ConsciousBell

organic bed linen

2006-10-29T18:50:00.000-08:00

Livs range of soft luxurious bed linenis sourced ethically from India and using a fair trade policy. Liv also provide duvet cover set and bath towel set.

Leap Year

2005-04-04T18:13:00.000-07:00

Year containing some intercalary period, especially a Gregorian year having a 29th day of February instead of the standard 28 days. The astronomical year, the time taken for the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun, is about 365.242 days, or, to a first approximation, 365.25 days. To account for the odd quarter day, an extra calendar day is added every four years, as was first done in 46 BC, with

Dandridge, Dorothy

2005-04-04T02:10:00.000-07:00

Dandridge's mother was an entertainer and comedic actress who, after settling in Los Angeles, had some success in radio and, later, television. The young Dorothy and her sister Vivian

Anchor

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

Ancient anchors consisted of large stones, basketfuls of stones, sacks filled with sand, or logs of wood loaded with lead; these held the vessel merely by their weight

Trinidad And Tobago, Plant and animal life

2005-04-02T15:04:00.000-08:00

Vegetation zones are well defined on both islands. In general, the highest areas coincide with the most luxuriant tropical rain forest vegetation. Cultivated estates or small settlements are established in clearings on the hills. In the dry season the hills are dotted with the orange flowers of the mountain immortelle, a large flowering tree that grows to a height

Szczecin

2005-04-01T20:22:00.000-08:00

German Stettin, port city and capital, Szczecin województwo (province), extreme northwestern Poland, on the western bank of the Oder River near its mouth, 40 miles (65 km) from the Baltic Sea. Shipbuilding and shipping are the main occupations. Evidence suggests that the area was first inhabited by seafaring people 2,500 years ago. In the 8th and 9th centuries Szczecin was a Slavic fishing and commercial

Infection, Social habits

2005-04-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

The vampire bats of Brazil, which transmit paralytic rabies, bite cattle but not ranchers, presumably because on the plains of Brazil ranchers are few but cattle plentiful. Bat-transmitted rabies, however, does occur in human beings in Trinidad, where herdsmen sleep in shacks near their animals. The mechanism of infection is the same in Brazil and Trinidad, but the

Orléans, Louis-philippe-joseph, Duc D' (duke Of)

2005-03-31T07:37:00.000-08:00

The cousin of King Louis XVI (ruled 1774–92) and the son of Louis-Philippe (later duc d'Orléans), he became duc de Chartres in 1752 and succeeded to his father's title in 1785. Orléans's hostility to Louis XVI's queen, Marie-Antoinette, caused him to live away from the royal court

Subbituminous Coal

2005-03-30T14:18:00.000-08:00

Also called Black Lignite, dark brown to black coal intermediate in rank between lignite and bituminous coal. Subbituminous coals often have a silky lustre and sometimes are macroscopically indistinguishable from the bituminous variety. The fibrous structure characteristic of lignite is absent in subbituminous coals, many of which have evolved alternating dull and bright bands

Tanala

2005-03-30T04:36:00.000-08:00

Also called Antanala, a Malagasy people living in southeastern Madagascar who are separated from the coast by the Antaimoro and other ethnic groups. They are divided into two subgroups: the Tanala Menabe in the mountainous north and the Tanala Ikongo dwelling in the more accessible southern part of the Tanala homeland. Tanala Menabe villages are isolated; they are built on mountain

Biblical Literature, Allegorical interpretation

2005-03-29T07:47:00.000-08:00

Allegorical interpretation places on biblical literature a meaning that, with rare exceptions, it was never intended to convey. Yet at times this interpretation seemed imperative. If the literal sense, on which heretics, such as the 2nd-century biblical critic Marcion, and anti-Christian polemicists, such as the 2nd-century philosopher Celsus, insisted, was unacceptable,

Belcher, Jonathan

2005-03-29T07:30:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Harvard College in 1699, Belcher traveled in Europe before returning to Boston, where he became a prosperous merchant. He formally entered Massachusetts politics in 1718, when he was elected

Hexameter

2005-03-28T04:12:00.000-08:00

A line of verse containing six feet, usually dactyls (¢ {breve} {breve}). Dactylic hexameter is the oldest known form of Greek poetry and is the preeminent metre of narrative and didactic poetry in Greek and Latin, in which its position is comparable to that of iambic pentameter in English versification. The epics of Homer and of Virgil are composed in dactylic hexameter.

Jack-o'-lantern

2005-03-27T22:16:00.000-08:00

In meteorology, a mysterious light seen at night flickering over marshes; when approached, it advances, always out of reach. The phenomenon is also known as will-o'-the-wisp and ignis fatuus (Latin: “foolish fire”). In popular legend it is considered ominous and is often purported to be the soul of one who has been rejected by hell carrying its own hell coal on its wanderings.

Aecium

2005-03-27T03:58:00.000-08:00

Also called aecidium a cluster-cup or fruiting body of certain rust fungi (order Uredinales, division Mycota). Yellow to orange in colour, aecia develop after fertilization and bear one-celled spores (aeciospores, or aecidiospores). Aecia are usually found on lower leaf surfaces of plants.

Pori

2005-03-26T02:49:00.000-08:00

Swedish Björneborg, city, Turun ja Porin (Turku ja Pori) lääni (province), southwestern Finland. It lies along the Kokemäen River near the Gulf of Bothnia, north-northwest of Turku. Originally settled in the 12th century farther up the Kokemäen and chartered as Ulvila in 1365, it was moved to its present site in 1558. It was destroyed by fire in the 16th and 19th centuries but was rebuilt both times because of

Smenkhkare

2005-03-25T06:44:00.000-08:00

As shown by medical and serological analysis of his mummy, Smenkhkare was almost certainly a brother

Astronaut

2005-03-24T23:30:00.000-08:00

Person trained to pilot a spacecraft, operate any of its various systems, or conduct scientific experiments aboard such a craft during spaceflights. The term is commonly applied to those participating in U.S. space missions, as opposed to the designation cosmonaut used to refer to Soviet space travelers. The U.S. Department of Defense awards the rating of astronaut

Pappenheim, Gottfried Heinrich, Count (graf) Zu

2005-03-24T04:42:00.000-08:00

Pappenheim served with the Catholic League, headed by the elector Maximilian I of Bavaria and commanded by Johann Tserclaes, Graf von Tilly. Idolized by his regiment of cuirassiers, the Pappenheimers, he proved a tempestuous cavalry officer, always

González Martínez, Enrique

2005-03-23T18:01:00.000-08:00

González Martínez began writing while practicing medicine in the provinces. With the coming of the Mexican Revolution (1911) he entered public life, serving in the Ministry of Education and holding diplomatic posts in Europe and various Latin-American

Clough, Anne Jemima

2005-03-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

Clough, whose father was a cotton merchant, spent many of her early years in Charleston, S.C. She returned with her family to England in 1836 and began teaching a few years later. In 1852 she opened

Plume Grass

2005-03-22T22:35:00.000-08:00

Any of about 20 species of grasses constituting the genus Erianthus (family Poaceae), native to warm regions of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Plume grasses are tall, reedlike perennials with dense, cylindrical, plumelike panicles. Most species are 1 to 3 m (3 to 10 feet) tall, but Ravenna grass (E. ravennae), native to southern Europe, grows to 4 m (13 feet). It is cultivated as an ornamental

Graciosa Island

2005-03-21T10:32:00.000-08:00

Portuguese Ilha Graciosa, volcanic island, northernmost of the central Azores, east-central Atlantic Ocean. The 23-square-mile (60-square-kilometre) island reaches a height of 1,338 feet (408 m) at the summit of Enxôfre Caldera, a volcanic crater. Dense vegetation is supported by the volcanic soils, and wine grapes, fruit, cereals, and cattle are raised. They are marketed through the principal settlements, Santa

Biblical Literature, The purpose and style of Acts

2005-03-20T06:31:00.000-08:00

Although the title, Acts of the Apostles, suggests that the aim of Acts is to give an account of the deeds of the Apostles, the title actually was a later addition to the work (about the end of the 2nd century). Acts depicts the shift from Jewish Christianity to Gentile Christianity as relatively smooth and portrays the Roman government as regarding the Christian doctrine

Enchondroma

2005-03-20T00:39:00.000-08:00

A solitary cartilaginous lesion that occurs mostly in the shafts of bones of the hands and feet, usually between adolescence and about age 50. Enchondromas are benign, slow-growing tumours. As they grow they expand and thin the cortex of the parent bone, producing considerable deformity. They may also erupt through their bony covering and project outward into the surrounding

Increasing Safety In Auto Racing: A Winning Formula?

2005-03-19T19:29:00.000-08:00

In 2000–01 that balance was sorely

Epistemology, John Duns Scotus

2005-03-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

While he accepted some aspects of Aristotelian abstractionism and also held that there need to be some a priori principles of perception, principles that he attributed to Augustine, John Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308) did not rest the certainty of human knowledge on either of them. He distinguished four different classes of things that are certain: First, there are things that are

Water Moss

2005-03-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

Also called Brook Moss, or Fountain Moss (Fontinalis), genus of mosses belonging to the order Bryales, found in flowing freshwater streams and ponds in temperate regions. About 25 species are native to North America. A brook moss may have shoots 30 to 100 (rarely up to 200) cm (12 to 40 inches) long, and is usually attached to a stone or a tree root. The most common species, F. antipyretica, has long, slender branches covered with glossy,

Price River

2005-03-18T08:43:00.000-08:00

River that rises in the Wasatch Range near Scofield, central Utah, U.S. It flows generally southeastward through Carbon and northeast Emery counties, past Price and through Price Canyon, to join the Green River after a course of 130 miles (210 km). Scofield Dam (1946), near the river's source, impounds water for irrigation. The river was “discovered” in 1869 by the Mormon bishop William

Coin Collecting

2005-03-17T01:46:00.000-08:00

The history of coin collecting begins with the Italian Renaissance, and the 14th-century poet Petrarch was characteristic of his time in forming a series of ancient classical coins. During the 15th and 16th centuries many collections were made by princely or noble

Karadjordje

2005-03-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

The son of a peasant, Karadjordje (“Black George”), so named because of his dark complexion and penetrating eyes, in his youth herded swine and goats.

Aquifoliaceae

2005-03-16T01:46:00.000-08:00

The Aquifoliaceae differ from other

Juan Carlos

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

Juan Carlos was the grandson of the last king, Alfonso XIII, who left Spain in 1931 and died in exile 10 years later, after renouncing his rights in favour of his third son, Juan Carlos Teresa Silverio Alfonso de Borbón y Battenberg, conde de

Baseball, Infielders

2005-03-15T16:45:00.000-08:00

The infielders form the inner ring of defense. They sometimes catch line drives on the fly, but mainly they pick up ground balls that roll toward the outfield or shoot swiftly across the grass on one or more bounces. When a batted ball strikes the ground, the play becomes a race between the batter running to first and an infielder trying to gain control of the ball and

Roundhead

2005-03-14T14:02:00.000-08:00

Adherent of the Parliamentary Party during the English Civil War (1642–51) and after. Many Puritans wore their hair closely cropped in obvious contrast to the long ringlets fashionable at the court of Charles I. Roundhead appears to have been first used as a term of derision toward the end of 1641, when debates in Parliament on the Bishops' Exclusion Bill were causing riots at Westminster.

Tibet, Administration and culture under the Manchu

2005-03-14T06:48:00.000-08:00

Chinese contacts

Peru, Pre-Hispanic groups

2005-03-12T15:31:00.000-08:00

Throughout the pre-Hispanic period, the peoples of Peru were largely isolated from one another by the rugged topography of the country. At least three times, however, a unifying culture spread across the Andes. Beginning c. 1000 BC, the Chavín culture permeated the region, emanating possibly from the northern ceremonial site of Chavín de Huántar. After AD 600, the Huari civilization,

Stranitzky, Joseph Anton

2005-03-12T11:49:00.000-08:00

Stranitzky began his career as an itinerant puppeteer. After his arrival in Vienna (c. 1705) he formed his own company, which performed burlesques and farces in German, often based on Italian libretti. By 1711 he and his troupe had become

Egypt, Ancient, The aftermath of Amarna

2005-03-12T07:46:00.000-08:00

Akhenaton had six daughters by Nefertiti and one or two sons, perhaps by a secondary wife Kiya or by his own daughter Maketaton, who may have died in childbirth and whose infant son is shown in the royal tomb at Amarna. His immediate, ephemeral successor was a woman, possibly his eldest daughter Meritaton. Either she or the widow of Tutankhamen called on the Hittite king

Pre-columbian Civilizations, The earliest Maya civilization of the lowlands

2005-03-12T00:13:00.000-08:00

By the Late Formative, the lowland Maya had begun to shape a civilization that was to become the greatest in the New World. The Petén-Yucatán Peninsula lacks many raw materials and has a relatively low agricultural potential. But what it does have in limitless quantities is readily quarried limestone for building purposes and flint for stonework. Cement and plaster

Alapayevsk

2005-03-11T01:41:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Alapaevsk, city, Sverdlovsk oblast (province), west-central Russia, on the Neyva River. It is one of the oldest centres of the iron and steel industry in the Urals (an ironworks was established there in 1704). It also has machine-tool, timbering, and metalworking industries. Pop. (1991 est.) 50,300.

Literature, Latin America.

2005-03-10T23:32:00.000-08:00

In 2001 many works explored Latin America's past and present social and political realities as well as offering variations on the theme of love. From Mexico, writer Carlos Fuentes returned to fantastic literature and to the theme of love's difficulties in Instinto de Inez. In La piel del cielo, Elena Poniatowska,

Handl, Jacob

2005-03-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

A Cistercian monk, Handl traveled in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, was a member of the Viennese court chapel in 1574, and was choirmaster to the bishop of Olmütz (modern Olomouc, Czech Republic) in 1579–85. His most notable

Colour Index

2005-03-10T01:43:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, the difference between two measurements of the magnitude (brightness on a logarithmic scale) of a star made at different wavelengths, the value found at the longer wavelength being subtracted from that found at the shorter. Usually the two wavelengths are the blue, measured from ordinary photographic plates that are most sensitive to blue light, and

Gamaliel Ii

2005-03-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

In the ancient biblical city of Jabneh, many Jews had taken refuge from the Roman siege of Jerusalem in AD 70. Gamaliel

Leaf-nosed Bat

2005-03-09T00:42:00.000-08:00

Any of the bats belonging to the families Phyllostomatidae and Hipposideridae (qq.v.).

Sibawayh

2005-03-08T21:57:00.000-08:00

After studying in Basra, Iraq, with a prominent grammarian, Sibawayh received recognition as a grammarian himself. Sibawayh is said to have left Iraq and retired to Shiraz after losing a debate with a rival on Bedouin Arabic usage. His monumental work is al-Kitab fi an-nahw (“The Book on Grammar”) or, more simply, al-Kit

Painting, Western

2005-03-08T00:33:00.000-08:00

In the Metal Age, western Mediterranean cultures were similar at many points. The area occupied by them extended from Illyria (the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula) in the east to the Atlantic shores of the Iberian Peninsula in the west and from the shores along the Gulf of Lion and the Ligurian Sea (i.e., the coasts of what are now southern France and northwestern

Fibula

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

(Latin: “brooch”), outer of two bones of lower leg or hindlimb, probably so named because the other bone, the tibia, and the fibula together resemble an ancient brooch, or pin. In humans the head of the fibula is joined to the head of the tibia by ligaments and does not form part of the knee. The base of the fibula forms the outer projection (malleolus)

Skelton, John

2005-03-07T11:37:00.000-08:00

His place of birth and childhood

Narrator

2005-03-07T06:57:00.000-08:00

A work may have more than one narrator, as in an epistolary novel such as Samuel Richardson's

Li Tang

2005-03-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

He earned the highest rank in the academy of painting of Emperor Huizong, and, after the North fell to the Mongols, went to the South

Philae

2005-03-04T22:42:00.000-08:00

Arabic Jazirat Filah (“Philae Island”), or Jazirat al-Birba (“Temple Island”),

Ballangrud, Ivar

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

Ballangrud's Olympic debut came at the 1928 Games in Saint Moritz, Switzerland, where he took home the gold medal

Biblical Literature, Syriac versions

2005-03-04T10:13:00.000-08:00

The Bible of the Syriac Churches is known as the Peshitta (“simple” translation). Though neither the reason for the title nor the origins of the versions are known, the earliest translations most likely served the needs of the Jewish communities in the region of Adiabene (in Mesopotamia), which are known to have existed as early as the 1st century CE. This probably explains

Space

2005-03-03T21:40:00.000-08:00

Space is treated in a number of articles. For a philosophical consideration of the subject, see metaphysics. For a discussion of the relativity of space and time, see relativity. For a description of space as the region of the universe beyond the Earth

Babylonian Talmud

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

Also called Talmud Bavli one of two compilations of Jewish religious teachings and commentary that was transmitted orally for centuries prior to its compilation by Jewish scholars in Babylon about the 5th century AD. The other such compilation, produced in Palestine, is called the Palestinian Talmud, or Talmud Yerushalmi. See Talmud.

Cajàzeiras

2005-03-03T05:04:00.000-08:00

City, western Paraíba state, northeastern Brazil. Founded in about 1700, Cajàzeiras is a transportation and commercial centre for the surrounding agricultural lands. The principal commodities include cotton, sugar, oiticica oil (used in paint and varnish), and fruit. It is the terminus of a short railroad spur leading southward for 13 mi (21 km) from Antenor Navarro, on the

Lake, Basins formed by glaciation

2005-03-02T10:26:00.000-08:00

The basin-forming mechanism responsible for the most abundant production of lakes, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, is glaciation. The Pleistocene glaciers, which seem to have affected every continent, were especially effective in North America, Europe, and Asia. The retreat of ice sheets produced basins through mechanical action and through the damming

Low, Sir Hugh

2005-03-01T02:51:00.000-08:00

Before going to the Malay Peninsula, Low had spent an uneventful 30 years as a colonial civil servant on the small island of Labuan, a crown colony off the northwest coast of Borneo.

Alabama, Agriculture

2005-02-28T18:02:00.000-08:00

The Alabamian rural economy challenges the traditional view of a dependency on cotton. Although cotton still remains of local importance, it suffered a heavy blow with the onset of the boll weevil blight in 1915, and acreage continued to decline. Mechanization and consolidation increased the average farm size after the 1930s. The diversification of agricultural production

Substitution

2005-02-28T14:03:00.000-08:00

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

Auseklis

2005-02-28T00:31:00.000-08:00

Related in name to the Vedic Usas and the Greek Eos, goddesses of dawn, Auseklis is associated in Latvian solar mythology with Meness (Moon) and Saule (Sun), being subordinate to the former and along with him a rival suitor of Saule's daughter, Saules

Elizabeth

2005-02-27T13:36:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1857) of Union county, northeastern New Jersey, U.S., on Newark Bay and Arthur Kill (channel; connected by bridge to Staten Island, New York City) and is adjacent to Newark, New Jersey, to the north. Settlement began in 1664 with the purchase of land from the Delaware Indians. It was named Elizabethtown to honour the wife of Sir George Carteret, one of the colony's first proprietors.

Voyageurs National Park

2005-02-27T09:46:00.000-08:00

Region of lakes and wilderness in northern Minnesota, U.S. The park lies along the Canadian border, east of International Falls. Authorized in 1971 and established in 1975, it was named for the mostly French Canadian frontiersmen called voyageurs (French: “travelers”), who were involved in fur trading in the area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The voyageurs used large birch

Pachycephalosaurus

2005-02-27T06:10:00.000-08:00

Genus of large and unusual dinosaurs found as fossils in deposits of North America dating to the Late Cretaceous Epoch (97.5 to 66.4 million years ago). Pachycephalosaurus,which grew to be about 5 m (16 feet) long, was a biped with strong hind limbs and much less developed forelimbs. The unusual and distinctive feature of Pachycephalosaurusis the high, domelike skull formed by a

Mitchell, Mount

2005-02-27T04:32:00.000-08:00

Highest peak in North Carolina and in the United States east of the Mississippi River, reaching an elevation of 6,684 feet (2,037 metres). It is located in Yancey county, in the western part of the state, about 20 miles (30 km) northeast of Asheville in the Black Mountains. The peak, covered with a mantle of hardwoods, pine, spruce, and balsam, is within Mount Mitchell State Park and Pisgah National

Ch'iang-t'ang

2005-02-25T08:07:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Qiangtang , Tibetan Byang Thang enormous alpine basin in the northern part of the Tibetan autonomous ch'ü (region), China. With an average elevation of more than 16,500 feet (5,000 m) above sea level, it lies between the Kunlun Mountains to the north and the T'ang-ku-la Mountains and A-ling Mountains to the south and stretches 800 miles (1,300 km) from the mountain complex called the Pamir Knot in the west to the region of the Tsaidam

Lancret, Nicolas

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

Lancret was influenced by both Antoine Watteau and Claude Gillot. Much admired as a decorator, he executed numerous commissions for the mansions of many great collectors.

Nord-pas-de-calais

2005-02-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

Région, encompassing the northernmost French départements of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. The capital is Lille. The région is bounded by the départements of Somme and Aisne to the south. The English Channel lies to the northwest and Belgium to the northeast. Flatlands predominate in the north, with much of the land lying below sea level. The hills of Cambrais and Avesnois

Pius I, Saint

2005-02-24T02:19:00.000-08:00

Pius was a slave, according to his supposed brother, the apostolic father Hermas. As pope, Pius combatted Gnosticism—a religious movement teaching that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through spiritual truth attained only by revelatory esoteric knowledge—and the Marcionites, followers of a heretical

Haarlem Lake

2005-02-23T09:25:00.000-08:00

Dutch Haarlemmermeer, polder (area 45,700 acres [18,486 hectares]) coextensive with the gemeente (commune) of Haarlemmermeer in Noord-Holland provincie, western Netherlands. Originally, a number of lakes—with a combined area of about 14,000 acres (5,700 hectares) in 1531—were formed into one by successive inundations, and by the 1830s the water area had increased to nearly 45,000 acres (18,200 hectares). Floods frequently threatened the cities

North Germanic Languages, Norwegian

2005-02-23T01:19:00.000-08:00

Old Norwegian writing traditions gradually died out in the 15th century after the union of Norway with Denmark and the removal of the central government to Copenhagen. After independence was achieved in 1814, the linguistic union with Danish persisted, but educational problems due to the linguistic distance between Danish and spoken Norwegian and socio-political

Augsburg

2005-02-22T18:35:00.000-08:00

Traces of an Early Bronze Age settlement have been found at the site. The town was founded as a Roman colony

Durango

2005-02-22T08:20:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1881) of La Plata county, southwestern Colorado, U.S., on the Animas River in the foothills of the La Plata Mountains at an elevation of 6,505 feet (1,983 metres). Founded in 1880 during a mining boom by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, it was named for Durango, Mexico. It developed as a shipping point for farm produce (including livestock) and local natural resources (timber,

Porcupine Fish

2005-02-20T19:34:00.000-08:00

Porcupine fishes are short and broad-bodied, with large eyes, beaklike teeth, and skins set with spines, hence the name. These spines are short and permanently

Bridgend

2005-02-20T18:13:00.000-08:00

Welsh Pen-y-Bont ar Ogwr county borough, historic county of Glamorgan (Morgannwg), southern Wales. Bridgend county borough extends from the mining valleys of Ogmore, Garw, and Llynfi in the north to the arable lowlands and an extensive coastline in the south. Discoveries of Bronze Age and Iron Age artifacts have been made near the village of Merthyr Mawr, and the remains of many Norman castles

Qatar, Flag Of

2005-02-20T06:16:00.000-08:00

The Ottoman Empire, Iran, and Britain all had an interest in finding allies among the small Arab sheikhdoms in the Persian Gulf during the 19th century. A treaty signed in 1868 between Britain and one of those states, Qatar, may have been the occasion for the creation of the distinctive Qatari flag. Later the Turkish flag flew there, but during World War I, when the United Kingdom

Tirmidhi, At-

2005-02-20T04:17:00.000-08:00

The life of at-Tirmidhi is poorly documented. He journeyed to Khorasan, to Iraq, and to the Hejaz in search of material for his collection and studied with such renowned scholars of Had

Cartwright, John

2005-02-19T10:57:00.000-08:00

John Cartwright joined the Royal Navy

Hyalosiderite

2005-02-19T03:49:00.000-08:00

Silicate mineral, a member of the forsterite–fayalite series (q.v.) of olivines.

Da Ponte, Lorenzo

2005-02-18T16:26:00.000-08:00

Though Jewish by birth, Da Ponte was baptized in 1763 and later became a priest; his youthful libertinism and freethinking, however, eventually led, in 1779, to his expulsion from the Venetian state. Taking up residence in Vienna, he became official poet to the court of Emperor Joseph II and in

Alexander Nevsky, Saint

2005-02-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

Russian Aleksandr Nevsky, original name Aleksandr Yaroslavich prince of Novgorod (1236–52) and of Kiev (1246–52) and grand prince of Vladimir (1252–63), who halted the eastward drive of the Germans and Swedes but collaborated with the Mongols in imposing their rule on Russia. By defeating a Swedish invasion force at the confluence of the Rivers

Croatian Literature

2005-02-17T20:45:00.000-08:00

Extant ecclesiastical works survive from the 11th century, and by the second half of the 15th century there was a Croatian literature of biblical stories, legends, folklore, and popular stories. In the 15th and 16th centuries the outstanding Old Croatian writers were Marko

Biological Development, Length and timing of the reproductive phase

2005-02-16T23:48:00.000-08:00

Natural selection results in the production by one generation of offspring that are able to survive and reproduce themselves to form a further generation. The time unit appropriate to natural selection is therefore the generation interval. There will always be some natural selective pressure for the shortening of the generation interval, simply out of a natural

Carnivore, Importance to humans

2005-02-16T20:39:00.000-08:00

Of all mammalian families, the Mustelidae contains the greatest variety of valuable mammals utilized by the fur trade. Fur coats that command the highest prices are usually those made from these luxuriant furbearers, especially mink, ermine (short-tailed weasel), and sable (a name applied by the fur trade to several species of Martes, especially the Eurasian M.

Ziyadid Dynasty

2005-02-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

The 'Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun transferred the rule of Yemen to the Ziyad family to offset the intrigues of the 'Alids—the Shi'ite opponents of the 'Abbasids—who had made southern Arabia their headquarters. The first Ziyadid, Muhammad ibn Ziyad, firmly established himself along the Yemeni coast (Tihamah) with

Lawes, Lewis Edward

2005-02-15T17:28:00.000-08:00

Assuming the office of warden of Sing Sing State Prison (now Ossining Correctional Facility), Ossining, N.Y., in 1920, Lawes instituted such reforms as the establishment of theatricals, film showings, and athletics;

Mason, Daniel Gregory

2005-02-15T08:44:00.000-08:00

Mason was the grandson of the music publisher and educator Lowell Mason and the son of Henry Mason, a founder of the Mason & Hamlin Co. piano firm. He studied with John K. Paine at Harvard and with Vincent d'Indy in Paris. From 1910 to 1942 he taught at Columbia University. His music

Earlham College

2005-02-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Richmond, Ind., U.S. It is affiliated with the Society of Friends (Quakers). A four-year liberal arts college, it offers bachelor's degree programs in the humanities, social sciences, religion, fine arts, and natural sciences. About three-fourths of the students spend a term in an off-campus study program, including

Turina, Joaquín

2005-02-14T04:06:00.000-08:00

After studying in Sevilla (Seville) and Madrid, Turina went in 1905 to Paris, where he was a pupil of Moritz Moszkowski for piano and Vincent d'Indy for composition. Though he absorbed elements of the French style, he was inspired in Paris by Isaac

Beach, Amy Marcy

2005-02-13T22:20:00.000-08:00

Amy Cheney had already demonstrated precocious musical talent when the family moved to Boston in 1870. She began taking piano lessons at age six, although she had been composing simple melodies on the

Rocky Mountains, Physiography

2005-02-12T23:17:00.000-08:00

The Canadian Rockies include the Mackenzie and Selwyn mountains of the Yukon and Northwest Territories (sometimes called the Arctic Rockies) and the ranges of western Alberta and eastern British Columbia. The Northern Rockies include the Lewis and Bitterroot ranges of western Montana and northeastern Idaho. These ranges formed along the eastern edge of a region

Ambedkar, Bhimrao Ramji

2005-02-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

Born of an untouchable Mahar family of western India, he was as a boy humiliated by his high-caste schoolfellows. His father was an officer in the Indian Army. Awarded a scholarship by the Gaekwar (the ruler) of Baroda, he studied at universities

Light

2005-02-12T00:48:00.000-08:00

Electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye. In terms of wavelength, electromagnetic radiation occurs over an extremely wide range, from gamma rays with a wavelength of 3 10-14 centimetre to long radio waves measured in millions of kilometres. In that spectrum the wavelengths visible to humans occupy a very narrow band, from about 7 10-5 centimetre (red light)

Addams, Jane

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

Addams graduated from Rockford Female Seminary in Illinois in 1881 and was granted a degree the following

Argument

2005-02-11T17:49:00.000-08:00

In logic, reasons that support a conclusion, sometimes formulated so that the conclusion is deduced from premises. Erroneous arguments are called fallacies in logic (see fallacy). In mathematics, an argument is a variable in the domain of a function and usually appears symbolically in parentheses following the functional symbol.

Luxor

2005-02-11T16:25:00.000-08:00

Also called El-Aksur, or Al-Uqsur,

Lerma River

2005-02-11T00:40:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río Lerma, river in west-central Mexico. It rises on the central plateau 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Toluca and flows northwestward through the state of México, forms the short border between the states of Querétaro and Michoacán, and then meanders generally west-northwestward through Guanajuato. After looping southward, the Lerma separates Guanajuato and Michoacán, and

Ear Disease, Keloid of the ear

2005-02-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

In dark-skinned people, overgrowth of scar tissue from any skin incision or injury can cause a thickened elevation on the scar called a keloid. Having the earlobes pierced for earrings sometimes results in a large, painless nodular keloid enlargement of the earlobe, harmless but unsightly. Keloids are removed surgically (see also skin disease).