FirstThroat

Rivière, Jacques

2005-03-24T22:23:00.000-08:00

Writer, critic, and editor who was a major force in the intellectual life of France in the period immediately following World War I. His most important works were his thoughtful and finely written essays on the arts. In 1912 a collection of these essays was published as Études; a second such collection, entitled Nouvelles études (“Further

Libya, Soils

2005-03-22T10:32:00.000-08:00

The gray-brown soils of the Al-Jifarah Plain and the Nafusah Plateau are fertile, although they have become saline from overirrigation. In the east, the soils of the Barce plain—which stretches between the Akhdar Mountains and the sea—are light and fertile. Rich alluvial soils are found in the coastal deltas and valleys of large wadis. The rest of the country is covered

Biblical Literature, German versions

2005-03-20T21:49:00.000-08:00

The early Old Testament in Gothic has already been described. The New Testament remains are far more extensive and are preserved mainly in the Codex Argenteus (c. 525) and Codex Gissensis. The translation, essentially based on a Byzantine text, is exceedingly literal and not homogeneous. It is difficult to determine the degree of contamination that the original Gospels

'abd Al-qadir Al-jilani

2005-03-17T14:42:00.000-08:00

He studied Islamic law in Baghdad and was introduced to Sufism rather late in life, first appearing as a preacher in 1127. His great reputation as a preacher and teacher attracted disciples from the entire Islamic world, and he is said to have converted numerous Jews and Christians

Abbott, Diane

2005-03-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

In full Diane Julie Abbott British politician, the first woman of African descent elected to the House of Commons. Abbott's parents, originally from Jamaica, immigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1950s. She was educated at Harrow County Grammar School for Girls and received a degree in history from the University of Cambridge in 1973. Abbott worked as a civil servant

Iris

2005-03-13T17:36:00.000-08:00

Genus of about 300 species of plants in the family Iridaceae including some of the world's most popular and varied garden flowers, centred in the North Temperate Zones. Some of its most handsome species, however, are native to the Mediterranean and central Asian areas. The iris is the fleur-de-lis of the French royalist standard. It is a popular subject of

Epirrhema

2005-03-11T07:04:00.000-08:00

In ancient Greek Old Comedy, an address usually about public affairs. It was spoken by the leader of one-half of the chorus after that half of the chorus had sung an ode. It was part of the parabasis, or performance by the chorus, during an interlude in the action of the play.

Rupp, Adolph

2005-03-09T13:00:00.000-08:00

Rupp grew up on a Kansas farm and was hardly aware of basketball until he went to college. He was a member of the University of Kansas (Lawrence) Big Eight Conference championship team of 1923. After coaching five years

Craig, James

2005-03-07T07:22:00.000-08:00

American ice hockey goaltender who was part of the U.S. hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, U.S. The American victory in the hockey tournament, known as the “miracle on ice,” was one of the greatest surprises in the history of the Olympics, and Craig, who started every game in goal, was a leading figure in the

August

2005-03-06T20:38:00.000-08:00

Eighth month of the Gregorian calendar. See month and the accompanying Table.

Sinkiang, Uygur Autonomous Region Of, Settlement patterns

2005-03-03T02:47:00.000-08:00

There are five major cities in the province. Wu-lu-mu-ch'i,

Habitual Offender

2005-03-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

A classic account of habitual offenders is Norval Morris, The Habitual Criminal (1951, reprinted 1973). Works examining habitual-offender laws include David Shichor and Dale K. Sechrest (eds.), Three Strikes and You're Out: Vengeance as Public Policy (1996); and John Clark, James Austin, and D. Alan Henry, “Three Strikes and You're Out”: A Review of State Legislation (1997). John E. Hodge, Mary McMurran, and Clive R. Hollin (eds.), Addicted to Crime? (1997), discusses persistent criminals in terms of addiction.

Stability

2005-02-27T11:04:00.000-08:00

In mathematics, condition in which a slight disturbance in a system does not produce too disrupting an effect on that system. In terms of the solution of a differential equation, a function f(x) is said to be stable if any other solution of the equation that starts out sufficiently close to it when x = 0 remains close to it for succeeding values of x. If the difference between the

Earn

2005-02-26T20:38:00.000-08:00

Loch (lake) and river, central Scotland. Loch Earn lies on the boundary between the council area of Stirling and the council area of Perth and Kinross, and the River Earn flows through Perth and Kinross. Loch Earn is 6.5 miles (10.5 km) from east to west with a maximum width of 0.5 mile (0.8 km). Lochearnhead is situated at the western end of the loch and St. Fillan's village at the eastern extremity,

Damascus, The Muslim city

2005-02-23T05:58:00.000-08:00

Damascus was the first great city of the ancient world that the Muslim Arab forces encountered. In 661, Mu'awiyah, the first Umayyad caliph, moved out of Arabia and established his court in the Syrian capital. The city was renowned for almost a century thereafter as the capital of a luxurious and extensive empire—the most far-reaching of any achieved by Islam. The principal

Mela, Pomponius

2005-02-18T15:37:00.000-08:00

Author of the only ancient treatise on geography in classical Latin, De situ orbis (“A Description of the World”), also known as De chorographia (“Concerning Chorography”). Written about AD 43 or 44, it remained influential until the beginning of the age of exploration, 13 centuries later. Though probably intended for the general reader, Mela's geography was cited by Pliny the Elder

Aristide, Jean-bertrand

2005-02-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

Aristide attended a school in Port-au-Prince run by the Roman Catholic Salesian order, and in 1966 he moved to the Salesian seminary at Cap-Haitien and began to prepare for the priesthood.

Tapestry

2005-02-14T11:43:00.000-08:00

Tapestry is first of all a technique. It differs from other forms of patterned weaving in that no weft threads are carried the full width of the fabric web, except by an occasional accident of design. Each unit of the pattern or the background is woven with a weft, or thread of the required colour, that is inserted back and forth only over the section where that colour appears

Kediri

2005-02-11T22:52:00.000-08:00

Ancient Kadiri city, Jawa Timur provinsi (“province”), eastern Java, Indonesia. It is situated on the Brantas River, at the foot of Mount Wilis, 65 miles (105 km) southwest of Surabaya. It is the centre of a sugar industry and of trade in such agricultural products as coffee, tobacco, rice, and cassava. The city's light manufacturing includes textile and lumber mills and machine shops. The surrounding

Arran, James Stewart, Earl Of

2005-02-09T07:33:00.000-08:00

Both Stewart and his rival, Esmé, duke of Lennox, were deprived of office when the Protestant lords seized power by the raid of Ruthven (1582); but a year later they in turn were overthrown and driven into exile by Stewart. His tyranny and insolence, however,

Spring

2005-02-08T11:44:00.000-08:00

In hydrology, opening at or near the surface of the Earth for the discharge of water from underground sources. A spring is a natural discharge point of subterranean water at the surface of the ground or directly into the bed of a stream, lake, or sea. Water that emerges at the surface without a perceptible current is called a seep. Wells are holes excavated to bring water

Armenian Highland

2005-02-06T19:53:00.000-08:00

Russian Armyanskoye Nagorye, also spelled Arm'anskoje Nagor'e, mountainous region of Transcaucasia. It lies mainly in Turkey, occupies all of Armenia, and includes southern Georgia, western Azerbaijan, and northwestern Iran. The highland covers almost 154,400 square miles (400,000 square km). The average elevation of the Armenian Highland is 5,000 to 6,500 feet (1,500 to 2,000 m), but several peaks exceed 14,000 feet (4,000 m). The highland is a segment of the Mediterranean alpine volcanic

Alkalai, Judah Ben Solomon Hai

2005-02-04T03:58:00.000-08:00

Alkalai was taken to Jerusalem at an early age, and there he was reared and educated for the rabbinate. At 25 he went to Semlin, in Croatia, as a rabbi and found himself teaching Hebrew to the young men of his congregation,

Allen, Sir Hugh (percy)

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

Allen was an organ scholar at Christ's College, Cambridge, and later held organist's posts at Ely cathedral (1898–1901) and New College, Oxford (1901–18). In 1918 he became director of the Royal College of Music, London, and in

Philikí Etaireía

2005-01-30T15:20:00.000-08:00

(Greek: Friendly Brotherhood), Greek revolutionary secret society founded by merchants in Odessa in 1814 to overthrow Ottoman rule in southeastern Europe and to establish an independent Greek state. The society's claim of Russian support and the romance of its commitment (each member swore “irreconcilable hatred against the tyrants of my country”) brought thousands

Lippe

2005-01-27T17:33:00.000-08:00

One of the smallest of the former German states, forming, since 1946–47, the northeastern corner of the Land (state) of North Rhine-Westphalia; the rather smaller Schaumburg-Lippe, now in the southern part of the Land of Lower Saxony, was founded in the 1640s under a separate branch of the House of Lippe. Both were until 1990 in West Germany. The Lippe lands lie north and south of the east–west

Bridge

2005-01-25T03:21:00.000-08:00

In electrical measurement, instrument for measuring electrical quantities. The first such instrument, invented by British mathematician Samuel Christie and popularized in 1843 by Sir Charles Wheatstone, measures resistance by comparing the current flowing through one part of the bridge with a known current flowing through another part. The Wheatstone

Reflex

2005-01-22T03:23:00.000-08:00

Many reflexes of placental mammals appear to be innate. They are hereditary and are a common feature of the species and often of the genus. Reflexes include not only such simple

Talking Heads

2005-01-18T15:35:00.000-08:00

In 1974 three classmates from the Rhode Island School of Design moved to New York City and declared themselves Talking Heads. Singer-guitarist Byrne, drummer

San Francisco Bay

2005-01-16T08:11:00.000-08:00

Large, nearly landlocked bay indenting western California, U.S. It is a drowned river valley, paralleling the coastline, and is connected with the Pacific Ocean by a strait called the Golden Gate, which is spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge (see photograph). San Francisco Bay is 60 miles (97 km) long and 3 to 12 miles (5 to 19 km) wide and is one of the world's finest natural harbours. Treasure,

Jackson, Jesse

2005-01-14T23:55:00.000-08:00

Jesse adopted the name of his stepfather, Charles Jackson,

Mcmahon Line

2005-01-12T21:14:00.000-08:00

Frontier between Tibet and Assam in British India, negotiated between Tibet and Great Britain at the end of the Simla Conference (October 1913–July 1914) and named after the chief British negotiator, Sir Henry McMahon. It runs from the eastern border of Bhutan along the crest of the Himalayas until it reaches the great bend in the Brahmaputra River where that river emerges

Permafrost

2005-01-11T21:06:00.000-08:00

Many distinctive surface manifestations of permafrost exist in the Arctic and subarctic, including such geomorphic features as polygonal ground, thermokarst phenomena, and pingos. In addition to the above, there are many features caused in large part by frost action that are common in but not restricted to permafrost areas, such as solifluction (soil flowage)

Gundagai

2005-01-09T09:00:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern New South Wales, Australia, on the Murrumbidgee River. The site, originally a sheep run called Willia Ploma, was surveyed in 1838, and the town, a former riverport, derived its present name from an Aboriginal term for “going upstream.” A disastrous flood in 1852 drowned 89 townspeople. The discovery of gold in 1861 at nearby Spring Flat stimulated both its growth and bushranger

Tarhun

2005-01-07T03:54:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Taru, Tarhu, Tarhunt, Tarhunna, or Tarhuis, ancient Anatolian weather god. His name appears in Hittite and Assyrian records (c. 1400–612 BC) and later as an element in Hellenistic personal names, primarily from Cilicia. Tarhunt was the Luwian form and Tarhun (Tarhunna) probably the Hittite, from the common root tarh-, “to conquer.” The weather god was one of the supreme deities of the Hittite pantheon and was regarded as the embodiment

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Parable

2005-01-04T14:17:00.000-08:00

A.M. Hunter, The Parables: Then and Now (1971); Eta Linnemann, Gleichnisse Jesu, 3rd ed. (1964; Eng. trans., The Parables of Jesus, 1966); T.W. Manson (ed.), The Sayings of Jesus as Recorded in the Gospels According to St. Matthew and St. Luke (1949); D.C. Allen, The Legend of Noah: Renaissance Rationalism in Art, Science and Letters (1963); Heinz Politzer, Franz Kafka: Parable and Paradox (1962).

Kaduqli

2005-01-02T00:05:00.000-08:00

Town, south-central Sudan. It is situated 149 miles (240 km) south of al-Ubayyid, at the northern edge of the White Nile plain. Kaduqli came under Egyptian rule in the early 19th century and was probably a centre for recruiting slaves for the Egyptian army. It is now a trading centre for gum arabic and livestock. Industries include textiles, soap factories, and the production of leather

Terbrugghen, Hendrik

2005-01-01T06:47:00.000-08:00

In the early 1590s Terbrugghen's family moved to Utrecht, a strong Roman Catholic centre, where he studied with Abraham Bloemaert. Terbrugghen reportedly spent 10 years in Italy, having arrived in Rome about 1604, and thus could have had direct contact

Shire

2004-12-29T16:22:00.000-08:00

In Great Britain, a county. The Anglo-Saxon shire (Old English scir) was an administrative division next above the hundred and seems to have existed in the south in the time of Alfred the Great (871–899) and to have been fully established by the reign of Edgar (959–975). It was administered by an ealdorman (alderman) and by a sheriff (i.e., shire-reeve), who presided over the shire court. After the

Mason, Daniel Gregory

2004-12-27T03:18:00.000-08:00

Mason was the grandson of the music publisher and educator Lowell Mason and the son of Henry Mason, a founder of the Mason & Hamlin Co. piano firm. He studied with John K. Paine at Harvard and with Vincent d'Indy in Paris. From 1910 to 1942 he taught at Columbia University. His music

C.b.

2004-12-25T10:32:00.000-08:00

Companion of the Bath, member of a British order of knighthood, although this rank does not confer knighthood. See Bath, The Most Honourable Order of the.

Koga

2004-12-24T23:33:00.000-08:00

City, Ibaraki ken (prefecture), eastern Honshu, Japan. It lies at the confluence of the Omoi and Watarase rivers. An important river port, Koga was a castle town and post town on the Nikko-kaido (Nikko Highway) in the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). It became a major trade centre for the surrounding agricultural region after the Tohoku Main Line railway opened in 1891. Silk manufacture, introduced

Wind Instrument, Reedpipes

2004-12-22T13:18:00.000-08:00

Egypt also made clarinets, instruments composed of two canes with three sides of a rectangle cut obliquely in the upper end of the two single reeds. The term idioglottic is used to describe a reed cut from the tube itself. From four to six equidistant finger holes are cut in each cane, and blowing with the entire reed engulfed in the mouth cavity produces a pungent, tremulous

Anatta

2004-12-20T00:17:00.000-08:00

Sanskrit Anatman, in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying substance that can be called the soul. Instead, the individual is compounded of five factors of consciousness (Pali: khandha; Sanskrit: skandha) that are constantly changing. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman (“the self”). The absence of a self, anicca (the impermanence

China, The transition to socialism, 195357

2004-12-17T17:27:00.000-08:00

The period 1953–57, corresponding to the First Five-Year Plan, began China's rapid industrialization. This period is still regarded as having been enormously successful. A strong central governmental apparatus proved able to channel scarce resources into the rapid development of heavy industry. Despite some serious policy issues and problems, the Communist leadership

In Medias Res

2004-12-15T00:16:00.000-08:00

In narrative technique, the recommended practice of beginning an epic or other fictional form by plunging into a crucial situation that is part of a related chain of events; the situation is an extension of previous events and will be developed in later action. The narrative then goes directly forward, and exposition of earlier events is supplied by flashbacks.

Bala

2004-12-14T18:42:00.000-08:00

Welsh Y Bala market town, Gwynedd county, historic county of Merioneth (Meirionnydd), Wales, in Snowdonia National Park at the northern end of mountain-girt Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid), the largest natural lake in Wales. The town was founded under a charter of 1324. In the 18th century it became famous both for its knitted stockings and for its huge Methodist revival meetings; it was the home of the

Vörösmarty, Mihály

2004-12-12T18:14:00.000-08:00

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

Adams, Brooks

2004-12-09T08:50:00.000-08:00

Adams graduated from Harvard in 1870 and practiced law in Boston until 1881. Son of the diplomat Charles Francis Adams and grandson of Pres. John Quincy Adams, he was enabled by a substantial inheritance

Kraljevo

2004-12-08T22:57:00.000-08:00

Just 3 miles

Reformed Church Of France

2004-12-06T07:35:00.000-08:00

French Église Reformée De France, church organized in 1938 by merging several Reformed groups that had developed in France during and after the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. During the early part of the Reformation, Protestant movements made slow progress in France. Yet reforming movements within the Roman Catholic Church had appeared early. Before Martin Luther had emerged as a Reformer in

Interior Design, 20th century

2004-12-04T20:10:00.000-08:00

The principle behind a great deal of 20th century interior decoration was first expounded in Chicago in 1896 in a magazine entitled the House Beautiful. This journal opposed both the perpetuation of vulgar display and the excess of ornament that had characterized most of the 19th century. Other American magazines like The Ladies Home Journal soon followed House

Sadhu And Swami

2004-12-02T08:41:00.000-08:00

Also spelled saddhu and swamy, Sanskrit sadhu and svamin, in India, religious or holy men. Sadhu signifies any religious ascetic or holy man. The class of sadhus includes not only genuine saints of many faiths but also men (and occasionally women) who have left their homes in order to concentrate on physical and spiritual disciplines, as well as hermits, magicians, and fortune-tellers, some of dubious religious intent. Swami

Ch'an

2004-11-30T04:37:00.000-08:00

Form of Mahayana Buddhism that arose in China and reached its culmination in the Zen school of Japan. See Zen.

Musical Notation

2004-11-27T05:55:00.000-08:00

Written notations are to be found in the musical cultures of the Far East, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West. Early examples survive from Ancient Egypt and Greece. Notation may be classified into two broad categories: phonetic symbols—words, syllables, abbreviations of these, letters, and numbers; and graphic signs—accentual signs for the rise

Guarneri Family

2004-11-25T18:04:00.000-08:00

Latin Guarnerius, celebrated family of violin makers of Cremona, Italy. The first was Andrea (c. 1626–98), who worked with Stradivari in the workshop of Nicolò Amati (son of Girolamo). His son Giuseppe (1666–c. 1739) at first made instruments like his father's but later made them in a style of his own, with a narrow waist; his son Pietro of Venice (1695–1762) was also a fine maker. Another son of Andrea, Pietro Giovanni (1655–c. 1728), moved from

Yahya Ibn Mahmud Al-wasiti

2004-11-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

Yahya was not the first to paint in this style, but he was the best artist

Aschelminth, Reproduction and development

2004-11-21T07:15:00.000-08:00

Most aschelminths are bisexual; the male inseminates the female during copulation so that she lays fertilized shelled eggs. In some cases, these eggs may have started to develop before being laid. Parthenogenesis, by which the female's eggs develop without fertilization, is common. In most rotifers (i.e., the order Monogononta) males are smaller and less frequent than

Alabama, The Civil War and its aftermath

2004-11-20T11:44:00.000-08:00

In 1861 Alabama seceded from the Union and joined the Confederate States of America, which established its first capital in Montgomery. The state legislature conscripted soldiers and appropriated several million dollars for military operations and for the support of the families of soldiers. Some 35,000 of the 122,000 Alabamians who served in the war died. Following the collapse

Gadus

2004-11-18T00:55:00.000-08:00

Fish genus of the family Gadidae, including the individuals and groups known as bib, cod, pollock, and whiting (qq.v.).

La Farge, Oliver (hazard Perry)

2004-11-16T08:48:00.000-08:00

At Harvard University La Farge pursued his interest in American Indian culture, specializing in anthropology and archaeological research. Although highly respected in

Christianity

2004-11-14T05:51:00.000-08:00

Major religion, stemming from the life, teachings, and death of Jesus of Nazareth (the Christ, or the Anointed One of God) in the 1st century AD. It has become the largest of the world's religions. Geographically the most widely diffused of all faiths, it has a constituency of some 2 billion believers. Its largest groups are the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox churches,

Antidepressant

2004-11-12T01:00:00.000-08:00

Introduced in the late 1950s, antidepressant drugs have been used most widely

Latin-american Literature, Recent trends

2004-11-10T03:45:00.000-08:00

The literature of the last half of the 20th century has been characterized by an increased preoccupation with man as the victim of alienating forces—solitude, identity crises, anguish, and evil—and by a marked determination to create new forms and techniques. Above all, it has put forth a new language more responsive to the demands imposed by increasingly complex spiritual,

Endodontics

2004-11-08T08:04:00.000-08:00

The practice of endodontics is concerned primarily with the removal of diseased dental pulp and its replacement with filling

Guinea-bissau, Relief

2004-11-04T23:45:00.000-08:00

The coastal area is demarcated by a dense

Kidney Failure

2004-11-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

Acute kidney failure results in reduced output of urine, abnormally high levels of nitrogenous substances, potassium, sulfates, and phosphates in the blood, and abnormally low blood levels of sodium, calcium, and carbon dioxide (see uremia). Ordinarily

Pendleton, George (hunt)

2004-10-30T16:48:00.000-07:00

Admitted to the bar in 1847, Pendleton, a Democrat, practiced law in Cincinnati and in 1853 was elected to the state senate. As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1857–65), he opposed

Aesthetics, Relationship between form and content

2004-10-29T15:57:00.000-07:00

Two related paradoxes also emerge from the same basic conception of the aesthetic experience. The first was given extended consideration by Hegel, who argued, in his Vorlesungen über die Aesthetik (1832; “Lectures on Aesthetics”; Eng. trans., Philosophy of Fine Art), roughly as follows: Our sensuous appreciation of art concentrates upon the given “appearance”—the “form.” It is

T'ai-nan

2004-10-26T06:58:00.000-07:00

Hsien (county), southwestern Taiwan, with an area of 778 square miles (2,016 square km). It is bordered by Chia-i hsien (north), by Kao-hsiung hsien (southeast), and by T'ai-nan shih (municipality) and the Taiwan Strait (west). In the mid-17th century, what is now T'ai-nan hsien was part of the territory ruled by Cheng Ch'eng-kung (Koxinga), who established Chinese control over Taiwan and had his capital

B-film

2004-10-24T21:19:00.000-07:00

Also called B-movie, or B-picture, cheaply produced, formulaic film initially intended to serve as the second feature on a double bill. During the 1930s and '40s, a period often called the Golden Age of Hollywood, B-films were usually paired with bigger-budget, more prestigious A-pictures; but two B-films were sometimes used for midweek or Saturday matinee showings. The characteristics of B-films included low

Bahr Al-ahmar, Al-

2004-10-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

Muhafazah (governorate) of Egypt, comprising much of the Eastern Desert (also called Arabian Desert) east of the Nile River Valley to the Red Sea; its name means “red sea.” It extends from approximately 29° N latitude southward to the frontier of The Sudan. On the west it is bounded from north to south by the governorates of the Nile River Valley of Upper Egypt. Its total area is 78,643 square

Sennacherib

2004-10-20T02:27:00.000-07:00

Sennacherib's most enduring work was the rebuilding of Nineveh, his official residence as crown prince. On his accession he made it his capital, building a splendid new palace, Shanina-la-ishu (“Nonesuch”). Using prisoners of war for labour, he extended and beautified the city, laying out streets, restoring and extending public buildings, and erecting a great inner wall,

Perciform, Use as food

2004-10-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

Since early times, the rivers and oceans have provided man with food; fishing was one of man's earliest means for securing food. Archaeological findings among shell mounds of Scotland indicate that the sea bream (family Sparidae) formed part of the diet of early man. The Nile perches (family Latidae) have been found as mummies in ancient tombs in Egypt. The goatfishes

Zanuck, Darryl F.

2004-10-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

Abandoned by his parents at age 13, Zanuck joined the U.S. Army and fought in Belgium during World War I. He worked as a steelworker, garment factory foreman, and a professional boxer while pursuing his career as a

Naracoorte

2004-10-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

Town and rail junction, southeastern South Australia. It lies 190 miles (310 km) southeast of Adelaide, near the Victoria border. Founded as Kincraig in 1845, it took its present name in 1869 from an Aboriginal word meaning “large waterhole.” During the 1850s Naracoorte was an important stopping place along the route to the Victorian goldfields. Created a municipality in 1924, it now serves as a

Beaker Folk

2004-10-10T20:48:00.000-07:00

Late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age people living about 6,000 years ago in the temperate zones of Europe; they received their name from their distinctive bell-shaped beakers, decorated in horizontal zones by finely toothed stamps. (Their culture is often called the Bell-Beaker culture.) The graves of the Beaker folk were usually modest single units, though in much of western

Vieira, António

2004-10-07T19:48:00.000-07:00

Vieira went to Brazil with his parents as a child of six. Educated at the

Insurance, Major types of surety bonds

2004-10-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

There are various classes of surety bonds. Contract construction bonds are written to guarantee the performance of contractors on building projects. Bonds are particularly important in this field because of the general practice of awarding commercial building contracts to the lowest bidder, who may promise more than can actually be performed. The surety who

Balkhash, Lake

2004-10-02T03:25:00.000-07:00

Kazak Balqash lake, situated in east-central Kazakstan. The lake lies in the vast Balqash-Alaköl basin at 1,122 feet (342 m) above sea level and is situated 600 miles (966 km) east of the Aral Sea. It is 376 miles (605 km) long from west to east. Its area varies within significant limits, depending on the water balance. In years in which there is an abundance of water (as at the beginning of the 20th century and in the decade

Social Insurance

2004-10-01T20:27:00.000-07:00

The first compulsory social insurance programs on

Padua, University Of

2004-09-28T13:24:00.000-07:00

Italian Università Degli Studi Di Padova, autonomous coeducational state institution of higher learning in Padua, Italy. The university was founded in 1222 by a secession of about a thousand students from the University of Bologna, reinforced by additional migrations from Bologna in 1306 and 1322. Like Bologna, it was a student-controlled university, with students electing the professors and fixing their salaries.

Tino Di Camaino

2004-09-27T14:46:00.000-07:00

Tino was a follower, and possibly a pupil, of Giovanni Pisano. In 1315 he became capomaestro of the Cathedral of Pisa and was commissioned to make a tomb for the Holy Roman emperor Henry VII. He succeeded his father as the capomaestro of the Siena cathedral in 1320 and designed

Extradition

2004-09-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

According

Wayne, Anthony

2004-09-22T00:05:00.000-07:00

The owner of a tannery and extensive property in Pennsylvania, Wayne was commissioned a colonel in the Continental Army in January 1776. That spring his regiment was sent

Xerxes I

2004-09-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

Old Persian Khshayarsha , byname Xerxes The Great Persian king (486–465 BC), the son and successor of Darius I. He is best known for his massive invasion of Greece from across the Hellespont (480 BC), a campaign marked by the battles of Thermopylae, Salamis, and Plataea. His ultimate defeat spelled the beginning of the decline of the Achaemenid Empire.

Beyers, C.f.

2004-09-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

A graduate of Victoria College (now Stellenbosch University), Beyers migrated to the Transvaal, where he was naturalized and practiced as a lawyer. Joining the Boer forces in 1899, he rose

Wynn, Ed

2004-09-17T18:04:00.000-07:00

Wynn made his professional debut with the Thurber-Nasher Repertoire Company in Norwich, Conn., in 1902 and acquired the nickname of the Perfect Fool from a revue of the same name in

Jhelum

2004-09-14T01:42:00.000-07:00

Town, Punjab province, northeastern Pakistan. The town lies just west of the Jhelum River (there bridged by both road and rail) and is connected by rail and the Grand Trunk Road with Peshawar and Lahore. The old town, across the river, may have been Bucephala, founded by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Although once a salt-trade centre, Jhelum is now a major timber market.

Atef, Muhammad

2004-09-10T02:30:00.000-07:00

Egyptian-born Islamist militant (b. 1944?, Egypt—d. Nov. 14/15, 2001, near Kabul, Afg.), was believed to have been a close associate of Osama bin Laden (in early 2001 his daughter married Bin Laden's son) and chief military strategist for the Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda. He reportedly trained as a police officer before joining the radical Egyptian Islamic Jihad, members of which assassinated

Chu Yü-chien

2004-09-08T02:06:00.000-07:00

A Ming prince, Chu was a direct descendant of the first Ming dynasty emperor, Hung-wu (reigned 1368–98). Upon the fall of the Ming capital, Peking,

Swallowtail Butterfly

2004-09-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

Any member of the insect subfamily Papilioninae of the cosmopolitan family Papilionidae (order Lepidoptera). The swallowtail butterflies (Papilio), found worldwide except in the Arctic, are named for the characteristic taillike extensions of the hindwings, although many species are tailless. Colour patterns vary; many species have yellow,

Arabian Sea

2004-09-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

Northwestern part of the Indian Ocean, covering a total area of about 1,491,000 square miles (3,862,000 square kilometres) and forming part of the principal sea route between Europe and India. It is bounded to the west by the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, to the north by Iran and Pakistan, to the east by India, and to the south by the remainder of the Indian Ocean. To the north the Gulf

Degas, (hilaire-germain-)edgar

2004-09-02T15:49:00.000-07:00

Degas came of the powerful upper bourgeoisie, his family having banking

Physical Medicine And Rehabilitation

2004-09-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

Also called Physiatry, Physical Therapy, or Rehabilitation Medicine, medical specialty concerned with the treatment of chronic disabilities and with the restoration of normal functioning to the disabled through physical modes of treatment, such as exercise. This specialized medical service is generally aimed at rehabilitating persons disabled by pain or ailments affecting the motor functions of the body. Physical medicine

Moncton

2004-08-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

The site, which was originally occupied by a Micmac Indian village, was settled by French Acadians after 1698. Subsequently, Pennsylvania Germans

Agrippa Von Nettesheim, Heinrich Cornelius

2004-08-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

Court secretary to Charles V, physician to Louise of Savoy, exasperating theologian within the Catholic Church, military entrepreneur in Spain and Italy, acknowledged expert on occultism, and philosopher. His tempestuous career also included teaching at Dôle and Pavia universities, appointment as orator and public advocate at Metz

Dab

2004-08-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

Other species

Ribas, óscar

2004-08-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

The son of a Portuguese father and an Angolan mother, Ribas gradually went blind during his early 20s but remained an indefatigable researcher and writer. He began his literary career as a writer of romantic tales. The publication of Uanga-feiti

Jackson

2004-08-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

City, capital of Mississippi, U.S. It lies along the Pearl River, in the west-central part of the state, about 180 miles (290 km) north of New Orleans, Louisiana. Jackson is also the coseat (with nearby Raymond) of Hinds county. Settled (1792) by Louis LeFleur, a French-Canadian trader, and known as LeFleur's Bluff, it remained a trading post until the Treaty of Doak's Stand (October 18, 1820) opened the territory