ChiefBell: September 2004

Thursday, September 30, 2004

Torch Cactus

T. pasacana, a stout tree up to 10.5 m in height,

Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Toba Sojo

Toba is traditionally regarded as the artist of a series of important narrative scrolls featuring humorous secular subjects: �History of Mount Shigi� and �Scrolls of Frolicking Animals.� The �History of Mount Shigi� consists of illustrations

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Hyalosiderite

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

Monday, September 27, 2004

Petasos

A hat used for traveling, the petasos was made of felt or straw and had a chin strap, so that when not in use it could be hung down the back. The winged hat of the god Hermes (or Mercury) was also called a petasos.

Sunday, September 26, 2004

Butaritari Atoll

Also called �Makin Atoll, �formerly �Pitt Island, � coral atoll of the Gilbert Islands, part of Kiribati, in the west-central Pacific Ocean. Located in the northern Gilberts, it comprises a central lagoon (11 miles [18 km] wide) ringed by islets, with a total area of 5.2 square miles (13.5 square km), which provides a good deep anchorage with three passages to the open sea. Occupied by Japanese forces from 1941 to 1943, the atoll served as a U.S. air and naval

Saturday, September 25, 2004

Arts, Central Asian, Seljuqs

The art of the Seljuqs, who founded kingdoms in Persia, eastern Byzantium, Syria, and Iraq, eclipsed that of the Samanids, Ghurids, and Ghaznavids. They were great architectural patrons and constructed numerous mosques, madrasahs (Islamic religious schools), hospitals, orphanages, baths, caravansaries, bridges, and t�rbes notable for their decorative masonry, elaborately

Friday, September 24, 2004

Annenberg, Walter H.

Annenberg was the only son of Moses Annenberg (1878 - 1942), a poor immigrant from East Prussia who became the millionaire publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the horse-racing publications Daily Racing Form and Morning Telegraph. In 1939 Moses Annenberg was

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Equestrian Sports

In the 2001 U.S. high-handicap season, held in Palm Beach, Fla., from January to April, Outback, led by Argentine Adolfo Cambiaso, prevailed at the U.S. Open for the third straight year, and Boca Polo triumphed in the Gold Cup in Boca Raton, Fla. Peter Brant's White Birch, led by Mariano Aguerre and Carlos Gracida, won the Sterling Cup and the Gold Cup of the Americas. In the summer season,

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Resonator

Acoustical device for reinforcing sound, as the sounding board of a piano, the �belly� of a stringed instrument, the air mass of an organ pipe, and the throat, nose, and mouth cavities of a vocal animal. In addition to augmenting acoustic power, resonators may also, by altering relative intensities of overtones, change the quality of a tone. See also soundboard. The Helmholtz

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Christian And Missionary Alliance

Missionary and evangelistic movement that developed from the work of Albert B. Simpson (d. 1919), a Presbyterian minister who left that church to become an independent evangelist in New York City. In 1887 Simpson and others organized two societies, one for home and one for foreign missions. The two societies were merged into the Christian and Missionary Alliance in 1897. The organization

Monday, September 20, 2004

Qu Qiubai

Wade - Giles romanization �Ch'� Ch'iu-pai, �original name �(Wade - Giles) Ch'u Shuang, �also called �Sung Yang� prominent leader and, on occasions in the 1920s and early 1930s, head of the Chinese Communist Party. In addition to being a political activist, he is considered one of the most important literary figures of 20th-century China. In the People's Republic of China today, Qu, who was an early mentor of Mao Zedong, is honoured as one

Sunday, September 19, 2004

China, Philosophy and religion

Taoism and Buddhism by Ming times had declined into ill-organized popular religions, and what organization they had was regulated by the state. State espousal of Chu Hsi thought, and state repression of noted early Ming litterateurs, such as the poet Kao Ch'i and the thinker Fang Hsiao-ju, made for widespread philosophical conformity during the 15th century. This was

Saturday, September 18, 2004

Catamaran

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

Friday, September 17, 2004

Cosmetic

The earliest cosmetics known to archaeologists were in use in Egypt in the fourth millennium BC, as evidenced by

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Cilacap

Also spelled �Chilachap �or �Tjilatjap� port and kabupaten (regency), Jawa Tengah provinsi (�province�), Indonesia, on the southern coast of Java. Its harbour is formed by the long, narrow Kambangan Island, which affords protection from the monsoon seas and swells of the Indian Ocean. The harbour was used during the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942. Cilacap has road and rail connections to the rest of Java. Oil refining is

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Aerospace Industry, Special requirements of military aircraft

Military aircraft demand lightweight structures to achieve high performance. Moreover, the materials used must be able to withstand the temperatures created by air friction when the vehicle is flying at high speeds. These requirements have fostered the use of new metals such as aluminum-magnesium alloys and titanium, as well as composites and polymers for many

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Junker, Wilhelm

After journeys to Iceland (1869) and Tunis (1873 - 74), Junker went to Egypt and the Sudan (1875), where from 1876 to 1878 he explored the lower Sobat River and the western tributaries

Monday, September 13, 2004

Bhagavadgita

(Sanskrit: �Song of God�), one of the greatest and most beautiful of the Hindu scriptures. It forms part of Book VI of the Indian epic the Mahabharata (�Great Epic of the Bharata Dynasty�) and is written in the form of a dialogue between the warrior Prince Arjuna and his friend and charioteer, Krishna, who is also an earthly incarnation of the god Vishnu. The Bhagavadgita is of a later

Sunday, September 12, 2004

Hooded Seal

Also called �Bladdernose Seal� (Cystophora cristata), dark-faced seal of the family Phocidae, found in open waters of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans. It is characterized by a large �hood� on the top of the snout. Grayish with either light or dark blotches (less distinct in the female), the hooded seal is gregarious and apparently feeds mainly on fish. The adult male may be about 3.5 metres (12 feet) long and

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Oadby And Wigston

Borough (district), administrative and historic county of Leicestershire, England. Both Oadby and Wigston, formerly villages lying outside the city of Leicester, have in recent years been engulfed by the outward spread of the city's suburbs. They lie to the southeast and south, respectively, of the city's centre. Oadby is almost entirely residential, while Wigston is

Friday, September 10, 2004

Han-tan

The area was already settled

Thursday, September 09, 2004

Cabot, John

Cabot moved to Venice in 1461, or possibly earlier, and became a citizen of that city in 1476. While employed by a Venetian mercantile

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

Gainsborough, Thomas

Portrait and landscape painter, the most versatile English painter of the 18th century. Some of his early portraits show the sitters grouped in a landscape (�Mr. and Mrs. Andrews,� c. 1750). As he became famous and his sitters fashionable, he adopted a more formal manner that owed something to Anthony Van Dyck (�The Blue

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Spiny-finned Fish

The atheriniform (q.v.) is the best known of the spiny-finned group, including flying fishes, guppies, mollies, swordtails, and California grunion. Beryciforms

Monday, September 06, 2004

Lentulus Spinther, Publius Cornelius

As curule aedile, Lentulus in 63 helped Cicero suppress Catiline's conspiracy to overthrow the government. He was praetor in 60 and with Caesar's aid became governor of the province of Nearer Spain in 59. After serving as consul in 57, he governed Cilicia from 56 to 53. Despite

Sunday, September 05, 2004

Aerospace Industry, Military aircraft

The large majority of military aircraft are fighters, followed by bombers, transporter-tankers, early-warning and patrol aircraft, and a variety of propeller- and jet-driven trainers. As is the case with commercial aircraft, the complexity of the technology and the immense capital requirements have narrowed the number of suppliers. In addition, the end of the Cold

Saturday, September 04, 2004

Natal Grass

Any of several southern African grasses of the family Poaceae, and species Rhynchelytrum repens (formerly Tricholaena rosea), which in some areas is known as Natal red top. It is a tufted, perennial with glossy, purple or pink hairs on the seed heads. Natal grass is found on disturbed soils in tropical America and Australia and is cultivated as a forage and ornamental

Friday, September 03, 2004

Arts, Islamic, Philosophy: Averro�s and Avicenna

Philosophy, medicine, and theology, all of which flourished in the 'Abbasid East, were also of importance in the Maghrib; and from there strong influences reached medieval Europe. The influences often came through the mediation of the Jews, who, along with numerous Christians, were largely Arabized in their cultural and literary outlook. The eastern Muslim countries

Thursday, September 02, 2004

Beacon

City, Dutchess county, southeastern New York, U.S. It lies at the foot of Mount Beacon, on the east bank of the Hudson River (there bridged to Newburgh), 58 miles (93 km) north of New York City. It became a city when the 17th-century villages of Matteawan and Fishkill Landing were united in 1913. The name was inspired by the fires that blazed atop Mount Beacon during the American

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Bowling

The crown jewel among all international tenpin bowling tournaments of 1994 was the third world youth championships, held in Monterrey, Mexico, August 6-13. A record 29 countries sent their best young bowlers to Mexico to compete for world titles in boys' and girls' divisions. Stars of the tournament were Jaana Puhakka and Pasi P�ll�nen of Finland, each of whom won two individual

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