HealthyBall

Avidya

2005-04-04T17:55:00.000-07:00

(Sanskrit), in the Buddhist chain of dependent origination, the ignorance that fetters man to transmigration. See pratitya-samutpada.

Alcidae

2005-04-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

Bird family, order Charadriiformes, which includes the birds known as auk, auklet, dovekie, guillemot, murre, murrelet, and puffin (qq.v.).

Epic Theatre

2005-04-03T05:57:00.000-07:00

Form of didactic drama presenting a series of loosely connected scenes that avoid illusion and often interrupt the story line to address the audience directly with analysis, argument, or documentation. Epic theatre is now most often associated with the dramatic theory and practice evolved by the playwright-director Bertolt Brecht in Germany from the 1920s onward.

Cohesion

2005-04-02T09:27:00.000-08:00

In physics, the intermolecular attractive force acting between two adjacent portions of a substance, particularly of a solid or liquid. It is this force that holds a piece of matter together. Intermolecular forces act also between two dissimilar substances in contact, a phenomenon called adhesion. These forces originate principally because of coulomb (electrical)

Extrinsicism

2005-04-01T05:54:00.000-08:00

In Christian thought, for example, this is illustrated by the tendency

Carnivore, Form and function

2005-04-01T05:34:00.000-08:00

Hyenas have a total of 34 teeth, fewer than the generalized number found in other carnivores. The aardwolf has fewer upper and lower premolars and molars, resulting in from 28 to 32 teeth. The incisors are unspecialized in all members of the Hyaenidae, with the third incisor being the largest. The canines are well-developed, sharp, and elongate. Premolars of hyenas have well-developed

China, The Tangut

2005-03-31T02:33:00.000-08:00

In the northwest the Tangut, a Tibetan people, inhabited the region between the far end of the Great Wall in modern Kansu and the Huang Ho bend in Inner Mongolia. Their semioasis economy combined irrigated agriculture with pastoralism. Their control over the terminus of the famous Silk Road made them middlemen in trade between Central Asia and China. They adopted

Dance, George, The Younger

2005-03-30T20:48:00.000-08:00

The youngest son of George Dance the Elder, who was clerk of works to the City of London from 1735 to 1768, the younger Dance received his formal training in the office of his father and during several years

Tendinitis

2005-03-30T03:31:00.000-08:00

Also spelled tendonitis inflammation of the sheaths of the tendons. These sheaths are composed of thin, filmy tissue that permits the sliding motion of tendons within them. The cause of inflammation is irritation of the sheaths by prolonged or abnormal use of the tendons. Less often it may follow invasion of the tendon sheaths by bacteria with subsequent infection. It is in many instances

Mcmillan, Terry

2005-03-29T15:34:00.000-08:00

The daughter of working-class parents, McMillan grew up near Detroit. She was a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (B.S., 1979) and Columbia University (M.F.A., 1979). She taught at the universities

Argentina, Galtieri and the Falklands War

2005-03-28T18:57:00.000-08:00

Videla was succeeded in March 1981 by General Roberto Viola, who, with the Dirty War near its end, was quite unable to control his military allies. In December he was shouldered aside by Lieutenant General Leopoldo Galtieri. Galtieri faced a slumping economy and increased civil opposition to military rule. His trump card was that he had promised his navy ally, Vice Admiral

Mercury Poisoning

2005-03-28T03:05:00.000-08:00

Harmful effects of various mercury compounds on body tissues and functions. Certain modern industrial and biological processes concentrate mercury compounds to dangerous levels. Mercury is used on a substantial scale in numerous industries, such as the manufacture of chemicals, paints and various household items, pesticides, and fungicides. In addition to

Vladimir

2005-03-27T07:42:00.000-08:00

Oblast (province), western Russia. It is centred on Vladimir city and lies east of Moscow in the basin of the Oka River. The greater part is a low plain, with extensive swamps in the south. The oblast has spruce, pine, and oak, but much of the forest has been cleared. Industries produce textiles, engineering goods, timber goods, and glassware. Agriculture is concentrated chiefly

World Water Crisis: Is There A Way Out?

2005-03-27T04:48:00.000-08:00

In 1995 Swedish hydrologist Malin Falkenmark made a revolutionary contribution to hydrologic studies by distinguishing blue water, by which she meant all precipitation that contributes to stream runoff and groundwater and is readily withdrawn for human use, from green water, which is all precipitation that is transpired by vegetation or evaporated from the soil

Lagoon

2005-03-26T03:55:00.000-08:00

Area of relatively shallow, quiet water with access to the sea but separated from it by sandbars, barrier islands, or coral reefs. The term lagoon is used to describe two classes of phenomena that share the physical characteristics described but are otherwise quite distinct. These are coastal lagoons, found on most land margins, and coral-reef lagoons (see photograph

Health And Disease

2005-03-25T08:22:00.000-08:00

In early 2003 a virulent new infectious disease caught the world off guard. The Chinese Ministry of Health reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in mid-February that 305 people in Guangdong province had developed an acute pneumonia-like illness and that 5 of them had died. Laboratory tests had been negative for influenza viruses, anthrax, plague, and other infectious

Joyner-kersee, Jackie

2005-03-25T02:54:00.000-08:00

Joyner showed great enthusiasm for athletics early on, and as a teenager she won the first of four consecutive National Junior Pentathlon championships. In high school she was a

Norge, Géo

2005-03-24T16:50:00.000-08:00

In the 1920s Norge flirted with the avant-garde, writing some loosely experimental plays (which were criticized by the Surrealists) and joining Raymond Rouleau in an experimental theatre group, Groupe Libre. Norge's good-natured irony

Gulmarg

2005-03-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

Resort town situated in the Indian-held sector of Jammu and Kashmir state, in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. Located at an elevation of 8,500 feet (2,600 m), Gulmarg (meaning “meadow of flowers”) displays a breathtaking panoramic view of the whole Vale of Kashmir and of Nanga Parbat, one of the highest peaks (26,660 feet [8,126 m]) of the Himalayas. The valley and mountains may be viewed

Libya

2005-03-23T03:08:00.000-08:00

The Libyan leadership continued to seek improved international relations with the United States and European Union countries. Diplomatic relations had been restored with all except the United States by the beginning of 2002. The outcome of the Lockerbie trial in January 2001 was unconvincing internationally, unsatisfactory from the point of view of the families of

Jaboticaba

2005-03-22T16:45:00.000-08:00

Also called jaboticabeira any of several trees of the genus Myrciaria, of the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), notably M. cauliflora and M. jaboticaba, native to southeastern Brazil. The trees have been introduced to other warm regions, including western and southern North America. The name is also applied to the edible fruit of these trees. The trees do not differ greatly among the species; they are dome-shaped

Low, Seth

2005-03-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

Low was graduated as valedictorian of Columbia College in 1870, thereupon

Antimonide

2005-03-20T20:03:00.000-08:00

Any member of a rare mineral group consisting of compounds of one or more metals with antimony (Sb). The coordination of the metal is virtually always octahedral or tetrahedral; i.e., in the former, each metal ion occupies a position within an octahedron composed of six negatively charged antimony ions, whereas, in the latter, the metal ion is surrounded by four negatively

Amstetten

2005-03-20T03:08:00.000-08:00

Town, Niederösterreich Bundesland (federal state), northeastern Austria. It is situated near the Ybbs River, northeast of Steyr. Recorded in 996 as a possession of the bishops of Passau, it was fortified and granted market rights when it passed to the Habsburgs in 1276. It achieved town status in 1897. The 14th-century parish church in the town incorporates an earlier Romanesque basilica.

Scandinavian Literature, The modern Swedish novel

2005-03-19T13:58:00.000-08:00

The development of the novel was associated with Gustaf Hellström, Ludvig Nordström, Elin Wägner, and Sigfrid Siwertz. Hellström's work as a journalist in Europe, the United States, and England greatly influenced him. Irony and careful detail emerged in his best known novel, Snörmakare Lekholm får en idé (1927; Lacemaker Lekholm Has an Idea). Siwertz was a more elegant stylist,

Ma'arri, Al-

2005-03-19T11:20:00.000-08:00

Al-Ma'arri was a descendant of the Tanukh tribe. A childhood disease left him virtually blind. He studied at the Syrian cities of Aleppo, Antioch, and Tripoli and soon began his literary career, supported by a small

Szymanowski, Karol

2005-03-19T11:05:00.000-08:00

Szymanowski began to compose and play the piano at an early age. In 1901 he went to Warsaw and studied harmony, counterpoint, and composition privately until 1904. Finding the musical life in Warsaw limiting, he went to Berlin, where he organized the Young Polish

Saint Clair, Lake

2005-03-18T08:35:00.000-08:00

Expansive shallow basin, forming part of the boundary between Michigan, U.S., and Ontario, Can. Roughly circular, with a surface area of 467 square miles (1,210 square km), it connects with the St. Clair River and Lake Huron (north) and with the Detroit River and Lake Erie (south). It is 26 miles (42 km) long (north to south), and 24 miles (39 km) wide (east to west) and has a mean surface altitude of 573 feet (175 m). The lake's

Kuei-yang

2005-03-17T22:29:00.000-08:00

Originally

Catacomb

2005-03-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

Latin catacumba , Italian catacomba subterranean cemetery composed of galleries or passages with side recesses for tombs. The term, of unknown origin, seems to have been applied first to the subterranean cemetery under the Basilica of San Sebastiano (located on the Appian Way near Rome), which was reputed to have been the temporary resting place of the bodies of Saints Peter and Paul in the last half

Lupine

2005-03-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

The

Kandersteg

2005-03-16T16:12:00.000-08:00

Village, Bern canton, southwest-central Switzerland. It lies in the upper valley of the Kander River, in the Bernese Oberland, southwest of Interlaken. It is a mountaineering and winter-sports resort; the Blümlisalphorn (12,018 feet [3,663 m]), Balmhorn (12,168 feet [3,709 m]), and Doldenhorn (11,952 feet [3,643 m]) are nearby. As the highest station on the north side of the Bern-Lotschberg-Simplon railway, it has direct

Baylor University

2005-03-15T16:48:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning located in Waco, Texas, U.S. Baylor, affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas, is the world's largest Baptist university and the oldest college in Texas. The university offers about 160 bachelor's, 75 master's, and 20 doctoral degrees through nine academic divisions: the college of arts and sciences, the Hankamer

God (anderson Ind.), Church Of

2005-03-15T05:34:00.000-08:00

Christian fellowship that considers itself a “reformation movement” among Christians and not a church or sect; it accepts its title for identification purposes only. Its members believe that they have organized themselves to carry on the work of the church, but they do not believe they have organized the church, which is made up of all Christians and cannot be limited

Turishcheva, Lyudmila Ivanovna

2005-03-14T23:23:00.000-08:00

Turishcheva graduated from the Rostov Pedagogical Institute in 1974. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, she won a gold medal as a team member in the combined exercises, as she also did at the 1972 Games in Munich and the 1976 Games in Montreal. She won a gold medal for individual

Rocky Mountains, Plant life

2005-03-14T04:24:00.000-08:00

The plant communities of the Rockies vary markedly according to elevation, latitude, and exposure. On the eastern slopes in Colorado and New Mexico, strong winter winds off the arid plains stunt and deform the scattered cedars and piñon pines. The lower elevations at this end of the system are predominantly treeless, except along watercourses, where cottonwoods

Berdsk

2005-03-13T23:38:00.000-08:00

City, Novosibirsk oblast (province), central Russia. It lies along the Novosibirsk Reservoir just south of Novosibirsk city. Founded at the beginning of the 18th century as a fortress, it became a city in 1944. Berdsk's industrial activities include flour milling and radio production. It is on the Turksib Railway. A recreation centre, it has sanatoriums on the outskirts. Pop.

Uganda, Flag Of

2005-03-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

Buganda, one of the kingdoms of Uganda, was one of the few precolonial African states to have a national flag of its own; however, to avoid utilizing any flag, symbol, or totem associated with a particular area, the British selected a crested crane as the badge for use on the British Blue Ensign and in other official banners for Uganda. That bird became recognized as the

Human Disease, Diseases of genetic origin

2005-03-13T01:48:00.000-08:00

Certain human diseases result from mutations in the genetic complement (genome) contained in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of chromosomes. A gene is a discrete linear sequence of nucleotide bases (molecular units) of the DNA that codes for, or directs, the synthesis of a protein, and there may be as many as 100,000 genes in the human genome. Proteins, many of which are enzymes

Waco

2005-03-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

After the American Civil War Waco became a river-bridge crossing on cattle trails; later its economy was based almost exclusively on cotton,

Braddon, Mary Elizabeth

2005-03-11T18:38:00.000-08:00

The daughter of a solicitor in Cornwall and the sister of a prime minister of Tasmania, Braddon received a private education. She produced her first novel, The Trail of the Serpent, in 1861. In the same year appeared Garibaldi and Other

Uruguay, Flag Of

2005-03-11T09:07:00.000-08:00

As part of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (formed in 1816), the Banda Oriental—which would eventually become the country known as Uruguay—was originally under the blue-white-blue horizontally striped flag raised by General Manuel Belgrano in 1812. However, like many other Argentine provinces, Uruguay developed a flag of its own. The earliest example, dating from

Amphibole

2005-03-10T20:33:00.000-08:00

The complex chemical composition of members of the amphibole group can be expressed by the general formula A0–1B2C5T8O22(OH, F, Cl)2, where A = Na, K; B = Na, Li, Ca, Mn, Fe2+, Mg; C = Mg, Fe2+, Mn, Al, Fe3+, Ti; and T = Si, Al. Nearly complete substitution may take place between sodium and calcium and among magnesium, ferrous iron, and manganese (Mn). There is limited substitution between ferric iron and aluminum

Tyumen

2005-03-10T17:57:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Tiumen, or T'umen ', oblast (province), central Russia, occupying an area of 554,100 square miles (1,435,200 square km) in the Ob-Irtysh Basin. In the extreme west the Ural Mountains attain 6,217 feet (1,895 m) in Mount Narodnaya, but the remainder of the oblast's huge area is a low, exceptionally flat plain, with innumerable lakes and very extensive swamps. The oblast stretches from tundra in the north, with its scanty vegetation

Furnivall, Frederick James

2005-03-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

English literary scholar who, partly by his own efforts in textual criticism and partly by founding learned societies, especially the Early English Text Society, was instrumental in initiating a major revival in the study of medieval English literature. Though he first studied law and was called to the bar in 1849, he came to divide his

Trajan

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

Latin in full Caesar Divi Nervae Filius Nerva Traianus Optimus Augustus, also called (AD 97–98) Caesar Nerva Traianus Germanicus, original name Marcus Ulpius Traianus Roman emperor (AD 98–117), the first to be born outside Italy. He sought to extend the boundaries of the empire to the east (notably in Dacia, Arabia, Armenia, and Mesopotamia), undertook a vast building program, and enlarged social welfare.

Cohen, Paul Joseph

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

Cohen attended the University of Chicago (M.S., 1954; Ph.D., 1958). He held appointments at the University of Rochester, N.Y. (1957–58), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1958–59) before joining the Institute

Asturias, Miguel ángel

2005-03-08T02:39:00.000-08:00

In 1923, after receiving

Firminy

2005-03-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

Town, Loire département, Rhône-Alpes région, southeast-central France. It lies on the Ondaine River immediately southwest of Saint-Étienne. The name, originally Firminiaco signifying “place of Firmin,” was first recorded (971) in a charter given by the king of Burgundy. It is the site of two historic churches, one built in the 12th century, the other in the 16th. Firminy-Vert is a complex

Nivkh Language

2005-03-06T15:35:00.000-08:00

Formerly called Gilyak Language, isolated language with two main dialects spoken by some 400 Nivkh, roughly 10 percent of the ethnic group. The Nivkh live on Sakhalin Island and along the estuary of the Amur River in eastern Siberia. Nivkh is not known to be related to any other language, and it is usually included with the Luorawetlan languages and the Yeniseian languages in the catchall areal category

Benedict (xiii)

2005-03-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, he was professor of canon law at Montpellier University in southern France before he was

Scandinavian Literature, The heroic sagas

2005-03-05T11:33:00.000-08:00

The fantastic element was further developed in the fornaldar sögur, literally “the sagas of antiquity,” whose heroes were supposed to have lived in Scandinavia and Germany before Iceland was settled. The best known, the Völsunga saga (c. 1270), retold in prose stories from heroic lays of Sigurd, the Burgundians, and Jörmunrekr, and the Hrólfs saga kraka (c. 1280–1350) incorporated ancient

Stone Age, Ax factories and flint mines

2005-03-05T04:46:00.000-08:00

Celts, or axes, were manufactured in factories where specially suitable rock outcrops occurred, and they were traded over great distances. Products of the factories at Graig Lwyd, Penmaenmawr, North Wales, were transported to Wiltshire and Anglesey, those of Tievebulliagh on the Antrim coast to Limerick, Kent, Aberdeen, and the Hebrides. Similarly, large nodules of

Cyprus, The Lusignan kingdom, Genoese rule, and Venetian rule

2005-03-04T03:37:00.000-08:00

Guy, a Frenchman who called himself lord of Cyprus, invited families that had lost their lands in Palestine after the fall of Jerusalem to settle in Cyprus, thereby laying the basis for a feudal monarchy that survived to the end of the Middle Ages. His brother and successor, Amalric, obtained the title of king from the Holy Roman emperor Henry VI. The earliest kings of

Checkered Beetle

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

Any of the approximately 3,000 species of the insect family Cleridae (order Coleoptera). Checkered beetles occur throughout the world, mainly in the tropics; the common name derives from their markings and coloration (orange, red, yellow, green, and blue). They range between 3 and 24 mm ( 1/10 to almost 1 inch) in length, with the majority between 5 and 12 mm ( 1/5 and 1/2 inch); they have

Heisenberg, Werner

2005-03-03T18:21:00.000-08:00

In full Werner Karl Heisenberg German physicist and philosopher who discovered a way to formulate quantum mechanics in terms of matrices (1925). For that discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for 1932. In 1927 he published his indeterminacy, or uncertainty, principle, upon which he built his philosophy and for which he is best known. He also made important contributions

Cacomistle

2005-03-02T20:37:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Cacomixl (Bassariscus), either of two species of large-eyed, long-tailed carnivores related to the raccoon (family Procyonidae). Cacomistles are grayish brown with lighter underparts and white patches over their eyes. The total length is about 60–100 cm (24–40 inches), about half of which is the bushy, black-and-white-ringed tail. The animals weigh about 1 kg (2.2 pounds) and have small faces with long

Interior Design, Renaissance to the end of the 18th century

2005-03-02T05:47:00.000-08:00

The Renaissance was a revival of the old classical styles, and it is not surprising that it first showed itself to a marked degree in Italy. The Gothic style had made comparatively little headway in Italy, where it was regarded as barbarous except in some of the more northerly towns, such as Milan and Venice. The style had more or less coincided with a period of primitive

Kodaira

2005-03-01T03:42:00.000-08:00

City, Tokyo Metropolis (to), Honshu, Japan, in the Musashino Plateau, on the Shinjuku Line (railway). The surrounding area was developed as an agricultural region after the construction of a water supply system in the mid-1600s. The long, rectangular fields were planted with mulberry trees (for silk production) in the early 20th century, and Kodaira grew as a residential suburb

Biblical Literature, Exegetical problems

2005-02-28T13:27:00.000-08:00

This third category does not involve any consonantal alteration but results solely from the different possibilities inherent in the consonantal spelling. Thus, the lack of vowel signs may permit the word DBR to be read as a verb DiBeR (“he spoke,” as in the Masoretic text of Hosea) or as a noun DeBaR (“the word of,” as in the Septuagint). The absence of word dividers could lead

Bartholin, Caspar Berthelsen

2005-02-28T02:11:00.000-08:00

At the University of Padua (1608–10) Bartholin conducted anatomical studies under the famed Italian anatomist Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente. These formed the basis for his manual Anatomicae Institutiones Corporis

Islam, The teachings of Ibn al-'Arabi

2005-02-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

The account of the doctrines of Ibn al-'Arabi (12th–13th centuries) belongs properly to the history of Islamic mysticism. Yet his impact on the subsequent development of the new wisdom was in many ways far greater than was that of as-Suhrawardi. This is true especially of his central doctrine of the “unity of being” and his sharp distinction between the absolute One, which is undefinable

Esquire

2005-02-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

In England in the later Middle Ages, the term esquire (armiger) was used to denote holders of knights' estates who had not taken up their knighthood, and from this practice it became usual

China, State and society

2005-02-27T03:26:00.000-08:00

The ritual schedule records 29 royal ancestors over a span of 17 generations who, from at least Wu-ting to Ti-hsin, were each known as wang (king). Presiding over a stable politico-religious hierarchy of ritual specialists, officers, artisans, retainers, and servile peasants, they ruled with varying degrees of intensity over the North China Plain and parts of Shantung, Shansi,

Chemical Association

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

The aggregation of atoms or molecules into larger units held together by forces weaker than chemical bonds that bind atoms in molecules. The term is usually restricted to the formation of aggregates of like molecules or atoms. Polymerization also denotes the formation of larger units by the union of like small units but usually with chemical bonds between the

Celesta

2005-02-25T09:24:00.000-08:00

Also spelled celeste, orchestral percussion instrument resembling a small upright piano, patented by a Parisian, Auguste Mustel, in 1886. It consists of a series of small metal bars (and hence is a metallophone) with a keyboard and a simplified piano action in which small felt hammers strike the bars. Each bar is resonated by a wooden box or similar chamber tuned to reinforce the fundamental

Arendal

2005-02-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

Town, port, and seat of Aust-Agder fylke (county), southern Norway. Its excellent harbour is on Tromøy Sound, a protected sound sheltered by the offshore island of Tromøy. A port since the 14th century, Arendal had the largest fleet in Norway before the steamship era. From the 16th century it prospered from timber exports. Some timber is still floated down the Nidelva (river), which

Romanov Dynasty

2005-02-24T11:35:00.000-08:00

Rulers of Russia from 1613 until the Russian Revolution of February 1917. Descendants of Andrey Ivanovich Kobyla (Kambila), a Muscovite boyar who lived during the reign of the grand prince of Moscow Ivan I Kalita (reigned 1328–41), the Romanovs acquired their name from Roman Yurev (d. 1543), whose daughter Anastasiya Romanovna Zakharina-Yureva was the first wife of Ivan IV the Terrible (reigned

Andes Mountains

2005-02-24T01:41:00.000-08:00

The Andes consist of a vast series of extremely high plateaus surmounted by even higher peaks that form an unbroken rampart over a distance of some 5,500 miles (8,900 kilometres)—from the southern tip of South America to the continent's northernmost coast on the Caribbean. They separate a narrow

Gastronomy, Triumph of French grande cuisine

2005-02-23T22:46:00.000-08:00

During the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI, culinary methods were refined and a new order and logic were introduced into the French cuisine. Brillat-Savarin noted that in the reign of Louis XVthere was generally established more orderliness of meals, more cleanliness and elegance, and those refinements of service, which having increased steadily to our own time

O'neill, Eugene

2005-02-23T06:47:00.000-08:00

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).

Amsterdam

2005-02-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

City, Montgomery county, eastern New York, U.S. It lies along the Mohawk River, 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Schenectady. Settled by Albert Veeder in 1783, it was known as Veedersburg until it was renamed for Amsterdam, Netherlands, in 1804. Its location on the Mohawk Trail, the completion of the Erie Canal (1825; now part of the New York State Canal System), and the arrival of the railroad (1836) stimulated

Chile, The northern desert

2005-02-22T03:29:00.000-08:00

This region experiences an aridity that is primarily caused by the dry subsidence created by the South Pacific high pressure cell and the stabilizing action of the cold Peru Current. Although the air along the coast is abnormally humid, it never reaches saturation point; at most, there is a development of coastal fogs (garúa or camanchaca). Besides the lack of rain,

Thomas, Edward

2005-02-21T09:51:00.000-08:00

Thomas was educated at St. Paul's School and the University of Oxford and spent most of his life unhappily

Altare Glass

2005-02-20T07:49:00.000-08:00

Type of Italian glassware produced in the town of Altare, near Genoa. The Altare glass industry was established in the 11th century by glassmakers from Normandy and developed independently of the much better known glassworks of Venice. During the 15th century the great demand for Venetian glass and, consequently, its profitability led the Venetians to confine glassmakers

Actinomyxidian

2005-02-19T03:01:00.000-08:00

Also called Actinosporean, any parasitic microorganism of the class Actinomyxidia (Actinosporea), phylum Myxosporidia (Myxospora). It inhabits the alimentary canal of certain aquatic worms. The characteristic spores develop in the host's gut after the union of large and small gametes. The spores contain three polar filaments (possibly anchoring devices) enclosed in capsules and one to many

Macaroni

2005-02-18T14:37:00.000-08:00

Small tubular form of pasta (q.v.).

Insurance, Credit insurance

2005-02-18T11:19:00.000-08:00

The use of credit in modern societies is so various and widespread that many types of insurance have grown up to cover some of the risks involved. Examples of these risks are the risk of bad debts from insolvency, death, and disability; the risk of loss of savings from bank failure; the risk attaching to home-loan debts when installments are not paid for various reasons,

Altare Glass

2005-02-18T01:24:00.000-08:00

ALS affects the motor neurons—i.e., those neurons that control muscular movements.

Dubois, Pierre

2005-02-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

French lawyer and political pamphleteer during the reign of Philip IV the Fair; his most important treatise, De recuperatione Terrae Sanctae (1306, “On the Recovery of the Holy Land”), dealt with a wide range of political issues and gave a good picture of contemporary intellectual trends while ostensibly outlining the conditions

Tabriz

2005-02-16T17:20:00.000-08:00

The name Tabriz is said to derive from tap-riz (“causing

Han-k'ou

2005-02-16T01:36:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Hankou , conventional Hankow large urban area and river port in Wu-han Municipality (shih), Hupeh Province (sheng), central China. Located on the left bank of the Han Shui (river) at its confluence with the Yangtze, it is the largest of the three Wu-han (q.v.) cities (Han-k'ou, Han-yang, and Wu-ch'ang). It was founded as Hsia-k'ou under the Sung dynasty (960–1279). Han-k'ou was one of the first Chinese cities opened to foreign trade

Literature, Latin America.

2005-02-16T00:53:00.000-08:00

Carlos Fuentes

Bradley, Omar N(elson)

2005-02-14T20:36:00.000-08:00

Bradley graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1915. He served as commandant of the Infantry School, Fort Benning, Ga.,

Sculpture, Western, The Orientalizing period

2005-02-14T20:07:00.000-08:00

Sculpture of the Orientalizing period was profoundly affected by technical and stylistic influences from the East. In about 700 BC, the Greeks learned from their Eastern neighbours how to use molds to mass-produce clay relief plaques. Widely adopted, this technique helped to establish in Greece a stereotyped convention for figure representation, even in freestanding,

Nordal, Sigurdur Jóhannesson

2005-02-14T04:02:00.000-08:00

Nordal received his doctorate in Old Norse philology from the University of Copenhagen in 1914, with a thesis on the saga of Saint Olaf. He studied philosophy

Acari

2005-02-13T16:18:00.000-08:00

Also called Acarida, or Acarina, subclass of the arthropod class Arachnida that includes the mites and ticks. The acarids may be separated into three orders, Opilioacariformes, Parasitiformes, and Acariformes, consisting of six suborders and about 428 families.

Gympie

2005-02-12T20:53:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Queensland, Australia, lying on Gympie Creek and the Mary River. It was first known as Nashville, after James Nash, who discovered gold there in 1867; its present name comes from gimpi-gimpi, the Aboriginal word for the stinging tree. Proclaimed a town in 1890, it was made a city in 1905. In addition to gold, which was mined until 1930, limestone and silver have been worked in

Saudi Arabia

2005-02-12T05:36:00.000-08:00

Since the bomb attack against the U.S. military housing complex at Al-Khubar in 1996, United States investigators had expressed frustration at the poor cooperation between American and Saudi investigators. The Saudis proposed and later dropped plans to extradite from Canada a

Philip Ii

2005-02-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

John II's grant of the duchy of Burgundy to Philip in September 1363 did not become effective until

Tsu

2005-02-10T23:49:00.000-08:00

Capital, Mie ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies along the mouth of the Ano River, facing Ise Bay. Tsu developed around a 16th-century castle and served as a post town and trade centre for cotton during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867). A modern cotton mill established in Tsu in 1898 was followed after World War II by factories producing electrical machines, glass, and appliances. During the

Mauchline

2005-02-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

Village, situated near the River Ayr in East Ayrshire council area, historic county of Ayrshire, Scotland, and closely associated with the Scottish national poet, Robert Burns. It is the site of the Burns National Memorial. Mauchline has many links with the poet, who lived with his brother Gilbert at nearby Mossgiel from 1784 to 1788. In Castle Street stands a house, now a museum,

Kearney

2005-02-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Buffalo county, south-central Nebraska, U.S. It lies on the north (left) bank of the Platte River. The first settlers were Swedish immigrants who came there in 1865. The city was founded in 1871 at the junction of the Burlington and the Union Pacific railroads. It was named for nearby Fort Kearny, a U.S. Army post (1848–71) that had been established to protect travelers on the Oregon

Hench, Philip Showalter

2005-02-09T23:48:00.000-08:00

American physician who with Edward C. Kendall in 1948 successfully applied an adrenal hormone (later known as cortisone) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. With Kendall and Tadeus Reichstein of Switzerland, Hench received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1950 for discoveries concerning hormones of the adrenal

Tablas De Damiel National Park

2005-02-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

Nature reserve, located about 19 miles (30 km) northeast of the city of Ciudad Real, south-central Spain. The park, created in 1973, occupies 4,633 acres (1,875 hectares) and lies at the confluence of the Guadiana and Ciguela rivers, where fresh and brackish waters converge on the marshes and support both migratory and resident waterfowl year-round.

Q

2005-02-08T23:07:00.000-08:00

Pseudonym of Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch (q.v.).

Alleghenian Orogeny

2005-02-08T06:32:00.000-08:00

A mountain-building event that affected the Appalachian Geosyncline in late Paleozoic (Permian) time, from about 300 million to 250 million years ago. The term Appalachian Revolution formerly was applied to this event. The Alleghenian orogeny is most pronounced in the central and southern Appalachians and produced the compressional folding and faulting of the Ridge

Quinn, Anthony Rudolph Oaxaca

2005-02-07T23:16:00.000-08:00

Mexican-born American actor (b. April 21, 1915, Chihuahua, Mex.—d. June 3, 2001, Boston, Mass.), appeared in more than 150 films but was universally identified with one role especially—the earthy full-of-life title character in Zorba the Greek (1964), whom he inhabited so completely and comfortably that many of his later parts seemed also to be infused with that character's spirit. He embraced his offscreen

Roman Catholicism, History Of, Napoleon Iexportation of the Revolution

2005-02-07T14:23:00.000-08:00

As it was obvious that the French Revolution itself had to be carried to some more permanent settlement, so it was recognized on all sides that a more stable arrangement of church-state relations was essential. This was achieved by Napoleon Bonaparte in a concordat concluded with Pope Pius VII on July 15/16, 1801. It recognized that Roman Catholicism was the faith of most Frenchmen

Aracari

2005-02-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

Any of certain toucan species. See toucan.