Crocodile Bird
(Pluvianus aegyptius; see photograph), shorebird belonging to the family Glareolidae (order Charadriiformes). The crocodile bird is a plover-like courser that derives its name from its frequent association with the Nile crocodile, from whose hide it picks parasites for food. By their cries, the birds also serve to warn crocodiles of approaching
Asbestos
Any of several minerals that readily separate into long, flexible fibres. Chrysotile, the fibrous form of the mineral serpentine, is the best-known type and accounts for about 95 percent of all asbestos in commercial use. It is a hydrous magnesium silicate with the chemical composition of Mg3Si2O5(OH)4. The other types all belong to the amphibole group of minerals and include
Arts, Central Asian, Sogdiana
Sogdiana, with its capital of Afrasiab, was already noted for the sophistication and number of its towns when Alexander the Great conquered it in 328 BC and opened it up to Greek soldiers and administrators, and eventually to Roman traders. The Sogdians resented being governed by Alexander's successors, the Greek kings of the Seleucid dynasty. It is difficult to establish
Pacific Mountain System
Series of mountain ranges that stretches along the Pacific coast of North America from northern British Columbia (Canada) to northwestern Mexico. They run for some 4,500 miles (7,250 kilometres) in the United States and extend northward into Canada for another 1,000 miles. The ranges may be divided into eight sections. Roughly from north to south they are the Coast Mountains of British
Boyne, River
Irish �An Bh�inn� river rising in the Bog of Allen, County Kildare, Ireland, and flowing 70 miles (110 km) northeast to enter the Irish Sea just below Drogheda. Neolithic passage graves at Knowth, Newgrange, and Dowth are of archaeological significance, and nearby in the Boyne valley is Tara, seat of the high kings of Ireland. The river was the scene of the famous Battle of the Boyne (1690).
Earth Sciences, Darcy's law
Quantitative studies of the movement of water in streams and aquifers led to the formulation of mathematical statements relating discharge to other factors. Henri-Philibert-Gaspard Darcy, a French hydraulic engineer, was the first to state clearly a law describing the flow of groundwater. Darcy's experiments, reported in 1856, were based on the ideas that an aquifer
Dubuque
City, seat (1834) of Dubuque county, northeastern Iowa, U.S., on the Mississippi River (bridged to East Dubuque, Illinois), opposite the junction of the Wisconsin and Illinois boundary lines. It was named for Julien Dubuque (1762 - 1810), a French Canadian trader who in 1788 concluded a treaty with the Fox giving him lead-mining rights. He was the first person of European descent to settle permanently
Valencia, Lake
Spanish �Lago De Valencia, � lake in Carabobo and Aragua states, central Venezuela. Lying in a basin in the Cordillera de la Costa (Maritime Andes) of the central highlands at an elevation of 1,362 ft (415 m) above sea level, Lake Valencia measures approximately 18 mi (29 km) from east to west and 10 mi from north to south. Its total area of 141 sq mi (364 sq km) makes it the second largest natural lake of Venezuela, after Lake Maracaibo.
Ibn Al-haytham
Latinized as �Alhazen,� in full, �Abu 'Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham � mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the principles of optics and the use of scientific experiments.
Alexander Ii
He studied under Lanfranc at Bec. As bishop of Lucca he worked for the abolition of simony and the enforcement of clerical celibacy. Though he was elected pope, the German court nominated Peter Cadalus of Parma as Honorius II, and Alexander was not recognized by the empire until 1064. In 1062 the antipope was dropped by the German regents, and
Bokassa, Jean-b�del
African military officer and political leader (b. Feb. 22, 1921, Bobangui, Oubangui-Chari, French Equatorial Africa [now in Central African Republic]--d. Nov. 3, 1996, Bangui, Central African Republic), was president of the Central African Republic (1966-77) and self-styled emperor of the Central African Empire (1977-79). His rule was characterized by brutality and greed. After the assassination of his father,
Caracalla
Also spelled �Caracallus, �byname of �Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus, �original name (until AD 196) �Septimius Bassianus, �also called (AD 196 - 198) �Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Caesar � Roman emperor, ruling jointly with his father, Septimius Severus, from 198 to 211 and then alone from 211 until his assassination in 217. His principal achievements were his colossal baths in Rome and his edict of 212, giving Roman citizenship to all free inhabitants of the empire. Caracalla, whose reign contributed to the decay
Tael
China did not have a national currency until 1933, and hence external trade was conducted in foreign currencies and internal trade in ounces, or taels, of silver. The tael was seldom minted in the form of a coin but rather served as a standard
Lena River, Physiography
In the section from the headwaters to the Vitim River, the Lena flows in a deep-cut valley, the rocky and steep slopes of which rise
Bradbury, Ray
Bradbury published his first story in 1940 and was soon contributing widely to magazines. His first book of short stories, Dark Carnival (1947), was followed by The Martian
Nabuco De Ara�jo, Joaquim Aurelio Barreto
Nabuco was a member of an old aristocratic family in northeastern Brazil. Both in the national Chamber of Deputies (from 1878) and in the Brazilian Anti-Slavery Society, which he founded, he worked tirelessly for the emancipation of Brazil's
Levin, Meyer
Levin first became known with the novel Yehuda (1931). In 1945 he wrote and produced the first Palestinian feature film, My Father's House (book, 1947), which tells of Jews who are driven out of Poland and reunite in Palestine. Other major works are Citizens (1940) - about the
David Ii
On July 17, 1328, in accordance with the Anglo-Scottish peace treaty of Northampton,
New Brunswick
Canadian province located on the eastern seaboard of the North American continent. It is Canada's only officially bilingual province, French and English having equal status. It was one of the four original provinces making up the national confederation in 1867. Together with Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, it forms the regional grouping known as the Maritime
Lowden, Frank Orren
Lowden attended law school in Chicago and within a few years of graduating had become a prominent and prosperous corporate attorney. Throughout his legal and political career, he remained
Hettner, Alfred
While completing work on his doctorate at the University of Strasbourg (now in France), Hettner became increasingly absorbed in philosophy.
Actinide Element
Any of a series of 15 consecutive chemical elements in the periodic table from actinium to lawrencium (atomic numbers 89 - 103). As a group they are significant largely because of their radioactivity. Although several members of the group, including uranium (the most familiar), occur naturally, most are man-made. Both uranium and plutonium have been used in atomic bombs for their
Papinian
Papinian held high public office under the emperor Septimius Severus (reigned AD 193 - 211) and became vice president of the Consilium Principis,
Loden Coat
Loden cloth is dyed in several colours, but bluish green is the most common. The jacket sometimes has a stiff, standup collar and is trimmed with
African Swine Fever
The virus responsible for African swine fever is classified as an iridovirus. It is physically, chemically,
General Confederation Of Labour
French �Conf�d�ration G�n�rale du Travail (CGT),� France's largest labour-union federation. The CGT was formed in 1895 and united in 1902 with the syndicalist-oriented Federation of Labour Exchanges (F�d�ration des Bourses du Travail). In its early years the CGT was racked by ideological divisions between socialist, syndicalist, and other factions. The confederation advocated the use of collective bargaining and the general
Alaya-vij�ana
(Sanskrit: �store of consciousness�), key concept of the Vij�anavada (�Consciousness-affirming�) school of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Since that school maintains that no external reality exists, while retaining the position that knowledge, and therefore a knowable, exists, it assumes that knowledge itself is the object of consciousness. It therefore postulates a
Hayes, Helen
At the behest of her mother, a touring stage performer, Hayes attended dancing class as a youngster, and, from 1905 to 1909, she performed with the Columbia Players. At age nine, she made her Broadway debut as Little Mimi in the Victor Herbert operetta
Offroad Racing
Numerous offroad race circuits have developed, notably Score International Off Road Racing, which hosts the
�bo, Treaty Of
(1743), peace settlement that concluded the Russo-Swedish War of 1741 - 43 by obliging Sweden to cede a strip of southern Finland to Russia and to become temporarily dependent on Russia. As a result of the Great Northern War (Treaty of Nystad, 1721), Sweden had lost Estonia, Livonia, Ingria, and part of Karelia to Russia. In 1741 Sweden reached a secret understanding (through French mediators) with
