OpenCow

Estate Agent Fitzrovia

2006-10-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services. They are a specialist in estate agent fitzrovia, amongst other London areas such as Soho and Oxford Circus.

Fish River

2005-03-30T17:01:00.000-08:00

Afrikaans Visrivier, stream in southern Namibia. It rises in Namaqualand and flows south across the Great Namaqualand plateau, where it cuts a spectacular gorge 1,000 to 2,300 feet (300 to 700 m) deep, to empty into the Orange River. It is about 375 miles (600 km) long and is intermittent.

Corbin, Margaret

2005-03-30T00:47:00.000-08:00

Margaret Cochran, having lost both her parents in an Indian raid when she was five, grew up with relatives and, in 1772, married John Corbin. When

Philemon, The Letter Of Paul To

2005-03-29T03:50:00.000-08:00

Also called The Epistle Of Saint Paul The Apostle To Philemon, brief New Testament letter written by Paul the Apostle to a wealthy Christian of Colossae, Asia Minor, on behalf of Onesimus, Philemon's former slave. Paul, writing from prison, expresses affection for the newly converted Onesimus and asks that he be received in the same spirit that would mark Paul's own arrival, even though Onesimus may be guilty of previous failings.

Marche

2005-03-27T13:45:00.000-08:00

English The Marches region in central Italy fronting on the Adriatic Sea and comprising the provinces of Ancona, Ascoli Piceno, Macerata, and Pesaro e Urbino; it has a total area of 3,742 square miles (9,692 square km). A region of mountains and hills, its only pieces of level land are scattered along river valleys and on the Adriatic shore northwest of Ancona. Its mountain backbone is the Umbrian-Marchigian

Theatre, African

2005-03-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

The content and style of urban African theatre are influenced by both African dramatic traditions and Western theatre. The influence of Western styles is the result of

Gongola River

2005-03-27T08:05:00.000-08:00

Principal tributary of the Benue River, northeastern Nigeria. It rises in several branches (including the Lere and Maijuju rivers) on the eastern slopes of the Jos Plateau and cascades (with several scenic waterfalls) onto the plains of the Gongola Basin, where it follows a northeasterly course. It then flows past Nafada and takes an abrupt turn toward the south. Its

Wolf

2005-03-26T08:50:00.000-08:00

The gray wolf has a larger natural

Hyatt, Anna Vaughn

2005-03-26T06:58:00.000-08:00

Anna Hyatt was the daughter of noted Harvard paleontologist Alpheus Hyatt. She was educated privately and began her study of sculpture with Henry H. Kitson in Boston. She later attended the Art Students

Ting, Samuel C.c.

2005-03-25T13:16:00.000-08:00

The son of a Chinese college professor who was studying in the United States when Ting was born, he was raised in mainland China and Taiwan and at the age of 20 immigrated to the United States. He was educated at the University

Brugge

2005-03-24T15:31:00.000-08:00

French Bruges, capital of West Flanders province, northwestern Belgium, about 10 miles (16 km) south of Zeebrugge, its port on the North Sea. Originally a landing place on the Zwijn estuary, into which the Reie River flowed, it was mentioned in the 7th century as the Municipium Brugense (a name derived from a Roman bridge over the Reie). After it was evangelized by St. Eloi, bishop of Noyon-Tournai,

Sthanakavasi

2005-03-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

The Sthanakavasi, whose name refers to the subsect's preference for performing religious duties at a secular place such as a monks' meetinghouse (sthanak) rather than at a temple, differs from the Shvetambara sect

France, History Of, Attempts at a restoration

2005-03-23T00:33:00.000-08:00

The monarchists, however, still held a comfortable majority in the assembly and continued to hope and plan for a restoration. Legitimists and Orleanists remained at odds, but a compromise seemed possible. The Bourbon pretender, the Count de Chambord (“the miracle child” of 1820), was old and childless; the Orleanist pretender, Philippe, Count de Paris, was young and prolific.

Mason, James Murray

2005-03-21T15:12:00.000-08:00

Although raised a Tidewater aristocrat, Mason graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and, after studying law at the College of William and Mary, set up his practice in the Virginia back country. He served in

Nitisol

2005-03-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

One of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Occupying 1.6 percent of the total land surface on Earth, Nitisols are found mainly in eastern Africa at higher altitudes, coastal India, Central America, and tropical islands (Cuba, Java, and the Philippines). They are perhaps the most inherently fertile of the tropical soils

Frescobaldi, Girolamo

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

Italian organist and one of the first great masters of organ composition. He strongly influenced the German Baroque school through the work of his pupils, J.J. Froberger and Franz Tunder. Frescobaldi began his public career as organist at the church of Sta. Maria in Trastevere in Rome, in 1607. He travelled to the Netherlands the

Bewcastle Cross

2005-03-20T02:15:00.000-08:00

Runic monument in Cumbria, Eng., dating from the late 7th or early 8th century. Although the top of the cross has been lost, a weather-beaten, 15-foot (4.5-metre) shaft remains, showing on one face a figure of Christ trampling on the heads of beasts, a runic inscription underneath, and, above Christ's figure, a falconer, possibly St. John the Evangelist with his eagle. On another side elaborate

Pigeon

2005-03-19T19:40:00.000-08:00

Pigeons occur worldwide except in the coldest regions and the most remote islands. About 250 species are known;

Breakfast Cereal

2005-03-18T21:48:00.000-08:00

Grain food, usually pre-cooked or ready-to-eat, that is customarily eaten with milk or cream for breakfast in the United States and elsewhere, often sweetened with sugar, syrup, or fruit. The modern commercial concept of cereal food originated in the vegetarian beliefs of the American Seventh-day Adventists, who in the 1860s formed the Western Health Reform Institute, later

Craigavon, James Craig, 1st Viscount

2005-03-18T18:40:00.000-08:00

Craig became a stockbroker, served with an Irish unit in the South African (Boer) War, and in 1906 entered

Agrihan

2005-03-18T04:28:00.000-08:00

Formerly Grigan or Agrigan one of the Mariana Islands, part of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. It lies in the western Pacific Ocean, 350 miles (563 km) north of Guam. An active volcano that last erupted in 1917, it has a total land area of 18 square miles (47 square km) and rises to 3,166 feet (965 metres), the highest point in the commonwealth. Agrihan was the site of the last stand the indigenous Chamorro people

Thought, Artistic versus scientific creativity

2005-03-16T20:56:00.000-08:00

While the processes of creative thinking in artistic and scientific pursuits have much in common, there are also distinctive differences. The artist places more importance on feeling and individual expression, often going to extremes to divorce himself from environmental constraints. The scientist relies more on disciplined, logical thinking to lead him

Ashikaga Yoshiaki

2005-03-15T22:57:00.000-08:00

Shogun (hereditary military dictator) of Japan who was the 15th and last of his family to hold the title. Yoshiaki had been a priest, but in 1568, with the aid of his protector, the general Oda Nobunaga, he deposed his cousin Yoshihide and took over the shogunate. Subsequently, rivalry developed between Yoshiaki and Oda, and the latter deposed Yoshiaki and banished

Anomaly

2005-03-15T19:52:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, originally the nonuniform (anomalous) apparent motions of the planets. In present usage, three kinds of anomaly are distinguished to describe the position in the orbit of a planet, a satellite, or a star (in a binary system) around the centre of mass. The following text relates to the orbit of a planet. True anomaly is the angle, V, between lines drawn

Application Lace

2005-03-14T17:41:00.000-08:00

French Point Appliqué, lace in which motifs (flowers and the like) are worked individually and then joined to a net background (whether made by machine or by hand), in contrast to the method in which the net is worked round the solid parts of the design and the whole lace worked as a single piece without joins. In the 19th century application lace was made especially at Brussels and, in England, at

Alekseyev, Mikhail Vasilyevich

2005-03-14T11:01:00.000-08:00

The son of a private soldier, Alekseyev entered the Russian Army in 1876 and was graduated in 1890 from

District Of Columbia

2005-03-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

Federal district, eastern United States, on the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (q.v.).

Heijermans, Herman

2005-03-13T05:57:00.000-08:00

After failing in business, Heijermans became a journalist in Amsterdam. His novel Kamertjeszonde (1898; “Petty Sin”), published under the pseudonym Koos Habbema, sharply criticizes prevailing sexual attitudes, and,

Quadrille

2005-03-12T23:03:00.000-08:00

Fashionable late 18th- and 19th-century dance for four couples in square formation. Imported by English aristocrats in 1815 from elite Parisian ballrooms, it consisted of four, or sometimes five, contredanses; like the contredanse (q.v.), the quadrille depended more on the cooperative execution of intertwining figures, or floor patterns, than on intricate stepwork. Each of the

Black Legend

2005-03-12T22:33:00.000-08:00

Spanish Leyenda Negra term indicating an unfavourable image of Spain and Spaniards, accusing them of cruelty and intolerance, formerly prevalent in the works of many non-Spanish, and especially Protestant, historians. Primarily associated with criticism of 16th-century Spain and the anti-Protestant policies of King Philip II (reigned 1556–98), the term was popularized by the Spanish historian

Einsteinium

2005-03-11T16:23:00.000-08:00

(Es), synthetic chemical element of the actinide series in Group IIIb of the periodic table, atomic number 99. Not occurring in nature, einsteinium (as the isotope einsteinium-253), produced by intense neutron irradiation of uranium-238, was identified in December 1952 by Albert Ghiorso and co-workers at Berkeley, Calif., in debris taken from the first thermonuclear or hydrogen-bomb

Drachmann, Holger Henrik Herholdt

2005-03-11T16:21:00.000-08:00

The son of a physician, Drachmann studied painting and also began to write. A visit to London in 1871 awakened an interest in social problems, and after his return he joined the new radical movement of which Georg Brandes was the central

District Of Columbia

2005-03-11T11:03:00.000-08:00

Anomalures have lightly built skeletons and slender bodies with long limbs and strong, curved

Astronomy

2005-03-10T07:36:00.000-08:00

Until the invention of the telescope and the discovery of the laws of motion and gravity in the 17th century, astronomy was primarily

Syria, The cultivated steppe

2005-03-10T00:59:00.000-08:00

This region constitutes the principal wheat zone; agriculture is intensively pursued along the banks of the rivers. Some of Syria's most important cities—Damascus, Aleppo, Hims, Hamah, and al-Qamishli—are situated there.

Brunel, Olivier

2005-03-10T00:41:00.000-08:00

The first Flemish navigator of the Arctic Ocean, Brunel sailed beyond Lapland in 1565 in search of a northeast

Körner, Theodor

2005-03-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

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

Aschelminth

2005-03-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

Phylum name Aschelminthes, or Nemathelminthes, phylum of wormlike invertebrates, mostly of microscopic size. The phylum includes five diverse classes: Nematoda (or Nemata), Rotifera, Gastrotricha, Kinorhyncha (or Echinodera), and Nematomorpha. The American zoologist Libbie H. Hyman, in her classic textbooks on the invertebrates, originally included Priapulida as a class of the aschelminths, but Priapulida are

Vakataka Dynasty

2005-03-08T04:36:00.000-08:00

Indian ruling house originating in the central Deccan in the mid-3rd century AD, the empire of which is believed to have extended from Malwa and Gujarat in the north to the Tungabhadra in the south and from the Arabian Sea in the west to the Bay of Bengal in the east. The Vakatakas, like many of the contemporary dynasties of the Deccan, claimed Brahmanical origin. Little is known,

Aaron

2005-03-08T04:18:00.000-08:00

The traditional founder and head of the Jewish priesthood, who, with his brother Moses, led the Israelites out of Egypt. The figure of Aaron as it is now found in the Pentateuch is built up from several sources of traditions. In the Talmud and Midrash he is seen as the leading personality at the side of Moses. He has appeared in different roles in Christian

Dance, Western, The Soviet ballet

2005-03-06T19:11:00.000-08:00

Although Diaghilev's achievements were ignored there, the Soviet Union in the 1920s abounded with the daring choreographic experiments of Fyodor Lopukhov (1886–1973) and others. Despite the official imposition of “socialist realism” as the criterion of artistic acceptability in 1932, ballet gained enormous popularity with the Soviet people. They loved their dancers, who were superbly

Raymond, Henry Jarvis

2005-03-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

Raymond worked for Horace Greeley on the weekly New Yorker in 1840 and then from 1841 to 1848 on the daily New York Tribune. As

Madhya Pradesh, Transportation

2005-03-05T20:29:00.000-08:00

In comparison with other Indian states, Madhya Pradesh is poorly served with transport and communications facilities. The main railroads that pass through the state were originally laid down to connect the ports of Chennai (Madras), Mumbai (Bombay), and Kolkata (Calcutta) with their hinterlands. Important railway junctions include Bhopal, Ratlam, Khandwa, Bilaspur, and

Typhus

2005-03-05T20:10:00.000-08:00

Acute, infectious series of diseases that are characterized by a sudden onset with headache, chills, fever, and general pains, a rash appearing on the third to fifth day, and toxemia (toxic substances in the blood), and terminating after about two to three weeks. Originally considered a single clinical entity, it is now regarded as a group of closely related diseases caused

Arabian Religion, North Arabia

2005-03-05T10:53:00.000-08:00

North Arabian gods are named for the first time in the annals of the 7th-century BC Assyrian king Esarhaddon, in which he reports having returned to the oasis of Adumatu (Dumat al-Jandal) the idols previously confiscated as war booty by his father, Sennacherib. Among the gods named by Esarhaddon are 'Atarsamain, 'Atarquruma, Nukhay, and Ruldayu. Herodotus wrote that the Arabs

Tephrochronology

2005-03-04T10:54:00.000-08:00

Method of age determination that makes use of layers of ash (tephra). Tephra layers are excellent time-stratigraphic markers, but, to establish a chronology, it is necessary to identify and correlate as many tephra units as possible over the widest possible area. Because of the large number of violent volcanic explosions in Iceland, Sigurdur Thorarinsson, an Icelander

Arzamas Society

2005-03-03T05:16:00.000-08:00

Russian literary circle that flourished in 1815–18 and was formed for the semiserious purpose of ridiculing the conservative “Lovers of the Russian Word,” a group dominated by the philologist Aleksandr S. Shishkov, who wished to keep the modern Russian language firmly tied to Old Church Slavonic. The Arzamas circle included the poets Vasily A. Zhukovsky, Konstantin Batyushkov

Argentine

2005-03-03T03:28:00.000-08:00

The true smelts

Zomba Massif

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

Isolated mass of syenite (igneous rock composed chiefly of feldspar) rising from the Shire Highlands, southern Malawi. Occupying an area of about 50 square miles (130 square km), it reaches an elevation of 6,846 feet (2,087 m) in Zomba Peak. Sheer scarps to the east and south drop 2,500 feet (750 m) to the surrounding plains, and the western wall (4,000 feet [1,200 m]) bounds part of the Shire rift valley. The massif is divided

Great Appalachian Valley

2005-03-02T18:20:00.000-08:00

Also called Great Valley Region, longitudinal chain of valley lowlands of the Appalachian mountain system of North America. Extending from Canada on the northeast to Alabama, U.S., on the southwest, it includes the St. Lawrence River valley in Canada and the Kittatinny, Cumberland, Shenandoah, and Tennessee river valleys in the United States. In its southerly region the Great Appalachian Valley divides

Beamon, Bob

2005-03-01T15:22:00.000-08:00

Beamon began jumping at Jamaica High School (Long Island, New York) and attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College (Greensboro), the University of Texas

Mitchell, Mount

2005-03-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

Highest peak in North Carolina and in the United States east of the Mississippi River, reaching an elevation of 6,684 feet (2,037 metres). It is located in Yancey county, in the western part of the state, about 20 miles (30 km) northeast of Asheville in the Black Mountains. The peak, covered with a mantle of hardwoods, pine, spruce, and balsam, is within Mount Mitchell State Park and Pisgah National

Ob-ugric Languages

2005-02-28T21:48:00.000-08:00

Division of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family, comprising the Mansi (Vogul) and Khanty (Ostyak) languages; they are most closely related to Hungarian, with which they make up the Ugric branch of Finno-Ugric. The Ob-Ugric languages are spoken in the region of the Ob and Irtysh rivers in central Russia. They had no written tradition or literary language

Priesthood

2005-02-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

The function of the priest as the mediator and maintainer of the equilibrium between the sacred and the profane in human society, and as the stabilizer of the social structures and the cultic organizations, determines the various criteria for holding the priestly office. In preliterate society the functions are accomplished by ritual experts who are trained

Trinidad And Tobago

2005-02-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

The nation's new coalition government

Performing Arts, Europe.

2005-02-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

In the London ballet world, the Royal Ballet's

Chaillu Massif

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

Mountain range in south-central Gabon, rising to more than 3,300 feet (1,000 m) between the Ngounié and the Ogooué rivers; it forms the country's main watershed. The range contains Mount Milondo (3,346 feet [1,020 m]), the highest peak in Gabon, 53 miles (85 km) southwest of Koula-Moutou. Other high points in the range are Mount Iboundji (3,215 feet [980 m]) and Mount Mimongo (2,822 feet [860 m]). The granite massif is named for the explorer

Bas-relief

2005-02-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

Sculptural relief in which the projection from the surrounding surface is slight (see photograph). See relief.

Yukata

2005-02-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

It has become accepted practice to wear a yukata on the street on warm summer evenings. Japanese inns and many hotels supply their guests with yukatas for

Metamorphic Rock, Amphibolite facies

2005-02-26T03:04:00.000-08:00

The amphibolite facies is the common high-grade facies of regional metamorphism, and, like the greenschist facies, such rocks are present in all ages from all over the world. Their characteristic feature is the development of the most common amphibole, hornblende, in the presence of a plagioclase feldspar and garnet. The rocks are normally highly foliated or schistose.

Marr, Nikolay Yakovlevich

2005-02-24T20:57:00.000-08:00

A professor at St. Petersburg University from 1900, Marr published numerous collections of old Georgian and Armenian literature and attempted to prove a relationship between

Wellman, William (augustus)

2005-02-24T20:00:00.000-08:00

Wellman left secondary school in Newton, Mass., to take up professional ice hockey. In 1917 he volunteered for ambulance duty in France, soon joined the French air corps, flew in combat, and was shot down. He returned to the United States

Tsonga

2005-02-24T18:14:00.000-08:00

The Tsonga were formerly organized as independent peoples, each occupying its own territory and named for a powerful, dominant patrilineage. Early

Mon-khmer Languages

2005-02-24T10:32:00.000-08:00

Language family included in the Austroasiatic stock. Mon-Khmer languages constitute the indigenous language family of mainland Southeast Asia. They range north to southern China, south to Malaysia, west to Assam state in India, and east to Vietnam. The most important Mon-Khmer languages, having populations greater than 100,000, are Vietnamese, Khmer, Muong, Mon, Khasi, Khmu

Ibn Al-'arabi

2005-02-23T13:17:00.000-08:00

A.M. Palacios, El Islam cristianizado; estudio del “sufismo” a través de las obras de Abenarabi de Murcia (1931); R.A. Nicholson, Studies in Islamic Mysticism (1921); A.E. Affifi, The Mystical Philosophy of Muhyid-Din Ibnul 'Arabi (1939); S.H. Nasr, Three Muslim Sages (1963); M.M. Sharif (ed.), A History of Muslim Philosophy, vol. 2 (1963); Henry Corbin, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi (Eng. trans. 1969); Osman Yahya, Histoire et classification de l'oeuvre d'Ibn 'Arabi, 2 vol. (1964); T. Izutsu, A Comparative Study of the Key Philosophical Concepts in Sufism and Taoism: Ibn 'Arabî and Lao Tzû, Chuang Tzû, 2 vol. (1966–67). See especially the works of Palacios, Nasr, and Corbin for biographical information.

Block And Tackle

2005-02-22T21:58:00.000-08:00

Combination of a flexible rope, or cable, and pulleys commonly used to augment pulling force; it can be used to lift heavy weights or to exert large forces in any direction. In the Figure there are four freely rotating pulleys, two on the upper block, which remains fixed, and two on the lower block, which moves up as the load W is lifted; one end of the rope is anchored to the upper

Shifting Attitudes In A Changing World

2005-02-21T18:06:00.000-08:00

It was once said that "almost everything in history almost never happened"--a feeling, perhaps, that many of us have had about our own lives. When we look back, we often find an awkward chain of events that escapes logic, and only by willful disregard of such complicating factors as facts will we succeed in finding anything resembling a pattern or a plan guiding us. In westernized

Pavía Y Rodríguez De Alburquerque, Manuel

2005-02-21T03:00:00.000-08:00

In 1865 Pavía joined the staff of Gen. Juan Prim, whom he supported in the unsuccessful uprisings of 1866 and, after two years in exile, in the successful revolution of 1868 that deposed Isabella II (1833–68). After the abdication of Amadeus (February 1873) and the proclamation of the First Republic, Pavía suppressed

Epistemology, René Descartes

2005-02-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

Both the rise of modern science and the rediscovery of Skepticism were important influences on René Descartes (1596–1650). While he believed that humans were capable of knowledge and certainty and that modern science was developing the superstructure of knowledge, he thought that Skepticism presented a legitimate challenge that needed an answer, one that only he could

Earth Sciences, Darcy's law

2005-02-20T06:56:00.000-08:00

Quantitative studies of the movement of water in streams and aquifers led to the formulation of mathematical statements relating discharge to other factors. Henri-Philibert-Gaspard Darcy, a French hydraulic engineer, was the first to state clearly a law describing the flow of groundwater. Darcy's experiments, reported in 1856, were based on the ideas that an aquifer

Extradition

2005-02-19T22:28:00.000-08:00

According

Economic Planning

2005-02-18T23:18:00.000-08:00

By the late 1960s the majority of the world's countries conducted

Gumel

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

Also spelled Gummel town and traditional emirate, northern Jigawa state, northern Nigeria. The emirate was founded about 1750 by Dan Juma of Kano city (75 miles [121 km] southwest) and his followers of the Manga (Mangawa) tribe. Shortly after his death in 1754, it became a tributary state of the Bornu kingdom. The emirate survived the Fulani attacks of Usman dan Fodio's jihad (“holy war”) in the early 19th century and

La Fontaine, Jean De

2005-02-17T22:03:00.000-08:00

Though he never secured the favour of Louis XIV, La Fontaine had many well-wishers close to the throne and among the nobility. He moved among churchmen, doctors, artists, musicians, and actors. But it was literary circles that he especially frequented. Legend has exaggerated the closeness of his ties with Molière, Nicholas Boileau, and Jean Racine, but he certainly numbered

Adam, Robert

2005-02-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

In 1754 Robert Adam, who by then considered himself to be worth £5,000, was invited to accompany the Honourable Charles Hope, the earl of Hopetoun's younger brother, to Italy. He thus had the opportunity to realize the dream he had been saving for since his father's death, and, just as important, he had the social advantages of traveling with the brother of an earl. He was as much concerned

Arabian Religion

2005-02-17T02:38:00.000-08:00

The sanctuaries, sometimes carved in the rock on high places, consisted of a haram, a sacred open-air enclosure, accessible only to unarmed and ritually clean people in ritual clothes. There the baetyl, a “raised stone,” or a statue of the god, was worshiped. The Nabataeans originally represented their gods as baetyls on a podium, but later they gave them a human

Dorris, Michael Anthony

2005-02-16T10:01:00.000-08:00

American writer whose best-known book, the 1989 National Book Award-winning The Broken Cord, chronicled the struggle his adopted son faced as a result of fetal alcohol syndrome; suffering from chronic depression, separated from his wife, writer Louise Erdrich, and facing legal difficulties, Dorris took his own life (b. Jan 30, 1945--found dead April 11, 1997).

Catbird

2005-02-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

The three species of the

Susanoo

2005-02-15T13:35:00.000-08:00

Susanoo descended into the land of Izumo in western Japan

Seshachalam Hills

2005-02-14T20:20:00.000-08:00

Hill ranges of the eastern Ghats, southern Andhra Pradesh state, southeastern India. Formed during Precambrian time (about 3.8 billion to 540 million years ago), the ranges contain sandstone and shale interbedded with limestone, are highly dissected, and have many longitudinal valleys. They are bounded by the Rayalaseema uplands in the west and northwest and the Nandyal

Canary Creeper

2005-02-14T19:43:00.000-08:00

Also called Canarybird Flower, Canarybird Vine, or Canary Nasturtium (species Tropaeolum peregrinum), annual climbing herb, of the family Tropaeolaceae, native to northwestern South America and introduced to other regions as a cultivated garden plant. It grows to a height of 1.8–3 m (6–10 feet). The leaves are round and deeply five-lobed. The flowers, about 2.5 cm (1 inch) across, are pale yellow and have a long, green spur.

Paleolithic Period

2005-02-13T18:49:00.000-08:00

At sites dating from the Lower Paleolithic Period (about 2,500,000 to 200,000 years ago), simple pebble tools have been found in association with the remains of what may have been the earliest human ancestors. A somewhat more sophisticated Lower Paleolithic tradition,

Macken, Walter

2005-02-12T03:13:00.000-08:00

Macken was an actor and stage manager in Galway, where he became actor-manager-director of the Gaelic Theatre. He was also connected with the famous Abbey Theatre

Actinide Element, Nuclear

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

All of the actinide elements are unstable toward radioactive decay; the reason that actinium, thorium, protactinium, and uranium are found in nature at all is because some of their isotopes are unusually stable and others are being formed constantly by decay of the long-lived isotopes. It is convenient to divide the naturally occurring isotopes into families based

Akhlame

2005-02-11T14:00:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Akhlamû, ancient Semitic nomads of northern Syria and Mesopotamia and traditional enemies of the Assyrians. They are first mentioned about 1375 BC in an Egyptian source (one of the Tell el-Amarna letters), in which they are said to have advanced as far as the Euphrates River; about the same time there was also evidence of them in Assyria, at Nippur, and around the Persian Gulf. During the

Muroran

2005-02-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

City, southern Hokkaido, Japan, on Cape Chikyu at the entrance to Uchiura Bay. After 1906 it began to grow from a village to a company town, producing steel and iron products. In 1982 Muroran succeeded in securing its water supply system from the company. It became the major heavy industrial centre (by value) on Hokkaido. The port also handles coal, machinery, wood, pulp, and marine products.

Neurogenic Arthropathy

2005-02-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

Also called Charcot's joint (after Jean-Martin Charcot, a 19th-century French neurologist), massive destruction of a stress-bearing joint, with development of large flanges and spurs of new bone at the sides of the joint. The condition eventually causes inability to use the joint but is accompanied by little or no sensation of pain or discomfort. The disorder accompanies damage to the nervous system

La Follette, Robert M

2005-02-09T19:54:00.000-08:00

Biographies and analyses of La Follette and the Progressive movement include Belle Case La Follette and Fola La Follette, Robert M. La Follette, June 14, 1855–June 18, 1925, 2 vol. (1953, reissued 1971); David P. Thelen, The Early Life of Robert M. La Follette, 1855–1884 (1966), and Robert M. La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit (1976, reissued 1985); Robert S. Maxwell, La Follette and the Rise of the Progressives in Wisconsin (1956, reprinted 1973); Fred Greenbaum, Robert Marion La Follette (1975); and Patrick J. Maney, “Young Bob” La Follette (1978).

Team Roping

2005-02-09T17:28:00.000-08:00

Rodeo event in which two mounted cowboys attempt to rope and immobilize a full-grown steer. The event is timed, and the team with the lowest time wins. The team is allowed three throws. The first roper, called the header, must rope the steer about the head, and his partner, called the heeler, must rope both of the animal's hindfeet, bringing the steer to a halt without throwing

Boryokudan

2005-02-08T10:17:00.000-08:00

(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,

Ford, Richard

2005-02-08T03:19:00.000-08:00

Ford attended Michigan State University (B.A., 1966), Washington University Law School, and the University of California, Irvine (M.A., 1970), and subsequently taught at several American colleges and universities. His first novel, A Piece of My Heart (1976), is set on an island in the southern Mississippi

Agnes Of Poitou

2005-02-07T03:43:00.000-08:00

Agnes was a daughter of William V the Great, duke of Aquitaine, and was a descendant of the kings of Burgundy and Italy. She married Henry III on Nov. 1, 1043, forming an alliance designed to cement the empire's relations with its neighbouring states

World War I, The Western Front, JanuaryMay 1917

2005-02-07T00:35:00.000-08:00

The western Allies had good reason to be profoundly dissatisfied with the poor results of their enterprises of 1916, and this dissatisfaction was signalized by two major changes made at the end of the year. In Great Britain, the government of H.H. Asquith, already turned into a coalition in May 1915, was replaced in December 1916 by a coalition under David Lloyd George; and that same

Ambridge

2005-02-06T21:54:00.000-08:00

Borough (town), Beaver county, western Pennsylvania, U.S., on the Ohio River, just northwest of Pittsburgh. Within its boundaries is the former village of Economy (1824–1904) established by the communal Harmony Society, led by George Rapp. The Rappites (Harmonists) were religious immigrants from Württemberg, Germany, who had previously settled at Harmony, Pennsylvania, and Harmonie

Drop Cut

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

Method of faceting gemstones into a pear shape suitable for pendants, earrings, and other jewelry. A pendeloque is a pear-shaped modification of the round brilliant cut used for diamonds. A briolette is an elongated, pear-shaped stone covered with bands of triangular or rectangular facets, usually with a pointed end and without a girdle.

Cambrian Period

2005-02-06T14:29:00.000-08:00

Earliest time division of the Paleozoic Era, extending from about 540 to 505 million years ago. The Cambrian Period is often divided into the Early Cambrian Epoch (540 to 520 million years ago), the Middle Cambrian Epoch (520 to 512 million years ago), and the Late Cambrian Epoch (512 to 505 million years ago). Rocks formed or deposited during this time are assigned to the Cambrian System, which was named

Henrician Articles

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

Polish Artykuly Henrykowskie (1573) statement of the rights and privileges of the Polish gentry (szlachta) that all elected kings of Poland, beginning with Henry of Valois (elected May 11, 1573), were obliged to confirm and that severely limited the authority of the Polish monarchy. After King Sigismund II Augustus died (July 1572), Henry of Valois, duc d'Anjou and the future Henry III of France, emerged as the favourite

Earle, John

2005-02-04T16:27:00.000-08:00

An outstanding book of “characters,” it avoids didacticism and displays genuine personalities, such as a “child,” a “Good old Man,” a “young raw Preacher,” and a “Grave Divine.” It is alive with its humour, perception, and epigrammatic

Intentionality

2005-02-04T01:58:00.000-08:00

In modern literary theory, the study of authorial intention in a literary work and its corresponding relevance to textual interpretation. With the ascendancy of New Criticism after World War I, much of the debate on intentionality addressed whether information external to the text could help determine the writer's purpose and whether it was even possible or

Switzerland, Rural communities

2005-02-03T01:22:00.000-08:00

Rural settlements predominate in the valleys. Alpine villages extending along the base of slopes are a characteristic sight. Since the extensive river diversions, made chiefly during the second half of the 19th century, many villages have expanded into valley plains, where intensive farming is carried on, as in the Seeland between Lakes Neuchâtel and Biel. The isolation