MaterialBottle

Wood Working Machinery

2006-10-19T01:00:00.000-07:00

Morgan Rogers WoodWorking Machinery supply quality affordable used Woodworking Machinery and New Woodworking Machineryall over the world. With over 40 years experience in the Wood Working Machines industry no order is to small

Pereira, Nuno álvares, Blessed

2005-03-18T00:10:00.000-08:00

Pereira distinguished himself in battle at age 13, fighting against the Castilians in their invasion of 1373. On the death of Ferdinand I of Portugal

Pacaraima Mountains

2005-03-17T16:13:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Pakaraima, Portuguese Serra Pacaraimã, Spanish Sierra Pacaraima, also called (in Guyana) Pakaraima Mountains, central tabular upland of the Guiana Highlands in Brazil, Venezuela, and Guyana. The Pacaraima Mountains form the drainage divide between the Orinoco Valley to the north and the Amazon Basin to the south. Extending for 250 mi (400 km) in an east–west direction, the mountains mark the borders between Brazil and southeastern Venezuela and between Brazil and west central Guyana.

Duccio Di Buoninsegna

2005-03-15T16:11:00.000-08:00

One of the greatest Italian painters of the Middle Ages and the founder of the Sienese school. In Duccio's art the formality of the Italo-Byzantine tradition, strengthened by a clearer understanding of its evolution from classical roots, is fused with the new spirituality of the Gothic style. Greatest of all his works is “Maest

Christ, Two Natures Of

2005-03-12T09:01:00.000-08:00

The clarification of Trinitarian doctrine during the first four centuries

Cilea, Francesco

2005-03-11T02:11:00.000-08:00

While studying at the Naples Conservatory, Cilea produced an opera, Gina, which secured for him a commission from a publisher. His first important work, L'Arlesiana (1897), after Alphonse Daudet, was the vehicle for the tenor Enrico Caruso's first success. Cilea's

Victor (iv)

2005-03-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

Made cardinal by Pope Innocent II in 1138, he was elected by a minority of cardinals in September 1159, while, concurrently, a majority elected Alexander

Gatineau River

2005-03-07T10:56:00.000-08:00

French Rivière Gatineau, river in Outaouais region, southwestern Quebec province, Canada. The river rises in a chain of lakes north of Baskatong Reservoir and flows generally southward for 240 miles (390 km) to join the Ottawa River at Hull. It was named for Nicolas Gatineau, a fur trader who is reputed to have drowned there about 1683. Having served for centuries as a major artery for the lumber trade, the

Auricle

2005-03-04T06:57:00.000-08:00

Also called Pinna, in human anatomy, the visible portion of the external ear, and the point of difference between the human ear and that of other mammals. The auricle in humans is almost rudimentary and generally immobile and lies close to the side of the head. It is composed of a thin plate of yellow fibrocartilage covered by a tight-fitting skin. The external ear cartilage is molded into

Brucite

2005-03-02T11:10:00.000-08:00

Mineral composed of magnesium hydroxide, Mg(OH)2. It generally forms soft, waxy to glassy, white or pale-green, gray, or blue crystals, plate aggregates, or fibrous masses associated with other magnesium minerals (e.g., magnesite and dolomite). It commonly is present in serpentine and sometimes in phyllites, crystalline schists, and metamorphosed magnesian limestone. Notable

Olmsted, Frederick Law

2005-03-01T22:35:00.000-08:00

At the age of 14, sumac poisoning seriously affected Olmsted's eyesight and limited his education. As an apprentice topographic engineer for a brief period, he received the fundamental skills

China, Reform and upheaval

2005-02-26T23:39:00.000-08:00

Immediately after the triple intervention, Russia succeeded in 1896 in signing a secret treaty of alliance with China against Japan, by which Russia gained the right to construct the Chinese Eastern Railway across northern Manchuria. In November 1897 the Germans seized Chiao-chou Bay in Shantung and forced China to concede them the right to build two railways in the province.

Pampa

2005-02-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1902) of Gray county, northern Texas, U.S., 55 miles (88 km) northeast of Amarillo. It was founded in 1888 on the Santa Fe Railroad; it was known first as Glasgow, then Sutton, and finally, in 1892 it was named for the resemblance of the surrounding prairie lands to the Argentine Pampas. Located in the Texas Panhandle, the city serves as the centre of an oil-producing, wheat-growing, and cattle-raising

Thomas, Ambrose

2005-02-22T17:08:00.000-08:00

Thomas attended the Paris Conservatory, concluding his studies by winning the Prix de Rome in 1832 for his cantata Hermann et Ketty. Upon his return from Rome in 1835 he launched himself on a career as an opera composer and began teaching at the conservatory

La Follette, Robert M(arion)

2005-02-20T13:58:00.000-08:00

U.S. leader of the Progressive Movement, who as governor of Wisconsin (1901–06) and U.S. senator (1906–25) was noted for his support of reform legislation. He was the unsuccessful presidential candidate of the League for Progressive Political Action (i.e., the Progressive party) in 1924, winning almost 5,000,000 votes, or about one-sixth of the total cast.

Andalusite

2005-02-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

(Al2SiO5), aluminum silicate mineral that occurs in relatively small amounts in various metamorphic rocks, particularly in altered sediments. It is found in commercial quantities in the Inyo Mountains, Mono county, Calif., in the United States; in Kazakstan; and in South Africa. Such deposits are mined as a raw material for refractories and porcelain used in spark plugs

Biblical Literature, Wanderings in the desert of Paran

2005-02-14T19:03:00.000-08:00

This section apparently combines various traditions of how the Israelites came into Palestine, and J, E (or JE), and P sources have been discerned in these chapters. The traditional “40 years” in the wilderness (38 or 39, according to critical calculations) were spent mostly in the wilderness of Paran, with a short stay in the oasis of Kadesh, according to P; while, according to J, they

Yun Shouping

2005-02-13T13:50:00.000-08:00

Yun had an adventure-filled early life. Following the collapse

Atheism

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

In general, the critique and denial of metaphysical beliefs in God or spiritual beings. As such, it is usually distinguished from theism, which affirms the reality of the divine and often seeks to demonstrate its existence. Atheism is also distinguished from agnosticism, which leaves open the question whether there is a god or not, professing to find the questions

Sinkiang, Uygur Autonomous Region Of, Education

2005-02-09T22:33:00.000-08:00

Before World War II the educational system was minimal. Since 1949, educational facilities have been broadened and the literacy rate is better than the national average. Institutions of higher learning, concentrated in Wu-lu-mu-ch'i, include the Sinkiang University; the Sinkiang “August First” Institute of Agriculture, which offers a course on water conservation; the

Field Hockey

2005-02-07T17:57:00.000-08:00

Hockey is believed to date from the earliest civilizations. The Arabs, Greeks, Persians, and Romans each had their own versions, and traces

Ahhiyawa

2005-02-04T21:09:00.000-08:00

Also called Ahhiya ancient kingdom lying to the west of the Hittite empire. The exact location of Ahhiyawa is not definitely known but may have been western Anatolia or one of the islands in the Aegean Sea. The most commonly held theory is that the people of Ahhiyawa were the Achaeans of Homer, early Mycenaean Greeks. Another theory represents them as ancestors of the Trojans. In any case,

Teriyaki

2005-02-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

(Japanese: “glossy broil”), in Japanese cuisine, foods grilled with a highly flavoured glaze of soy sauce and sake or mirin (sweet wine). Garlic and fresh ginger are sometimes added to the mixture. In westernized Japanese cooking, the teriyaki sauce is frequently used as a marinade as well as a basting sauce. Beef, chicken, and fish are commonly prepared teriyaki style.

Campeche

2005-01-31T03:22:00.000-08:00

Estado (“state”), southeastern Mexico, on the Yucatán Peninsula. It is bounded north and east by the state of Yucatán, from which it seceded in 1857; northwest by the Gulf of Mexico; east by the state of Quintana Roo; south by Guatemala; and southwest by the state of Tabasco. Named after the ancient Mayan province of Kimpech (Campech), it comprises much of the western part of the peninsula.

Dievs

2005-01-29T11:49:00.000-08:00

Also called Debestevs (Latvian), Lithuanian Dievas , Old Prussian Deivas in Baltic religion, the sky god. Dievs and Laima, the goddess of human fate, determine human destiny and world order. Dievs is a wooer of Saule, the sun. As pictured by the pre-Christian Balts, he is an Iron Age Baltic king who lives on a farmstead in the sky. Wearing a silver gown, pendants, and a sword, he occasionally rides down to earth, on horseback or in a horse-drawn chariot,

Plumbing

2005-01-27T13:57:00.000-08:00

One of the problems of every civilization in which the population has been centralized in cities and towns has been

General San Martín

2005-01-26T16:14:00.000-08:00

Formerly San Martín, cabecera (county seat) and partido (county) of Gran (“Greater”) Buenos Aires, Argentina. It lies immediately northwest of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires provincia. The county seat and county began as an early rural settlement centred on the 18th-century Chapel of Santos Lugares. In 1856 the settlement was formally declared a town, and eight years later the county of San

Ethiopic Languages

2005-01-24T18:39:00.000-08:00

The Semitic languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea, including Ge'ez, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox church; Amharic, one of the principal languages of modern Ethiopia; Tigre; Tigrinya, or Tigrai; Argobba; Hareri; and Gurage. Although some scholars formerly considered Ethiopic to be a separate branch of Semitic, these languages are now generally grouped

Housman, A(lfred) E(dward)

2005-01-21T02:39:00.000-08:00

Housman, whose father was a solicitor, was one of seven children. He much preferred his mother; and her death on his 12th birthday was a cruel blow, which is surely one source of the pessimism his poetry expresses. While

Jackson, Mahalia

2005-01-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

Laurraine Goreau, Just Mahalia, Baby (1975, reprinted 1984); Jules Schwerin, Got to Tell It: Mahalia Jackson, Queen of Gospel (1992).

Terek River

2005-01-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

River that rises in northern Georgia and flows north and then east through Russia to empty into the Caspian Sea. It is one of the main streams draining northward from the Caucasus mountain system. The Terek is 370 miles (600 km) long and drains a basin of 16,900 square miles (43,700 square km). It rises from the glaciers of Mount Kazbek in the main Caucasus range and cuts its way northward through

New Hampshire, University Of

2005-01-15T17:09:00.000-08:00

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Durham, N.H., U.S. The only university in the state, the University of New Hampshire has land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant status. It anchors the University System of New Hampshire, which includes the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, Plymouth State College, Keene State College, and the College for Lifelong

China, The history of the Chou (1111255 BC)

2005-01-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

The origin of the Chou royal house is lost in the mists of time. Although the traditional historical system of the Chinese contains a Chou genealogy, no dates can be assigned to the ancestors. The first ancestor was Hou Chi, literally translated as “Lord of Millet.” He appears to have been a cultural hero and agricultural deity rather than a tribal chief. The earliest plausible

Breda

2005-01-13T13:27:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (commune), Noord-Brabant provincie, southwestern Netherlands, at the confluence of the Mark (Merk) and Aa rivers. It was a direct fief of the duchy of Brabant; its earliest known lord was Godfrey I (1125–70), in whose family it continued until it was sold to Brabant in 1327. Chartered in 1252, it passed to the house of Nassau in 1404 and, ultimately, to William I of Orange (1533–84). Fortified (1531–36) by Count Henry

Habash, George

2005-01-13T02:27:00.000-08:00

Habash was forced to flee Palestine in 1948, after the State of Israel was established there, and earned a medical degree at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon. In the early 1950s he was active in the “Youth of Vengeance” group, which advocated violent

Mountain, The western segment of the system

2005-01-12T21:56:00.000-08:00

The evolution of the western segment of the Tethyan System is the most complicated, involving more than just a collision of the African continent with parts of Europe. In Early Jurassic time (about 180,000,000 years ago), Africa, which then lay close to Europe, moved southeastward away from it. In doing so, it caused new ocean floor (Tethys) and new continental margins to form. Much of

Visitation

2005-01-10T04:52:00.000-08:00

The visit, described in the Gospel According to Luke (1:39–56), made by the Virgin Mary, pregnant with the infant Jesus, to her cousin Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary's greeting, the pregnant Elizabeth felt the infant St. John the Baptist leap in her womb, which, according to later doctrine, signified that he had become sanctified and cleansed of original sin. Mary then said the Magnificat

Berengar Of Tours

2005-01-10T02:20:00.000-08:00

Having studied under the celebrated Fulbert at Chartres, Berengar returned to Tours after 1029 and became canon of its cathedral and head of the School of Saint-Martin,

Eastern Desert

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

The Eastern Desert consists of a rolling sandy highland that rises abruptly from the Nile valley and merges

Utica

2005-01-07T23:36:00.000-08:00

Modern Utique traditionally the oldest Phoenician settlement on the coast of North Africa. It is located near the mouth of the Majardah (French Medjerda, ancient Bagradas) River in modern Tunisia. After its founding in the 8th or 7th century BC, Utica grew rapidly and was second only to Carthage among Phoenician settlements in Africa. In the Third Punic War (149–146 BC), Utica sided with Rome against

Amorphous Solid, Vapour condensation techniques

2005-01-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

In the gold-silicon system of Figure 5, at compositions far from the cusp, glasses cannot be formed by melt quenching—even by the rapid splat-quench technique of

Valerian

2005-01-06T20:13:00.000-08:00

Licinius Valerianus was consul under Severus Alexander (emperor 222–235) and played a leading role in inducing the Senate to risk support for Gordian I's rebellion against the emperor Maximinus (238). He may have been one of the 20 consulars who successfully defended Italy against the emperor. He is not again mentioned until the reign of Decius (emperor 249–251). Under

Mott, Sir Nevill Francis

2005-01-04T21:22:00.000-08:00

British physicist (b. Sept. 30, 1905, Leeds, Eng.--d. Aug. 8, 1996, Milton Keynes, Eng.), shared the 1977 Nobel Prize for Physics with Philip Anderson and John Van Vleck for research into the electronic properties of noncrystalline, or amorphous, solids. This work showed that amorphous materials, which are easier and less expensive to manufacture than crystalline substances, could be used in such

Giri, Varahagiri Venkata

2005-01-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

Giri began his education at Khallikote College, Berhampore, and then went to Dublin to study law. There he became engaged in the Sinn Féin movement and was expelled from Ireland in 1916. Upon his return to India, he joined the nascent labour movement. He became general secretary and

Esterhazy

2005-01-03T00:16:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada. It lies in the Qu'Appelle River valley, 132 miles (212 km) east of Regina. It is named after Count Paul Otto d'Esterházy (1830–1912), a French-Hungarian nobleman who promoted settlement in the area. Esterhazy is a marketing town for a mixed-farming (especially wheat) and stock-raising region and has flour-milling and dairying industries. Since 1962, however,

Maass, Clara

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

Maass graduated from the Newark (New Jersey) German Hospital School of Nursing in 1895 and shortly afterward was named head nurse of the school. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in April 1898, she volunteered to serve as a contract

Catalan Literature

2005-01-01T13:50:00.000-08:00

The oldest extant text in Catalan is the Homilies d'Organyà, a collection of sermons dating from the 12th or early 13th century but now appreciated more for their linguistic than for their literary value. Early kings of Aragon and counts

Hardy, Alexandre

2004-12-31T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hardy was a hired poet for troupes of actors both in the provinces and in Paris. His works were widely admired in court circles, where he wrote for royal companies. The actors who bought his plays rarely allowed him to publish them, and fewer

United Kingdom, Labour and taxation

2004-12-29T23:57:00.000-08:00

Government revenues are derived from several main sources, including income taxes, corporate taxes, taxes on the sale of goods and services, and national insurance contributions. After World War II the government adopted individual income tax rates that were among the highest in Europe. During the last two decades of the 20th century, individual income tax rates

Da Nang

2004-12-29T21:26:00.000-08:00

French Tourane, city, central Vietnam. Lying at the southern end of a horseshoe-shaped bay, it is one of the largest cities in Vietnam and the chief port of the central lowlands. Although partially enclosed on the northeast by the Annamese Cordillera (French: Chaîne Annamitique; Vietnamese: Nui Truong Son), which there reaches an elevation of 4,636 feet (1,413 m), its excellent harbour is still somewhat

César

2004-12-27T02:24:00.000-08:00

Departamento, northern Colombia, bounded on the northeast by Venezuela and on the southwest by the Magdalena River. Created in 1967, the departamento, with an area of 8,844 square miles (22,905 square km), descends from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the north and the Sierra de Perijá in the northeast to the lowlands of the Magdalena River valley. It is traversed by the César River,

Rosten, Leo

2004-12-26T19:14:00.000-08:00

At age three Rosten immigrated with his parents to Chicago. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1930 and received his Ph.D. in 1937. After working as a screenwriter

Bharata-natya

2004-12-26T15:48:00.000-08:00

The principal of the main classical dance styles of India, the others being kuchipudi, kathak, kathakali, manipuri, and orissi. It is indigenous to the Tamil Nadu (Madras) region and prevalent in southern India. Bharata-natya serves the expression of Hindu religious themes and devotions, and its techniques and terminology have been traced back to ancient treatises such as

Deception Bay

2004-12-25T21:19:00.000-08:00

Bay and resort town, southeastern Queensland, Australia. In 1823 the explorer John Oxley named the local stream the Deception River (now called the Caboolture River), because of the numerous shoals at its mouth. The river gave its name to the bay into which it flows, which in turn gave its name to the community. The town of Deception Bay offers safe swimming areas, fishing, boating,

Calendar Of 2003

2004-12-24T22:34:00.000-08:00

Djibouti's ambassador to Ethiopia announces that Djibouti plans to expel more than 100,000 illegal immigrants, which amounts to about 15% of the

Austenite

2004-12-22T22:27:00.000-08:00

Solid solution of carbon and other constituents in a particular form of iron known as g (gamma) iron. This is a face-centred cubic structure formed when iron is heated above 910° C (1,670° F); gamma iron becomes unstable at temperatures above 1,390° C (2,530° F). Austenite is an ingredient of a kind of stainless steel used for making cutlery, hospital and food-service equipment, and tableware.

Ashqelon

2004-12-22T00:26:00.000-08:00

Traces of habitation at the ancient city site extend back to 2000 BC; the city's

Yang Yen

2004-12-21T23:39:00.000-08:00

Yang introduced a new system of taxation into China that helped reduce the power of the aristocratic classes and eliminate their large tax-free estates. Yang abolished the various land, labour, produce, and other taxes to which the Chinese peasantry had been subject and the upper classes immune. In their place

Tarim River

2004-12-20T20:30:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization T'a-li-mu Ho, Pinyin Tarim He, chief river of the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, extreme northwestern China. It lies immediately north of the Plateau of Tibet. The river gives its name to the great basin between the Tien Shan and Kunlun mountain systems of Central Asia. It flows for most of its length through the Takla Makan Desert. The word tarim is used to designate the bank of a river that

Athenry

2004-12-18T01:49:00.000-08:00

Irish Baile Átha An Rí (“Town of the King's Ford”) market town, County Galway, Ireland. It was founded in the 13th century during the Anglo-Norman colonization. Much of the medieval town wall (1211) survives, together with the keep of the castle (1235) and part of the Dominican priory (founded 1241), which was specifically exempted from Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. Pop. (1986) 1,642.

France, History Of, Geographic-historical scope

2004-12-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

Gaul, in this context, signifies only what the Romans, from their perspective, termed Transalpine Gaul (Gallia Transalpina), or “Gaul across the Alps.” Broadly, it comprised all lands from the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean coast of modern France to the English Channel and from the Atlantic to the Rhine and the western Alps. The Romans knew a second Gaul, Cisalpine

France, History Of, Trade

2004-12-14T22:05:00.000-08:00

Despite the Islamic conquests, Mediterranean commerce did not decline abruptly. In Gaul, such goods as papyrus, oil, and spices were imported from the East, and there were numerous colonies of Syrians. Currency continued to be based on the gold standard, and imperial units were still used. All signs, moreover, point to the existence of manufacturing for trade (marble from

Lupine

2004-12-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

The

Earth, Variation with elevation

2004-12-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

At sea level the gradient is equivalent to -0.3086 milligal per metre;

Yi Sang-cha

2004-12-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

Yi was originally a slave in a scholar's household, but his great artistic talents soon came to the attention of the king, and he was admitted to the Korean Royal Academy and made a member of the middle class. He is known for his landscapes as well as for his portraits of the royal

Grünewald, Matthias

2004-12-09T07:59:00.000-08:00

Original name Mathis Gothardt one of the greatest German painters of his age, whose works on religious themes achieve a visionary expressiveness through intense colour and agitated line. The wings of the altarpiece of the Antonite monastery at Isenheim, in southern Alsace (dated 1515), are considered to be his

Kwangsi, Resources

2004-12-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

The region has sufficient coal and iron deposits to support moderate industrial development. Coal is mined north of Kuei-lin and south of Liu-chou. Iron is mined in the area near the Kwangtung–Hunan border as well as in southeastern Kwangsi. Other exploited mineral resources include tin (of which Kwangsi is a major producer), tungsten, manganese, and antimony. Moderate

Gull Falls

2004-12-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

Icelandic Gullfoss waterfall, southwestern Iceland, on the Hvítá (river), a tributary of the Ölfusá. It is fed by the meltwaters of the Lang Glacier on the central plateau, falling down 105 feet (32 m) to the southern farming region. Gullfoss (“Golden Falls”) is one of Iceland's most popular tourist attractions and is accessible by road from Reykjavík.

Melchior, Johann Peter

2004-12-05T22:18:00.000-08:00

Modeller in porcelain, best known of the artists associated with the great German porcelain factory at Höchst. As a child he showed an interest in drawing, painting, and sculpture, and a relative apprenticed him to a sculptor in Düsseldorf. He became sufficiently well known to be named Modellmeister at the

United Arab Emirates

2004-12-05T11:59:00.000-08:00

The economy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continued its robust expansion in 1997. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew about 10% in 1996, the highest rate in the Middle East, and in 1997 it rose a substantial 4.4%. Significantly,

Augier, émile

2004-12-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

Augier was an unbending moralist, and all of his plays are to some extent didactic in purpose. His verse play Gabrielle (1849) attacks the

Alba

2004-12-02T19:37:00.000-08:00

French Aube, or Aubade, in the music of the troubadours (q.v.), the 11th- and 12th-century poet-musicians of southern France, a song of lovers' parting at dawn or of a watchman's warning to lovers at dawn. It sometimes takes the form of a dialogue between watchman and lover. Examples for which music also survives include “Reis glorios” by Guiraut de Bornelh and the anonymous “Gaite de la tor.” The German counterparts

Biblical Literature, Non-European versions

2004-12-01T00:45:00.000-08:00

Translations of parts of the Bible are known to have existed in only seven Asian and four African languages before the 15th century. In the 17th century Dutch merchants began to interest themselves in the missionary enterprise among non-Europeans. A pioneer was Albert Cornelius Ruyl, who is credited with having translated Matthew into High Malay in 1629, with Mark following

France, History Of, The interwar years

2004-11-30T21:32:00.000-08:00

Frenchmen concentrated much of their energy during the early 1920s on recovering from the war. The government undertook a vast program of reconstructing the devastated areas and had largely completed that task by 1925. To compensate for manpower losses, immigration barriers were lowered, and two million foreign workers flooded into the country. Underlying all other

Kiraly, Karch

2004-11-29T11:42:00.000-08:00

When Kiraly was four years old, he moved with his family to Santa Barbara, California. His father, Laszlo Kiraly, had played on the Hungarian national

Koto

2004-11-29T10:05:00.000-08:00

The paulownia-wood instrument is placed horizontally on the ground or on a low table and is played by plucking the strings with the thumb and first

Zamoyski Family

2004-11-27T23:35:00.000-08:00

The family settled in the 15th century at Laznin in the Mazovia area of Poland. Tomasz Lazninski bought an estate there called Zamosc, and his sons Florian (died 1510) and Maciej began to use the name Zamoyski. Florian's grandson Stanislaw was the first member of the family to serve as a

Portugal

2004-11-27T20:06:00.000-08:00

Officially Portuguese Republic, Portuguese Portugal, or República Portuguesa, country lying along the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is bordered on the east and north by Spain and on the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean. Occupying about 16 percent of the Iberian Peninsula, Portugal has a total area of 35,672 square miles (92,389 square km). Despite its small size, the country displays a great diversity of geographic features;

Yüeh-yang

2004-11-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

It was a fortified place called

Kyrgyz

2004-11-25T05:10:00.000-08:00

Like other Central Asian peoples, the Kyrgyz were traditionally

Conservative Baptist Association Of America

2004-11-23T16:06:00.000-08:00

Association of independent, autonomous Baptist churches in the United States, organized May 17, 1947, in Atlantic City, N.J. The founders originally organized the Fundamentalist Fellowship in 1920 but remained within the American (then Northern) Baptist Convention. Disputes over interpretation of Scripture and theology, as well as fundamentalist objections to sending liberal

Akhenaton

2004-11-22T13:53:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Akhnaton , or Ikhnaton , also called Amenhotep Iv , or Neferkheperure Amenhotep , Greek Amenophis king of Egypt (1353–36 BC) of the 18th dynasty, who established a new monotheistic cult of Aton (hence his assumed name, Akhenaton, meaning “One Useful to Aton”).

Gyascutus

2004-11-22T00:46:00.000-08:00

An imaginary, large, four-legged beast with legs on one side longer than those on the other, for walking on hillsides. Humorous references to this creature, whose name has countless local variants, first appeared in American newspapers during the 1840s. It has continued to play a minor role in American folklore since then. The word was apparently coined to mimic the Latin

Binder

2004-11-20T19:44:00.000-08:00

Machine for cutting grain and binding it into bundles, once widely used to cut small grain such as wheat. The first patent was issued on a self-tie binder in 1850. The horse-drawn twine binder, first marketed in 1880, remained the chief method of harvesting small grain during the early decades of the 20th century. The mechanical twine knotter was patented in 1892 in the United States. Along

Marennes

2004-11-19T18:30:00.000-08:00

Popular edible variety of oyster (q.v.).

Chia-hsing

2004-11-19T08:10:00.000-08:00

The city was founded

Haarlem Lake

2004-11-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

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

Avalon Peninsula

2004-11-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

Peninsula in southeastern Newfoundland, Canada; it is joined to the main part of the island by a 4-mi- (6-km-) wide isthmus between Placentia and Trinity bays and extends for about 110 mi with a maximum width of 60 mi. Its high point is about 1,000 ft (300 m) on the Atlantic coast south of St. John's, and it is deeply indented by Conception Bay (north) and St. Mary's Bay (south). Probably first visited in 1497 by

Hover Fly

2004-11-14T02:12:00.000-08:00

Also called Flower Fly, or Syrphid Fly, any member of the insect family Syrphidae (order Diptera), which numbers about 4,000 species. Their various common names refer to the behaviour of hovering around flowers. Hover flies, with their yellow markings, resemble wasps or bees but do not bite or sting. They are distinguished from other flies by a false (spurious) vein that closely parallels the fourth longitudinal

Skagen

2004-11-13T02:34:00.000-08:00

Also called The Skaw city and port, Nordjylland amtskommune (county commune), northern Jutland, Denmark, near the northern tip of the peninsula on the Kattegat strait. Chartered in 1413, it is one of the principal fishing centres in Denmark. It is also a summer resort and, from the 1870s, the site of an artists' and writers' colony. Notable are the Rå-bjerg Mile sand dunes to the south and the Old Church, which

Astrophysics

2004-11-12T15:30:00.000-08:00

Branch of astronomy concerned primarily with the properties and structure of cosmic objects, including the universe as a whole. See astronomy.

Clarke, T.e.b.

2004-11-12T00:14:00.000-08:00

Clarke worked as a free-lance journalist and novelist before joining Ealing Studios as a writer in 1943. He scripted several dramatic motion pictures, notably The Blue Lamp (1950), but received international fame

Rhyme Scheme

2004-11-10T13:43:00.000-08:00

The formal arrangement of rhymes in a stanza or a poem. If it is one of a number of set rhyme patterns, it may be identified by the name of the poet with whom the set rhyme is generally associated (for example, the Spenserian stanza is named for Edmund Spenser). The rhyme scheme is usually notated with lowercase letters of the alphabet (as ababbcbcc, in the case of the Spenserian

Horse, Arabian

2004-11-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

Its long history is obscured by legend, but the Arabian breed, prized for its stamina, intelligence, and character, is known to have been developed in Arabia by the 7th century AD. It is a compact horse with a small head, protruding eyes, wide nostrils, marked withers, and a short back. It usually has only 23 vertebrae, while 24 is the usual number for other breeds. Its legs are strong

Ito Jakuchu

2004-11-08T22:36:00.000-08:00

The son of a greengrocer, he first studied drawing with a painter of the Kano school (stressing Chinese subject matter and techniques). He also made copies of old Chinese

Cronyn, Hume; And Tandy, Jessica

2004-11-08T02:39:00.000-08:00

The two came from very different backgrounds. Cronyn grew up in wealthy circumstances, the son of a Canadian member of Parliament. He attended the American Academy

Pausanias

2004-11-07T11:29:00.000-08:00

A member of the Agiad royal family, Pausanias was the son of King Cleombrotus I and nephew of King Leonidas. He became regent for Leonidas' son after the father was killed at Thermopylae (480). Pausanias commanded the allied Greek army

Ruysdael, Salomon Van

2004-11-05T03:26:00.000-08:00

Originally named de Goyer, as was his brother Isaak (also a painter and the father of Jacob van Ruisdael), Salomon entered the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke in 1628. His first dated pictures are from 1627. He spent his whole life in Haarlem,

China, The Szechwan Basin

2004-11-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

This basin (also known as the Red Basin) is one of the most attractive geographical regions of China. The basin is surrounded by mountains, which are higher in the west and north. Protected against the penetration of cold northern winds, the basin is much warmer in the winter than are the more southerly plains of southeast China. Except for the Ch'eng-tu Plain, the region

John Bull

2004-11-04T00:12:00.000-08:00

In literature and political caricature, a conventional personification of England or of English character. Bull was invented by the Scottish mathematician and physician John Arbuthnot as a character in an extended allegory that appeared in a series of five pamphlets in 1712 and later in the same year published collectively as The History of John Bull; he appeared