SeriousBoard

Trigère, Pauline

2005-04-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

Trigère was the daughter of a tailor. She early learned to sew and helped her mother custom-tailor women's clothes. After graduating from the Collège Victor Hugo in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near

Mures River

2005-04-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

Hungarian Maros, river, rising in the Giurgeu Range in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, east-central Romania. It cuts a gorge between the Caliman and Gurghiu ranges, crosses the Transylvanian Basin southwestward, and then cuts across the Western Carpathians between the Poiana Ruscai and the Bihoru mountains and emerges onto the Tisa Plain to join the Tisa (Tisza) River at Szeged, Hung.,

Uddevalla

2005-04-03T03:19:00.000-07:00

Town, Västra Götaland län (county), southwestern Sweden. It lies along the Bäve River, at the head of By Fjord (an inlet of the Skagerrak), north of Göteborg. The site has been identified with Odensvold, a pagan place of sacrifice. The town was incorporated in 1498. On several occasions during the Danish-Swedish wars, large parts of it were destroyed and ravaged by fire. Uddevalla

Arts, East Asian, Kabuki theatre

2005-04-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

The nagauta form of lyric music, like most of the other narrative forms, began with a close relation to the kabuki popular theatre of the Tokugawa period. The first kabuki performances used instruments (hayashi) from the no drama. Because kabuki was related to the flourishing demimonde of the major cities, however, the music of the party houses and brothels was soon added

Ryukyu Trench

2005-04-02T13:04:00.000-08:00

Also called Nansei-Shoto Trench deep ocean trench running north along the eastern edge of the Ryukyu Islands (Japan) in the Philippine Sea, between Taiwan and the Japanese archipelago. The Ryukyu Trench reaches a maximum depth of 24,629 feet (7,507 m) about 60 miles (90 km) south of Okinawa. It is 1,398 miles (2,250 km) long, and its mean width is 37 miles (60 km). Its floor area extends over some 52,000 square miles (135,000 square km), mostly covered by red

Tritone

2005-04-01T20:09:00.000-08:00

In musical notation the tritone is written either as an augmented

Dyce, William

2005-03-31T03:03:00.000-08:00

Dyce studied at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, and the Royal Academy schools, London. One of the first British students of early Italian Renaissance painting, he visited Italy in 1825 and 1827–28, meeting in Rome a group of young German painters, the Nazarenes. He

Extratropical Cyclone

2005-03-30T17:04:00.000-08:00

According to the polar-front theory, extratropical cyclones develop when

Apra Harbor

2005-03-30T09:22:00.000-08:00

Also called Port Apra, port on the west coast of Guam, Mariana Islands, western Pacific. It is the best anchorage on the island and is located just west of Agana. It is the port of entry and site of a U.S. naval base. With 2,400 feet (730 m) of frontage for deepwater docking, it is a transshipment point for various Micronesian islands. The harbour, which is protected (south) by Orote Peninsula and (north) by Cabras

Art, African, Ekoi

2005-03-29T16:34:00.000-08:00

The Ekoi peoples (Anyang, Boki, Ejagham, Keaka, and Yako) are best known for their large, skin-covered masks, which have two or even three faces, and for their smaller headpieces, which represent a head or an entire figure. The headpieces and masks have metal teeth, inlaid eyes, and frequently pegs to represent hair, which, alternatively, may be carved in elaborate coils. They

Beawar

2005-03-28T11:07:00.000-08:00

Town, Rajasthan state, northwestern India. A major rail and road junction, Beawar is an agricultural and woollen market centre. Industries include cotton ginning, handloom weaving, hosiery manufacture, and wood carving. Formerly also called Nayanagar, the town was founded in 1835 and grew rapidly in prosperity because of its advantageous position between Udaipur and Jodhpur.

Rush, William

2005-03-28T05:28:00.000-08:00

Rush trained to make ornamental ship carvings and figureheads. During the American Revolution he served as an officer in Philadelphia's militia and campaigned with George Washington in the city's defense. Shortly after

Agnon, S.y.

2005-03-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

Born of a family of Polish Jewish merchants, rabbis, and scholars, Agnon wrote at first (1903–06) in Yiddish and Hebrew, under his own

Agrimony

2005-03-26T13:13:00.000-08:00

Any plant of the genus Agrimonia, of the rose family (Rosaceae). The name particularly denotes A. eupatoria, an herbaceous, hardy perennial that is native to Europe but is widespread in other northern temperate regions, where it grows in hedge banks and the borders of fields. A. eupatoria grows to about 120 cm (4 feet) tall and has alternate feather-formed

Craft Guild

2005-03-26T00:26:00.000-08:00

Also called Mystery (from Latin ministerium, “occupation”), a European medieval occupational association, usually comprising all the artisans—and often the suppliers, retailers, and wholesale merchants—concerned with a specific branch of industry or commerce. A weavers' guild is recorded at Mainz as early as 1099 and in London and other cities of England during the reign of Henry I (1100–35); but the

Eastern Orthodoxy, Attempts at ecclesiastical union and theological renaissance

2005-03-25T19:22:00.000-08:00

In 1261 the Nicaean emperor Michael Palaeologus recaptured Constantinople from the Latins, and an Orthodox patriarch again occupied the see in Hagia Sophia. From 1261 to 1453 the Palaeologan dynasty presided over an empire that was embattled from every side, torn apart by civil wars, and gradually shrinking to the very limits of the imperial city itself. The church, meanwhile,

Puerto Rico Trench

2005-03-25T01:59:00.000-08:00

Submarine depression in the North Atlantic Ocean, roughly parallel to the northern coast of the island of Puerto Rico and lying about 75 miles (120 km) to the north. The Puerto Rico Trench is about 1,090 miles (1,750 km) long and 60 miles (100 km) wide. The deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean, the Milwaukee Depth, lies at a depth of 27,493 feet (8,380 m) in the western end of the trench, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Puerto

Pol Pot

2005-03-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

Original name Saloth Sar Khmer political leader whose totalitarian regime (1975–79) imposed severe hardships on the Cambodian people. His radical communist government forced the mass evacuations of cities, killed or displaced millions of people, and left a legacy of brutality and

Farel, Guillaume

2005-03-23T22:54:00.000-08:00

As a student at the University of Paris, Farel was the pupil and friend of the scholar Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples, who helped him obtain

Sardana

2005-03-22T19:21:00.000-08:00

Communal dance intimately bound up with Catalan national consciousness. It is danced by men and women who join hands alternately in a closed circle. As they dance to the music of tenores and tabales (shawms and small drums), their faces remain solemn and dignified. The basic pattern of the sardana is a series of long (llarg) and short (curt) steps; the precise combination

Talladega Mountain

2005-03-22T09:31:00.000-08:00

Low-lying segment of the Appalachian Mountains, extending northeastward along the border of Clay and Talladega counties and into Cleburne county in east-central Alabama, U.S. Rising to Cheaha Mountain (2,407 feet [734 metres]), the highest point in Alabama, the pine- and hardwood-covered mountain mass is mainly within the eastern division of the Talladega National Forest. In

Albert Of Saxony

2005-03-21T21:20:00.000-08:00

He studied at Prague and then at the University of Paris, where he was a master of arts from 1351 to 1362 and rector in 1353. Most probably he is to be identified with the Albert of Ricmestorp, or Rückmersdorf, who was rector of the University of Vienna in 1365 and bishop

Kael, Pauline

2005-03-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

Kael graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1940. For a number of years she made a precarious living with various minor jobs. She had been an avid fan of the movies since childhood, and in 1953 she published her first

Peranakan

2005-03-21T00:24:00.000-08:00

Until

Concordat

2005-03-19T07:31:00.000-08:00

A pact, with the force of international law, concluded between the ecclesiastical authority and the secular authority on matters of mutual concern; most especially a pact between the pope, as head of the Roman Catholic church, and a temporal head of state for the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs in the territory of the latter. Matters often dealt with in concordats

Arabia, History Of, The life of Muhammad

2005-03-18T22:43:00.000-08:00

Muhammad was born in 570 of the Hashimite (Banu Hashim) branch of the noble house of 'Abd Manaf; though orphaned at an early age and, in consequence, with little influence, he never lacked protection by his clan. Marriage to a wealthy widow improved his position as a merchant, but he began to make his mark in Mecca by preaching the oneness of Allah. Rejected by the Quraysh lords, Muhammad

Pap Smear

2005-03-18T16:43:00.000-08:00

Also called Papanicolaou smear laboratory method of obtaining secretions from the cervix for the examination of cast-off epithelial cells to detect the presence of cancer. The Pap smear, named for Greek-born American physician George Papanicolaou, is notably reliable in detecting the early stages of cancer in the uterine cervix. Two specimens are usually taken for laboratory staining and

Levi Ben Gershom

2005-03-18T01:54:00.000-08:00

In 1321 Levi wrote his first work, Sefer ha-mispar (“Book of the Number”), dealing with arithmetical operations, including extraction of roots. In De sinibus, chordis et arcubus (1342; “On Sines, Chords, and Arcs”) he presented an original derivation of the sine theorem for plane triangles

Rabelais, François

2005-03-17T11:48:00.000-08:00

Pseudonym Alcofribas Nasier French writer and priest who for his contemporaries was an eminent physician and humanist and for posterity is the author of the comic masterpiece Gargantua and Pantagruel. The four novels composing this work are outstanding for their rich use of Renaissance French and for their comedy, which ranges from gross burlesque

Pius Ix

2005-03-16T18:11:00.000-08:00

Original name Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti Italian head of the Roman Catholic church whose pontificate (1846–78) was the longest in history and was marked by a transition from liberalism to conservatism. Notable events of his reign included the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and the sessions of the First

Oakland

2005-03-16T14:04:00.000-08:00

Town, seat (1872) of Garrett county, extreme western Maryland, U.S., in the Allegheny Mountains near the West Virginia border. Laid out in 1849, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad decided to build a rail line through the area, it became a popular tourist destination. Oakland remains at the centre of a resort and agricultural area. Trout fishing, hiking, boating, snow skiing, biking,

Insurance, Worldwide operations

2005-03-16T07:42:00.000-08:00

Because of the great expansion in world trade and the extent to which business firms make investments outside their home countries, the market for insurance on a worldwide scale has expanded rapidly in the 20th century. This development has required a worldwide network of offices to provide brokerage services, underwriting assistance, claims service, and so forth.

Pius Ix

2005-03-15T22:45:00.000-08:00

American collegiate athletic association that grew out of the Southern Conference. Members are the University of Alabama, the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville), Auburn University, the University of Florida, the University of Georgia, the University of Kentucky, Louisiana State University, the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University,

Shamanism

2005-03-14T10:01:00.000-08:00

The term shamanism comes from the

Endoscopy

2005-03-13T23:12:00.000-08:00

Medical examination of the interior of the body, usually through a natural body opening, by the insertion of a lighted optical shaft or open tube. It is customarily performed with local anesthesia. Instruments used include the esophagoscope, a rigid pipe for examination of the esophagus; the bronchoscope, a similar pipe for examination of the bronchial tubes; and

Naresuan

2005-03-13T02:47:00.000-08:00

In 1569 the Myanmar king Bayinnaung (reigned 1551–81) conquered Siam and placed Naresuan's father, Maha Thammaracha, on the throne as his vassal. The capital, Ayutthaya, was pillaged, thousands of Siamese

Powerlifting

2005-03-13T01:47:00.000-08:00

Powerlifting was developed primarily in the United States and Canada by weight lifters whose concentration on power alone, they felt, was excluded from formal competition. In 1967 the Amateur Athletic Union began national supervision of the

Wright Glider Of 1902

2005-03-12T02:41:00.000-08:00

Biplane glider designed and built by Wilbur and Orville Wright in Dayton, Ohio, during the late summer of 1902. Tested during the autumn of 1902 and again in 1903 at the Kill Devil Hills, four miles south of the village of Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the 1902 glider demonstrated that the Wright brothers had solved the key problems blocking the route to heavier-than-air

São Francisco River

2005-03-11T21:54:00.000-08:00

The upper-middle basin is an agricultural region in which cotton, beans, rice, and corn (maize) are grown. The

Saratoga, Battles Of

2005-03-11T04:36:00.000-08:00

In the American Revolution, closely related engagements in the fall of 1777 that are often called the turning point of the war in favour of the Americans. The failure of the American invasion of Canada in 1775–76 had left a large surplus of British troops along the St. Lawrence River. In 1777 these troops were to move south and join forces with General Sir William Howe's troops along the

Epistemology, Faith and reason

2005-03-10T07:48:00.000-08:00

Modern philosophers as a group are usually thought to be purely secular thinkers. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the early 17th century until the middle of the 18th century, all of the great philosophers incorporated substantial religious elements into their work. Descartes, in his Meditations (1641), offered two different proofs for the existence of God, and

Bonaventure, Saint

2005-03-09T15:35:00.000-08:00

He was a son of Giovanni of Fidanza, a physician, and Maria

Hesburgh, Theodore M(artin)

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

Hesburgh, who said he knew he wanted to be a priest from early childhood, joined the Order of

Quadruple Alliance

2005-03-08T03:48:00.000-08:00

Alliance formed Aug. 2, 1718, when Austria joined the Triple Alliance of Britain, the Dutch Republic (United Provinces), and France to prevent Spain from altering the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). Philip V of Spain, influenced by his wife, Elizabeth Farnese of Parma, and her adviser Giulio Alberoni, seized control of Sardinia and Sicily (assigned to Austria and Savoy, respectively,

Wethered, Joyce (lady Heathcoat-amory)

2005-03-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

British golfer (b. Nov. 17, 1907, Brook, Surrey, Eng.--d. Nov. 18, 1997, London, Eng.), dominated women's golf in the 1920s and was considered one of the best female players in the history of the sport. Wethered, who took up golf as a child, received only one formal lesson. Instead, she studied the play of others, including her brother Roger, himself an accomplished golfer, to improve her game. In 1920 she won her first

Chadwick, George Whitefield

2005-03-07T02:26:00.000-08:00

Chadwick studied organ and music theory in Boston and in 1877 went to Germany to study under Karl Reinecke, Salomon Jadassohn, and Josef Rheinberger. Returning to the United States in 1880, he was engaged as instructor in music theory

Fuller, Ray W.

2005-03-07T00:14:00.000-08:00

U.S. biochemist who, as a pharmacological researcher at Eli Lilly & Co. from 1963, helped to create fluoxetine--the popular antidepressant drug known by the trademark Prozac. The drug, which combated depression by slowing the reabsorption of serotonin in the brain, was synthesized in 1972 and marketed in 1987 (b. Dec. 16, 1935--d. Aug. 11, 1996).

Kitakami-sammyaku

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

(Japanese: Kitakami Range), mountain range, in northeastern Honshu, Japan, paralleling the Pacific coast and extending for about 155 mi (250 km) from southern Aomori Prefecture, through Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, to terminate in the Ojika Peninsula. The range has a maximum breadth of 50 mi and is nearly wedge shaped. The highest peak, Hayachine-san, rises to an elevation of 6,280 ft (1,914 m)

Rowboat

2005-03-05T06:35:00.000-08:00

A true rowboat or sculling boat has an easy motion through the water and, most important, glides between strokes. Thus the boat's forward motion never ceases; each stroke of the oar keeps the boat underway, and a steady tempo

Buys Ballot, Christophorus H(enricus) D(idericus)

2005-03-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

Buys Ballot studied and taught at the University of Utrecht, attaining

Extraterrestrial Life

2005-03-05T05:38:00.000-08:00

The chemistry of extraterrestrial life, scientists assume, would require (1) a suitable medium for chemical reactions

Regla

2005-03-04T02:15:00.000-08:00

City, northern Ciudad de la Habana provincia, west-central Cuba. Situated on the southeastern shore of La Habana Bay, Regla was a centre for smuggling activities in the 19th century. It is now an industrial suburb of Havana, with which it is linked by ferry as well as by land. Its foundries, petroleum refineries, shipyards, docks, and warehouses suggest its importance as both

Mesopotamia, History Of, Mesopotamia under the Persians

2005-03-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

Cyrus II, the founder of the Achaemenian Empire, united Babylonia with his country in a personal union, assuming the title of “King of Babylonia, King of the Lands.” His son Cambyses was appointed vice-king and resided in Sippar. The Persians relied on the support of the priests and the business class in the cities. In a Babylonian inscription, Cyrus relates with pride his

Babenco, Hector

2005-03-02T17:27:00.000-08:00

Babenco spent his late teen and early adult years studying existential philosophy and traveling the world, finally settling in Brazil in 1971. He became interested in filmmaking during the early '70s and directed shorts and commercials

Adam And Eve

2005-03-02T17:23:00.000-08:00

In the Bible, there are two accounts of their creation. According to the Priestly (P) history of the 5th or 6th century BC (Genesis 1:1–2:4), God on the sixth day of Creation created all the living creatures and, “in his own image,” man both “male and female.” God then blessed the couple, told them

Conservation

2005-03-02T14:30:00.000-08:00

Although the idea of conservation is probably as old as the human species, the use of the word in its present context is relatively recent. Over the years conservation

Madison, James

2005-03-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

During eight years as Jefferson's secretary of state (1801–09), Madison used the words “The President has decided” so regularly that his own role can be discovered only in foreign archives. British diplomats dealing with Madison encountered “asperity of temper and fluency of expression.” Senators John Adair and Nicholas Gilman agreed in 1806 that he “governed the President,” an opinion held also by French minister Louis-Marie Turreau.

Gheyn, Matthias Van Den

2005-03-01T03:31:00.000-08:00

He was born into a celebrated family of Flemish bell founders. He moved with his family to Louvain in 1726 and probably received his first musical education

Aaron

2005-02-28T06:54:00.000-08:00

Aaron continued to live as a symbol in Jewish religion and traditions, and the position of the priests was strengthened after the exile. Also, in the Qumran sect, a Jewish community that flourished in the era just before and contemporary with the birth of Christianity, Aaron was a symbol for a strong priesthood, as can be seen from the Dead Sea Scrolls. At the end of time,

Ear Disease, Boil in the ear (furuncle)

2005-02-28T00:35:00.000-08:00

Infection of a hair follicle anywhere on the body is known as a boil, or furuncle. This can occur in a hair follicle in the outer-ear canal, especially when there is infection of the skin of the canal. It always occurs because of a particular type of germ known as staphylococcus. Because the skin of the ear canal is closely attached to the underlying cartilage, a boil in the

China, Prehistory

2005-02-27T13:49:00.000-08:00

Scholarly analyses include Chi Li, The Beginnings of Chinese Civilization (1957, reprinted 1968); Kwang-chih Chang, The Archaeology of Ancient China, 4th ed., rev. and enlarged (1986), a pioneering, comprehensive synthesis based on the coverage of excavations reported to the end of 1985; David N. Keightley (ed.), The Origins of Chinese Civilization (1983), a collection of articles about environment and agriculture, cultures and peoples, and the genesis of the state; Jessica Rawson, Ancient China: Art and Archeology (1980), a study of the artistic significance of Neolithic and Bronze Age artifacts; William Watson, Cultural Frontiers in Ancient East Asia (1971), an illustrated analysis of cultural interaction; and Rukang Wu and John W. Olsen (eds.), Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology in the People's Republic of China (1985), an account of Chinese research on early man.

Pitoëff, Georges

2005-02-27T09:08:00.000-08:00

Russian-born director and producer, noted for his popularization in France of the works of contemporary foreign playwrights, especially Pirandello, Shaw, Chekhov, Schnitzler, and O'Neill. He was a member of the Cartel des Quatre (Group of Four), a group including Louis Jouvet, Charles Dullin, and Gaston Baty, dedicated to rejuvenating the

21-centimetre Radiation

2005-02-27T03:26:00.000-08:00

Electromagnetic radiation of radio wavelength emitted by cold, neutral, interstellar hydrogen atoms. The hydrogen atom is composed of a positively charged particle, the proton, and a negatively charged particle, the electron. These particles can be considered as spinning around their own axes of rotation. When the spins of the two particles are antiparallel, then

Eleaticism

2005-02-26T08:03:00.000-08:00

For a long time Xenophanes of Colophon, a religious thinker and rhapsode of the 6th–5th century BC, was considered the founder of the Eleatic school and Parmenides' mentor. This ancient claim, however, has been successfully criticized by Reinhardt. It is even possible that, on the contrary, Xenophanes was an older pupil of Parmenides. In any case, his monistic view of a cosmic

Annenberg, Walter Hubert

2005-02-25T21:29:00.000-08:00

American publisher and philanthropist (b. March 13, 1908, Milwaukee, Wis.—d. Oct. 1, 2002, Wynnewood, Pa.), used his wealth to promote conservative political causes and to support education and the arts. He was the son of an immigrant, Moses L. Annenberg, whose businesses included the Philadelphia Inquirer, horse racing publications, and wire betting services. The father, as well as his son

Oscar Ii

2005-02-25T13:49:00.000-08:00

An outstanding orator and a lover of music and literature, Oscar published several books of verse and wrote on historical subjects. In home politics he proved a conservative; in foreign policy he favoured Scandinavian cooperation and after 1866 supported Germany in the hope of strengthening Sweden

France, History Of, The Second Empire, 185270

2005-02-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

Posterity's image of Napoleon III and his regime has not been uniform. Some historians have seen him as a shallow opportunist whose only asset was a glorious name. Others have described him as a visionary reformer and patron of progress, a man who successfully attempted to reconcile liberty and authority, national prestige and European cooperation. The emperor's

Art, African, Ibibio

2005-02-25T07:03:00.000-08:00

Among the oldest sculptures of tropical Africa are several hundred ancestor figures, called ekpu, of the Ibibio coastal trade centre of Oron, some of which are thought to date from the late 18th century. They are bearded figures 3 to 4 feet (90 to 120 cm) high and are so individual as to suggest portraiture, despite their schematic style. Oron is one group of Ibibio-speaking villages.

Fuel Cell

2005-02-23T23:48:00.000-08:00

Any of a class of devices that convert the chemical energy of a fuel directly into electricity by electrochemical reactions. A fuel cell is much more efficient than most other types of energy converters.

Chelmno

2005-02-23T10:18:00.000-08:00

As the first camp to conduct mass executions of Jews, Chelmno

Kaiser, Georg

2005-02-22T21:46:00.000-08:00

Kaiser went to Argentina as a clerk, but ill health forced him to return to Germany. During a long convalescence he wrote his first plays, mainly satirical comedies that attracted little attention. His first success was Die Bürger von Calais (1914; The Burghers of Calais). Produced in 1917 at the height

Narcissus

2005-02-22T18:16:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Leiriope; he was distinguished for his beauty. His mother was told that he would have a long life, provided he never looked upon his own features. His rejection, however, of the love of the nymph Echo or of his lover Ameinias drew upon him the vengeance of the gods. He fell in love with his own reflection in

Fore-edge Painting

2005-02-21T14:14:00.000-08:00

Technique of painting the edges of the leaves, or folios, of a book, employed in the European Middle Ages. Manuscript books with gold-tooled bindings often had the edges of their pages gilded with burnished gold. They were also frequently goffered with heated tools and were occasionally coloured. From 1650 onward a number of London binders practiced a new decorative method

Cage, John

2005-02-21T09:10:00.000-08:00

The son of an inventor, Cage briefly attended Pomona College and then traveled in Europe for a time. Returning to the United States in 1931, he studied music with Richard Buhlig, Arnold

Theobald I

2005-02-21T02:53:00.000-08:00

He was the son of Theobald III of Champagne,

San Fernando

2005-02-20T21:06:00.000-08:00

Cabecera (principal built-up area) and partido (political subdivision) of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, Arg. It lies north of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires province, on the Río de la Plata estuary. Colonization of the area began with the second and permanent founding of Buenos Aires (1580). During this period the region was known as Costa de Monte Grande. In 1780 the parish of

T'ien-chi

2005-02-19T02:30:00.000-08:00

Ascending the throne at the age of 15, T'ien-chi preferred carpentry to governmental affairs. He handed the powers of government to Wei, a former butler in the empress dowager's service and a friend of the young

Hou Chi

2005-02-18T21:41:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Hou Ji, in Chinese mythology, Lord of Millet Grains, who was worshiped for the abundant harvests that he graciously provided for his people. The Chinese honoured him not only for past favours but in the hope that devotion to the deity would guarantee continued blessings. An old tradition explained that Hou Chi was miraculously conceived when his childless mother stepped

Pre-columbian Civilizations, The Spanish conquest

2005-02-18T17:57:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile, the Spaniards had landed at Tumbes on the northern coast of Peru early in 1532 and were seeking an interview with Atahuallpa so that they could kidnap him. It is clear that they understood the nature of the Inca civil war and were dealing with emissaries from both factions. Their actions, however, must have seemed puzzling to Atahuallpa. On the one hand, Pizarro

Earthenware

2005-02-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

Pottery that has not been fired to the point of vitrification and is thus slightly porous and coarser than stoneware and porcelain. The body can be covered completely or decorated with slip (a liquid clay mixture applied before firing) or it can be glazed. For both practical and decorative reasons, earthenware is usually glazed. To overcome its porosity

Botswana, Transport

2005-02-17T10:19:00.000-08:00

The 400-mile railway along the eastern side of the country was completed in 1897, linking South Africa and Zimbabwe, but had limited impact on the Botswana economy until the 1970s, when the first branch lines were opened to serve mining areas. At independence in 1966, there were only a few miles of paved roads—all inside town boundaries. Since then the major towns have been linked by paved

Arts, Central Asian, RussianSoviet period

2005-02-17T00:29:00.000-08:00

In 1882 the emirate of Bukhara was incorporated as a Russian state. This political act had little cultural effect, and European art remained unknown to Central Asians. Traditional indigenous architecture of baked or unbaked brick construction was revived in the 18th century. Carved doors and screens were again produced. Old styles of Islamic script were combined with

Earth, Expansion phase

2005-02-16T23:28:00.000-08:00

The expansion phase is less well understood than the growth phase. Many investigators support the “near-Earth neutral-line” model, but concurrently other explanations have been suggested. In the neutral-line model a localized x-type neutral line is formed inside the plasma sheet somewhere between 20 and 40 Re (earth radii) behind the Earth. Figure 13 (top) shows the topology

Astronomy

2005-02-16T01:00:00.000-08:00

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

Police Technology

2005-02-15T01:45:00.000-08:00

Throughout the 20th century, improvements and innovations have been made in police transportation, communications, weaponry, laboratory facilities, and other areas, but these have scarcely more than kept pace with the pressures generated by denser urban populations, greater sophistication

Bevan, Aneurin

2005-02-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

The son of

Murmansk

2005-02-14T07:15:00.000-08:00

Oblast (province), northwestern Russia, with an area of 55,950 sq mi (144,900 sq km) occupying the Kola Peninsula between the White and Barents seas. Its upland blocks and mountain massifs, rising to 3,907 ft (1,191 m) in the Khibiny Mountains, are covered by tundra in the north and swampy forest, or taiga, in the south. The economy is dominated by mineral exploitation, principally apatite, nepheline,

Stiller, Mauritz

2005-02-14T03:39:00.000-08:00

Motion-picture director who during the early 1920s was a leader in the internationally preeminent Swedish cinema. He was influenced by D.W. Griffith's epic style and Thomas Harper Ince's integral use of landscape but most of all by the typically Swedish mysticism and passionate love of nature reflected in the novels of Selma Lagerlöf, many of which

Sa'id Pasha

2005-02-13T10:06:00.000-08:00

Sa'id, the fourth son of the viceroy Muhammad 'Ali Pasha, was educated in Paris and, in 1854, succeeded 'Abbas I as viceroy of Egypt. He was influenced by Western forms of landownership, and,

Stefánsson, Davíd

2005-02-13T00:21:00.000-08:00

Stefánsson came of a cultured yeoman family and was brought up with a love for his homeland, its literature, and its folklore. He frequently journeyed abroad but lived most of his life in the town of Akureyri, where he was a librarian (1925–52). He wrote a powerful

Cache Memory

2005-02-12T22:23:00.000-08:00

Also called Cache, a supplementary memory system that temporarily stores frequently used instructions and data for quicker processing by the central processor of a computer. The cache augments, and is an extension of, a computer's main memory. Both main memory and cache are internal, random-access memories (RAMs) that use semiconductor-based transistor circuits. Cache holds a copy

Mauermayer, Gisela

2005-02-12T04:22:00.000-08:00

Mauermayer began participating in track-and-field competitions at the age of 13. By 1930 she was competing internationally, and in 1934 she won the first women's pentathlon, at the Women's

Dagobert Iii

2005-02-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

Merovingian Frankish king who succeeded his father, Childebert III, in 711. For most of his reign the boy was dominated by Pippin II of Herstal, the Austrasian mayor of the palace.

F-86

2005-02-11T03:41:00.000-08:00

Also called Sabre U.S. single-seat, single-engine jet fighter built by North American Aviation, Inc., the first jet fighter in the West to exploit aerodynamic principles learned from German engineering at the close of World War II. The F-86 was built with the wings swept back in order to reduce transonic drag rise as flight speed approached the sound barrier, and it was capable of exceeding

Passeriform, Incubation and parental care

2005-02-11T02:16:00.000-08:00

Passerines lay clutches of one to 14 eggs, clutch size being unrelated to the size of the bird. The largest species, the two lyrebirds (Menura), lay a single egg; some of the smaller titmice (Parus) have been recorded with the biggest clutches. In most passerines the female incubates the eggs alone, but in some groups—such as the antbirds (Formicariidae), certain grosbeaks (Pheucticus

Lowin, John

2005-02-10T02:27:00.000-08:00

Lowin was the son of a carpenter. He worked as a goldsmith's apprentice for eight years and then joined the Earl of Worcester's Men as an actor in 1602. By 1603 he was a member of the King's Men. He is known to have specialized in the roles of comic soldiers as well as downright villains.

Faenza Majolica

2005-02-09T22:14:00.000-08:00

Majolica also spelled Maiolica, tin-glazed earthenware produced in the city of Faenza in the Emilia district of Italy from the late 14th century. Early Faenza ware is represented by green and purple jugs decorated with Gothic lettering and heraldic lions and by Tuscan oak leaf jars. The first significant majolica piece, a wall plaque, is dated 1475. Typical Renaissance motifs appear on 15th-century ware,

China, Political institutions

2005-02-09T13:33:00.000-08:00

The Ch'ing had come to power because of their success at winning Chinese over to their side; in the late 17th century they adroitly pursued similar policies to win the adherence of the Chinese literati. Ch'ing emperors learned Chinese, addressed their subjects using Confucian rhetoric, reinstated the civil service examination system and the Confucian curriculum,

Computers, The age of Big Iron

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

Gerrit A. Blaauw and Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., Computer Architecture: Concepts and Evolution (1997), is a highly technical history of the development of the concepts in computer architecture.

Camden

2005-02-08T00:18:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1791) of Kershaw county, in north-central South Carolina, U.S. It was founded by English settlers along the Wateree River about 1733 and was originally known as Pine Tree Hill. It changed its name in 1768 to honour Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, a British supporter of the colonial cause and became a contested site in the American Revolution (see Camden, Battle of). Afterward Camden

SeriousBoard

Trigère, Pauline

Mures River

Uddevalla

Arts, East Asian, Kabuki theatre

Ryukyu Trench

Tritone

Dyce, William

Extratropical Cyclone

Apra Harbor

Art, African, Ekoi

Beawar

Rush, William

Agnon, S.y.

Agrimony

Craft Guild

Eastern Orthodoxy, Attempts at ecclesiastical union and theological renaissance

Puerto Rico Trench

Pol Pot

Farel, Guillaume

Sardana

Talladega Mountain

Albert Of Saxony

Kael, Pauline

Peranakan

Concordat

Arabia, History Of, The life of Muhammad

Pap Smear

Levi Ben Gershom

Rabelais, François

Pius Ix

Oakland

Insurance, Worldwide operations

Pius Ix

Shamanism

Endoscopy

Naresuan

Powerlifting

Wright Glider Of 1902

São Francisco River

Saratoga, Battles Of

Epistemology, Faith and reason

Bonaventure, Saint

Hesburgh, Theodore M(artin)

Quadruple Alliance

Wethered, Joyce (lady Heathcoat-amory)

Chadwick, George Whitefield

Fuller, Ray W.

Kitakami-sammyaku

Rowboat

Buys Ballot, Christophorus H(enricus) D(idericus)

Extraterrestrial Life

Regla

Mesopotamia, History Of, Mesopotamia under the Persians

Babenco, Hector

Adam And Eve

Conservation

Madison, James

Gheyn, Matthias Van Den

Aaron

Ear Disease, Boil in the ear (furuncle)

China, Prehistory

Pitoëff, Georges

21-centimetre Radiation

Eleaticism

Annenberg, Walter Hubert

Oscar Ii

France, History Of, The Second Empire, 185270

Art, African, Ibibio

Fuel Cell

Chelmno

Kaiser, Georg

Narcissus

Fore-edge Painting

Cage, John

Theobald I

San Fernando

T'ien-chi

Hou Chi

Pre-columbian Civilizations, The Spanish conquest

France, History Of, The Second Empire, 185270

Arts, Central Asian, RussianSoviet period