Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Silas, Saint

It is generally believed that the Silas in Acts and the Silvanus in 2 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 Peter are the same. Acts 15:22 first mentions him as one of the “leading men among the brethren” (i.e., the Christian community at Jerusalem);

Monday, March 29, 2004

San Fernando

Cabecera (principal built-up area) and partido (political subdivision) of Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, Arg. It lies north of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires province, on the Río de la Plata estuary. Colonization of the area began with the second and permanent founding of Buenos Aires (1580). During this period the region was known as Costa de Monte Grande. In 1780 the parish of

Pacific Mountain System, Animal life

The anadromous (river-spawning) salmon is the most distinctive creature of the coastal ranges. Five species—pink, chum, coho, sockeye, and chinook—are found in the streams draining the mountains, each with its own distinctive range and environmental conditions. The pink and chum spawn in coastal streams near the ocean, while the sockeye usually spawns in upstream lakes.

Sunday, March 28, 2004

Kildonan

Historic district within the city of Winnipeg, southern Manitoba, Canada. Situated on both sides of the Red River, it comprises the former cities of East Kildonan and West Kildonan and the former municipalities of Old Kildonan and North Kildonan. The original colony was one of the historic parishes of the Red River Settlement, founded by the Scottish philanthropist

Saturday, March 27, 2004

Typhoon

Conceived as a replacement for Hawker Aircraft's Hurricane, the Typhoon was a low-wing monoplane designed to a January 1938 specification. Powered by a liquid-cooled, 24-cylinder, 2,200-horsepower Napier Sabre engine, it first flew in early 1940. Intended to be an interceptor, the Typhoon was the first

Friday, March 26, 2004

Ratite

Any bird whose sternum (breastbone) is smooth, or raftlike, because it lacks a keel to which flight muscles could be anchored. All species of ratites are thus unable to fly. They are a peculiar and puzzling group, with anatomic anomalies. The group includes some of the largest birds of all time, such as the moa (q.v.) and the elephant bird (Aepyornis). Extant ratites include the

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Religion

Ecumenical and interfaith relations suffered some serious blows during 1997, although the year was also marked by a historic agreement between four Protestant denominations. Some churches dealt with dissidents in their ranks through excommunication. Church-state

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Myanmar (burma)

Myanmar's ruling military junta in 1993 ignored calls from the U.S., the European

Monday, March 22, 2004

Arnold, Matthew

Lastly Arnold turned to religion, the constant preoccupation and true centre of his whole life, and wrote St. Paul and Protestantism (1870), Literature and Dogma (1873), God and the Bible (1875), and Last Essays on Church and Religion (1877). In these books, Arnold really founded Anglican “modernism.” Like all religious liberals, he came under fire from two sides: from the orthodox, who accused him

Savora

Also spelled  sabora (Aramaic: “reasoner,” or “one who reflects”) , plural  savoraim , or  saboraim  any of a group of 6th-century-AD Jewish scholars who determined the final internal form of the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), a collection of authoritative interpretations and explanations of Jewish oral laws and religious customs. Some experts feel that certain (perhaps many) of the critical textual remarks now found in the Talmud represent the work of savoraim,

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Venezuela, Flag Of

In 1797 Manuel Gual and José María España, plotting to overthrow Spanish rule in what is now Venezuela, proposed a complex flag with the colours white, yellow, blue, and red. In 1801 the revolutionary leader Francisco de Miranda chose red, yellow, and blue for his flag, although five years later he favoured black, red, and yellow. Various arrangements of the colours later appeared,

Friday, March 19, 2004

Africanus, Sextus Julius

His life is not well documented, but evidence indicates that Africanus traveled considerably in Asia, Egypt, and Italy and later lived chiefly at Emmaus, in Palestine, where he served as prefect. He was named regional ambassador to Rome about 222, when he became a protégé of the emperor Severus

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Sanmicheli, Michele

He was a pupil of his father, Giovanni, and his uncle Bartolomeo, both architects in Verona. At an early age he went to Rome, where he studied with architects trained under Donato Bramante and Giuliano da Sangallo. There

Vietnam, Climate

The northern part of Vietnam is on the edge of the tropical climatic zone. During January, the coldest month of the year, Hanoi has a mean temperature of 63° F (17° C), while the annual average temperature is 74° F (23° C). Farther south, the average annual temperature in Hue is 77° F (25° C) and in Ho Chi Minh City is 81° F (27° C); in the highland city of Da Lat, it drops to 70° F (21° C). The winter season in northern Vietnam lasts

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

French Literature, Religious authors

A new intellectual climate can be recognized from 1680 onward. An increased spiritual awareness resulting from Jansenist teaching, the preaching of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet and others, and the influence of Mme de Maintenon at court, marked French cultural life with a new moral earnestness and devotion. The position of Bossuet is an ambivalent one. In spite of his outspoken

Monday, March 15, 2004

Polaron

Electron moving through the constituent atoms of a solid material, causing the neighbouring positive charges to shift toward it and the neighbouring negative charges to shift away. This distortion of the regular position of electrical charges constitutes a region of polarization that travels along with the moving electron. After the electron passes, the region

Rob Roy

Rob's father, Donald MacGregor, a younger

Saturday, March 13, 2004

Wrexham

The town's name is Anglo-Saxon in origin. Edward I (king of England 1272–1307) granted the town to Earl Warenne. Wrexham was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century, when John (“Iron

Friday, March 12, 2004

Swamp

Wetland ecosystem characterized by mineral soils with poor drainage and by plant life dominated by trees. The latter characteristic distinguishes a swamp from a marsh, in which plant life consists largely of grasses. Swamps are found throughout the world. They exist in areas with poor drainage and sufficient water supply to keep the ground waterlogged, and they

Amora

(Hebrew  and Aramaic: “interpreter,” or “reciter”), plural Amoraim,   in ancient times, a Jewish scholar attached to one of several academies in Palestine (Tiberias, Sepphoris, Caesarea) or in Babylonia (Nehardea, Sura, Pumbedita). The amoraim collaborated in writing the Gemara, collected interpretations of and commentaries on the Mishna (the authoritative code of Jewish oral laws) and on its critical marginal notes, called Tosefta (Addition).

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Gulbransson, Olaf

Gulbransson studied at the Royal Norwegian Drawing School and worked for several Norwegian newspapers. After a visit to Paris in 1900, he returned to Oslo,

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Gumal Pass

Also spelled  Gomal Pass,   route along the Gumal River valley in the extreme southwestern portion of North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan. The most important pass between the Khyber and Bolan passes, it connects Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan with Tank and Dera Ismail Khan in Pakistan via Domandi and Kot Murtaza. Actually a 4-mile (6-kilometre) defile (gorge), the name is sometimes applied to the full

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Juárez

The city's historic buildings include the Guadalupe mission

Sunday, March 07, 2004

Cronstedt, Axel Fredrik

Cronstedt was the first

Yesenin, Sergey Aleksandrovich

The son of a peasant family of Old Believers, he left his

Friday, March 05, 2004

Skara Brae

One of the most perfectly preserved Stone Age villages in Europe, which was covered for hundreds of years by a sand dune on the shore of the Bay of Skaill, Mainland, Orkney Islands, Scot. Exposed by a great storm in 1850, four buildings were excavated during the 1860s by William Watt. After another storm in 1926, further excavations were undertaken by the Ancient Monuments branch of

Thursday, March 04, 2004

Bahmani Sultanate

The Bahmani sultanate's

Levene, Phoebus (aaron Theodor)

On receiving his M.D. degree from the St. Petersburg Imperial Medical Academy in 1891, Levene fled from Russian anti-Semitism and settled in New York City. While practicing medicine there, he studied chemistry at Columbia University and ultimately decided to devote

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Powhatan War

(1622–44), relentless struggle between the Powhatan Indian confederacy and early English settlers in the tidewater section of Virginia and southern Maryland. The conflict resulted in the destruction of the Indian power. English colonists who had settled in Jamestown (1607) were at first strongly motivated by their need of native corn (maize) to keep peace with the Powhatans

Monday, March 01, 2004

Kyushu

Japanese  Kyushu (“Nine Provinces”)  southernmost and third largest of the four main islands of Japan. It is bordered by the East China Sea on the west and the Pacific Ocean on the east. Its name refers to the nine ancient provinces (kuni) into which the island was divided. It is separated from the island of Honshu to the north by the Shimonoseki Strait and from Korea to the northwest by the Tsushima Strait,