BentHeart

organic bed linen

2006-10-29T11:40:00.000-08:00

Livs range of soft luxurious bed linenis sourced ethically from India and using a fair trade policy. Liv also provide duvet cover set and bath towel set.

Hippocrateaceae

2005-04-04T19:37:00.000-07:00

Family of woody vines, shrubs, and trees, belonging to the order Celastrales, comprising 21 genera common in the tropics. They have simple leaves and small, greenish flowers. The genus Hippocratea has 80 or more species, including H. ovata, a high-climbing vine—in tropical America and the West Indies—with leathery, oval leaves. Salacia, with 200 species, differs from Hippocratea

Masoud, Ahmad Shah

2005-04-03T06:29:00.000-07:00

Afghan resistance leader and politician (b. 1953, Bazarak, Afg.—death reported on Sept. 15, 2001, Takhar, Afg.), was a military leader in the Afghan mujahideen, first against the Soviets and the Soviet-backed Afghan government (1978–89) and then against the Taliban (from 1992). Masoud, an ethnic Tajik, studied engineering before the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan and then moved to Pakistan for military

Buddhism, Ordination

2005-04-01T07:16:00.000-08:00

Admission to the sangha involves two distinct acts: pabbajja, which consists of renunciation of secular life and acceptance of monasticism as a novice, and upasampada, the official consecration as a monk. The evolution of the procedure is not entirely clear; in early times, the two acts probably occurred at the same time. Subsequently, the Vinaya established that upasampad

De Toth, André

2005-03-29T11:04:00.000-08:00

Hungarian-born film and television director (b. May 15, 1913?, Mako, Austria-Hungary—d. Oct. 27, 2002, Burbank, Calif.), made a number of raw, violent, and psychologically disturbing B movies, including Ramrod (1947), Pitfall (1948), and Crime Wave (1954), that gained him a cult following, but he became best known to the general public for House of Wax (1953), considered the best of the 3-D films.

Jackson

2005-03-19T22:30:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1832) of Jackson county, south-central Michigan, U.S. It lies along the Grand River, 73 miles (117 km) west of Detroit. Settled in 1829 at the meeting point of several Indian trails, it was named for President Andrew Jackson and was known successively as Jacksonburgh, Jacksonopolis, and finally Jackson in 1833. The Republican Party held its first convention on July 6, 1854, in Jackson. The city

Sarada Script

2005-03-16T10:54:00.000-08:00

Writing system used for the Kashmiri language by the educated Hindu minority in Kashmir and the surrounding valleys. It is taught in the Hindu schools there but is not used in printing books. Originating in the 8th century AD, Sarada descended from the Gupta script of North India, from which Devanagari (q.v.) also developed. The earliest inscriptions in Sarada script, found

Transylvanian Rug

2005-03-14T06:36:00.000-08:00

Also called Siebenbürger rug any of the large numbers of floor coverings found in the churches of Transylvania (part of Romania), to which they had been donated by pious families. Some of these rugs are of Turkish manufacture, survivals of a massive importation centuries ago. Turkey is generally assumed to be the source of all Transylvanian carpets, but certain similarities of technique, weight,

Cozens, Alexander

2005-03-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

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

Mysticism, Union of opposites

2005-03-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

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

Quantity Theory Of Money

2005-03-09T20:10:00.000-08:00

Economic theory relating changes in the price levels to changes in the quantity of money. In its developed form, it constitutes an analysis of the factors underlying inflation and deflation. As developed by the English philosopher John Locke in the 17th century, the Scottish philosopher David Hume in the 18th century, and others, it was a weapon against the mercantilists

Durante, Francesco

2005-03-07T18:14:00.000-08:00

Durante studied in Rome and probably in Naples and in 1710 taught at the San Onofrio Conservatory. He was chapelmaster at the Conservatorio dei Poveri in Naples (1728–39) and from 1742 taught at the Santa Maria di Loreto Conservatory. In 1745 he succeeded L. Leo as principal

La Fayette, Marie-madeleine (pioche De La Vergne), Comtesse De

2005-03-04T09:42:00.000-08:00

In Paris during the civil wars of the Fronde, young Mlle de la Vergne was brought into contact with Madame de Sévigné, now famous for her letters. She also met a leading political agitator, the future Cardinal de Retz. Married in 1655 to François Motier, comte de La Fayette (1616–83), she lived

Devers, Gail

2005-03-02T09:16:00.000-08:00

Devers began running in high school. Later, at the University of California at Los Angeles, she won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 100-metre dash in 1988 and set an American record of 12.61 sec in the 100-metre hurdles, which she held or shared

Ch'ungch'ong, South

2005-03-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

With one-third of its land area under cultivation, South Ch'ungch'ong is one of the best granaries in the country, producing rice, ginseng, tobacco, and peppermint.

Shaftesbury, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl Of, Baron Cooper Of Pawlett, Baron Ashley Of Wimborne St. Giles

2005-02-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

His early education was directed by John Locke, and he attended Winchester College. He entered Parliament in 1695 and, succeeding as 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury in 1699, attended Parliament regularly in the House of Lords for the remainder

Triggerfish

2005-02-24T22:17:00.000-08:00

Any of about 30 species of shallow-water marine fishes of the family Balistidae, found worldwide in tropical seas. Triggerfishes are rather deep-bodied, usually colourful fishes with large scales, small mouths, and high-set eyes. Their common name refers to the triggering mechanism in the first two of their three dorsal fin spines. The first spine can

Syria, The cultivated steppe

2005-02-22T07:28:00.000-08:00

This region constitutes the principal wheat zone; agriculture is intensively pursued along the banks of the rivers. Some of Syria's most important cities—Damascus, Aleppo, Hims, Hamah, and al-Qamishli—are situated there.

Welch, Denton

2005-02-20T10:51:00.000-08:00

Welch was educated at Repton School in Derbyshire. After a visit to China he studied painting at the Goldsmith School of Art. In 1935, while still at school, he was severely injured

Houston Ship Channel

2005-02-17T02:36:00.000-08:00

Waterway that connects Houston, Texas, with the Gulf of Mexico, passing through the former Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay. The channel, which was opened in 1914 and later improved, is 50.5 mi (81.3 km) long, 36 ft (11 m) deep, and has a minimum width of 300 ft (90 m). It requires no locks.

Tetricus, Gaius Pius Esuvius

2005-02-14T06:54:00.000-08:00

He was a Gallic noble related to the usurping ruler of Gaul, Victorinus, and to Victorinus' mother, Victoria. Upon the murder of Victorinus, Tetricus, who was governor of Aquitania, was proclaimed emperor, apparently backed by the influence and money of Victoria. During his short and nominal reign, the monetary inflation

Performing Arts, Australia.

2005-02-12T15:17:00.000-08:00

Several directors looked critically at the recent history of Aboriginal Australians. Philip Noyce's Rabbit-Proof Fence recalled the true story of three young girls who fled from incarceration under the official policy of the first three-quarters of the 20th century of seizing quarter- and half-caste children from their Aboriginal families so they could be “civilized

Madison, James

2005-02-11T18:27:00.000-08:00

During eight years as Jefferson's secretary of state (1801–09), Madison used the words “The President has decided” so regularly that his own role can be discovered only in foreign archives. British diplomats dealing with Madison encountered “asperity of temper and fluency of expression.” Senators John Adair and Nicholas Gilman agreed in 1806 that he “governed the President,” an opinion held also by French minister Louis-Marie Turreau.

Albania

2005-02-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Albania, Albanian Shqipëria, or Republika e Shqipërisë, country located in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula on the Strait of Otranto, the southern entrance to the Adriatic Sea. It encompasses an area of 11,100 square miles (28,748 square kilometres), with a maximum length from north to south of about 210 miles (340 kilometres) and a maximum width of about 95 miles. It is bounded to the northwest by Montenegro, to the northeast by the Kosovo region

Anshan

2005-02-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Anzan, city and territory of ancient Elam, north of modern Shiraz, southwestern Iran. The city's ruins, covering 350 acres, have yielded major archaeological finds, including examples of early Elamite writing. Anshan came to prominence about 2350 BC as an enemy of the Mesopotamian dynasty of Akkad. Its greatest period, however, was during the 13th and 12th centuries BC, when, as “kings of Anshan and

Alaya-vijñana

2005-02-05T09:25:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “store of consciousness”), key concept of the Vijñanavada (“Consciousness-affirming”) school of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Since that school maintains that no external reality exists, while retaining the position that knowledge, and therefore a knowable, exists, it assumes that knowledge itself is the object of consciousness. It therefore postulates a

Arundel, Henry Fitzalan, 12th Earl Of

2005-02-03T15:57:00.000-08:00

Son of William Fitzalan (1483–1544), the 11th earl, he succeeded to the earldom in 1544. He took part in the siege of Boulogne (1544) and was appointed lord chamberlain and a privy councillor in 1546. In June 1553 he alone of the council refused the “engagement” of the council

Chabrier, (alexis-) Emmanuel

2005-01-31T03:23:00.000-08:00

Chabrier was attracted in his youth to both music and painting. He studied law in Paris from 1858 to 1862. During these years he also studied the piano and harmony and counterpoint. His

Saint Albans, Henry Jermyn, Earl Of, 1st Baron Jermyn Of Saint Edmundsbury

2005-01-30T11:25:00.000-08:00

He entered Parliament in 1625. In Henrietta Maria's household he was made vice chamberlain (1628), master of horse (1639), and lord chamberlain (1645), and he was raised to the peerage in 1643. He was implicated in the army plot of 1641, in

Rachmaninoff, Sergey

2005-01-28T18:16:00.000-08:00

Rachmaninoff's letters have been collected and published in Russian in Pisma, ed. by Z.A. Apetian (1955), which includes all previously published letters and some newly published ones. Rachmaninoff's Recollections, Told to Oskar von Riesemann, trans. from German by Dolly Rutherford (1934, reissued 1979), are reminiscences by the composer about his life and work; the last chapter is Riesemann's analysis of Rachmaninoff's qualities as a composer. Sergei Bertensson, Jay Leyda, and Sophia Satin, Sergei Rachmaninoff: A Lifetime in Music (1956, reissued 1965), is a comprehensive biography whose preparation was assisted by the composer's cousin and sister-in-law; it is especially useful for its description of the composer's years in the United States. Other biographical studies are Patrick Piggott, Rachmaninov (1978), including detailed musical commentary and critique; Barrie Martyn, Rachmaninoff: Composer, Pianist, Conductor (1990), drawing extensively on archival and Russian-language sources, with a discography; and Geoffrey Norris, Rachmaninoff, rev. and updated ed. (1994).

Schäfer, Karl

2005-01-26T14:41:00.000-08:00

Schäfer started training to be a figure skater early in his youth. He placed fourth

La Galissonnière, Roland-michel Barrin, Marquis De

2005-01-23T01:51:00.000-08:00

La Galissonnière was the son of a naval lieutenant-general and studied at the College of Beauvais in Paris. He became a midshipman in the French navy in 1710 and, in the following year, made the first of a number of voyages on the Heros carrying supplies to Canada. Some 26 years later he commanded

Adam, Robert

2005-01-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

As a designer of furniture, too, Adam played a leading role and was prolific, turning his hand to everything from organ cases and sedan chairs to saltcellars and door fittings. The furniture style he evolved, popularized by the cabinetmaker George Hepplewhite, was always meant to harmonize with the rest of the home. It is one of the outstanding features of an Adam interior

Wiles, Andrew John

2005-01-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

Wiles was educated at Merton College, Oxford (B.A., 1974), and Clare College, Cambridge (Ph.D., 1980). Following a junior research

Shariqah, Ash-

2005-01-18T15:37:00.000-08:00

English Sharjah constituent emirate of the United Arab Emirates (formerly Trucial States, or Trucial Oman). Some of ash-Shariqah's interior boundaries are only presumptive, but its main portion is an irregularly shaped tract, oriented northwest–southeast, stretching about 60 miles (100 km) from the Persian Gulf (northwest) to the central inland region of the Oman promontory (southeast).

O'neill, Eugene

2005-01-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

In full Eugene Gladstone O'Neill foremost American dramatist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936. His masterpiece, Long Day's Journey into Night (produced posthumously 1956), is at the apex of a long string of great plays, including Beyond the Horizon (1920), Anna Christie (1922), Strange Interlude (1928), Ah! Wilderness (1933), and The Iceman Cometh (1946).

Veneto

2005-01-14T02:48:00.000-08:00

Also called Venezia Euganea regione, northern and northeastern Italy, comprising the provincie of Venezia, Padova, Rovigo, Verona, Vicenza, Treviso, and Belluno. It is bounded by Trentino-Alto Adige (north), Emilia-Romagna (south), Lombardia (west), Austria (northeast), and Friuli-Venezia Giulia and the Adriatic Sea (east). The northern limit of Veneto is marked by a mountainous area, including the Dolomites,

Oum Er-rbia River

2005-01-12T07:09:00.000-08:00

Chief river of central Morocco, rising in the Middle (Moyen) Atlas mountains and flowing generally westward for 345 miles (555 km) to the Atlantic Ocean near Azemmour. Although not navigable, it is a perennial, torrential river and a major source of hydroelectric power and irrigation: dams on the river include Afourer, Kasba Zidania, Im Fout, Daourat, Sidi Saïd Maachou, and Bine

Bing, Sir Rudolph

2005-01-10T19:47:00.000-08:00

The son of an Austrian industrialist, Bing grew up in a musical household and studied at the University of Vienna. He first worked in theatrical agencies casting singers for opera houses. From 1928 to 1935 he assisted Carl Ebert

Chia-i

2005-01-07T16:56:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Chiayi, shih (municipality) and seat of Chia-i hsien (county), on the western coastal plain of Taiwan. It lies at the foot of the A-li Mountains, on Taiwan's main north–south rail and highway routes. Narrow-gauge branch railways built by the Japanese (who occupied Taiwan from 1895 to 1945) run from Chia-i to the sugar-producing plains to the west and into the A-li Mountains for the transport of lumber.

Wilkes Land

2005-01-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

Region in Antarctica, bordering the Indian Ocean between Queen Mary and George V coasts (100°–142°20¢ E). The region is almost entirely covered by a featureless ice cap averaging from 6,000 to 9,500 feet (1,800 to 2,900 m) above sea level. First sighted (1838–42) by the U.S. naval commander Charles Wilkes, for whom the land is named, it was not explored until the late 1940s. Included in the region are the coasts of Clarie, Banzare,

Argentina, Discovery and settlement

2005-01-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

The main Atlantic outline of Argentina was revealed to European explorers in the early 16th century. The Río de la Plata estuary was discovered years before Ferdinand Magellan traversed the Strait of Magellan in 1520, although historians dispute whether the estuary was first reached by Amerigo Vespucci in 1501–02 or by Juan Díaz de Solís in his ill-fated voyage of 1516. Solís and a

Anicetus, Saint

2005-01-02T01:10:00.000-08:00

Possibly a Syrian, Anicetus laboured to combat the errors of the heresies of Valentine and Marcion and to prevent heresies, working particularly against the Marcionites and Gnostics. Although he suffered tribulations, it is questionable whether or not he was actually martyred.

Parallelism

2004-12-31T09:34:00.000-08:00

In rhetoric, component of literary style in both prose and poetry, in which coordinate ideas are arranged in phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that balance one element with another of equal importance and similar wording. The repetition of sounds, meanings, and structures serves to order, emphasize, and point out relations. In its simplest form parallelism consists

Zapolska, Gabriela

2004-12-28T01:04:00.000-08:00

Having tried unsuccessfully to pursue an acting career in Paris, Zapolska started writing cheap, sensationalist novels full of bitterness toward middle-class values, morality, and hypocrisy. Of her several novels written

Tibet, Food and drink

2004-12-27T05:54:00.000-08:00

The staple Tibetan food is barley flour (rtsam-pa), which is consumed daily. Other major foods include wheat flour, yak meat, mutton, and pork. Dairy products such as butter, milk, and cheese are also popular. The people in the higher altitudes generally consume more meat than those of the lower regions, where a variety of vegetables is available. Rice is generally restricted

Ayr

2004-12-24T09:46:00.000-08:00

Town, northeastern Queensland, Australia, on the delta of the Burdekin River. The settlement was surveyed and gazetted in 1881. Declared a town in 1882 and named after the Scottish birthplace of Sir Thomas McIllwraith, then state premier, it became a shire in 1903. On the north coast rail line and the Bruce Highway to Townsville (45 miles [70 km] northwest) and Brisbane (657 miles [1,057 km] southeast), it

Encina, Juan Del

2004-12-23T16:55:00.000-08:00

After youthful training as a chorister at Salamanca cathedral (c. 1484) and at the University of Salamanca (before 1490), Encina entered the service of the Duke of Alba as

Domestic Violence

2004-12-21T17:02:00.000-08:00

Social and legal concept that, in the broadest sense, refers to any abuse that takes place among people living in the same household, although the term is often used specifically to refer to assaults upon women by their male partners. Estimated annual figures for the number of women in the United States who are subjected to psychological, verbal, emotional, or physical

Rousseau, Henri

2004-12-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

Byname Le Douanier (French: The Customs Officer) French painter, archetype of the modern naive artist. He expressed himself mainly in richly coloured and meticulously detailed pictures of lush jungles, wild beasts, and exotic figures (e.g., “The Sleeping Gypsy,” 1897, and “The Snake-Charmer,” 1907 [see photograph]). After exhibiting with the Fauves in 1905, he became an object of admiration to avant-garde

Heidenheim

2004-12-16T19:35:00.000-08:00

Officially Heidenheim an der Brenz city, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany, on the Brenz River in the eastern Swabian Alps. The site of a Roman settlement, it was chartered in 1356. It is overlooked by the ruined castle of Hellenstein (with a museum) standing on a hill (1,985 feet [605 m]). Since 1723 it has held traditional shepherds' competitions. Precision instruments, tools, machinery, textiles, and cement are

Sian Incident

2004-12-15T13:58:00.000-08:00

(Dec. 12–25, 1936), in Chinese history, seizure of the Nationalist generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek by one of his own generals, Chang Hsüeh-liang (q.v.). Chang, commander of the Northeastern (Manchurian) forces at Sian, in Northwest China, opposed Chiang's policy of continuing to fight the Chinese Communists rather than devoting the Nationalists' full effort to fighting the Japanese, who

Carlowitz, Treaty Of

2004-12-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

In the late summer of 1697, the Ottoman

Tung Chung-shu

2004-12-10T11:31:00.000-08:00

As a chief minister to the emperor Wu (c. 140–87) of the Han dynasty, Tung was chiefly responsible for the

Local Group

2004-12-08T07:38:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, the group of more than 20 galaxies to which the Milky Way Galaxy belongs. About half are elliptical galaxies, with the remainder being of the spiral or irregular type. As in other clusters of galaxies, members are probably kept from separating by their mutual gravitational attraction. The Milky Way system is near one end of the volume of space occupied by

Earth, Faulting

2004-12-07T01:45:00.000-08:00

Extension of the Earth's crust may result in the formation of numerous parallel ridges and valleys

Kababish

2004-12-05T06:36:00.000-08:00

During the 19th century the Kababish not only carried trade goods between the Nile River and Darfur but

Thomism

2004-12-01T22:53:00.000-08:00

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Thomism continued to be presented in philosophy and theology courses or manuals, especially in the Dominican Order. Most Thomistic manuals of this period were watered with the opinions of other Schoolmen and remained remote from modern problems. In most Catholic seminaries and universities of the early 19th century, eclecticism

Sarasvati

2004-11-29T03:15:00.000-08:00

Hindu goddess of learning and the arts. She is first referred to in literature as the personification of the sacred river, the Sarasvati, and is also identified with Vac, the goddess of speech. In later Hinduism she is usually considered the consort of the god Brahma (the promulgator of the Veda), but she enjoys an autonomous position as the patroness of art, music, and letters.

Clonmel

2004-11-26T03:13:00.000-08:00

Irish Cluain Meala municipal borough and seat of Tipperary South Riding, Ireland. It lies on the River Suir. A noted sporting centre, it has fine scenery, with the Comeragh Mountains to the south and the Slievenamon peak to the northeast. Clonmel received its charter in the reign of Edward I (1239–1307). The novelist Laurence Sterne was born there in 1713. Industries include the making of pharmaceuticals

Abbott, Bud; And Costello, Lou

2004-11-25T03:01:00.000-08:00

Bob Furmanek and Ron Palumbo, Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1991); Stephen Cox and John Lofflin, The Abbott and Costello Story: Sixty Years of Who's on First? (1997).

Cartel

2004-11-23T15:22:00.000-08:00

Association of independent firms or individuals for the purpose of exerting some form of restrictive or monopolistic influence on the production or sale of a commodity or group of commodities. The most common arrangements are aimed at regulating prices or output or dividing up markets. Members of a cartel maintain their separate identities and financial independence

Lena River

2004-11-20T19:28:00.000-08:00

Among the peoples living in the Lena basin, mainly on the banks of the river and its tributaries, Russians are most numerous, followed by the Sakha (Yakut; a Turkic-speaking people), Evenk, and Yukaghir. There are several industrial and cultural centres and farming communities. Most of the Lena River basin lies within Sakha (Yakutia) republic of northeastern Siberia, whose

Morante, Elsa

2004-11-19T04:03:00.000-08:00

Morante early exhibited literary talent, and, although her formal education remained incomplete, her marriage to the novelist Alberto

Ghaznavid Dynasty

2004-11-16T20:21:00.000-08:00

The founder of the dynasty was Sebüktigin (ruled 977–997), a former Turkish slave who was recognized by the Samanids (an Iranian Muslim dynasty) as governor of Ghazna (modern Ghazni, Afg.). As the Samanid dynasty weakened, Sebüktigin consolidated his position and expanded his domains as far

Harald Iii Sigurdsson

2004-11-14T10:03:00.000-08:00

The son of Sigurd Sow (Syr), a chieftain in eastern Norway, and of Estrid, mother of the Norwegian king Olaf II Haraldsson (St. Olaf), Harald fought at the age of 15 against the Danes

Apra Harbor

2004-11-13T01:24:00.000-08:00

Also called Port Apra, port on the west coast of Guam, Mariana Islands, western Pacific. It is the best anchorage on the island and is located just west of Agana. It is the port of entry and site of a U.S. naval base. With 2,400 feet (730 m) of frontage for deepwater docking, it is a transshipment point for various Micronesian islands. The harbour, which is protected (south) by Orote Peninsula and (north) by Cabras

West Dunbartonshire

2004-11-10T06:07:00.000-08:00

Council area, west-central Scotland, along the north bank of the lower River Clyde, northwest of Glasgow. It extends north to the shore of Loch Lomond, Scotland's largest lake, and encompasses an area of lowlands surrounding the Kilpatrick Hills, which stand in the centre of the council area. West Dunbartonshire lies entirely within the historic county of Dunbartonshire

Oss

2004-11-09T04:24:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (commune), Noord-Brabant provincie, south-central Netherlands, east-northeast of 's Hertogenbosch and about 3 miles (5 km) south of the Maas (Meuse) River. A food-processing town noted for margarine and meat products, it also manufactures pharmaceuticals (especially insulin and vitamins), electrical equipment, wool products, boxes, and metalware. Mainly Roman Catholic,

Calas, Jean

2004-11-07T08:58:00.000-08:00

On Oct. 13, 1761, Calas's eldest son, MarcAntoine, was found hanged in his father's textile shop in Toulouse. Anti-Huguenot hysteria broke out among the local Roman Catholic populace,

Bydgoszcz

2004-11-04T22:04:00.000-08:00

German Bromberg, city, capital of Bydgoszcz województwo (province), northern Poland, near the confluence of the Brda and Vistula rivers. Beginning as a frontier stronghold, Bydgoszcz was seized by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century; it received town rights in 1346. It prospered as a grain and timber centre, was devastated during the 17th-century Swedish wars, and regained importance in

Amphibian, General features

2004-11-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

The form and structure of the skeletal, nervous, digestive, and urogenital systems of amphibians are intermediate between fishes and reptiles, but those of other systems are specifically modified for amphibians. The integument (skin) and circulatory and respiratory systems exemplify these adaptations and act together to provide cutaneous respiration. Amphibians

France, History Of, Charles VI

2004-11-01T01:10:00.000-08:00

Charles VI (ruled 1380–1422) was a minor when he succeeded his father. His uncles, each possessed of the ambition and resources to pursue independent policies, assumed control of the government. Duke Louis of Anjou soon removed himself from influence by seeking the throne of Naples; Jean, Duke de Berry, received the lieutenancy of Languedoc, by then virtually an appanage; and it

Andrea Del Sarto

2004-10-30T08:06:00.000-07:00

Original name Andrea d'Agnolo Italian painter and draftsman whose works of exquisite composition and craftsmanship were instrumental in the development of the Florentine-Roman school in the first half of the 16th century. His most striking among other well-known works is the series of frescoes on the life of St. John the Baptist about 1511 and

Gairdner, Lake

2004-10-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

Largest of a group of shallow depressions west of Lake Torrens in central South Australia, 240 mi northwest of Adelaide. It measures 100 mi (160 km) long by 30 mi wide. Lying at the base of the Eyre Peninsula, the lake is a dry salt pan (playa) intermittently filled with water. Visited in 1857 almost simultaneously by Stephen Hack and Peter E. Warburton, it is named after Gordon Gairdner, former

Housebook, Master Of The

2004-10-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

Also called Master Of The Hausbuch , or Master Of The Amsterdam Cabinet , German Hausbuchmeister , or Meister Des Hausbuchs anonymous late Gothic painter and engraver who was one of the outstanding early printmakers. He was formerly referred to as the Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet because the Rijksprentenkabinet, the print room of the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam has the largest collection of his line engravings (q.v.) and etchings done with a technique close to drypoint (q.v.). Today he is

Ascomycetes

2004-10-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

The sac fungi are separated into subgroups based on whether asci arise singly or are borne in one of several types of fruiting structures, or ascocarps, and

China, Constitutional movements after 1905

2004-10-21T10:27:00.000-07:00

Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) aroused a cry for constitutionalism in China. Unable to resist the intensifying demand, the court decided in September 1906 to adopt a constitution, and in November it reorganized the traditional six boards into 11 ministries in an attempt to modernize the central government. It promised to open consultative provincial assemblies

Schaffner, Franklin (james)

2004-10-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

The son of Protestant American missionaries, Schaffner lived in the United States after the age of five and attended Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania (A.B., 1942). During World War II he served as a U.S. Navy lieutenant. In 1948 he became a director for CBS television;

Aesthetics, The contributions of the ancient Greeks

2004-10-18T03:35:00.000-07:00

The two greatest Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, shared a sense of the importance of aesthetics, and both regarded music, poetry, architecture, and drama as fundamental institutions within the body politic. Plato notoriously recommends the banning of poets and painters from his ideal republic and in the course of his argument provides an extended theory

Water Lily

2004-10-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

Any of the freshwater plants of the family Nymphaeaceae, comprising eight genera native to the temperate and tropical parts of the world. All members of the family are perennial except for the genus Euryale, an annual or short-lived perennial found only in Asia. Most species of water lilies have rounded, floating, waxy-coated leaves on long stalks that contain

Wuppertal

2004-10-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

City, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), northwestern Germany. The city extends for 10 miles (16 km) along the steep banks of the Wupper River, a right-bank tributary of the Rhine, northeast of Düsseldorf. Formed as Barmen-Elberfeld in 1929 through the amalgamation of the towns of Barmen, Elberfeld, Beyenburg, Cronenberg, Ronsdorf, and Vohwinkel, the name was changed to Wuppertal

Valencia

2004-10-12T01:21:00.000-07:00

When Umayyad power in Moorish Spain disintegrated in the reign of Hisham II (1010), Valencia eventually came to be ruled by 'Abd al-Aziz al-Mansur (reigned

Protist

2004-10-10T14:31:00.000-07:00

The protists include all unicellular organisms not included with the prokaryotes. Protists also embrace a number of forms of syncytial (coenocytic) or multicellular composition, generally manifest as filaments, colonies, coenobia (a type of colony with a fixed number of interconnected cells embedded in a common matrix before release from the parental colony),

Brunel, Olivier

2004-10-08T08:46:00.000-07:00

The first Flemish navigator of the Arctic Ocean, Brunel sailed beyond Lapland in 1565 in search of a northeast

Obuchi Keizo

2004-10-05T20:49:00.000-07:00

Obuchi received a degree in English literature from Waseda University, Tokyo, in 1962. The following year, he won the seat his father had held in the House of Representatives, becoming the youngest person

China, Animal life

2004-10-03T06:52:00.000-07:00

Profusion of vegetation and a variety of relief have fostered the development of a great diversity of animal life and have permitted the survival of animals that elsewhere are extinct. Notable among such survivals are the great paddlefish of the Yangtze, the small species of alligator in eastern and central China, and the giant salamander (related to the Japanese

Kagawa Kageki

2004-10-01T04:40:00.000-07:00

In 1796 he met Ozawa Roan, whose rejection of the

China, Nationalist deterioration

2004-09-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

The military weakness in 1944 was symptomatic of a gradual deterioration that had taken place in most aspects of Nationalist Chinese public life. Inflation began to mount alarmingly as the government pumped in large amounts of paper currency to make up its fiscal deficits. Salaries of government employees, army officers, teachers, and all those on wages fell far behind

Degema

2004-09-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

Town and river port, Rivers state, southern Nigeria, on the Sambreiro River (an outlet of the Niger). A traditional market centre (fish, cassava, taro, palm produce, plantains, and yams) of the Ijo (Ijaw) people, it became a major exporter of palm oil and kernels after the decline of the slave trade in the early 19th century. The Degema-Abonnema port (boats now anchor near the palm oil

Yamato-e

2004-09-28T05:49:00.000-07:00

Yamato-e is a calculated

Sha'rani, Ash-

2004-09-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

Throughout his life Sha'rani was influenced by the pattern of his education. His introduction and exposure to Islamic learning were limited; his formal education was concerned with the 'ulum al-wahb (“gifted knowledge of the mystic”), as opposed to a traditional and rigorous study of Islamic sciences.

Ts'ao Kuo-chiu

2004-09-25T02:07:00.000-07:00

Pinyin Cao Guojiu, in Chinese mythology, one of the Pa Hsien, the Eight Immortals of Taoism. Ts'ao is sometimes depicted in official robes and hat and carrying a tablet indicative of his rank and of his right to palace audiences. He was a man of exemplary character who often reminded a dissolute brother that though one can escape the laws of man, one cannot avoid the nets of heaven. In another

Shamanism, The universe

2004-09-24T04:07:00.000-07:00

The classic worldview of shamanism is found among the peoples of northern Asia. In their view the universe is full of heavenly bodies peopled by spiritual beings. Their own world is disk-shaped—saucerlike—with an opening in the middle leading into the Netherworld; the Upper World stands over the Central World, or Earth, this world having a manyfold vault. The Earth,

Lentil

2004-09-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

(species Lens esculenta), small annual legume of the pea family (Leguminosae) and its lens-shaped edible seed, which is rich in protein and one of the most ancient of cultivated foods. Of unknown origin, the lentil is widely cultivated throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa but is little grown in the Western Hemisphere. The seeds are used chiefly in soups and the herbage

Midgard

2004-09-23T07:26:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Midgardr (Old Norse: Middle Abode) , also called Manna-Heim (“Home of Man”) in Norse mythology, the Middle Earth, the abode of mankind, made from the body of the first created being, the giant Aurgelmir (Ymir). According to legend, the gods killed Aurgelmir, rolled his body into the central void of the universe, and began fashioning the Midgard. Aurgelmir's flesh became the land, his blood the oceans, his bones the mountains, his teeth the cliffs, his

Gobi, Drainage and soils

2004-09-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Aridity in the Gobi depends on the relative chalkiness of the soil and has been aggravated by the strong mountain structure to the west. The lakes correspondingly have shrunk, leaving a series of terraces considerably farther from and higher than the present shorelines. Indeed, Lakes Orog and Bööntsagaan, in the easternmost Mongolian Altai, and Lake Ulaan, in the

Suppiluliumas I

2004-09-21T07:20:00.000-07:00

Suppiluliumas'

Stage Design, Classical theatrical costume

2004-09-19T16:03:00.000-07:00

Theatrical costumes were an innovation of Thespis, in Greece in the 6th century BC, and theatrical costumes are still called “the robes of Thespis.” Athenians spent lavishly on the production and costumes at the annual drama contests since each poet was given a wealthy citizen, the choregos, who, encouraged by the honour of a separate state impresario's prize, tended to make

Cytokinin

2004-09-19T05:23:00.000-07:00

Any of a number of plant growth substances that are usually derived from adenine. Synthesized in roots, cytokinins move upward in the xylem (woody tissue) and pass into the leaves and fruits, where they are required for normal growth, for cell differentiation, and, in conjunction with auxin (another plant hormone), to promote cell division.