Hay
Town, south-central New South Wales, Australia, on the Murrumbidgee River. The settlement originated in 1840 as a coach station known as Lang's Crossing Place. Surveyed in 1858, it became a town the following year and was named after John Hay, a district parliamentary representative. Developed as a river port, it was proclaimed a municipality in 1872 and a shire in 1965. Situated at the junction
Sakakah
Oasis, northwestern Saudi Arabia. It lies on an old caravan route from the Mediterranean Sea coast to the central and southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula. Sakakah lies north of the desert an-Nafud and northeast of al-Jawf oasis. The government tried to improve agricultural conditions in the area. The main products of the oasis are dates and dairy products.
Abs, Hermann J.
Abs studied law for one year before joining a merchant bank in Cologne. After World War I, he obtained a series of posts, in Germany and abroad, learning the business of international banking. In 1938 he became a manager of Berlin's Deutsche Bank, which had,
Dworkin, Andrea
Dworkin began writing at an early age. During her undergraduate years at Vermont's Bennington College (B.A., 1968), she became involved with the student demonstrations against the Vietnam War. Her experience in the New
Ellwangen
City, Baden-W�rttemberg Land (state), southern Germany, on the Jagst River, north of Aalen. It originated around a Benedictine abbey, founded in 764 and transformed into a college of secular canons in 1460. Chartered in 1229, the town passed to W�rttemberg in 1802. Its castle, seat of the prince-abbots and priors, existed in 1266 and was rebuilt in Renaissance style about 1608. The Romanesque Collegiate
Falconiform
Falconiforms have no obvious evolutionary links with other birds. Currently they are placed between ducks, on the one hand, and game birds on the other; but they bear no clear resemblance to either, while fossil evidence does not indicate intermediate links. The most obvious physical specializations of falconiforms - the cutting, tearing bill and taloned feet - do
Indian Languages
Languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent. The languages of the region are generally classified as belonging to the following families: Indo-European (the Indo-Iranian branch in particular), Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic (Munda in particular), and Sino-Tibetan. Fourteen languages are mentioned in the constitution of India: Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Gujarati, Sanskrit,
Eco, Umberto
After receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Turin (1954), Eco worked as a cultural editor for Italian Radio-Television and also lectured at the University of Turin (1956 - 64). He then taught in Florence and Milan and finally, in 1971, assumed a professorial post at the University of Bologna.
Baptiste
After two provincial engagements, Baptiste went to Paris in 1791. In 1793 he joined the Th��tre de la R�publique and in 1799 the Com�die-Fran�aise, from which he retired in 1828. He was not successful in tragedy. Parisians of the Napoleonic era primarily associated
Biosphere, Humidity
Most terrestrial organisms must maintain their water content within fairly narrow limits. Water commonly is lost to the air through evaporation or, in plants, transpiration. Because most water loss occurs by diffusion and the rate of diffusion is determined by the gradient across the diffusion barrier such as the surface of a leaf or skin, the rate of water loss
Amalaric
Amalaric was a child when his father fell in battle against Clovis, king of the Franks (507). He was carried for safety into Spain, which country, with southern Languedoc and Provence, was thenceforth ruled by his maternal grandfather Theodoric the Great through his vice-regent, an Ostrogothic nobleman named Theudis. On Theodoric's death
Sakaida Family
Also called �Kakiemon Family, � celebrated family of Japanese potters whose founder, Sakaida Kizaemon (1596 - 1666), was awarded the name Kakiemon in recognition of his capturing the delicate red colour and texture of the persimmon (kaki) in porcelain. See Kakiemon ware.
Objectivism
The theory or practice of objective art or literature. The term was used by the poet William Carlos Williams in the 1930s to describe a movement in which emphasis was placed on viewing poems as objects that could be considered and analyzed in terms of mechanical features. According to Williams, this meant examining the structural aspects of the poem and considering
Karatau
Kazak �Qaratau� mountain range, a northwestern spur of the Tien Shan, in southern Kazakstan. The name is Turkic, meaning �black mountain.� The range extends for 260 miles (420 km) along the Syr Darya (river) and rises to 7,139 feet (2,176 m), with an average elevation of 3,300 - 5,000 feet (1,000 - 1,525 m). The summits are smooth, and small snow-fed streams flow down the steep slopes in spring. On the eastern slopes rich deposits of phosphorites
Karatau
Kazak �Qaratau� mountain range, a northwestern spur of the Tien Shan, in southern Kazakstan. The name is Turkic, meaning �black mountain.� The range extends for 260 miles (420 km) along the Syr Darya (river) and rises to 7,139 feet (2,176 m), with an average elevation of 3,300 - 5,000 feet (1,000 - 1,525 m). The summits are smooth, and small snow-fed streams flow down the steep slopes in spring. On the eastern slopes rich deposits of phosphorites
Karatau
In American history, major New Deal program to restore agricultural prosperity by curtailing farm production, reducing export surpluses, and raising prices. The Agricultural Adjustment Act (May 1933) was an omnibus farm-relief bill embodying the schemes of the major national farm organizations. It established the Agricultural Adjustment Administration under
Channel Islands
French ��les Normandes, or Anglo-normandes, � archipelago in the English Channel, west of the Cotentin peninsula of France, at the entrance to the Gulf of Saint-Malo, 80 miles (130 km) south of the English coast. The islands are dependencies of the British crown (and not strictly part of the United Kingdom), having been so attached since the Norman Conquest of 1066, when they formed part of the duchy of Normandy. They comprise four
Flodoard
After returning from a visit to Pope Leo VII in Rome, Flodoard became involved in a dispute
Yamamoto Isoroku
Yamamoto graduated from the naval academy in 1904 and fought as an ensign in the Russo-Japanese War. He was naval attach� at the Japanese embassy in Washington, D.C., during 1926 - 27. He became vice minister of the Japanese navy in 1936, commander
Conopophagidae
Gnateater (or antpipit) family of small, plump-bodied birds of Central and South America. The two genera (Conopophaga and Corythopsis) were separated from the antbird family (Formicariidae) in 1882 and raised to family rank. Research in the late 1960s, however, led to its dissolution; the Conopophaga were then returned to the Formicariidae, and the Corythopsis were assigned to
Competitive Exclusion, Principle Of
Also called �Gause's Principle, or Grinnell's Axiom� (after G.F. Gause, a Soviet biologist, and J. Grinnell, an American naturalist, who first clearly established it), statement that in competition between species that seek the same ecological niche, one species survives while the other expires under a given set of environmental conditions.
Zemes Mate
(Latvian), Lithuanian �Zemyna� the Earth Mother of Baltic religion. Zemes mate represents the female aspect of nature and the source of all life - human, animal, and plant. Interacting with Dievs (the sky), Zemes mate stimulates and protects the power of life. Libations of beer were offered to her at the opening of every festival, and such products of the earth as bread, ale, and herbs were buried in the ground
Lop Nor
The former lake, occupying roughly 770 square miles (2,000 square km) in the 1950s, ceased to exist by about 1970 upon completion of irrigation works
Pit Bull Terrier
Fighting dog developed in 19th-century England out of the bulldog and a terrier. See Staffordshire terrier.
Saccopastore Skulls
The strong development of the brow ridges (responsible for the so-called beetle-browed look) and the low, flat crown, large jaw, and
Ambala
Also called �Umbala� city, northeastern Haryana state, northwestern India, just east of the Ghaggar River. A major grain, cotton, and sugar trade centre, it is connected by road and rail with Delhi and Amritsar (Punjab state). Other rail lines run northward to Simla and Kalka and southeastward to Saharanpur. The city is also served by Ambala Airport. One of India's largest military cantonments, which
Bot Fly
Horse bot flies (family Gasterophilidae) include species of Gasterophilus, a serious horse pest. The adult horse fly, often known as a gad fly, deposits between about 400 and 500 eggs (nits) on the horse's
