StrangeMars

Lentil

2005-04-05T07:41:00.000-07:00

(species Lens esculenta), small annual legume of the pea family (Leguminosae) and its lens-shaped edible seed, which is rich in protein and one of the most ancient of cultivated foods. Of unknown origin, the lentil is widely cultivated throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa but is little grown in the Western Hemisphere. The seeds are used chiefly in soups and the herbage

Alkaptonuria

2005-04-04T09:49:00.000-07:00

Rather rare (one in 200,000 births) inherited disorder of protein metabolism characterized by an inability of the body to metabolize the amino acids tyrosine and phenylalanine. In the normal metabolic pathway of tyrosine, homogentisic acid is converted to maleylacetoacetate in the liver by the enzyme homogentisate 1,2-dioxygenase. This enzyme is not active in individuals

Zakat

2005-04-03T03:16:00.000-07:00

Arabic Zakat, an obligatory tax required of Muslims, one of the five Pillars of Islam. The zakat is levied on five categories of property—food grains; fruit; camels, cattle, sheep, and goats; gold and silver; and movable goods—and is payable each year after one year's possession. The tax levy required by religious law varies with the category. Recipients of the zakat include the poor and

Wivallius, Lars

2005-04-03T03:04:00.000-07:00

Wivallius studied at Uppsala and in 1625 left Sweden to travel in Germany, France, Italy, and England. Frequently posing as a nobleman, he swindled his way across Europe and was imprisoned for a time in Nürnberg, Germany. Back

Stuttgart

2005-04-02T16:45:00.000-08:00

City, capital (1945) of Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany, astride the Neckar River, in a forested vineyard-and-orchard setting in historic Swabia. It lies between the Black Forest on the west and the Swabian Jura to the south. There were prehistoric settlements and a Roman fort in the area of Bad Cannstatt (a suburb), but Stuttgart itself originated as a Stuotgarten,

Kaali Järv Craters

2005-04-01T19:17:00.000-08:00

Group of eight meteorite craters on Saaremaa Island in the Baltic Sea, 12 miles (20 km) northeast of Kingisepp, Estonia. The largest is 333 feet (110 m) in diameter, with a rim 20–23 feet (6–7 m) above the surrounding land. Thought to be an explosion crater because of this high rim and uplifted surrounding strata, it holds a pond about 53 feet (16 m) deep. The other craters are dry and range from 40 to 143 feet (12 to 44 m) in

Ligdan

2005-04-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

Ligdan's authority

Peru, Pre-Hispanic groups

2005-03-31T20:13:00.000-08:00

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,

Allbutt, Sir Thomas Clifford

2005-03-29T18:42:00.000-08:00

During a 28-year practice in Leeds, Allbutt made valuable clinical studies, primarily of arterial and nervous disorders. In 1866 he introduced the modern clinical thermometer,

Cockaigne

2005-03-29T18:11:00.000-08:00

References to Cockaigne are especially prominent in medieval European lore. These accounts describe rivers of wine, houses built of cake and barley sugar, streets paved with pastry, and shops that gratuitously give goods to everyone. Roast geese wander

Computers, The age of Big Iron

2005-03-29T07:27:00.000-08:00

Gerrit A. Blaauw and Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., Computer Architecture: Concepts and Evolution (1997), is a highly technical history of the development of the concepts in computer architecture.

Flint, F.s.

2005-03-28T22:17:00.000-08:00

The son of a commercial traveler, Flint left school at the age of 13 and worked at a variety of jobs. At the age of 17 his reading of a volume by the 19th-century Romantic poet John

Viola

2005-03-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

Stringed musical instrument, the tenor of the violin family. It is built in proportions similar to those of the violin but has a body length of 37 to 43 centimetres (14.5 to 17 inches), about 5 cm (2 inches) longer than a violin. Its four strings are tuned c–g–d¢–a¢, beginning with the C below middle C. The viola's tone is darker,

Wainganga River

2005-03-27T04:53:00.000-08:00

River, tributary of the Godavari River, western India. It rises in the Mahadeo Hills in south-central Madhya Pradesh state and flows 360 miles (580 km) south to join the Wardha River (a headwater of the Godavari) northeast of Kagaznagar in Maharashtra state. Along the final 142 miles (229 km) of its course, the river forms the boundary between Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh states and is known as

France, History Of, The Consulate

2005-03-26T15:33:00.000-08:00

The “revisionists” who engineered the Brumaire coup intended to create a strong, elitist government that would curb the republic's political turmoil and guarantee the conquests of 1789. They had in mind what might be called a senatorial oligarchy rather than a personal dictatorship. General Bonaparte, however, advocated a more drastic concentration of power. Within

Madhya Bharat Plateau

2005-03-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

Hindi Madhya Bharat Pathar plateau comprising the northern part of the Central Highlands, central India. Extending over approximately 22,000 square miles (57,000 square km) and including most of northwestern Madhya Pradesh state and central Rajasthan state, it is bounded by the East Rajasthan Uplands on the west, the Upper Ganges Plain on the north, the Bundelkhand Upland on the east, and the Malwa Plateau on

General Association Of Regular Baptist Churches

2005-03-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

Association of independent, conservative Baptist churches in the United States, organized in 1932 after 22 Baptist churches withdrew from the Northern (later American) Baptist Convention. These churches withdrew because they felt that the Northern Baptists were accepting the teachings of the modernists, or liberals, who accepted biblical criticism and attempted

Polish Literature, Literature in independent Poland

2005-03-24T07:24:00.000-08:00

The restoration of the country's independence in 1918 decisively affected Polish literature. The period between 1918 and 1939 was characterized by richness, variety, and increasing contact with other European literatures, especially through the publication of translations. Lyrical poetry predominated for nearly a decade after 1918. The periodical Zdrój (“The Fountainhead”) showed

France, History Of, The Consulate

2005-03-23T19:07:00.000-08:00

In the United Kingdom, television network consisting of a consortium of private companies in competition with the British Broadcasting Corporation. It is regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority, which was originally the Independent Television Authority. The ITV network was authorized by act of Parliament in 1954, when the BBC's monopoly over radio

Floor Exercise

2005-03-23T15:26:00.000-08:00

Gymnastics event in which movements are performed on the floor in an area 12 metres (40 feet) square. This area is covered by some type of cloth or mat, usually with some cushioning. No other apparatus is used. Men's routines are 50 to 70 seconds in duration. The type of exercise required is a series of movements combining elements of flexibility, strength, jumps, holding of poses, and

Nordenskjöld, Otto

2005-03-22T20:37:00.000-08:00

A nephew of the scientist-explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, he became a lecturer in mineralogy and geology at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, in 1894 and led a geologic expedition to southern South America

Andean Community

2005-03-21T23:10:00.000-08:00

CAN's Andean

Vision

2005-03-21T23:04:00.000-08:00

Physiological process of distinguishing, usually by means of an organ such as the eye, the shapes and colours of objects. See eye; photoreception; sense.

Coin Glass

2005-03-20T01:35:00.000-08:00

Glassware usually in the form of wineglasses, goblets, or tankards enclosing a coin either in the foot, or in the hollow knop of the stem, rarely in an interior bulb. A Venetian specimen of coin glass dated 1647 is known, but the principal occurrence is in English glass from about 1650 onward. It was a useful device for expressing Jacobite or anti-Jacobite sympathies with either

Byron Bay

2005-03-19T21:33:00.000-08:00

Town, northeastern New South Wales, Australia. The town is situated on Cape Byron, easternmost point of the Australian mainland, which shelters Byron Bay and was discovered in 1770 by Captain James Cook, who named it after Commodore (later Admiral) John Byron, grandfather of the poet Lord Byron. Founded in 1860 as a timber port, Byron Bay was declared a town in 1896 and a shire in 1906. Before

Yacht

2005-03-19T01:59:00.000-08:00

Early sailing yachts followed the lines of such naval craft as brigantines, schooners, and cutters from the 17th century until the second half of the 19th century. The design of large yachts was first greatly affected by the success of America, which was designed by George Steers for a syndicate headed by John C. Stevens and was the boat for which the America's Cup (q.v.) was named

Arab

2005-03-18T17:59:00.000-08:00

Arabic singular masculine 'arabi, singular feminine 'arabiyah, plural 'arab, one whose native language is Arabic. (See Arabic language.) Before the spread of Islam and, with it, the Arabic language, “Arab” referred to any of the largely nomadic Semitic inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula. In modern usage, it embraces any of the Arabic-speaking peoples living in the vast region from Mauritania, on the Atlantic coast of Africa, to southwestern Iran,

Biblical Literature, Exegetical problems

2005-03-18T00:58:00.000-08:00

This third category does not involve any consonantal alteration but results solely from the different possibilities inherent in the consonantal spelling. Thus, the lack of vowel signs may permit the word DBR to be read as a verb DiBeR (“he spoke,” as in the Masoretic text of Hosea) or as a noun DeBaR (“the word of,” as in the Septuagint). The absence of word dividers could lead

Turkey, The Fundamental Law and abolition of the sultanate

2005-03-17T17:26:00.000-08:00

The Kemalists were now faced with local uprisings, official Ottoman forces, and Greek hostility. The first necessity was to establish a legitimate basis of action. A parliament (the Grand National Assembly) met at Ankara on April 23 and asserted that the sultan's government was under infidel control and that it was the duty of Muslims to resist foreign encroachment.

Mellon Financial Corporation

2005-03-16T20:45:00.000-08:00

The original bank, T. Mellon and Sons Bank, was founded in 1869 by Thomas Mellon (1813–1908), a native of Ireland. One of his four sons, Andrew W. Mellon (1855–1937), joined the business in 1874 and proved so capable that the elder Mellon

Kyakhta

2005-03-16T18:07:00.000-08:00

Also spelled K'achta, formerly (until 1934) Troitskosavsk, town, Buryatiya, south-central Russia. It lies in the basin of the Selenga River, on the frontier with Mongolia. The town is on the railway and motor road from Ulan-Ude to Ulaanbaatar; both routes follow an ancient caravan track that was the only recognized link between Russia and China in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Russian fortress of Troitskosavsk, founded in 1728 adjacent

Probability Theory

2005-03-16T01:17:00.000-08:00

Suppose two balls are drawn sequentially without replacement from an urn containing r red and b black balls. The probability of getting a red ball on the first draw is r/(r + b). If, however, one is told that a red ball was obtained on the first draw, the conditional probability of getting a red ball on the second draw is (r - 1)/(r + b - 1), because for the second draw there are r + b - 1 balls in the urn, of which

Audion

2005-03-15T09:36:00.000-08:00

Elementary form of radio tube developed in 1906 (patented 1907) by Lee De Forest of the United States. It was the first vacuum tube in which a control grid as well as a cathode and an anode was incorporated. With the development of multigrid tubes in the 1920s, the generic term audion fell into disuse and was replaced by more descriptive terminology. See also triode; tetrode; pentode

Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon

2005-03-14T22:55:00.000-08:00

In his doctoral thesis at the University of Leiden (1875), Lorentz refined the electromagnetic theory of James

Eden, Garden Of

2005-03-14T21:39:00.000-08:00

In the Old Testament Book of Genesis, biblical earthly paradise inhabited by the first created man and woman, Adam and Eve, prior to their expulsion for disobeying the commandments of God. It is also called in Genesis the Garden of Yahweh, the God of Israel, and, in Ezekiel, the Garden of God. The term Eden probably is derived from the Akkadian word edinu, borrowed from the

Aratus

2005-03-13T03:58:00.000-08:00

He resided at the courts of Antigonus II Gonatas, king of Macedonia, and Antiochus I of Syria. The Phaenomena, a didactic poem in hexameters, is his only completely extant work. Lines 1–757 versify a prose work on astronomy by Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 390–c. 340), while lines 758–1154 treat of weather signs

Wyoming

2005-03-13T02:01:00.000-08:00

When European

Reflex

2005-03-12T18:42:00.000-08:00

Many reflexes of placental mammals appear to be innate. They are hereditary and are a common feature of the species and often of the genus. Reflexes include not only such simple

Low Countries

2005-03-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

Also called Benelux Countries coastal region of northwestern Europe, consisting of Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg (qq.v.). These are together known as the Benelux countries, from the initial letters of their names. The Low Countries are bordered by Germany to the east and France to the south. In 1947 the three nations formed the Benelux Customs Union, which broadened over the years into what a

Yang-chou

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

In the 4th and 3rd centuries BC Yang-chou was a fief known as Kuang-ling in the state of Ch'u. After the Ch'in unification of the empire in 221 BC, it became the seat of a county. Under the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220), it was the seat

Cordillera

2005-03-11T14:46:00.000-08:00

(from old Spanish cordilla, “cord,” or “little rope”), a system of mountain ranges that often consist of a number of more or less parallel chains. Cordilleras are an extensive feature in the Americas and Eurasia. In North America the Rocky Mountains, the Sierra Nevadas, and the mountains between them are collectively known as the Cordilleras, and the entire area has been termed

Levita, Elijah Bokher

2005-03-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

Levita went to Italy early in life and in 1504 settled at Padua. There he wrote a manual of Hebrew (1508) that was appropriated by his transcriber,

Tonkin

2005-03-10T03:17:00.000-08:00

Northern Vietnam

Mammal, Social behavior

2005-03-09T09:57:00.000-08:00

The dependence of the young mammal on its mother for nourishment has made possible a period of training. Such training permits the nongenetic transfer of information between generations. The ability of young mammals to learn from the experience of their elders has allowed a behavioral plasticity unknown in any other group of organisms and has been a primary

Aleut

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

The Aleuts hunted seals, sea otters, whales,

Daigak Guksa

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

A son of the Koryo king Munjong, Uich'on became a Buddhist monk at age 11, and in 1084 he went to the Sung court of China and stayed a year and a half studying and collecting Buddhist literature. When Uich'on returned home to Korea, he brought with him the doctrines of the Chinese T'ien T'ai (Korean pronunciation

Aragon, Louis

2005-03-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

Through the Surrealist poet André Breton, Aragon was introduced to avant-garde movements such as Dadaism; and together with Philippe Soupault, he and Breton founded the Surrealist review Littérature (1919). Aragon's first poems, Feu de joie (1920; “Bonfire”) and

Babur

2005-03-07T10:11:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Babar , or Baber , original name Zahir-ud-din Muhammad emperor (1526–30) and founder of the Mughal dynasty of India, a descendant of the Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan and also of Timur (Tamerlane). He was a military adventurer and soldier of distinction and a poet and diarist of genius, as well as a statesman.

Drachmann, Holger Henrik Herholdt

2005-03-06T21:57:00.000-08:00

The son of a physician, Drachmann studied painting and also began to write. A visit to London in 1871 awakened an interest in social problems, and after his return he joined the new radical movement of which Georg Brandes was the central

Chandragiri

2005-03-06T21:16:00.000-08:00

Town in southeastern Andhra Pradesh state, southeastern India. It lies about 80 miles (130 km) northwest of Madras. Chandragiri is historically important for its connection with the Aravidu dynasty of Vijayanagar in South India. When the dynasty's empire was overthrown at the Battle of Talikota (1565) and the great city of Vijayanagar was taken by the Deccan allied Muslim army, the

Zambezi River, Climate

2005-03-06T05:33:00.000-08:00

The Zambezi River lies within the tropics. The upper and middle course of the river is on an upland plateau, and temperatures, modified by altitude, are relatively mild, generally between 64° and 86° F (18° and 30° C). The winter months (May to July) are cool and dry, with temperatures averaging 68° F (20° C). Between August and October there is a considerable rise in average temperatures, particularly

Great Dyke

2005-03-05T18:52:00.000-08:00

Narrow series of long, low ridges and hills in Zimbabwe, trending for about 320 miles (515 km). Consisting of four igneous complexes, they increase in height northward to about 1,500 feet (460 m) above the plateau surface in the Umvukwe Range, west of Harare (formerly Salisbury), the Zimbabwean capital. Minerals found in the Great Dyke include gold, silver, chromium, platinum, and nickel. Mica,

Saxon

2005-03-05T04:39:00.000-08:00

Member of a Germanic people who in ancient times lived in the area of modern Schleswig and along the Baltic coast. The period of Roman decline in the West was marked by vigorous Saxon piracy in the North Sea. During the early part of the 5th century AD, the Saxons spread rapidly through north Germany and along the coasts of Gaul and Britain. The coastal stretch from the Elbe

Hawkesbury River

2005-03-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

River rising in the Great Dividing Range north of Lake George, New South Wales, Australia, and flowing 293 miles (472 km) north and east to the Tasman Sea at Broken Bay. It drains an area of about 8,390 square miles (21,730 square km). Known as the Wollondilly in its rugged upper course and as the Warragamba after receiving the Nattai and, later, the Nepean rivers, it becomes the Hawkesbury after

Friedman, William F(rederick); And Friedman, Elizebeth S(mith)

2005-03-03T22:54:00.000-08:00

William Friedman was still an infant when his family immigrated to the United States; he studied genetics at Cornell University (B.S., 1914). Elizebeth Smith majored in English at Hillsdale

Hennebique, François

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

At the Paris Exposition of 1867, Hennebique saw Joseph Monier's tubs and tanks built of concrete reinforced with wire mesh and was stimulated to seek a way to apply this new material to building construction. He began with reinforced-concrete

Szent-györgyi, Albert

2005-03-02T18:28:00.000-08:00

Szent-Györgyi earned a medical degree from the University of Budapest in 1917. He became interested

Biosphere, Humidity

2005-03-02T05:10:00.000-08:00

Most terrestrial organisms must maintain their water content within fairly narrow limits. Water commonly is lost to the air through evaporation or, in plants, transpiration. Because most water loss occurs by diffusion and the rate of diffusion is determined by the gradient across the diffusion barrier such as the surface of a leaf or skin, the rate of water loss

Abu Kalijar Al-marzuban Ibn Sultan Ad-dawlah

2005-03-02T03:32:00.000-08:00

When his father, Sultan ad-Dawlah, died in December 1023/January 1024, Abu Kalijar's succession to the sultan's Iranian possessions of Fars and Khuzistan was challenged by his uncle Abu al-Fawaris, the ruler of Kerman, to the west. By 1028 Abu Kalijar was

Anaximenes Of Miletus

2005-03-01T06:33:00.000-08:00

Anaximenes substituted aer (“mist,” “vapour,” “air”) for his predecessors'

Hormone, Neurohypophysis and the polypeptide hormones of the hypothalamus

2005-02-28T20:48:00.000-08:00

Another neurosecretory system, which involves the hypothalamic region of the brain and the neurohypophysis of the pituitary gland, originates in groups of neurosecretory cells in the hypothalamus called, in mammals, the nucleus supraopticus and the nucleus paraventricularis and, in lower vertebrates, the nucleus preopticus. Neurohormones from these regions

Bekhterev, Vladimir

2005-02-28T14:20:00.000-08:00

Bekhterev received a doctorate from the Medical-Surgical Academy of St. Petersburg in 1881 and then studied abroad for four years. He returned to Russia in 1885 to become professor

Levanter

2005-02-27T23:52:00.000-08:00

Also spelled levante strong wind of the western Mediterranean Sea and the southern coasts of France and Spain. It is mild, damp, and rainy and is most common in spring and fall. Its name is derived from Levant, the land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean, and refers to the wind's eastward direction. The levanter reaches its maximum intensities in the Strait of Gibraltar, where it sometimes

Buddhacarita

2005-02-27T21:11:00.000-08:00

In full Buddhacarita-kavya-sutra (Sanskrit: “Poetic Discourse on the Acts of the Buddha”), poetic narrative of the life of Buddha by the Sanskrit poet Asvaghosa, one of the finest examples of Buddhist literature. The author, who lived in northern India in the 1st–2nd century AD, created a loving account of the Buddha's life and teachings, one that—in contrast to other treatments such as the Mahavastu (“Great Story”) and

Saratoga Springs

2005-02-27T17:40:00.000-08:00

City, Saratoga county, east-central New York, U.S. It lies in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, west of the Hudson River, 30 miles (48 km) north of Albany. Possessing numerous natural mineral springs, its site was an ancient Mohawk Indian camping ground with various spellings and meanings, the most acceptable being Sa-ragh-to-ga (“Place of Swift Water”). Saratoga National

South African Literature

2005-02-26T20:51:00.000-08:00

South African literature in English effectively began in the late 19th century in the states preceding the Republic of South Africa and became fairly copious in the 20th. During the early 1900s, Africans, largely cut off from tribal customs and values (including the oral literary tradition), began to write in English. In the middle decades many Africans served literary apprenticeships

Arts, Central Asian, Kushan

2005-02-25T20:29:00.000-08:00

The Kushans replaced the Greeks in Bactria about 130 BC. They are thought to have been of Yüeh-chih stock with a strong admixture of Hephthalites, Saka, and Tocharian. One branch of this group migrated to the Tarim Basin and founded a short-lived empire, while the other, under the name of Kushan, gained control of Central Asia. Capturing a section of the great trade route leading

Anthurium

2005-02-25T07:42:00.000-08:00

Genus of tropical American herbaceous plants, comprising about 600 species in the arum family (Araceae), many of which are popular foliage plants. A few species are widely grown for the florist trade for their showy, long-lasting blossoms, which consist of colourful leathery, shiny spathes surrounding or subtending a central rodlike spadix that bears numerous tiny

Taft, Robert A.

2005-02-24T14:12:00.000-08:00

The son of William Howard Taft, 27th president of the

Argentina, Demographic trends

2005-02-24T10:53:00.000-08:00

The population of Argentina has increased 20-fold since 1869, when 1.8 million people were recorded there by the first census. Population growth was rapid through the early part of the 20th century, but it declined thereafter as both the birth rate and immigration began to drop off; the proportion of young people also declined. Argentina's rates of birth and population growth

Avalon, Frankie

2005-02-24T04:37:00.000-08:00

A wunderkind trumpet player, Avalon was already an experienced performer when, as a Philadelphia teenager, he joined Rocco and the Saints (whose drummer was future pop star Bobby Rydell). Guided by manager

Marquess Of Queensberry Rules

2005-02-23T23:38:00.000-08:00

Rule 1—To be a fair stand-up boxing match in a 24-foot ring, or as near

West Coast

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

Local government region in west-central South Island, New Zealand. It is bounded by the Tasman Sea (west), the unitary authority of Tasman (north), and the local government regions of Canterbury and Otago (east) and Southland (south). The Southern Alps, with their towering peaks and rugged terrain, contribute to its isolation and varied landscape. Mount Cook (12,316 feet [3,754 metres]) is

Hanamichi

2005-02-22T19:45:00.000-08:00

An integral part of the Kabuki

Kazak

2005-02-22T10:56:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kazakh, an Asiatic Turkic-speaking people inhabiting mainly Kazakstan and the adjacent parts of the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang in China. The Kazaks emerged in the 15th century from an amalgam of Turkic tribes who entered Transoxiana about the 8th century and of Mongols who entered the area in the 13th century. At the end of the 20th century there were roughly 7,600,000 in Kazakstan

Dennison, Aaron Lufkin

2005-02-21T15:39:00.000-08:00

Apprenticed at the age of 18 to a watchmaker in Brunswick, Maine, he learned the prevailing

Jacob's Ladder

2005-02-21T01:44:00.000-08:00

Also called Greek Valerian, any of about 25 species of the genus Polemonium of the family Polemoniaceae, native to temperate areas in North and South America and Eurasia. Many are valued as garden flowers and wildflowers. They have loose, spikelike clusters of drooping blue, violet, or white, funnel-shaped, five-petaled flowers and alternate, pinnately (featherlike) compound

Mosca, Gaetano

2005-02-20T23:50:00.000-08:00

Italian jurist and political theorist who, by applying a historical method to political ideas and institutions, elaborated the concept of a ruling minority (classe politica) present in all societies. His theory seemed to have its greatest influence on apologists for fascism who

Sea-urchin Cactus

2005-02-20T23:38:00.000-08:00

Any of the genus Echinopsis, family Cactaceae, about 30 species native to South America at medium elevations in desert shrublands or grasslands. Several species, but most especially the Easter lily cactus (E. multiplex), are valued for their ease of growth and large flowers on tubes up to 25 centimetres (10 inches) long. Most are hardy outdoors in Mediterranean

Sevilla

2005-02-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

, also spelled Seville , ancient Hispalis city and capital of the provincia of Sevilla, in the Andalusia comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of southern Spain. Sevilla lies on the left (east) bank of the Guadalquivir River at a point about 54 miles (87 km) north of the Atlantic, and about 340 miles (550 km) southwest of Madrid. An inland port, it is the chief city of Andalusia and the fourth largest in Spain. Sevilla was important

Mid Sussex

2005-02-19T01:39:00.000-08:00

District, administrative county of West Sussex, historic county of Sussex, southeastern England. It occupies an area in central Sussex. Mid Sussex extends from The Weald, a sandstone area of hilly grasslands and woodlands in the north, across undulating grasslands of the Ouse and Adur river valleys in the centre, to the steep chalk scarps of the north-facing South

France, History Of, Political and social changes

2005-02-18T19:17:00.000-08:00

The structure of the Fourth Republic seemed remarkably like that of the Third; in actual operation it seemed even more familiar. The lower house of parliament (now renamed the National Assembly) was once more the locus of power; shaky coalition Cabinets again succeeded one another at brief intervals, and the lack of a clear-cut majority in the country or in parliament

Acta

2005-02-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

The Acta Senatus, or Commentarii Senatus, were the minutes of the proceedings of the Senate. The emperor Augustus continued to keep them but forbade their publication. From the reign of his successor, Tiberius, in the

Dinawari, Ad-

2005-02-17T10:56:00.000-08:00

Ad-Dinawari studied philology in the Iraqi cities of Basra and Kufah. The systematic approach to learning that he acquired there is reflected in the preserved fragments of

Yunnan

2005-02-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Yün-nan, (Pinyin) Yunnan, sheng (province) of China. The fourth largest province of China, it is a mountain and plateau region on the country's southwestern frontier. It is bounded by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the northwest, Szechwan on the north, and the Chuang Autonomous Region of Kwangsi and Kweichow Province on the east. To the south and southeast it adjoins Laos and Vietnam, and to the

Tiznit

2005-02-16T13:10:00.000-08:00

Town, provincial capital, and province, Sud region, Morocco. The town lies near the Atlantic coast and the Tachilla and Ouarzemimene mountains of the Anti-Atlas range. It was founded in 1882 during the reign of Maulay Hasan as a military base from which he launched expeditions to subdue the peoples of the Oued (river) Sous region and the neighbouring mountainous areas. Tiznit

Noble Gas, Argon

2005-02-16T03:41:00.000-08:00

The first of the noble gases to be discovered, argon was named from the Greek word argos, “lazy,” because of its chemical inertness. In cosmic abundance, argon ranks approximately 12th among the 100-odd chemical elements; although the stable isotopes argon-36 and argon-38 make up all but a trace of this element in the universe, the third stable isotope, argon-40, comprises 99.60 percent of the

Wells, H(erbert) G(eorge)

2005-02-15T21:57:00.000-08:00

English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian, best known for such science fiction as The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds and such comic novels as Tono-Bungay and The History of Mr. Polly.

Henry The Navigator

2005-02-15T17:36:00.000-08:00

After Alfarrobeira, Henry spent most of his time at Sagres, though he did not altogether abandon public life. He was accorded by the King the sole right to send ships to visit and trade with the Guinea coast of Africa. He appeared occasionally at the Lisbon court and in 1450 helped arrange for the marriage of the King's sister to the emperor Frederick III. During most of his

Great Lake

2005-02-14T20:31:00.000-08:00

Largest natural freshwater lake in Australia, lying on Tasmania's Central Plateau at an elevation of 3,398 feet (1,036 m). It has an area of 61 square miles (158 square km), measures 14 miles (22 km) by 7 miles (11 km), and fills a shallow depression averaging 40 feet (12 m) in depth. The lake's original catchment basin of 150 square miles (390 square km) has been expanded to 400 square miles (1,040 square km) by the building of several

Strasbourg I, Ii, And Iii, Universities Of

2005-02-13T15:18:00.000-08:00

French Universités De Strasbourg I, Ii, And Iii, autonomous state-financed institutions of higher learning in Strasbourg, Fr., established in 1970 under France's 1968 Orientation Act, reforming higher education, as successors to the former University of Strasbourg. The original university was founded by Protestants in 1537 as a German gymnasium (secondary school for the study of the classics) when Strasbourg was under German

Spa

2005-02-13T08:08:00.000-08:00

The practice of “taking the waters” for therapeutic purposes reached its heyday in the 19th century, but springs have been considered places of healing at many

Uruguaiana

2005-02-12T08:55:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Uruguayana, city, western Rio Grande do Sul estado (“state”), southern Brazil. It lies along the Uruguay River, across the bridge from the town of Paso de los Libres, Arg. Founded in 1839 as Sant' Ana do Uruguai, Uruguaiana was made a town and renamed in 1846; city status was accorded in 1874. Uruguaiana is a livestock (sheep and cattle) centre and processes meat and animal by-products. It is also a river port

Nagauta

2005-02-11T11:58:00.000-08:00

The standard complete instrumentation of a nagauta piece consists of singers; players of the three-stringed, plucked samisen; and performers

Tasmania, Agriculture, forestry, and fishing

2005-02-11T10:30:00.000-08:00

Less than a third of Tasmania's area is agricultural land; almost all of it is used for grazing; just under half is sown pasture, and the rest is used for rough grazing or is open forest. Crops occupy only 4 percent of agricultural land but contribute one-third of the total value of agricultural production. Seasonal irrigation, mainly spray for crops and some pasture, is

Mcmein, Neysa

2005-02-11T06:20:00.000-08:00

McMein attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1913 went to New York City. She studied at the Art Students League for a few months and in 1914 sold her first drawing to the Boston Star. The next year she sold a drawing

Kirov

2005-02-10T10:07:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1934) Vyatka, or Viatka, city and administrative centre of Kirov oblast (province), western Russia, on the Vyatka River. The city was founded as Khlynov in 1181 by traders from Novgorod and became the centre of the “Vyatka Lands,” settled by Russians in the 14th to the 15th century. In 1489 it was captured by Moscow. Renamed Vyatka in 1780, it became a provincial seat, but development was slow, and it was used as a place

Literature, United States.

2005-02-10T08:45:00.000-08:00

For all of the moaning and groaning about the state of the literary arts in the United States--and from writers to editors to critics to booksellers to readers, all had done some of it--it had to be admitted that when people argued about books, and the quarrels made newspaper headlines, something valuable was taking place. In 1994 critic Harold Bloom stirred up the biggest

Primate

2005-02-09T16:42:00.000-08:00

Traditionally, the order Primates was divided into Prosimii (the primitive primates: lemurs, lorises. and tarsiers) and Anthropoidea (the bigger-brained monkeys and apes, including humans). It is now known that one of the “prosimians,” the tarsier, is actually more closely related to the “anthropoids,” so the classification of the primates has had to be revised. The two suborders

Malabo

2005-02-08T16:31:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1973) Santa Isabel, capital of Equatorial Guinea. It lies on the northern edge of the island of Bioko (or Fernando Po) on the rim of a sunken volcano. With an average temperature of 77° F (25° C) and an annual rainfall of 75 inches (1,900 mm), it has one of the more onerous climates in the Bight of Biafra (Gulf of Guinea). Malabo is the republic's commercial and financial centre. Its harbour can dock several ships, and