HealthyCloud

Amphibian, Size range and diversity of structure

2005-04-05T23:40:00.000-07:00

The three living groups of amphibians vary greatly in size and structure. Long tails and two pairs of limbs of about equal size distinguish the salamander, although members of the family Sirenidae have no hindlimbs. Their total length varies greatly; a diminutive terrestrial species in Mexico measures 27 millimetres (1.06 inches) long, and the giant aquatic salamander

Irish Sweepstakes

2005-04-05T17:39:00.000-07:00

In full Irish Hospitals' Sweepstakes one of the largest lotteries promoted internationally; it was authorized by the Irish government in 1930 to benefit Irish hospitals. A private trust was formed to run the lottery and market tickets throughout the world. During the 57 years of its existence, the contest derived more revenue from the United States than from any other country, although all the tickets were

Atacama Desert

2005-04-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

Spanish Desierto De Atacama, cool, arid region in northern Chile, 600 to 700 miles (1,000 to 1,100 km) long from north to south. Its limits are not exact, but it lies mainly within Antofagasta and Atacama administrative regions between the south bend of the Loa River and the mountains separating the Salado-Copiapó drainage basins. To the north, the desert continues into the region of Tarapacá and to the border of

Huysum, Jan Van

2005-04-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

He was the eldest son of Justus van Huysum, a versatile painter whose subjects included landscapes, seascapes, battle scenes, portraits, and flowers. Jan van Huysum studied under his father but soon surpassed him in skill. He specialized in exquisitely detailed, dramatically

Yacht

2005-04-02T19:21:00.000-08:00

As the Dutch rose to preeminence in sea power during the 17th century, the early yacht became a pleasure craft used first by royalty and later by the burghers on the canals and the protected and unprotected waters of the Low Countries. Racing was incidental, arising as private matches. English yachting began with King Charles II of England during his exile in the Low

Economic Indicator

2005-04-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

Statistic used, along with other indicators, in an attempt to determine the state of general economic activity, especially in the future. A “leading indicator” is one of a statistical series that fairly reliably turn up or down before the general economy does. Common leading indicators are building permits (suggesting the future volume of new construction), common

Oscillatoria

2005-03-31T21:04:00.000-08:00

Genus of blue-green algae found commonly in a variety of freshwater environments, including hot springs. This unbranched filamentous alga, occurring singly or in tangled mats, derives its name from its rhythmic oscillating motion, which is thought to result from a secretion of mucilage that pushes the filament away from the direction of excretion. Reproduction

Karachi, Transportation

2005-03-31T15:58:00.000-08:00

Karachi is the terminus of Pakistan's railway

Hölderlin, (johann Christian) Friedrich

2005-03-31T09:31:00.000-08:00

Hölderlin was born in a little Swabian town on the River Neckar. His father died in 1772, and two years afterward his mother married the burgomaster of the town of Nürtingen, where

Karakoram Range

2005-03-30T15:15:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) K'a-la-k'un-lun Shan, or (Pinyin) Karakorum Shan, great mountain system extending some 300 miles (500 kilometres) from the easternmost extension of Afghanistan in a southeasterly direction along the watershed between Central and South Asia. Found there are the greatest concentration of high mountains in the world and the longest glaciers outside the high latitudes. The borders of Tajikistan, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan

David

2005-03-30T13:34:00.000-08:00

Second of the Israelite kings (after Saul), reigning c. 1000 to c. 962 BC, who established a united kingdom over all Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital. In Jewish tradition he became the ideal king, the founder of an enduring dynasty, around whose figure and reign clustered messianic expectations of the people of Israel. Since he was a symbol of fulfillment

Kleve

2005-03-29T04:19:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Cleve , English Cleves , Dutch Kleef city, North Rhine–Westphalia Land (state), western Germany. It lies less than 5 miles (8 km) south of the Dutch border and is connected with the Rhine River by a canal. The seat of the counts of Cleves from the 11th century, it was chartered in 1242. The county passed to the counts of La Marck in 1368; it was made a duchy in 1417 and acquired the duchies of Jülich and Berg in 1521. Anne of Cleves (d. 1557), daughter of

Islam

2005-03-27T21:26:00.000-08:00

The third pillar is the obligatory tax called zakat (“purification,” indicating that such a payment makes the rest of one's wealth religiously and legally pure). This is the only permanent tax levied by the Qur'an and is payable annually on food grains, cattle, and cash after one year's possession. The amount varies for different categories. Thus, on grains and fruits it is 10 percent

David

2005-03-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

Guerrilla movement formed originally to oppose the Japanese occupation of Malaya during World War II. In December 1941 a rapid Japanese invasion commenced, and within 10 weeks it had conquered Malaya. British military forces had prepared for this possibility by training small Malayan guerrilla groups. Once war became a reality, the guerrillas organized the MPAJA. This

Cambrian Period, Boundaries and subdivisions

2005-03-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

The lower boundary of the Cambrian System is defined at a formal global stratotype section and point (GSSP), which was ratified by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) in 1992. The stratotype section is located at Fortune Head on the Burin Peninsula of southeastern Newfoundland in Canada. It contains a thick and continuous marine succession of mostly

Jabotinsky, Vladimir

2005-03-26T21:16:00.000-08:00

Jabotinsky began his career in 1898 as a foreign correspondent, but his popularity as a journalist led to his recall to Odessa

Sarah

2005-03-25T23:13:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sarai, in the Old Testament, wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. Sarah was childless until she was 90 years old. God promised Abraham that she would be “a mother of nations” (Genesis 17:16) and that she would conceive and bear a son, but Sarah did not believe. Isaac, born to Sarah and Abraham in their old age, was the fulfillment of God's promise to them. The barrenness of Sarah, cited in the preface

Qalyub

2005-03-25T16:10:00.000-08:00

Qalyub was reputedly constructed with materials taken from the ruins of Heliopolis (modern Misr al-Jadidah), a few

Silifke

2005-03-24T01:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Seleucia, town, south-central Turkey. It is located along the banks of the Göksu River, overlooking the Taurus Mountains. An irrigation scheme supplying the fertile lowland of the Göksu delta is located at Silifke. The town is a market centre for agricultural produce of its hinterland, including cotton, tobacco, grapes, olives, beans, and lentils. Industrial products include

Andrew, John Albion

2005-03-23T04:25:00.000-08:00

Andrew entered political life as a Whig opposed to the Mexican War (1846–48). In 1848 he joined the Free-Soil movement against the spread of slavery. After the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854), which permitted those

Heiden, Eric

2005-03-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

Heiden started skating

Intendant

2005-03-22T14:59:00.000-08:00

The origin of the office of intendant remains obscure, and no document has been

Byatt, A.s.

2005-03-21T05:32:00.000-08:00

Byatt is the daughter of a judge and the sister of novelist Margaret Drabble. She was educated at the University of Cambridge, Bryn Mawr College, and the University of Oxford and then

Carlism

2005-03-20T01:51:00.000-08:00

Spanish Carlismo a Spanish political movement of traditionalist character, originating in the 1820s in the apostólico or extreme clerical party and mobilized in 1827 in the form of paramilitary Royalist Volunteers. This opposition to liberalism crystallized in the 1830s around the person of Carlos María Isidro de Borbón (Don Carlos), younger brother of King Ferdinand VII, and afterward conde

Chaney, Lon

2005-03-19T19:54:00.000-08:00

Chaney's skills as a silent-film actor were honed during his childhood, when he learned to communicate with his deaf-mute parents through facial expression, pantomime, and sign

Neo-hegelianism

2005-03-19T00:46:00.000-08:00

The doctrines of an idealist school of philosophers that was prominent in Great Britain and in the United States between 1870 and 1920. The name is also sometimes applied to cover other philosophies of the period that were Hegelian in inspiration—for instance, those of Benedetto Croce and of Giovanni Gentile. Neo-Hegelianism in Great Britain developed originally as a natural

Arts, Central Asian

2005-03-19T00:29:00.000-08:00

Heiden started skating

Frederic, Harold

2005-03-18T07:05:00.000-08:00

Interested at an early age in photography and journalism, Frederic became a reporter and by 1882 was editor of the Albany Evening Journal. In 1884 he went to London as the correspondent for The New York Times. He remained there for the rest

Gooch, George Peabody

2005-03-18T05:18:00.000-08:00

During a brief political career Gooch specialized in foreign affairs and criticized the policy that led to the South African War. He was a Liberal member of Parliament from 1906 to 1910. Although a dedicated academician, he devoted

Furniture, Bathroom furniture and fixtures

2005-03-17T07:41:00.000-08:00

Bathrooms in large private homes were not unknown in the 18th century, and splendidly equipped marble bathrooms are still preserved in several European palaces and mansions. But not until the 19th century did bathrooms in private homes become more commonplace. Fixtures generally include a toilet, bidet, washbasin, bath, mirror, and shelves. In the 20th century the equipping

Hawatmeh, Na'if

2005-03-17T03:27:00.000-08:00

Born into a Christian family in Jordan, Hawatmeh attended the Arab University of Beirut in Lebanon, where he became a militant in the Arab Nationalist Movement, which at its 1967 congress adopted Hawatmeh's Marxist “scientific

Bottle Tree

2005-03-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

Any of various trees of the genus Brachychiton, within the cacao, or chocolate, family (Sterculiaceae), native to Australia. They grow to a height of 18 m (60 feet). They are cultivated in other warm regions as ornamentals. The name refers to the peculiar shape of the trunk.

F-86

2005-03-15T23:24:00.000-08:00

Also called Sabre U.S. single-seat, single-engine jet fighter built by North American Aviation, Inc., the first jet fighter in the West to exploit aerodynamic principles learned from German engineering at the close of World War II. The F-86 was built with the wings swept back in order to reduce transonic drag rise as flight speed approached the sound barrier, and it was capable of exceeding

Hardecanute

2005-03-15T01:28:00.000-08:00

Son of King Canute and Emma, daughter of Richard I, duke of Normandy, Hardecanute was made king of Denmark by Canute in 1028. On Canute's death in 1035, a party led by Emma and Godwine, earl of Wessex, wished to elect Hardecanute king of England, but Leofric, earl of Mercia, with

Computers, Commodore and Tandy enter the field

2005-03-14T22:42:00.000-08:00

The next year, another established company entered the

Selection

2005-03-14T15:55:00.000-08:00

The theory of evolution by natural selection was proposed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in 1858. They argued that species with useful adaptations

Wang Xizhi

2005-03-14T05:28:00.000-08:00

It is said that even in his lifetime a few of Wang's characters or his signature were priceless; down through the ages, aspiring students of that most basic yet highest art in China, calligraphy, have copied and preserved traces of his style. The most famous example of his writing is the

Furniture, Specialized furniture

2005-03-12T07:32:00.000-08:00

Office furniture in the widest sense of the term has undergone rapid developments since mid-19th century. Such pieces as the high desks used by clerks in old offices and the big American rolltop desks have been replaced by carefully designed standard forms of writing desks with side cupboards, typewriting tables, filing cabinets, and office chairs with adjustable

Habsburg, House Of

2005-03-12T07:05:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Hapsburg , also called House of Austria royal German family, one of the principal sovereign dynasties of Europe from the 15th to the 20th century.

Metallography

2005-03-11T13:43:00.000-08:00

Metal surfaces and fractures examined with the unaided eye or with a magnifying glass or metallurgical or binocular microscope at magnifications less than 10 diameters can reveal valuable information as to the crystalline, chemical,

Al Wahibah Dunes

2005-03-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

Arabic Ramlat Al Wahibah, sandy desert, east-central Oman. It fronts the Arabian Sea on the southeast and stretches along the coast for more than 100 miles (160 km). The desert consists of honey-coloured dunes that are dark red at their base and rise to heights of 230 feet (70 m). The sands are crisscrossed with tracks and routes for vehicles. There is very little surface water, but underground water traditionally

Malabar Coast

2005-03-10T14:36:00.000-08:00

Name long applied to the southern part of India's western coast, approximately from Goa southward, which is bordered on the east by the Western Ghats range. The name has sometimes encompassed the entire western coast of peninsular India. It now includes most of Kerala state and the coastal region of Karnataka state. The coast consists of a continuous belt of sand dunes.

Biblical Literature, Legislation

2005-03-10T13:51:00.000-08:00

The book of Exodus includes not only the narrative and celebration of God's redemptive action in the Exodus and wanderings and his revealing presence at Mt. Sinai but also a corpus of legislation, both civil and religious, that is ascribed to God and this revelation event. The Covenant Code, or Book of the Covenant, presented in chapters 20–23, immediately following the Decalogue

France, History Of, Domestic policy and reform efforts

2005-03-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

As stated above, in the context of 17th-century absolutism, Louis XIV had already initiated many rationalizing reforms. The crown had worked selectively to replace corporatist, traditionalist institutions with meritocratic associations. In 1648, for example, Cardinal Mazarin had already sponsored a Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (because it lent itself better

Avola

2005-03-08T00:10:00.000-08:00

Town, Siracusa provincia, southeastern Sicily, Italy, southwest of Syracuse. Rebuilt after an earthquake in 1693, the town has several fine 18th-century churches. Sugar refining and almond packing are the main industries. Pop. (1993 est.) mun., 31,629.

Alembert, Jean Le Rond D'

2005-03-07T15:10:00.000-08:00

Meanwhile, d'Alembert began an active social life and frequented well-known salons, where he acquired a considerable reputation as a witty conversationalist and mimic. Like his fellow Philosophes—those thinkers, writers, and scientists who believed in the sovereignty of reason and nature (as opposed to authority and revelation) and rebelled against old dogmas

Chemistry

2005-03-07T13:42:00.000-08:00

For the first two-thirds of the 20th century, chemistry was seen by many as the science of the future. The potential of chemical products for enriching society appeared to be unlimited. Increasingly, however, and especially in the public mind, the negative aspects of chemistry have come to the fore. Disposal of chemical by-products at waste-disposal sites of limited capacity

Coosa River

2005-03-07T13:15:00.000-08:00

River flowing through northwestern Georgia and eastern Alabama, U.S. It is formed by the confluence of the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers at Rome, Ga., and flows southward for 286 mi (460 km) through the Appalachian Ridge and Valley region into the Gulf coastal plain at Wetumpka, Ala. Its initial course is southwesterly into Cherokee County, Ala., where it receives the Chattooga

Tardieu, André

2005-03-06T19:41:00.000-08:00

A member of an upper middle-class family, Tardieu studied at the École Normale Supérieure. After a period in the diplomatic service, he made his reputation as foreign editor of Le Temps. Elected

Saint Abb's Head

2005-03-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

Promontory on the North Sea in the Scottish Borders council area, historic county of Berwickshire, southeastern Scotland. It is located about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England. St. Abb's is a sheer headland with cliffs some 300 feet (90 metres) high. It is a national nature reserve administered by the National Trust for Scotland and the Scottish

Muhammad Shah

2005-03-06T07:40:00.000-08:00

The son of Shah Jahan, Muhammad Shah was made emperor in 1719 by the powerful Sayyid brothers, 'Abdullah and Husayn 'Ali, who had killed the emperor Farrukh-Siyar. In 1720 the assassination of Husayn 'Ali and the defeat of 'Abdullah at the battle of Hasanpur (southwest of Delhi) liberated

Peter Iii

2005-03-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

Son of Anna, one of Peter I the Great's daughters, and Charles Frederick, duke of Holstein-Gottorp, the young duke was brought to Russia by his aunt Elizabeth shortly after she became empress of Russia (Dec. 5–6, 1741). Renamed Peter (Pyotr Fyodorovich), he was

Páez, José Antonio

2005-03-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

Páez was a part-Indian llanero, one of the horsemen of the plains. Beginning as a ranch hand, he quickly

Blueberry

2005-03-04T00:55:00.000-08:00

Blueberries grow only in highly acidic and well-drained but moist soils. About 36,000 acres (14,500 hectares) of the high-bush blueberry

Toadflax

2005-03-03T16:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Spurred Snapdragon, any member of a genus (Linaria) of nearly 100 herbaceous plants native to the North Temperate Zone, particularly the Mediterranean region. The common name refers to their flaxlike leaves; the flowers are two-lipped and spurred like snapdragons. Among the prominent members are common toadflax, or butter-and-eggs (L. vulgaris), with yellow and orange flower

Ho Hsien-ku

2005-03-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

Pinyin He Xiangu, in Chinese mythology, one of the Pa Hsien, the Eight Immortals of Taoism, and the only female (if Lan Ts'ai-ho is considered to be male). As a teenaged girl she dreamed that mother-of-pearl conferred immortality. She thereupon ate some, became ethereal, and found she could float across the hills at will. She returned home each evening carrying herbs collected during the

Smith, Hoke

2005-03-02T04:40:00.000-08:00

Admitted to the bar in 1873, Smith practiced law in Atlanta and became active in local Democratic politics. He published the Atlanta Journal (1887–1900), which he used as a forum to champion virtually all progressive measures of the period, with the notable exception

Kame

2005-03-01T23:06:00.000-08:00

Moundlike hill of poorly sorted drift, mostly sand and gravel, deposited at or near the terminus of a glacier. A kame may be produced either as a delta of a meltwater stream or as an accumulation of debris let down onto the ground surface by the melting glacier. A group of closely associated kames is called a kame field, or kame complex, and may be interspersed with kettles

Antigonus Ii Gonatas

2005-03-01T10:52:00.000-08:00

Antigonus II was the son of Demetrius I Poliorcetes and grandson of Antigonus I. While Demetrius was busy fighting in Macedonia and Asia Minor, Antigonus, as his regent, was engaged in maintaining Macedonian hegemony in Greece, which had been achieved in 287 BC. Demetrius was

Sukhoy

2005-03-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

The Sukhoy design bureau has three

Spotsylvania Court House, Battle Of

2005-02-28T16:43:00.000-08:00

(May 8–19, 1864), Union failure to smash or outflank Confederate forces defending Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. Following the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5–6), Union General Ulysses S. Grant moved his left flank forward, engaging the Confederate forces of General Robert E. Lee at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia. The battle raged for about a week and a half, and

Wagner, Richard

2005-02-28T13:29:00.000-08:00

In 1859 Wagner went to Paris, where, the following year, productions of a revised version of Tannhäuser were fiascoes. But in 1861 an amnesty allowed him to return to Germany; from there he went to Vienna, where he heard Lohengrin for the first time. He remained in Vienna for about a year, then travelled widely as a conductor and awaited a projected production of Tristan. When this

Biblical Literature, The expansion of the Davidic Empire

2005-02-27T23:36:00.000-08:00

The third section of Samuel (II Samuel, chapter 6 through chapter 20, verse 22) contains the account of the reign of David from Jerusalem, ruling over a minor empire that stretched from Egypt in the south to Lebanon in the north and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Arabian Desert in the east. He thus controlled the crossroads of the great empires of the ancient Near

Ahmose Ii

2005-02-27T15:45:00.000-08:00

In 570, after Apries' unsuccessful campaign against Cyrene, in modern Libya, the Egyptian

Ferreira, António

2005-02-26T15:43:00.000-08:00

Ferreira was a disciple of the poet Francisco de Sá de Miranda, who had introduced Renaissance styles of poetry into Portugal, and Ferreira did more

Refuse Disposal System

2005-02-26T04:15:00.000-08:00

Although all societies have had some systematic form of refuse disposal, it was not until relatively recent times that the modern concept of solid-waste management became recognized as an essential

Wichita

2005-02-25T18:53:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Sedgwick County, south central Kansas, U.S., on the Arkansas River near the mouth of the Little Arkansas. Founded in 1864 as a trading post on the site of a village of the Wichita Indians, it owed its early development to the Texas cattle trade along the Chisholm Trail and to the rapid spread of agricultural settlement along the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway,

Orbital

2005-02-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

In chemistry and physics, a mathematical expression, called a wave function, that describes properties characteristic of no more than two electrons in the vicinity of an atomic nucleus or of a system of nuclei as in a molecule. An orbital often is depicted as a three-dimensional region within which there is a 95 percent probability of finding the electron (see

Addison Disease

2005-02-24T02:37:00.000-08:00

The adrenal cortex produces numerous hormones called corticosteroids, which are involved in important functions of the body such as regulation of metabolism, blood pressure, and sodium and potassium levels. Damage to the

China, The chief councillors

2005-02-23T15:31:00.000-08:00

The later Nan Sung emperors preferred not to take on the awesome burden of managing the huge and complex bureaucracy. Most of them were concerned chiefly with security and the status quo. The Nan Sung court delegated a tremendous amount of power and thus had a series of dominant chief councillors; none of them, however, ever was a potential usurper. No bureaucrat during

Cima Da Conegliano, Giovanni Battista

2005-02-23T10:12:00.000-08:00

Italian painter of the Venetian school whose style was marked by its use of landscape and by airy, luminous colour. Probably a pupil of Bartolomeo Montagna, a minor painter of Vicenza, he was later influenced by the poetic and colouristically sensitive style of Giovanni Bellini, the great Venetian master of the late 15th and

Langeais

2005-02-22T13:52:00.000-08:00

Town, west-central France, Indre-et-Loire département, on the right bank of Loire River. It has a 15th-century château, notable as a fine example of pre-Renaissance architecture. The ruins of a keep first built there by Fulk III Nerra, count of Anjou, still stands in the park. The château was built for Jean Bourré, minister of Louis XI, and Charles VIII of France and Anne of Brittany

Vendée, Wars Of The

2005-02-21T20:33:00.000-08:00

(1793–96), counterrevolutionary insurrections in the west of France during the French Revolution. The first and most important occurred in 1793 in the area known as the Vendée, which included large sections of the départements of Loire-Inférieure (Loire-Atlantique), Maine-et-Loire, Deux-Sèvres, and the Vendée proper. In this fervently religious and economically backward region,

Arabic Literary Renaissance

2005-02-21T13:15:00.000-08:00

After the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt (1798) and the subsequent establishment of an autonomous and Western-minded ruling dynasty there, many Syrian and Lebanese writers sought out the freer environment of Egypt, making it

Huysmans, Camille

2005-02-21T03:52:00.000-08:00

Trained as a philologist, Huysmans taught at the collège at Ieper, Belg., the Atheneum at Ixelles, Belg., and the Université Nouvelle (French: “New University”) in Brussels.

Deep-sea Trench

2005-02-20T13:02:00.000-08:00

Trenches generally lie seaward of and parallel to adjacent island arcs or mountain ranges

Arts, Central Asian, Decorative arts

2005-02-20T07:58:00.000-08:00

In the main temple (fo-khang) of Lhasa there is a pre-Buddhist silver jug with a long neck surmounted by a horse's head; and there are textual references to all kinds of articles made of gold: a large golden goose holding seven gallons of wine, a wine vase, a miniature city decorated with gold lions, and golden bowls. Gold animals are mentioned as decorating the camp of King

Mosan School

2005-02-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

Regional style of Romanesque manuscript illumination, metalwork, and enamelwork that flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries and was centred in the Meuse River valley, especially at Liège and the Benedictine monastery of Stavelot. Two of the most important artists associated with the Mosan school were Godefroid de Claire, a goldsmith from Huy, and Nicholas of

Einem, Gottfried Von

2005-02-19T06:14:00.000-08:00

The son of an Austrian military attaché, Einem was educated in Germany and England. He helped several people escape from Nazi Germany, and in 1938 he was arrested by the Gestapo and was imprisoned

Ochsenbein, Ulrich

2005-02-18T08:04:00.000-08:00

An ardent Bernese radical, Ochsenbein organized and directed an abortive military coup against the clerical government of Luzern (March 1845), precipitating

Sankara

2005-02-18T04:31:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Shankara , also called Sankaracarya philosopher and theologian, most renowned exponent of the Advaita Vedanta school of philosophy, from whose doctrines the main currents of modern Indian thought are derived. He wrote commentaries on the Brahma-sutra and the principal Upanisads, affirming his belief in one eternal unchanging reality (Brahman) and the illusion of plurality

Kirkland, Samuel

2005-02-17T16:33:00.000-08:00

While still a student at Princeton, Kirkland began his wilderness treks on snowshoes to preach to the Indians. Gradually he mastered several Indian languages

Ishida Mitsunari

2005-02-16T10:57:00.000-08:00

Distinguished in the service of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the warrior who reunified Japan after more than a century of civil war, Ishida was appointed head of a small fief and soon became one of the most prominent

Avery, Milton (clark)

2005-02-16T08:51:00.000-08:00

Avery painted many landscapes, particularly

Rupp, Adolph

2005-02-16T05:45:00.000-08:00

Rupp grew up on a Kansas farm and was hardly aware of basketball until he went to college. He was a member of the University of Kansas (Lawrence) Big Eight Conference championship team of 1923. After coaching five years

Great Barrier Reef

2005-02-16T03:54:00.000-08:00

Alecsandri, Vasile

2005-02-15T06:27:00.000-08:00

His lyrical poems,

Aquatint

2005-02-14T22:33:00.000-08:00

A variety of etching widely used by printmakers to achieve a broad range of tonal values. The process is called aquatint because finished prints often resemble watercolour drawings or wash drawings. The technique consists of exposing a copperplate to acid through a layer of granulated resin or sugar. The acid bites away the plate only in the interstices between

Wells, Charles Jeremiah

2005-02-14T04:50:00.000-08:00

As a young man, Wells was a member of the poet John

Animal, Support and movement

2005-02-13T21:56:00.000-08:00

A skeleton can support an animal, act as an antagonist to muscle contraction, or, most commonly, do both. Because muscles can only contract, they require some other structure to stretch them to their noncontracted (relaxed) state. Another set of muscles or the skeleton itself can act as an antagonist to muscle contraction. Only elastic skeletons can act without an antagonist;

Sun Tzu

2005-02-12T18:54:00.000-08:00

The book is traditionally attributed to Sun Tzu (personal name Sun Wu), a military strategist and general who served the state of Wu near the end of the Spring and Autumn Period (770–476 BC). It is more likely, however, that it was written early in the Warring

Eisenhower, Mamie

2005-02-12T05:37:00.000-08:00

Although she did not change the job of first lady, Mamie Eisenhower was a favourite of many American women, who imitated her youthful style (known as the “Mamie style”) and what her husband called her “unaffected manner.”

Tridymite

2005-02-11T16:47:00.000-08:00

Silica mineral, the stable form of silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) at temperatures between 870° and 1,470° C (1,598° and 2,678° F); at lower temperatures it transforms to high-quartz, at higher to cristobalite. It has three modifications: high-tridymite, middle-tridymite, and low-tridymite. Tridymite forms thin hexagonal plates that are generally twinned, often in groups of three; its name alludes

Earth, Variation with elevation

2005-02-11T13:54:00.000-08:00

At sea level the gradient is equivalent to -0.3086 milligal per metre;

Kirkintilloch

2005-02-10T18:37:00.000-08:00

Burgh (town), East Dunbartonshire council area, historic county of Dunbartonshire, west-central Scotland, on the northeastern periphery of the metropolitan area of Glasgow. It is situated on the Forth and Clyde Canal, and the River Kelvin flows past the town. There was a Roman fort on the site, part of the defensive Antonine Wall built in AD 142. The town was granted its charter

Japanese Torreya

2005-02-10T03:36:00.000-08:00

Also called nut-bearing torreya , or Kaya (Torreya nucifera) an ornamental evergreen timber tree of the yew family (Taxaceae), native to the southern islands of Japan. Although it is the hardiest species of its genus and may be 10 to 25 m (about 35 to 80 feet) tall, it assumes a shrubby form in less temperate areas. Spreading, horizontal, or slightly ascending branches give the tree a compact ovoid or pyramidal head. The bark

Crofts, Freeman Wills

2005-02-09T19:53:00.000-08:00

Educated in Belfast, Crofts was a railroad engineer in Northern Ireland (1899–1929). During a long convalescence he wrote his first novel, The Cask (1920). Considered a classic

Chemical Compound, Polyterpenes

2005-02-09T17:31:00.000-08:00

The vulcanization of rubber involves the establishment of cross-linking between the chains through sulfur atoms.

Coimbatore

2005-02-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

Town, administrative headquarters of Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India. Coimbatore is located on the Noyil River, 300 mi (480 km) south of Madras, on the Madras–Calicut (now Kozhikode) road. Long important as commanding the Palghat Gap to the west coast, it is a trade and processing centre for agricultural produce and a manufacturing centre for agricultural

'uthman Ibn 'affan

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

'Uthman