FoolishPump

Rackham, Arthur

2005-04-05T05:26:00.000-07:00

Reared in London, Rackham enrolled in evening classes at the Lambeth School of Art in 1884 and spent seven years studying there while also working full-time in an insurance office. While a staff artist for a newspaper, the Westminster

Wolfgang, Marvin

2005-04-04T01:08:00.000-07:00

Wolfgang attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he received M.A. (1950) and Ph.D. (1955) degrees. He officially joined the faculty of the University

San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane

2005-04-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

Also called San Carlino, influential Baroque church in Rome that was designed by Francesco Borromini. It was commissioned in 1634 and was built during 1638–41, except for the tall facade, which was added in about 1667. Built to fit in a cramped and difficult site, the church has an unusual and somewhat irregular floor plan in the shape of a Greek cross defined by convex curves. The facade is similarly undulating

Alicante

2005-04-03T23:49:00.000-07:00

The provincia's principal

Lancret, Nicolas

2005-04-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

Lancret was influenced by both Antoine Watteau and Claude Gillot. Much admired as a decorator, he executed numerous commissions for the mansions of many great collectors.

Mosaferid Dynasty

2005-04-02T02:53:00.000-08:00

The founder of the dynasty was Mohammad ebn Mosafer (ruled c. 916–941), military commander of the strategic mountain fortresses of Tarom and Samiran in Daylam, in northwestern Iran. With the increasing weakness of the Justanid dynasty that ruled the region, Mohammad increased his power and gained control of most of Daylam. After

Edes

2005-04-01T00:30:00.000-08:00

Abbreviation of Greek Ellínikos Dímokratikos Ethnikós Strátos , English Greek Democratic National Army nationalist guerrilla force that, bolstered by British support, constituted the only serious challenge to EAM-ELAS (q.v.) control of the resistance movement in occupied Greece during World War II. Led by Gen. Napoleon Zervas, EDES was originally liberal and antimonarchist; but it moved steadily to the political right. It cooperated with ELAS for a time in operations

Giraudoux, (hyppolyte-) Jean

2005-03-31T09:20:00.000-08:00

Giraudoux was educated at the École Normale Superiéure and made the diplomatic service his career. He became known as an avant-garde writer with a group of early poetic novels, such as Suzanne et le

United Nations

2005-03-31T01:04:00.000-08:00

On several occasions during 1999 United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan acknowledged failures in UN actions and risked member states' ire by bringing forward important issues that they had acted badly upon or failed to act upon at all. In September he rebuked the U.S. Senate for rejecting the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and suggested that Israel had been singled

Geosyncline

2005-03-30T04:51:00.000-08:00

Linear trough of subsidence of the Earth's crust within which vast amounts of sediment accumulate. The filling of a geosyncline with thousands or tens of thousands of feet of sediment is accompanied in the late stages of deposition by folding, crumpling, and faulting of the deposits. Intrusion of crystalline igneous rock and regional uplift along the axis of the

She Chi

2005-03-30T03:40:00.000-08:00

Pinyin She Ji (Chinese: “Earth and Millet”), ancient Chinese compound patron deity of the soil and harvests. China's earliest legendary emperors are said to have worshiped She (Earth), for they alone had responsibility for the entire earth and country. This worship was meant to include the five spirits of the earth that resided in mountains and forests, rivers and lakes, tidelands and

United States, The Jeffersonian Republicans in power

2005-03-29T19:21:00.000-08:00

By the start of Jefferson's second term in office, Europe was engulfed in the Napoleonic Wars. The United States remained neutral, but both Britain and France imposed various orders and decrees severely restricting American trade with Europe and confiscated American ships for violating the new rules. Britain also conducted impressment raids in which U.S. citizens were sometimes seized. Unable to agree to treaty terms with Britain, Jefferson tried to coerce both Britain and France into ceasing to violate “neutral rights” with a total embargo on American exports, enacted by Congress in 1807. The results were catastrophic for American commerce and produced bitter alienation in New England, where the embargo (written backward as “O grab me”) was held to be a Southern plot to destroy New England's wealth. In 1809, shortly after Madison was elected president, the embargo act was repealed.

Razin, Stenka

2005-03-28T15:16:00.000-08:00

Born into a well-to-do Don Cossack family, Stenka Razin grew up amid the tension caused by the inability of runaway serfs, who were continually escaping from Poland and Russia to the Don Cossack area, to find land and comfortably

Name, Other patterns of naming

2005-03-28T04:42:00.000-08:00

Names and naming practices in other cultural areas show a strong similarity in the basic trends. Among the ancient Assyrian and Babylonian names are theophoric designations such as Ashurbanipal, meaning “Ashur [a god] created son,” and Nabukudurriusur (Nebuchadrezzar of the Bible), translated as “Nabu [a god] protected the estate.” The Phoenician (Carthaginian) name Hannibal

Clanton

2005-03-28T04:11:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Chilton county, central Alabama, U.S., near the Coosa River, about 45 miles (70 km) northwest of Montgomery. Originally called Goose Pond, the town was laid out in 1870 and renamed for James H. Clanton, a Confederate general in the American Civil War. Peach growing is the area's main economic activity, and a peach festival is held in June. Clanton is a base for sport fishing on

Abdera

2005-03-26T18:59:00.000-08:00

In ancient Greece, town on the coast of Thrace near the mouth of the Néstos River. The people of Teos, evacuating Ionia when it was overrun by the Persians under Cyrus (c. 540 BC), succeeded in establishing a colony there that developed a brisk trade with the Thracian interior. Abdera was a prosperous member of the Delian League in the 5th century but was crippled early in the 4th

Lae

2005-03-26T16:07:00.000-08:00

Port city, northeastern Papua New Guinea. It is located near the mouth of the Markham River on Huon Gulf. Commercial activities centre on the export of timber, plywood, and coffee (transported by road from Bulolo and Wau) and the produce from the Central Range, which is airfreighted. Lae is also the marketing centre for the agricultural produce of the surrounding

Extremadura

2005-03-26T11:34:00.000-08:00

During the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula, the name Extremadura was used during static periods to refer to the zones outside of Moorish territory; it

Nivelle, Robert-georges

2005-03-24T15:42:00.000-08:00

Nivelle graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1878, served in Indochina, Algeria, and China as an artillery officer, and was made a general of brigade in October 1914 after World War

Adamov, Arthur

2005-03-24T14:56:00.000-08:00

In 1912 Adamov's wealthy Armenian family left Russia and settled in Freudenstadt, Ger. He was subsequently educated in Geneva, Mainz, and Paris, where, having mastered French, he settled in 1924, associating with Surrealist groups. He edited a periodical, Discontinuit

Abstract Art

2005-03-23T21:14:00.000-08:00

Also called Nonobjective Art, or Nonrepresentational Art, painting, sculpture, or graphic art in which the portrayal of things from the visible world plays no part. All art consists largely of elements that can be called abstract—elements of form, colour, line, tone, and texture. Prior to the 20th century these abstract elements were employed by artists to describe, illustrate, or reproduce the world of nature and of human

Mclean, John

2005-03-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

After two terms in the U.S.

Cereal Processing, Semolina

2005-03-21T21:16:00.000-08:00

Semolina, not flour, is the form of cereal used, and various plain macaroni products are made by combining the correct form of semolina, from durum wheat, with water. Richer alimentary pastes are made with the addition of eggs in fresh, dried, or frozen form, and egg noodles are popular. In low-income families, alimentary pastes often provide the bulk of the calories in the

Smendes

2005-03-21T07:57:00.000-08:00

Smendes, a native of the delta, probably secured his right to rule though his queen, Tentamon, who was possibly related to the previous dynasty. Though the high priests of Amon held

Eliot, George

2005-03-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

Evans was born on an estate of her father's employer. She went as a boarder to Mrs. Wallington's School

Smendes

2005-03-20T02:22:00.000-08:00

American symphony orchestra based in Pittsburgh, Pa. It was founded as the Pittsburgh Orchestra in 1896; its first conductor was Frederick Archer (1896–98). Music director Victor Herbert (1898–1904) was followed by permanent conductor Emil Paur (1904–10), after which the orchestra was disbanded until 1926, when the newly formed autonomous Pittsburgh Symphony Society presented a concert conducted

Lowie, Robert H(arry)

2005-03-19T03:33:00.000-08:00

Lowie studied under Franz Boas at Columbia University,

Latin Literature, Comedy

2005-03-18T17:14:00.000-08:00

Roman comedy was based on the New Comedy fashionable in Greece, whose classic representative was Menander. But whereas this was imitation of life to the Greeks, to the Romans it was escape to fantasy and literary convention. Livius' successor, Naevius, who developed this “drama in Greek cloak” (fabula palliata), may have been the first to introduce recitative and song,

Haliburton, Thomas Chandler

2005-03-18T08:06:00.000-08:00

Haliburton was admitted to the bar in 1820 and, as a member of the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly (1826–29), led

Earth, Paleoclimatological data

2005-03-17T19:54:00.000-08:00

Alfred Wegener was a meteorologist who was particularly interested in the study of ancient climates (paleoclimatology). He noticed that sedimentary rocks indicative of having been deposited in warm climates are now found in cold climates and vice versa. He felt that these observations were best explained if the continents had moved relative to each other and

'umar Ibn Abi Rabi'ah

2005-03-17T01:46:00.000-08:00

'Umar belonged to the wealthy merchant family of Makhzum, a member of the Meccan tribe of Quraysh (of which the Prophet Muhammad was also a member). He spent most of his life in Mecca, also traveling to southern Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia.

Aerospace Industry, Tertiary systems

2005-03-16T18:02:00.000-08:00

One major group of ground-based support products comprises simulation devices—systems used for training aircraft and spacecraft crews and for research-and-development processes. The simulators built in the largest quantities are chiefly for civil transport aircraft and military fighters and are used to train pilots for operating specific aircraft and

China, An intellectual revolution

2005-03-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

An intellectual revolution took place during the first decade of the republic, sometimes referred to as the New Culture Movement. It was led by many of the new intellectuals, who held up for critical scrutiny nearly all aspects of Chinese culture and traditional ethics. Guided by concepts of individual liberty and equality, a scientific spirit of inquiry, and a pragmatic

Ternate Island

2005-03-15T00:17:00.000-08:00

Indonesian Pulau Ternate one of the northernmost of a line of Indonesian islands stretching southward along the western coast of the island of Halmahera to the Bacan Islands east of the Molucca Sea. Ternate Island, which lies within North Maluku propinsi (province), is situated 14 miles (23 km) west of Halmahera. The island is dominated by a volcano (5,646 feet [1,721 metres]) with three peaks. It has suffered from

Balao

2005-03-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

Oil port, northwestern Ecuador, on the Pacific Ocean, adjacent to Esmeraldas city. Its development is entirely due to its choice as the terminus for the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline, built 1970–72 to exploit the rich petroleum deposits of Ecuador's Napo province, in El Oriente region, the tropical rainforest of the headwaters of the Amazon east of the Andes. Balao's terminal, opened

Affidavit

2005-03-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

A written statement of fact made voluntarily, confirmed by the oath or affirmation of the party making it, and signed before a notary or other officer empowered to administer such oaths. Affidavits generally name the place of execution and certify that the person making it states certain facts and appeared before the officer on a certain date and “subscribed and

Rocky Mountains

2005-03-14T03:17:00.000-08:00

The Rocky Mountains were one of the last regions in North America to be explored by Europeans, because of the inaccessibility and ruggedness of the terrain. Roman Catholic missionaries worked their way northward from Mexico into New Mexico in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1776–77 Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and his party explored and documented their travels into what

Performing Arts, Nontheatrical Films.

2005-03-13T16:18:00.000-08:00

Austrian filmmaker Kurt Mundl (Power of the Earth Productions) in 1998 created an amazing film about butterflies and moths, The Messengers of the Gods--Butterflies. The 49-minute gem was made from 18,000 minutes of film patiently photographed using special lenses. New findings about behaviour were brought to life. It won many awards, including Best of Festival at Chicago's U.S. International

Conservation

2005-03-13T07:53:00.000-08:00

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

Parakeet

2005-03-12T11:52:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Parrakeet any of numerous seed-eating parrots of small size, slender build, and long, tapering tail. In this sense the name is given to some 115 species in 30 genera of the subfamily Psittacinae (family Psittacidae) and has influenced another parrot name, lorikeet (see parrot). To indicate size only, the name is sometimes extended to little parrots with short, blunt tails, as the hanging

Mesolóngion

2005-03-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

Also called Missolonghi town and capital of the nomós (department) of Aetolia and Acarnania, Greece. It lies along the Patraïkós Gulf on the shore of a large, shallow lagoon, which is partly given over to fish hatcheries. Seat of a metropolitan bishop of the Greek Orthodox church, the town is notable for two heroic actions in the War of Greek Independence (1821–29) and for its association with the English

C.b.

2005-03-11T03:52:00.000-08:00

Companion of the Bath, member of a British order of knighthood, although this rank does not confer knighthood. See Bath, The Most Honourable Order of the.

Tiznit

2005-03-11T01:05:00.000-08:00

Town, provincial capital, and province, Sud region, Morocco. The town lies near the Atlantic coast and the Tachilla and Ouarzemimene mountains of the Anti-Atlas range. It was founded in 1882 during the reign of Maulay Hasan as a military base from which he launched expeditions to subdue the peoples of the Oued (river) Sous region and the neighbouring mountainous areas. Tiznit

Peru, Westernized arts

2005-03-10T05:09:00.000-08:00

The arts have long occupied positions of esteem among Peru's educated minority. Since the late 19th century, most writers have felt a ceaseless duty to analyze their society. Ricardo Palma was among the first to utilize Peruvian themes. Aves sin nido (1889; Birds Without a Nest), by Clorinda Matto de Turner, was the first of many books whose authors exposed the conditions of Indian

Induration

2005-03-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

Hardening of rocks by heat or baking; also the hardening of sediments through cementation or compaction, or both, without the introduction of heat. The classic example is the rock called hornfels, which is formed at contacts with igneous intrusions and in which heat and fluids from the intruding magma reconstitute the original wall rock into a hardened, flinty rock

Interactionism

2005-03-09T11:37:00.000-08:00

In Cartesian philosophy and the philosophy of mind, those dualistic theories that hold that mind and body, though separate and distinct substances, causally interact. Interactionists assert that a mental event, as when John Doe wills to kick a brick wall, can be the cause of a physical action, his leg and foot moving into the wall. Conversely, the physical event of his

Lermontov, Mikhail

2005-03-09T05:30:00.000-08:00

Only 26 years old when he died, Lermontov had proved his worth as a brilliant and gifted poet-thinker, prose writer, and playwright, the successor of Pushkin, and an exponent of the best traditions of Russian literature. His youthful lyric poetry is filled with a passionate craving for freedom and contains calls to battle, agonizing reflections on how to apply his strengths

Furniture, Flanders and Holland

2005-03-08T18:05:00.000-08:00

In Holland the Baroque style did not encroach on late Renaissance furniture until nearly 1640. Dutch

Bell Island

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

Island in southeastern Newfoundland, Canada; it lies in Conception Bay 3 mi (5 km) off the Avalon Peninsula. Bell Island is 6 mi long and 3 mi wide, and has an area of 11 sq mi (28 sq km). Named after a large bell-shaped rock off its west end, it was one of the world's major iron-ore producers from 1895 to 1966. Fishing and subsistence agriculture are now the main economic activities on the densely populated

Wellesley

2005-03-08T15:06:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Norfolk county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S., just west of Boston. Originally part of Dedham, it became the Western Precinct of Needham when that town was set off in 1711. Incorporated as a separate town in 1881, it was named for the estate of Samuel Welles, who had settled the site in 1763. Although some manufacturing appeared in the late 19th century, the town's character and

Devanagari,

2005-03-07T03:37:00.000-08:00

Also called Nagari, Indian script used to write the Sanskrit, Prakrit, Hindi, and Marathi languages, developed from the North Indian monumental script known as Gupta and ultimately from the Brahmi alphabet, from which all modern Indian writing systems are derived. In use from the 7th century AD and occurring in its mature form from the 11th century onward, Devanagari is characterized by long, horizontal

Neogene Period

2005-03-06T16:57:00.000-08:00

Latest of the two divisions of the Cenozoic Era (66.4 million years ago to the present). The Neogene includes the Miocene and Pliocene epochs (23,700,000 to 1,600,000 years ago) and is considered by some to encompass the time up to the present. The Neogene, which means “new born,” was designated as such to emphasize that the marine and terrestrial fossils found in the strata of this time were more closely

Clisson, Olivier De

2005-03-06T14:21:00.000-08:00

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

Steam

2005-03-05T13:02:00.000-08:00

Odourless, invisible gas consisting of vaporized water. It is usually interspersed with minute droplets of water, which gives it a white, cloudy appearance. In nature, steam is produced by the heating of underground water by volcanic processes and is emitted from hot springs, geysers, fumaroles, and certain types of volcanoes. Steam also can be generated on a large

Sensationalism

2005-03-04T03:40:00.000-08:00

In epistemology and psychology, a form of Empiricism that limits experience as a source of knowledge to sensation or sense perceptions. Sensationalism is a consequence of the notion of the mind as a tabula rasa, or “clean slate.” In ancient Greek philosophy, the Cyrenaics, proponents of a pleasure ethic, subscribed unreservedly to a sensationalist doctrine. The medieval

Switzerland, Folk arts

2005-03-04T03:27:00.000-08:00

Folk art in Switzerland is expressed in music, poetry (usually song), dance, wood carving, and embroidery. In the cattle-breeding northern areas, there are many primitive forms of song and music, involving, for instance, yodeling, a way of singing marked by rapid switching of the voice to falsetto. There are also trumpetlike instruments made of wood and bark, the perfect

Toba, Go-

2005-03-04T00:28:00.000-08:00

After reigning for 15 years, Go-Toba in 1198 abdicated

Tobacco

2005-03-03T21:15:00.000-08:00

Common name of the plant Nicotiana tabacum and, to a limited extent, N. rustica and the cured leaf that is used, usually after aging and processing in various ways, for smoking, chewing, snuffing, and extraction of nicotine. This article deals with the farming of tobacco from cultivation to curing and grading.

Fyodor I

2005-03-02T18:27:00.000-08:00

The son of Ivan IV the Terrible and his first wife, Anastasiya Romanovna Zakharina-Yureva, Fyodor succeeded his father on March 19, 1584. Being both physically weak and feebleminded, however, he took no part in government affairs, which were dominated by his wife's

Black Hills

2005-03-01T23:52:00.000-08:00

Isolated, eroded mountain region in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, U.S., lying largely within the Black Hills National Forest. The hills lie between the Cheyenne and Belle Fourche rivers and rise about 3,000 feet (900 m) above the surrounding plains; they culminate in Harney Peak (7,242 feet [2,207 m]), the highest point in South Dakota. The Black Hills formed as a result of an upwarping

Amici, Giovanni Battista

2005-03-01T05:12:00.000-08:00

Amici served as professor of mathematics at the University of Modena from 1815 to 1825 and

New Albany

2005-02-28T10:34:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1819) of Floyd county, southeastern Indiana, U.S. It lies along the Ohio River (bridged) opposite Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1813 by Joel, Abner, and Nathaniel Scribner, who named the settlement for their hometown, Albany, New York. By the 1840s and early '50s, New Albany had become the largest city in Indiana and an important steamboat-building centre (the famous riverboats

Condenser

2005-02-28T00:36:00.000-08:00

Device for reducing a gas or vapour to a liquid. Condensers are employed in power plants to condense exhaust steam from turbines and in refrigeration plants to condense refrigerant vapours, such as ammonia and fluorinated hydrocarbons. The petroleum and chemical industries employ condensers for the condensation of hydrocarbons and other chemical vapours.

Heterospecific Mating

2005-02-27T08:22:00.000-08:00

Also called incompatible mating mating in which the man and woman have incompatible blood types, such that the woman may develop antibodies to her partner's blood type. This mating causes difficulties in childbirth, since there is a chance that the child conceived in a heterospecific mating will have its father's blood type. When a heterospecific pregnancy occurs, the mother produces antibodies

Elizabeth Of Portugal, Saint

2005-02-26T21:39:00.000-08:00

She was named for her great-aunt St. Elizabeth of Hungary and received a strict and pious education. In 1282 she was married to Dinis, a good ruler but an unfaithful husband. Despite the corrupt court life, Elizabeth maintained her devout habits, helped the sick

Halibut

2005-02-26T18:48:00.000-08:00

The Atlantic halibut (H. hippoglossus) is found on both sides

Dow, Herbert H.

2005-02-26T03:32:00.000-08:00

Dow first became interested in brines (concentrated solutions of salts and water) while attending Case School of Applied Science (now Case Western Reserve University) in Cleveland (B.S.; 1888). His analysis of brines from several sites revealed

Theodebald

2005-02-25T04:52:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Theudebald, French Théodebald, or Thibaud Merovingian king of Reims from 547 or 548, in succession to his father, Theodebert I. He proved incapable of continuing the latter's dynamic policies. He left no son, and on his death his kingdom passed to his granduncle, Chlotar I.

Steiermark

2005-02-25T01:43:00.000-08:00

English Styria Bundesland (federal province), southeastern and central Austria, bordering Slovenia on the south and bounded by Bundesländer Kärnten (Carinthia) on the south, Salzburg on the west, Oberösterreich and Niederösterreich (Upper and Lower Austria) on the north, and Burgenland on the east. It has an area of 6,327 sq mi (16,387 sq km). Upper Steiermark extends in the north from the Limestone

Binnya Dala

2005-02-24T11:28:00.000-08:00

In 1747 Binnya Dala succeeded Smim Htaw Buddhaketi, who had seven years earlier been set up as king of the Mon in the new capital of Pegu after their successful revolt against the Burmans. Binnya Dala, who was his predecessor's chief minister

Abney, Sir William De Wiveleslie

2005-02-23T15:13:00.000-08:00

Commissioned in the Royal Engineers (1861), he taught chemistry and photography at the School of Military Engineering at Chatham. He succeeded to various

Procellariiform

2005-02-23T07:51:00.000-08:00

Also called tubinares (order Procellariiformes), any of the seabirds that include the albatrosses (family Diomedeidae); shearwaters, fulmars, prions, and large petrels (Procellariidae); storm petrels (Hydrobatidae); and diving petrels (Pelecanoididae). There are approximately 87 living and 36 fossil species of diverse sizes and ranges. All Procellariiformes are recognizable by their conspicuous

Ford, Betty

2005-02-23T03:56:00.000-08:00

After Gerald Ford narrowly lost the election of 1976 to Jimmy Carter, the Fords retired to Rancho Mirage, California, where Betty's dependence on prescription drugs continued. In early 1978, under pressure from her family, she agreed to enter a treatment centre in Long Beach, California. After her successful stay she founded the Betty Ford Center to treat others with similar addictions; the centre became very popular and attracted patients from all walks of life. Although much about her life was traditional, Betty Ford compiled a remarkably independent record as first lady, and she became enormously popular for her honesty and candour.

Biblical Literature, Pseudepigrapha connected with the Dead Sea Scrolls

2005-02-22T13:01:00.000-08:00

There are three Pseudepigrapha that are closely connected with the writings of the Dead Sea sect: the Book of Jubilees, the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. It is not accidental that fragments of the two first books and of two sources of the third were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Earth, Age of the oldest marine sediments

2005-02-21T19:37:00.000-08:00

Samples of sediments have been recovered as a result of deep drilling and piston coring from many parts of the world's ocean basins. These sediments have been dated by means of the fossils they contain. Such studies have shown that no old sediments are present (at least in the areas sampled) near mid-oceanic ridges. Moreover, the studies also have revealed that the age

Arnobius The Elder

2005-02-21T02:03:00.000-08:00

Arnobius was born a pagan but had become a Christian by AD 300. He taught rhetoric at Sicca Veneria in Africa during the reign (284–305) of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Because of his former paganism, Arnobius was suspected, notably by the local bishop,

Bahmani Sultanate

2005-02-20T17:50:00.000-08:00

The Bahmani sultanate's

Acre

2005-02-20T03:50:00.000-08:00

Unit of land measurement in the British Imperial and United States Customary systems, equal to 43,560 square feet, or 160 square rods. One acre is equivalent to 0.4047 hectares (4,047 square metres). Derived from Middle English aker (from Old English aecer) and akin to Latin ager (“field”), the acre had one origin in the typical area that could be plowed in one day with a yoke of oxen pulling a wooden

Porkpie

2005-02-19T06:06:00.000-08:00

The porkpie worn by men sometimes had ribbons flowing down the back. Women wore tiny porkpies, tipped forward over the forehead because of the elaborate

Haddington

2005-02-19T02:03:00.000-08:00

The

Requests, Court Of

2005-02-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

Called the Court of Poor Men's Causes until 1529, it was a popular court because of the limited expense of bringing suit before it. Modeled after the French Chambre

Lippe River

2005-02-17T15:40:00.000-08:00

River, a right-bank tributary of the Rhine, that flows through North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state) in Germany. Rising near Bad Lippspringe on the western edge of the Teutoburger Wald, the Lippe follows a westerly course of 155 miles (250 km) and flows into the Rhine near Wesel. The river lies along the northern border of the Ruhr industrial region. By the aid of locks it is navigable

Cloud Forest

2005-02-17T10:49:00.000-08:00

Also called montane rainforest, vegetation of tropical mountainous regions in which the rainfall is often heavy and persistent condensation occurs because of cooling of moisture-laden air currents deflected upward by the mountains. The trees in a cloud forest are typically short and crooked. Mosses, climbing ferns, lichens, and epiphytes (air plants, such as orchids) form thick blankets on the

Argentina

2005-02-16T10:04:00.000-08:00

Because almost all Argentines are descendants of immigrants from Europe, their culture has a more distinctly European orientation than that of other Latin Americans; however, Argentine artists, writers, and entertainers no longer look to Europe as a sole gauge of their success. Blending Old World customs and New World inspirations, Argentina has developed a unique

Religion

2005-02-16T06:26:00.000-08:00

The year 1993 began amid the turmoil generated by the destruction on Dec. 6, 1992, of the medieval mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, by Hindu militants, who believed the building was originally an ancient Hindu temple marking the birthplace of the god Rama. The ensuing bloody clashes between Hindus and Muslims throughout the nation claimed at least 2,000 lives within a few weeks, most

Terence

2005-02-15T23:57:00.000-08:00

Terence was taken to Rome as a slave by Terentius Lucanus, an otherwise unknown Roman senator who was impressed by

Cinematography

2005-02-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

The art and technology of motion-picture photography. It involves such techniques as the general composition of a scene; the lighting of the set or location; the choice of cameras, lenses, filters, and film stock; the camera angle and movements; and the integration of any special effects. All these concerns may involve a sizable crew on a feature film, headed by a person

Ashfield

2005-02-14T13:42:00.000-08:00

District, administrative and historic county of Nottinghamshire, England. The name is ancient and appeared in the names of the two major towns within the district even before its formation. The two towns are the coal-mining centres of Kirkby-in-Ashfield and Sutton-in-Ashfield, forming, as does the whole district, part of the heavily industrialized western rim of the

Anaximenes Of Miletus

2005-02-14T07:46:00.000-08:00

Anaximenes substituted aer (“mist,” “vapour,” “air”) for his predecessors'

Davila, Arrigo Caterino

2005-02-14T04:33:00.000-08:00

About 1583 Davila became a page in the service of Catherine de Médicis, wife of King Henry II of France. He subsequently became a soldier and fought in the French civil wars until the peace in 1598. He then returned to Padua, where he

Florencia

2005-02-13T17:31:00.000-08:00

Capital of Caquetá department, southeastern Colombia, in the eastern slopes of the Andean Cordillera (mountains) Oriental, on the Río Orteguaza, a tributary of the Caquetá. It was founded in 1908 by Capuchin missionaries. Cattle raising and rice cultivation are widespread around Florencia. The city also serves as a trading centre for the densely forested lowlands to

Waitaki River

2005-02-13T16:46:00.000-08:00

River in central South Island, New Zealand. Streams issuing from Lakes Ohau, Pukaki, and Tekapo in the Southern Alps form the Waitaki (Maori: “Weeping Waters”), which, draining a 4,565-square-mile (11,823-square-kilometre) basin, flows southeast for 130 miles (209 km) to enter the Pacific at Glenavy, about 70 miles (113 km) north of Dunedin. The Waitaki River Power Development, which includes several large

Bloch, Joseph Samuel

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

After serving as a rabbi in several small communities, Bloch settled in Florisdorf,

Ahura Mazda

2005-02-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

According to Zoroaster, Ahura Mazda created the universe and the cosmic order that he maintains.

Nepali Literature

2005-02-11T19:55:00.000-08:00

The body of writings in the Nepali language of Nepal. Before the Gurkha (Gorkha) conquest of Nepal in 1768, Nepalese writings were in Sanskrit and Newari as well as Nepali (the latter being the language of the Gurkha conquerors). These writings consisted of religious texts, chronicles, gift-deeds, and so on. The extant material in Nepali, with the possible exception of the memoirs

Kaunda, Kenneth

2005-02-10T22:26:00.000-08:00

Kaunda's father, who was from Nyasaland (now Malawi), was a schoolteacher; his mother, also a teacher, was the first African woman to teach in colonial Zambia. Both taught among the Bemba tribe in northern Zambia, where young Kaunda

China, Royal burials

2005-02-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

The royal cemetery lay less than two miles northwest of Hsiao-t'un, at Hsi-pei-kang. The hierarchy of burials at this and other cemeteries in the area reflected the social organization of the living. Large pit tombs, some nearly 42 feet deep, were furnished with four ramps and massive grave chambers for the kings. Retainers who accompanied their lords in death lay in or near

Yakub Beg

2005-02-10T07:27:00.000-08:00

Tajik adventurer who entered northwest China in 1864 and through a series of military and political maneuvers took advantage of the anti-Chinese uprisings of its Muslim inhabitants to establish himself as head of the kingdom of Kashgaria. Expanding northward in the area of modern Sinkiang

Liber And Libera

2005-02-08T23:30:00.000-08:00

In Roman religion, a pair of fertility and cultivation deities of uncertain origin. Liber, though an old and native Italian deity, came to be identified with Dionysus. The triad Ceres, Liber, and Libera (his female counterpart) represented in Rome, from early times and always under Greek influence, the Eleusinian Demeter, Iacchus-Dionysus, and Kore (Persephone). At the festival

Sinuiju

2005-02-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

City, northwestern North Korea. It was developed during the Japanese occupation (1910–45) at the Korean terminus of a railway bridge across the Yalu (Amnok) River, 7 miles (11 km) west of the old city of Uiju (Sinuiju meaning “New Uiju”). An open port, 25 miles (40 km) from the mouth of the Yalu River, it grew commercially with the lumber industry, which uses the river to transport the logs from inland forests.