HangingStick

Sunday, February 29, 2004

Macken, Walter

Macken was an actor and stage manager in Galway, where he became actor-manager-director of the Gaelic Theatre. He was also connected with the famous Abbey Theatre

Saturday, February 28, 2004

Nova Friburgo

Nova Friburgo has textile mills but is best known as a summer mountain resort built in Swiss Alpine style. It can be reached by railroad and highway from Niter�i, southwest, and from Rio de Janeiro, the state capital. Pop. (1991 prelim.) mun., 166,941.

Friday, February 27, 2004

Uzbek Language

In Uzbek roughly two main dialect groups can be distinguished. One includes

Thursday, February 26, 2004

Canaan

Area variously defined in historical and biblical literature, but always centred on Palestine. Its original pre-Israelite inhabitants were called Canaanites. The names Canaan and Canaanite occur in cuneiform, Egyptian, and Phoenician writings from about the 15th century BC as well as in the Old Testament. In these sources, �Canaan� refers sometimes to an area encompassing

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Defender Of The Faith

Latin �Fidei Defensor, � a title belonging to the sovereign of England in the same way as Christianissimus (�most Christian�) belonged to the king of France. The title was first conferred by Pope Leo X on Henry VIII (Oct. 11, 1521) as a reward for the king's pamphlet Assertio septem sacramentorum adversus Martinum Lutherum (�Declaration of the Seven Sacraments Against Martin Luther�), written against Luther.

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Giry, Arthur

After a brief career in administrative services and journalism, Giry devoted himself to scholarship. His first major work was Histoire de la ville de Saint-Omer et de ses institutions jusqu'au XIVe si�cle (1877). The type of research involved in this work led him to similar studies

Monday, February 23, 2004

Qarakhanid Dynasty

The Qarakhanids, who belonged to the Qarluq tribal confederation, became prominent during the 9th century. With the disintegration of the Iranian Samanid dynasty, the Qarakhanids took over the Samanid territories in Transoxania. In 999 Harun (or Hasan) Bughra Khan, grandson of the paramount tribal chief of the Qarluq confederation,

Sunday, February 22, 2004

Agrihan

Formerly �Grigan� or �Agrigan� one of the Mariana Islands, part of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. It lies in the western Pacific Ocean, 350 miles (563 km) north of Guam. An active volcano that last erupted in 1917, it has a total land area of 18 square miles (47 square km) and rises to 3,166 feet (965 metres), the highest point in the commonwealth. Agrihan was the site of the last stand the indigenous Chamorro people

Saturday, February 21, 2004

Agrihan

Formerly �Grigan� or �Agrigan� one of the Mariana Islands, part of the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. It lies in the western Pacific Ocean, 350 miles (563 km) north of Guam. An active volcano that last erupted in 1917, it has a total land area of 18 square miles (47 square km) and rises to 3,166 feet (965 metres), the highest point in the commonwealth. Agrihan was the site of the last stand the indigenous Chamorro people

Friday, February 20, 2004

Pease, Edward Reynolds

Born to a prosperous family, Pease left a business career and joined with Frank Podmore, a spiritualist and socialist writer, to found the Fabian Society in London in January 1884. The Fabians sought a gradualist approach to socialism in Britain. Early members

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Chia-i

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 Y�n-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

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Amorphous Solid

The following sections discuss technological applications of amorphous solids in connection with the properties that make those applications possible. It is important to understand that, although differences do exist between the properties of amorphous and crystalline solids, it is nevertheless broadly true that amorphous solids exhibit essentially

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Vending Machine

Coin-actuated machine through which various goods may be retailed. Vending machines should not be confused with coin-operated amusement games or music machines. The first known commercial use of vending machines came early in the 18th century in England, where coin-actuated �honour boxes� were used to sell snuff and tobacco. These devices were also in use in the British-American

Monday, February 16, 2004

Yale School

Group of literary critics at Yale University, who became known in the 1970s and '80s for their deconstructionist theories. The Yale school's skeptical, relativistic brand of criticism drew inspiration from the work of French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Its most prominent members were Paul de Man and J. Hillis Miller. De Man, a professor of comparative literature and author

Sunday, February 15, 2004

Anderson, Helen Eugenie Moore

Eugenie Moore attended Stephens College (Columbia, Missouri) in 1926 - 27, Simpson College (Indianola, Iowa) in 1927 - 28, and Carleton College (Northfield, Minnesota) in 1929 - 30; she took no degree. In 1930 she married John P. Anderson. During two years in New York City she studied piano at the Juilliard

Saturday, February 14, 2004

Cabra

Cabra has a ruined Moorish castle, and its parish church (the former cathedral) was originally a mosque. Called Baebro or Aegabro in ancient times, it was

Friday, February 13, 2004

Akutagawa Prize

The Akutagawa Prize was created in 1935 by the

Thursday, February 12, 2004

Akutagawa Prize

The Akutagawa Prize was created in 1935 by the

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Wrist

Also called �carpus� complex joint between the five metacarpal bones of the hand and the radius and ulna bones of the forearm. The wrist is composed of eight or nine small, short bones (carpal bones) roughly arranged in two rows. The wrist is also made up of several component joints: the distal radioulnar joint, which acts as a pivot for the forearm bones;

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Aegithalidae

Songbird family that includes the long-tailed tits (or titmice) of the Old World and the bushtits of North America. Both groups are sometimes considered subfamilies of the family Paridae (order Passeriformes). The eight species are small, arboreal insect eaters with long, narrow tails; tiny bills; and silky, plain plumage. The nest is a thick-walled,

Monday, February 09, 2004

Cornelius, Peter

German composer and author, known for his comic opera Der Barbier von Bagdad (The Barber of Bagdad). The son of an actor and an actress, he acted at Mainz and at Wiesbaden in his youth. In 1845 he studied composition and was later music critic for two Berlin journals. From 1853 to 1858 he lived at Weimar in the circle of Liszt and the Princess Sayn-Wittgenstein

Sunday, February 08, 2004

Cornelius, Peter

French national theatre created in 1920 to bring theatre to the general public. Its first director, Firmin G�mier, had been the director of the Th��tre Antoine and had made a number of attempts to create a people's theatre. Initially the TNP offered productions from the other national companies in a large hall with inexpensive tickets. It had no acting company, could not

Saturday, February 07, 2004

Egypt, Hydroelectric and other power resources

The Nile constitutes an incomparable source of energy; further sources are represented by coal, oil, and gas deposits. Almost half of Egypt's electrical energy comes from thermal stations; hydroelectric plants, including those at the Aswan High Dam, supply the remainder.

Friday, February 06, 2004

Subsidence

Sinking of the Earth's surface in response to geologic or man-induced causes. When subsidence occurs in great belts, providing troughs for the accumulation of sediments, the resulting features are termed geosynclines; nonlinear subsidence produces basins and irregular depressions. Subsurface solution during cave formation may lead to a series of subsidence

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

Drag Racing

Contestants line

Tuesday, February 03, 2004

Lajes

Also spelled �Lages, � city, east-central Santa Catarina estado (�state�), southern Brazil, lying north of the Caveiras River in the Paran� Mountains, at 3,000 feet (900 m) above sea level. Formed as a municipality in 1800, it was settled chiefly by Germans and in 1866 was elevated to city status. Livestock raising and industry are now the main economic activities. Principal products include lumber, corn (maize), feij

Monday, February 02, 2004

Austral Islands

French ��les Australes, �also called �Tubuai Islands, � southernmost archipelago of French Polynesia. Volcanic in origin, they are part of a vast submerged mountain chain (probably a southeasterly extension of the Cook Islands) in the central South Pacific. Scattered for 800 miles (1,300 km), they comprise five inhabited islands - Raivavae (6 square miles [16 square km]), Rapa (15 square miles [39 square km]), Rimatara, (3 square miles [8 square km]), Rurutu

Sunday, February 01, 2004

Barasat

Town, southeastern West Bengal state, northeastern India. Connected by road and rail with Calcutta and Howrah, it is an important trade centre for rice, legumes, sugarcane, potatoes, and coconuts; cotton weaving is the major industry. An annual fair held in honour of a Muslim saint is attended by both Muslims and Hindus. Barasat was constituted a municipality in 1869. Pop. (1981) 69,586.