Yi-dam

In Tibetan Buddhism, a tutelary, or guardian, deity with whom a lama (monk) has a special, secret relationship. The lama first prepares himself by meditation, then selects from among the guardian deities the one that reveals itself as offering the right guidance for a specific or lifelong goal. The lama will thereafter begin each day by worshiping his yi-dam. Any of the

Caribou

In North America, a native species of reindeer (q.v.).

Black River

Vietnamese �Song Da, �Chinese �Li-hsien Chiang,� one of the chief tributaries of the Red River (Song Hong) in southeastern Asia. Nearly 500 miles (800 km) long, the river rises in central Yunnan province in southwestern China and flows southeastward into northwestern Vietnam on a course parallel to the Red River. Near the city of Hoa Binh, 37 miles (60 km) southwest of Hanoi, the Black River is dammed to form a reservoir that is the largest

Uzice

Formerly �(1947 - 92) Titovo Uzice, � town, Serbia, Yugoslavia. It lies along the Djetinja River and the Sarajevo-Cacak-Belgrade railway line. A medieval town of strategic importance, Uzice was the headquarters for the Partisan army in autumn 1941. It was renamed in honour of Josip Broz Tito in 1946 but reverted to its old name in 1992. The Museum of the Insurrection is installed in the building that served as headquarters

Minas Basin

Eastern inlet of the Bay of Fundy, protruding into central Nova Scotia, Canada. Up to 25 mi (40 km) in width and more than 50 mi in length (including its eastern extension, Cobequid Bay), the basin has some of the highest tides in the world; fluctuations exceeding 50 ft (15 m) have been recorded. It is connected to the Bay of Fundy by Minas Channel and receives the drainage of the Avon, Cornwallis,

Macbeth, George Mann

MacBeth published his first collection of poetry, A Form of Words (1954), before he graduated from New

Jackson, Marjorie

Jackson, known as the �Lithgow Flash� after her home town, was just 17 years old when she twice outran the great Dutch

Afghanistan, Habibollah Khan (1901 - 19)

Habibollah Khan visited British

Ekkehard I The Elder

Of noble birth, Ekkehard was educated at the Benedictine monastery of Sankt Gallen (St. Gall) in Switzerland, then one of Europe's greatest centres

Wilder, Thornton (niven)

His first novel, The Cabala (1926), while set in 20th-century Rome,

Oahu

Island, Honolulu county, Hawaii, U.S., separated from the islands of Kauai (northwest) and Molokai (southeast) by the Kauai and Kaiwi channels. Of volcanic origin with an area of 607 square miles (1,574 square km), Oahu is third in size and the most populated of the Hawaiian Islands. Two parallel mountain groups, the Koolau Range (see photograph) and Waianae Ranges, are connected by a central

Nordhausen

City, Thuringia Land (state), central Germany, lying on the Zorge River, at the southern slopes of the Harz Mountains, in the fertile lowland known as the Goldene Aue (�Golden Meadow�). First mentioned in 927 as the site of a royal castle near the older Frankish settlement of Northusen (Nordhusa), it was made a free imperial city in 1290 and accepted the Reformation in 1522. It lost its independence

Sorites

In syllogistic, or traditional, logic, a chain of successive syllogisms - or units of argument that pass from two premises (a major and then a minor) to a conclusion - in the first figure (i.e., with the middle, or repeated, term as the subject of the major and the predicate of the minor premise) - so related that either the conclusion of each (except the last) is the minor premise of

Actinometer

A typical actinometer is a liquid solution

Klos, Elmar

Czech filmmaker (b. Jan. 26, 1910, Brno, Moravia, Austria-Hungary--d. July 19, 1993, Prague, Czech Republic), collaborated with the Hungarian-born director Jan Kadar on some of the finest motion pictures in the so-called Czech New Wave, most notably The Shop on Main Street, which won the Academy Award for the best foreign film of 1965. Klos studied law at Charles University in Prague and began doing

Sculpture, Western, Late Gothic

In the years around 1400, when International Gothic flourished, Italian and northern artists had achieved some sort of rapprochement. Under the renewed influence of antique art, Italy drew away again, and it was not until the 16th century that the north showed any real disposition to follow suit in the imitation of Classical models. While painting and architecture of the

X Ray

There are two methods in general use for detecting X rays. The first method relies on the X rays producing a photochemical change in a photographic emulsion. The blackening of the film is related to the

Yadin, Yigael

Yadin, the son of an archaeologist, was educated at Hebrew University (M.A., 1945; Ph.D., 1955). He was a member of the Haganah military organization from 1932 to 1948 and served as chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces from 1949 to

Tsinling Mountains

Wade-Giles romanization �Ch'in Ling, �Pinyin �Qin Ling, � mountain range in North China, extending east-west from southeast Kansu province into Shensi and Honan provinces. It is considered to be an extension of the Kunlun Mountains. It constitutes a watershed between the Wei and Han rivers and reaches a height of 12,359 feet (3,767 m) at T'ai-pai (mount). The range forms a sharp physical divide, of climatic as well as topographic significance,

Guenon

Any of about 20 species of widely distributed African monkeys of the genus Cercopithecus, family Cercopithecidae. Guenons are slim, graceful, quadrupedal monkeys with long arms and legs, short faces, and nonprehensile tails that are longer than the combined head and body length of about 30 - 65 cm (12 - 26 inches). Guenons are known for the beauty of their soft,

Fux, Johann Joseph

Fux was a prolific composer of vocal and instrumental

Star Of India

A large, cabochon-cut, gray-blue star sapphire, slightly oval in shape. The polished but unfaceted gem weighs 536 carats and was found in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). It was presented to the American Museum of Natural History, in New York City, by J.P. Morgan.

Epistemology, From scientific theology to secular science

For most of the Middle Ages there was no split between theology and science (scientia). Science was knowledge that was deduced from self-evident principles, and theology received its principles from the source of all principles, God. In every way, theology was superior to the other sciences, according to Thomas Aquinas. By the 14th century the ideas of science and theology

Chastellain, Georges

Chastellain served Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, until in 1435, after the Peace of Arras, he abandoned soldiering. He spent the next years in France, mainly as secretary

Man-chou-li

Pinyin �Manzhouli, �formerly �(1910 - 49) Lupin, � city in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, China. It is situated on the border opposite the Russian town of Zabaykalsk and lies 100 miles (160 km) west of Hailar and 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Lake Hu-lun. Man-chou-li was long a small Mongolian settlement in the Hu-lun-pei-erh League. It developed after 1900 when it became the western terminus of the Russian-built Chinese Eastern Railway

Mills, Florence

Born into poverty, Mills early demonstrated a talent for singing and dancing. Under the name �Baby Florence,� she

Stafford

Founded by Aethelflaed, daughter of Alfred the Great, the town of Stafford had its own mint from the reign of Aethelstan to that of Henry II. Stafford town was chartered in

Earth Sciences, The origin of the Nile

Speculations on the strange behaviour of the Nile were many, varied, and mostly wrong. Thales suggested that the strong

Hale, John Parker

After

Anckarsv�rd, Carl Henrik, Greve(count)

Unlike many other �men of 1809,� Anckarsv�rd did not retreat from his liberal principles when a democratization of society became a practical possibility.