SuddenFinger

Cimbri

2005-11-18T10:50:00.000-08:00

A Germanic tribe whose military incursion into Roman Italy was thrust back in 101 BC. Forced out of what is now Denmark by overpopulation and the encroaching sea, the Cimbri pushed southward, eventually swelling in numbers by the addition of their allies the Teutoni and other tribes. They scored victories over the Romans in 113, 109, and 107. Following a particularly devastating Roman

Berber Languages

2005-10-16T07:25:00.000-07:00

Also called Berbero-Libyan languages, group of languages that make up one of the constituent branches of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) language family; the other branches are Egyptian, Semitic, Cushitic, and Chadic. The Berber languages are spoken in scattered areas throughout northern Africa from Egypt westward to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Niger River northward to the Mediterranean

Caudata, Size range and diversity of structure

2005-07-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

The most typical salamanders are short-bodied, four-legged, moist-skinned vertebrates about 100 to 150 millimetres (about 4 to 6 inches) long. The tail is usually about as long as the body. There is much variation in size, and terrestrial salamanders range from 40 to nearly 350 millimetres, with a few exceeding 1 metre (39 inches) in length. Members of most species live in moist places on land

Spooner Amendment

2005-07-25T15:40:00.000-07:00

Filipinos fought the imposition of American rule, and it was believed in the United States that their

Farim

2005-07-23T04:25:00.000-07:00

Town, north central Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, on the Rio Cacheu. It is a market centre for the agricultural products of the interior; peanut (groundnut) cultivation, concentrated around the town, is mainly for export, and cattle are raised for domestic consumption in the northern savannas of the region. There are phosphate deposits near the town. Farim is connected

Asafetida

2005-07-08T01:50:00.000-07:00

Gum resin prized as a condiment in India and Iran, where it is used to flavour curries, meatballs, and pickles. It has been used in Europe and the United States in perfumes and for flavouring. Acrid in taste, it emits a strong onionlike odour because of its organic sulfur compounds. It is obtained chiefly from the plant Ferula foetida of the family Apiaceae (Umbelliferae).

Dorgon

2005-07-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

Franz Michael, The Origin of Manchu Rule in China (1942, reprinted 1965), a concise, basic survey of the historical development of the beginning Manchu empire, includes information about Dorgon; Fang Chao-ying, “Dorgon,” in Arthur W. Hummel (ed.), Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, 1644–1912, vol. 1, pp. 215–219 (1943), is a short biography.

Shaharith

2005-06-29T06:25:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Shaharit, Shacharit, or Shacharith, Hebrew Shaharit (“dawn”), in Judaism, the first of three periods of daily prayer; the other daily services are minhah and maarib. They are all ideally recited in the synagogue so that a quorum (minyan) can be formed to pray as a corporate body representing “Israel.” Shaharith is considered a substitute for the dawn sacrifice formerly offered each day in the Temple of Jerusalem, but ancient

Avesta

2005-06-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

Industrial town in the southeastern corner of Dalarna län (county), central Sweden, on the Dal River at the Storforsen and Lillforsen rapids. It lies within the ore-producing Bergslagen region. Avesta was first chartered in 1641 but lost its charter privileges in 1686 and was not rechartered until 1919. Its copper refinery began operation in 1636; in 1644 a mint was established in the town

Valencia, Lake

2005-06-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

Spanish Lago De Valencia, lake in Carabobo and Aragua states, central Venezuela. Lying in a basin in the Cordillera de la Costa (Maritime Andes) of the central highlands at an elevation of 1,362 ft (415 m) above sea level, Lake Valencia measures approximately 18 mi (29 km) from east to west and 10 mi from north to south. Its total area of 141 sq mi (364 sq km) makes it the second largest natural lake of Venezuela, after Lake Maracaibo.

Avocado

2005-06-01T02:50:00.000-07:00

Also called Alligator Pear, fruit of Persea americana of the family Lauraceae, a tree native to the Western Hemisphere from Mexico south to the Andean regions. The tree, tall or spreading, has leaves elliptic to egg-shaped in form and 100–300 mm (4–12 inches) in length. The small, greenish flowers, borne in dense racemes, are devoid of petals and have six perianth lobes, nine stamens arranged in

Tyrrell, Lake

2005-05-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

Shallow, salt-crusted depression of 70 sq mi (180 sq km), in the Mallee district, northwestern Victoria, Australia, 195 mi (314 km) northwest of Melbourne. Usually dry, it is occasionally fed by Tyrrell Creek. An extraction plant at Sea Lake, a town on the lake's south shore, harvests the salt deposits. The lake was visited (1838) by Edward Eyre, who was seeking new grazing lands, and was named after

Scandinavian Literature, Faeroese

2005-05-15T23:40:00.000-07:00

Faeroese literature came into its own after the turn of the century. Jens H.O. Djurhuus, who created rhetorical poetry of splendid resonance, was the first to emerge as a writer of international stature. His brother, Hans Andrias Djurhuus, wrote in a more naive manner, producing poems, fairy tales, and plays, which were based on native historical traditions and

Sunda Shelf

2005-05-13T21:35:00.000-07:00

Stable continental shelf, or platform, a southward extension of mainland Southeast Asia. Most of the platform is covered by shallow seas, including the southern South China Sea, the Gulf of Thailand, and the Java Sea, averaging less than 330 feet (100 m) in depth. Borneo and parts of Java, Sumatra, and associated islands are eroded metamorphic sections of the shelf left above sea

Kubitschek, Juscelino

2005-03-15T18:47:00.000-08:00

Kubitschek attended the Diamantina Seminary, worked his way through medical school at the University of Minas Gerais (graduated 1927), and did internships in surgery in Paris, Vienna, and Berlin. He became head of

Aceh

2005-03-14T03:30:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Acheh, Achin, or Atjeh, � daerah istimewa (special district) of Sumatra, Indonesia, forming the northern extremity of the island. The district's boundary with Sumatera Utara (North Sumatra) propinsi (province) to the east extends north-south from Salahaji on the northeastern coast just north of Aru Bay to a point on the southwestern coast about midway between Singkilbaru and Barus. Aceh, covering

Polo, Marco

2005-03-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

Sometime around 1292 (1290 according to Otagi), a Mongol princess was to be sent to Persia to become the consort of Arghun Khan, and the Polos offered to accompany her. Marco wrote that Kublai had been unwilling to let them go but finally granted permission. They were anxious to leave, in part, because Kublai was nearly 80, and his death (and the consequent change in regime) might have

Tibet, Climate

2005-03-04T05:15:00.000-08:00

Although Tibetans refer to their country as Gangs-ljongs or Kha-ba-can (�Land of Snows�), the climate is generally dry, and most of Tibet receives only 18 inches (460 millimetres) of rain and snow annually. The Himalayas act as a barrier to the monsoon (rain-bearing) winds from the south, and precipitation decreases from south to north. The perpetual snow line lies at about 16,000 feet in

Marie-th�r�se Of Austria

2005-03-03T17:02:00.000-08:00

As the daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and Elizabeth of France, Marie-Th�r�se was betrothed to Louis by the Peace of the Pyrenees (1659), which ended a 24-year war between France and Spain. Under the terms of the pact, she agreed to renounce her claim to succession to the Spanish throne

Force Acts

2005-03-02T18:26:00.000-08:00

The major provisions of the acts authorized federal authorities to enforce penalties upon anyone interfering with the registration,

Interior Design, Lighting

2005-03-01T16:17:00.000-08:00

Light is one of the key elements of interior design. Most interior spaces constructed in the 20th century are used as much with artificial light as with daylight; because of this lighting has become a very significant tool for the interior designer. There are three major aspects to lighting: function, aesthetics, and health. The latter factor is often ignored, but insufficient

Ya-an

2005-02-28T08:03:00.000-08:00

Established as the seat of a county under the Ch'in (221 - 206 BC) and Han (206 BC - AD 220) dynasties,

Palade, George E.

2005-02-26T00:37:00.000-08:00

Palade received a degree

Gauguin, Paul

2005-02-25T09:36:00.000-08:00

In full �Eug�ne-Henri-Paul Gauguin� French painter, printmaker, and sculptor who sought to achieve a �primitive� expression of spiritual and emotional states in his work. The artist, whose work has been categorized as Post-Impressionist, Synthetist, and Symbolist, is particularly well known for his creative

Albacete

2005-02-24T21:30:00.000-08:00

Capital of Albacete provincia, Castile-La Mancha comunidad aut�noma (�autonomous community�), southeast-central Spain. Albacete is located in the historic La Mancha region, on the Don Juan River at its juncture with the Mar�a Cristina Canal. Of Moorish origin (Arabic: Al-Basit), it was the scene of two battles between Christians and Moors, in 1145 and 1146. Refounded in 1365 as Albacete, it