ConsciousSquare

Ren Essential Moroccan Rose Oil

2006-12-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most amazing natural bath oils I have used. It is a rich, sensuous and luxurious. Only a small amount of the Moroccan Otto Rose Oil in the bath will fill the room with this incredible smell. This rose oil really penetrates the skin during the bath leaving it soft as silk and with the beatiful scent of the rose oil

Globe Amaranth

2005-04-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

(Gomphrena globosa), ornamental garden plant of the family Amaranthaceae, native to the Old World tropics. Globe amaranth is a short annual with dense, cloverlike flower clusters that often are dried and preserved. The flowers lack petals but exhibit red, pink, orange, or white bracts on long stalks.

Stahl, Georg Ernst

2005-04-04T04:07:00.000-07:00

German physician and chemist who developed the phlogiston theory of combustion and of such related biological processes as respiration, fermentation, and decay. The theory dominated chemical thought for almost a century. He also, at times, believed in alchemy and animism.

Arabia, History Of, Yemen

2005-04-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

To quell a rising in Yemen, the 'Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun dispatched Ibn Ziyad, who refounded in 820 the southern city of Zabid and became overlord of Yemen, Najran, and Hadhramaut. About a century later, the Najahids—Ethiopian slaves or local Afro-Asians—supplanted the Ziyadids in Zabid; however, though independent, neither dynasty renounced vague 'Abbasid suzerainty. The Banu Ya'fur

La Hontan, Louis-armand De Lom D'arce, Baron De

2005-04-02T23:17:00.000-08:00

La Hontan went to Canada in 1683 as a marine lieutenant. He participated in an unsuccessful campaign against the Iroquois Indians on Lake Ontario in 1684 and commanded

Resita

2005-04-02T08:10:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Caras-Severin judet (county), southwestern Romania, near the Yugoslavian border. In a coal- and metal-mining region, it is a long-established metalworking centre. After World War II the ironworks and steelworks of Resita were modernized, and there are several associated heavy-engineering works and a factory producing diesel engines for railway locomotives.

Alba, Fernando álvarez De Toledo Y Pimentel, 3er Duque De

2005-04-01T00:59:00.000-08:00

Alba was born into a rich family

Carnivore, Importance of carnivora

2005-03-31T07:38:00.000-08:00

There is probably no other group of animals more familiar to man than mammals belonging to the order Carnivora. The more popular domesticated pets of man, the dog and the cat, are both derived from wild members of this order. The majority of luxurious natural furs (ermine, mink, sable, otter) worn by women of fashion, as well as the furs of utility used by primitive man, come

La Rochefoucauld, François Vi, Duke (duc) De

2005-03-30T22:47:00.000-08:00

Also called (until 1650) Prince De Marcillac French classical author who had been one of the most active rebels of the Fronde before he became the leading exponent of the maxime, a French literary form of epigram that expresses a harsh or paradoxical truth with brevity.

Kwazulu/natal

2005-03-30T06:56:00.000-08:00

Formerly Natal, province of the Republic of South Africa, occupying the southeastern portion of the country. It is bounded on the east by the Indian Ocean, on the south by Eastern province, on the west by Lesotho and Free State province, on the northwest by Mpumalanga province, and on the north by Swaziland and Mozambique. Within KwaZulu/Natal is an enclave of Eastern province consisting

Hywel Ab Owain Gwynedd

2005-03-29T22:26:00.000-08:00

Welsh warrior-prince and lyric poet whose eight extant compositions include the only love poems found in the works of the early Welsh court poets. Also included among the eight are poems expressing love of country, perhaps the first such works in Welsh literature. The son of Owain Gwynedd, Hywel played a major part in the occupation of Ceredigion (Cardiganshire) by

Arts, Central Asian, Nomadic cultures

2005-03-28T20:16:00.000-08:00

During the 1st millennium BC and the 1st centuries of the Christian era, certain nomadic tribes affected the course of Central Asia's artistic history. Cyrus II the Great, the ancient Persian king who founded the Achaemenian Empire, was killed by the nomadic Massagetai when campaigning in eastern Iran in 530 BC. At the time, the Saka tribe was pasturing its herds in the Pamirs, central

Raynouard, François-juste-marie

2005-03-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

Trained as a lawyer, Raynouard was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1791. In 1793 he was imprisoned on political grounds but was released in 1794 after the fall of Robespierre. His first play, Caton d'Utique, was published

Cheboygan

2005-03-27T03:49:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1853) of Cheboygan county, northern Michigan, U.S. The city lies along the Cheboygan River as it enters Lake Huron near the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac. According to some reports, the site was an Indian camping ground until it was settled by Jacob Sammons in the 1840s. It was first called Duncan and then Inverness, later adopting Cheboygan, an Indian word possibly

Gaspé Current

2005-03-26T22:29:00.000-08:00

Outflow from the St. Lawrence River, which moves around the Gaspé Peninsula and along the southern shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It merges with a cold branch of the Labrador (Cabot) Current before flowing through the Cabot Strait and into the North Atlantic Ocean. The current responds to the river's flow, being strong and warm in the summer and cold and weak in the winter.

Man Ray

2005-03-26T10:32:00.000-08:00

The son of an artist and photographer, he grew up in New York City, where he studied architecture, engineering, and art, and became a painter. As early as 1911, he took up the pseudonym of Man

Little Saint Bernard Pass

2005-03-25T04:03:00.000-08:00

Italian Colle Del Piccolo San Bernardo, French Col Du Petit-saint-bernard, pass (7,178 ft [2,188 m]) situated just southwest of the Italian border in Savoie département of southeastern France; it lies between the Mont Blanc Massif (north) and the Graian Alps (q.v.; south-southeast). The road across the pass connects Bourg-Saint-Maurice (7 mi [11 km] southwest) in the Isère River Valley, France, with Morgex (10 mi northeast) in the Valle d'Aosta, Italy. Until the Treaty of Paris

Chantal, Saint Jane Frances Of

2005-03-24T19:01:00.000-08:00

In 1592 she married Baron de Chantal, who was killed in a hunting accident (1601), leaving her with four children. In 1604 she heard St. Francis de Sales preach the Lent at Dijon and placed herself under his direction. In 1610, after her eldest daughter had married and her 14-year-old son was provided

Carter, Elizabeth

2005-03-24T05:24:00.000-08:00

Carter was the daughter of a learned cleric who taught her Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. She was not a precocious child, but she persevered with an industry that affected her health, studying also French, German, Italian,

O'brien, William Smith

2005-03-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

O'Brien sat in the British House of Commons from 1828 to 1848. Although he was a Protestant, he actively favoured Roman Catholic emancipation, but he also wished

Animal, Pseudocoelomates, or aschelminths

2005-03-22T07:15:00.000-08:00

The pseudocoelomates include the nematodes, rotifers, gastrotrichs, and introverts. Some members of some other phyla are also, strictly speaking, pseudocoelomate. These four phyla of tiny body size (many species no larger than the bigger protozoans) are placed together in part because they lack mesoderm on the inner side of the body cavity. Consequently, no tissue,

Steel, Argon-oxygen decarburization

2005-03-22T00:40:00.000-08:00

In the production of stainless steel and other high-alloy grades that contain highly oxidizable elements such as chromium, lowering the levels of carbon by regular oxygen injection has the undesirable consequence of oxidizing the alloying elements as well. The argon-oxygen decarburization (AOD) process alleviates this problem by diluting the injected oxygen

Arabian Horse

2005-03-21T16:18:00.000-08:00

The Arabian breed is a compact, relatively small horse

Fenton, Elijah

2005-03-20T20:28:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Cambridge, Fenton became a teacher. He was promised the patronage of Henry St. John (later 1st Viscount Bolingbroke) and hence resigned the

Art And Architecture, Egyptian, Domestic architecture

2005-03-20T03:38:00.000-08:00

The best preserved private houses are those of modest size in the workmen's village of Dayr al-Madinah. Exceptional in that they were built of stone, they

Good Friday

2005-03-19T06:03:00.000-08:00

According to the Jewish calendar, Jesus died on 15 Nisan,

O'brien, Flann

2005-03-19T04:39:00.000-08:00

O'Brien was educated in Dublin and later became a civil servant while also pursuing his writing career. He is most celebrated for his unusual novel At Swim-Two-Birds, which, though it was first published in 1939, achieved fame

Motion Picture, History Of The, Germany

2005-03-19T04:03:00.000-08:00

Germany's catastrophic defeat in World War II and the subsequent partitioning of the country virtually destroyed its film industry, which had already been corrupted by the Nazis. Rebuilt during the 1950s, the West German industry became the fifth largest producer in the world, but the majority of its output consisted of low-quality Heimatfilme (“homeland films”) for the

Defence Of India Act

2005-03-18T01:17:00.000-08:00

By 1918 there were about 800 internees

Hong Gai

2005-03-17T23:32:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Hon Gai, port city, northeastern Vietnam. Hong Gai lies along Ha Long Bay of the Gulf of Tonkin, about 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Haiphong. It is an export centre for coal mined at nearby Quang Yen, the site of anthracite deposits that are the largest in Southeast Asia. Other economic activities in the area are rice farming and fishing. Ha Long Bay is noted for its many strangely shaped

Recessiveness

2005-03-17T15:42:00.000-08:00

In genetics, the failure of one of a pair of genes (alleles) present in an individual to express itself in an observable manner because of the greater influence, or dominance, of its opposite-acting partner. Both alleles affect the same inherited characteristic, but the presence of the recessive gene cannot be determined by observation of the organism; i.e., although

Araguaia River

2005-03-17T09:54:00.000-08:00

Portuguese Rio Araguaia, river, central Brazil. It rises on the Brazilian Highlands near Alto Araguaia town in Mato Grosso state and flows north-northeast for 1,632 miles (2,627 km) to its junction with the Tocantins River, at São João do Araguaia. Its upper course forms the boundary between Mato Grosso state (west) and Goiás and southern Tocantins states (east). In midcourse the river divides into two channels

Saule

2005-03-17T03:51:00.000-08:00

According to Baltic myth, Saule, the sun, rides each day through the sky on a chariot with copper wheels, drawn by horses who neither tire nor rest nor sweat. Toward evening Saule washes the horses in the sea, sitting on top of a hill, holding the golden reins

Akola

2005-03-15T15:11:00.000-08:00

City, north-central Maharashtra state, western India, on the Murna River. An important road and rail junction in the Tapti River valley, it is a commercial centre trading chiefly in cotton. There are also textile and vegetable-oil industries. In the past it was incorporated in turn into several local Muslim kingdoms. Akola is an important educational centre with several

Switzerland, War with France

2005-03-15T05:29:00.000-08:00

Following the Swabian conflict, Switzerland was drawn into the struggle between France, Austria, and Italy over control of the vital Po valley. The Swiss, of course, had more than a passing interest in this area, having extended their control into the southern Alpine valleys during the 15th century. They wanted to prevent either France or Austria from closing in on

Indri

2005-03-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

(Indri indri), slender, long-limbed primate of the family Indriidae, found in Madagascan forests. The largest of existing Madagascan lemurs, the indri is about 70 cm (28 inches) long and has a rudimentary tail, large hands and feet, and a round head with pointed face and round, furry ears. Its colour is usually black with white on the head, throat, forearms, and buttocks.

Kababish

2005-03-14T06:28:00.000-08:00

During the 19th century the Kababish not only carried trade goods between the Nile River and Darfur but

Uccello, Paolo

2005-03-13T23:20:00.000-08:00

By the time Paolo was 10 years old he was already an apprentice in the workshop of the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, who was then at work on what became one of the masterpieces of Renaissance art—the bronze doors for the Baptistery of the Florence cathedral, which consist of 28 panels illustrating New Testament scenes of the life of Christ. In 1414 Uccello joined the confraternity

Miracle, Sacred places

2005-03-13T18:56:00.000-08:00

Miracles are often connected with special sacred places. Normally these are natural shrines, such as sacred groves, or temples and sanctuaries in which a god or spirit lives or has manifested himself or in which his statue, symbol, holy objects, or relics are enshrined. Holy places, such as Mecca and the Ka'bah in Islam or the Buddhist stupas, are centres of pilgrimages

African Greek Orthodox Church

2005-03-12T23:26:00.000-08:00

A religious movement in East Africa that represents a prolonged search for a Christianity more African and, its adherents say, more authentic than the denominational mission forms transplanted from overseas. It began when an Anglican in Uganda, Reuben Spartas, heard of the independent, all-black African Orthodox Church in the United States and founded his own

Chandler, Norman

2005-03-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

Chandler was the son of Harry Chandler, who owned the Los Angeles Times. After attending Stanford University, Norman joined the Times in 1922 as secretary

Biblical Literature, Kings: the second book

2005-03-11T09:25:00.000-08:00

The Second Book of Kings continues the history of the monarchies of Israel and Judah and of the prophetic movement. Ahaziah fell from an upper chamber of his palace in Samaria and sought help from Baalzebub, the god of Ekron. Elijah met the messengers to castigate them for not seeking aid from Yahweh, the God of Israel, and told a third delegation that had been sent out

Remiremont

2005-03-11T08:54:00.000-08:00

Town, Vosges département, Franche–Comté region, eastern France. It lies along the Moselle River near the latter's confluence with the Moselotte and is surrounded by wooded heights. Remiremont (Romaraci Mons) is named after St. Romaric, a companion of St. Columban at Luxeuil, who in the 7th century founded a monastery and a convent on the hills above the present town. In 910 an

López Velarde, Ramón

2005-03-10T09:40:00.000-08:00

López Velarde studied law and was a journalist and civil servant. His first book of poems, La sangre devota (1916; “Devout Blood”), treats the simplicity of country life, the tension between sensuality and spirituality, and

Juba I

2005-03-10T04:14:00.000-08:00

Succeeding his father, Hiempsal II, sometime between 63 and 50, Juba became bitterly hostile toward Caesar because of a personal insult (probably in 63). In addition, one of Caesar's supporters, the tribune Curio, in 50 unsuccessfully proposed

Isabella I

2005-03-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

Byname Isabella the Catholic , Spanish Isabel la Católica queen of Castile (1474–1504) and of Aragon (1479–1504), ruling the two kingdoms jointly from 1479 with her husband, Ferdinand II of Aragon (Ferdinand V of Castile). Their rule effected the permanent union of Spain and the beginning of an overseas empire in the New World, led by Christopher Columbus under Isabella's

Pauli, Wolfgang

2005-03-09T18:36:00.000-08:00

When he was 20, Pauli

Orange Free State

2005-03-09T05:29:00.000-08:00

Afrikaans Oranje Vry Staat, Boer state in southern Africa that became a province of the Republic of South Africa in 1910. One of the four traditional provinces of South Africa, it was bordered by the Transvaal to the north, Natal and the independent state of Lesotho to the east, and Cape Province to the south and west. The first postapartheid South African government renamed the province Free

Mitchell, Charles E(dwin)

2005-03-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

Mitchell took his first job with the Western Electric Company in Chicago and became the president's assistant in 1903. Three years later he left the firm and became assistant to the president at The Trust Company of America in New York City, a position he held for five years.

Red Oak

2005-03-06T05:17:00.000-08:00

Any member of a group or subgenus (Erythrobalanus) of North American ornamental and timber shrubs and trees of the genus Quercus, in the beech family (Fagaceae), that have bristle-tipped leaves, acorns with hairy shell linings, and bitter seeds that mature in two seasons. Black oak, live oak, willow oak (including water oak, laurel oak, shingle oak), and pin

Cable

2005-03-06T00:11:00.000-08:00

The first successful stranded iron wire rope was developed in 1831–34 by Wilhelm Albert, a mining official of Clausthal

Benedict (xiv)

2005-03-05T01:55:00.000-08:00

In 1417 the Council of Constance deposed the antipope Pope Benedict (XIII) and elected Martin V, thus officially terminating the Western Schism between Avignon and Rome. However, Benedict, protected in his castle of Peñíscola in Valencia, resisted until his death in 1423 and even reconstituted his court by creating four new cardinals. The intrigues

Copenhagen

2005-03-04T21:20:00.000-08:00

A small village existed on the site of the present city by the early 10th century. In 1167 Bishop Absalon of Roskilde built a castle on an islet off the coast and fortified the town with

Rosten, Leo

2005-03-04T21:07:00.000-08:00

At age three Rosten immigrated with his parents to Chicago. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 1930 and received his Ph.D. in 1937. After working as a screenwriter

Gaudí, Antoni

2005-03-04T17:39:00.000-08:00

Catalan in full Antoni Gaudí i Cornet , Spanish Antonio Gaudí y Cornet Catalan architect, whose distinctive style is characterized by freedom of form, voluptuous colour and texture, and organic unity. Gaudí worked almost entirely in or near Barcelona. Much of his career was occupied with the construction of the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia), which was unfinished at his death in

Eliot, Sir Charles

2005-03-03T13:47:00.000-08:00

A scholar and linguist, Eliot served in diplomatic posts in Russia (1885), Morocco (1892), Turkey (1893), and Washington, D.C. (1899). In 1900 he was knighted and appointed commissioner and consul

Anne And Joachim, Saints

2005-03-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

The parents of the Virgin Mary, according to tradition derived from certain apocryphal writings. Information concerning their lives and names is found in the 2nd-century-AD Protevangelium of James (“First Gospel of James”) and the 3rd-century-AD Evangelium de nativitate Mariae (“Gospel of the Nativity of

Binary Star

2005-03-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

If the images of the two components of a binary star system can be separated by telescope, it is called

Kerr, Sir John Graham

2005-03-02T02:23:00.000-08:00

Kerr's scientific education began when he was a student of medicine, but

Earth, Nucleosynthetic processes

2005-03-01T03:48:00.000-08:00

The astrophysical concept of nucleosynthesis remains the starting point in tracing planetary evolution. This includes the nuclear processes by which the light elements—hydrogen through boron—were produced at the birth of the universe, some 10,000,000,000 to 20,000,000,000 years ago. By analogy with what astronomers presently observe to happen, it is thought that the solar system represents

Arrow, Kenneth J.

2005-03-01T00:17:00.000-08:00

In full Kenneth Joseph Arrow American economist known for his contributions to welfare economics and to general economic equilibrium theory. He was cowinner (with Sir John R. Hicks) of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1972. Perhaps his most startling thesis (built on elementary mathematics) was the “impossibility theorem” (or “Arrow's theorem”), which holds that, under certain

Kamaishi

2005-02-28T06:22:00.000-08:00

City, Iwate Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, facing Kamaishi Bay on the Pacific Ocean. Kamaishi was a small fishing village until magnetite was discovered in the area in 1727, and Japan's first European-style blast furnace was constructed in the city in 1857. In 1885 a government-controlled iron foundry was built using coal from Hokkaido and later using ore from China after the Sino-Japanese

Swaziland, Flag Of

2005-02-28T03:12:00.000-08:00

The Swazi, famed as warriors, have a traditional shield that is made of black-and-white ox hide stretched over a wooden frame. A representation of such a shield appeared briefly on a Swazi flag flown in the late 19th century when they administered their land jointly with the (Boer) South African Republic and the British. The current national flag, however, dates to 1941. At that

Baseball

2005-02-27T08:09:00.000-08:00

The United States is credited with developing several popular sports, including some (such as baseball, gridiron football, and basketball) that have large fan bases and, to varying degrees, have been adopted internationally. But baseball, despite the spread of the game throughout the globe and the growing influence of Asian and Latin American leagues and players,

Ikeya-seki, Comet

2005-02-27T02:24:00.000-08:00

One of a group of Sun-grazing comets having similar orbits and including the great comet known as 1882 II. Discovered Sept. 18, 1965, by two Japanese amateur astronomers, Ikeya Kaoru and Seki Tsutomu, Ikeya-Seki made its closest approach to the Sun (470,000 kilometres, or about 290,000 miles; less than the Sun's radius) on Oct. 21, 1965. The comet was then bright enough to be seen with the naked eye in daylight. Like

Esterházy Family

2005-02-26T08:46:00.000-08:00

By the 18th century the Esterházys had become the largest landowners in Hungary, and they came to possess a private fortune even larger than that of the Habsburg emperors whose supporters they were. The various members of the family continued to hold important

Fyrd

2005-02-26T03:41:00.000-08:00

Tribal militia-like arrangement existing in Anglo-Saxon England from approximately AD 605. Local in character, it imposed military service upon every able-bodied free male. It was probably the duty of the ealderman, or sheriff, to call out and lead the fyrd. Fines imposed for neglecting the fyrd varied with the status of the individual, landholders receiving the heaviest

Epistemology, John Locke

2005-02-25T22:58:00.000-08:00

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke (1632–1704) is often taken to be the first major empiricist work. Book I discusses innate ideas in order to deny that there are any; Book II discusses various genuine kinds of ideas; Book III discusses language with an emphasis on the meaning of words; and Book IV discusses knowledge and related cognitive states and

Keeler, Wee Willie

2005-02-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

Keeler was an outfielder who batted and threw left-handed. He played in the major leagues from 1892 to 1910 and achieved a career batting average

Christchurch

2005-02-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

City, Canterbury local government region, eastern South Island, New Zealand, on the Avon River. It was the last and most successful colonizing project inspired by Edward Gibbon Wakefield and his New Zealand Company. Christchurch was founded by the Canterbury Association, which was formed in 1848 largely through the efforts of John Robert Godley and which planned to

Ubi Sunt

2005-02-23T11:22:00.000-08:00

A verse form in which the poem or its stanzas begin with the Latin words ubi sunt (“where are ”) or their equivalent in another language and which has as a principal theme the transitory nature of all things. A well-known example is François Villon's “Ballade des dames du temps jadis” (“Ballade of the Ladies of Bygone Times”), with its refrain “Mais où sont les neiges d'antan?'' (“But where

Dubinsky, David

2005-02-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

The son of a baker in Russian Poland, Dubinsky was sent to Siberia in 1908 for his union activities. He escaped and emigrated to the United States in 1911. While working as a garment cutter in New

Chao Phraya River

2005-02-22T05:11:00.000-08:00

The Chao Phraya constitutes a valuable waterway for the transport of the nation's

Newington

2005-02-21T20:55:00.000-08:00

Area in the borough of Southwark, London. It lies southeast of Waterloo Station and west of Bermondsey. In the 19th century the area was developed as a residential suburb, and several roads and railways were built, converting Newington into a transportation hub for London south of the River Thames. Central to the area is the Elephant and Castle, a large traffic roundabout

Heng-yang

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

Heng-yang has been a communication centre since early times, being on the ancient post road from Ch'ang-sha into Kwangtung province

Ueno

2005-02-20T05:32:00.000-08:00

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

Mcphee, John

2005-02-19T14:43:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Princeton University (A.B., 1953), McPhee studied for a year at

Punic War, Second

2005-02-19T05:30:00.000-08:00

In the years after the First Punic War, Rome wrested Corsica and Sardinia from Carthage and forced Carthaginians to pay an even greater indemnity than the payment exacted immediately following the war. Eventually,

Water Lily

2005-02-18T04:57:00.000-08:00

Any of the freshwater plants of the family Nymphaeaceae, comprising eight genera native to the temperate and tropical parts of the world. All members of the family are perennial except for the genus Euryale, an annual or short-lived perennial found only in Asia. Most species of water lilies have rounded, floating, waxy-coated leaves on long stalks that contain

Khartoum

2005-02-16T19:09:00.000-08:00

Arabic Al-Khurtum (“Elephant's Trunk”), city, executive capital of The Sudan, just south of the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers. It has bridge connections with its sister towns, Khartoum North and Omdurman, with which it forms The Sudan's largest conurbation. Originally an Egyptian army camp (pitched 1821), Khartoum grew into a garrisoned army town. The Mahdists besieged and destroyed

Quantum

2005-02-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

In physics, discrete natural unit, or packet, of energy, charge, angular momentum, or other physical property. Light, for example, appearing in some respects as a continuous electromagnetic wave, on the submicroscopic level is emitted and absorbed in discrete amounts, or quanta; and for light of a given wavelength, the magnitude of all the quanta emitted or absorbed is

China, Cultural developments

2005-02-16T13:21:00.000-08:00

The Han emperors and governments posed as having a temporal dispensation that had received the blessing of Heaven together with its instructions to spread the benefits of a cultured life as widely as possible. By a cultured life the Chinese had in mind a clear distinction between their own settled agriculture and the delights of the cities, as opposed to the rough

Argentina

2005-02-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

Carlos Menem's 10-year tenure as Argentine president ended on Dec. 10, 1999. Menem was constitutionally prohibited from seeking reelection; nevertheless, he spent the first half of 1999 attempting to clear the constitutional and political obstacles preventing him from seeking a third term. Menem was driven primarily by a desire to maintain control of his Justicialist Party

Szabolcs-szatmár-bereg

2005-02-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

Megye (county), extreme northeastern Hungary, occupying an area of mainly lowland country traversed by many small river courses. Lying within the megye is the Nyírség, a district of sandy soils and the site of Nyíregyháza (q.v.), the megye seat. Crossed by the Tisza River system, the sandy terrain has been stabilized by planting fruit and other trees. Elsewhere in the megye

Mobile River

2005-02-14T11:59:00.000-08:00

River formed by the confluence of the Tombigbee and Alabama rivers, southwestern Alabama, U.S. It enters Mobile Bay after a southerly course of 45 miles (72 km) through the delta region. With its tributaries it drains some 44,000 square miles (114,000 square km), making it the sixth largest river basin in the United States. Mobile, on the west side of the river at the head of the bay, is its chief

Lutetium

2005-02-13T21:24:00.000-08:00

(Lu), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table; the hardest and densest rare-earth element, last member of the lanthanide series. Lutetium was discovered (1907–08) by Carl Auer von Welsbach and Georges Urbain, working independently. Urbain derived the name for the element from Lutetia, which was the ancient Roman name for Paris. The name

Biblical Literature, Isaiah

2005-02-12T17:24:00.000-08:00

The Book of Isaiah, comprising 66 chapters, is one of the most profound theological and literarily expressive works in the Bible. Compiled over a period of about two centuries (the latter half of the 8th to the latter half of the 6th century BCE), the Book of Isaiah is generally divided by scholars into two (sometimes three) major sections, which are called First Isaiah (chapters

Oss

2005-02-12T01:07:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (commune), Noord-Brabant provincie, south-central Netherlands, east-northeast of 's Hertogenbosch and about 3 miles (5 km) south of the Maas (Meuse) River. A food-processing town noted for margarine and meat products, it also manufactures pharmaceuticals (especially insulin and vitamins), electrical equipment, wool products, boxes, and metalware. Mainly Roman Catholic,

Sokolow, Nahum

2005-02-11T22:44:00.000-08:00

The descendant of an ancient Polish rabbinical family, Sokolow became well known for his contributions to the Jewish press in Hebrew and other languages. At 24 he became assistant editor of the Hebrew scientific weekly ha-Zefirah in Warsaw; later, as its editor, he transformed

Automobile Racing

2005-02-11T20:41:00.000-08:00

The stunning success of Nigel Mansell, 1992 Formula One champion, in his first year in U.S. IndyCar competition highlighted a year in which virtuosity and tragedy shared centre stage. The 40-year-old Englishman, driving a Lola-Ford Cosworth for Newman-Haas Racing, edged 1993 Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi for the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) championship. Mansell

Girodet-trioson, Anne-louis

2005-02-10T20:54:00.000-08:00

Girodet-Trioson won the Prix de Rome (1789) for his “Joseph Recognized by His Brothers,” which was influenced by the cold, sober Neoclassicism of his teacher, Jacques-Louis David. In “The Sleep of Endymion” (1792; Louvre, Paris)

Chibchan Languages

2005-02-09T05:03:00.000-08:00

A group of South American Indian languages that were spoken before AD 1500 in the area now comprising Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, western Colombia, and Ecuador. A now extinct Chibchan language sometimes known as Muisca was the language of a powerful Indian empire with its centre near Bogotá. Important present-day Chibchan languages include Guaymí and Move in Panama,

Earth, Wind And Fire

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

American pop, soul, and jazz-fusion band that became one of the best-selling and most influential black groups of the 1970s. The principal members were Maurice White (b. December 19, 1941, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.), Philip Bailey (b. May 8, 1951, Denver, Colorado), Verdine White (b. July 25, 1951, Chicago), Fred White (b. January 13, 1956, Chicago), Al McKay (b. February 2, 1948, New Orleans, Louisiana), Johnny Graham (b. August 3, 1951, Kentucky), Ralph

Jack-in-the-pulpit

2005-02-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

Also called Indian Turnip, Bog Onion, Brown Dragon, or Starchwort (species Arisaema triphyllum), a North American plant of the arum family (Araceae), noted for the unusual shape of its flower. The plant is native to wet woodlands and thickets from Nova Scotia to Minnesota and southward to Florida and Texas. It is a stoutish perennial, 1 to 2.5 feet (0.3 to 0.8 m) high, and usually bears two long-stalked, three-parted leaves that overshadow the flower. The

Lena River

2005-02-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

Sakha (Yakut) Ulakhan Iuriakh (“Great River”) major river of Russia and the 10th longest river in the world. It flows 2,734 miles (4,400 km) from its sources in the mountains along the western shores of Lake Baikal, in southeastern Siberia, to the mouth of its delta on the Arctic Laptev Sea. The area of the river's drainage basin is about 961,000 square miles (2,490,000 square km).

Thomism

2005-02-07T10:12:00.000-08:00

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Thomism continued to be presented in philosophy and theology courses or manuals, especially in the Dominican Order. Most Thomistic manuals of this period were watered with the opinions of other Schoolmen and remained remote from modern problems. In most Catholic seminaries and universities of the early 19th century, eclecticism

Tell Atlas

2005-02-05T16:25:00.000-08:00

Also called Maritime Atlas, French Atlas Tellien, Arabic Tel Al-atlas, range of the Atlas Mountains in North Africa, extending about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from eastern Morocco through Algeria to Tunisia. In Morocco, from Ceuta east to Melilla (150 miles [240 km]), the Er-Rif mountain range of the Tell Atlas faces the Mediterranean Sea, and there, as along the whole coast eastward to Cape Bon in Tunisia, many rugged rocks rise dramatically above the general level.

Hawaii

2005-02-05T04:34:00.000-08:00

Volcanic island, Hawaii, U.S. It lies south of Maui Island and constitutes Hawaii county. Known as the Big Island, it is the largest (area 4,028 square miles [10,433 square km]) and southeasternmost of the Hawaiian Island group. It is the youngest geologically and was formed by five volcanoes connected by lava saddles (ridges). Kilauea is the world's most active volcano. The island is roughly

Cartier-bresson, Henri

2005-02-05T00:51:00.000-08:00

Cartier-Bresson

Caucasian Languages

2005-02-03T22:58:00.000-08:00

The North Caucasian languages are divided into two groups: Abkhazo-Adyghian, or the Northwest Caucasian, languages, and Nakho-Dagestanian, or the Northeast Caucasian, languages.