StraightBrain

Karawanken

2005-04-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

Italian Caravanche , Serbo-Croatian Karavanke mountain range of the Eastern Alps, extending eastward along the Slovenian-Austrian border for 50 miles (80 km) from the town of Tarvisio in Italy. The range lies between the Drava River (north) and the upper Sava River (south) and rises to Hochstuhl (7,342 feet [2,238 m]) in the eastern part. The Karawanken, consisting mainly of limestone, is crossed by road at Wurzen, Loibl, and Seeberg passes.

Kwanzaa

2005-04-04T03:15:00.000-07:00

, also spelled Kwanza adaptation of an African harvest festival, celebrated from December 26 to January 1. It was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, a professor of black studies at California State University in Long Beach, who added an additional “a” to the end of the name to distinguish it from the African festival. Although Kwanzaa is primarily an African American holiday, it has also come to be

Elmira

2005-04-04T00:54:00.000-07:00

City, seat (1836) of Chemung county, southern New York, U.S. It lies on the Chemung River, near the Pennsylvania border, 60 miles (97 km) west of Binghamton. The first European settlement (1787) was incorporated as the village of Newtown in 1815. Renamed Elmira in 1828 for the daughter of an early settler, Nathan Teall, it grew after the completion in 1832 of the Chemung Canal to Seneca Lake (20 miles [32 km] north) and

Masculine Rhyme

2005-04-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

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

Rabbit

2005-04-03T03:30:00.000-07:00

While the European rabbit is the best-known species, it is probably also the least typical, as there is considerable variability in the natural history of rabbits. Many rabbits dig burrows, but cottontails and hispid hares do not. The European rabbit constructs the most extensive burrow systems, called warrens. Nonburrowing rabbits make surface nests called forms,

Nepal, Flag Of

2005-04-02T14:42:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of independent states existed on the Indian subcontinent prior to the period of British control there in the 17th–19th centuries. Many of these countries, including Nepal, had state flags of their own, their symbols usually representing the ruling dynasty. Frequently, the flag designs, shapes, and colours were (by European standards) unusual. Most of those flags

Space Perception, Visual cues

2005-04-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the most important perceptual cues of distance and depth depend on so-called binocular disparity; that is, since the eyes are imbedded at different points in the skull, they receive slightly different (disparate) images of any given object. The two retinal images of the same object seem to be combined perceptually in the brain into one three-dimensional experience.

Trade Fair

2005-03-31T09:17:00.000-08:00

Temporary market organized to promote trade, where buyers and sellers gather to transact business. Trade fairs are organized at regular intervals, generally at the same location and period of the year, and usually last for several weeks. Such fairs assumed an increasingly important role in international trade during the 20th century. This was particularly evident

Furniture, Holland: 17th century

2005-03-31T04:25:00.000-08:00

A low, square, upholstered type of chair can be seen in engravings of interiors of affluent Dutch homes by Abraham Bosse, a French artist, and in paintings by the Dutch artists Johannes Vermeer and Gerard Terborch. Although this kind of chair is also found in countries where Dutch styles of interior decoration and Dutch furniture won favour, it is not certain that the

Burgenland

2005-03-30T19:01:00.000-08:00

Bundesland (federal state), eastern Austria, bordering Hungary on the east, and Bundesländer Niederösterreich (“Lower Austria”) on the northwest and Steiermark (Styria) on the southwest. It has an area of 1,531 square miles (3,965 square km). Derived from parts of the four former west Hungarian comitats (counties) of Pressburg (Bratislava), Wieselburg (Moson), Ödenburg (Sopron), and Eisenburg

Arias Navarro, Carlos

2005-03-30T06:18:00.000-08:00

After receiving a doctorate in law, Arias Navarro began his service with the Ministry of Justice in 1929. During the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), he was imprisoned by the Republicans, a group loyal to the republic, but he was freed by Franco's forces,

Altare Glass

2005-03-29T13:13:00.000-08:00

Type of Italian glassware produced in the town of Altare, near Genoa. The Altare glass industry was established in the 11th century by glassmakers from Normandy and developed independently of the much better known glassworks of Venice. During the 15th century the great demand for Venetian glass and, consequently, its profitability led the Venetians to confine glassmakers

Houbraken, Arnold

2005-03-28T19:37:00.000-08:00

Dutch painter and art writer noted for his three-volume biographical study of Netherlandish painters, De groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen (1718–21). Houbraken was a competent if rather uninspired academic painter, but his De Groote Schouburgh is the single most important source of information

District Of Columbia, University Of The

2005-03-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Washington, D.C., U.S. It is the only public institution of higher education in the district, and it was the first exclusively urban land-grant university. There are three campuses—the Georgia/Harvard Street campus, the Mount Vernon Square campus, and the Van Ness campus. The university consists of the University

O'malley, Walter

2005-03-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

O'Malley received his law degree from Fordham University in New York City in 1930 and became a director of the Dodgers in 1932 and legal adviser in 1943. He became an owner with two other

Alagoas

2005-03-26T13:16:00.000-08:00

Estado (“state”) of northeastern Brazil. It is the second smallest of Brazil's states and is an agricultural region in the early stages of industrialization. Situated on the northern bank of the São Francisco River, it is bounded on the north and west by the state of Pernambuco, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Sergipe, and on the west by Bahia. It has an area

Merchant Taylors' School

2005-03-26T01:05:00.000-08:00

One of the major public (privately endowed) schools in England. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge, at the northwestern extreme of London. The school was founded (1561) by the Merchant Taylors' Company of London, an incorporated group of craftsmen tailors. It was located at Suffolk Lane until 1875, when it was moved to Charterhouse Square. Richard Mulcaster was the first headmaster,

Myanmar, Religious groups

2005-03-25T23:52:00.000-08:00

The vast majority of the population is Theravada Buddhist. The Burmans are Buddhists except for minimal numbers of Christians and Muslims; the Shan also are Buddhists. Among the Karen, there are many more Buddhists than Christians. The other hill peoples are animists except for a small number of Kayah Buddhists and Kachin and Chin Christians, and even they practice

Robert, Hubert

2005-03-24T16:46:00.000-08:00

Robert went to Rome (1754), was elected to the French Academy there, and became a friend and associate of the renowned etcher of architectural subjects Giambattista Piranesi. In 1759 he joined Abbé

Hoover, Herbert

2005-03-24T16:23:00.000-08:00

Hoover and his wife—the former Lou Henry (Lou Hoover), also a Stanford-trained geologist—moved first to Palo Alto, California, and then to New York City, where they took up residence at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. For the next 30 years, Hoover was closely identified with the most conservative elements in the Republican Party, condemning what he regarded as the radicalism of the New Deal and opposing Roosevelt's attempts to take a more active role against German and Japanese aggression. He believed fascism lay at the root of government programs like the New Deal and argued so in The Challenge to Liberty (1934) and the eight-volume Addresses upon the American Road (1936–61), as well as in the speeches Against the Proposed New Deal (1932, see original text) and The New Deal and European Collectivism (1936, see original text). An ardent anticommunist and foe of international crusades, he opposed American entry into World War II (until the attack on Pearl Harbor) and denounced American involvement in the Korean and Vietnam wars. His last major activity was heading the Hoover Commission, under Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, which aimed at streamlining the federal bureaucracy. The research-oriented Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University—founded in 1919 as the Hoover War Collection, a library on World War I—is named in his honour.

Steen, Jan (havickszoon)

2005-03-24T15:38:00.000-08:00

Dutch painter, ranked immediately after Rembrandt and Hals as a painter of everyday scenes. Steen is unique among leading 17th-century Dutch painters for his humour; he has often been compared to the French comic playwright Molière, his contemporary, and indeed both men treated life as a vast comedy of manners. Some of the artist's biblical and

Dzhalal-abad

2005-03-21T23:11:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Dzalal-abad, city, western Kyrgyzstan. Though made a city in 1877, it remained essentially a large village. Given city status again in 1927, it now is a regional centre for food processing and other light industries and has a theatre and a museum. Pop. (1991 est.) 75,900.

Columbus

2005-03-21T18:47:00.000-08:00

City, Bartholomew county, south-central Indiana, U.S., on the East Fork of White River, 45 miles (72 km) south of Indianapolis. Founded in 1821 as the county seat, it was named Tiptonia for General John Tipton, who had donated land, but a month later it was renamed Columbus. A diversified industrial community surrounded by productive prairie land, it is known for its modern architecture,

Skagway

2005-03-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Alaska, U.S., at the north end of the Lynn Canal, the northernmost point on the Inside Passage (Alaska Marine Highway). Founded in the 1890s as the gateway to the Yukon and Klondike goldfields, it owed its importance to being the Pacific coastal terminus of the White Pass (2,913 feet [888 m]) through the Boundary Ranges and of the White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&YR) railway from

Topeka Constitution

2005-03-20T13:13:00.000-08:00

The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 had opened the two territories to settlement under the “popular sovereignty” doctrine—that is, the settlers themselves were supposed to decide the slavery question within their borders

France, History Of, Religious policy

2005-03-20T08:14:00.000-08:00

If the Consulate's motto was “authority from above, confidence from below,” Bonaparte's religious policy helped secure that confidence. The concordat negotiated with the papacy in 1802 reintegrated the Roman Catholic church into French society and ended the cycle of bare toleration and persecution that had begun in 1792. Having immediately halted the campaign to enforce

Chad

2005-03-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

Although

Petróleos De Venezuela, Sa

2005-03-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

By 1971 Venezuela had begun to take steps to curb the influence of the foreign concessionaires who, since their arrival after World War I, had been exploiting the nation's oil

Bafatá

2005-03-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

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

Gloucester

2005-03-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

City, Essex county, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on the southern shore of Cape Ann, facing Massachusetts Bay, about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Boston. Gloucester Harbor was first visited and mapped by Samuel de Champlain in 1605–06, and the site (at Stage Fort Park) was settled by colonists from Dorchester, England, in 1623. Named for Gloucester, England, and incorporated as a town

Ursinus

2005-03-17T02:10:00.000-08:00

Before Damasus' consecration on the following October 1, the pope's partisans engaged

China, Cultural developments

2005-03-17T01:02:00.000-08:00

The Han emperors and governments posed as having a temporal dispensation that had received the blessing of Heaven together with its instructions to spread the benefits of a cultured life as widely as possible. By a cultured life the Chinese had in mind a clear distinction between their own settled agriculture and the delights of the cities, as opposed to the rough

Ocala

2005-03-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1846) of Marion county, north-central Florida, U.S., about 35 miles (55 km) southeast of Gainesville. It developed around Fort King (established in 1827), an important post during the Seminole Wars. The city's name was derived from Ocali, the Timucua Indian name for the province through which Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto passed in 1539; its literal meaning is unknown. After the Seminole

Kiefer, Anselm

2005-03-15T05:05:00.000-08:00

Kiefer abandoned his law studies at the University of Freiburg in 1966 to pursue art. He subsequently studied at art academies in Freiburg, Karlsruhe, and Dusseldorf. In the latter city in 1970 he became a student of the conceptual

Cylinder

2005-03-15T01:29:00.000-08:00

In geometry, surface of revolution that is traced by a straight line (the generatrix) that always moves parallel to itself or some fixed line or direction (the axis). The path, to be definite, is directed along a curve (the directrix), along which the line always glides. In a right circular cylinder, the directrix is a circle. The axis of this cylinder is a line through the centre

'abbas I

2005-03-14T08:44:00.000-08:00

Byname 'Abbas the Great shah of Persia from 1588 to 1629, who strengthened the Safavid dynasty by expelling Ottoman and Uzbek troops from Persian soil and by creating a standing army. He also made Esfahan the capital of Persia and fostered commerce and the arts, so that Persian artistic achievement reached a high point in his reign.

Labour Economics, Theory of bargaining

2005-03-13T20:59:00.000-08:00

Limitations on the scope of bargaining are also suggested by theory. Collective bargaining can be seen as the reduction of two risks to which the worker is exposed through individual bargaining. There is first the risk that the worker will be merely one of a number of applicants for a single vacancy and that competition between them will force the pay down. Even as

Vajpayee, Atal Bihari

2005-03-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Vajpayee was first elected to Parliament in 1957 as a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), a forerunner of the BJP. In 1977 the BJS joined three other parties to form the Janata Party, which led a government that lasted until July 1979. As foreign minister

Allen, Stephen Valentine Patrick William

2005-03-12T01:25:00.000-08:00

American entertainer, composer, and author (b. Dec. 26, 1921, New York, N.Y.—d. Oct. 30, 2000, Encino, Calif.), was a prolific, versatile, creative, and influential modern-day renaissance man. Although he could be considered to have made his greatest impact when he created and hosted what became The Tonight Show—the mold for television talk shows—he also composed thousands of songs (his best known:

Puerto Maldonado

2005-03-11T21:45:00.000-08:00

Capital of Tambopata provincia and of Madre de Dios departamento, southeastern Peru. It lies at the confluence of the Tambopata and Madre de Dios rivers, at 840 feet (256 m) above sea level in the hot, humid rain forest known as the selva. It was named for Dom Pedro Maldonado, an 18th-century Spanish explorer, but was not mentioned in official documents until 1902. The smallest of all Peruvian

Khitan

2005-03-11T16:59:00.000-08:00

Any member of a Mongol people that ruled Manchuria and part of North China from the 10th to the early 12th century under the Liao dynasty (q.v.). See also Manchuria.

Accoramboni, Vittoria

2005-03-11T09:01:00.000-08:00

She was the 10th child in a well-to-do but not illustrious family that hoped to better its position by marrying Vittoria,

Mahavira

2005-03-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

All that is known about Mahavira's life is that he was a Jain (he perhaps took his name to honour the great Jainism reformer Mahavira [c. 599–527 BCE]) and that he wrote Ganitasarasangraha (“Compendium of the Essence of Mathematics”) during the reign of Amoghavarsha (c. 814–878) of the Rashtrakuta

Buzzards Bay

2005-03-09T18:59:00.000-08:00

Inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, indenting southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. The bay is 30 miles (48 km) long and 5–10 miles (8–16 km) wide. It extends to the base of the Cape Cod peninsula (northeast) and is bounded on the southeast by the Elizabeth Islands. It is connected to Cape Cod Bay by the Cape Cod Canal (northeast). The name Buzzards Bay may have originated from the misidentification of ospreys

Water Softener

2005-03-09T11:44:00.000-08:00

Device for removing calcium and magnesium from water; water so treated will not form insoluble scale in pipes and tanks and will not form a precipitate with soaps or interfere with other cleaners. Water softeners usually consist of zeolite or an ion-exchange resin (q.v.) in a tank connected directly into the water system. The zeolite or resin contains sodium ions that

Ernest Augustus

2005-03-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

Ernest Augustus studied at Göttingen, entered the Hanoverian army, and served as a leader of cavalry when war broke out between Great Britain and France in 1793. When Hanover withdrew from the war in 1795 he returned to England, being made lieutenant general in

Hunan, Industry

2005-03-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

The main coal measures are located in the south. Coal was little developed

Bracknell Forest

2005-03-07T19:23:00.000-08:00

Old Bracknell town was unimportant until the 19th century, when its cattle market replaced one at Wokingham that dated from the early 13th century. The population was about 5,000 when the new town of Bracknell

Güyük

2005-03-07T13:24:00.000-08:00

Güyük was elected to the throne in 1246, partly through the maneuvering of his mother. He was strongly influenced by Nestorianism, a form of Christianity considered a heresy by Western Christians, and he favoured Christian

Silky Flycatcher

2005-03-06T14:17:00.000-08:00

Any of four bird species that constitute the subfamily Ptilogonatinae (family Bombycillidae), found in dry, brushy regions from Nevada south to Panama. These soft plumaged, broad-billed, crested birds are about 19 centimetres (7.5 inches) long. All are arboreal. Their basic diet consists of mistletoe berries, supplemented with insects taken by darting from a perch like a

Magdalena Del Mar

2005-03-06T13:54:00.000-08:00

Also called Magdalena Nueva, city and distrito (“district”) of the Lima-Callao metropolitan area of Peru, southwest of central Lima. It is bounded on the south by cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In the early 20th century the area developed as a popular resort, but it is now largely residential. The district contains the large Víctor Larco Herrera hospital complex, the Lima Cricket Club, and polo

Denson, William Dowdell

2005-03-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

American lawyer who, as chief military prosecutor of Nazis accused of many of the most horrific of the atrocities committed in Germany at the Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Flossenberg, and Dachau concentration camps, was the most successful of the American prosecutors of World War II criminals; of 177 Nazis he prosecuted between 1945 and 1947, 97 were hanged and the rest went to prison

Earth Sciences, Radiometric dating

2005-03-05T23:22:00.000-08:00

In 1905, shortly after the discovery of radioactivity, the American chemist Bertram Boltwood suggested that lead is one of the disintegration products of uranium, in which case the older a uranium-bearing mineral the greater should be its proportional part of lead. Analyzing specimens whose relative geologic ages were known, Boltwood found that the ratio of lead to

Sanger, Frederick

2005-03-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

English biochemist who was twice the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. He was awarded the prize in 1958 for his determination of the structure of the insulin molecule. He shared the prize (with Paul Berg and Walter Gilbert of the United States) in 1980 for his determination of the sequence of nucleotides in the DNA of a virus. Sanger

Austerlitz, Battle Of

2005-03-03T14:27:00.000-08:00

The battle took place near Austerlitz in Moravia

Ghent, Pacification Of

2005-03-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

(Nov. 8, 1576), declaration by which the northern and southern provinces of the Low Countries put aside their religious difference and united in revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs. The declaration was the first major expression of the Netherlands' national self-consciousness. The Pacification of Ghent called for the expulsion of Spanish troops from the Low Countries,

Insurance, Reinsurance

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

Two main types of treaties exist—pro rata and excess-of-loss

Bulgarian Horrors

2005-03-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

Atrocities committed by the forces of the Ottoman Empire in subduing the Bulgarian rebellion of 1876; the name was given currency by the British statesman W.E. Gladstone. Publicity given to the atrocities, especially in Gladstone's pamphlet “The Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East” (1876), served to arouse public sympathy in Europe for the Bulgarians and other southern

Interior Design, Lighting

2005-03-02T23:31:00.000-08:00

Light is one of the key elements of interior design. Most interior spaces constructed in the 20th century are used as much with artificial light as with daylight; because of this lighting has become a very significant tool for the interior designer. There are three major aspects to lighting: function, aesthetics, and health. The latter factor is often ignored, but insufficient

Russell, Charles Taze

2005-03-01T03:15:00.000-08:00

By the time he was 20, Russell had left both Presbyterianism and Congregationalism because he could not reconcile the idea of an eternal hell with God's mercy. He had drifted into skepticism when a chance encounter with some Adventists

Okawa, Isao

2005-03-01T01:52:00.000-08:00

Japanese businessman (b. 1926, Osaka, Japan—d. March 16, 2001, Tokyo, Japan), was chairman of the Sega Corp. from 1984 until his death. Okawa was involved with a number of Japanese technology companies. He founded CSK Corp., a computer services company that was Sega's largest shareholder, and served on the boards of several other companies, including the ASCII Corp. and Bellsystem 24, Inc. As chairman

Kerygma And Catechesis

2005-02-28T14:38:00.000-08:00

In Christian theology, respectively, the initial proclamation of the gospel message and the oral instruction given before baptism to those who have accepted the message. Kerygma refers primarily to the preaching of the Apostles as recorded in the New Testament. Their message was that Jesus Christ, in fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament, was sent

Latécoère, Pierre

2005-02-28T13:57:00.000-08:00

The Compagnie Latécoère began commercial air flights between Toulouse, Fr., and Barcelona on Dec. 25, 1918, and extended its route to Morocco in 1919 and to Dakar, Senegal, in 1925. In 1927 the line was renamed Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, and, at the end of the decade,

Conegliano

2005-02-28T02:33:00.000-08:00

Town, Treviso provincia, Veneto regione, northeastern Italy, near the Piave River, just north of the city of Treviso. It is dominated by a castle with a museum and a cathedral (1352), which has a bell tower (1497) and a fine altarpiece (1493) by the painter Cima da Conegliano, a native of the town. There is modern construction along the old perimeter of the town. Noted for its wines, Conegliano

Eco, Umberto

2005-02-27T19:58:00.000-08:00

After receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Turin (1954), Eco worked as a cultural editor for Italian Radio-Television and also lectured at the University of Turin (1956–64). He then taught in Florence and Milan and finally, in 1971, assumed a professorial post at the University of Bologna.

Gundulic, Ivan (franov)

2005-02-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

A prolific writer, Gundulic also occupied various governmental positions in the Dubrovnik

Kusf And College Radio

2005-02-26T19:33:00.000-08:00

College radio stations—once considered little more than laboratories for students who had chosen broadcasting as an avocation—came to play an important gatekeeping role in the development of rock music beginning in the 1970s, in the aftermath of free-form FM rock radio and on the eve of the punk revolution. With a bent toward alternative rock, college stations gave

Bachman, John

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

Ordained in 1814, Bachman obtained a parish in Charleston, S.C., the following year. Long a natural-history enthusiast, he published studies of southern animals and works on botany

Ashikaga Yoshimasa

2005-02-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

Shogun (hereditary military dictator) who helped promote one of Japan's greatest cultural eras. His attempts to select an heir, however, brought on a dispute that caused the great Onin War (1467–77). This conflict not only laid waste the area around the capital at Kyoto and destroyed many of its great architectural treasures but also eliminated the fiction

Ribera, José De

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

He was born in Spain but spent most of his life in Italy. Little is known of his life in Spain, though he is said by the painter and biographer Antonio Palomino to have received his

Duan

2005-02-24T16:13:00.000-08:00

A poem or song in Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic literature. The word was used by James Macpherson for major divisions of his Ossianic verse and hence was taken to be the Scottish Gaelic equivalent of canto.

Monaco

2005-02-24T03:39:00.000-08:00

Officially Principality of Monaco , French Principauté de Monaco sovereign principality located along the Mediterranean Sea in the midst of the resort area of the Côte d'Azur (French Riviera). The city of Nice lies 9 miles (15 km) to the west, the Italian border 5 miles (8 km) to the east. Monaco's tiny territory occupies a set of densely clustered hills and a headland that looks southward over the Mediterranean. The principality has an area of

Biblical Literature, The Geneva Bible

2005-02-23T09:17:00.000-08:00

The brief efflorescence of the Protestant movement during the short reign of Edward VI (1547–53) saw the reissue of the Scriptures, but no fresh attempts at revision. The repressive rule of Edward's successor, Mary, a Roman Catholic, put an end to the printing of Bibles in England for several years. Their public reading was proscribed and their presence in the churches

Anastatic Printing

2005-02-22T09:29:00.000-08:00

Also called relief etching a technique of printmaking from a plate on which all but the design to be printed is etched away, leaving the design in relief. In zinc etching, the most popular anastatic process, the design is painted on a zinc plate in asphalt varnish and the uncoated portions of the plate are bitten away by a solution. The process is best known as that in which the English poet and artist

Jordan, Biblical associations

2005-02-22T09:10:00.000-08:00

Biblical accounts of the area, dating from the Middle Bronze Age onward, mention kingdoms such as Gilead in the north, Moab in central Jordan, and Midian in the south. At the time of the Exodus, the Israelites tried to pass through Edom in southern Jordan but were refused permission. They were at first repelled by the Amorites, whom they later defeated. The Israelite tribes

Janácek, Leo

2005-02-21T19:46:00.000-08:00

Janácek was a choirboy at Brno and studied at the Prague, Leipzig, and Vienna conservatories. In 1881 he founded a college of organists at Brno, which he directed until 1920. He directed the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra from 1881 to 1888 and in

La Victoria

2005-02-21T13:22:00.000-08:00

Quarter and district of the Lima-Callao metropolitan area of Peru, south of downtown Lima. It is mainly residential, with slums in the north, pueblos jóvenes (“young towns”), or squatter settlements, in the east, and middle-income housing in the south. The district is the site of Peru's largest wholesale and retail market area, near which are many light industries. La Victoria

Ram Raiya

2005-02-20T18:55:00.000-08:00

Member of a group of dissenters within Sikhism, a religion of India. The Ram Raiyas are descendants of Ram Rai, the eldest son of Guru Har Rai (1630–61), who was sent by his father as an emissary to the Mughal capital at Delhi. There he won the confidence of the emperor Aurangzeb but the displeasure of his own father, who when choosing the next Sikh Guru passed over Ram Rai in favour of his younger brother

Abbott, George

2005-02-19T10:44:00.000-08:00

After graduating from the University of Rochester, N.Y., in 1911, Abbott began acting on Broadway in 1913. He soon began writing and directing plays as well, and he achieved

Pau

2005-02-19T08:15:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Pyrénées-Atlantiques département, Aquitaine region, southwestern France. The capital of the former province of Béarn, Pau is a spa and winter sports centre. It stands on the edge of a plateau 130 feet (40 m) above the valley of the Pau Stream, which descends from the Pyrenees. The town's boulevard des Pyrénées, more than 1 mile (1.6 km) long, is situated high above the valley

Gherardesca Family

2005-02-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

One of the foremost families of the Tuscan nobility, whose lands included the counties of Gherardesca, Donoratico, and Montescudaio, near Pisa. At the beginning of the 13th century, they led the pro-imperial Ghibelline party of the Pisan republic against the pro-papal Guelf party led by the Visconti family of Milan. The Gherardesca family produced several churchmen

Mills, Florence

2005-02-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

Born into poverty, Mills early demonstrated a talent for singing and dancing. Under the name “Baby Florence,” she

Thomas, Seth

2005-02-18T06:36:00.000-08:00

Apprenticed as a carpenter and joiner, Thomas worked building houses and barns until 1807, when, because of his woodworking skills, the clockmakers Eli Terry and Silas Hoadley invited him to join them in a wholesale clockmaking enterprise.

Actium, Battle Of

2005-02-17T16:54:00.000-08:00

(September 2, 31 BC), naval battle off a promontory in the north of Acarnania, on the western coast of Greece, where Octavian (known as the emperor Augustus after 27 BC), by his decisive victory over Mark Antony, became the undisputed master of the Roman world. Antony, with 500 ships and 70,000 infantry, made his camp at Actium, which lies on the southern side of a strait leading from the Ionian Sea

Police, The

2005-02-17T11:41:00.000-08:00

British-American new-wave band that blended reggae, jazz, funk, punk, and world music influences into hook-laden pop-rock. Five best-selling albums, a bevy of hits, and aggressive touring—including stops in countries usually overlooked by Western pop musicians—combined to make the Police the world's most popular band in the early 1980s. The members were Sting (original name

Ecliptic

2005-02-16T00:44:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, the great circle that is the apparent path of the Sun among the constellations in the course of a year; from another viewpoint, the projection on the celestial sphere of the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. The constellations of the zodiac are arranged along the ecliptic. The ecliptic is inclined about 23 1/2° to the plane of the celestial equator; the two points

Puu Kukui

2005-02-15T05:33:00.000-08:00

Volcanic peak, Maui county, western Maui Island, Hawaii, U.S. It is the highest peak (5,788 feet [1,764 m]) of an 18-mile (29-kilometre) stretch of mountains, the Honolua volcanic series, which dominates the western peninsula of Maui. Puu Kukui (meaning “candlenut hill”) was formed by a volcano whose caldera has eroded into the scenic valley of Iao.

Bilandic, Michael Anthony

2005-02-15T03:26:00.000-08:00

American politician and judge (b. Feb. 13, 1923, Chicago, Ill.—d. Jan. 15, 2002, Chicago), succeeded Richard J. Daley as mayor of Chicago and later served as chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court. Bilandic had been a corporate lawyer for 28 years and was serving as chairman of Chicago's City Council finance committee by the time Mayor Daley died in his sixth term in office in December 1976. The City

Hessen

2005-02-14T05:44:00.000-08:00

Also called Hesse Land (state) of Germany, eighth largest of the 16 Länder, occupying an area of 8,152 square miles (21,114 square km) in the west-central part of that country. Hessen is bounded by the states of Lower Saxony (north), North Rhine-Westphalia (northwest), Rhineland-Palatinate (west), Baden-Württemberg (south), Bavaria (southeast), and Thuringia (east). The state lies between the Upper Rhine Plateau to

Uttar Pradesh

2005-02-14T02:34:00.000-08:00

The most populous state of India. Lying in north-central India, it is bordered by Nepal and the Indian state of Uttaranchal to the north, the Indian states of Haryana and Rajasthan and the union territory of Delhi to the west, the state of Madhya Pradesh to the south, the state of Bihar to the east, and the states of Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh to the southeast. Uttar Pradesh extends

Responsa

2005-02-12T09:44:00.000-08:00

Hebrew She'elot U-teshubot (“questions and answers”), replies made by rabbinic scholars in answer to submitted questions about Jewish law. These replies began to be written in the 6th century after final redaction of the Talmud and are still being formulated. Estimates of the total number of published responsa, which range in length from a few words to lengthy monographs and compendia, vary from

Earth, The nature of gravity

2005-02-12T00:16:00.000-08:00

It is a familiar phenomenon that an object released above the Earth's surface accelerates toward the Earth. This phenomenon is a special case of universal gravitation—all mass within the universe attracts all other mass. The acceleration in this special case is known as the acceleration due to gravity, denoted g. Reference has already been made above to the fact that

Avon, River

2005-02-11T00:30:00.000-08:00

Also called Upper Avon or Warwickshire Avon river, eastern tributary of the River Severn that rises near Naseby in central England and flows generally southwestward for 96 miles (154 km) through the counties of Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. The river shares the name Avon (derived from a Celtic word meaning “river”) with several other rivers in Great Britain, including the Avon

Orange

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

City, east-central New South Wales, Australia. It is located near the slopes of Mount Canobolas, an extinct volcano. In 1828 the area was named by Sir Thomas Mitchell in memory of the Prince of Orange, his commander during the Peninsular War, and the village of Orange was proclaimed in 1846. It grew after the announcement in 1851 of payable gold deposits at nearby Ophir. Farming replaced

France, History Of, Social classes

2005-02-10T06:10:00.000-08:00

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

Radar, Electronically scanned phased-array radar

2005-02-10T03:59:00.000-08:00

An electronically scanned phased-array antenna can position its beam rapidly from one direction to another without mechanical movement of large antenna structures. Agile, rapid beam switching permits the radar to track many targets simultaneously and to perform other functions as required.

Tarhun

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

Also spelled Taru, Tarhu, Tarhunt, Tarhunna, or Tarhuis, ancient Anatolian weather god. His name appears in Hittite and Assyrian records (c. 1400–612 BC) and later as an element in Hellenistic personal names, primarily from Cilicia. Tarhunt was the Luwian form and Tarhun (Tarhunna) probably the Hittite, from the common root tarh-, “to conquer.” The weather god was one of the supreme deities of the Hittite pantheon and was regarded as the embodiment

Canada, Anglican Church Of

2005-02-08T16:53:00.000-08:00

Self-governing Anglican church that dates from the Church of England congregations established in Canada during the 18th century. In 1750 Canada's first Anglican church was built in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Additional congregations were formed as settlers came from England and as many American colonists who remained loyal to England resettled in Canada during and after

Leonardo Pisano

2005-02-06T05:25:00.000-08:00

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

Juan Manuel, Don

2005-02-06T00:07:00.000-08:00

Don Juan