PoliticalTrousers

0800 Promote

2006-11-23T14:45:00.000-08:00

0800 Promote are a London based company, established in 1989, primarily to supply quality business gifts. 0800promote provide an all-round facility to promote all aspects of corporate promotional activity and promotional products, including promotional printing,http://0800promote.com/printed-clothes.php and http://0800promote.com/printed-pen.php to name a few. We are a small building business who needed items printing on for a buyers show we were attending and we were extremely happy with 0800 Promotes services.

Paracanthopterygian

2005-04-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

Any member of the superorder Paracanthopterygii, a predatory, primarily marine group that forms one of about six major branches of the Teleostei, or bony fishes, the dominant modern aquatic vertebrates. Approximately 1,160 living species of paracanthopterygian fishes have been described. They range in length from just a few centimetres to roughly two metres (more

Jari River

2005-04-02T15:13:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Jary, river, northern Brazil, rising on the southern slopes of the Tumuc-Humac Mountains and flowing in a generally southeasterly direction for about 350 miles (560 km) to join the Amazon River at Bôca do Jari, opposite Grande de Gurupá Island. The Jari forms the border between Pará and Amapá states, and its lower course is navigable. An American entrepreneur, Daniel Ludwig, began

Mormon

2005-04-01T00:24:00.000-08:00

The Mormons eliminate most distinctions between the priesthood and laity. At the age of 12, all worthy males become deacons in the Aaronic priesthood; they become teachers when 14 years old and priests at the age of 16. About two years later they may enter the Melchizedek priesthood as elders and may be called upon for 18 months of missionary work. A Mormon man may afterward become

Bhagavata-purana

2005-03-30T05:05:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “Ancient Stories of the Lord”), the most celebrated text of a variety of Hindu sacred literature in Sanskrit that is known as the Puranas, and the specific text that is held sacred by the Bhagavata sect. Scholars are in general agreement that the Bhagavata-Purana was probably composed about the 10th century, somewhere in the Tamil country of South India;

Wolf Creek Crater

2005-03-27T01:44:00.000-08:00

Huge meteorite crater 65 miles (105 km) south of Halls Creek, Western Australia. The crater is on the edge of a little-explored desert and was first sighted from an airplane in 1937. It is 2,799 feet (853 m) in diameter and 151 feet (46 m) deep, with a rim standing 60–100 feet (18–30 m) above ground level. Only decayed meteoritic fragments have been found. It is considered an explosion crater because of its size. The crater

Caber, Tossing The

2005-03-21T08:40:00.000-08:00

A Scottish athletic event consisting in throwing a “caber,” a straight, approximately 17-foot- (5-metre-) long log (from which the bark has been removed) so that it turns over in the air and falls on the ground with its small end pointing directly opposite the tosser. See Highland Games.

Cachoeiro De Itapemirim

2005-03-19T05:53:00.000-08:00

City, southern Espírito Santo estado (“state”), eastern Brazil. It lies along the Itapemirim River, at 95 feet (29 m) above sea level and about 30 miles (48 km) inland from the Atlantic coast. It was given city status in 1889. Cachoeiro de Itapemirim is a manufacturing centre and serves a livestock-raising region. It lies on the main highway and railroad linking Vitória, the state capital (70 miles

Armoire

2005-03-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

The word, which sometimes denoted

Tiv

2005-03-18T05:23:00.000-08:00

The Tiv are subsistence farmers whose main crops are yams, millet, and sorghum, all of which are eaten as porridge

Yale, Elihu

2005-03-16T02:36:00.000-08:00

In 1671 Yale began working for the East India Company and was sent the following

Chess, Women in chess

2005-03-15T15:35:00.000-08:00

Separation of the sexes in chess is a relatively recent phenomenon. Literature abounds with examples of men and women playing one another before 1800. (For example, Shakespeare's only chess scene depicts Miranda playing Ferdinand in the last act of The Tempest.) But women were often barred from the coffeehouses and taverns where chess clubs developed in the 19th century.

Augustus, Caesar

2005-03-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

The death in 12 BC of Lepidus enabled Augustus finally to succeed him as the official head of the Roman religion, the chief priest (pontifex maximus). In the same year, Agrippa, too, died. Augustus compelled his widow, Julia, to marry Tiberius against both their wishes. During the next three years, however, Tiberius was away in the field, reducing Pannonia (Yugoslavia and Hungary)

Verdure Tapestry

2005-03-13T20:44:00.000-08:00

Such famous tapestry factories as Aubusson and

Kumamoto

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

Kumamoto ken is predominantly agricultural and produces rice surpluses for northern Kyushu's industrial cities, along with some mandarin oranges, silk, igusa (a rush for weaving tatami mats), tobacco, and

Murieta, Joaquín

2005-03-12T05:59:00.000-08:00

A Joaquín Murieta was recorded as baptized in Sonora, Mex., in 1830; while still a teenager, he married and migrated with his wife to California (1848). In the Gold Rush he tried prospecting,

Triballi

2005-03-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

A Thracian people whose earliest-known home was the “Triballian plain” (probably the Plain of Kosovo), near the junction of the Angrus and Brongus rivers (the western and southern Morava) in the north-central Balkans. Sometime after 424 BC they were overcome by the Autariatae, an Illyrian tribe. In 339 BC the Triballi refused to allow Philip II of Macedon to pass through the Haemus

Atum

2005-03-09T08:56:00.000-08:00

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

Austen, Jane

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

English writer who first gave the novel its distinctly modern character through her treatment of ordinary people in everyday life. Austen created the comedy of manners of middle-class life in the England of her time in such novels as Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), and Northanger

D'urfey, Thomas

2005-03-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

Patronized by King Charles II, whom he entertained as a jester

New Britain

2005-03-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

Largest island of the Bismarck Archipelago, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in Papua New Guinea. It is situated 55 miles (88 km) east of the Huon Peninsula of eastern mainland New Guinea. Measuring 370 miles (600 km) long by 50 miles (80 km) at its widest, the crescent-shaped island has an area of approximately 14,100 square miles (36,500 square km) and a 1,000-mile (1,600-km) coastline bordered by reefs. From narrow coastal

Domestic Shorthair

2005-03-05T16:15:00.000-08:00

Also called British Shorthair breed of domestic cat often referred to as a common, or alley, cat; a good show animal, however, is purebred and pedigreed and has been carefully bred to conform to a set standard of appearance. The domestic shorthair is required by show standards to be a sturdily built cat with strong-boned legs and a round head with round eyes and ears that are rounded at the tips. The coat

Pentameter

2005-03-04T23:36:00.000-08:00

Geoffrey Chaucer employed iambic pentameter in The Canterbury Tales as early as the 14th century, although

Bohemond Ii

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

The son of Bohemond I and Constance of France, he went from Apulia to Antioch in 1126. Antioch had been under the regency of Baldwin II of Jerusalem since 1119, when the previous prince, Roger, had been killed. Soon after his arrival in Antioch, Bohemond married Alice, the younger daughter of Baldwin. After joining with Baldwin in an attack on Damascus

Plantagenet, House Of

2005-03-02T14:27:00.000-08:00

Although well established, the surname Plantagenet has little historical justification. It seems to have

Bradbury, Sir Malcolm

2005-03-02T06:46:00.000-08:00

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,

Nitrous Acid

2005-02-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

Nitrous acid decomposes into nitric oxide,

Amorphous Solid

2005-02-27T14:51:00.000-08:00

The following sections discuss technological applications of amorphous solids in connection with the properties that make those applications possible. It is important to understand that, although differences do exist between the properties of amorphous and crystalline solids, it is nevertheless broadly true that amorphous solids exhibit essentially

Terhune, Mary Virginia Hawes

2005-02-26T21:15:00.000-08:00

Mary Hawes grew up in her hometown of Dennisville, Virginia, and from 1844 in nearby Richmond. She was well educated by private tutors and in her father's library. Writing under the pseudonym Marion Harland, she

Arts, East Asian, The formative period

2005-02-26T18:11:00.000-08:00

Sporadic Chinese influence on Korean culture began in the late Neolithic Period, but the influence

Pluvial Regime

2005-02-25T16:23:00.000-08:00

Averaged zonally, regions of excessive precipitation, in which annual precipitation exceeds annual evaporation, exist in the tropics and at latitudes poleward of 40° in both hemispheres. In the subtropics, dominated by high atmospheric pressure, annual

Annenberg, Walter H.

2005-02-23T19:07:00.000-08:00

In 1994 many people considered the life of Walter Annenberg an American success story: an immigrant's son who gained renown as a publisher, an ambassador, an art collector, and one of the most important philanthropists in the U.S. It was also the story of a quiet boy with a speech impediment who lived in the shadow of his flamboyant father until he took over the family's scandal-plagued

Ealdred

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

Ealdred became abbot of Tavistock, Devon, about 1027, and bishop of Worcester in 1046. Made archbishop of York by Pope Nicholas

Cabral, Pedro álvares

2005-02-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

The son of Fernão Cabral, a nobleman, and of Isabel de Gouveia, Pedro Cabral was heir to a long tradition of service to the throne. He himself enjoyed the esteem of King Manuel I of Portugal, from whom he received various privileges in 1497; these included a personal

Pius I, Saint

2005-02-21T05:26:00.000-08:00

Pius was a slave, according to his supposed brother, the apostolic father Hermas. As pope, Pius combatted Gnosticism—a religious movement teaching that matter is evil and that emancipation comes through spiritual truth attained only by revelatory esoteric knowledge—and the Marcionites, followers of a heretical

Sergipe

2005-02-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

Smallest estado (“state”) of Brazil, located on the southern coast of that country's northeastern bulge into the Atlantic Ocean. It is bounded on the east by the Atlantic, on the south and west by the state of Bahia, and on the north by the state of Alagoas, from which it is separated by the São Francisco River. Sergipe has an area of 8,492 square miles (21,994 square km), and the state capital

Kean University

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

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Union, New Jersey, U.S. It comprises schools of Business, Government and Technology; Education; Liberal Arts; and Natural Sciences, Nursing and Mathematics. Master's degree programs are available in education, psychology, business, liberal studies, speech pathology, nursing, and public administration. Campus

Obasanjo, Olusegun

2005-02-17T11:22:00.000-08:00

On March 1, 1999, retired general Olusegun Obasanjo was declared the winner of the presidential election in Nigeria after 16 years of military dictatorships. Less than a year earlier, Obasanjo had been serving a 15-year jail term, having been imprisoned in 1995 for his outspoken views of Gen. Sani Abacha's repressive regime. Following Abacha's unexpected death in June 1998, Obasanjo was

Macdonald-wright, Stanton

2005-02-17T09:43:00.000-08:00

Painter and teacher who, with Morgan Russell, founded the movement known as Synchromism about 1912. Synchromism proclaimed colour to be the basis of expression in painting, and, although the movement was short-lived, it proved to be the first abstract art movement developed by American

Scherrer, Paul

2005-02-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

Scherrer spent most of his life in Zürich, where he was professor of physics (1916–60) and director (1920–60) of the Physics

Man-of-war Fish

2005-02-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

(species Nomeus gronovii), small marine fish of the family Nomeidae (order Perciformes; sometimes placed in family Stromateidae), noted for living unharmed among the stinging tentacles of the Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish (Physalia). The man-of-war fish is usually found in the open sea, near its protector. It is striped or mottled, with large, black pelvic fins and is about

Scabious

2005-02-13T21:42:00.000-08:00

Also called Scabiosa (genus Scabiosa), any of about 100 species of annual and perennial herbs of the teasel family, Dipsacaceae, order Dipsacales. They are native to temperate Eurasia, the Mediterranean region, and the mountains of eastern Africa. Some are important garden plants. All species have basal leaf rosettes and leafy stems. The flower heads have many crowded, small,

Eliot, Sir John

2005-02-13T04:52:00.000-08:00

The son of a wealthy landowner, Eliot was first elected

Ithna 'ashariyah

2005-02-11T04:23:00.000-08:00

Each of the imams—'Ali, his sons Hasan and Husayn, 'Ali Zayn al-'Abidin, Muhammad al-Baqir, Ja'far as-Sadiq, Musa al-Kazim, 'Ali ar-Rida, Muhammad al-Jawad, 'Ali al-Hadi, Hasan al-'Askari, and Muhammad

Fen River

2005-02-10T06:39:00.001-08:00

The Fen River and its tributaries

Oskaloosa

2005-02-10T06:39:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1844) of Mahaska county, southeastern Iowa, U.S. It lies between the Des Moines and South Skunk rivers, about 60 miles (100 km) southeast of Des Moines. The region was inhabited by Sauk and Fox peoples when a fort was founded there by Captain Nathan Boone, nephew of Daniel Boone, who explored the area in 1835. Settled by Quakers in 1843, it takes its name (meaning “the last of the

Black Friday

2005-02-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

In U.S. history, Sept. 24, 1869, when plummeting gold prices precipitated a securities market panic. The crash was a consequence of an attempt by financier Jay Gould and railway magnate James Fisk to corner the gold market and drive up the price. The scheme depended on keeping government gold off the market, which the manipulators arranged through political influence. When

Arnold, Matthew

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

It is said that when the poet in Arnold died, the critic was born; and it is true that from this time onward he turned almost entirely to prose. Some of the leading ideas and phrases were early put into currency in Essays in Criticism (First Series, 1865; Second Series, 1888) and Culture and Anarchy. The first essay in the 1865 volume, “The Function of Criticism at the Present Time,” is an overture

New Castle

2005-02-06T05:43:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1849) of Lawrence county, western Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies at the juncture of the Shenango and Mahoning rivers and Neshannock Creek and in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Youngstown, Ohio. Originally the site of a Delaware Indian capital, it was settled in about 1798 by John Stewart, who built an iron furnace and named the place for the

Alba Longa

2005-02-05T13:46:00.000-08:00

Ancient city of Latium, Italy, in the Alban Hills about 12 miles (19 km) southeast of Rome, near present Castel Gandolfo. Tradition attributes its founding (c. 1152 BC) to Ascanius, the son of the legendary Aeneas, thus making it, according to legend at least, the oldest Latin city, which in turn founded others, including Rome. Excavations have revealed cemeteries that date to the 10th century

New England

2005-02-05T10:47:00.000-08:00

The region was named by Captain John Smith, who explored its shores in 1614 for some London merchants. New England was soon settled by English Puritans whose aversion to idleness and luxury served admirably the need of fledgling communities

Insurance, Perils clause

2005-02-04T18:07:00.000-08:00

Until 1978 the main insuring clause of modern ocean marine policies was preserved almost unchanged from the original 1779 Lloyd's of London form. The clause is as follows:Touching the adventures and perils which we the assurers are contented to bear and do take upon us in this voyage: they are of the seas, men-of-war, fire, enemies, pirates, rovers, thieves, jettisons, letters of mart

Marrakech

2005-02-03T09:58:00.000-08:00

Marrakech gave its name to the kingdom of which it was long the capital. It was founded in the mid-11th century by

Shigella

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

Genus of rod-shaped bacteria in the family Enterobacteriaceae, species of which are normal inhabitants of the human intestinal tract and can cause dysentery, or shigellosis. Shigella are microbiologically characterized as gram-negative, non-spore-forming, nonmotile bacteria. Their cells are 0.4 to 0.6 micrometre across by 1 to 3 micrometres long. S. dysenteriae, spread

English Literature, The literature of World War I and the interwar period

2005-02-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

The impact of World War I upon the Anglo-American modernists has been noted. In addition the war brought a variety of responses from the more traditionalist writers, predominantly poets, who saw action. Rupert Brooke caught the idealism of the opening months of the war (and died in service); Siegfried Sassoon and Ivor Gurney caught the mounting anger and sense of waste

China, Struggle for the premiership

2005-01-30T23:05:00.000-08:00

As these programmatic aspects of the Cultural Revolution were being put into place and regularized, the political battle to determine who would inherit power at the top continued and intensified. Tensions first surfaced at a meeting of the Central Committee in the summer of 1970, when Chen Boda, Lin Biao, and their supporters made a series of remarks that angered Mao

Omalius D'halloy, Jean-baptiste-julien D'

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

D'Omalius was educated first in Liège and afterward in Paris. While a youth he became interested in geology (over the protests of his parents) and, having an independent income, was able to devote his energies to geologic researches. As early as 1808 he communicated

Furniture, Mixed forms

2005-01-29T02:11:00.000-08:00

Apart from the kinds of storage furniture already mentioned, there are numerous combination forms. An ordinary table can be used as a writing desk, and the only differences between the typical French Rococo writing desk of the 18th century and other tables are the drawers in the underframe and the leather-covered top. The novelty of Louis XV's writing desk consists

Actinide Element, Nuclear

2005-01-28T08:03:00.000-08:00

All of the actinide elements are unstable toward radioactive decay; the reason that actinium, thorium, protactinium, and uranium are found in nature at all is because some of their isotopes are unusually stable and others are being formed constantly by decay of the long-lived isotopes. It is convenient to divide the naturally occurring isotopes into families based

Drummond (of Hawthornden), William

2005-01-26T03:48:00.000-08:00

Drummond studied at Edinburgh and spent a few years in France, ostensibly studying law at Bourges and Paris. On the death of his father, first laird

Wagner, (wilhelm) Richard

2005-01-26T02:59:00.000-08:00

German dramatic composer and theorist whose operas and music had a revolutionary influence on the course of Western music, either by extension of his discoveries or reaction against them. Among his major works are The Flying Dutchman (1843), Tannhäuser (1845), Lohengrin (1850), Tristan und Isolde (1865), Parsifal (1882), and his great tetralogy, The Ring of the Nibelung (1869–76).

Ascus

2005-01-23T09:39:00.000-08:00

Plural Asci, a saclike structure produced by fungi of the class Ascomycetes (sac fungi) in which sexually produced spores (ascospores), usually four or eight in number, are formed. Asci may arise from the fungal mycelium (the filaments, or hyphae, constituting the organism) without a distinct fruiting structure, as in the leaf curl fungi; it may arise within a fruiting structure (ascocarp)

Bahraich

2005-01-22T05:16:00.000-08:00

City, east-central Uttar Pradesh state, northern India, located on a tributary of the Ghaghara River and on a rail line between Lucknow and Nepalganj, Nepal. Bahraich is a centre of trade (agricultural products and timber) with Nepal; there is also some sugar processing. The tomb of Sayyid Salar Mas'ud, an Afghan warrior-saint who died there in 1033, is visited by Muslim and Hindu pilgrims.

Protein, Protamines and histones

2005-01-22T01:01:00.000-08:00

Protamines are found in the sperm cells of fish. The most thoroughly investigated protamines are salmine from salmon sperm and clupeine from herring sperm. The protamines are bound to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), forming nucleoprotamines. The amino acid composition of the protamines is simple; they contain, in addition to large amounts of arginine, small amounts

A-erh-chin Mountains

2005-01-20T04:34:00.000-08:00

The range falls into three divisions. The southwest

Webster, Daniel

2005-01-20T01:02:00.000-08:00

During the postwar sectional crisis Webster nevertheless spoke out, March 7, 1850, in favour of Clay's compromise proposals, one of which would organize territories in the Mexican cession with no prohibition of slavery. His argument that such a prohibition was unnecessary because the West was geographically unsuitable for the plantation system pleased businessmen

Asia, Rivers

2005-01-18T09:28:00.000-08:00

Asia is a land of great rivers. The Ob, Irtysh, Yenisey with the Angara, Lena (with the waters of the Aldan and the Vilyuy), Yana, Indigirka, and Kolyma rivers all flow into the Arctic Ocean. Among rivers draining into the Pacific Ocean are the Anadyr, Amur (combined with the Sungari and the Ussuri), Huang He, Yangtze (Chang), Xi, Red, Mekong, and Chao Phraya. The Salween, Irrawaddy, Brahmaputra

Hugh Of Lincoln, Little Saint

2005-01-17T10:44:00.000-08:00

The victim of an anonymous

Hypoxia

2005-01-16T22:16:00.000-08:00

Condition of the body in which the tissues are starved of oxygen. In its extreme form, where oxygen is entirely absent, the condition is called anoxia. There are four types of hypoxia: (1) the hypoxemic type, in which the oxygen pressure in the blood going to the tissues is too low to saturate the hemoglobin; (2) the anemic type, in which the amount of functional hemoglobin is too

Eck, Johann

2005-01-15T13:31:00.000-08:00

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

Regiomontanus

2005-01-14T23:54:00.000-08:00

Königsberg means “King's Mountain,” which is what the Latinized version of his name, Joannes de Regio monte or Regiomontanus, also means. A miller's son, he entered the University

Nepal, Drainage

2005-01-14T13:08:00.000-08:00

The Kathmandu Valley, the political and cultural hub of the nation, is drained by the Baghmati River, flowing southward, which washes the steps of the sacred temple of Pasupatinatha (Pashupatinath) and rushes out of the valley through the deeply cut Chhobar gorge. Some sandy layers of the lacustrine beds act as aquifers (water-bearing strata of permeable rock, sand, or gravel),

Rourke, Constance Mayfield

2005-01-13T09:21:00.000-08:00

After earning an A.B. from Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., (1907) and studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, Rourke taught English at Vassar. In 1915 she resigned, thereafter working as a research historian and free-lance writer devoted to defining the historical aspects

Agung, Abulfatah

2005-01-12T03:17:00.000-08:00

Agung encouraged English and French trade but successfully opposed Dutch expansion into the area in the early part of his reign. In the 1670s, however, when he attempted to change the succession to his throne from his older son Sultan Haji to his younger son, Haji revolted and with Dutch help seized the throne. Haji

Latitude And Longitude

2005-01-11T00:05:00.000-08:00

Latitude is a measurement on a globe or map of location north or south of the Equator. Technically there are different kinds of latitude—geographic, astronomical, and geocentric—but there are only minor differences between them. In most

Saale Glacial Stage

2005-01-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

Division of Pleistocene deposits and time in northern Europe (the Pleistocene Epoch began about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The Saale Glacial Stage followed the Holstein Interglacial Stage and preceded the Eemian Interglacial Stage, both relatively mild climatic periods. The extensive and complex Saale deposits are correlated with the Gipping Glacial

Henequen

2005-01-09T04:04:00.000-08:00

(Agave fourcroydes), plant of the family agave (Agavaceae) and its fibre, third in importance among the leaf fibre (q.v.) group. Varieties of A. fourcroydes include ixtli, longifolia, minima, and rigida. The henequen plant is native to Mexico, where it has been a source of textile fibre since pre-Columbian times. It was introduced to Cuba in the 19th century, becoming the country's

Gravimeter

2005-01-08T19:37:00.000-08:00

Also called gravity meter sensitive device for measuring variations in the Earth's gravitational field, useful in prospecting for oil and minerals. In one form, it consists of a weight suspended from a spring; variations in gravity cause variations in the extension of the spring. A number of different mechanical and optical schemes have been developed to measure this deflection, which in

New England Conservatory Of Music

2005-01-06T17:46:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. Considered one of the leading music schools in the United States, it is also the oldest independent music conservatory in the nation. It offers bachelor's degrees with majors in percussion, five woodwind, five brass, six string, and three keyboard instruments, plus studies such as

Ratite

2005-01-05T13:43:00.000-08:00

Any bird whose sternum (breastbone) is smooth, or raftlike, because it lacks a keel to which flight muscles could be anchored. All species of ratites are thus unable to fly. They are a peculiar and puzzling group, with anatomic anomalies. The group includes some of the largest birds of all time, such as the moa (q.v.) and the elephant bird (Aepyornis). Extant ratites include the

Eisenhower Doctrine

2005-01-05T01:09:00.000-08:00

(Jan. 5, 1957), in the Cold War period after World War II, U.S. foreign-policy pronouncement by President Dwight D. Eisenhower promising military or economic aid to any Middle Eastern country needing help in resisting communist aggression. The doctrine was intended to check increased Soviet influence in the Middle East, which had resulted from the supply of arms to Egypt by

Cheke, Sir John

2005-01-04T05:14:00.000-08:00

Cheke also spelled Cheek English humanist and supporter of the Protestant Reformation who, as the poet John Milton said, “taught Cambridge and King Edward Greek” and who, with his friend Sir Thomas Smith, discovered the proper pronunciation of ancient Greek. Through his teaching he made the University of Cambridge the centre of the “new learning” and the Reformed religion.

Ruysdael, Salomon Van

2005-01-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

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

Madog Ab Owain Gwynedd

2005-01-01T21:24:00.000-08:00

A quarrel among Owain's sons over the distribution of their late father's estate led Madog to sail to Ireland and then westward. In a year or so he returned to Wales and assembled a group to colonize the land he had discovered. The party sailed west in 10 ships and was

World War I

2005-01-01T18:21:00.000-08:00

With Serbia already much aggrandized by the two Balkan Wars (1912–13, 1913), Serbian nationalists turned their attention back to the idea of “liberating” the South Slavs of Austria-Hungary. Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, head of Serbia's military intelligence, was also, under the alias “Apis,” head of the secret society Union or Death, pledged to the pursuit of this pan-Serbian ambition.

France, History Of, Economic distress

2004-12-30T03:55:00.000-08:00

The Black Death, carried on shipboard from the Levant, reached Provence in

Reid, Whitelaw

2004-12-29T08:36:00.000-08:00

U.S. journalist, diplomat, and politician, successor to Horace Greeley in 1872 as editor in chief (until 1905) and publisher (until his death) of the New York Tribune, which, during much of that period, was perhaps the most influential newspaper in the United States. He was minister to France from 1889 to 1892, unsuccessful candidate for vice president on the

Evolution, The gene pool

2004-12-28T02:00:00.000-08:00

The gene pool is the sum total of all of the genes and combinations of genes that occur in a population of organisms of the same species. It can be described by citing the frequencies of the alternative genetic constitutions. Consider, for example, a particular gene (which geneticists call a locus), such as the one determining the MN blood groups in humans. One form of the

Tetragrammaton

2004-12-28T01:25:00.000-08:00

The four Hebrew letters, YHWH, in the name of God. See Yahweh.

Fencing

2004-12-27T08:24:00.000-08:00

Organized sport involving the use of the sword—épée, foil, or sabre—for attack and defense according to set movements and rules. Although the use of swords dates to prehistoric times and swordplay to ancient civilizations, the organized sport of fencing began only at the end of the 19th century. For information on the art of Japanese sword fighting, see kendo.

West Hartford

2004-12-25T05:15:00.000-08:00

Urban town (township), Hartford county, central Connecticut, U.S. Founded in 1679 as an agricultural community, it was known as West Division Parish or West Society. It became a wealthy residential suburb of Hartford, was named West Hartford in 1806, and was separately incorporated in 1854. Industry is restricted to a relatively small zone in the south end. The town is the birthplace

Ahmed Hasim

2004-12-24T23:18:00.000-08:00

Born into a prominent family, Hasim developed his knowledge of French literature and his fondness for poetry at Galatasaray Lycée in Constantinople (now Istanbul). After briefly studying law, he worked for the government tobacco offices.

Nature Worship, Water as fructifying

2004-12-24T16:05:00.000-08:00

Wherever early archaic culture spread the myth of heaven and earth as the world parents, there also was a belief that heaven fructifies the earth with heaven's seed. The springs, pools, and rivers on the earth, therefore, may bring not only healing and expiation but also fertility. The Scamander (now Turkey's Küçükmenderes) River in ancient Greece evidently was so personified;

Interior Design, Aesthetic components of design

2004-12-22T14:26:00.000-08:00

A general definition of beauty and aesthetic excellence would be difficult, but fortunately there are a number of generally accepted principles that can be used to achieve an understanding of the aesthetic considerations in design. One must note, however, that such understanding requires exposure and learning; an appreciation of any form of art needs such a

Atargatis

2004-12-21T19:24:00.000-08:00

Great goddess of northern Syria; her chief sanctuary was at Hierapolis (modern Manbij), northeast of Aleppo, where she was worshiped with her consort, Hadad. Her ancient temple there was rebuilt about 300 BC by Queen Stratonice, wife of Seleucus I, and it was perhaps partly as a result of that Greek patronage that her cult, carried by Greek merchants and mercenaries, spread to

Levnî, Abdülcelil

2004-12-20T06:01:00.000-08:00

He went as a young man to Constantinople, where he studied at the academy of painting at the Topkapi Palace. He later became chief court painter to the Ottoman sultan Mustafa II, and he probably held the same post under the successor

La Tène

2004-12-19T14:47:00.000-08:00

(French: The Shallows), archaeological site at the eastern end of Lake Neuchâtel, Switz., the name of which has been extended to distinguish the Late Iron Age culture of European Celts. La Tène culture originated in the mid-5th century BC, when the Celts came into contact with Greek and Etruscan influences from south of the Alps. This culture passed through several phases

Argonne

2004-12-19T10:08:00.000-08:00

Wooded, hilly region in eastern France that forms a natural barrier between Champagne and Lorraine. The Argonne is about 40 miles long and 10 miles wide (65 by 15 km). The hilly massif rarely exceeds 650 feet (200 m) in elevation but is slashed with numerous deep valleys formed by watercourses associated with the Aire and Aisne rivers, which constitute a barrier to transportation. The

Ashurnasirpal Ii

2004-12-17T20:47:00.000-08:00

King of Assyria 883–859 BC, whose major accomplishment was the consolidation of the conquests of his father, Tukulti-Ninurta II, leading to the establishment of the New Assyrian Empire. Although, by his own testimony, he was a brilliant general and administrator, he is perhaps best known for the brutal frankness with which he described the atrocities committed on

Burgomaster

2004-12-17T16:55:00.000-08:00

German Bürgermeister (“town master”), mayor or chief magistrate of a German town, city, or rural commune. The title is also used in such countries as Belgium (bourgmeistre) and The Netherlands (burgemeester). Most German towns have a burgomaster, but larger cities may have several, one being the chief burgomaster (oberbürgermeister). Burgomasters may be elected by the voters or by a council, and