CommonBall

Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T10:15:00.000-07:00

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.

Mitnagged

2005-03-17T17:51:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Misnagid (Hebrew: Opponent), plural Mitnaggedim, or Misnagidim, member of a group of tradition-minded Jews who vigorously opposed the mid-18th-century Hasidic movement of eastern Europe when it threatened to encompass large numbers of Jews. Under the leadership of Elijah ben Solomon, called the Vilna Gaon, the Mitnaggedim excommunicated all Hasidic groups from Orthodox Jewish communities. The Hasidim were accused of espousing

Ruyter, Michiel Adriaanszoon De

2005-03-15T22:59:00.000-08:00

Employed at sea at the age of nine, de Ruyter by 1635 had become a merchant captain. After serving as

Infection, Social habits

2005-03-10T23:34:00.000-08:00

The vampire bats of Brazil, which transmit paralytic rabies, bite cattle but not ranchers, presumably because on the plains of Brazil ranchers are few but cattle plentiful. Bat-transmitted rabies, however, does occur in human beings in Trinidad, where herdsmen sleep in shacks near their animals. The mechanism of infection is the same in Brazil and Trinidad, but the

Stilicho, Flavius

2005-03-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

Stilicho was half-Roman, half-Vandal by birth. Making the army his career, in 383 he served

World War I, Naval operations, 191718

2005-03-07T20:39:00.000-08:00

Since Germany's previous restrictions of its submarine warfare had been motivated by fear of provoking the United States into war, the U.S. declaration of war in April 1917 removed any reason for the Germans to retreat from their already declared policy of unrestricted warfare. Consequently, the U-boats, having sunk 181 ships in January, 259 in February, and 325 in March, sank 430 in April.

Performing Arts, Europe.

2005-03-04T06:34:00.000-08:00

In the London ballet world, the Royal Ballet's

Hardin, John Wesley

2005-03-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

Reaching adolescence as the defeated South entered the Reconstruction period, Hardin was virulently antiblack and anti-Yankee and, in 1868 at the age of 15, killed his first man, an ex-slave. From then on

Florida Agricultural And Mechanical University

2005-02-28T18:06:00.000-08:00

Byname Florida A&M University public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. It is a historically black, land-grant institution and part of the State University System of Florida; its enrollment remains predominantly African American. The university includes colleges of arts and sciences, education, pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, and engineering

Judaism, Rabbinic Judaism

2005-02-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

(Palestinian Judaism): Solomon Schechter, Aspects of Rabbinic Theology (1961), a concise, authoritative, and engaging treatment of classical (i.e., rabbinic) Judaism. (Babylonian Judaism): Jacob Neusner, A History of the Jews in Babylonia, 5 vol. (1965–70; vol. 1, rev. 1969), the most comprehensive treatment of Babylonian Jewry during the Tannaitic and Amoraic periods. (Judeo-Arabic culture): S.D. Goitein, Jews and Arabs: Their Contacts Through the Ages, 3rd rev. ed. (1974), a popular work by the ranking authority on all aspects of Jewish–Arabic symbiosis, particularly valuable for the medieval period; Abraham Ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Qabbalah (The Book of Tradition), ed. and trans. by Gerson D. Cohen (1967), the classic medieval Hebrew chronicle with analytic essays on Spanish Jewry's “golden age.” (Jews of medieval Europe): Israel Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, new ed. rev. by Cecil Roth (1932), delightful and erudite studies of social life and institutions in medieval Europe; Moritz Güdemann, Geschichte des Erziehungswesens und der Cultur der Juden, 3 vol. (1880–88), a social and intellectual history of medieval Ashkenazic Jewry (France, Germany, Italy); Cecil Roth, The Jews in the Renaissance (1959), lucid and informative, but with little critical analysis, valuable on Jewish contact with Christian men of letters; Gershom Scholem, Shabbethai Zevi, 2 vol. (1957), a penetrating and comprehensive study (in Hebrew) of the great false Messiah as well as of his religious antecedents and legacy; Stephen Sharot, Messianism, Mysticism, and Magic: A Sociological Analysis of Jewish Religious Movements (1982), an informative scholarly study.

Chemical Compound, Monoterpenes

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

The monoterpenes are isolated from their natural sources by distillation of the plant matter with steam. They are volatile oils, less dense than water, and have normal boiling points in the range 150°–185° C (300°–365° F). Purification is usually achieved by fractional distillation at reduced pressures or by regeneration from a crystalline derivative. Acyclic monoterpene hydrocarbons

Allen, William

2005-02-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Oxford, Allen became principal of St. Mary's Hall there in 1556. After the accession of Queen Elizabeth

Széchenyi, István, Count

2005-02-20T05:07:00.000-08:00

Born into an old, aristocratic Hungarian family, Széchenyi fought against Napoleon I and thereafter traveled extensively in Europe.

Switzerland, Literature

2005-02-19T04:15:00.000-08:00

In the field of literature, Switzerland has produced Jean-Jacques Rousseau; the historian and critic Jacob Burckhardt; Germaine de Staël, whose home at Coppet became a centre of European literary life during the 18th century; Gottfried Keller; Conrad Ferdinand Meyer; Jeremias Gotthelf; Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz; and the Nobel Prize winners Hermann Hesse and Carl Spitteler.

Gainsborough, Thomas

2005-02-17T16:06:00.000-08:00

Portrait and landscape painter, the most versatile English painter of the 18th century. Some of his early portraits show the sitters grouped in a landscape (“Mr. and Mrs. Andrews,” c. 1750). As he became famous and his sitters fashionable, he adopted a more formal manner that owed something to Anthony Van Dyck (“The Blue

Arts, Central Asian, Samanids

2005-02-14T16:13:00.000-08:00

The Samanids centred their kingdom in Khorasan. In the 9th century, under the leadership of Esma'il, they ruled over Transoxania and eastern Persia from their capital of Bukhara. Esma'il's türbe, or mausoleum, the oldest Islamic monument surviving in Bukhara, reproduces the form of the Zoroastrian chanar taq, or fire temple. In Samanid and Seljuqid hands, the türbe generally took the

Tsuzure

2005-02-13T15:43:00.000-08:00

Japanese tapestry, the full name of which is tsuzure-nishiki (“polychrome tapestry”). They were usually woven of silk on cotton warp covered with silk, gold, or silver threads. Tsuzure techniques reached Japan from China in the late 15th or early 16th century during the Muromachi (Ashikaga) period (1338–1573). Production was at its height in the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), particularly early in the

Pyrgos

2005-02-11T00:12:00.000-08:00

Modern Greek Pírgos, chief town and capital of the nomós (department) of Ilía, western Peloponnese, Greece, situated on the agricultural plain of the lower Alpheus River. Its port, Katákolon, to the west, was founded in 1857 to handle the export of Corinth raisins (currants). Pyrgos lies near ancient Letrinoi, a town on the Sacred Way from Elis to Olympia. The town is linked by rail to Pátrai and Kalá

Tasmania, Soils

2005-02-08T20:45:00.000-08:00

Most Tasmanian soils are leached, acidic, poorly drained, high in humus, and low in fertility. Least fertile and most extensive are the soils, especially the moor peats, of the west and northeast. Fertile areas occur extensively in the northwest and locally elsewhere, notably in the northeast. Brown earths occupy the drier areas east of the Central Plateau; black earths,

West Lafayette

2005-02-07T00:57:00.000-08:00

City, Tippecanoe county, west-central Indiana, U.S. It lies along the Wabash River (bridged) opposite Lafayette. Founded in 1845 as Kingston, it was later called Chauncey (1866) before being renamed West Lafayette in 1888. Primarily residential, it is the seat of Purdue University (1869). Nearby are the Tippecanoe Battlefield State Memorial and the site of Fort Ouiatanon (1719), the first white settlement

Boryokudan

2005-02-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

(Japanese: “tough gang”), any of various Japanese criminal gangs of centuries-long tradition, which combined in the 20th century into Mafia-like organizations. Members, often called yakuza (“good-for-nothing”), or gyangu (“gangster”), adopt samurai-like rituals and often bear elaborate body tattoos. They engage in extortion, blackmail, smuggling, prostitution, drugs, gambling,

France, History Of, Constitution of the Fourth Republic

2005-01-31T23:00:00.000-08:00

It soon became clear that the apparent unity forged in the Resistance was superficial and that the new political elite was sharply divided over the form of the new republic. Some urged the need for greater stability through a strong executive; others, notably the Communists, favoured concentrating power in a one-house legislature subject to grass-roots control

France, History Of, Financial crisis

2005-01-29T19:47:00.000-08:00

The aftermath of the Ruhr occupation was to cast doubt on its apparent success. The German republic was weakened by the runaway inflation of 1923 and its future clouded; the occupation had embittered Britain and the United States. Even among Frenchmen, the victory had left a sour aftertaste because the costs of the occupation forced an increase in French taxes. In the

Chandler, Zachariah

2005-01-28T09:43:00.000-08:00

Chandler, who was

Tekakwitha, Kateri

2005-01-26T15:22:00.000-08:00

Tekakwitha was the child of a Mohawk father and a Christianized Algonquin mother. At age four she was the only member of her family to survive smallpox, which affected her own health. Staying

Consumerism

2005-01-23T01:50:00.000-08:00

Consumer

Saint Martin

2005-01-21T14:43:00.000-08:00

The island was named by Christopher Columbus in honour of the saint on whose feast day he sighted it. Valued for its natural lakes

Fairfax

2005-01-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1779) of Fairfax county (though administratively independent of it), northeastern Virginia, U.S., about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Washington, D.C. It developed after 1799 with the construction of the county courthouse and relocation of the county seat from Alexandria. The wills of George and Martha Washington are displayed in the courthouse wing. Early known as Earp's Corner,

Anteater

2005-01-18T09:35:00.000-08:00

Also known as the two-toed, pygmy, or dwarf anteater, the silky anteater (Cyclopes didactylus) is the smallest and least-known member of the family. Silky anteaters are found from southern Mexico southward to Bolivia and Brazil. They are not rare but are difficult to spot, as they are nocturnal and live high in the trees. The silky anteater is also exquisitely

Abajo Mountains

2005-01-16T03:16:00.000-08:00

Volcanic segment of the Colorado Plateau, in San Juan county, southeastern Utah, U.S. Abajo Peak (11,362 feet [3,463 metres]) is the highest point in the mountains, which comprise eight summits and are embraced by the Manti-LaSal National Forest. The heavily forested range is locally called the Blue Mountains for its appearance. Mining and lumbering are the main economic activities

Berdyayev, Nikolay Aleksandrovich

2005-01-13T20:44:00.000-08:00

During his student days at Kiev

World War I, Peace moves, March 1917September 1918

2005-01-10T15:54:00.000-08:00

Francis Joseph, Austria's venerable old

Hipparchus

2005-01-07T03:18:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Hipparchos Greek astronomer and mathematician who made fundamental contributions to the advancement of astronomy as a mathematical science and to the foundations of trigonometry. Although he is commonly ranked among the greatest scientists of antiquity, very little is known about his life, and only one of his many writings

Ribose

2005-01-06T13:51:00.000-08:00

Also called D-ribose, five-carbon sugar found in RNA (ribonucleic acid), where it alternates with phosphate groups to form the “backbone” of the RNA polymer and binds to nitrogenous bases. Ribose phosphates are components of the nucleotide coenzymes and are utilized by microorganisms in the synthesis of the amino acid histidine.

Benedict I

2005-01-03T07:40:00.000-08:00

Little is known about his life. He was elected to succeed John III, probably just after the latter's death (July 574), but was not consecrated until June 575, so that the see of Rome was vacant for almost 11 months. He consecrated 21 bishops during his pontificate and granted the Massa Veneris, an estate near Minturnae (near modern Minturo, Italy), to Abbot Stephen

Croatian Literature

2005-01-02T08:19:00.000-08:00

Extant ecclesiastical works survive from the 11th century, and by the second half of the 15th century there was a Croatian literature of biblical stories, legends, folklore, and popular stories. In the 15th and 16th centuries the outstanding Old Croatian writers were Marko

Venetian Glass

2004-12-31T03:55:00.000-08:00

Variety of glasswares made in Venice from the 13th century, at the latest, to the present. Although a glassblowers' guild existed in Venice from 1224, the earliest extant specimens that can be dated with certainty are from the mid-15th century. The early history of Venetian glass is therefore largely conjectural. It is known that in 1291 the glasshouses moved across the lagoon to

General Confederation Of Labourworkers' Force

2004-12-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

French Confédération Générale du Travail–Force Ouvrière (CGT–FO), French labour-union federation that is most influential among white-collar civil servants and clerical workers. It was formed in 1948 after a split within the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération Générale du Travail, or CGT). In 1947 the socialist minority withdrew from the CGT after communists had gained control of the federation's leadership apparatus. The

Didot Family

2004-12-27T00:50:00.000-08:00

The founder of the family business was François Didot (1689–1757), who began business as a printer and bookseller in Paris in 1713. He was best known for publishing a 20-volume collection of the works of the Abbé Prévost. Didot's eldest son, François-Ambroise (1730–1804), altered

Pipe And Tabor

2004-12-25T00:49:00.000-08:00

Three-holed fipple, or whistle, flute played along with a small snare drum. The player holds the pipe with his left hand, stopping the holes with the thumb and the first and second fingers; the other two fingers support the instrument. A scale is obtained by overblowing, using the second to the fourth harmonics; the gaps between the harmonics are filled by uncovering the

New Brunswick

2004-12-22T03:08:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Middlesex county, eastern New Jersey, U.S. It lies on the Raritan River, at the terminus of the old Delaware and Raritan Canal, 21 miles (33 km) south-southwest of Newark. The site, first known as Prigmore's Swamp, was settled in 1681 by John Inian. Called Inian's Ferry (1713), it was renamed about 1724 for George I of England, who was also the duke of Brunswick. George II granted it a town charter

Childress, Alice

2004-12-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

Childress grew up in Harlem, New York City, where she studied drama with the American Negro Theatre in the 1940s. There she wrote, directed, and starred in her first play, Florence (produced 1949), about a black woman

Uruguaiana

2004-12-19T17:36:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Uruguayana, city, western Rio Grande do Sul estado (“state”), southern Brazil. It lies along the Uruguay River, across the bridge from the town of Paso de los Libres, Arg. Founded in 1839 as Sant' Ana do Uruguai, Uruguaiana was made a town and renamed in 1846; city status was accorded in 1874. Uruguaiana is a livestock (sheep and cattle) centre and processes meat and animal by-products. It is also a river port

Honduras, Gulf Of

2004-12-16T03:25:00.000-08:00

Also called Bay Of Honduras, wide inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting the coasts of Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize. It extends from Dangriga (formerly Stann Creek), Belize, southeastward to La Ceiba, Honduras, a straight-line distance between the two localities of about 115 miles (185 km). The gulf receives many rivers, including the Ulúa and the Motagua, and it contains the reefs known as the Pelican Cays

Braque, Georges

2004-12-15T01:57:00.000-08:00

French painter, one of the important revolutionaries of 20th-century art who, together with Pablo Picasso, developed Cubism. His paintings consist primarily of still lifes that are remarkable for their robust construction, low-key colour harmonies, and serene, meditative quality.

Alessandria

2004-12-12T00:46:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Alessandria provincia, in the Piemonte (Piedmont) regione of northwestern Italy. The city lies at the confluence of the Bormida and Tanaro rivers, southeast of Turin (Torino). It was founded in 1168 by the towns of the Lombard League as an Alpine-valley stronghold against the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. The town was first called Civitas Nova,

Spanish Literature, The Romantic movement

2004-12-11T21:57:00.000-08:00

Literature in Spain in the first third of the 19th century was still affected by the Napoleonic Wars and their long aftermath. Many liberals driven into exile by Ferdinand VII after 1823 sought refuge in France; and, when they returned to Spain after his death in 1833, they had been so influenced by French Romanticism that this date has been taken as the beginning of the Romantic

Dennis, John

2004-12-09T05:07:00.000-08:00

Educated at Harrow School and the University of Cambridge, Dennis traveled on the European continent before settling in London, where he met leading literary figures. At first he wrote odes and plays, but, although

Anhalt

2004-12-07T23:21:00.000-08:00

Former German state, which was a duchy from 1863 to 1918 and a Land (state) until 1945, when it was merged in Saxony-Anhalt. Saxony-Anhalt was a Land of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to 1952, when it was broken up into Bezirke (districts), the former territories of Anhalt being divided between the Bezirke of Magdeburg and of Halle. Upon the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990, Saxony-Anhalt

China, The Tien Shan

2004-12-05T02:15:00.000-08:00

The Chinese part of the Tien Shan consists of a complex system of ranges and depressions in which two major groups of ranges—the northern and southern—may be distinguished. They are separated by a strip of intermontane depressions that is broken up by the interior ranges. Ancient metamorphic rock (formed under heat and pressure) constitutes the larger portion of

Cartier, Jacques

2004-12-03T01:54:00.000-08:00

When King Francis I of France decided in 1534 to send an expedition to explore the northern lands in the hope of discovering gold, spices, and a passage

Lenox, James

2004-11-30T19:54:00.000-08:00

Lenox' father was a wealthy Scottish merchant from whom Lenox inherited several million dollars as well as valuable properties in New York City. A graduate of Columbia College (1818) and a member of the bar, Lenox devoted the bulk of his life to collecting rare books, manuscripts, and

Benhadugah, 'abd Al-hamid

2004-11-28T20:21:00.000-08:00

Algerian writer who was considered the father of modern Arabic literature in Algeria; among the concerns he addressed in such novels as Rih al-janub (1971; "The Wind from the South") were the limitations that societal tradition imposes on young people as they strive for progress and the struggle of women for emancipation (b. Jan. 9, 1925--d. Oct. 20/21, 1996).

Nepos, Cornelius

2004-11-27T03:50:00.000-08:00

Nepos came, like Catullus, from northern Italy. His principal writings were De viris illustribus (“On Famous Men”), comprising brief biographies of distinguished Romans and foreigners; Chronica, which introduced to the Roman reader a Greek invention, the universal

Metallurgy

2004-11-24T04:27:00.000-08:00

Art and science of extracting metals from their ores and modifying the metals for use. Metallurgy customarily refers to commercial as opposed to laboratory methods. It also concerns the chemical, physical, and atomic properties and structures of metals and the principles whereby metals are combined to form alloys.

Biblical Literature, On Western civilization

2004-11-22T20:47:00.000-08:00

The Bible brought its view of God, the universe, and mankind into all the leading Western languages and thus into the intellectual processes of Western man. The Greek translation of the Old Testament made it accessible in the Hellenistic period (c. 300 BCE–c. 300 CE) and provided a language for the New Testament and for the Christian liturgy and theology of the first three centuries.

Silicon Valley

2004-11-20T17:56:00.000-08:00

Industrial region around the southern shores of San Francisco Bay, California, U.S., with its intellectual centre at Palo Alto, home of Stanford University. Silicon Valley includes northwestern Santa Clara county as far inland as San Jose, as well as the southern bay regions of Alameda and San Mateo counties. Its name is derived from the dense concentration of electronics

Stability

2004-11-18T16:31:00.000-08:00

In mathematics, condition in which a slight disturbance in a system does not produce too disrupting an effect on that system. In terms of the solution of a differential equation, a function f(x) is said to be stable if any other solution of the equation that starts out sufficiently close to it when x = 0 remains close to it for succeeding values of x. If the difference between the

Forbidden City

2004-11-17T06:35:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Tzu-chin ch'eng, (Pinyin) Zijin cheng,

Uhland, Ludwig

2004-11-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

Uhland studied law and classical and medieval literature at the University of Tübingen. He wrote his first poems while in Tübingen, publishing Vaterländische Gedichte (“Fatherland Poems”) in 1815. It

Kahn, Otto Hermann

2004-11-12T00:08:00.000-08:00

In 1888 Kahn was sent to the London branch of Berlin's Deutsche Bank and became a British citizen. The banking house of Speyer & Co. offered him a position in New York City in 1893. In 1897 he became a partner in Kuhn, Loeb & Co. and stayed with the

Beissel, Conrad

2004-11-10T16:17:00.000-08:00

The posthumous son of a German baker, Beissel experienced a religious conversion at the age of 27 and migrated to America in 1720. He joined the Dunkers in Pennsylvania (1724) but withdrew from them when he became convinced that the day of worship should be the

Rocky Mountains

2004-11-08T07:19:00.000-08:00

The Rocky Mountains were one of the last regions in North America to be explored by Europeans, because of the inaccessibility and ruggedness of the terrain. Roman Catholic missionaries worked their way northward from Mexico into New Mexico in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1776–77 Silvestre Vélez de Escalante and his party explored and documented their travels into what

Ramses Ii

2004-11-06T08:50:00.000-08:00

One measure of Egypt's prosperity is the amount of temple building the kings could afford to carry out, and on that basis the reign of Ramses II is the most notable in Egyptian history, even making allowance for its great length. It was that, combined with his prowess in war as depicted in the temples, that led the Egyptologists of the 19th century to dub him “the Great,” and that,

Celtic Literature, Prose

2004-11-04T07:54:00.000-08:00

The early Irish epic was a prose narrative that usually contained non-narrative poetic passages, often in dialogue form. The resemblance between this and the type of epic found in early Sanskrit suggests that the tradition went back to Indo-European times. The oldest sagas probably were first written down in the 7th and 8th centuries, from an oral tradition. These were

Metastable State

2004-11-03T03:09:00.000-08:00

In physics and chemistry, particular excited state of an atom, nucleus, or other system that has a longer lifetime than the ordinary excited states and that generally has a shorter lifetime than the lowest, often stable, energy state, called the ground state. A metastable state may thus be considered a kind of temporary energy trap or a somewhat stable intermediate

Elgin

2004-10-31T07:38:00.000-08:00

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

La Paz

2004-10-29T19:59:00.000-07:00

City, administrative capital of Bolivia, west-central Bolivia, situated some 42 miles (68 km) southeast of Lake Titicaca. La Paz, which lies between 10,650 and 13,250 feet (3,250 and 4,100 metres) above sea level, is the world's highest national capital. Visitors, upon arrival, find exertion difficult because of the rarefied atmosphere found at these elevations. The centre of the city lies in a deep, broad

Muna Island

2004-10-28T01:17:00.000-07:00

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

Pottery, Thailand and Annam

2004-10-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

Pottery was made in the old Siamese capitals of Sukhothai and Sawankhalok. It is also thought that potteries persisted at Ayutthaya until the 18th century. Little is known of the early history of the region, and definite information on its pottery is almost nonexistent. Dating of the pottery from these regions for the most part has been by analogy with related Chinese

Biblical Literature, The Samaritan Pentateuch

2004-10-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

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

Henequen

2004-10-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

(Agave fourcroydes), plant of the family agave (Agavaceae) and its fibre, third in importance among the leaf fibre (q.v.) group. Varieties of A. fourcroydes include ixtli, longifolia, minima, and rigida. The henequen plant is native to Mexico, where it has been a source of textile fibre since pre-Columbian times. It was introduced to Cuba in the 19th century, becoming the country's

Villoresi, Luigi ("gigi")

2004-10-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

Italian race-car driver for Maserati, Ferrari, and Lancia teams during the 1930s, '40s, and '50s who was considered the most elegant racer of his time (b. May 16, 1909--d. Aug. 24, 1997).

France, History Of, The shrinking of the frontiers and peripheral areas

2004-10-17T11:09:00.000-07:00

These events undermined the Frankish hegemony. In Brittany the Franks maintained control of the eastern region but had to cope with raids by the Bretons, who had established heavily populated settlements in the western part of the peninsula. To the southwest the Gascons, a highland people from the Pyrenees, had been driven northward by the Visigoths in 578 and settled

Arabian Sea

2004-10-15T06:04:00.000-07:00

Northwestern part of the Indian Ocean, covering a total area of about 1,491,000 square miles (3,862,000 square kilometres) and forming part of the principal sea route between Europe and India. It is bounded to the west by the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, to the north by Iran and Pakistan, to the east by India, and to the south by the remainder of the Indian Ocean. To the north the Gulf

East Germanic Languages

2004-10-13T02:36:00.000-07:00

Group of long extinct Germanic languages once spoken by Germanic tribes located between the middle Oder and the Vistula.

Giono, Jean

2004-10-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

A love of nature came to Giono from his mountain town and from the shepherd family with whom, as a boy, he spent his summers. He was largely self-taught. As an infantryman in World War I, he was one of his company's

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

2004-10-09T08:18:00.000-07:00

English lyrical poet, critic, and philosopher. His Lyrical Ballads, written with William Wordsworth, heralded the English Romantic movement, and his Biographia Literaria (1817) is the most significant work of general literary criticism produced in the English Romantic period.

Arts, Central Asian, Afghanistan and the sedentary population of Turkistan

2004-10-07T04:11:00.000-07:00

This region of Central Asia includes Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the oases of eastern (Chinese) Turkistan. The region lies within the Persian cultural area, and in the arts and in language the Persian imprint has endured over many centuries. In music the links with Persia appear most clearly in terminology and instruments. Islam, another Middle Eastern

Rushcliffe

2004-10-05T23:02:00.000-07:00

Borough (district), administrative and historic county of Nottinghamshire, central England, immediately southeast of the city of Nottingham. Rushcliffe is a rural agricultural area of open, rolling uplands (wolds) and flat plains. The wolds in the south rise to 200–300 feet (60–90 metres) in elevation and are an extension of higher areas in the adjacent county of Leicestershire.

Quantification

2004-10-04T03:57:00.000-07:00

In logic, the attachment of signs of quantity to the predicate or subject of a proposition. The universal quantifier, symbolized by (-) or (-), where the blank is filled by a variable, is used to express that the formula following holds for all values of the particular variable quantified. The existential quantifier, symbolized ($-), expresses that the formula following holds

Racerunner

2004-10-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

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

Sundanese

2004-09-30T02:53:00.000-07:00

Historically they were first recorded under the Indo-Javanese Brahmanical states

Táchira

2004-09-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

State, western Venezuela, bounded on the west by Colombia. The territory of 4,300 square miles (11,100 square km) lies in the southwestern reaches of the Andean Cordillera de Mérida. Agriculture dominates the state's economy; coffee and sugarcane are the leading commercial crops. Rural industry, closely related to agriculture, is usually carried on in the local homes. Relatively

Afonso V

2004-09-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

The son of King Edward (Duarte) and Queen Leonor, daughter of King Ferdinand I of Aragon, Afonso succeeded to the throne at the age of six. In 1440 his mother was deprived of the regency by his uncle Pedro, Duke de Coimbra, whose daughter Isabella Afonso married. The regent was in turn

Dado

2004-09-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

In Classical architecture, the plain portion between the base and cornice of the pedestal of a column and, in later architecture, the paneled, painted, or otherwise decorated lower part of a wall, up to 2 or 3 feet (60 to 90 cm) above the floor. Internal walls were so treated between the 16th and the 18th century, though toward the close of that period the dado was left plain and merely defined

Lippe River

2004-09-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

River, a right-bank tributary of the Rhine, that flows through North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state) in Germany. Rising near Bad Lippspringe on the western edge of the Teutoburger Wald, the Lippe follows a westerly course of 155 miles (250 km) and flows into the Rhine near Wesel. The river lies along the northern border of the Ruhr industrial region. By the aid of locks it is navigable

Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess And 8th Earl Of, Lord Campbell, Lord Lorne, Lord Of Kintyre

2004-09-19T01:12:00.000-07:00

He was the eldest son of Archibald, 7th Earl of Argyll, and took over the management of the family estates in 1619 after his father had

Tagalog Language

2004-09-17T08:03:00.000-07:00

Member of the Central Philippine branch of the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) language family and the base for Pilipino, an official language of the Philippines, together with English. It is most closely related to Bicol and the Bisayan (Visayan) languages—Cebuano, Hiligaynon (Ilongo), and Samar. Native Tagalog speakers form the second largest linguistic and cultural

Vision Quest

2004-09-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Among the American Indian hunters of the eastern woodlands and the Great Plains, an essential part of a young boy's (or, more rarely, a girl's) initiation into adulthood. The youth was sent out from the camp on a solitary vigil involving fasting and prayer in order to gain some sign of the presence and nature of his guardian spirit (q.v.). The specific techniques varied from

Rowan

2004-09-13T18:04:00.000-07:00

A deciduous tree, Sorbus aucuparia; it is also called the European mountain ash, or quickbeam. See mountain ash.

Radetzky, Joseph, Count (graf)

2004-09-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

Radetzky joined the Austrian army in 1784 and served in the Turkish War of 1787–92 and in the Low Countries in the first years of the French Revolutionary Wars. His courage and enterprise were conspicuous

Arabia, History Of, Yemen

2004-09-09T22:59:00.000-07:00

Imam Yahya had to virtually conquer Yemen, in the Zaydi interest, after the Ottoman departure; by stern measures he established security. He refused to recognize the British-backed border between the Aden protectorates and Yemen. The British in the later 1930s pacified and, to a limited degree, developed their protectorates.

Dietz, Robert S.

2004-09-07T00:49:00.000-07:00

Dietz was educated at the University of Illinois (B.S., 1937; M.S., 1939; Ph.D., 1941). After serving as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, he became a civilian scientist with the U.S. Navy. In this capacity, he supervised the oceanographic research on

Lauenburg

2004-09-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

A duchy under the Ascanian dynasty from the 13th century, Lauenburg was acquired by George William, the Welf duke

Race

2004-09-04T01:45:00.000-07:00

Although their numbers are dwindling, some scientists continue to believe that it is possible to divide Homo sapiens into discrete populations called races. They believe that the physical differences manifest in wide geographic regions are more than superficial; they reflect innate intellectual, moral, emotional, and other behavioral differences among human

Paean

2004-09-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

Solemn choral lyric of invocation, joy, or triumph, originating in ancient Greece where it was addressed to Apollo in his guise as Paean, physician to the gods. Paeans were sung at banquets following the boisterous dithyrambs, at the festivals of Apollo, and at public funerals. It was the custom for them to be sung by an army on the march and before going into battle, when

école Polytechnique

2004-08-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

(French: “Polytechnic School”), engineering school located originally in Paris but, since 1976, in Palaiseau, Fr., and directed by the Ministry of Defense. It was established in 1794 by the National Convention as the École Centrale des Travaux Publics (“Central School of Public Works”) under the leadership of Lazare Carnot and Gaspard Monge. It took its present name in 1795 and absorbed

Mcadoo, William G(ibbs)

2004-08-28T08:37:00.000-07:00

McAdoo began his career as a lawyer in Chattanooga, Tenn. He moved to New York City

Offenburg

2004-08-26T06:39:00.000-07:00

City, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany, in the Kinzig River Valley, at the western edge of the Black Forest (Schwarzwald). First mentioned in 1101, it was founded by the Zähringen margraves on the site of a Roman settlement and was an imperial free city from 1289 to 1802. In 1846–49 it was a centre of the revolutionary movement in Baden. Gothic and Baroque buildings and remains