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Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

Robert Irving Burns specialise in London Commercial and Residential property services, including estate agent london and estate agent central london. Their centrally located ground floor offices, minutes from Oxford Circus offer an ideal marketing base for your property.

Devadatta

2005-04-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

Devadatta is said to have joined the sangha along with Ananda, who was possibly his brother, in the 20th year of Gautama's ministry. Fifteen years later, strengthened by his friendship with the Crown Prince

Bothriolepis

2005-04-04T06:54:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Bothryolepis, genus of extinct fishes of the order Antiarcha, class Placodermi, characteristic of the Middle and Late Devonian (from about 387 million to 360 million years ago). The front end of Bothriolepis was very heavily encased in bony armour. The eyes were located on top of the head shield and situated very close to the light-receptive pineal eye. The shield was separated into two parts,

Czerny, Carl

2005-04-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

He studied piano, first with his father, Wenzel Czerny, and later with Ludwig van Beethoven and knew and was influenced by Muzio Clementi and Johann Nepomuk Hummel. He began teaching in Vienna at the age of 15; among his pupils were Franz Liszt and Beethoven's

Gabon

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

Following the smashing victory of the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) in the December 1996 parliamentary elections, in which it won 100 of the 120 seats, Prime Minister Paulin Obame-Nguéma announced his new Cabinet on Jan. 29, 1997. Alexandre Sambat,

Metacarpal

2005-04-02T07:11:00.000-08:00

Any of several tubular bones between the wrist (carpal) bones and each of the forelimb digits in land vertebrates, corresponding to the metatarsal bones of the foot. Originally numbering five, metacarpals in many mammals have undergone much change and reduction during evolution. The lower leg of the horse, for example, includes only one strengthened metacarpal;

Cone, Fairfax M.

2005-04-01T10:43:00.000-08:00

Cone's father was a prospector and mining engineer, and his mother was a schoolteacher. He studied English at the University of California, working as a summertime copy boy on the San Francisco

Coleopteran

2005-03-31T10:11:00.000-08:00

Any member of the insect order Coleoptera, which includes the beetles and weevils. It is the largest order of insects, representing about 40 percent of the known insect species. Among the approximately 250,000 species of Coleoptera are many of the largest and most conspicuous insects, some of which also have brilliant metallic colours, showy patterns, or striking form. Beetles

Bratteli, Trygve (martin)

2005-03-30T23:12:00.000-08:00

Entering the Labour Party's youth organization in 1928, Bratteli became editor of the newspaper Arbeiderungdommen (“Labour Youth”) in the 1930s and served as secretary of the organization until 1940 and as its chairman in 1945–46. From 1940 to 1942, during the early years of the German occupation

Chanel, Gabrielle

2005-03-30T04:49:00.000-08:00

Byname Coco French dress designer who ruled over Parisian haute couture for almost six decades. Her elegantly casual designs inspired women of fashion to abandon complicated, uncomfortable clothes and to adopt her now-classic innovations—i.e., jersey dresses and suits, bell-bottom trousers, bobbed hair, trench coats, turtleneck sweaters, costume jewelry,

Mon Language

2005-03-28T21:44:00.000-08:00

Also called Talaing, or Peguan, Mon-Khmer language spoken by the Mon people of southeastern Myanmar (Lower Burma) and several Mon communities in Thailand. The oldest inscriptions, dating from the 6th century, are found in central Thailand in archaeological sites associated with the Dvaravati kingdom. Numerous Old Mon inscriptions date from the later Mon kingdoms of Thaton and Pegu. The Old Mon

Pyryatyn

2005-03-28T08:18:00.000-08:00

Russian Piryatin , also spelled Piriatin city and centre of a rayon (sector), Poltava oblast (province), Ukraine, on the Uday River. Pyryatyn dates at least from 1155, when it is first documented, and was incorporated in 1781. Before the Revolution of 1917 it was an administrative centre and later became a railway junction. Today it has varied industries, including furniture, building materials, and foodstuffs. Pop. (1991 est.) 18,300.

Zagros Mountains

2005-03-28T03:51:00.000-08:00

Mountain range in southwestern Iran, extending northwest-southeast from the Sirvan (Diyala) River to Shiraz. The Zagros range is about 550 miles (900 km) long and more than 150 miles (240 km) wide. Formed primarily of limestone and shale, the mountain range consists of numerous parallel ridges whose highest peaks rise above 12,000 feet (3,600 m) and have permanent snow cover. Passes through the mountains

Semler, Johann Salomo

2005-03-27T17:55:00.000-08:00

Semler was a disciple of the rationalist Siegmund Jakob Baumgarten, whom he succeeded on his death in 1757 as head of the theological

Svadilfari

2005-03-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

In Norse mythology, an unusually swift and intelligent horse belonging to a giant who offered to build a great wall around Asgard (the kingdom of the gods) to keep invaders away. The gods stipulated that, if the builder completed the wall in one winter's time, his reward would be the goddess Freyja and possession of the sun and the moon. Svadilfari gave his owner such assistance

Main Range

2005-03-26T14:27:00.000-08:00

Also called Central Range , or Buffalo Range mountain range in West Malaysia, the most prominent mountain group on the Malay Peninsula. Composed of granite with some patches of altered stratified rocks, the range extends southward for 300 miles (480 km) from the Thai border, with elevations rarely less than 3,000 feet (900 m) and some peaks exceeding 7,000 feet (2,100 m; high point Mount Korbu [Kerbau], or Buffalo Mountain, 7,162 feet [2,183 m]). The heavily forested

Albury-wodonga

2005-03-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

Urban centre comprising twin cities on opposite sides of the Murray River and the New South Wales–Victoria border, Australia. By rail the region is about 398 miles (640 km) southwest of Sydney and nearly 186 miles (299 km) northeast of Melbourne. In 1973 the Commonwealth and the two state governments agreed to plan and develop the growing cities through the Albury-Wodonga Development

Audaghost

2005-03-25T03:21:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Awdaghost (fl. 9th–11th century), former Berber town in the southwest Sahara, northwest of Timbuktu. Audaghost was an important terminus of the medieval trans-Saharan trade route. The town was primarily a centre where North African traders could buy gold from the kings of ancient Ghana. Audaghost was first an independent market town and later a tributary satellite of Ghana. It was

Wad

2005-03-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

Also called Bog Manganese, black and earthy substance that consists mainly of hydrated manganese oxides; it is an important ore of manganese. It varies considerably in chemical composition and contains different impurities, often in large amounts. Wad is very soft, readily soils the fingers, and may be considered to be a mixture chiefly of pyrolusite and psilomelane. It results from the decomposition

Ribeiro Couto, Rui

2005-03-23T21:37:00.000-08:00

Brazilian poet, short-story writer, and diplomat, one of the leading figures of Modernism in its early years. Originally a symbolist poet, Ribeiro Couto evolved toward the Modernism that exploded upon the Brazilian literary scene in the early 1920s, publishing poems and short stories concerning themes of humble everyday life. Besides his

Shahpura

2005-03-23T20:28:00.000-08:00

Town, south-central Rajasthan state, northwestern India. It is a major road junction and agricultural mart. A walled town, Shahpura was founded about 1629 and was named after the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, who reigned from 1628 to 1658. The town was the seat of the Ramsanehi (“Lovers of Rama”), a medieval sect of mendicants, and was the capital of the former princely state of Shahpura, which became

Music, Western, Ancient Greece

2005-03-22T08:18:00.000-08:00

Of the eastern Mediterranean cultures, it was undoubtedly that of the Greeks that furnished the most direct link with musical development in western Europe, by way of the Romans, who defeated them but adopted much of Greek culture intact. Entering historical times relatively late, c. 1000 BC, the Greeks soon dominated their neighbours and absorbed many elements of earlier

Mckenzie, Sir John

2005-03-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

McKenzie's deep antagonism toward land monopolists was rooted in his boyhood in Scotland, where he witnessed the dispossession of small farmers by Highland landlords. After

Xanthus

2005-03-20T20:49:00.000-08:00

Modern Kinik principal city of ancient Lycia. It is situated on a cliff above the mouth of the Koca (Xanthus) River in what is now western Turkey. The early history of Xanthus is unclear: although it is mentioned in early Lycian inscriptions, no Bronze Age remains have been found within the city. According to the Iliad, the Lycians, led by the hero Sarpedon, were the most prominent allies

Distillation

2005-03-20T14:36:00.000-08:00

Process involving the conversion of a liquid into vapour that is subsequently condensed back to liquid form. It is exemplified at its simplest when steam from a kettle becomes deposited as drops of distilled water on a cold surface. Distillation is used to separate liquids from nonvolatile solids, as in the separation of alcoholic liquors from fermented materials,

Permafrost, Permafrost thawing and frost heaving

2005-03-19T16:17:00.000-08:00

Because thawing of permafrost and frost action are involved in almost all engineering problems in polar areas, it is advisable to consider these phenomena generally. The delicate thermal equilibrium of permafrost is disrupted when the vegetation, snow cover, or active layer is compacted. The permafrost table is lowered, the active layer is thickened, and considerable

Eylau, Battle Of

2005-03-19T05:37:00.000-08:00

(Feb. 7–8, 1807), one of the engagements in the Napoleonic War of the Third Coalition. The first major deadlock suffered by Napoleon, the battle was fought around the East Prussian town of Eylau (modern Bagrationovsk, Russia), 23 miles (37 km) south of Königsberg (Kaliningrad). The 76,000 Russians and Prussians under Leonty Leontyevich Bennigsen confronted 74,000 men under Napoleon shortly after

Avicenna

2005-03-18T05:10:00.000-08:00

Arabic Ibn Sina, in full Abu 'Ali al-Husayn ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Sina Iranian physician, the most famous and influential of the philosopher-scientists of Islam. He was particularly noted for his contributions in the fields of Aristotelian philosophy and medicine. He composed the Kitab ash-shifa' (“Book of Healing”), a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and the Canon of Medicine, which is among the most

Triangle

2005-03-18T04:07:00.000-08:00

Percussion instrument consisting of a steel rod bent into a triangle with one corner left open. It is suspended by a gut or nylon loop and struck with a steel rod. It is theoretically an instrument of indefinite pitch, for its fundamental pitch is obscured by its inharmonic partials (component

Costa, Lorenzo

2005-03-17T16:52:00.000-08:00

Costa was trained at Ferrara, probably under Cosmè Tura, who was the first important native-born Ferrarese painter. From at least 1485 he worked at Bologna in close connection

Rio Branco

2005-03-17T10:49:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Acre estado (“state”), western Brazil. It lies on the west bank of the Acre River, and just north where the Branco River (Rio Branco) flows into the Acre. A commercial and distribution centre, Rio Branco exports rubber, metals, medicinal plants, Brazil nuts, and timber. Petroleum and alcohol fuels are processed there. The Federal University of Acre (1971) is located

Wigeon

2005-03-17T07:18:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Widgeon, any of four species of dabbling ducks (family Anatidae), popular game birds and excellent table fare. The European wigeon (Anas, or Mareca, penelope) ranges across the Palaearctic and is occasionally found in the Nearctic regions. The American wigeon, or baldpate (A. americana), breeds in northwestern North America and winters along the U.S., Mexican, Central American, and

Bohol

2005-03-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

Island, Visayan group, south-central Philippines. Roughly oval in shape, the island has an area of 1,492 square miles (3,865 square km) and lies between the Camotes Sea (north) and the Bohol Sea (south). Its volcanic core is mostly covered with coralline limestone. The rivers are short, and there are few good anchorages. Settlement is mainly coastal, except for a low central plateau that

Ouzel

2005-03-15T18:38:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ousel, also called Ring-ouzel (species Turdus torquatus), a thrush of the family Turdidae (order Passeriformes), characterized by a white crescent on the breast. A blackish bird, 24 cm (9.5 inches) long, it breeds locally in uplands from Great Britain and Norway to the Middle East. The name ouzel was formerly applied to a closely related European blackbird (T. merula; see blackbird). For a related bird in Mexico,

Price, Sammy

2005-03-15T11:05:00.000-08:00

Price first toured as a dancer before working in bands in the Southwest and Midwest during the 1920s and '30s. He moved to New York City in 1937, where he became a staff musician

Lord

2005-03-14T13:54:00.000-08:00

In the British Isles, a general title for a prince or sovereign or for a feudal superior (especially a feudal tenant who holds directly from the king, i.e., a baron). In the United Kingdom the title today denotes a peer of the realm, whether or not he sits in Parliament as a member of the House of Lords. Before the Hanoverian succession, before the use of “prince” became settled

Absentee Voting

2005-03-14T11:58:00.000-08:00

Electoral process that enables persons who cannot appear at their designated polling places to vote from another location. The usual method of absentee voting is by mail, although provision is sometimes made for voting at prescribed places in advance of the polling date. Absentee voting requires special administrative arrangements to ensure the secrecy and

Earth Sciences, Weather modification

2005-03-12T21:20:00.000-08:00

As late as the 1890s experiments were conducted in the United States in the hope of producing rain by setting off charges of dynamite lofted by balloons or kites. No positive results were reported, however. More promising were the cloud-seeding experiments of the 1940s, in which silver iodide was released into clouds as smoke or solid carbon dioxide broadcast into clouds

Art For Art's Sake

2005-03-12T18:57:00.000-08:00

A slogan translated from the French l'art pour l'art, which was coined in the early 19th century by the French philosopher Victor Cousin. The phrase expresses the belief held by many writers and artists, especially those associated with Aestheticism, that art needs no justification, that it need serve no political, didactic, or other end.

Ramana Maharshi

2005-03-12T01:45:00.000-08:00

Original name Venkataraman Aiyer Hindu philosopher and yogi called “Great Master,” “Bhagavan” (the Lord), and “the Sage of Arunachala,” whose position on monism (the identity of the individual soul and the creator of souls) and maya (illusion) parallels that of Sankara (c. AD 700–750). His original contribution to yogic philosophy is the technique of vicara (self-“pondering”

Paasche Index

2005-03-12T00:15:00.000-08:00

The index is a ratio that compares the total purchase cost of a specified bundle of current-period commodities (commodities valued at current

Dietrich, Marlene

2005-03-11T19:09:00.000-08:00

Marie Magdalene was the daughter of Ludwig Dietrich, a Royal Prussian police officer. Her father died when she was very young, and her mother remarried a cavalry officer, Edouard von Losch.

Drago, Luis María

2005-03-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

A member of a distinguished Argentine family, Drago began his career as a newspaper editor. He later served as Argentine financial officer and then as minister of foreign affairs

Arabia

2005-03-11T05:14:00.000-08:00

The mineral resource of greatest value is oil. The Arabian Peninsula has the largest oil reserves in the world. With the exception of deposits in Yemen, the Arabian oil fields lie in the same great sedimentary basin as the fields of Iran and Iraq. Although oil was discovered in Iran in 1908, the first field on the Arabian side of the basin, in Bahrain, was not found until 1932. This

Yuma

2005-03-10T22:37:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1871) of Yuma county, southwestern Arizona, U.S. It is situated on the Colorado River at the mouth of the Gila River, just north of the Mexican frontier. Founded in 1854 as Colorado City, it was renamed Arizona City (1862) and Yuma (1873), probably from the Spanish word humo, meaning “smoke,” because of the local Quechan (Yuma) practice of creating smoke clouds to induce rain. A strategic river

Geneva

2005-03-09T06:08:00.000-08:00

Town, Adams county, eastern Indiana, U.S., on the Wabash River, 35 miles (56 km) northeast of Muncie. Platted in 1853, it was called Buffalo until presumably renamed for the Swiss city. A rural community with many Old Order Amish families, it lies in the “Limberlost Country,” a timber-swampland made famous by the novelist Gene Stratton Porter in such novels as Freckles (1904) and A Girl of the

Wagner-jauregg, Julius

2005-03-08T23:43:00.000-08:00

Original name Julius Wagner, Ritter (Knight) von Jauregg Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist whose treatment of syphilitic meningoencephalitis, or general paresis, by the artificial induction of malaria constituted the first example of shock therapy. The method brought a previously incurable fatal disease under medical control and earned him the Nobel Prize for Physiology or

Ben-zvi, Itzhak

2005-03-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

A Zionist from his youth, Ben-Zvi in 1905 helped form the Russian Poale Zion, a socialistically oriented Zionist group that set an important

Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

2005-03-08T13:51:00.000-08:00

A child prodigy, at age 11 Korngold composed the ballet Der Schneemann (“The Snowman”), which caused a sensation at its first performance in Vienna (1910). He was still a teenager when his operas Der Ring des Polykrates and

Jaén

2005-03-07T23:26:00.000-08:00

Provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Andalusia, south-central Spain. It is surrounded by the Sierra Morena (north), the Segura and Cazorla ranges (east), and Parapanda, Lucena, and Segura mountains (south). The western part of the province is composed of plains that lead to the fertile Guadalquivir River valley. There are several irrigation dams

Nizhnevartovsk

2005-03-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

City and port, Khanty-Mansi autonomous okrug (district), Tyumen oblast (province), west-central Russia. It lies along the right bank of the Ob River. The city grew rapidly, especially in the 1970s, as a result of the discovery of large oil fields nearby. Along with Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk is a major administrative centre of the middle Ob oil fields. It also has a gas-processing plant.

Babenco, Hector

2005-03-06T19:03:00.000-08:00

Babenco spent his late teen and early adult years studying existential philosophy and traveling the world, finally settling in Brazil in 1971. He became interested in filmmaking during the early '70s and directed shorts and commercials

Grace, William R.

2005-03-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

Grace ran away to New York at the age of 14 but later returned to Ireland. In 1850 he visited Callao, Peru, where he entered

Ovett, Steve

2005-03-05T10:21:00.000-08:00

Ovett first attracted international notice when he won the 800-metre race at the 1973 European junior championships in Duisburg, West

China, The Khitan

2005-03-04T21:01:00.000-08:00

To the north at the time of the Wu-tai rose the seminomadic but largely pastoral Khitan, who were related to the eastern Mongols. The word Khitan (or Khitai) is the source of Cathay, the name for North China in medieval Europe (as reported by Marco Polo), and of Kitai, the Russian name for China. The Khitan founded the Liao Empire (907–1125) by expanding from the border of Mongolia into

Prickly Heat

2005-03-04T18:44:00.000-08:00

A noncontagious skin eruption of red pimples with intense itching and tingling caused by inflammation around the sweat glands. It is a form of miliaria (q.v.).

Norfolk, Thomas Howard, 4th Duke Of, Earl Of Surrey, Earl Marshal

2005-03-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

He was the son of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who was put to death for alleged treasonable activities in 1547. Restored to his father's title on the accession of Queen Mary

Chia-ch'ing

2005-03-03T23:02:00.000-08:00

He was proclaimed emperor and assumed the reign title of Chia-ch'ing in 1796, after the abdication of his father, the Ch'ien-lung emperor (reigned 1735–96). Power, however, remained in the hands of

Sea Walnut

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

Any member of a common genus (Mnemiopsis) of gelatinous, planktonic marine invertebrates of the class Tentaculata (phylum Ctenophora). The sea walnut resembles the sea gooseberry morphologically, but as in many ctenophores the body is prolonged into eight lobes. Full-grown individuals may be as long as 15 cm (6 inches). They lead a wholly planktonic existence and are found

Gumma

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

Soft, granulomatous, tumourlike mass, sometimes appearing during the late stages of syphilis, that occurs most often beneath the skin and mucous membranes but that may also be found in the bones, nervous system, and other organs and tissues. See also syphilis.

Zemes Mate

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

(Latvian), Lithuanian Zemyna the Earth Mother of Baltic religion. Zemes mate represents the female aspect of nature and the source of all life—human, animal, and plant. Interacting with Dievs (the sky), Zemes mate stimulates and protects the power of life. Libations of beer were offered to her at the opening of every festival, and such products of the earth as bread, ale, and herbs were buried in the ground

Leaf-nosed Snake

2005-03-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

Any of four species of small burrowing snakes of the family Colubridae that have the nose shield enlarged and flattened, with free edges. Several subspecies of each also exist. The two members of the genus Phyllorhynchus are found in creosote-bush deserts of the southwestern United States and Mexico, where they hunt at night for lizards and insects. The two species

Venango

2005-03-01T13:57:00.000-08:00

Venango county was formed in 1800; its name was derived from an Iroquoian Indian word probably meaning “bull thistle.” In August 1859 Edwin L. Drake triggered Pennsylvania's oil boom

Race, History

2005-03-01T07:18:00.000-08:00

The history of race in science is discussed in Thomas F. Gossett, Race: The History of an Idea in America (1965); Elazar Barkan, The Retreat of Scientific Racism (1992); Nancy Stepan, The Idea of Race in Science: Great Britain 1800–1960 (1992).

Islam, Shrines of Sufi saints

2005-02-28T06:36:00.000-08:00

By the late 20th century, the Sufi shrines, which were managed privately in earlier periods, were almost entirely owned

Sogetsu

2005-02-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

20th-century Japanese school of floral art that introduced the zen'ei (“avant-garde”) ikebana style in which freedom of expression is preeminent. Founded by Teshigahara Sofu in 1927, the school rose to prominence after World War II. It appeals to contemporary tastes by largely disregarding the classic formal rules; containers of any shape and material are used, and man-made materials

Sullivan, Louis

2005-02-26T20:22:00.000-08:00

In full Louis Henry Sullivan American architect, regarded as the spiritual father of modern American architecture and identified with the aesthetics of early skyscraper design. His more than 100 works in collaboration (1879–95) with Dankmar Adler include the Auditorium Building, Chicago (1887–89); the Guaranty Building, Buffalo, New York (1894–95; now Prudential

Bac Lieu

2005-02-26T20:21:00.000-08:00

Town, Ca Mau Peninsula, southern Vietnam. It has a hospital and a commercial airport and is linked by highway to Ho Chi Minh City, 120 mi (195 km) to the northeast. In addition to rice growing, there is mat making, and, on the coast, salt is obtained by evaporation. There is also a fishing industry. The government has moved people into the area from Ho Chi Minh City-Cho Lon. Pop. (1971 est.) 65,678.

Auden, W(ystan) H(ugh)

2005-02-26T06:49:00.000-08:00

English-born poet and man of letters who achieved early fame in the 1930s as a hero of the left during the Great Depression. Most of his verse dramas of this period were written in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood. In 1939 Auden settled in the United States, becoming a U.S. citizen.

Domino, Fats

2005-02-24T20:21:00.000-08:00

From a musical family, Domino received early training

Alexander Nevsky, Saint

2005-02-24T16:34:00.000-08:00

Russian Aleksandr Nevsky, original name Aleksandr Yaroslavich prince of Novgorod (1236–52) and of Kiev (1246–52) and grand prince of Vladimir (1252–63), who halted the eastward drive of the Germans and Swedes but collaborated with the Mongols in imposing their rule on Russia. By defeating a Swedish invasion force at the confluence of the Rivers

Defense Of Rights, Associations For The

2005-02-24T05:27:00.000-08:00

The league was actually a coalition of middle-class organizations,

Amphibian, Neoteny

2005-02-23T23:41:00.000-08:00

Neoteny entails the maturation of a larva's reproductive capabilities without the concomitant development of its external morphological features; this phenomenon occurs in some aquatic salamanders and is due to delayed somatic development. Different patterns of partial metamorphosis, ranging from a lack of development in jaw and cranial elements to a retention

Gioia Del Colle

2005-02-23T01:31:00.000-08:00

Medieval monuments include a 12th-century castle and a fortified hunting lodge built for the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II. The town has an archaeological museum, and nearby is the site of a large city that flourished between the 6th and 4th

Houston, Whitney

2005-02-22T03:09:00.000-08:00

The daughter of Emily (“Cissy”) Houston—whose vocal group, the Sweet Inspirations, sang backup for Aretha Franklin—and the cousin of singer Dionne Warwick, Whitney Houston began singing in church as a child. While still

Kababish

2005-02-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

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

Dowa Highlands

2005-02-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

Also called Chitembwe-mwera Highlands, central Malawi, rectangular formation covering an area of about 360 square miles (930 sq km); they comprise rolling hills crowned by high ridges including the heights of Dowa (5,571 feet [1,698 m]) and Ntchisi peaks. The highlands are bounded on three sides by steep slopes, forming the Eastern (Great) Rift Valley wall to the east and overlooking the Bua and Lilongwe river valleys to the north

Tsvet, Mikhail Semyonovich

2005-02-20T16:27:00.000-08:00

Tsvet studied in Geneva, Switz., receiving his doctorate in 1896, and in 1901 he received a degree from the

Coral

2005-02-20T06:47:00.000-08:00

Stony corals (order Madreporaria or Scleractinia) number

Katz, Sir Bernard

2005-02-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

German-born British biophysicist (b. March 26, 1911, Leipzig, Ger.—d. April 20, 2003, London, Eng.), shared (with American biochemist Julius Axelrod and Swedish physiologist Ulf von Euler) the 1970 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning the chemistry of nerve transmission. Katz was singled out for his studies on the neurotransmitter acetylcholine and the mechanism

Cyprus

2005-02-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

Greek Kípros , Turkish Kibris island located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, about 40 miles (64 km) south of Turkey, 60 miles (97 km) west of Syria, and 480 miles (772 km) southeast of mainland Greece. Its maximum length, from Cape Arnauti in the west to Cape Apostolos Andreas at the end of the northeastern peninsula, is 140 miles (225 km); the maximum north-south extent is 60 miles (97 km). With an area of 3,572 square miles (9,251 square km), it is the third

Tallchief, Maria

2005-02-18T08:41:00.000-08:00

Born in a town on an Osage Indian reservation in Oklahoma, Maria Tallchief and her sister Marjorie were of Osage and Scotch-Irish descent. Both sisters began dancing as children and later studied

Interior Design

2005-02-18T01:46:00.000-08:00

It is important to emphasize that interior design is a specialized branch of architecture or environmental design; it is equally important to keep in mind that no specialized branch in any field would be very meaningful if practiced out of context. The best buildings and the best interiors are those in which there is no obvious disparity between the many elements

Animal, Critical appraisal

2005-02-17T19:36:00.000-08:00

This classification includes only extant groups. Because the aschelminths have not been studied adequately by modern methods, there is no consensus on their classification, and the system used here differs in some respects from that in the article aschelminth. The classification in this article is based on morphological work carried out in the late 1980s and remains

Price, George

2005-02-17T19:14:00.000-08:00

As a young man Price did odd jobs in printing offices and did freelance illustrations. During the 1920s he was active in advertising art. Much of the humour in his cartoons lay

Aiken, Howard Hathaway

2005-02-16T01:18:00.000-08:00

Aiken did engineering work while he attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison. After completing his doctorate at Harvard University in 1939, he remained there for a short period to teach before undertaking war work for the U.S.

Vrancea

2005-02-16T00:42:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), east-central Romania, occupying an area of 1,878 square miles (4,863 square km). The Eastern Carpathian and sub-Carpathian mountains rise above settlement areas in the county's valleys and lowlands. The southward-draining Siret River constitutes most of the county's eastern border. The Zabala, Rimna, and Trotus rivers also flow southeastward into the Siret. The county

Gelada

2005-02-15T16:54:00.000-08:00

(Theropithecus gelada), large baboon-like monkey, family Cercopithecidae, differing from true baboons (Papio) in having the nostrils some distance from the tip of the muzzle. The gelada, or lion baboon, is a stocky animal with white eyelids, brown fur, a tufted tail, and a naked pink chest. The male bears a long, heavy mane and may be more than 70 centimetres (28 inches) long, excluding

Earth, Reversals of the main field

2005-02-14T13:11:00.000-08:00

The Earth's internal magnetic field has not always been oriented as it is today. The direction of the dipole component reverses, on an average, about every 300,000 to 1,000,000 years. This reversal is very sudden on a geologic time scale, apparently taking about 5,000 years. The time between reversals is highly variable, sometimes occurring in less than 40,000 years and at other times remaining steady

Carnivore, Natural history

2005-02-14T09:50:00.000-08:00

They are largely omnivorous in food habits, eating a variety of small mammals, birds, reptiles, eggs of birds and reptiles, amphibians, fishes, crustaceans, insects and their grubs, and earthworms, as well as vegetation such as fruits, nuts, bulbs or roots, and other plant material.

Annaba

2005-02-14T04:10:00.000-08:00

Formerly Bône , or Bona town and Mediterranean port, northeastern Algeria. It lies near the mouth of the Wadi Seybouse, close to the Tunisian border. Its location on a natural harbour (Annaba Gulf) between Capes Garde and Rosa early attracted the Phoenicians, probably in the 12th century BC. It passed to the Romans as Hippo Regius, was the residence of the Numidian kings, and achieved independence

Singh Sabha

2005-02-13T03:20:00.000-08:00

Educational and literary movement among the Sikhs, a religious group of northern India, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It began as a defense against the proselytizing activities of Christians and Arya Samajists (Hindu reformists) and sought the reconversion of many Sikhs back to Hinduism. Its chief aims were the revival of the teachings of the Sikh

Lodge, David

2005-02-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

Lodge was educated at University College, London (B.A., 1955; M.A., 1959), and at the University of Birmingham (Ph.D., 1967). His early novels, known mostly in England, include The Picturegoers (1960), about a group of Roman Catholics living in London; Ginger, You're Barmy (1962), Lodge's novelistic

Ryazan

2005-02-12T06:01:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Riazan, or R'azan ', city and administrative centre of Ryazan oblast (province), western Russia. It lies along the Oka River on the site of the ancient town of Pereyaslavl-Ryazansky, about 120 miles (193 km) southeast of Moscow. The original Ryazan, first recorded in 1095, lay downstream at the Pronya confluence. The seat of the early principality of Ryazan, it was destroyed in 1237 by the Mongols; only the ruins

Blood Fluke

2005-02-12T02:08:00.000-08:00

Any of certain parasitic flatworms that live in the veins of the host organism. See fluke.

Shilling

2005-02-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

Former English (and British) coin, nominally valued at one-twentieth of a pound sterling, or 12 pence. A silver coin of 12 pence, called a teston, or testoon, was first struck in 1504, bearing a profile likeness of Henry VII and engraved by Alexander Bruchsal. This coin was continued by Henry VIII and was renamed the shilling during the succeeding reign of Edward VI. (The direct origin

Shimane

2005-02-11T11:28:00.000-08:00

Because of its distance from central Honshu and its unfavourable

Fish Oil

2005-02-10T15:38:00.000-08:00

Fatty oil from the bodies of fishes, used in the manufacture of many products, such as margarine, cooking oil, cosmetics, caulking compounds, paints, industrial coatings, lubricants, water repellents, soaps, and candles. It is also used in the tanning of leather, the manufacture of rubber, and the production of chemicals used for making synthetic wax. Anchovy, menhaden,

Canada Day

2005-02-10T02:00:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1982) Dominion Day the national holiday of Canada. The possibility of a confederation between the colonies of British North America was discussed throughout the mid 1800s. On July 1, 1867, a dominion was formed through the British North America Act as approved by the British Parliament. It consisted of territories then called Upper and Lower Canada and of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The act

Ghana, Relief and drainage

2005-02-09T03:45:00.000-08:00

Relief throughout Ghana is generally low, with altitudes nowhere exceeding 3,000 feet (900 metres). The southwestern, northwestern, and extreme northern parts of the country consist of a dissected peneplain—a land surface worn down by erosion to a nearly flat plain, later uplifted and again cut by erosion into hills and valleys or into flat uplands separated by valleys; it