FrequentPocket

Zooflagellate

2005-04-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

Any flagellate protozoan that is traditionally of the protozoan class Zoomastigophorea (sometimes called Zooflagellata), although recent classifications of this group have questioned the taxonomic usefulness of the term because some zooflagellates have been found to have photosynthetic capabilities and some phytoflagellates heterotrophic

Maule

2005-04-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

Región, central Chile. It faces the Pacific Ocean on the west and borders Argentina on the east. Created in 1974, it comprises Curicó, Talca, Cauquenes, and Linares provincias. Its area spans coastal mountains, the Central Valley, and the Andean cordillera. The region is drained in the north by the Mataquito River, the tributaries of which (the Teno and Lontué rivers) rise in the

Heterospecific Mating

2005-04-02T22:33:00.000-08:00

Also called incompatible mating mating in which the man and woman have incompatible blood types, such that the woman may develop antibodies to her partner's blood type. This mating causes difficulties in childbirth, since there is a chance that the child conceived in a heterospecific mating will have its father's blood type. When a heterospecific pregnancy occurs, the mother produces antibodies

Alaca Hüyük

2005-04-01T16:45:00.000-08:00

Ancient Anatolian site northeast of the old Hittite capital of Hattusa at Bogazköy, north-central Turkey. Its excavation was begun by Makridi Bey in 1907 and resumed in 1935 by the Turkish Historical Society. Inside a sphinx gate, traces of a large Hittite building were discovered. Below the Hittite remains was a royal necropolis of 13 tombs dating from about 2500 BC. Although material

Paschasius Radbertus, Saint

2005-03-31T17:57:00.000-08:00

Abandoned as an infant, Paschasius was raised by the monks of St. Peter's, Soissons. Later, he joined the Benedictine abbey of Corbie, near Amiens, under St. Adalhard

Alabama, The Civil War and its aftermath

2005-03-28T21:09:00.000-08:00

In 1861 Alabama seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America, which established its first capital in Montgomery. The state legislature conscripted soldiers and appropriated several million dollars for military operations and for the support of the families of soldiers. Some 35,000 of the 122,000 Alabamians who served in the war died. Following the collapse

Conservative Judaism

2005-03-28T03:58:00.000-08:00

Zacharias Frankel (1801–75), whose ideology inspired early Conservative ideas, broke with modernizing extremists after a series of Reform conferences in Germany

Marenzio, Luca

2005-03-26T21:11:00.000-08:00

Marenzio published a large number of madrigals and villanelles and five books of motets. He developed an individual technique and was skilled in evoking moods and images suggested by

Pereda, José María De

2005-03-26T17:38:00.000-08:00

Spanish writer, the acknowledged leader of the modern Spanish regional novelists. Born of a family noted for its fervent Catholicism and its traditionalism, Pereda looked an authentic hidalgo. An older brother provided him with an income that allowed him to become a writer. His first literary effort was the Escenas

Atlas

2005-03-24T13:56:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, son of the Titan Iapetus and the nymph Clymene (or Asia) and brother of Prometheus (creator of mankind). In the works of Homer, Atlas seems to have been a marine creation who supported the pillars that held heaven and earth apart. These were thought to rest in the sea immediately beyond the most western horizon, but later the name of Atlas was transferred

Boston, Cultural life

2005-03-24T03:22:00.000-08:00

The Boston Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in

Ashton, Sir Frederick (william Mallandaine)

2005-03-22T11:49:00.000-08:00

Ashton joined

Chicago And North Western Transportation Company

2005-03-22T01:11:00.000-08:00

The railroad was incorporated in 1859 as a successor to the foreclosed Columbus, Hocking Valley and Toledo Railway. Its first president was William Butler Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago. A constituent company that was acquired

Neap Tide

2005-03-21T17:24:00.000-08:00

Tide of minimal range occurring near the time when the Moon and the Sun are in quadrature. This condition is geometrically defined as the time at which the line from the Earth to the Moon is at right angles to the line from the Earth to the Sun. Thus, the tide-producing effects of the Sun and the Moon cancel each other, and tidal ranges are usually 10 to 30 percent less than the

Hawatmeh, Na'if

2005-03-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

Born into a Christian family in Jordan, Hawatmeh attended the Arab University of Beirut in Lebanon, where he became a militant in the Arab Nationalist Movement, which at its 1967 congress adopted Hawatmeh's Marxist “scientific

Van Cortlandt, Stephanus

2005-03-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

Van Cortlandt attended the New Amsterdam school of the Dutch Reformed Church and began a successful and profitable mercantile career under his father's guidance. After the

Nacaome

2005-03-19T16:14:00.000-08:00

City, southern Honduras, on the seasonally dry Nacaome River. It was founded in 1535 and given city status in 1845. Its colonial church, rebuilt in 1867, still stands. Nacaome is a manufacturing and commercial centre. Cement products are made in the city, which also contains tanneries. The surrounding agricultural lands yield principally sesame and cotton. Gold and silver are mined

Boyne, River

2005-03-19T08:51:00.000-08:00

Irish An Bhóinn river rising in the Bog of Allen, County Kildare, Ireland, and flowing 70 miles (110 km) northeast to enter the Irish Sea just below Drogheda. Neolithic passage graves at Knowth, Newgrange, and Dowth are of archaeological significance, and nearby in the Boyne valley is Tara, seat of the high kings of Ireland. The river was the scene of the famous Battle of the Boyne (1690).

Bloat

2005-03-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

Also called hoven or tympanites disorder of ruminant animals involving distention of the rumen, the first of the four divisions of the stomach, with gas of fermentation. Bloated cattle are restless and noticeably uncomfortable and have distended left flanks. Bloat may occur after cattle have eaten alfalfa, winter wheat, and certain types of clover. Though deaths have occurred, economic losses

Roma

2005-03-17T18:39:00.000-08:00

Town, south-central Queensland, Australia, principal settlement of the Maronoa district, on Bungil Creek. The town, surveyed in 1862 and declared a municipality in 1867, was named after Diamantina Roma Bowen, wife of the state's first governor. Linked to Brisbane (about 315 miles [510 km] east-southeast) by rail, air, and the Carnarvon and Warrego highways, it serves an agricultural and pastoral

Ottonian Art

2005-03-17T07:06:00.000-08:00

Painting, sculpture, and other visual arts produced during the reigns of the German Ottonian emperors and their first successors from the Salic house (950–1050). As inheritors of the Carolingian tradition of the Holy Roman Empire, the German emperors also assumed the Carolingian artistic heritage, the conscientious revival of late antique and Early Christian art forms

Brace And Bit

2005-03-17T04:43:00.000-08:00

Hand-operated tool for boring holes in wood, consisting of a crank-shaped turning device, the brace, that grips and rotates the hole-cutting tool, the bit. The auger bit shown in the Figure is of the style traditionally used by carpenters; its six parts are shown in the Figure. At the end of the twist are two sharp points, called the spurs, that mark the circle, and two cutting

Anatolian Languages, Hittite

2005-03-16T13:01:00.000-08:00

The Hittite language is known from the approximately 25,000 tablets or fragments of tablets preserved in the archives of Bogazköy-Hattusa, excavated by German archaeologists beginning in 1905. In Hittite cuneiform texts, the language is referred to as nesili (nasili) “language of Nesa,” or nesumnili “language of the Neshite.” Earlier Hittite linguistic material may be found in

Hypothec

2005-03-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

In Roman law, a type of security for a debt in which the creditor had neither ownership nor possession. It arose in cases in which a renter needed the use of the things that he pledged as security for his continued payment of rent, usually tools or equipment necessary for working the land he was renting. Possession could be taken by the creditor only when the debt, or, in

Irigoyen, Hipólito

2005-03-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

Irigoyen became a lawyer, teacher, rancher, and politician and in 1896 took control of the Radical Party. His relentless effort to obtain free elections succeeded

Colbert, Jean-baptiste

2005-03-14T08:50:00.000-08:00

Controller general of finance (from 1665) and secretary of state for the navy (from 1668) under King Louis XIV of France. He carried out the program of economic reconstruction that helped make France the dominant power in Europe.

Furniture, China

2005-03-14T02:39:00.000-08:00

Remarkably little systematic study has been made of Chinese furniture. Its origins remain comparatively obscure, its workshops mostly unrecorded, its designers unknown; consequently, its dating is extremely difficult. Most of the forms of Chinese furniture, such as the low table and the covered bed, are found in the oldest Chinese paintings in existence; the designs

Dabrowska, Maria

2005-03-13T13:16:00.000-08:00

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

Biblical Literature, The purpose and style of Acts

2005-03-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

Although the title, Acts of the Apostles, suggests that the aim of Acts is to give an account of the deeds of the Apostles, the title actually was a later addition to the work (about the end of the 2nd century). Acts depicts the shift from Jewish Christianity to Gentile Christianity as relatively smooth and portrays the Roman government as regarding the Christian doctrine

Otfrid

2005-03-13T03:47:00.000-08:00

Otfrid was trained in the monastery school of Fulda under Rabanus Maurus, who directed the school from 802 to 824. His fame rests on his Evangelienbuch (c. 870; “Book of the Gospels”), a poem of 7,416 lines, which is extant in three good contemporary manuscripts. It is an exceptionally valuable document,

Bon

2005-03-13T01:21:00.000-08:00

The original features of Bon seem to have been largely magic-related; they concerned the propitiation of demonic forces and included the practice of blood sacrifices. Later, there is evidence

Kochia

2005-03-11T13:48:00.000-08:00

Genus of annual plants, of the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae), native primarily to Eurasia. The commonly cultivated garden species is summer cypress (K. scoparia), sometimes known as standing, or Belvedere, cypress. The most widely grown variety is the red summer cypress, also called firebush or burning bush (K. scoparia trichophylla), an erect, often globe-shaped

Ting, Samuel C.c.

2005-03-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

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

Amagasaki

2005-03-11T04:22:00.000-08:00

City and industrial suburb of the Osaka-Kobe (Hanshin) metropolitan area, Hyogo ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. In the feudal period it was a castle town. During the 20th century it attracted large, modern factories, formerly geared to wartime production, to produce iron and steel goods, electrical machinery, transport vehicles, and chemicals. The main industrial belt lies

Computers, The Z4

2005-03-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

In Germany, Konrad Zuse began construction of the Z4 in 1943 with funding from the Air Ministry. Like his Z3 (described in the section Konrad Zuse), the Z4 used electromechanical relays, in part because of the difficulty in acquiring the roughly 2,000 necessary vacuum tubes in wartime Germany. The Z4 was evacuated from Berlin in early 1945, and it eventually wound up in Hinterstein, a small

Ibadan

2005-03-09T13:51:00.000-08:00

Ibadan's beginnings are shrouded in mystery; they were recorded only in oral tradition. It is said that the earliest group of settlers at Ibadan were fugitives from justice who were expelled from nearby villages.

Automobile Racing

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

Two Canadians, Jacques Villeneuve (see BIOGRAPHIES) and Scott Goodyear, figured in another astonishing finish at the 1995 Indianapolis 500. Goodyear, in a Reynard-Honda, was in the lead when he passed the Chevrolet Corvette pace car illegally just after the 190th lap of the 200-lap race; officials stopped scoring his laps on the 196th, and Goodyear finished 14th. Ironically, Villeneuve earlier

Wellhausen, Julius

2005-03-08T04:24:00.000-08:00

Wellhausen studied at the University of Göttingen and taught there briefly before becoming professor of the Old Testament at Greifswald in 1872, a position he resigned 10 years later because of conflicts with his academic

Interior Design, Aesthetic components of design

2005-03-07T18:31:00.000-08:00

A general definition of beauty and aesthetic excellence would be difficult, but fortunately there are a number of generally accepted principles that can be used to achieve an understanding of the aesthetic considerations in design. One must note, however, that such understanding requires exposure and learning; an appreciation of any form of art needs such a

Curtea De Arges

2005-03-06T13:27:00.000-08:00

Town, Arges judet (county), south central Romania. It is on the Arges River, at an elevation of 1,480 ft (450 m), on the southern slopes of the Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians), about 80 mi (130 km) northwest of Bucharest. Curtea de Arges succeeded Câmpulung as capital of feudal Walachia. Outstanding architectural monuments include the St. Nicholas church, one of the oldest churches in

Suboscine

2005-03-06T05:20:00.000-08:00

In general, any bird of the suborders Eurylaimi, Tyranni, and Menurae of the order Passeriformes (perching birds, or passerines) as distinguished from an oscine, or songbird (q.v.), a member of the suborder Passeres. The term suboscine implies, perhaps rightly, that birds of this group are more primitive in anatomy and behaviour than the oscines, which are usually considered

île-de-france

2005-03-06T01:09:00.000-08:00

Région encompassing the north-central French départements of Val-d'Oise, Seine-et-Marne, Seine-Saint-Denis, Paris, Hauts-de-Seine, Val-de-Marne, Essonne, and Yvelines and roughly coextensive with the historical region of the Île-de-France. The capital is Paris. The région is bounded by the départements of Eure to the northwest, Oise and Aisne to the north, Marne, Aube, and Yonne

Austin, Louis Winslow

2005-03-05T21:56:00.000-08:00

Physicist known for research on long-range radio transmissions. He was educated at Middlebury College, Vermont, and the University of Strasbourg, Germany. In 1904 he began work on radio transmissions for the U.S. Bureau of Standards. In 1908 Austin became head of a naval radiotelegraphy laboratory at the bureau (later to become the Naval Research

Olympus Mons

2005-03-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

Volcano on the planet Mars, the highest point on the planet and the largest known volcano in the solar system. Centred at 19° N, 133° W, Olympus Mons consists of a central edifice 21 km (13 miles) high and 540 km (335 miles) across. Around its perimeter an outward-facing cliff ascends as high as 10 km (6 miles) above the surrounding area. At the summit is an 85-km- (53-mile-) diameter crater, or caldera, comprising

Cabot, John

2005-03-05T09:09:00.000-08:00

Cabot moved to Venice in 1461, or possibly earlier, and became a citizen of that city in 1476. While employed by a Venetian mercantile

Theatre, Western, Commedia dell'arte

2005-03-05T03:08:00.000-08:00

Around the mid-16th century, there emerged in Italy a lively tradition of popular theatre that fused many disparate elements into a vigorous style, which profoundly influenced the development of European theatre. This was the legendary commedia dell'arte (“theatre of the professionals”), a nonliterary tradition that centred on the actor, as distinguished from the

Theatre, Western, Commedia dell'arte

2005-03-03T15:44:00.000-08:00

Degus have a large head, large eyes, and moderate-sized, nearly hairless ears. They weigh 170 to

Hawaii, Industry

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

Hawaii has several hundred companies engaged in diversified manufacturing. Heavy-manufacturing plants, using raw materials for the most part imported from the U.S. mainland, include an oil refinery that produces a variety of petroleum products and chemical compounds, a steel mill manufacturing reinforcing bars, several cement plants, a concrete-pipe plant, and

Alternative Rock

2005-03-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

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

Vulcan Automatic Cannon

2005-03-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

To attain the requisite speed, six barrels are electrically fired and rotated in succession, an arrangement basically like that

Van Diemen Gulf

2005-03-01T08:19:00.000-08:00

Inlet of the Timor Sea of the Indian Ocean, indenting Northern Territory, Australia. Measuring 90 mi (145 km) by 50 mi and partially enclosed by Melville Island (northwest) and the Cobourg Peninsula (northeast), it is fronted by the mainland as far west as Cape Hotham (south). Receiving the South and East Alligator and Mary rivers, the gulf has access to the open sea through Clarence

Alternative Rock

2005-03-01T06:27:00.000-08:00

The monkeys

Rölvaag, O(le) E(dvart)

2005-02-28T23:36:00.000-08:00

Rölvaag immigrated to the United States in 1896 and was naturalized in 1908. Educated at St. Olaf College, Northfield,

Wilhelmina

2005-02-28T03:15:00.000-08:00

She shared the unhappy childhood of her brother, whose friend and confidante she remained most of her life. She married Frederick, hereditary prince of Bayreuth, in 1731; when he became margrave in 1735, the pair set about making Bayreuth a miniature Versailles.

Saint Clair River

2005-02-27T20:13:00.000-08:00

Outlet for Lake Huron, forming part of the boundary between Michigan, U.S. (west), and Ontario, Can. (east). Flowing southward into Lake Saint Clair, with a fall of 5.7 feet (1.7 m) in 39 miles (63 km), the river discharges through a seven-mouth delta, with the South Channel (27-foot [8-metre] minimum depth) used for deep-drafted vessels. The islands in the delta form popular summer resorts, the largest being

Malan, François Stephanus

2005-02-26T07:06:00.000-08:00

Malan was a leader of the Afrikaner Bond (a political party of Dutch South Africans) and editor (1895) of its newspaper. He was originally antagonistic to

Dragon Rug

2005-02-26T01:34:00.000-08:00

Early examples are narrow for their length, with a single-stripe

Avoidance, Zone Of

2005-02-25T14:08:00.000-08:00

The zone of avoidance can be penetrated only by observations made in the far infrared end of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is entirely a local Milky Way

Brentano, Clemens

2005-02-24T00:29:00.000-08:00

Brentano's mother, Maximiliane Brentano, was J.W. von Goethe's friend in 1772–74, and his sister, Bettina von Arnim, was a correspondent

La Fontaine, Jean De

2005-02-23T20:25:00.000-08:00

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

Ear, Human, Structure of the cochlea

2005-02-22T13:50:00.000-08:00

The cochlea contains the sensory organ of hearing. It bears a striking resemblance to the shell of a snail and in fact takes its name from the Greek word for this object. The cochlea is a spiral tube that is coiled two and one-half turns around a hollow central pillar, the modiolus. It forms a cone approximately 9 millimetres (0.35 inch) in diameter at its base and 5 millimetres

Henry I

2005-02-22T13:37:00.000-08:00

Henry was crowned at Westminster, on Aug. 5, 1100, three days after his brother, King William II, William the Conqueror's second son, had been killed in a hunting accident. Duke Robert Curthose, the eldest of the three brothers, who by feudal custom had succeeded to his father's inheritance, Normandy, was returning from the First Crusade and could not assert his own claim to the English

Dur Sharrukin

2005-02-22T00:23:00.000-08:00

Modern Khorsabad ancient Assyrian city located northeast of Nineveh, in Iraq. Built between 717 and 707 BC by the Assyrian king Sargon II (reigned 721–705), Dur Sharrukin exhibits careful town planning. The city measured about one mile square (2.59 square km); its outer walls were pierced by seven fortified gates. An inner wall enclosed a temple to Nabu (a god of vegetation and the patron of the art of writing), the

Minamoto Yorinobu

2005-02-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

In 1028 the Fujiwaras, no longer willing to fight their own battles, hired Yorinobu to quell a rebellion that had broken out in eastern Japan. His success

Priesthood, Hinduism

2005-02-21T11:34:00.000-08:00

In Vedic India, the early period of Hinduism, when the priestly caste (Brahman, or Brahmana) was vested in a particular tribe or special class, it occupied the primary place of importance in the segmentation of Hindu society. The king was subordinate in some respects to the Brahmans, though at one time both sometimes were chosen from the Ksatriya, or warrior caste. Nevertheless,

Perched Rock

2005-02-20T15:23:00.000-08:00

Also called Mushroom Rock, or Pedestal Rock, boulder balanced on a pinnacle rock, another boulder, or in some other precarious position. Some perched rocks form in place, as where rainwash (and in some cases wind) has removed fine material from around the boulder. Others may be transported by tectonic forces (involved in deformation of the Earth's crust) or by ice (such as erratics, or glacier transports) and let down

Brea

2005-02-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

City, Orange county, southwestern California, U.S., at the foot of the Puente Hills. Early settlers dug the oil-soaked earth in the “Brea” canyon for fuel, and commercial production began in the 1890s after successful strikes in the Brea and Olinda fields. The influx of people inspired the Ontario Investment Company to file a subdivision map in 1908 for a town to be called Randolph;

Astronomy

2005-02-19T23:57:00.000-08:00

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

Aguascalientes

2005-02-19T21:57:00.000-08:00

State, central Mexico. One of the country's smallest states (2,112 square miles [5,471 square km]), it occupies part of the central plateau between 3,300 and 10,000 feet (1,000 and 3,000 metres) above sea level, extending from two spurs of the Sierra Madre eastward and southward to rolling fertile plains. It is well watered and has a mild climate with light rainfall. The name, from the Spanish for “hot waters,” stems

Waite, Morrison Remick

2005-02-19T17:21:00.000-08:00

Seventh chief justice of the United States (1874–88), who frequently spoke for the Supreme Court in interpreting the post-Civil War constitutional amendments and in redefining governmental jurisdiction over commerce in view of the great expansion of American business. Reacting against the extreme nationalism predominant during

Makar

2005-02-18T02:48:00.000-08:00

Because Geoffrey Chaucer was their acknowledged master and they often employed his verse forms and themes, the

Usufruct

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

In Roman-based legal systems, the temporary right to the use and enjoyment of the property of another, without changing the character of the property. This legal concept developed in Roman law and found significant application in the determination of the property interests between a slave held under a usus fructus (Latin: “use and enjoyment”) bond and a temporary master.

Bahram

2005-02-16T15:48:00.000-08:00

Foaled by Friar's Daughter and sired by Blandford, Bahram was owned by the Aga Khan and bred at his stud in Curragh, Ireland. Trained by Frank Butters at Newmarket, Bahram always came in first, from his first race in 1934, which he won by a neck. In 1935, ridden by his usual

Peter Chrysologus, Saint

2005-02-16T11:47:00.000-08:00

About 433 he became archbishop of Ravenna, where, with the aid of Galla

Insurance, Group insurance

2005-02-15T21:19:00.000-08:00

Groups have always been important in the insurance field, from the burial societies of the Romans and the insurance funds of the medieval guilds to the fraternal and religious insurance plans of modern times. In the 20th century private insurance companies have written increasingly large amounts of group insurance, particularly in life insurance, health insurance,

Marrano

2005-02-15T17:39:00.000-08:00

In the late 14th century, Spanish Jewry was threatened with extinction at the hands of mobs of fanatical Christians. Thousands

Novgorod, Treaty Of

2005-02-15T08:29:00.000-08:00

(June 3, 1326), the peace treaty ending decades of Russo-Norwegian hostilities in the extreme northern area of present-day Norway and Russia's Kola Peninsula—then generally known as Finnmark (including the present Norwegian province of Finnmark). The treaty, rather than delimiting a clear frontier between Norway and the principality of Novgorod, created a buffer zone, the

Adrar

2005-02-13T18:25:00.000-08:00

Traditional region of central Mauritania in western Africa. It consists of a low central massif with noticeable cliffs that rise to about 800 feet (240 m). The terrain is arid and almost totally unsuitable for cropping. There is, however, sufficient water at the base of the uplands to support date-palm groves, and during the wetter part of the year there is cultivation of millet,

Hadrian

2005-02-13T03:22:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Adrian , Latin in full Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus , original name (until AD 117) Publius Aelius Hadrianus Roman emperor (AD 117–138), the emperor Trajan's nephew and successor, who was a cultivated admirer of Greek civilization and who unified and consolidated Rome's vast empire.

Dabrowski, Jan Henryk

2005-02-12T18:04:00.000-08:00

After service in the Saxon Army (1772–92), Dabrowski joined the Poles to serve against the Russians in 1792. In 1794 he took part in Kosciuszko's uprising, distinguished

Kazakstan, Drainage

2005-02-12T00:26:00.000-08:00

Kazakstan's east and southeast possess extensive watercourses: most of the country's 7,000 streams form part of the inland drainage systems of the Aral and Caspian seas and Lakes Balkhash and Tengiz. The major exceptions are the great Irtysh, Ishim (Esil), and Tobol rivers, which run northwest from the highlands in the southeast and, crossing Russia, ultimately drain into

Ciconiiform, Bill shape

2005-02-11T23:39:00.000-08:00

The bill shows various adaptations to methods of feeding. In herons it is typically long, straight, and pointed; although spearlike in appearance, it is used for grasping rather than impaling. In the boat-billed heron (Cochlearius cochlearius) the bill is flattened into a broad scoop and is used as such in feeding. In bitterns, both mandibles are finely serrated near

Lighthouse, Rectangular and drum lenses

2005-02-11T14:17:00.000-08:00

In 1828 Augustin Fresnel of France produced the first apparatus using the refracting properties of glass, now known as the dioptric system. On a lens panel he surrounded a central bull's-eye lens with a series of concentric glass prismatic rings. The panel collected light emitted by the lamp over a wide horizontal angle and also the light that would otherwise escape to

Murat, Joachim

2005-02-11T01:24:00.000-08:00

The son of an innkeeper, he studied briefly for a career in the church but enlisted in a cavalry regiment in 1787 and, when war broke out in 1792, won rapid promotion. In October 1795 he was

Siloé, Diego De

2005-02-11T00:04:00.000-08:00

The son of the sculptor Gil

Philaret

2005-02-09T20:34:00.000-08:00

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

Gumbo

2005-02-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

A gumbo begins with a roux, a mixture of fat and flour slowly browned over low heat. To this base are

Reston

2005-02-08T06:03:00.000-08:00

Urban community, in Fairfax county, northeastern Virginia, U.S. It lies adjacent to Herndon, 22 miles (35 km) west-northwest of Washington, D.C. The community was developed after 1962 by Robert E. Simon, whose initials form the first syllable of its name; it opened in 1965. Reston, an original concept in urban planning, consists of a number of villages (separated by woodland tracts), each with

La Bourdonnais, Bertrand-françois Mahé, Count (comte) De

2005-02-07T22:19:00.000-08:00

La Bourdonnais entered the service of the French East India Company as a lieutenant at 19, was promoted to captain in 1724, and took part in the capture of Mahé on the Malabar Coast (southwestern India) in 1726. From 1735 to 1740, he was governor

Animal, Critical appraisal

2005-02-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

This classification includes only extant groups. Because the aschelminths have not been studied adequately by modern methods, there is no consensus on their classification, and the system used here differs in some respects from that in the article aschelminth. The classification in this article is based on morphological work carried out in the late 1980s and remains

Skiffle

2005-02-06T09:35:00.000-08:00

Style of music played on rudimentary instruments, first popularized in the United States in the 1920s but revived by British musicians in the mid-1950s. The term was originally applied to music played by jug bands (in addition to jugs, these bands featured guitars, banjos, harmonicas, and kazoos), first in Louisville, Kentucky, as early as 1905 and then more prominently in Memphis, Tennessee,

Novikov, Nikolay Ivanovich

2005-02-05T17:25:00.000-08:00

Russian writer, philanthropist, and Freemason whose activities were intended to raise the educational and cultural level of the Russian people and included the production of social satires as well as the founding of schools and libraries. Influenced by Freemasonry, Novikov converted his

Alien

2005-02-05T03:38:00.000-08:00

In early times, the tendency was to look upon the alien as an enemy and to treat him as a criminal or outlaw. Aristotle, probably reflecting a common view in the ancient world, saw non-Greeks as

Mckenzie, Robert (trelford)

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

Canadian-born British political scientist and television commentator on electoral politics. In the latter role, McKenzie popularized to the British public the word psephology (the study of votes) and the idea of “swing” votes, using a device he called a “swingometer” to show the shifting fortunes of the major parties during the announcement

Delors, Jacques

2005-02-04T00:05:00.000-08:00

The son of a courier at the Banque de France, Delors himself joined the bank in 1945, later earning a degree in economics from the Sorbonne. He became active in the Christian Trade Union Confederation (renamed the Democratic Trade Union

Bulgarian Catholic Church

2005-02-03T19:58:00.000-08:00

Christians since 864, the Bulgarians were conquered by the Byzantines early in the 11th century and followed Constantinople (now Istanbul) in the break with Rome (1054). In 1767, after more than four centuries of Ottoman rule in Bulgaria, which had placed Bulgarian Christians under the direct administration

China, An intellectual revolution

2005-02-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

An intellectual revolution took place during the first decade of the republic, sometimes referred to as the New Culture Movement. It was led by many of the new intellectuals, who held up for critical scrutiny nearly all aspects of Chinese culture and traditional ethics. Guided by concepts of individual liberty and equality, a scientific spirit of inquiry, and a pragmatic

Indian Pipe

2005-02-03T03:36:00.000-08:00

The plant arises from a tangled mass of rootlets, grows 15–25 cm (6–10 inches) tall, and is white, pinkish, or (rarely) red; if it dries out, it turns black. A single,

E-commerce

2005-02-02T19:20:00.000-08:00

Although in the vernacular e-commerce usually refers only to the trading of goods and services over the Internet, broader economic activity is included. E-commerce consists of business-to-consumer and business-to-business

Pacific Islands, Climate

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

To describe the climate as tropical and oceanic is to stress the influence of the lower latitudes and the tremendous expanse of the sea. Humidity and temperature tend to be high and are generally uniform throughout the year. Regional differentiation in climate is linked principally to rainfall patterns. Here, factors of altitude and longitude, as well as latitude,