YoungCamera

Ski Patrol

2005-03-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

Group of paid or volunteer workers at ski resorts whose primary function is to promote skiing safety and provide first aid for injured skiers. Ski patrolmen are proficient skiers trained in first aid and cold weather rescue and survival techniques. One of the largest such organizations in the world is the National Ski Patrol System of the United States, founded

Setting

2005-03-17T21:24:00.000-08:00

The makeup and behaviour of fictional characters often depend on their environment quite as much as on their personal characteristics. Setting is of great importance in Émile Zola's novels, for example, because he believed that environment determines character. In some cases

Kaministiquia River

2005-03-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kaministikwia, river, western Ontario, Can. It rises in Dog Lake and, after a crooked course of 60 miles (95 km), empties into Thunder Bay, an arm of Lake Superior. It has many rapids and cataracts, notably the wide Kakabeka Falls (154 feet [47 m] high), site of a major hydroelectric station. The river divides into three channels as it enters Thunder Bay, providing deepwater shipping docks at the city of Thunder

Córdoba, Mosque-cathedral Of

2005-03-13T18:23:00.000-08:00

The original structure was built by the Umayyad ruler 'Abd ar-Rahman I in 784–786 with extensions in the 9th and 10th centuries that doubled its size, ultimately making it one of the largest sacred buildings in the Islamic world. The ground plan of the completed building forms a vast rectangle

Insurance, Liability insurance

2005-03-11T02:19:00.000-08:00

There are at least four major types of liability insurance contracts:

Ibn An-nafis

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

In full 'Ala' ad-Din Abu al-'Ala' 'Ali ibn Abi al-Haram al-Qurayshi ad-Dimashqi ibn an-Nafis Arab physician who first described the pulmonary circulation of the blood. In finding that the wall between the right and left ventricles of the heart is solid and without pores, he disputed Galen's view that the blood passes directly from the right to the left side of the heart. Ibn an-Nafis correctly stated that the blood must pass from the right ventricle to the left

San Cristóbal

2005-03-07T20:07:00.000-08:00

In full Benemérita de San Cristóbal city, south-central Dominican Republic. It is situated in the coastal lowlands close to the Caribbean Sea. Founded by Spaniards in 1575, when gold was discovered in the area, it was the site of the signing of the Dominican Republic's first constitution (1844) and of the birth of dictator Rafael Trujillo Molina (1891). San Cristóbal is now a prosperous commercial centre for its agricultural

Ch'i-lien Mountains

2005-03-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

Wade–Giles romanization Ch'i-lien Shan, Pinyin Qilian Shan, rugged mountain range on the border of Tsinghai and Kansu provinces, west central China. It forms part of the Nan Shan, the eastern outlier of the Kunlun Mountains. Heavily glaciated in many places, the mountains rise to 18,194 ft (5,547 m), and most peaks exceed 13,000 ft. Snow covers the mountain tops; herds graze in the well-watered valleys. Impassable throughout, the range forms the southern

Indian Ocean, Trenches

2005-02-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

The Indian Ocean has the fewest trenches of any of the world's oceans. The narrow (50 miles), volcanic, and seismically active Java Trench is the world's second longest, stretching more than 1,600 miles from southwest of Java and continuing northward as the Sunda Trench past Sumatra, with an extension along the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Biblical Literature, Types of biblical hermeneutics

2005-02-26T05:07:00.000-08:00

As has been said, the importance of biblical hermeneutics has lain in the Bible's status as a sacred book in Judaism and Christianity, recording a divine revelation or reproducing divine oracles. The “oracles” are primarily prophetic utterances, but often their narrative setting has also come to acquire oracular status. Quite different hermeneutical principles,

Bruce, Michael

2005-02-24T20:10:00.000-08:00

Bruce's parents gave him a good education, and he attended four winter sessions at the University of Edinburgh. In 1766 he wrote his last and finest poem, “Elegy Written in Spring.” His reputation

Posada, José Guadalupe

2005-02-22T07:50:00.000-08:00

As a child Posada worked as a farm labourer and in a pottery factory. He taught school for a short time and then began to draw, inspired largely by posters for the Rea Circus. Gradually he was attracted

Acrolith

2005-02-21T17:19:00.000-08:00

Statue, especially ancient Greek, in which the trunk of the figure was of wood and the head, hands, and feet of marble. The wood was either gilded or covered by real or metal drapery. Acroliths are known from the descriptions of Pausanias, a 2nd-century-AD Greek geographer and traveller, who mentions, for example, Phidias' acrolith of Athena at Plataea. This form of sculpture

'abbasid Dynasty

2005-02-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

The name is derived from that of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, al-'Abbas (died c. 653), of the Hashimite clan of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca. From c. 718, members of his family worked to gain control

Cheng Ch'eng-kung

2005-02-17T06:08:00.000-08:00

Cheng Ch'eng-kung was born in a small Japanese coastal town to a Japanese mother and a Chinese father, Cheng Chih-lung, a maritime adventurer who made a fortune through trade and piracy in the Taiwan Straits. Cheng

Celadon

2005-02-14T01:25:00.000-08:00

Chinese, Korean, Siamese, and Japanese stoneware decorated with green glazes. To create this ware, artisans apply a wash of slip (liquefied clay), which contains a high proportion of iron, to the body of the stoneware before glazing. The iron interacts with the glaze during the firing and colours it one of various shades of green. First made in China, a wide demand led to the

Il-khanid Dynasty

2005-02-13T04:23:00.000-08:00

Hülegü, a grandson of Genghis Khan, was given the task of capturing Iran by the paramount Mongol chieftain Möngke. Hülegü set out in about 1253 with a Mongol army of about 130,000. He founded the Il-Khanid dynasty in 1256, and by 1258 he had captured Baghdad and all Iran. The Il-Khans consolidated their position in Iran

Gauss, Carl Friedrich

2005-02-11T05:47:00.000-08:00

Gauss was the only child of poor parents.

Faenza Majolica

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

Majolica also spelled Maiolica, tin-glazed earthenware produced in the city of Faenza in the Emilia district of Italy from the late 14th century. Early Faenza ware is represented by green and purple jugs decorated with Gothic lettering and heraldic lions and by Tuscan oak leaf jars. The first significant majolica piece, a wall plaque, is dated 1475. Typical Renaissance motifs appear on 15th-century ware,

Peru, The War of the Pacific (187983)

2005-02-06T22:13:00.000-08:00

At the Battle of Iquique (then in Peru, now in Chile), on May 21, 1879, the Peruvians suffered

Wolfenden Report

2005-02-05T06:11:00.000-08:00

A study containing recommendations for laws governing sexual behaviour, published in 1957 by the Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution in Great Britain. It was named for Sir John Wolfenden, the chairman of the committee. Using the findings of psychoanalysis and social science, the report urged that public statutes avoid the attempt to legislate morality

Insurance, Limitations on amount recoverable

2005-02-02T21:27:00.000-08:00

Recovery under homeowner's forms is limited to loss due directly to the occurrence of an insured peril. Losses caused by some intervening source not insured by the policy are not covered. For example, if a flood or a landslide, which usually are excluded perils, severely damages a house that subsequently is destroyed by fire, the homeowner's recovery from the fire is

Myanmar (burma)

2005-02-01T21:14:00.000-08:00

Myanmar's ruling junta met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Sept. 20, 1994; it was their

Finland, Recreation

2005-01-30T20:14:00.000-08:00

In Finland the basic national sport—which originally was a necessary means of winter transportation—is cross-country skiing. Nationalism also encouraged the development of special proficiency, which was fostered by ski fairs and competitions held at Oulu beginning in the late 1890s. An interest in other athletics developed from the time that the Finns took part

Peter I

2005-01-28T21:42:00.000-08:00

King of Aragon from June 1094. The son of Sancho Ramírez, the third in order of the historic kings of Aragon, Peter belonged to times anterior to the authentic written history of his kingdom; and little is known of him save that he conquered Huesca (1096) and Barbastro (1100) from the Moors of Saragossa. He was twice married but left no children and was succeeded by his brother Alfonso

Ashland

2005-01-26T14:20:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1860) of Ashland county, extreme northern Wisconsin, U.S. It is a port on Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior. A Jesuit mission was established there in 1665, but not until 1854 did Asaph Whittlesey settle the site, which he named for Henry Clay's Kentucky estate. In 1877 Ashland became the terminus of the first railroad of northern Wisconsin and developed with iron-mining and lumbering

Drachten

2005-01-24T02:21:00.000-08:00

Chief town of Smallingerland gemeente (commune), Friesland provincie, northwestern Netherlands. It lies along the Wijde Ee waterway, which is part of the canal system that flows into the larger Prinses Margriet Canal to the northwest. The surrounding area consists of lowlands; there are forests at nearby Beetsterwaag, and peat moors are found southwest of

China, Buddhism

2005-01-22T21:29:00.000-08:00

The spokesmen of Chinese Buddhism under the early Mongol rulers came from the Ch'an sect (meditation Buddhism). Their high intellectuality and refined aestheticism, however, did not appeal to the Mongols, who felt more attracted by the mixture of magic practices, rather nebulous metaphysics, and impressive symbolism in the visual arts of Tibetan Buddhism. Kublai

Vail, Alfred Lewis

2005-01-19T03:56:00.000-08:00

Shortly after Vail graduated from the University of the City of New York in 1836, he met Morse and became interested in Morse's telegraph experiments. In return for a share in the

Cumberland

2005-01-17T10:26:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1789) of Allegany county, northwestern Maryland, U.S. It lies in a bowl-shaped valley in the narrow panhandle region between Pennsylvania (north) and West Virginia (south), bounded by the Potomac River to the south. It is situated at the entrance to Cumberland Narrows, a natural gateway carved by Wills Creek through the Allegheny Mountains west to the Ohio River valley.

Tibet, Finance

2005-01-16T21:12:00.000-08:00

There were no banks before 1951. Small loans to be paid with interest could be obtained from local merchants, and the Tibetan government loaned public funds at interest as a means of collecting revenue. The Chinese have established branches of the People's Bank of China and have also extended agricultural and commercial credit and introduced Chinese currency.

Sea Pansy

2005-01-12T23:53:00.000-08:00

Any of certain marine animals of the sea pen (q.v.) group.

Caboche, Simon

2005-01-10T09:45:00.000-08:00

A skinner by trade and a leader of the malcontent merchant guilds from 1407, Caboche, along with his followers, was taken under the patronage of John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy. The University of Paris joined this faction, which blamed King Charles

Carlile, Richard

2005-01-08T06:46:00.000-08:00

Radical English journalist who was a notable champion of the freedom of the press. Although convinced that the free propagation of ideas was more important than specific reforms, he was an early advocate of almost all the Radical causes of his time, including the abolition of monarchy, completely secular education, and the

Astor (of Hever, Of Hever Castle), John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron

2005-01-06T06:37:00.000-08:00

He was the second son of the 1st Viscount Astor (before his emigration to England) and Astor's first wife, Mary Dahlgren. Educated at Eton,

Chiatura

2005-01-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ciatura, city, central Georgia. Chiatura lies along the Kvirila River in a deep trench in the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus range. It is the centre of one of the largest manganese-mining areas of the world. The ore, which was first discovered in 1849, has been exploited since 1879. The city and its ore-enriching plants cluster in the narrow valley, with the mines in the surrounding

N-town Plays

2005-01-02T09:18:00.000-08:00

An English cycle of 42 scriptural (or “mystery”) plays dating from the second half of the 15th century and so called because an opening proclamation refers to performance “in N. town.” Since evidence suggests that the cycle was not peculiar to one city or community but traveled from town to town, the abbreviation “N.” would indicate that the appropriate name of the town at which

Qaeda, Al-

2004-12-31T05:02:00.000-08:00

Al-Qaeda began as a logistical network to support Muslims fighting against the Soviet Union during the Afghan War; members were recruited throughout the Islamic world. When the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989, the organization dispersed but continued to oppose what its leaders

Danegeld

2004-12-29T13:31:00.000-08:00

A tax levied in Anglo-Saxon England to buy off Danish invaders in the reign of Ethelred II (978–1016); it also designates the recurrent gelds, or taxes, collected by the Anglo-Norman kings. The word is not recorded before the Norman Conquest, the usual earlier (Old English) term being gafol (“gavel,” or “tribute”). Though the Danes were sometimes bought off in the 9th century, the word Danegeld

Skiing

2004-12-27T11:57:00.000-08:00

In the 18th Nordic World Cup series, Dæhlie and Vyalbe

Cruise Missile

2004-12-24T00:03:00.000-08:00

Type of low-flying strategic guided missile. The German V-1 missile used in World War II was a precursor of the cruise missile, which was developed by the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and '70s. Capable of carrying either a nuclear or a conventional warhead, the cruise missile was designed to have a very low radar cross section and to hug the ground while traveling

Gulf

2004-12-23T19:02:00.000-08:00

Most existing gulfs were formed or greatly extended as a result of the rise in sea level that accompanied the melting of the last Pleistocene glacial ice mass, as vast sections of the continental margins were drowned. Some pronounced

Radical

2004-12-21T23:38:00.000-08:00

Also called Free Radical, in chemistry, molecule that contains at least one unpaired electron. Most molecules contain even numbers of electrons, and the covalent chemical bonds holding the atoms together within a molecule normally consist of pairs of electrons jointly shared by the atoms linked by the bond. Most radicals may be considered to have arisen by cleavage of normal electron-pair

Mauldin, Bill

2004-12-18T02:04:00.000-08:00

After studying cartooning at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts,

Neuropteran

2004-12-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

All three orders may have evolved from an early mecopteran (scorpionfly) ancestral stem, prior to the Trichoptera–Lepidoptera offshoot (see section on Trichoptera). Carnivorous insects of varied structure and habit, both freshwater and terrestrial members of the three orders, are widely distributed with the exception of the snakeflies (which are confined to the

Aidan, Saint

2004-12-15T23:46:00.000-08:00

Aidan was a monk at Iona, an island of the Inner Hebrides in Scotland, when King Oswald of Northumbria requested that he be made bishop of the newly converted Northumbrians. Consecrated in

Lockwood, Belva Ann

2004-12-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

Belva Bennett attended country schools until she was 15 and then taught in them until her marriage in 1848 to Uriah H. McNall, who died in 1853. She then resumed teaching and continued her own education. She graduated from Genesee College

Meher Baba

2004-12-11T07:53:00.000-08:00

Also called The Awakener, original name Merwan Sheriar Irani spiritual master in western India with a sizable following both in that country and abroad. Beginning on July 10, 1925, he observed silence for the last 44 years of his life, communicating with his disciples at first through an alphabet board but increasingly with gestures. He observed that he had come “not to teach but to awaken,” adding that “things

Sikhism, Canonical and noncanonical literature

2004-12-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

The earliest source materials on Nanak are the janam-sakhis (“life stories”), written 50 to 80 years after the death of the Guru. Most Sikh scholars reject them and rely instead on the Guru's compositions incorporated in the Adi Granth and the Vars (heroic ballads) composed by Bhai Gurdas (died 1629). Neither Nanak's hymns nor Gurdas' Vars are specific regarding the events of Nanak's life. Other historical

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

2004-12-05T02:32:00.000-08:00

Typhus-like disease first described in the Rocky Mountain section of the United States, caused by a specific microorganism (Rickettsia rickettsii) and transmitted to man by ticks. It is identical with a disease known as São Paulo fever in Brazil and with the spotted fever of Colombia. Discovery of the microbe of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in 1906 by H.T. Ricketts led to

Béranger, Pierre-jean De

2004-12-03T02:26:00.000-08:00

Béranger was active in his father's business enterprises until they failed. He then found work as a clerk at the University of Paris (1809). He led a marginal

Smith, Ian (douglas)

2004-12-01T10:38:00.000-08:00

Smith attended local schools and entered Rhodes University in Grahamstown, S.Af. He interrupted his

San Andrés Tuxtla

2004-11-29T02:21:00.000-08:00

Formerly Los Tuxtlas, city, southeastern Veracruz estado (“state”), south-central Mexico. It lies on the slopes of San Martín volcano, along the Tuxtla River, at an elevation of 1,181 feet (360 m) above sea level. The town was founded by Ixtlecos Indians in 1664, after the eruption of the volcano, and was made a city in 1893. Corn (maize), high-quality tobacco, sugarcane, and fruits all flourish in the hot, rainy climate, but

Gulf Series

2004-11-27T18:18:00.000-08:00

Major division of Upper Cretaceous rocks (66.4 to 97.5 million years old) in the Gulf coastal region of the United States. The Gulf Series has been divided into several groups of rocks. The lowermost groups of limestone and clay are overlain by the Eagleford Shale, about 145 m (475 feet) of clayey shales, which in turn is overlain by the Austin Chalk, about 130 m (420 feet) of chalks and marls. The Taylor

Wylie, Elinor

2004-11-24T00:42:00.000-08:00

Elinor Hoyt grew up from age 12 in Washington, D.C., where her father served as assistant U.S. attorney general and later as solicitor general. In 1904 she graduated from

Fujiwara Tadahira

2004-11-23T21:16:00.000-08:00

Japanese statesman who assumed the leadership of the Fujiwara family in 909 upon the death of his brother Tokihira. Although in his later years Tokihira had begun to dominate the government, he had never assumed the title of kampaku (chancellor). The post had been created and first assumed by their father, Fujiwara Mototsune, and allowed to lapse by the emperor

Dominica Channel

2004-11-20T01:14:00.000-08:00

Marine passage in the Lesser Antilles, West Indies, connecting the Caribbean Sea with the open Atlantic Ocean to the east. It flows between the island of Dominica (north) and the French island and overseas département of Martinique (south) and is about 25 miles (40 km) wide.

Kusanagi

2004-11-19T13:17:00.000-08:00

(Japanese: “Grass-Mower”), in Japanese mythology, the miraculous sword that the sun goddess Amaterasu gave to her grandson Ninigi when he descended to earth to become ruler of Japan, thus establishing the divine link between the imperial house and the sun. The sword, along with the mirror and jeweled necklace, still forms one of the three Imperial Treasures of Japan. The

Great Basin

2004-11-16T00:41:00.000-08:00

Also called Great Basin Desert

Hypertext

2004-11-15T11:07:00.000-08:00

Also called Hyperlinking, the linking of related pieces of information by electronic connections in order to allow a user easy access between them. Hypertext is a feature of some computer programs that allow the user of electronic media to select a word from text and receive additional information pertaining to that word, such as a definition or related references within the text. In the

Narcissus

2004-11-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

Narcissus exercised great influence over Claudius and accumulated immense wealth. At first he allied himself with Claudius' third wife, Messalina Valeria, but fear that she and her lover, Gaius Silius, were conspiring

Barataria Bay

2004-11-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

Inlet of the Gulf of Mexico, about 15 miles (24 km) long and 12 miles (19 km) wide, in southeastern Louisiana, U.S. Its entrance, largely blocked by Grand Isle and the Grand Terre Islands, is via a narrow Gulf channel navigable through connecting waterways into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway system. The bay is indented and marshy with many islands. The surrounding low-lying Barataria

Sothern, Ann

2004-11-09T02:23:00.000-08:00

American actress (b. Jan. 22, 1909, Valley City, N.D.—d. March 15, 2001, Ketchum, Idaho), achieved fame with her roles in films that included Maisie (1939) and Lady Be Good (1941) and as the star of the 1950s television series Private Secretary. Sothern began her film career after performing in Broadway musicals. Her success in the title role of Maisie led to a series of films that included Maisie Was a Lady (1941) and Undercover

Arts, Central Asian, Turkish literature

2004-11-06T04:11:00.000-08:00

The purely Turkish period in the history of Turkish literatures came before the conversion of the Turks to Islam and covers approximately the 8th to the 11th centuries AD. The oldest literary legacy of the period is found in the Orhon inscriptions, found in the Orhon valley, northern Mongolia, in 1889 and deciphered in 1893 by the Danish philologist Vilhelm Thomsen. The inscriptions

Oran

2004-11-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

Oran was founded at the beginning of the 10th century

Foyle, Lough

2004-11-02T10:56:00.000-08:00

Irish Loch Feabhail inlet on the north coast of Ireland between the Inishowen Peninsula (mainly County Donegal, Ireland) to the west and the district councils of Limavady and Londonderry (until 1973 in County Londonderry), Northern Ireland, to the east and southeast. The lough is about 16 miles (26 km) long and varies in breadth from 1 to 10 miles (1.6 to 16 km). The narrowest points are at the southwestern end, where

'abd Al-rahman Iii

2004-11-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

Accounts of 'Abd ar-Rahman's reign may be found in W. Montgomery Watt, A History of Islamic Spain (1965, reissued 1977); and Stanley Lane-Poole, The Story of the Moors in Spain (1886, reprinted as The Moors in Spain, 1967).

Duxbury

2004-10-29T22:29:00.000-07:00

Town (township), Plymouth county, eastern Massachusetts, U.S. It lies on Duxbury Bay (an inlet of Cape Cod Bay), 33 miles (53 km) south of Boston, and includes the villages of Duxbury and South Duxbury. Settled about 1628, it counts among its founders the Pilgrim colonists Myles Standish, William Brewster, and John Alden. Named for Duxbury Hall in Lancashire, England, seat of the Standish

Biblical Literature, Late-2nd-century canons

2004-10-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

By the end of the 2nd century, Irenaeus used the four canonical Gospels, 13 letters of Paul, I Peter, I and II John, Revelation, Shepherd of Hermas (a work later excluded from the canon), and Acts. Justin Martyr (died c. 165), a Christian apologist, wrote of the reading of the Gospels, “the memoirs of the Apostles,” in the services, in which they were the basis for sermons. In his writings he quoted

Balas Ruby

2004-10-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

Variety of the gemstone ruby spinel (q.v.).

Czernin, Ottokar, Count

2004-10-23T01:57:00.000-07:00

Czernin, born into the Czech aristocracy, entered the Austro-Hungarian diplomatic service in the

Hawkins, Sir John

2004-10-21T19:59:00.000-07:00

A kinsman of Sir Francis Drake, Hawkins began his career as a merchant in the African trade and soon became the first English slave trader. By carrying slaves from Guinea, in West Africa,

Tradición

2004-10-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

In Spanish-American literature, short prose sketch in which a historical incident is related in an imaginative and literary style. An evocation of the South American past, the tradición may be set in the precolonial era, the age of discovery and conquest, the prerevolutionary era of romance and political intrigue, or the time of the struggle for self-determination

Melville Island

2004-10-18T15:27:00.000-07:00

Island in the Timor Sea, 16 miles (26 km) off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. It is separated from the Australian mainland by Clarence Strait. Measuring about 80 by 55 miles (130 by 88 km), it has an area of 2,240 square miles (5,800 square km) and rises from sandy beaches and shoreline mangrove swamps to low wooded hills. It is divided from Bathurst Island (west) by the narrow Apsley

Ernst, Paul

2004-10-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

Ernst studied for the ministry but quickly became disillusioned with theology. He became a militant Marxist and the editor of the Berliner Volkstribüne. He severed his

Sanjo

2004-10-13T18:43:00.000-07:00

City, Niigata Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, on the delta of the Shinano-gawa (Shinano River). Sanjo was founded as a castle town in the 16th century. It was a river port and post town during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867), when the city first became known as a centre of metal tool production. Carpenter tools and household hardware are still produced in more than 2,000 small workshops. Pop. (1980) 85,275.

Floor Exercise

2004-10-11T17:23:00.000-07:00

Gymnastics event in which movements are performed on the floor in an area 12 metres (40 feet) square. This area is covered by some type of cloth or mat, usually with some cushioning. No other apparatus is used. Men's routines are 50 to 70 seconds in duration. The type of exercise required is a series of movements combining elements of flexibility, strength, jumps, holding of poses, and

Producer Gas

2004-10-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

Mixture of flammable gases (principally carbon monoxide and hydrogen) and nonflammable gases (mainly nitrogen and carbon dioxide) made by the partial combustion of carbonaceous substances, usually coal, in an atmosphere of air and steam. Producer gas has lower heating value than other gaseous fuels, but it can be manufactured with relatively simple equipment;

Ear Disease, Secretory otitis media

2004-10-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

In secretory otitis media the middle-ear cavity becomes filled with a clear, pale yellowish, noninfected fluid. The disorder is the result of inadequate ventilation of the middle ear through the eustachian tube. The air in the middle ear, when it is no longer replenished through this tube, is gradually absorbed by the mucous membrane, and fluid takes its place. Eventually,

Ararat, Mount

2004-10-05T19:39:00.000-07:00

Turkish Agri Dagi, extinct volcanic massif in extreme eastern Turkey overlooking the point at which the frontiers of Turkey, Iran, and Armenia converge. Its northern and eastern slopes rise from the broad alluvial plain of the Aras River, about 3,300 ft (1,000 m) above sea level; its southwestern slopes rise from a plain about 5,000 ft above sea level; and on the west a low pass separates it from a long range

China, Provincial separatism

2004-10-03T05:34:00.000-07:00

The post-rebellion settlement not only pardoned several of the most powerful rebel generals but also appointed them as Imperial governors in command of the areas they had surrendered. Hopeh was divided into four new provinces, each under surrendered rebels, while Shantung became the province of An Lu-shan's former garrison army from P'ing-lu in Manchuria, which

Cohen, Stanley

2004-10-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

Cohen was educated at Brooklyn College (B.A., 1943), Oberlin College (M.A., 1945), and at the University of Michigan, where he received a Ph.D. in

Blonde Lace

2004-09-30T23:41:00.000-07:00

Originally, bobbin lace made in France in the 18th century from unbleached pale beige Chinese silk. Subsequently, the term blonde was extended to cover lace made of bleached silk (white blonde) and black-dyed silk (black blonde). Blonde lace was made in France at Bayeux, Caen, and Chantilly in the mid-18th century and also in England (Dorset) c. 1754–80. Just before the Revolution of 1789, blonde

Hansen, Jens Andersen

2004-09-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

A self-educated shoemaker, Hansen became coeditor, with Rasmus Sørensen, of the peasant newspaper Almuevennen (“Friend of the Common People”) in 1842; he was sole editor from 1843 to 1856. A consistent advocate of universal suffrage and agrarian reform, he served in the Constituent

Top Shell

2004-09-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

Any marine snail of the family Trochidae (subclass Prosobranchia, class Gastropoda), characterized by a spiral, conical shell. Although top shells are found from the intertidal zone to the deep open seas, they occur with greatest diversity in the shallow waters along rocky shores from the equator to the high latitudes. Species of the genera Gibbula, Monodonta, and

Tariq Ibn Ziyad

2004-09-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

Musa ibn Nusayr, the Arab conqueror of Morocco, left his general Tariq to govern Tangier in his place. Spain at this time was under Visigothic rule but was rent by civil war. The dispossessed sons of the recently deceased Visigothic king of Spain, Witiza, appealed to the Muslims for help in the civil war, and the Arabs quickly responded

Genesee River

2004-09-22T02:42:00.000-07:00

River mainly in New York state, U.S. The Genesee flows generally north from its headwaters in Pennsylvania, crosses the New York State Canal System, and bisects Rochester to enter Lake Ontario after a course of 158 miles (254 km). At Portageville, midway along its course, the river flows into a 17-mile- (27-km-) long postglacial, winding, rocky gorge with sides rising as high as 600 feet (180 metres)

Football

2004-09-20T04:12:00.000-07:00

For an explanation of contemporary football sports, see football (soccer); football,

Schelde River

2004-09-18T01:06:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Scheldt, French Escaut, river, 270 miles (435 km) long, that rises in northern France and flows across Belgium to its North Sea outlet in Dutch territory. Along with the Lower Rhine and the Meuse rivers, it drains one of the world's most densely populated areas. As a waterway, with its numerous branch canals and navigable tributaries, it serves an area including the agriculturally important Flanders

Yáñez, Agustín

2004-09-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

Born in a provincial neighbourhood of Guadalajara, Yáñez was enamoured of its traditions and values. As a young man he was a contributor

Gipon

2004-09-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Later in the century the gipon became shorter, and it was replaced by the doublet in the 15th and 16th centuries. For a time it was called a pourpoint.

Thun Und Hohenstein, Leo, Count (graf) Von

2004-09-12T00:48:00.000-07:00

Pro-Czech Austrian statesman and administrator who improved the educational establishments of the Austrian Empire, sought to resolve the antagonisms between Czechs and Germans in Bohemia, and favoured the conversion of the Habsburg monarchy into a federal

La Paz

2004-09-09T08:26:00.000-07:00

City, administrative capital of Bolivia, west-central Bolivia, situated some 42 miles (68 km) southeast of Lake Titicaca. La Paz, which lies between 10,650 and 13,250 feet (3,250 and 4,100 metres) above sea level, is the world's highest national capital. Visitors, upon arrival, find exertion difficult because of the rarefied atmosphere found at these elevations. The centre of the city lies in a deep, broad

Valdés, Juan De

2004-09-07T20:04:00.000-07:00

Juan studied under Spain's leading Humanists and developed religious views that closely followed the ideas of Erasmus of Rotterdam, with

Qantas Airways Limited

2004-09-05T05:53:00.000-07:00

Australian airline, the oldest in the English-speaking world, founded in 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Ltd. (from which the name Qantas was derived). Its first operations were taxi services and joy flights. By the late 20th century, however, its scheduled air routes extended throughout Australasia and farther termini of San Francisco and Vancouver;

Heterospecific Mating

2004-09-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

Also called incompatible mating mating in which the man and woman have incompatible blood types, such that the woman may develop antibodies to her partner's blood type. This mating causes difficulties in childbirth, since there is a chance that the child conceived in a heterospecific mating will have its father's blood type. When a heterospecific pregnancy occurs, the mother produces antibodies

Deventer

2004-09-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

Gemeente (commune), Overijssel provincie, east-central Netherlands, on the IJssel River at the west end of the Overijssel Canal. Deventer developed in the 8th century around a chapel established by St. Lebuinus. During the Middle Ages it prospered as a member of the Hanseatic League, had a monopoly of the dried-cod trade, and was noted for its five annual fairs. It became

Harvard Classification System

2004-08-31T14:14:00.000-07:00

In the 1860s the Italian astronomer Angelo Secchi distinguished four main spectral types of stars. At the Harvard College Observatory in the 1880s, during the compilation of the Henry

Wagner, Richard

2004-08-29T03:03:00.000-07:00

For the next 15 years Wagner was not to present any further new works. Until 1858 he lived in Zürich, composing, writing treatises, and conducting (he directed the London Philharmonic concerts in 1855). Having already studied the Siegfried legend and the Norse myths as a possible basis for an opera, and having written an operatic “poem,” Siegfrieds Tod (Siegfried's Death), in which he

France, History Of, Carolingian literature and arts

2004-08-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

A renaissance movement occurred during the general renovation undertaken by the Carolingian monarchs; they supported the movement as an aid to religious reform and as a means to enhance their own prestige. The origins of the movement lie deep in the 7th and 8th centuries. It received great stimulus, however, when the growth of the empire brought the Franks into contact