SecretMouth

0800 Promote

2006-11-23T14:40:00.000-08:00

0800 Promote are a London based company, established in 1989, primarily to supply quality business gifts. 0800promote provide an all-round facility to promote all aspects of corporate promotional activity and promotional products, including promotional printing,http://0800promote.com/printed-clothes.php and http://0800promote.com/printed-pen.php to name a few. We are a small building business who needed items printing on for a buyers show we were attending and we were extremely happy with 0800 Promotes services.

Mitford, Nancy

2005-04-03T21:06:00.000-07:00

Nancy Mitford was one of six daughters (and one son) of the 2nd Baron Redesdale; the family name was actually Freeman-Mitford. The children were educated at home and were all highly original. Nancy's sister Unity (d. 1948) was notorious in Great Britain for her admiration of Adolf

Ghazali, Al-

2005-04-03T01:17:00.000-08:00

Al-Ghazali was born at Tus (near Meshed in eastern Iran) and was educated there, then in Jorjan, and finally at Nishapur (Neyshabur), where his teacher was al-Juwayni, who earned the title of imam al-haramayn (the imam

Oberösterreich

2005-04-02T04:58:00.000-08:00

Part of the Austrian granite plateau,

Literature, Yiddish

2005-04-01T02:42:00.000-08:00

Baym rand fun kholem (“At the Edge of a Dream”), by master of the short novella Tsvi Ayznman, was a family chronicle of tales and sketches that traced a life journey from Poland to the Soviet Union, with sojourns in the Czech lands, Italy, and Cyprus. After finally settling in Israel,

Aerospace Industry, World War II

2005-03-31T13:53:00.000-08:00

Germany's aircraft industry after World War I was heavily restricted by the Treaty of Versailles. In 1921–22 the constraints were eased, and a productive light-aircraft industry began to develop. When restrictions were basically abolished in 1926, a number of new ventures were formed; those which survived included such companies as Arado, Dornier, Focke-Wulf, Junkers, and Heinkel.

Hadrian's Villa

2005-03-30T21:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Villa Adriana country residence built (c. AD 125–134) at Tivoli near Rome by the emperor Hadrian. This villa is considered the epitome in architecture of the opulence and elegance of the Roman world. Covering approximately 7 square miles (18 square km), the complex was more an imperial garden city than a traditional villa. Its buildings were designed to follow the natural lay of the land and included

Baratieri, Oreste

2005-03-29T17:07:00.000-08:00

Baratieri had been a volunteer for Giuseppe Garibaldi, the popular hero of Italian unification, serving

Bach Long Vi

2005-03-29T15:41:00.000-08:00

Island of northern Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, halfway between the mouth of the Red River (Song Hong) near Nam Dinh and the Chinese island of Hainan. The island is a plateau that rises abruptly to 190 ft (58 m) above sea level and is fringed with precipitous cliffs. Fishing resources are abundant in the surrounding gulf of the South China Sea.

Physical Sciences, Organic Chemistry.

2005-03-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

Chemists missed the mark when they picked the original name—inert gases—for a family of six elements that compose group 18 of the periodic table. They thought that helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon were inert and never combined with other elements to form chemical compounds. That notion was upset in the 1960s when researchers made the first xenon compounds and

Camargo, Marie (-anne De Cupis De)

2005-03-26T02:27:00.000-08:00

Camargo studied in Paris under Françoise Prevost and danced in Brussels and Rouen before her Paris Opéra debut in 1726 in Les Caractères de la danse. Her success provoked the jealousy of her aging teacher, Prevost, who

Vanadium Processing

2005-03-24T03:01:00.000-08:00

Vanadium (V) is a grayish silver metal whose crystal structure is a body-centred cubic (bcc) lattice, with a melting point of 1,926° C (3,499° F). The metal is used principally as an alloying addition to high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels and, to a lesser extent, in tool steels and iron and steel castings. It is also an important strengthener

Swartkrans

2005-03-24T01:59:00.000-08:00

One of three neighbouring South African sites where important fossil hominid remains have been found. See Sterkfontein.

Amadi, Elechi

2005-03-23T11:43:00.000-08:00

Amadi, an Ijo (Ijaw) who wrote in English, was educated at Government College, Umuahia, and University College, Ibadan, in physics and mathematics. He served in the Nigerian army, taught, and worked for the Ministry of Information.

Application Lace

2005-03-22T11:06:00.000-08:00

French Point Appliqué, lace in which motifs (flowers and the like) are worked individually and then joined to a net background (whether made by machine or by hand), in contrast to the method in which the net is worked round the solid parts of the design and the whole lace worked as a single piece without joins. In the 19th century application lace was made especially at Brussels and, in England, at

'abd Al-mu'min

2005-03-21T07:25:00.000-08:00

In full 'Abd al-Mu'min ibn 'Ali Berber caliph of the Almohad dynasty (reigned 1130–63), who conquered the North African Maghrib from the Almoravids andbrought all the Berbers under one rule.

Haliburton, Thomas Chandler

2005-03-20T22:18:00.000-08:00

Haliburton was admitted to the bar in 1820 and, as a member of the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly (1826–29), led

Endocrinology

2005-03-19T03:51:00.000-08:00

Medical discipline dealing with the role of hormones and other biochemical mediators in regulating bodily functions and with the treatment of imbalances of these hormones. Although some endocrine diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, have been known since antiquity, endocrinology itself is a fairly recent medical field, depending as it does on the recognition

Koraput

2005-03-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

Most of the people of the surrounding area live in tribal communities and are engaged in agriculture, with rice, sugarcane, and oilseeds the biggest crops. The region also has rich mineral deposits, including

Ghent, State University Of

2005-03-18T09:27:00.000-08:00

Dutch Rijksuniversiteit Te Gent, state-financed coeducational institution of higher learning with limited autonomy in Ghent, Belg. Founded in 1817 under King William I of The Netherlands, the university at first conducted its instruction in Latin; in 1830 the language was changed to French; in 1916, during the German occupation of World War I, to Flemish (Dutch); in 1918 back to French; and by 1930 back permanently to Flemish.

Melchizedek Priesthood

2005-03-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

In the Mormon church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), the higher of the two priesthoods, concerned with spiritual rather than secular matters. See Mormon.

Cordilleran Geosyncline

2005-03-17T02:50:00.000-08:00

A linear trough in the Earth's crust in which rocks of Late Precambrian to Mesozoic age (roughly 600 million to 66 million years ago) were deposited along the western coast of North America, from southern Alaska through western Canada and the United States, probably to western Mexico. The eastern boundary of the geosyncline extends from southeastern Alaska along the eastern

Fu-an

2005-03-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Fu'an, city in northeastern Fukien sheng (province), China. It is situated on the east bank of the Chiao River, with highway communications running north into Chekiang and south along the coast to Fu-chou, some 90 miles (150 km) away. It is in an area of Fukien that was developed comparatively late, since it is somewhat less productive than the south of the province. Fu-an is above all a market

Shensi, Transportation

2005-03-15T00:46:00.000-08:00

The Wei Valley since prehistoric times has formed part of the main east–west route running from the North China Plain in the east to the Kansu Corridor and the steppelands in the west. Sian is a natural centre, where the great route east to west meets the routes that cross the Tsinling Mountains to the south and southeast, an alternative route to the northwest via the

Hadley, George

2005-03-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

Though educated in law, Hadley preferred physics to legal work. A pamphlet describing the quadrant and a Latin translation of this

Orumiyeh

2005-03-14T14:24:00.000-08:00

For long periods

Sabbatini, Nicola

2005-03-13T08:20:00.000-08:00

In his major and most enduring written work, Pratica di fabricar scene e macchine ne' teatri (1638; “Manual for Constructing Scenes and Machines in the Theatre”), Sabbatini described

Altman, Robert

2005-03-13T00:09:00.000-08:00

Unconventional and independent American motion-picture director whose works emphasize character and atmosphere over plot in exploring themes of innocence, corruption, and survival. Perhaps his best-known film was his first and biggest commercial success, the antiwar comedy M*A*S*H (1970), set in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during

Chia-i

2005-03-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Chiayi, hsien (county), west-central Taiwan, with an area of 734 square miles (1,902 square km). It is bounded by the hsien of Yün-lin and Nan-t'ou (north), Kao-hsiung (east), and T'ai-nan (south) and by the Taiwan Strait (west). The A-li Mountains dominate the eastern region, and there are coastal plains in the west. Paddy rice, sugarcane, peanuts (groundnuts), corn (maize), jute, bananas, pineapples, and citrus fruits

West End

2005-03-11T20:18:00.000-08:00

In London, loosely defined area in the boroughs of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea. Because many of its neighbourhoods and retail districts are among the more affluent of the metropolis, the West End is considered the fashionable end of London. For centuries it has been known for its royal palaces, parklands, government offices, mansions, and exclusive shopping

Laing, Alexander Gordon

2005-03-10T23:37:00.000-08:00

Serving with the British army in Sierra Leone (1822), Laing was sent among the Mande people of the region by the governor, Charles (later Sir Charles) M'Carthy, to attempt to develop trade

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Parable

2005-03-10T22:15:00.000-08:00

Like fable, the parable also tells a simple story. But, whereas fables tend to personify animal characters—often giving the same impression as does an animated cartoon—the typical parable uses human agents. Parables generally show less interest in the storytelling and more in the analogy they draw between a particular instance of human behaviour (the true neighbourly

Anson, Cap

2005-03-09T23:18:00.000-08:00

Anson played in the National Association, the first professional baseball league, with the Forest City

Michael

2005-03-08T09:39:00.000-08:00

Acceding to the princely throne of Walachia in 1593, Michael submitted in May 1595 to the suzerainty of the prince of Transylvania, Sigismund Báthory, in order to secure support against Ottoman rule. He routed the Turks at Calugareni (August

Heves

2005-03-08T09:33:00.000-08:00

Lentils, tobacco, and

Jackson, Helen Hunt

2005-03-07T03:02:00.000-08:00

She was the daughter of Nathan Fiske, a professor at Amherst (Mass.) College. She lived the life of a young army wife, traveling from post to post, and after the deaths of her first husband, Captain Edward Hunt, and her two sons, in 1863 she turned to writing. She

Rimouski

2005-03-06T22:55:00.000-08:00

City, Bas-Saint-Laurent region, eastern Quebec province, Canada. The city lies on a hillside sloping gently toward its deepwater port (sheltered by the Île Saint-Barnabé) on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River. The land was granted to Augustin Rouer de la Cardonnière in 1688. Germain Lepage was the first settler (1696), and Recollet missionaries and Jesuits followed in 1701. The name

Syria, The Ayyubids and Mamluks

2005-03-06T20:58:00.000-08:00

After Saladin's death his kingdom was split up among members of his family, the Ayyubids, who established principalities in Aleppo, Hamah, Hims, Damascus, Ba'labakk, and Transjordan and ruled them until 1260. The period of Nureddin, Saladin, and their successors was of great importance. Thanks largely to the establishment of Italian trading centres on the coast and better security,

Sacrament

2005-03-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

The Latin word sacramentum, which etymologically is an ambiguous theological term, was used in Roman law to describe a legal sanction in which a man placed his

Endrin

2005-03-05T13:38:00.000-08:00

Chlorine-containing organic compound used as an insecticide. See aldrin.

France, History Of

2005-03-03T20:52:00.000-08:00

History of the area from the time of ancient Gaul and the period of the Merovingian and Carolingian dynasties of the Early Middle Ages to the subsequent emergence of the modern nation and developments to the present.

Sunflower

2005-03-03T13:59:00.000-08:00

Plant of the genus Helianthus of the family Asteraceae, native primarily to North and South America. The common sunflower is an annual herb with a rough hairy stem 1–4.5 m (3–15 feet) high, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves 7.5–30 cm (3–12 inches) long, and heads of flowers 7.5–15 cm wide in wild specimens and often 0.3 m or more in cultivated types. The disk flowers are brown, yellow,

Alismatidae

2005-03-03T03:09:00.000-08:00

Subclass of flowering plants belonging to the class Lilopsida.

K2

2005-03-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

Also called Mount Godwin Austen , called locally Dapsang , or Chogori

Biblical Literature, The Great Bible

2005-03-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

In an injunction of 1538, Henry VIII commanded the clergy to install in a convenient place in every parish church, “one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume in English.” The order seems to refer to an anticipated revision of the Matthew Bible. The first edition was printed in Paris and appeared in London in April 1539 in 2,500 copies. The huge page size earned it the sobriquet the

Biblical Literature, The lawbook

2005-03-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

The laws are the central core and purport of the book of Deuteronomy. They are couched in a hortatory, sermonic style that has led to their being categorized as preached law. Emphatic statements of what must or must not be done are connected with exhortations to fulfill these injunctions, pointing to the motivations and spirit in which they should be carried out. There

Dacier, Anne

2005-02-28T02:55:00.000-08:00

Anne Dacier was the

Turkey, The Fundamental Law and abolition of the sultanate

2005-02-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

The Kemalists were now faced with local uprisings, official Ottoman forces, and Greek hostility. The first necessity was to establish a legitimate basis of action. A parliament (the Grand National Assembly) met at Ankara on April 23 and asserted that the sultan's government was under infidel control and that it was the duty of Muslims to resist foreign encroachment.

Bhaktivedanta, A(bhay) C(haranaravinda)

2005-02-27T00:16:00.000-08:00

In 1920 Bhaktivedanta completed his B.A. in chemistry at the Scottish Churches' College in Calcutta; by that time, his family had arranged a marriage for him, and he later established

Whidbey Island

2005-02-26T20:30:00.000-08:00

Whidbey also spelled Whidby island, part of Island county, northwestern Washington, U.S., in Puget Sound. Approximately 40 miles (65 km) long, it is one of the largest offshore islands in the continental United States. Its chief towns are Oak Harbor, Coupeville (a preserved historic [1875] town), and Langley. The island was named for Joseph Whidbey, the sailing master for George Vancouver. Whidbey, on June 2, 1792, as a member

Jili, Al-

2005-02-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

Little is known about al-Jili's personal life. Possibly after a visit to India in 1387, he studied in Yemen during 1393–1403. Of his more than 30 works, the most famous is Al-Insan al-kamil fi ma'rifat al-awakhir wa al-awa 'il (partial Eng. trans., Studies in Islamic

'ubayd, Tall Al-

2005-02-25T21:56:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Tell El-ubaid, ancient site that gave its name to a prehistoric cultural period, the Ubaid, in Mesopotamia; it is located near the ruins of ancient Ur in present-day southeastern Iraq. Excavations have uncovered Ubaidian remains throughout southern Mesopotamia. The hallmark of the period was a painted pottery decorated with geometric and sometimes floral and animal designs

Lancet, The

2005-02-24T23:49:00.000-08:00

British medical journal established in 1823. The journal's founder and first editor was Thomas Wakley, considered at the time to be a radical reformer. Wakley stated the intent of the new journal was to report on the metropolitan hospital lectures and to describe the important cases of the day. The Lancet has since played an important role in medical and hospital reform

Porsgrunn

2005-02-24T14:40:00.000-08:00

Town, Telemark fylke (county), southern Norway, at the mouth of the Skienselva (river) on Frierfjorden. Established as a customs post in 1652 with the name Porsgrund, it received its town charter in 1842. An export and industrial centre, it contains the huge Norsk Hydro chemical factories, a factory that produces Norway's finest porcelain, shipyards, metalworks, and lumber mills.

Drag Racing

2005-02-24T06:52:00.000-08:00

Contestants line

Bachofen, Johann Jakob

2005-02-23T23:01:00.000-08:00

Bachofen was a professor of the history of Roman law at the University of Basel (1841–45) and also a judge of the Basel criminal court (1842–66). After writing two works on Roman civil law (1847 and 1848), he traveled to Italy

Theiler, Max

2005-02-23T00:31:00.000-08:00

Theiler received his medical training at St. Thomas's Hospital, London, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, graduating in 1922. In that year he joined the department

Quintana, Manuel José

2005-02-22T20:42:00.000-08:00

After studying law at the University of Salamanca, he went to Madrid to begin his

Jackson, Robert H(oughwout)

2005-02-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

An adept scholar, Jackson pleaded his first case by special permission while still a minor and was admitted to the bar at the age of 21. He served as corporation counsel for Jamestown, N.Y., and, after the Stock Market Crash of 1929, helped merge the city's three financial institutions,

Strachey, (giles) Lytton

2005-02-21T19:14:00.000-08:00

English biographer and critic who opened a new era of biographical writing at the close of World War I. Adopting an irreverent attitude to the past and especially to the monumental life-and-letters volumes of Victorian biography, Strachey proposed to write lives with “a brevity which excludes everything

Yancey, Jimmy

2005-02-21T15:29:00.000-08:00

Yancey was largely a self-taught pianist, with some instruction from his brother Alonzo. He had a childhood

Bewick, Thomas

2005-02-21T00:40:00.000-08:00

Bewick, a precocious youth, was apprenticed to a local metal engraver when he was 14 years old. He progressed rapidly and, after his apprenticeship, entered

Wiggin, Kate Douglas

2005-02-19T07:28:00.000-08:00

Kate Douglas Smith attended a district school in Philadelphia and for short periods the Gorham Female Seminary in Maine, the Morison Academy in Maryland, and the Abbott Academy in Massachusetts. In 1873 she moved with her family to Santa

Andersson, Dan(iel)

2005-02-19T01:12:00.000-08:00

Born to a poor family, he was a woodsman and charcoal burner before he became a temperance lecturer. His first two published volumes, which made the charcoal burners and, incidentally, himself famous, were

China, The Chinese Revolution (191112)

2005-02-18T21:43:00.000-08:00

The Chinese Revolution was not triggered by the United League itself but by the Hupeh army troops urged on by the local revolutionary bodies not incorporated in the league. An accidental exposure of a mutinous plot forced a number of junior officers to choose between arrest or revolt in Wu-han. The revolt was initially successful because of the determination of

Equestrian Sports

2005-02-18T15:12:00.000-08:00

In April 1997 Memo Gracida, the new leader of Isla Carroll, won his sixth consecutive and a record 15th career U.S. Open by defeating White Birch in the final at the Palm Beach (Fla.) Polo Club. Isla Carroll also gained the World Cup and the Gold Cup of the Americas, and White Birch won its eighth USPA Gold Cup. Grant's Farm Manor and Peapacton obtained the Sterling and Challenge cups,

Typography

2005-02-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

The design, or selection, of letter forms to be organized into words and sentences to be disposed in blocks of type as printing upon a page. Typography and the typographer who practices it may also be concerned with other, related matters—the selection of paper, the choice of ink, the method of printing, the design of the binding if the product at hand is a book—but the word

Salcedo

2005-02-17T20:50:00.000-08:00

City, northern Dominican Republic. It lies in the fertile Cibao Valley between the mountain chains of the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera Septentrional. Salcedo serves as a commercial centre for the agricultural hinterland, which yields principally cacao, coffee, and corn (maize). It is accessible by secondary highway from San Francisco de Macorís and Moca.

Marfan's Syndrome

2005-02-17T02:46:00.000-08:00

Also called arachnodactyly rare hereditary disorder of connective-tissue development in humans that affects several body systems, most notably the skeleton, heart, and eye. Affected individuals are tall, their limbs are long and thin, their fingers are long and may be described as spider-like, and there is a tendency to double-jointedness. The lens of the eye is dislocated (a diagnostic sign), and

Hawk

2005-02-17T00:48:00.000-08:00

Any of many small to medium-sized diurnal birds of prey, particularly those in the genus Accipiter, known as the true hawks, and including the goshawks and sparrowhawks. The term hawk is often applied to other birds in the family Accipitridae (such as the kites, buzzards, and harriers) and sometimes is extended to include certain members of the family Falconidae (falcons

Gabon, Demographic trends

2005-02-15T23:45:00.000-08:00

Gabon, like its central African neighbours, has a very low population density. Since 1970, as a result of increased urbanization, the low rate of natural increase of the previous half-century appears to have given way to a relatively high growth rate. The extent to which the heavy immigration of foreign workers and Equatorial Guinean refugees has contributed to this growth

Kudirka, Vincas

2005-02-15T15:54:00.000-08:00

Educated in medicine,

Academy Bay

2005-02-15T13:13:00.000-08:00

Spanish Bahia De La Academia, bay at the south end of Santa Cruz (Indefatigable) Island (one of the Galapagos Islands), about 600 miles (965 km) west of Ecuador, in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Named in 1905 by the California Academy of Sciences Expedition, it is the site of the Charles Darwin Research Station, which was established in 1959 to study and preserve the Galapagos Islands' flora and fauna. The bay also serves as

Lancaster, Thomas, 2nd Earl Of, Earl Of Leicester, Earl Of Derby

2005-02-14T01:43:00.000-08:00

The son of Edmund (“Crouchback”), 1st Earl of Lancaster, he became involved in politics during the controversy over Edward II's favourite,

Santa-clara

2005-02-12T14:43:00.000-08:00

Cape situated on the Atlantic coast of northwestern Gabon, Africa. Extending south from the larger peninsula that separates the Gabon estuary from Corisco Bay, the cape juts into the mouth of the estuary. Santa-Clara is located 12 miles (20 km) north of Libreville and just north of Owendo, one of Gabon's major ports. Like Cape Esterias, still farther north, Santa-Clara has fine

Hoover, Herbert

2005-02-12T05:40:00.000-08:00

Hoover and his wife—the former Lou Henry (Lou Hoover), also a Stanford-trained geologist—moved first to Palo Alto, California, and then to New York City, where they took up residence at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. For the next 30 years, Hoover was closely identified with the most conservative elements in the Republican Party, condemning what he regarded as the radicalism of the New Deal and opposing Roosevelt's attempts to take a more active role against German and Japanese aggression. He believed fascism lay at the root of government programs like the New Deal and argued so in The Challenge to Liberty (1934) and the eight-volume Addresses upon the American Road (1936–61), as well as in the speeches Against the Proposed New Deal (1932, see original text) and The New Deal and European Collectivism (1936, see original text). An ardent anticommunist and foe of international crusades, he opposed American entry into World War II (until the attack on Pearl Harbor) and denounced American involvement in the Korean and Vietnam wars. His last major activity was heading the Hoover Commission, under Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower, which aimed at streamlining the federal bureaucracy. The research-oriented Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace at Stanford University—founded in 1919 as the Hoover War Collection, a library on World War I—is named in his honour.

Frederic, Harold

2005-02-12T03:42:00.000-08:00

Interested at an early age in photography and journalism, Frederic became a reporter and by 1882 was editor of the Albany Evening Journal. In 1884 he went to London as the correspondent for The New York Times. He remained there for the rest

Arishima Takeo

2005-02-12T02:17:00.000-08:00

Arishima was the eldest son of a talented and aristocratic family; his younger brothers included the painter Arishima Ikuma and the novelist Satomi Ton. He went to the Peers School, where he was chosen as a companion to the crown prince. He went

Antarctica, Land fauna

2005-02-11T14:33:00.000-08:00

The native land fauna is wholly invertebrate. Apparently climatically less tolerant and less easily dispersed, the fauna follows plant colonization of newly deglaciated regions and therefore is not as widely distributed. The Antarctic microfauna includes heliozoans, rotifers, tardigrades, nematodes, and ciliate protozoans. The protozoans dominate soil

Waqidi, Al-

2005-02-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

As a youth al-Waqidi is said to have been such an authority on the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina that he was guide to the 'Abbasid caliph Harun ar-Rashid during the latter's pilgrimage. Al-Waqidi became a grain dealer

Farmerlabor Party

2005-02-11T07:31:00.000-08:00

An offshoot, the National Farmer–Labor Party, nominated P.P. Christensen in the 1920 presidential election. Lacking adequate finances and organization, the party won few votes and expired in 1923.

Boise State University

2005-02-11T05:50:00.000-08:00

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Boise, Idaho, U.S. The university comprises eight colleges, including the Larry G. Selland College of Applied Technology, which provides applied science degrees in fields such as information technology, horticulture, and culinary arts. Boise State University offers a range of associate and bachelor's degree

Crab Nebula

2005-02-09T21:42:00.000-08:00

(catalog numbers NGC 1952 and M1), probably the most intensely studied bright nebula, in the constellation Taurus, about 5,000 light-years from Earth. Roughly 5 to 10 light-years in diameter, it is assumed to be the remnant of a supernova (violently exploding star) observed by Chinese and other astronomers first on July 4, 1054. The supernova was visible in daylight for 23 days and at night for almost

Ryegrass

2005-02-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

Any of about 10 species constituting the genus Lolium (family Poaceae), which includes forage and lawn grasses of temperate Eurasia and the noxious weed known as darnel (L. temulentum). Ryegrasses are about 0.3 to 1 m (1 to 3 feet) tall and have tough, dark green leaves. The flower spikelets grow in the angles of a zigzag rachis (flower stem). Both perennial ryegrass (L. perenne) and Italian

Cádiz, Gulf Of

2005-02-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

Spanish and Portuguese Golfo De Cádiz, wide embayment of the Atlantic Ocean along the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, stretching about 200 miles (320 km) from Cape Saint Vincent (Portugal) to Gibraltar. At the Portuguese end—the south-facing area of the Algarve—the coastline consists of bold headlands and high cliffs interrupted by bay beaches, small river mouths, and numerous settlements. Continuing southward

Alfonso V

2005-02-08T06:54:00.000-08:00

Byname Alfonso the Magnanimous , Spanish Alfonso el Magnánimo king of Aragon (1416–58) and king of Naples (as Alfonso I, 1442–58), whose military campaigns in Italy and elsewhere in the central Mediterranean made him one of the most famous men of his day. After conquering Naples, he transferred his court there.

Lancret, Nicolas

2005-02-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

Lancret was influenced by both Antoine Watteau and Claude Gillot. Much admired as a decorator, he executed numerous commissions for the mansions of many great collectors.

Indus River

2005-02-06T08:58:00.000-08:00

Great trans-Himalayan river of South Asia and one of the longest rivers in the world, having a length of 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometres). It has a total drainage area of about 450,000 square miles (1,165,500 square kilometres), of which 175,000 square miles lie in the Himalayan mountains and foothills and the rest in the semiarid plains of Pakistan. The river's annual flow is about 272 billion cubic yards (207 billion

Mercator Projection

2005-02-06T03:02:00.000-08:00

Type of map projection introduced in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator. It is often described as a cylindrical projection, but it must be derived mathematically. The meridians are equally spaced, parallel vertical lines, and the parallels of latitude are parallel, horizontal straight lines, spaced farther and farther apart as their distance from the Equator increases. This

Shaduf

2005-02-05T00:04:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Shadoof, hand-operated device for lifting water, invented in ancient times and still used in India, Egypt, and some other countries to irrigate land. Typically it consists of a long, tapering, nearly horizontal pole mounted like a seesaw. A skin or bucket is hung on a rope from the long end, and a counterweight is hung on the short end. The operator pulls down on a rope attached to the

Monasticism

2005-02-04T17:48:00.000-08:00

An institutionalized religious movement whose members attempt to practice works that are above and beyond those required of both the laity and the spiritual leadership of their religions. Generally celibate and universally ascetic, the monastic individual separates himself or herself from general society either by living as a hermit or anchorite (religious

Ch'i-lin

2005-02-04T15:42:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Qilin, in Chinese mythology, the unicorn whose rare appearance often coincides with the imminent birth or death of a sage or illustrious ruler. (The name is a combination of the two characters ch'i, “male,” and lin, “female.”) A ch'i-lin has a single horn on its forehead, a yellow belly, a multicoloured back, the hooves of a horse, the body of a deer, and the tail of an ox. Gentle of disposition,

O'flaherty, Liam

2005-02-02T13:15:00.000-08:00

O'Flaherty abandoned his training

Fernández De Moratín, Leandro

2005-02-02T03:49:00.000-08:00

The son of the poet and playwright Nicolás Fernández de Moratín, he was an apologist of the French Encyclopaedists, a translator of Molière and William Shakespeare, and a satirist of contemporary society. The two predominant

Malayan Lar

2005-02-02T00:25:00.000-08:00

Species of gibbon (q.v.).

Black Stone Of Mecca

2005-02-01T04:24:00.000-08:00

Arabic Al-hajar Al-aswad, Muslim object of veneration, built into the eastern wall of the Ka'bah (small shrine within the Great Mosque of Mecca) and probably dating from the pre-Islamic religion of the Arabs. It now consists of three large pieces and some fragments, surrounded by a stone ring and held together with a silver band. According to popular Islamic legend, the stone was given to Adam on his

Devequt

2005-01-31T19:50:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Devekut (Hebrew: “attachment”), in Jewish religious thought, an adherence to or communion with God that stops short of mystical union. The notion of devequt apparently derived from the biblical reference to “loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him” (Deuteronomy 11:22). As a fundamental concept of the Jewish mystical system called the Kabbala, devequt was

Cartland, Dame Barbara

2005-01-31T18:09:00.000-08:00

Following the death of her father in World War I, Cartland moved with her family to London. There she began contributing to the Daily Express newspaper, receiving instruction in writing from its proprietor,

Agnes Of Poitou

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

Agnes was a daughter of William V the Great, duke of Aquitaine, and was a descendant of the kings of Burgundy and Italy. She married Henry III on Nov. 1, 1043, forming an alliance designed to cement the empire's relations with its neighbouring states

Space Exploration

2005-01-29T20:41:00.000-08:00

Germany's ROSAT, carrying an X-ray telescope,