CleanClock

Organic Underwear

2006-10-29T04:30:00.000-08:00

Natural soft Organic Clothinggoods are hard to find as they can often be a little course. Liv Organic Cotton Goodsare soft and luxurious and their Organic Underwear is to die for.

Duran, Profiat

2005-03-18T08:05:00.000-08:00

Duran was the descendant of a scholarly Jewish family of southern France. He was educated in Germany and then took a position as tutor with a wealthy family in Catalonia. There, in 1391, in a wave of Spanish religious persecution,

Actin

2005-03-17T04:03:00.000-08:00

Protein that is an important contributor to the contractile property of muscle and other cells. It exists in two forms: G-actin (monomeric globular actin) and F-actin (polymeric fibrous actin), the form involved in muscle contraction. In muscle, two long strands of beadlike actin molecules are twisted together to form a thin filament, bundles of which alternate and interdigitate

Cozens, Alexander

2005-03-14T11:48:00.000-08:00

Son of Richard Cozens, shipbuilder to the tsar of Russia, Alexander settled in England after visiting Rome in 1746 and became a fashionable drawing master. William Beckford, author of the Oriental

Mole

2005-03-12T09:10:00.000-08:00

The mole designates an extremely large number of units, 6.0221367 ´ 1023, which is the number of atoms determined experimentally to be found in 12 grams of carbon-12. Carbon-12 was chosen arbitrarily to serve as the reference standard of the

Ugaritic Alphabet

2005-03-10T15:29:00.000-08:00

Cuneiform writing system used on the Syrian coast from the 15th to 13th century BC. It is believed that it was invented independent of other cuneiform writing systems and of the linear North Semitic alphabet, though similarities in certain letters suggest that it may have been patterned after the North Semitic alphabet. Unlike the North Semitic alphabet, however, Ugaritic

Benbecula

2005-03-08T00:36:00.000-08:00

Gaelic Beinn na Faoghla island of the Outer Hebrides, Western Isles council area, historic county of Inverness-shire, Scotland. Benbecula, whose name means “Mountain of the Fords” in Gaelic, lies between the islands of North Uist and South Uist and is connected over the fords by a causeway (1960) to the north and by O'Regan's Bridge (1943) to the south. The island has an area of about 7 square miles (18 square km) and

Cambria

2005-03-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

County, central Pennsylvania, U.S. It consists of a mountainous region on the Allegheny Plateau, with the Allegheny Mountains along the eastern edge. The principal waterways are the Conemaugh and Little Conemaugh rivers, Glendale Lake, and Beaverdam Run, in addition to Clearfield, Stony, and Blacklick creeks. Parklands include Prince Gallitzin and Laurel Ridge state

Alba

2005-03-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

French Aube, or Aubade, in the music of the troubadours (q.v.), the 11th- and 12th-century poet-musicians of southern France, a song of lovers' parting at dawn or of a watchman's warning to lovers at dawn. It sometimes takes the form of a dialogue between watchman and lover. Examples for which music also survives include “Reis glorios” by Guiraut de Bornelh and the anonymous “Gaite de la tor.” The German counterparts

Pet

2005-03-03T22:14:00.000-08:00

While a pet is generally kept for the pleasure that it can give to its owner, often, especially with horses, dogs, and cats, as well as with some other animals, this pleasure appears to be mutual. Thus, pet keeping can be described as a symbiotic relationship, one that benefits both animals and human

Hull, Albert Wallace

2005-03-02T19:31:00.000-08:00

American physicist who independently discovered the powder method of X-ray analysis of crystals, which permits the study of crystalline materials in a finely divided microcrystalline, or powder, state. He also invented a number of electron tubes that have found wide application as components in electronic

Huysmans, Joris-karl

2005-03-02T04:44:00.000-08:00

The only son of a French mother and a Dutch father, Huysmans at 20 began a long career in the Ministry of the Interior, writing many of his novels on official time (and notepaper). His early work, influenced by contemporary

Springfield, Dusty

2005-02-28T02:17:00.000-08:00

British pop singer who in the 1960s recorded such hits as “I Only Want to Be with You,” “Wishin' and Hopin',” “The Look of Love,” “You Don't Have to Say You Love Me,” and “Son of a Preacher Man”; she was appointed O.B.E. in 1999 and was admitted posthumously into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (b. April 16, 1939, London, Eng.—d. March 2, 1999, Henley-on-Thames, Eng.).

Nagy, Imre

2005-02-28T00:30:00.000-08:00

Born to a peasant family, Nagy was apprenticed as a locksmith before being drafted in World War I. Captured by the Russians, he joined

Sri Indraditya

2005-02-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

Bang Klang Hao headed a petty Tai principality near Sukhothai when, about 1245, he joined with another Tai leader, Pha Muang, to rebel against the governor of Sukhothai, who was a deputy of the Khmer kings of Angkor. The two seized nearby Sawankhalok, and Bang Klang Hao defeated the Khmer governor

Ringerike

2005-02-24T22:28:00.000-08:00

Kommune (“commune”) and geographic region, Buskerud fylke (county), southeastern Norway, just northwest of Oslo. The region covers a total area of 600 square miles (1,553 square km) adjacent to the northern shore of Tyri Lake and northward to Rands Lake. The Ringerike was inhabited as early as AD 200 and existed as a petty kingdom in the 8th and 9th centuries. During the 10th century Norway's greatest

Niccoli, Niccolò

2005-02-24T09:06:00.000-08:00

Niccoli was one of the chief figures in the company of learned men who gathered around Cosimo de' Medici, and his intellectual quarrels with other

Arctolepis

2005-02-23T22:50:00.000-08:00

Extinct genus of Early Devonian fishlike animals (408 to 387 million years ago), considered to be an early and primitive member of a group known as the arthrodires, or jointed-neck fishes. Arctolepis had a bony head and trunk shield but was unarmoured behind the trunk region; the body tapered to a pointed tail; a tail fin was developed only on the lower margin of the

Swabia

2005-02-22T20:51:00.000-08:00

Swabia's name is derived from that of the Suebi, a Germanic people who, with the Alemanni, occupied the upper Rhine and upper Danube region in the 3rd century

Hinton, Milt

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

Hinton grew up in Chicago, where he began playing bass in high school and then worked with jazz bands in the early to mid-1930s, most notably with violinist Eddie

Furo

2005-02-20T13:26:00.000-08:00

Japanese-style bath, typically using water heated to 110° F (43.3° C) or hotter. It is claimed that, because the bather may linger in the wooden or metal tub, the furo may have properties for the therapeutic relaxation of tensions. To achieve cleanliness, the bather washes before entering the tub. In bathrooms in private Japanese homes and in public bathhouses, the bathing facilities

Natal

2005-02-18T14:34:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Rio Grande do Norte estado (“state”), northeastern Brazil, situated near the mouth of the Potengi River, or Rio Grande do Norte, on the Atlantic coast. Founded by the Portuguese in 1597 near the site of a fort (Tres Reis Magos, or “The Three Magi”), Natal was given town status in 1611. The state's principal commercial centre, it produces silk and cotton textiles, sugar, salt, hides,

Gabon, Settlement patterns

2005-02-18T01:59:00.000-08:00

Gabon's major towns—Libreville, Port-Gentil, Lambaréné, Moanda, Mouila, Oyem, Franceville, and Bitam—contain nearly two-fifths of the total population. The remainder is scattered widely among some 4,000 rural villages, which are concentrated along the rivers and roads, often with a population of no more than a few families. Port-Gentil is the centre of the wood and petroleum

Mitchell, Lucy Myers Wright

2005-02-17T06:08:00.000-08:00

Lucy Wright was the daughter of a missionary to the Nestorian Christians in Persia. In 1860 she was taken to the United States, and a short time later she entered Mount Holyoke Female Seminary

Alcoy

2005-02-15T08:03:00.000-08:00

The town is a rail

Biblical Literature, The Samaritan Pentateuch

2005-02-14T21:46:00.000-08:00

The importance of the recension known as the Samaritan Pentateuch lies in the fact that it constitutes an independent Hebrew witness to the text written in a late and developed form of the paleo-Hebrew script. Some of the Exodus fragments from Qumran demonstrate that it has close affinities with a pre-Christian Palestinian text type and testify to the faithfulness

San Francisco Gotera

2005-02-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

City, eastern El Salvador, on the Río Grande de San Miguel. Formerly called Gotera, its name was modified in 1887 to honour Francisco Morazán, the former Central American president. It is an agricultural and livestock-trading centre. Gold and silver are mined nearby at El Divisadero. Pop. (1985 est.) 15,113.

Linus

2005-02-12T16:20:00.000-08:00

According to the Argive story, Linus, child of Apollo (god of light, truth, and prophecy) and Psamathe (daughter of Crotopus, king of Argos),

Condition

2005-02-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

In logic, a sentence or proposition of the form “If A then B” [in symbols, A É B] is called a conditional (sentence or proposition). Similarly, “Whenever A then B” {in symbols, (x) [A(x) É B

Ulanova, Galina

2005-02-10T19:57:00.000-08:00

The daughter of dancers Sergey Ulanov and Marie Romanova of the Mariinsky Ballet (called the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet during the Soviet period), Ulanova was trained in the

Nore, The

2005-02-10T10:11:00.000-08:00

Sandbank in the Thames Estuary, extending between Shoeburyness (north) and Sheerness (south), county of Kent, southeastern England. The Nore Lightship, anchored 4 miles (6 km) southeast of Shoeburyness, was the first to be established in English waters (1732). The Nore anchorage was much-used by the English fleet in the wars of the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1797 sailors at The Nore mutinied

France, History Of, The Fifth Republic

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

During his years of self-imposed exile, de Gaulle had scorned and derided the Fourth Republic and its leaders. He had briefly sought to oppose the regime by organizing a Gaullist party, but he had soon abandoned this venture as futile. Back in power, he adopted a more conciliatory line; he invited a number of old politicians to join his Cabinet, but he made sure that his

November

2005-02-07T17:07:00.000-08:00

11th month of the Gregorian calendar. See month and the accompanying Table.

Obwalden

2005-02-06T18:17:00.000-08:00

Half canton, central Switzerland, formerly part of the canton of Unterwalden. The half canton is drained by the Sarner River and occupies the western part of former Unterwalden canton. Obwalden means “above the forest” and refers to the great forest of Kerns that divided the two half cantons in the Middle Ages. Obwalden acted independently of Nidwalden in its acquisition,

Subjective Idealism

2005-02-06T01:33:00.000-08:00

A philosophy based on the premise that nothing exists except minds and spirits and their perceptions or ideas. A person experiences material things, but their existence is not independent of the perceiving mind; material things are thus mere perceptions. The reality of the outside world is contingent on a knower. The 18th-century Anglo-Irish philosopher George

Gwynn, Tony

2005-02-05T20:16:00.000-08:00

Gwynn attended San Diego (California) State University on a basketball scholarship, where he set a school record for assists as the team's point guard. He also excelled at baseball and was drafted in 1981 by

Botocudo

2005-02-04T20:03:00.000-08:00

South American Indian people who lived in what is now the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. They spoke a language of the Macro-Ge group. Their culture was similar to that of other nomadic tribes of the forests and mountains of eastern Brazil. Hunting bands of from 50 to 200 members were led by men considered most powerful in the supernatural realm. The Botocudo believed that

Perche

2005-02-03T11:38:00.000-08:00

Region of northern France on the border of Normandie, mainly in the east of the Orne département, with extensions into neighbouring départements. Formerly a county, it was united to the French crown in 1525. It is largely hilly country, the Perche Hills having summits as high as 1,000 feet (300 m). Perche is a district of pastoral farming and dairying, famous for its breed of draft horses

Mabinogion

2005-02-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

The finest of the tales are the four related

Cambium

2005-01-31T02:29:00.000-08:00

Plural Cambiums, or Cambia, in plants, layer of actively dividing cells between xylem (wood) and phloem (bast) tissues that is responsible for the secondary growth of stems and roots (secondary growth occurs after the first season and results in increase in thickness). Theoretically, the cambium is a single layer of cells, called initial cells; practically, it is difficult to distinguish the initials

Northern Territory, Transportation

2005-01-30T14:15:00.000-08:00

The transport system is relatively undeveloped by Western standards, reflecting the small population base and the vast distances to be traversed. The backbone of the road system is provided by the Stuart Highway, which runs south from Darwin to the South Australian border and connects most of the territory's urban centres. Upgraded by the military in World War

Baccarat Glass

2005-01-30T10:11:00.000-08:00

Glassware produced by an important glasshouse founded in 1765 at Baccarat, Fr. Originally a producer of soda glass for windows, tableware, and industrial uses, Baccarat was acquired by a Belgian manufacturer of lead crystal in 1817 and since then has specialized in producing this type of glass. In 1823 the firm won its first gold medal in an international exposition for glass, and

Sorocaba

2005-01-29T16:23:00.000-08:00

City, east-central São Paulo estado (“state”), Brazil. It lies along the Sorocaba River, a tributary of the Tietê River, at 1,804 feet (550 m) above sea level. Given town status in 1661 and made the seat of a municipality in 1842, Sorocaba is now one of the nation's major industrial centres. Manufactures include cotton and silk textiles, cement, fertilizers, lumber, aluminum products, shoes, hats, alcohol,

Computers, Control programs

2005-01-27T18:33:00.000-08:00

An operating

Dandenong Ranges

2005-01-27T17:29:00.000-08:00

Mountain ranges, part of the Eastern Highlands, east of Melbourne in southern Victoria, Australia. Several peaks exceed 1,600 ft (500 m), the highest of which is Mt. Dandenong (2,077 ft). With nearly twice as much rainfall as the nearby coastal plain and with fertile volcanic soils, the mountains have dense vegetative cover. The name is derived from an Aboriginal word, tanjenong, meaning

National Army Museum

2005-01-26T17:56:00.000-08:00

The collections of the National Army Museum relate to all aspects of the British army from the Battle of Agincourt (1415) to the present day. They include material from the militia, yeomanry, volunteers,

Berazategui

2005-01-24T03:40:00.000-08:00

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.

Ashland

2005-01-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

City, Jackson county, southwestern Oregon, U.S. It lies along Bear Creek, in the southern reaches of the Rogue River valley, at the base of the Siskiyou Mountains, just southeast of Medford. Settled in 1852 (during a gold rush) and laid out in 1860, it was named for both Ashland county, Ohio, and Ashland, Kentucky, and was known as Ashland Mills for its sawmills and gristmills. It was located

Ob, Gulf Of

2005-01-22T22:30:00.000-08:00

Russian Obskaya Guba, large inlet of the Kara Sea indenting northwestern Siberia, between the peninsulas of Yamal and Gyda, in north-central Russia. The gulf forms the outlet for the Ob River, the delta of which is choked by a huge sandbar. The gulf is about 500 miles (800 km) in length and has a breadth varying between 20 and 60 miles (32 and 97 km). The depth of the sea at this point is 33–40 feet (10–12 m). Its eastern coastline is

Père David's Deer

2005-01-22T01:39:00.000-08:00

The deer is about 1.1 metres (43 inches) tall at the shoulder and is characterized

Aleijadinho

2005-01-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Aleijadinho was born deformed (his sobriquet means “Little Cripple”). He eventually lost the use of his hands and finally became blind,

Scandinavian Languages

2005-01-20T08:10:00.000-08:00

Languages forming the North Germanic branch of the Germanic languages. The modern standard languages are Danish, Swedish, Norwegian (Dano-Norwegian and New Norwegian), Icelandic, and Faroese. These languages are usually divided into East Scandinavian (Danish and Swedish) and West Scandinavian (Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese) groups. They developed from the dialects

Anatolian Languages

2005-01-19T01:01:00.000-08:00

Extinct Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages spoken in Anatolia from sometime in the 3rd millenium BC until the early centuries of the present era, when they were gradually supplanted by Greek. The Anatolian languages are known only from texts of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC; the earliest evidence is that of the so-called Cappadocian tablets (19th–18th centuries BC). The

Iliescu, Ion

2005-01-18T05:05:00.000-08:00

Iliescu received a degree in business from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest and then studied engineering in Moscow. In 1953 he joined the Communist Party, and he held positions of increasing prestige during the following decade. A protégé of Nicolae Ceausescu, he benefited

Baseball

2005-01-17T18:24:00.000-08:00

The Yankees advanced to the World Series by defeating the Boston Red Sox 4 games to 1 in the American League Championship Series (ALCS). In the opener at New York, after being down 3–0, the Yankees rallied and won it 4–3 on Bernie Williams's leadoff home run in the 10th. The next day the Yankees again prevailed, this time by 3–2. Game three at Boston's Fenway Park was a much-awaited pitching

Jacob's Ladder

2005-01-15T19:14:00.000-08:00

Also called Greek Valerian, any of about 25 species of the genus Polemonium of the family Polemoniaceae, native to temperate areas in North and South America and Eurasia. Many are valued as garden flowers and wildflowers. They have loose, spikelike clusters of drooping blue, violet, or white, funnel-shaped, five-petaled flowers and alternate, pinnately (featherlike) compound

Amalric I

2005-01-14T21:58:00.000-08:00

Amalric, the son of King Fulk of Jerusalem, had been count of Jaffa and Ascalon before succeeding his elder brother Baldwin III on the throne in 1163. He was forced first to annul his marriage to Agnes of Courtenay because she was his third

Gabbai

2005-01-14T18:50:00.000-08:00

Plural Gabbaim, or Gabbais, treasurer or honorary official of a Jewish Orthodox congregation, often placed in charge of funds used for charity. The office is a carry-over from former times, when men whose reputations were above reproach collected funds for charity. These gabba'e tzedaqa were so esteemed that no financial reports were ever asked for. The Talmud, nonetheless, insisted that they

Feuillet, Raoul-auger

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

French dancer, dancing master, and choreographer whose dance notation system was published in his Chorégraphie ou l'art de décrire la danse (1700; “Choreography, or the Art of Describing the Dance”). Working in Paris, he collaborated with André Lorin, conductor of the Royal Academy of Dance; he also wrote Recueil de danses (1704; “Collection of Dances”), describing dances performed

Ayala, Francisco

2005-01-12T11:23:00.000-08:00

Ayala received a law degree from the University of Madrid in 1929, having already published the novel Tragicomedia de un hombre sin espíritu (1925; “Tragicomedy of a Man Without Spirit”) and the story Cazador en el alba (1930; “Hunter at Dawn”). These works are psychological studies that make a strong use of metaphor but display little

Dafydd Nanmor

2005-01-11T20:39:00.000-08:00

Welsh poet, master of the cywydd form (characterized by rhyming couplets), whose poems express his belief in tradition and aristocracy. Many of his poems reflect his support of the political aspirations of the Tudors; others are simple and sincere love poems. “Llio's Hair” and “Maiden's Elegy” are considered to

Calendar Of 1998

2005-01-10T21:04:00.000-08:00

The tax-evasion case against Webster L. Hubbell, longtime friend of Pres. Bill Clinton who is believed to hold incriminating evidence against

Carné, Marcel

2005-01-08T09:45:00.000-08:00

After holding various jobs, Carné joined the director Jacques Feyder as an assistant in 1928, and he also assisted René Clair on the popular comedy Sous les toits de Paris (1930; “Under the Roofs of Paris”). Carné's first

Peretz, I.l.

2005-01-07T18:37:00.000-08:00

Peretz began writing in Hebrew but soon turned to Yiddish. For his tales, he drew material from the lives of impoverished Jews of eastern Europe. Critical of their

English Literature, Theatres in London and the provinces

2005-01-06T23:07:00.000-08:00

So the London theatres were a meeting ground of humanism and popular taste. They inherited, on the one hand, a tradition of humanistic drama current at court, the universities, and the Inns of Court (collegiate institutions responsible for legal education). This tradition involved the revival of classical plays and attempts to adapt Latin conventions to English,

Aspasia

2005-01-05T07:16:00.000-08:00

Mistress of the Athenian statesman Pericles and a vivid figure in Athenian society. Although Aspasia came from the Greek Anatolian city of Miletus and was not a citizen of Athens, she lived with Pericles from about 445 until his death in 429. Because a law sponsored by Pericles in 451 required that for a person to be a citizen both parents must be citizens, their son,

Reformed Church Of France

2005-01-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

French Église Reformée De France, church organized in 1938 by merging several Reformed groups that had developed in France during and after the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. During the early part of the Reformation, Protestant movements made slow progress in France. Yet reforming movements within the Roman Catholic Church had appeared early. Before Martin Luther had emerged as a Reformer in

'abd Al-qadir Al-jilani

2005-01-03T02:23:00.000-08:00

He studied Islamic law in Baghdad and was introduced to Sufism rather late in life, first appearing as a preacher in 1127. His great reputation as a preacher and teacher attracted disciples from the entire Islamic world, and he is said to have converted numerous Jews and Christians

Durango

2005-01-02T19:53:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1881) of La Plata county, southwestern Colorado, U.S., on the Animas River in the foothills of the La Plata Mountains at an elevation of 6,505 feet (1,983 metres). Founded in 1880 during a mining boom by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, it was named for Durango, Mexico. It developed as a shipping point for farm produce (including livestock) and local natural resources (timber,

Switzerland, Visual arts

2004-12-31T22:41:00.000-08:00

The Protestantism of 16th-century Switzerland had a strongly inhibiting effect on Swiss painting and sculpture in general. The peculiar lack of either French or Italian Renaissance influence left Swiss artists in a limbo from which they began to emerge only in modern times. Artists of international renown have included Alberto Giacometti, who derived much of

Van Buren

2004-12-31T09:20:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1839) of Crawford county, western Arkansas, U.S., on the Arkansas River opposite Fort Smith. The site, settled (1818) by Thomas Martin, was later called Phillips Landing (for Thomas Phillips, who bought land rights there in 1836). In 1838 it was renamed for U.S. President Martin Van Buren. It developed as a trading post and “fitting-out” centre for settlers moving to the West; after 1873 it became

Masinissa

2004-12-29T18:47:00.000-08:00

Masinissa was the son of the chieftain of a Numidian tribal group, the Massyli.

Korea Bay

2004-12-29T05:07:00.000-08:00

Korea Bay receives three of the major rivers of North Korea—the Yalu (which rises on Mount Paektu and forms much of the China–North Korea border), the Ch'ongchon, and the Taedong—in addition to a number of China's smaller rivers. The bay

Adams, Robert

2004-12-28T02:45:00.000-08:00

Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, Adams studied medicine in Europe and then returned to Dublin,

Caucasian Languages, Phonology

2004-12-27T00:05:00.000-08:00

The sound systems of the Nakho-Dagestanian languages are diverse. There are up to five vowels (a, e, i, o, u); in some languages o is only now becoming an independent distinctive unit. Along with these cardinal vowels, in a number of languages there are also long and nasalized vowels (the Andi languages), pharyngealized vowels (in Udi), and labialized vowels (in Dido). In the Nakh

Rowan, Andrew Summers

2004-12-25T20:12:00.000-08:00

Rowan graduated from West Point in 1881. In 1898, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, he was sent to the rebel Cuban leader General Calixto Garcia y Íñiguez to determine the strength of the insurgent armies and obtain their cooperation. After completing his mission

Dabrowska, Maria

2004-12-24T22:34:00.000-08:00

Zbigniew Folejewski, Maria Dabrowska (1967), is a highly recommended English-language study.

Mountain, Heating and thermal expansion

2004-12-23T18:25:00.000-08:00

Rocks, like most materials, expand when they are heated. Some mountain ranges and plateaus are high simply because the crust and upper mantle beneath them are unusually hot. Most broad variations in the topography of the ocean floor, the mid-ocean ridges and rises, are due to horizontal variations in temperature in the outer 100 kilometres of the Earth. Hot areas stand

Adad

2004-12-23T11:13:00.000-08:00

Adad had a twofold aspect, being both the giver and the destroyer of life. His rains caused the land to bear grain and other food for

United Arab Emirates

2004-12-20T20:49:00.000-08:00

The economy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continued its robust expansion in 1997. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew about 10% in 1996, the highest rate in the Middle East, and in 1997 it rose a substantial 4.4%. Significantly,

Kuching

2004-12-20T17:58:00.000-08:00

Town, capital and chief port of Sarawak, East Malaysia, on northwestern Borneo. The town was founded in 1839 by James (later Sir James) Brooke, who became ruler of Sarawak with the title of raja. He built the town's first European-style house on the jungled southern bank of the muddy, crocodile-infested Sarawak River, 15 miles (24 km) from the South China Sea. Now a busy administrative

Viscosity

2004-12-19T23:05:00.000-08:00

Resistance of a fluid (liquid or gas) to a change in shape, or movement of neighbouring portions relative to one another. Viscosity denotes opposition to flow. The reciprocal of the viscosity is called the fluidity, a measure of the ease of flow. Molasses, for example, has a greater viscosity than water. Because part of a fluid that is forced to move carries along to some

Céspedes, Pablo De

2004-12-16T07:05:00.000-08:00

Céspedes was educated at Alcalá de Henares, where he studied theology and Oriental languages. On leaving the university he went to Rome. In 1560, while in Rome, proceedings were taken against him by the Inquisition at Valladolid, but they were dropped. He returned to Spain a little before 1577 and received

Comte, Auguste

2004-12-15T23:20:00.000-08:00

In full Isidore-auguste-marie-françois-xavier Comte French philosopher known as the founder of sociology and of positivism. Comte gave the science of sociology its name and established the new subject in a systematic fashion.

Philadelphus

2004-12-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

Genus of deciduous shrubs of the family Hydrangeaceae, including the popular garden forms commonly known as mock orange (from its characteristic orange-blossom fragrance) and sweet syringa. Philadelphus, comprising about 65 species, is native to northern Asia and Japan, the western United States, the southern Atlantic coast of the United States, and Mexico. These

Ya-an

2004-12-14T16:06:00.000-08:00

Established as the seat of a county under the Ch'in (221–206 BC) and Han (206 BC–AD 220) dynasties,

Paracel Islands

2004-12-12T14:30:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization Hsi-sha Ch'ün-tao , Pinyin Xisha Qundao , Vietnamese Quan Dao Hoang Sa group of about 130 small coral islands and reefs in the South China Sea. They lie about 250 miles (400 km) east of central Vietnam and about 220 miles (350 km) southeast of Hainan Island, China. Apart from a few isolated, outlying islands (Triton in the south, Lincoln in the east), they are divided into the Amphitrite group in the northeast and the Crescent group in the west. The low, barren islands,

'alavi, Buzurg

2004-12-12T10:39:00.000-08:00

'Alavi was educated in Iran, and in 1922 he was sent to Berlin, where he learned German and translated a number of German works into Persian. Upon returning to Iran, he taught at the Industrial College of Tehran and became involved with a group of Iranian socialists. He was imprisoned

Nara Period

2004-12-11T04:25:00.000-08:00

(AD 710–784), in Japanese history, period in which the imperial government was at Nara, and Sinicization and Buddhism were most highly developed. Nara, the country's first permanent capital, was modeled on the Chinese T'ang dynasty (618–907) capital, Ch'ang-an. Nara artisans produced refined Buddhist sculpture and erected grand Buddhist temples. A network of roads connected the capital

Race, Immigration and the racial worldview

2004-12-09T21:27:00.000-08:00

In the 1860s, when Chinese labourers immigrated to the United States to build the Central Pacific Railroad, a new population with both physical and cultural differences had to be accommodated within the racial worldview. While industrial employers were eager to get this new and cheap labour, the ordinary white public was stirred to anger by the presence of this “yellow

Belarusian Ridge

2004-12-09T16:07:00.000-08:00

Belarusian also spelled Belorussian, or Byelorussian, Russian Belorusskaya Gryada, or Belorusskaja Gr'ada, upland region in Belarus. From northeastern Poland the ridge runs southeast into western Belarus and then swings northeast. Its total length is 320 miles (520 km). The ridge, covered by marine sands and clays, is in reality a series of separate uplands, of which the highest point is Dzerzhinskaya Mountain, at 1,132 feet (345 m), in the Minsk Upland. To the south of the ridge lie the extensive

Maratha Wars

2004-12-08T10:03:00.000-08:00

The first war (1775–82) began with British support for Raghunath Rao's bid for the office of peshwa (chief minister) of the confederacy. The British were defeated at Wadgaon (see Wadgaon, Convention of ) in January 1779, but they continued to fight the Maratha until conclusion

Smith, Dean Edwards

2004-12-07T16:35:00.000-08:00

The 1982 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship game between the University of North Carolina and the University of Virginia featured some of the greatest players in college basketball--among them North Carolina guard Michael Jordan and Virginia centre Ralph Sampson. As a national television audience watched, however, Dean Smith, the North Carolina coach, instructed

Burgkmair, Hans, The Elder

2004-12-06T20:54:00.000-08:00

The son of a painter, he became a member of the painters' guild in Strasbourg in 1490 and in Augsburg in 1498. Some 700 woodcuts are ascribed to him, including his principal work, a series of 135 prints celebrating the triumphs of the emperor Maximilian I. His

Kantor, Mackinlay

2004-12-04T08:11:00.000-08:00

After finishing high school, Kantor became a reporter for The Webster City Daily News, of which his

Biblical Literature, Ruth

2004-12-04T07:45:00.000-08:00

The Book of Ruth is a beautiful short story about a number of good people, particularly the Moabite great-grandmother of David. Though events are set in the time of the judges, linguistic and other features suggest that the present form dates from post-exilic times. But it gives the impression of being based on an ancient tradition, perhaps on written source. It was certainly

Mcpherson, James Alan

2004-12-02T02:06:00.000-08:00

McPherson was educated at Morgan State University, Baltimore, Md. (1963–64), Morris

Philaret

2004-12-01T20:13:00.000-08:00

During the reign (1584–98) of his cousin, Tsar Fyodor I, Philaret served in the military campaign against the Swedes in 1590 and later (1593–94) conducted diplomatic negotiations with them. After Fyodor's death, Philaret was banished to a monastery by Boris Godunov (reigned 1598–1605). On Godunov's

Sabinian

2004-11-30T15:39:00.000-08:00

Under Pope Gregory I the Great, he served as papal ambassador at Constantinople, trying to reconcile the Roman Church with Patriarch John IV the Faster, whose claim to the title of ecumenical patriarch was regarded by Gregory to be a threat to Christian unity. Elected in 604 as Gregory's successor, Sabinian seems to have been markedly

Sapru, Sir Tej Bahadur

2004-11-29T21:22:00.000-08:00

Educated at Agra College, Allahabad, Sapru practiced law before the High Court at Allahabad from 1896. He was a member of