Friday, December 31, 2004

Mahavihara

Buddhist monastery founded in the late 3rd century BCE in Anuradhapura, the ancient capital of Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka). The monastery was built by the Sinhalese king Devanampiya Tissa not long after his conversion to Buddhism by the Indian monk Mahendra. Until about the 10th century, it was a great cultural and religious centre and the chief stronghold of Theravada

Lopes, Fernão

Nothing certain is known of Lopes' early

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Quilting

Making a bed quilt is a multistep

Sha-ch'ing

The artifacts of the group were mainly brick-red gritty bowls, stone tools, and large tri-legged vessels of grey pottery. Evidence of bronze

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Interior Design, Final drawings and specifications

The next stages of the design may consist of a series of drawings done by professional draftsmen or by the interior designer himself, if he works as an

Albany, Robert Stewart, 1st Duke Of

The third son of Robert II of Scotland, he was made high chamberlain of Scotland in 1382 and won a military reputation in campaigns against England.

Biblical Literature, Prayer of Manasseh

In some manuscripts of the Septuagint and in two later Christian writings, a pseudepigraphic Prayer of Manasseh is contained. This prayer was composed with reference to II Chron. 33:11–18, according to which the wicked Judaean king Manasseh repented and prayed. In the present form the prayer is Greek in origin, but it may have existed in a Hebrew version, of which the Greek is

Belyayev, Pavel

Belyayev began training as a fighter pilot in 1943 and saw combat against the Japanese late in World War

Monday, December 27, 2004

Olt River

River, rising close to the headwaters of the Mures River, in the Ciuc Depression, east central Romania, at an elevation of 5,900 feet (1,800 m); it flows generally southwest and then south for 420 miles (670 km), entering the Danube at Turnu-Magurele. The river exits from the Ciuc Depression through the mountains at Tusnad, carving out a valley where several resorts and spas are located (including

Wage And Salary

Income derived from human labour. Technically, all payments for the use of labour, mental or physical, are covered, but in ordinary usage the terms exclude income of the self-employed and are restricted to compensation of employees. Occasionally fringe benefits are included, but generally they are not. The terms are not fully synonymous with labour costs, which may

China, Regional cultures of the Late Neolithic

By the 3rd millennium BC the regional cultures in the areas discussed above showed increased signs of interaction and even convergence. That they are frequently referred to as varieties of the Lung-shan culture (c. 2500–2000 BC) of east central Shantung—characterized by its lustrous, eggshell-thin black ware—suggests the degree to which these cultures are thought to have experienced

Sunday, December 26, 2004

Allbutt, Sir Thomas Clifford

During a 28-year practice in Leeds, Allbutt made valuable clinical studies, primarily of arterial and nervous disorders. In 1866 he introduced the modern clinical thermometer,

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Nervous System, Annelids

The brain of most annelids (phylum Annelida; segmented worms, including the leeches and terrestrial earthworms) is relatively simple in structure. The earthworm brain is a bilobed mass lying above the pharynx in the third body segment (see the diagram). Sensory nerves leave the brain and run forward into the prostomium (extreme anterior end) and first segment. The brain

Talbot

County, east-central Maryland, U.S. It adjoins Chesapeake Bay to the west, the Choptank River to the south and southeast, and Tuckahoe Creek to the northeast and includes Tilghman and Poplar islands. The jagged coast is carved by the Wye East, Tred Avon, and Miles rivers and by Harris and Broad creeks. Parklands include Seth Demonstration Forest and Wye Oak State Park, the

Friday, December 24, 2004

Fisher, M.f.k.

In full  Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher  American writer whose compelling style, wit, and interest in the gastronomical made her one of the major American writers on the subject of food. In her 15 celebrated books, Fisher created a new genre: the food essay. Seeing food as a cultural metaphor, she proved to be both an insightful philosopher of food and a writer of fine

Hadith

Also spelled  Hadit (Arabic: “news,” or “story”)  record of the traditions or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, revered and received as a major source of religious law and moral guidance, second only to the authority of the Qur'an, or scripture of Islam. It might be defined as the biography of Muhammad perpetuated by the long memory of his community for their exemplification and obedience. The development of Hadith is a vital

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Mitnagged

Also spelled  Misnagid (Hebrew: Opponent),  plural  Mitnaggedim, or Misnagidim,   member of a group of tradition-minded Jews who vigorously opposed the mid-18th-century Hasidic movement of eastern Europe when it threatened to encompass large numbers of Jews. Under the leadership of Elijah ben Solomon, called the Vilna Gaon, the Mitnaggedim excommunicated all Hasidic groups from Orthodox Jewish communities. The Hasidim were accused of espousing

West Greenland Current

Cool flow of water proceeding northward along the west coast of Greenland. See Greenland Current.

Extensor Muscle

Any of the muscles that increase the angle between members of a limb, as by straightening the elbow or knee or bending the wrist or spine backward. The movement is usually directed backward, with the notable exception of the knee joint. In humans, certain muscles of the hand and foot are named for this function. In the hand these include the extensor carpi radialis brevis,

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Metaphysical Painting

Style of painting that flourished mainly between 1911 and 1920 in the works of the Italian artists Giorgio De Chirico, Carlo Carrà, and Giorgio Morandi. These painters' representational but bizarre and incongruous imagery produces strange, disquieting effects on the viewer. Juxtaposing disparate objects set into deep perspectives, these works strongly influenced the

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Spa

Known in Roman times and mentioned by Pliny the Elder, the springs were rediscovered in 1326 and have been frequented since the

Düsseldorf

Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), west-central North Rhine–Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. Düsseldorf is bordered by The Netherlands to the west and the Regierungsbezirke of Münster to the northeast, Arnsberg to the east, and Köln to the south. The district occupies an area of 2,042 square miles (5,288 square km) and consists of the northern portion of the larger

Cereal Processing, Testing

Cooking tests are used to ensure that the final product is satisfactory. Considerable research has been carried out to control factors tending to destroy the desirable yellow colour. Destruction of the colouring matter, a xanthophyll, can occur in mixing owing to excessive lipoxidase. Certain types of durum wheat may possess a high degree of lipoxidase activity,

Monday, December 20, 2004

Pitoëff, Georges

Russian-born director and producer, noted for his popularization in France of the works of contemporary foreign playwrights, especially Pirandello, Shaw, Chekhov, Schnitzler, and O'Neill. He was a member of the Cartel des Quatre (Group of Four), a group including Louis Jouvet, Charles Dullin, and Gaston Baty, dedicated to rejuvenating the

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Cadillac, Antoine Laumet De La Mothe

With permission

Music Recording, Composition

The contemporary

Friday, December 17, 2004

Bishop's Cap Cactus

All four species of Astrophytum, which is sometimes regarded as a subgenus of Echinocac

Cozens, John Robert

The son of the watercolourist Alexander Cozens, John began to exhibit drawings with the Society of Artists in 1767. The two long visits he paid to the Continent, 1776–79 and 1782–83, were the formative and decisive events in his career. On the first

Van Halen

Also called  South American dog  or  South American jackal  any of several South American carnivores of the genus Dusicyon, family Canidae. One member of the genus, the small-toothed dog, is sometimes considered to comprise a distinct genus called Lycalopex. Although these canids are not actually foxes, they resemble true foxes. There are about 6 to 11 species, depending on the authority consulted. In general, South American foxes

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Welsh Literary Renaissance

Literary activity centring in Wales and England in the mid-18th century that attempted to stimulate interest in the Welsh language and in the classical bardic verse forms of Wales. The movement centred on Lewis, Richard, and William Morris, Welsh scholars who preserved ancient texts and encouraged contemporary poets to use strict metres of the ancient Welsh bards

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Johnson, Kelly

Johnson received his B.S. (1932) and M.S. (1933) degrees from the University of Michigan before beginning his career with the Lockheed Corporation in 1933. As head of the “Skunk Works,” Lockheed's secret development unit, he helped design more than 40 airplanes. Among them were the P-38 Lightning

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Avon

Region and former administrative county, southwestern England, bordering the Severn estuary and the Bristol Channel. The region comprises parts of the historic counties of Gloucestershire and Somerset to the north and south, respectively. It is divided administratively into the following unitary authorities: Bath and North East Somerset, the city of Bristol

Kuala Lumpur

Capital of Malaysia. The city is located in west-central West (Peninsular) Malaysia, midway along the west coast tin and rubber belt and about 25 miles (40 km) east of its ocean port, Port Kelang, on the Strait of Malacca. It is the federation's largest urban area and its cultural, commercial, and transportation centre. In 1972 Kuala Lumpur was designated a municipality, and in 1974 this entity

Mansehra

Town, northeastern North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The town is situated at the southern end of the Pakhli Plain on the Bhut Stream, a tributary to the Siran River, at an elevation of 3,682 feet (1,122 m) above sea level. It is a market town surrounded by pine-covered hills and has a flour mill, a woolen-yarn mill, and an agricultural research centre. The nearby Asokan rock edicts

Monday, December 13, 2004

Lateral Line System

Network of sensory receptors located along the head and sides of fishes and amphibians. The system serves to detect movements and pressure changes in the surrounding water. The individual receptor, called a lateral line organ, or neuromast, consists of a cluster of innervated hairs surrounded by a jellylike projection (cupula) that bends in response to water movements.

Radiation

Flow of atomic and subatomic particles and of waves, such as those that characterize heat rays, light rays, and X rays. All matter is constantly bombarded with radiation of both types from cosmic and terrestrial sources. This article delineates the properties and behaviour of radiation and the matter with which it interacts and describes how energy is transferred

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Lorentz, Hendrik Antoon

In his doctoral thesis at the University of Leiden (1875), Lorentz refined the electromagnetic theory of James

Lowden, Frank Orren

Lowden attended law school in Chicago and within a few years of graduating had become a prominent and prosperous corporate attorney. Throughout his legal and political career, he remained

Saturday, December 11, 2004

Obama, Barack, Jr.

American politician who became the third African American, and the first African American male Democrat, to be elected to the U.S. Senate after the end of Reconstruction (1877). Obama's father, Barack Obama, Sr., was originally a goatherd in Kenya; he won a scholarship to study in the United States and eventually became a senior economist in the Kenyan

Friday, December 10, 2004

Monadnock

Isolated hill of bedrock standing conspicuously above the general level of the surrounding area. Monadnocks are left as erosional remnants because of their more resistant rock composition; commonly they consist of quartzite or less jointed massive volcanic rocks. In contrast to inselbergs (island mountains), a similar tropical landform, monadnocks are formed

Abbadie, Antoine-thomson D'; And Abbadie, Arnaud-michel D'

Their parents, a French father and an Irish mother, moved to France in 1818. In 1835 the French Academy sent Antoine on a scientific mission to Brazil. Arnaud

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Cinchona

Four species of Cinchona were cultivated for many years, primarily in Java and also in India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Their bark was processed to obtain quinine, which is

Amundsen, Roald

Amundsen studied medicine for a while and then took to sea. In 1897 he sailed as first mate on

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Taliesin And Taliesin West

The two homes, as well as architectural schools, of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Originally built in 1911, Taliesin, located near Spring Green, Wisconsin, U.S., was rebuilt after fires in 1914 and 1925. Taliesin West, near Scottsdale, Arizona, was begun in 1937 as a winter home for Wright and his students. Wright was of Welsh descent and named his homes after the Welsh bard Taliesin.

Amorphous Solid, Melt quenching

Preparation of metallic glasses requires a quite rapid quench. The technique shown in Figure 4C, called splat quenching, can quench a droplet of a molten metal roughly 1,000° C in one millisecond, producing a thin film of metal that is an amorphous solid. In enormous contrast to this, the silicate

Monday, December 06, 2004

Palangkaraya

Kotamadya (municipality), capital of Kalimantan Tengah provinsi (“province”), Borneo, Indonesia. Palangkaraya lies west of the Kahayan River. It was occupied by the Japanese during World War II and was the principal city of Great Dayak, an autonomous state (one of five) created in 1945 that became part of Indonesia in 1950. The population consists mainly of the native Dayaks together

Bhangra

Dancers in pairs give spontaneous solo displays that include virile jumps and even

Bracket

In architecture, device of wood, stone, or metal that projects from or overhangs a wall to carry a weight. It may also serve as a ledge to support a statue, the spring of an arch, a beam, or a shelf. Brackets are often in the form of volutes, or scrolls, and can be carved, cast, or molded. They are sometimes entirely ornamental. Among the types of bracket are the corbel and the console

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Bloodfin

Freshwater fish, a species of characin (q.v.).

Catalysis

The term catalysis was first used in 1835 by the Swedish chemist Jons Jacob Berzelius to characterize phenomena observed by chemists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Examples of catalysis, however, were known much

Kagame, (abbé) Alexis

Kagame, the son of a deputy chief of the Tutsi people, was baptized in 1928 and ordained a priest in 1941. His considerable activity before and after taking his doctorate at the Pontifical Gregorian University

Saturday, December 04, 2004

Beast Tale

A prose or verse narrative similar to the beast fable in that it portrays animal characters acting as humans but unlike the fable in that it usually lacks a moral. Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (1880) derived many episodes from beast tales carried to the United States by African slaves. Animal Farm (1945), an anti-utopian satire by George Orwell, is

Friday, December 03, 2004

Lager Beer

Light-coloured, highly carbonated type of beer (q.v.).

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Philip I

Son of Philip of Burgundy, he inherited the duchy upon the death of his grandfather, Eudes IV, and inherited the countships upon the death of his grandmother, Joan of France. His mother, Joan of Boulogne, who subsequently married the king of France, John II, ruled Philip's

Ghavam El-saltaneh, Ahmad

Ghavam entered the court of the Qajar monarch Mozaffar al-Din Shah as a scribe in 1898. He rose to the position of minister of justice in 1909 and became minister of the interior the following year. In 1918 he was appointed governor of Khorasan province and three years later was nominated prime

Canaletto

Canaletto was born into a noble family whose coat of arms he occasionally used as a signature. How he came to

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Cone, Claribel; And Cone, Etta

The Cone sisters, daughters of German immigrant parents, grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Claribel

Amorbach

City, Bavaria Land (state), southwestern Germany, in the Odenwald (wooded upland), southwest of Würzburg. It originated around a Benedictine monastery in the 8th century and came under the jurisdiction of the electors of Mainz in 1272. Amorbach became the residence of the princes of Leiningen in 1803 and passed to Bavaria in 1816. The modern city is a health resort and has woodworking

Bruegel, Jan, The Elder

The second son of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, born just before his father's death, he was reared by a grandmother and learned his art in Antwerp. In his youth, he went to Italy, where he painted under the patronage of Cardinal Federigo Borromeo, and later, in 1610, he was