Sunday, April 03, 2005

Adam's Bridge

Also called  Rama's Bridge,   chain of shoals, between the islands of Mannar, near northwestern Sri Lanka, and Rameswaram, off the southeastern coast of India. The bridge is 30 miles (48 km) long and separates the Gulf of Mannar (southwest) from the Palk Strait (northeast). Some of the sandbanks are dry, and nowhere are the shoals deeper than 4 feet (1 m); thus, they seriously hinder navigation. Dredging operations,

John

The son of Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, and Margaret of Flanders, John was born in the ducal castle at Rouvres, where he spent the greater part of his childhood. In 1385 he married Margaret of Bavaria, and in the following decade

Saturday, April 02, 2005

General Mills, Inc.

General Mills was incorporated in 1928 to acquire Washburn Crosby Company, a flour-milling company formed in 1866, and four other milling companies. Specializing in cereals and flour products, the

General Strike

The idea of a general strike, as a deliberate part of the tactics of collective bargaining, apparently began in Great Britain

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Insurance, Business property insurance

Insurance for business property follows a pattern that is similar in many ways to the one for individual property. A commonly used form is the “building and personal property coverage form” (BPP). This form permits a business owner to cover in one policy the buildings, fixtures, machinery and equipment, and personal property used in business and the personal property

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Amorphous Solid, Vapour condensation techniques

In the gold-silicon system of Figure 5, at compositions far from the cusp, glasses cannot be formed by melt quenching—even by the rapid splat-quench technique of

Monday, March 28, 2005

Requests, Court Of

Called the Court of Poor Men's Causes until 1529, it was a popular court because of the limited expense of bringing suit before it. Modeled after the French Chambre

Narcissus

In Greek mythology, the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Leiriope; he was distinguished for his beauty. His mother was told that he would have a long life, provided he never looked upon his own features. His rejection, however, of the love of the nymph Echo or of his lover Ameinias drew upon him the vengeance of the gods. He fell in love with his own reflection in

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Cern

Byname of  Organisation Européene pour la Recherche Nucléaire,  formerly (1952–54)  Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire,  English  European Organization for Nuclear Research,   international scientific organization established for the purpose of collaborative research into subnuclear physics (also called high-energy, or particle, physics). The organization operates expressly for research of a “pure scientific and fundamental character,” and the results of its experimental and theoretical work are made generally available. Headquarters

Baba-yaga

Also called  Baba-jaga,   in Russian folklore, an ogress who steals, cooks, and eats her victims, usually children. A guardian of the fountains of the water of life, she lives with two or three sisters (all known as Baba-Yaga) in a forest hut which spins continually on birds' legs; her fence is topped with human skulls. Baba-Yaga can ride through the air—in an iron kettle or in a mortar that she drives with

Friday, March 25, 2005

Dumuzi-abzu

In Mesopotamian religion, Sumerian deity, city goddess of Kinirsha near Lagash in the southeastern marshland region. She represented the power of fertility and new life in the marshes. Dumuzi-Abzu corresponded to the Sumerian god Dumuzi of the central steppe area, and thus around Eridu she was viewed as male and as son of Enki (Akkadian: Ea, also called the Lord of