HealthyPocket

Hawaiian

2005-04-04T05:19:00.000-07:00

Any of the aboriginal people of Hawaii, descendants of Polynesians who migrated to Hawaii in two waves: the first from the Marquesas Islands, probably about AD 400; the second from Tahiti in the 9th or 10th century. Numbering about 300,000 at the time of Captain James Cook's arrival at the islands in 1778, full-blooded Hawaiians numbered fewer than 10,000 in the late 20th century (though there are large

Cockpit, The

2005-04-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

Converted into a theatre for Queen Anne's

Kabbala

2005-03-31T21:15:00.000-08:00

By the mid-16th century the unchallenged centre of Kabbala was Safed, Galilee, where one of the greatest of all Kabbalists, Isaac ben Solomon Luria, spent the last years of his life. According to Gershom Gerhard Scholem, a modern Jewish scholar of Kabbala, Luria's influence was surpassed only by that of the Sefer ha-zohar. Lurianic Kabbala developed several basic doctrines:

Yajurveda

2005-03-30T05:32:00.000-08:00

Collection of mantras (sacred formulas) and verses that forms part of the ancient sacred literature of India known as the Vedas. See Veda.

Koguryo Style

2005-03-28T21:48:00.000-08:00

Korean visual-arts style characteristic of the Koguryo kingdom (37 BC–AD 668) of the Three Kingdoms period. The Koguryo were a horse-riding northern people, and their art was powered by the forceful spirit of a hunter-warrior tribe. Their fresco paintings on the walls of tombs are characterized by movement and emotion rather than formal beauty and decorative visual effect. Outlines

Vail, Theodore Newton

2005-03-25T04:33:00.000-08:00

After a highly successful career in the railway postal service, Vail was persuaded in 1878 to join Bell Telephone as general manager. During his active tenure in this

'abd Al-mu'min

2005-03-23T23:44:00.000-08:00

Even while he was pursuing his conquest, 'Abd al-Mu'min had established a central government for his empire. To the traditional clan organization of the Masmudah and other Berber peoples supporting the Almohads he added an organization to promote the spread of Almohad doctrine and a central administration (the makhzan) modeled on those of Muslim Spain, which was staffed

Mfengu

2005-03-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

The Mfengu are descendants of refugees from the Mfecane in Natal, largely of Hlubi, Bhele, and Zizi origin, who made their way to the eastern Cape, where they were succoured by local chiefs. In the wars of 1835, 1846, and 1851–53, the Mfengu fought on the British side

Tracery

2005-03-20T22:46:00.000-08:00

In architecture, bars, or ribs, used decoratively in windows or other openings; the term also applies to similar forms used in relief as wall decoration (sometimes called blind tracery), and hence, figuratively, to any intricate line pattern. The term is applicable to the system of window decoration developed in Europe during the Gothic period as well as to the pierced

Chuuk Islands

2005-03-18T17:48:00.000-08:00

Formerly Truk Islands, or Hogoleu, cluster of 14 much-eroded high volcanic islands in Chuuk State, Federated States of Micronesia, in the western Pacific Ocean. Forming part of the eastern Caroline Islands, the Chuuk Islands are enclosed within an encircling barrier bank composed of some 69 sand and coral islets. The bank (often referred to as a reef) encloses a lagoon of 822 square miles (2,129 square km) in area and

Malakbel

2005-03-17T18:07:00.000-08:00

West Semitic sun god and messenger god, worshiped primarily in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra; he was variously identified by the Greeks with Zeus and with Hermes and by the Romans with Sol. His name may have been of Babylonian origin, and he was considered the equivalent of the Babylonian sun god Shamash. Engravings on the four sides of a marble altar from Palmyra

Tracery

2005-03-17T06:04:00.000-08:00

American organization formed at a convention in Washington, D.C., as the product of the merger in 1896 of the National Federation of Afro-American Women and the National League of Colored Women—organizations that had arisen out of the African American women's club movement. Founders of the NACW included Harriet Tubman, Frances E.W. Harper, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, and Mary

Jizah, Al-

2005-03-16T10:41:00.000-08:00

The

Giurgiu

2005-03-15T01:23:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), southeastern Romania, occupying an area of 1,471 square miles (3,810 square km) bounded on the south by the Danube River and Bulgaria. The county, consisting mostly of lowlands, was formed in 1981 from a portion of Ilfov district. Besides the eastward-flowing Danube, the county is also drained southward by the Arges and Dimobovita rivers. At the junction of the Câlnistea and

Llano Estacado

2005-03-14T20:04:00.000-08:00

Also called Staked Plains, portion of the High Plains of the United States, along the Texas–New Mexico border. It covers an area of about 30,000 square miles (78,000 square km) and is bounded by the Canadian River valley (north), the “break of the plains” (east), the Edwards Plateau (south), and the Mescalero Ridge overlooking the Pecos River (west). Strikingly level in appearance and averaging 3,000–4,000 feet (900–1,200 m) above sea level, the

Widener, George D.

2005-03-13T05:55:00.000-08:00

Scion of a wealthy Philadelphia family, Widener was educated privately and at the deLancey School in Philadelphia. He managed the family's affairs and became a director of the Electric Storage Battery Company and of the Provident National Bank,

J. Walter Thompson Co.

2005-03-11T07:12:00.000-08:00

The company grew out of one of the first advertising agencies, Carlton & Smith, established in 1864. Four years later William J. Carlton hired James Walter Thompson, age 20, as a bookkeeper. Thompson later became

La Follette, Robert M

2005-03-11T00:33:00.000-08:00

As a boy growing up in moderately prosperous rural areas, as a student at the University of Wisconsin (1875–79), as a county district attorney (1880–84) and congressman from southwestern Wisconsin, La Follette developed the personality and style that made him a popular leader. He combined an unusually outgoing personality, which made it natural for him to absorb the ideas and prejudices

Encarnación

2005-03-09T03:33:00.000-08:00

Formerly Itapúa city, southeastern Paraguay. The city was founded in 1614 on the west bank of the Upper Paraná River, opposite Posadas, Arg., to which it is linked by a bridge completed in 1987. Severely damaged by a tornado in 1926, it is now one of the largest cities of Paraguay and a busy commercial, manufacturing, and communications centre. The city is divided into two sectors: the High (old) City and the

Russell, Morgan

2005-03-08T17:39:00.000-08:00

After studying under Robert Henri in New York City, Russell moved to Paris in 1906 and lived there for 40 years. In 1913–14 he and Stanton Macdonald-Wright established Synchromism (q.v.) as an avant-garde movement, issuing manifestos and exhibiting together in Munich, Paris, and New York

Aerobatics

2005-03-07T23:04:00.000-08:00

Maneuvers in which an aircraft is flown under precise control in unusual attitudes (the position of an aircraft determined by the relationship between its axes and a reference such as the horizon). A myriad of aerobatic maneuvers exist, some of the better-known being rolls, loops, stall turns (hammerheads), and tailslides. The term aerobatics came into use in early 1914 after

Tiselius, Arne

2005-03-07T05:06:00.000-08:00

As an assistant to The Svedberg at the University of Uppsala (1925–32), Tiselius developed the use of electrophoresis for the delicate task of separating proteins in suspension on the basis of their electrical charge. For

Fu-an

2005-03-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Fu'an, city in northeastern Fukien sheng (province), China. It is situated on the east bank of the Chiao River, with highway communications running north into Chekiang and south along the coast to Fu-chou, some 90 miles (150 km) away. It is in an area of Fukien that was developed comparatively late, since it is somewhat less productive than the south of the province. Fu-an is above all a market

Aedesius

2005-03-02T01:39:00.000-08:00

Aedesius founded the so-called Pergamum school of philosophy, whose major concerns were theurgy (the magic practiced by some Neoplatonists who believed miracles could be worked by the intervention of divine and beneficent spirits) and

Setúbal

2005-03-01T21:01:00.000-08:00

The city served as a royal residence during the reign of King John II (1481–95). With the exception of the Igreja (church) de Jesus (begun 1490) and the 17th-century Castelo de São Filipe, the

Barari Ghat, Battle Of

2005-03-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

(Jan. 9, 1760), in Indian history, one of a series of Afghan victories over the Marathas in their war to gain control of the decaying Mughal Empire, which gave the British time in which to consolidate their power in Bengal. At the Barari Ghat (Ferry Station) of the Jumna (now Yamuna) River, 10 miles (16 km) north of Delhi, the Maratha chief Dattaji Sindhia, retreating from the Punjab before the Afghan

Lur

2005-02-27T08:59:00.000-08:00

Also spelled lure bronze horn, or trumpet, found in prehistoric Scandinavian excavations. It has a conical bore that extends in length from roughly 5 to 8 feet (1.5 to 2.5 metres) in a bent S-shape (somewhat resembling a mammoth tusk) and ends in an embossed metal disk. The mouthpiece of the lur is permanently affixed. Lurs are usually found in pairs and were probably played ritually.

Indian Summer

2005-02-26T14:05:00.000-08:00

Period of dry, unseasonably warm weather in late October or November in the central and eastern United States. The term originated in New England and probably arose from the Indians' practice of gathering winter stores at this time. This autumn warm period also occurs in Europe, where in Britain it is called All-hallown summer or Old Wives' summer. Indian summer may

Binghamton

2005-02-25T19:29:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1806) of Broome county, south-central New York, U.S. It lies at the confluence of the Chenango and Susquehanna rivers, near the Pennsylvania border, 75 miles (121 km) south of Syracuse. With Johnson City and Endicott, it forms the Triple Cities. Settled in 1787 at the site of an Iroquois village (Ochenang), it was first known as Chenango Point and was later named for William Bingham,

Computers, Integrated circuits

2005-02-23T07:06:00.000-08:00

William Shockley, a coinventor of the transistor, started Shockley Semiconductor Laboratories in 1955 in his hometown of Palo Alto, California. In 1957 his eight top researchers left to form Fairchild Semiconductor Company, funded by Fairchild Camera and Instrument Company. Along with Hewlett-Packard, another Palo Alto firm, Fairchild Semiconductor was the seed of what

Extracellular Fluid

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

In biology, body fluid that is not contained in cells. It is found in blood, in lymph, in body cavities lined with serous (moisture-exuding) membrane, in the cavities and channels of the brain and spinal cord, and in muscular and other body tissues. It differs from intracellular fluid (fluid within the cells) in that it generally has a high concentration of sodium and low concentration

Density Current

2005-02-22T10:26:00.000-08:00

Density currents in nature are exemplified by those currents

Essad Pasa (toptani)

2005-02-20T05:15:00.000-08:00

Essad was the scion of a rich Albanian family. He joined the Young Turk movement in 1908 and became deputy for Albania in the new Turkish parliament. The most powerful of the central native lords, he was given

Wesleyan Church

2005-02-19T23:27:00.000-08:00

U.S. Protestant church, organized in 1968 by the merger of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America and the Pilgrim Holiness Church. The Wesleyan Methodist Church originated in 1843 after members of the Methodist Episcopal Church withdrew from that church to organize a nonepiscopal, antislavery church. The Pilgrim Holiness Church originated in 1897 by uniting several Holiness

Talavera De La Reina

2005-02-19T20:20:00.000-08:00

Town, Toledo provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Castile-La Mancha, central Spain, on the northern bank of the Tagus River near its confluence with the Alberche. The town originated as the Roman Caesarobriga and was conquered by King Alfonso VI in 1082. Alfonso XI gave it to his queen, Maria of Portugal, whence its appellation de la Reina (“of the

Brachiation

2005-02-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

In animal behaviour, specialized form of arboreal locomotion in which movement is accomplished by swinging from one hold to another by the arms. The process is highly developed in the gibbon and siamang, which are anatomically adapted for it in the length of their forelimbs, their long hooklike fingers, and the mobility of their shoulder joints. The South American

Ilesha

2005-02-16T05:03:00.000-08:00

Town, Osun state, southwestern Nigeria. It lies in the Yoruba Hills and at the intersection of roads from Ile-Ife, Oshogbo, and Akure. The town is one of the oldest settlements in Yorubaland—according to tradition, it was founded by an owa (“king”) who was one of the 16 sons of the deity Oduduwa. Ilesha was an important military centre in the campaigns against Ibadan, 60 miles (97 km) west-southwest,

Heinrich Von Veldeke

2005-02-15T11:19:00.000-08:00

While at the court of the landgrave Hermann of Thuringia, Heinrich completed the Eneit, modeled on the French Roman d'Eneas rather

Patel, Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai

2005-02-15T06:54:00.000-08:00

Byname Sardar Patel (Hindi: “Leader Patel”) Indian barrister and statesman, one of the leaders of the Indian National Congress during the struggle for Indian independence. During the first three years of Indian independence after 1947, he served as deputy prime minister, minister of home affairs, minister of information, and minister of states.

Papandreou, Andreas

2005-02-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

The son of Georgios Papandreou, he attended the American College in Athens and studied law at the University of Athens. A Trotskyite, he was imprisoned briefly by the dictator Ioannis Metaxas and, when freed, fled to the United States, where he received

Vulgar Latin

2005-02-13T19:19:00.000-08:00

Spoken form of non-Classical Latin from which originated the Romance group of languages. Vulgar Latin was primarily the speech of the middle classes in Rome and the Roman provinces; it is derived from Classical Latin but varied across Roman-occupied areas according to the extent of education of the population, communication with Rome, and the original languages

Taranaki

2005-02-11T15:10:00.000-08:00

Taranaki's first European settlement was New Plymouth (1841), the name used when the area

Colchicum

2005-02-09T03:46:00.000-08:00

Genus of flowering plants in the family Liliaceae, consisting of about 30 species of herbs native to Eurasia. The stemless, crocuslike flowers bloom in autumn, and some are variously called autumn crocus and meadow saffron. The fruit is a three-valved capsule that ripens in the spring when the leaves appear. In some species the leaves arise from

Peter Des Roches

2005-02-08T16:47:00.000-08:00

As bishop of Winchester from 1205 to 1238, he organized and added to the financial resources of his see. He held ecclesiastical appointments in Touraine

Fair Deal

2005-02-07T04:37:00.000-08:00

In U.S. history, President Harry S. Truman's liberal domestic reform program, the basic tenets of which he had outlined as early as 1945. In his first postwar message to Congress that year, Truman had called for expanded social security, new wages-and-hours and public-housing legislation, and a permanent Fair Employment Practices Act that would prevent racial or religious

Permafrost, Agriculture

2005-02-06T23:02:00.000-08:00

Permafrost affects agricultural developments in many parts of the discontinuous permafrost zone. Its destructive effect on cultivated fields in both Russia and North America results from the thawing of large masses of ice in the permafrost. If care is not exercised in selecting areas to be cleared for cultivation, thawing of the permafrost may necessitate

Rabbit

2005-02-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

There is no single taxonomic group that constitutes the rabbit. Rather the name refers to an accumulation of 10 genera in the family Leporidae whose characteristics are intermediate between hares and pikas, the other members of order Lagomorpha. The best-known and most recognizable of the 28 rabbit species are the European rabbit and the 16 or so species of North and South

Cohn, Ferdinand (julius)

2005-02-05T03:12:00.000-08:00

Cohn was born in the ghetto of Breslau, the first of three sons of a Jewish merchant. His father spared no effort in the education of his precocious oldest child, and Ferdinand retained a melancholy

Plumtree

2005-02-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

Town, southwestern Zimbabwe. At the Botswana border, it is the last major Zimbabwean station on the Bulawayo–Cape Town railway and has customs, immigration, and quarantine facilities. Founded in 1897, it serves the Bulalima-Mangwe district as administrative centre. Local industries include grain milling and brickmaking. Pop. (1982) 3,250.

Neuropteran

2005-02-03T20:14:00.000-08:00

Any member of the insect order Neuroptera. At one time the term neuropteran referred to many groups of insects that are now placed in other orders, so that, in a strict sense, the order Neuroptera now includes only the lacewings. Frequently, however, two other closely related insect groups are included as neuropterans. These are the snakeflies (Raphidiodea), so-called

Jefferson, Martha

2005-02-01T14:52:00.000-08:00

After Jefferson became president in 1801, he often called upon Dolley Madison, wife of his secretary of state, James Madison, to handle social events at the White House. On other occasions his daughters Patsy and Polly served as hostesses. During Jefferson's second administration, Patsy gave birth to a son, the first baby to be born in the White House.

France, History Of, Cultural and scientific attainments

2005-01-31T08:22:00.000-08:00

The cultural climate of the later 19th century in France, as in the Atlantic world generally, was strongly marked by the current called positivism. The post-1848 generation looked with contempt on what it considered the excesses and the bad taste of the preceding Romantic era. A new interest in science and a new vogue of realism in literature and the arts prevailed during

Moses, Sir Charles (joseph Alfred)

2005-01-31T07:24:00.000-08:00

Moses graduated from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, Eng. (1918), and was stationed with the British army in Ireland before immigrating

Augusta

2005-01-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

Town, Siracusa province, Sicily, Italy, north of the city of Syracuse; it lies on a long sandy island off the southeast coast between the Golfo (gulf) di Augusta and the Ionian Sea and is connected by two bridges with the mainland. The town was founded near the site of the ancient Dorian town of Megara Hyblaea in 1232 by Emperor Frederick II for the rebellious people of Centuripe

Azaïs, Pierre-hyacinthe

2005-01-28T15:59:00.000-08:00

Philosopher whose optimism was rooted in the idea that human experience is imbued with a natural and harmonious balance between joy and sadness and that it is in this balance that meaning can be discovered. He advocated the idea in the work that first brought him fame, Des compensations dans les destinées humaines, 3 vol. (1809). In a following work,

January

2005-01-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

First month of the Gregorian calendar. See month and the accompanying Table.

Dumbarton Oaks Conference

2005-01-26T08:38:00.000-08:00

This conference constituted the first important step taken to carry out paragraph 4 of the Moscow

Arts, Central Asian, Visual arts

2005-01-26T08:13:00.000-08:00

Aleksandr Belenitsky, Central Asia (Eng. trans. 1969), a short general survey of the area and its art; M.P. Griaznov and A.P. Bulgakov, L'Art ancien de l'Altai (1958), a helpful introduction to the subject (in Russian and French); Basil Gray, Buddhist Cave Paintings at Tun-huang (1959), a scholarly study; René Grousset, L'Empire des steppes: Attila, Gengis-Khan, Tamerlan, 4th ed. (1960; Eng. trans., The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia, 1970), and De la Grèce á la Chine (1948), especially useful historical surveys; Ormonde M. Dalton, The Treasure of the Oxus, 3rd ed. (1964), a specialized and authoritative survey of this collection of objects; Richard N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia (1962), a helpful widely embracing survey of the Persian culture; Bruno Dagens, Marc Le Berre, and Daniel Schlumberger, Monuments préislamiques d'Afghanistan (1964), an aid to understanding Kushan art; Karl Jettmar, Die frühen Steppenvölker (1964; Eng. trans., Art of the Steppes, 1967), a useful survey of nomadic animal art; Albert Von Le Coq, Auf Hellas Spuren in Oltturkistan (1926; Eng. trans., Buried Treasures of Chinese Turkestan, 1928), of great importance for the work in this area; Sergei Rudenko, Frozen Tombs of Siberia: The Pazyryk Burials of Iron Age Horsemen (1970; orig. pub. in Russian, 1953), indispensable to the student of Altaic nomads; Tamara Talbot Rice, The Ancient Arts of Central Asia (1965), a useful introduction to the subject; W.W. Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India (1938),still an indispensable work; David L. Snellgrove and Hugh E. Richardson, A Cultural History of Tibet (1968), a general work that helps to place the various expressions of Tibetan art in an historical context—the index may be consulted for carving, metalwork, painting, and carpets; Giuseppe Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls, 3 vol. (1949), the classic work on Tibetan religious painting; and Indo-Tibetica, 4 vol. (1932–41), a basic work (in Italian) for anyone seriously interested in Tibetan art, consisting largely of photographic plates, unobtainable elsewhere, and records of Tucci's early researches into Tibetan art history. George Roerich, Tibetan Paintings (1925), a useful introductory work containing 17 plates and detailed description; Walter Eugene Clark (ed.), Two Lamaistic Pantheons, 2 vol. (1937, reprinted in 1 vol., 1965), a detailed study of two sets of metal cast images useful for iconographic identifications; Alice Getty, The Gods of Northern Buddhism, 2nd ed. (1928, reprinted 1962), an old but useful work that relates the main Tibetan Buddhas and divinities to their corresponding forms in Indian, Chinese, and Japanese tradition; B.B. Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, 2nd ed. rev. (1958), an indispensable introduction; Stella Kramrisch, The Art of Nepal (1964), the first stylistic history; Pratapaditya Pal, Vaisnava Iconology in Nepal (1970), an important contribution to the structure of meaning in the images of Vishnu; David L. Snellgrove, “Shrines and Temples of Nepal,” Arts Asiatiques, 8:3–10, 93–120 (1961); an introductory survey; D. Barrett, “The Buddhist Art of Tibet and Nepal,” Oriental Art (1957), a chronological study.

East China Sea

2005-01-25T21:56:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Tung Hai, or (Pinyin) Dong Hai, arm of the Pacific Ocean bordering the East Asian mainland and extending northeastward from the South China Sea, to which it is connected by the shallow Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and mainland China. The East China Sea and the South China Sea together form the China Sea. The East China Sea extends to the east to the chain of the Ryukyu Islands; north to Kyushu, which

West Virginia, Colonial period and Virginia's dominion

2005-01-23T05:48:00.000-08:00

The second charter of Virginia in 1609 provided for settlement of that colony's western frontiers. Exploration and trade were further encouraged by Governor William Berkeley after 1660. The Blue Ridge was reached in 1670, and in 1671 another expedition encountered the first westward-flowing stream, the New River, in southwestern Virginia. The expedition descended the river to Peter's

Silas, Saint

2005-01-22T17:39:00.000-08:00

It is generally believed that the Silas in Acts and the Silvanus in 2 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 Peter are the same. Acts 15:22 first mentions him as one of the “leading men among the brethren” (i.e., the Christian community at Jerusalem);

La Farina, Giuseppe

2005-01-21T00:20:00.000-08:00

The son of a Sicilian magistrate and scholar, La Farina received a law degree in 1835 and soon became involved with a secret committee for Italian unity; he was forced into exile after it attempted an insurrection in 1837. Receiving

Scandinavian Literature, 20th-century literary trends

2005-01-20T21:34:00.000-08:00

The two greatest early 20th-century novelists

Hölderlin, (johann Christian) Friedrich

2005-01-20T05:50:00.000-08:00

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

Literature, Portugal.

2005-01-18T04:27:00.000-08:00

The Association of Portuguese Writers awarded its 2001 Great Prize for Fiction to Maria Velho da Costa for her novel Irene ou o contrato social (2000). Velho da Costa, who first gained international acclaim with the publication in 1972 of Novas cartas portuguesas, turned to the subject of euthanasia in her latest prizewinning

Angus, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl Of

2005-01-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

By his second marriage in 1514 to the queen dowager Margaret Tudor, Angus aroused the jealousy of the nobles. Margaret was supplanted in 1515 as regent and guardian of the infant James V by the Duke

Levi Ben Gershom

2005-01-15T11:22:00.000-08:00

In 1321 Levi wrote his first work, Sefer ha-mispar (“Book of the Number”), dealing with arithmetical operations, including extraction of roots. In De sinibus, chordis et arcubus (1342; “On Sines, Chords, and Arcs”) he presented an original derivation of the sine theorem for plane triangles

Monarch

2005-01-15T08:04:00.000-08:00

In all monarchines

Berchtesgaden

2005-01-13T08:30:00.000-08:00

Town, Bavaria Land (state), southern Germany, situated on the Berchtesgaden Stream in a deep valley surrounded on three sides by Austrian territory. The opening of its salt mines in the 12th century was the beginning of many centuries of bitter rivalry with Salzburg and Hallein. From 1300 the town was ruled by the provosts of its Augustinian abbey (founded c. 1102), who became princes

Adams, Charles Francis

2005-01-12T08:01:00.000-08:00

The son of Pres. John Quincy Adams and the grandson of Pres. John Adams, Charles was early introduced to a cosmopolitan way of life when his father was appointed minister to Russia

East Greenland Orogen

2005-01-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

Also called East Greenland Geosyncline a linear orogenic (mountain) belt that developed from late Precambrian time to the middle of the Paleozoic Era (roughly 650 million to 350 million years ago) along a portion of the eastern coast of Greenland. Deformation occurred during several phases of the Caledonian orogeny (mountain-building episode) between Late Silurian and Late Devonian times (about 423 million to 354 million

Marsa Al-burayqah

2005-01-09T00:27:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Marsa El-brega, Mediterranean port on the Gulf of Sidra, northeastern Libya. The site, which was located by a small fishing village destroyed during World War II, contained nothing but land mines when it was chosen as the terminal for Libya's first oil pipeline, running from Zaltan, 105 miles (169 km) south. After 1960 a new port and town were built from prefabricated materials, including breakwaters

Ninhursag

2005-01-08T23:58:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ninhursaga , (Sumerian) Akkadian Belit-ili in Mesopotamian religion, city goddess of Adab and of Kish in the northern herding regions; she was the goddess of the stony, rocky ground, the hursag. In particular, she had the power in the foothills and desert to produce wildlife. Especially prominent among her offspring were the onagers (wild asses) of the western desert. As the sorrowing mother animal she appears

R.e.m.

2005-01-07T15:10:00.000-08:00

R.E.M., named for a dream-state condition (rapid eye movement), formed in 1980 in Athens, Georgia, a university town about 65 miles

Medicine, India

2005-01-07T14:33:00.000-08:00

Ayurvedic medicine is an example of a well-organized system of traditional health care, both preventive and curative, that is widely practiced in parts of Asia. Ayurvedic medicine has a long tradition behind it, having originated in India perhaps as long as 3,000 years ago. It is still a favoured form of health care in large parts of the Eastern world, especially in India, where

Switzerland, Education

2005-01-06T21:00:00.000-08:00

The 1874 constitution stipulates that each canton or demi-canton is sovereign in education, that elementary education is compulsory and free, and that all public schools must be directed by the cantons. The confederation financially assists vocational training and the cantonal universities, and, by regulating examinations for the professions, it also influences

Aubrey, John

2005-01-04T15:20:00.000-08:00

Antiquarian and writer, best known for his vivid, intimate, and sometimes acid biographical sketches of his contemporaries. Educated at Oxford at Trinity College, he studied law in London at the Middle Temple. He early displayed his interest in antiquities by calling attention to the prehistoric stones at Avebury,

Mascara

2005-01-03T22:19:00.000-08:00

Also called (after 1981) Mouaskar, town, northwestern Algeria, situated about 40 miles (60 km) south of the Mediterranean coast. Spread across two hills separated by the Wadi Toudman, it lies on the southern slope of the Beni Chougran Range of the Atlas Mountains. Mascara (meaning “mother of soldiers”) was founded as a Turkish military garrison in 1701. In about 1790 the town was abandoned by the Spanish Muslims who had

Hawaii, Flag Of

2005-01-01T05:53:00.000-08:00

In 1793 Captain George Vancouver from Great Britain presented the Union Jack to the conquering king Kamehameha I, who was then uniting the islands into a single state; the Union Jack flew unofficially as the flag of Hawaii until 1816. That year Western advisers to the king recommended the addition of red, white, and blue stripes to the Union Jack, thus creating a distinctive

iauliai

2004-12-31T18:56:00.000-08:00

City, north-central Lithuania. The city, dating from at least the 13th century, may be identical with the “Saule” where a major military confrontation took place in 1236 between the Lithuanians and the Brothers of the Sword, an order of Christian knights bent on imposing Christianity on the Baltic states. The order was decisively defeated, and the survivors were forced to merge

Texas, Annexation and statehood

2004-12-30T04:08:00.000-08:00

As early as 1836, Texans had voted for annexation by the United States, but the proposition was rejected by the Jackson and Van Buren administrations. Great Britain favoured continued independence for Texas in order to block further westward expansion of the United States, but this attitude only helped to swing Americans toward annexation. Annexation was approved

Houston, Whitney

2004-12-29T01:12:00.000-08:00

The daughter of Emily (“Cissy”) Houston—whose vocal group, the Sweet Inspirations, sang backup for Aretha Franklin—and the cousin of singer Dionne Warwick, Whitney Houston began singing in church as a child. While still

Meramec River

2004-12-28T04:51:00.000-08:00

Tributary of the Mississippi River rising in the Ozark Mountains, near Salem in Dent county, southeast Missouri, U.S. The river winds 207 miles (333 km) generally north, northeast, and southeast through the limestone Meramec Caverns and Meramec State Park (near Sullivan) to enter the Mississippi River 20 miles (32 km) below St. Louis. Lead was mined along its banks in the 1700s, and the river

Hay Fever

2004-12-27T03:32:00.000-08:00

Also called rose fever or allergic rhinitis seasonally recurrent bouts of sneezing, nasal congestion, and tearing and itching of the eyes caused by allergy to the pollen of certain plants, chiefly those depending upon the wind for cross-fertilization, such as ragweed in North America and timothy grass in Great Britain. In allergic persons contact with pollen releases histamine from the tissues, which irritates

Russell, Pee Wee

2004-12-26T22:25:00.000-08:00

Reluctantly trained in violin as a child, Russell also tried piano and drums before settling on the clarinet, on which he became a distinctive stylist. Russell developed a quirky, chance-taking style that employed a generally plaintive tone punctuated by growls, squeaks, and breathy mutterings.

Chiaroscuro

2004-12-25T19:57:00.000-08:00

Some evidence exists that ancient Greek and Roman artists used chiaroscuro effects, but in European painting the technique was first brought to its full potential by Leonardo da Vinci in the late 15th century in such paintings as his “Adoration of the

Beyers, C.f.

2004-12-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

A graduate of Victoria College (now Stellenbosch University), Beyers migrated to the Transvaal, where he was naturalized and practiced as a lawyer. Joining the Boer forces in 1899, he rose

Motor-vehicle Insurance

2004-12-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

Liability insurance pays for

Deering, William

2004-12-22T22:56:00.000-08:00

Deering helped manage his family's woolen mill in South Paris in western Maine. About 1850 he went to Illinois and Iowa to invest in farmland, but he returned to South Paris in 1856 and set up a

Sokol

2004-12-21T21:19:00.000-08:00

City and river port, centre of Sokol rayon (sector), Vologda oblast (province), northwestern Russia. The port lies along the Sukhona River. Before the Russian Revolution of October 1917 it was the site of only two small factories, but it grew rapidly in the early Soviet period and was incorporated in 1932. Today it is a centre of paper, woodworking, and food industries and has a

Lowell, Josephine Shaw

2004-12-20T11:43:00.000-08:00

She was born to wealthy Bostonians who numbered among their friends such well-known figures as James Russell Lowell and Margaret Fuller. Traveling

Arakan

2004-12-20T04:03:00.000-08:00

Coastal geographic region in southern Myanmar (Burma). It comprises a long, narrow strip of land along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal and stretches from the Naf estuary on the border of the Chittagong Hills area (in Bangladesh) in the north to the Gwa River in the south. The Arakan region is about 400 miles (640 km) long from north to south and is about 90 miles (145 km) wide at its broadest.

Epistemology, Kinds of perceptions

2004-12-17T17:47:00.000-08:00

Hume has a twofold division of perceptions: impressions and ideas. Impressions are perceptions that enter with “most force and violence.” Ideas are “faint images” of impressions. Hume thinks the distinction so obvious that he demurs from explaining it at any length. Impressions are felt; ideas are thought, he indicates in his summary explication. He also concedes that,

Great Neck

2004-12-17T01:03:00.000-08:00

Village, in the town (township) of North Hempstead, Nassau county, New York, U.S. It lies along the Great Neck cape and the north shore of Long Island in an area of summer estates. Settled about 1644, it is known as the “Old Village” and was incorporated in 1922. The writer F. Scott Fitzgerald once lived in Great Neck and used it and neighbouring towns as the setting for his novel The Great

Langeais

2004-12-16T22:48:00.000-08:00

Town, west-central France, Indre-et-Loire département, on the right bank of Loire River. It has a 15th-century château, notable as a fine example of pre-Renaissance architecture. The ruins of a keep first built there by Fulk III Nerra, count of Anjou, still stands in the park. The château was built for Jean Bourré, minister of Louis XI, and Charles VIII of France and Anne of Brittany

Carlisle

2004-12-14T22:34:00.000-08:00

Borough (town), seat (1751) of Cumberland county, southern Pennsylvania, U.S., in the Cumberland Valley, 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Harrisburg. James Le Tort, a French-Swiss Indian trader, settled with an Indian tribe near the site about 1720. The town, laid out in 1751, was named for Carlisle, Cumberland, England. It was the setting for continuous conflict with the Iroquois Confederacy until Benjamin

Tachinid Fly

2004-12-13T21:36:00.000-08:00

Tachinids are of great importance in the

Amorgós Island

2004-12-12T15:52:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Nísos Amorgós, island trending northeast-southwest in the Cyclades (Kikládhes) group of the Greek Aegean Islands. For the most part mountainous and narrow, it has an area of about 47 square miles (121 square km). Prosperous in the early Bronze Age, in classical times it had three cities, Arcesine, Minoa, and Aegiale. The island produced amorgina, fine transparent fabrics made from locally grown

Amazon River, Physiography of the river course

2004-12-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

The Amazon River has its main outlet north of Marajó Island, a lowland somewhat larger in size than Denmark, through a cluster of half-submerged islets and shallow sandbanks. Here the mouth of the river is 40 miles (64 kilometres) wide. The port city of Belém is on the deep water of the Pará River, an estuary marking the south side of Marajó, which is fed chiefly by the Tocantins

Belgian Literature, The 20th century

2004-12-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

Walloon literature explored new paths during the course of the 20th century. Scholars undertook dialect studies, and standardization of spelling and grammar extended the literary possibilities of the dialect, as did attempts by Émile Lempereur and some other writers to renew the sources of inspiration. Alongside several veteran authors, such as the talented