PrivateCup

France, History Of, Charlemagne

2005-04-04T18:52:00.000-07:00

Pepin III, faithful to ancient customs, divided his kingdom between his two sons, Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman. On Carloman's death in 771 the kingdom was reunited. Charlemagne established the base of his kingdom in northeastern Francia (his preferred residence was Aachen [Aix-la-Chapelle]).

Induction Heating

2005-04-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

Method of raising the temperature of an electrically conductive material by subjecting it to an alternating electromagnetic field. The electric currents induced in the object (although it is electrically isolated from the source of the field) bring about dissipation of power in the form of heat. Induction-heating methods are applied most widely in metalworking

Floodplain

2005-04-03T18:04:00.000-07:00

Also called Alluvial Plain, flat land area adjacent to a stream, composed of unconsolidated sedimentary deposits (alluvium) and subject to periodic inundation by the stream. Floodplains are produced by lateral movement of a stream and by overbank deposition; therefore they are absent where downcutting is dominant. Any erosional widening of one bank is approximately equalled by deposition

Lajes

2005-04-03T03:14:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Lages, city, east-central Santa Catarina estado (“state”), southern Brazil, lying north of the Caveiras River in the Paraná Mountains, at 3,000 feet (900 m) above sea level. Formed as a municipality in 1800, it was settled chiefly by Germans and in 1866 was elevated to city status. Livestock raising and industry are now the main economic activities. Principal products include lumber, corn (maize), feij

Nordhorn

2005-03-31T21:15:00.000-08:00

Town, Lower Saxony Land (state), northwestern Germany, on the Vechte River at the junction of the Almelo-Nordhorn, Ems-Vechte, and Süd-Nord canals, 4 miles (6 km) from the Dutch border. First mentioned about 1000 and chartered in 1379, the city suffered heavily from plague, fire, and war in the 15th and 16th centuries. Part of the Augustinian Frenswegen Abbey (founded 1394) and the 15th-century Protestant

Disasters

2005-03-31T09:23:00.000-08:00

March 20, Dhaka, Bangladesh. A gas cylinder belonging to a balloon

Paulo Afonso Falls

2005-03-29T15:37:00.000-08:00

Portuguese Cachoeira De Paulo Afonso, series of rapids and three cataracts in northeastern Brazil on the São Francisco River along the Bahia-Alagoas border. Lying 190 miles (305 km) from the river's mouth, the falls have a total height of 275 feet (84 m) and a width of less than 60 feet (18 m). With an average water discharge of 100,000 cubic feet (3,000 cubic m) per second, the falls are the site of a large hydroelectric station.

Grubenmann, Hans Ulrich; And Grubenmann, Johannes

2005-03-29T11:02:00.000-08:00

Swiss carpenters and bridge builders whose bridge (1758) over the Limmat River at the town of Wettingen, near Zürich, is believed to be the first timber bridge to employ a true arch in its design. The brothers' ingenious combination of the arch and truss principles made it possible to construct longer and better timber bridges

Oscar I

2005-03-27T23:51:00.000-08:00

Oscar's early liberal outlook and progressive ideas on such issues as fiscal policy, freedom of the press, and penal reform fortuitously coincided with a period of social, political, and industrial change. After his accession

Gottfried Von Strassburg

2005-03-27T20:10:00.000-08:00

The dates of his birth and death are unknown, and the only information about him consists of references to him in the work of other poets and inferences from his own work. The breadth of learning displayed in Tristan und Isolde reveals that

Korean Art

2005-03-26T09:40:00.000-08:00

A number of artifacts, including pottery and bronze and iron objects, indicate the early influence of China on Korean art. There is also evidence that Scythian, Siberian, and other non-Chinese cultures had an effect on the design and decoration

Mahabharata

2005-03-26T00:44:00.000-08:00

One of the two major Sanskrit epics of India, valued for its high literary merit and its religious inspiration. The Mahabharata consists of a mass of legendary and didactic material surrounding a central heroic narrative that tells of the struggle for supremacy between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Together with the second major epic, the Ramaya

Aethelflaed

2005-03-24T10:20:00.000-08:00

The daughter of King Alfred the Great, she helped her brother Edward the Elder, king of the West Saxons (reigned 899–924), in conquering the Danish armies occupying eastern England. Aethelflaed became the effective ruler of Mercia some years before the death (911) of her husband, Aethelred, ealdorman of the Mercians. While

Extravaganza

2005-03-23T07:12:00.000-08:00

A literary or musical work marked by extreme freedom of style and structure and usually by elements of burlesque or parody, such as Samuel Butler's Hudibras. The term extravaganza may also refer to an elaborate and spectacular theatrical production. The term once specifically referred to a type of 19th-century English drama made popular by J.R. Planché, a British playwright

Gazelle Peninsula

2005-03-22T18:01:00.000-08:00

Peninsula extending northeast from the island of New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, southwestern Pacific. It is about 50 miles (80 km) wide but tapers to 20 miles (32 km) at the isthmus joining it to the main part of the island. From coastal plains its surface rises as high as 7,999 feet (2,438 m) at Mount Sinewit of the central Baining Mountains. The area is actively volcanic (Mount

Milky Way Galaxy, Emission nebulas

2005-03-22T01:05:00.000-08:00

A conspicuous component of the Galaxy is the collection of large, bright, diffuse gaseous objects generally called nebulas. The brightest of these cloudlike objects are the emission nebulas, large complexes of interstellar gas and stars in which the gas exists in an ionized and excited state (with the electrons of the atoms excited to a higher than normal energy

Kirishitan

2005-03-21T09:32:00.000-08:00

Christian missionaries led by Francis Xavier entered Japan in 1549, only six years after the first Portuguese traders,

Chi-lung

2005-03-20T09:32:00.000-08:00

Conventional Keelung shih (municipality), northern Taiwan, and the principal port of Taipei, 16 mi (26 km) southwest. The municipality has an area of 51 sq mi (133 sq km). Chi-lung first became known by that name, said to have been a corruption of Ketangalan, the name of a tribe of aboriginal peoples who lived in the district, in the 17th century. The location was occupied in 1626 by the Spanish, who built a fort on the island

Fleming, Victor

2005-03-19T10:49:00.000-08:00

Fleming started in the industry as a stunt car driver in 1910, later doing camera work for D.W. Griffith. Serving in the photographic section during World War I, he acted as

European Union

2005-03-19T03:12:00.000-08:00

On January 1, 1995, Sweden, Austria, and Finland joined the EU, leaving Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland as the only major western European countries outside the organization. Norway's government twice (1972 and 1994) attempted to join, but its voters rejected membership on each occasion. Switzerland tabled its application in the early 1990s. Norway, Iceland, and the members of the EU (along

Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeoamericana

2005-03-18T21:49:00.000-08:00

Spanish and Spanish-American biography and gazetteer information are especially strong. Major articles—e.g., on countries—are quite long and include lengthy bibliographies of international scope. Although coverage is considered

Ghats

2005-03-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

Two mountain ranges forming the eastern and western edges, respectively, of the Deccan (q.v.) plateau of peninsular India. In Hindi ghat means “river landing stairs” or “mountain pass” and has been extended in its Anglicized plural form (formerly “ghauts”) to include the mountains themselves. The word refers as well to riverbanks that have been artificially terraced for bathing

Jackson, Howell E.

2005-03-17T11:22:00.000-08:00

Jackson practiced law in the towns of Jackson and Memphis, Tenn., until the outbreak of the American Civil War, during which he served the Confederacy as a receiver of sequestered property. He gained prominence in his practice after the war and in 1880 was

Vladimir

2005-03-15T11:31:00.000-08:00

Oblast (province), western Russia. It is centred on Vladimir city and lies east of Moscow in the basin of the Oka River. The greater part is a low plain, with extensive swamps in the south. The oblast has spruce, pine, and oak, but much of the forest has been cleared. Industries produce textiles, engineering goods, timber goods, and glassware. Agriculture is concentrated chiefly

Burns, George; And Allen, Gracie

2005-03-15T05:36:00.000-08:00

Both came from theatrical backgrounds. Burns began his career at age seven as a singer in the PeeWee Quartet and later performed

Acclimatization

2005-03-14T15:43:00.000-08:00

The numerous sudden changes that evoke rapid and short-term responses via the nervous and hormonal systems are not examples of acclimatization. An individual

Pacific Ocean, The monsoon regime

2005-03-14T08:30:00.000-08:00

The western Pacific is subject to a seasonal climatic regime that replaces the planetary system. This is the regime of the monsoon (rain-bearing winds), which is associated with the heating of the Asian landmass in summer and its intense cooling in winter. The heating of air masses over tropical Asia in summer initiates a low-pressure system, which becomes the focal

Atyrau

2005-03-13T00:48:00.000-08:00

Kazak Atyrau , also spelled Aterau , formerly (until 1992) Guryev , also spelled Gurev, Guriev , or Gurjev city, western Kazakstan. It is a port on the Ural (Zhayyq) River near its mouth on the Caspian Sea. Founded as a fishing settlement in the mid-17th century by the fishing entrepreneur Mikhail Guryev, it soon became a fort on the Ural fortified line manned by the Ural Cossacks. Fishing and trade were the main economic activities until Soviet times. Now, in addition to a large

Dávid, Ferenc

2005-03-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

After successively rejecting Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism, in 1566 Dávid became bishop of the Calvinist community at Kolozsvár and court preacher to the Unitarian king

Cumont, Franz (-valéry-marie)

2005-03-12T07:09:00.000-08:00

After studying at Ghent, Bonn, Berlin, Vienna, and Paris, Cumont was from 1892 to 1910 professor at the University of Ghent and from 1899 to 1912 curator of the Brussels

Macbeth, George Mann

2005-03-11T06:59:00.000-08:00

MacBeth published his first collection of poetry, A Form of Words (1954), before he graduated from New

Tatarstan

2005-03-10T04:30:00.000-08:00

The Volga flows north-south across the western end of the republic, while the Kama, the Volga's largest tributary, forms a roughly east-west axis through the greater part. The Vyatka and the Belaya

Abaza Language

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

Language spoken primarily in the western part of the Caucasus Mountains and in northeastern Turkey. Abaza is related to Abkhaz, Adyghian, Kabardian (Circassian), and Ubykh, which constitute the Abkhazo-Adyghian, or Northwest Caucasian, language group. These languages are noted for the great number of distinctive consonants and the limited number of distinctive

Argentina, Demographic trends

2005-03-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

Chemically induced change in electric potential of the motor end plate, the portion of the muscle-cell membrane that lies opposite the terminal of a nerve fibre at the neuromuscular junction. The end-plate membrane is electrically polarized, the inside being negative with respect to the outside because of an uneven distribution of ions. When a nerve impulse releases

Saxony

2005-03-08T02:36:00.000-08:00

German Sachsen , French Saxe any of several major territories in German history. It has been applied: (1) before AD 1180, to an extensive far-north German region including Holstein but lying mainly west and southwest of the estuary and lower course of the Elbe River; (2) between 1180 and 1423, to two much smaller and widely separated areas, one on the right (east) bank of the lower Elbe southeast of Holstein, the other on the

Alkalai, Judah Ben Solomon Hai

2005-03-07T23:47:00.000-08:00

Alkalai was taken to Jerusalem at an early age, and there he was reared and educated for the rabbinate. At 25 he went to Semlin, in Croatia, as a rabbi and found himself teaching Hebrew to the young men of his congregation,

Denbigh

2005-03-06T19:54:00.000-08:00

Welsh Dinbych market town, historic and present county of Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych), Wales. After the English king Edward I conquered Wales, Henry de Lacy, 3rd earl of Lincoln, founded a borough there in 1283 and built a castle, which withstood attack in 1402 by the rebel Owen Glendower, though the town itself was razed. In the 15th and 16th centuries Denbigh was one of the most important towns in Wales.

Thomas, D.m.

2005-03-06T09:05:00.000-08:00

Thomas served in the British army and then studied at the University of Oxford (B.A., 1958; M.A., 1961). He made his initial reputation as a poet whose subjects range from eroticism to science fiction to his native Cornwall; his later collections,

Fourier, (jean-baptiste-)joseph, Baron

2005-03-06T05:57:00.000-08:00

French mathematician, known also as an Egyptologist and administrator, who exerted strong influence on mathematical physics through his Théorie analytique de la chaleur (1822; The Analytical Theory of Heat). He showed how the conduction of heat in solid bodies may be analyzed in terms of infinite mathematical series now called by his name,

Mauritania, Flag Of

2005-03-04T21:35:00.000-08:00

Although Mauritania includes both black African and Arab-Berber populations, the official symbolism of the nation's flag and coat of arms is associated with the latter. The flag's green background and its star and crescent are traditional Muslim symbols, in use for centuries. The design is of the conservative type common before the 20th century and still used by such

Papua New Guinea, Flag Of

2005-03-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

In the 20th century the two territories finally linked in Papua New Guinea were administered by the Germans, British, and Australians. The colonial governments had no official symbols of local relevance, although a proposed coat of arms for German New Guinea—never adopted because of Germany's involvement in World War I—featured a bird-of-paradise. In 1962 a local flag also

Mufti

2005-03-04T10:42:00.000-08:00

Arabic Mufti, an Islamic legal authority who gives a formal legal opinion (fatwa) in answer to an inquiry by a private individual or judge. A fatwa usually requires knowledge of the Qur'an and Hadith (narratives concerning the Prophet's life and sayings), as well as knowledge of exegesis and collected precedents, and might be a pronouncement on some problematic legal matter. Under the Ottoman

As You Like It

2005-03-02T16:32:00.000-08:00

The play has two principal settings: the court that Frederick has usurped from his brother, the rightful duke (known as Duke Senior), and the Forest of Arden, where the Duke and his followers

Differential

2005-03-02T11:47:00.000-08:00

In mathematics, an expression based on the derivative (q.v.) of a function, useful for approximating certain values of the function. The derivative of a function at the point x0, written as f¢(x0), is defined as the limit as Dx approaches 0 of the quotient Dy/Dx, in which Dy is f(x0 + Dx) - f(x0). Because the derivative is defined as the limit, the closer Dx is to 0, the closer will be the quotient to the derivative. Therefore,

Kshatriya

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

The earliest Vedic literature listed the Kshatriya (holders of ksatra, or authority) as first in rank, then the Brahmans (priests and teachers of law), next the Vaisya (merchant-traders), and finally the Sudra (artisans and labourers). Movements

Kerman Carpet

2005-02-28T23:11:00.000-08:00

Kerman also spelled Kirman, floor covering handwoven in or about the city of Kerman in southern Iran, which has been the origin since the 16th century of highly sophisticated carpets in well-organized designs. To this city is now generally attributed a wide variety of 16th- and 17th-century carpets, including Vase carpets; rugs with rows of shrubs; arabesque carpets; the finest of the Garden carpets; and,

Breakwater

2005-02-28T22:09:00.000-08:00

Artificial offshore structure protecting a harbour, anchorage, or marina basin from water waves. Breakwaters intercept longshore currents and tend to prevent beach erosion. Over the long term, however, the processes of erosion and sedimentation cannot be effectively overcome by interfering with currents and the supply of sediment. Deposition of sediment at

Piciform

2005-02-28T15:52:00.000-08:00

Fossil species of the order Piciformes are almost unknown. Many avian fossils identified long ago are in need of verification, including the early fossil “woodpeckers,” some of which are now believed to belong in other orders. Fossil woodpeckers are now known only from the Pliocene Epoch (about 6,000,000 years ago). Except for a single specimen from the middle Miocene of Bavaria

Atlantic Ocean, The South Atlantic

2005-02-26T22:46:00.000-08:00

The currents of the South Atlantic correspond in many respects to those of the North Atlantic. The southeast trade winds maintain the South Equatorial Current, which flows toward the west where it divides into two branches: one that continues to the Northern Hemisphere and enters the Caribbean—together with a small amount of water from the North Equatorial

Mansur, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub Al-

2005-02-26T08:52:00.000-08:00

When his father, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, died on July 29, 1184, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub succeeded to the throne with minor difficulties. In November factious tribes in Algeria captured Algiers and other towns, but by 1188 he had pacified his African territories

Greek Religion, The Classical period

2005-02-25T17:46:00.000-08:00

The Sophists, with their relentless probing of accepted values, continued the process. Little is known of the general

Shaker Furniture

2005-02-24T02:20:00.000-08:00

Furniture designed for the religious colonies of Shakers founded in America in the last quarter of the 18th century, characterized by austerity of decoration and truth to materials. Deeply dedicated to ideals of communal living and asceticism, the Shakers designed and constructed furniture that reflected their belief that to make a thing well was in itself an

France, History Of, Early Frankish period

2005-02-24T00:50:00.000-08:00

In the second quarter of the 5th century, various groups of Franks moved southward toward the middle Rhine area (Cologne), the lower branches of the Moselle and Meuse, and the Atlantic coastal region. In the latter area, separate groups took possession of Tournai and Cambrai and reached the Somme. These Franks along the coast were divided into many small kingdoms. One

Lan-chou

2005-02-23T20:15:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Lanzhou, conventional Lanchow city, capital of Kansu province (sheng), China. It is situated on the upper course of the Huang Ho (Yellow River), where the river emerges from the mountains. Lan-chou has been a centre since early times, being at the southern end of the route leading via the Kansu Corridor across Central Asia; it also commands the approaches to the ancient capital area of Ch'ang-an (modern Sian

Pacatus Drepanius, Latinius

2005-02-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

It is uncertain whether Pacatus was pagan or Christian; in his speech he denounced Maximus' persecution of the Priscillianist heretics.

Earth Sciences, Knowledge of Earth history

2005-02-22T14:39:00.000-08:00

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

Trade, Board Of

2005-02-21T17:40:00.000-08:00

Also called Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations English governmental advisory body established by William III in May 1696 to replace the Lords of Trade (1675) in the supervision of colonial affairs. The board was to examine colonial legislation and to recommend disallowance of those laws that conflicted with imperial trade policies, to nominate governors and other high officials for royal colonies and to write the

Hal

2005-02-20T18:23:00.000-08:00

Plural Ahwal, in Sufi Muslim mystical terminology, a spiritual state of mind that comes to the Sufi from time to time during his journey toward God. The ahwal are graces of God that cannot be acquired or retained through an individual's own efforts. When the soul is purified of its attachments to the material world, it can only wait patiently for those spiritual gifts of God, which, when they

Chancellorsville, Battle Of

2005-02-19T08:37:00.000-08:00

(May 1–5, 1863), in the American Civil War, bloody assault by the Union army in Virginia that failed to encircle and destroy the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Following the “horror of Fredericksburg” (December 13, 1862), the Confederate army of General Robert E. Lee and the Union force under General Joseph Hooker had spent the winter facing each other across the Rappahannock River

Algeria, Nationalist movements

2005-02-17T22:32:00.000-08:00

Algerian nationalism developed out of three different tendencies. The first consisted of Algerians who had gained access to French education and earned their living in the French sector. Often called assimilationists, they pursued gradualist, reformist tactics, shunned illegal actions, and were prepared to consider permanent union with France if the rights

Sports

2005-02-17T05:12:00.000-08:00

Recreational or competitive activities that involve a degree of physical strength or skill. At one time, sports were commonly considered to include only the outdoor recreational pastimes, such as fishing, shooting, and hunting, as opposed to games, which were regarded as organized athletic contests played by teams or individuals according to prescribed rules.

Cost

2005-02-17T02:40:00.000-08:00

In common usage, the monetary value of goods and services that producers and consumers purchase. In a basic economic sense cost is the measure of the alternative opportunities foregone in the choice of one good or activity over others. This fundamental cost is usually referred to as opportunity cost. For a consumer with a fixed income, the opportunity cost of purchasing

Rocky Mountains, Animal life

2005-02-16T13:34:00.000-08:00

The fauna of the Rockies is varied and abundant. Among the large mammals emblematic of the rugged backcountry are the black bear, grizzly bear, mountain lion, and wolverine. Bighorn sheep and mountain goats inhabit the high crags in summer and migrate to the lower slopes for the winter months (see photograph). Members of the deer family, such as the

Sienkiewicz, Henryk

2005-02-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

Sienkiewicz's family owned a small estate but lost everything and moved to Warsaw, where Sienkiewicz studied literature, history, and philology at Warsaw University. He left the university in 1871 without taking a degree. He had begun to publish critical

Goniophora

2005-02-15T02:32:00.000-08:00

Extinct genus of clams found in Silurian to Devonian rocks (the Silurian Period began 438 million years ago and lasted about 30 million years; it was followed by the Devonian, which lasted some 48 million years). Goniophora is characterized by a distinctive shell that is sharply angular. A prominent ridge extends the length of the shell; from it the shell flanks taper away. Fine

Racerunner

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

Racerunners may be diversely marked, even within a species, being

Sage, Russell

2005-02-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

Sage's first job was as an errand boy in a brother's grocery store in Troy, N.Y. In his spare time he studied bookkeeping and arithmetic, and he began trading on his own. When he was 21, he used his profits to buy out the store

Irish Sea

2005-02-13T16:38:00.000-08:00

Irish Muir Éireann arm of the North Atlantic Ocean that separates Ireland from Great Britain. The Irish Sea is bounded by Scotland on the north, England on the east, Wales on the south, and Ireland on the west. The sea is connected with the Atlantic by the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland and by St. George's Channel between the southeastern tip of Ireland and southwestern

Art And Architecture, Mesopotamian, Architecture

2005-02-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

The beginnings of monumental architecture in Mesopotamia are usually considered to have been contemporary with the founding of the Sumerian cities and the invention of writing, in about 3100 BC. Conscious attempts at architectural design during this so-called Protoliterate period (c. 3400–c. 2900 BC) are recognizable in the construction of religious buildings. There is, however,

Wankel Engine

2005-02-11T06:10:00.000-08:00

Type of internal-combustion rotary engine distinguished by an orbiting triangular rotor that functions as a piston. See gasoline engine.

Yako

2005-02-11T03:46:00.000-08:00

The Yako are mainly yam farmers; subsidiary crops include cocoyams (taro), corn (maize), okra, and pumpkin. The main cash crop is palm oil. The Yako occupy compact villages divided into wards, each containing several patrilineal clans. Patrilineal

Number Game, The brakeman, the fireman, and the engineer

2005-02-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

The names, not necessarily respectively, of the brakeman, fireman, and engineer of a certain train were Smith, Jones, and Robinson. Three passengers on the train happened to have the same names and, in order to distinguish

Eisner, Kurt

2005-02-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

Eisner studied literature and neo-Kantian philosophy with Hermann Cohen at the University of Marburg. In 1892 he published Friedrich Nietzsche und die Apostel der Zukunft (“Friedrich Nietzsche and the Apostle

Skikda

2005-02-09T02:18:00.000-08:00

Formerly Philippeville, town, Mediterranean port, northeastern Algeria, situated on the Gulf of Stora. Founded by French Marshal Sylvain-Charles Valée in 1838 as the port of Constantine, it has an artificial harbour. Skikda occupies the site of ancient Rusicade, port of 4th-century Cirta, and has the largest Roman theatre in Algeria (used as a quarry, this has been greatly depleted). Roman artifacts

La Marmora, Alfonso Ferrero

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

A graduate of the Turin Military Academy, La Marmora entered the army in 1823 and first distinguished himself in the Italian wars of independence against Austria, especially at Borghetto and Peschiera (May 1848). He also

Zappa, Frank

2005-02-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

Zappa was, in no apparent order, a first-rate cultural gadfly dedicated to upsetting American suburban complacency and puncturing the hypocrisy and pretensions of both the U.S. political establishment and the counterculture that opposed it; a contemporary orchestral

Constantine

2005-02-07T03:51:00.000-08:00

Constantine upheld Roman supremacy against the insubordination of Felix, archbishop of Ravenna. He received as a pilgrim King Cenred of Mercia, who became a monk at Rome (709). Constantine strongly objected to the canons, several of which opposed Roman customs, established by the largely eastern Trullan (or Quinisext) Council assembled under

Rondeau

2005-02-06T03:11:00.000-08:00

The earliest rondeaux had stanzas of two or three lines; later, especially

Ribosome

2005-02-06T01:26:00.000-08:00

Tiny particle that is present in large numbers in all living cells and which is the site of protein synthesis. Ribosomes are tiny granules that occur both as free particles within cells and as particles attached to the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum. A ribosome measures about 200 angstroms in diameter and consists of about 40 percent protein and 60 percent RNA

Wandering Jew

2005-02-05T01:14:00.000-08:00

In Christian legend, character doomed to live until the end of the world because he taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion. A reference in John 18:20–22 to an officer who struck Jesus at his arraignment before Annas is sometimes cited as the basis for the legend. The medieval English chronicler Roger of Wendover describes in his Flores historiarum how an archbishop from

Spanish Riding School Of Vienna

2005-02-04T15:49:00.000-08:00

Also called Imperial Spanish Riding School, German Spanische Reitschule Wien, or Spanische Hofreitschule, school of classical horsemanship in Vienna, probably founded in the late 16th century. It is the only remaining institution where haute école (“high school”) riding and training methods are exclusively practiced, much as they were in the 18th century. The school is particularly noted for its white Lipizzaner (q.v.) horses, bred especially for haute école performance. The horses

Ukko

2005-02-03T22:14:00.000-08:00

In Finnish folk religion, the god of thunder, one of the most important deities. The name Ukko is derived from ukkonen, “thunder,” but it also means “old man” and is used as a term of respect. Ukko had his abode at the centre of the heavenly vault, the navel of the sky; hence he was often called Jumala, “Heaven God.” Ukko was believed to control rainfall and thus the fertility of the land,

Business And Industry Review

2005-02-03T07:32:00.000-08:00

The high production and plant-operating rates seen in 1995 continued to mark most of the world's chemical industry in 1996. The high and rising sales levels reflected the generally healthy economies of countries around the globe. The high volume of products sold, however, did not always translate into record profits, particularly for the makers of big-volume petrochemicals.

Scandinavian Literature, Finno-Swedish literature

2005-02-02T02:49:00.000-08:00

A significant literature in the Swedish language developed in Finland during the 1800s. Its emergence can be traced to the works of Johan Ludvig Runeberg. His epic poems, Elgskyttarne (1832; “The Moose Hunters”) and Hanna (1836), won him a place in Swedish letters. Notable, too, were the writings of Zacharias Topelius, which contributed to the development of the Finnish historical novel.

Montcalm (de Saint-véran), Louis-joseph De Montcalm-grozon, Marquis De

2005-02-01T07:47:00.000-08:00

In the War

Cheltenham

2005-02-01T07:21:00.000-08:00

A church is known to have existed at Cheltenham as early as 803. The town is first mentioned in documents in 1223, when the benefit of markets, fairs, and the hundred (feudal

Joyner-kersee, Jackie

2005-01-31T13:49:00.000-08:00

Joyner showed great enthusiasm for athletics early on, and as a teenager she won the first of four consecutive National Junior Pentathlon championships. In high school she was a

Ghaghara River

2005-01-31T00:48:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Gogra, Ghaghra , or Ghagra , Nepali Kauriala major left-bank tributary of the Ganges River, rising as the Karnali River (Chinese: K'ung-ch'iao Ho) in the Tibetan Himalayas and flowing southeast into Nepal. Cutting southward across the Siwalik Hills, it splits into two branches, to rejoin south of the Indian border and form the Ghaghara proper. It flows southeast through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states to enter the Ganges

Traherne, Thomas

2005-01-30T06:58:00.000-08:00

The son of a shoemaker, Traherne was educated at the University of Oxford, ordained in 1660, and presented in 1661 to the living of Credenhill, which he held until 1674. From 1669 to 1674 Traherne lived in London and Teddington, serving as chaplain to Sir Orlando

Forbes (of Culloden), Duncan

2005-01-29T23:30:00.000-08:00

Trained in law, Forbes entered local politics and in 1715 aided the Hanoverian cause during the unsuccessful Jacobite rebellion of that year. Forbes was elected

Nephrotic Syndrome

2005-01-28T14:06:00.000-08:00

The nephrotic syndrome occurs usually in young children or young adults. Persons

Roux, Jacques

2005-01-28T07:50:00.000-08:00

At the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, Roux was a vicar of a parish in Paris. Soon he began preaching the ideals of popular democracy to crowds of Parisian sansculottes (wage earners and shopkeepers). In 1791 he was elected

Tsubouchi Shoyo

2005-01-27T00:02:00.000-08:00

Pseudonym of Tsubouchi Yuzo playwright, novelist, critic, and translator who occupied a prominent position in Japanese letters for nearly half a century. He wrote the first major work of modern Japanese literary criticism, Shosetsu shinzui (1885–86; “The Essence of the Novel”), translated the complete works of William Shakespeare, helped found the modern Japanese

Terefah

2005-01-26T11:33:00.000-08:00

Also spelled terefa, tref , or trefa (from Hebrew taraf, “to tear”) , plural terefoth, terefot , or trefot any food, food product, or utensil that, according to the Jewish dietary laws (kashruth, q.v.), is not ritually clean or prepared according to law and is thus prohibited as unfit for Jewish use. Terefah is thus the antithesis of kosher (“fit”). The broad connotation of terefah derives from a more specific prohibition against eating meat that has been “torn” by a wild animal (e.g., Exodus

Alcoy

2005-01-25T17:24:00.000-08:00

The town is a rail

San Fernando

2005-01-24T16:07:00.000-08:00

Capital of Colchagua provincia, O'Higgins región, central Chile, lying on the Rapel River, at 1,112 feet (339 m) above sea level, in a fertile longitudinal valley. Founded in 1742, it became the provincial capital in 1840. San Fernando's rodeos rank among Chile's best, for the city is in the heart of huaso (“cowboy”) country. In addition to livestock, the surrounding region yields wheat, forage crops,

Great Bend

2005-01-24T11:01:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1872) of Barton county, central Kansas, U.S. Great Bend lies on the Arkansas River where the High Plains begin to shade into tallgrass prairie. Situated in the alleged locality of the mythical city of Quivira sought by Francisco Coronado in the 16th century, the site was visited by the American explorer Zebulon Pike in 1806 and became a stopping point on the Santa Fe

Fischer Von Erlach, Johann Bernhard

2005-01-22T10:11:00.000-08:00

Austrian architect, sculptor, and architectural historian whose Baroque style, a synthesis of classical, Renaissance, and southern Baroque elements, shaped the tastes of the Habsburg empire. Fischer's works include the Dreifaltigkeitskirche (1694–1702) and the Kollegienkirche (1696–1707), both in Salzburg, and the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene of Savoy

Afghanistan, Amanollah (191929)

2005-01-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

Amanollah launched the inconclusive Third Anglo-Afghan War in May 1919. The month-long war gained the Afghans the conduct of their own foreign affairs. The Treaty of Rawalpindi was signed on August 8, 1919, and amended in 1921. Before signing the final document with the British, the Afghans concluded a treaty of friendship with the new Bolshevik regime in the Soviet Union; Afghanistan

Pyroxene, Igneous rocks

2005-01-22T00:19:00.000-08:00

Uninverted pigeonites(monoclinic) are common as phenocrysts in high-temperature,