FlatBrain

China, Social organization

2005-11-17T19:50:00.000-08:00

The basic unit of production and consumption in Chinese society remained the chia (“family”), consisting of kin related by blood, marriage, or adoption, with a common budget and common property. The Chinese family system was patrilineal; daughters married out, while sons brought in wives and shared the residence of their fathers. The head of the family, the patriarch, had

Monarch

2005-10-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

In all monarchines

Henderson, (james) Fletcher

2005-07-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

Like Duke Ellington, he was untypical of his black contemporaries in being conventionally educated, having majored in chemistry and mathematics at Atlanta University, Ga. On arrival in New York City in 1920 for graduate work, he drifted into professional music and became a bandleader

Arabian Religion

2005-07-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

Knowledge of pre-Islamic Arabia rests mainly on original archaeological and epigraphic data from the region itself. Countless pre-Islamic sites are scattered over the whole Arabian Peninsula: ancient lines of circles of raised stones, cairns, graveyards, and so on. In addition there are more recent constructions such as fortified towns and ruins of temples and irrigation

Jacobi, Mary Putnam

2005-07-07T09:35:00.000-07:00

Mary Putnam was the daughter of George Palmer Putnam, founder of the publishing firm of G.P. Putnam's Sons, and was an elder sister of Herbert Putnam, later librarian of Congress. The family returned from England in 1848, and Mary grew

Chancroid

2005-07-05T15:05:00.000-07:00

Acute, localized, chiefly sexually transmitted disease, usually of the genital area, caused by the bacillus Haemophilus ducreyi. It is characterized by the appearance, 3–5 days after exposure, of a painful, shallow ulcer at the site of infection. Such an ulcer is termed a soft chancre, as opposed to a hard chancre, which is the characteristic lesion of the primary stage of

Lancewood

2005-06-28T15:25:00.000-07:00

Tough, heavy, elastic, straight-grained wood obtained from several different trees of the custard-apple family (Annonaceae). True lancewood, Oxandra lanceolata, of the West Indies and Guianas, furnishes most of the lancewood of commerce in the form of spars about 13 feet (4 m) in length and 5 inches (13 cm) in diameter at the small end. Lancewood was formerly used by carriage builders

Shimazu Family

2005-06-17T03:05:00.000-07:00

Powerful warrior clan that controlled the southern tip of the Japanese island of Kyushu from the 12th to the 19th century. Ensconced in their isolated stronghold on the frontier of Japan, the Shimazu were the only feudal family to play a leading role in Japanese history in both medieval and modern times. During the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867), the family's Satsuma fief was the

Pedro Juan Caballero

2005-06-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

Town, eastern Paraguay, founded in 1899. It lies in the Amambay Mountains at 2,296 feet (700 m) above sea level, opposite Ponte Porã, Braz. Pedro Juan Caballero is the region's largest town and principal trade centre. The hinterland is utilized primarily for cattle ranching and coffee growing. In the town are a government delegation, a radio station, a commerce school, a teachers college,

Biblical Literature, Critical scholarship

2005-06-02T17:10:00.000-07:00

Textual criticism of the Greek New Testament attempts to come as near as possible to the original manuscripts (which did not survive), based on reconstructions from extant manuscripts of various ages and locales. Assessment of the individual manuscripts and their relationships to each other can produce a fairly reliable text from various readings that may have

Indian Sculpture

2005-05-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

Sculpture was the favoured medium of artistic expression on the Indian subcontinent. Indian buildings were profusely adorned with it and indeed are often inseparable from it. The subject matter of Indian sculpture was almost invariably abstracted human forms that

Amarna, Tell El-

2005-05-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Tall al-Amarna , or Tel el-Amarna site of the ruins and tombs of the city of Akhetaton (“Horizon of Aton”) in Upper Egypt, 44 miles (71 km) north of modern Asyut in al-Minya muhafazah (governorate). On a virgin site on the east bank of the Nile, Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV) built the city in about 1348 BC as the new capital of his kingdom when he abandoned the worship of Amon and devoted himself to that of Aton. About four years after Akhenaton's

Jovanovic, Slobodan

2005-03-15T00:19:00.000-08:00

Serbian jurist, historian, and statesman, prime minister in the Yugoslav government-in-exile during World War II (Jan. 11, 1942 - June 26, 1943). Liberal in his social and political views, he was perhaps Yugoslavia's greatest authority on constitutional law; also a master of Serbian prose style, he was for nearly half a century a leader of the Serbian

Pitcairn Island

2005-03-14T21:34:00.000-08:00

Isolated, volcanic formation in the south-central Pacific Ocean, 1,350 miles (2,170 km) southeast of Tahiti. It is the only inhabited island of the British colony of Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie, and Oeno Islands, which is commonly referred to as the Pitcairn Islands, or Pitcairn. The main island, with an area of about 2 square miles (5 square km), is a rugged half crater rising to 1,100 feet (about

Yadava Dynasty

2005-03-12T03:58:00.000-08:00

Rulers of a 12th - 14th-century Hindu kingdom of central India in what is the modern Indian state of Maharashtra. Originally a feudatory of the Eastern Calukyas of Kalyani, the dynasty became paramount in the Deccan under Bhillama (c. 1187 - 91), who founded Devagiri (later Daulatabad) as his capital. Under Bhillama's grandson Singhana (c. 1210 - 47) the dynasty reached its height at the expense of the

Howland Island

2005-03-07T07:06:00.000-08:00

Sighted in 1842 by American whalers and named for one of the first

Marriner, Neville

2005-03-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

Marriner graduated from the Royal College of Music in London in 1944 and went on to study for five years with Ren� Benedetti at the Paris Conservatory. His early career was as

Chase Manhattan Corporation, The

2005-03-05T18:49:00.000-08:00

The firm originated in the final days of the 18th century. On April 2, 1799, at the urging of such civic leaders as Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton (later noted rivals), the New York state legislature chartered the Manhattan Company to build a water supply system for New York City. The original

La Salle, Saint Jean-baptiste De

2005-03-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, La Salle was ordained priest in 1678 and devoted himself to education of the poor. He helped to establish

Kama-loka

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

In Buddhism, the world of feeling. See arupa-loka.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

2005-03-02T16:14:00.000-08:00

American novelist and short-story writer who was a master of the allegorical and symbolic tale. One of the greatest fiction writers in American literature, he is best-known for The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851).

Sea Bass

2005-03-01T18:29:00.000-08:00

Any of the numerous fishes of the family Serranidae (order Perciformes), most of which are marine and found in the shallower regions of warm and tropical seas. The family includes about 400 species, many of them well-known food and sport fishes. Although the term sea bass may be used for the family as a whole, the fishes themselves

Mansart, Fran�ois

2005-02-28T14:10:00.000-08:00

In 1642 Ren� de Longeuil, an immensely wealthy financier and officer of the royal treasury, commissioned Mansart to build a ch�teau on his estate. The ch�teau of Maisons (now called Maisons-Laffitte, in the chief town of the d�partement of Yvelines) is unique in that it is the only building by Mansart in which the interior decoration (graced particularly by a magnificent

Awan

2005-02-27T23:13:00.000-08:00

Ancient city and region of the land of Elam, prominent throughout early Mesopotamian history and especially in the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. Although it was probably situated near Susa, in southwestern Iran, Awan's exact location is unknown. A coalition of four rulers of southwestern Persia, led by the king of Awan, provided vigorous resistance to the eastern

Yang Hsiung

2005-02-26T16:27:00.000-08:00

As a quiet and studious young man he came to admire and practice the fu form. When he was over 40 years of age he went to live in the Imperial capital, Ch'ang-an (Sian), where his reputation as a poet won him a position

Ecoterrorism

2005-02-25T09:30:00.000-08:00

Ecoterrorism

Wyatt, John

2005-02-24T08:22:00.000-08:00

Wyatt began his career as a carpenter in the village of Thickbroom, near Lichfield, but by 1730, with financial support from the Birmingham inventor Lewis Paul, he was working on machines for boring metal and making files. The spinning

Manchester, Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl Of, Viscount Mandeville, Baron Kimbolton Of Kimbolton

2005-02-23T00:49:00.000-08:00

Son of the 1st earl, Henry Montagu, he was educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. He sat in Parliament from 1624 to 1626 and in the latter year was raised to the peerage as Baron Kimbolton, but he was known generally by his courtesy title of Viscount Mandeville. At the beginning of the Long Parliament

Cord Moss

2005-02-22T23:49:00.000-08:00

Any of the plants of the genus Funaria (order Bryales), distinguished by the spirally twisted seta (stalk) of the capsule (spore case). More than 100 species of Funaria are found in many habitats throughout the world, especially on limestone or recently burned areas. About nine species are present in North America; the most common is F. hygrometrica, which

Ace, Goodman

2005-02-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

From childhood Ace wanted to be a writer, and his writing was admired by his teachers. He was editor of his high school newspaper when he met

Crake

2005-02-20T01:32:00.000-08:00

Any of numerous marsh birds of the family Rallidae (order Gruiformes), generally any small rail (q.v.) in which the bill is short and conical. The name is chiefly European but can be extended to New World rails of this type. The most widespread genus is Porzana (13 species), typified by the spotted crake (P. porzana) found in Europe and eastward to Mongolia; in winter

Learning Theory

2005-02-19T09:49:00.000-08:00

A common goal in defining any psychological concept is a statement that corresponds to common usage. Acceptance of that aim, however, entails some peril. It implicitly assumes that common language categorizes in scientifically

Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius

2005-02-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

The core of the tradition holds that in 458 Cincinnatus was appointed dictator at Rome in order to rescue a consular army that was surrounded

Astor (of Hever, Of Hever Castle), John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron

2005-02-16T15:28:00.000-08:00

He was the second son of the 1st Viscount Astor (before his emigration to England) and Astor's first wife, Mary Dahlgren. Educated at Eton,

Aethelred

2005-02-15T15:38:00.000-08:00

He succeeded his brother Wulfhere (q.v.) in 674 and early on spent most of his time in warfare. In 676 he ravished Kent, taking Rochester. In 679, in a battle on the banks of the Trent, he defeated the Northumbrians, taking the province of Lindsey. Aelfwine, the brother

Shensi, The middle period

2005-02-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

In 221 BC Hsien-yang, in Shensi, became the capital of the Ch'in dynasty, which unified China for the first time; it was a city of vast wealth and the focus of a nationwide road system. The area remained extremely populous and was a major centre of political authority for the next millennium. The Han (206 BC - AD 220), successors of the short-lived Ch'in dynasty, made their capital Ch'ang-an, near Hsien-yang.

Vacuum Technology

2005-02-13T02:47:00.000-08:00

This pump is mainly used on equipment for the study of clean surfaces and in radio-frequency sputtering. Capacities are available up to 190,000 cu ft per minute with an operating pressure range of 10-2 to less than 10-9 torr when water-cooled baffles are used and less than 10-11 torr when refrigerated baffles are employed. The pumping speed for a vapour pump remains constant from about

Vigeland, Gustav

2005-02-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

Vigeland's parents were farmers, and he was apprenticed to a wood-carver when he was 14 years old. His first work was shown in 1889, and, though early influenced by Auguste

Saracoglu, S�

2005-02-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

Having studied economics and political science in Geneva, Saracoglu returned to Turkey in 1918 following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I (1914 - 18). He joined the movement of Mustafa Kemal (later Atat�rk) to resist the Allied occupation

Encyclopaedia

2005-02-10T16:37:00.000-08:00

For more than 2,000 years encyclopaedias have existed as summaries of extant scholarship in forms comprehensible to their readers. The word at first meant a circle or a complete system of learning - that is, an all-around education.

Claes, Ernest

2005-02-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

Claes treated several subjects. Animals and children were the subject of such works as Floere het fluwijn (1950; �Floere the Polecat�)

Kazakstan

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

Also spelled �Kazakhstan�, officially �Republic of Kazakstan�, Kazakh �Qazaqstan Respublikas� country of Central Asia. It is bounded on the northwest and north by Russia, on the east by China, and on the south by Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and the Aral Sea; the Caspian Sea bounds Kazakstan to the southwest. Kazakstan's 1,052,100 square miles (2,724,900 square kilometres) make it by far the largest state in Central Asia and the ninth largest in the world. Between its most distant

Kirkcudbrightshire

2005-02-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

Also called �Kirkcudbright� or �East Galloway� historic county, southwestern Scotland. It lies entirely within Dumfries and Galloway council area. Kirkcudbrightshire forms the eastern portion of the historic province of Galloway. It encompasses the shores of the Solway Firth and Irish Sea between the Rivers Nith and Cree and extends inland across an undulating landscape of hills and valleys, rising in the

Andalusia

2005-02-06T17:53:00.000-08:00

Andalusia has a long history. Agriculture and complex society had developed in the region by 4000 BCE. During the 9th century BCE the Phoenicians founded the coastal colony of Gadir (now C�diz), and by the 5th century BCE Carthaginians and Greeks had colonized the coast, while the indigenous Iberian peoples of the interior developed a rich urban culture. The Romans led by Scipio Africanus

Smith, Eliza Roxey Snow

2005-02-05T05:56:00.000-08:00

Eliza Snow grew up from the age of two in Mantua, Ohio. Her family was deeply religious and in the 1820s joined the Campbellite sect of �reformed Baptists.� Mormon proselytizers went to their region

Smith, Joseph F(ielding)

2005-02-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

After his uncle Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and his father, Hyrum Smith, were murdered in Carthage, Ill., in 1844, he and his mother fled with the majority of the Mormons to Utah. Made an apostle of the church

Computers

2005-02-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

Before 1970, computers were big machines requiring thousands of separate transistors. They were operated by specialized technicians, who were often dressed in white lab coats and commonly referred to as a computer priesthood. The machines were expensive and difficult to use. Few people came in direct contact with them, not even their programmers. The typical interaction

Aguirre, Lope De

2005-02-02T19:27:00.000-08:00

Nothing is known of Aguirre's life prior to 1544, when he arrived in Peru and took part in the Spanish suppression of Indian rebellions and in the wars that continually broke out between

Cumberland Presbyterian Church

2005-02-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

Denomination organized in 1810 by a group of Presbyterians on the Kentucky - Tennessee frontier who left the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The immediate cause of the separation was a religious revival in the Kentucky area (1799 - 1802) that brought many converts into the church and led to a shortage of ordained ministers. The Cumberland Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in

Abd Al-hafid

2005-01-31T21:52:00.000-08:00

Appointed caliph of Marrakech by Abd al-Aziz, Abd al-Hafid had no difficulty there in rousing the Muslim community against his brother's Western ways. With Marrakech his, Abd al-Hafid routed his brother's forces and pensioned off the sultan.

Building Construction

2005-01-30T08:38:00.000-08:00

Building construction is an ancient human activity. It began with the purely functional need for a controlled environment to moderate the effects of climate. Constructed shelters were one means by which human beings were able to adapt themselves

Accesi, Compagnia Degli

2005-01-29T15:51:00.000-08:00

Company that performed commedia dell'arte (improvised popular Italian comedy) in the early 1600s. The name means �the stimulated.� Leadership was provided by Tristano Martinelli (famous for his portrayal of Arlecchino, the mischievous servant) and Pier Maria Cecchini (known as the leading interpreter of the character Fritellino, as well as the author of valuable texts

Douglas, Keith Castellain

2005-01-27T18:47:00.000-08:00

Douglas' education at Oxford University was cut short by the outbreak of war. By 1941 he was serving as a tank commander in North Africa, where some of his most powerful poems were

Tuwim, Julian

2005-01-26T09:06:00.000-08:00

Closely associated with and cofounder of Skamander, Tuwim began his career in 1915 with the publication of a flamboyant Futurist manifesto that created a scandal. His poetry was marked by explosive energy,

Botswana

2005-01-25T09:07:00.000-08:00

Officially �Republic of Botswana, �formerly �Bechuanaland, � country in the centre of southern Africa. It has an area of 224,607 square miles (581,730 square kilometres). The territory is roughly square - approximately 600 miles from north to south and 600 miles from east to west - with its eastern side protruding into a sharp point. Its eastern and southern borders are marked by river courses and an old wagon road; its western borders are lines of longitude

Jacobi, Friedrich Heinrich

2005-01-24T00:17:00.000-08:00

Succeeding his father as head of a sugar factory in 1764, Jacobi joined the governing council of the duchies of J�lich and Berg (1772). With the German

Altitude And Azimuth

2005-01-23T09:40:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, gunnery, navigation, and other fields, two coordinates describing the position of an object above the Earth. Altitude in this sense is expressed as angular elevation (up to 90�) above the horizon. Azimuth, in astronomical measurement, is the number of degrees clockwise from due south (usually) to the object's vertical circle (i.e., a great circle through the object

Macdonald, Jacques, Duc De Tarente

2005-01-22T11:19:00.000-08:00

The son of a Scottish adherent of the exiled British Stuart dynasty, who had served in a Scots regiment in France, he joined the French army and was a colonel when the wars of the French Revolution broke out. He was promoted to general in 1793 and to general of division

Priesthood, Hinduism

2005-01-21T16:47:00.000-08:00

In Vedic India, the early period of Hinduism, when the priestly caste (Brahman, or Brahmana) was vested in a particular tribe or special class, it occupied the primary place of importance in the segmentation of Hindu society. The king was subordinate in some respects to the Brahmans, though at one time both sometimes were chosen from the Ksatriya, or warrior caste. Nevertheless,

Epistemology, St. Anselm of Canterbury

2005-01-20T16:34:00.000-08:00

The phrase St. Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033 - 1109) used to describe his own project, namely, �faith seeking reason� (fides quaerens intellectum), well characterizes medieval philosophy as a whole. All the great medieval philosophers, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic alike, were also theologians. Virtually every object of interest was related to their belief in God, and virtually every

Kesey, Ken

2005-01-19T05:45:00.000-08:00

Kesey was educated at the University of Oregon and Stanford University. At a Veterans Administration hospital in Menlo Park, California, he was a paid volunteer experimental subject, taking mind-altering drugs

Manasseh Ben Israel

2005-01-18T03:10:00.000-08:00

Manasseh was born into a family of Marranos (Jews of Spain and Portugal who publicly accepted Christianity but privately practiced Judaism). After his father appeared as a penitent in an auto da f�, the family escaped

Fyodor I

2005-01-17T15:53:00.000-08:00

The son of Ivan IV the Terrible and his first wife, Anastasiya Romanovna Zakharina-Yureva, Fyodor succeeded his father on March 19, 1584. Being both physically weak and feebleminded, however, he took no part in government affairs, which were dominated by his wife's

Neo-expressionism

2005-01-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

Diverse art movement (chiefly of painters) that dominated the art market in Europe and the United States during the early and mid-1980s. Neo-Expressionism comprised a varied assemblage of young artists who had returned to portraying the human body and other recognizable objects, in reaction to the remote, introverted, highly intellectualized abstract art production

Bujumbura

2005-01-15T03:51:00.000-08:00

City, western Burundi. Bujumbura is the nation's capital and largest urban centre. The city's industry specializes in textiles, leather, paper, chemicals, and agricultural products. Bujumbura also serves as the country's main port on Lake Tanganyika; most of Burundi's foreign trade is shipped between the capital and Kigoma, Tanzania, and, less frequently, to Kalemi, Congo

Shelley, Percy Bysshe

2005-01-14T10:06:00.000-08:00

Shelley was the heir to rich estates acquired by his grandfather, Bysshe (pronounced �Bish�) Shelley.

Ribble Valley

2005-01-13T23:56:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative county of Lancashire, northwestern England, along the county's eastern border, extending into the western Pennine uplands. The southern part of the borough, including the lower Ribble valley and the two largest towns, Clitheroe and Longridge, lies in the historic county of Lancashire. The remainder of the mostly rural borough, including

Zagreb

2005-01-12T00:31:00.000-08:00

Zagreb's old town consists of two medieval settlements on the hill: Gric, the civil settlement, which was renamed Gradec (�Fortress�) when it was encircled by walls that were built to defend against the Mongols in

Nahariyya

2005-01-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

Nahariyya was founded in 1934 as an agricultural settlement by German-Jewish refugees. It rapidly developed as a resort,

Indes Orientales, Compagnie Fran�aise Des

2005-01-10T20:00:00.000-08:00

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

Van Halen

2005-01-09T19:59:00.000-08:00

American heavy metal band, widely popular in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, distinguished by the innovative electric-guitar playing of Eddie Van Halen. The original members were Eddie Van Halen (b. Jan. 26, 1957, Nijmegen, Neth.), Alex Van Halen (b. May 8, 1955, Nijmegen), Michael Anthony (b. June 20, 1955, Chicago, Ill., U.S.), and David Lee Roth (b. Oct. 10, 1955, Bloomington, Ind., U.S.). Later members were Sammy Hagar (b. Oct. 13, 1947, Monterey,

Therapeutics, Diarrhea

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

Acute diarrhea can result from food poisoning, laxatives, alcohol, and some antacids but usually is caused by an acute infection with bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus aureus. In infants, acute diarrhea is usually self-limiting, and treatment consists primarily of preventing dehydration. Traveler's diarrhea affects up to half of

Priapism

2005-01-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

When normal erection occurs, the sides and the bottom of the penis, the corpora cavernosa and the corpus spongiosum, respectively, become engorged with blood so that the penis enlarges, hardens, and assumes an erect position. The major symptom of priapism is pain and tenderness

Refrain

2005-01-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

A phrase, line, or group of lines repeated at intervals throughout a poem, generally at the end of the stanza. Refrains are found in the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead and are common in primitive tribal chants. They appear in literature as varied as ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Latin verse, popular ballads, and Renaissance and Romantic lyrics. Three common refrains are

Kyanite

2005-01-05T20:32:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Cyanite, �also called �Disthene, � silicate mineral that is formed during the regional metamorphism of clay-rich sediments. It is an indicator of deep burial of a terrain rather than high stress, as formerly thought. Kyanite occurs as elongated blades principally in gneisses and schists, and it is often accompanied by garnet, quartz, and mica. Its colour ranges from gray-green to black or blue, with blue

Kirk Range

2005-01-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

Plateau in southwestern Malawi, extending in a north-south direction and skirting the southwestern shore of Lake Nyasa and the western border of the Shire River valley. The northern scarp overlooks the Central Region Plateau, while the southern limits merge into the lower Shire Highlands. The plateau's height decreases in a southerly direction, from 5,500 feet (1,676 m) at Dedza

Thuringian Basin

2005-01-02T19:48:00.000-08:00

German �Th�ringer Becken, � fertile agricultural region of Germany, between the Harz mountains on the north and the Thuringian Forest range on the south. It extends westward from the Saxon lowland. The basin's eastward-flowing streams, tributaries of the Saale River, swell - and sometimes flood - with snowmelt in the spring. The climate and soil are favourable to agriculture. Grains and root crops

Nova Friburgo

2005-01-01T04:39:00.000-08:00

Nova Friburgo has textile mills but is best known as a summer mountain resort built in Swiss Alpine style. It can be reached by railroad and highway from Niter�i, southwest, and from Rio de Janeiro, the state capital. Pop. (1991 prelim.) mun., 166,941.

Settle

2004-12-31T06:50:00.000-08:00

Long wooden bench with backrest and arms, designed to seat several people. Originating in Europe in the 10th century, it was apparently derived from the chest, a resemblance often retained, with additional elements based on the monastic choir stall. It could be used for a variety of purposes: as a seat, a bed, a chest, and, in examples with a hinged backrest that can be turned

Oberbayern

2004-12-30T08:26:00.000-08:00

English �Upper Bavaria� Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), southeastern Bavaria Land (state), southern Germany. Oberbayern is bordered by Austria to the east and south and the Regierungsbezirke of Schwaben (Swabia) to the west, Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia) and Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate) to the north, and Niederbayern (Lower Bavaria) to the northeast. It is the largest of seven

Pozo Colorado

2004-12-29T20:02:00.000-08:00

Pozo Colorado is located at the intersection of roads connecting it with the town of Mariscal Estigarribia to the northwest, the Paraguay River and Concepci�n to

San Antonio De Los Ba�

2004-12-28T00:51:00.000-08:00

City, west central La Habana province, west central Cuba. Lying on the R�o San Antonio de los Ba�os, the settlement prospered and became a health resort because of its thermal springs. It is also a commercial and manufacturing centre for the surrounding agricultural lands, which produce tobacco, sugarcane, and pineapples. Cigars, clothes, and yeast are manufactured,

Belcher Islands

2004-12-27T14:58:00.000-08:00

Archipelago in southeastern Hudson Bay, north of the mouth of James Bay, Baffin region, Nunavut territory, Canada. The islands, low-lying and striated, cover a total area of about 5,000 square miles (13,000 square km), of which 1,118 square miles (2,896 square km) is land. The group, first sighted by the English navigator Henry Hudson in 1610 and named for Sir Edward Belcher, who commanded an Arctic expedition

Maupertuis, Pierre-louis Moreau De

2004-12-26T19:47:00.000-08:00

Maupertuis became a member of the Academy of Sciences in Paris in 1731 and soon became the foremost French proponent of the Newtonian theory of gravitation. In 1736 he led an expedition to Lapland to measure the length of a degree along the

Skeat, Walter William

2004-12-25T04:52:00.000-08:00

Following a classical education at Christ's College, Cambridge, Skeat in 1891 joined the civil service of the state of Selangor in the Malay Peninsula. He became interested in ideas of magic

William Of Saint-amour

2004-12-24T23:10:00.000-08:00

A prot�g� of the Count of Savoy, who supported his doctoral studies in canon law and theology at the University of Paris, William was chosen dean of the theology

Arndt, Ernst Moritz

2004-12-23T01:57:00.000-08:00

Alfred G. Pundt, Arndt and the Nationalist Awakening in Germany (1935, reprinted 1968).

Fabius Maximus Cunctator, Quintus

2004-12-22T07:19:00.000-08:00

Fabius was consul in 233 and 228 and censor

Aesthetics, The origins of modern aesthetics

2004-12-21T19:41:00.000-08:00

Francis Bacon wrote essays on beauty and deformity, but he confined his remarks to the human figure. Ren� Descartes produced a treatise on music, although it contains little that would be recognized as aesthetics in the modern sense. During the first decades of modern philosophy, aesthetics flourished, not in the works of the great philosophers, but in the writings

Lae

2004-12-20T05:08:00.000-08:00

Port city, northeastern Papua New Guinea. It is located near the mouth of the Markham River on Huon Gulf. Commercial activities centre on the export of timber, plywood, and coffee (transported by road from Bulolo and Wau) and the produce from the Central Range, which is airfreighted. Lae is also the marketing centre for the agricultural produce of the surrounding

D-lines

2004-12-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

In spectroscopy, a pair of lines, characteristic of sodium, in the yellow region of the spectrum. Their separation is too small to be detected with a spectroscope of low resolving power. The line is the fourth prominent absorption line in the Sun's spectrum, starting from the red end, and accordingly is designated by the letter D. It has been resolved into two components,

Cullen, Paul

2004-12-18T06:20:00.000-08:00

Educated at the Quaker School, Carlow, Cullen joined the Urban College of Propaganda, Rome, and was ordained priest in 1829. He became rector of the Irish National College in Rome. During the Mazzini revolution of 1848 he was rector of the Urban College. In 1850 he became successor

Nacogdoches

2004-12-17T06:24:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1837) of Nacogdoches county, eastern Texas, U.S., near the Angelina River, 140 miles (225 km) north-northeast of Houston. In 1716 a Spanish mission (Nuestra Se�ora de Guadalupe) was first established near a Nacogdoche Indian village (a pyramidal mound from that village is still extant). Abandoned in 1718, the site was resettled in 1779 when Antonio Gil Y'barbo built the Old Stone Fort (reconstructed

Uccle

2004-12-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

Flemish �Ukkel� municipality, Brussels region, central Belgium. It lies just south of Brussels and is one of the 19 communes that make up Greater Brussels. Formerly a separate town dating back to the 12th century, it is now a primarily residential suburb with some light manufacturing. It is the site of the Royal Observatory and has several ch�teaus (Errera, Uccle, and Ithier). The Russian Orthodox

Rockefeller, John D., Jr.

2004-12-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

After graduation from Brown University in 1897, he joined his father in business but never assumed

Ann, Cape

2004-12-14T00:37:00.000-08:00

Cape on the Atlantic Ocean comprising the eastern extremity of Essex county, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S., 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Boston. Sheltering Ipswich Bay, it is indented by Annisquam Harbor on the north and Gloucester Harbor on the south. The tidal Annisquam River, a 4-mile- (6.4-km-) long navigable waterway, connects the two harbours. The cape also shelters the northern

Ribbon Worm

2004-12-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

Also called �Bootlace Worm, Proboscis Worm, Nemertine, or Nemertean, � any member of the invertebrate phylum Nemertea (sometimes called Nemertinea, or Rhynchocoela), which includes mainly free-living forms but also a few parasites of crustaceans, mollusks, and sea squirts. The majority of the approximately 900 known nemertean species are found in marine habitats. Some, however, live in freshwater or on land. The name proboscis worm derives

Araguari

2004-12-12T06:37:00.000-08:00

City, western Minas Gerais state, Brazil, on the Jord�o River, a tributary of the Parana�ba River, at 3,051 feet (930 m) above sea level. Formerly called Freguesia do Brejo Alegre, the settlement was made the seat of a municipality in 1882 and was elevated to city rank in 1888. Araguari's main source of income is from the large herds of cattle raised in the hinterlands, where rice, corn (maize), feij

France, History Of, Peasant insurgencies

2004-12-11T07:08:00.000-08:00

Competition over the ownership and the use of land had intensified in many regions.

Boufflers, Louis-fran�ois, Duc De (duke Of)

2004-12-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

Born into an ancient Picard family, he entered the French army in 1662 and distinguished himself as a commander of the royal dragoons during the Dutch War (1672 - 78). Boufflers became a marshal of France in 1693 during the War of the Grand Alliance (1689 - 97) between France and other major European