OldSponge

0800 Promote

2006-11-23T17:00:00.000-08:00

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Novomoskovsk

2005-04-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

Formerly (until 1934) Bobriki , or (1934–61) Stalinogorsk city, Tula oblast (province), western Russia, situated on the upper Don River. Founded in 1930 as Bobriki, the town developed as a major chemical centre, making fertilizers and plastics and mining lignite (brown coal). Pop. (1993 est.) 145,000.

Minas Gerais

2005-04-04T07:26:00.000-07:00

Inland estado (state) of Brazil. It is the storehouse of the mineral riches of that country, as is indicated by its name, which means “general mines.” The state is bounded on the north by the states of Goiás and Bahia; on the east by Bahia, Espírito Santo, and Rio de Janeiro; on the south by Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo; and on the west by São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, and Goiás. Its area

Cam

2005-04-03T04:15:00.000-07:00

Cams are made in a variety of forms, such as: (1) a rotating disk

Eadwig

2005-04-02T01:21:00.000-08:00

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

Escher (von Der Linth), Hans Conrad

2005-04-01T13:06:00.000-08:00

With his friend and political colleague Paul Usteri, Escher founded the Schweizer Republikaner, a journal of moderately reformist opinion. Elected

Avogadro, Amedeo

2005-04-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

In full Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro, conte di Quaregna e Cerreto Italian mathematical physicist who showed in what became known as Avogadro's law that, under controlled conditions of temperature and pressure, equal volumes of gases contain an equal number of molecules.

Nehru, Jawaharlal

2005-03-31T09:43:00.000-08:00

Byname Pandit (Hindi: “Pundit,” or “Teacher”) Nehru first prime minister of independent India (1947–64), who established parliamentary government and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India's independence movement in the 1930s and '40s.

Arts, Islamic, Decline of the Arabic language

2005-03-31T04:10:00.000-08:00

Ibn Khaldun, who had served in his youth as ambassador to Pedro I the Cruel, of Castile, and in his old age as emissary to Timur, died in Cairo. After the fall of Baghdad in 1258, this city had become the centre of Muslim learning. Historians there recorded every detail of the daily life and the policies of the Mamluk sultans; theologians and philologists worked under the patronage

Heikal, Muhammad Hassanein

2005-03-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

Educated at Cairo University, Heikal became a reporter for the Egyptian Gazette

Komárom-esztergom

2005-03-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

Megye (county), northwestern Hungary. The megye extends southward from the Danube River and the Slovakian frontier. It has a mixed agricultural-industrial economic base. Sugar beets and peaches are important crops, and there is a sugar beet mill at Ács. Tatabánya (q.v.), the megye seat, is Hungary's chief mining (lignite) centre. Considerable industrial activity is concentrated

Coney Island

2005-03-28T20:07:00.000-08:00

Amusement area in the southern part of the borough of Brooklyn in New York, N.Y., U.S., fronting the Atlantic Ocean. Formerly an island, it was known to Dutch settlers as Konijn Eiland (“Rabbit Island”), which was presumably Anglicized as Coney Island. It became part of Long Island after Coney Island Creek silted up to form a sandbar (about 5 miles [8 km] long and 0.25–1 mile [0.4–1.6 km] wide) between

Ibi

2005-03-27T23:36:00.000-08:00

Town and river port, Taraba state, east-central Nigeria, on the south bank of the Benue River, opposite the mouth of the Shemankar River. Founded in the 1850s by a slave of Hamman, the Fulani emir of Muri (to the northeast), it became a post for slave traders from Muri, known as the bayin Fulani. In the late 19th century British merchants of the Royal Niger Company observed Ibi's Hausa

Himeji

2005-03-27T15:11:00.000-08:00

City, Hyogo ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan. It is situated west of Kobe, near the Inland Sea. It developed as a castle town around the white, five-storied Himeji, or Shirasagi (“Egret”), Castle, built in the 14th century and reconstructed in 1577 and 1964. A large part of the city was destroyed by bombing during World War II. The city recovered and grew rapidly after the war. It is now the

Czech Language

2005-03-27T13:31:00.000-08:00

Formerly Bohemian , Czech Ceština West Slavic language closely related to Slovak, Polish, and the Sorbian languages of eastern Germany. It is spoken in the historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and southwestern Silesia in the Czech Republic, where it is the official language. Czech is written in the Roman (Latin) alphabet. The oldest records in the language are Czech glosses appearing in Latin and

Southern Africa, Xhosa-Dutch conflict

2005-03-25T17:58:00.000-08:00

Settler expansion to the Cape's eastern frontier was blocked by the 1770s when trekboers came up against numerous Xhosa farmers in the area of the Great Fish River. During the 18th century the Xhosa had been embroiled in two major civil wars over the chiefly succession, of which the more important was the dispute, between the paramount Gcaleka and his ambitious brother

Fishery

2005-03-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

Harvesting of fish, shellfish, and sea mammals as a commercial enterprise, or the location or season of commercial fishing. Fisheries range from small family operations relying on traditional fishing methods to large corporations using large fleets and the most advanced technology. Small-scale fishery is ordinarily conducted in waters relatively close to

Durisol

2005-03-24T23:05:00.000-08:00

One of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Durisols are soils in semiarid environments that have a substantial layer of silica within 1 metre (39 inches) of the land surface. The silica occurs either as weakly cemented nodules or as hardpan and accumulates as a result of downward translocation (migration) when solubilized

Gandhinagar

2005-03-23T18:34:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Gujarat state, west-central India. It lies on the banks of the Sabarmati River, north of the former capital of Ahmadabad. Built to supplant the former capital, the city was begun in 1966. The first state government offices were transferred there in 1970. An expressway connects Gandhinagar with Ahmadabad. Pop. (1991 prelim.) 121,746.

O'neill, Eugene

2005-03-22T11:36:00.000-08:00

In full Eugene Gladstone O'Neill foremost American dramatist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936. His masterpiece, Long Day's Journey into Night (produced posthumously 1956), is at the apex of a long string of great plays, including Beyond the Horizon (1920), Anna Christie (1922), Strange Interlude (1928), Ah! Wilderness (1933), and The Iceman Cometh (1946).

Epistemology, Realism

2005-03-22T03:02:00.000-08:00

The realist believes that

Mahayana-sraddhotpada-sastra

2005-03-21T15:06:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana”), relatively brief but influential exposition of the fundamentals of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy and faith. Though the work is said to be that of the Sanskrit poet Asvaghosa, there are no extant Sanskrit copies of The Awakening of Faith (as it is known in the modern translation by D.T. Suzuki) and no references to

Aquarium

2005-03-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

The design of a large aquarium must take into account the requirements of the specimens, especially since exhibits at modern aquariums include all types of aquatic organisms: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates as well as fishes. Among the many factors that must be considered are traffic flow patterns of visitors, reflections off glass, acoustics,

Arno, Peter

2005-03-20T11:06:00.000-08:00

While at Yale University (1922–24), Arno was particularly interested in music and organized his own band. He also decorated screens and panels for restaurants.

Philadelphia Inquirer, The

2005-03-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

It was founded in 1847 as the Pennsylvania Inquirer but adopted “Philadelphia” into its name about 1860. When the American Civil War began, it voiced strong support for the North, and it was frequently delivered to Union troops in the field. The Inquirer

Gondi Family

2005-03-19T13:30:00.000-08:00

French family of Florentine origin, whose diplomats and bankers were prominent in France from the 16th century. The family established itself in France after gaining the confidence and patronage of Catherine de Médicis. Antoine II (1486–1560) was the first Gondi to settle in France and started the most illustrious branch of the family. At first a banker in Lyon, he was brought

Differentiator

2005-03-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

A device or set of components for performing the mathematical operation of differentiation—i.e., supplying an output proportional to the derivative of the input with respect to one or more variables. The many common examples of mechanical differentiators in which a displacement is differentiated with respect to time include speedometers and generators. In

Cherry, Donald Eugene

2005-03-18T06:23:00.000-08:00

U.S. jazz trumpeter (b. Nov. 18, 1936, Oklahoma City, Okla.--d. Oct. 19, 1995, Málaga, Spain), was a pioneer of free jazz as a member of the Ornette Coleman Quartet and later joined jazz with elements of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and European music, thereby becoming a pioneer of world music as well. Cherry, who grew up in Los Angeles, hailed from a musical family. He had already achieved some local

épernon, Jean-louis De Nogaret De La Valette, Duke (duc) D'

2005-03-17T23:03:00.000-08:00

Of obscure nobility, La Valette rose to prominence as a favourite of Henry III, who created him duke and peer of France in 1582. He and Anne de Joyeuse acted virtually as prime ministers in the 1580s. His rapacity was notorious, but he also showed great political ability

Dependent States

2005-03-16T22:42:00.000-08:00

Puerto Rico's largest bank was fined $21.6 million in January 2003 by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly having allowed millions of dollars in drug money to be laundered because of a failure to report suspicious activities to the authorities. The head of the Cayman Islands' Financial Reporting Unit, Brian Gibbs, resigned

Ria

2005-03-16T19:25:00.000-08:00

Funnel-shaped estuary that occurs at a river mouth and is formed by the submergence of the lower portion of the river valley. Generally occurring along a rugged coast perpendicular to a mountain chain, many rias were formed by the rise in sea level after the melting of the vast continental glaciers. Rias are commonly very irregular and may have several branching

Vörösmarty, Mihály

2005-03-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

Born into an impoverished noble family, Vörösmarty soon had to provide for himself. From the age

World War Ii, Montgomery's Battle of el-Alamein and Rommel's retreat, 194243

2005-03-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

By mid-October the British 8th Army had 230,000 men

Nardini, Pietro

2005-03-14T17:09:00.000-08:00

The most famous pupil of the composer and virtuoso violinist Giuseppe Tartini, Nardini was solo violinist at the court at Stuttgart from 1753 to 1767. He then returned to Livorno and lived with Tartini during Tartini's last illness until his death

Biblical Literature, French versions

2005-03-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

The first complete Bible was produced in the 13th century at the University of Paris and toward the end of that century Guyart des Moulins executed his Bible Historiale. Both works served as the basis of future redactions of which

Canasta

2005-03-14T01:45:00.000-08:00

Canasta originated in Uruguay in the late 1940s. By 1948 it was the most popular game in the fashionable clubs

Mahabharata

2005-03-13T09:40:00.000-08:00

One of the two major Sanskrit epics of India, valued for its high literary merit and its religious inspiration. The Mahabharata consists of a mass of legendary and didactic material surrounding a central heroic narrative that tells of the struggle for supremacy between two groups of cousins, the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Together with the second major epic, the Ramaya

Catalan Literature

2005-03-13T04:31:00.000-08:00

The oldest extant text in Catalan is the Homilies d'Organyà, a collection of sermons dating from the 12th or early 13th century but now appreciated more for their linguistic than for their literary value. Early kings of Aragon and counts

Housecarl

2005-03-13T00:19:00.000-08:00

Canute's 3,000-man force, which remained in England after the invasion army had been sent home, does not represent

Epilepsy

2005-03-12T18:44:00.000-08:00

Chronic neurological disorder characterized by sudden and recurrent seizures which are caused by excessive signaling of nerve cells in the brain. Seizures may include convulsions, momentary lapses of consciousness, strange movements or sensations in parts of the body, odd behaviours, and emotional disturbances. Epileptic seizures typically last one to two

Lévesque, René

2005-03-11T19:36:00.000-08:00

Lévesque went to school in Gaspésie and afterward to Laval University, Quebec. Already a part-time journalist while still a student, he broke off his law studies to serve in Europe (1944–45) as a reporter and

Racine, Jean

2005-03-11T15:24:00.000-08:00

French classical tragedy pivots around two basic subjects: passion and politics. Since Racine's audience was naturally intrigued by plots that dealt with the succession to a throne, he doubled their pleasure in his first successful play, La Thébaïde, by creating two legitimate pretenders who are also identical twins. The play centres on the twin sons of Oedipus

Ammons, Gene

2005-03-10T04:12:00.000-08:00

The son of outstanding boogie-woogie pianist Albert Ammons, Gene Ammons grew up in Chicago and first became nationally known as a member of Billy Eckstine's innovative bebop big band during 1944–47; he also played in Woody Herman's

Fadden, Sir Arthur William

2005-03-10T01:50:00.000-08:00

Fadden was active in local and state government as a young man, and he was a member of Parliament (1936–58) and leader of the Country Party (1941–58). As a member of the cabinet he held the position of minister for air and civil aviation (1940) and of treasurer (1940–41, 1949–58); he also served

Uvalde

2005-03-08T18:57:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1856) of Uvalde county, southwestern Texas, U.S. It lies along the Leona River, some 85 miles (135 km) west-southwest of San Antonio. Fort Inge was built (1849) on the Leona's east bank, and the site was settled in 1852 by W.W. Arnett, who was joined in 1853 by Reading W. Black and H.L. Stratton. Black opened a trading post (1855) and called the community Encina. The city was renamed Uvalde in 1856, when it was incorporated

Aesthetics

2005-03-08T10:32:00.000-08:00

Many attempts have been made to develop a specifically Marxist aesthetics, one that would incorporate the Marxian theory of history and class consciousness and the critique of bourgeois ideology, so as to generate principles of analysis and evaluation and show the place of art in the theory and practice of revolution. William Morris in En-gland and Georgy V. Plekhanov

Biblical Literature, Haggai

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

The Book of Haggai, the 10th book of the Twelve (Minor) Prophets, is a brief work of only two chapters. Written about 520 BCE by the prophet Haggai, the book contains four oracles. The first oracle calls for Zerubbabel, the governor of Judaea, and Joshua, the high priest, to rebuild the Temple (chapter 1, verses 1–11). A drought and poor harvests, according to Haggai, had been caused because the

Pyrgos

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

Modern Greek Pírgos, chief town and capital of the nomós (department) of Ilía, western Peloponnese, Greece, situated on the agricultural plain of the lower Alpheus River. Its port, Katákolon, to the west, was founded in 1857 to handle the export of Corinth raisins (currants). Pyrgos lies near ancient Letrinoi, a town on the Sacred Way from Elis to Olympia. The town is linked by rail to Pátrai and Kalá

Russia, Transportation

2005-03-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

Russia's vast size and the great distances that often separate sources of raw materials and foodstuffs from consuming areas place a heavy burden on the transport system. One result has been the continuing dominance of the railways, which account for about 90 percent of the country's freight turnover (60 percent if pipelines are included) and half of all passenger movement.

China, Conflict over entry into the war

2005-03-07T17:07:00.000-08:00

In February 1917 the U.S. government severed diplomatic relations with Germany and invited the neutral powers, including China, to do the same. This brought on a crisis in the Chinese government. Li opposed the step, but Tuan favoured moving toward entry into the war. Parliamentary factions and public opinion were bitterly divided. Sun Yat-sen, now in Shanghai, argued that

Spandau

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

District of Berlin, Germany, on the Havel River at the mouth of the Spree. Originally the site of a Sorbian (Wendish) fortress, Spandau became German c. 1230 and was granted civic rights in 1232. It was incorporated into Berlin in 1920. The citadel (1560–94, including the 12th-century Julius Tower) is one of the oldest well-preserved Italian-style Renaissance fortifications in northern Germany,

Aids

2005-03-06T07:27:00.000-08:00

Byname of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome transmissible disease of the immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV slowly attacks and destroys the immune system, the body's defense against infection, leaving an individual vulnerable to a variety of other infections and certain malignancies that eventually cause death. AIDS is the final stage of HIV infection, during which time

Marggraf, Andreas Sigismund

2005-03-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

Marggraf served as assistant (1735–38) to his father, the court apothecary at Berlin, and as director of the chemical laboratory of the German Academy of Sciences of Berlin (1754–60). He distinguished between the oxides of aluminum (alumina) and

Furniture, India

2005-03-05T13:50:00.000-08:00

India's place in the history of furniture is that of an adapter or transformer of imported Western styles rather than a creator of independent styles of its own. Domestic furniture in the sense in which it is known in Europe was not traditional in India before the 16th century, and even such familiar objects as tables and chairs were rarely used until the spread of Portuguese,

Lower Vascular Plant

2005-03-05T11:45:00.000-08:00

Formerly pteridophyte, also called vascular cryptogam, any of the spore-bearing vascular plants, including the ferns, club mosses, spike mosses, quillworts, horsetails, and whisk ferns. Once considered of the same evolutionary line, these plants were formerly placed in the single group Pteridophyta and were known as the ferns and fern allies. Although modern studies have shown that the plants are not in fact related, these

Xankändi

2005-03-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

Formerly Stepanakert, city, southwestern Azerbaijan. Situated at the foot of the eastern slopes of the Karabakh Range, the city was founded after the October Revolution (1917) on the site of the village of Khankendy and was renamed Stepanakert in 1923 for Stepan Shaumyan, a Baku Communist leader. After Azerbaijan gained independence the name was changed to Xankändi, though Armenians continue to

Plunkett, Sir Horace Curzon

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

Educated in England, he went to the United States in 1879 and spent 10 years as a cattle rancher in Wyoming. He returned to Ireland in 1889 and devoted himself

Horse Racing

2005-03-02T08:37:00.000-08:00

The ownership of racetracks ranges from complete state control, in which case the national government may own the tracks and horses and employ trainers, jockeys, grooms, and other necessary personnel, to complete private enterprise, as in most of the United States (where tracks are privately owned and operated for profit, as are the horses, and trainers and jockeys

Kearney

2005-03-02T04:44:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Buffalo county, south-central Nebraska, U.S. It lies on the north (left) bank of the Platte River. The first settlers were Swedish immigrants who came there in 1865. The city was founded in 1871 at the junction of the Burlington and the Union Pacific railroads. It was named for nearby Fort Kearny, a U.S. Army post (1848–71) that had been established to protect travelers on the Oregon

Sanghar

2005-03-02T02:37:00.000-08:00

Town, Sind province, southern Pakistan. The town is connected by road with the cities of Hyderabad, Karachi, and Sukkur. Sanghar is a market town and has several cotton-textile factories. The surrounding area consists chiefly of semiarid land, a part of the great Thar Desert, and some cropped areas irrigated by the Mithrao Canal system, which feeds from the Indus River. Rice,

Silky Oak

2005-03-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

In Australia it is cut for timber, but elsewhere it is valued for its graceful, feathery foliage and orange flower clusters at the ends of leafless branches.

Gaddis, William Thomas

2005-03-01T04:55:00.000-08:00

American writer of complex satiric works who was considered one of the most important post-World War II modernist novelists and whose first novel, The Recognitions (1955), became an underground classic; he published only three more novels--JR (1975), Carpenter's Gothic (1985), and A Frolic of His Own (1994)--and had finished another, Agape Agape, which was to be published posthumously (b. Dec. 29, 1922, New

Constans Ii Pogonatus

2005-02-28T18:52:00.000-08:00

The son of the emperor Constantine III, Constans came to the throne in September 641, at age 11, after his father's death; during his minority the regency was under the control of the Senate

Vairagin

2005-02-27T13:58:00.000-08:00

Most vairagins, when not wandering or on pilgrimage,

Shrove Tuesday

2005-02-27T11:42:00.000-08:00

The day immediately preceding Ash Wednesday (the beginning of Lent in the Christian churches in the West). It occurs between February 2 and March 9, depending on the date of Easter. Shrove, derived from “shrive,” refers to the confession of sins usual in the European Middle Ages as a preparation for Lent. Shrove Tuesday eventually acquired the character of a carnival or festival

Tiergarten

2005-02-26T20:11:00.000-08:00

District of Berlin, Germany, on the Spree River. Before World War II the district was Berlin's diplomatic quarter and the site of the War Ministry. It includes the famous 630-acre (255-hectare) Tiergarten Park, a deer preserve until the 18th century. The park was destroyed in World War II, but it has been replanted; its new “English garden” was donated by the British. The zoological gardens

Asaba

2005-02-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

Town and capital of Delta state, southern Nigeria. It lies on the west bank of the Niger River (opposite Onitsha) and on the road to Benin City. A traditional market centre (cassava, yams, palm oil and kernels, kola nuts) for the Igbo (Ibo) people, it was the place where Richard and John Lander, the British explorers of the Niger, were taken captive by the Igbos in 1830. It later became

Rambutan

2005-02-25T18:13:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Rambotan, Ramboetan, Ramboutan, or Rambustan (Nephelium lappaceum), tree of the soapberry family (Sapindaceae). It is native to Malaysia, where it is commonly cultivated for its tasty fruit, also called rambutan. The bright-red, oval fruit, about the size of a small hen's egg, is covered with long, soft spines and has a tasty acid pulp. The tree grows to about 10.5–12 metres (35–40 feet).

Van Diemen Gulf

2005-02-25T02:40:00.000-08:00

Inlet of the Timor Sea of the Indian Ocean, indenting Northern Territory, Australia. Measuring 90 mi (145 km) by 50 mi and partially enclosed by Melville Island (northwest) and the Cobourg Peninsula (northeast), it is fronted by the mainland as far west as Cape Hotham (south). Receiving the South and East Alligator and Mary rivers, the gulf has access to the open sea through Clarence

Alembert, Jean Le Rond D'

2005-02-25T02:10:00.000-08:00

His earlier literary and philosophical activity, however, led to the publication of his Mélanges de littérature, d'histoire et de philosophie (1753). This work contained the impressive Essai sur les gens de lettres, which exhorted writers to pursue “liberty, truth and poverty” and also urged aristocratic patrons to respect the talents and independence of such

Chrétien, Jean

2005-02-24T13:23:00.000-08:00

The 18th of 19 children of a working-class family, Chrétien studied law at Laval University and was called to the bar in Quebec in 1958. Long interested in politics, he was first elected to the House of Commons in 1963 and was reelected thereafter through

Guayaquil

2005-02-23T22:30:00.000-08:00

In full Santiago De Guayaquil, largest city and chief port of Ecuador. It is situated on the west bank of the Guayas River, 45 miles (72 km) upstream from the Gulf of Guayaquil of the Pacific Ocean. The original settlement was founded in the 1530s at the mouth of the Babahoyo River, just east of the present site, by Sebastián de Belalcázar, a lieutenant of the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, but Indians

Sevilla, University Of

2005-02-23T15:04:00.000-08:00

The University of Sevilla

Hellenistic Religion

2005-02-23T03:46:00.000-08:00

The conquests of Alexander opened the way for religious interchange between East and West; the political structures left behind by Alexander and continued by his successors provided strong incentives for the hellenization of native religions. Characteristic of this first period of Hellenistic religious history were the following developments: (1) the introduction

Frundsberg, Georg Von

2005-02-22T20:22:00.000-08:00

In 1499 Frundsberg took part in Maximilian's struggle against the Swiss, and, in the same year, he was among the imperial troops sent to assist Ludovico Sforza, duke of Milan,

Advocate

2005-02-21T07:37:00.000-08:00

In law, a person who is professionally qualified to plead the cause of another in a court of law. As a technical term, advocate is used mainly in those legal systems that derived from the Roman law. In Scotland the word refers particularly to a member of the bar of Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates. In France avocats were formerly an organized body of pleaders, while the

East Detroit

2005-02-20T20:48:00.000-08:00

City, Macomb county, Michigan, U.S., 10 miles (16 km) north-northeast of Detroit. It is primarily a residential suburb of Detroit but does have such commerce as truck and poultry farming, as well as light manufacturing. First settled in 1837, it was on the military road (now Gratiot Avenue) connecting Fort Wayne (Detroit) with Fort Gratiot (Port Huron). Equidistant between Detroit and Mount

Arruza, Carlos

2005-02-20T10:54:00.000-08:00

Born in Mexico of Spanish parents, he began as a professional torero at the age of 14 in Mexico City. He went to Spain in 1944 billed as “El Ciclón” and soon was ranked as the most serious contender to challenge Manolete's preeminence

Milkweed

2005-02-20T04:36:00.000-08:00

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

Earth, Folding

2005-02-19T07:30:00.000-08:00

Folds along subduction zones

Jirásek, Alois

2005-02-18T20:43:00.000-08:00

Jirásek was a secondary-school teacher until his retirement in 1909. He wrote a series of historical novels imbued with faith in his nation and in progress toward freedom and justice.

Louis Vi

2005-02-18T06:36:00.000-08:00

Louis was designated by his father, Philip I, as his successor in 1098 and was already effectively the ruler well before Philip's death in 1108. He quickly recognized that his priority must be

Saint Andrews, University Of

2005-02-18T04:12:00.000-08:00

Oldest university in Scotland, founded in 1411, located in Fife region. The university buildings, many of which date from the Middle Ages, include St. Salvator's College (1450), St. Leonard's College (1512), and the University Library, refounded by James VI in 1612. A third college, St. Mary's (1537), has been limited (since 1579) to the teaching of theology. In 1747 St. Salvator's and St. Leonard's were merged. Among the famous

Cereal Processing, Semolina

2005-02-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

Semolina, not flour, is the form of cereal used, and various plain macaroni products are made by combining the correct form of semolina, from durum wheat, with water. Richer alimentary pastes are made with the addition of eggs in fresh, dried, or frozen form, and egg noodles are popular. In low-income families, alimentary pastes often provide the bulk of the calories in the

Cellulose Acetate

2005-02-17T03:58:00.000-08:00

Original name Acetate Rayon, also called Acetate, man-made textile fibre produced from the plant substance cellulose, which is obtained from soft woods or the short fibres adhering to cotton seeds (linters) and treated with acetic acid and acetic anhydride, and then partially hydrolyzed so that the product, secondary acetate, is soluble in acetone. It forms a cellulose acetate solution that is extruded through

Rhyme-tag

2005-02-16T17:15:00.000-08:00

A word or phrase used primarily to produce a rhyme. Rhyme-tags are used to comic effect in much light verse, as in W.S. Gilbert's “The Modern Major-Gineral,” which reads in partI am the very pattern of a modern Major-Gineral,I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral;I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical,From Marathon to Waterloo, in order

Itaipú Dam

2005-02-16T02:49:00.000-08:00

Hollow gravity dam on the Alto (Upper) Paraná River at the Brazil-Paraguay border, north of the town of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. In terms of power output, it is one of the world's largest hydroelectric projects. Its 18 massive turbine generators, located in the powerhouse at the base of the dam, are capable of generating 12,600 megawatts of electricity. Built as a joint venture by

Tacna

2005-02-15T06:44:00.000-08:00

Capital of Tacna departamento, southern Peru, on the Caplina River at 1,844 feet (562 m) above sea level, in the arid Andean foothills. When the Spaniards arrived at the site in the 16th century, it was occupied by Aymara Indians. Later, the Spanish town of San Pedro de Tacna was founded, and the surrounding fertile soil and cool climate, as well as proximity to the Pacific port of Arica,

Acclimatization

2005-02-15T00:37:00.000-08:00

The numerous sudden changes that evoke rapid and short-term responses via the nervous and hormonal systems are not examples of acclimatization. An individual

Lord Howe Island

2005-02-14T14:16:00.000-08:00

Island dependency of New South Wales, Australia, situated in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, 436 miles (702 km) northeast of Sydney. Volcanic in origin, it has an area of 7 square miles (17 square km). The island is well wooded but has little arable land. National parks cover 70 percent of the island, which harbours rare vegetation and bird life. It was discovered in 1788 and named after Admiral

Aptitude Test

2005-02-14T04:42:00.000-08:00

Examination that attempts to determine and measure those characteristics of a person that are regarded as indices of his capability to acquire, through future training, some specific set of responses (intellectual, motor, and so on). The tests assume that people differ in their special abilities and that these differences are related in a predictable manner to

'abd Al-mu'min

2005-02-13T20:10:00.000-08:00

Even while he was pursuing his conquest, 'Abd al-Mu'min had established a central government for his empire. To the traditional clan organization of the Masmudah and other Berber peoples supporting the Almohads he added an organization to promote the spread of Almohad doctrine and a central administration (the makhzan) modeled on those of Muslim Spain, which was staffed

Zamakhshari, Abu Al-qasim Mahmud Ibn 'umar Az-

2005-02-13T18:01:00.000-08:00

As a theologian, he was one of the Mu'tazilite school. As a philologist, he considered Arabic the queen of languages, in spite of the fact that his own mother tongue was Persian. His commentary on the Qur'an, al-Kashshaf 'an Haq

Atmosphere, Transition to an aerobic environment

2005-02-12T22:35:00.000-08:00

Pyrite and uraninite are minerals of iron and uranium, respectively, that are not stable in the presence of O2. Though they can be found in some modern river sediments, neither can survive in them for thousands of years. Yet, many sediments older than about 2,200,000,000 years contain well-rounded grains of these minerals. Their shapes and locations indicate prolonged exposure and

China, Cultural developments

2005-02-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

The Han emperors and governments posed as having a temporal dispensation that had received the blessing of Heaven together with its instructions to spread the benefits of a cultured life as widely as possible. By a cultured life the Chinese had in mind a clear distinction between their own settled agriculture and the delights of the cities, as opposed to the rough

Anderson, Richard Heron

2005-02-11T18:14:00.000-08:00

Anderson graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1842 and won the brevet of first lieutenant in the Mexican War, becoming first lieutenant in 1848 and captain in 1855; he took part in the following year in the Kansas troubles. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he resigned from the

Kazakstan, Drainage

2005-02-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

Kazakstan's east and southeast possess extensive watercourses: most of the country's 7,000 streams form part of the inland drainage systems of the Aral and Caspian seas and Lakes Balkhash and Tengiz. The major exceptions are the great Irtysh, Ishim (Esil), and Tobol rivers, which run northwest from the highlands in the southeast and, crossing Russia, ultimately drain into

Interior Design, Design relationships

2005-02-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

The real and conscious relationship between art, architecture, and design is of long standing. Though mural painting was largely neglected in the mid-20th century, in the past great murals have been the planned focal points of interiors and have in a way determined the architecture. Similarly, sculpture or sculptural forms, as fixed and permanent spects of buildings,

Beethoven, Ludwig, Van, Wider recognition

2005-02-10T00:39:00.000-08:00

In 1810 E.T.A. Hoffmann in Berlin produced an appreciation of the Fifth Symphony, which undoubtedly did much to launch that work on its triumphant career throughout the world and, above all, to interest the Romantics in its composer. The same year, Beethoven made the acquaintance of the writer Bettina Brentano, the sister of the German poet and novelist Clemens Brentano

Interest

2005-02-09T23:21:00.000-08:00

Interest may also be viewed as the income derived from the possession of contractual promises from others to pay sums in the future. The question may be asked, “What is the value today of a promise to pay $100 a year from now?” If the answer is $100, then no interest income is generated.