NaturalChest

Organic Underwear

2006-10-29T05:15:00.000-08:00

Natural soft Organic Clothinggoods are hard to find as they can often be a little course. Liv Organic Cotton Goodsare soft and luxurious and their Organic Underwear is to die for.

Romanian Literature

2005-03-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Rumanian, body of writings in the Romanian language, the development of which is paralleled by a rich folklore—lyric, epic, dramatic, and didactic—that has continued into modern times.

Aeon

2005-03-17T14:02:00.000-08:00

The first aeon was said to emanate directly

Skåne

2005-03-15T04:08:00.000-08:00

Also called Scania län (county) and traditional landskap (province), southern Sweden. Skåne county was created in 1997 from the counties of Malmöhus and Kristianstad and is coextensive with Skåne province. Occupying the peninsular southern tip of Sweden, it is bounded by water on three sides—the Baltic Sea on the east and south, The Sound (Öresund) on the west, and the Kattegat (strait) on the northwest.

Calcutta

2005-03-13T15:16:00.000-08:00

Bengali Kalikata city, capital of West Bengal state, and former capital (1772–1912) of British India. It is India's largest city and one of its major ports. The city is located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, once the main channel of the Ganges River, about 96 miles (154 kilometres) upstream from the head of the Bay of Bengal; there the port city developed as a point of transshipment from water to land and

Gnosticism

2005-03-11T14:48:00.000-08:00

The designation Gnosticism, derived from the Greek gn

Nile, Battle Of The

2005-03-08T07:35:00.000-08:00

The French Revolutionary general Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798 made plans for an invasion of Egypt in order to constrict Britain's trade routes and threaten its possession of India. The British government

Basel, Council Of

2005-03-06T13:56:00.000-08:00

A general council of the Roman Catholic church held in Basel, Switz. It was called by Pope Martin V a few weeks before his death in 1431 and then confirmed by Pope Eugenius IV. Meeting at a time when the prestige of the papacy had been weakened by the Great Schism (1378–1417), it was concerned with two major problems: the question of papal supremacy and the Hussite heresy. (The Hussites were

Biblical Literature, Content and problems

2005-03-05T10:44:00.000-08:00

Church offices are more developed in the Pastoral Letters than in Paul's time. There are presbyters and bishops, but these are sometimes used interchangeably and the monarchical episcopate is not yet depicted, although church offices appear to be heading in that direction. Requirements for office are strict and leaders are chosen and ordained by laying on of hands.

Cumberland Gap

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

Natural pass (elevation 1,640 feet [500 metres]) that was cut through the Cumberland Plateau in the eastern United States by former stream activity. It is located near the point where Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee meet between Middlesboro, Kentucky, and the town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. The pass was discovered in 1750 by Thomas Walker, and the Wilderness Road blazed by Daniel

Cloisonnism

2005-03-01T18:28:00.000-08:00

Painting method used in the style known as Synthetism (q.v.).

Bend

2005-02-27T02:36:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1916) of Deschutes county, central Oregon, U.S. It lies along the Deschutes River, in the eastern foothills of the Cascade Range (west), and is bordered by Pilot Butte (east). Laid out in 1904, the community grew after the Deschutes Irrigation and Power Company opened farmland for settlement in 1909. Vast timber resources influenced a railroad boom (1911), sawmills were built, and wood

Punic War, Second

2005-02-23T04:37:00.000-08:00

In the years after the First Punic War, Rome wrested Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage and forced Carthaginians to pay an even greater indemnity than the payment exacted immediately following the war. Eventually,

Gaudier-brzeska, Henri

2005-02-21T22:41:00.000-08:00

Gaudier-Brzeska initially studied business before taking up sculpture in 1910. His early work was informed

Dyson, Freeman (john)

2005-02-18T20:06:00.000-08:00

The son of a musician and composer, Dyson was educated at the University of Cambridge. As a teenager he developed a passion for mathematics, but his studies at Cambridge were interrupted in 1943, when he served in the Royal Air Force Bomber Command.

Vagina

2005-02-17T06:41:00.000-08:00

In humans the vagina is about 9 cm (3.5 inches) long; it is located in front of the rectum and behind the bladder. The cervix of the uterus connects to the upper region

's Hertogenbosch

2005-02-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

Chartered in 1185 by Henry I, duke of Brabant, who had a hunting lodge nearby (hence the name, meaning “the duke's wood”), it was an important medieval wool centre and became a bishopric in 1559. The town saw many sieges

Sha-shih

2005-02-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

Sha-shih was a large city in the state of Ch'u from the 6th century BC onward. The Ch'in dynasty (221–206 BC) and their successors,

Ushuaia

2005-02-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

The site was first settled by Wasti H. Stirling, an English missionary, in 1870. In 1884 an Argentine naval base was established, and in 1893, after the archipelago was partitioned between Argentina and

Hawd Plateau

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

Hawd also spelled Haud, plateau sloping southeastward and spanning the northern Ethiopian-Somali border, southeast of the northern Somalian highlands. It covers an area of about 25,000 square miles (64,750 square km) and slopes from about 4,000 feet (1,220 m) in the northwest to about 1,500 feet (450 m) in the southeast. It is a vast savanna of varying fertility and is a major wet-season grazing area for herds of camels, goats, and

Refrain

2005-02-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

A phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at intervals throughout a poem, generally at the end of the stanza. Refrains are found in the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead and are common in primitive tribal chants. They appear in literature as varied as ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Latin verse, popular ballads, and Renaissance and Romantic lyrics. Three common refrains are

Handcuffs

2005-02-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

Device for shackling the hands, used by police on prisoners under arrest. Until modern times, handcuffs were of two kinds: (1) the figure 8, which confined the hands close together either in front of or behind the body, and (2) rings that fitted around the wrists and were connected by a short chain, these being somewhat like those used by modern police forces. The old names were

Sanno Ichijitsu Shinto

2005-02-03T01:38:00.000-08:00

Also called Ichijitsu Shinto , or Tendai Shinto in Japanese religion, the syncretic school that combined Shinto with the teachings of the Tendai sect of Buddhism. Shinto-Buddhist syncretism developed from the Japanese concept that Shinto deities (kami) were manifestations of Buddhist divinities. The earliest of these schools, Ryobu Shinto, was founded on the belief that Amaterasu Omikami, the chief Shinto deity, corresponded

Centre

2005-02-01T22:01:00.000-08:00

Industrial district in Hainaut province, southwestern Belgium. It lies in the upper valley of the Haine River and is centred on the town of La Louvière between Mons and Charleroi. The coal mines that gave rise to the district are now closed, but heavy industry continues in the form of blast furnaces and steelworks at La Louvière, a petroleum refinery at Felay, and an

Bottomry

2005-01-30T18:40:00.000-08:00

A maritime contract (now almost obsolete) by which the owner of a ship borrows money for equipping or repairing the vessel and, for a definite term, pledges the ship as security—it being stipulated that if the ship be lost in the specified voyage or period, by any of the perils enumerated, the lender shall lose his money. A similar contract creating a security interest

Didot Family

2005-01-27T16:26:00.000-08:00

The founder of the family business was François Didot (1689–1757), who began business as a printer and bookseller in Paris in 1713. He was best known for publishing a 20-volume collection of the works of the Abbé Prévost. Didot's eldest son, François-Ambroise (1730–1804), altered

Vanderbilt, William Henry

2005-01-25T00:40:00.000-08:00

A frail and seemingly unambitious youth, William was dismissed by his strong and dynamic father as incompetent to run the family business. The two split on

Nitroso Compound

2005-01-24T09:12:00.000-08:00

Nitroso compounds are usually prepared

Tenkalai

2005-01-21T01:22:00.000-08:00

One of two Hindu subsects of the Srivaisnava, the other being the Vadakalai. Though the two sects use both Sanskrit and Tamil scriptures and centre their worship on Vishnu, the Tenkalai places greater reliance on the Tamil language and the Nalayira Prabandham, a collection of hymns by the Alvars, a group of South Indian mystics. The Tenkalai grew apart from the Vadakalai in the 14th

Graywacke

2005-01-20T21:23:00.000-08:00

Also called dirty sandstone a sedimentary rock composed of sand-sized grains (0.063–2 mm [0.0025–0.078 inch]) with a fine-grained clay matrix. The sand-sized grains are frequently composed of rock fragments of wide-ranging mineralogies (e.g., those consisting of pyroxenes, amphiboles, feldspars, and quartz). The grains are angular and poorly sorted with many minerals retaining growth forms that resulted from low abrasion.

Rabbinical Assembly, The

2005-01-19T17:02:00.000-08:00

Organization of Conservative rabbis in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Israel. It was founded in 1900 as the Alumni Association of the Jewish Theological Seminary and was reorganized in 1940 as the Rabbinical Assembly of America; in 1962 it acquired its present name and international scope. The Rabbinical Assembly recommends rabbis for appointment to Conservative

Mesopotamia, History Of, Literary and other historical sources

2005-01-18T08:49:00.000-08:00

The picture offered by the literary tradition of Mesopotamia is clearer but not necessarily historically relevant. The Sumerian king list has long been the greatest focus of interest. This is a literary composition, dating from Old Babylonian times, that describes kingship (nam-lugal in Sumerian) in Mesopotamia from primeval times to the end of the 1st dynasty of

Jackson, Andrew

2005-01-18T03:33:00.000-08:00

Jackson's interest in public affairs and in politics had always been keen. He had gone to Nashville as a political appointee, and in 1796 he became a member of the convention that drafted a constitution for the new state of Tennessee. In the same year he was elected as the first representative from Tennessee to the U.S. House of Representatives. An undistinguished legislator, he refused to seek reelection and served only until March 4, 1797. Jackson returned to Tennessee, vowing never to enter public life again, but before the end of the year he was elected to the U.S. Senate. His willingness to accept the office reflects his emergence as an acknowledged leader of one of the two political factions contending for control of the state. Nevertheless, Jackson resigned from the Senate in 1798 after an uneventful year. Soon after his return to Nashville he was elected a judge of the superior court (in effect, the supreme court) of the state and served in that post until 1804. In 1802 Jackson had also been elected major general of the Tennessee militia, a position he still held when the War of 1812 opened the door to a command in the field and a hero's role.

Later Ly Dynasty

2005-01-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

Vietnamese Nha Hau Ly (1009–1225), first of the three great dynasties of Vietnam. The kingdom, known later as Dai Viet, was established by Ly Thai To in the Red River Delta area of present northern Vietnam. Its capital was Thang Long (Hanoi). (It is “later” with respect to the Earlier Ly dynasty, founded by Ly Bon and lasting from 544 to 602/603.) The Later Ly was the first stable Vietnamese dynasty and helped establish many

Adalbero Of Ardennes

2005-01-16T00:43:00.000-08:00

Adalbero, a native of Lorraine, had opposed the attempts of the Carolingian king of France, Lothair, to gain Lorraine from the Holy Roman emperor Otto

Earwax Impaction

2005-01-14T18:08:00.000-08:00

Filling of the external auditory canal with earwax, or cerumen. Normally the wax produced by skin glands in the outer ear migrates outward. If the earwax is produced too rapidly, it may become hardened and accumulate, thus plugging the outer ear canal and preventing sound passage to the tympanic (eardrum) membrane. This hearing impairment is painless. Impacted earwax

Padmasambhava

2005-01-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

According to tradition, he was a native of Udyana (now Swat, Pak.), an area famed for its magicians. Padmasambhava was a Tantrist and a member of the Yogacara sect and taught at Nalanda, a centre of Buddhist studies

Wollaston, Lake

2005-01-13T02:42:00.000-08:00

Lake, northeastern Saskatchewan. It lies in the southern part of the Barren Grounds (a subarctic prairie region of northern Canada), 30 miles (50 km) northwest of Reindeer Lake. It is 70 miles (113 km) long and 25 miles (40 km) wide, has an area of 1,035 square miles (2,681 square km), and drains through two outlets: one northwestward through Fond du Lac River to Lake Athabasca and the Mackenzie River system,

Osheroff, Douglas D.

2005-01-11T11:59:00.000-08:00

Osheroff received a bachelor's degree (1967) from the California Institute of Technology and a doctorate (1973) from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He was a graduate student

Saar, Betye

2005-01-11T09:51:00.000-08:00

Saar studied design at the University of California at Los Angeles (B.A., 1949) and education and printmaking at California State University at Long Beach. In the early 1960s she created etchings

Floodgate

2005-01-08T09:35:00.000-08:00

Gate for shutting out or releasing the flow of water over spillways, in connection with the operation of a dam. Vertical lift, or radial, gates rise to permit flow under the gate but over the spillway crest. Drum gates rotate backward, lowering their tops and permitting a measured flow over the top of the gate. Drum gates present the fewest problems in the passage of ice

Macbeth

2005-01-08T00:09:00.000-08:00

King of Scots from 1040, the legend of whose life was the basis of Shakespeare's Macbeth. He was probably a grandson of King Kenneth II (reigned 971–995), and he married Gruoch, a descendant of King Kenneth III (reigned 997–1005). About 1031 Macbeth succeeded his father, Findlaech (Sinel in Shakespeare), as mormaer, or chief, in the province

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Diversity of forms

2005-01-06T06:19:00.000-08:00

Since an allegorical purpose can inform works of literature in a wide range of genres, it is not surprising to find that the largest allegories are epic in scope. A quest forms the narrative thread of both the Greek epic Odyssey and the Latin, Aeneid, and it is an allegory of the quest for heroic perfection; thus, allegory is aligned with the epic form. Romances, both prose

Aldington, Richard

2005-01-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

Educated at Dover College and London University, Aldington early attracted attention through his volumes of Imagist verse (see Imagists). In 1913 he married Hilda

Ternate Island

2005-01-04T22:17:00.000-08:00

Indonesian Pulau Ternate one of the northernmost of a line of Indonesian islands stretching southward along the western coast of the island of Halmahera to the Bacan Islands east of the Molucca Sea. Ternate Island, which lies within North Maluku propinsi (province), is situated 14 miles (23 km) west of Halmahera. The island is dominated by a volcano (5,646 feet [1,721 metres]) with three peaks. It has suffered from

Sex Chromosome

2005-01-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

Individuals having two X chromosomes (XX) are

Badminton

2005-01-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

Many badminton experts were surprised when 20-year-old Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark finished 1997 on top of the men's singles world rankings. At the Japan Open in January 1998, however, Gade Christensen easily defeated Luo Yigang of China to win the sport's first major event of the year and proved his number-one status was no accident. Gong Zhichao of China rose to the top of

Parallelism

2005-01-01T02:50:00.000-08:00

In rhetoric, component of literary style in both prose and poetry, in which coordinate ideas are arranged in phrases, sentences, and paragraphs that balance one element with another of equal importance and similar wording. The repetition of sounds, meanings, and structures serves to order, emphasize, and point out relations. In its simplest form parallelism consists

Szczecin

2004-12-31T22:48:00.000-08:00

German Stettin, port city and capital, Szczecin województwo (province), extreme northwestern Poland, on the western bank of the Oder River near its mouth, 40 miles (65 km) from the Baltic Sea. Shipbuilding and shipping are the main occupations. Evidence suggests that the area was first inhabited by seafaring people 2,500 years ago. In the 8th and 9th centuries Szczecin was a Slavic fishing and commercial

C.m.g.

2004-12-30T06:53:00.000-08:00

Companion of St. Michael and St. George, member of a British order of knighthood, though this class of the order does not confer knighthood. See Saint Michael and Saint George, The Most Distinguished Order of.

Vreeland, Diana Dalziel

2004-12-28T05:33:00.000-08:00

Diana Dalziel was the daughter of a Scottish father and an American mother in whose home the leading artists of the day were frequent guests. In 1914 the

Performing Arts

2004-12-27T23:37:00.000-08:00

Enckell, Rabbe (arnfinn)

2004-12-26T03:55:00.000-08:00

Enckell studied art in France and Italy. His first collection of impressionistic nature poems, Dikter, appeared in 1923. In this collection and a sequel, Flöjtblåsarlycka (1925; “The Flutist's Happiness”), Enckell describes with

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Fable

2004-12-25T09:14:00.000-08:00

The origins of fable are lost in the mists of time. Fables appear independently in ancient Indian and Mediterranean cultures. The Western tradition begins effectively with Aesop (6th century BC), of whom little or nothing is known for certain; but before him the Greek poet Hesiod (8th century BC) recounts the fable of the hawk and the nightingale, while fragments of similar

Lignin

2004-12-25T08:41:00.000-08:00

Complex oxygen-containing organic substance that, with cellulose, forms the chief constituent of wood. It is second only to cellulose as the most abundant organic material on Earth, though it has found relatively few industrial uses other than as a fuel. It is a mixture of complex, apparently polymeric compounds of poorly known structure. Lignin is concentrated

Baghdad

2004-12-23T09:40:00.000-08:00

Among the most important of Baghdad's museums are the Iraqi Museum (1923), containing important archaeological treasures from ancient Mesopotamian history; the National

Sa'adia Ben Joseph

2004-12-23T06:21:00.000-08:00

Arabic Sa'id Ibn Yusuf Al-fayyumi Jewish exegete, philosopher, and polemicist whose influence on Jewish literary and communal activities made him one of the most important Jewish scholars of his time. His unique qualities became especially apparent in 921 in Babylonia during a dispute over Jewish calendrical calculations. He produced his greatest

Madagascar, Plant and animal life

2004-12-22T11:38:00.000-08:00

Much of the island was once covered with evergreen and deciduous forest, but little now remains except on the eastern escarpment and in scattered pockets in the west. The plateau is particularly denuded and suffers seriously from erosion. The forest has been cut in order to clear rice fields, to obtain fuel and building materials, and to export valuable timber, such

Louvet, Jean

2004-12-20T09:38:00.000-08:00

Louvet was the son of a miner. As a young man, he was influenced by Existentialism, and left-wing politics led him into work in the theatre. Strongly autobiographical, his work goes beyond ideology to embrace the history of the Walloon people of southern

Griffith, D W

2004-12-19T15:13:00.000-08:00

D.W. Griffith, the son of Jacob Griffith, a former Confederate colonel, was born in a tiny hamlet not far from Louisville, Ky. He received his early education in one-room schools, largely under the tutelage of his older sister, and was subject to the strong influence of his father's imaginative stories of the Mexican and Civil wars and family readings of the works of Dickens,

Earth

2004-12-19T01:53:00.000-08:00

The mean distance of the Earth from the Sun is approximately 1.5 ´ 108 kilometres. The planet orbits the Sun in a path that is presently more nearly a circle than are the orbits of most other planets. The direction of the Earth's revolution—counterclockwise as viewed down from the north—is in the same sense (direction) as the rotation of the Sun; the Earth's spin, or rotation about

Aklavik

2004-12-17T22:29:00.000-08:00

Hamlet, Inuvik region, northwestern Northwest Territories, Canada. It is situated in the Mackenzie River delta near the Yukon border. Its Eskimo name can be translated “where there are bears.” Established as a Hudson's Bay Company trading post on the south bank of the Mackenzie River's West Channel in 1912, Aklavik was moved to the north bank in 1920. It is the site of a radio and meteorological

Baybars I

2004-12-17T07:30:00.000-08:00

Baybars was born

Shibin Al-kawm

2004-12-16T11:03:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Shebin El-Kom capital of Al-Minufiyah muhafazah (governorate), Lower Egypt. It lies 37 miles (60 km) northwest of Cairo in the southern Nile River delta. Its centre, 10 miles (16 km) east of the Rosetta Branch of the Nile, is situated on the west side of the Shibin Canal, which flows north from Al-Khayriyah Dam to irrigate a rich alluvial region growing cotton, flax, and cereals. Shibin Al-Kawm's manufactures include

Water Scorpion

2004-12-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

Any of the approximately 150 species of aquatic invertebrates of the family Nepidae (order Hemiptera). The water scorpion resembles a land scorpion in certain ways: it has scythelike front legs adapted for seizing prey and a long, thin, whiplike structure at its posterior end. This “tail,” made up of two attached respiratory tubes, is extended above the surface of the water,

Paleogeology

2004-12-14T06:15:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Palaeogeology, the geology of a region at any given time in the distant past. Paleogeologic reconstructions in map form show not only the ancient topography of a region but also the distribution of rocks beneath the surface and such structural features as faults and folds. Maps of this kind help investigators to better determine the instances of deformation events in a region,

Confession Of Faith

2004-12-13T18:33:00.000-08:00

The medieval Christian Church did not attempt an official codification of

Szolnok

2004-12-12T17:55:00.000-08:00

Town and seat of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok megye (county), east-central Hungary, at the confluence of the Zagyva and Tisza rivers. Under the Árpád kings (c. 890–1301) Szolnok was a market town and distributing centre for rock salt from the Maramures Mountains (now in Romania). Later in the European Middle Ages it was a strategic settlement fiercely contested by Magyars and Turks. In modern

Joyce, James

2004-12-10T16:13:00.000-08:00

In full James Augustine Aloysius Joyce Irish novelist noted for his experimental use of language and exploration of new literary methods in such large works of fiction as Ulysses (1922) and Finnegans Wake (1939).

Lae

2004-12-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

Port city, northeastern Papua New Guinea. It is located near the mouth of the Markham River on Huon Gulf. Commercial activities centre on the export of timber, plywood, and coffee (transported by road from Bulolo and Wau) and the produce from the Central Range, which is airfreighted. Lae is also the marketing centre for the agricultural produce of the surrounding

Wollongong

2004-12-09T05:54:00.000-08:00

City, coastal New South Wales, Australia, in the Illawara district. The village of Wollongong (founded 1816) became a town in 1843, a municipality in 1859, and a city in 1942. It was amalgamated with other municipalities and shires in 1947 to form the City of Wollongong, which extends for 30 miles (48 km) along the coast and occupies 276 square miles (715 square km). Originally dependent upon grazing and lumbering,

Young, Frederick Archibald ("freddie")

2004-12-08T02:33:00.000-08:00

British cinematographer whose visual flair and artistry added immeasurably to British films for more than 70 years, beginning with his work as an assistant cameraman on the 1922 silent Rob Roy. He was particularly known for the stunning beauty he brought to a series of films by director David Lean, three of which--Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Dr. Zhivago (1965), and Ryan's Daughter (1970)--earned

Mu'izz-ud-din Muhammad Ibn Sam

2004-12-06T23:30:00.000-08:00

Mu'izz-ud-Din's elder brother, Ghiyas-ud-Din, acquired power east of Herat in the region of Ghur (Ghowr, in present Afghanistan) c. 1162. Mu'izz-ud-Din always remained his brother's loyal subordinate. Thus Mu'izz-ud-Din expelled the Oguz Turkmen nomads from Ghazna (Ghazni) in 1173 and came

Religion

2004-12-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

Theological justifications for violence were attempted on several fronts in 1994, even while new ground was broken in ecumenical and interfaith relations. (For figures on Adherents of All Religions by Continent, see Table I; for Adherents in the U.S., see Table II.)Scholarly works on the life of Jesus and on the status of homosexuality in the early church drew attention and

Spruce Knob

2004-12-04T08:19:00.000-08:00

Highest point in West Virginia, U.S., located in the Allegheny Mountains in the eastern part of the state, about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of Elkins. Spruce Knob lies at an elevation of 4,863 feet (1,482 metres) at the southern end of Spruce Mountain, a ridge extending northeast-southwest along the western edge of Pendleton county. The peak, accessible by road from nearby Judy Gap, is within

Price System

2004-12-04T07:42:00.000-08:00

A means of organizing economic activity. It does this primarily by coordinating the decisions of consumers, producers, and owners of productive resources. Millions of economic agents who have no direct communication with each other are led by the price system to supply each other's wants. In a modern economy the price system enables a consumer to buy a product he

Lathe

2004-12-02T02:54:00.000-08:00

The lathe is one of the oldest and most important machine tools. Wood lathes were in use in France as early as 1569. During the Industrial Revolution in England the machine was adapted for metal cutting. The rotating horizontal spindle

Salaj

2004-11-30T15:31:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), northwestern Romania. The Western Carpathian Mountains of Romania, including the Ses Mountains, rise above settlement areas in the valleys. The county is drained northwestward by the Somes River and its tributaries. Zalau (q.v.) is the county capital. Metal products, building materials, timber, and foodstuffs are produced in Zalau and Simleu Silvaniei. Lignite

Raynaud's Disease

2004-11-30T03:08:00.000-08:00

Disease, occurring primarily in young women, in which spasms in the arteries to the fingers cause the fingertips of both hands to become first pale and then cyanotic—bluish—upon exposure to cold or in response to emotion. Often the fingertips become cold and numb and perspire. The fingers may ache and move awkwardly. If the attack is prolonged, the rest of the hands and

Display Behaviour

2004-11-29T10:05:00.000-08:00

Ritualized behaviour by which an animal provides specific information to others, usually members of its own species. Virtually all higher animals use displays to some extent. The best-known displays are visual ones—and some biologists restrict the term display to visual signals or gestures—but many also incorporate sound, smell, or even touch. Displays evolve

Pacific Islands, Trade

2004-11-27T21:30:00.000-08:00

Pacific islanders, as producers of agricultural, marine, and mineral commodities, face problems of market demand, labour supply, management skills, and transport that restrict them to an insignificant role in world export trade. Neither do the small, scattered populations present an attractive consumer market to overseas entrepreneurs. The combination of limited

Theatre, Western, Off-Broadway

2004-11-26T04:56:00.000-08:00

This phenomenon developed as a reaction to the commercialism of New York theatre. More experimental plays could be presented in smaller buildings outside the main theatre district. The artistic success of many of these productions meant that some writers (Edward Albee, for example), could graduate to Broadway. Off-Broadway also enabled black playwrights such

Díaz De Solís, Juan

2004-11-25T08:35:00.000-08:00

Solís had made a voyage to the Americas in 1508, before being commissioned to lead an expedition to an area 1,700 leagues (about 5,000 miles) south of the Isthmus of Panama and beyond. He led three vessels from Sanlúcar de Barrameda,

Roussillon

2004-11-24T22:29:00.000-08:00

Ruscino (near Perpignan) was settled by a people with markedly Iberian affinities from the 7th century BC to the latter part of the 3rd, when it came under the control of

Self-defense

2004-11-24T01:53:00.000-08:00

In general, killing is not a criminal act when the killer reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of losing his life from an assailant or of suffering serious bodily injury and that killing the assailant

Coquecigrue

2004-11-23T19:18:00.000-08:00

An imaginary creature regarded as an embodiment of absolute absurdity. François Rabelais in Gargantua uses the phrase à la venue des cocquecigrues to mean “never.” Charles Kingsley in The Water Babies has the fairy Bedonebyasyoudid report that there are seven things he is forbidden to tell until “the coming of the Cocqcigrues.” The word is of French origin.

Latin America

2004-11-22T16:48:00.000-08:00

The countries of South America and North America (including Central America and the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants speak a Romance language. Most frequently the term Latin America is restricted to countries whose inhabitants speak either Spanish or Portuguese, but the French-speaking areas of Haiti, French Guiana, and the French West Indies may also

Mcminnville

2004-11-20T23:38:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1886) of Yamhill county, northwestern Oregon, U.S., on the South Yamhill River. Settled in 1844 and named for McMinnville, Tennessee, it developed as a service centre for Yamhill Valley farmers. Linfield College (1849), affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, sponsors the Linfield Research Institute, a scientific laboratory. The economy is geared to lumber and food-processing

Ikhwan

2004-11-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

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

Tequila

2004-11-19T05:23:00.000-08:00

Distilled liquor, usually clear in colour and unaged, that is made from the fermented juice of the Mexican agave plant, specifically several varieties of Agave tequilana Weber. Tequila contains 40–50 percent alcohol (80–100 U.S. proof). The beverage, which was developed soon after the Spaniards introduced distillation to Mexico, is named for the town of Tequila in the Mexican state

Duars

2004-11-17T20:33:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Dwars, or Dooars, region of northeastern India, at the foot of the west Assam Himalayas. Its 3,400-square-mile (8,800-square-kilometre) area is divided by the Sankosh River into the Western and Eastern Duars. Both were ceded by Bhutan to the British at the end of the Bhutan War (1864–65). The Eastern Duars, in western Assam state, comprises a level plain intersected by numerous rivers and only slightly populated.

Carthage

2004-11-16T20:14:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Jasper county, southwestern Missouri, U.S. It lies along Spring River, just east of Joplin. Established in 1842, it was named for ancient Carthage. During the Civil War, it was a centre of border warfare and was destroyed by Confederate guerrillas in 1863; it was rebuilt in 1866. Carthage is an agricultural-trade centre (fruits, small grains, dairy products) and is noted for its

Catamaran

2004-11-16T18:40:00.000-08:00

Twin-hulled sailing and powered boat developed for sport and recreation in the second half of the 20th century. Its design is based on a raft of two logs bridged by planks that had earlier been used by peoples in the Indonesian archipelago and throughout Polynesia and Micronesia. Early catamarans were up to 21.3 m (70 ft) long, originally paddled by many men, and used for visiting,

Production Function

2004-11-14T04:56:00.000-08:00

The production function can

Hippolytus, Canons Of Saint

2004-11-13T15:35:00.000-08:00

These canons are neither the authentic work of St. Hippolytus nor the oldest church regulations but are a later adaptation of the Apostolic Tradition of St. Hippolytus. The unknown author

Caciquism

2004-11-13T00:18:00.000-08:00

The word cacique is of Indian origin but was adopted by the Spanish conquistadores and used to describe heads of Indian tribes or, in the more developed Indian states, governors of districts.

Yablonitsky Pass

2004-11-11T11:41:00.000-08:00

Russian Pereval Yablonitsky, also spelled Pereval Jablonickij, pass in the outer eastern Carpathians of western Ukraine, an important route connecting the rest of the republic with the isolated Zakarpatskaya oblast (administrative region) and with northeastern Romania. The southern portion of the pass is formed by the valley of the Tisa River, and the northern section contains the headwaters of the Prut. The head of the pass

Chemical Compound, Monoterpenes

2004-11-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

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

Sibasa

2004-11-08T08:56:00.000-08:00

Village, Northern province, South Africa. It was once the capital of the nonindependent black state of Venda. A station was established there in 1872 by Carl Beuster of the Berlin Mission. The village is an industrial growth centre just northeast of Thohoyandou and about 4 miles (7 km) north of the Luvuvhu River. Located at an elevation of 2,428 feet (740 m) and named after a Venda chief, Tshivhase,

Nicephorus Iii Botaneiates

2004-11-07T19:24:00.000-08:00

Nicephorus, who belonged to the military aristocracy of Asia Minor and who was related to the powerful Phocas family, became commander of the Anatolian theme (administrative district). When discontent against the government of