Mina, Portuguese Casa Da India, Casa Da Guiné, Casa De Guiné E Mina, or Casa Da Mina, 15th-century Portuguese establishment that managed the trade in products from overseas colonies. It was called House of Guinea because it began by processing products from Guinea. Originally housed in a warehouse at Lagos in southern Portugal, it was reestablished in Lisbon with the death of Prince Henry the Navigator (1460). As trade from São Jorge da Mina (now Elmina, Ghana)

Taoka Kazuo

2004-11-29T16:53:00.000-08:00

Taoka was born to a poor farm family in a village on the island of Shikoku;

Vacuum Technology

2004-11-27T17:17:00.000-08:00

Capacities are available up to many thousands of cu ft per minute, operating in the pressure range of 10-3 to below 10-11 torr. The full speed of the pump, which only pumps chemically reactive gases, is developed at pressures below 10-5 torr. In this type of pump, titanium is sublimed onto the pump walls from either a resistance or an electron-beam heated source. Active gases are pumped

Military Affairs

2004-11-26T18:19:00.000-08:00

(For a comparison of approximate strengths of selected regular armed forces, see Table III.) The issue of homosexuals in the armed forces made headlines in the U.S. throughout the year. The new president, Bill Clinton, was forced to back away from a campaign pledge to drop the 50-year ban on homosexuals serving in the military when he immediately ran into opposition within

Arron, Henck

2004-11-24T10:43:00.000-08:00

Arron worked in banks in The Netherlands and Dutch Guiana before entering politics in 1963. He was elected to the Staten (Suriname legislature) that

Islam, The teachings of Twelver Shi'ism and the school of Esfahan

2004-11-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

After Ibn al-'Arabi, the new wisdom developed rapidly in intellectual circles in eastern Islam. Commentators on the works of Avicenna, as-Suhrawardi, and Ibn al-'Arabi began the process of harmonizing and integrating the views of the masters. Great poets made them part of every educated man's literary culture. Mystical fraternities became the custodians of such works, spreading

Soteria

2004-11-20T09:57:00.000-08:00

(from Greek: “deliverance”), in Hellenistic religions, any sacrifice or series of sacrifices performed either in commemoration or in expectation of deliverance from a crisis; in a specific sense the word was often used in reference to large-scale commemorative festivals held at planned intervals. Sixteen Soteria festivals are known; the most famous was that at Delphi,

Vale Royal

2004-11-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

Borough, administrative and historic county of Cheshire, England. It is named for a great Cistercian abbey built by Edward I near the present village of Whitegate. The borough is centred on the Cheshire salt field in the middle of the county. Its two main towns, Winsford and Northwich, were both founded on salt production; Northwich was important for salt as early as

Hawkins, Sir John

2004-11-15T08:44:00.000-08:00

A kinsman of Sir Francis Drake, Hawkins began his career as a merchant in the African trade and soon became the first English slave trader. By carrying slaves from Guinea, in West Africa,

Dwarka

2004-11-13T09:12:00.000-08:00

Town, southwestern Gujarat state, west-central India. It lies on the western shore of the Okhamandal Peninsula, a small western extension of the Kathiawar Peninsula. Dwarka, or the “City of Many Gates” (Sanskrit: Dvaraka, or Dvaravati), is also known as Jagat, or Jigat. Dwarka was the legendary capital of the god Krishna, who founded it after his flight from Mathura. Its consequent sanctity

Wupatki National Monument

2004-11-11T02:50:00.000-08:00

The monument comprises more than 800 pre-Columbian

Du Toit, Jakob Daniel

2004-11-09T14:51:00.000-08:00

Du Toit was educated in Pretoria, Rustenburg, and Daljosafat, studied at the theological seminary at Burgesdorp, and passed his final

Baseball, Women in baseball

2004-11-07T09:59:00.000-08:00

Women have played organized baseball since the 1860s. Students at the all-female Vassar College formed baseball teams as early as 1866. In 1875 three men organized a women's baseball club in Springfield, Illinois, divided it into two teams, the Blondes and the Brunettes, and charged admission to see them play. In the early 20th century, barnstorming teams known as “Bloomer Girls” were

Ukraine

2004-11-06T15:26:00.000-08:00

Ukrainian Ukrayina country located in eastern Europe, after Russia the second largest on the continent. It is bordered by Belarus on the north, Russia on the east, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea on the south, Moldova and Romania on the southwest, and Hungary, Slovakia, and Poland on the west; in the far southeast, Ukraine is separated from Russia by the Kerch Strait, which connects the Sea of

France, History Of, Parisian revolt

2004-11-04T22:56:00.000-08:00

In fact, the king had by no means reconciled himself to this revolutionary act. His concession was a strategic retreat until he could muster the military power to subdue the patriots. Between June 27 and July 1 he ordered 20,000 royal troops into the Paris region, ostensibly to protect the assembly and to prevent disorder in the restive capital. The assembly's pleas to the king

Camargo, Marie (-anne De Cupis De)

2004-11-01T09:42:00.000-08:00

Camargo studied in Paris under Françoise Prevost and danced in Brussels and Rouen before her Paris Opéra debut in 1726 in Les Caractères de la danse. Her success provoked the jealousy of her aging teacher, Prevost, who

Gandak River

2004-10-30T00:27:00.000-07:00

Also called Narayani River, river in central Nepal and northern India. It is formed by the union of the Kali and Trisuli rivers, which rise in the Great Himalaya Range in Nepal; from this junction to the Indian border the river is called the Narayani. It flows southwest into India and then turns southeast along the Uttar Pradesh–Bihar state border and across the Gangetic Plain. It enters the Ganges River

Interior Design, Ancient world

2004-10-28T11:23:00.000-07:00

Luther, Martin, Luther's questioning of authority

2004-10-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

Eck was able to go off to Rome with new prestige to give sharpness to the process of Luther's official condemnation. Luther had now to examine the further implications of his actions to date, in relation to the authority of the church, of councils, and of Scripture; his correspondence shows that he was reaching something like a crisis in his attitude to papal

Pacific Ocean, Principal ridges and basins

2004-10-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

To the east of 150° W the relief of the ocean floor is considerably less pronounced than it is to the west. In the eastern Pacific the Cocos Ridge extends southwestward from the Central American isthmus to the Galápagos Islands. To the south of the Galápagos lies the Peru Basin, which is separated by the extensive Sala y Gomez Ridge from the Southeast Pacific Basin, which,

Neodymium

2004-10-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

(Nd), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table. Neodymium is silvery-white colour and tarnishes in air to form an oxide which chips, exposing the metal to further oxidation. The metal must be sealed in a plastic covering or kept in mineral oil for preservation. It reacts gradually with cold water and rapidly with hot water to liberate

Andersen's Disease

2004-10-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

Also called Glycogenosis Type Iv, extremely rare hereditary metabolic disorder produced by absence of the enzyme amylo-1:4,1:6-transglucosidase, which is an essential mediator of the synthesis of glycogen. An abnormal form of glycogen, amylopectin, is produced and accumulates in body tissues, particularly in the liver and heart. Affected children appear normal at birth but fail to thrive and later lose

Chancellor

2004-10-18T21:48:00.000-07:00

In western Europe, the title of holders of numerous offices of varying importance, mainly secretarial, legal, administrative, and ultimately political in nature. The Roman cancellarii, minor legal officials who stood by the cancellus, or bar, separating the tribune from the public, were later employed in the imperial scrinia (writing departments). After the fall of

Binche

2004-10-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

Town, Hainaut province, Belgium. It lies 9 miles (15 km) southeast of Mons. Situated on a hill, Binche remains encircled by fortifications built in the 12th century and flanked by 27 towers. Its town hall was constructed in the second half of the 14th century and restored in the 16th century by Jacques de Broeucq. A portion of the town's fortifications were pulled down in 1545 to build a palace

Mauretania

2004-10-14T01:01:00.000-07:00

Its native inhabitants, seminomadic pastoralists of Berber stock, were known to the Romans as the Mauri (i.e., Moors) and the Massaesyli. From the 6th century BC the Phoenicians and Carthaginians also settled at points along the coast.

Arab Bank For Economic Development In Africa

2004-10-12T23:27:00.000-07:00

French Banque Arabe Pour Le Développement Économique En Afrique (BADEA) , Arabic Al-bank Al-'arabi Lil-tatawur Al-iqtisadi Fi Afriqiya bank created by the Arab League summit conference in Algiers, in November 1973, to finance development projects. In 1975 BADEA began operating by supplying African countries with technical assistance. All members of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) are eligible as recipients, except those countries belonging to the Arab League. BADEA includes all members of the Arab

Hines, Earl (kenneth)

2004-10-08T07:32:00.000-07:00

Byname Fatha American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer who was one of the strongest influences in the first 30 years of jazz history. He improvised lines with his right hand that were phrased like those of a trumpeter and—with the use of octave voicings, tremolos, and his powerful attack—caused the piano to seem almost brassy. This style,