ParallelReceipt

Cabaret

2005-04-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

Restaurant that serves liquor and offers a variety of musical entertainment. The cabaret probably originated in France in the 1880s as a small club in which the audience was grouped around a platform. The entertainment at first consisted of a series of amateur acts linked together by a master of ceremonies; its coarse humour was usually directed against the conventions

Aelianus

2005-04-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

Probably written in AD 106, Aelianus' Taktike theoria (“Tactical Theory”), based on the art of warfare as practiced by the Hellenistic successors of Alexander the Great, was an instruction manual on arming, organizing, deploying,

Pénicaud Family

2005-04-04T02:53:00.000-07:00

French enamelers active in Limoges during the 16th century, considered to be among the finest such craftsmen of their time. They were noted for their work in grisaille enamel, monochromatically painted enamel work intended to look like sculpture. Nardon Pénicaud (c. 1470–c. 1542), the first recorded member of the family, worked in the French Gothic style, but his brother or son, Jean

Marsden, William

2005-04-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

Marsden was preparing to enter Trinity College, Dublin, when in 1770 he was persuaded to follow his brother John into the service of the East India Company in western Sumatra. Arriving there at the age of 16, he was appointed a writer

Arab Fund For Economic And Social Development

2005-04-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

By financing development projects, the fund encourages investment of public and private capital in Arab economies. It grants loans on easy terms to

Jackson, Andrew

2005-04-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

(For an additional writing by Jackson, see First Annual Message to Congress.)

Adcock, Fleur

2005-04-01T22:13:00.000-08:00

Adcock received her early education in England and later earned degrees at Wellington Girls' College and Victoria University of Wellington. She served as lecturer and librarian at a number of New Zealand

Eliot, Sir John

2005-04-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

The son of a wealthy landowner, Eliot was first elected

Ideology

2005-03-31T03:06:00.000-08:00

French Idéologie, French philosophic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that reduced epistemological problems (concerning the nature or grounds of knowledge) to those of psychology (as in the work of Étienne Condillac), before advancing to ethical and political problems. The Idéologues, by analysis of ideas, viewed the simple sensory elements of Condillac's sensationalism

Chong Yak-jong

2005-03-30T07:42:00.000-08:00

Born to a family noted for its scholarly background, Chong was converted to Roman Catholicism by the Chinese priest Chou Wen-mu (James

Tulunid Dynasty

2005-03-29T16:36:00.000-08:00

First local dynasty of Egypt and Syria to exist independently of the 'Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, ruling 868–905. Its founder, Ahmad ibn Tulun, a Turk, arrived in Egypt in 868 as vice governor and promptly (868–872) established a military and financial foothold in the province by organizing an independent Egyptian army and securing the management of the Egyptian and Syrian treasuries. Insufficient

Sackbut

2005-03-29T13:58:00.000-08:00

The sackbut answered the need for a lower-pitched trumpet that composers of the time sought. Its telescoping slide mechanism is retained in the modern trombone.

Ahmad Khan, Sir Sayyid

2005-03-28T09:07:00.000-08:00

Altaf Husan Hali, Hayat-i-Javid (1901), the only comprehensive account of Sayyid Ahmad's life and work; G.F.I. Graham, The Life and Work of Syed Ahmed Khan, rev. ed. (1909); J.M.S. Baljon, The Reforms and Religious Ideas of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan (1949); and Hadi Hussain, Syed Ahmed Khan: Pioneer of Muslim Resurgence (1970).

Theobald

2005-03-27T13:50:00.000-08:00

Theobald entered the abbey of Bec in Normandy, became prior (c. 1127), was elected abbot in 1136, and was chosen archbishop of Canterbury in 1138. From 1139 to 1143 he was overshadowed by Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, who had secured the office of papal legate

Music, Recordings.

2005-03-26T14:09:00.000-08:00

The record industry continued the trend toward huge boxed-set reissues of materials from its vaults. Without so much as an anniversary excuse, BMG came out with a 65-compact disc (CD) compilation of all of violinist Jascha Heifetz' RCA recordings, and Teldec issued a 60-CD repackaging of the pioneering period-instruments Bach cantata recordings of Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Ufa

2005-03-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

In full Universum Film-Aktien Gesellschaft German motion-picture production company that made artistically outstanding and technically competent films during the silent era. Located in Berlin, its studios were the best equipped and most modern in the world. It encouraged experimentation and imaginative camera work and employed such directors as Ernst Lubitsch, famous for directing sophisticated

Insurance, Types of policies

2005-03-23T07:49:00.000-08:00

Hospitalization insurance indemnifies for room

Laine, Dame Cleo

2005-03-21T21:38:00.000-08:00

Laine was born to a Jamaican father and an English mother. She quit school at age 14 and took a variety of jobs while auditioning for singing jobs. Her first break came in 1951, when she was hired as a vocalist for the Johnny Dankworth Seven, a

Porch

2005-03-21T19:02:00.000-08:00

There is little material evidence of the existence of the porch before the period of Classical antiquity, although Egyptian

San Fernando

2005-03-21T04:23:00.000-08:00

Town, west-central Luzon, Philippines. Located on a bay of the South China Sea formed by a peninsula that ends in San Fernando Point, it served a tobacco- and rice-growing region as the northern terminus of the Philippine National Railway until the line was extended to Bacnotan in 1955. The town is on Luzon's main western coastal highway. Its outport, Poro, is the only national

Corcoran Gallery Of Art

2005-03-20T09:14:00.000-08:00

The museum also houses the private collection of

Hancock, John

2005-03-19T22:44:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Harvard (1754), Hancock entered a mercantile house in Boston owned by his uncle Thomas Hancock, who later left him a large fortune. In 1765 he became a selectman of Boston and from 1769 to 1774 was a member of the Massachusetts

Wylie, Elinor

2005-03-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

Elinor Hoyt grew up from age 12 in Washington, D.C., where her father served as assistant U.S. attorney general and later as solicitor general. In 1904 she graduated from

Chadic Languages

2005-03-18T06:44:00.000-08:00

Group of languages spoken in northern Nigeria, northern Ghana, Niger, and Cameroon and in parts of Togo, Benin, Chad, and the Central African Republic and generally classified as a branch of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) language family. The group includes many languages that are spoken by small numbers of people and that have no written form; among these

Zoe

2005-03-18T03:02:00.000-08:00

Also called Brotherhood of Theologians in Eastern Orthodoxy, a semimonastic Greek association patterned on Western religious orders. Founded in 1907 by Eusebius Matthopoulos, Zoe (Greek: “Life”) brought together groups of more than 100 unmarried and highly disciplined members, bound by the monastic vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience; approximately half of the brothers were ordained priests, and the rest

Tocharian Languages

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

Tocharian also spelled Tokharian, small group of extinct Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Tarim River Basin (in the centre of the modern Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, China) during the latter half of the 1st millennium AD. Documents from AD 500–700 attest to two: Tocharian A, from the area of Turfan in the east; and Tocharian B, chiefly from the region of Kucha in the west but also from the Turfan

Dennie, Joseph

2005-03-16T01:15:00.000-08:00

Dennie graduated from Harvard College in 1790 and spent three years as a law clerk before being admitted to the bar in 1794. His practice failed to flourish, however, and in the meantime he had turned to writing. He and Royall Tyler formed a literary

Giorgi, Giovanni

2005-03-15T10:19:00.000-08:00

Giorgi studied civil engineering at the Institute of Technology in Rome and from 1906 to 1923 directed the Technology Office of Rome. He taught (1913–39) at the University of Rome and also held appointments

Cadillac, Antoine Laumet De La Mothe

2005-03-15T01:31:00.000-08:00

With permission

Amoco Corporation

2005-03-13T09:35:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1889–1985) Standard Oil Company (Indiana), American petroleum corporation that was founded in 1889 by the Standard Oil trust (see Standard Oil Company and Trust) to direct the refining and marketing of oil in the Midwestern states. The company's first refinery, outside Whiting, Ind., produced fuel oil, kerosene, and other petroleum products. Beginning in the late 1890s, the company's production of gasoline rapidly increased

China, Effects of the rebellions

2005-03-13T06:53:00.000-08:00

To meet the large popular uprisings, the Ch'ing authorities had to rely on local armies, which were financed by the provincial and local gentry class. To meet this need, a special tax on goods in transit (called the likin) was started in 1853, the proceeds of which remained largely outside the control of the central government. The provincial governors-general and governors

Egypt, The interwar period

2005-03-13T00:45:00.000-08:00

Fu'ad was never popular and felt insecure, and was therefore prepared to intrigue with the nationalists or with the British to secure his position and powers. The Wafd, with its mass following, elaborate organization, and (until his death in 1927) charismatic leader in Zaghlul, was the only truly national party in Egypt. Ideologically, it stood for national independence against

Hyderabad

2005-03-11T10:30:00.000-08:00

Hyderabad was founded by the Qutb Shahi sultans of Golconda, under whom the kingdom of Golconda attained a position of importance second only to that of the Mughal Empire in the north. The old fortress town of Golconda had proved inadequate as the kingdom's capital, and so

Social War

2005-03-11T06:51:00.000-08:00

The allies in central and southern Italy had fought side by side with Rome in several wars and had grown restive under Roman autocratic rule, wanting instead Roman citizenship and the privileges it conferred. In 91 BC the Roman tribune Marcus Livius

Azerbaijani

2005-03-11T03:43:00.000-08:00

Any member of a Turkic people living chiefly in the Republic of Azerbaijan and in the region of Azerbaijan in northwestern Iran. At the turn of the 21st century there were some 7,500,000 Azerbaijani in the republic and neighbouring areas and more than 15,000,000 in Iran. They are mainly sedentary farmers and herders, although some of those in the republic have found employment in various

Tin Processing, Bearing alloys

2005-03-10T10:27:00.000-08:00

Alloys of tin with about 7 percent antimony and 3 percent copper have proved to be the best materials for plain bearings running against a steel shaft. Known as tin-based babbitt metals or white metals, they owe their reputation to the ability to deform sufficiently in order to compensate for irregularities in the bearing assembly, to embed foreign particles in order

North America, The Western sclerophyllous scrub forest

2005-03-10T06:39:00.000-08:00

In the hills of southern California and throughout much of the American Southwest the Western sclerophyllous forest occurs. There trees and small shrubs must be adapted both to dry, hot summers when the tropical continental air is dominant and to moist, mild winters when polar Pacific air sweeps down from the north. A thin, short, open scrub of chaparral, or stunted

Nivernais

2005-03-09T17:42:00.000-08:00

Having formed part of the duchy of Burgundy, the county of Nevers (Nivernais)

Alexander Iii

2005-03-07T22:40:00.000-08:00

Russian in full Aleksandr Aleksandrovich emperor of Russia from 1881 to 1894, opponent of representative government, and supporter of Russian nationalism. He adopted programs, based on the concepts of Orthodoxy, autocracy, and narodnost (a belief in the Russian people), that included the Russification of national minorities in the Russian Empire

Alexis

2005-03-07T18:59:00.000-08:00

After his mother, Eudoxia, was forced to enter a convent (1698), Alexis was brought up by his aunts and, after 1702, was educated by the tutor Baron Heinrich von Huyssen. Although he dutifully obeyed his father—participating in the

Luther, Martin, Luther's questioning of authority

2005-03-07T10:25:00.000-08:00

Eck was able to go off to Rome with new prestige to give sharpness to the process of Luther's official condemnation. Luther had now to examine the further implications of his actions to date, in relation to the authority of the church, of councils, and of Scripture; his correspondence shows that he was reaching something like a crisis in his attitude to papal

Race

2005-03-06T17:34:00.000-08:00

Although they are easily and often confused, race and racism must be distinguished from ethnicity and ethnocentrism. While extreme ethnocentrism may take the same offensive form and may have the same dire consequences as extreme racism, there are significant differences between the two concepts. Ethnicity, which relates to culturally contingent features,

Yacht

2005-03-05T22:06:00.000-08:00

After the decade 1840–50, when steam began to replace sail power in commercial vessels, the steam engine and, later, the internal-combustion engine were increasingly employed in pleasure vessels. Large power yachts were developed to a high degree, and long-distance cruising became a favourite pastime of the rich. The earliest power yachts were paddle-wheel boats; these then

Varthema, Lodovico De

2005-03-05T02:22:00.000-08:00

De Varthema also spelled Di Barthema, Latin Vartomanus, or Vertomannus, intrepid Italian traveler and adventurer whose account of his Middle Eastern and Asiatic wanderings was widely circulated throughout Europe and earned him high fame in his own lifetime. He made significant discoveries (especially in Arabia) and made many valuable observations of the peoples he visited; his ready wit enabled

Trail Of Tears

2005-03-04T19:46:00.000-08:00

A forced migration undertaken by the Cherokee (q.v.) Indians of the eastern United States in 1838–39.

Rábida Island

2005-03-04T11:55:00.000-08:00

Also called Jervis Island, one of the Galápagos Islands, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, about 600 miles (965 km) west of Ecuador. The island has an area of about 1 square mile (3 square km) and is studded with several small volcanic craters. Originally named for the 18th-century British admiral John Jervis, Earl of St. Vincent, the island's official Ecuadorian name is Isla Rábida. Rábida has a lagoon and a flamingo

Kerll, Johann Caspar Von

2005-03-04T07:41:00.000-08:00

In 1645 Kerll was sent by Ferdinand III to study in Rome with the prominent composers Giacomo Carissimi and Girolamo Frescobaldi; earlier he had studied in Vienna. His study in Italy had great influence on his composition, much of which is Italianate in

Stahl, Franklin W.

2005-03-02T23:58:00.000-08:00

Educated at Harvard (A.B., 1951) and the University of Rochester (Ph.D., 1956), Stahl pursued his research

Boucherville

2005-03-02T04:53:00.000-08:00

Town, Montérégie region, southern Quebec province, Canada, on the east bank of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Montreal Island (Île de Montréal) and northeast of Montreal city. Founded in 1668 by Pierre Boucher, after whom it is named, the town has long been a market-gardening centre. Since World War II it has developed rapidly into a residential suburb linked to Montreal by

Kettle Gong

2005-03-01T05:20:00.000-08:00

Percussion instrument of the Bronze Age cultures of China, Indochina, and Indonesia. It was used mainly in rainmaking rites. Some kettle gongs from northern Vietnam are dated between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC. When played, they are suspended so that the striking surface (the head) is vertical.

Ouro Prêto

2005-02-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

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

Micronesia

2005-02-28T09:17:00.000-08:00

To the west of the Federated States

New Castle

2005-02-27T00:13:00.000-08:00

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

Leonard, Sugar Ray

2005-02-26T13:07:00.000-08:00

By his mid-teens Leonard proved adept at boxing, and, as an amateur, he won 145 of 150 bouts and garnered two National Golden Glove

Kahn, Otto Hermann

2005-02-25T21:21:00.000-08:00

In 1888 Kahn was sent to the London branch of Berlin's Deutsche Bank and became a British citizen. The banking house of Speyer & Co. offered him a position in New York City in 1893. In 1897 he became a partner in Kuhn, Loeb & Co. and stayed with the

Epirrhema

2005-02-25T04:02:00.000-08:00

In ancient Greek Old Comedy, an address usually about public affairs. It was spoken by the leader of one-half of the chorus after that half of the chorus had sung an ode. It was part of the parabasis, or performance by the chorus, during an interlude in the action of the play.

France, History Of, The Fourth Republic

2005-02-24T20:19:00.000-08:00

Shortly after his return to Paris, de Gaulle announced that the citizens of France would determine their future governmental system as soon as the absent prisoners and deportees could be repatriated. That process was largely completed by midsummer 1945, soon after Germany's defeat, whereupon de Gaulle scheduled a combined referendum and election for October. Women,

Fabre D'églantine, Philippe

2005-02-23T19:45:00.000-08:00

He added the appellation d'Églantine to his surname, Fabre, after falsely claiming that he had won a golden eglantine in a literary competition. After publishing the poem

Janesville

2005-02-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1839) of Rock county, southern Wisconsin, U.S., on the Rock River, 37 miles (60 km) southeast of Madison. Settled in 1835 and named for a pioneer, Henry F. Janes (who later moved west to found Janesville, Minn., and Janesville, Iowa), it developed as a trading centre for a dairying, grain, and logging region. In 1919 General Motors Corporation opened a tractor factory, which became a Fisher Body

Islamic World, The second fitnah

2005-02-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

The second fitnah followed Mu'awiyah's caliphate (661–680), which itself was not free from strife, and coincided with the caliphates of Mu'awiyah's son Yazid I (ruled 680–683), whom he designated as successor, and Yazid's three successors. This fitnah was a second-generation reprise of the first; some of the personnel of the former were descendants or relatives of the leaders of the latter. Once

Wolff, Betje

2005-02-22T13:02:00.000-08:00

Wolff, the daughter of a prosperous family, ran away with a naval officer at the age of 17, only to return home in a few days, deeply hurt by the experience. In 1759 she married Adriaan

San Jacinto, Battle Of

2005-02-21T07:01:00.000-08:00

(April 21, 1836), defeat of a Mexican army of about 1,500 troops under General Antonio López de Santa Anna by about 800 men (mostly recent arrivals in Texas) led by General Sam Houston. The outcome assured the success of American settlers in Texas in their war for independence from Mexico. Along the San Jacinto River, near the site of what was to be the city of Houston, Houston's men, after days

Ventidius, Publius

2005-02-20T22:53:00.000-08:00

In his youth, Ventidius was captured by the forces of the Roman general Pompeius Strabo in his native town of Asculum Picenum, which had joined the revolt (90–88) of Rome's Italian

Downing, Sir George

2005-02-20T11:36:00.000-08:00

The son of a Puritan lawyer, Downing was one of the first graduates of Harvard College,

Ablution

2005-02-20T05:59:00.000-08:00

In religion, a prescribed washing of part or all of the body or of possessions, such as clothing or ceremonial objects, with the intent of purification or dedication. Water, or water with salt or some other traditional ingredient, is most commonly used, but washing with blood is not uncommon in the history of religions, and urine of the sacred cow has been used in

Henry

2005-02-18T22:23:00.000-08:00

Henry, son of Manuel I, chose a career in the church and became, successively, archbishop of

Zambia, Flag Of

2005-02-18T01:41:00.000-08:00

In 1930 a shield was approved for Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Its black and white wavy vertical stripes represented Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River in traditional heraldic style; the blue chief (upper portion) of the shield featured a gold fish eagle with a silver fish in its claws. The design, first used on the British Blue Ensign as a colonial badge, received approval

Oadby And Wigston

2005-02-17T18:34:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative and historic county of Leicestershire, England. Both Oadby and Wigston, formerly villages lying outside the city of Leicester, have in recent years been engulfed by the outward spread of the city's suburbs. They lie to the southeast and south, respectively, of the city's centre. Oadby is almost entirely residential, while Wigston is

Bahram

2005-02-16T10:27:00.000-08:00

Foaled by Friar's Daughter and sired by Blandford, Bahram was owned by the Aga Khan and bred at his stud in Curragh, Ireland. Trained by Frank Butters at Newmarket, Bahram always came in first, from his first race in 1934, which he won by a neck. In 1935, ridden by his usual

Catch-as-catch-can Wrestling

2005-02-15T14:01:00.000-08:00

Basic wrestling style in which nearly all holds and tactics are permitted in both upright and ground wrestling. Rules usually forbid only actions that may injure an opponent, such as strangling, kicking, gouging, and hitting with a closed fist. The object is to force the opponent into a position in which both shoulders touch the ground at the same time. Formerly known

Plant Disease, Biological control

2005-02-15T08:57:00.000-08:00

Biological control of plant diseases involves the use of organisms other than humans to reduce or prevent infection by a pathogen. These organisms are called antagonists; they may occur naturally within the host's environment, or they may be purposefully applied to those parts of the potential host plant where they can act directly or indirectly on the

Mer

2005-02-14T11:15:00.000-08:00

Among the Cheremis and Udmurts (also called Votyaks), a district where people would gather periodically to hold religious festivals and perform sacrifices to nature gods. The word mer is derived from the Russian mir, “village community.” The people within the mer usually were of common origin; their customs were similar, and they may even have possessed names and ownership

Oak Harbor

2005-02-13T04:47:00.000-08:00

Town, Island county, northwestern Washington, U.S., on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound. It was settled in 1849 by seafaring men, and its first industry was shipbuilding. Dutch immigrants arrived in 1890 and began developing the rich farmland; their presence on the island is celebrated in the town's annual Holland Happenings festival. The chief agricultural products are dairy foods,

Apurímac River

2005-02-13T00:55:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río Apurímac, river in southern Peru. Owing to its lengthy Andean tributaries, it is the farthermost source of the Amazon River. Arising at roughly 17,000 feet (5,200 m) from the snowmelts of Mount Mismi in Arequipa departamento, Peru, it flows northwest through the Andes, descending to less than 860 feet (260 m) to join the Urubamba and form the Ucayali River. For most of its 430-mile (700-kilometre) length, it flows

Hour

2005-02-11T11:44:00.000-08:00

In timekeeping, 3,600 seconds, now defined in terms of radiation emitted from atoms of the element cesium under specified conditions. The hour was formerly defined as the 24th part of a mean solar day—i.e., of the average period of rotation of the Earth relative to the Sun. The hour of sidereal time, 1/24 of the Earth's rotation period relative to the stars, was about 10 seconds shorter than

France, History Of, The Resistance

2005-02-11T01:12:00.000-08:00

Vichy's decline was paralleled by the rise of the anti-German underground. Within weeks of the 1940 collapse, tiny groups of French citizens had begun to resist. Some collected military intelligence for transmission to London; some organized escape routes for British airmen who had been shot down; some circulated anti-German leaflets; some engaged in sabotage of railways

Shifting Attitudes In A Changing World

2005-02-10T22:22:00.000-08:00

It was once said that "almost everything in history almost never happened"--a feeling, perhaps, that many of us have had about our own lives. When we look back, we often find an awkward chain of events that escapes logic, and only by willful disregard of such complicating factors as facts will we succeed in finding anything resembling a pattern or a plan guiding us. In westernized

X Ray

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

There are two methods in general use for detecting X rays. The first method relies on the X rays producing a photochemical change in a photographic emulsion. The blackening of the film is related to the

San Francisco

2005-02-10T11:04:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern Córdoba provincia, north-central Argentina, on the border of Santa Fé provincia at the northern edge of the Pampa. Founded in 1886 and given city status in 1915, it has been a railroad centre since the 19th century and is a commercial and manufacturing centre for an agricultural (grain and flax) and pastoral area. Light manufacturing is important, as are dairy

Beja

2005-02-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

Distrito (“district”), southern Portugal. It is the largest district in Portugal and produces olives, olive oil, wheat, rye, cork, dairy products, and leather goods. There is mining for copper, silver, lead, and zinc near Beja city at the Castro Verde project. In 1974 the Portuguese government initiated an agrarian reform program by which most of the estate holdings of the district

Harrison, Anna

2005-02-08T14:52:00.000-08:00

In 1858 Anna's house was destroyed in a fire, and she spent the remaining six years of her life with her son John Scott Harrison, the only one of her children to outlive her. She was buried beside her husband in North Bend, Ohio.

Celle

2005-02-07T22:48:00.000-08:00

City, Lower Saxony Land (state), north-central Germany, on the Aller River, at the southern edge of the Lüneburger Heide (Heath), northeast of Hannover. The old town, Altencelle, was founded about 1248, and Celle (founded 1292) was the residence (1371–1705) of the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The old town has many fine examples of 16th- to 19th-century half-timbered buildings, including the Hoppener Haus

Van

2005-02-06T16:16:00.000-08:00

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

Obi Islands

2005-02-06T06:32:00.000-08:00

Also called Ombi Islands, group of the northern Moluccas, Maluku provinsi (“province”), Indonesia. They lie south of the island of Halmahera, north of the island of Ceram, and east of the Sula Islands. The principal island of the group is Obi Island, 52 miles (84 km) long and 28 miles (47 km) wide, which contains the only major village, Laiwui, located on the northeastern coast opposite Bisa Island. Obi Island is mountainous,

Muñoz, Juan

2005-02-05T01:30:00.000-08:00

Spanish sculptor (b. June 17, 1953, Madrid, Spain—d. Aug. 28, 2001, Ibiza, Spain), created moody and challenging installation artworks, most of which featured monochromatic human figures placed amid unnerving architectural spaces and often incorporating animatronics and sound. In 2000 Muñoz received Spain's highest cultural award, the Premio Nacional de Belles Artes. His last completed

Microscope, The compound microscope

2005-02-04T21:11:00.000-08:00

The compound microscope, using an objective and an eyepiece, was first described in the 16th century, but all drawings of the period indicate very impractical arrangements of lenses. The first useful compound microscope was constructed in the Netherlands sometime between 1590 and 1608. Three spectacle makers—Hans Jansen, his son Zacharias, and Hans Lippershey—have each received

Novgorod

2005-02-04T13:05:00.000-08:00

City and administrative centre of Novgorod oblast (province), northwestern Russia, on the Volkhov River just below its outflow from Lake Ilmen. Novgorod is one of the oldest Russian cities, first mentioned in chronicles of 859. In 882 Oleg, prince of Novgorod, captured Kiev and moved his capital there. In 989, under Vladimir, Novgorod's inhabitants were forcibly baptized. In 1019 Prince

Loisy, Alfred Firmin

2005-02-03T19:13:00.000-08:00

Loisy trained at the Institut Catholique in Paris, where he was influenced by the historian L.-M.-O. Duchesne,

Cronaca, Il

2005-02-02T19:38:00.000-08:00

He was not related to Antonio and Piero Pollaiuolo. According to Vasari, it was his accurate accounts of the marvels of Rome, where he studied, that earned him the nickname of “Il Cronaca” (“The Chronicler”). In 1480 he returned to Florence, where he designed the courtyard

Cynic

2005-02-01T13:04:00.000-08:00

Any member of a Greek philosophical sect that flourished from the 4th century Bc to well into Christian times and was distinguished more for its unconventional way of life than for any system of thought. Antisthenes, a disciple of Socrates, is considered to be the founder of the movement, but Diogenes (q.v.) of Sinope was its paradigm. He strove to destroy social conventions (including family life) as a way of returning to a “natural” life. Toward this end

Redford, Robert

2005-02-01T00:09:00.000-08:00

After years of drifting and studying art in both Europe and the United States, Redford enrolled at

Good-reasons Theory

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

In American and British metaethics, an approach that tries to establish the validity or objectivity of moral judgments by examining the modes of reasoning used to support them. The approach first appeared in An Examination of the Place of Reason in Ethics (1950) by Stephen Toulmin, a British philosopher of science and ethicist. In general, the approach represents a reaction

Hardin, John Wesley

2005-01-30T14:53:00.000-08:00

Reaching adolescence as the defeated South entered the Reconstruction period, Hardin was virulently antiblack and anti-Yankee and, in 1868 at the age of 15, killed his first man, an ex-slave. From then on

Denishawn School Of Dancing And Related Arts

2005-01-30T06:13:00.000-08:00

Dance school and company founded in 1915 by Ruth St. Denis and her husband, Ted Shawn. Considered a fountainhead of American modern dance, the Denishawn organization systematically promoted nonballetic dance movement and fostered such leading modern dancers as Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, and Charles Weidman. Because St. Denis and Shawn believed that all dance techniques

La Plata River

2005-01-29T18:28:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río De La Plata, river in east-central Puerto Rico, rising on the western slope of Mount Santa (2,963 feet [903 m]), a peak of the Sierra de Cayey. Part of the stream is impounded by Lake Carite; the reservoir's outlet diverts waters for a series of hydroelectric stations on the Guamaní River in the coastal Guayama area to the south. The La Plata itself flows about 45 miles (70 km) northwest and north, dropping

Systole And Diastole

2005-01-29T04:49:00.000-08:00

Diastole, the opposite of systole, is the lengthening of a short quantity or syllable for metric irregularity. The

Earth, The Earth's gravitational field

2005-01-29T02:03:00.000-08:00

Texts include Michele Caputo, The Gravity Field of the Earth, from Classical and Modern Methods (1967); W.A. Heiskanen and F.A. Vening Meinesz, The Earth and Its Gravity Field (1958); and W.M. Telford et al., Applied Geophysics (1976). The Journal of Geophysical Research contains much recent work, including the following articles: LeRoy M. Dorman and Brian T.R. Lewis, “Experimental Isostasy, 1: Theory of the Determination of the Earth's Isostatic Response to a Concentrated Load,” 75(17):3357–65 (June 10, 1970), “Experimental Isostasy, 2: An Isostatic Model for the U.S.A. Derived from Gravity and Topographic Data,” 75(17):3367–86 (June 10, 1970), and “Experimental Isostasy, 3: Inversion of the Isostatic Green Function and Lateral Density Changes,” 77(17):3068–77 (June 10, 1972); G.D. Karner and A.B. Watts, “Gravity Anomalies and Flexure of the Lithosphere at Mountain Ranges,” 88(B12):10,449–10,477 (Dec. 10, 1983); and Marcia McNutt, “Implications of Regional Gravity for State of Stress in the Earth's Crust and Upper Mantle,” 85(B11):6377–96 (Nov. 10, 1980).

By, John

2005-01-27T02:58:00.000-08:00

By, commissioned as second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1799, worked in Canada (1802–11) on the fortification of Quebec and was charged with the building of a canal at Les Cèdres on the St. Lawrence.

Insurance, Indirect losses

2005-01-26T20:37:00.000-08:00

An entirely different branch of the insurance business has been developed to insure losses that are indirectly the result of one of the specified perils. A prominent example of this type of insurance is business income insurance. The insurer undertakes to reimburse the insured for lost profits or for fixed charges incurred as a result of direct damage. For example,

Athanasius, Saint

2005-01-26T17:39:00.000-08:00

The great Benedictine edition of the works of Athanasius (1698), reprinted in J.P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, vol. 25–28 (1857), is being replaced by that begun by H.G. Opitz (Athanasius Werke) in 1934; major works are translated in the “Post-Nicene Fathers,” Series 2, vol. 4, Select Writings and Letters of Athanasius (1892)—the “Prolegomena” to this volume by A. Robertson remains the most complete life. For later discoveries and studies, see H.I. Bell (ed.), Jews and Christians in Egypt (1924); and the brilliant summary by F.L. Cross, The Study of St. Athanasius (1945). There are useful sketches in G.L. Prestige, Fathers and Heretics (1940, reprinted 1963); and in R.W. Thomson's edition of Contra Gentes and De Incarnatione (1971). For further references, see E.R. Hardy (ed.), Christology of the Later Fathers (1954); and J. Quasten, Patrology, vol. 3, pp. 20–79 (1960).