NecessaryChess

Estate Agent Covent Garden

2006-10-26T04:35:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services. They are an estate agent covent garden amongst other London areas such as Soho and Oxford Circus.

Madiun

2005-03-19T05:06:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Madioen kotamadya (municipality) and kabupaten (regency) in Jawa Timur provinsi (“province”), eastern Java, Indonesia. The city lies on the east bank of the Madiun River. The population is mostly Indonesian and Chinese. The city was the scene of a short-lived communist rebellion, the so-called Madiun Affair, in 1948, and it maintains a site at which hundreds of soldiers killed in the Indonesian

Biblical Literature, Astrology

2005-03-17T03:48:00.000-08:00

There were elements in the Greek world that may have come from the East, partly Egyptian and Babylonian, which gave rise to astrology. The basic conviction of astrology was that the heavenly bodies were deities that in a direct way control life and events on earth. An older idea of tyche, or “fate,” originally signified the chance element in the universe, a capriciousness

Sunbury

2005-03-15T23:28:00.000-08:00

Town, south-central Victoria, Australia, on the road and rail route between Bendigo and the state capital, Melbourne, 24 miles (39 km) to the southeast. The Aboriginal name for the area was Koora Kooracup, but, when a gold rush to Bendigo began in 1851, a hotel (built on Jacksons Creek to house travelers to the goldfield) was named Sunbury, after Sunbury, Middlesex, England; the town took

Arao

2005-03-13T04:12:00.000-08:00

City, Kumamoto ken (prefecture), Kyushu, Japan, facing Ariake Bay. It was a poor village until the opening of the Miike coal mine and the arrival of a major railway in the early 20th century. A military munitions factory was established in 1940. After World War II, however, the mine and the factory closed. Arao is now a residential suburb of Omuta to the north. Pop. (1985) 62,570.

Orbison, Roy

2005-03-11T19:36:00.000-08:00

Raised in West Texas, Orbison formed his first musical group at age 13. He dropped out of college to pursue music, and as a member of the Teen-Kings

Byte

2005-03-08T06:45:00.000-08:00

The basic unit of information in computer storage and processing. A byte consists of 8 adjacent binary digits (bits), each of which consists of a 0 or 1. The string of bits making up a byte is processed as a unit by a computer; bytes are the smallest operable units of storage in computer technology. A byte can represent the equivalent of a single character, such as the letter B,

Sherer, Rabbi Moshe

2005-03-06T00:15:00.000-08:00

American Orthodox Jewish leader who aided the right wing of Orthodox Judaism by helping build the Agudath Israel of America organization from a small group into an influential force (b. June 8, 1921, Brooklyn, N.Y.--d. May 17, 1998, Manhattan, N.Y.).

La Victoria

2005-03-04T02:12:00.000-08:00

Quarter and district of the Lima-Callao metropolitan area of Peru, south of downtown Lima. It is mainly residential, with slums in the north, pueblos jóvenes (“young towns”), or squatter settlements, in the east, and middle-income housing in the south. The district is the site of Peru's largest wholesale and retail market area, near which are many light industries. La Victoria

Argentaffin Cell

2005-03-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

One of the round or partly flattened cells occurring in the lining tissue of the digestive tract and containing granules thought to be of secretory function. These epithelial cells, though common throughout the digestive tract, are most concentrated in the small intestine and appendix. The cells locate randomly within the mucous membrane lining of the intestine

Fabre, émile

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

The son of a stage manager, Fabre began writing and producing plays at the age of 13. Comme ils sont tous (1894; “As They All Are”) was his first success, followed by a series of popular political and social satires: L'Argent

Acapulco

2005-02-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

In full Acapulco De Juárez, resort and port, Guerrero estado (“state”), southwestern Mexico. Situated on a deep, semicircular bay, Acapulco has the best harbour on the Pacific coast of Mexico and one of the finest natural anchorages in the world. The town lies on a narrow strip of land between the bay and the steeply rising mountains that encircle it. From May to November the climate is hot, humid, and

Sea Rocket

2005-02-25T22:47:00.000-08:00

Any of about 17 species of plants constituting the genus Cakile, of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to seashore regions of North America, Eurasia, western Asia, and Australia, and to central Arabian deserts. Cakile maritima, a European plant, has waxy, thick, lobed green leaves and pale-lavender flower clusters. Its leaf branches, 30 to 60 centimetres (1 to 2 feet) long, rise

Athanasius I

2005-02-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

A monk who emigrated to a monastery in the hallowed region of Mt. Athos,

Military Aircraft, Reconnaissance

2005-02-20T11:26:00.000-08:00

For military staffs contemplating offensive operations, aerial photography became the most important source of detailed information on enemy dispositions. British reconnaissance aircraft were especially capable. Modified versions of the Spitfire and Mosquito, stripped of armament and fitted with extra fuel tanks, proved essentially immune to interception

Eight Masters Of Nanjing

2005-02-19T02:06:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Jinling Bajia , Wade-Giles romanization Chin-ling Pa-chia group of Chinese artists who lived and worked during the late 17th century in Nanjing (known as Jinling during the early Tang dynasty, c. 7th century). Although their group identity derives largely from the locale in which they worked, certain aesthetic similarities are discernible: their paintings, usually landscapes, are often uneven in quality and

Tarasov, Anatoly

2005-02-16T17:58:00.000-08:00

When Tarasov began coaching in the early 1940s, Canada was the premier team in

Medicine, Public health practice

2005-02-14T09:37:00.000-08:00

The physician working in the field of public health is mainly concerned with the environmental causes of ill health and in their prevention. Bad drainage, polluted water and atmosphere, noise and smells, infected food, bad housing, and poverty in general are all his special concern. Perhaps the most descriptive title he can be given is that of community physician.

Lancashire

2005-02-13T00:10:00.000-08:00

The administrative, geographic, and historic counties occupy somewhat different areas. The administrative

Price

2005-02-10T01:10:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1894) of Carbon county, central Utah, U.S., on the Price River, 65 miles (105 km) southeast of Provo. Settled in 1877 by Mormons, it was named for the river discovered in 1869 by William Price, a bishop of the Mormon church. Its growth was spurred by the arrival of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad in 1883. Coal production, livestock, and agriculture (sugar beets and grains) are major economic

Aidan, Saint

2005-02-09T00:45:00.000-08:00

Aidan was a monk at Iona, an island of the Inner Hebrides in Scotland, when King Oswald of Northumbria requested that he be made bishop of the newly converted Northumbrians. Consecrated in

Xavier, Saint Francis

2005-02-07T20:29:00.000-08:00

Francis was born in Navarre (now in northern Spain), at the family castle of Xavier, where Basque was the native language. He was the third son of the president of the council of the king of Navarre, most of whose kingdom was soon to fall to the crown of Castile (1512). Francis grew up at Xavier and received his early education there. As was often the case with younger sons of the nobility,

Muhammad

2005-02-05T00:29:00.000-08:00

In full Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim founder of the religion of Islam and of the Muslim community.

Xingshu

2005-02-02T00:20:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization hsing-shu a semicursive Chinese script that developed out of the Han dynasty lishu script at the same time that the standard kaishu script was evolving (1st–3rd century AD). The characters of xingshu are not abbreviated or connected, but strokes within the characters are often run together. The best-known example of early surviving Chinese calligraphy, Lanting Xu (“Essay

Wairakite

2005-01-31T06:07:00.000-08:00

Hydrated calcium aluminosilicate mineral present in hot-spring deposits, notably those at Wairakei, New Zealand, and Onikobe, Japan. Like analcite, wairakite has been assigned to two mineral families: it is regarded as a feldspathoid because of its chemical properties, molecular structure, and mode of formation but as a zeolite because of its ion-exchange and reversible

Durand, Guillaume

2005-01-29T19:27:00.000-08:00

After receiving a doctorate in canon law at Bologna, Italy, Durand taught briefly there and later at Modena, Italy. Some time after 1260 he was appointed auditor (a judge commissioned to hear cases of appeal brought to the Holy See). At the second Council of Lyon (1274), he helped draft the statutes

Oracle

2005-01-27T00:24:00.000-08:00

(Latin oraculum from orare, “to pray,” or “to speak”), divine communication delivered in response to a petitioner's request; also, the seat of prophecy itself. Oracles were a branch of divination but differed from the casual pronouncements of augurs by being associated with a definite person or place. For example, the oracles of Zeus originated at Dodona, Olympia, or Siwa; those

Volsci

2005-01-26T10:35:00.000-08:00

Knowledge of the Volsci depends largely upon Roman accounts of their mutual

Durbar

2005-01-21T04:30:00.000-08:00

The three best-known durbars were held in Delhi in 1877, 1903, and 1911. They celebrated Queen Victoria's assumption of the title of Empress

Jackson, Rachel

2005-01-20T11:55:00.000-08:00

As Rachel was reluctantly preparing to move to Washington, D.C., following Andrew's electoral victory in 1828—she said that she “would rather be a door-keeper in the house of God than to live in that palace in Washington”—she died of a heart attack. She was buried on the grounds of the Hermitage on Christmas Eve in what was to be her inaugural gown. A young niece, Emily Donelson, became the surrogate first lady; after Emily's death in 1836, Sarah Yorke Jackson, the wife of Andrew Jackson, Jr., became the official White House hostess.

Koch

2005-01-17T19:56:00.000-08:00

Also called Rajbansi, ethnic group of the Bodo people, dispersed over parts of Assam and Bengal. While their original language is a Tibeto-Burman dialect, large sections of the group in the 20th century spoke Bengali or other Indo-Aryan languages. In the 16th century a Koch chief established the state of Cooch Behar, and they now call themselves Rajbansi (Of Royal Blood), resent being called by the

Mystery Religion

2005-01-15T16:39:00.000-08:00

Any of various secret cults of the Greco-Roman world that offered to individuals religious experiences not provided by the official public religions. They originated in tribal ceremonies that were performed by primitive peoples in many parts of the world. Whereas in these tribal communities almost every member of the clan or the village was initiated, initiation

Tragicomedy

2005-01-14T01:39:00.000-08:00

Dramatic work incorporating both tragic and comic elements. When coined by the Roman dramatist Plautus in the 2nd century BC, the word denoted a play in which gods and men, masters and slaves reverse the roles traditionally assigned to them, gods and heroes acting in comic burlesque and slaves adopting tragic dignity. This startling innovation may be seen in Plautus'

West Indies, History Of

2005-01-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

Hispanic control of the West Indies began in 1492 with Christopher Columbus' first landing in the New World and was followed by the partitioning of the region by the Spanish, French, British, Dutch, and Danish during the 17th and 18th centuries. U.S. intervention in the Greater Antilles started in the early 19th

Allan, Maud

2005-01-09T16:23:00.000-08:00

The daughter of two physicians, Allan grew up in San Francisco, studied music in Berlin, and taught herself to dance. Her career began in 1903 in Vienna, where she choreographed and performed dances to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz

Tigrinya Language

2005-01-07T08:48:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Tigrigna, also called Tigray, or Tigrai, Semitic language of the Tigray people of northern Ethiopia and central Eritrea. Written records include religious texts prepared by mission societies and an increasing number of more recently printed textbooks and literary works. The language is closely related to Ge'ez, the ancient language of Ethiopia, and to the Tigré language. There were nearly 6,000,000 speakers

Niven, Frederick John

2005-01-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

Educated in Scotland, Niven worked in libraries in Glasgow and

Arcaro, Eddie

2005-01-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Byname of George Edward Arcaro American jockey who was the first to ride five Kentucky Derby winners and two U.S. Triple Crown champions (winners of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes). In 31 years of riding Thoroughbreds (1931–61), he won 549 stakes events, a total of 4,779 races, and more than $30,000,000 in purses. On Feb. 20, 1958, at Santa Anita Race Track in California, he became

Pueblo Pottery

2004-12-30T23:33:00.000-08:00

One of the most highly developed of the American Indian arts, still produced today in a manner almost identical to the method developed during the Classic Pueblo period about AD 1050–1300. During the five previous centuries when the Pueblo Indians became sedentary, they stopped using baskets for carrying and began to manufacture and use clay pots, which had been cumbersome,

Acacian Schism

2004-12-28T05:13:00.000-08:00

With the support of the Byzantine emperor Zeno, Acacius in 482 drew up an edict, the Henotikon (Greek: “Edict of Union”), by which he attempted to secure unity between orthodox Christians

William

2004-12-27T03:01:00.000-08:00

William was elected German king to succeed Henry Raspe (died Feb. 16, 1247), Pope Innocent IV's nominee to replace Conrad,

Yung-lo

2004-12-24T19:33:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Yonglo (reign name), temple name (ming) Ch'eng Tsu , or (ming) T'ai Tsung , posthumous name, or shih, Wen Ti , personal name Chu Ti third emperor (1402–24) of China's Ming dynasty, which he raised to its greatest power. He moved the capital from Nanking to Peking, which was rebuilt with the Forbidden City.

Amber Valley

2004-12-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

District, administrative and historic county of Derbyshire, England, to the north of Derby. It takes its name from the River Amber, which joins the Derwent at Ambergate. The industrial eastern half of the district contrasts with the still rural western portion. Traditionally coal mining and ironworking were the staple industries, but from the late 1950s industrial diversification

Ear Disease, Erysipelas of the outer ear

2004-12-21T11:39:00.000-08:00

Erysipelas is an infection in the skin caused by a particular type of streptococcus and characterized by a slowly advancing red, slightly tender thickening of the skin. It may begin at the ear and spread to the face and neck. Centuries ago erysipelas epidemics caused severe and often fatal infections. In AD 1089 one of the most severe erysipelas epidemics occurred. The disease

Florencia

2004-12-19T23:54:00.000-08:00

Capital of Caquetá department, southeastern Colombia, in the eastern slopes of the Andean Cordillera (mountains) Oriental, on the Río Orteguaza, a tributary of the Caquetá. It was founded in 1908 by Capuchin missionaries. Cattle raising and rice cultivation are widespread around Florencia. The city also serves as a trading centre for the densely forested lowlands to

Race, European conquest and the classification of the conquered

2004-12-16T01:16:00.000-08:00

As they were constructing their own racial identities internally, western European nations were also colonizing most of what has been called, in recent times, the Third World, in Asia and Africa. Since all of the colonized and subordinated people differed physically from Europeans, the colonizers automatically applied racial categories to them and initiated

Chandos (of Sudeley), Grey Brydges, 5th Baron

2004-12-15T03:49:00.000-08:00

Brydges was member of Parliament for Cricklade in 1597–98. Because of his family's friendship with Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, Brydges was imprisoned in 1601 after Essex' unsuccessful revolt against Queen Elizabeth I; he was soon released. He succeeded to the

Wyss, Johann Rudolf

2004-12-12T05:10:00.000-08:00

Wyss became professor of philosophy at the academy at Bern in 1805 and later chief librarian of the municipal library. He was a collector of Swiss tales and folklore, published in Idyllen,

Argostólion

2004-12-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Argostóli, chief port and capital, nomós (department) of Cephalonia, which is the largest of the Ionian Islands of Greece. The town is the seat of a bishop of the Greek Orthodox church. It was founded in 1757 by the Venetians when an earthquake destroyed the former capital. The port's well-protected harbour is situated on the eastern prong of a large inlet. The island produces olive oil,

Baseball

2004-12-09T18:05:00.000-08:00

Both Alfred H. Spink's The National Game (1910) and A.G. Spalding's America's National Game (1911), generally regarded as the first attempts at writing a standard history of baseball, cite Casey at the Bat as the best baseball poem ever written. Spalding goes so far as to proclaim that “Love has its sonnets galore; War its epics in heroic verse; Tragedy its sombre story in measured line;

Mental Disorder, Minor affective disorders

2004-12-06T16:21:00.000-08:00

Dysthmic disorder, or depressive

Pereira, Irene Rice

2004-12-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

Irene Rice moved a number of times with her family before they settled in Brooklyn, New York City. After exploring other careers, from 1927 to 1930 she studied at the Art Students League in New York. In 1929 she married commercial artist Humberto Pereira,

World War I, Technology of war in 1914

2004-12-03T13:28:00.000-08:00

The planning and conduct of war in 1914 were crucially influenced by the invention of new weapons and the improvement of existing types since the Franco-German War of 1870–71. The chief developments of the intervening period had been the machine gun and the rapid-fire field artillery gun. The modern machine gun, which had been developed in the 1880s and '90s, was a reliable belt-fed gun

Boyer, Paul D.

2004-11-30T23:00:00.000-08:00

In full Paul Delos Boyer American biochemist who, with John E. Walker, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1997 for their explanation of the enzymatic process involved in the production of the energy-storage molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which fuels the metabolic processes of the cells of all living things. (Danish chemist Jens C. Skou also shared the award for

Kubera

2004-11-29T04:29:00.000-08:00

In Hindu mythology, the king of the yaksas (nature spirits) and the god of wealth. He is associated with the earth, mountains, all treasures such as minerals and jewels that lie underground, and riches in general. According to most accounts he first lived in Lanka (Sri Lanka), but his palace was taken away from him by his half brother, Ravana, and he now resides in a beautiful mountain

Nabha

2004-11-27T03:29:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Punjab state, northwestern India. It is located some 16 miles (26 km) west and slightly north of Patiala. Nabha (founded 1755) was the capital of the princely state of Nabha, established in 1763 and composed of 12 scattered territories claimed by a member of the Sikh Phulkian family. In 1807–08 the raja gained British protection against threatened encroachments by Ranjit Singh.

Harding, John, Baron Harding Of Petherton

2004-11-25T07:08:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Ilminster Grammar School (1912), Harding joined the Territorial Army as a part-time reservist. Called to the regular army at the beginning of World War I, he commanded a machine-gun battalion

Water Scorpion

2004-11-23T15:00:00.000-08:00

Any of the approximately 150 species of aquatic invertebrates of the family Nepidae (order Hemiptera). The water scorpion resembles a land scorpion in certain ways: it has scythelike front legs adapted for seizing prey and a long, thin, whiplike structure at its posterior end. This “tail,” made up of two attached respiratory tubes, is extended above the surface of the water,

Usul Al-fiqh

2004-11-21T15:12:00.000-08:00

In classical Islamic theory, the four major sources from which law is derived: the Qur'an; the sunna, or sunnah (practice of the Prophet as transmitted through his sayings); ijma' (consensus of scholars); and qiyas (analogical deductions from these three). The usul, systematized under ash-Shafi'i (767–820), were the result of an Islamization of law that began about the 2nd century of the Muslim era

Cornelius, Peter

2004-11-21T00:56:00.000-08:00

The OAU was established on May 25, 1963, and its activities included diplomacy

Aerospace Industry, Propulsion

2004-11-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

There are three basic types of flight vehicle-propulsion systems: piston engines (or reciprocating engines), turbine engines (true-jet, turboprop, and turboshaft engines), and rocket engines (see airplane: Propulsion systems and rocket). At the low end of the performance spectrum are reciprocating engines. Although during World War II and the early postwar period the industry

Theme

2004-11-19T06:18:00.000-08:00

The organization of territory into themes began under Emperor Heraclius (reigned 610–641), who stationed troops in three large districts under the

Montserrat

2004-11-17T04:12:00.000-08:00

Mountain, northwestern Barcelona provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Catalonia, Spain, lying just west of the Llobregat River and northwest of Barcelona city. Known to the Romans as Mons Serratus (“Saw-toothed Mountain”) and to the Catalans as Montsagrat (“Sacred Mountain”), it is famous for its unusual appearance, its Benedictine monastery

Substitution

2004-11-15T18:06:00.000-08:00

In Greek or Latin prosody, the replacement of a prosodic element that is required or expected at a given place in a given metre by another which is more or less equivalent in temporal quantity. In modern prosody, substitution refers to the use within a metrical series of a foot other than the prevailing foot of the series. A silence may also replace expected sound and

Alençon Lace

2004-11-15T09:11:00.000-08:00

French Point D'alençon, needle lace made in the French city of Alençon, one of the centres designated by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, minister of finance under Louis XIV, for aid in his effort to make French laces financially and artistically competitive with imported laces. Venetian workers, experts in making point de Venise, were brought in to instruct the local needlewomen, who quickly learned

Cone, Fairfax M.

2004-11-14T14:22:00.000-08:00

Cone's father was a prospector and mining engineer, and his mother was a schoolteacher. He studied English at the University of California, working as a summertime copy boy on the San Francisco

Bradford, William

2004-11-12T02:30:00.000-08:00

He was a Quaker and a self-taught artist, painting the ships and the marine views he saw along the coasts of Massachusetts, Labrador, and Nova Scotia; he went on several Arctic expeditions with Isaac Hayes and was the first

Hooft, Pieter Corneliszoon

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

During three years spent in France and Italy, Hooft came completely under the spell of the new learning and art; the impact of that experience is shown by

David Ap Llywelyn

2004-11-11T19:20:00.000-08:00

His father, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, had made Gwynedd the centre of Welsh power, and his mother, Joan, was the illegitimate daughter of King John of England (ruled 1199–1216). Although Llywelyn designated David as his successor, his half brother Gruffudd opposed him. While the aged Llywelyn

Activation Energy

2004-11-10T11:11:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, the minimum amount of energy that is required to activate atoms or molecules to a condition in which they can undergo chemical transformation or physical transport. In terms of the transition-state theory (q.v.), the activation energy is the difference in energy content between atoms or molecules in an activated or transition-state configuration and

Philepittidae

2004-11-09T16:15:00.000-08:00

Members range in size from 9 to 16.5 centimetres (3.5 to 6.5 inches) long. The two species of asities (Philepitta) are plump, stout-legged pitta-like birds that browse foliage for berries and other fruit. The false sunbirds (Neodrepanis

Alaya-vijñana

2004-11-07T14:30:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “store of consciousness”), key concept of the Vijñanavada (“Consciousness-affirming”) school of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Since that school maintains that no external reality exists, while retaining the position that knowledge, and therefore a knowable, exists, it assumes that knowledge itself is the object of consciousness. It therefore postulates a

Argonaut

2004-11-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

First submarine to navigate extensively in the open sea, built in 1897 by the American engineer and naval architect Simon Lake. Designed to send out divers rather than to sink ships, the Argonaut was fitted with wheels for travel on the bottom of the sea and had an airtight chamber with a hatch that could be opened to the sea when the air pressure of the chamber and of the water

Plaice

2004-11-05T15:24:00.000-08:00

(Pleuronectes platessa), commercially valuable European flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae. The plaice, like others of its family, normally has both eyes on the right side of the head. It also has about four to seven bony bumps near its eyes. It reaches a maximum length of about 90 centimetres (36 inches) and is strikingly coloured, with red or orange

China, State and society

2004-11-05T00:24:00.000-08:00

The ritual schedule records 29 royal ancestors over a span of 17 generations who, from at least Wu-ting to Ti-hsin, were each known as wang (king). Presiding over a stable politico-religious hierarchy of ritual specialists, officers, artisans, retainers, and servile peasants, they ruled with varying degrees of intensity over the North China Plain and parts of Shantung, Shansi,

Mutanabbi, Al-

2004-11-03T00:27:00.000-08:00

Al-Mutanabbi was the son of a water carrier who claimed noble and ancient southern Arabian descent. Owing

Houston, University Of

2004-11-02T23:11:00.000-08:00

State university system consisting of the main campus in Houston, Texas, U.S., the downtown campus in Houston, and branches at Clear Lake and Victoria. Additional locations at Cinco Ranch and Sugar Land provide upper-level undergraduate and graduate programs. The main campus consists of 12 colleges, including the Cullen College of Engineering, the Conrad N. Hilton College

Elis

2004-11-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

The region was bounded on the north by Achaea, on the east by Arcadia, and on the south by Messenia. Elis consisted of three districts from north to south: Hollow Elis, which occupied the basin

Utrera

2004-10-31T07:42:00.000-08:00

The site has been occupied since prehistoric times and was known as Utricula during the Roman period. The city, an episcopal see before domination

Alcalá Zamora, Niceto

2004-10-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

Elected to the Cortes (parliament) in 1905, Alcalá Zamora became minister of works in 1917 and minister of war in 1922. The Spanish defeat at Anual in Morocco led to an

Parachute

2004-10-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

Device that slows the vertical descent of a body falling through the atmosphere or the velocity of a body moving horizontally. The parachute increases the body's surface area, and this increased air resistance slows the body in motion. There is some mention, but no evidence, dating to the 1100s of the Chinese using parachutes for amusement. In the West, however, parachutes

Cold War

2004-10-28T21:54:00.000-07:00

The open yet restricted rivalry that developed after World War II between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies. The Cold War was waged on political, economic, and propaganda fronts and had only limited recourse to weapons. The term was first used by the American financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch during a congressional

Levassor, émile

2004-10-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

Levassor took over a firm that made woodworking machinery. When René Panhard joined the firm in 1886, the renamed firm of Panhard and Levassor began to make metal-sawing machines as well. Around 1890 Levassor managed to gain control of the French licenses to the automobile engine

Zafrulla Khan, Sir Muhammad

2004-10-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

The son of the leading attorney of his native city, Zafrulla Khan studied at Government College in Lahore and received his LL.B. from King's College, London University, in 1914. He practiced

Bradford, Roark (whitney Wickliffe)

2004-10-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

Bradford had little formal education; instead, he found the substance for his career in the people around him. When he began work as a reporter in 1920, he met the colourful characters of various Southern

Jansen, Daniel

2004-10-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

Jansen grew up in a family of skating enthusiasts and competed in his first meets at the age of four. At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina), he was the youngest skater

Hounslow

2004-10-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

Outer borough of London, part of the historic county of Middlesex. It lies in the valley of the River Thames, on the western periphery of the metropolis. It was made a borough in 1965 by the amalgamation of the former metropolitan boroughs of Brentford and Chiswick and Heston and Isleworth with the Feltham Urban District. Hounslow includes the areas of (from west to east)

Boiardo, Matteo Maria, Conte (count) Di Scandiano

2004-10-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

Poet whose Orlando innamorato, the first poem to combine elements of both Arthurian and Carolingian traditions of romance, gave new life to the chivalrous epic, which was declining in popularity. Boiardo spent much of his childhood at Ferrara, and served the dukes of Este. He was captain of the ducal forces at Modena

John Henry

2004-10-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

Some factual basis exists for the ballad

Alimony

2004-10-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

In divorce law, compensation owed by one spouse to the other for financial support after divorce. Alimony aims at support of the one spouse, not punishment of the other. In some places, the term means simply a property settlement irrespective of future support. Alimony has traditionally been granted from husbands to wives but has occasionally been granted from wives

Anderson

2004-10-18T08:57:00.000-07:00

Anderson is a manufacturing

Switzerland, The Reformation

2004-10-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

Shortly after the peace settlement with the French, the impact of the Reformation reached Switzerland. A period of internal strife ensued that was instrumental in shaping the human geography of the country. The cities, particularly the major centres of Bern, Basel, Geneva, Lausanne, Schaffhausen, and Zürich, were far more receptive to the reform preaching of such

Serialism

2004-10-17T04:41:00.000-07:00

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

Amarapura

2004-10-15T02:01:00.000-07:00

Town, central Myanmar (Burma). It lies on the left bank of the Irrawaddy River. A suburb of Mandalay, it is also known as Taung-myo (Southern Town) or Myohaung (Old City). Founded by King Bodawpaya in 1783 as his new capital, it supplanted Ava, 6 miles (10 km) southwest. Its population in 1810 was estimated at 170,000, but a fire that year and the return of the court to Ava in 1823 caused a decline to about 30,000 by 1827. King

Quadriceps Femoris Muscle

2004-10-15T00:23:00.000-07:00

Large fleshy muscle group covering the front and sides of the thigh. It has four parts: rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and vastus intermedius. They originate at the ilium (upper part of the pelvis, or hipbone) and femur (thighbone), come together in a tendon surrounding the patella (kneecap), and insert at (are attached to) the tibia (shinbone). These muscles

Francis I

2004-10-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

Duke of Brittany (from 1442), son of John V (or VI). He had his brother Gilles thrown into prison and put to death for allegedly spying for the English, with whom he warred (1449–50). The king of France intervened and expelled the English from Normandy.

Dynamics

2004-10-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

Dynamics can be subdivided into kinematics, which describes motion, without regard to its causes, in terms of position, velocity, and acceleration; and kinetics, which is concerned

Cateau-cambrésis, Peace Of

2004-10-11T11:21:00.000-07:00

(April 3, 1559), agreement marking the end of the 65-year (1494–1559) struggle between France and Spain for the control of Italy, leaving Habsburg Spain the dominant power there for the next 150 years. In the last phase of the war, fought mostly outside of Italy, France was beaten at the battles of Saint-Quentin (1557) and Gravelines (1558). These defeats, coupled with the beginning of the religious struggle

Shabunder

2004-10-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

To handle the greatly increased commerce in the 15th-century Malacca sultanate, four shabunders were appointed

France, History Of, France from 1789 to 1815

2004-10-09T01:43:00.000-07:00

The best overview of the period is D.M.G. Sutherland, France 1789–1815: Revolution and Counter-Revolution (1985). General surveys of the French Revolution include William Doyle, The Oxford History of the French Revolution (1989); and Norman Hampson, A Social History of the French Revolution (1963, reprinted 1982). The origins and the first phase of the Revolution are treated in Michel Vovelle, The Fall of the French Monarchy, 1787–1792 (1984; originally published in French, 1972). The best book on the Terror is still R.R. Palmer, Twelve Who Ruled: The Year of the Terror in the French Revolution (1941, reissued 1989). Martyn Lyons, France Under the Directory (1975), surveys the Revolution's later phase. François Furet and Mona Ozouf (eds.), A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution (1989; originally published in French, 1988), is an important and original collection of short essays on selected events, actors, institutions, ideas, and historians of the French Revolution. Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution (1984), analyzes the imagery and sociology of revolutionary politics. Notable thematic studies include Georges Lefebvre, The Great Fear of 1789: Rural Panic in Revolutionary France (1973, reissued 1989; originally published in French, 1932); P.M. Jones, The Peasantry in the French Revolution (1988); Albert Soboul, The Parisian Sans-culottes and the French Revolution, 1793–4, trans. from French (1964, reprinted 1979); George Rudé, The Crowd in the French Revolution (1959, reprinted 1986); John McManners, The French Revolution and the Church (1969, reprinted 1982); Jean-Paul Bertaud, The Army of the French Revolution (1988; originally published in French, 1979); Emmet Kennedy, A Cultural History of the French Revolution (1989); and Jacques Godechot, The Counter-Revolution: Doctrine and Action, 1789–1804 (1971, reissued 1981; originally published in French, 1961). The international dimension of the Revolution is interpreted in R.R. Palmer, The World of the French Revolution (1971). The best biography of a revolutionary leader is Leo Gershoy, Bertrand Barère: A Reluctant Terrorist (1962). A lively introduction to the Napoleonic era is J. Christopher Herold, The Age of Napoleon (1963, reprinted 1987). Informative volumes on the life and times of Napoleon include Felix Markham, Napoleon (1963); and Jean Tulard, Napoleon: The Myth of the Saviour (1984; originally published in French, 1977). The best volume on the Napoleonic regime in France is Louis Bergeron, France Under Napoleon (1981; originally published in French, 1972). Owen Connelly, Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns (1987), is a critical and incisive analysis. For the views of historians across the generations, see Pieter Geyl, Napoleon: For and Against (1949, reissued 1976; originally published in Dutch, 1946).