ThickBird

Alaska, Government

2005-04-05T21:21:00.000-07:00

Alaska's economy has been dominated by government since territorial days. From 1940 to 1960 the federal government invested nearly $2 billion in the development of military bases in Alaska. Nothing else in Alaska's history has produced such long-term results, bringing thousands of residents into the territory and creating jobs and a vast array of transportation and communications

Hilarion, Saint

2005-04-05T10:37:00.000-07:00

Most knowledge about Hilarion derives from a semi-legendary and rhetorically embellished account of his life written about 391 by the Latin biblical scholar St. Jerome, using material by Bishop Epiphanius

Tafilalt

2005-04-04T03:50:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Tafilet, or Tafilalet, largest Saharan oasis of Morocco, in the southeastern part of the country. The oasis comprises the fortified villages of Erfoud, Arab Sebbah du Ziz, Rissani, Seffalat, Aoufous, and Jorf, together with palm groves stretching 30 miles (50 km) along the Wadi Ziz. Its old capital was the Berber stronghold of Sijilmassa, founded in AD 757 on the Saharan caravan route from the Niger River

Alva

2005-04-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

City, seat (1907) of Woods county, northwestern Oklahoma, U.S., on Salt Fork of the Arkansas River near the Kansas border. Established as a land office in 1893 at a Santa Fe Railway stop, it was named for Alva Adams, a railroad attorney and governor of Colorado (1887–89). It is a marketing and processing centre for a wheat and livestock area. Manufactures include tractors and furniture; petroleum

Paeoniaceae

2005-04-02T15:06:00.000-08:00

The peony family of the order Dilleniales, consisting of the genus Paeonia with about 33 species distributed in Europe, Asia, and western North America. They are perennial herbs or sometimes shrubby plants up to about 2 m (6 feet) tall that grow from stout rootstocks. The leaves are alternately produced along the stems and are divided into three lobes, each lobe being further

Abbott, Berenice

2005-04-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

Abbott studied briefly at Ohio State University before moving in 1918 to New York City, where she explored sculpture and drawing on her own for four years. She continued these pursuits

Tasmania, Prehistory and European exploration

2005-04-01T23:19:00.000-08:00

The flooding of Bass

Mujica Láinez, Manuel

2005-04-01T07:08:00.000-08:00

Mujica Láinez was descended from an Argentine family that included the writers Juan Cruz Varela and Miguel Cané. He was educated in

Bottle Tree

2005-03-31T15:01:00.000-08:00

Any of various trees of the genus Brachychiton, within the cacao, or chocolate, family (Sterculiaceae), native to Australia. They grow to a height of 18 m (60 feet). They are cultivated in other warm regions as ornamentals. The name refers to the peculiar shape of the trunk.

Avison, Charles

2005-03-29T19:41:00.000-08:00

Little is known of Avison's life until he took positions as organist at St. John's and St. Nicholas' churches in Newcastle in 1736. He also taught harpsichord, violin, and flute and conducted some of the first subscription concerts in

Teutonic Order

2005-03-29T04:55:00.000-08:00

In 1189–90, when crusading forces were besieging Acre, some German merchants from Bremen and Lübeck formed a fraternity to nurse the sick there. After the capture of Acre (1191), this fraternity took over a hospital in the town and began to describe itself as the Hospital of St. Mary of the German House in Jerusalem. Pope Clement III approved it, and it adopted a rule like that of the original

Aerospace Industry, Final assembly

2005-03-29T03:16:00.000-08:00

The final assembly of complete aircraft usually requires a facility furnished with a network of overhead rails on which ride heavy-lift cranes capable of moving large portions of vehicles. Facility size is governed by vehicle dimensions; for example, Boeing's plant in Everett, Washington, is the world's largest building by volume, containing some 13.4 million cubic

Molecule

2005-03-27T23:24:00.000-08:00

The division of a sample of a substance into progressively smaller parts produces no change in either its composition or its chemical properties until parts consisting of single molecules are reached. Further

Benedict (xiii)

2005-03-27T19:53:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, he was professor of canon law at Montpellier University in southern France before he was

Leacock, Stephen (butler)

2005-03-27T03:36:00.000-08:00

Leacock immigrated to Canada with his parents at the age of six. He attended Upper Canada College (1882–87) and later received a B.A. degree from the University of Toronto (1891). After teaching for eight

Rybnik

2005-03-26T17:54:00.000-08:00

Beginning as a fishing village in the 10th century, Rybnik became capital of the Racibórz principality

Radic, Stjepan

2005-03-25T13:47:00.000-08:00

With his brother Ante, he organized the Croatian Peasant Party in 1904. In March 1918 Radic began to cooperate with the National Council in Zagreb for the establishment of a Yugoslav

Pitman Shorthand

2005-03-25T07:50:00.000-08:00

System of rapid writing based on the sounds of words (i.e., the phonetic principle) rather than on conventional spellings. Invented by Sir Isaac Pitman, an English educator, the Pitman shorthand method was first published in 1837 as Stenographic Sound Hand. Pitman's system classifies the sounds of a language into basic groups and makes use of simple abbreviations for rapidity.

Timur Ruby

2005-03-24T22:49:00.000-08:00

Jewel that is in fact not a ruby but one of the world's largest polished red magnesia spinels (see ruby spinel). The unfaceted, 361-carat stone is set in the imperial state crown of England. It is inscribed with the names and dates of six of its owners. The earliest is Shah Jahangir, 1612, and the latest is Ahmad Shah Durrani, 1754.

Alatri

2005-03-24T16:10:00.000-08:00

Archaeologically

Gambetta, Léon

2005-03-24T13:07:00.000-08:00

French republican statesman who helped direct the defense of France during the Franco-German War of 1870–71. In helping to found the Third Republic, he made three essential contributions: first, by his speeches and articles, he converted many Frenchmen to the ideals of moderate democratic republicanism. Second, by his political

Molina, Mario

2005-03-23T02:20:00.000-08:00

In full Mario José Molina Mexican-born American chemist who was jointly awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, along with chemists F. Sherwood Rowland and Paul Crutzen, for research in the 1970s concerning the decomposition of the ozonosphere, which shields the Earth from dangerous solar radiation. The discoveries of Molina and Rowland—that some industrially manufactured

Tea Olive

2005-03-22T15:42:00.000-08:00

Any plant of the genus Osmanthus in the family Oleaceae, often grown for its fragrant flowers and shining, evergreen foliage. There are more than 30 species, native to eastern North America, Mexico, southeastern Asia, Hawaii, and New Caledonia. Sweet olive, or sweet osmanthus (Osmanthus fragrans), a 10-metre (33-foot) tree, produces an edible fruit. Its leaves, used to perfume tea, hide

Greenville

2005-03-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1809) of Darke county, western Ohio, U.S., on Greenville Creek, 35 miles (56 km) northwest of Dayton. Laid out in 1808, it was the site of Fort Greenville, named for General Nathanael Greene and built by General “Mad” Anthony Wayne (1793). After his victory at Fallen Timbers (near the present site of Toledo), Wayne signed a peace treaty at the fort with Indians (1795) that opened the Northwest Territory

Requiem Mass

2005-03-21T05:14:00.000-08:00

Musical setting of the Mass for the Dead (missa pro defunctis), named for the beginning of the Latin of the Introit “Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine” (“Give them eternal rest, O Lord”). The polyphonic composition for the requiem mass differs from the normal mass in that it not only includes certain items of the Ordinary—e.g., Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei (the joyful portions, Gloria

Probolinggo

2005-03-21T02:05:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Prabalingga, or Perobolinggo, city, in kabupaten (regency), Jawa Timur provinsi (“province”), Java, Indonesia, on the southern side of Madura Strait. There is a good harbour for small ships, and the fishing industry is important. Cottage industries include pottery and the manufacture of sarongs. The surrounding regency grows rice, corn (maize), sugar, rubber, coffee, and mangoes, the last renowned for their

Barcelona, Archaeological Museum Of

2005-03-20T17:22:00.000-08:00

In full Archaeological Museum Of Barcelona And Institute Of Prehistory And Archaeology, Spanish Museo Arqueológica De Barcelona E Instituto De Prehistoria Y Arqueología, institution in Barcelona, Spain, notable for its collection of prehistoric objects and for its collection of ancient Greek and Roman art and examples illustrating Iberian archaeology. Exhibits include a scale model of a part of the excavation at Ampurias (Emporiae) and displays of Greek vases, glass, and sculpture. There is a fine statue of Asclepius of the 4th century

Roman-dutch Law

2005-03-19T14:19:00.000-08:00

A system of law that existed in the Netherlands' province of Holland from the 15th to the 19th century. Introduced by the Dutch into their colonies, it was retained in those areas that passed to the British—i.e., the maritime districts of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), the Cape of Good Hope, and the settlements on the coast of South America that made up British Guiana (now Guyana). In Ceylon

R Monocerotis

2005-03-19T01:26:00.000-08:00

(catalog number NGC 2261), stellar infrared source and nebula in the constellation Monoceros (Greek: Unicorn). The star, one of the class of dwarf stars called T Tauri variables, is immersed in a cloud of matter that changes in brightness erratically, reflecting or re-radiating energy from the star.

Aesthetics

2005-03-18T09:38:00.000-08:00

Many attempts have been made to develop a specifically Marxist aesthetics, one that would incorporate the Marxian theory of history and class consciousness and the critique of bourgeois ideology, so as to generate principles of analysis and evaluation and show the place of art in the theory and practice of revolution. William Morris in En-gland and Georgy V. Plekhanov

China, Effects of the rebellions

2005-03-18T04:48:00.000-08:00

To meet the large popular uprisings, the Ch'ing authorities had to rely on local armies, which were financed by the provincial and local gentry class. To meet this need, a special tax on goods in transit (called the likin) was started in 1853, the proceeds of which remained largely outside the control of the central government. The provincial governors-general and governors

Vietnamese Language

2005-03-18T00:01:00.000-08:00

Official language of Vietnam, spoken in the late 20th century by more than 66 million people. It belongs to the Viet-Muong subbranch of the Vietic branch of the Mon-Khmer family, which is itself a part of the Austroasiatic stock. Except for a group of divergent rural dialects spoken between Hue and Vinh, most of the dialects of Vietnamese differ from each other to about the

Hinduism, The Brahmanas and Aranyakas

2005-03-17T03:18:00.000-08:00

Attached to each Samhita was a collection of explanations of the rituals, called a Brahmana, which often relied on mythology to trace the origins and importance of individual ritual acts. Although they were not manuals or handbooks in the manner of the later Srauta Sutras, the Brahmanas do contain some detail about the performance and meaning of Vedic sacrificial rituals

Gainesville

2005-03-16T23:10:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1853) of Alachua county, north-central Florida, U.S., about 70 miles (115 km) southwest of Jacksonville. The Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto marched through the area in 1539, and settlement eventually developed around a trading post known as Hog Town (established 1830). In 1853 the city was laid out as the county seat and named for General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, a commander during the

Hope, Anthony

2005-03-16T14:43:00.000-08:00

Educated at Marlborough and at Balliol College, Oxford, he became a lawyer in 1887. The immediate success of The Prisoner of Zenda (1894), his fourth work—and its sequel, Rupert of Hentzau (1898)—turned him entirely to writing. These novels describe the perilous adventures

Davis, Henry Winter

2005-03-15T15:39:00.000-08:00

Intent

Cabal

2005-03-15T02:23:00.000-08:00

A private organization or party engaged in secret intrigues; also, the intrigues themselves. In England the word was used during the 17th century to describe the mystical interpretation of the Hebrew scripture (the Cabala, or Kabbala), as well as to describe any secret or extralegal council of the king, especially the foreign committee of the Privy Council. The term took

Lentulus Spinther, Publius Cornelius

2005-03-13T23:53:00.000-08:00

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

Art And Architecture, Oceanic, Aesthetics

2005-03-13T21:49:00.000-08:00

Pacific languages seem to be deficient in terms to express appreciation of or reactions to art, apart from a few that designate the mastery of individual specialists. Little is understood, moreover, about the islanders' aesthetic concepts. Reactions to works of art seem to range from the pragmatic and rational in the secular realm to the violently emotional in the

Dahlonega

2005-03-13T18:58:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1833) of Lumpkin county, northern Georgia, U.S. Gold was discovered in the locality in 1828, and the site was settled and incorporated in 1833 after one of the nation's first gold rushes; its name derives from the Cherokee taulonica (“yellow metal”). A U.S. mint operated there from 1838 until 1861, when Georgia seceded from the Union; Dahlonega-minted gold coins are now highly prized by

Biblical Literature, Biblical literature in the liturgy of Judaism

2005-03-13T17:34:00.000-08:00

Because the synagogue arose in a land separated from the Jerusalem Temple with its sacrificial

China, The struggle for central authority

2005-03-12T21:54:00.000-08:00

Under Hsien-tsung (reigned 805/806–820) the T'ang regained a great deal of its power. Hsien-tsung, a tough and ruthless ruler who kept a firm hand on affairs, is notable chiefly for his successful policies toward the provinces. Rebellions in Szechwan (806) and the Yangtze Delta (807) were quickly put down. After an abortive campaign (809–810) that was badly bungled by a favourite eunuch commander, the

Udayagiri

2005-03-12T04:07:00.000-08:00

Village and archaeological site, south-central Orissa state, eastern India. In the village are located several Jaina and Buddhist rock-cut caves. One of these is a double-storied cave with ranges of cells cut into three sides of an open courtyard. Inscriptions in the caves date from the 2nd century BC to the 10th century AD.

Crime, Law Enforcement, And Penology

2005-03-11T21:35:00.000-08:00

Several countries acted to widen the scope of the

Clackmannanshire

2005-03-11T07:28:00.000-08:00

Also known as Clackmannan council area and historic county, east-central Scotland, bounded on the southwest by the River Forth. The River Devon, flowing east-west before turning to join the Forth, separates the carse (estuarine plain) from the moors of the Ochil Hills in the north. The present council area of Clackmannanshire is nearly coterminous with the historic county of the same name, but

Bridgetown

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

The town, which was founded in 1628 and originally called Indian Bridge, provoked considerable criticism from early visitors because of

Furniture, Egypt

2005-03-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

Two ancient Egyptian chair forms, both the result of careful design, are known from discoveries made in tombs. One of these is a four-legged chair with a back, the other a folding stool. The classical Egyptian chair has four legs shaped like those of an animal, a curved seat, and a sloping back supported by vertical stretchers. In this way a strong triangular construction

Zaharoff, Sir Basil

2005-03-09T15:51:00.000-08:00

He was the son of poor Greek parents who had Russified the family name during years spent in exile in Russia. As a young man he worked for his uncle in the cloth trade in Istanbul. In

Bridle

2005-03-09T13:11:00.000-08:00

The reins, lines

Palatalization

2005-03-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

In phonetics, the production of consonants with the blade, or front, of the tongue drawn up farther toward the roof of the mouth (hard palate) than in their normal pronunciation. Palatalized consonants in Russian are pronounced as if attempting simultaneously to pronounce a particular consonant and a y sound; in English, the ny in “canyon” approximates a palatalized

Tool And Die Making

2005-03-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

The fabrication of pressworking dies constitutes the major part of the work done in tool and die shops. Most pressworking dies are utilized in the fabrication of sheet-metal parts that range in size from the finger stop on a dial

Gulf

2005-03-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

Most existing gulfs were formed or greatly extended as a result of the rise in sea level that accompanied the melting of the last Pleistocene glacial ice mass, as vast sections of the continental margins were drowned. Some pronounced

Harun Ar-rashid

2005-03-07T01:50:00.000-08:00

The fabulous descriptions of Harun and his court in The Thousand and One Nights are idealized and romanticized, yet they had a considerable basis in fact. Untold wealth had flowed into the new capital of Baghdad since its foundation in 762. The leading men, and still more their wives, vied in conspicuous consumption, and in Harun's reign this reached levels unknown before. His

Mindanao River

2005-03-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

Also called Río Grande De Mindanao, or Cotabato River, main river of the Cotabato lowland, central Mindanao, Philippines. It rises in the central highlands of northeastern Mindanao (island) as the Pulangi and then flows south to where it joins the Kabacan to form the Mindanao. It meanders northwest through the Libungan Marsh and Liguasan Swamp, which is the habitat of crocodiles. At Datu Piang the river turns to enter Illana

Chadwick, H. Munro

2005-03-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

The son of an Anglican vicar in Yorkshire, Chadwick attended Wakefield Grammar School and Clare College, Cambridge (1889–93). In 1893 he became a fellow of his

Alchemy

2005-03-05T11:52:00.000-08:00

Alchemy was the name given in Latin Europe in the 12th century to an aspect of thought that corresponds to astrology, which is apparently an older tradition. Both represent attempts

Computers, Colossus

2005-03-04T21:32:00.000-08:00

The exigencies of war gave impetus and funding to computer research. For example, in Britain, the impetus was code-breaking. The Ultra project was funded with much secrecy to develop the technology necessary to crack ciphers and codes produced by the German electromechanical devices known as the Enigma and the Geheimscheiber (“Secret Writer”). The first code-breaking

Thomas, Helen

2005-03-04T17:46:00.000-08:00

Born to Lebanese immigrants, Thomas was the seventh of nine children. When she was four years old, the family moved to Detroit, Michigan. While attending high school, Thomas decided

Chandos (of Sudeley), John Brydges, 1st Baron

2005-03-04T00:38:00.000-08:00

Brydges was descended from Sir John Chandos, a famous medieval knight, and served in the French wars of Henry VIII. He was knighted in 1513. During Queen Mary I's reign he was lieutenant of the Tower of London (1553–54) and, having helped in the suppression of Sir Thomas Wyat's rebellion, was created

Hyaenodon

2005-03-03T22:11:00.000-08:00

Extinct genus of early, primitive mammalian carnivores that first appears in the fossil record in late Eocene time and persists through the Oligocene (the Oligocene Epoch, which followed the Eocene, began 36.6 million years ago and lasted 12.9 million years). Hyaenodon, a creodont (see Creodonta), was a large and efficient predator. Its skull was long and narrow, with teeth that

Arsenide

2005-03-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

Any member of a rare mineral group consisting of compounds of one or more metals with arsenic (As). The coordination of the metal is almost always octahedral or tetrahedral. In the former case, each metal ion occupies a position within an octahedron composed of six oppositely charged arsenic ions, whereas in the latter each of the metal ions is surrounded by six oppositely

Minamoto Yoriyoshi

2005-03-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

After aiding the central government in quelling several uprisings by Ainu tribesmen, Yoriyoshi was sent to crush a rebellion led by Abe Yoritoki of the powerful Abe warrior clan of northern Japan (1051). The fighting was characterized by repeated pauses, defeats

Ammonite

2005-03-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

Any member of an ancient Semitic people whose principal city was Rabbath Ammon, in Palestine. The “sons of Ammon” were in perennial, though sporadic, conflict with the Israelites. After a long period of seminomadic existence, the Ammonites established a kingdom north of Moab in the 13th century BC. With difficulty, their fortress capital was captured by Israel's King David.

Biblical Literature, Uniqueness of John

2005-03-01T09:14:00.000-08:00

John is the last Gospel and, in many ways, different from the Synoptic Gospels. The question in the Synoptic Gospels concerns the extent to which the divine reality broke into history in Jesus' coming, and the answers are given in terms of the closeness of the new age. John, from the very beginning, presents Jesus in terms of glory: the Christ, the exalted Lord, mighty from

Incidental Music

2005-02-28T05:22:00.000-08:00

Music written to accompany or point up the action or mood of a dramatic performance on stage, film, radio, television, or recording; to serve as a transition between parts of the action; or to introduce or close the performance. Because it is written to enhance a nonmusical medium, most incidental music makes little impression on public taste. But some incidental music

Quindío

2005-02-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

Departamento, west-central Colombia, on the western slopes of the Andean Cordillera Central. The smallest department in the nation, it occupies an area of 712 square miles (1,845 square km) in one of Colombia's leading coffee-producing regions. Bananas, corn (maize), sugarcane, and beans are among the other crops, and livestock raising is widespread. Quindío has rich deposits of

Jourdan, Jean-baptiste, Count

2005-02-27T18:01:00.000-08:00

After being a soldier in King Louis XVI's army and serving in the West Indies (1778–84), Jourdan retired and became a draper in Limoges. He supported the Revolution, however; and, having been elected

Anatolia, Early Bronze Age

2005-02-27T04:42:00.000-08:00

The period following the Chalcolithic in Anatolia is generally referred to as the Bronze Age. In its earlier phases the predominant metal was in fact pure copper, but the older term Copper Age created confusion and has been discarded. Archaeological convention divides the Bronze Age into three subphases: early, middle, and late. The beginning of the Bronze Age, in

France, History Of, The historical debate

2005-02-26T17:15:00.000-08:00

In broad terms, 18th-century French politics could be defined as the response of the monarchic state to the emergence of the new cultural and economic configurations that had transformed the lives and especially the imaginations of French men and women. The question was whether the Bourbon monarch could rationalize its administration and find a way to adapt itself

West Chester

2005-02-26T13:45:00.000-08:00

Borough (town), seat (1786) of Chester county, southeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies 27 miles (43 km) west of Philadelphia. Settlement began in the early 1700s, and Turk's Head Inn was established there in 1761; but the town's growth was delayed by a prolonged dispute with Chester (now in Delaware county) over the permanent location of the county seat. During the American Revolution, the Battle

Maastricht

2005-02-25T16:13:00.000-08:00

It was the site of the Roman settlement Trajectum ad

Armoire

2005-02-25T00:49:00.000-08:00

The word, which sometimes denoted

Hydra

2005-02-24T17:27:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Ídhra, island of the Saronic group in the Aegean Sea, nomós (department) of Attica, Greece, just off the eastern tip of the Argolís peninsula of the Peloponnese. Its maximum length, northeast–southwest, is 13 mi (21 km), and it has an area of only 19.2 sq mi (49.6 sq km). The highest point, Mt. Ere, is 1,936 ft (590 m). Once quite wooded and well watered, as its Turkish name, Çamliza (“place of pines”), shows, it is now denuded and

Vajrayana

2005-02-24T07:58:00.000-08:00

Also called Tantric Buddhism, important development within Buddhism in India and neighbouring countries, notably Tibet. Vajrayana, in the history of Buddhism, marks the transition from Mahayana speculative thought to the enactment of Buddhist ideas in individual life. The term vajra (Sanskrit: “diamond,” or “thunderbolt”) is used to signify the absolutely real and indestructible in man, as opposed

Dandolo, Vincenzo

2005-02-23T16:08:00.000-08:00

Of modest origins, Dandolo, after studying chemistry at the University of Padua, became a champion of new scientific

Biblical Literature, Parallelism

2005-02-23T02:59:00.000-08:00

Parallelism, the interpretation of Scripture by means of Scripture, is a corollary of the belief in the unity of Scripture. But as a hermeneutical principle it must be employed sparingly, since the unity of Scripture should be based on comprehensive exegetical study, rather than itself provide a basis. Where one or two biblical documents (e.g., the letters to the Romans

Yi-dam

2005-02-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

In Tibetan Buddhism, a tutelary, or guardian, deity with whom a lama (monk) has a special, secret relationship. The lama first prepares himself by meditation, then selects from among the guardian deities the one that reveals itself as offering the right guidance for a specific or lifelong goal. The lama will thereafter begin each day by worshiping his yi-dam. Any of the

Goa

2005-02-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

State of India. Comprising a mainland district on the country's western coast and an offshore island, it is located 250 miles (400 kilometres) south of Bombay. It is bounded by the states of Maharashtra on the north and Karnataka on the east and south and by the Arabian Sea on the west. The total area is 1,429 square miles (3,702 square kilometres). The capital is Panaji (Panjim). Formerly a Portuguese

Asbestosis

2005-02-21T11:39:00.000-08:00

Lung disease that is caused by the prolonged inhalation of asbestos fibres. A type of pneumoconiosis, it is found primarily among workers whose occupations involved asbestos, principally mining, construction, and the manufacture of insulation, fireproofing, cement products, and automobile brakes. The disease is not limited solely to asbestos workers but is also

Sordone

2005-02-21T10:57:00.000-08:00

Rare double-reed wind instrument of the 16th and 17th centuries, an early precursor of the bassoon. It differs from the curtal, the bassoon's direct predecessor, in having a cylindrical bore (a bassoon bore is conical). The bore, cut into a single piece of wood, doubled in a narrow U-shape and emerged in a lateral hole. Finger holes were cut in the instrument wall. The sordone produced

Christianity, The tendency toward asceticism

2005-02-20T23:35:00.000-08:00

The proponents of an ascetic theology demanded exclusiveness of devotion by faithful Christians to Christ and deduced from it the demand of celibacy. This is found in arguments for the monastic life and in the Roman Catholic view of the priesthood. The radical-ascetic interpretation stands in constant tension with the positive understanding of Christian marriage.

Amuzgo

2005-02-20T02:14:00.000-08:00

The people are agricultural, using the plow or digging stick to plant staples of corn, beans, and squash,

Igneous Rock, Inclusions

2005-02-20T01:14:00.000-08:00

These are rounded to angular masses of solid material enclosed within a rock of recognizably different composition or texture. Those consisting of older material not directly related to that of their host are known as xenoliths, and those representing broken-up and detached older parts of the same igneous body that encloses them are termed cognate xenoliths

Macarthur, Charles

2005-02-19T10:35:00.000-08:00

At the age of 17, MacArthur moved to Chicago to begin a career in journalism, which was briefly interrupted by military service, first in 1916 in Mexico and then in World War I. He wrote for the Chicago

Sesostris I

2005-02-18T23:14:00.000-08:00

Sesostris became coregent in 1918 BC with his aging father, Amenemhet I, who had founded the 12th dynasty. While his father completed his domestic reforms, Sesostris undertook the conquest of Nubia, to the south of Egypt, and in the year 30 of his father's reign

Tino Di Camaino

2005-02-18T14:53:00.000-08:00

Tino was a follower, and possibly a pupil, of Giovanni Pisano. In 1315 he became capomaestro of the Cathedral of Pisa and was commissioned to make a tomb for the Holy Roman emperor Henry VII. He succeeded his father as the capomaestro of the Siena cathedral in 1320 and designed

Daedala

2005-02-17T05:12:00.000-08:00

Ancient festival of Hera, consort of the supreme god Zeus. The Daedala was celebrated on Mount Cithaeron in Greece. In the festival, a wooden image dressed as a bride was carried in procession, then burnt with sacrificed animals and a wooden sacrificial altar. A myth existed that Zeus had won back the estranged Hera by arousing her jealousy with such an image. The Daedala

Marrano

2005-02-16T17:12:00.000-08:00

In the late 14th century, Spanish Jewry was threatened with extinction at the hands of mobs of fanatical Christians. Thousands

Hoisin Sauce

2005-02-16T14:32:00.000-08:00

Commercially prepared, thick reddish-brown sauce used in Chinese cuisine both as an ingredient in cooking and as a table condiment. Made from soybeans, flour, sugar, water, spices, garlic, and chili, it is sweet and spicy. It is used in cooking shellfish and fatty meats such as pork and duck. As a condiment, hoisin sauce is eaten with shrimp, pork, and poultry and is invariably

Augustine Of Canterbury, Saint

2005-02-15T21:12:00.000-08:00

F.A. Gasquet, The Mission of St. Augustine and Other Addresses (1924); Margaret Deanesly, Augustine of Canterbury (1964, reissued 1997).

Vajrayana

2005-02-15T03:25:00.000-08:00

Uber Cup

2005-02-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

Trophy representing the women's world championship in the sport of badminton. The cup was contributed by Mrs. H.S. Uber, former English champion, in 1956 for a series of women's international team competitions to be held every three years.

France, History Of, Sister republics

2005-02-14T05:59:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile the Directory regime successfully exported revolution abroad by helping to create “sister republics” in western Europe. During the Revolution's most radical phase, in 1793–94, French expansion had stopped more or less at the nation's self-proclaimed “natural frontiers”—the Rhine, Alps, and Pyrenees. The Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium) and the left bank of the Rhine

Factory Ship

2005-02-13T22:21:00.000-08:00

The present-day factory ship is an automated, greatly enlarged version of the

Laspeyres Index

2005-02-13T13:13:00.000-08:00

Index proposed by German economist Étienne Laspeyres (1834–1913) for measuring current prices or quantities in relation to those of a selected base period. A Laspeyres price index is computed by taking the ratio of the total cost of purchasing a specified group of commodities at current prices to the cost of that same group at base-period prices and multiplying by 100. The base-period

Poynings, Sir Edward

2005-02-12T15:27:00.000-08:00

A grandson of William Paston, he was a rebel (1483) against Richard III and attached himself to Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, who employed

Venetia

2005-02-11T21:34:00.000-08:00

Historically Venetia was the mainland territory under the control of the Republic of Venice from the 14th and

Irene Ducas

2005-02-11T07:01:00.000-08:00

When Alexius became emperor in April 1081 he reportedly planned to repudiate Irene and wed Mary, who had been married to the former emperors Michael VII

Crompton, Rookes Evelyn Bell

2005-02-11T06:37:00.000-08:00

After military service in India, where he had introduced steam-driven road transport, Crompton in 1875 became a partner in an engineering firm at Chelmsford, Essex, and soon broadened its activity to the construction of dynamos and arc

Cimarron River

2005-02-10T04:26:00.000-08:00

River rising in northeastern New Mexico, U.S., near Capulin Mountain National Monument and flowing 698 mi (1,123 km) to enter the Arkansas River near Tulsa, Okla. From its source, the Cimarron flows east past Black Mesa, a peak 4,973 ft (1,516 m) high, through the northern Oklahoma Panhandle and bends northward through the southeastern corner of Colorado and the southwestern corner of Kansas.