FreeTongue

Production Function

2005-03-24T18:44:00.000-08:00

The production function can

Simeon

2005-03-21T23:29:00.000-08:00

Following the Exodus out of Egypt and the death of Moses, Joshua led the Israelites into the Promised Land and divided the new territory among the 12 tribes. Though sources do

Swan Service

2005-03-19T02:13:00.000-08:00

Set of porcelain tableware made at the Meissen factory in Germany between 1737 and 1741 by Johann Joachim Kändler and Johann Friedrich Eberlein. Made for Heinrich, Count von Brühl, the factory director, it was composed of 2,200 pieces modeled and painted in the Rococo style with such aquatic motifs as swans and water nymphs. It is probably the single finest table service ever made

Margai, Sir Milton (augustus Striery)

2005-03-17T15:01:00.000-08:00

The grandson of a paramount chief and the

Gnomic Poetry

2005-03-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

Aphoristic verse containing short, memorable statements of traditional wisdom and morality. The Greek word gnome means “moral aphorism” or “proverb.” Its form may be either imperative, as in the famous command “know thyself,” or indicative, as in the English adage “Too many cooks spoil the broth.” Gnomes are found in the literature of many cultures; among the best known examples

Dinosaur, Pachycephalosauria

2005-03-14T08:41:00.000-08:00

In important respects the pachycephalosaurs conformed to the basic ornithopod body plan, and there is some evidence that pachycephalosaurs actually evolved from (and are therefore members of) ornithopods, perhaps similar to hypsilophodontids. All of them appear to have been bipedal. They bore the typical ornithopod ossified tendons along the back, and they

Athelney

2005-03-12T22:15:00.000-08:00

Small eminence, formerly an island, rising above the drained marshes around the confluence of the Rivers Tone and Parrett in the administrative and historic county of Somerset, England. In 878 King Alfred sought refuge from the Danes in the marshes and constructed a stronghold at Athelney, from where he broke out and won a decisive victory at Edington, near Chippenham.

Furniture, Fabrics

2005-03-09T19:16:00.000-08:00

The use of fabrics in furnishing rooms is closely bound up with the need for heating. In the primitively heated rooms of the Middle Ages, textiles were used to keep out cold and drafts. In 12th- and 13th-century churches, painted textile drapery can still be discerned beneath the picture friezes. In rather cold churches, just as in poorly heated homes, loosely hung textile

Chancre

2005-03-07T21:18:00.000-08:00

Typical skin lesion of the primary stage of infectious syphilis, usually appearing on the penis, labia, cervix, or anorectal region. (Because in women the chancre often occurs internally, it may go unnoticed.) The lesion often occurs in combination with a painless swelling of the regional lymph nodes, and together these symptoms are the major characteristics of syphilis

Loquat

2005-03-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

(Eriobotrya japonica), subtropical tree of the rose family (Rosaceae), related to the apple and other well-known fruit trees of the temperate zone. Ornamental in appearance and rarely more than 10 metres (33 feet) in height, the evergreen loquat is frequently planted in parks and gardens. The leaves, clustered toward the ends of the branches, are thick and

Wiggin, Kate Douglas

2005-03-03T05:23:00.000-08:00

Kate Douglas Smith attended a district school in Philadelphia and for short periods the Gorham Female Seminary in Maine, the Morison Academy in Maryland, and the Abbott Academy in Massachusetts. In 1873 she moved with her family to Santa

China, The Late T'ang (755907)

2005-03-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

The rebellion of An Lu-shan in 755 marked the beginning of a new period. At first the rebellion had spectacular success. It swept through the northeastern province of Hopeh, captured the eastern capital, Lo-yang, early in 756, and took the main T'ang capital, Ch'ang-an, in July of the same year. The Emperor fled to Szechwan, and on the road his consort Yang Kuei-fei and other members of

Skeet Shooting

2005-02-27T16:14:00.000-08:00

Sport in which marksmen use shotguns to shoot at clay targets thrown into the air by spring devices called traps. It differs from trapshooting (q.v.), from which it derived, in that in skeet, traps are set at two points on the field and targets may be thrown diagonally across the shooter's field of vision as well as directly away from him (see illustration). The sport was developed

Hinduism, Vaishnava Samhitas

2005-02-26T01:52:00.000-08:00

These consist of two groups of texts: Vaikhanasa Samhitas and Pañcaratra Samhitas. The latter group is the prevailing one; more than 200 titles are known, though the official number is 108. Vaikhanasa Samhitas (collections of the Vaishnava school of Vaikhanasas, who were originally ascetics) seem to have embodied the original temple manuals for the Bhagavatas (devotees), which by the 11th

Arabia, The Rub' al-Khali

2005-02-23T23:36:00.000-08:00

The largest uninterrupted sand desert in the world, the Rub' al-Khali covers an area estimated at about 250,000 square miles. The name Rub' al-Khali is not commonly used by the few nomadic Bedouin who live there; they call it simply Ar-Ramlah (“The Sand”). Shrub vegetation is widely spaced over the porous, sandy surfaces and is almost nonexistent on the occasional rock and salt surfaces.

Black Rod

2005-02-22T22:32:00.000-08:00

In full Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod an office of the British House of Lords (the upper house in Parliament), instituted in 1350. Its holder is appointed by royal letters patent, and his title is derived from his staff of office, an ebony stick surmounted with a gold lion. He is a personal attendant of the sovereign in the upper house and there functions as a sergeant at arms; his most prominent duty is the summoning

Lan Ts'ai-ho

2005-02-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Lan Caihe, in Chinese mythology, one of the Pa Hsien, the Eight Immortals of Taoism, whose true identity is much disputed. Artists depict Lan as a young man—or girl—carrying a flute or a pair of clappers and occasionally wearing only one shoe. Sometimes a basket of fruit is added. In Chinese theatre, Lan is dressed in female clothes but speaks with a male voice. Lan traveled the streets

Philistine

2005-02-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

One of a people of Aegean origin who settled on the southern coast of Palestine in the 12th century BC, about the time of the arrival of the Israelites. According to biblical tradition (Deuteronomy 2:23; Jeremiah 47:4), the Philistines came from Caphtor (possibly Crete). They are mentioned in Egyptian records as prst, one of the Sea Peoples that invaded Egypt in about 1190 BC after ravaging

Camping

2005-02-16T05:55:00.000-08:00

Organized camping of another kind started in the United States in 1861 with a boys' camp, run by Frederick William Gunn and his wife at Milford-on-the-Sound, for students of the Gunnery School for Boys in Washington, Conn. Its success was immediate and was repeated for 18 successive years. Other similar camps began to develop. A private camp was established in 1876 by Joseph Trimble

Radial Keratotomy

2005-02-13T23:34:00.000-08:00

Surgical procedure to correct myopia (nearsightedness) by reducing the radius of curvature of the cornea and astigmatism (asymmetrical curvature of the cornea). A series of 4 to 8 equally spaced deep cuts are made in the peripheral cornea, leaving the central cornea above the pupil clear. Intraocular pressure then pushes the weakened central cornea outward, flattening

Arnstadt

2005-02-11T15:22:00.000-08:00

City, Thuringia Land (state), central Germany. It lies along the Gera River, at the northern edge of the Thuringian Forest, just southwest of Erfurt city. First mentioned in 704 and chartered in 1266, Arnstadt was bought in 1306 from the abbey of Hersfeld by the counts of Schwarzburg, who lived there until 1716. Their palace, Monplaisir (1703–07), survives, and the 12th–14th-century Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche)

Requests, Court Of

2005-02-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

Called the Court of Poor Men's Causes until 1529, it was a popular court because of the limited expense of bringing suit before it. Modeled after the French Chambre

Aufklärung

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

(German: “Enlightenment”), in Germany, the 17th- and 18th-century philosophical movement that emphasized rationalism. See Enlightenment.

Chile, The Chilean Andes

2005-02-05T23:11:00.000-08:00

The formation of the western Andes ranges

France, History Of, France after de Gaulle

2005-02-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

De Gaulle's departure from the scene provoked some early speculation about the survival of the Fifth Republic and of the Gaullist party (the UDR); both, after all, had been tailored to the general's measure. But both proved to be durable, although his successors gave the system a somewhat different tone. Georges Pompidou won the presidency in June 1969 over several left and

Parafusulina

2005-02-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

Genus of extinct fusulinid foraminiferans (single-celled animals with a hard, complexly constructed shell) found as fossils in Permian marine rocks (the Permian Period began 286 million years ago and ended 245 million years ago). Parafusulina is more specifically restricted to the Leonardian and Guadalupian stages, smaller divisions of Permian rocks and time, and is

Barbados Cherry

2005-01-30T02:50:00.000-08:00

The Malpighia species bear edible fruits, rich in vitamin C, that are used in preserves and commercial vitamin production. They are native to the West Indies and southern

Earth Sciences, Weather modification

2005-01-29T23:24:00.000-08:00

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

Hackberry

2005-01-26T11:53:00.000-08:00

The eastern North American tree called hackberry, or nettle tree, is C. occidentalis. It has bright green elmlike leaves, which often

Razor-billed Auk

2005-01-24T01:22:00.000-08:00

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

Du Toit, Stephanus Jacobus

2005-01-22T17:26:00.000-08:00

South African pastor and political leader who, as the founder of the Afrikaner Bond (a bitterly anti-British political party of Dutch South Africans), was influential in generating Boer (Dutch) political opposition to British rule in South Africa. He was also instrumental in the establishment of Afrikaans

Biblical Literature

2005-01-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

The Old Testament is a collection of writings that was first compiled and preserved as the sacred books of the ancient Hebrew people. As the Bible of the

Fischhof, Adolf

2005-01-21T14:43:00.000-08:00

As a young assistant physician, Fischhof was the first speaker to address the crowd assembled outside the building of the Austrian estates in Vienna on the morning of March 13, 1848—the first day of the revolution. Rising in

Claremont

2005-01-19T14:16:00.000-08:00

City, Los Angeles county, southwestern California, U.S., in the Pomona Valley, at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, adjacent to Pomona. Founded in 1887 by the Pacific Land Improvement Company, it was probably named for Claremont, New Hampshire, hometown of one of the company's directors. It developed as an educational centre after 1889, when Pomona College (1887) moved there. It is now

Averroës

2005-01-19T09:01:00.000-08:00

Medieval Latin Averrhoës , also called Ibn Rushd , Arabic in full Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd influential Islamic religious philosopher who integrated Islamic traditions with ancient Greek thought. At the request of the Almohad caliph Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, he produced a series of summaries and commentaries on most of Aristotle's works (1169–95) and on Plato's Republic, which exerted considerable influence in

Itinerarium

2005-01-17T01:20:00.000-08:00

The only surviving map is the Peutinger Table, a 13th-century copy of a Roman world map. The 4th-century “Antonine Itinerary,” one of the few

China, The Hsi (Western) Chin (AD 265316/317)

2005-01-16T05:43:00.000-08:00

This was a period of relative order and prosperity, a short interlude between the turbulent age of the San-kuo and the devastating barbarian invasions. The empire had been nominally reunited (AD 280), and for a short time the central government attempted important fiscal and political reforms, mainly intended to curb the great families, which threatened the ruler's authority.

Mauer

2005-01-15T19:08:00.000-08:00

Pleistocene locality on the Neckar River of Germany and the name of a Pleistocene deposit, the Mauer Sands (the Pleistocene epoch began about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The Mauer Sands are about 64 feet (20 m) thick and contained the fossil remains of the sabre-toothed cat, bear, horse, hippopotamus, and extinct elephant; Germany's oldest human fragment, the Heidelberg

Clay Mineral, Kaolin-serpentine group

2005-01-15T04:22:00.000-08:00

Minerals of this groups are 1:1 layer silicates. Their basic unit of structure consists of tetrahedral and octahedral sheets in which the anions at the exposed surface of the octahedral sheet are hydroxyls (see Figure 4). The general structural formula may be expressed by Y2 - 3Z2O5(OH)4, where Y are cations in the octahedral sheet such as Al3+ and Fe3+ for dioctahedral species and Mg2+,

Italian Literature

2005-01-13T21:22:00.000-08:00

The body of written works produced in the Italian language that had its beginnings in the 13th century. Until that time nearly all literary work composed in the Middle Ages was written in Latin. Moreover, it was predominantly practical in nature and produced by writers trained in ecclesiastical schools. Literature in Italian developed later than literature in French

Spanish Lime

2005-01-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

(Melicoccus bijugus), tree, of the soapberry family (Sapindaceae), native to the West Indies. It grows to about 15 metres (50 feet). The flowers are small, greenish white, and fragrant. The green fruit is a drupe (a single stony seed covered by soft, fleshy tissue) with yellow or white tasty, juicy flesh.

Wild Boar

2005-01-11T04:46:00.000-08:00

Also called Wild Pig, any of the wild members of the pig species Sus scrofa (family Suidae, order Artiodactyla), the ancestors of domestic pigs. See boar.

Farjeon, Eleanor

2005-01-10T18:01:00.000-08:00

The daughter of a British novelist and granddaughter of a U.S. actor, Eleanor Farjeon grew up in the bohemian literary and dramatic circles of London. Attending opera and

Biblical Literature, Biblical literature in liturgy

2005-01-09T21:35:00.000-08:00

Abraham Z. Idelsohn, The Jewish Liturgy and Its Development (1932, reprinted 1967); Joseph H. Hertz, The Authorized Daily Prayer Book, rev. ed. (1948), Hebrew and English with historical notes and commentary; Fan S. Noli, Three Liturgies of the Eastern Orthodox Church (1955); Donald Attwater, Eastern Catholic Worship (1945), eight Uniate liturgies in English; Josef A. Jungmann, Missarum Sollemnia: Eine Genetische Erklärung der römischen Messe, 2 vol. (1958; Eng. trans., The Mass of The Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development, abridged ed., 1959); Clement J. McNaspy, Our Changing Liturgy (1966), reforms following Vatican II; Gregory Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy (1945); Bard Thompson, Liturgies of the Western Church (1961), includes the main Protestant traditions.

Brasília, Climate

2005-01-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

The climate is warm and mild with average minimum and maximum temperatures of about 57° F (14° C) and 81° F (27° C), respectively. Rainfall averages some 60 inches (1,600 mm) per year with a dry season from March to October, and humidity is generally between 40 and 80 percent (it fell to 11 percent during a drought in 1994).

Mar-pa

2005-01-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

The chief source of information on the life of Mar-pa is a 14th-century biography written by the “Mad Yogin of Tsang.” According to it, Mar-pa was born of wealthy parents. He had a violent nature and was

Physical Medicine And Rehabilitation

2005-01-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

Also called Physiatry, Physical Therapy, or Rehabilitation Medicine, medical specialty concerned with the treatment of chronic disabilities and with the restoration of normal functioning to the disabled through physical modes of treatment, such as exercise. This specialized medical service is generally aimed at rehabilitating persons disabled by pain or ailments affecting the motor functions of the body. Physical medicine

Hooker, Richard

2005-01-04T18:43:00.000-08:00

Theologian who created a distinctive Anglican theology, and a master of English prose and legal philosophy. In his masterpiece, Of the lawes of ecclesiasticall politie, which was incomplete at the time of his death, Hooker defended the Church of England against both Roman Catholics and Puritans

Biblical Literature, Masoretic texts

2005-01-04T16:37:00.000-08:00

The earliest extant Hebrew

Semitic Languages

2005-01-03T05:21:00.000-08:00

Group of languages spoken in northern Africa and the Middle East that constitutes one of the branches of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) language family. (The other branches are Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic, and Chadic.) The Semitic languages are divided into four groups: (1) Northern Peripheral, or Northeastern, with only one language, ancient Akkadian; (2) Northern

Interior Design, Special interiors

2005-01-03T05:15:00.000-08:00

Although an attempt was made to classify the kinds of interiors that are the prevalent concern of interior design, there are many kinds of special interiors that at times fall within the larger field of environmental design and that do not fit into a particular category or even a professional subspecialty. Transportation design may be part engineering, part industrial

Typhus

2005-01-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

Acute, infectious series of diseases that are characterized by a sudden onset with headache, chills, fever, and general pains, a rash appearing on the third to fifth day, and toxemia (toxic substances in the blood), and terminating after about two to three weeks. Originally considered a single clinical entity, it is now regarded as a group of closely related diseases caused

Medicine, History Of, Hellenistic and Roman medicine

2004-12-31T07:33:00.000-08:00

In the following century the work of Aristotle, regarded as the first great biologist, was of inestimable value to medicine. A pupil of Plato at Athens and tutor to Alexander the Great, Aristotle studied the entire world of living things. He laid what can be identified as the foundations of comparative anatomy and embryology, and his views influenced scientific thinking

Haley, Alex

2004-12-29T14:19:00.000-08:00

Although his parents were teachers, Haley was an indifferent student. He began writing to avoid boredom during voyages while serving in the U.S. Coast Guard (1939–59). His first major work, The Autobiography

Dumka

2004-12-29T10:48:00.000-08:00

Also called Naga Dumka town, east-central Bihar state, northeastern India, east of the Mor River. It is a road junction and major agricultural-trade centre. A weekly cattle mart is held. There is a college affiliated with Bhagalpur University. Dumka was constituted a municipality in 1903. Pop. (1981) 31,068.

Mahan, Larry E.

2004-12-27T05:48:00.000-08:00

In 1962 Mahan won the all-around Oregon championship and also won the bareback bronc and bulldogging

Noriega, Manuel

2004-12-27T00:12:00.000-08:00

Noriega was born into a poor family of Colombian extraction. Educated at one of the top high schools in Panama, he was awarded a scholarship to the Chorrillos Military School in Lima,

Carlisle

2004-12-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

Borough (town), seat (1751) of Cumberland county, southern Pennsylvania, U.S., in the Cumberland Valley, 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Harrisburg. James Le Tort, a French-Swiss Indian trader, settled with an Indian tribe near the site about 1720. The town, laid out in 1751, was named for Carlisle, Cumberland, England. It was the setting for continuous conflict with the Iroquois Confederacy until Benjamin

Yrjö-koskinen, Sakari

2004-12-25T18:42:00.000-08:00

Forsman—later, when he was made a baron, named Yrjö-Koskinen—was a nationalist scholar and a member of the mid-19th-century Fennoman Party,

Field Trial

2004-12-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

Any of the competitions among individual sporting dogs, under conditions that approximate or simulate those found in the hunting field. Competing dogs need not necessarily be of the same breed. In the United States many of the field trials in the bird-dog (pointing dog) category are staged under the sanction of the American Kennel Club, the official governing body

Bulgarian Language

2004-12-23T07:14:00.000-08:00

Bulgarian Bulgarski ezik South Slavic language written in the Cyrillic alphabet and spoken in Bulgaria and parts of Greece, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine. Together with Macedonian, to which it is most closely related, Bulgarian contrasts sharply with the other Slavic languages in its almost complete loss of case declension in the noun and in its use of certain grammatical features found

Carletonville

2004-12-22T10:07:00.000-08:00

Town, principal mining centre of the Far West Witwatersrand goldfields, Gauteng province, South Africa, west of Johannesburg. Carletonville was originally an unplanned settlement established between 1937 and 1957 as various companies developed their gold-mining claims. In 1959 it was officially designated a town, being named for Guy Carleton Jones, a local mining director.

Catalexis And Acatalexis

2004-12-21T22:46:00.000-08:00

In prosody, an omission or incompleteness in the last foot of a line or other unit in metrical verse and, conversely, the metrical completeness of such a unit.

Wesak

2004-12-20T06:36:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Vesak, Sanskrit Vaishakha, Pali Vesakha most important of the Theravada Buddhist festivals, commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha. The event is observed on the full-moon day of the lunar month Vesakha, which falls in April or May. The day is observed as a public holiday in many Southeast Asian countries. It is marked by special devotional services and various deeds intended to be

Mahathir Bin Mohamad

2004-12-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

The son of a schoolmaster, Mahathir was educated at Sultan Abdul Hamid College and the University of Malaya in Singapore, where he studied medicine. After graduating in 1953, he worked as a government

Argentina, National consolidation, 185280

2004-12-18T09:21:00.000-08:00

General Urquiza called a constitutional convention that met in Santa Fe in 1852. Buenos Aires refused to participate, but the convention adopted a constitution for the whole country that went into effect on May 25, 1853. Buenos Aires recoiled from the new confederation, the first elected president of which was Urquiza and the first capital of which was Paraná. The porteño dissidence

Muir Woods National Monument

2004-12-17T18:48:00.000-08:00

One of the two virgin stands of coastal redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) in the U.S. National Park Service. The groves lie near the Pacific coast of California, U.S., 15 mi (24 km) northwest of San Francisco at the foot of Mt. Tamalpais. Some of these trees are more than 300 ft (90 m) high and 15 ft in diameter and are more than 2,000 years old. The forest, established in 1908 with an area of 503 ac (204 ha), was a gift of Congressman

Feuillet, Raoul-auger

2004-12-16T15:05:00.000-08:00

French dancer, dancing master, and choreographer whose dance notation system was published in his Chorégraphie ou l'art de décrire la danse (1700; “Choreography, or the Art of Describing the Dance”). Working in Paris, he collaborated with André Lorin, conductor of the Royal Academy of Dance; he also wrote Recueil de danses (1704; “Collection of Dances”), describing dances performed

Papp, Joseph

2004-12-15T21:38:00.000-08:00

Papp studied acting and directing at the Actor's Laboratory Theatre in Hollywood from 1946 to 1948, when he became its managing

Jili, Al-

2004-12-14T22:50:00.000-08:00

Little is known about al-Jili's personal life. Possibly after a visit to India in 1387, he studied in Yemen during 1393–1403. Of his more than 30 works, the most famous is Al-Insan al-kamil fi ma'rifat al-awakhir wa al-awa 'il (partial Eng. trans., Studies in Islamic

Azad Kashmir

2004-12-14T09:09:00.000-08:00

Area of the Pakistani-administered sector of the Kashmir region, in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. Azad (“Free”) Kashmir, established in 1947 after the partition of India, is neither a province nor an agency of Pakistan but has a government of its own that is regarded by Pakistan as “independent,” even though it is protected by and economically and administratively

Affective Disorder

2004-12-12T03:10:00.000-08:00

Mental disorder characterized by dramatic changes or extremes of mood. Affective disorders may include manic (elevated, expansive, or irritable mood with hyperactivity, pressured speech, and inflated self-esteem) or depressive (dejected mood with disinterest in life, sleep disturbance, agitation, and feelings of worthlessness or guilt) episodes, and often combinations

She Chi

2004-12-11T22:07:00.000-08:00

Pinyin She Ji (Chinese: “Earth and Millet”), ancient Chinese compound patron deity of the soil and harvests. China's earliest legendary emperors are said to have worshiped She (Earth), for they alone had responsibility for the entire earth and country. This worship was meant to include the five spirits of the earth that resided in mountains and forests, rivers and lakes, tidelands and

Bulandshahr

2004-12-10T05:40:00.000-08:00

The surrounding area comprises a level region between

Albanian Language

2004-12-10T03:14:00.000-08:00

The two principal dialects, Gheg in the north and Tosk in the south, are separated roughly by the Shkumbin River. Gheg and Tosk have been diverging for at least a millennium, and their less extreme forms are mutually intelligible. Gheg has the more marked subvarieties, the most striking of which are the northernmost and eastern types, which include those of the city

Infection, Social habits

2004-12-08T15:24:00.000-08:00

The vampire bats of Brazil, which transmit paralytic rabies, bite cattle but not ranchers, presumably because on the plains of Brazil ranchers are few but cattle plentiful. Bat-transmitted rabies, however, does occur in human beings in Trinidad, where herdsmen sleep in shacks near their animals. The mechanism of infection is the same in Brazil and Trinidad, but the

Silk Road

2004-12-07T02:46:00.000-08:00

Originating at Sian, the 4,000-mile (6,400-kilometre) road, actually a caravan tract, followed the Great Wall

Furniture, The United States

2004-12-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

The new classicism of Robert and James Adam came into vogue in the new republic during the last years of the century. The shipowners and merchants of Salem, Boston, and New York equipped their mansions with the work of Samuel McIntire, John Seymour, and Duncan Phyfe, each of whom produced individual interpretations of the Hepplewhite-Sheraton mode. This early Federal

La Rioja

2004-12-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

City, capital of La Rioja provincia, northwestern Argentina, on La Rioja River at the foot of the Velasco Mountains. Founded in 1591 by explorers for gold and silver, it long remained a small commercial and administrative centre close to intermittently worked deposits of copper, silver, and lead ores in the high Andes to the west. Its destruction by earthquake in 1894 led to its

Suppiluliumas I

2004-12-04T21:33:00.000-08:00

Suppiluliumas'

Asphyxia

2004-12-01T03:37:00.000-08:00

Asphyxia can be caused by injury to or obstruction of breathing passageways, as in strangulation or the aspiration of food (choking) or large quantities of fluid (near-drowning or drowning).

France, History Of, Conscription

2004-11-30T15:20:00.000-08:00

Building on the Directory's conscription law of September 1798, the Napoleonic regime, after considerable trial and error, had created the mechanisms for imposing on the citizens of France and the annexed territories the distasteful obligation of military service. Each year the Ministry of War Administration assigned a quota of conscripts for every department.

France, History Of, Conscription

2004-11-27T07:15:00.000-08:00

Any of about 30 species of mammals related to rabbits and belonging to the same family (Leporidae). In general, hares have longer ears and longer hind feet than rabbits. While the tail is relatively short, it is longer than that of rabbits. The vernacular names hare and rabbit are frequently misapplied to particular species. Jackrabbits of North

Epicurus

2004-11-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

Greek philosopher, author of an ethical philosophy of simple pleasure, friendship, and retirement. He founded schools of philosophy that survived directly from the 4th century BC until the 4th century AD.

Wylie, Elinor

2004-11-23T13:40:00.000-08:00

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

Lippe River

2004-11-22T14:50:00.000-08:00

River, a right-bank tributary of the Rhine, that flows through North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state) in Germany. Rising near Bad Lippspringe on the western edge of the Teutoburger Wald, the Lippe follows a westerly course of 155 miles (250 km) and flows into the Rhine near Wesel. The river lies along the northern border of the Ruhr industrial region. By the aid of locks it is navigable

Orangery

2004-11-20T16:36:00.000-08:00

The great period of the orangery,

Hale, Edward Everett

2004-11-18T07:04:00.000-08:00

A grandnephew of the Revolutionary hero Nathan Hale and a nephew of Edward Everett, the orator, Hale trained on his father's newspaper, the Boston Daily Advertiser, and turned early to writing. For 70 years newspaper articles, historical

Argentina, The Gran Chaco

2004-11-16T10:49:00.000-08:00

The western sector of the North region, the Gran Chaco, extends beyond the international border at the Pilcomayo River into Paraguay, where it is called the Chaco Boreal (“Northern Chaco”) by Argentines. The Argentine sector between the Pilcomayo River and the Bermejo River is known as the Chaco Central. Argentines have named the area southward to latitude 30° S, where the

Graf Spee

2004-11-14T00:57:00.000-08:00

After sinking several merchant ships in the Atlantic, the Graf Spee was sighted on Dec. 13, 1939, off the Río de la Plata estuary by a British search group consisting of the cruisers Exeter, Ajax, and Achilles, commanded by

Fischer, Ludwig

2004-11-12T00:03:00.000-08:00

Although originally a student of the violin and cello, Fischer was discovered at the age of 18 in a church choir and in a student operetta and was given a position at court. With the help of a grant by Elector Karl Theodor he continued

Pacific Islands, Micronesia

2004-11-09T23:13:00.000-08:00

Eight or 10 cultural-linguistic areas in Micronesia attest to its greater heterogeneity. Palau, Yap, and the Mariana Islands, in western Micronesia, suggest affinities with Melanesia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The customary siting of island farmsteads and hamlets near the shore reflects the prevailing interest in fishing, canoeing, and interisland trade. Except

Leaf Fibre

2004-11-07T18:03:00.000-08:00

Hard, coarse fibre obtained from leaves of monocotyledonous plants (flowering plants that usually have parallel-veined leaves, such as grasses, lilies, orchids, and palms), used mainly for cordage. Such fibres, usually long and stiff, are also called “hard” fibres, distinguishing them from the generally softer and more flexible fibres of the bast, or “soft,” fibre group. Commercially

Carinus

2004-11-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

With the title of Caesar, he was sent by his father, the emperor Carus, to the army of the Rhine in 282. On his father's death in the summer of 283, Carinus became emperor in the West, his brother Numerian becoming emperor in the East. After a campaign on the Rhine, Carinus returned to Rome where,

Zaragoza

2004-11-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Saragossa, provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Aragon, northeastern Spain. Together with the provinces of Huesca and Teruel, it formed the old kingdom of Aragon. It extends north and south of the middle course of the Ebro River; it reaches the foot of the Pyrenees (north) and is bounded west by the provinces of Navarra, Logroño, and Soria, south by Guadalajara

Cullen, William

2004-11-02T14:58:00.000-08:00

After attending the University of Glasgow and the new medical school at Edinburgh, Cullen returned to Hamilton. He spent eight years in private clinical practice, attending without fee those too poor to

Puertollano

2004-10-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

City, Ciudad Real provincia, in the autonomous community (region) of Castile-La Mancha, south central Spain, just south-southwest of Ciudad Real city. Located on the Madrid–Ciudad Real–Mérida railway with rich coal, iron, lead, manganese, and copper pyrite mines in the vicinity, Puertollano's population has tripled in the 20th century. The mines form the basis of important

Good Feelings, Era Of

2004-10-29T06:56:00.000-07:00

Also called Era Of Good Feeling, the national mood of the United States from 1815 to 1825, as first described by the Boston Columbian Centinel on July 12, 1817. Although the “era” generally is considered coextensive with President James Monroe's two terms (1817–25), it really began in 1815, when for the first time American citizens could afford to pay less attention to European political and military affairs. The predominant attitude

Kertész, André

2004-10-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

While working as a clerk on the Budapest Stock Exchange from 1912 to 1914, Kertész began to experiment with photography. During World War I he served in the Hungarian

Yenisey River

2004-10-24T04:19:00.000-07:00

The peoples of the Yenisey valley are diverse. Around the western headwaters (Great and Little Yenisey) Tuvans predominate in the rural areas, but they are joined by significant numbers of Russians in Kyzyl, the capital of Tuva. To the north of Tuva the Krasnoyarsk kray (territory) of Russia extends down the entire valley northward to the Kara Sea; its population comprises