BadSpade

Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services, including estate agent london and estate agent central london. Their centrally located ground floor offices, minutes from Oxford Circus offer an ideal marketing base for your property.

Goncharov, Ivan Aleksandrovich

2005-04-05T05:01:00.000-07:00

Goncharov was born into a wealthy merchant family and, after graduating from Moscow University in 1834, served

Spalatin, Georg

2005-04-02T13:11:00.000-08:00

As a student Spalatin came in contact with various humanists, and he followed their custom in choosing a last name that reflected his birthplace. In 1505 he joined

International Trade, The European Community

2005-04-01T07:25:00.000-08:00

The EEC remained a leading proponent of economic integration until 1993, when, renamed the European Community (EC), it became the principal component of the European Union (EU), a broader entity seeking economic and political cooperation. The EC was formed by the Maastricht Treaty (formally known as the Treaty on European Union; 1991), which went into force on November 1, 1993. The treaty

Vermeer, Johannes

2005-03-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

Since Vermeer's name is not mentioned in Delft archival records during the late 1640s or early 1650s, it is possible

Sabre

2005-03-27T08:58:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Saber, heavy military sword with a long cutting edge and, often, a curved blade, derived from a Hungarian cavalry sword introduced from the Orient in the 18th century; also a light fencing weapon developed in Italy in the 19th century for duelling. The military sabre had been relegated to a ceremonial role by the 20th century, while the fencing sabre had become one of the sport's standard

Luque

2005-03-26T03:58:00.000-08:00

City, southern Paraguay. Founded in 1635, Luque rose to prominence as the temporary national capital during the bloody Paraguayan War (1864–70) with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Oranges, sugarcane, tobacco, cotton, and livestock produced in the area supply the markets of nearby Asunción, to which it is accessible by railroad and highway. Factories in Luque manufacture guitars

Luque

2005-03-23T04:25:00.000-08:00

South African political party and black nationalist organization. Founded in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress, it had as its main goal the maintenance of voting rights for Coloureds (persons of mixed race) and black Africans in Cape Province. It was renamed the African National Congress in 1923. From the 1940s it spearheaded the fight to eliminate apartheid

Dyer, Sir Edward

2005-03-21T11:54:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Oxford, Dyer went to court under the patronage of the Earl of Leicester. Dyer was a friend of Sir Philip Sidney, on whose death he wrote an elegy

Sahara

2005-03-19T19:16:00.000-08:00

Classical accounts describe the Sahara much as it is today—a vast and formidable barrier. The Egyptians controlled only their neighbouring oases and, occasionally, lands to the south; the Carthaginians apparently continued the commercial relationships with the interior that had been established during the Bronze Age. Herodotus described a desert crossing

Kandahar

2005-03-19T11:30:00.000-08:00

The strategic and

Quaker

2005-03-18T04:51:00.000-08:00

Byname of Friend, member of a Christian group (the Society of Friends, or Friends church) that stresses the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that rejects outward rites and an ordained ministry, and that has a long tradition of actively working for peace and opposing war. George Fox, founder of the society in England, recorded that in 1650 “Justice Bennet of Derby first called us Quakers because

Epistemology, St. Augustine

2005-03-17T10:38:00.000-08:00

St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) claimed that human knowledge would be impossible if God did not illumine the human mind and thereby allow it to see, grasp, or understand ideas. There are two components to his theory: ideas and illumination. Ideas as Augustine construed them are the same as Plato's; they are timeless, immutable, and accessible only to the mind, not to the senses. They

Böhm-bawerk, Eugen Von

2005-03-15T23:18:00.000-08:00

After graduating from the University of Vienna, Böhm-Bawerk worked in the Austrian Ministry of Finance (1872–75) and was allowed by the ministry to study at several

Activity Coefficient

2005-03-13T23:34:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, the ratio of the chemical activity of any substance to its molar concentration. The measured concentration of a substance may not be an accurate indicator of its chemical effectiveness, as represented by the equation for a particular reaction, in which case an activity coefficient is arbitrarily established and used instead of the concentration

Classical Scholarship, The early Middle Ages

2005-03-12T16:46:00.000-08:00

The period during which the Merovingian dynasty founded by Clovis (c. 466–511) was in power was a dark age for learning, but there was no complete breach with the past. Under the influence of the church the barbarian invaders wished to base their civilization on the Latin model, and since it was the language of the church, Latin continued to be the language of literature. Although

Spitfire

2005-03-11T13:39:00.000-08:00

The Spitfire was a low-wing monoplane that was first flown in 1936 and was first put into service with the Royal Air Force in 1938. It was modified continuously throughout the war to serve in a variety

Sabot

2005-03-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

Variations of the sabot—wooden-soled shoes topped with a variety of materials such as leather and suede—became popular

Norfolk, John Howard, 1st Duke Of, Earl Marshal, Lord Howard

2005-03-09T16:49:00.000-08:00

John Howard was the son of Sir Robert Howard by his wife, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Mowbray, the 1st Duke of Norfolk of that family. In 1455 John Howard was sent to Parliament as member for Norfolk; in 1461 he was knighted; and in 1470, although he appears to have been

Safaqis

2005-03-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sfax, major port town, east-central Tunisia on the northern shore of the Gulf of Gabes. Built on the site of two small settlements of antiquity, Taparura and Thaenae, the town grew as an early Islamic trading centre for nomads. Temporarily occupied in the 12th century by Sicilian Normans and in the 16th century by the Spanish, it later served as a stronghold of the Barbary pirates.

Chachalaca

2005-03-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

Any of several small birds of the curassow family. See curassow.

Peninsular

2005-03-06T23:21:00.000-08:00

Spanish peninsular , plural peninsulares , also called gachupín , or chapetón any of the colonial residents of Latin America from the 16th through the early 19th century who had been born in Spain. The name refers to the Iberian Peninsula. Among the American-born in Mexico the peninsulars were contemptuously called gachupines (“those with spurs”) and in South America, chapetones (“tenderfeet”). They enjoyed the special favour of the Spanish crown and

Ob River, Plant and animal life

2005-03-05T23:14:00.000-08:00

Rich meadows extend in bands 1 to 2 miles (2 to 3 km) wide for great distances along the banks of the Ob and cover many of the numerous islands. Pine, cedar, silver fir, aspen, and birch also grow on the banks and occasionally constitute isolated forests on the higher ground of the floodplain. Large areas near the river are covered with willow, snowball trees (Viburnum), bird cherry

Akhdar Mountains

2005-03-04T14:23:00.000-08:00

Arabic Al-jabal Al-akhdar, also spelled Gebel El-achdar, mountain range of northeastern Libya that extends along the Mediterranean coast for about 100 miles (160 km) in an east-northeasterly direction between the towns of al-Marj and Darnah. Rising sharply in two steps, the first reaching 985 feet (300 m) and the second about 1,800 feet (550 m), the limestone range (about 20 miles [32 km] wide) then blends into a plateau crowned by hills attaining elevations

Cincinnatian Series

2005-03-03T09:07:00.000-08:00

Uppermost rocks of the Ordovician System, defined on the basis of exposures seen around the region of Cincinnati, Ohio, where they consist of numerous limestone formations that are richly fossiliferous. (The Ordovician Period lasted from 505 to 438 million years ago.) To the south and west of Cincinnati, the deposits are fragmentary, whereas deposits found in the Appalachian

Himyar

2005-03-02T16:53:00.000-08:00

The Himyarites were concentrated in the area known as Dhu Raydan on the coast of present-day Yemen (San'a'); they were probably aided in the overthrow of their Sabaean kinsmen by the discovery of a sea route from Egypt

Bukharin, Nikolay Ivanovich

2005-02-28T15:58:00.000-08:00

Having become a revolutionary while studying economics, Bukharin joined the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party in 1906 and became a member of the Moscow committee of the party's Bolshevik wing in 1908. He was

Sang-kan River

2005-02-28T14:05:00.000-08:00

Wade–Giles romanization Sang Kan Ho , Pin-yin Sang Gan He river in Shansi and Hopeh provinces, China. The Sang-kan River rises just south of Ning-wu, near the Great Wall of China, on the eastern slope of the Kuan-ts'en Shan (mountains), in northern Shansi. After flowing northeast in a trough running parallel to the strike of the Heng Shan, it turns southeast near Hsüan-hua (Hopeh) to emerge into the North China Plain in the Peking area.

Philip V

2005-02-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

King of Macedonia from 221 to 179, whose attempt to extend Macedonian influence throughout Greece resulted in his defeat by Rome. His career is significant mainly as an episode in Rome's expansion. The son of Demetrius II and his wife Phthia (Chryseis), the young prince was adopted, after his father's death in 229, by his half-cousin Antigonus Doson, who took

Argyrodite

2005-02-25T11:12:00.000-08:00

Heavy, dark sulfosalt mineral, a silver and germanium sulfide (Ag8GeS6), in which the element germanium was discovered (1886). It is a relatively scarce mineral found in sulfide veins in Germany and in Bolivia. It forms a solid solution series with canfieldite in which tin replaces germanium in the crystal structure, which belongs to the isometric system. For detailed physical

China, The Boxer Rebellion

2005-02-25T03:40:00.000-08:00

The crisis of 1896–98 stirred a furious antiforeign uprising in Shantung, aroused by the German advances and encouraged by the provincial governor. It was staged by a band of people called the I-ho ch'üan (Righteous and Harmonious Fists) who believed that a mysterious boxing art rendered them invulnerable to harm. The group's origin is generally supposed to have been in the

Xyy-trisomy

2005-02-24T15:42:00.000-08:00

Relatively common human sex chromosome anomaly in which a male has two Y chromosomes rather than one. It occurs in 1 in 500–1,000 live male births, and individuals with the anomaly are often characterized by tallness and severe acne and sometimes by skeletal malformations and mental deficiency. It has been suggested that the presence of an extra Y chromosome in an individual

Nathdwara

2005-02-23T16:44:00.000-08:00

Town, southern Rajasthan state, northwestern India, just south of the Banas River. Connected by road with Udaipur and close to the Malvi rail junction, Nathdwara is a place of Hindu pilgrimage; it contains a 17th-century Vaishnavite shrine that is one of the most famous in India. Within the temple is a celebrated image of the god Krishna, popularly said to date to the 12th century

Steeplechase

2005-02-22T02:03:00.000-08:00

The sport dates back to a cross-country race at the University of Oxford in 1850. As an Olympic track event (for men only), it was first run in the 1900 Games, and by the 1920 Games it was standardized at 3,000 metres, or about 7.5 laps on a 400-metre track. The steeplechase

Canada East

2005-02-21T09:45:00.000-08:00

Settled primarily by French Canadians who wanted to preserve their distinctive identity and cultural traditions, Canada East was reluctant to join the proposed confederation

Wichita

2005-02-19T09:20:00.000-08:00

North American Indian people of Caddoan linguistic stock who in their early history lived near the Arkansas River in present-day Kansas. They were encountered by the Spanish in the mid-16th century and became the object of the earliest missionary work done among the Plains Indians. Like most Caddoans, the Wichita subsisted largely by farming (corn [maize], pumpkins,

Chekhov, Anton

2005-02-19T02:43:00.000-08:00

In March 1897 Chekhov had suffered a lung hemorrhage caused by tuberculosis, symptoms of which had become apparent considerably earlier. Now forced to acknowledge himself a semi-invalid, Chekhov sold his Melikhovo estate and built a villa in Yalta, the Crimean coastal resort. From then on he spent most of his winters there or on the French Riviera, cut off from the intellectual

North Germanic Languages, Vocabulary

2005-02-18T09:10:00.000-08:00

The everyday stock of Scandinavian words, including most of the high-frequency words, is Indo-European and Germanic in its core. Of the 200,000 or more entries in the large dictionaries of each language, the vast majority are either compounds and derivatives of the simpler words or else borrowings from other languages—mostly of a scientific and cultural nature. At the end

Respiratory Distress Syndrome

2005-02-16T03:05:00.000-08:00

Also called idiopathic respiratory distress syndrome , or hyaline membrane disease a common complication in infants, especially in premature newborns, characterized by extremely laboured breathing, cyanosis (a bluish tinge to the skin or mucous membranes), and abnormally low levels of oxygen in the arterial blood. Before the advent of effective treatment, respiratory distress syndrome was frequently fatal. Autopsies of children who had succumbed

Shah Jahan

2005-02-15T14:37:00.000-08:00

He was the third son of the Mughal emperor Jahangir and the Rajput princess Manmati. Marrying in 1612 Arjumand Banu Baygam, niece of Jahangir's wife Nur Jahan, he became, as Prince Khurram, one of the influential Nur Jahan clique of the middle period of Jahangir's reign. In 1622 Shah Jahan, ambitious to win the succession, rebelled,

Dielectric

2005-02-14T08:49:00.000-08:00

Insulating material or a very poor conductor of electric current. When dielectrics are placed in an electric field, practically no current flows in them because, unlike metals, they have no loosely bound, or free, electrons that may drift through the material. Instead, electric polarization occurs. The positive charges within the dielectric are displaced minutely

Ben Slimane

2005-02-12T02:24:00.000-08:00

The town is situated in a region of low plateaus and valleys that are intensely cultivated near the ocean; cereals (mostly wheat),

Köchel, Ludwig (alois Ferdinand), Ritter Von

2005-02-12T02:18:00.000-08:00

The son of a treasury official, Köchel took a doctorate

Abbott, Edith

2005-02-10T19:13:00.000-08:00

Edith Abbott was the older sister of Grace Abbott, who would serve as chief of the United States Children's Bureau from 1921 to 1934. Both sisters were influenced by

Murchison, Ira

2005-02-10T04:47:00.000-08:00

In 1951 Murchison was Illinois high-school champion in the 100- and 220-yard dashes. In 1956 he ran the leadoff leg of the 4 ´ 100-metre relay for the United States at the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, and helped propel the U.S. team to a gold medal in a world-record time of 39.5 sec.

Black Duck

2005-02-09T23:28:00.000-08:00

(Anas rubripes), highly prized game bird (family Anatidae) of eastern North America, inhabiting salt, brackish, and freshwater marshes, as well as lakes, rivers, and beaver ponds. These ducks winter from Nebraska to Texas and along the Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to Florida; their preference for seafoods such as periwinkles and mussels enables them to winter so far

Tapestry, Pre-Columbian Americas

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

The most skilled weaving in pre-Columbian America was achieved by the Andean Indian cultures of ancient Peru. The origins of tapestry weaving among these peoples are believed to date as early as the beginnings of the Christian Era. By the 6th and 7th centuries the technique of tapestry weaving was established, and a large number of pieces in this medium have survived,

Wildfowl Trust, The

2005-02-06T10:39:00.000-08:00

Centre of the world's largest collection of waterfowl. It was established in 1946 by Sir Peter Scott on 418 acres (169 hectares) along the River Severn near Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, Eng. Nearly a quarter of the land is fenced off for captive birds and breeding stock; the rest of the refuge is traditional wintering ground for many species of ducks and geese. In addition to accommodating

Pyroxene, Igneous rocks

2005-02-06T08:23:00.000-08:00

Uninverted pigeonites(monoclinic) are common as phenocrysts in high-temperature,

Medicine

2005-02-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

George Rosen, The Structure of American Medical Practice, 1875–1941 (1983), is a historical study. Particular kinds of medical practice are explored in Wesley Fabb and John Fry (eds.), Principles of Practice Management in Primary Care (1984); Sir Douglas Black et al., Inequalities in Health: The Black Report, edited by Peter Townsend and Nick Davidson (1982); David Sanders and Richard Carver, The Struggle for Health: Medicine and the Politics of Underdevelopment (1985); and V. Djukanovic and E.P. Mach (eds.), Alternative Approaches to Meeting Basic Health Needs in Developing Countries: A Joint UNICEF/WHO Study (1975). Also see the articles of such journals as Private Practice (monthly) and Modern Healthcare (semimonthly). For a view of alternative medicine, see Douglas Stalker and Clark Glymour (eds.), Examining Holistic Medicine (1985); and Richard Grossman, The Other Medicines (1985). The variety of roles in the health-care profession are the subject of Louise Simmers, Diversified Health Occupations (1983); C. Wesley Eisele, William R. Fifer, and Toma C. Wilson, The Medical Staff and the Modern Hospital (1985); and Eli Ginzberg (ed.), From Physician Shortage to Patient Shortage: The Uncertain Future of Medical Practice (1986).

Conception Bay

2005-02-03T19:52:00.000-08:00

Inlet of the Atlantic Ocean indenting the north coast of the Avalon Peninsula on the southeastern coast of the island of Newfoundland, Canada. It was named by Gaspar Côrte-Real, the Portuguese explorer who visited the coast in 1500 on the Feast of the Conception (December 8). The bay is about 30 miles (50 km) long and 12 miles (19 km) wide. Its shore areas are among the oldest and most densely

Hawk Owl

2005-02-02T15:22:00.000-08:00

The northern hawk owl (Surnia ulula) is approximately 40 cm (about 16 inches) long. Its tail is long, and its wings are short and pointed like those of a hawk. The facial disk of the northern hawk owl does not extend above the eyes, and it has no ear tufts. It feeds on small mammals, birds, and insects, hunting during

Pacific Islands, High oceanic islands

2005-02-02T14:20:00.000-08:00

Extensive volcanic mountain ranges in the central and eastern Pacific rise abruptly from the ocean deep, their cores of dense black basalt built up from lava flows from the fractured seafloor. Where summits stand in high relief above sea level, they represent most of the islands that constitute Polynesia and Micronesia. Small to intermediate in land area, nowhere

Nature Worship, Mountains

2005-01-31T16:48:00.000-08:00

Especially prominent mountains are favourite places for cults of high places, particularly when they are isolated as island mountains, mountains with snowcaps, or uninhabited high mountain ranges. The psychological roots of the cults of high places lie in the belief that mountains are close to the sky (as heavenly ladders), that clouds surrounding the mountaintops

Hexachloroplatinic Acid

2005-01-31T00:15:00.000-08:00

Also called Chloroplatinic Acid, complex compound formed by dissolving platinum metal in aqua regia (a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids) or in hydrochloric acid that contains chlorine. It is crystallized from the solution in the form of reddish brown deliquescent (moisture-absorbing) crystals with specific gravity 2.43 and melting point 60° C (140° F). It is the starting material from which most platinum

Scandinavian Literature, Translations from Latin

2005-01-30T16:24:00.000-08:00

A quantity of secular literature was translated from Latin between the 12th and 14th centuries. The “Prophecies of Merlin,” already translated in verse by a Thingeyrar monk, were combined with a complete translation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's history and titled Breta sögur (“Stories of the Britons”). In one 14th-century manuscript this was preceded by the Trójumanna saga (“Story

Nervous System Disease, Nerve injuries

2005-01-29T06:06:00.000-08:00

Nerve injuries function as neuronal neuropathies affecting the axon far from the cell body. Injuries are of three main grades of severity. In neurapraxia there is temporary blockage of impulse conduction, although the axons remain intact. More severe stretch or incision damage interrupts some axons and is called axonotmesis. Injury that actually severs the

Han Gan

2005-01-27T23:36:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization Han Kan Chinese painter of the Tang dynasty, who, though recorded as having done wall paintings on Buddhist and Daoist themes, is best remembered for his paintings of horses. Han emphasized the strength and nobility of the horses of the Tang empire by using a tautly controlled line and compositions of great clarity. The horse as a subject of painting was continued

Wolf, Hugo

2005-01-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

Wolf studied at the Vienna Conservatory (1875–77) but had a moody and irascible temperament and was expelled from the conservatory following his outspoken criticism of his masters. In 1875 he met the composer Richard

Fairfax (of Cameron), Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Baron

2005-01-26T08:21:00.000-08:00

The son of Ferdinando, 2nd Baron Fairfax of Cameron, he

Tapestry, 17th and 18th centuries

2005-01-24T05:07:00.000-08:00

It was due to the initiative of Henry IV, whose planning of his nation's economy emphasized the luxury production that has since been commercially important in France, that decisive steps were taken in establishing a French tapestry industry. In 1608 Henry gave official recognition to the French workshop (using the high-warp method) of Girard Laurent and Dubout by establishing

Pridi Phanomyong

2005-01-22T09:57:00.000-08:00

After studies at the Royal Law School, Pridi won a government scholarship to study law in France; he earned a doctorate in law from Paris in 1927. While in Paris he was strongly influenced by French socialism,

Antarctica, History

2005-01-22T08:54:00.000-08:00

A thorough general account is in C. Hartley Grattan, The Southwest Pacific Since 1900 (1963). An interesting and thorough history is Walter Sullivan, Quest for a Continent (1957). Kenneth J. Bertrand, Americans in Antarctica, 1775–1948 (1971), recounts early U.S. explorations. Antarctica: Great Stories from the Frozen Continent (1985), offers a readable and profusely illustrated account of explorers from many nations, as well as a description of the physical environment. A complete list of expeditions, claims, treaties, discoveries, and meetings is found in R.K. Headland, Chronological List of Antarctic Expeditions and Related Historical Events (1989).

Pyx

2005-01-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

In Christianity, vessel containing the consecrated bread used in the service of Holy Communion. Although pyxes were made in various shapes, such as that of a dove, the most common form was that of a small, cylindrical box fitted with a cover, which is generally conical. An English pyx dating from the first half of the 14th century, known as the Godsfield Pyx, is of gilt bronze

World Water Crisis: Is There A Way Out?

2005-01-20T04:09:00.000-08:00

On the face of it, the current water crisis as presented by the UN is a classic Malthusian dilemma: a geometrically expanding population will soon meet the limits of a fixed supply of water. Yet Malthusian predictions of famine and other catastrophes have been made since the principle was first enunciated in 1798, and no such prediction has ever come true. Take the UN's claim

Indium

2005-01-18T01:46:00.000-08:00

(In), chemical element, rare metal of main Group IIIa, or boron group, of the periodic table. Of a brilliant, silvery-white lustre, indium was discovered (1863) by Ferdinand Reich and Theodor Richter while they were examining zinc ore samples. The presence of a predominant indigo spectral line suggested the name. Softer than lead and quite plastic, indium can be scratched with

Alcove

2005-01-17T19:56:00.000-08:00

Recess opening off a room or other space enclosed by walls or hedges. In medieval architecture it was commonly used as a sleeping space off the main body of a drafty hall. The separation of the alcove from the main space was accomplished at first by means of curtains and later by timber partitions to form independent rooms and thus conserve heat. In later centuries

Hybrid

2005-01-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

Offspring of parents that differ in genetically determined traits. The parents may be of different species, genera, or (rarely) families. The term hybrid, therefore, has a wider application than the terms mongrel or crossbreed, which usually refer to animals or plants resulting from a cross between two races, breeds, strains, or varieties of the same species. There are

Kidd, William

2005-01-16T14:24:00.000-08:00

Kidd's early career is obscure. It is believed he went to sea as a youth. After 1689 he was sailing as

Lerma River

2005-01-15T06:14:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río Lerma, river in west-central Mexico. It rises on the central plateau 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Toluca and flows northwestward through the state of México, forms the short border between the states of Querétaro and Michoacán, and then meanders generally west-northwestward through Guanajuato. After looping southward, the Lerma separates Guanajuato and Michoacán, and

Framed Building

2005-01-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

Structure in which weight is carried by a skeleton or framework, as opposed to being supported by walls. The essential factor in a framed building is the frame's strength. Timber-framed or half-timbered houses were common in medieval Europe. In this type the frame is filled in with wattle and daub or brick. A modern lightweight wood-frame structure, the balloon-frame

Hara Takashi

2005-01-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

Hara was the son of a high-ranking samurai family of northern Japan. After graduating from Tokyo University he became a journalist. In 1882 he entered the foreign service, upon which he rose rapidly

Biblical Literature, Philological criticism

2005-01-12T05:40:00.000-08:00

Philological criticism consists mainly in the study of the biblical languages in their widest scope, so that the vocabulary, grammar, and style of the biblical writings can be understood as accurately as possible with the aid not only of other biblical writings but of other writings in the same or cognate languages. New Testament Greek, for example, is a representative

Anatolian Religion, Divination

2005-01-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

Divination, through which the cause of divine displeasure was ascertained, was mainly of three kinds: augury (divination by flight of birds), haruspicy (divination by examining the entrails of sacrificial animals), and an enigmatic procedure using tokens with symbolic names, arts said to be practiced respectively by the “bird-watcher,” the seer, and the “old woman.” The

Udasi

2005-01-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

Sect within Sikhism, a religion of India. The Udasi (from the Sanskrit udas, “to renounce”) sect, which requires celibacy and asceticism of its members, originated with the followers of Siri Chand, the son of the first Sikh guru (religious teacher and leader of the Sikh community), Nanak. Under the leadership of Baba Gurditta, the eldest son of the sixth guru, Hargobind, they served as missionaries,

Chia-i

2005-01-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Chiayi, shih (municipality) and seat of Chia-i hsien (county), on the western coastal plain of Taiwan. It lies at the foot of the A-li Mountains, on Taiwan's main north–south rail and highway routes. Narrow-gauge branch railways built by the Japanese (who occupied Taiwan from 1895 to 1945) run from Chia-i to the sugar-producing plains to the west and into the A-li Mountains for the transport of lumber.

Interior Monologue

2005-01-08T02:22:00.000-08:00

In dramatic and nondramatic fiction, narrative technique that exhibits the thoughts passing through the minds of the protagonists. These ideas may be either loosely related impressions approaching free association or more rationally structured sequences of thought and emotion. Interior monologues encompass several forms, including dramatized inner

Selkirk

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

Royal burgh (town), Scottish Borders council area, historic county of Selkirkshire, Scotland, lying on a hillside overlooking the river known as Ettrick Water. A Benedictine abbey founded in the early 12th century was later removed to Kelso. Selkirk's 12th-century castle was captured by the English under Edward I (reigned 1272–1307). It was retaken by the Scottish national leader William

Bridle

2005-01-06T18:18:00.000-08:00

The reins, lines

Auckland

2005-01-05T15:59:00.000-08:00

When Europeans arrived in the early 19th century, the region was densely populated by Maoris. European settlements were

Degas, (hilaire-germain-)edgar

2005-01-04T02:09:00.000-08:00

Degas came of the powerful upper bourgeoisie, his family having banking

Narayan, R.k.

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

Reared by his grandmother, Narayan completed his education in 1930 and briefly worked as a teacher before deciding to devote himself to writing. His first novel, Swami and Friends (1935), is an episodic narrative recounting the adventures of a group of schoolboys.

Argentina, The Videla regime and the Dirty War

2005-01-01T20:53:00.000-08:00

Five days after the coup a three-man military junta filled the presidency with Lieutenant General Jorge Rafaél Videla. The junta closed Congress, imposed censorship, banned trade unions, and brought state and municipal government under military control. Meanwhile Videla initiated the infamous Process of National Reorganization, known subsequently as the

Animation

2005-01-01T16:11:00.000-08:00

The art of making inanimate objects appear to move. Animation is an artistic impulse that long predates the movies. History's first recorded animator is Pygmalion of Greek and Roman mythology, a sculptor who created a figure of a woman so perfect that he fell in love with her and begged Venus to bring her to life. Some of the same sense of magic, mystery, and transgression

Arabia, History Of, The Qarmatians

2004-12-30T20:53:00.000-08:00

A more serious loss to 'Abbasid power in Arabia was occasioned by the appearance of Isma'ilite propaganda in Yemen about 880, in eastern Arabia about 899, and even briefly in Oman. From Yemen, Isma'ilis reached North Africa, where the Fatimid movement arose and conquered Egypt and for a time seriously threatened the 'Abbasids in Baghdad. The Qarmatians (Qaramitah), an extremist offshoot of

Aguinaldo, Emilio

2004-12-29T21:37:00.000-08:00

Born of Chinese and Tagalog parentage, he completed his education at the University of Santo Tomás, Manila. In August 1896 he was mayor of Cavite Viejo and was the local leader of the Katipunan, a revolutionary

Leap Of Faith

2004-12-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

Metaphor used by the 19th-century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in his Afsluttende uvidenskabelig Efterskrift (1846; Concluding Unscientific Postscript) to describe commitment to an objective uncertainty, specifically to the Christian God. For Kierkegaard, God is totally other than man; between God and man there exists a gulf that faith alone can bridge. Kierkegaard

January Insurrection

2004-12-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

After Alexander II became emperor of Russia and king of Poland in 1855, the strict and repressive regime that had been imposed on Poland after the November Insurrection (1830–31) was substantially relaxed. Nevertheless,

Narrator

2004-12-26T20:36:00.000-08:00

A work may have more than one narrator, as in an epistolary novel such as Samuel Richardson's

Wrist

2004-12-25T20:05:00.000-08:00

Also called carpus complex joint between the five metacarpal bones of the hand and the radius and ulna bones of the forearm. The wrist is composed of eight or nine small, short bones (carpal bones) roughly arranged in two rows. The wrist is also made up of several component joints: the distal radioulnar joint, which acts as a pivot for the forearm bones;

Abdominal Muscle

2004-12-25T18:34:00.000-08:00

The first three muscle layers

House

2004-12-23T18:04:00.000-08:00

In astrology, 1 of the 12 sectors, or divisions, of the celestial sphere. See horoscope.

Coif

2004-12-23T01:30:00.000-08:00

The coif could also be an indoor skullcap

Ecoterrorism

2004-12-22T15:41:00.000-08:00

Ecoterrorism

Hoover, Herbert

2004-12-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

Hoover and his wife—the former Lou Henry (Lou Hoover), also a Stanford-trained geologist—moved first to Palo Alto, California, and then to New York City, where they took up residence at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. For the next 30 years, Hoover was closely identified with the most conservative elements in the Republican Party, condemning what he regarded as the radicalism of the New Deal and opposing Roosevelt's attempts to take a more active role against German and Japanese aggression. He believed fascism lay at the root of government programs like the New Deal and argued so in The Challenge to Liberty (1934) and the eight-volume Addresses upon the American Road (1936–61), as well as in the speeches Against the Proposed New Deal (1932, see original text) and The New Deal and European Collectivism (1936, see original text). An ardent anticommunist and foe of international crusades, he opposed American entry into World War II (until the attack on Pearl Harbor) and denounced American involvement in the Korean and Vietnam wars. His last major activity was heading the Hoover Commission, under Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, which aimed at streamlining the federal bureaucracy. The research-oriented Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University—founded in 1919 as the Hoover War Collection, a library on World War I—is named in his honour.

Buber, Martin

2004-12-20T00:34:00.000-08:00

Buber's manifold activities were inspired by his philosophy of encounter—of man's meeting with other beings. An early mystical period culminated in Daniel (1913), five dialogues on orientation and realization, man's two basic stances toward the world. Orientation takes the world as a static state of affairs governed by comprehensible laws. It is a receptive, analytical,

Tigon

2004-12-19T10:02:00.000-08:00

Offspring of a tiger and a lioness. The tigon, or tiglon, is a zoo-bred hybrid, as is the liger, the product of the reverse mating of a lion with a tigress.

Clapp, Cornelia Maria

2004-12-18T06:42:00.000-08:00

Clapp graduated from Mount Holyoke Female Seminary in 1871, and after a year of teaching elsewhere she returned to Mount Holyoke as an instructor in mathematics. Later she also taught

Anthropology And Archaeology, Western Hemisphere.

2004-12-17T07:26:00.000-08:00

Recent archaeological discoveries continued in 1999 to shed light on the first Americans and pre-Columbian civilizations and also on more recent American history. In regard to the latter, English colonist Mistress Ann Forest, wife of Thomas Forest, arrived at Jamestown, Va., in 1608 with her husband but died within a year. She and her maid were the only two women at Jamestown

Digestive System Disease, Hookworms

2004-12-15T17:13:00.000-08:00

Hookworm, or Ancylostoma duodenale, infection begins when the worm is in the larval stage. It penetrates the skin, usually of the feet, migrates during its life cycle through the liver and the lungs, and attaches to the mucosa of the small intestine where it matures. Hookworms deplete the body of nutrients, and a major effect is severe chronic iron-deficiency