ConsciousStore

organic bed linen

2006-10-29T17:40:00.000-08:00

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.

Consejo Real

2005-03-19T08:31:00.000-08:00

Spanish royal council medieval Spanish advisory council consisting of nobles and church prelates. Initially created at the request of the Cortes (parliament) to serve as its permanent representative, the consejo real evolved into a body controlled by the monarch. John I of Castile formally determined the first council's structure in 1386, adding four members, usually lawyers, to the former

Iron Mask, The Man In The

2005-03-16T00:24:00.000-08:00

He was first imprisoned at Pignerol (Pinerolo, in Piedmont) sometime before 1681, then at other prisons

Pen-hsi

2005-03-14T19:32:00.000-08:00

From the time of the Liao dynasty (907–1125) it was the centre of a small-scale iron industry, and coal began to be mined in the late 18th century. The startling modern growth of Pen-hsi began with the establishment in 1905 of the Pen-hsi Coal Mining Company with joint Chinese

Sarcophagus

2005-03-12T20:39:00.000-08:00

Stone coffin. The original term is of doubtful meaning; Pliny explains that the word denotes a coffin of limestone from the Troad (the region around Troy) which had the property of dissolving the body quickly (Greek sarx, “flesh”; phagein, “to eat”). This explanation is questionable; religious and folkloristic ideas may have been involved in calling a coffin a body eater. The

Polignac Family

2005-03-11T16:58:00.000-08:00

From the 1050s and perhaps even from 860, the first viscounts of Polignac (in the modern département of Haute-Loire) were practically independent rulers of Velay, where the Loire River rises. Their ultimate heiress, Valpurge, was married in 1349 to Guillaume III de Chalençon, whose descendants assumed the Polignac name in 1421. The actual

Disciples Of Christ

2005-03-09T22:13:00.000-08:00

The Churches of Christ emphasize rigorous adherence to the New Testament as the model for Christian faith, practice, and fellowship. They

Gaffney

2005-03-06T16:36:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Cherokee county, northern South Carolina, U.S., near the Broad River. Named for Michael Gaffney, an Irish settler who arrived in 1803, it early developed as a resort where plantation owners sought therapeutic treatment at local limestone springs. Its growth as a market centre for cotton (now peaches) and farm produce was sustained by the coming of the Southern

Biblical Literature, The significance of Elisha

2005-03-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

The stories of Elijah and his successor, Elisha, are of a different literary genre from the historical accounts of the political developments of the 9th century. The historical accounts are based on the viewpoints and biases of the monarchy, nobility, and military leaders. The stories of Elijah and Elisha are legendary, popular accounts, probably having arisen among

Ramathibodi I

2005-03-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

Little is known of Ramathibodi's early career, but he is thought to have been related to the ruling family of the principality of Lop Buri and to have married the daughter of the ruler of U Thong (now Suphan Buri) in central Siam. He succeeded to the throne of U Thong in about 1347 and moved

Zion

2005-03-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

City, Lake county, northeastern Illinois, U.S. It lies along Lake Michigan, near the Wisconsin border. Zion was founded in 1901 by John Alexander Dowie as the headquarters of his Christian Catholic Church. Until 1935 it was theocratically governed, and the church controlled all business activities. The church schools were closed in 1939, after which a modern educational system was

Serialism

2005-02-26T04:23:00.000-08:00

In music, technique that has been used in some musical compositions roughly since World War I. Strictly speaking, a serial pattern in music is merely one that repeats over and over for a significant stretch of a composition. In this sense, some medieval composers wrote serial music, because they made use of isorhythm, which is a distinct rhythmic pattern that repeats

Performing Arts, Nontheatrical Films.

2005-02-25T09:14:00.000-08:00

Austrian filmmaker Kurt Mundl (Power of the Earth Productions) in 1998 created an amazing film about butterflies and moths, The Messengers of the Gods--Butterflies. The 49-minute gem was made from 18,000 minutes of film patiently photographed using special lenses. New findings about behaviour were brought to life. It won many awards, including Best of Festival at Chicago's U.S. International

Arabia, History Of, The rise of Islam

2005-02-23T03:02:00.000-08:00

After Muhammad's entry into Mecca the tribes linked with Quraysh came to negotiate with him and to accept Islam; this meant little more than giving up their local deities and worshiping Allah alone. They had to pay the tax, but this was not novel because the tribal chiefs had already been taxed to protect the Meccan haram. Many tribesmen probably waited to join the winner.

Durrell, Gerald Malcolm

2005-02-20T01:31:00.000-08:00

British naturalist (b. Jan. 7, 1925, Jamshedpur, India--d. Jan. 30, 1995, St. Helier, Jersey), gained international stature among conservationists for his pioneering yet sometimes controversial role in preserving and breeding endangered species by housing them in zoos with the intention of eventually returning them to the wild. He was also a prolific author, producing more than 35 amusing

Zither

2005-02-18T06:53:00.000-08:00

Any of several stringed musical instruments. The European zither consists of a flat, shallow sound box across which gut or metal strings are stretched. The strings nearest the player run above a fretted fingerboard against which they are stopped by the left hand to provide melody notes; they are plucked by a plectrum worn on the right thumb. At the same time, the right-hand

Zanzibar Treaty

2005-02-16T06:51:00.000-08:00

The

Ford, Richard

2005-02-15T06:39:00.000-08:00

Ford attended Michigan State University (B.A., 1966), Washington University Law School, and the University of California, Irvine (M.A., 1970), and subsequently taught at several American colleges and universities. His first novel, A Piece of My Heart (1976), is set on an island in the southern Mississippi

Moscheles, Ignaz

2005-02-12T18:59:00.000-08:00

Moscheles studied at the Prague Conservatory and later at Vienna under J.G. Albrechtsberger and Antonio Salieri. In 1814, commissioned by Artaria & Co., publishers, he made the first piano arrangement of Ludwig van

Moreau, Jeanne

2005-02-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

Moreau studied at the Conservatoire Nationale d'Art Dramatique and became at 20 years of age the youngest member of the Comédie-Française. Le Dernier Amour (1949; The Last Love) marked her film debut, but Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (1957; “Elevator to the Scaffold”; released as Frantic

La Follette, Robert M

2005-02-09T07:41:00.000-08:00

As a boy growing up in moderately prosperous rural areas, as a student at the University of Wisconsin (1875–79), as a county district attorney (1880–84) and congressman from southwestern Wisconsin, La Follette developed the personality and style that made him a popular leader. He combined an unusually outgoing personality, which made it natural for him to absorb the ideas and prejudices

West Lafayette

2005-02-07T23:58:00.000-08:00

City, Tippecanoe county, west-central Indiana, U.S. It lies along the Wabash River (bridged) opposite Lafayette. Founded in 1845 as Kingston, it was later called Chauncey (1866) before being renamed West Lafayette in 1888. Primarily residential, it is the seat of Purdue University (1869). Nearby are the Tippecanoe Battlefield State Memorial and the site of Fort Ouiatanon (1719), the first white settlement

Japan Railways Group

2005-02-05T13:41:00.000-08:00

The first railroad in Japan, built by British engineers, opened in 1872, between Tokyo and Yokohama. After some initial opposition to foreign influence, Japanese engineers began building railroads at a rapid rate, and

Parafusulina

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

Genus of extinct fusulinid foraminiferans (single-celled animals with a hard, complexly constructed shell) found as fossils in Permian marine rocks (the Permian Period began 286 million years ago and ended 245 million years ago). Parafusulina is more specifically restricted to the Leonardian and Guadalupian stages, smaller divisions of Permian rocks and time, and is

Kiraly, Karch

2005-01-31T09:44:00.000-08:00

When Kiraly was four years old, he moved with his family to Santa Barbara, California. His father, Laszlo Kiraly, had played on the Hungarian national

Dadra And Nagar Haveli

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

The terrain of Dadra and Nagar Haveli is undulating and hilly, reaching elevations of 1,000 feet in the northeast and east near the Western Ghats. Lowland areas are limited to the central plains, which are crossed by the Damanganga River and its tributaries. The only navigable river in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the Damanganga rises in Maharashtra and flows northwestward through

Chester, Hugh Of Avranches, 1st Earl Of, Vicomte (viscount) D'avranches

2005-01-28T11:36:00.000-08:00

Also called Hugh The Fat, or Hugh The Wolf, French Hugues Le Gros, French- Latin Hugues Lupus son of Richard, Viscount d'Avranches, and probable companion of William the Conqueror, who made him Earl of Chester in 1071. (He inherited his father's viscountship sometime after 1082.) He had special privileges in his earldom, and he held land in 20 counties. Hugh was called Le Gros because of his great bulk and Lupus because of his ferocity. He regarded Saint Anselm as his friend,

Argentina, The Northwest

2005-01-26T01:41:00.000-08:00

This part of the Andes region includes the northern half of the main mountain mass in Argentina and the transitional terrain, or piedmont, merging with the eastern lowlands. The region's southern border is the upper Colorado River. Within the region, the Andean system of north-south-trending mountain ranges varies in elevation from 16,000 to 22,000 feet (4,900 to 6,700 metres) and is interrupted

Ear Disease, Lop ear

2005-01-23T14:01:00.000-08:00

Lop ear, excessive protrusion of the ear from the side of the head, is a more frequent but less serious deformity of the outer ear. Surgery may be performed to bring the ears back to a more normal and less conspicuous position.

Mexico, Gulf Of, Physiography and geology

2005-01-21T04:47:00.000-08:00

The Gulf of Mexico consists of several ecological and geologic provinces, chief of which are the coastal zone, the continental shelf, the continental slope, and the abyssal plain. The coastal zone consists of tidal marshes, sandy beaches, mangrove-covered areas, and many bays, estuaries, and lagoons. The continental shelf forms an almost continuous terrace around

Mexico, Gulf Of, Physiography and geology

2005-01-19T11:44:00.000-08:00

Organization that evolved out of an international protest against atmospheric nuclear testing held on November 1, 1961. On that day between 12,000 and 50,000 women in various nations demonstrated to protest nuclear testing and to voice concern, in particular, about the hazards posed by such testing to children's health. In the United States some 1,500 women marched in Washington, D.C., to make

Vulcanization

2005-01-18T11:04:00.000-08:00

The process was discovered in 1839 by the U.S. inventor

Eye, Human, The axes of the eye

2005-01-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

It is worthwhile at this point to define certain axes of the eyes employed during different types of study. The optic axis of the eye is a line drawn through the centre of the cornea and the nodal (central) point of the eye; it actually does not intersect with the retina at the centre of the fovea as might be expected, but toward the nose from this, so that there is an angle of

Ala Shan Desert

2005-01-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

Southernmost portion of the Gobi (desert), occupying about 400,000 square miles (1,000,000 square km) in north-central China. Covering portions of the western Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northern Kansu sheng (province), it is bounded by the Huang Ho (Yellow River) and Ho-lan Mountains on the east and southeast; by the Ch'i-lien Mountains on the south and southwest; by the northern

Mid-indian Ridge

2005-01-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

Submarine ridge of the Indian Ocean that is connected to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge; both are segments of the worldwide mid-oceanic ridge system. Entering the Indian Ocean from the South Atlantic, the Mid-Indian Ridge extends north to a point near Rodrigues Island, where it divides into two parts: one segment continues northward toward the Gulf of Aden, where it connects

Saint Charles

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

City, seat of St. Charles county, eastern Missouri, U.S., on bluffs overlooking the Missouri River, there bridged to St. Louis, 22 miles (35 km) southeast. One of the earliest white settlements on the Missouri, it was founded in 1769 by Louis Blanchette as Les Petites Côtes (“The Little Hills”). The site, transferred to Spain in 1770, was dedicated in 1771 as the village of San Carlos Borromeo after a church

Bohemond Ii

2005-01-07T06:13:00.000-08:00

The son of Bohemond I and Constance of France, he went from Apulia to Antioch in 1126. Antioch had been under the regency of Baldwin II of Jerusalem since 1119, when the previous prince, Roger, had been killed. Soon after his arrival in Antioch, Bohemond married Alice, the younger daughter of Baldwin. After joining with Baldwin in an attack on Damascus

Anthraquinone Dye

2005-01-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

Anthraquinone acid dyes contain sulfonic acid groups that render them soluble in water and substantive for wool and silk; that is, they have an affinity for these fibres

Wagner, Richard

2005-01-03T17:39:00.000-08:00

The artistic and theatrical background of Wagner's early years (several elder sisters became opera singers or actresses) was a main formative influence. Impulsive and self-willed, he was a negligent scholar at the Kreuzschule, Dresden, and the Nicholaischule, Leipzig. He frequented concerts, however, taught himself the piano and composition, and read the plays of

Pietas

2005-01-01T04:58:00.000-08:00

In Roman religion, personification of a respectful and faithful attachment to gods, country, and relatives, especially parents. Pietas had a temple at Rome, dedicated in 181 BC, and was often represented on coins as a female figure carrying a palm branch and a sceptre or as a matron casting incense upon an altar, sometimes accompanied by a stork, the symbol of filial piety.

Gabriel, Ange-jacques

2004-12-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

The most celebrated member of a family of architects, he was the son of Jacques V (1667–1742), whom he succeeded as premier architect to Louis XV

Cavalcanti, Guido

2004-12-28T14:15:00.000-08:00

Born into an influential Florentine family of the Guelf (papal) party, Cavalcanti studied under the philosopher and scholar

Barcelona, Archaeological Museum Of

2004-12-28T11:24:00.000-08:00

In full Archaeological Museum Of Barcelona And Institute Of Prehistory And Archaeology, Spanish Museo Arqueológica De Barcelona E Instituto De Prehistoria Y Arqueología, institution in Barcelona, Spain, notable for its collection of prehistoric objects and for its collection of ancient Greek and Roman art and examples illustrating Iberian archaeology. Exhibits include a scale model of a part of the excavation at Ampurias (Emporiae) and displays of Greek vases, glass, and sculpture. There is a fine statue of Asclepius of the 4th century

Wigglesworth, Michael

2004-12-27T23:26:00.000-08:00

Wigglesworth emigrated to America in 1638 with his family and settled in New Haven. In 1651 he graduated from Harvard College, where he was a tutor and a fellow from 1652 to 1654 and again from 1697 to 1705. He preached at Charlestown, Mass., in 1653–54 and was pastor at

Poynting, John Henry

2004-12-25T19:34:00.000-08:00

He was a professor of physics at Mason Science College (later the University of Birmingham) from 1880 until his death. In papers published in 1884–85, he showed that the flow of energy

Xenarthran

2004-12-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

Xenarthrans are known only from the Western Hemisphere and arose in South America during the Paleocene Epoch (65 million to 54.8 million years ago). The fossil record shows that the group was both more diverse and more widely distributed as recently as the Pleistocene Epoch (1,800,000 to 10,000 years ago), when ground sloths colonized the islands of the Greater Antilles and glyptodonts,

Habituation

2004-12-24T08:44:00.000-08:00

The waning of an animal's behavioral response to a stimulus, as a result of a lack of reinforcement during continual exposure to the stimulus. It is usually considered to be a form of learning involving the elimination of behaviours that are not needed by the animal. Habituation may be separated from most other forms of decreased response (not including changes caused

Asaka

2004-12-23T07:17:00.000-08:00

City, Saitama ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies along the Kurume River northwest of Tokyo. It was a post town known as Hizaori during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867); its name was changed to Asaka in 1932. The city has been a centre of the copper-rolling industry since the late 19th century. Connected by rail with Tokyo, it is now a residential suburb of the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area.

Milles, Carl

2004-12-22T16:50:00.000-08:00

In 1902, during student years in Paris, Milles won recognition through the competition for

General Confederation Of Labour

2004-12-20T17:02:00.000-08:00

Spanish Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) major labour-union federation in Argentina. The CGT was formed in 1930. Its leadership was contested by socialist, anarchist, and syndicalist factions from 1935 until the early 1940s, when it came under the control of Juan Perón, an ambitious Cabinet minister. When Perón was ousted from his Cabinet posts and placed in detention in October 1945, a strike called by the CGT won his release

House, Edward M.

2004-12-19T18:28:00.000-08:00

Independently wealthy, House turned from business to politics and between 1892 and 1904 served as an adviser to Texas governors, one of whom gave him the honorary title of colonel. Thereafter

Water Parsnip

2004-12-18T08:27:00.000-08:00

Any of several aromatic herbs of the genus Sium, especially S. latifolium, belonging to the parsley family (Apiaceae), distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere and Africa. They grow in moist areas, and some species are even partially submerged. All are perennial herbs with divided leaves and clusters of white flowers. S. sisarum, known as skirret, is cultivated

Eyre, Lake

2004-12-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

Great salt lake in central South Australia, with a total area of 3,700 square miles (9,300 square km). It lies in the southwestern corner of the Great Artesian Basin, a closed inland basin about 440,150 square miles (1,140,000 square km) in area that is drained only by intermittent streams. Normally dry but susceptible to occasional flooding, the lake occupies the lowest part of the Australian continent.

Uzbekistan, Flag Of

2004-12-17T01:44:00.000-08:00

Uzbekistan legalized the design of its new national flag on November 18, 1991. More than 200 proposals had been submitted in a flag design contest; the winning pattern had five unequal horizontal stripes, as in the flag adopted in 1952 when the country was known as the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. The former flag's horizontal stripes of red-blue-red with white fimbriations symbolized

Furniture, Inlay and marquetry

2004-12-15T22:39:00.000-08:00

Inlaid woodwork, in which decorative material such as wood or ivory is set into the surface of the veneer, has accompanied the art of furniture making for thousands of years. Ivory inlay can be seen in Egyptian furniture, particularly in small, meticulously executed toilet caskets, but it is difficult to locate in Greek and Roman furniture, today known almost exclusively

Teague, Walter Dorwin

2004-12-13T14:23:00.000-08:00

After study at the Art Students League of New York (1903–07) and four years with an advertising agency, Teague became a successful free-lance advertising designer. Increasingly, his clients sought his advice for product

Harai

2004-12-11T19:40:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Harae, Barai, or Barae, in Japanese religion, any of numerous Shinto purification ceremonies. Harai rites, and similar misogi exercises using water, cleanse the individual so that he may approach a deity or sacred power (kami). Salt, water, and fire are the principal purificatory agents. Many of the rites, such as bathing in cold water, are traditionally explained as the method used by Izanagi

Argand Diagram

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

Graphic portrayal of complex numbers, those of the form a + bi, in which a and b are real numbers and i is the square root of -1; it was devised by the Swiss mathematician Jean Robert Argand in about 1806. One axis represents the pure imaginary numbers (those consisting of the bi portion only); the second represents the real numbers (a values only). This permits the complex numbers to

Baseball

2004-12-06T17:14:00.000-08:00

The Braves led baseball with a

Lagerkvist, Pär

2004-12-05T02:28:00.000-08:00

Lagerkvist was reared in a traditional religious manner in a small town. The influence of his early years remained strong despite his introduction to modern scientific ideas

Carpathian Mountains, Physiography

2004-12-02T08:07:00.000-08:00

Generally speaking, the Carpathians have been divided into the Western and the Eastern Carpathians, the latter also called—probably more accurately—the Southeastern Carpathians. There are marked differences between these parts. The Western Carpathians show a clearly marked zoning in geologic structure and relief forms, and the highest elevations occur in

Hawkins, Coleman

2004-11-30T16:24:00.000-08:00

At age four Hawkins began to study the piano, at seven

Biblical Literature, Roman Catholicism

2004-11-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

Liturgical worship in both Judaism and Christianity is an action that moves within the framework of biblical ideas and explains itself in biblical language. Preoccupied with really different views from opposite windows, Jews and Christians have often overlooked the common heritage that they share. This has likewise been true of the differences between Eastern

Amber

2004-11-26T03:16:00.000-08:00

Amber occurs as irregular nodules, rods, or droplike shapes

Robert De Boron

2004-11-23T06:48:00.000-08:00

Boron also spelled Borron French poet, originally from the village of Boron, near Delle. He was important for his trilogy of poems (Joseph d'Arimathe, Merlin, Perceval). It told the early history of the Grail and linked this independent legend more firmly with Arthurian legend, using the prophetic figure of Merlin, with his knowledge of past and future, as the connecting link.

Huckleberry

2004-11-21T00:04:00.000-08:00

Small, fruit-bearing, branching shrub of the genus Gaylussacia (family Ericaceae), resembling in habit the English bilberry (Vaccinium), to which it is closely allied. The huckleberry bears fleshy fruit with 10 nutlike seeds, differing in this respect from the blueberry. The common huckleberry of the northern United States is G. baccata, also called black, or high-bush, huckleberry.

Averescu, Alexandru

2004-11-19T19:47:00.000-08:00

After serving in the Romanian war of independence against Turkey (Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78), Averescu was sent to Italy for military training. As an army

Aesthetics, China

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

Confucius (551–479 BC) emphasized the role of aesthetic enjoyment in moral and political education, and, like his near contemporary Plato, was suspicious of the power of art to awaken frenzied and distracted feelings. Music must be stately and dignified, contributing to the inner harmony that is the foundation of good behaviour, and all art is at its noblest when incorporated

Benda, Georg (anton)

2004-11-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

The third son of Jan Jirí Benda and his wife, Dorota Brixi, both musicians, and brother of the violinist František Benda, he went with his family to Berlin in 1742. He played violin in the royal orchestra (1742–49) and for nearly 30 years (from

Mures

2004-11-13T00:19:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), north-central Romania, occupying an area of 2,585 square miles (6,696 square km). The eastern Carpathian Mountains, including the Calim and Gurghiu ranges, rise above settlement areas in the valleys. The Mures River and its tributaries flow southwestward through the district. Târgu Mures, a cultural and industrial centre, is the county capital. Its manufactures include

Sa Dec

2004-11-10T01:01:00.000-08:00

Formerly Sa Dac, town on the Mekong River delta, southern Vietnam. It is a river port, agricultural trading centre, and transshipment point for small craft on the left bank of the shallow Bassac River (Song Han Giang), 88 miles (140 km) southwest of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). It is linked by highway to Rach Gia, on the Gulf of Thailand, via Long Xuyen. It is crossed east-west by a waterway linking

Amateur Radio

2004-11-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

Interest in amateur radio arose around the turn of the century, shortly after the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi successfully sent the first transatlantic wireless signal in 1901. The interference of amateur broadcasts with commercial and military

Qajar Dynasty

2004-11-07T06:47:00.000-08:00

In 1779, following the death of Mohammad Karim Khan Zand, the Zand dynasty ruler of southern Iran, Agha Mohammad Khan (reigned 1779–97), a leader of the Turkmen Qajar tribe, set out to reunify Iran. By 1794 he had eliminated all his rivals, including Lotf 'Ali Khan, the last of the Zand dynasty, and had reasserted Iranian sovereignty over the former Iranian territories in

Breckinridge, Madeline Mcdowell

2004-11-05T16:46:00.000-08:00

Née Madeline McDowell American social reformer whose efforts focused on child welfare, health issues, and women's rights. Educated in Lexington, Kentucky, and at Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut, she studied intermittently during 1890–94 at the State College (now University) of Kentucky. In 1898 she married Desha Breckinridge, editor of the Lexington

Guenon

2004-11-02T21:58:00.000-08:00

Any of about 20 species of widely distributed African monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus, family Cercopithecidae. Guenons are slim, graceful, quadrupedal monkeys with long arms and legs, short faces, and nonprehensile tails that are longer than the combined head and body length of about 30–65 cm (12–26 inches). Guenons are known for the beauty of their soft,

Polar Ecosystem

2004-11-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

Polar barrens and tundra are found at high latitudes on land surfaces not covered by perpetual ice and snow. These areas lying beyond the tree line comprise more than 10 percent of the Earth's land surface. Most are in the Arctic and subarctic, as little land area in the Antarctic is ever free

Arabia, History Of, The sharifs of the Holy Cities

2004-10-29T15:20:00.000-07:00

At Mecca in the mid-10th century commenced the 1,000-year ascendancy of the 'Alid sharifian families. Mecca now became capital of the Hejaz, replacing Medina, the centre from which it had been ruled since the Prophet's days. The sharifs, though at times subject to such foreign overlords as the rulers of Egypt and of other parts of Arabia, exercised virtual independence. Throughout

Axolotl

2004-10-28T21:27:00.000-07:00

(Ambystoma, or Siredon, mexicanum), salamander of the family Ambystomatidae (order Caudata), notable for its permanent retention of larval features, such as external gills. It is found in lakes near Mexico City, where it is considered edible. The name axolotl is also applied to any full-grown larva of the genus Ambystoma that has not yet lost its external gills. A. mexicanum

Auden, W(ystan) H(ugh)

2004-10-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

English-born poet and man of letters who achieved early fame in the 1930s as a hero of the left during the Great Depression. Most of his verse dramas of this period were written in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood. In 1939 Auden settled in the United States, becoming a U.S. citizen.

Roubiliac, Louis-françois

2004-10-23T13:37:00.000-07:00

Roubiliac was apprenticed to a sculptor of ivory and porcelain, Balthasar Permoser, and later became assistant to Nicolas Coustou, a French Baroque sculptor. He moved to London about 1732. His first independent commission was a statue of Handel for Vauxhall Gardens in 1737. A year

Indigestion

2004-10-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

Also called dyspepsia any or all of the symptoms—abdominal discomfort, belching, flatulence, aversion to eating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, heartburn—associated with the malfunctioning of the digestive system. Indigestion may be caused by disease, but it primarily occurs because of stress, improper eating habits, excessive smoking, exorbitant consumption of coffee or

Montserrat

2004-10-20T05:21:00.000-07:00

Island and overseas territory of the United Kingdom. Located in the Lesser Antilles chain, this pear-shaped island is known as the “Emerald Isle of the Caribbean.” The de facto capital is St. John's, in the northern part of the island. Plymouth, on the southwestern coast, was the capital and only port of entry until 1997, when volcanic eruptions destroyed much of the town and the

La Flesche, Susette

2004-10-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

La Flesche was the daughter of an Omaha chief who was the son of a French trader and an Omaha woman. The father was familiar with both cultures, and though he lived as an Indian he sent his children to a Presbyterian mission school

Space Perception, Visual cues

2004-10-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the most important perceptual cues of distance and depth depend on so-called binocular disparity; that is, since the eyes are imbedded at different points in the skull, they receive slightly different (disparate) images of any given object. The two retinal images of the same object seem to be combined perceptually in the brain into one three-dimensional experience.

Ryokan

2004-10-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

The eldest son of a village headman, he became a Buddhist priest at about the age of 17 under the religious name of Taigu Ryokan. When he was 21 he met an itinerant monk, Kokusen, and followed him to his temple, Entsu-ji, at Tamashima,

Yamagata Aritomo, Koshaku

2004-10-12T14:28:00.000-07:00

Japanese soldier and statesman who exerted a strong influence in Japan's emergence as a formidable military power at the beginning of the 20th century. He was the first prime minister under the parliamentary regime, serving 1889–91 and 1898–1900.

Lippershey, Hans

2004-10-09T23:08:00.000-07:00

On Oct. 2, 1608, he formally offered his invention, which he called a kijker (“looker”), to the Estates of Holland for use in warfare. The Estates granted him 900 florins for the instrument but required its modification into a binocular device. His telescopes

Stradivari, Antonio

2004-10-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

Stradivari was still a pupil of Nicolò Amati in 1666 when he began to place his own label on violins of his making. These at first followed the smaller of Amati's models, solidly constructed, with a thick yellow varnish. In 1684 Stradivari began to

Vaillant, édouard-marie

2004-10-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

Educated as an engineer, Vaillant subsequently studied medicine, first in Paris and later in Heidelberg, Tübingen, and Vienna. He returned to France, and during the German

All-america Team

2004-10-04T03:48:00.000-07:00

The first All-America team comprised football players, picked by Caspar

Sachs, (ferdinand Gustav) Julius Von

2004-10-02T04:58:00.000-07:00

Sachs became an assistant to the physiologist Jan Evangelista Purkinje at the University of Prague, where he received the Ph.D. in 1856. In 1859 he was appointed

Stefanboltzmann Law

2004-09-30T04:33:00.000-07:00

Statement that the total radiant-heat energy emitted from a surface is proportional to the fourth power of its absolute temperature. Formulated in 1879 by Josef Stefan, an Austrian physicist, as a result of his experimental studies, the same law was derived in 1889 by Ludwig Boltzmann, also an Austrian physicist, from thermodynamical considerations: if E is the radiant heat

Adamawa

2004-09-27T03:46:00.000-07:00

The Mandara Mountains lie in the northeastern part of the state along the Cameroon border,

China

2004-09-26T17:21:00.000-07:00

A true Painted Pottery culture developed in the northwest partly from the Wei Valley and Pan-p'o traditions of the 5th millennium. The Miao-ti-kou I horizon, dated from the first half of the 4th millennium, produced burnished bowls and basins of fine red pottery, some 15 percent of which were painted, generally in black, with dots, spirals, and sinuous lines. It was succeeded

Automotive Industry, International operations

2004-09-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

Although the automotive industry has long been multinational in its organization and operation, beginning in the 1980s and accelerating in the late 1990s, it has established a trend toward international consolidation. Larger, more financially secure firms buy controlling interest in financially troubled ones, usually because the weaker firm manufactures a highly

Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke Of, Duke Of Greenwich, Marquess Of Kintyre And Lorne, Earl Of Campbell And Cowall, Earl Of Greenwich, Viscount Of

2004-09-19T00:56:00.000-07:00

Campbell served in the army for a short time under the Duke of Marlborough, but he was appointed treasurer of Scotland in 1705 and the following year was one of the commissioners for negotiating the union of the two

F-100

2004-09-18T10:08:00.000-07:00

Also called Super Sabre, jet fighter aircraft, the first developed for the U.S. Air Force to exceed the speed of sound in level flight. It was operational from 1953 to 1973. It was made by North American Aviation, Inc., and it became the principal tactical fighter of the U.S. Tactical Air Command and was adopted by various NATO countries. The F-100C had a wingspan of 38 feet (11.58 m) and was 47 feet (14.33 m) long. It was a single-seat, low-wing

Aquaculture: Fulfilling Its Promise

2004-09-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

For 25 centuries fish farming (aquaculture) has been a mainstay of Asian agriculture. Throughout China, India, and Thailand, it prospered on traditional small-scale farms. In recent years, however, fish farming has begun to suffer from problems associated with rapid growth and careless stewardship. As the 20th century draws to a close, aquaculture must redefine itself

F Region

2004-09-13T01:36:00.000-07:00

Highest region of the ionosphere, at altitudes greater than 160 km (100 miles); it has the greatest concentration of free electrons and is the most important of the ionospheric regions. The charged particles in the F region consist primarily of neutral atoms split into electrons and charged atoms. Although its degree of ionization persists with little change through the

Mcmillan, Terry

2004-09-12T10:48:00.000-07:00

The daughter of working-class parents, McMillan grew up near Detroit. She was a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley (B.S., 1979) and Columbia University (M.F.A., 1979). She taught at the universities