SmoothTown

Promotional pens: everyone seems to want one.

2007-02-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for potential suppliers of promotional
products? From economy ballpoint pens to exclusive pen sets, you can choose
the best advertising promotional
pens for your advertising needs. That is a great way to easily promote your
business. Cheap promotional pens are always popular and extremely affordable (also
they travel well). But not forget to consider other effective products:t-shirt
(can be seen by hundreds of people each time your shirt is worn), key chains,
mugs and travel Mugs, magnets, desk Items, calendars. Think carefully about your
target audience and their lifestyle, then you can determine if these promotional
products are the best selection to accomplish your objectives.

Edinburgh Review, The, Or The Critical Journal

2005-04-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

Scottish magazine that was published from 1802 to 1929, and which contributed to the development of the modern periodical and to modern standards of literary criticism. The Edinburgh Review was founded by Francis Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, and Henry Brougham as a quarterly publication, with Jeffrey as its first and longtime editor. It was intended as an outlet for liberal views

Arsenate Mineral

2005-04-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

Any of a group of naturally occurring compounds of arsenic, oxygen, and various metals, most of which are rare, having crystallized under very restricted conditions. At the mineralogically famous Långban iron and manganese mines in central Sweden, more than 50 species of arsenate minerals have been described, many peculiar to the locality. Such compounds occur in

Arraignment

2005-03-31T16:44:00.000-08:00

In Anglo-American law, first encounter of an accused person with the court prior to trial, wherein he is brought to the bar and the charges against him are read. The accused usually enters a plea of guilt or innocence. If he chooses not to plead, a plea of not guilty will be entered for him. A guilty plea will usually result in the case's being handed over for judgment. Sometimes

Kazanluk

2005-03-29T21:38:00.000-08:00

Greek Seuthopolis, town, central Bulgaria. It lies in the Kazanluk basin, 2 miles (3 km) north of the Tundzha River. The area is famous for its roses, which are made into attar of roses for the perfume industry. This industry, which developed in the 17th century, now uses approximately 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares) and includes the growing of lavender, peppermint, and pyrethrum. The town is an ancient craft centre;

Seven Holy Founders

2005-03-27T00:44:00.000-08:00

Also called Seven Servite Founders saints Bonfilius, Alexis Falconieri, John Bonagiunta, Benedict dell'Antella, Bartholomew Amidei, Gerard Sostegni, and Ricoverus Uguccione, who founded the Ordo Fratrum Servorum Sanctae Mariae (“Order of Friar Servants of St. Mary”). Popularly called Servites, the order is a Roman Catholic congregation

Placidia, Aelia Galla

2005-03-26T08:01:00.000-08:00

Captured in Rome when the city fell to the Goths in 410, she was carried off to Gaul and married (414) to the Visigothic chieftain Ataulphus, who was

Fibroblast

2005-03-23T18:58:00.000-08:00

The principal nonmotile cells of connective tissue; fibroblasts are large, flat, elongated (spindle-shaped) cells possessing processes extending out from the ends of the cell body. The cell nucleus is flat and oval. Fibroblasts produce tropocollagen, which is the forerunner of collagen, and ground substance, an amorphous, gel-like matrix that fills the spaces between

Acadia National Park

2005-03-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

National park on the Atlantic coast of Maine, U.S., astride Frenchman Bay. It has an area of 65 square miles (168 square km) and was originally established as Sieur de Monts National Monument (1916), named for Pierre du Guast, sieur (lord) de Monts. It became the first national park in the eastern United States, as Lafayette National Park in 1919, and was renamed Acadia in 1929 to preserve the historic

Line Islands

2005-03-16T08:04:00.000-08:00

The Line Islands extend 1,600 miles (2,600 km) northwestward from French Polynesia. They have a land area of 193 square miles (500 square km) and are divided into Northern, Central, and Southern groups.

Empiricism, In ancient philosophy

2005-03-15T02:08:00.000-08:00

So-called common sense is inarticulately empiricist; and philosophy, in seeking to correct it, has to start from a rationalistic position. Philosophical Empiricism is thus always critical, a resistance to the pretensions of a more speculative philosophy. The ground was prepared for Plato, the greatest of Rationalist philosophers, by three earlier bodies of thought:

Ilam

2005-03-12T21:21:00.000-08:00

The surrounding region is a continuation of the valley of Mesopotamia

Dynamo Theory

2005-03-10T16:42:00.000-08:00

Geophysical theory that explains the origin of the Earth's main magnetic field in terms of a self-exciting (or self-sustaining) dynamo. In this dynamo mechanism, fluid motion in the Earth's outer core moves conducting material (liquid iron) across an already existing, weak magnetic field and generates an electric current. (Heat from radioactive decay in the core is thought

Saint Bartholomew's Day, Massacre Of

2005-03-09T16:38:00.000-08:00

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day had for its background the political and religious

Downpatrick

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

Irish Dún Pádraig town and seat, Down district (established 1973), formerly in County Down, Northern Ireland. Downpatrick is located where the River Quoilé broadens into its estuary in Strangford Lough (inlet of the sea). The town takes its name from dún (fortress) and from its association with St. Patrick. It is the Dun-da-leth-glas (Fortress of the Two Broken Fetters) of Irish chroniclers. Formerly

Zaporizhzhya

2005-03-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

Russian Zaporozhye, also spelled Zaporozhe, or Zaporozje, oblast (province), southeastern Ukraine. It encompasses the northwestern shore of the Sea of Azov and stretches inland across the coastal plain, the Azov Upland, and the Dnieper Plain to the Dnieper River to include a very small part of that river's right-bank area. The entire oblast lies within the steppe zone, although much of the natural grass cover has been plowed

Myanmar, Religious groups

2005-03-03T08:12:00.000-08:00

The vast majority of the population is Theravada Buddhist. The Burmans are Buddhists except for minimal numbers of Christians and Muslims; the Shan also are Buddhists. Among the Karen, there are many more Buddhists than Christians. The other hill peoples are animists except for a small number of Kayah Buddhists and Kachin and Chin Christians, and even they practice

Baseball

2005-02-28T21:11:00.000-08:00

In January former

Ashbery, John

2005-02-27T22:37:00.000-08:00

Ashbery graduated from Harvard University in 1949 and received a master's degree from Columbia University (N.Y.) in 1951. After working as a copywriter in New York City (1951–55), he lived in Paris until 1965, contributing art criticism to the Paris edition of the New York Herald-Tribune and to

Mountain, Volcanoes and island arcs surrounding the Northwest Pacific Basin

2005-02-24T19:57:00.000-08:00

A chain of volcanoes extends from mainland Alaska down the Alaska Peninsula along the Aleutian Islands and then southwestward down the peninsula of Kamchatka in northeastern Siberia and along the Kuril Islands to Japan. The Pacific Plate is being subducted beneath this long volcanic chain. Most of the relief is the result of volcanism. The Aleutians and Kurils

Holiness Movement

2005-02-23T09:10:00.000-08:00

The movement

Cone, Fairfax M.

2005-02-21T22:43:00.000-08:00

Cone's father was a prospector and mining engineer, and his mother was a schoolteacher. He studied English at the University of California, working as a summertime copy boy on the San Francisco

Bar-le-duc

2005-02-18T09:34:00.000-08:00

Capital of Meuse département, Lorraine région, northeastern France. It extends out along the narrow valley of the Ornain River, west of Nancy. To the northeast is the Canal de la Marne au Rhin, on the southwest the Canal des Usines. The Ornain River valley is enclosed by wooded and vine-clad hills. From the 10th century Bar was the seat of a countship, and later a duchy. The remains

Canals And Inland Waterways, Bridges, aqueducts, and tunnels for waterways

2005-02-16T01:12:00.000-08:00

Canals must frequently cross over or under roads and railways, rivers, and other canals. These crossings are made by a variety of bridges, sometimes carrying the road or railroad, sometimes carrying the canal. Most are fixed, though movable bridges are also used. On the Weaver River in England, four movable bridges, carrying main roads across the waterway, swing on

Epiphyte

2005-02-14T17:36:00.000-08:00

Any plant that grows upon or is in some manner attached to another plant or object merely for physical support. Epiphytes are primarily tropical in distribution and are often known as air plants because they have no attachment to the ground or other obvious nutrient source. They obtain water and minerals from rain

Brahmana

2005-02-13T20:12:00.000-08:00

Any of a number of prose commentaries attached to the Vedas, the most ancient Hindu sacred literature, explaining the significance of the Vedas as used in the ritual sacrifices and the symbolic import of the priests' actions. The word brahmana may mean either the utterance of a Brahman (priest) or an exposition on the meaning of the sacred word; the latter is more commonly

álava

2005-02-11T04:59:00.000-08:00

Provincia, northern Spain. Álava is the southernmost of the three Basque Country provincias of northern Spain and is located mainly on the southern slope of the Pyrenees Range. It is bounded by the Ebro River (southwest) and surrounds the enclaves of Treviño and Orduña belonging to Burgos and Vizcaya provincias, respectively. Álava has an area of 1,176 square miles (3,047 square

Dahlgren, John Adolphus Bernard

2005-02-08T02:26:00.000-08:00

American inventor of the smooth-bore cannon that was, from its shape, familiarly known as the “soda-water bottle.” The shape resulted from a design in which the thickness of metal was varied to match the differences in internal pressure occurring when the cannon was fired. The pressures were determined by boring holes in the

Muktafi, Al-

2005-02-07T11:30:00.000-08:00

The son of al-Mu'tadid, al-Muktafi ascended to the throne in 902 with somewhat more popular support than his predecessors, thanks to his liberal rule and abolition of dungeons in Baghdad. He immediately faced battle with the Qarmatians, a schismatic

China, The Cultural Revolution, 196676

2005-02-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

As the clash over issues in the autumn of 1965 became polarized, the army initially provided the battleground. The issues concerned differences over policy directions and their implications for the organization of power and the qualifications of senior officials to lead. Much of the struggle went on behind the scenes; in public it took the form of personal vilification

Aptronym

2005-02-03T07:52:00.000-08:00

A name that fits some aspect of a character, as in Mr. Talkative and Mr. Worldly Wiseman in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress or Mrs. Malaprop in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play The Rivals. The term aptronym was allegedly coined by the American newspaper columnist Franklin P. Adams, by an anagrammatic reordering of the first letters of patronym (to suggest apt) to denote

Allodium

2005-01-29T00:52:00.000-08:00

The anarchy that ensued in France after the decline of the Carolingian monarchy at the end of the 9th century allowed much land to be seized and held free, although a large part

Botanical Garden

2005-01-28T03:05:00.000-08:00

German Botanischer Garten, botanical garden founded in 1914 by the German botanist Karl von Goebel in Munich. The garden's vast array of greenhouses, completed in 1958, includes 17 for display and 8 for service functions. The palm house is particularly notable. Other significant greenhouse collections are composed of alpine plants, insectivorous plants, cacti, African succulents, Crassula, and Mesembryanthemeae.

Bahamas, The

2005-01-26T19:14:00.000-08:00

Officially Commonwealth of the Bahamas, archipelago and state on the northwestern edge of the West Indies. The group occupies an irregular submarine tableland that rises out of the Atlantic depths and is separated from nearby lands to the south and west by deepwater channels. Lying to the north of Cuba and Hispaniola, the archipelago comprises nearly 700 islands and cays, only about 30 of which are inhabited,

Ram Allah

2005-01-24T18:47:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ramallah, town, central Palestine, adjacent to the town of Al-Birah (east) and north of Jerusalem. Ram Allah (Arabic: “Height of God”) has since the Six-Day War of 1967 been under Israeli administration as part of the West Bank territory. An ancient settlement, it has buildings incorporating masonry from the time of Herod the Great (reigned 37–4 BC), but no complete structure antedates the Crusades of

Manaus

2005-01-21T21:42:00.000-08:00

City and river port, capital of Amazonas estado (“state”), northwestern Brazil. It lies along the north bank of the Negro River, 11 miles (18 km) above that river's influx into the Amazon River. Manaus is situated in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, 900 miles (1,450 km) inland from the Atlantic coast. The city, on a terrace overlooking the river, is traversed by several side channels called

Fruit Farming

2005-01-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

The subject of fruit and nut production deals with intensive culture of perennial plants, the fruits of which have economic significance (a nut is a fruit, botanically). It is one part of the broad subject of horticulture, which also encompasses vegetable growing and production of ornamentals

Tyrannosaur

2005-01-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

Tyrannosaurus rex is the best-known

Marschner, Heinrich August

2005-01-16T08:55:00.000-08:00

Marschner studied law at Leipzig, but, encouraged by Ludwig van Beethoven, whom he met in Vienna in 1817, and others, he turned to composing. In 1820 his close friend Carl Maria von Weber produced Marschner's opera Heinrich IV und d'Aubigné at Dresden. Marschner was later appointed

Kuwait

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

Low oil prices caused 1998 to be an extremely difficult year for all oil producers, and Kuwait was obliged to take a hard look at its industry and initiate some significant

Section D'or

2005-01-12T20:50:00.000-08:00

(French: “Golden Section”), group of Cubist painters concerned with the proportion and rhythm of geometric forms. The group's name was suggested by Jacques Villon, and the principal members included Robert Delaunay, Marcel Duchamp, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Albert Gleizes, Juan Gris, Roger de La Fresnaye, Fernand Léger, André Lhote, Louis Marcoussis, Jean Metzinger, Francis

Macomb

2005-01-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1826) of McDonough county, western Illinois, U.S., on the east fork of the La Moine River. Settled by New Englanders in 1829 and originally called Washington, it was laid out (1830) and renamed after General Alexander Macomb, an officer in the War of 1812. The city is the site of Western Illinois University (founded there as a normal school in 1899). The economy is based on light manufacturing

Flores

2005-01-08T19:00:00.000-08:00

One of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Nusa Tenggara Timur propinsi (East Nusa Tenggara province), Indonesia. The last major island in the chain, which extends eastward from Java, it is long and narrow, 5,500 sq mi (14,250 sq km) in area, and has numerous inlets and bays. The island was named after the Portuguese name for the island's eastern cape, Capo de Flores (Cape of Flowers), after the flamboyants

Arts, Central Asian, Tashtyk tribe

2005-01-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

On the Yenisey River the Bronze Age Tagar culture was replaced by the Tashtyk culture, dating from the 1st to the 4th century AD. The physical appearance of the Tashtyk people has been preserved by a seriesof masks, some of them modelled, others cast from the dead. They were painted with the features rendered in blue, red, and green against a yellow ground. Spirals disposed

Pacific Ocean, European exploration

2005-01-03T23:10:00.000-08:00

Pacific islanders had long inhabited their homelands before the European “discovery” of the Pacific in the 16th century. European exploration can be divided into three phases: Spanish and Portuguese, Dutch, and English and French. The Spanish and Portuguese period began with the voyages in the 1520s of Ferdinand Magellan and, after his death, of his crew members. Later discoveries

Anatidae

2005-01-02T07:06:00.000-08:00

Anserinae—tribes Dendrocygnini (see whistling duck, or tree duck) and

Lustreware

2004-12-31T02:04:00.000-08:00

Type of pottery ware decorated with metallic lustres by techniques dating at least from the 9th century. One technique of Middle Eastern origin, which produced the famous Hispano-Moresque pottery in Spain and Italian and Spanish majolica, involved a multistaged process that produced a kind of staining of the ware. In a second type of lustreware, which was cheaper

Hess, Victor Francis

2004-12-28T04:02:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Graz, Hess received his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna in 1906. His research

Tasmania, Prehistory and European exploration

2004-12-27T21:28:00.000-08:00

The flooding of Bass

Iliad

2004-12-25T03:20:00.000-08:00

Epic poem on the Trojan War traditionally attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer.

Granulite Facies

2004-12-22T05:06:00.000-08:00

One of the major divisions of the mineral facies classification of metamorphic rocks, the rocks of which formed under the most intense temperature-pressure conditions usually found in regional metamorphism. At the upper limit of the facies, migmatite formation or granitization processes may occur. Temperatures of 500°–650° C (950°–1,200° F) and pressures of several kilobars (one kilobar

Aeolis

2004-12-21T22:45:00.000-08:00

Also called Aeolia, group of ancient cities on the west coast of Anatolia, which were founded at the end of the 2nd millennium BC by Greeks speaking an Aeolic dialect. The earliest settlements, located on the islands of Lesbos and Tenedos and on the mainland between Troas and Ionia, resulted from migrations during 1130–1000 BC. A second group of Aeolian settlements was colonized in the 7th century BC. At the

Welded Tuff

2004-12-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

Rock composed of compacted volcanic ejecta (see tuff).

Dominoes

2004-12-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

The face of each piece is divided, by a line or ridge, into two squares, each of which is marked as would be a pair of dice, except that some squares are blank

La Tour, Charles (turgis De Saint-étienne De)

2004-12-14T04:07:00.000-08:00

La Tour went to Acadia with his father c. 1600. When the English destroyed the French settlements there in 1613–14, he went with Charles de Biencourt, commander of the devastated Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia), to live with

Apterygote

2004-12-13T01:56:00.000-08:00

Broadly, any of the primitive wingless insects of the subclass Apterygota (class Insecta), distinct from the subclass Pterygota or winged insects. Used in this sense, the term apterygotes commonly includes four groups of primitive insects: proturans, collembolans, diplurans (see photograph), and thysanurans. The taxonomic status of these groups, however, remains

Spurgeon, C.h.

2004-12-10T08:58:00.000-08:00

Reared a Congregationalist, Spurgeon became a Baptist in 1850 and, the same year, at 16, preached his first sermon. In 1852 he became minister at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire,

Sa'adia Ben Joseph

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

Sa'adia's opus magnum was on exegesis. He prepared

Orbit

2004-12-07T23:05:00.000-08:00

The orbit of a planet is, if unaffected

Dalai Lama

2004-12-04T00:35:00.000-08:00

The first of the line was Dge-'dun-grub-pa (1391–1475), founder and abbot of Tashilhunpo monastery (central Tibet). In accordance with the belief in reincarnate lamas, which began to develop in the 14th century, his successors were conceived as his rebirths and

Azaïs, Pierre-hyacinthe

2004-12-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

Philosopher whose optimism was rooted in the idea that human experience is imbued with a natural and harmonious balance between joy and sadness and that it is in this balance that meaning can be discovered. He advocated the idea in the work that first brought him fame, Des compensations dans les destinées humaines, 3 vol. (1809). In a following work,

Eiseley, Loren (corey)

2004-12-01T18:50:00.000-08:00

Eiseley was educated at the University of Nebraska (B.A., 1933) and the University of Pennsylvania (M.A., 1935; Ph.D., 1937) and began his academic career at the University of Kansas (1937–44) and Oberlin College (1944–47). In his long association with the University

Z Particle

2004-11-28T15:01:00.000-08:00

The concept

Ca' Da Mosto, Alvise

2004-11-26T08:42:00.000-08:00

Retained by Prince Henry the Navigator, he set sail on March 22, 1455, visited Madeira and the Canary Islands, and coasted along Africa past the mouth of the Senegal River. He ascended some distance up the Gambia River, but, finding the people hostile, he returned to

Fabre, Jean Henri

2004-11-25T04:21:00.000-08:00

Fabre did important research on the insect orders

Ibn Tibbon, Judah Ben Saul

2004-11-23T23:57:00.000-08:00

Persecution of the Jews forced Judah to flee Granada in 1150, and he settled in Lunel, in southern France, where he practiced medicine, according to an account in 1160 by a contemporary traveller,

Alkaline-earth Metal

2004-11-21T03:56:00.000-08:00

Prior to the 19th century, substances that were nonmetallic, insoluble in water, and unchanged by fire were known as earths. Those earths, like lime, that resembled the alkalies (soda ash and

Saarland

2004-11-18T11:18:00.000-08:00

The coal seams stretch for a distance of about

Mau Escarpment

2004-11-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

Steep natural rampart along the western rim of the Great Rift Valley in western Kenya, west and south of the town of Nakuru; it rises to more than 10,000 feet (3,000 m) on the Equator. Its crest is covered with a vast forest. To the south the woods are more open, and the plateau falls to an open country drained toward the Dogilani plains.

Osiris

2004-11-15T13:31:00.000-08:00

Also called Usiri, one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. The origin of Osiris is obscure; he was a local god of Busiris, in Lower Egypt, and may have been a personification of chthonic (underworld) fertility, or possibly a deified hero. By about 2400 BC, however, Osiris clearly played a double role: he was both a god of fertility and the embodiment of the dead and resurrected king. This dual

Argentina, The Pampean zone

2004-11-13T11:49:00.000-08:00

The Pampas occupy a transitional area between high summer temperatures to the north and cooler summers to the south. Buenos Aires, located on the northern edge of the Pampas, has a climate similar to that of cities in the southeastern United States, with hot, humid summers and cool, mild winters. The range of mean temperatures for summer months (December to February)

Meynell, Sir Francis

2004-11-11T23:21:00.000-08:00

The son of Wilfrid and Alice Meynell, he was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1914 he set up the Romney Street

Arabia, History Of

2004-11-08T08:37:00.000-08:00

Archaeology and early history are described in Richard Le Baron Bowen, Jr., and Frank P. Albright, Archaeological Discoveries in South Arabia (1958); G. Lankester Harding, Archaeology in the Aden Protectorates (1964); F.V. Winnett and W.L. Reed, Ancient Records from North Arabia (1970); and Brian Doe, Southern Arabia (1971). General historical studies include J. Wellhausen, The Arab Kingdom and Its Fall (1927, reprinted 1973; originally published in German, 1902), covering the Islamic empire AD 622–750, still useful though some views are now disputed; and Hermann V. Wissmann, Zur Geschichte und Landeskunde von Alt-Südarabien (1964). The study of more recent history should begin with the brilliant but controversial analysis of Khaldoun Hasan al-Naqeeb, Society and State in the Gulf and Arab Peninsula: A Different Perspective (1990; originally published in Arabic, 1987). Useful surveys also include R.B. Serjeant, Studies in Arabian History and Civilisation (1981); and Ian Richard Netton (ed.), Arabia and the Gulf: From Traditional Society to Modern States (1986). More specialized works are Nigel Groom, Frankincense and Myrrh: A Study of the Arabian Incense Trade (1981); M.J. Kister, Studies in Jahiliyya and Early Islam (1980); R.B. Serjeant, The Portuguese off the South Arabian Coast: Hadrami Chronicles, with Yemeni and European Accounts of Dutch Pirates off Mocha in the Seventeenth Century (1963, reprinted 1974); Zamil Muhammad al-Rashid, Su'udi Relations with Eastern Arabia and 'Uman, 1800–1870 (1981); William Ochsenwald, Religion, Society, and the State in Arabia: The Hijaz Under Ottoman Control, 1840–1908 (1984); and John C. Wilkinson, Arabia's Frontiers: The Story of Britain's Boundary Drawing in the Desert (1991).

Utraquist

2004-11-07T11:34:00.000-08:00

Also called Calixtin, or Calixtine, any of the spiritual descendants of Jan Hus who believed that the laity, like the clergy, should receive the Eucharist under the forms of both bread and wine (Latin utraque, “each of two”; calix, “chalice”). Unlike the militant Taborites (also followers of Hus), the Utraquists were moderates and maintained amicable relations with the Roman Catholic Church. As a consequence,

Powhatan War

2004-11-04T16:39:00.000-08:00

(1622–44), relentless struggle between the Powhatan Indian confederacy and early English settlers in the tidewater section of Virginia and southern Maryland. The conflict resulted in the destruction of the Indian power. English colonists who had settled in Jamestown (1607) were at first strongly motivated by their need of native corn (maize) to keep peace with the Powhatans

Nordhausen

2004-11-03T19:53:00.000-08:00

City, Thuringia Land (state), central Germany, lying on the Zorge River, at the southern slopes of the Harz Mountains, in the fertile lowland known as the Goldene Aue (“Golden Meadow”). First mentioned in 927 as the site of a royal castle near the older Frankish settlement of Northusen (Nordhusa), it was made a free imperial city in 1290 and accepted the Reformation in 1522. It lost its independence

Black Bass

2004-11-01T05:42:00.000-08:00

Any of about six species of elongated freshwater fishes that constitute the genus Micropterus of the sunfish family, Centrarchidae (order Perciformes). Black basses are found in eastern North America. Two of them, the largemouth (see photograph) and smallmouth black basses (M. salmoides and M. dolomieui), have been introduced in other countries

Dependent States

2004-10-29T17:04:00.000-07:00

There was a focus on the French Pacific territories in 2003, with French Pres. Jacques Chirac's first visit to the region and constitutional changes that would increase French Polynesia's representation in the French Senate and open the way to greater autonomy. In July Chirac met Pacific islands leaders in Papeete, on

Anjo

2004-10-28T17:28:00.000-07:00

City, Aichi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, in the middle of the Hekkai Terrace. Irrigation was introduced into the area in the late 19th century, permitting cultivation of two crops of rice and wheat annually. In 1891 the Anjo station on the railroad between Tokyo and Kobe was opened, and the new town developed around it. With far-sighted planning and the early establishment of

Avocado

2004-10-24T22:45:00.000-07:00

Also called Alligator Pear, fruit of Persea americana of the family Lauraceae, a tree native to the Western Hemisphere from Mexico south to the Andean regions. The tree, tall or spreading, has leaves elliptic to egg-shaped in form and 100–300 mm (4–12 inches) in length. The small, greenish flowers, borne in dense racemes, are devoid of petals and have six perianth lobes, nine stamens arranged in

Literature, United Kingdom.

2004-10-22T08:03:00.000-07:00

The Booker Prize chairman of judges, Lord Kenneth Baker, reported that the many entries he had read during 2001 proved that the novel was thriving and keeping abreast of developments within British life. Displacement, often depicted through the uprooted feelings of émigrés or refugees, was a strong presence

Ustinov, Dmitry Fedorovich

2004-10-19T14:16:00.000-07:00

An engineer by profession, Ustinov graduated in 1934 from the Military Institute of Mechanics in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and worked first as a construction engineer, then as director of a Leningrad armament factory. In 1941 Stalin appointed Ustinov people's

Dong Nai River

2004-10-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

Also called Donnai River , Vietnamese Song Dong Nai river rising in the central highlands (Annamese Cordillera) of southern Vietnam, northwest of Da Lat. Near its source the river has rapids and is known as the Da Dung River. It flows west and southwest for about 300 miles (480 km), joining the Saigon River southwest of Bien Hoa. At the rapids of Tri An, west of Dinh Quan, it is joined by the Be River. The Nhim, an important upper tributary,

Ogata Korin

2004-10-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

Korin was descended from a samurai (warrior aristocrat) who had served under the Ashikaga rulers and was related to a famous

Farlow, William Gilson

2004-10-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

After receiving the M.D. degree from Harvard University (1870), Farlow studied in Europe until 1874, when he became professor of cryptogamic botany (the study of flowerless and seedless plants)

Capture

2004-10-12T07:01:00.000-07:00

In nuclear physics, process in which an atomic nucleus absorbs a smaller particle. See beta decay; neutron capture.

Philidor, François-andré

2004-10-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

The last member of a large and prominent musical family, Philidor was thoroughly trained in music, but at age 18 he turned entirely to chess competition throughout Europe. He was particularly well

South American Nomad, Shellfish gatherers

2004-10-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

In the south the Chono, Alacaluf, and Yámana Indians occupied the whole Chilean archipelago southward to Cape Horn. This is a rugged terrain of islands and fjords with heavy rainfall, an average winter temperature of 32° F (0° C), and an average summer temperature of 50° F (10° C). The dense forests make land travel extremely difficult and horticulture impracticable. The area is poor

Guadalajara

2004-10-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

Province, in the autonomous community (region) of Castile-La Mancha, central Spain, occupying part of the uptilted northeastern edge of the Meseta Central (plateau). In the north are highlands that reach their greatest elevations in Cerro de San Felipe (7,214 feet [2,199 metres]), and other spurs of the Sierra de Guadarrama. In the south, the land slopes into the plateau basin of New Castile.

Wielopolski, Aleksander, Hrabia (count), Margrabia (margrave) Gonzaga Myszkowski

2004-10-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

Born into an impoverished noble family, he studied law as a young man in Warsaw and philosophy in Germany. Returning to Poland, he brought

Lahij

2004-10-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

Under the former Aden Protectorate, a British-ruled area, it was capital of the 'Abdali Sultanate, abolished when Yemen (Aden) became independent in 1967. The sultan's palace is

Earth Sciences, Concepts of landform evolution

2004-09-29T02:43:00.000-07:00

The scientific exploration of the American West following the end of the Civil War yielded much new information on the sculpture of the landscape by streams. John Wesley Powell in his reports on the Colorado River and Uinta Mountains (1875, 1876) explained how streams may come to flow across mountain ranges rather than detour around them. The Green River does not follow some

Bohomolec, Franciszek

2004-09-27T05:48:00.000-07:00

After completing his studies in Rome for the Jesuit priesthood, Bohomolec taught in Warsaw and began to adapt the comedies of Carlo Goldoni and Molière for performance by his

Dubois, Jean-antoine

2004-09-26T06:26:00.000-07:00

Ordained in 1792, he sailed to India under the Missions Étrangères. Despite his efforts in many parts of South India, his mission failed, and he returned to Paris (1823), convinced that the conversion of the Hindus was impossible. In Paris he became director

Chiang Ching-kuo

2004-09-24T03:33:00.000-07:00

The son of Chiang

Platinum Group, Assaying

2004-09-23T13:35:00.000-07:00

Assaying ores and concentrates for platinum-group metals is extremely difficult, since the concentration of any particular metal may be less than one part per million. Initial concentration is achieved by fire assay. The assay bead is dissolved in aqua regia and the metals separated and concentrated, often by solvent extraction. Dissolution of the bead is complicated

Prehistoric Religion, Shamanism, sorcery, and magic

2004-09-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

Shamanism is a rather variable and highly stratified complex of practices and conceptions; characteristic among these are the use of ecstasy, the belief in guardian spirits (who are often in animal form, with the function of helping and guiding the dead on their voyage to the beyond), and beliefs concerning metamorphosis (change of form) and travelling to the beyond.

Moshoeshoe Ii

2004-09-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

He was educated locally at Roma College, Maseru, and in Great Britain at Ampleforth College and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. The descendant and namesake of Moshoeshoe

Bouaké

2004-09-20T04:39:00.000-07:00

City, central Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). It lies on the road and railroad from Abidjan (the national capital) to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta). Bouaké was established as a French military post in 1899; it became an autonomous municipality in 1969. The city is the nation's second largest community and the commercial and transportation hub of the interior. Cotton,

La Noue, François De

2004-09-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

La Noue became a Protestant in 1558 and soon began fighting for the Huguenot cause. Wounded at Fontenay (1570), he had one arm replaced by an iron device and was thereafter nicknamed Bras-de-Fer (“Arm of Iron”). After the Peace of