WiseCastle

Alaska Range

2005-04-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

Segment of the Pacific Coast Ranges that extends generally northward and eastward in an arc for about 400 miles (640 km) from the Aleutian Range to the Yukon boundary in southern Alaska, U.S. Mount McKinley (20,320 feet [6,194 m]), near the centre of the range, in Denali National Park, is the highest point in North America. Many nearby peaks exceed 13,000 feet (3,960 m), including Mounts Silverthrone, Hunter, Hayes,

All Saints' Day

2005-04-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

In the Christian church, a day commemorating all the saints of the church, both known and unknown, celebrated on November 1 in the Western churches and on the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Eastern churches. Its origin cannot be traced with certainty, and it has been observed on various days in different places. A feast of all martyrs was kept on May 13 in the Eastern

Field, Eugene

2005-04-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

Field attended several colleges but took no degree; at the University of Missouri he was known less as a student than as a prankster. After his marriage in 1873, Field did editorial work for a variety of newspapers, including the Denver Tribune. From his Tribune column,

Cartwright, William

2005-04-02T23:57:00.000-08:00

Educated at Westminster School and the University of Oxford, Cartwright became a preacher, noted for his florid style, and a reader in metaphysics. In 1643 he was university junior proctor.

Iacchus

2005-04-02T04:41:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Iakchos, minor deity associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries, the best known of the ancient Greek mystery religions. On the day preceding the commencement of the mysteries, Iacchus' name was invoked with the names of the earth goddess Demeter and her daughter Kore (Persephone) during the procession from Athens to Eleusis, a city in Attica. Probably originally a personification

Muir, John

2005-04-01T03:03:00.000-08:00

Muir emigrated from Scotland with his family to a farm near Portage, Wis., in 1849. After attending the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he worked on mechanical inventions,

Deva

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

City, capital of Hunedoara judet (county), west-central Romania, on the banks of the Mures River, at an elevation of 590 feet (180 m). The town is dominated by Citadel Hill (1,217 feet), shaped like a truncated cone, which affords a commanding view of the Mures valley. Atop the hill are the ruins of a citadel, built in the 13th century at the time of the Mongol invasions. The city grew in the protective

Muir, John

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

The member countries of the Organisation for European Economic

Bloch, Marc

2005-03-31T05:12:00.000-08:00

Bloch, the son of a professor of ancient history, grandson of a school principal, and great-grandson of a combatant in the French Revolution, descended from a family of patriotic French Jews. Educated in Paris at the

Musa

2005-03-29T11:34:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Mousa , also called Kankan Musa mansa (emperor) of the West African empire of Mali from 1307 (or 1312). Mansa Musa left a realm notable for its extent and riches (he built the Great Mosque at Timbuktu), but he is best remembered in the Middle East and Europe for the splendour of his pilgrimage to Mecca (1324).

Arianism

2005-03-28T10:39:00.000-08:00

A Christian heresy first proposed early in the 4th century by the Alexandrian presbyter Arius. It affirmed that Christ is not truly divine but a created being. Arius' basic premise was the uniqueness of God, who is alone self-existent and immutable; the Son, who is not self-existent, cannot be God. Because the Godhead is unique, it cannot be shared or communicated, so the Son

Advertising Coloration

2005-03-28T04:17:00.000-08:00

In animals, the use of biological coloration to make an organism unique and highly visible as compared with the background, thereby providing easily perceived information as to its location, identity, and movement. Such advertisement may serve the function of attracting individuals in order to enter into some advantageous interaction (e.g., courtship for reproductive

Azhar University, Al-

2005-03-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

Chief centre of Islamic and Arabic learning in the world, centred on the mosque of that name in the medieval quarter of Cairo, Egypt. It was founded by the Fatimids in AD 970 and was formally organized by 988. The basic program of studies was, and still is, Islamic law, theology, and the Arabic language. Late in the European Middle Ages philosophy and medicine were added to the curriculum,

Exekias

2005-03-26T16:41:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Execias Greek potter and painter who, with the Amasis Painter, is considered the finest of black-figure masters of the mid-6th century BC and is one of the major figures in the history of the art. His name is found on 11 vases. The commonest inscription on the vases is “Exekias epoiesen me” (“Exekias made me”). In two instances, on an amphora (a two-handled wine container) in the Vatican and on an

Gadara

2005-03-25T04:01:00.000-08:00

Modern Umm Qays ancient city of Palestine, a member of the Decapolis, located just southeast of the Sea of Galilee in Jordan. Gadara first appeared in history when it fell to the Seleucid Antiochus the Great (218 BC); the Jewish king Alexander Jannaeus took it after 10 months' siege (c. 100 BC). It was restored by the Roman general Pompey, and Augustus gave it to Herod the Great (30 BC). Archaeological remains include

Tyrant

2005-03-23T21:06:00.000-08:00

Greek Tyrannos a cruel and oppressive ruler or, in ancient Greece, a ruler who seized power unconstitutionally or inherited such power. In the 10th and 9th centuries BC, monarchy had been the usual form of government in the Greek states; the aristocratic regimes that had replaced monarchy were by the 7th century BC themselves unpopular. Thus the opportunity arose for ambitious men to seize

Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

2005-03-22T23:05:00.000-08:00

An improved navigable waterway along the Gulf Coast of the United States, extending from Apalachee Bay, Florida, westward to the Mexican border at Brownsville, Texas, a distance of more than 1,100 miles (1,770 km). In part artificial, the waterway consists of a channel paralleling the coast behind barrier beaches, the channel being linked by a series of canals. The Gulf Intracoastal

Kermadec Islands

2005-03-22T16:22:00.000-08:00

Volcanic island group in the South Pacific Ocean, 600 mi (1,000 km) northeast of Auckland, New Zealand; they are a dependency of New Zealand. They include Raoul (Sunday), Macauley, and Curtis islands and l'Esperance Rock and have a total land area of 13 sq mi (34 sq km). Raoul, the largest (11.3 sq mi), has rugged coastal cliffs that rise to Mt. Mumukai (1,723 ft [525 m]). It is heavily wooded and fertile, but its indigenous

Waterbuck

2005-03-21T14:31:00.000-08:00

Antelope species of the genus Kobus (q.v.).

Queen Anne's

2005-03-20T22:39:00.000-08:00

County, eastern Maryland, U.S., bordered by the Chester River to the north, Delaware to the east, and Chesapeake Bay to the west. It consists of a coastal lowland and includes Kent Island, which is linked across the bay to Anne Arundel county by the William Preston Lane, Jr., Memorial Bridge (completed 1952). The southeastern corner of the county includes part of Tuckahoe State

Masina, Giulietta

2005-03-20T11:07:00.000-08:00

Masina began acting in student theatre productions when she was in her teens. Although she enrolled as a student

Pittsburg State University

2005-03-19T23:22:00.000-08:00

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Pittsburg, Kan., U.S. It comprises the College of Arts and Sciences, Gladys A. Kelce School of Business, the School of Education, and the School of Technology and Applied Science. In addition to undergraduate studies, the university offers a selection of master's degree programs and specialist programs in education.

Lugones, Leopoldo

2005-03-19T02:16:00.000-08:00

Argentine poet, literary and social critic, and cultural ambassador, considered by many the outstanding figure of his age in the cultural life of Argentina. He was a strong influence on the younger generation of writers that included the prominent short-story writer and novelist Jorge Luis Borges. His influence

Earth, The surface of the Earth as a mosaic of plates

2005-03-18T22:29:00.000-08:00

When earthquake epicentres are plotted on a map of the world, it is apparent that most of them are confined to relatively narrow bands rather than being uniformly distributed over the Earth's surface. The narrow bands along which earthquakes occur are located at the margins of large plates that are moving relative to each other. As previously noted, these plates

China, Buddhism

2005-03-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

The spokesmen of Chinese Buddhism under the early Mongol rulers came from the Ch'an sect (meditation Buddhism). Their high intellectuality and refined aestheticism, however, did not appeal to the Mongols, who felt more attracted by the mixture of magic practices, rather nebulous metaphysics, and impressive symbolism in the visual arts of Tibetan Buddhism. Kublai

Andersonville

2005-03-17T21:27:00.000-08:00

In the summer of 1863 the U.S. federal authorities ended an agreement

Udayanacarya

2005-03-17T04:56:00.000-08:00

Of the two schools, the old Nyaya system was concerned with the critical examination of

Flores

2005-03-16T17:15:00.000-08:00

One of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Nusa Tenggara Timur propinsi (East Nusa Tenggara province), Indonesia. The last major island in the chain, which extends eastward from Java, it is long and narrow, 5,500 sq mi (14,250 sq km) in area, and has numerous inlets and bays. The island was named after the Portuguese name for the island's eastern cape, Capo de Flores (Cape of Flowers), after the flamboyants

Aprey Faience

2005-03-16T00:24:00.000-08:00

Tin-glazed earthenware produced by the factory of Jacques Lallemant de Villehaut, Baron d'Aprey, established in 1744 on his estate at Aprey, near Dijon, Fr. The early pieces, which are heavy and rather crude, recall blue-and-white earthenware in the Rouen style or have Rococo forms decorated with chinoiseries (motifs influenced by the Chinese), flowers, and birds. From about

Cancer, Syndromes resulting from inherited defects in DNA repair mechanisms

2005-03-15T22:41:00.000-08:00

Another group of hereditary cancers comprises those that stem from inherited defects in DNA repair mechanisms. Examples include Bloom syndrome, ataxia-telangiectasia, Fanconi anemia, and xeroderma pigmentosum. These syndromes are characterized by hypersensitivity to agents that damage DNA (e.g., chemicals and radiation). The failure of a cell to repair the defects

Bopolu

2005-03-15T14:37:00.000-08:00

Also called Bopora, or Boporo, town, western Liberia. Once the centre of the Malinke-dominated Kondo Confederation—including the Gola, Vai, De (Dei), and Loma peoples—the area surrounding Bopolu probably reached its height under King Bosan (Boatswain; 1775–1836). Slaves, ivory, gold, and camwood from the north were sent by Bopolu traders to the coastal Vai and De peoples in exchange for salt, tobacco, guns, and European

Shamanism

2005-03-15T04:47:00.000-08:00

The residues of shamanism may be found among peoples who have been converted to religions of a later stage of culture—e.g., Finno-Ugric peoples who became Christians, Turkic peoples in Central Asia and Asia Minor who became Muslim, and Mongols who became Buddhists. Among the Finns, the tietäjä, a figure equivalent to the shaman, also is born with one more tooth than normal.

Poison, Inhalation

2005-03-15T00:18:00.000-08:00

Because the same principles govern the absorption of gases and vapours, the word “gases” is used here to represent both gases and vapours. Absorption of inhaled gases takes place mainly in the lungs. Before the gases reach the lung, however, they pass through

Ibiza

2005-03-12T22:42:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Iviza, or Ivica, island, Balearic Islands provincia and comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), Spain, one of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean. It lies 50 mi (80 km) southwest of Majorca and has an area of 221 sq mi (572 sq km). A strategic point of great importance in ancient times, the island was inhabited by the Phoenicians and Carthaginians and has some notable archaeological

Cairo, Climate

2005-03-12T17:03:00.000-08:00

The typical desert climate contrasts daytime dry heat with cool nights freshened by Nile breezes. Cairo has only two seasons: approximately eight months of summer and four months of winter. In the hottest of the summer months—June, July, and August—the average daily maximum temperature is 95 °F (35 °C), and the average daily minimum is 70 °F (21 °C). The summer temperature has reached as

Bruegel, Jan, The Elder

2005-03-12T16:14:00.000-08:00

The second son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, born just before his father's death, he was reared by a grandmother and learned his art in Antwerp. In his youth, he went to Italy, where he painted under the patronage of Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, and later, in 1610, he was

Malvana, Convention Of

2005-03-12T15:37:00.000-08:00

The convention also provided that the Ceylonese people should render all traditional services and taxes to their new sovereign. The purpose of the

Fabius Ambustus, Quintus

2005-03-11T08:32:00.000-08:00

He and two other Fabii were sent as ambassadors to the Gauls while a Gallic army was besieging Clusium. After Quintus Fabius involved his group in a skirmish, the offended Gauls demanded that Rome surrender the culprits to them. By

Van Gennip, Yvonne

2005-03-11T06:39:00.000-08:00

At the start of the 1988 Games in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, much of the attention in the women's speed-skating competition was focused on the East German team, which had dominated at the previous Olympics, capturing

Alarm Signal

2005-03-10T10:25:00.000-08:00

In zoology, a ritualized means of communicating a danger or threat among the members of an animal group. In many cases the signal is visual or vocal, but some animals—ants, bees, and certain fishes, for example—secrete chemical substances. Alarm communications frequently cross species boundaries. The hawking alarm calls of many small birds are similar and will cause

Allier River

2005-03-10T03:09:00.000-08:00

Latin Elaver, river, central France, that joins the Loire River 4 miles (6 km) west of Nevers after a course of 255 miles (410 km). Rising in Lozère département, it races through deep gorges along structural lines of weakness between the Margeride and Velay mountains. Traversing the basins of Langeac and Brioude, it receives torrents from the mountains of Dore and Puy-de-Dôme and flows broad and

China, The influence of Buddhism

2005-03-09T18:03:00.000-08:00

The T'ang emperors officially supported Taoism because of their claim to be descended from Lao-tzu, but Buddhism continued to enjoy great favour and lavish Imperial patronage through most of the period. The famous pilgrim Hsüan-tsang, who went to India in 629 and returned in 645, was the most learned of Chinese monks and introduced new standards of exactness in his many translations

Wilkes-barre

2005-03-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

Its permanent settlement began in 1769 when Major John Durkee, a veteran of the French and Indian War, settled a band

Iran, Housing

2005-03-09T03:27:00.000-08:00

The flow of population to the cities has created serious housing shortages, and it was only in the 1990s that the government began to address the housing crisis, largely by providing government credits for private sector development. However, most of the nation's energies have been devoted to urban developments—most of those in the larger cities, particularly Tehran

Duchesse Lace

2005-03-08T04:41:00.000-08:00

A Belgian lace, named after Marie-Henriette, duchess of Brabant (later queen of the Belgians). It was made from c. 1840 throughout the 19th century both at Brussels and (particularly) at Bruges. Much inferior (except for a few Brussels specimens) to the lace that had made Brussels famous, it was cheap and commercially successful. In duchesse lace, floral motifs, bobbin-made and sometimes

Adair V. The United States

2005-03-07T11:22:00.000-08:00

(1908), case in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld “yellow dog” contracts forbidding workers from joining labour unions. William Adair of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad fired O.B. Coppage for belonging to a labour union, an action in direct violation of the Erdman Act of 1898, which prohibited railroads engaged in interstate commerce from requiring workers to refrain

Frederick I

2005-03-07T03:53:00.000-08:00

In 1688 Frederick succeeded to the electorate and at once set out, assisted

Epic Simile

2005-03-06T23:58:00.000-08:00

Also called Homeric simile an extended simile often running to several lines, used typically in epic poetry to intensify the heroic stature of the subject and to serve as decoration. An example from the Iliad follows: As when the shudder of the west wind suddenly rising scatters across the water, and the water darkens beneath it, so darkening were settled the ranks of Achaians and Trojans in

China, The Ch'ing Empire

2005-03-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

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

Jouvenet, Jean

2005-03-05T19:12:00.000-08:00

Jouvenet was the most celebrated of a family of artists and was son and pupil of Laurent Jouvenet. On arriving in Paris in 1661 he attracted the attention

Mures

2005-03-04T08:11:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), north-central Romania, occupying an area of 2,585 square miles (6,696 square km). The eastern Carpathian Mountains, including the Calim and Gurghiu ranges, rise above settlement areas in the valleys. The Mures River and its tributaries flow southwestward through the district. Târgu Mures, a cultural and industrial centre, is the county capital. Its manufactures include

Hughes, Ted

2005-03-03T05:41:00.000-08:00

The dialect of Hughes's native West Riding area of Yorkshire set the tone of his verse. At Pembroke College, Cambridge, he found folklore and anthropology of

Latin Literature, History

2005-03-02T16:07:00.000-08:00

Quintus Fabius Pictor wrote his pioneering history of Rome during the Second Punic War, using public and private records and writing in Greek. His immediate successors followed suit. Latin historical writing began with Cato's Origines. After him there were as many historiasters, or worthless historians, as the poetasters disdained by Cicero. The first great exception

China, Expulsion of Communists from the KMT

2005-03-02T00:31:00.000-08:00

The climax of the conflict came after Nationalist armies had taken Shanghai and Nanking in March. Nanking was captured on March 23, and the following morning Nationalist troops looted foreign properties, attacked the British, U.S., and Japanese consulates, and killed seven foreigners. In Shanghai a general strike led by Communists aroused fears that Chinese might

Xenon

2005-03-01T21:58:00.000-08:00

(Xe), chemical element, heavy and extremely rare gas of Group 0 (noble gases) of the periodic table. It was the first noble gas found to form true chemical compounds. More than 4 1/2 times heavier than air, xenon is colourless, odourless, and tasteless. Solid xenon belongs to the face-centred cubic crystal system, which implies that its molecules, which consist of single atoms, behave

Nepenthales

2005-03-01T13:14:00.000-08:00

An order of carnivorous plants, belonging to the class Magnoliopsida, also called dicotyledon (characterized by two seed leaves). The order consists of three families: the Droseraceae, containing the sundews and the Venus's-flytrap; the Nepenthaceae, consisting of the Old World pitcher plants; and the Sarraceniaceae, containing the New World pitcher plants. All of

Mckinley, Mount

2005-03-01T01:33:00.000-08:00

Farrukh Beg

2005-02-28T21:13:00.000-08:00

A Kalmyk of Central Asia, Farrukh Beg first worked at Kabul under Mirza Hakim, the half brother of the Mughal emperor Akbar. After Hakim died Farrukh Beg joined Akbar's service (1585). His earliest paintings are strongly Persian in character, and he continued to be a

Quilon

2005-02-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

Town, administrative headquarters of Quilon district, southern Kerala state, southwestern India. Quilon has existed for many centuries and was called Elancon by early travellers, Kaulam Mall by the Arabs, and Coilum by the 13th-century Venetian traveller Marco Polo. Its location made it commercially important; the first Europeans there were the Portuguese, followed

Staircase

2005-02-27T19:19:00.000-08:00

The origin of the staircase is uncertain. On the road up Tai Shan (mountain) in China there are many great flights of ancient granite steps; the earliest staircases seem to have been built with walls on both

Quinet, Edgar

2005-02-27T00:33:00.000-08:00

After moving to Paris in 1820, Quinet forsook the faith of his Protestant mother, became greatly attracted to German philosophy, and published in 1827–28, as his first major work, a translation of Herder's

Macdiarmid, Hugh

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

The son of a postman, MacDiarmid was educated at Langholm Academy and the University of Edinburgh. After serving in World War I he became a journalist in Montrose, Angus, where he edited three issues of the first

China, The Manchurian Plain

2005-02-25T07:07:00.000-08:00

The Manchurian Plain (also known as the Northeast Plain and the Sung-liao Plain) is located in China's Northeast, the region formerly known as Manchuria. An undulating plain split into northern and southern halves by a low divide rising from 500 to 850 feet, it is drained in its northern part by the Sungari River and tributaries and in its southern part by the Liao River. Most

Arabia, Najd

2005-02-24T20:55:00.000-08:00

The western part of Najd (Nejd, meaning “Highland”), known as Upper Najd, lies within the Arabian shield with an average elevation of 4,000 feet; the eastern part falls within the sedimentary province with the city of Riyadh (Ar-Riyad), near the eastern edge, having an elevation of about 1,950 feet. The principal drainage of Najd consists of a number of eastward-flowing wadi systems that

Nicholas I

2005-02-24T13:18:00.000-08:00

Russian in full Nikolay Pavlovich Russian emperor (1825–55), often considered the personification of classic autocracy; for his reactionary policies, he has been called the emperor who froze Russia for 30 years.

Epistemology, St. Anselm of Canterbury

2005-02-23T13:55:00.000-08:00

The phrase St. Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033–1109) used to describe his own project, namely, “faith seeking reason” (fides quaerens intellectum), well characterizes medieval philosophy as a whole. All the great medieval philosophers, Christian, Jewish, and Islamic alike, were also theologians. Virtually every object of interest was related to their belief in God, and virtually every

Wild Boar

2005-02-23T07:47:00.000-08:00

Also called Wild Pig, any of the wild members of the pig species Sus scrofa (family Suidae, order Artiodactyla), the ancestors of domestic pigs. See boar.

Zoanthid

2005-02-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

Any member of the order Zoanthidea, a group of about 300 species of marine animals of the class Anthozoa (phylum Cnidaria) characterized by a polyp (i.e., a cylindrical stalklike structure with a mouth and tentacles at the upper end and attached to a surface at the lower end). The zoanthid closely resembles the sea anemone, differing from it chiefly in being generally smaller

Nagoya

2005-02-22T15:11:00.000-08:00

The history of Nagoya dates from 1610, when a great castle was erected by the Owari branch of the powerful Tokugawa shogunate. After the Meiji Restoration (1868), which marked the end of shogunal government, Nagoya continued as a commercial

Duralumin

2005-02-21T23:15:00.000-08:00

Strong, hard, lightweight alloy of aluminum, widely used in aircraft construction, discovered and patented in 1910 by Alfred Wilm, a German metallurgist; it was originally made only at Düren in Germany. The original composition has been varied for particular applications; it may contain about 3 or 4 percent copper, 1/2 to 1 percent manganese, 1/2 to 1 1/2 percent magnesium, and, in some formulations,

Naqadah

2005-02-21T18:06:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Nakada, town, Upper Egypt. It lies on the west bank of the Nile, in the great bend of the river, opposite Qus, in Qina muhafazah (governorate). One of the oldest regions of Egypt, it is the site of a Neolithic town and burial grounds of the Predynastic period (before c. 2925 BC). It was first excavated by the British archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie, and the cultures found are referred to by scholars

Hettangian Stage

2005-02-20T19:46:00.000-08:00

The name Hettangian

Calcisol

2005-02-20T08:01:00.000-08:00

One of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Calcisols are characterized by a layer of translocated (migrated) calcium carbonate—whether soft and powdery or hard and cemented—at some depth in the soil profile. They are usually well-drained soils with fine to medium texture, and they are relatively fertile because

Bohra

2005-02-19T23:34:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Bohora, in general, any Shi'i Isma'ili Muslim of the Musta'li sect, living in western India. The name is a corruption of a Gujarati word, vahaurau, meaning “to trade.” The Bohras include, in addition to this Shi'i majority, often of the merchant class, a Sunni minority who are usually peasant farmers. The Musta'li sect (see Isma'ilite), which originated in Egypt and later moved its religious centre to Yemen,

Catanduanes

2005-02-19T22:00:00.000-08:00

Island, east-central Philippines, in the Philippine Sea, separated from southeastern Luzon (Rungus Point) by the shallow Maqueda Channel. The island has an area of 550 square miles (1,425 square km). Farming is diversified (rice, corn [maize], copra, abaca) on the hilly, rolling land. Virac, the chief port, is on the southern coast in a lowland area. The island is known for its stone churches.

Furniture, Spain: 17th century

2005-02-19T05:05:00.000-08:00

The Golden Age of Spain during the 17th century also left its mark on the chair. Paintings show a type of chair with a relatively crude wooden frame; a back and seat, nailed on, consisting of two layers of leather, with horsehair stuffing in between, stitched to produce a pattern of small pads. The front board and a corresponding board at the back could be folded after loosening

Anthony Iii Studite

2005-02-19T03:57:00.000-08:00

A monk of the Studios monastery, Anthony became private secretary to Basil I, patriarch of Constantinople.

Kamakura-bori

2005-02-17T04:58:00.000-08:00

(Japanese: “Kamakura carving”), in Japanese lacquerwork, technique in which designs are carved in wood and then coated with red or black lacquer. Originally, it was an imitation of a Chinese carved lacquer (tiao-ch'i, called tsuishu in Japanese) in which many layers of lacquer are built up to a considerable thickness (often in several colours) and then cut back to achieve the

Coster, Laurens Janszoon

2005-02-16T20:15:00.000-08:00

Little is known of this early printer, whose last name means “sacristan,” his title as an official of the Great Church of Haarlem. He is mentioned several times in records between 1417 and 1434 as alderman, tax assessor, and treasurer and is presumed to have died in a plague that struck

Condé, Henri Ii De Bourbon, 3e Prince De (3rd Prince Of)

2005-02-16T15:05:00.000-08:00

His mother, the princess de Condé (La Trémoille), was accused of having poisoned her husband, and doubts were even cast on the paternity of Henri II de Bourbon. Henry IV of

Lilburne, John

2005-02-16T07:06:00.000-08:00

Coming from a family of gentry, Lilburne was apprenticed from about 1630 to 1636 to a London cloth merchant. Meanwhile, he joined the Puritan opposition to the Anglican High Church policies of King Charles I, and by 1638 he

Western Literature

2005-02-15T02:21:00.000-08:00

Diverse as they are, European literatures, like European languages, are parts of a common heritage. Greek, Latin, Germanic, Baltic and Slavic, Celtic, and Romance languages

Mah-jongg

2005-02-14T22:03:00.000-08:00

A game of Chinese origin, played with tiles, or p'ais, similar in physical description to those used in dominoes but engraved with Chinese symbols and characters and divided into suits and honours. A fad in England, the United States, and Australia in the mid-1920s, the game was revived in the United States after 1935 but never regained its initial popularity. In the United States,

Racine, Jean

2005-02-14T08:15:00.000-08:00

In full Jean-baptiste Racine French dramatic poet and historiographer renowned for his mastery of French classical tragedy. His reputation rests on the plays he wrote between 1664 and 1677, notably Andromaque (1667), Britannicus (1669), Bérénice (1670), Bajazet (1672), and Phèdre (1677).

Hadassah

2005-02-14T07:59:00.000-08:00

The organization is one of the largest volunteer women's organizations in the United States. It was founded in 1912 by Jewish scholar and activist Henrietta Szold and

Ringerike

2005-02-13T19:33:00.000-08:00

Kommune (“commune”) and geographic region, Buskerud fylke (county), southeastern Norway, just northwest of Oslo. The region covers a total area of 600 square miles (1,553 square km) adjacent to the northern shore of Tyri Lake and northward to Rands Lake. The Ringerike was inhabited as early as AD 200 and existed as a petty kingdom in the 8th and 9th centuries. During the 10th century Norway's greatest

Chaeronea

2005-02-13T04:25:00.000-08:00

In ancient Greece, fortified town on Mt. Petrachus, guarding the entry into the northern plain of Boeotia. Controlled by the Boeotian city of Orchomenus (q.v.) in the 5th century BC, it was the scene of the battle in which Philip II of Macedon defeated Thebes and Athens (338 BC). The battle is commemorated by a statue of a large lion sitting on its haunches. In 86 BC Chaeronea was the scene of

Maré, île

2005-02-12T21:04:00.000-08:00

Formerly Nengone Island, southernmost of the Loyalty Islands, a raised coralline limestone and volcanic group in the southwestern Pacific Ocean that is part of the French overseas territory of New Caledonia. Rising to 300 ft (100 m), Maré is the highest in the group. It is 22 mi (35 km) long and 18 mi wide and has a total area of 248 sq mi (642 sq km). It was annexed by France in 1866 and was Christianized by indigenous teachers from

Binnya Dala

2005-02-12T02:23:00.000-08:00

In 1747 Binnya Dala succeeded Smim Htaw Buddhaketi, who had seven years earlier been set up as king of the Mon in the new capital of Pegu after their successful revolt against the Burmans. Binnya Dala, who was his predecessor's chief minister

Watch Fob

2005-02-11T22:35:00.000-08:00

Short ribbon or chain attached to a watch and hanging out of the pocket in which the watch is kept; the term can also refer to ornaments hung at the end of such a ribbon or chain. Until World War I and the development of the wristwatch, most watches designed for men had to be carried in the pocket. About 1772 the fashion of carrying a watch in each waistcoat fob pocket was introduced

Nagy, Ferenc

2005-02-11T07:12:00.000-08:00

A member of a Protestant peasant family and a farmer by profession, Nagy began his public career as a local agrarian politician in the Baranya province of Hungary. He helped organize the Smallholders' Party, representing

'abd Al-ilah

2005-02-10T21:58:00.000-08:00

Son of the Hashimite king 'Ali ibn Husayn of the Hejaz (northwestern Arabia), who was driven from Arabia by Ibn Sa'ud, 'Abd al-Ilah accompanied his father to Iraq in 1925. Upon King Ghazi's death in 1939, he was appointed regent for his four-year-old nephew, Faysal II. 'Abd al-Ilah ruled Iraq for 14 turbulent years, loyally serving the throne and

Police Power

2005-02-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

In U.S. constitutional law, the permissible scope of federal or state legislation so far as it may affect the rights of an individual when those rights conflict with the promotion and maintenance of the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the public. When the U.S. Supreme Court has considered such cases, it has tended to use a doctrine called “balance of interests,

Lefebvre, (pierre-) François-joseph, Duc (duke) De Dantzig

2005-02-09T20:10:00.000-08:00

Lefebvre, the son of an Alsatian miller, worked for a time as a clerk before entering a military career in the French Guards in 1773. A sergeant at the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, he was, between September 1792 and January 1793, promoted rapidly from captain to divisional

Accidental

2005-02-09T05:25:00.000-08:00

In music, sign placed immediately to the left of a note to show that the note must be changed in pitch. A sharp () raises a note by a semitone; a flat () lowers it by a semitone; a natural ({natural}) restores it to the original pitch. Double sharps (´) and double flats () indicate that the note is raised or lowered by two semitones. A single natural cancels a double sharp or flat; a natural next

Coquecigrue

2005-02-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

An imaginary creature regarded as an embodiment of absolute absurdity. François Rabelais in Gargantua uses the phrase à la venue des cocquecigrues to mean “never.” Charles Kingsley in The Water Babies has the fairy Bedonebyasyoudid report that there are seven things he is forbidden to tell until “the coming of the Cocqcigrues.” The word is of French origin.

Bone China

2005-02-08T06:44:00.000-08:00

Hybrid hard-paste porcelain containing bone ash. The initial development of bone china is attributed to Josiah Spode the Second, who introduced it around 1800. His basic formula of six parts bone ash, four parts china stone, and three and a half parts china clay remains the standard English body. Although hard porcelain is strong, it chips fairly easily and, unless specially

Farès, Nabile

2005-02-06T15:41:00.000-08:00

In his first novel, Yahia, pas de chance (1970; “Yahia, No Chance”), Farès introduced a quest that was to haunt his later works; the search for the

Solomonid Dynasty

2005-02-06T02:42:00.000-08:00

Also called Solomonic Dynasty, line of Ethiopian emperors who, according to tradition, were descended from Menilek I, the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (Makeda). Until Haile Selassie I was deposed in 1974, their rule was supposed to have been continuous but for two periods, the reign of the Zagwe dynasty (12th–13th century) and the reign of Tewodros II (1855–68). Many scholars, however, trace the line back only as far

Ancient Rome, Barbarian kingdoms

2005-02-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

The GFWC had its origins in 1890, when Sorosis, a women's literary