WhiteSpoon

Organic Underwear

2006-10-29T06:10:00.000-08:00

Natural soft Organic Clothinggoods are hard to find as they can often be a little course. Liv Organic Cotton Goodsare soft and luxurious and their Organic Underwear is to die for.

Cape Town, The city site

2005-04-04T21:15:00.000-07:00

The first settlement of Cape Town was situated between Table Mountain and Table Bay. It was bounded on the northwest by the ridges known as Lion's Head and Lion's Rump (later called Signal Hill), on the north by Table Bay, on the south by Devil's Peak, and on the east by marshlands and the sandy Cape Flats beyond. The nearest tillable land was on the lower eastern slopes of Devil's

China, Literature

2005-04-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

Chinese literature also shows conservative tendencies. Poetry composition remained a favourite pastime of the educated class, including the Sinicized scholars of Mongol, Central Asian, and western Asian origins, but no great works or stylistic innovations were created. During the last chaotic decades of the Yüan, some notable poets emerged, such as the versatile

Black Mountains

2005-04-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

Mountain range in Yancey and Buncombe counties in western North Carolina, U.S., part of the Appalachian Mountains extending north from the Blue Ridge. The range includes Mount Mitchell (6,684 feet [2,037 metres]), the highest point east of the Mississippi River. Since the Black Mountains were not subject to glaciation, their slopes are covered with soil to the top, except for rocky

Anniston

2005-04-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1899) of Calhoun county, eastern Alabama, U.S. It lies in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, about 60 miles (95 km) east of Birmingham. Founded in 1872 by Samuel Noble, Daniel Tyler, and Tyler's sons as a private industrial community (opened to the public in 1883), it was originally named for the Woodstock Iron Company; to avoid confusion with another Woodstock in Alabama, it was

Port Hawkesbury

2005-04-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

Town, Inverness county, northeastern Nova Scotia, Canada. It lies along the Strait of Canso, at the southern end of Cape Breton Island, 36 miles (58 km) east of Antigonish. Originally called Ship Harbour, the town was renamed in 1860, possibly for Charles Jenkinson, Baron Hawkesbury (1729–1808). It was a transportation hub, serving as the island terminus for the rail and highway ferries to the

Carnivore, Natural history

2005-04-02T06:23:00.000-08:00

They are largely omnivorous in food habits, eating a variety of small mammals, birds, reptiles, eggs of birds and reptiles, amphibians, fishes, crustaceans, insects and their grubs, and earthworms, as well as vegetation such as fruits, nuts, bulbs or roots, and other plant material.

Thomas, Jess

2005-03-31T16:09:00.000-08:00

U.S. operatic tenor (b. Aug. 4, 1927, Hot Springs, S.D.--d. Oct. 11, 1993, San Francisco, Calif.), sang a number of lyric roles but became best known as a Wagnerian heldentenor. He participated in local musical activities as a child, studied psychology at the University of Nebraska (B.A., 1949) and at Stanford University (M.A., 1954), and worked as a high school counselor. A professor at Stanford, Otto Schulman, persuaded

Pre-columbian Civilizations, The Spanish conquest

2005-03-31T08:07:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile, the Spaniards had landed at Tumbes on the northern coast of Peru early in 1532 and were seeking an interview with Atahuallpa so that they could kidnap him. It is clear that they understood the nature of the Inca civil war and were dealing with emissaries from both factions. Their actions, however, must have seemed puzzling to Atahuallpa. On the one hand, Pizarro

Minamoto Yorinobu

2005-03-30T13:13:00.000-08:00

In 1028 the Fujiwaras, no longer willing to fight their own battles, hired Yorinobu to quell a rebellion that had broken out in eastern Japan. His success

Domestic Violence

2005-03-29T20:21:00.000-08:00

Social and legal concept that, in the broadest sense, refers to any abuse that takes place among people living in the same household, although the term is often used specifically to refer to assaults upon women by their male partners. Estimated annual figures for the number of women in the United States who are subjected to psychological, verbal, emotional, or physical

Igneous Rock, Inclusions

2005-03-29T17:07:00.000-08:00

These are rounded to angular masses of solid material enclosed within a rock of recognizably different composition or texture. Those consisting of older material not directly related to that of their host are known as xenoliths, and those representing broken-up and detached older parts of the same igneous body that encloses them are termed cognate xenoliths

Latécoère, Pierre

2005-03-28T16:46:00.000-08:00

The Compagnie Latécoère began commercial air flights between Toulouse, Fr., and Barcelona on Dec. 25, 1918, and extended its route to Morocco in 1919 and to Dakar, Senegal, in 1925. In 1927 the line was renamed Compagnie Générale Aéropostale, and, at the end of the decade,

Lear

2005-03-27T21:28:00.000-08:00

Legendary British king and central character of William Shakespeare's King Lear. One of the most moving of Shakespeare's tragic figures, Lear grows in self-awareness as he diminishes in authority and loses his illusions. Lear at the outset presents the very picture of foolish egotism and is tricked out of what he has expected to be a carefree retirement by his own

Salado River

2005-03-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

Spanish Río Salado river in northeastern Buenos Aires province, Argentina. It rises at Lake El Chañar, which lies at an elevation of 130 feet (40 m) above sea level on the border of Santa Fe province. The river flows through the Pampas, generally southeastward for approximately 400 miles (640 km) to the Atlantic Ocean, where it empties into Samborombón Bay, 105 miles (170 km) southeast of the city of Buenos

World War I, The Egyptian frontiers, 1915July 1917

2005-03-26T06:55:00.000-08:00

Even after the evacuation from Gallipoli, the British maintained 250,000 troops in Egypt. A major source of worry to the British was the danger of a Turkish threat from Palestine across the Sinai Desert to the Suez Canal. That danger waned, however, when the initially unpromising rebellion of the Hashimite amir Husayn ibn 'Ali against the Turks in the Hejaz was developed by the

Aquinas, Thomas, Saint, Theological treatises

2005-03-25T11:50:00.000-08:00

Scriptum super IV libros Sententiarum (1254–56); De veritate (1256–59); Summa contra gentiles (c. 1258–64; On the Truth of the Catholic Faith, 1955); Summa theologiae (1265 or 1266–73; incomplete); De potentia Dei (1259–68; On the Power of God, 1932–34); De malo (undated; On Free Choice); De spiritualibus creaturis (undated; On Spiritual Creatures, 1949); De anima (undated; The Soul, 1949); De unione Verbi incarnati (undated); De virtutibus (1269–72; On the Virtues in General, 1951).

Augustine, Saint

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

None of Augustine's other works has the currency or readership of his two masterpieces. Of greatest interest are the following:

Japan, Aesthetics

2005-03-24T17:47:00.000-08:00

The dual influences of East and West have helped construct a modern Japanese culture that offers familiar elements to the Westerner but that also contains a powerful and distinctive traditional cultural aesthetic. This can be seen, for example, in the intricate detail, miniaturization, and concepts of subtlety that have transformed imported visual art forms.

Cleon

2005-03-22T23:02:00.000-08:00

The first prominent representative of the commercial class in Athenian politics, he became leader of the Athenian democracy in 429 after the death of his political enemy, Pericles. In the Peloponnesian War he strongly advocated an offensive strategy. When Mytilene, which had revolted against Athens, fell in 427, Cleon proposed that all its citizens

Calcarenite

2005-03-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

Sedimentary rock formed of calcareous particles ranging in diameter from 0.06 to 2 mm (0.002 to 0.08 inch) that have been deposited mechanically rather than from solution. The particles, which consist of fossil materials, pebbles and granules of carbonate rock, and oölites (spherical nodules with concentric structure), are transported and sorted by flowing water. When formed almost

Fairbanks, Douglas

2005-03-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

After college study Fairbanks began playing stage bit parts and by 1914 had become a popular

Rushcliffe

2005-03-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative and historic county of Nottinghamshire, central England, immediately southeast of the city of Nottingham. Rushcliffe is a rural agricultural area of open, rolling uplands (wolds) and flat plains. The wolds in the south rise to 200–300 feet (60–90 metres) in elevation and are an extension of higher areas in the adjacent county of Leicestershire.

Taliesin And Taliesin West

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

The two homes, as well as architectural schools, of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Originally built in 1911, Taliesin, located near Spring Green, Wisconsin, U.S., was rebuilt after fires in 1914 and 1925. Taliesin West, near Scottsdale, Arizona, was begun in 1937 as a winter home for Wright and his students. Wright was of Welsh descent and named his homes after the Welsh bard Taliesin.

Cabrini, Saint Frances Xavier

2005-03-19T16:47:00.000-08:00

Maria Cabrini was determined from her childhood to make religious work her life's vocation. After teaching in Italy in Vidardo (1872–74), she was appointed supervisor

Sankt Michael

2005-03-19T05:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Michaeliskirche, basilican church in Hildesheim, Ger., that was built between 1010 and 1033 under Bishop Bernward, famous teacher and confidant of the Holy Roman emperor Otto III. The church is one of the most important examples of Ottonian architecture. The church was damaged in World War II but has since been restored to its original appearance.

Amin, Idi

2005-03-18T14:39:00.000-08:00

A member of the small Kakwa ethnic group of northwestern Uganda, Amin had little formal education and joined the King's African Rifles of the British colonial army in 1946 as an assistant cook. He quickly rose through the ranks, serving in the Allied

Han-tan

2005-03-18T08:52:00.000-08:00

The area was already settled

Van De Graaff, Robert Jemison

2005-03-17T16:58:00.000-08:00

After working for a time as an engineer with the Alabama Power Company,

Cohesion

2005-03-17T06:39:00.000-08:00

In physics, the intermolecular attractive force acting between two adjacent portions of a substance, particularly of a solid or liquid. It is this force that holds a piece of matter together. Intermolecular forces act also between two dissimilar substances in contact, a phenomenon called adhesion. These forces originate principally because of coulomb (electrical)

Asclepigenia

2005-03-16T04:41:00.000-08:00

After the death of her father, Plutarchus, Asclepigenia was active in perpetuating the eastern version of Platonism, in cooperation with her brother, Hiero. Upon the succession of Proclus as head of the school at Athens, Asclepigenia instructed him in the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle. She

Pithom

2005-03-15T18:11:00.000-08:00

Egyptian Per-Atum , or Per Tum (“Estate of Atum”) , probably modern Tall al-Maskhutah ancient Egyptian city located near Ismailia in al-Isma'iliyah muhafazah (governorate). Mentioned in the Bible (Exodus 1:11) as one of the treasure cities built for the pharaoh by the Hebrews, it was known to have been enlarged by the Ramesside pharaohs, especially by Ramses II (reigned 1279–13 BC), in whose reign the Exodus of the Hebrews may have taken place. The site has yielded sphinxes and

Pozzolana

2005-03-15T06:51:00.000-08:00

Also spelled pozzuolana , or pozzolan hydraulic cement discovered by the Romans and still used in some countries, made by grinding pozzolana (a type of slag that may be either natural—i.e., volcanic—or artificial, from a blast furnace) with powdered hydrated lime. Roman engineers used two parts by weight of pozzolana mixed with one part of lime to give strength to mortar and concrete in bridges and other masonry

Fabert, Abraham De

2005-03-14T06:32:00.000-08:00

Fabert's grandfather had been ennobled by Charles III, and his father had served Henry IV. At the age of 14 he entered the French Guard and from 1618 was almost constantly in service. His genius at engineering enabled him to play a key role in the sieges by which

Silica Gel

2005-03-14T00:04:00.000-08:00

Silica gel was known as early as 1640, but it remained a curiosity until its adsorbent properties were found useful in gas masks during World War I. It is generally prepared by acidification

Chisholm, Shirley

2005-03-13T07:06:00.000-08:00

Shirley St. Hill was the daughter of immigrants; her father was from British Guiana (now Guyana) and her mother from Barbados. She grew up in Barbados and in her native Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Brooklyn College

Buckinghamshire

2005-03-13T06:34:00.000-08:00

Administrative, geographic, and historic county of southern England. It stretches from the River Thames in the south and the outskirts of London in the southeast across the ridge of chalk upland known as the Chiltern Hills, thence across the fertile Vale of Aylesbury and a low sandy ridge to the valley of the River Great Ouse in the north. Within this region, the administrative,

Gnetophyte

2005-03-13T05:38:00.000-08:00

Any member of the division Gnetophyta, a small group of vascular gymnospermous plants that are represented by three genera: Ephedra, Gnetum, and Welwitschia. There are about 35 species in the genus Ephedra, 30 or more in Gnetum, but only one in Welwitschia. The three genera exhibit their great diversity in the immense variety of form and size among the various species.

Aptian Stage

2005-03-13T05:11:00.000-08:00

The fifth of six main divisions (in ascending order) in the Lower Cretaceous Series, representing all those rocks deposited worldwide during the Aptian Age (119 to 113 million years ago). No global stratotype section and point (GSSP) for the base of the Aptian Stage has been approved by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. The name of the stage is derived from the town

Hansen, Peter Andreas

2005-03-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

Hansen became director of the Seeberg Observatory, near Gotha, in 1825, and in 1857 a new observatory was built for him. He worked on theoretical geodesy, optics, and the theory of probability. His most important

Seljuq

2005-03-10T11:37:00.000-08:00

During the 10th-century migrations of the Turkish peoples from Central Asia and southeast Russia,

Abu Madi, Iliya

2005-03-10T11:01:00.000-08:00

When he was 11 years old, Abu Madi moved with his family from their mountain village in Lebanon to Alexandria, Egypt. As a young man he earned money selling cigarettes. He published his first collection of poetry in Alexandria in 1911. The following year he migrated to the United

Bulging

2005-03-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

In geology, mass movement of rock material caused by heavy weights on soft rock strata that crop out in valley walls. Such material is squeezed out and deformed; it flows as a plastic, and the disturbance may extend down tens of metres. Folds and small faults may form at the foot of the slope where the rock material is under stress.

Madiun

2005-03-09T09:07:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Madioen kotamadya (municipality) and kabupaten (regency) in Jawa Timur provinsi (“province”), eastern Java, Indonesia. The city lies on the east bank of the Madiun River. The population is mostly Indonesian and Chinese. The city was the scene of a short-lived communist rebellion, the so-called Madiun Affair, in 1948, and it maintains a site at which hundreds of soldiers killed in the Indonesian

Biblical Literature, Exodus

2005-03-09T02:56:00.000-08:00

The title (in the Greek, Latin, and English versions) means “a going out,” referring to the seminal event of the liberation of Israel from Egyptian bondage through the wondrous acts and power of God. The book celebrates and memorializes this great saving event in song and story and also the awesome revelation and covenant at Mt. Sinai. The contents of the book may be summarized

Brandt, Bill

2005-03-08T06:48:00.000-08:00

Following early schooling in Germany and a stay in Switzerland, during which he took up photography, Brandt briefly worked in the Paris studio of the American artist and photographer Man Ray in 1929. In 1931 he returned

Spraying And Dusting

2005-03-08T04:51:00.000-08:00

In agriculture, the standard methods of applying pest-control chemicals and other compounds. In spraying, the chemicals to be applied are dissolved or suspended in water or, less commonly, in an oil-based carrier. The mixture is then applied as a fine mist to plants, animals, soils, or products to be treated. In dusting, as an alternative method, dry, finely powdered chemicals

Textile, Plain weave

2005-03-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

Plain, or tabby, weave, the simplest and most common of all weaves, requires only two harnessses and has two warp and weft yarns in each weave unit. To produce it, the warp yarns are held parallel under tension while a crosswise weft yarn isshot over and under alternate warps across the width of the web. The weave unit is completed at the end of the second row, when the weft

Bishop's Cap Cactus

2005-03-07T03:19:00.000-08:00

All four species of Astrophytum, which is sometimes regarded as a subgenus of Echinocac

Roberts, Sir Charles G(eorge) D(ouglas)

2005-03-07T02:49:00.000-08:00

After graduating

Aurangzeb

2005-03-06T18:50:00.000-08:00

Relevant historical background is provided in S.M. Edwardes and H.L.O. Garrett, Mughal Rule in India (1930, reprinted 1976); and Robert C. Hallissey, The Rajput Rebellion Against Aurangzeb: A Study of the Mughal Empire in Seventeenth-Century India (1977). Kalika-Ranjan Qanungo, Dara Shukon, 2nd ed. (1952), analyzes the rivalry for the throne. Detailed biographies are Jadunath Sarkar, History of Aurangzib: Based on Original Sources, 5 vol. (1924–30, reprinted in 4 vol., 1972–74); and Muni Lal, Aurangzeb (1988).

Daily Telegraph, The

2005-03-05T07:41:00.000-08:00

Founded in 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier, the paper has consistently combined a high standard of reporting with the selection of interesting feature subjects and editorial presentation. Its appeal is a conservative and middle-class

Bonaparte, Louis

2005-03-04T23:07:00.000-08:00

After attending military school at Châlons, France, Louis accompanied Napoleon on the Italian campaign of

Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

2005-03-04T09:39:00.000-08:00

English lyrical poet, critic, and philosopher. His Lyrical Ballads, written with William Wordsworth, heralded the English Romantic movement, and his Biographia Literaria (1817) is the most significant work of general literary criticism produced in the English Romantic period.

Bonaire

2005-03-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

Second largest island of the Netherlands Antilles, the westernmost group of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It is 111 square miles (288 square km) in area and lies 50 miles (80 km) north of the Venezuelan coast and 20 miles east of Curaçao. The northern part is hilly, with a peak, Mount Brandaris, 787 feet (240 m) high, while the southern part is flat with desert-like vegetation. The adjacent

Contract Bridge

2005-03-03T21:11:00.000-08:00

Two world championship tournaments took place during 2000, the first time that had happened since 1976. The Bermuda Bowl is normally played in odd-numbered years, but because Bermuda requested to host the 50th anniversary competition, the World Bridge Federation (WBF) agreed to postpone the 1999 event to January 2000. In the final the United States defeated Brazil 506–288. The second U.S. entry

Thompson, Lucky

2005-03-02T17:24:00.000-08:00

Thompson played tenor saxophone in the early 1940s with Lionel Hampton, the legendary Billy Eckstine band, and Count Basie before a highly active period in Los Angeles working with Dizzy

Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd.

2005-03-02T16:58:00.000-08:00

The company as originally founded in Moji (now a part of Kita-Kyushu), Japan, by Idemitsu Sazo was a general trading company, dealing in the distribution of various goods, including such commodities as grain and such

Discovery Bay

2005-03-02T08:40:00.000-08:00

Wide curved bay indenting the south coast of Australia. An inlet of the Indian Ocean, it is 50 miles (80 km) across and is bounded on the east by Cape Bridgewater (Victoria) and on the west by Cape Northumberland (South Australia). Visited in 1800 by James Augustus Grant of the Royal Navy, it was named in 1836 by Thomas Livingstone Mitchell as he descended the Glenelg River (which enters the

Novaës, Guiomar

2005-03-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

After early studies in São Paulo with Luigi Chiafarelli, Novaës was sent by the Brazilian government to the Paris Conservatory, where she took first place in the entrance examinations (1909). There she studied with

'alamgir Ii

2005-03-01T07:27:00.000-08:00

A son of the emperor Jahandar Shah (reigned 1712–13), 'Alamgir was always the puppet of more powerful men and was placed on the throne by the imperial vizier 'Imad ul-Mulk Ghazi-ud-Din, who had deposed his predecessor. Provoked by the vizier's attempt to reassert

Belawan

2005-03-01T02:16:00.000-08:00

Also called Belewan Deli the most important port in northeastern Sumatra, Indonesia, located on Belawan Island at the estuary of the Deli and Belawan rivers in Sumatera Utara provinsi (“province”). The port was originally dredged and constructed by the Dutch in the first two decades of the 20th century. It exports tobacco, rubber, tea, resin, copra, spices, palm oil, and sisal, and it imports foodstuffs

Visigothic Art

2005-02-28T19:33:00.000-08:00

Artistic style produced in southern France and Spain under the Visigoths, who ruled the region between the 5th and the 8th century AD. The style is largely the result of local Roman traditions combined with Byzantine influences. The effect of Germanic metalworking techniques is also seen in the decorative arts, but the ornamentation of these pieces, most notably a collection

Indole

2005-02-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

Indole, first isolated in 1866, has the molecular formula C8H7N, and

Coleroon River

2005-02-27T20:48:00.000-08:00

River in Tiruchchirappalli and Thanjavur districts, Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India, formed by the northern bifurcation of the Cauvery River at Srirangam. The river flows between South Arcot and Thanjavur districts for 36 mi (58 km) and empties through several mouths into the Bay of Bengal, 3 mi south of Porto Novo. The Coleroon is part of the Cauvery Delta, the most fertile and

Selangor

2005-02-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

Region of western West Malaysia (Malaya), occupying part of a coastal alluvial plain on the Strait of Malacca. In 1974, a 94-square-mile (243-square-kilometre) portion of Selangor, centring on Kuala Lumpur, was designated a wilayapersekutuan (federal territory). Selangor's history and economic development have been closely linked with two rivers, the Kelang and the Langat, which

Technology, History Of, The putative autonomy of technology

2005-02-26T06:48:00.000-08:00

Secondly, the definition of technology as the systematic study of techniques for making and doing things establishes technology as a social phenomenon and thus as one that cannot possess complete autonomy, unaffected by the society in which it exists. It is necessary to make what may seem to be such an obvious statement because so much autonomy has been ascribed

Clodia

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

Profligate Roman beauty and sister of the demagogue Publius Clodius. She was married in 63 BC to Quintus Metellus Celer and was suspected of responsibility for his death in 59 BC. She was mistress to the poet Catullus, who wrote of her as Lesbia, and was the most important influence in his life. Another of her lovers was Marcus Caelius Rufus, whom Cicero defended against

Azhari, Isma'il Al-

2005-02-25T03:23:00.000-08:00

Educated at Gordon Memorial College at Khartoum and at the American University of Beirut, al-Azhari became president of the Graduates' General Congress in 1940. At first concerned primarily with educational and social reforms, the

Adret, Solomon Ben Abraham

2005-02-24T23:54:00.000-08:00

As a leading scholar of the Talmud, the rabbinical compendium

Aulnoy, Marie-catherine Le Jumel De Barneville, Countess (comtesse) D'

2005-02-24T06:58:00.000-08:00

Shortly after her marriage as a young girl in 1666, Marie d'Aulnoy conspired with her mother and their two lovers to accuse falsely Marie's husband, a middle-aged financier, of high treason. When the plot miscarried,

Botvinnik, Mikhail Moiseyevich

2005-02-23T08:30:00.000-08:00

At the age of 14, less than two years after he had learned the moves of chess, Botvinnik defeated the then-current world champion, José Raúl Capablanca, in one game of an exhibition in which

Hygieia

2005-02-22T20:28:00.000-08:00

In Greek religion, goddess of health. The oldest traces of her cult are at Titane, west of Corinth, where she was worshipped together with Asclepius, the god of medicine. At first no special relationship existed between her and Asclepius, but gradually she came to be regarded as his daughter; later literature, however, makes her his wife. The cult of Hygieia spread concurrently

Vaasa

2005-02-22T06:38:00.000-08:00

Swedish Vasa, town, capital of Vaasa lääni (province), western Finland, on the Gulf of Bothnia. Founded in 1606 by the Swedish king Charles IX, it was chartered in 1611 and named for the reigning house of Vasa. Finland's second Court of Appeal was instituted there in 1776. Devastated by fire in 1852, the town was soon rebuilt in a more strategic location some 5 miles (8 km) closer to the sea, and its name was officially

Rescue Mission

2005-02-22T01:00:00.000-08:00

Also called Inner Mission, Christian religious organization established to provide spiritual, physical, and social assistance to the poor and needy. It originated in the city mission movement among evangelical laymen and ministers early in the 19th century. The work of rescue missions resembles that of settlement houses, institutional churches, and charitable societies, but rescue missions

Argentina, Patagonia

2005-02-21T22:42:00.000-08:00

Most approaches to Patagonia from the sea were hampered by inhospitable coastal cliffs and by high tides. With the Pampas Indians acting as a buffer against Europeans to the north, the Patagonian Indians thus remained unmolested until the mid-19th century, when European settlements encroached and warfare erupted. The Indian wars in northern Patagonia and the southern

Augustus, Caesar

2005-02-21T02:54:00.000-08:00

Remembering, however, that Caesar had been assassinated because of his resort to naked power, Octavian realized that the governing class would welcome him as the terminator of civil war only if he concealed his autocracy beneath provisions avowedly harking back to republican traditions. From 31 until 23 BC the constitutional basis of his power remained a continuous

Arapaho

2005-02-20T15:04:00.000-08:00

North American Plains Indian people of Algonquian linguistic stock who lived along the Platte and Arkansas rivers during the 19th century. Their early tradition suggests that they once had permanent villages in the eastern woodlands, where they engaged in agriculture. After a gradual westward movement, they split into northern and southern groups after 1830, the southern

Hay Fever

2005-02-20T01:47:00.000-08:00

Also called rose fever or allergic rhinitis seasonally recurrent bouts of sneezing, nasal congestion, and tearing and itching of the eyes caused by allergy to the pollen of certain plants, chiefly those depending upon the wind for cross-fertilization, such as ragweed in North America and timothy grass in Great Britain. In allergic persons contact with pollen releases histamine from the tissues, which irritates

Adams, Abigail

2005-02-19T21:46:00.000-08:00

Until the 20th century few first ladies shared Abigail Adams's interest in politics or in the treatment of government leaders by the press. She vigorously objected to what she considered inaccurate reporting on her husband and son. But she was not altogether surprised by the “lies [and] Falshoods,” writing in 1797 to her sister that she “expected to be vilified and abused, with my whole family.” Although her approach to the office of first lady was in many ways advanced, her fame rests primarily on her thousands of letters, which form an eloquent and evocative description of her life and times.

Theodahad

2005-02-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

The son of Theodoric's sister, Theodahad was invited to share the throne with Amalasuntha in 534, after the death of her son. Theodahad

Tzu Ssu

2005-02-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Zi Si, also called (Wade–Gile romanization) K'ung Chi Chinese philosopher, grandson of Confucius, native of the ancient state of Lu (present Shantung province), and according to tradition, the author of the Doctrine of the Mean. This classic, now part of the Li Chi (“Record of Rites”) and classified as one of the Four Books, reaffirms Confucius' interpretation of the mean as the state of equilibrium (chung yung) of the exemplary

Shi'i, Abu 'abd Allah Ash-

2005-02-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

Ash-Shi'i appeared among the Kutama, a Berber tribe of North Africa, at the end of the 9th century, proclaiming himself a precursor of the mahdi (messianic deliverer) and urging the people to revolt. He had met the Berbers at an earlier time during a pilgrimage to Mecca. After

Israel, Immigration and conflict

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

The Zionist goal of Jewish statehood was violently opposed by the local Arab leaders, who saw the Ottoman defeat as an opportunity either to create their own state or to join a larger Arab entity—thus reviving the old Arab empire of early Islamic times. British efforts to bring the Zionists and the Arabs together in a cooperative government failed, and serious disorders,

Dan

2005-02-17T06:51:00.000-08:00

One of the 12 tribes of Israel that in biblical times comprised the people of Israel who later became the Jewish people. The tribe was named after the first of two sons born to Jacob (also called Israel) and Bilhah, the maidservant of Jacob's second wife, Rachel. Nine of the other 11 tribes were also named after sons of Jacob, while two bear the names of Jacob's grandsons, children

France, History Of, Louis IX

2005-02-16T13:13:00.000-08:00

Louis IX, who was canonized in 1297, is the best-known Capetian ruler. He impressed all who came in touch with him, and the records of his reign—anecdotal and historical as well as official—leave no doubt that he

Wellesley

2005-02-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Norfolk county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S., just west of Boston. Originally part of Dedham, it became the Western Precinct of Needham when that town was set off in 1711. Incorporated as a separate town in 1881, it was named for the estate of Samuel Welles, who had settled the site in 1763. Although some manufacturing appeared in the late 19th century, the town's character and

Asunción, La

2005-02-15T11:50:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Nueva Esparta state, northeastern Venezuela, on Isla de Margarita, in the Caribbean Sea, 12 mi (19 km) off the mainland. Lying in a fertile inland valley in the eastern portion of the island, La Asunción was first settled by Spaniards in 1524. Testimony to its prosperity during the colonial era is borne by the many remaining colonial buildings, most notably the Castle

Rabies

2005-02-15T10:28:00.000-08:00

Also called hydrophobia , or lyssa acute, usually fatal, viral infectious disease of the central nervous system. The disease is usually spread among domestic dogs and wild carnivorous animals; all warm-blooded animals are susceptible to rabies infection. The virus, a rhabdovirus, is often present in the salivary glands of rabid animals and is excreted in the saliva; thus, the bite of the infected animal

Nervous System Disease, Vestibulocochlear nerve

2005-02-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

When both divisions of the vestibulocochlear nerve are affected by disease, symptoms may include ringing in the ear (tinnitus), a sensation of spinning (vertigo), and other symptoms such as deafness. Deafness, if not caused by middle-ear disease, suggests damage to the cochlear portion of the nerve. Compression of the nerve at the cerebellopontine angle by a tumour, an

Indo-iranian Languages

2005-02-13T22:13:00.000-08:00

Group of languages constituting the easternmost major branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Indo-Aryan (Indic) languages are spoken by some 800 million persons in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and other areas of the Himalayan region. In addition, languages of the Indo-Aryan group are spoken by about 5,000,000 people in Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania:

Hancock, Thomas

2005-02-13T08:50:00.000-08:00

English inventor and manufacturer who founded the British rubber industry. His chief invention, the “masticator,” worked rubber scraps into a shredded mass of rubber that could be formed into blocks or rolled into sheets. This process, perfected in 1821, led to a partnership with the Scottish chemist and inventor of waterproof

C.b.e.

2005-02-13T08:49:00.000-08:00

Commander of the British Empire, member of a British order of knighthood, although this rank does not confer knighthood. See British Empire, The Most Excellent Order of the.

Cohune Oil

2005-02-12T23:57:00.000-08:00

Also called cohune-nut oil , cohune also spelled cohoun oil obtained from the kernels of the fruits, or nuts, of the cohune palm tree, Attalea cohune. The tree grows in western Central America from the Yucatán Peninsula to Honduras. The oil's properties, similar to those of coconut oil, have given it increasing importance. Because the nuts are unusually hard and difficult to crack and their collection and transportation

Nithsdale

2005-02-11T14:57:00.000-08:00

Valley of the River Nith, Dumfries and Galloway region, southwestern Scotland. It comprises the western part of the historic county of Dumfriesshire and a small portion of eastern Kirkcudbrightshire. The valley's upper end lies along the border with Ayrshire, where the Nith flows through a gap in the Southern Uplands. Nithsdale broadens southeastward toward the

Hill, A.v.

2005-02-11T04:59:00.000-08:00

In full Archibald Vivian Hill British physiologist and biophysicist who received (with Otto Meyerhof) the 1922 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning the production of heat in muscles. His research helped establish the origin of muscular force in the breakdown of carbohydrates with formation of lactic acid in the

Furo

2005-02-11T00:25:00.000-08:00

Japanese-style bath, typically using water heated to 110° F (43.3° C) or hotter. It is claimed that, because the bather may linger in the wooden or metal tub, the furo may have properties for the therapeutic relaxation of tensions. To achieve cleanliness, the bather washes before entering the tub. In bathrooms in private Japanese homes and in public bathhouses, the bathing facilities

Tharrawaddy

2005-02-10T23:49:00.000-08:00

Tharrawaddy in 1837 deposed his brother Bagyidaw (reigned 1819–37), who had been obliged to sign the humiliating treaty that ceded the provinces of Arakan and Tenasserim to the British. Upon his accession, Tharrawaddy

Ogmios

2005-02-09T14:42:00.000-08:00

Ogmios' Irish equivalent was Ogma, whose Herculean, warlike aspect was also stressed. In Irish tradition

Hooker, Richard

2005-02-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

Theologian who created a distinctive Anglican theology, and a master of English prose and legal philosophy. In his masterpiece, Of the lawes of ecclesiasticall politie, which was incomplete at the time of his death, Hooker defended the Church of England against both Roman Catholics and Puritans