CleanChain

Liturgical Music

2005-10-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

Also called Church Music, music written for performance in a religious rite of worship; the term is most commonly associated with the Christian tradition. Developing from the musical practices of the Jewish synagogues, which allowed the cantor an improvised charismatic song, early Christian services contained a simple refrain, or responsorial, sung by the congregation. This evolved

Aer Lingus

2005-07-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

National airline of Ireland, comprising two government-owned companies: (1) Aer Lingus Teoranta, incorporated in 1936 and operating air services within Ireland and between Ireland and Britain and continental Europe, and (2) Aerlinte Eireann Teoranta, incorporated in 1947 and operating air services between Ireland and the United States and Canada. Though legally separate

Downpatrick

2005-07-26T23:55:00.000-07:00

Irish Dún Pádraig town and seat, Down district (established 1973), formerly in County Down, Northern Ireland. Downpatrick is located where the River Quoilé broadens into its estuary in Strangford Lough (inlet of the sea). The town takes its name from dún (fortress) and from its association with St. Patrick. It is the Dun-da-leth-glas (Fortress of the Two Broken Fetters) of Irish chroniclers. Formerly

Bonaparte, Louis-lucien

2005-07-24T00:45:00.000-07:00

He passed his youth in Italy and did not go to France until 1848, when he served two brief terms in the Assembly as representative for Corsica (1848) and for the Seine (1849). He played no direct part in the coup d'etat of Dec. 2, 1851, of his cousin Napoleon

Trajan

2005-07-07T15:30:00.000-07:00

Latin in full Caesar Divi Nervae Filius Nerva Traianus Optimus Augustus, also called (AD 97–98) Caesar Nerva Traianus Germanicus, original name Marcus Ulpius Traianus Roman emperor (AD 98–117), the first to be born outside Italy. He sought to extend the boundaries of the empire to the east (notably in Dacia, Arabia, Armenia, and Mesopotamia), undertook a vast building program, and enlarged social welfare.

Shensi, Administration and social conditions

2005-07-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

The province has three prefecture-level municipalities (shih) directly subordinated to the provincial government. One of these municipalities includes the provincial capital, Sian. The rest of the province is organized into seven prefectures (ti-ch'ü); the northern plateau area is divided between the Yü-lin Prefecture in the far north and the Yen-an Prefecture farther

Costanoan

2005-06-15T13:15:00.000-07:00

Any of several dialectally related California Indian peoples speaking a Penutian language and originally living in an area stretching from the San Francisco Bay region southward to Point Sur. The people were scattered in villages, and groupings were only later identified on the basis of proximity to the Franciscan missions established among them (see Mission

San José De Las Lajas

2005-06-02T21:40:00.000-07:00

City, north-central La Habana provincia, west-central Cuba. It is known primarily as a commercial and manufacturing centre for the surrounding agricultural and pastoral lands, which feature dairying and sugarcane growing, but thermal springs have made it a health resort as well. A rail junction, it is also accessible by highway from Havana, which lies 20 miles (32 km) to the

North Germanic Languages

2005-05-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

Also called Scandinavian languages group of Germanic languages consisting of modern standard Danish, Swedish, Norwegian (Dano-Norwegian and New Norwegian), Icelandic, and Faroese. These languages are usually divided into East Scandinavian (Danish and Swedish) and West Scandinavian (Norwegian, Icelandic, and Faroese) groups.

Arts, Central Asian, Fergana and Chorasmia

2005-05-17T07:30:00.000-07:00

Fergana produced much pottery of quality, but, as yet, there have been no finds of comparable importance to those in Sogdiana. Its arts appear to have paralleled the developments in the more prosperous, more heavily populated, and more highly urbanized state of Chorasmia (later Khwarezm). Chorasmia's defensive architecture was particularly notable. Its great citadels

Gobi, Physiography

2005-05-15T05:05:00.000-07:00

The Ka-shun Gobi is bounded by the spurs of the Tien Shan to the west and the Pei Mountains to the south and rises to elevations as high as 5,000 feet (1,524 metres). It is gently corrugated, with a complex labyrinth of wide

Skanderbeg

2005-03-15T07:17:00.000-08:00

A son of John (Gjon) Kastrioti, prince of Emathia, George was early given as hostage to the Turkish sultan. Converted to Islam and educated at Edirne, Turkey, he was given the name Iskander - after Alexander the Great - and the rank of bey (hence Skanderbeg) by Sultan Murad II. During the defeat of the Turks at

Switzerland

2005-03-12T23:37:00.000-08:00

Officially �Swiss Confederation�, French �Suisse �or �Conf�d�ration Suisse�, German �Schweiz �or �Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft�, Italian �Svizzera �or �Confederazione Svizzera� or �Confederazione Elvetica�, Romansch �Svizzra �or �Confederaziun Helvetica� country of central Europe, bordered to the west by France, to the north by Germany, to the east by Austria and Liechtenstein, and to the south by Italy. Switzerland extends about 135 miles (220 km) from north to south and 220 miles (350 km) at its widest extent from west to east. Its small area of 15,940 square miles (41,284 square km) - about half the size of Scotland - and its modest population give little indication

Syria, Air transport

2005-03-09T14:13:00.000-08:00

Syria has international airports at Damascus and Aleppo and domestic airports at al-Qamishli, Latakia, Dayr az-Zawr, and Tadmur. The facilities at Damascus and Aleppo can handle jet aircraft. International services connect Syria with Arab, other Asian, and European countries. Domestic services are provided by Syrian Arab Airways.

Mckay, Donald

2005-03-08T04:16:00.000-08:00

After emigrating to New York City in 1827, he worked as an apprentice to the ship carpenter Isaac Webb. In 1845 he established a shipyard at East Boston, Mass.; there he designed and built his great clipper ships. His first, the Stag Hound, launched in 1850, was

Obelia

2005-03-07T08:07:00.000-08:00

Genus of invertebrate marine animals of the class Hydrozoa (phylum Cnidaria). The genus, widely distributed in all the oceans, is represented by many species. The animal begins life as a polyp - a stalklike form attached to the ocean bottom or some other solid surface. The polyp produces medusae, or jellyfish, which in turn, produce polyps. Rootlike filaments sent out by

Kachina

2005-03-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

In Pueblo Indian religious practice, any of more than 500 divine ancestral spirits who act as intermediaries between man and god. Each tribe has its distinct forms and variations. Kachinas are believed to reside with the tribe for half of each year. They will allow themselves to be seen by the community if the men properly perform a traditional ritual while wearing kachina

Upasampada

2005-03-05T22:08:00.000-08:00

A candidate for ordination must be at least 20 years old, have the permission of his parents, be exempt from military service, be free from debt and from contagious

Medicine, In the developed countries

2005-03-04T07:05:00.000-08:00

Those concerned with providing health care in the developed countries face a different set of problems. The diseases so prevalent in the Third World have, for the most part, been eliminated or are readily treatable. Many of the adverse environmental conditions and public health hazards have been conquered. Social services of varying degrees of adequacy have been

Military Affairs

2005-03-03T16:26:00.000-08:00

(For a comparison of approximate strengths of selected regular armed forces, see Table III.) The issue of homosexuals in the armed forces made headlines in the U.S. throughout the year. The new president, Bill Clinton, was forced to back away from a campaign pledge to drop the 50-year ban on homosexuals serving in the military when he immediately ran into opposition within

Marr, Nikolay Yakovlevich

2005-03-02T11:50:00.000-08:00

A professor at St. Petersburg University from 1900, Marr published numerous collections of old Georgian and Armenian literature and attempted to prove a relationship between

Great Bend

2005-03-01T06:41:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1872) of Barton county, central Kansas, U.S. Great Bend lies on the Arkansas River where the High Plains begin to shade into tallgrass prairie. Situated in the alleged locality of the mythical city of Quivira sought by Francisco Coronado in the 16th century, the site was visited by the American explorer Zebulon Pike in 1806 and became a stopping point on the Santa Fe

Burdigalian Stage

2005-02-28T11:30:00.000-08:00

In France the Burdigalian Stage is represented by rocks, especially shell beds, produced by a continuing transgression

Ucayali River

2005-02-27T23:17:00.000-08:00

Spanish �R�o Ucayali, � headwater of the Amazon, formed by the junction of the Apur�mac and Urubamba rivers in east-central Peru. The Ucayali meanders northward from this junction for about 910 miles (1,465 km) through a densely forested floodplain east of the Andes to its junction with the Mara��n River, 55 miles (90 km) south-southwest of Iquitos. This confluence is considered to mark the head of the Amazon.

Arts, Islamic, Architecture in Iraq, Syria, and Anatolia

2005-02-25T22:32:00.000-08:00

In Iraq, northern Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt (after 1171), the architectural monuments do not, on the whole, appear as overwhelmingly impressive as those of Iran, largely because the taste of Umayyad and 'Abbasid times continued to dominate mosque architecture. It is in the construction of new building types, particularly the madrasah, that the most originality is apparent.