Monday, April 04, 2005

Bhave, Vinoba

Born of a high-caste Brahman family, he abandoned his high-school studies in 1916 to join Gandhi's ashram (ascetic community). Gandhi's teachings led Bhave to a life of austerity, dedicated

Sunday, April 03, 2005

Earth, Variation with latitude

Even if the Earth were of uniform density or uniformly stratified in layers of constant density, gravity at sea level would increase from the Equator to the poles because of the combined effects of the planet's rotation and spheroidal shape. The effect of rotation arises from the fact that any body on the Earth experiences a centripetal acceleration given by rw2, where

Thursday, March 31, 2005

Dzungarian Basin

The basin is located between the Mongolian Altai Mountains, on the Sino-Mongolian border, to the north, and the P'o-lo-k'o-nu and O-ha-pu-t'e mountains to the south; the latter run east and west immediately to the north of the Tien Shan (“Celestial Mountains”). To the east and southeast, respectively, the basin is

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Eastern Orthodoxy, The reforms of Peter the Great (reigned 1682–1725)

The son of Tsar Alexis, Peter the Great, changed the historical fate of Russia by radically turning away from the Byzantine heritage and reforming the state according to the model of Protestant Europe. Humiliated by his father's temporary submission to Patriarch Nikon, Peter prevented new patriarchal elections after the death of Patriarch Adrian in 1700. After a long

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Tapestry

Woven decorative fabric, the design of which is built up in the course of weaving. Broadly, the name has been used for almost any heavy material, handwoven, machine woven, or even embroidered, used to cover furniture, walls, or floors or for the decoration of clothing. Since the 18th and 19th centuries, however, the technical definition of tapestry has been narrowed to include

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Huguenot

Any of the Protestants in France in the 16th and 17th centuries, many of whom suffered severe persecution for their faith. The origin of the name is uncertain, but it appears to have come from the word aignos, derived from the German Eidgenossen (confederates bound together by oath), which used to describe, between 1520 and 1524, the patriots of Geneva hostile to the duke of Savoy. The

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Huygens, Constantijn

His diplomatic service took him several times to England, where he met and was greatly influenced by John Donne and Francis Bacon. He translated 19 of Donne's poems and