NewThroat

Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

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.

Encyclopædia Britannica

2005-04-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

The oldest and largest English-language general encyclopaedia. The Encyclopædia Britannica has been published since 1768, when its first edition began to appear in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Spondylosis

2005-04-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Noninflammatory degenerative disease of the spine reducing mobility of the intervertebral joints and resulting in abnormal bone development around the vertebrae. It is primarily a condition of age and occurs much more commonly in men than in women; onset of symptoms is gradual, but untreated spondylosis will progress to disabling tingling pain, limited motion,

Olympiodorus The Younger

2005-03-31T05:40:00.000-08:00

A Neoplatonist philosopher who is famous for having maintained the Platonic tradition in Alexandria after the Byzantine emperor Justinian had suppressed the Greek Academy at Athens and other pagan schools in AD 529. Olympiodorus' extant works include lucid and valuable commentaries on Plato's Phaedo, Gorgias, Philebus, and Alcibiades; a biography of Plato;

Ireland

2005-03-29T00:58:00.000-08:00

The republic of Ireland, separated from Great Britain by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St. George's Channel, shares its island with Northern Ireland to the northeast. Area: 70,285 sq km (27,137 sq mi). Pop. (1994 est.): 3,512,000. Cap.: Dublin. Monetary unit: Irish pound (punt), with (Oct. 7, 1994) a free rate of £Ir 0.64 to U.S. $1 (£Ir 1.01 = £1 sterling). President in 1994, Mary Robinson; prime ministers, Albert Reynolds and, from December 15, John

Sibiu

2005-03-27T00:47:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), central Romania. The Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians), including the Sebes, Lotru, and Fagaras ranges, rise in the southern portion of the county. Settlement areas are in intermontane valleys. Sibiu (q.v.) city, a cultural and industrial centre, is the county capital. Metal products, chemicals, and machinery are manufactured in Sibiu, Medias, Avrig, Copsa

Brentano, Clemens

2005-03-26T17:15:00.000-08:00

Brentano's mother, Maximiliane Brentano, was J.W. von Goethe's friend in 1772–74, and his sister, Bettina von Arnim, was a correspondent

Ombre

2005-03-24T03:56:00.000-08:00

Card game for three players, fashionable in Europe in the 17th century and into the 18th but now practically obsolete. It was similar to Whist, involving bidding, trump suit, and taking tricks. Originally played with the Spanish packs of 40 or 48 cards, it was adapted to the French pack of 52. In the course of time it acquired terms from Spanish, French, Italian, and English, as well as a

Sarda River

2005-03-21T05:56:00.000-08:00

River rising in the Himalayas and flowing south-southeast along the India–Nepal border to join the Ghaghara River after a course of about 300 miles (480 km). In its upper course, where the stream is known as the Kali River, it enters the Gangetic Plain at Barmdeo Mandi, widening there above the Sarda Barrage; below this point it is known as the Sarda River. Its major tributaries are the

Hui-neng

2005-03-20T22:51:00.000-08:00

As a young and illiterate peddler of firewood, Hui-neng heard the Chin-kang ching (“Diamond Sutra”) and traveled 500 miles (800 km) to the area in North China where the fifth Ch'an patriarch,

Juvarra, Filippo

2005-03-19T17:39:00.000-08:00

Juvarra studied in Rome (1703–14) under the architect Carlo Fontana and was commissioned to design scenes for Cardinal Ottoboni's theatre in the Cancelleria Palace. He was also asked to do stage designs for the queen of Poland, Maria

Anatolian Religion

2005-03-17T18:25:00.000-08:00

Beliefs and practices of the ancient peoples and civilizations of Turkey and Armenia, including the Hittites, Hattians, Luwians, Hurrians, Assyrian colonists, Urartians, and Phrygians. For historical background, see Anatolia.

Jesus Christ, Early heresies

2005-03-17T16:46:00.000-08:00

These misinterpretations

Auburn

2005-03-15T13:17:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1805) of Cayuga county, west-central New York, U.S. It lies at the north end of Owasco Lake, in the Finger Lakes region, 22 miles (35 km) southwest of Syracuse. Founded in 1793 by John Hardenbergh, an officer in the American Revolution, on the site of a Cayuga Indian village called Wasco, it was first known as Hardenbergh's Corners. It developed around Auburn State Prison (established

Earth Sciences, Crystallography and the classification of minerals and rocks

2005-03-15T00:04:00.000-08:00

The French scientist René-Just Häuy, whose treatises on mineralogy and crystallography appeared in 1801 and 1822, respectively, has been credited with advancing mineralogy to the status of a science and with establishing the science of crystallography. From his studies of the geometric relationships between planes of cleavage, he concluded that the ultimate particles

Buckingham, George Villiers, 2nd Duke Of

2005-03-14T22:29:00.000-08:00

His father, the 1st Duke of Buckingham,

Croft, William

2005-03-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

Educated under John Blow, he was organist of St. Anne's, Soho (1700–12), of the Chapel Royal from 1707, and of Westminster Abbey from 1708. In 1700 he collaborated with Blow, Jeremiah Clarke, Francis Piggott, and John Barrett in a Choice Collection of Ayres

Alasehir

2005-03-12T06:03:00.000-08:00

Town, western Turkey. It lies in the Kuzu River valley, at the foot of the Boz Mountain. Founded about 150 BC by a king of Pergamum, it became an important town of the Byzantine Empire. It was not taken by the Ottomans until after all other cities of Asia Minor had surrendered to Ottoman rule. Conquered by Timur (Tamerlane) in 1402, it was recaptured under the Ottoman sultan Murad II (reigned

Wabar Craters

2005-03-11T21:21:00.000-08:00

Group of meteorite craters discovered in 1932 in the Rub' al-Khali desert of Saudi Arabia. The largest crater is 330 feet (100 m) in diameter, 40 feet (12 m) deep, partially filled with sand, and thought to be an explosion crater (formed from an explosion on impact). A crater located 0.6 mile (1 km) northwest is about half the size of the main crater and is thought to be two partially superimposed craters.

Baharampur

2005-03-09T17:25:00.000-08:00

The town has major rail and road connections and is an important agricultural trade centre. Silk weaving, rice

Pavane

2005-03-09T15:52:00.000-08:00

(probably from Italian padovana, “Paduan”), majestic processional dance of the 16th- and 17th-century European aristocracy. Until about 1650 the pavane opened ceremonial balls and was used as a display of elegant dress. Adapted from the basse danse, an earlier court dance, the pavane presumably traveled from Italy to France and England by way of Spain; in southern

Cap-de-la-madeleine

2005-03-07T15:15:00.000-08:00

Named after an abbot of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine-de-Châteaudun, France, the city was first settled in the 17th century but developed only after

France, History Of, Foreign relations

2005-03-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

France assumed a more active role in the politics of Christian Europe from the end of the 12th century. Philip Augustus led French contingents on the most fully international of the great Crusades (1190–91), although, having once demonstrated his energy in that work of piety, he could not afterward be persuaded to renew his vow. He preferred, through dynastic schemes and opportunism,

Essen, Louis

2005-03-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

Essen studied physics at Nottingham University College, where he earned a University of London physics degree

1763, Proclamation Of

2005-03-04T22:17:00.000-08:00

Proclamation declared by the British crown at the end of the French and Indian War in North America, mainly intended to conciliate the Indians by checking the encroachment of white settlers on their lands. After Indian grievances had resulted in the start of Pontiac's War (1763–64), British authorities determined to subdue intercolonial rivalries and abuses by dealing

Yale School

2005-03-04T03:14:00.000-08:00

Group of literary critics at Yale University, who became known in the 1970s and '80s for their deconstructionist theories. The Yale school's skeptical, relativistic brand of criticism drew inspiration from the work of French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Its most prominent members were Paul de Man and J. Hillis Miller. De Man, a professor of comparative literature and author

P-51

2005-03-02T10:31:00.000-08:00

Also called Mustang one of the finest fighter aircraft of World War II, a single-seat, single-engine, low-wing monoplane that was produced by North American Aviation for Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) and later was adopted by the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF). Its prototype was designed to British specifications and first flew in late 1940, just months after the design work began. It went into service

Round Table

2005-03-02T00:34:00.000-08:00

In Arthurian legend, the table of Arthur, Britain's legendary king, which was first mentioned in Wace of Jersey's Roman de Brut (1155). This told of King Arthur's having a round table made so that none of his barons, when seated at it, could claim precedence over the others. The literary importance of the Round Table, especially in romances of the 13th century and afterward, lies in

Ganassa, Zan

2005-03-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

Ganassa, who took his name from that of a character he invented, was perhaps the first to take a commedia company beyond the borders of Italy. Evidence exists of his appearances at Mantua (1568) and Ferrara (1570), and a performance by him and his company in Paris in 1571 was perhaps

Ascoli, Graziadio Isaia

2005-02-28T17:16:00.000-08:00

Ascoli did not receive any formal higher education, but he wrote his first major work, on Oriental languages, in 1854. While serving as a professor

Kerguelen Islands

2005-02-27T02:54:00.000-08:00

Archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean. Administratively a part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises), it consists of the island of Kerguelen (also known as Desolation Island) and nearly 300 islets, which together cover about 2,400 square miles (6,200 square km). Heavily glaciated Kerguelen Island, about 100 miles (160 km) in length, has

Good Friday

2005-02-26T04:24:00.000-08:00

According to the Jewish calendar, Jesus died on 15 Nisan,

Business And Industry Review

2005-02-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

The high production and plant-operating rates seen in 1995 continued to mark most of the world's chemical industry in 1996. The high and rising sales levels reflected the generally healthy economies of countries around the globe. The high volume of products sold, however, did not always translate into record profits, particularly for the makers of big-volume petrochemicals.

China, Muslim rebellions

2005-02-23T22:34:00.000-08:00

Muslim rebellions in Yunnan and in Shensi and Kansu originated from clashes between the Chinese and Muslims in those provinces. Religious antipathy must be taken into account, but more important were the social and political factors. In the frontier provinces the late dynastic confusions were felt as keenly as elsewhere, which aggravated the problems between

Uesugi Kenshin

2005-02-23T07:09:00.000-08:00

Nagao Torachiyo was the third son of the head of Echigo province in northeastern Japan. With the death of his father in 1543, the family's control of the area began to disintegrate. Torachiyo not only restored order to the area but also gained control of neighbouring

Aichinger, Ilse

2005-02-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

Aichinger's education was interrupted by World War II when, because she was half Jewish, she was refused entrance to medical school. Although she eventually did begin

Béranger, Pierre-jean De

2005-02-20T05:20:00.000-08:00

Béranger was active in his father's business enterprises until they failed. He then found work as a clerk at the University of Paris (1809). He led a marginal

Insurance, Professional liability insurance

2005-02-19T00:53:00.000-08:00

Known as malpractice, or errors-and-omissions, insurance, professional liability contracts are distinguished from general business liability policies because of the specialized nature of the liability. Professional persons requiring liability contracts include physicians and surgeons, lawyers, accountants, engineers, and insurance agents. Important

Clarence, Thomas Plantagenet, Duke Of

2005-02-18T21:01:00.000-08:00

He twice visited Ireland, where he was nominally lord lieutenant, 1401–13. For a short time, in 1412, he replaced his elder brother, afterward King Henry V, as the chief figure in the government. Clarence favoured an alliance with the Orléanists and led an unsuccessful expedition

Celan, Paul

2005-02-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

When Romania came under virtual Nazi control in World War II, Celan was sent to

Mohammed, Warith Deen

2005-02-17T17:40:00.000-08:00

The seventh son of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, Mohammed was marked for leadership of the society even before his birth. The founder

Lévesque, René

2005-02-16T05:59:00.000-08:00

Lévesque went to school in Gaspésie and afterward to Laval University, Quebec. Already a part-time journalist while still a student, he broke off his law studies to serve in Europe (1944–45) as a reporter and

Antigonid Dynasty

2005-02-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

Ruling house of ancient Macedonia from 306 to 168 BC. The Antigonid dynasty was established when Demetrius I Poliorcetes, the son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus, ousted Cassander's governor of Athens, Demetrius of Phaleron, and conquered the island of Cyprus, thereby giving his father control of the Aegean, the eastern Mediterranean, and all of the Middle East except Babylonia.

Mona Monkey

2005-02-13T17:15:00.000-08:00

(Cercopithecus mona), common West African guenon that is found in tropical rainforests. The mona monkey is a speckled reddish brown in colour, with white underparts and an oval patch of white on each side of the tail. Its face is marked by a white band across the forehead and a thin, black stripe between eye and ear. The mona monkey is lively and is one of the most widely exhibited

Cuba, Revolution

2005-02-13T05:45:00.000-08:00

Batista's fall resulted as much from internal decay as from the challenges of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement (commemorating Castro's failed attack on the Moncada military base in Santiago on July 26, 1953) or from the Federation of University Students and other groups opposed to Batista's rule. Castro had been a legislative candidate for elections in 1952 that were aborted

Panama Canal, The canal

2005-02-11T18:37:00.000-08:00

The Panama Canal lies at a latitude of 9° N. The canal does not, as is generally supposed, cross the isthmus from east to west. It runs due south from its entrance at Colón on the Atlantic side through the Gatún (Gatun) Locks to a point in the widest portion of Gatún Lake; it then turns sharply toward the east and follows a course generally to the southeast until it reaches the

Clare, Ada

2005-02-11T01:37:00.000-08:00

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

Jazirah, Al-

2005-02-09T21:49:00.000-08:00

Al-Jazirah is the site

'abd Ar-rahman Ii

2005-02-09T08:40:00.000-08:00

'Abd ar-Rahman II was the grandson of his namesake, founder of the Umayyad dynasty in Spain. His reign was an administrative watershed. As the influence of the 'Abba sid Caliphate, then at the peak of its splendour, grew,

Gnotobiosis

2005-02-07T23:31:00.000-08:00

(from the Greek meaning “known life”), condition of life in which only known kinds of organisms are present. Gnotobiotic organisms are of two major types: germfree, that is, free of all known contaminants; and gnotophoric, bearing a single known contaminant, usually administered as part of an experiment. The term “germfree,” however, is often used loosely to indicate all organisms

Asthma

2005-02-06T03:50:00.000-08:00

A chronic disorder of the lungs in which inflamed airways are prone to constrict, causing episodes of breathlessness, wheezing, coughing, and chest tightness that range in severity from mild to life-threatening. Inflamed airways become hypersensitive to a variety of stimuli, including dust mites, animal dander, pollen, air pollution, cigarette smoke, medications,

Prince, Harold

2005-02-05T01:07:00.000-08:00

The son of a New York stockbroker, Prince majored in English at the University of Pennsylvania (B.A., 1948) and began his theatrical career as an apprentice and stage manager for the noted producer

Basketball, International competition

2005-02-04T00:26:00.000-08:00

The success of international basketball was greatly advanced by Forrest C. (“Phog”) Allen, a Naismith disciple and a former coach at the University of Kansas, who led the movement for inclusion of basketball in the Olympic Games in 1936 and thereafter. Basketball has also been played in the Pan-American Games since their inauguration in 1951. The international game is governed

Submarine Fracture Zone

2005-02-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

The largest fracture zones, in the eastern Pacific, are several thousand kilometres long, 100 to 200 km (60 to 125 miles) wide, and possess several kilometres of vertical relief. Each Pacific fracture zone is actually a complex of ridges and intervening

Radbruch, Gustav

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

Radbruch's legal philosophy grew out of the neo-Kantian principle that

Croft, William

2005-01-31T22:56:00.000-08:00

Saudi Arabia

2005-01-31T04:08:00.000-08:00

The coastal parts of the territory that was to become Saudi Arabia participated in the broad trends of Arabian Peninsula history in the Islamic period—the rise of Islam in western Arabia in the 7th century,

Kafue River

2005-01-30T01:52:00.000-08:00

River rising on the Congo (Kinshasa)–Zambia border. It meanders generally southward until it turns west near the Lukanga Swamp (which it drains). The river then flows south and finally east through the Kafue Flats and Kafue Gorge to join the Zambezi River near Chirundu, Zimbabwe, after a course of 600 miles (960 km). One of Zambia's major rivers, its waters are used for irrigation.

Botosani

2005-01-28T18:19:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Botosani judet (county), northeastern Romania. It lies in a rich farming area of northern Moldavia, near the border with Moldova. As a settlement, it was first documented in 1439. The Popauti Church dates from 1496. Long known as a market centre for agricultural produce and wines, Botosani has also become an industrial centre, particularly in textiles. Pop. (1989 est.) 119,563.

Likin

2005-01-27T06:58:00.000-08:00

The tax originated in 1853 in the central Chinese province of Kiangsu as a method of financing troops to aid in suppressing the great Taiping Rebellion (1850–64). With the great volume of trade carried on in China

Eagan, Eddie

2005-01-26T16:21:00.000-08:00

After their father died in a railroad accident when Eddie was only a year old, he and his four brothers were raised by their mother, who managed a small income from teaching foreign languages. Inspired by Frank Merriwell,

Gwanda

2005-01-26T09:12:00.000-08:00

Town, southern Zimbabwe. Gwanda was founded in 1900, and its name derives from that of a nearby hill known as Jahunda. It is located on the Bulawayo-Beitbridge road and the railway that runs south to West Nicholson. The town is the chief centre for southwestern Zimbabwe's cattle district and also trades in agricultural produce. There are gold, asbestos, and chrome mines in

Lustration

2005-01-23T20:50:00.000-08:00

(from Latin lustratio, “purification by sacrifice”), any of various processes in ancient Greece and Rome whereby individuals or communities rid themselves of ceremonial impurity (e.g., bloodguilt, pollution incurred by contact with childbirth or with a corpse) or simply of the profane or ordinary state, which made it dangerous to come into contact with sacred rites

Abbey, Edwin Austin

2005-01-23T18:00:00.000-08:00

Yale University Art Gallery, Edwin Austin Abbey (1852–1911) (1973).

Cottrell, Frederick Gardner

2005-01-21T07:23:00.000-08:00

Cottrell taught chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1902 to 1911 and began his work on electrostatic precipitators in 1906. In 1912 he founded the Research Corporation, a nonprofit organization

Cyprus, Flag Of

2005-01-20T06:47:00.000-08:00

For centuries Cyprus was part of the Ottoman Empire and flew Turkish flags. By agreement with the Turkish sovereign, however, the British assumed administrative control of the island in 1878 and subsequently flew the Union Jack there. During World War I the island was annexed by the British, and other colonial flags were then introduced. For example, to the British Red

Viper

2005-01-19T08:21:00.000-08:00

Any of about 200 species of venomous snakes of the family Viperidae. Vipers form two groups, or subfamilies, the Viperinae (Old World vipers) and the Crotalinae (pit vipers), considered separate families by some authorities. Vipers are characterized by a pair of long, hollow, venom-injecting fangs attached to movable bones of the upper jaw (the maxillaries) that can be folded

Qanat

2005-01-17T13:11:00.000-08:00

Also spelled kanat (Arabic), Persian karez , Berber Arabic foggara ancient type of water-supply system developed and still used in arid regions of the world. A qanat taps underground mountain water sources trapped in and beneath the upper reaches of alluvial fans and channels the water downhill through a series of tunnels, often several kilometres long, to the places where it is needed for irrigation and domestic use. The development

Arp, Jean

2005-01-16T21:02:00.000-08:00

First trained as an artist in his native Strasbourg, he later studied in Weimar, Germany, and at the Académie Julian in Paris. In 1912 he went to Munich,

Insurance, Group life insurance

2005-01-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

Under group life insurance an employer signs a master contract with the insurance company outlining the provisions of the plan. Each employee receives a certificate that gives evidence of participation in the plan. The amount of insurance depends on the employee's salary or job classification; usually the employer pays a portion of the premium and the employee

Sha'ir

2005-01-14T21:22:00.000-08:00

(Arabic: “poet”), in Arabic literature, poet who in pre-Islamic times was a tribal dignitary whose poetic utterances were deemed supernaturally inspired by such spirits as jinn and shaitans. As such, his word was needed to insure the success of certain tribal activities, particularly war, grazing, and the invocation of the gods. In times of intertribal strife, the satire

Aurichalcite

2005-01-13T05:15:00.000-08:00

A mineral composed of the hydroxide carbonate of zinc and copper (Zn, Cu)5(OH)6(CO3)2. It is commonly found with malachite in the oxidized zone of zinc and copper deposits as at Tomsk, Siberia; Santander, Spain; and Bisbee, Ariz., U.S. Its pale blue-green featherlike form distinguishes it from malachite; and, because it is a weathered product of zinc-rich ores, it can serve as a guide to

China, Internal migration

2005-01-12T03:34:00.000-08:00

Migrations have occurred often throughout the history of China. Sometimes they took place because a famine or political disturbance would cause the depopulation of an area already intensively cultivated, after which people in adjacent crowded regions would move in to occupy the deserted land. Sometime between 1640 and 1646 a peasant rebellion broke out in Szechwan,

Quintet

2005-01-11T00:27:00.000-08:00

Musical composition for five instruments or voices; also the group of musicians engaged in the performance of such a composition. The string quintet normally includes two violins, two violas, and a cello. Mozart's six works for this medium are usually considered his greatest achievement in chamber music. The composer and virtuoso cellist Luigi Boccherini favoured

Giorgi, Giovanni

2005-01-10T02:39:00.000-08:00

Giorgi studied civil engineering at the Institute of Technology in Rome and from 1906 to 1923 directed the Technology Office of Rome. He taught (1913–39) at the University of Rome and also held appointments

Ferreira, António

2005-01-09T07:21:00.000-08:00

Ferreira was a disciple of the poet Francisco de Sá de Miranda, who had introduced Renaissance styles of poetry into Portugal, and Ferreira did more

Chadwick, Sir Edwin

2005-01-07T15:32:00.000-08:00

As secretary of the royal commission on reform of the poor laws (1834–46), Chadwick was largely responsible for devising the system under which the country was divided into groups of parishes administered by elected boards of guardians,

Vedantadesika

2005-01-06T20:49:00.000-08:00

Vedantadesika was born into a distinguished Srivaisnava family that followed the teachings of Ramanuja, an 11th–12th-century

Bhagavata-purana

2005-01-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “Ancient Stories of the Lord”), the most celebrated text of a variety of Hindu sacred literature in Sanskrit that is known as the Puranas, and the specific text that is held sacred by the Bhagavata sect. Scholars are in general agreement that the Bhagavata-Purana was probably composed about the 10th century, somewhere in the Tamil country of South India;

France, History Of, Urban prosperity

2005-01-04T21:19:00.000-08:00

Town life continued to flourish. A few places, favoured by political and ecclesiastical as well as by economic circumstances, grew far larger than the rest. Paris could probably count more than 100,000 inhabitants by the late 13th century, possibly many more than that; some great provincial centres—e.g., Toulouse, Bordeaux, Arras, Rouen—may have surpassed 25,000, but most of the older cities

Fishery

2005-01-03T02:38:00.000-08:00

Harvesting of fish, shellfish, and sea mammals as a commercial enterprise, or the location or season of commercial fishing. Fisheries range from small family operations relying on traditional fishing methods to large corporations using large fleets and the most advanced technology. Small-scale fishery is ordinarily conducted in waters relatively close to

Hvar

2005-01-01T22:35:00.000-08:00

Italian Lesina island in the Adriatic Sea, part of Croatia. At 116 square miles (300 square km) in area and 43 miles (69 km) in length, it is the longest island in the Adriatic. A rocky island, it reaches 2,054 feet (626 m) in elevation at Mount Sveti Nikola and is separated from the island of Brac by a narrow channel. The Mediterranean climate is favourable to the production of various fruits, honey, lavender, rosemary,

Newton

2004-12-31T17:15:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1846) of Jasper county, central Iowa, U.S., about 30 miles (50 km) east of Des Moines. It was settled in 1846 as the county seat and was named for John Newton, a soldier of the American Revolution. The railroad arrived in the 1860s and the community developed as a lumber-milling and agricultural trading centre. In 1898 the washing machine industry began there with the manufacture of ratchet-slat

Biblical Literature, Printed editions

2004-12-31T10:04:00.000-08:00

The first edition of the entire Hebrew Bible was printed at Soncino (in Italy) in 1488 with punctuation and accents, but without any commentary. The second complete

Country Furniture

2004-12-29T17:31:00.000-08:00

Furniture made by country craftsmen, varying from purely functional pieces made by amateurs to expertly constructed and carved work based on luxurious furniture made for the rich. Much country furniture is naive, with the best of such examples falling into the category of folk art. The furniture is sturdy, rarely delicate in design or workmanship, and restricted

Kyoto University

2004-12-29T03:44:00.000-08:00

Japanese Kyoto Daigaku, coeducational state institution of higher education in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded in 1897 under the provisions of an 1872 Japanese law that established a system of imperial universities admitting small numbers of carefully selected students to be trained as scholars and imperial officials. Kyoto Imperial University (Kyoto Teikoku Daigaku), popularly called Kyodai, soon

Subgraywacke

2004-12-28T13:33:00.000-08:00

Dark-coloured sedimentary rock that contains from 65 to 95 percent free quartz, in grains 0.06 to 2 mm in diameter, held together by a matrix with a low mud content and often a high carbonate content. Some geologists favour a definition of graywacke (q.v.) that permits no more than 75 percent free quartz in the rock, and they thus would class as subgraywackes those rocks with (1) over 25 percent

Helder, Den

2004-12-26T10:03:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (municipality) and port, Noord-Holland provincie, northwestern Netherlands, at the northern end of the North Holland Canal, opposite Texel Island on the Marsdiep, a channel linking the North Sea and Waddenzee. Offshore, in 1673, a Dutch fleet under Adm. Michiel A. de Ruyter and Cornelis Tromp defeated an Anglo-French fleet. In 1794 a French cavalry troop captured a Dutch

Estado De S. Paulo, O

2004-12-26T04:56:00.000-08:00

Influential newspaper published daily in São Paulo, Brazil's largest city. O Estado is widely respected for its thorough coverage of national and international news, its publication of the texts of speeches of important government officials, and other matter usually found in a country's newspaper of record. O Estado is sometimes called the “New York Times of Latin

Radio Direction Finder

2004-12-24T04:59:00.000-08:00

The antenna, usually a loop antenna, rotates and pinpoints the direction from which a

Houston, Edwin James

2004-12-23T16:01:00.000-08:00

A Philadelphia high school teacher, Houston collaborated with Elihu Thomson in experimenting on induction coils, dynamos, wireless transmission, and the design of an arc lighting system (patented in 1881) that was widely successful

Yeshiva University

2004-12-23T02:45:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in New York, New York, U.S. It is a comprehensive research university comprising six undergraduate schools and seven graduate or professional schools at the Main Campus in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, the Midtown Center in Manhattan's Murray Hill area, the Brookdale Center on Fifth Avenue in

Furniture, France

2004-12-22T06:36:00.000-08:00

The transitional phase in French furniture from Baroque to Rococo is called Régence. The heavy, monumental style of the earlier part of Louis's reign was gradually replaced by a lighter and more fluent curvilinear style. The leading exponent of the Régence style was Charles Cressent, ébéniste (“cabinetmaker”) to the regent Philippe II, duc d'Orléans. In his work the ormolu

Neustadt An Der Weinstrasse

2004-12-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

Formerly Neustadt An Der Haardt, city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies on the eastern slope of the Haardt Mountains, at the mouth of the Speyer-Bach. Founded in 1220 and chartered in 1275, its historic buildings include the Casimirianum (the seat of Heidelberg University, 1578–83, now a convention hall), the town hall (formerly a Jesuit college), and the Stiftskirche (“Collegiate Church”), which

Antarctica, Birds

2004-12-19T20:44:00.000-08:00

About 45 species of birds live south of the Antarctic Convergence, but only three—the emperor penguin (see photograph), Antarctic petrel, and South Polar (McCormick's) skua—breed exclusively on the continent or on nearby islands. An absence of mammalian land predators and the rich offshore food supply make Antarctic coasts a haven for immense seabird

Deva

2004-12-19T03:36:00.000-08:00

Iranian Daeva in Vedic India, one of many divine powers, roughly divided on the basis of their identification with the forces of nature into sky, air, and earth divinities (e.g., Varuna, Indra, Soma). In the later monotheistic systems the devas became subordinate to the one supreme being. During the Vedic period the gods were divided into two classes, the devas and the asuras (in Iranian, daeva

Livius Andronicus, Lucius

2004-12-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

His main work, the Odyssia, a translation of Homer's Odyssey, was possibly done for use as a schoolbook. Written

English Literature, Arnold and Clough

2004-12-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

Matthew Arnold's first volume of verse, The Strayed Reveller, and Other Poems (1849), combined lyric grace with an acute sense of the dark philosophical landscape of the period. The title poem of his next collection, Empedocles on Etna (1852), is a sustained statement of the modern dilemma and a remarkable poetic embodiment of the process that Arnold called “the dialogue of the mind

Bearing

2004-12-16T10:50:00.000-08:00

Most bearings support rotating shafts against either transverse (radial) or thrust (axial) loads. To minimize friction, the

North Polar Sequence

2004-12-15T17:57:00.000-08:00

Group of 96 stars near the north celestial pole, used from about 1900 to 1950 as standards of magnitude and colour by which other stars are measured. First proposed by the American astronomer Edward Charles Pickering, the system has been largely superseded by the UBV system (q.v.).