QuietBucket

Fisher, M.f.k.

2005-04-04T16:10:00.000-07:00

In full Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher American writer whose compelling style, wit, and interest in the gastronomical made her one of the major American writers on the subject of food. In her 15 celebrated books, Fisher created a new genre: the food essay. Seeing food as a cultural metaphor, she proved to be both an insightful philosopher of food and a writer of fine

Rabin, Yitzhak

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

Israeli statesman and soldier who, as prime minister of Israel (1974–77, 1992–95), led his country toward peace with its Palestinian and Arab neighbours. He was chief of staff of Israel's armed forces during the Six-Day War (June 1967). Along with Shimon Peres, his foreign minister, and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) chairman

La Chalotais, Louis-rené De Caradeuc De

2005-04-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

La Chalotais became advocate general in the Breton Parlement at Rennes in 1730 and attorney general in 1752. In

B-film

2005-04-02T20:33:00.000-08:00

Also called B-movie, or B-picture, cheaply produced, formulaic film initially intended to serve as the second feature on a double bill. During the 1930s and '40s, a period often called the Golden Age of Hollywood, B-films were usually paired with bigger-budget, more prestigious A-pictures; but two B-films were sometimes used for midweek or Saturday matinee showings. The characteristics of B-films included low

Arpad

2005-04-02T09:43:00.000-08:00

Coming under Assyrian influence in the 9th century BC, Arpad regained its independence in 754, and it successfully sided with Sardur II of Urartu until the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III defeated both Urartu and Arpad. Tiglath-pileser made Arpad the capital

Christchurch

2005-04-01T11:42:00.000-08:00

City, Canterbury local government region, eastern South Island, New Zealand, on the Avon River. It was the last and most successful colonizing project inspired by Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his New Zealand Company. Christchurch was founded by the Canterbury Association, which was formed in 1848 largely through the efforts of John Robert Godley and which planned to

Gabon, Health and welfare

2005-03-31T07:41:00.000-08:00

Health facilities remain inadequate, particularly outside the Libreville area, despite improvements during the 1970s and '80s. The government provides nearly all health care services. The internationally known hospital operated by Albert Schweitzer at Lambaréné from 1924 to 1965 receives government assistance. Malaria, sleeping sickness, tuberculosis, syphilis, and other

Biblical Literature, The content of Acts

2005-03-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

The outline of Acts can be roughly divided into two parts: the mission under Peter, centred in Jerusalem (chapters 1–12); and the missions to the Gentiles all the way to Rome (cf. chapter 1, verse 8), under the leadership of Paul (chapters 13–28). The earlier sections deal with the Jerusalem church under Peter and the gradual spread of the gospel beyond Jewish limits (in chapters 10–11, for example,

Self-incrimination

2005-03-30T04:06:00.000-08:00

In law, the giving of evidence that might tend to expose the witness to punishment for crime. The term is generally used in relation to the privilege of refusing to give such evidence. In some continental European countries (Germany, for example, but not France), a person fearing self-incrimination may make his own decision as to whether or not he will testify. In Anglo-American

Aalto, Alvar

2005-03-29T21:09:00.000-08:00

A definitive review of Aalto's work, extremely well illustrated with photographs and plans, is the two-volume work edited by Karl Fleig: Alvar Aalto (1963) and Alvar Aalto 1963–1970 (1971). A brief essay by Farederick Gutheim, Alvar Aalto (1960), contains descriptive and critical comments as well as many photographs. A similar book is George Baird, Alvar Aalto (1970). A substantial chapter on Aalto appears in Sigfried Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture, 5th ed. rev. (1967), and is an excellent critical treatment of Aalto's architecture. No purely biographical work exists.

Clark, Mark

2005-03-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

A graduate (1917) of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Clark served overseas in World War I. Early in 1942 he became chief of staff of army ground forces. Later that year, as deputy commander in chief

Fischer, Ludwig

2005-03-29T14:25:00.000-08:00

Although originally a student of the violin and cello, Fischer was discovered at the age of 18 in a church choir and in a student operetta and was given a position at court. With the help of a grant by Elector Karl Theodor he continued

Brill, Paul

2005-03-27T07:14:00.000-08:00

Also called Paulus Bril Flemish artist who was perhaps the most popular painter of landscapes in Rome in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. His early forest landscapes derive in style partly from Mannerism, but after 1600 he disciplined and simplified his compositions under the influence of the German painter Adam Elsheimer. His latest work was classical in character.

Photography, Technology Of, Gamma radiography

2005-03-27T00:47:00.000-08:00

The technique of gamma-ray radiography is similar to that of X-ray radiography except that it relies on rays emitted by radioactive substances. Gamma rays have wavelengths from 100 to 1,000 times shorter than X rays and correspondingly greater penetrating power. Small gamma-ray sources are placed in areas inaccessible to X-ray tubes, such as inside pipelines. In all radiographic

Nore, The

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

Sandbank in the Thames Estuary, extending between Shoeburyness (north) and Sheerness (south), county of Kent, southeastern England. The Nore Lightship, anchored 4 miles (6 km) southeast of Shoeburyness, was the first to be established in English waters (1732). The Nore anchorage was much-used by the English fleet in the wars of the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1797 sailors at The Nore mutinied

Allgemeine Zeitung

2005-03-25T22:24:00.000-08:00

(German: “General Newspaper”), greatest German newspaper in the 19th century, founded at Tübingen in 1798 by Johann Friedrich Cotta, later Freiherr (baron) von Cottendorf. Censorship and other pressures forced it to move successively to Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg, and Munich. The name has been carried on in a sense by the Frankfurter Allgemeine and the Westdeutsche

Azov Upland

2005-03-25T18:07:00.000-08:00

Ukrainian Pryazovska Vysochyna hilly region, Zaporizhzhya and Donetsk oblasti (provinces), southeastern Ukraine. Part of the Ukrainian Crystalline Shield, the Azov Upland is an area of denuded mountains, extending from the Dnieper River for 100 miles (160 km) to the Donets Ridge and sloping gently down southeastward to the Sea of Azov. The highest point is Mount Mohyla-Belmak (1,063 feet [324 m]), 65 miles (105 km) southwest of

Dee, River

2005-03-24T15:10:00.000-08:00

River in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, rising at an elevation above 4,000 feet (1,250 metres) in the Cairngorm Mountains and flowing for about 90 miles (145 km) east to the North Sea at Aberdeen. Its headwaters flow turbulently in highland glens set amid grouse moorland. The main valley widens below Aboyne, and the river flows through well-farmed country. The River Dee is famed for its

M'clure Strait

2005-03-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

Eastern arm of the Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is about 170 miles (270 km) long and 60 miles (90 km) wide. In western Franklin District, Northwest Territories, Canada, it extends west of Viscount Melville Sound and lies between Melville and Eglinton islands (north) and Banks Island (south). The strait is part of the Northwest Passage route through the Canadian Arctic archipelago.

Theatre, Western, Off-Broadway

2005-03-23T00:19:00.000-08:00

This phenomenon developed as a reaction to the commercialism of New York theatre. More experimental plays could be presented in smaller buildings outside the main theatre district. The artistic success of many of these productions meant that some writers (Edward Albee, for example), could graduate to Broadway. Off-Broadway also enabled black playwrights such

New Harmony

2005-03-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

Town, Posey county, southwestern Indiana, U.S., on the Wabash River, at the Illinois border, 22 miles (35 km) northwest of Evansville. The site was first occupied by prehistoric Mound Builders and later was a camping ground for Piankashaw and other Indians. The settlement of Harmonie was founded in 1814–15 by George Rapp, a German Pietist preacher who had first come to Pennsylvania in

Argenta

2005-03-21T04:54:00.000-08:00

Town, Ferrara province, Emilia-Romagna region, northeastern Italy, on the Fiume (river) Reno, southeast of Ferrara city. It has some fine medieval and Renaissance buildings, including the churches of S. Domenico and S. Francesco, and a notable picture gallery. The town was flooded by the German forces during World War II. It is now mainly an agricultural centre. Pop. (1981 prelim.)

Polding, John Bede

2005-03-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

Polding joined the Benedictine Order in 1811 and was ordained priest in 1819. Consecrated bishop, he arrived at Sydney in 1835. There he divided his territory into missionary districts and swiftly provided them with priests, churches, and

Macaw

2005-03-20T06:31:00.000-08:00

Common name of about 18 species of large colourful parrots native to tropical America. These brightly coloured, long-tailed birds are some of the most spectacular parrots in the world. The sexes look alike, which is uncommon among vividly coloured birds. The cobalt-blue hyacinthine macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) of Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay is the

Soissons, Louis De Bourbon, Count (comte) De

2005-03-19T16:27:00.000-08:00

The only son of Charles de Bourbon, he inherited his father's Soissons title in 1612. After taking the side of Marie de Médicis, the queen mother, in 1620, he served Louis XIII against the Huguenots in 1622. Later involved in intrigues against Cardinal

Capsian Industry

2005-03-18T19:11:00.000-08:00

A Mesolithic (8000 BC–2700 BC) cultural complex prominent in the inland areas of North Africa. Its most characteristic sites are in the area of the great salt lakes of what is now southern Tunisia, the type site being Jabal al-Maqta', near Qafsah (Capsa, French Gafsa). Although the tool kit of the Capsian is a classic example of the industries of the late Würm Glacial Period, and, while it is apparently

Aksakov, Sergey Timofeyevich

2005-03-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

Brought up in a strongly patriarchal family, Aksakov was educated in the pseudoclassical tradition at home, at school, and at the newly founded university in Kazan. He

Bread Palm

2005-03-18T10:46:00.000-08:00

Also called Kaffir Bread, any of several species of Encephalartos, cycads (palmlike gymnosperms) native to southern Africa. The names are derived from a breadlike foodstuff prepared from the mealy, starchy centre of the stem and perhaps also from the seeds, which have fleshy coverings. The trees, reaching nearly 20 feet (6 metres) in height, have very stiff, spreading pinnate leaves 3 to 4 ft long and

Cozens, Alexander

2005-03-17T07:22:00.000-08:00

Son of Richard Cozens, shipbuilder to the tsar of Russia, Alexander settled in England after visiting Rome in 1746 and became a fashionable drawing master. William Beckford, author of the Oriental

Abbado, Claudio

2005-03-16T14:57:00.000-08:00

One of a long line of Milanese musicians—his father, Michelangelo Abbado, was a violinist—Claudio Abbado at first studied privately. He entered the Giuseppe

Norderney

2005-03-16T11:24:00.000-08:00

Island off the North Sea coast of Germany, one of the East Frisian Islands. A part of Lower Saxony Land (state), the island is 8 miles (13 km) long and up to 1.25 miles (2 km) wide, with dunes rising to 68 feet (21 m). The northern coast is exposed to the sea, but the more sheltered water of the Wattenmeer (shoals produced by tidal water that floods wide mud flats) lies to the south between the island and

Liquidation

2005-03-16T05:06:00.000-08:00

Discharge of a debt or the determination by agreement or litigation of the amount of a previously unliquidated claim. One important legal meaning is the distribution of the assets of an enterprise among its creditors and proprietors. At the dissolution of a solvent corporation or unincorporated association, the assets are usually liquidated (turned into money)

Cellar

2005-03-15T15:08:00.000-08:00

Room beneath ground level, especially one for storing fruits and vegetables, both raw and canned, on a farm. A typical cellar may be beneath the house or located outdoors, partly underground, with the upper part mounded over with earth to protect from freezing and to maintain fairly constant temperature and humidity. Such a structure is sometimes called a root cellar.

Karbala'

2005-03-14T15:31:00.000-08:00

The city's religious importance derives from the Battle of Karbala' (AD 680) between the Sunnite and Shi'ite sects of Islam. Husayn ibn 'Ali, the Shi'ite leader and grandson of Muhammad, was killed, and his tomb remains one of the greatest Shi'ite shrines and pilgrimage

Maura Y Montaner, Antonio

2005-03-14T03:13:00.000-08:00

Maura was elected

Talent

2005-03-14T02:23:00.000-08:00

The Hebrew talent, or kikkar, probably of Babylonian origin, was

Scharnhorst

2005-03-13T10:15:00.000-08:00

German battle cruiser completed in 1939. It did great damage to Allied shipping in northern waters during World War II before it was sunk by the British battleship “Duke of York” on Dec. 26, 1943. The “Scharnhorst” was a heavily armed ship of 26,000 tons standard displacement, carrying a 1,400 man crew and four aircraft and armed with nine 11-inch, twelve 5.9-inch, and fourteen 4.1-inch guns and sixteen 37-millimetre

Raddall, Thomas Head

2005-03-13T08:14:00.000-08:00

Raddall immigrated to Nova Scotia with his family in 1913 after his father, a military officer, was transferred to Halifax. The younger Raddall was briefly employed as a wireless operator before becoming

Sevareid, Eric

2005-03-13T03:26:00.000-08:00

After graduating from the University of Minnesota (1935), Sevareid worked as a reporter for the Minneapolis Journal (1936–37), which had

Sénégal River, Plant and animal life

2005-03-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

Typical trees of the Sénégal valley are acacias, notably Acacia nilotica, which grows profusely on banks, and A. senegal, which provides the gum arabic of commerce and grows on drier slopes. The grass Vetiveria nigritiana grows in tufts in wet depressions. In dry areas near the valley sides A. albida, Balanites aegyptiaca (a tree with thorny branches), and grasses are

Skara

2005-03-11T22:42:00.000-08:00

Town, Västra Götaland län (county), south-central Sweden, southeast of Lake Vänern. One of Sweden's oldest towns, it was a religious centre both before and after the arrival of Christianity. In 1015 it became the seat of Sweden's first bishop. The cathedral was built in the 12th century and has been restored several times. One of Sweden's earliest secondary schools was established

Caesar, Julius

2005-03-11T13:19:00.000-08:00

Caesar changed the course of the history of the Greco-Roman world decisively and irreversibly.

Coving

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

Rococo architecture exploits

Teal

2005-03-10T23:51:00.000-08:00

Any of about 15 small ducks of the genus Anas (family Anatidae), found on the six major continents and many islands. Within the divisions of true duck species, the teal belong in the dabbling duck (q.v.) group. Many of the teal are popular as game birds, the best known being the Holarctic green-winged teal (A. crecca), a bird about 33–38 centimetres (13–15 inches) in length, usually found in dense

Rathbone, Basil

2005-03-09T17:39:00.000-08:00

Upon graduating from Repton school in England in 1910, Rathbone made his stage debut in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in 1911. A number of other Shakespearean roles followed, as well as a part in a London production

Venda

2005-03-09T06:06:00.000-08:00

Also called Bavenda, a Bantu-speaking people inhabiting the region of the Republic of South Africa known from 1979 to 1994 as the Republic of Venda. The area is now part of Northern Transvaal province, and is situated in the extreme northeastern corner of South Africa, bordering on southern Zimbabwe. The Venda have been called a “composite people” because they have historically consisted of a multiplicity

Dvur Králové Nad Labem

2005-03-09T01:27:00.000-08:00

City, Východoceský kraj (region), Czech Republic. The city lies just north of Hradec Králové, on the left bank of the Elbe (Czech: Labe) River. The name in both Czech and German (Königinhof an der Elbe) means ”the court of the queen on the Elbe,” recalling the founding of the town by King Wenceslas II at the end of the 13th century and the gift of the place to his queen, Elisabeth. It was the

Aesthetics, The aesthetic recipient

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

Whichever approach we take, however, there is an all-important question upon the answer to which the course of aesthetics depends: the question of the recipient. Only beings of a certain kind have aesthetic interests and aesthetic experience, produce and appreciate art, employ such concepts as those of beauty, expression, and form. What is it that gives these beings

Asthenia

2005-03-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

A condition in which the body lacks or has lost strength either as a whole or in any of its parts. General asthenia occurs in many chronic wasting diseases, such as anemia and cancer, and is probably most marked in diseases of the adrenal gland. Asthenia may be limited to certain organs or systems of organs, as in asthenopia, characterized by ready fatigability of vision,

Aspasia

2005-03-06T14:31:00.000-08:00

Mistress of the Athenian statesman Pericles and a vivid figure in Athenian society. Although Aspasia came from the Greek Anatolian city of Miletus and was not a citizen of Athens, she lived with Pericles from about 445 until his death in 429. Because a law sponsored by Pericles in 451 required that for a person to be a citizen both parents must be citizens, their son,

Jacaranda

2005-03-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

Any plant of the genus Jacaranda (family Bignoniaceae), especially the two ornamental trees J. mimosifolia and J. cuspidifolia. They are widely grown in warm parts of the world and in greenhouses for their showy blue or violet flowers and attractive, oppositely paired, compound leaves. The genus includes about 50 species native to Central and South America and to the

Tien Shan, Glaciation

2005-03-06T08:23:00.000-08:00

The total area of the Tien Shan glaciers is some 3,900 square miles, of which approximately four-fifths is in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakstan. Largest among the several glacial areas are the region around Mount Han-t'eng-ko-li and Victory Peak and the O-ha-pu-t'e Mountains. There also are many glaciers in the Kok Shaal-Tau Range, the Akshiyrak Range, the Trans-Ili Alatau Range, and the

Adab

2005-03-05T16:30:00.000-08:00

The original sense of the word was simply “norm of conduct,” or “custom,” derived in ancient Arabia from ancestors revered as models. As such practice

Heriz Carpet

2005-03-05T00:49:00.000-08:00

Heriz also spelled Heris, floor covering handmade in any of a group of villages near the town of Heris, lying east of Tabriz in northwest Iran. Heriz carpets—primarily room-sized, stout, serviceable, and attractive—have found ready markets in Europe and the U.S. They are an offshoot, apparently, of the Tabriz carpets, a country version of city styles. The smooth curves and flowing lines of a sophisticated

Spanish Literature

2005-03-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

Although literature in the vernacular was not written until

Bert, Paul

2005-03-04T03:17:00.000-08:00

French physiologist, politician, and diplomat, founder of modern aerospace medicine, whose research into the effects of air pressure on the body helped make possible the exploration of space and the ocean depths. While professor of physiology at the Sorbonne (1869–86), he found that the illness suffered by animals at high altitudes is caused

Amagasaki

2005-03-03T19:34:00.000-08:00

City and industrial suburb of the Osaka-Kobe (Hanshin) metropolitan area, Hyogo ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. In the feudal period it was a castle town. During the 20th century it attracted large, modern factories, formerly geared to wartime production, to produce iron and steel goods, electrical machinery, transport vehicles, and chemicals. The main industrial belt lies

Lancaster, Sir Osbert

2005-03-03T15:26:00.000-08:00

Lancaster took his B.A. degree at Lincoln College,

Sucket Fork

2005-03-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

Small metal utensil used for eating sweetmeats, or sucket, with a two- or three-pronged fork at one end of the handle and a spoon bowl, usually of teaspoon size, at the other. A sucket fork is mentioned in Edward VI's inventory of 1549, but most of the few surviving English and American examples, which are usually made of silver, date from the late 17th century.

Basildon

2005-03-03T03:32:00.000-08:00

New town, Basildon district, administrative and historic county of Essex, England. Basildon new town was established in 1949. It was one of eight established 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 km) from central London to help alleviate the city's acute post-World War II housing shortage. More than 230 factories have been built and nearly 400 shops, with more than 200 in the town centre. Pop. (1991) 100,924.

Zionism

2005-03-01T16:34:00.000-08:00

Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews (Hebrew: Eretz Yisra'el, “the Land of Israel”). Though Zionism originated in eastern and central Europe in the latter part of the 19th century, it is in many ways a continuation of the ancient nationalist attachment of the

Baltic States, Climate

2005-03-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

Over most of the region, annual rainfall varies between 22 and 28 inches (550 and 700 millimetres) and generally increases from the coastal zone to the upland districts of the interior. The prevailing temperatures are moderate by the standards of European Russia and in general improve from north to south and from east to west across the Baltic region. January mean temperatures

Ike Taiga

2005-03-01T03:02:00.000-08:00

The son of a farmer, Ike was taught

Ikenobo

2005-02-27T20:46:00.000-08:00

Oldest school of floral art in Japan; the term Ikenobo later came to be used loosely to describe any classical Japanese flower arrangement. The Ikenobo (literally, “priest's residence by a pond”) school was founded in the early 7th century by Ono no Imoko, a former Japanese envoy to China. After becoming a Buddhist priest, Ono no Imoko took up residence at Rokkaku-do, a small temple

Rabemananjara, Jacques

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

Rabemananjara began writing in the early 1940s and published his first volume of verse, Sur les marches du soir (“On the Edges of Evening”), in 1942. A death sentence imposed on him for his alleged participation in the 1947 revolt in Madagascar embittered him, despite a later reprieve, and the poems of Antidote, written

Crawford, William H(arris)

2005-02-27T19:09:00.000-08:00

After living in Virginia and South Carolina, the Crawford family moved to Georgia, where William attended Moses Waddel's Carmel Academy. He then taught school in Augusta,

International Relations, The reorganization of the Middle East

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

The Treaty of Sèvres likewise dismembered the Ottoman Empire. Here again secret war-aims treaties reflected Allied ambitions in the Middle East, but Wilson was less willing to challenge them given his belief that the Arab peoples were not ready for self-rule. To avoid the tinge of imperialism, the victors took control of the former Ottoman (and German) territories

Scandinavian Literature, Iceland

2005-02-25T18:04:00.000-08:00

Húss-Postilla (1718–20; “Sermons for the Home”), by Jón Vídalín, bishop of Skálholt, is the best example of early 18th-century prose. Among important later writers, Eggert Ólafsson carried out a comprehensive geographical field survey (published in Danish, 1772; partial Eng. trans.) of Iceland's country and its people. In his poetry he expressed 18th-century Rationalism combined with Romantic

Visconti, Matteo I

2005-02-25T13:48:00.000-08:00

Installed as captain of the people in 1287 with the help of his great-uncle Ottone Visconti, archbishop of Milan, Matteo succeeded in extending his six-month term to five years and in being several times reelected. In 1294 the German king Adolf of Nassau

Van Buren, Hannah

2005-02-24T19:13:00.000-08:00

Little is known about Hannah, who died of tuberculosis about a month before her 36th birthday. She did not leave writing of her own, and Martin, who never remarried, did not mention even her name in the autobiography he wrote late in life. Their sons were all bachelors when Martin became president in 1837. The following year Abraham married Angelica Singleton, who served as White House hostess until Martin's term ended in 1841.

Tractor Loader

2005-02-24T15:41:00.000-08:00

Tractor carrying a front-mounted bucket that can be raised, lowered, and tilted forward and backward hydraulically. It is forced into the digging by forward motion of the tractor and retracted and swung by backing and steering the tractor. Tractor loaders are used primarily for loading trucks, digging basements, and doing bulldozer work. They also transport material

Alden, Isabella Macdonald

2005-02-23T13:51:00.000-08:00

Isabella Macdonald was educated at home and at Oneida Seminary, Seneca Collegiate Institute at Ovid, and the Young Ladies

Altitude Sickness

2005-02-23T10:06:00.000-08:00

The symptoms of altitude sickness fall into four main categories:

Gymkhana

2005-02-23T09:47:00.000-08:00

Originally in 19th-century India and England, a display of athletics and equestrian events; in the 20th century, also a form of automobile sport in which a series of events is planned to test driving skill and demonstrate accurate car handling. Auto gymkhanas usually are held on parking lots on which a series of short but intricate courses are laid out. A typical event is

Drachten

2005-02-22T10:46:00.000-08:00

Chief town of Smallingerland gemeente (commune), Friesland provincie, northwestern Netherlands. It lies along the Wijde Ee waterway, which is part of the canal system that flows into the larger Prinses Margriet Canal to the northwest. The surrounding area consists of lowlands; there are forests at nearby Beetsterwaag, and peat moors are found southwest of

Edes

2005-02-21T19:23:00.000-08:00

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

Tsingtao

2005-02-21T04:11:00.000-08:00

Originally a minor fishing village, Tsingtao developed a large junk trade

Zangi

2005-02-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

When Zangi's father, the governor of Aleppo, was killed in 1094, Zangi fled to Mosul. He served the Seljuq dynasty, and in 1126 the Seljuq sultan, Mahmud II, appointed Zangi governor of Basra. When the 'Abbasid dynasty caliph al-Mustarshid

Zeus

2005-02-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

According to a Cretan myth that was later adopted by

Fiddle

2005-02-19T01:24:00.000-08:00

German Fiedel, French Vielle, medieval European bowed, stringed musical instrument. The medieval fiddle, a forerunner of the violin, emerged in 10th-century Europe, possibly deriving from the lira, a Byzantine version of the rabab, an Arab bowed instrument. Medieval fiddles varied in size and shape but characteristically had front or back tuning pegs set in a flat and round or heart-shaped peg disk

Tientsin Massacre

2005-02-18T23:54:00.000-08:00

(June 21, 1870), in Tientsin, China, violent outbreak of Chinese xenophobic sentiment that nearly precipitated international warfare and signaled the end of the “cooperative policy” between China and the Western treaty powers. Before the incident, rumours circulated in Tientsin that the French Sisters of Charity were kidnapping and mutilating Chinese children. Hostility

Madero, Francisco (indalécio)

2005-02-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

The son of a wealthy landowning

Beijing, The Ming and Qing dynasties

2005-02-18T04:38:00.000-08:00

In the mid-14th century Zhu Yuanzhang headed a peasant revolt that overthrew the Mongol dynasty and, as the Hongwu emperor, established the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). He moved the capital to Jinling in Jiangsu province and called it Nanjing; Dadu was renamed Beiping (“Northern Peace”) and was placed under his son's rule. On Zhu's death (1398) the throne passed to his grandson in Nanjing, but his

Adda River

2005-02-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

Italian Fiume Adda, river, in the Lombardia (Lombardy) regione of northern Italy, issuing from small lakes in the Rhaetian Alps at 7,660 feet (2,335 m). The Adda flows southward from Bormio to Tirano, where it turns west past Sondrio to enter Lake Como near its northern end after a course of 194 miles (313 km). The river's upper course is known as the Valtellina (q.v.). Leaving Lake Como at Lecco, it crosses the Lombardy

Kahneman, Daniel

2005-02-16T14:16:00.000-08:00

Kahneman attended Hebrew University (B.A.,

Gálvez, José, Marqués (marquess) De La Sonora

2005-02-16T08:28:00.000-08:00

Spanish colonial administrator particularly noted for his work as inspector general (visitador general) in New Spain (Mexico), 1765–71. Among his important accomplishments were the reorganization of the tax system, the formation of a government tobacco monopoly, the reorganization of the defenses of the northern frontier of the Viceroyalty,

Philippines, Relief and drainage

2005-02-16T01:28:00.000-08:00

The irregular configuration of the archipelago, the coastline of more than 21,500 miles, the great extent of mountainous country, the narrow and interrupted coastal plains, the generally northward trend of the river systems, and the lakes are the outstanding physical features of the Philippines. The islands are composed of volcanic, coral, and all principal rock formations.

Qasida

2005-02-15T15:07:00.000-08:00

Plural qasida, also spelled kasida, Arabic qasidah poetic form developed in pre-Islamic Arabia and perpetuated throughout Islamic literary history into the present. It is a laudatory, elegiac, or satiric poem that is found in Arabic, Persian, and many related Asian literatures. The classic qasida is an elaborately structured ode of 60 to 100 lines, maintaining a single end rhyme that runs through the entire piece; the same

Silver

2005-02-14T16:21:00.000-08:00

In the majority of silver compounds the element has a valence of one. These compounds include such familiar substances as silver chloride (AgCl), silver bromide (AgBr), and silver iodide (AgI). Each of these salts is used extensively in photography. Silver chloride serves as the light-sensitive material in photographic printing papers and, together with silver bromide,

Computers, Handheld computers

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

The origins of handheld computers go back to the 1960s, when Alan Kay, a researcher at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center, promoted the vision of a small, powerful notebook-style computer that he called the Dynabook. Kay never actually built a Dynabook (the technology had yet to be invented), but his vision helped to catalyze the research that would eventually make his dream

Respiration

2005-02-14T05:07:00.000-08:00

The process by which animal organisms take up oxygen and discharge carbon dioxide in order to satisfy their energy requirements. In the living organism, energy is liberated, along with carbon dioxide, through the oxidation of molecules containing carbon. The term respiration also denotes the exchange of the respiratory gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide) between

Brahmaputra River, Plant and animal life

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

The most notable

Fourier, (jean-baptiste-)joseph, Baron

2005-02-12T15:33:00.000-08:00

French mathematician, known also as an Egyptologist and administrator, who exerted strong influence on mathematical physics through his Théorie analytique de la chaleur (1822; The Analytical Theory of Heat). He showed how the conduction of heat in solid bodies may be analyzed in terms of infinite mathematical series now called by his name,

Biblical Literature, The Deuteronomic theology of history

2005-02-12T13:48:00.000-08:00

The Deuteronomic “theology of history” shows through very clearly in Judges: unless the people of the Covenant remain faithful and obedient to Yahweh, they will suffer the due consequences of disobedience, whether it be an overtly willful act or an unthinking negligence in keeping the Covenant promise. The Deuteronomist worked out a formula for his theology of

Semitic Languages

2005-02-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

Group of languages spoken in northern Africa and the Middle East that constitutes one of the branches of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) language family. (The other branches are Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic, and Chadic.) The Semitic languages are divided into four groups: (1) Northern Peripheral, or Northeastern, with only one language, ancient Akkadian; (2) Northern

Bad Gandersheim

2005-02-11T21:10:00.000-08:00

Also called Gandersheim, city, Lower Saxony Land (state), north-central Germany. It lies in the Leine River valley. Bad Gandersheim is remarkable for an 11th-century convent church containing the tombs of famous abbesses and for the former abbey, which was moved there in 852 by the duke of Saxony, whose daughters were the first two abbesses. Louis III granted a privilege by which the office of abbess

Balder

2005-02-11T08:27:00.000-08:00

Old Norse Baldr in Norse mythology, the son of the chief god Odin and his wife Frigg. Beautiful and just, he was the favourite of the gods. Most legends about him concern his death. Icelandic stories tell how the gods amused themselves by throwing objects at him, knowing that he was immune from harm. The blind god Höd, deceived by the evil Loki, killed Balder by hurling mistletoe, the only

Pitch

2005-02-10T23:22:00.000-08:00

Coal tar pitch is a soft to hard and brittle substance containing chiefly aromatic resinous compounds along with aromatic and other hydrocarbons and their derivatives; it is used chiefly as road tar, in waterproofing roofs

Eadbald

2005-02-10T15:04:00.000-08:00

King of Kent, who succeeded his father Aethelberht in 616. He had not been influenced by the teaching of the Christian missionaries, and his first step on his accession was to marry his father's widow. After his subsequent conversion by Laurentius, archbishop of Canterbury, he built a church in Canterbury dedicated to the Virgin Mary. He arranged a marriage between

Medicine, Surgery

2005-02-09T20:31:00.000-08:00

In drug research the essential steps are taken by the chemists who synthesize or isolate new drugs in the laboratory; clinicians play only a subsidiary part. In developing new surgical operations clinicians play a more important role, though laboratory scientists and others in the background may also contribute largely. Many new operations have been made possible