PoliticalCushion

Bondoukou

2005-11-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

Town, eastern Côte d'Ivoire, situated at the intersection of roads from Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Abidjan, the national capital. An early trade centre of the Kulango (Koulango, Pakhalla, N'Gora) people, Bondoukou was captured in the late 15th century by the Brong (Abron), an Akan people from the west. The Brong were converted to Islam by Dyula traders from the north, who founded a

Technical Education

2005-10-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

The academic and vocational preparation of students for jobs involving applied science and modern technology. It emphasizes the understanding and practical application of basic principles of science and mathematics, rather than the attainment of proficiency in manual skills that is properly the concern of vocational education. Technical education has

Canals And Inland Waterways, Boat lifts

2005-08-08T14:45:00.000-07:00

Vessels can be transported floating in a steel tank or caisson between adjacent pounds by a vertical lift, replacing several locks. Vertical lifts can be operated by high-pressure hydraulic rams, by submersible floats, or by geared counterweights. Hydraulic lifts with twin caissons were constructed in 1875 at Anderton, Eng., with a 50-foot lift for 60-ton vessels; in 1888 lifts were

Kamáres Ware

2005-07-27T00:55:00.000-07:00

Style of painted pottery that flourished on Crete during the Middle Minoan period (c. 2100–c. 1550 BC). Surviving examples include ridged cups, small, round spouted jars, and large storage jars (pithoi), on which combinations of abstract curvilinear designs and stylized plant and marine motifs are painted in white and tones of red, orange, and yellow on black grounds.

Maubeuge

2005-07-23T06:50:00.000-07:00

Town, Nord département, Nord-Pas-de-Calais région, northern France, on the Sambre River, near the Belgian frontier, south of Mons. Maubeuge (Latin: Malbodium, signifying “bad place or dwelling”) grew up around the monastery of Sainte-Aldegonde (7th century). Part of the medieval county of Hainaut, and later of the Spanish Netherlands, the town was ceded to France by the Peace of

Arabia, History Of, Al-Hirah

2005-07-13T07:05:00.000-07:00

Al-Hirah was similarly a Bedouin tribal kingdom, the kings of which are commonly designated the Lakhmids. According to tradition, the founder of the dynasty was 'Amr, whose son Imru' al-Qays died in AD 328 and was entombed at Al-Nimarah in the Syrian desert. His funerary inscription is written in an extremely difficult type of script. Recently there has been a revival of interest

Saint Basil The Blessed

2005-07-08T04:20:00.000-07:00

Also called Pokrovsky Cathedral, Russian Svyatoy Vasily Blazhenny, or Pokrovsky Sobor, church constructed on Red Square in Moscow between 1554 and 1560 by Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, as a votive offering for his military victories over the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. The church was dedicated to the protection and intercession of the Virgin, but it came to be known as the Cathedral of Vasily Blazhenny (St. Basil the Beatified) after Basil, the Russian holy fool

Breconian Stage

2005-07-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

Division of the Old Red Sandstone of the Devonian Period in western Europe (the Devonian Period began about 395,000,000 years ago and lasted about 50,000,000 years); the Breconian Stage follows the Dittonian and precedes the Farlovian Stage. It was named for exposures studied at the Brecon Beacons in southern Wales. The rocks of the Breconian consist of red, gray, and green sandstones in

Habash, George

2005-06-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

Habash was forced to flee Palestine in 1948, after the State of Israel was established there, and earned a medical degree at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon. In the early 1950s he was active in the “Youth of Vengeance” group, which advocated violent

Narragansett

2005-06-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

Town (township), southeastern Washington county, southern Rhode Island, U.S., at the entrance to Narragansett Bay. The Pettaquamscutt River (north) and Point Judith Pond (south) form the western boundary of the town, which includes the village of Narragansett Pier and the fishing villages of Galilee and Jerusalem. Near Galilee is Point Judith Lighthouse (1816), an important

Balata

2005-06-16T02:05:00.000-07:00

Also called Gutta Balata, hard rubberlike material made by drying the milky juice produced principally by the bully tree (species Manilkara bidentata) of Guyana and the West Indies. The tree is tapped by cutting zigzag gashes in the bark and collecting the latex in cups, to be coagulated in trays. Like gutta-percha, balata is inelastic, tough, leathery, and water-resistant, and it softens when

Saarinen, Eero

2005-06-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

There are only two books devoted entirely to Saarinen's work. Eero Saarinen on His Work, ed. by his wife, Aline Saarinen (1962), contains Saarinen's own comments but no supplementary evaluation. It includes a listing of the architect's buildings and is handsomely illustrated. Allan Temko, Eero Saarinen (1962), is an informative, well-illustrated, brief account with evaluation. Details on individual buildings have been reported and illustrated in professional architectural journals.

Kirkwood, James

2005-06-01T05:15:00.000-07:00

As the son of silent film stars Lila Lee

Andrews, Fannie Fern Phillips

2005-05-17T20:25:00.000-07:00

Fannie Phillips grew up in Nova Scotia and, from about 1876, in Lynn, Massachusetts. She graduated from the Salem Normal School (now Salem State College) in 1884 and taught school in Lynn until her marriage

Linus

2005-05-16T02:05:00.000-07:00

According to the Argive story, Linus, child of Apollo (god of light, truth, and prophecy) and Psamathe (daughter of Crotopus, king of Argos),

Arts, Central Asian, The study of Central Asian music

2005-03-15T03:40:00.000-08:00

In the West the study of Central Asian music has until recently been restricted largely to travellers' accounts and analyses of small samples of music. By far the bulk of collection and study of Central Asian music of Turkistan and Siberia lay in the domain of Soviet scholars, who instituted systematic fieldwork as early as the 1920s; this literature remains largely

Tectogene

2005-03-14T14:56:00.000-08:00

Great downbuckle of the Earth's crust into the mantle below deep-sea trenches that are filled with marine sediments. The sediments become crumpled and folded within the deep downbuckle; some portions are squeezed downward into the mantle, while others are squeezed upward in highly deformed and dislocated strata. According to the theory of Dutch geophysicists

Absorption

2005-03-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

In wave motion, the transfer of the energy of a wave to matter as the wave passes through it. The energy of an acoustic, electromagnetic, or other wave is proportional to the square of its amplitude - i.e., the maximum displacement or movement of a point on the wave; and, as the wave passes through a substance, its amplitude steadily decreases. If there is only a small fractional

Gwalior

2005-03-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

The old city of Gwalior centres on a walled fortress, one of the most famous in India,

Maupin, Armistead

2005-03-03T20:09:00.000-08:00

Maupin was reared in North Carolina. He showed an early interest in film and theatre. His adolescent years were complicated by his growing awareness of his homosexuality. Graduating from the University of North Carolina in 1966, Maupin worked for a time under the future senator Jesse Helms

Bulgaria

2005-03-02T20:56:00.000-08:00

Officially �Republic of Bulgaria, �Bulgarian �Republika Bulgariya, � country occupying 42,855 square miles (110,994 square kilometres) of the eastern portion of the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe. It is bounded by Romania on the north, most of the border being marked by the lower Danube River. The Black Sea lies to the east, Turkey and Greece to the south, Macedonia to the southwest, and the Yugoslav republic of Serbia to the west. The capital

Axolotl

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

(Ambystoma, or Siredon, mexicanum), salamander of the family Ambystomatidae (order Caudata), notable for its permanent retention of larval features, such as external gills. It is found in lakes near Mexico City, where it is considered edible. The name axolotl is also applied to any full-grown larva of the genus Ambystoma that has not yet lost its external gills. A. mexicanum

Epistemology, Impact of modern science on epistemology

2005-02-28T05:40:00.000-08:00

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543), a cleric, argued in On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres (1543) that the Earth revolves around the Sun. His theory was epistemologically shocking for at least two reasons. First, it goes directly counter to how humans experience their relation to the Sun; it is everyone's prescientific view that the Sun revolves around the Earth. If science can

Mies Van Der Rohe, Ludwig

2005-02-27T02:08:00.000-08:00

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

Levi, Carlo

2005-02-26T03:21:00.000-08:00

Levi was a painter and a practicing physician when he was exiled (1935 - 36) to the southern district of Lucania for anti-Fascist activities. His

Rinceau

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

In architecture, decorative border or strip, featuring stylized vines with leaves and often with fruit or flowers. It first appears as a decorative motif in classical antiquity. Roman rinceau most often consisted of an undulating double vine growing from a vase. Branches, vines, and thistles are mixed together in Gothic rinceaux, and in Renaissance examples tiny

Tractatus Coislinianus

2005-02-23T10:33:00.000-08:00

Statement of a Greek theory of comedy found in a 10th-century manuscript (published 1839) in the collection of Henri Charles du Cambout de Coislin. The treatment of comedy displays marked Aristotelian influence, even to the point of paralleling the model offered in the Poetics. The Tractatus is assumed to be either a version of a lost Aristotelian original or a statement

Alc�zar De San Juan

2005-02-22T18:26:00.000-08:00

Town, Ciudad Real provincia, in the comunidad aut�noma (�autonomous community�) of Castile - La Mancha, central Spain. It lies on the high Meseta Central at 2,135 feet (650 m) above sea level. Known to the Romans as Alces, the town was renamed al-Qasr (�the Palace,� or �the Castle�) by the Arabs. It was conquered by the Knights of St. John (Spanish: San Juan) of Jerusalem (the Hospitalers) in 1186 and captured

Sublimation

2005-02-21T11:42:00.000-08:00

In physics, conversion of a substance from the solid to the vapour state without its becoming liquid. An example is the vaporization of frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) at ordinary atmospheric pressure and temperature. The phenomenon is the result of vapour pressure and temperature relationships. Freeze-drying of food to preserve it involves sublimation of water

Exercise, Overall conditioning

2005-02-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

Much emphasis has been given in the foregoing discussion to aerobic fitness, because this form of conditioning is extremely important. It should be noted, however, that other types of conditioning also have benefits. A total exercise program should include strengthening exercises, to maintain body mass and appropriate levels of strength for daily functioning,

Basketball, International competition

2005-02-19T02:06:00.000-08:00

The success of international basketball was greatly advanced by Forrest C. (�Phog�) Allen, a Naismith disciple and a former coach at the University of Kansas, who led the movement for inclusion of basketball in the Olympic Games in 1936 and thereafter. Basketball has also been played in the Pan-American Games since their inauguration in 1951. The international game is governed

Aesthetics, The origins of modern aesthetics

2005-02-18T16:57:00.000-08:00

Francis Bacon wrote essays on beauty and deformity, but he confined his remarks to the human figure. Ren� Descartes produced a treatise on music, although it contains little that would be recognized as aesthetics in the modern sense. During the first decades of modern philosophy, aesthetics flourished, not in the works of the great philosophers, but in the writings

Pacific Ocean, Minerals from seawater and alluvial deposits

2005-02-17T10:41:00.000-08:00

Common salt (sodium chloride) is the most important mineral obtained directly from seawater. Mexico leads the Pacific nations in salt extraction from the sea, mostly by solar evaporation. Bromine extracted from seawater is used in the food, dye, pharmaceutical, and photo industries. The United States and Japan lead in its production among Pacific riparian nations.

Antarctic Circle

2005-02-16T15:44:00.000-08:00

Parallel, or line of latitude around the Earth, at 66�30� S. Because the Earth's axis is inclined about 23.5� from the vertical, this parallel marks the northern limit of the area within which, for one day or more each year, at the summer and winter solstices, the Sun does not set (December 21 or 22) or rise (June 21 or 22). The length of continuous day or night increases southward from one day at the Antarctic

Breathing

2005-02-15T22:54:00.000-08:00

The action of moving air or water across the surface of a respiratory structure, such as a gill or lung, to facilitate respiration (the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide with the environment). See respiration.

Croatia, Industry

2005-02-14T07:12:00.000-08:00

Already more industrialized than most of its neighbours when the communists assumed power over Yugoslavia in 1945, Croatia continued its rapid industrialization under socialist policies of economic and social development. One unfortunate result was the squandering of a great deal of money through inefficiency and the misallocation of resources through the

Pipe

2005-02-13T00:50:00.000-08:00

In music, specifically, the three-holed flute played with a tabor drum (see pipe and tabor); generically, any aerophonic (wind) instruments consisting of pipes, either flutes or reed pipes (as a clarinet), and also the reed and flue pipes of organs. A pipe's pitch depends on its length, a long pipe having a low pitch. Pipes stopped at one end sound an octave lower than open pipes

Manchester

2005-02-12T03:43:00.000-08:00

City and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, northwestern England. Most of the city, including the historic core, is in the historic county of Lancashire, but it includes an area south of the River Mersey in the historic county of Cheshire. Manchester is the nucleus of the largest metropolitan area in the north of England, and it

Biblical Literature, Collations of the Masoretic materials

2005-02-11T03:37:00.000-08:00

The earliest extant attempt at collating the differences between the Ben Asher and Ben Naphtali Masoretic traditions was made by Mishael ben Uzziel in his KitaG Gi-Hulaf (before 1050). A vast amount of Masoretic information, drawn chiefly from Spanish manuscripts, is to be found in the text-critical commentary known as Minhath Shai, by Solomon Jedidiah Norzi, completed in 1626 and

Tragedy

2005-02-10T00:58:00.000-08:00

Although the word tragedy is often used loosely to describe any sort of disaster or misfortune, it more precisely refers to a work of art that probes

Altis

2005-02-09T17:33:00.000-08:00

In Greek religion, the sacred grove of Zeus, or the sacred precinct in Olympia, Greece. It was an irregular quadrangular area more than 200 yards (183 m) on each side, and walled except to the north, where it was bounded by the Kronion (hill of Cronus). In it were the temples of Zeus and of Hera, his consort; the principal altars and votive offerings; the small treasuries built by various

Iron Age

2005-02-08T00:11:00.000-08:00

Final technological and cultural stage in the Stone - Bronze - Iron-Age sequence. The date of the full Iron Age, in which this metal for the most part replaced bronze in implements and weapons, varied geographically, beginning in the Middle East and southeastern Europe about 1200 BC but in China not until about 600 BC. Although in the Middle East iron had limited use as a scarce and precious

National Capital Parks

2005-02-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

Today there are more than 300 park units with a combined area of 10 square miles (26 square km). The overwhelming majority of units are located in Washington, D.C.;

Radioactivity

2005-02-06T16:30:00.000-08:00

An unstable nucleus will decompose spontaneously, or decay, into a more stable configuration but will do so only in a few specific ways by emitting certain particles or certain forms of electromagnetic

Eagles, The, Don Henley

2005-02-05T13:43:00.000-08:00

Aries

2005-02-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

Aries contains no very bright stars. The first point of Aries, or vernal equinox, is an intersection of the

Kora�s, Adam�ntios

2005-02-03T10:56:00.000-08:00

Kora

Buchan, John, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir

2005-02-02T19:37:00.000-08:00

A clergyman's son, Buchan was educated at the universities of Glasgow and Oxford, where he began

Field Emission

2005-02-01T01:46:00.000-08:00

Also called �Cold Emission, � discharge of electrons from the surface of a material subjected to a strong electric field. In the absence of a strong electric field, an electron must acquire a certain minimum energy, called the work function, to escape through the surface of a given material, which acts as a barrier to electron passage. If the material is placed in an electric circuit that renders

Cheng Chih-lung

2005-01-31T22:06:00.000-08:00

As a boy, Cheng found employment with the Europeans in the Portuguese settlement at Macau, where he was baptized and given the Christian name of Nicholas Gaspard. After leaving Macau, he joined a pirate band that

Calarc�

2005-01-30T14:21:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern Quind�o department, Colombia, on the western slopes of the Andean Cordillera (mountains) Central, at 5,039 ft (1,536 m) above sea level. Like neighbouring Armenia, the departmental capital, it is an important coffee-growing centre. Calarc� is on the major highway that crosses the Boquer�n (pass) del Quind�o to Ibagu�, capital of Tolima department. Pop. (1973) city, 32,533; mun., 54,658.

Regensburg

2005-01-29T04:35:00.000-08:00

Also called �Ratisbon, � city, Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany, on the right bank of the Danube River at its most northerly course, where it is joined by the Regen River. In the area of the old city was a Celtic settlement (Radasbona), which later became the site of a Roman stronghold and legionary camp, Castra Regina (founded AD 179). The Roman north gate (Porta Praetoria) and parts of the walls survive.

Estates-general

2005-01-28T19:36:00.000-08:00

The origins of the Estates-General are to be found in traditions of counsel and aid and the development of corporate representation

Becket, Saint Thomas

2005-01-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

Thomas was born to Norman parents of the merchant class. He was educated first at Merton priory, then in a City of London school, and finally at Paris. Deeply influenced in childhood by a devout mother who died when he was 21, Thomas entered adult life as a city clerk and accountant in the service of the sheriffs. After three years he was introduced by his father to Archbishop

Arabian Desert

2005-01-26T06:19:00.000-08:00

People have inhabited the Arabian Desert since early Pleistocene times. Artifacts have been found widely, including at Neolithic sites in Qatar and Dubai, but are most abundant in the southwestern Rub' al-Khali. Archaeological research sponsored by the Saudi government has uncovered many Paleolithic sites. Remains of cultures from the past 3,000 years occur in many

Abd�lhamid I

2005-01-25T20:10:00.000-08:00

Ottoman sultan from 1774 to 1789 who concluded the war with Russia by signing the humiliating Treaty of K��k Kaynarca. By the terms of the treaty, Russia obtained the fortresses on the coast of the Sea of Azov, the area between the Dnieper and Bug rivers, and navigation and commercial privileges in the Ottoman Empire. Bukovina was ceded to Austria in 1775. Russia annexed

China, Establishment of the People's Republic

2005-01-24T18:36:00.000-08:00

The Communist victory in 1949 brought to power a peasant party that had learned its techniques in the countryside but had adopted Marxist ideology and believed in class struggle and rapid industrial development. Extensive experience in running base areas and waging war before 1949 had given the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) deeply ingrained operational habits and proclivities.

Tractor

2005-01-23T04:44:00.000-08:00

High-power, low-speed traction vehicle and power unit mechanically similar to an automobile or truck but designed for use off the road. The two main types are wheeled, which is the earliest form, and continuous track. Tractors are used in agriculture, construction, road building, etc., in the form of bulldozers, scrapers, and diggers. A notable feature of tractors in many

Yang Kuei-fei

2005-01-22T06:59:00.000-08:00

Pinyin �Yang Guifei � notorious beauty and concubine of the great T'ang emperor Hs�an Tsung (reigned 712 - 756). Because of her the Emperor is said to have neglected his duties, and the T'ang dynasty (618 - 907) was greatly weakened by a rebellion that ensued. Her story has been the subject of many outstanding Chinese poems and dramas. The daughter of a high official, she was one of the few obese women

Conservation

2005-01-21T02:40:00.000-08:00

Although the idea of conservation is probably as old as the human species, the use of the word in its present context is relatively recent. Over the years conservation

Kailua-lanikai

2005-01-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

Twin residential communities, southeastern Oahu Island, Hawaii, U.S., extending along Kailua Bay. They occupy superb white beach land that was the residence of Oahu's medieval kings. The Kawainui swamplands, to the west, were then royal fishponds. Numerous temple ruins, such as Ulu Po Heiau, are in the vicinity. Many residents commute to Honolulu (10 miles [16 km] southwest) by the

Haddad, Malek

2005-01-19T04:57:00.000-08:00

Algerian poet, novelist, and cultural adviser. Haddad abandoned law studies in Aix-en-Provence to write for French and Algerian weeklies and magazines during the Algerian war. His first published book was a collection of poetry, Le Malheur en danger (1956; �Trouble in Danger�). A second collection, �coute et je t'appelle (1961; �Listen and I Will

Asano Soichiro

2005-01-18T21:00:00.000-08:00

The son of a physician, Asano chose a career in business, but his first company failed. In 1871 he became a coal merchant in Tokyo. Five years later he developed methods for utilizing coke, until then a waste by-product of gas manufacture, in cement production, and this

Ear Disease, Boil in the ear (furuncle)

2005-01-17T20:52:00.000-08:00

Infection of a hair follicle anywhere on the body is known as a boil, or furuncle. This can occur in a hair follicle in the outer-ear canal, especially when there is infection of the skin of the canal. It always occurs because of a particular type of germ known as staphylococcus. Because the skin of the ear canal is closely attached to the underlying cartilage, a boil in the

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Fable

2005-01-15T11:19:00.000-08:00

The origins of fable are lost in the mists of time. Fables appear independently in ancient Indian and Mediterranean cultures. The Western tradition begins effectively with Aesop (6th century BC), of whom little or nothing is known for certain; but before him the Greek poet Hesiod (8th century BC) recounts the fable of the hawk and the nightingale, while fragments of similar

Loyal Publication Society

2005-01-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

In addition to distributing materials �of unquestionable loyalty,� the societies were active in both state and national politics, allied with the Republican

Religion

2005-01-13T13:02:00.000-08:00

More than 700 members of a Ugandan group called the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments were found dead in several locations after having been killed by fire, poisoning, and strangulation. It appeared that the group's founder, former Roman Catholic catechist Joseph Kibwetere, and its �prophetess,� Credonia Mwerinde, had carried out the murders and then

Sevilla

2005-01-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

City, Cauca departamento, western Colombia, on an abutment of the Cordillera Central. Founded as San Luis in 1903 by Heraclio Uribe Uribe, the city was renamed for Sevilla, Spain, when it became a municipality in 1914. Gold, silver, and platinum mines are nearby, and agricultural products (beef, coffee, sugar, tobacco, cacao, bananas, cassava, and cereals) are marketed. Pop. (1993) 51,081; (1999 est.) 62,316.

Biblical Literature, Analogical interpretation

2005-01-11T05:52:00.000-08:00

Analogical interpretation traditionally includes not only interpretation according to the analogy of Scripture (parallelism, in other words) but also interpretation according to the �analogy of faith� - an expression that misapplies the language of Rom. 12:6 in the King James Version of 1611. It has at times been pressed to mean that no biblical interpretation is valid unless

Melito Of Sardis

2005-01-10T00:15:00.000-08:00

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

Amanollah Khan

2005-01-09T03:58:00.000-08:00

A favoured son of the Afghan ruler Habibollah Khan, Amanollah took possession of the throne immediately after his father's assassination in 1919, at a time when Great Britain exercised an important influence on Afghan affairs. In his coronation address

Mauritania, Climate

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

The climate owes its aridity to the northeastern trade winds, which blow constantly in the north and throughout most of the year in the rest of the country; the drying effect produced by these winds is increased by the harmattan, or east wind. With the exception of the few winter rains that occur as a result of climatic disturbances originating in the mid-latitude regions,

Cambridge Agreement

2005-01-07T01:07:00.000-08:00

(Aug. 26, 1629), pledge made in Cambridge, Eng., by English Puritan stockholders of the Massachusetts Bay Company to emigrate to New England if the government of the colony could be transferred there. The company agreed to their terms, including transferral of the company charter. Control of the corporation was shifted to the signers of the agreement, and John Winthrop was appointed

Korean Literature

2005-01-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

Although Korea has had its own language for several thousand years, it has had a writing system only since the mid-15th century, when Hangul

Radiation

2005-01-05T22:56:00.000-08:00

Flow of atomic and subatomic particles and of waves, such as those that characterize heat rays, light rays, and X rays. All matter is constantly bombarded with radiation of both types from cosmic and terrestrial sources. This article delineates the properties and behaviour of radiation and the matter with which it interacts and describes how energy is transferred

La Venta

2005-01-04T06:40:00.000-08:00

Ancient Olmec settlement, located near the border of modern Tabasco and Veracruz states, on the gulf coast of Mexico. La Venta was originally built on an island in the Tonal� River; now it is part of a large swamp. After petroleum was found there, many of the artifacts were moved to an archaeological park on the outskirts of the city of Villahermosa, some 80 miles (129 km) to the

La Venta

2005-01-03T04:07:00.000-08:00

Levitation

2005-01-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

Rising of a human body off the ground, in apparent defiance of the law of gravity. The term designates such alleged occurrences in the lives of saints and of spiritualist mediums, generally during a s�ance; levitation of furniture and other objects during a s�ance has also been reported. Levitation of witches and other figures of folklore is called transvection

Osaka-kobe Metropolitan Area, Industry

2005-01-01T21:43:00.000-08:00

Osaka was once known as the Manchester of the Orient because of its great textile industry; now, however, its leading industries are the manufacture of electrical and other machinery, iron and steel, fabricated metals, and chemicals. Between Osaka and Kobe are several other industrial cities. The largest, Amagasaki, is a centre of machinery, metallurgy, chemicals, cement,

Indian Ocean, Surface currents

2004-12-31T08:20:00.000-08:00

Ocean surface circulation is wind-driven. In the monsoon zone, surface circulation reverses every half year and features two opposing gyres (i.e., semi-closed current systems exhibiting spiral motion) that are separated by the Indian subcontinent. During the northeast monsoon, a weak counterclockwise gyre develops in the Arabian Sea, and a strong clockwise gyre

Ben Khedda, Benyoussef

2004-12-30T05:23:00.000-08:00

Algerian independence leader (b. Feb. 23, 1920, Berrouaghia, Alg. - d. Feb. 4, 2003, Algiers, Alg.), negotiated Algeria's independence from France in 1962, but he was forced from power shortly thereafter. In 1943, after he protested against French attempts to recruit Algerians in World War II, Ben Khedda was imprisoned for eight months. After the war he became general secretary of the pro-independence

Dandie Dinmont Terrier

2004-12-29T17:26:00.000-08:00

Breed of terrier developed in the border country of England and Scotland. First noted as a distinct breed about 1700, it was later named after a character created by Sir Walter Scott in his novel Guy Mannering (1815). Unlike other terriers, the Dandie Dinmont has a softly curved, rather than angular, body. It has large eyes, a long body, short legs, and a large, domed head crowned by a silky

Spoonbill

2004-12-28T10:36:00.000-08:00

Any member of six species of long-legged wading birds that constitute the subfamily Plataleinae of the family Threskiornithidae (order Ciconiiformes), which also includes the ibises. Spoonbills are found in estuaries, saltwater bayous, and lakes. They feed by sweeping the long bill from side to side in the mud or shallow water and thereby catching mostly small fishes

Kweichow, Education

2004-12-27T20:01:00.000-08:00

Kweichow has one of the highest rates of illiteracy in China, especially among its many minority peoples. Nonetheless, there are a number of institutions of higher learning in the province, including Kweichow University, Kuei-yang Medical College, Kweichow Agricultural Institute (founded in 1939), the Kuei-yang Nationalities Institute (for training members of ethnic

Tai Languages, Syntax

2004-12-26T07:57:00.000-08:00

Word order is generally subject - verb - object (SVO). The verb plus object may be called the verb phrase, which functions as predicate. Nouns also may be used as predicates; an example is wan-n�i wan-sak �today (is) Friday.' A noun phrase consists of a noun, which may be followed by its modifiers (another noun, an adjective, or a verb phrase), which, in turn, are followed by a numeral with a

Carnatic Wars

2004-12-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Karnatic Wars� series of military contests during the 18th century between the British, the French, the Marathas, and Mysore for control of the coastal strip of eastern India from Nellore (north of Madras) southward (the Tamil country). The name Carnatic properly refers to the region occupied by the Kannada-speaking people, which roughly corresponds to the modern Indian state of Karnataka

Faber, Lothar Von; And Faber, Eberhard

2004-12-24T09:22:00.000-08:00

Taking over a pencil business started by his great-grandfather Kaspar Faber (d. 1784) near N�rnberg, Lothar von Faber established branches

China, The advent of bronze casting

2004-12-23T20:08:00.000-08:00

The 3rd and 2nd millennia witnessed the appearance of increasing warfare, complex urban settlements, intense status differentiation, and administrative and religious hierarchies that legitimated and controlled the massive mobilization of labour for dynastic work or warfare. The casting of bronze has left the most evident archaeological traces of these momentous

Dabrowa G�rnicza

2004-12-22T03:21:00.000-08:00

City, Katowice wojew�dztwo (province), southwestern Poland, on the Czarna Przemsza River just northeast of Katowice city. The town flourished when coal mining began there in 1796. During the 19th century it served as a mining and metallurgical research centre and had the first Polish mining school (1889). It became a town in 1916. Dabrowa G�rnicza is situated in the G�rny Slask (Upper Silesia)

Abstbessingen Faience

2004-12-21T00:17:00.000-08:00

Tin-glazed earthenware produced in a factory in the village of Abstbessingen, in Thuringia, which flourished probably from the first half of the 18th century to about 1816. A hayfork factory mark indicates the patronage of the prince of Schwarzburg. Ordinary wares such as flower vases, tankards, and jugs are thick-bodied, with a creamy glaze; and decorations either in blue

Douglass, Frederick

2004-12-20T06:17:00.000-08:00

Separated as an infant from his slave mother

Bohomolec, Franciszek

2004-12-19T21:36:00.000-08:00

After completing his studies in Rome for the Jesuit priesthood, Bohomolec taught in Warsaw and began to adapt the comedies of Carlo Goldoni and Moli�re for performance by his

Health And Disease

2004-12-18T21:37:00.000-08:00

In early 2003 a virulent new infectious disease caught the world off guard. The Chinese Ministry of Health reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in mid-February that 305 people in Guangdong province had developed an acute pneumonia-like illness and that 5 of them had died. Laboratory tests had been negative for influenza viruses, anthrax, plague, and other infectious

Performing Arts

2004-12-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

In the last decades of the 7th century the Ibadites (Ibadiyah), regarded as a moderate Kharijite sect, conquered southern Arabia, established a Kindite imam in Hadhramaut, occupied San'a', and took Mecca and Medina, before the Umayyads drove them back to Hadhramaut. Oman had early become Kharijite; the first Ibadite imam, al-Julanda ibn Mas'ud, was elected at about the beginning of the 'Abb

Sarangpur

2004-12-15T23:49:00.000-08:00

City, northwestern Madhya Pradesh state, central India, just east of the Kali Sindh River. Sarangpur is located on an ancient site. It has a number of Jaina and Hindu ruins, including a 12th-century Jaina statue. It rose to importance in the 13th century under Sarang Singh Khichi, after whom it is named, and was a chief Mughal trade centre. It passed to Dewas princely state by treaty

Strathcona And Mount Royal (of Mount Royal And Of Glencoe), Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron

2004-12-14T04:17:00.000-08:00

Smith was apprenticed to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1838 and worked for many years at the fur trade in Labrador. He served as chief commissioner for the company in Canada from 1870 to 1874, and, after becoming the principal shareholder, he was governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from

Vouet, Simon

2004-12-13T04:04:00.000-08:00

Vouet formed his style in Italy, where he lived from 1612 to 1627. The use of dramatic contrasts of light and shade seen in such early works as his �Two Lovers� indicates that he began in Rome as a follower of Caravaggio. Works done after 1620, however, such as �St. Bruno� (1620) and �Cupid and

Kiesinger, Kurt Georg

2004-12-12T17:15:00.000-08:00

Kiesinger was educated at Berlin and T�bingen, after which he began to practice law. He joined the Nazi Party after Adolf

Macedonia

2004-12-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek �Makedhon�a� , traditional region of Greece, comprising the northern and northeastern portions of that country. Greek Macedonia has an area of about 13,200 square miles (34,200 square km). It is bounded by Albania to the west, independent Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, the Greek region of Thrace to the east, the Aegean Sea to the southeast, and the Greek regions of Thessaly and Epirus to the

Spotted Turtle

2004-12-10T03:23:00.000-08:00

The spotted