StrangeCart

Holdheim, Samuel

2005-04-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

From 1836 to 1840 Holdheim officiated as a rabbi at Frankfurt an der Oder. In 1840 he went as Landesrabbiner (rabbi of a whole province) to Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Three years later

Clough, Arthur Hugh

2005-04-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

While at Oxford, Clough had intended to become a clergyman, but his increasing religious skepticism caused him to leave the university. He became head of University

Ahmed Iii

2005-04-04T01:23:00.000-07:00

The son of Mehmed IV, he succeeded to the throne in 1703 upon the deposition of his brother Mustafa II. Ahmed III cultivated good relations with England and France and afforded refuge at his court to Charles XII of Sweden after his defeat by Peter I the Great of Russia

Chemoreception, Mammals

2005-04-03T23:52:00.000-07:00

Chemoreceptively, mammals are the best studied of vertebrates by far, and man is probably the most studied of all, although experimental techniques that can be used with blowflies (Phormia) and rats are inappropriate for humans. The taste buds of mammals are mostly on the upper surface of the tongue, on so-called vallate, foliate, and fungiform papillae. Some taste buds

Shamanism, Forms of ecstasy

2005-04-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

The shaman may fulfill his obligations either by communicating with the spirits at will or through ecstasy. The latter has two forms: possession ecstasy, in which the body of the shaman is possessed by the spirit, and wandering ecstasy, in which his soul departs into the realm of spirits. In passive ecstasy the possessed gets into an intense mental state and shows superhuman

China, Japan and Ryukyu

2005-04-03T15:28:00.000-07:00

Three years after the Meiji Restoration of 1868—which inaugurated a period of modernization and political change in Japan—a commercial treaty was signed between China and Japan, and it was ratified in 1873. Understandably it was reciprocal, because both signatories had a similar unequal status vis-à-vis the Western nations. The establishment of the new Sino-Japanese relations

Andreini, Giovambattista

2005-04-01T20:17:00.000-08:00

Andreini began his stage career with the Compagnia dei Gelosi founded by his parents, but about 1601 he formed his

Sang-kan River

2005-04-01T06:54:00.000-08:00

Wade–Giles romanization Sang Kan Ho , Pin-yin Sang Gan He river in Shansi and Hopeh provinces, China. The Sang-kan River rises just south of Ning-wu, near the Great Wall of China, on the eastern slope of the Kuan-ts'en Shan (mountains), in northern Shansi. After flowing northeast in a trough running parallel to the strike of the Heng Shan, it turns southeast near Hsüan-hua (Hopeh) to emerge into the North China Plain in the Peking area.

Aeolus

2005-03-31T18:38:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, mythical king of Magnesia in Thessaly, the son of Hellen (the eponymous ancestor of the true Greeks, or Hellenes) and father of Sisyphus (the “most crafty of men”). Aeolus' daughter Canace and son Macareus committed incest and then took their own lives. Their story provided the subject of Euripides' lost Aeolus. Aeolus gave his name to Aeolis, a territory

Sabbath River

2005-03-29T21:00:00.000-08:00

In Jewish legend, a river beyond which the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were exiled. See Sambation.

Dublin, Climate

2005-03-29T11:14:00.000-08:00

With its coastal site on the western seaboard of the Irish Sea, Dublin enjoys a mild climate. The average temperature is lowest in January–February, 42° F (6° C), and highest in July–August, 59° F (15° C). Sunshine averages four hours a day. The mean annual rainfall is 30–40 inches (760–1,000 millimetres), although the rate is higher in the mountains. The period of maximum rainfall occurs in winter, and there

North Polar Sequence

2005-03-29T09:46:00.000-08:00

Group of 96 stars near the north celestial pole, used from about 1900 to 1950 as standards of magnitude and colour by which other stars are measured. First proposed by the American astronomer Edward Charles Pickering, the system has been largely superseded by the UBV system (q.v.).

Wynyard

2005-03-28T08:49:00.000-08:00

Town, northern Tasmania, Australia, at the mouth of the River Inglis on Bass Strait. Founded in 1841, it was made a municipality in 1856 and named Table Cape for a high promontory (380 feet [116 m]) to the south. It was gazetted a town in 1861, when its name was changed to honour Major General Edward Wynyard, commander in chief in 1850 of British forces in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). Located on a rail line

Szeged

2005-03-27T19:05:00.000-08:00

The city was replanned

Wells, Emmeline Blanche Woodward

2005-03-27T01:09:00.000-08:00

Emmeline Woodward followed her widowed mother in converting to Mormonism in 1842. She moved with her first husband to the Mormon settlement of Nauvoo, Illinois,

Qarluq Confederation

2005-03-26T09:38:00.000-08:00

The internal political organization

Jhabua

2005-03-25T16:11:00.000-08:00

Town, administrative headquarters of Jhabua district, Madhya Pradesh state, central India. Located on Bahadur Sagar (lake), it was founded in the 16th century by a Labhana freebooter and served as the capital of the former Jhabua princely state. It is a local agricultural and timber market connected by road with Dhar. There is a government college affiliated with Vikram

Lurgan

2005-03-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

Market town, Craigavon district (established 1973), formerly in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. In 1610 James I granted land to John Brownlow, who formed an English colony there. By the end of the 17th century, linen manufacture, which is still the chief industry, was established. James Logan emigrated from Lurgan in 1699 to become one of the founders of Pennsylvania. Lurgan Castle (now

Cohune Oil

2005-03-23T21:56:00.000-08:00

Also called cohune-nut oil , cohune also spelled cohoun oil obtained from the kernels of the fruits, or nuts, of the cohune palm tree, Attalea cohune. The tree grows in western Central America from the Yucatán Peninsula to Honduras. The oil's properties, similar to those of coconut oil, have given it increasing importance. Because the nuts are unusually hard and difficult to crack and their collection and transportation

Pendleton

2005-03-23T17:42:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1868) of Umatilla county, northeastern Oregon, U.S., on the Umatilla River, adjacent to the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Situated on the Oregon Trail, it was founded in 1869 by G.W. Bailey and named for George Hunt Pendleton, a prominent Ohio senator. It became a wheat and cattle centre after the arrival of the railroad in 1889 and remains a centre of grain and vegetable production

Middle Eastern Religion

2005-03-23T01:45:00.000-08:00

Any of the religious beliefs, attitudes, and practices developed in the ancient Middle East (extending geographically from Iran to Egypt and from Anatolia and the Aegean Sea to the Arabian Peninsula and temporally from about 3000 to 330 BC, when Alexander the Great conquered much of the area). They have had an enduring influence on Western civilization. While this article treats

Balashikha

2005-03-22T22:09:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Balašicha, city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia, situated 15 miles (25 km) east of Moscow on the banks of the Pekhorka River. Balashikha developed in the 19th century, first as the site of a cloth factory and later as a centre for papermaking. In Soviet times it underwent rapid growth and was incorporated in 1939. The city is now a heavy-industrial centre, specializing in machine building.

Roberts, Bartholomew

2005-03-22T16:47:00.000-08:00

Byname Black Barty pirate captain of a succession of ships—the “Royal Rover,” “Fortune,” “Royal Fortune,” and “Good Fortune”—who burned and plundered ships from the coasts of West Africa to the coasts of Brazil and the Caribbean and as far north as Newfoundland. His conquests are said to have included more than 400 vessels and, in terms of sheer

Ibn Ishaq

2005-03-22T09:47:00.000-08:00

Ibn Ishaq was the grandson of an Arab prisoner captured by Muslim troops in Iraq and brought to Medina, where he was freed after accepting Islam. Ibn Ishaq's father and two uncles

Gregory, Horace

2005-03-20T19:50:00.000-08:00

Gregory began to write poetry while studying Latin in college, and he first contributed to periodicals in the early 1920s. Finding formal verse inadequate, he tried to combine the idiom of modern life with literary influences

China, Drainage

2005-03-20T04:11:00.000-08:00

The three principal rivers of

Adams Family

2005-03-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

Established in America by Henry Adams, who emigrated from England to Massachusetts Bay Colony about 1636, the family made no special mark until the time of John Adams (1735–1826). Perhaps the most profound political

Rhiannon

2005-03-18T17:02:00.000-08:00

In Celtic religion, the Welsh manifestation of the Gaulish horse goddess Epona and the Irish goddess Macha. She is best-known from The Mabinogion, a collection of medieval Welsh tales, in which she makes her first appearance on a pale, mysterious steed and meets King Pwyll, whom she marries. Later she was unjustly accused of killing her infant son, and in punishment she

Rural Society

2005-03-18T06:28:00.000-08:00

Society in which there is a low ratio of inhabitants to open land and in which the most important economic activities are the production of foodstuffs, fibres, and raw materials. Such areas are difficult to define with greater precision, for, although in nonindustrialized nations the transition from city to countryside is usually abrupt, it is gradual in industrialized

Abegg, Richard Wilhelm Heinrich

2005-03-18T00:38:00.000-08:00

Abegg became professor of chemistry at the University of Breslau, Ger. (now Wroclaw, Pol.), in 1897 and two years later gained

'alamgir Ii

2005-03-17T22:02:00.000-08:00

A son of the emperor Jahandar Shah (reigned 1712–13), 'Alamgir was always the puppet of more powerful men and was placed on the throne by the imperial vizier 'Imad ul-Mulk Ghazi-ud-Din, who had deposed his predecessor. Provoked by the vizier's attempt to reassert

Insurance, RDC clause

2005-03-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

The RDC, or “running down” clause, provides coverage for legal liability of either the shipper or the common carrier for claims arising out of collisions. (Collision loss to the vessel itself is part of the hull coverage.) The RDC clause covers negligence of the carrier or shipper that results in damage to the property of others. A companion clause, the protection and indemnity

Devadatta

2005-03-16T11:35:00.000-08:00

Devadatta is said to have joined the sangha along with Ananda, who was possibly his brother, in the 20th year of Gautama's ministry. Fifteen years later, strengthened by his friendship with the Crown Prince

Venice

2005-03-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

Italian Venezia city, major seaport, and capital of both the provincia of Venezia and the regione of Veneto, northern Italy. An island city, it was once the centre of a maritime republic. It was the greatest seaport in late medieval Europe and the continent's commercial and cultural link with Asia. Venice is unique environmentally, architecturally, and historically, and in its days as

Athis-mons

2005-03-15T06:49:00.000-08:00

Town, southern suburb of Paris, in Essonne département, Île-de-France région, northern France. Athis-Mons lies near the confluence of the Orge and Seine rivers and is bisected by the N7 road artery leading to the centre of Paris. It was ancient Attegais, later Athis-sur-Orge, where a treaty of that name was signed in 1305 by the king of France and the count of Flanders. A Romanesque

India, Developments in the Deccan

2005-03-14T23:37:00.000-08:00

Toward the last years of Akbar's reign, the Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar in the Deccan had engaged the attention of the emperor considerably. The main objective of his intervention in Ahmadnagar was to gain Berar, which had been recently acquired by Ahmadnagar from Khandesh, and Balaghat, which had been a bone of contention between Ahmadnagar and Gujarat. By 1596 Berar was conquered

Baumgarten, Alexander Gottlieb

2005-03-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

As a student at Halle, Baumgarten was strongly influenced by the works of G.W. Leibniz and by Christian Wolff, a professor and systematic philosopher. He was appointed

Balabac

2005-03-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

Island, extreme southwestern Philippines. It is located about 19 miles (30 km) southwest of the southern tip of Palawan island, and hardly twice that north of Borneo. Balabac rises to an elevation of about 1,890 feet (576 metres) and has swamps on its northwestern coast. There are coral reefs off its western coast, and the island is particularly noted for its rare glory-of-the-seas cone

Ikare

2005-03-13T18:26:00.000-08:00

Town, Ondo state, southwestern Nigeria. It lies in the Yoruba Hills, at the intersection of roads from Owo, Okene, Kabba, and Ado-Ekiti. An agricultural trade centre (yams, cassava, corn [maize], okra, pumpkins, rice) for the local Yoruba people, it is also a collecting point for cocoa, palm produce, tobacco, and cotton (which is sent to the textile mill at Ado-Ekiti, 37 miles [60 km] west). The

Thompson, E.p.

2005-03-12T10:59:00.000-08:00

E.P. Thompson was born

Haakon Sigurdsson

2005-03-12T05:44:00.000-08:00

The son of the Norwegian earl of Lade, who was killed by Harald II Graycloak, Haakon

Property Law, Nuisance law and continental parallels

2005-03-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

At English common law the basic limitations on the privilege of use of property were incorporated in the law of nuisance, the action that a landowner could bring if his privilege of using his land was being interfered with. Historically, nuisance law seems to have been deeply conservative; existing land uses were protected against more recent ones. A hierarchy of

National Book Awards

2005-03-11T05:26:00.000-08:00

Annual awards given to books of the highest quality written by Americans and published by American publishers. The awards were founded in 1950 by the American Book Publishers Council, American Booksellers Association, and Book Manufacturers Institute. From 1976 to 1979 they were administered by the National Book Committee. In 1980 they were renamed the American Book Awards and

Ocean Ranching

2005-03-09T16:26:00.000-08:00

The rearing of fish and shellfish under artificially controlled conditions to restock the sea. See aquaculture.

Ecorse

2005-03-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

City, Wayne county, Michigan, U.S. It lies along the Detroit River and is one of several contiguous southwest suburbs of Detroit known as downriver communities. Settled about 1815 on the site of an Indian camp and burial ground, it was called Grandport and developed in the early 20th century with the growth of the Ford Motor Company in nearby Dearborn. Its name was derived from

Xeroderma Pigmentosum

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

Rare, recessively inherited skin condition in which resistance to sunlight and other radiation beyond the violet end of the spectrum is lacking. On exposure to such radiation the skin erupts into numerous pigmented spots, resembling freckles, which tend to develop into multiple carcinomas. The condition may occur in mild or severe forms. Protection from direct

Le Chapelier, Jean

2005-03-08T10:28:00.000-08:00

Beginning

Dewas

2005-03-07T02:07:00.000-08:00

City, western Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It is located on the Malwa Plateau at the foot of the conical Chamunda Hill, which rises to a Devivasini shrine. Jaina and Hindu temple ruins lie just south of the city, in Nagara. The surrounding area consists chiefly of level plains of the Malwa Plateau, watered by the Narmada, Sipra, and Kali Sindh rivers. Wheat, sorghum, rice, cotton,

Botosani

2005-03-06T21:49:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Botosani judet (county), northeastern Romania. It lies in a rich farming area of northern Moldavia, near the border with Moldova. As a settlement, it was first documented in 1439. The Popauti Church dates from 1496. Long known as a market centre for agricultural produce and wines, Botosani has also become an industrial centre, particularly in textiles. Pop. (1989 est.) 119,563.

Fabales

2005-03-06T14:10:00.000-08:00

Legumes occur in all terrestrial habitats occupied by plants, although the greatest number of species is in the tropics, where the group probably originated. But there are many legumes in the temperate plains, woodlands, and deserts. A few not only survive but succeed as weeds, in the human-made farming, industrial, and urban environment. They are less common in the northern

'arabah, Wadi Al-

2005-03-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

Hebrew Ha-'arava, topographic depression in southern Palestine extending about 100 miles (160 km) south from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba; it is part of the East African Rift System. Largely sandy desert, it is divided between Israel and Jordan. In the Old Testament, except in Deuteronomy 2:8, the name Al-'Arabah refers to the Jordan Valley, but eventually the name came to be applied exclusively

Volsci

2005-03-06T03:07:00.000-08:00

Knowledge of the Volsci depends largely upon Roman accounts of their mutual

Benedict Biscop, Saint

2005-03-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, he was a thane of King

Bradley, Marion Zimmer

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

Marion Zimmer studied at the New York State College for Teachers from 1946 to 1948 and, after her career was established, graduated from Hardin-Simmons College in 1964. In 1949 she

Technology, History Of, The putative autonomy of technology

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

Secondly, the definition of technology as the systematic study of techniques for making and doing things establishes technology as a social phenomenon and thus as one that cannot possess complete autonomy, unaffected by the society in which it exists. It is necessary to make what may seem to be such an obvious statement because so much autonomy has been ascribed

Iturbide, Agustín De

2005-03-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

Like many young men of the upper classes in Spanish America, Iturbide entered the army, becoming an officer in

Venetan

2005-03-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

Group of dialects of Italian spoken in northeastern Italy. It includes the dialects spoken in Venice (Venetian), Verona (Veronese), Treviso (Trevisan), and Padua (Paduan).

Capital Punishment

2005-03-01T23:16:00.000-08:00

Also called death penalty execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense. Capital punishment should be distinguished from extrajudicial executions carried out without due process of law. The term death penalty is sometimes used interchangeably with capital punishment, though imposition of the penalty is not always followed by execution

Alkaline Phosphatase

2005-03-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

Enzyme that is normally present in high concentrations in growing bone and in bile. It is essential for the deposition of minerals in the bones and teeth. Alkaline phosphatase deficiency is a hereditary trait called hypophosphatasia, which results in bone deformities. In severe cases, the deficiency leads to early death from infection. Alkaline phosphatase is

Daguerreotype

2005-03-01T10:27:00.000-08:00

First successful form of photography, named for Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre of France, who invented the technique in collaboration with Joseph-Nicéphore Niepce in the 1830s. Daguerre and Niepce found that if a copper plate coated with silver iodide was exposed to light in a camera, then fumed with mercury vapour and fixed (made permanent) by a solution of common salt,

Jouvenet, Jean

2005-02-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

Jouvenet was the most celebrated of a family of artists and was son and pupil of Laurent Jouvenet. On arriving in Paris in 1661 he attracted the attention

Hesperorthis

2005-02-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

Extinct genus of brachiopods, or lamp shells, which as fossils are especially characteristic of Ordovician marine rocks (438 to 505 million years old). The plano-convex shell of Hesperorthis consists of two units (or valves), the brachial valve being flat and the pedicle valve convex. The shell has a radiating pattern of ribs and a relatively broad, triangular area at the dorsal

Arrastra

2005-02-28T06:11:00.000-08:00

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

Animal Development

2005-02-27T00:38:00.000-08:00

The processes that lead eventually to the formation of a new animal starting from cells derived from one or more parent individuals. Development thus occurs following the process by which a new generation of organisms is produced by the parent generation.

Perfect Gas

2005-02-26T20:41:00.000-08:00

Also called ideal gas a gas that conforms, in physical behaviour, to a particular, idealized relation between pressure, volume, and temperature called the general gas law. This law is a generalization containing both Boyle's law and Charles's law as special cases and states that for a specified quantity of gas, the product of the volume v and pressure p is proportional to the absolute temperature

Habakkuk, The Book Of

2005-02-26T19:59:00.000-08:00

It is difficult to fix the date of the book, but the mention of the Chaldeans as Yahweh's agent (1:6) suggests the period

Mfengu

2005-02-25T21:00:00.000-08:00

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

Kerala Plains

2005-02-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

Narrow strip of coastland, southwestern India, fronting the Arabian Sea to the west and constituting almost all of Kerala state and most of the Malabar Coast (q.v.). With an area of approximately 11,000 square miles (28,000 square km), the plains are indented by numerous shallow lagoons, known locally as kayes, that are formed by sand dunes and which are known locally as teris. The sandy

Abdominal Muscle

2005-02-25T04:36:00.000-08:00

The first three muscle layers

Albalag, Isaac

2005-02-23T23:26:00.000-08:00

Jewish philosopher who rendered a Hebrew translation of parts of the Maqasid al-falasifah (“Aims of the Philosophers”), a review of doctrines of earlier thinkers by the Arabic philosopher al-Ghazali, to which Albalag added his own views and comments. In defending philosophy against the accusation that it undermined religion,

Pacorus

2005-02-23T17:11:00.000-08:00

In the summer of 51 BC Pacorus was sent to invade Syria with an army commanded by Osaces, an older warrior. Osaces, however, was killed in battle, and early the next year Orodes, learning that one of his satraps was conspiring to make Pacorus king, recalled his son. In 45, Pacorus intervened in

Arts, South Asian, North India

2005-02-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

The most common vocal form in North Indian classical music at the present time is the khyal, a Muslim word meaning “imagination.” The khyal is contrasted with the dhruvapada (now known as dhrupad), which means “fixed words.” The two forms existed side by side in the Islamic period, and it is only in the last century or two that khyal has achieved ascendancy. There are two types of

France, History Of, The kings and the royal government

2005-02-22T17:35:00.000-08:00

The French monarchy was greatly strengthened by Louis VII's successor, Philip II Augustus (ruled 1180–1223), who could claim descent from Charlemagne through his mother. Philip proved to be the ablest Capetian yet to reign. He was practical and clear-sighted in his political objectives; the extension of territorial power and the improvement of mechanisms with which to govern

'imad Ad-dawlah

2005-02-22T09:43:00.000-08:00

One of the founders of the Buyid dynasty of Iran. 'Ali and his brothers Ahmad and Hasan were followers of Mardaviz ebn Zeyar of northern Iran. In 934 'Ali revolted against local Zeyarid rulers and conquered Fars province in southern Iran. He made Shiraz his capital, ruling there until his death. After Ahmad established control over the 'Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad

Medicine, India

2005-02-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

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

Mckinley, Mount

2005-02-21T02:34:00.000-08:00

Hugh Of Lincoln, Saint

2005-02-20T15:33:00.000-08:00

On his mother's death when he was eight, Hugh and his father, Lord William of Avalon, joined the canons regular at Villard-Bonnot, France. After his father's death, Hugh joined (c. 1165) the monks at the Carthusian motherhouse

Oberhausen

2005-02-19T08:55:00.000-08:00

City, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. It is situated on the Rhine-Herne-Kanal, within the densely developed Ruhr industrial belt, and it adjoins Essen (east), Mülheim (south), and Duisberg (southwest). Oberhausen is an important rail junction, and the city also has good autobahn connections with The Netherlands. It is the centre of a network of lines radiating

Aleutian Islands

2005-02-18T08:53:00.000-08:00

Chain of small islands that separate the Bering Sea (north) from the main portion of the Pacific Ocean (south) and extend in an arc southwest, then northwest, for about 1,100 miles (1,800 km) from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula to Attu Island, Alaska, U.S. The archipelago consists of 14 large islands, some 55 smaller islands, and innumerable islets, all of which occupy a land area of 6,821 square miles

Harald Iv

2005-02-17T19:37:00.000-08:00

Byname Harald Gille, or Gilchrist king of Norway (1130–36), a ruthless sovereign whose feud with his fellow king Magnus IV the Blind over the Norwegian throne marked the beginning of a period of civil wars (1130–1240) during which the right to rule was constantly in dispute. Harald's weak character helped lay the foundation for the increasingly powerful role played by the aristocracy in the civil war

Davenport, John

2005-02-17T18:51:00.000-08:00

Davenport was educated at the University of Oxford and later was elected vicar of the Church of St. Stephens in London. Because Holland was more hospitable to Puritans than was England, Davenport moved there in 1633 and became co-pastor of the

Clog Dance

2005-02-17T16:56:00.000-08:00

Kind of dance in which the dancer accentuates the rhythm of his feet by wearing wooden-soled shoes, or clogs. Clog dancing appears in many dance forms—e.g., in some bourrées of Auvergne, in Swiss ländler, and often in Irish step dances (solo jigs, reels, and hornpipes). In northern England, notably among the miners of Northumbria and Durham, dances such as the Lancashire and

Roman à Clef

2005-02-17T00:50:00.000-08:00

(French: “novel with a key”), novel that has the extraliterary interest of portraying well-known real people more or less thinly disguised as fictional characters. The tradition goes back to 17th-century France, when fashionable members of the aristocratic literary coteries, such as Mlle de Scudéry, enlivened their historical romances by including in them fictional

Keres, Paul

2005-02-16T07:49:00.000-08:00

Keres began to learn chess at the age of 4 by watching his father, and he played chess publicly at age 13. While he was still in his teens, Keres

Abdülaziz

2005-02-16T06:29:00.000-08:00

Like his brother Abdülmecid I, whom he succeeded as sultan on June 25, 1861, Abdülaziz was an ardent admirer of the material progress in western

Tyson, Mike

2005-02-15T11:43:00.000-08:00

A member of various street gangs at an early age, Tyson was sent to reform school in upstate New York in 1978. At the reform school, social worker and boxing aficionado Bobby Stewart recognized his boxing potential and directed him to renowned trainer Cus D'Amato,

Vajpayee, Atal Bihari

2005-02-15T01:25:00.000-08:00

Vajpayee was first elected to Parliament in 1957 as a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), a forerunner of the BJP. In 1977 the BJS joined three other parties to form the Janata Party, which led a government that lasted until July 1979. As foreign minister

Pacuvius, Marcus

2005-02-14T07:16:00.000-08:00

The bearer of an Oscan name, Pacuvius was probably educated at Tarentum and must have been equally at home in Oscan, Latin, and Greek, as was his uncle and teacher, the poet Quintus Ennius. As a young man he followed Ennius to Rome, where he joined the circle

Libya, Settlement patterns

2005-02-14T00:49:00.000-08:00

Libya is divided into three regions—the western region (formerly Tripolitania province), the eastern region (formerly Cyrenaica province), and the southern region (formerly Fezzan province). Two-thirds of the population lives in the western region, the majority in Tripoli and other cities along the coast and on the Nafusah Plateau. About 20 percent of the people live in

Scale

2005-02-13T11:45:00.000-08:00

The specific selection of different tones in any piece of music generally reveals a pattern of relationships among its pitches that can be expressed as a series of fixed distances (intervals) from one pitch to another within the span of an octave. The interval relationships

Dubbo

2005-02-11T17:59:00.000-08:00

City, east-central New South Wales, Australia, on the Macquarie River. Visited in 1818 by the explorer John Oxley, the district received its first settlers in 1824. Founded in 1841, Dubbo was an established village by 1849. It became a municipality in 1872 and a city in 1966. It is the trade centre of an area producing wheat, livestock, timber, and fruits and vegetables. Dubbo has slaughterhouses, flour

Propellant

2005-02-11T15:27:00.000-08:00

Any gas, liquid, or solid the expansion of which can be used to impart motion to another substance or object. In aerosol dispensers, compressed gases such as nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and many halogenated hydrocarbons are used as propellants. The propellant may remain in gaseous form (nitrous oxide or carbon dioxide), or it may liquefy under pressure. Food products,

Densitometer

2005-02-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

Device that measures the density, or the degree of darkening, of a photographic film or plate by recording photometrically its transparency (fraction of incident light transmitted). In visual methods, two beams of equal intensity are used. One is directed through the plate, while the intensity of the other is adjusted by an optical wedge, by an iris diaphragm, or by moving

Field, Stephen J(ohnson)

2005-02-10T11:29:00.000-08:00

Associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and chief architect of the constitutional approach that largely exempted the rapidly expanding industry of the United States from governmental regulation after the Civil War. He found the judicial instrument for the protection of private enterprise principally in the Fourteenth

Haldeman, H.r.

2005-02-10T03:35:00.000-08:00

Haldeman graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in business

Mauchly, John W.

2005-02-09T22:57:00.000-08:00

After completing his education, Mauchly entered the teaching profession, eventually becoming an associate professor of electrical engineering at

Olmedo, José Joaquín

2005-02-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

Poet and statesman whose odes commemorating South America's achievement of independence from Spain captured the revolutionary spirit of his time and inspired a generation of Romantic poets and patriots. They have remained monuments to the heroic figures of the liberation movement in South

Legal Ethics, Advertising and solicitation

2005-02-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

Traditionally, advertising by lawyers was forbidden almost everywhere. It has been a long-standing principle of professional ethics in Anglo-American countries that an attorney must not seek professional employment through advertising or solicitation, direct or indirect. The reasons commonly given have been that seeking employment through these means

Duroc, Géraud-christophe-michel, Duc (duke) De Frioul

2005-02-08T14:48:00.000-08:00

The son of Claude de Michel, chevalier du Roc, who was a cavalry officer, Duroc went to the Châlons artillery school, emigrated in 1792, but changed his mind, returned to France, entered the Metz school (1793), and was drafted to the artillery of the army of Italy.

Ecuador, Drainage

2005-02-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

As the annual thawing of snow occurs in the mountains, numerous rivers rise, pass through the hoyas of the Sierra, and flow either west to the Pacific coast or east to the Amazon River. The Costa is primarily drained into the Pacific Ocean by the Guayas basin. Formed by the juncture of the Daule and Babahoyo rivers and their affluents, the Guayas River is navigable for