ComplexBird

Bujalance

2005-04-05T15:06:00.000-07:00

City, Córdoba provincia, in Andalusia comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), southern Spain, located 24 miles (39 km) east of Córdoba city. There is evidence in Bujalance of early Roman occupation. The ancient city was also the site of a seven-towered castle built in 935 by 'Abd ar-Rahman III, the first caliph and greatest ruler of the Umayyad (Arab Muslim) dynasty of Spain; the castle's

Gond

2005-04-04T23:41:00.000-07:00

Group of aboriginal peoples (now referred to as scheduled tribes) of central India, about 2 million in number. They live in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, and Orissa. The majority speak various and, in part, mutually unintelligible dialects of Gondi, an unwritten language of the Dravidian family. Some Gond have lost their own language and

God And Saints Of Christ, Church Of

2005-04-04T20:27:00.000-07:00

Religious sect founded in 1896 by Prophet William S. Crowdy. He passed his mantle of leadership to Bishop William Plummer, who announced himself as “Grand Father Abraham.” This group believes that all Jews were originally black and that modern-day blacks are descendants of the “lost tribes of Israel.” Their beliefs centre on the “Seven Keys,” the “Stone of Truth,” and the Ten Commandments.

Korean War, Back to the 38th parallel

2005-04-03T04:27:00.000-07:00

As UNC troops crossed the 38th parallel, Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong received a plea for direct military aid from Kim Il-sung. The chairman was willing to intervene, but he needed assurances of Soviet air power. Stalin promised to extend China's air defenses (manned by Soviets) to a corridor above the Yalu, thus protecting air bases in Manchuria and hydroelectric

Abraham Bar Hiyya

2005-04-03T03:52:00.000-07:00

In addition to translating scientific

Ile-ife

2005-04-02T19:16:00.000-08:00

Also called Ife, or Ife-lodun, town, Osun state, southwestern Nigeria. The town lies at the intersection of roads from Ibadan (40 miles [64 km] west), Ilesha, and Ondo. It is one of the larger centres and probably the oldest town of the Yoruba people. Considered by the Yoruba to be a holy city and the legendary birthplace of mankind, it was held to have been founded by a son of the deity Oduduwa and was certainly the

Melba, Dame Nellie

2005-04-01T18:12:00.000-08:00

She sang at Richmond (Australia) Public Hall at the age of six and was a skilled pianist and organist, but she did not study singing until after her marriage to Charles Nesbitt Armstrong in 1882. She appeared in Sydney in 1885 and in London in 1886 and then studied in Paris. She made her

Leonardo Pisano

2005-04-01T14:12:00.000-08:00

Little is known about Leonardo's life beyond the few facts given in his mathematical writings. During Leonardo's boyhood his father, Guglielmo, a Pisan merchant, was appointed consul over the community of Pisan merchants in the North African port of Bugia (now Bejaïa, Alg.). Leonardo was sent to study calculation with an Arab master. He later went to Egypt, Syria, Greece,

Theatre, Western, Theatre of Fact

2005-03-31T17:16:00.000-08:00

A more uncompromising method of bringing social issues to the stage has been Documentary Theatre, or the Theatre of Fact. In this case, the presentation of factual information usually takes precedence over aesthetic considerations. Out of the social protest movement that arose during the years of depression in the 1930s, a unit of the WPA Federal Theatre Project in

Alani

2005-03-30T14:56:00.000-08:00

Also called Alans, an ancient nomadic pastoral people that occupied the steppe region northeast of the Black Sea. The Alani were first mentioned in Roman literature in the 1st century AD and were described later as a warlike people that specialized in horse breeding. They frequently raided the Parthian empire and the Caucasian provinces of the Roman Empire. About AD 370, however, they were

Andreas-salomé, Lou

2005-03-30T13:31:00.000-08:00

Salomé was the daughter of a Russian army officer of French Huguenot descent. She studied theology at the University of Zürich. In 1882 the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche fell in love with her, but she rejected his proposal of marriage.

Melamine

2005-03-30T07:02:00.000-08:00

Melamine is manufactured by heating dicyandiamide under pressure. Its most important reaction is that with formaldehyde, forming resinous compounds of high molecular weight.

Ramazzini, Bernardino

2005-03-28T18:11:00.000-08:00

A professor of medicine at the University of Modena (1682–1700), and an early student of epidemiology, he described outbreaks of lathyrism (1690; chick-pea poisoning) and malaria (1690–95) in Italy. A strong proponent of the use of cinchona bark in the treatment of malaria,

Balder

2005-03-27T03:38:00.000-08:00

Old Norse Baldr in Norse mythology, the son of the chief god Odin and his wife Frigg. Beautiful and just, he was the favourite of the gods. Most legends about him concern his death. Icelandic stories tell how the gods amused themselves by throwing objects at him, knowing that he was immune from harm. The blind god Höd, deceived by the evil Loki, killed Balder by hurling mistletoe, the only

Quincy

2005-03-27T01:47:00.000-08:00

City, Norfolk county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S., on Boston Harbor, just southeast of Boston. In 1625 the site, which was settled by Captain Wollaston, was given the name Mount Wollaston, and a short time afterward, under the leadership of Thomas Morton, it was renamed Merry Mount; in 1627 Morton, an anti-Puritan, was exiled for celebrating May Day. Set off from Braintree and incorporated

Carracci, Lodovico

2005-03-25T18:49:00.000-08:00

The son of a butcher, Lodovico was the older cousin of the painters Annibale and Agostino Carracci. After working under the painter Prospero

Bruise

2005-03-25T13:12:00.000-08:00

A visible bluish or purplish mark or patch occurring beneath the surface of unbroken skin, resulting from the rupture of blood vessels in the deeper layers of subcutaneous tissues. Bruises are usually caused by a blow or pressure but, in aged persons, may occur spontaneously. In healing, the colour of the bruise gradually fades away into a yellowish hue, as a result

Korku

2005-03-25T09:01:00.000-08:00

Tribal people of central India concentrated in the states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. At the end of the 20th century, they numbered about 560,000. However, poverty and restricted use of ancestral land due to government attempts to save the Bengal tiger have led to a serious problem of malnutrition and starvation among the Korku. Most are settled agriculturalists, and

Carnivore, Natural history

2005-03-24T14:59:00.000-08:00

They are largely omnivorous in food habits, eating a variety of small mammals, birds, reptiles, eggs of birds and reptiles, amphibians, fishes, crustaceans, insects and their grubs, and earthworms, as well as vegetation such as fruits, nuts, bulbs or roots, and other plant material.

San Clemente

2005-03-24T05:22:00.000-08:00

City, Orange county, southern California, U.S. It lies along the Pacific Ocean, midway between San Diego and Los Angeles. Founded in 1925 as a real-estate development, the site was named for offshore San Clemente Island, which was named by the Spanish explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno to honour St. Clement. Chiefly residential, the city gained national prominence in 1969 when President

Abu Ruwaysh

2005-03-23T13:58:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Abu Roash,

Edes

2005-03-22T11:48:00.000-08:00

Abbreviation of Greek Ellínikos Dímokratikos Ethnikós Strátos , English Greek Democratic National Army nationalist guerrilla force that, bolstered by British support, constituted the only serious challenge to EAM-ELAS (q.v.) control of the resistance movement in occupied Greece during World War II. Led by Gen. Napoleon Zervas, EDES was originally liberal and antimonarchist; but it moved steadily to the political right. It cooperated with ELAS for a time in operations

Gonda

2005-03-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

The area in which Gonda is situated is drained by the Rapti and other Ghaghara tributaries and

Talbot, Mary Anne

2005-03-21T05:34:00.000-08:00

Talbot's mother died at her birth, and she believed herself to be the illegitimate child of William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot. She was seduced in 1792 by Captain Essex Bowen and accompanied him to Santo Domingo in the Caribbean, disguised

Espino, Héctor

2005-03-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

Espino started playing in the outfield but switched

Kabyle

2005-03-19T23:28:00.000-08:00

Berber people of Algeria inhabiting a partially mountainous region stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the southern slopes of the Great Kabylie mountains and from Dellys to Cape Aokas. Numbering about 2,000,000 in the late 20th century, they are mainly Muslims with a few Christians and are predominantly agricultural, growing grains and olives and herding goats. Their

Nagasaki

2005-03-19T21:02:00.000-08:00

Ken (prefecture), northwestern Kyushu, Japan, facing the East China Sea. It includes the islands of Tsushima, Iki, Hirado, and the Goto Archipelago. The prefecture has an irregular shape, with rounded Shimabara Peninsula in the southeast; Cape Nomo and Nishisonoki Peninsula enclose Omura Bay also in the southeast. Dominated by mountains, the limited agricultural land

Arne, Thomas (augustine)

2005-03-19T04:07:00.000-08:00

According to tradition, Arne was the son of an upholsterer in King Street, Covent Garden. Educated at Eton, he was intended for the law, but by secretly practicing he acquired such mastery of the violin and keyboard instruments that his father withdrew all objections to a musical career. Except

Biofeedback

2005-03-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

Information supplied instantaneously about an individual's own physiological processes. Data concerning a person's cardiovascular activity (blood pressure and heart rate), temperature, brain waves, or muscle tension is monitored electronically and returned, or “fed back,” to that person by a gauge on a meter, a light, or a sound. Though such activity of the autonomic

Beadle, George Wells

2005-03-18T01:30:00.000-08:00

After earning his doctorate in genetics from Cornell University (1931), Beadle went to the laboratory of

Atum

2005-03-17T05:07:00.000-08:00

Atum's myth merged with that of the great sun god Re, giving rise to the deity Re-Atum. When distinguished from Re, Atum was the creator's original form, living inside the Nun, the primordial waters of chaos. At creation he emerged to engender

Silver Age

2005-03-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

In Latin literature, the period from approximately AD 18 to 133, which was a time of marked literary achievement second only to the previous Golden Age (70 BC–AD 18). By the 1st century AD political patronage of the arts begun in the Augustan Age (43 BC–AD 18) and a stifling reverence for the literature of the Golden Age, particularly for the poetry of Virgil, had led to a general decline in original literary

Columbus, Christopher, Early career and preparation for the first voyage

2005-03-16T02:04:00.000-08:00

Little is known of Columbus's early life. The vast majority of scholars, citing Columbus's testament of 1498 and archival documents from Genoa and Savona, believe that he was born in Genoa to a Christian household; however, it has been claimed that he was a converted Jew or that he was born in Spain, Portugal, or elsewhere. Columbus was the eldest son of Domenico Colombo, a Genoese

Novelty Song

2005-03-15T03:24:00.000-08:00

Popular song that is either written and performed as a novelty or that becomes a novelty when removed from its original context. Regardless of which of these two categories applies, the assumption is that the song is popular because of its novelty, because it sounds different from everything else being played on the radio or jukebox. It follows that novelty hits

Yukaghir Language

2005-03-15T01:23:00.000-08:00

Language spoken by not more than a few hundred persons in the Kolyma River region of Sakha (Yakutiya) republic of Russia. Yukaghir was traditionally grouped in the catchall category of Paleo-Siberian languages with a number of languages that are not genetically related or structurally similar. More recently, however, Yukaghir has been considered a distant relative

Visvakarman

2005-03-14T09:56:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “All Accomplishing”), in Hindu mythology, the architect of the gods. The name was originally used as an epithet of any powerful god but later came to personify creative power. Visvakarman is the divine carpenter and master craftsman who fashioned the weapons of the gods and built their cities and chariots. He is the architect of the mythical city, Lanka, and is also

Albacete

2005-03-12T15:30:00.000-08:00

Provincia in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Castile-La Mancha, southeast-central Spain. It occupies the southeastern end of the Meseta Central (plateau). Albacete is the driest interior province of the Iberian Peninsula, with as little as 2 inches (50 mm) annual rainfall in some areas. The south is mountainous or hilly and is crossed by the Júcar and Segura

Botocudo

2005-03-12T05:47:00.000-08:00

South American Indian people who lived in what is now the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. They spoke a language of the Macro-Ge group. Their culture was similar to that of other nomadic tribes of the forests and mountains of eastern Brazil. Hunting bands of from 50 to 200 members were led by men considered most powerful in the supernatural realm. The Botocudo believed that

Eckermann, Johann Peter

2005-03-11T23:43:00.000-08:00

Reared

Xhosa

2005-03-11T03:39:00.000-08:00

In the late 18th and the 19th centuries, a series of conflicts popularly called

Haná Valley

2005-03-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

Agricultural region of southern Severomoravský kraj (region) and northeastern Jihomoravský kraj, eastern Czech Republic. A plain formed by the confluence of the Blata, Romze, Becva, Moštenka, Valová, and Haná rivers and the Morava, its very fertile soils support wheat, barley, corn (maize), and sugar beet cultivation and poultry and pig rearing. The people, called Hanáki, speak

Chancre

2005-03-09T03:48:00.000-08:00

Typical skin lesion of the primary stage of infectious syphilis, usually appearing on the penis, labia, cervix, or anorectal region. (Because in women the chancre often occurs internally, it may go unnoticed.) The lesion often occurs in combination with a painless swelling of the regional lymph nodes, and together these symptoms are the major characteristics of syphilis

Black Mass

2005-03-09T02:21:00.000-08:00

In the Roman Catholic church, a requiem mass during which the celebrant wears black vestments. The term is more commonly used, however, for a blasphemous and usually obscene burlesque of the true mass performed by satanic cults. The naked back of a woman often serves as an altar, and a validly consecrated host is generally used to intensify the mockery. The rite commonly

Carloman

2005-03-07T08:31:00.000-08:00

Second son of Louis II and king of France or the West Franks (882–884). On Louis II's death (879) Carloman was associated with his brother Louis III as king of the West Franks, but both, as the children of a first marriage that had been unacceptable to their grandfather Charles the Bald, had difficulty in obtaining recognition. On Louis's death (882) Carloman became sole ruler. He died while

Abu'l-wafa'

2005-03-07T03:15:00.000-08:00

Abu'l-Wafa' worked in a private observatory in Baghdad, where he made observations to determine, among other astronomical parameters, the obliquity of the ecliptic, the length of the seasons, and the latitude of the city.

Mosaddeq, Mohammad

2005-03-06T22:36:00.000-08:00

The son of an Iranian public official, Mosaddeq grew up as a member of Iran's ruling elite. He received a doctor of law degree from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and then returned to Iran in 1914 and was appointed

Lute

2005-03-06T18:10:00.000-08:00

Plucked, stringed musical instrument popular in 16th- and 17th-century Europe. The lute that was prominent in European popular art and music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods originated as the Arab 'ud. This instrument was brought to Europe in the 13th century by way of Spain and by returning crusaders and is still played in Arab countries. Like the 'ud, the European lute

Eck, Johann

2005-03-05T17:54:00.000-08:00

Early in his career Maier adopted the name of his home village, Egg (or Eck), as his surname. He studied at the universities of Heidelberg, Tübingen, Cologne, and Freiburg im Breisgau. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1508 and became a doctor

Tableware

2005-03-05T08:16:00.000-08:00

Utensils used at the table for holding, serving, and handling food and drink. Tableware includes various types of containers (known as hollowware, q.v.), spoons and forks (flatware, q.v.), knives (cutlery, q.v.), and a variety of dishes and accessories.

Chacma

2005-03-03T23:52:00.000-08:00

Species of baboon (q.v.).

Athenagoras I

2005-03-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

Athenagoras was the son of a physician. He attended the seminary on the island of Halki, near Constantinople, and was ordained a deacon in 1910. He then moved to Athens, where he served as archdeacon to the archbishop Meletios, who later

Ankh

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

Ancient Egyptian hieroglyph signifying “life,” a cross surmounted by a loop and known in Latin as a crux ansata (ansate, or handle-shaped, cross). It is found in ancient tomb inscriptions, including those of the king Tutankhamen, and gods and pharaohs are often depicted holding it. The ankh forms part of hieroglyphs for such concepts as health and happiness. The form of the

Alabaster, William

2005-03-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

Alabaster was educated at the University of Cambridge and in 1596 accompanied the

Sabinian

2005-03-01T00:31:00.000-08:00

Under Pope Gregory I the Great, he served as papal ambassador at Constantinople, trying to reconcile the Roman Church with Patriarch John IV the Faster, whose claim to the title of ecumenical patriarch was regarded by Gregory to be a threat to Christian unity. Elected in 604 as Gregory's successor, Sabinian seems to have been markedly

Andreani, Andrea

2005-02-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

Andreani was active in Florence (1584–85), in Siena (1586–93), and in Mantua (1599). Between 1602 and 1610 he appears in contemporary

Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

2005-02-28T10:57:00.000-08:00

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

Cymbidium

2005-02-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

Cymbidium species grow in soil or on other plants and are popular as florists' plants and ornamentals. Most have short pseudobulbs

Molle Islands

2005-02-27T07:18:00.000-08:00

Group of four small formations on the Great Barrier Reef, in Whitsunday Passage in the Coral Sea, 3 miles (5 km) off the northeastern coast of Queensland, Australia. In 1815 the patch of water behind the group was named Port Molle for Colonel George Molle. The name was later applied to the islands and to the deepwater passage between them and the mainland. The islands are coral-fringed,

Coraciiform

2005-02-25T08:52:00.000-08:00

Also called rollerlike bird any member of the order Coraciiformes, including the kingfishers, todies, motmots, bee-eaters, rollers, hoopoes (see photograph), and hornbills (see photograph). Among the members of the order that have attracted special attention are certain kingfishers that plunge headfirst into water for fish and are associated with classical

Quadrille

2005-02-25T08:13:00.000-08:00

Fashionable late 18th- and 19th-century dance for four couples in square formation. Imported by English aristocrats in 1815 from elite Parisian ballrooms, it consisted of four, or sometimes five, contredanses; like the contredanse (q.v.), the quadrille depended more on the cooperative execution of intertwining figures, or floor patterns, than on intricate stepwork. Each of the

Brabham, Sir Jack

2005-02-24T23:20:00.000-08:00

After serving in the Royal Australian Air Force in World War II, Brabham set up his own engineering business in 1946. He drove in midget racing (1946–52) in Australia, and in 1955 he moved to England to drive for the Cooper team in Grand Prix racing. He won

Denson, William Dowdell

2005-02-24T01:35:00.000-08:00

American lawyer who, as chief military prosecutor of Nazis accused of many of the most horrific of the atrocities committed in Germany at the Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Flossenberg, and Dachau concentration camps, was the most successful of the American prosecutors of World War II criminals; of 177 Nazis he prosecuted between 1945 and 1947, 97 were hanged and the rest went to prison

Furniture, Spain: 17th century

2005-02-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

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

China, Central government

2005-02-22T05:42:00.000-08:00

In its early form the Ming central government was dominated by a unitary Secretariat. The senior executive official of the Secretariat served the emperor as a chief counselor, or prime minister. Suspected treason on the part of the chief counselor Hu Wei-yung in 1380 caused the Hung-wu emperor to abolish all executive posts in the Secretariat, thus fragmenting general

Intentional Fallacy

2005-02-21T15:03:00.000-08:00

Introduced by W.K. Wimsatt, Jr., and Monroe C. Beardsley in The Verbal Icon (1954), the approach was a reaction to the popular belief that to know what the author intended—what he had in mind at the time of

Mansur, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub Al-

2005-02-21T03:11:00.000-08:00

When his father, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, died on July 29, 1184, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub succeeded to the throne with minor difficulties. In November factious tribes in Algeria captured Algiers and other towns, but by 1188 he had pacified his African territories

Ligurian Language

2005-02-19T22:30:00.000-08:00

Language spoken by the Ligurians in northwestern Italy (and perhaps also in southern France and northeastern Spain) in pre-Roman and early Roman times. It is apparently an Indo-European language. Some scholars have maintained that Ligurian is closely related to the Italic and Celtic languages, holding an intermediate linguistic position between them. The language

Danewirk

2005-02-18T03:32:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Danewerk, Dannewirk , or Dannewerk , Danish Dannevirke , or Danevirke (Danes' Bulwark) the ancient frontier rampart of the Danes against the Germans, extending 10.5 miles (17 kilometres) from just south of the town of Schleswig to the marshes of the river Trene near the village of Hollingstedt. The rampart was begun about AD 808 by Godfred (Gudfred), king of Vestfold. In 934 it was penetrated by the German king Henry I, after which it was extended by King Harald I Bluetooth

Ards

2005-02-17T03:08:00.000-08:00

Irish An Aird district, Northern Ireland. Formerly within County Down, in 1973 Ards was established as a district with an area of 139 sq mi (361 sq km). It extends northward from just south of the village of Killinchy along the western shoreline of Strangford Lough (inlet of the sea) to the town of Newtownards and encompasses the peninsula of land east of Strangford Lough. Bordered by North Down

Komárom-esztergom

2005-02-17T02:49:00.000-08:00

Megye (county), northwestern Hungary. The megye extends southward from the Danube River and the Slovakian frontier. It has a mixed agricultural-industrial economic base. Sugar beets and peaches are important crops, and there is a sugar beet mill at Ács. Tatabánya (q.v.), the megye seat, is Hungary's chief mining (lignite) centre. Considerable industrial activity is concentrated

Kuwait, Plant and animal life

2005-02-16T22:08:00.000-08:00

The harsh climate limits

Beta Decay

2005-02-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

Any of three processes of radioactive disintegration by which some unstable atomic nuclei spontaneously dissipate excess energy and undergo a change of one unit of positive charge without any change in mass number. The three processes are called electron emission, positron (positive electron) emission, and electron capture. Beta decay was named (1899) by Ernest Rutherford

Girardot

2005-02-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

River port, Cundinamarca department, central Colombia, at the confluence of the upper Magdalena (there bridged) and Bogotá rivers, opposite Flandes. The site, once a canoe outpost named Pastor Montero, was donated for the creation of San Miguel parish in 1844. Under a provincial ordinance (1852) this became a district that was named after Atanasio Girardot, hero of the Battle of

Chia-ching

2005-02-14T05:18:00.000-08:00

Notoriously cruel, Chia-ching caused hundreds of officials who had the temerity to disagree with him to be tortured, demoted, or killed. He spent much of his time and money, especially in his later

Aubusson

2005-02-13T21:17:00.000-08:00

Town, Creuse département, Limousin région, central France, on the Creuse River near the northern edge of the Plateau de Millevaches (highest part of the Monts du Limousin), northeast of Limoges. In the Middle Ages it was the seat of a viscounty from whose rulers descended Pierre d'Aubusson, grand master of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, defender of Rhodes

Jabal Shammar

2005-02-13T00:55:00.000-08:00

Mountainous area, northwestern Saudi Arabia, bounded by the regions of Hejaz on the west and Ash-Sharqiyah on the east. The principal features of the region are the two great mountain ranges of Aja' (granites) and Salma (basalts) and the immense rolling sand dunes of An-Nafud. The oasis town of Ha'il is situated on the southern flank of the Aja', while an older capital, Fayd, lies in the

Usnisavijaya

2005-02-12T09:55:00.000-08:00

Tibetan Gtsug-tor-rnam-par rgyal-ma popular Buddhist goddess in Nepal, Tibet, and Mongolia. Her name in Sanskrit means “victorious goddess of the usnisa,” the last-named object being the protuberance on the top of the Buddha's skull. She wears an image of the Buddha Vairocana in her headdress and is described as residing in the cellar of the caitya (“shrine”). She may be identified by the small figure of Buddha seated

Bradlaugh, Charles

2005-02-12T05:54:00.000-08:00

Son of a poor legal clerk, Bradlaugh served in the British army (1850–53), followed his father's occupation for a time, and then became

Mclean, Jackie

2005-02-11T16:54:00.000-08:00

From a musical family, McLean became known as a fine altoist in his teens and first recorded in 1951, with Miles Davis, playing “Dig” (also called “Donna”), a McLean theme that became a jazz standard. McLean played in Charles Mingus' and Art Blakey's groups, then

Padre Island

2005-02-10T14:17:00.000-08:00

Barrier island, 113 miles (182 km) long and up to 3 miles (5 km) wide, lying along the Gulf Coast of Texas, U.S. It extends south from Corpus Christi to Port Isabel and is separated from the mainland by Laguna Madre. The island consists largely of grassy dunes and a broad beach that yields shellfish such as clams and marine snails. The area is well known for its mackerel, sailfish, and tarpon

David, Gerard

2005-02-10T14:06:00.000-08:00

In his early work, such as the “Christ Nailed to the Cross” (c. 1480; National Gallery, London)

Blondel De Nesle

2005-02-10T04:53:00.000-08:00

Nothing is known about Blondel outside of his poetry. He was probably from Nesle, in Picardy; but the name Blondel may be a nickname, and it is uncertain how many of the 25 songs attributed to him are actually his. His poetry is conventional in its complaints to an unknown lady but contains no references

A Priori Knowledge

2005-02-09T15:16:00.000-08:00

In Western philosophy since the time of Immanuel Kant, knowledge that is independent of all particular experiences, as opposed to a posteriori knowledge, which derives from experience alone. The Latin phrases a priori (“from what is before”) and a posteriori (“from what is after”) were used in philosophy originally to distinguish between arguments from causes and arguments

Tasmania

2005-02-07T23:54:00.000-08:00

J.L. Davies (ed.), Atlas of Tasmania (1965), offers comprehensive map coverage with detailed commentary. The Tasmanian Year Book (biennial) is the most comprehensive single reference. C.F. Burrett and E.L. Martin (eds.), Geology and Mineral Resources of Tasmania (1989), is also useful. Margaret Stones and Winifred Curtis, The Endemic Flora of Tasmania, 6 pt. (1967–76), is a definitive study, beautifully illustrated. W.A. Townsley, The Government of Tasmania (1976), is a good political guide. The great 19th-century history is by John West, The History of Tasmania, 2 vol. (1852, reissued in 1 vol., 1971); its successor is by Lloyd Robson, A History of Tasmania, 2 vol. (1983–91), who has also written A Short History of Tasmania (1985). Outstanding historical monographs include Peter Bolger, Hobart Town (1973); Geoffrey Blainey, The Peaks of Lyell, 4th ed. (1978), on copper mining; and Marilyn Lake, A Divided Society: Tasmania During World War I (1975). P. Conrad, Down Home: Revisiting Tasmania (1988, also published as Behind the Mountain: Return to Tasmania, 1989), is an account by an intellectual aghast at the oddities of his native spot.

Romanian Literature

2005-02-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

Several famous writers continued to write after World War II. Arghezi reached new lyric heights in 1907 and in a hymn praising humanity's will to live and struggle for freedom. Geo Bogza joined the Social Realist movement. Mihail Beniuc became (as he said) “the drummer of the new age” and, in stirring lyrics, celebrated achievements of the postwar period. Demostene Botez, whose

Constantine Ii

2005-02-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

The second son of Constantine the Great (ruled 306–337), he was given the title of caesar by his father on March 1, 317. When Constantine the Great died in 337, Constantine II and his brothers, Constans and Constantius II, each adopted the title augustus and divided the empire among themselves. Constantine II became ruler

Akureyri

2005-02-05T02:08:00.000-08:00

Town, northern Iceland. It lies at the southern end of Eyja Fjord. Akureyri is the chief centre of the north and is one of the island's most populous urban centres outside the Reykjavík metropolitan area. While primarily a commercial and distributing centre, Akureyri is also a fishing port, agricultural market, and manufacturing centre for woolen goods, fish oil, shoes,

Duchesne, André

2005-02-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

Duchesne was educated at Loudun and Paris and devoted his early years to studies in history and geography. His first work, Egregiarum seu Selectarum Lectionum et Antiquitatum

Schrieffer, John Robert

2005-02-03T06:51:00.000-08:00

Schrieffer was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign,

Hale, Horatio (emmons)

2005-02-03T00:44:00.000-08:00

While a student at Harvard University (1833–37), Hale studied the language of some

Defoe, Daniel

2005-02-01T18:44:00.000-08:00

English novelist, pamphleteer, and journalist, author of Robinson Crusoe (1719–22) and Moll Flanders (1722).

Indian Philosophy, Principal texts and relation to Sabara

2005-02-01T09:29:00.000-08:00

Kumarila commented on Jaimini's sutraas well as on Sabara's bhasya. The Varttika (critical gloss) that he wrote was commented upon by Sucarita Misra in his Kasika (“The Shining”), by Somesvara Bhatta in his Nyayasudha (“The Nectar of Logic”), and Parthasarathi Misra in Nyayaratnakara (“The Abode of Jewels of Logic”). Parthasarathi's Sastradipika (“Light on the Scripture”) is a famous independent Mimamsa treatise

Benda, Frantiek

2005-02-01T01:45:00.000-08:00

The eldest son of Jan Jirí Benda and his wife Dorota Brixi, both talented musicians, Benda studied under Johann Gottlieb Graun and joined the orchestra of Frederick II the Great (then crown prince). On Frederick's accession (1740) to the Prussian

Quicherat, Jules (-étienne-joseph)

2005-01-31T07:19:00.000-08:00

Quicherat

Dadu

2005-01-30T14:47:00.000-08:00

A cotton carder by profession, Dadu became a religious wanderer and preacher, settling for periods of time at Sembhar, Amber, and finally at Naraina, near Jaipur (Rajasthan state), which remains the centre of his following. Dadu rejected the authority of the Vedas (earliest Hindu

Leo Ix, Saint

2005-01-30T01:58:00.000-08:00

After their settlement in Sicily in the second decade of the 11th century, the Normans presented considerable dangers to the existence of the papal state. In their marauding expeditions they plundered and

Deep-scattering Layer

2005-01-28T20:58:00.000-08:00

Horizontal zone of living organisms, usually schools of fish, occurring below the surface in many ocean areas, so called because the layer scatters or reflects sound waves, causing echoes in depth sounders. Originally mistaken by some for the ocean bottom, the deep-scattering layer was later observed to rise toward the surface in the evening and to sink again at dawn,

Balbinus, Decimus Caelius Calvinus

2005-01-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

A patrician, Balbinus was a Salian priest, twice a consul, and proconsul in Asia. In 238, when the Senate led a rebellion of the Italian cities against Maximinus (emperor 235–238), it placed the government in the hands of a board of 20, one of whom was Balbinus, and then chose Balbinus and Pupienus Maximus to be joint emperors. Pupienus, a former city prefect,

Sup'ung Dam

2005-01-28T00:22:00.000-08:00

Korean Sup'ung-Dam , Chinese (Wade-Giles) Shui-feng Shui-pa , or (Pinyin) Shuifeng Shuiba hydroelectric project on the Yalu River at the Korean border with Liaoning sheng (province), China, upstream from Tan-tung. It was originally designed as a joint project of the Japanese-controlled Manchukuo government, which administered Manchuria from 1931 to 1945, and the Japanese administration in Korea to supply power for the industrial developments in Manchuria and

Paper Folding

2005-01-27T18:12:00.000-08:00

In Japan, origami has reached its greatest development, with hundreds of traditional folds and an extensive literature dealing with the art. Japanese folds divide roughly into two categories: