LivingMatch

0800 Promote

2006-11-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

0800 Promote are a London based company, established in 1989, primarily to supply quality business gifts. 0800promote provide an all-round facility to promote all aspects of corporate promotional activity and promotional products, including promotional printing,http://0800promote.com/printed-clothes.php and http://0800promote.com/printed-pen.php to name a few. We are a small building business who needed items printing on for a buyers show we were attending and we were extremely happy with 0800 Promotes services.

Seven Hills Of Rome

2005-04-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

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

Naga

2005-04-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

City, southeastern Luzon, Philippines. It is situated along the Bicol River, south of San Miguel Bay. Founded in 1573 as Nueva Caceres by the Spaniards, it is the site every September of a festival in honour of Nuestra Señora de (“Our Lady of”) Peñafrancia, the patroness of the Bicol Peninsula. Naga has a large cathedral and is the seat of a bishopric. The University of Nueva Caceres

Silica Gel

2005-04-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

Silica gel was known as early as 1640, but it remained a curiosity until its adsorbent properties were found useful in gas masks during World War I. It is generally prepared by acidification

Forbush Effect

2005-04-02T15:40:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, an occasional decrease in the intensity of cosmic rays as observed on Earth, attributed to magnetic effects produced by solar flares, which are disturbances on the Sun. The effect was discovered in 1937 by the American physicist Scott E. Forbush. Its cause became clearer in 1960, when, while the unmanned U.S. space probe Pioneer 5 was in flight some 5,000,000 km (3,000,000 miles) from Earth,

Bad Gandersheim

2005-04-01T15:05:00.000-08:00

Also called Gandersheim, city, Lower Saxony Land (state), north-central Germany. It lies in the Leine River valley. Bad Gandersheim is remarkable for an 11th-century convent church containing the tombs of famous abbesses and for the former abbey, which was moved there in 852 by the duke of Saxony, whose daughters were the first two abbesses. Louis III granted a privilege by which the office of abbess

Dieback

2005-03-31T03:21:00.000-08:00

Common symptom or name of disease, especially of woody plants, characterized by progressive death of twigs, branches, shoots, or roots, starting at the tips. Staghead is a slow dieback of the upper branches of a tree; the dead, leafless limbs superficially resemble a stag's head. Dieback and staghead are caused by many fungi and a few bacteria that produce cankers, anthracnose,

Argentina, Soils

2005-03-30T10:32:00.000-08:00

Soil types in Argentina range from the light-coloured saline formations of the high puna in the Northwest to the dark, humus-rich type found in the Pampas. Golden-brown loess soils of the Gran Chaco are sometimes lighter where salinity is excessive but turn darker toward the east in the Mesopotamian border zone. These give way to soils ranging from rust to deep red

Christians Of Saint Thomas

2005-03-30T00:31:00.000-08:00

The origins of the Christians of St. Thomas are uncertain, though they seem to have been in existence before the 6th century AD and probably

Jacquard Loom

2005-03-29T22:41:00.000-08:00

The Jacquard system was developed in 1804–05 by Joseph-Marie Jacquard (q.v.) of France, but it soon spread elsewhere.

Davila, Arrigo Caterino

2005-03-29T15:51:00.000-08:00

About 1583 Davila became a page in the service of Catherine de Médicis, wife of King Henry II of France. He subsequently became a soldier and fought in the French civil wars until the peace in 1598. He then returned to Padua, where he

Neolithic Period

2005-03-28T02:31:00.000-08:00

Also called New Stone Age final stage of cultural evolution or technological development among prehistoric humans. It was characterized by stone tools shaped by polishing or grinding, dependence on domesticated plants or animals, settlement in permanent villages, and the appearance of such crafts as pottery and weaving. The Neolithic followed the Paleolithic Period, or age of chipped-stone

France, History Of

2005-03-27T02:00:00.000-08:00

The year 1789 is the great dividing line in the history of modern France. The fall of the Bastille, the French state prison, on July 14, 1789, symbolizes for that nation, as well as for all other nations, the end of the premodern era characterized by an organicist and religiously sanctioned traditionalism. With the French Revolution began the institutionalization of secularized

G.c.v.o.

2005-03-26T13:51:00.000-08:00

Knight grand cross, or dame grand cross, of the Royal Victorian Order, member of the highest rank of a British order of knighthood. See Royal Victorian Order.

Bryant, Bear

2005-03-26T02:54:00.000-08:00

Bryant played tackle and was all-state at Fordyce (Ark.) High School; he went on to the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa (1932–36; B.S., 1936), where he played blocking end. During his collegiate career the team won 23 games, lost 3, and tied 2. He played on

Ghaybah

2005-03-25T23:43:00.000-08:00

Ghaybah is applied loosely to anyone whom God has withdrawn from the world and kept invisible to the eyes of ordinary men. The life of such a blessed

Botev, Khristo

2005-03-24T10:21:00.000-08:00

In 1863 Botev was sent to complete his education in Russia, where he was much influenced by nihilist ideas. He returned to Bulgaria in 1867 but then fled to Romania. There he lived in poverty,

Annapurna

2005-03-24T02:01:00.000-08:00

Massif of the Himalayas in north-central Nepal, forming a ridge 30 miles (48 km) long between the basins of the Kali Gandak and Marsyandi rivers. It contains four main summits, two of which, Annapurna I (26,545 feet [8,091 m]) and II (26,040 feet [7,937 m]), stand at the western and eastern ends of the range, respectively; III (24,786 feet [7,555 m]) and IV (24,688 feet [7,525 m]) lie between them. Annapurna I is one of the world's highest peaks. Although

Syrian Chant

2005-03-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

Generic term for the vocal music of the various Syrian Christian churches, including Eastern Orthodox churches such as the Jacobites and Nestorians, and the Eastern churches in union with Rome—e.g., the Maronites (mostly in Lebanon) and the Chaldeans, who are dissidents from the Nestorians. To these should be added some branches of nearly all of these groupings in the

Judaism, Moses Mendelssohn

2005-03-22T19:27:00.000-08:00

Moses Mendelssohn opened what may be called the German period of Jewish philosophy (c. 1750–c. 1830). This period, in which a considerable number of works on Jewish philosophy were written in German and often under the influence of German philosophy, is also marked by the emancipation of the Jews—that is, by the abrogation of discriminatory laws directed against them—and by their

Bonavista

2005-03-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

An important cod- and salmon-fishing port, the town has modern fish-drying, filleting,

Qutb-ud-din Aybak

2005-03-21T22:40:00.000-08:00

In childhood Qutb was sold as a slave and raised at Nishapur. He came into the possession of Muhammad of Ghur, who put him in charge of the royal stables. Eventually he was appointed to military command, and in 1193, after conquering Delhi, Muhammad returned to Khorasan and left the consolidation of the

Kamil, Mustafa

2005-03-21T08:19:00.000-08:00

Kamil believed that Egypt was already a nation and fully qualified to rule itself. To put forward his views, he founded the newspaper Al-Liwa' (“The Standard”) in 1900. He realized that independence would be difficult to obtain, and he looked

Social Behaviour In Animals

2005-03-20T18:55:00.000-08:00

To understand social behaviour more fully, it is necessary to examine it throughout the range of animal life. W.C. Allee, in his classic book The Social Life of Animals, distinguishes two major types of animal societies. One is the parental, or familial, society, in which parent and offspring stay together for varying lengths of time. The other is the pair bond, or club, society,

Fighter Aircraft

2005-03-18T16:51:00.000-08:00

Aircraft designed primarily to secure control of essential airspace by destroying enemy aircraft in combat. The opposition may consist of fighters of equal capability or of bombers carrying protective armament. For such purposes fighters must be capable of the highest possible performance in order to be able to outfly and outmaneuver opposing fighters. Above

Tlemcen

2005-03-18T09:56:00.000-08:00

Also spelled (after 1981) Tilimsen, town, northwestern Algeria. It lies near the Moroccan border. Tlemcen is backed by the cliffs of the well-watered Tlemcen Mountains and overlooks the fertile Hennaya and Maghnia plains. Lying at an elevation of 2,648 feet (807 m), Tlemcen is located sufficiently inland to avoid the humidity of the Mediterranean coast but is near enough to receive cooling sea breezes in summer.

Biblical Literature, Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls

2005-03-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

New literary documents from the intertestamental period were found in the caves of Qumran in the vicinity of the Dead Sea in the 1940s, but only a portion of them has yet been published. All the Dead Sea Scrolls were written before the destruction of the Second Temple; with the exception of small Greek fragments, they are all in Hebrew and Aramaic. The scrolls formed the library

Gymkhana

2005-03-16T08:16:00.000-08:00

Originally in 19th-century India and England, a display of athletics and equestrian events; in the 20th century, also a form of automobile sport in which a series of events is planned to test driving skill and demonstrate accurate car handling. Auto gymkhanas usually are held on parking lots on which a series of short but intricate courses are laid out. A typical event is

Scandinavian Literature, Norway

2005-03-16T00:18:00.000-08:00

Several of Denmark's leading writers of the 18th century were of Norwegian birth, preeminently Ludvig Holberg and the members of Det Norske Selskab (the Norwegian Society). Established in Copenhagen in 1772 by a group of resident Norwegians, it looked to French rather than to German and English literature for models. Within Norway itself there was little overt literary

Indo-aryan Languages

2005-03-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

Linguists generally assign the Indo-Aryan languages to three major periods: Old, Middle, and New Indo-Aryan. These periods are linguistic, not strictly chronological. Old Indo-Aryan includes different dialects and linguistic states referred

La Farina, Giuseppe

2005-03-14T15:07:00.000-08:00

The son of a Sicilian magistrate and scholar, La Farina received a law degree in 1835 and soon became involved with a secret committee for Italian unity; he was forced into exile after it attempted an insurrection in 1837. Receiving

Van Nu En Straks Circle

2005-03-14T02:44:00.000-08:00

Group of writers associated with an influential Flemish review, Van Nu en Straks (“Today and Tomorrow”; 1893–94 and 1896–1901). Though holding a variety of opinions, they strove for an art that should comprehend all human activity and give universal significance to individual feelings. Led by August Vermeylen, they included Prosper van Langendonck, Emmanuel Karel de Bom, and Alfred Hegenscheidt.

Smith, Jedediah (strong)

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

Smith probably made his first trip west while still in his teens. In 1822 he joined a fur-trading expedition to the Rocky Mountains and continued in the Rocky Mountain trade for the remainder of the

Arguello, Alexis

2005-03-12T22:11:00.000-08:00

Arguello, who became a professional fighter in 1968, fought only in his homeland until 1974, when he went to Panama to seek the World Boxing Association's featherweight title. Arguello lost this match in a 15-round decision to Ernesto

Marsalis Family

2005-03-12T00:22:00.000-08:00

Ellis Marsalis

Oscan Language

2005-03-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

One of the Italic languages closely related to Umbrian and Volscian and more distantly related to Latin and Faliscan. Spoken in southern and central Italy, it was probably the native tongue of the Samnite people of the central mountainous region of southern Italy. Oscan was gradually displaced by Latin and apparently became completely extinct by the end of the

Sea Lettuce

2005-03-10T08:55:00.000-08:00

(Ulva), any member of a genus of green algae usually found growing between high and low tide marks on rocky shores of seas and oceans. Fragments may be washed ashore by wave action. Ulva grows also in brackish water rich in organic matter or sewage. The thallus, which somewhat resembles a lettuce leaf, is a sheet of cells up to 30 cm (12 inches) long and two cells thick

Argentina, The Videla regime and the Dirty War

2005-03-10T07:42:00.000-08:00

Five days after the coup a three-man military junta filled the presidency with Lieutenant General Jorge Rafaél Videla. The junta closed Congress, imposed censorship, banned trade unions, and brought state and municipal government under military control. Meanwhile Videla initiated the infamous Process of National Reorganization, known subsequently as the

Wilkes Land

2005-03-09T16:37:00.000-08:00

Region in Antarctica, bordering the Indian Ocean between Queen Mary and George V coasts (100°–142°20¢ E). The region is almost entirely covered by a featureless ice cap averaging from 6,000 to 9,500 feet (1,800 to 2,900 m) above sea level. First sighted (1838–42) by the U.S. naval commander Charles Wilkes, for whom the land is named, it was not explored until the late 1940s. Included in the region are the coasts of Clarie, Banzare,

Kabir

2005-03-09T07:24:00.000-08:00

The birth of Kabir (Arabic: “Great”) remains to this day shrouded in mystery and legend. Authorities disagree

Shih-chia-chuang

2005-03-08T22:36:00.000-08:00

In pre-Han times (i.e., before 206 BC) it was the site of the city of Shih-i in the state of Chao, and, from Han (206 BC–AD 220) to Sui (581–618) times, it was the site of a county

Asceticism

2005-03-07T02:10:00.000-08:00

The origins of asceticism lie in man's attempts to achieve various ultimate goals or ideals: development of the “whole” person, human creativity, ideas, the “self,” or skills demanding technical proficiency. Athletic askesis (“training”), involving the ideal of bodily fitness and excellence, was developed to ensure the highest possible degree of physical fitness in an athlete.

Ireland

2005-03-06T02:29:00.000-08:00

Even before September the slowdown in the U.S. had begun to have an impact on Ireland. As

Sundman, Per Olof

2005-03-06T01:59:00.000-08:00

Per Olof Sundman spent much of his life in the northern province of Jämtland and used that isolated area as a locale for his first book, Jägarna (1957; “The Hunters”), a collection of short stories. It is not incidents or human relationships

Danieli, Cecilia

2005-03-05T15:17:00.000-08:00

Italian industrialist who, as managing director of the Danieli Group, a company founded by her grandfather, revolutionized steelmaking throughout the world when she developed small, flexible steel mills, or minimills, that could produce high-quality steel more cheaply and efficiently than traditional mills could (b. 1943, Udine, Italy—d. June 17, 1999, Aviano, Italy).

Earth Exploration, Seismic refraction methods

2005-03-05T05:40:00.000-08:00

Seismic methods are based on measurements of the time interval between initiation of a seismic (elastic) wave and its arrival at detectors. The seismic wave may be generated by an explosion, a dropped weight, a mechanical vibrator, a bubble of high-pressure air injected into water, or other sources. The seismic wave is detected by a Geophone on land or by a hydrophone

Wynyard

2005-03-04T17:47:00.000-08:00

Town, northern Tasmania, Australia, at the mouth of the River Inglis on Bass Strait. Founded in 1841, it was made a municipality in 1856 and named Table Cape for a high promontory (380 feet [116 m]) to the south. It was gazetted a town in 1861, when its name was changed to honour Major General Edward Wynyard, commander in chief in 1850 of British forces in Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania). Located on a rail line

Uberti, Farinata Degli

2005-03-03T19:11:00.000-08:00

Uberti became chief of the Ghibellines in 1239, but he was exiled from Florence along with his party after

Al-

2005-03-02T17:43:00.000-08:00

Arabic definite article, meaning “the.” It often prefixes Arabic proper nouns, especially place-names; an example is Al-Jazirah (Arabic: “The Island”), the name of an interfluvial region in The Sudan. The article is often used in lowercase form, hence al-Jazirah. Reference works, including Encyclopædia Britannica, often alphabetize names beginning with al- under the main part

Monad

2005-03-02T02:13:00.000-08:00

(from Greek monas “unit”), an elementary individual substance that reflects the order of the world and from which material properties are derived. The term was first used by the Pythagoreans as the name of the beginning number of a series, from which all following numbers derived. Giordano Bruno in De monade, numero et figura liber (1591; “On the Monad, Number, and Figure”) described

Anatolian Languages

2005-02-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

Extinct Indo-European and non-Indo-European languages spoken in Anatolia from sometime in the 3rd millenium BC until the early centuries of the present era, when they were gradually supplanted by Greek. The Anatolian languages are known only from texts of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC; the earliest evidence is that of the so-called Cappadocian tablets (19th–18th centuries BC). The

Earthenware

2005-02-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

Pottery that has not been fired to the point of vitrification and is thus slightly porous and coarser than stoneware and porcelain. The body can be covered completely or decorated with slip (a liquid clay mixture applied before firing) or it can be glazed. For both practical and decorative reasons, earthenware is usually glazed. To overcome its porosity

Theatre, Western, Commedia dell'arte

2005-02-28T09:39:00.000-08:00

Around the mid-16th century, there emerged in Italy a lively tradition of popular theatre that fused many disparate elements into a vigorous style, which profoundly influenced the development of European theatre. This was the legendary commedia dell'arte (“theatre of the professionals”), a nonliterary tradition that centred on the actor, as distinguished from the

Ferdinand I

2005-02-27T03:49:00.000-08:00

Because his elder brother, Henry III, was an invalid, Ferdinand took the battlefield against the Muslims of Granada. When Henry III died in 1406, his son John II was an infant and the regency was divided between Henry's widow, Queen Catherine of Lancaster,

Ava

2005-02-27T03:35:00.000-08:00

Ancient capital of central Myanmar (Burma), on the left bank of the Irrawaddy River at the Myitnge confluence. It is linked by a road and rail bridge, 5,894 feet (1,796 m) long, to the town of Sagaing; this is the only place where the Irrawaddy is bridged. Its name is a corruption of the Burmese Inwa, meaning “entrance to the lake.” The site was chosen in 1364 by the Shans who succeeded the Pagan dynasty.

Great Australian Bight

2005-02-26T06:24:00.000-08:00

The head of

Argentina, The radical regime, 191630

2005-02-25T11:56:00.000-08:00

The Radical front was a coalition of heterogeneous social groups, whose competing interests slowed the passage of reforms, despite urgent calls for economic and social change. Not surprisingly, Irigoyen preferred to concentrate on the political ills he had inherited from the conservative regime. The most urgent measure involved political patronage, which

Watertown

2005-02-25T09:34:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Litchfield county, west-central Connecticut, U.S., on the Naugatuck River immediately northwest of the city of Waterbury. The site was settled in 1701, and in 1738 the community was organized as Westbury, an ecclesiastical society of Waterbury. It was separated and incorporated as Watertown in 1780 and includes the village of Oakville. Several 18th-century houses are

Epistemology, Impact of modern science on epistemology

2005-02-24T14:23:00.000-08:00

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), a cleric, argued in On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres (1543) that the Earth revolves around the Sun. His theory was epistemologically shocking for at least two reasons. First, it goes directly counter to how humans experience their relation to the Sun; it is everyone's prescientific view that the Sun revolves around the Earth. If science can

Gatun Lake

2005-02-23T21:24:00.000-08:00

Spanish Lago Gatún, long artificial lake in Panama, constituting part of the Panama Canal system; its area is 166 square miles (430 square km). It was formed by damming the Chagres River and its smaller affluents at Gatun at the north end of the lake. Its dam (completed 1912) and spillway, a key structure of the Panama Canal, operate at a range of 5 feet (1.5 m) between water levels of 87 and 82 feet (26.5 and 25 m) above sea level. The

Pyromorphite

2005-02-23T10:45:00.000-08:00

Arsenic and vanadium often replace phosphorus in the pyromorphite

Aulis

2005-02-22T23:43:00.000-08:00

Ancient Greek town in Boeotia, separated from Chalcis (on the island of Euboea) three miles to the north by the Euboean Channel. Aulis was traditionally held to be the port from which the Greek fleet set off to the siege of Troy and the scene of the related sacrifice of Iphigenia, the eldest daughter of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae.

Abbe, Cleveland

2005-02-21T23:40:00.000-08:00

Trained as an astronomer, he was appointed director of the Cincinnati (Ohio) Observatory in 1868. His interest gradually turned to meteorology, however, and he inaugurated a public weather service that served

Galilee, Sea Of

2005-02-21T17:24:00.000-08:00

Also called Lake Tiberias, Arabic Buhayrat Tabariya, Hebrew Yam Kinneret, lake in Israel through which the Jordan River flows. From 1948 to 1967 it was bordered immediately to the northeast by the cease-fire line with Syria. It is famous for its biblical associations. Located 686 feet (209 m) below sea level, it has a surface area of 64 square miles (166 square km). The sea's maximum depth, which occurs in the northeast, is 157 feet (48 m). Measuring 13 miles (21 km) from north to south and 7 miles

Russell Family

2005-02-21T14:19:00.000-08:00

A famous English Whig family, the senior line of which has held the title of duke of Bedford since 1694. Originating in Dorset, the family first became prominent under the Tudor sovereigns, John Russell (died 1555) being created earl of Bedford for his part in suppressing a rebellion in 1549 against the Protestant innovations of Edward VI's reign. The family was connected with the

Qatar

2005-02-19T18:23:00.000-08:00

Qatar's economic prosperity is derived from petroleum, which was discovered in 1939 and first produced in 1949, and from natural gas. Before World War II, Qatar's population lacked any economic occupation apart from pearling, fishing, and some trade and was one of the poorest in the world. By the 1970s, however, the native Qataris enjoyed one of the highest per capita incomes in the world,

Crockett, Davy

2005-02-18T07:41:00.000-08:00

His father, having little means, hired him out to more prosperous backwoods farmers, and Davy's schooling amounted to 100 days of tutoring with a neighbour. Successive moves west to middle Tennessee brought him close to the area of the Creek War, in which

Lillehei, C(larence) Walton

2005-02-17T20:47:00.000-08:00

American surgeon who in 1952 performed the first successful open-heart operation; he also helped develop the first wearable pacemaker and artificial heart valves (b. Oct. 23, 1918, Minneapolis, Minn.—d. July 5, 1999, St. Paul, Minn.).

Frederick

2005-02-17T06:05:00.000-08:00

County, northern Maryland, U.S., bounded by Pennsylvania to the north, the Monocacy River to the northeast, Virginia to the southwest (the Potomac River constituting the border), and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. It consists of a piedmont region bisected north-south by the valley of the Monocacy. Parklands include Cunningham Falls State Park and Catoctin Mountain

Furniture, China

2005-02-17T02:19:00.000-08:00

Remarkably little systematic study has been made of Chinese furniture. Its origins remain comparatively obscure, its workshops mostly unrecorded, its designers unknown; consequently, its dating is extremely difficult. Most of the forms of Chinese furniture, such as the low table and the covered bed, are found in the oldest Chinese paintings in existence; the designs

Mckinney

2005-02-14T22:27:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1848) of Collin county, northeastern Texas, U.S., near the East Fork of Trinity River. Named for one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence, it was platted in 1848. McKinney's home, formerly 17 miles (27 km) north, was moved in 1936 to Finch Park, where it was restored as a memorial. Many of the city's residents commute to work in Dallas or Plano, both located south of McKinney;

Xanthus

2005-02-14T18:30:00.000-08:00

Modern Kinik principal city of ancient Lycia. It is situated on a cliff above the mouth of the Koca (Xanthus) River in what is now western Turkey. The early history of Xanthus is unclear: although it is mentioned in early Lycian inscriptions, no Bronze Age remains have been found within the city. According to the Iliad, the Lycians, led by the hero Sarpedon, were the most prominent allies

Solar

2005-02-14T13:19:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sollar, in architecture, private room in a late medieval English manor house, located on the floor above the great hall. The solar served as a kind of parlour to which the owner of the manor house or castle could retire with his family from the chaotic communal living of the hall below. In fact, by the late 14th century the solar was more often called the “retiring room.” Up a flight of

Cumberland

2005-02-13T20:07:00.000-08:00

County, south-central Pennsylvania, U.S. It consists of a hilly region in the Appalachian Ridge and Valley physiographic province bounded to the north by Blue Mountain, to the east by the Susquehanna River, to the southeast by Yellow Breeches Creek, and to the south by the Blue Ridge Mountains. Conodoguinet Creek and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail cross the

Jackson, John

2005-02-13T15:52:00.000-08:00

American blues guitarist (b. Feb. 25, 1924, Woodville, Va.—d. Jan. 20, 2002, Fairfax, Va.), was considered a master of the Piedmont blues tradition. While playing guitar for friends at a gas station in Fairfax, Va., in 1964, Jackson was discovered by University of Virginia folklorist Charles L. Perdue, who subsequently arranged for Jackson to go on tour and introduced him to record company executives.

Asansol

2005-02-13T02:32:00.000-08:00

City, West Bengal state, northeastern India. Situated in the heart of the Raniganj coalfield, it is the centre of the Kulti-Burnpur industrial complex. Asansol is connected by the Grand Trunk Road and by rail with Calcutta, Durgapur, and Burdwan. The city is an important coal-trading and railway centre, with large railway workshops and a railway colony. Its major industries

Israel, Israel under Likud

2005-02-11T09:24:00.000-08:00

To general surprise, the Likud Party, led by Menachem Begin, won the May 1977 election, inaugurating the first non-Labour-led government in Israel's history. Begin's campaign benefited immensely from Sephardic resentment over the patronizing attitude of the Labour establishment and its treatment of non-European Jewish immigrants as second-class citizens. The Sephardim

Art, African, Ekoi

2005-02-10T13:46:00.000-08:00

The Ekoi peoples (Anyang, Boki, Ejagham, Keaka, and Yako) are best known for their large, skin-covered masks, which have two or even three faces, and for their smaller headpieces, which represent a head or an entire figure. The headpieces and masks have metal teeth, inlaid eyes, and frequently pegs to represent hair, which, alternatively, may be carved in elaborate coils. They

Uzziah

2005-02-09T15:28:00.000-08:00

During the period of Uzziah's

Philip Iv

2005-02-09T05:48:00.000-08:00

He succeeded his father, Philip III of Spain, in 1621, and, for the first 22 years of his reign, Philip's valido, or chief minister, was the Conde-Duque de Olivares, who took the spread of the Thirty Years' War as an opportunity not only for resuming hostilities against

Christo And Jeanne-claude

2005-02-08T19:22:00.000-08:00

On June 25, 1995, when the last panel of silver fabric fell into place, the biggest artwork of the year was completed in Berlin by site artists Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude. But this was a veiling, not an unveiling; "Wrapped Reichstag" covered the 101-year-old German parliament building with 100,000 sq m (1,076,000 sq ft) of fabric held in place by nearly 16 km (10 mi) of blue rope. In a now-familiar pattern, skeptics

Grudziadz

2005-02-06T23:23:00.000-08:00

German Graudenz, city, Torun województwo (province), north-central Poland, on the lower Vistula River. Founded in the 10th century as a Polish stronghold against Prussian attack, Grudziadz in the 1230s came under the rule of the Teutonic Knights, who fortified the town and granted it municipal rights (1291). It was acquired by Poland in the mid-15th century, but after the First Partition of 1772 the town became

Skiing

2005-02-06T20:57:00.000-08:00

Unlike the Alpine competitors, the Nordic skiers did not have a world championship tournament in 1996 and thus were able to focus fully on the 17th Nordic World Cup. In that competition Bjørn Dæhlie of Norway and Vladimir Smirnov of Kazakstan continued their supremacy. Dæhlie retained the overall title, his fourth in five years, with runner-up Smirnov denied a chance to

Manet, édouard

2005-02-06T16:58:00.000-08:00

French painter who broke new ground by defying traditional techniques of representation and by choosing subjects from the events and circumstances of his own time. His Déjeuner sur l'herbe (“Luncheon on the Grass”), exhibited in 1863 at the Salon des Refusés, aroused the hostility of critics and the enthusiasm of the young painters who

Manet, édouard

2005-02-04T09:37:00.000-08:00

The Malabar spiny tree mouse (Platacanthomys lasiurus) lives only in the old-growth rainforests of southwestern India. Nocturnal and arboreal, it builds nests in tree cavities and eats fruits and nuts. The animal is named for its flat, grooved spines

World Water Crisis: Is There A Way Out?

2005-02-04T05:07:00.000-08:00

Such was the dismal state of the world's water supply, as presented in a press release by Koichiro Matsuura, director general of UNESCO, on March 5, 2003. Matsuura later warned, “Over the next 20 years, the average supply of water worldwide per person is expected to drop by a third.” For years there had been warnings of an ever-worsening crisis in the availability of water on planet

Novhorod-siverskyy

2005-02-04T03:03:00.000-08:00

Russian Novgorod-seversky, also spelled Novgorod-severskij, city, Chernihiv oblast (province), northern Ukraine. The city, now a tourist centre, is believed to date from the early 11th century. From 1098 it was the capital of Novhorod-Siverskyy principality, which defended the Russian nation from incursions by nomadic tribes from the steppe regions. There are many old buildings in the city, including the 17th-century Cathedral of the Assumption

Alexander Island

2005-02-03T22:04:00.000-08:00

Also called Alexander Land, large island in the Bellingshausen Sea, separated from the Antarctica mainland by the George VI Sound. An extremely rugged region with peaks up to 9,800 feet (2,987 m) above sea level, it is 270 miles (435 km) long and up to 125 miles (200 km) wide and has an area of about 16,700 square miles (43,250 square km). The Russian explorers Bellingshausen and Lazarev discovered the land in 1821 and named it after the Russian tsar.

San José De Las Lajas

2005-02-02T20:10:00.000-08:00

City, north-central La Habana provincia, west-central Cuba. It is known primarily as a commercial and manufacturing centre for the surrounding agricultural and pastoral lands, which feature dairying and sugarcane growing, but thermal springs have made it a health resort as well. A rail junction, it is also accessible by highway from Havana, which lies 20 miles (32 km) to the

Moloch

2005-02-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

The laws given to Moses by God expressly forbade the Jews to do what was done in Egypt or

Buka Island

2005-02-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

One of the northern Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, in the southwestern Pacific. It lies northwest of Bougainville Island, from which it is separated by the deep Buka Passage (5 miles [8 km] wide). A volcanic formation measuring 35 miles by 9 miles (56 km by 14 km), Buka has a total land area of 190 square miles (492 square km). Rising to 1,634 feet (498 metres) in hills on the southwest, the island is densely

Henry Viii

2005-02-01T06:45:00.000-08:00

King of England (1509–47), who presided over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and the English Reformation. His six wives were, successively, Catherine of Aragon (the mother of the future queen Mary I), Anne Boleyn (the mother of the future queen Elizabeth I), Jane Seymour (the mother of Henry's successor, Edward VI), Anne of Cleves, Catherine

Halide Mineral

2005-01-31T07:50:00.000-08:00

Compositionally and structurally, three broad categories of halide minerals are recognized; these categories, which are

Priceite

2005-01-30T17:19:00.000-08:00

Also called Pandermite, an earthy, white borate mineral, hydrated calcium borate (Ca4B10O19×7H2O). It has been found as masses and nodules in a hot-spring deposit near Chetco, Ore., U.S.; as nodules in shale in Death Valley, Calif., U.S.; and as very large masses (weighing up to a ton) underlying gypsum and clay beds at Susurluk in northwestern Turkey. For detailed physical properties, see borate mineral (table).

Gable, Christopher Michael

2005-01-30T04:10:00.000-08:00

British ballet dancer and actor (b. March 13, 1940, Hackney, London, Eng.--d. Oct. 23, 1998, near Halifax, Yorkshire, Eng.), was a popular star of the Royal Ballet, and his strong dramatic ability paved the way for him to make a smooth transition to theatre and motion pictures. When he was a young boy, Gable, having seen dance numbers in films, asked for lessons. His mother consented, if he also studied

Marsh Treader

2005-01-29T03:33:00.000-08:00

The marsh

Alligator

2005-01-28T16:21:00.000-08:00

(genus Alligator), either of two longsnouted, crocodilian reptiles usually placed with the South American caimans in the family Alligatoridae. Alligators, like other crocodilians, are large, lizardlike animals with powerful tails that are used both in defense and in swimming. Their eyes, ears, and nostrils are placed on top of their long

Tyrconnell, Richard Talbot, Earl Of, Viscount Baltinglass, Baron Of Talbotstown

2005-01-27T17:56:00.000-08:00

The son of Sir William Talbot, a Roman Catholic lawyer and politician, Richard fought with the Royalist forces in Ireland during the English Civil Wars between the Royalists and Parliamentarians. In November 1655 he was arrested

Smith, Joseph

2005-01-27T06:57:00.000-08:00

Smith grew up in western New York at a time of intense religious revivalism. He was a literate but unschooled lad from a large family, and his neighbours at Palmyra,

Hystero-epilepsy

2005-01-26T22:16:00.000-08:00

Hysterical seizures that resemble epilepsy and, in diagnosis, must be distinguished from it. In hystero-epilepsy the reflexes and responses to stimulation in the part of the body affected are normal, and the electroencephalogram shows no significant abnormality in the brain waves. Usually the person affected can be roused by painful stimuli and is never completely