MixedPotato

Astilbe

2005-04-04T22:15:00.000-07:00

A. chinensis, up to 60 cm (2 feet) in height, has produced several

Girder

2005-04-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

In building construction, a horizontal main supporting beam that carries a vertical concentrated load. See beam.

Eliot, George

2005-04-04T01:34:00.000-07:00

Evans was born on an estate of her father's employer. She went as a boarder to Mrs. Wallington's School

Paraíba

2005-04-03T05:29:00.000-07:00

Also called Parahyba, or Parahyba Do Norte, estado (“state”) of northeastern Brazil. Primarily an agricultural state, Paraíba is bounded by the states of Rio Grande do Norte on the north, Ceará on the west, and Pernambuco on the south and by the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Its area is 20,833 square miles (53,958 square km). Its chief river, the Paraíba, rises on the Pernambuco border and enters the Atlantic Ocean near the state capital,

Taravana Syndrome

2005-04-03T03:29:00.000-07:00

Form of decompression sickness that is most frequently seen in pearl divers in Japan and the Polynesian islands. These skin divers acquire their pearls by making breath-holding dives down to depths as great as 165 feet (about 50 m). During a day's work, they may make 60 to 100 dives in succession, with intervals of only a few seconds to two minutes between dives. The major symptoms of

Sa'id, Aminah Al-

2005-04-02T00:19:00.000-08:00

At age 14, Sa'id joined the youth section of the Egyptian Feminist Union, and in 1931 she became one of the first women to attend the Egyptian University (now Cairo University). After graduating

R.e.m.

2005-04-01T15:04:00.000-08:00

Ogilby, John

2005-04-01T03:38:00.000-08:00

Ogilby's early career as a dancing master and theatre owner in Ireland, crowned by the success of a theatre he built in Dublin, ended in 1641 with

Gwalior

2005-03-31T18:16:00.000-08:00

The old city of Gwalior centres on a walled fortress, one of the most famous in India,

Halston

2005-03-30T23:01:00.000-08:00

Halston studied at Indiana University and the Art Institute of Chicago and operated a millinery shop in Chicago before joining milliner Lilly Daché in New York City. In 1959 he became a milliner for Bergdorf Goodman; in 1966 he expanded his line into clothes

Grito De Dolores

2005-03-29T14:01:00.000-08:00

Hidalgo was involved in a plot against the Spanish colonial government, and, when the plot was betrayed, he decided to act immediately. After arming the people, he addressed them from the pulpit,

Tyrone, Hugh O'neill, 2nd Earl Of

2005-03-29T02:49:00.000-08:00

Although born into the powerful O'Neill family of Ulster, Hugh grew up in London. In 1568 he returned to Ireland and

Syracuse

2005-03-28T16:50:00.000-08:00

Syracuse was settled about 734 BC by Corinthians led by the aristocrat Archias, and the city soon dominated the coastal plain and hill country beyond. The original Greek settlers of the city formed an elite (gamoroi

Nicaea, Council Of

2005-03-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

(325), the first ecumenical council of the Christian church, meeting in ancient Nicaea (now Iznik, Tur.). It was called by the emperor Constantine I, an unbaptized catechumen, or neophyte, who presided over the opening session and took part in the discussions. He hoped a general council of the church would solve the problem created in the Eastern church by Arianism, a heresy first

Tombolo

2005-03-26T21:53:00.000-08:00

One or more sandbars or spits that connect an island to the mainland. A single tombolo may connect a tied island to the mainland, as at Marblehead, Mass. A double tombolo encloses a lagoon that eventually fills with sediment; fine examples of these occur off the coast of Italy. The shallower waters that occur between an island and the mainland are the loci of such features

Pembroke, William Herbert, 1st Earl Of, Baron Herbert Of Cardiff

2005-03-26T13:34:00.000-08:00

Also called (until 1551) Sir William Herbert the Earl of Pembroke of the second Herbert creation, a leading figure in the reigns of Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I of England. His father, Sir Richard Herbert, was an illegitimate son of William, the 1st Earl of Pembroke of the first creation. Sir William's first wife, Anne Parr, was a sister of Catherine Parr, who married Henry VIII

Aqtöbe

2005-03-26T11:51:00.000-08:00

Formerly Aktyubinsk, city, northwestern Kazakstan, on the Ilek River. It was founded in 1869 as Aktyube (“White Hill”), a small Russian fort; the first Russian peasant settlers arrived in 1878. In 1891 it became the capital of an uyezd (canton) and in 1932 of an oblast (province). During World War II a ferroalloys plant was built to smelt the nickel and chromium ores of the Mughalzhar (Mugodzhar) Hills. Now an important

Arnobius The Elder

2005-03-24T19:15:00.000-08:00

Arnobius was born a pagan but had become a Christian by AD 300. He taught rhetoric at Sicca Veneria in Africa during the reign (284–305) of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Because of his former paganism, Arnobius was suspected, notably by the local bishop,

Shellfish Poisoning

2005-03-24T08:43:00.000-08:00

Illness in humans resulting from the eating of certain mussels and clams. The source of the poison has been traced to the plankton upon which shellfish feed during parts of the year. Symptoms often begin within 10 minutes after eating the shellfish. Initially, there is tingling and numbness about the lips and prickly feelings in the fingertips. The throat is often dry.

Aerospace Industry, Working of materials

2005-03-23T21:45:00.000-08:00

Metals are cut, shaped, bored, bent, and formed by tools and machines operated manually or, increasingly, under the control of computers programmed to guide the necessary operations consistently and with greater precision than can normally be provided by humans. The parallels for electrical and electronic fabrication are robotic tools for insertion of components

Bona Dea

2005-03-21T03:30:00.000-08:00

(Latin: “Good Goddess”), in Roman religion, deity of fruitfulness, both in the earth and in women. She was identified with various goddesses who had similar functions. The dedication day of her temple on the Aventine was May 1. Her temple was cared for and attended by women only, and the same was the case at a second celebration, at the beginning of December, in the house of a sovereign

Ando Shoeki

2005-03-21T01:41:00.000-08:00

Ando was a native of Akita. He practiced medicine at Hachinohe, in the present Aomori prefecture, but became prominent as a social thinker in the 1750s. Ando was critical of the feudal society

O'carolan, Turlough

2005-03-21T00:45:00.000-08:00

The son of an iron founder, O'Carolan became blind from smallpox at the age of 18. He was befriended by Mrs. MacDermott Roe, the wife of his father's employer, who apprenticed

Qarluq Confederation

2005-03-20T00:38:00.000-08:00

The internal political organization

Residence

2005-03-19T15:35:00.000-08:00

In anthropology, location chosen by a couple as their postnuptial domicile. In primitive societies, such residence choices frequently follow rules; and, in social systems of wide kinship ties, a new place of residence after marriage signifies the potential severance of old alignments and the establishment of new ones. Because rights, obligations, succession, and

Mola

2005-03-19T04:35:00.000-08:00

The mola (Mola mola; see photograph) is an enormous, gray or brownish

Malathion

2005-03-18T19:28:00.000-08:00

Trade name for an organic phosphorus compound that is a general-purpose insecticide considerably less toxic to humans than parathion and is thus suited for the control of household and garden insects. It is important in the control of mosquitoes, flies, and lice. Malathion is a yellow-to-brown liquid with a characteristic unpleasant odour. It is generally prepared

Alabama

2005-03-17T20:53:00.000-08:00

Studies of the state's history include Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton, Alabama (1977, reissued 1984), a brief synthesis including more recent scholarship; Thomas Perkins Abernathy, The Formative Period in Alabama, 1815–1828, 2nd ed. (1965), the story of Alabama as a part of the Mississippi Territory; J. Mills Thornton III, Politics and Power in a Slave Society: Alabama, 1800–1860 (1978, reprinted 1981), on the decades leading to the Civil War; Walter L. Fleming, Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (1905, reprinted 1978), which includes an account of the factors leading to the secession of Alabama from the Union in 1861; Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins, The Scalawag in Alabama Politics, 1865–1881 (1977); and Allen J. Going, Bourbon Democracy in Alabama, 1874–1890 (1951, reprinted 1972). Historical discussions of race relations are provided in Peter Kolchin, First Freedom: The Response of Alabama's Blacks to Emancipation and Reconstruction (1972); Robert J. Norrell, Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee (1985); and Dan T. Carter, Scottsboro: A Tragedy of the American South, rev. ed. (1979). Scholarly journal articles on historical topics may be found in The Alabama Review (quarterly).

Numbat

2005-03-17T20:10:00.000-08:00

Also called Banded Anteater (Myrmecobius fasciatus), marsupial mammal of the family Dasyuridae (some authorities classify it as a family in its own right, Myrmecobiidae). It forages by day for termites in forests of southwestern Australia. Formerly widespread across southern Australia, the numbat is now restricted to the southwestern corner of the country and is regarded as an endangered

Medicine

2005-03-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

In many parts of the world, particularly in developing countries, people get their primary health care, or first-contact care, where available at all, from nonmedically qualified personnel; these cadres of medical auxiliaries are being trained in increasing numbers to meet overwhelming needs among rapidly growing populations. Even among the comparatively wealthy

Ortega, Daniel

2005-03-16T02:36:00.000-08:00

Son of a veteran of the peasant army of César Augusto Sandino, Ortega moved with his family to Managua in the mid-1950s. He briefly attended the Central American University in Managua, then in 1963 he went

Zipper

2005-03-15T23:22:00.000-08:00

The idea of a slide fastener was exhibited by Whitcomb

Kenai Fjords National Park

2005-03-15T04:39:00.000-08:00

The park includes the 300-square-mile (777-square-km) Harding Icefield and its outflowing glaciers and numerous coastal fjords and islands, which are remnants

Zoroastrianism

2005-03-14T23:56:00.000-08:00

Zoroastrianism is not the purely ethical religion it may at first seem. In practice, despite the doctrine of free choice, a Zoroastrian is so constantly involved in a meticulous struggle against the contamination of death and the thousand causes of defilement, and against the threat, even in his sleep, of ever-present demons, that he does not often believe that he is

Lusignan Family

2005-03-14T02:05:00.000-08:00

Noble family of Poitou (a province of western France) that provided numerous crusaders and kings of Jerusalem, Cyprus, and Lesser Armenia. A branch of the family became counts of La Marche and Angoulême and played a role in precipitating the baronial revolt in England against King Henry III. The castle of Lusignan is associated with the medieval legend of Mélusine.

Duque De Caxias

2005-03-13T17:54:00.000-08:00

City, Rio de Janeiro state, southeastern Brazil, suburb of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Until 1931 it was known as Meriti Station and from 1931 to 1943 as Caxias; it became the seat of the district of Caxias in 1931 and seat of the municipality of Duque de Caxias in 1943. The Duquecaxiense Academy of Letters is located there. The duke for whom the city was named was Luis Alves de Lima e Silva, soldier

Pitt-rivers, Augustus Henry Lane-fox

2005-03-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

Archaeologist often called the “father of British archaeology,” who stressed the need for total excavation of sites, thorough stratigraphic observation and recording, and prompt and complete publication. Like Sir Flinders Petrie, Pitt-Rivers adopted a sociological approach to the study of excavated objects

Van Doren, Mark

2005-03-13T03:43:00.000-08:00

Van Doren was the son of a country doctor, and was reared on the family farm in eastern

Amphibian, General features

2005-03-12T11:40:00.000-08:00

The form and structure of the skeletal, nervous, digestive, and urogenital systems of amphibians are intermediate between fishes and reptiles, but those of other systems are specifically modified for amphibians. The integument (skin) and circulatory and respiratory systems exemplify these adaptations and act together to provide cutaneous respiration. Amphibians

Carnivore, Natural history

2005-03-11T23:02:00.000-08:00

Hyenas form a relatively homogeneous family that includes two basic types: the true hyenas (two species of Hyaena and one of Crocuta) and the aardwolf (Proteles cristatus; see photograph). Hyenas are noted for their scavenger feeding and bone-crushing habits, although they do hunt live animals. Their food consists largely of the remains of artiodactyls,

Aylesbury

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

Town, Aylesbury Vale district, administrative and historic county of Buckinghamshire, England. The town lies at the centre of a rich clay vale. It was once an important market town for ducks and dairy produce but is now an expanding centre of industry, which includes food processing, light engineering, and especially printing. The town's market square is surrounded

Würm Glacial Stage

2005-03-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

Major division of late Pleistocene deposits and time in Alpine Europe (the Pleistocene epoch began about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The Würm glacial stage followed the Riss-Würm interglacial and is correlated with the Weichsel glacial stage of northern Europe and the Wisconsin glacial stage of North America. The Alpine glaciations of the Pleistocene

Cartesianism

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

The philosophical and scientific traditions derived from the writings of the French philosopher René Descartes (1596–1650).

Ireland

2005-03-10T06:52:00.000-08:00

Political issues past, present, and future merged in 1997, an eventful year dominated by an inconclusive general election. Power changed hands but without any clear shift in

Price, H.h.

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

Before his appointment as Wykeham professor of logic at New College, Oxford (1935–59), where he was educated, Price taught at Magdalen College (1922–24), Liverpool University (1922–23), and Trinity College (1924–35). His earliest book, Perception (1932), rejected causal theories of perception, while a later publication,

Motagua River

2005-03-09T05:17:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río Motagua, river in eastern Guatemala, rising in the central highlands near Chichicastenango, in southern Quiché department. The Motagua is Guatemala's longest river, measuring approximately 250 mi (400 km). Flowing generally eastward and northeastward through Chimaltenango, El Progreso, Zacapa, and Izabal departments, it empties into Omoa Bay off the Gulf of Honduras at the Honduran

Haardt Mountains

2005-03-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

Also called Hardt Mountains, mountain range in Rheinland-Pfalz Land (state), southwestern Germany. They comprise the eastern part of the Pfälzer Forest Mountains and lie west of the Rhine River basin, extending from the French border to a point about 20 miles (30 km) south of Mainz. Their densely forested slopes rise to 2,208 feet (673 m) in Mount Kalmit. Geologically the Haardt Mountains are a continuation of the

Facial Nerve

2005-03-07T14:46:00.000-08:00

Nerve that originates in the area of the brain called the pons and that has three types of nerve fibres: (1) motor fibres to the superficial muscles of the face, neck, and scalp and to certain deep muscles, known collectively as the muscles of facial expression; (2) sensory fibres, carrying impulses from the taste sensors in the front two-thirds of the tongue and general sensory

Soissons

2005-03-06T20:54:00.000-08:00

Soissons derives its name from the Suessiones,

Don Quixote

2005-03-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

Spanish in full El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote De La Mancha, novel published in two parts (Part I, 1605; Part II, 1615) by Miguel de Cervantes, one of the most widely read classics of Western literature. Originally conceived as a comic satire against the chivalric romances then in literary vogue, it describes realistically what befalls an elderly knight who, his head bemused by reading romances, sets out on his old horse Rosinante, with his

Oratory

2005-03-05T22:02:00.000-08:00

In architecture, a small, private chapel (q.v.).

Indian Paint Brush

2005-03-05T17:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Painted Cup, Painted Lady, or Paint Brush, any plant of the genus Castilleja (family Scrophulariaceae), which contains about 200 species of partially or wholly parasitic plants that derive nourishment from the roots of other plants. For this reason the plants are seldom cultivated successfully in the flower garden. The small, tubular flowers are irregular (two-lipped). They are surrounded by upper

Hadrumetum

2005-03-04T13:17:00.000-08:00

Modern Susah , also spelled Sousa, or Sousse ancient Phoenician colony some 100 miles (160 km) south of Carthage, on the east coast of the Al-Hammamat Gulf in what is now Tunisia. Hadrumetum was one of the most important communities within the Carthaginian territory in northern Africa because of its location on the sea at the edge of the fertile Sahel region. In the Third Punic War (149–146 BC) Hadrumetum sided with Rome, and its citizens

Abbevillian Industry

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

Prehistoric stone-tool tradition generally considered to represent the oldest occurrence in Europe of a bifacial (hand-ax) technology. The Abbevillian industry dates from an imprecisely determined part of the Middle Pleistocene, somewhat less than 700,000 years ago. It was recovered from high terrace sediments of the lower Somme valley, in a suburb of Abbeville, Fr. The

Cambrai, Battle Of

2005-03-03T08:09:00.000-08:00

Carried out by the 3rd Army under General Sir Julian Byng in order to relieve pressure on the French front, the offensive consisted of an assault against the Germans' Hindenburg line along a 10-mile (16-kilometre) front some 8 miles

Syrian Catholic Church

2005-03-03T00:54:00.000-08:00

An Eastern Catholic church of the Antiochene rite, in communion with Rome since the 17th century. The Christians of Syria had been Monophysites since the 5th century; that is, they rejected the rulings of the Council of Chalcedon (451) and believed in the existence of only one nature in Christ. Attempts at unification with Rome were made, without success, in 1237 and 1247. With the establishment

Waitomo

2005-03-02T14:53:00.000-08:00

Limestone caves, north-central North Island, New Zealand. They lie about 50 miles (80 km) south of Hamilton. Located on a tributary of the Waipa River, the caves are easily accessible for tourists by road. The underground caves have elaborate stalactites, stalagmites, and incrustations, some of which are named (e.g., Bride's Jewels, Organ, White Terrace, Blanket Chamber). The main

Annenberg, Walter H.

2005-03-01T18:19:00.000-08:00

In 1994 many people considered the life of Walter Annenberg an American success story: an immigrant's son who gained renown as a publisher, an ambassador, an art collector, and one of the most important philanthropists in the U.S. It was also the story of a quiet boy with a speech impediment who lived in the shadow of his flamboyant father until he took over the family's scandal-plagued

End Stop

2005-03-01T00:06:00.000-08:00

Compare enjambment.

Faience

2005-02-28T13:21:00.000-08:00

The tin glaze used in faience is actually a lead glaze that has been rendered white and opaque by the addition of tin oxide. In the

Transpacific Race

2005-02-28T11:26:00.000-08:00

Also called Honolulu Race, one of the world's oldest major ocean races for sailing yachts, a 2,225-mile (3,580-kilometre) event run from various California harbours to Honolulu, Hawaii. It was first held in 1906 and made a biennial event in 1939 to alternate with the Bermuda Race. Since 1941 the race has been from San Pedro, Calif. (Los Angeles' harbour), to Diamond Head Buoy, off Honolulu. Since the course is mostly downwind and

Hugh Of Cluny, Saint

2005-02-28T02:06:00.000-08:00

Hugh de Semur took monastic vows at

Silken Fungus Beetle

2005-02-27T02:06:00.000-08:00

These oval beetles are yellowish brown in colour and usually feed on fungi and decaying vegetable matter. Some species live in wasp or bee nests.

Prichard

2005-02-26T22:01:00.000-08:00

City, Mobile county, southwestern Alabama, U.S., a northern industrial suburb of Mobile. It was named for Cleveland Prichard, who purchased a tract of land (1879) on the east side of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad track and developed it into a vegetable-shipping point for markets in the North and East. The city's industries now include shipbuilding and the manufacture of chemicals,

Visconti, Louis-tullius-joachim

2005-02-26T09:53:00.000-08:00

Visconti's father, a celebrated Italian archaeologist, fled Rome with the boy in 1798. Visconti studied architecture with Charles Percier at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He was awarded a second grand prix d'architecture and the prix départemental by the Academy and in 1825 was appointed architect

Daedalic Sculpture

2005-02-25T17:52:00.000-08:00

Type of sculpture attributed to a legendary Greek artist, Daedalus, who is connected in legend both to Bronze Age Crete and to the earliest period of Archaic sculpture in post-Bronze Age Greece. The legends about Daedalus recognize him both as a man and as a mythical embodiment. The writer Pausanias thought that wooden images were referred to as daidala even before

Bloch, Ernest

2005-02-25T16:18:00.000-08:00

Bloch studied with the noted Swiss composer Émile Jaques-Dalcroze and in Belgium with the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe. From 1911 to 1915 he taught at the Geneva Conservatory.

Biblical Literature, The Ketuvim

2005-02-24T15:21:00.000-08:00

That the formation of the Ketuvim as a corpus was not completed until a very late date is evidenced by the absence of a fixed name, or indeed any real name, for the third division of Scripture. Ben Sira refers to “the other books of our fathers,” “the rest of the books”; Philo speaks simply of “other writings” and Josephus of “the remaining books.” A widespread practice of entitling

Instinct, Modifiable action patterns

2005-02-23T15:22:00.000-08:00

Some types of instinctive behaviour, while showing a rigid core of fixed action pattern, are still modifiable by conditioning and other learning processes (see above). A good example is provided by the nest-building behaviour of many birds: after the breeding female has chosen a nest site, she finds and deposits sticks or twigs or pieces of grass there. A jackdaw (Corvus

Anbar

2005-02-23T10:06:00.000-08:00

Also called Massice , or Fairuz Sapur ancient Mesopotamian town located on the left bank of the Euphrates River, downstream from modern Ar-Ramadi in central Iraq. Originally called Massice and Fairuz Sapur, it was destroyed by the Roman emperor Julian in AD 363. The town was rebuilt and became known from at least the 6th century as Anbar (“Stores”). Jews from the academy of Pumbedita took refuge there from Sasanian persecution

Marietta

2005-02-22T13:15:00.000-08:00

During the

Rock Wren

2005-02-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

New Zealand bird belonging to the family Xenicidae (q.v.); also, a true wren of North America (Salpinctes obsoletus; see wren).

Silchar

2005-02-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

City, southern Assam state, northeastern India. Situated on the Surma River near the Bangladesh border, it is a trade and processing centre for tea, rice, and other agricultural products. There is limited industry, principally papermaking and tea-box manufacturing. The city has an airport and lies on both a rail line and a motor road connecting Aizawl in Mizoram state

Pyramids, Battle Of The

2005-02-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

(July 21, 1798), military engagement in which Napoleon Bonaparte invented his one significant contribution to tactics, the massive divisional square; it was fought during his Egyptian campaign near Embabeh (Imbabah), on the west bank of the Nile River. Napoleon's 25,000-man Army of Egypt faced perhaps 40,000 Egyptians led by Murad Bey. The Egyptians were concentrated near Embabeh, with the

Gruyère

2005-02-20T17:39:00.000-08:00

Gruyère is formed in large wheels of 70 to 80 pounds (32 to 36 kg) with a brownish, wrinkled natural rind. The interior is pale gold with pea-sized, or slightly larger, holes and a rich, nutty flavour; it is similar to Emmentaler (q.v.) and other

Aguirre, Lope De

2005-02-20T13:56:00.000-08:00

Nothing is known of Aguirre's life prior to 1544, when he arrived in Peru and took part in the Spanish suppression of Indian rebellions and in the wars that continually broke out between

Hawthorn

2005-02-20T02:48:00.000-08:00

Also called Haw, or Thornapple, any of a number of thorny shrubs or small trees of the genus Crataegus, in the rose family (Rosaceae), native to the North Temperate Zone. Many species are native to North America. The hawthorn's leaves are simple, and usually toothed or lobed. The white or pink flowers, usually in clusters, are followed by small applelike, red fruits, or more rarely by blue or black

Carrick On Suir

2005-02-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

Irish Carraig Na Siúire town, County Tipperary, Ireland, on the River Suir. Located beside the foothills of the Comeraghs and having steep, narrow streets, it is connected with its southern suburb Carrickbeg, in County Waterford, by two bridges across the Suir. Ormonde Castle, begun in 1309, was the seat of the Butlers, the dukes of Ormonde. Anne Boleyn, mother of Elizabeth I of England, is said to have

Mareeba

2005-02-19T06:41:00.000-08:00

Town, northeastern Queensland, Australia, on the Barron River, 40 mi (65 km) west of the port of Cairns on the Coral Sea. It was the earliest European settlement on the Atherton Plateau; at its founding it was called Granite Creek and served as a stop for miners on their way to goldfields in the interior. Its present name is derived from an Aboriginal term meaning “meeting of the

Wallas, Graham

2005-02-18T17:34:00.000-08:00

Wallas studied at Oxford (1877–81) and was a teacher (1881–90). He joined the Fabian Society in 1886 and was a contributor to Fabian Essays in Socialism (1889). Growing dissatisfied with the anti-liberal

Hyannis

2005-02-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

Unincorporated village in Barnstable city, southeastern Massachusetts, U.S., on the southern coast of Cape Cod. Its name is that of a local 17th-century Algonquian Indian chief. A popular summer beach and yachting resort with ferryboat services to Nantucket Island and Martha's Vineyard, it is one of the cape's main business centres and a shipping point for fish and cranberries.

Vienna, Siege Of

2005-02-17T03:26:00.000-08:00

The leader of the Hungarian Calvinists, Imre Thököly, appealed to the Turkish grand vizier, Kara Mustafa, to attack

Smith, John

2005-02-17T02:09:00.000-08:00

English explorer and principal founder of the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown, Va. Smith played an equally important role as a cartographer and a prolific writer who vividly depicted the natural abundance of the New World, whetting the colonizing appetite of prospective English

Habsburg, House Of

2005-02-16T01:46:00.000-08:00

Even before Frederick III's time the House of Habsburg had won much of its standing in Germany and in central Europe through marriages to heiresses. Frederick's son Maximilian carried this matrimonial policy to heights of unequalled brilliance. First he himself in 1477 married the heiress of Burgundy, Charles the Bold's daughter Mary, with the result that the House of

Pacific Ocean, European exploration

2005-02-15T20:03:00.000-08:00

Pacific islanders had long inhabited their homelands before the European “discovery” of the Pacific in the 16th century. European exploration can be divided into three phases: Spanish and Portuguese, Dutch, and English and French. The Spanish and Portuguese period began with the voyages in the 1520s of Ferdinand Magellan and, after his death, of his crew members. Later discoveries

Basic English

2005-02-15T13:42:00.000-08:00

Basic English derives its vocabulary and grammar from English but reduces both to a remarkable extent: there

Charles

2005-02-15T05:55:00.000-08:00

Charles's claim to Brittany through his marriage to Joan the Lame of Penthièvre, niece of Duke John III of Brittany, led to a conflict with the other claimants, John of Montfort and later his son Duke John IV of Brittany, in the 20-year War of the Breton Succession, which also involved the

Neoteros

2005-02-14T17:29:00.000-08:00

Plural Neoteroi, any of a group of poets who sought to break away from the didactic-patriotic tradition of Latin poetry by consciously emulating the forms and content of Alexandrian Greek models. The neoteroi deplored the excesses of alliteration and onomatopoeia and the ponderous metres that characterized the epics and didactic works of the Latin Ennian tradition. They wrote

Tribune

2005-02-14T02:03:00.000-08:00

Military tribunes (tribuni militum) were originally infantry commanders. Under the early republic there were six to a legion; some were appointed by the consuls (chief executives) or military commanders, and others were elected by the people. Under the empire (after 27 BC) the military tribunate was a preliminary

Turin

2005-02-13T19:44:00.000-08:00

Italian Torino, Latin Augusta Taurinorum, city, capital of Torino provincia and of Piemonte (Piedmont) regione, northwestern Italy, on the Po River, near its junction with the Sangone, the Dora Riparia, and the Stura di Lanzo. The original settlement of Taurisia, founded by the Taurini, was partly destroyed by the Carthaginian invader Hannibal in 218 BC. It later became a Roman military colony, known successively as

Mafic Rock

2005-02-13T17:12:00.000-08:00

In geology, igneous rock that is dominated by the silicates pyroxene, amphibole, olivine, and mica. These minerals are high in magnesium and ferric oxides, and their presence gives mafic rock its characteristic dark colour. Mafic rock is commonly contrasted with felsic rock, in which light-coloured minerals predominate. Common mafic rocks include basalt and its

Shifting Attitudes In A Changing World

2005-02-12T09:25:00.000-08:00

It was once said that "almost everything in history almost never happened"--a feeling, perhaps, that many of us have had about our own lives. When we look back, we often find an awkward chain of events that escapes logic, and only by willful disregard of such complicating factors as facts will we succeed in finding anything resembling a pattern or a plan guiding us. In westernized

Brer Rabbit

2005-02-12T05:09:00.000-08:00

Trickster figure originating in African folklore and transmitted by African slaves to the New World, where it acquired attributes of similar native American tricksters (see trickster tale); Brer, or Brother, Rabbit was popularized in the United States in the stories of Joel Chandler Harris (1848–1908). The character's adventures embody an idea considered to be a universal

Albuquerque

2005-02-12T00:13:00.000-08:00

Largest city of New Mexico, U.S., seat (1852) of Bernalillo county, on the Rio Grande opposite a pass between the Sandia and Manzano mountains to the east. It is encircled by Indian pueblos and sections of the Cibola National Forest (of which it is headquarters). Founded in 1706 by Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, governor and captain general of New Mexico, it was named for the Duque de Alburquerque,

Diplomatics

2005-02-11T04:43:00.000-08:00

The study of documents. The term is derived from the Greek word diploma, meaning “doubled” or “folded.” Besides the documents of legal and administrative import withwhich it is properly concerned, diplomatics also includes the study of other records such as bills, reports, cartularies, registers, and rolls. Diplomatics is therefore a basic and not simply an auxiliary

Chiang-men

2005-02-10T03:49:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Jiangmen, also called Kongmoon, city in central Kwangtung sheng (province), China. The city is situated on the west bank of the main channel of the Hsi River, at the southwest corner of the Canton Delta, some 45 miles (70 km) from Canton. It has excellent waterway communications and is the chief collecting centre and agricultural market for the coastal region west of Canton. Chiang-men was opened as a treaty

Abraham, Karl

2005-02-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

While serving as an assistant to the psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler at the Burghölzi Mental Hospital in Zürich (1904–07), Abraham met the psychoanalyst Carl Jung and made his initial

Calendar Of 2000

2005-02-09T14:45:00.000-08:00

TV Breizh, the first television channel to

Zaltan

2005-02-09T02:43:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Zelten, town site at the first exploited oil field in Libya. Located 105 miles (169 km) south of the Mediterranean port of Marsa al-Burayqah on the Gulf of Sidra, at the foot of the Zaltan Mountains, the town is in the centre of the so-called oasis group of oil fields that includes Jalu (Gialo), Waha, and Ar-Raqubah (Raguba). Discovered in 1959 and recognized as the nation's first large strike (17,500 barrels per day),

Rockefeller, John D., Jr.

2005-02-08T00:24:00.000-08:00

After graduation from Brown University in 1897, he joined his father in business but never assumed