SeriousThumb

Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T10:55:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services, including Estate Agent Covent Garden and Estate Agent London. Their centrally located ground floor offices, minutes from Oxford Circus offer an ideal marketing base for your property.

Quinet, Edgar

2005-04-04T02:24:00.000-07:00

After moving to Paris in 1820, Quinet forsook the faith of his Protestant mother, became greatly attracted to German philosophy, and published in 1827–28, as his first major work, a translation of Herder's

Mindoro

2005-04-03T19:14:00.000-07:00

A mountainous core extending for 100 miles (160 km) along the

Soter, Saint

2005-04-01T22:34:00.000-08:00

Succeeding St. Anicetus as pope, Soter sent a letter and alms to the church of Corinth, whose bishop, St. Dionysius, replied in a letter that acknowledged Soter's affection and theological advice. Soter continued Pope Anicetus' attack against Montanism, a heresy overemphasizing prophecy and rigid moral

China, Fine arts

2005-03-30T22:27:00.000-08:00

In the realm of the arts, the Ming period has long been esteemed for the variety and high quality of its state-sponsored craft goods—cloisonné and, particularly, porcelain wares. The sober, delicate monochrome porcelains of the Sung dynasty were now superseded by rich, decorative polychrome wares. The best known of these are of blue-on-white decor, which gradually changed

John I Tzimisces

2005-03-28T20:30:00.000-08:00

Descended from an aristocratic Armenian family, John was related through his mother to the general, and later emperor, Nicephorus II

Wagner, Honus

2005-03-26T01:49:00.000-08:00

The “Flying Dutchman” played for the Louisville Colonels

Zither

2005-03-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

Any of several stringed musical instruments. The European zither consists of a flat, shallow sound box across which gut or metal strings are stretched. The strings nearest the player run above a fretted fingerboard against which they are stopped by the left hand to provide melody notes; they are plucked by a plectrum worn on the right thumb. At the same time, the right-hand

Wyat, Sir Thomas

2005-03-22T22:05:00.000-08:00

Wyat was educated at St. John's, Cambridge, and became a member of the court circle of Henry VIII, where he seems to have been popular and admired for his attractive appearance and skill in music, languages,

Litani River

2005-03-19T03:38:00.000-08:00

Arabic Nahr Al-litani, Latin Leontes, chief river of Lebanon, rising in a low divide west of Baalbek and flowing southwestward through the Al-Biqa' Valley between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains. Near Marj 'Uyun it bends sharply west and cuts a spectacular gorge up to 900 feet (275 m) deep through the Lebanon Mountains to the Mediterranean south of Sidon. The river's lower course is known as Qasimiyah. Although

Ahmad Musa

2005-03-17T07:59:00.000-08:00

Painter active at the court of the Il Khans at Tabriz. He is said to have learned painting from his father and to have “drawn the veil from the face of painting and invented the art of the Persian miniature.” He was active under Abu Sa'id (ruled 1316–35), the last of the Mongol sultans in fact as well as name. He illustrated a Kalila wa Dimna (book of animal fables)

Mystery Religion, The Hellenistic period

2005-03-16T18:29:00.000-08:00

In the Messenian town of Andania mysteries were celebrated

R Monocerotis

2005-03-16T13:36:00.000-08:00

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

English Literature, The Edwardians

2005-03-15T08:39:00.000-08:00

The 20th century opened with great hope but also with some apprehension, for the new century marked the onset of a new millennium. For many, mankind was entering upon an unprecedented era. H.G. Wells's utopian studies, the aptly titled Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human Life and Thought (1901) and A Modern Utopia (1905), both captured and

Uberaba

2005-03-13T22:18:00.000-08:00

City, western Minas Gerais estado (“state”), Brazil, in the highlands at 2,575 feet (785 m) above sea level, on the Uberaba River. It was given city status in 1856. Uberaba is the trade centre of an important agricultural area, yielding cattle (the largest source of income), rice, oranges, corn (maize), beans, coffee, sugarcane, and bananas. A well-known cattle and agricultural exhibition is held there

Murrelet

2005-03-12T16:01:00.000-08:00

Breeding in Alaska are the

Yanam

2005-03-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

Formerly part of the Cola empire, the area came under Muslim occupation in the 16th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was the scene of constant warfare between Muslim, British, and French troops. When much of the coastal plain

Byzantine Empire, The years of achievement to 540

2005-03-11T13:50:00.000-08:00

Justinian is but one example of the civilizing magic that Constantinople often worked upon the heirs of those who ventured within its walls. Justin, the uncle, was a rude and illiterate soldier; Justinian, the nephew, was a cultivated gentleman, adept at theology, a mighty builder of churches, and a sponsor of the codification of Roman law. All these accomplishments

Computers, Control programs

2005-03-09T09:38:00.000-08:00

An operating

Hindi Language

2005-03-06T11:54:00.000-08:00

Official language of the Republic of India, a central Indo-Aryan language claimed as a mother tongue by some 180,000,000 speakers in India. There are also significant numbers of Hindi speakers outside of India, including nearly 1,000,000 in South Africa, 700,000 in Mauritius, 350,000 in Bangladesh, 235,000 in Yemen, and 150,000 in Uganda. Many more hundreds of thousands speak Hindi as a second language. Literary Hindi, written

Sore Mouth

2005-03-05T20:12:00.000-08:00

Also called doby mouth, pustular dermatitis , or contagious ecthyma (CE) viral disease of sheep and goats. Blisters, pustules, ulcers, and scabs form on the lips especially but also on the face and ears. In severe cases sores form inside the mouth. Infections occur in the spring and summer and heal in about a month. Humans who work around the sheep sometimes become infected.

Xia Gui

2005-03-03T22:37:00.000-08:00

One of the best English-language sources of information on Hsia Kuei is the article on him by Sherman E. Lee in the Encyclopedia of World Art, vol. 7 (1963), col. 650–654. See also Osvald Sirén, Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles, vol. 2 (1956, reissued 1974), pp. 119–124; and James Cahill, Chinese Painting (1960, reissued 1985), pp. 79–87, which discuss Hsia Kuei in the context of the Ma-Hsia school.

Somalia, Religion

2005-02-28T16:46:00.000-08:00

Most Somali belong to the Shafi'i rite of the Sunnite sect of Islam. Various Muslim orders (tariqa) are important, especially the Qadiriyah, the Ahmadiyah, and the Salihiyah.

Term

2005-02-26T14:44:00.000-08:00

In logic, the subject or predicate of a categorical proposition (q.v.), or statement. Aristotle so used the Greek word horos (“limit”), apparently by an analogy between the terms of a proportion and those of a syllogism. Terminus is the Latin translation of this word, used, for example, by the 5th-century Roman philosopher Boethius. Hence in medieval logic the word came to be used

Scandinavian Literature, Norway

2005-02-25T15:07:00.000-08:00

Several of Denmark's leading writers of the 18th century were of Norwegian birth, preeminently Ludvig Holberg and the members of Det Norske Selskab (the Norwegian Society). Established in Copenhagen in 1772 by a group of resident Norwegians, it looked to French rather than to German and English literature for models. Within Norway itself there was little overt literary

Narrabri

2005-02-22T06:01:00.000-08:00

Town, northeastern New South Wales, Australia. It lies along Narrabri Creek (tributary of the Namoi River), just west of the Nandewar Range. Surveyed in 1859 and declared a municipality in 1883, it derives its name from an Aboriginal word meaning “big creek” and “forked sticks.” On the Newell Highway, with regular air and rail service to Sydney (264 miles [425 km] southeast) and Brisbane, Narrabri

Ara

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

Also spelled Arrah city, Bihar state, northeastern India. The city is a major rail and road junction. Agricultural trade and oilseed milling are carried on there. It is the site of several colleges affiliated with Magadh University. The Little House at Ara is a building that was defended by the British against Kunwar Singh during the Indian Mutiny in 1857. Ara was constituted a municipality

Dominican

2005-02-19T15:11:00.000-08:00

Byname Black Friar , member of Order of Friars Preachers , also called Order of Preachers (O.P.) one of the four great mendicant orders of the Roman Catholic church, was founded by St. Dominic in 1215. Dominic, a priest of the Spanish diocese of Osma, accompanied his bishop on a preaching mission among the Albigensian heretics of southern France, where he founded a nunnery at Prouille in 1206, partly for his converts, which was served by a community of preachers. From this developed

Allen, Sir James

2005-02-17T20:09:00.000-08:00

Allen was elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 1887, serving as a leader of the opposition from 1892 to 1912. When the Reform Party took

Heinrich Von Veldeke

2005-02-14T13:59:00.000-08:00

While at the court of the landgrave Hermann of Thuringia, Heinrich completed the Eneit, modeled on the French Roman d'Eneas rather

Tombstone

2005-02-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

City, Cochise county, southeastern Arizona, U.S. The site was ironically named by Ed Schieffelin, who discovered silver there in 1877 after being told that all he would find would be his tombstone. (An alternative account holds that the townsite was named for the granite rocks of the nearby Dragoon Mountains, which stand out against the landscape like tombstones.) By 1881 a silver

Technicolor

2005-02-11T16:12:00.000-08:00

(trademark), motion-picture process using dye-transfer techniques to produce a colour print. The Technicolor process, perfected in 1932, originally used a beam-splitting optical cube, in combination with the camera lens, to expose three black-and-white films. The light beam was split into three parts as it entered the camera, one beam favouring the red portion of the spectrum,

Langeais

2005-02-09T14:15:00.000-08:00

Town, west-central France, Indre-et-Loire département, on the right bank of Loire River. It has a 15th-century château, notable as a fine example of pre-Renaissance architecture. The ruins of a keep first built there by Fulk III Nerra, count of Anjou, still stands in the park. The château was built for Jean Bourré, minister of Louis XI, and Charles VIII of France and Anne of Brittany

Teutonic Order

2005-02-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

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

Medicine, Levels of health care

2005-02-05T08:44:00.000-08:00

In the curative domain there are various forms of medical practice. They may be thought of generally as forming a pyramidal structure, with three tiers representing increasing degrees of specialization and technical sophistication but catering to diminishing numbers of patients as they are filtered out of the system at a lower level. Only those patients who

Morante, Elsa

2005-02-03T16:50:00.000-08:00

Morante early exhibited literary talent, and, although her formal education remained incomplete, her marriage to the novelist Alberto

Poseidon

2005-01-31T18:28:00.000-08:00

In Greek religion, god of the sea and of water generally; he is to be distinguished from Pontus, the personification of the sea and the oldest Greek divinity of the waters. The name Poseidon means either “husband of earth” or “lord of the earth.” Traditionally he was a son of Cronus, an ancient chief god, and Rhea, a fertility goddess, and was brother of Zeus, the chief god, and Hades,

Holmium

2005-01-29T01:44:00.000-08:00

(Ho), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table, one of the most paramagnetic substances known. Among the least abundant of the rare-earth elements, holmium and its compounds have limited application except for research. Holmium has been used as a component of some electronic devices; the trivalent ion has been used as a catalyst

Heidenstam, Verner Von

2005-01-27T00:14:00.000-08:00

Ill health forced Heidenstam to spend most of his youth in the central and eastern Mediterranean countries. His first

Elion, Gertrude B.

2005-01-25T16:03:00.000-08:00

Elion was the daughter of immigrants. She graduated from Hunter College in New York City with a degree in biochemistry in 1937. Unable

Mela, Pomponius

2005-01-24T10:46:00.000-08:00

Author of the only ancient treatise on geography in classical Latin, De situ orbis (“A Description of the World”), also known as De chorographia (“Concerning Chorography”). Written about AD 43 or 44, it remained influential until the beginning of the age of exploration, 13 centuries later. Though probably intended for the general reader, Mela's geography was cited by Pliny the Elder

Hughes, John Ceiriog

2005-01-22T06:30:00.000-08:00

After working successively as a grocer's helper, a clerk in Manchester, and a railway official in Wales, Hughes began winning poetry prizes in the 1850s and thereafter published several volumes of verse, the first

Waddington, William Henry

2005-01-19T04:50:00.000-08:00

The son of an English manufacturer living in France

Lancaster, Edmund, 1st Earl Of

2005-01-18T14:51:00.000-08:00

At the age of 10, Edmund was invested by Pope Innocent IV with the kingdom of Sicily (April 1255), as an expression of his conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor, who held Sicily; but Edmund was never more than an absentee titular

Saxon

2005-01-15T13:10:00.000-08:00

Member of a Germanic people who in ancient times lived in the area of modern Schleswig and along the Baltic coast. The period of Roman decline in the West was marked by vigorous Saxon piracy in the North Sea. During the early part of the 5th century AD, the Saxons spread rapidly through north Germany and along the coasts of Gaul and Britain. The coastal stretch from the Elbe

ásgrímsson, Eysteinn

2005-01-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

Records of Ásgrímsson's life are scant. In 1343 he was imprisoned, probably for thrashing his abbot and perhaps for a breach of chastity as well. In 1349 he was made an official of the Skálholt bishopric, and he attended the bishop on a mission

Cordia

2005-01-12T06:31:00.000-08:00

The leaves of the tropical American geiger tree, aloewood, or sebesten plum (C.

Fairfield

2005-01-09T00:15:00.000-08:00

In the mid-18th century the area's favourable climate

Sabang

2005-01-07T03:39:00.000-08:00

Kotamadya (city) and free port, Aceh daerah istimewa (special district), Indonesia, on the northeastern coast of We Island, off the northern tip of Sumatra. It lies at the northern entrance to the Strait of Malacca and is the first port of call in the Malay Archipelago for vessels coming from the west. The harbour, built in 1887, is sheltered from the strong winds and heavy swells

Carson, Rachel

2005-01-06T14:48:00.000-08:00

Carson early developed a deep interest in the natural world. She entered Pennsylvania College for Women with the intention of becoming a writer but soon changed her major field of study from English to biology.

Pacuvius, Marcus

2005-01-04T20:19:00.000-08:00

The bearer of an Oscan name, Pacuvius was probably educated at Tarentum and must have been equally at home in Oscan, Latin, and Greek, as was his uncle and teacher, the poet Quintus Ennius. As a young man he followed Ennius to Rome, where he joined the circle

Huerta, Dolores

2005-01-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

When Huerta was a child she moved to Stockton, California, with her mother and siblings after her parents' divorce. She remained in touch with her father, Juan Fernández, and took pride in his personal and

Mcpherson, Aimee Semple

2004-12-30T04:14:00.000-08:00

Aimee Kennedy was reared by her mother in the work of the Salvation Army. She preached her own brand of the

Indonesia, Volcanoes

2004-12-29T16:21:00.000-08:00

Volcanoes play a major role in soil development and enrichment,

Bacau

2004-12-26T21:11:00.000-08:00

Judet(county), eastern Romania, occupying an area of 2,551 sq mi (6,606 sq km). The Eastern Carpathians and the sub-Carpathians rise above the settlement areas that are situated in intermontane valleys and lowlands. The county is drained southeastward by the Siret River and its tributaries. It was formerly included in feudal Moldavia. Manufactures of Bacau (q.v.) city, the county capital,

David, Eduard Heinrich (rudolph)

2004-12-24T05:51:00.000-08:00

As a young grammar school teacher, David founded (1893) the Socialist Mitteldeutsche Sonntagszeitung (“Mid-German Sunday News”); but his affiliation with the Social Democrats soon

Scorpius X-1

2004-12-22T17:55:00.000-08:00

(catalog number Sco X-1), brightest X-ray source in the sky, the first such object discovered in the direction of the constellation Scorpius. Detected in 1962, its X-radiation is not only strong but, like other X-ray sources, quite variable as well. Its variability exhibits two states, one at higher output with great variability on a time scale of minutes and another at lower output

Nordheim, Sondre

2004-12-21T18:29:00.000-08:00

Nordheim in 1860 was the first to use bindings of willow, cane, and birch root around the heel from each side of the toe strap to fasten the boot to the ski, thus revolutionizing skiing and making ski jumping possible. He himself

Auscultation

2004-12-18T09:10:00.000-08:00

The technique

Duchesne, Louis-marie-olivier

2004-12-17T01:02:00.000-08:00

Ordained a priest in 1867, he studied in Rome and in Paris (1871–73), where he was appointed professor at the Catholic

Tzu Ssu

2004-12-15T17:41:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Zi Si, also called (Wade–Gile romanization) K'ung Chi Chinese philosopher, grandson of Confucius, native of the ancient state of Lu (present Shantung province), and according to tradition, the author of the Doctrine of the Mean. This classic, now part of the Li Chi (“Record of Rites”) and classified as one of the Four Books, reaffirms Confucius' interpretation of the mean as the state of equilibrium (chung yung) of the exemplary

San Cristóbal

2004-12-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

In full Benemérita de San Cristóbal city, south-central Dominican Republic. It is situated in the coastal lowlands close to the Caribbean Sea. Founded by Spaniards in 1575, when gold was discovered in the area, it was the site of the signing of the Dominican Republic's first constitution (1844) and of the birth of dictator Rafael Trujillo Molina (1891). San Cristóbal is now a prosperous commercial centre for its agricultural

Good-night

2004-12-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

Sensational type of broadside ballad (q.v.), popular in England from the 16th through the 19th century, purporting to be the farewell statement of a criminal made shortly before his execution. Good-nights are usually repentant in tone, containing a sketchy account of how the criminal first went astray, a detailed account of his grisly crime, his sentence by the judge, the grief

Dowa Highlands

2004-12-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

Also called Chitembwe-mwera Highlands, central Malawi, rectangular formation covering an area of about 360 square miles (930 sq km); they comprise rolling hills crowned by high ridges including the heights of Dowa (5,571 feet [1,698 m]) and Ntchisi peaks. The highlands are bounded on three sides by steep slopes, forming the Eastern (Great) Rift Valley wall to the east and overlooking the Bua and Lilongwe river valleys to the north

Shamanism, Eskimo

2004-12-06T04:33:00.000-08:00

Shamanism predominates in the religious life of the Eskimo. The chief prerogatives of the Eskimo shaman (angakok; plural angákut) are healing, the ecstatic underwater journey to the Mother of Animals for the purpose of assuring an abundance of game, and the aid he brings to barren women. Sickness is brought on by the violation of taboos or results from the capture of

Aerospace Industry, Working of materials

2004-12-04T20:33:00.000-08:00

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

Roland (de La Platière), Jeanne-marie

2004-12-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

Jeanne-Marie Phlipon was the daughter of a Paris engraver. Brilliant and cultured, she absorbed the democratic ideas of Jean-Jacques

Qedesha

2004-11-30T14:11:00.000-08:00

Also spelled kedesha or kedeshah , Akkadian qadishtu one of a class of sacred prostitutes found throughout the ancient Middle East, especially in the worship of the fertility goddess Astarte (Ashtoreth). Prostitutes, who often played an important part in official temple worship, could be either male or female. In Egypt, a goddess named Qedeshu, Lady of Kadesh (Syria), was worshiped in the 19th and 20th dynasties (1292–c. 1075 BC). Her representation

Goby

2004-11-29T02:31:00.000-08:00

The majority of species (more

Turgay

2004-11-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Turgai, or Turgaj, oblast (province), central Kazakhstan. It was created in 1970, though a larger oblast of the same name existed in tsarist times, and it embraces the western fringes of the Kazakh Upland and part of the Turgay Steppe. The main rivers are the Ishim, flowing north, and the Turgay, south. The climate is continental, and annual precipitation varies from 8 to 12 inches (200 to 300 mm). There are important

Ashland

2004-11-24T18:39:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1860) of Ashland county, extreme northern Wisconsin, U.S. It is a port on Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior. A Jesuit mission was established there in 1665, but not until 1854 did Asaph Whittlesey settle the site, which he named for Henry Clay's Kentucky estate. In 1877 Ashland became the terminus of the first railroad of northern Wisconsin and developed with iron-mining and lumbering

Fethiye

2004-11-22T07:09:00.000-08:00

Town, southwestern Turkey. It lies along a sheltered bay in the eastern part of the Gulf of Fethiye on the Mediterranean Sea that is backed by the western Taurus ranges. Fethiye's enlarged port is an outlet for the minerals and timber of the region. The hinterland is a major centre of chromium mining. Fethiye stands on the site of the ancient Lycian city of Telmessus, whose

Gonzaga, Tomás Antônio

2004-11-21T00:34:00.000-08:00

Gonzaga completed his law studies at the University of Coimbra (1768) and in 1782 was appointed a judge in Vila Rica, Brazil. There he fell in love with Marília, who was mentioned in his lyrics, but on the eve of their marriage (1789) he was arrested on a charge, undoubtedly

Berakah

2004-11-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Berakha, or Berachah (Hebrew: “blessing”), plural Berakoth, Berakot, Berachoth, or Berachot, in Judaism, a benediction (expression of praise or thanks directed to God) that is recited at specific points of the synagogue liturgy, during private prayer, or on other occasions (e.g., before performing a commandment or for being spared from harm in the face of danger). Most berakoth begin with the words Barukh Attah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh ha-Olam (“Blessed art Thou, O Lord

Sisaket

2004-11-17T03:00:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Si Sa Ket, or Srisaket, town, eastern Thailand. Sisaket lies on the railway between Nakhon Ratchasima and Udon Thani. The surrounding area is one of Thailand's poorest regions; rice and tobacco are the main products. The region borders Cambodia and has a substantial Khmer-speaking population. Pop. (1986 est.) town, 21,577.

Mountain, Crustal shortening

2004-11-12T09:42:00.000-08:00

In most mountain belts, terrains have been elevated as a result of crustal shortening by the thrusting of one block or slice of crust over another and/or by the folding of layers of rock. The topography of mountain ranges and mountain belts depends in part on the amount of displacement on such faults, on the angles at which faults dip, on the degree to which crustal shortening

Hip-hop

2004-11-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

Although widely considered a synonym for rap music, the term hip-hop refers to a complex culture comprising four elements: deejaying

Seth, Vikram

2004-11-09T23:26:00.000-08:00

The son of a judge and a businessman, Seth was raised in London and India. He attended exclusive Indian schools and then graduated from Corpus Christi College, Oxford (B.A., 1975). He received a master's degree in economics from Stanford University

Tsou Yen

2004-11-07T16:52:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Zou Yan Chinese philosopher of the ancient state of Ch'i (present-day Shantung), and leading exponent of the Yin–Yang school. The only account of his life is a brief one in the Shih chi (“Historical Records”). To him is attributed the association of the Five Agents theory with the Yin–Yang doctrine. Nature was thought to consist of changing combinations of the Five Agents (metal, wood,

Lajes

2004-11-05T17:57:00.000-08:00

Town, northeast Terceira Island, Portuguese Azores. In 1941 the Portuguese government selected the town's site, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of the city of Angra do Heroísmo, as an air base. It became a major Allied air installation during World War II and later a joint U.S. and Portuguese base within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The airfield is also an important weather-forecasting

Wade, Sir Thomas Francis

2004-11-03T14:47:00.000-08:00

The elder son of an English army officer, Wade graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge (1837), and entered the army. Sent to China in 1842, he began an earnest study of Chinese and eventually became an official interpreter,

Elisha Ben Abuyah

2004-10-31T07:59:00.000-08:00

Byname Aher Jewish scholar who renounced his faith and who came to be regarded in later ages as a prototype of the heretic whose intellectual pride leads him to infidelity to Jewish laws and morals. In the Talmud, Elisha is not mentioned by name but is usually referred to as Aher (“the Other,” or “Another”). His renunciation of Judaism was considered doubly heinous because he was a tanna

Ogooué River

2004-10-30T07:37:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Ogowe, stream of west-central Africa, flowing in Gabon for almost its entire course and draining an area of almost 86,000 square miles (222,700 square km). It rises in Congo (Brazzaville) on the eastern slopes of the Massif du Chaillu and flows northwest through Gabon past Franceville and Lastoursville; it then turns west and southwest past Booué, Ndjolé, and Lambaréné, collecting water from

Ben Tre

2004-10-28T00:17:00.000-07:00

The surrounding region is devoted largely to irrigated rice and coconuts. Other crops include dates, corn

Bacan

2004-10-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Bachan, or Batjan, island, Maluku Utara kabupaten (North Molucca regency), Maluku propinsi (province), Indonesia, one of the northern Moluccas in the Molucca Sea. The islands of Kasiruta to the northwest, Mandioli to the west, and about 80 other islets compose the Kepulauan Bacan group. With an area of about 700 sq mi (1,800 sq km), Bacan is mountainous in the south, rising to 6,926 ft (2,111 m), relatively level and lower

Field Trial

2004-10-24T02:36:00.000-07:00

Any of the competitions among individual sporting dogs, under conditions that approximate or simulate those found in the hunting field. Competing dogs need not necessarily be of the same breed. In the United States many of the field trials in the bird-dog (pointing dog) category are staged under the sanction of the American Kennel Club, the official governing body

Ksar El-boukhari

2004-10-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

Also called Boghari, town, north-central Algeria. Lying along the Chelif River at the junction of the High Plateau and the Atlas Mountains, the town is almost totally surrounded by wooded mountain ridges. The old walled quarter (ksar) is on a hill, overlooking the modern town. Ksar el-Boukhari is a commercial centre for pastoral peoples of the interior, who trade in wool, livestock, and cereals.

Kudu

2004-10-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

Any of certain handsome, slender antelopes of the genus Tragelaphus, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla). The greater kudu (T. strepsiceros) lives in small groups in hilly bush country or open woods of eastern and southern Africa. It stands about 1.3 m (51 inches) at the shoulder. It has a fringe on the throat and a crest of hair on the neck and back, and

Interior Design, Japan

2004-10-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

Interior decoration in Japan was much influenced by Chinese ideas, especially between the 8th and 12th centuries, but it developed along lighter, more austere and elegant lines. It has altered little since medieval days. The most important differences in modern design are that the matting has been extended to cover the whole of the wooden floor, and sliding doors have

Aelle

2004-10-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Aella, or Aelli first king of Deira in northern England, whose people threw off the Bernician overlordship upon the death of Ida, king of Bernicia. Aelle became king in 559, while Ida's descendants continued to reign in the northern kingdom. On Aelle's death the Bernician king Aethelric again subdued Deira, but Aelle's son Edwin (q.v.) would return to rule as the most powerful English ruler

Raedwald

2004-10-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

Raedwald became a Christian during a stay in Kent, but on his return to East Anglia he sanctioned the worship of both the Christian and the heathen religions. For a time he recognized the overlordship of Aethelberht, king of Kent, but he seems to have shaken off the

Jackson

2004-10-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

City, capital of Mississippi, U.S. It lies along the Pearl River, in the west-central part of the state, about 180 miles (290 km) north of New Orleans, Louisiana. Jackson is also the coseat (with nearby Raymond) of Hinds county. Settled (1792) by Louis LeFleur, a French-Canadian trader, and known as LeFleur's Bluff, it remained a trading post until the Treaty of Doak's Stand (October 18, 1820) opened the territory

Haviland Crater

2004-10-10T02:27:00.000-07:00

Also called Brenham Crater small, shallow impact crater in farmland near Haviland, Kiowa county, Kansas, U.S. The depression, some 50 feet (15 metres) in diameter, is oval in shape. The first meteorite fragment, now known to be of the strong-iron, or pallasite, type, was found at the site in 1885, but the shallow crater was not identified until 1925 (it is one of the smallest impact craters in the world). Meteoritic fragments,

Cyclosilicate

2004-10-07T02:09:00.000-07:00

Compound with a structure in which silicate tetrahedrons (a central silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms at the corners of a tetrahedron) are arranged in rings. Each tetrahedron shares two of its oxygen atoms with other tetrahedrons; the rings formed may have three (e.g., benitoite), four (e.g., axinite), or six members (e.g., beryl). The cyclosilicates have chemical formulas

Amitabha

2004-10-06T23:25:00.000-07:00

Japanese Amida , Chinese O-mi-t'o in Buddhism, the great saviour deity worshiped principally by members of the Pure Land sect in Japan. As related in the Sukhavati-vyuha-sutra (the fundamental scripture of the Pure Land sects), many ages ago a monk named Dharmakara made a number of vows, the 18th of which promised that, on his attaining buddhahood, all who believed in him and who called upon his name would be born

Nicaro

2004-10-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

City, Holguín province, eastern Cuba. It is situated on the Bahía (bay) de Levisa, a nearly landlocked arm of the Atlantic Ocean, at the base of the Lengua de Pájara peninsula. Nicaro is Cuba's major centre for the refining of nickel and cobalt from nickel oxide, which is mined nearby in the foothills of the Sierra del Cristal. Other economic activities include motor repairing

Accomplice

2004-10-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

An abettor is one who is present actually or constructively at the commission

Cheng Chih-lung

2004-09-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

As a boy, Cheng found employment with the Europeans in the Portuguese settlement at Macau, where he was baptized and given the Christian name of Nicholas Gaspard. After leaving Macau, he joined a pirate band that

Ateste

2004-09-27T00:32:00.000-07:00

Ateste

China, The struggle for central authority

2004-09-25T10:33:00.000-07:00

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