FlatPancake

Wood Working Machinery

2006-10-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

Morgan Rogers WoodWorking Machinery supply quality affordable used Woodworking Machinery and New Woodworking Machineryall over the world. With over 40 years experience in the Wood Working Machines industry no order is to small

Epistemology, Description versus justification

2005-04-04T23:45:00.000-07:00

Epistemology during its long history has engaged in two different sorts of tasks. One of these is descriptive in character. It aims to depict accurately certain features of the world, including the contents of the human mind, and to determine whether these should count as specimens of knowledge. A philosophical system with this orientation is, for example, the phenomenology

Medicine, Military practice

2005-04-02T06:28:00.000-08:00

The main means of preventing

Medicine, Military practice

2005-03-31T08:32:00.000-08:00

The theory that describes the action of the strong nuclear force. QCD was constructed on analogy to quantum electrodynamics (QED), the quantum theory of the electromagnetic force. In QED, the electromagnetic interactions of charged particles are described through the emission and subsequent absorption of massless photons, best known as the “particles” of light;

Ribeirão Prêto

2005-03-29T16:02:00.000-08:00

City, in the highlands of northeastern São Paulo state, Brazil, at 1,700 feet (520 m) above sea level, on the Prêto River, a tributary of the Pardo River. Founded in 1856 and formerly called Entre Rios and São Sebastião do Ribeirão Prêto, the settlement was given town status in 1870 and was made the seat of a municipality in 1871. It was long renowned as a colonization and coffee-growing centre. Now

Andean Peoples

2005-03-28T07:35:00.000-08:00

Even these two technological developments, however, are not enough to characterize and explain the emergence of Andean civilizations. From the intimate knowledge of their environmental conditions, the people developed a set of values that may have started from a desire to minimize risks but that soon was elaborated into an economic and political ideal. Every

Hooper, Franklin Henry

2005-03-25T15:16:00.000-08:00

In 1899 Hooper joined the staff of the Britannica, in which his brother Horace, James Clarke, and others had acquired an interest. Franklin Hooper was connected with five editions of the Britannica in the ensuing

Tie-dyeing

2005-03-24T15:40:00.000-08:00

Method of dyeing by hand in which coloured patterns are produced in the fabric by gathering together many small portions of material and tying them tightly with string before immersing the cloth in the dyebath. The dye fails to penetrate the tied sections. After drying, the fabric is untied to reveal irregular circles, dots, and stripes. Varicoloured patterns may

Ford, Henry

2005-03-21T19:53:00.000-08:00

Ford spent most of his life making headlines, good, bad, but never indifferent. Celebrated as both a technological genius and a folk hero, Ford was the creative force behind an industry of unprecedented size and wealth that

Rawlings, Jerry J.

2005-03-20T01:31:00.000-08:00

Rawlings was the son of a Scottish father and a Ghanaian mother. He was educated at Achimoto College and the military academy at Teshie. He was commissioned

Hu-lun Lake

2005-03-19T19:44:00.000-08:00

Hu-lun Lake has varied considerably in area according to variations in the climate. At one time it was part of a large lake that included Pei-erh Lake, a somewhat

Italy, The revolutions of 1848

2005-03-18T22:39:00.000-08:00

The first of the revolutions of 1848 erupted in Palermo on January 9. Starting as a popular insurrection, it soon took on overtones of Sicilian separatism and spread throughout the island. Piecemeal reforms proved inadequate to satisfy the revolutionaries, both noble and bourgeois, who were determined to have a new and more liberal constitution. Ferdinand II of the Kingdom

Tocqueville, Alexis De

2005-03-16T21:46:00.000-08:00

The Revolution of 1848 brought about a new political situation for France and for Tocqueville. Having decried apathy as the chief danger for France, Tocqueville recognized even before the revolution that France was faced with a politically awakened working class that might well propel French politics into socialist and revolutionary channels. Tocqueville considered

V.c.

2005-03-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

Recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest military award bestowed in Great Britain. See Victoria Cross.

V.c.

2005-03-14T20:19:00.000-08:00

The company was incorporated in 1892, acquiring all the assets of the Edison General Electric

Ciskei

2005-03-14T07:47:00.000-08:00

Also called Xhosa-ciskei, or Xosa-ciskei, former republic (though never internationally recognized as such) that was inhabited principally by Xhosa-speaking people in southern Africa. It bordered the Indian Ocean on the southeast and was bounded by the Republic of South Africa on the southwest, northwest, and northeast. A fingerlike extension of South African territory on the northeast separated Ciskei

Amalasuntha

2005-03-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

When her husband died, Amalasuntha was left with a son, Athalaric, and a daughter. At Theodoric's death, in 526, Athalaric was 10 years old, and Amalasuntha assumed the regency. Her pro-Byzantine policy, her patronage of literature and the arts, and her desire to educate

Milkweed

2005-03-12T07:32:00.000-08:00

Any of several species of flowering plants belonging to the family Asclepiadaceae (q.v.).

Halévy, Ludovic

2005-03-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

The son of the writer Léon Halévy and the nephew of the operatic composer Fromental Halévy, Ludovic began writing for the stage while

Scheelite

2005-03-10T06:38:00.000-08:00

Calcium tungstate mineral, CaWO4, that is an important ore of tungsten. It acquired commercial value in the 20th century when tungsten became used in alloy steels and electric-light filaments. The mineral is named in honour of the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele, who obtained tungstic acid from it in 1781. Scheelite commonly occurs as compact or granular masses in contact

Humbert Of Silva Candida

2005-03-09T07:03:00.000-08:00

A monk of the Benedictine monastery of Moyenmoutier, in the Vosges mountains, France,

Dow Chemical Company

2005-03-07T14:12:00.000-08:00

Dow Chemical Company was founded in 1897 by chemist Herbert H. Dow of Midland to supplement the Midland Chemical Company (1890) and Dow Process Company (1895). Created in part because Dow required

Arfvedsonite

2005-03-06T08:45:00.000-08:00

Amphibole mineral, an iron-rich sodium silicate. Lithium and magnesium replace iron in the structure to form eckermannite. Both minerals characteristically occur as dark-green crystals in alkali igneous rocks and their associated pegmatites. For chemical formula and detailed physical properties, see amphibole (table).

Kyonggi

2005-03-05T21:21:00.000-08:00

Do (province), northwestern South Korea. It is bounded by the truce line with North Korea (north), by the do of Kangwon (east) and Kyongsang-puk and Ch'ungch'ong-nam (south), and by the Yellow Sea (west). The nation's capital, Seoul, is in the middle of the province but was separated from it administratively in 1946 as a special city. Formerly Kyonggi do was the granary of Seoul; the Kyonggi plain,

Art And Architecture, Oceanic, Australia

2005-03-05T10:48:00.000-08:00

The Australian continent is liberally dotted with thousands of rock-art sites. They include rock shelters, outcrops of rock, and surface sheets of rock and are decorated with painted, pecked, or engraved figurative and nonfigurative forms in a wealth of styles. These are the main testimonials to the prehistoric art of the Aborigines; the only portable works from

Bacillariophyta

2005-03-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

Division of algae the members of which are commonly known as diatoms. See diatom.

Kathiawar Peninsula

2005-03-02T00:12:00.000-08:00

Peninsula in southwestern Gujarat state, west-central India. It is bounded by the Little Rann (marsh) of Kachchh (Kutch; north), the Gulf of Cambay (east), the Arabian Sea (southwest), and the Gulf of Kachchh (northwest). From the northeast an ancient sandstone formation extends into the peninsula, which has an area of 23,000 square miles (60,000 square km). Most of the sandstone, however, is masked

Alcott, Bronson

2005-02-28T00:18:00.000-08:00

The self-educated son of a poor farmer, Alcott traveled in the South as a peddler before establishing a series of schools for children. His educational theories owed something to J.H. Pestalozzi, the Swiss reformer, but more to the examples

Harrison, Anna

2005-02-27T07:37:00.000-08:00

In 1858 Anna's house was destroyed in a fire, and she spent the remaining six years of her life with her son John Scott Harrison, the only one of her children to outlive her. She was buried beside her husband in North Bend, Ohio.

Alcott, Bronson

2005-02-26T17:11:00.000-08:00

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

Yako

2005-02-25T21:58:00.000-08:00

The Yako are mainly yam farmers; subsidiary crops include cocoyams (taro), corn (maize), okra, and pumpkin. The main cash crop is palm oil. The Yako occupy compact villages divided into wards, each containing several patrilineal clans. Patrilineal

Tz'u-hsi

2005-02-25T07:17:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Cixi, also called (Wade–Giles romanization) Hsiao-ch'in, or Hsien Huang-hou, byname Empress Dowager consort of the Hsien-feng emperor (reigned 1850–61), mother of the T'ung-chih emperor (reigned 1861–75), and adoptive mother of the Kuang-hsü emperor (reigned 1875–1908), who dominated the Chinese empire for almost half a century. Ruling through a clique of conservative, corrupt officials, she maintained an iron grip over the Manchu Imperial house (Ch'ing dynasty, 1644–1911/12), becoming one

Swan Islands

2005-02-23T05:51:00.000-08:00

Spanish Islas Del Cisne, two islets (Greater and Lesser Swan) in the Caribbean Sea, 97 mi (156 km) north of Honduras. Discovered by Christopher Columbus on St. Anne's day in 1502, they were named Islas Santa Ana. The islands, only 3 sq mi (8 sq km) in area, served as a pirate haunt from the 16th through the 18th century. In 1775 they appeared on a map as the Swan Islands. The notorious U.S. filibuster William Walker occupied them in 1860; following

Tz'u-hsi

2005-02-22T03:35:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1969–73) National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws American organization, founded in 1969 to centralize state abortion-rights efforts and continuing its mission thereafter to protect and promote reproductive freedom. The organization consists of three related entities: NARAL Inc., a nonprofit organization that focuses on defending abortion rights and on making abortions less necessary; NARAL-PAC, a registered

Coleridge, Sara

2005-02-21T18:23:00.000-08:00

During her childhood, her father was seldom at home, and his brother-in-law Robert Southey chiefly influenced Sara's early years. She did not see her father from 1812 to 1822, when she visited him at Highgate

Mina

2005-02-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

Also called Meo, or Mewati, tribe and caste inhabiting Rajasthan and Punjab states in northern India, and Punjab province, Pakistan, who speak Hindi and claim descent from the Rajputs. The Mina are possibly of inner Asiatic origin, and tradition suggests that they migrated to India in the 7th century with the Rajputs, but no other link between the two has been substantiated. In the 11th century, the Meo

Valence Electron

2005-02-20T11:07:00.000-08:00

Any of the fundamental negatively charged particles in the outermost region of atoms that enters into the formation of chemical bonds. Whatever the type of chemical bond (ionic, covalent, metallic) between atoms, changes in the atomic structure are restricted to the outermost, or valence, electrons. They are more weakly attracted to the positive atomic nucleus than

Kirkpatrick, Ralph

2005-02-19T10:05:00.000-08:00

Kirkpatrick studied piano from age six and began to play harpsichord in 1930. He graduated from Harvard University in 1931 and then went to Paris to continue his studies. His teachers included Wanda Landowska, the French conductor

New Castle

2005-02-18T20:11:00.000-08:00

County, northern Delaware, U.S., bounded by Pennsylvania to the north, New Jersey to the east (the Delaware River constituting the border), the Smyrna River to the south, and Maryland to the west. The county is bisected east-west by the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal (completed 1829), around which are state parks and wildlife areas. Other waterways are the Christina River and the

Forbes, James David

2005-02-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Edinburgh, Forbes became a professor there in 1833. Between 1836 and 1844 he published four series of “Researches on Heat” in which he described the polarization (alignment of waves to vibrate in a plane) of radiant infrared heat by the mineral

Hop

2005-02-16T01:45:00.000-08:00

Either of two species of the genus Humulus, nonwoody annual or perennial vines in the hemp family (Cannabeceae) native to temperate North America, Eurasia, and South America. The hops used in the brewery industry are the dried female flower clusters (cones) of the common hop (H. lupulus). The Japanese hop (H. japonicus) is a quick-growing annual species used

Beverly

2005-02-15T06:28:00.000-08:00

City, Essex county, northeastern Massachusetts, U.S. It is situated on Beverly Harbor, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Salem. Settled about 1626, it was named for Beverley, England, when incorporated as a town (township) in 1668. It early developed as a shipping centre, and the schooner Hannah, claimed to be the first ship of the U.S. Navy, was commissioned (September 5, 1775) at Glover's

Maugham, W. Somerset

2005-02-13T23:08:00.000-08:00

Maugham was orphaned at the age of 10; he was brought up by an uncle and educated at King's School, Canterbury. After a year at Heidelberg, he entered St. Thomas' medical school,

Furniture, Spain: 17th century

2005-02-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

The Golden Age of Spain during the 17th century also left its mark on the chair. Paintings show a type of chair with a relatively crude wooden frame; a back and seat, nailed on, consisting of two layers of leather, with horsehair stuffing in between, stitched to produce a pattern of small pads. The front board and a corresponding board at the back could be folded after loosening

Great Auk

2005-02-12T03:43:00.000-08:00

The

Aldridge, Ira Frederick

2005-02-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

Accounts of his life in the United States are conflicting. The great British-American actor James William Wallack is believed to have engaged him as a personal attendant while on a passage from the United States to England, where Aldridge established himself

Econometrics

2005-02-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

The statistical and mathematical analysis of economic relationships, often serving as a basis for economic forecasting. Such information is sometimes used by governments to set economic policy and by private business to aid decisions on prices, inventory, and production. It is used mainly, however, by economists to study relationships between economic

China, The first historical dynasty: the Shang

2005-02-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

In addition to the works of Chang, Watson, and Rawson mentioned in the previous paragraph, the following works are also informative: Kwang-chih Chang, Early Chinese Civilization: Anthropological Perspectives (1976), and Shang Civilization (1980), on Shang archaeology and culture; Tsung-tung Chang, Der Kult der Shang-Dynastie im Spiegel der Orakelinschriften (1970); David N. Keightley, Sources of Shang History: The Oracle-Bone Inscriptions of Bronze Age China (1978, reprinted 1985); Wen Fong (ed.), The Great Bronze Age of China (1980), an analytic catalog of an exhibition from the People's Republic of China; and Paul Wheatley, The Pivot of the Four Quarters (1971), a comparative study of the origins of urban society.

Giri, Varahagiri Venkata

2005-02-07T23:33:00.000-08:00

Giri began his education at Khallikote College, Berhampore, and then went to Dublin to study law. There he became engaged in the Sinn Féin movement and was expelled from Ireland in 1916. Upon his return to India, he joined the nascent labour movement. He became general secretary and

Gerzean Culture

2005-02-07T18:49:00.000-08:00

Also called Naqadah Ii Culture, predynastic Egyptian cultural phase given the sequence dates 40–65 by Sir Flinders Petrie and later dated c. 3400–c. 3100 BC. Evidence indicates that the Gerzean culture was not brought by invaders but was rather a further development of the culture of the Amratian period, which immediately preceded the Gerzean. Centred primarily at Naqadah and Hierakonpolis in Upper Egypt, and Sayala

Australia, Music

2005-02-05T05:52:00.000-08:00

Like the other arts in Australia, music has two distinct traditions: those of the European colonists and those of the indigenous peoples, whose singing and ritual playing of the didjeridu (a drone instrument) reenact the ancient traditions related to a mythological time called the Dreaming, the Aboriginal conception of creation. Contemporary Aboriginal bands

Table Tennis

2005-02-05T03:30:00.000-08:00

At the 1997 world table tennis championships in Manchester, Eng., China again dominated play, winning six of the seven titles. The men's team from China defeated France (the first time since 1948 France had reached the final), while the women's team downed North Korea. Deng Yaping, the 24-year-old 1992 and 1996 Olympic champion, won her third world singles championship, then announced her retirement.

Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics

2005-02-03T05:25:00.000-08:00

(U.S.S.R.) also called Soviet Union Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik , or Sovetsky Soyuz former northern Eurasian empire (1917/22–1991) stretching from the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean and, in its final years, consisting of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics (S.S.R.'s)–Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belorussia (now Belarus), Estonia, Georgia, Kazakstan, Kirgiziya (now Kyrgyzstan), Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia (now Moldova), Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

Turda

2005-02-02T21:18:00.000-08:00

City, Cluj judet (county), west-central Romania, on the Aries River. Turda was first a Dacian settlement (Dierna) and later a Roman castrum (Potaissa), around which grew a municipium and later a colony. On the outskirts of the city are the salt mines worked in Roman times. In the Middle Ages, Turda was the meeting place of the Transylvanian Diet. The city is now an important industrial

Meinong, Alexius

2005-02-02T17:24:00.000-08:00

After studying under the philosophical psychologist Franz Brentano from 1875 to 1878 in Vienna, he joined the faculty of philosophy at the

Doris

2005-02-01T01:34:00.000-08:00

The alleged mother country of the Dorian conquerors of the Peloponnese. It was a small district in central Greece, lying between Mounts Oeta (modern Oiti) and Parnassus and consisting of a narrow valley nowhere exceeding 4 miles (6 km) in breadth, with only four small townships. Doris had some importance because it commanded the road from Heraclea in Trachis to Amphissa,

Bert, Paul

2005-01-30T14:03:00.000-08:00

French physiologist, politician, and diplomat, founder of modern aerospace medicine, whose research into the effects of air pressure on the body helped make possible the exploration of space and the ocean depths. While professor of physiology at the Sorbonne (1869–86), he found that the illness suffered by animals at high altitudes is caused

Aldhelm

2005-01-29T14:39:00.000-08:00

Aldhelm was trained in Latin and in Celtic-Irish scholarship by Malmesbury's Irish founder and went on to study at the famous school at Canterbury, where he was exposed

Powell, Cecil Frank

2005-01-29T06:27:00.000-08:00

British physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1950 for his development of the photographic method of studying nuclear processes and for the resulting discovery of the pion (pi-meson), a heavy subatomic particle. The pion proved to be the hypothetical particle proposed in 1935 by Yukawa Hideki of Japan in his theory

Yakima

2005-01-28T19:00:00.000-08:00

Although culturally much like other Sahaptin Indians of the Plateau, the Yakima acquired historical distinction in the Yakima Indian Wars (1855–58), a failed attempt by

African American Literature, The Black Arts movement

2005-01-26T19:12:00.000-08:00

The assassination of Malcolm X, eloquent exponent of black nationalism, in 1965 in New York and the espousal of “Black Power” by previously integrationist civil rights organizations such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) helped to galvanize a generation of young black writers into rethinking the purpose

Kildare

2005-01-26T15:36:00.000-08:00

Irish Cill Dara county in the province of Leinster, east-central Ireland. It comprises part of the lowland west of the Wicklow Mountains and part of the Irish central lowland. With an area of 654 square miles (1,694 square km), it is bounded on the north by County Meath, on the east by Dublin and Wicklow, on the south by Carlow, and on the west by Laoighis and Offaly. The River Liffey forms a gorge at Pollaphuca

Alwar

2005-01-24T14:24:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Alwur, city, northeastern Rajasthan state, northwestern India. The city is surrounded by a wall and moat and is dominated by a fort on a conical hill against a backdrop of a range of hills. Alwar was made the capital of Alwar princely state in 1775; it contains the 14th-century tomb of Tarang Sultan (the brother of Firuz Shah) and several ancient mosques. The palace, which adjoins a picturesque

Maastricht Treaty

2005-01-24T07:56:00.000-08:00

Formally Treaty on European Union international agreement approved by the heads of government of the states of the European Community (EC) in Maastricht, Netherlands, in December 1991. Ratified by all EC member states (voters in Denmark rejected the original treaty but later approved a slightly modified version), the treaty was signed on February 7, 1992, and entered into force on November 1, 1993. The treaty established

Armstrong, Samuel Chapman

2005-01-22T18:56:00.000-08:00

The son of American missionaries to Hawaii, Armstrong attended Oahu College for two years before going to the United States in 1860. He enrolled at Williams College; but, on the outbreak

Lbk Culture

2005-01-22T15:38:00.000-08:00

Formerly Danubian Culture, Neolithic culture that expanded over large areas of Europe north and west of the Danube River (from Slovakia to the Netherlands) about the 5th millennium BC. Farmers probably practiced a form of shifting cultivation on the loess soil. Emmer wheat and barley were grown, and domestic animals, usually cattle, were kept. The name LBK derives from an abbreviation of the German

Baranovichi

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

Also spelled Baranovici, town, Brest oblast (province), Belarus, on the southern edge of the Novogrudok Hills. It developed from a small village in the late 19th century into a major railway junction, with lines to Moscow, Warsaw, and other eastern European centres. It has cotton, food-processing, and machine construction industries. Pop. (1991 est.) 166,700.

Tigranes Ii The Great

2005-01-20T06:06:00.000-08:00

Tigranes was the son or brother of Artavasdes I and a member of the dynasty founded in the early 2nd century by Artaxias. He was given as a hostage to the Parthian king Mithradates II, but later he purchased his freedom by ceding 70 valleys bordering on Media, in northwestern

B-film

2005-01-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn (eds.), Kings of the Bs: Working Within the Hollywood System (1975).

Paleolithic Period

2005-01-18T17:23:00.000-08:00

At sites dating from the Lower Paleolithic Period (about 2,500,000 to 200,000 years ago), simple pebble tools have been found in association with the remains of what may have been the earliest human ancestors. A somewhat more sophisticated Lower Paleolithic tradition,

Ulam, Stanislaw Marcin

2005-01-16T10:59:00.000-08:00

Ulam received a doctoral degree (1933) at the Polytechnic Institute in Lvov (now Lviv). At the invitation of John von Neumann, he worked at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New

Paleolithic Period

2005-01-15T10:16:00.000-08:00

Any of a series of unmanned U.S. scientific satellites developed to observe cosmic objects from above the Earth's atmosphere. OAO-2, launched Dec. 7, 1968, carried two large telescopes and a complement of spectrometers and other auxiliary devices. It weighed more than 4,200 pounds (1,900 kilograms), the heaviest satellite orbited up to that time. OAO-2 was able to photograph young stars that

Olympic Games, Lake Placid, New York, U.S., 1932

2005-01-14T04:18:00.000-08:00

Controversies surrounding the speed skating

Mckim, Charles Follen

2005-01-13T06:42:00.000-08:00

McKim was educated at Harvard and at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He was trained as a draftsman by the architect H.H. Richardson while the latter was completing Trinity Church, Boston. In 1879 he joined William Rutherford Mead

Ailly, Pierre D'

2005-01-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

D'Ailly studied at the College of Navarre of the

Literature, Danish.

2005-01-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

Danish writers cast reality to the wind and explored “surreality” in 2001. Per Højholt's novel Auricula described a universal silence that is followed by the marvelous conception of actual ears that witness pivotal events of the 20th century; gossip with artists, philosophers, and politicians; and serve as “ear witnesses

Bahram Vi Chubin

2005-01-11T08:03:00.000-08:00

Prominent as master of the household in the Byzantine wars of the Sasanian king Hormizd IV, Bahram later received the supreme command in Khorasan and was able to repel a Turkish invasion.

Yang-ch'in

2005-01-09T03:38:00.000-08:00

The yang-ch'in has four or five bridges with sets of strings on each bridge pitched whole steps apart and neighbouring

Aetheling

2005-01-08T06:10:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Atheling, or Etheling, in Anglo-Saxon England, generally any person of noble birth. Use of the term was usually restricted to members of a royal family, and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle it is used almost exclusively for members of the royal house of Wessex. It was occasionally used after the Norman Conquest to designate members of the royal family—e.g., William the Aetheling, son and heir of King

Botucatu

2005-01-07T09:34:00.000-08:00

City, central São Paulo estado (“state”), Brazil. It lies near the Pardo River in the Serra de Botucatu at 2,549 feet (777 m) above sea level. It was given town status in 1855 and was made the seat of a municipality in 1876. Crops (including coffee, cotton, rice, sugarcane, feijão [beans], and potatoes) grown in the region are processed in the city, which also has foundries, textile mills, bakeries, and factories

Beza, Theodore

2005-01-07T03:05:00.000-08:00

After studying law at Orléans, Fr. (1535–39), Beza established a practice in Paris, where he published Juvenilia (1548), a volume of amorous verse that earned him a reputation as a leading Latin poet. On recovering

Aerospace Industry, Avionics

2005-01-05T02:56:00.000-08:00

Avionics includes all instruments, sensors, and electronic equipment and the electrical systems that link them to each other and to aerospace vehicle-control systems. It encompasses the functional equipment for guidance, navigation, and communications. A modern airline transport can contain more than 1,000 sensors and “black boxes.” The latter are metal or plastic

China, Korea and the Sino-Japanese War

2005-01-05T00:52:00.000-08:00

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan made many efforts, all in vain, to open new and direct intercourse with

Habitual Offender

2005-01-04T16:12:00.000-08:00

Person who frequently has been convicted of criminal behaviour and is presumed to be a danger to society. In an attempt to protect society from such criminals, penal systems throughout the world provide for lengthier terms of imprisonment for them than for first-time offenders. In the 1990s habitual-offender laws became harsher, and in extreme cases some offenders

Utilitarianism

2005-01-03T08:07:00.000-08:00

In normative ethics, a tradition stemming from the late 18th- and 19th-century English philosophers and economists Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill that an action is right if it tends to promote happiness and wrong if it tends to produce the reverse of happiness—not just the happiness of the performer of the action but also that of everyone affected by it. Such a theory

Cilium

2005-01-01T22:21:00.000-08:00

Plural Cilia, short eyelashlike filament that is numerous on tissue cells of most animals and provides the means for locomotion of protozoans of the phylum Ciliophora. Cilia may be fused in longitudinal rows to form membranes, in shorter transverse rows to form membranelles, or in tufts to form cirri. Capable of beating in unison, cilia move mammalian ova through oviducts, generate

Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel

2005-01-01T01:57:00.000-08:00

A precocious musician who remained successful, C.P.E. Bach was his father's true successor and an important figure in his own right. In his autobiography he writes: “For composition and keyboard-playing, I have never had

Arden, John

2004-12-30T04:50:00.000-08:00

Arden grew up in the industrial town of Barnsley, the character of which he captured in his play The Workhouse

Dalhousie, James Andrew Broun Ramsay, Marquess And 10th Earl Of

2004-12-29T15:56:00.000-08:00

Dalhousie also took advantage of every opportunity to acquire territory by peaceful means. The East India Company, which was no longer an independent corporation but largely under the control of the British government, was rapidly becoming the predominant power in India. It had concluded alliances with Indian rulers, promising to support them and their heirs

Biblical Literature, Bel and the Dragon

2004-12-28T13:11:00.000-08:00

The third Greek addition to the Book of Daniel is the story of Bel and the Dragon. The Babylonians worshipped the idol of the god Bel and daily provided him with much food, but Daniel proved to the King that the food was in reality eaten by the priests. The priests were punished by death and Bel's temple destroyed. The Babylonians also worshipped a dragon, but Daniel declined

Kordestan

2004-12-28T07:38:00.000-08:00

The name Kordestan means “Country of the Kurds,” referring to the region's principal inhabitants. After the Turkish invasion of Iran in the 11th century AD (Seljuq period), the name Kurdistan was applied to the region comprising the northwestern

Indium

2004-12-27T15:12:00.000-08:00

(In), chemical element, rare metal of main Group IIIa, or boron group, of the periodic table. Of a brilliant, silvery-white lustre, indium was discovered (1863) by Ferdinand Reich and Theodor Richter while they were examining zinc ore samples. The presence of a predominant indigo spectral line suggested the name. Softer than lead and quite plastic, indium can be scratched with

Dysplasia

2004-12-25T18:17:00.000-08:00

Chondroectodermal dysplasia (Ellis-van Creveld syndrome) is a very rare, congenital disorder. It is heritable (autosomal recessive). Affected individuals exhibit heart

Gabrieli, Giovanni

2004-12-24T19:19:00.000-08:00

Various motets, among them In ecclesiis; madrigals in various collections; Canzoni e sonate (1615); Sacrae symphoniae, book 1 (1597), including the Sonata pian'e forte; Sacrae symphoniae (1615); Concerti di Andrea et di Giovanni Gabrieli a 6–16 voci (1587, containing pieces by Andrea).

Late Blight

2004-12-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

Disease of potato and tomato plants that is caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans. The disease occurs in humid regions with temperature ranges of between 40° and 80° F (4° and 29° C); hot, dry weather checks its spread. Potato or tomato vines that are infected may rot within two weeks. The Irish potato famines of the mid-19th century were caused by late blight. The disease destroyed

Ear Disease, Perichondritis

2004-12-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

Infection of the cartilage of the outer ear, called perichondritis, is unusual but may occur from injury or from swimming in polluted water. It is due to a particular microorganism, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. There is a greenish or brownish, musty or foul-smelling discharge from the outer-ear canal, while the affected outer ear becomes tender, dusky red, and two to three

Scandinavian Literature, The impact of the reformation on Swedish letters

2004-12-21T20:48:00.000-08:00

Two dates mark the beginning of modern Swedish history: 1523—the breach with Denmark and Gustav I Vasa's accession; and 1527—the breach with Rome and the establishment of a national Lutheran Church. The political revolution that eventually brought Sweden to the position of a European power had no considerable effect on literature until a century later, but the Reformation

Channel Islands

2004-12-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

French Îles Normandes, or Anglo-normandes, archipelago in the English Channel, west of the Cotentin peninsula of France, at the entrance to the Gulf of Saint-Malo, 80 miles (130 km) south of the English coast. The islands are dependencies of the British crown (and not strictly part of the United Kingdom), having been so attached since the Norman Conquest of 1066, when they formed part of the duchy of Normandy. They comprise four

Chandler

2004-12-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

City, Maricopa county, south-central Arizona, U.S. Founded in the 1890s, the city was named for veterinarian and real-estate developer A.J. Chandler, who built an extensive agricultural canal system in the area. Chandler is a winter resort in a cotton, alfalfa, citrus fruit, pecan, sugar beet, and cattle-raising region of the irrigated Salt River valley. The city emerged in the late

Yung-an

2004-12-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Yong'an, town in central Fukien sheng (province), China. Situated on the Sha River, a southern tributary of the Min River, which provides the main southwest-to-northeast route through central Fukien, Yung-an is a natural route centre on the railway line from Kiangsi province via Nan-p'ing to Amoy (Hsia-men). From Yung-an a network of highways radiates to Ch'üan-chou on the coast north