OldToe

Taranis

2005-04-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

The advantages of using pure oxygen instead of air in refining pig iron into steel were recognized

Water Cock

2005-04-05T00:36:00.000-07:00

(Gallicrex cinerea), marsh bird of the rail family, Rallidae (order Gruiformes). It occurs from India to Japan and throughout Southeast Asia to the Philippines. The male is blue-black with red legs, a strongly conical red bill, and a protruding red frontal shield. The female is mottled and barred yellowish brown. The water cock is troublesome in rice fields, where it likes

Kyoga Lake

2005-04-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Kioga Lake, lake in central Uganda, East Africa, north of Lake Victoria, formed by the Victoria Nile in its middle course. The many-armed lake is shallow, with swampy, papyrus-reeded shores; masses of papyrus are broken loose by strong winds and sometimes have completely blocked the river. Navigation for shallow-draft vessels is possible between Namasagali and Masindi Port. The

Jack-o'-lantern

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

In American holiday custom, a hollowed-out-pumpkin lantern that is displayed on Halloween. The surface of the pumpkin is carved to resemble a face. Light from a candle inserted inside can be seen flickering through the jack-o'-lantern's cutout eyes, nose, and usually grotesquely grinning mouth. The custom originated in the British Isles, with a large turnip or other vegetable

Mountain, Tectonic processes that produce high elevations

2005-04-02T03:04:00.000-08:00

As noted above, individual mountains, mountain ranges, mountain belts, and plateaus exist because tectonic processes have elevated terrains faster than erosion could destroy them. High elevations are created by three major processes: volcanism, horizontal crustal shortening as manifested by folding and by faulting, and the heating and thermal expansion of

Alaskan Mountains

2005-03-31T17:10:00.000-08:00

The mountain ranges of Alaska give their state a rugged and beautiful terrain across its entire expanse. They include the highest peak in North America and are characterized by glaciers, earthquakes, and continuing volcanic activity. Structurally, the ranges are

Quantification

2005-03-31T08:39:00.000-08:00

In logic, the attachment of signs of quantity to the predicate or subject of a proposition. The universal quantifier, symbolized by (-) or (-), where the blank is filled by a variable, is used to express that the formula following holds for all values of the particular variable quantified. The existential quantifier, symbolized ($-), expresses that the formula following holds

Malaspina Family

2005-03-31T06:53:00.000-08:00

Feudal family powerful in northern Italy in the Middle Ages. Descended from Marquis Oberto I, who was created count palatine by the Holy Roman emperor Otto I, the family at first controlled Tuscany, eastern Liguria, and the March of Lombardy. Early in the 11th century the Este, Pallavicino, and Massa-Corsica family branches separated from the Malaspina. The situation

Theatre-in-the-round

2005-03-30T16:38:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Theater-in-the-round, also called Arena Stage, Central Stage, or Island Stage, form of theatrical staging in which the acting area, which may be raised or at floor level, is completely surrounded by the audience. It has been theorized that the informality thus established leads to increased rapport between the audience and the actors. Theatre-in-the-round has its roots in rituals such as those performed by the ancient Greeks, which evolved into

Tie-dyeing

2005-03-29T10:38:00.000-08:00

Method of dyeing by hand in which coloured patterns are produced in the fabric by gathering together many small portions of material and tying them tightly with string before immersing the cloth in the dyebath. The dye fails to penetrate the tied sections. After drying, the fabric is untied to reveal irregular circles, dots, and stripes. Varicoloured patterns may

Mosby, John Singleton

2005-03-29T01:06:00.000-08:00

Reared near Charlottesville, Va., Mosby entered the University of Virginia in 1849 and graduated in 1852. While there, he shot at and wounded a few students, but his resulting jail sentence

Ze'evi, Rechavam

2005-03-28T17:49:00.000-08:00

Israeli soldier and politician (b. Aug. 20, 1926, Jerusalem, Palestine—d. Oct. 17, 2001, Jerusalem, Israel), pursued hard-line ultranationalist policies, most notably in support of his outspoken belief that all Palestinians should be removed from the Israel-occupied territories in Gaza and the West Bank and transferred to Arab countries and his claim that the kingdom of Jordan should

Latin Alphabet

2005-03-27T09:09:00.000-08:00

Also called Roman alphabet most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world, the standard script of the English language and the languages of most of Europe and those areas settled by Europeans. Developed from the Etruscan alphabet at some time before 600 BC, it can be traced through Etruscan, Greek, and Phoenician scripts to the North Semitic alphabet used in Syria and Palestine about 1100 BC. The

Girtin, Thomas

2005-03-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

While still boys, Girtin and his friend J.M.W. Turner were employed to wash in skies for architectural drawings

Hölderlin, (johann Christian) Friedrich

2005-03-26T03:33:00.000-08:00

Hölderlin was born in a little Swabian town on the River Neckar. His father died in 1772, and two years afterward his mother married the burgomaster of the town of Nürtingen, where

Dahomey

2005-03-25T02:09:00.000-08:00

Kingdom in western Africa that flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries in the region that is now southern Benin. According to tradition, at the beginning of the 17th century three brothers vied for the kingdom of Allada, which, like neighbouring Whydah (now Ouidah), had grown rich on the slave trade. When one of the brothers won control of Allada, the other two fled. One went southeast

Akkad

2005-03-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

Ancient region in what is now central Iraq. Akkad was the northern (or northwestern) division of ancient Babylonian civilization. The region was located roughly in the area where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers are closest to each other, and its northern limit extended beyond the line of the modern cities of al-Fallujah and Baghdad. The early inhabitants of this region

López Michelsen, Alfonso

2005-03-23T17:22:00.000-08:00

The son of Alfonso López Pumarejo, who was twice president of Colombia (1934–38 and 1942–45), López Michelsen was educated in Bogotá, Paris, London, and Brussels, with postgraduate studies at Georgetown University and the University of Chile. Returning to Colombia from voluntary exile in Mexico in 1958, he organized a new party of dissident Liberals, the

Endocrine System, Human, Hyperaldosteronism (Conn's syndrome)

2005-03-23T09:58:00.000-08:00

In 1955, an American internist, Jerome Conn, described a form of high blood pressure associated with hypokalemia and reduced acidity of the blood (alkalosis) in patients who harboured a benign tumour of adrenal glomerulosa cells. These patients were found to have high levels of aldosterone in the circulation, and for most the hypertension and hypokalemia disappeared

Guhyasamaja-tantra

2005-03-23T09:52:00.000-08:00

The Guhyasamaja

Ann, Cape

2005-03-22T23:55:00.000-08:00

Cape on the Atlantic Ocean comprising the eastern extremity of Essex county, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S., 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Boston. Sheltering Ipswich Bay, it is indented by Annisquam Harbor on the north and Gloucester Harbor on the south. The tidal Annisquam River, a 4-mile- (6.4-km-) long navigable waterway, connects the two harbours. The cape also shelters the northern

Medicine, Costs of health care

2005-03-22T17:53:00.000-08:00

The costs to national economics of providing health care are considerable and have been growing at a rapidly increasing rate, especially in countries such as the United States, Germany, and Sweden; the rise in Britain has been less rapid. This trend has been the cause of major concerns in both developed and developing countries. Some of this concern is based upon the

Ascii-type Printing Telegraphs

2005-03-22T06:33:00.000-08:00

As embodied in the AT&T Teletype model 37 of 1968, the seven-level ASCII code was signaled by holes punched in an eight-level tape, as illustrated in the Figure. The circles in the Figure represent the holes, which were punched when the operator depressed keys located on a four-row keyboard. The top row of the keyboard consisted of control keys;

Vacuum Technology

2005-03-21T13:45:00.000-08:00

This gauge makes use of the fact that the rate of ion production by a stream of electrons in a vacuum system is dependent on pressure and the ionization probability of the residual gas. Also called the Penning gauge, it consists of two cathodes opposite one another with an anode centrally spaced between them inside a metal or glass envelope. Outside the envelope a

Tall-e Bakun

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

Prehistoric Iranian site located near Persepolis in south-central Iran. The site, continuously inhabited from c. 4200 to c. 3000 BC, is the oldest yet discovered in that area of Iran. Excavations in 1928 by the University of Berlin and in 1932 by the University of Chicago uncovered several building levels, numerous flint implements, stamp and button seals, and many animal and human figurines.

Aldiss, Brian W.

2005-03-19T21:20:00.000-08:00

Aldiss served with the British Army (1943–47) and then was a bookseller until 1956. His first novel, The Brightfount Diaries (1955), was followed by the science fiction novel Non-Stop in 1958. Aldiss went on to write more than 40 science fiction novels

Barb

2005-03-19T06:02:00.000-08:00

Also called Barbary, native horse breed of the Barbary states of North Africa. It is related to, and probably an offshoot of, the Arabian horse but is larger, with a lower placed tail, and has hair at the fetlock (above and behind the hoof). The coat colour is usually bay or brown. Like the Arabian, it is noted for speed and endurance. A variety known as the Spanish-Barb is bred in small numbers in the

Mitchell, Lucy Myers Wright

2005-03-19T01:52:00.000-08:00

Lucy Wright was the daughter of a missionary to the Nestorian Christians in Persia. In 1860 she was taken to the United States, and a short time later she entered Mount Holyoke Female Seminary

Averroës

2005-03-18T18:34:00.000-08:00

Averroës was born into a distinguished family of jurists at Córdoba and died at Marrakech, the North African capital of the Almohad dynasty. Thoroughly versed in the traditional Muslim sciences (especially exegesis of the Qur'an—Islamic scripture—and Hadith, or Traditions, and fiqh, or Law), trained in medicine, and accomplished in philosophy, Averroës rose to be chief

Robert Of Jumièges

2005-03-17T19:23:00.000-08:00

Robert was prior of Saint-Ouen, Rouen, Fr., when elected abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Jumièges in 1037. Taken to England by King Edward in 1042, he was made bishop of London in 1044. He became Edward's chief adviser and head of the Norman party and was appointed archbishop of Canterbury

Karamzin, Nikolay Mikhaylovich

2005-03-17T09:09:00.000-08:00

From an early age, Karamzin was interested in Enlightenment philosophy and western European literature. After extensive travel in western Europe,

Arts, Islamic, Early Islamic literature

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

With the coming of Islam the attitude of the Arabs toward poetry seems to have changed. The new Muslims, despite their long-standing admiration for powerful language, often shunned poetry as reminiscent of pagan ideals now overthrown. For the Qur'an, in surah 26:225 ff., condemned the poets “who err in every valley, and say what they do not do. Only the perverse follow them!” The Qur'an,

Päijänne, Lake

2005-03-16T06:53:00.000-08:00

Lake located in parts of the läänit (provinces) of Keski-Suomi, Häme, and Mikkeli, south-central Finland. The lake has an area of 407 square miles (1,054 square km) and a maximum depth of 305 feet (93 m). It is about 85 miles (135 km) long and between 2 and 18 miles (3 and 29 km) wide. The lake is broken by thousands of islands. Jyväskylä, at the northern tip of the lake, and Heinola, on a southeastern branch of the lake, are

Corbie Step

2005-03-15T17:40:00.000-08:00

Also called crow step stone used for covering any of the steps or indentations in the coping (uppermost, covering course) of a gable; the term is also applied to the step itself. Corbie steps were common in late medieval buildings of the Netherlands and Belgium and occurred frequently in 15th-century Scottish architecture. They also appear in some 15th-century English houses, such as Oxburgh

Kymi

2005-03-15T04:37:00.000-08:00

In full Kymen Lääni, Swedish Kymmene Län, lääni (province), southeastern Finland, bounded by the Gulf of Finland (south) and by Russia (east). The province has a land area of 4,145 square miles (10,736 square km) and includes the southern section of the Saimaa lake system, which is drained by the Kymijoki and Vuoksi rivers. Kymijoki valley industries include timber processing and wood products, iron and steel, textile milling,

Sea Urchin

2005-03-14T13:49:00.000-08:00

Any of about 700 living species of echinoid marine invertebrates (phylum Echinodermata) with a globular body and a radial arrangement of organs, shown by five bands of pores running from mouth to anus over the test (internal skeleton). The pores accommodate tube feet, which are slender, extensible, and often sucker-tipped. From nodules on

Velázquez, Diego

2005-03-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

According to Palomino, Velázquez's first master was the Sevillian painter Francisco Herrera the Elder (c. 1576–1656). In 1611 he was formally apprenticed to Francisco Pacheco, whose daughter he married in 1618. “After five years of education and training,” Pacheco writes, “I married him to my daughter, moved by his virtue, integrity, and good parts and by the expectations of his disposition

Tagalog

2005-03-13T09:10:00.000-08:00

Largest cultural-linguistic group in the Philippines. They form the dominant population in the city of Manila; in all provinces bordering Manila Bay except Pampanga; in Nueva Ecija to the north; and in Batangas, Laguna, Marinduque, Mindoro, and Quezon to the south. Tagalog is an Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) language like the other Philippine languages. The mother

Seligman, Edwin Robert Anderson

2005-03-13T02:36:00.000-08:00

Seligman was the son of a New York banker and had the distinction of being tutored by Horatio Alger. He was educated at Columbia University (Ph.D., 1885) and in Germany and France. Seligman served as professor of political economy at Columbia for 40 years (1891–1931). On his retirement he was chief

Chiang Mai

2005-03-12T10:57:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Chiengmai, largest city in northern Thailand and the third largest city in the nation after metropolitan Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima. It is located on the Ping River, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya River, near the centre of a fertile intermontane basin at an elevation of 1,100 feet (335 m). It serves as the religious, economic, cultural, educational, and transportation centre for

Sinkiang, Uygur Autonomous Region Of, The people

2005-03-11T14:46:00.000-08:00

The Han migration altered the pattern of population distribution and ethnic composition

Avignon Papacy

2005-03-11T11:31:00.000-08:00

Distressed by factionalism in Rome and pressed to come to France by Philip IV, Pope Clement V moved the papal capital to Avignon, which at that time belonged to vassals of the pope. In 1348 it became direct papal property.

Andreotti, Giulio

2005-03-11T09:02:00.000-08:00

Andreotti took a degree in law at the University of Rome and was president of the Catholic students' federation. In 1942 he became a protégé of Alcide De

Porcellanite

2005-03-10T21:00:00.000-08:00

The porcellanite of some authorities is a silicified tuff, a rock composed of volcanic fragments that has been altered

Waitaki River

2005-03-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

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

Ear, Human, Eustachian tube

2005-03-09T06:34:00.000-08:00

The eustachian tube, about 45 millimetres (1.75 inches) long, leads downward and inward from the tympanum to the nasopharynx, the space that is behind and continuous with the nasal passages and is above the soft palate. At its upper end the tube is narrow and surrounded by bone. Nearer the pharynx it widens and becomes cartilaginous. Its mucous lining, which is continuous with

Dunning, John R(ay)

2005-03-09T04:27:00.000-08:00

Dunning graduated from Nebraska Wesleyan University in 1929 and earned a Ph.D. in physics from Columbia University, New York City, in 1934. About the time he received his doctoral degree, he also became an

Xerox Corporation

2005-03-08T22:45:00.000-08:00

The company was founded in 1906 as Haloid Company, changed its name to Haloid Xerox Company in 1958, and to Xerox Corporation in 1961. In 1960 Xerox first marketed the 914 xerographic copier; the process, which made photographic copies onto plain, uncoated paper, had been known

Arabic Language

2005-03-08T13:44:00.000-08:00

Arabic is the language of the Qur'an (or Koran, the sacred book of Islam) and the religious language of all Muslims. Literary Arabic, usually called Classical Arabic, is essentially the form of the language

Marietta

2005-03-07T15:36:00.000-08:00

During the

Yui Shosetsu

2005-03-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

A famous military teacher in the Japanese capital of Edo (now Tokyo), Yui gained a large following among the local ronin

Performing Arts, Latin America.

2005-03-06T14:25:00.000-08:00

The Brazilian director Walter Salles, Jr., enjoyed worldwide success with Central do Brasil (Central Station), the story of a mean old spinster who unwillingly discovers her own resources of humanity through an encounter with an irresistibly appealing little orphan boy. In marked contrast was the visionary style of Djalma Limongi Batista's fantasy biography of

Baboon

2005-03-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

Hans Kummer, In Quest of the Sacred Baboon: A Scientist's Journey, trans. from German (1995), is a narrative account of this primatologist's study of the hamadryas baboon. Baboon Tales (1998), directed by Gillian Darling Kovanic, explains and portrays on video the life of a baboon troop during a newborn's first year.

Profit

2005-03-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

In business usage, the excess of total revenue over total cost during a specific period of time. In economics, profit is the excess over the returns to capital, land, and labour (interest, rent, and wages). To the economist, much of what is classified in business usage as profit consists of the implicit wages of manager-owners, the implicit rent on land owned by the firm, and

Cranko, John

2005-03-05T07:18:00.000-08:00

His basic dance training was at the Cape Town University Ballet School, where he performed as well as choreographed his first ballet, The Soldier's Tale (1942). In 1946 he joined the Sadler's Wells Ballet (later called the Royal Ballet) and continued to choreograph.

Stern, Isaac

2005-03-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

Stern was taken by his parents to San Francisco as a one-year-old. At age 6 he began taking piano lessons, but his interest soon turned to the violin. He studied at the San Francisco Conservatory (1928–31) and with

Chaeronea

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

In ancient Greece, fortified town on Mt. Petrachus, guarding the entry into the northern plain of Boeotia. Controlled by the Boeotian city of Orchomenus (q.v.) in the 5th century BC, it was the scene of the battle in which Philip II of Macedon defeated Thebes and Athens (338 BC). The battle is commemorated by a statue of a large lion sitting on its haunches. In 86 BC Chaeronea was the scene of

Neosho

2005-03-03T00:21:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1839) of Newton county, southwest Missouri, U.S. It lies in the Ozark Mountains, 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Joplin. Founded in 1839, its name, of Osage Indian derivation, meaning “clear and abundant water,” probably refers to the nine flowing springs (the largest of which is at Big Spring State Park) within the city limits. During the American Civil War, Neosho was the scene of many

Northern Territory, Transportation

2005-03-02T14:41:00.000-08:00

The transport system is relatively undeveloped by Western standards, reflecting the small population base and the vast distances to be traversed. The backbone of the road system is provided by the Stuart Highway, which runs south from Darwin to the South Australian border and connects most of the territory's urban centres. Upgraded by the military in World War

Refugees: Asylum In The U.s.

2005-03-02T09:06:00.000-08:00

In January the U.S. Coast Guard formed a flotilla around Haiti to stop refugees from fleeing to the United States. In the same month, Zoë Baird's nomination as attorney general was scrapped because she had employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny. In June a federal judge ruled that some 270 HIV-positive Haitians already granted political asylum had to be released from an

Armenian Language

2005-03-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

Language that forms a separate branch of the Indo-European language family. (It was once erroneously considered a dialect of Iranian.) Armenian is the mother tongue of the Turkish Armenians and of the Armenians in Armenia, where it is spoken by 2,850,000 people. In other parts of the former Soviet Union, especially in the neighbouring republics of Georgia and Azerbaijan, it is

Kerner, Justinus Andreas Christian

2005-03-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

After the death of his father (1799), Kerner worked in a cloth factory until he was able to study medicine at Tübingen. There he met Uhland and spent most of his time reading and writing poetry. He became

Computers, Vannevar Bush's Differential Analyzer

2005-02-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

In 1930 an engineer named Vannevar Bush at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed the first modern analog computer. The Differential Analyzer, as he called it, was an analog calculator that could be used to solve certain classes of differential equations, a type of problem common in physics and engineering applications that are often very tedious

Arts, Central Asian, Siberian tribes

2005-02-28T10:18:00.000-08:00

In the virtually contemporary metalwork of Siberian nomads, single animals of the cat family, such as panthers, carry the Altaic tendency of exaggeration further by twisting their bodies into a circle. In slightly later Siberian plaques, subtle openwork is used, a feature rarely present in Altaic or Scythian objects but frequently encountered in the more rounded

Sa'adia Ben Joseph

2005-02-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

Arabic Sa'id Ibn Yusuf Al-fayyumi Jewish exegete, philosopher, and polemicist whose influence on Jewish literary and communal activities made him one of the most important Jewish scholars of his time. His unique qualities became especially apparent in 921 in Babylonia during a dispute over Jewish calendrical calculations. He produced his greatest

Czechoslovak Region, History Of

2005-02-27T01:50:00.000-08:00

The modern states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia came into being on Jan. 1, 1993, with the dissolution of the Czechoslovak federation. Czechoslovakia itself had been formed in 1918 at the end of World War I, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Kwashiorkor

2005-02-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

The condition in children

Line Islands

2005-02-26T04:10:00.000-08:00

The Line Islands extend 1,600 miles (2,600 km) northwestward from French Polynesia. They have a land area of 193 square miles (500 square km) and are divided into Northern, Central, and Southern groups.

Mammal, classification

2005-02-24T21:38:00.000-08:00

Family Ornithorhynchidae:

Gulag

2005-02-24T08:07:00.000-08:00

Abbreviation of Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-trudovykh Lagerey (Russian: “Chief Administration of Corrective Labour Camps”), the system of Soviet labour camps and accompanying detention and transit camps and prisons that from the 1920s to the mid-1950s housed the political prisoners and criminals of the Soviet Union. At its height the Gulag imprisoned millions of people. The name Gulag had been largely unknown in the West until the publication

Wupatki National Monument

2005-02-24T02:39:00.000-08:00

The monument comprises more than 800 pre-Columbian

Vistula River

2005-02-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

Polish Wisla, largest river of Poland and of the drainage basin of the Baltic Sea. With a length of 651 miles (1,047 kilometres) and a drainage basin of some 75,100 square miles (194,500 square kilometres), it is a waterway of great importance to the nations of eastern Europe; more than 85 percent of the river's drainage basin, however, lies in Polish territory. The Vistula is connected with the Oder drainage area

Leaning Tower Of Pisa

2005-02-22T06:58:00.000-08:00

Italian Torre Pendente di Pisa medieval structure in Pisa, Italy, that is famous for the settling of its foundations, which caused it to lean 5.5 degrees (about 15 feet [4.5 metres]) from the perpendicular by the late 20th century. The bell tower, begun in 1173 as the third and final structure of the city's cathedral complex, was designed to stand 185 feet (56 metres) high and was constructed of white marble. Three of its eight stories

Coimbra

2005-02-22T05:15:00.000-08:00

City, capital, and concelho (municipality), Coimbra district, north-central Portugal, on the northern bank of the Mondego River. A 4th-century Latin inscription identifies Coimbra with Aeminium, while Condeixa, 8 miles (13 km) southwest, was the ancient Conimbriga or Conimbrica. Aeminium was for more than a century a Moorish stronghold, but in 878 it was recaptured by Alfonso III

Caballé, Montserrat

2005-02-21T07:27:00.000-08:00

Spanish operatic soprano, admired for her versatility and phrasing and for her performances in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti, and Richard Strauss. She began her studies as a child at the Conservatorio del Liceo in Barcelona with Eugenia Kenny and later continued with Napoleone Annovazzi and Conchita Badía. In 1956 she joined the Basel

Van Fleet, James Alward

2005-02-21T00:13:00.000-08:00

Van Fleet graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York

Vigo, Jean

2005-02-20T18:38:00.000-08:00

French film director whose blending of lyricism with realism and Surrealism, the whole underlined with a cynical, anarchic approach to life, distinguished him as an original talent. Although he completed only three feature films and one short, Taris (1931), before his early death, his films produced great public reaction. A Jean Vigo Prize is

Space Exploration, Earth survey satellites

2005-02-20T06:28:00.000-08:00

This broad category of satellites has progressed from relatively simple photography to include many forms of observation of the Earth. Meteorological, or weather, satellites operate globally. From a polar orbit, photographs of the Earth's surface are taken by television scanning and transmitted to Earth receiver stations. In addition, meteorological satellites

Hyalosiderite

2005-02-20T03:41:00.000-08:00

Silicate mineral, a member of the forsterite–fayalite series (q.v.) of olivines.

Carolingian Art

2005-02-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

Charlemagne's dream of a revival of the Roman Empire in the West determined both his political aims and his artistic program. His strong patronage of the arts gave impetus to a remarkable return to Roman classicism in the copying of Early Christian models and the influence

Vail, Alfred Lewis

2005-02-17T19:41:00.000-08:00

Shortly after Vail graduated from the University of the City of New York in 1836, he met Morse and became interested in Morse's telegraph experiments. In return for a share in the

Scandinavian Literature, The Romantic period

2005-02-17T19:39:00.000-08:00

The Romantic movement came to Denmark from Germany, inspired partly by the German Jena Romantics and partly by the Neoclassicism of Goethe and Schiller. Friedrich Schelling's philosophy was interpreted in Denmark by the Norwegian Henrik Steffens, but the leading Danish Romantics gave it a form very different from the original. The leader of the Romantic movement

Antigonus Ii Gonatas

2005-02-17T04:40:00.000-08:00

Antigonus II was the son of Demetrius I Poliorcetes and grandson of Antigonus I. While Demetrius was busy fighting in Macedonia and Asia Minor, Antigonus, as his regent, was engaged in maintaining Macedonian hegemony in Greece, which had been achieved in 287 BC. Demetrius was

Bloodfin

2005-02-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

Freshwater fish, a species of characin (q.v.).

Amphoterism

2005-02-16T21:07:00.000-08:00

With hydrogen chloride,

Stuttgart

2005-02-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

City, capital (1945) of Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany, astride the Neckar River, in a forested vineyard-and-orchard setting in historic Swabia. It lies between the Black Forest on the west and the Swabian Jura to the south. There were prehistoric settlements and a Roman fort in the area of Bad Cannstatt (a suburb), but Stuttgart itself originated as a Stuotgarten,

Río De Oro

2005-02-15T08:03:00.000-08:00

Southern region of Western Sahara. It has an area of 71,000 square miles (184,000 square km) and lies between Cape Blanco and latitude 26° N, near Cape Bojador. The climate is very arid, with virtually no rainfall, and there are extreme variations of temperature in the interior, ranging from nearly 32° F (0° C) at night to about 122° F (50° C) in the afternoon. Its principal town, Dakhla (formerly Villa Cisneros),

Hui

2005-02-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Hwei, or Hui-hui, also called (Wade-Giles) T'ung-kan, or (Pinyin) Tonggan, Burmese Pathay, Russian Dungan, Chinese Muslims, intermingled with the Han Chinese throughout China but relatively concentrated in western China—in the provinces or autonomous regions of Sinkiang, Ningsia, Kansu, Tsinghai, Honan, Hopeh, Shantung, and Yunnan. Considerable numbers also live in Anhwei, Liaoning, and Peking. The Hui are also found on the frontier between China and Myanmar (Burma) and

Anauxite

2005-02-14T16:36:00.000-08:00

Mineral, an interstratified mixture of kaolinite and free silica. See kaolinite.

Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc.

2005-02-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

The company's history traces to 1859, when George F. Gilman and George Huntington Hartford founded the Great American Tea Co. in New York City to trade in tea bought from the cargoes of the clipper ships. It became largely

Sweyn Ii Estridsen

2005-02-13T19:11:00.000-08:00

The son of Ulf, a Danish earl, and Estrid, a sister of Canute I the Great, Sweyn fled to Sweden after his father was murdered in 1027 on orders of Canute. After the death of Canute (1035), when Hardecanute was ruling in Denmark and Magnus in Norway, the young kings agreed that whoever lived longer

Aprey Faience

2005-02-11T17:21:00.000-08:00

Tin-glazed earthenware produced by the factory of Jacques Lallemant de Villehaut, Baron d'Aprey, established in 1744 on his estate at Aprey, near Dijon, Fr. The early pieces, which are heavy and rather crude, recall blue-and-white earthenware in the Rouen style or have Rococo forms decorated with chinoiseries (motifs influenced by the Chinese), flowers, and birds. From about

Clisson, Olivier De

2005-02-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

Brought up in England, Clisson fought on the English side for the Breton duke John IV (or V; John of Montfort) against the French-supported Charles of Blois

Qabus Ibn Sa'id

2005-02-11T05:22:00.000-08:00

Qabus was educated at Bury Saint Edmunds, Suffolk, England, and at Sandhurst, the Royal Military Academy, in Berkshire. He was called home in 1965 by his father, Sa'id ibn Taymur, who kept his son a virtual prisoner for six years while maintaining his subjects in a state of relative underdevelopment despite the country's growing oil revenues.

Habeas Corpus

2005-02-11T02:55:00.000-08:00

An ancient common-law writ, issued by a court or judge directing one who holds another in his custody to produce the body of the person before the court for some specified purpose. Although there have been and are many varieties of the writ, the most important is that used to correct violations of personal liberty by directing judicial inquiry into the legality of

Niue

2005-02-10T21:30:00.000-08:00

Internally self-governing island state in free association with New Zealand. It is the westernmost of the Cook Islands but is administratively separate from them. Niue lies 1,340 miles (2,156 km) northeast of Auckland and 240 miles (385 km) east of Vava'u, Tonga, in the south-central Pacific. The capital is Alofi. Area 100 square miles (260 square km). Pop. (1994 est.) 2,200.

Gabon

2005-02-10T07:44:00.000-08:00

The National Rally of Woodcutters, Gabon's largest opposition party, broke into two rival factions on July 20, 1998, after dissidents, led by the party's secretary-general, Pierre-André Kombila Koumba, challenged the leadership of

Displacement Current

2005-02-09T19:44:00.000-08:00

In electromagnetism, a phenomenon analogous to an ordinary electric current, posited to explain magnetic fields that are produced by changing electric fields. Ordinary electric currents, called conduction currents, whether steady or varying, produce an accompanying magnetic field in the vicinity of the current. The British physicist James Clerk Maxwell in

Anderlecht

2005-02-08T03:40:00.000-08:00

A natural clearing in the primitive forest where foundations of a Roman villa and Frankish cemeteries have been found, Anderlecht is believed to be the original site of what is now

Haldi

2005-02-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

The national god of the ancient kingdom of Urartu, which ruled the plateau around Lake Van, now eastern Turkey, from about 900 to about 600 BC. Haldi was represented as a man, with or without wings, standing on a lion; in the absence of religious texts his attributes are otherwise unknown. A Urartian temple at ancient Musasir dedicated to Haldi and to the goddess Bagbartu, or Bagmashtu,