MarriedBasin

Smith, Robert

2005-11-17T19:40:00.000-08:00

Smith, brother of Samuel Smith, the military hero, grew up in Baltimore. He graduated in 1781 from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), studied law, and became a prominent and prosperous Baltimore attorney. From 1793 to 1801 Smith was active in Maryland politics,

Shamanism, American Indians

2005-07-26T19:00:00.000-07:00

Among many North American tribes shamanism constitutes the most important aspect of the religious life. The shaman is characterized by the supernatural power he acquires as the result of a direct personal experience. This power is obtained either spontaneously or after a voluntary quest, but in either case the future shaman has to undergo certain initiatory

Shilluk

2005-07-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

The Shilluk are sedentary agriculturists with strong pastoral interests (cattle, sheep, and goats). Men hunt, herd, and milk the livestock; both sexes do agricultural work. The community

Aesthetics, Japan

2005-07-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

The practice of literary commentary and aesthetic discussion was extensively developed in Japan and is exemplified at its most engaging in the great novel Genji monogatari (c. 1000; Tale of Genji), written by Murasaki Shikibu, lady-in-waiting to the Empress. Centuries of commentary on this novel, as well as on the court literature that it inspired, on the no and puppet plays,

Ma'mun, Al-

2005-07-05T14:55:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of 833 al-Ma'mun decided to require adherence to Mu'tazilah from all his subjects. As the caliph was then on an expedition against the Byzantines in the region of Tarsus, he entrusted this task to his representative in Baghdad, the prefect of police Ishaq ibn Ibrahim. The latter first called together the qadis (judges) to urge them to recognize the Mu'tazili doctrine;

Sabinian

2005-06-17T02:55:00.000-07:00

Under Pope Gregory I the Great, he served as papal ambassador at Constantinople, trying to reconcile the Roman Church with Patriarch John IV the Faster, whose claim to the title of ecumenical patriarch was regarded by Gregory to be a threat to Christian unity. Elected in 604 as Gregory's successor, Sabinian seems to have been markedly

China, Mineral resources

2005-06-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

China is well endowed with mineral resources, the most important of which is coal. Although deposits are widely scattered (some coal is found in every province), most of the total is located in the northern part of the country. The province of Shansi, in fact, is thought to contain about half of the total; other important coal-bearing provinces include Heilungkiang, Liaoning,

Udall, Nicholas

2005-06-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Udall was educated at the University of Oxford, where he became a lecturer and fellow. He became a schoolmaster in 1529 and was teaching in London in 1533 when he wrote “ditties and interludes” for Anne

Mardan

2005-05-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

Town and district in Peshawar division, North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The town, the district headquarters, lies just north of the Kalpani River; it is connected by road and rail with Dargai (Malakand Pass), Nowshera, and Peshawar, 30 mi (50 km) south-southwest. A growing industrial centre, it has textile and vegetable oil mills, a cigarette factory, and one of the largest sugar

Welland, River

2005-05-17T02:50:00.000-07:00

River in the eastern Midlands, England. The Welland River rises in the county of Leicestershire and flows eastward past Market Harborough and Stamford for about 70 miles (110 km) into Lincolnshire to enter the southwestern corner of the shallow North Sea inlet called The Wash. From Market Deeping past Spalding its course across the drained Fens has been embanked. It was

Rab�arivelo, Jean-joseph

2005-03-15T08:44:00.000-08:00

Rab�arivelo, a largely self-educated man who earned his living as a proofreader for the Imerina Printing Press, wrote seven volumes of poetry before his tragic death. Presque-Songes

Shakhty

2005-03-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �

Vanadic Anhydride

2005-03-06T16:20:00.000-08:00

Vanadium pentoxide, a compound of vanadium and oxygen widely used as an oxidation catalyst, as in the oxidation of unburned hydrocarbons in automobile exhaust (see vanadium).

Induration

2005-03-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

Hardening of rocks by heat or baking; also the hardening of sediments through cementation or compaction, or both, without the introduction of heat. The classic example is the rock called hornfels, which is formed at contacts with igneous intrusions and in which heat and fluids from the intruding magma reconstitute the original wall rock into a hardened, flinty rock

Botucatu

2005-03-04T11:46:00.000-08:00

City, central S�o Paulo estado (�state�), Brazil. It lies near the Pardo River in the Serra de Botucatu at 2,549 feet (777 m) above sea level. It was given town status in 1855 and was made the seat of a municipality in 1876. Crops (including coffee, cotton, rice, sugarcane, feij�o [beans], and potatoes) grown in the region are processed in the city, which also has foundries, textile mills, bakeries, and factories

Henderson

2005-03-03T18:31:00.000-08:00

City, Clark county, southeastern Nevada, U.S., midway between Las Vegas and Boulder City. It was established in 1942 in the desert below Clark Mountain to provide housing for the employees of a government-constructed magnesium plant and was named for U.S. Senator Charles Belknap Henderson (1873 - 1954). Inactivated at the close of World War II when the plant was closed, the project was later

Augustine, Saint

2005-03-02T07:38:00.000-08:00

Also called �Saint Augustine of Hippo, �original Latin name �Aurelius Augustinus � feast day August 28, bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430, one of the Latin Fathers of the Church, one of the Doctors of the Church, and perhaps the most significant Christian thinker after St. Paul. Augustine's adaptation of classical thought to Christian teaching created a theological system of great

Ibaraki

2005-03-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

Prefecture (ken), central Honshu, Japan, facing the Pacific Ocean. It occupies 2,351 sq mi (6,090 sq km) of the northeastern Kanto Plain. Ibaraki is bordered (south) by the Tone-gawa (Tone River) and contains part of Suigo-Tsukuba Quasi-national Park. Main features of this section of the park include Kasumiga-ura (Lake Kasumi), the second largest Japanese lake after Lake Biwa; the canals and

Frederick I

2005-02-28T17:27:00.000-08:00

An implacable enemy of the Bohemian followers of Jan Hus, church reformer and accused heretic, Frederick aided the Holy Roman emperor Sigismund against them from 1420 on. When the last Saxon elector

Rinzai

2005-02-27T23:19:00.000-08:00

One of two major Zen Buddhist sects in Japan; it stresses the abrupt awakening of transcendental wisdom, or enlightenment. Among the methods it practices are shouts (katsu) or blows delivered by the master on the disciple, question-and-answer sessions (mondo), and meditation on paradoxical statements (koan), all intended to accelerate a breakthrough of the normal boundaries

Shih Huang-ti

2005-02-26T08:36:00.000-08:00

Pinyin �Shi Huangdi�, personal name (hsing-ming) �Chao Cheng� emperor of the Ch'in dynasty (221 - 210/209 BC) and creator of the first unified Chinese empire (which collapsed, however, about four years after his death).

Insurance, Settlement options

2005-02-25T16:24:00.000-08:00

The death proceeds or cash values of insurance may be settled in various ways. The insured may take the cash value and lapse the policy. A beneficiary may take a lump sum settlement of the face amount upon the death of the insured. The beneficiary may, instead, elect to receive the proceeds over a given number of years or in some fixed amount, such as $100 a month, for as long as

Umuahia

2005-02-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Abia state, southern Nigeria. It lies along the railroad from Port Harcourt to Enugu. It is an agricultural market centre and (since 1916) collecting point on the railway for the crops of the surrounding region: yams, cassava, corn (maize), taro, citrus fruits, and palm oil and kernels. The town has a palm-oil-processing plant and several breweries, and the National

Policy

2005-02-23T00:14:00.000-08:00

Policy, a true lottery initiated in the United States by Italian-Americans, derives its name from the Italian polizza (�receipt,� or �ticket�) and retains only occasional

France, History Of

2005-02-22T15:00:00.000-08:00

From the 9th to the 11th century the peoples and lands dominated by west Frankish kings were transformed. The Carolingian protectorate of local order collapsed under the pressures of external invasions and internal usurpations of power. Growing populations and quickening economies were reorganized in principalities whose leaders struggled to carry on the