Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Kieslowski, Krzysztof

Kieslowski graduated from the State Theatrical and Film College in L�dz, Poland, in 1968 and began his film career making documentaries, including one he had made for Polish television

Hayes, Helen

At the behest of her mother, a touring stage performer, Hayes attended dancing class as a youngster, and, from 1905 to 1909, she performed with the Columbia Players. At age nine, she made her Broadway debut as Little Mimi in the Victor Herbert operetta

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Linus, Saint

Pope from about 67 to 76 or 79, who may have been the immediate successor to St. Peter. St. Irenaeus identifies him with the Linus in 2 Timothy 4:21 and writes that �the blessed Apostles passed on the sacred ministry of the episcopacy to Linus.� Although his martyrdom is doubtful, he is among the martyrs named in the canon of the mass.

Sorbon, Robert De

Born into a poor rural family, Sorbon was educated in Reims and in Paris, where his piety and diligence drew the patronage of the comte d'Artois and King Louis IX. In 1251 he became canon

Monday, March 29, 2004

Alcoy

The town is a rail

Saramago, Jos�

The son of rural labourers, Saramago grew up in great poverty in Lisbon. After holding a series jobs as mechanic and metalworker, Saragamo began working in a Lisbon publishing firm and eventually became a journalist and translator. He joined the Portuguese

Sunday, March 28, 2004

Demeter

Demeter is rarely mentioned by Homer, nor is she included among the Olympian gods, but the roots of her legend are probably ancient. The legend centred on the story of her daughter Persephone

Abelard, Peter

French �Pierre Ab�lard, or Abailard, �Latin �Petrus Abaelardus, or Abeilardus� French theologian and philosopher best known for his solution of the problem of universals and for his original use of dialectics. He is also known for his poetry and for his celebrated love affair with H�lo�se.

Saturday, March 27, 2004

Grande Encyclop�die, La

(French: �The Great Encyclopaedia�), French general encyclopaedia, lavishly illustrated in 21 volumes and published in Paris (1971 - 78). The work has a French slant and an emphasis on 20th-century achievements in the fields of science and technology, political and social economy, and the social sciences. A completely new encyclopaedia, it is intended both to supplement and to replace

Encratite

Tatian converted to Christianity while studying in Rome

Friday, March 26, 2004

Euro

Also called �Wallaroo, � one of the largest species of kangaroo (q.v.).

Farabi, Al-

Very little is known of al-Farabi's life. He was of Turkic origin and is thought to have been brought to Baghdad as a child by his father, who was probably in the Turkish bodyguard of the Caliph

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Sailer, Anton

Sailer, a 20-year-old plumber, was the youngest

Ibn Abi Ar-rijal, Ahmad (ibn Salih)

After completing his education, Ibn Abi ar-Rijal joined the religious-bureaucratic establishment and reached the important rank of secretary and court orator under the rule of Isma'il al-Mutawakkil,

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Nova Herculis

Also called �DQ Herculis� one of the brightest novas of the 20th century, discovered Dec. 13, 1934, by the British amateur astronomer J.P.M. Prentice, in the northern constellation Hercules. It reached an apparent visual magnitude of 1.4 and remained visible to the unaided eye for months. At its centre was found an eclipsing binary pair of small stars, revolving around each other with a period of 4 hours and 39

Davenport, Edward Loomis

In spite of family opposition, Davenport went on the stage, making his debut in 1836 under the stage name Mr. E. Dee, playing Parson

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Main Range

Also called �Central Range�, or �Buffalo Range� mountain range in West Malaysia, the most prominent mountain group on the Malay Peninsula. Composed of granite with some patches of altered stratified rocks, the range extends southward for 300 miles (480 km) from the Thai border, with elevations rarely less than 3,000 feet (900 m) and some peaks exceeding 7,000 feet (2,100 m; high point Mount Korbu [Kerbau], or Buffalo Mountain, 7,162 feet [2,183 m]). The heavily forested

Wagner, Otto

As a teacher, Wagner

Monday, March 22, 2004

Belgian Literature, The 20th century

Walloon literature explored new paths during the course of the 20th century. Scholars undertook dialect studies, and standardization of spelling and grammar extended the literary possibilities of the dialect, as did attempts by �mile Lempereur and some other writers to renew the sources of inspiration. Alongside several veteran authors, such as the talented

Christian-jaque

Christian-Jaque was educated at the School of Fine Arts and the School of Decorative Arts, both in Paris. He started his career as a journalist and film critic and in 1926 entered the film industry

Sunday, March 21, 2004

Stein, Johann Andreas

The son of an organ builder, Stein apprenticed with the famous instrument maker Johann Andreas Silbermann in 1748 - 49. For a time he evidently lived in Paris, but he was most active in Augsburg,

Steel

Alloy of iron and carbon in which the carbon content ranges up to 2 percent (with a higher carbon content, the material is defined as cast iron). By far the most widely used material for building the world's infrastructure and industries, it is used to fabricate everything from sewing needles to oil tankers. In addition, the tools required to build and manufacture such

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Baldachin

Early

Constanta

Judet (county), southeastern Romania, bounded by Bulgaria on the south. The Black Sea lies to the east, and the northward-draining Danube River delimits the county's western border. Constanta judet, consisting mostly of lowlands, contains several lakes. Constanta (q.v.) city, Romania's principal seaport, is the county seat. Agricultural activities include livestock raising

Friday, March 19, 2004

Chekiang

Chinese (Wade-Giles) �Che-chiang, �(Pinyin) �Zhejiang, � sheng (province) of China. It is the third smallest province of China and also one of the most densely populated and affluent. Its area is 39,300 square miles (101,800 square kilometres). A coastal province, it is bounded by the East China Sea on the east and by the provinces of Fukien on the south, Kiangsi on the southwest, Anhwei on the west, and Kiangsu on the north. The provincial capital

Tyrian Purple

Naturally occurring dye highly valued in antiquity. It is closely related to indigo (q.v.).

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Balchin, Nigel

After studying natural science at the University of Cambridge, Balchin divided his time between research work in science and industry (as an industrial psychologist) and writing. During World War II he was deputy scientific adviser to the Army

Peters, Carl

After visiting London to study British principles of colonization, Peters founded the Society for German Colonization in 1884 and later that year, in the Usambara Mountains area

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

National Aquarium In Baltimore

One of the largest public aquariums in the United States. The aquarium, which opened in 1981 in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Md., was financed largely by the city but was designated a �national� aquarium by the U.S. Congress. Of the more than 10,000 marine and freshwater animals maintained by the aquarium, many are marine mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The decor and effect

China, The Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms

The period of political disunity between the T'ang and the Sung lasted little more than half a century, from 907 to 960. During this brief era, when China was truly a multistate system, five short-lived regimes succeeded one another in control of the old Imperial heartland in northern China, hence the name Wu-tai (Five Dynasties). During these same years, 10 relatively stable regimes

Monday, March 15, 2004

Syzran

City, Samara oblast (province), western Russia. It lies along the Volga River at the latter's confluence with the Syzran River. Founded in 1683 as a stronghold at the eastern end of the Syzran defensive line, the city is a significant river port and an important centre of the western Volga-Urals oil field. Oil refining, manufacture of chemicals, glassmaking, timber working, and

Sunday, March 14, 2004

Conte

Plural �contes� a short tale, often recounting an adventure. The term may also refer to a narrative that is somewhat shorter than the average novel but longer than a short story. Better known examples include Jean de La Fontaine's Contes et nouvelles en vers (Tales and Novels in Verse), published over the course of many years; Charles Perrault's Contes de ma m�re l'oye (1697; Tales of Mother

Laie

Town, Honolulu county, on Laie Bay, northeastern Oahu Island, Hawaii, U.S. The land was acquired by Mormon missionaries in 1864 and settled by a colony of Hawaiian Mormons. The impressive white Laie Temple, where the highest rites of the Mormon church can be performed, was built (1919) on the site of an ancient Hawaiian �city of refuge� (a sanctuary for the pursued). The Polynesian Cultural

Saturday, March 13, 2004

Rings

Also called �still rings � gymnastics apparatus consisting of two small circles that are suspended by straps from an overhead support and grasped by the gymnast while performing various exercises. They were invented in the early 19th century by the German Friedrich Jahn, known as the father of gymnastics. Competition on the rings requires the most strength of any gymnastics event, although

Tacna

Capital of Tacna departamento, southern Peru, on the Caplina River at 1,844 feet (562 m) above sea level, in the arid Andean foothills. When the Spaniards arrived at the site in the 16th century, it was occupied by Aymara Indians. Later, the Spanish town of San Pedro de Tacna was founded, and the surrounding fertile soil and cool climate, as well as proximity to the Pacific port of Arica,

Friday, March 12, 2004

Gyoda

City, Saitama ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, lying on the alluvial plain between the Tone and the Ara rivers. The site was settled in ancient times, and Oshi Castle was constructed there in 1490. During the Tokugawa period (1603 - 1867) the manufacture of tabi (socks) was introduced into Gyoda. This industry grew steadily until the end of World War II, when it was gradually replaced by clothing

Chisholm, Shirley

Shirley St. Hill was the daughter of immigrants; her father was from British Guiana (now Guyana) and her mother from Barbados. She grew up in Barbados and in her native Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from Brooklyn College

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Yang-chou

In the 4th and 3rd centuries BC Yang-chou was a fief known as Kuang-ling in the state of Ch'u. After the Ch'in unification of the empire in 221 BC, it became the seat of a county. Under the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 220), it was the seat

Conservative Party

Byname �Tories� in the United Kingdom, a political party whose guiding principles include the promotion of private property and enterprise, the maintenance of a strong military, and the preservation of traditional cultural values and institutions. Since World War I the Conservative Party and its principal opponent, the Labour Party, have dominated British political life.

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Judaism, Creativity

As has been noted, this �creed,� or �confession of faith,� underscores in the first benediction the relation of God to the world as that of Creator to creation. �Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who forms light and creates darkness, who makes peace and creates all things.� It adds the assertion that his activity is not in the past but is ongoing and continuous,

Gelada

(Theropithecus gelada), large baboon-like monkey, family Cercopithecidae, differing from true baboons (Papio) in having the nostrils some distance from the tip of the muzzle. The gelada, or lion baboon, is a stocky animal with white eyelids, brown fur, a tufted tail, and a naked pink chest. The male bears a long, heavy mane and may be more than 70 centimetres (28 inches) long, excluding

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Keratin

Of the amino acids in keratin, cystine may account for as much as 24 percent. The numerous disulfide bonds formed by cystine are responsible

Aelfheah, Saint

Of noble birth, Aelfheah entered the Benedictine abbey of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, and later became a hermit at Bath, Somerset, where followers elected him abbot. Aelfheah was a friend of Archbishop St. Dunstan of Canterbury,

Monday, March 08, 2004

Permafrost, Ice wedges

The most conspicuous and controversial type of ground ice in permafrost is that formed in large ice wedges or masses with parallel or subparallel foliation structures. Most foliated ice masses occur as wedge-shaped, vertical, or inclined sheets or dikes 2.5 centimetres to 3 metres wide and 0.3 to 9 metres high when viewed in transverse cross section. Some masses seen on the

Lille

Lille (often written L'�le [�the island�] until the 18th century) began as a village between arms of the De�le River. Count Baldwin IV of Flanders fortified it in the 11th century. The medieval

Sunday, March 07, 2004

Botswana, Flag Of

The Tswana people of southern Africa were divided by political boundaries drawn by European settlers in the late 19th century. Some lived to the south of the new border in (British) Cape Colony and thus came under its jurisdiction, while those to the north formed a separate entity under British control, the Bechuanaland Protectorate. In 1910 the Union of South Africa was

Sigismund Ii Augustus

The only son of Sigismund I the Old and Bona Sforza, Sigismund II was elected and crowned coruler with his father in 1530. He ruled the duchy of Lithuania from 1544 and became king

Saturday, March 06, 2004

Chaser

A literary work or portion of a literary work that is of a light or mollifying nature in comparison with that which precedes or accompanies it. The metaphor may stem from the practice of following the consumption of strong alcoholic drink with consumption of a less-potent beverage or, occasionally, with food.

Cincinnati Zoo And Botanical Garden

Zoological park owned by the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., and administered in conjunction with the Zoological Society of Cincinnati. It maintains one of the largest animal collections in the United States, with more than 17,000 specimens representing in excess of 750 species. Often called the �gorilla capital of the world,� the zoo held the record for the most births of lowland

Friday, March 05, 2004

Theatre, Court theatres

The Baroque architectural style, beginning in Italy and spreading across Europe, dominated theatre building between about 1650 and 1790. Its chief characteristics are refinement in detail of the proscenium stage and of the Renaissance horseshoe-shaped auditorium and seating plan. The innovations of the period were introduced in the private court theatres. As many as

Epidermis

In botany, outermost, protoderm-derived layer of cells covering the stem, root, leaf, flower, fruit, and seed parts of a plant. The epidermis and its waxy cuticle provide a protective barrier against mechanical injury, water loss, and infection. Various modified epidermal cells regulate transpiration, increase water absorption, and secrete substances.

Thursday, March 04, 2004

Anambra

Anambra is bounded by the states of Kogi on the north, Enugu on the east, Abia on the southeast, Imo and Rivers on the south, and Delta and Edo on the

Amorphous Solid, Models of atomic scale structures

Amorphous solids, like crystalline solids, exhibit a wide variety of atomic-scale structures. Most of these can be recognized as falling within one or another of three broad classes of structure associated with the following models: (1) the continuous random-network model, applicable to covalently bonded glasses, such as amorphous silicon and the oxide glasses, (2) the

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Heuneburg

Celtic fortified site overlooking the Danube River in Baden-W�rttemberg Land (state), Germany. Recent excavations have shown that the Heuneburg fort community carried on a prosperous trade with the Greeks at Massilia (Marseille) during the 6th century BC. Imported Greek black-figure pottery and Massiliote wine amphorae have been uncovered. Mediterranean influence

Eritrea, Drainage

The Eritrean highlands are drained by four major rivers and numerous streams. Two of the rivers, the Gash and the Tekeze, flow westward into The Sudan. The Tekeze River (also known as the Satit) is a major tributary of the Atbara River, which eventually joins the Nile. The Gash River reaches the Atbara only during flood season. As it crosses the western lowlands, the Tekeze

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

Buzau

Judet (county), southeastern Romania, occupying an area of 2,344 square miles (6,072 square km). The Buzau mountain range, part of the Eastern Carpathians and the sub-Carpathian mountains, lies in the west, rising above settlement areas in the valleys and lowlands. The Buzau River and its tributaries drain eastward. Buzau city, the county capital, has been an economic centre with ties to

Nervous System Disease, Vestibulocochlear nerve

When both divisions of the vestibulocochlear nerve are affected by disease, symptoms may include ringing in the ear (tinnitus), a sensation of spinning (vertigo), and other symptoms such as deafness. Deafness, if not caused by middle-ear disease, suggests damage to the cochlear portion of the nerve. Compression of the nerve at the cerebellopontine angle by a tumour, an

Monday, March 01, 2004

Black Rock Desert

Arid region of lava beds and alkali flats composing part of the Basin and Range Province and lying in Humboldt and Pershing counties of northwestern Nevada, U.S. With an area of about 1,000 square miles (2,600 square km), the desert is 70 miles (110 km) long and up to 20 miles (32 km) wide. Once occupied by ancient Lake Lahontan, it serves as the sink of the Quinn River and, at times, is largely covered with

Rimsky-korsakov, Nikolay

In full �Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov� Russian composer, teacher, and editor who was at his best in descriptive orchestrations suggesting a mood or a place.