TiredRail

Egypt, Ancient, Predynastic Egypt

2005-04-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

The peoples of predynastic Egypt were the successors of the Paleolithic inhabitants of northeastern Africa, who had spread over much of its area; during wet phases they had left remains in regions as inhospitable as the Great Sand Sea. The final desiccation of the Sahara was not complete until the end of the 3rd millennium BC; over thousands of years people must have

Jewish Religious Year

2005-04-04T09:40:00.000-07:00

The cycle of Sabbaths and holidays that are commonly observed by the Jewish religious community—and officially in Israel by the Jewish secular community as well. The Sabbath and festivals are bound to the Jewish calendar, reoccur at fixed intervals, and are celebrated at home and in the synagogue according to ritual set forth in Jewish law and hallowed by Jewish

Yadin, Yigael

2005-04-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

Yadin, the son of an archaeologist, was educated at Hebrew University (M.A., 1945; Ph.D., 1955). He was a member of the Haganah military organization from 1932 to 1948 and served as chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 1949 to

Portico

2005-04-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

The portico is a principal feature of Greek temple architecture and thus a prominent element in Roman and all subsequent classically inspired structures. The types of portico furnish the main terms

Pleurococcus

2005-04-01T20:18:00.000-08:00

Pleurococcus is found as a thin, green covering on the moist, shaded side of trees, rocks, and soil. Because it grows on the north (or shaded) side of trees, stone walls, and fences, Pleurococcus is an

Yodo River

2005-04-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

Japanese Yodo-gawa, river, central western Honshu, Japan. The Yodo is the sole outlet of Lake Biwa, the country's largest freshwater lake, from which it issues in a southwesterly direction to Osaka Bay, connecting the Kyoto Basin with the Osaka Plain. It was a major means of transportation and communication during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867). The river is dammed for hydroelectricity and

Factor, Max, Jr.

2005-03-29T00:50:00.000-08:00

(FRANCIS FACTOR), U.S. cosmetician who, with his father, developed Pan-Cake makeup so actors would not appear green in colour motion pictures and, when it began to be worn offscreen as well, mass-produced it and built their company into an international cosmetics empire (b. Aug. 18, 1904--d. June 7, 1996).

Andalusia

2005-03-28T14:09:00.000-08:00

Andalusia possesses the most varied terrain and vegetation in all Spain. Striking contrasts exist between alpine mountains and pine forests at high elevations, arid and barren deserts, and fertile irrigated plains that support plantations of subtropical fruits. The topography of Andalusia is divided by mountain ranges into several distinct zones, each running

Suceava

2005-03-27T14:49:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), northeastern Romania, and bounded on the north by Ukraine. The Eastern Carpathian Mountains and the sub-Carpathians occupy the western two-thirds of the county, and the Suceava Plateau lies in the east. The Siret River flows southeastward, marking the county's eastern border, and the Suceava and Bistrita rivers also drain southeastward. Suceava (q.v.) city

Sculpture, Western, Constructivism and Dada

2005-03-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

Between 1912 and 1914 there emerged an antisculptural movement, called Constructivism, that attacked the false seriousness and hollow moral ideals of academic art. The movement began with the relief fabrications of Vladimir Tatlin in 1913. The Constructivists and their sympathizers preferred industrially manufactured materials, such as plastics, glass, iron, and steel,

Subiaco

2005-03-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

Ancient (Latin) Sublaqueum town, Roma provincia, Lazio (Latium) regione, central Italy. It lies along the Aniene River, 1,345 feet (410 m) above sea level, about 45 miles (73 km) east of Rome. Its ancient name recalls its position below three small lakes where the emperor Nero built a villa. An inundation destroyed the lakes in 1305, and only traces remain of the villa. St. Benedict retired as a hermit (c. 494) to a cave, Sacro Speco (“Holy

Allen, Richard

2005-03-24T22:57:00.000-08:00

Soon after Allen was born, to slave parents, the family was sold to a Delaware farmer. At age 17 he became a Methodist convert and at 22 was permitted to preach. Two years later (1784), at the first general conference of the

Earth, The surface of the Earth as a mosaic of plates

2005-03-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

When earthquake epicentres are plotted on a map of the world, it is apparent that most of them are confined to relatively narrow bands rather than being uniformly distributed over the Earth's surface. The narrow bands along which earthquakes occur are located at the margins of large plates that are moving relative to each other. As previously noted, these plates

Shichi-fuku-jin

2005-03-22T01:39:00.000-08:00

The Shichi-fuku-jin are a favourite

United States Court Of Appeals For The Armed Forces

2005-03-21T15:40:00.000-08:00

Originally consisting of three civil judges, the court since 1990 has consisted of five judges appointed by the president and

Developmental Psychology

2005-03-20T04:26:00.000-08:00

Also called Life-span Psychology, the branch of psychology concerned with the changes in cognitive, motivational, psychophysiological, and social functioning that occur throughout the human life span. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, developmental psychologists were concerned primarily with child psychology. In the 1950s, however, they became interested in the relationship between personality

Dramatic Literature, Dramatic expression

2005-03-19T05:24:00.000-08:00

The language of drama can range between great extremes: on the one hand, an intensely theatrical and ritualistic manner; and on the other, an almost exact reproduction of real life of the kind commonly associated with motion picture and television drama. In the ritualistic drama of ancient Greece, the playwrights wrote in verse, and it may be assumed that their actors

Kléber, Jean-baptiste

2005-03-18T11:18:00.000-08:00

The son of a mason, Kléber was an officer in the Austrian army from 1776 to 1782. He was an architect for a time in Paris, and, in

Benedetti, Mario

2005-03-18T07:35:00.000-08:00

Benedetti was born to a prosperous family of Italian immigrants. His father was a viniculturist and a chemist. At age four the boy was taken to Montevideo, where he received a superior education at a private school. He was deeply affected by his early experience of the capital

Fredericksburg

2005-03-16T08:43:00.000-08:00

City, administratively independent of, but located in, Spotsylvania county, northeastern Virginia, U.S., at the head of navigation of the Rappahannock River. The site, settled in 1671, was laid out in 1727 and named for Prince Frederick Louis, father of King George III of England. It developed as a port with a busy English trade (mostly of tobacco and iron products). William Paul, brother

Arts, Islamic, Philosophy: Averroës and Avicenna

2005-03-16T03:00:00.000-08:00

Philosophy, medicine, and theology, all of which flourished in the 'Abbasid East, were also of importance in the Maghrib; and from there strong influences reached medieval Europe. The influences often came through the mediation of the Jews, who, along with numerous Christians, were largely Arabized in their cultural and literary outlook. The eastern Muslim countries

Polio Vaccine

2005-03-15T04:27:00.000-08:00

Preparation of poliomyelitis virus given to prevent infection with the disease. The virus is grown in kidney tissue from rhesus monkeys. There are two types of vaccine: one with killed virus, which is injected, and the other with live, attenuated (weakened) virus, which is given orally. Vaccines, whether killed or live, must contain strains of all of the three poliovirus

Race, The Germanic myth and English constructions of an Anglo-Saxon past

2005-03-14T20:16:00.000-08:00

In England, from the time that Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic church and Protestant sects emerged on the horizon, historians, politicians, and philosophers had been wrestling with the creation of a new English identity. Indeed, European powers were soon to be caught up in the ethnic rivalries, extreme chauvinism, and intolerance out of which all the nation-states

Pielinen, Lake

2005-03-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

Finnish Pielisjärvi, lake located in Pohjois-Karjalan lääni (province), eastern Finland, near the border with Russia. The lake is approximately 60 miles (100 km) long between the town of Nurmes and the village of Uimaharju and ranges from 1 to 25 miles (1.5 to 40 km) in width. Its area is 335 square miles (868 square km). Lake Pielinen has many islands and is drained southward into the large Saimaa lake system by the Pielis

Euphronius

2005-03-13T11:59:00.000-08:00

Among the vases signed by Euphronius

Masai

2005-03-13T07:48:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Maasai nomadic pastoralists of East Africa. Masai is essentially a linguistic term, referring to speakers of this Eastern Sudanic language (usually called Maa) of the Nilo-Saharan language family. These include the pastoral Masai who range along the Great Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania, the Samburu of Kenya, and the semipastoral Arusha and Baraguyu (or Kwafi) of

Aliyah

2005-03-12T00:24:00.000-08:00

Plural aliyahs, aliyoth , or aliyot , Hebrew 'aliya (“going up”) in Judaism, the honour accorded to a worshiper of being called up to read an assigned passage from the Torah (first five books of the Bible). Because the passage assigned for each sabbath-morning service is subdivided into a minimum of seven sections, at least seven different persons are called up for these readings. An additional reader is called up to repeat part of

Literature

2005-03-11T15:39:00.000-08:00

Strict ideological censorship by the government continued in 1994 to be the background against which all discussions of the literary scene in Iran had to be conducted. In this regard the most sensational event of the year was the death, probably in November, of the noted essayist and satirist 'Ali Akbar Sa`idi Sirjani, who died in custody, under unexplained circumstances,

Holy Roman Empire

2005-03-10T23:35:00.000-08:00

German Heiliges Römisches Reich , Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium the varying complex of lands in western and central Europe ruled over first by Frankish and then by German kings for 10 centuries, from Charlemagne's coronation in 800 until the renunciation of the imperial title in 1806. (For histories of the territories governed at various times by the empire, see France, history of; Germany, history of;Italy, history of.)

Kora

2005-03-10T05:02:00.000-08:00

Long-necked harp lute of the Malinke people of western Africa. The instrument's body is composed of a long hardwood neck that passes through a calabash gourd resonator, itself covered by a leather soundboard. Twenty-one leather or nylon strings are attached to the top of the neck with leather tuning rings. The strings pass over a notched bridge (10 strings

China, Expulsion of Communists from the KMT

2005-03-09T08:52:00.000-08:00

The climax of the conflict came after Nationalist armies had taken Shanghai and Nanking in March. Nanking was captured on March 23, and the following morning Nationalist troops looted foreign properties, attacked the British, U.S., and Japanese consulates, and killed seven foreigners. In Shanghai a general strike led by Communists aroused fears that Chinese might

Gainsborough

2005-03-09T00:55:00.000-08:00

Town, West Lindsey district, administrative and historic county of Lincolnshire, England. It stands on the River Trent, bordering Nottinghamshire. Gainsborough's early importance as a Saxon settlement was augmented when it became a military centre under the Danes (9th–11th centuries). Its position on a navigable river and a main road between London and the north of England

Sacramento Mountains

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

Segment of the southern Rockies, extending southward for 160 mi (260 km) from Ancho, in south central New Mexico, into Culberson County, western Texas, U.S. They include the Sierra Blanca and the Guadalupe and Jicarilla mountains, with heights averaging from 8,000 to 10,000 ft (2,400 to 3,000 m). The Sierra Blanca Peak (12,003 ft) is the highest in the group, and Guadalupe Peak (8,749 ft) is the highest in Texas. Features include

Celluloid

2005-03-07T03:48:00.000-08:00

The first synthetic plastic material, developed by the American inventor John Wesley Hyatt in the late 1860s from a homogeneous colloidal dispersion of cellulose nitrate and camphor. A tough material, with great tensile strength, resistance to water, oils, and dilute acids, capable of low-cost production in a variety of colours, it found a great variety of applications

Priest

2005-03-07T01:26:00.000-08:00

A priesthood developed gradually in the early Christian church as first bishops and then elders, or “presbyters,” began to exercise certain priestly functions, mainly in connection with celebration of the Eucharist. By the end of the

Saigyo

2005-03-06T13:08:00.000-08:00

Also called Sato Norikiyo Japanese Buddhist priest-poet, one of the greatest masters of the tanka (a traditional Japanese poetic form), whose life and works became the subject matter of many narratives, plays, and puppet dramas. He originally followed his father in a military career, but, like others of his day, he was oppressed by the sense of disaster that overwhelmed Japan as

Hearing Aid

2005-03-06T07:17:00.000-08:00

Modern hearing aids are electronic. Principal components are a microphone that converts sound

Clammyweed

2005-03-04T19:11:00.000-08:00

(Polanisia trachysperma), North American herb of the caper family (Capparaceae). The plant is 60 cm (2 feet) tall and has leaves that give off a foul odour when bruised. The stems and three-parted leaves are hairy and sticky. Bladelike bracts (leaflike appendages) are crowded along the flowering stalks. The flowers have four sepals, four white petals, and eight-to-many protruding

Adams, Hannah

2005-03-04T11:40:00.000-08:00

Adams was the daughter of a notably eccentric bibliophile father whose lack of business acumen kept the large family in poverty. She inherited his love of books and his remarkable memory, and, although she received no formal schooling, she was well tutored

Aerospace Industry, Avionics

2005-03-03T13:42:00.000-08:00

Avionics includes all instruments, sensors, and electronic equipment and the electrical systems that link them to each other and to aerospace vehicle-control systems. It encompasses the functional equipment for guidance, navigation, and communications. A modern airline transport can contain more than 1,000 sensors and “black boxes.” The latter are metal or plastic

Nervous System Disease, Syphilis

2005-03-03T04:15:00.000-08:00

Syphilis follows infection with the spirochete Treponema pallidum as a result of sexual contact with an infected individual or infection of the fetus in utero. Primary syphilis produces a chancre, or sore, at the site of infection. Weeks later, secondary syphilis develops and causes a skin rash and signs of meningitis. In the third stage, the spirochete invades the

Gtor-ma

2005-03-02T21:24:00.000-08:00

Sacrificial cakes used in Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies as offerings to deities. The unbaked cakes are prepared by kneading parched barley flour and butter into the shapes of cones, decorated with pats of butter. The cakes form part of the phyi-mchod, or eight offerings of external worship, as well as part of the offerings of the five senses, which are considered internal

Skeleton

2005-03-01T22:47:00.000-08:00

The supportive framework of an animal body. The skeleton of invertebrates, which may be either external or internal, is composed of a variety of hard nonbony substances. The more complex skeletal system of vertebrates is internal and is composed of several different types of tissues that are known collectively as connective tissues. This designation includes

Blood Brotherhood

2005-02-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

Special alliance or tie that binds persons together in a fashion analogous to, but distinct from, kinship ties. The relationship derives its name from the ritual commingling of the blood of the participants. The nature of the alliance thus formed typically enjoins the members to mutual support, loyalty, or affection. When practiced between groups, blood brotherhood

Nataraja

2005-02-28T04:13:00.000-08:00

In the most common type of images, which includes the magnificent Cola bronzes of the 10th–11th century, Siva is shown with four arms and flying locks dancing on the figure of a dwarf, the Apasmarapurusa (a symbol of man's ignorance; puru

Afghan Hound

2005-02-27T17:06:00.000-08:00

The Afghan hound hunts by sight and, in its native Afghanistan, has been

Goulburn Islands

2005-02-27T06:12:00.000-08:00

Group of islands in the Arafura Sea off the northern coast of Arnhem Land in Northern Territory, Australia. They comprise South Goulburn Island (30 square miles [78 square km]), lying 2 miles (3 km) offshore across Macquarie Strait; North Goulburn Island (14 square miles [36 square km]), 10 miles (16 km) offshore; and some small sandy islets. Perhaps sighted in 1644 by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman,

Height, Dorothy

2005-02-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

Reared in Rankin, Pennsylvania, Height graduated in 1933 from New York University with both bachelor's and master's degrees in educational psychology.

Triclinius, Demetrius

2005-02-24T13:32:00.000-08:00

Triclinius' editions incorporated notes by other scholars as well as scholia from earlier traditions. He was the first Byzantine scholar to examine closely the metrical structure

Gazelle Peninsula

2005-02-24T10:47:00.000-08:00

Peninsula extending northeast from the island of New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, southwestern Pacific. It is about 50 miles (80 km) wide but tapers to 20 miles (32 km) at the isthmus joining it to the main part of the island. From coastal plains its surface rises as high as 7,999 feet (2,438 m) at Mount Sinewit of the central Baining Mountains. The area is actively volcanic (Mount

Hurdle Race

2005-02-23T08:21:00.000-08:00

Horse race over a course on which a number of obstacles, called hurdles, must be jumped. Hurdle racing, a kind of preparation for steeplechasing, originated in England and Ireland in the 18th century and by the second half of the 20th century had spread to Commonwealth countries, Europe, and the eastern United States. Its hurdles are light and movable and are lower than steeplechase

La Paz

2005-02-22T03:03:00.000-08:00

City, capital of the estado (“state”) of Baja California Sur, northwestern Mexico. Only 33 feet (10 m) above sea level on the La Paz Bay of the Gulf of California, the city has a hot, dry climate. The bay was discovered by the Spanish in 1596, and early in the 18th century it was temporarily the site of a Jesuit mission. The town was established in the early 1800s and was the capital of Baja California

Empiricism

2005-02-21T07:37:00.000-08:00

In philosophy, the attitude that beliefs are to be accepted and acted upon only if they first have been confirmed by actual experience. This broad definition accords with the derivation of the name from the Greek word empeiria, “experience.” More specifically, however, Empiricism comprises a pair of closely related, but still distinct, philosophical doctrines—one

Gabon

2005-02-21T05:03:00.000-08:00

Amid a rising wave of urban crime, on March 1, 2001, Gabon's minister of the interior suspended the import and sale of firearms. Prime Minister Jean-François Ntoutoume-Emane addressed the National Assembly on May 16 to answer deputies' concerns about public safety. Despite the creation during the year of a special crime squad, the incidents of armed robbery and other violent

National Baptist Convention, U.s.a., Inc.

2005-02-20T19:01:00.000-08:00

Association of black Baptist churches formed in 1895 in Atlanta, Ga., from the merger of the Foreign Mission Baptist Convention (established 1880), the American National Baptist Convention (1886), and the Baptist National Education Convention (1893). A schism in 1915 resulted in the formation of the National Baptist Convention of America. In 1961 a dispute within the National Baptist Convention,

Sensationalism

2005-02-19T11:34:00.000-08:00

In epistemology and psychology, a form of Empiricism that limits experience as a source of knowledge to sensation or sense perceptions. Sensationalism is a consequence of the notion of the mind as a tabula rasa, or “clean slate.” In ancient Greek philosophy, the Cyrenaics, proponents of a pleasure ethic, subscribed unreservedly to a sensationalist doctrine. The medieval

Provençal Literature

2005-02-19T02:11:00.000-08:00

The oldest extant piece of Provençal verse probably belongs to the

Algeria, Nationalist movements

2005-02-18T07:59:00.000-08:00

Algerian nationalism developed out of three different tendencies. The first consisted of Algerians who had gained access to French education and earned their living in the French sector. Often called assimilationists, they pursued gradualist, reformist tactics, shunned illegal actions, and were prepared to consider permanent union with France if the rights

Ory, Kid

2005-02-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

Byname of Edward Ory American trombonist and composer who was perhaps the first musician to codify, purely by precept, the role of the trombone in classic three-part contrapuntal jazz improvisation. Ory is often remembered as a “tailgate” trombonist, one whose style of playing fills in, or supports, other band instruments and is reminiscent of the

Finnish Literature

2005-02-17T10:18:00.000-08:00

Although a number of talented poets wrote in Finnish in the 17th and 18th centuries, it was only with Aleksis Kivi that a genuine

Domesday Book

2005-02-16T20:14:00.000-08:00

The original record or summary of William I the Conqueror's survey of England. By contemporaries the whole operation was known as “the description of England,” but the popular name Domesday—i.e., “doomsday,” when men face the record from which there is no appeal—was in general use by the mid-12th century. The survey, in the scope of its detail and the speed of its execution, was perhaps

Henrietta Anne Of England

2005-02-16T19:20:00.000-08:00

The youngest child of England's King Charles I (beheaded 1649), she was reared as an exile by her mother, Henrietta Maria, in Paris. Her brother Charles II was restored to the English throne in 1660, and on March 30, 1661, Henrietta was

Saint Joseph

2005-02-13T21:06:00.000-08:00

Byname Saint Joe, city, seat (1846) of Buchanan County, northwestern Missouri, U.S., on the Missouri River (there bridged to Elwood, Kan.), 28 mi (45 km) north of Kansas City. A trading post was established (1826) on the site by Joseph Robidoux, a French-Canadian trapper from St. Louis. The Platte Purchase (1836), adding about 2,000,000 ac (800,000 ha) of Indian land to the state territory, resulted in an influx of settlers. Robidoux laid out the

Vuillard, (jean-)édouard

2005-02-13T09:36:00.000-08:00

Vuillard met Bonnard, Paul Sérusier, and Félix Vallotton while studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and, along with his old friends Maurice Denis and Ker-Xavier Roussel, they formed an association called the

Aurobindo, Sri

2005-02-13T06:39:00.000-08:00

Aurobindo's education began in a Christian convent school in Darjeeling, and then, still a boy, he was sent to England for further schooling. He entered the University of Cambridge, where he became proficient in two

Kahnweiler, Daniel-henry

2005-02-12T10:54:00.000-08:00

Trained for a career in finance, Kahnweiler instead chose art and settled in Paris, where he opened a small gallery in 1907. He became interested in the work of several young artists

Chromium Processing

2005-02-12T05:36:00.000-08:00

Chromium (Cr) is a brilliant, hard, refractory metal that melts at 1,857° C (3,375° F) and boils at 2,672° C (4,842° F). In the pure state, it is resistant to ordinary corrosion, resulting in its application as an electroplated protective coating for other metals. It dissolves in nonoxidizing mineral acids but not in aqua regia or nitric acid, which passivate

Ovenbird

2005-02-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

Any of several species of small birds, named for building a domed nest with a side entrance, especially Seiurus aurocapillus, a wood warbler (family Parulidae, order Passeriformes) of North America east of the Rockies; it winters south to Colombia. Brownish-olive above, with a streaked breast, white eye ring, and black-edged orange crown, the bird looks like a small thrush.

Kazerun

2005-02-09T13:50:00.000-08:00

The ruins of the ancient city of Bishapur (or Shahpur), which are situated 12 miles (19 km) north, have Sasanid (c. AD 224–651) bas-reliefs

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.

2005-02-09T02:16:00.000-08:00

Gates's father,

Zamindar

2005-02-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

In India, a holder or occupier (dar) of land (zamin). The root words were Persian, and the resulting name was widely used wherever Persian influence was spread by the Mughals or other Indian Muslim dynasties. The meanings attached to it were various. In Bengal the word denoted a hereditary tax collector who could retain 10 percent of the revenue he collected. In the late 18th century

Molcho, Solomon

2005-02-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

The son of Marrano parents (Portuguese or Spanish Jews forced to become Christians), Pires attained the position of royal secretary in a Portuguese high court of justice. When an Arabian adventurer, David Reubeni, arrived in Portugal, Pires became possessed by mystic

Aksak

2005-02-06T22:57:00.000-08:00

Also called Bulgarian Rhythm, variety of musical metre characterized by combinations of unequal units of beats, such as 2 plus 3 or 3 plus 2 and their extensions. Thus 3 + 3 + 2, or 2 + 3 + 3, produces 8/8 units quite unlike the 4/4 common to Western music. As non-Western music, as well as eastern European folk music, began to exert influence in the West, aksak rhythms found their way into the works of a number of 20th-century composers

Computers, The Turing machine

2005-02-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

Alan Turing, while a mathematics student at University of Cambridge, was inspired by German mathematician David Hilbert's formalist program, which sought to demonstrate that any mathematical problem can potentially be solved by an algorithm, that is, by a purely mechanical process. Turing interpreted this to mean a computing machine and set out to design one capable

Res Judicata

2005-02-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

It has long been held that one judicial contest is enough for the litigants on

Merchants Staplers

2005-02-02T22:12:00.000-08:00

Formally Company of the Merchants of the Staple company of English merchants who controlled the export of English wool from the late 13th century through the 16th century. English wool exports were concentrated in one town (called the staple) in order to minimize the problems of collecting the export duties. The location of the staple varied, but in the 14th century it was fixed at Calais, then held by England. The crown

Pituitary Gland

2005-02-02T17:03:00.000-08:00

Also called hypophysis one of the endocrine (ductless) glands that secrete their hormones directly into the bloodstream. The term hypophysis (from the Greek, “lying under”) refers to the gland's position on the underside of the vertebrate brain. Until the late 19th century the human pituitary was thought to be a vestigial organ, but it is now known to play a major part in the regulation of endocrine

Hooks, Bell

2005-02-01T10:42:00.000-08:00

Watkins grew up in a segregated community of the American South. At age 19 she began writing what would become her first full-length book, Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, which was

Marietta

2005-01-31T22:22:00.000-08:00

During the

Lokoja

2005-01-31T03:09:00.000-08:00

Town and river port, capital of Kogi state, south-central Nigeria, on the west bank of the Niger River opposite the mouth of the Benue River. British merchants established a trading post at the Benue-Niger confluence in the late 1850s; and in 1860 William Balfour Baikie, the Scottish explorer, founded Lokoja. Besides being an important commercial settlement, the site (originally

China, Riots and protests

2005-01-31T01:10:00.000-08:00

On May 4, 1919, patriotic students in Peking protested the decision at the Versailles Peace Conference that Japan should retain defeated Germany's rights and possessions in Shantung. Many students were arrested in the rioting that followed. Waves of protest spread throughout the major cities of China. Merchants closed their shops, banks suspended business, and workers

Camagüey

2005-01-30T18:03:00.000-08:00

Provincia, east-central Cuba, bounded on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Ciego de Ávila province, on the east by Las Tunas province, and on the south by the Caribbean Sea. It was established in 1879 as Puerto Príncipe; the province of Ciego de Ávila was separated from Camagüey province in 1976. It is Cuba's largest province. Camagüey's early importance as a cattle-raising

Façon De Venise

2005-01-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

(French: “Venetian fashion”), style of glass made in the 16th and 17th centuries at places other than Venice itself but using the techniques that had been perfected there. It may be outwardly so similar as to be difficult to distinguish from Venetian glass (q.v.) proper. The prestige of Venetian glass was so great in the rest of Europe that French, German, Bohemian,

Ijo

2005-01-28T17:10:00.000-08:00

West of the main Niger outlets each group occupies a cluster of villages linked by loose ties of cooperation, mainly against outsiders. Its members claim descent from a common

Argentina, Efforts toward reconstruction, 182029

2005-01-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

In 1820 only two political organizations could claim more than strictly local and provincial followings: the revolutionary government in Buenos Aires and the League of Free Peoples, which had grown up along the Río de la Plata and its tributaries under the leadership of José Gervasio Artigas. But both organizations collapsed in that year, and Buenos Aires seemed to

Theatrical Production

2005-01-27T13:27:00.000-08:00

While dramatic productions

Faribault

2005-01-27T09:11:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Rice county, southeastern Minnesota, U.S., at the confluence of the Cannon and Straight rivers, in a mixed-farming and lake area, 53 mi (85 km) south of St. Paul. Established in 1826 as a fur-trading post by Alexander Faribault (whose house [1853] still stands), it was the centre for the Indian missions of Henry B. Whipple, first Episcopal bishop of Minnesota, who organized Seabury Divinity

Wiesel, Torsten Nils

2005-01-26T19:12:00.000-08:00

Swedish neurobiologist, corecipient with David Hunter Hubel and Roger Wolcott Sperry of the 1981 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. All three scientists were honoured for their investigations of brain function, Wiesel and Hubel in particular for their collaborative studies of the visual cortex, which is located in the occipital lobes of the

Ear, Human

2005-01-25T02:35:00.000-08:00

Hearing is the process by which the ear transforms sound vibrations in the external environment into nerve impulses that are conveyed to the brain, where they are interpreted as sounds. Sounds are produced when vibrating objects, such as the plucked string of a guitar, produce pressure pulses of vibrating air molecules, better known as sound waves. The ear can distinguish

Buddhism, Yogacara/Vijñanavada (Fa-hsiang/Hosso)

2005-01-23T16:07:00.000-08:00

The Yogacara (or Vijñanavada) school is traditionally ascribed to the brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu (5th century AD), to whom may be added Sthiramati (6th century). These writers were systematizers of doctrines already being taught and contained in such literature as the Lankavatara-sutra and the Mahayana-sraddhotpada-sastra (attributed to Asvaghosa but probably written in Central

Alimentary Canal

2005-01-22T14:23:00.000-08:00

Also called digestive tract pathway by which food enters the body and solid wastes are expelled. The alimentary canal includes the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, and anus. See digestion.

Augustus, Caesar

2005-01-22T13:14:00.000-08:00

In the following year the balance of power began to change: whereas Antony's eastern expedition failed, Octavian's fleet, commanded by his former schoolmate, Marcus Agrippa, who, although unpopular with the influential nobles, was an admiral of genius, totally defeated Sextus Pompeius off Cape Naulochus (Venetico) in Sicily. At this point the third triumvir, Lepidus,

Pyrazole

2005-01-21T18:13:00.000-08:00

The pyrazole compounds are not known to occur in nature; they are usually prepared by the

Wild Cucumber

2005-01-21T01:14:00.000-08:00

The wild cucumber has three to seven sharply lobed leaves; forked, coiled tendrils; six-petaled white flowers; and a fleshy, oval, four-seeded fruit that is covered with prickles. It is frequently planted to cover

East Malaysia

2005-01-20T16:31:00.000-08:00

Wing of the 13-state federation of Malaysia; it consists of the states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern part of the island of Borneo and is separated from mainland Peninsular, or West, Malaysia on the Malay Peninsula by some 400 miles (640 km) of the South China Sea. Pop. (1991 prelim.) 3,385,119.

Yozgat

2005-01-19T16:36:00.000-08:00

City, central Turkey. The city lies on the site of a Bronze Age settlement 100 miles (160 km) east of Ankara in a valley of the Ak Mountains, at an elevation of 4,360 feet (1,329 m). The main road between Sivas and Ankara passes through it, but the rail line bypasses it to the southwest, and the city functions primarily as a local market and administrative centre. Mohair, wool, grain, gum, and lead are

Selborne, William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl Of, Viscount Wolmer Of Blackmoor, Baron Selborne Of Selborne

2005-01-19T11:08:00.000-08:00

A son of the lawyer and statesman Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl

China, The rise of monarchy

2005-01-18T19:54:00.000-08:00

In the state of Chin the influence of kinsmen of the ruling house had

Newton Abbot

2005-01-18T08:23:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”), Teignbridge district, administrative and historic county of Devon, England. It lies near the head of the Teign estuary. Bradley Manor (15th century) is now a National Trust property. The Jacobean Forde House (1610) was visited by William, prince of Orange, the successful 17th-century contender for the English throne who first read his famous declaration to the people

Ruthenian

2005-01-17T20:55:00.000-08:00

Also called Ruthene any of those Ukrainians who were formerly Polish or Austrian and Austro-Hungarian subjects. The name is a Latinized form of the word Russian, but the Ruthenians are Ukrainians who, by accidents of history in the late Middle Ages, were absorbed into the territory of Lithuania, which in turn was united with Poland. The term Little Russians has also been applied to them.