DelicateShirt

Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services, including estate agent london and estate agent central london. Their centrally located ground floor offices, minutes from Oxford Circus offer an ideal marketing base for your property.

álvarez Quintero, Serafín And Joaquín

2005-04-04T09:38:00.000-07:00

Spanish brothers who collaborated in almost 200 dramas depicting the life, manners, and speech of Andalusia. Their work was among the most popular in Spain during the early 20th century and greatly added to the revival of the Spanish theatre. Their dramas are remarkable for a vivacious and skilled presentation.

Avignon School

2005-04-04T02:14:00.000-07:00

A body of late Gothic painting, not necessarily of a single stylistic evolution, produced in and around the city of Avignon in southeastern France from the second half of the 14th century into the second half of the 15th. Subject to both Italian and Flemish influences—in contrast to the contemporary art of northern France, which was entirely Flemish in character—the art

Literature, German.

2005-04-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

In his 2001 novel Rot, Uwe Timm sought to come to terms with the experiences of the generation of so-called 68ers, people who went through the cultural and political turmoil of the 1960s and '70s in West Germany. The protagonist of Rot is Thomas Linde, a 68er who makes his living as a eulogist at burials, a profession that becomes

Salamis

2005-04-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Salamís, island and town, nomós (department) of Attikí, Greece. The island lies in the Saronic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, west of the city of Piraeus. The town (the present combined municipality of Salamís-Naústathmos) is a port on the west coast of the island. On the east, between the island and the mainland, are the straits in which the Greeks won a decisive naval victory over the Persians

Soria

2005-03-30T19:27:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Soria province, in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), north-central Spain, on the western bank of the Duero (Portuguese: Douro) River, about 110 miles (175 km) northeast of Madrid. Restored by Alfonso I the Warrior of Aragon after the Moorish invasion, the city was later given to Alfonso VII of Castile. Medieval Soria was ruled by the unique

Jack-o'-lantern

2005-03-30T00:56:00.000-08:00

In meteorology, a mysterious light seen at night flickering over marshes; when approached, it advances, always out of reach. The phenomenon is also known as will-o'-the-wisp and ignis fatuus (Latin: “foolish fire”). In popular legend it is considered ominous and is often purported to be the soul of one who has been rejected by hell carrying its own hell coal on its wanderings.

Stegner, Wallace

2005-03-29T16:35:00.000-08:00

Stegner grew up in Saskatchewan, Canada, and in several western states.

Sicard, Roch-ambroise Cucurron, Abbé

2005-03-29T06:05:00.000-08:00

From 1786 to 1789, Sicard, an abbé, was principal of a Bordeaux school for deaf-mutes. He then succeeded Abbé de l'Epée in Paris. Although he long supported teaching deaf-mutes through sign language, Sicard turned to the oral method toward the end of his long career.

Lea, River

2005-03-26T07:14:00.000-08:00

River rising north of Luton in the county of Bedfordshire, England. It flows for 46 miles (74 km) east and then south to enter the River Thames near Bromley-by-Bow, in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. In the 17th century an important aqueduct known as the New River was constructed in the valley of the Lea. Much of the valley has seen considerable industrial development, and many

Elfin Woodland

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

Stunted forest at high elevations in warm, moist areas. Its low, gnarled trees are heavily draped with air plants, and its floor is cushioned by mosses and other primitive plants. Elfinwood, or Krummholz, is a similar stunted forest characteristic of most Alpine regions. See also cloud forest.

Anteater

2005-03-25T08:40:00.000-08:00

Unlike the giant anteater, the lesser anteater, or tamandua (genus Tamandua), is arboreal as well as terrestrial. The two tamandua species are similar in size—about 1.2 metres (4 feet) long, including the almost hairless prehensile tail, which is used for climbing. They are often tan with a blackish “vest” around the shoulders and on the body, but some are

Kunlun Mountains

2005-03-24T23:51:00.000-08:00

Information on the Kunlun Mountains is found in writings on China and Tibet, especially Sven Hedin, Scientific Results of a Journey in Central Asia, 1899–1902, 6 vol. and atlas (1904–07), a record of the work of Central Asia's renowned explorer and his collaborators; Matthias Kuhle, “The Cold Deserts of High Asia: Tibet and Contiguous Mountains,” GeoJournal, 20(3):319–323 (1990); Proceedings of Symposium on Qinghai-Xisang (Tibet) Plateau (1980), surveying the geology and natural history of the high-altitude regions; David H.S. Chang, “The Tibetan Plateau in Relation to the Vegetation of China,” Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, 70(3):564–570 (1983); Maurizio Gaetani, Guido Gosso, and Ugo Pognante, “A Geological Transect from Kun Lun to Karakorum (Sinkiang, China): The Western Termination of the Tibetan Plateau,” Terra Nova, 2(1):23–30 (1990); and Melvyn C. Goldstein and Cynthia M. Beall, Nomads of Western Tibet (1990).

Graham, Katharine

2005-03-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

The daughter of the publisher Eugene Meyer and the educator Agnes Meyer, Katharine Meyer attended Vassar College from 1934 to 1936 and then transferred to the University of Chicago, graduating in 1938. After a year as a reporter for the

Sanlúcar De Barrameda

2005-03-22T03:55:00.000-08:00

Port city, Cadiz provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Andalusia, southwestern Spain. It lies on the south bank of the Guadalquivir River estuary, north of Cádiz city. Built on the site of Luciferi-Fani, a Roman settlement, the town was taken from the Moors in 1256 and given to the soldier Alonso Pérez de Guzmán the Good, who was its first lord and builder

La Follette, Robert M

2005-03-21T03:52:00.000-08:00

In 1897 La Follette began to advocate programs that local-level progressives had popularized during the legislative session a few months earlier. Following their lead, he demanded tax reform, corporation regulation, and political democracy. In particular, he promoted steeper railroad taxes and a direct primary. Elected governor on this platform in 1900, he was reelected

Azerbaijan, Industry

2005-03-21T02:08:00.000-08:00

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

Steen, Jan (havickszoon)

2005-03-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

Dutch painter, ranked immediately after Rembrandt and Hals as a painter of everyday scenes. Steen is unique among leading 17th-century Dutch painters for his humour; he has often been compared to the French comic playwright Molière, his contemporary, and indeed both men treated life as a vast comedy of manners. Some of the artist's biblical and

Vaughan, Frankie

2005-03-19T04:44:00.000-08:00

British theatre and cabaret singer who was one of the most popular romantic crooners of the 1950s through the '90s; darkly handsome and elegantly dressed, “Mr. Moonlight” (as he was known from his signature tune, “Give Me the Moonlight”) also appeared on television in Britain, the U.S., and across Europe and in motion pictures, notably in a musical number with Marilyn Monroe in Let's

Alain De Lille

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

Alain studied and taught at Paris, lived for some time at Montpellier, and later joined the Cistercians in Cîteaux. As a theologian, he shared in the mystic reaction of the second half of the 12th century against Scholastic

Körner, Theodor

2005-03-17T16:33:00.000-08:00

A colonel in the Austro-Hungarian Army at the outbreak of World War I, Körner was subsequently appointed chief of staff (May 1915) and successfully helped to stem Italian offensives along the Italian-Slovenian border.

Xenia

2005-03-17T00:52:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1804) of Greene County, southwestern Ohio, U.S., near the Little Miami River, 16 mi (26 km) east-southeast of Dayton. It was founded in 1803 by Joseph C. Vance, who gave it a Greek name meaning “hospitality.” The arrival of the railroads in the 1840s provided impetus for its growth as a trading centre for farmers and stock raisers. Small manufactures (furniture, cordage, plastics, castings,

Sea Mouse

2005-03-16T16:42:00.000-08:00

Sea mice are usually 7.5–15 centimetres (3–6 inches) long; however, some attain a length of 30 centimetres (12 inches). The slightly arched back is covered with a dense mat of hairlike setae about 2.5 centimetres (1 inch) long. The sea mouse burrows and creeps

Ekelöf, Gunnar

2005-03-15T16:38:00.000-08:00

Ekelöf exerted great influence on his contemporaries. His radically modern style was influenced by such poets as Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Ezra Pound, and T.S. Eliot. In such poetry from the 1930s as Sent på jorden (1932; “Late on Earth”), Ekelöf was drawn to the Surrealist technique of automatism

Later Ly Dynasty

2005-03-15T02:21:00.000-08:00

Vietnamese Nha Hau Ly (1009–1225), first of the three great dynasties of Vietnam. The kingdom, known later as Dai Viet, was established by Ly Thai To in the Red River Delta area of present northern Vietnam. Its capital was Thang Long (Hanoi). (It is “later” with respect to the Earlier Ly dynasty, founded by Ly Bon and lasting from 544 to 602/603.) The Later Ly was the first stable Vietnamese dynasty and helped establish many

General Strike

2005-03-14T06:32:00.000-08:00

The idea of a general strike, as a deliberate part of the tactics of collective bargaining, apparently began in Great Britain

Alumina

2005-03-13T20:37:00.000-08:00

Alumina is made from bauxite, a naturally occurring ore containing

Lutheran Church Of Oldenburg

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

Independent Lutheran church in Oldenburg, Ger. Pastors who had accepted the Lutheran faith were established in Oldenburg during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, and in 1573 an order for church government and the Lutheran confessions were accepted for the church. Until the German Republic was established after the end of World War I (1918), the church was governed by

Earth Sciences, The theory of plate tectonics

2005-03-13T18:37:00.000-08:00

Plate tectonics has revolutionized virtually every discipline of the Earth sciences since the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has served as a unifying model or paradigm for explaining geologic phenomena that were formerly considered in unrelated fashion. Plate tectonics describes seismic activity, volcanism, mountain building, and various other Earth processes in

Jackson, Maynard

2005-03-10T16:38:00.000-08:00

Jackson's father was a Baptist minister, his mother a professor of French. He entered Morehouse College through a special-entry program and received a bachelor's degree in political science and history

Anaximander

2005-03-10T13:19:00.000-08:00

Anaximander is thought to have been a pupil of Thales of Miletus. Evidence exists that he wrote treatises on geography, astronomy, and cosmology that survived for several centuries, and that he made

Carnival

2005-03-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

The merrymaking and festivity that takes place in many Roman Catholic countries in the last days and hours before the Lenten season. The derivation of the word is uncertain, though it possibly can be traced to the medieval Latin carnem levare or carnelevarium, which means to take away or remove meat. This coincides with the fact that carnival is the final festivity

France, History Of, Diffusion of political power

2005-03-09T10:34:00.000-08:00

During the period of insecurity and turbulence that marked the end of the Merovingian epoch, bonds of personal dependence, present in both Roman and Germanic institutions, can be seen to compete with weakened governmental institutions. In the 7th century these bonds took one of two forms: commendation (a free man placed himself under the protection of a more powerful

Amman, Jost

2005-03-09T08:12:00.000-08:00

His engraving of the

Maudslay, Henry

2005-03-08T21:52:00.000-08:00

The son of a workman at the Woolwich Arsenal, Maudslay was apprenticed to Joseph Bramah, who manufactured locks. Maudslay soon became Bramah's foreman, but, when refused an increase in pay, he left to go into business for himself. His first job was construction of machinery

Bekabad

2005-03-06T21:11:00.000-08:00

City, Tashkent oblast (province), eastern Uzbekistan. It lies along both banks of the Syr River at the extreme southern tip of the oblast. The town arose originally in connection with a cement plant and until World War II was known as a cement and cotton centre. During World War II a small steel plant was constructed in Bekabad. It uses scrap and some pig iron brought from

Defferre, Gaston

2005-03-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

Son of a lawyer (avocat), Defferre studied at the Faculty of Law in Aix-en-Provence and practiced law from 1931. During World War II he served in the resistance and was briefly mayor of Marseille near war's end. He was deputy to the National Assembly

Aegirine

2005-03-06T09:17:00.000-08:00

A pyroxene mineral, sodium and iron silicate (NaFe+3Si2O6), that is commonly found in alkaline igneous rocks, particularly in syenites and syenite pegmatites. It also occurs in crystalline schists. Aegirine forms a continuous chemical series with aegirinaugite, in which calcium replaces sodium, and magnesium and aluminum replace iron. In this series, the name acmite

Hinsley, Arthur

2005-03-05T22:37:00.000-08:00

Educated at the English College, Rome, where he was ordained in 1893, Hinsley subsequently held various academic posts in England, at Ushaw College, Durham (1893–97), and at St. Bede's

Yunnankweichow Plateau

2005-03-05T11:07:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization Yün-nan–kuei-chou Kao-yüan , Pinyin Yunnan–guizhou Gaoyuan , also called Kweichow Plateau , or Yunkwei Plateau highland region comprising the northern part of Yunnan province and the western part of Kweichow province, China. Yunnan is more distinctly a plateau with areas of rolling uplands, precipitous folded and fault-block mountain ranges, and deep, river-cut gorges. About 6,000 feet (2,000 m) in elevation, the Yunnan part has mountain peaks of more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m) in the west. In the Kweichow

Taldy-kurgan

2005-03-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

Kazak Taldyqorghan city, southeastern Kazakstan. It is situated on the left bank of the Karatal River and in the western foothills of the Dzungarian Alatau Range. It grew up on the site of Gavrilovka village, founded in the second half of the 19th century, and it developed particularly after the construction of a branch line from the Turk-Sib Railway in 1949. Food products, construction materials,

Bench, Johnny

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

In full Johnny Lee Bench American professional baseball player who, in 17 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds of the National League, established himself as one of the game's finest catchers. He won 10 consecutive Gold Glove Awards (1968–77) and had an exceptional throwing arm. Bench was a master at blocking home plate from base runners, and he popularized the now-standard

Brooks Range

2005-03-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

Northernmost extension of the Rocky Mountains in northern Alaska, U.S. It is separated from the Alaska Range (south) and the Mackenzie Mountains (southeast) by the lowlands of the Yukon and Porcupine river systems. It extends about 600 miles (1,000 km) in a west–east direction across Alaska, from the Chukchi Sea to the Yukon (Canadian) border, and reaches widths of 80 miles (128 km). Its peaks

Switzerland, Dynastic Switzerland

2005-03-02T18:52:00.000-08:00

The Swiss area became united again in the 11th century under a German-dominated Holy Roman Empire; however, the gradual decline of the empire gave rise to a loose confederation of quasi-independent states, enabling feudal dynasties of the Zähringen, Savoy, Kyburg, and Habsburg families to emerge as territorial powers by the beginning of the 13th century. During the 11th

Biblical Literature, The expansion of the Davidic Empire

2005-03-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

The third section of Samuel (II Samuel, chapter 6 through chapter 20, verse 22) contains the account of the reign of David from Jerusalem, ruling over a minor empire that stretched from Egypt in the south to Lebanon in the north and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Arabian Desert in the east. He thus controlled the crossroads of the great empires of the ancient Near

Thang-ka

2005-03-01T03:49:00.000-08:00

Thang-kas are essentially aids for meditation, though they may be hung in temples or at family altars, carried in religious processions, or used to illustrate sermons. Thang-kas are not free

France, History Of, France from 1715 to 1789

2005-02-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Régime and the French Revolution (1955, reprinted 1978; originally published in French, 1856), is still a basic source for the study of the period. Comprehensive histories include C.B.A. Behrens, The Ancien Régime (1967, reprinted 1976); Pierre Goubert and Daniel Roche, Les Français et l'Ancien Régime, 2 vol. (1984); Albert Soboul, La France à la veille de la Révolution, 2nd rev. ed. (1974), a Marxist interpretation; Alfred Cobban, Old Régime and Revolution, 1715–1790 (1957, reprinted 1969), vol. 1 in his A History of Modern France; Hubert Méthivier, L‘Ancien Régime en France: XVIe–XVIIe–XVIIIe siècles (1981); and Norman Hampson, The Enlightenment (1968, reprinted 1982). For discussions of social classes and economic issues, see Robert Forster, The Nobility of Toulouse in the Eighteenth Century (1960, reprinted 1971); Elinor G. Barber, The Bourgeoisie in 18th Century France (1955, reprinted 1970); Franklin L. Ford, Robe and Sword: The Regrouping of the French Aristocracy After Louis XIV (1953, reprinted 1965); Henri Sée, Economic and Social Conditions in France During the Eighteenth Century (1927, reissued 1968; originally published in French, 1925); and Steven Laurence Kaplan, Provisioning Paris: Merchants and Millers in the Grain and Flour Trade During the Eighteenth Century (1984). Economic histories make much use of the 18th-century travelogue of Arthur Young, Travels During the Years 1787, 1788, & 1789: Undertaken More Particularly with a View of Ascertaining the Cultivation, Wealth, Resources, and National Prosperity of the Kingdom of France, 2nd ed., 2 vol. (1794), available in many later editions. The culture and ideology of the period are explored in Harvey Chisick, The Limits of Reform in the Enlightenment: Attitudes toward the Education of the Lower Classes in Eighteenth-Century France (1981); Thomas E. Crow, Painters and Public Life in Eighteenth-Century Paris (1985); Joan B. Landes, Women and the Public Sphere in the Age of the French Revolution (1988); Jeremy D. Popkin, News and Politics in the Age of Revolution: Jean Luzac's Gazette de Leyde (1989); and Jean Starobinski, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Transparency and Obstruction (1988; originally published in French, 1957).

Aretino, Pietro

2005-02-27T22:43:00.000-08:00

Although Aretino was the son of an Arezzo shoemaker, he later pretended to be the bastard

Iamb

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

Metrical foot consisting of one short syllable (as in classical verse) or one unstressed syllable (as in English verse) followed by one long or stressed syllable, as in the word {breve}be|cause¢ . Considered by the ancient Greeks to approximate the natural rhythm of speech, iambic metres were used extensively for dramatic dialogue, invective, satire, and fables. Also suited

Ferrari, Lodovico

2005-02-25T20:02:00.000-08:00

From a poor family, Ferrari was taken into the service of the noted Italian mathematician Gerolamo Cardano as

Bear Market

2005-02-25T11:05:00.000-08:00

In securities and commodities trading, a declining market. A bear is an investor who expects prices to decline and, on this assumption, sells a borrowed security or commodity in the hope of buying it back later at a lower price, a speculative transaction called selling short. The term bear may derive from the proverb about “selling the bearskin before one has caught

Devadatta

2005-02-24T09:34:00.000-08:00

Devadatta is said to have joined the sangha along with Ananda, who was possibly his brother, in the 20th year of Gautama's ministry. Fifteen years later, strengthened by his friendship with the Crown Prince

Békés

2005-02-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

Megye (county), southeastern Hungary, occupying 2,175 square miles (5,632 square km) of agricultural flatland on the Great Hungarian Plain. It has hot summers, severe winters, light rainfall, and a sparse natural vegetation. In the northern part of the megye, broad areas along the Körös and Berettyó rivers are irrigated. In addition to cereals, specialty crops of poppy seeds and sour

Franciabigio

2005-02-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

Also called Francesco Di Cristofano, Francesco Giudini, or Giudici Italian Renaissance painter, best known for his portraits and religious paintings, whose style included early Renaissance, High Renaissance, and Proto-Mannerist elements. His early style is filled with movement and attention to descriptive detail, strongly reminiscent of 15th-century Italian painting. Later, he was attracted to the Florentine

Motion Picture, Motion-picture design

2005-02-22T01:12:00.000-08:00

Under the heading of design, all the elements of a picture's setting may be included—art direction, scenic composition, set design, costume, and makeup. At its simplest and most naturalistic, the camera can choose and frame ordinary people in a real location. At its most elaborate, motion-picture production may involve the expenditure of vast sums to put up gigantic sets

Ferroaugite

2005-02-21T05:45:00.000-08:00

Iron-rich variety of the mineral augite (q.v.).

Silver Age

2005-02-20T17:36:00.000-08:00

In Latin literature, the period from approximately AD 18 to 133, which was a time of marked literary achievement second only to the previous Golden Age (70 BC–AD 18). By the 1st century AD political patronage of the arts begun in the Augustan Age (43 BC–AD 18) and a stifling reverence for the literature of the Golden Age, particularly for the poetry of Virgil, had led to a general decline in original literary

Abakan

2005-02-19T23:31:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1931) Ust-Abakanskoe city and administrative centre of the republic of Khakassia, south-central Russia. The city lies on the left bank of the Abakan River near its confluence with the Yenisey River. The starting point of a southern Siberian railway line (opened in 1960), Abakan is connected with Novokuznetsk and thence to Barnaul, Akmolinsk, and Magnitogorsk. The city has metalworking, footwear,

Spence, Sir Basil (urwin)

2005-02-19T20:12:00.000-08:00

He was educated at the schools of architecture of London and Edinburgh universities and worked in Sir Edwin Lutyens' office on drawings for the Viceroy's House in New Delhi. Before

Literature, United States.

2005-02-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

Most serious readers of American fiction would have to say that 2002 was an unusual year because the novel that dominated the best-seller list from late spring on was a first novel—California writer Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones—and the National Book Award (NBA) nominees in fiction, some of them first books, were

Rub' Al-khali

2005-02-17T20:31:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ar-Rab' al-Khali (Arabic: “Empty Quarter”) vast desert in the southern Arabian Peninsula, covering about 250,000 square miles (650,000 square km) in a structural basin lying mainly in southeastern Saudi Arabia, with lesser portions in Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. It is the largest area of continuous sand in the world. It occupies more than one-quarter of Saudi Arabia. The topography is varied. In the west the elevation

Rhyme-tag

2005-02-17T04:59:00.000-08:00

A word or phrase used primarily to produce a rhyme. Rhyme-tags are used to comic effect in much light verse, as in W.S. Gilbert's “The Modern Major-Gineral,” which reads in partI am the very pattern of a modern Major-Gineral,I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral;I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical,From Marathon to Waterloo, in order

Porsangen

2005-02-17T02:42:00.000-08:00

Fjord, indenting the coast of Finmark fylke (county), extreme northern Norway on the Arctic Ocean. An inlet of the Barents Sea, the fjord is approximately 80 mi (130 km) long and lies well north of the Arctic Circle. Adjacent to the mouth of the fjord is a largely uninhabited area, Sværholtklubben, which serves as home to thousands of seabirds. Many islands are found in Porsangen;

Durocher, Leo

2005-02-15T08:15:00.000-08:00

Durocher played a year each in Atlanta, Georgia, and St. Paul, Minnesota, before joining the New York Yankees in 1928. He was a superb fielder at shortstop but a mediocre hitter, and he was sold to the Cincinnati Reds in 1930. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals

Alemán, Miguel

2005-02-14T16:52:00.000-08:00

The son of a village shopkeeper who subsequently became a general in the revolution, Alemán studied law and set up practice in Mexico City, specializing in labour cases. Appointed senator from Veracruz, he became governor of the state in 1936. In 1940 he resigned to manage the successful presidential campaign of

Rhapsodist

2005-02-14T02:26:00.000-08:00

Greek Rhapsoidos, plural Rhapsoidoi, any of the dramatic reciters of ancient Greece, dating from the 6th century BC. In the oral epic tradition, rhapsodists were preceded by Homeric singers (aoidoi) of their own epic songs and, like them, were musically accompanied on the lyre and aulos. To heighten dramatic effect, rhapsodists used a staff for symbolic gesturing. Their intonation of poetry probably involved

Schrieck, Sister Louise Van Der

2005-02-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

Van der Schrieck was educated at the school of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in Belgium. In 1837 she became a novice of the order, and in 1839 she became Sister

Firminy

2005-02-12T19:25:00.000-08:00

Town, Loire département, Rhône-Alpes région, southeast-central France. It lies on the Ondaine River immediately southwest of Saint-Étienne. The name, originally Firminiaco signifying “place of Firmin,” was first recorded (971) in a charter given by the king of Burgundy. It is the site of two historic churches, one built in the 12th century, the other in the 16th. Firminy-Vert is a complex

Earth, Shock-heating of the Earth during accretion

2005-02-12T03:38:00.000-08:00

During accretion the planet is thought to have been shock-heated by the impacts of meteoritic and planetesimal bodies. For meteorites this heating is concentrated near the surface (where the impacts occur), which is cooled by radiation back into space. The Russian planetary physicist V.S. Safronov has pointed out, however, that the larger planetesimals can penetrate

Lusitania

2005-02-11T07:50:00.000-08:00

British ocean liner, the sinking of which by a German submarine on May 7, 1915, contributed indirectly to the entry of the United States into World War I. The 32,000-ton ship was returning from New York to Liverpool, with 1,959 passengers and crew on board. The sinkings of merchant ships off the south coast of Ireland and reports of submarine activity there prompted the British Admiralty

Gironde

2005-02-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

The domination of Bordeaux has hindered the development of an active

David

2005-02-10T11:36:00.000-08:00

Capital of Chiriquí provincia, western Panama, on the Río David and surrounded by fruit groves. It is Panama's largest city outside of the Panama City metropolitan area and is an important commercial centre, served by the Pacific seaports of Pedregal and Puerto Armuelles on the Gulf of Chiriquí and by Enrique Malek Airport. Industries include meatpacking, food processing

Mine

2005-02-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

In military and naval operations, a usually stationary explosive device that is designed to destroy personnel, ships, or vehicles when the latter come in contact with it. Submarine mines have been in use since the mid-19th century; land mines did not become a significant factor in warfare until a hundred years later.

Bhakti

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

(from Sanskrit bhaj, “to allot,” “to revere”), in Hinduism, a devotional movement emphasizing the intense emotional attachment and love of a devotee toward his personal god. Bhakti assumes a dualistic relationship between the devotee and god, in contrast to the monistic ideal of Advaita Vedanta philosophy. The way of bhakti (bhakti-marga) is contrasted with other means of

Arabia

2005-02-08T04:19:00.000-08:00

The mineral resource of greatest value is oil. The Arabian Peninsula has the largest oil reserves in the world. With the exception of deposits in Yemen, the Arabian oil fields lie in the same great sedimentary basin as the fields of Iran and Iraq. Although oil was discovered in Iran in 1908, the first field on the Arabian side of the basin, in Bahrain, was not found until 1932. This

Tierra Del Fuego

2005-02-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

Archipelago, at the southern extremity of South America. In shape the main island, separated from the mainland by the Strait of Magellan, is a triangle with its base on Beagle Channel. The total area is 28,473 sq mi (73,746 sq km), about two-thirds of which is Chilean and one-third Argentine. The boundary, agreed upon in 1881, follows the meridian 68°36¢38² W, from Cabo (cape) Espíritu Santo on the Atlantic,

Maxwell's Equations

2005-02-06T14:03:00.000-08:00

The statements of these four equations are, respectively: (1) electric field

San Leandro

2005-02-05T22:18:00.000-08:00

City, Alameda County, western California, U.S., adjoining Oakland (south), forms part of the East Bay metropolitan strip characterized by suburban developments, commercial trading centres, and waterfront industries. Once part of Rancho San Leandro (1839), it was known as Squatterville when prospectors settled there after the 1849 Gold Rush. Laid out in 1855, it began as a horticultural

Indian Botanic Garden

2005-02-04T22:30:00.000-08:00

Formerly Royal Botanic Garden, botanical garden in Calcutta, famous for its enormous collections of orchids, bamboos, palms, and plants of the screw pine genus (Pandanus). The garden covers more than 109 hectares (270 acres), on which about 1,700 plant species are cultivated. It was founded in 1787 by the East India Company, primarily for the purpose of acclimatizing new plants of commercial value and growing spices

Silicate Mineral

2005-02-04T00:52:00.000-08:00

The silicates make up about 95 percent of the Earth's crust and upper mantle, occurring as the major constituents of most igneous rocks and in appreciable quantities in sedimentary and metamorphic varieties as well. They also are important constituents

Zionist Church

2005-02-03T23:38:00.000-08:00

The use of the term Zion derives from the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion, founded in Chicago in 1896 and having missionaries in South Africa by

La Guma, Alex

2005-02-03T03:05:00.000-08:00

La Guma was reared in a family active in the black liberation movement.

Step Cut

2005-02-02T08:48:00.000-08:00

Also called Trap Cut, or Cushion Cut, method of faceting coloured gemstones in which the stone produced is rather flat with steps, or rows, of four-sided facets parallel to the girdle (the stone's widest part). Because the facets are parallel to the girdle, they are usually long and narrow, except at the corners of the stone. The angles that the main facets make with the plane of the girdle greatly affect the

Amar Das

2005-02-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

Third Sikh Guru, appointed at the advanced age of 73, noted for his division of the Punjab into 22 Sikh dioceses and his dispatch of missionaries to spread the faith. Realizing that periodical meetings of all Sikhs would strengthen the faith, he ordered three great festivals a year. He was much revered for his wisdom and piety, and it was said that even

Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeoamericana

2005-02-01T02:55:00.000-08:00

Spanish and Spanish-American biography and gazetteer information are especially strong. Major articles—e.g., on countries—are quite long and include lengthy bibliographies of international scope. Although coverage is considered

Lever Brothers

2005-01-31T14:47:00.000-08:00

Predecessor company of Unilever (q.v.).

Space

2005-01-30T18:47:00.000-08:00

Space is treated in a number of articles. For a philosophical consideration of the subject, see metaphysics. For a discussion of the relativity of space and time, see relativity. For a description of space as the region of the universe beyond the Earth

Payroll Tax

2005-01-29T04:20:00.000-08:00

Taxes on payrolls are seldom used as a source of general revenues, although in some developing countries the income tax base may actually include little beyond wages and salaries, the equivalent of the payroll

Hessen

2005-01-28T09:39:00.000-08:00

Also called Hesse Land (state) of Germany, eighth largest of the 16 Länder, occupying an area of 8,152 square miles (21,114 square km) in the west-central part of that country. Hessen is bounded by the states of Lower Saxony (north), North Rhine-Westphalia (northwest), Rhineland-Palatinate (west), Baden-Württemberg (south), Bavaria (southeast), and Thuringia (east). The state lies between the Upper Rhine Plateau to

Biblical Literature, The prophecies of First Isaiah

2005-01-28T00:20:00.000-08:00

First Isaiah contains the words and prophecies of Isaiah, a most important 8th-century BCE prophet of Judah, written either by himself or his contemporary followers in Jerusalem (from c. 740 to 700 BCE), along with some later additions, such as chapters 24–27 and 33–39. The first of these two additions was probably written by a later disciple or disciples of Isaiah about 500 BCE; the second addition is divided

Amyntas Iii (or Ii)

2005-01-27T21:42:00.000-08:00

Amyntas came to the throne during the disorders that plagued Macedonia after the death of the powerful king Archelaus (ruled c. 413–399). Amyntas soon had to fight off attacks by the Illyrians

Aldrich, Robert

2005-01-26T23:54:00.000-08:00

Aldrich entered the motion-picture industry as a production clerk at RKO in 1941 and was made assistant director and production manager at Enterprise Studios in the late 1940s. After working with such directors as Jean

Foreign Aid

2005-01-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

An international transfer of capital, goods, or services for the benefit of other nations and their citizens. Official foreign aid is offered in two major forms: (1) capital transfers, in cash or kind, either as grants or loans, and (2) technical assistance and training, usually as grants in the form of human resources and technical equipment. The rationale of economic aid

Theobald I

2005-01-26T03:57:00.000-08:00

Theobald earned his nickname “the Cheat” fighting with his neighbours, among them the kings of France, the dukes of Normandy, and the church of Reims. He seized the area around Blois about 940 and later augmented his holdings with the counties of Chartres and Châteaudun. In 945 Hugh the Great made Theobald responsible for holding the French

Port Harcourt

2005-01-24T14:03:00.000-08:00

Port town and capital of Rivers state, southern Nigeria. It lies along the Bonny River (an eastern distributary of the Niger River) 41 miles (66 km) upstream from the Gulf of Guinea. Founded in 1912 in an area traditionally inhabited by the Ijo people, it began to serve as a port (named for Lewis Harcourt, then colonial secretary) after the opening of the rail link to the Enugu coalfields

Empiricism, In modern philosophy

2005-01-23T21:29:00.000-08:00

In the earlier and unsystematically speculative phases of Renaissance philosophy, the claims of Aristotelian logic to yield substantial knowledge were attacked by several 16th-century logicians, and, in the same century, the role of observation was stressed. One mildly skeptical Christian thinker, Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655), advanced a deliberate revival of the empirical

Lowboy

2005-01-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

A small dressing table with four or six legs and two or three drawers, resembling in some ways the lower portion of a highboy (q.v.). Lowboy and highboy were often made to match. In the versions made until about 1750, the legs are joined by stretchers, but after that date they usually assume a cabriole shape.

Malatya

2005-01-22T08:55:00.000-08:00

City, east-central Turkey. It lies in a fertile plain watered by the Tohma River (a tributary of the Euphrates) and is surrounded by high ranges of the eastern Taurus Mountains. The modern town was founded in 1838 near the sites of two earlier settlements: the ancient Hittite city of Milid, on the site of the present-day Arslantepe, 4 miles (6 km) north, and its successor, the Roman and

Roche, Kevin

2005-01-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

Roche graduated in 1945 with a bachelor's degree in architecture from the National University of Ireland in Dublin. After short-term employment with firms in Dublin and London, he did postgraduate

Papyrus Column

2005-01-21T02:05:00.000-08:00

In Egyptian religion, amulet that conveyed freshness, youth, vigour, and the continuance of life to its wearer. The amulet, made of glazed ware or various types of stone, was shaped like a papyrus stem and bud. Its significance was perhaps derived from its ideographic value (Egyptian wadj, “green, fresh, vigorous”); for, just as the plant itself was vigorous and growing, so also