BlueBrake

Pittsfield

2005-03-19T07:35:00.000-08:00

City, Berkshire county, western Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on the headstreams of the Housatonic River, in the Berkshire Hills, 55 miles (88 km) northwest of Springfield. Settled in 1752 as the Pontoosuc Plantation, it was incorporated as a town (and made the county seat) in 1761 and named for the English prime minister William Pitt. It developed from a farming to an industrial community

Exercise, Overall conditioning

2005-03-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

Much emphasis has been given in the foregoing discussion to aerobic fitness, because this form of conditioning is extremely important. It should be noted, however, that other types of conditioning also have benefits. A total exercise program should include strengthening exercises, to maintain body mass and appropriate levels of strength for daily functioning,

Jablonski, Daniel Ernst

2005-03-12T23:13:00.000-08:00

Jablonski studied at Frankfurt an der Oder and at Oxford University and began preaching at Magdeburg in 1683. From 1686 to 1691 he headed the Moravian College at Lissa, becoming court preacher at Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia)

Parade

2005-03-10T04:36:00.000-08:00

A type of pageant (q.v.) whose main feature is a public procession.

Biblical Literature, The fall of Israel

2005-03-09T14:44:00.000-08:00

After the death of Jeroboam II, however, Israel faced a period of continuous disaster; and no prophetic figure was able to arrest the steady internal decay. From 746–721, when Samaria finally fell to the Assyrians, there were six kings, the last being Hoshea, a conspirator who had assassinated the previous king. The Assyrian king Sargon II deported the leading citizens of Samaria

Peter Ii

2005-03-06T01:56:00.000-08:00

On succeeding his uncle Peter I, he took the title of Peter II rather than his

Torbay

2005-03-05T16:04:00.000-08:00

Unitary authority, geographic and historic county of Devon, England, on the English Channel coast. It comprises three old towns—Torquay, Paignton, and Brixham—grouped around Tor Bay. A village existed at Torre before the foundation of a Premonstratensian abbey in 1196. Cockington Court (Elizabethan and later) and its estate are part of the municipal park system. Torbay's

Shilluk

2005-03-02T05:28:00.000-08:00

The Shilluk are sedentary agriculturists with strong pastoral interests (cattle, sheep, and goats). Men hunt, herd, and milk the livestock; both sexes do agricultural work. The community

Palatka

2005-03-01T22:59:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1849) of Putnam county, northeastern Florida, U.S., on the broad St. Johns River, about 50 miles (80 km) south of Jacksonville. Beginning in the 17th century the area was used for cattle ranching, and the city site was a crossing point of the river. James Marver established a trading post (c. 1821) on the site of a Seminole village. The city's name came from Pilatka, a Seminole term meaning

Palatka

2005-02-26T11:58:00.000-08:00

Anatosaurus grew to a length of 9–12 metres (30–40 feet) and was heavily built. The skull was long and the beak

Dietary Law

2005-02-25T02:15:00.000-08:00

This article surveys the variety of laws and customs pertaining to food materials and the art of eating in human societies from earliest times to the present. It

Aesthetics, Expressionism

2005-02-23T00:10:00.000-08:00

After Kant and Hegel, the most important influence on modern aesthetics has been Croce. His oft-cited Estetica come scienza dell' espressione e linguistica generale (1902; Aesthetic as Science of Expression and General Linguistics, or Aesthetic) presents, in a rather novel idiom, some of the important insights underlying the theories of his predecessors. In this work,

Wagner, Cosima

2005-02-21T23:35:00.000-08:00

Cosima was the illegitimate daughter of the composer-pianist Franz Liszt and the countess Marie d'Agoult, who also bore Liszt two other children. Liszt later legitimatized their births; he also provided

Uccello, Paolo

2005-02-18T03:50:00.000-08:00

The standard and most readable and complete work on Uccello (and his followers) in English is John Pope-Hennessy, Paolo Uccello, 2nd ed. (1969). Eve Borsook discusses Uccello's Florentine frescoes in The Mural Painters of Tuscany, from Cimabue to Andrea del Sarto (1960). Uccello's role in the investigation of perspective is mentioned by John White in The Birth and Rebirth of Pictorial Space, 2nd ed. (1967); and this subject is treated more fully by Alessandro Parronchi in Studi su la dolce prospettiva (1964).

Tonga, Relief

2005-02-17T06:46:00.000-08:00

The summit of volcanic undersea mountains forms the two roughly parallel chains of the Tongan islands. Most of the islands of the western chain are classified as high islands because they have been raised well above sea level by repeated volcanic activity. Four of them are still active volcanoes. Some of the islands composed of lava formed by shield volcanoes, such

Ch'ungch'ong, South

2005-02-13T17:32:00.000-08:00

With one-third of its land area under cultivation, South Ch'ungch'ong is one of the best granaries in the country, producing rice, ginseng, tobacco, and peppermint.

Ilesha

2005-02-09T02:38:00.000-08:00

Town, Osun state, southwestern Nigeria. It lies in the Yoruba Hills and at the intersection of roads from Ile-Ife, Oshogbo, and Akure. The town is one of the oldest settlements in Yorubaland—according to tradition, it was founded by an owa (“king”) who was one of the 16 sons of the deity Oduduwa. Ilesha was an important military centre in the campaigns against Ibadan, 60 miles (97 km) west-southwest,

Palate

2005-02-06T18:07:00.000-08:00

The hard palate, which composes two-thirds of the total palate area, is a plate of bone covered by a moist,

Qatar

2005-02-04T04:49:00.000-08:00

The Qatar peninsula is about 100 miles (160 km) from north to south, 50 miles (80 km) from east to west, and is generally rectangular in shape. Most of its area is flat, low-lying desert, which rises from the east to a central limestone plateau; hills rise to about 130 feet (40 metres) along the western and northern coasts. Sand dunes and salt flats, or sabkhahs, are the chief topographical features

Papain

2005-02-02T02:07:00.000-08:00

Enzyme present in the milky juice of the papaya that catalyzes the breakdown of proteins by hydrolysis (addition of a water molecule). Papain is used in biochemical research involving the analysis of proteins, in preparations of various remedies for indigestion, in tenderizing meat, and in enzyme-action cleansing agents for soft contact lenses. A related enzyme

Distribution

2005-02-01T16:51:00.000-08:00

Also called Distribution Of Terms, in syllogistics, the application of a term of a proposition to the entire class that the term denotes. A term is said to be distributed in a given proposition if that proposition implies all other propositions that differ from it only in having, in place of the original term, any other term whose extension is a part of that of the original term—i.e., if, and only if, the term

Peter Ii

2005-01-30T17:21:00.000-08:00

After the death of his father, John IV, in 1656, Peter's

Nicander

2005-01-27T08:28:00.000-08:00

Nicander wrote a number of works in both prose and verse, of which two are preserved. The longest, Theriaca, is a hexameter poem of 958 lines on the nature of

Ramillies, Battle Of

2005-01-26T09:32:00.000-08:00

The battle was fought at the village of Ramillies, 13 miles north of Namur (in modern Belgium), between a 62,000-man Allied army under Marlborough and a 60,000-man

Lagerlöf, Selma

2005-01-24T23:24:00.000-08:00

An illness left her lame for a time, but otherwise her childhood was happy. She was taught at home, then trained in Stockholm as a teacher, and in 1885 went to Landskrona as schoolmistress. There she wrote her first novel, Gösta Berlings

Carnivore, Form and function

2005-01-22T20:26:00.000-08:00

Procyonids are plantigrade

France, History Of, Collective security

2005-01-20T06:26:00.000-08:00

Poincaré, in his final term of office (1926–29), retained as foreign minister Aristide Briand, who had been named to that post by the Cartel in 1925 and who was to remain there for seven years almost without interruption. Briand sensed a change in the public mood after the Ruhr episode and proclaimed himself “the apostle of peace”; he formulated a policy that he called apaisement. His

Puerto Cortés

2005-01-17T21:47:00.000-08:00

City, northwestern Honduras, situated on the Gulf of Honduras. It is backed by Alvarado Lagoon and extends for 2 miles (3 km) along the southern shore of Caballos Point. Puerto Cortés serves as the seaport for San Pedro Sula and the Sula Valley. The town was founded in 1524 as Puerto Caballos, just to the south across Cortés Bay, but was moved and had its name changed to Puerto

Eugenius Iii, Blessed

2005-01-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

Possibly a member of the family Paganelli di Montemagno, he was a disciple of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and a Cistercian abbot of the monastery of SS. Vincent and Anastasius when he was elected on February 15. Eugenius, like others of western Europe, was shocked by the fall of Edessa, the capital of the first

Furtwangen

2005-01-14T06:21:00.000-08:00

City, Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany, in the upper valley of the Breg River, in the Black Forest (Schwarzwald), northeast of Freiburg im Breisgau. First mentioned in 1179, it was a possession of the abbey of St. George until it passed to Baden in 1806. It was chartered in 1873. Furtwangen has been a centre of the Black Forest clock industry since 1740 and has a clock museum.

Houston, Whitney

2005-01-11T21:46:00.000-08:00

The daughter of Emily (“Cissy”) Houston—whose vocal group, the Sweet Inspirations, sang backup for Aretha Franklin—and the cousin of singer Dionne Warwick, Whitney Houston began singing in church as a child. While still

Avon, River

2005-01-10T15:53:00.000-08:00

With a drainage area

Wage-price Control:

2005-01-07T17:33:00.000-08:00

Setting of government guidelines for limiting increases in wages and prices. It is a principal tool in incomes policy (q.v.).

World War I, The war at sea, 191415

2005-01-06T20:07:00.000-08:00

In August 1914 Great Britain, with 29 capital ships ready and 13 under construction, and Germany, with 18 and nine, were the two great rival sea powers. Neither of them at first wanted a direct confrontation: the British were chiefly concerned with the protection of their trade routes; the Germans hoped that mines and submarine attacks would gradually destroy Great Britain's numerical

Amakihi

2005-01-03T05:25:00.000-08:00

(Loxops virens), perhaps the most common native songbird in Hawaii, a member of the Hawaiian honeycreeper family, Drepanididae (order Passeriformes). It is 12 cm (5 inches) long, with yellow body, black eye-mark, and rather short, slightly curved bill. It feeds on insects and small fruits in brushland and forest, and it has mewing and trilling calls.

Belarus, Flag Of

2005-01-01T14:49:00.000-08:00

The Slavic peoples of what is now Belarus were in the past ruled by Prussia, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. Consequently no distinctive national symbols were developed until the 20th century, when for the first time Belarus became independent. With the breakup of the Russian Empire near the end of World War I, a Belarusian state existed briefly. Its first flag was plain

New Iberia

2004-12-31T04:08:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1868) of Iberia parish, southern Louisiana, U.S., on Bayou Teche (connected via canal with the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway), 23 miles (37 km) southeast of Lafayette. Founded in the late 18th century by French, Spanish, and Acadian settlers, it was laid out in 1835. It was first called Iberia, the ancient name for Spain, but the name was changed when the parish was created. The city was occupied

Abel, Sir Frederick Augustus

2004-12-29T16:44:00.000-08:00

English chemist and explosives specialist who, with the chemist Sir James Dewar, invented cordite (1889), later adopted as the standard explosive of the British army. Abel also made studies of dust explosions in coal mines, invented a device for testing the flash point of petroleum, and found a way to prevent guncotton from

Abel, Sir Frederick Augustus

2004-12-27T07:26:00.000-08:00

In analytical chemistry, a technique for identifying and quantitatively analyzing the chemical composition of substances by observing the thermal behaviour of a sample as it is heated. The technique is based on the fact that as a substance is heated, it undergoes reactions and phase changes that involve absorption or emission of heat. In DTA the temperature of

Wait

2004-12-24T19:36:00.000-08:00

An English town watchman or public musician who sounded the hours of the night. In the later Middle Ages the waits were night watchmen, who sounded horns or even played tunes to mark the hours. In the 15th and 16th centuries waits developed into bands of itinerant musicians who paraded the streets at night at Christmas time. From the early 16th century, London and all the chief

'amarah, Al-

2004-12-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Iraq. Situated on a low ridge beside the Tigris River, it is Iraq's chief port on that waterway south of Baghdad. It is a trade centre for agricultural produce, livestock, wool, and hides and is known for weaving and silverware. In World War I it was captured by the British during their 1915 Mesopotamia campaign. Before 1958, al-'Amarah was an outstanding example of

Hilarion, Saint

2004-12-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

Most knowledge about Hilarion derives from a semi-legendary and rhetorically embellished account of his life written about 391 by the Latin biblical scholar St. Jerome, using material by Bishop Epiphanius

Akranes

2004-12-19T02:47:00.000-08:00

Town, western Iceland. It is situated along Faxa Bay, at the tip of a peninsula between Borgar and Hval fjords. A fishing port and local market centre, it is connected by road to Reykjavík, 20 miles (32 km) southeast. Akranes is the site of one of Iceland's largest cement plants. Pop. (1992 est.) 5,272.

Spraying And Dusting

2004-12-17T04:14:00.000-08:00

In agriculture, the standard methods of applying pest-control chemicals and other compounds. In spraying, the chemicals to be applied are dissolved or suspended in water or, less commonly, in an oil-based carrier. The mixture is then applied as a fine mist to plants, animals, soils, or products to be treated. In dusting, as an alternative method, dry, finely powdered chemicals

China, The empire

2004-12-15T05:21:00.000-08:00

Shih huang-ti made a number of important reforms. He abolished the feudal system completely and extended

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler

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

Ella Wheeler from an early age was an avid reader of popular literature, especially the novels of E.D.E.N. Southworth, Mary Jane Holmes, and Ouida

Aelle

2004-12-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Aella, or Aelli Anglo-Saxon ruler who is credited with the foundation of the kingdom of the South Saxons, or Sussex. Aelle is said to have landed near Selsey Bill (in modern West Sussex, Eng.) in 477. He immediately made war on the Britons, and in 491 he and his son Cissa massacred a British garrison at the former Roman fort of Anderida (modern Pevensey, East Sussex). His subsequent fate is

France, History Of, Gaul under the late Roman Empire (c. 250c. 400)

2004-12-09T19:42:00.000-08:00

High Roman Gaul came to an end in an empirewide crisis characterized by foreign invasions and a rapid succession of rulers, as increased pressure on the empire's frontiers exacerbated its internal economic and political weaknesses. Priority was given to holding the Danube and the East; despite sporadic visits by emperors, the West was neglected. In 260 and 276 Gaul suffered

Cela, Camilo José

2004-12-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

In full Camilo José Cela Trulock Spanish writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1989. He is perhaps best known for his novel La familia de Pascual Duarte (1942; The Family of Pascual Duarte) and is considered to have given new life to Spanish literature. His literary production—primarily novels, short narratives, and travel diaries—is characterized by experimentation

Turbine

2004-12-05T10:37:00.000-08:00

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

Madox, Thomas

2004-12-03T19:31:00.000-08:00

Madox studied common law (though not called to the bar) and was clerk in the office of the Exchequer, later working in the augmentation

Seligman, Edwin Robert Anderson

2004-11-30T15:01:00.000-08:00

Seligman was the son of a New York banker and had the distinction of being tutored by Horatio Alger. He was educated at Columbia University (Ph.D., 1885) and in Germany and France. Seligman served as professor of political economy at Columbia for 40 years (1891–1931). On his retirement he was chief

Pacific Ocean, Western region

2004-11-28T04:55:00.000-08:00

The seaward boundary of the western region is marked by a broken line of oceanic trenches, extending from the Aleutian Trench in the north through the Kuril and Japan trenches and southward to the Tonga and Kermadec trenches, terminating close to the northeast of North Island, New Zealand. Its structure is more complex than that of the eastern region. Characteristically

Pendergast, Thomas J(oseph)

2004-11-26T03:36:00.000-08:00

Pendergast went to Kansas City in 1893, where he learned the rudiments of municipal politics from precinct captains and where, by 1916, he had become political boss of Kansas

Ibn Tibbon, Samuel Ben Judah

2004-11-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

From his father, Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon, Samuel received a thorough grounding in medicine, Jewish law and lore,

Korfball

2004-11-23T16:10:00.000-08:00

Game similar to netball and basketball, invented in 1901 by an Amsterdam schoolmaster, Nico Broekhuysen. It was first demonstrated in The Netherlands in 1902 and was played on an international level, primarily in Europe, by the 1970s. It was devised as a game for both sexes. A national association was formed in 1903, and the game spread to Belgium, Indonesia, Suriname, Germany, Spain, New Guinea,

Ear, Human, Analysis of sound by the auditory nervous system

2004-11-20T05:14:00.000-08:00

Evidence of orderly spatial representations of the organ of Corti at the lower levels of the auditory pathway has been reported by many investigators. These patterns seem to be in accord with the place theory of the cochlear analysis of sound. Physiological evidence of tuning of the auditory system also has been obtained by recording with the electrical potentials

Epi

2004-11-18T01:26:00.000-08:00

Formerly Tasiko, or Volcano, island of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Volcanic in origin, it is 27 mi (43 km) long and 11 mi wide, with an area of 171 sq mi (444 sq km), and rises to 2,733 ft (833 m). Although it is fertile, Epi's copra plantations are deteriorating. There is a Presbyterian hospital at Vaémali, on the north coast. Pop. (1979 prelim.) 2,304.

Kerosine

2004-11-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

Kerosine accounts for between 10 and 25 percent of the total volume of crude petroleum. It is

Aldehyde

2004-11-15T23:10:00.000-08:00

The carbonyl group is highly polar. That is to say, it exhibits an uneven distribution of electrons, which renders the oxygen

Mason, James Murray

2004-11-12T23:53:00.000-08:00

Although raised a Tidewater aristocrat, Mason graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and, after studying law at the College of William and Mary, set up his practice in the Virginia back country. He served in

Toynbee Hall

2004-11-11T04:07:00.000-08:00

Pioneering social settlement in the East End of London. It was founded on Commercial Street, Whitechapel (now in Tower Hamlets), in 1884 by the canon Samuel Augustus Barnett and named for the 19th-century English social reformer Arnold Toynbee. During his early years at St. Jude's Church, Barnett invited members of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge to the impoverished

Saki

2004-11-08T18:42:00.000-08:00

Any of seven species of arboreal South American monkeys having long nonprehensile furred tails. The “true” sakis of the genus Pithecia are approximately 30–50 cm (12–20 inches) long, not including the bushy, tapering tail of 25–55 cm. Females generally weigh less than 2 kg (4.4 pounds) and males more than 2 kg. These sakis are covered with long, coarse hair that falls like a hood

Romans-sur-isère

2004-11-06T11:01:00.000-08:00

Town, Drôme département, Rhône-Alpes region, southeastern France. It lies along the north bank of the Isère River, northeast of Valence. Founded in the 9th century, Romans-sur-Isère was the scene of the transfer of Dauphiné to France by the dauphin Humbert II (1349) and of the last meeting of the Estates of Dauphiné (December 1788), on the eve of the French Revolution. Its 12th-century Romanesque

Ibex

2004-11-04T11:52:00.000-08:00

Any of several surefooted, sturdy wild goats of the genus Capra, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla), found in the mountains of Europe, Asia, and northeastern Africa. The European, or Alpine, ibex (C. ibex ibex) is typical. It stands about 90 cm (3 feet) at the shoulder and has brownish gray fur, darker on the underparts. The male has a beard and large, semicircular horns with broad, transversely

Mountbatten (of Burma), Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl, Viscount Mountbatten Of Burma, Baron Romsey Of Romsey

2004-11-03T00:38:00.000-08:00

He was the

Vaughan, Frankie

2004-11-01T20:07:00.000-08:00

British theatre and cabaret singer who was one of the most popular romantic crooners of the 1950s through the '90s; darkly handsome and elegantly dressed, “Mr. Moonlight” (as he was known from his signature tune, “Give Me the Moonlight”) also appeared on television in Britain, the U.S., and across Europe and in motion pictures, notably in a musical number with Marilyn Monroe in Let's

Vanadic Anhydride

2004-10-29T04:42:00.000-07:00

Vanadium pentoxide, a compound of vanadium and oxygen widely used as an oxidation catalyst, as in the oxidation of unburned hydrocarbons in automobile exhaust (see vanadium).

Wright, Warren

2004-10-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

Wright was educated in public schools and in business college and, starting in 1890, worked for more than 25 years in the firm that his father had founded, the Calumet Baking Powder Company in Chicago. He succeeded to its presidency

Eleazar Ben Azariah

2004-10-25T02:59:00.000-07:00

Eleazar was a wealthy, learned, and highly esteemed resident of Jabneh who traced his descent through Ezra, the legendary spiritual leader of Palestine. He served

William The Aetheling

2004-10-24T16:53:00.000-07:00

In successful battles in Normandy and France, Henry I forced the Norman barons to give homage to

Bonaventure, Saint

2004-10-22T02:14:00.000-07:00

He was a son of Giovanni of Fidanza, a physician, and Maria

Soria

2004-10-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

Province, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Castile-León, north-central Spain. Formed from part of Old Castile in 1833, it has an area of 3,972 square miles (10,287 square km). The terrain is varied: to the north are the Moncayo and Urbión mountain ranges; in the centre, around Soria city, the provincial capital, is a flat plain watered by the Duero (Portuguese: Douro) River; and

Platinum Group, Assaying

2004-10-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

Assaying ores and concentrates for platinum-group metals is extremely difficult, since the concentration of any particular metal may be less than one part per million. Initial concentration is achieved by fire assay. The assay bead is dissolved in aqua regia and the metals separated and concentrated, often by solvent extraction. Dissolution of the bead is complicated

Wollstonecraft, Mary

2004-10-16T05:59:00.000-07:00

The daughter of a farmer, Wollstonecraft taught school and worked as a governess, experiences that inspired her views in Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787). In 1788 she began working as a translator for the London publisher James Johnson, who published

Bingerville

2004-10-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

Town, southeastern Côte d'Ivoire, on the Ébrié Lagoon. Named for Captain Louis-Gustave Binger, first governor of the French Ivory Coast colony, the town was the colonial capital from 1900 to 1934. Formerly a trade centre among the Ebrie (Kyama) people, it is now the site of agricultural research stations for oil palm, coffee and cacao, and livestock. Pineapples and avocados are among

Turks And Caicos Islands, Cultural life

2004-10-11T05:55:00.000-07:00

Water sports—sailing, big game fishing, and, especially, scuba diving among the coral reefs—are popular and attract tourists to the islands. Radio and satellite-cable television are available. Publications include the Turks and Caicos News (weekly) and Conch News (weekly).

Espino, Héctor

2004-10-09T21:15:00.000-07:00

Espino started playing in the outfield but switched

Alaska, Political growth

2004-10-07T11:26:00.000-07:00

As a U.S. possession Alaska was governed by military commanders for the War Department until 1877. During these years there was little internal development, but a salmon cannery built in 1878 was the beginning of what became the largest salmon industry in the world. In 1884 Congress established Alaska as a judicial land district, federal district courts were established, and a

Chan-chiang

2004-10-05T14:50:00.000-07:00

Originally Chan-chiang was a minor fishing port in the area dominated by the city of Hai-k'ang (Lei-chou), some 22 miles (35 km) to the southwest, and at one time harboured a notorious

Latin-american Literature, Vanguard literature

2004-10-05T03:00:00.000-07:00

When the Modernist leaders Darío and Lugones turned to frequent use of more traditional forms and especially to themes dealing with the troubled external world, their followers and many younger poets continued to explore the complex versification and language and new thematic sources with which Modernism had enriched Hispanic poetry. Prominent among them

France, History Of, The Frondes

2004-10-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

The years of Louis XIV's minority were dominated by the Frondes, a series of civil disturbances that lasted from 1648 to 1653. The government's financial difficulties were once more at the root of the trouble. In the first few years of the regency a variety of expedients were tried to raise additional revenue for the war with Spain. There was about these expedients an air of arbitrariness

38th Parallel

2004-10-02T03:08:00.000-07:00

Parallel of latitude that in East Asia roughly demarcates North and South Korea. The line was chosen by U.S. military planners at the Potsdam Conference, in July 1945, as an army boundary, north of which the U.S.S.R. was to accept the surrender of the Japanese forces in Korea and south of which the Americans were to accept the Japanese surrender. The line was intended as a temporary

Biblical Literature, Philosophical solutions

2004-09-30T10:13:00.000-07:00

Solutions were also sought in philosophy. Socrates, a 5th-century-BC Greek philosopher, was largely concerned with the search for the “good,” the good life. After Plato and Aristotle, however, philosophical systems sought to supply man's longing for inward security and stability. These were sought not by an in-depth understanding of reality but by ad hoc constructions—a

Wells, Emmeline Blanche Woodward

2004-09-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

Emmeline Woodward followed her widowed mother in converting to Mormonism in 1842. She moved with her first husband to the Mormon settlement of Nauvoo, Illinois,

Dispersion

2004-09-28T17:05:00.000-07:00

In wave motion, any phenomenon associated with the propagation of individual waves at speeds that depend on their wavelengths. Ocean waves, for example, move at speeds proportional to the square root of their wavelengths; these speeds vary from a few feet per second for ripples to hundreds of miles per hour for tsunamis. A wave of light has a speed in a transparent medium

Down

2004-09-28T04:54:00.000-07:00

Irish An Dún district, Northern Ireland. Formerly within County Down, Down was established in 1973 as a district covering 249 square miles (646 square km) on Northern Ireland's eastern coast, fronting Strangford Lough (inlet of the sea) and the Irish Sea. It is bordered by the districts of Ards to the north; Castlereagh, Lisburn, and Banbridge to the west; and Newry and Mourne to the south. Extreme

Xhosa Language

2004-09-27T23:26:00.000-07:00

Xhosa also spelled Xosa a Bantu language spoken by seven million people in South Africa, especially in Eastern province. Xhosa is a member of the Southeastern, or Nguni, subgroup of the Bantu group of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Other Southeastern Bantu languages are Zulu, Swati (Swazi), Sotho, Tswana, Venda, and Ndebele. Although Xhosa and Zulu are similar enough

Arran, James Hamilton, 3rd Earl Of

2004-09-25T16:52:00.000-07:00

Earl of Arran who was twice considered as a husband both for Mary Stuart and for Henry VIII's daughter Elizabeth (afterward Elizabeth I). During his childhood these projects arose from his father's ambitions; later, when he had returned from commanding the Scots guards in France (1554–59) and had joined the lords of the congregation, the Protestants proposed him as suitor

Ibrahim Müteferrika

2004-09-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

A Hungarian by origin, Ibrahim converted to Islam and entered the Ottoman diplomatic service. He took

Great Dividing Range

2004-09-24T13:52:00.000-07:00

Also called Great Divide, Eastern Highlands, or Eastern Cordillera, main watershed of eastern Australia; it comprises a series of plateaus and mountain ranges roughly paralleling the coasts of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria for 2,300 miles (3,700 km). Geologically and topographically complex, the range begins in the north on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Within that state the ranges' average elevation is 2,000–3,000 feet (600–900 m), but they rise as high

Abu Dhabi

2004-09-22T02:21:00.000-07:00

Arabic Abu Zaby, town, capital of Abu Dhabi emirate, one of the United Arab Emirates (formerly Trucial States, or Trucial Oman), and the national capital of that federation. The town occupies most of a small triangular island of the same name, just off the Persian Gulf coast and connected to the mainland by a short bridge. Abu Dhabi was formerly an undeveloped town of only local importance,

Sabará

2004-09-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

City, east-central Minas Gerais state, Brazil, on the Velhas River, east of Belo Horizonte, the state capital, at 2,313 feet (705 m) above sea level. Made a seat of a municipality in 1711, it was elevated to city status in 1838. Cobblestone streets, colonial buildings, and a gold-mining museum attest to Sabará's former eminence as a mining centre. A spinning and weaving factory and other industrial

Fu

2004-09-15T05:27:00.000-07:00

Wade-Giles romanization fu type of Chinese bronze vessel used as a food container, it was produced largely from the middle Zhou period (c. 900–c. 600 BC) through the Warring States period (475–221 BC). Rectangular in shape and divided into two parts, the vessel was supported by angular feet at each corner; the lid was almost a duplicate of the bottom (in principle much like the dui). In ancient documents the vessel was also

Pinchot, Gifford

2004-09-14T00:50:00.000-07:00

Pinchot graduated from Yale in 1889 and studied at the National Forestry School in Nancy, France, and in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. Upon his return home in 1892, he began the first systematic forestry work in the United States at Biltmore, the estate of George W. Vanderbilt,

Toastmaster's Glass

2004-09-10T23:27:00.000-07:00

English glass about the size of an ordinary drinking glass but with only about one-quarter of its capacity; the glass creates the illusion of being full by means of a depression in its bowl, which in fact is almost solid. It owed its origin to the clubs of 18th-century England, where the toastmaster had to remain sober enough to carry out his office.

Insurance, Property insurance

2004-09-07T02:52:00.000-07:00

Two main types of contracts—homeowner's and commercial—have been developed to insure against loss from accidental destruction of property. These contracts (or forms) typically are divided into three or four parts: insuring agreements, identification of covered property, conditions and stipulations, and exclusions.

Cloud-scraper

2004-09-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

Any of certain birds of the genus Cisticola. See cisticola.

Cygnaeus, Uno

2004-09-04T06:09:00.000-07:00

Graduating from the gymnasium (secondary school) at Tavastehus in 1827, Cygnaeus attended the University of Helsingfors, becoming Filosofie Magister there in 1836. He then spent two years as assistant pastor and prison chaplain at Viborg, simultaneously teaching in a private

Gobi, Physiography

2004-09-01T05:12:00.000-07:00

The Ka-shun Gobi is bounded by the spurs of the Tien Shan to the west and the Pei Mountains to the south and rises to elevations as high as 5,000 feet (1,524 metres). It is gently corrugated, with a complex labyrinth of wide

BlueBrake

Pittsfield

Exercise, Overall conditioning

Jablonski, Daniel Ernst

Parade

Biblical Literature, The fall of Israel

Peter Ii

Torbay

Shilluk

Palatka

Palatka

Dietary Law

Aesthetics, Expressionism

Wagner, Cosima

Uccello, Paolo

Tonga, Relief

Ch'ungch'ong, South

Ilesha

Palate

Qatar

Papain

Distribution

Peter Ii

Nicander

Ramillies, Battle Of

Lagerlöf, Selma

Carnivore, Form and function

France, History Of, Collective security

Puerto Cortés

Eugenius Iii, Blessed

Furtwangen

Houston, Whitney

Avon, River

Wage-price Control:

World War I, The war at sea, 191415

Amakihi

Belarus, Flag Of

New Iberia

Abel, Sir Frederick Augustus

Abel, Sir Frederick Augustus

Wait

'amarah, Al-

Hilarion, Saint

Akranes

Spraying And Dusting

China, The empire

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler

Aelle

France, History Of, Gaul under the late Roman Empire (c. 250c. 400)

Cela, Camilo José

Turbine

Madox, Thomas

Seligman, Edwin Robert Anderson

Pacific Ocean, Western region

Pendergast, Thomas J(oseph)

Ibn Tibbon, Samuel Ben Judah

Korfball

Ear, Human, Analysis of sound by the auditory nervous system

Epi

Kerosine

Aldehyde

Mason, James Murray

Toynbee Hall

Saki

Romans-sur-isère

Ibex

Mountbatten (of Burma), Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl, Viscount Mountbatten Of Burma, Baron Romsey Of Romsey

Vaughan, Frankie

Vanadic Anhydride

Wright, Warren

Eleazar Ben Azariah

William The Aetheling

Bonaventure, Saint

Soria

Platinum Group, Assaying

Wollstonecraft, Mary

Bingerville

Turks And Caicos Islands, Cultural life

Espino, Héctor

Alaska, Political growth

World War I, The war at sea, 191415

France, History Of, Gaul under the late Roman Empire (c. 250c. 400)