SharpBranch: January 2005

Monday, January 31, 2005

Nei-chiang

In medieval times the locality was an important salt-producing area, but in recent times its

Sunday, January 30, 2005

Castelnau, Michel De, Sieur (lord) De La Mauvissi�re

As a young man, Castelnau served under local commanders in Piedmont and in Picardy. After the Peace of Cateau-Cambr�sis (1559), he entered the king's service and was sent on diplomatic missions in 1560 to England, Germany, Savoy, and Rome. After

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Noord-brabant

English �North Brabant� provincie (province), second largest of The Netherlands, extending northward from the Belgium border, between the provinces of Zeeland (west) and Limburg (east), to the Maas (Meuse) and Merwede rivers. It is drained by the Mark (Merk) and Dommel rivers and the Zuidwillemsvaart and Wilhelmina canals. Its capital is 's Hertogenbosch. Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Age remains attest

Friday, January 28, 2005

Aerospace Industry, Missiles

Missiles (see rocket and missile system), which are unpiloted, rocket- or jet-powered delivery systems for munitions, have assumed an important role in military strategy and tactics. Originally conceived as powered artillery shells and therefore the purview of munitions manufacturers, they rapidly became products of the aerospace industry by virtue of the ranges

Thursday, January 27, 2005

Literature

For historical treatment of various

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Jiaguwen

Turtle carapaces and ox scapulae with inscriptions scratched into them were discovered about 1900 in the area of Xiaotun, a village in Henan province. In subsequent excavations, scholars uncovered extensive remains and conclusive evidence of the existence

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

Hwange National Park

Formerly �Wankie National Park, � park in northwestern Zimbabwe, on the Botswana frontier. It was established in 1928 as a game reserve, and as a national park in 1930. The park's area of 5,657 square miles (14,651 square km) is largely flat and contains fine hardwood forests of mukwa and Zimbabwean teak. Hwange is one of Africa's largest elephant sanctuaries and is also the habitat of thousands of Cape buffalo as well as giraffes,

Monday, January 24, 2005

Br�guet, Abraham-louis

Br�guet was apprenticed in 1762 to a watchmaker at Versailles. He took refuge in London during the French Revolution and, upon his return to France, became a principal watchmaker of the Empire. Among Br�guet's many inventions

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Bavand Dynasty

The origins and early years of the dynasty

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Chang Chien

Chang received a traditional Confucian education and, at the age of 41, he passed the top level of the civil service examination. The following year China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War, and Chang retired from office to

Friday, January 21, 2005

Lighthouse

Structure, usually with a tower, built onshore or on the seabed to serve as an aid to maritime coastal navigation, warning the mariner of hazards, establishing his position, and guiding him to his destination. From the sea a lighthouse may be identified by the distinctive shape or colour of its structure, by the colour or flash pattern of its light, or by the coded pattern

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Kaminska, Ida

The daughter of the well-known Yiddish actors Abraham Isaac and Ester Rachel Kaminski, she appeared for the first time onstage at age five. Her true debut was in Warsaw (1916) with the theatre company named for her father.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

World War I, The Serbian campaign, 1914

The first Austrian invasion of Serbia was launched with numerical inferiority (part of one of the armies originally destined for the Balkan front having been diverted to the Eastern Front on August 18); and the able Serbian commander, Radomir Putnik, brought the invasion to an early end by his victories on the Cer Mountain (August 15 - 20) and at

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Old Testament

The Old Testament, including its prophetic books, has a core of historical record focusing on the trials of the tribes of Israel. In their own view an elect nation, the Israelites believe their history spells out a providential design. The Prophets understand the earliest texts, Genesis and Exodus, in terms of this providential scheme. Hebraic texts are interpreted

Monday, January 17, 2005

Yamato-koriyama

Also called �Koriyama-kingyo� (Koriyama-Goldfish), city, Nara ken (prefecture), western Honshu, Japan. It is located 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Nara city. A prehistoric settlement, it became a castle town during the last decade of the 15th century. With the opening of a trunk line of the National Railway, a modern textile factory was established there in 1893. The most important industry of the city has been goldfish

Sunday, January 16, 2005

Placental Mammal

Any member of the mammalian infraclass Eutheria, characterized by the presence of a placenta, which facilitates exchange of nutrients and wastes between the blood of the mother and that of the fetus. The infraclass Eutheria includes all living mammals except marsupials and monotremes. Some authorities consider the marsupials (infraclass Metatheria) to be placental

Saturday, January 15, 2005

Ueno

City, Mie ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies in an intermontane basin at the head of the Kii Peninsula. The city developed around a castle built in 1611 and still retains some of its early character. Hakuho Park is on the site of the old castle, which was rebuilt in 1953. The Aizen Temple in Ueno is dedicated to the god of love. The industry of the city includes the traditional manufacture

Friday, January 14, 2005

Sangre De Cristo Mountains

Segment of the southern Rocky Mountains, extending south-southeastward for about 250 miles (400 km) from Poncha Pass, in south-central Colorado, U.S., to the low divide southwest of Las Vegas, N.M., in north-central New Mexico. Usually considered an extension of the Front Range (q.v.), they are divided into the Culebra and Sangre de Cristo ranges in Colorado. Many of their glaciated summits

Thursday, January 13, 2005

Italy, The age of the Hohenstaufen

The 12th century witnessed the creation of a new political order in Italy. It was not a tidy process, however. In the south, the foundations laid by the Normans of Capua and by the Hautevilles gained strength with the conquest of Sicily from the Muslims in the late 11th century. Following the death of Robert Guiscard, his brother, Roger I, count of Sicily, went to the mainland

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Hawkwood, Sir John

The son of a tanner, Hawkwood chose a soldier's career, serving in the French wars of Edward III, who probably bestowed a knighthood on him. After the Treaty of Br�tigny temporarily ended Anglo-French hostilities (1360), Hawkwood became the leader

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Di�mer, Louis-joseph

He was a student at the Paris Conservatoire from 1855 to 1861, and from 1863 he performed regularly, playing at the Alard, Pasdeloup, Colonne, Lamoureux, and Conservatoire concerts with great success; his repertoire included pieces written for him by Charles-Marie

Monday, January 10, 2005

Porres, Saint Mart�n De

Born of a liaison between a Spanish grandee and a free black woman, Mart�n de Porres became a Dominican oblate, or lay monastic, in 1601. Although it was not customary then to receive a mulatto into a religious order in Peru, Mart�n was considered an exception and became a Dominican lay

Sunday, January 09, 2005

Shelepin, Aleksandr Nikolayevich

Shelepin joined the Communist Party in 1940 and rose rapidly in both the party and the Soviet government.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

Balcon, Sir Michael

He began his career as a producer in 1922, founded and directed Gainsborough Pictures, Ltd., in 1928, and became the director of production for Gaumont-British Pictures, Ltd., in 1931. From 1936 to 1938 he worked as producer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and from 1938 to 1959 as executive producer

Friday, January 07, 2005

Van Vleck, John H.

Educated at the University of Wisconsin, Madison,

Thursday, January 06, 2005

Roussel, Albert(-charles-paul-marie)

Roussel joined the French navy at the age of 18 and made several journeys to Southeast Asia, the exotic impressions of which he recalled in later orchestral and dramatic works. At 25 he resigned his

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Adam And Eve

In the Bible, there are two accounts of their creation. According to the Priestly (P) history of the 5th or 6th century BC (Genesis 1:1 - 2:4), God on the sixth day of Creation created all the living creatures and, �in his own image,� man both �male and female.� God then blessed the couple, told them

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

France, History Of, Germans and Gallo-Romans

The settlement of Germanic peoples in Roman Gaul brought people from two entirely different backgrounds into contact. Linguistic barriers were quickly overcome, for the Germans adopted Latin. At the same time, German names were preponderant. Although there were religious difficulties in those regions settled by peoples converted to Arianism (Visigoths, Burgundians),

Monday, January 03, 2005

Handl, Jacob

A Cistercian monk, Handl traveled in Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia, was a member of the Viennese court chapel in 1574, and was choirmaster to the bishop of Olm�tz (modern Olomouc, Czech Republic) in 1579 - 85. His most notable

Sunday, January 02, 2005

Respiratory Therapy

One of the conditions frequently dealt with is obstruction of breathing passages, in which therapy may consist of clearing the airway of mucus or liquid secretion

Saturday, January 01, 2005

Posada, Jos� Guadalupe

As a child Posada worked as a farm labourer and in a pottery factory. He taught school for a short time and then began to draw, inspired largely by posters for the Rea Circus. Gradually he was attracted

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