CommonNerve

Robert Irving Burns Property Consultants

2006-11-22T06:25:00.000-08:00

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.

Aral Sea

2005-03-16T07:07:00.000-08:00

Uzbek Orol

Aramaic Language

2005-03-14T17:07:00.000-08:00

Aramaic is thought to have first appeared among the Aramaeans about the late 11th century

Hugh Town

2005-03-12T08:28:00.000-08:00

Village and capital of the Isles of Scilly, historic county of Cornwall, England. Located on a sandy peninsula on the southwestern side of St. Mary's Island, the village has a harbour and a roadstead where large vessels can lie at anchor. Hugh Town gave shelter to Prince Charles (later Charles II) until his escape to Jersey in 1646. The economy is centred on fishing and tourism.

Tata

2005-03-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

Oasis, southwestern Morocco. Situated in an arid region at the extreme northwestern edge of the Sahara, Tata oasis is located in a canyon watered by three wadis descending from Mount Bani, an outlier of the Anti-Atlas mountains. The oasis contains about 30 ksars (fortified villages) with houses built out of pink clay. The inhabitants of the region include the Shluh Berbers,

Argentaffin Cell

2005-03-09T16:02:00.000-08:00

One of the round or partly flattened cells occurring in the lining tissue of the digestive tract and containing granules thought to be of secretory function. These epithelial cells, though common throughout the digestive tract, are most concentrated in the small intestine and appendix. The cells locate randomly within the mucous membrane lining of the intestine

Myanmar (burma)

2005-03-07T08:27:00.000-08:00

Myanmar's ruling junta met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Sept. 20, 1994; it was their

Châteauroux

2005-03-04T02:34:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Indre département, Centre région, central France. It lies along the Indre River, south of Orléans, on the main road and railway from Paris to Toulouse. It derives its name from a castle built toward the end of the 10th century by Raoul le Large, prince of Déols. The present Château Raoul, occupied by the prefecture, dates from the 15th century. An 18th-century mansion,

Feline Distemper

2005-03-02T04:14:00.000-08:00

Also called Panleukopenia, or Infectious Enteritis, viral disease of cats, kittens two to six months old being most susceptible. About 3 to 10 days after exposure to the disease, infected kittens cough and sneeze, have running eyes and nose, are feverish, lose their appetites, vomit, and have diarrhea. The number of white cells in the blood drops severely. The disease rarely lasts more than a week, but the mortality rate is high.

Jalayirid School

2005-02-28T07:48:00.000-08:00

School of miniature painting that flourished in Baghdad, Iraq, under the Jalayirids, a local dynasty of governors in power from 1336 to 1432. Along with their contemporaries, the Mozaffarids of southern Iran, the Jalayirid school developed a system of perspective, though in a primitive form, that had been suggested by Mongol Il-Khan paintings of the late 13th-century school

Arartree

2005-02-26T16:07:00.000-08:00

A pyramidal tree 12 to 15 metres (about 40 to 50 feet) tall, the arartree has fragrant, brown or reddish-brown wood that has long been popular for furniture and cabinetmaking. The tree also yields large quantities

Cassel, Gustav

2005-02-24T01:30:00.000-08:00

Cassel was educated at the University of Uppsala and Stockholm University and served as a professor of economics at the latter (1904–33). His most

Mexico, Relief

2005-02-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

Mexico is located in one of the Earth's most dynamic tectonic areas. It is a part of the circum-Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region of active volcanism and frequent seismic activity. Towering peaks, such as Citlaltépetl (also called Orizaba; 18,701 feet [5,700 metres]) and Popocatépetl (17,883 feet [5,452 metres]), are extremely young in geologic terms (late Tertiary) and are examples of the volcanic forces

Pole Vault

2005-02-21T02:25:00.000-08:00

Sport in track-and-field athletics in which an athlete jumps over an obstacle with the aid of a pole. Originally a practical means of clearing objects, such as ditches, brooks, and fences, pole-vaulting for height became a competitive sport in the mid-19th century. An Olympic event for men since the first modern Games in 1896, a pole-vault event for women was added for the 2000 Olympics

New Brutalism

2005-02-18T17:07:00.000-08:00

One aspect of the International Style of architecture that was created by Le Corbusier and his leading fellow architects Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright and that demanded a functional approach toward architectural design. The name was first applied in 1954 by the English architects Peter and Alison Smithson to the post-1930 style of the major French architect

Italian East Africa

2005-02-16T05:17:00.000-08:00

Italian Africa Orientale Italiana, group of Italian possessions in East Africa in the period 1936–41. It comprised Ethiopia (annexed by Italy on May 9, 1936, and was proclaimed a part of Italian East Africa that June 1) together with the Italian colonies of Eritrea, now part of Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland, now part of the Somali Democratic Republic. Italy's king, Victor Emmanuel III, was named emperor. British forces

Lawrance, Charles Lanier

2005-02-14T19:45:00.000-08:00

After attending Yale University Lawrance joined a new automobile firm that was later ruined by the financial panic of 1907. He then went to Paris, where he studied architecture at the Beaux-Arts School

Epistemology, Six distinctions of knowledge

2005-02-12T03:52:00.000-08:00

Mental versus nonmental conceptions of knowledge. Philosophers have asked whether knowledge is a state of mind, i.e., a special kind of awareness of things. That it is has been argued by philosophers since at least the 5th century BC. In The Republic Plato provided the first extensive account of such a view. He regarded knowing as a mental faculty, akin to but different from

Costa Brava

2005-02-11T00:28:00.000-08:00

Coastal region of the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Catalonia, northeastern Spain, extending for about 75 miles (120 km) along the Mediterranean Sea from the French border at Port-Bou to the Spanish bathing resort of Blanes, thus coinciding with the coast of Gerona province. This part of the Spanish coast was almost unknown to tourists until the 1920s, when the

Armin, Robert

2005-02-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

Armin was an apprentice to a goldsmith in the 1580s. It was during this time that he befriended Richard

Dzierzoniów

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

German Reichenbach, city, Walbrzych województwo (province), southwestern Poland, on the Pilawa River. The community was founded as Reichenbach in the 12th century and received town rights in the 13th. The Duke of Ziebice (Münsterberg) pledged the town to Bohemia (1335), whence it passed to the Habsburgs. In 1742 it was surrendered, with Silesia, to Prussia; it returned to Poland in 1945 and was renamed for the Polish

Priesthood

2005-02-04T09:10:00.000-08:00

The function of the priest as the mediator and maintainer of the equilibrium between the sacred and the profane in human society, and as the stabilizer of the social structures and the cultic organizations, determines the various criteria for holding the priestly office. In preliterate society the functions are accomplished by ritual experts who are trained

Biblical Literature, Literary criticism

2005-02-01T05:23:00.000-08:00

Literary criticism endeavours to establish the literary genres (types or categories) of the various documents and to reach conclusions about their structure, date, and authorship. These conclusions are based as far as possible on internal evidence, but external evidence is also very helpful, especially where date is concerned. If the document under consideration

Empiricism, Degrees of Empiricism

2005-01-30T07:39:00.000-08:00

Absolute Empiricists hold that there are no a priori concepts, either formal or categorial, and no a priori propositions. Absolute Empiricism about knowledge is less common than

Arctic, Land transport

2005-01-27T21:19:00.000-08:00

Land transport is less well developed. The expense of building a road or railbed is generally prohibitive in an area with such low population and such great distances between centres. In the American north there is only one railway, the Alaska Railroad, which runs from the port of Seward on the south coast to Fairbanks in the interior. There are more roads, chief among

Polk, James K.

2005-01-26T05:13:00.000-08:00

During his campaign Polk surprised the country by taking a positive stand on two burning issues of the day. Whereas other candidates hedged on the question of whether to annex Texas, which had been independent of Mexico since 1836, he demanded annexation. Whereas other candidates evaded the problem of joint occupancy of Oregon with England, he openly laid claim to the whole territory that extended as far north as latitude 54°40¢ with the campaign slogan “Fifty-four forty or fight.” His election was close, but it was decisive—a popular plurality of about 38,000 votes and 170 electoral votes against 105 for Clay.

Hales, Stephen

2005-01-24T01:42:00.000-08:00

While a divinity student at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, he studied science, particularly botany and chemistry. Ordained in 1703, he was appointed in 1709 to the parish of Teddington, where

Moscow

2005-01-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

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

Solomon Islands

2005-01-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

In midyear and at the invitation

Performing Arts, Germany.

2005-01-18T04:36:00.000-08:00

Two notable films in a generally undistinguished year were Winfried Bonengel's Führer Ex, a dramatic investigation of contemporary neo-Nazism, seen as a legacy of communist oppression in the former East Germany, and Eoin Moore's Pigs Will Fly, a battered-wife story that observed the unhappy relationship through the psychology of the husband, himself a painfully

Anne And Joachim, Saints

2005-01-16T03:51:00.000-08:00

The parents of the Virgin Mary, according to tradition derived from certain apocryphal writings. Information concerning their lives and names is found in the 2nd-century-AD Protevangelium of James (“First Gospel of James”) and the 3rd-century-AD Evangelium de nativitate Mariae (“Gospel of the Nativity of

Kuharic, Franjo Cardinal

2005-01-13T16:55:00.000-08:00

Croatian Roman Catholic cleric (b. April 15, 1919, Pribic, Yugos.—d. March 11, 2002, Zagreb, Croatia), served as a strong nationalist symbol for his countrymen during Croatia's 1991 secession from Yugoslavia and the war that ensued (1991–95). In his role as archbishop of Zagreb (1970–97) and, thus, Roman Catholic primate of Croatia, Kuharic condemned religious intolerance and violence against Serbs and Muslims.

Uzun Hasan

2005-01-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

With the death of Kara Osman, founder of the Ak Koyunlu dynasty, in 1435, a civil war ensued among his descendants. By 1453 Uzun Hasan had emerged victorious and succeeded to the throne. His principality, centred at Amida, was surrounded

Wu Zhen

2005-01-09T20:19:00.000-08:00

Wu, like others of the group, sought stylistic inspiration in the past (especially from Five Dynasties masters such as Juran),

Biblical Literature, The two- and four-source hypotheses

2005-01-08T09:51:00.000-08:00

The two-source hypothesis is predicated upon the following observations: Matthew and Luke used Mark, both for its narrative material as well as for the basic structural outline of chronology of Jesus' life. Matthew and Luke use a second source, which is called Q (from German Quelle, “source”), not extant, for the sayings (logia) found in common in both of them. Thus, Mark and Q

Athens 1980s Overview

2005-01-05T10:34:00.000-08:00

It is said that in every musical generation something new crawls out of the American South. But few would have expected anything earthshaking from Athens, a small city in Georgia that calls itself the “Classic City.” American college towns tend to be consumers rather than creators of musical trends. Athens, where one-third of the population are students at the University

Sibyl

2005-01-04T15:48:00.000-08:00

Also called Sibylla, prophetess in Greek legend and literature. Tradition represented her as a woman of prodigious old age uttering predictions in ecstatic frenzy, but she was always a figure of the mythical past, and her prophecies, in Greek hexameters, were handed down in writing. In the 5th and early 4th centuries BC, she was always referred to in the singular; Sibylla was treated as her proper

Iasi

2005-01-01T05:24:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), northeastern Romania, occupying an area of 2,112 square miles (5,469 square km), and bounded on the east by Moldova. The southward-flowing Prut River marks the county's eastern border with Moldova, and the Siret River drains the hilly terrain of the county to the south. Iasi county was a part of feudal Moldavia. Iasi city is the county capital and has chemical, textile, and

Arabia, History Of, The 1991 Persian Gulf War

2004-12-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

Following the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1988, President Saddam Hussein of Iraq faced massive economic problems, including debts owed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The Iraqi president also viewed himself as the leader of Pan-Arab nationalism and socialism, two ideologies firmly opposed by the conservative monarchies that controlled most of the Arabian Peninsula outside

Houghton (of Great Houghton), Richard Monckton Milnes, 1st Baron

2004-12-29T22:34:00.000-08:00

At Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his M.A. degree in 1831, Houghton joined the socially and artistically progressive Apostles Club, which included among its members the poets Alfred Tennyson and Arthur

Wailuku

2004-12-27T23:19:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Maui county, northern Maui Island, Hawaii, U.S. It is situated on an isthmus at the mouth of the valley of Iao and the base of the western mountains. With Kahului (east) it forms a contiguous area that is the most densely populated and busiest on the island. Iao Stream flows through the western part of the city. Wailuku (Hawaiian: “Water of Destruction”) recalls the

Durnovo, Pyotr Nikolayevich

2004-12-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

Durnovo resigned

Ligne, Charles-joseph, Prince De

2004-12-22T14:23:00.000-08:00

The son of Claude Lamoral, prince de Ligne, head of a family long established in Hainaut

Dadié, Bernard Binlin

2004-12-22T06:39:00.000-08:00

Dadié received his higher education in Senegal, where his involvement in a folklore and drama movement first encouraged him to

B-52

2004-12-21T02:54:00.000-08:00

Also called Stratofortress, U.S. long-range heavy bomber, designed in 1948 and first flown in 1952. Though originally intended to be an atomic-bomb carrier capable of reaching the Soviet Union, it proved adaptable to a number of missions, and some B-52s were thus expected to remain in service for the rest of the 20th century. The B-52 has a wingspan of 185 feet (56 m) and a length of 160 feet 10.9 inches (49 m). It is powered by eight jet engines

Mercy D'argenteau, Florimund, Graf (count)

2004-12-20T00:13:00.000-08:00

Entering the diplomatic service in 1751, Mercy served at the Sardinian court, as ambassador to Russia, and, from 1766, as ambassador in Paris. An adviser

Carney, Arthur William Matthew

2004-12-18T17:46:00.000-08:00

American actor (b. Nov. 4, 1918, Mount Vernon, N.Y.—d. Nov. 9, 2003, Chester, Conn.), had a long and varied career in radio, television, theatre, and film, including an Academy Award-winning dramatic leading role in the movie Harry and Tonto (1974), but it was with one TV character that he would be most identified—sewer worker (or “underground sanitation expert”) Ed Norton, second banana to Jackie Gleason's

Astyages

2004-12-18T13:41:00.000-08:00

Akkadian Ishtumegu the last king of the Median empire (reigned 585–550 BC). According to Herodotus, the Achaemenian Cyrus the Great was Astyages' grandson through his daughter Mandane, but this relationship is probably legendary. According to Babylonian inscriptions, Cyrus, king of Anshan (in southwestern Iran), began war against Astyages in 553 BC; in 550 the Median troops rebelled, and Astyages

Hvarenah

2004-12-16T02:34:00.000-08:00

In Zoroastrianism, the attribute of kingly glory. Introduced to the Persian religion from Iran as part of Mithraism, hvarenah is thought of as a shining halo that descends on a leader and makes him sacred. The king thus proclaims himself divine and can rule with absolute power in the name of God. The concept of hvarenah was especially popular with the Roman emperors,

Turban

2004-12-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

Early Persians wore a conical cap sometimes encircled by bands of cloth, which perhaps may be considered one of the origins of the turban. The turban did not become common among the Turks, however, until after the capture of Constantinople in 1453, when the Ottoman sultan

Morante, Elsa

2004-12-14T00:55:00.000-08:00

Morante early exhibited literary talent, and, although her formal education remained incomplete, her marriage to the novelist Alberto

Bailey, Donovan

2004-12-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey won the 100-m dash in 9.84 sec to earn the appellation "the world's fastest man." Then he ran the last leg of the 4 ´100-m relay and helped the Canadian team win a gold medal in that event. These were impressive accomplishments for a man who had emerged as a factor in international track only in 1994 and did not set a world record

Aepinus, Franz Maria Ulrich Theodor Hoch

2004-12-12T04:40:00.000-08:00

Aepinus studied medicine before turning to physics and mathematics. His work in these new fields resulted

Interior Design, Natural elements

2004-12-11T08:53:00.000-08:00

No man-made object can equal the beauty found in nature, and it is not surprising that the introduction of natural elements into interiors has always been considered desirable. In spite of their beauty, one cannot arbitrarily introduce a plant, a tree, or rocks, or water into an interior. The foremost considerations must be the location of the space, its climate, and its

Azay-le-rideau

2004-12-10T19:03:00.000-08:00

Town and château, Indre-et-Loire département, Centre région, central France. The town lies along the Indre River a few miles upstream from its confluence with the Loire River, about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Tours. Originally the site of a Roman villa, the town was known in the 12th century as Azayum. When the French dauphin (later Charles VII) was insulted by the Burgundian guard

Great Chain Of Being

2004-12-09T15:40:00.000-08:00

Also called Chain Of Being, conception of the nature of the universe that had a pervasive influence on Western thought, particularly through the ancient Greek Neoplatonists and derivative philosophies during the European Renaissance and the 17th and early 18th centuries. The term denotes three general features of the universe: plenitude, continuity, and gradation. The principle of plenitude

Ogoja

2004-12-07T17:52:00.000-08:00

Town, Cross River state, southeastern Nigeria, on the road from Abakaliki. A major trade centre (yams, cassava, corn [maize], rice, palm oil and kernels, kola nuts), it is mainly inhabited by the Ekoi peoples. Ogoja is the headquarters of a local government council and the site of a teacher-training college, a secondary school, and several hospitals and clinics. Pop. (1982 est.) 22,020.

Iraq, Housing

2004-12-06T21:44:00.000-08:00

The availability of adequate housing remained a problem in Iraq at the beginning of the 21st century. This was partly attributable to the major demographic shifts that had occurred in preceding decades, with large numbers of Shi'ites fleeing the south to overcrowded Baghdad and large groups of Kurds, Turkmens, and Assyrians being displaced by government policy in

Pribilof Canyon

2004-12-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

A long submarine canyon rising from the Bering Abyssal Plain on the floor of the Bering Sea southeast of the Pribilof Islands, Alaska. It runs across the edge of the continental slope and is 265 miles (426 km) long with walls 6,000 feet (1,800 m) high. The canyon is characterized by a V-shaped valley with steep and rocky walls, and its floor is covered by sands and gravels. It is believed to have

Ecstasy

2004-12-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

In mysticism, the experience of an inner vision of God or of one's relation to or union with the divine. Various methods have been used to achieve ecstasy, which is a primary goal in most forms of religious mysticism. The most typical consists of four stages: (1) purgation (of bodily desire); (2) purification (of the will); (3) illumination (of the mind); and (4) unification (of one's being or

Chasles, Michel

2004-12-03T18:43:00.000-08:00

French mathematician who, independently of the Swiss German mathematician Jakob Steiner, elaborated on the theory of modern projective geometry, the study of the properties of a geometric line or other plane figure that remain unchanged when the figure is projected onto a plane from a point not on either the plane or the

Enugu

2004-12-02T08:56:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Enugu state, south-central Nigeria, at the foot of the Udi Plateau. It is on the railroad from Port Harcourt, 150 miles (240 km) south-southwest, and at the intersection of roads from Aba, Onitsha, and Abakaliki. The town owes its existence to the discovery of coal on the plateau in 1909, which led to the building of Port Harcourt. With the completion of the railway from the

Switzerland, Internal political difficulties; external threats to neutrality

2004-12-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, this era of material prosperity was not free from political problems. The Mediation Act had disappeared with Napoleon, its place taken by a new Federal Pact that once again established Switzerland as a confederation of sovereign states united only for common defense and the maintenance of internal order. Thus, the formulation and execution of

Theism

2004-11-30T21:07:00.000-08:00

Theism's view of God can be clarified by contrasting it with that of deism, of pantheism, and of mysticism. Deism closely resembles theism; but for the deist, God is not involved in the world in the same personal way. He has made

Esquire

2004-11-30T01:58:00.000-08:00

In England in the later Middle Ages, the term esquire (armiger) was used to denote holders of knights' estates who had not taken up their knighthood, and from this practice it became usual

Tibet, Administration and culture under the Manchu

2004-11-28T01:31:00.000-08:00

Chinese contacts

Gagnoa

2004-11-27T22:54:00.000-08:00

Town, southern Côte d'Ivoire. It is the chief collecting point for a forest region that sends coffee, cocoa, and timber (sipo and mahogany) to the coast for export and is a major market centre (rice, bananas, and yams) for the Bete and Gagu (Gagou) peoples. A paved road connects Gagnoa with Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire. The town is the site of the government's first rural technical

Margaret Tudor

2004-11-26T08:21:00.000-08:00

She married James IV in August 1503, but the scanty

League Of Women Voters

2004-11-25T13:49:00.000-08:00

First proposed by Carrie Chapman Catt at a convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in 1917, the League was organized at a national convention on March 24–29, 1919, in St. Louis, Missouri,

Padilla, Juan De

2004-11-23T08:54:00.000-08:00

Padilla was a member of an ancient noble family of Toledo. Charles, who came to the Spanish throne in 1516, had inflamed national opinion by appointing

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.

2004-11-22T20:55:00.000-08:00

Gates's father,

Skanda

2004-11-21T15:35:00.000-08:00

Also called Karttikeya, Kumara, or Subrahmanya, Hindu god of war and the first-born son of Siva (Shiva). The many legends giving the circumstances of his birth are often at variance with one another. One account is given by Kalidasa (4th and 5th centuries AD) in his epic poem Kumarasambhava (“The Birth of the War God”). The versions all generally agree that the gods wished for Skanda to be born in order to destroy the demon Taraka, who had

Coralli, Jean

2004-11-21T09:39:00.000-08:00

He was choreographer

Ragunan Zoological Gardens

2004-11-19T10:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Jakarta Zoological Gardens , Indonesian Kebun Binatang Ragunan , or Kebun Binatang Jakarta zoo in Jakarta, Indon., that is one of the world's notable collections of Southeast Asian flora and fauna. More than 3,500 specimens of approximately 450 animal species are exhibited on the 200-hectare (494-acre) park grounds. Among these are the orangutan, Sumatran serow, and various other rare animals of Indonesia. The zoo was founded in 1864 on a 4-hectare (11-acre) site and was moved to a new and much

Mosaferid Dynasty

2004-11-18T02:41:00.000-08:00

The founder of the dynasty was Mohammad ebn Mosafer (ruled c. 916–941), military commander of the strategic mountain fortresses of Tarom and Samiran in Daylam, in northwestern Iran. With the increasing weakness of the Justanid dynasty that ruled the region, Mohammad increased his power and gained control of most of Daylam. After

Klammer, Franz

2004-11-17T22:35:00.000-08:00

Winner of eight of the nine downhill races on the World Cup tour in 1975, Klammer was the favourite at the 1976 Olympics but faced stiff competition from defending

Frelinghuysen, Frederick Theodore

2004-11-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

Frelinghuysen was born into a family that had long been prominent in politics. Left an orphan at the age of three, he was adopted by his uncle, Theodore Frelinghuysen. He graduated from Rutgers College in 1836, studied law in his uncle's law office,

Natal Grass

2004-11-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

Any of several southern African grasses of the family Poaceae, and species Rhynchelytrum repens (formerly Tricholaena rosea), which in some areas is known as Natal red top. It is a tufted, perennial with glossy, purple or pink hairs on the seed heads. Natal grass is found on disturbed soils in tropical America and Australia and is cultivated as a forage and ornamental

Bar Form

2004-11-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

In music, the structural pattern aab as used by the medieval German minnesingers and meistersingers, who were poet-composers of secular monophonic songs (i.e., those having a single line of melody). The modern term Bar form derives from a medieval verse form, the Bar, consisting of three stanzas, each having the form aab. The musical term thus refers to the melody of a single

Arval Brothers

2004-11-13T10:29:00.000-08:00

Latin Fratres Arvales, in ancient Rome, college or priesthood whose chief original duty was to offer annual public sacrifice for the fertility of the fields. The brotherhood, probably of great antiquity, was almost forgotten in republican times but was revived by Augustus and probably lasted until the time of Theodosius I. It consisted of 12 members, elected for life from the highest ranks,

Rímac

2004-11-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Quarter and district of the Lima–Callao metropolitan area, north of central Lima, Peru. Created a district in 1921, the site was settled in early colonial days. The Puente de Piedras (“Bridge of Stone”) was built in 1610. Notable colonial landmarks include the promenade and Monastery of the Descalzos (Barefoot Brethren); a building claimed to be the Palace of “La Perricholi” (Micaela

Computers, Commodore and Tandy enter the field

2004-11-11T21:44:00.000-08:00

The next year, another established company entered the

Rímac

2004-11-09T10:25:00.000-08:00

In electronics, a semiconductor device that emits infrared or visible light when charged with an electric current. Visible LEDs are used in many electronic devices as indicator lamps, in automobiles as rear-window and brake lights, and on billboards and signs as alphanumeric displays or even full-colour posters. Infrared LEDs are employed in autofocus cameras

Romanche Gap

2004-11-08T19:08:00.000-08:00

The Romanche Gap is one of the

Roman Road System

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

The first of the great Roman roads, the Via Appia (Appian Way), begun by the censor Appius

Heredity, In bacteria

2004-11-07T22:31:00.000-08:00

In 1961 the French molecular biologists François Jacob and Jacques Monod proposed a model for genetic regulation in E. coli. When grown on a minimum culture of carbohydrates and sulfur, these bacteria can synthesize all of their necessary amino acids. To accomplish this amino-acid synthesis, the bacteria must produce various enzymes, the activities of which can be detected

Guadalajara

2004-11-06T22:48:00.000-08:00

Province, in the autonomous community (region) of Castile-La Mancha, central Spain, occupying part of the uptilted northeastern edge of the Meseta Central (plateau). In the north are highlands that reach their greatest elevations in Cerro de San Felipe (7,214 feet [2,199 metres]), and other spurs of the Sierra de Guadarrama. In the south, the land slopes into the plateau basin of New Castile.

Biblical Literature, The succession of Solomon to the throne

2004-11-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

I Kings (chapters 1 and 2) continues the story of David and the struggle for the succession of his throne. The sides were drawn between Adonijah, David's eldest living son, and Solomon, the son of David and Bathsheba. Supporting Adonijah were the “old guard”—the general Joab and the priest Abiathar—and supporting Solomon were the priest Zadok, the prophet Nathan, and the captain

Wellman, William (augustus)

2004-11-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

Wellman left secondary school in Newton, Mass., to take up professional ice hockey. In 1917 he volunteered for ambulance duty in France, soon joined the French air corps, flew in combat, and was shot down. He returned to the United States

Ares

2004-11-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

In Greek religion, god of war or, more properly, the spirit of battle. Unlike his Roman counterpart, Mars (q.v.), he was never very popular, and his worship was not extensive in Greece. He represented the distasteful aspects of brutal warfare and slaughter. From at least the time of Homer, who established him as the son of the chief god, Zeus, and Hera, his consort, Ares was one of the

Italy, The south, 7741000

2004-11-01T22:50:00.000-08:00

When Charlemagne conquered central and northern Italy, Duke Arichis II of Benevento (758–787) responded by titling himself princeps and claiming the legitimist tradition of the Lombards. Lombard princes then ruled in the south for 300 years, until the Norman Conquest. Arichis and his son Grimoald III (787–806) were powerful rulers who held off the Franks, even if Grimoald temporarily

Boiardo, Matteo Maria, Conte (count) Di Scandiano

2004-11-01T13:34:00.000-08:00

Poet whose Orlando innamorato, the first poem to combine elements of both Arthurian and Carolingian traditions of romance, gave new life to the chivalrous epic, which was declining in popularity. Boiardo spent much of his childhood at Ferrara, and served the dukes of Este. He was captain of the ducal forces at Modena

Carter Family

2004-10-31T05:53:00.000-08:00

Singing group consisting of Alvin Pleasant Carter, known as A.P. Carter (b. April 15, 1891, Maces Spring, Va., U.S.—d. November 7, 1960, Kentucky),his wife Sara, née Dougherty (b. July 21, 1898, Flatwoods, Virginia—d. Jan. 8, 1979, Lodi, Calif.), and his sister-in-law Maybelle Carter, née Addington (b. May 10, 1909, Nickelsville, Va.—d. Oct. 23, 1978, Nashville, Tenn.), a leading force in the spread and popularization of Appalachian Mountain folk

Athletics, Modern development

2004-10-30T01:21:00.000-07:00

The development of the modern sport, however, has come only since the early 19th century. Organized amateur footraces were held in England as early as 1825, but it was from 1860 that athletics enjoyed its biggest surge to that date. In 1861 the West London Rowing Club organized the first meet open to all amateurs, and in 1866 the Amateur Athletic Club (AAC) was founded and conducted the first

Pierre

2004-10-29T03:16:00.000-07:00

Capital of South Dakota, U.S., seat (1880) of Hughes county, on the Missouri River, in the geographic centre of the state. Before 1800 the capital of the Arikara Indian nation was located on its site. Founded in June 1880 as the western terminus of the Chicago and North Western Railway, it was first known as Mahto (Sioux: “Bear”) but was renamed in December 1880 for Pierre Chouteau, a French fur trader.

West Frisian Islands

2004-10-28T17:50:00.000-07:00

Dutch West Friese Eilanden, part of the chain of Frisian Islands (q.v.), which lie in the North Sea just off the coast of northwestern Europe. They belong to The Netherlands.

Epistemology, Our knowledge of the external world

2004-10-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

Most people have noticed that vision can play tricks on them. A straight stick put in water looks bent to them, but they know it is not; railroad tracks are seen to be converging in the distance, yet one knows that they are not; the wheels of wagons on a movie screen appear to be going backward, but one knows that they are not; and the pages of English-language books reflected

Bae Systems

2004-10-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

Major British manufacturer of aircraft, missiles, avionics, and other aerospace and defense products. It was formed in 1999 from the merger of British Aerospace PLC (BAe) with Marconi Electronic Systems, formerly part of General Electric Company PLC. BAe, in turn, dates to the merger in 1977 of British Aircraft Corporation, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, and two other firms. Headquarters

Earthquake, TokyoYokohama

2004-10-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

A great earthquake struck the Tokyo–Yokohama metropolitan area near noon on Sept. 1, 1923. The death toll from this shock was estimated at more than 140,000. Fifty-four percent of the brick buildings and 10 percent of the reinforced concrete structures collapsed. Many hundreds of thousands of houses were either shaken down or burned. The shock started a tsunami that reached a height

Akwapim-togo Ranges

2004-10-23T15:50:00.000-07:00

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