ReadyCow

Padre Island

2005-04-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

Barrier island, 113 miles (182 km) long and up to 3 miles (5 km) wide, lying along the Gulf Coast of Texas, U.S. It extends south from Corpus Christi to Port Isabel and is separated from the mainland by Laguna Madre. The island consists largely of grassy dunes and a broad beach that yields shellfish such as clams and marine snails. The area is well known for its mackerel, sailfish, and tarpon

Alternative Rock

2005-04-03T00:42:00.000-08:00

Pop music style, built on distorted guitars and rooted in generational discontent, that dominated and changed rock between 1991 and 1996. It burst into the mainstream when “Smells Like Teen Spirit”—the first major-label single from Nirvana, a trio based in Seattle, Washington, U.S.—became a national hit. Suddenly, older, difficult, and even anarchic movements, as well as a previous

Abadan

2005-04-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

Arabic 'Abbadan city, extreme southwestern Iran. The city is situated in Khuzestan, part of the oil-producing region of Iran. Abadan lies on an island of the same name along the eastern bank of the Shatt Al-'Arab (river), 33 miles (53 km) from the Persian Gulf. The city thus lies along Iran's border with Iraq. Abadan Island is bounded on the west by the Shatt Al-'Arab and on the east by the Bahmanshir, which is an outlet

Racerunner

2005-04-01T04:18:00.000-08:00

Racerunners may be diversely marked, even within a species, being

Eye, Human, The transparent media

2005-03-31T23:24:00.000-08:00

Within the cavities enclosed by the three layers of the globe described above there are the aqueous humour in the anterior and posterior chambers; the crystalline lens behind the iris; and the vitreous body, which fills the large cavity behind the lens and iris (Figure 1).

Ghiberti, Lorenzo

2005-03-30T16:58:00.000-08:00

Important early Italian Renaissance sculptor, whose doors (“Gates of Paradise”; 1425–52) for the Baptistery of the cathedral of Florence are considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Italian art in the Quattrocento. Other works include three bronze statues for Or San Michele (1416–25) and the reliefs for Siena cathedral (1417–27). Ghiberti also wrote three

Middlebury

2005-03-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

Town (township), seat of Addison county, west-central Vermont, U.S. The area was chartered in 1761, along with Salisbury and New Haven, and named for its location midway between the other two. Settled in 1773 by Benjamin Smalley, it was temporarily abandoned (1778–83) because of Tory and Indian attacks. Middlebury College (noted for its summer Bread Loaf Writers' Conference) was chartered in

Nicholas Iii

2005-03-28T00:44:00.000-08:00

As emperor

Abdülhak Hâmid

2005-03-27T00:40:00.000-08:00

Born into a family of famous scholars, Hâmid was educated in Istanbul and in Paris. Later in Tehran, he studied Arabic and Persian poetry.

Xenia

2005-03-26T13:18:00.000-08:00

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,

Anthony, Katharine (susan)

2005-03-25T06:01:00.000-08:00

A college teacher of geometry, Anthony was deeply interested in psychiatry. Eventually this interest came to shape her approach to biography,

United Kingdom, The golden age of Bede

2005-03-24T05:03:00.000-08:00

Within a century of Augustine's landing, England was in the forefront of scholarship. This high standard arose from a combination of influences: that from Ireland, which had escaped the decay caused elsewhere by the barbarian invasions, and that from the Mediterranean, which reached England mainly through Archbishop Theodore and his companion, the abbot Adrian

Stradbroke Island

2005-03-23T09:08:00.000-08:00

Two islands consisting of North and South sections, off Moreton Bay, southeastern Queensland, Australia, named for the Earl of Stradbroke in 1827. It was originally one island, but a storm in 1892 severed it in two by creating Jumpinpin Channel. South Stradbroke is about 14 mi (23 km) long and 1/2 mi wide. North Stradbroke, facing Brisbane across the bay, is about 24 mi long and up to 7 mi wide and

Aguadilla

2005-03-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

Town, northwestern Puerto Rico. The town is a port on a wide bay formed on the south by the hills of Punta Higüero (Jiguera) and on the north by Punta Borinquen, the northwestern corner of the island. It was established as a town in 1775 and elevated to the royal rank of villa in 1861. The town is a processing and trading centre for a prosperous agricultural hinterland; products include

Philip

2005-03-21T04:52:00.000-08:00

Byname Philip The Magnanimous, German Philipp Der Grossmütige landgrave (Landgraf) of Hesse (1509–67), one of the great figures of German Protestantism, who championed the independence of German princes against the Holy Roman emperor Charles V.

Alabastron

2005-03-20T03:56:00.000-08:00

Elongated, narrow-necked flask, used as a perfume or unguent container. The Greek alabastron has no handles but often lugs (ear-shaped projections), sometimes pierced with string holes. There are three types of classical alabastron: a basic Corinthian bulbous shape about 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) high that appeared from the mid-7th century BC and was common in Greece (see ); a long, pointed

Basedow, Johann Bernhard

2005-03-18T18:25:00.000-08:00

Basedow as a boy revolted

Alegría, Ciro

2005-03-18T08:34:00.000-08:00

Educated at the National College of San Juan, Alegría acquired a firsthand knowledge of Indian life in his native province of Huamachuco; this first appeared in his novel La serpiente de oro (1935; The Golden Serpent), which portrays the diverse human life to be found along

Qantas Airways Limited

2005-03-18T07:15:00.000-08:00

Australian airline, the oldest in the English-speaking world, founded in 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd. (from which the name Qantas was derived). Its first operations were taxi services and joy flights. By the late 20th century, however, its scheduled air routes extended throughout Australasia and farther termini of San Francisco and Vancouver;

Gyascutus

2005-03-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

An imaginary, large, four-legged beast with legs on one side longer than those on the other, for walking on hillsides. Humorous references to this creature, whose name has countless local variants, first appeared in American newspapers during the 1840s. It has continued to play a minor role in American folklore since then. The word was apparently coined to mimic the Latin

Andreini, Francesco

2005-03-16T02:47:00.000-08:00

Andreini began his career as a soldier but was captured by the Turks and held in slavery by them for several years. Upon his return to Italy,

Arabia, History Of, Omani expansion

2005-03-16T01:04:00.000-08:00

In Oman events took an independent course. The Ya'rubid dynasty—founded about 1624 when a member of the Ya'rub tribe was elected imam—expelled the Portuguese from Muscat and set to harrying Portuguese possessions on the Indian coast. Embarking on expansion overseas—to Mombasa in 1698, then to Pemba, Zanzibar, and Kilwa—the Omanis became the supreme power on the coastal regions

France, History Of, Loss of political freedom

2005-03-15T19:45:00.000-08:00

Politics during the Directory had been marked by an unwholesome combination of ferocious partisanship and massive apathy. Weary of political turmoil and disillusioned by politicians of all kinds, most Frenchmen now accepted the disappearance of political freedom and participation with equanimity. The few who still cared passionately enough to resist collided

The Environment

2005-03-15T16:21:00.000-08:00

To the surprise of professional horticulturists, computers had a large impact on the field in 1997. Academics led the way, and numerous universities in industrialized countries converted their reference resources to on-line, searchable form, making them freely available via the World Wide Web. The types of information that were obtained from these sites included

Apport

2005-03-14T17:22:00.000-08:00

In occultism, a material object that arrives suddenly and mysteriously through the powers of a medium. Often the arrival of an apport may require its passage through other material objects. Apports usually occur during a séance (q.v.) and may involve living or inanimate objects. The apporting of human beings is sometimes called transportation. Spiritualists explain

Calculus Of Variations

2005-03-14T01:43:00.000-08:00

The isoperimetric problem—that of finding,

Canary Islands

2005-03-13T14:21:00.000-08:00

Spanish Islas Canarias comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Spain, consisting of an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, the nearest island being 67 miles (108 km) off the northwest African mainland. The Canaries comprise the Spanish provincias of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as well as the insular councils of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Palma, Gomera, and

Balbus, Lucius Cornelius

2005-03-13T05:01:00.000-08:00

Gnaeus Pompey conferred Roman citizenship on Balbus and his family for his services against the rebel Quintus Sertorius in Spain. Becoming friendly with all political parties in Rome, Balbus had the determining

Mitchell, Lucy Myers Wright

2005-03-12T20:20:00.000-08:00

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

Flores Sea

2005-03-12T08:46:00.000-08:00

Bahasa Indonesia Laut Flores portion of the western South Pacific Ocean, bounded on the north by the island of Celebes (Sulawesi) and on the south by the Lesser Sunda Islands of Flores and Sumbawa. Occupying a total surface area of 93,000 sq mi (240,000 sq km), it opens northwest through Makassar Strait to the Celebes Sea, west to the Java Sea, and east to the Banda Sea. Teluk (gulf of) Bone cuts deeply into the Celebes coast.

Metacarpal

2005-03-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

Any of several tubular bones between the wrist (carpal) bones and each of the forelimb digits in land vertebrates, corresponding to the metatarsal bones of the foot. Originally numbering five, metacarpals in many mammals have undergone much change and reduction during evolution. The lower leg of the horse, for example, includes only one strengthened metacarpal;

Koch, Kenneth Jay

2005-03-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

American poet, writer, and teacher (b. Feb. 27, 1925, Cincinnati, Ohio—d. July 6, 2002, New York, N.Y.), was known for verse that combined modernism with lyricism and that conveyed a sense of enthusiasm and fun. The subject matter was wide in range and included ordinary objects and references to popular culture. At the same time, Koch's poetry could be learned and technically sophisticated, reflecting

Portuguese Literature

2005-03-11T00:19:00.000-08:00

The literature of Portugal is distinguished by a wealth and variety of lyric poetry, which has characterized it from the beginning; by its medieval lack of and later

Uccello, Paolo

2005-03-10T05:30:00.000-08:00

By the time Paolo was 10 years old he was already an apprentice in the workshop of the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, who was then at work on what became one of the masterpieces of Renaissance art—the bronze doors for the Baptistery of the Florence cathedral, which consist of 28 panels illustrating New Testament scenes of the life of Christ. In 1414 Uccello joined the confraternity

Lanao, Lake

2005-03-09T20:07:00.000-08:00

Lake, west-central Mindanao, Philippines. It is situated just south of Marawi, northwest of the Butig Mountains. Lake Lanao is the second largest lake in the Philippines and has an area of 131 square miles (340 square km). Its outlet is the Agus River, which flows north, over Maria Cristina Falls, where there is a hydroelectric power plant, to Iligan Bay. There are numerous Muslim

Mitchell, Charles E(dwin)

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

Mitchell took his first job with the Western Electric Company in Chicago and became the president's assistant in 1903. Three years later he left the firm and became assistant to the president at The Trust Company of America in New York City, a position he held for five years.

M.v.o.

2005-03-08T04:20:00.000-08:00

Member, either fourth or fifth class, of the Royal Victorian Order. This rank of the order does not confer knighthood. See Royal Victorian Order.

Felixstowe

2005-03-06T22:08:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”) and seaport, Suffolk Coastal district, administrative and historic county of Suffolk, England. Although situated on the east coast, the town in fact faces south and has a frontage to the estuary of the River Orwell opposite Harwich. Felixstowe is a busy, modern container port. It is the nearest British port to Europoort and Rotterdam, Netherlands, and has

Wied, Gustav

2005-03-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

Wied was the son of a well-to-do farmer. He spent most of his life in provincial surroundings, which provide the usual background for his works. He was a private tutor for years, and then an actor, before he became

Pitch Lake

2005-03-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

Large surface deposit of natural asphalt, a mixture of heavy oils that is left after the lighter, more volatile components of a crude-oil seepage have evaporated. An example is Guanoco Lake in Venezuela, which covers more than 445 hectares (1,100 acres) and contains an estimated 6,000,000 tons of asphalt. It was used as a commercial source of asphalt from 1891 to 1935. Smaller deposits occur commonly

Gruppe 47

2005-03-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

English Group 47 informal association of German-speaking writers that was founded in 1947 (hence its name). Gruppe 47 originated with a group of war prisoners in the United States who were concerned with reestablishing the broken traditions of German literature. Feeling that Nazi propaganda had corrupted their language, they advocated a style of sparse, even cold, descriptive realism

Medicine

2005-03-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

The World Health Organization at its 1978 international conference held in the Soviet Union produced the Alma-Ata Health Declaration, which was designed to serve governments as a basis for planning health care that would reach people at all levels of society.

Atyrau

2005-03-05T17:10:00.000-08:00

Kazak Atyrau , also spelled Aterau , formerly (until 1992) Guryev , also spelled Gurev, Guriev , or Gurjev city, western Kazakstan. It is a port on the Ural (Zhayyq) River near its mouth on the Caspian Sea. Founded as a fishing settlement in the mid-17th century by the fishing entrepreneur Mikhail Guryev, it soon became a fort on the Ural fortified line manned by the Ural Cossacks. Fishing and trade were the main economic activities until Soviet times. Now, in addition to a large

Hopak

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

Also spelled gopak Ukrainian folk dance, once for men only but later danced by couples, male soloists, and mixed groups of dancers. In the western Ukraine, as the hopak-kolo, it is danced in a closed circle. The hopak has no fixed pattern of steps. Men competitively improvise steps, high leaps, squatting kicks, and turns; women dance simple steps, sway, clap, or circle. Changes of step do not

Synthesis

2005-03-04T05:35:00.000-08:00

In philosophy, the combination of parts, or elements, in order to form a more complete view or system. The coherent whole that results is considered to show the truth more completely than would a mere collection of parts. The term synthesis also refers, in the dialectical philosophy of the 19th-century German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel, to the higher stage of truth that combines

Arriaga, Juan Crisóstomo

2005-03-03T23:11:00.000-08:00

In full Juan Crisóstomo Jacobo Antonio Arriaga y Balzola Spanish violinist and composer of extraordinary precocity whose potential was cut short by his early death. Stylistically, his music stands between the Classical tradition of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Romanticism of Gioacchino Rossini and Franz Schubert; it shows abundant invention, freshness,

Arányi, Jelly D'

2005-03-03T14:55:00.000-08:00

The grandniece of the celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim, she made her debut

Sponge

2005-03-02T07:18:00.000-08:00

Any of the primitive multicellular aquatic animals that constitute the phylum Porifera. They number approximately 5,000 described species and inhabit all seas, where they occur attached to surfaces from the intertidal zone to depths of 8,500 metres (29,000 feet) or more. One family, the Spongillidae, is found in fresh water. Adult sponges lack a definite nervous system and do not show

Ibn Khallikan

2005-03-02T00:22:00.000-08:00

Ibn Khallikan was an assistant to the chief judge of Egypt until 1261, when he became qadi al-qudat (chief judge) of Damascus. He adhered to the Shafi'i branch of Muslim law, and for the first years had deputy judges of the other three main

Beveridge, Albert J.

2005-03-01T16:19:00.000-08:00

Beveridge was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1887 and began the practice of law in Indianapolis. He first attracted national attention by his eloquent speeches defending the increasing power of the federal government and advocating U.S. territorial expansion overseas. In 1899 he was elected

R.j. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings

2005-03-01T11:45:00.000-08:00

American manufacturer of tobacco products. The origins of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company date to the post-Civil War era, when Richard Joshua Reynolds (1850–1918) began trading in tobacco, first in his native Virginia and then in Winston, North Carolina, where in 1875 he established his first plug factory. In 1899 the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company was incorporated, with Reynolds as president.

United States V. E.c. Knight Company

2005-02-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

President Grover Cleveland ordered the government to

Gaillard, Château

2005-02-28T02:33:00.000-08:00

(French: “Saucy Castle”), 12th-century castle built by Richard the Lion-Heart on the Andelys cliff overlooking the Seine River in France; substantial portions of it still stand. Château Gaillard, the strongest castle of its age, guarded the Seine River valley approach to Normandy. Skillfully designed and executed, with the base of the keep carved out of the natural

Levinson, Salmon Oliver

2005-02-27T10:50:00.000-08:00

Levinson practiced law in Chicago from 1891 and became noted for his skill in reorganizing the finances of distressed corporations. In an article in the New Republic, March 9, 1918, he argued that violence by nation-states should be declared illegal.

Hyphochytridiomycetes

2005-02-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

A class of mostly marine fungi (division Mycota) containing 15 species. The class is distinguished by the asexual production of motile cells (zoospores) with a single, anterior, feathery, whiplike structure (flagellum). Sexual reproduction has not been found among these fungi.

Propellant

2005-02-26T05:57:00.000-08:00

Any gas, liquid, or solid the expansion of which can be used to impart motion to another substance or object. In aerosol dispensers, compressed gases such as nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, and many halogenated hydrocarbons are used as propellants. The propellant may remain in gaseous form (nitrous oxide or carbon dioxide), or it may liquefy under pressure. Food products,

Handicap

2005-02-26T01:24:00.000-08:00

In sports and games, method of offsetting the varying abilities or characteristics of competitors in order to equalize their chances of winning. Handicapping takes many, often complicated, forms. In horse racing, a track official known as the handicapper may assign weights to horses according to their speed in previous performances; the presumed fastest horse

United Evangelical Lutheran Church

2005-02-25T23:39:00.000-08:00

Church organized in 1896 in Minneapolis, Minn., as the United Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America by merger of the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America (the North Church) and the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church Association in America (the Blair Church). “Danish” was dropped from the church's name in 1946. Both of the merging groups had earlier separated

Elimelech Of Lizhensk

2005-02-25T05:25:00.000-08:00

Elimelech was a disciple of Tov Baer, one of the early Hasidic leaders, and after Baer's death he settled in Lizhensk, which subsequently became an important Hasidic centre. Elimelech emphasized the importance of the leader (zaddik, meaning “righteous

Lutheran Church In Württemberg

2005-02-24T13:20:00.000-08:00

Independent Lutheran church established in the duchy of Württemberg in 1534 during the Protestant Reformation in Germany. A strong Lutheran church throughout the centuries, it was influenced in the 17th and 18th centuries by Pietism, the Lutheran-based movement that emphasized personal religious experience and reform. It became independent of the state after Germany

Felicitas

2005-02-24T03:36:00.000-08:00

Roman goddess of good luck to whom a temple was first built in the mid-2nd century BC. She became the special protector of successful commanders. Caesar planned to erect another temple to her, and it was built by the triumvir M. Aemilius Lepidus. The emperors made her prominent as symbolizing the blessings of the imperial regime.

Probolinggo

2005-02-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Prabalingga, or Perobolinggo, city, in kabupaten (regency), Jawa Timur provinsi (“province”), Java, Indonesia, on the southern side of Madura Strait. There is a good harbour for small ships, and the fishing industry is important. Cottage industries include pottery and the manufacture of sarongs. The surrounding regency grows rice, corn (maize), sugar, rubber, coffee, and mangoes, the last renowned for their

Kabuki

2005-02-23T01:21:00.000-08:00

Traditional Japanese popular drama with singing and dancing performed in a highly stylized manner. A rich blend of music, dance, mime, and spectacular staging and costuming, it has been the chief theatrical form in Japan for almost four centuries. The term kabuki originally suggested the unorthodox and shocking character of this art form. In modern Japanese, the

Itching

2005-02-22T22:49:00.000-08:00

Also called Pruritus, a stimulation of free nerve endings, usually at the junction of the dermis and epidermis of the skin, that evokes a desire to scratch. It has been suggested that an itch is a subthreshold sensation of pain; however, although both itch and pain sensations share common nerve pathways, they are generally considered distinct sensory types. Itching evokes a range of sensations,

Peter, Hugh

2005-02-22T20:09:00.000-08:00

Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church in 1623. He went to London in 1626 and was appointed preacher at St. Sepulchre's, but his unorthodox views led to the suspension of his preaching license in 1627. He

Aesthetics

2005-02-21T18:18:00.000-08:00

All aesthetic experience, whether of art or nature, seems to be informed by and dependent upon an exercise of taste. We choose the object of aesthetic experience, and often do so carefully and deliberately. Moreover, we are judged by our choices, not only of works of art but also of colour schemes, dresses, and garden ornaments, just as we are judged by our manners and our

Museum And Picture Gallery

2005-02-20T10:12:00.000-08:00

Art museum in Vadodara (Baroda), Gujarat state, India. It was founded by the Maharaja Gaekwar of Baroda in 1894 as a representative collection of masterpieces. The building was constructed between 1908 and 1914, and the gallery formally opened in 1921. The museum displays European paintings, especially English portraits by George Romney and examples from the schools of Sir Joshua Reynolds

Jewish Revoltsecond

2005-02-20T01:21:00.000-08:00

(AD 132–135), Jewish rebellion against Roman rule in Judaea. The revolt was preceded by years of clashes between Jews and Romans in the area. Finally, in AD 132, the misrule of Tinnius Rufus, the Roman governor of Judaea, combined with the emperor Hadrian's intention to found a Roman colony on the site of Jerusalem and his restrictions on Jewish religious freedom and observances, roused

Light Bulb

2005-02-19T19:01:00.000-08:00

Electric incandescent lamp based on a glowing metallic filament enclosed within a glass shell filled with an inert gas such as nitrogen. See incandescent lamp; lamp.

Lutetium

2005-02-19T15:58:00.000-08:00

(Lu), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table; the hardest and densest rare-earth element, last member of the lanthanide series. Lutetium was discovered (1907–08) by Carl Auer von Welsbach and Georges Urbain, working independently. Urbain derived the name for the element from Lutetia, which was the ancient Roman name for Paris. The name

Oyapock River

2005-02-19T08:31:00.000-08:00

Portuguese Rio Oiapoque, river that forms the border between French Guiana and the Brazilian state of Amapá. It rises in the Tumuc-Humac Mountains and flows northeast for 311 miles (500 km) to empty into the Atlantic near Cape Orange. The country through which it passes is thinly populated and is mostly covered by an unbroken tropical rain forest. Near the river's mouth are the ports of Saint-Georges,

Standish, Myles

2005-02-18T14:01:00.000-08:00

As a young man, Standish fought in the Netherlands, where he probably met the English religious exiles who later became known as the Pilgrims. He sailed with them to America on the “Mayflower” in 1620, serving as their military leader when they established Plymouth in

Macdowell Colony

2005-02-16T08:34:00.000-08:00

After Edward's death

Yevreyskaya

2005-02-16T07:07:00.000-08:00

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,

Zaharias, Babe Didrikson

2005-02-16T04:51:00.000-08:00

William Oscar Johnson and Nancy P. Williamson, "Whatta-Gal": The Babe Didrikson Story (1977); and Susan E. Cayleff, Babe: The Life and Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1995), examine her life and career.

Hadi, Al-

2005-02-16T03:51:00.000-08:00

Al-Hadi's persecution of the 'Alids, representatives of the Shi'ite sect of Islam, precipitated revolts in Medina, Egypt, and Iraq, all of which were put down brutally. Throughout his short reign, he struggled with the question of succession, attempting to annul the rights of his brother, Harun ar-Rashid, who was later to become one of the

Feller, Bob

2005-02-15T11:29:00.000-08:00

Feller was signed to a contract with the New Orleans Pelicans in 1935 and joined the Cleveland Indians mid-season in 1936. Initially Feller

Cruise Missile

2005-02-15T04:03:00.000-08:00

Type of low-flying strategic guided missile. The German V-1 missile used in World War II was a precursor of the cruise missile, which was developed by the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and '70s. Capable of carrying either a nuclear or a conventional warhead, the cruise missile was designed to have a very low radar cross section and to hug the ground while traveling

Steffens, Henrik

2005-02-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

Steffens spent his early years at Copenhagen, where he attended the university. He later studied at Kiel, Jena, and Berlin and by 1799 was an established figure in German literary and philosophical circles and on friendly terms with Schelling, Goethe,

Ibar River

2005-02-14T17:38:00.000-08:00

River in south central Yugoslavia, rising in the Mokra Planina (mountains) and flowing eastward to Kosovska Mitrovica, then northward to join the Zapadna Morava River. Its length is 171 mi (276 km), and it has a drainage area of 3,100 sq mi (8,000 sq km). Major tributaries are the Raška, Studenica, and Sitnica. The adjacent upland is forested, but there are croplands in the stream valleys, where the

Ariobarzanes

2005-02-13T17:29:00.000-08:00

Persian satrap (provincial governor) of Phrygia after about 387. The son of a nobleman, he cultivated the friendship of Athens and Sparta and, about 366, led the unsuccessful revolt of the satraps of western Anatolia against the Persian king Artaxerxes II (reigned 404–359/358 BC).

Wells, Emmeline Blanche Woodward

2005-02-13T17:06:00.000-08:00

Emmeline Woodward followed her widowed mother in converting to Mormonism in 1842. She moved with her first husband to the Mormon settlement of Nauvoo, Illinois,

Gu Kaizhi

2005-02-12T06:18:00.000-08:00

Gu Kaizhi's art is known today from both written records and paintings that are

Amur River, Plant life

2005-02-11T21:28:00.000-08:00

Much of the Amur basin lies in the taiga vegetation zone. Larch is the predominant species, particularly in boggy areas, with some pine, spruce, and fir on drier land. In the east are found the Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) and the Amur cork tree (Phellodendron amurense). In the west the Argun River traverses a region of steppe grassland. In the Da and Xiao Hinggan ranges south

Neoglaziovia

2005-02-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

The leaves of N. variegata, a reedlike plant, are up to 1.2 m (4 feet) long. They contain a fibre known as caroa, which is used to make rope, fabric, netting, and packing material.

Ghee Hin

2005-02-11T10:48:00.000-08:00

Chinese secret society that flourished in Malaya in the 19th and early 20th centuries. During the 1800s many Chinese migrated to Malaya, bringing their secret societies with them. The Ghee Hin had strong branch organizations in Penang. Its membership consisted primarily of Cantonese speakers from southern China. The Ghee Hin was a semilegal society internally controlled

Percy, Sir Henry

2005-02-11T07:16:00.000-08:00

The eldest son of Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, he was nicknamed Hotspur by his Scottish enemies in recognition of the diligence

Novello, Vincent

2005-02-09T22:20:00.000-08:00

From 1797 to 1822 Novello was organist at the Portuguese embassy chapel, where he directed the first English performances of masses by Joseph Haydn and W.A. Mozart. In 1812 he became pianist and conductor at the Italian Opera, London. From 1840 to 1843 he was organist at the Roman Catholic

Hetman

2005-02-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

Military title used in the Polish–Lithuanian state (16th–18th century); the hetman wielki (“great hetman”) was the chief of the armed forces and the commander in the field when the king was not present. In Ukraine a variation of the term, ataman, was used to designate the military leader of the Zaporozhian Cossacks (16th century) and the prince of the area east of the Dnieper River

Affreightment

2005-02-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

Essentially, such a contract is an agreement between two parties, the carrier and the shipper. The carrier undertakes to carry the goods to

Mcmahon Line

2005-02-09T02:11:00.000-08:00

Frontier between Tibet and Assam in British India, negotiated between Tibet and Great Britain at the end of the Simla Conference (October 1913–July 1914) and named after the chief British negotiator, Sir Henry McMahon. It runs from the eastern border of Bhutan along the crest of the Himalayas until it reaches the great bend in the Brahmaputra River where that river emerges

Elgin

2005-02-07T20:09:00.000-08:00

On a hill to the west stood the 12th-century castle that in 1291 marked the northern limit of the English occupation of Scotland. The castle was destroyed after the Battle of Bannockburn (1314), which

David

2005-02-06T20:34:00.000-08:00

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

La Gruyère

2005-02-06T15:46:00.000-08:00

German Greyerz, region and southernmost district of Fribourg canton, western Switzerland. La Gruyère lies along the middle reach of La Sarine (Saane) River, on the edge of the Vaudois uplands and the Bernese Oberland (highland), south of Fribourg. The name is derived either from gruyer, a forestry officer, or from the crane (grue), the bird crest of the powerful counts of La Gruyère (923–1555). The principal

Fragile-x Syndrome

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

The X chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes (the other being the Y chromosome). Males have one X and one Y chromosome; females have two X chromosomes. The male who receives the fragile-X chromosome will be affected by the syndrome,

Dasa

2005-02-05T04:37:00.000-08:00

Also spelled dasyu member of an aboriginal people in India encountered and embattled by the invading Aryans (c. 1500 BC). They were described by the Aryans as a dark-skinned, harsh-spoken people who worshiped the phallus. This allusion has persuaded many scholars that worship of the linga, the Hindu religious symbol, originated with them; it may, however, have referred to their sexual practices.

Papini, Giovanni

2005-02-05T03:58:00.000-08:00

Though largely self-educated,

Belgium, History Of

2005-02-04T19:30:00.000-08:00

After the Burgundian regime in the Low Countries (1363–1477), the southern as well as the northern provinces had dynastic links with the Austrian Habsburgs, then with Spain and the Austrian Habsburgs together. Later, as a consequence of revolt in

World War Ii, Allied policy and strategy: Octagon (Quebec II) and Moscow, 1944

2005-02-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

The progress of the Soviet armies toward central and southeastern Europe made it all the more urgent for the western Allies to come to terms with Stalin about the fate of the “liberated” countries of eastern Europe. London had already proposed to Moscow in May 1944 that Romania and Bulgaria should be zones for Soviet military operation, Yugoslavia and Greece—whose royalist

Probate

2005-02-03T19:22:00.000-08:00

In Anglo-American law, the judicial proceedings by which it is determined whether or not a paper purporting to be the last will of a deceased person is the legally valid last will. What appears to be a valid will may not be so: it may have been forged, not executed in the way required by law, signed by the testator while mentally incompetent or under duress, or subsequently