CleanLeg

Outjo

2005-11-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

Thomas Lambert, the first European settler, arrived there in 1880, and German colonial authorities established a military post at Outjo in 1895. It became

Marseille Faience

2005-10-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Tin-glazed earthenware made in Marseille in the 18th century. The Joseph Clérissy factory, active in 1677–1733, produced wares usually in blue with purple outlines. The Fauchier factory excelled in trompe l'oeil work and landscapes. The factory of the Veuve Perrin was famous for its enameled “bouillabaisse” decor that included all the ingredients of that famous local fish soup,

Raynouard, François-juste-marie

2005-07-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

Trained as a lawyer, Raynouard was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1791. In 1793 he was imprisoned on political grounds but was released in 1794 after the fall of Robespierre. His first play, Caton d'Utique, was published

1801, Concordat Of

2005-07-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

In the agreement the First

Bohemond Vi

2005-07-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

The son of Bohemond V by Luciana, he succeeded his father in 1252. In 1250 his sister Plaisance had married Henry I of Cyprus, the son of Hugh I, and the Cypriot connection of Antioch was thus maintained. In 1252 Bohemond VI established himself in Antioch, leaving Tripoli to itself, and in February 1258 he procured the recognition of his nephew, Hugh II

Craigavon

2005-07-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

New town (built after 1966), Craigavon district, Northern Ireland, southwest of Belfast. Craigavon new town was developed under the New Towns Act of 1965 as a commercial, light industrial, and residential centre linking the older towns of Lurgan and Portadown. It was named after James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, the first prime minister (1921–40) of Northern Ireland. The new town's planning

Tyson, Cicely

2005-06-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

Tyson, the daughter of immigrants from the Caribbean island of Nevis, grew up in a devoutly religious household in Harlem. Discovered by a fashion editor at Ebony magazine, she quickly rose to the top of the modeling world. In 1957 she began acting in Off-Broadway

Hyperopia

2005-06-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

Also called Farsightedness, or Hypermetropia, visual defect in which the cornea and lens of the eye focus the image of the visual field at a point behind the retina (the light-sensitive layer of tissue lining the back and sides of the eye). The retina thus receives an unfocused image of near objects, though distant objects may be in focus. Hyperopia frequently occurs when an eye is shorter than normal from front to

Crockett, Davy

2005-06-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

His father, having little means, hired him out to more prosperous backwoods farmers, and Davy's schooling amounted to 100 days of tutoring with a neighbour. Successive moves west to middle Tennessee brought him close to the area of the Creek War, in which

Abruzzi

2005-06-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

Also called Abruzzo, regione, central Italy, fronting the Adriatic Sea and comprising the provincie of L'Aquila, Chieti, Pescara, and Teramo. Most of the region is mountainous or hilly, except for such intermontane basins as those of L'Aquila, Sulmona, and Fucino. The Apennines, the dominant physical feature, consist of three chains trending northwest-southeast, of which the easternmost,

Guatemala, Flag Of

2005-06-01T00:35:00.000-07:00

Following brief rule by Mexico (1821–23), the Central American provinces united in a federation, but by 1840 disagreements between Liberals and Conservatives resulted in civil war and the separation of the five countries. Thus Guatemala hoisted a new flag on November 14, 1843, which included the volcanoes found in the coat of arms of Antigua Guatemala, the former capital of Guatemala,

Weltschmerz

2005-05-18T03:40:00.000-07:00

(German: “world grief”), the prevailing mood of melancholy and pessimism associated with the poets of the Romantic era that arose from their refusal or inability to adjust to those realities of the world that they saw as destructive of their right to subjectivity and personal freedom—a phenomenon thought to typify Romanticism. The word was coined by Jean Paul in his

Fibrous Dysplasia

2005-05-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

Also called Mccune-Albright syndrome rare congenital developmental disorder beginning in childhood, characterized by cyst formation and replacement of solid, calcified bone with fibrous tissue, often only on one side of the body, in the long bones and pelvis. Other signs include unilateral (one-sided) enlargement of the bones of the face and base of the skull, café au lait (pale brown) spots on the skin, and

Qina

2005-05-14T06:50:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Qena, muhafazah (governorate) in Upper Egypt, extending 3–4 miles (5–6 km) on each side of the Nile River between the Arabian and Libyan deserts. Occupying the great bend in the Nile Valley, it has an area of 715 square miles (1,851 square km) and contains the celebrated ruins of Thebes and the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. Qina has a dense agricultural population (more than 3,000 persons per square mile),

Biogeographic Region, New Zealand region

2005-03-15T00:35:00.000-08:00

The New Zealand region (Figure 2) includes all of New Zealand, excluding aspects of the fauna of the southwest, which shows an Antarctic element. Flightless birds inhabit both New Zealand and Australia, although the order Dinornithiformes (kiwis and moas) is endemic to New Zealand. Other endemic taxa include the snail family Athoracophoridae; New Zealand's only mammals,

Spanish Literature, Early drama

2005-03-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

The origins of drama in Spain are to be sought, as elsewhere, in the church. The Auto de los reyes magos (�Play of the Three Wise Kings�), an incomplete play of an Epiphany cycle, is the only surviving text of medieval Spanish drama. The characterization of the Magi and of Herod and his advisers was realistic, and the medley of metres foreshadowed one aspect of later development

Tribonian

2005-03-11T20:23:00.000-08:00

From 530 to 532, and from 534 until his death, Tribonian served as Justinian's quaestor sacri

Ikhwan

2005-03-04T10:57:00.000-08:00

Ibn Sa'ud began organizing the Ikhwan in 1912 with hopes of making them a reliable and stable source of an elite army corps. In order to break their traditional

Qasida

2005-03-03T21:53:00.000-08:00

Plural �qasida, �also spelled �kasida, �Arabic �qasidah� poetic form developed in pre-Islamic Arabia and perpetuated throughout Islamic literary history into the present. It is a laudatory, elegiac, or satiric poem that is found in Arabic, Persian, and many related Asian literatures. The classic qasida is an elaborately structured ode of 60 to 100 lines, maintaining a single end rhyme that runs through the entire piece; the same

Medicine, United States

2005-03-02T03:50:00.000-08:00

Whereas in Britain the doctor of first contact is regularly a general practitioner, in the United States the nature of first-contact care is less consistent. General practice in the United States has been in a state of decline in the second half of the 20th century, especially in metropolitan areas. The general practitioner, however, is being replaced to some degree

Sung Dynasty

2005-03-01T22:07:00.000-08:00

The Sung dynasty was founded when Chao K'uang-yin, the military inspector general of the Chou dynasty, last of the Five Dynasties, usurped control of the empire in a coup. Thereafter, he used his mastery of diplomatic maneuvering to persuade powerful potential

Kwangsi

2005-02-28T09:34:00.000-08:00

In full �Chuang Autonomous Region of Kwangsi, �Chinese (Wade-Giles) �Kuang-hsi Chuang-tsu Tzu-chih-ch'�, �(Pinyin) �Guangxi Zhuangzu Zizhiqu, � autonomous region located in southern China. It is bounded by the Chinese provinces of Yunnan on the west, Kweichow on the north, Hunan on the northeast, and Kwangtung on the southeast, and by Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin on the southwest. It covers an area of 85,100 square miles (220,400 square kilometres). Nan-ning, the capital, is about 75 miles (121 kilometres) southwest of the region's geographic

Ahmadnagar

2005-02-27T11:51:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Ahmednagar, � town, west-central Maharashtra state, western India. It lies along the Sina River, 130 miles (210 km) east of Bombay. Known as Bhinar in early Yadava times, it was conquered by Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah, founder of the Ahmadnagar dynasty, in 1490. The city was later taken by the Mughals, Marathas, and British. Chief among its historical sites are Ahmad Nizam Shah's fort, in which Jawaharlal Nehru was imprisoned

Auburn

2005-02-26T04:22:00.000-08:00

City, Lee county, eastern Alabama, U.S., adjacent to Opelika, about 60 miles (100 km) northeast of Montgomery. Founded in 1836 by John Harper and settlers from Georgia, its name was inspired by the �sweet Auburn� of Oliver Goldsmith's poem The Deserted Village. Auburn University, opened as East Alabama Male College (Methodist) in 1859, is the main factor in the city's economy. The manufacture of

Babirusa

2005-02-25T13:11:00.000-08:00

The stout-bodied, short-tailed babirusa stands 65 - 80 cm (25 - 30 inches) at the shoulder. It has a rough, grayish hide and is almost hairless. Its most notable feature is the exaggerated development of the upper and lower canine teeth, or tusks, of

Yak

2005-02-24T01:35:00.000-08:00

Some large yak bulls attain heights of about 1.8 m (6 feet) at the shoulder hump; cows and domesticated varieties are much smaller. The hair of wild yak is black and short, except on the flanks and tail where it forms a long, shaggy fringe.

Galen, Clemens August, Graf (count) Von

2005-02-23T23:13:00.000-08:00

Galen was ordained in 1904 in M�nster, where, as a priest at St. Lambert's, he published his Die Pest des Laizismus und ihre Erscheinungsformen (1932; �The Plague of Laicism and Its Manifestations�), deploring what

Aurangzeb

2005-02-22T06:54:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Aurangzib�, Arabic �Awrangzib�, kingly title �'alamgir�, original name �Muhi-ud-Din Muhammad� last of the great Mughal emperors of India (reigned 1658 - 1707). Under him the Mughal Empire reached its greatest extent, although his policies helped lead to its dissolution.

Yagoda, Genrikh Grigoryevich

2005-02-21T18:18:00.000-08:00

Yagoda joined the Bolsheviks in 1907 and became a member of the presidium of the Cheka (Soviet secret police) in 1920. He was a deputy chairman of the Cheka's successor organization, OGPU, from 1924 to 1934 and from 1930 was in charge of the system of forced-labour camps

Calendar Of 2000

2005-02-20T01:35:00.000-08:00

TV Breizh, the first television channel to

An Lu-shan

2005-02-19T04:10:00.000-08:00

Pinyin �An Lushan�, original name (Wade-Giles romanization) �K'ang�, imperial name �Hsiung Wu�, canonized name �Yen La Wang� Chinese general of Iranian and Turkish descent who, as leader of a rebellion in AD 755, proclaimed himself emperor and unsuccessfully attempted to found a dynasty to replace the T'ang dynasty. Despite its failure, the rebellion precipitated far-reaching social and economic change.

Ballina

2005-02-18T21:44:00.000-08:00

Irish �B�al An �tha� urban district, County Mayo, Ireland, on the River Moy. The town, the largest in Mayo, has a modern Roman Catholic cathedral and the remains of an Augustinian friary founded about 1375. Salmon and trout fishing nearby are notable. Hand tools, drills, and medical products are manufactured there. Pop. (1981) 6,856.

Calendar Of 1998

2005-02-17T03:22:00.000-08:00

The tax-evasion case against Webster L. Hubbell, longtime friend of Pres. Bill Clinton who is believed to hold incriminating evidence against

Harappa

2005-02-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

Village on the left bank of a now dry course of the Ravi River, west-southwest of the town of Sahiwal, in the Punjab, in eastern Pakistan. The village stands on an extensive series of mounds in which excavations since 1921 have disclosed the remains of a large city of the Indus civilization (q.v.), in size second only to Mohenjo-daro, which lies about 400 miles (644 km) to the southwest. The English

Malachy, Saint

2005-02-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

Malachy was educated at Armagh, where he was ordained priest in 1119. Archbishop Ceallach (Celsus) of Armagh, during his absence to administer the bishopric of Dublin, appointed

Biblical Literature, The Samaritan canon

2005-02-14T21:37:00.000-08:00

As has been mentioned, the Samaritans accepted the Pentateuch from the Jews. They know of no other section of the Bible, however, and did not expand their Pentateuchal canon even by the inclusion of any strictly Samaritan compositions.

Ijolite

2005-02-13T16:50:00.000-08:00

Intrusive igneous rock that is composed essentially of nepheline and an alkali pyroxene, usually aegirinaugite. It is the plutonic equivalent of the volcanic nephelinites and nepheline dolerites. Typically, the pyroxene is well-crystallized and is surrounded by the nepheline. Accessory minerals include black garnet, titanite, perovskite, apatite, cancrinite,

Melanchthon, Philipp

2005-02-12T07:04:00.000-08:00

Melanchthon was present when the protest, from which the term Protestant originated, was lodged in the name of freedom of conscience against the Roman Catholic majority at the Second Diet of Speyer (1529). At the Diet of Augsburg (1530) Melanchthon was the leading representative of the Reformation, and it was he who prepared the Augsburg Confession, which influenced every subsequent

Celluloid

2005-02-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

The first synthetic plastic material, developed by the American inventor John Wesley Hyatt in the late 1860s from a homogeneous colloidal dispersion of cellulose nitrate and camphor. A tough material, with great tensile strength, resistance to water, oils, and dilute acids, capable of low-cost production in a variety of colours, it found a great variety of applications

Animal, Critical appraisal

2005-02-10T16:52:00.000-08:00

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

Black Code

2005-02-09T22:34:00.000-08:00

The black

Latifundium

2005-02-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

The ancient Roman latifundia originated from the allocation of land confiscated by Rome from certain conquered communities, beginning in the early 2nd century BC. Earlier, in classical Greece of the 5th century BC, sizable estates were cultivated for high profit, based

Bonaparte, Pierre-napol�on

2005-02-07T06:33:00.000-08:00

A self-proclaimed republican after 1848 and deputy for Corsica, Bonaparte was reconciled to his cousin Napoleon III after the latter's coup d'etat in 1851. With this the republicans abandoned the Prince, and he had little effect on the politics of his time. His killing of the journalist

Philip

2005-02-06T05:14:00.000-08:00

A member of a distinguished equestrian family of Arab descent, Philip was praetorian prefect when the emperor Gordian III was killed in a mutiny (perhaps with Philip's connivance). Philip became emperor and quickly concluded a peace ending a war with Persia. After undertaking a series of campaigns

Verdi, Giuseppe

2005-02-05T22:59:00.000-08:00

In full� Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi � leading Italian composer of opera in the 19th century, noted for operas such as Rigoletto (1851), Il trovatore (1853), La traviata (1853), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887), and Falstaff (1893) and for his Requiem Mass (1874).

Dye

2005-02-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

Coloured substance synthesized from certain chemical compounds called benzenoid hydrocarbons, obtained from either coal tar or petroleum. Its most important use is in dyeing textiles. Wool or cotton fabrics may have dyes applied at any stage of manufacture from fibre to finished garment, depending on the nature of the textile, its subsequent processing, and

Low Countries

2005-02-02T21:01:00.000-08:00

Also called �Benelux Countries� coastal region of northwestern Europe, consisting of Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg (qq.v.). These are together known as the Benelux countries, from the initial letters of their names. The Low Countries are bordered by Germany to the east and France to the south. In 1947 the three nations formed the Benelux Customs Union, which broadened over the years into what a

Hywel Ab Owain Gwynedd

2005-02-01T04:59:00.000-08:00

Welsh warrior-prince and lyric poet whose eight extant compositions include the only love poems found in the works of the early Welsh court poets. Also included among the eight are poems expressing love of country, perhaps the first such works in Welsh literature. The son of Owain Gwynedd, Hywel played a major part in the occupation of Ceredigion (Cardiganshire) by

Faience Blanche

2005-01-31T00:30:00.000-08:00

(French: �white faience�), type of French pottery of the late 16th and early 17th centuries; it copied bianchi di Faenza, a sparsely decorated Faenza majolica (tin-glazed earthenware), which appeared about 1570 as a reaction to an overornamented pictorial style. In the simpler form, much of the white area was left exposed, the decoration being merely a central figure or a coat of arms

Chebyshev, Pafnuty Lvovich

2005-01-30T22:03:00.000-08:00

Chebyshev became assistant professor of mathematics at the University of St. Petersburg (now St.

Viseu

2005-01-29T13:00:00.000-08:00

Distrito (�district�) northern Portugal. Framed by the Caramulo, Arada, and Montemuro mountains in the west, the district is drained by the upper basin of the Mondego and Vouga rivers. It is densely populated in the more humid western plateaus, with impressive flights of cultivated terraces on the deep valley slopes, which produce chiefly corn (maize), cabbage, grapes, and

Bruce (of Melbourne), Stanley Melbourne Bruce, Viscount

2005-01-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

Bruce studied at the University of Cambridge and then practiced law in England. After serving in the British army during World War I, he entered the Australian Parliament in

Avranches

2005-01-27T10:24:00.000-08:00

In 1172 the excommunicated Henry II of England received absolution in Avranches for the

Smith, Sir Keith Macpherson; And Smith, Sir Ross Macpherson

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

During World War I, Keith Smith flew as a pilot in the Royal Air Force (1917 - 19), while Ross started with the Australian Light Horse in Gallipoli and Sinai until he learned to fly in Egypt

Endosperm

2005-01-25T16:27:00.000-08:00

Tissue that surrounds and nourishes the embryo in the angiosperm seed. The initiation of endosperm is a definitive characteristic of angiosperms and requires the fusion of at least one nucleus in the embryo sac with a sperm nucleus from the pollen grain. (In gymnosperms the nutritive material of the seed is present before fertilization.) In some seeds the endosperm

Endosperm

2005-01-24T04:55:00.000-08:00

End Rhyme

2005-01-23T08:59:00.000-08:00

End rhyme is the most common type of rhyme in English poetry. Compare beginning rhyme; internal

Dievs

2005-01-22T14:06:00.000-08:00

Also called �Debestevs� (Latvian), Lithuanian �Dievas�, Old Prussian �Deivas� in Baltic religion, the sky god. Dievs and Laima, the goddess of human fate, determine human destiny and world order. Dievs is a wooer of Saule, the sun. As pictured by the pre-Christian Balts, he is an Iron Age Baltic king who lives on a farmstead in the sky. Wearing a silver gown, pendants, and a sword, he occasionally rides down to earth, on horseback or in a horse-drawn chariot,

Dzerzhinsk

2005-01-21T04:10:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Dzerzinsk, �formerly �(until 1929) Rastyapino � city, Nizhegorod oblast (province), western Russia. Dzerzhinsk lies along the Oka River upstream from its confluence with the Volga River at Nizhny Novgorod. Part of the Nizhny Novgorod metropolitan area, Dzerzhinsk and its satellite towns stretch for 15 miles (24 km) along the Oka. The city is 32 miles (51 km) west of Nizhny Novgorod and 240 miles (390 km) east of Moscow. It was renamed in 1929 in

Anterus, Saint

2005-01-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

Pope for several weeks at the end of 235 and the beginning of 236. He was elected (possibly Nov. 21, 235) while St. Pontian, his predecessor, was condemned to the Sardinian mines. Anterus was soon prosecuted and sentenced to death. According to the Liber pontificalis, he was martyred for having ordered a collection of the acts of the martyrs to be made and

Spaceflight

2005-01-19T20:46:00.000-08:00

Flight beyond Earth's atmosphere. This article deals with the basic concepts associated with the launch and return of unmanned and manned spacecraft and their travel, navigation, and rendezvous and docking in space. For the development of space travel and discussions of spacecraft and space programs and their contributions to scientific knowledge

Orogeny

2005-01-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

Mountain-building event, generally one that occurs in geosynclinal areas. In contrast to epeirogeny, an orogeny tends to occur during a relatively short time in linear belts and results in intensive deformation. Orogeny is usually accompanied by folding and faulting of strata, development of angular unconformities, and the deposition of clastic wedges of sediments

More, Sir Anthony

2005-01-17T09:25:00.000-08:00

More studied his art under Jan van Scorel, and, after making a professional visit to Italy, he began to paint portraits in the style of Hans Holbein. His rise to eminence was rapid. In 1552 he was invited to Madrid by the emperor Charles V. In 1554 he

Nitta Yoshisada

2005-01-16T02:34:00.000-08:00

Japanese warrior whose support of the imperial restoration of the emperor Go-Daigo was crucial in destroying the Kamakura shogunate, the military dictatorship that governed Japan from 1192 until 1333. The ultimate defeat of Nitta resulted in the end of the imperial restoration and the rise to power of the Ashikaga family, which

Celestine Iv

2005-01-15T03:48:00.000-08:00

The nephew of Pope Urban III, Celestine had been made cardinal priest of St. Mark's in 1227 and cardinal bishop of Sabina in 1239 by his predecessor, Gregory IX, whom he was elected to succeed on Oct. 25, 1241. He was the first pope to be elected in a conclave, which had been set up by the senator of Rome, Matthew Rosso Orsini, who hoped to break

Celestine Iv

2005-01-14T13:57:00.000-08:00

Aerospace Industry, Secondary and tertiary aerospace systems

2005-01-13T05:58:00.000-08:00

The secondary product line of the aerospace industry comprises the numerous onboard subsystems required by the designs of the various flight vehicles. Propulsion and avionics are the two most important secondary systems. The industry's tertiary product line includes those ground-based items necessary for the support of flight vehicles.

Venison

2005-01-12T04:38:00.000-08:00

Venison resembles beef and mutton in texture, colour, and other general characteristics. It has virtually the same chemical composition as beef but is less fatty. Lean venison roast, before cooking, contains by weight approximately 75 percent water, 20 percent

Andersen, Hans Christian

2005-01-11T19:36:00.000-08:00

Elias Bredsdorff, Hans Christian Andersen: The Story of His Life and Work, 1805 - 75 (1975, reissued 1994); Bo Gr�nbech, Hans Christian Andersen (1980); Sven Hakon Rossel (ed.), Hans Christian Andersen: Danish Writer and Citizen of the World (1996); and Jackie Wullschl�ger, Hans Christian Andersen: The Life of a Storyteller (2000).

M�ser, Justus

2005-01-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

Trained in jurisprudence at the universities of Jena and G�ttingen, M�ser was named state's attorney at Osnabr�ck (1747), a prince-bishopric, and from 1764 he was very influential

Korhogo

2005-01-09T04:08:00.000-08:00

Town, north central C�te d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). The town's traditional founder was Nangui (Nengu�), a 14th-century Senufo (Senoufo) patriarch from Kong. Modern Korhogo (Heritage) is the chief trade centre (corn [maize], manioc, millet, and yams) for the Senufo farmers of the savanna. Muslim Fulani herdsmen from the north also helped make it a major centre for livestock (cattle, sheep,

Pottery, Thailand and Annam

2005-01-08T06:14:00.000-08:00

Pottery was made in the old Siamese capitals of Sukhothai and Sawankhalok. It is also thought that potteries persisted at Ayutthaya until the 18th century. Little is known of the early history of the region, and definite information on its pottery is almost nonexistent. Dating of the pottery from these regions for the most part has been by analogy with related Chinese

Pottery, Thailand and Annam

2005-01-07T02:12:00.000-08:00

Xenophon

2005-01-06T01:52:00.000-08:00

The most personal of his writings is Anabasis (or Anabasis Kyrou, �The Expedition of Cyrus�), published probably under a nom de guerre. The narrative excels in graphic details, but the fictitious speeches with which it is adorned have a contrived and artificial air. It is an account by a young man, somewhat romantic, excited by danger and discovery, receptive of impressions,

Bruch, Max

2005-01-05T01:41:00.000-08:00

At 14 Bruch wrote a symphony and won a scholarship enabling him to study at Cologne. His first opera, Scherz, List und Rache (Jest, Deceit, and Revenge, text adapted from a work by Goethe), was performed in 1858. He conducted orchestral and choral

Nigeria

2005-01-04T07:45:00.000-08:00

During 2000 Pres. Olusegun Obasanjo took a variety of steps to secure Nigeria's transition to democracy. Chief among these were reform of the military and the curbing of government corruption. President Obasanjo, himself a former general, continued to force the retirement of officers who had held political positions under previous military governments. In June he

Arabesque

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

In literature, a contrived intricate pattern of verbal expression, so called by analogy with a decorative style in which flower, fruit, and sometimes animal outlines appear in elaborate patterns of interlaced lines. That these designs can sometimes suggest fantastic creatures may have given rise to another sense of the term, denoting a tale of wonder or of the supernatural.

Persian Gulf, Transportation

2005-01-02T00:55:00.000-08:00

For centuries a considerable sea trade has been carried on by local craft between the Persian Gulf and Africa and India; this has become completely dominated by an incessant traffic of large tankers that carry oil from the large marine terminals at Khark Island (Iran), Kuwait, Dhahran (Az-Zahran, in Saudi Arabia), Bahrain, Das Island (United Arab Emirates), and other locations

Eure River

2005-01-01T07:53:00.000-08:00

River in northern France, a left-bank tributary of the Seine, with a length of 140 miles (225 km). From its source in the Perche Hills, Orne d�partement, at an elevation of about 800 feet (240 m), to its confluence with the Seine River above Rouen at Pont de l'Arche, it flows chiefly through agricultural and wooded regions, receiving numerous tributaries, including the Blaise, the Avre, and the

Closet Drama

2004-12-31T20:08:00.000-08:00

A drama suited primarily for reading rather than production. Examples of the genre include John Milton's Samson Agonistes (1671) and Thomas Hardy's The Dynasts (three parts, 1903 - 08). Closet drama is not to be confused with readers' theatre, in which actors read or recite without decor before an audience.

Allophone

2004-12-30T11:26:00.000-08:00

One of the phonetically distinct variants of a phoneme (q.v.). The occurrence of one allophone rather than another is usually determined by its position in the word (initial, final, medial, etc.) or by its phonetic environment. Speakers of a language often have difficulty in hearing the phonetic differences between allophones of the same phoneme, because these differences

Chandigarh

2004-12-29T07:05:00.000-08:00

City and union territory of India. Located on the plain just south of the Shiwalik Hills, about 150 miles (240 kilometres) north of New Delhi, Chandigarh is bounded by the state of Haryana on the east and by the state of Punjab on all other sides. The territory is administered by a chief commissioner, who is appointed by the president of India's union (central) government. The city of

Paracas

2004-12-28T21:32:00.000-08:00

Culture centred on the peninsula of the same name, located in present-day southern Peru in the vicinity of Ica, during the Early Horizon and the Early Intermediate periods (c. 900 BC - AD 400). The Paracas culture's earlier phase, called Paracas Cavernas, is related to the Chav�n culture (c. 1000 - 400 BC). The pottery of the period is not well-fired and was sometimes painted after firing. The Paracas cultures

Van Horne, Sir William Cornelius

2004-12-27T23:45:00.000-08:00

Van Horne worked as a telegraph operator on the Illinois Central Railroad. By 1880 he was general superintendent of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad system. In 1881 he became general manager of the Canadian Pacific

Gehry, Frank O.

2004-12-26T09:37:00.000-08:00

Gehry's family immigrated to Los Angeles in 1947. He studied architecture at the University of Southern California (1949 - 51; 1954) and city planning at Harvard University (1956 - 57). After working for several architectural firms, he established his

Xank�ndi

2004-12-25T06:31:00.000-08:00

Formerly �Stepanakert, � city, southwestern Azerbaijan. Situated at the foot of the eastern slopes of the Karabakh Range, the city was founded after the October Revolution (1917) on the site of the village of Khankendy and was renamed Stepanakert in 1923 for Stepan Shaumyan, a Baku Communist leader. After Azerbaijan gained independence the name was changed to Xank�ndi, though Armenians continue to

Fuse

2004-12-24T02:55:00.000-08:00

The blasting safety fuse, employed to fire an explosive from a distance or after a delay, is a hollow cord filled with a mixture resembling black powder and designed to propagate burning at a slow and steady rate. The far end of the fuse is usually

Vajpayee, Atal Bihari

2004-12-23T04:31:00.000-08:00

Vajpayee was first elected to Parliament in 1957 as a member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), a forerunner of the BJP. In 1977 the BJS joined three other parties to form the Janata Party, which led a government that lasted until July 1979. As foreign minister

Herman, Woody

2004-12-22T00:45:00.000-08:00

Herman was a child prodigy who sang and danced in vaudeville at six years of age. Soon after he began playing the saxophone and later the clarinet. Billed as the Boy

Outremont

2004-12-21T14:51:00.000-08:00

City, Montr�al region, southern Quebec province, Canada. It lies in the centre of Montreal Island, adjoining Montreal city. Originally called C�te-Sainte-Catherine, it was renamed in 1875 for its location in relation to Montreal - on the far side of Mont-Royal. The city, a part of the Montreal Metropolitan Corporation, is now primarily a high-density residential suburb. Inc.

Ethiopic Languages

2004-12-20T22:48:00.000-08:00

The Semitic languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea, including Ge'ez, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox church; Amharic, one of the principal languages of modern Ethiopia; Tigre; Tigrinya, or Tigrai; Argobba; Hareri; and Gurage. Although some scholars formerly considered Ethiopic to be a separate branch of Semitic, these languages are now generally grouped

Morales, Crist�bal De

2004-12-19T11:51:00.000-08:00

Morales's first post was as maestro de capilla at the cathedral at �vila (1526 - 29). After a short stay at Plasencia he joined the papal choir in Rome (1535), where he remained

San Fernando

2004-12-18T00:20:00.000-08:00

City and port of Trinidad, in the island country of Trinidad and Tobago, in the southern Caribbean Sea. It lies at the western end of the Central Range of hills on the flat, shallow coast of the Gulf of Paria, 36 miles (58 km) south of Port of Spain. Trinidad's second largest city, its chief function is that of an administrative and trading centre for the southern half of the island.

Domingu�

2004-12-17T03:17:00.000-08:00

When the great

Domingu�

2004-12-16T18:28:00.000-08:00

When the great

Sabda

2004-12-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: �sound�), in Indian philosophy, verbal testimony as a means of obtaining knowledge. In the orthodox philosophical systems (darsana), sabda is equated with the authority of the Vedas (most ancient sacred scriptures) as the only infallible testimony, since the Vedas are deemed both eternal and authorless and without contradiction. Sabda is of particular importance

World War I, Killed, wounded, and missing

2004-12-14T00:24:00.000-08:00

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

Onomatopoeia

2004-12-13T03:26:00.000-08:00

The naming of a thing or action by a vocal imitation of the sound associated with it (such as buzz or hiss). Onomatopoeia may also refer to the use of words whose sound suggests the sense. This occurs frequently in poetry, where a line of verse can express a characteristic of the thing being portrayed. In the following lines from Sylvia Plath's poem �Daddy,� the rhythm of the

Obadiah, Book Of

2004-12-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

In the book, Edom,

Alcoy

2004-12-11T02:19:00.000-08:00

The town is a rail