ConsciousGoat

Fusel Oil

2005-03-19T03:13:00.000-08:00

A mixture of volatile, oily liquids produced in small amounts during alcoholic fermentation. A typical fusel oil contains 60–70 percent of amyl alcohol (q.v.), smaller amounts of n-propyl and isobutyl alcohols, and traces of other components. Before industrial production of synthetic amyl alcohols began in the 1920s, fusel oil was the only commercial source of these compounds,

Amos, Valerie Ann, Baroness Amos Of Brondesbury

2005-03-17T05:44:00.000-08:00

British politician, the first woman of African descent to serve in a British cabinet and as leader of the House of Lords. She was educated at Townley Grammar School for Girls and received a bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Warwick (1976) and a master's degree in cultural studies from the University of Birmingham (1977). She worked

Tall Oil

2005-03-14T14:58:00.000-08:00

Dark, odorous liquid by-product of the sulfate (kraft) process of paper manufacture, used after refining to make coatings, sizing for paper, paint, varnish, linoleum, drying oils, emulsions, lubricants, and soaps. Tall oil is principally a mixture of resin acids, such as abietic acid, and fatty acids, such as oleic and linoleic acids, with some sterols and other compounds. It

Consonance And Dissonance

2005-03-13T20:37:00.000-08:00

In music, the impression of stability and repose (consonance) in relation to the impression of tension or clash (dissonance) experienced by a listener when certain combinations of tones or notes are sounded together. In certain musical styles, movement to and from consonance and dissonance gives shape and a sense of direction, for example, through increases and decreases

Swaminathan, M(onkombu) S(ambisivan)

2005-03-11T04:54:00.000-08:00

Swaminathan, the son of a surgeon, was educated in India and at the University of Cambridge (Ph.D., 1952) as a geneticist.

Blackfish

2005-03-10T10:49:00.000-08:00

Name given to various dark-coloured fishes, including the tautog (see wrasse), bowfin, Alaska blackfish (qq.v.), and black sea bass (see sea bass). Also known as blackfish are the pilot whale (q.v.), a mammal; Orthodon microlepidotus, a California minnow; the black ruff (Centrolophus niger), a European deep-sea rudderfish; and several Australian food fishes.

Harbours And Sea Works

2005-03-09T01:33:00.000-08:00

The construction of harbours and sea works offers some of the most unusual problems and challenges in civil engineering. The continuous and immediate

Perspective Scenery

2005-03-08T05:43:00.000-08:00

In theatre, scenery and the scene design technique that represents three-dimensional space on a flat surface, creating an illusion of reality and an impression of distance. Developed during the Italian Renaissance, perspective scenery applied the newly mastered science of linear perspective and brought the craft of illusion to the Italian stage. An initial

Luray Caverns

2005-03-07T15:46:00.000-08:00

Series of limestone caves in Page county, northwestern Virginia, U.S., near the town of Luray (headquarters of Shenandoah National Park). Covering 64 acres (26 hectares), the caverns, discovered in 1878, were formed millions of years ago by underground rivers and seepage of acid-bearing water through layers of limestone and clay. In time the clay was washed away, leaving only the limestone

Aldosterone

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

Aldosterone is synthesized in the body from corticosterone, a steroid derived from cholesterol. Production of aldosterone (in adult humans,

Usolye-sibirskoye

2005-03-04T00:17:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Usolje-Sibirskoje, or Usole-Sibirskoe, city, Irkutsk oblast (province), east-central Russia. It lies along the Angara River and the Trans-Siberian Railroad. The city is an old centre of salt production that continues as a major producer of caustic soda. Other plants produce machinery and synthetic rubber. A health resort is nearby. Pop. (1995 est.) 106,000.

Zion

2005-03-03T13:54:00.000-08:00

City, Lake county, northeastern Illinois, U.S. It lies along Lake Michigan, near the Wisconsin border. Zion was founded in 1901 by John Alexander Dowie as the headquarters of his Christian Catholic Church. Until 1935 it was theocratically governed, and the church controlled all business activities. The church schools were closed in 1939, after which a modern educational system was

Han-k'ou

2005-03-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Hankou , conventional Hankow large urban area and river port in Wu-han Municipality (shih), Hupeh Province (sheng), central China. Located on the left bank of the Han Shui (river) at its confluence with the Yangtze, it is the largest of the three Wu-han (q.v.) cities (Han-k'ou, Han-yang, and Wu-ch'ang). It was founded as Hsia-k'ou under the Sung dynasty (960–1279). Han-k'ou was one of the first Chinese cities opened to foreign trade

Integral Transform

2005-03-01T07:36:00.000-08:00

Mathematical operator that produces a new function f(y) by integrating the product of an existing function F(x) and a so-called kernel function K(x, y) between suitable limits. The process, which is called transformation, is symbolized by the equation f(y) = òK(x, y)F(x)dx. Several transforms are commonly named for the mathematicians who introduced them: in the Laplace

Minamoto Yoshitsune

2005-02-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

Warrior who engineered many of the military victories that helped his half brother Yoritomo gain control of Japan. He is probably the most popular Japanese historical figure of the period, and his romantic exploits have captured the imagination of the Japanese people, who have perpetuated numerous legends, stories,

Epilepsy

2005-02-26T07:17:00.000-08:00

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

Einthoven, Willem

2005-02-26T04:06:00.000-08:00

Einthoven was graduated

Lead Processing

2005-02-25T06:10:00.000-08:00

Once the ore is removed from veins (narrow channels) or lodes (roughly spherical deposits) in the Earth, usually at depths of about 60 metres, the ore is treated at concentrating mills. Here the ore is finely crushed, sometimes to particle diameters of less than 0.1 millimetre (0.004 inch), and then treated by one of several mineral concentration processes. Such processes are designed

Yevtushenko, Yevgeny (aleksandrovich)

2005-02-23T23:26:00.000-08:00

Yevtushenko, a fourth-generation

Koerber, Ernest Von

2005-02-23T00:21:00.000-08:00

Entering the Austrian administration in 1874, Koerber rose steadily

Bureaucracy

2005-02-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

A professional corps of officials organized in a pyramidal hierarchy and functioning under impersonal, uniform rules and procedures. In the social sciences, the term usually does not carry the pejorative associations of popular usage.

Dye

2005-02-19T13:31:00.000-08:00

Coloured substance synthesized from certain chemical compounds called benzenoid hydrocarbons, obtained from either coal tar or petroleum. Its most important use is in dyeing textiles. Wool or cotton fabrics may have dyes applied at any stage of manufacture from fibre to finished garment, depending on the nature of the textile, its subsequent processing, and

Stained Glass

2005-02-17T14:06:00.000-08:00

In the arts, the coloured glass used for making decorative windows and other objects through which light passes. Strictly speaking, all coloured glass is “stained,” or coloured by the addition of various metallic oxides while it is in a molten state; nevertheless, the term stained glass has come to refer primarily to the glass employed in making ornamental or pictorial

Ritual, The history of religions approach

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

A third approach to the study of ritual is centred on the studies of historians of religion. The distinction between this approach and the first two is that though many historians of religions agree with functionalists that the origin-evolutionary theories are useless as hypotheses, they also reject functionalism as an adequate explanation of ritual. Most historians

T'ien-t'ai

2005-02-15T19:16:00.000-08:00

The chief scripture of the school is the Lotus Sutra (Chinese: Fa-hua Ching; Sanskrit: Saddharmapu

Kerrier

2005-02-14T18:17:00.000-08:00

The Lizard Peninsula, a heather-covered

Lenclos, Ninon De

2005-02-14T14:05:00.000-08:00

From her father, Henri de Lenclos, sieur de La Douardière, she acquired a lasting interest in Epicurean philosophy. Although her father fled from France after killing a man in 1632, she remained in Paris and established there a salon that attracted a number of the most prominent literary and political figures of the age. Her

Ardhanarisvara

2005-02-12T04:16:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: Lord Who Is Half Woman), composite male–female figure of the Hindu god Siva, together with his consort Parvati. As seen in many beautiful Indian and Southeast Asian sculptures, the right (male) half of the figure is adorned with the traditional ornaments of Siva. Half of the hair is piled in a hairdress of matted locks, half of a third eye is visible on the forehead, a tiger

Habima

2005-02-11T19:31:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Habimah (Hebrew: “Stage”), Hebrew theatre company originally organized as Habima ha-'Ivrit (Hebrew: “the Hebrew Stage”) in Bialystok, in Russian Poland, in 1912 by Nahum Zemach. The troupe traveled in 1913 to Vienna, where it staged Osip Dymov's Hear O Israel before the 11th Zionist Congress. In 1917, after World War I caused the ensemble to dissolve, Zemach established the group in Moscow, calling it

Mercia

2005-02-11T09:28:00.000-08:00

(from Old English Merce, “People of the Marches [or Boundaries]”), one of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England; it held a position of dominance for much of the period from the mid-7th to the early 9th century. Mercia originally comprised the border areas (modern Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, and northern West Midlands and Warwickshire) that lay between the districts

China, Readjustment and reaction, 196165

2005-02-09T19:03:00.000-08:00

Reality can be seen, however, in the increasing

Ogmios

2005-02-08T10:39:00.000-08:00

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

Maucherite

2005-02-07T03:50:00.000-08:00

A nickel arsenide mineral with chemical composition approximating Ni3As2 or Ni11As8, assigned to the group of sulfide minerals. It often occurs with niccolite (to which it alters), as at Mansfeld, Ger.; Los Jarales, Málaga, Spain; and Ontario, Can. Its crystals belong to the tetragonal system. It is identical to the furnace product placodine. For chemical formula and detailed

Afro-asiatic Languages, Northern Central Semitic

2005-02-04T09:57:00.000-08:00

The Northern Central Semitic group includes the Canaanite, Ugaritic, and Amorite languages of the Ancient Stage, which were spoken in Palestine, Phoenicia, Syria, and Mesopotamia from the 3rd to the 2nd millennium BC. To the Middle Stage belongs Phoenician-Punic, spoken in Phoenicia, on islands of the Mediterranean, and in North Africa, from the 2nd millennium BC to the 1st millennium

Biblical Literature, On Western civilization

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

The Bible brought its view of God, the universe, and mankind into all the leading Western languages and thus into the intellectual processes of Western man. The Greek translation of the Old Testament made it accessible in the Hellenistic period (c. 300 BCE–c. 300 CE) and provided a language for the New Testament and for the Christian liturgy and theology of the first three centuries.

Naqshbandiyah

2005-02-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

Orthodox fraternity of Muslim mystics (Sufis) found in India, China, the Central Asian republics, and Malaysia. It claims a lineage extending back to Abu Bakr, the first caliph. Baha' ad-Din (d. 1384), founder of the order at Bukhara, Turkistan, was called an-naqshband, “the painter,” because of the impression of God that the repetition of his prescribed ritual prayer (dhikr) should leave upon

Connally, John Bowden, Jr.

2005-02-01T21:59:00.000-08:00

U.S. politician (b. Feb. 27, 1917, Floresville, Texas--d. June 15, 1993, Houston, Texas), was an ambitious political figure who, besides helping elect Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson, served as secretary of the navy in the Kennedy administration (1961), as a three-term governor of Texas (1963-69), and as secretary of the treasury (1971) under Pres. Richard M. Nixon; he was indelibly identified

Anthimus Vi

2005-02-01T01:07:00.000-08:00

In about 1840 Anthimus, a monk of a monastery on

Discount Rate

2005-01-30T09:30:00.000-08:00

The discount rate serves as an important indicator

Over-the-counter Market

2005-01-29T06:26:00.000-08:00

Trading in stocks and bonds that does not take place on stock exchanges; such trading is most significant in the United States, where requirements for listing stocks on the exchanges are quite strict. It is often called the “off-board market,” and sometimes the “unlisted market,” though the latter term is misleading because some securities so traded are listed on an exchange.

Germany, Additional benefits

2005-01-29T03:07:00.000-08:00

Germany also provides several special systems of coverage for groups such as war widows, orphans, and farmers. Unemployment insurance is funded through deductions from wages and salaries. Allowances are made for families with one or more children. Additional public allowances are granted to persons suffering disabilities from wartime injury, whether as military

Blood

2005-01-27T17:51:00.000-08:00

A literary term of British origin referring to a lurid work of fiction, especially a cheap and ill-written book of adventure or crime. The word is a short form of “blood-and-thunder book.”

Rupat Island

2005-01-27T06:44:00.000-08:00

Indonesian Pulau Rupat , Rupat also spelled Roepat island in the Strait of Malacca, Riau provinsi (province), Indonesia. It lies just off the eastern coast of Sumatra across a 3-mile- (5-kilometre-) wide channel, opposite Melaka, Malaysia. The island is very low and swampy and circular in shape, with a diameter of about 30 miles (48 km). The climate is hot and humid, and rainfall is heavy most of the year. Rupat Island is sparsely inhabited,

War, Law Of

2005-01-26T20:32:00.000-08:00

That part of international law dealing with the inception, conduct, and termination of warfare. Its aim is to limit the suffering caused to combatants and, more particularly, to those who may be described as the victims of war—that is, noncombatant civilians and those no longer able to take part in hostilities. Thus, the wounded, the sick, the shipwrecked, and prisoners

Holbach, Paul-henri Dietrich, Baron D'

2005-01-25T19:52:00.000-08:00

French encyclopaedist and philosopher, a celebrated exponent of atheism and Materialism, whose inherited wealth allowed him to entertain many of the noted philosophers of the day, some of whom (Comte de Buffon, J.-J. Rousseau, d'Alembert) reportedly withdrew from his gatherings, frightened by the audacity

Gate

2005-01-23T17:49:00.000-08:00

In hydraulic engineering, movable barrier for controlling the passage of fluid through a channel or sluice. River and canal locks have a pair of gates at each end. When closed, the gates meet at an obtuse angle that points upstream in order to resist the water pressure. When opened, they swing into recesses in the walls of the lock. Gates also regulate the outflow of water

Masai

2005-01-23T03:53:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Maasai nomadic pastoralists of East Africa. Masai is essentially a linguistic term, referring to speakers of this Eastern Sudanic language (usually called Maa) of the Nilo-Saharan language family. These include the pastoral Masai who range along the Great Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania, the Samburu of Kenya, and the semipastoral Arusha and Baraguyu (or Kwafi) of

Cat Snake

2005-01-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

Most cat snakes are about 70 cm (28 inches) long. Cat snakes occur in Africa and southwestern Asia; one, T. fallax, ranges to Europe. A number of snakes of other genera have vertical pupils and are sometimes called

Qabbani, Nizar

2005-01-21T08:03:00.000-08:00

Qabbani, who was born into a middle-class

Earth Sciences

2005-01-19T02:58:00.000-08:00

The history of the Earth sciences is recounted in Frank Dawson Adams, The Birth and Development of the Geological Sciences (1938, reprinted 1954), the best general account for the years prior to 1830; Asit K. Biswas, History of Hydrology (1970), a factual chronicle of developments since the earliest times; Henry Faul and Carol Faul, It Began with a Stone: A History of Geology from the Stone Age to the Age of Plate Tectonics (1983); A. Hallam, A Revolution in the Earth Sciences (1973), a summary of the historical development of ideas from seafloor spreading to plate tectonics, and Great Geological Controversies (1983), an evaluation of celebrated controversies from Neptunism to continental drift; Robert Muir Wood, The Dark Side of the Earth: The Battle for the Earth Sciences, 1800–1980 (1985), a history of important controversies; Richard J. Chorley, Antony J. Dunn, and Robert P. Beckinsale, The History of the Study of Landforms; or, The Development of Geomorphology, vol. 1, Geomorphology Before Davis (1964), an expansive account covering developments to the end of the 19th century; Charles C. Gillispie, Genesis and Geology: A Study in the Relations of Scientific Thought, Natural Theology, and Social Opinion in Great Britain, 1790–1850 (1951, reprinted 1969), an analysis of the impact of developments in geology upon Christian beliefs in the decades before Darwin (extensive bibliography); C.P. Idyll (ed.), Exploring the Ocean World: A History of Oceanography, rev. ed. (1972), a symposium treating each of the several branches of oceanography in historical format; Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 3, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth (1959), containing a comprehensive and elaborately illustrated account of the history of Earth science in China to around AD 1500; Cecil J. Schneer, “The Rise of Historical Geology in the 17th Century,” Isis, vol. 45, part 3, no. 141, pp. 256–268 (September 1954), an analysis of the points at issue in the fossil controversy; Cecil J. Schneer (ed.), Toward a History of Geology (1969), 25 essays on the history of geologic thought, mainly of the 18th and 19th centuries; Napier Shaw, Manual of Meteorology, vol. 1, Meteorology in History (1926, reprinted 1932), a rambling but literate and entertaining history of meteorology from the earliest to modern times; Evelyn Stokes, “Fifteenth Century Earth Science,” Earth Sciences Journal, 1(2):130–148 (1967), an analysis of classical and medieval views of nature, especially those reflected in Caxton's Mirrour of the World; Philip D. Thompson et al., Weather, rev. ed. (1980), an introduction to meteorology with much historical material, well illustrated; Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield, The Discovery of Time (1965, reprinted 1983), which traces the history of the idea of geologic time; William Whewell, History of the Inductive Sciences from the Earliest to the Present Time, 3rd ed., 3 vol. (1857, reissued 1976)—vol. 2 containing an analysis of uniformitarian and catastrophist views of Earth history; and Karl Alfred Von Zittel, History of Geology and Palaeontology to the End of the Nineteenth Century (1901, reissued 1962; originally published in German, 1899, reprinted 1965), best for its history of paleontology.

Norfolk Island

2005-01-18T11:38:00.000-08:00

Officially Territory of Norfolk Island external territory of Australia, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, 1,041 miles (1,676 km) northeast of Sydney. The island, with an area of 13 square miles (35 square km), is about 5 miles (8 km) long and 3 miles (5 km) wide. It is volcanic in origin, and its generally rugged terrain, with a mean elevation of 360 feet (110 m) above sea level, rises to Mount Bates (1,047 feet [319 m]) and Mount Pitt (1,043 feet [318 m]). Kingston, in the south, is the

Zacharias, Saint

2005-01-18T00:32:00.000-08:00

Of Greek parentage, Zacharias was supposedly a Roman deacon when he succeeded Pope St. Gregory III in November/December 741. His pontificate was devoted to diplomatic relations with the Lombard and Frankish kingdoms and with the Byzantine Empire. He initiated a policy of conciliation with

Obwalden

2005-01-16T14:44:00.000-08:00

Half canton, central Switzerland, formerly part of the canton of Unterwalden. The half canton is drained by the Sarner River and occupies the western part of former Unterwalden canton. Obwalden means “above the forest” and refers to the great forest of Kerns that divided the two half cantons in the Middle Ages. Obwalden acted independently of Nidwalden in its acquisition,

Abu Kalijar Al-marzuban Ibn Sultan Ad-dawlah

2005-01-15T09:37:00.000-08:00

When his father, Sultan ad-Dawlah, died in December 1023/January 1024, Abu Kalijar's succession to the sultan's Iranian possessions of Fars and Khuzistan was challenged by his uncle Abu al-Fawaris, the ruler of Kerman, to the west. By 1028 Abu Kalijar was

Slavic Languages

2005-01-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

Also called Slavonic languages group of Indo-European languages spoken in most of eastern Europe, much of the Balkans, parts of central Europe, and the northern part of Asia. The Slavic languages are most closely related to the languages of the Baltic group (Lithuanian, Latvian, and the now-extinct Old Prussian), but they share certain linguistic innovations with the other eastern Indo-European language

Ancient Rome, Administration of Rome and Italy

2005-01-14T21:50:00.000-08:00

Ordinary Roman citizens who were neither senators nor equites were of lesser consequence. Although still used, the old formula senatus populusque Romanus (“the Senate and the Roman people”) had changed its meaning: in effect, its populusque Romanus portion now meant “the emperor.” The “Roman people” had become the “Italian people,” and it was embodied in the person of Augustus,

Morris

2005-01-12T07:39:00.000-08:00

County, northern New Jersey, U.S., bounded by the Musconetcong River and Lake Hopatcong to the west, the Pequannock and Pompton rivers to the north, and the Passaic River to the east. It consists largely of a piedmont and upland region, with swampy lowlands in the southeast, and is drained by the Black, Rockaway, and Raritan (south branch) rivers. Among its numerous lakes are

Conservation, The Antarctic Treaty

2005-01-11T15:18:00.000-08:00

The Antarctic continent remained unknown and unexplored during the period when most other parts of the world were being claimed and colonized by European powers. Uninhabited and, until recently, of little or no value to any country, Antarctica never became an area for international dispute. Although segments of the continent and sub-Antarctic islands have been

Gabon

2005-01-10T02:49:00.000-08:00

A great deal of the cultural life of Gabon continues to be derived from or influenced by France. Gabon's contemporary writers express themselves almost exclusively in French. At the same time, there has been continued interest in the precolonial history and traditions of Gabon's peoples. Examples are the research on the Fang epic (mvet) and the art of the Mpongwe, Fang,

Rabelais, François

2005-01-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

Pseudonym Alcofribas Nasier French writer and priest who for his contemporaries was an eminent physician and humanist and for posterity is the author of the comic masterpiece Gargantua and Pantagruel. The four novels composing this work are outstanding for their rich use of Renaissance French and for their comedy, which ranges from gross burlesque

Yui Shosetsu

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

A famous military teacher in the Japanese capital of Edo (now Tokyo), Yui gained a large following among the local ronin

Fruitworm Beetle

2005-01-07T16:03:00.000-08:00

Any of a few genera of insects in the family Byfuridae (order Coleoptera) whose larvae feed on fruit. A common example of this family of small, hairy, oval beetles is the raspberry fruitworm (Byturus rubi). The small, pale larva, which is covered with short fine hairs, attacks the raspberry fruit. The adult, which ranges in colour from reddish yellow to black, is about 4 mm (0.16 inch)

Biron, Armand-louis De Gontaut, Duc De (duke Of)

2005-01-06T15:16:00.000-08:00

In his youth, as Duke de Lauzun, he dissipated his fortune, traveling about Europe and earning notoriety for his gallantry and success with

Torch Cactus

2005-01-06T09:53:00.000-08:00

T. pasacana, a stout tree up to 10.5 m in height,

Durance

2005-01-04T01:13:00.000-08:00

Latin Druentia, principal river draining the French side of the Alps toward the Mediterranean. From its origin in the Montgenèvre region, Hautes-Alpes département, to its confluence with the Rhône below Avignon, it is 189 mi (304 km) long. The Clairée and Guisane rivers, both of which are longer and more powerful streams than the Durance, join it above and in Briançon, through which it flows as

Genesis

2005-01-03T05:51:00.000-08:00

Hebrew Bereshit (“In the Beginning”), the first book of the Old Testament. Its name derives from the opening words: “In the beginning . . . .” Genesis narrates the primeval history of the world (chapters 1–11) and the patriarchal history of the Israelite people (chapters 12–50). The primeval history includes the familiar stories of the Creation, the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, and the Tower

Azaïs, Pierre-hyacinthe

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

Philosopher whose optimism was rooted in the idea that human experience is imbued with a natural and harmonious balance between joy and sadness and that it is in this balance that meaning can be discovered. He advocated the idea in the work that first brought him fame, Des compensations dans les destinées humaines, 3 vol. (1809). In a following work,

Oshawa

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

City, regional municipality of Durham county, southeastern Ontario, Canada. It lies on the north shore of Lake Ontario, just northeast of Toronto. Founded as Skea's Corners on the military Kingston Road in 1795, it was renamed Oshawa—an Indian word referring to a stream crossing—in 1842, when a post office was established there. The city, which is now a port of entry and a major manufacturing

Silkeborg

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

City, Århus amtskommune (county), eastern Jutland, Denmark, on the Gudenå (river) and Langsø, a small lake, west of Århus. An episcopal town of some importance in the Middle Ages, its castle became a royal hunting and fishing base after the Reformation. The present city, dating from 1845 (chartered 1900), grew up around a paper mill. Now a rail junction, its products in addition to paper include

Shahadah

2004-12-31T01:28:00.000-08:00

(Arabic: “testimony”), the Muslim profession of faith: “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.” The shahadah is the first of the five Pillars of Islam (arkan al-Islam). It must be recited by every Muslim at least once in a lifetime, aloud, correctly, and purposively, with a full understanding of its meaning and with an assent of the heart.

Chang Kuo-lao

2004-12-30T18:37:00.000-08:00

Chang claimed to have been born in prehistoric times. Legends about him, however, seem to have accrued to a historical

Etruscan Language

2004-12-27T16:45:00.000-08:00

The Etruscans lived in Italy in the region of modern Tuscany, in an

Scholasticism

2004-12-26T22:38:00.000-08:00

But not all of Scholasticism is specifically medieval and therefore definitively belonging to the dead past; there are perennial elements that are meant for every age, the present one included, three of which may be here distinguished. First, not only has Scholasticism held true to the normal historical rule that ideas, once thought and expressed, remain present

Fischer, Kuno

2004-12-25T07:46:00.000-08:00

With other writings on Gotthold Lessing, Friedrich Schiller, and J.W. von Goethe, Fischer contributed to the philosophy of aesthetics. Eventually he subscribed to Hegelian

David, Gerard

2004-12-24T21:17:00.000-08:00

In his early work, such as the “Christ Nailed to the Cross” (c. 1480; National Gallery, London)

Van Lew, Elizabeth L.

2004-12-23T22:08:00.000-08:00

Van Lew was the daughter of a prosperous family of Northern antecedents. She was educated in Philadelphia and grew up to hold strong antislavery views. During the 1850s, under her influence,

Moschus, John

2004-12-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

Moschus began his monastic

Melioidosis

2004-12-21T11:48:00.000-08:00

A bacterial infection in humans and animals caused by Pseudomonas pseudomallei. Transmission to humans occurs through contact of a skin abrasion with contaminated water or soil rather than through direct contact with a contaminated animal. Inhalation of the pathogen also is suspected as a route of infection. The term melioidosis, from the Greek, means “a similarity

Pacific Islands

2004-12-20T22:18:00.000-08:00

Humans in the Pacific have had to adapt to island environments just as other species have done. The technologies and organizational systems introduced into the Pacific by migrants were established in habitats that varied from receptive to hostile. The earliest arrivals, as food-gathering peoples, probably provoked little disruption of the environment. Their

Utrecht School

2004-12-20T04:16:00.000-08:00

Principally a group of three Dutch painters—Dirck van Baburen (c. 1590–1624), Gerrit van Honthorst (1590–1656; see photograph), and Hendrik Terbrugghen (1588–1629)—who went to Rome and fell fully under the pervasive influence of Caravaggio's art before returning to Utrecht. Although none of them ever actually met Caravaggio (d. 1610), each had access to his paintings, knew his former patrons, and was influenced

Disasters

2004-12-18T22:27:00.000-08:00

May 30, Minsk, Belarus. A stampede occurred in a passageway

Aerospace Industry, Spacecraft, launch vehicle, and missile development

2004-12-18T17:37:00.000-08:00

The research effort that goes into the development of missiles, launch vehicles, and spacecraft parallels that of the airplane in the design and ground-test stages but differs for the flight-test stage. For major launch vehicles and strategic missiles, the absence of a pilot on board, the great expense of a single launch, and the inability to recover and reuse the test

Poyet, Guillaume

2004-12-16T21:16:00.000-08:00

After practicing successfully as a barrister at Angers and Paris, he was instructed by Louise of Savoy, mother of King Francis I, to uphold her rights against the constable Charles, Duke de Bourbon, in 1521. This was the beginning of his fortunes.

Babelthuap

2004-12-16T02:52:00.000-08:00

Also called Babeldaob, Palau, Baberudaobu, or Arrecifos largest of the Caroline Islands and largest island within Palau (a sovereign state since 1994). It has an area of 143 square miles (370 square km) and lies in the western Pacific Ocean, 550 miles (885 km) east of the Philippines. Partly elevated limestone and partly volcanic in origin, Babelthuap measures 27 miles by 8 miles (43 km by 13 km); it is fertile and wooded and rises to an elevation of 713 feet (217 metres).

Bonaparte, (marie-)pauline

2004-12-15T03:57:00.000-08:00

She married Gen. C.V.E. Leclerc (1772–1802), a staff officer of Napoleon, in 1797 and accompanied him to San Domingo. When Leclerc died of yellow fever she returned to Paris. She then married Prince Camillo Borghese (Nov. 6, 1803) and went with him to Rome, but soon tired of him,

Aquaculture: Fulfilling Its Promise

2004-12-14T00:28:00.000-08:00

The earliest-known documentation of fish farming is a Chinese book entitled Fish Culture Classic, written in 460 BC. The Chinese raised their fish, mainly carp, in small ponds to supplement other farm crops. Through experimentation, farmers discovered they could raise several species of fish together in one pond. This system, known as polyculture, proved highly productive

Kamen-na-obi

2004-12-12T00:54:00.000-08:00

City and administrative centre of Kamensky rayon (sector), Altay kray (region), south-central Russia. A port on the Ob River, it was founded in 1670 and designated an urban settlement in 1915 and became a city in 1925. Its economic base is the food-processing industry; other factories produce bricks and furniture. Teacher-training and veterinary colleges are located in the city. Pop. (1993 est.)

Iraq, Housing

2004-12-11T14:50:00.000-08:00

The availability of adequate housing remained a problem in Iraq at the beginning of the 21st century. This was partly attributable to the major demographic shifts that had occurred in preceding decades, with large numbers of Shi'ites fleeing the south to overcrowded Baghdad and large groups of Kurds, Turkmens, and Assyrians being displaced by government policy in

Telescope, Gamma-ray telescopes

2004-12-11T11:44:00.000-08:00

These instruments require the use of grazing-incidence techniques similar to those employed with X-ray telescopes. Gamma rays are the shortest (about 0.1 angstrom or less) known waves in the electromagnetic spectrum. As mentioned above, HEAO-3 was developed to collect data from cosmic gamma-ray sources. NASA and collaborative international agencies have numerous

Grindelwald

2004-12-09T21:37:00.000-08:00

Alpine village and valley, Bern canton, south central Switzerland. The village is scattered on the slopes of the Lütschine Valley (Lütschental), part of the Grindelwald Valley in the Bernese Oberland (highland), southeast of Interlaken. The Grindelwald Valley is shut in on the south by the Wetterhorn, Mettenberg, and Eiger (peaks rising above 10,000 ft [3,050 m]), between which are two

U Thong Style

2004-12-09T11:58:00.000-08:00

One of the canonical styles for Buddha icons developed in Thailand (Siam) in the southern capital of Ayutthaya, beginning in the 14th century. To retain the greatest spiritual potency, Buddha icons in Thai temples had to resemble as closely as possible an original prototype that tradition erroneously believed had been made during the lifetime of the Buddha. Of the

Mugla

2004-12-08T02:35:00.000-08:00

City, southwestern Turkey, on the edge of a small plain about 12 miles (20 km) north of the Gulf of Gökova. A favourite residence of the emirs of the 14th-century Turkmen Mentese principality, it was annexed to the Ottoman Empire in 1425. It is a local market for the agricultural products of the region and is linked by road with Izmir and Denizli. The surrounding region borders on both the

Celebes

2004-12-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

The island is very mountainous, with some active volcanoes,

San Bernardino

2004-12-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

Central city of the San Bernardino–Riverside–Ontario metropolitan complex, seat (1853) of San Bernardino County, southern California, U.S., at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains. The site, which was named by Spanish missionaries for St. Bernardino of Siena, was sold to Mormons who laid out a town in 1852. It developed as a trade centre chiefly for the surrounding citrus groves

Proetus

2004-12-05T15:13:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, a king of Argos, grandson of Danaus. He quarreled with his brother Acrisius and divided the kingdom with him, Proetus taking Tiryns, which he fortified. Proetus' daughters were driven mad either because they insulted the goddess Hera or because they would not accept the new rites of Dionysus. They imagined themselves cows, until the seer Melampus

Sara Buri

2004-12-03T15:10:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Saraburi, town, central Thailand, northeast of Bangkok. Sara Buri (locally called Pak Phrieo) is on the south bank of the Pa Sak River. Its economy is based on textile, metalworking, food-manufacturing, clothing, and woodworking industries. The Phra Buddha Bat shrine in the town contains a footprint of Buddha and is the scene of a yearly festival. Sara Buri is linked to Bangkok, 60 miles

Jainism, Recent Jain history

2004-12-03T13:16:00.000-08:00

By the middle of the 19th century, image-worshiping Shvetambara monks had virtually disappeared, and control of temples and ritual passed into the hands of quasi-monastic clerics known as yati. Monastic life, however, experienced a revival under the auspices of charismatic monks such as Atmaramji (1837–96), and the number of Shvetambara image-worshiping renunciants grew

Oranjestad

2004-12-01T16:23:00.000-08:00

Seaport and chief administrative centre of the Caribbean island of Aruba, located on the island's western coast. It is a free port and a petroleum-processing and shipping centre. The enclosed harbour, with two basins, has modern cargo-handling and fueling equipment. Oranjestad has brightly coloured buildings, fine residential sections, and a modern sports arena,

Daniell, John Frederic

2004-12-01T04:14:00.000-08:00

In 1820 Daniell invented a dew-point hygrometer (a device that indicates atmospheric humidity), which came into widespread use. In his Meteorological Essays and Observations (1823), Daniell

Gümüspala, Ragip

2004-11-29T21:15:00.000-08:00

A career army officer, Gümüspala served as the chief of the General Staff after the military coup of May 27, 1960, but was forcibly retired by the new government shortly thereafter. In February 1961 Gümüspala formed the JP in opposition to the ruling Republican People's Party (RPP). The JP, in actuality, proved