ReadyPencil

Han T'o-chou

2005-04-04T05:43:00.000-07:00

Pinyin Han Tuozhou minister to the Chinese emperor Ning Tsung (reigned 1194–1224) of the Sung dynasty (960–1279). Han tried to recover territory in northern China that had been taken from the Sung several generations earlier by the Juchen tribes of Inner Asia. The ensuing war proved disastrous. More Sung territory was lost and a large indemnity was demanded by the

Bloch, Jean-richard

2005-04-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

In 1910, while teaching in Poitiers, Bloch started L'Effort libre, a “review of revolutionary civilization.” His essay Naissance d'une culture (1936; “Birth of a Culture”) called for an art that would associate the democratic tradition with a proletarian culture. The stories in

Breadalbane And Holland, John Campbell, 1st Earl Of

2005-04-02T20:41:00.000-08:00

The son of Sir John Campbell of Glenorchy, 4th Baronet (d. 1686), he took part in the Royalist uprising under the Earl of Glencairn in 1654 and later encouraged the restoration of Charles II in 1660. Charles created him earl of Caithness and viscount of Breadalbane in 1677; but, when this

Luzon

2005-04-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

Narashino

2005-03-31T04:35:00.000-08:00

City, Chiba ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. Narashino is situated on the northeastern shore of Tokyo Bay. Formed in 1951 by the merger of Minomi, Maka, Tsuda-numa, and Okubo, the settlement has no city centre because the former towns are lined up along two railways to Tokyo. Truck farming is an important economic activity. Narashino is a weekend vacation area because of its proximity

Foltz, Clara Shortridge

2005-03-30T03:14:00.000-08:00

Clara Shortridge taught school in her youth and in 1864 married Jeremiah R. Foltz, with whom she moved to California.

Hyacinthus

2005-03-29T10:51:00.000-08:00

In Greek legend, a young man of Amyclae in Laconia. According to the usual version, his great beauty attracted the love of Apollo, who killed him accidentally while teaching him to throw the discus; others related that Zephyrus (or Boreas) out of jealousy deflected the discus so that it hit Hyacinthus on the head and killed him. Out of his blood there grew the flower called

Tracer

2005-03-29T05:26:00.000-08:00

Detectable substance added to a chemical, biological, or physical system to follow its process or to study distribution of the substance in the system. Tracer dyes have long been used to follow the flow of underground streams. Incendiary rounds included at intervals in a belt of machine-gun bullets make the paths of the bullets visible. In scientific work, the use

Arrau

2005-03-27T18:39:00.000-08:00

This species, known in Brazil as tartaruga da Amazonia, can attain a shell

Abu Hanifah

2005-03-27T01:50:00.000-08:00

In full Abu Hanifah An-nu'man Ibn Thabit Muslim jurist and theologian whose systematization of Islamic legal doctrine was acknowledged as one of the four canonical schools of Islamic law. The school of Abu Hanifah acquired such prestige that its doctrines were applied by a majority of Muslim dynasties. Even today it is widely followed in India, Pakistan, Turkey, Central Asia, and Arab

Azerbaijan, Industry

2005-03-25T02:51:00.000-08:00

Azerbaijan has a diversified industrial base, with the leading branches of heavy industry—power, manufacturing, and chemical production—predominating. Branches of the processing industry, producing mineral fertilizers, gasoline, kerosene, herbicides, industrial oils, synthetic rubber, and plastics, have developed, and Sumqayit has emerged as the major centre

Brugge-zeebrugge Canal

2005-03-24T03:15:00.000-08:00

Waterway built between 1896 and 1907 to connect Brugge (Bruges) in Belgium with the North Sea, thus restoring Brugge's ancient status as an ocean port. At 7.5 miles (12 km) long, the canal has a depth of 24 feet (7 m), a minimum width of 65.7 feet (20 m), a maximum width of 350 feet (110 m), and one lock.

Fabales

2005-03-23T22:43:00.000-08:00

The Fabales include trees, herbaceous or woody vines, and perennial or annual herbs. The leaves are usually compound—that is, they are divided into leaflets, and in some the leaflets are secondarily compound. The simple leaves of some are presumably reduced from the compound forms. The most striking of these modified leaf forms are the several hundred species of Australian

Baccio D'agnolo

2005-03-23T08:05:00.000-08:00

Byname of Bartolomeo D'agnolo Baglioni wood-carver, sculptor, and architect who exerted an important influence on the Renaissance architecture of Florence. Between 1491 and 1502 he did much of the decorative carving in the church of Santa Maria Novella and in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. He helped restore the Palazzo Vecchio and in 1506 was commissioned to complete the drum of the cupola

Loren, Sophia

2005-03-21T04:40:00.000-08:00

Before working in the cinema, Sofia Scicolone changed her name to Sofia Lazzaro for work in the foto-romanzo, popular pulp magazines that used still photographs

Nagy, Ferenc

2005-03-20T05:39:00.000-08:00

A member of a Protestant peasant family and a farmer by profession, Nagy began his public career as a local agrarian politician in the Baranya province of Hungary. He helped organize the Smallholders' Party, representing

Pythian Games

2005-03-18T17:08:00.000-08:00

In ancient Greece, various athletic and musical competitions held in honour of Apollo, chiefly those at Delphi. The musicians' contest there dated from very early times. In 582 BC it was made quadrennial, and athletic events including foot and chariot races were added in emulation of the Olympic Games. Open to all Greeks, the contests were held either at the Delphic shrine

Biblical Literature, The canon of the Prophets

2005-03-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

The Hebrew canon of the section of the Old Testament known as the Nevi'im, or the Prophets, is divided into two sections: the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets. The Former Prophets contains four historical books—Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings; the Latter Prophets includes four prophetic works—the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve (Minor) Prophets.

Scaffold

2005-03-18T07:11:00.000-08:00

In timber scaffolding, support for the planks is provided by a timber frame

Goncharov, Ivan Aleksandrovich

2005-03-17T10:33:00.000-08:00

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

Alexander

2005-03-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

Alexander was crowned co-emperor with his brother Leo VI in 879 after the death of their elder brother, Constantine, but he remained inactive in state affairs until after Leo's

Usair Group, Inc.

2005-03-16T07:37:00.000-08:00

Beginning service in 1939 as a mail carrier over the mountainous

Tsvetayeva, Marina Ivanovna

2005-03-14T23:41:00.000-08:00

Tsvetayeva spent her youth predominantly in Moscow, where her father

Sackville-west, V(ictoria Mary)

2005-03-14T16:48:00.000-08:00

She was the daughter of the 3rd Baron Sackville and a granddaughter of Pepita, a Spanish dancer, whose story she told in Pepita (1937). In 1913 she married Harold Nicolson, a diplomat

Romance Languages

2005-03-14T15:03:00.000-08:00

Group of related languages all derived from Vulgar Latin within historical times and forming a subgroup of the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family. The major languages of the family include French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian, all national languages. Catalan also has taken on a political and cultural significance; among the Romance

Robert Of Gloucester

2005-03-13T09:35:00.000-08:00

Early Middle English chronicler known only through his connection with the work called “The Chronicle of Robert of Gloucester”—a vernacular history of England from its legendary founding by Brut (Brutus), great-grandson of Aeneas, to the year 1270. It was written, probably around 1300, in rhymed couplets. Two versions exist, and it is now believed that only one part, dealing with

Industrial Ceramics

2005-03-13T03:28:00.000-08:00

Ceramics are broadly defined as inorganic, nonmetallic materials that exhibit such useful properties as high strength and hardness, high melting temperatures, chemical inertness, and low thermal and electrical conductivity but that also display brittleness and sensitivity to flaws. As practical materials, they have a history almost as old as the human race.

Reggio Nell'emilia

2005-03-12T10:22:00.000-08:00

Founded in the 2nd century BC on the Roman road Via Aemilia by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus as Regium Lepidi, it was later the seat of a Lombard duchy and then was ruled by its bishops. Under the protection of the

Willard, Emma

2005-03-11T20:31:00.000-08:00

Emma Hart was the next-to-last of 17 children; her younger sister was educator and writer Almira Hart (Lincoln Phelps). Encouraged

Aesthetics, India

2005-03-11T19:18:00.000-08:00

The disparagement of the sensory realm as mere illusion (“the veil of Maya”), characteristic of much Indian religion, went hand in hand with a philosophy of embodiment (karma), which gave a distinctive role to art both as an instrument of worship and as an earthly delight. The legends of the great god Krishna abound in exaggerated fantasies of erotic and physical power;

Tallemant Des Réaux, Gédéon

2005-03-10T00:50:00.000-08:00

The son of a Huguenot banker, Tallemant took degrees in civil and canonical law at Paris, but he abandoned his position as conseiller au parlement and began to frequent literary circles. In 1646 he married his cousin Élisabeth de Rambouillet, thus gaining

Discovery Bay

2005-03-09T11:58:00.000-08:00

Wide curved bay indenting the south coast of Australia. An inlet of the Indian Ocean, it is 50 miles (80 km) across and is bounded on the east by Cape Bridgewater (Victoria) and on the west by Cape Northumberland (South Australia). Visited in 1800 by James Augustus Grant of the Royal Navy, it was named in 1836 by Thomas Livingstone Mitchell as he descended the Glenelg River (which enters the

Euro

2005-03-08T02:17:00.000-08:00

Also called Wallaroo, one of the largest species of kangaroo (q.v.).

Furniture, France

2005-03-07T01:23:00.000-08:00

In France the Italian influence of the 16th century was gradually assimilated, and a national style of furniture was evolved that soon spread its influence into neighbouring countries. The reign of Louis XIII, covering most of the first half of the 17th century, was a time of transition. The Gobelins factory was founded by Louis XIV for the production of deluxe furniture

Arabia, Ad-Dahna'

2005-03-06T22:04:00.000-08:00

The Ad-Dahna' belt, separating Najd from eastern Arabia, is a sand stream moving slowly over 800 miles from An-Nafud to the Rub' al-Khali. Usually it is no more than 50 miles wide. The sands, frequently reddish in colour, vary greatly in form; particularly in the central stretches, long parallel ridges rise to heights of approximately 150 feet, while some dunes are three times that height.

Lurton, Horace H(armon)

2005-03-06T10:28:00.000-08:00

Lurton enlisted in the Confederate army at the outbreak of the war and was twice taken prisoner, but he was paroled by President Abraham Lincoln the second time upon his mother's appeal, pleading illness. After the war he finished his studies and established a successful

Wyoming, Flag Of

2005-03-05T04:01:00.000-08:00

The seal was adopted by the state legislature in 1893. It includes the state motto, “Equal rights,” recalling that in 1869 Wyoming's constitution was the first such document to give equal voting and office-holding rights to women. The figures of the miner and cowboy flanking the woman in the centre refer to the principal occupations of the state, further mentioned in the ribbon

Aenesidemus

2005-03-04T01:52:00.000-08:00

Philosopher and dialectician of the Greek Academy who revived the Pyrrhonian principle of “suspended judgment” (epoche) as a practical solution to the vexing and “insoluble” problem of knowledge. In his Pyrrhonian Discourses Aenesidemus formulated 10 tropes in defense of Skepticism, four suggesting arguments that arise from the nature

Vysotsky, Vladimir

2005-03-04T01:35:00.000-08:00

Vysotsky's parents were divorced soon after his

Periodic Law, Elucidation of the periodic law

2005-03-03T15:30:00.000-08:00

Detailed understanding of the periodic system has developed along with the quantum theory of spectra and the electronic structure of atoms, beginning with the work of Bohr in 1913. Important forward steps were the formulation of the general rules of the old quantum theory by William Wilson and Arnold Sommerfeld in 1916, the discovery of the exclusion principle by Wolfgang

Buxton

2005-03-03T10:01:00.000-08:00

Town, High Peak borough, administrative and historic county of Derbyshire, England, encircled by (but excluded from) the Peak District National Park. Standing between 1,000 and 1,100 feet (305 and 335 metres) above sea level, Buxton is the highest market town in England. The mineral waters have long been famous; they were used by the Romans, who called the place Aquae Arnemetiae. The baths

Interior Design, Modes of composition

2005-03-03T07:01:00.000-08:00

It must be emphasized that there are many different moods, or modes of composition, that are possible in interior design. The recognition of this fact makes it difficult to apply valid critical criteria to these modes, since many of them are intensely personal. What may appear to be picturesque to one person might be ugly or cluttered to another. Each person brings

Piepoudre Court

2005-03-01T04:22:00.000-08:00

The court decided summarily and on the spot disputes arising

Annelid, Circulatory system

2005-02-28T15:55:00.000-08:00

The circulatory system in the lower oligochaetes consists of a dorsal vessel that arises from a blood sinus or capillary network surrounding the intestine and conveys blood forward; a ventral vessel that conveys blood backward; and connective vessels between the two. The blood vessel walls consist of an outer membranous (peritoneal) layer containing muscle

Mysticism, Attempts of mystics to record the nature of their experiences

2005-02-28T11:21:00.000-08:00

The theory or interpretation of mysticism is not mysticism. Generally, there are two sides to the theory: philosophical and practical. There may be another: confessional and justificatory. Though some mystics have been content to record what happened, others have worked out manuals of praxis (techniques), or sadhana. As a rule, mystical method, experience, and exegesis

Earth, Nucleosynthetic processes

2005-02-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

The astrophysical concept of nucleosynthesis remains the starting point in tracing planetary evolution. This includes the nuclear processes by which the light elements—hydrogen through boron—were produced at the birth of the universe, some 10,000,000,000 to 20,000,000,000 years ago. By analogy with what astronomers presently observe to happen, it is thought that the solar system represents

Hiller, Lejaren

2005-02-27T03:44:00.000-08:00

U.S. composer (b. Feb. 23, 1924, New York City--d. Jan. 26, 1994, Buffalo, N.Y.), was a pioneer in computer music. From childhood Hiller was interested in both science and music, and he pursued a dual career for much of his life. He graduated from Princeton University with degrees in chemistry (Ph.D., 1947) but also studied composition with Roger Sessions and Milton Babbitt. After a five-year stint as a research

O'brien, William

2005-02-26T15:10:00.000-08:00

Irish journalist and politician who was for several years second only to Charles Stewart Parnell (1846–91) among Irish Nationalist leaders. He was perhaps most important for his “plan of campaign” (1886), by which Irish tenant farmers would withhold all rent payments from landlords who refused to lower their rents and would pay the money

Integral Transform

2005-02-25T22:52:00.000-08:00

Mathematical operator that produces a new function f(y) by integrating the product of an existing function F(x) and a so-called kernel function K(x, y) between suitable limits. The process, which is called transformation, is symbolized by the equation f(y) = òK(x, y)F(x)dx. Several transforms are commonly named for the mathematicians who introduced them: in the Laplace

Dilleniidae

2005-02-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

Although tricolpate pollen is known from the Barremian and Aptian ages (124 to 113 million years ago) of the Early Cretaceous Period (144 to 97.5 million years ago), the record of those fossils recognized as Dilleniidae goes back no farther than the Cenomanian Age (97.5 to 91 million years ago) of the Late Cretaceous Period (97.5 to 66.4 million years ago). By this time, families in all parts of the subclass

Clare

2005-02-24T04:41:00.000-08:00

Irish An Clár county in the province of Munster, Ireland. It has an area of 1,231 square miles (3,188 square km) and is bounded by Counties Galway (north), Tipperary (east), and Limerick (southeast); by the long estuary of the River Shannon (south); and by the Atlantic Ocean (west). The largest towns are Ennis, the county town (seat), and Kilrush. The seat of the Roman Catholic diocese is in Ennis, and the Church of

Pisces

2005-02-23T23:01:00.000-08:00

(Latin: Fishes), in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying between Aries and Aquarius, at about 1 hour right ascension (the coordinate on the celestial sphere analogous to longitude on the Earth) and 15° north declination (angular distance north of the celestial equator). The vernal equinox, the point where the Sun's annual apparent path takes it north of the celestial

Andersen, Tryggve

2005-02-23T11:36:00.000-08:00

Born on a farm and educated at the University of Kristiania, Andersen was an office worker. The young Andersen was fascinated with German Romanticism, especially as seen in the fantastic

Astrophysics

2005-02-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

Branch of astronomy concerned primarily with the properties and structure of cosmic objects, including the universe as a whole. See astronomy.

Arabia, Yemen

2005-02-21T19:16:00.000-08:00

Arabia's highest mountains occur in Yemen: An-Nabi Shu'ayb, northwest of San'a', reaches 12,008 feet. The Tihamah in Yemen, broader and more habitable than the Tihamah farther north in Saudi Arabia, supports some towns. Monsoon rains make the mountains and high plateaus of Yemen the most fruitful region in Arabia. The easy slope from the highlands to the southwestern corner of the

Turin Papyrus

2005-02-21T13:46:00.000-08:00

Also called Turin Papyrus Of Kings, or Turin Canon, hieratic manuscript of the 19th dynasty of Egypt, listing the kings of Egypt from earliest times to the reign of Ramses II (1279–13 BC), under whom it was written. Although the papyrus, now in the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, is in very fragmentary condition, it is still considered the most detailed and reliable of the existing Egyptian king lists. It lists not only names but also

Ja'far Ibn Muhammad

2005-02-20T17:28:00.000-08:00

Ja'far was the son

Fidenza

2005-02-19T03:36:00.000-08:00

Town, Parma provincia, Emilia-Romagna regione, northern Italy. It is believed to have been the scene of St. Domninus' martyrdom under the Roman emperor Maximian and was called Borgo San Donnino for more than 1,000 years. The town was renamed Fidenza in 1927, recalling its ancient name, Fidentia. Its Romanesque-Gothic cathedral dates from the 12th century. During World War II, Fidenza

Margaret Of Provence

2005-02-18T19:35:00.000-08:00

Although Blanche of Castile, Louis IX's mother, had arranged the marriage, she was jealous of her daughter-in-law, whom she supervised strictly; Jean, Sire de Joinville, chronicler of Louis's reign, tells several

Asclepiadaceae

2005-02-18T16:03:00.000-08:00

The milkweed family of the flowering-plant order Gentianales, including more than 280 genera and about 2,000 species of tropical herbs or shrubby climbers, rarely shrubs or trees. Most members of the family have milky juice, flowers with five united petals, podlike fruits, and, usually, tufted seeds. The silky-haired seeds are drawn out of their pods by the wind

France, History Of, Local institutions

2005-02-16T21:21:00.000-08:00

Except in the north, which was divided into districts called pagi, the Merovingians continued to use the city (the Roman civitas) as the principal administrative division. A count was installed in each pagus and city (urbs) and delegated financial, military, and judicial authority. Groups of counts were occasionally placed under the authority of a duke, whose responsibilities

Furniture, Renaissance and later

2005-02-16T18:52:00.000-08:00

(Italy): George Leland Hunter, Italian Furniture and Interiors, 2 vol. (1918), mostly illustrations; William M. Odom, A History of Italian Furniture from the 4th to the Early 19th Centuries, 2 vol. (1918–19). (Spain): Arthur Byne and Mildred Stapley, Spanish Interiors and Furniture (1921), profusely illustrated with scale drawings and photographs. (Germany): Heinrich Kreisel, Die Kunst des deutschen Möbels, 2 vol. (1968–70), thorough, illustrated history of German furniture. (France): Pierre Verlet, Le Mobilier royal français, 2 vol. (1945–55); Les Meubles français du XVIIIe siecle, 2 vol. (1956), a learned treatise on French furniture. (England and the colonies): Percy Macquoeo and Ralph Edwards, The Dictionary of English Furniture from the Middle Ages to the Late Georgian Period, 2nd ed., 3 vol. (1954), documented survey of English and American furniture; Ralph Fastenedge, English Furniture Styles from 1500 to 1830 (1962), an excellent elementary introduction to the study of English furniture; Anthony Coleridge, Chippendale Furniture (1968), illustrated study of Chippendale and his contemporaries; Clifford Musgrave, Adam and Hepplewhite and Other NeoClassical Furniture (1966), written by one of the best informed students of the Neoclassical English style of furniture; Charles F. Montgomery, American Furniture (1966), a survey of Federal period furniture. See also Berry B. Tracy, The Federal Furniture and Decorative Arts at Boscobel (1981); Charles Santore, The Windsor Style in America (1981); John T. Kirk, American Furniture and the British Tradition to 1830 (1983).

Dhrupad

2005-02-16T18:27:00.000-08:00

The classical dhrupad, heavy and majestic in style, required great breath control. It was used in praise

Christ, Two Natures Of

2005-02-15T03:14:00.000-08:00

The clarification of Trinitarian doctrine during the first four centuries

Aschelminth, Adaptations

2005-02-14T13:23:00.000-08:00

The ability of some nematodes and rotifers to survive drying or freezing conditions in a state of suspended animation, i.e., cryptobiosis or anabiosis, has enabled them to inhabit the driest deserts and the coldest polar regions, as long as free water occurs occasionally and for long enough periods of time for them to reproduce. This ability also allows both groups

Animals, Master Of The

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

Supernatural figure regarded as the protector of game in the traditions of early hunting peoples. The name was actually devised by Western scholars who have studied such hunting societies. In some traditions, the master of the animals is believed to be the ruler of the forest and guardian of all animals; in others, he is the ruler of only one species, usually a large

Microscope, The compound microscope

2005-02-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

The compound microscope, using an objective and an eyepiece, was first described in the 16th century, but all drawings of the period indicate very impractical arrangements of lenses. The first useful compound microscope was constructed in the Netherlands sometime between 1590 and 1608. Three spectacle makers—Hans Jansen, his son Zacharias, and Hans Lippershey—have each received

Yajurveda

2005-02-12T09:31:00.000-08:00

Collection of mantras (sacred formulas) and verses that forms part of the ancient sacred literature of India known as the Vedas. See Veda.

Sotheby's

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

The founder, Samuel Baker (died 1778), a London bookseller, held his first auction (under his own name) early in 1744, selling an estate library of 457 books. Establishing the firm in York Street and handling

Ushak Carpet

2005-02-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

Floor covering handwoven in the city of Usak (Ushak), Tur. By the 16th century the principal manufacture in Ottoman Turkey of large commercial carpets had been established at Usak, which produced for palace and mosque use and for export. By the 18th and early 19th centuries, this manufacture had come increasingly under European control. The carpets became coarser and rougher,

Denishawn School Of Dancing And Related Arts

2005-02-10T04:01:00.000-08:00

Dance school and company founded in 1915 by Ruth St. Denis and her husband, Ted Shawn. Considered a fountainhead of American modern dance, the Denishawn organization systematically promoted nonballetic dance movement and fostered such leading modern dancers as Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. Because St. Denis and Shawn believed that all dance techniques

Meynell, Sir Francis

2005-02-09T19:02:00.000-08:00

The son of Wilfrid and Alice Meynell, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1914 he set up the Romney Street

Welfare Economics

2005-02-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

Earlier writers conceived of welfare as simply the sum of the satisfactions accruing to all individuals within an economic system. Later theorists became

Mölln

2005-02-08T20:10:00.000-08:00

City, Schleswig-Holstein Land (state), northern Germany, situated south of Lübeck, on the Elbe-Lübeck Canal, and built around two small lakes. First mentioned in 1188, it was chartered about 1220. According to legend, the prankster Till Eulenspiegel, the representative of Low German humour and the subject of both literary and musical works, died there in 1350, and his tombstone (16th century)

France, History Of, The Fourth Republic

2005-02-07T00:44:00.000-08:00

Shortly after his return to Paris, de Gaulle announced that the citizens of France would determine their future governmental system as soon as the absent prisoners and deportees could be repatriated. That process was largely completed by midsummer 1945, soon after Germany's defeat, whereupon de Gaulle scheduled a combined referendum and election for October. Women,

Lowestoft Porcelain

2005-02-06T08:35:00.000-08:00

English phosphatic soft-paste ware, resembling Bow porcelain, produced in Lowestoft, Suffolk, from 1757 to 1802; the wares are of a domestic kind, such as pots, teapots, and jugs. Generally on a small scale and light in weight, they are decorated in white and blue or in a polychrome that utilizes a bright brick red. After 1770 transfer printing was used. The shapes were copied from silverwork

Janissary Music

2005-02-05T21:38:00.000-08:00

Characteristic of Janissary music is its use of a great variety

Rama Iii

2005-02-05T21:20:00.000-08:00

Rama III was the eldest son of King Rama II by a royal concubine, and in his youth he was given responsibility for overseeing foreign trade and relations. On his father's

Dan

2005-02-05T10:20:00.000-08:00

Also called Gio, or Yakuba, an ethnolinguistic grouping of people inhabiting the mountainous west-central Côte d'Ivoire and adjacent areas of Liberia. The Dan belong to the Southern branch of the Mande linguistic subgroup of the Niger-Congo language family. They originated somewhere to the west or northwest of their present lands, perhaps among the Malinke (Mandingo). The Dan are closely

Stieglitz, Alfred

2005-02-03T04:30:00.000-08:00

American photographer, passionate advocate of photography as an art, and a pioneer exhibitor of modern art in the United States. In 1902 he founded the seminal Photo-Secession Group as a protest against the conventional photography of the time. Stieglitz' own best photographs are the 400-print series of his wife, Georgia O'Keeffe, and his

Fabre, émile

2005-02-03T01:05:00.000-08:00

The son of a stage manager, Fabre began writing and producing plays at the age of 13. Comme ils sont tous (1894; “As They All Are”) was his first success, followed by a series of popular political and social satires: L'Argent

Clampett, Robert

2005-02-02T04:05:00.000-08:00

Clampett joined Leon Schlesinger's fledgling animation unit on the Warner Bros. lot in 1933. In 1936 he became part of director Tex Avery's innovative animation team, where the youthful energy, zany humour, and iconoclastic

Ashtabula

2005-02-01T10:03:00.000-08:00

City, Ashtabula county, northeastern Ohio, U.S. It lies along Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Ashtabula River, 65 miles (105 km) northeast of Cleveland. The site was settled in 1801; its name, of Algonquian Indian origin, possibly means “river of many fish” and was applied to the township (1808). In the 1850s Hubbard Homestead and other houses in the city were stations on the Underground Railroad, an escape

Puerto Lempira

2005-02-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

Town, northeastern Honduras. The town lies on an islet that forms part of Tánsin Island, facing the main passage into the Caratasca Lagoon. Fishing is the major economic activity of the area, and the town has a shrimp-packing plant. The shallow, swampy nature of the lagoon and the dense jungle vegetation of the hinterland have precluded the development of a port. An airfield

Fujiwara Tadahira

2005-01-31T09:25:00.000-08:00

Japanese statesman who assumed the leadership of the Fujiwara family in 909 upon the death of his brother Tokihira. Although in his later years Tokihira had begun to dominate the government, he had never assumed the title of kampaku (chancellor). The post had been created and first assumed by their father, Fujiwara Mototsune, and allowed to lapse by the emperor

Aswan High Dam

2005-01-30T21:49:00.000-08:00

Arabic As-Sadd al-'Ali, rock-fill dam across the Nile River, at Aswan, Egypt, completed in 1970 (and formally inaugurated in January 1971) at a cost of about $1 billion. The dam, 364 feet (111 m) high, with a crest length of 12,562 feet (3,830 m) and a volume of 57,940,000 cubic yards (44,300,000 cubic m), impounds a reservoir, Lake Nasser, that has a gross capacity of 5.97 trillion cubic feet (169 billion cubic m). Of the Nile's total annual discharge, some 2.6 trillion cubic feet

Tiy

2005-01-29T11:55:00.000-08:00

She was the daughter of Yuya, the commander of the Egyptian chariotry and overseer of the cattle of the local god Min; her mother, Thuya, was also an Egyptian. Although she was not of royal blood, Tiy became the favoured wife of Amenhotep III (reigned 1390–53 BC), a powerful king of the 18th dynasty, who gave her considerable prominence

Bantu Languages

2005-01-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

A group of some 500 languages belonging to the Bantoid subgroup of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The Bantu languages are spoken in a very large area, including most of Africa from southern Cameroon eastward to Kenya and southward to the southernmost tip of the continent. Twelve Bantu languages are spoken by more than five million people,

Grudziadz

2005-01-28T21:39:00.000-08:00

German Graudenz, city, Torun województwo (province), north-central Poland, on the lower Vistula River. Founded in the 10th century as a Polish stronghold against Prussian attack, Grudziadz in the 1230s came under the rule of the Teutonic Knights, who fortified the town and granted it municipal rights (1291). It was acquired by Poland in the mid-15th century, but after the First Partition of 1772 the town became

Biblical Literature, Greek additions to Esther

2005-01-27T11:31:00.000-08:00

The Hebrew Book of Esther had a religious and social value to the Jews during the time of Greek and Roman anti-Semitism, though the Hebrew short story did not directly mention God's intervention in history—and even God himself is not named. To bring the canonical book up-to-date in connection with contemporary anti-Semitism and to stress the religious meaning of the

Pitch Lake

2005-01-27T03:04:00.000-08:00

Large surface deposit of natural asphalt, a mixture of heavy oils that is left after the lighter, more volatile components of a crude-oil seepage have evaporated. An example is Guanoco Lake in Venezuela, which covers more than 445 hectares (1,100 acres) and contains an estimated 6,000,000 tons of asphalt. It was used as a commercial source of asphalt from 1891 to 1935. Smaller deposits occur commonly

Nordland

2005-01-26T15:43:00.000-08:00

Fylke (county), northern Norway, bordering the Norwegian Sea. Its many offshore islands include most of the Lofoten Islands and the Vesterålen archipelago. With an area of 14,798 square miles (38,327 square km), including the northern islands, Nordland extends for about 300 miles (500 km) along the coast; about two-thirds of the fylke is north of the Arctic Circle. The coastline is rugged and

Asalluhe

2005-01-26T15:15:00.000-08:00

In Mesopotamian religion, Sumerian deity, city god of Ku'ara, near Eridu in the southern marshland region. Asalluhe was active with the god Enki (Akkadian: Ea) in rituals of lustration (purification) magic and was considered his son. He may have originally been a god of thundershowers and would thus have corresponded to the other Sumerian gods Ishkur and Ninurta. In incantations

Lungwebungu River

2005-01-26T13:43:00.000-08:00

Largest headwater tributary of the Zambezi River, in southwest central Africa. It rises in the central plateau of Angola as the Lungué-Bungo River to flow east and southeast into Zambia. There it joins the Zambezi 65 miles (105 km) north of Mongu, after a course of 400 miles (645 km).

Sun Yat-sen

2005-01-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

Leader of the Chinese Kuomintang (Nationalist Party), known as the father of modern China. Influential in overthrowing the Manchu dynasty (1911), he served as the first provisional

Peru, Flag Of

2005-01-23T19:26:00.000-08:00

The first national flag of Peru was created in 1820, when José de San Martín arrived with his Army of the Andes from Argentina and Chile. The Peruvian flag he designed combined the colours red and white, said to have been chosen because San Martín saw a flock of flamingos take wing at his arrival. The form of the flag was unusual—a diagonal division forming two white and two

Lorde, Audre

2005-01-23T03:48:00.000-08:00

The daughter of Grenadan parents, Lorde attended Hunter College and received a B.A. in 1959 and a master's degree in library science in 1961. She married in 1962 and wrote poetry while working as a librarian at

Roman Catholicism, History Of, The rise of heresy

2005-01-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

Before the middle of the 12th century heresy on a large scale was unknown in the West. The early dissenters were often radical reformers such as the Italian canon Arnold of Brescia (d. 1155), an outspoken critic of clerical wealth and corruption. Then there appeared in northern Italy and southern France the sect, Eastern and Manichaean in origin, later known as the Cathari (the

Locmariaquer

2005-01-22T04:30:00.000-08:00

Village and seaside resort, on the coast of the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan département, Bretagne région, western France, south of Auray. It is famous for its megalithic monuments, notably the Fairies' Stone, a huge, broken standing stone, originally 66 feet (20 m) high—the greatest known menhir (upright monumental stone) in existence. Behind it is the Merchants' Table, composed

Biblical Literature, The Old Latin version

2005-01-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

The existence of a Latin translation can be attested in North Africa and southern Gaul as early as the second half of the 2nd century CE, and in Rome at the beginning of the following century. Its origins may possibly be attributed to a Christian adoption of biblical versions made by Jews in the Roman province of Africa, where the vernacular was exclusively Latin. Only