SmoothCushion

Hughes, Charles Evans

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

A member of a major New York City

Agassiz, Elizabeth Cabot

2005-04-04T05:58:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Cary was related to many of Boston's leading families. She received no formal schooling but acquired a somewhat haphazard education at home. In April 1850 she married the distinguished and recently

Italy, Flag Of

2005-04-02T21:31:00.000-08:00

A rich history of flags and coats of arms has existed in Italy since at least the 1200s, but the lack of national unification meant that there was no recognized flag representing all Italian-populated areas. The nationalism inspired by the French Revolution led to the formation of political and military groups throughout Italy dedicated to replacing the old autocratic

Carloforte

2005-04-01T19:36:00.000-08:00

Only town on the small Isola di San Pietro (area 20 sq mi [52 sq km]), just off the southwest coast of Sardinia, Italy. The island is administratively part of Cagliari province. The town was named after Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy, who resettled the island in 1738, after centuries of desertion, with Genoese fugitives from the North African island of Tabarka. It has an observatory, set

New Guinea

2005-03-31T06:36:00.000-08:00

Carthage, Exarchate Of

2005-03-30T07:12:00.000-08:00

The exarch (governor), appointed by the emperor, was endowed with unlimited military and civil

Silken Fungus Beetle

2005-03-28T19:54:00.000-08:00

These oval beetles are yellowish brown in colour and usually feed on fungi and decaying vegetable matter. Some species live in wasp or bee nests.

Trichomonad

2005-03-28T05:53:00.000-08:00

The genus Trichomonas is a common parasite in

Babol

2005-03-27T13:13:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Babul, formerly Barfurush, city, northern Iran, on the Babol River, about 15 miles (24 km) south of the Caspian Sea. Babol gained importance during the reign (1797–1834) of Fath 'Ali Shah, though 'Abbas I (died 1629) had laid out a pleasure garden and summer palace there. The city has paved streets, large and crowded bazaars, well-built houses, and small, handsome mosques and funeral towers. There are some manufacturing activities, but

Carney, Arthur William Matthew

2005-03-26T23:32:00.000-08:00

American actor (b. Nov. 4, 1918, Mount Vernon, N.Y.—d. Nov. 9, 2003, Chester, Conn.), had a long and varied career in radio, television, theatre, and film, including an Academy Award-winning dramatic leading role in the movie Harry and Tonto (1974), but it was with one TV character that he would be most identified—sewer worker (or “underground sanitation expert”) Ed Norton, second banana to Jackie Gleason's

Scandinavian Literature, The impact of the reformation on Swedish letters

2005-03-25T16:18:00.000-08:00

Two dates mark the beginning of modern Swedish history: 1523—the breach with Denmark and Gustav I Vasa's accession; and 1527—the breach with Rome and the establishment of a national Lutheran Church. The political revolution that eventually brought Sweden to the position of a European power had no considerable effect on literature until a century later, but the Reformation

Bear Market

2005-03-24T19:04:00.000-08:00

In securities and commodities trading, a declining market. A bear is an investor who expects prices to decline and, on this assumption, sells a borrowed security or commodity in the hope of buying it back later at a lower price, a speculative transaction called selling short. The term bear may derive from the proverb about “selling the bearskin before one has caught

Uralic Languages

2005-03-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

The two major branches of Uralic are themselves composed of numerous subgroupings of member languages on the basis of closeness of linguistic relationship. Finno-Ugric can first be divided into the most distantly related Ugric and Finnic (sometimes called Volga-Finnic) groups, which may have separated as long ago as five millennia. Within these, three relatively

Respighi, Ottorino

2005-03-22T15:45:00.000-08:00

Italian composer who introduced Russian orchestral colour and some of the violence of Richard Strauss's harmonic techniques into Italian music. He studied at the Liceo of Bologna and later with Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg, where he was first violist in the Opera Orchestra. From his foreign masters Respighi acquired

Nizhnevartovsk

2005-03-21T21:38:00.000-08:00

City and port, Khanty-Mansi autonomous okrug (district), Tyumen oblast (province), west-central Russia. It lies along the right bank of the Ob River. The city grew rapidly, especially in the 1970s, as a result of the discovery of large oil fields nearby. Along with Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk is a major administrative centre of the middle Ob oil fields. It also has a gas-processing plant.

Wicklow Mountains

2005-03-20T16:45:00.000-08:00

Extensive mountain range in County Wicklow, Ireland, forming part of the Leinster Chain. The mountain area comprises a vast anticline (upwarp of rock strata), with granite exposed at the centre, and also slates and sandstones. Igneous intrusions form the Little Sugar Loaf (1,123 ft [342 m]) and the Great Sugar Loaf (1,654 ft [504 m]). The main summits of the range rise over 2,000 ft and consist of smoothly

Black Forest

2005-03-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

German Schwarzwald, mountain region, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany, source of the Danube and Neckar rivers. It occupies an area of 2,320 sq mi (6,009 sq km) and extends toward the northeast for about 100 mi (160 km) from Säckingen on the Upper Rhine River (at the Swiss border) to Durlach (east of Karlsruhe). Its width varies from 10 to 25 mi. Structurally and topographically it forms the counterpart

Metal Cut

2005-03-19T08:33:00.000-08:00

The English poet and artist William Blake (1757–1827) experimented with metal cuts, but the technique's greatest exponent was the Mexican

Romanche Gap

2005-03-18T04:36:00.000-08:00

The Romanche Gap is one of the

Carter, Mrs. Leslie

2005-03-17T04:43:00.000-08:00

Carter grew up in Dayton, Ohio (from 1870, after her father's death), and was educated at Cooper Seminary. In 1880, at age 17, she married Leslie Carter, a Chicago socialite. Nine years later, after her husband divorced her for infidelity,

Dow, Herbert H.

2005-03-16T13:36:00.000-08:00

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

Vajrayogini

2005-03-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

In Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism), female embodiment of the cognitive function leading to Buddhahood. Vajrayana emphasizes experience over speculation but uses the terms of speculative philosophical Buddhism in an imaginative way. This practice means that images taken from the ordinary life of the individual become the means to further a deeper understanding

Switzerland, Economic development

2005-03-15T02:31:00.000-08:00

A major period of economic growth began after 1815. There was a general improvement in agriculture, and tourism, especially from England, began to develop. But the industrial sector of the economy made the most significant gains. The exclusion of the English from European markets by the continental blockade, while initially detrimental to the textile industry, forced

Worm

2005-03-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

Any of various unrelated invertebrate animals that typically have soft, slender, elongated bodies and usually lack appendages. Worms are members of several invertebrate phyla, including Platyhelminthes (flatworms), Annelida (segmented worms), Nemertea (ribbon worms), Aschelminthes (roundworms, pinworms, eelworms, threadworms, hairworms, etc.), Sipuncula (peanutworms),

Botany Bay

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

The bay was the site in 1770 of Captain James Cook's first landing in Australia. He named it Stingray Harbour but later changed the name because

Køge

2005-03-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

City, Roskilde amtskommune (county commune), eastern Sjælland (Zealand), Denmark. The city lies on Køge Bay of The Sound (Øresund). First mentioned in the 11th century and chartered in 1288, it became a market centre and base for herring fisheries in the late 13th century. In 1677 Admiral Niels Juel won a great naval victory over the Swedes in the bay. Medieval remains include St. Nicholas

Dzerzhinsky, Feliks Edmundovich

2005-03-12T11:58:00.000-08:00

Son of a Polish nobleman, Dzerzhinsky joined the Kaunas (Kovno) organization of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party in 1895. He became a party organizer, and, although he was arrested by

Sérusier, (louis-)paul(-henri)

2005-03-11T08:44:00.000-08:00

Originally a student of philosophy, Sérusier decided to become an artist and attended the Académie Julian (1886) in his native Paris. He painted with Paul Gauguin in Brittany at Pont-Aven (1888) and at Le Pouldu (1889–90), and in the 1890s he was associated with the Nabis—many of whom he had known at the Académie

Faience

2005-03-11T08:15:00.000-08:00

The tin glaze used in faience is actually a lead glaze that has been rendered white and opaque by the addition of tin oxide. In the

Karakum Desert

2005-03-10T15:58:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kara-Kum , Turkmen Garagum or Gara Gum (“Black Sand”) , Russian Karakumy great sandy region in Central Asia. It occupies about 70 percent of the area of Turkmenistan. Another, smaller desert in Kazakhstan near the Aral Sea is called the Aral Karakum.

Saint Catharines

2005-03-09T16:26:00.000-08:00

City, Regional Municipality of Niagara, southeastern Ontario, Canada, on the south shore of Lake Ontario, at the entrance to the Welland Ship Canal. Named after the first wife of Robert Hamilton, member of the first legislative council of Upper Canada, it has grown from a small settlement established in 1790 to become the centre of the Niagara fruit belt and the largest city

Disa

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

Most species bear flowers ranging in colour from white to purple and in diameter from about 0.5 to 10 centimetres (about 0.2 to 4 inches). The upper sepal of each flower usually has a spur and stands upright,

Manchester

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

City and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, northwestern England. Most of the city, including the historic core, is in the historic county of Lancashire, but it includes an area south of the River Mersey in the historic county of Cheshire. Manchester is the nucleus of the largest metropolitan area in the north of England, and it

Consolidated Rail Corporation

2005-03-06T00:25:00.000-08:00

Byname Conrail, publicly owned American railroad company established by the federal government under the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 to take over six bankrupt northeastern railroads. Conrail commenced operations on April 1, 1976, with major portions of the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey, Erie Lackawanna Railway Company, Lehigh & Hudson River Railway Company, Lehigh

Chiabrera, Gabriello

2005-03-05T20:44:00.000-08:00

Chiabrera studied philosophy in Rome, lived for a time in the household of a cardinal, and then returned to Savona, where civic and diplomatic posts and the protection of several princes gave him the leisure

La Tène

2005-03-04T23:11:00.000-08:00

(French: The Shallows), archaeological site at the eastern end of Lake Neuchâtel, Switz., the name of which has been extended to distinguish the Late Iron Age culture of European Celts. La Tène culture originated in the mid-5th century BC, when the Celts came into contact with Greek and Etruscan influences from south of the Alps. This culture passed through several phases

Marsh Mallow

2005-03-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

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

Agnes, Saint

2005-03-03T11:30:00.000-08:00

According to tradition, of uncertain value, Agnes was a beautiful girl, about 13 years old, who refused marriage, stating that she could have no spouse but Jesus Christ. Her suitors revealed her Christianity, and in punishment she was exposed in a brothel.

Pendle

2005-03-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative county of Lancashire, England, on the eastern boundary of the county. Most of the borough—including its largest towns Burnley, Nelson, and Colne—lies in the historic county of Lancashire, but an area in the northeast, including the towns of Barnoldswick and Earby, belongs to the historic county of Yorkshire. The borough takes its name

Gadifer De La Salle

2005-03-02T21:45:00.000-08:00

Gadifer won renown in the French campaigns against England during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). While on a crusade against Tunis in 1390, he met Béthencourt, who later pledged his lands to finance their expedition to the Canary Islands. In 1402 they occupied Lanzarote, the northernmost inhabited

Ars Antiqua

2005-03-01T18:28:00.000-08:00

(Medieval Latin: “Ancient Art”), in music history, period of musical activity in 13th-century France, characterized by increasingly sophisticated counterpoint (the art of combining simultaneous voice parts), that culminated in the innovations of the 14th-century Ars Nova (q.v.). The term Ars Antiqua originated, in fact, with the Ars Nova theorists, some of whom spoke of the “Ancient

China, Western challenge, 183960

2005-03-01T07:17:00.000-08:00

The opium question, the direct cause of the first Sino-British clash in the 19th century, began with a late 18th-century British attempt to counterbalance their unfavourable China trade with traffic in Indian opium. After monopolizing the opium trade in 1779, the East India Company's government began to sell the drug at auction to private British traders in India, who shipped

Heves

2005-03-01T04:58:00.000-08:00

Lentils, tobacco, and

French Literature, Religious authors

2005-02-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

A new intellectual climate can be recognized from 1680 onward. An increased spiritual awareness resulting from Jansenist teaching, the preaching of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet and others, and the influence of Mme de Maintenon at court, marked French cultural life with a new moral earnestness and devotion. The position of Bossuet is an ambivalent one. In spite of his outspoken

Zooflagellate

2005-02-27T10:55:00.000-08:00

Any flagellate protozoan that is traditionally of the protozoan class Zoomastigophorea (sometimes called Zooflagellata), although recent classifications of this group have questioned the taxonomic usefulness of the term because some zooflagellates have been found to have photosynthetic capabilities and some phytoflagellates heterotrophic

Syzran

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

City, Samara oblast (province), western Russia. It lies along the Volga River at the latter's confluence with the Syzran River. Founded in 1683 as a stronghold at the eastern end of the Syzran defensive line, the city is a significant river port and an important centre of the western Volga-Urals oil field. Oil refining, manufacture of chemicals, glassmaking, timber working, and

Leviathan

2005-02-26T21:13:00.000-08:00

Hebrew Livyatan, in Jewish mythology, a primordial sea serpent. Its source is in prebiblical Mesopotamian myth, especially that of the sea monster in the Ugaritic myth of Baal (see Yamm). In the Old Testament, Leviathan appears in Psalms 74:14 as a multiheaded sea serpent that is killed by God and given as food to the Hebrews in the wilderness. In Isaiah 27:1, Leviathan is a serpent and a symbol of Israel's

Dadu

2005-02-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

A cotton carder by profession, Dadu became a religious wanderer and preacher, settling for periods of time at Sembhar, Amber, and finally at Naraina, near Jaipur (Rajasthan state), which remains the centre of his following. Dadu rejected the authority of the Vedas (earliest Hindu

North Germanic Languages

2005-02-25T11:20:00.000-08:00

Also called Scandinavian languages group of Germanic languages consisting of modern standard Danish, Swedish, Norwegian (Dano-Norwegian and New Norwegian), Icelandic, and Faroese. These languages are usually divided into East Scandinavian (Danish and Swedish) and West Scandinavian (Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese) groups.

Lipogram

2005-02-24T13:26:00.000-08:00

A written text deliberately composed of words not having a certain letter (such as the Odyssey of Tryphiodorus, which had no alpha in the first book, no beta in the second, and so on). The French writer Georges Perec composed his novel La Disparition (1969; A Void) entirely without using the letter e; his English translator, Gilbert Adair, succeeded in avoiding that letter as

Greek Literature, Historical works

2005-02-24T11:50:00.000-08:00

Conscious as they were of their classical and biblical past, the Byzantines wrote much history. Until the early 7th century a series of historians recounted the events of their own time in classicizing style, with fictitious speeches and set descriptive pieces, in a genre that owed much to the classical Greek historians Thucydides and Polybius. Procopius, Agathias,

Tibet

2005-02-24T03:52:00.000-08:00

Tibetan Bod, in full Tibet Autonomous Region, Chinese (Wade-Giles) Hsi-tsang Tzu-chih-ch'ü, (Pinyin) Xizang Zizhiqu historic region and autonomous region of China that is often called “the roof of the world.” It occupies about 471,700 square miles (1,221,600 square kilometres) of the plateaus and mountains of Central Asia, including Mount Everest (Chu-mu-lang-ma Feng). It is bordered by the Chinese provinces of Tsinghai to the northeast, Szechwan to the east, and Yunnan to the southeast; Myanmar (Burma), India,

Ciller, Tansu

2005-02-23T17:11:00.000-08:00

Ciller was born to an affluent family in Istanbul. Graduating from the University of Bosporus with a degree in economics, she continued her studies in the United States, where she earned graduate degrees from the Universities of

Yakima

2005-02-23T13:20:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1886) of Yakima county, south-central Washington, U.S., on the Yakima River. In 1884 the Northern Pacific Railway selected the site of Yakima City (now Union Gap) as a construction headquarters. This plan was abandoned and a new settlement, known as North Yakima, was established 4 miles (6 km) north. With its desirable location on a railroad, North Yakima became a depot and cattle-shipping

Earth, The contribution of orbiting satellites

2005-02-23T01:29:00.000-08:00

The development of artificial satellites whose orbits could be observed from Earth totally revolutionized man's ability to define the shape of the Earth and its gravity field. A value for the flattening of the ellipsoid that superseded all previous values was obtained within weeks after the launching of the Soviet Sputnik I in 1957. Since that time, scientists have

Time Warner Inc.

2005-02-22T14:07:00.000-08:00

The largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world. Time Warner's products encompass magazines, hardcover books, comic books, recorded music, motion pictures, online services, and broadcast and cable television programming and distribution. Its headquarters are in New York City.

Dadra And Nagar Haveli

2005-02-21T22:03:00.000-08:00

Union territory of India, located in the western part of the country between the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra, some 15 miles (24 kilometres) from the Arabian Sea and 80 miles north of Bombay. It consists of two sections: Dadra, with three villages, and Nagar Haveli, with 69 villages. Occupying 190 square miles (491 square kilometres), it is administered by the governor of Goa. The capital is

Brown, Ronald Harmon

2005-02-21T03:13:00.000-08:00

U.S. politician (b. Aug. 1, 1941, Washington, D.C.--d. April 3, 1996, near Dubrovnik, Croatia), was regarded as an adroit deal maker and political strategist who helped resuscitate both the Democratic Party as its national chairman (1989-93) and the U.S. Department of Commerce as its secretary (1993-96). A prominent member of Pres. Bill Clinton's Cabinet, he wielded heavy influence in international trade but was

T Tauri Star

2005-02-21T02:13:00.000-08:00

Any of a class of very young stars having a mass approximately equal to that of the Sun. So called after a prototype identified in a bright region of gas and dust known as the Hind's variable nebula, the T Tauri stars are characterized by erratic changes in brightness. They represent an early stage in stellar evolution, having only recently been formed by the rapid gravitational

Utopia Planitia

2005-02-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

Northern lava plain on the planet Mars that was selected as the landing site of the U.S. Viking 2 planetary probe. Photographs transmitted from the Viking 2 lander, which touched down at 47.97° N, 225.74° W, on September 3, 1976, depicted a boulder-strewn plain that superficially resembles the Viking 1 landing site in Chryse Planitia. Soil-sample analyses conducted by the landers show that the

Zoroastrianism, Post-Islamic Iranian Zoroastrianism

2005-02-19T22:23:00.000-08:00

Islam won a decisive victory at al-Qadisiyah in 635 over the armies of Yazdegerd III, the last Sasanid. Islam, in principle, tolerated the ancient religion, but conversions by persuasion or force were massive in many provinces. Zoroastrianism fomented rebellion and brought persecutions upon itself. There were pockets of survival, notably in Persis, the ancient centre of the

Abbott, Berenice

2005-02-19T11:42:00.000-08:00

Abbott studied briefly at Ohio State University before moving in 1918 to New York City, where she explored sculpture and drawing on her own for four years. She continued these pursuits

Kachin

2005-02-19T05:36:00.000-08:00

Tribal peoples occupying parts of northeastern Myanmar (Burma) and contiguous areas of India (Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland) and China (Yunnan). The greatest number of Kachin live in Myanmar (roughly 590,000), but some 120,000 live in China and a few thousand in India. Numbering about 712,000 in the late 20th century, they speak a variety of languages of the Tibeto-Burman group and are thereby distinguished

Earth Sciences, Paleontology and stratigraphy

2005-02-18T15:50:00.000-08:00

During the 17th century the guiding principles of paleontology and historical geology began to emerge in the work of a few individuals. Nicolaus Steno, a Danish scientist and theologian, presented carefully reasoned arguments favouring the organic origin of what are now called fossils. Also, he elucidated three principles that made possible the reconstruction

Poznan

2005-02-16T21:05:00.000-08:00

Beginning as a small stronghold in the 9th century, Poznan became the capital of Poland (with Gniezno) and the residence of Poland's first two sovereigns. The first Polish cathedral was erected there

Waitaki River

2005-02-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

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

Vacuum Technology

2005-02-16T03:19:00.000-08:00

This pump is mainly used on equipment for the study of clean surfaces and in radio-frequency sputtering. Capacities are available up to 190,000 cu ft per minute with an operating pressure range of 10-2 to less than 10-9 torr when water-cooled baffles are used and less than 10-11 torr when refrigerated baffles are employed. The pumping speed for a vapour pump remains constant from about

Mitford, Jessica

2005-02-16T01:33:00.000-08:00

The fifth daughter of the 2nd Baron Redesdale, Mitford grew up in England with her brother and five sisters, one of whom was the novelist Nancy Mitford. She moved to the United States in 1939, became

Haemophilus

2005-02-15T01:44:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Hemophilus, genus of very small rod-shaped bacteria of uncertain affiliation. All species of Haemophilus are strict parasites occurring in the respiratory tracts of warm-blooded animals, including humans, and in certain cold-blooded animals. All Haemophilus are gram-negative, aerobic or facultative anaerobic and nonmotile and require a growth factor that is found in blood.

Mckenna, Reginald

2005-02-14T15:46:00.000-08:00

In 1905, after serving for 10 years in the House of Commons, McKenna became financial secretary of the Treasury, and in 1907 he was

Bevan, Aneurin

2005-02-14T06:49:00.000-08:00

The son of

Barcelona, Archaeological Museum Of

2005-02-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

In full Archaeological Museum Of Barcelona And Institute Of Prehistory And Archaeology, Spanish Museo Arqueológica De Barcelona E Instituto De Prehistoria Y Arqueología, institution in Barcelona, Spain, notable for its collection of prehistoric objects and for its collection of ancient Greek and Roman art and examples illustrating Iberian archaeology. Exhibits include a scale model of a part of the excavation at Ampurias (Emporiae) and displays of Greek vases, glass, and sculpture. There is a fine statue of Asclepius of the 4th century

Mysticism, Union of opposites

2005-02-13T08:14:00.000-08:00

Mystical experience is flanked with a communication hazard, a “polar identity.” The linguistic liberties and extravagances are part of the logical impossibility of having to describe one order of experience in terms of another. Hence, the rhetoric of mysticism is largely one of symbols and paradoxes. The most striking of the strategies, as the medieval Christian

Rodent

2005-02-13T01:22:00.000-08:00

As documented by fossils, the evolutionary history of rodents extends back 56 million years to the Late Paleocene Epoch in North America. Those species, however, are considered to have originated in Eurasia, so the origin of the order Rodentia is certainly older. However, lack of fossil evidence prior to the Late Paleocene makes the understanding of evolutionary relationships

Aquamarine

2005-02-12T05:22:00.000-08:00

Pale greenish blue or bluish green variety of beryl (q.v.) that is valued as a gemstone. The most common variety of gem beryl, it occurs in pegmatite, in which it forms much larger and clearer crystals than emerald (one completely transparent crystal from Brazil weighed 110 kg [243 pounds]). It can also be found in mica schists. Aquamarine occurs in Brazil, which is the chief source;

Russia, Machine building

2005-02-11T23:41:00.000-08:00

Russia's machine-building industry provides most of the federation's requirements for steam boilers and turbines, electric generators, grain combines, automobiles, and electric locomotives and fills much of its demand for machine tools, instruments, and automation components. Important automobile factories are located in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Miass, Yaroslavl,

Selkirk

2005-02-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

Royal burgh (town), Scottish Borders council area, historic county of Selkirkshire, Scotland, lying on a hillside overlooking the river known as Ettrick Water. A Benedictine abbey founded in the early 12th century was later removed to Kelso. Selkirk's 12th-century castle was captured by the English under Edward I (reigned 1272–1307). It was retaken by the Scottish national leader William

Cohesion Hypothesis

2005-02-11T06:02:00.000-08:00

In botany, a generally accepted explanation of the rise of sap in plants by means of intermolecular attractions. Calculation and experiment indicate that the forces of cohesion between water molecules and the forces of adhesion between water molecules and the walls of the vessel cells are sufficient to confer on thin columns of water a tensile strength of at

Laine, Dame Cleo

2005-02-11T00:35:00.000-08:00

Laine was born to a Jamaican father and an English mother. She quit school at age 14 and took a variety of jobs while auditioning for singing jobs. Her first break came in 1951, when she was hired as a vocalist for the Johnny Dankworth Seven, a

Accesi, Compagnia Degli

2005-02-09T13:16:00.000-08:00

Company that performed commedia dell'arte (improvised popular Italian comedy) in the early 1600s. The name means “the stimulated.” Leadership was provided by Tristano Martinelli (famous for his portrayal of Arlecchino, the mischievous servant) and Pier Maria Cecchini (known as the leading interpreter of the character Fritellino, as well as the author of valuable texts

Wu Li

2005-02-09T01:08:00.000-08:00

Wu became a convert to Catholicism and in 1681 went to Macao Island (on the southeast coast of China), where, without family obligations after the deaths of his mother and wife and the marriage of his two daughters, he entered the

Ascanius

2005-02-08T05:50:00.000-08:00

In Roman legend, son of the hero Aeneas and traditional founder of Alba Longa, probably the site of the modern Castel Gandolfo, near Rome. In different versions, Ascanius is placed variously in time. Those set earlier cite the Trojan Creusa as his mother. After the fall of Troy, Ascanius and Aeneas escaped to Italy, where Aeneas subsequently founded Lavinium, the parent

Berenice Ii

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

Magas' queen, who favoured an alliance with the Seleucid dynasty of Syria, tried to thwart the marriage by summoning Demetrius the Fair, a Macedonian prince, as a husband for Berenice. The princess, however, arranged Demetrius' murder and married

Amu Darya

2005-02-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

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

Ghica, Ion

2005-02-07T15:48:00.000-08:00

Descended from the Walachian prince Grigore III Ghica, Ion Ghica joined the opposition to the rule of his cousin Alexandru II Ghica, prince of Walachia from 1834, that resulted in Alexandru's deposition in October 1842. Ghica figured prominently

Great Eastern

2005-02-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

Steamship considered to be the prototype of the modern ocean liner. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and John Scott Russell for the Eastern Navigation Company to carry cargo and passengers between England and India, it was the largest ship in the world at the time of its launching (1858), displacing 32,160 tons and measuring 692 feet (211 metres) overall. It had a projected speed of

Dafla

2005-02-06T10:37:00.000-08:00

The Dafla support themselves with a slash-and-burn agriculture and with hunting and fishing. They live at elevations of 3,000 to 6,000 feet (900 to 1,800 m) in houses built on pilings. Descent

Davila, Arrigo Caterino

2005-02-05T09:59:00.000-08:00

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

Ardmore

2005-02-04T15:42:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1907) of Carter county, southern Oklahoma, U.S., north of the Red River, near Lake Texoma and the Texas state line. Founded in 1887 in Chickasaw Indian Territory after the arrival of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, the town was named for the Philadelphia suburb that was the home of a railroad official. Populated by African Americans, Native Americans, and whites

Agricola, Gnaeus Julius

2005-02-04T11:22:00.000-08:00

After serving as military tribune under Suetonius Paulinus, governor in Britain (59–61), Agricola became, successively, quaestor in Asia (64), people's tribune (66), and praetor (68). In the civil war of 69 he took the side of Vespasian,

Eyre Peninsula

2005-02-04T01:21:00.000-08:00

Large promontory of South Australia, projecting into the Indian Ocean. A broad-based triangular formation about 200 miles (320 km) on each side, it extends from a base along the Gawler Ranges and lies between the Great Australian Bight to the west and Spencer Gulf to the east. Generally sandy and rocky, it rises from an irregular coastline to a maximum elevation of 1,550 feet (472 m) at Nukey

Ahuitzotl

2005-02-03T19:10:00.000-08:00

The aggressive Ahuitzotl succeeded his brother, Tizoc, to the throne. He proved a merciless warrior, conquering tribes as far south as present-day Guatemala and in territory along the Gulf of Mexico, using such tactics as forced marches, ambushes, and surprise attacks. His men

Eastern Orthodoxy, Theological and monastic renaissance

2005-02-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

Paradoxically, the pitiful history of Byzantium under the Palaeologan emperors coincided with an astonishing intellectual, spiritual, and artistic renaissance that influenced the entire Eastern Christian world. The renaissance was not without fierce controversy and polarization. In 1337 Barlaam the Calabrian, one of the representatives of Byzantine Humanism,

Halas, John; And Batchelor, Joy

2005-02-03T10:56:00.000-08:00

Halas was educated in Hungary and Paris and apprenticed to George Pal; he moved to England as an animator in 1936. After art school Batchelor became a commercial artist and met Halas in 1936 while working

Tapestry, Eastern Asia

2005-02-02T13:27:00.000-08:00

Called k'o-ssu (cut silk), tapestry has long been produced in China, traditionally being made entirely of silk; Chinese tapestries are extremely fine in texture and light in weight. The weave is finished perfectly on both sides so that the tapestries are reversible. The warps are vertical in relation to the pattern, rather than horizontal as in European weaving. Sometimes

Atlas

2005-01-31T23:35:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, son of the Titan Iapetus and the nymph Clymene (or Asia) and brother of Prometheus (creator of mankind). In the works of Homer, Atlas seems to have been a marine creation who supported the pillars that held heaven and earth apart. These were thought to rest in the sea immediately beyond the most western horizon, but later the name of Atlas was transferred

Ghibli

2005-01-31T20:49:00.000-08:00

Hot and dusty wind descending from the interior highlands of Libya toward the Mediterranean Sea. See foehn.

Argentina, Drainage

2005-01-31T04:49:00.000-08:00

The largest river basin in the area is that of the Río de la Plata (often called the River Plate). It drains an area of some 1.6 million square miles (4.1 million square km), which includes northern Argentina, the whole of Paraguay, eastern Bolivia, most of Uruguay, and a large part of Brazil. The river is actually an estuary formed by the confluence of the Paraná and Uruguay rivers;

Cytoplasm

2005-01-31T01:43:00.000-08:00

The protoplasm of a cell external to the nuclear membrane. In eukaryotes (i.e., cells having a nucleus), the cytoplasm contains all of the organelles except for the nucleus itself. Among such organelles are the mitochondria, which are the sites of energy production through ATP (adenosine triphosphate) synthesis; the endoplasmic reticulum, the site of lipid and protein

Argentina, Porteños and gauchos

2005-01-30T01:31:00.000-08:00

The people of the port of Buenos Aires, the porteños, often call their cultured and glamorous city the Paris of South America. But there is another Argentina away from the capital: that of the Pampas and the interior. The interior gave to all Argentines their symbol of national identity, the gaucho, who occupies a position in South American lore similar to that of the