ThinMap

organic cotton goods

2006-10-30T00:50:00.000-08:00

Liv organic cotton goods are soft luxurious nad affordable and they have a huge range of organic clothing.

Nephrosclerosis

2005-03-19T02:45:00.000-08:00

Hardening of the walls of the small arteries and arterioles (small arteries that convey blood from arteries to the even smaller capillaries) of the kidney. This condition is caused by hypertension (high blood pressure). Hypertension can be present in a person for 20 to 30 years without evidence of kidney involvement; such persons usually die of other effects of hypertension

Luther V. Borden

2005-03-16T17:01:00.000-08:00

In the spring of 1842, Rhode Island had two governors and two legislatures. One government was committed to retaining the old colonial charter, which severely limited voting rights, as the state's constitution. The other government, led by Thomas W. Dorr and providing for white

Zahran, Az-

2005-03-15T20:58:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Dhahran, town, northeastern Saudi Arabia, in the Dammam oil field, just south of the Persian Gulf port of ad-Dammam. Near the scene of the original discovery of oil in Saudi Arabia in 1938, it is now a modern community that serves as the administrative headquarters of the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco). A major United States Air Force Base was built in 1945 and continues in use. The town

China, Japanese gains

2005-03-12T11:13:00.000-08:00

With the outbreak of World War I, in August 1914, Japan joined the side of the Allies and seized the German leasehold around Chiao-chou Bay together with German-owned railways in Shantung. China was not permitted to interfere. Then, on Jan. 18, 1915, the Japanese government secretly presented to Yüan the Twenty-one Demands, which sought, in effect, to make China a Japanese dependency.

Shih Tzu

2005-03-11T01:51:00.000-08:00

Tibetan dog breed developed from the Pekingese and the Lhasa apso. Listed in the toy group by the American Kennel Club, the Shih tzu, called in Chinese Shih-tzu kou (“lion dog”), is a long-haired, characteristically active and alert little dog standing about 10 inches (26 cm) and weighing 18 pounds (8 kg) or less. It is longer than it is tall, sturdily built and short-legged, with a short muzzle,

Neotropical Region

2005-03-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

Also called Neogaean Realm, or South American Region, one of the six major biogeographic areas of the world defined on the basis of its characteristic animal life. It extends south from the Mexican desert into South America as far as the subantarctic zone. It includes such animals as the llama, tapir, deer, pig, jaguar, puma, a variety of opossums, many rodents and fishes, and extremely rich insect and bird populations. The

Sa'id, 'ali Ahmad

2005-03-07T11:08:00.000-08:00

Sa'id received a degree in philosophy at the University of Damascus in 1954 and served in the Syrian military from 1954 to 1956. He then moved to Beirut, where he received a Ph.D. from St. Joseph University in 1973. In 1957 he helped Yusuf al-Khal found the avant-garde

Mcphee, John

2005-03-04T19:28:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Princeton University (A.B., 1953), McPhee studied for a year at

Syria, From the 9th to the 12th century

2005-03-02T22:33:00.000-08:00

As the 'Abbasid caliphate disintegrated in its turn, Syria drifted out of the sphere of influence of Baghdad. In 877 it was annexed by the Tulunid dynasty of Egypt, and this began a political connection that was to last with intervals for more than six centuries. In northern Syria the Tulunids were succeeded by a local Arab dynasty, the Hamdanids of Aleppo, founded by Sayf ad-Dawlah

Pittsburg

2005-03-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

City, Crawford county, southeastern Kansas, U.S., near the Missouri border. Laid out in 1876, it developed as a zinc- and coal-mining town and railroad centre and was named after Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Besides strip coal-mining operations, it has large plants that produce coal-preparation equipment and ammonium nitrate. Pittsburg State University was founded in 1903. The city

Islam, Cosmogony and eschatology

2005-02-27T03:53:00.000-08:00

The world was created by God's word kun (“Be”) out of nothing; after the creation of the angelic beings from light, Adam was formed from clay and destined to be God's vicegerent, khalifah. All of the angels obeyed God's order to prostrate themselves before Adam, except Iblis (Satan), who refused and was cursed; due to Iblis' instigation Adam ate the forbidden fruit (or grain) and was driven

Henry

2005-02-25T14:48:00.000-08:00

Henry, son of Manuel I, chose a career in the church and became, successively, archbishop of

Blood Disease

2005-02-23T19:51:00.000-08:00

Abnormal condition that involves the corpuscular elements of the blood—red cells, white cells, and platelets—and the tissues in which they are formed—the bone marrow, the lymph nodes, the spleen (i.e., the hematopoietic system). This definition, however, needs expansion and modification. In certain types of illness (e.g., pneumonia, appendicitis) the number of leukocytes

Pacific Mountain System

2005-02-21T16:37:00.000-08:00

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese explorer in the service of Spain, probably was the first European to explore the coast of California. He is thought to have sailed north in 1542, and his pilot, Bartolomé Ferrelo, may have reached as far as the present southern border of Oregon. Sir Francis Drake sailed the coast in 1579 and may have landed in Oregon. Juan Pérez landed on the

Palate

2005-02-18T17:13:00.000-08:00

The hard palate, which composes two-thirds of the total palate area, is a plate of bone covered by a moist,

Abu Al-ghazi Bahadur

2005-02-17T21:13:00.000-08:00

The son of 'Arab Muhammad Khan, Abu al-Ghazi spent most of his early life in Urgench. When his father died and a dynastic struggle arose among Abu al-Ghazi and his brothers for the succession to the throne, he was compelled

Rye House Plot

2005-02-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

(1683), alleged Whig conspiracy to assassinate or mount an insurrection against Charles II of England because of his pro-Roman Catholic policies. The plot drew its name from Rye House at Hoddeston, Hertfordshire, near which ran a narrow road where Charles was supposed to be killed as he traveled from a horse meet at Newmarket. By chance, according to the official narrative,

Baltic States, Climate

2005-02-12T22:21:00.000-08:00

Over most of the region, annual rainfall varies between 22 and 28 inches (550 and 700 millimetres) and generally increases from the coastal zone to the upland districts of the interior. The prevailing temperatures are moderate by the standards of European Russia and in general improve from north to south and from east to west across the Baltic region. January mean temperatures

Visual-field Defect

2005-02-10T06:09:00.000-08:00

A blind spot (scotoma) or blind area within the normal bounds of vision. In most cases the blind spots or areas are persistent, but in some instances they may be temporary and shifting, as in the scotomata of migraine headache. Narrowing of the fields of vision may be due to syphilitic inflammation of the optic nerves or to glaucoma. In this type of defect the field of vision

Dielectric

2005-02-09T15:45:00.000-08:00

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

Local Church, The

2005-02-07T22:15:00.000-08:00

The Local Church grew out of the ministry of Watchman Nee (1903–72), a Chinese Christian who had been strongly influenced by the Plymouth Brethren, a British fundamentalist free church. In the 1930s Nee wrote several books presenting his beliefs

Chabrol, Claude

2005-02-06T10:13:00.000-08:00

After attending the School of Political Science at the University of Paris, he was a critic and public relations man for Twentieth Century-Fox's French office. Le Beau Serge (1958; “Handsome Serge”; Bitter Reunion), written and produced by Chabrol, was an important

Gad Al-haq Ali Gad Al-haq

2005-02-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

Egyptian religious leader who, as grand sheikh of al-Azhar, the Muslim world's highest religious body, issued rulings based on strict Islamic orthodoxy, including support for female circumcision and harsh punishment for those breaking the fast during Ramadan (b. April 5, 1917--d. March 15, 1996).

Vigny, Alfred-victor, Comte De

2005-02-04T23:42:00.000-08:00

Poet, dramatist, and novelist who was the most philosophical of the French Romantic writers.

Van Der Waals Forces

2005-02-04T16:10:00.000-08:00

Relatively weak electric forces that attract neutral molecules to one another in gases, in liquefied and solidified gases, and in almost all organic liquids and solids. The forces are named for the Dutch physicist Johannes van der Waals, who in 1873 first postulated these intermolecular forces in developing a theory to account for the properties of real gases. Solids

Venezuela, The colonial era

2005-02-03T19:41:00.000-08:00

Christopher Columbus arrived in what is now Venezuela in 1498, during his third voyage to the New World. European explorers named the region Venezuela (“Little Venice”) after observing local Indian houses on stilts over water. During the first quarter-century of contact, the Europeans limited themselves to slave hunting and pearl fishing on the northeastern coast; the

Amarna, Tell El-

2005-02-02T15:20:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Tall al-Amarna , or Tel el-Amarna site of the ruins and tombs of the city of Akhetaton (“Horizon of Aton”) in Upper Egypt, 44 miles (71 km) north of modern Asyut in al-Minya muhafazah (governorate). On a virgin site on the east bank of the Nile, Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV) built the city in about 1348 BC as the new capital of his kingdom when he abandoned the worship of Amon and devoted himself to that of Aton. About four years after Akhenaton's

Berazategui

2005-01-31T20:22:00.000-08:00

Partido (county) at the southeastern limits of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, Argentina, in Buenos Aires provincia. It lies along the Río de la Plata estuary. The subdivision was created in October 1960 out of the existing partido of Quilmes. Berazategui was originally the property of the Barragán family when it was sold in 1860 to José Clemente Berazategui and Juan Etcheverry.

Mindanao

2005-01-30T05:32:00.000-08:00

Kadiri

2005-01-30T04:18:00.000-08:00

Hinduized kingdom in eastern Java, established about the 11th century. Little is known of the kingdom. According to the Pararaton (“Book of Kings”), a mighty king of eastern Java, Airlangga, divided his kingdom between his two sons before he died in 1049: the western part was called Kadiri, or Panjalu, with Daha as its capital, while the eastern part was called Janggala. Jayabhaya of

Visconti-venosta, Emilio, Marchese

2005-01-28T16:54:00.000-08:00

A youthful participant in the revolutionary movement against Austrian rule that began in 1848, Visconti-Venosta was forced in 1859 to flee to Piedmont; he served the government

Itaipú Dam

2005-01-27T21:05:00.000-08:00

Hollow gravity dam on the Alto (Upper) Paraná River at the Brazil-Paraguay border, north of the town of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. In terms of power output, it is one of the world's largest hydroelectric projects. Its 18 massive turbine generators, located in the powerhouse at the base of the dam, are capable of generating 12,600 megawatts of electricity. Built as a joint venture by

Balashikha

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

Also spelled Balašicha, city, Moscow oblast (province), western Russia, situated 15 miles (25 km) east of Moscow on the banks of the Pekhorka River. Balashikha developed in the 19th century, first as the site of a cloth factory and later as a centre for papermaking. In Soviet times it underwent rapid growth and was incorporated in 1939. The city is now a heavy-industrial centre, specializing in machine building.

Topiary

2005-01-25T14:00:00.000-08:00

The training of living trees and shrubs into artificial, decorative shapes. Thickly leaved evergreen shrubs are used in topiary; the best subjects are box, cypress, and yew, although others—such as rosemary, holly, and box honeysuckle—are used with success. Topiary is said to have been invented by a friend of the ancient Roman emperor Augustus and is known to have been

Anastatic Printing

2005-01-25T07:48:00.000-08:00

Also called relief etching a technique of printmaking from a plate on which all but the design to be printed is etched away, leaving the design in relief. In zinc etching, the most popular anastatic process, the design is painted on a zinc plate in asphalt varnish and the uncoated portions of the plate are bitten away by a solution. The process is best known as that in which the English poet and artist

Interlocutory Decree

2005-01-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

Generally, a judicial decision that is not final or that deals with a point other than the principal subject matter of the controversy at hand. An interlocutory decree of divorce in the United States or a decree nisi in England, for example, is a judicial decree pronouncing the divorce of the parties provisionally but not terminating the marriage until the expiration

Padang Highlands

2005-01-23T00:04:00.000-08:00

Region near the western coast of the island of Sumatra, Indonesia. It is part of the Barisan Mountains of Sumatera Barat provinsi (“province”). The highest among several volcanoes in the highlands is Mount Merapi (9,485 feet [2,891 m]). A favourite resort area because of its climate, the region has superb scenery and is the source of four major rivers (the Rokan, Kampar, Inderagiri, and Batanghari).

Wanganui River

2005-01-22T22:58:00.000-08:00

River in central North Island, New Zealand. It rises on the western slopes of Mount Ngauruhoe and flows northwest to Taumarunui and then south to empty into the Tasman Sea at South Taranaki Bight. Draining a basin of 2,850 square miles (7,380 square km), the Wanganui, 180 miles (290 km) long, is fed by the Ongarue, Tangarakau, and Ohura rivers. A sandbar at its mouth, near Wanganui city, blocks the

Performing Arts, Popular. - United States

2005-01-20T13:05:00.000-08:00

Hip-hop artist Eminem—Detroit native Marshall Mathers III—in 2002 further advanced his standing as a pop-culture favourite with the release of his third album, The Eminem Show, and a starring role in the movie 8 Mile, about a white rap artist trying to establish himself in the black-dominated idiom. The Eminem Show debuted at number one on Billboard's Top 200 album chart in June

Encarnación

2005-01-20T02:22:00.000-08:00

Formerly Itapúa city, southeastern Paraguay. The city was founded in 1614 on the west bank of the Upper Paraná River, opposite Posadas, Arg., to which it is linked by a bridge completed in 1987. Severely damaged by a tornado in 1926, it is now one of the largest cities of Paraguay and a busy commercial, manufacturing, and communications centre. The city is divided into two sectors: the High (old) City and the

Botulism

2005-01-19T23:57:00.000-08:00

Poisoning by the toxin, called botulinus toxin, or botulin, produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria. This poisoning results most frequently from the eating of improperly sterilized canned foods containing the toxin. C. botulinum bacteria cannot survive in the presence of oxygen and normally live in the soil, where they form heat-resistant spores that may contaminate

Fu-shun

2005-01-17T19:31:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Fushun, city in central Liaoning sheng (province), northeastern China. It is situated some 25 miles (40 km) east of Shen-yang (Mukden) on the Hun River. In earlier times this area was on the frontier of Chinese settlement. It was the site of a customs station under the T'ang dynasty (618–907) in the 8th century, and again under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), when it received the name Fu-shun. It was not until 1902 that settlement

Ghaggar River

2005-01-15T16:53:00.000-08:00

River, northern India. The Ghaggar rises in the Siwalik Range, northwestern Himachal Pradesh state, and flows about 200 miles (320 km) southwest through Haryana state, where it receives the Saraswati River. It eventually loses itself in the sands of the Thar Desert. Just southwest of Sirsa it feeds two irrigation canals that extend into Rajasthan. The Ghaggar was probably once an

Fen

2005-01-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

Type of bog (q.v.), especially a low-lying area, wholly or partly covered with water and dominated by grasslike plants, grasses, sedges, and reeds. In strict usage, a fen denotes an area in which the soil is organic (peaty) and alkaline rather than acid.

Madison, Dolley

2005-01-13T15:14:00.000-08:00

When Dolley Madison died in 1849 she was one of the most popular figures in Washington and the nation's favourite first lady. At her funeral President Zachary Taylor, his cabinet, the diplomatic corps, and members of Congress lined up to pay their respects. She was buried beside James Madison at a family plot near Montpelier.

Water Lily

2005-01-12T16:11:00.000-08:00

Any of the freshwater plants of the family Nymphaeaceae, comprising eight genera native to the temperate and tropical parts of the world. All members of the family are perennial except for the genus Euryale, an annual or short-lived perennial found only in Asia. Most species of water lilies have rounded, floating, waxy-coated leaves on long stalks that contain

Ivy League

2005-01-11T10:57:00.000-08:00

A group of colleges and universities in the northeastern United States that are widely regarded as high in academic and social prestige: Harvard (established 1636), Yale (1701), Pennsylvania (1740), Princeton (1746), Columbia (1754), Brown (1764), Dartmouth (1769), and Cornell (1865). They are members of an athletic conference for intercollegiate American football and other sports known as the Ivy League. Though formally

Gobi

2005-01-10T05:50:00.000-08:00

European interest in the region

Sangareddi

2005-01-09T21:36:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sangareddy , also called Sangareddipet town, administrative headquarters of Medak district, Andhra Pradesh state, southern India, on the Deccan Plateau near the Manjra River. The town has mainly an agricultural economy (rice, sugarcane, and oilseeds) and is noted for the manufacture of brass, silverware, and silk cloth. Pop. (1981) 31,360.

Berdyayev, Nikolay Aleksandrovich

2005-01-07T21:56:00.000-08:00

During his student days at Kiev

Land Crab

2005-01-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

Any crab of the family Gecarcinidae (order Decapoda of the class Crustacea), typically terrestrial, square-bodied crabs that only occasionally, as adults, return to the sea. They occur in tropical America, West Africa, and the Indo-Pacific region. All species feed on both animal and plant tissue. Cardisoma guanhumi, a land crab of Bermuda, the West Indies, and the southern

Yverdon

2005-01-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

German Iferten, city, Vaud canton, western Switzerland, on the southern shore of Lake Neuchâtel, at the mouth of La Thielle River, north of Lausanne. It originated as the Roman camp Eburodunum, and the ruined Roman walls remain. The castle (1260–78) of the dukes of Savoy was the seat of the boarding school established in 1805 by the Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, which flourished for 20 years;

Amphibole

2005-01-04T09:34:00.000-08:00

Amphiboles are found principally in metamorphic and igneous rocks. They occur in many metamorphic rocks, especially those derived from mafic igneous rocks (those containing dark-coloured ferromagnesian minerals) and siliceous dolomites. Amphiboles also are important constituents in a variety of plutonic and volcanic igneous rocks that range in composition

Genée, Dame Adeline

2005-01-04T06:22:00.000-08:00

At eight she was adopted by her aunt and uncle, the dancers who trained her for the ballet. Her early appearances were in Germany. From 1897 until 1907 she was prima ballerina at the Empire Theatre in London.

Bukowski, Charles

2005-01-02T20:34:00.000-08:00

Bukowski lived most of his life in Los Angeles. He briefly attended Los Angeles City College (1939–41) and worked at menial jobs while writing short stories, the first of which were published

Mexico, Gulf Of, Physiography and geology

2005-01-01T15:44:00.000-08:00

The Gulf of Mexico consists of several ecological and geologic provinces, chief of which are the coastal zone, the continental shelf, the continental slope, and the abyssal plain. The coastal zone consists of tidal marshes, sandy beaches, mangrove-covered areas, and many bays, estuaries, and lagoons. The continental shelf forms an almost continuous terrace around

Ernest Augustus

2005-01-01T06:33:00.000-08:00

Ernest Augustus studied at Göttingen, entered the Hanoverian army, and served as a leader of cavalry when war broke out between Great Britain and France in 1793. When Hanover withdrew from the war in 1795 he returned to England, being made lieutenant general in

District Of Columbia, University Of The

2004-12-31T09:45:00.000-08:00

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Washington, D.C., U.S. It is the only public institution of higher education in the district, and it was the first exclusively urban land-grant university. There are three campuses—the Georgia/Harvard Street campus, the Mount Vernon Square campus, and the Van Ness campus. The university consists of the University

Biblical Literature, Philosophical solutions

2004-12-30T01:35:00.000-08:00

Solutions were also sought in philosophy. Socrates, a 5th-century-BC Greek philosopher, was largely concerned with the search for the “good,” the good life. After Plato and Aristotle, however, philosophical systems sought to supply man's longing for inward security and stability. These were sought not by an in-depth understanding of reality but by ad hoc constructions—a

Yukata

2004-12-29T23:32:00.000-08:00

It has become accepted practice to wear a yukata on the street on warm summer evenings. Japanese inns and many hotels supply their guests with yukatas for

Hardin, John Wesley

2004-12-28T05:18:00.000-08:00

Reaching adolescence as the defeated South entered the Reconstruction period, Hardin was virulently antiblack and anti-Yankee and, in 1868 at the age of 15, killed his first man, an ex-slave. From then on

Pitr

2004-12-27T08:40:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Pitri (Sanskrit: “father”) , plural Pitaras, Pitrs , or Pitris in Hinduism, any of the spirits of the dead ancestors or of all the dead who have been cremated or buried in accordance with the proper rites. In the Vedas, the sacred scriptures of ancient India, the “fathers” were considered to be immortal like the gods and to share in the sacrifice, though they received different offerings. The “way of the fathers,” characterized by observance

Gaddi, Taddeo

2004-12-25T05:46:00.000-08:00

His earliest authenticated work is a small triptych with the Virgin enthroned with Child and saints, signed and

Daulatabad

2004-12-23T01:35:00.000-08:00

Also called Devagiri , or Deogir village and ancient city, Maharashtra state, western India. Founded in the late 12th century by King Bhillam of the Yadava dynasty, it was a major fortress and administrative centre in medieval times. The fortress, located in and around a large rock outcropping, was so impregnable that it was never taken by force, although it was taken by intrigue. The city was the capital of

Kerensky, Aleksandr Fyodorovich

2004-12-22T22:50:00.000-08:00

While studying law at the University of St. Petersburg, Kerensky was attracted to the Narodniki (or populist) revolutionary movement. After graduating (1904), he joined the Socialist

Rurik

2004-12-22T04:50:00.000-08:00

Rurik was a Viking, or Varangian, prince. His story is told in the The Russian Primary Chronicle (compiled at the beginning of the 12th century) but is not accepted at face value by modern historians. According to the chronicle, the people of Novgorod, tired of political strife, invited the Varangians about AD 862 to

Tlalnepantla

2004-12-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

In full Tlalnepantla De Comonfort, city, northeastern México state, central Mexico. At an altitude of 7,474 ft (2,278 m) above sea level on the Río Tlalnepantla, it was founded by the Otomi Indians and conquered by the Aztecs; archaeological remains have been found on the site, and two Aztec pyramids are nearby. The city's church was begun in 1583. Originally an agricultural and livestock-raising centre, Tlalnepantla has

Minahasan

2004-12-19T00:08:00.000-08:00

People inhabiting the northernmost extension of the island of Celebes, Indonesia, in and around the port town of Manado. Of Proto-Malay stock, the Minahasan, formerly headed by chiefs, are now organized patrilineally under headmen, and land is owned communally by each village. Extended families are bound to undivided estates that are apportioned according to the

Cinquefoil

2004-12-18T21:02:00.000-08:00

(genus Potentilla), any of many flowering plants of the rose family (Rosaceae), comprising about 500 species of herbs and shrubs. The common name, which means “five-leaved,” refers to the number of leaflets in the compound leaf; some species, however, have three or seven leaflets. Most of the species are native to the North Temperate Zone and the Arctic and are

Mauer

2004-12-17T14:34:00.000-08:00

Pleistocene locality on the Neckar River of Germany and the name of a Pleistocene deposit, the Mauer Sands (the Pleistocene epoch began about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The Mauer Sands are about 64 feet (20 m) thick and contained the fossil remains of the sabre-toothed cat, bear, horse, hippopotamus, and extinct elephant; Germany's oldest human fragment, the Heidelberg

Regensburg

2004-12-16T09:19:00.000-08:00

Also called Ratisbon, city, Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany, on the right bank of the Danube River at its most northerly course, where it is joined by the Regen River. In the area of the old city was a Celtic settlement (Radasbona), which later became the site of a Roman stronghold and legionary camp, Castra Regina (founded AD 179). The Roman north gate (Porta Praetoria) and parts of the walls survive.

Productivity

2004-12-16T08:43:00.000-08:00

In principle, any input can be used in the denominator of the productivity ratio. Thus, one can speak of the productivity of land, labour,

Aube River

2004-12-15T23:01:00.000-08:00

River, north central France, navigable tributary of the Seine, which it joins above Romilly. The Aube and its tributary, the Aujon, rise on the Langres Plateau, flowing northwest for 154 mi (248 km) in trenchlike valleys across the dry oolitic limestone country. In front of the Côte des Bars escarpment, the valleys open out as stone gives way to clay at Montigny-le-Roi and Châteauvillain.

Tala

2004-12-14T06:41:00.000-08:00

In the music of India and Pakistan, a metric cycle with a specific number of beats—from 3 to 128—that recur in the same pattern throughout a musical performance. Tala might generally be equated with rhythm or metre, although the tala procedure has no precise counterpart in Western music. Within the pattern the beats are not necessarily grouped in identical subunits, as in

Kellermann, François-christophe, Duc (duke) De Valmy

2004-12-12T03:13:00.000-08:00

Born into a family of the judicial nobility, Kellermann became an officer in the French Army in 1752. He fought with distinction against the Prussians and British during the Seven Years' War (1756–63) and was subsequently

Igboid Languages

2004-12-11T07:04:00.000-08:00

A language cluster that constitutes a subbranch of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. There are nearly 20 million speakers of Igboid languages in southeastern Nigeria. In the early years of the 20th century an attempt to develop an artificial form of Igbo called Union-Igbo, based on four Igbo dialects, was not successful. Later a standard literary

Aron, Raymond (-claude-ferdinand)

2004-12-10T22:57:00.000-08:00

The son of a Jewish jurist, Aron obtained his doctorate in 1930 from the École Normale Supérieure with a thesis on the philosophy of history. He was a professor of social philosophy at the University of Toulouse when World War II

Booth, Maud Ballington

2004-12-10T21:31:00.000-08:00

Maud Charlesworth grew up from the age of three in London. The examples of her father, a clergyman, and her mother, who worked with her husband in his slum parish, predisposed Maud to social service, and in 1882 she joined the Salvation Army. Organizing work in France

Rembrandt

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

Another cluster of talented pupils worked with Rembrandt around 1640: Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (1621–74) from Amsterdam; Carel Fabritius (1622–54), later a leading painter in Delft; and Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–78) of Dordrecht, later better known for his art theory, Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst (1678; “Introduction to the High School of Painting”). Each of these made his own variation

Tsvetayeva, Marina Ivanovna

2004-12-08T03:56:00.000-08:00

Tsvetayeva spent her youth predominantly in Moscow, where her father

France, History Of, The Resistance

2004-12-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

Vichy's decline was paralleled by the rise of the anti-German underground. Within weeks of the 1940 collapse, tiny groups of French citizens had begun to resist. Some collected military intelligence for transmission to London; some organized escape routes for British airmen who had been shot down; some circulated anti-German leaflets; some engaged in sabotage of railways

Alabama, European rivalry, settlement, and growth

2004-12-05T08:07:00.000-08:00

The first known European explorers were of Spanish descent and arrived at Mobile Bay in 1519. The main thrust of exploration came in 1540, when Hernando de Soto and his army of about 500 men entered the interior from the valley of the Tennessee River to search for gold. His expedition, which extensively crisscrossed the area, was important because of his discovery of the Mississippi

Biblical Literature, Swiss versions

2004-12-04T17:27:00.000-08:00

Four parts of Luther's version were reprinted in the Swyzerdeutsch dialect in Zürich in 1524–25. The Prophets and Apocrypha appeared in 1529. A year later, the first Swiss Bible was issued with the Prophets and Apocrypha independently translated. The Swiss Bible underwent frequent revision between 1660 and 1882. A fresh translation from the original languages was made between 1907 and 1931.

Domicile

2004-12-03T13:05:00.000-08:00

In law, a person's dwelling place as it is defined for purposes of judicial jurisdiction and governmental burdens and benefits. Certain aspects of a person's legal existence do not vary with the state he happens to be in at any given moment but are governed by a personal law that follows him at all times. In Anglo-American countries applying the common law, one's personal

Florida, Flag Of

2004-12-02T09:05:00.000-08:00

The first flag of Florida was hoisted on June 25, 1845, at the inauguration of its first governor, William D. Moseley. It had five horizontal stripes (blue, orange, red, white, and green) and a ribbon with the inscription “Let us alone.” The U.S. flag served as a canton. The states' rights and antifederalist symbolism in the design is clear, but the associations of the colours are unknown;

Husted, Marjorie Child

2004-12-02T05:56:00.000-08:00

Husted attended public schools and graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1913. She remained at the university to take a degree in education the next year. After a

Bruck

2004-11-30T23:17:00.000-08:00

Also called Bruck An Der Mur, town, Steiermark Bundesland (federal state), southeast-central Austria. It lies at the junction of the Mur and Mürz rivers north of Graz. First mentioned in 860 as a possession of the archbishops of Salzburg, it was chartered in 1263. The earliest bridge (Brücke) on the site, probably from Roman times, gave the town its name. Notable landmarks are the magnificent Gothic Kornmesserhaus

Hale, John Parker

2004-11-29T08:15:00.000-08:00

After

Denham, Dixon

2004-11-28T10:39:00.000-08:00

After serving in the Napoleonic Wars, Denham volunteered in 1821 to join Walter Oudney and Lieutenant Hugh Clapperton on an official expedition across the Sahara to Bornu (now in northeastern Nigeria), in the Lake Chad basin. After enduring danger and privation,

Murdoch, James Edward

2004-11-27T09:09:00.000-08:00

After performing with amateur groups in Philadelphia, Murdoch made his successful debut at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, in Lovers' Vows by August von Kotzebue. Following an unsalaried season with the company, he traveled about North America, playing with

Gradient Wind

2004-11-27T05:16:00.000-08:00

Hypothetical wind that accounts for air flow along a curved trajectory. It is an extension of the concept of geostrophic wind—i.e., the wind assumed to move along straight and parallel isobars (lines of equal pressure). The gradient wind represents the actual wind better than does the geostrophic wind, especially when the wind speed and trajectory curvature are large,

Nova Scotia, Education

2004-11-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

The nondenominational system of compulsory, free public education, dating from the mid-19th century, consolidated the many rural school districts into fewer, larger, and more efficient districts during the 1970s. Considerable emphasis is placed on commercial and vocational training at the secondary as well as the college level. Dalhousie University (founded 1818) in Halifax

Baker, Sir Benjamin

2004-11-25T06:12:00.000-08:00

In 1861 Baker became an assistant to the consulting engineer John Fowler and by 1875 was his partner. Baker became Fowler's chief assistant in 1869 and as such was responsible for the construction of the subterranean District

Leguminosae

2004-11-24T00:30:00.000-08:00

Plant family comprising the order Fabales (q.v.).

Nitroso Compound

2004-11-23T05:10:00.000-08:00

Nitroso compounds are usually prepared

Flamsteed, John

2004-11-21T20:07:00.000-08:00

Poor health forced Flamsteed to leave school in 1662. He studied astronomy on his own and later (1670–74) continued his education at the University of Cambridge. In 1677 he became a member of the Royal Society. Ordained a clergyman in 1675, Flamsteed in

Good Feelings, Era Of

2004-11-21T01:40:00.000-08:00

Also called Era Of Good Feeling, the national mood of the United States from 1815 to 1825, as first described by the Boston Columbian Centinel on July 12, 1817. Although the “era” generally is considered coextensive with President James Monroe's two terms (1817–25), it really began in 1815, when for the first time American citizens could afford to pay less attention to European political and military affairs. The predominant attitude

Earth, Variation with internal density distribution

2004-11-19T17:42:00.000-08:00

If the Earth were horizontally stratified so that density varied only with depth, the Bouguer anomaly would be everywhere close to zero. In fact, because the Earth is heterogeneous, the gravitational anomaly field displays “roughness” over a very wide range of length scales and amplitudes. When the distribution of excess or deficiency in density is known, the effect

Jewish Religious Year

2004-11-19T09:46:00.000-08:00

The cycle of Sabbaths and holidays that are commonly observed by the Jewish religious community—and officially in Israel by the Jewish secular community as well. The Sabbath and festivals are bound to the Jewish calendar, reoccur at fixed intervals, and are celebrated at home and in the synagogue according to ritual set forth in Jewish law and hallowed by Jewish