ElectricPrison

Ren Essential Moroccan Rose Oil

2006-12-07T00:10:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most amazing natural bath oils I have used. It is a rich, sensuous and luxurious. Only a small amount of the Moroccan Otto Rose Oil in the bath will fill the room with this incredible smell. This rose oil really penetrates the skin during the bath leaving it soft as silk and with the beatiful scent of the rose oil

Fabiola, Saint

2005-04-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

After her conversion to Christianity, she worked closely with St. Jerome, dedicating her wealth and life to the church. In addition to the hospital founded in Rome, she later founded, with St. Pammachius, a hospice for pilgrims at Porto, Italy,

Mela, Pomponius

2005-04-04T05:51:00.000-07:00

Author of the only ancient treatise on geography in classical Latin, De situ orbis (“A Description of the World”), also known as De chorographia (“Concerning Chorography”). Written about AD 43 or 44, it remained influential until the beginning of the age of exploration, 13 centuries later. Though probably intended for the general reader, Mela's geography was cited by Pliny the Elder

Congé D'élire

2005-04-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

English permission to elect formal message conveying the English sovereign's permission for the dean and chapter of the cathedral of a vacant bishopric to proceed in regular chapter to a new election. Before the Norman Conquest (1066) it was the king's prerogative to appoint bishops to vacant sees. This came to be contested by the popes, though the sovereign usually was able to secure the appointment

Nova Scotia, Industries

2005-04-01T05:02:00.000-08:00

Mining is another major industry in Nova Scotia. Coal is the leading mined product, and some 70 percent of the province's energy needs are met through thermal coal. Salt and anhydrite production also meet a wide demand, and the provincial gypsum deposits yield 75 percent of Canada's supply. There are also significant supplies of barite and construction materials, such

Biblical Literature, The Letter of Paul to the Colossians

2005-03-30T23:04:00.000-08:00

Colossians presents the problem of having, on the one hand, numerous (though superficial) affinities with the circumstances of the Letter of Paul to Philemon while, on the other hand, being addressed mainly to a different situation. In this new situation he uses ideas and expressions that seem to be rather a development of Pauline ideas about the cosmic realm than

Suffren De Saint-tropez, Pierre André De

2005-03-30T06:33:00.000-08:00

A Knight of Malta, Suffren de Saint-Tropez served under Admiral C.H. d'Estaing in America and was sent to assist French military operations in India in 1781. In a remarkable series of engagements with British Admiral

Talavera De La Reina

2005-03-29T15:47:00.000-08:00

Town, Toledo provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Castile-La Mancha, central Spain, on the northern bank of the Tagus River near its confluence with the Alberche. The town originated as the Roman Caesarobriga and was conquered by King Alfonso VI in 1082. Alfonso XI gave it to his queen, Maria of Portugal, whence its appellation de la Reina (“of the

Cozzi Porcelain

2005-03-28T01:35:00.000-08:00

Soft-paste porcelain made in Venice by Geminiano Cozzi from about 1764 to 1812. Cozzi products, often freely adapted versions of Meissen porcelain, consisted mainly of figures, vases, and tablewares with Rococo decoration that was frequently distinguished by an imaginative interpretation wholly Italian in style. Rich colours, including red, bluish purple, and emerald

Maxwell's Equations

2005-03-27T22:28:00.000-08:00

The statements of these four equations are, respectively: (1) electric field

Gable, Clark

2005-03-26T22:26:00.000-08:00

The only son of an itinerant oil-field worker, Gable embarked on an acting career while in his early 20s

U2

2005-03-25T05:43:00.000-08:00

Irish postpunk band that by the end of the 1980s had established itself not only as one of the world's most popular bands but also as one of the most innovative. The members are Bono (byname of Paul Hewson; b. May 10, 1960, Dublin, Ireland), the Edge (byname of David Evans; b. August 8, 1961, Barking, Essex [now in Greater London], England), Adam Clayton (b. March 13, 1960, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England), and Larry Mullen,

Jam Master Jay

2005-03-25T02:28:00.000-08:00

American rap musician and producer (b. Jan. 21, 1965, New York, N.Y.—d. Oct. 30, 2002, New York City), was a member of Run-D.M.C., the first rap group to attract a worldwide audience. Jam Master Jay teamed with Joe (“Run”) Simmons and Darryl (“D.M.C.”) McDaniels to form the group in the early 1980s. The trio's debut album, Run-D.M.C. (1984), featuring the hit singles “It's like That” and “Sucker MCs,” became the first rap album to attain gold

Itami

2005-03-22T17:48:00.000-08:00

City, Hyogo ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies along the Fukuchiyama railway line, 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Osaka. Itami was a castle town from the 13th to the 16th century and became a major sake-brewing centre in the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). The opening of the railway and the construction of company-owned housing made Itami a residential suburb of the Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area. The

Muhavura

2005-03-22T02:22:00.000-08:00

Also called Volcan Muhabura, extinct volcano at the easternmost end of the Virunga Mountains in east central Africa. It lies northeast of Lake Kivu on the border between Uganda and Rwanda. It is more than 13,500 ft high, and its crater contains a lake. The volcano forms part of the Virunga National Park, which is the home of the mountain gorilla.

Paschasius Radbertus, Saint

2005-03-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

Abandoned as an infant, Paschasius was raised by the monks of St. Peter's, Soissons. Later, he joined the Benedictine abbey of Corbie, near Amiens, under St. Adalhard

Saigon, Treaty Of

2005-03-20T09:11:00.000-08:00

Under the terms of the agreement, the French received Saigon and three of the southern provinces of Cochinchina, the opening of three ports to trade, freedom of missionary

Moser-pröll, Annemarie

2005-03-19T17:50:00.000-08:00

Pröll skied from the age of four. She tried out for the Austrian national ski team at the age of 15. Her Olympic Winter Games success came late. She won silver medals for the downhill and the giant slalom at the 1972 Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan,

Pantheism, Buddhist doctrines

2005-03-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

Some 600 years after Buddha, a new and more speculative school of Buddhism arose to challenge the 18 or 20 schools of Buddhism then in existence. One of the early representatives of this new school, which came to be known as Mahayana (Sanskrit “Greater Vehicle”) Buddhism, was Asvaghosa. Like Sankara (whom he antedated by 700 years), Asvaghosa not only distinguished between the pure Absolute

China, Political developments

2005-03-19T05:49:00.000-08:00

The socialist transformation of agriculture, industry, and commerce thus went relatively smoothly. Nevertheless, changes of this sort could not take place without considerable tensions. Many peasants streamed into the cities in 1956–57 to escape the new cooperatives and to seek employment in the rapidly expanding state-run factories, where government policy kept

Religion

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

In February 1998 Susan Aranoff of Agunah Inc., on behalf of her organization, encouraged several leading rabbis in New York City to find an acceptable solution to the growing problem of agunahs. According to Jewish law, a woman whose husband is alive may not remarry until

Jacobin Club

2005-03-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

The Jacobins originated as the Club Breton at Versailles, where the deputies from Brittany to the Estates-General (later the National Assembly) of 1789 met with deputies from other parts

Bar

2005-03-14T10:15:00.000-08:00

Port in Montenegro, Yugoslavia, on the Adriatic Sea. It is the principal port of the Yugoslav federation and the only maritime outlet for the landlocked republic of Serbia. The current city is known as Novi (“New”) Bar. Stari (“Old”) Bar's ruins lie farther inland at the base of Mount Rumija. Stari Bar was first mentioned in the 9th century, when it came under the control of the Byzantine

Earth Exploration

2005-03-14T02:15:00.000-08:00

Geophysical

Seni Pramoj, Mom Rajawong

2005-03-14T01:23:00.000-08:00

Thai diplomat and politician whose refusal to honour Japanese demands that he deliver a Thai declaration of war against the U.S. and the U.K. during World War II kept the U.S. from attacking Thailand and gained U.S. aid in organizing resistance forces (b. May 26, 1905--d. July 28, 1997).

Wilkes, John

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

Outspoken 18th-century journalist and popular London politician who came to be regarded as a victim of persecution and as a champion of liberty because he was repeatedly expelled from Parliament. His widespread popular support may have been the beginning of English Radicalism.

Production, Theory Of

2005-03-13T08:06:00.000-08:00

In economics, an effort to explain the principles by which a business firm decides how much of each commodity that it sells (its “outputs” or “products”) it will produce, and how much of each kind of labour, raw material, fixed capital good, etc., that it employs (its “inputs” or “factors of production”) it will use. The theory involves some of the most fundamental principles of economics.

Manakara

2005-03-13T06:06:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern Madagascar. It is situated along the Indian Ocean and the Pangalanes Canal. An old fishing village, it became a thriving Indian Ocean port after a railway was constructed connecting it to Fianarantsoa (75 miles [120 km] northwest). Now it handles the coastal trade of coffee and cloves, and it has workshops serving the railway. Pop. (1978 est.) 26,000.

Hanafiyah

2005-03-11T02:53:00.000-08:00

Also called Madhhab Hanifah , English Hanafites in Islam, one of the four Sunni schools of religious law, incorporating the legal opinions of the ancient Iraqi schools of al-Kufah and Basra. Hanafi legal thought (madhhab) developed from the teachings of the theologian Imam Abu Hanifah (c. 700–767) by such disciples as Abu Yusuf (d. 798) and Muhammad ash-Shaybani (749/750–805) and became the official system of Islamic legal interpretation of the 'Abbasids, Seljuqs

Abu 'ali Mustafa

2005-03-10T07:58:00.000-08:00

Born Mustafa al-Zibri, he later took the nom de guerre Abu 'Ali Mustafa. As a young man he joined George Habash's Arab National Movement,

Ram Das

2005-03-10T07:50:00.000-08:00

Ram Das continued as Guru (1574–81) the missionary endeavour begun by his predecessor, Amar Das. On land given to him by the Mughal emperor Akbar, he built a holy tank, or pool; then, wishing to build a community around it, he invited businessmen and

Earth Sciences

2005-03-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

Locatelli, Pietro

2005-03-08T05:11:00.000-08:00

In full Pietro Antonio Locatelli Italian violinist and composer, one of the first great violinists who practiced virtuosity for virtuosity's sake, thereby extending the technical vocabulary of the violin. He is perhaps best known for his L'Arte del violino, a group of 12 violin concerti issued with 24 capriccios ad libitum for

Mathews, Shailer

2005-03-07T02:37:00.000-08:00

Educated at Colby College, Waterville, Maine; Newton Theological Institution, Newton, Mass.; and the University of Berlin, Mathews taught at Colby

National Monument

2005-03-06T01:21:00.000-08:00

In 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt established the first national

Ga

2005-03-05T08:02:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Gan, or Gã, people of the southeast coast of Ghana, speaking a dialect of the Kwa branch of Niger-Congo languages. The Ga are descended from immigrants who came down the Niger River and across the Volta during the 17th century. The Ga-speaking peoples were organized into six independent towns (Accra, Osu, Labadi, Teshi, Nungua, and Tema). Each town had a stool, which served as the central

Azov

2005-03-04T14:20:00.000-08:00

Formerly Azak, or Tana, town, Rostov oblast (province), southwestern Russia. It lies on the left bank of the Don River, 4 miles (7 km) east of the Sea of Azov. The Greek colony of Tanais, the first known major city in the region, was founded there in the 6th century BC. It changed hands and was renamed several times over the ensuing centuries. It became the Genoese colony of Tana (established 1316–22), which in 1471 was captured

Anthropology

2005-03-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

The discovery of fossil evidence in Ethiopia supporting the evolutionary divergence of humans and apes roughly 4.5 million to 6 million years ago, long predicted on the basis of molecular evidence, was announced in 1994. Consisting of teeth, jaw fragments, a skull base, and an arm, the fossils were classified as a new species of hominid, Australopithecus ramidus. The bones, which

Indio

2005-03-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

City, Riverside county, southern California, U.S., in the Coachella Valley, between Palm Springs (northwest) and the Salton Sea (southeast). Founded (1876) as Indian Wells, on the site of Palte-Wat Indian village by the Southern Pacific Railroad, it was later renamed Indio (Spanish: Indian). In the 1850s local artesian wells were utilized for irrigation and C.P. Huntington, president of

Eadwig

2005-03-02T11:33:00.000-08:00

Early historical sources are biased against Eadwig. According to one writer, he hated the great monastic reformer Dunstan because he made Eadwig return to his coronation

Vytautas The Great

2005-03-02T03:05:00.000-08:00

Vytautas was the son of Kestutis, who for years had waged a struggle with his brother Algirdas

Zambezi River

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

Also spelled Zambesi, river draining a large portion of south-central Africa. Together with its tributaries, it forms the fourth largest river basin of the continent. The river flows eastward for about 2,200 miles (3,540 kilometres) from its source on the Central African Plateau to empty into the Indian Ocean. With its tributaries, it drains an area of more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 square kilometres). The Zambezi

Kuala Kangsar

2005-02-28T19:05:00.000-08:00

Town, northwestern West Malaysia (Malaya). It lies along the Perak River and the main west coast road and rail network. It was the site (1897) of the first conference of rulers of the Federated Malay States. Now a collecting centre for a rice- and rubber-growing area (the first rubber trees cultivated in Malaya were planted there), Kuala Kangsar is the royal town of Perak state with

Afghan Hound

2005-02-28T17:31:00.000-08:00

The Afghan hound hunts by sight and, in its native Afghanistan, has been

Wildenvey, Herman

2005-02-27T06:11:00.000-08:00

When in 1904 the steamer Norge wrecked on a trip to the United States, with 600 or more passengers aboard, Wildenvey was among the few who survived. After returning to Norway from three years in America, where he had studied

Dante

2005-02-27T05:05:00.000-08:00

Dante's years of exile were years of difficult peregrinations from one place to another—as he himself repeatedly says, most effectively in Paradiso [XVII], in Cacciaguida's moving lamentation that “bitter is the taste of another man's bread and . . . heavy the way up and down another man's stair.” Throughout his exile Dante nevertheless was sustained by work on his great poem,

Carlota

2005-02-26T13:19:00.000-08:00

The only daughter of Leopold I, king of the Belgians, and Princess Louise of Orléans, Carlota married at age 17 the archduke Maximilian, brother of the emperor Francis Joseph of Austria. They lived as the Austrian regents in Milan until 1859, when Austria lost control of Lombardy. In 1864 she accompanied

Sri Lanka, Recreation

2005-02-25T23:18:00.000-08:00

The sites of ancient cities and other religiocultural centres such as Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Polonnaruwa, Kandy, Kataragama, and Adam's Peak attract thousands of tourists

Maudslay, Henry

2005-02-25T10:17:00.000-08:00

The son of a workman at the Woolwich Arsenal, Maudslay was apprenticed to Joseph Bramah, who manufactured locks. Maudslay soon became Bramah's foreman, but, when refused an increase in pay, he left to go into business for himself. His first job was construction of machinery

Cambisol

2005-02-24T18:16:00.000-08:00

One of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Cambisols are characterized by the absence of a layer of accumulated clay, humus, soluble salts, or iron and aluminum oxides. They differ from unweathered parent material in their aggregate structure, colour, clay content, carbonate content, or other properties that

Catabolism

2005-02-23T15:09:00.000-08:00

Energy is released in three phases. In the first, such large molecules as those of proteins,

Ford Foundation

2005-02-23T02:24:00.000-08:00

American philanthropic foundation, established in 1936 with gifts and bequests from Henry Ford and his son Edsel. At its peak it had assets of more than $4,000,000,000. Its chief concerns have been international affairs (particularly population control and the alleviation of food shortages), communications (especially public television), humanities and the arts, and, in later years,

Aerospace Industry

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

The product line of the aerospace industry is, by necessity, broad because its primary products—flight vehicles—require up to millions of individual parts. In addition, many support systems are needed to operate and maintain the vehicles. In terms of sales, military aircraft have the largest market share, followed by space systems and civil aircraft, with missiles

Sokol

2005-02-20T07:04:00.000-08:00

City and river port, centre of Sokol rayon (sector), Vologda oblast (province), northwestern Russia. The port lies along the Sukhona River. Before the Russian Revolution of October 1917 it was the site of only two small factories, but it grew rapidly in the early Soviet period and was incorporated in 1932. Today it is a centre of paper, woodworking, and food industries and has a

Spalding, Mother Catherine

2005-02-20T05:39:00.000-08:00

Spalding was taken to frontier Kentucky by her widowed mother about 1799. She was later orphaned and reared by relatives. In December 1812 the Reverend (later Bishop)

Confucianism, The Sung masters

2005-02-20T04:38:00.000-08:00

The Sung dynasty (960–1279) was militarily weak and much smaller than the T'ang, but its cultural splendour and economic prosperity were unprecedented in human history. The Sung's commercial revolution produced flourishing markets, densely populated urban centres, elaborate communication networks, theatrical performances, literary groups, and popular religions—developments

Ear Disease, Skull fracture and concussion

2005-02-19T10:46:00.000-08:00

Skull fracture and concussion from a severe blow on the head can impair the functioning of the auditory and vestibular nerves in varying degrees. The greatest hearing loss arises when a fracture of the skull passes through the labyrinth of the inner ear, totally destroying its function.

Shiga Naoya

2005-02-19T02:44:00.000-08:00

Born into an aristocratic samurai family, Shiga was taken by his parents to live with his paternal grandparents in Tokyo in 1885. In his youth he was influenced by the Christian educator Uchimura Kanzo, but Christianity

Empiricism, In contemporary philosophy

2005-02-18T16:56:00.000-08:00

The most influential Empiricist of the 20th century was the great British philosopher and logician Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), who at first was Lockean in his theory of knowledge—admitting both synthetic a priori knowledge and concepts of unobservable entities. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951), the influential pioneer of the school of Linguistic Analysis, convinced Russell that

Seton, Anya

2005-02-17T03:41:00.000-08:00

Seton was the daughter of Ernest Thompson Seton, the English naturalist, writer, and cofounder of the Boy Scouts of America, and Grace Gallatin, an American travel writer. She enjoyed a privileged childhood and traveled extensively

Italian Literature, The Hermetic movement

2005-02-16T21:57:00.000-08:00

Poetry in the fascist period underwent a process of involution, partly influenced by French Symbolism, with its faith in the mystical power of words, and partly under the stress of changed political conditions after World War I, during which literature had declined. Many poets of the wartime generation, weary of tradition and rhetoric, had been seeking new expression:

Systole And Diastole

2005-02-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

Diastole, the opposite of systole, is the lengthening of a short quantity or syllable for metric irregularity. The

Melatonin

2005-02-15T07:23:00.000-08:00

In humans, melatonin seems

Adair, John

2005-02-14T14:09:00.000-08:00

Scottish surveyor and cartographer whose maps established a standard of excellence for his time and probably inspired the early 18th-century surveys of Scotland. Between 1680 and 1686 he completed maps of the counties adjoining the River Forth as well as charts of the Firth of Forth, the River Clyde, and the west of Scotland. Manuscripts of these are in the National

Duala

2005-02-14T02:56:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Douala, Bantu-speaking people of the forest region of southern Cameroon living on the estuary of the Wouri River. By 1800 the Duala controlled Cameroon's trade with Europeans, and their concentrated settlement pattern developed under this influence. Their system of chieftaincy was partly founded on trading wealth. For much of the 19th century there were two political–commercial

Deduction

2005-02-13T04:28:00.000-08:00

In logic, a rigorous proof, or derivation, of one statement (the conclusion) from one or more statements (the premises)—i.e., a chain of statements, each of which is either a premise or a consequence of a statement occurring earlier in the proof. This usage is a generalization of what the Greek philosopher Aristotle called the syllogism, but a syllogism is now recognized as

Yemen

2005-02-12T04:56:00.000-08:00

A republic of the southwestern Arabian Peninsula, Yemen has coastlines on the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the Arabian Sea. Area: 555,000 sq km (214,300 sq mi), including the undemarcated area bordered by Saudi Arabia and claimed by Yemen. Pop. (1996 est.): 16.6 million. Cap.: San'a`. Monetary unit: Yemen Rial, with (Oct. 11, 1996) a free rate of YRls 100 to U.S. $1 (YRls 157.53 = £1 sterling). President in 1996, Maj. Gen. Ali Abdallah Salih; prime minister,

Trier

2005-02-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

French Trèves, Latin Augusta Treverorum, city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), southwestern Germany, on the right bank of the Mosel (Moselle) River, surrounded by the foothills of the Eifel, Hunsrück, and Mosel mountains, just east of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg frontier. A shrine of the Treveri, a Germanic tribe, existed at the site (c. 400 BC). The Roman town was founded by the emperor Augustus about 15 BC. The city's strategic

Albany, Robert Stewart, 1st Duke Of

2005-02-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

The third son of Robert II of Scotland, he was made high chamberlain of Scotland in 1382 and won a military reputation in campaigns against England.

Oarfish

2005-02-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

(species Regalecus glesne), large, long, sinuous fish of the family Regalecidae (order Lampridiformes), found throughout the tropics and subtropics in rather deep water. A ribbon-shaped fish, very thin from side to side, the oarfish may grow to a length of about 9 m (30.5 feet) and a weight of 300 kg (660 pounds). It is shiny silver in colour, with long, red, oarlike pelvic fins and a long, red dorsal

Anatomy

2005-02-09T21:20:00.000-08:00

In literature, the separating or dividing of a topic into parts for detailed examination or analysis. Among the better-known examples are John Lyly's Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit and Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. The literary critic Northrop Frye, in his book Anatomy of Criticism, narrowed the definition of the word to mean a work resembling a Menippean

Acta

2005-02-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

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

Arts, Central Asian, Painting: frescoes and temple banners

2005-02-09T11:28:00.000-08:00

Temple interiors are usually covered with frescoes and often hung with painted banners, or tanka (thang-ka). For the preparation of the latter, a taut cotton cloth is impregnated with a mixture of chalk and glue, rubbed smooth by some suitable object; for example, a flat polished stone. A religious painter trained in the tradition draws in the outline, often using printed

Hawkshaw, Sir John

2005-02-07T14:19:00.000-08:00

In 1845 Hawkshaw became chief engineer of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, introducing steeper gradients than any previously

Kaminska, Ida

2005-02-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

The daughter of the well-known Yiddish actors Abraham Isaac and Ester Rachel Kaminski, she appeared for the first time onstage at age five. Her true debut was in Warsaw (1916) with the theatre company named for her father.

World War I, Palestine, autumn 1917

2005-02-06T19:18:00.000-08:00

Having assumed command in Egypt (see above The Egyptian frontiers, 1915–July 1917), Allenby transferred his headquarters from Cairo to the Palestinian front and devoted the summer of 1917 to preparing a serious offensive against the Turks. On the Turkish side, Falkenhayn, now in command at Aleppo, was at this time himself planning a drive into the Sinai Peninsula for the autumn, but

La Mancha

2005-02-06T05:41:00.000-08:00

Barren, elevated plateau (2,000 ft [610 m]) of central Spain, stretching between the Montes (mountains) de Toledo and the western spurs of the Cerros (hills) de Cuenca, and bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north by La Alcarria region. It includes portions of the modern provinces of Cuenca, Toledo, and Albacete, and most of Ciudad Real province. It constitutes the southern

Maderno, Carlo

2005-02-05T07:48:00.000-08:00

Maderno began his architectural career in Rome assisting his uncle Domenico Fontana. His first major Roman commission, the facade of Santa Susanna (1597–1603), led to his appointment in 1603 as the chief architect for Saint Peter's. In 1607 he designed the nave

Drake, Alfred

2005-02-04T19:50:00.000-08:00

While a junior at Brooklyn College, Drake joined a summer company performing Gilbert and

Salat

2005-02-04T18:56:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Salah, Arabic Salat, the daily ritual prayer enjoined upon all Muslims as one of the five Pillars of Islam (arkan al-Islam). There is disagreement among Islamic scholars as to whether some passages about prayer in the Muslim sacred scripture, the Qur'an, are actually references to the salat. Within Muhammad's lifetime five ritual prayers, each preceded by ablution, were observed: salat al-fajr (dawn),

Theodosius I

2005-02-04T07:31:00.000-08:00

In 379 and 380 Theodosius resided chiefly in Thessalonica. He sought first to rebuild the army, the discipline of which was considerably impaired, and to consolidate Rome's position on the Balkan peninsula. Military unpreparedness could not be overcome by conscription alone, which applied only to certain classes. Theodosius therefore directed that large numbers of

Addis Ababa

2005-02-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

Only since the late 19th century has Addis Ababa been the capital of the Ethiopian state. Its immediate predecessor, Entoto, was situated on a high tableland and was found to be unsatisfactory because of extreme cold

Hay

2005-02-03T11:59:00.000-08:00

In agriculture, dried grasses and other foliage used as animal feed. Usually the material is cut in the field while still green and then either dried in the field or mechanically dried by forced hot air. Typical hay crops are timothy, alfalfa, and clover. The protein content of grasses and legumes decreases and fibre and lignified tissue increases as growing plants

San, Saya

2005-02-03T04:47:00.000-08:00

Saya San was a native of Shwebo, a centre of nationalist-monarchist sentiment in north-central Burma that was the birthplace of the Konbaung (or Alaungpaya) dynasty, which controlled Myanmar from 1752 until the British annexation in 1886. He was a Buddhist

Maderno, Carlo

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

An extinct bird of the family Strigidae (order Strigiformes) that was native to New Zealand. It was last seen in the early 1900s. Laughing owls nested on the ground, where they fell prey to cats, rats, goats, and weasels. About 40 cm (1.3 feet) long and brownish in colour, they ate rodents, lizards, and insects.

Augustus Iii

2005-02-01T09:23:00.000-08:00

Also called Augustus Frederick , Polish August Fryderyk , German August Friedrich king of Poland and elector of Saxony (as Frederick Augustus II), whose reign witnessed one of the greatest periods of disorder within Poland. More interested in ease and pleasure than in affairs of state, this notable patron of the arts left the administration of Saxony and Poland to his chief adviser, Heinrich von Brühl, who in turn left

Radio Range

2005-02-01T05:10:00.000-08:00

In aerial navigation, a system of radio transmitting stations, each of which transmits a signal that not only carries identification but also is of intrinsic value to a navigator in fixing his position. The older “A–N” type, dating from 1927, operates at low and medium frequencies and is still in use, mainly by private light aircraft. The only equipment needed in the aircraft

Hadley, Henry (kimball)

2005-01-31T10:55:00.000-08:00

Hadley studied in Boston and Vienna and in 1904 went to Germany, where in 1909 he conducted his one-act opera Safié. He conducted the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (1909–11), the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (1911–15), and the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra (1929–32) and was associate conductor of the New York

Cunningham, Glenn

2005-01-31T00:27:00.000-08:00

At the age of 7, Cunningham and his older brother Floyd were badly burned in a schoolhouse fire; Floyd died and Glenn was not expected to be able to walk. Cunningham overcame this adversity, running—and winning—races in high school,

Gambier Islands

2005-01-30T10:40:00.000-08:00

French Îles Gambier, also called Mangareva Islands, southeasternmost extension of the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia in the central South Pacific, nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) east-southeast of Tahiti. The principal inhabited group of the Gambiers comprises the volcanic islets Mangareva (Magareva), Taravai, Akamaru, and Aukena. Mangareva, which is 5 miles (8 km) long and encircled by a barrier reef, rises to approximately

Adams, Brooks

2005-01-30T02:37:00.000-08:00

Adams graduated from Harvard in 1870 and practiced law in Boston until 1881. Son of the diplomat Charles Francis Adams and grandson of Pres. John Quincy Adams, he was enabled by a substantial inheritance

Medicine, Teaching

2005-01-29T18:28:00.000-08:00

Physicians in developed countries frequently prefer posts in hospitals with medical schools. Newly qualified physicians want to work there because doing so will aid their future careers, though the actual experience may be wider and better in a hospital without a medical school. Senior physicians seek careers in hospitals with medical schools because consultant,

Wild Bunch

2005-01-29T10:58:00.000-08:00

A collection of cowboy-outlaws who flourished in the 1880s and '90s in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and surrounding states and territories. Their chief hideouts were Hole in the Wall, a nearly inaccessible grassy canyon and rocky retreat in north-central Wyoming; Brown's Hole (now Brown's Park), a hidden valley of the Green River, near the intersection of the borders of Wyoming, Colorado,

Table Bay

2005-01-28T16:03:00.000-08:00

Bay of the Atlantic Ocean near the southern tip of Africa forming the harbour of Cape Town. Extending north from Cape Town to Melkbosstrand, the bay is 12 mi (19 km) long and 8 mi wide; it contains Robben Island (q.v.) and is overlooked by Table Mountain. Portuguese navigators were the first Europeans to see the bay (c. 1500). Although it was less well sheltered than other bays along the coast,

Japan

2005-01-27T22:39:00.000-08:00

Japanese Nihon or Nippon country lying off the east coast of Asia. It consists of a great string of islands in a northeast-southwest arc that stretches for approximately 1,500 miles (2,400 km) through the western Pacific Ocean. Japan has a total land area of 145,903 square miles (377,887 square km). Nearly this entire area is taken up by the country's four main islands; from north to south these are Hokkaido (Hokkaido), Honshu

Vietnam War

2005-01-27T20:50:00.000-08:00

(1954–75), a protracted conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, against the government of South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. Called the “American War” in Vietnam (or, in full, the “War Against the Americans to Save the Nation”), the war was also part of a larger regional conflict (see Indochina

Argentina, Flag Of

2005-01-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

The blue cockades worn by patriots in May 1810, when the Spanish viceroy in Buenos Aires yielded authority to the local government, and the uniforms worn by Argentines in 1806, when the British attacked Buenos Aires, may have been the origin of the celeste-white-celeste horizontally striped flag first hoisted on February 12, 1812, by General Manuel Belgrano. On July 9, 1816, Argentina, then

Ejaculatory Duct

2005-01-26T16:07:00.000-08:00

Either of two hollow tubes, each formed by union of the ampulla of a ductus deferens (q.v.) and the excretory duct of a seminal vesicle (q.v.). The ducts, which open into the urethra about halfway through the prostate gland (q.v.), function to mix the sperm stored in the ampulla with fluids secreted by the seminal vesicles and to transport these substances to the prostate.

China, Social, political, and cultural changes

2005-01-26T14:04:00.000-08:00

The years from the 8th century BC to 221 BC witnessed the painful birth of a unified China. It was a period of bloody wars and also of far-reaching changes in politics, society, and intellectual outlook.

Akhdar Mountains

2005-01-25T19:12:00.000-08:00

Arabic Al-jabal Al-akhdar, also spelled Gebel El-achdar, mountain range of northeastern Libya that extends along the Mediterranean coast for about 100 miles (160 km) in an east-northeasterly direction between the towns of al-Marj and Darnah. Rising sharply in two steps, the first reaching 985 feet (300 m) and the second about 1,800 feet (550 m), the limestone range (about 20 miles [32 km] wide) then blends into a plateau crowned by hills attaining elevations