FatWatch

Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services, including Estate Agent Covent Garden and Estate Agent London. Their centrally located ground floor offices, minutes from Oxford Circus offer an ideal marketing base for your property.

Bohomolec, Franciszek

2005-03-19T01:59:00.000-08:00

After completing his studies in Rome for the Jesuit priesthood, Bohomolec taught in Warsaw and began to adapt the comedies of Carlo Goldoni and Molière for performance by his

Tiwi

2005-03-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

Resort town, southeastern Luzon, Philippines. It is situated along Lagonoy Gulf of the Philippine Sea. The town lies in a bed of volcanic vents over an active geothermal area; through the vents, sulfurous live steam pours continuously. Tiwi Hot Springs National Park is nearby; there tourists can boil food in the steaming water. There are local handicraft industries

Giraud, Henri (-honoré)

2005-03-15T19:46:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Saint-Cyr in 1900, Giraud first served in Morocco and was captured by the Germans during World War I. Returning to North Africa in 1922, he participated in the Rif War. Early in World War II, he commanded an army but was again captured in

Hadrian's Wall

2005-03-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

World Water Crisis: Is There A Way Out?

2005-03-11T19:57:00.000-08:00

Some 40% of the global population lives within river basins that are shared by two or more countries. Often one country is water-rich and the other water-poor, or one supports heavily polluting industries while the other does not. Since there is no strong international law governing the resolution of transboundary water disputes, the potential for conflict remains

Ogaden

2005-03-09T00:45:00.000-08:00

The region is sparsely populated

Shaft Graves

2005-03-08T17:07:00.000-08:00

Late Bronze Age (c. 1600–1450 BC) burial sites from the era in which the Greek mainland came under the cultural influence of Crete. The graves were those of royal or leading Greek families, unplundered and undisturbed until found by modern archaeologists at Mycenae. The graves, consisting of deep, rectangular shafts above stone-walled burial chambers, lie in two circles, one excavated

Amin, (muhammad) Al-

2005-03-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

As the son of Harun ar-Rashid, the fifth caliph, and Zubayda, a niece of al-Mansur, the second caliph, al-Amin took precedence in the succession over his elder half brother, al-Ma'mun, whose mother was a Persian slave. In 809, al-Amin succeeded to the caliphate, and al-Ma'mun was vested with the administration of the eastern Khorasan region. Relations

Mormon

2005-03-07T10:05:00.000-08:00

Mormons accept the Bible “as far as it is translated correctly.” Smith did not finish his translation of the Bible, which incorporates prophecies of his own coming and of the Book of Mormon, which is central to Mormon belief. The Book of Mormon is largely similar in style and themes to the Old Testament. It recounts the history of a group of Hebrews who migrated from Jerusalem

Andijon

2005-03-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Andizhan, or Andizan, city, extreme eastern Uzbekistan. Andijon lies in the southeastern part of the Fergana Valley. The city, which stands on ancient deposits of the Andijon River, dates back at least to the 9th century. In the 15th century it became the capital of the Fergana Valley and, being on the Silk Road caravan route to China, its chief centre of trade and handicrafts. In the 18th century it

Indri

2005-03-05T20:03:00.000-08:00

(Indri indri), slender, long-limbed primate of the family Indriidae, found in Madagascan forests. The largest of existing Madagascan lemurs, the indri is about 70 cm (28 inches) long and has a rudimentary tail, large hands and feet, and a round head with pointed face and round, furry ears. Its colour is usually black with white on the head, throat, forearms, and buttocks.

Augustus, Caesar

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

The inscriptions of the Augustan Age are used to explicate the history of the period in P.A. Brunt and J.M. Moore (eds.), Res Gestae Divi Augusti: The Achievements of the Divine Augustus (1967, reprinted 1988); and Victor Ehrenberg and A.H.M. Jones (compilers), Documents Illustrating the Reigns of Augustus & Tiberius, 2nd ed. (1955, reprinted with addenda, 1976). Books that examine numismatic evidence from the reign of Augustus include C.H.V. Sutherland, Coinage in Roman Imperial Policy, 31 BC–AD 68 (1951, reprinted 1978), and Roman History and Coinage, 44 BC–AD 69 (1987); and Michael Grant, From Imperium to Auctoritas: A Historical Study of Aes Coinage in the Roman Empire, 49 BC–AD 14 (1946, reprinted with corrections, 1969). The art, architecture, and decoration of this period are treated by J.M.C. Toynbee, The Art of the Romans (1965); Axel Boëthius, Etruscan and Early Roman Architecture, 2nd integrated ed., rev. by Roger Ling and Tom Rasmussen (1978); and Paul Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus, trans. from (1988).

Handke, Peter

2005-03-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

Handke, the son of a bank clerk, studied law at Graz University from 1961 to 1965 and contributed pieces to the avant-garde literary magazine manuskripte. He came to public notice as an anticonventional playwright

Neotropical Region

2005-03-01T16:06:00.000-08:00

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

Guadalupian Stage

2005-02-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

In Guadalupian time the conditions

White Plains

2005-02-28T00:46:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1778) of Westchester county, New York, U.S. It lies along the Bronx and Hutchinson rivers. Known to the Wappinger Indians as Quarropas (“White Marshes”), probably for the area's heavy fogs, the site was sold twice (in 1660 and in 1683) by them to different groups, causing long litigation over the title and delays in the settlement of the area. An established community by 1735 within the town

Vending Machine

2005-02-27T16:23:00.000-08:00

Coin-actuated machine through which various goods may be retailed. Vending machines should not be confused with coin-operated amusement games or music machines. The first known commercial use of vending machines came early in the 18th century in England, where coin-actuated “honour boxes” were used to sell snuff and tobacco. These devices were also in use in the British-American

Nature Worship, Water as fructifying

2005-02-25T18:30:00.000-08:00

Wherever early archaic culture spread the myth of heaven and earth as the world parents, there also was a belief that heaven fructifies the earth with heaven's seed. The springs, pools, and rivers on the earth, therefore, may bring not only healing and expiation but also fertility. The Scamander (now Turkey's Küçükmenderes) River in ancient Greece evidently was so personified;

Barcelona, Climate

2005-02-25T17:29:00.000-08:00

Although Barcelona is sometimes windy, its protective semicircle of mountains shields it from the harsh, cold winds that blow out of the north and west. The average annual temperature is 61 °F (16 °C); January is the coldest month, averaging 49 °F (9 °C), and August is the hottest, at 76 °F (24 °C). Precipitation amounts to about 23 inches (600 mm) per year.

Málaga

2005-02-23T09:54:00.000-08:00

Port city and capital of Málaga provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Andalusia, southern Spain. It lies along a wide bay of the Mediterranean Sea at the mouth of the Guadalmedina River in the centre of the Costa del Sol. It was founded by the Phoenicians in the 12th century BC, conquered successively by the Romans and the Visigoths, and taken by the

Amur River

2005-02-22T20:03:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Pinyin) Heilong Jiang or (Wade-Giles) Hei-lung Chiang, Mongol Kharamuren river of East Asia. It is the longest river of the Russian Far East, and it ranks behind only the Yangtze and Huang Ho (Yellow River) among China's longest rivers. Its headwaters rise in Russia (Siberia), Mongolia, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China in the mountains northwest and southeast of the point where their borders meet. The main river flows generally

Maupassant, Guy De

2005-02-22T03:40:00.000-08:00

In full Henry-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant French naturalist writer of short stories and novels who is by general agreement the greatest French short-story writer.

Sevilla

2005-02-20T22:30:00.000-08:00

, also spelled Seville , ancient Hispalis city and capital of the provincia of Sevilla, in the Andalusia comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of southern Spain. Sevilla lies on the left (east) bank of the Guadalquivir River at a point about 54 miles (87 km) north of the Atlantic, and about 340 miles (550 km) southwest of Madrid. An inland port, it is the chief city of Andalusia and the fourth largest in Spain. Sevilla was important

Ansgar, Saint

2005-02-19T14:05:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, Ansgar entered the Benedictine abbey of Corbie in Picardy, where he was educated. After 823 he taught in the monastic school at Corvey (“New Corbie”), Westphalia, where

Rimini

2005-02-19T02:34:00.000-08:00

The Romans called it Ariminum, from Ariminus, the old name of the Marecchia, and, according to the 1st-century-BC Greek historian

West Virginia, Colonial period and Virginia's dominion

2005-02-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

The second charter of Virginia in 1609 provided for settlement of that colony's western frontiers. Exploration and trade were further encouraged by Governor William Berkeley after 1660. The Blue Ridge was reached in 1670, and in 1671 another expedition encountered the first westward-flowing stream, the New River, in southwestern Virginia. The expedition descended the river to Peter's

Aquinas, Thomas, Saint

2005-02-17T01:01:00.000-08:00

Escape from the feudal world, rapid commitment

Yuna River

2005-02-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

The Yuna is formed by the union of many headstreams arising near Bonao in the tangled mountains of the Cordillera Central. The river descends northeastward into the fertile region known as the

Korea, South

2005-02-15T18:24:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Korea , Korean Taehan Min'guk country in East Asia. It occupies the southern portion of the Korean peninsula. The country is bordered by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) to the north, the East Sea (Sea of Japan) to the east, the East China Sea to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west; to the southeast it is separated from the Japanese island of Tsushima by the Korea Strait. South Korea

Columbia Encyclopedia

2005-02-14T22:36:00.000-08:00

First published in 1935 and continuing its indirect but important relationship with Columbia University, the encyclopaedia underwent major revisions in 1950 and 1963. The fourth edition (1975), with the present title, met a crucial

Fighter Aircraft

2005-02-12T18:50:00.000-08:00

Aircraft designed primarily to secure control of essential airspace by destroying enemy aircraft in combat. The opposition may consist of fighters of equal capability or of bombers carrying protective armament. For such purposes fighters must be capable of the highest possible performance in order to be able to outfly and outmaneuver opposing fighters. Above

Tea And Coffee Service

2005-02-11T03:26:00.000-08:00

Set of vessels and implements for making and serving tea and coffee, the items often of matched design. Elaborate 18th-century examples had tea and coffee pots, a milk or cream jug, a pair of tea caddies, a sugar bowl and pair of tongs, teaspoons and a small tray for them, a tea strainer, and cups and saucers. All of these were normally placed on a tray, while an urn or kettle on a separate

Butterfly Weed

2005-02-10T11:23:00.000-08:00

Unlike most milkweeds, this plant has a scanty milky juice. It is native to dry fields and

English Literature, Secular prose

2005-02-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

Secular compositions and translations in prose also came into prominence in the last quarter of the 14th century, though their stylistic accomplishment does not always match that of the religious tradition. Chaucer's “Tale of Melibeus” and his two astronomical translations, the Treatise on the Astrolabe and the Equatorie of the Planetis, were relatively modest

Field, Marshall

2005-02-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

Born on a farm, Field became at 16 an errand boy in a dry-goods store in Pittsfield, Mass., where he developed rapidly into an adept salesman. After going to

Probation

2005-02-07T23:10:00.000-08:00

The probation

Sundiata

2005-02-06T09:45:00.000-08:00

Sundiata was a Mandingo from the small kingdom of Kangaba, near the present Mali–Guinea border. Little is known about his early life. Mandingo oral traditions

Japanese Deer

2005-02-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

Hoofed mammal, a subspecies of sika (q.v.).

Silent Trade

2005-02-03T07:16:00.000-08:00

Also called dumb barter , or depot trade specialized form of barter in which goods are exchanged without any direct contact between the traders. Generally, one group goes to a customary spot, deposits the goods to be traded, and withdraws, sometimes giving a signal such as a call or a gong stroke. Another group then comes to leave a second set of articles and retreats. The first group returns, removing these

Arts, Native American, Wind instruments: aerophones

2005-02-02T07:17:00.000-08:00

In North America, flutes are limited to courtship, except for a whistle in an Iroquois medicine rite and in a gens (kinship-group) ceremony of the Meskwaki. In Mexico and southward, wind instruments provide colour and symbolic significance. At least two dances feature a one-man drummer-flutist who holds a flute in his left hand and plays a drum with his right. These are

Lennep, Jacob Van

2005-02-01T02:23:00.000-08:00

Early in his career van Lennep found his natural genre, the historical novel, and his first such work, De pleegzoon (1833; The Adopted Son), was set in the 17th century. Like many of his later works it contains a strong element of adventure and a complicated plot. De lotgevallen

Arabesque

2005-01-30T23:56:00.000-08:00

Style of decoration characterized by intertwining plants and abstract curvilinear motifs. Derived from the work of Hellenistic craftsmen working in Asia Minor, the arabesque originally included birds in a highly naturalistic setting. As adapted by Muslim artisans about AD 1000, it became highly formalized; for religious reasons, no birds, beasts, or human

Arad

2005-01-29T22:41:00.000-08:00

The site became a Roman outpost south of the river at Aradu Nou (“New Arad”). The first documented mention of Arad dates from 1156. Arad was in Turkish hands, with brief

Tara Singh

2005-01-29T01:28:00.000-08:00

Tara Singh was born a Hindu, but while a student in Rawalpindi he became attracted to Sikhism and underwent the required initiation ceremony.

Mitchum, Robert

2005-01-27T18:47:00.000-08:00

Expelled from Haaren High School in New York City's Hell's Kitchen, Mitchum took to the road during the early years of the Depression.

Annelid, Respiratory system

2005-01-26T15:29:00.000-08:00

Gas exchange generally takes place through the skin, but it may occur through gill filaments in some polychaetes or through the rectum of aquatic oligochaetes. Although oxygen may be transported directly in the blood, it is usually carried by a respiratory pigment, either hemoglobin or chlorocruorin. Hemoglobin, the most common pigment, is present in most free-moving

Insurance, Property insurance

2005-01-26T02:45:00.000-08:00

Two main types of contracts—homeowner's and commercial—have been developed to insure against loss from accidental destruction of property. These contracts (or forms) typically are divided into three or four parts: insuring agreements, identification of covered property, conditions and stipulations, and exclusions.

Nova Scotia, Flag Of

2005-01-24T02:04:00.000-08:00

The flag is based on the provincial coat of arms, which was itself inspired by the Scottish Cross of St. Andrew (white saltire on a blue field) and the royal arms of Scotland. The “reverse-colour” Cross of St. Andrew on the Nova Scotia flag provides a more visible contrast for the Scottish shield. The Nova Scotia coat of arms was created on May 28, 1625, but it was not recorded by heraldic

Armstrong, Neil (alden)

2005-01-23T20:12:00.000-08:00

Armstrong became a licensed pilot on his 16th birthday and a naval air cadet in 1947. His studies in aeronautical engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., were interrupted in 1950 by the Korean War, in which he was shot down once and was awarded three Air Medals. In 1955 he became a civilian research

Argentina, Patagonia

2005-01-23T10:48:00.000-08:00

This region consists of an Andean zone (also called Western Patagonia) and the main Patagonian plateau south of the Pampas, which extends to the tip of South America. The surface of Patagonia descends east of the Andes in a series of broad, flat steps extending to the Atlantic coast. Evidently, the region's gigantic landforms and coastal terraces were created by the

Spanish Riding School Of Vienna

2005-01-21T11:13:00.000-08:00

Also called Imperial Spanish Riding School, German Spanische Reitschule Wien, or Spanische Hofreitschule, school of classical horsemanship in Vienna, probably founded in the late 16th century. It is the only remaining institution where haute école (“high school”) riding and training methods are exclusively practiced, much as they were in the 18th century. The school is particularly noted for its white Lipizzaner (q.v.) horses, bred especially for haute école performance. The horses

Antarctica, Technological advancements in exploration

2005-01-21T02:48:00.000-08:00

The period between World Wars I and II marks the beginning of the mechanical, particularly the aerial, age of Antarctic exploration. Wartime developments in aircraft, aerial cameras, radios, and motor transport were adapted for polar operation. On Nov. 16, 1928, the first heavier-than-air flight in Antarctica was made by the Alaskan bush pilot C.B. Eielson and George Hubert

Durham

2005-01-19T02:39:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1881) of Durham county, north-central North Carolina, U.S. It is situated about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Chapel Hill and 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Raleigh, the three cities forming one of the state's major urban areas—the Research Triangle. The first settlement (about 1750) in what is now Durham was called Prattsburg for William Pratt, a landowner. When Pratt refused to give land

Aurelian Wall

2005-01-18T20:49:00.000-08:00

It was originally constructed of tufa concrete, with a facing of triangular

Leaf Fish

2005-01-16T20:26:00.000-08:00

The name leaf fish is applied specifically

Selim I

2005-01-14T08:46:00.000-08:00

Selim came to the throne in the wake of civil strife in which he, his brother, and their father, Bayezid II, had been involved. Selim eliminated all potential claimants to the sultanate, leaving only

Tibet, Government

2005-01-13T23:20:00.000-08:00

Since 1965, as part of the separation of religion and civil administration, Tibet has been an autonomous region (tzu-chih-ch'

Selim I

2005-01-13T02:43:00.000-08:00

The BJP traces its roots to the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS; Indian People's Association), which was established in 1951 as the political wing of the Hindu paramilitary group Rashtriya Swayamesevak Sangh (RSS; National Volunteers Corps) by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. The BJS advocated the rebuilding of India in accordance

Botany

2005-01-12T16:06:00.000-08:00

Branch of biology that deals with the study of plants, including their structure, properties, and biochemical processes. Also included are plant classification and the study of plant diseases and of interactions with the environment. The principles and findings of botany have provided the base for such applied sciences as agriculture, horticulture, and

Smith, Patti

2005-01-10T14:30:00.000-08:00

In full Patti Lee Smith American poet, rock songwriter, and singer. Growing up in New Jersey, Smith won an art scholarship to Glassboro State Teachers College. In 1967 she moved to New York City, where she became active in the downtown Manhattan arts scene, writing poetry and living with the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Her performance-driven poetry readings

Quatre Bornes

2005-01-08T13:24:00.000-08:00

Town (“township”) on the island of Mauritius, in the western Indian Ocean. It lies in the western highlands region of the country, about 9 miles (14 km) south of Port Louis, the national capital. Quatre Bornes (French: “Four Boundaries”) was named for the boundary stones that marked the limits of four large sugar estates once situated there. Sugarcane is still produced in the surrounding

Lewis, John L.

2005-01-07T16:07:00.000-08:00

The son of immigrants from Welsh mining towns, Lewis left school in the seventh grade and went to work in the mines at age 15. In the coal-mining town of Panama,

Girodet-trioson, Anne-louis

2005-01-06T18:49:00.000-08:00

Girodet-Trioson won the Prix de Rome (1789) for his “Joseph Recognized by His Brothers,” which was influenced by the cold, sober Neoclassicism of his teacher, Jacques-Louis David. In “The Sleep of Endymion” (1792; Louvre, Paris)

Strasbourg Ware

2005-01-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

Strasbourg

Manala

2005-01-05T01:14:00.000-08:00

The Finnish underworld and related concepts among other Finno-Ugric peoples, such as the yabme-aimo of the Sami, are the

Bahrain, Settlement patterns

2005-01-04T20:54:00.000-08:00

The majority of the population now dwells in towns, but in the north and northwest of the main island, where irrigation has long been carried out using artesian water, there are numerous small villages and isolated dwellings where horticulture is the way of life. This area has an aspect of great fertility, which contrasts starkly with the bare desert appearance of

Sankt Pölten

2005-01-03T09:15:00.000-08:00

City, Niederösterreich Bundesland (federal state), northeastern Austria. It lies along the Traisen River between the foothills of the Alps and the Danube River, west of Vienna. Once the site of the Roman settlement of Aelium Cetium, the town developed in the 8th century around an abbey dedicated to St. Hippolytus, whose name in Germanicized form became Sankt Pölten. The

Ear Disease

2005-01-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

Impaired hearing is, with rare exception, the result of disease or abnormality of the outer, middle, or inner ear. Serious impairment of hearing at birth almost always results from a dysfunction of the auditory nerve and cannot be improved by medical or surgical treatment. In early and late childhood

Wace

2004-12-31T06:58:00.000-08:00

The Rou was commissioned by Henry II of England, who sometime before 1169 secured for Wace a canonry at Bayeux in northwestern France. The Brut may have been dedicated to Henry's queen,

Davenport, Charles Benedict

2004-12-30T20:13:00.000-08:00

After receiving a doctorate in zoology at Harvard University in 1892, Davenport taught there until 1899, when

Balanopales

2004-12-29T15:57:00.000-08:00

Order of dicotyledonous flowering plants comprising the family Balanopaceae, with a single genus (Balanops) and 12 species of trees and shrubs that have simple, alternately positioned or somewhat whorled leaves. The plants are further characterized by flowers that lack showy parts (sepals and petals). The male and female flowers occur on separate plants (i.e., the plants

Nitrogen Cycle

2004-12-28T23:20:00.000-08:00

Circulation of nitrogen in various forms through nature. Nitrogen, a component of proteins and nucleic acids, is essential to life on Earth. Although 78 percent by volume of the atmosphere is nitrogen gas, this abundant reservoir exists in a form unusable by most organisms. Through a series of microbial transformations, however, nitrogen is made available to plants,

Karakalpakstan

2004-12-28T21:22:00.000-08:00

On the east Karakalpakstan occupies the western half of the Kyzylkum Desert, a vast plain covered with shifting sands. The central part consists of the valley and delta of the Amu Darya (river), a low-lying area intersected by watercourses and canals. On the west the republic includes

Xavier, Saint Francis

2004-12-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

Spanish San Francisco Javier, or Xavier the greatest Roman Catholic missionary of modern times, who was instrumental in the establishment of Christianity in India, the Malay Archipelago, and Japan. In Paris in 1534 he pronounced vows as one of the first seven members of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits

Rouyn-noranda

2004-12-25T23:37:00.000-08:00

City, Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, western Quebec province, Canada, on the western shore of Lake Osisko. It is located 315 miles (507 km) northwest of Montreal city. Rouyn and its twin city, Noranda, originated in the 1920s when gold and copper ores were first exploited in the area. Rouyn was named after the sieur de Rouyn, a hero of the Battle of Sainte-Foy (1760), and became the administrative,

Ventnor

2004-12-25T05:41:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”), Isle of Wight, historic county of Hampshire, England. The town lies along the southeastern coast of the Isle of Wight. From a small fishing hamlet it grew in the 19th century into a fashionable resort, noted for its mild climate and long hours of sunshine. The novelist Charles Dickens lived for a time nearby, and the poet Algernon Swinburne is buried in

Admiral

2004-12-24T22:07:00.000-08:00

Any of several butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae (order Lepidoptera). They are fast-flying butterflies that are much prized by collectors for their coloration, which consists of black wings with white bands and reddish brown markings. The migratory red admiral (Vanessa atalanta), widespread in Europe, Scandinavia, North America,

Rayleigh Scattering

2004-12-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

The angle through which sunlight in the atmosphere is scattered by molecules of the constituent gases varies inversely as

France, History Of, Foreign policy and financial crisis

2004-12-21T23:12:00.000-08:00

The monarchy's international performance from 1715 to 1783 was basically creditable. From the time of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), when France had been invaded and nearly beaten, French statesmen pursued a double goal—the preservation of the balance of power in Europe, and, in the world at large, the expansion of the French colonial empire and the containment of England.

Fish-finder

2004-12-21T07:16:00.000-08:00

Also called Netsonde, in commercial fishing, high-frequency sonar device for locating schools of fish. It transmits sound waves downward and receives echoes from the bottom of the sea, or from intervening schools of fish, also indicating distance from ship to fish. Two different types are used, one of which is a simple “echo sounder” that points directly downward from the ship and indicates

France, History Of, Charlemagne

2004-12-20T20:02:00.000-08:00

Pepin III, faithful to ancient customs, divided his kingdom between his two sons, Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman. On Carloman's death in 771 the kingdom was reunited. Charlemagne established the base of his kingdom in northeastern Francia (his preferred residence was Aachen [Aix-la-Chapelle]).

Miracle, Judaism

2004-12-18T13:47:00.000-08:00

Miracles are taken for granted throughout the Old Testament. God does “wondrous things” according to Psalms, chapter 72, and “great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number” according to the Book of Job, chapter 5; these things are done in his creation in general and in the history of his people in particular (e.g., the 10 plagues of Egypt and the events of the Exodus).

Khoei, Abolqasem Al-

2004-12-17T15:04:00.000-08:00

Khoei studied Persian poetry and religion as a child. At age 13 he was sent to study Islamic law (Shari'ah) at Al-Najaf, where he remained and became one of the most important Shi'ite clerics of his day,

Philipp, Isidor

2004-12-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

Philipp was brought to Paris as an infant. As a piano student of Georges Mathias at the Conservatoire, he won the first prize in 1883. After study with Saint-Saëns and Stephen Heller, he began a brief solo concert career, making his London debut in 1890. From 1903 to 1934 he was professor

Facta, Luigi

2004-12-15T13:52:00.000-08:00

After studying law, Facta became a journalist. He was elected deputy in 1891. He served as undersecretary first of justice and then of the interior in Giovanni Giolitti's coalition cabinet (1903–05). In succeeding ministries he was three times minister of finance

Pacific Islands, High oceanic islands

2004-12-14T00:42:00.000-08:00

Extensive volcanic mountain ranges in the central and eastern Pacific rise abruptly from the ocean deep, their cores of dense black basalt built up from lava flows from the fractured seafloor. Where summits stand in high relief above sea level, they represent most of the islands that constitute Polynesia and Micronesia. Small to intermediate in land area, nowhere

Hypodorian Mode

2004-12-13T18:32:00.000-08:00

In music, second of the eight medieval church modes. See church mode.

Social Protection, Repression in Myanmar.

2004-12-13T16:46:00.000-08:00

Morton Sklar

Biblical Literature, The role of Samson

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

The exploits of the great Israelite strongman judge, Samson (a member of the tribe of Dan), are related in chapters 13–16. Dedicated from birth by his mother to Yahweh, Samson became a member of the Nazirites, an anti-Canaanite reform movement. As a Nazirite, he was required never to cut his hair, drink wine, or eat ritually unclean food. He married a Philistine woman whom he then

General Staff

2004-12-11T02:52:00.000-08:00

In the military, a group of officers that assists the commander of a division or larger unit by formulating and disseminating his policies, transmitting his orders, and overseeing their execution. Normally a general staff is organized along functional lines, with separate sections for administration, intelligence, operations, training, logistics, and other categories.

Furniture, Decorative processes and techniques

2004-12-09T08:51:00.000-08:00

Whether constructional principles are exploited as a motif or elegance of overall shape is stressed through stylization, every piece of furniture can be embellished in one way or another. A piece of furniture may be embellished by effects produced in the structural wood itself or in another kind of wood added to the first; that is, by carving and turning or by inlay

Iberian Peninsula

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

Peninsula in southwestern Europe, occupied by Spain and Portugal. Its name derives from its ancient inhabitants whom the Greeks called Iberians, probably after the Ebro (Iberus), the peninsula's second longest river (after the Tagus). The Pyrenees form an effective land barrier in the northeast from the rest of Europe, and in the south at Gibraltar the peninsula is separated

Indian Ocean, Surface currents

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

Ocean surface circulation is wind-driven. In the monsoon zone, surface circulation reverses every half year and features two opposing gyres (i.e., semi-closed current systems exhibiting spiral motion) that are separated by the Indian subcontinent. During the northeast monsoon, a weak counterclockwise gyre develops in the Arabian Sea, and a strong clockwise gyre

Refugees: Asylum In The U.s.

2004-12-07T01:04:00.000-08:00

In January the U.S. Coast Guard formed a flotilla around Haiti to stop refugees from fleeing to the United States. In the same month, Zoë Baird's nomination as attorney general was scrapped because she had employed an illegal immigrant as a nanny. In June a federal judge ruled that some 270 HIV-positive Haitians already granted political asylum had to be released from an

Dangriga

2004-12-06T01:57:00.000-08:00

Formerly Stann Creek, town, east-central Belize, at the mouth of the 20-mile- (32-kilometre-) long North Stann Creek, on the Caribbean coast. Founded in 1823 by black refugees from Honduras, it developed as a port and trading centre for bananas, timber, coconuts, and fish. It has a plant for canning and freezing orange juice. Dangriga is linked by coastal craft to Belize City, 40 miles (65 km) north, by coastal craft and

House

2004-12-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

In astrology, 1 of the 12 sectors, or divisions, of the celestial sphere. See horoscope.

Bing, Sir Rudolf Franz Joseph

2004-12-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

British operatic impresario (b. Jan. 9, 1902, Vienna, Austria--d. Sept. 2, 1997, New York, N.Y.), directed the Metropolitan Opera through one of its most turbulent periods (1950-72). The son of a Viennese industrialist, Bing grew up in a musical household. Although he studied voice in his teens, he soon started working for a bookstore that expanded its business into concert and opera management. He moved

Shad

2004-12-02T03:03:00.000-08:00

Any of several saltwater food fishes of the herring family (Clupeidae) that swim up rivers to spawn. Shad of the genus Alosa are rather deep bodied and have a notch in the upper jaw into which the tip of the lower fits. Young shad have small teeth, but the adults are toothless. The flesh of these fishes is considered very good to eat, though bony; the eggs,

Biblical Literature, Problems visual in origin

2004-12-01T19:45:00.000-08:00

The order of letters also might be inverted. Such metathesis, as it is called, appears in Psalms, in which qirbam (“their inward