Town and port, north-central Myanmar (Burma). Situated in the Irrawaddy River basin, it is a petroleum port for the Singu-Chauk oil fields. Traditionally, people of the Mon group gathered asphalt in the area to weatherproof houses. In 1902 the British discovered the Chauk-Lonywa oil field. Later, crude oil from Chauk was sent by a 350-mile (563-kilometre) pipeline to Syriam for refining.
Toward the end of the 2nd century, Alexander became head of the Lyceum at Athens, an academy then dominated by the syncretistic philosophy of Ammonius Saccas, who blended the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle. Alexander's commentaries were intended
The first national conventions of the five political parties that had been granted legal status were held in November 1996. The parties elected their leaders as follows:
Hearing Aid
Modern hearing aids are electronic. Principal components are a microphone that converts sound
The most serious immediate problem facing the new government was the continuance of military separatism. The government had no authority over the vast area of western China, and even regions in eastern China were under the rule of independent regimes that had lately been part of the Nationalist coalition. After an unsuccessful attempt at negotiations, Chiang
Tasmania, Climate
Tasmania, located in the mid-latitude westerly wind belt and dominated by southern maritime air masses, enjoys a moist, equable climate, with mild to warm summers, mild winters in most settled areas, and rain during all seasons. Yet the occasional incursion, in summer, of tropical continental air masses and, in spring and autumn, of tropical Tasman air masses along the
Also spelled Sebha, town, southwestern Libya, in a Saharan oasis. It was an active caravan centre from the 11th century. The modern town of stark white buildings and wide streets is surrounded by older settlements of mud-walled dwellings and covered alleyways. The former Italian Fort Elena, on a nearby hill, is now used for offices, shops, and a hospital. The town continues as a trade and transport
Epistemology, Knowledge and certainty
The relationship between knowledge and certainty is complex, and there is considerable disagreement about the matter. Are these concepts the same? If not, how do they differ? Is it possible for someone to know that p without being certain that p? Is it possible for someone to be certain that p without knowing that p? These are the central issues around which the debate
The foundations of narratology
Departamento (formed 1832), Nor Oriental del Marañón región, northern Peru, bounded on the north by Ecuador. It consists mostly of rain forest in the north, while in the south the Marañón River and its tributaries dissect the Cordillera Central. The Marañón forms part of the western boundary with Cajamarca departamento before flowing northeastward into the Amazon River
Metacarpal
Any of several tubular bones between the wrist (carpal) bones and each of the forelimb digits in land vertebrates, corresponding to the metatarsal bones of the foot. Originally numbering five, metacarpals in many mammals have undergone much change and reduction during evolution. The lower leg of the horse, for example, includes only one strengthened metacarpal;
Hansen became secretary of the Social Democratic Party's youth organization in 1929 and its chairman four years later.
Born to a wealthy gentry family, Ba received a traditional
The Israelite king Omri had allied himself with the Phoenician cities of the coast, and his son Ahab was married to Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre and Sidon. Jezebel, with her Tyrian courtiers and a large contingent of pagan priests and prophets, propagated her native religion in a sanctuary built for Baal in the royal city of Samaria. This meant that the Israelites
The two disciplines most intimately intertwined with the study of dispersion are systematics and evolution. Systematics is concerned with the relationships between organisms and includes the classification of life into ordered groups, providing the
A structure for the keeping of captive birds, usually spacious enough for the aviculturist to enter. Aviaries range from small enclosures a metre or so on a side to large flight cages 30 m (100 feet) or more long and as much as 15 m high. Enclosures for birds that fly only little or weakly (e.g., rails, pheasants) are often only one metre high. The private aviary often consists of a room
Swaziland, Flag Of
The Swazi, famed as warriors, have a traditional shield that is made of black-and-white ox hide stretched over a wooden frame. A representation of such a shield appeared briefly on a Swazi flag flown in the late 19th century when they administered their land jointly with the (Boer) South African Republic and the British. The current national flag, however, dates to 1941. At that
Irish Tiobraid Árann (“House of the Well of Ara”) town and urban district, County Tipperary, Ireland. The town grew up around a castle erected by Prince John (later King John) when he was lord of Ireland; the outline of the bailey remains. A chancel arch from a 13th-century Augustinian abbey still stands. In 1339 the town was burned by the O'Briens. New Tipperary was founded in 1890, but it was later abandoned. There is a monument to the
As a poetic device, it is often combined with assonance (the repetition of stressed vowel sounds within words
Biblical Literature, Additions to Daniel and Esther
Two of the Old Testament Hagiographa (Ketuvim; see above The Hebrew canon)—Daniel and Esther—contain, in their Greek translations, numerous additions.
(Falco rusticolus), Arctic bird of prey of the family Falconidae, the world's largest falcon (q.v.). The gyrfalcon may reach 60 cm (2 feet) in length. Confined as a breeder to the circumpolar region except for isolated populations in Central Asian highlands, it is sometimes seen at lower latitudes in winters when food is scarce. The gyrfalcon varies from pure white with black speckling
More than one-third of the state's population is literate. There are schools for primary, middle, and high school education, as well as schools for polytechnics, industrial arts, and crafts. Madhya Pradesh has 12 state universities; among these, the schools located at Sagar and Ujjain are the oldest and best-known, while the music school at Khairagarh is one of the finest in
Ukrainka, Lesya
The daughter of intellectuals, Ukrainka was stricken
Town, administrative headquarters of Jhabua district, Madhya Pradesh state, central India. Located on Bahadur Sagar (lake), it was founded in the 16th century by a Labhana freebooter and served as the capital of the former Jhabua princely state. It is a local agricultural and timber market connected by road with Dhar. There is a government college affiliated with Vikram
In engineering, angles or angular displacements are commonly expressed in degrees or revolutions (of 360°), and angular velocities in
Since the early 1970s researchers have developed extremely sensitive methods of chemical analysis, providing the ability to detect minute amounts of materials. Many chemical elements are transported in very small quantities by fluids flowing in the Earth, so that a systematic measurement of such trace elements may help in locating their sources. Trace elements
California voters narrowly turned down an initiative prohibiting the use of union dues money for political purposes without direct permission from the union members. After ironing out differences with state interests, Congress approved the Internet Tax Freedom Act, effectively barring new or special state taxes on Internet commercial transactions. Proponents
After Solomon died (922 BCE), he was succeeded by Rehoboam, who proved to be unfit for the task of reigning. Prior to Solomon's death, Jeroboam the Ephraimite, a young overseer of the forced labour battalions of the “house of Joseph” in the north, had encountered Ahijah, a prophet from the old shrine of the confederacy at Shiloh, and Ahijah had torn a new garment into 12 pieces, prophesying
Regional style of Romanesque manuscript illumination, metalwork, and enamelwork that flourished in the 11th and 12th centuries and was centred in the Meuse River valley, especially at Liège and the Benedictine monastery of Stavelot. Two of the most important artists associated with the Mosan school were Godefroid de Claire, a goldsmith from Huy, and Nicholas of
Calasanz, Saint Joseph
Calasanz also spelled Calasanctius, Italian San Giuseppe Calasanzio, Spanish San José de Calasanz priest, teacher, patron saint of Roman Catholic schools, and founder of the Ordo Clericorum Regularium Pauperum Matris Dei Scholarum Piarum (Order of Poor Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of the Pious Schools), popularly called Piarists. The Piarists are a teaching order that, in addition to the usual vows of
Libya is divided into three regions—the western region (formerly Tripolitania province), the eastern region (formerly Cyrenaica province), and the southern region (formerly Fezzan province). Two-thirds of the population lives in the western region, the majority in Tripoli and other cities along the coast and on the Nafusah Plateau. About 20 percent of the people live in
City, Bonner county, northwestern Idaho, U.S., at the junction of the Priest and Pend Oreille rivers. It is a gateway to a spectacular aquatic and forested mountain domain focusing on Priest Lake and Upper Priest Lake (north) and the Kaniksu and Coeur d'Alene national forests in the Idaho panhandle. Originally the territory of Kalispel Indians, the area was explored in
Finster, The Rev. Howard
American artist and preacher (b. Dec. 2, 1916, Valley Head, Ala.—d. Oct. 22, 2001, Rome, Ga.), with his simple colourful works that combined his evangelistic messages with pop culture icons, became one of the most noted folk artists of the 20th century. He was best known for Paradise Garden in Pennville, Ga., which he concocted from items he retrieved from a dump, and his designs also appeared on album
Theatrical costumes were an innovation of Thespis, in Greece in the 6th century BC, and theatrical costumes are still called “the robes of Thespis.” Athenians spent lavishly on the production and costumes at the annual drama contests since each poet was given a wealthy citizen, the choregos, who, encouraged by the honour of a separate state impresario's prize, tended to make
Greek poet from Gadara in Syria, who compiled the first large anthology of epigrams. This was the first of the collections that made up what is known as the Greek Anthology (q.v.). Meleager's collection contained poems by 50 writers and many by himself; an introductory poem compared each writer to a flower, and the whole was entitled Stephanos (“Garland”). Meleager's
Both Stewart and his rival, Esmé, duke of Lennox, were deprived of office when the Protestant lords seized power by the raid of Ruthven (1582); but a year later they in turn were overthrown and driven into exile by Stewart. His tyranny and insolence, however,
Sickert was the son of Oswald Adalbert Sickert, a Danish-born German draftsman who settled in England in 1868. After several years working as an actor, in 1881 the younger Sickert attended
Spoon
An implement consisting of a small, shallow, bowl-shaped receptacle supported by a handle, used for eating, serving, and cooking foods. Spoons, together with forks, are known as flatware (q.v.).
After graduating from Columbia University in 1917, Dietz joined the Philip Goodman Advertising Agency, where he was assigned to devise a trademark for Goldwyn Pictures. Dietz used Columbia's lion mascot as an inspiration for the Goldwyn studio's “roaring lion” trademark, which thereafter
McCloy graduated from Harvard Law School in 1921. Thereafter he practiced law on Wall Street. His work on the “Black Tom” case, in which he proved that German agents had caused an explosion at a munitions factory, attracted
Essex, Walter Devereux, 1st Earl Of, Viscount Hereford, Lord Ferrers, Lord Bourchier
He was the eldest son of Sir Richard Devereux and the grandson of Walter Devereux, Viscount Hereford, to whose
City, seat of Davison county, southeastern South Dakota, U.S., in the James River valley by Firesteel Creek (there dammed to form Lake Mitchell). Established in 1879 as a railroad town, it was named for Alexander Mitchell, president of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad. Its farm-based economy (corn [maize], livestock, and dairying) is supplemented by light manufacturing
Bacchus Marsh
Town in southern Victoria, Australia. It is located 32 miles (51 km) northwest of Melbourne (to which a growing proportion of its residents commute daily) on the east bank of the Werribee River. In 1838, Captain William Henry Bacchus founded the town, and it grew as a stopping place for Cobb and Company coaches traveling from Melbourne to the Ballarat goldfields. Bacchus Marsh is
Juan studied under Spain's leading Humanists and developed religious views that closely followed the ideas of Erasmus of Rotterdam, with
The earliest recognizable fossil strigiform is Protostrix from the Eocene of Wyoming. A number of genera from the later Tertiary have been assigned to Recent strigiform families. Some early owls reached far greater size than their modern descendents. A giant barn owl, about twice the size of the modern Tyto alba, inhabited Puerto Rico in the Pleistocene. Another
Awil-Marduk (called Evil-Merodach in the Old Testament; 561–560), the son of Nebuchadrezzar, was unable to win the support of the priests of Marduk. His reign did not last long, and he was soon eliminated. His brother-in-law and successor, Nergal-shar-usur (called Neriglissar in classical sources; 559–556), was a general who undertook a campaign in 557 into the “rough” Cilician land, which may have
In the 19th century crystallographers were only able to study the external form of minerals, and it was not until 1895 when the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X rays that it became possible to consider their internal structure. In 1912 another German physicist, Max von Laue, realized that X rays were scattered and deflected at regular angles when they passed
Clouet, Jean
Although he lived in France most of his life, records show that he was not French by origin and was never naturalized. He was one of the chief painters to Francis I as early as 1516 and was appointed groom of the chamber from 1523, thus enjoying the salary and social position
Amelia Earhart, Last Flight, arranged by George Palmer Putnam (1937, reissued 1988), contains journal entries and messages sent home, selected and arranged by her husband. Biographies include George Palmer Putnam, Soaring Wings (1939, reissued 1972); Doris L. Rich, Amelia Earhart (1989); Mary S. Lovell, The Sound of Wings (1989); Susan Butler, East to the Dawn (1997); and Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon, Amelia (1997). Randall Brink, Lost Star: The Search for Amelia Earhart (1994), examines her disappearance.
To describe the climate as tropical and oceanic is to stress the influence of the lower latitudes and the tremendous expanse of the sea. Humidity and temperature tend to be high and are generally uniform throughout the year. Regional differentiation in climate is linked principally to rainfall patterns. Here, factors of altitude and longitude, as well as latitude,
Bridgman was the son of a journalist. He entered Harvard University in 1900, receiving his M.A. in 1905 and his Ph.D. in 1908. His experimental work on static high pressures was begun
Chinese (Wade-Giles) K'un-lun Shan, or (Pinyin) Kunlun Shan, mountain system of Asia. The Kunluns extend east to west some 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometres) from the Pamirs in Tajikistan on the west to the Kunlun Pass and the adjacent Sino-Tibetan ranges—Pu-erh-han-pu-ta (Burhan Budai), P'a-yen-k'a-la (Bayan Hara), and A-ni-ma-ch'ing (Amne Machin)—on the east. The width of the Kunluns varies considerably but rarely exceeds 125 miles. In the western margins they
Conduit
In water-supply systems the term is usually reserved for covered or closed sections of aqueduct, especially those that transport water under pressure. Large conduits may be fabricated of steel sections joined in the field or of reinforced
In astronomical spectroscopy, bright emission lines in the spectra of certain nebulae (H II regions), not observed in the laboratory spectra of the same gases, because on Earth the gases cannot be rarefied sufficiently. The term forbidden is misleading; a more accurate description would be “highly improbable.” The emissions result from electrons in long-lived orbits
City, capital of Cojedes estado (“state”), northwestern Venezuela. The city lies along the Tirgua River, at the base of the central highlands and near the Llanos (plains) region. Founded in 1678 by Capuchin missionaries, San Carlos served as capital of Falcón state prior to the separation of Cojedes and Portuguesa states. It is the commercial and marketing centre of an agricultural
Theism's view of God can be clarified by contrasting it with that of deism, of pantheism, and of mysticism. Deism closely resembles theism; but for the deist, God is not involved in the world in the same personal way. He has made
Ribbon Worm
Also called Bootlace Worm, Proboscis Worm, Nemertine, or Nemertean, any member of the invertebrate phylum Nemertea (sometimes called Nemertinea, or Rhynchocoela), which includes mainly free-living forms but also a few parasites of crustaceans, mollusks, and sea squirts. The majority of the approximately 900 known nemertean species are found in marine habitats. Some, however, live in freshwater or on land. The name proboscis worm derives
A plutonic rock may be classified mineralogically based on the actual proportion of the various minerals of which it is composed (called the mode). In any classification scheme, boundaries between classes are set arbitrarily; however, if the boundaries can be placed closest to natural divisions or gaps between classes, they will seem less random and subjective,
Crocker was forced to quit school at an early age to help support his family. After his family moved to Indiana, he did various jobs—farming, working in a sawmill, and serving as an apprentice in a blacksmith
Italian Democratic Socialist Party
In early 1947, socialists who opposed the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) for its cooperation with the Italian Communist Party (PCI) seceded to form the Socialist Party of Italian Workers (Partito
