ChiefBell

Antares

2005-11-17T17:50:00.000-08:00

Also called Alpha Scorpii red, semiregular variable star, with apparent visual magnitude about 0.9, the brightest star in the zodiacal constellation Scorpius and one of the largest known stars, having several hundred times the diameter of the Sun and several thousand times the Sun's luminosity. It has a fifth-magnitude blue companion. Antares lies about 400 light-years from the Earth. The name seems

Ammonia

2005-10-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

Ammonia is highly

Paul Iii

2005-07-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

The Farnese cardinal's diplomatic skills made him an invaluable aid to the five pontiffs in whose election he participated—Pius III, Julius II, Leo X, Adrian VI, and Clement VII—before he himself emerged as the Roman pontiff on Oct. 13, 1534. At the age of 67, Pope Paul, though apparently frail, was a man of great charm and determination. He was described in diplomatic reports as shrewd

Hugh Of Lincoln, Saint

2005-07-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

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

Fly

2005-07-24T06:05:00.000-07:00

Any of several thousand species of insects belonging to the order Diptera and characterized by the use of only one pair of wings for flight and the reduction of the second pair of wings to knobs (called halteres) used for balance. The term fly is commonly used for almost any small flying insect. In entomology, however, the name refers specifically to the approximately

Periyar Wild Life Sanctuary

2005-07-05T13:05:00.000-07:00

Wildlife preserve in Idukki district, Kerala state, southern India. The sanctuary is noted for herds of elephants, sometimes numbering 50 members. In addition, bonnet monkey, nilgai, langur, porcupine, sloth bear, tiger, leopard, Asian elephant, barking deer, gray jungle fowl, kingfisher, the great Indian hornbill, and the southern grackle are found in the preserve. Extending

Hanks, Tom

2005-06-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

Roy Trakin, Tom Hanks: Journey to Stardom, updated ed. (1995).

Interior Design, United States

2005-06-17T01:05:00.000-07:00

The story of the domestic interior and its decoration in the United States is inseparable both from its own architectural development and from the story of English architecture and decoration, from which it was largely derived even long after the American Revolution. Any discussion of United States decorative design, therefore, must refer constantly to the

Patiala

2005-06-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

City, administrative headquarters of Patiala district, Punjab state, northwestern India. The city lies on a major rail line, as well as on a branch of the Sirhind Canal. Founded in 1763 as the capital of the princely state of Patiala, it is a trade and industrial centre; weaving, cotton ginning, distilling, and manufacturing are among its industries. Punjabi University (established

Table Tennis

2005-06-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

The Chinese continued their domination of table tennis in 1996, collecting all the gold medals at the 1996 Olympic Games. Liu Guoliang, the men's singles runner-up in 1995, won men's singles by besting Wang Tao of China. Deng Yaping, the women's world singles champion in 1991 and 1995, successfully defended her 1992 Olympic singles title by beating Chen Jing of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan). Liu joined the

Amiternum

2005-05-31T09:55:00.000-07:00

In ancient Italy, a Sabine town 5 miles (8 km) north of present L'Aquila in the Aterno (ancient Aternus) River valley. It was stormed by the Romans in 293 BC, but the fertility of its fields helped it to regain its prosperity under the empire (after 27 BC). The Roman historian Sallust was born there in 86 BC. Amiternum was located at the junction of four roads—the Via Caecilia, the Via Claudia Nova,

China, Foreign relations in the 1860s

2005-05-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

The Tsungli Yamen had two offices attached to it: the Inspectorate General of Customs and the Language School, called T'ung-wen-kuan. The former was the centre for the Maritime Custom Service, administered by Western personnel appointed by the Ch'ing. The latter was opened to train the children of bannermen in foreign languages, and later some Western sciences were

Vald�s, Alfonso De

2005-03-15T14:56:00.000-08:00

Vald�s may have studied at the University of Alcal� before joining the court of the emperor Charles V as a secretary and official Latinist. Vald�s held important positions at the Diet of Worms, where he worked

Chelsea Porcelain

2005-03-14T06:17:00.000-08:00

Soft-paste porcelain made at a factory in Chelsea, London, established in 1743 by Charles Gouyn and Nicolas Sprimont, the latter a silversmith. By the 1750s the sole manager was Sprimont, from whose genius stemmed Chelsea's greatest achievements. In 1769 the factory was sold to James Cox; and he sold it a year later to William Duesbury of Derby, Derbyshire, who maintained it until 1784, producing

Deville, �douard Gaston (daniel)

2005-03-12T23:54:00.001-08:00

Deville served in the French navy, conducting hydrographic surveys in the South Sea islands, Peru, and elsewhere until 1874. He then went to Canada, where he

Deville, �douard Gaston (daniel)

2005-03-12T23:54:00.000-08:00

Deville served in the French navy, conducting hydrographic surveys in the South Sea islands, Peru, and elsewhere until 1874. He then went to Canada, where he

Curtea De Arges

2005-03-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

Town, Arges judet (county), south central Romania. It is on the Arges River, at an elevation of 1,480 ft (450 m), on the southern slopes of the Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians), about 80 mi (130 km) northwest of Bucharest. Curtea de Arges succeeded C�mpulung as capital of feudal Walachia. Outstanding architectural monuments include the St. Nicholas church, one of the oldest churches in

Jacobi, Sir Derek

2005-03-06T04:03:00.000-08:00

Born into a nontheatrical family - his father was a London department store manager, his mother a secretary - Jacobi first developed a taste for performing while attending the all-male Leyton County High School. Earning a

Osler, Sir William, Baronet

2005-03-05T00:30:00.000-08:00

Canadian physician and professor of medicine who practiced and taught in Canada, the United States, and Great Britain and whose book The Principles and Practice of Medicine (1892) was a leading textbook. Osler played a key role in transforming the organization and curriculum of medical education, emphasizing

Conemaugh Series

2005-03-04T18:12:00.000-08:00

The Conemaugh Series overlies rocks of the Allegheny

English Literature, Theatres in London and the provinces

2005-03-03T11:49:00.000-08:00

So the London theatres were a meeting ground of humanism and popular taste. They inherited, on the one hand, a tradition of humanistic drama current at court, the universities, and the Inns of Court (collegiate institutions responsible for legal education). This tradition involved the revival of classical plays and attempts to adapt Latin conventions to English,

Heisman, John

2005-03-02T04:03:00.000-08:00

In full �John William Heisman� U.S. collegiate gridiron football coach for 36 years and one of the greatest innovators of the game. He was responsible for legalizing the forward pass in 1906, and he originated the centre snap and the �hike,� or �hep,� count signals shouted by the quarterback in starting play. He was also the first coach to use the hidden ball play

Elgin Marbles

2005-03-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

Collection of ancient Greek sculptures and architectural details in the British Museum, London. The objects were removed from the Parthenon at Athens and from other ancient buildings and shipped to England by arrangement of Thomas Bruce, 7th Lord Elgin, who was British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (1799 - 1803). The removal created a storm of controversy in England that

Loren, Sophia

2005-02-28T13:53:00.000-08:00

Before working in the cinema, Sofia Scicolone changed her name to Sofia Lazzaro for work in the foto-romanzo, popular pulp magazines that used still photographs

Saint Basil The Blessed

2005-02-27T11:09:00.000-08:00

Also called �Pokrovsky Cathedral, �Russian �Svyatoy Vasily Blazhenny, or Pokrovsky Sobor, � church constructed on Red Square in Moscow between 1554 and 1560 by Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, as a votive offering for his military victories over the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan. The church was dedicated to the protection and intercession of the Virgin, but it came to be known as the Cathedral of Vasily Blazhenny (St. Basil the Beatified) after Basil, the Russian holy fool