Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Penal Laws

Laws passed against Roman Catholics in Britain and Ireland after the Reformation that penalized the practice of the Roman Catholic religion and imposed civil disabilities on Catholics. Various acts passed in the 16th and 17th centuries prescribed fines and imprisonment for participation in Catholic worship and severe penalties, including death, for Catholic

Monday, November 29, 2004

Biology, The discovery of cells

Of the five microscopists, Robert Hooke was perhaps the most intellectually preeminent. As curator of instruments at the Royal Society of London, he was in touch with all new scientific developments and exhibited interest in such disparate subjects as flying and the construction of clocks. In 1665 Hooke published his Micrographia, which was primarily a review of a

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Raymond Iii

Raymond succeeded to the countship after the assassination of his father, Raymond II, in 1152. In his campaigns against the Muslims he was taken prisoner by their leader Nureddin in 1164 but was released in 1172. When the new king of Jerusalem, Baldwin IV, took the throne

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Radar, Electronically scanned phased-array radar

An electronically scanned phased-array antenna can position its beam rapidly from one direction to another without mechanical movement of large antenna structures. Agile, rapid beam switching permits the radar to track many targets simultaneously and to perform other functions as required.

Friday, November 26, 2004

Paphlagonia

Ancient district of Anatolia adjoining the Black Sea, bounded by Bithynia in the west, Pontus in the east, and Galatia in the south. The Paphlagonians were one of the most ancient peoples of Anatolia. Passing under the rule of Lydia and Persia, they submitted to Alexander the Great (333 BC), after which they enjoyed a measure of independence. In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC Paphlagonia

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Harbin

Chinese �(Wade - Giles romanization) Ha-erh-pin, �Pinyin �Haerbin, � second largest city of Northeast China and capital of Heilungkiang Province (sheng), on the Sungari River. The city owes its origin to the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway by the Russians at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. Before 1896 it was a small fishing village. Thereafter it became the construction centre for the railway, which by 1904 linked

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Nord-du-qu�bec

English �North of Quebec�, formerly �Nouveau-qu�bec� administrative region constituting the northern half of Quebec province, Canada. The name Nouveau-Qu�bec (�New Quebec�) once was used synonymously with Ungava for that part of the Labrador-Ungava peninsula between Hudson Bay and the Labrador Sea, north of the Eastmain and Churchill (Hamilton) rivers, which was, at the time, a part of the Northwest Territories. In 1912, however,

Monday, November 22, 2004

Andreanof Islands

Group of the Aleutian Islands, southwestern Alaska, U.S. They lie between the Pacific Ocean (south) and the Bering Sea (north) and extend east-west for about 270 miles (430 km) between the Fox and Rat island groups. The Andreanof Islands were strategically important in World War II, and there is a U.S. military installation on Shemya Island.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Cambodia, Flag Of

In different artistic representations, the central building of Angkor Wat has appeared on Khmer national flags since the 19th century, in the early days of the French protectorate over Cambodia. The first flag was red bordered in blue with the temple in white. The flag was �modernized� in 1948 by adoption of unequal horizontal stripes of dark blue, red, and dark blue, and the

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Ethiopia, The Zagwe and Solomonid dynasties

As Christian shipping disappeared from the Red Sea, Aksum's towns lost their vitality. The Aksumite state turned southward, conquering adjacent, grain-rich highlands. Monastic establishments moved even farther to the south - for example, a great monastery was founded near Lake Hayk in the 9th century. Over time, one of the subject peoples, the Agew, learned Ge'ez, became

Friday, November 19, 2004

Kirkpatrick, Jeane

Kirkpatrick took an associate's degree from Stephens College, Columbia, Missouri (1946), a bachelor's from Barnard College, New York City, and a master's and doctorate from Columbia University, New York City (1950 and 1968, respectively).

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Howe, E.w.

Howe went to work at age seven on his father's homestead near Bethany, Mo. An apprentice printer at 12, he worked at the trade in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Utah (1867 - 72). At 19 he was publisher of the Golden (Colo.) Globe and in 1877 founded the Atchison (Kan.) Daily Globe, made famous

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Plantagenet, House Of

Although well established, the surname Plantagenet has little historical justification. It seems to have

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Checkerwork

In architecture, masonry built of two materials, usually stone and flint or stone and brick, so arranged as to make a checkerboard pattern and to give variety in texture and colour. Stone and flint checkerwork is common in the parish churches and smaller houses of East Anglia, England; and both combinations were much used after the Reformation, when the suppressed

Monday, November 15, 2004

Aetius, Flavius

The son of a magister equitum (�master of the cavalry�), Aetius in his youth spent some time as a hostage with the Visigothic leader Alaric, and later with the Huns, thus acquiring valuable knowledge of the leading

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Abrasive

Sharp, hard material used to wear away the surface of softer, less resistant materials. Included within the term are both natural and synthetic substances, ranging from the relatively soft particles used in household cleansers and jeweler's polish to the hardest known material, the diamond. Abrasives are indispensable to the manufacture of nearly every product

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Alembert, Jean Le Rond D'

The main editions of d'Alembert's collected works are: Oeuvres philosophiques, historiques et litt�raires de d'Alembert, ed. by J.F. Bastien, 18 vol. (1805); and Oeuvres compl�tes de d'Alembert, ed. by Bossange and Belin, 5 vol. (1821, reprinted 1967). These may be supplemented by d'Alembert's M�langes de litt�rature, d'histoire et de philosophie, 2 vol. (1753), 4 vol. (1759), 5th vol. (1767), which contain a few pieces omitted from the collected editions; and his Histoire des membres de l'Acad�mie fran�aise morts depuis 1700 jusqu'en 1771, 6 vol. (1785 - 87, reprinted 1970). General studies are: Joseph Bertrand, D'Alembert (1889); and Ronald Grimsley, Jean d'Alembert, 1717 - 83 (1963).

Friday, November 12, 2004

Nepenthes

Nepenthes species are perennial,

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Urban Contemporary Music

Responding to disco's waning popularity in the late 1970s, African-American-oriented radio created

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Sicard, Roch-ambroise Cucurron, Abb�

From 1786 to 1789, Sicard, an abb�, was principal of a Bordeaux school for deaf-mutes. He then succeeded Abb� de l'Ep�e 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.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Cetacean, Feeding adaptations

Before cetaceans evolved aquatic adaptations, they had a fully differentiated set of teeth (heterodont dentition), including incisors, canines, premolars, and molars. As the animals became more adapted to aquatic locomotion and lost the ability to manipulate food with their forelimbs, they started grabbing their food and swallowing it whole. In toothed

Sunday, November 07, 2004

Fishery

Harvesting of fish, shellfish, and sea mammals as a commercial enterprise, or the location or season of commercial fishing. Fisheries range from small family operations relying on traditional fishing methods to large corporations using large fleets and the most advanced technology. Small-scale fishery is ordinarily conducted in waters relatively close to

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Madhubuti, Haki R.

Lee attended several colleges in Chicago and graduate school at the University of Iowa (M.F.A., 1984); he also served in the U.S. Army (1960 - 63). He taught at various colleges and universities, in 1984 becoming a faculty member at Chicago State University. His poetry, which began to appear in the 1960s, was written in black dialect

Friday, November 05, 2004

Gezer

The excavations at Gezer sponsored by the Palestine Exploration Fund during 1902 - 05 and 1907 - 09 disclosed strata covering most periods

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Fibrocystic Disease

Fibrocystic disease of the breast, also called chronic cystic mastitis, or cystic disease of the breast, most often occurs in women between the ages of 30 and 50. It is characterized by benign, noncancerous

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Tyrrell, Sir James

Tyrrell fought on the Yorkist side in their victory over the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Obsidian

Natural glass of volcanic origin that is formed by the rapid cooling of viscous lava. Obsidian is extremely rich in silica (about 35 to 80 percent), is low in water, and has a chemical composition similar to rhyolite. Obsidian has a glassy lustre and is slightly harder than window glass. Though obsidian is typically jet-black in colour, the presence of hematite (iron oxide) produces

Monday, November 01, 2004

Robert

Byname �Robert Guiscard, or Robert De Hauteville, �Italian �Roberto Guiscardo, or Roberto D'altavilla� Norman adventurer who settled in Apulia, in southern Italy, about 1047 and became duke of Apulia (1059). He eventually extended Norman rule over Naples, Calabria, and Sicily and laid the foundations of the Kingdom of Sicily.