ReadyCloud

Peninsular

2005-04-05T16:52:00.000-07:00

Spanish peninsular , plural peninsulares , also called gachupín , or chapetón any of the colonial residents of Latin America from the 16th through the early 19th century who had been born in Spain. The name refers to the Iberian Peninsula. Among the American-born in Mexico the peninsulars were contemptuously called gachupines (“those with spurs”) and in South America, chapetones (“tenderfeet”). They enjoyed the special favour of the Spanish crown and

Margaret Of Provence

2005-04-04T08:12:00.000-07:00

Although Blanche of Castile, Louis IX's mother, had arranged the marriage, she was jealous of her daughter-in-law, whom she supervised strictly; Jean, Sire de Joinville, chronicler of Louis's reign, tells several

Anthony Of Novgorod

2005-04-04T01:10:00.000-07:00

Anthony's importance derives mainly from his Pilgrim's

Scimitar-babbler

2005-04-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

Any of about 12 species of songbirds of the babbler family Timaliidae (order Passeriformes), which have long, curved bills used for uncovering insects in ground litter. Scimitar-babblers are 18 to 28 cm (7 to 11 inches) in length, with fairly long tails. Their plumage is mostly brown. They range through southern Asia to Australia and the Philippines. An example is the slaty-headed

Amatitlán, Lake

2005-04-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

Spanish Lago De Amatitlán, lake, south-central Guatemala, in the central highlands at 4,085 feet (1,248 m) above sea level. The volcanic lake, 130 feet (40 m) deep, is 7 miles (11 km) long and 2 miles (3 km) wide and has an area of about 6 square miles (15 square km). It is fed by the Villalobos River and drained by the Michatoya River. A popular tourist area, the lake and the town of Amatitlán, at the head of the Michatoya, are situated by highway

Abrahams, Peter

2005-04-02T19:07:00.000-08:00

Abrahams left South Africa at the age of 20, settling first in Britain and then in Jamaica; nevertheless, most of his novels and short stories are based on his early life

John

2005-03-31T09:12:00.000-08:00

A Roman archdeacon well liked by the populace, John was elected by them on January 25 against the nobility's candidate, Sergius II. John withdrew to the Lateran Palace, his stronghold for a brief period. Concurrently, Sergius was consecrated pope at St. Peter's without imperial sanction. John was saved from being murdered by the

Fisk University

2005-03-31T07:09:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. One of the most notable historically black colleges, it is affiliated with the United Church of Christ. It offers undergraduate degree programs in business administration; humanities and fine arts, including religion and philosophy; natural science and mathematics, including

Antarctica, Discovery of the Antarctic poles

2005-03-31T06:14:00.000-08:00

National and personal prestige in attaining the Earth's poles, as well as territorial acquisition and scientific inquiry, provided strong motivation for polar exploration in the early 1900s. The south magnetic pole, the point of vertical orientation of a magnetic dip needle, which was predicted by the German physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss to lie at 66° S, 146° E, inspired the

Foyer

2005-03-30T15:34:00.000-08:00

Intermediate area between the exterior and interior of a building, especially a theatre. Originally the term was applied only to that area in French theatres, comparable to the greenroom in English theatres, where actors relaxed when they were offstage. Because actors were accustomed to visits by friends during and after performances, such areas came to be large

White Plains

2005-03-29T09:14:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1778) of Westchester county, New York, U.S. It lies along the Bronx and Hutchinson rivers. Known to the Wappinger Indians as Quarropas (“White Marshes”), probably for the area's heavy fogs, the site was sold twice (in 1660 and in 1683) by them to different groups, causing long litigation over the title and delays in the settlement of the area. An established community by 1735 within the town

Incremental Repetition

2005-03-29T02:02:00.000-08:00

A device used in poetry of the oral tradition, especially English and Scottish ballads, in which a line is repeated in a changed context or with minor changes in the repeated part. The device is illustrated in the following stanzas from the ballad “Lord Randal”: “O where ha' you been, Lord Randal, my son? And where ha' you been, my handsome young man?”“I ha' been at the greenwood; mother,

Sarapis

2005-03-28T18:09:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Serapis Greco-Egyptian deity of the sun first encountered at Memphis, where his cult was celebrated in association with that of the sacred Egyptian bull Apis (who was called Osorapis when deceased). He was thus originally a god of the underworld but was reintroduced as a new deity with many Hellenic aspects by Ptolemy I Soter (reigned 305–284 BC), who centred the worship of the deity at

Tibet, Climate

2005-03-28T11:52:00.000-08:00

Although Tibetans refer to their country as Gangs-ljongs or Kha-ba-can (“Land of Snows”), the climate is generally dry, and most of Tibet receives only 18 inches (460 millimetres) of rain and snow annually. The Himalayas act as a barrier to the monsoon (rain-bearing) winds from the south, and precipitation decreases from south to north. The perpetual snow line lies at about 16,000 feet in

Dumbarton Oaks Conference

2005-03-28T10:10:00.000-08:00

This conference constituted the first important step taken to carry out paragraph 4 of the Moscow

Earth, Structure and composition of the solid Earth

2005-03-26T08:59:00.000-08:00

David G. Smith (ed.), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences (1981), is a highly readable, illustrated collection of articles on the Earth's surface and interior. Two collections of articles from Scientific American are The Dynamic Earth (1983), on the geologic processes occurring inside and around the planet; and Robert Decker and Barbara Decker (eds.), Volcanoes and the Earth's Interior (1982), on volcanoes and the rocks occurring in the mantle. Minoru Ozima, The Earth: Its Birth and Growth (1981; originally published in Japanese, 1979), gives a general account of the evolution of the Earth based on geochemical research. Martin H.P. Bott, Interior of the Earth: Its Structure, Constitution, and Evolution, 2nd ed. (1982), provides a thorough summary of the nature of the Earth's interior. Two works with a more technical slant are Jean-Claude De Bremaecker, Geophysics, the Earth's Interior (1985), an introductory textbook; and Donald L. Turcotte and Gerald Schubert, Geodynamics: Applications of Continuum Physics to Geological Problems (1982), a mathematical text on processes occurring within the Earth. See also G.C. Brown and A.E. Mussett, The Inaccessible Earth (1981), on both geophysics and geochemistry.

Abruzzi

2005-03-26T03:30:00.000-08:00

Also called Abruzzo, regione, central Italy, fronting the Adriatic Sea and comprising the provincie of L'Aquila, Chieti, Pescara, and Teramo. Most of the region is mountainous or hilly, except for such intermontane basins as those of L'Aquila, Sulmona, and Fucino. The Apennines, the dominant physical feature, consist of three chains trending northwest-southeast, of which the easternmost,

Wahat Al-kharijah, Al-

2005-03-25T16:02:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kharga, or El-kharga, oasis in the Libyan (Western) Desert, part of Al-Wadi al-Jadid (“New Valley”) muhafazah (governorate), in south-central Egypt. It is situated about 110 miles (180 km) west-southwest of Naj' Hammadi, to which it is linked by railroad. The name Wahat al-Kharijah means “outer oasis.” The oasis consists of two fertile zones, extending about 100 miles (160 km) north-south and from 12 to 50 miles (19 to 80 km) east-west, with an area of more

Van Diemen's Land

2005-03-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

(1642–1855), the southeastern Australian island colony that became the commonwealth state of Tasmania. Named for Anthony van Diemen, governor general of the Dutch East Indies, the island was discovered and named in 1642 by Abel J. Tasman, a celebrated navigator under Van Diemen's command. The first British settlers in the early 19th century retained the name. After being a part of the

Mercator Projection

2005-03-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

Type of map projection introduced in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator. It is often described as a cylindrical projection, but it must be derived mathematically. The meridians are equally spaced, parallel vertical lines, and the parallels of latitude are parallel, horizontal straight lines, spaced farther and farther apart as their distance from the Equator increases. This

Abe Kobo

2005-03-23T15:40:00.000-08:00

He grew up in Mukden (now Shen-yang), in Manchuria, where his father, a physician, taught at the medical college. The youngster was interested in insect collecting, mathematics, and the writings of Fyodor

Fisher, Alan (wainwright)

2005-03-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

Fisher left secondary school in 1939 to join the local office of NUPE as a junior clerk, later

Moscow, Treaty Of

2005-03-22T01:40:00.000-08:00

With the advent of the Russian Revolution (October 1917), Russia withdrew from World War I and ceased hostilities against the Ottoman Empire. The new Soviet regime found

Augusta

2005-03-21T23:32:00.000-08:00

The younger daughter of Charles Frederick, grand duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, she was married to the future king and emperor on June 11, 1829. She was jealously devoted to her children, Frederick William (later king and emperor as Frederick

France, History Of, The monarchy

2005-03-20T17:31:00.000-08:00

The kingdom of France was descended directly from the west Frankish realm ceded to Charles the Bald in 843. Not until 987 was the Carolingian dynastic line set aside, but there had been portentous interruptions. The reunited empire of Charles the Fat (884–888) proved unworkable: the Viking onslaught was then at its worst, and the king proved incapable of managing defenses, which fell

Aaron

2005-03-20T00:57:00.000-08:00

The traditional founder and head of the Jewish priesthood, who, with his brother Moses, led the Israelites out of Egypt. The figure of Aaron as it is now found in the Pentateuch is built up from several sources of traditions. In the Talmud and Midrash he is seen as the leading personality at the side of Moses. He has appeared in different roles in Christian

Bascom, Florence

2005-03-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

Bascom earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Wisconsin, and she later received the first Ph.D. awarded to a woman at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore (1893). Bascom then taught at Ohio State University

Elizabeth Islands

2005-03-18T06:19:00.000-08:00

Chain of small islands in southeastern Massachusetts, U.S. They extend southwestward for 16 miles (26 km) from the southwestern tip of Cape Cod, between Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound. Administratively a part of Dukes county, the islands constitute Gosnold town (a township area settled in 1641 and incorporated in 1864). The larger islands are Nonamesset, Naushon, Pasque, Nashawena,

Jirásek, Alois

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

Jirásek was a secondary-school teacher until his retirement in 1909. He wrote a series of historical novels imbued with faith in his nation and in progress toward freedom and justice.

Kirkcudbright

2005-03-17T17:15:00.000-08:00

Town and royal burgh (1455), Dumfries and Galloway council area, historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire, southwestern Scotland, 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Dumfries in the Galloway region. It guards the lowest crossing of the River Dee 6 miles (10 km) from the Irish Sea and is a market town, a dairying centre, and a favourite resort of artists. It is the historic county town (seat) of Kirkcudbrightshire.

Jackdaw

2005-03-17T15:59:00.000-08:00

Also called Daw (species Corvus monedula), crowlike black bird with gray nape and pearly eyes of the family Corvidae (q.v.; order Passeriformes). Jackdaws, which are 33 cm (13 inches) long, breed in colonies in tree holes, cliffs, and tall buildings: their flocks fly in formation around the site. They lay four to six light, greenish blue eggs that are spotted and blotched. The bird's

Afonso Vi

2005-03-17T05:49:00.000-08:00

Afonso succeeded his father, John IV, in 1656, but his mother acted as regent until 1662. His reign saw a series of victories against Spain, including the battles of Ameixal (1663), Castelo Rodrigo (1664), and Montes Claros (1665), which in 1668 led to Spanish recognition

Dabrowska, Maria

2005-03-16T08:34:00.000-08:00

Born into a relatively impecunious family of landowners, Dabrowska was educated in Poland, at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, and then in Belgium. Afterward, she lived in France and Great Britain until World War II. In 1909 she had begun to write articles

Rimsky-korsakov, Nikolay

2005-03-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

In full Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov Russian composer, teacher, and editor who was at his best in descriptive orchestrations suggesting a mood or a place.

Distributive Law

2005-03-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

In mathematics, the law relating to number operations stated symbolically, a(b + c + d) = ab + ac + ad; that is, the monomial factor a is distributed, or separately applied, to each term of the polynomial factor b + c + d, resulting in the product ab + ac + ad. Hence, the result of first adding several numbers and then multiplying the sum by some number is the same as first multiplying each separately

India

2005-03-15T01:16:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of India , Hindi Bharat or Bharatavarsha country that occupies the greater part of South Asia. It is a constitutional republic consisting of 28 states, each with a substantial degree of control over its own affairs; 6 less fully empowered union territories; and the Delhi national capital territory, which includes New Delhi, India's capital. With more than one-sixth of the world's total population, India is the

Performing Arts, Latin America.

2005-03-14T17:59:00.000-08:00

Gerardo Tort's unsparing picture of street children in Mexico City, De la calle (Streeters), was based on a play by Jesús González Dávila. Marysa Sistach's Perfuma de violetas, nadie te oye (Violet Perfume: Nobody Hears You) dealt intelligently with rape in working-class Mexico City. Guillermo del Toro's Spanish co-production El espinazo del diablo (The Devil's

Kyabram

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

Town, central Victoria, Australia. It is situated approximately 124 miles (200 km) north of Melbourne. The name Kyabram comes from an Aboriginal word meaning “thick forest.” The settlement grew up after the arrival of the railway line from Melbourne in 1887 and the completion of an irrigation system in 1891. Kyabram was gazetted as a borough in 1954 and as a town in 1973. It is the service centre for

Texas, Annexation and statehood

2005-03-13T16:25:00.000-08:00

As early as 1836, Texans had voted for annexation by the United States, but the proposition was rejected by the Jackson and Van Buren administrations. Great Britain favoured continued independence for Texas in order to block further westward expansion of the United States, but this attitude only helped to swing Americans toward annexation. Annexation was approved

Sanjo, Go-

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

One of the few Japanese rulers of the period not born of a Fujiwara mother, Takahito became emperor in 1068, taking the reign name Go-Sanjo

Beacon

2005-03-12T18:29:00.000-08:00

City, Dutchess county, southeastern New York, U.S. It lies at the foot of Mount Beacon, on the east bank of the Hudson River (there bridged to Newburgh), 58 miles (93 km) north of New York City. It became a city when the 17th-century villages of Matteawan and Fishkill Landing were united in 1913. The name was inspired by the fires that blazed atop Mount Beacon during the American

Denishawn School Of Dancing And Related Arts

2005-03-11T23:45:00.000-08:00

Dance school and company founded in 1915 by Ruth St. Denis and her husband, Ted Shawn. Considered a fountainhead of American modern dance, the Denishawn organization systematically promoted nonballetic dance movement and fostered such leading modern dancers as Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. Because St. Denis and Shawn believed that all dance techniques

Sartre, Jean-paul

2005-03-11T19:09:00.000-08:00

Sartre lost his father at an early age and grew up in the home of his maternal grandfather, Carl Schweitzer, uncle of the medical missionary Albert Schweitzer and himself professor of German at the Sorbonne. The boy, who wandered in the Luxembourg Gardens of Paris in search of playmates, was small in stature and cross-eyed. His brilliant autobiography, Les Mots (1963; Words,

Defense Of Rights, Associations For The

2005-03-11T17:27:00.000-08:00

The league was actually a coalition of middle-class organizations,

Koror

2005-03-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

Formerly Corrora one of the Caroline Islands, western Pacific; it lies just southwest of Babelthuap island. Koror city serves as the provisional capital of Palau while a new capital is being constructed at Melekeok in eastern Babelthuap. Partly uplifted coral-limestone and partly volcanic in origin, Koror has a land area of 3 square miles (8 square km) and rises to 459 feet (140 metres). A territorial

Calcisol

2005-03-10T04:07:00.000-08:00

One of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Calcisols are characterized by a layer of translocated (migrated) calcium carbonate—whether soft and powdery or hard and cemented—at some depth in the soil profile. They are usually well-drained soils with fine to medium texture, and they are relatively fertile because

Goodall, Jane

2005-03-09T15:27:00.000-08:00

Goodall, who was interested in animal behaviour from an early age, left school at age 18. She worked as a secretary and as a film production assistant until she gained passage to Africa. Once there, Goodall

Tsubouchi Shoyo

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

Pseudonym of Tsubouchi Yuzo playwright, novelist, critic, and translator who occupied a prominent position in Japanese letters for nearly half a century. He wrote the first major work of modern Japanese literary criticism, Shosetsu shinzui (1885–86; “The Essence of the Novel”), translated the complete works of William Shakespeare, helped found the modern Japanese

Niger-congo Languages

2005-03-08T01:50:00.000-08:00

In the 19th century, scholars began to attempt classification of the various Niger-Congo languages. Sigismund W. Koelle, a German missionary of the Church Missionary Society working among freed slaves in Freetown (now in Sierra Leone), produced his monumental work, Polyglotta Africana, in 1854. He obtained lists of 283 words in 156 languages and grouped them so as to reflect what

Parnaíba

2005-03-07T23:46:00.000-08:00

Port city, northwestern Piauí state, northeastern Brazil, on the Rio Igaraçu, an outlet of the Rio Parnaíba, 9 mi (14 km) upstream from the Atlantic Ocean. Founded in 1761 and given city status in 1884, Parnaíba is the most important trade and distributing centre of the river valley. The chief products shipped from Parnaíba and its outport, Luís Correia (just to the northeast), are carnauba

Yana

2005-03-07T22:29:00.000-08:00

There were four Yana divisions—Northern, Central, and Southern Yana, as well as

Schacht, Hjalmar

2005-03-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

Appointed vice director of the Dresdner Bank in 1908, Schacht served

Mid Devon

2005-03-06T11:46:00.000-08:00

District, administrative and historic county of Devon, southwestern England, located between the bleak moorlands of Exmoor and Dartmoor. Mid Devon is a heavily dissected interior plateau 400 to 800 feet (120 to 245 metres) in elevation. It has variable soil types suited for grassland cultivation, except in the south-central area where the merging Exe, Culm, and Yeo river valleys

Encephalartos

2005-03-05T08:13:00.000-08:00

A genus of 20 or more species of palmlike cycads (plants of the family Cycadaceae), native to southern Africa and grown elsewhere as conservatory and house plants. The genus includes both tuberous and columnar varieties; they sometimes have spiny foliage. A breadlike food is prepared from the starchy centre of the stem of the Kaffir bread, or bread

Furniture, Near East and classical antiquity

2005-03-05T07:24:00.000-08:00

A. Lucas, Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, 3rd ed. (1948), indispensable; Howard Carter and A.C. Mace, The Tomb of Thut-Ankh-Amen, 3 vol. (1923–27); Gisela H. Richter, The Furniture of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans (1966), the standard reference work in this area.

Levon I

2005-03-04T18:45:00.000-08:00

Byname Levon The Great king of Armenia (reigned 1199–1219), who rallied the Armenians after their dispersion by the Seljuq Turks and consolidated the kingdom in Cilicia, southeastern Asia Minor. Through his friendly relations with the German emperors Frederick I Barbarossa and Henry VI, he was crowned by Pope Celestine III's legate, Cardinal Conrad von Wittelsbach, and allied Lesser

Bukhari, Al-

2005-03-04T05:12:00.000-08:00

In full Abu 'abd Allah Muhammad Ibn Isma'il Al-bukhari one of the greatest Muslim compilers and scholars of Hadith (the recorded corpus of the sayings and acts of the Prophet Muhammad). His chief work is accepted by Sunnite Muslims—i.e., those following the majority tradition—as second only to the Qur'an as both a source of religious law and a sacred

Carnivore, Form and function

2005-03-03T17:54:00.000-08:00

Viverrids have short legs with five toes on each foot, except for the meerkats; Suricata has four toes on each foot and Cynictis four on the hindfoot. The pollex (“thumb”) and hallux (“big toe”) are functionless and do not touch the ground. Each toe is capped with semiretractile

Mufti

2005-03-03T04:48:00.000-08:00

Arabic Mufti, an Islamic legal authority who gives a formal legal opinion (fatwa) in answer to an inquiry by a private individual or judge. A fatwa usually requires knowledge of the Qur'an and Hadith (narratives concerning the Prophet's life and sayings), as well as knowledge of exegesis and collected precedents, and might be a pronouncement on some problematic legal matter. Under the Ottoman

Teaching Machine

2005-03-03T02:33:00.000-08:00

There are many types of teaching machines. In general, they all work on the same method, which is to present a question, have the user indicate the answer, and then provide the user with the correct answer. Some machines may be extremely simple, such as test sheets or books so programmed that

Pacorus

2005-03-02T23:24:00.000-08:00

In the summer of 51 BC Pacorus was sent to invade Syria with an army commanded by Osaces, an older warrior. Osaces, however, was killed in battle, and early the next year Orodes, learning that one of his satraps was conspiring to make Pacorus king, recalled his son. In 45, Pacorus intervened in

Eadric Streona

2005-03-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

Little is known of Eadric's origins. His appointment to the office of ealdorman was probably an attempt by Ethelred to unite south-central England under one command. He is generally considered

Amphibian, Reproduction

2005-03-01T01:24:00.000-08:00

The three living groups of amphibians have distinct evolutionary lineages and exhibit a diverse range of life strategies. The breeding behaviour of each order will be discussed in its individual section below. One similar tendency among amphibians has been the evolution in some species of direct development of young in terrestrial eggs, thus eliminating the

Mitral Insufficiency

2005-02-28T16:40:00.000-08:00

Also called Mitral Regurgitation, inability of the mitral valve to prevent the flow of blood back from the left ventricle, or lower chamber of the heart, into the left atrium, or upper chamber. Normally, the valve permits blood to flow from the atrium to the ventricle but prevents its return. Most often, the inability of the mitral valve to close adequately is caused by scarring from rheumatic heart disease;

Standish, Myles

2005-02-28T02:55:00.000-08:00

As a young man, Standish fought in the Netherlands, where he probably met the English religious exiles who later became known as the Pilgrims. He sailed with them to America on the “Mayflower” in 1620, serving as their military leader when they established Plymouth in

Xenon

2005-02-27T19:47:00.000-08:00

(Xe), chemical element, heavy and extremely rare gas of Group 0 (noble gases) of the periodic table. It was the first noble gas found to form true chemical compounds. More than 4 1/2 times heavier than air, xenon is colourless, odourless, and tasteless. Solid xenon belongs to the face-centred cubic crystal system, which implies that its molecules, which consist of single atoms, behave

Xerxes I

2005-02-27T02:11:00.000-08:00

The basic work is still A.T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (1948, reissued 1985), a complex work, but one that contains the essentials. Charles Hignett, Xerxes' Invasion of Greece (1963), deals only with the relationships between Xerxes and Greece. Peter Green, Xerxes at Salamis (1970), discusses the Greco-Persian wars.

Omalius D'halloy, Jean-baptiste-julien D'

2005-02-26T02:52:00.000-08:00

D'Omalius was educated first in Liège and afterward in Paris. While a youth he became interested in geology (over the protests of his parents) and, having an independent income, was able to devote his energies to geologic researches. As early as 1808 he communicated

Dendrocolaptidae

2005-02-25T17:48:00.000-08:00

Songbird family, order Passeriformes, consisting of a number of brownish birds of the forest or brushland and found from Mexico through South America. Representative members are the scythebill and the woodcreeper (qq.v.).

Lock

2005-02-25T16:31:00.000-08:00

Enclosure or basin located in the course of a canal or a river (or in the vicinity of a dock) with gates at each end, within which the water level may be varied to raise or lower boats. Where the required lift is of considerable height, a series of connected but isolable basins, or locks, is used. On the Trollhätte Canal, Sweden, three locks overcome a total rise of 77 feet (23 m). Single

Epicentre

2005-02-25T11:46:00.000-08:00

Point on the surface of the Earth that is directly above the source of an earthquake (called the focus). There the effects of the earthquake usually are most severe. The epicentre can be located by constructing arcs from each of three or more seismic observatories, with the arcs' radii equal to the distance from each station to the focus of the earthquake. The point of

Mitral Insufficiency

2005-02-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

Oceanographic study platform developed in the United States. It combines the advantages of extreme stability while floating on site and ease of movement to new areas. In the horizontal position, FLIP, 109 m (357 feet) long, can be towed behind a ship. When FLIP's ballast tanks are flooded, the platform tilts to an upright position with 17 m (55 feet) of its length above water. Above-water

Art And Architecture, Egyptian, Domestic architecture

2005-02-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

The best preserved private houses are those of modest size in the workmen's village of Dayr al-Madinah. Exceptional in that they were built of stone, they

East Malaysia

2005-02-23T13:19:00.000-08:00

Wing of the 13-state federation of Malaysia; it consists of the states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern part of the island of Borneo and is separated from mainland Peninsular, or West, Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula by some 400 miles (640 km) of the South China Sea. Pop. (1991 prelim.) 3,385,119.

Kirklareli

2005-02-22T17:27:00.000-08:00

City, northwestern (European) Turkey. It lies in the foothills of the Yildiz (Istranca) Mountains. Formerly called Kirk Kilise (“Forty Churches”), it developed chiefly because of its position on the shortest route over the mountains from the north to Istanbul, 100 miles (160 km) southeast. The city has numerous Ottoman monuments, including the 15th-century Mosque of Hizir Bey. An important

Caucasian Languages

2005-02-21T15:38:00.000-08:00

Also called Paleo-Caucasian, or Ibero-Caucasian, group of languages indigenous to Transcaucasia and adjacent areas of the Caucasus region, between the Black and Caspian seas. As used in this article, the term excludes the Indo-European (Armenian, Ossetic, Talysh, Kurdish, Tat) and Turkic languages (Azerbaijani, Kumyk, Noghay, Karachay, Balkar) and some other languages of the area, all of which were introduced to the Caucasus

Berceo, Gonzalo De

2005-02-20T18:46:00.000-08:00

Berceo's subjects were religious

Strangford Lough

2005-02-20T15:21:00.000-08:00

Irish Loch Cuan inlet of the Irish Sea between Ards and Down districts, Northern Ireland. The lough (lake) is about 16 miles (26 km) long and 4 miles (6 km) wide, with a very narrow entrance, which cuts across the northeast-southwest trend of the rocks in the area. The edges of the lough are characterized by many drumlins, or long oval mounds, which are also seen in submerged form in the lough. Strangford

Hypodorian Mode

2005-02-20T03:28:00.000-08:00

In music, second of the eight medieval church modes. See church mode.

Papua

2005-02-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1969–2002) Irian Jaya (until 1969) Irian Barat propinsi (province), Indonesia, the western half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands—including the individual islands of Yapen, Adi, Waigeo, Batanta, Kofiau, Salawati, Misool, and Yos Sudarsa and the Schouten Islands. Papua fronts the Ceram and Banda seas to the west, the Arafura Sea to the southwest, and the Pacific Ocean to the north; it is bounded by Papua

Maha Maya

2005-02-18T17:12:00.000-08:00

According to Buddhist legend, Maha Maya dreamed that a white elephant with six tusks entered her right side, which was interpreted to mean that she had conceived a child who would become either a world ruler or a buddha. After 10 lunar months, feeling that the time of birth was near, she went to the Lumbini

Balance

2005-02-18T17:04:00.000-08:00

The invention of the equal-arm balance dates back at least to the time of the ancient Egyptians, possibly as early as 5000 BC. In the earliest types, the beam was supported at the centre and the pans were hung from the ends by cords. A later improvement

Gabon

2005-02-18T06:44:00.000-08:00

The National Rally of Woodcutters, Gabon's largest opposition party, broke into two rival factions on July 20, 1998, after dissidents, led by the party's secretary-general, Pierre-André Kombila Koumba, challenged the leadership of

Fruit Bat

2005-02-17T23:10:00.000-08:00

Any of numerous tropical Old World bats of the family Pteropodidae (q.v.).

Hsin-yang

2005-02-16T04:55:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Xinyang city in southern Honan sheng (province), China. Hsin-yang is in the very south of the Honan plain, in the basin between the Ta-pieh Mountains and the Huai River. It has traditionally been on a cultural divide between the plain and the hilly districts to the south. It was also a natural route centre on the Shih River, a tributary of the Huai. The Shih has become passable for relatively

Haley, Sir William

2005-02-16T04:51:00.000-08:00

Haley grew up on the island of Jersey and attended Victoria College there. In 1918 he began to study journalism, and in 1921 he secured his first newspaper employment

Gamburtsev Mountains

2005-02-16T02:25:00.000-08:00

Russian Gory Gamburtseva, subglacial range in the central part of eastern Antarctica, extending 750–800 miles (1,200–1,300 km). The mountains attain their greatest height at 11,120 feet (3,390 m). Completely buried under more than 1,970 feet (600 m) of the Antarctic ice cap, they were discovered in 1958 by a Soviet expedition and mapped by seismic reflections.

Yin-ch'uan

2005-02-15T07:45:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Yinchuan , conventional Yinchwan capital of Hui Autonomous Region of Ningsia, north-central China. The city is located near the western bank of the upper course of the Huang Ho, near the western end of the Great Wall of China in the south-central section of the Ho-lan Mountains and Ordos Desert. It is served by a river port at Heng-ch'eng, about 9.5 miles (15 km) to the east. Until the 1950s the river, which is navigable downstream

Atatürk, Kemal

2005-02-14T19:27:00.000-08:00

One

Anticyclone

2005-02-14T10:50:00.000-08:00

Any large wind system occurring in regions outside the equatorial belt and rotating about a centre of high atmospheric pressure clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counterclockwise in the Southern. Its flow is the reverse of that of a cyclone (q.v.).

Ear, Human, Descending pathways

2005-02-14T06:22:00.000-08:00

Parallel with the pathway ascending from the cochlear nuclei to the cortex is a pathway descending from the cortex to the cochlear nuclei. In both pathways some of the fibres remain on the same side, while others cross the midline to the opposite side of the brain. There is also evidence of a “spur” line ascending from the dorsal cochlear nucleus to the cerebellum and

China, The decisive year, 1948

2005-02-14T02:50:00.000-08:00

The year 1948 was the turning point. In central China, Communist armies of 500,000 men proved their ability to fight major battles on the plains and to capture, though not always hold, such important towns on the Lung-hai as Lo-yang and K'ai-feng. In North China they encircled T'ai-yüan, the capital of Shansi; took most of Chahar and Jehol, provinces on Manchuria's western flank; and recaptured

Hvarenah

2005-02-12T15:52:00.000-08:00

In Zoroastrianism, the attribute of kingly glory. Introduced to the Persian religion from Iran as part of Mithraism, hvarenah is thought of as a shining halo that descends on a leader and makes him sacred. The king thus proclaims himself divine and can rule with absolute power in the name of God. The concept of hvarenah was especially popular with the Roman emperors,

Arabia, History Of, Regional centres

2005-02-12T09:13:00.000-08:00

Once Mu'awiyah and the Umayyads had seized overlordship of the far-flung Islamic empire, which they ruled from Damascus, the Holy Cities remained only the spiritual capitals of Islam. The Umayyad caliphs appointed governors over the three crucial areas of the Hejaz, Yemen, and Oman; but in Iraq occasional powerful governors managed to control the Persian Gulf provinces,

Hades

2005-02-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

Greek Aïdes (“the Unseen”), also called Pluto, or Pluton (“the Rich”), in Greek religion, son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and brother of the deities Zeus and Poseidon. After Cronus was killed, the kingdom of the underworld fell by lot to Hades. There he ruled with his queen, Persephone, over the infernal powers and over the dead, in what was often called “the House of Hades,” or simply Hades. Though he supervised the trial and punishment

Cabaiguán

2005-02-11T13:00:00.000-08:00

City, northern Sancti Spíritus province, central Cuba. It is an important manufacturing and commercial centre for surrounding agricultural and pastoral lands known primarily for their sugarcane, although tobacco and fruits are grown and cattle are raised. Sugar refining is the principal industrial activity in the city, which lies on the central highway and

Alakol, Lake

2005-02-11T10:14:00.000-08:00

Kazak Alaköl , Russian Ozero Alakol , also called Ozero Ala-Kul salt lake in Kazakstan, 110 miles (180 km) east of Lake Balqash, near the border with the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China. Lake Alakol has a drainage basin of about 26,500 square miles (68,700 square km), an area of 1,025 square miles, reaches a depth of about 148 feet (45 m), and receives the Urdzhar River (north).

Switzerland, Trade and finance

2005-02-10T02:30:00.000-08:00

Switzerland must export finished products in order to pay for the imports of raw materials, oil, foodstuffs, and manufactured goods. The Swiss have traditionally been among the forerunners in liberalizing and facilitating international trade. The geographic distribution of the country's trade shows dependence on western Europe and especially on the EC countries.

Earth, The atmosphere

2005-02-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

The Earth is surrounded by a relatively thin atmosphere consisting of a mixture of gases, primarily molecular nitrogen (77 percent) and molecular oxygen (21 percent). This gaseous envelope, commonly called the air, also contains much smaller amounts of gases such as argon, carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapour, along with minute solid and liquid particles in

Kamehameha Iii

2005-02-09T10:24:00.000-08:00

Only 10 years of age when he succeeded to the throne, he was initially under the regency of Kamehameha I's favourite wife, Kaahumanu, who had been regent ever since Kamehameha II had visited England in 1824 and died there. Converted to Christianity in 1824, she became known for her wise and beneficent