ConsciousSpoon

Orange River

2005-04-04T23:13:00.000-07:00

The high valleys of the Orange River's headwaters are uninhabited, though the adjacent plateaus are used by the southern Sotho (Basuto) people for grazing land. Between the Lesotho border and the town of Aliwal North, corn (maize) is cultivated, and this region is also used as pasturage for cattle and sheep. The dry shrub country farther downstream is in general suitable

Main Range

2005-04-04T15:14:00.000-07:00

Also called Central Range , or Buffalo Range mountain range in West Malaysia, the most prominent mountain group on the Malay Peninsula. Composed of granite with some patches of altered stratified rocks, the range extends southward for 300 miles (480 km) from the Thai border, with elevations rarely less than 3,000 feet (900 m) and some peaks exceeding 7,000 feet (2,100 m; high point Mount Korbu [Kerbau], or Buffalo Mountain, 7,162 feet [2,183 m]). The heavily forested

Neo-paganism

2005-04-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

Any of several spiritual movements that attempt to revive the ancient polytheistic religions of Europe and the Middle East. These movements have a close relationship to ritual magic and modern witchcraft. Neo-Paganism differs from them, however, in striving to revive authentic pantheons and rituals of ancient cultures, though often in deliberately eclectic

Baptist Missionary Association Of America

2005-04-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

Association of independent, conservative Baptist churches, organized as the North American Baptist Association in Little Rock, Ark., in 1950, in protest against the American Baptist Association's policy of seating messengers at meetings who were not members of the churches that elected them. The present name was adopted in 1968. These churches cooperate in missions and

Terhune, Mary Virginia Hawes

2005-04-02T16:47:00.000-08:00

Mary Hawes grew up in her hometown of Dennisville, Virginia, and from 1844 in nearby Richmond. She was well educated by private tutors and in her father's library. Writing under the pseudonym Marion Harland, she

Belafonte, Harry

2005-04-02T04:36:00.000-08:00

Belafonte's parents were emigrants from the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Jamaica, and he lived with his mother during her 1935–40 return to Jamaica. He left high school to serve in the U.S. Navy in the mid-1940s; after returning to New York City he studied

Brac

2005-04-01T14:44:00.000-08:00

Italian Brazza, rugged, mountainous island in the Adriatic Sea that is part of Croatia. With an area of 149 square miles (395 square km), Brac is one of the larger islands in the Adriatic; it lies southeast of the mainland city of Split. Its maximum elevation, 2,559 feet (780 m), is reached at Vidova Mountain, the highest point in the Adriatic islands. The main occupations of the inhabitants are fishing and agriculture;

Local Group

2005-04-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, the group of more than 20 galaxies to which the Milky Way Galaxy belongs. About half are elliptical galaxies, with the remainder being of the spiral or irregular type. As in other clusters of galaxies, members are probably kept from separating by their mutual gravitational attraction. The Milky Way system is near one end of the volume of space occupied by

Melanin

2005-03-31T15:44:00.000-08:00

A dark biological pigment (biochrome) found in skin, hair, feathers, scales, eyes, and some internal membranes; it is also found in the peritoneum of many animals (e.g., frogs), but its role there is not understood. Formed as an end product during metabolism of the amino acid tyrosine, melanins are conspicuous in dark skin moles of humans; in the black dermal melanocytes (pigment

Bing, Sir Rudolf Franz Joseph

2005-03-29T21:29:00.000-08:00

British operatic impresario (b. Jan. 9, 1902, Vienna, Austria--d. Sept. 2, 1997, New York, N.Y.), directed the Metropolitan Opera through one of its most turbulent periods (1950-72). The son of a Viennese industrialist, Bing grew up in a musical household. Although he studied voice in his teens, he soon started working for a bookstore that expanded its business into concert and opera management. He moved

Hevesy, Georg Charles Von

2005-03-29T05:13:00.000-08:00

Educated at the Technische

Lord

2005-03-29T01:56:00.000-08:00

In the British Isles, a general title for a prince or sovereign or for a feudal superior (especially a feudal tenant who holds directly from the king, i.e., a baron). In the United Kingdom the title today denotes a peer of the realm, whether or not he sits in Parliament as a member of the House of Lords. Before the Hanoverian succession, before the use of “prince” became settled

Rush

2005-03-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

Any of several flowering plants distinguished by cylindrical stalks or hollow, stemlike leaves. They are found in temperate regions and particularly in moist or shady locations. The rush family (Juncaceae) includes Juncus, the common rushes, and Luzula, the woodrushes. Common rushes are used in many parts of the world for weaving into chair bottoms,

Hoorn

2005-03-28T16:04:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (commune), Noord-Holland provincie, northwestern Netherlands, on the IJsselmeer (lake). Founded about 1300 and chartered in 1357, it was the capital of medieval West Friesland. Its horn-shaped harbour (for which it is named) was one of the principal ports of the Netherlands until the Zuiderzee silted up in the 18th century. The first great net for herring fishing was made in

Frederick Iii

2005-03-27T15:17:00.000-08:00

Frederick, the son of Duke Ernest of Austria, inherited the Habsburg possessions of Inner Austria (Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Gorizia) on his father's death in 1424. By 1439 he had become the senior member of

Waitomo

2005-03-26T22:14:00.000-08:00

Limestone caves, north-central North Island, New Zealand. They lie about 50 miles (80 km) south of Hamilton. Located on a tributary of the Waipa River, the caves are easily accessible for tourists by road. The underground caves have elaborate stalactites, stalagmites, and incrustations, some of which are named (e.g., Bride's Jewels, Organ, White Terrace, Blanket Chamber). The main

Interior Design, Commercial interiors

2005-03-25T05:28:00.000-08:00

Contemporary designers are much involved with commercial spaces—such as stores, hotels, motels, and restaurants. Many designers and design firms specialize in highly specific spaces such as restaurants, and others may become specialists in the design of showrooms for the garment industry. Frequently, the design of a restaurant, shop, or hotel must be keyed to a theme.

Lodge, Henry Cabot

2005-03-25T02:10:00.000-08:00

He was the grandson of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (1850–1924) and a member of a politically dedicated family that included six U.S. senators and a governor of Massachusetts. Lodge began his career in politics, after several years as a journalist, with

Rhyme

2005-03-24T22:59:00.000-08:00

Also spelled rime the correspondence of two or more words with similar-sounding final syllables placed so as to echo one another. Rhyme is used by poets and occasionally by prose writers to produce sounds appealing to the reader's senses and to unify and establish a poem's stanzaic form. End rhyme (i.e., rhyme used at the end of a line to echo the end of another line) is most common, but internal,

Chad, Flag Of

2005-03-24T20:23:00.000-08:00

When French West Africa was under colonial rule, little was done to develop a sense of nationality; emphasis was on the culture and political and economic systems of France. The independence movement in Africa in the mid-20th century therefore found Chad, like most other territories, with few precedents for establishing its own symbols. When the Republic of Chad was

Nebula, Neutral clouds (H I regions)

2005-03-24T00:30:00.000-08:00

Neutral hydrogen is dominant in clouds that have enough starlight to dissociate molecular hydrogen but lack hydrogen-ionizing photons from hot stars. These clouds can be seen as separate structures within the lower-density interstellar medium or else on the outer edges of the molecular clouds. Because a neutral cloud moves through space as a single entity, it

Teapot Dome Scandal

2005-03-23T22:18:00.000-08:00

Also called the Oil Reserves, or Elk Hills, Scandal, in American history, scandal of the early 1920s surrounding the secret leasing of federal oil reserves by the secretary of the interior, Albert B. Fall. After President Warren G. Harding transferred supervision of the naval oil reserve lands from the navy to the Department of the Interior in 1921, Fall secretly granted to Harry F. Sinclair of the Mammoth Oil Company exclusive

Marsh Mallow

2005-03-22T14:35:00.000-08:00

(Althaea officinalis), perennial herbaceous plant of the mallow family (Malvaceae), native to eastern Europe and northern Africa. It has also become established in North America. The plant is usually found in marshy areas, chiefly near the sea. It has strongly veined heart-shaped or oval leaves. The pinkish flowers, borne on stalks about 1.8 m (6 feet) tall, are about 5 cm (2 inches)

Pavane

2005-03-22T02:31:00.000-08:00

(probably from Italian padovana, “Paduan”), majestic processional dance of the 16th- and 17th-century European aristocracy. Until about 1650 the pavane opened ceremonial balls and was used as a display of elegant dress. Adapted from the basse danse, an earlier court dance, the pavane presumably traveled from Italy to France and England by way of Spain; in southern

Neel, James Van Gundia

2005-03-22T01:34:00.000-08:00

American geneticist (b. March 22, 1915, Hamilton, Ohio—d. Feb. 1, 2000, Ann Arbor, Mich.), was a pioneer in the field of genetics; his studies provided evidence of the genetic basis of numerous diseases, including sickle-cell anemia. In the late 1940s, as acting director of field studies for the National Research Council's Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, he led studies of the effects of radiation

Narragansett

2005-03-21T11:58:00.000-08:00

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

Bach, Johann Christian

2005-03-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

At the age of 20 he made his way

Yamasaki, Minoru

2005-03-20T20:04:00.000-08:00

Following his graduation from the University of Washington, Seattle, Yamasaki went in 1934 to New York City, where he held a number of design positions

Perciform, Use as food

2005-03-20T17:50:00.000-08:00

Since early times, the rivers and oceans have provided man with food; fishing was one of man's earliest means for securing food. Archaeological findings among shell mounds of Scotland indicate that the sea bream (family Sparidae) formed part of the diet of early man. The Nile perches (family Latidae) have been found as mummies in ancient tombs in Egypt. The goatfishes

Cermak, Anton J.

2005-03-20T02:15:00.000-08:00

Cermak was born about 50 miles (80 km) from Prague but celebrated his first birthday on Ellis Island in New York harbour. His parents settled in Braidwood, Ill., where,

Gattamelata

2005-03-18T21:01:00.000-08:00

Also called Equestrian monument of Erasmo da Narni bronze statue of the Venetian condottiere Erasmo da Narni, (popularly known as Gattamelata, meaning “honeyed cat”) by the 15th-century Italian Early Renaissance sculptor Donatello. It was completed between 1447 and 1450 but was not installed on its pedestal in the Piazza del Santo in front of the Basilica of Sant'Antonio in Padua, Italy, until 1453. The statue established a prototype

Amreli

2005-03-18T00:10:00.000-08:00

Formerly Amaravalli, town, southwestern Gujarat state, west-central India. The town lies on the Kathiawar Peninsula, 125 miles (200 km) southwest of Ahmadabad. Primarily a commercial centre, its industries include the manufacture of khadi (coarse cotton cloth), tanning, silverworking, and cotton ginning. Amreli is served by a railway and an airfield. Chief crops of the surrounding area are millet, peanuts

Turkic Languages

2005-03-17T23:59:00.000-08:00

Group of closely related languages that form a subfamily of the Altaic languages. The Turkic languages show close similarities to each other in phonology, morphology, and syntax, though Chuvash, Khalaj, and Sakha differ considerably from the rest. The earliest linguistic records are Old Turkic inscriptions, found near the Orhon River in Mongolia and the Yenisey

Animikie Series

2005-03-17T14:25:00.000-08:00

The Animikie Series was named for exposures along the north shore of Lake Superior, in the Thunder Bay area (animiki is the Chippewa word for “thunder

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

2005-03-16T23:35:00.000-08:00

Black Methodist church in the United States, organized in 1821; it adopted its present name in 1848. It developed from a congregation formed by a group of blacks who in 1796 left the John Street Methodist Church in New York City because of discrimination. They built their first church (Zion) in 1800 and were served for many years by white ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1821 a

Anderson, Patrick

2005-03-15T22:12:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Oxford and Columbia University, Anderson settled in Montreal as a teacher and professor at McGill University

Chang Tsai

2005-03-15T10:27:00.000-08:00

The son of a magistrate, Chang studied Buddhism and Taoism but found his true inspiration in the Confucian Classics. In his chief work, Cheng-meng (“Correct Discipline for Beginners”), he declared that the universe is a unity,

Rab

2005-03-15T05:36:00.000-08:00

Italian Arbe, island in the Adriatic Sea forming the northernmost part of Dalmatia in Croatia. With an area of 35 sq mi (91 sq km), it reaches a maximum altitude of 1,339 ft (408 m) at Mt. Kamenjak and comprises three ridges of limestone. Over 300 freshwater springs provide a valuable water supply to the population of the island—which, in contrast to most of the Adriatic islands, is increasing, in part because

Pacheco Pereira, Duarte

2005-03-13T19:46:00.000-08:00

Pacheco Pereira, reared at the Portuguese court, was an educated man, serving as a squire to King John

Stadion (-warthausen), Johann Philipp (karl), Graf Von (count Of)

2005-03-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

After service in the imperial Privy Council (1783–87), Stadion was dispatched to the Austrian embassy in Stockholm. In 1790 he was sent to London, where he was influenced by the conservative philosophy of

Scandinavian Literature, Developments in Danish literature

2005-03-13T11:29:00.000-08:00

In 1536 the Lutheran Reformation was carried through in Denmark, and the beginning of the 16th century was characterized by many pamphlets for or against the Roman Catholic Church. European humanism and the Renaissance made their influence felt also in Denmark, where Christiern Pedersen was the most prominent humanist who supported the Reformation. He edited Gesta

Carracci, Lodovico

2005-03-13T03:50:00.000-08:00

The son of a butcher, Lodovico was the older cousin of the painters Annibale and Agostino Carracci. After working under the painter Prospero

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Blending of rival systems: the Middle Ages

2005-03-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

At the time of the birth of Christ, ideological conditions within the Mediterranean world accelerated the mingling of Hellenic and Hebraic traditions. Philo Judaeus laid the groundwork; Clement of Alexandria and Origen followed him. The craft of allegorical syncretism—that is, making rival systems accommodate one another through the transformation of their

Earth

2005-03-12T06:46:00.000-08:00

Helical fluid motions in the Earth's electrically conducting liquid outer core have an electromagnetic dynamo effect, giving rise to the Earth's magnetic field. The Earth's sizable, hot core, along with the planet's rapid spin, probably accounts for the exceptional strength of the magnetic field of the Earth as compared with those of the other terrestrial

Dacorum

2005-03-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative and historic county of Hertfordshire, England. The borough, in the northwestern corner of the county, includes part of the range of chalk hills known as the Chilterns, which border the London Basin on the north. Dacorum embraces a number of the outer suburban communities of London, including the new town of Hemel Hempstead, 25 miles (40 km)

Domino, Fats

2005-03-11T08:09:00.000-08:00

From a musical family, Domino received early training

Berenice

2005-03-09T14:09:00.000-08:00

The eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa I by his wife Cypros, Berenice was married at a young age to Marcus, the son of Alexander the Alabarch. Before consummating the marriage, Marcus died, and Berenice then married Herod, king of Chalcis, with whom she had two sons. Following

Ankhesenamen

2005-03-09T08:39:00.000-08:00

The third daughter of Akhenaton and Nefertiti, the rulers of the Amarna revolution, Ankhesenamen probably was married to her father about the 16th year of his reign. Although the marriage was primarily political, to secure Akhenaton's throne, a daughter was

Einstein, Alfred

2005-03-09T08:31:00.000-08:00

Einstein was born into a family of scholars (Albert Einstein was his cousin), and, as a young man, studied law for a year before completing his doctorate (1903) in musicology and composition at the University of Munich. As the first editor (1918–33) of the Zeitschrift für Musikwissenschaft (“Journal

Affenkapelle Ware

2005-03-08T17:32:00.000-08:00

(German: “Monkey Orchestra”), a series of figures created by the Meissen porcelain factory in Saxony (now in Germany) about 1747 and imitated later. Believed to be a parody of the Dresden Court Orchestra, the set was modeled by the German sculptors Johann Joachim Kändler and Peter Reinicke after fanciful singerie (monkeys in human costume) engravings by the French artists

Dominica, Flag Of

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

As a British colony, Dominica obtained a coat of arms of its own in 1961. The arms had a shield with a blue and yellow cross, a banana tree, a coconut tree, a frog, a Carib Indian canoe, a lion symbolizing links with England, and a motto in the local language (“Apres Bondie c'est la ter”) meaning “After the Good Lord, the land.” Flanking the shield were imperial parrots, also known as sisserous,

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Blending of rival systems: the Middle Ages

2005-03-08T05:32:00.000-08:00

Franceville

2005-03-07T05:21:00.000-08:00

Franceville is now an active trading centre in a mining region. The exploitation of manganese at Mouanda and uranium at Mounana, both to the northwest,

Franceville

2005-03-06T11:21:00.000-08:00

Spanish Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo international organization founded in 1959 by 20 governments in North and South America to finance economic and social development in the Western Hemisphere. The largest charter subscribers were Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and the United States. Subscribers now include nearly 30 countries in North and South America and more than 15 countries in Europe, as well

Wiles, Andrew John

2005-03-06T06:21:00.000-08:00

Wiles was educated at Merton College, Oxford (B.A., 1974), and Clare College, Cambridge (Ph.D., 1980). Following a junior research

Mycosis

2005-03-06T01:15:00.000-08:00

Plural Mycoses, in humans and domestic animals, a disease caused by any fungus that invades the tissues, causing superficial, subcutaneous, or systemic disease. Superficial fungal infections, also called dermatophytosis, are confined to the skin and are caused by Microsporum, Trichophyton, or Epidermophyton; athlete's foot, for example, is caused by Trichophyton or Epidermophyton

Magnes, Judah Leon

2005-03-04T02:38:00.000-08:00

A graduate of the University of Cincinnati (A.B., 1898), Magnes attended Hebrew Union College and was ordained as a rabbi in 1900. He then travelled to Germany for further studies. After

Amorphous Solid, Models of atomic scale structures

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

Amorphous solids, like crystalline solids, exhibit a wide variety of atomic-scale structures. Most of these can be recognized as falling within one or another of three broad classes of structure associated with the following models: (1) the continuous random-network model, applicable to covalently bonded glasses, such as amorphous silicon and the oxide glasses, (2) the

Osborn, Henry Fairfield

2005-03-03T16:49:00.000-08:00

At Princeton University, Osborn conducted studies of brain anatomy while serving as assistant professor of natural sciences (1881–83) and professor of

Yama

2005-03-03T06:27:00.000-08:00

In Tibetan Buddhism, one of the eight fierce protective deities. See dharmapala.

Torch Cactus

2005-03-02T09:39:00.000-08:00

T. pasacana, a stout tree up to 10.5 m in height,

All-or-none Law

2005-03-01T18:07:00.000-08:00

A physiological principle that relates response to stimulus in excitable tissues. It was first established for the contraction of heart muscle by the American physiologist Henry P. Bowditch in 1871. Describing the relation of response to stimulus, he stated, “An induction shock produces a contraction or fails to do so according to its strength; if it does so at all, it produces

Hygieia

2005-03-01T07:27:00.000-08:00

In Greek religion, goddess of health. The oldest traces of her cult are at Titane, west of Corinth, where she was worshipped together with Asclepius, the god of medicine. At first no special relationship existed between her and Asclepius, but gradually she came to be regarded as his daughter; later literature, however, makes her his wife. The cult of Hygieia spread concurrently

Gyascutus

2005-02-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

An imaginary, large, four-legged beast with legs on one side longer than those on the other, for walking on hillsides. Humorous references to this creature, whose name has countless local variants, first appeared in American newspapers during the 1840s. It has continued to play a minor role in American folklore since then. The word was apparently coined to mimic the Latin

Aquaviva, Claudio

2005-02-28T06:06:00.000-08:00

He was elected general in 1581, and his major political achievement

'ud

2005-02-27T04:49:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Oud, stringed musical instrument prominent in medieval and modern Islamic music. It was the parent of the European lute. The 'ud has a deep, pear-shaped body; a fretless fingerboard; and a relatively shorter neck and somewhat less acutely bent-back pegbox than the European lute. The tuning pegs are set in the sides of the pegbox. The gut strings, plucked with a plectrum, are fastened

Silk Road

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

Originating at Sian, the 4,000-mile (6,400-kilometre) road, actually a caravan tract, followed the Great Wall

Conselheiro Lafaiete

2005-02-26T23:45:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It lies in the highlands at 3,054 feet (931 m) above sea level. Formerly known as Lueluz, the settlement was made the seat of a municipality in 1790 and given city status in 1886. Agriculture (cassava, potatoes, corn [maize], feijão [beans]) and livestock raising are important economic activities. Also important are the rebuilding of locomotives

Lungwebungu River

2005-02-25T21:52:00.000-08:00

Largest headwater tributary of the Zambezi River, in southwest central Africa. It rises in the central plateau of Angola as the Lungué-Bungo River to flow east and southeast into Zambia. There it joins the Zambezi 65 miles (105 km) north of Mongu, after a course of 400 miles (645 km).

Bahram I

2005-02-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

A son of Shapur I, during his father's reign he governed the province of Atropatene. His succession to his brother Hormizd I strengthened the position of the Zoroastrian clergy and their high priest Karter, and at their insistence Bahram imprisoned Mani, the founder of the antimaterialist, ascetic religion of Manichaeism. Subsequent religious

Tasmania, Drainage

2005-02-25T02:07:00.000-08:00

There are two major river systems—the Derwent in the southeast and the South Esk in the northeast—many small systems—especially westward, flowing to the west coast—and innumerable lakes. The Central Plateau is studded with more than 4,000 lakes in a landscape similar to northern Canada and Finland; almost all, including Great Lake, are shallow. Lake St. Clair, the deepest

Bafatá

2005-02-24T18:49:00.000-08:00

Town, east-central Guinea-Bissau. It lies along the Gêba River, which is navigable to that point. Bafatá is an important trading centre for the interior regions of Guinea-Bissau. There also is intensive agriculture around the town. The town produces peanuts (groundnuts) for export and livestock for domestic consumption. Roads connect Bafatá with Senegal to the north

San Carlos De Bariloche

2005-02-24T16:51:00.000-08:00

Also called Bariloche resort town, Río Negro provincia, southwestern Argentina. It lies on the southeastern shore of Lake Nahuel Huapí, in the Andean lake district. Chalet-type building construction, introduced in 1905 by Swiss immigrants, provides an appropriate setting for skiing in the winter months on the slopes of the nearby V. López and Otto peaks, while the many lakes and streams afford

Earth Sciences, Knowledge of the hydrologic cycle

2005-02-24T07:54:00.000-08:00

The idea of the hydrological cycle developed independently in China as early as the 4th century BC and was explicitly stated in the L

Amu Darya

2005-02-23T20:55:00.000-08:00

English Amu River, Tajik Daryoi Amu, Turkmen Amyderya, Uzbek Amudaryo, ancient name Oxus River one of the longest rivers of Central Asia. It is formed by the confluence of the Vakhsh and Panj (Pyandzh) rivers and flows west-northwest to its mouth on the southern shore of the Aral Sea. In its upper course the Amu Darya forms part of Afghanistan's northern border with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan. It then flows across the desert of eastern Turkmenistan

Cam

2005-02-22T17:21:00.000-08:00

Cams are made in a variety of forms, such as: (1) a rotating disk

Huguenot

2005-02-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

Any of the Protestants in France in the 16th and 17th centuries, many of whom suffered severe persecution for their faith. The origin of the name is uncertain, but it appears to have come from the word aignos, derived from the German Eidgenossen (confederates bound together by oath), which used to describe, between 1520 and 1524, the patriots of Geneva hostile to the duke of Savoy. The

Basil Ii

2005-02-21T11:14:00.000-08:00

The reign of Basil II, widely acknowledged to be one of the outstanding Byzantine emperors, admirably illustrates both

Anderson, Margaret

2005-02-21T03:27:00.000-08:00

Anderson was reared in a conventional Midwestern home and educated at Western College for Women, Oxford, Ohio. She renounced the "bourgeois" values

Castile-la Mancha

2005-02-20T07:57:00.000-08:00

The autonomous community, established in 1982, is bounded by the provinces of Cáceres and Badajoz to the west, Córdoba, Jaén, and Murcia to the south, Alicante, Valencia, and Teruel to the east, and Zaragoza,

Altona

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

Northwest district of the city and Land (state) of Hamburg, northwestern Germany. It lies on cliffs above the right bank of the Elbe River. The name may have come originally from allzu-nah (“all too near”), which was the Hamburgers' designation for an inn that lay too close to their territory and was for long the only building. As a small fishing village called Altwasser, it fell

Clisson, Olivier De

2005-02-19T18:57:00.000-08:00

Brought up in England, Clisson fought on the English side for the Breton duke John IV (or V; John of Montfort) against the French-supported Charles of Blois

Eckhel, Joseph Hilarius

2005-02-19T08:28:00.000-08:00

Eckhel was educated at the Jesuit gymnasium in Vienna, where he had entered the Jesuit order at age 14. He taught grammar at various collegiate schools, but because of poor health he gave up teaching to

Mineral Deposit, Flowing surface water

2005-02-18T22:19:00.000-08:00

For effective concentration, placer minerals must not only have a high

Palamás, Kostís

2005-02-18T09:32:00.000-08:00

Palamás was educated at Mesolongion and at Athens and became the central figure in the Demotic movement of the 1880s, which sought to shake off traditionalism and draw inspiration for a new Greek literary and artistic style from the life and language of the people.

Byrom, John

2005-02-18T08:34:00.000-08:00

Byrom was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was elected fellow in 1714. He then went abroad, ostensibly to study medicine; in view of his Jacobite leanings his journey may have been political. On his return to London in 1718, he taught his own method of shorthand

Switzerland, Social welfare

2005-02-18T05:30:00.000-08:00

Public welfare services have developed in a typically federalistic way: first in the communes, then in the cantons, and later in the confederation. Support for the indigent remains mainly a communal task, sometimes in cooperation with the cantons; this poses particular budgetary problems for cities and small rural communities, which have the highest poverty rates.

Bear Flag Revolt

2005-02-16T23:24:00.000-08:00

(June–July 1846), short-lived independence rebellion precipitated by American settlers in California's Sacramento Valley against Mexican authorities. In 1846 approximately 500 Americans were living in California, compared with between 8,000 and 12,000 Mexicans. Nonetheless, early in June a group of about a dozen Americans seized a large herd of horses from a Mexican military commandant.

Spa

2005-02-16T13:12:00.000-08:00

The practice of “taking the waters” for therapeutic purposes reached its heyday in the 19th century, but springs have been considered places of healing at many

Corato

2005-02-16T00:11:00.000-08:00

Town, Bari province, Puglia (Apulia) region, southeastern Italy, on a slope descending to the Adriatic Sea, west of Bari. Founded by the Normans, Corato became subject to Alfonso V, king of Aragon, at the end of the 15th century, and later to the Carafa family. The chief features of the ancient centre of the town, which is surrounded by modern buildings, are the Romanesque church

Metalwork, Pre-Columbian

2005-02-15T23:11:00.000-08:00

In pre-Columbian America, gold, silver, and copper were the principal metals that were worked, with tin, lead, and platinum used less frequently. When the Spaniards arrived in the New World in the 16th century, they found a wide range of well-developed technical skills in fine metalwork in Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Andean region. They had very little to offer the Indian

Guanacaste

2005-02-14T23:37:00.000-08:00

Province, northwestern Costa Rica, bounded on the north by Nicaragua, on the east by Alajuela province, and on the west and south by the Pacific Ocean. Occupying one-fifth of the national territory, Guanacaste's 4,000 sq mi (10,400 sq km) were formerly open deciduous forest, which have been turned into savanna grasslands, with dry forests in the north. It rises into the Guanacaste Cordillera

Break

2005-02-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

The other is a team-drawn conveyance of the heavy phaeton type that is used for pleasure

Hood, John B(ell)

2005-02-14T16:42:00.000-08:00

A graduate of West Point who served in the U.S. Cavalry until the outbreak of hostilities, Hood rapidly rose to

Beryl

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

Mineral composed of beryllium aluminum silicate, Be3Al2(SiO3)6, a commercial source of beryllium. It has long been of interest because several varieties are valued as gemstones. These are aquamarine (pale blue-green); emerald (deep green); heliodor (golden yellow); and morganite (pink). Beryl is a minor constituent of many granitic rocks and associated pegmatite dikes, in gneisses,

Burano Lace

2005-02-12T06:26:00.000-08:00

Lace made on the island of Burano, near Venice. Until the early 19th century, there had been a Burano lace industry producing copies of 18th-century French lace. By midcentury it was virtually extinct. When in 1872 attempts were made to revive the lace industry to provide relief to the islanders after a ruinous winter, one elderly inhabitant was found who remembered the technique.

Ear Disease, Cancer of the outer ear

2005-02-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

Cancer of the outer ear occurs chiefly in instances where the outer ear has been exposed for many years to direct sunlight. A small and at first painless ulcer, with a dry scab covering it, that slowly enlarges and deepens may be a skin cancer. It is diagnosed by removing a small bit of tissue from the edge and examining it under a microscope. The cancerous tissue must be

West Des Moines

2005-02-10T22:11:00.000-08:00

City and suburb of Des Moines (which lies immediately to the east), Polk county, central Iowa, U.S. The area was settled in the 1840s and became an important rail junction in the 1850s called Valley Junction. James Cunningham Jordan, the town's first settler, operated a station on the Underground Railroad assisting fugitive slaves; his Victorian-style house (c. 1850) is preserved and is

Mahananda River

2005-02-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

River in northern India and Bangladesh. It rises in the Darjeeling Hills in extreme northern West Bengal state. The river flows south through a rich agricultural area in Bihar state, enters West Bengal state, flows past Ingraj Bazar, and then continues southeastward into Bangladesh to join the Ganges River after a 225-mile (360-kilometre) course. The Mahananda forms in its upper

Hebrew Literature

2005-02-09T03:35:00.000-08:00

In the 18th century the conservative mystical movement of Hasidism spread rapidly over all eastern Europe except Lithuania. There, Elijah ben Solomon of Vilna, a writer of unusually wide scope, advocated a better graded course of Talmudic training. Shneur Zalman of Ladi created the highly systematized Habad Hasidism, which was widely accepted in Lithuania. The Musar