EarlyPocket

Resheph

2005-04-05T23:29:00.000-07:00

Ancient West Semitic god of the plague and of the underworld, the companion of Anath, and the equivalent of the Babylonian god Nergal. He was also a war god and was thus represented as a bearded man brandishing an ax, holding a shield, and wearing a tall, pointed headdress with a goat's or gazelle's head on his forehead. Resheph was worshiped especially at Ras Shamra, Byblos,

Arabia, History Of, Resistance to the Ottomans

2005-04-05T06:53:00.000-07:00

Propagating the doctrines of 'Abd al-Wahhab, Ibn Sa'ud and his son mastered all Najd. Late in the 18th century the Wahhabis began raiding Iraq and then besieged Mecca, which they definitively conquered in 1806. The Ottomans became so alarmed at the Sa'udi-Wahhabi peril that they urged Muhammad 'Ali, viceroy of Egypt, to drive the Wahhabis from the Holy Cities. Egyptian troops invaded Arabia,

Anthony Of Bourbon

2005-04-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

Son of Charles of Bourbon, duke of Vendôme, he married (1548) Jeanne d'Albret, daughter of Henry II, king of Navarre; as sole heir, she brought her husband the title of king of Navarre. Anthony was involved with his brother, Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé, in the Huguenot conspiracy of Amboise,

Pilaster

2005-04-02T03:24:00.000-08:00

In Greco-Roman Classical architecture, shallow rectangular column that projects slightly beyond the wall into which it is built and conforms precisely to the order or style of the adjacent columns. The anta of ancient Greece was the direct ancestor of the Roman pilaster. The anta, however, which served a structural purpose as the terminus of the sidewall of a temple,

Sillanpää, Frans Eemil

2005-03-31T09:26:00.000-08:00

The son of a peasant farmer, Sillanpää began studying natural science but in 1913 returned to the country, married, and began to write. His first short stories were published in journals in 1915. From 1924 to 1927 he worked for a publishing company in Porvoo. A new creative

Davidson, Bruce

2005-03-31T07:45:00.000-08:00

Davidson studied photography at the Rochester (New York) Institute of Technology (1951–54) and the School of Design of Yale University (1955) in New Haven, Connecticut. He worked for Life magazine for

Motion Picture, History Of The, Germany

2005-03-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

Before World War I, the German motion-picture audience was largely uneducated and unemployed or from the working class. Most of the films exhibited were imported from other countries, particularly Denmark. The few German films produced were usually cheaply and crudely made. This impoverished state of the domestic industry became a matter of concern among military

Literature, Canada.

2005-03-29T15:34:00.000-08:00

Though the French literary community in Canada viewed itself as a society distinct from the rest of the country, its tastes remained entirely global in 2001. The third installation of Pierre Godin's ongoing biography about the late René Lévesque, the popular provincial politician, attracted attention among

Metamorphosis

2005-03-28T22:24:00.000-08:00

In biology, striking change of form or structure in an individual after hatching or birth. Hormones called molting and juvenile hormones, which are not species specific, apparently regulate the changes. These physical changes as well as those involving growth and differentiation are accompanied by alterations of the organism's physiology, biochemistry, and

Ascanius

2005-03-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

In Roman legend, son of the hero Aeneas and traditional founder of Alba Longa, probably the site of the modern Castel Gandolfo, near Rome. In different versions, Ascanius is placed variously in time. Those set earlier cite the Trojan Creusa as his mother. After the fall of Troy, Ascanius and Aeneas escaped to Italy, where Aeneas subsequently founded Lavinium, the parent

Koguryo Style

2005-03-26T21:17:00.000-08:00

Korean visual-arts style characteristic of the Koguryo kingdom (37 BC–AD 668) of the Three Kingdoms period. The Koguryo were a horse-riding northern people, and their art was powered by the forceful spirit of a hunter-warrior tribe. Their fresco paintings on the walls of tombs are characterized by movement and emotion rather than formal beauty and decorative visual effect. Outlines

Vanbrugh, Sir John

2005-03-26T15:11:00.000-08:00

Vanbrugh's grandfather was a Flemish merchant, and his father was a sugar baker in Chester, Cheshire, England, where the young Vanbrugh (by tradition)

Bur Cucumber

2005-03-24T14:33:00.000-08:00

Any of several tropical climbing plants in the genus Sicyos, of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae). One species (S. angulatus), known also as star cucumber, is native to North America. A bur cucumber has sharply lobed leaves, forked tendrils, clusters of five-petaled white flowers that are borne at the ends of long stalks that arise from the leaf axils, and clusters of

Extinguisher Moss

2005-03-22T13:44:00.000-08:00

Any of the plants of the genus Encalypta (order Bryales), which form large tufts on limestone rocks, ledges, and walls. About eight species are native to North America. They are usually 1 to 3 cm (0.4 to 1.2 inches) tall, with erect capsules (spore cases) borne on setae (stalks) about 5 to 10 mm (0.2 to 0.4 inches) long. The calyptra (hoodlike covering) of each capsule resembles a candle snuffer, or extinguisher,

Earth Sciences, The theory of plate tectonics

2005-03-21T15:56:00.000-08:00

Plate tectonics has revolutionized virtually every discipline of the Earth sciences since the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has served as a unifying model or paradigm for explaining geologic phenomena that were formerly considered in unrelated fashion. Plate tectonics describes seismic activity, volcanism, mountain building, and various other Earth processes in

More, Paul Elmer

2005-03-20T22:21:00.000-08:00

More was educated at Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., and at Harvard, where he met Irving Babbitt and where, from 1894 to 1895, he was assistant in Sanskrit. In 1895–97 he was associate in Sanskrit and classical literature at Bryn Mawr

Pozo Colorado

2005-03-20T04:38:00.000-08:00

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

Dinaric Alps

2005-03-18T15:11:00.000-08:00

Serbo-Croatian Dinarsko Gorje , or Dinara Planina southeastern division of the Eastern Alps, running parallel to the Dalmatian (Adriatic) coast from Trieste and Slovenia south to Albania. Bounded by the Soca (Italian Isonzo) and Sava rivers (north), the Drina River (south), the Kolubara, Ibar, and Sitnica rivers (east), and the Adriatic Sea (west), the Alps rise to 8,274 ft (2,522 m) in Bobotov Kuk of Durmitor. The coast is indented with numerous

Szechwan Basin

2005-03-18T03:58:00.000-08:00

Wade–Giles romanization Ssu-ch'uan P'en-ti, Pinyin Sichuan Pendii, also called Red Basin, basin comprising the greater part of eastern Szechwan Province (sheng), southwest China. It is surrounded by high mountains, including the Tsinghai–Tibet Plateau on the south, the Yunnan–Kweichow Plateau on the south, Wu Shan (mountains) on the east, and the Ta-pa Shan on the north, which protect the interior from temperature extremes. The basin covers 88,600 sq mi (229,500 sq km) of red-brick

Leaf-rolling Grasshopper

2005-03-17T17:23:00.000-08:00

Also called Wingless Cricket (family Gryllacrididae), any of a group of orthopteran insects that are wingless or nearly wingless and have long cerci and antennae. The California leaf roller (Camptonotus carolinensis), about 15 mm (0.5 inch) long, is active at night, as are other members of this family. The leaf-rolling grasshopper spends the day in a leaf that it rolls and ties with silk; at night the insect

China, The Ch'ing Empire

2005-03-16T14:31:00.000-08:00

After 1683 the Ch'ing rulers turned their attention to consolidating control over their frontiers. Taiwan became part of the empire, and military expeditions against perceived threats in north and west Asia created the largest empire China has ever known. From the late 17th to the early 18th century Ch'ing armies destroyed the Oyrat Empire based in Dzungaria and incorporated

Hanafuda

2005-03-15T20:19:00.000-08:00

Hanafuda evolved after the Portuguese had brought Western cards to Japan in the 17th century. Hanafuda bear no numbers

Turbine

2005-03-15T09:24:00.000-08:00

Any of various devices that convert the energy in a stream of fluid into mechanical energy. The conversion is generally accomplished by passing the fluid through a system of stationary passages or vanes that alternate with passages consisting of finlike blades attached to a rotor. By arranging the flow so that a tangential force, or torque, is exerted on the rotor

Density Current

2005-03-14T21:22:00.000-08:00

Density currents in nature are exemplified by those currents

Altai Mountains

2005-03-13T19:24:00.000-08:00

The system has three main subdivisions: the Altai proper (formerly

Paramaribo

2005-03-13T04:26:00.000-08:00

Largest town, capital, and chief port of Suriname (formerly Dutch, or Netherlands, Guiana). It lies 9 miles (15 km) from the Atlantic Ocean on the Suriname River. It originated as an Indian village that became a French settlement (c. 1640) and was later the site of an English colony planted in 1651 by Lord Willoughby of Parham. In 1667 Paramaribo was one of the settlements ceded to the Dutch under

Ma Yuan

2005-03-13T02:38:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization Ma Yüan influential Chinese landscape painter whose work, together with that of Xia Gui, formed the basis of the Ma-Xia school of painting. Ma occasionally painted flowers, but his genius lay in landscape painting, his lyrical and romantic interpretation becoming the model for later painters. He was a master of “one-corner” painting,

Typhon

2005-03-11T00:36:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Typhaon, or Typhoeus, in Greek mythology, youngest son of Gaea (Earth) and Tartarus (of the nether world). He was described as a grisly monster with a hundred dragons' heads who was conquered and cast into the underworld by Zeus. In other accounts, he was confined in the land of the Arimi in Cilicia or under Mount Etna or in other volcanic regions, where he was the cause of eruptions. Typhon was thus

Kschessinska, Mathilde

2005-03-10T15:42:00.000-08:00

Kschessinska also spelled Kshessinska, Russian in full Mathilda-maria Feliksovna Kshesinskaya prima ballerina assoluta of the Imperial Russian Ballet and the first Russian dancer to master 32 consecutive fouettés en tournant (“whipped turns” done in place and on one leg), a feat previously performed only by Italian dancers and considered in that era the supreme achievement in dance

Abrams, M.h.

2005-03-10T13:57:00.000-08:00

Following his graduation from Harvard University in 1934, Abrams studied for a year at the University of Cambridge before returning to his alma mater to earn an M.A. (1937) and a Ph.D. (1940). He joined the faculty of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., in 1945, becoming a full professor

Astor (of Hever Castle), Nancy Witcher Astor, Viscountess

2005-03-10T05:28:00.000-08:00

In 1897 she married Robert Gould Shaw of Boston, from whom she was divorced in 1903, and in 1906 she married Waldorf Astor, great-great-grandson of John Jacob Astor. When her husband succeeded to his father's viscountcy

Doesburg, Theo Van

2005-03-08T18:56:00.000-08:00

Originally van Doesburg intended to pursue a career in the theatre, but he turned to painting about 1900. He worked in Post-Impressionist and Fauvist styles until 1915, when he discovered Piet Mondrian's work, which convinced van Doesburg

Peter Rabbit

2005-03-08T13:39:00.000-08:00

In 1993 children of all ages celebrated the 100th birthday of the world's best-known and most beloved lagomorph. The guest of honour was not only long in the tooth, he was also long in the ears. Peter Rabbit, who began his public life in Edwardian times and retained his best-seller status in the postmodern era, proved to be a contemporary centenarian. A nontrendy vegetarian, the

Río Negro

2005-03-07T18:58:00.000-08:00

Provincia, south-central Argentina, lying within the region known as Patagonia and extending westward from the Atlantic to the Andes and the border with Neuquén provincia. It is crossed (northwest to southeast) by the Negro River. South of the Negro, most of the land consists of arid tablelands. To the west are the chains of lakes and the forested valleys of

Sanjar

2005-03-06T08:44:00.000-08:00

Appointed governor of Khorasan by his half brother Berk-yaruq, who succeeded Malik-Shah as

Endodontics

2005-03-06T05:14:00.000-08:00

The practice of endodontics is concerned primarily with the removal of diseased dental pulp and its replacement with filling

Visigoth

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

The Visigoths were settled agriculturists in Dacia (now in Romania) when they were attacked by the Huns in 376 and driven southward

Mauguin, Charles

2005-03-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

Mauguin was educated at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and in 1919 he joined the Faculty of Sciences

Downpatrick

2005-03-03T05:05:00.000-08:00

Irish Dún Pádraig town and seat, Down district (established 1973), formerly in County Down, Northern Ireland. Downpatrick is located where the River Quoilé broadens into its estuary in Strangford Lough (inlet of the sea). The town takes its name from dún (fortress) and from its association with St. Patrick. It is the Dun-da-leth-glas (Fortress of the Two Broken Fetters) of Irish chroniclers. Formerly

Argenteuil

2005-03-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

Town, Val-d'Oise département, Île-de-France région, France. It lies along the north bank of the Seine River, northwest of Paris. The town's name comes from silver (argent) deposits exploited there by the Gauls. Argenteuil grew up around a convent that was founded there in the 7th century and of which Charlemagne's daughter Théorade may have been an early abbess. Héloïse, of the

Argentina, Foreign policies

2005-03-02T01:26:00.000-08:00

Rosas's foreign policies left no room for anything other than total success or total failure, and international difficulties arose as extensions of domestic turmoil. In January 1833 Britain reasserted an earlier claim to the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), and a British warship took possession of the islands. More troublesome was the growing independence of neighbouring

Outlaw Music

2005-03-01T21:41:00.000-08:00

Movement of American country music in the 1970s spearheaded by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings (b. June 15, 1937, Littlefield, Texas, U.S.—d. February 13, 2002, Chandler, Arizona). Sometimes called progressive country, outlaw music was an attempt to escape the formulaic constraints of the Nashville Sound (simple songs, the use of studio musicians, and lush production), country's dominant style

Metatexis

2005-03-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

The process in which the magma-like portion of migmatites (mixed rocks that have granitic layers or veinlike bodies) is emplaced within a host rock of different composition. Migmatites may form by the injection of granitic magma (the metatect) into the host or by the partial fusion of the host itself; they form under the most extreme temperatures and pressures reached

Settlement

2005-02-27T18:47:00.000-08:00

In law, a compromise or agreement between litigants to settle the matters in dispute between them in order to dispose of and conclude their litigation. Generally, as a result of the settlement, prosecution of the action is withdrawn or dismissed without any judgment being entered (see nolle prosequi). In such cases, the settlement itself, as a binding contract between

Dvija

2005-02-27T18:15:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “twice-born”), in the Hindu social system, members of the three upper varnas, or social classes—the Brahmans (priests and teachers), Kshatriya (warriors), and Vaisya (merchants)—whose sacrament of initiation is regarded as a second or spiritual birth. The initiation ceremony (upanayana; q.v.) invests the male caste members with a sacred thread, a loop worn next to the skin

Lord Chancellor

2005-02-27T09:50:00.000-08:00

The office dates back to Edward the Confessor (1042–66), who followed the model

Reisner, George Andrew

2005-02-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

Reisner served with an international group of experts in classifying the great Egyptology collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Brattain, Walter H.

2005-02-25T22:34:00.000-08:00

In full Walter Houser Brattain American scientist who, along with John Bardeen and William B. Shockley, won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1956 for his investigation of the properties of semiconductors—materials of which transistors are made—and for the development of the transistor. The transistor replaced the bulkier vacuum tube for many uses and was the forerunner

Silica Mineral

2005-02-24T20:38:00.000-08:00

Any of the forms of silicon dioxide (SiO2), including quartz, tridymite, cristobalite, coesite, stishovite, melanophlogite, lechatelierite, and chalcedony. Various kinds of silica minerals have been produced synthetically, among which are keatite and silicalite.

Saint Joseph

2005-02-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

Byname Saint Joe, city, seat (1846) of Buchanan County, northwestern Missouri, U.S., on the Missouri River (there bridged to Elwood, Kan.), 28 mi (45 km) north of Kansas City. A trading post was established (1826) on the site by Joseph Robidoux, a French-Canadian trapper from St. Louis. The Platte Purchase (1836), adding about 2,000,000 ac (800,000 ha) of Indian land to the state territory, resulted in an influx of settlers. Robidoux laid out the

C.v.o.

2005-02-24T01:47:00.000-08:00

Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, member of the third highest class of a British order of knighthood, although this rank does not confer knighthood. See Royal Victorian Order.

Lustred Glass

2005-02-22T03:39:00.000-08:00

Art glass in the Art Nouveau style. It is a delicately iridescent glass with rich colours. Lustred glass was first produced in the United States by Louis Comfort Tiffany during the late 1800s for use as windowpanes. The intention of the inventor of Tiffany lustred glass, Arthur J. Nash, was to recreate artificially the natural iridescent sheen produced by the corrosion

Bohr, Niels

2005-02-22T03:38:00.000-08:00

In full Niels Henrik David Bohr Danish physicist who was the first to apply the quantum theory, which restricts the energy of a system to certain discrete values, to the problem of atomic and molecular structure. For this work he received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1922. He developed the so-called Bohr theory of the atom and liquid model of the atomic nucleus.

Becque, Henry-françois

2005-02-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

Dramatist and critic whose loosely structured plays, based on character and motivation rather than on closely knit plots, provided a healthy challenge to the “well-made plays” that held the stage in his day. Although Becque disliked literary theory and refused identification with any school, he has been remembered as a forerunner of the

Codreanu, Corneliu (zelea)

2005-02-20T20:50:00.000-08:00

Early exposed to anti-Semitism, Codreanu participated widely in anticommunist and anti-Semitic activities during his university years at Iasi (1919–22). In 1922 he helped found the Association of Christian Students, which, from

Lutheranism

2005-02-20T20:34:00.000-08:00

The Lutheran churches, originally in Germany but quickly spreading to

Saarland

2005-02-20T08:15:00.000-08:00

The heart of the Saarland is an area of thickly forested hills that is crossed from southeast to northwest by the valley of the Saar River. The Saar River valley is in parts underlain by extensive coal deposits, and coal mines and mining settlements are dispersed in the wooded countryside. Concentrated along the river valley, from Saarbrücken to Völklingen, are blast

Robert Ii

2005-02-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

The eldest son of William I the Conqueror, Robert was recognized in boyhood as his father's successor in Normandy. Nevertheless he twice rebelled against his father (1077/78 and c. 1082–83) and

F-15

2005-02-18T06:37:00.000-08:00

The F-15 has

Damir, Al-

2005-02-17T08:34:00.000-08:00

Also spelled El-Damer or Al-Damar town, northeastern Sudan. It lies on the right (east) bank of the Nile River, about 155 miles (250 km) northeast of Khartoum. Located at an elevation of 1,158 feet (353 metres), it is a local commercial centre for the date-producing areas to the north. The town's industries include date packing, distilling of alcohol and liqueurs, and canning of other local produce, such as tomatoes, mangoes, and

Pacific Ocean, Study and exploration

2005-02-16T02:46:00.000-08:00

Andrew Sharp, The Discovery of the Pacific Islands (1960, reprinted 1985), summarizes the work of 121 explorers of the area and their contributions to charting the Pacific. J.C. Beaglehole, The Exploration of the Pacific, 3rd ed. (1966), and The Life of Captain James Cook (1974), are classics on the subject. Ernest S. Dodge, Beyond the Capes: Pacific Exploration from Captain Cook to the Challenger, 1776–1877 (1971), provides a thorough coverage of this important period.

Aztec Calendar

2005-02-15T22:41:00.000-08:00

Dating system that combines the tonalpohualli, a ritual cycle of 260 days, with the solar year of 365 days. Like the Mayan calendar from which it was derived, the Aztec calendar consisted of a ritual cycle that was divided into 13 periods of 20 days each and a civil cycle that was divided into 18 months of 20 days plus an additional 5 days, called nemontemi, considered to be very unlucky. Again

Kochi

2005-02-15T19:34:00.000-08:00

Ken (prefecture), southern Shikoku, Japan, stretching in an arc around Tosa Bay of the Pacific Ocean. It is the largest prefecture on the island, with an area of 2,744 square miles (7,107 square km). The population is concentrated on the Tosa plain, which, except on the south, is surrounded by mountains. Although it is isolated by poor communications, there is a railway from Kochi, the prefectural

Albert, Heinrich

2005-02-13T23:59:00.000-08:00

Albert studied composition with his cousin Heinrich Schütz at Dresden. While he attended the University of Leipzig his musical activities were encouraged

Kieta

2005-02-13T02:22:00.000-08:00

Town, southeast coast of Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. It is situated on Arawa Bay (Rawa Harbour) and is a port of call with a long wharf for coastal and Australian shipping. The town trades chiefly in copra, cocoa, and small amounts of gold. Two new settlements, Toniva and Nairovi, located just outside of Kieta, are considered part of that town. They grew after an increase

Graywacke

2005-02-11T01:06:00.000-08:00

Also called dirty sandstone a sedimentary rock composed of sand-sized grains (0.063–2 mm [0.0025–0.078 inch]) with a fine-grained clay matrix. The sand-sized grains are frequently composed of rock fragments of wide-ranging mineralogies (e.g., those consisting of pyroxenes, amphiboles, feldspars, and quartz). The grains are angular and poorly sorted with many minerals retaining growth forms that resulted from low abrasion.

Gulu

2005-02-11T00:58:00.000-08:00

Town, northwestern Uganda, situated about 175 miles (285 km) north of Kampala (the national capital) at an elevation of about 3,600 feet (1,100 m). It is the marketing centre of the main agricultural region of northern Uganda; cotton, tea, coffee, corn (maize), sorghum, and tobacco are grown in the surrounding area. Processing industries in Gulu handle cotton, coffee, tea, and oilseed and grain milling.

Conte

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

Plural contes a short tale, often recounting an adventure. The term may also refer to a narrative that is somewhat shorter than the average novel but longer than a short story. Better known examples include Jean de La Fontaine's Contes et nouvelles en vers (Tales and Novels in Verse), published over the course of many years; Charles Perrault's Contes de ma mère l'oye (1697; Tales of Mother

Flamsteed, John

2005-02-10T03:23:00.000-08:00

Poor health forced Flamsteed to leave school in 1662. He studied astronomy on his own and later (1670–74) continued his education at the University of Cambridge. In 1677 he became a member of the Royal Society. Ordained a clergyman in 1675, Flamsteed in

Philopoemen

2005-02-09T06:26:00.000-08:00

He was trained to a career of arms by the Academic philosophers Ecdelus and Demophanes. After spending some 10 years as a mercenary leader in Crete, he returned to Achaea and was elected federal cavalry commander for 210/209, when his reorganized

Tank

2005-02-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

Any heavily armed and armoured combat vehicle that moves on two endless metal chains called tracks. Tanks are the principal type of armoured vehicle. Other major types include tracked and wheeled infantry carriers, which were conceived only for transporting troops into action but which also have been used to some extent for fighting; armoured cars, which often

Romanian Orthodox Church

2005-02-08T07:35:00.000-08:00

Christianity first reached Dacia (roughly coextensive with modern Romania) under the Roman Empire at least as early as the 4th century

Gatton

2005-02-07T22:49:00.000-08:00

Town and shire, southern Queensland, Australia. It lies along Lockyer Creek, about 58 miles (93 km) west of Brisbane. Probably named after Gattonside near Roxburgh in the Borders region, Scotland, it was gazetted as the site for a village in 1855 and by 1858 was a place of call for travelers between Brisbane and the Darling Downs. Gatton is now the service centre for a mixed-farming district

Medicine, United States

2005-02-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

Federal, state, county, and city governments all have public health functions. Under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is the Public Health Service, headed by an assistant secretary for health and the surgeon general. State health departments are headed by a commissioner of health, usually a physician, who is often in the governor's cabinet. He usually

Anthropoidea

2005-02-06T02:12:00.000-08:00

Suborder of primates including the families Callitrichidae (marmoset, q.v.), Cebidae (New World monkeys), Cercopithecidae (Old World monkeys), Hylobatidae (gibbon and siamang, qq.v.), Pongidae (gorilla, chimpanzee, and orangutan, qq.v.), Hominidae (humans and fossil relatives), and the fossil group Parapithecidae.

Augustine, Saint, Sermons

2005-02-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

Almost one-third of Augustine's surviving works consists of sermons—more than 1.5 million words, most of them taken down by shorthand scribes as he spoke extemporaneously. They cover a wide range. Many are simple expositions of scripture read aloud at a particular service according to church rules, but Augustine followed certain programs as well. There are sermons

Aiken, Joan

2005-02-04T11:22:00.000-08:00

In full Joan Delano Aiken prolific British author of fantasy, adventure, horror, and suspense tales for both juvenile and adult readers. Perhaps best-known as the inventor of a genre called the “unhistorical romance,” Aiken wrote tales that combine humour and action with traditional mythic and fairy tale elements. Many of these works

Yamasee War

2005-02-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

(1715–16), in British-American colonial history, conflict between Indians, mainly Yamasee, and British colonists in the southeastern area of South Carolina, resulting in the collapse of Indian power in that area. Embittered by settlers' encroachment upon their land and by unresolved grievances arising from the fur trade, a group of Yamasees rose and killed 90 white traders

Pencil

2005-02-04T06:24:00.000-08:00

Slender rod of a solid marking substance, such as graphite, enclosed in a cylinder of wood, metal, or plastic; used as an implement for writing, drawing, or marking. In 1565 the German-Swiss naturalist Conrad Gesner first described a writing instrument in which graphite, then thought to be a type of lead, was inserted into a wooden holder. Gesner was the first to describe graphite

Australia, Tasmania

2005-02-02T02:25:00.000-08:00

The 1860s imprinted a sleepy image on Tasmania, which persisted. The mineral discoveries at Mount Bischoff and elsewhere were important in reviving the economy. Nevertheless, living standards generally remained lower than elsewhere, and there were still property qualifications for voting in 1900. The colony contributed to democratic practice, however, by experimenting

Dafydd Ap Gwilym

2005-02-01T20:59:00.000-08:00

Little is known of his life, except that he was a member of an aristocratic family from South Wales,

Nader, Ralph

2005-02-01T15:52:00.000-08:00

Running as the candidate of the Green Party, American consumer advocate Ralph Nader won fewer than 3% of the votes cast in the U.S. presidential election held on Nov. 7, 2000, but as it turned out, he was crucial to the outcome. He took far more votes from the Democratic candidate, Vice Pres. Al Gore, than from the Republican, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, and in two states, Florida and New Hampshire,

Lancaster, Henry, 3rd Earl Of, Earl Of Leicester, Lord Lancaster

2005-01-31T13:05:00.000-08:00

After his brother's execution in 1322, Henry was so little suspected of opposing King Edward II that he was allowed possession of another of the family titles, the earldom of Leicester (1324). He held lands adjacent to the increasing possessions in South Wales of Edward II's

Dafydd Ap Gwilym

2005-01-31T03:08:00.000-08:00

Armoured ornithischian dinosaurs that lived 70 million to 65 million years ago in North America during the Late Cretaceous Period. Ankylosaurus is a genus belonging to a larger group (infraorder Ankylosauria) of related four-legged, herbivorous, heavily armoured dinosaurs that flourished throughout the Cretaceous Period (144 million to 65 million years

Constantine

2005-01-30T23:34:00.000-08:00

Proclaimed emperor by his army in Britain in 407, Constantine crossed to the European continent with a force of British troops; by the end of the year he controlled eastern Gaul. An army dispatched by Honorius laid siege to him in Valentia

Baldpate

2005-01-29T16:35:00.000-08:00

Popular North American game duck, also known as the American wigeon. See wigeon.

Catalexis And Acatalexis

2005-01-29T00:45:00.000-08:00

In prosody, an omission or incompleteness in the last foot of a line or other unit in metrical verse and, conversely, the metrical completeness of such a unit.

Al Wahibah Dunes

2005-01-28T22:36:00.000-08:00

Arabic Ramlat Al Wahibah, sandy desert, east-central Oman. It fronts the Arabian Sea on the southeast and stretches along the coast for more than 100 miles (160 km). The desert consists of honey-coloured dunes that are dark red at their base and rise to heights of 230 feet (70 m). The sands are crisscrossed with tracks and routes for vehicles. There is very little surface water, but underground water traditionally

Water Polo

2005-01-27T17:18:00.000-08:00

Sport played in a swimming pool by teams of seven with a buoyant ball resembling an association football (soccer ball). The game was originally called “football-in-the-water,” and indeed it is more like association football and basketball than polo, the name of the sport coming from an earlier form of the game in which players rode barrels painted like horses and struck

Dagan

2005-01-27T15:33:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Dagon West Semitic god of crop fertility, worshiped extensively throughout the ancient Middle East. Dagan was the Hebrew and Ugaritic common noun for “grain,” and the god Dagan was the legendary inventor of the plow. His cult is attested as early as about 2500 BC, and, according to texts found at Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit), he was the father of the god Baal. Dagan had an important temple

Manas

2005-01-26T00:23:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “thought”), in Indian philosophy, the human “mind,” that faculty which coordinates sensory impressions before they are presented to the consciousness. Thus, when a person sees, hears, and smells an object—three different and not necessarily related impressions—the manas makes certain that he is conscious that it is the same object.

Aeneas

2005-01-24T18:04:00.000-08:00

Mythical hero of Troy and Rome, son of the goddess Aphrodite and Anchises. Aeneas was a member of the royal line at Troy and cousin of Hector. He played a prominent part in the war to defend his city against the Greeks, being second only to Hector in ability. Homer implies that Aeneas did not like his subordinate position, and from that suggestion arose a later tradition

Star, Variations in stellar size

2005-01-24T13:45:00.000-08:00

Table 1 lists data pertaining to the 20 brightest

Bewcastle Cross

2005-01-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

Runic monument in Cumbria, Eng., dating from the late 7th or early 8th century. Although the top of the cross has been lost, a weather-beaten, 15-foot (4.5-metre) shaft remains, showing on one face a figure of Christ trampling on the heads of beasts, a runic inscription underneath, and, above Christ's figure, a falconer, possibly St. John the Evangelist with his eagle. On another side elaborate

Korean War

2005-01-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

Conflict between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in which at least 2.5 million persons lost their lives. The war reached international proportions in June 1950 when North Korea, supplied and advised by the Soviet Union, invaded the South. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal participant, joined

Gambaga Scarp

2005-01-22T04:45:00.000-08:00

Line of cliffs along the Volta River basin, northeastern Ghana, western Africa. The scarp forms the elevated northern boundary of the Volta River basin and the eastern section of the granite plateaus of Wa and Mamprusi. To the south is another narrow plateau, followed by a gradual descent to the surrounding land. The Gambaga's steep erosional scarps reveal a composition

Grace, William Gilbert

2005-01-22T00:24:00.000-08:00

In his career in first-class

Chile, The Chilean Andes

2005-01-21T04:13:00.000-08:00

The formation of the western Andes ranges

Valdivia, Pedro De

2005-01-21T03:34:00.000-08:00

Valdivia served with the Spanish army in Italy and Flanders before being sent to South America in 1534. During the Peruvian civil war (1538), he fought with Francisco Pizarro against Diego de Almagro. For the Chilean

Overland Park

2005-01-19T11:02:00.000-08:00

City, Johnson county, northeastern Kansas, U.S. Located on a low ridge that affords a broad view of the Missouri River valley, it is a southern suburb of Kansas City, near the Missouri border. Settled in 1906, it lies on the old Santa Fe Trail and was laid out as a stop on an interurban railway from Kansas City to Olathe; later it was the home of the first aviation school in the western