ReadyCoat

Ganesha

2005-04-04T16:13:00.000-07:00

Ganesha, considered the remover of obstacles, is the first god invoked at the beginning of worship or of a new enterprise, and he is often positioned near thresholds and gateways. He is a patron of letters and learning, and he is the

New Forest

2005-04-03T05:13:00.000-07:00

District, administrative and historic county of Hampshire, England, comprising the New Forest and its urbanized coastal fringe flanking Southampton Water and The Solent, together with rural areas around Ringwood and Fordingbridge in the west of the county. The old harbour of Hythe and the modern oil terminal of Fawley on Southampton Water are economically linked

Arndt, Johann

2005-04-02T21:39:00.000-08:00

Arndt studied at Helmstadt, Wittenberg, Strasbourg, and Basel. In 1583 he became a pastor at Badeborn, but in 1590 he was deposed for refusing to remove pictures from his church and to discontinue the use of exorcism in Baptism. Both were

Rachmaninoff, Sergey

2005-04-02T20:13:00.000-08:00

Rachmaninoff's music, although written mostly in the 20th century, remains firmly entrenched in the 19th-century musical idiom. He was, in effect, the final expression of the tradition embodied by Tchaikovsky—a melodist of Romantic dimensions still writing in an era of explosive change and experimentation.

Iran, Ancient, Xerxes I

2005-03-31T11:33:00.000-08:00

Xerxes (reigned 486–465 BC), Darius's eldest son by Queen Atossa, was born after his father had come to the throne; he had been designated official heir perhaps as early as 498, and while crown prince he had ruled as the king's governor in Babylon. The new king quickly suppressed the revolt in Egypt in a single campaign in 484. Xerxes then broke with the policy followed by Cyrus and Darius of

Allosteric Control

2005-03-30T08:53:00.000-08:00

In enzymology, inhibition or activation of an enzyme by a small regulatory molecule that interacts at a site (allosteric site) other than the active site (at which catalytic activity occurs). The interaction changes the shape of the enzyme so as to affect the formation at the active site of the usual complex between the enzyme and its substrate (the compound upon which

Baikie, William Balfour

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

Educated in medicine at the University of Edinburgh, Baikie entered the Royal Navy as an assistant surgeon in 1848 and served on several ships as well as on land (1851–54). In 1854 he joined an expedition up the Niger River and, on the death

Montserrat

2005-03-29T03:56:00.000-08:00

The original Native American inhabitants of Montserrat began to arrive in the Lesser Antilles about 3000 BC. Carib Indians, who arrived later, are said to have named the island Alliouagana (“Land of the Prickly Bush”). However, Montserrat was uninhabited by the time Christopher Columbus sighted it in November 1493, during his second voyage to the Americas. Columbus named the island

Asian Development Bank

2005-03-26T23:34:00.000-08:00

(ADB), organization established under the auspices of ESCAP (the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) that entered into force in August 1966. Thirty “regional” countries of South, Southeast, and East Asia and the South Pacific and 14 “nonregional” countries of western Europe and North America constitute the membership. Each member appoints

Cologne, University Of

2005-03-26T00:07:00.000-08:00

The University of Cologne was abolished by the French in 1798 after they had occupied Cologne. The university was refounded in 1919 as an autonomous,

Trade Wind

2005-03-25T22:03:00.000-08:00

Very steady wind that blows westward and toward the equator from the subtropical high-pressure belts at latitudes near 30° N and 30° S toward the intertropical convergence zone. It is stronger and more consistent over the oceans than over land and produces fairly clear skies that make trade-wind islands popular tourist resorts. Its average speed is about 5 to 6 m per second

Dance, Western

2005-03-24T11:11:00.000-08:00

The peoples of the West—of Europe and of the countries founded through permanent European settlement elsewhere—have a history of dance characterized by great diversity and rapid change. Whereas most dancers of the East

Nicaea, Council Of

2005-03-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

(787), the seventh ecumenical council of the Christian church, meeting in Nicaea (now Iznik, Tur.). It attempted to resolve the Iconoclastic Controversy, initiated in 726 when Emperor Leo III issued a decree against the worship of icons. The council declared that icons deserved reverence and veneration but not adoration. Convoked by the patriarch Tarasius, the council was attended

Anthrax

2005-03-22T11:39:00.000-08:00

Also called splenic fever, malignant pustule , or woolsorters' disease acute, specific, infectious, febrile disease of animals, including humans, caused by Bacillus anthracis, an organism that under certain conditions forms highly resistant spores capable of persisting and retaining their virulence in contaminated soil or other material for many years. A disease chiefly of herbivores (grass eaters), the infection may be acquired

Grundschule

2005-03-21T14:45:00.000-08:00

Before the 1920s, upper-class German children attended the Vorschule, a three-year course of preparation for secondary school (which usually began at age 9). Working-class children generally terminated their education at age 14 upon completing Volksschule (primary school).

Aligarh

2005-03-20T07:08:00.000-08:00

Also called Koil or Kol city, west-central Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. It lies southeast of Delhi. The city itself is usually called Koil, or Kol; Aligarh is the name of a nearby fort. The city is an agricultural trade centre; the processing of agricultural products and manufacturing are also important. Aligarh Muslim University (1875) and its affiliated colleges are located there, as are a

Mathematics, History Of, Elliptic functions

2005-03-19T20:38:00.000-08:00

The theory of functions of a complex variable was also being decisively reformulated. At the start of the 19th century, complex numbers were discussed from a quasi-philosophical standpoint by several French writers, notably Jean Robert Argand. A consensus emerged that complex numbers should be thought of as pairs of real numbers, with suitable rules for their addition

Florensky, Pavel Alexandrovich

2005-03-19T01:32:00.000-08:00

In 1904 Florensky received a degree in philosophy and mathematics from Moscow University, and four years later he obtained his graduate degree from the Moscow Theological Academy, where he eventually taught. Ordained a

France, History Of, The people

2005-03-18T22:14:00.000-08:00

Gaul was predominantly a Celtic land (see below), but it also contained pre-Celtic Ligurians and Iberians in the south and southwest and more recent Germanic immigrants in the northeast. Neighbouring Celtic communities on the Danube and in northern Italy, however, were not included. The south, in addition, had been heavily influenced by the Greek colony of Massilia

Osaka-kobe Metropolitan Area, Climate

2005-03-17T13:09:00.000-08:00

The region has a temperate climate. The annual mean temperature is about 60° F (16° C), and the annual rainfall averages 54 inches (1,370 millimetres). The temperature in August is often 86° F (30° C) or more, with no breeze from the sea at night. The January mean is about 40° F (4° C), and snow falls several times in winter. The rainy seasons are in June–July and September–October. In September the region is usually

Rifleman

2005-03-17T06:29:00.000-08:00

A New Zealand wren of the family Xenicidae (q.v.).

Dowie, John Alexander

2005-03-17T05:22:00.000-08:00

Dowie moved with his family to Australia as a boy but returned to Edinburgh to study theology. He entered the Congregational ministry in 1870 as a pastor in Alma, Australia, and spent the next several years campaigning against the use of

John Frederick

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

The elder son of the elector John the Steadfast, John Frederick

Adams, Léonie

2005-03-15T16:37:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Barnard College (A.B., 1922), Adams became editor of The Measure, a literary publication, in 1924. She was persuaded to publish a volume of poetry, Those Not Elect, in 1925. While living in France from 1928 to

Cosgrave, William Thomas

2005-03-14T20:22:00.000-08:00

At an early age, Cosgrave was attracted to the Irish nationalist movement Sinn Féin. He became a member of the Dublin Corporation in 1909 and was subsequently reelected in the Sinn Féin interest. When Britain entered World War I, he joined the Irish Volunteers; but when this group split

Aramaic Alphabet

2005-03-14T00:11:00.000-08:00

The Aramaic language and script were used as a lingua franca over all of the Middle

Bach Long Vi

2005-03-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

Island of northern Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, halfway between the mouth of the Red River (Song Hong) near Nam Dinh and the Chinese island of Hainan. The island is a plateau that rises abruptly to 190 ft (58 m) above sea level and is fringed with precipitous cliffs. Fishing resources are abundant in the surrounding gulf of the South China Sea.

Reformation

2005-03-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

The world of the late medieval Catholic Church

O'neill, Eugene

2005-03-13T04:06:00.000-08:00

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

Animals, Master Of The

2005-03-12T02:47:00.000-08:00

Supernatural figure regarded as the protector of game in the traditions of early hunting peoples. The name was actually devised by Western scholars who have studied such hunting societies. In some traditions, the master of the animals is believed to be the ruler of the forest and guardian of all animals; in others, he is the ruler of only one species, usually a large

Foreman, George

2005-03-10T21:50:00.000-08:00

Foreman grew up in Houston, Texas, and learned to box in a U.S. Job Corps camp in Oregon. At the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, he won the gold medal in the heavyweight boxing competition.

Calabrian Stage

2005-03-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

All those rocks deposited worldwide during the Calabrian Age (1,600,000–10,000 years ago). The stage's name is derived from the region of Calabria in southern Italy, which has traditionally served as the type district for rocks of this age. The Calabrian Stage encompasses those rocks laid down during the Pleistocene Epoch. As defined in 1985 by the International Commission on Stratigraphy,

Ala Shan Desert

2005-03-10T08:24:00.000-08:00

Southernmost portion of the Gobi (desert), occupying about 400,000 square miles (1,000,000 square km) in north-central China. Covering portions of the western Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northern Kansu sheng (province), it is bounded by the Huang Ho (Yellow River) and Ho-lan Mountains on the east and southeast; by the Ch'i-lien Mountains on the south and southwest; by the northern

Duck

2005-03-10T02:12:00.000-08:00

Any of several genera of relatively small, short-necked, large-billed waterfowl that belong to the subfamily Anatinae, family Anatidae (q.v.), order Anseriformes. In true ducks, i.e., those classified in Anatinae, the legs are placed rearward, as in swans, resulting in a waddling gait. Most true ducks, including a few inaccurately called geese by reason of size and build, differ

Athanasius, Saint

2005-03-09T18:59:00.000-08:00

Athanasius' two-part work of apologetics, Against the Heathen and The Incarnation of the Word of God, completed about 335, was the first great classic of developed Greek Orthodox theology. In Athanasius' system, the Son of God, the eternal Word through whom God made the world, entered the world in human form to lead men back to the harmony from which they had fallen away. Athanasius

Topographical Poetry

2005-03-09T13:57:00.000-08:00

Verse genre characterized by the description of a particular landscape. A subgenre, the prospect poem, details the view from a height. The form was established by John Denham in 1642 with the publication of his poem Cooper's Hill. Topographical poems were at their peak of popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries, though there are examples from the early 19th century, including

Wu Li

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

Wu became a convert to Catholicism and in 1681 went to Macao Island (on the southeast coast of China), where, without family obligations after the deaths of his mother and wife and the marriage of his two daughters, he entered the

Bin Laden, Osama

2005-03-07T23:49:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Usamah ibn Ladin mastermind of numerous terrorist attacks against the United States and other Western powers, including the 1993 bombing of New York City's World Trade Center, the 2000 suicide bombing of the U.S. warship Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden, and the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C. (see September 11

Cone

2005-03-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

In neurology, light-sensitive neuron with a conical projection in the retina of the vertebrate eye, associated with colour vision and perception of fine detail. Shorter and far fewer than the eye's rods (light-sensitive cells), cones are less sensitive to low illumination levels and are mediators of photopic rather than scotopic (Greek skotos, “dark”) vision. Cones are

Daudet, Alphonse

2005-03-06T23:50:00.000-08:00

French short-story writer and novelist, now remembered chiefly as the author of sentimental tales of provincial life in the south of France.

Antarctic Peninsula

2005-03-06T07:04:00.000-08:00

Also called Palmer Peninsula, Graham Land , or Tierra de O'Higgins peninsula claimed by Britain as part of the British Antarctic Territory and also claimed by Chile and Argentina. It forms an 800-mile (1,300-kilometre) northward extension of Antarctica toward the southern tip of South America. The peninsula is ice-covered and mountainous, the highest point being Mount Jackson (13,750 feet [4,191 m]). Marguerite Bay indents the west coast, and Bransfield

Celestine V, Saint

2005-03-05T04:48:00.000-08:00

Pietro was a Benedictine in his youth but soon became a hermit and lived in the Abruzzi Mountains, near Sulmona. His rigorous asceticism attracted followers, and he became the head of a group

West Dunbartonshire

2005-03-05T04:02:00.000-08:00

Council area, west-central Scotland, along the north bank of the lower River Clyde, northwest of Glasgow. It extends north to the shore of Loch Lomond, Scotland's largest lake, and encompasses an area of lowlands surrounding the Kilpatrick Hills, which stand in the centre of the council area. West Dunbartonshire lies entirely within the historic county of Dunbartonshire

Sinkiang, Uighur Autonomous Region Of

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

Wade-Giles romanization Hsin-chiang Wei-wu-erh Tzu-chih-ch'ü , Pinyin Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu autonomous region occupying the northwestern corner of the People's Republic of China. The region is bordered by Mongolia to the northeast, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan to the northwest, Afghanistan and the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir to the southwest, the Tibet Autonomous Region to the southeast, and the Chinese provinces of Tsinghai and

Albumin

2005-03-04T05:17:00.000-08:00

The

Welch

2005-03-03T20:09:00.000-08:00

City, seat of McDowell county, southern West Virginia, U.S., at the confluence of Elkhorn Creek and Tug Fork. Settled in 1885, it was named for I.A. Welch, an early settler. The county seat was moved there from Perryville in 1891. There were no bridges or wagons in this extremely mountainous area until the 1880s, and the principal products at that time were furs and ginseng. The arrival of the

Arts, East Asian, Painting and pictorial arts

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

Practically nothing survives of Chou painting, although from literary evidence it seems that the art developed considerably, particularly during the period of the Warring States. Palaces and ancestral halls were decorated with wall paintings. Late Chou texts tell of a craftsman working for the Duke of Chou (Chou Kung) who covered the stock of a whip with minute

Allodium

2005-03-03T09:54:00.000-08:00

The anarchy that ensued in France after the decline of the Carolingian monarchy at the end of the 9th century allowed much land to be seized and held free, although a large part

Asceticism

2005-03-02T01:07:00.000-08:00

The origins of asceticism lie in man's attempts to achieve various ultimate goals or ideals: development of the “whole” person, human creativity, ideas, the “self,” or skills demanding technical proficiency. Athletic askesis (“training”), involving the ideal of bodily fitness and excellence, was developed to ensure the highest possible degree of physical fitness in an athlete.

Levine, James

2005-03-01T23:24:00.000-08:00

As a piano prodigy Levine made his debut in 1953 with the Cincinnati Orchestra. He studied piano with Rosina Lhévinne and conducting with Jean Morel at the Juilliard School in New York City. In 1965 George Szell invited him to become the assistant

Biblical Literature, Later and modern versions: English

2005-03-01T22:23:00.000-08:00

Knowledge of the pre-Wycliffite English renditions stems from the many actual manuscripts that have survived and from secondary literature, such as booklists, wills, citations by later authors, and references in polemical works that have preserved the memory of many a translation effort.

Asceticism

2005-03-01T13:32:00.000-08:00

The IRA was created in 1919 as a successor to the Irish Volunteers, a militant Nationalist organization founded in 1913. The IRA's purpose was to use armed force to render British rule in Ireland ineffective and thus

Abdul Razak Bin Hussein, Tun Haji

2005-02-28T17:23:00.000-08:00

A lawyer by training, Abdul Razak joined the civil service in 1950, entered politics in 1955, and was a key figure in gaining his country's independence from Britain in 1957. As deputy prime minister and defense minister (1957–70) and as minister

Saba

2005-02-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

Island of the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It lies 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Sint Eustatius, with which it forms the northwestern termination of the inner volcanic arc of the Lesser Antilles. Saba has an area of 5 square miles (13 square km) and is actually the peak of an extinct volcano, Mount Scenery (2,910 feet [887 m]), surrounded by sea cliffs. It is windward with respect to

Neosho River

2005-02-27T10:41:00.000-08:00

It has a drainage area of 12,660 square miles (32,789 square km), and flow at its mouth varies from 133,000 cubic feet (3,800 cubic m) per second to as little as 35 cubic feet (1 cubic m). In Kansas,

Essex, Arthur Capel, 1st Earl Of, Viscount Malden, Baron Capel Of Hadham

2005-02-26T09:14:00.000-08:00

The son of Arthur Capel, 1st Baron Capel, who was executed by the Parliamentarians in 1649, he was, after the Restoration of Charles II, created Viscount Malden and earl of Essex (April 1661). Although his antagonism to court life, to Roman Catholicism, and to extension of

Watanabe Osamu

2005-02-26T04:31:00.000-08:00

Watanabe won his first national championship at the age of 19 and defended this title four times (1960–64) while attending Chuo University in Tokyo. He startled observers

Orange Order

2005-02-25T15:42:00.000-08:00

The society was formed in 1795 to maintain the Protestant ascendancy in Ireland in the face of rising demands for Catholic Emancipation. Enmity between Roman Catholics and Protestants had always

Deira

2005-02-25T10:31:00.000-08:00

A northern Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Britain which, by the last quarter of the 7th century AD, had been united with its neighbour Bernicia (q.v.) to form the kingdom of Northumbria. Deira stretched from the Humber to the Tees River. There is a tradition that its first recorded king, Aelle, reigned from 560 and that, on his death in 588 or 590, Deira was seized by Aethelric of Bernicia, whose son

Earth Sciences, The rise of subterranean water

2005-02-24T14:27:00.000-08:00

René Descartes supposed that the seawater diffused through subterranean channels into large caverns below the tops of mountains. The Jesuit philosopher Athanasius Kircher in his Mundus subterraneus (1664; “Subterranean World”) suggested that the tides pump seawater through hidden channels to points of outlet at springs. To explain the rise of subterranean water

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Influence of Jean de La Fontaine

2005-02-23T20:41:00.000-08:00

The fable has normally been of limited length, however, and the form reached its zenith in 17th-century France, at the court of Louis XIV, especially in the work of Jean de La Fontaine. He published his Fables in two segments: the first, his initial volume of 1668, and the second, an accretion of “Books” of fables appearing over the next 25 years. The 1668 Fables follow the Aesopian pattern,

Hokuriku

2005-02-23T04:56:00.000-08:00

Industrial region, west-central Honshu, Japan, lying along the Sea of Japan. It is neither an administrative nor a political entity. The northeastern portion of the area, occupying parts of Niigata and Toyama ken (prefectures), specializes in heavy and chemical industries and has close economic ties with the Keihin (Tokyo-Yokohama) Industrial Zone. The southwestern

Itelmen

2005-02-22T17:54:00.000-08:00

Their Luorawetlan language of

Philikí Etaireía

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

(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

Hawera

2005-02-21T17:48:00.000-08:00

Town, Taranaki local government region, western North Island, New Zealand. The original settlement, situated on the east Waimate Plain, 2 miles (3 km) from the coast of South Taranaki Bight, on the Tasman Sea, grew around a blockhouse built in 1870 for protection from hostile Maoris. The settlement became a borough in 1882, and in the late 1970s the borough was amalgamated with the surrounding

Oakland

2005-02-20T23:48:00.000-08:00

Town, seat (1872) of Garrett county, extreme western Maryland, U.S., in the Allegheny Mountains near the West Virginia border. Laid out in 1849, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad decided to build a rail line through the area, it became a popular tourist destination. Oakland remains at the centre of a resort and agricultural area. Trout fishing, hiking, boating, snow skiing, biking,

Guadalupe, Basilica Of

2005-02-20T22:41:00.000-08:00

Officially Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe , Spanish Basílica de Guadalupe , or Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Roman Catholic church that is the chief religious centre of Mexico, located in Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, a northern neighbourhood of Mexico City. The church was erected near the spot where two apparitions of the Virgin are said to have appeared to an Indian convert named Juan Diego in December 1531 and commanded that a church be built. The second apparition resulted

Henry, William

2005-02-20T22:13:00.000-08:00

Henry took his doctor of medicine degree at Edinburgh (1807). When ill health forced him

Razor-billed Auk

2005-02-19T03:00:00.000-08:00

Also called Razorbill (Alca torda), black and white seabird of the North Atlantic, bearing a sharp, heavy, compressed beak. About 40 cm (16 inches) long, it is the largest living member of the auk family, Alcidae (order Charadriiformes), and the nearest kin to the extinct great auk (q.v.). Razor-billed auks are deep divers, feeding on fish (including shellfish). They breed along North Atlantic coasts; some migrate

Biblical Literature, The Qumran texts and other scrolls

2005-02-18T21:52:00.000-08:00

Until the discovery of the Judaean Desert scrolls, the only pre-medieval fragment of the Hebrew Bible known to scholars was the Nash Papyrus (c. 150 BCE) from Egypt containing the Decalogue and Deuteronomy. Now, however, fragments of about 180 different manuscripts of biblical books are available. Their dates vary between the 3rd century BCE and the 2nd century CE, and all but 10 stem from

France, History Of, The Third Republic

2005-02-18T10:02:00.000-08:00

A provisional government of national defense was set up and took as its first task the continuation of the war against the invaders. Composed of the deputies representing Paris and formally headed by General Louis-Jules Trochu, the new government's most forceful member was Léon Gambetta, hero of the radical republicans. Gambetta, a young Parisian lawyer of provincial

Aethelberht I

2005-02-18T00:25:00.000-08:00

King of Kent (560–616) who issued the first extant code of Anglo-Saxon laws, a code that established the legal position of the clergy and many secular regulations. Aethelberht's marriage to Bertha (or Berhta), daughter of Charibert, king of Paris, and a Christian, may account for the tolerant reception that he accorded Augustine and other missionaries dispatched to Kent by

Walpole, Sir Hugh (seymour)

2005-02-17T16:07:00.000-08:00

The son of an Anglican clergyman, Walpole was educated at King's School, Canterbury, then at Durham, and finally at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. After unsuccessful attempts at teaching and lay reading in

Kandahar

2005-02-17T15:05:00.000-08:00

The strategic and

Pramana

2005-02-17T05:13:00.000-08:00

The three principal means of knowledge are (1) perception, (2) inference,

China, Mongol government and administration

2005-02-17T00:19:00.000-08:00

After their initial successes in northern China in 1211–15, the Mongols faced the problem of how to rule and extract material benefits from a largely sedentary population. They were assisted by Khitan and Chinese and even Juchen renegades; these defectors were treated as “companions” (nökör) of the Mongols and were given positions similar to the higher ranks of the steppe

Arts, Islamic, Other classic mosques

2005-02-15T00:53:00.000-08:00

Either in its simplest form, as in Medina, or in its more formalized shape, as in Damascus, the hypostyle tradition dominated mosque architecture from 715 to the 10th century. As it occurs at Nishapur in northeastern Iran, Siraf in southern Iran, al-Qayrawan (Kairouan) in Tunisia, and Córdoba in Spain, it can indeed be considered as the classic early Islamic type. Its masterpieces occur

Prosobranch

2005-02-14T23:26:00.000-08:00

Any snail of the subclass Prosobranchia, class Gastropoda. Most of these primitive snails are marine; a few live on land or in fresh water. Many prosobranchs breathe by means of gills, which are located in front of the heart; some have a special respiratory structure on the mantle or, in land species, a simple pulmonary cavity. The auricle of the heart is in front of the ventricle.

Narasimha

2005-02-14T08:04:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “Man-Lion”), fourth of the 10 avatars (incarnations) of the Hindu god Vishnu. The demon Hiranyakasipu, twin brother of the demon overthrown by Vishnu in his previous incarnation as Varaha, obtained a boon from Brahma that he could not be killed by man or beast, from inside or outside, by day or by night, and that no weapon could harm him. Thus, feeling secure, he began to trouble

Walpole, Sir Hugh (seymour)

2005-02-14T06:01:00.000-08:00

DES is used therapeutically to replace estrogen

Agnus Dei

2005-02-13T01:16:00.000-08:00

(Latin), English Lamb of God designation of Jesus Christ in Christian liturgical usage. It is based on the saying of John the Baptist: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). In the Roman Catholic liturgy the Agnus Dei is employed in the following text: “Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us! Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy

Builth Wells

2005-02-13T00:41:00.000-08:00

Welsh Llanfair ym Muallt market town, Powys county, historic county of Brecknockshire (Sir Frycheiniog), Wales, in the upper Wye valley. The Normans made the surrounding district of Buellt a marcher lordship (i.e., part of the political buffer zone between Wales and England) and constructed a fine motte-and-bailey castle at Builth. But the town and castle suffered severely from Welsh attacks, notably

Arakcheyev, Aleksey Andreyevich, Graf (count)

2005-02-12T23:47:00.000-08:00

The son of a minor landowner, Arakcheyev studied at the Artillery and Engineering Corps

Robert De Torigni

2005-02-12T14:11:00.000-08:00

Robert was born to a family apparently of high rank. In 1128 he joined the monastery at Bec, where he was ordained deacon (1131) and elected prior (1149). He became abbot of Mont-Saint-Michel in

Epistemology, Tautological versus significant propositions

2005-02-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

A proposition is said to be tautological if its constituent terms repeat themselves or if they can be reduced to terms that do, so that the proposition is of the form “a = a.” In such a case the proposition is said to be trivial and empty of cognitive import. A proposition is said to be significant if its constituent terms are such that the proposition does provide new information

Handcuffs

2005-02-10T22:32:00.000-08:00

Device for shackling the hands, used by police on prisoners under arrest. Until modern times, handcuffs were of two kinds: (1) the figure 8, which confined the hands close together either in front of or behind the body, and (2) rings that fitted around the wrists and were connected by a short chain, these being somewhat like those used by modern police forces. The old names were

Alexander (v)

2005-02-10T11:43:00.000-08:00

Alexander became a Franciscan theologian and then archbishop of Milan (1402). Pope Innocent VII appointed him cardinal (1405) and papal legate to Lombardy. Unanimously elected by the invalid Council of Pisa in 1409 when he was 70 years old, Alexander was pope for only 10 months. It was hoped that his election would swiftly terminate

Albert, Heinrich

2005-02-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

Albert studied composition with his cousin Heinrich Schütz at Dresden. While he attended the University of Leipzig his musical activities were encouraged

Yaizu

2005-02-09T06:12:00.000-08:00

City, Shizuoka ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, on the west coast of Suruga Bay. Since the Tokugawa era (1603–1867), Yaizu has been one of the important coastal fishing ports for tuna, bonito, skipjack, and mackerel. Canning and freezing plants operate there. Deep-sea fishing developed in the early 20th century. Pop. (1989 est.) 111,728.

Baseball

2005-02-09T04:44:00.000-08:00

The Fukuoka Daiei Hawks of the Pacific League (PL) defeated the Chunichi Dragons of the Central League (CL) four games to one in the 1999 best-of-seven Japan Series. The team had last won the championship series title in 1964, as the Nankai Hawks. Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh, the world's home-run record holder (868), celebrated with the city of Fukuoka, which had awaited the crown for

Fra Mauro

2005-02-09T01:55:00.000-08:00

Crater on the Moon that appears to be heavily eroded, named for a 15th-century Italian monk and mapmaker. The site of the third manned lunar landing, the Apollo 14 mission in February 1971, is several miles north of the crater. About 80 km (50 miles) in diameter, Fra Mauro lies in Mare Nubium (the Sea of Clouds) at about 6° south latitude, 17° west longitude.

Canadian Shield

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

The Canadian Shield constitutes the largest mass

Sinkiang, Uygur Autonomous Region Of, The economy

2005-02-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

Because of the dry climate, most of the cultivated land in Sinkiang depends entirely on irrigation. The various nationalities in the region have had rich experience in water conservancy techniques, of which the wells of the qanat system in the Turfan and Ha-mi depressions are a fine example. Since the 1950s, these have been greatly supplemented with canals and reservoirs,

Hamasah

2005-02-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

The anthology consists of 10 books, containing,

Argentina, Perón's legacy

2005-02-06T04:43:00.000-08:00

When Perón died on July 1, 1974, he left to his widow a deeply compromised inheritance, yet the transition of power was smooth, and Isabel Perón was sworn in as the world's first woman president. Under the influence of López Rega, the government became even more inflexibly oriented toward the right, and violence reached new heights. López Rega, who used the rightist crusade to

Adams, Gerry

2005-02-06T04:25:00.000-08:00

Gerard Adams was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Oct. 6, 1948, into a prominent Irish nationalist

Stimulant

2005-02-05T13:29:00.000-08:00

The major stimulant

Joyeuse, Anne, Duke (duc) De

2005-02-04T16:24:00.000-08:00

The eldest son of Guillaume, Viscount de Joyeuse, Anne when very young was admitted to the royal court, where he carried the title of Marquis d'Arques (after one of his father's lands). King Henry III,

Hawarden

2005-02-04T06:32:00.000-08:00

Town, historic and present county of Flintshire (Sir Fflint), northeastern Wales. Hawarden Castle (1752) was the home of William E. Gladstone, the Victorian prime minister, for 60 years. St. Deiniol's Library was founded by Gladstone in 1895, and there is also a Gladstone museum in the community. Hawarden functions as both a commuter suburb for the city of Chester, England—7 miles (11 km)

Patron Saint

2005-02-04T05:32:00.000-08:00

Saint to whose protection and intercession a person, a society, a church, or a place is dedicated. The choice is often made on the basis of some real or presumed relationship with the persons or places involved. St. Patrick, for example, is the patron saint of Ireland because he is credited with bringing Christianity to the Irish people. In some cultures national or local