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Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services, including estate agent london and estate agent central london. Their centrally located ground floor offices, minutes from Oxford Circus offer an ideal marketing base for your property.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

2005-04-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Typhus-like disease first described in the Rocky Mountain section of the United States, caused by a specific microorganism (Rickettsia rickettsii) and transmitted to man by ticks. It is identical with a disease known as São Paulo fever in Brazil and with the spotted fever of Colombia. Discovery of the microbe of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in 1906 by H.T. Ricketts led to

Water Bloom

2005-04-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

Also called Marine Bloom, dense aquatic population of microscopic organisms produced by an abundance of nutrient salts in surface water, coupled with adequate sunlight for photosynthesis. The microorganisms or the toxic substances that they release may discolour the water, deplete its oxygen content, poison aquatic animals and waterfowl, and irritate the skin and respiratory tract

Milyukov, Pavel Nikolayevich

2005-04-03T08:05:00.000-07:00

As a contributor to a clandestinely circulated journal, Osvobozhdeniye (“Liberation”), founded in 1902, Milyukov did much to swing the moderate members of the zemstvos (local government bodies) to the left. During the revolutionary year 1905, he was active in forming the Union of Unions, a broad alliance of professional associations, and subsequently the Constitutional Democratic,

Amphibious Warfare

2005-04-02T06:46:00.000-08:00

Military operations characterized by attacks launched from the sea by naval and landing forces against hostile shores. The main form is the amphibious assault, which may be conducted for any of several purposes: to serve as a prelude to further combat operations ashore; to seize a site required as an advanced naval or air base; or to deny the use of the site or area to

Spraying And Dusting

2005-04-01T22:33:00.000-08:00

In agriculture, the standard methods of applying pest-control chemicals and other compounds. In spraying, the chemicals to be applied are dissolved or suspended in water or, less commonly, in an oil-based carrier. The mixture is then applied as a fine mist to plants, animals, soils, or products to be treated. In dusting, as an alternative method, dry, finely powdered chemicals

Ishida Mitsunari

2005-04-01T03:20:00.000-08:00

Distinguished in the service of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the warrior who reunified Japan after more than a century of civil war, Ishida was appointed head of a small fief and soon became one of the most prominent

China, The tide begins to shift

2005-03-31T20:08:00.000-08:00

Although government forces overran Yen-an in March 1947, the strategic initiative passed to the PLA during that year. In midsummer Liu Bocheng started moving toward the Yangtze; by late in the year the Communists had concentrated strong forces in central China. Chen Yi operated on both sides of the Lung-hai, east of K'ai-feng; Liu Bocheng was firmly established in the Ta-pieh

Mystery Story

2005-03-31T13:12:00.000-08:00

Ages-old popular genre of tales dealing with the unknown; it may be a narrative of horror and terror, a pseudoscientific fantasy, a crime-solving story, an account of diplomatic intrigue, an affair of codes and ciphers and secret societies, or any situation involving an enigma. By and large, mystery stories may be divided into two sorts: tales of the supernatural and riddle

Wake Island, Battle Of

2005-03-30T09:24:00.000-08:00

Battle for a small atoll named Wake Island in the central Pacific in December 1941, waged between U.S. Marine and civilian defenders and Japanese invaders. At that time, Wake Island was the site of a half-completed U.S. air and submarine base. The Japanese first attacked Wake with 36 bombers at noon on Dec. 8, 1941 (Wake time; December 7, Hawaiian time), a few hours after the Pearl Harbor attack.

Berazategui

2005-03-29T15:34:00.000-08:00

Partido (county) at the southeastern limits of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, Argentina, in Buenos Aires provincia. It lies along the Río de la Plata estuary. The subdivision was created in October 1960 out of the existing partido of Quilmes. Berazategui was originally the property of the Barragán family when it was sold in 1860 to José Clemente Berazategui and Juan Etcheverry.

Bartholin, Caspar Berthelsen

2005-03-29T11:19:00.000-08:00

At the University of Padua (1608–10) Bartholin conducted anatomical studies under the famed Italian anatomist Hieronymus Fabricius ab Aquapendente. These formed the basis for his manual Anatomicae Institutiones Corporis

Orthodox Judaism

2005-03-29T07:01:00.000-08:00

The religion of those Jews who adhere most strictly to traditional beliefs and practices. Jewish Orthodoxy resolutely refuses to accept the position of Reform Judaism that the Bible and other sacred Jewish writings contain not only eternally valid moral principles but also historically and culturally conditioned adaptations and interpretations of the

Rome, March On

2005-03-27T15:20:00.000-08:00

Widespread social discontent, aggravated by middle-class fear of a socialist revolution and by disappointment over Italy's meagre gains from the

Alcamenes

2005-03-26T15:38:00.000-08:00

Sculptor and younger contemporary of Phidias, noted for the delicacy and finish of his works, among which a Hephaestus and an “Aphrodite of the Gardens” are noteworthy. A copy of the head of his “Hermes Propylaeus” at Pergamum has been identified by an inscription, and he is said by the Greek traveler Pausanias (2nd century

Economic Geology

2005-03-26T01:13:00.000-08:00

Economic geology deals with metal ores, fossil fuels (e.g., petroleum, natural gas, and coal), and other materials of commercial value, such as salt, gypsum, and building stone. It applies the

Union Pacific Railroad Company

2005-03-25T16:48:00.000-08:00

The Union Pacific was largely financed

Visitador

2005-03-25T07:56:00.000-08:00

The institution of the

Lewes

2005-03-24T07:25:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”), Lewes district, administrative county of East Sussex, historic county of Sussex, England. Lewes lies at a gap in the South Downs and along the River Ouse where it is still tidal. A castle was built there in the 11th century, and its ruins still dominate the town, which grew as a market centre and river port of some importance, although the port later gave way to Newhaven

Heidelberg

2005-03-23T19:35:00.000-08:00

City, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany, on the canalized Neckar River where it emerges from the forested hills of Odenwald into the Rhine plain. First mentioned in 1196, it was the capital of the Rhenish Palatinate (Pfalz) and the residence of the electoral counts Palatine until 1720. It was devastated during the Thirty Years' War (1622) and almost completely destroyed

Muhammad Ibn Falah

2005-03-22T10:10:00.000-08:00

Muhammad ibn Falah was reputed to be descended from the seventh Shi'ite imam, Musa al-Kazim. He received a traditional Islamic religious education in al-Hillah, a famous centre for Shi'ite studies. As a student he was noted for his extremist religious views, which bordered on heresy, and he

France, History Of, The Vichy government

2005-03-22T02:01:00.000-08:00

Parliament met at Vichy on July 9–10 to consider France's future. The session was dominated by Pierre Laval, Pétain's vice premier, who was already emerging as the strongman of the government. Laval, convinced that Germany had won the war and would thenceforth control the Continent, saw it as his duty to adapt France to the new authoritarian age. By skillful manipulation,

Heilbrun, Carolyn

2005-03-21T20:16:00.000-08:00

Heilbrun attended Wellesley (Massachusetts) College (B.A., 1947) and Columbia University in New York City (M.A., 1951; Ph.D., 1959) and in 1960 joined the faculty of Columbia, where she taught until 1992. Among her scholarly

Heinrich Von Morungen

2005-03-21T18:01:00.000-08:00

A native of Thuringia, he spent much of his later life in the service of Duke Dietrich of Meissen. His poems, of which some 33 are to be found in the Heidelberg manuscript, are all devoted to the fashionable cult of love. His poems show more originality and spontaneity than those

Race, North America

2005-03-21T15:22:00.000-08:00

Racial classifications appeared in North America, and in many other parts of the world, as a form of social division predicated on what were thought to be natural differences among human groups. Analysis of the folk beliefs, social policies, and practices of North Americans about race from the 18th to the 20th century reveals a fundamental ideology about human differences

H I Region

2005-03-19T17:56:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Hi Region, in astronomy, interstellar matter composed of neutral hydrogen atoms. Most of the matter between the stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, to which the Earth belongs, as well as in other spiral galaxies, occurs in the form of relatively cold, neutral hydrogen gas with a temperature of only about 100 K and a density of approximately one atom per cubic cm. There also exist cold compact

Oberth, Hermann (julius)

2005-03-19T16:56:00.000-08:00

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

Boyne, River

2005-03-19T16:32:00.000-08:00

Irish An Bhóinn river rising in the Bog of Allen, County Kildare, Ireland, and flowing 70 miles (110 km) northeast to enter the Irish Sea just below Drogheda. Neolithic passage graves at Knowth, Newgrange, and Dowth are of archaeological significance, and nearby in the Boyne valley is Tara, seat of the high kings of Ireland. The river was the scene of the famous Battle of the Boyne (1690).

Ampère, Jean-jacques (-antoine)

2005-03-19T15:17:00.000-08:00

The son of the scientist André-Marie Ampère, Jean-Jacques Ampère in 1826 made his first journey to Germany, where his work greatly

Gamma Decay

2005-03-17T16:20:00.000-08:00

Type of radioactivity in which some unstable atomic nuclei dissipate excess energy by a spontaneous electromagnetic process. In the most common form of gamma decay, known as gamma emission, gamma rays (photons, or packets of electromagnetic energy, of extremely short wavelength) are radiated. Gamma decay also includes two other electromagnetic processes, internal

Dumbarton Oaks Conference

2005-03-17T08:49:00.000-08:00

This conference constituted the first important step taken to carry out paragraph 4 of the Moscow

Latin Literature, The 12th to the 14th century

2005-03-17T08:41:00.000-08:00

The Carmina Burana (“Songs from Bavaria”), the largest and greatest collection of secular lyrics, comes from the Benediktbeuern, a Benedictine monastery in Bavaria. It was put together in the 13th century, though most of the songs are much older, and contains work by many of the finest poets of the age. The contents are divided by subject into moral and satirical verse, love

Kafr Ash-shaykh

2005-03-16T09:38:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kafr El-sheikh muhafazah (governorate) in the central Nile Delta, Lower Egypt, with the Rosetta Branch of the river to the west and ad-Daqahliyah governorate to the east. It was created in 1949 out of al-Gharbiyah muhafazah, just south, and named Fu'adiyah muduiyah (province) after Fu'ad I, sultan (1917–22) and king (1922–36) of Egypt. After the Egyptian monarchy was overthrown in 1952, the area was renamed in 1955. Buhayrat al-Burullus, which

Croft, William

2005-03-15T23:07:00.000-08:00

Educated under John Blow, he was organist of St. Anne's, Soho (1700–12), of the Chapel Royal from 1707, and of Westminster Abbey from 1708. In 1700 he collaborated with Blow, Jeremiah Clarke, Francis Piggott, and John Barrett in a Choice Collection of Ayres

Actinium Series

2005-03-15T15:59:00.000-08:00

Set of unstable heavy nuclei constituting one of the four radioactive series (q.v.).

Yerby, Frank

2005-03-15T01:30:00.000-08:00

Yerby's story “Health Card” won the O. Henry Memorial Award for best first published short story in 1944. In 1946 his first novel, The Foxes of Harrow, was an immediate success. His novels are action-packed, usually featuring a strong hero in an earlier period. The stories unfold in colourful language

Leicestershire

2005-03-14T00:46:00.000-08:00

Administrative, geographic, and historic county in the East Midlands region of England, bordered by Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Rutland, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, and Derbyshire. The administrative, geographic, and historic counties occupy slightly different areas. The administrative county comprises seven districts: Blaby, Harborough

Alexander I

2005-03-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

Byname Alexander Philhellene, or Alexander The Wealthy 10th king of ancient Macedonia, who succeeded his father, Amyntas I, about 500 BC. More than a decade earlier, Macedonia had become a vassal state of Persia; and in 480 Alexander was obliged to accompany Xerxes I in a campaign through Greece, though he secretly aided the Greek allies. With Xerxes' apparent acquiescence, Alexander seized the Greek colony of Pydna and advanced his

Prophets, The Lives Of The

2005-03-13T07:30:00.000-08:00

Pseudepigraphal collection (not in any scriptural canon) of folk stories and legends about the major and minor biblical prophets and a number of other prophetic figures from the Old Testament books of I Kings, II Chronicles, and Nehemiah. The work demonstrates the popularity of religious and philosophical biography in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern areas

Pharmaceutical Industry

2005-03-13T06:34:00.000-08:00

Drugs may be classified in one of three ways: by chemical group (e.g.,alkaloids, mentioned above); pharmacologically (i.e.,by the way they work in the body); and according to their therapeutic uses. Pharmacological and therapeutic classifications show considerable divergence, as drugs that act upon the body in different ways may bring about the same desired therapeutic

Anziku, Kingdom Of

2005-03-13T00:25:00.000-08:00

Also called Kingdom of Teke, or Kingdom of Tyo, historic African state on and north of the Congo River in the vicinity of Malebo Pool. The Teke people lived on the plateaus of the region from early times. It is not known when they organized as a kingdom, but by 1600 their state was a rival of the Kongo kingdom south of the river. Controlling the lower Congo River and extending northwest to the upper Kouilou-Niari basin, Anziku

Dobson, Austin

2005-03-11T11:12:00.000-08:00

In 1856 Dobson entered the Board of Trade, where he remained until his retirement in 1901. Married in 1868, he became a father of 10 and lived in the London suburb of Ealing until his death at the

Anthropoidea

2005-03-11T10:53:00.000-08:00

Suborder of primates including the families Callitrichidae (marmoset, q.v.), Cebidae (New World monkeys), Cercopithecidae (Old World monkeys), Hylobatidae (gibbon and siamang, qq.v.), Pongidae (gorilla, chimpanzee, and orangutan, qq.v.), Hominidae (humans and fossil relatives), and the fossil group Parapithecidae.

Gabinius, Aulus

2005-03-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

As tribune in 67 BC Gabinius proposed a law that gave Pompey command of the Mediterranean and all the land within 50 miles (81 km) of its coast as a means of controlling the depredations of pirates. Another Gabinian measure checked the lending of money to foreign ambassadors at Rome. Its

Botswana, Flag Of

2005-03-11T06:33:00.000-08:00

The Tswana people of southern Africa were divided by political boundaries drawn by European settlers in the late 19th century. Some lived to the south of the new border in (British) Cape Colony and thus came under its jurisdiction, while those to the north formed a separate entity under British control, the Bechuanaland Protectorate. In 1910 the Union of South Africa was

Botswana, Flag Of

2005-03-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1969–73) National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws American organization, founded in 1969 to centralize state abortion-rights efforts and continuing its mission thereafter to protect and promote reproductive freedom. The organization consists of three related entities: NARAL Inc., a nonprofit organization that focuses on defending abortion rights and on making abortions less necessary; NARAL-PAC, a registered

Spring

2005-03-08T06:06:00.000-08:00

In hydrology, opening at or near the surface of the Earth for the discharge of water from underground sources. A spring is a natural discharge point of subterranean water at the surface of the ground or directly into the bed of a stream, lake, or sea. Water that emerges at the surface without a perceptible current is called a seep. Wells are holes excavated to bring water

Benedict Biscop, Saint

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

Of noble birth, he was a thane of King

Addison, Thomas

2005-03-08T04:42:00.000-08:00

In 1837 Addison became a full

Lusatian Mountains

2005-03-07T19:59:00.000-08:00

Czech Luzické Hory , German Lausitzer Gebirge mountain group, situated in extreme northern Bohemia, Czech Republic; it is part of the Sudeten mountains (Czech: Sudety). The group extends from the Ješted ridge in the east (3,320 feet [1,012 m]) to the gorge of the Elbe (Labe) River at Decín in the west and also into Poland and Germany. Sandstone is the group's most common constituent rock, but there are also volcanic rock formations in conical

Black Lead

2005-03-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

Graphite (q.v.), though the term is a misnomer, since graphite does not contain any lead.

West Berlin

2005-03-07T04:20:00.000-08:00

The western half of the German city of Berlin (q.v.), which until the reunification of the German state in 1990 was treated as a city and Land (state) of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), though it was not constitutionally part of that nation.

Bexley

2005-03-06T10:10:00.000-08:00

Outer borough of eastern London, part of the historic county of Kent, on the south bank of the River Thames. It extends to the borough of Bromley in the south. Bexley was established in 1965 by the amalgamation of the former boroughs of Bexley and Erith, the urban district of Crayford, and part of Chislehurst and Sidcup. Within the borough are such areas as (roughly from north

Ouro Prêto

2005-03-05T23:57:00.000-08:00

Within a decade of its founding in 1698 as a mining settlement, Ouro Prêto became the centre of the greatest gold and silver rush in the Americas to that date. It still resembled a

Narrow-mouthed Toad

2005-03-05T17:59:00.000-08:00

Any amphibian of the family Microhylidae, which includes more than 50 genera and more than 200 species. Narrow-mouthed toads are found in North and South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Typically, they are small, stocky, and smooth skinned with short legs, small heads, pointed snouts, and narrow mouths. They live on land, underground, or in trees

Fabert, Abraham De

2005-03-04T20:26:00.000-08:00

Fabert's grandfather had been ennobled by Charles III, and his father had served Henry IV. At the age of 14 he entered the French Guard and from 1618 was almost constantly in service. His genius at engineering enabled him to play a key role in the sieges by which

Asbury, Francis

2005-03-04T00:18:00.000-08:00

After limited schooling Asbury was licensed as a local preacher, and at the age of 21 he was admitted to the Wesleyan Conference. For four years

Chad, Lake

2005-03-03T14:07:00.000-08:00

French Lac Tchad, freshwater lake located in the Sahelian zone of west-central Africa at the conjunction of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger. It is situated in an interior basin formerly occupied by a much larger ancient sea that is sometimes called Mega-Chad. Lake Chad ranks as the fourth largest lake in Africa, though its surface area varies greatly. When the surface of the lake is

Haldeman, H.r.

2005-03-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

Haldeman graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles in business

Rio Grande Do Sul

2005-03-02T20:22:00.000-08:00

The region was originally thinly inhabited by Tupí-Guaraní, Ge, and Guaycurú Indians. It

Biblical Literature, Uniqueness of John

2005-03-02T11:57:00.000-08:00

John is the last Gospel and, in many ways, different from the Synoptic Gospels. The question in the Synoptic Gospels concerns the extent to which the divine reality broke into history in Jesus' coming, and the answers are given in terms of the closeness of the new age. John, from the very beginning, presents Jesus in terms of glory: the Christ, the exalted Lord, mighty from

Valdivia, Pedro De

2005-03-01T16:06:00.000-08:00

Valdivia served with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders before being sent to South America in 1534. During the Peruvian civil war (1538), he fought with Francisco Pizarro against Diego de Almagro. For the Chilean

Burgess, Anthony

2005-03-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

Trained in English literature and phonetics, Burgess taught in the extramural department of Birmingham University (1946–50), worked for the Ministry of Education (1948–50), and was English master at Banbury

Permafrost, Permafrost zones

2005-02-28T02:43:00.000-08:00

Permafrost is widespread in the northern part of the Northern Hemisphere, where it occurs in 85 percent of Alaska, 55 percent of Russia and Canada, and probably all of Antarctica. Permafrost is more widespread and extends to greater depths in the north than in the south. It is 1,500 metres (5,000 feet) thick in northern Siberia, 740 metres thick in northern Alaska, and thins progressively

Radin, Paul

2005-02-28T00:22:00.000-08:00

U.S. anthropologist who was influential in advancing a historical model of primitive society based on a synthesis of economic and social structure, religion, philosophy, and psychology. He pioneered in such important fields of anthropology as culture-personality studies and the use of autobiographical documents. An accomplished

Ramkhamhaeng

2005-02-27T20:39:00.000-08:00

On the death of his brother, King Ban Muang, about 1279, Ramkhamhaeng inherited his tiny kingdom of only a few hundred square miles. Over the next two decades—by careful diplomacy, shrewd alliances, and military

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

2005-02-27T11:10:00.000-08:00

Mauna Loa, located in the south-central

Harden, Sir Arthur

2005-02-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

After studies at Manchester and at Erlangen, Germany, Harden became a lecturer-demonstrator at the University of Manchester (1888–97). He took charge of the

Monad

2005-02-26T01:46:00.000-08:00

(from Greek monas “unit”), an elementary individual substance that reflects the order of the world and from which material properties are derived. The term was first used by the Pythagoreans as the name of the beginning number of a series, from which all following numbers derived. Giordano Bruno in De monade, numero et figura liber (1591; “On the Monad, Number, and Figure”) described

Piero Di Cosimo,

2005-02-25T20:48:00.000-08:00

His name derives from that of his master, Cosimo Rosselli, whom he assisted (1481) in the frescoes “Crossing of the Red Sea” and “Sermon on the Mount” in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. There he saw the frescoes of Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandajo,

Intensive Agriculture

2005-02-25T17:05:00.000-08:00

In agricultural economics, system of cultivation using large amounts of labour and capital relative to land area. Large amounts of labour and capital are necessary to the application of fertilizer, insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides to growing crops, and capital is particularly important to the acquisition and maintenance of high-efficiency machinery

Roman Republic And Empire

2005-02-24T22:11:00.000-08:00

The ancient state that centred on the city of Rome, from the time of the events leading up to the founding of the republic in 509 BC, through the establishment of the empire in 27 BC, to the final eclipse of the Empire of the West in the 5th century AD. (For later events of the Empire of the East, see Byzantine Empire.)

Areopagus

2005-02-24T00:56:00.000-08:00

The Areopagite Council probably began as the king's advisers. Early in the Archaic period it exercised a general and ill-defined authority until the publication of Draco's Code of Law (c. 621). Membership continued

Keyes, Alan

2005-02-23T17:32:00.000-08:00

In full Alan Lee Keyes American diplomat, radio commentator, and politician who was one of the most prominent African American conservatives in the late 20th and the early 21st century. He received a bachelor's degree (1972) and a doctorate (1979) in government studies from Harvard University. In 1978 he joined the U.S. State Department as a foreign service officer. In 1983 he was appointed

Aztec Calendar

2005-02-23T02:48:00.000-08:00

Dating system that combines the tonalpohualli, a ritual cycle of 260 days, with the solar year of 365 days. Like the Mayan calendar from which it was derived, the Aztec calendar consisted of a ritual cycle that was divided into 13 periods of 20 days each and a civil cycle that was divided into 18 months of 20 days plus an additional 5 days, called nemontemi, considered to be very unlucky. Again

Variable Star

2005-02-22T19:41:00.000-08:00

In an eclipsing variable, one member of a double, or binary, star system partially

Physical Medicine And Rehabilitation

2005-02-21T22:50:00.000-08:00

Also called Physiatry, Physical Therapy, or Rehabilitation Medicine, medical specialty concerned with the treatment of chronic disabilities and with the restoration of normal functioning to the disabled through physical modes of treatment, such as exercise. This specialized medical service is generally aimed at rehabilitating persons disabled by pain or ailments affecting the motor functions of the body. Physical medicine

Peter Ii

2005-02-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

Peter married (1204) Mary, lady of Montpellier, and thus greatly extended Aragonese power in southern France. Despite the violent objections of his subjects, he had himself crowned by Pope Innocent III in Rome and declared his kingdom a feudatory of the Holy See (1204). Peter, with other Spanish kings,

Braak, Menno Ter

2005-02-21T03:10:00.000-08:00

In 1932 ter Braak founded, with Edgar du Perron, the magazine Forum, which called for a rejection of contemporary aestheticism (with its emphasis on elegance and form) and a return to sincerity and substance

Constantine

2005-02-20T14:51:00.000-08:00

Constantine upheld Roman supremacy against the insubordination of Felix, archbishop of Ravenna. He received as a pilgrim King Cenred of Mercia, who became a monk at Rome (709). Constantine strongly objected to the canons, several of which opposed Roman customs, established by the largely eastern Trullan (or Quinisext) Council assembled under

Roman Religion

2005-02-19T16:45:00.000-08:00

Beliefs and practices of the inhabitants of the Italian peninsula from ancient times until the ascendancy of Christianity in the 4th century AD.

Kamakura Period

2005-02-19T06:31:00.000-08:00

In Japanese history, the period from 1192 to 1333 during which the basis of feudalism was firmly established. It was named for the city where Minamoto Yoritomo set up the headquarters of his military government, commonly known as the Kamakura shogunate. After his decisive victory over the rival Taira family at the battle of Dannoura (1185), Yoritomo created his own military administration

Nabuco De Araújo, Joaquim Aurelio Barreto

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

Nabuco was a member of an old aristocratic family in northeastern Brazil. Both in the national Chamber of Deputies (from 1878) and in the Brazilian Anti-Slavery Society, which he founded, he worked tirelessly for the emancipation of Brazil's

Xánthi

2005-02-18T05:56:00.000-08:00

Though the city's origins are obscure, it grew up beneath the Byzantine fortress of Xanthea and later became a summer colony of

Melilite

2005-02-17T16:58:00.000-08:00

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

Kshitigarbha

2005-02-17T02:43:00.000-08:00

Bodhisattva (“buddha-to-be”) who, though known in India as early as the 4th century CE, became immensely popular in China as Dicang and in Japan as Jizo. He is the saviour of the oppressed, the dying, and the dreamer of evil dreams, for he has vowed not to stop his labours until he has saved the souls of all the dead condemned to hell. In China he is considered the overlord of hell and is

Solar

2005-02-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sollar, in architecture, private room in a late medieval English manor house, located on the floor above the great hall. The solar served as a kind of parlour to which the owner of the manor house or castle could retire with his family from the chaotic communal living of the hall below. In fact, by the late 14th century the solar was more often called the “retiring room.” Up a flight of

Alarcón Y Ariza, Pedro Antonio De

2005-02-16T02:16:00.000-08:00

Alarcón had achieved a considerable reputation as a journalist and poet when his play El hijo pródigo (“The Prodigal Son”) was hissed off the stage in 1857. The failure so exasperated him that he enlisted as a volunteer in the Moroccan campaign of 1859–60. The expedition

Petrel

2005-02-15T21:12:00.000-08:00

Among the procellariid

Aerospace Engineering

2005-02-14T23:47:00.000-08:00

Also called aeronautical engineering, or astronautical engineering, field of engineering concerned with the design, development, construction, testing, and operation of vehicles operating in the Earth's atmosphere or in outer space. In 1958 the first definition of aerospace engineering appeared, considering the Earth's atmosphere and the space above it as a single realm for development of flight vehicles. Today the more encompassing

Branch Davidian

2005-02-14T22:35:00.000-08:00

An offshoot group of the Davidian Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church that made headlines on February 28, 1993, when its Mt. Carmel headquarters near Waco, Texas, was raided by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF); four federal agents were killed in the assault. A lengthy standoff between the group and government agents then followed. It ended on April 19, after some 80 members

Düren

2005-02-14T04:59:00.000-08:00

City, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. It lies along the Ruhr River, on the northeastern slopes of the Eifel Hills. A Frankish settlement first mentioned in 748, it grew from the Villa Duria of Pippin III the Short, the king of the Franks. It was subsequently the seat of diets and synods under Charlemagne and the base for several of his Saxon campaigns. After

Lock

2005-02-13T21:56:00.000-08:00

Mechanical device for securing a door or receptacle so that it cannot be opened except by a key or by a series of manipulations that can be carried out only by a person knowing the secret or code.

Ryan, Nolan

2005-02-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

Ryan was taught to play baseball by an elder brother and was a wild but fast pitcher in high school before he was signed by the National League New York Mets in 1965. He pitched for their minor league

Gauteng

2005-02-13T03:38:00.000-08:00

Province, northeastern South Africa. It consists of the cities of Pretoria, Johannesburg, Germiston, and Vereeniging and their surrounding metropolitan areas in the eastern part of the Witwatersrand region. Gauteng is the smallest South African province. It is bordered by the provinces of Northern on the north, Mpumalanga on the east, Free State on the south, and

Extensor Muscle

2005-02-13T01:48:00.000-08:00

Any of the muscles that increase the angle between members of a limb, as by straightening the elbow or knee or bending the wrist or spine backward. The movement is usually directed backward, with the notable exception of the knee joint. In humans, certain muscles of the hand and foot are named for this function. In the hand these include the extensor carpi radialis brevis,

Astyanax

2005-02-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

In Greek legend, prince, son of the Trojan prince Hector and his wife Andromache; he was also known as Scamandrius, after the River Scamander, near Troy. After the fall of Troy he was hurled from the battlements of the city by the Greek warrior Neoptolemus. According to medieval legend, however, he survived the war, established the kingdom of Messina in Sicily, and founded

Peter Damian, Saint

2005-02-11T11:12:00.000-08:00

Educated at Ravenna, Faenza, and Parma, he abandoned his teaching career (1035) to enter the hermitage of Fonte Avellana in the Apennines, where he was chosen prior in 1043. Peter's zeal for reform, particularly his advocacy of

Qatar, Agriculture

2005-02-10T17:39:00.000-08:00

The scarcity of fertile land and water imposes severe limitations on agriculture, and a large proportion of the country's food must be imported. Use of treated sewage effluent and desalinated water for irrigation have helped to expand the production of fruits, such as dates and melons, and of vegetables, such as tomatoes, squash, and eggplants. The cultivation of vegetables

Fu-shou-lu

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

Pinyin Fushoulu, in Chinese mythology, a collective term for the three so-called stellar gods, taken from their names: Fu Hsing, Shou Hsing, and Lu Hsing (qq.v.).