SeriousMuscle

Silicon Valley

2005-04-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

Industrial region around the southern shores of San Francisco Bay, California, U.S., with its intellectual centre at Palo Alto, home of Stanford University. Silicon Valley includes northwestern Santa Clara county as far inland as San Jose, as well as the southern bay regions of Alameda and San Mateo counties. Its name is derived from the dense concentration of electronics

All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.

2005-04-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

Japanese Zen Nippon Kuyu, the largest domestic air carrier in Japan, and one of the largest in the world. The company was founded in 1952 and is headquartered in Tokyo. Under the Japanese government's strict regulation of civil aviation, All Nippon Airways was basically restricted to carrying passengers and freight on Japan's major domestic routes, while Japan Air Lines basically monopolized

Waqidi, Al-

2005-04-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

As a youth al-Waqidi is said to have been such an authority on the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina that he was guide to the 'Abbasid caliph Harun ar-Rashid during the latter's pilgrimage. Al-Waqidi became a grain dealer

écorché

2005-04-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

From roughly the 15th century, Western artists began to concern themselves with accurate representation of the body—and, in particular, the working of muscles. Often artists witnessed (and sometimes performed) dissections on cadavers to determine

Agnostus

2005-04-02T14:32:00.000-08:00

Genus of trilobites (an extinct group of aquatic arthropods) found as fossils in rocks of Early Cambrian to Late Ordovician age (those deposited from 540 to 438 million years ago). The agnostids were generally small, with only two thoracic segments and a large tail segment. Agnostus itself was only about 6 millimetres (0.25 inch) long and lacked eyes. The similarity of the

Alderney

2005-04-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

French Aurigny one of the Channel Islands, in the English Channel, with an area of 3 square miles (8 square km), separated from the Normandy coast (Cap de la Hague) by the dangerously swift 10-mile (16-km) Race of Alderney. Swinge Race, on the west, separates it from the uninhabited Burhou, Ortac, and smaller islets, beyond which the notorious Casquets, a group of jagged rocks, carry a lighthouse. The nearest

Alain-fournier

2005-04-01T07:46:00.000-08:00

Robert Gibson, The Quest of Alain-Fournier (1953).

Châtellerault

2005-04-01T07:15:00.000-08:00

Town, Vienne département, Poitou-Charentes région, west-central France. It lies north-northeast of Poitiers, on the main road from Paris to Bordeaux. Situated on the Vienne River, it derives its name from a 10th-century castle built by the 2nd Viscount Airaud of the district. The Henri IV bridge over the Vienne River was built between 1575 and 1611. The 16th-century Maison des Sybilles,

Fard, Wallace D.

2005-03-31T07:30:00.000-08:00

Fard immigrated to the United States sometime before 1930. In that year, he established in Detroit the Temple of Islam as well as the University of Islam, which was the temple's school, and the Fruit of Islam, a corps of male guards. Fard preached that blacks (who were not

Visvakarman

2005-03-30T15:50:00.000-08:00

(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

Swedish Academy

2005-03-30T10:52:00.000-08:00

The academy was founded by King Gustav III on April 5, 1786, in Stockholm. The goal of the organization was defined as working for the “purity, vigour and majesty” of the Swedish language.

Anderson, Helen Eugenie Moore

2005-03-30T00:08:00.000-08:00

Eugenie Moore attended Stephens College (Columbia, Missouri) in 1926–27, Simpson College (Indianola, Iowa) in 1927–28, and Carleton College (Northfield, Minnesota) in 1929–30; she took no degree. In 1930 she married John P. Anderson. During two years in New York City she studied piano at the Juilliard

Wakayama

2005-03-28T16:45:00.000-08:00

Ken (prefecture), south-central Honshu, Japan. It occupies the Kii Peninsula, which faces the Kii Strait (west) and the Pacific Ocean (south). Most of its area of 1,824 square miles (4,725 square km) is mountainous and broken by deep river valleys, such as the Toro Gorge on the Kumano River. Despite frequent typhoons in summer, the climate is mild, and the coastal plain and some large valleys

Karaganda

2005-03-28T01:37:00.000-08:00

Oblast (province), central Kazakhstan. It lies mostly in the Kazakh Uplands in a dry steppe zone, rising gradually in elevation eastward to a maximum in the Karkaraly Mountains of 5,115 feet (1,559 m). The principal rivers, the Nura and Sarysu, are in the west, in the Musbel lowland. The climate is continental (tending to extremes) and dry, with severe winters, marked by prolonged snowstorms

Aries

2005-03-27T00:06:00.000-08:00

Aries contains no very bright stars. The first point of Aries, or vernal equinox, is an intersection of the

Rancé, Armand-jean Le Bouthillier De

2005-03-26T23:57:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, Rancé became commendatory

Alkaloid

2005-03-26T19:14:00.000-08:00

Alkaloids are found primarily in plants and are especially common in certain families of flowering plants. More

Greek Religion, Rites

2005-03-26T00:54:00.000-08:00

Sacrifice was offered to the Olympian deities at dawn at the altar in the temenos, which normally stood east of the temple. Representing as it did a gift to the gods, sacrifice constituted the principal proof of piety. The gods were content with the burnt portion of the offering, while the priests and worshipers shared the remainder of the meat. Different animals were

Swatow

2005-03-24T17:55:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Shan-t'ou, or (Pinyin) Shantou, city in eastern Kwangtung sheng (province), southern China. Swatow lies on the coast of the South China Sea a few miles west of the mouth of the Han River, which, with its tributary, the Mei River, drains most of eastern Kwangtung. The Han forms a delta, and Swatow is on an inlet that extends some 9.5 miles (15 km) inland on the southwest part of the delta. The city stands at the narrow seaward

Man O' War

2005-03-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

Byname Big Red (foaled 1917), probably the most famous American racehorse (Thoroughbred), overwhelmingly voted, in an Associated Press poll taken in 1950, the greatest horse of the first half of the 20th century. In a brief career of only two seasons (1919–20), he won 20 of 21 races, finishing second to a horse named Upset on Aug. 13, 1919, at Saratoga, N.Y. He established five track records for speed over various distances and

Lurton, Horace H(armon)

2005-03-22T08:37:00.000-08:00

Lurton enlisted in the Confederate army at the outbreak of the war and was twice taken prisoner, but he was paroled by President Abraham Lincoln the second time upon his mother's appeal, pleading illness. After the war he finished his studies and established a successful

Sea Snake

2005-03-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

Any of more than 50 species of venomous marine snakes of the family Hydrophiidae. In adaptation to marine life, sea snakes have oarlike tails and flattened bodies. Their nostrils have valvelike closings and are usually on top of the snout. Several sea snakes have bodies much thicker than their heads and necks affording them greater stability

Zonguldak

2005-03-21T04:21:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Zonguldak il (province), northwestern Turkey, on the Black Sea coast. The well-equipped port is the main outlet for coal extracted from the basin between Zonguldak and Eregli. The city's development and rapid rise in population were associated with the growth of this coal industry after the mid-19th century. Mining was extensively developed by the government

Tsuzumi

2005-03-20T13:56:00.000-08:00

Any of various Japanese two-headed drums with hourglass-shaped (waisted) bodies. Ancient Japanese court orchestra music had three types of these drums, of which only the san no tsuzumi form survives in komagaku style (courtly music of Japanese, Korean, and other non-Chinese, non-Indian ancestry). Better-known tsuzumi are found in the music of No and Kabuki theatres. The

Interlochen

2005-03-19T01:54:00.000-08:00

Interlochen is best known as the home of the Interlochen

Lindsay

2005-03-19T01:01:00.000-08:00

Town, seat (1861) of Victoria county, southeastern Ontario, Canada. It lies along the Scugog River, 21 miles (34 km) west-northwest of Peterborough. Laid out in 1825 as Purdy's Mills (after William Purdy, who built the first mills), it was renamed for one of the original land surveyors. The town's growth has been due partly to the Trent Canal (1833) and the improvement of the waterway between Sturgeon

Steel

2005-03-18T20:18:00.000-08:00

Alloy of iron and carbon in which the carbon content ranges up to 2 percent (with a higher carbon content, the material is defined as cast iron). By far the most widely used material for building the world's infrastructure and industries, it is used to fabricate everything from sewing needles to oil tankers. In addition, the tools required to build and manufacture such

Neurogenic Arthropathy

2005-03-18T11:35:00.000-08:00

Also called Charcot's joint (after Jean-Martin Charcot, a 19th-century French neurologist), massive destruction of a stress-bearing joint, with development of large flanges and spurs of new bone at the sides of the joint. The condition eventually causes inability to use the joint but is accompanied by little or no sensation of pain or discomfort. The disorder accompanies damage to the nervous system

Carnivore, Importance to humans

2005-03-18T05:13:00.000-08:00

Of all mammalian families, the Mustelidae contains the greatest variety of valuable mammals utilized by the fur trade. Fur coats that command the highest prices are usually those made from these luxuriant furbearers, especially mink, ermine (short-tailed weasel), and sable (a name applied by the fur trade to several species of Martes, especially the Eurasian M.

Blood Count

2005-03-18T02:08:00.000-08:00

Determination of the number of red blood cells (RBC's, or erythrocytes) and white blood cells (WBC's, or leukocytes) in a given volume of blood. The readings vary with sex, age, physiological state, and general health, but a cubic millimetre of blood of a normal individual contains approximately 5,000,000 red cells and 7,000 white cells. A differential blood count is the enumeration of the

Peregrinus Of Maricourt, Peter

2005-03-16T18:19:00.000-08:00

Almost nothing is known about Peregrinus' life, except that he wrote his famous treatise while serving as an engineer in the army of Charles I of Anjou that was besieging Lucera (in Italy) in August 1269 in a “crusade” sanctioned by the pope. Peregrinus' abilities

Cythera

2005-03-16T16:53:00.000-08:00

Exportation of murex, a purple dye obtained from a species

Burano Lace

2005-03-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

Lace made on the island of Burano, near Venice. Until the early 19th century, there had been a Burano lace industry producing copies of 18th-century French lace. By midcentury it was virtually extinct. When in 1872 attempts were made to revive the lace industry to provide relief to the islanders after a ruinous winter, one elderly inhabitant was found who remembered the technique.

Genetic Code

2005-03-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

The sequence of nucleotides in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) that determines the amino acid sequence of proteins. Though the linear sequence of nucleotides in DNA contains the information for protein sequences, proteins are not made directly from DNA. Instead, a messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule is synthesized from the DNA and directs the formation

Earth Sciences, The chemical analysis of rocks and minerals

2005-03-14T20:52:00.000-08:00

The successive stages in the plate-tectonic cycle (see below) produce igneous rocks that have geochemical patterns distinctive for each stage. Consequently, the igneous petrologist is able to use both the major and trace element abundances of rocks to define the possible tectonic environment in which they formed. The metamorphic petrologist can use the bulk

Subgraywacke

2005-03-14T13:10:00.000-08:00

Dark-coloured sedimentary rock that contains from 65 to 95 percent free quartz, in grains 0.06 to 2 mm in diameter, held together by a matrix with a low mud content and often a high carbonate content. Some geologists favour a definition of graywacke (q.v.) that permits no more than 75 percent free quartz in the rock, and they thus would class as subgraywackes those rocks with (1) over 25 percent

Argyle, Lake

2005-03-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

Formed by the Ord River Dam (1972), it has a storage capacity of 204,719,140,000 cubic feet (5,797,000,000 cubic m). The dam, fed by the 300-mile (480-kilometre) Ord River, measures 325 feet (99 m) high and 1,119 feet (341 m) long. Lake Argyle is the main reservoir in the Ord River Irrigation Scheme, a public works project dating from 1945 and

Kiesler, Frederick John

2005-03-13T04:14:00.000-08:00

After study at the Technical Academy and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Kiesler worked on a slum clearance and rebuilding project in Vienna with Adolf Loos. In the early 1920s Kiesler began to design

Adams

2005-03-13T03:36:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Berkshire county, northwestern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies at the foot of Mount Greylock (3,491 feet [1,064 metres]), on the Hoosic River, 15 miles (24 km) north of Pittsfield. The town of North Adams is 5 miles north. Founded by Quakers in 1766, it was known as East Hoosuck until 1778, when it was incorporated and renamed for the Revolutionary War hero Samuel Adams. Local limestone and marble

Procida, Island Of

2005-03-12T14:54:00.000-08:00

Italian Isola Di Procida, Latin Prochyta, island near the northwest entrance to the Bay of Naples, Napoli provincia, Campania regione, southern Italy. It lies between Ischia Island and Cape Miseno on the mainland. It has an area of 1.45 square miles (3.75 square km), and the highest point is 250 feet (76 m) above sea level. Of volcanic origin, it is made up, with the adjacent Vivara Island, of four extinct craters. Parts of the margins

Nervous System Disease, Nerve injuries

2005-03-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

Nerve injuries function as neuronal neuropathies affecting the axon far from the cell body. Injuries are of three main grades of severity. In neurapraxia there is temporary blockage of impulse conduction, although the axons remain intact. More severe stretch or incision damage interrupts some axons and is called axonotmesis. Injury that actually severs the

Annelid, External features

2005-03-11T01:00:00.000-08:00

The body of an annelid is often described as a tube within a tube. The inner tube, or digestive tract, is separated from the outer tube, or body wall, by the coelom. The head region (prostomium) is followed by a series of segments similar to each other in appearance. The body in many species, especially in the sedentary polychaetes, is separated into two or three regions. The

Burton, Virginia Lee

2005-03-10T13:16:00.000-08:00

Burton grew up from the age of seven in Sonora, California. After graduating from high school she studied both dancing and drawing, and later she continued taking art lessons at the Boston Museum School. In 1929 she became

Dubinsky, David

2005-03-10T01:26:00.000-08:00

The son of a baker in Russian Poland, Dubinsky was sent to Siberia in 1908 for his union activities. He escaped and emigrated to the United States in 1911. While working as a garment cutter in New

Hukbalahap Rebellion

2005-03-10T00:15:00.000-08:00

Also called Huk Rebellion (1946–54), Communist-led peasant uprising in central Luzon, Philippines. The name of the movement is a Tagalog acronym for Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon, which means “People's Anti-Japanese Army.” The Huks came close to victory in 1950 but were subsequently defeated by a combination of advanced U.S. weaponry supplied to the Philippine government and administrative reforms under the

Penal Laws

2005-03-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

Laws passed against Roman Catholics in Britain and Ireland after the Reformation that penalized the practice of the Roman Catholic religion and imposed civil disabilities on Catholics. Various acts passed in the 16th and 17th centuries prescribed fines and imprisonment for participation in Catholic worship and severe penalties, including death, for Catholic

Colfax, Schuyler

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

At the end of his term, Colfax returned to private life under a cloud but managed to make a living by delivering popular lectures.

Magdalena River

2005-03-08T06:27:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río Magdalena, river, north-central Colombia. It rises at the bifurcation of the Andean Cordilleras Central and Oriental, and flows northward for 930 miles (1,497 km) to the Caribbean Sea. It receives the San Jorge, César, and Cauca rivers in the swampy floodplain of the northern lowlands. The river's mouth must be dredged to give oceangoing vessels access to the port of Barranquilla, in Atlántico

Adapazari

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

City, northwestern Turkey, lying in a fertile plain west of the Sakarya River. It is situated along the old military road from Istanbul. The region came under Ottoman control in the early 14th century, and the city acquired its present name at the end of the 18th century. An agricultural and industrial centre, Adapazari is connected by a branch line to the main Anatolian railway

Agnes Of Poitou

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

Agnes was a daughter of William V the Great, duke of Aquitaine, and was a descendant of the kings of Burgundy and Italy. She married Henry III on Nov. 1, 1043, forming an alliance designed to cement the empire's relations with its neighbouring states

Pembroke

2005-03-06T04:45:00.000-08:00

Welsh Penfro town, historic and present county of Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro), Wales, comprising the localities of Pembroke and Pembroke Dock on the south shore of the Milford Haven inlet. The older locality, Pembroke, incorporated in 1090 by royal charter, was a walled town built along a narrow limestone ridge, at the west end of which the castle, dominating the Haven, was the seat of the

Xiangkhoang Plateau

2005-03-05T07:56:00.000-08:00

French Plateau de Xiangkhoang , formerly Plateau du Tranninh , English Tran Ninh Plateau dissected upland of complex geologic structure in north-central Laos. The plateau constitutes a western extension of the northern Annamite Chain; it is drained principally by the Ngum and Ngiap (Nhiêp) rivers to the south and the Khan River to the north, all of which are Mekong River tributaries. Once the upland's limestone and sandstone hills were covered with tropical

All-union Council Of Evangelical Christians And Baptists

2005-03-04T20:16:00.000-08:00

Voluntary association of Baptist churches in Russia that was formed (in the Soviet Union) in 1944 by uniting the Union of Evangelical Christians and the Russian Baptist Union. The Baptists in Russia grew from religious revival movements that began in the 1860s and '70s. In Ukraine, groups of Russians influenced by German Mennonite settlers gathered for Bible study and eventually

Tizi Ouzou

2005-03-04T16:42:00.000-08:00

Town, north-central Algeria, in the Great Kabylie. It lies in a narrow valley of the Wadi Tizi Ouzou, separated from the Wadi Sébaou Valley by Mount Beloua. Named for the flowering broom (ouzou) that grows in the pass (tizi) connecting the two valleys, Tizi Ouzou was built by the Turks and enlarged by the French. The town is a regional trade centre noted for basketry; it is the

Uitlander

2005-03-04T16:17:00.000-08:00

(Afrikaans: “outlander”), any British or other non-Afrikaner immigrant in the Transvaal region in the 1880s and '90s. The prospect of gold lured large numbers of newcomers to Johannesburg, where they became a majority of the citizenry and were led by an aristocracy of wealthy mine owners. The Transvaal's long-established rural population of Boers (Afrikaners), afraid of being

Saint-gaudens, Augustus

2005-03-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

Saint-Gaudens was born to a French father and an Irish mother. His family moved to New York City when he was an infant and at age 13 he was apprenticed

Jehu

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

Hebrew Yehu, king (c. 842–815 BC) of Israel. He was a commander of chariots for the king of Israel, Ahab, and his son Jehoram, on Israel's frontier facing Damascus and Assyria. Ahab, son of King Omri, was eventually killed in a war with Assyria; during Jehoram's rule, Jehu accepted the invitation of the prophet Elisha, Elijah's successor, to lead a coup to overthrow the dynasty of Omri (II Kings 9–10). The prophetic

Tizi Ouzou

2005-03-02T17:30:00.000-08:00

Armoured ornithischian dinosaurs that lived 70 million to 65 million years ago in North America during the Late Cretaceous Period. Ankylosaurus is a genus belonging to a larger group (infraorder Ankylosauria) of related four-legged, herbivorous, heavily armoured dinosaurs that flourished throughout the Cretaceous Period (144 million to 65 million years

Toowoomba

2005-03-02T10:02:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Queensland, Australia, on the Great Dividing Range. The principal inland city in the state, Toowoomba is a rail and road junction, tourist resort, service centre for Darling Downs (a livestock, grain, and dairying region of about 3,500,000 acres [1,400,000 hectares]), and site of the Perseverence Creek Water Supply Scheme. The town's industries include engineering works,

Anne And Joachim, Saints

2005-02-28T04:30:00.000-08:00

Kathleen Ashley and Pamela Sheingorn (eds.), Interpreting Cultural Symbols: Saint Anne in Late Medieval Society (1990), covers the fields of art history, literature, religion, and social history.

Yahya Khan, Agha Mohammad

2005-02-27T17:59:00.000-08:00

Yahya was born to a family that was descended from the elite soldier class of Nader Shah, the Persian ruler who conquered Delhi in the 18th century. He was educated at Punjab University and later graduated first in his class

Rare-earth Element, Sources and extraction

2005-02-27T14:15:00.000-08:00

Though numerous minerals rich in rare earths are found in the Earth's crust, many are extremely rare, and many more are found only in small pockets in more massive rocks. Although such minerals are of considerable research interest they are not used commercially. Monazite, a mixed phosphate of calcium, thorium, cerium, and various lanthanides, occurs in extensive deposits

Porgy

2005-02-27T09:36:00.000-08:00

Porgies are generally shallow-water fishes and are

Italian Literature, The Hermetic movement

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

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:

Silla

2005-02-25T23:15:00.000-08:00

One of the three kingdoms of ancient Korea and the one that in 668 unified Korea under the Unified Silla dynasty (q.v.; 668–935). Silla is traditionally believed to have been founded by Hyokkose in 57 BC. By the 2nd century AD, a distinct confederation of local tribes was definitely in existence in the southeastern portion of the Korean peninsula. With the establishment of the hereditary monarchy

I Am Movement

2005-02-25T17:19:00.000-08:00

Although not consistent in their teachings, the Ballards essentially

Moses, Grandma

2005-02-25T01:20:00.000-08:00

Anna Robertson had only sporadic periods of schooling during her childhood. At age 12 she left her parents' farm and worked as a hired girl until she married

Astrophysics

2005-02-24T20:07:00.000-08:00

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

Plumtree

2005-02-24T13:03:00.000-08:00

Town, southwestern Zimbabwe. At the Botswana border, it is the last major Zimbabwean station on the Bulawayo–Cape Town railway and has customs, immigration, and quarantine facilities. Founded in 1897, it serves the Bulalima-Mangwe district as administrative centre. Local industries include grain milling and brickmaking. Pop. (1982) 3,250.

Van Hise, Charles Richard

2005-02-24T00:49:00.000-08:00

From 1879 Van Hise taught at the University of Wisconsin

Herculano De Carvalho E Araújo, Alexandre

2005-02-23T02:45:00.000-08:00

As a young man Herculano took part in the unsuccessful rebellion against the absolute rule of Dom Miguel

Hayes, Helen

2005-02-22T21:38:00.000-08:00

(HELEN HAYES BROWN), U.S. actress (b. Oct. 10, 1900, Washington, D.C.--d. March 17, 1993, Nyack, N.Y.), as the luminous first lady of the American theatre, enraptured audiences with her twinkling eyes and elfin smile and, though diminutive in stature (1.5 m [5 ft]), she exuded a majestic stage presence that made her regal performances in Maxwell Anderson's Mary of Scotland (1933) and Laurence Housman's Victoria

Maret, Hugues-bernard, Duc (duke) De Bassano

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

A journalist in the early stages of the French Revolution, Maret entered the diplomatic service in 1792. After the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire (Nov. 9, 1799), Napoleon appointed him secretary of state to the consuls. He grew in Napoleon's esteem and acted as his confidential adviser. From April 1811 to November 1813, Maret

Finland, Ethnic and linguistic composition

2005-02-22T00:47:00.000-08:00

It appears that the ancestors of the Sami were present in Finland by about 7000 BC. As other groups began to enter the area some 3,000 years later, the proto-Sami probably retreated northward. Archaeological remains suggest that this second wave of settlers came from or had contact with what was to become Russia and also Scandinavia and central Europe. Peoples of Uralic (specifically

Robert-houdin, Jean-eugène

2005-02-21T22:31:00.000-08:00

Original name Jean-Eugène Robert French magician who is considered to be the father of modern conjuring. He was the first magician to use electricity; he improved the signalling method for the “thought transference” trick; and he exposed “fakes” and magicians who relied on supernatural explanations for their feats. Although he did not do away with apparatus, he

Switzerland, Agriculture and forestry

2005-02-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

Of the territory that makes up Switzerland, only three-fourths is productive. About one-fourth of that productive land is devoted to agricultural cultivation (grains, fodder, vegetables, fruits, vineyards, etc.), and one-fifth is pasture, reflecting the significance of stock raising and dairying. Grain cultivation, accounting for about one-sixth of productive land,

Time Warner Inc.

2005-02-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

The largest media and entertainment conglomerate in the world. Time Warner's products encompass magazines, hardcover books, comic books, recorded music, motion pictures, online services, and broadcast and cable television programming and distribution. Its headquarters are in New York City.

Bosnia And Herzegovina, Transportation

2005-02-19T19:20:00.000-08:00

The major obstacle to communication in Bosnia and Herzegovina has always been the mountainous topography. The railway system, begun under Austro-Hungarian rule (1878–1918), connects Sarajevo with major towns to the north and with Zagreb and Belgrade. Another line runs south from Sarajevo to Mostar and on to Ploce on Croatia's Adriatic coast. However, few lines are direct, and

Przybos, Julian

2005-02-19T01:28:00.000-08:00

By the time Przybos graduated from Jagiellonian University, Kraków, in 1924, he had already begun to publish poetry and prose for the little magazine Zwrotnica (“The Switch”), one of the primary

Bradbury, Sir Malcolm

2005-02-18T18:24:00.000-08:00

Bradbury studied at the University of Leicester (B.A., 1953), Queen Mary College (M.A., 1955) in London, and the University of Manchester, from which he received his doctorate in 1964. After traveling in the United States on a fellowship,

Kamehameha Iv

2005-02-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

Original name Alexander Liholiho Hawaiian sovereign known for his firm opposition to the annexation of his kingdom by the United States. As Kamehameha IV, he strove to curb the political power of the American Protestant missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands. Dedicated to protecting his people, who were rapidly dying out because of disease, he sponsored

Lancelot

2005-02-18T01:53:00.000-08:00

Lancelot's name first appeared as one of Arthur's knights in Chrétien de Troyes's 12th-century romance of Erec, and the same author later made him one of the heroes in Le Chevalier de la charette, which retold an existing legend about

Residencia

2005-02-17T16:49:00.000-08:00

In colonial Spanish America, judicial review of an official's acts, conducted at the conclusion of his term of office. Originating in Castile in the early 15th century, it was extended to the government of Spain's colonial empire from the early 16th century. In Spain it was applied mainly to the corregidors (local administrative and judicial officials). In the New World all

Trieste

2005-02-17T11:45:00.000-08:00

Bathyscaphe (q.v.) launched by Auguste Piccard in 1953.

'alavi, Buzurg

2005-02-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

'Alavi was educated in Iran, and in 1922 he was sent to Berlin, where he learned German and translated a number of German works into Persian. Upon returning to Iran, he taught at the Industrial College of Tehran and became involved with a group of Iranian socialists. He was imprisoned

Aschelminth, Locomotion

2005-02-15T15:16:00.000-08:00

Nematodes have a characteristic sinuous movement in which waves travel along the body, which generally lies on its side, backward waves driving the body forward, forward waves driving it backward. These waves are brought about by successive contractions of longitudinal body wall muscles, in dorsal and ventral blocks, acting out of phase. The muscles increase the

Cumberland, Richard

2005-02-15T00:28:00.000-08:00

In 1658 Cumberland left the study of medicine at the University of Cambridge to serve in the rectory of Brampton House in Northamptonshire and three years later became one of the 12 official preachers at Cambridge. In 1667 he joined the rectory of Allhallows at

Zog I

2005-02-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

Siding with Austria during World War I, Zog thereafter became a

Nixon, Pat

2005-02-14T08:18:00.000-08:00

Richard Nixon was forced to resign as president for his involvement in the Watergate affair, and on August 9, 1974, the Nixons retired, first to California and then to New Jersey. She died of lung cancer in 1993 at her New Jersey home and was buried at the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, California.

Radical Empiricism

2005-02-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

A theory of knowledge and a metaphysics (theory of Being) advanced by William James, an American pragmatist philosopher and psychologist, based on the pragmatic theory of truth and the principle of pure experience, which contends that the relations between things are at least as real as the things themselves, that their function is real, and that no hidden substrata

Boner, Ulrich

2005-02-12T23:54:00.000-08:00

Boner, known to have been of a Bernese family, is mentioned in records between 1324 and 1349. He compiled and translated his collection of fables for Johann von Ringgenberg, his Bernese patron. The form that Boner used was referred to as bîschaft

Wright, Sir Almroth Edward

2005-02-12T08:13:00.000-08:00

Wright received his medical degree at

India, The Deccan

2005-02-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

In the Deccan, the Vakataka dynasty was closely tied to the Guptas. With a nucleus in Vidarbha, the founder of the dynasty, Vindhyasakti, extended his power northward as far as Vidisa (near Ujjain). At the end of the 4th century, a collateral line of the Vakatakas was established by Sarvasena in Vatsagulma (Basim, in Akola district), and the northern line helped the southern to conquer

Objectivism

2005-02-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

The theory or practice of objective art or literature. The term was used by the poet William Carlos Williams in the 1930s to describe a movement in which emphasis was placed on viewing poems as objects that could be considered and analyzed in terms of mechanical features. According to Williams, this meant examining the structural aspects of the poem and considering

Oakville

2005-02-10T06:12:00.000-08:00

Town, regional municipality of Halton, southeastern Ontario, Canada, 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Toronto. Oakville is situated on Lake Ontario at the mouth of Oakville Creek. It was founded in 1830 by Colonel William K. Chisholm, who established shipbuilding yards there. It was originally incorporated in 1857, and in 1962 it amalgamated with Trafalgar Township to form the new town of Oakville,

Béziers

2005-02-10T05:45:00.000-08:00

City, Hérault département, Languedoc-Roussillon région, southern France, 9 miles (14 km) from the Mediterranean Sea, on a hilly site overlooking the Orb River where it is intersected by the Canal of the Midi, southwest of Montpellier. There are remains of an arena from the Roman colony Beterrae. In the 12th century it was a stronghold of the viscounts of Carcassonne. In 1209 Simon

Permafrost, Effects of solar radiation, vegetation, and snow cover

2005-02-09T23:23:00.000-08:00

Inasmuch as south-facing hillslopes receive more incoming solar energy per unit area than other slopes, they are warmer; permafrost is generally absent on these in the discontinuous zone and is thinner in the continuous zone. The main role of vegetation in permafrost areas is to shield perennially frozen ground from solar energy. Vegetation is an excellent insulating

Aldrich, Nelson W.

2005-02-08T23:23:00.000-08:00

Aldrich rose from the Providence Common Council through the Rhode Island legislature to the U.S. Congress (representative 1879–81; senator 1881–1911). Meanwhile,

Caucasian Languages

2005-02-08T05:17:00.000-08:00

Also called Paleo-Caucasian, or Ibero-Caucasian, group of languages indigenous to Transcaucasia and adjacent areas of the Caucasus region, between the Black and Caspian seas. As used in this article, the term excludes the Indo-European (Armenian, Ossetic, Talysh, Kurdish, Tat) and Turkic languages (Azerbaijani, Kumyk, Noghay, Karachay, Balkar) and some other languages of the area, all of which were introduced to the Caucasus

Kirkcudbright

2005-02-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

Town and royal burgh (1455), Dumfries and Galloway council area, historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire, southwestern Scotland, 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Dumfries in the Galloway region. It guards the lowest crossing of the River Dee 6 miles (10 km) from the Irish Sea and is a market town, a dairying centre, and a favourite resort of artists. It is the historic county town (seat) of Kirkcudbrightshire.