ChiefSnake

Ren Essential Moroccan Rose Oil

2006-12-07T00:20:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most amazing natural bath oils I have used. It is a rich, sensuous and luxurious. Only a small amount of the Moroccan Otto Rose Oil in the bath will fill the room with this incredible smell. This rose oil really penetrates the skin during the bath leaving it soft as silk and with the beatiful scent of the rose oil

Mammal, Digestive system

2005-04-04T19:32:00.000-07:00

The alimentary canal is highly specialized in many kinds of mammals. In general, specializations of the gut accompany herbivorous habits. The intestines of herbivores are typically elongate and the stomach may also be specialized. Subdivision of the gut allows areas of differing physiological environments for the activities of different sorts of enzymes

Clare, Ada

2005-04-04T16:11:00.000-07:00

Jane McElhenney was of a prosperous and well-connected family. From about age 11 she grew up under the care of her maternal grandfather. About 1854 she struck out on her own. In New York City she began contributing love poems and sketches

Milyukov, Pavel Nikolayevich

2005-04-04T10:15:00.000-07:00

As a contributor to a clandestinely circulated journal, Osvobozhdeniye (“Liberation”), founded in 1902, Milyukov did much to swing the moderate members of the zemstvos (local government bodies) to the left. During the revolutionary year 1905, he was active in forming the Union of Unions, a broad alliance of professional associations, and subsequently the Constitutional Democratic,

Anouilh, Jean(-marie-lucien-pierre)

2005-04-01T19:41:00.000-08:00

Playwright who became one of the strongest personalities of the French theatre and achieved an international reputation. His plays are intensely personal messages; often they express his love of the theatre as well as his grudges against actors, wives, mistresses, critics, academicians, bureaucrats, and others. Anouilh's characteristic

Abbate, Niccolò Dell'

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

He began his career in Modena as a student of the sculptor Antonio Begarelli. His “Martyrdom of St. Peter and

Augustus, Caesar

2005-04-01T00:03:00.000-08:00

Returning to Italy, he was told that in his will Caesar had adopted him as his son and had made him his chief personal heir. He was only 18 when, against the advice of his stepfather and others, he decided to take up this perilous inheritance and proceeded to Rome. Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius), Caesar's chief lieutenant, who had taken possession of his papers and assets and had

Macapagal, Diosdado

2005-03-31T15:27:00.000-08:00

After receiving his law degree, Macapagal was admitted to the bar in 1936. During World War II he practiced law in Manila and aided the anti-Japanese resistance. After the war he worked in a law firm and in 1948 served as second secretary to the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. The following

Chemical Compound, Preparation

2005-03-31T08:21:00.000-08:00

Thioketones are usually prepared through reaction of ketones with phosphorus sulfur reagents such as Lawesson's reagent, Ar2P2S4 (Figure 50). Xanthates (Greek xanthos, “yellow,” from the colour of their copper salts), thiocarbonyl derivatives of carbonates, ROC(=S)OR, are prepared from alcohols and carbon disulfide. This reaction is used to produce a soluble form of cellulose

Cela, Camilo José

2005-03-30T04:44:00.000-08:00

In full Camilo José Cela Trulock Spanish writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1989. He is perhaps best known for his novel La familia de Pascual Duarte (1942; The Family of Pascual Duarte) and is considered to have given new life to Spanish literature. His literary production—primarily novels, short narratives, and travel diaries—is characterized by experimentation

Kuei

2005-03-29T17:25:00.000-08:00

Kuei are spirits of individuals who were not properly buried or whose families neglected the proper memorial offerings; they lack the means to ascend to the spirit world, hence their malevolent disposition. In traditional China,

Cronin, James Watson

2005-03-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

Cronin graduated from Southern Methodist University at Dallas, Texas, in 1951 and received his

Jacksonville

2005-03-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

City, Morgan county, west-central Illinois, U.S. Laid out in 1825 as the county seat and named in honour of Andrew Jackson, it soon acquired a distinctive educational, institutional, and religious character, which it largely retains. Illinois College (founded there in 1829 and affiliated with the United Church of Christ) was the first in the state to graduate a college class. Other

Beardmore Glacier

2005-03-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

Glacier in central Antarctica, descending about 7,200 ft (2,200 m) from the South Polar Plateau to Ross Ice Shelf, dividing the Transantarctic Mountains of Queen Maud and Queen Alexandra. One of the world's largest known valley glaciers, it is 125 mi (200 km) long and is 25 mi in width. The British explorers Ernest Henry Shackleton (1908) and Robert Scott (1911) discovered the glacier on their route to the

Andaman And Nicobar Islands, The land

2005-03-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

Some islands have flat coral-covered surfaces, while the others, such as Great Nicobar, are hilly. Great Nicobar, rising to 2,106 feet (642 metres) and containing numerous fast-flowing streams, is the only island with sufficient fresh surface water. Lying between latitudes 6°45¢ and 9°15¢ N, the Nicobars experience temperatures between 64° and 92° F (18° and 33° C). The southwest monsoon (May through September)

Dactylella

2005-03-26T11:21:00.000-08:00

A genus of 15 species in the Fungi Imperfecti (form-class Deuteromycetes; q.v.). They capture and kill nematodes (roundworms) by penetrating their bodies. A penetration tube grows out of a hypha (one of the filaments that make up the body of a typical fungus) after contact with the prey, enters it, and begins to grow and branch, forming haustoria (special absorbing structures).

Moscheles, Ignaz

2005-03-25T07:12:00.000-08:00

Moscheles studied at the Prague Conservatory and later at Vienna under J.G. Albrechtsberger and Antonio Salieri. In 1814, commissioned by Artaria & Co., publishers, he made the first piano arrangement of Ludwig van

Silhouette

2005-03-25T04:24:00.000-08:00

An image or design in a single hue and tone, most usually the popular 18th- and 19th-century cut or painted profile portraits done in black on white or the reverse. Silhouette also is any outline or sharp shadow of an object. The word was satirically derived from the name of the parsimonious mid-18th-century French finance minister Étienne de Silhouette, whose hobby was the

Vasily Iii

2005-03-24T19:30:00.000-08:00

In full Vasily Ivanovich grand prince of Moscow from 1505 to 1533. Succeeding his father, Ivan III (ruled Moscow 1462–1505), Vasily completed his father's policy of consolidating the numerous independent Russian principalities into a united Muscovite state by annexing Pskov (1510), Ryazan (1517), and Starodub and Novgorod-Seversk (now Novgorod-Seversky) by 1523. He also strengthened his growing state by capturing

Aquatint

2005-03-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

A variety of etching widely used by printmakers to achieve a broad range of tonal values. The process is called aquatint because finished prints often resemble watercolour drawings or wash drawings. The technique consists of exposing a copperplate to acid through a layer of granulated resin or sugar. The acid bites away the plate only in the interstices between

Gennadius Of Novgorod

2005-03-22T08:03:00.000-08:00

Named archbishop in 1485 by the grand prince of Moscow Ivan III (1462–1505), Gennadius initiated a persecution of Christian Judaizers, a movement of zealots stressing the monotheistic element

Aesthetics, Japan

2005-03-22T01:14:00.000-08:00

The practice of literary commentary and aesthetic discussion was extensively developed in Japan and is exemplified at its most engaging in the great novel Genji monogatari (c. 1000; Tale of Genji), written by Murasaki Shikibu, lady-in-waiting to the Empress. Centuries of commentary on this novel, as well as on the court literature that it inspired, on the no and puppet plays,

Beaconsfield

2005-03-21T00:56:00.000-08:00

Town in northern Tasmania, Australia. It lies on the west bank of the Tamar River, 29 miles (46 km) northwest of Launceston. The site of the present town, originally known as Cabbage Tree Hill, was renamed Brandy Creek when gold was found nearby in 1870. In 1879 F.A. Weld, governor of Tasmania, gave the town its present name in honour of Benjamin Disraeli, the 1st Earl of Beaconsfield. Between

Lutheran Church In Württemberg

2005-03-20T15:50:00.000-08:00

Independent Lutheran church established in the duchy of Württemberg in 1534 during the Protestant Reformation in Germany. A strong Lutheran church throughout the centuries, it was influenced in the 17th and 18th centuries by Pietism, the Lutheran-based movement that emphasized personal religious experience and reform. It became independent of the state after Germany

Cadman, Charles Wakefield

2005-03-20T01:10:00.000-08:00

By age 13 Cadman was studying the piano and organ. At about age 19 he met Nellie Richmond Eberhart, who would write most of his song lyrics and opera librettos. In his early 20s he held various jobs, pursuing music studies as he could.

Ribble Valley

2005-03-19T18:57:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative county of Lancashire, northwestern England, along the county's eastern border, extending into the western Pennine uplands. The southern part of the borough, including the lower Ribble valley and the two largest towns, Clitheroe and Longridge, lies in the historic county of Lancashire. The remainder of the mostly rural borough, including

Madero, Francisco (indalécio)

2005-03-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

The son of a wealthy landowning

Ibn Battutah

2005-03-18T21:42:00.000-08:00

The greatest medieval Arab traveller and the author of one of the most famous travel books, the Rihlah (Travels), which describes his extensive travels covering some 75,000 miles (more than 120,000 km) in trips to almost all the Muslim countries and to regions as far as China and Sumatra.

Caragiale, Costache

2005-03-18T02:09:00.000-08:00

Caragiale made his stage debut in 1835 in Bucharest, and in 1838 he organized a theatre of contemporary drama in Iasi (now Jassy). During the next 15 years he worked with regional theatres, notably those in Iasi, Botosani, and Craiova,

Sorites

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

In syllogistic, or traditional, logic, a chain of successive syllogisms—or units of argument that pass from two premises (a major and then a minor) to a conclusion—in the first figure (i.e., with the middle, or repeated, term as the subject of the major and the predicate of the minor premise)—so related that either the conclusion of each (except the last) is the minor premise of

Hetman

2005-03-17T11:10:00.000-08:00

Military title used in the Polish–Lithuanian state (16th–18th century); the hetman wielki (“great hetman”) was the chief of the armed forces and the commander in the field when the king was not present. In Ukraine a variation of the term, ataman, was used to designate the military leader of the Zaporozhian Cossacks (16th century) and the prince of the area east of the Dnieper River

Wake Forest University

2005-03-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S., affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. The university consists of Wake Forest College, the Wayne Calloway School of Business and Accountancy, the School of Law, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, the Graduate School, the Divinity School, and the Babcock

Bohemian Confession

2005-03-16T03:31:00.000-08:00

Latin Confessio Bohemica, Protestant doctrinal statement formulated in Bohemia by the Czech Utraquists (moderate Hussites) in 1575 and subscribed to by the Unitas Fratrum, Lutherans, and Calvinists in the kingdom. The document was based on the Augsburg Confession, and it upheld the Lutheran position on justification and the Calvinist interpretation of the Eucharist. Though Emperor Maximilian

Wagner, Richard

2005-03-15T23:27:00.000-08:00

For the next 15 years Wagner was not to present any further new works. Until 1858 he lived in Zürich, composing, writing treatises, and conducting (he directed the London Philharmonic concerts in 1855). Having already studied the Siegfried legend and the Norse myths as a possible basis for an opera, and having written an operatic “poem,” Siegfrieds Tod (Siegfried's Death), in which he

Drafting

2005-03-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

At the design stage, both freehand and mechanical drawings serve the functions of inspiring and guiding the designer and of communicating among the designer, collaborators,

Ahmad Shah

2005-03-14T07:29:00.000-08:00

In full Ahmad Shah Bahadur Mujahid-ud-din Abu Nasr ineffectual Mughal emperor of India from 1748 to 1754, who has been characterized as a “good-natured imbecile,” without personality, training, or qualities of leadership. He was entirely dominated by others, including the queen mother, Udham Bai, and the eunuch superintendent of the harem, the emperor's vicar Javid Khan. Twice during his reign, the Afghan

La Fontaine, Jean De

2005-03-13T22:38:00.000-08:00

Biographical and critical studies include Marie-Odile Sweetser, La Fontaine (1987); Agnes Ethel Mackay, La Fontaine and His Friends: A Biography (1972); John C. Lapp, The Esthetics of Negligence: La Fontaine's Contes (1971); and Richard Danner, Patterns of Irony in the Fables of La Fontaine (1985).

Hendrix, Jimi

2005-03-13T19:32:00.000-08:00

Though his active career as a featured artist lasted a mere four years, Hendrix altered the course of popular music and became one of

San Francisco, Exploration and early settlement

2005-03-12T23:38:00.000-08:00

It is extraordinary that the site of San Francisco should have been explored first by land instead of from the sea, for San Francisco Bay is one of the most splendid natural harbours of the world, yet great captains and explorers—Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo (1542–43), Sir Francis Drake (1579), and Sebastián Vizcaíno (1602)—sailed unheeding past the entrance. In 1769 a scouting party from an expedition

Catanduva

2005-03-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

City, in the highlands of north-central São Paulo estado (“state”) Brazil, on the São Domingos River at 1,630 feet (497 m) above sea level. Originally called Vila Adolfo, the settlement was given town status in 1909 and was made the seat of a municipality in 1917. Coffee is the principal crop of the region, which also raises cotton, corn (maize), rice, feijão (beans), and peanuts (groundnuts). Catanduva's

Orange

2005-03-11T18:56:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1852) of Orange county, southeastern Texas, U.S. It lies at the Louisiana state line. Orange is a deepwater port on the Sabine River, which has been canalized to connect with the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. It is linked to Beaumont and Port Arthur by the tall Rainbow Bridge (1938), built to allow passage of the tallest ship of its time; with Beaumont and Port Arthur, Orange forms

Basanite

2005-03-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

In basanites and tephrites, the plagioclase occurs as large, single crystals (phenocrysts). The feldspathoid (nepheline)

Furniture Industry

2005-03-11T03:47:00.000-08:00

The modern manufacture of furniture, as distinct from its design, is a major mass-production industry in Europe, the U.S., and other advanced regions. It is very largely a 20th-century industry, its development having

Hojo Yoshitoki

2005-03-08T17:22:00.000-08:00

Yoshitoki succeeded his father, Hojo Tokimasa (q.v.), as regent, making this office the hereditary post of the Hojo family. Thereafter, although the emperor at Kyoto was the official

Shensi, Plant and animal life

2005-03-08T15:38:00.000-08:00

The vegetation in the northern and southern zones is also sharply differentiated. The southern mountain area forms a part of the mixed deciduous broad-leaved and evergreen forest zone that formerly covered the Lower Yangtze and Han river basins; this region is characterized by a rich variety of vegetation that includes more than 50 broad-leaved genera and a dozen

Trade Fair

2005-03-08T05:29:00.000-08:00

Temporary market organized to promote trade, where buyers and sellers gather to transact business. Trade fairs are organized at regular intervals, generally at the same location and period of the year, and usually last for several weeks. Such fairs assumed an increasingly important role in international trade during the 20th century. This was particularly evident

Neuropteran

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

All three orders may have evolved from an early mecopteran (scorpionfly) ancestral stem, prior to the Trichoptera–Lepidoptera offshoot (see section on Trichoptera). Carnivorous insects of varied structure and habit, both freshwater and terrestrial members of the three orders, are widely distributed with the exception of the snakeflies (which are confined to the

Aerospace Industry, Satellite, launch vehicle, and missile manufacture

2005-03-07T04:34:00.000-08:00

The manufacturing processes for aircraft are largely paralleled in the production of satellites, their launch vehicles, and missiles. Because minimum weight is critical for all three kinds of products, the use of composites has grown such that it can include the entire structure for satellites and smaller missiles. For these vehicles, electronics production

Peter I

2005-03-06T20:04:00.000-08:00

The son of Afonso IV and his consort Beatriz of Castile, Peter was married in 1336 to Constanza of Castile; but she died in 1345, and Peter is chiefly remembered for his tragic amour with Inês de Castro (q.v.), whose death he savagely avenged after his accession to the throne. Even so, some of his acts, designed to curb abuses and to enhance

Steffens, (joseph) Lincoln

2005-03-06T16:13:00.000-08:00

After attending the University of California, Steffens studied psychology with Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig and with Jean-Martin Charcot in Paris, which confirmed his basic positivist orientation.

Buyantu

2005-03-06T01:54:00.000-08:00

Also known as Ayurparibhadra , Chinese temple name (yüan) Jen Tsung , Pinyin romanization Yuan Renzong (reigned 1311–20), Mongol emperor of the Yüan dynasty of China, who was a patron of literature. He distributed offices more equitably between Chinese and Mongols than had his predecessors, and during his reign commercial ties with Europe increased.

Wickerwork

2005-03-05T16:45:00.000-08:00

Furniture made of real or simulated osier (rods or twigs) plaited into appropriate shapes. The Egyptians made furniture of this kind in the 3rd millennium BC, and it has always flourished in those regions in which there is a plentiful supply of riverside vegetation. A well-known example of Roman wickerwork is the chair on a 3rd-century-AD relief in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum

Aaron

2005-03-05T11:49:00.000-08:00

Aaron is described in the Old Testament book of Exodus as a son of Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi, three years older than his brother Moses. He acted together with his brother in the desperate situation of the Israelites in Egypt and took an active part in the Exodus. Although Moses was the actual leader, Aaron acted as his “mouth.” The two brothers went to the pharaoh

Monarch Butterfly

2005-03-04T11:12:00.000-08:00

(Danaus plexippus), a familiar member of the milkweed butterfly family Danaidae (order Lepidoptera), distributed throughout the world but concentrated mainly in North, Central, and South America. The monarch's wingspan averages 90 to 100 millimetres (about 4 inches). The distinctive coloration of the reddish-brown wings, marked by black veins and a black

Stiller, Mauritz

2005-03-04T07:38:00.000-08:00

Motion-picture director who during the early 1920s was a leader in the internationally preeminent Swedish cinema. He was influenced by D.W. Griffith's epic style and Thomas Harper Ince's integral use of landscape but most of all by the typically Swedish mysticism and passionate love of nature reflected in the novels of Selma Lagerlöf, many of which

Stiller, Mauritz

2005-03-03T04:56:00.000-08:00

Also called cachectin a naturally occurring protein that is produced in the human body by the phagocytic cells known as macrophages. (The latter can engulf and destroy bacteria, viruses, and other foreign substances.) TNF is produced by macrophages when they encounter the poisonous substance in bacteria that is known as endotoxin. TNF seems to perform both helpful and harmful functions

Mclean, Alice Throckmorton

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

McLean traveled widely as a child, mastered several languages, and was educated privately. An early marriage

Piero Di Cosimo,

2005-03-02T08:38:00.000-08:00

His name derives from that of his master, Cosimo Rosselli, whom he assisted (1481) in the frescoes “Crossing of the Red Sea” and “Sermon on the Mount” in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. There he saw the frescoes of Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandajo,

Strangford Lough

2005-03-02T06:09:00.000-08:00

Irish Loch Cuan inlet of the Irish Sea between Ards and Down districts, Northern Ireland. The lough (lake) is about 16 miles (26 km) long and 4 miles (6 km) wide, with a very narrow entrance, which cuts across the northeast-southwest trend of the rocks in the area. The edges of the lough are characterized by many drumlins, or long oval mounds, which are also seen in submerged form in the lough. Strangford

East Friesland

2005-03-01T21:51:00.000-08:00

German Ostfriesland, cultural region bordering the North Sea and encompassing the coastal marshlands and East Frisian Islands (Ostfriesische Inseln) of northwestern Lower Saxony Land (state), north-central Germany. The region has close cultural ties with West Friesland in The Netherlands and North Friesland on the west coast of the Jutland Peninsula. The Frisians, traditionally

Vigny, Alfred-victor, Comte De

2005-03-01T05:56:00.000-08:00

Poet, dramatist, and novelist who was the most philosophical of the French Romantic writers.

Peruzzi, Baldassarre (tommaso)

2005-03-01T01:09:00.000-08:00

A contemporary of Raphael and Donato Bramante, Peruzzi began his career as a painter of frescoes in the Cappella San Giovanni in Siena Cathedral.

Alabama River

2005-02-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

River in southern Alabama, U.S. It is formed by the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, 7 miles (11 km) northeast of Montgomery, winds westward to Selma, and then flows southward. Its length is 315 miles (507 km). The river drains 22,800 square miles (59,050 square km) and is navigable. It receives its chief tributary, the Cahaba, about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Selma. The Alabama is joined 45 miles (72 km) north of Mobile by

Little Saint Bernard Pass

2005-02-27T23:25:00.000-08:00

Italian Colle Del Piccolo San Bernardo, French Col Du Petit-saint-bernard, pass (7,178 ft [2,188 m]) situated just southwest of the Italian border in Savoie département of southeastern France; it lies between the Mont Blanc Massif (north) and the Graian Alps (q.v.; south-southeast). The road across the pass connects Bourg-Saint-Maurice (7 mi [11 km] southwest) in the Isère River Valley, France, with Morgex (10 mi northeast) in the Valle d'Aosta, Italy. Until the Treaty of Paris

French Literature, Nerval

2005-02-27T23:23:00.000-08:00

For a long while Gérard de Nerval was seen as the translator of German literature (notably his adaptation of Goethe's Faust) and as a charming minor Romantic. Later critics have seen as his real contribution to poetry the 12 sonnets of Les Chimères, composed between about 1844 and 1854, and the prose poems added to the spiritual odyssey Aurélia (1855). The dense symbolic allusiveness

Iasi

2005-02-27T13:35:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), northeastern Romania, occupying an area of 2,112 square miles (5,469 square km), and bounded on the east by Moldova. The southward-flowing Prut River marks the county's eastern border with Moldova, and the Siret River drains the hilly terrain of the county to the south. Iasi county was a part of feudal Moldavia. Iasi city is the county capital and has chemical, textile, and

Drug, Antacids

2005-02-26T05:04:00.000-08:00

Excess acid may be neutralized in the stomach with antacid tablets. The main constituents of antacids are aluminum and magnesium hydroxides. There are three side effects of antacid therapy, which depend on the compound used. First, many have an action on the bowel: some have a mild laxative effect, and some are constipating. Second, if the positively charged compounds

Staël, Germaine De

2005-02-25T18:52:00.000-08:00

In full Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker, Baronne (baroness) de Staël-Holstein , byname Madame de Staël French-Swiss woman of letters, political propagandist, and conversationalist, who epitomized the European culture of her time, bridging the history of ideas from Neoclassicism to Romanticism. She also gained fame by maintaining a salon for leading intellectuals. Her writings include novels, plays, moral and political essays, literary

Saule

2005-02-25T16:11:00.000-08:00

According to Baltic myth, Saule, the sun, rides each day through the sky on a chariot with copper wheels, drawn by horses who neither tire nor rest nor sweat. Toward evening Saule washes the horses in the sea, sitting on top of a hill, holding the golden reins

Keen, William Williams

2005-02-24T14:43:00.000-08:00

After graduating (M.D., 1862) from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Keen was a surgeon for the U.S. Army in 1862–64 during the American Civil War. The next two years he did postgraduate work in Paris and Berlin. On his return to the United States, he became a lecturer in surgical pathology

Scharnhorst, Gerhard Johann David Von

2005-02-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

Prussian general who developed the modern general staff system. With another reformer of army procedures, August von Gneisenau, he devised the “shrinkage system” (Krümpersystem), in which army recruits were quickly trained and sent into the reserves so that more men could be trained. This system increased the actual number of trained

Canada

2005-02-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

Second largest country in the world in area (after Russia) but one of the most sparsely populated. Canada occupies roughly two-fifths of the North American continent. Its total area, including the Canadian share of the Great Lakes, is 3,849,674 square miles (9,970,610 square km), of which 291,576 square miles (755,180 square km) are inland water; also included are its adjacent islands, except Greenland, a self-governing

Cossack

2005-02-23T02:06:00.000-08:00

Russian Kazak (from Turkic kazak, “adventurer,” or “free man”), member of a people dwelling in the northern hinterlands of the Black and Caspian seas. They had a tradition of independence and finally received privileges from the Russian government in return for military services. Originally (in the 15th century) the term referred to semi-independent Tatar groups, which formed in the Dnieper

Ma River

2005-02-22T22:36:00.000-08:00

Vietnamese Song Ma river, northern Vietnam, one of the longest of the region, rising in the northwest. It flows southeastward through Laos for about 50 miles (80 km), cutting gorges through uplands to reach the plains region at which northern Vietnam begins to narrow. The river enters the Gulf of Tonkin, 65 miles (105 km) south of Hanoi, after a course of 250 miles (400 km). Like the Red River (Song Hong) to the north, it

Alabama, Relief

2005-02-22T00:03:00.000-08:00

The southern extremities of the Appalachians cover almost

Shensi, The people

2005-02-21T23:28:00.000-08:00

The people are nearly all Han (Chinese) and speak the Northwest Mandarin dialect. Some Hui (Chinese Muslim) communities remain in the south and northwest of the province. Most of the population is settled in the Wei and Han valleys; the uplands are more sparsely settled. The chief cities are Sian, Pao-chi, Hsien-yang, T'ung-ch'uan, and Han-chung. Other cities include An-k'ang,

West Seneca

2005-02-21T15:26:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Erie county, western New York, U.S. It lies immediately southeast of Buffalo, in the lee of Lake Erie. It was settled in 1842 by the Ebenezer Society Amana colonies, a German religious sect that purchased 5,000 acres (2,000 hectares) of the Seneca Indian Reservation. The town, organized as Seneca in 1851, was renamed in 1852 to avoid confusion with another Seneca farther east. Between

Man Ray

2005-02-20T08:57:00.000-08:00

The son of an artist and photographer, he grew up in New York City, where he studied architecture, engineering, and art, and became a painter. As early as 1911, he took up the pseudonym of Man

Sinaitic Inscriptions

2005-02-20T04:44:00.000-08:00

Also called Proto-sinaitic Inscriptions, archeological remains that are among the earliest examples of alphabetic writing; they were inscribed on stones in the Sinai Peninsula, where they were first discovered in 1904–05 by the British archaeologist Sir William Flinders Petrie. Apparently influenced both by Egyptian hieroglyphic writing and by the Canaanitic writing system (1900–1800 BC; probably ancestral to the North

Elizabeth Ii

2005-02-19T17:25:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth was the elder daughter of Albert, duke of York, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. As the child of a younger son of King George V, the young Elizabeth had little prospect of acceding to the throne until her uncle, Edward VIII (afterward duke of Windsor), abdicated

John I, Saint

2005-02-19T08:59:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately the reunion ended friendly relations between the papacy and Theodoric the Great, the Ostrogothic ruler at Rome. Theodoric mistrusted the rapprochement,

Vulcan

2005-02-18T10:27:00.000-08:00

In Roman religion, god of fire, particularly in its destructive aspects as volcanoes or conflagrations. Poetically, he is given all the attributes of the Greek Hephaestus (q.v.). His worship was very ancient, and at Rome he had his own priest (flamen). His chief festival, the Volcanalia, was held on August 23 and was marked by a rite of unknown significance: the heads of Roman families

Self-defense

2005-02-17T07:21:00.000-08:00

In general, killing is not a criminal act when the killer reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of losing his life from an assailant or of suffering serious bodily injury and that killing the assailant

Gneiss

2005-02-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

Metamorphic rock that has a distinct banding, which is apparent in hand specimen or on a microscopic scale. Gneiss usually is distinguished from schist (q.v.) by its foliation and schistosity; gneiss displays a well-developed foliation and a poorly developed schistosity and cleavage. For the casual student, it is convenient to think of a gneiss as a rock with parallel,

Fischer Von Erlach, Johann Bernhard

2005-02-16T17:50:00.000-08:00

Austrian architect, sculptor, and architectural historian whose Baroque style, a synthesis of classical, Renaissance, and southern Baroque elements, shaped the tastes of the Habsburg empire. Fischer's works include the Dreifaltigkeitskirche (1694–1702) and the Kollegienkirche (1696–1707), both in Salzburg, and the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy

Wildgans, Anton

2005-02-16T07:18:00.000-08:00

The son of a judge, Wildgans became a lawyer but soon turned to writing. His childhood had been marred by his relations with his stepmother. His early poems, among which was the collection Herbstfr

Sohlman, August

2005-02-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

As a journalist, Sohlman wrote for a number of the leading newspapers of Sweden and was editor of the influential Stockholm daily

Resende, Garcia De

2005-02-15T11:21:00.000-08:00

Resende began to serve John II as a page at the age of 10, becoming his private secretary in 1491. He continued to enjoy royal favour under King Manuel and later under John III. In 1498 he accompanied Manuel to Castile and in 1514 went to Rome with the admiral Tristã

Interior Design

2005-02-15T07:12:00.000-08:00

Since at least the middle of the 20th century, the term interior decorator has been so loosely applied as to be nearly meaningless,

Gneiss

2005-02-14T00:47:00.000-08:00

Cable News Network was created in June 1980 by Ted Turner (q.v.), founder of the Turner Broadcasting System. He established news bureaus in major American cities and in other cities throughout the world. The resulting continuous live news coverage,

Bingöl

2005-02-12T23:01:00.000-08:00

Formerly Çapakçur, city in eastern Turkey, lying along the Göniksuyu, a tributary of the Murat River. It is a market for grain, livestock, and livestock products of the area. The city takes its name (bin, “thousand,” göl, “lakes”) from numerous small lakes that dot the Bingöl Mountains to the northeast. Bingöl suffered heavy damage by earthquake in 1966. The city is linked by main roads with Elâzig to the

Ustaa

2005-02-12T11:14:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ustasha , plural Ustaše Croatian fascist movement that nominally ruled the Independent State of Croatia during World War II. In 1929, when King Alexander I tried to suppress the conflict between Croatian and Serbian political parties by imposing a personal dictatorial regime in Yugoslavia, Ante Pavelic, a former delegate to Parliament and an advocate of Croatian separatism, fled to Italy

Poland, History Of, The legions and the Duchy of Warsaw

2005-02-12T02:41:00.000-08:00

The 123 years during which Poland existed only as a partitioned land had a profound impact on the Polish psyche. Moreover, major 19th-century developments such as industrialization and modernization were uneven in Poland and proved to be a mixed blessing. Growing Polish nationalism was by necessity that of an oppressed nation and displayed the tendency of “all or

Gaultier De Varennes Et De La Vérendrye, Pierre

2005-02-12T01:14:00.000-08:00

(French-Canadian explorer): see La Vérendrye, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de.

Tyrannulet

2005-02-11T18:03:00.000-08:00

Any of about 50 species of birds in the tyrant flycatcher family, Tyrannidae (order Passeriformes). They are distinguished from other tyrant flycatchers by their small size and diminutive bill. The name tyrannulet is given to members of about 20 genera within the family. Fairly typical of the group and among the most widely distributed are the 9-centimetre (3.5-inch) beardless

Habsburg, House Of

2005-02-11T08:16:00.000-08:00

The name Habsburg is derived from the castle of Habsburg, or Habichtsburg (“Hawk's Castle”), built in 1020 by Werner, bishop of Strasbourg, and his brother-in-law, Count Radbot, in the Aargau overlooking the Aar River, in what is now Switzerland. Radbot's grandfather, Guntram the Rich, the earliest traceable ancestor of the house, may perhaps be identified with a Count Guntram who

Shafer, Helen Almira

2005-02-11T02:27:00.000-08:00

Shafer graduated in 1863 from Oberlin (Ohio) College. After two years of teaching in New Jersey she joined the faculty of St. Louis (Missouri) High School, where her work as a teacher of mathematics

Subud

2005-02-10T01:10:00.000-08:00

Religious movement, based on spontaneous and ecstatic exercises, founded by an Indonesian, Muhammad Subuh, called Bapak. A student of Sufism (Islamic mysticism) as a youth, Bapak had a powerful mystical experience in 1925, and in 1933 he claimed that the mission to found the Subud movement was revealed to him. The movement was restricted to Indonesia until the 1950s, when it spread to Europe

épinal

2005-02-09T22:58:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of the Vosges département, Lorraine région, eastern France, on the Moselle River, south-southeast of Nancy. The town, located on two arms of the Moselle, is divided into four parts. The town proper, known as the grande ville (“large town”), or vieille ville (“old town”), stands on the right bank of the main river. The petite ville (“little town”) is on an island between the two

Girdle-tailed Lizard

2005-02-09T14:41:00.000-08:00

Their name is derived from the rings of spiny scales that encircle the tail, and sometimes the body, in a series of whorls. In some species the armoured girdles serve effectively as protection