AutomaticBranch: February 2004

Sunday, February 29, 2004

Proclus

Proclus was reared at Xanthus in Lycia, and he studied philosophy under Olympiodorus the Elder at Alexandria. At Athens he studied under the Greek philosophers Plutarch and Syrianus,

Saturday, February 28, 2004

Pyrometer

Device for measuring relatively high temperatures, such as are encountered in furnaces. Most pyrometers work by measuring radiation from the body whose temperature is to be measured. Radiation devices have the advantage of not having to touch the material being measured. Optical pyrometers, for example, measure the temperature of incandescent bodies by comparing

Friday, February 27, 2004

Atargatis

Great goddess of northern Syria; her chief sanctuary was at Hierapolis (modern Manbij), northeast of Aleppo, where she was worshiped with her consort, Hadad. Her ancient temple there was rebuilt about 300 BC by Queen Stratonice, wife of Seleucus I, and it was perhaps partly as a result of that Greek patronage that her cult, carried by Greek merchants and mercenaries, spread to

Thursday, February 26, 2004

Farah

Also spelled �Farrah�, or �Ferah� town, southwestern Afghanistan, on the Farah River. Usually identified with the ancient town of Phrada, it was once a centre of agriculture and commerce until destroyed by the Mongols in 1221; it later revived but was sacked in 1837 by the Persians. The building of the Kandahar-Herat road through Farah in the 1930s and of a bridge over the river (1958) restored some of the town's former importance.

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Gates Of Paradise

Italian �Porta Del Paradiso, � the pair of gilded bronze doors (1425 - 52) designed by the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti for the east entrance of the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Florence. Each wing of the Gates of Paradise contains five rectangular reliefs of scenes from the Old Testament between figurated borders containing statuettes in niches and medallions with busts. The entire surface of the doors

Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Race

The most important promoter of racial ideology in Europe during the mid-19th century was Joseph-Arthur, comte de Gobineau, who had an almost incalculable effect on late 19th-century social theory. Published in 1853 - 55, his Essay on the Inequality of Human Races was widely read, embellished, and publicized by many different kinds of writers. He imported some of his arguments from

Monday, February 23, 2004

Amphibole

Any of a group of common rock-forming silicate minerals.

Sunday, February 22, 2004

Andalusia

Andalusia possesses the most varied terrain and vegetation in all Spain. Striking contrasts exist between alpine mountains and pine forests at high elevations, arid and barren deserts, and fertile irrigated plains that support plantations of subtropical fruits. The topography of Andalusia is divided by mountain ranges into several distinct zones, each running

Saturday, February 21, 2004

Condensation

Deposition of a liquid or a solid from its vapour, generally upon a surface that is cooler than the adjacent gas. A substance condenses when the pressure exerted by its vapour exceeds the vapour pressure of the liquid or solid phase of the substance at the temperature of the surface where condensation occurs. Heat is released when a vapour condenses. Unless this heat

Friday, February 20, 2004

Powell, William

After graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City in 1912, Powell debuted

Thursday, February 19, 2004

Dagan

Also spelled �Dagon� West Semitic god of crop fertility, worshiped extensively throughout the ancient Middle East. Dagan was the Hebrew and Ugaritic common noun for �grain,� and the god Dagan was the legendary inventor of the plow. His cult is attested as early as about 2500 BC, and, according to texts found at Ras Shamra (ancient Ugarit), he was the father of the god Baal. Dagan had an important temple

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Canadian Pacific Ltd.

Formerly �(1881 - 1971) Canadian Pacific Railway Company, � privately owned company that operates one of Canada's two transcontinental railroad systems. The company was established to complete a transcontinental railroad that the government had begun under the agreement by which British Columbia entered the confederation in 1871. The main line from Montreal to Port Moody (a Vancouver suburb) was completed in 1885. Later the company

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Chi-ning

Pinyin �Jining�, conventional �Tsining� city in southwestern Shantung sheng (province), China. In early times the seat of the state of Jen, it later became a part of the state of Ch'i, which flourished in the Chou period (c. 1122 - 221 BC). It underwent many changes of name and administrative status. The present name, Chi-ning, first appeared under Mongol rule in AD 1271. In early times the city was usually subordinated to Yen-chou, about 20 miles

Monday, February 16, 2004

Stagg, Amos Alonzo

U.S. college football coach who had the longest coaching career - 71 years - in the history of the sport. In 1943, at the age of 81, he was named college coach of the year, and he remained active in coaching until the age of 98. He is the only person selected for the National Football Hall of Fame, New Brunswick, N.J., as both a player and a coach. He was also

Sunday, February 15, 2004

Alvarez, A.

Although Alvarez's family enjoyed economic and cultural advantages, both of his parents attempted suicide during his childhood. He entered Corpus Christi College at Oxford, where he founded the Critical

Thursday, February 12, 2004

Andrew Of Carniola

From the scant data available on Andrew's life, it appears that he was

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Gatling Gun

Hand-driven machine gun, the first to solve the problems of loading, reliability, and the firing of sustained bursts. It was invented by Richard J. Gatling during the American Civil War (about 1862). After early experiments with a single barrel using paper cartridges (which had to have a separate percussion cap), he saw in the newly invented brass cartridge (which had its own

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Auscultation

The technique

Monday, February 09, 2004

Multinational And Regional Organizations

On May 31, 1997, the foreign ministers of the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and announced that they would embrace Myanmar (Burma), Laos, and Cambodia as full members at the group's 30th anniversary meeting in July. The announcement was controversial because, in the words of Nobel Peace Prize winner Daw Aung San Suu

Sunday, February 08, 2004

Molise

Regione, southeast-central Italy. It consists of the provinces of Campobasso and Isernia and was created in 1965 from the southern portion of the former region of Abruzzi e Molise. The region's western sector is part of the mountainous Apennines; it is drained by the Volturno River westward to the Tyrrhenian Sea. The rest of Molise consists mostly of low mountains and hills,

Saturday, February 07, 2004

Biblical Literature, The Babylonian Exile and the restoration

The Babylonian Exile (586 - 538) marks an epochal dividing point in Old Testament history, standing between what were subsequently to be designated the pre-exilic and post-exilic eras. The Judahite community in Babylonia was, on the whole, more Yahwist in religion than ever, following the Mosaic Law, emphasizing and redefining such distinctive elements as circumcision and

Friday, February 06, 2004

Tabataba'i, Sayyid Zia Od-din

Tabataba'i became prominent during World War I as the editor of a pro-British newspaper, Ra'd (�Thunder�). In 1919 he led a quasi-diplomatic mission to negotiate a commercial agreement with the anti-Communist Russian revolutionaries at Baku. On his return to Iran he joined a secret nationalist

Thursday, February 05, 2004

Gaud�, Antoni

Catalan in full �Antoni Gaud� i Cornet�, Spanish �Antonio Gaud� y Cornet � Catalan architect, whose distinctive style is characterized by freedom of form, voluptuous colour and texture, and organic unity. Gaud� worked almost entirely in or near Barcelona. Much of his career was occupied with the construction of the Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family (Sagrada Familia), which was unfinished at his death in

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

Botrytis Blight

Also called �botrytis rot�, or �gray mold blight� disease of plants growing in humid areas that is usually caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea. Most vegetables, fruits, flowers, and woody plants are susceptible; injured, old, and dead plant parts become infected first. Soft, tan to brown spots or blotches become covered with a dusty mold in moist weather. Seedlings, young shoots, or leaves may wither and collapse; buds

Tuesday, February 03, 2004

Power, Tyrone (edmund)

Power's Irish great-grandfather and namesake, Tyrone (1795 - 1841), was a popular actor and comedian; his granduncle Maurice (d. 1849), a Shakespearean actor; and his father, Frederick Tyrone (1869 - 1931), an actor on stage and in Hollywood. Before Power's Broadway debut in 1935 in Romeo and Juliet,

Monday, February 02, 2004

Haldane, Elizabeth Sanderson

The younger sister of the statesman Richard Burdon Haldane and the physiologist John Scott Haldane, she was educated privately. For much of her adult life she served on various advisory and regulatory boards for nursing. Influenced by the English housing reformer Octavia Hill,

Sunday, February 01, 2004

Computers, Living in cyberspace

Peter J. Denning and Robert M. Metcalfe, Beyond Calculation: The Next Fifty Years of Computing (1997), the computer revolution is just beginning; essays by experts on the social, scientific, and economic impact of computers during the coming decades.

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