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Sunday, February 29, 2004

Ruse

Also spelled �Russe�, or �Rouss� city of northern Bulgaria, on the Danube River near the mouth of the Rusenski Lom. Bulgaria's principal river port and a transportation hub for road and rail, Ruse has regular shipping services on the Danube and an airport. Upstream is the Friendship Bridge, built in 1954, carrying road and rail traffic across the river to Giurgiu, in Romania. Ruse is an industrial town, with

Saturday, February 28, 2004

Colburn, Irving Wightman

American inventor and manufacturer whose process for fabricating continuous sheets of flat glass formed the basis of the Libbey-Owens Sheet Glass Company. After an unsuccessful manufacturing venture, Colburn sold his patents to financial interests in Toledo, Ohio, in 1912. He continued to work under their auspices, finally perfecting his

Friday, February 27, 2004

Constanta

The first record of a settlement is at the

Thursday, February 26, 2004

Akranes

Town, western Iceland. It is situated along Faxa Bay, at the tip of a peninsula between Borgar and Hval fjords. A fishing port and local market centre, it is connected by road to Reykjav�k, 20 miles (32 km) southeast. Akranes is the site of one of Iceland's largest cement plants. Pop. (1992 est.) 5,272.

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Kwazulu

Former nonindependent black state, Natal, South Africa, that was the legal home of all of the nation's Zulus. Its area was scattered among 11 exclaves (detached sections) throughout Natal, occupying more than one-third of its territory. The capital, initially at Nongoma, was moved in 1980 to Ulundi, the last historic capital of the Zulu empire (founded in 1816 by Shaka), where the Zulu

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Latin Literature, Early writers

The ground for Roman literature was prepared by an influx from the early 3rd century BC onward of Greek slaves, some of whom were put to tutoring young Roman nobles. Among them was Livius Andronicus, who was later freed and who is considered to be the first Latin writer. In 240 BC, to celebrate Rome's victory over Carthage, he composed a genuine drama adapted from the Greek. His success

Monday, February 23, 2004

Siliceous Sponge

Any sponge in which the main skeletal component is silica as opposed to calcium carbonate or fibrous organic materials only. More than 95 percent of all known sponge species have a siliceous skeleton and belong to the class Demospongiae (phylum Porifera). The siliceous skeleton is usually composed of discrete elements known as spicules that vary greatly in size

Sunday, February 22, 2004

Tasmania, Government and politics

The state parliament comprises a House of Assembly and a Legislative Council, the latter by tradition a largely nonparty house. The system of elections for the House of Assembly is proportional representation by the single transferable vote; the system for the Legislative Council is the preferential system, with an obligation to record preferences, used for

Saturday, February 21, 2004

Aid

A feudal lord could ask his vassals for an aid because they owed him help and counsel. In the course of time, however, the occasions on which

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Gioberti, Vincenzo

Gioberti was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1825 and soon became famous as a professor of theology at the University of Turin, though his ideas began to take on appearances of unorthodoxy.

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Srivaisnava

The sect reached its peak in the late 10th or 11th century, when the passionate devotional hymns of the Alvars (a group of mystics) were introduced into

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Hellenistic Age, Science and medicine

The three great areas of Hellenistic scholarship were medicine, astronomy, and mathematics. Alexandria attracted Herophilus (fl. 3rd century BC) from Chalcedon, who refused to stand in awe of the accepted medical dogmas and was distinguished in systematic anatomy, and the notable physiologist Erasistratus (fl. 3rd century BC) from Ceos, who realized that the heart is the

Sunday, February 15, 2004

Madinat Habu

Also spelled �Medinet Habu,� southernmost part of the necropolis region of western Thebes in Upper Egypt, although the name often refers specifically to the mortuary temple built there by Ramses III (1187 - 56 BC). (See Thebes.) This temple, which was also dedicated to the god Amon, was carved with religious scenes and portrayals of Ramses' wars against the Libyans and the Sea Peoples. It was situated within a

Saturday, February 14, 2004

Leninogorsk

Kazak �Leninogor�, formerly (until 1941) �Ridder� city, northeastern Kazakstan. The city is situated in the southwestern Altai Mountains along the Ulba River, at an elevation of more than 3,300 feet (1,000 m). An Englishman, Philip Ridder, discovered a small mine containing gold, silver, copper, and lead there in 1786, and systematic mining started in 1791. Present-day Leninogorsk is an important centre of the lead and zinc industry and is connected

Friday, February 13, 2004

Xenocrates

Xenocrates' writings are lost except for fragments, but his doctrines appear to resemble

Thursday, February 12, 2004

Omalius D'halloy, Jean-baptiste-julien D'

D'Omalius was educated first in Li�ge and afterward in Paris. While a youth he became interested in geology (over the protests of his parents) and, having an independent income, was able to devote his energies to geologic researches. As early as 1808 he communicated

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Memory Abnormality

Some forms of amnesia appear to be quite different from those associated with detectable injury or disease of the brain. These comprise, first, amnesias that can be induced in apparently normal individuals by means of suggestion under hypnosis; and secondly, amnesias that arise spontaneously in reaction to acute conflict or stress, and which are commonly called

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Hadrian

Also spelled �Adrian�, Latin in full �Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus�, original name (until AD 117) �Publius Aelius Hadrianus� Roman emperor (AD 117 - 138), the emperor Trajan's nephew and successor, who was a cultivated admirer of Greek civilization and who unified and consolidated Rome's vast empire.

Monday, February 09, 2004

Hadrian

Any of about a dozen species of tropical American rodents resembling the small forest-dwelling hoofed animals of tropical Africa and Asia (see chevrotain; duiker; royal antelope). Agoutis weigh up to 6 kg (13 pounds), with an elongated body measuring up to 76 cm (2.5 feet) long. They have a large head and rump but slender legs, comparatively small ears, and a tiny, inconspicuous,

Sunday, February 08, 2004

Saarinen, (gottlieb) Eliel

He became the foremost architect of his generation in Finland before he moved to the U.S. in 1923. By 1914 he was widely known in Europe

Saturday, February 07, 2004

Grace, William R.

Grace ran away to New York at the age of 14 but later returned to Ireland. In 1850 he visited Callao, Peru, where he entered

Friday, February 06, 2004

Burgage

In England and Scotland, an ancient form of tenure that applied to property within the boundaries of boroughs, or burghs. In England land or tenements within a borough were held by payment of rent to the king or some other lord; the terms varied in different boroughs. Among English feudal tenures, burgage ranked as a form of socage, the holding of land in return for agricultural

Thursday, February 05, 2004

Mental Disorder, Affective disorders

Depression is characterized by a sad or hopeless mood, pessimistic thinking, a loss of enjoyment and interest in one's usual activities and pastimes, reduced energy and vitality,

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

Maskelyne, Nevil

Maskelyne was ordained a minister in 1755, but his interest in astronomy had been aroused by the eclipse of July 25, 1748. In 1758 he was admitted to the Royal Society of London, which in 1761 sent him to the island of St. Helena to observe a transit of Venus. During the voyage he experimented

Tuesday, February 03, 2004

Switzerland, Science

Swiss scientists have included Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim), who in the 16th century brought chemistry into the field of medicine; the Bernoulli family of Basel, who made significant contributions to mathematics over three generations; the innovative mathematician Leonhard Euler; the naturalist and pioneer Alpine scholar Horace B�n�dict

Monday, February 02, 2004

Cabinet

In furniture design, originally a small room for displaying precious objects and later a piece of furniture composed of a network of small drawers commonly enclosed by a pair of doors. Cabinets were first used in Italy during the late Renaissance. In many parts of Europe, cabinets became the most sumptuous pieces of furniture, with great displays of marquetry, carving,

Sunday, February 01, 2004

Incest

Sexual relations between persons who, because of the nature of their kin relationships, are prohibited by law or custom from intermarrying. Because, cross-culturally, incest is more an emotional than a legal issue, the term taboo is generally preferred over prohibition. The incest taboo is acknowledged in anthropology as universal, although it is imposed differently