SeparateHospital

Caracas, Transportation

2005-04-04T18:16:00.000-07:00

Caracas is linked directly with other major urban centres of the world by air and ocean transport. Maiquetía Airport, located 10 miles by road from Caracas on the coast, provides international connections as well as domestic flights to all parts of the republic. Two smaller airports, La Carlota and Francisco de Miranda, also serve the city. La Guaira and, to a lesser extent,

Rebec

2005-04-04T06:03:00.000-07:00

Bowed, stringed musical instrument of European medieval and early Renaissance music. It was originally called a rubebe, developed about the 11th century from the similar Arab rabab, and was carried to Spain with Muslim culture. Like the rabab, the rebec had a shallow, pear-shaped body, but on the rebec the rabab's skin belly was replaced by wood and a fingerboard was added. The

Roubiliac, Louis-françois

2005-04-03T01:53:00.000-08:00

Roubiliac was apprenticed to a sculptor of ivory and porcelain, Balthasar Permoser, and later became assistant to Nicolas Coustou, a French Baroque sculptor. He moved to London about 1732. His first independent commission was a statue of Handel for Vauxhall Gardens in 1737. A year

Encyclopaedia, The Arab world

2005-04-02T14:41:00.000-08:00

The early encyclopaedias written in Arabic can be roughly divided into two classes: those designed for people who wished to be well informed and to make full use of their cultural heritage, and those for the rapidly growing number of official administrators. The latter type of encyclopaedia originated when the Arabs established their rule through so many parts

Malabar Coast

2005-04-02T01:40:00.000-08:00

Name long applied to the southern part of India's western coast, approximately from Goa southward, which is bordered on the east by the Western Ghats range. The name has sometimes encompassed the entire western coast of peninsular India. It now includes most of Kerala state and the coastal region of Karnataka state. The coast consists of a continuous belt of sand dunes.

Cultural Evolution

2005-04-01T00:48:00.000-08:00

The development of a culture from simpler to more complex forms, by a continuous process. The subject may be viewed unilinearly, tracing the evolution of humankind as a whole; or it may be viewed multilinearly, treating the evolution of each culture or society (or of given parts of a culture or society) individually. Cultural evolution was an important concept in the

Cambodia

2005-03-31T01:41:00.000-08:00

Khmer Kampuchea, French Cambodge, formerly (to 1970) Kingdom of Cambodia, (1970–76) Khmer Republic, (1976–79) Democratic Kampuchea, or (1979–89) People's Republic of Kampuchea, country lying in the southwestern Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Covering a land area of 70,238 square miles (181,916 square kilometres), it is bordered on the west and northwest by Thailand, on the northeast by Laos, on the east and southeast by Vietnam, and on the southwest by the Gulf of Thailand. The capital is Phnom Penh.

Berat

2005-03-30T01:51:00.000-08:00

Located strategically between the ancient regions of Illyria and Epirus, Berat was the

Wellhausen, Julius

2005-03-30T00:21:00.000-08:00

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

Bessel, Friedrich Wilhelm

2005-03-29T10:54:00.000-08:00

Bessel was born in Westphalia, the son of a poor government employee. At the age of 15, he entered an export-import firm. During his apprenticeship, dreaming of travel, he studied languages, geography, the habits of distant peoples, and the principles of navigation, which led him to astronomy and mathematics. Working at night, in 1804 he wrote a paper on Halley's Comet in which he

Ava

2005-03-29T02:08:00.000-08:00

Ancient capital of central Myanmar (Burma), on the left bank of the Irrawaddy River at the Myitnge confluence. It is linked by a road and rail bridge, 5,894 feet (1,796 m) long, to the town of Sagaing; this is the only place where the Irrawaddy is bridged. Its name is a corruption of the Burmese Inwa, meaning “entrance to the lake.” The site was chosen in 1364 by the Shans who succeeded the Pagan dynasty.

Yüeh-fu

2005-03-28T18:30:00.000-08:00

Pinyin yuefu form of Chinese poetry derived from the folk-ballad tradition. The yüeh-fu takes its name from the Yüeh Fu (“Music Bureau”), created in 120 BC by Emperor Wu-ti for the purpose of collecting songs and their musical scores for ceremonial occasions at court. The music for these songs was later lost, but the words remained, forming a collection of Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220) folk poetry that served

Amagasaki

2005-03-27T19:46:00.000-08:00

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

Madderakka

2005-03-27T19:12:00.000-08:00

Sami goddess of childbirth. She is assisted by three of her daughters—Sarakka, the cleaving woman; Uksakka, the door woman; and Juksakka, the bow woman—who watch over the development of the child from conception through early childhood. Madderakka was believed to receive the soul of a child from Veralden-radien, the world ruler deity, and to give it a body, which Sarakka

Oaxaca

2005-03-27T18:51:00.000-08:00

Estado (“state”), southern Mexico, bounded south by the Pacific Ocean, west by Guerrero, north by Puebla, northeast by Veracruz, and east by Chiapas. The state's territory, with an area of 36,275 square miles (93,952 square km), includes most of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on its Pacific side. The Sierra Madre del Sur ends at the isthmus, which is low, hot, and arid. The Atlantic lowlands near Veracruz

Allerdale

2005-03-25T15:37:00.000-08:00

District, administrative county of Cumbria, historic county of Cumberland, northwestern England, in the northwestern part of the county along the coast of the Solway Firth. Except for its coastal plain on the west and northwest, Allerdale is a scenic district of mountains and lake-filled valleys forming the northwestern part of the Lake District National Park

Bearden, Romare (howard)

2005-03-25T06:48:00.000-08:00

Bearden studied at the Art Students League in New York City with George Grosz (1936–37) and at Columbia University (1943). His early paintings were realistic and often

Chabrias

2005-03-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

Chabrias defeated the Spartans in 388 and again in 378, when Athens joined Thebes against Sparta. On the latter occasion he invented a new defensive technique: he ordered each soldier to receive a charge kneeling on his left knee, with his shield

Ziyadid Dynasty

2005-03-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

The 'Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun transferred the rule of Yemen to the Ziyad family to offset the intrigues of the 'Alids—the Shi'ite opponents of the 'Abbasids—who had made southern Arabia their headquarters. The first Ziyadid, Muhammad ibn Ziyad, firmly established himself along the Yemeni coast (Tihamah) with

Maderno, Carlo

2005-03-23T13:02:00.000-08:00

Maderno began his architectural career in Rome assisting his uncle Domenico Fontana. His first major Roman commission, the facade of Santa Susanna (1597–1603), led to his appointment in 1603 as the chief architect for Saint Peter's. In 1607 he designed the nave

Amalienborg

2005-03-23T02:55:00.000-08:00

Architectural complex in Copenhagen, Den., built during the reign (1746–66) of King Frederick V and comprising the four buildings of the Amalienborg royal palace and the octagonal courtyard surrounded by them. The complex was designed and constructed by the Danish architect Nicolai Eigtved, who also designed numerous other buildings in the surrounding district. At the

Tide

2005-03-21T06:09:00.000-08:00

At the surface of the Earth the gravitational force of the Moon is about 2.2 times greater than that of the Sun.

Chan Chan

2005-03-21T02:48:00.000-08:00

Great ruined and abandoned pre-Inca city on the present-day northern Peruvian coast, the capital of the Chimú kingdom (c. AD 1200–1400). The site is about 300 miles (480 km) north of Lima in the Moche Valley, between the Pacific and the city of Trujillo. The ruins, which cover nearly 14 square miles (36 square km), are in good condition because the area is rainless. The city was watered by irrigation ditches,

Critius And Nesiotes

2005-03-20T08:22:00.000-08:00

Greek sculptors known for their bronze figures of the tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogiton, copies of the original bronzes executed by Antenor about 510 BC, which were taken by Xerxes I to Susa and subsequently lost. The copies were placed in the agora in Athens; the figure of the tyrannicides has been identified on Roman coins, vases, reliefs, and

Scandinavian Literature, National Romanticism

2005-03-19T07:09:00.000-08:00

The literature of the mid-19th century, known as Norway's “national Romanticism,” continued to reflect the country's larger aspirations. The compilation and publication, between 1841 and 1844, of Norske folkeeventyr (“Norwegian Folk Tales”) by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe—and the 1853 collection by Magnus Brostrup Landstad, Norske folkeviser (“Norwegian Folk

Epistemology, Contemporary

2005-03-18T16:36:00.000-08:00

Two excellent anthologies are Harold Morick (ed.), Challenges to Empiricism (1972, reprinted 1980); and Paul K. Moser and Arnold Vander Nat (eds.), Human Knowledge: Classical and Contemporary Approaches (1987). Edmund L. Gettier, “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?” in Analysis, 23:121–23 (June 1963), is considered by many to be a decisive refutation of the justified, true-belief analysis of knowledge. Noam Chomsky, Language and the Problems of Knowledge (1988), discusses innateness, language, and psychology. Roderick M. Chisholm, Theory of Knowledge, 3rd ed. (1989); and Robert Audi, Belief, Justification, and Knowledge (1988), are two good introductions to standard epistemological problems.

Sexual-predator Law

2005-03-18T15:52:00.000-08:00

Statute that mandates lengthy periods of preventive detention for habitual sexual offenders and sexual psychopaths beyond their criminal sentences. Sexual-predator laws became popular in the United States in the 1990s, and their passage raised constitutional questions about double jeopardy and the balancing of the rights of offenders against those of the wider

Saint Albans, Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke Of, Baron Heddington, Earl Of Burford

2005-03-18T11:34:00.000-08:00

Charles Beauclerk was created Baron Heddington and earl of Burford in 1676 and duke of St. Albans in 1684. The latter creation took place shortly after the death of Henry Jermyn, the earl of St. Albans. He served as a colonel in the regiment

Mid Bedfordshire

2005-03-17T20:04:00.000-08:00

District, administrative county of Bedfordshire, south-central England. The district lies almost entirely within the historic county of Bedfordshire, but a small area north of Sandy belongs to the historic county of Cambridgeshire. Predominantly rural, Mid Bedfordshire extends across a broad valley within the River Ouse catchment basin and is crossed by a low

Kara-e

2005-03-17T19:47:00.000-08:00

The style was employed in the Nara (645–794) and Heian (794–1185) periods. In spite of the increasing popularity of Yamato-e, an evolving native style of painting, Kara-e was practiced throughout the 10th, 11th, and 12th centuries, though its use was confined to official and

Intaglio

2005-03-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

In sculpture, work in which the design is incised into the block, all lines appearing below the surface; it is thus the opposite of relief sculpture and is sometimes called “hollow relief.” When the technique is used in casting, the design is cut in reverse into a plaster shell, which is then filled with the casting substance; the hollow impressions of the mold appear in

Welsh Corgi

2005-03-17T01:38:00.000-08:00

The Cardigan Welsh corgi (see photograph), named after Cardiganshire, can be traced back to dogs brought to Wales by the Celts about 1200 BC. The original type was known as the Bronant and

Binomial Theorem

2005-03-15T05:23:00.000-08:00

In which n! (called n factorial) is the product of the first n natural numbers 1, 2, 3, . . . n (and where 0! is defined

Pierce, John Robinson

2005-03-15T00:06:00.000-08:00

Pierce began working for Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc., New York City, in 1936. He improved the traveling-wave tube, which is used as a broadband amplifier of microwaves, and designed a new electrostatically focused electron-multiplier

Africa

2005-03-14T16:56:00.000-08:00

Initially, the province comprised the territory that had been subject to Carthage in 149 BC; this was an area of about 5,000 square miles (13,000 square km), divided from the kingdom of

Hume, John

2005-03-14T08:35:00.000-08:00

Originally

Bharatpur

2005-03-13T20:35:00.000-08:00

Also called Bhurtpore town, eastern Rajasthan state, northwestern India. It lies 34 miles (55 km) west of Agra. The town, which was the capital of the former princely state of Bharatpur, was founded about 1733. A communications centre connected by road and rail with Jaipur, Agra, and Mathura, Bharatpur is an important industrial and agricultural market centre. Its major industries include oil mills, metal-fabricating

San Francesco

2005-03-13T16:07:00.000-08:00

Franciscan monastery and church in Assisi, Italy, begun after the canonization in 1228 of St. Francis of Assisi and completed in 1253. The crypt was added in 1818, when the tomb of St. Francis was opened. The lower church is where the saint is buried, and it has frescoes by Giunta Pisano, Cimabue, Giotto, Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini, and Andrea da Bologna. The upper church has frescoes

Harding, Warren G.

2005-03-13T13:20:00.000-08:00

Harding was never personally implicated in the scandals, but he was aware of the actions of Forbes, Smith, and the Ohio Gang and failed to bring their corruption to light. By the mid-1920s, the public began to regard Harding as a man who simply did not measure up to the responsibilities of his high office. Rumours of his heavy drinking in the White House (at a time when Prohibition was the law of the land) and of his involvement in extramarital affairs further degraded his reputation. In 1927 Nan Britton published The President's Daughter, in which she claimed that in 1919 she had given birth to a child fathered by the future president. While historians have challenged the veracity of this and other allegations made against Harding, most of them agree that he was the least capable of the nation's chief executives.

Earth Sciences, Knowledge of Earth history

2005-03-13T04:20:00.000-08:00

The occurrence of seashells embedded in the hard rocks of high mountains aroused the curiosity of early naturalists and eventually set off a controversy on the origin of fossils that continued through the 17th century. Xenophanes of Colophon (flourished c. 560 BC) was credited by later writers with observing that seashells occur “in the midst of earth and in mountains.” He

Sorel

2005-03-11T15:50:00.000-08:00

City, Montérégie region, southern Quebec province, Canada. It lies at the mouth of the Richelieu River, on the south bank of the St. Lawrence River. Fort-Richelieu (marked by a monument) was erected on the site in 1642. In 1672 a land grant was obtained by the fort commandant, Pierre de Saurel (or Sorel), for whom the settlement was named. A parish was established in 1721. In 1787 the community was renamed

Wright, James C(laude), Jr.

2005-03-10T13:12:00.000-08:00

Wright was educated at Weatherford College and the University of Texas before serving in the Army Air Force during World War II. After the war he entered politics as a Democrat

Devizes

2005-03-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”), Kennet district, administrative and historical county of Wiltshire, England. It lies along the disused Kennet and Avon Canal, at the edge of Roundway Down. It was the site of a Roman fortification, Castrum Divisarum; and Roger, bishop of Salisbury, built a castle there about 1132. The name Devizes possibly came from a medieval Latin reference to the castle ad

Vienna Circle

2005-03-10T05:09:00.000-08:00

German Wiener Kreis, a group of philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians formed in the 1920s that met regularly in Vienna to investigate scientific language and scientific methodology. The philosophical movement associated with the Circle has been called variously logical positivism, logical empiricism, scientific empiricism, neopositivism, and the unity of science movement.

'ashar Min Ramadan, Madinat Al-

2005-03-09T10:12:00.000-08:00

Industries that have been established include factories that manufacture pharmaceuticals,

East Greenwich

2005-03-09T01:10:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Kent county, central Rhode Island, U.S., on Greenwich Bay, south of Providence city. It was settled and incorporated as a town in 1677, following King Philip's (Indian) War. Called Dedford in 1686–89, it was renamed for Greenwich in London. Farming, fishing, pottery making, and tanning were early industries. During the American Revolution, the home of William Greene, governor

Araliaceae

2005-03-08T02:53:00.000-08:00

The ginseng family of flowering plants, in the order Apiales, comprising approximately 700 species centred in Southeast Asia and tropical America. Most members are shrubs or trees, though there are a number of climbers and a few herbs. The family has large, usually alternate, compound leaves, five-parted flowers arranged in compound umbels (flat-topped clusters), and a

Insurance, Miscellaneous insurance

2005-03-08T01:42:00.000-08:00

Special casualty forms are issued to cover the hazards of sudden explosions from equipment such as steam boilers, compressors, electric motors, flywheels, air tanks, furnaces, and engines. Boiler and machinery insurance has several distinctive features. A substantial portion of the premium collected is used for inspection services rather than loss protection.

Buddhism, Sa-skya-pa, Bka'-brgyud-pa, and related schools

2005-03-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

The Sa-skya-pa order traces

Indian Ocean

2005-03-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

Body of salt water, covering approximately one-fifth of the total ocean area of the world. It is the smallest, youngest, and physically most complex of the world's three major oceans. It stretches for more than 6,200 miles (10,000 kilometres) between the southern tips of Africa and Australia and, without its marginal seas, has an area of about 28,360,000 square miles (73,440,000 square kilometres). The Indian

Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke Of, Earl Of Surrey, Earl Marshal

2005-03-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

Howard was the brother-in-law of King Henry VII and the son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk. In May 1513 he became lord high admiral,

Bahía Blanca

2005-03-06T19:31:00.000-08:00

Explorers in the 18th century named the area Bahía Blanca (“White Bay”), but the settlement that grew up around a military outpost,

Interior Design, Rome

2005-03-05T16:49:00.000-08:00

Much more is known about Roman interior decoration, and Roman furniture was based on earlier Greek models. From the beginning of the Christian era the predominant Western style was that derived from ancient Greece by way of Rome. Classical styles were based on mathematically expressed laws of proportion that were applied not only to buildings as a whole but also

Catanduanes

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

Island, east-central Philippines, in the Philippine Sea, separated from southeastern Luzon (Rungus Point) by the shallow Maqueda Channel. The island has an area of 550 square miles (1,425 square km). Farming is diversified (rice, corn [maize], copra, abaca) on the hilly, rolling land. Virac, the chief port, is on the southern coast in a lowland area. The island is known for its stone churches.

Hu-lun Lake

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

Hu-lun Lake has varied considerably in area according to variations in the climate. At one time it was part of a large lake that included Pei-erh Lake, a somewhat

Romano, Luis

2005-03-04T01:04:00.000-08:00

Romano's writings

Italian Republican Party

2005-03-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

The party dates back to the 19th century, when radicals fought for a unified Italy under a republican form of government; the PRI was formally founded

Shimodate

2005-03-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

City, Ibaraki ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, situated on a tributary of the Kokai River. Shimodate was a cotton textile centre during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867). The construction of railways during the Meiji era (1868–1912) connected the city with Mito (east) and Utsunomiya (northwest). It is now a major commercial and transport centre producing electrical appliances. Pop. (1990) 66,030.

Malacostracan, Food and feeding

2005-03-03T05:54:00.000-08:00

Malacostracans consume virtually every available kind of organic matter, plant or animal, living or dead. The small- to medium-sized groups primarily consume detritus and plankton, and some are parasites of other aquatic organisms. The larger-sized groups are mainly carnivores and scavengers, preying on a wide range of small invertebrates and fishes or devouring

Laine, Dame Cleo

2005-03-03T02:57:00.000-08:00

Laine was born to a Jamaican father and an English mother. She quit school at age 14 and took a variety of jobs while auditioning for singing jobs. Her first break came in 1951, when she was hired as a vocalist for the Johnny Dankworth Seven, a

Malabarese Catholic Church

2005-03-01T22:40:00.000-08:00

A Chaldean rite church of southern India (Kerala) that united with Rome after the Portuguese colonization of Goa at the end of the 15th century. The Portuguese viewed these Christians of St. Thomas, as they called themselves, as Nestorian heretics, despite their traditional alignment with Rome since about the 6th century. Although the Malabarese formally acknowledged

Light Curve

2005-03-01T10:29:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, graph of the changes in brightness with time of a star, particularly of the variable type. The light curves of different kinds of variable stars differ in the degree of change in magnitude (i.e., the amount of light flux observed), in the degree of regularity from one cycle to the next, and in the length of the cycle—i.e., the period. Variations in magnitude range

Lévesque, René

2005-03-01T04:40:00.000-08:00

Lévesque went to school in Gaspésie and afterward to Laval University, Quebec. Already a part-time journalist while still a student, he broke off his law studies to serve in Europe (1944–45) as a reporter and

Malacostracan, Food and feeding

2005-02-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

Also called espavé a tall, tropical forest tree of Central and South America closely related to the domesticated cashew, A. occidentale. The wild cashew grows to a height of over 30 metres (100 feet), and its wood possesses many desirable properties that make it a valuable source of timber. Strong and easily worked, the wood is commonly used by locals in the construction

Maule

2005-02-27T18:57:00.000-08:00

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

Wars Of Yahweh, Book Of The

2005-02-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

Lost document referred to and quoted in the Old Testament (Num. 21:14ff.). The book is probably a collection of early Israelite war songs including hymns of victory, curses, mocking songs, and other literary genres recounting the victories of Yahweh, the God of Israel, over his enemies; it indicates that biblical books rely on both written and oral tradition. Similar to the Book

Ammonia-soda Process

2005-02-26T13:41:00.000-08:00

In the ammonia-soda process, common salt, sodium chloride, is treated with ammonia and then

Lustre

2005-02-26T08:46:00.000-08:00

In mineralogy, the appearance of a mineral surface in terms of its light-reflective qualities. Lustre depends upon a mineral's refractive power, diaphaneity (degree of transparency), and structure. Variations in these properties produce different kinds of lustre, whereas variations in the quantity of reflected light produce different intensities of the same

Beals, Jessie Tarbox

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

Jessie Tarbox moved to Williamsburg, Massachusetts, at age 18 to make her living as a schoolteacher. After nearly 10 years of teaching, she quit and devoted herself to photography, which she had been exploring in

Anta

2005-02-25T15:23:00.000-08:00

The bases

Arts, Central Asian, Mongolian literature

2005-02-24T07:13:00.000-08:00

Mongolian literature begins with the Secret History of the Mongols, an Imperial chronicle dealing with the life and times of Genghis Khan and his successors, written about 1240. Üligers, orally transmitted epic stories in verse, form the bulk of native literary expression. Highly stylized, these tales relate adventures of legendary heroes and villains. In spite of their

Philodemus

2005-02-24T04:02:00.000-08:00

After studying under the Epicurean Zeno of Sidon at Athens, he moved to Rome c. 75 BC and became the mentor of the Roman aristocrat Lucius Calpurnius Piso, who invited Philodemus to live in his villa at Herculaneum, near Naples. In the ruins of that villa

Anta

2005-02-22T16:29:00.000-08:00

The common fig (Ficus carica) is cultivated for its pear-shaped, edible fruits, which

Cariboo Mountains

2005-02-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

Range in eastern British Columbia, Canada, forming the northern subdivision of the Columbia Mountains. The Cariboo Mountains lie within an area enclosed by the great bend of the Fraser River and its tributary, the North Thompson. The mountains extend for about 190 miles (305 km) and parallel the Rocky Mountain Trench, which separates them from the Canadian Rockies. From Mount

Rasmussen, Poul Nyrup

2005-02-22T04:50:00.000-08:00

When Prime Minister Poul Schlüter was forced from office by Denmark's ongoing "Tamilgate" affair on Jan. 14, 1993, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, the leader of the Social Democrats, was faced not only with the challenge of forming a new government but also with the task of overseeing Denmark's key second referendum on the Maastricht Treaty. Furthermore, the country had just taken over

Bridle

2005-02-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

The reins, lines

Allegheny River

2005-02-20T19:35:00.000-08:00

River rising in the hilly plateau region of Potter county, Pa., U.S., and flowing generally northward for about 80 miles (130 km). The river enters New York state where the Allegheny Reservoir is impounded at Allegany State Park; turning southwest, it continues for 120 miles (190 km), meandering to the southeast and again southwest and eventually joining the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh

Château

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

Originally, châteaus functioned as feudal communities; but with the rise of secular prosperity in the 14th century, the restrictive manorial system

Edgar

2005-02-19T13:58:00.000-08:00

The younger son of Edmund I, king of the English, Edgar was made king of the Mercians

Dehydration

2005-02-19T04:04:00.000-08:00

In food processing, means by which many types of food can be preserved for indefinite periods by extracting the moisture, thereby inhibiting the growth of microorganisms. Dehydration is one of the oldest methods of food preservation and was used by prehistoric peoples in sun-drying seeds. The North American Indians preserved meat by sun-drying slices, the Chinese

Table Tennis

2005-02-18T07:34:00.000-08:00

At the 1997 world table tennis championships in Manchester, Eng., China again dominated play, winning six of the seven titles. The men's team from China defeated France (the first time since 1948 France had reached the final), while the women's team downed North Korea. Deng Yaping, the 24-year-old 1992 and 1996 Olympic champion, won her third world singles championship, then announced her retirement.

France, History Of, Henry IV

2005-02-18T01:52:00.000-08:00

The restoration of royal authority was not, of course, simply a matter of adjusting theories of kingship; there was a clear practical reason for Henry's success. The country had tottered on the brink of disintegration for three decades. By the time of Henry's succession, it was generally recognized that only a strong personality, independent of faction, could guarantee

Cumberland Plateau

2005-02-17T06:30:00.000-08:00

Westernmost of three divisions of the Appalachian Mountains, U.S., extending southwestward for 450 miles (725 km) from southern West Virginia to northern Alabama. The plateau is 40 to 50 miles (65 to 80 km) wide and lies between the Appalachian Ridge and Valley region to the east and the rolling plains to the west. It merges with the Allegheny Plateau on the north and with the Gulf Coastal

Argentina, Andean and sub-Andean zones

2005-02-17T00:20:00.000-08:00

The high-elevation, cold climatic phenomenon in Argentina is sometimes referred to as tundra climate and, in even colder mountaintop

Computers, Workstation computers

2005-02-16T21:17:00.000-08:00

While the personal computer market grew and matured, a variation on its theme grew out of university labs and began to threaten the minicomputers for their market. The new machines were called workstations. They looked like personal computers, and they sat on a single desktop and were used by a single individual just like personal computers, but they were distinguished

Wessel, Johan Herman

2005-02-16T10:12:00.000-08:00

From 1761 when he entered the University of Copenhagen until his death at 43, Wessel lived the bohemian life of a debt-ridden, perpetual student. He was one of the founders (1772) and the outstanding talent of the

Intelligence

2005-02-15T18:36:00.000-08:00

Much of the excitement among investigators in the field of intelligence derives from their trying to determine exactly what intelligence is. Different investigators have emphasized different aspects of intelligence in

New Britain

2005-02-15T01:13:00.000-08:00

City, coextensive with the town (township) of New Britain, Hartford county, central Connecticut, U.S. Settled as the Stanley Quarter to the north in 1686 and followed later by the Great Swamp settlement to the south, the area became the New Britain parish of Farmington in 1754. In 1785 Berlin town, including New Britain parish, was separately incorporated from Farmington. Metalworking

Tsitsihar

2005-02-14T21:28:00.000-08:00

The site was originally settled by nomadic Tungus and Daghur herdsmen, who called it Pu-k'uei (a Daghur word meaning “frontier”). A settlement was also said to have been established there under the Mongols in 1333, but the town remained small

Balao

2005-02-14T11:31:00.000-08:00

Oil port, northwestern Ecuador, on the Pacific Ocean, adjacent to Esmeraldas city. Its development is entirely due to its choice as the terminus for the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline, built 1970–72 to exploit the rich petroleum deposits of Ecuador's Napo province, in El Oriente region, the tropical rainforest of the headwaters of the Amazon east of the Andes. Balao's terminal, opened

Carnivore, Natural history

2005-02-13T22:40:00.000-08:00

Almost all cats are strictly carnivorous and feed on small mammals and birds or on the larger herbivorous artiodactyls like deer and various types of antelope. The fishing cat (Felis viverrina) feeds largely on fishes and clams or snails and thus fits into a slightly different niche from that of most cats. The flatheaded cat (Felis planiceps) is the only felid known

Animal

2005-02-13T01:25:00.000-08:00

(kingdom Animalia), any of a group of multicellular eukaryotic organisms (i.e., as distinct from bacteria, their deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is contained in a membrane-bound nucleus). They are thought to have evolved independently from the unicellular eukaryotes. Animals differ from members of the two other kingdoms of multicellular eukaryotes, the plants (Plantae)

France, History Of, Charles Martel

2005-02-12T07:38:00.000-08:00

The situation was rectified by Pepin's illegitimate son, Charles Martel. Defeating the Neustrians at Amblève (716), Vincy (717), and Soissons (719), he made himself master of northern Francia. He then re-established Frankish authority in southern Gaul, where the local authorities could not cope with the Islamic threat; he stopped the Muslims near Poitiers (Battle of Tours; 732) and used this

Priapism

2005-02-11T03:40:00.000-08:00

When normal erection occurs, the sides and the bottom of the penis, the corpora cavernosa and the corpus spongiosum, respectively, become engorged with blood so that the penis enlarges, hardens, and assumes an erect position. The major symptom of priapism is pain and tenderness

Plaice

2005-02-11T01:45:00.000-08:00

(Pleuronectes platessa), commercially valuable European flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. The plaice, like others of its family, normally has both eyes on the right side of the head. It also has about four to seven bony bumps near its eyes. It reaches a maximum length of about 90 centimetres (36 inches) and is strikingly coloured, with red or orange

Ballooning

2005-02-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

Ballooning began in 1783 with the flight of the Montgolfier brothers' balloons in France, but the earliest uses were scientific and military. Sport ballooning began

Papal Infallibility

2005-02-09T06:36:00.000-08:00

In Roman Catholic theology, the doctrine that the pope, acting as supreme teacher and under certain conditions, cannot err when he teaches in matters of faith or morals. As an element of the broader understanding of the infallibility of the church, this doctrine is based on the belief that the church has been entrusted with the teaching mission of Jesus Christ and

San Lucas, Cape

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

Spanish Cabo San Lucas, extreme southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. The rocky headland forms the southern extremity of the Sierra de San Lazaro and includes the western shore of San Lucas Bay. The isolated town of San Lucas lies 2 miles (3 km) north of the cape.

Yajña

2005-02-07T14:13:00.000-08:00

A yajña is always purposeful, even though the aim may be as general as sustaining the natural order of the universe. Correct performance

Capricornus

2005-02-07T04:41:00.000-08:00

In astrology, Capricornus (also Capricorn) is the 10th sign of the zodiac, considered as