BlackMuscle

Moscow

2005-04-03T23:19:00.000-07:00

City, seat (1888) of Latah county, northwestern Idaho, U.S. The city is situated on Paradise Creek, in the Palouse country just north of Lewiston, near the Washington border. The area was settled in 1871 and developed as a stagecoach station. Local farmers called the area Hog Heaven. The origins of the name Moscow are disputed; some hold that the town was named by Jonathan Neff, a homesteader

Terefah

2005-04-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

Also spelled terefa, tref , or trefa (from Hebrew taraf, “to tear”) , plural terefoth, terefot , or trefot any food, food product, or utensil that, according to the Jewish dietary laws (kashruth, q.v.), is not ritually clean or prepared according to law and is thus prohibited as unfit for Jewish use. Terefah is thus the antithesis of kosher (“fit”). The broad connotation of terefah derives from a more specific prohibition against eating meat that has been “torn” by a wild animal (e.g., Exodus

Ta-li

2005-04-03T09:26:00.000-07:00

Formerly Hsia-kuan, Pinyin Dali, or Xiaguan, city in western Yunnan sheng (province), China. It is situated at the southern end of the Erh Hai (lake) in a fertile basin about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the original Ta-li. It has traditionally been an important centre on the routes westward from K'un-ming to the Tibet Autonomous Region and northern Myanmar (Burma); it also has routes leading south into the wild southwest region

Smiles, Samuel

2005-04-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

One of 11 children left fatherless in 1832, Smiles learned the meaning of self-reliance. Although he qualified in medicine at Edinburgh

Selebi-phikwe

2005-04-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Selebi-pikwe, mining town, eastern Botswana. Selebi-Phikwe is located 62 miles (100 km) southeast of Francistown. Situated in the centre of a large copper-nickel mine and a smelter complex, it was one of the fastest-growing towns in the country in the late 20th century. The copper and nickel operation, in which the government of Botswana had a 15 percent share, began production in 1974. Laid out as a fully

France, History Of, Louis VIII

2005-04-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

The reign of Louis VIII (ruled 1223–26) had an importance out of proportion to its brevity. It was he (this frail husband of the formidable Blanche of Castile and father of famous sons) who first brought Languedoc under the crown of France and who inaugurated the appanages—grants of patrimonial land to members of the royal family or royal favourites—thereby creating a familial

Ithaca College

2005-03-31T15:26:00.000-08:00

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

Statistics

2005-03-31T13:15:00.000-08:00

In an experimental study,

Aeschylus

2005-03-31T03:05:00.000-08:00

First of classical Athens' great tragic dramatists, who raised that emerging art to great heights of poetry and theatrical power.

Black Duck

2005-03-29T13:19:00.000-08:00

(Anas rubripes), highly prized game bird (family Anatidae) of eastern North America, inhabiting salt, brackish, and freshwater marshes, as well as lakes, rivers, and beaver ponds. These ducks winter from Nebraska to Texas and along the Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to Florida; their preference for seafoods such as periwinkles and mussels enables them to winter so far

Székesfehérvár

2005-03-28T21:17:00.000-08:00

A Roman settlement, Herculea, superseded an earlier Celtic village on the site; in the 10th century it was chosen by Stephen I, king of Hungary, as capital of the Hungarian kingdom, which it remained until the 16th century. Then known as Alba Regia,

Musical Notation

2005-03-28T06:01:00.000-08:00

Two developments in musical style in the 20th century have placed great strain upon staff notation: integral serialism—in which the music is controlled by a mathematical system—and indeterminacy, or chance music. In the former, every note in a texture may have its individual dynamic marking and type of attack (for example, in Olivier Messiaen's Mode de valeurs et

Novikov, Sergey Petrovich

2005-03-27T01:45:00.000-08:00

Novikov graduated from Moscow State University in 1960 and received Ph.D. (1964) and Doctor of Science (1965) degrees from the V.A. Steklov Institute of Mathematics in Moscow. He joined the faculty at Moscow in 1964 and became

Alabastron

2005-03-26T17:58:00.000-08:00

Elongated, narrow-necked flask, used as a perfume or unguent container. The Greek alabastron has no handles but often lugs (ear-shaped projections), sometimes pierced with string holes. There are three types of classical alabastron: a basic Corinthian bulbous shape about 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 cm) high that appeared from the mid-7th century BC and was common in Greece (see ); a long, pointed

Cacus And Caca

2005-03-26T07:20:00.000-08:00

In Roman religion, brother and sister, respectively, originally fire deities of the early Roman settlement on the Palatine Hill, where “Cacus' stairs” were later situated. The Roman poet Virgil described Cacus as the son of the flame god Vulcan and as a monstrous fire-breathing brigand who terrorized the countryside. He stole some of the giant Geryon's cattle from the

Akwapim-togo Ranges

2005-03-25T00:58:00.000-08:00

Narrow belt of ridges and hills in Ghana, western Africa. They extend in a southwest-northeast line for about 200 miles (320 km) from the Densu River mouth (near Accra) on the Atlantic coast to the boundary with Togo. Averaging 1,500 feet (460 m) in height, the hills continue eastward to the Niger River as the Togo Mountains in Togo and as the Atakora Mountains in Benin, and they contain isolated

Vanadic Anhydride

2005-03-24T18:58:00.000-08:00

Vanadium pentoxide, a compound of vanadium and oxygen widely used as an oxidation catalyst, as in the oxidation of unburned hydrocarbons in automobile exhaust (see vanadium).

Camargue

2005-03-24T11:21:00.000-08:00

Delta region in Bouches-du-Rhône département, southern France. The region lies between the Grand and Petit channels of the Rhône River and has an area of 300 square miles (780 square km). In the northern part of the delta, the alluvium has emerged as dry land; in the south, the highest ground is along the embankments of present and former watercourses; in the intervening basins

Chan I

2005-03-23T18:19:00.000-08:00

Chan succeeded his uncle, King Dharmarajadhiraja (Thommoreachea). After quelling rebellions inspired by a pretender to the throne, he was crowned

Sanhedrin

2005-03-23T10:46:00.000-08:00

Also spelled sanhedrim any of several official Jewish councils in Palestine under Roman rule, to which various political, religious, and judicial functions have been attributed. Taken from the Greek word for council (synedrion), the term was apparently applied to various bodies but became especially the designation for the supreme Jewish legislative and judicial court—the Great

Wade, Sir Thomas Francis

2005-03-22T10:04:00.000-08:00

The elder son of an English army officer, Wade graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge (1837), and entered the army. Sent to China in 1842, he began an earnest study of Chinese and eventually became an official interpreter,

Tai Languages, Phonological characteristics

2005-03-21T06:56:00.000-08:00

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

Submarine, World War I

2005-03-21T03:19:00.000-08:00

By the eve of World War I all of the major navies included submarines in their fleets, but these craft were relatively small, were considered of questionable military value, and generally were intended for coastal operations. The most significant exception to the concept of coastal activity was the German Deutschland class of merchant U-boats, each 315 feet long with

Europop

2005-03-19T17:56:00.000-08:00

The first major Europop hit is generally considered Los Bravos' “Black

Gondola

2005-03-19T17:47:00.000-08:00

Tapered, 32-foot- (10-metre-) long flat-bottomed boat historically associated with the canals and lagoon of Venice, carrying from two to six passengers. It is propelled from the starboard quarter by a single sweep (oar) manipulated by a gondolier standing on the stern cover, and it has an asymmetrical shape, being 9 inches (23 cm) wider on the port side. A prominent steel beak (ferro) rises

Haymarket Riot

2005-03-18T00:36:00.000-08:00

On May 3, one person was killed and several were injured as police intervened to protect strikebreakers from strikers during a union action at the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company that was part

Abemama Atoll

2005-03-17T07:15:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Apamama , formerly Roger Simpson Island coral atoll of the northern Gilbert Islands, part of Kiribati, in the west-central Pacific Ocean. Captain Charles Bishop, who discovered the atoll in 1799, named it Roger Simpson Island for one of his associates. Seat of the area's ruling family in the 19th century, the atoll was the site of the formal British annexation of the Gilbert Island group in 1892. Occupied by Japanese forces

Augustine, Saint, Early writings

2005-03-17T03:55:00.000-08:00

Moderns enamoured of Augustine from the narrative in the Confessions have given much emphasis to his short, attractive early works, several of which mirror the style and manner of Ciceronian dialogues with a new, Platonized Christian content: Contra academicos (386; Against the Academics), De ordine (386; On Providence), De beata vita (386; On the Blessed Life), and Soliloquia (386/387; Soliloquies

Wesleyan Church

2005-03-17T01:41:00.000-08:00

U.S. Protestant church, organized in 1968 by the merger of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of America and the Pilgrim Holiness Church. The Wesleyan Methodist Church originated in 1843 after members of the Methodist Episcopal Church withdrew from that church to organize a nonepiscopal, antislavery church. The Pilgrim Holiness Church originated in 1897 by uniting several Holiness

Botetourt, Norborne Berkeley, Lord

2005-03-15T15:22:00.000-08:00

After military and parliamentary service in England, Berkeley acquired a lordship, or barony, that had been in abeyance for more than three centuries, proving in 1764 that he was the legal successor. Four years later he was appointed governor of Virginia. Popular with the colonial assembly at the outset and secretly

Gondwanaland

2005-03-14T22:58:00.000-08:00

Also called Gondwana, hypothetical former supercontinent in the Southern Hemisphere, which included South America, Africa, peninsular India, Australia, and Antarctica. The name was coined by the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess in reference to the Upper Paleozoic and Mesozoic formations of the Gondwana region of central India, which display typical developments of some of the shared

Kunlun Mountains, Plant and animal life

2005-03-14T17:12:00.000-08:00

The desert or, at best, steppe conditions prevailing throughout the Kunluns inhibit development of vegetation. Much of the terrain consists of rock deserts. Occasional stagnant water pools provide browsing and water for several wild ungulates, such as the Tibetan gazelle and Tibetan goat antelope (chiru), along with large herds of wild asses (kiang) and clusters

Augustus Iii

2005-03-13T23:12:00.000-08:00

Also called Augustus Frederick , Polish August Fryderyk , German August Friedrich king of Poland and elector of Saxony (as Frederick Augustus II), whose reign witnessed one of the greatest periods of disorder within Poland. More interested in ease and pleasure than in affairs of state, this notable patron of the arts left the administration of Saxony and Poland to his chief adviser, Heinrich von Brühl, who in turn left

Tsuruga

2005-03-12T02:40:00.000-08:00

City, Fukui ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It faces Tsuruga Bay of the Sea of Japan. A flourishing port since early historic times, it was one of the main centres of communication with the Asian mainland and a major shipment centre for the former national capitals of Nara and Kyoto. Tsuruga's industrial base was developed after World War II with factories producing synthetic

Schaefer, Vincent Joseph

2005-03-11T02:08:00.000-08:00

American research chemist and meteorologist, who in 1946 carried out the first systematic series of experiments to investigate the physics of precipitation. From an aircraft over Massachusetts he seeded clouds with pellets of Dry Ice (solid carbon dioxide) and succeeded in producing snow, initiating the science of experimental

Monaghan

2005-03-10T19:19:00.000-08:00

Irish Muineachán (Place of Thickets) one of the three counties of Ireland forming part of the historic province of Ulster. It projects northward into Northern Ireland, and has an area of 498 sq mi (1,291 sq km). Most of the northern boundary winds through cultivated lowlands except on Slieve (mountain) Beagh, a desolate upland rising to 1,221 ft (372 m). For many miles the boundary with Northern Ireland runs along the River

Agri Decumates

2005-03-10T03:25:00.000-08:00

In antiquity, the Black Forest and adjoining areas of what is now southwestern Germany between the Rhine, Danube, and Main rivers. The name may imply earlier occupation by a tribe with 10 cantons. The Romans under the Flavian emperors began annexing the area in AD 74 to secure better communications between the Rhine and Danube armies. According to Tacitus, the territory was

India, The early Turkish sultans

2005-03-09T22:57:00.000-08:00

When Qutb-ud-Din Aybak assumed authority over the Ghurid possessions in India, he moved from the neighbourhood of Delhi to Lahore. There he set up guard against another of Muhammad of Ghur's slaves, Taj-ud-Din Yildiz of Ghazna, who also claimed his former master's Indian possessions. In 1208 Qutb-ud-Din defeated his rival and captured Ghazna but soon was driven out again. He died in 1210 in a

Scherzo

2005-03-09T15:37:00.000-08:00

Plural Scherzos, or Scherzi, in music, frequently the third movement of a symphony, sonata, or string quartet; also, in the Baroque era (c. 1600–c. 1750), a light vocal or instrumental piece (e.g., the Scherzi musicali of Claudio Monteverdi, 1607), and, in the 19th century, an independent orchestral composition. In symphonies, sonatas, and string quartets of the 19th century, the scherzo replaced the 18th-century minuet. Unlike the

Chancelade Skeleton

2005-03-09T04:32:00.000-08:00

Human fossil remains discovered in a rock shelter at Chancelade in southwestern France in 1888. The skeleton was found in a curled posture—an indication of a deliberate burial—below the lower Magdalenian occupation floors of the shelter; it is assumed to be of Magdalenian age (about 17,000 years old). The Chancelade skull was studied by the French anatomist Jean-Léo Testut, who

Mars

2005-03-07T21:40:00.000-08:00

Blood-red in colour and sometimes called the Red Planet, Mars has long been associated with warfare and slaughter. It is named for the Roman god of war. As

Chuang-tzu

2005-03-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Zhuangzi, personal name (Wade-Giles romanization) Chou the most significant of China's early interpreters of Taoism, whose work (Chuang-tzu) is considered one of the definitive texts of Taoism and is thought to be more comprehensive than the Tao-te Ching, which is attributed to Lao-tzu, the first major patriarch of Taoism. Chuang-tzu's teachings also exerted a great influence on the development of Chinese Buddhism and had

Gruyère

2005-03-06T01:13:00.000-08:00

Gruyère is formed in large wheels of 70 to 80 pounds (32 to 36 kg) with a brownish, wrinkled natural rind. The interior is pale gold with pea-sized, or slightly larger, holes and a rich, nutty flavour; it is similar to Emmentaler (q.v.) and other

Hadrian's Wall

2005-03-05T09:30:00.000-08:00

Philby, H. Saint John

2005-03-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

Philby was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and joined the Indian Civil Service in 1907. In 1917, as political officer of the Mesopotamian Expeditionary force, he was dispatched on a diplomatic

Kuei

2005-03-04T00:40:00.000-08:00

Kuei are spirits of individuals who were not properly buried or whose families neglected the proper memorial offerings; they lack the means to ascend to the spirit world, hence their malevolent disposition. In traditional China,

Epi

2005-03-03T11:56:00.000-08:00

Formerly Tasiko, or Volcano, island of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Volcanic in origin, it is 27 mi (43 km) long and 11 mi wide, with an area of 171 sq mi (444 sq km), and rises to 2,733 ft (833 m). Although it is fertile, Epi's copra plantations are deteriorating. There is a Presbyterian hospital at Vaémali, on the north coast. Pop. (1979 prelim.) 2,304.

Aerospace Engineering, Aeronautical engineering

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

The roots of aeronautical engineering can be traced to the early days of mechanical engineering, to inventors' concepts, and to the initial studies of aerodynamics, a branch of theoretical physics. The earliest sketches of flight vehicles were drawn by Leonardo da Vinci, who suggested two ideas for sustentation. The first was an ornithopter, a flying machine using

Hippocrates Of Chios

2005-03-02T17:53:00.000-08:00

According to tradition, Hippocrates was a merchant whose goods had been captured by pirates. He went to Athens to prosecute them but met with little success in recovering

Canary Islands

2005-03-01T04:09:00.000-08:00

Spanish Islas Canarias comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Spain, consisting of an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, the nearest island being 67 miles (108 km) off the northwest African mainland. The Canaries comprise the Spanish provincias of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as well as the insular councils of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Palma, Gomera, and

Hook, Sidney

2005-02-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

American educator and social philosopher who studied historical theory in relation to American philosophy. He was among the first U.S. scholars to analyze Marxism and was firmly opposed to all forms of totalitarianism, holding liberal democracy as the most viable political structure for social and scientific

Arabian Desert

2005-02-28T05:05:00.000-08:00

Descriptive surveys of the Arabian Desert include Wilfred Thesiger, Arabian Sands (1959, reprinted 1991), a modern classic; Colbert C. Held, Middle East Patterns: Places, Peoples, and Politics, 2nd ed. (1994), with a general geography of Southwest Asia; and accounts of important travels in the region, such as Charles M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta, new and definitive ed., 2 vol. in 1 (1936, reprinted in 2 vol. 1979); T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1935, reissued 1991); and H.St.J.B. Philby, The Empty Quarter: Being a Description of the Great South Desert of Arabia Known as Rub' al Khali (1933, reprinted 1986), and Arabian Highlands (1952, reprinted 1976). Two valuable works on the flora and fauna are Betty A. Lipscombe Vincett, Wild Flowers of Central Saudi Arabia (1977); and Abdul Mon'im S. Talhouk et al., The Wildlife of Arabia (1981). A.R. Al-Ansary, Qaryat al-Fau: A Portrait of Pre-Islamic Civilisation in Saudi Arabia (1982), discusses early patterns of settlement in the desert. Norman Anderson et al., The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 9th ed. (1993), contains a number of useful studies. H.R.P. Dickson, The Arab of the Desert, 3rd ed., rev. and abridged, ed. by Robert Wilson and Zahra Freeth (1983), discusses Bedouin culture and custom prior to 1940. The impact of modernization on the peoples of the desert areas is addressed by Donald Powell Cole, Nomads of the Nomads: The Al Murrah Bedouin of the Empty Quarter (1975); Motoko Katakura, Bedouin Village: A Study of a Saudi Arabian People in Transition (1977); and Soraya Altorki and Donald P. Cole, Arabian Oasis City: The Transformation of 'Unayzah (1989). Useful sources on the geological evolution of Arabia include Ian Davison et al., “Geological Evolution of the Southeastern Red Sea Rift Margin, Republic of Yemen,” Geological Society of America Bulletin, 106:1474–1493 (November 1994); and Martin J. Whitehouse et al., “Crustal Evolution and Terrane Correlation in the Eastern Arabian Shield, Yemen: Geochronological Constraints,” Journal of the Geological Society, London, 155:281–295, (1998).

Kimberlite

2005-02-27T16:20:00.000-08:00

Also called blue ground a dark-coloured, heavy, often altered and brecciated (fragmented), intrusive igneous rock that contains the only diamonds known to occur in the rock matrix where they originally formed. It has a porphyritic texture, with large, often rounded crystals (phenocrysts) surrounded by a fine-grained matrix (groundmass). It is a mica peridotite, and its most abundant mineral

Arnold, Matthew

2005-02-27T09:49:00.000-08:00

The work that gives Arnold his high place in the history of literature and the history of ideas was all accomplished in the time he could spare from his official duties. His first volume of verse was The Strayed Reveller, and Other Poems. By A. (1849); this was followed (in 1852) by another under the same initial: Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems. In 1853 appeared the first volume of poems

Biblical Literature, The prophecies of First Isaiah

2005-02-26T03:03:00.000-08:00

First Isaiah contains the words and prophecies of Isaiah, a most important 8th-century BCE prophet of Judah, written either by himself or his contemporary followers in Jerusalem (from c. 740 to 700 BCE), along with some later additions, such as chapters 24–27 and 33–39. The first of these two additions was probably written by a later disciple or disciples of Isaiah about 500 BCE; the second addition is divided

Medicine, China

2005-02-25T13:46:00.000-08:00

Health services in China since the Cultural Revolution have been characterized by decentralization and dependence on personnel chosen locally and trained for short periods. Emphasis is given to selfless motivation, self-reliance, and to the involvement of everyone in the community. Campaigns stressing the importance of preventive measures and their implementation

Dactyl

2005-02-25T04:26:00.000-08:00

Metrical foot consisting of one long (classical verse) or stressed (English verse) syllable followed by two short, or unstressed, syllables. Probably the oldest and most common metre in classical verse is the dactylic hexameter, the metre of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and of other ancient epics. Dactylic metres are fairly rare in English verse, one difficulty being that

Korea Bay

2005-02-24T17:43:00.000-08:00

Korea Bay receives three of the major rivers of North Korea—the Yalu (which rises on Mount Paektu and forms much of the China–North Korea border), the Ch'ongchon, and the Taedong—in addition to a number of China's smaller rivers. The bay

Dowden, Edward

2005-02-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

Educated at Queen's College, Cork, and Trinity College, Dublin, Dowden became professor of English literature at Trinity in 1867 and lectured at Oxford (1890–93) and Cambridge (1893–96). His Shakspere: A Critical Study of His Mind and Art (1875) was the first book in English to attempt

Biogeographic Region, New Zealand region

2005-02-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

The New Zealand region (Figure 2) includes all of New Zealand, excluding aspects of the fauna of the southwest, which shows an Antarctic element. Flightless birds inhabit both New Zealand and Australia, although the order Dinornithiformes (kiwis and moas) is endemic to New Zealand. Other endemic taxa include the snail family Athoracophoridae; New Zealand's only mammals,

Eames, Charles; And Eames, Ray

2005-02-22T13:12:00.000-08:00

Charles Eames, who was also an architect, was for several years

Biblical Literature, The Septuagint (LXX)

2005-02-20T16:16:00.000-08:00

This narrative, repeated

Obadiah, Book Of

2005-02-20T02:07:00.000-08:00

In the book, Edom,

Social Insurance

2005-02-19T05:29:00.000-08:00

The first compulsory social insurance programs on

La Mettrie, Julien Offroy De

2005-02-19T01:48:00.000-08:00

La Mettrie obtained a medical degree at Reims, studied medicine in Leiden under Hermann Boerhaave (some of whose

Sillanpää, Frans Eemil

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

The son of a peasant farmer, Sillanpää began studying natural science but in 1913 returned to the country, married, and began to write. His first short stories were published in journals in 1915. From 1924 to 1927 he worked for a publishing company in Porvoo. A new creative

Babirusa

2005-02-17T10:27:00.000-08:00

The stout-bodied, short-tailed babirusa stands 65–80 cm (25–30 inches) at the shoulder. It has a rough, grayish hide and is almost hairless. Its most notable feature is the exaggerated development of the upper and lower canine teeth, or tusks, of

General Dynamics Corp.

2005-02-16T16:06:00.000-08:00

The original company, the Electric Boat Company, was founded in 1899 and built the Holland, the first submarine purchased by the U.S. Navy, in 1900. Electric Boat continued to build submarines and surface ships, and in 1954 it launched the Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine. The firm

Paulician

2005-02-16T06:26:00.000-08:00

The fundamental

Zomba

2005-02-15T09:03:00.000-08:00

City, southern Malawi. It lies on the lower slopes of Zomba Mountain in the Shire Highlands, 37 miles (60 km) northeast of Blantyre. Established in 1885 as a planters' settlement, from 1891 it was the centre for the administration of the British Central African Protectorate (later Nyasaland) and the capital of independent Malawi from 1966 until 1975, when the new capital was opened at Lilongwe. The

Use Tax

2005-02-14T15:21:00.000-08:00

Levy on the use or possession of a commodity. Under the principle that the taxpayer should pay according to the benefits received from public services, a use tax is often levied on the user of a service, so that costs of the service are not borne by the general taxpayer. Common examples are motor-vehicle and boat licenses and user fees for airports or harbour-docking

Turgay

2005-02-14T02:18:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Turgai, or Turgaj, oblast (province), central Kazakhstan. It was created in 1970, though a larger oblast of the same name existed in tsarist times, and it embraces the western fringes of the Kazakh Upland and part of the Turgay Steppe. The main rivers are the Ishim, flowing north, and the Turgay, south. The climate is continental, and annual precipitation varies from 8 to 12 inches (200 to 300 mm). There are important

Macpherson, Sir David (lewis)

2005-02-13T04:25:00.000-08:00

Macpherson emigrated in 1835 from Scotland to Montreal, where he amassed a large fortune in shipping. He moved to Toronto in 1853 and obtained a contract to build a railway line in Canada West (now in Ontario)

Endangered Species

2005-02-12T05:38:00.000-08:00

A number of agencies, both international and national, work to maintain lists of endangered species, to protect and preserve natural habitats, and to promote programs for recovery and reestablishment of these species. One such international agency is the Survival Service Commission of the International

Durham

2005-02-12T03:59:00.000-08:00

Administrative, geographic, and historic county of northeastern England, on the North Sea coast. The administrative, geographic, and historic counties cover somewhat different areas. The administrative county comprises seven districts: Chester-le-Street, Derwentside, the city of Durham, Easington, the borough of Sedgefield, Teesdale, and Wear Valley. The geographic

Mountain

2005-02-11T23:38:00.000-08:00

Most mountains and mountain ranges are parts of mountain belts that have formed where two lithospheric plates have converged and where, in most cases, they continue to converge. In effect, many mountain belts mark the boundaries of lithospheric plates, and these boundaries in turn intersect other such boundaries. Consequently, there exist very long mountain systems

Sayers, Dorothy L.

2005-02-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

Sayers received a degree in medieval literature from the University of Oxford in 1915; she was one of the first

Torcy, Jean-baptiste Colbert, Marquis De

2005-02-10T00:50:00.000-08:00

The son of Charles Colbert, minister of foreign affairs, Torcy was a brilliant student, earning a law degree (1683) at so young an age that he needed special dispensation to receive it. His father initiated him into the art of diplomacy, and the

Sorosilicate

2005-02-09T08:49:00.000-08:00

Formerly called Pyrosilicate, any member of a group of compounds with structures that have two silicate tetrahedrons (a central silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms at the corners of a tetrahedron) linked together. Because one oxygen atom is shared by two tetrahedrons, the chemical formula contains Si2O7, as in melilite or hemimorphite.

Memory Abnormality, Traumatic amnesia

2005-02-08T23:42:00.000-08:00

On recovery of consciousness after trauma, a person who has been knocked out by a blow on the head at first typically is dazed, confused, and imperfectly aware of his whereabouts and circumstances. This so-called posttraumatic confusional state may last for an hour or so up to several days or even weeks. While in this condition, the individual appears unable to store

O'brien, Edna

2005-02-08T03:34:00.000-08:00

O'Brien began to produce sketches and tales during childhood. She received

Belalcázar, Sebastián De

2005-02-07T00:09:00.000-08:00

Going to the New World in 1519, Belalcázar became an officer in the forces of Pedro Arias Dávila and in 1524 conquered Nicaragua. Joining Francisco Pizarro's

Benedict I

2005-02-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

Little is known about his life. He was elected to succeed John III, probably just after the latter's death (July 574), but was not consecrated until June 575, so that the see of Rome was vacant for almost 11 months. He consecrated 21 bishops during his pontificate and granted the Massa Veneris, an estate near Minturnae (near modern Minturo, Italy), to Abbot Stephen

Perceval, Spencer

2005-02-06T09:53:00.000-08:00

The second son of the 2nd Earl of Egmont, Perceval was educated at Harrow and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1786 and became a king's counsel in 1796. In that same year he entered Parliament, where his rise to power was facilitated through

Davies, William Henry

2005-02-05T22:04:00.000-08:00

After serving as apprentice to a picture framer, Davies tramped through the United States, crossed the Atlantic many times on cattle boats, lost a foot while trying

Berenice Iv

2005-02-05T14:18:00.000-08:00

Ptolemy, driven from Egypt by the threat of popular insurrection in 58, went to Rome. When his queen died shortly after his departure, Berenice was proclaimed queen. In 57 Ptolemy, employing bribery and

Haley, Bill

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

If not the father of rock and roll, Haley is certainly one of its fathers. He cut his first record in 1948 and the next year settled into a job as a disc jockey in Chester, Pennsylvania. At the time his groups

Puerto Vallarta

2005-02-03T06:08:00.000-08:00

Formerly Las Peñas, city, western Jalisco estado (“state”), west-central Mexico. It lies on Banderas Bay, on the Pacific coastal lowland, 6 miles (10 km) south of the mouth of the Ameca River. It is the major port of Jalisco state and exports bananas, coconut oil, hides, and fine woods. Beans and bananas are grown in the hinterland, which is also used for raising pigs, horses, and bees. Puerto Vallarta's population

Xerox Parc

2005-02-03T03:44:00.000-08:00

Among the many inventions of the 1970s, few are as important as the personal computer, and, because the Xerox Alto was developed in 1973, PARC can claim credit for having made the first one. However, the mindset at Xerox, like that of all computer manufacturers of that time, was that a market did not exist for such machines. Corporate analysts asserted that the computer would be too

Siberia

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

All but the extreme southwestern area of Siberia lies in Russia. In Russian usage the

Châteauroux, Marie-anne De Mailly-nesle, Duchess (duchesse) De

2005-02-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

The fifth daughter of Louis de Mailly, Marquis de Nesle, Marie-Anne was married in 1734 to the Marquis de La Tournelle, who died in 1740. Her eldest sister, Louise-Julie, Countess de Mailly, had been Louis XV's mistress from

Thomism

2005-01-31T16:33:00.000-08:00

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Thomism continued to be presented in philosophy and theology courses or manuals, especially in the Dominican Order. Most Thomistic manuals of this period were watered with the opinions of other Schoolmen and remained remote from modern problems. In most Catholic seminaries and universities of the early 19th century, eclecticism

Aegirine

2005-01-31T07:47:00.000-08:00

A pyroxene mineral, sodium and iron silicate (NaFe+3Si2O6), that is commonly found in alkaline igneous rocks, particularly in syenites and syenite pegmatites. It also occurs in crystalline schists. Aegirine forms a continuous chemical series with aegirinaugite, in which calcium replaces sodium, and magnesium and aluminum replace iron. In this series, the name acmite

Hawkins, Coleman

2005-01-30T14:03:00.000-08:00

At age four Hawkins began to study the piano, at seven

Biblical Literature, The conquest of Canaan

2005-01-30T09:12:00.000-08:00

As told by the Deuteronomist, the conquest of Canaan by Joshua and the Israelite tribes was swift and decisive. No conquest of central Canaan (in the region of Shechem), however, is mentioned in the book; and some scholars interpret this to mean that the central hill country was already occupied either by ancestors of the later Israelite tribes prior to the time of Moses

Hadassah

2005-01-30T03:21:00.000-08:00

The organization is one of the largest volunteer women's organizations in the United States. It was founded in 1912 by Jewish scholar and activist Henrietta Szold and

Telecommunications Network, Ethernet

2005-01-27T23:12:00.000-08:00

The Ethernet originated as a laboratory project at Xerox Corporation in 1974. It was developed as an inexpensive way of sending information quickly between office machines connected together in a single room or building, but it rapidly became a standard computer interconnection method. The data rate is 10 megabits per second. The original specification required coaxial

Sweyn Ii Estridsen

2005-01-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

The son of Ulf, a Danish earl, and Estrid, a sister of Canute I the Great, Sweyn fled to Sweden after his father was murdered in 1027 on orders of Canute. After the death of Canute (1035), when Hardecanute was ruling in Denmark and Magnus in Norway, the young kings agreed that whoever lived longer

Sicard, Roch-ambroise Cucurron, Abbé

2005-01-27T02:33:00.000-08:00

From 1786 to 1789, Sicard, an abbé, was principal of a Bordeaux school for deaf-mutes. He then succeeded Abbé de l'Epée in Paris. Although he long supported teaching deaf-mutes through sign language, Sicard turned to the oral method toward the end of his long career.

William Of Saint-amour

2005-01-26T05:43:00.000-08:00

A protégé of the Count of Savoy, who supported his doctoral studies in canon law and theology at the University of Paris, William was chosen dean of the theology