WrongJewel

organic cotton goods

2006-10-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

Liv organic cotton goods are soft luxurious nad affordable and they have a huge range of organic clothing.

Trailok

2005-04-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

Trailok's father, King Borommaracha II (1424–48), named him heir apparent in 1438, and even as a small boy he was named the king's deputy in the important northern

Williams, Hank

2005-04-03T10:35:00.000-07:00

Williams began playing the guitar at the age of 8, made his radio debut at 13, and formed his first band, Hank Williams and his Drifting Cowboys, at age 14. His series of recordings in 1947 on the M-G-M label won

Roman Religion, Religious art

2005-04-03T09:44:00.000-07:00

A vast gallery of architecture, sculpture, numismatics, painting, and mosaics illustrates Roman religion and helps to fill the gaps left by the fragmentary, though extensive, literary and epigraphic record. Starting with primitive statuettes and terra-cotta temple decorations, this array eventually included masterpieces such as the Apollo of Veii. Other works

Nördlingen, Battle Of

2005-04-02T23:48:00.000-08:00

Led

Kenya, Drainage

2005-04-02T00:13:00.000-08:00

The major features of the drainage pattern of Kenya were created by the ancient crustal deformation of a great oval dome that arose in the west-central part of the country and created the Central Rift. This dome produced a primeval watershed from which rivers once drained eastward to the Indian Ocean and westward to the Congo system and the Atlantic Ocean. Still

Corbière, Tristan

2005-04-01T20:59:00.000-08:00

Educated at Morlaix and the lycées of Saint-Brieuc and Nantes,

Ghelderode, Michel De

2005-03-31T19:29:00.000-08:00

Ghelderode was the son of Flemish parents who favoured bilingualism. His early education was cut short by

Japan Railways Group

2005-03-31T07:47:00.000-08:00

The first railroad in Japan, built by British engineers, opened in 1872, between Tokyo and Yokohama. After some initial opposition to foreign influence, Japanese engineers began building railroads at a rapid rate, and

Cohen, Leonard

2005-03-30T14:38:00.000-08:00

Already established as a poet and novelist (his first book of poems, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was published in 1956), Cohen became interested in the Greenwich Village folk scene while living in New York

Vanadic Anhydride

2005-03-29T15:22:00.000-08:00

Vanadium pentoxide, a compound of vanadium and oxygen widely used as an oxidation catalyst, as in the oxidation of unburned hydrocarbons in automobile exhaust (see vanadium).

Nahuan Languages

2005-03-28T06:59:00.000-08:00

Subgroup of the Uto-Aztecan languages, including Pochutec, Nahua, and Pipil; they are sometimes considered a subfamily coordinate with Shoshonean and Sonoran, and sometimes included in the Sonoran subfamily. The languages are spoken throughout southern Mexico and Central America.

Würzburg

2005-03-28T04:38:00.000-08:00

City, northwestern Bavaria Land (state), south-central Germany. It lies along the canalized Main River. The site of a Celtic settlement, it was first mentioned as Virteburch in 704. A bishopric was established there by St. Boniface in 741/742, and the bishops had acquired ducal authority over eastern Franconia by the 12th century. Repeated revolts against the power of the bishops resulted

Pozo Colorado

2005-03-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

Pozo Colorado is located at the intersection of roads connecting it with the town of Mariscal Estigarribia to the northwest, the Paraguay River and Concepción to

Szymanowski, Karol

2005-03-27T10:10:00.000-08:00

Szymanowski began to compose and play the piano at an early age. In 1901 he went to Warsaw and studied harmony, counterpoint, and composition privately until 1904. Finding the musical life in Warsaw limiting, he went to Berlin, where he organized the Young Polish

Zamosc

2005-03-26T03:33:00.000-08:00

City, Zamosc województwo (province), east-central Poland. One of the few large communities in the Lublin uplands, it was founded on the estates of Polish chancellor Jan Zamoyski (1542–1605) that lay on the trade route between the Black Sea and northern and western Europe. In 1578 the Paduan architect Bernardo Morando conceived and implemented the city's modern design, which remains a

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, India

2005-03-25T00:19:00.000-08:00

Fables appeared early in India, but it is impossible to determine whether they are older or later than the Greek. Undoubtedly there was mutual influence from very early times, for indirect contacts between Greece and India (by trade routes) had existed long before the time of Alexander the Great. In the form in which they are now known, the Greek fables are the older, but

Tokyo

2005-03-24T04:31:00.000-08:00

The site of Tokyo has been inhabited since ancient times; the small fishing village of Edo existed there for

Carthage, Exarchate Of

2005-03-24T00:26:00.000-08:00

The exarch (governor), appointed by the emperor, was endowed with unlimited military and civil

Cambert, Robert

2005-03-23T19:15:00.000-08:00

Cambert was a pupil of the harpsichord composer Jacques Chambonnières and in 1666 became superintendent of music to the dowager queen, Anne of Austria. In 1659 he collaborated with the poet Pierre Perrin in his first stage work, the Pastorale

Intercalation

2005-03-22T09:04:00.000-08:00

Insertion of days into a calendar to bring it into line with the solar year (year of the seasons). One example is the periodic inclusion of leap-year day (February 29) in the Gregorian calendar now in general use. To keep the months of a lunar calendar (e.g., the Hindu calendar) in their proper seasons, an entire month must be intercalated or extracalated (dropped) periodically,

Bar Hebraeus

2005-03-21T22:35:00.000-08:00

Motivated toward scholarly pursuits by his father, a Jewish convert to Christianity, Bar Hebraeus emigrated to Antioch (now Antakya,

Pythagoreanism

2005-03-21T09:26:00.000-08:00

Philosophical school and religious brotherhood, believed to have been founded by Pythagoras of Samos, who settled in Croton in southern Italy about 525 BC.

Yakuza

2005-03-20T13:08:00.000-08:00

In Japan, gangster, a member of a boryokudan (q.v.), or gang of racketeers. The word yakuza, which has come to mean “good for nothing,” is derived from a worthless hand in a Japanese card game similar to blackjack: the cards ya-ku-za (“eight-nine-three”), when added up, exceed the winning number of 19.

Ibrahim Müteferrika

2005-03-19T08:36:00.000-08:00

A Hungarian by origin, Ibrahim converted to Islam and entered the Ottoman diplomatic service. He took

Abbevillian Industry

2005-03-19T07:28:00.000-08:00

Prehistoric stone-tool tradition generally considered to represent the oldest occurrence in Europe of a bifacial (hand-ax) technology. The Abbevillian industry dates from an imprecisely determined part of the Middle Pleistocene, somewhat less than 700,000 years ago. It was recovered from high terrace sediments of the lower Somme valley, in a suburb of Abbeville, Fr. The

Papaya

2005-03-18T23:15:00.000-08:00

Also called papaw , or pawpaw succulent fruit of a large plant (Carica papaya) of the family Caricaceae that is considered a tree, though its palmlike trunk, up to 8 m (26 feet) tall, is not as woody as the designation generally implies. The plant is crowned by deeply lobed leaves, sometimes 60 cm (2 feet) across, borne on hollow petioles 60 cm long. Normally, the species is dioecious, male and female flowers

Chandler, Raymond

2005-03-18T09:41:00.000-08:00

From 1896 to 1912 Chandler lived in England with his mother, a British subject of Irish birth. Although he was an American

Hetzer, Ludwig

2005-03-17T07:55:00.000-08:00

After studies at Freiburg im Breisgau, Hetzer published Judicium Dei (1523; “The Judgment of God”), in which he condemned the use of images, and Ein Beweis (1524; “One Proof ”), a work on the conversion of the Jews. The first work became a major part of the Reformed effort

Arrest, Heinrich Louis D'

2005-03-17T02:29:00.000-08:00

In 1851, while associated with the Leipzig Observatory,

Modernism

2005-03-16T04:45:00.000-08:00

In Roman Catholic church history, a movement in the last decade of the 19th century and first decade of the 20th that sought to reinterpret traditional Catholic teaching in the light of 19th-century philosophical, historical, and psychological theories and called for freedom of conscience. Influenced by non-Catholic biblical scholars, Modernists contended that the

Bingham, Caleb

2005-03-15T11:58:00.000-08:00

Bingham was educated at local schools before entering Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. He graduated in 1782 and took the position of master at Moor's Indian Charity School. In 1784 he moved to Boston in order to establish

Admiral

2005-03-15T04:36:00.000-08:00

Any of several butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae (order Lepidoptera). They are fast-flying butterflies that are much prized by collectors for their coloration, which consists of black wings with white bands and reddish brown markings. The migratory red admiral (Vanessa atalanta), widespread in Europe, Scandinavia, North America,

Chang Ch'ien

2005-03-14T22:27:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Zhang Qian Chinese explorer, the first man to bring back a reliable account of the lands of central Asia to the court of China. He was dispatched by the Han dynasty emperor Wu Ti in 138 BC to establish relations with the Yüeh-chih people, a central Asian tribal group that spoke an Indo-European language. Captured by the Hsiung-nu, nomadic enemies of China, he was detained for 10 years. Nevertheless,

War Democrat

2005-03-14T21:48:00.000-08:00

The great majority of Northern Democrats stayed loyal to the Union after the South seceded. So-called Peace Democrats (or “Copperheads” in pejorative Unionist terminology) opposed the war and advocated a negotiated peace with concessions

International Relations, The reorganization of the Middle East

2005-03-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

The Treaty of Sèvres likewise dismembered the Ottoman Empire. Here again secret war-aims treaties reflected Allied ambitions in the Middle East, but Wilson was less willing to challenge them given his belief that the Arab peoples were not ready for self-rule. To avoid the tinge of imperialism, the victors took control of the former Ottoman (and German) territories

Celery-top Pine

2005-03-13T03:06:00.000-08:00

Also called Adventure Bay Pine (species Phyllocladus asplenifolius), slow-growing ornamental and timber conifer of the family Podocarpaceae, native to temperate rain forests of Tasmania at elevations from sea level to 750 m (2,500 feet). The tree is shrubby at high elevations but may grow to 18 m (60 feet) and occasionally 30 m (100 feet) in lower areas. The irregularly arranged branches bear

Leaf Beetle

2005-03-11T23:28:00.000-08:00

Any member of the 25,000 species of leaf-feeding insects of the family Chrysomelidae (order Coleoptera). Leaf beetles occur throughout the world but are concentrated in the tropics. They are oval and short-legged and tend to be less than 12 mm (0.5 inch) long; the antennae are about half the body length. Many are important pests. The family is divided into numerous subfamilies.

Architecture, The temple or church

2005-03-11T11:41:00.000-08:00

Temples or churches serve as places of worship and as shelters for the images, relics, and holy areas of the cult. In the older religions, the temple was not always designed for communal use. In ancient Egypt and India it was considered the residence of the deity, and entrance into the sanctum was prohibited or reserved for priests; in ancient Greece it contained an accessible

Anthropometry

2005-03-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

The systematic collection and correlation of measurements of the human body. Now one of the principal techniques of physical anthropology, the discipline originated in the 19th century, when early studies of human biological and cultural evolution stimulated an interest in the systematic description of populations both living and extinct. In the latter part

Bloc Québécois

2005-03-09T21:24:00.000-08:00

Lucien Bouchard, a Progressive

Judaism, The Lurianic Kabbala

2005-03-09T19:12:00.000-08:00

After the establishment of the Zoharic corpus, no major changes took place in Jewish esoterism until the middle of the 16th century, when in Safed (in Upper Galilee, Palestine; present-day Zefat, Israel) a religious centre of extreme importance for Judaism was established, which was mainly inspired by teachers coming from families expelled from Spain. Until the expulsion

Ryazan

2005-03-08T16:07:00.000-08:00

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

Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeyevich

2005-03-08T00:10:00.000-08:00

Russian poet, novelist, dramatist, and short-story writer; he has often been considered his country's greatest poet and the founder of modern Russian literature.

Slave Dynasty

2005-03-07T22:55:00.000-08:00

The Slave dynasty was founded by Qutb-ud-Din Aybak, a favourite slave of the Muslim general and later sultan Muhammad of Ghur. Qutb-ud-Din had been among Muhammad's most trusted Turkish officers and had overseen his master's Indian conquests. When Muhammad was assassinated in 1206, Qutb took power

Craig, Edward Gordon

2005-03-07T15:46:00.000-08:00

Craig was the second child of a liaison between the actress Ellen Terry and the architect Edward William Godwin. Like Edith (the other child of his parents), their son was given the name

Mercadante, Saverio

2005-03-06T23:05:00.000-08:00

Mercadante was born out of wedlock. He was taken

Inland Sea

2005-03-06T08:33:00.000-08:00

Japanese Seto-naikai, the body of water lying between the Japanese islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. It is composed of five distinct basins linked together by channels. Its east-west length is about 270 miles (440 km), and its waters are easily navigable. The sea has an irregular coastline and is dotted with hundreds of small islands, the largest of which is Awaji Island in the east. Entrance to

Spallation

2005-03-05T20:22:00.000-08:00

High-energy nuclear reaction in which a target nucleus struck by an incident (bombarding) particle of energy greater than about 50 million electron volts (MeV) ejects numerous lighter particles and becomes a product nucleus correspondingly lighter than the original nucleus. The light ejected particles may be neutrons, protons, or various composite particles equivalent

Gyangu

2005-03-05T14:04:00.000-08:00

Also called Yakuza, Japanese gangster or mobster, a member of a boryokudan (q.v.), or gang of racketeers.

çatalhüyük

2005-03-04T09:24:00.000-08:00

Major Neolithic site in the Middle East, located near Konya in south-central Turkey. Excavations (1961–65) by the British archaeologist James Mellaart have shown that Anatolia in Neolithic times was the centre of an advanced culture. The earliest building period at Çatalhüyük is tentatively dated to about 6700 BC and the latest to about 5650 BC. The inhabitants lived in rectangular mud-brick

'amir, 'abd Al-hakim

2005-03-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

'Amir attended War College, where he met Gamal Abdel Nasser. The two men served during the first Arab-Israeli

Sun Rose

2005-03-03T03:34:00.000-08:00

Helianthemum apenninum, H. cinereum, H. glaucum, and H. hirsutum are dwarf

Shire

2005-03-03T00:42:00.000-08:00

In Great Britain, a county. The Anglo-Saxon shire (Old English scir) was an administrative division next above the hundred and seems to have existed in the south in the time of Alfred the Great (871–899) and to have been fully established by the reign of Edgar (959–975). It was administered by an ealdorman (alderman) and by a sheriff (i.e., shire-reeve), who presided over the shire court. After the

Terbium

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

(Tb), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table. One of the least abundant of the rare earths, terbium, when reduced to metallic form, is silvery white and is slowly oxidized by air at room temperatures and by cold water. The element was discovered in 1843 by Carl Gustaf Mosander in a heavy rare-earth fraction called yttria, but its existence

Leo

2005-03-02T01:46:00.000-08:00

(Latin: Lion), in astronomy, zodiacal constellation lying between Cancer and Virgo, at about 10 hours 30 minutes right ascension (the coordinate of the celestial sphere analogous to longitude on the Earth) and 15° north declination (angular distance north of the celestial equator). Regulus (Alpha Leonis), the brightest star, is of the first magnitude. The November meteor shower

Bruce, Blanche K(elso)

2005-03-01T22:28:00.000-08:00

The son of a slave mother and white planter father, Bruce was well educated as a youth. After the American Civil War, he moved to Mississippi, where in 1869 he became a supervisor of elections. By 1870 he was an emerging figure in state politics. After serving as sergeant

Amur River, Physiography

2005-03-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

The Amur and its tributaries drain a basin of about 716,200 square miles (1,855,000 square km). The Amur proper begins at the confluence of the Shilka and the Argun (Ergun) rivers, 1,755 miles (2,824 km) from its mouth. The Shilka begins more than 340 miles (550 km) farther inland in Siberia at the junction of the Ingoda and Onon rivers, whose ultimate sources lie more than 300 miles (500 km) farther southwest in the Yablonovy

Ustinov, Dmitry Fedorovich

2005-02-28T22:59:00.000-08:00

An engineer by profession, Ustinov graduated in 1934 from the Military Institute of Mechanics in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and worked first as a construction engineer, then as director of a Leningrad armament factory. In 1941 Stalin appointed Ustinov people's

Togo, Settlement patterns

2005-02-28T05:21:00.000-08:00

The majority of Togo's population live in small villages scattered throughout the rural areas. A common sight along the coast is the rectangular houses built either of clay and timber or of coconut or palm branches and topped by double-eaved thatched roofs. Scattered throughout the coconut plantations, they are not far from the beaches. Inland in the south, thatched

Dis Pater

2005-02-27T06:39:00.000-08:00

(Latin: Rich Father), in Roman religion, god of the infernal regions, the equivalent of the Greek Hades (q.v.), or Pluto (Rich One). Also known to the Romans as Orcus, he was believed to be the brother of Jupiter and was greatly feared. His wife, Proserpina (a Roman corruption of the Greek Persephone [q.v.]), was identified with vegetation, being regarded as a goddess of death during her

Muret, Marc-antoine De

2005-02-27T00:28:00.000-08:00

From age 18 Muret taught classics at various schools; Michel de Montaigne was among his pupils. During the 1540s his play Julius Caesar, written in Latin, was performed; it is the first tragedy on a secular theme known to have been written

Quinto Real

2005-02-26T10:29:00.000-08:00

(Spanish: “royal fifth”), in colonial Spanish America, a tax levied by the crown on mineral products; it was the principal source of profit derived by Spain from its colonies. The percentage was fixed at one-fifth in 1504, to be paid for 10 years, but the rate remained at generally that level until the 18th century. In 1723 the quinto was almost uniformly reduced to the diezmo (one-tenth); in 1777 the

Fabritius, Barent

2005-02-26T10:06:00.000-08:00

He was the son of a schoolmaster and at first became a carpenter, whence his Latinized name Fabritius (from Latin faber, “carpenter”). His early works, dating from the 1650s, are based on Rembrandt's style of the 1640s, with deepened use of colour and of light and shade. He

Douglass, Frederick

2005-02-25T17:30:00.000-08:00

Separated as an infant from his slave mother

Aalto, Alvar

2005-02-25T15:56:00.000-08:00

In full Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto Finnish architect, city planner, and furniture designer whose international reputation rests on a distinctive blend of modernist refinement, indigenous materials, and personal expression in form and detail. His mature style is epitomized by the Säynätsalo, Fin., town hall group (1950–52).

Earplug

2005-02-25T00:13:00.000-08:00

The Ainu of northern Japan have used plugs of fabric; in the New World, Mayan earplugs have been found made of thin jade, stone, bone, shell, wood, and metal in many sizes. The Berawan people

China, Local government

2005-02-24T00:12:00.000-08:00

The Ming state system was built upon a foundation of institutions inherited from the T'ang and Sung dynasties and modified by the intervening dynasties of conquest from the north, especially the Yüan. The distinctive new patterns of social and administrative organization that emerged in Ming times persisted, in their essential features, through the Ch'ing dynasty

Binswanger, Ludwig

2005-02-23T17:46:00.000-08:00

Swiss psychiatrist and writer who applied the principles of existential phenomenology, especially as expressed by Martin Heidegger, to psychotherapy. Diagnosing certain psychic abnormalities (e.g., elation fixation, eccentricity, and mannerism) to be the effect of the patient's distorted self-image and his inadequate

Mercury

2005-02-23T11:04:00.000-08:00

Any of the first series of manned space flights conducted by the United States (1961–63). The series began with a suborbital flight about three weeks after the Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin became the first human in space (see Vostok). Alan B. Shepard, Jr., rode a Mercury space capsule dubbed Freedom 7 on a 486-kilometre (302-mile) flight of 15-minute duration, attaining a maximum altitude of

Disbarment

2005-02-23T02:56:00.000-08:00

Grounds for disbarment vary considerably from country to country, but, in general, conviction of an attorney for a major crime or a

Bureau

2005-02-22T23:36:00.000-08:00

In the United States, a chest of drawers; in Europe a writing desk, usually with a hinged writing flap that rests at a sloping angle when closed and, when opened, reveals a tier of pigeonholes, small drawers, and sometimes a small cupboard. The bureau (French: “office”) first appeared in France at the beginning of the 17th century as just a flat table with drawers below the top, the

Alba

2005-02-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

French Aube, or Aubade, in the music of the troubadours (q.v.), the 11th- and 12th-century poet-musicians of southern France, a song of lovers' parting at dawn or of a watchman's warning to lovers at dawn. It sometimes takes the form of a dialogue between watchman and lover. Examples for which music also survives include “Reis glorios” by Guiraut de Bornelh and the anonymous “Gaite de la tor.” The German counterparts

Nicholson, Jack

2005-02-21T11:40:00.000-08:00

Nicholson, whose father abandoned his family, grew up believing that his grandmother was his mother and that his mother was his older sister; it was not

Aksum

2005-02-20T08:22:00.000-08:00

Despite common belief to the contrary, Aksum did not originate from one of the Semitic Sabaean kingdoms of southern Arabia but instead developed as a local power. At its apogee (3rd–6th century AD), Aksum became the greatest market of northeastern Africa; its merchants traded as far as Alexandria and

Lutheran Synodical Conference

2005-02-19T00:14:00.000-08:00

Cooperative agency organized in 1872 by several conservative U.S. Lutheran groups. Its members accepted strict conservative interpretations of the Bible and the Lutheran confessions and insisted that fellowship among Lutheran groups could take place only after agreement was reached on doctrine and church practices. Over the years some of the original members

World War I, Vittorio Veneto

2005-02-18T08:39:00.000-08:00

After the stabilization of the Italian front on the Piave River at the end of 1917, the Austrians made no further move until the following June. They then tried not only to force the Tonale Pass and enter northeastern Lombardy but also to make two converging thrusts into central Venetia, the one southeastward from the Trentino, the other southwestward across the lower

Wells, Dicky

2005-02-18T08:09:00.000-08:00

Wells began playing trombone in his youth in Louisville, Ky., and at about age 20 he moved to New York City, becoming a member of the Lloyd Scott band. He became noted for his playing while a member of New

Spiny-finned Fish

2005-02-18T00:56:00.000-08:00

The atheriniform (q.v.) is the best known of the spiny-finned group, including flying fishes, guppies, mollies, swordtails, and California grunion. Beryciforms

Blois

2005-02-17T18:04:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Loir-et-Cher département, Centre region, central France, on the Loire River, northeast of Tours. First mentioned in the 6th century by Gregory of Tours, it was by the early Middle Ages seat of the powerful counts of Blois, from whom descended the Capetian kings of France. At the end of the 14th century, Blois was acquired by Louis de France, duc d'Orléans. Joan of

Eagles, The, Don Henley

2005-02-17T04:40:00.000-08:00

Tabula Rasa

2005-02-17T03:55:00.000-08:00

Comparison of the mind to a blank writing-tablet occurs in Aristotle's De anima (4th century BC), and the Stoics as

La Galissonnière, Roland-michel Barrin, Marquis De

2005-02-16T01:11:00.000-08:00

La Galissonnière was the son of a naval lieutenant-general and studied at the College of Beauvais in Paris. He became a midshipman in the French navy in 1710 and, in the following year, made the first of a number of voyages on the Heros carrying supplies to Canada. Some 26 years later he commanded

China, The advent of bronze casting

2005-02-15T21:31:00.000-08:00

The 3rd and 2nd millennia witnessed the appearance of increasing warfare, complex urban settlements, intense status differentiation, and administrative and religious hierarchies that legitimated and controlled the massive mobilization of labour for dynastic work or warfare. The casting of bronze has left the most evident archaeological traces of these momentous

Arabia, History Of, The Ottomans

2005-02-15T19:03:00.000-08:00

In 1517 the Ottoman sultan Selim I conquered Egypt and proclaimed the Hejaz part of the Ottoman dominions. Sharif Barakat II of Mecca sent his son to negotiate at the Ottoman court and was confirmed as lord of the Holy Cities and Jiddah, subject to recognizing the Ottoman sultan as overlord. Selim's successor, Süleyman I the Magnificent, at the zenith of Ottoman power, munificently

Ashikaga Yoshimasa

2005-02-15T13:13:00.000-08:00

Shogun (hereditary military dictator) who helped promote one of Japan's greatest cultural eras. His attempts to select an heir, however, brought on a dispute that caused the great Onin War (1467–77). This conflict not only laid waste the area around the capital at Kyoto and destroyed many of its great architectural treasures but also eliminated the fiction

Industrial Bank Of Japan

2005-02-14T19:47:00.000-08:00

Japanese Nippon Kogyo Ginko former Japanese commercial bank that operated a general-banking and foreign-exchange business with branches in Japan and overseas. Established in 1902, the bank had specialized in medium- and long-term financing of industrial development, and both its main office and its foreign branches were active in the foreign-exchange markets. In September 2000, Industrial Bank of

Pala Dynasty

2005-02-13T13:07:00.000-08:00

Ruling dynasty in Bihar and Bengal, India, from the 8th to the 12th century. Its founder, Gopala, was a local chieftain who rose to power in the mid-8th century during a period of anarchy. His successor, Dharmapala (reigned c. 770–810), greatly expanded the kingdom and for a while was in control of Kannauj. Pala power was maintained under Devapala (reigned c. 810–850), who carried out raids in the north, the

Biblical Literature

2005-02-13T11:26:00.000-08:00

Exegesis, or critical interpretation, and hermeneutics, or the science of interpretive principles, of the Bible have been used by both Jews and Christians throughout their histories for various purposes. The most common purpose has been that of discovering the truths and values of the Old and New Testaments by means of various techniques and principles, though

Schenker, Heinrich

2005-02-13T06:36:00.000-08:00

Austrian music theorist whose insights into the structural hierarchies underlying much of 18th- and 19th-century music led to a new understanding of the laws of melodic and harmonic construction and form. Schenker was not well known in his time; he worked as a private teacher in Austria. He studied composition with Anton Bruckner

Pregnancy, Amniocentesis

2005-02-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

In the procedure of amniocentesis, amniotic fluid is aspirated (withdrawn) from the uterus by a needle inserted through a woman's abdomen, using ultrasound to circumnavigate the fetus and placenta. Spinal cord defects and a host of genetic abnormalities such as Down syndrome and autosomal recessive diseases such as Tay-Sachs disease and cystic fibrosis can be

Dagobert Ii

2005-02-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

The son of Sigebert III, Dagobert was packed off to an Irish monastery following the death of his father in 656, and the Austrasian throne was taken by Childebert the Adopted, son of Grimoald, the Austrasian mayor of the palace. After the downfall of Grimoald and Childebert,

Schenker, Heinrich

2005-02-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

Major Canadian professional gridiron football organization, formed in 1956 as the Canadian Football Council, created by the Western Interprovincial Football Union (WIFU) and the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU). Though the IRFU still referred to their sport as rugby football, the member clubs played a gridiron style of football. The WIFU and IRFU became,

Leng-hu

2005-02-10T13:58:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Lenghu, town, northwestern Tsinghai sheng (province), western China. Leng-hu is situated in the northwestern part of the Tsaidam Basin, to the southwest of Tang-chin Pass, which leads from the Tsaidam into western Kansu province and to the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang. Leng-hu is one of the major centres of the oil fields developed in the Tsaidam Basin during the 1960s and

Pigeon

2005-02-09T03:59:00.000-08:00

Pigeons occur worldwide except in the coldest regions and the most remote islands. About 250 species are known;

Sharman, Bill

2005-02-08T23:32:00.000-08:00

After graduation from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles (1950), Sharman played minor-league baseball before beginning his basketball career. He first played basketball with the Washington Capitols (1950–51). In his

Alban Hills

2005-02-08T18:43:00.000-08:00

Italian Colli Albani, or Monti Albani, area of extinct volcanoes in the Lazio (Latium) regione of central Italy, southeast of Rome. The hills consist of an outer circle, 6–8 miles (10–13 km) in diameter, rising to 3,113 feet (949 m) at Mount Cavo, and an inner crater rim, about 1.5 miles (2 km) across, rising to 3,136 feet (956 m) at Mount Faete. Lakes Albano and Nemi occupy two of the craters. Even before the emergence of Rome as a great power, the Alban Hills

Ibn Tibbon, Judah Ben Saul

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

Persecution of the Jews forced Judah to flee Granada in 1150, and he settled in Lunel, in southern France, where he practiced medicine, according to an account in 1160 by a contemporary traveller,

Consonance

2005-02-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

As a poetic device, it is often combined with assonance (the repetition of stressed vowel sounds within words

Valence

2005-02-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

The explanation and the systematization of valence was a major challenge to 19th-century