LastCake

Ferdinand Ii

2005-04-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

The son of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (and cousin of Prince Albert of Great Britain), he was married to Maria in January 1836, only 10 months after the sudden death of

Lsd

2005-04-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

Abbreviation of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, also called Lysergide, potent synthetic hallucinogenic drug that can be derived from the ergot alkaloids (as ergotamine and ergonovine, principal constituents of ergot, the grain deformity and toxic infectant of flour caused by the fungus of grasses, Claviceps purpurea). LSD usually is prepared in the laboratory by chemical synthesis. Its basic chemical structure is similar to that

Nice

2005-04-05T07:26:00.000-07:00

Founded by the Phocaeans

Constable

2005-04-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

Officer of state in western European countries from medieval times and also of certain executive legal officials in Great Britain and the United States. The title comes stabuli is found in the Roman and particularly in the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire from the 5th century AD as that of the head of the stables at the imperial court. The Franks borrowed the title,

Anatomy

2005-04-02T19:36:00.000-08:00

A field in the biological sciences concerned with the identification and description of the body structures of living things. Gross anatomy involves the study of major body structures by dissection and observation and in its narrowest sense is concerned only with the human body. “Gross anatomy” customarily refers to the study of those body structures large enough

Arrastra

2005-04-02T16:04:00.000-08:00

Crude drag-stone mill for pulverizing ores such as those containing silver or gold or their compounds. See patio process.

Instinct, Modifiable action patterns

2005-04-01T19:03:00.000-08:00

Some types of instinctive behaviour, while showing a rigid core of fixed action pattern, are still modifiable by conditioning and other learning processes (see above). A good example is provided by the nest-building behaviour of many birds: after the breeding female has chosen a nest site, she finds and deposits sticks or twigs or pieces of grass there. A jackdaw (Corvus

Aquatic Locomotion

2005-03-31T13:42:00.000-08:00

Free-swimming locomotion is found in animals ranging from protozoans to whales. For effective swimming the animal controls its buoyancy and has a propulsion system able to compete with the resistance of water movements. Many invertebrates

Ear, Human, Outer ear

2005-03-31T08:04:00.000-08:00

The most striking differences between the human ear and the ears of other mammals are in the structure of the outermost part, the auricle (Figure 1). In humans the auricle is an almost rudimentary, usually immobile shell that lies close to the side of the head. It consists of a thin plate of yellow fibrocartilage covered by closely adherent skin. The cartilage is molded

Nagaland, The land

2005-03-29T17:11:00.000-08:00

Nearly all of Nagaland is mountainous. In the north, the Naga Hills rise abruptly from the Brahmaputra valley to about 2,000 feet (610 metres) and then increase in elevation toward the southeast to more than 6,000 feet. The mountains merge with the Patkai Range along the Myanmar border, reaching a maximum height of 12,552 feet (3,826 metres) at Mount Saramati. The region is deeply dissected by rivers:

Arabesque

2005-03-29T06:36:00.000-08:00

Style of decoration characterized by intertwining plants and abstract curvilinear motifs. Derived from the work of Hellenistic craftsmen working in Asia Minor, the arabesque originally included birds in a highly naturalistic setting. As adapted by Muslim artisans about AD 1000, it became highly formalized; for religious reasons, no birds, beasts, or human

Devonshire, William Cavendish, 1st Earl Of, Baron Cavendish Of Hardwick

2005-03-29T00:43:00.000-08:00

The son of Sir William Cavendish and his third wife, Elizabeth Hardwick (afterward the Countess of Shrewsbury), the young Cavendish was educated at Eton College and Gray's Inn and was knighted in 1580 and created a baron in 1605. In 1608 he inherited a rich estate from his mother and later became

Hyogo

2005-03-28T02:47:00.000-08:00

Ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan. Hyogo is bounded by the Sea of Japan (north) and the Inland Sea (south) and includes Awaji Island, the largest island of the Inland Sea. Hyogo is dominated by its capital, Kobe, and other southern coastal cities forming part of the Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. Hyogo's industries include the production of iron, steel, textiles, and lumber. Agriculture

Biblical Literature, Joel

2005-03-27T23:20:00.000-08:00

The Book of Joel, the second of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, is a short work of only three chapters. The dates of Joel (whose name means “Yahweh is God”) are difficult to ascertain. Some scholars believe that the work comes from the Persian period (539–331 BCE); others hold that it was written soon after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. His references to a locust plague may refer to an actual calamity

Avestan Language

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

Also called (incorrectly) Zend Language, eastern Iranian language of the Avesta, the sacred book of Zoroastrianism. Avestan falls into two strata, the older being that of the Gathas, which reflects a linguistic stage (dating from c. 600 BC) close to that of Vedic Sanskrit in India. The greater part of the Avesta is written in a more recent form of the language and shows gradual simplification and variation in grammatical

Nigeria

2005-03-26T04:14:00.000-08:00

Officially Federal Republic of Nigeria country located on the coast of western Africa. It has an area of 356,669 square miles (923,768 square km). It is bordered to the north by Niger, the east by Chad and Cameroon, the south by the Gulf of Guinea, and to the west by Benin. Nigeria is not only large in size—it is larger than the U.S. state of Texas—it is also Africa's most populous country. Nigeria has a diverse geography, with climates ranging

Tyr

2005-03-26T00:14:00.000-08:00

Old Norse Týr , Old English Tiw , or Tiu one of the oldest gods of the Germanic peoples and a somewhat enigmatic figure. He was apparently the god concerned with the formalities of war—especially treaties—and also, appropriately, of justice. It is in his character as guarantor of contracts, guardian of oaths, that the most famous myth about him may be understood: as a guarantee of good faith, he placed his hand

Görres, Joseph Von

2005-03-25T03:22:00.000-08:00

Görres was sympathetic to the ideals of the French Revolution and published a republican journal, Das rote Blatt (“The Red Page”; renamed Rübezahl), in 1799. After an unsuccessful visit to Paris in 1799 as a political

Mitchell, Maggie

2005-03-24T06:30:00.000-08:00

Mitchell left school at age 12 to follow her older half-sisters onto the stage, where she filled a variety of child's walk-on and silent roles. She made her debut in a speaking role in June 1851 in a benefit performance

Ribbon Seal

2005-03-24T05:21:00.000-08:00

(Histriophoca fasciata), earless seal of the family Phocidae found in the North Pacific and the Bering Sea. The male, growing to about 1.7 m (5.6 feet) in length and 95 kg (210 pounds) in weight, is dark brown with broad, yellowish, ribbonlike markings. The smaller female and the young are paler, and the bands are less conspicuous. The ribbon seal lives alone or in small groups and feeds on fish,

Serlio, Sebastiano

2005-03-23T17:11:00.000-08:00

Trained by his father as a painter, Serlio went to Rome in 1514, where he studied architecture under Baldassarre Peruzzi, one of the initiators of the Mannerist style of architecture. With the sack of Rome

Water Resource

2005-03-22T23:36:00.000-08:00

Any of the entire range of natural waters that occur on the Earth, regardless of their state (i.e., vapour, liquid, or solid) and that are of potential use to humans. Of these, the resources most available for use are the waters of the oceans, rivers, and lakes; other available water resources include groundwater and deep subsurface waters and glaciers and permanent

Tureen

2005-03-22T05:41:00.000-08:00

Covered container, sometimes made to rest on a stand or dish, from which liquids, generally soup or sauce, are served at table. The earliest silver and pottery examples, dating from the early 18th century, were called terrines or terrenes (from Latin terra, “earth”), which suggests a pottery origin for the form. Most tureens are crafted in a bowl-like shape that has been influenced

Amir Ali, Sayyid

2005-03-21T23:29:00.000-08:00

Amir Ali, who traced his ancestry to the Prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatimah, took his law degree at the University of Calcutta, was called to the bar of the Inner Temple (1873) in England, and returned to practice

Industrial Bank Of Japan

2005-03-20T14:29:00.000-08:00

Japanese Nippon Kogyo Ginko former Japanese commercial bank that operated a general-banking and foreign-exchange business with branches in Japan and overseas. Established in 1902, the bank had specialized in medium- and long-term financing of industrial development, and both its main office and its foreign branches were active in the foreign-exchange markets. In September 2000, Industrial Bank of

Fayette

2005-03-20T13:59:00.000-08:00

County, southwestern Pennsylvania, U.S., bounded to the north by Jacobs Creek; to the east by Laurel Hill, the Youghiogheny River, and Youghiogheny River Lake; to the south by Maryland and West Virginia; and to the west by the Monongahela River. It consists of a hilly region on the Allegheny Plateau that rises to the Allegheny Mountains in the east (including Chestnut Ridge).

ålesund

2005-03-20T01:09:00.000-08:00

Fishing port, Møre og Romsdal fylke (county), western Norway. Ålesund lies at the mouth of Stor Fjord and is set on two islands, Nørvøya and Aspøy, which are connected by bridges. It dates from the 9th century when Rollo (Rolf) the Ganger built a castle nearby, but township status was not acquired until 1848. After the town burned in 1904, it was rebuilt with stone instead of wood. Ålesund

Fracturedislocation

2005-03-18T19:42:00.000-08:00

A severe injury in which both fracture and dislocation take place simultaneously. Frequently, a loose piece of bone remains jammed between the ends of the dislocated bones and may have to be removed surgically before the dislocation can be reduced. Immobilization must be longer than in a simple dislocation to permit healing of the fracture; chances for permanent

Ear Squeeze

2005-03-18T16:10:00.000-08:00

The middle ear, the cavity behind the eardrum membrane, is connected with the nasal cavity (nasopharynx) by

Man-chou-li

2005-03-18T01:44:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Manzhouli, formerly (1910–49) Lupin, city in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, China. It is situated on the border opposite the Russian town of Zabaykalsk and lies 100 miles (160 km) west of Hailar and 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Lake Hu-lun. Man-chou-li was long a small Mongolian settlement in the Hu-lun-pei-erh League. It developed after 1900 when it became the western terminus of the Russian-built Chinese Eastern Railway

Alakol, Lake

2005-03-16T22:47:00.000-08:00

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

Bopolu

2005-03-16T20:58:00.000-08:00

Also called Bopora, or Boporo, town, western Liberia. Once the centre of the Malinke-dominated Kondo Confederation—including the Gola, Vai, De (Dei), and Loma peoples—the area surrounding Bopolu probably reached its height under King Bosan (Boatswain; 1775–1836). Slaves, ivory, gold, and camwood from the north were sent by Bopolu traders to the coastal Vai and De peoples in exchange for salt, tobacco, guns, and European

Roman Catholicism

2005-03-16T14:31:00.000-08:00

Christian church characterized by its uniform, highly developed doctrinal and organizational structure that traces its history to the Apostles of Jesus Christ in the 1st century AD. Along with Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism, it is one of the three major branches of Christianity.

Yunus Emre

2005-03-15T09:38:00.000-08:00

Though legend obscures the facts of his life, he is known to have been a Sufi (Islamic mystic) who sat for 40 years at the feet of his master, Tapduk Emre. Yunus Emre was well versed in mystical philosophy, especially that of the 13th-century poet and mystic Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi. Like Rumi, Yunus Emre

Indiana, Flag Of

2005-03-15T03:30:00.000-08:00

In 1916, the centennial of Indiana statehood, the Daughters of the American Revolution held a flag design competition. The winning design, by Paul Hadley, was approved as the “state banner” on May 31, 1917. The flag is defined by law as having design elements in either gold or buff, although in practice gold (actually golden yellow) is almost always used. The torch, symbolic of enlightenment

Bohemond Iv

2005-03-14T21:07:00.000-08:00

The younger son of Bohemond III and Orguilleuse, he became count of Tripoli in 1187 and succeeded his father in the principality of Antioch to the exclusion of his nephew Raymond Ruben in 1201. In 1216 Raymond seized control while Bohemond was off in Tripoli, but he was deposed in 1219 and died the following year. Bohemond reigned in Antioch and

Masirah

2005-03-14T10:37:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Masira, island of Oman, in the Arabian Sea, off the country's southeastern coast. The island is separated from the mainland by the narrow Tur'at (channel) Masirah. There is an airfield, occupied by the British until the late 1970s, at the northern tip. The Gulf of Masira lies between the island (north) and the Ra's (cape) al-Madrakah (south). Masirah is the habitat of large colonies of turtles. There

Vitalian, Saint

2005-03-13T03:50:00.000-08:00

Consecrated as St. Eugenius I's successor on July 30, 657, Vitalian soon dealt peacefully with monothelitism, a heresy maintaining that Christ had only one will. In 648 the Byzantine emperor Constans II had issued his Typos, an edict forbidding discussion of the monothelite question and attempting to impose unity

Israel, Samaritans

2005-03-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

Samaritans trace their roots to those Jews not dispersed when the Assyrians conquered Israel in the 8th century BCE. About half of the few hundred surviving members of the Samaritan community live near Tel Aviv in the town of Holon. The rest live on Mount Gerizim (Arabic: Jabal al-Tur), near Nabulus in the West Bank. They preserve their separate religious and communal organizations

Marche

2005-03-12T14:07:00.000-08:00

English The Marches region in central Italy fronting on the Adriatic Sea and comprising the provinces of Ancona, Ascoli Piceno, Macerata, and Pesaro e Urbino; it has a total area of 3,742 square miles (9,692 square km). A region of mountains and hills, its only pieces of level land are scattered along river valleys and on the Adriatic shore northwest of Ancona. Its mountain backbone is the Umbrian-Marchigian

Yacht

2005-03-12T08:07:00.000-08:00

As the Dutch rose to preeminence in sea power during the 17th century, the early yacht became a pleasure craft used first by royalty and later by the burghers on the canals and the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing was incidental, arising as private matches. English yachting began with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low

Trichomycetes

2005-03-11T07:29:00.000-08:00

Class of fungi (division Mycota) with a vegetative body (thallus) consisting of single or branched filaments (hyphae). The class was earlier subsumed under the group Phycomycetes (q.v.). Trichomycetes occur in the gut or on the cuticle (outer covering) of crabs, beach fleas, boring gribble, and other arthropods. Asexual reproduction occurs by the formation of saclike fruiting

Niceforo, Alfredo

2005-03-10T23:19:00.000-08:00

Italian sociologist, criminologist, and statistician who posited the theory that every person has a “deep ego” of antisocial, subconscious impulses that represent a throwback to precivilized existence. Accompanying this ego, and attempting to keep its latent delinquency in check, according to his concept, is

Osage Orange

2005-03-10T19:27:00.000-08:00

Also called Bowwood, French Bois D'arc (Maclura pomifera), thorny tree with large, yellow-green, wrinkled fruit and a milky sap that can produce dermatitis in humans. It is the only species of its genus in the mulberry family (Moraceae). It is native to the south-central United States but has been planted extensively farther north in the Mississippi River valley and at points east of

Lagrange, Marie-joseph

2005-03-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

Lagrange became a Dominican in 1879 and was ordained in 1883. After teaching church history at Toulouse (1884–88), he studied Oriental languages at the University of Vienna before his order sent him to Jerusalem in 1890 to establish the School of Biblical Studies. There he also

Mason And Dixon Line

2005-03-09T15:01:00.000-08:00

Also called Mason-Dixon Line, originally the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania in the United States. In the pre-Civil War period it was regarded, together with the Ohio River, as the dividing line between slave states south of it and free-soil states north of it. Between 1763 and 1767 the 233-mile (375-kilometre) line was surveyed along the parallel 39°43¢ by two Englishmen, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, to define

Marche

2005-03-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

Chemical element, metal of Group VIII of the periodic table, the most used and cheapest metal.

Hesychius Of Alexandria

2005-03-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

Although nothing is known of his life, Hesychius indicated the comprehensive design of his lexicon in a letter prefacing the work. Entitled Synagoge pason

Oakville

2005-03-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

Town, regional municipality of Halton, southeastern Ontario, Canada, 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Toronto. Oakville is situated on Lake Ontario at the mouth of Oakville Creek. It was founded in 1830 by Colonel William K. Chisholm, who established shipbuilding yards there. It was originally incorporated in 1857, and in 1962 it amalgamated with Trafalgar Township to form the new town of Oakville,

Gulf

2005-03-07T04:55:00.000-08:00

Most existing gulfs were formed or greatly extended as a result of the rise in sea level that accompanied the melting of the last Pleistocene glacial ice mass, as vast sections of the continental margins were drowned. Some pronounced

Japan, Sea Of

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

Japanese Nihon-kai, Russian Yaponskoye More, Korean Tonghae, marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded by Japan and Sakhalin Island to the east and by Russia and Korea on the Asian mainland to the west. (The Korean name means “East Sea.”) Its area is 377,600 square miles (978,000 square kilometres). It has a mean depth of 5,748 feet (1,752 metres) and a maximum depth of 12,276 feet (3,742 metres).

Wick

2005-03-05T23:24:00.000-08:00

Royal burgh (town) and fishing port, Highland council area, historic county of Caithness, Scotland. An ancient Norse settlement on the North Sea, situated about 14 miles (23 km) south of John o'Groats, Wick developed as a fishing port and centre and was designated a royal burgh in 1589. It expanded rapidly during the herring boom of the 19th century. Since then herring fishing has declined

Uruapan

2005-03-05T08:40:00.000-08:00

In full Uruapan Del Progreso, city, west-central Michoacán estado (“state”), west-central Mexico. Founded in 1533, Uruapan (from a Tarascan Indian term meaning “where the flowers abound”) is famous for its Spanish-colonial atmosphere and colourful lacquerware and Indian handicrafts (see photograph). It is a rail terminus and agricultural marketing and processing centre in an area producing coffee, grains,

Zambezi River, Navigation

2005-03-05T06:54:00.000-08:00

Given its numerous natural barriers—sandbars at the mouth, shallowness, and rapids and cataracts—the Zambezi is of little economic significance as a trade route. About 1,620 miles of the river, however, are navigable by shallow-draft steamers. The longest stretch of unbroken water runs from the river delta about 400 miles upstream to the Cahora Bassa Dam. Above the dam Lake

Heterophony

2005-03-05T03:36:00.000-08:00

In music, texture resulting from simultaneous performances of melodic variants of the same tune, typical of Middle Eastern practices as well as of a vast array of folk music. Balkan Slavic epic singers, for example, accompany themselves heterophonically on the gusle (fiddle). In Persian art music, instrumentalists are expected to vary the singers' improvised lines.

Catamaran

2005-03-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

Twin-hulled sailing and powered boat developed for sport and recreation in the second half of the 20th century. Its design is based on a raft of two logs bridged by planks that had earlier been used by peoples in the Indonesian archipelago and throughout Polynesia and Micronesia. Early catamarans were up to 21.3 m (70 ft) long, originally paddled by many men, and used for visiting,

Rudolf, Archduke And Crown Prince Of Austria

2005-03-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

The only son of the emperor Francis Joseph and the empress Elizabeth, Rudolf received an extensive education and traveled widely. Politically,

Thomas, Norman (mattoon)

2005-03-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

Following his graduation from Union Theological Seminary, New York City, about 1911, Thomas accepted the pastorate of the East Harlem Church and the chairmanship of the American Parish, a settlement house in one of the poorest sections of New York City.

Salam, Abdus

2005-03-02T22:49:00.000-08:00

Salam attended the Government College at

Bobbin Furniture

2005-03-02T16:10:00.000-08:00

Also called Spool Furniture, heavy furniture made in the late 17th century, whose legs and other parts were lathe-turned to ornamental shapes; also lighter, less boldly turned pieces made in 19th-century cottage style (see cottage furniture). Bobbin turning was a type of ornament consisting of a series of small knobs resembling spools, or bobbins, used on the legs and stretchers of chairs and tables,

Andrade, Mário Pinto De

2005-03-02T08:47:00.000-08:00

While studying classical philology at the University of Lisbon, Andrade, with Agostinho Neto and Amilcar Cabral, formed the Centre for African Studies. He then attended the Sorbonne in Paris, wrote anticolonialist poetry, and was an editor of Présence Africaine (1955–58). Beginning in 1956 he worked

Minas Gerais

2005-03-02T08:04:00.000-08:00

Inland estado (state) of Brazil. It is the storehouse of the mineral riches of that country, as is indicated by its name, which means “general mines.” The state is bounded on the north by the states of Goiás and Bahia; on the east by Bahia, Espírito Santo, and Rio de Janeiro; on the south by Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo; and on the west by São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Goiás. Its area

Jaén

2005-03-01T02:08:00.000-08:00

Provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Andalusia, south-central Spain. It is surrounded by the Sierra Morena (north), the Segura and Cazorla ranges (east), and Parapanda, Lucena, and Segura mountains (south). The western part of the province is composed of plains that lead to the fertile Guadalquivir River valley. There are several irrigation dams

Amalthaea

2005-02-28T22:53:00.000-08:00

In Greek (originally Cretan) mythology, the foster mother of Zeus, king of the gods. She is sometimes represented as the goat that suckled the infant god in a cave in Crete, sometimes as a nymph who fed him the milk of a goat. This goat having broken off one of its horns, Amalthaea filled the horn with flowers and fruits and presented it to Zeus, who, according to one version, placed

Zara, Siege Of

2005-02-28T15:42:00.000-08:00

(1202), a major episode of the Fourth Crusade; the first attack on a Christian city by a crusading army, it foreshadowed the same army's assault on Constantinople, the Byzantine capital, in 1203–04. Zara (modern Zadar, Croatia), a vassal city of the Venetian republic, rebelled against Venice in 1186 and placed itself under the protection of King Béla III of Hungary. Anxious to reassert their

Trigonal System

2005-02-27T05:14:00.000-08:00

Components of crystals in the trigonal system, like those of the hexagonal system, are located by reference to four axes—three of equal length with 120° intersections and one perpendicular to the plane

Smith, George Washington

2005-02-26T21:21:00.000-08:00

Smith's talents were developed by studying with various visiting European teachers in his native Philadelphia, then a mecca for theatre and dance. His performing debut was made in 1832, and he soon grew into a versatile dancer, admired

F-117

2005-02-25T14:19:00.000-08:00

Also called Nighthawk, single-seat, twin-engine jet fighter-bomber built by the Lockheed Corporation (now part of the Lockheed Martin Corporation) for the U.S. Air Force. It was the first stealth aircraft—i.e., an aircraft designed entirely around the concept of evading detection by radar and other sensors. After a difficult development period, during which several prototypes crashed during

Arpino

2005-02-25T09:01:00.000-08:00

Arpino originated as a stronghold of the Volsci, who entered the area during the 5th century BC. During the 4th century BC it was held for a time by the Samnites, and it was finally conquered by the Romans in 305 BC, and the Roman general Gaius Marius was

Kidney Vetch

2005-02-25T01:26:00.000-08:00

Also called ladies' fingers (species Anthyllis vulneraria) perennial herb, of the pea family (Fabaceae), found in meadows, alpine pastures, and dry places of Europe and northern Africa. The low, hairy plant grows to a height of 15–40 cm (6–16 inches) and has narrow leaves 1.4–3.8 cm (0.5–1.5 inches) long and yellow, reddish, or white flowers. It was formerly used as a remedy for kidney disorders but is now frequently cultivated in rock gardens.

Nagasaki

2005-02-24T16:42:00.000-08:00

Capital and largest city, Nagasaki ken (prefecture), western Kyushu, Japan, at the mouth of the Urakami-gawa (Urakami River) where it empties into Nagasaki-ko (Nagasaki Harbour). The harbour is composed of a narrow, deep-cut bay, formed at the meeting point of Nomo-saki (Cape Nomo; south) and Nishisonoki-hanto (Nishisonoki Peninsula; northwest). The city is shaped like an amphitheatre,

Downing, Andrew Jackson

2005-02-24T09:38:00.000-08:00

Downing was born into horticulture, his father being a nurseryman. After finishing his schooling at 16, he worked in his father's nursery and gradually became interested in landscape gardening and architecture.

Abdülhamid I

2005-02-24T08:33:00.000-08:00

Ottoman sultan from 1774 to 1789 who concluded the war with Russia by signing the humiliating Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca. By the terms of the treaty, Russia obtained the fortresses on the coast of the Sea of Azov, the area between the Dnieper and Bug rivers, and navigation and commercial privileges in the Ottoman Empire. Bukovina was ceded to Austria in 1775. Russia annexed

Chastellain, Georges

2005-02-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

Chastellain served Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, until in 1435, after the Peace of Arras, he abandoned soldiering. He spent the next years in France, mainly as secretary

Finno-ugric Languages

2005-02-23T16:38:00.000-08:00

Group of languages constituting much the larger of the two branches of a more comprehensive grouping, the Uralic languages (q.v.). The Finno-Ugric languages are spoken by several million people distributed discontinuously over an area extending from Norway in the west to the Ob River region in Siberia and south to the lower Danube River in Europe. In this vast territory,

Vinh

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

City, north-central Vietnam, located on the Ca River delta, 160 miles (260 km) south of Hanoi. The Ca River enters the Gulf of Tonkin just northeast of Vinh. An important trade centre for the surrounding region, the city is the focus of a densely populated agricultural area. It is also the site of an electric power plant and has chemical and textile industries. Manganese and phosphates

Babergh

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

District, administrative and historic county of Suffolk, England. Babergh extends across the southern part of Suffolk. Babergh includes much of the area made familiar by the paintings of John Constable (1776–1837), who was born within the district at East Bergholt and whose family owned mills there and at Flatford. It also includes a group of small towns—Lavenham, Lindsey, and

Vietnam, Flag Of

2005-02-21T15:39:00.000-08:00

Vietnam has long utilized ceremonies and symbols that originated in China, its northern neighbour. In recent centuries the emperors of Vietnam had banners of yellow when that was the imperial colour of the Ch'ing (Manchu) dynasty in China. Red, a symbol of “the south,” was also often featured in Vietnamese flags. Vietnam was under French colonial government from the 19th

Auburn

2005-02-21T01:20:00.000-08:00

City, King county, western Washington, U.S., in the White River valley, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Tacoma. It was laid out in 1887 by Levi W. Ballard, an early local settler, and named for W.A. Slaughter, an army officer killed in a conflict with area Indians 30 years earlier. Local residents, disliking the name Slaughter (the hotel was named Slaughter House), petitioned the legislature to change

Persian Gulf, Transportation

2005-02-20T07:41:00.000-08:00

For centuries a considerable sea trade has been carried on by local craft between the Persian Gulf and Africa and India; this has become completely dominated by an incessant traffic of large tankers that carry oil from the large marine terminals at Khark Island (Iran), Kuwait, Dhahran (Az-Zahran, in Saudi Arabia), Bahrain, Das Island (United Arab Emirates), and other locations

Yenisey River, Plant and animal life

2005-02-19T23:53:00.000-08:00

Most of the basin is covered with taiga (marshy, primarily coniferous forest), with Siberian spruce, fir, and cedar predominating in the south and larch farther north. In Mongolia, Transbaikalia, and Tuva there are also steppe grasslands, bordered in the extreme south of the Selenga River basin by semidesert. In the far north of the basin, taiga is superseded by tundra

Gobind Singh

2005-02-19T17:34:00.000-08:00

Gobind Singh inherited his grandfather Guru Hargobind's love of the military life and was also a man of great intellectual attainments. He was also the son of the ninth Guru, Tegh Bahadur, who suffered martyrdom at the hands of the

Keaton, Buster

2005-02-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

The son of vaudevillians, Keaton is said to have earned his famous nickname when, at age 18 months, he fell down a staircase; magician

Priam

2005-02-18T04:29:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, the last king of Troy. He succeeded his father, Laomedon, as king and extended his control over the Hellespont. He married first Arisbe (a daughter of Merops the seer) and then Hecuba, by whom he had many children, including his favourites, Hector and Paris. Homer described Priam as an old man, powerless but kindly, not even blaming Helen, the wife of Paris,

Korean Art

2005-02-18T04:07:00.000-08:00

A number of artifacts, including pottery and bronze and iron objects, indicate the early influence of China on Korean art. There is also evidence that Scythian, Siberian, and other non-Chinese cultures had an effect on the design and decoration

Hadley, John

2005-02-17T21:35:00.000-08:00

Hadley's first Newtonian reflector, built in 1721, had a mirror about 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter. The favourable response it evoked inspired

Tachism

2005-02-17T08:12:00.000-08:00

French Tachisme (from tache, “spot”), style of painting practiced in Paris after World War II and through the 1950s that, like its American equivalent, Action painting, featured the intuitive, spontaneous gesture of the artist's brushstroke. Developed by the young painters Hans Hartung, Gérard Schneider, Pierre Soulages, Frans Wols, Chao Wu-chi (Zao Wu-ki), and Georges Mathieu, Tachism was part

West Chester

2005-02-15T22:03:00.000-08:00

Borough (town), seat (1786) of Chester county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies 27 miles (43 km) west of Philadelphia. Settlement began in the early 1700s, and Turk's Head Inn was established there in 1761; but the town's growth was delayed by a prolonged dispute with Chester (now in Delaware county) over the permanent location of the county seat. During the American Revolution, the Battle

Yahya Ibn Mahmud Al-wasiti

2005-02-15T18:42:00.000-08:00

Yahya was not the first to paint in this style, but he was the best artist

Deforest, John William

2005-02-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

The son of a prosperous cotton manufacturer, DeForest did not go to college, owing to poor health, but traveled (1848–49) in the Middle East. He returned home to write a scholarly History of

Luther, Martin, Luther's questioning of authority

2005-02-14T21:11:00.000-08:00

Eck was able to go off to Rome with new prestige to give sharpness to the process of Luther's official condemnation. Luther had now to examine the further implications of his actions to date, in relation to the authority of the church, of councils, and of Scripture; his correspondence shows that he was reaching something like a crisis in his attitude to papal

Hashimiyah

2005-02-14T00:13:00.000-08:00

Also called Rawandiyah, Islamic religiopolitical sect of the 8th–9th century AD, instrumental in the 'Abbasid overthrow of the Umayyad caliphate. The movement appeared in the Iraqi city of Kufah in the early 700s among supporters (called Shi'ites) of the fourth caliph 'Ali, who believed that succession to 'Ali's position of imam, or leader, of the Muslim community had devolved on Muhammad ibn al-Hanafiyah (d. c. 700), one

Shamanism

2005-02-13T22:37:00.000-08:00

I.M. Lewis, Ecstatic Religion: A Study of Shamanism and Spirit Possession, 2nd ed. (1989), provides an excellent introduction. A thorough description of the shamanism of the peoples of Siberia is given in M.A. Czaplicka, Aboriginal Siberia (1914, reissued 1969); and Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstacy, rev. and enlarged ed. (1964, reissued 1989; originally published in French, 1951), with an extensive bibliography. Eliade's work not only deals with phenomena in Central and North Asia but also in North and South America, Southeast Asia, and Oceania; especially useful are the chapters on “Shamanic Ideologies and Techniques Among the Indo-Europeans” and “Shamanic Symbolisms and Techniques in Tibet, China, and the Far East.” Uno Holmberg, Finno-Ugric, Siberian, vol. 4 in Louis Herbert Gray and George Foot Moore, The Mythology of All Races (1927, reissued 1964), describes shamanism among these peoples. A very thorough summary of the worldview and specific traits of shamanism in North Asia, based on a good knowledge of literature on the subject in Russian, may be found in Georg Nioradze, Der Schamanismus bei den sibirischen Völkern (1925); and the traits considered most significant are discussed by Åke Ohlmarks, Studien zum Problem des Schamanismus (1939). V. Diószegi (ed.), Popular Beliefs and Folklore Tradition in Siberia (1968; originally published in German, 1963), contains studies on the shamanistic conceptions of the Sami, Hungarian, and Siberian peoples. Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer, Shamanism: Soviet Studies of Traditional Religion in Siberia and Central Asia (1990), summarizes contemporary Soviet research. Several studies explore Latin American shamanism. Jon Christopher Crocker, Vital Souls: Bororo Cosmology, Natural Symbolism, and Shamanism (1985), demonstrates the intimate relationship between social structure generally—and the structure of the village community in particular—and cosmological symbolism and analyzes the role of the shaman in conserving both the social and the cosmic order; this important study also challenges psychological approaches to the study of shamanism, which focus on the shaman's apparent psychological abnormality, and analyzes the larger social forces that are gradually destroying Bororo shamanism, and with it Bororo culture in general. Johannes Wilbert, Tobacco and Shamanism in South America (1987), examines both the pharmacological and the social aspects of nicotine use by the Warao shamans of Venezuela. A fascinating scholarly and artistic exploration of hallucinogenic medicine is found in Luis Eduardo Luna and Pablo Amaringo, Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman (1991), produced through a unique partnership between a professional anthropologist and a practicing Peruvian shaman. Women's roles in Korean shamanism are explored in Laurel Kendall, Shamans, Housewives, and Other Restless Spirits: Women in Korean Ritual Life (1985), while The Life and Hard Times of a Korean Shaman (1988) chronicles the shamanic career of one South Korean woman through extensive use of her own words and stories and thereby examines the recent social history of South Korea through an interesting lens. David Lan, Guns & Rain: Guerrillas & Spirit Mediums in Zimbabwe (1985), examines the complex interaction between the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army and the traditional shamanic religious leaders of the Dande and Korekore subgroups of Shona during the 1970s; it is a good example of the study of shamanism in tension with modernity.

Tyri, Lake

2005-02-13T11:01:00.000-08:00

Lake, Buskerud fylke (county), southeastern Norway, in the Ringerike (q.v.) region. Irregular in shape, it ranges up to 20 miles (32 km) in length and 10 miles in width, attains a maximum depth of 922 feet (281 m), and has an area of 52 square miles (134 square km). The Begna (river) flows southward into the lake, which is then drained by the Dramselva (river), which empties into Drams Fjord, a branch of Oslo Fjord.

China, Education

2005-02-13T01:50:00.000-08:00

The educational system in China is a major vehicle for both inculcating values in and teaching needed skills to its people. Traditional Chinese culture attached great importance to education as a means of enhancing a person's worth and career. In the early 1950s the Chinese Communists worked hard to increase the country's rate of literacy, an effort that won them considerable

Sung Dynasty

2005-02-12T20:21:00.000-08:00

The Sung dynasty was founded when Chao K'uang-yin, the military inspector general of the Chou dynasty, last of the Five Dynasties, usurped control of the empire in a coup. Thereafter, he used his mastery of diplomatic maneuvering to persuade powerful potential

Ezra And Nehemiah, Books Of

2005-02-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Esdras and Nehemias, two Old Testament books that together with the books of Chronicles formed a single history of Israel from the time of Adam. Ezra and Nehemiah are a single book in the Jewish canon. Roman Catholics long associated the two, calling the second “Esdras alias Nehemias” in the Douay-Confraternity. Later works, e.g., the Jerusalem Bible, maintain separate identities but associate

Mountain, Andean-type belts

2005-02-10T19:57:00.000-08:00

At some continental margins, oceanic lithosphere is subducted. At some of these sites, the landscape is dominated by volcanoes, such as along the Cascades of western North America or in Japan, but at others, such as along much of the Andes of South America, volcanoes constitute only a small or even negligible part of the relief. At Andean-type margins, the crust is typically

Moravia, Alberto

2005-02-10T18:17:00.000-08:00

Moravia contracted tuberculosis of the bone (a form of osteomyelitis usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis) at the age of 8, but, during several

Tibet, Plant and animal life

2005-02-10T00:38:00.000-08:00

The windswept Ch'iang-t'ang is devoid of trees and larger forms of vegetation. Its arid climate supports little except grasses. The varied plant life of Tibet is found in the river valleys and in the lower, wetter regions of the south and southeast. Plant life includes willows, poplars, several types of conifers, teak, rhododendrons, oaks, birches, elms, bamboo, sugarcane,

LastCake

Ferdinand Ii

Lsd

Nice

Constable

Anatomy

Arrastra

Instinct, Modifiable action patterns

Aquatic Locomotion

Ear, Human, Outer ear

Nagaland, The land

Arabesque

Devonshire, William Cavendish, 1st Earl Of, Baron Cavendish Of Hardwick

Hyogo

Biblical Literature, Joel

Avestan Language

Nigeria

Tyr

Görres, Joseph Von

Mitchell, Maggie

Ribbon Seal

Serlio, Sebastiano

Water Resource

Tureen

Amir Ali, Sayyid

Industrial Bank Of Japan

Fayette

ålesund

Fracturedislocation

Ear Squeeze

Man-chou-li

Alakol, Lake

Bopolu

Roman Catholicism

Yunus Emre

Indiana, Flag Of

Bohemond Iv

Masirah

Vitalian, Saint

Israel, Samaritans

Marche

Yacht

Trichomycetes

Niceforo, Alfredo

Osage Orange

Lagrange, Marie-joseph

Mason And Dixon Line

Marche

Hesychius Of Alexandria

Oakville

Gulf

Japan, Sea Of

Wick

Uruapan

Zambezi River, Navigation

Heterophony

Catamaran

Rudolf, Archduke And Crown Prince Of Austria

Thomas, Norman (mattoon)

Salam, Abdus

Bobbin Furniture

Andrade, Mário Pinto De

Minas Gerais

Jaén

Amalthaea

Zara, Siege Of

Trigonal System

Smith, George Washington

F-117

Arpino

Kidney Vetch

Nagasaki

Downing, Andrew Jackson

Abdülhamid I

Chastellain, Georges

Finno-ugric Languages

Vinh

Babergh

Vietnam, Flag Of

Auburn

Fracturedislocation