Lowestoft Porcelain

English phosphatic soft-paste ware, resembling Bow porcelain, produced in Lowestoft, Suffolk, from 1757 to 1802; the wares are of a domestic kind, such as pots, teapots, and jugs. Generally on a small scale and light in weight, they are decorated in white and blue or in a polychrome that utilizes a bright brick red. After 1770 transfer printing was used. The shapes were copied from silverwork

Saint, Judaism

The cult of saints in terms of veneration was not a part of the monotheistic religion of Israel. Saintliness, however, was an ideal that many hoped to exhibit. The model of a pious person is depicted in the righteous one of Psalm 5, “his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.” In the Hellenistic period (c. 300 BC—c. AD 300), when many Jews were susceptible to foreign

Tracery

In architecture, bars, or ribs, used decoratively in windows or other openings; the term also applies to similar forms used in relief as wall decoration (sometimes called blind tracery), and hence, figuratively, to any intricate line pattern. The term is applicable to the system of window decoration developed in Europe during the Gothic period as well as to the pierced

Florentine Diamond

Clear, pale-yellow stone weighing 137 carats; of Indian origin, it was cut as a double rose with 126 facets. Once owned by Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, who lost it when he fell in battle in 1477, the stone came into the possession of Pope Julius II and the Medici family early in the 16th century. Maria Theresa of Austria acquired it through her marriage (1736) to the Duke of Tuscany, and it subsequently

Korea, North

Officially  Democratic People's Republic of Korea , Korean  Choson Minjujuui In'min Konghwaguk  country in East Asia. It occupies the northern portion of the Korean peninsula, which juts out from the Asian mainland between the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and the Yellow Sea. The country is bordered by China and Russia to the north and by the Republic of Korea (South Korea) to the south. North Korea has an area of 47,399 square miles (122,762 square kilometres), occupying about 55 percent of the

Nader, Ralph

Nader ran for president of the United States in 1996 but collected less than 1 percent of the vote. In 2000 he was nominated by the Green Party as its U.S. presidential candidate. His campaign focused on universal health care, environmental and consumer protections, campaign finance reform, and strengthened labour rights. Realizing that he had little hope of winning the election, Nader concentrated on obtaining 5 percent of the national vote, the minimum necessary to secure federal matching funds for the Green Party for future presidential campaigns. Nader eventually fell well short of this goal, receiving only 2.7 percent of the national vote, but he may have aided Republican candidate George W. Bush—who narrowly won the presidency over Democrat Al Gore—by attracting votes that otherwise might have gone to Gore, especially in the key state of Florida. In 2004, despite pleas by many Democrats that he not run, Nader campaigned for the presidency as an independent.

Karakum Canal

Waterway in Turkmenistan. The main section, begun in 1954 and completed in 1967, runs some 520 miles (840 km) from the Amu Darya (river) to Gökdepe, west of Ashgabat, skirting the Karakum Desert. In the 1970s and '80s the canal was extended to the Caspian Sea coast, making the total length 870 miles (1,400 km). Water from the canal, which is navigable for 280 miles (450 km), is used principally for irrigation, and fishing has

Tur, At-

Town, capital of Janub Sina' muhafazah (governorate), southwestern Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. It lies on the coast of the Gulf of Suez. At-Tur has been an administrative centre and seaport since the Roman and Byzantine periods. In the town the Byzantine emperor Justinian (527–565) built a monastery, its ruins still extant. From the medieval period into the early 20th century, the town served as a

Vajrayogini

In Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhism), female embodiment of the cognitive function leading to Buddhahood. Vajrayana emphasizes experience over speculation but uses the terms of speculative philosophical Buddhism in an imaginative way. This practice means that images taken from the ordinary life of the individual become the means to further a deeper understanding

Sesto San Giovanni

Town, Milano province, Lombardia (Lombardy) region, northern Italy. A northeastern industrial suburb of Milan, it has blast furnaces, foundries, glassworks, and aircraft assembly plants and manufactures railway and electrical equipment. With one of the largest concentrations of organized labour in Italy, Sesto San Giovanni has long been a bastion of Italian Communism.