SuddenWheel

Hybrid

2006-01-26T20:00:00.000-08:00

Offspring of parents that differ in genetically determined traits. The parents may be of different species, genera, or (rarely) families. The term hybrid, therefore, has a wider application than the terms mongrel or crossbreed, which usually refer to animals or plants resulting from a cross between two races, breeds, strains, or varieties of the same species. There are

Bhaktapur

2005-11-17T21:50:00.000-08:00

Also called Bhatgaon , or Bhadgaon town, central Nepal, in the Nepal Valley, southeast of Kathmandu. Said to have been founded by Raja Ananda Malla in 865, it was for 200 years the most important settlement in the valley. The old palace in Durbar Square, built in 1700, is well preserved and has beautifully carved woodwork and a finely worked gilt gateway. Opposite, on a stone pillar, is the copper-gilt figure of King Bhupatindra

Dominus

2005-10-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

Plural Domini, in ancient Rome, “master,” or “owner,” particularly of slaves. The name became the official title for the emperor, beginning with Diocletian, who reigned from AD 284 to 305; and thus he and his successors are often referred to as the dominate (dominatus), as contrasted with the earlier principate (principatus) of Augustus and his successors. Some earlier emperors, such as Caligula (reigned

Oyo

2005-07-28T15:35:00.000-07:00

State, western Nigeria. Oyo was reduced in size when Osun state was created out of its eastern portion in 1991. Oyo is bounded by the states of Kwara on the north, Osun on the east, and Ogun on the south and by the Republic of Benin on the west. Oyo state is traversed by the Yoruba Hills in the north. The state has some tropical rain forest in the south around Ibadan, the state capital,

Houseleek

2005-07-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

Also called Live-forever, any of numerous low-growing succulent plants constituting the genus Sempervivum, about 40 species, in the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae), native to Europe, Morocco, and western Asia. The name houseleek refers to the growth of some species on thatched roofs in Europe; “live-forever” indicates their hardiness and durability. Houseleeks usually have thick fleshy leaves

Subiaco

2005-07-24T10:15:00.000-07:00

Ancient (Latin) Sublaqueum town, Roma provincia, Lazio (Latium) regione, central Italy. It lies along the Aniene River, 1,345 feet (410 m) above sea level, about 45 miles (73 km) east of Rome. Its ancient name recalls its position below three small lakes where the emperor Nero built a villa. An inundation destroyed the lakes in 1305, and only traces remain of the villa. St. Benedict retired as a hermit (c. 494) to a cave, Sacro Speco (“Holy

Ariobarzanes

2005-07-07T00:20:00.000-07:00

Persian satrap (provincial governor) of Phrygia after about 387. The son of a nobleman, he cultivated the friendship of Athens and Sparta and, about 366, led the unsuccessful revolt of the satraps of western Anatolia against the Persian king Artaxerxes II (reigned 404–359/358 BC).

Irish Terrier

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

Dog developed in Ireland, one of the oldest breeds of terriers. Nicknamed the “daredevil,” it has earned the reputation of being adaptable, loyal, spirited, and recklessly courageous. It served as a messenger and sentinel dog in World War I, and it has been used to hunt and to retrieve game. The Irish terrier is a sturdily built dog with racier lines than those of other terriers.

Burano Lace

2005-06-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

Lace made on the island of Burano, near Venice. Until the early 19th century, there had been a Burano lace industry producing copies of 18th-century French lace. By midcentury it was virtually extinct. When in 1872 attempts were made to revive the lace industry to provide relief to the islanders after a ruinous winter, one elderly inhabitant was found who remembered the technique.

Santa Anna, Antonio López De

2005-06-17T05:05:00.000-07:00

The son of a minor colonial official, Santa Anna served in the Spanish army and rose to the rank of captain. He fought on both sides of nearly every issue of the day. In 1821 he supported Agustín de Iturbide and the

Algebra, Modern, Structural axioms

2005-06-13T23:50:00.000-07:00

The basic rules, or axioms, for addition and multiplication are shown in the table, and a set that satisfies all 10 of these rules is called a field. A set satisfying only axioms 1–7 is called a ring, and if it also satisfies axiom 9 it is called a ring with unity. A ring satisfying the commutative law of multiplication (axiom 8) is known as a commutative ring. When axioms 1–9 hold and there

Parks, Rosa

2005-06-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

Parks attended Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) and made her living as a seamstress. In 1943 she became

Bridgewater Canal

2005-05-31T13:55:00.000-07:00

The duke wanted a canal to facilitate transporting coal from his mines at Worsley to Manchester, a distance of 10 miles (16 km),

Grafton

2005-05-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

City and port, northeastern New South Wales, Australia, 42 mi (68 km) from the mouth of the Clarence River (and its Pacific outport of Yamba), in the North Coast district. The site was first settled in 1838 when the area was exploited by cedar getters. The city was proclaimed in 1885 and increased in size in 1956 by merging the municipalities of Grafton and South Grafton (both named after the Duke

Laja River

2005-05-15T02:30:00.000-07:00

Spanish in full Río De La Laja, river in Guanajuato estado (“state”), north-central Mexico. After rising in the Sierra Madre Occidental near San Felipe (Doctor Hernandez Alvarez), the Laja arches eastward and then southeastward through the central plateau, past the cities of Dolores Hidalgo, San Miguel de Allende, Comonfort, and San Miguel Octopan. It joins the Apaseo River, a tributary of the Lerma River,

Franciabigio

2005-03-15T00:24:00.000-08:00

Also called �Francesco Di Cristofano, Francesco Giudini, or Giudici � Italian Renaissance painter, best known for his portraits and religious paintings, whose style included early Renaissance, High Renaissance, and Proto-Mannerist elements. His early style is filled with movement and attention to descriptive detail, strongly reminiscent of 15th-century Italian painting. Later, he was attracted to the Florentine

Godavari River

2005-03-14T02:37:00.000-08:00

Sacred river of central India. It rises in the Western Ghats 50 miles (80 km) from the Arabian Sea and flows generally eastward across the Deccan Plateau, along the Maharashtra - Andhra Pradesh border and across Andhra Pradesh state, turning southeastward for the last 200 miles (320 km) of its course before reaching the Bay of Bengal. There it empties via its two mouths: the Gautami

Nero

2005-03-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

In full �Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus�, also called (AD 50 - 54) �Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus�, original name �Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus� the fifth Roman emperor (AD 54 - 68), stepson and heir of the emperor Claudius. He became infamous for his personal debaucheries and extravagances and, on doubtful evidence, for his burning of Rome and persecutions of Christians.

Bendix, Vincent

2005-03-10T18:50:00.000-08:00

At the age of 16, Bendix ran away from home to New York City, where he studied engineering at night school. In 1907 he organized the Bendix Company of Chicago and produced more than 7,000 automobiles before the company failed in 1909. He developed the

Mellitus Of Canterbury, Saint

2005-03-09T05:21:00.000-08:00

Mellitus, a Roman and the son of a noble family, may have been the abbot of St. Andrew's monastery in Rome before he was summoned to the missionary field

Bushehr

2005-03-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

Coastal region, southwestern Iran, bordering the Persian Gulf on the west and bounded by the regions of Hormozgan and Fars on the southeast and east and Khuzestan on the northwest. Inland the region is part of the Zagros Mountains and consists of fingers of upland within a plateau. The Shapur River drains the region and serves as an inland waterway from the coast of the Persian

Pacific Ocean, Tropical storms

2005-03-07T18:33:00.000-08:00

Although, in general, the climatic conditions of the trade-wind belts are characteristically regular and uniform, storms of great violence do originate there. In such storms, winds of exceptionally great force spiral inward toward a centre of exceedingly low atmospheric pressure. These are the tropical storms known in the western Pacific as typhoons. While the

Franc

2005-03-06T18:02:00.000-08:00

Originally a French coin but now the monetary unit of a number of countries, notably Switzerland, most French and former Belgian overseas territories, and some African states; at one time it was also the currency of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The name was first applied to a gold coin minted by King John II of France in 1360, which bore on one face the Latin legend Johannes

Computers, Minicomputers

2005-03-05T22:32:00.000-08:00

Around 1965, roughly coterminous with the development of time-sharing, a new kind of computer came on the scene. Small and relatively cheap (typically 1/10 the cost of the Big Iron machines), the new machines were stored-program computers with all the generality of the computers then in use but stripped down. The new machines were called minicomputers. (About the same time, the

Aesthetics

2005-03-04T03:13:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �esthetics, � the philosophical study of beauty and taste. To define its subject matter more precisely is, however, immensely difficult. Indeed, it could be said that self-definition has been the major task of modern aesthetics. We are acquainted with an interesting and puzzling realm of experience: the realm of the beautiful, the ugly, the sublime, and the elegant; of taste, criticism,

Dominance

2005-03-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

In genetics, greater influence by one of a pair of genes (alleles) that affect the same inherited character. If an individual pea plant with the alleles T and t (T = tallness, t = shortness) is the same height as a TT individual, the T allele (and the trait of tallness) is said to be completely dominant; if the Tt individual is shorter than the TT but still taller than the tt individual,

Carloman

2005-03-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

After inheriting Austrasia, Alemannia, Thuringia, and the suzerainty of Bavaria from his father, Carloman fought alone and with his brother to suppress external enemies and rebellious subjects. Concerned with reform of the church, he called on St. Boniface for help and in 742 summoned the

Performing Arts, Iran.

2005-03-01T14:15:00.000-08:00

Iran's major filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami made headlines worldwide in September when he was denied a U.S. visa, ostensibly on security grounds, to attend the screening at the New York Film Festival of his boldly experimental Ten, which explored the special characteristics of digital video cameras to create an absorbing social drama through the minimalist means

Staffordshire Terrier

2005-02-28T13:26:00.000-08:00

Breed of terrier developed in 19th-century England for fighting other dogs in pits. The breed was created by crossing the bulldog, then a longer legged and more agile dog, with a terrier, possibly the fox terrier or one of the old breeds known as the white English and the black-and-tan terriers. Once known by such names as bull-and-terrier, half and half, and pit bull terrier,

Adams, Roger

2005-02-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

Receiving

Ethiopic Alphabet

2005-02-26T20:59:00.000-08:00

Writing system used to write the Ge'ez literary and ecclesiastical language and the Amharic, Tigre, and Tigrinya languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Apparently derived from Sabaean, a South Semitic script, the Ethiopic script probably originated in the early 4th century AD; it is unclear whether Ethiopic resulted from a gradual evolution of the Sabaean script or whether

Bukhara

2005-02-25T06:54:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Buchara�, or �Bokhara� oblast (province), central Uzbekistan, with an area of 15,200 square miles (39,400 square km). The oblast was constituted in 1938, but in 1982 much of its territory in the north and east was transferred to a newly formed Navoi oblast. Bukhara oblast mainly comprises the Kimirekkum Desert, with the lower reaches of the Zeravshan River in the southwest. The climate is continental, with cold winters

China, Political developments

2005-02-24T04:00:00.000-08:00

The socialist transformation of agriculture, industry, and commerce thus went relatively smoothly. Nevertheless, changes of this sort could not take place without considerable tensions. Many peasants streamed into the cities in 1956 - 57 to escape the new cooperatives and to seek employment in the rapidly expanding state-run factories, where government policy kept

Halfbeak

2005-02-23T13:53:00.000-08:00

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

France, History Of, Society since 1940

2005-02-22T05:49:00.000-08:00

The surge of economic growth that lasted from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s brought extensive changes in French lifestyles and in some of the society's basic structures. As the century neared its end, most French people had come to enjoy greater comfort and security than their forebears; they took for granted such luxuries as automobiles, modern household appliances, and

General Store

2005-02-21T11:24:00.000-08:00

Retail store in a small town or rural community that carries a wide variety of goods, including groceries. In the United States the general store was the successor of the early trading post, which served the pioneers and early settlers. Located at a crossroads or in a village, it served the surrounding community and farmers from the neighbouring countryside and carried

Ear Disease

2005-02-20T04:55:00.000-08:00

The air-filled middle-ear cavity and the air cells in the mastoid bone that extend backward from it are supplied with air by the eustachian tube that extends from the upper part of the pharynx to the middle-ear cavity. The brain cavity lies just above and behind the middle ear and mastoid air spaces, separated from them only by thin plates of bone. The nerve that supplies

Oberth, Hermann (julius)

2005-02-18T21:06:00.000-08:00

The son of a prosperous physician, Oberth studied medicine in Munich, but his education was interrupted by service in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I. After being wounded in the war, he found time to pursue

Switzerland, Skies and temperatures

2005-02-17T05:09:00.000-08:00

The stable high-pressure weather conditions prevailing over central Europe and the Alps during the autumn and winter create cold air masses that result in lowland fog, a climatic phenomenon with widely varying consequences. The mouths of the northern Alpine valleys, the basins of the Jura Mountains, and the villages and cities of the low areas of the Mittelland

Kodaikanal

2005-02-16T05:44:00.000-08:00

Town, Madurai district, Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India, at an elevation of 7,300 ft (2,225 m) in the Palni Hills. Created in 1845 by U.S. missionaries and British civil servants as a hill station to which administrative offices were moved during the summer, it is a popular resort, known for its scenery, 75-ac (30-ha) artificial lake, and recreational facilities. It also contains a meteorological

Clovis

2005-02-15T13:43:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1909) of Curry county, eastern New Mexico, U.S., in the High Plains (4,260 feet [1,298 metres] above sea level) near the Texas state line. It was founded in 1906 as a division point for the Santa Fe Railway. Centre of an irrigated farm and ranch area, it has extensive livestock-auction and cattle-feeding facilities and also markets sugar beets, sorghum, wheat, cotton, vegetables, poultry, and

Cobham, Sir Alan J.

2005-02-14T06:06:00.000-08:00

Cobham entered the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and in 1921 joined Geoffrey de Havilland's new aircraft company, for which he undertook a succession of long-distance flights: 5,000 miles (8,000 km) around Europe; 8,000 miles (12,800 km) across Europe and North Africa;

Great Bear Lake

2005-02-13T01:02:00.000-08:00

Arron, Henck

2005-02-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

Arron worked in banks in The Netherlands and Dutch Guiana before entering politics in 1963. He was elected to the Staten (Suriname legislature) that

Faber, Lothar Von; And Faber, Eberhard

2005-02-11T00:12:00.000-08:00

Taking over a pencil business started by his great-grandfather Kaspar Faber (d. 1784) near N�rnberg, Lothar von Faber established branches

Malatya

2005-02-10T04:36:00.000-08:00

City, east-central Turkey. It lies in a fertile plain watered by the Tohma River (a tributary of the Euphrates) and is surrounded by high ranges of the eastern Taurus Mountains. The modern town was founded in 1838 near the sites of two earlier settlements: the ancient Hittite city of Milid, on the site of the present-day Arslantepe, 4 miles (6 km) north, and its successor, the Roman and

Romania

2005-02-09T23:30:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Rumania�, Romanian �Rom�nia� country lying in the eastern half of the Balkan Peninsula. It is the largest country of the peninsula, having an area of 91,699 square miles (237,500 square kilometres). Its boundaries total 1,959 miles (3,153 kilometres), with Ukraine on the north, Moldova on the northeast, the Black Sea on the east, Bulgaria on the south, Serbia on the southwest, and Hungary on the west. The capital is Bucharest

Qatar

2005-02-08T14:42:00.000-08:00

In 2002 Qatar continued to figure prominently in regional and international news, largely as a result of its ongoing chairmanship of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and its 57 member countries. Qatar was a prominent interlocutor with international and regional organizations and, in particular, with the United Nations, the United States, and other allied

Koussevitzky, Serge

2005-02-07T16:44:00.000-08:00

Koussevitzky studied the double bass in Moscow, becoming a virtuoso, and in Russia, Germany, and England gave recitals at which he played his own compositions;

Macaulay (of Rothley), Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron

2005-02-06T03:54:00.000-08:00

English Whig politician, essayist, poet, and historian best known for his History of England, 5 vol. (1849 - 61); this work, which covers the period 1688 - 1702, secured his place as one of the founders of what has been called the Whig interpretation of history. He was raised to the peerage in 1857.

Space Shuttle

2005-02-05T13:25:00.000-08:00

Partially reusable rocket-launched vehicle designed to go into orbit around Earth, to transport people and cargo to and from orbiting spacecraft, and to glide to a runway landing on its return to Earth's surface. The first vehicle of this type was developed by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Formally called the Space Transportation System

Literature

2005-02-04T17:24:00.000-08:00

During 1999 the list assembled by Yazhou Zhoukan (Asia Weekly) of the 100 best Chinese fictional works of the 20th century was released in Hong Kong. The first-place winner was Lu Xun for his Nahan (�Call to Arms�); it was followed in order by Shen Congwen for Bian cheng (�Remote Town�), Lao She for Luotuo xiangzi (�The Camel�), Zhang Ailing for Chuanqi (�Legend�), Qian Zhongshu for Wei cheng (�Enclosed

Davenport, Fanny Lily Gypsy

2005-02-03T08:01:00.000-08:00

Davenport was the daughter of Edward L. Davenport, an American actor. She grew up in Boston from 1854 and took naturally to the theatre from an early age. She essayed her first speaking part at the age of six and took a

Azad Kashmir

2005-02-02T23:45:00.000-08:00

Area of the Pakistani-administered sector of the Kashmir region, in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. Azad (�Free�) Kashmir, established in 1947 after the partition of India, is neither a province nor an agency of Pakistan but has a government of its own that is regarded by Pakistan as �independent,� even though it is protected by and economically and administratively

Spoleto

2005-02-01T20:13:00.000-08:00

The site of an Umbrian township from at least the 7th to the 6th century BC, Spoleto became a Roman colony in 241 BC. It successfully

East Hampton

2005-01-31T00:07:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Suffolk county, southeastern New York, U.S. It lies on the southern shore of Long Island, 100 miles (161 km) east of New York City, and includes East Hampton village and Gardiners Island. Settled in 1648 by English yeomen from Kent and first called Maidstone, the town prospered as a whaling and fishing centre. Several colonial homes have survived. Lyman Beecher, father

Lisa, Manuel

2005-01-30T05:11:00.000-08:00

Of Spanish descent, Lisa automatically gained citizenship when Louisiana was purchased by the United States in 1803. Entering the fur trade out of St. Louis at an early age, he soon became one of the leading traders on the upper Mississippi.

Subgraywacke

2005-01-29T03:28:00.000-08:00

Dark-coloured sedimentary rock that contains from 65 to 95 percent free quartz, in grains 0.06 to 2 mm in diameter, held together by a matrix with a low mud content and often a high carbonate content. Some geologists favour a definition of graywacke (q.v.) that permits no more than 75 percent free quartz in the rock, and they thus would class as subgraywackes those rocks with (1) over 25 percent

Laterality

2005-01-28T07:48:00.000-08:00

The most obvious example of laterality is handedness, the tendency to use one hand or the other to perform activities. It is the usual practice to classify persons as right-handed, left-handed, or ambidextrous (two-handed).

Kitakami-sammyaku

2005-01-27T03:53:00.000-08:00

(Japanese: Kitakami Range), mountain range, in northeastern Honshu, Japan, paralleling the Pacific coast and extending for about 155 mi (250 km) from southern Aomori Prefecture, through Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, to terminate in the Ojika Peninsula. The range has a maximum breadth of 50 mi and is nearly wedge shaped. The highest peak, Hayachine-san, rises to an elevation of 6,280 ft (1,914 m)

Aethra

2005-01-26T16:54:00.000-08:00

Later she guarded Helen after she had been stolen from Sparta by Theseus; in retribution

China, The Y�an dynasty

2005-01-25T00:49:00.000-08:00

On Chinese contacts with Asia and the West, see E. Bretschneider, Mediaeval Research from Eastern Asiatic Sources: Fragments Towards the Knowledge of the Geography and History of Central and Western Asia from the 13th to the 17th Century, 2 vol. (1888, reprinted 1967); Herbert Franke, �Sino-Western Contacts Under the Mongol Empire,� Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 6:49 - 72 (1966); Leonard Olschki, Marco Polo's Asia: An Introduction to His �Description of the World� called �Il Milione� (1960; originally published in Italian, 1957); and Igor de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys to the Great Khans (1971).

Chekhov, Anton (pavlovich)

2005-01-23T06:15:00.000-08:00

Major Russian playwright and master of the modern short story. He was a literary artist of laconic precision who probed below the surface of life, laying bare the secret motives of his characters. Chekhov's best plays and short stories lack complex plots and neat solutions. Concentrating on apparent trivialities,

Bene Beraq

2005-01-22T10:19:00.000-08:00

Near the presumed location of ancient Bene Beraq, a

Castelvetro, Lodovico

2005-01-21T00:04:00.000-08:00

A dominant literary critic of the Italian Renaissance, particularly noted for his translation of and independently rendered conclusions from Aristotle's Poetics, in which he defended the dramatic unities of time, place, and action, as well as the use of poetry for pleasure alone; he thereby helped set the

Saint Catherine's

2005-01-20T00:25:00.000-08:00

Greek Orthodox monastery situated on Mount Sinai more than 5,000 feet (1,500 m) above sea level in a narrow valley north of Mount Musa in the Sinai peninsula. Often incorrectly called the Sinai Independent Greek Orthodox Church, the monastic foundation is the smallest of the autonomous churches that together constitute the Eastern Orthodox church. The abbot of the monastery,

Plectomycetes

2005-01-18T18:05:00.000-08:00

Name often given fungi constituting a series of the class Ascomycetes (sac fungi) within the division Mycota. Its more than 2,500 species produce saclike structures (asci) containing ascospores in either a closed fruiting body (ascocarp) or spore balls. Economically important genera include Ceratocystis, which includes the agents of Dutch elm disease and oak wilt, and

Base

2005-01-17T01:01:00.000-08:00

Also called �Radix, � in mathematics, an arbitrarily chosen number in terms of which any number can be expressed. See number system.

Family, The

2005-01-16T19:46:00.000-08:00

Formerly �Children of God,� Teens for Christ�, and �The Family of Love� millenarian Christian communal group that grew out of the ministry of David Berg (1919 - 1994) to the hippies who had gathered in Huntington Beach, California, in the late 1960s. It teaches a message of Christian love based on scripture and the prophecies of Berg. The focus of the first anticult organization - the Parents' Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God

Taedong River

2005-01-15T01:20:00.000-08:00

Korean �Taedong-gang� river, southern North Korea, rising in the Nangnim Mountains in Hamgyong-nam do (province). It flows 273 miles (439 km) southwestward to enter Korea Bay, an arm of the Yellow Sea, at Namp'o. With its tributaries it forms a drainage basin of 7,855 square miles (20,344 square km). Because of its deep water and the tidal influence of the Yellow Sea, it is useful for water transportation, and many river ports,

Vale Of Glamorgan

2005-01-14T00:22:00.000-08:00

County, southern Wales, extending along the Bristol Channel coast west of Cardiff and lying entirely within the historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg). It comprises an undulating coastal platform, with an average elevation of about 200 feet (60 metres), that often terminates abruptly in cliffs at the coast. Along other sections of the coast, however, there are sand

Daumier, Honor�

2005-01-13T00:56:00.000-08:00

He did not do so, however, for he had become preoccupied with new technical studies; earlier than others, he had discovered Impressionism - faces and bodies devoured by the surrounding light and becoming one with the atmosphere. He painted a great deal, and the more so as his studies in the new technique did not interest the satirical journals to which he now submitted

Celestina, La

2005-01-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

Originally published in 16 acts as the Comedia de Calisto y Melibea (1499; �Comedy of Calisto and Melibea�) and shortly thereafter in an expanded version with 21 acts as the Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea (1502), the work

Genealogy

2005-01-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

The study of family origins and history. Genealogists compile lists of ancestors, which they arrange in pedigree charts or other written forms. The word genealogy comes from two Greek words - one meaning �race� or �family� and the other �theory� or �science.� Thus is derived �to trace ancestry,� the science of studying family history. The term pedigree comes from the Latin pes

Exekias

2005-01-10T21:49:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Execias� Greek potter and painter who, with the Amasis Painter, is considered the finest of black-figure masters of the mid-6th century BC and is one of the major figures in the history of the art. His name is found on 11 vases. The commonest inscription on the vases is �Exekias epoiesen me� (�Exekias made me�). In two instances, on an amphora (a two-handled wine container) in the Vatican and on an

Spanish Language

2005-01-09T20:37:00.000-08:00

Spanish is also known (particularly in Latin America) as Castilian, after the dialect from which modern standard Spanish developed.

X-ray Style

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

Manner of depicting animals by drawing or painting the skeletal frame and internal organs, one of the characteristic styles of the art of prehistoric hunting cultures. The origin of the style can be traced to the Mesolithic art of northern Europe, where the earliest examples were found on fragments of bone in southern France dating from the late Magdalenian Period.

Wars Of Yahweh, Book Of The

2005-01-07T03:38:00.000-08:00

Lost document referred to and quoted in the Old Testament (Num. 21:14ff.). The book is probably a collection of early Israelite war songs including hymns of victory, curses, mocking songs, and other literary genres recounting the victories of Yahweh, the God of Israel, over his enemies; it indicates that biblical books rely on both written and oral tradition. Similar to the Book

Wright, Warren

2005-01-06T17:36:00.000-08:00

Wright was educated in public schools and in business college and, starting in 1890, worked for more than 25 years in the firm that his father had founded, the Calumet Baking Powder Company in Chicago. He succeeded to its presidency

Idku

2005-01-05T09:19:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Edkou, � town, northern al-Buhayrah muhafazah (governorate), Lower Egypt. It lies on a sandy strip behind Abu Qir Bay, in the northwestern Nile River delta. Immediately south is Lake Idku, a 58-square-mile (150-square-kilometre) lagoon that stretches some 22 miles (35 km) behind and parallel to the coast and has a maximum width of 16 miles (26 km). Drained by al-Ma'addiyah Channel, connecting with the Mediterranean,

Tyrone, Conn O'neill, 1st Earl Of

2005-01-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

Conn, who was related through his mother to the Earl of Kildare (Fitzgerald), became chief of the Tyrone branch of the O'Neills (Cinel Eoghain) about 1520. When Kildare became viceroy in 1524, O'Neill consented to act as his swordbearer in ceremonies

Babahoyo

2005-01-02T07:22:00.000-08:00

City, west central Ecuador, on the southern shore of the R�o Babahoyo, a major branch of the R�o Guayas. A processing and trade centre for the surrounding agricultural region, the city handles rice, sugarcane, fruits, balsa wood, and tagua nuts (vegetable ivory). Rice and sugar are milled, and there is also a government-owned distillery making alcohol, ether, and perfume. A

Multinational And Regional Organizations

2005-01-01T02:51:00.000-08:00

On June 22 the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) admitted Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, and Laos as observers of its meetings. The new status of these countries was a first step toward their full membership in the seven-member (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) regional organization. The invitation to Myanmar, a military

Kabalevsky, Dmitry

2004-12-31T02:47:00.000-08:00

In 1918 Kabalevsky moved with his family to Moscow, where he studied at the Scriabin Music School from 1919 to 1925, and in 1925 he entered the Moscow Conservatory. Appointed to the conservatory's faculty in 1932, he began to develop

Dylan, Bob

2004-12-30T18:24:00.000-08:00

Original name �Robert Allen Zimmerman� American folksinger who moved from folk to rock music in the 1960s, infusing the lyrics of rock and roll, theretofore concerned mostly with boy-girl romantic innuendo, with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry. Hailed as the Shakespeare of his generation, Dylan sold more than 58 million albums, wrote more than 500 songs recorded by more than

Sea Whip

2004-12-29T08:16:00.000-08:00

Any of several genera of corals of the order Gorgonacea (phylum Cnidaria), characterized by a long, whiplike growth and a variety of bright colours. The �whip� consists of a colony of tiny polyps (cylindrical, stalklike forms with a mouth and eight tentacles at the upper, or free, end) that grow upon one another in a continuous single stem. Spicules, or needlelike

France, History Of, Institutions

2004-12-28T09:29:00.000-08:00

The institutions of government underwent great changes under the Frankish monarchs.

Low, Sir David (alexander Cecil)

2004-12-27T08:13:00.000-08:00

A self-taught artist, Low was already contributing cartoons to a local weekly paper at the age of 11. At 17 he set out as a full-time free-lance artist, combining this work from 1911 with a post on the Bulletin of Sydney, Australia. Having

Fairbairn, Sir William, 1st Baronet

2004-12-26T15:43:00.000-08:00

From 1817 to 1832 he was a millwright at Manchester, in partnership with James Lillie. In 1835 he established a shipbuilding yard at Millwall, London,

Aeschylus

2004-12-25T05:58:00.000-08:00

Aeschylus' influence on the development of tragedy was fundamental. Previous to him, Greek drama was limited to one actor and a chorus engaged in a largely static recitation. (The chorus was a group of actors who responded to and commented on the main action of a play with song, dance, and recitation.) The actor could assume different roles by changing masks and costumes,

Extradition

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

According

Novel, Picaresque

2004-12-23T03:05:00.000-08:00

In Spain, the novel about the rogue or p�caro was a recognized form, and such English novels as Defoe's The Fortunate Mistress (1724) can be regarded as picaresque in the etymological sense. But the term has come to connote as much the episodic nature of the original species as the dynamic of roguery. Fielding's Tom Jones, whose hero is a bastard, amoral, and very nearly gallows-meat,

Amphetamine

2004-12-22T05:52:00.000-08:00

Prototype of a series of synthetic drugs, all called amphetamines, that have pronounced stimulatory actions on the central nervous system. Amphetamine itself is a colourless liquid with an acrid taste and a faint odour; the most widely used preparation of the drug is amphetamine sulfate, marketed under the name Benzedrine, a white powder with a slightly bitter,

Settlement, Act Of

2004-12-21T15:37:00.000-08:00

Toward the end of 1700 William III was ill and childless; his sister-in-law, the prospective queen, Anne, had just lost her only surviving child; and abroad the supporters of the exiled king, James II, were numerous and active. The need for the act was obvious. It decreed that, in default

F�librige

2004-12-20T17:41:00.000-08:00

Association organized in the 19th century for the maintenance of the Proven�al customs and language that stimulated the renaissance of the literature, language, and customs of the whole of southern France. The F�librige was founded in 1854 by seven poets - Joseph Roumanille, Fr�d�ric Mistral, Th�odore Aubanel, Anselme Mathieu, Jean Brunet, Alphonse Tavan, and Paul Gi�ra

Muravyov-apostol, Sergey Ivanovich

2004-12-19T22:18:00.000-08:00

The son of a diplomat and writer, Muravyov-Apostol graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Railway Engineers and fought against the French invasion of Russia in 1812 and in subsequent foreign

Nova Scotia

2004-12-18T17:53:00.000-08:00

Canadian province, one of the four British colonies federated into the Dominion of Canada in 1867. It comprises the peninsula of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island (separated from the mainland to the southwest by the narrow Strait of Canso), and a number of small adjacent islands. The total area is 21,425 square miles (55,490 square kilometres). Along the 17-mile- (27-kilometre-) wide Chignecto

Hurdle Race

2004-12-17T22:52:00.000-08:00

Horse race over a course on which a number of obstacles, called hurdles, must be jumped. Hurdle racing, a kind of preparation for steeplechasing, originated in England and Ireland in the 18th century and by the second half of the 20th century had spread to Commonwealth countries, Europe, and the eastern United States. Its hurdles are light and movable and are lower than steeplechase

Courante

2004-12-16T02:18:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Courant� (from Latin currere, �to run�), court dance for couples, prominent in the late 16th century and fashionable in aristocratic European ballrooms, especially in France and England, for the next 200 years. It reputedly originated as an Italian folk dance with running steps. As a court dance it was performed with small, back-and-forth, springing steps, later subdued to stately glides.

Alderman

2004-12-15T18:16:00.000-08:00

Member of the legislative body of a municipal corporation in England and the United States. In Anglo-Saxon England, ealdormen, or aldermen, were high-ranking officials of the crown who exercised judicial, administrative, or military functions. Earls, the governors of shires (counties), and other persons of distinction were among those who received the title of alderman.