Saint Abb's Head
Promontory on the North Sea in the Scottish Borders council area, historic county of Berwickshire, southeastern Scotland. It is located about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, England. St. Abb's is a sheer headland with cliffs some 300 feet (90 metres) high. It is a national nature reserve administered by the National Trust for Scotland and the Scottish
Ayala, Francisco
Ayala received a law degree from the University of Madrid in 1929, having already published the novel Tragicomedia de un hombre sin esp�ritu (1925; �Tragicomedy of a Man Without Spirit�) and the story Cazador en el alba (1930; �Hunter at Dawn�). These works are psychological studies that make a strong use of metaphor but display little
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Mauna Loa, located in the south-central
Swaziland System
Major division of rocks and time in southern Africa in Precambrian Time (3.96 billion to 540 million years ago). The system consists of a great thickness of sedimentary and metamorphic (altered) rocks with numerous intrusions of igneous bodies. Two major subdivisions of the Swaziland System are recognized, an Upper and a Lower series. Many of the units that constitute the
Performing Arts, Far East.
A few Japanese films stood out from the commercial run. In Dolls, Takeshi Kitano linked three contemporary love stories inspired by the traditional bunraku doll theatre. Kitano's own early career in vaudeville was imaginatively chronicled by Makoto Shinozaki in Asakusa Kid. Akira Kurosawa's former assistant Takashi Koizumi adapted a novel by Keishi Nagi and
Aethelberht
King of the West Saxons, or Wessex, who succeeded to the subkingdom of Kent during the lifetime of his father Aethelwulf and retained it until the death of his elder brother Aethelbald in 860, when he became sole king of Wessex and Kent, the younger brothers Aethelred and Alfred renouncing their claim. He ruled these kingdoms for five years. His reign was marked by two serious
Latin-american Literature
The national literatures of the Spanish-speaking countries of the Western Hemisphere and of Portuguese-speaking Brazil. Historically, it also includes the literary expression of the highly developed American Indian civilizations conquered by the Spaniards. Over the years, Latin-American literature has developed a rich and complex diversity of themes, forms,
Smith, Bessie
Smith grew up in poverty and obscurity. She may have made a first public appearance at the age of eight or nine at the Ivory Theatre in her hometown. About 1919 she was discovered by Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, one of the first of the great blues singers, from whom she received some
Calarasi
City, capital of Calarasi judet (county), southeastern Romania. It is located at the border with Bulgaria on the Borcea arm of the Danube and along Lake Calarasi, about 60 mi (100 km) east-southeast of Bucharest. Calarasi is first documented in 1593, during the reign of Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul). A river port and trading centre, its chief industries are food processing (particularly fish),
Calarasi
African organization established by the Treaty of Lagos in May 1975 to promote economic trade, cooperation, and self-reliance. The organization seeks to harmonize agricultural policies and to facilitate the free movement of peoples, services, and capital between members. The original 15 members were Benin, C�te d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali,
Orl�ans, Louis-philippe-joseph, Duc D' (duke Of)
The cousin of King Louis XVI (ruled 1774 - 92) and the son of Louis-Philippe (later duc d'Orl�ans), he became duc de Chartres in 1752 and succeeded to his father's title in 1785. Orl�ans's hostility to Louis XVI's queen, Marie-Antoinette, caused him to live away from the royal court
Silchar
City, southern Assam state, northeastern India. Situated on the Surma River near the Bangladesh border, it is a trade and processing centre for tea, rice, and other agricultural products. There is limited industry, principally papermaking and tea-box manufacturing. The city has an airport and lies on both a rail line and a motor road connecting Aizawl in Mizoram state
Computers, Embedded systems
One can look at the development of the electronic computer as occurring in waves. The first large wave was the mainframe era, when many people had to share single machines. (The mainframe era is covered in the section The age of Big Iron.) In this view, the minicomputer era can be seen as a mere eddy in the larger wave, a development that allowed a favoured few to have greater
Madhya Pradesh, Industry
Overall, Madhya Pradesh remains an industrially underdeveloped state. In 1981 the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. was established to improve the infrastructure in the state's identified growth centres. Before this planned development took place, western Madhya Pradesh was the main industrial area - primarily producing consumer goods - but
Tiglath-pileser I
Tiglath-pileser ascended the throne at the time when a people known as the Mushki, or Mushku (Meshech of the Old Testament), probably Phrygians, were thrusting into Asia Minor (now Turkey). Their invasion constituted a serious threat to Middle Eastern civilization because Asia Minor was the principal
Airplane, Devices for aerodynamic control
In some flight conditions - descent, preparing to land, landing, and after landing - it is desirable to be able to increase drag to decelerate the aircraft. A number of devices have been designed to accomplish this. These include speed brakes, which are large flat-plate areas that can be deployed by the pilot to increase drag dramatically and are most often found on military
Baccarat
The game is played with three to six 52-card decks shuffled together. Cards are dealt from a dealing box called a �shoe.� Players aim for a count of 9, or as
Uccello, Paolo
The standard and most readable and complete work on Uccello (and his followers) in English is John Pope-Hennessy, Paolo Uccello, 2nd ed. (1969). Eve Borsook discusses Uccello's Florentine frescoes in The Mural Painters of Tuscany, from Cimabue to Andrea del Sarto (1960). Uccello's role in the investigation of perspective is mentioned by John White in The Birth and Rebirth of Pictorial Space, 2nd ed. (1967); and this subject is treated more fully by Alessandro Parronchi in Studi su la dolce prospettiva (1964).
Clairon, Mlle
She began her career as a soubrette but made her debut at the Com�die-Fran�aise in 1743 as Ph�dre in the tragedy by Racine. She also portrayed Corneille's heroines, who combined nobility of
Saint Martin
The island was named by Christopher Columbus in honour of the saint on whose feast day he sighted it. Valued for its natural lakes
La Follette, Robert M
In 1897 La Follette began to advocate programs that local-level progressives had popularized during the legislative session a few months earlier. Following their lead, he demanded tax reform, corporation regulation, and political democracy. In particular, he promoted steeper railroad taxes and a direct primary. Elected governor on this platform in 1900, he was reelected
Haber, Fritz
Deciding on an academic career, he first took up organic chemical research at the University of Jena, but its orthodox methods gave
Haber, Fritz
In 1911, at the age of 42, he was appointed director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry in Berlin, a new research establishment that was to become even more famous than the school he had built up in Karlsruhe. With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he immediately placed himself and his laboratory at the service of the government, his first concern being to organize
Baburen, Dirck Van
After studying painting with a portraitist and history painter in Utrecht, Baburen traveled to Rome about 1612. His most important Italian commission was the decoration of a chapel in the
Furniture, Egypt
Two ancient Egyptian chair forms, both the result of careful design, are known from discoveries made in tombs. One of these is a four-legged chair with a back, the other a folding stool. The classical Egyptian chair has four legs shaped like those of an animal, a curved seat, and a sloping back supported by vertical stretchers. In this way a strong triangular construction
Qutb-ud-din Aybak
In childhood Qutb was sold as a slave and raised at Nishapur. He came into the possession of Muhammad of Ghur, who put him in charge of the royal stables. Eventually he was appointed to military command, and in 1193, after conquering Delhi, Muhammad returned to Khorasan and left the consolidation of the
Palaeospondylus
Genus of enigmatic fossil vertebrates that were very fishlike in appearance but of uncertain relationships. Palaeospondylus, from the Middle Devonian epoch (387 to 374 million years ago), has been found in the Old Red Sandstone rocks in the region of Achannaras, Scot. Hundreds of specimens are known, yet the position of this genus in relation to other fishlike vertebrates
Novelty Song
Popular song that is either written and performed as a novelty or that becomes a novelty when removed from its original context. Regardless of which of these two categories applies, the assumption is that the song is popular because of its novelty, because it sounds different from everything else being played on the radio or jukebox. It follows that novelty hits
