Sun Ra

Sun Ra, who claimed to have been born on the planet Saturn, grew up in Birmingham, studied piano under noted teacher Fess Wheatley, and attended Alabama Agricultural

Mercadante, Saverio

Mercadante was born out of wedlock. He was taken

Enchanter's Nightshade

Any herbaceous perennial plant of the genus Circaea, in the evening primrose family (Onagraceae), that occurs in damp woodlands of the Northern Hemisphere. The plants have slender stems with opposite leaves. The small, white, two-petaled flowers grow in clusters, and the fruits have hooked bristles.

Extortion

Extortion may include threats of harm to a person or his property,

Gaborone

Formerly �(until 1969) Gaberones, � town, capital of Botswana. The seat of government was transferred there from Mafeking (now spelled Mafikeng), South Africa, in 1965, one year before Botswana became independent of Britain. Gaborone is located on the Cape-Zimbabwe railway and is the site of government offices, parliament buildings, health facilities, a thermal power station, and an airport. It is the seat of

Cumbres De Monterrey National Park

Park in the Sierra Madre Oriental, Nuevo Le�n estado (�state�), northeastern Mexico. Established in 1939, it has a total area of 952 square miles (2,465 square km). Among the attractions are its mountainous setting (more than 7,000 feet [2,100 m] above sea level), with scenic pine and oak forests on the lower slopes; Santa Catarina Canyon; and Cola de Caballo (Spanish: �Horse Tail�) Falls, southwest of

Yingqing Ware

Yingqing (�shadowy blue�) ware is distinctive

Yingqing Ware

Yingqing (�shadowy blue�) ware is distinctive

Tunisia, Relief and drainage

Tunisia is characterized by moderate relief. The Tunisian Dorsal, or High Tell, a southwest-to-northeast mountain range that is an extension of the Saharan Atlas (Atlas Saharien) of Algeria, tapers off in the direction of the Cape Bon peninsula in the northeast, south of the Gulf of Tunis. The highest mountain, Mount ash-Sha'nabi (Djebel Chambi), located near the centre of

China, From Wu-ti to Y�an-ti

The third emperor of the Hsi Han to be singled out for special praise by traditional Chinese historians was Wu-ti (reigned 141/140 - 87/86 BC), whose reign was the longest of the whole Han period. His reputation as a vigorous and brave ruler derives from the long series of campaigns fought chiefly against the Hsiung-nu (northern nomads) and in Central Asia. But Wu-ti never took a personal

Mosaic

In art, decoration of a surface with designs made up of closely set, usually variously coloured, small pieces of material such as stone, mineral, glass, tile, or shell. Unlike inlay, in which the pieces to be applied are set into a surface that has been hollowed out to receive the design, mosaic pieces are applied onto a surface that has been prepared with an adhesive. Mosaic

Mitchell, Charles E(dwin)

Mitchell took his first job with the Western Electric Company in Chicago and became the president's assistant in 1903. Three years later he left the firm and became assistant to the president at The Trust Company of America in New York City, a position he held for five years.

Shahr-e Sokhta

Archaeological site located south of Zabol in the Balochistan region of eastern Iran. It has yielded important information on Chalcolithic (Bronze Age) settlement in the Helmand River valley during the 3rd millennium BC. Excavation of the site in 1967 by the Centre of Archaeological Studies and Excavations of the Italian Institute for the Middle and Far East has revealed

Hadley Cell

Simple model of the Earth's atmospheric circulation that was proposed by George Hadley (1735). It consists of a single wind system in each hemisphere, with westward and Equatorward flow near the surface and eastward and poleward flow at higher altitudes. The tropical regions receive more heat from solar radiation than they radiate back into space, and the polar regions

China, Government and party

Despite its size, the People's Republic of China is organized along unitary rather than federal principles. Both the government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP; Pinyin: Zhongguo Gongchan Dang; Wade - Giles romanization: Chung-kuo Kung-ch'an Tang), moreover, operate �from the top down,� arrogating to the �Centre� all powers that are not explicitly delegated to lower levels.

Tzaddiq

Also spelled �Tsaddik, or Zaddik (Hebrew: �righteous man�), �plural �Tzaddiqim, Tsaddikim, or Zaddikim, � one who embodies the religious ideals of Judaism. In the Bible, a tzaddiq is a just or righteous man (Genesis 6:9), who, if a ruler, rules justly or righteously (II Samuel 23:3) and who takes joy in justice (Proverbs 21:15). The Talmud (compendium of Jewish law, lore, and commentary) asserts that the continued existence of the world is due to the merits of 36 individuals, each of whom is gamur

Buchholz, Horst

German film actor (b. Dec. 4, 1933, Berlin, Ger. - d. March 3, 2003, Berlin), enjoyed a lengthy career in several countries and was best known in the U.S. for his role in The Magnificent Seven (1960) and the Billy Wilder farce One, Two, Three (1961). The strikingly handsome Buchholz had his first screen role in Marianne de ma jeunesse (1954). He won a best young actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for the 1955 film Himmel

Arts, Islamic, Turkish

In Turkey, the adoption of Western forms began in the 1920s. Of major importance in modern Turkish literature was Orhan Veli Kanik, who combined perfect technique with �Istanbulian� charm. His work is sometimes melancholy, sometimes frivolous, but always convincing. He strongly influenced a group of poets whose names are connected with the avant-garde literary magazine

Judaism, The ethically bound creature

Mankind is then viewed, however this position is arrived at, as ethically involved. The first 11 chapters of Genesis are posited upon this responsibility, for the implicit assumption of the prepatriarchal stories is man's ability to choose between obedience and disobedience. Rabbinic Judaism, taking up the covenant-making episode between God and Noah (Gen. 9:8 - 17), developed

Walpole, Sir Hugh (seymour)

The son of an Anglican clergyman, Walpole was educated at King's School, Canterbury, then at Durham, and finally at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. After unsuccessful attempts at teaching and lay reading in

Teplice

Formerly �Teplice-

Asti

City, capital of Asti province, Piemonte (Piedmont) region, northwestern Italy. It lies at the confluence of the Tanaro and Borbera rivers, 28 miles (45 km) southeast of Turin. Asti was the Hasta, or Colonia, of the Romans and was the seat of a bishopric from AD 932. It reached its zenith as an independent commune in the 13th century, after which it fell to several overlords before coming under

Amakusa Islands

Japanese �Amakusa-shoto, � archipelago off western Kyushu, Japan, in the Amakusa Sea. Administered by Kumamoto ken (prefecture), it includes about 100 islands, the largest of which are Kami (�Upper�) Island and Shimo (�Lower�) Island. There is little farming because of the rough, mountainous terrain, and there are few industries, but forestry, orange cultivation, and offshore fishing are actively

Amakusa Islands

Japanese �Amakusa-shoto, � archipelago off western Kyushu, Japan, in the Amakusa Sea. Administered by Kumamoto ken (prefecture), it includes about 100 islands, the largest of which are Kami (�Upper�) Island and Shimo (�Lower�) Island. There is little farming because of the rough, mountainous terrain, and there are few industries, but forestry, orange cultivation, and offshore fishing are actively

Plasma, Extraterrestrial forms

It has been suggested that the universe originated as a violent explosion about 10 billion years ago and initially consisted of a fireball of completely ionized hydrogen plasma. Irrespective of the truth of this, there is little matter in the universe now that does not exist in the plasma state. The observed stars are composed of plasmas, as are interstellar and interplanetary

Yalta Conference

It had already been decided that Germany

Orange River, Physiography

The headwaters of the Orange River rise at an altitude of about 10,800 feet (3,300 metres) above sea level on a dissected plateau formed by the Lesotho Highlands that extends from the Drakensberg escarpment in the east to the Maloti (Maluti) Mountains in the west. The main source of the Orange River is officially recognized as the Sinqu (Senqu) River, which rises near the plateau's

Nicholson, Jack

Nicholson, whose father abandoned his family, grew up believing that his grandmother was his mother and that his mother was his older sister; it was not

Carlinville

City, seat (1829) of Macoupin county, southwestern Illinois, U.S. The first white settlement on the site, in an area known as Black Hawk hunting ground (frequented by Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo Indians), was made in about 1815. The community was named for Gov. Thomas Carlin. A notable feature is the �million-dollar� county courthouse (1870), an imposing domed limestone structure, the construction

Gamelin, Maurice(-gustave)

Gamelin graduated from the Saint-Cyr military academy in 1893 and ended World War I as a brigadier general in command of a division. He rose steadily after the war, becoming