SecondLibrary

Margaret Of Parma

2005-04-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

The illegitimate daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain) and Johanna van der Gheenst, Margaret was married in 1536 to Alessandro de' Medici,

Rickets

2005-04-04T02:12:00.000-07:00

Vitamin D is a steroid hormone that is produced in the skin by the action of sunlight's ultraviolet rays on its precursor, 7-dehydrocholesterol (provitamin D3). Vitamin D is also absorbed from the diet, especially from irradiated milk, liver, and fish oils.

Drexel, Katharine, Saint

2005-04-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

Drexel was the daughter of the American financier and

Literary Criticism, Medieval period

2005-04-02T05:13:00.000-08:00

In the Christian Middle Ages criticism suffered from the loss of nearly all the ancient critical texts and from an antipagan distrust of the literary imagination. Such Church Fathers as Tertullian, Augustine, and Jerome renewed, in churchly guise, the Platonic argument against poetry. But both the ancient gods and the surviving classics reasserted their fascination,

Fence

2005-04-01T23:13:00.000-08:00

Barrier erected to confine or exclude people or animals, to define boundaries, or to decorate. Timber, earth, stone, and metal are widely used for fencing. Fences of living plants have been made in many places, such as the hedges of Great Britain and continental Europe and the cactus fences of Latin America. In well-timbered country, such as colonial and 19th-century North

Deficit Financing

2005-04-01T10:30:00.000-08:00

Practice in which a government spends more money than it receives as revenue, the difference being made up by borrowing or minting new funds. Although budget deficits may occur for numerous reasons, the term usually refers to a conscious attempt to stimulate the economy by lowering tax rates or increasing government expenditures. The influence of government

Brückner, Eduard

2005-03-31T19:20:00.000-08:00

German geographer and climatologist, noted for studies of the Alps and of Pleistocene glaciation and climatic fluctuations. He was especially interested in the effect of the ice ages on the surface features of the Earth. The Brückner climatic period, postulated in 1887, was a 35-year period with fluctuations of damp-cold and

Biblical Literature, The Gospel According to Mark: unique structure

2005-03-31T15:07:00.000-08:00

“The beginning of the Gospel” in the first words

Avogadro, Amedeo

2005-03-30T14:16:00.000-08:00

In full Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro, conte di Quaregna e Cerreto Italian mathematical physicist who showed in what became known as Avogadro's law that, under controlled conditions of temperature and pressure, equal volumes of gases contain an equal number of molecules.

Sorghum

2005-03-28T09:54:00.000-08:00

Cereal grain plant of the family Gramineae (Poaceae), probably originating in Africa, and its edible starchy seeds. All types raised chiefly for grain belong to the species Sorghum vulgare, which includes varieties of grain sorghums and grass sorghums, grown for hay and fodder, and broomcorn, used in making brooms and brushes. Grain sorghums include durra, milo, shallu,

Vaughan, Frankie

2005-03-28T04:57:00.000-08:00

British theatre and cabaret singer who was one of the most popular romantic crooners of the 1950s through the '90s; darkly handsome and elegantly dressed, “Mr. Moonlight” (as he was known from his signature tune, “Give Me the Moonlight”) also appeared on television in Britain, the U.S., and across Europe and in motion pictures, notably in a musical number with Marilyn Monroe in Let's

Intel Corporation

2005-03-26T17:32:00.000-08:00

The company was founded in 1968 by Robert Noyce and Gordon

Camaieu

2005-03-26T14:33:00.000-08:00

Plural Camaieux, painting technique by which an image is executed either entirely in shades of a single colour or in several tints unnatural to the object, figure, or scene represented. When a picture is monochromatically rendered in gray, it is called grisaille; when in yellow, cirage. Originating in the ancient world, camaieu was used in miniature painting to simulate cameos and

Nägeli, Karl Wilhelm Von

2005-03-26T11:38:00.000-08:00

Nägeli received his earliest training from the German nature-philosopher Lorenz Oken and later studied botany under Augustin Pyrame de Candolle at the University of Geneva. He continued his botanical studies under Matthias Jakob Schleiden at the University of Jena and began

Literature, Latin America.

2005-03-25T03:12:00.000-08:00

Carlos Fuentes

Irtysh River

2005-03-24T07:00:00.000-08:00

Kazak Ertis , Chinese (Wade-Giles) O-erh-ch'i-ssu Ho or (Pinyin) Ertix He

Théâtre-libre

2005-03-24T05:04:00.000-08:00

(French: Free Theatre), independent, private theatre founded in Paris in 1887 by André Antoine, which became the proving ground for the new naturalistic drama. Antoine, an amateur actor, was influenced by the naturalistic novels of Émile Zola and by the theatrical realism of the Meiningen Company. Antoine believed that environment shaped character and behaviour, and he

Aquino, Benigno Simeon, Jr.

2005-03-23T01:59:00.000-08:00

The grandson of a Philippine general and the son of a well-known politician and landowner,

San Felipe

2005-03-22T10:32:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Yaracuy estado (“state”), northwestern Venezuela. It lies on the flanks of the eastern portion of the Segovia Highlands, at an elevation of 1,800 feet (550 m) above sea level. San Felipe is a commercial and manufacturing centre in the fertile Yaracuy River valley. Much of the sugarcane, cotton, cacao, corn (maize), fruit, rice, and hides produced there are sent to Barquisimeto

Yam

2005-03-22T07:19:00.000-08:00

True yams are botanically distinct

Devo

2005-03-21T23:53:00.000-08:00

Formed

Bahr Al-'arab

2005-03-21T02:44:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Bahr el-Arab intermittent river of southwestern Sudan, rising northeast of the Tondou (Bongo) Massif, near the border with the Central African Republic. The river flows 500 miles (800 km) east-southeast to join the Bahr al-Ghazal, a tributary of the Nile River, at Ghabat al-'Arab. It is not navigable and is subject to floods in summer.

Baltic Sea

2005-03-21T02:18:00.000-08:00

The largest expanse of brackish water in the world, the semienclosed and relatively shallow Baltic Sea is of great interest to scientists, while to historians it

Selim Ii

2005-03-19T15:26:00.000-08:00

Selim,

Scherrer, Paul

2005-03-19T04:33:00.000-08:00

Scherrer spent most of his life in Zürich, where he was professor of physics (1916–60) and director (1920–60) of the Physics

Foraminiferan

2005-03-18T11:20:00.000-08:00

Any unicellular organism of the rhizopodan order Foraminiferida (formerly Foraminifera), characterized by long, fine pseudopodia that extend from a uninucleated or multinucleated cytoplasmic body encased within a test, or shell. Depending on the species, the test ranges in size from minute to more than 5 cm (2 inches) in diameter and varies in shape, number of chambers,

Naguib, Muhammad

2005-03-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

A professional soldier, Naguib distinguished himself during the Egyptian defeat at the hands of Israel (1948) and won the respect of the Free Officers, a nationalist military group led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. In 1952 the Free

'abd Allah Ibn Sa'd Ibn Abi Sarh

2005-03-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

Governor of Upper (southern) Egypt for the Muslim caliphate during the reign of 'Uthman (644–656) and the cofounder, with the future caliph Mu'awiyah I, of the first Muslim navy, which seized Cyprus (647–649), Rhodes, and Cos (Dodecanese Islands) and defeated a Byzantine fleet off Alexandria in 652. He shared in the direction of the Muslim fleet that defeated the Byzantine navy in the battle of

Scheler, Max

2005-03-16T13:23:00.000-08:00

In 1901 Scheler became a lecturer at the University of Jena; by that time he had already been influenced by Husserl. Scheler later met several of Husserl's disciples

Law, Crime, And Law Enforcement, Other Issues.

2005-03-16T06:29:00.000-08:00

That not all disputes were susceptible to peaceful means of settlement was shown when a sudden border war flared up between Peru and Ecuador in January over a 77-km (48-mi) stretch of disputed land along the Cenepa River. The hostilities, which involved ground and air troops, were ended by a treaty signed in Brasília, Brazil, on February 17 providing for negotiations toward

Yazata

2005-03-16T01:27:00.000-08:00

In Zoroastrianism, member of an order of angels created by Ahura Mazda to help him maintain the flow of the world order and quell the forces of Ahriman and his demons. They gather the light of the Sun and pour it on the Earth. Their help is indispensable in aiding man to purify and elevate himself. They teach him to dispel demons and free himself of the future torments of

Locomotion

2005-03-15T19:24:00.000-08:00

In ethology, any of a variety of movements among animals that results in progression from one place to another.

Orange

2005-03-15T13:25:00.000-08:00

Town (township), New Haven county, southwestern Connecticut, U.S., west of New Haven on the Housatonic River. Originally a part of Milford colony (on land bought from the Paugusset Indians and settled in 1639), it was known as North Milford. In 1822 the latter joined with part of New Haven to be incorporated as the town of Orange, named for William III, prince of Orange. In 1921 West Haven seceded

Indian Hemp

2005-03-15T04:37:00.000-08:00

Also called Hemp Dogbane (species Apocynum cannabinum), North American plant of the dogbane family Apocynaceae (order Gentianales). It is a branched perennial that grows up to 1.5 m (5 feet) tall and has smooth opposite leaves and small greenish white flowers. Indians used the fibres from the stem to make bags, mats, nets, and cordage. Its milky juice, or latex, yields rubber, and the dried roots of Indian

Obihiro

2005-03-14T20:21:00.000-08:00

City, southern Hokkaido, Japan, on the Tokachi River. Founded in 1883, it became the administrative capital of Tokachi subprefecture in 1897. The arrival of two railway lines in the early 1900s made Obihiro a trade centre of agricultural products grown in the surrounding Tokachi Plain. Obihiro's industries are based on food processing; the city contains one of the largest beet-sugar

Wright, James

2005-03-13T22:20:00.000-08:00

After serving in the U.S. Army in World War II, Wright studied under John Crowe Ransom at Kenyon College in

Robert The Devil

2005-03-13T02:03:00.000-08:00

French Robert Le Diable, legendary son of a duke of Normandy, born in answer to prayers addressed to the devil. He uses his immense strength only for crime. Directed by the pope to consult a certain holy hermit, he is delivered from his curse by maintaining absolute silence, feigning madness, taking his food from the mouth of a dog, and provoking ill-treatment from the common people without retaliating.

Jouhaux, Léon

2005-03-12T23:55:00.000-08:00

A worker in a match factory from the age of 16, Jouhaux soon became one of the leading propagandists of revolutionary syndicalism. He was national secretary of the matchworkers' union

Burgess, Guy; And Maclean, Donald (duart)

2005-03-12T08:06:00.000-08:00

At the University of Cambridge in the 1930s Burgess and Maclean were part of a group of relatively privileged young men who shared a fashionable disdain for capitalist democracy. Recruited

Ammann, Othmar Herman

2005-03-10T11:31:00.000-08:00

In 1904 Ammann immigrated to the United States, where he helped design railroad bridges. Joining the Pennsylvania Steel Company the following

Binchois, Gilles

2005-03-10T09:18:00.000-08:00

Binchois was in Paris in 1424 serving William de la Pole, earl of Suffolk, and returned with him to Hainaut in 1425. In 1430 Binchois joined the chapel of Philip III

Eakins, Thomas

2005-03-10T05:55:00.000-08:00

Lloyd Goodrich, Thomas Eakins: His Life and Work (1933), is the principal monograph on Eakins. Other books of interest on the subject are Fairfield Porter, Thomas Eakins (1959); and Sylvan Schendler, Eakins (1967). The largest collection of works by Thomas Eakins is to be found in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. There are also substantial collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the Yale University Art Gallery.

Sangoan Industry

2005-03-10T04:05:00.000-08:00

The Sangoan industry was discovered in 1920 at Sango Bay, Uganda, and is also found in Angola, Congo (Kinshasa), Kenya, and Zambia. Variant forms

Termite

2005-03-09T00:36:00.000-08:00

Any of the cellulose-eating social insects that constitute the order Isoptera. Although they are referred to popularly as white ants, they are not closely related to ants, which are grouped with bees and wasps in a higher order of insects, the Hymenoptera. The social system of termites shows remarkable parallels with those of the Hymenoptera,

Abu Simbel

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

Also spelled Abu Sunbul

Height, Dorothy

2005-03-08T05:11:00.000-08:00

Reared in Rankin, Pennsylvania, Height graduated in 1933 from New York University with both bachelor's and master's degrees in educational psychology.

Trade, Terms Of

2005-03-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

Relationship between the prices at which a country sells its exports and the prices paid for its imports. If the prices of a country's exports rise relative to the prices of its imports, one says that its terms of trade have moved in a favourable direction, because, in effect, it now receives more imports for each unit of goods exported. The terms of trade, which depend on

Williams, Hank

2005-03-06T03:47:00.000-08:00

Williams began playing the guitar at the age of 8, made his radio debut at 13, and formed his first band, Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys, at age 14. His series of recordings in 1947 on the M-G-M label won

Dolomites

2005-03-06T02:13:00.000-08:00

Italian Alpi Dolomitiche, mountain group lying in the eastern section of the northern Italian Alps, bounded by the valleys of the Isarco (northwest), the Pusteria (north), the Piave (east and southeast), the Brenta (southwest), and the Adige (west). The range comprises a number of impressive peaks, 18 of which rise to more than 10,000 ft (3,050 m). The highest point is the Marmolada (10,964 ft), the southern face of which consists of

France, History Of, The prewar years

2005-03-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

From 1899 to 1905 a fairly coherent coalition of left-wing and centre parties (the so-called Bloc Républicain) provided France with stable government. The Cabinets headed by Waldeck-Rousseau in 1899–1902 and Émile Combes in 1902–1905 managed to liquidate the Dreyfus affair and to carry through the anticlerical reforms that culminated in the separation of church and state. The Entente Cordiale

Porch

2005-03-05T05:15:00.000-08:00

There is little material evidence of the existence of the porch before the period of Classical antiquity, although Egyptian

Arab-israeli Wars

2005-03-04T22:23:00.000-08:00

The first war immediately followed the proclamation of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948. Arab forces from Egypt, Transjordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon occupied the areas in southern and eastern Palestine not apportioned to the Jews, then captured the small Jewish quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem

Melilite

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

Any member of a series of silicate minerals that consist of calcium silicates of aluminum and magnesium; gehlenite is the aluminous end-member and åkermanite the magnesian end-member. These minerals crystallize from calcium-rich, alkaline magmas and from many artificial melts and blast-furnace slags. They occur in thermally metamorphosed limestones at contact

Priesthood

2005-03-03T18:49:00.000-08:00

The function of the priest as the mediator and maintainer of the equilibrium between the sacred and the profane in human society, and as the stabilizer of the social structures and the cultic organizations, determines the various criteria for holding the priestly office. In preliterate society the functions are accomplished by ritual experts who are trained

Saint, Judaism

2005-03-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

The cult of saints in terms of veneration was not a part of the monotheistic religion of Israel. Saintliness, however, was an ideal that many hoped to exhibit. The model of a pious person is depicted in the righteous one of Psalm 5, “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” In the Hellenistic period (c. 300 BC—c. AD 300), when many Jews were susceptible to foreign

Jansch, Bert

2005-03-02T15:45:00.000-08:00

Influenced by American folk-blues performers such as Big Bill Broonzy, Jansch was part of the folk scene in Edinburgh,

Beneden, Edouard (joseph Louis-marie) Van

2005-03-01T17:00:00.000-08:00

During his early years, van Beneden worked with his father, P.J. van Beneden, a professor of zoology at the Catholic University in Louvain, who was noted for his studies on protozoans,

Rodin, Auguste

2005-03-01T01:16:00.000-08:00

In full François-Auguste-René Rodin French sculptor of sumptuous bronze and marble figures, considered by some critics to be the greatest portraitist in the history of sculpture. His La Porte de l'Enfer (The Gates of Hell; see photograph), commissioned in 1880 for the future Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, remained unfinished at his death but nonetheless

Akkadian Language

2005-02-28T06:25:00.000-08:00

Akkadian spread across an area extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf during the time of Sargon (Akkadian Sharrum-kin) of the Akkad dynasty, who reigned from about 2334 to about 2279 BC. By about 2000 Akkadian had supplanted Sumerian as the spoken language

Cinecittà

2005-02-28T05:26:00.000-08:00

The studios were rebuilt after the war,

Spa

2005-02-27T11:17:00.000-08:00

The practice of “taking the waters” for therapeutic purposes reached its heyday in the 19th century, but springs have been considered places of healing at many

Germanic Religion And Mythology, Worship

2005-02-26T21:47:00.000-08:00

Sacrifice often was conducted in the open or in groves and forests. The human sacrifice to the tribal god of the Semnones, described by Tacitus, took place in a sacred grove; other examples of sacred groves include the one in which Nerthus usually resides. Tacitus does, however, mention temples in Germany, though they were probably few. Old English laws mention fenced

Vajrayogini

2005-02-26T20:36:00.000-08:00

In Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism), female embodiment of the cognitive function leading to Buddhahood. Vajrayana emphasizes experience over speculation but uses the terms of speculative philosophical Buddhism in an imaginative way. This practice means that images taken from the ordinary life of the individual become the means to further a deeper understanding

Alienation

2005-02-26T11:46:00.000-08:00

In social sciences, the state of feeling estranged or separated from one's milieu, work, products of work, or self. Despite its popularity in the analysis of contemporary life, the idea of alienation remains an ambiguous concept with elusive meanings, the following variants being most common: (1) powerlessness, the feeling that one's destiny is not under one's own control

Drake, Alfred

2005-02-24T20:38:00.000-08:00

While a junior at Brooklyn College, Drake joined a summer company performing Gilbert and

Camar

2005-02-24T20:07:00.000-08:00

Widespread caste in northern India whose hereditary occupation is tanning leather; the name is derived from the Sanskrit word carmakara, or “skin worker.” The more than 150 subcastes are characterized by well-organized panchayats (governing councils). Because their work obliged them to handle dead animals, the Camars have suffered from the stigma of being considered

Haná Valley

2005-02-24T08:12:00.000-08:00

Agricultural region of southern Severomoravský kraj (region) and northeastern Jihomoravský kraj, eastern Czech Republic. A plain formed by the confluence of the Blata, Romze, Becva, Moštenka, Valová, and Haná rivers and the Morava, its very fertile soils support wheat, barley, corn (maize), and sugar beet cultivation and poultry and pig rearing. The people, called Hanáki, speak

Seven Oaks Massacre

2005-02-24T01:36:00.000-08:00

On June 19, 1816, a party of about 60 Métis (persons of mixed European and Indian blood) under Cuthbert Grant, a North West Company employee, set out to run provisions for North West Company canoes past the Red River colony; they plundered some

Media And Publishing, Amateur Radio.

2005-02-23T14:59:00.000-08:00

Despite the rise of the Internet, more than two million people throughout the world in 1997 continued to communicate over the air as amateur radio operators. Most of these hams--nearly 700,000, by the FCC's count--were in the U.S. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) reported that it started off the year with 175,000 members, the most in its 83-year history. Hams used their radios mostly for personal

Caldecott Medal

2005-02-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

Annual prize awarded “to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.” It was established in 1938 by Frederic G. Melcher, chairman of the board of the R.R. Bowker Publishing Company, and named for the 19th-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is presented at the annual conference of the American Library Association along with the

Solaro Della Margarita, Clemente, Count

2005-02-23T04:30:00.000-08:00

Entering the Piedmontese diplomatic service in 1816, Solaro della Margarita rose to become foreign minister in 1835. He pursued a policy of cautious neutrality between France and Austria while opposing constitutional reform at home. When agitation

Gerry, Elbridge

2005-02-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

In 1812 Gerry, an ardent supporter of war with Great Britain in the War of 1812, was elected vice president of the United States on the Jeffersonian Republican ticket with Madison. In 1813, while presiding over the Senate, Gerry, who along with Madison was in ill health, refused to yield his chair at the close of the legislative session, thus preventing William Giles, a senator from Virginia and an advocate of peace with Britain, from becoming president pro tempore of the Senate and thereby second in line (after the vice president) to succeed the president under the Presidential Succession Act of 1792. Gerry suffered a hemorrhage of the lungs on his way to the Senate and died in 1814.

Heteropteran

2005-02-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

Any member of the insect order Heteroptera, which comprises the so-called true bugs. (Some authorities use the name Hemiptera; others consider both the heteropterans and the homopterans to be suborders of the Hemiptera.) This large group of insects, consisting of about 30,000 species, can be recognized by an X-shaped design on the back, which is formed by the wings at rest. A combination

Chabot, Philippe De, Seigneur (lord) De Brion

2005-02-20T23:32:00.000-08:00

A companion of Francis I in his childhood, he rose to prominence after that King's accession (1515). In the war between Francis and the Holy

Hellenistic Religion

2005-02-20T08:38:00.000-08:00

The conquests of Alexander opened the way for religious interchange between East and West; the political structures left behind by Alexander and continued by his successors provided strong incentives for the hellenization of native religions. Characteristic of this first period of Hellenistic religious history were the following developments: (1) the introduction

Roper River

2005-02-20T07:52:00.000-08:00

River in Northern Territory, Australia, formed by the confluence of Waterhouse River and Beswick Creek east of Mataranka and flowing east for 250 miles (400 km) to Limmen Bight on the Gulf of Carpentaria. It marks the southern limit of the rugged region known as Arnhem Land. The flow of the river system, which drains an area of 23,500 square miles (60,860 square km), increases greatly during

Level

2005-02-19T17:21:00.000-08:00

Device for establishing a horizontal plane. It consists of a small glass tube containing alcohol or similar liquid and an air bubble; the tube is sealed and fixed horizontally in a wooden or metallic block or frame with a smooth lower surface. The glass tube is slightly bowed, and adjustment to the horizontal is indicated by movement of the bubble. The device is on a

Halfbeak

2005-02-19T13:13:00.000-08:00

Any of about 70 species of marine and freshwater fishes of the family Exocoetidae (order Atheriniformes), sometimes placed in the family Hemirhamphidae. Halfbeaks are named for their unusual jaws—the upper is short and triangular, and the lower is long, slim, and beaklike. The fish are silvery, slender, and up to about 45 centimetres (18 inches) long. They can skip across the water

Mauritania, Independence

2005-02-18T00:19:00.000-08:00

Mauritania's small political elite was divided over whether the country should be oriented more toward Senegal and French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa or toward Arab-Muslim Morocco—whose leaders sought to absorb Mauritania. The winning faction, under Sidi el-Moktar N'Diaye and his political successor, Ould Daddah, chose independence—which the country declared

Percussion

2005-02-17T20:29:00.000-08:00

In medicine, diagnostic procedure that entails striking the body directly or indirectly with short, sharp taps of a finger or, rarely, a hammer. The procedure was first described in 1761 by the Austrian physician Leopold Auenbrugger von Auenbrugg. Although generally ignored by his contemporaries, it is now routinely employed. The sounds produced by the procedure are

Frederick

2005-02-16T18:18:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1907) of Tillman county, southwestern Oklahoma, U.S. With the opening of the Kiowa-Apache-Comanche reservation to settlement in 1901, the community grew up around a stop on the Blackwell, Enid, and Southwestern Railway. Initially known as Gosnell and renamed in 1902 for the son of railroad magnate J.C. van Blarcom, Frederick developed as a shipping point for locally produced

Zaghwan

2005-02-16T18:00:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Zaghouan, town, northeastern Tunisia. It lies on the fertile, northern slope of Mount Zaghwan at an elevation of 4,247 feet (1,295 m). It is built on the ancient Roman site of Zigus. Parts of a Roman aqueduct and canal network built in the 2nd century BC under the emperor Hadrian are still used to bring water from Zaghwan to Tunis. The importance of Zaghwan water is reflected in the location there of a Roman

Pacific Ocean, Temperature

2005-02-16T03:20:00.000-08:00

The surface zone, where temperature variations are perceptible, is between 300 and 1,000 feet thick. It is more compressed in the temperate Eastern Pacific, along the coasts of North and Central America,

United States, Animal life

2005-02-15T14:37:00.000-08:00

The mammals of the two coasts are strikingly different, though true seals (the harbour seal and the harp seal) are found on both. The sea lions, with longer necks and with projecting ears, are found only in the Pacific—the California sea lion, the more northern Steller's sea lion, and the fur seal. On the East Coast the larger rivers of Florida are inhabited by the Florida manatee, or sea cow, a close relative of the more widespread and more distinctively marine West Indian species.

Francis I

2005-02-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

Also called (until 1515) Francis Of Angoulême, French François D'angoulême king of France (1515–47), the first of five monarchs of the Angoulême branch of the House of Valois. A Renaissance patron of the arts and scholarship, a humanist, and a knightly king, he waged campaigns in Italy (1515–16) and fought a series of wars with the Holy Roman Empire (1521–44).

O'brien, Flann

2005-02-14T18:42:00.000-08:00

O'Brien was educated in Dublin and later became a civil servant while also pursuing his writing career. He is most celebrated for his unusual novel At Swim-Two-Birds, which, though it was first published in 1939, achieved fame

Ariano Irpino

2005-02-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

Town, Avellino provincia, Campania regione, southern Italy. It is situated on a rocky eminence in the Apennines, east of Benevento, in a fertile district that has often been devastated by earthquakes. There is a castle of Norman origin and a 16th-century cathedral in Ariano Irpino. Cave dwellings can still be seen in the vicinity. Cement, pottery, and textiles are manufactured

Rwanda Language

2005-02-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

Rwanda also spelled Ruanda , also called Kinyarwanda a Bantu language spoken by some eight million people primarily in Rwanda and to a lesser extent in Burundi, Congo (Kinshasa), Uganda, and Tanzania. The Bantu languages form a subgroup of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Rwanda is closely related to the Rundi language of Burundi.

Wild-water Racing

2005-02-13T04:45:00.000-08:00

International competition,

Ataxia

2005-02-12T06:22:00.000-08:00

Most hereditary ataxias of neurological origin are caused by degeneration of the spinal cord and cerebellum; other parts of the nervous system are also frequently involved. The most common of these is Friedreich ataxia, named after the German neurologist

Visconti, Luchino

2005-02-12T04:13:00.000-08:00

In full Don Luchino Visconti, Conte (count) Di Modrone Italian motion-picture director whose realistic treatment of individuals caught in the conflicts of modern society contributed significantly to the post-World War II revolution in Italian filmmaking and earned him the title of father of Neorealism. He also established himself as an innovative theatrical and opera director in the years

Levitation

2005-02-11T23:49:00.000-08:00

Rising of a human body off the ground, in apparent defiance of the law of gravity. The term designates such alleged occurrences in the lives of saints and of spiritualist mediums, generally during a séance; levitation of furniture and other objects during a séance has also been reported. Levitation of witches and other figures of folklore is called transvection

Ska

2005-02-10T23:31:00.000-08:00

Pioneered by the operators of powerful mobile discos called sound systems, ska evolved in the late 1950s from an early Jamaican form of rhythm and blues that emulated American rhythm and blues, especially that produced in New Orleans, Louisiana. A new beat emerged that mixed the shuffling rhythm of American pianist Rosco Gordon

Nerchinsk, Treaty Of

2005-02-10T11:06:00.000-08:00

(1689), peace settlement between Russia and the Manchu Chinese empire that checked Russia's eastward expansion by removing its outposts from the Amur River basin. By the treaty's terms Russia lost easy access to the Sea of Okhotsk and Far Eastern markets but secured its claim to Transbaikalia (the area east of Lake Baikal) and gained the right of passage to Beijing for its

Sarasate, Pablo De

2005-02-10T00:39:00.000-08:00

Beginning his violin studies at the age of five, Sarasate gave his first performance at age eight and later studied at the Paris Conservatory. In 1859 he began the concert tours that made him famous throughout the world. His playing was particularly admired for sweetness and

Trade Fair

2005-02-09T22:31:00.000-08:00

Temporary market organized to promote trade, where buyers and sellers gather to transact business. Trade fairs are organized at regular intervals, generally at the same location and period of the year, and usually last for several weeks. Such fairs assumed an increasingly important role in international trade during the 20th century. This was particularly evident

Middot

2005-02-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

(Hebrew: “measure,” or “norms”), in Jewish hermeneutics or biblical interpretation, methods or principles used to explicate the meaning of biblical words or passages to meet the exigencies of new situations. Though the rules, or norms, were probably developing in early Hellenistic Judaism, the first known middot were compiled by Rabbi Hillel in the 1st century BC. Following

Paulo Afonso Falls

2005-02-09T01:22:00.000-08:00

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.

Aydin Dynasty

2005-02-08T03:49:00.000-08:00

Turkmen dynasty (c. 1308–1425) that ruled in the Aydin-Izmir region in western Anatolia. Situated in a prosperous coastal region, the Aydin principality was active in the Mediterranean trade. As a frontier state between the declining Byzantine Empire and the growing Ottoman state, it had a monopoly in providing mercenary troops to rival Byzantine factions, and it also offered

Sashimi

2005-02-07T21:26:00.000-08:00

Specialty of Japanese cuisine, fresh fish served raw. The fish, which must be utterly fresh, is sliced paper thin or alternately one-quarter to one-half inch (0.75–1.5 centimetres) thick, cubed, or cut in strips, according to the nature of the fish. The sashimi is accompanied by wasabi (green horseradish paste) and soy sauce. Sashimi is always part of a formal Japanese meal, served early