WhitePrison

Estate Agent London

2006-10-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

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

Fairfax (of Cameron), Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Baron

2005-04-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

The son of Ferdinando, 2nd Baron Fairfax of Cameron, he

Fagaras

2005-04-03T03:46:00.000-07:00

Hungarian Fogaras, town, Brasov judet (county), central Romania. It lies north of the Fagaras Mountains, a range of the Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathian Mountains), on the Olt River. First mentioned in documents in 1291, Fagaras became a military centre during the Middle Ages. The Fagaras Castle, built during the 15th century and now restored to its original form, is one of the outstanding examples of medieval

Kennewick

2005-04-02T03:23:00.000-08:00

City, Benton county, southeastern Washington, U.S. It lies along the Columbia River, opposite Pasco and immediately southeast of Richland. Laid out in 1892 by the Northern Pacific Irrigation Company, Kennewick is surrounded by farm country producing alfalfa, corn (maize), beans, sugar beets, grapes, and cherries. Hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River and the Hanford Works

Arts, East Asian, Architecture

2005-04-01T02:18:00.000-08:00

While little remains except walls and tombs, much can be learned about Han architecture from historical writings and long descriptive poems, fu. This was an era of great palace buildings. The first Ch'in emperor undertook the building of a vast palace, the A-fang or O-pang, whose main hall was intended to accommodate 10,000 guests in its upper story. He also copied the palaces

Chad, From the 16th to the 19th century

2005-03-31T19:05:00.000-08:00

Products of the Islamized Sudanic culture diffused from Kanem were the kingdoms of Bagirmi and Ouaddaï, which emerged in the early years of the 17th century

Dome

2005-03-30T17:55:00.000-08:00

In geology, any large or elliptical structure formed by the fractureless upwarping of rock strata. It is a type of anticline that lacks clear-cut elongation and that slopes outward in all directions from the highest point. Typical examples of such a dome can be found in the Black Hills of South Dakota in the western United States. Where strata plunge more or less uniformly

Abu Ruwaysh

2005-03-29T17:38:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Abu Roash,

Zahiriyah

2005-03-29T01:26:00.000-08:00

(Arabic: “Literalists”), followers of an Islamic legal school that insisted on strict adherence to the literal text (zahir) of the Qur'an and Hadith (sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad) as the only source of Muslim law. Founded in Iraq by Dawud Khalaf in the 9th century, it spread to Iran, North Africa, and Muslim Spain, where the philosopher Ibn Hazm was its chief exponent. Although

Arupa-dhatu

2005-03-26T22:52:00.000-08:00

In Buddhist thought, the realm of formlessness. See arupa-loka.

Zahiriyah

2005-03-26T22:14:00.000-08:00

Former union of garment and apparel workers in the United States and Canada. It was formed in 1976 by the merger of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America (ACWA), a large union representing workers in the men's clothing industry, with the Textile Workers Union of America, a smaller union founded in 1939. The ACWA was originally formed when militant elements within the United

U-boat

2005-03-25T00:27:00.000-08:00

Germany was the first country to employ submarines in war as substitutes for surface commerce raiders. At the outset of World War I, German U-boats, though numbering only 38, achieved notable successes against British warships; but because of the reactions of neutral powers (especially the United States) Germany hesitated before adopting unrestricted U-boat warfare

Alaska, The economy

2005-03-24T07:47:00.000-08:00

The Alaskan economy is conditioned strongly by the state's frontier stage of development, but its formerly inadequate tax base for state and municipal growth ended with the development of the North Slope oil fields. High costs of labour and transportation and complicated environmental and land-use constraints still tend to discourage outside investment. Nonetheless,

Antibody

2005-03-23T05:46:00.000-08:00

When an alien substance

Andhra Pradesh

2005-03-22T06:58:00.000-08:00

State of India, located in the southeastern part of the subcontinent. It is bounded by the states of Tamil Nadu (formerly Madras) to the south, Karnataka (Mysore) to the west, Maharashtra to the northwest and north, and Madhya Pradesh and Orissa to the northeast; the eastern boundary is a 600-mile (970-kilometre) coastline along the Bay of Bengal. The state has an area of 106,195 square miles (275,045 square

Siddha

2005-03-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

In Jainism, one who has achieved perfection. By right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct a siddha has freed himself from the cycle of rebirths and resides in a state of perpetual bliss in the siddha-sila, at the top of the universe. The siddha and the other ascetics constitute the pañca-paramesthin, the five chief divinities of the Jainas. Their figures are represented

Gad

2005-03-20T05:37:00.000-08:00

After entering the Promised Land, each tribe was assigned a territory by Joshua, who replaced Moses as leader after the latter's death. The tribe

Conservative Judaism

2005-03-19T02:36:00.000-08:00

Zacharias Frankel (1801–75), whose ideology inspired early Conservative ideas, broke with modernizing extremists after a series of Reform conferences in Germany

Boner, Ulrich

2005-03-19T00:02:00.000-08:00

Boner, known to have been of a Bernese family, is mentioned in records between 1324 and 1349. He compiled and translated his collection of fables for Johann von Ringgenberg, his Bernese patron. The form that Boner used was referred to as bîschaft

Jazz

2005-03-18T06:23:00.000-08:00

In spite of the wide dissemination and geographic distribution of these diverse musical traditions, New Orleans was where a distinctive, coherent jazz style evolved. Between 1910 and 1915 a systematization of instrumental functions within an essentially collective ensemble took shape, as did a regularization of the repertory. Despite the fact that a limited set of instruments

Anderson, Marian

2005-03-17T16:27:00.000-08:00

Anderson displayed vocal talent as a child, but her family could not afford to pay for formal training. From the age of six, she was tutored in the choir of the Union Baptist Church, where she sang parts written for bass, alto, tenor, and soprano voices. Members of the

Hydroid

2005-03-16T16:07:00.000-08:00

Any member of the invertebrate order Hydroida (class Hydrozoa, phylum Cnidaria). Hydroids have three basic life-cycle stages: (1) a tiny free-swimming planula larva about 1 mm (0.04 inch) long, which settles and grows into (2) a sessile (attached), usually colonial hydroid stage, which in turn liberates (3) medusae. This cycle is exemplified by the genus Obelia (q.v.), whose members are widely

Pangolin

2005-03-16T14:52:00.000-08:00

Also called Scaly Anteater, any of the armoured placental mammals of the order Pholidota. Pangolin, from the Malayan meaning “rolling over,” refers to this animal's habit of curling into a ball when threatened. About eight species of pangolins, usually considered to be of the genus Manis, family Manidae, are found in tropical Asia and Africa. Pangolins are 30 to 90 cm (1 to 3 feet) long exclusive of the tail and

Amur

2005-03-15T20:21:00.000-08:00

Russian Amurskaya oblast (province), far eastern Russia. It occupies the basins of the middle Amur River and its tributary the Zeya and extends up to the crest of the Stanovoy Range. In 1689 Russia yielded the Amur region to China by the Treaty of Nerchinsk, but Russian Cossacks reincorporated it in the latter part of the 19th century. Amur oblast was formed in 1932 from Khabarovsk kray (region), and its

Anderson, Marian

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

Bashir Shihab Ii

2005-03-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

Although born into the princely Shihab family, Bashir grew up in poverty but married into great wealth. In 1788 the Lebanese emir was forced to abdicate, and the local nobility selected

Zapolska, Gabriela

2005-03-13T23:47:00.000-08:00

Having tried unsuccessfully to pursue an acting career in Paris, Zapolska started writing cheap, sensationalist novels full of bitterness toward middle-class values, morality, and hypocrisy. Of her several novels written

Steamboat Springs

2005-03-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1877) of Routt county, north-central Colorado, U.S. Located in the high Rocky Mountains at an elevation of 6,762 feet (2,061 metres), the town was supposedly named for Steamboat Spring, reported to have recalled to trappers the chugging of a steamboat. The area was settled by whites in 1875 and was largely given over to ranching and timbering; the town served as a commercial centre. In

Yajurveda

2005-03-12T10:58:00.000-08:00

Collection of mantras (sacred formulas) and verses that forms part of the ancient sacred literature of India known as the Vedas. See Veda.

Davies, Peter Maxwell

2005-03-11T20:44:00.000-08:00

Davies studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music (1952–56) and at Manchester University (1952–57) and then in Italy (1957–59) with the composer Goffredo Petrassi. From 1959 to 1962 he taught music at the Cirencester Grammar

Gyascutus

2005-03-10T22:43:00.000-08:00

An imaginary, large, four-legged beast with legs on one side longer than those on the other, for walking on hillsides. Humorous references to this creature, whose name has countless local variants, first appeared in American newspapers during the 1840s. It has continued to play a minor role in American folklore since then. The word was apparently coined to mimic the Latin

Fish Louse

2005-03-10T18:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Carp Louse, plural Fish Lice, or Carp Lice, any member of the crustacean subclass Branchiura, a group of parasites of migratory marine and freshwater fishes. Of the approximately 120 known species, most belong to the genus Argulus. The fish louse has a very distinctive oval-shaped, flattened body formed by a broad carapace. Other notable physical features include compound eyes, a pair of large suckers, four pairs

Arts, Native American, Wind instruments: aerophones

2005-03-09T10:38:00.000-08:00

In North America, flutes are limited to courtship, except for a whistle in an Iroquois medicine rite and in a gens (kinship-group) ceremony of the Meskwaki. In Mexico and southward, wind instruments provide colour and symbolic significance. At least two dances feature a one-man drummer-flutist who holds a flute in his left hand and plays a drum with his right. These are

Abominable Snowman

2005-03-08T08:17:00.000-08:00

Tibetan Yeti mythical monster supposed to inhabit the Himalayas at about the level of the snow line. Though reports of actual sightings of such a creature are rare, certain mysterious markings in the snow have traditionally been attributed to it. Those not caused by lumps of snow or stones falling from higher regions and bouncing across the lower slopes have probably been produced

Douai-reims Bible

2005-03-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

Also called Reims-douai Bible, also spelled Rheims-douay, English translation of the Latin Vulgate Bible produced by Roman Catholic scholars in exile from England at the English College in Douai (then in the Spanish Netherlands but now part of France). The New Testament translation was published in 1582 at Rheims, where the English College had temporarily relocated in 1578. The Old Testament was translated shortly afterward but

Ketch, Jack

2005-03-07T07:46:00.000-08:00

Ketch is believed to have received his appointment as public hangman in 1663. The first recorded mention of him appears in an anti-Roman Catholic broadside published in 1678 entitled The

Sano

2005-03-07T01:27:00.000-08:00

City, Tochigi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, on the Watarase River, a tributary of the Ione River. Sano is surrounded by low hills and occupies a plain, a plateau, and alluvial lowlands. Sano was a castle town during the Middle Ages and a post town and market centre during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867). Industry developed after the late 19th century, and the city now produces concrete, roof

Spotswood, Alexander

2005-03-05T08:57:00.000-08:00

After service under the 1st duke of Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), he was appointed lieutenant governor of Virginia (1710). In this post he recommended the establishment of a Virginia company to carry

Radio Interferometer

2005-03-05T08:38:00.000-08:00

Apparatus that is used to study heavenly bodies by receiving and analyzing electromagnetic radiation that these bodies emit or reflect in the radio wavelengths. A radio interferometer is a radio telescope (q.v.) consisting of two or more separate antennas receiving radio waves from the same source, joined to one receiver. The antennas may be placed close together

Great Leap Forward

2005-03-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

The campaign undertaken by the Chinese Communists between 1958 and early 1960 to organize its vast population, especially in large-scale rural communes, to meet China's industrial and agricultural problems. The Chinese hoped to develop labour-intensive methods of industrialization, which would emphasize manpower rather than machines. Thereby, it was hoped, the country

Van Deman, Ralph

2005-03-03T18:41:00.000-08:00

Van Deman followed an eclectic educational course before settling on a military career: he took a degree from Harvard, studied law for a year, and then took a medical degree (1893). He served briefly as an army surgeon and then attended the

Colegate, Isabel

2005-03-03T01:19:00.000-08:00

At the age of 19 Colegate began working as an assistant to literary agent Anthony Blond; when Blond became a publisher, one of the first books he brought out was Colgate's first novel, The Blackmailer (1958). Her next novel, A Man of Power (1960), portrays a newly rich businessman

Dangerfield, Thomas

2005-03-02T15:57:00.000-08:00

As a young man, Dangerfield robbed his father, a farmer, and was imprisoned several

Henry I

2005-03-01T04:46:00.000-08:00

Henry was crowned at Westminster, on Aug. 5, 1100, three days after his brother, King William II, William the Conqueror's second son, had been killed in a hunting accident. Duke Robert Curthose, the eldest of the three brothers, who by feudal custom had succeeded to his father's inheritance, Normandy, was returning from the First Crusade and could not assert his own claim to the English

Rabelais, François

2005-03-01T04:18:00.000-08:00

Pseudonym Alcofribas Nasier French writer and priest who for his contemporaries was an eminent physician and humanist and for posterity is the author of the comic masterpiece Gargantua and Pantagruel. The four novels composing this work are outstanding for their rich use of Renaissance French and for their comedy, which ranges from gross burlesque

Saccopastore Skulls

2005-02-28T23:44:00.000-08:00

The strong development of the brow ridges (responsible for the so-called beetle-browed look) and the low, flat crown, large jaw, and

Colebrook, Leonard

2005-02-27T21:41:00.000-08:00

Colebrook joined researcher Almroth Wright in 1907 at St. Mary's Hospital. In 1926 Colebrook became interested

Morgan City

2005-02-27T15:02:00.000-08:00

Port on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, in St. Mary parish, southeastern Louisiana, U.S. It lies along Berwick Bay (bridged to Berwick) of the Atchafalaya River (there widened into Six Mile Lake), about 30 miles (50 km) west of Houma. Founded in 1850, it was incorporated (1860) as Brashear City but was renamed in 1876 for Charles Morgan, then president of the New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western

Printmaking, Lift-ground etching (sugar-lift aquatint)

2005-02-25T23:40:00.000-08:00

In lift-ground etching, a positive image is etched on an aquatint plate by drawing with a water-soluble ground. In the conventional aquatint technique, the artist controls the image by stopping out negative areas with varnish, thus working around the positive image. But for lift-ground etching, he uses a viscous liquid (such as India ink, gamboge, or ordinary poster paint

Silko, Leslie Marmon

2005-02-25T16:00:00.000-08:00

Silko, of mixed Laguna Pueblo, white, and Mexican ancestry, grew up on the Laguna Pueblo reservation in New Mexico, where she learned Laguna traditions and myths. After attending Bureau of Indian Affairs schools and graduating

Eliphaz The Temanite

2005-02-24T19:35:00.000-08:00

In three speeches of increasing severity, Eliphaz attempts to reconcile Job to God and induce him to repent. In

Cadalso Y Vázquez, José De

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

Cadalso also spelled Cadahlso Spanish writer famous for his Cartas marruecas (1793; “Moroccan Letters”), in which a Moorish traveler in Spain makes penetrating criticisms of Spanish life. Educated in Madrid, Cadalso traveled widely and, although he hated war, enlisted in the army against the Portuguese during the Seven Years' War. His prose satire Los eruditos a la

Iacchus

2005-02-23T13:22:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Iakchos, minor deity associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries, the best known of the ancient Greek mystery religions. On the day preceding the commencement of the mysteries, Iacchus' name was invoked with the names of the earth goddess Demeter and her daughter Kore (Persephone) during the procession from Athens to Eleusis, a city in Attica. Probably originally a personification

Polish Literature, Literature after 1945

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

The impact of World War II, the experience of occupation, and the establishment of the People's Republic in 1945 decisively affected the character of literature in Poland and also produced a number of émigré writers who had become famous between World Wars I and II. Among the latter were lyrical poets of the Skamander group, former associates of the Awangarda movement,

Latin-american Literature, Vanguard literature

2005-02-22T10:31:00.000-08:00

When the Modernist leaders Darío and Lugones turned to frequent use of more traditional forms and especially to themes dealing with the troubled external world, their followers and many younger poets continued to explore the complex versification and language and new thematic sources with which Modernism had enriched Hispanic poetry. Prominent among them

Frederick William Ii

2005-02-21T05:11:00.000-08:00

The son of Frederick the Great's brother Augustus William, he became heir presumptive on his father's death in 1758. He was intellectually receptive and devoted to the

John

2005-02-20T19:44:00.000-08:00

The son of Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, and Margaret of Flanders, John was born in the ducal castle at Rouvres, where he spent the greater part of his childhood. In 1385 he married Margaret of Bavaria, and in the following decade

Alban Hills

2005-02-20T06:10:00.000-08:00

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

Paperbark Tree

2005-02-20T04:53:00.000-08:00

Melaleuca quinquenervia, also called punk tree and tea tree, grows to a height of 8 metres (25 feet); it has spongy white bark that peels off in thin layers. M. leucadendron, also called river

Alonso, Dámaso

2005-02-19T13:04:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Madrid, Alonso taught at the Centre of Historical Studies, Madrid (1923–36), and was a professor at the University of Valencia (1933–39) and the University of Madrid (1939–68). He was also a lecturer or visiting professor at universities in

Hawea Lake

2005-02-19T08:35:00.000-08:00

Lake in west-central South Island, New Zealand. The lake lies at the heart of a resort area 182 miles (293 km) northwest of Dunedin by road. It occupies 54 square miles (141 square km) of a valley dammed by a terminal moraine (glacial debris). The lake, 1,142 feet (348 m) above sea level, is 19 miles (31 km) long, 5 miles (8 km) wide, and 1,286 feet (392 m) deep. It drains an area of 536 square miles (1,388 square km). Its main affluent, the Hunter River,

Allston, Washington

2005-02-19T04:56:00.000-08:00

Painter and author, commonly held to be the first important American Romantic painter. Allston is known for his experiments with dramatic subject matter and his use of light and atmospheric colour. Although his production was small, it shaped future American landscape

Mengelberg, Willem

2005-02-18T17:43:00.000-08:00

Trained as a pianist at the Cologne Conservatory, he became a conductor at Luzern, Switz., in 1891. He became renowned as an interpreter of Beethoven, Mahler, and Richard

Essex, Arthur Capel, 1st Earl Of, Viscount Malden, Baron Capel Of Hadham

2005-02-17T01:04:00.000-08:00

The son of Arthur Capel, 1st Baron Capel, who was executed by the Parliamentarians in 1649, he was, after the Restoration of Charles II, created Viscount Malden and earl of Essex (April 1661). Although his antagonism to court life, to Roman Catholicism, and to extension of

Midgard

2005-02-16T08:02:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Midgardr (Old Norse: Middle Abode) , also called Manna-Heim (“Home of Man”) in Norse mythology, the Middle Earth, the abode of mankind, made from the body of the first created being, the giant Aurgelmir (Ymir). According to legend, the gods killed Aurgelmir, rolled his body into the central void of the universe, and began fashioning the Midgard. Aurgelmir's flesh became the land, his blood the oceans, his bones the mountains, his teeth the cliffs, his

Cladonia

2005-02-15T09:54:00.000-08:00

Genus of lichens that includes those species commonly known as cup lichen, reindeer moss, and British soldiers (qq.v.).

Roundelay

2005-02-15T00:07:00.000-08:00

A poem with a refrain that recurs frequently or at fixed intervals, as in a rondel. The term is also loosely used to refer to any of the fixed forms of poetry (such as the rondeau, the rondel, and the roundel) that use refrains extensively.

Ta-ch'ing

2005-02-14T21:53:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Daqing oil field in Heilungkiang province, China, one of the country's most important sources of oil. It is situated in the north of the Sungari-Liao River basin, between Tsitsihar and Harbin, in the general vicinity of An-ta, northwest of Harbin. The field was discovered in the late 1950s and drilling began in 1958, often in difficult conditions caused by the extreme winter cold and by

Profumo Affair

2005-02-14T21:42:00.000-08:00

At a party at the country estate of Lord Astor on July

Dent, Edward John

2005-02-13T13:52:00.000-08:00

Dent learned the clockmaker's trade from Richard Rippon and, during the period 1815–29, established a reputation as a builder of accurate chronometers. His reputation for precision eventually brought requests from the Admiralty and the East India Company. Dent confirmed

Abel, Rudolf (ivanovich)

2005-02-13T06:44:00.000-08:00

Genrich Fischer (or Fisher), Abel's father and a friend of

Port

2005-02-13T04:58:00.000-08:00

Also called Porto, specifically, a sweet, fortified, usually red wine of considerable renown from the Douro region of northern Portugal, named for the town of Oporto where it is aged and bottled; also, any of several similar fortified wines produced elsewhere. The region of true port production is strictly delimited by Portuguese law. The soil and grapes, and the skill of Oporto vintners

Chaillu Massif

2005-02-13T01:58:00.000-08:00

Mountain range in south-central Gabon, rising to more than 3,300 feet (1,000 m) between the Ngounié and the Ogooué rivers; it forms the country's main watershed. The range contains Mount Milondo (3,346 feet [1,020 m]), the highest peak in Gabon, 53 miles (85 km) southwest of Koula-Moutou. Other high points in the range are Mount Iboundji (3,215 feet [980 m]) and Mount Mimongo (2,822 feet [860 m]). The granite massif is named for the explorer

Caballé, Montserrat

2005-02-11T05:32:00.000-08:00

Spanish operatic soprano, admired for her versatility and phrasing and for her performances in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti, and Richard Strauss. She began her studies as a child at the Conservatorio del Liceo in Barcelona with Eugenia Kenny and later continued with Napoleone Annovazzi and Conchita Badía. In 1956 she joined the Basel

Frances Of Rome, Saint

2005-02-11T02:14:00.000-08:00

When she was only 13, Frances' parents married her to Lorenzo de' Ponziani, whose sister-in-law, Vannozza, helped Frances draft a rule of life for the new order. In

Aristides

2005-02-10T22:39:00.000-08:00

Athenian philosopher, one of the earliest Christian Apologists, his Apology for the Christian Faith being one of the oldest extant Apologist documents. Known primarily through a reference by the 4th-century historian Eusebius of Caesarea, Aristides addressed his Apology either to the Roman emperor Hadrian (reigned 117–138) or to his successor Antoninus Pius

Wellesley Islands

2005-02-10T19:35:00.000-08:00

Group of islands lying off the northwestern coast of Queensland, Australia, in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Sighted in 1644 by the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman, they were charted (1802–03) by the British navigator Matthew Flinders and named in honour of Marquess Wellesley (Richard Colley Wellesley), then governor-general of India. The islands are generally rocky or sandy and are covered

Wiesel, Elie

2005-02-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

Wiesel's early life, spent in a small Hasidic community in the town of Sighet, was a rather hermetic existence of prayer and contemplation. In 1940 Sighet was annexed

Minehead

2005-02-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”), West Somerset district, administrative and historic county of Somerset, England. The town owes its origin and growth to its harbour. Minehead was first incorporated in 1558. Its older buildings include St. Michael's Church (1450), the almshouses (1630), the old manor office, and the 17th-century cottages along Quay Street. The present harbour was built in 1616. Minehead's trade with

Hadley, Henry (kimball)

2005-02-08T03:29:00.000-08:00

Hadley studied in Boston and Vienna and in 1904 went to Germany, where in 1909 he conducted his one-act opera Safié. He conducted the Seattle Symphony Orchestra (1909–11), the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (1911–15), and the Manhattan Symphony Orchestra (1929–32) and was associate conductor of the New York

Korean Language

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

Language spoken by more than 72 million people, of whom 45 million live in South Korea and 24 million in North Korea. There are more than 2 million speakers in China, more than 700,000 in the United States, and somewhat fewer in Japan. More than 200,000 Koreans live in Kazakstan and Uzbekistan. Korean is the official language of both South Korea (Republic of Korea) and North Korea (Democratic People's

Aerospace Industry, The space age

2005-02-07T13:54:00.000-08:00

Both the Soviet and the American space industries had much the same origins and impetus. The development of intermediate-range and intercontinental missiles provided not only the critical electronic technologies but also the rockets necessary to boost small payloads into orbit. Thus, the launch of Sputnik in 1957 signaled not only Soviet technical leadership

Næstved

2005-02-07T05:49:00.000-08:00

City, Storstrøm amtskommune (county commune), southern Sjælland (Zealand), Denmark, on the Suså River. Næstved originated around a Benedictine monastery, founded in 1135. The monks moved at the end of the 12th century, and the town developed as a market centre for southern Sjælland (chartered 1426). Chief among its medieval landmarks are Sankt Peder Church, the only survival of the

Januarius, Saint

2005-02-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

Italian San Gennaro bishop of Benevento and patron saint of Naples. He is believed to have been martyred during the persecution under the Roman emperor Diocletian in 305. His fame rests on the relic, allegedly his blood, which is kept in a glass vial in the Naples Cathedral. Of solid substance, it liquefies 18 times each year. While no natural explanation has

Interior Design, Byzantium

2005-02-05T20:06:00.000-08:00

The capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, Constantinople (formerly called Byzantium, later Stamboul, presently Istanbul) was a convenient meeting place for East and West. It felt the influence of Persian art and transmitted it to early medieval European Christian styles. Most surviving Byzantine interiors are ecclesiastical, although secular wall paintings

Claudius

2005-02-05T18:01:00.000-08:00

In full Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , original name (until AD 41) Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus Roman emperor (AD 41–54), who extended Roman rule in North Africa and made Britain a province.

Herat School

2005-02-05T11:04:00.000-08:00

15th-century style of miniature painting that flourished in Herat, western Afghanistan, under the patronage of the Timurids. Shah Rokh, the son of the Islamic conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), founded the school, but it was his son Baysunqur Mirza (died 1433) who developed it into an important centre of painting, bringing to his court artists from all over Persia and Afghanistan.

Ramakrishna Mission

2005-02-04T01:25:00.000-08:00

The society was founded in Calcutta by Vivekananda (q.v.) in 1897 with a twofold purpose: to spread the teachings of Vedanta as embodied in the life

Morais, Vinícius De

2005-02-03T23:29:00.000-08:00

The author of numerous volumes of lyrical poetry, Vinícius began his literary career as an adherent of the Brazilian Modernism in vogue around 1930. A period of studying English

Norway, Union with Sweden

2005-02-02T18:33:00.000-08:00

Norwegian independence got no support from the Great Powers, and Sweden attacked Norway in late July 1814. After a brief war of 14 days, Christian resigned. Jean Bernadotte (later known as Charles XIV John; called Karl Johan in Sweden and Norway), the Swedish crown prince, accepted the Norwegian constitution and thus could no longer argue on the basis of the Treaty of Kiel. This

Fryer, Robert

2005-02-02T15:36:00.000-08:00

American theatrical and film producer (b. Dec. 18, 1920, Washington, D.C.—d. May 28, 2000, Los Angeles, Calif.), staged some of Broadway's most popular productions from the 1950s to the 1980s. Fryer got his start on Broadway in 1951 as a co-producer, with George Abbott, of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. He went on to produce such hits as Wonderful Town (1958), Sweet Charity (1966), Chicago (1975), and Merrily We Roll Along (1981). His Broadway shows

Garden And Landscape Design, Rhythm and balance

2005-02-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

Rhythm and balance result from the three-dimensional arrangement of elements and materials on the site. Rhythm is a sequence or repetition of similar elements—as a double row of trees. It tends to emphasize direction and movement, as along an allée toward a viewpoint or terminus. Balance is the sense one gets, looking in any direction, that the elements to one's left

Aymé, Marcel

2005-02-01T23:15:00.000-08:00

He grew up in the country among farmers, in a world of close-knit families bounded by the barnyard on one side, the schoolhouse on the other.

Rachmaninoff, Sergey

2005-02-01T05:48:00.000-08:00

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Rachmaninoff went into his second self-imposed exile, dividing his time between residences in Switzerland and the United States. Although for the next 25 years he spent most of his time in an English-speaking country, he never mastered its language or thoroughly acclimatized himself. With his family and a small circle of friends, he

Seven Hills Of Rome

2005-02-01T00:46:00.000-08:00

Group of hills on or about which the ancient city of Rome was built. The original city of Romulus was built upon Palatine Hill (Latin: Mons Palatinus). The other hills are the Capitoline, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Caelian, and Aventine (known respectively in Latin as the Mons Capitolinus, Mons Quirinalis, Mons Viminalis, Mons Esquilinus, Mons Caelius, and Mons

Kearney

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

City, seat of Buffalo county, south-central Nebraska, U.S. It lies on the north (left) bank of the Platte River. The first settlers were Swedish immigrants who came there in 1865. The city was founded in 1871 at the junction of the Burlington and the Union Pacific railroads. It was named for nearby Fort Kearny, a U.S. Army post (1848–71) that had been established to protect travelers on the Oregon

Vedic Religion

2005-01-29T23:12:00.000-08:00

The only extant Vedic materials are the texts known as the Vedas, which were written down over a period of about 10 centuries, from about the 15th to the 5th century BC, this being the period when Vedism was a living force. The Vedic corpus is written in an archaic Sanskrit. The most important texts are also the oldest ones. They are the four collections (Samhita) that we call the Veda,

Albany

2005-01-29T21:05:00.000-08:00

County, east-central New York state, U.S., bordered by the Mohawk River to the northeast and the Hudson River to the east. The terrain rises from the Hudson valley lowlands in the east to the Helderberg Mountains in the centre of the county; Alcove Reservoir is in the south. Parklands include Thompson's Lake and John Boyd Thacher state parks. Timber in the western half of

Lewis, John Aaron

2005-01-29T03:21:00.000-08:00

American composer and pianist (b. May 3, 1920, La Grange, Ill.—d. March 29, 2001, New York, N.Y.), brought elegance and charm to jazz while leading the Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) to musical and popular success for over four decades. He played piano in a spare, graceful style, and his compositions included sophisticated modern melodies as well as breaks, ostinatos, riffs, and other devices from the

Biblical Literature, Baruch

2005-01-29T02:21:00.000-08:00

The apocryphon of Baruch, which is extant in Greek and was included in the Septuagint, is attributed to Baruch, secretary to the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah (7th–6th century BCE). It was Baruch who read Jeremiah's letter to the exiles in Babylon. After hearing his words, the Jews repented and confessed their sins. The first part of the book of Baruch (1:1–3, 8), containing a confession