DearFinger

organic cotton goods

2006-10-30T11:30:00.000-08:00

Liv organic cotton goods are soft luxurious nad affordable and they have a huge range of organic clothing.

Arguello, Alexis

2005-04-05T23:20:00.000-07:00

Arguello, who became a professional fighter in 1968, fought only in his homeland until 1974, when he went to Panama to seek the World Boxing Association's featherweight title. Arguello lost this match in a 15-round decision to Ernesto

V-1 Missile

2005-04-02T05:41:00.000-08:00

More than 8,000 V-1s were launched against London from June 13, 1944, to March 29, 1945, with about 2,400 hitting the target area. A smaller number were fired against Belgium. The rockets were launched from the Pas-de-Calais area on the northern coast of France and subsequently from other sites in German-occupied

Kiraly, Karch

2005-04-01T22:07:00.000-08:00

When Kiraly was four years old, he moved with his family to Santa Barbara, California. His father, Laszlo Kiraly, had played on the Hungarian national

Basanite

2005-03-29T23:12:00.000-08:00

In basanites and tephrites, the plagioclase occurs as large, single crystals (phenocrysts). The feldspathoid (nepheline)

Sports-car Racing

2005-03-28T20:02:00.000-08:00

Form of motor racing involving cars built to combine aspects of racing and touring cars. Although there are many conflicting definitions of sports cars, it is usually conceded that in normal production form they do not resemble Grand Prix (Formula One) racing machines. Whereas the latter is a single-seat design carrying spartan cockpit furnishings and utterly

Mclean, Jackie

2005-03-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

From a musical family, McLean became known as a fine altoist in his teens and first recorded in 1951, with Miles Davis, playing “Dig” (also called “Donna”), a McLean theme that became a jazz standard. McLean played in Charles Mingus' and Art Blakey's groups, then

Sinkiang, Uygur Autonomous Region Of, Government

2005-03-23T13:52:00.000-08:00

The administrative structure of Sinkiang reflects the policies of recognition of ethnic minorities and self-administration, in which local leaders are appointed to governmental positions. The Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang is divided on the subprovincial level into three types of administrative units. There are three municipalities (shih) under direct

Ocean, Structure and composition

2005-03-21T18:32:00.000-08:00

The oceanic crust differs from the continental crust in several ways: it is thinner, denser, younger, of different chemical composition, and created in a different plate-tectonic setting. The oceanic crust is formed at spreading centres on the oceanic ridges, whereas continental crust is formed above the subduction zones. The oceanic crust is about six kilometres

Odonata, Wings and flight

2005-03-20T17:20:00.000-08:00

Odonates use their wings

Ueno

2005-03-19T20:49:00.001-08:00

City, Mie ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies in an intermontane basin at the head of the Kii Peninsula. The city developed around a castle built in 1611 and still retains some of its early character. Hakuho Park is on the site of the old castle, which was rebuilt in 1953. The Aizen Temple in Ueno is dedicated to the god of love. The industry of the city includes the traditional manufacture

Ueno

2005-03-19T20:49:00.000-08:00

Karajan, Herbert Von

2005-03-17T14:58:00.001-08:00

A child prodigy on the piano, Karajan studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He made his professional conducting debut in 1929 at Salzburg, and he was appointed to a conducting position in Ulm, Ger., later that year. He remained

Karajan, Herbert Von

2005-03-17T14:58:00.000-08:00

Foreign Service

2005-03-17T08:51:00.000-08:00

Also called Diplomatic Service, the field force of a foreign office, comprising diplomatic and consular personnel engaged in representing the home government's interests abroad and providing the necessary information on which foreign policy is based. There is a marked similarity in the foreign service organizations of most countries. Diplomatic and consular functions are generally performed

Alemán, Mateo

2005-03-16T03:12:00.000-08:00

Descended from Jews who had been forcibly converted to Catholicism, Alemán expressed many aspects of the experiences and feelings of the New Christians in 16th-century Spain. His most important literary work, Guzmán de

Switzerland, Dry areas

2005-03-14T01:57:00.000-08:00

In the mountains of the interior, distinct dry pockets occur, the best-known being the Rhône valley in the Valais, closely encircled by the highest (13,000 feet) mountain groups. Though precipitation is slight on the slopes near the cantonal capital of Sion (at 1,581 feet), extensive irrigation is possible since the valley is surrounded by large snowfields and by glaciers that extend

Akutagawa Ryunosuke

2005-03-14T00:56:00.001-08:00

As a boy Akutagawa was sickly and hypersensitive, but he excelled at school and was a voracious reader. He began his literary career while attending Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo), where he studied English literature from

Akutagawa Ryunosuke

2005-03-14T00:56:00.000-08:00

Villon, François

2005-03-13T13:19:00.001-08:00

The criminal history of Villon's life can all too easily obscure the scholar, trained in the rigorous intellectual disciplines of the medieval schools. While it is true that his poetry makes a direct unsentimental appeal to our emotions, it is also true that it displays a remarkable control of rhyme and reveals a disciplined composition that suggests a deep concern

Villon, François

2005-03-13T13:19:00.000-08:00

Ghazipur

2005-03-12T13:13:00.000-08:00

Town, administrative headquarters of Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh state, northern India, northeast of Varanasi (Benares), on the Ganges River. Its ancient name of Gadhipur was changed to Ghazipur in about 1330, reputedly in honour of Ghazi Malik, a Muslim ruler. The town was a strategically important river port under the British, whose former cantonment now contains a college, a

Forbidden Lines

2005-03-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

In astronomical spectroscopy, bright emission lines in the spectra of certain nebulae (H II regions), not observed in the laboratory spectra of the same gases, because on Earth the gases cannot be rarefied sufficiently. The term forbidden is misleading; a more accurate description would be “highly improbable.” The emissions result from electrons in long-lived orbits

Biblical Literature, Old Testament history

2005-03-10T04:12:00.001-08:00

Two current histories of Israel exhibit the full range of historiographical problems and methods relating to the subject: John Bright, A History of Israel (1959); and Martin Noth, Geschichte Israels, 3rd ed. (1956; Eng. trans., The History of Israel, 1958). They differ mainly in where they begin; Bright begins with Abraham, Noth with the federation of tribes that calls itself Israel in the land of Canaan. They disagree about the demonstrability of such a community in the pre-Canaanite times because of their respective assessment of the character of the Pentateuch. Bright assumes that it was intended as a history concerned to record the early past, while Noth assumes that its thematic traditions were intended to define and celebrate the identity of the later Israel and hence do not constitute a usable historical resource about its earliest beginnings. This whole methodological problem in Israelite historiography is lucidly discussed and illustrated in a little book by John Bright—Early Israel in Recent History Writing: A Study in Method (1956). For the use of archaeology, geography, and history of religion in the study of the history of Israel, see George Ernest Wright. Biblical Archaeology, rev. ed. (1962); Luc H. Grollenberg, Atlas van de Bijbel, 3rd ed. (1954; Eng. trans., Atlas of the Bible, 1956); Yehezkel Kaufmann, The Religion of Israel, from Its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile (1960); and Helmer Ringgren, Israelitische Religion (1963; Eng. trans., 1966).

Biblical Literature, Old Testament history

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

Azov

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

Formerly Azak, or Tana, town, Rostov oblast (province), southwestern Russia. It lies on the left bank of the Don River, 4 miles (7 km) east of the Sea of Azov. The Greek colony of Tanais, the first known major city in the region, was founded there in the 6th century BC. It changed hands and was renamed several times over the ensuing centuries. It became the Genoese colony of Tana (established 1316–22), which in 1471 was captured

Habsburg, House Of

2005-03-08T09:11:00.001-08:00

To allay British and Dutch misgivings, Leopold I and his elder son, the future emperor Joseph I, in 1703 renounced their own claims to Spain in favour of Joseph's brother Charles, so that he might found a second line of Spanish Habsburgs distinct from the imperial; but when Joseph I died, leaving only daughters, in 1711, and was succeeded by his brother as emperor (Charles VI) and as

Habsburg, House Of

2005-03-08T09:11:00.000-08:00

Habsburg, House Of

2005-03-07T14:22:00.000-08:00

Small, lightly built predatory or omnivorous dinosaur that brooded its eggs in a manner similar to birds. Found as fossils in deposits from the Late Cretaceous Period (99 million to 65 million years ago) of eastern Asia and North America, Oviraptor was about 1.8 metres (6 feet) long and walked on two long, well-developed hind limbs. The forelimbs were long

Field, Cyrus W(est)

2005-03-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

After an early career in the paper business, Field became interested in a proposal to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable. He was one of the founders

China, Struggle for power

2005-03-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

Shang Yang, a frustrated bureaucrat in the court of Wei, went westward seeking a chance to try out his ideas. In

Elizabeth Ii

2005-03-04T08:42:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth was the elder daughter of Albert, duke of York, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon. As the child of a younger son of King George V, the young Elizabeth had little prospect of acceding to the throne until her uncle, Edward VIII (afterward duke of Windsor), abdicated

Philip

2005-03-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

The youngest son of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, Philip was destined for the church. After being provost of the cathedral at Aachen, he was, in 1190 or 1191, elected bishop of Würzburg. Shortly after the death of his brother Frederick

Black Lung

2005-03-02T08:24:00.000-08:00

Also called Black-lung Disease, or Coal-workers' Pneumoconiosis, respiratory disorder, a type of pneumoconiosis caused by repeated inhalation of coal dust over a period of years. The disease gets its name from a distinctive blue-black marbling of the lung caused by accumulation of the dust. Georgius Agricola, a German mineralogist, first described lung disease in coal miners in the 16th century, and it is now widely recognized. It

Onoe Shoroku Ii

2005-02-28T14:30:00.000-08:00

Yutaka Fujima made his debut at the age of five as Ushiwakamaru at the Teikoku Theatre in the kabuki drama Shusse Kagekiyo, about the 12th-century hero Taira no Kagekiyo. After starring in Neiboku

Furniture, Greece

2005-02-28T05:40:00.000-08:00

Principal furniture forms were couches, chairs (with and without arms), stools, tables, chests, and boxes. From extant examples, the depiction of furniture on vases and in relief carvings, and literary descriptions, much more is known about Greek furniture than about Egyptian. At Knossos, a built-in throne of stucco, much restored, is often considered to represent pre-Hellenic

Canada Goose

2005-02-26T15:24:00.000-08:00

(species Branta canadensis), a brown-backed, light-breasted goose with black head and neck and white cheeks that flash when the bird shakes its head before taking wing. It belongs to the family Anatidae (order Anseriformes). The subspecies vary greatly in size, from 1.3 kg (3 pounds) in the cackling goose (B. canadensis minima), to about 8 kg (20 pounds)

Anhwei

2005-02-24T03:47:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) An-hui, (Pinyin) Anhui, sheng (province) of China. It is one of the country's smallest provinces, covering an area of 54,000 square miles (139,900 square kilometres) and stretching for 400 miles (640 kilometres) from north to south. Landlocked, it is bounded by the provinces of Kiangsu to the northeast, Chekiang to the southeast, Kiangsi to the south, and Hupeh and Honan to the west. Its northern extremity barely touches

Chad, Lake

2005-02-24T00:27:00.000-08:00

French Lac Tchad, freshwater lake located in the Sahelian zone of west-central Africa at the conjunction of Chad, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger. It is situated in an interior basin formerly occupied by a much larger ancient sea that is sometimes called Mega-Chad. Lake Chad ranks as the fourth largest lake in Africa, though its surface area varies greatly. When the surface of the lake is

Tonkin

2005-02-22T18:45:00.000-08:00

Northern Vietnam

Kyoga Lake

2005-02-21T13:19:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kioga Lake, lake in central Uganda, East Africa, north of Lake Victoria, formed by the Victoria Nile in its middle course. The many-armed lake is shallow, with swampy, papyrus-reeded shores; masses of papyrus are broken loose by strong winds and sometimes have completely blocked the river. Navigation for shallow-draft vessels is possible between Namasagali and Masindi Port. The

Arabian Sea

2005-02-20T18:47:00.000-08:00

Most of the Arabian Sea has depths that exceed 9,800 feet, and there are no islands in the middle. Deep water reaches close to the bordering lands except in the northeast, off Pakistan and India. To the southeast the Lakshadweep atolls form part of the submarine Maldive Ridge, which extends farther south into the Indian Ocean where it rises above the surface to form the atolls

Hanafiyah

2005-02-20T07:55:00.000-08:00

Also called Madhhab Hanifah , English Hanafites in Islam, one of the four Sunni schools of religious law, incorporating the legal opinions of the ancient Iraqi schools of al-Kufah and Basra. Hanafi legal thought (madhhab) developed from the teachings of the theologian Imam Abu Hanifah (c. 700–767) by such disciples as Abu Yusuf (d. 798) and Muhammad ash-Shaybani (749/750–805) and became the official system of Islamic legal interpretation of the 'Abbasids, Seljuqs

Avionics

2005-02-18T16:48:00.000-08:00

Control apparatus includes the attitude gyro and

Grusi

2005-02-18T15:01:00.000-08:00

Ethnolinguistic group among the inhabitants of northern Ghana and adjacent areas of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) and Togo. The linguistic groups and subgroups of the area are difficult to classify with certitude, but the Grusi languages make up a subbranch of the Gur (Voltaic) branch of the Niger-Congo language family. The difficulty in establishing distinct

Empiricism

2005-02-17T16:39:00.000-08:00

Classic texts for Empiricism include John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 2 vol. (1690); David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, book 1, pt. 1 (1739); Immanuel Kant, Kritik der reinen Vernunft (1781; Eng. trans., Critique of Pure Reason, 1929); and John Stuart Mill, A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, books 1 and 2 (1843). W.H. Walsh, Reason and Experience (1947); and H.H. Price, Thinking and Experience, 2nd ed. (1969), are good general surveys. For a comprehensive selection of standard works from Locke to J.S. Mill, see A.J. Ayer and R. Winch (eds.), The British Empirical Philosophers (1952). Modern works in the Empiricist tradition include Bertrand Russell, Human Knowledge (1948); W.T. Stace, Theory of Knowledge and Existence (1932); Rudolf Carnap, Der logische Aufbau der Welt (1928; Eng. trans., The Logical Structure of the World, 1967); and A.J. Ayer, Language, Truth and Logic, 2nd ed. (1946), a short exposition of the extreme Empiricist position. Harold Morick (ed.), Challenges to Empiricism (1980), is a collection of essays.

Madison, James

2005-02-16T20:27:00.000-08:00

Fourth president of the United States (1809–17) and one of the founding fathers of his country. At the Constitutional Convention (1787) he influenced the planning and ratification of the U.S. Constitution and collaborated with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in the publication of The Federalist Papers. As a member of the new House of Representatives, he sponsored the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, commonly called the Bill of Rights. He was secretary of state under President Thomas Jefferson when the Louisiana Territory was purchased from France. The War of 1812 was fought during his presidency. (For a discussion of the history and nature of the presidency, see presidency of the United States of America. See also Cabinet of President James Madison.)

Albalag, Isaac

2005-02-15T23:55:00.000-08:00

Jewish philosopher who rendered a Hebrew translation of parts of the Maqasid al-falasifah (“Aims of the Philosophers”), a review of doctrines of earlier thinkers by the Arabic philosopher al-Ghazali, to which Albalag added his own views and comments. In defending philosophy against the accusation that it undermined religion,

Tebaldi, Renata

2005-02-13T05:19:00.000-08:00

Tebaldi received her early musical training from her mother, a singer, and studied at the Parma Conservatory. At age 18 she sang for Carmen Melis, of the Arrigo Boito Conservatory in Pesaro, who accepted her as a student. She made her debut in Rovigo in 1944 as Elena

Reformed Church Of Hungary

2005-02-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

Except for minor reverses, the Protestants

Holstein Interglacial Stage

2005-02-12T05:30:00.000-08:00

Major division of Pleistocene deposits and time in Europe (the Pleistocene Epoch began about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The Holstein Interglacial followed the Elsterian Glacial Stage and preceded the Saale Glacial Stage. The Holstein Interglacial is correlated with the Hoxne Interglacial Stage of Britain and the Mindel-Riss Interglacial Stage of

Qasr 'amrah

2005-02-11T14:14:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Qasr Al-'amrah, palace in Jordan, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Amman. Built about AD 712–715, it served as both a hunting lodge and a fortress, and it is one of the best-preserved monuments of Islamic architecture from the Umayyad period. Its main chamber is roofed with three parallel vaults that rest on broad arches. The vaults are covered with frescoes of people and animals in scenes from daily life; a

'id Al-adha

2005-02-10T20:36:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Eid al-Adha , also called 'Id al-Qurban or al-'Id al-Kabir (Major Festival) , Turkish Kurban Bayram the second of two great Muslim festivals, the other being 'Id al-Fitr. 'Id al-Adha marks the culmination of the hajj (pilgrimage) rites at Mina, Saudi Arabia, near Mecca, but is celebrated by Muslims throughout the world. As with 'Id al-Fitr, it is distinguished by the performance of communal prayer (salat) at daybreak on its first day. It begins on the 10th of Dhu'l-Hijja, the last month of the Islamic

Malherbe, Daniel François

2005-02-08T08:57:00.000-08:00

South African novelist, poet, and dramatist whose work helped establish Afrikaans as the cultural language of South Africa. He published many volumes of poetry and drama but is known primarily as a novelist for such works as Vergeet nil (1913; “Don't Forget”), an extremely popular novel about the South African

Gull

2005-02-07T13:43:00.000-08:00

Adult gulls are mainly gray or white, with variable head markings. In breeding season the

Libya, Soils

2005-02-07T04:41:00.000-08:00

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

West Des Moines

2005-02-06T08:25:00.000-08:00

City and suburb of Des Moines (which lies immediately to the east), Polk county, central Iowa, U.S. The area was settled in the 1840s and became an important rail junction in the 1850s called Valley Junction. James Cunningham Jordan, the town's first settler, operated a station on the Underground Railroad assisting fugitive slaves; his Victorian-style house (c. 1850) is preserved and is

Beastie Boys, The

2005-02-05T02:01:00.000-08:00

American hip-hop and rock group, the first white rap performers to gain a substantial following; as such, they were largely responsible for the growth of rap's mainstream audience. The principal members were MCA (byname of Adam Yauch; b. August 5, 1964, New York, New York, U.S.), Mike D (byname of Mike Diamond; b. November 20, 1966, New York), and King AdRock (byname of Adam Horovitz; b. October 31, 1966, New

Berber Languages

2005-02-04T15:49:00.000-08:00

Also called Berbero-Libyan languages, group of languages that make up one of the constituent branches of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) language family; the other branches are Egyptian, Semitic, Cushitic, and Chadic. The Berber languages are spoken in scattered areas throughout northern Africa from Egypt westward to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Niger River northward to the Mediterranean

Agulhas Current

2005-02-03T13:02:00.000-08:00

Surface oceanic current that is part of the westward-flowing South Equatorial Current, which turns southward along the east coast of Africa and then eastward to join the flow from Africa to Australia. A small part of Agulhas water may, however, continue westward around the Cape of Good Hope into the Atlantic. The Mozambique Current, between Madagascar and Africa,

Nepenthes

2005-02-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

Nepenthes species are perennial,

Waterford Glass

2005-02-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

Heavy cut glassware produced in Waterford, Ire., from 1729. Waterford glass, particularly the early variety, is characterized by thick walls, deeply incised geometric cutting, and brilliant polish. The smoky, bluish gray colour of early Waterford glass was considered a drawback, and a clear crystal was produced after 1830. It is the darkened glass, however, that is most prized

Cusp

2005-01-31T05:34:00.000-08:00

In architecture, the intersections of lobed or scalloped forms, particularly in arches (cusped arches) and in tracery. Thus the three lobes of a trefoil (cloverleaf form) are separated by three cusps. Cusped forms appear commonly in early Islamic work, as in the Mosque of Ahmad ibn Tulun at Cairo (c. 879), and were especially common in the Moorish architecture of North Africa and

Amorphous Solid, Transparent glasses

2005-01-30T09:03:00.000-08:00

The terms glass and window glass are often used interchangeably in everyday language, so familiar is this ancient architectural application of amorphous solids. Not only are oxide glasses, such as those characterized in the Table, excellent for letting light in, they are also good for keeping cold out, because (as mentioned above) they are efficient thermal

Kaga

2005-01-29T23:37:00.000-08:00

The former city of Daishoji is now the central part of Kaga. An old temple town, it grew around a castle built by the Maeda family in the early Tokugawa

Bing, Sir Rudolf Franz Joseph

2005-01-27T05:43:00.000-08:00

British operatic impresario (b. Jan. 9, 1902, Vienna, Austria--d. Sept. 2, 1997, New York, N.Y.), directed the Metropolitan Opera through one of its most turbulent periods (1950-72). The son of a Viennese industrialist, Bing grew up in a musical household. Although he studied voice in his teens, he soon started working for a bookstore that expanded its business into concert and opera management. He moved

Priest River

2005-01-27T01:43:00.000-08:00

City, Bonner county, northwestern Idaho, U.S., at the junction of the Priest and Pend Oreille rivers. It is a gateway to a spectacular aquatic and forested mountain domain focusing on Priest Lake and Upper Priest Lake (north) and the Kaniksu and Coeur d'Alene national forests in the Idaho panhandle. Originally the territory of Kalispel Indians, the area was explored in

Augereau, Pierre-françois-charles, Duc De Castiglione

2005-01-26T10:27:00.000-08:00

The son of a poor Parisian servant, Augereau turned to a military career at the age of 17, served in several foreign armies, and returned to France in 1792. He quickly advanced in rank and by 1793 was general of a division stationed

Bhagirathi River

2005-01-24T13:29:00.000-08:00

River in West Bengal state, northeastern India, forming the western boundary of the Ganges (Ganga) Delta. A distributary of the Ganges, it leaves that river just northeast of Jangipur, flows south, and joins the Jalangi at Nabadwip to form the Hooghly River after a total course of 120 miles (190 km). Until the 16th century, when the Ganges shifted eastward to the Padma, the Bhagirathi formed

Price-mars, Jean

2005-01-24T01:51:00.000-08:00

Among his ethnological writings is Ainsi parla l'oncle (1928; new ed., 1954; “Thus Spoke the Uncle”), a collection of essays

Xerox Corporation

2005-01-23T21:01:00.000-08:00

The company was founded in 1906 as Haloid Company, changed its name to Haloid Xerox Company in 1958, and to Xerox Corporation in 1961. In 1960 Xerox first marketed the 914 xerographic copier; the process, which made photographic copies onto plain, uncoated paper, had been known

Fischer, Ernst Otto

2005-01-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Fischer served in the German army before and during World War II. In 1952 he received a doctorate in natural

China, The role of the government

2005-01-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

China is a socialist country, and the government plays a predominant role in the economy. In the industrial sector, for example, the state owns outright firms that produce more than 60 percent of the gross value of industrial output, and all but a small portion of the remainder is owned collectively. In the urban sector the government has set the prices for key commodities,

Uusimaa

2005-01-19T10:13:00.000-08:00

In full Uudenmaan Lääni , Swedish Nylands Län lääni (province), southern Finland, on the Gulf of Finland. Helsinki, the national capital and also the provincial administrative capital, is located midway along the Uusimaa coast. Other important towns include Porvoo (Borgå), Kerava, Lovisa (Loviisa), Hyvinkää, Hangö (Hanko), and Ekenäs (Tammisaari). In some areas the population is mainly Swedish-speaking. The area is low

Dendrobium

2005-01-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

Genus of as many as 1,500 species of orchids that grow on other plants and are native to tropical and subtropical Asia, many Pacific islands, and Australia. Some species have small, pale flowers; others have large, showy ones. The flowers may be borne singly, in groups, or on arching spikes. The lateral sepals of all Dendrobium flowers are joined at the base, forming

Biblical Literature, The content of Acts

2005-01-17T02:34:00.000-08:00

The outline of Acts can be roughly divided into two parts: the mission under Peter, centred in Jerusalem (chapters 1–12); and the missions to the Gentiles all the way to Rome (cf. chapter 1, verse 8), under the leadership of Paul (chapters 13–28). The earlier sections deal with the Jerusalem church under Peter and the gradual spread of the gospel beyond Jewish limits (in chapters 10–11, for example,

Armilus

2005-01-16T03:26:00.000-08:00

In Jewish legends, an enemy who will conquer Jerusalem and persecute Jews until his final defeat at the hands of God or the true Messiah. His inevitable destruction symbolizes the ultimate victory of good over evil in the messianic era. Some sources depict Armilus as partially deaf and partially maimed, the frightful offspring of Satan or evil creatures. Parallel

Sackville-west, V(ictoria Mary)

2005-01-14T00:04:00.000-08:00

She was the daughter of the 3rd Baron Sackville and a granddaughter of Pepita, a Spanish dancer, whose story she told in Pepita (1937). In 1913 she married Harold Nicolson, a diplomat

Fichtel Hills

2005-01-13T15:32:00.000-08:00

German Fichtelgebirge , Czech Smrciny mountains in northeastern Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany. They lie at the Czech border between the Franconian Forest in the northwest, the Ore Mountains (in German, Erzgebirge; in Czech, Krušné Hory) in the northeast, and the Upper Palatinate Forest (a section of the Bohemian Forest) in the south. The rectangular plateau of the Fichtel Hills forms a watershed

Account Receivable

2005-01-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

Any amount owed to a business by a customer as a result of a purchase of goods or services from it on a credit basis. The company making the sale does not receive an acceptance or promissory note (i.e., written orders or promises to pay) from the purchaser but merely enters the amount due as a current asset in its books. Accounts receivable constitute a major portion of the

Ibáñez Del Campo, Carlos

2005-01-12T13:17:00.000-08:00

After a military career of 30 years, Ibáñez participated in a revolt in September 1924 against the government of Arturo Alessandri Palma. From 1925 to 1927 Ibáñez in effect controlled Chile while

Omalius D'halloy, Jean-baptiste-julien D'

2005-01-11T19:18:00.000-08:00

D'Omalius was educated first in Liège and afterward in Paris. While a youth he became interested in geology (over the protests of his parents) and, having an independent income, was able to devote his energies to geologic researches. As early as 1808 he communicated

Cambium

2005-01-09T04:02:00.000-08:00

Plural Cambiums, or Cambia, in plants, layer of actively dividing cells between xylem (wood) and phloem (bast) tissues that is responsible for the secondary growth of stems and roots (secondary growth occurs after the first season and results in increase in thickness). Theoretically, the cambium is a single layer of cells, called initial cells; practically, it is difficult to distinguish the initials

Guiney, Louise Imogen

2005-01-09T03:45:00.000-08:00

Guiney was educated at Elmhurst, a convent school in Providence, Rhode Island. To help support her family she began contributing to various newspapers and magazines. Her poems, collected in

Madison

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

City, seat of Lake county, southeastern South Dakota, U.S. It began in 1873 as a trading post for gold-seeking pioneers and was named Madison because its interlake setting resembled that of Madison, Wis. It was relocated 4 miles (6 km) west to its present site when it merged with Herman Village. Dakota State University was founded there in 1881 as General Beadle State Teachers College.

Torah

2005-01-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

In Judaism, in the broadest sense the substance of divine revelation to Israel, the Jewish people: God's revealed teaching or guidance for mankind. The meaning of “Torah” is often restricted to signify the first five books of the Old Testament, also called the Law or the Pentateuch. These are the books traditionally ascribed to Moses, the recipient of the original revelation

North Africa, History Of, Morocco under sharifian dynasties

2005-01-06T02:42:00.000-08:00

As a reaction to the Portuguese presence in Agadir, the tribes in southern Morocco were organized by the sharifian Sa'di family—with the active support of Sufi leaders—into a militant religious movement directed against both the Portuguese presence and Morocco's own rulers, the Wattasids. The latter was a branch of the Marinid dynasty that had usurped power in Fez in 1472 and

Sakha

2005-01-05T14:45:00.000-08:00

Also called Yakutia or Yakut-Sakha republic in far northeastern Russia, in northeastern Siberia. The republic occupies the basins of the great rivers flowing to the Arctic Ocean—the Lena, Yana, Indigirka, and Kolyma—and includes the New Siberian Islands between the Laptev and East Siberian seas. Sakha was created an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union in 1922; it is now the second largest republic in

Smith, Cyril Stanley

2005-01-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

Obtaining his education in England and the United States, Smith became a research associate (1926–27) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nepal, Climate

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

Nepal's climate, influenced by elevation as well as by its location in a subtropical latitude, ranges from subtropical monsoon conditions in the Tarai, through a warm temperate climate between 4,000 and 7,000 feet in the mid-mountain region, to cool temperate conditions in the higher parts of mountains between 7,000 and 11,000 feet, to an Alpine climate at altitudes between 14,000 and 16,000 feet along

China, The history of the Chou (1111255 BC)

2005-01-01T23:13:00.000-08:00

The origin of the Chou royal house is lost in the mists of time. Although the traditional historical system of the Chinese contains a Chou genealogy, no dates can be assigned to the ancestors. The first ancestor was Hou Chi, literally translated as “Lord of Millet.” He appears to have been a cultural hero and agricultural deity rather than a tribal chief. The earliest plausible

San Francesco

2004-12-31T15:52:00.000-08:00

Franciscan monastery and church in Assisi, Italy, begun after the canonization in 1228 of St. Francis of Assisi and completed in 1253. The crypt was added in 1818, when the tomb of St. Francis was opened. The lower church is where the saint is buried, and it has frescoes by Giunta Pisano, Cimabue, Giotto, Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini, and Andrea da Bologna. The upper church has frescoes

Viscaceae

2004-12-31T15:01:00.000-08:00

Members of the Viscaceae are primarily tropical in distribution and are parasites on the branches of many tree species.

Bradbury, Ray

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

Bradbury published his first story in 1940 and was soon contributing widely to magazines. His first book of short stories, Dark Carnival (1947), was followed by The Martian

Argentina, Alfonsín's administration

2004-12-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

Soon after his inauguration in December 1983, Alfonsín reversed legislation passed under Bignone by announcing plans to prosecute several members of the defunct military government, including former presidents Videla, Viola, and Galtieri. He also repealed a law granting amnesty to those accused of crimes and human rights violations during the Dirty War, and hundreds

Gruiform

2004-12-27T07:25:00.000-08:00

(order Gruiformes), any member of a rather loose assemblage of 12 families of birds that are generally agreed to be related but that differ widely in many aspects. They are an ancient group with a rich fossil history, but many are now restricted in range and few in number. Members of the order occur on every continent, but the only family with worldwide distribution is the

Nicobar Islands

2004-12-27T01:19:00.000-08:00

Island group, Andaman and Nicobar Islands union territory, India. The islands lie in the Bay of Bengal and have a land area of 711 square miles (1,841 square km). With the nearby Andaman Islands, they constitute a union territory of India (see Andaman and Nicobar Islands). The Nicobar group includes the islands of Car Nicobar (north), Camorta (Kamorta) and Nancowry (central group), and

Niche

2004-12-26T09:16:00.000-08:00

In ecology, the smallest unit of a habitat that is occupied by an organism. Habitat niche refers to the physical space occupied by the organism; ecological niche refers to the role it plays in the community of organisms found in the habitat. The activities of an organism and its relationships to other organisms are determined by its particular structure, physiology,

Restif, Nicolas-edme

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

After serving his apprenticeship as a printer in Auxerre, Restif went to Paris, where he eventually set the type for some of his own works—books long prized by collectors for their rarity, quaint typography,

France, History Of, The church

2004-12-23T14:23:00.000-08:00

The episcopate and the diocese were practically the only institutions to survive the collapse of Roman imperial power largely unchanged. During the German conquest many bishops played important roles in defending the population. During the Frankish era bishops and abbots occupied a socially prominent position because of both their great prestige among