SharpBed

Maurice, Saint

2005-10-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

Their story was recorded in the Passio martyrum Acaunensium (“The Passion of the Martyrs of Agaunum”), by the 5th-century French bishop St. Eucherius, who believed

Sol

2005-08-08T17:55:00.000-07:00

The worship of Sol assumed an entirely

1945--a Watershed Year

2005-07-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

The Test.--The first atomic bomb in the history of mankind was exploded at 5:30 A.M. on July 16, 1945, at the Alamogordo air base in the desert 120 mi. southeast of Albuquerque, N.M. The bomb had been placed on a tall steel tower while scientists and military experts occupied

Mab

2005-07-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

Also called Queen Mab in English folklore, the queen of the fairies. Mab is a mischievous but basically benevolent figure. In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, she is referred to as the fairies' midwife, who delivers sleeping men of their innermost wishes in the form of dreams. In Michael Drayton's mock-epic fairy poem Nymphidia (1627), she is the wife of the fairy king Oberon and is the queen

B-film

2005-07-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn (eds.), Kings of the Bs: Working Within the Hollywood System (1975).

Alfonso V

2005-07-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

Byname Alfonso the Magnanimous , Spanish Alfonso el Magnánimo king of Aragon (1416–58) and king of Naples (as Alfonso I, 1442–58), whose military campaigns in Italy and elsewhere in the central Mediterranean made him one of the most famous men of his day. After conquering Naples, he transferred his court there.

Allen, William

2005-07-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

Educated at the University of Oxford, Allen became principal of St. Mary's Hall there in 1556. After the accession of Queen Elizabeth

Vanden Boeynants, Paul

2005-06-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

Belgian politician (b. May 22, 1919, Brussels, Belg.—d. Jan. 9, 2001, Aalst, Belg.), was a longtime member of Parliament (1952–85), the French-speaking leader of the centrist Social Christian Party (from 1961), defense minister (1972–79), and twice prime minister of Belgium (1966–68 and 1978–79). Although he was criticized for his handling of Belgium's 1968 language crisis and for his drastic policy of urban renewal in Brussels, it was a conviction

Wolff, Tobias

2005-06-22T20:10:00.000-07:00

Wolff's parents divorced when he was a child; from age 10 until he joined the U.S. Army, he traveled with his mother, who relocated frequently and finally settled in Seattle, Washington, where she remarried. Wolff wrote about

Malwa Plateau

2005-06-16T05:15:00.000-07:00

Plateau in north central India, bounded by the Gujarat Plains on the west, the Vindhya Range on the south, the Madhya Bharat Plateau and Bundelkhand Upland on the north, and the Vindhya Range on the east. Of volcanic origin, the plateau comprises central Madhya Pradesh state and southeastern Rajasthan state. The name Malwa is derived from the Sanskrit term Malav and means

Ancaeus

2005-06-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

In Greek mythology, the son of Zeus or Poseidon and king of the Leleges of Samos. In the Argonautic expedition, after the death of Tiphys, the helmsman of the Argo, Ancaeus took his place. According to legend, while planting a vineyard, Ancaeus was told by a seer that he would never drink of its wine. When the grapes were ripe, he squeezed the juice into a cup and, raising it to

Balch, Emily Greene

2005-06-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

American sociologist, political scientist, economist, and pacifist, a leader of the women's movement for peace during and after World War I. She received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1946 jointly with John Raleigh Mott. She was also noted for her sympathetic and thorough study of Slavic immigrants

Abbey, Edwin Austin

2005-05-17T23:50:00.000-07:00

Yale University Art Gallery, Edwin Austin Abbey (1852–1911) (1973).

Japan, The Yamato polity

2005-05-16T05:20:00.000-07:00

The pattern of administrative control established is called the uji-kabane system. Uji is usually translated as “clan” in English. The uji are thought to be extensions of original agricultural communities, perhaps what early Chinese records referred to as “states.” Essentially, farming communities were associated into lineal groups, united by the belief that harvests

Malachowski, Stanislaw

2005-05-14T03:10:00.000-07:00

The son of Jan Malachowski, the royal grand chancellor, Malachowski was named marshal (speaker) of the Sejm (Diet) in 1788. He was the prime force behind a constitution, adopted in 1791, that embodied such modern western European

Silkworm Moth

2005-03-15T06:26:00.000-08:00

(Bombyx), insect and source of commercial silk and an important member of the family Bombycidae (order Lepidoptera). Because of its centuries-old role in sericulture (silk production), the native Chinese silkworm has been introduced throughout the world and approaches complete domestication. The adult attains a wingspan of 40 to 50 millimetres (about 2 inches) and

Irish Terrier

2005-03-14T21:58:00.000-08:00

Dog developed in Ireland, one of the oldest breeds of terriers. Nicknamed the �daredevil,� it has earned the reputation of being adaptable, loyal, spirited, and recklessly courageous. It served as a messenger and sentinel dog in World War I, and it has been used to hunt and to retrieve game. The Irish terrier is a sturdily built dog with racier lines than those of other terriers.

Orbit

2005-03-11T22:53:00.000-08:00

The orbit of a planet is, if unaffected

Dunstan Of Canterbury, Saint

2005-03-04T02:46:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, Dunstan was educated by Irish monks and visitors at Glastonbury. Later he entered first the household of his uncle, Archbishop Aethelhelm

Eastern Africa, Habitat

2005-03-03T22:37:00.000-08:00

A more useful way of grouping the East African peoples into types is according to their habitats, which can be summarized as follows: wet lowland, wet highland, semiarid, and arid. Wet lowland habitats are concentrated around Lake Victoria, and among the peoples found there about 1900 were the Ganda and Luo, both large in number. Wet highland habitats are less concentrated

Carleton, William

2005-03-02T01:53:00.000-08:00

Born the youngest of 14 children on a small farm, Carleton learned to appreciate the Irish heritage from his father, a man well-versed in the rich folklore of the area. At first a village tutor, he published a two-volume collection of sketches, Traits and Stories

Obelisk

2005-03-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

Tapered monolithic pillar, originally erected in pairs at the entrances of ancient Egyptian temples. The Egyptian obelisk was carved from a single piece of stone, usually red granite from the quarries at Aswan. It was designed to be wider at its square or rectangular base than at its pyramidal top, which was often covered with an alloy of gold and silver called electrum.

Calamian Group

2005-02-28T18:57:00.000-08:00

Islands lying between Mindoro and Palawan, west central Philippines. The group comprises Busuanga, Culion (q.v.), and Coron islands and about 95 lesser coral isles and islets, with a total area of 677 sq mi (1,753 sq km). The main islands are quite hilly and are densely settled, with relatively stable populations engaged in subsistence agriculture and fishing. The principal settlement

Bahya Ben Joseph Ibn Pakuda

2005-02-26T05:23:00.000-08:00

About 1080 Bahya wrote, in Arabic, Al-Hidayah ila-fara' id al-qulub (�Duties of the Heart�). In a rather inaccurate 12th-century translation into Hebrew by Judah ben Joseph ibn Tibbon, Hovot ha-levavot, it became a widely read classic of Jewish philosophic

Philipp, Isidor

2005-02-25T00:51:00.000-08:00

Philipp was brought to Paris as an infant. As a piano student of Georges Mathias at the Conservatoire, he won the first prize in 1883. After study with Saint-Sa�ns and Stephen Heller, he began a brief solo concert career, making his London debut in 1890. From 1903 to 1934 he was professor