RightWhistle

Leaf Fibre

2005-04-05T19:26:00.000-07:00

Hard, coarse fibre obtained from leaves of monocotyledonous plants (flowering plants that usually have parallel-veined leaves, such as grasses, lilies, orchids, and palms), used mainly for cordage. Such fibres, usually long and stiff, are also called “hard” fibres, distinguishing them from the generally softer and more flexible fibres of the bast, or “soft,” fibre group. Commercially

Cahaba

2005-04-05T00:19:00.000-07:00

Historic village, Dallas county, southwest-central Alabama, U.S. It lies at the confluence of the Cahaba and Alabama rivers, 8 miles (13 km) southwest of Selma. Founded in 1819 as the first capital of Alabama, Cahaba thrived until floods forced the state government to move to Tuscaloosa in 1826. The site of a Confederate prison camp during the American Civil War, Cahaba remained the seat

Yessentuki

2005-04-04T06:38:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Jessentuki , or Essentuki city, Stavropol kray (region), southwestern Russia, in the valley of the Podkumok River. It was founded in 1798, developed as a fortress in the 1830s, and became a city in 1917. It is located at mineral springs at the base of the Caucasus Mountains. The city is composed of an old Cossack village in the southern sector and a newer city in the north. It is a major health resort, with sanatoriums

Wild Pig

2005-04-03T06:07:00.000-07:00

Also called Wild Boar, any of the wild members of the pig species Sus scrofa (family Suidae, order Artiodactyla), the ancestors of domestic pigs. See boar.

Fish Sauce

2005-04-02T08:46:00.000-08:00

In Southeast Asian cookery, a liquid seasoning prepared by fermenting freshwater or saltwater fish with salt in large vats. After a few months time, the resulting brownish, protein-rich liquid is drawn off and bottled. It is sometimes allowed to mature in the sun in glass or earthenware bottles before use. Called nam pla in Thailand, nuoc nam in Vietnam, patis in the Philippines,

Obstfelder, Sigbjørn

2005-04-02T04:12:00.000-08:00

Most of Obstfelder's works appeared in the 1890s: his first volume of poetry, Digte (1893; Poems); a play, De røde draaber (1897; “The Red Drops”); several novellas; and the posthumously published

Gumma

2005-03-31T22:32:00.000-08:00

Soft, granulomatous, tumourlike mass, sometimes appearing during the late stages of syphilis, that occurs most often beneath the skin and mucous membranes but that may also be found in the bones, nervous system, and other organs and tissues. See also syphilis.

Mashriq Al-adhkar

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

(Arabic: “place where the uttering of the name of God arises at dawn”), temple or house of worship in the Baha'i faith. The mashriq is characterized by a nine-sided construction, in keeping with the Baha'i belief in the mystical properties of the number nine. Free of ritual and clergy, the mashriq is open to adherents of all religions and offers a simple service consisting of readings

Ekman, Gösta

2005-03-31T00:05:00.000-08:00

Ekman premiered in 1906 at Stockholm's Oscar Theatre and, after an apprenticeship on tour and in the provinces, returned to Stockholm (1913) to win acclaim for his classic portrayals, such as Lionel in Friedrich Schiller's Maid of Orleans (1914), Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (1916), and

Ring

2005-03-30T19:57:00.000-08:00

Basically, a ring consists of three parts: the circle, or hoop;

Marrah Mountains

2005-03-30T05:29:00.000-08:00

Arabic Jabal Marra, mountain range, a rugged volcanic chain extending for 100 miles (160 km) west-southwest of Al-Fashir, in west-central Sudan. The highest point of the Nile-Lake Chad watershed, the mountains reach heights of more than 10,000 feet (3,000 m). Some intermittent tributaries of the Al-'Arab River rise on the southern flanks.

Yürük Rug

2005-03-30T02:45:00.000-08:00

Rugs from eastern Anatolia, many

Cloud Forest

2005-03-28T13:50:00.000-08:00

Also called montane rainforest, vegetation of tropical mountainous regions in which the rainfall is often heavy and persistent condensation occurs because of cooling of moisture-laden air currents deflected upward by the mountains. The trees in a cloud forest are typically short and crooked. Mosses, climbing ferns, lichens, and epiphytes (air plants, such as orchids) form thick blankets on the

Andrade, Mário De

2005-03-28T11:45:00.000-08:00

Educated at the conservatory in São Paulo, Andrade helped organize what proved to be a key event in the

Amorphous Solid, Other preparation techniques

2005-03-28T05:49:00.000-08:00

Numerous other methods exist for preparing amorphous solids, and new methods are continually invented. In melt spinning, a jet of molten metal is propelled against the moving surface of a cold, rotating copper cylinder. A solid film of metallic glass is spun off as a continuous ribbon at a speed that can exceed a kilometre per minute. In laser glazing, a brief intense

Smith Act

2005-03-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

Formally Alien Registration Act of 1940 U.S. federal law passed in 1940 that made it a criminal offense to advocate violent overthrow of the government or to organize or be a member of any group or society devoted to such advocacy. After World War II this statute was made the basis of a series of prosecutions against leaders of the Communist Party and the Socialist Workers Party. The conviction of the principal

Romanche Gap

2005-03-25T08:37:00.000-08:00

The Romanche Gap is one of the

Saigon River

2005-03-25T01:33:00.000-08:00

Vietnamese Song Sai Gon river in southern Vietnam that rises near Phum Daung, southeastern Cambodia, and flows south and south-southeast for about 140 miles (225 km). In its lower course it embraces Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) on the east and forms an estuary at the head of Ganh Rai Bay, an outlying part of the Mekong delta. The Saigon is joined 18 miles (29 km) northeast of Ho Chi Minh City by the Dong Nai River,

Beastie Boys, The

2005-03-24T10:01:00.000-08:00

American hip-hop and rock group, the first white rap performers to gain a substantial following; as such, they were largely responsible for the growth of rap's mainstream audience. The principal members were MCA (byname of Adam Yauch; b. August 5, 1964, New York, New York, U.S.), Mike D (byname of Mike Diamond; b. November 20, 1966, New York), and King AdRock (byname of Adam Horovitz; b. October 31, 1966, New

Michelsen, (peter) Christian (hersleb Kjerschow)

2005-03-23T03:38:00.000-08:00

Michelsen began his career as a lawyer; later he started his own shipping firm, which became one of the largest in Norway. A member of the Storting (parliament) from 1891, he adhered at first to the “Pure” Left Party but later broke with

Muna Island

2005-03-22T13:58:00.000-08:00

Indonesian Pulau Muna , Dutch Moena Eiland island and kabupaten (regency), Sulawesi Tenggara provinsi (“province”), Indonesia. The island lies in the Flores Sea south of the southeastern arm of Celebes. With an area of 658 square miles (1,704 square km), it has a hilly surface, rising to 1,460 feet (445 m). The north and northeast have teak forests. The Muna, a Muslim people speaking an Austronesian language, practice a simple agriculture,

Masaniello

2005-03-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

Masaniello was a young fisherman in 1647 when he was chosen to lead a protest against a new tax on fruit, levied by the nobility to raise money to pay the tribute demanded by Spain. The insurrection against the nobles was successful, but Masaniello

Arverni

2005-03-21T21:18:00.000-08:00

Ancient Celtic tribe inhabiting what is now the region of Auvergne, in central France; their chieftain Vercingetorix (q.v.) led a rebellion against Julius Caesar in 52 BC. Although rivalry between Arverni and Aedui for Gallic primacy weakened their coalition, the rebels were able to defeat Caesar at the Arverni capital, Gergovia (modern Gergovie), before Vercingetorix

Augusta

2005-03-20T23:15:00.000-08:00

Capital (1831) of Maine, U.S., seat (1799) of Kennebec county, at the head of navigation on the Kennebec River, 57 miles (92 km) northeast of Portland. The city's establishment and early prosperity, which began with the arrival of traders from the Plymouth colony of Massachusetts in 1628, can be attributed to its location on navigable tidewater 39 miles (63 km) from the Atlantic Ocean. A trading post was

Oslo Fjord

2005-03-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

Norwegian Oslofjorden, fjord on the Skagerrak (strait) penetrating the southern coast of Norway for 60 miles (100 km) from about Fredrikstad to Oslo. With an area of 766 square miles (1,984 square km), the fjord occupies a glacier-formed depression, or graben, that has been partially filled and partially reexcavated. The fjord's forested shoreline is dotted with numerous towns and seaports and is one of the most

Sinkiang, Uygur Autonomous Region Of, The people

2005-03-19T06:54:00.000-08:00

The Han migration altered the pattern of population distribution and ethnic composition

Alchevsk

2005-03-18T03:46:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1931–61) Voroshilovsk , or (1961–92) Kommunarsk city, Luhansk oblast (province), eastern Ukraine. It lies along the railway from Luhansk to Debaltsevo. Alchevsk was founded in 1895 with the establishment of the Donetsko-Yuryevsky ironworks. The plant has developed into a large, integrated ironworks and steelworks, which was expanded greatly in the 1950s and '60s. The city is a major bituminous-coal mining centre, and there are

Arabia, History Of, Religious reform

2005-03-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

The Wahhabi movement, which introduced a new factor into the pattern of Arabian politics, was founded by Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, a reformer influenced by the writings of the 13th–14th-century pietist theologian Ibn Taymiyah, of the strict Hanbali school of Islamic law. It was 'Abd al-Wahhab's intention to purify Islam of polytheism and to return it to an idealized primitive state.

Ameghino, Florentino

2005-03-17T09:43:00.000-08:00

Ameghino's family immigrated to Argentina when he was a small child. He began collecting fossils as a youth and soon developed an interest

Hay River

2005-03-16T00:13:00.000-08:00

Town, southern Fort Smith region, Northwest Territories, Canada, on the southwestern shore of Great Slave Lake. The settlement, at the mouth of the Hay River, was established in 1868 as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post. With the arrival of the Mackenzie Highway in 1949 and the Great Slave Lake Railway in 1964, Hay River (82 miles [132 km] north of the Alberta border) became a busy commercial fishing

Yurt

2005-03-15T20:48:00.000-08:00

Also spelled yurta , Mongol ger tentlike Central Asian nomad's dwelling, erected on wooden poles and covered with skin, felt, or handwoven textiles in bright colours. The interior is simply furnished with brightly coloured rugs (red often predominating) decorated with geometric or stylized animal patterns. The knotted pile rug, first known from a nomad burial at the foot of the Altai Mountains

Wahiawa

2005-03-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

City, Honolulu county, west-central Oahu Island, Hawaii, U.S. It is situated on the 1,000-foot- (300-metre-) high Leilehua Plateau between the two forks of the Kaukonahua Stream. Wahiawa (meaning “place of noise”) is a commercial centre for nearby plantation communities and military installations (Schofield Barracks and Wheeler Air Force Base). It is the site of company housing developments

Alleyn, Edward

2005-03-14T21:25:00.000-08:00

One of the greatest actors of the Elizabethan stage and founder of Dulwich College, London. Rivaled only by Richard Burbage, Alleyn won the outspoken admiration of such authors as Ben Jonson and Thomas Nashe for his interpretations of Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine, Doctor Faustus, and The Jew of Malta and of Robert Greene's Orlando

Hemel Hempstead

2005-03-14T07:33:00.000-08:00

Town, Dacorum district, administrative and historic county of Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London. The first charter was granted in 1539. The new town, one of eight designed by British planners to accommodate London's overspill population, has been grafted onto the old market town since 1947. Landscaping has been assisted by the presence of the picturesque River Gade.

Military Aircraft, Mach 2

2005-03-13T20:43:00.000-08:00

A fourth generation of fighters began to appear in the 1960s, capable of maximum speeds ranging from about Mach 1.5 to 2.3. Top speeds varied with the intended mission, and increasing engine power, aerodynamic sophistication, and more compact and capable radars and avionics began to blur the differences between two-seat, all-weather fighters and single-seat air-superiority

Beamon, Bob

2005-03-13T11:24:00.000-08:00

Beamon began jumping at Jamaica High School (Long Island, New York) and attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College (Greensboro), the University of Texas

Mahendra

2005-03-12T22:45:00.000-08:00

Mahendra ascended the throne in 1955 upon the death of his father, King Tribhuvan. The new king came into conflict with his Cabinet, which was dominated by a coalition of the Nepali Congress Party and the Ranas (a line of hereditary prime ministers). In order to assert his control, Mahendra staged a coup in 1960, dissolving

Tu Fu

2005-03-12T11:53:00.000-08:00

Born into a scholarly family, Tu Fu received a traditional Confucian education but failed in the imperial examinations of 736. As a result, he spent much of his youth traveling, during which he won renown as a poet and met the other poets of the period,

Epic

2005-03-11T22:43:00.000-08:00

Long narrative poem recounting heroic deeds, although the term has also been loosely used to describe novels, such as Tolstoy's War and Peace, and motion pictures, such as Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible. In literary usage, the term encompasses both oral and written compositions. The prime examples of the oral epic are Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. Outstanding examples

Adams, Charles Francis

2005-03-11T17:15:00.000-08:00

The son of Pres. John Quincy Adams and the grandson of Pres. John Adams, Charles was early introduced to a cosmopolitan way of life when his father was appointed minister to Russia

Qiu Ying

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

Wade-Giles romanization Ch'iu Ying Chinese painter noted for his gongbi brush technique, used to produce highly detailed figure and architectural paintings and flower studies. Qiu did not pursue the other characteristic arts and activities of the man of letters that Chinese critics believed were marks of a great painter,

Jungle Babbler

2005-03-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

Any of about 32 species of songbirds constituting the tribe Pellorneini of the babbler family Timaliidae. Found from Africa to Malaysia and the Philippines, these drab birds with slender, often hook-tipped bills skulk in forest undergrowth. An example is the striped jungle babbler, or spotted babbler (Pelloreum ruficeps), of Southeast Asia—16 centimetres (6 1/4 inches) long,

Adams, Charles Francis

2005-03-10T00:37:00.000-08:00

The massive body measured nearly 9 metres (30 feet) long and must have weighed four to five

Valencia

2005-03-09T11:53:00.000-08:00

County, central New Mexico, U.S., in the Mexican Highland section of the Basin and Range Province. The Manzano Mountains lie at its eastern border, and mesas rise in the west. Between mountains and mesas are the southward-flowing Rio Puerco and the Rio Grande. The Isleta (Pueblo) Indian Reservation is in the north, and other areas of interest are Cibola National Forest, Manzano

Nigeria, Igbo Ukwu

2005-03-08T03:57:00.000-08:00

The bronzes found at Igbo Ukwu, which have been dated to about AD 900, reveal not only a high artistic tradition but also a well-structured society with wide-ranging economic relationships. Of particular interest is the source of the copper and lead used to make the bronzes, which may have been Tadmekka in the Sahara, and of the coloured glass beads, which may have come from

Epistemology, Impact of modern science on epistemology

2005-03-07T19:31:00.000-08:00

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), a cleric, argued in On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres (1543) that the Earth revolves around the Sun. His theory was epistemologically shocking for at least two reasons. First, it goes directly counter to how humans experience their relation to the Sun; it is everyone's prescientific view that the Sun revolves around the Earth. If science can

Arnim, Bettina Von

2005-03-07T14:24:00.000-08:00

Von Arnim was unconventional to the point of eccentricity; wayward, yet a loyal wife (she married Achim

Scythe

2005-03-07T05:09:00.000-08:00

One of the most important of all agricultural hand tools, consisting of a curved blade fitted at an angle to a long, curved handle and used for cutting grain. In modern scythes the handle has a projecting peg that is grasped by one hand, facilitating control of the swinging motion by which grass and grain are cut. The exact origin of the scythe is unknown, but it was little

Sotheby's

2005-03-06T23:46:00.000-08:00

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

Argentina, The Gran Chaco

2005-03-06T17:11:00.000-08:00

The western Gran Chaco has growths of thorn forest dominated by algaroba (carob trees) in the drier and often saline zones. Quebracho trees (a source of tannin) are present, but not to the extent that they are farther east. No plants survive in areas with finer salt at the surface. Coarse bunchgrasses are common in the dry steppe, which also supports dense scrub forests

Levirate

2005-03-06T07:33:00.000-08:00

Custom or law decreeing a dead man's brother to be the preferred, and in rare cases the mandatory, marriage partner of the widow. The term comes from the Latin levir, meaning “husband's brother.” In ancient Hebrew society, the levirate served to perpetuate the line of a man who died without offspring. In some nonliterate societies the rights and duties of the first husband

Gainsborough Chair

2005-03-05T23:51:00.000-08:00

Type of English armchair made in the mid-18th century. A wide chair with a high back, it was normally upholstered in leather. The sides are open, and the short, upholstered arms are set well back from the seat, to which they are connected by a concave curving support. The arm supports and front legs are usually fluted or carved on the front face. The contemporary name was “French

Blair

2005-03-05T18:12:00.000-08:00

The Delaware, Shawnee, and

Aztec

2005-03-04T23:21:00.000-08:00

Nahuatl-speaking people who in the 15th and early 16th centuries ruled a large empire in what is now central and southern Mexico. The Aztec are so called from Aztlán (“White Land”), an allusion to their origins, probably in northern Mexico. They were also called the Tenochca, from an eponymous ancestor, Tenoch, and the Mexica, probably from Metzliapán (“Moon Lake”), the mystical name

Jovius, Paulus

2005-03-04T03:15:00.000-08:00

In about 1513 Jovius settled in Rome; he won the favour of Leo X (who compared him to Livy) and of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, later Clement VII, whom he helped during the sack of Rome in 1527. In 1528 Jovius became bishop of Nocera. He

Mammal, Locomotion

2005-03-04T01:44:00.000-08:00

Specialization in habitat preference has been accompanied by locomotor adaptations. Terrestrial mammals have a number of modes of progression. The primitive mammalian stock was doubtless ambulatory and plantigrade, walking with the digits, metacarpals, and metatarsals (bones of the midfoot), and parts of the ankle and wrist in contact with the ground. The limbs

Hinduism, Folk and tribal myths

2005-03-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

There is a great diversity in folk mythology throughout the entire Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, but these myths have neither been fully collected nor systematically studied. Among locally important deities, Manasa, a snake goddess, worshiped in Assam and Bengal to ward off snakebites and secure prosperity, has an enormous mythology of her own. In South India one

Yevreyskaya

2005-03-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Evreiskaia , also called Birobidzhan autonomous oblast (province) in Khabarovsk kray (region), far eastern Russia, occupying an area of 13,900 sq mi (36,000 sq km) in the basin of the middle Amur River. Most of the oblast consists of level plain, with extensive swamps, patches of swampy forest, and grassland on fertile soils, now largely plowed up. In the north and northwest are the hills of the Bureya Range and the Lesser Khingan,

Lupemban Industry

2005-03-01T11:12:00.000-08:00

Also called Lupembian Industry, a sub-Saharan African stone tool industry dating from the late Pleistocene, beginning about 40,000 years ago. The Lupemban industry was derived from and replaced the Sangoan industry, which is found in forested areas of sub-Saharan Africa. The Lupemban industry is characterized by fairly small, well-shaped tools: chisels, adzes, planes (probably demonstrating intensive

Alkaline-earth Metal

2005-03-01T01:02:00.000-08:00

Prior to the 19th century, substances that were nonmetallic, insoluble in water, and unchanged by fire were known as earths. Those earths, like lime, that resembled the alkalies (soda ash and

Differential Equation

2005-02-28T11:37:00.000-08:00

Mathematical statement containing one or more derivatives, that is, terms representing the relationships between the rates of change of continuously varying quantities. Differential equations are very common in science and engineering, other fields of quantitative study. The solution of a differential equation is, in general, an algebraic equation expressing

Bydgoszcz

2005-02-28T05:10:00.000-08:00

German Bromberg, city, capital of Bydgoszcz województwo (province), northern Poland, near the confluence of the Brda and Vistula rivers. Beginning as a frontier stronghold, Bydgoszcz was seized by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century; it received town rights in 1346. It prospered as a grain and timber centre, was devastated during the 17th-century Swedish wars, and regained importance in

Waitangi, Treaty Of

2005-02-27T21:28:00.000-08:00

(Feb. 6, 1840), historic pact between Great Britain and a number of New Zealand Maori tribes of North Island. It purported to protect Maori rights and was the immediate basis of the British annexation of New Zealand. Negotiated at the settlement of Waitangi on February 5–6 by Britain's designated consul and lieutenant governor William Hobson and many leading Maori chiefs, the

Flint, F.s.

2005-02-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

The son of a commercial traveler, Flint left school at the age of 13 and worked at a variety of jobs. At the age of 17 his reading of a volume by the 19th-century Romantic poet John

Warthog

2005-02-27T03:20:00.000-08:00

(Phacochoerus aethiopicus), member of the pig family, Suidae (order Artiodactyla), found in open and lightly forested areas of Africa. The warthog is a sparsely haired, large-headed, blackish or brown animal standing about 76 centimetres (30 inches) at the shoulder. It has a coarse mane extending from the neck to the middle of the back, and it has a long,

Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel

2005-02-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

A precocious musician who remained successful, C.P.E. Bach was his father's true successor and an important figure in his own right. In his autobiography he writes: “For composition and keyboard-playing, I have never had

Furniture, Holland: 17th century

2005-02-25T21:15:00.000-08:00

A low, square, upholstered type of chair can be seen in engravings of interiors of affluent Dutch homes by Abraham Bosse, a French artist, and in paintings by the Dutch artists Johannes Vermeer and Gerard Terborch. Although this kind of chair is also found in countries where Dutch styles of interior decoration and Dutch furniture won favour, it is not certain that the

Lahbabi, Mohammed Aziz

2005-02-25T14:39:00.000-08:00

Lahbabi taught philosophy at the University of Rabat, where he was dean of the faculty of letters as well as professor, and at the University of Algiers. He also founded the Union of Arab Writers

Hale, Sarah Josepha

2005-02-25T02:12:00.000-08:00

Sarah Josepha Buell married David Hale in 1813, and with him she had five children. Left in financial straits by her husband's death in 1822, she embarked on a literary career. Her poems were printed over the signature

Furniture, Renaissance and later

2005-02-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

(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).

Uwajima

2005-02-24T07:39:00.000-08:00

City, Ehime ken (prefecture), Shikoku, Japan. It faces the Bungo Channel between the Inland Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Uwajima developed as a castle town in the late 16th century. Connected by rail to major ports on the Inland Sea in 1945, it became the transport hub of southwestern Shikoku. The port is an active fishing centre; associated industries produce ships, processed foods,

Byrne, (francis) Barry

2005-02-23T17:48:00.000-08:00

U.S. architect who emerged from the Prairie school of architecture influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright to develop a number of highly individual styles, especially in his designs for Roman Catholic ecclesiastical buildings. One of his finest works, the reinforced concrete Church of Christ the King, Cork, Ireland (from 1928), is said to be the first

Argentina, Perón's legacy

2005-02-23T03:50:00.000-08:00

When Perón died on July 1, 1974, he left to his widow a deeply compromised inheritance, yet the transition of power was smooth, and Isabel Perón was sworn in as the world's first woman president. Under the influence of López Rega, the government became even more inflexibly oriented toward the right, and violence reached new heights. López Rega, who used the rightist crusade to

Arreola, Juan José

2005-02-22T16:24:00.000-08:00

Mexican short-fiction writer and humorist who was a master of brief subgenres, such as the short story, the epigram, and the sketch. He published only one novel, La feria (1963; The Fair). His collection of stories Confabulario (1952) has been reprinted in several expanded editions and was translated into English as Confabulario

Bourne, Francis

2005-02-21T21:05:00.000-08:00

Educated at St. Sulpice, Paris, and Louvain University, Bourne was ordained in 1884 and was appointed (1889) rector of St. John's Seminary, Wonersh, Surrey. In 1895 he became a monsignor

Syrinx

2005-02-21T01:29:00.000-08:00

The vocal organ of birds, located at the base of the windpipe (trachea), where the trachea divides into the bronchi (tubes that connect the trachea with the lungs). The syrinx is lacking in the New World vultures (Cathartidae), which can only hiss and grunt, but reaches great complexity in the songbirds, in which it consists of paired specialized cartilages and membranes

Femur

2005-02-20T11:02:00.000-08:00

Also called thighbone upper bone of the leg or hindleg. The head forms a ball-and-socket joint with the hip (at the acetabulum), being held in place by a ligament (ligamentum teres femoris) within the socket and by strong surrounding ligaments. In humans the neck of the femur connects the shaft and head at a 125° angle, which is efficient for walking. A prominence

Salaberry-de-valleyfield

2005-02-20T08:08:00.000-08:00

English Valleyfield city and port, Montérégie region, southern Quebec province, Canada. It lies on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River, at the east end of Lake Saint-François (St. Francis), which is a widening of the river. The settlement was built on a group of small islands in the river 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Montreal after a paper mill was established there in 1870. The abundant water and hydroelectric

Anglo-norman Literature

2005-02-18T13:25:00.000-08:00

In the 12th century the oldest substantial Anglo-Norman prose work, “The Book of Kings,” was written in England, as were many versions of the Psalter. Sanson de Nanteuil translated into verse the proverbs of Solomon, with commentary; and in the 13th century Robert of Greatham wrote the “Sunday Gospels” for a noble lady. The same century saw the beginning of the magnificent series

Tabasco

2005-02-18T10:08:00.000-08:00

State, southeastern Mexico, bounded on the northwest by the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico, east by Campeche, southeast by Guatemala, south by Chiapas, and west by Veracruz. Tabasco's 9,756-sq-mi (25,267-sq-km) territory is generally low and flat, largely covered with lagoons and swamps but with a higher area in the south and southeast. It is drained by the Grijalva (also known as the

Annaberg-buchholz

2005-02-18T09:17:00.000-08:00

Town, east-central Germany, high in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge), near the Czech border. It was formed in 1945 by the union of Annaberg (chartered 1497) and Buchholz (chartered 1501), both of which were founded as silver-mining settlements. With the decline of mining and smelting in the 16th century, the pillow-lace industry was introduced in 1561 and became, with related manufactures, the principal

Uspensky, Gleb Ivanovich

2005-02-17T02:40:00.000-08:00

Uspensky studied law at the Universities of Moscow and St. Petersburg and for a time worked as a teacher. His first important work, Nravy

Mahakam River

2005-02-16T20:11:00.000-08:00

Indonesian Sungai Mahakam , also called Koetai , or Kutai river rising in the mountains of central Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan) and flowing about 400 miles (650 km) east-southeast to Makassar Strait, in a wide delta. The chief town along its course is Samarinda, capital of Kalimantan Timur (East Borneo) province, about 30 miles (48 km) above the river's mouth.

Mauritius Hemp

2005-02-15T18:10:00.000-08:00

Although the plant is native to Brazil, commercial production of the fibre did not begin there until about 1875. The plant was introduced to Mauritius in the late 18th century. Fibre from the highland is referred to as “aloe malgache,” and from the lower

Economic Growth

2005-02-15T17:59:00.000-08:00

Growth can best be described as a process of transformation. Whether one examines an economy that is already modern and

Avezzano

2005-02-15T11:05:00.000-08:00

Town, L'Aquila província, Abruzzi regione, central Italy. Avezzano lies south of L'Aquila city. Built on the reclaimed Fucino Basin (q.v.), the town was destroyed in 1915 by an earthquake, of which it was the epicentre, and was subsequently rebuilt. In World War II it was heavily damaged again. Only the ruins remain of the castle of the Orsini family (15th century). Avezzano is now an agricultural

Swimming

2005-02-15T09:28:00.000-08:00

In zoology, self-propulsion of an animal through water. See aquatic locomotion.

Dunstan Of Canterbury, Saint

2005-02-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, Dunstan was educated by Irish monks and visitors at Glastonbury. Later he entered first the household of his uncle, Archbishop Aethelhelm

Tibet, Customs

2005-02-13T18:31:00.000-08:00

Traditional marriage ceremonies involve consultations with both a lama and an astrologer in order to predict the compatibility of a couple. The signing of a marriage contract is followed by an official ceremony at the home of the bridegroom. Appearance in a temple or before a civil authority is not required. After a couple is officially wedded, prayer flags are

Aldrin

2005-02-13T04:43:00.000-08:00

One of the several isomers (compounds with the same composition but different structures) of hexachlorohexahydrodimethanonaphthalene, a chlorinated hydrocarbon used as an insecticide. Aldrin was first prepared in the late 1940s and is manufactured by the reaction of hexachlorocyclopentadiene with bicycloheptadiene (both derived from hydrocarbons obtained

Masaccio

2005-02-13T04:30:00.000-08:00

Byname of Tommaso Di Giovanni Di Simone Guidi important Florentine painter of the early Renaissance whose frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence (c. 1427) remained influential throughout the Renaissance. In the span of only six years, Masaccio radically transformed Florentine painting.

Watanabe Osamu

2005-02-12T20:13:00.000-08:00

Watanabe won his first national championship at the age of 19 and defended this title four times (1960–64) while attending Chuo University in Tokyo. He startled observers

Kuantan

2005-02-12T00:41:00.000-08:00

City situated on the eastern coast of the Malay Peninsula, West Malaysia. It lies at the mouth of the Kuantan River, on the South China Sea. Situated on a wide alluvial plain north of the fertile Pahang River delta, Kuantan is Malaysia's most important east-coast port, shipping tin, rubber, and copra south to Singapore for export. Tin is extracted from the deep lode mine at

Ibn Al-bawwab

2005-02-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

Ibn al-Bawwab was from

Asma'i, Al-

2005-02-11T06:01:00.000-08:00

A gifted student of Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', the founder of the Basra school, al-Asma'i joined the court of the 'Abbasid caliph Harun ar-Rashid in Baghdad. Renowned for his piety and plain living, he was a tutor to the caliph's son and a favourite of the Barmakid

Scaliger, Julius Caesar

2005-02-10T20:48:00.000-08:00

Scaliger became known as a scholar through

Susah

2005-02-10T02:55:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sousse, or Sousa, capital of Susah wilayah (governorate), central east Tunisia. The town, an important port and commercial centre, originated as the Phoenician settlement of Hadrumetum. It declined under Arab control but was revived by the Aghlabid rulers of al-Qayrawan (Kairouan) in the 9th century, whose port it remained until the invasions of the Bedouin Arabs in the 11th century. Reestablished

Egypt, Ancient, Amenhotep II

2005-02-09T02:52:00.000-08:00

About two years before his death Thutmose III appointed his 18-year-old son, Amenhotep II (ruled c. 1426–1400 BC), as co-regent. Just prior to his father's death, Amenhotep II set out on a campaign to an area near Kadesh, in Syria, whose city-states were now caught up in the power struggle between Egypt and Mitanni; Amenhotep II killed seven princes and shipped their bodies back to Egypt to be

Coin, Scandinavia

2005-02-08T16:26:00.000-08:00

The origin of Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish coinages is clearly the result of the Danish conquest of England. The Runic alphabet was employed, though not by any means exclusively, on many early coins of Denmark and Norway. The Norwegian series began with Haakon the Great (c. 970–995), who copied the pennies of Ethelred II. In the second half of the 11th century, a coinage of small, thin

Bascom, William R.

2005-02-08T10:09:00.000-08:00

Having held various official positions in British West Africa (1943–46), Bascom became a Fulbright research scholar (1950–51). In 1957 he was made professor and director of the