Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Estado Novo

In the election campaign of 1937 Vargas warned of a threatened Communist coup d'état and declared a 90-day state of emergency, issuing the Estado Novo. The

Ayer, Sir A.j.

Ayer graduated from Eton College and from Christ Church, Oxford (B.A., 1932; M.A., 1936). He was exposed to logical positivism in 1932 during a stay in Vienna. He began teaching at the University of Oxford in 1932 and served in

Monday, April 04, 2005

Nicephorus I

Nicephorus became a high financial official under the empress Irene, and, when a revolution deposed Irene in 802, he was proclaimed emperor. In the following year he crushed a rebellion by Bardanes Turcus,

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Mitanni

Mitanni was one of several kingdoms

Saturday, April 02, 2005

Adams, Abigail

Biographies include Edith B. Gelles, Portia: The World of Abigail Adams (1992, reissued 1995), focusing on the people whom she influenced and who influenced her; and Phyllis Lee Levin, Abigail Adams (1987). A concise version of the latter is Phyllis Lee Levin, “Abigail (Smith) Adams,” in Lewis L. Gould (ed.), American First Ladies (1996), pp. 16–44.

Vulcano Island

Italian  Isola Vulcano,  Greek  Hiera,  Latin  Vulcana,   southernmost of the Eolie Islands, in the Tyrrhenian Sea (of the Mediterranean), off northeastern Sicily. It is administered as part of Messina province, Sicily, Italy. Vulcano has an area of 8 sq mi (21 sq km). Although the last major eruptions were in 1888–90, fumaroles of sulfurous vapour testify to continuous volcanic activity, and its Gran Cratere is still active. See also Eolie

Friday, April 01, 2005

Giorgione

Also called  Giorgio Da Castelfranco , original name  Giorgio Barbarelli  extremely influential Italian painter who was one of the initiators of a High Renaissance style in Venetian art. His qualities of mood and mystery were epitomized in “The Tempest” (c. 1505), an evocative pastoral scene, which was among the first of its genre in Venetian painting.

Thursday, March 31, 2005

üsküdar

Formerly  Scutari,   city, northwestern, Turkey. It lies at the foot of the Bulgurlu Hills on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus Strait opposite Istanbul. Known as Chrysopolis in ancient times, it was a dependency of the older and better-sited colony of Chalcedon (modern Kadiköy), where, according to the historian Polybius, the Athenians set up a toll for ships passing through the Bosporus. The

Cottonwood

Several fast-growing trees of North America, members of the genus Populus, in the family Salicaceae, with triangular, toothed leaves and cottony seeds. The dangling leaves clatter in the wind. Eastern cottonwood (P. deltoides), nearly 30 metres (100 feet) tall, has thick glossy leaves. Perhaps natural hybrids between this and Eurasian black poplar (P.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Hypoglycemia

Reduction of the concentration of glucose in the blood serum below normal levels, commonly occurring as a complication of treatment for diabetes mellitus. Even brief falls in serum glucose levels can produce severe brain dysfunction. In healthy individuals, an intricate glucoregulatory system acts rapidly to counter hypoglycemia by reducing insulin production

Macbeth

King of Scots from 1040, the legend of whose life was the basis of Shakespeare's Macbeth. He was probably a grandson of King Kenneth II (reigned 971–995), and he married Gruoch, a descendant of King Kenneth III (reigned 997–1005). About 1031 Macbeth succeeded his father, Findlaech (Sinel in Shakespeare), as mormaer, or chief, in the province