WiseBee: November 2004

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Extermination Camp

The major camps were in German-occupied

Monday, November 29, 2004

Eye Rhyme

In poetry, an imperfect rhyme in which two words are spelled similarly but pronounced differently (such as move and love, bough and though, come and home, and laughter and daughter). Some of these (such as flood and brood) are referred to as historical rhymes because at one time they probably had the same pronunciation.

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Bohemian School

School of the visual arts that flourished in and around Prague under the patronage of Charles IV, king of Bohemia from 1346 and Holy Roman emperor from 1355 to 1378. Prague, as Charles's principal residence, attracted many foreign artists and local masters. Although it was heavily exposed to the artistic traditions of France and northern Italy (mainly through the

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Radic, Stjepan

With his brother Ante, he organized the Croatian Peasant Party in 1904. In March 1918 Radic began to cooperate with the National Council in Zagreb for the establishment of a Yugoslav

Friday, November 26, 2004

Writers' Union Of The U.s.s.r.

Russian �Soyuz Pisateley S.s.r., � organization formed in 1932 by a decree of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that abolished existing literary organizations and absorbed all professional Soviet writers into one large union. The union supported Communist Party policies and was the defender and interpreter of the single Soviet literary method, Socialist Realism.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

France, History Of, Conscription

Building on the Directory's conscription law of September 1798, the Napoleonic regime, after considerable trial and error, had created the mechanisms for imposing on the citizens of France and the annexed territories the distasteful obligation of military service. Each year the Ministry of War Administration assigned a quota of conscripts for every department.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Margate

Town, Thanet district, administrative and historic county of Kent, England. It lies east of the Thames River estuary. A Roman villa existed just outside the town, which has a Norman church. During the 18th century the town, which is endowed with sandy beaches, became a bathing resort. The large influx of summer visitors is presently Margate's mainstay. An industrial estate

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

August

Eighth month of the Gregorian calendar. See month and the accompanying Table.

Monday, November 22, 2004

Aetheling

Also spelled �Atheling, or Etheling, � in Anglo-Saxon England, generally any person of noble birth. Use of the term was usually restricted to members of a royal family, and in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle it is used almost exclusively for members of the royal house of Wessex. It was occasionally used after the Norman Conquest to designate members of the royal family - e.g., William the Aetheling, son and heir of King

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Gagnoa

Town, southern C�te d'Ivoire. It is the chief collecting point for a forest region that sends coffee, cocoa, and timber (sipo and mahogany) to the coast for export and is a major market centre (rice, bananas, and yams) for the Bete and Gagu (Gagou) peoples. A paved road connects Gagnoa with Abidjan, the capital of C�te d'Ivoire. The town is the site of the government's first rural technical

Friday, November 19, 2004

Croatian Peasant Party

Dominant political party in Croatia during the first half of the 20th century. Founded in 1904 by Stjepan Radic (and his brother Ante Radic), it advocated home rule for a Croatia dominated by peasants on homesteads increased by redistribution of land. The party formed the almost constant opposition to the Serbian-dominated government of Yugoslavia after the foundation

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Basil Of Ancyra

Basil, a physician, was nominated bishop in 336 by the Semi-Arian party (see Semi-Arianism). In a Synodal Letter sent to all bishops summarizing the conclusions of a local council in

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Bridgewater, Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke Of, Marquess Of Brackley, Earl Of Bridgewater, Viscount Brackley, Baron Of Ellesmere

His father, who was created duke in 1720, was the great-great-grandson of Lord Chancellor Ellesmere. Francis Egerton succeeded to the dukedom on the death of his brother, the 2nd duke, in 1748. Retiring

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Robber Fly

Also called �Assassin Fly, � any predatory insect of the family Asilidae (order Diptera), numbering about 4,000 species, worldwide in distribution. These flies have variable lengths that range to almost 8 cm (3 inches). They are the largest of all flies. Most are dull in colour, and their stout bodies resemble those of bumble bees. Between the large-faceted eyes is a moustache of bristles. The long legs are adapted

Monday, November 15, 2004

Bevan, Aneurin

The son of

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Memphis

Also spelled �Manf, �Minf, �or �Manfish, �

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Jovius, Paulus

In about 1513 Jovius settled in Rome; he won the favour of Leo X (who compared him to Livy) and of Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, later Clement VII, whom he helped during the sack of Rome in 1527. In 1528 Jovius became bishop of Nocera. He

Friday, November 12, 2004

Togo, Transportation

The government-owned national railway consists of four lines, all of which emanate from Lom�. One line connects Kpalim� with the capital; other lines run to An�

Thursday, November 11, 2004

X-ray Tube

Also called �Roentgen Tube, � vacuum tube that produces X rays by accelerating electrons to a high velocity with a high-voltage field and causing them to collide with a target, the anode. Because X rays can penetrate solid substances to varying degrees, they are applied in medicine and dentistry, in the exploration of the structure of crystalline materials, and in research. The tube consists of

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Maubeuge

Town, Nord d�partement, Nord-Pas-de-Calais r�gion, northern France, on the Sambre River, near the Belgian frontier, south of Mons. Maubeuge (Latin: Malbodium, signifying �bad place or dwelling�) grew up around the monastery of Sainte-Aldegonde (7th century). Part of the medieval county of Hainaut, and later of the Spanish Netherlands, the town was ceded to France by the Peace of

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Uttlesford

District, administrative and historic county of Essex, England. It occupies the northwestern corner of the county, where it borders Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. A low ridge of chalk hills runs from southwest to northeast through a rolling countryside. The district is largely rural. The main town is Saffron Walden; there are also many smaller old parishes, such

Monday, November 08, 2004

Warning System, Air defense systems

Radar and identification friend or foe (IFF) equipment constitute the forward elements of complex systems that have appeared throughout the world. Examples include the semiautomatic ground environment (SAGE), augmented by a mobile backup intercept control system called BUIC in the United States, NATO air defense ground environment (NADGE) in Europe, a similar

Sunday, November 07, 2004

January Insurrection

After Alexander II became emperor of Russia and king of Poland in 1855, the strict and repressive regime that had been imposed on Poland after the November Insurrection (1830 - 31) was substantially relaxed. Nevertheless,

Saturday, November 06, 2004

Argentina, Andean and sub-Andean zones

The high-elevation, cold climatic phenomenon in Argentina is sometimes referred to as tundra climate and, in even colder mountaintop

Friday, November 05, 2004

Jungle Babbler

Any of about 32 species of songbirds constituting the tribe Pellorneini of the babbler family Timaliidae. Found from Africa to Malaysia and the Philippines, these drab birds with slender, often hook-tipped bills skulk in forest undergrowth. An example is the striped jungle babbler, or spotted babbler (Pelloreum ruficeps), of Southeast Asia - 16 centimetres (6 1/4 inches) long,

Thursday, November 04, 2004

Mathematics, History Of, Elliptic functions

The theory of functions of a complex variable was also being decisively reformulated. At the start of the 19th century, complex numbers were discussed from a quasi-philosophical standpoint by several French writers, notably Jean Robert Argand. A consensus emerged that complex numbers should be thought of as pairs of real numbers, with suitable rules for their addition

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Quantitative Chemical Analysis

Branch of chemistry that deals with the determination of the amount or percentage of one or more constituents of a sample. A variety of methods is employed for quantitative analyses, which for convenience may be broadly classified as chemical or physical, depending upon which properties are utilized. Chemical methods depend upon such reactions as precipitation,

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

Oman, John Wood

After graduating from Edinburgh University and the theological college of the United Presbyterian Church, Oman studied in Germany. After serving as an assistant pastor in Paisley, Scot., he transferred to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church of England. In 1907 he was appointed

Monday, November 01, 2004

Monazite

Phosphate mineral, cerium and lanthanum phosphate [(Ce, La)PO4], that is the major commercial source of cerium. Occurring as small, brown, resinous, rather heavy crystals in granitic and gneissic rocks and their detritus (called monazite sands), monazite frequently contains 10 - 12 percent thorium dioxide (ThO2) and thus represents a major commercial source of thorium as well.

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