LoudNail

serviced offices

2006-11-01T08:10:00.000-08:00

Office planet have a huge database of serviced offices throughout the UK. serviced offices provide an affordable and hassle free office solution

India, Flag Of

2005-03-19T00:09:00.000-08:00

For decades the All-India Congress under the leadership of Mohandas K. Gandhi struggled to rally the millions of British-ruled peoples in the Indian subcontinent. Like similar movements in other countries, it early felt the need for a distinctive symbol that could represent its nationalist objectives. In 1921 a student named Pinglay Venkayya presented a flag design

Fibre

2005-03-16T19:12:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Fiber, in textile production, basic unit of raw material having suitable length, pliability, and strength for conversion into yarns and fabrics. A fibre of extreme length is a filament. Fibres can occur naturally or can be produced artificially. See Man-Made Fibres; natural fibre.

Kirkuk

2005-03-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern Iraq. The city is 145 miles (233 km) north of Baghdad, the national capital, with which it is linked by road and railway. Kirkuk is located near the foot of the Zagros Mountains in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. The oldest part of the town is clustered around a citadel built on an ancient tell, or mound. During the period of Assyrian prominence (9th–10th century BC) the city

Spotlight

2005-03-13T01:17:00.000-08:00

Device used to produce intense illumination in a well-defined area in stage, film, television, ballet, and opera production. It resembles a small searchlight but usually has shutters, an iris diaphragm, and adjustable lenses to shape the projected light. Coloured light is produced by a mechanism for sliding or rotating coloured gelatin filters, called gels even though

Indian Paint Brush

2005-03-10T06:45:00.000-08:00

Also called Painted Cup, Painted Lady, or Paint Brush, any plant of the genus Castilleja (family Scrophulariaceae), which contains about 200 species of partially or wholly parasitic plants that derive nourishment from the roots of other plants. For this reason the plants are seldom cultivated successfully in the flower garden. The small, tubular flowers are irregular (two-lipped). They are surrounded by upper

Salamanca, University Of

2005-03-08T19:37:00.000-08:00

Spanish Universidad De Salamanca, state institution of higher learning at Salamanca, Spain. It was founded in 1218 under Alfonso IX, but its real beginnings date from 1254, when, under Alfonso X, grandson of the founder, three chairs in canon law and one each in grammar, arts, and physics were established. From that time until the end of the 16th century, Salamanca was one of the leading centres of learning in Europe, ranking

Mid Sussex

2005-03-06T00:51:00.000-08:00

District, administrative county of West Sussex, historic county of Sussex, southeastern England. It occupies an area in central Sussex. Mid Sussex extends from The Weald, a sandstone area of hilly grasslands and woodlands in the north, across undulating grasslands of the Ouse and Adur river valleys in the centre, to the steep chalk scarps of the north-facing South

Cattaraugus

2005-03-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

County, southwestern New York state, U.S., consisting of a ruggedly hilly region bounded by Cattaraugus Creek to the north and Pennsylvania to the south. It is drained by the Allegheny River and Ischua and Great Valley creeks. Surrounding Allegheny Reservoir are Allegany Indian Reservation and Allegany State Park, both of which are the largest of their kind in the

Mujahadah

2005-03-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

(Arabic: “striving”), in Sufism, struggle with the carnal self; the word is related to jihad (struggle), which is often understood as “holy war.” The Sufis refer to mujahadah as al-jihad al-akbar (the greater war) in contrast to al-jihad al-asghar (the minor war), which is waged against unbelievers. It is one of the major duties that a Sufi must perform throughout his mystical journey toward union

Essex

2005-03-01T15:59:00.000-08:00

One of the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England; i.e., that of the East Saxons. An area of early settlement, it probably originally included the territory of the modern county of Middlesex; London was its chief town. Essex sometimes had joint kings, and from 664 they were subject to the rulers of the midland kingdom of Mercia. From 825 Essex was controlled by Wessex, first as a subkingdom

Vacuum Technology

2005-02-27T00:25:00.000-08:00

Capacities are available from 100 to 70,000 cu ft per minute, operating usually in the pressure range of 10 to 10-3 torr. The peak speed of the pump is developed in the pressure range of 1 to 10-2 torr, the speed at the lower end of the pressure range depending on the type of forepump used. A typical mechanical booster utilizes two figure-eight-shaped impellers, synchronized by external gears,

Oruro

2005-02-25T06:33:00.000-08:00

City, west-central Bolivia. It lies at 12,150 feet (3,702 m) above sea level in the Altiplano region, 30 miles (48 km) north of Poopó Lake. Founded in 1606 as Real Villa de San Felipe de Austria (“Royal Town of St. Philip of Austria”), Oruro rose to prominence during the Spanish colonial period as the centre of a rich silver-mining region. It lost importance with the decline of silver production in the 19th

Wyspianski, Stanislaw

2005-02-22T18:22:00.000-08:00

Wyspianski's early education included classical literature and fine arts. In 1890 he received a grant enabling him

Armentières

2005-02-21T08:20:00.000-08:00

Town, Nord département, Nord-Pas-de-Calais région, northern France. It lies along the Lys River, near the Belgian frontier. The town was entirely rebuilt after being destroyed in World War I, and its red brick buildings present a uniform appearance. Armentières was 2 miles (3 km) behind the battle line throughout most of World War I, and from April until October 1918 it was occupied

Argentina

2005-02-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

Officially Argentine Republic, Spanish República Argentina country occupying most of the southern portion, or southern cone, of South America. With an area of 1,073,399 square miles (2,780,092 square km)—more extensive than Mexico and the U.S. state of Texas combined—it is the eighth largest country in the world. Argentina is shaped like an inverted triangle with its base at the top; it is some 880 miles (1,420 km) across at its widest from east to west and stretches

Duchesse Lace

2005-02-17T14:07:00.000-08:00

A Belgian lace, named after Marie-Henriette, duchess of Brabant (later queen of the Belgians). It was made from c. 1840 throughout the 19th century both at Brussels and (particularly) at Bruges. Much inferior (except for a few Brussels specimens) to the lace that had made Brussels famous, it was cheap and commercially successful. In duchesse lace, floral motifs, bobbin-made and sometimes

China, The Yüan dynasty

2005-02-14T00:22:00.000-08:00

On Chinese contacts with Asia and the West, see E. Bretschneider, Mediaeval Research from Eastern Asiatic Sources: Fragments Towards the Knowledge of the Geography and History of Central and Western Asia from the 13th to the 17th Century, 2 vol. (1888, reprinted 1967); Herbert Franke, “Sino-Western Contacts Under the Mongol Empire,” Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 6:49–72 (1966); Leonard Olschki, Marco Polo's Asia: An Introduction to His “Description of the World” called “Il Milione” (1960; originally published in Italian, 1957); and Igor de Rachewiltz, Papal Envoys to the Great Khans (1971).

Sporades

2005-02-13T20:39:00.000-08:00

Group of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea, lying northeast of Euboea (Évvoia) island, including Skíathos, Skópelos, Skyros, and Alónnisos, as well as neighbouring islets. In antiquity these were known as the Thessalian, or Northern, Sporades, while the Thracian, or Eastern, Sporades included the now-Turkish island of Imroz (Greek Imvros), Samothrace, Thasos, Lemnos, and Áyios

Wivallius, Lars

2005-02-10T00:56:00.000-08:00

Wivallius studied at Uppsala and in 1625 left Sweden to travel in Germany, France, Italy, and England. Frequently posing as a nobleman, he swindled his way across Europe and was imprisoned for a time in Nürnberg, Germany. Back

Biblical Literature, The history of canonization

2005-02-08T19:41:00.000-08:00

Because no explicit or reliable traditions concerning the criteria of canonicity, the canonizing authorities, the periods in which they lived, or the procedure adopted have been preserved, no more than a plausible reconstruction of the successive stages involved can be provided. First, it must be observed that sanctity and canonization are not synonymous terms.

Appomattox Court House

2005-02-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

In the American Civil War, site in Virginia of the surrender of the Confederate forces to those of the North on April 9, 1865. After an engagement with Federal cavalry, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was surrounded at Appomattox, seat of Appomattox county, Virginia, 25 miles east of Lynchburg. Three miles to the northeast, at the former county seat, known as Appomattox

Stefan Duan

2005-02-04T05:56:00.000-08:00

King of Serbia (1331–46) and “Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks” (1346–55), the greatest ruler of medieval Serbia, who promoted his nation's influence and gave his people a new code of laws.

Heriz Carpet

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

Heriz also spelled Heris, floor covering handmade in any of a group of villages near the town of Heris, lying east of Tabriz in northwest Iran. Heriz carpets—primarily room-sized, stout, serviceable, and attractive—have found ready markets in Europe and the U.S. They are an offshoot, apparently, of the Tabriz carpets, a country version of city styles. The smooth curves and flowing lines of a sophisticated

Yü Ch'ien

2005-02-01T21:12:00.000-08:00

With the emperor held hostage and the Mongol armies only 50 miles (80 km) northwest of the capital of Peking, the government was in a state of panic. Yü Ch'ien acted by placing

Ashrama

2005-01-30T01:48:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Asrama, Sanskrit Asrama, in Hinduism, any of the four spiritual abodes, or stages of life, through which the “twice-born” Hindu ideally will pass. The stages are those of (1) the student (brahmacari), marked by chastity, devotion and obedience to one's teacher; (2) the householder (grihastha), requiring marriage, the begetting of sons, working to sustain one's family and to help support priests and holy men,

Cilli, Ulrich Ii Von

2005-01-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

Made a prince of the empire in 1436, Cilli nevertheless feuded with the Austrian Habsburgs until forced to recognize their suzerainty in 1443. The Habsburg German king Albert II installed him as Bohemian

Dessalines, Jean-jacques

2005-01-25T22:20:00.000-08:00

Dessalines was brought to the French West Indian colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti) as a slave. He worked as a field hand for a black master until 1791, when he joined the slave rebellion that broke out in the colony amid the turmoil caused by the French Revolution. In the decade that

Pyroelectricity

2005-01-24T18:41:00.000-08:00

Development of opposite electrical charges on different parts of a crystal that is subjected to temperature change. First observed (1824) in quartz, pyroelectricity is exhibited only in crystallized nonconducting substances having at least one axis of symmetry that is polar (that is, having no centre of symmetry, the different crystal faces occurring on opposite

Yun, Isang

2005-01-21T20:13:00.000-08:00

Yun began composing at the age of 14 and studied music in Japan in Osaka and Tokyo. He returned to Korea, where he was active in the resistance movement against the Japanese during World War

Amorphous Solid, Transparent glasses

2005-01-20T00:25:00.000-08:00

The terms glass and window glass are often used interchangeably in everyday language, so familiar is this ancient architectural application of amorphous solids. Not only are oxide glasses, such as those characterized in the Table, excellent for letting light in, they are also good for keeping cold out, because (as mentioned above) they are efficient thermal

Kaahumanu

2005-01-18T15:14:00.000-08:00

Kaahumanu was of distinguished parentage, her mother having been married to the late king of Maui. Early in life she was betrothed to Kamehameha I, whom her father had served as counselor. They married and had a stormy but enduring relationship. She supported

Genesius, Joseph

2005-01-15T00:08:00.000-08:00

The details of Genesius' life are unknown. He apparently composed his history between 945 and 959 at the order of Emperor Constantine VII, using his high social position to gain eyewitness reports of events from

Eritrea, Natural resources

2005-01-13T23:06:00.000-08:00

The area of cultivation is limited by climate and the uneven surface of the plateau, so that,

Dahlbergh, Eric, Count (greve)

2005-01-12T10:36:00.000-08:00

After serving as an engineer (1655–57) in Sweden's Polish campaign, Dahlbergh returned to fight

Oscillator

2005-01-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

Any of various electronic devices that produce alternating electric current, commonly employing tuned circuits and amplifying components such as thermionic vacuum tubes. Oscillators used to generate high-frequency currents for carrier waves in radio broadcasting often are stabilized by coupling the electronic circuit with the vibrations of a piezoelectric

O'mahony, John

2005-01-08T02:02:00.000-08:00

O'Mahony was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and became a respected Irish scholar. He took part in the unsuccessful Young Ireland rebellion

Resistor

2005-01-08T01:34:00.000-08:00

Electrical component that opposes the flow of either direct or alternating current, employed to protect, operate, or control the circuit. Voltages can be divided with the use of resistors, and in combination with other components resistors can be used to make electrical waves into shapes most suited for the electrical designer's requirements. Resistors can have

Scaleless Dragonfish

2005-01-06T00:47:00.000-08:00

The dorsal and anal fins of the scaleless dragonfish

Santa Eugenia De Riveira

2005-01-05T11:28:00.000-08:00

City, La Coruña provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Galicia, northwestern Spain. The city is the chief centre of Riveira (Ribeira) municipality. It lies on the Arosa Inlet across the inlet from Villagarcía de Arosa, in the coastal zone. Remains of Roman fortifications and of a Phoenician port, La Covasa, attest to early occupation of the site,

Scorsese, Martin

2005-01-04T06:23:00.000-08:00

Scorsese was a frail, asthmatic child who grew up in New York City in an Italian-American neighbourhood on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. His early interest in film returned after he tried unsuccessfully to enter the Roman Catholic

Busnois, Antoine

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

Busnois entered the service of Charles the Bold (later duke of Burgundy) as a singer sometime before 1467. He traveled with Charles on his various campaigns, and after Charles's death in 1477, he remained a

Swimming

2005-01-02T18:55:00.000-08:00

Eighty divers from 18 countries competed in the 24th International at Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on May 6-9. In the women's events, Simona Koch of Germany won the 1-m springboard; Irina Lashko of Russia took the 3-m springboard; and Svetlana Khokhlova of Russia won the 10-m platform. Winners in the men's competition were Wang Yijie of China in the 1-m springboard, Lan Wei of China in the 3-m springboard,

Amphibian, Embryonic stage

2005-01-01T02:26:00.000-08:00

Within the egg a series of semipermeable gelatinous capsules enclose the embryo suspended in fluid surrounding the yolk (perivitelline fluid). These capsules can be eventually digested by hatching enzymes that are produced by frontal glands on the snouts of embryos. All nutrients necessary for egg development within the ovary are supplied by the yolk in the

Robert, Shaaban

2004-12-31T00:57:00.000-08:00

Popular Swahili writer, Robert was the product of two cultures—his father was a Christian, but Shaaban returned to Islam. His work ranges from poetry to essay and didactic tale, influenced in style by the Oriental tradition. Many poems follow the form of utendi verse (used for narration and didactic themes),

Hadejia

2004-12-29T00:42:00.000-08:00

Town and traditional emirate, eastern Jigawa state, northern Nigeria. It lies on the northern bank of the Hadejia River (a seasonal tributary of the Komadugu Yobe, which flows into Lake Chad). The emirate's savanna area originally included Hadejia and six other small Hausa kingdoms that paid tribute to the kingdom of Bornu. About 1805, Umaru, a Fulani leader who held the title

Palau

2004-12-28T06:17:00.000-08:00

A republic in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, Palau comprises a 640-km (400-mi)-long chain of some 340 volcanic and coralline islands. The main islands of Babelthuap and Koror are situated about 900 km east of the Philippines. Area: 488 sq km (188 sq mi). Pop. (1995 est.): 16,900. Provisional cap.: Koror, on Koror; a site on Babelthuap was designated to be the eventual permanent capital. Monetary unit:

Factorial

2004-12-28T04:38:00.000-08:00

Factorials are commonly encountered in the evaluation of permutations and combinations and in the coefficients of terms of binomial

Armenia

2004-12-26T18:54:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Quindío departamento, west-central Colombia. It lies on the western slopes of the Cordillera Central at an elevation of 4,865 feet (1,483 m), between the Espejo and Quindío rivers. The city lies along a spur of the railway from Puerto Berrío to Popayán and is the transfer point for road traffic to Bogotá via Ibagué (30 miles [50 km] southeast). Armenia (named for the ancient

Zirkel, Ferdinand

2004-12-25T11:53:00.000-08:00

Zirkel became professor of mineralogy at Lemberg University in 1863. The first edition of his famous Lehrbuch der Petrographie (1866; “Manual of Petrography”) was written before

Ikere-ekiti

2004-12-24T19:45:00.000-08:00

Also called Ikere , or Ikerre town, Ondo State, southwestern Nigeria, on the road from Akure to Ado-Ekiti. A major collecting point for cocoa, it also serves as an agricultural trade centre (yams, cassava [yuca], rice, corn [maize], palm oil and kernels, okra, pumpkins) for the Ekiti branch of the Yoruba people. Ikere-Ekiti has government and Christian teacher-training colleges; there is also a hospital. The

Gherardesca Family

2004-12-24T10:03:00.000-08:00

One of the foremost families of the Tuscan nobility, whose lands included the counties of Gherardesca, Donoratico, and Montescudaio, near Pisa. At the beginning of the 13th century, they led the pro-imperial Ghibelline party of the Pisan republic against the pro-papal Guelf party led by the Visconti family of Milan. The Gherardesca family produced several churchmen

Popish Plot

2004-12-23T18:19:00.000-08:00

(1678), in English history, a totally fictitious but widely believed plot in which it was alleged that Jesuits were planning the assassination of King Charles II in order to bring his Roman Catholic brother, the Duke of York (afterward King James II), to the throne. The allegations were fabricated by Titus Oates (q.v.), a renegade Anglican clergyman who had feigned conversion

Arts, Central Asian, Emirate of Bukhara

2004-12-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

Although fine-quality pottery decorated with animal, bird, and figural designs was being made in New Nisa in the 15th century, the artistic revival of the Mongol period that Timur had launched in western Turkistan had died out by the 16th century, when the emirate of Bukhara, incorporating much of Sogdiana, was established. Except for gold-thread embroidery and carpet

Computers, The abacus

2004-12-21T10:35:00.000-08:00

The earliest known calculating device is probably the abacus. It dates back at least to 1100 BC and is still in use today, particularly in Asia. Now, as then, it typically consists of a rectangular frame with thin parallel rods strung with beads. (See the photograph.) Long before any systematic positional notation was adopted for the writing of numbers, the abacus assigned different

Biblical Literature, Early stages

2004-12-19T13:59:00.000-08:00

The earliest Christian exegesis of the Old Testament is found in the New Testament, not in the written texts only but in the oral tradition lying behind them. Some lines of exegesis are present in so many separate strands of primitive Christian teaching that they are most reasonably assigned to Jesus, who began his Galilaean ministry with the announcement that

Kuan Han-ch'ing

2004-12-18T05:59:00.000-08:00

Kuan Han-ch'ing, probably a scholar, belonged to a writers' guild that specialized in writing plays for performing groups. Fourteen of his plays (from more than 60 with known titles) have been preserved. Several of them are unquestionably

Paedomorphosis

2004-12-18T04:27:00.000-08:00

Classic examples include certain amphibian species in which

Narcissus

2004-12-17T22:32:00.000-08:00

Narcissus exercised great influence over Claudius and accumulated immense wealth. At first he allied himself with Claudius' third wife, Messalina Valeria, but fear that she and her lover, Gaius Silius, were conspiring

Shari'ah, Procedure and evidence

2004-12-16T07:12:00.000-08:00

Traditionally, Shari'ah law was administered by the court of a single qadi, who was the judge of the facts as well as the law, although on difficult legal issues he might seek the advice of a professional jurist, or mufti. There was no hierarchy of courts and no organized system of appeals. Through his clerk (katib) the qadi controlled his court procedure, which was normally characterized

Heikal, Muhammad Hassanein

2004-12-14T21:39:00.000-08:00

Educated at Cairo University, Heikal became a reporter for the Egyptian Gazette

Argus

2004-12-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

The first true aircraft carrier. Construction of the Argus began in 1914, and initially it was an Italian liner; it was purchased in 1916 by the British Royal Navy and converted, work being completed in September 1918. The Argus had an unobstructed flight deck about 560 feet (170.7 m) long and a hangar that could accommodate 20 aircraft. It was armed with six four-inch guns and could reach a speed

Ireland

2004-12-13T23:20:00.000-08:00

The republic of Ireland, separated from Great Britain by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St. George's Channel, shares its island with Northern Ireland to the northeast. Area: 70,285 sq km (27,137 sq mi). Pop. (1994 est.): 3,512,000. Cap.: Dublin. Monetary unit: Irish pound (punt), with (Oct. 7, 1994) a free rate of £Ir 0.64 to U.S. $1 (£Ir 1.01 = £1 sterling). President in 1994, Mary Robinson; prime ministers, Albert Reynolds and, from December 15, John

Annelid, Critical appraisal

2004-12-11T09:26:00.000-08:00

Most authors accept the annelids as having three major classes: Polychaeta, Oligochaeta, and Hirudinea. Older systems would place the polychaetes and oligochaetes under the class Chaetopoda because both groups possess setae. Other systems would join the oligochaetes and leeches in a single class, called the Clitellata, because both groups possess a clitellum

Aeschylus

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

The date of this play (and even its authorship) is disputed, but many scholars regard it as a work of Aeschylus' last years. In Prometheus Bound (Greek Prometheus desmotes) the god Prometheus, who in defiance of Zeus has saved mankind and given them fire, is chained to a remote crag as a punishment ordered by the king of the gods. Despite his isolation Prometheus is visited by

Great Belt

2004-12-10T20:36:00.000-08:00

In the late 1980s construction began on the Great Belt Fixed Link, a bridge and tunnel system connecting Zealand and Funen via the small island

Hardoi

2004-12-08T15:26:00.000-08:00

The surrounding area is a level plain bordered (south) by the Ganges River and drained by its tributaries.

Polytheism, Functional deities

2004-12-08T08:46:00.000-08:00

In addition to the various forces operating in nature, various social and other functions are divinized. Thus, the god Brahma in the Vedic tradition, besides being creator, contains and expresses in personal form the power implicit in the Brahmin class. Again, there are gods of healing, such as Asclepius in Greece, and of seafaring, agriculture, and so on. The most elaborate

Apries

2004-12-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

Apries failed to help his ally King Zedekiah of Judah against Babylon, but after the fall of Jerusalem he received many Jewish refugees into Egypt. Later he took the Phoenician port of Sidon, but, because of his subsequent failure in an attack on Cyrene in Libya, the Egyptian army mutinied

Malatya

2004-12-05T06:01:00.000-08:00

City, east-central Turkey. It lies in a fertile plain watered by the Tohma River (a tributary of the Euphrates) and is surrounded by high ranges of the eastern Taurus Mountains. The modern town was founded in 1838 near the sites of two earlier settlements: the ancient Hittite city of Milid, on the site of the present-day Arslantepe, 4 miles (6 km) north, and its successor, the Roman and

Computers

2004-12-04T19:34:00.000-08:00

A computer might be described with deceptive simplicity as “an apparatus that performs routine calculations automatically.” Such a definition would owe its deceptiveness to a naive and narrow view of calculation as a strictly mathematical process. In fact, calculation

Ob-ugric Languages

2004-12-03T17:58:00.000-08:00

Division of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic language family, comprising the Mansi (Vogul) and Khanty (Ostyak) languages; they are most closely related to Hungarian, with which they make up the Ugric branch of Finno-Ugric. The Ob-Ugric languages are spoken in the region of the Ob and Irtysh rivers in central Russia. They had no written tradition or literary language

Guadalquivir River

2004-12-02T15:05:00.000-08:00

The Guadalquivir is the second longest river of Spain (after the Ebro), and it has several distinctive characteristics.

Chiburdanidze, Maya

2004-12-01T11:21:00.000-08:00

Chiburdanidze became an international master in 1978 and an international grandmaster in 1984. Her style of play was solid, but aggressive, and well grounded in classical principles.

Trichloroethylene

2004-12-01T02:29:00.000-08:00

Trichloroethylene was first prepared in 1864; its

Almohads

2004-11-30T10:46:00.000-08:00

A Berber state had arisen in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco about 1120, inspired by Ibn Tumart and his demands for puritanical moral reform and a strict concept of the unity of God (tawhid). In 1121 Ibn Tumart proclaimed himself the mahdi (a promised

Gur-e Amir

2004-11-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

Mausoleum in Samarkand, now in Uzbekistan, of the 14th-century Mongol conqueror Timur, or Tamerlane. Though it has suffered from time and earthquakes, it is still sumptuous. It consists of a chapel crowned with a dome, enclosed by a wall, and fronted by an archway. The interior walls are covered with elegant turquoise arabesques and inscriptions in gold.

Rom

2004-11-28T03:19:00.000-08:00

Plural Roma , also called Gypsy , also spelled Gipsy any member of the traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India but live in modern times worldwide, principally in Europe. Most Roma speak some form of Romany, a language closely related to the modern Indo-European languages of northern India, as well as the major language of the country in which they live. It is generally agreed that Roma groups

Gammexane

2004-11-25T00:36:00.000-08:00

Trade name for an insecticide composed of the most toxic of the isomeric forms of benzene hexachloride (q.v.).

Radic, Stjepan

2004-11-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

With his brother Ante, he organized the Croatian Peasant Party in 1904. In March 1918 Radic began to cooperate with the National Council in Zagreb for the establishment of a Yugoslav

Freiburg, Albert Ludwig University Of

2004-11-24T01:41:00.000-08:00

German in full Albert-ludwigs-universität Freiburg Im Breisgau, academically autonomous coeducational institution of higher learning at Freiburg im Breisgau, Ger., financially supported by the state of Baden-Württemberg. Founded in 1457 by Archduke Albrecht of Austria and confirmed by the Holy Roman emperor and the pope, the university was at first named after its founder, but at the beginning of the 19th century added “Ludwig” to the

Europe, James Reese

2004-11-23T05:40:00.000-08:00

Europe studied piano and violin in his youth and about 1904 settled in New York City, where he directed musical comedies and, in 1910, he helped organize the Clef Club, a union of African-American musicians. The 125-member Clef Club orchestra that he conducted

Ocean, The subpolar gyres

2004-11-21T17:12:00.000-08:00

The subpolar gyres are cyclonic circulation features. The Ekman transport within these features forces upwelling and surface water divergence. In the North Atlantic the subpolar gyre consists of the North Atlantic Current at its equatorward side and the Norwegian Current that carries relatively warm water northward along the coast of Norway. The heat released

Annecy

2004-11-20T23:12:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Haute-Savoie département, Rhône-Alpes région, southeastern France. It lies along the northwestern shore of Lake Annecy at the entrance to one of the cluses (transverse gorges) of the Savoy Pre-Alps, south of Geneva. Traces of the Gallo-Roman Boutae have been found nearby. The seat of the counts of Genevois from the 10th century, Annecy was attached to the dukedom

Arts, Islamic, Decline of the Arabic language

2004-11-20T06:28:00.000-08:00

Ibn Khaldun, who had served in his youth as ambassador to Pedro I the Cruel, of Castile, and in his old age as emissary to Timur, died in Cairo. After the fall of Baghdad in 1258, this city had become the centre of Muslim learning. Historians there recorded every detail of the daily life and the policies of the Mamluk sultans; theologians and philologists worked under the patronage

Arts, Islamic, Decline of the Arabic language

2004-11-19T13:26:00.000-08:00

In American history, major New Deal program to restore agricultural prosperity by curtailing farm production, reducing export surpluses, and raising prices. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (May 1933) was an omnibus farm-relief bill embodying the schemes of the major national farm organizations. It established the Agricultural Adjustment Administration under

Transylvanian Rug

2004-11-17T19:19:00.000-08:00

Also called Siebenbürger rug any of the large numbers of floor coverings found in the churches of Transylvania (part of Romania), to which they had been donated by pious families. Some of these rugs are of Turkish manufacture, survivals of a massive importation centuries ago. Turkey is generally assumed to be the source of all Transylvanian carpets, but certain similarities of technique, weight,

Palais-royal Theatre

2004-11-16T15:37:00.000-08:00

The Palais-Royal traces its history to a small private theatre in the residence of Cardinal Richelieu. Designed by architect Jacques Lemercier, this theatre became known by the name of the residence, the Palais-Cardinal; it was the first theatre in France with movable scenery wings and a permanent

Polder

2004-11-16T09:04:00.000-08:00

Tract of lowland reclaimed from a body of water, often the sea, by the construction of dikes roughly parallel to the shoreline, followed by drainage of the area between the dikes and the natural coastline. Where the land surface is above low-tide level, the water may be drained off through tide gates, which discharge water into the sea at low tide and automatically close

Tachinid Fly

2004-11-14T16:19:00.000-08:00

Tachinids are of great importance in the

Gte Corporation

2004-11-14T11:43:00.000-08:00

General Telephone was founded in 1926 as Associated Telephone Utilities by Sigurd Odegard, a Wisconsin phone-company owner who wanted to acquire small independent phone companies.

Orhan

2004-11-13T18:40:00.000-08:00

Under Orhan's leadership, the small Ottoman principality in northwestern Anatolia continued to attract Ghazis (warriors for the Islamic faith) from surrounding Turkish emirates fighting against Byzantium.

Gte Corporation

2004-11-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

From 1946 the CSU has held the government of Bavaria continuously with only one exception, in 1954–57, though it was forced to

Vietnam

2004-11-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

Officially Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Vietnamese Cong Hoa Xa Hoi Chu Nghia Viet Nam, country occupying the eastern part of the Indochinese Peninsula. It has an area of 127,800 square miles (331,000 square kilometres). From north to south it extends about 1,025 miles (1,650 kilometres) and at its narrowest part is about 30 miles wide. Vietnam is bordered by China to the north, the South China Sea to the east and south, the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest, and Cambodia and Laos to the

Adanson, Michel

2004-11-10T00:08:00.000-08:00

In 1749 Adanson left for Senegal to spend four years as an employee with the Compagnie des Indes, a trading company. He returned with a large collection of plant specimens,

Christian Front

2004-11-09T01:00:00.000-08:00

In American history, anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi organization active from about 1938 until the United States entered World War II. Under the banner of anticommunism, it openly and clandestinely encouraged boycotts of Jewish merchants, used the slogan “Buy Christian,” and published the Christian Index, a directory of non-Jewish merchants in part of New York City. It received

Papier-mâché

2004-11-08T04:09:00.000-08:00

Repulped paper that has been mixed with glue or paste so that it can be molded. The art of making articles of papier-mâché, beautifully decorated in Oriental motifs and handsomely lacquered, was known in the East centuries before its introduction in Europe. Molded-paper products were first made in France in the early part of the 18th century and, later, in Germany and England.

Jammu And Kashmir, Settlement patterns

2004-11-07T00:26:00.000-08:00

The state's physiographic diversity is matched by a considerable variety of human occupation. In the plains and foothills, colonization movements from the Punjab region over a long period of time have produced numerous agricultural settlements; both the people and their culture are similar to those of adjacent parts of the Punjab and other lowlands to the west.

Deniliquin

2004-11-06T16:20:00.000-08:00

Chief town of the fertile southern Riverina region, south-central New South Wales, Australia, on the Edward River (a branch of the Murray), 22 miles (35 km) from the Victoria border. Established in 1845 by Benjamin Boyd as a personal holding, it was made a town in 1848 under the name Sandhills. Two years later it was officially gazetted as Deniliquin, a corruption of the name of a local Aboriginal

Dunstan Of Canterbury, Saint

2004-11-05T02:50:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, Dunstan was educated by Irish monks and visitors at Glastonbury. Later he entered first the household of his uncle, Archbishop Aethelhelm

LoudNail

serviced offices

India, Flag Of

Fibre

Kirkuk

Spotlight

Indian Paint Brush

Salamanca, University Of

Mid Sussex

Cattaraugus

Mujahadah

Essex

Vacuum Technology

Oruro

Wyspianski, Stanislaw

Armentières

Argentina

Duchesse Lace

China, The Yüan dynasty

Sporades

Wivallius, Lars

Biblical Literature, The history of canonization

Appomattox Court House

Stefan Duan

Heriz Carpet

Yü Ch'ien

Ashrama

Cilli, Ulrich Ii Von

Dessalines, Jean-jacques

Pyroelectricity

Yun, Isang

Amorphous Solid, Transparent glasses

Kaahumanu

Genesius, Joseph

Eritrea, Natural resources

Dahlbergh, Eric, Count (greve)

Oscillator

O'mahony, John

Resistor

Scaleless Dragonfish

Santa Eugenia De Riveira

Scorsese, Martin

Busnois, Antoine

Swimming

Amphibian, Embryonic stage

Robert, Shaaban

Hadejia

Palau

Factorial

Armenia

Zirkel, Ferdinand

Ikere-ekiti

Gherardesca Family

Popish Plot

Arts, Central Asian, Emirate of Bukhara

Computers, The abacus

Biblical Literature, Early stages

Kuan Han-ch'ing

Paedomorphosis

Narcissus

Shari'ah, Procedure and evidence

Heikal, Muhammad Hassanein

Argus

Ireland

Annelid, Critical appraisal

Aeschylus

Great Belt

Hardoi

Polytheism, Functional deities

Apries

Malatya

Computers

Ob-ugric Languages

Guadalquivir River

Chiburdanidze, Maya

Trichloroethylene

Almohads

Gur-e Amir

Rom

Gammexane

Stefan Duan