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

Eusebius Of Caesarea

2005-02-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

Eusebius was baptized and ordained at Caesarea, where he was taught by the learned presbyter Pamphilus, to whom he was bound by ties of respect and affection

Confession

2005-02-25T10:24:00.000-08:00

In literature, an autobiography, either real or fictitious, in which intimate and hidden details of the subject's life are revealed. The first outstanding example of the genre was the Confessions of St. Augustine (c. AD 400), a painstaking examination of Augustine's progress from juvenile sinfulness and youthful debauchery to conversion to Christianity and the triumph

Scylitzes, John

2005-02-24T22:04:00.000-08:00

Scylitzes was a high officeholder at the Byzantine court. He may have written a legal work for Alexius I in 1092. In his history he drew on the work of others for the early part and then largely relied on sources no longer extant and on contemporary oral tradition. In some manuscripts

B�o-b�o River

2005-02-23T14:03:00.000-08:00

River in south-central Chile. It rises in the Andes on Chile's eastern border and flows generally northwestward to enter the Gulf of Arauco on the Pacific Ocean near Concepci�n after a course of 240 miles (380 km). The B�o-B�o River traverses the fertile Central Valley and then forms the only major transverse valley through the coastal mountain range. Although it is one of Chile's

Likoma Island

2005-02-22T10:23:00.000-08:00

Island in Lake Nyasa, Malawi, just northwest of C�bu�, Mozambique. Located near the lake's eastern shore, the rocky and barren island has an area of 7 square miles (18 square km). There is some fishing and limited cultivation of grain; cassava and corn (maize) are imported. The Universities' Mission to Central Africa (Church of England) established a station there in 1885 as a base for

Epinephrine And Norepinephrine

2005-02-21T07:53:00.000-08:00

Also called �adrenaline �and �noradrenaline,� two separate but related hormones secreted by the medulla of the adrenal glands. They are also produced at the ends of sympathetic nerve fibres, where they serve as chemical mediators for conveying the nerve impulses to effector organs. Chemically, the two compounds differ only slightly; and they exert similar pharmacological actions, which resemble the effects

Skaraborg

2005-02-20T07:03:00.000-08:00

Former l�n (county) of south-central Sweden, located between Lakes V�nern and V�ttern. Founded as a county in 1634, it was merged with the counties of �lvsborg and G�teborg och Bohus in 1998 to form the county of V�stra G�taland.

Dygasinski, Adolf

2005-02-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

Dygasinski was a teacher by profession and a worshiper of science. He published about 50 volumes of short stories of uneven literary quality, the best pieces of which deal with the lives of domestic and wild animals.

Sea Whip

2005-02-18T00:17:00.000-08:00

Any of several genera of corals of the order Gorgonacea (phylum Cnidaria), characterized by a long, whiplike growth and a variety of bright colours. The �whip� consists of a colony of tiny polyps (cylindrical, stalklike forms with a mouth and eight tentacles at the upper, or free, end) that grow upon one another in a continuous single stem. Spicules, or needlelike

Asia, North Asia

2005-02-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

Northeastern Siberia comprises faulted and folded mountains of moderate height, such as the Verkhoyansk, Chersky, and Okhotsk-Chaun mountain arcs, all Mesozoic structures that have been rejuvenated by geologically recent tectonic events. The Koryak Mountains are similar but have a Cenozoic origin. Volcanic activity took place in these areas during the Cenozoic.

Trachea

2005-02-16T14:36:00.000-08:00

In vertebrates and invertebrates, a tube or system of tubes that carries air. In insects, a few land arachnids, and myriapods, the trachea is an elaborate system of small, branching tubes that carry oxygen to individual body cells; in most land vertebrates, the trachea is the windpipe, which conveys air from the larynx to the two main

Bachman, John

2005-02-15T20:39:00.000-08:00

Ordained in 1814, Bachman obtained a parish in Charleston, S.C., the following year. Long a natural-history enthusiast, he published studies of southern animals and works on botany

Biblical Literature, The Letter of Paul to the Galatians

2005-02-14T05:11:00.000-08:00

Paul's Letter to the Galatians is a forceful and passionate letter dealing with a very specific question: the relation of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians in the church, the problem of justification through faith not works of the Law, and freedom in Christ. Paul probably wrote from Ephesus c. 53 - 54 to a church he had founded in the territory of Galatia in Asia

Rush, William

2005-02-13T05:12:00.000-08:00

Rush trained to make ornamental ship carvings and figureheads. During the American Revolution he served as an officer in Philadelphia's militia and campaigned with George Washington in the city's defense. Shortly after

Mountain, The Andes

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

The Nazca Plate, which underlies most of the southeastern Pacific, is being subducted beneath most of the west coast of South America at a rapid rate of 80 to 100 millimetres per year. A nearly continuous chain of volcanoes lines the margin of South America, and the world's tallest volcano, Ojos del Salado (6,893 metres), is one of these peaks. The Andean range, however, is more than just

Durham

2005-02-11T00:40:00.000-08:00

Administrative, geographic, and historic county of northeastern England, on the North Sea coast. The administrative, geographic, and historic counties cover somewhat different areas. The administrative county comprises seven districts: Chester-le-Street, Derwentside, the city of Durham, Easington, the borough of Sedgefield, Teesdale, and Wear Valley. The geographic

Haakon V Magnusson,

2005-02-10T19:09:00.000-08:00

The younger son of Magnus VI Lawmender, Haakon succeeded his older brother, Erik II Magnusson, in 1299. Determined to reduce the

Tasmania

2005-02-09T07:51:00.000-08:00

J.L. Davies (ed.), Atlas of Tasmania (1965), offers comprehensive map coverage with detailed commentary. The Tasmanian Year Book (biennial) is the most comprehensive single reference. C.F. Burrett and E.L. Martin (eds.), Geology and Mineral Resources of Tasmania (1989), is also useful. Margaret Stones and Winifred Curtis, The Endemic Flora of Tasmania, 6 pt. (1967 - 76), is a definitive study, beautifully illustrated. W.A. Townsley, The Government of Tasmania (1976), is a good political guide. The great 19th-century history is by John West, The History of Tasmania, 2 vol. (1852, reissued in 1 vol., 1971); its successor is by Lloyd Robson, A History of Tasmania, 2 vol. (1983 - 91), who has also written A Short History of Tasmania (1985). Outstanding historical monographs include Peter Bolger, Hobart Town (1973); Geoffrey Blainey, The Peaks of Lyell, 4th ed. (1978), on copper mining; and Marilyn Lake, A Divided Society: Tasmania During World War I (1975). P. Conrad, Down Home: Revisiting Tasmania (1988, also published as Behind the Mountain: Return to Tasmania, 1989), is an account by an intellectual aghast at the oddities of his native spot.

National Socialism

2005-02-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

German �Nationalsozialismus�, also called �Nazism� or �Naziism� totalitarian movement led by Adolf Hitler as head of the Nazi Party in Germany. In its intense nationalism, mass appeal, and dictatorial rule, National Socialism shared many elements with Italian fascism. However, Nazism was far more extreme both in its ideas and in its practice. In almost every respect it was an anti-intellectual and atheoretical movement, emphasizing

Madi

2005-02-06T20:41:00.000-08:00

Primarily hoe cultivators with millet as their staple crop, the Madi also fish, hunt, and keep cattle; smithing is an important

Cipher

2005-02-05T18:12:00.000-08:00

All ciphers involve either transposition or substitution, or a combination of these two mathematical operations - i.e., product ciphers. In transposition cipher systems, elements of the plaintext

John Of Ephesus,

2005-02-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

A Syrian monk, he became a deacon at Amida in 529, but because of the Byzantine persecution of the Monophysites he was forced to lead a nomadic life. Later, at the Eastern imperial court of Constantinople, John was

Zaramo

2005-02-03T01:09:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Dzalamo�, or �Saramo� a people who reside in the area surrounding Dar es-Salaam, Tanzania, and comprise the major ethnic component in the city. The Zaramo are considered to be part of the cluster of Swahili peoples on the coast of East Africa who have incorporated elements from many diverse ethnic backgrounds but who are unified in the Islamic faith and in the use of the Swahili

Astor, John Jacob

2005-02-02T00:51:00.000-08:00

Astor started a fur-goods shop in New York City about 1786 after learning about the fur trade while aboard the ship that brought him to the U.S. Benefitting

H I Region

2005-02-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Hi Region, � in astronomy, interstellar matter composed of neutral hydrogen atoms. Most of the matter between the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, to which the Earth belongs, as well as in other spiral galaxies, occurs in the form of relatively cold, neutral hydrogen gas with a temperature of only about 100 K and a density of approximately one atom per cubic cm. There also exist cold compact

Anthropomorphism

2005-01-31T10:36:00.000-08:00

The attribution of human form or other human characteristics to any nonhuman object. In religion, the term is applied to any statement that depicts the deity as having a bodily form resembling that of human beings, or as possessing qualities of thought, will, or emotion that are continuous with those experienced by humans. Any reference to the divine as having a human

France, History Of, Economy, society, and culture in the 14th and 15th centuries

2005-01-30T13:56:00.000-08:00

The long war, fought almost entirely in France, benefited few but the captains and peculators; it injured almost everyone. Even the best disciplined companies lived off the land, so that French peasants and defeated townsfolk in effect paid the expenses of both sides; and undisciplined mercenary bands were a wearisome scourge in times of truce after the middle of

Qatar

2005-01-29T00:09:00.000-08:00

Qatar's economic prosperity is derived from petroleum, which was discovered in 1939 and first produced in 1949, and from natural gas. Before World War II, Qatar's population lacked any economic occupation apart from pearling, fishing, and some trade and was one of the poorest in the world. By the 1970s, however, the native Qataris enjoyed one of the highest per capita incomes in the world,

Rovaniemi

2005-01-28T05:08:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Lapin l��ni (Lappi province), northern Finland, at the junction of the Kemijoki and Ounasjoki (rivers), northeast of Tornio, on the Arctic Circle. Incorporated in 1929, it became the administrative centre of Lappi in 1939, when the government of Lapland was reorganized. Road building between 1920 and 1940 spurred its development, but near the end of World War II the retreating

Cheddar

2005-01-27T08:13:00.000-08:00

Village (�parish�), Sedgemoor district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, England, at the mouth of a spectacular limestone gorge in the Mendip Hills. The gorge (now owned by the National Trust) and caverns, in which human remains and artifacts dating back to the Stone Age have been found, attract many tourists. Cheddar cheese was first made there at or before

Indore

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

Indore was founded in 1715 as a trade market on the Narmada River valley route by local landowners, who erected Indreshwar Temple (1741), from which the name Indore is derived. It became the capital

Ibn Shem Tov, Joseph Ben Shem Tov

2005-01-25T22:38:00.000-08:00

Jewish philosopher and Castilian court physician who attempted to mediate the disdain shown for philosophy by contemporary Jewish scholars by undertaking a reconciliation of Aristotelian ethical philosophy with Jewish religious thought, best exemplified by his influential Kevod Elohim (written 1442; �The Glory of God�). Here he expounded his belief that answers

Rowland, Henry Augustus

2005-01-24T07:32:00.000-08:00

In 1872 Rowland became an instructor of physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,

Arts, Islamic, Three great mosques

2005-01-23T01:35:00.000-08:00

During the rule of the Umayyad prince al-Walid I (705 - 715), a number of complex developments within the Muslim community were crystallized in the construction of three major mosques, at Medina, Jerusalem, and Damascus. The very choice of these three cities is indicative: the city in which the Muslim state was formed and in which the Prophet was buried; the city held in common holiness

Cambrai, League Of

2005-01-22T00:08:00.000-08:00

An alliance of Pope Julius II, the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian I, Louis XII of France, and Ferdinand II of Aragon, formed Dec. 10, 1508, ostensibly against the Turks but actually to attack the Republic of Venice and divide its possessions among the allies. Mantua and Ferrara, both of which had lost possessions to Venice, were included in the league and were promised that their

Biblical Literature, The Wisdom of Solomon

2005-01-21T11:50:00.000-08:00

The other deuterocanonical wisdom book, the Wisdom of Solomon, was written in Greek, though it purports to have been written by King Solomon himself. The hypothesis that the first half of the book was translated from Hebrew seems to be without foundation and probably came into existence because, in this section, the author imitated in Greek the Old Testament poetical

Chia-i

2005-01-20T20:15:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Chiayi,� hsien (county), west-central Taiwan, with an area of 734 square miles (1,902 square km). It is bounded by the hsien of Y�n-lin and Nan-t'ou (north), Kao-hsiung (east), and T'ai-nan (south) and by the Taiwan Strait (west). The A-li Mountains dominate the eastern region, and there are coastal plains in the west. Paddy rice, sugarcane, peanuts (groundnuts), corn (maize), jute, bananas, pineapples, and citrus fruits

Oberlin, Johann Friedrich

2005-01-19T01:59:00.000-08:00

Born into a middle-class family, Oberlin studied theology and graduated from the University of Strasbourg in 1758. He was a teacher

Caracalla

2005-01-18T14:52:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Caracallus, �byname of �Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus, �original name (until AD 196) �Septimius Bassianus, �also called (AD 196 - 198) �Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Caesar � Roman emperor, ruling jointly with his father, Septimius Severus, from 198 to 211 and then alone from 211 until his assassination in 217. His principal achievements were his colossal baths in Rome and his edict of 212, giving Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire. Caracalla, whose reign contributed to the decay

Caucasian Languages, Grammatical characteristics

2005-01-17T06:46:00.000-08:00

In a number of languages (Lezgi, Udi) noun differentiation by classes has disappeared. The class of

Aeolic Dialect

2005-01-16T02:57:00.000-08:00

Any of several dialects of Ancient Greek �that were spoken in Thessaly, Boeotia, and, after approximately 1000 Bc� in Asiatic Aeolis, including the island of Lesbos, where Aeolian colonists from the mainland founded their cities. West Thessalian and especially Boeotian varieties of Aeolic were influenced by the neighbouring West Greek (Doric) dialects, whereas Asiatic Aeolic was influenced by Ionic. The Lesbian poets Alcaeus (c. 620 - c. 580 BC) and Sappho (fl. c. 610 - c. 580 BC) used their vernacular Asiatic

Zapopan

2005-01-15T05:12:00.000-08:00

City, north-central Jalisco estado (�state�), west-central Mexico. It is in the temperate Guadalajara Valley, at an elevation of 5,243 feet (1,598 m) above sea level, 4.5 miles (7 km) northwest of Guadalajara, the state capital. It is a commercial and manufacturing centre for the surrounding area that produces grain (principally corn [maize]), sugarcane, cotton, and fruits and vegetables. Livestock

Guadalcanal, Battle Of

2005-01-14T14:42:00.000-08:00

(August 1942 - February 1943), series of World War II land and sea clashes between Allied and Japanese forces on and around Guadalcanal, one of the southern Solomon Islands, in the South Pacific. Japanese troops had landed on Guadalcanal on July 6, 1942, and had begun constructing an airfield there. On August 7, in the Allies' first major offensive in the Pacific, 6,000 U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal

Magnus Vi

2005-01-13T23:58:00.000-08:00

Magnus succeeded his father, Haakon IV Haakonsson, in 1263 and quickly made peace with the Scottish king Alexander

Mercury

2005-01-12T20:47:00.000-08:00

Latin �Mercurius, � in Roman religion, god of merchandise and merchants, commonly identified with the Greek Hermes (q.v.), fleet-footed messenger of the gods. His worship was introduced early, and his temple on the Aventine Hill in Rome was dedicated in 495 BC. There he was associated with the goddess Maia, who became identified as his mother through her association with the Greek Maia, mother of

Gates Of Paradise

2005-01-11T22:32:00.000-08:00

Italian �Porta Del Paradiso, � the pair of gilded bronze doors (1425 - 52) designed by the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti for the east entrance of the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence. Each wing of the Gates of Paradise contains five rectangular reliefs of scenes from the Old Testament between figurated borders containing statuettes in niches and medallions with busts. The entire surface of the doors

Denizli

2005-01-10T01:35:00.000-08:00

City, southwestern Turkey. It lies near a tributary of the Menderes River. Set among the gardens at the foot of Mount G�kbel (7,572 feet [2,308 m]), Denizli inherited the economic position of ancient Laodicea ad Lycum, 4 miles (6 km) away, when that town was deserted during wars between the Byzantines and the Seljuq Turks in the 12th century. By the 14th century, as L�dik (Ladiq), Denizli had emerged

Mignet, Fran�ois

2005-01-09T19:28:00.000-08:00

Educated at Avignon, Mignet became professor there in 1815; he returned to Aix for his law studies and was called to the bar in 1818. His first work, the Essai sur les institutions de Saint Louis, was acclaimed by the Academy of Inscriptions

Tzaddiq

2005-01-08T09:25:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Tsaddik, or Zaddik (Hebrew: �righteous man�), �plural �Tzaddiqim, Tsaddikim, or Zaddikim, � one who embodies the religious ideals of Judaism. In the Bible, a tzaddiq is a just or righteous man (Genesis 6:9), who, if a ruler, rules justly or righteously (II Samuel 23:3) and who takes joy in justice (Proverbs 21:15). The Talmud (compendium of Jewish law, lore, and commentary) asserts that the continued existence of the world is due to the merits of 36 individuals, each of whom is gamur

Zagwe Dynasty

2005-01-07T02:44:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Zague, � line of 12th- and 13th-century Ethiopian kings who combined a nomadic military life with an impassioned desire to build monuments to their Christian religion. Their tenuous pretensions to succession, based on a legendary marriage to a daughter of one of the last Aksumite kings, the line they deposed, was subsequently confirmed by the church; in return for its support,

Argentina, The Gran Chaco

2005-01-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

The western sector of the North region, the Gran Chaco, extends beyond the international border at the Pilcomayo River into Paraguay, where it is called the Chaco Boreal (�Northern Chaco�) by Argentines. The Argentine sector between the Pilcomayo River and the Bermejo River is known as the Chaco Central. Argentines have named the area southward to latitude 30� S, where the

Scandinavian Literature, Notable 20th-century prose writers

2005-01-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

Several writers of this time showed a keen eye for character and an understanding of human feelings and of the stark life of rural Iceland: J�n Trausti (Gudmundur Magn�sson), who wrote the cycle Heidarb�lid (4 vol., 1908 - 11; �The Mountain Cot�); Gunnar Gunnarsson, whose Kirken p� bjerget (1923 - 28; �The Church on the Mountain�) was written in Danish; and Gudmundur Hagal�n. The outstanding modern

Westchester

2005-01-03T03:05:00.000-08:00

The original inhabitants of Westchester, Algonquian-speaking Wappinger Indians, were displaced in the 1640s by Dutch colonists along the Hudson and by colonists

Rawalpindi

2005-01-02T23:32:00.000-08:00

Rawalpindi (�Village of Rawals�) occupies the site of an old village inhabited by the Rawals, a group of yogis (ascetics). Certain ruins on the site are identified with the ancient city Gajipur, or Gajnipur,

Water Softener

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

Device for removing calcium and magnesium from water; water so treated will not form insoluble scale in pipes and tanks and will not form a precipitate with soaps or interfere with other cleaners. Water softeners usually consist of zeolite or an ion-exchange resin (q.v.) in a tank connected directly into the water system. The zeolite or resin contains sodium ions that

Dube, John Langalibalele

2004-12-31T11:12:00.000-08:00

After studying at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, U.S., and being ordained a minister, Dube returned to Natal with the goal

Uccello, Paolo

2004-12-30T23:24:00.000-08:00

In 1436 in the Florence cathedral, Uccello completed a monochrome fresco of an equestrian monument to Sir John Hawkwood, an English mercenary who had commanded Florentine troops at the end of the 14th century. In the Hawkwood fresco, a single-point perspective scheme, a fully sculptural treatment of the horse and rider, and a sense of controlled potential energy within

Pyrolite

2004-12-28T16:37:00.000-08:00

Rock consisting of about three parts peridotite and one part basalt. The name was coined to explain the chemical and mineralogic composition of the upper mantle of the Earth. The relative abundances of the principal metallic element components (except iron) are similar to those in chondritic meteorites and in the solar photosphere. Accordingly, it is reasonable

Luria, Salvador

2004-12-27T01:09:00.000-08:00

Luria graduated from the University of Turin in 1935 and became a radiology specialist. He fled Italy for France in 1938 and went to the United States

Denakil Plain

2004-12-26T23:56:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Danakil, �also called �Dankali, � arid lowland of northern Ethiopia and southeastern Eritrea, bordering Djibouti. It lies at the northern extreme of the Great Rift Valley and the Awash River. Live volcanoes (often called the Denakil Alps) separate it from the Red Sea. Any water that comes into the plain evaporates there; no streams flow out from it. The Kobar Sink, a huge basin in the northern part of the

Semiconductor

2004-12-25T14:59:00.000-08:00

If an abrupt change in impurity type from acceptors (p-type) to donors (n-type) occurs within a single crystal structure, a p-n junction is formed (see parts B and C of the figure). On the p side, the holes constitute the dominant carriers and so are called majority carriers. A few thermally generated electrons will also exist in the p side; these are termed minority carriers. On the n side,

U.s. News

2004-12-24T08:39:00.000-08:00

Weekly news magazine published in Washington, D.C., one of the most influential of its kind and the first to successfully imitate the general format pioneered by Time. It was established in 1933 by David Lawrence as U.S. News and won general note for its thorough coverage of major news events in Washington, D.C., and the United States, often carrying the complete text of major

Pachacamac

2004-12-23T13:32:00.000-08:00

Creator deity worshipped by the pre-Inca maritime population of Peru; it was also the name of a pilgrimage site in the Lur�n Valley (south of Lima) dedicated to the god and revered for many centuries. After the Incas conquered the coast, they did not attempt to replace the ancient and deeply rooted worship of Pachacamac but instead incorporated him into their own pantheon.

Feline Distemper

2004-12-22T02:28:00.000-08:00

Also called �Panleukopenia, or Infectious Enteritis, � viral disease of cats, kittens two to six months old being most susceptible. About 3 to 10 days after exposure to the disease, infected kittens cough and sneeze, have running eyes and nose, are feverish, lose their appetites, vomit, and have diarrhea. The number of white cells in the blood drops severely. The disease rarely lasts more than a week, but the mortality rate is high.

Daikoku

2004-12-21T20:06:00.000-08:00

In Japanese mythology, one of the Shichi-fuku-jin (Seven Gods of Luck); the god of wealth and guardian of farmers. He is depicted in legend and art as dark-skinned, stout, carrying a wish-granting mallet in his right hand, a bag of precious things slung over his back, and sitting on two rice bags. Rats are sometimes shown nibbling at the rice, further emphasizing the theme of

Aladura

2004-12-20T09:38:00.000-08:00

(Yoruba: �Owners of Prayer�), religious movement among the Yoruba peoples of western Nigeria, embracing some of the independent prophet-healing churches of West Africa. The movement, which in the early 1970s had several hundred thousand adherents, began about 1918 among the younger elite in the well-established Christian community. They were dissatisfied with Western religious

I Li

2004-12-19T18:29:00.000-08:00

Pinyin �Yi li� collection of Chinese rituals probably compiled during Western Han times (206 BC - AD 8) and listed, along with two other ritual texts (Li chi, �Collection of Rituals�; Chou li, �Rites of Chou�), among the Nine, Twelve, and Thirteen Classics of Confucianism. Its subject matter is somewhat different from the other ritual classics in that it gives special emphasis to such events as weddings,

Frederick Augustus I

2004-12-18T16:17:00.000-08:00

Succeeding his father in 1763 as the elector Frederick Augustus III, he brought order and efficiency to his country's finances and administration. In foreign policy, he was neutralist but

Hawthorne Research

2004-12-17T04:11:00.000-08:00

Also called �Hawthorne effect� socioeconomic experiments conducted by Elton Mayo in 1927 among employees of the Hawthorne Works factory of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois. For almost a year, a group of female workers were subjected to measured changes in their hours, wages, rest periods, lighting conditions, organization, and degree of supervision and consultation in order to determine

Staghead

2004-12-16T22:37:00.000-08:00

Progressive slow death of tree branches from the top down. See dieback.

'isa Ibn Musa

2004-12-15T22:40:00.000-08:00

The caliph as-Saffah nominated his brother al-Mansur and, after him, 'Isa, as heirs. On the accession of al-Mansur, 'Isa was governor of Kufah. The new caliph sent him to lead an army against an 'Alid revolt in Medina, apparently with the hope that he might be killed. In a series of battles,

Balasore

2004-12-14T16:11:00.000-08:00

Also called �Baleshwar, � town, northeastern Orissa state, eastern India. Balasore lies on the Burhabalang River, 7 miles (11 km) from the Bay of Bengal. It was the site of a British settlement in 1633; Dutch, Danish, and French merchants followed later in the 17th century. The Dutch and Danish settlements were ceded to the British in 1846, but the French holding remained until 1947. In the 18th century Balasore became important

Cilea, Francesco

2004-12-13T17:38:00.000-08:00

While studying at the Naples Conservatory, Cilea produced an opera, Gina, which secured for him a commission from a publisher. His first important work, L'Arlesiana (1897), after Alphonse Daudet, was the vehicle for the tenor Enrico Caruso's first success. Cilea's

Scylla And Charybdis

2004-12-12T15:07:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, two immortal and irresistible monsters who beset the narrow waters traversed by the hero Odysseus in his wanderings (later localized in the Strait of Messina). Scylla was a supernatural creature, with 12 feet and 6 heads on long, snaky necks, each head having a triple row of sharklike teeth, while her loins were girt with the heads of baying dogs. From her

Olmaliq

2004-12-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

Formerly �Almalyk,� city, eastern Uzbekistan. It is situated 35 miles (55 km) southeast of the city of Tashkent on the northern slopes of the Qurama Mountains and on the left bank of the Ohangaron River. Olmaliq was founded in 1951 from several settlements exploiting the rich nonferrous-metal resources of the Qurama Mountains. The city has become an important centre of nonferrous metallurgy and