Thursday, September 30, 2004

Fichtel Hills

German �Fichtelgebirge�, Czech �Smrciny� mountains in northeastern Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany. They lie at the Czech border between the Franconian Forest in the northwest, the Ore Mountains (in German, Erzgebirge; in Czech, Kru

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Literature, Canada

The past - personal, historical, and imaginary - was the chosen ground for many Canadian novels in 2001, ranging from Nega Mezlekia's exploration of precolonial Africa from a postcolonial perspective in The God Who Begat a Jackal to Robert Hough's 20th-century circus saga about a tiger-taming woman, The Final Confession

Monday, September 27, 2004

Pyroxenite

Dark-coloured, intrusive igneous rock that consists chiefly of pyroxene. Pyroxenites are not abundant; they occur in discrete inclusions, in layered sills (tabular bodies inserted between other rocks) and lopoliths (laccoliths with basin-shaped bases), in branching veins, in narrow dikes (tabular bodies injected in fissures), and at the edges of silica-poor plutons

Sunday, September 26, 2004

Pendant

In stone ceilings the use of pendant vaulting was

Saturday, September 25, 2004

Sommer, Ferdinand

During his academic career, Sommer held professorships at the universities of Basel (1902 - 09), Rostock (1909 - 13), Jena (1913 - 24), Bonn (1924 - 26), and Munich (1926 - 51). His most important works include Handbuch der lateinischen Laut- und Formenlehre (1902; �Handbook of Latin Phonology

Friday, September 24, 2004

T'ien-t'ai Mountains

Also spelled �Tientai Mountains, �Chinese �(Wade-Giles) T'ien-t'ai Shan, �or (Pinyin)� Tiantai Shan, � mountain chain in eastern Chekiang province, China. T'ien-t'ai is also the name of a mountain in the chain. The range forms the northeastern extension of the great Hsien-hsia Mountains in southern Chekiang, which form the watershed between the Ling River and the Ou River, draining into the east coast of Chekiang, and the Yin River, the Ts'ao-o River, and rivers of the Ch'ien-t'ang

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Bukovina

Eastern European territory consisting of a segment of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plain, divided in modern times (after 1947) between Romania and the Soviet Union. Settled by both Ukrainians (Ruthenians) and Romanians (Moldavians), the region became an integral part of the principality of Moldavia in the 14th century. Suceava, in the south of

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Epicurus

Greek philosopher, author of an ethical philosophy of simple pleasure, friendship, and retirement. He founded schools of philosophy that survived directly from the 4th century BC until the 4th century AD.

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Good Hope, Cape Of

Rocky promontory at the southern end of Cape Peninsula, Western Cape province, South Africa. It was first sighted by the Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias in 1488 on his return voyage to Portugal after ascertaining the southern limits of the African continent. One historical account says that Dias named it Cape of Storms and that John II of Portugal renamed it Cape

Monday, September 20, 2004

Ear Disease, Cyst of the ear

A cyst is a sac filled with liquid or semisolid material. A cyst of the ear is most often caused by a gland that lubricates the skin behind the earlobe, less often at the entrance of the ear canal. If the duct of this gland becomes stopped, the lubricating fatty material accumulates as a soft, rounded nodule in the skin. Infection of the cyst causes a tender abscess to form

Sunday, September 19, 2004

Sangha

The sangha originated in the group of disciples who renounced the worldly life to wander with the Buddha and listen to his teachings. After the Buddha's

Saturday, September 18, 2004

U-boat

The Armistice terms of 1918 required Germany to surrender all its U-boats, and the Treaty of Versailles forbade it to possess them in the future. In 1935, however, Adolf Hitler's Germany repudiated the treaty and forcefully negotiated the right to build U-boats. Britain was ill-prepared in 1939 for a resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, and during the early months of World

Friday, September 17, 2004

Maccarthy Island

Also called �Jangjangbure, �originally �Lemain Island, � island, in the Gambia River, 176 miles (283 km) upstream from Banjul, central Gambia. It was ceded in 1823 to Captain Alexander Grant of the African Corps, who was acting for the British crown. Designated as a site for freed slaves, the island was renamed for Sir Charles MacCarthy, British colonial governor (1814 - 24). In the 1830s peanut (groundnut) cultivation was introduced by the Wesleyan Mission

Thursday, September 16, 2004

Katz, Sir Bernard

After

Wednesday, September 15, 2004

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

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

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Procter, William Cooper

The soapmaking firm of Procter

Monday, September 13, 2004

Hohenlohe-ingelfingen, Friedrich Ludwig, F�rst Zu

Hohenlohe entered the Prussian Army in 1768, distinguishing himself in the War

Sunday, September 12, 2004

Ear, Human, Audiometry

The audiometer consists of an oscillator or signal

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Dahlbergh, Eric, Count (greve)

After serving as an engineer (1655 - 57) in Sweden's Polish campaign, Dahlbergh returned to fight

Friday, September 10, 2004

Takeda Shingen

Original name �Takeda Harunobu � one of the most famous of the military leaders who struggled for mastery of the strategic Kanto Plain in central Japan during the chaotic period of civil unrest in the 16th century. Takeda is especially well known for his series of battles with the noted warrior Uesugi Kenshin, not only famous in the annals of Japanese

Thursday, September 09, 2004

Nord-pas-de-calais

R�gion, encompassing the northernmost French d�partements of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. The capital is Lille. The r�gion is bounded by the d�partements of Somme and Aisne to the south. The English Channel lies to the northwest and Belgium to the northeast. Flatlands predominate in the north, with much of the land lying below sea level. The hills of Cambrais and Avesnois

Wednesday, September 08, 2004

China, San-kuo (Three Kingdoms; AD 220 - 280)

By the end of the 2nd century AD the Han Empire had virtually ceased to exist. The repression of the Taoist rebellions of the Yellow Turbans and related sects marked the beginning of a period of unbridled warlordism and political chaos, from which three independent centres of political power emerged. In the north all authority had passed into the hands of the generalissimo

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

Rio Grande

Port city, southeastern Rio Grande do Sul estado (�state�), southern Brazil. The city lies along the Rio Grande (river), which is the outlet to the Atlantic of the Patos Lagoon. It is built on a low peninsula, barely 5 feet (1.5 m) above sea level and 8 miles (13 km) from the river's mouth. Where it enters the ocean, the river passes over a submerged bar that has been dredged so that oceangoing vessels

Monday, September 06, 2004

Biblical Literature, Acts

The various acts, close in form and content to the contemporary Hellenistic romances, turned the apostolic drama into melodrama and satisfied the popular taste for stories of travel and adventure, as well as for a kind of asceticism that was generally rejected by Christian leaders: Andrew (including the Acts of Andrew and Matthias Among the Cannibals), Barnabas

Sunday, September 05, 2004

West Bengal Duars

The West Bengal Duars were ceded to the British by Bhutan in 1863. They constitute a lowland forest belt along the junction between the Himalayan

Saturday, September 04, 2004

Dzungar

Also spelled �Jungar, J��ngar, Dzhungar, or Dsongar, � people of Central Asia, so called because they formed the left wing (dson, �left�; gar, �hand�) of the Mongol army. A western Mongol people whose home was the Ili River valley and Chinese Turkistan, they adopted Buddhism in the 17th century. They are for all practical purposes identical with the Oyrat (q.v.).

Friday, September 03, 2004

Peralta, Pedro De

Peralta arrived in Mexico City during the winter of 1608 - 09 following his university studies in Spain. In March 1609 the viceroy of Mexico appointed him to the post of governor of New Mexico; and, from April to October of that year, Peralta organized an expedition to that province. He

Thursday, September 02, 2004

Lipetsk

City and administrative centre of Lipetsk oblast (province), western Russia. It lies along both banks of the Voronezh River in the Don Basin. A fortified settlement existed on the site in the 13th century, until its destruction by Tatars in 1284. The town was founded in 1703 as an ironworking centre by Peter I the Great. It also served as a spa resort; its natural springs and mineral-laden

Wednesday, September 01, 2004

Genda Minoru

Genda, a graduate of the Japanese Naval Academy (1924), was a fighter