TightBoard

organic bed linen

2006-10-29T13:35:00.000-08:00

Livs range of soft luxurious bed linenis sourced ethically from India and using a fair trade policy. Liv also provide duvet cover set and bath towel set.

Smith, Jessie Willcox

2005-04-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

At age 16 Smith entered the School of Design for Women in Philadelphia, and from 1885 to 1888 she studied with Thomas Eakins at the Pennsylvania Academy of

Anawrahta

2005-04-03T15:38:00.000-07:00

During his reign Anawrahta united the northern homeland of the Burmese people with the Mon kingdoms of the south. He extended his dominion as far north as the kingdom

Celery Cabbage

2005-04-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

(Brassica pekinensis), species of mustard cultivated for its edible leaves. See Chinese cabbage.

Arrhenius Equation

2005-04-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

Mathematical expression that describes the effect of temperature on the velocity of a chemical reaction, the basis of all predictive expressions used for calculating reaction-rate constants. In the Arrhenius equation, k is the reaction-rate constant, A and E are numerical constants characteristic of the reacting substances, R is the thermodynamic gas constant, and

Aleut

2005-04-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

The Aleuts hunted seals, sea otters, whales,

Folengo, Teofilo

2005-04-01T03:14:00.000-08:00

Folengo entered the Benedictine order as a young man, taking the name Teofilo by which he is known. He lived in the monasteries of Brescia, Mantua,

Sexual Behaviour, Human, Sexual problems

2005-03-31T15:45:00.000-08:00

Physiological problems of a specifically sexual nature are rather few. Only a small minority of

Arkatag

2005-03-31T11:06:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Arkha Tagh, also called Przhevalsky Range, one of the complex mountain chains that form the Kunlun Mountains in western China. The Arkatag is the highest range of the Kunluns with the peaks of Ulugh Muz Tagh at its western end and Shapka Monomakha (also known as Chong Karlik Tagh) at the eastern end, both more than 25,300 ft (7,700 m).

Hawaii, Flag Of

2005-03-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

In 1793 Captain George Vancouver from Great Britain presented the Union Jack to the conquering king Kamehameha I, who was then uniting the islands into a single state; the Union Jack flew unofficially as the flag of Hawaii until 1816. That year Western advisers to the king recommended the addition of red, white, and blue stripes to the Union Jack, thus creating a distinctive

Abadan

2005-03-29T19:36:00.000-08:00

Arabic 'Abbadan city, extreme southwestern Iran. The city is situated in Khuzestan, part of the oil-producing region of Iran. Abadan lies on an island of the same name along the eastern bank of the Shatt Al-'Arab (river), 33 miles (53 km) from the Persian Gulf. The city thus lies along Iran's border with Iraq. Abadan Island is bounded on the west by the Shatt Al-'Arab and on the east by the Bahmanshir, which is an outlet

France

2005-03-28T08:43:00.000-08:00

Officially French Republic, French France, or République Française, country in western Europe. It is one of the oldest and historically and culturally most important nations of Europe and, indeed, of the whole Western world. It lies near the western end of the great Eurasian landmass, largely between latitudes 42° and 51° N, and covers a total area of 210,026 square miles (543,965 square kilometres). The capital is Paris. Roughly hexagonal in outline, its continental

Powell, Enoch

2005-03-28T00:41:00.000-08:00

Powell was the son of schoolteachers of Welsh ancestry. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and became a professor of

Computers, ENIAC

2005-03-27T00:59:00.000-08:00

In the United States, government funding went to a project led by John Mauchly, J. Presper Eckert, Jr., and their colleagues at the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania; their objective was an all-electronic computer. Under contract to the army, and under the direction of Herman Goldstine, work began in early 1943 on the Electronic Numerical

Shield Fern

2005-03-26T02:38:00.000-08:00

Also called wood fern any member of the fern genus Dryopteris, in the family Aspleniaceae. The genus has about 150 species with worldwide distribution, and it is placed in the family Aspidiaceae in some classification systems. Shield ferns are medium-sized woodland plants with bright-green, leathery leaves that are several times divided. They have numerous round spore clusters (sori) attached

Lower Hutt

2005-03-25T01:20:00.000-08:00

City, Wellington local government region, southern North Island, New Zealand, about 9 miles (14 km) northeast of Wellington. It is the major business centre for the highly urbanized Hutt River valley and is within the Wellington urban area. Its heavy-industrial facilities include auto-assembly plants and oil installations; plastics, paint, footwear, and glass factories;

Metanephros

2005-03-25T01:07:00.000-08:00

Permanent kidney in reptiles, birds, and mammals, developing by the 10th week in human embryos from the lower part of the Wolffian duct, and replacing the embryonic structure called the mesonephros. It consists of a compact, paired organ containing many nephrons; a ureter separate from the Wolffian duct leads from the metanephros to the bladder.

Warfare In The 21st Century

2005-03-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

The war that began in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, demonstrated both the capabilities and the limitations of modern military technology. It should have come as no surprise that the U.S.-led 17-member coalition toppled the Taliban regime in only a few weeks. In conventional terms, the Taliban were a pushover; they possessed no air force, had very limited air defenses, and were an unpopular

Enderby Land

2005-03-23T03:53:00.000-08:00

Region of Antarctica, bordering on the Indian Ocean and extending from Prince Olav Coast of Queen Maud Land (west) to Edward VIII Bay and Kemp Coast (east). Primarily a barren, ice-capped plateau in the interior sections, it rises to rugged peaks along the coast, where the Napier Mountains exceed 7,400 feet (2,260 m). The English navigator John Biscoe, sailing for Enderby Brothers, a London

Bahía Blanca

2005-03-22T23:04:00.000-08:00

Explorers in the 18th century named the area Bahía Blanca (“White Bay”), but the settlement that grew up around a military outpost,

July Revolution

2005-03-22T01:47:00.000-08:00

French Révolution De Juillet, also called July Days (1830), insurrection that brought Louis-Philippe to the throne of France. The revolution was precipitated by Charles X's publication (July 26) of restrictive ordinances contrary to the spirit of the Charter of 1814. Protests and demonstrations were followed by three days of fighting (July 27–29), the abdication of Charles X (August 2), and the proclamation of Louis-Philippe as “king of the

Factorial

2005-03-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

Factorials are commonly encountered in the evaluation of permutations and combinations and in the coefficients of terms of binomial

Sorrento

2005-03-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

Latin Surrentum, town and archiepiscopal see, Napoli provincia, Campania regione, southern Italy. It lies on a peninsula separating the Bay of Naples, which it faces, from the Gulf of Salerno, south-southeast of Naples. The backbone of the peninsula is formed by the Lattari Mountains, which culminate in Mount Sant'Angelo (4,734 feet [1,443 m]). Probably of Greek origin, the town was the ancient Surrentum,

Gray, Dolores

2005-03-20T05:51:00.000-08:00

American singer and actress (b. June 7, 1924, Chicago, Ill.—d. June 26, 2002, New York, N.Y.), had a rich contralto voice that gained her success in motion pictures and, especially, stage musicals. Her first, and perhaps greatest, triumph came in the London production of Annie Get Your Gun, which opened in 1947 and ran for nearly three years, playing to an audience that totaled more than 2.5 million. She followed

Armoured Vehicle

2005-03-19T23:17:00.000-08:00

Armoured also spelled Armored, motor vehicle that is fitted with partial or complete armour plating for protection against bullets, shells, or other projectiles. Armoured vehicles for military use can move either on wheels or on two endless metal chains called tracks. The tank (q.v.) is the principal fighting armoured vehicle. Other military types include armoured personnel carriers, armoured

Asclepigenia

2005-03-19T03:18:00.000-08:00

After the death of her father, Plutarchus, Asclepigenia was active in perpetuating the eastern version of Platonism, in cooperation with her brother, Hiero. Upon the succession of Proclus as head of the school at Athens, Asclepigenia instructed him in the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. She

Latécoère, Pierre

2005-03-18T18:47:00.000-08:00

The Compagnie Latécoère began commercial air flights between Toulouse, Fr., and Barcelona on Dec. 25, 1918, and extended its route to Morocco in 1919 and to Dakar, Senegal, in 1925. In 1927 the line was renamed Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, and, at the end of the decade,

Stair-step Moss

2005-03-18T16:31:00.000-08:00

(Hylocomium splendens), plant of the order Bryales that covers areas of coniferous forest floor of the Northern Hemisphere and also occurs on dunes, ledges, and tundra. The fernlike shoots have many branches and reddish, glossy caulids (stems) with phyllids (leaves) up to 3 mm (0.12 inch) long. The capsules (spore cases) of the female plant are borne on setae (stalks) about 2 cm (0.8 inch)

African Methodist Episcopal Church

2005-03-17T09:22:00.000-08:00

Black Methodist church in the United States, formally organized in 1816. It developed from a congregation formed by a group of blacks who withdrew in 1787 from St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia because of restrictions in seating; blacks had been confined to the gallery of the church. Those who withdrew formed the Free African Society, the forerunner

Boateng, Paul

2005-03-16T20:59:00.000-08:00

In full Paul Yaw Boateng British politician, the first person of African descent to serve in a British cabinet. He was the son of Kwaku Boateng, a lawyer who served as a cabinet minister in the Ghanaian government of Kwame Nkrumah, and Eleanor Boateng. He received his early education in Ghana and relocated to the United Kingdom in 1966 after the Ghanaian government was overthrown

New York City, Greater New York

2005-03-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

The Democratic machine reigned, its excesses became apparent, reformers arose and were temporarily triumphant, and then voters restored a chastened Tammany to power. A generation after Tweed fell, the Croker regime was successfully challenged by reformers who elected Mayor William Strong. Once consolidation won voter support, the

Ali, Muhammad

2005-03-16T05:09:00.000-08:00

Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr., grew up in the American South in a time of segregated public facilities. His father, Cassius Marcellus Clay, Sr., supported a

Academic Freedom

2005-03-14T15:52:00.000-08:00

The freedom of teachers and students to teach, study, and pursue knowledge and research without unreasonable interference or restriction from law, institutional regulations, or public pressure. Its basic elements include the freedom of teachers to inquire into any subject that evokes their intellectual concern; to present their findings to their students,

Fetter, Frank Albert

2005-03-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

After an interruption of university studies because of illness in his family, Fetter graduated from Indiana University in 1891 and from Cornell University in 1892. He subsequently studied in France and Germany, receiving his Ph.D. (on population)

'abbas I

2005-03-14T06:55:00.000-08:00

The third son of Soltan Mohammad Shah, 'Abbas came to the throne in October 1588, at a critical moment in the fortunes of the Safavid dynasty. The weak rule of his semiblind father had allowed usurpation by the amirs, or chiefs, of the Turkmen tribes, who had brought the Safavid to power and still constituted the backbone of Safavid military strength. Moreover, the intertribal factionalism

Indes Orientales, Compagnie Française Des

2005-03-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

(French: “French Company of the East Indies”), one of the companies known as the French East India Company (q.v.).

Strabismus

2005-03-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

Also called squint , or heterotropia failure of the eyes to align properly on the object toward which a person seeks to direct his gaze. The deviant eye may be directed inward, toward the other eye (cross-eye, or esotropia); outward, away from the other eye (walleye, or exotropia); upward (hypertropia); or downward (hypotropia). The squint is called comitant if the deviation remains constant no matter in what direction

Yrjö-koskinen, Sakari

2005-03-12T11:09:00.000-08:00

Forsman—later, when he was made a baron, named Yrjö-Koskinen—was a nationalist scholar and a member of the mid-19th-century Fennoman Party,

Kirov

2005-03-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1934) Vyatka, or Viatka, city and administrative centre of Kirov oblast (province), western Russia, on the Vyatka River. The city was founded as Khlynov in 1181 by traders from Novgorod and became the centre of the “Vyatka Lands,” settled by Russians in the 14th to the 15th century. In 1489 it was captured by Moscow. Renamed Vyatka in 1780, it became a provincial seat, but development was slow, and it was used as a place

Bottomry

2005-03-11T00:26:00.000-08:00

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

Mauna Loa

2005-03-10T08:04:00.000-08:00

Volcano, south-central Hawaii Island, Hawaii, U.S., and a part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (established as Hawaii National Park in 1916). One of the largest single mountain masses in the world, Mauna Loa (meaning “long mountain”) rises to 13,678 feet (4,169 m) above sea level. Its dome is 75 miles (120 km) long and 64 miles (103 km) wide, and its lava flows occupy more than 2,000 square miles (5,120 square km) of the island. Mokuaweoweo,

Ancient Rome, The Illyrian emperors

2005-03-10T03:03:00.000-08:00

After Claudius II's unexpected death, the empire was ruled from 270 to 284 by several “Illyrian” emperors, who were good generals and who tried in an energetic way to restore equilibrium. The most remarkable was Aurelian. He first gained hard-won victories over the Alemanni and the Juthungi, who had invaded the Alpine provinces and northern Italy. To cheer the inhabitants of

Mola

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

The mola (Mola mola; see photograph) is an enormous, gray or brownish

Denison

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

City, Grayson county, north-central Texas, U.S., situated near the Oklahoma border, 73 miles (117 km) north of Dallas. The city of Sherman lies to the south and Lake Texoma, impounded on the Red River by Denison Dam, to the northwest. Originally a stop on the Southern Overland Mail Route, it was organized by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad in 1872 as a division point and named for George

Harcourt, Henri De Lorraine, Count (comte) De

2005-03-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

Nicknamed “Cadet la Perle” because he was the youngest of his family and because he wore a pearl in his ear, Harcourt fought in the wars against Spain in Catalonia, Flanders,

Carlow

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

Irish Ceatharlach (“The Four Lakes”) county in the province of Leinster, Ireland. The second smallest Irish county, it is bounded by County Kildare (north), Counties Wicklow and Wexford (east), and Counties Kilkenny and Laoighis (west). The town of Carlow is the county seat. In the east are the granitic mountains of the Leinster Chain, which are crossed by the River Slaney and flanked to the west by the River Barrow

Malvaceae

2005-03-07T08:33:00.000-08:00

The mallow family, a large group of flowering plants, in the order Malvales, containing about 95 genera of herbs, shrubs, and trees. Representatives occur in all except the coldest parts of the world but are most numerous in the tropics. Economically, the most important member of the family is cotton (q.v.; Gossypium). Several species of Hibiscus produce fibres that are of lesser

Adapazari

2005-03-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

City, northwestern Turkey, lying in a fertile plain west of the Sakarya River. It is situated along the old military road from Istanbul. The region came under Ottoman control in the early 14th century, and the city acquired its present name at the end of the 18th century. An agricultural and industrial centre, Adapazari is connected by a branch line to the main Anatolian railway

Toba, Go-

2005-03-06T15:08:00.000-08:00

After reigning for 15 years, Go-Toba in 1198 abdicated

Cardiovascular Disease, Cardiac pacemakers

2005-03-06T05:55:00.000-08:00

The normal rhythm of the heart is generated by spontaneous electrical activity in cells in an area of the heart called the sinoatrial node. The electrical activity is usually at a rate of about 70 beats per minute at rest and is transmitted to the pumping chambers of the heart, the atria, and the ventricles through a specialized conducting system. The electrical activity

Wolof Language

2005-03-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

An Atlantic language of the Niger-Congo language family genetically related to Fula and Serer. There are two main variants of Wolof: Senegal Wolof, which is the standard form of the language, and Gambian Wolof, which is spoken along with Senegal Wolof by more than 160,000 people in The Gambia. Wolof is a national language of Senegal, where it is spoken by approximately 4.6 million

Field Emission

2005-03-05T07:50:00.000-08:00

Also called Cold Emission, discharge of electrons from the surface of a material subjected to a strong electric field. In the absence of a strong electric field, an electron must acquire a certain minimum energy, called the work function, to escape through the surface of a given material, which acts as a barrier to electron passage. If the material is placed in an electric circuit that renders

Saarinen, Eero

2005-03-04T07:28:00.000-08:00

Eero was the son of the noted architect Eliel Saarinen and Loja Gesellius, a sculptor. The Saarinen family of four, including a sister, Eva-Lisa, moved to the United States in 1923. Eero attended public schools in Michigan. In 1929 he studied sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris but, as he recounted years later, “it never occurred to me to do anything but follow

Carthusian

2005-03-04T03:45:00.000-08:00

Member of Order of Carthusians (O.Cart.) an order of monks founded by St. Bruno of Cologne in 1084 in the valley of Chartreuse, north of Grenoble, Fr. The Carthusians, who played an important role in the monastic-reform movement of the 11th and 12th centuries, combine the solitary life of hermits with a common life within the walls of a monastery. The monks live in individual cells, where they pray, study, eat, and sleep, gathering

Clothing

2005-03-03T16:47:00.000-08:00

Also called Clothes, garments for the human body. See dress.

Overijssel

2005-03-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

Provincie (province), northeastern Netherlands, extending northward “beyond the IJssel,” a distributary of the Rhine, from the provinces of Gelderland to Drenthe and Friesland and lying between Germany (east) and Flevoland Province (west). Drained by the IJssel, Vecht, Zwarte Water, and Regge rivers and the Twente, Overijssel, and numerous smaller canals, it occupies an

Shaker Furniture

2005-03-02T07:49:00.000-08:00

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

Paulician

2005-03-02T06:03:00.000-08:00

The fundamental

Xenacanthus

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

Long-surviving but now extinct genus of freshwater sharks. Xenacanthus survived from the end of the Devonian Period, some 360 million years ago, to about the end of the Triassic Period, 208 million years ago. Xenacanthus had a slim, elongated body with a low dorsal fin that extended down most of it, almost merging with the triangular, pointed tail. From the back of the skull, a long,

Georgia Platform

2005-03-01T07:07:00.000-08:00

Drawn up by Charles J. Jenkins and adopted by a state convention on Dec. 10, 1850, at Milledgeville, the Georgia Platform consisted of a set of resolutions accepting the Compromise of 1850. It was not an endorsement of the compromise, but it said that Georgia would abide by the

Anglo-norman Literature

2005-02-28T21:37:00.000-08:00

In the 12th century the oldest substantial Anglo-Norman prose work, “The Book of Kings,” was written in England, as were many versions of the Psalter. Sanson de Nanteuil translated into verse the proverbs of Solomon, with commentary; and in the 13th century Robert of Greatham wrote the “Sunday Gospels” for a noble lady. The same century saw the beginning of the magnificent series

Biblical Literature, Letters

2005-02-28T00:40:00.000-08:00

Among the apocryphal letters are: a 2nd-century Epistula Apostolorum (“Epistle of the Apostles”; actually apocalyptic and antiheretical), the Letter of Barnabas, a lost Letter of Paul to the Alexandrians (said to have been forged by followers of Marcion), the late-2nd-century letter called “III Corinthians” (part of the Acts of Paul and composed largely out of the genuine letters

Anthony Of Tagrit

2005-02-27T23:39:00.000-08:00

Originally from Tagrit, near Latakia, Syria, Anthony belonged to the part of the Eastern Syriac Church called the Jacobites, which had separated from the authority of the Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople in the 6th century.

Excretion, Amphibians

2005-02-27T23:29:00.000-08:00

Direct evidence for the occurrence of filtration at the glomerulus was first provided by experiments on the amphibian kidney. Although amphibians are formally given the status of terrestrial animals, they are poorly adapted to life on land. They excrete nitrogen in the form of urea and cannot produce urine more concentrated than the blood. Their skins are permeable

Gobi, Geology

2005-02-26T01:54:00.000-08:00

The Gobi's various chalky plains are chiefly Cenozoic in age (i.e., up to 66.4 million years old), though some of the low, isolated hills are older. The terrain contains small masses of shifting sands. In the central Gobi the remains of dinosaurs from the Mesozoic Era (245 to 66.4 million years ago) and fossils of Cenozoic mammals have been found. The desert also contains Paleolithic and

Baghdad

2005-02-25T18:08:00.000-08:00

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

Good Shepherd Sister

2005-02-24T23:29:00.000-08:00

Member of The Religious of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd (R.G.S.) , also called Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd a Roman Catholic order of religious devoted particularly to the care, rehabilitation, and education of girls and young women who have demonstrated delinquent behaviour. The congregation traces its history to an order founded by St. John Eudes in 1641 at Caen, Fr. This order, known as the Religious of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, was virtually destroyed during the French

Romance

2005-02-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

The Old French word romanz

Plum

2005-02-24T14:24:00.000-08:00

Fruit of the genus Prunus of the rose family (Rosaceae). Like the peach and cherry, it is a stone, or drupe, fruit. Trees of some plum species reach a height from 6 to 10 metres (20 to 33 feet), while others are much smaller; some species are small shrubs with drooping branches. The flower buds on most varieties are borne on short spurs or along the terminal shoots of the main branches. Each

New Castle

2005-02-23T13:01:00.000-08:00

City, New Castle county, northern Delaware, U.S. It is just south of Wilmington on the Delaware River, there linked to New Jersey by the twin spans of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. The original settlement, called Santhoeck, was established in 1651, when Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch administrator, built Fort Casimir there. The settlement was seized by the Swedes in 1654 but was regained

Wen Ti

2005-02-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

Among numerous legends about Wen Ti, he is said to have had 17 reincarnations, during

Gagern, Maximilian (joseph Ludwig) Freiherr Von (baron Of)

2005-02-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

Gagern, like his two prominent brothers, a nationalist

Wright Flyer Of 1903

2005-02-22T07:45:00.000-08:00

First powered airplane to demonstrate sustained flight under the full control of the pilot. Designed and built by Wilbur and Orville Wright in Dayton, Ohio, it was assembled in the autumn of 1903 at a camp at the base of the Kill Devil Hills, near Kitty Hawk, a village on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. After a first attempt failed on December 14, the machine was flown four times

Karamzin, Nikolay Mikhaylovich

2005-02-21T09:02:00.000-08:00

From an early age, Karamzin was interested in Enlightenment philosophy and western European literature. After extensive travel in western Europe,

Dasa

2005-02-21T04:23:00.000-08:00

Also spelled dasyu member of an aboriginal people in India encountered and embattled by the invading Aryans (c. 1500 BC). They were described by the Aryans as a dark-skinned, harsh-spoken people who worshiped the phallus. This allusion has persuaded many scholars that worship of the linga, the Hindu religious symbol, originated with them; it may, however, have referred to their sexual practices.

China, The Hundred Days of Reform, 1898

2005-02-20T19:39:00.000-08:00

The advocates of the Self-Strengthening Movement had regarded any institutional or ideological change as needless. But after 1885 some lower officials and comprador intellectuals began to emphasize institutional reforms and the opening of a parliament and to stress economic rather than military affairs for self-strengthening purposes. For the Peking court

Performing Arts, India.

2005-02-20T15:34:00.000-08:00

With the rise of an international taste for “Bollywood”—Indian commercial cinema—two spectacular all-star films vied for the claim to be the most costly films in Indian history; Devdas was directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali from a much-filmed early 20th-century novel with a Romeo and Juliet theme, and Karan Johar's Kabhi khushi kabhie gham ... (2001; Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes

Olmedo, José Joaquín

2005-02-19T17:50:00.000-08:00

Poet and statesman whose odes commemorating South America's achievement of independence from Spain captured the revolutionary spirit of his time and inspired a generation of Romantic poets and patriots. They have remained monuments to the heroic figures of the liberation movement in South

Zodiac

2005-02-19T09:19:00.000-08:00

In astronomy and astrology, a belt around the heavens extending 9° on either side of the ecliptic, the plane of the earth's orbit and of the sun's apparent annual path. The orbits of the moon and of the principal planets (except Pluto) also lie entirely within the zodiac. The 12 astrological signs of the zodiac are each considered to occupy 1/12 (or 30°) of its great circle. These signs no

Use

2005-02-18T23:12:00.000-08:00

In medieval English property law, the right of one person to take the profits of land belonging to another. It involved at least two and usually three persons. One man (A) would convey or enfeoff land to another (B) on the condition that the latter would use it not for his own benefit but for the benefit of a third man (C)—who could be A himself. C (or A), thus, had the profits—that is, the

Chancre

2005-02-18T17:03:00.000-08:00

Typical skin lesion of the primary stage of infectious syphilis, usually appearing on the penis, labia, cervix, or anorectal region. (Because in women the chancre often occurs internally, it may go unnoticed.) The lesion often occurs in combination with a painless swelling of the regional lymph nodes, and together these symptoms are the major characteristics of syphilis

Van

2005-02-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

City, eastern Turkey. It lies on the eastern shore of Lake Van at an altitude of about 5,750 feet (1,750 m). The city lies in an oasis at the foot of a hill crowned by an ancient ruined citadel. A ruined stone building near the foot of the rocky spur bears cuneiform inscriptions dating from the 8th and 7th centuries BC, when Van was the chief centre of the Urartu Kingdom. After the fall of Nineveh

Russell, William Russell, Lord

2005-02-17T10:31:00.000-08:00

English Whig politician executed for allegedly plotting to murder King Charles II and his Roman Catholic brother James, Duke of York. Because the charges against Russell were never conclusively proved, he was lauded as a martyr by the Whigs, who claimed that he was put to death in retaliation for his efforts to exclude James from succession to

Spode Porcelain

2005-02-17T09:31:00.000-08:00

Porcelain introduced about 1800 in the factory of Josiah Spode and Josiah Spode II at Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, Eng. This hybrid porcelain—combining the ingredients of hard-paste porcelain (china clay and china stone) and bone ash—became the standard English bone china. Early Spode porcelain consists of elaborate services and outsize vases, lavishly decorated

Tachycardia

2005-02-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

In physiology and medicine, a heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute. Tachycardia occurs normally during and after exercise or during stress and represents no danger to healthy individuals. In some cases, however, tachycardia occurs without apparent cause and is an arrhythmia, i.e., a pathological deviation from the normal heartbeat rhythm. Most arrhythmias are

Ashta Pradhan

2005-02-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Asta Pradhad (Marathi: “Council of Eight”), administrative and advisory council set up by the Indian Hindu Maratha leader Sivaji (d. 1680), which contributed to his successful military attacks on the Muslim Mughal Empire and to the good government of the territory over which he established his rule. The council's senior member, the peshwa, or mukhya pradhan, was in charge of general administration

Sensory Reception, Human, Approaches to the study of sensing

2005-02-14T05:10:00.000-08:00

The science of the human senses is truly interdisciplinary. Philosophers, physicians, anatomists, physical scientists, physiologists, psychologists, and others have all joined in studying sensory activities. Some of their earliest work was anatomical, an approach that continues to be fruitful. Physical scientists, particularly physicists and chemists, made

Soria

2005-02-14T04:42:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Soria province, in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), north-central Spain, on the western bank of the Duero (Portuguese: Douro) River, about 110 miles (175 km) northeast of Madrid. Restored by Alfonso I the Warrior of Aragon after the Moorish invasion, the city was later given to Alfonso VII of Castile. Medieval Soria was ruled by the unique

Black Hand

2005-02-13T13:44:00.000-08:00

Byname of Ujedinjenje Ili Smrt (Serbo-Croatian: Union or Death), secret Serbian society of the early 20th century that used terrorist methods to promote the liberation of Serbs outside Serbia from Habsburg or Ottoman rule and was instrumental in planning the assassination of the Austrian archduke Francis Ferdinand (1914), precipitating the outbreak of World War I. The society was formed (1911) and led by Col.

Adaptation

2005-02-13T08:07:00.000-08:00

In biology, process by which an animal or plant becomes fitted to its environment; it is the result of natural selection acting upon heritable variation. Even the simpler organisms must be adapted in a great variety of ways: in their structure, physiology, and genetics; in their locomotion or dispersal; in their means of defense and attack; in their reproduction and

Ramapithecus

2005-02-13T01:45:00.000-08:00

The first Ramapithecus fossils (fragments of an upper jaw and some teeth) were discovered in 1932 in fossil deposits in the Siwalik hills of northern India. No significance was attached

Pacific Islands, Low coral islands

2005-02-13T01:23:00.000-08:00

Most Pacific islands are coral formations, although all rest on volcanic or other cores. In the shallow waters of the tropics, both continental and oceanic islands attract coral growth in the form of fringing reefs, partially submerged platforms of consolidated limestone, with coral organisms at the ocean edge feeding on materials carried in by waves and currents.

Keratitis

2005-02-11T22:21:00.000-08:00

Two types of keratitis result from dryness of the cornea. One of these, keratitis sicca, also

Ulanova, Galina

2005-02-11T07:14:00.000-08:00

The daughter of dancers Sergey Ulanov and Marie Romanova of the Mariinsky Ballet (called the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet during the Soviet period), Ulanova was trained in the

Brahmana

2005-02-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

Any of a number of prose commentaries attached to the Vedas, the most ancient Hindu sacred literature, explaining the significance of the Vedas as used in the ritual sacrifices and the symbolic import of the priests' actions. The word brahmana may mean either the utterance of a Brahman (priest) or an exposition on the meaning of the sacred word; the latter is more commonly

Chi-hsi

2005-02-10T05:45:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Jixi, city in southeastern Heilungkiang Province (sheng), China. Located on the upper Mu-leng Ho (river), it is in a mountainous area rich in timber and in various minerals, including coal, iron, oil shale, graphite, fluorite, and limestone. Chi-hsi is, however, predominantly a coal-mining city, with some of the largest and best equipped coal mines in China. The coal is of high quality

Zama, Battle Of

2005-02-09T03:58:00.000-08:00

(202 BC), victory of the Romans led by Scipio Africanus over the Carthaginians commanded by Hannibal. It was the last and decisive battle of the Second Punic War. The battle took place at a site identified by the Roman historian Livy as Naraggara (now Saqiyat Sidi Yusuf, Tunisia). The name Zama was given to the site (which modern historians have never precisely identified) by the Roman

Hay Fever

2005-02-08T20:40:00.000-08:00

Also called rose fever or allergic rhinitis seasonally recurrent bouts of sneezing, nasal congestion, and tearing and itching of the eyes caused by allergy to the pollen of certain plants, chiefly those depending upon the wind for cross-fertilization, such as ragweed in North America and timothy grass in Great Britain. In allergic persons contact with pollen releases histamine from the tissues, which irritates

Wells

2005-02-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

City, Mendip district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, England, at the foot of the Mendip Hills. The name derives from the many springs rising near the cathedral, which was begun in the 12th century and dominates the city. In general, Wells has been little affected by modern industry and growth. It remains a modest service centre, its Market Place and shopping

Mufti, Sa'id Al-

2005-02-08T13:07:00.000-08:00

In 1924 al-Mufti entered local government service in Amman, where he vigorously opposed British rule. He joined the governing cabinet of Transjordan (later Jordan) as minister of communications