ViolentBoot

Suchet, Louis-gabriel, Duke (duc) D'albufera Da Valencia

2005-04-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

The son of a Lyon silk manufacturer, Suchet originally had intended to follow his father's business; but, having in 1792 served as a volunteer in the cavalry of the national guard, he manifested military

Vostok Island

2005-04-05T11:49:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Vostock , formerly Staver Island coral atoll in the Southern Line Islands, part of Kiribati, southwestern Pacific Ocean. It lies 400 miles (640 km) northwest of Tahiti. A low formation, with a land area of only 0.1 square mile (0.3 square km), it has no anchorage in its lagoon. Vostok was sighted in 1820 by the Russian Antarctic explorer Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and was named for his ship. It was claimed by the United

Cardiovascular Disease, Cardiac pacemakers

2005-04-03T05:43:00.000-07:00

The normal rhythm of the heart is generated by spontaneous electrical activity in cells in an area of the heart called the sinoatrial node. The electrical activity is usually at a rate of about 70 beats per minute at rest and is transmitted to the pumping chambers of the heart, the atria, and the ventricles through a specialized conducting system. The electrical activity

Anthesteria

2005-04-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

One of the several Athenian festivals in honour of Dionysus, the wine god, held annually for three days in the month of Anthesterion (February–March) to celebrate the beginning of spring and the maturing of the wine stored at the previous vintage. On the first day libations were offered to Dionysus from the newly opened casks. The second day was a time of popular merrymaking,

Hughes, Howard (robard)

2005-03-31T15:45:00.000-08:00

He studied at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, and later at the Rice Institute of Technology, Houston. Orphaned at 17, he quit school and

Itsuku Island

2005-03-29T08:19:00.000-08:00

Also called Miya Island , English Shrine Island offshore island, Hiroshima ken (prefecture), Japan, in the Inland Sea. The small island, one of Japan's most scenic spots, is 19 miles (31 km) in circumference and occupies an area of 12 square miles (31 square km). It is best known for its 6th-century Itsuku island-shrine, which was built on tidal land and has the appearance of floating on the sea during high tide. It was named after one of the

Chiba

2005-03-29T07:38:00.000-08:00

City and capital of Chiba ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies on the Boso Peninsula about 20 miles (30 km) southeast of Tokyo and on the east coast of Tokyo Bay. It was a castle town controlled by the Chiba family in the 12th–15th century, and during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) it served as a post-station town for several major roads. The town grew after the construction of a railway connecting

Weser-ems

2005-03-28T15:11:00.000-08:00

Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), western Lower Saxony Land (state), northwestern Germany. Weser-Ems is bordered by The Netherlands to the west, the North Sea to the north, Bremen Land and the Regierungsbezirke of Lüneburg and Hannover (Hanover) to the east, and North Rhine-Westphalia Land to the south. The district occupies an area of 5,773 square miles (14,952 square km)

Haakon Sigurdsson

2005-03-27T06:15:00.000-08:00

The son of the Norwegian earl of Lade, who was killed by Harald II Graycloak, Haakon

Texas, Settlement

2005-03-25T21:45:00.000-08:00

By the 1730s the Spanish had sent more than 30 expeditions into Texas. San Antonio, which by 1718 housed a military post and a mission, had become the administrative centre. Missions, with military support, were established in Nacogdoches in East Texas, Goliad in the south, and near El Paso in the far west. The French also explored Texas. The explorations of Robert Cavelier, Lord de

Venice Palace, Museum Of The

2005-03-25T05:58:00.000-08:00

Italian Museo Di Palazzo Venezia, in Rome, museum occupying part of the papal apartment of the first great Renaissance palace of Rome. Dating from the middle of the 15th century, the Palazzo Venezia was built for Cardinal Pietro Barbo, later Pope Paul II. Displayed are fine medieval and Renaissance sculptures and a series of 15th-century carved and inlayed cassoni, or chests. Paintings include works attributed

Soil

2005-03-24T08:36:00.000-08:00

The biologically active, porous medium that has developed in the uppermost layer of the Earth's crust. Soil is one of the principal substrata of life on Earth, serving as a reservoir of water and nutrients, as a medium for the filtration and breakdown of injurious wastes, and as a participant in the cycling of carbon and other elements through the global ecosystem. It

Howard

2005-03-23T19:19:00.000-08:00

Howard county was created in 1851, having earlier been (from 1838) a district of Anne Arundel county.

English Literature, Locke

2005-03-23T08:16:00.000-08:00

One other late 17th-century figure with a formidable influence in the 18th century demands consideration: the philosopher John Locke. His Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) rejects a belief in innate ideas and argues that the mind at birth is a tabula rasa. Experience of the world can only be accumulated through the senses, which are themselves prone to unreliability.

Silver

2005-03-22T21:37:00.000-08:00

In the majority of silver compounds the element has a valence of one. These compounds include such familiar substances as silver chloride (AgCl), silver bromide (AgBr), and silver iodide (AgI). Each of these salts is used extensively in photography. Silver chloride serves as the light-sensitive material in photographic printing papers and, together with silver bromide,

Saint Clair, Lake

2005-03-22T14:46:00.000-08:00

Lake in west-central Tasmania, Australia, lying at the southern boundary of Cradle Mountain–Lake St. Clair National Park at the terminus of a 53-mile [85-kilometre] walking track from the mountain. It has an area of 11 square miles (28 square km), measures 9 miles by 1 mile (14.5 by 1.6 km), and lies at an elevation of 2,417 feet (737 m) on Tasmania's Central Plateau. It fills a valley once deepened by a glacier and

Ealing Studios

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

Also called Associated Talking Pictures, Ltd. English motion-picture studio, internationally remembered for a series of witty comedies that reflected the social conditions of post-World War II Britain. Founded in 1929 by two of England's best known producers, Basil Dean and Reginald Baker, with the financial support of the Courtauld family, manufacturers of textiles, the company opened its own distribution outlet

Amakihi

2005-03-20T21:32:00.000-08:00

(Loxops virens), perhaps the most common native songbird in Hawaii, a member of the Hawaiian honeycreeper family, Drepanididae (order Passeriformes). It is 12 cm (5 inches) long, with yellow body, black eye-mark, and rather short, slightly curved bill. It feeds on insects and small fruits in brushland and forest, and it has mewing and trilling calls.

Howard, Oliver O.

2005-03-19T14:31:00.000-08:00

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. (1854), Howard resigned his regular army commission at the beginning of the war to become colonel of a Maine volunteer regiment. He was

Little Theatre

2005-03-18T15:53:00.000-08:00

Movement in U.S. theatre to free dramatic forms and methods of production from the limitations of the large commercial theatres by establishing small experimental centres of drama. The movement was initiated at the beginning of the 20th century by young dramatists, stage designers, and actors who were influenced by the vital European theatre of the late 19th century;

Grappelli, Stéphane

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

French violinist (b. Jan. 26, 1908, Paris, France--d. Dec. 1, 1997, Paris), was one of the few notable jazz improvisers on violin and one of the first popular European jazz musicians; he played with a lilting swing and quick wit that made him an international favourite for over 60 years. With the great Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, he formed (1934) the first Quintette du Hot Club de France, a Paris-based

Arts, Central Asian

2005-03-18T05:07:00.000-08:00

Also called Recapitulation Theory, postulation, by Ernst Haeckel in 1866, that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny—i.e., the development of the animal embryo and young traces the evolutionary development of the species. The theory was influential and much-popularized earlier but has been of little significance in elucidating either evolution or embryonic growth.

Tso Tsung-t'ang

2005-03-15T18:46:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Zuo Zongtang Chinese administrator and military leader, one of the scholar-officials who worked to suppress the great rebellions that threatened the imperial government during the second half of the 19th century. Tso's efforts helped revive the declining Ch'ing (Manchu) dynasty (1644–1911/12) and reestablished the Chinese position in

Dietrich Von Bern

2005-03-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

Dietrich's exploits are related in a number of south German songs preserved in Das Heldenbuch (“The Heroes Book”)—including Dietrichs Flucht (“Dietrich's Flight”), Die Rabenschlacht (“The Battle of Ravenna”), Alpharts Tod (“Alphart's Death”), and a number

Papuan Languages

2005-03-14T13:45:00.000-08:00

Group of languages spoken in an area centred upon New Guinea and extending from the islands of Alor, Halmahera, and Timor in the west to the Santa Cruz Archipelago in the east. The Papuan languages include approximately 740 languages, used by about 3,000,000 speakers. The term Papuan was originally employed merely to distinguish these languages from the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian)

Mauritshuis

2005-03-13T16:12:00.000-08:00

In full Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen (Mauritshuis), (Dutch: Royal Gallery of Paintings [Mauritshuis]) picture gallery in The Hague housed in a palace (1633–44) designed by Jacob van Campen and built by Pieter Post for Prince John Maurice of Nassau. The collection, opened to the public in 1820, is especially noted for its Flemish and Dutch paintings from the 15th to the 17th century.

Webster, Marie

2005-03-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

Marie Daugherty was educated at local schools in Wabash, Indiana. Unable to attend college because of an eye ailment, she was tutored in Latin and Greek and read widely. She was married to George Webster in 1884, and the

Armstrong (of Cragside), William George Armstrong, Baron

2005-03-12T17:27:00.000-08:00

Armstrong abandoned his Newcastle law practice in 1847 to devote full time to scientific experimentation. He founded an engineering works at Elswick-on-Tyne

Lewis, John Aaron

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

American composer and pianist (b. May 3, 1920, La Grange, Ill.—d. March 29, 2001, New York, N.Y.), brought elegance and charm to jazz while leading the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) to musical and popular success for over four decades. He played piano in a spare, graceful style, and his compositions included sophisticated modern melodies as well as breaks, ostinatos, riffs, and other devices from the

Afghanistan, Urban settlement

2005-03-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

Most urban settlements have grown along the road that runs from Kabul southwestward to Kandahar, then northwest to Herat, northeast to Mazar-e Sharif, and southeast back to Kabul. The rural population of farmers and nomads is distributed unevenly over the rest of the country, mainly concentrated along the rivers. The most heavily populated part of the country is between

Catapult

2005-03-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

Mechanism for forcefully propelling stones, spears, or other projectiles, in use since ancient times. The Romans used the word ballista to designate an engine used to hurl stones and catapulta for one that shot arrows and darts, although the larger catapults mounted a single long arm, which hurled stones and other objects. Nearly all catapults employed in ancient

Alaska, Climates

2005-03-09T07:50:00.000-08:00

Southern coastal and southeastern Alaska, the Gulf of Alaska islands, and the Aleutians have average temperature ranges in the summer of 40 to 60 °F (4 to 16 °C) and in the winter of 40 to 20 °F (4 to -7 °C). Rainfall varies locally from 60 to 160 inches (1,525 to 4,065 mm), and the panhandle and southern islands are covered

West Greenland Current

2005-03-09T06:52:00.000-08:00

Cool flow of water proceeding northward along the west coast of Greenland. See Greenland Current.

Refractory

2005-03-08T11:57:00.000-08:00

Material not deformed or damaged by high temperatures, used to make crucibles, incinerators, insulation, and furnaces, particularly metallurgical furnaces. Refractories are produced in several forms: molded bricks of various shapes (see firebrick); bulk granular materials; plastic mixtures consisting of moistened aggregate that are rammed into place; castables

Silicosis

2005-03-07T21:18:00.000-08:00

A chronic disease of the lungs that is caused by the inhalation of silica dust over long periods of time. (Silica is the chief mineral constituent of sand and of many kinds of rock.) Silicosis is a form of pneumoconiosis. The disease occurs most commonly in miners, quarry workers, stonecutters, tunnelers, and workers whose jobs involve grinding, sandblasting, polishing,

Morat, Battle Of

2005-03-07T10:35:00.000-08:00

The Swiss had been drawn into war as allies of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick III and

Florence, William Jermyn

2005-03-06T23:14:00.000-08:00

Born of Irish parents and reared on the Lower East Side of New York City, Florence worked at various jobs before becoming a call boy at the Old Bowery

Silistra

2005-03-06T04:45:00.000-08:00

Town, extreme northeastern Bulgaria, on the Danube River opposite Romania. To the south and southeast are the remains of the old fortifications. The Romans founded a fortified camp at Durostorum in the early 2nd century AD. The Turks gained possession of the town in the early 15th century, and it became a trade centre and a major Turkish fortress. It was fought over several

Antandroy

2005-03-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

Also called Antampatrana, a Malagasy people living in southernmost Madagascar. Numbering about 500,000 in the late 20th century, the Antandroy (“People of the Thorn Bush”) speak one of the Malagasy languages, a group of closely related Western Austronesian languages; Antandroy chiefs claim Indian origins. The Antandroy maintained their independence from interior or western Malagasy kingdoms (e.g.,

Ashland

2005-03-04T17:12:00.000-08:00

City, Jackson county, southwestern Oregon, U.S. It lies along Bear Creek, in the southern reaches of the Rogue River valley, at the base of the Siskiyou Mountains, just southeast of Medford. Settled in 1852 (during a gold rush) and laid out in 1860, it was named for both Ashland county, Ohio, and Ashland, Kentucky, and was known as Ashland Mills for its sawmills and gristmills. It was located

Aria

2005-03-04T08:04:00.000-08:00

Solo song with instrumental accompaniment, an important element of opera but also found extensively in cantatas and oratorios. The term originated in Italy in the 16th century and first gained currency after 1602, when Giulio Caccini published Le nuove musiche (The New Music), a collection of solo songs with continuo (usually cello and harpsichord) accompaniment. Caccini

Turgay

2005-03-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Turgai, or Turgaj, oblast (province), central Kazakhstan. It was created in 1970, though a larger oblast of the same name existed in tsarist times, and it embraces the western fringes of the Kazakh Upland and part of the Turgay Steppe. The main rivers are the Ishim, flowing north, and the Turgay, south. The climate is continental, and annual precipitation varies from 8 to 12 inches (200 to 300 mm). There are important

Eisstockschiessen

2005-03-02T03:35:00.000-08:00

Teams consist of four players and one substitute. The rink is 28 metres (30.8 yards) long and 3 m (3.3 yd) wide. Players slide (shoot) cylindrical Eisstöcken (“ice stocks”) down the rink, aiming

World War I, Rival strategies and the Dardanelles campaign, 191516

2005-03-02T02:53:00.000-08:00

Erich von Falkenhayn had succeeded the dispirited Moltke as chief of the German general staff in September 1914. By the

Bruegel, Pieter, The Elder

2005-03-01T22:21:00.000-08:00

Byname Peasant Bruegel, Dutch Pieter Bruegel De Oudere, or Boeren Bruegel, Bruegel also spelled Brueghel, or Breughel the greatest Flemish painter of the 16th century, whose landscapes and vigorous, often witty scenes of peasant life are particularly renowned (see photograph). Since Bruegel signed and dated many of his works, his artistic evolution can be traced from the early landscapes,

Insurance, Marine insurance

2005-02-27T18:10:00.000-08:00

Marine insurance is actually transportation insurance. After insurance coverage on ocean voyages had been developed, it was a natural step to offer insurance on inland trips. This branch of insurance became known as inland marine. In many policy forms, the distinction between inland and ocean marine has disappeared; it is common to cover goods from the time they

Lower Saxony

2005-02-27T07:01:00.000-08:00

German Niedersachsen, constituent Land (state) of Germany. The second largest Land in size, it occupies an important band of territory across the northwestern part of the nation. Lower Saxony stretches from The Netherlands border in the west to the border of Mecklenburg–West Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt Länder in the east. The neck of land occupied by Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, and, farther

Vâlcea

2005-02-27T03:32:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Vîlcea, judet (county), south-central Romania. The Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians) and the sub-Carpathians rise above settlement areas in the valleys, and the Olt and Cerna rivers drain southward through the county. Râmnicu Vâlcea (q.v.; the county capital), Babeni, and Berzoi are timber production centres. Chemical factories operate in Govora, and building materials

Backhuysen, Ludolf

2005-02-26T02:03:00.000-08:00

Backhuysen studied under the Dutch painters Allart van Everdingen and Hendrik Dubbels. His numerous compositions are nearly all variations of marine themes, in a style peculiarly his own, marked by intense realism. In his later years Backhuysen employed his time in etching

Yuman

2005-02-25T22:09:00.000-08:00

Two major divisions of Yuman people are recognized: the river Yumans, who lived along the lower Colorado and

Scalia, Antonin

2005-02-25T15:10:00.000-08:00

Scalia's father, a Sicilian immigrant, taught Romance languages at Brooklyn College, and his Italian American mother taught elementary school. Scalia received a Roman

Great Basin Indian

2005-02-24T23:47:00.000-08:00

The Great Basin Indians occupied a 398,000-square-mile (1,031,000-square-km) area of interior western North America. Population density was sparse, ranging from 0.8 to 11.7 persons per 100 square miles. The area includes the physiographic Great Basin—the interior mountain

Faience

2005-02-24T20:21:00.000-08:00

The tin glaze used in faience is actually a lead glaze that has been rendered white and opaque by the addition of tin oxide. In the

Art And Architecture, Egyptian, Domestic architecture

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

The best preserved private houses are those of modest size in the workmen's village of Dayr al-Madinah. Exceptional in that they were built of stone, they

Anger, Per Johan Valentin

2005-02-22T05:09:00.000-08:00

Swedish diplomat (b. Dec. 7, 1913, Göteborg, Swed.—d. Aug. 25, 2002, Stockholm, Swed.), helped save thousands of Hungarian Jews from being transported to Nazi death camps during World War II. Anger, a member of the Swedish legation in Budapest when the Germans occupied Hungary in 1944, set up safe houses around Budapest and issued temporary passports and identity cards that identified Jews as Swedes.

Hindu Kush, Animal life

2005-02-22T04:05:00.000-08:00

Well-adapted species of wildlife are found throughout the mountains. The Siberian ibex and the markhor (both wild goats) negotiate the high crags, while Marco Polo sheep and urial (another wild sheep) occasionally are found in the high pamir. Black and brown bears still exist in isolated valleys, and the Chitral valley wildlife preserve is a domain of the rare snow leopard.

Boitano, Brian

2005-02-21T15:17:00.000-08:00

Boitano began skating at age eight. Shortly after that, he began taking skating lessons from Linda Leaver, who remained his only coach throughout his career. He quickly gained

La Roche, Sophie Von

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

German writer whose first and most important work, Geschichte des Fräuleins von Sternheim (1771; History of Lady Sophia Sternheim), was the first German novel written by a woman and is considered to be among the best works from the period in which English novels, particularly those of Samuel Richardson,

Aldrin

2005-02-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

One of the several isomers (compounds with the same composition but different structures) of hexachlorohexahydrodimethanonaphthalene, a chlorinated hydrocarbon used as an insecticide. Aldrin was first prepared in the late 1940s and is manufactured by the reaction of hexachlorocyclopentadiene with bicycloheptadiene (both derived from hydrocarbons obtained

Zanzibar Treaty

2005-02-18T22:13:00.000-08:00

The

Brother Adam

2005-02-17T20:23:00.000-08:00

(KARL KEHRLE), German-born Benedictine monk and bee breeder (b. Aug. 3, 1898, Mittlebiberach, Ger.--d. Sept. 1, 1996, Buckfast, South Devon, Eng.), was regarded as an authority on bees for his revolutionary work, most notably the development of the Buckfast bee, a breed that was considered one of the hardiest and most prolific producers of honey ever bred. At the age of 11 he was sent from his home in Germany

Monarchy

2005-02-17T18:59:00.000-08:00

The undivided sovereignty or rule of a single person. The term is applied to states in which the supreme authority is vested in a single person, the monarch, who is the permanent head of the state. The word has, however, outlived this original meaning and is now used, when used at all, somewhat loosely of states ruled by hereditary sovereigns, as distinct from republics

Azzone Dei Porci

2005-02-16T10:14:00.000-08:00

Also called Azzone Soldanus , Latin Azolinus Porcius, Azzone also spelled Azo or Azzo a leader of the Bolognese school of jurists and one of the few to write systematic summaries (summae) rather than textual glosses of Roman law as codified under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (6th century AD). His Summa codicis and Apparatus ad codicem together provided a methodical exposition of Roman law and were very influential

Spanish Marriages, Affair Of The

2005-02-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

The political maneuvering surrounding the dual marriages (October 10, 1846) of Queen Isabella II of Spain to her cousin Francisco de Asís de Bourbon, duque de Cadiz, and of her younger sister and heiress to the throne, Luisa Fernanda, to Antoine, duc de Montpensier, the youngest son of King Louis-Philippe of France. The marriages revived dynastic ties between Spain and France

World War I, Killed, wounded, and missing

2005-02-14T03:11:00.000-08:00

The casualties suffered by the participants in World War I dwarfed those of previous wars: some 8,500,000 soldiers died as a result of wounds and/or disease. The greatest number of casualties and wounds were inflicted by artillery, followed by small arms, and then by poison gas. The bayonet, which was relied on by the prewar French Army as the decisive weapon, actually produced

Ileitis

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

In general, ileitis can affect

Frederick I

2005-02-13T13:34:00.000-08:00

In 1688 Frederick succeeded to the electorate and at once set out, assisted

Orant

2005-02-11T17:23:00.000-08:00

In Christian art, a figure in a posture of prayer, usually standing upright with raised arms. The motif of the orant, which seems to reflect the standard attitude of prayer adopted by the first Christians, is particularly important in Early Christian art (c. 2nd–6th century) and especially in the frescoes and graffiti that decorated Roman catacombs from the 2nd century

Melbourne

2005-02-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

City, Brevard county, east-central Florida, U.S. It lies on the Intracoastal Waterway along the Indian River (a lagoon separated from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier islands), about 60 miles (95 km) southeast of Orlando. The site, originally known as Crane Creek, was settled in 1878, and the community was soon renamed for Melbourne, Australia, the one-time home of the community's first postmaster,

Boucher De Perthes, Jacques

2005-02-11T02:13:00.000-08:00

From 1825 Boucher de Perthes was director of the customhouse at Abbeville, near the mouth of the Somme River, and began devoting his leisure to archaeological searches in the Somme valley. In

Orléans, Louis-philippe-robert, Duc D' (duke Of)

2005-02-09T15:09:00.000-08:00

The eldest son of Louis-Philippe-Albert, comte de Paris, and great-grandson of King Louis-Philippe, Orléans was banished from France in 1886 as a threat to the republican regime. Returning in 1890, he was arrested and given a prison sentence but was released after a few months

Andersson, Bibi

2005-02-09T00:43:00.000-08:00

Andersson studied acting at Stockholm's highly regarded Royal Dramatic Theatre, the school that had earlier produced Greta Garbo. She had made a few small film appearances and was acting on stage when discovered by Bergman, who asked her to appear in Sommarnattens

Bouvard, Alexis

2005-02-08T22:58:00.000-08:00

World congresses of the BWA are held every

Ravinia Park

2005-02-07T02:31:00.000-08:00

One of the oldest outdoor summer music and cultural centres in the United States, located in Highland Park, Ill., 25 miles (40 km) north of Chicago's Loop. It was established in 1905 on land purchased by the A.C. Frost Company, a subsidiary of the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad (the Chicago and North Western Railroad now bisects the property). Originally an amusement centre

Torelli, Salinguerra

2005-02-07T02:10:00.000-08:00

Torelli was born into a noble family of Bolognese origin whose members were rivals of the Este in Ferrara from the end of the 12th century. He carried on an indecisive struggle with

Roberts, Bartholomew

2005-02-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

Byname Black Barty pirate captain of a succession of ships—the “Royal Rover,” “Fortune,” “Royal Fortune,” and “Good Fortune”—who burned and plundered ships from the coasts of West Africa to the coasts of Brazil and the Caribbean and as far north as Newfoundland. His conquests are said to have included more than 400 vessels and, in terms of sheer

Avionics

2005-02-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

Control apparatus includes the attitude gyro and

Heterophony

2005-02-05T01:49:00.000-08:00

In music, texture resulting from simultaneous performances of melodic variants of the same tune, typical of Middle Eastern practices as well as of a vast array of folk music. Balkan Slavic epic singers, for example, accompany themselves heterophonically on the gusle (fiddle). In Persian art music, instrumentalists are expected to vary the singers' improvised lines.

'arabah, Wadi Al-

2005-02-04T15:50:00.000-08:00

Hebrew Ha-'arava, topographic depression in southern Palestine extending about 100 miles (160 km) south from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba; it is part of the East African Rift System. Largely sandy desert, it is divided between Israel and Jordan. In the Old Testament, except in Deuteronomy 2:8, the name Al-'Arabah refers to the Jordan Valley, but eventually the name came to be applied exclusively

Yobe

2005-02-04T10:20:00.000-08:00

Yobe's terrain consists of plains that are drained by the seasonal Komadugu Yobe River and its tributaries in the north and by the Gongola

Arts, Central Asian, Altaic tribes

2005-02-03T06:21:00.000-08:00

Because of a freak climatic freeze, some of the Altaic burials, notably those of the 5th century BC at Pazyryk and neighbouring sites, such as Katanda, Shibe, and Tuekt, were isolated from external climatic variations by a protective layer of ice that conserved the organic substances buried in them. At Pazyryk these included the bodies of horses and an embalmed man whose

Mckinley

2005-02-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

County, northwestern New Mexico, U.S., bordered on the west by Arizona. It is a scenic region with highly varied terrain, in the Navajo section of the Colorado Plateaus. In the west, a red shale valley lies between red sandstone cliffs; angular rock outcroppings rise amid the near-desert plains in the far west. Buttes and mesas appear throughout McKinley county, including

Teplice

2005-02-02T04:40:00.000-08:00

Formerly Teplice-šanov, German Teplitz-schönau, city, Severoceský kraj (region), northwestern Czech Republic, on a rocky spur below the Ore Mountains (Krušné hory). Local radioactive springs (82°–115° F [28°–46° C]) were, according to archaeological evidence, known to the Romans and are mentioned in an 8th-century Bohemian legend. In 1156 a convent was founded there by Judith, queen of Bohemia; two ancient towers in the grounds of the 18th-century Clary-Aldringen

Chemical Compound, Monoterpenes

2005-02-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

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

Abzug, Bella

2005-01-31T19:27:00.000-08:00

The daughter of Russian-Jewish émigrés, Bella Savitsky attended Hunter College (B.A., 1942) and Columbia University Law School, where she specialized

Field Museum Of Natural History

2005-01-30T13:17:00.000-08:00

Museum in Chicago, Ill., established in 1893 as the Columbian Museum with a gift from Marshall Field (from whom it derived its present name in 1905). On his death in 1906, Field bequeathed generous sustaining funds and a sum to erect a new museum building (completed in 1921) to house exhibits, research collections, and a library primarily devoted to anthropology, botany, geology, and

Novo Mesto

2005-01-29T04:23:00.000-08:00

City, southern Slovenia, on the Krka River. Novo Mesto was founded in 1365 by Rudolf IV of Austria and became an important military base on the Ottoman frontier in the 15th century. Though ravaged twice by fire (1576 and 1664) and once by plague (1599), Novo Mesto developed into an important regional centre. The modern city has a hydroelectric power plant as well as textile, automobile, and chemical-pharmaceutical

Chandela

2005-01-28T19:55:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Candella, Rajput clan of Gond origin that for some centuries ruled Bundelkhand in north-central India and fought against the early Muslim invaders. The first Chandela is thought to have ruled early in the 9th century AD. Chandela dominion extended from the River Jumna in the north to the region of Saugor (Sagar) and from the Dhasan River to the west to the Vindhya Hills. Their strongholds

Polaris

2005-01-28T11:33:00.000-08:00

Also called Alpha Ursae Minoris Earth's present northern polestar, or North Star, at the end of the “handle” of the so-called Little Dipper in the constellation Ursa Minor. Polaris is actually a triple star, the brighter of two visual components being a spectroscopic binary with a period of about 30 years and a Cepheid variable with a period of about 4 days. Its changes in brightness are too slight to be detected

Beawar

2005-01-27T23:17:00.000-08:00

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.

Wick

2005-01-27T01:09:00.000-08:00

Royal burgh (town) and fishing port, Highland council area, historic county of Caithness, Scotland. An ancient Norse settlement on the North Sea, situated about 14 miles (23 km) south of John o'Groats, Wick developed as a fishing port and centre and was designated a royal burgh in 1589. It expanded rapidly during the herring boom of the 19th century. Since then herring fishing has declined

Awaji Island

2005-01-26T16:44:00.000-08:00

Japanese Awaji-shima island, Hyogo ken (prefecture), Japan. The island lies at the eastern end of the Inland Sea, between west-central Honshu and eastern Shikoku. The narrow straits of Akashi (north) and Kii (southeast) separate it from the city of Kobe on Honshu, while Naruto Strait to the southwest, well known for its whirlpools, separates it from Shikoku. Most of the island's area of 229 square miles

Aeschylus, Works

2005-01-26T09:05:00.000-08:00

Persai (472 BC; Persians); Hepta epi Thebais (467 BC; Seven Against Thebes); Hiketides (c. 463 BC; Latin trans., Supplices; Eng. trans., Suppliants); the trilogy known as the Oresteia (458 BC), comprising Agamemnon, Choephoroi (Libation Bearers), and Eumenides; Prometheus desmotes (date uncertain, probably late; Prometheus Bound).

Anne Of France

2005-01-25T18:46:00.000-08:00

Anne's energy, strength of will, cunning, and political sense enabled her to overcome the difficulties threatening the kingdom,

La Motta, Jake

2005-01-25T11:31:00.000-08:00

La Motta grew up in a Bronx slum

Salem

2005-01-24T03:59:00.000-08:00

Town, north-central Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India. It is on the Tirumanimuttar River near Attur Gap between the Kalrayan and Pachamalai hills. Situated at the junction of the Bangalore, Tiruchchirappalli, and Cuddalore roads, 200 miles (332 km) southwest of Madras, the town's name derives from sela nad (a corruption of cera nad), a term denoting the visit of an early Cera king. Well-known

Abae

2005-01-23T22:23:00.000-08:00

Ancient town in the northeast corner of Phocis, Greece. The town was famous for its oracle of Apollo, which was one of those consulted by the Lydian king Croesus. Although the Persians sacked and burned the temple in 480 BC, the oracle continued to be consulted—e.g., by the Thebans before the Battle of Leuctra (371 BC). The temple, burned again during the Sacred War (355–346 BC), was partly restored by

Chiabrera, Gabriello

2005-01-23T21:57:00.000-08:00

Chiabrera studied philosophy in Rome, lived for a time in the household of a cardinal, and then returned to Savona, where civic and diplomatic posts and the protection of several princes gave him the leisure

Adams, John

2005-01-23T16:35:00.000-08:00

By then Adams's legal career was on the rise, and he had become a visible member of the resistance movement that questioned Parliament's right to tax the American colonies. In 1765 Adams published d, which justified opposition to the recently enacted Stamp Act—an effort to raise revenue by requiring all publications and legal documents to bear a stamp—by arguing that Parliament's intrusions into colonial affairs exposed the inherently coercive and corrupt character of English politics. Intensely combative, full of private doubts about his own capacities but never about his cause, Adams became a leading figure in the opposition to the Townshend Acts (1767), which imposed duties on imported commodities (i.e., glass, lead, paper, paint, and tea). Despite his hostility toward the British government, in 1770 Adams agreed to defend the British soldiers who had fired on a Boston crowd in what became known as the Boston Massacre. His insistence on upholding the legal rights of the soldiers, who in fact had been provoked, made him temporarily unpopular but also marked him as one of the most principled radicals in the burgeoning movement for American independence. He had a penchant for doing the right thing, most especially when it made him unpopular.

Oudinot, Nicolas-charles, Duke (duc) De Reggio

2005-01-23T03:37:00.000-08:00

Oudinot was the son of a businessman. In 1784 he joined France's royal army but, since commoners were barred from promotion, resigned in 1787. After the French Revolution, however, he