LateNeck

organic cotton goods

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

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

Wolverine

2005-04-04T11:53:00.000-07:00

Also called Glutton, Carcajou, or Skunk Bear (species Gulo gulo, or sometimes G. luscus in North America), member of the weasel family (Mustelidae) that lives in cold northern latitudes, especially in timbered areas, around the world. It resembles a small, squat, broad bear 65–90 cm (26–36 inches) long, excluding the bushy, 13–26-centimetre tail; shoulder height is 36–45 cm, and weight is 9–30 kg (20–66 pounds). The legs are short, somewhat bowed; the

Ekkehard I The Elder

2005-04-02T01:22:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, Ekkehard was educated at the Benedictine monastery of Sankt Gallen (St. Gall) in Switzerland, then one of Europe's greatest centres

Arts, East Asian, Kabuki theatre

2005-03-31T17:26:00.000-08:00

The nagauta form of lyric music, like most of the other narrative forms, began with a close relation to the kabuki popular theatre of the Tokugawa period. The first kabuki performances used instruments (hayashi) from the no drama. Because kabuki was related to the flourishing demimonde of the major cities, however, the music of the party houses and brothels was soon added

Sachs, Nelly

2005-03-30T21:13:00.000-08:00

In full Nelly Leonie Sachs German poet and dramatist who was transformed by the Nazi experience from a dilettante into a poignant spokesperson for the grief and yearnings of her fellow Jews. When, with Shmuel Yosef Agnon, she was awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize for Literature, she observed that Agnon represented Israel whereas “I represent the tragedy of the Jewish

Rubinstein, Anton

2005-03-28T14:16:00.000-08:00

In 1835 Rubinstein's father opened a small factory in Moscow, and there in the same year his brother Nikolay was born. Both boys were taught piano, first by their mother and then by Aleksandr Villoing. Anton gave his

Yodel

2005-03-25T05:43:00.000-08:00

Type of singing in which high falsetto and low chest notes are rapidly alternated; its production is helped by the enunciation of open and closed vowels on the low and high notes of wide intervals. Yodeling is also used as a means of communicating over moderate distances by the inhabitants of mountainous regions. It is associated with the Alpine peoples of Switzerland

African Methodist Episcopal Church

2005-03-24T19:08:00.000-08:00

Black Methodist church in the United States, formally organized in 1816. It developed from a congregation formed by a group of blacks who withdrew in 1787 from St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia because of restrictions in seating; blacks had been confined to the gallery of the church. Those who withdrew formed the Free African Society, the forerunner

Alaska, The economy

2005-03-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

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,

Thomas, Gwyn

2005-03-20T04:46:00.000-08:00

Thomas was educated at Oxford and the University of Madrid and began writing seriously in the 1930s. His first novel, The Dark Philosophers (1946), built on the conversations of four unemployed Welsh miners, reminded critics

Kyo-yaki

2005-03-18T23:45:00.000-08:00

Decorated Japanese ceramics produced in Kyoto from about the middle of the 17th century. The development of this ware was stimulated by the appearance of enamelled porcelains in Kyushu, and it was not long after Sakaida Kakiemon successfully perfected overglaze enamels in Arita that Nonomura Ninsei also began production in Kyoto. Kyo-yaki contrasted with the enamelled

Agranulocytosis

2005-03-18T09:40:00.000-08:00

In most cases, agranulocytosis appears to develop as a result of sensitization to certain drugs and chemicals; infection then follows as a consequence,

Robert

2005-03-17T19:04:00.000-08:00

Robert's early years were clouded by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–88), in which his father, Charles II of Anjou, was taken prisoner by the Aragonese. By the terms of the treaty Charles was freed, and Robert took his place as hostage at the Aragonese court. Taking the title of duke of Calabria

Shi'i, Abu 'abd Allah Ash-

2005-03-16T09:55:00.000-08:00

Ash-Shi'i appeared among the Kutama, a Berber tribe of North Africa, at the end of the 9th century, proclaiming himself a precursor of the mahdi (messianic deliverer) and urging the people to revolt. He had met the Berbers at an earlier time during a pilgrimage to Mecca. After

Cambrai

2005-03-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

Town, Nord département, Nord-Pas-de-Calais région, northern France. It lies along the Escaut River, south of Roubaix. The town was called Camaracum under the Romans, and its bishops were made counts by the German king Henry I in the 10th century. Cambrai was long a bone of contention among its neighbours—the counties of Flanders and Hainaut, the kingdom of France, and the Holy

World War I, Caporetto

2005-03-13T16:37:00.000-08:00

On the Italian front, Cadorna's 10th Battle of the Isonzo in May–June 1917 won very little ground; but his 11th, from August 17 to September 12, during which General Luigi Capello's 2nd Army captured much of the Bainsizza Plateau (Banjška Planota), north of Gorizia, strained Austrian resistance very severely. To avert an Austrian collapse, Ludendorff decided that the Austrians must take

Arabian Sea, Transportation

2005-03-12T23:07:00.000-08:00

The Arabian Sea, with its strategic location vis-à-vis the Red Sea (including the Suez Canal) and the Persian Gulf, contains some of the world's busiest shipping lanes; and the chief routes originate in those two extensions. Persian Gulf shipping largely consists of tankers, some of immense capacity, that transit the Arabian Sea en route to destinations in East Asia, Europe,

Siddha

2005-03-12T05:21:00.000-08:00

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

Wahhabi

2005-03-11T17:34:00.000-08:00

The political fortunes of the Wahhabi were immediately allied to those of the Sa'udi dynasty. By the end of the 18th century, they had brought all of Najd under their control, attacked Karbala', Iraq, a holy city of the Shi'ite branch

Melanesian Pidgin

2005-03-10T11:13:00.000-08:00

Also called Melanesian Pidgin English, Neo-melanesian, Beach-la-mar, or Sandalwood English, an English-based pidgin that is used widely in Melanesia as a trade and mission language; in some areas it has become established as a creole (i.e., it has become the native language of some communities). Melanesian Pidgin has also become the lingua franca of Papua New Guinea, where several hundred native languages are spoken, most of them being mutually

Acrostic

2005-03-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

The word was first applied to the prophecies of the Erythraean Sibyl, which were written on leaves and arranged so that the initial letters of the leaves always formed a word.

Monsignor

2005-03-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

Italian Monsignore, a title of honour in the Roman Catholic Church, borne by persons of ecclesiastic rank and implying a distinction bestowed by the pope, either in conjunction with an office or merely titular. All those who bear the title of monsignor belong to the “papal family” and are entitled to be present in the Cappella Pontificia (when the pope celebrates solemn mass) and to participate

Cambridge, George William Frederick Charles, 2nd Duke Of

2005-03-07T10:48:00.000-08:00

After brief service in the Hanoverian army, George William became a colonel in the British army in 1837 and inherited his father's dukedom in 1850. At the beginning of the

Louvet, Jean

2005-03-05T17:12:00.000-08:00

Louvet was the son of a miner. As a young man, he was influenced by Existentialism, and left-wing politics led him into work in the theatre. Strongly autobiographical, his work goes beyond ideology to embrace the history of the Walloon people of southern

Coherence

2005-03-05T00:12:00.000-08:00

A fixed relationship between the phase of waves in a beam of radiation of a single frequency. Two beams of light are coherent when the phase difference between their waves is constant; they are noncoherent if there is a random or changing phase relationship. Stable interference patterns are formed only by radiation emitted by coherent sources, ordinarily produced

Breisgau

2005-03-04T18:01:00.000-08:00

Historic region between the Rhine and the Black Forest in southwestern Germany, now in the South Baden district of the Land (state) Baden-Württemberg. It was part of the frontier region of the Roman Empire known as the Agri Decumates; from c. AD 260 it was occupied by the Germanic Alemanni. The Zähringen family was invested with the countship of Breisgau in the early Middle

Shaitan

2005-03-02T21:29:00.000-08:00

In the system of evil jinn outlined by the Arab writer al-Jahiz, the shaitans are identified simply as unbelieving jinn. Folklore, however, describes them as exceptionally ugly creatures, either male or female, capable of assuming human form—though

Pyromorphite

2005-03-01T13:21:00.000-08:00

Arsenic and vanadium often replace phosphorus in the pyromorphite

Iao

2005-02-28T20:43:00.000-08:00

Valley, Maui county, northwestern Maui Island, Hawaii, U.S., on the eastern slope of Puu Kukui Mountain. Formed by erosion of the caldera whose volcano created the island's western peninsula, the valley comprises a deep, narrow gorge 5 miles (8 km) long and flanked by heavily forested walls almost a mile in height. Iao Needle, a volcanic monolith 2,250 feet (686 m) high, soars nearly straight

Anderson

2005-02-27T22:46:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1828) of Madison county, east-central Indiana, U.S. It lies along the West Fork of the White River, in a corn- (maize-) and wheat-producing region, 38 miles (61 km) northeast of Indianapolis. Founded in 1823 on the site of a Delaware Indian village, it was named Andersontown for a subchief, Koktowhanund, also known as William Anderson. In 1886 the town's industrial growth was assured with the

Syria, The state of the arts

2005-02-26T13:28:00.000-08:00

Following World War I, drawing was taught in the schools, and talented artists began to emerge. There is a faculty of fine arts

Soissons

2005-02-25T11:52:00.000-08:00

Soissons derives its name from the Suessiones,

Deforest, John William

2005-02-25T08:23:00.000-08:00

The son of a prosperous cotton manufacturer, DeForest did not go to college, owing to poor health, but traveled (1848–49) in the Middle East. He returned home to write a scholarly History of

Chekiang, Cultural life

2005-02-23T18:48:00.000-08:00

During the Nan (Southern) Sung dynasty (1127–1279) the political and cultural centre of China moved from the North to western Chekiang. The Hang-chou area became the homeland of a galaxy of famous painters (including a Sung emperor), as well as of calligraphers, poets, essayists, philosophers, and historians. The beauty of Lin-an (modern Hang-chou), the Nan Sung capital, was immortalized

Itaya Hazan

2005-02-22T15:05:00.000-08:00

After studying sculpture at the Tokyo Fine Arts School, Itaya graduated in 1894 and then studied ceramics, building a kiln in Tokyo in 1904. In 1953 he received the Bunka Kunsho (“Order of Culture”). Itaya's most famous works include a pot decorated with flowers in bright glaze

France, Collège De

2005-02-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

State-supported research institution and centre for adult education in Paris. Founded in 1530 by Francis I, it was originally the Collegium Trilinguae (College of Three Languages). It offers lectures by scholars chosen for eminence in their particular fields without reference to academic qualifications. Professorial chairs are not necessarily permanent, and fields

Monal

2005-02-20T22:50:00.000-08:00

Any of several Asian pheasant species. See pheasant.

Literature

2005-02-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

The 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to Toni Morrison (see NOBEL PRIZES), an American novelist who had been instrumental, proclaimed London's Daily Telegraph, in "breaking the male domination of Black American literature." She was only the eighth woman to win the prize, and her victory was unexpected. When Morrison's name was announced, Christopher Bigsby, professor

Peter Of Alcántara, Saint

2005-02-18T17:17:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, he entered the Franciscan Order at Alcántara in 1515 and was ordained priest in 1524. As a friar, Peter emphasized the penitential aspects

Wolf

2005-02-18T03:10:00.000-08:00

The gray wolf has a larger natural

Reza Shah Pahlavi

2005-02-16T05:40:00.000-08:00

After centuries of misrule by its former rulers and the ravages of the war waged by foreign belligerents on its soil from 1914 to 1919, Iran in 1921 was prostrate, ruined, and on the verge of disintegration. The last of the shahs of the Qajar dynasty, Ahmad Shah, was young and incompetent, and the Cabinet was weak and corrupt. Patriotic and nationalist elements had long been outraged at the

Städel Art Institute And Municipal Gallery

2005-02-16T04:08:00.000-08:00

German Städelsches Kunstinstitut Und Städtische Galerie, museum of art located in Frankfurt am Main, Ger. It was founded in 1816 by a bequest from the banker Johann Friedrich Städel (1728–1816), who donated his fortune and his art collection to found the institution as an art museum and art school. The institute opened its art collection to the public in 1817. The museum contains examples of work from most of the western European schools of painting

Zamora

2005-02-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern Ecuador. It lies in the forested jungles east of the main Andean ranges and is situated at the southeastern foot of the Andean Cordillera (mountains) de Zamora, just south of the Zamora River. The Roman Catholic Church has established a Vicar Apostolic in Zamora, which is considered to be a missionary settlement; the population is almost entirely

Henne Am Rhyn, Otto

2005-02-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

After studying at the Swiss universities of Bern and Geneva, he taught German, geography, and history at the local school

Henry I

2005-02-13T18:44:00.000-08:00

Byname Henry Beauclerc (Good Scholar), French Henri Beauclerc youngest and ablest of William I the Conqueror's sons, who as king of England (1100–35) strengthened the crown's executive powers and, like his father, also ruled Normandy (from 1106).

Dies Irae

2005-02-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

The hymn ascribed to Thomas of Celano contains 18 rhymed stanzas (17 tercets, 1 quatrain), to which a later, anonymous writer added an unrhymed couplet, ending in “Amen.” The impressive plainsong melody to which the

Abu Ruwaysh

2005-02-11T07:10:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Abu Roash,

All-union Council Of Evangelical Christians And Baptists

2005-02-10T21:33:00.000-08:00

Voluntary association of Baptist churches in Russia that was formed (in the Soviet Union) in 1944 by uniting the Union of Evangelical Christians and the Russian Baptist Union. The Baptists in Russia grew from religious revival movements that began in the 1860s and '70s. In Ukraine, groups of Russians influenced by German Mennonite settlers gathered for Bible study and eventually

Novecento Movement

2005-02-08T20:59:00.000-08:00

Group of Italian artists, formed in 1922 in Milan, that advocated a return to the great Italian representational art of the past. The nationalism of the Novecento (20th-century) movement led to a commitment to fascism. Members included the sculptors Marino Marini and Arturo Martini and the painters Ottone Rosai, Massimo Campigli, Carlo Carrà, Mario Sironi, and Felice

Fréchet, Maurice

2005-02-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

Fréchet was professor of mechanics at the University of Poitiers (1910–19) before moving to the University of Strasbourg, where he was professor of higher calculus (1920–27). Joining the faculty of

Madison

2005-02-07T03:37:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Wisconsin, U.S., and seat of Dane county. It lies in the south-central part of the state, partly on an isthmus between lakes Mendota and Monona, which with lakes Waubesa and Kegonsa to the southeast form the “four lakes” group. Founded by James Duane Doty in 1836 (a year of frenzied land speculation in the newly created Territory of Wisconsin), it was named for President

Uddevalla

2005-02-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

Town, Västra Götaland län (county), southwestern Sweden. It lies along the Bäve River, at the head of By Fjord (an inlet of the Skagerrak), north of Göteborg. The site has been identified with Odensvold, a pagan place of sacrifice. The town was incorporated in 1498. On several occasions during the Danish-Swedish wars, large parts of it were destroyed and ravaged by fire. Uddevalla

Jibril

2005-02-04T04:38:00.000-08:00

Muhammad himself could not at first identify the spirit that possessed him, and the Qur'an mentions him by name only three times. Jibril, however, became Muhammad's constant helper.

Ithaca College

2005-02-03T10:10:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Ithaca, New York, U.S. It comprises the Roy H. Park School of Communications and schools of business, health sciences and human performance, humanities and sciences, and music. In addition to undergraduate studies, the college offers master's degree programs in communication, health sciences, and music. Students

Halibut

2005-02-03T07:15:00.000-08:00

The Atlantic halibut (H. hippoglossus) is found on both sides

World War I, Peace moves and U.S. policy to February 1917

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

There were few efforts by any of the Central or Allied Powers to achieve a negotiated peace in the first two years of the war. By 1916 the most promising signs for peace seemed to exist only in the intentions of two statesmen in power—the German chancellor Bethmann and the U.S. president Woodrow Wilson. Wilson, having proclaimed the neutrality of the United States in August

Swansea

2005-01-31T00:26:00.000-08:00

Welsh Abertawe county, southwestern Wales, comprising the city of Swansea as well as the entire peninsula of Gower in the south and west, the lower valley of the River Loughor in the northwest, and the foothills of Black Mountain in the north. Gower is a rolling plateau noted for its sandy beaches and scenic rocky cliffs. The valleys of the Rivers Loughor and Tawe broaden in their lower

Rackett

2005-01-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

Finger holes were provided. The sound was reedy, low-pitched, and muffled.

Léger, Fernand

2005-01-29T14:50:00.000-08:00

Léger was born into a peasant family in a small town in Normandy. He served a two-year apprenticeship in an architect's

Tai Languages, Phonological characteristics

2005-01-29T09:04:00.000-08:00

The sound system of the Tai languages may best be described in terms of its syllabic structure. Each syllable consists of an initial consonant or consonant cluster followed by a vowel or vowel cluster (long vowel or diphthong), which may be further followed by a final consonant, usually a nasal sound or an unreleased stop. (An unreleased stop is a consonant in which there

Merck, Johann Heinrich

2005-01-27T16:36:00.000-08:00

After studying law at Giessen, Merck was appointed first a paymaster at Darmstadt and later an official in the war department for the court of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Welding

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

Technique used for joining metallic parts usually through the application of heat. This technique was discovered during efforts to manipulate iron into useful shapes. Welded blades were developed in the first millennium AD, the most famous being those produced by Arab armourers at Damascus, Syria. The process of carburization of iron to produce hard steel was known

Cartier, Jacques

2005-01-25T23:15:00.000-08:00

When King Francis I of France decided in 1534 to send an expedition to explore the northern lands in the hope of discovering gold, spices, and a passage

Metanephros

2005-01-25T07:04:00.000-08:00

Permanent kidney in reptiles, birds, and mammals, developing by the 10th week in human embryos from the lower part of the Wolffian duct, and replacing the embryonic structure called the mesonephros. It consists of a compact, paired organ containing many nephrons; a ureter separate from the Wolffian duct leads from the metanephros to the bladder.

Inner Ear

2005-01-24T02:29:00.000-08:00

Also called labyrinth of the ear, part of the ear that contains organs of the senses of hearing and equilibrium. The bony labyrinth, a cavity in the temporal bone, is divided into three sections: the vestibule, the semicircular canals, and the cochlea. Within the bony labyrinth is a membranous labyrinth, which is also divided into three parts: the semicircular ducts; two saclike structures, the saccule

Straits Settlements

2005-01-23T10:49:00.000-08:00

Former British crown colony on the Strait of Malacca, comprising four trade centres, Penang, Singapore, Malacca, and Labuan, established or taken over by the British East India Company. The British settlement at Penang was founded in 1786, at Singapore in 1819; Malacca, occupied by the British during the Napoleonic Wars, was transferred to the East India Company in 1824. The three territories

Osa

2005-01-21T22:27:00.000-08:00

City and administrative centre of Osa rayon (sector), Perm oblast (province), Russia, on the left bank of the Kama River near its confluence with the Tulva River. The city is about 60 miles (100 km) southwest of the city of Perm. Originally a village of Khanty (Ostyak), a Ugric-speaking people, it became the Russian town of Nikolskaya Sloboda in 1557 and was renamed Osa in 1737. Yemelyan Pugachov

Straits Settlements

2005-01-21T00:57:00.000-08:00

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,

Cinquain

2005-01-20T21:14:00.000-08:00

A five-line stanza. The American poet Adelaide Crapsey (1878–1914), applied the term in particular to a five-line verse form of specific metre that she developed. Analogous to the Japanese verse forms haiku and tanka, it has two syllables in its first and last lines and four, six, and eight in the intervening three lines and generally has an iambic cadence. An example is her poem “November

Ear Disease, Absence of the outer ear

2005-01-19T00:03:00.000-08:00

Congenital deformity or absence of the outer ear, usually on one side, sometimes on both, is often accompanied by absence of the outer-ear canal. This failure of the primitive gill structures to become properly transformed into the normal outer and middle ear is, in rare instances, hereditary. More often it occurs for no known reason. In some cases it can be traced to the

Thousand Days, The War Of A

2005-01-16T23:13:00.000-08:00

The Liberal Party represented coffee plantation owners and import-export merchants who favoured a laissez-faire economic policy. Largely excluded from participation in government after the Conservative victory

Nervous System Disease, Tumours

2005-01-15T16:07:00.000-08:00

Benign tumours, usually schwannomas on the vestibulocochlear nerve, may compress the cerebellum and lead to dysfunction on one side, but malignant astrocytomas and metastases from cancers are more common. In children, medulloblastomas are fast-growing malignant tumours that destroy the central part of the cerebellum and cause severe gait ataxia. Astrocytomas

Insurance, Inland marine insurance

2005-01-14T22:55:00.000-08:00

Although there are no standard forms in inland marine insurance, most contracts follow a typical pattern. They are usually written on a named-peril basis covering such perils of transportation as collision, derailment, rising water, tornado, fire, lightning, and windstorm. The policies generally exclude losses resulting from pilferage, strike, riot, civil commotion,

Saiki

2005-01-14T18:03:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Saeki, city, Oita ken (prefecture), Kyushu, Japan, facing Saiki Bay. It developed as a castle town on the small delta of the Banjo River during the Muromachi era (1338–1573) and came into the possession of the Mori daimyo family in 1601. Because of its good harbour, Saiki was selected for a base of the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1933. After World War II most of the military facilities were converted to industrial

Chaco Culture National Historical Park

2005-01-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

Formerly Chaco Canyon National Monument, national historical park in northwestern New Mexico, U.S. It is situated 45 miles (72 km) south of Bloomfield. It was established in 1907 as a national monument and was redesignated and renamed in 1980. It occupies an area of 53 square miles (137 square km), which consists of a canyon dissected by the Chaco and Gallo washes. It contains 13 major pre-Columbian Indian ruins and more than 300 smaller archaeological

Seven Days' Battles

2005-01-11T05:55:00.000-08:00

(June 25–July 1, 1862), series of American Civil War battles in which a Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee drove back General George B. McClellan's Union forces and thwarted the Northern attempt to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va. McClellan was forced to retreat from a position 4 miles (6 km) east of the Confederate capital to a new base of operations at Harrison's

Barakzay Dynasty

2005-01-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

Ruling family in Afghanistan in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Barakzay brothers seized control of Afghanistan and in 1826 divided the region between them. Dost Mohammad Khan gained preeminence and founded the dynasty about 1837. Thereafter his descendants ruled in direct succession until 1929, when the reigning monarch abdicated and his cousin Mohammad Nader Khan was elected

Proclus

2005-01-10T00:42:00.000-08:00

Proclus was reared at Xanthus in Lycia, and he studied philosophy under Olympiodorus the Elder at Alexandria. At Athens he studied under the Greek philosophers Plutarch and Syrianus,

Biblical Literature, The Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

2005-01-09T14:58:00.000-08:00

This letter, as is I Corinthians, is composed of a collection of fragments of Paul's correspondence with the Corinthians about a year later (i.e., c. 55) from Macedonia. The diversity of I Corinthians was caused by the variety of problems discussed, but the diversity of II Corinthians was the result of a reflection of the underlying, rather turbulent history of Paul and his

Poland

2005-01-07T05:21:00.000-08:00

Parliamentary elections in September 1997 brought a dramatic reversal in Polish politics. The Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS), a loose coalition of some 30 right-wing groups dominated

Pippin Iii

2005-01-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

The pope was in need of aid. Aistulf, king of the Lombards, had seized Ravenna with its lands, known as the exarchate. Soon, Lombard troops marched south, surrounded Rome, and prepared to lay siege to its walls. So matters stood when in 752 Zacharias died and Stephen II became pope. In November 753 Pope Stephen made his way over the stormy mountain passes to Frankish territory. He

Oscar I

2005-01-05T10:29:00.000-08:00

Oscar's early liberal outlook and progressive ideas on such issues as fiscal policy, freedom of the press, and penal reform fortuitously coincided with a period of social, political, and industrial change. After his accession

Muhammad Al-mahdi Al-hujjah

2005-01-05T06:56:00.000-08:00

Also called Muhammad Al-muntazar, Hidden Imam, or Twelfth Imam (disappeared 878), 12th and last imam, venerated by the Ithna 'Ashariyah, or Twelver sect, the main body of Shi'ite Muslims. It is believed that Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Hujjah has been concealed by God (a doctrine known as ghaybah, or occultation) and that he will reappear in time as the mahdi, or messianic deliverer. See also Ithna 'Ashariyah.

Huynh Tan Phat

2005-01-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

While

Ikhshidids Dynasty

2005-01-03T00:12:00.000-08:00

Muslim Turkish dynasty from Fergana in Central Asia that ruled Egypt and Syria from 935 to 969. The founder, Muhammad ibn Tughj, appointed governor of Egypt in 935, two years later obtained the title ikhshid (Persian: “prince, ruler”) from the 'Abbasid caliph ar-Radi; he then secured his position in Egypt and Syria against opposition from Muhammad ibn Ra'iq, 'Abbasid amir al-umara' (commander in chief),

Metal Carbonyl

2005-01-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

Any coordination or complex compound consisting of a heavy metal such as nickel, cobalt, or iron surrounded by carbonyl (CO) groups. Some common metal carbonyls include: tetracarbonylnickel Ni(CO)4, pentacarbonyliron Fe(CO)5, and octacarbonyldicobalt Co2(CO)8. In general, the metal carbonyls are produced by direct action of carbon monoxide on the finely divided metal. They

Allah

2004-12-31T18:11:00.000-08:00

(Arabic: “God”), the one and only God in the religion of Islam. Etymologically, the name Allah is probably a contraction of the Arabic al-Ilah, “the God.” The name's origin can be traced back to the earliest Semitic writings in which the word for god was Il or El, the latter being an Old Testament synonym for Yahweh. Allah is the standard Arabic word for “God” and is used by Arab Christians

Volkswagen Ag

2004-12-31T04:19:00.000-08:00

The company was originally operated by the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront), a Nazi organization; and Ferdinand Porsche was brought in to design the car. Production was interrupted by World War II, and by the

Dana, James D(wight)

2004-12-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

Dana attended Charles Bartlett's Academy, then entered Yale College

Pacific Islands, Continental islands

2004-12-28T08:09:00.000-08:00

The islands of the broad western Pacific margin, formed mainly of metamorphosed rocks, sediments, and andesitic volcanic material, are separated from the basaltic volcanic islands of the central and eastern Pacific by deep ocean trenches along the eastern borders of Japan, the Marianas, New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, and New Zealand, a demarcation that is commonly

Arabian Desert, Plant life

2004-12-27T18:04:00.000-08:00

There is a great variety of desert flora. Plants are primarily xerophytic (structurally adapted to a limited water supply) or halophytic (salt-tolerant). After spring rains, long-buried seeds germinate and bloom in a few hours. The normally barren gravel plains turn green. Even chert plains produce late-winter and early-spring grazing for camels and sheep. The plains

Karakhan Manifesto

2004-12-25T21:31:00.000-08:00

Manifesto issued on July 25, 1919, by Lev Karakhan, a member of the foreign ministry of the newly formed Soviet republic, in which he offered to relinquish all Soviet claims to the special rights and privileges won by the Russian tsarist government in China. The proposal, even after it was later somewhat modified, created a favourable impression in China; it was the first unilateral

Smith, Margaret Chase

2004-12-23T06:36:00.000-08:00

Margaret Chase attended high school in her native Skowhegan, Maine, graduating in 1916. She then taught school briefly, held a series of other jobs, and served as president of the Maine Federation of Business and Professional

Tarbert

2004-12-20T19:54:00.000-08:00

Village at the head of East Loch Tarbert, an inlet on the west side of of Loch Fyne, Argyll and Bute council area, historic county of Argyllshire, Scotland. Its name means isthmus, and it occupies a narrow neck of land joining the Peninsula of Kintyre to the rest of Argyll. The herring fishery, which was its mainstay, has declined, but Tarbert has developed modestly as a resort

Gharbiyah, Al-

2004-12-18T23:32:00.000-08:00

Muhafazah (governorate) in the middle Nile Delta, Lower Egypt, bounded on the east and west by the Damietta and the Rosetta branches of the Nile, on the north by Kafr ash-Shaykh muhafazah, and by al-Minufiyah muhafazah to the south. Its area is 750 square miles (1,942 square km); the muhafazah's capital has been at the cultural centre and transportation node of Tanta (q.v.) since 1836. An administrative unit named

Burgess, Gelett

2004-12-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

Burgess was educated as an engineer and worked briefly for a railroad in that capacity. Between 1891 and 1894 he taught topographical drawing at the University

Wakayama

2004-12-15T17:37:00.000-08:00

City, Wakayama ken (prefecture), south-central Honshu, Japan. It is situated at the mouth of the Kino River, on the Kii Peninsula, and lies along the Kii Strait, which leads from the Pacific Ocean into the Inland Sea. It is the capital and largest city of Wakayama prefecture. The settlement's growth began in 1585 with the construction of a castle there by Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Wakayama

Min Languages

2004-12-12T16:45:00.000-08:00

Chinese spoken in Fukien sheng (province) and in parts of Kwangtung and Taiwan. The Min languages are divided into Northern Min, with its centre at Foochow, and Southern Min, with its centre at Amoy. Min speakers use a pronunciation (called T'ang Min) for the literary language that differs from the one used in other Chinese languages. The T'ang Min pronunciation of the standard

Conspiracy

2004-12-10T04:36:00.000-08:00

In common law, an agreement between two or more persons to commit an unlawful act or to accomplish a lawful end by unlawful means. Conspiracy is perhaps the most amorphous area in Anglo-American criminal law. Its terms are vaguer and more elastic than any conception of conspiracy to be found in the continental European codes or their imitators. In most civil-law countries,

Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway

2004-12-09T04:43:00.000-08:00

Shipping route paralleling the eastern coast of the United States, serving ports from Boston to Key West, Fla. It is part of the Intracoastal Waterway (q.v.).