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Robert Irving Burns Property Consultants

2006-11-22T13:15:00.000-08:00

Robert Irving Burns has been established for over 40 years and is an independent partnership, who specialise in a full range of property services. These include commercial property
and commercial offices as well as property to let london. Whilst my business partner and I were looking for Offices, we found Rib’s expertise invaluable.

Lippmann, Walter

2005-04-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

While studying at Harvard (B.A., 1909), Lippmann was influenced by the philosophers William James and George Santayana. He helped to found (1914) The New Republic and served as its assistant editor under

Sabratha

2005-04-03T04:49:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Sabrata, western-most of the three cities of ancient Tripolis, located near the modern town of Sabratah, west of Tripoli, in Libya. Founded by the Carthaginians as a trading post, it was first permanently settled in the 4th century BC. Sabratha had a modest natural harbour, later improved by the Romans, and together with Oea (Tripoli) it served as an outlet for the trans-Saharan caravan

Stone, Fred (andrew)

2005-03-31T01:31:00.000-08:00

Stone was raised in Topeka, Kan., making his stage debut there at age 11, and soon joined his brother on tour with a number of small circuses. In the 1890s he teamed up with Dave Montgomery and together they toured in vaudeville and minstrel shows before appearing in their first Broadway

's Hertogenbosch

2005-03-29T10:31:00.000-08:00

Chartered in 1185 by Henry I, duke of Brabant, who had a hunting lodge nearby (hence the name, meaning “the duke's wood”), it was an important medieval wool centre and became a bishopric in 1559. The town saw many sieges

Channel-port Aux Basques

2005-03-28T18:54:00.000-08:00

Town on the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, Canada. It is the terminal for car ferries across Cabot Strait from North Sydney, Nova Scotia, and is the connecting point for the 570-mile (917-kilometre) semicircular final stage of the Trans-Canada Highway to St. John's (east). Fishing and fish processing are local industries. A monument commemorates those who died when the ferry

Fabre, émile

2005-03-25T01:15:00.000-08:00

The son of a stage manager, Fabre began writing and producing plays at the age of 13. Comme ils sont tous (1894; “As They All Are”) was his first success, followed by a series of popular political and social satires: L'Argent

Melville Island

2005-03-23T17:41:00.000-08:00

Island in the Timor Sea, 16 miles (26 km) off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. It is separated from the Australian mainland by Clarence Strait. Measuring about 80 by 55 miles (130 by 88 km), it has an area of 2,240 square miles (5,800 square km) and rises from sandy beaches and shoreline mangrove swamps to low wooded hills. It is divided from Bathurst Island (west) by the narrow Apsley

Henry Vii

2005-03-21T18:46:00.000-08:00

Also called (1457–85) Henry Tudor, Earl Of Richmond king of England (1485–1509), who succeeded in ending the Wars of the Roses between the houses of Lancaster and York and founded the Tudor dynasty.

Eusebius Of Caesarea

2005-03-20T16:36:00.000-08:00

Eusebius was baptized and ordained at Caesarea, where he was taught by the learned presbyter Pamphilus, to whom he was bound by ties of respect and affection

Braconid

2005-03-18T23:21:00.000-08:00

Many species are valuable in the control

Aurora

2005-03-17T16:42:00.000-08:00

City, Kane and Du Page counties, northeastern Illinois, U.S., on the Fox River. Founded as a trading point and mill site near a Potawatomi Indian village in 1834, the town was laid out in 1836. Aurora developed as both a residential and an industrial city. Many of its residents commute to Chicago, 39 miles (63 km) east. Its manufactures include heavy machinery, industrial and electrical equipment,

Vaughan, Frankie

2005-03-17T09:47:00.000-08:00

British theatre and cabaret singer who was one of the most popular romantic crooners of the 1950s through the '90s; darkly handsome and elegantly dressed, “Mr. Moonlight” (as he was known from his signature tune, “Give Me the Moonlight”) also appeared on television in Britain, the U.S., and across Europe and in motion pictures, notably in a musical number with Marilyn Monroe in Let's

Metalwork

2005-03-15T20:49:00.000-08:00

Useful and decorative objects fashioned of various metals, including copper, iron, silver, bronze, lead, gold, and brass. The earliest man-made objects were of stone, wood, bone, and earth. It was only later that humans learned to extract metals from the earth and to hammer them into objects. Metalwork includes vessels, utensils, ceremonial and ritualistic objects, decorative

Cabinda

2005-03-15T08:25:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kabinda, northern exclave of Angola, on the west (Atlantic) coast of Africa north of the Congo River estuary. It is bordered by Congo (Brazzaville) to the north and northeast and is separated from Angola by part of Congo (Kinshasa) to the south and southeast. Its coastline extends for 56 miles (90 km) and its greatest width is 70 miles (113 km). With continued offshore oil discoveries, crude oil has

Hormuz, Strait Of

2005-03-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

Also called Strait Of Ormuz, channel linking the Persian Gulf (west) with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea (southeast). The strait is 35 to 60 mi (55 to 95 km) wide and separates Iran (north) from the Arabian Peninsula (south). It contains the islands of Qeshm (Qishm), Hormuz, and Hengam (Henjam) and is of great strategic and economic importance, especially as oil tankers collecting from various ports on the Persian Gulf

Basil The Chamberlain

2005-03-12T15:34:00.000-08:00

After the death of the emperor John I, Basil the Chamberlain controlled the throne for his two grandnephews and co-emperors Constantine and Basil II. After engineering his uncle's downfall, Basil II was finally able to assume his own independent rule.

Vajrayogini

2005-03-12T00:54:00.000-08:00

In Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism), female embodiment of the cognitive function leading to Buddhahood. Vajrayana emphasizes experience over speculation but uses the terms of speculative philosophical Buddhism in an imaginative way. This practice means that images taken from the ordinary life of the individual become the means to further a deeper understanding

The Woman Citizen

2005-03-10T18:15:00.000-08:00

American weekly periodical, one of the most influential women's publications of the early decades of the 20th century. It came into existence as a result of a substantial bequest from Mrs. Frank Leslie to Carrie Chapman Catt, the head of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). According to the terms of the bequest, the money was to be used to further the

Roosevelt, Franklin D., Declining health and death

2005-03-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

Roosevelt had been suffering from advanced arteriosclerosis for more than a year before the Yalta Conference. His political opponents had tried to make much of his obviously declining health during the campaign of 1944, when he ran for a fourth term against Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York. But Roosevelt campaigned actively and won the election by a popular vote of 25 million to 22 million and an electoral college vote of 432 to 99. (See primary source document: Fourth Inaugural Address.) By the time of his return from Yalta, however, he was so weak that for the first time in his presidency he spoke to Congress while sitting down. Early in April 1945 he traveled to his cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia—the “Little White House”—to rest. On the afternoon of April 12, while sitting for a portrait, he suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage, and he died a few hours later. With him at his death were two cousins, Laura Delano and Margaret Suckley, and Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd (by then a widow), with whom he had renewed his relationship a few years before.

Kazin, Alfred

2005-03-09T04:25:00.000-08:00

The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Kazin attended the City College of New York during the Great Depression and then worked as a freelance book reviewer for The New Republic and other periodicals. At age 27 he wrote a sweeping

Pugwash Conferences

2005-03-08T23:46:00.000-08:00

In full Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs series of international meetings of scientists to discuss problems of nuclear weapons and world security. The first of the conferences met in July 1957 at the estate of the American philanthropist Cyrus Eaton in the village of Pugwash, Nova Scotia, in response to an appeal by Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, and other prominent scientific figures.

Pageant Wagon

2005-03-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

Wheeled vehicle used in the processional staging of medieval vernacular cycle plays. Processional staging is most closely associated with the English cycle plays performed from about 1375 until the mid-16th century in such cities as York and Chester as part of the Corpus Christi festival, but it was also common in Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Each play in the cycle

Condon, Edward U(hler)

2005-03-06T00:24:00.000-08:00

During World War II Condon made valuable contributions to the development of both atomic energy and radar. In 1943 he helped J. Robert Oppenheimer recruit the group that made the

Biblical Literature, The divided monarchy

2005-03-04T08:47:00.000-08:00

After Solomon died (922 BCE), he was succeeded by Rehoboam, who proved to be unfit for the task of reigning. Prior to Solomon's death, Jeroboam the Ephraimite, a young overseer of the forced labour battalions of the “house of Joseph” in the north, had encountered Ahijah, a prophet from the old shrine of the confederacy at Shiloh, and Ahijah had torn a new garment into 12 pieces, prophesying

New England Glass Company

2005-03-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

American glass company that was situated in East Cambridge, Mass., from about 1818 until 1888. In the latter year the company's owner, Edward D. Libbey, met a strike of his workers by moving the factory to Toledo, Ohio, where it is still active as the Libbey-Owens-Ford Company. The New England Glass Company made a large variety of wares ranging from pocket bottles and tumblers to attractive

Sunburn

2005-03-01T10:09:00.000-08:00

Acute cutaneous inflammation caused by overexposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation of the so-called UVB wavelength band (290–320 nanometre; a nanometre is 10-9 metre), which originates from sunlight or artificial sources. Reactions to overexposure range in severity from mild redness and tenderness to intense pain, edema (swelling), and blistering; systemic symptoms include

Jackson, Andrew

2005-02-28T00:42:00.000-08:00

In 1828 Jackson defeated Adams by an electoral vote of 178 to 83 after a campaign in which personalities and slander played a larger part than in any previous U.S. national election. Jackson and his wife, Rachel, despite their long marriage, had been vilified in campaign pamphlets as adulterers. The basis was that Rachel Jackson was not legally divorced from her first husband at the time she and Jackson were wed. When they discovered their mistake they remarried, but the damage had been done. Jackson's hour of triumph was soon overshadowed by personal tragedy—his wife died at the Hermitage on December 22, 1828. Retiring and religious, she had avoided the public eye, and the scabrous attacks had hurt her deeply. Jackson had these words inscribed on her tombstone: “A being so gentle and yet so virtuous, slander might wound, but could not dishonor.” She had dreaded becoming the hostess of the President's House, saying that she would “rather be a doorkeeper in the House of God than live in that palace.” Rachel Jackson's niece, Emily Donelson, the wife of Andrew Jackson Donelson, served as the president's hostess until 1836. At times, Sarah Yorke Jackson, the wife of Andrew Jackson's adopted son, also served as his hostess.

Austausch Coefficient

2005-02-27T09:50:00.000-08:00

Also called Exchange Coefficient, Eddy Coefficient, or Eddy Diffusivity, in fluid mechanics, particularly in its applications to meteorology and oceanography, the proportionality between the rate of transport of a component of a turbulent fluid and the gradient of the component. In this context, the term component signifies not only material constituents of the fluid, such as dissolved or suspended substances, but also constituents

Moiseiwitsch, Benno

2005-02-24T03:52:00.000-08:00

His early training was with Dmitry Klimov in Odessa; Moiseiwitsch won the Rubinstein Prize at the age of nine. He studied with Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna from 1904 to 1908, then joined his family in England, making

Port Dickson

2005-02-20T05:54:00.000-08:00

Town, south-central West Malaysia (Malaya), on the Strait of Malacca. The port, now in decline, was used extensively during the late 19th century to export the tin mined in the foothills of the state. Now chiefly a seaside resort with a fishing village, it is connected by rail with the inland entrepôt of Seremban, 17 miles (27 km) northeast. Oil refineries are concentrated along the

Stuttgart Ballet

2005-02-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

German Stuttgarter Ballett, resident ballet company of Stuttgart, Ger., that emerged in the 1960s as an internationally prominent group. The modern Stuttgart Ballet evolved from the royal ballet that resided at the court of the Duke of Württemberg as early as 1609. A municipally supported company under the royal patronage from the 17th through the 19th century, it occasionally attracted such prominent

Ibn Al-ash'ath

2005-02-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

A member of the noble tribe of Kindah of the old aristocracy, Ibn al-Ash'ath was at first friendly toward the Umayyad authorities but then began to smart under the governance of the plebeian administrators. Styling himself Nasir al-mu'minim (Helper of the Believers) in opposition

Antarctica, National rivalries and claims

2005-02-12T04:59:00.000-08:00

The early discoveries led to a few controversies not only for territorial claims but also in geographic nomenclature. The struggle for national influence was especially acute in the slender peninsular landmass south of Scotia Sea that became known as O'Higgins Land (Tierra O'Higgins) to Chileans and San Martin Land (Tierra San Martín) to Argentines, named for national

Metallic Fibre

2005-02-11T19:12:00.000-08:00

In textiles, synthetic fibre, known generically as metallic, including manufactured fibres composed of metal, metal-coated plastic, or of a core covered by metal (usually aluminum). Trademarked names include Chromeflex, Lurex, and Melora. Foil types are made with a metal foil that is coated with a plain or coloured plastic film and then cut into strips. Metallized types

Tibet

2005-02-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

Tibetan Bod, in full Tibet Autonomous Region, Chinese (Wade-Giles) Hsi-tsang Tzu-chih-ch'ü, (Pinyin) Xizang Zizhiqu historic region and autonomous region of China that is often called “the roof of the world.” It occupies about 471,700 square miles (1,221,600 square kilometres) of the plateaus and mountains of Central Asia, including Mount Everest (Chu-mu-lang-ma Feng). It is bordered by the Chinese provinces of Tsinghai to the northeast, Szechwan to the east, and Yunnan to the southeast; Myanmar (Burma), India,

Saigyo

2005-02-06T04:20:00.000-08:00

Also called Sato Norikiyo Japanese Buddhist priest-poet, one of the greatest masters of the tanka (a traditional Japanese poetic form), whose life and works became the subject matter of many narratives, plays, and puppet dramas. He originally followed his father in a military career, but, like others of his day, he was oppressed by the sense of disaster that overwhelmed Japan as

Evans, Walker

2005-02-04T20:25:00.000-08:00

American photographer, important primarily for documenting the effects of economic depression in the American South and photographically interpreting American folk architecture. His approach to photography was largely formed by the documentary photographs of the French photographer Eugène Atget, whose influence

Canterbury Plains

2005-02-03T08:09:00.000-08:00

Organized settlement

China, Food production

2005-02-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

The primary Neolithic crops, domesticated by the 5th millennium BC, were drought-resistant millet (usually Setaria italica), grown on the eolian or alluvial loess soils of the northwest and the north, and glutenous rice (Oryza sativa), grown in the wetlands of the southeast. These staples were supplemented by a variety of fruits, nuts, legumes, vegetables, and aquatic plants.

Tarantula

2005-01-29T01:27:00.000-08:00

The bite of L. tarentula was once thought to cause a disease known as tarantism, in which the victim wept and skipped about before going into a wild

Schaffner, Franklin (james)

2005-01-27T06:12:00.000-08:00

The son of Protestant American missionaries, Schaffner lived in the United States after the age of five and attended Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania (A.B., 1942). During World War II he served as a U.S. Navy lieutenant. In 1948 he became a director for CBS television;

Aaron

2005-01-25T02:57:00.000-08:00

Aaron continued to live as a symbol in Jewish religion and traditions, and the position of the priests was strengthened after the exile. Also, in the Qumran sect, a Jewish community that flourished in the era just before and contemporary with the birth of Christianity, Aaron was a symbol for a strong priesthood, as can be seen from the Dead Sea Scrolls. At the end of time,

Väki

2005-01-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

Supernatural power believed by the Baltic Finns to reside in those natural sites, objects, and animals that for various reasons attracted popular attention and inspired strong emotional attachments. Väki was often conceived of as an impersonal power, akin to the Polynesian mana, but it also referred to the agents of the power, diffuse spiritual entities that frequent

Jex-blake, Sophia Louisa

2005-01-21T04:25:00.000-08:00

Jex-Blake attended Queen's College, London, and then studied

Sinkiang, Uygur Autonomous Region Of, The economy

2005-01-19T08:19:00.000-08:00

Because of the dry climate, most of the cultivated land in Sinkiang depends entirely on irrigation. The various nationalities in the region have had rich experience in water conservancy techniques, of which the wells of the qanat system in the Turfan and Ha-mi depressions are a fine example. Since the 1950s, these have been greatly supplemented with canals and reservoirs,

Ocarina

2005-01-17T01:36:00.000-08:00

Also called Sweet Potato, globular flute, a late 19th-century musical development of traditional Italian carnival whistles of earthenware, often bird-shaped and sounding only one or two notes. It is an egg-shaped vessel of clay or metal or, as a toy, of plastic and is sounded on the flageolet, or fipple flute, principle. It usually has eight finger holes and two thumbholes and may have a tuning

Art And Architecture, Mesopotamian, Architecture

2005-01-16T13:08:00.000-08:00

The beginnings of monumental architecture in Mesopotamia are usually considered to have been contemporary with the founding of the Sumerian cities and the invention of writing, in about 3100 BC. Conscious attempts at architectural design during this so-called Protoliterate period (c. 3400–c. 2900 BC) are recognizable in the construction of religious buildings. There is, however,

Buber, Martin

2005-01-13T00:14:00.000-08:00

German-Jewish religious philosopher, biblical translator and interpreter, and master of German prose style. Buber's philosophy was centred on the encounter, or dialogue, of man with other beings, particularly exemplified in the relation with other men but ultimately resting on and pointing to the relation with God. This thought

Literature

2005-01-12T04:46:00.000-08:00

In 1997 the world of publishing was as fickle as ever. The sudden death of Diana, princess of Wales (see OBITUARIES), occasioned an outpouring of books that were devoured by the public, even as critics decried the impulse behind them. Although major publishing houses owned by multinational corporations continued their hegemony, an increasing number of highly regarded

Biochemistry

2005-01-09T06:05:00.000-08:00

The field of science concerned with the chemical substances and processes that occur in plants, animals, and microorganisms. Specifically, it involves the quantitative determination and structural analysis of the organic compounds that comprise the basic constituents of cells (proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids) and of those that play a key role in chemical

Alcman

2005-01-05T01:54:00.000-08:00

Alcman's work survives in fragments, the longest being a parthenion (a choir song for girls) discovered in a 1st-century papyrus in Egypt in 1855. In the Suda lexicon (late 10th century AD) Alcman is described as a man “of an extremely amorous disposition and the inventor of love poems.” He was clearly

Quin, James

2005-01-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

Quin made his first stage appearance at the Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, in 1712. He was engaged for small parts at London's Drury Lane Theatre, where his remarkable memory enabled him to fill in at short notice as Bajazet in Nicholas Rowe's Tamerlane, in which he had great success.

Gravure Printing

2005-01-02T16:25:00.000-08:00

Photomechanical intaglio process in which the image to be printed consists of depressions or recesses on the surface of the printing plate. The process is the reverse of relief printing, in which the image is raised from the surface of the plate. The printer forms the image by cutting into the plate by hand or by using acids or other chemicals to etch the plate along

Katsuta

2004-12-30T03:14:00.000-08:00

City, Ibaraki ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies along the Naka River, northeast of Mito, the prefectural capital. The city developed rapidly as an industrial site for the Hitachi Company, Ltd., after 1940, mainly producing electric locomotives and other electric machinery. Pop. (1992 est.) 112,650.

Shammai Ha-zaken

2004-12-29T20:24:00.000-08:00

Little is known about Shammai's life. He became av-bet-din (“presiding justice”) of the Great Sanhedrin during the time that Hillel was nasi (president). Like Hillel,

La Fayette, Gilbert Motier De

2004-12-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

After serving in Italy under Marshal Jean le Meingre Boucicaut in 1409, he became steward of the Bourbonnais. In the wars with England, Jean I, duc de Bourbon, made him lieutenant general in Languedoc and Guyenne. After victories over the English and the Burgundians

Tonga, Human settlement

2004-12-20T20:44:00.000-08:00

The majority of the population live in

Devo

2004-12-18T23:13:00.000-08:00

Formed

Phonolite

2004-12-16T04:36:00.000-08:00

The most important constituent of phonolite is alkali feldspar, either sanidine or anorthoclase,

Bukavu

2004-12-15T14:44:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1966) Costermansville city, eastern Congo (Kinshasa), central Africa, on a peninsula extending into Lake Kivu. It is a commercial and industrial centre, a lake port, and a tourist city with road access northwest to Kisangani, southwest to Kasai, south to Lubumbashi and Katanga province, and to East Africa. There is also air transport to other Congolese cities and to Burundi. The region is known

Wang Wei

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

Pinyin Wang Wei, also called Wang Mo-ch'i one of the most famous men of arts and letters during one of the golden ages of Chinese cultural history. Wang Wei is popularly known as a model of humanistic education as expressed in poetry, music, and painting. In the 17th century, the writer on art Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (q.v.) established him as the founder of the revered Southern school of painter-poets,

Ariel

2004-12-11T16:04:00.000-08:00

Ariel orbits at a distance of 191,020 km (118,432 miles) from the centre of the planet. It has a period of 2.52 days. Ariel's estimated diameter is 1,330 km (825 miles), and its mass is thought to be about 1.8 ´ 10-5 that of Uranus.

Bridge

2004-12-08T05:28:00.000-08:00

Either of two card games, auction bridge and contract bridge, that are derived from whist and retain its essential features. These features are the following: four players participate, two against two in partnership. They play with a 52-card pack, all of whose cards are dealt face downward one at a time, clockwise. When play begins, the object is to win tricks, consisting of

Kiel

2004-12-07T22:59:00.000-08:00

City, capital (1945) of Schleswig-Holstein Land (state), northern Germany. Kiel is a port on both sides of the Kiel Fjord, an inlet of the western Baltic, and lies at the eastern end of the Kiel Canal. The name Kyle (“fjord,” or “spring,” possibly derived from the Anglo-Saxon kille: “a safe place for ships”) was used for the settlement as early as the 10th century. The city was founded in 1242, and it adopted

Burgh Family

2004-12-04T11:58:00.000-08:00

Originally Burgo, also spelled Bourke, Burke, a historic Anglo-Irish family associated with Connaught. Its founder was William de Burgo, of a knightly family from eastern England; he and his descendants were granted much of Connaught in the late 12th century, and his grandson Walter was also granted Ulster. Although Walter's great-grandson, William, left no male heir, his kinsmen succeeded in holding the bulk of the

Furniture, France

2004-12-03T02:15:00.000-08:00

In France the Italian influence of the 16th century was gradually assimilated, and a national style of furniture was evolved that soon spread its influence into neighbouring countries. The reign of Louis XIII, covering most of the first half of the 17th century, was a time of transition. The Gobelins factory was founded by Louis XIV for the production of deluxe furniture

Colombia, Preconquest

2004-12-01T00:10:00.000-08:00

Even before the Spanish conquest, the western mountainous part of Colombia attracted the bulk of the population. The more advanced Indian cultures were found in this region, and the most favourable location for the growth of civilization was the high plateau in the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes. The present capital city of Bogotá is located near the

Baram River

2004-11-29T23:35:00.000-08:00

River in northwestern Borneo. Rising in the Iran Mountains, it flows 250 miles (400 km) west and northwest, mostly through primary rain forest to the South China Sea at Baram Point. Above the lowest 100 miles, gorges and rapids make upstream navigation difficult. The Baram is Sarawak's second longest river; its tributaries include the Bakong, Apoh, Palutan, and Patah.

Binkis, Kazys

2004-11-26T03:50:00.000-08:00

From 1920 to 1923 Binkis studied literature and philosophy in Berlin, where he became acquainted with the newest trends in western European literature. The poems he wrote during his connection with the “Four Winds” movement,

Banner System

2004-11-25T06:46:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade–Giles romanization) Ch'i-ping, Pinyin Qibing, the military organization used by the Manchu tribes of Manchuria (now Northeast China) to conquer and control China in the 17th century. The Banner system was developed by the Manchu leader Nurhachi (1559–1626), who in 1601 organized his warriors into four companies of 300 men each. The companies were distinguished by banners of different colours—yellow, red, white, and blue. In 1615 four more

Tu Duc

2004-11-21T17:32:00.000-08:00

The son of Emperor Thieu Tri, Prince Nguyen Phuoc Hoang Nham was chosen over his older brother to succeed his father. He ascended the throne in 1847, taking the reigning name Tu

South American Nomad, Shellfish gatherers

2004-11-17T02:38:00.000-08:00

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

South American Nomad, Shellfish gatherers

2004-11-14T18:07:00.000-08:00

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

Asclepiad

2004-11-12T04:49:00.000-08:00

A Greek lyric verse later used by Latin poets such as Catullus, Horace, and Seneca. The asclepiad consisted of an aeolic nucleus, a choriamb to which were added more choriambs and iambic or trochaic elements at the end of each line. A version with four choriambs is known as the greater asclepiad; a version with three choriambs, the lesser choriamb. The form was named for

Amazonstone

2004-11-10T02:07:00.000-08:00

Also called Amazonite, a gemstone variety of green microcline (q.v.), a feldspar mineral. Frequently confused with jade, amazonstone varies in colour from yellow-green to blue-green and may also exhibit fine white streaks; it is usually opaque and therefore is cut en cabochon (with a rounded and convex polished surface). Although its name is derived from the Amazon River, no deposits have been

Finland, The postwar period

2004-11-09T16:51:00.000-08:00

After the armistice in 1944 a coalition government was formed under the leadership of Juho Kusti Paasikivi. When conditions had been stabilized, Mannerheim resigned, and Paasikivi was elected president in his place in 1946. In 1956 the leader of the Agrarian Party, Urho Kekkonen, who acted as prime minister a number of times during the period 1950 to 1956, was elected president. He was reelected

Madhva

2004-11-07T17:21:00.000-08:00

Born into a Brahman family, his life in many respects parallels the life of Jesus Christ. Miracles attributed to Christ in the New Testament were also attributed

Anglo-norman Literature

2004-11-04T08:28:00.000-08:00

In the 12th century the oldest substantial Anglo-Norman prose work, “The Book of Kings,” was written in England, as were many versions of the Psalter. Sanson de Nanteuil translated into verse the proverbs of Solomon, with commentary; and in the 13th century Robert of Greatham wrote the “Sunday Gospels” for a noble lady. The same century saw the beginning of the magnificent series

Dubnow, Simon Markovich

2004-11-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

Dubnow early ceased to practice Jewish rituals. He later came to believe that his vocation as a historian of Judaism was as true to the faith of his ancestors as were the Talmudic

Activation Energy

2004-11-01T23:24:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, the minimum amount of energy that is required to activate atoms or molecules to a condition in which they can undergo chemical transformation or physical transport. In terms of the transition-state theory (q.v.), the activation energy is the difference in energy content between atoms or molecules in an activated or transition-state configuration and

Haldane, John Scott

2004-10-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

Haldane developed several procedures for studying the physiology of breathing and the physiology of the blood and for the analysis of gases consumed or produced by the body. Among his most widely used devices were

China, Climate and environment

2004-10-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

Although the precise nature of the paleoenvironment is still in dispute, temperatures in Neolithic China were probably some 4° to 7° F (2° to 4° C) warmer than they are today. Rainfall, although more abundant, may have been declining in quantity. The Tsinling Mountains in northwest China separated the two phytogeographical zones of North and South China, while the absence of

Iron Age

2004-10-25T21:47:00.000-07:00

Final technological and cultural stage in the Stone–Bronze–Iron-Age sequence. The date of the full Iron Age, in which this metal for the most part replaced bronze in implements and weapons, varied geographically, beginning in the Middle East and southeastern Europe about 1200 BC but in China not until about 600 BC. Although in the Middle East iron had limited use as a scarce and precious

Succubus

2004-10-24T23:18:00.000-07:00

Female form of an incubus (q.v.).

French Literature, Bourgeois drama

2004-10-22T06:21:00.000-07:00

Yet Beaumarchais himself espoused the drame bourgeois (“bourgeois drama,” or “middle-class tragedy”) in his Essai sur le genre dramatique sérieux (1767). He wrote several drames, among them the sequel to Le Mariage in L'Autre Tartuffe, ou La Mère coupable (1792). The growing importance of sentiment on the stage had proved as inimical to Classical comedy as to Classical tragedy. More

Henry I

2004-10-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

Henry was the son of Alfonso VIII of Castile and his wife Eleanor, daughter of Henry II of England, after whom he was named. He was killed, while still a boy, by the fall of a tile from a roof. Sovereignty over Castile was then assumed by Alfonso VIII's cousin, Alfonso IX, king of Leon.

Milles, Carl

2004-10-18T15:53:00.000-07:00

In 1902, during student years in Paris, Milles won recognition through the competition for

Nitric Acid

2004-10-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

The preparation and use of nitric acid were known to the early alchemists. A common laboratory process used for

Hernici

2004-10-14T20:07:00.000-07:00

Ancient people of Italy, whose territory was in Latium between the Fucine Lake (modern Fucino) and the Trerus (modern Sacco) River, bounded by the Volsci on the south and by the Aequi and the Marsi on the north. In 486 BC they were still strong enough to conclude a treaty with the Romans on equal terms. They broke away from Rome in 362–358. In 306 their chief town, Anagnia (Anagni), was taken by the

Carl Xvi Gustaf

2004-10-11T05:25:00.000-07:00

The only son of King Gustav VI Adolf's eldest son, Prince Gustav Adolf (who died in an air crash in 1947), Carl Gustaf became crown prince in 1950, when his grandfather acceded to the throne. He studied at military cadet schools, at the University of Uppsala, and in France and was commissioned as a naval officer in 1968. He married Silvia Sommerlath

Celaya

2004-10-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

City, south-central Guanajuato estado (“state”), north-central Mexico. It is in the fertile Bajío region on the Mexican Plateau, 2.5 miles (4 km) north of the Laja River and 5,774 feet (1,760 m) above sea level. Founded as Purísima Concepción de Celaya in 1571, the city played an important role in 19th-century Mexican history when it changed hands several times during Mexico's struggle for independence

Judaism, Moses Mendelssohn

2004-10-08T04:08:00.000-07:00

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

Oryol

2004-10-06T16:44:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Or'ol, or Orel, oblast (province), western Russia, occupying an area of rolling hills of the Central Russian Upland, into which are cut many broad, shallow river valleys. The greater part is in the basin of the upper Oka River. The oblast, centred on Oryol city, lies on the boundary of the mixed forest and forest-steppe zones. The soils indicate a former widespread forest cover, but this has

Plume Grass

2004-10-04T07:26:00.000-07:00

Any of about 20 species of grasses constituting the genus Erianthus (family Poaceae), native to warm regions of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. Plume grasses are tall, reedlike perennials with dense, cylindrical, plumelike panicles. Most species are 1 to 3 m (3 to 10 feet) tall, but Ravenna grass (E. ravennae), native to southern Europe, grows to 4 m (13 feet). It is cultivated as an ornamental

Ghassan

2004-10-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

The Ghassanid king al-Harith ibn Jabalah (reigned 529–569) supported the Byzantines against Sasanian Persia

Uzbekistan, Transportation

2004-09-29T08:04:00.000-07:00

The great obstacle to further development of markets for Uzbekistan's copious truck gardening and fruit growing remains the antiquated means of distribution. Neither the surface nor air transport now available can efficiently or with adequate refrigeration handle the volume produced in Uzbekistan and needed by the Baltic states, Russia, Belarus, and

Shaft Coupling

2004-09-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

A common type of rigid coupling

Ireland, Theatre

2004-09-26T02:47:00.000-07:00

Dublin is the centre of Ireland's

Minamoto Yorinobu

2004-09-24T04:14:00.000-07:00

In 1028 the Fujiwaras, no longer willing to fight their own battles, hired Yorinobu to quell a rebellion that had broken out in eastern Japan. His success