text:
Wikiversity:Colloquium/Cite namespace

Moved from: Colloquium -- KYPark [T] 05:24, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Proposal to create a Cite namespace
KYPark wants to create a namespace (Cite) that has reference entries that could be used on multiple pages as a template. I will let him explain it. Ottava Rima (talk) 14:46, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

KYPark
Prompted by User talk:KYPark, may I cordially ask the WV community members concerned to draw a consensus on the creation of the Cite: namespace, each of whose pages will essentially contain the citation or bibliographic record on a document? For further information, please refer to User:KYPark/Hi Ottava Rima, which keeps evolving, as everything ever evolves, I guess, whether naturally or culturally. BTW, I'm just a newcomer to WV, unaware of its culture and the right way I have to behave in it. Please do me lots of favor and justice. Thank you. --KYPark 06:06, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

Adambro

 * As it stands, from reading the discussions that took place at User talk:Ottava Rima, I'm yet to be persuaded of the value of a cite namespace. I think it would create a lot of work for not a lot of benefit. Each reference would need another page whilst many sources will only ever be used in one page. Spreading content across pages unfortunately creates more targets for vandals and so more pages that need to be watched and potentially requiring protection. I think the current system of citing sources is satisfactory. Adambro 07:40, 25 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Re: a lot of work -- I expect academics would do a lot of it to help themselves. kk :-) --KYPark 09:09, 25 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Re: many sources will only ever be used in one page -- WV need not bother having such trivial sources or pages. The greater repetition or redundancy, the greater satisfaction. Hence the first-thing-first principle. --KYPark 09:03, 25 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Re: vandalism -- The nature of citations or bibliographic records is so objective that sane vandals would not bother them. --KYPark 09:03, 25 June 2010 (UTC)
 * "sane vandals" sounds like a good example of an oxymoron. Adambro 09:11, 25 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes indeed in a sense. But sadly, to tell the truth, I've been so often made to feel like one here (I can't exactly figure out where), though I may be one in no way. Could you prove I'm insane anyway so far? I hope not, even though I've been treated as such too often here, not in WV. That is to say, "sane vandals" is too uneasy a term for you to use definitely. I guess there are lots of "sane vandals" suffering a lot unjustly by name of vandalism, as pagans suffers by name of anti-christianity in the West. --KYPark 10:35, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

Ottava Rima

 * I could see some merit if there was a Commons like project for reference entries that would allow one reference to be used in thousands of pages, however, I honestly don't feel that even in such high user that having a page dedicated to one sentence that is easily copied and pasted is worth while. On a much smaller scope (i.e. just Wikiversity), I see even less of a point. I have created hundreds of pages that use references, and I find copying and pasting easy. Templates, in general, take up a lot of space and room for little gain. Ottava Rima (talk) 16:44, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

 * Recall that each page will essentially contain the citation or bibliographic record on a document, which may be called the citational, transclusive or onlyinclude content that will be nested between the beginning and ending onlyinclude tags.
 * This essential content may well be compared to the tip of an iceberg, that is, the explicit, superficial, minimum-essential part of the whole page. That is, there is the massive, non-transclusive content or added value, which may be compared to the huge submerged mass of the iceberg. It should be pre-determined which features of a document should be added to the tip. The User:KYPark/Hi Ottava Rima may be taken into account.
 * Simply, such a Cite page could serve as a notepad, as it were, for learning and annotating anything from a scholarly document, whether a book, journal article, or whatever formal documentation. It may be regarded as a grass-roots or bottom-up building block of scholarship, whether research or learning, based on scholarly documentation. Such was the common idea of most hypertext prioneers, including Vannevar Bush, Ted Nelson, and Tim Berners-Lee in particular.
 * In a sense, most WP and WV articles are a top-down digest or synthesis of various scholarly documents, each of which in turn is such a one. Then, scholarship may well be said to begin with a web of grass-roots or source documents, which may be embodied as a Cite namespace!
 * --KYPark 01:32, 26 June 2010 (UTC)

 * Just checking in briefly with this idea. I put some references on their own page, then transclude them e.g., Survey research and design in psychology/Readings/Textbooks/Howell/2010 - what links here. What advantage would there for be for locating something like this in a separate namespace? -- Jtneill - Talk - c 11:16, 26 June 2010 (UTC)

 * I suppose the argument is that it helps to keep all references well organized and you know that they are being used as references. -- dark lama  12:14, 26 June 2010 (UTC)

 * Absolutely amazing, Jtneill! You've been already transcluding citations, though perhaps less easily or less plausibly than using the proposed Cite namespace. Your hierarchical and project-oriented way looks too special and hard for any editor to locate citations, I fear. Now my proposal seems to have been deliberately made for an easy alternative to your way of controlling citations. A definitely easy way would facilitate the weaving and other controls of citations. Please go to:
 * Survey research and design in psychology/Readings/Textbooks to notice the links I've added in front, and
 * Survey research and design in psychology/Readings/Textbooks/AllenBennett/2008 to be advised of the possible extension of citational pages, whether yours or mine, toward the additional contents or features beyond the mere transclusion of a citation. Also note the above page could be very simply named Cite:Allen & Bennett 2008 for easy location and use!
 * --KYPark (talk) 05:45, 27 June 2010 (UTC)
 * What if jtneil decided to add additional citations by Allen & Bennett from 2008? Where would they be located? The page name seems to severely limit the number of possible citations. -- dark lama  11:16, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

 * Recall Cite:Vannevar Bush 1945 AWM where the suffix "AWM" stands for "As We May Think," the article of Atlantic Monthly 176 (July 1945), pp. 101-108. Books, eg, Cite:Allen & Bennett 2008 are more likely to do without such a suffix. Along with this author-year naming convention, we might also attempt to do with Cite:As We May Think, Cite:World Brain, etc., depending on their celebrity.
 * --KYPark (talk) 12:12, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

 * Again, partly in response to Ottava's comment concerning a Commons namespace for citational transclusion to sister projects, WV should not be adversely affected to have a Cite namespace and make its entry easier as much as the transclusion from the Commons entry. And, any WMF community members concerned may read this Colloquium and preceding discussions first and perhaps invite me there.
 * --KYPark (talk) 13:28, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

Jtneill

 * Thanks for the ideas and explanation KYPark. Maybe you could create some citations starting with Cite: as a demo. Would they need to be created in a namespace? Or could such pages just be named Cite: (without it being a namespace)? I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea - especually as I transclude some commonly-used references such as textbook references within a course. I do tend to like in that case that the transcluded references are within the sub-folder structure - but the final reference could still sit within Cite: and be transcluded from there. But I am doubtful that such a namespace would be used very much. Has this been proposed and discussed elsewhere on the sister projects e.g., Wikipedia? -- Jtneill - Talk - c 11:58, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

 * WV is the first WMF project to which I proposed this new grass-roots documentary namespace, from which, it seems to me, WV would benefit most from the researcher's, teacher's and learner's perspectives. Meanwhile, such a documentary system is not really new without but quite implausible so far, I fear. The CiteSeer and the ACM Portal are limited to computer science and too automated. The Google is developing a sort. This mundane state of the art is as far as my knowledge goes. I would not deny that my proposal may be worth an independent WMF project, but make it simple. as I see simple is beautiful!
 * Suppose you passionately take notes on cards, as old scholars and students used to do. There you put down the source at the end, as well as a passage, quotation or annotation, tediously as many times as the number of notecards you make from the same source document. With the corresponding Cite page established once and for all, however, anyone could do without this tedious repetition, and that much more easily on Cite:Allen & Bennett 2008 than Survey research and design in psychology/Readings/Textbooks/AllenBennett/2008.
 * Quotation is selection. Also consider how to select a specific notecard from the messy mass. (Also consider how to find your car out of the huge car park after you've forgot the parking location.) The celebrated hypertext pioneer Vannevar Bush (1945) took these two kinds of selection very seriously, as he used the term more than twenty times in his 8-page article! Read at least the first 4 paragraphs of the section 6 there to understand his motivation. He named his ideal machine the memex that would free you from that messy mass.
 * It took exactly three decades for many people to begin to take his ideal very seriously. Since 1975, cognitive science began to emerge to study the hypertext-wise mind map, cognitive map, conceptual map, mental model, and many other parodies. Bush (1945) "As We May Think" was to suggest that hypertext is not so much grouped and selected hierarchically as associatively as the way we may think, hence the title. Associationism, behaviorism, experientialism, contextualism, social constructivism, and the like were merging into a revolutionary power against rationalist nativism or innatism.
 * Soon a variety of hypertext systems were mushrooming, including Enquire (1980) and Guide (hypertext) (1982) from the UK. The development at the University of Maryland is highly remarkable in the US, resulting in The Interactive Encyclopedia System (1983) and NoteCards (1984), 3 years earlier than the celebrated HyperCard (1987) of Apple Computer. WP and WV pages are (like) such cards; the namespace is simply the card box, deck or cabinet.
 * In the beginning, there was a namespace in WP, now called the main namespace, where all the main pages are parked, located or "created equal" rather than levelled "down from subclass to subclass" (in terms of Bush 1945) or from subpages to subpages in WV parlance. Now all WMF projects have essentially one main namespace and some extra namespaces marked by a colon, such as Wikiversity, School, Topic, etc. of WV, in addition to User, Talk, Category, Template, etc. in common. Each is quite homogeneous in kind. The Cite would be another for the reference kind.
 * Pages parked equal in the main namespace should be marked or named proper or unique, avoiding overlapping. Then anyone can be very easily selected by virtue of its proper name, and you need not go up and down the ladder of subdivisions such as Survey research and design in psychology/Readings/Textbooks/AllenBennett/2008.
 * Instead of such a long hierarchy, you could simply have Cite:Allen & Bennett 2008 in the proposed Cite namespace, or even more simply Allen & Bennett 2008 in the main namespace. The simpler the better. Then why the Cite namespace? It is mainly to save the main from being overcrowded with too many Cite pages, which quite differ in kind from the main pages and may eventually count to millions.
 * The main namespace, looking like a grab bag, is making life easy or simple, but disregarding the grouping or categorization of relative pages one way or another. The Category pages are partly to make for this default. The idea of subpages is another breakthrough. For example, any pages relating to any textbooks are grouped under Category:Textbooks, while some pages relating to psychological textbooks are grouped under Survey research and design in psychology/Readings/Textbooks.
 * --KYPark [T] 08:36, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

 * Sooner or later I will try to edit Cite:As We May Think, Cite:Allen & Bennett 2008, and the like under the Category:User:KYPark.
 * --KYPark [T] 09:15, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

 * Thanks for these excellent examples, KYPark. The idea of a Cite: namespace is growing on me. -- Jtneill - Talk - c 09:23, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

 * My great pleasure. I hope it grow fruitful. -- KYPark [T] 09:33, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Abd

 * I think this is an excellent idea.

 * On Wikipedia This would be a place to build information about sources. Discussion of sources often takes place in articles, when, in fact, the information could cover many topics. Does the source generally qualify under WP:RS. Often this is a debate that takes place in an article, based on the perceptions and POVs of the editors of the article. The Cite page and attached Cite talk page would be a place to form neutral consensus on the source itself. Is it "self-published," or is the publisher independent? I've attempted to use Naturwissenschaften as a source and the argument comes back that this is a "life sciences journal," which is not true. But it can look that way. How many times does this argument need to be repeated? That is a question that was resolved under mediation, with consensus, but where would this information go? Cite space. Naturwissenschaften is a multi-disciplinary journal where the majority of articles, which are typically cross-disciplinary (that's what they prefer), happen to have something to do with the life sciences. But they have always published in all fields related to the natural sciences.

 * On Wikiversity, the Cite space would be like a university library. It might be organized through categories into topics, and one could quickly find all articles that use a reference. How much work would maintaining this be? Some. But it can be built slowly. As to vandalism, it would be entirely possible to semipro the entire space, for example, and to have, then, suggestions from IPs, on a page for that, allowing any registered editor to act in semi-administrative capacity. Besides, WV is still small, and I can monitor all the activity. Have a new space will not create new vandals, just a different space for them to use, it would still show up in Recent Changes.

 * I think it's worth trying. It costs very little, if anything, if I've understood this correctly. It would allow the use of a common citation format, if we wanted to specify one. But it's also possible to have alternate pages according to various citatation standards. Diversity is important, but the question is always which is more needed: diversity or efficiency. If it will take a huge battle to decide on a single standard, then we could define a number of them, and this is something that can be handled with templates.... --Abd 19:38, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

 * Thanks a lot for your positive support, Abd. You got it from the very beginning, I thought. One thing I like to reassure you at the moment, however, is that the Cite should be far more than the librarian site just for sight. Yes, it is a library or collection but of the whatabouts of the library resources, that is, of information of information, the second-order or meta information. I wish this could be a melting pot or center for diverse information users with their own perspective or point of view, which should rarely be a shame! The confirmation bias is deeply engraved in the living, from the recent psychological perspective, which though may be no more than a point of view. Such is Karl Popper's argument in Conjectures and Refutations that all scientific theories are essentially conjectures, hence the name of the book. NPOV is an easy word but a hard warrant indeed. How could you make certain the neutrality of anything without a thorough tour through the messy massy mazy marsh of soures of sources of sources? The best thing we could do would be to allow readers for the easier tour and the final judgment. See Reader-response criticism and  User-centered design.
 * "Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and to coin one at random, 'memex' will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory." -- From:Cite:As We May Think.
 * Perhaps more comments may follow later.
 * -- KYPark [T] 03:34, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

KYPark 2
Ladies and gentlemen, please have a look at Category:Linda Smith 1980 and the like Category (instead of Cite) pages, all converging to Category:As We May Think, where all of them gather together as a citing successor. From "edit this page," find how easy it is to weave such an objective, historiographical, causal web of preceding and succeeding scholarly documents, in sharp contrast to the non-causal hence rather arbitrary semantic web, conception of conception of conception (cf. citation of citation of citation), or simply intension, one of which Wikipedia and Wiktionary pages look like. There are two kinds of things in your world: what you have to pinpoint or enumerate and what you have to persuade. No doubt, the latter is what troubles you most.

In the beginning, the World Wide Web began with the two things: the semantic and the historiographic webs, simply the keywords and the reference numbers. Eventually, Tim Berners-Lee seems to have preferred the former (semantic web) to the latter (historiographic web) after all. Meanwhile, compare the traditional use of the Category namespace with the revolutionary use of cause-effect chain reactions for a historiographical, causal web!

-- KYPark [T] 10:11, 2 July 2010 (UTC)
 * KYPark has requested comment on this. --Abd 16:53, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

John Bessa
This makes me think of my "mediated citations" idea that categorizes quotes (preferably multi-paragraph) by significant authors that are cited indirectly via critical inquiry into the possible meanings of the quotes. It extends the idea of "annotated bibliographies" by inviting debate.

Under author name is the quote (and where the text is found) followed by comments on the possible meaning of the quote. Each of these meanings then would presumably link upwards to some writing that references the quotes. (And while I have your attention, please spend a few quality moments with my photography-which is not really me, but nature. John Bessa's Photography)--JohnBessatalk 03:25, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

title: Wikiversity:Colloquium/Cite namespace


text:
Limitations of Scientific Research

In many fields of science, accepted theories and models cannot, by their very nature, be quantified or observed (i.e. lacking empirical evidence). Many of these theories are also in dispute within the field. The best example lies with quantum mechanics. Many facets of quantum mechanics are merely mathematical models explaining the behaviour and interaction between subatomic particles. One of the major stumbling blocks in quantum mechanics lies within one its' fundamental theories: Quantum superposition (all particles exist in all states at the same time). There are many interpretations of this, the standard being: Copenhagen interpretation. This states, basically, that the act of measuring (or observing) the state of a particle collapses the superposition effect, altering it's state to the value defined by the measurement. This shows that the superposition effect, while being one of the most widely accepted and fundamental principles of quantum mechanics, can never actually be observed. Another good example for this is in the field of Paleontology. One of the fundamental pillars used for the reconstruction of fossils, especially the picturisation of what the animal looked and behaved like, is that we must use what we see today as our basis for rebuilding the past. Take the example of the Megalodon. From only a handful of teeth and vertebre, paleontologists can tell us that the Megalodon was, basically, a 20m long Great White with similar structure and behavioural patterns. The teeth of a megalodon are similar in shape to that of a Great White so it has been assumed that it's morphology and behaviour are similar (although because the teeth are larger, it's prey would be larger). While this may be accurate, it may also be completely wrong (there is strong support for the theory that megalodon and great whites are not related, the latter being a descendant of the broad-tooth Mako shark . The only real clue that we have towards the size and behaviour is that many bones of large whales have been found with tooth marks almost identical to that of the megalodon. However, there is no evidence, other than it's similarity to the great white's, that the teeth and vertebre even came from a shark and not some other animal which happened to have similar dentition and spinal structure. In other words, the evidence and modelling that we have in these cases, while compelling, is insufficient to enable us to reliably prove the conclusions that we have made. Or, probably more accurately, the conclusions drawn cannot be reliably disproven with current methodology and technology.

History
This article was previously posted on the Creation / Evolution page and rejected for Original Research. There are holes in the arguments made which need filled in and I hope that, with our combined effort, these can be filled.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Limitations of Scientific Research


text: Category:Colors

title: Category:Colors


text:
Survey research and design in psychology/Schedule

Principal dates (University of Canberra).

There are 10 lectures and 5 tutorials.

For more details, see Timetable.


text:
WikipediaOS

Purpose of this wikiresearch
Detecting and validating the parallelisms between Wikipedia's peer-production model and the way programmers and developers interact and work together in collaborative Open Source environments.

Main question: aka Central Hypothesis
The dynamics of interaction among participants in Wikipedia replicate the system of relations, values, processes, channels and other key aspects in communities and groups of open source development.

Methodology: for those about to rock contribute
The following table differentiates the 17 hypotheses that compound this thesis in a modular way: for validating, discussing or dismissing similar features, routines, proceedings and characteristics between Wikipedia and some OS projects, one by one and independently.

If you're familiar with OS development and Wikipedia (or wikis in general), please add your feedback inside any of the secondary pages accordingly. Regardless of your opinion, I would like to consider you then as a member of the Distributed Thesis Committee below :)

Thank you in advance!

Distributed Committee
This is a list in progress of the people helping to demonstrate that the central hypothesis of this wikiresearch is right (or not, we'll see :)

 * Abd
 * Erkan Yilmaz
 * Fasten Specially for his comments at the discussion page :)
 * Dave Braunschweig For adding the gender variable to the table..

Further questions

 * Are the technical features of wiki tools making possible the rapid adoption of this type of development strategies for collaborating?
 * The possibility of vandalism, inherent to every wiki editing philosophy, could work as a spur for integrating and bonding the community of participants for their merits?
 * Did the initial strategies for spreading the Wikipedia project and philosophy lead to a significant participation of users closely related to open source development?

About the researcher
Enric Senabre Hidalgo (user:esenabre): I did my PhD courses at the Open University of Catalonia (where I teach Multimedia now) and my final research seminar with Professor Manuel Castells.

This collaborative research process is based on a presentation I did back in 2007 at Wikimania in Taipei. I had the idea of this implementation since then, but you know work, family and life in general didn't let me have time for doing it until now :)

I'm twittering here You can contact me at esenabre[at]uoc.edu More info about me here

title: WikipediaOS


text:
User:Totalunschool

Focus--what is total removal of false assumptions, false beliefs? what kind of good life does this allow?

title: User:Totalunschool


text:
User talk:Totalunschool

 Hello Totalunschool, and welcome to Wikiversity! If you need help, feel free to visit my talk page, or contact us and ask questions. After you leave a comment on a talk page, remember to sign and date; it helps everyone follow the threads of the discussion. The signature icon in the edit window makes it simple. To get started, you may

 * Take a guided tour and learn to edit.
 * Visit a (kind of) random project.
 * Browse Wikiversity, or visit a portal corresponding to your educational level: pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, non-formal education.
 * Find out about research activities on Wikiversity.

 * Read an introduction for teachers and find out how to write an educational resource for Wikiversity.
 * Give feedback about your initial observations
 * Discuss Wikiversity issues or ask questions at the colloquium.
 * Chat with other Wikiversitans on #wikiversity-en.

And don't forget to explore Wikiversity with the links to your left. Be bold to contribute and to experiment with the sandbox or your userpage, and see you around Wikiversity! If you're a twitter user, please follow http://twitter.com/Wikiversity. --Ottava Rima (talk) 15:08, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

title: User talk:Totalunschool


text:
User talk:O2ibm

 Hello O2ibm, and welcome to Wikiversity! If you need help, feel free to visit my talk page, or contact us and ask questions. After you leave a comment on a talk page, remember to sign and date; it helps everyone follow the threads of the discussion. The signature icon in the edit window makes it simple. To get started, you may

 * Take a guided tour and learn to edit.
 * Visit a (kind of) random project.
 * Browse Wikiversity, or visit a portal corresponding to your educational level: pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, non-formal education.
 * Find out about research activities on Wikiversity.

 * Read an introduction for teachers and find out how to write an educational resource for Wikiversity.
 * Give feedback about your initial observations
 * Discuss Wikiversity issues or ask questions at the colloquium.
 * Chat with other Wikiversitans on #wikiversity-en.

And don't forget to explore Wikiversity with the links to your left. Be bold to contribute and to experiment with the sandbox or your userpage, and see you around Wikiversity! If you're a twitter user, please follow http://twitter.com/Wikiversity. --Ottava Rima (talk) 20:48, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Strategic business management
Hi, I have deleted that page of tests. You can continue experiments here: Sandbox.--Juan de Vojníkov 20:20, 2 August 2010 (UTC)

title: User talk:O2ibm


text:
Wikiversity:Colloquium/2010

Cite namespace

 * -- KYPark [T] 06:06, 25 June 2010 (UTC)

Note from KYPark

 * -- KYPark [T] 00:00, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Thekohser

 * Registered here as suggested by User:Abd. -- KYPark [T] 02:34, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Talking without archiving

 * -- KYPark [T] 01:09, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

title: Wikiversity:Colloquium/2010


text:
Wikiversity:Colloquium/2010/Talking without archiving

Adapting to too long talks without archiving

 * Some Talk pages become too long to be kept within a single page, hence the need for archiving often at the cost of broken links. There would be better ways.

 * One way may be to split talks into the annual subpages, say, Colloquium/2010 from the beginning. Still, some of such subpages would become too long.

 * Therefore, a lkely talkative topic would better begin with a separate sub-subpage, say, Colloquium/2010/Thekohser from the beginning, together with Colloquium/2010.

 * Then you could do without archiving while breaking links. Again then, User:Abd might block User:Moulton not to edit on that page on that specific topic, as per the "topic ban" policy of his initiative!

-- KYPark [T] 01:13, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

You are welcomed to respond to one passage after another, respectively. -- KYPark [T] 02:08, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Broken-down pages would be better than broken-up links. -- KYPark [T] 06:39, 30 July 2010 (UTC)


text:
Wikiversity:Colloquium/2010/Thekohser

Moved from Colloquium -- KYPark [T] 02:37, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Thekohser

 * This Request in a Nutshell:Rename User:Thekohser to User:Thekohser1, then back to User:Thekohser.

My attention was recently brought to an attempt by a Custodian to gradually rehabilitate Thekohser and work towards successful reintegration into Wikiversity. The usage of an alternate account has led to concerns, and I feel that it would probably be more advisable to unlock the currently globally locked account. I have been informed by Adambro that it is possible that a rename of Thekohser to another name, and then a rename back would disconnect the account from SUL, and remove the global lock. I am asking for consensus for a bureaucrat to perform this action, and settle the question once and for all. This would not affect the current block on that account, but if successful, would allow the community to decide if he should be unblocked. Geoff Plourde 19:11, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

 * Oppose for right now. I put forth what I am looking for at the moment from Thekohser. We need to follow a structure plan for those who were banned to verify their intent to resume editing at this community in an appropriate manner. Too many people are jumping from A to C while ignoring B. Ottava Rima (talk) 20:23, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
 * My request has to do with the global lock, not the local block. I am led to believe that the global lock can be undone through two renames. If this is the case, we can have these users rehabilitated through their original accounts, rather than having them use alternate accounts. Geoff Plourde 20:40, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
 * You are correct, Geoff. That maneuver has just been demonstrated to work.  The global SUL lock can indeed be locally defeated, thus restoring home rule to the projects.  User:Moulton 02:03, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

 * Comment I note Ottava's comments at User talk:Ethical Accountability suggesting that Thekohser makes contributions via that talk page. That is similar to Abd's suggestion for Thekohser to demonstrate useful contributions beyond his talk page. However, I would question the value of either in really showing whether it would be appropriate to unblock Thekohser. I am not in any doubt that Thekohser could make useful contributions if he so wished. It isn't clear to me that anyone has suggested he wouldn't. The issue of whether he should be unblocked is more to do with his behaviour and his judgement in considering what may or may not be appropriate topics to cover on Wikiversity. Thekohser can and has as part of Abd's procedure, shown that he can make useful contributions but I'm not sure what that or contributing via his talk page really achieves. If contributing usefully is the requirement for Thekohser or anyone else to be unblocked then we might as well unblock him now since he or anyone else could play along and pass that test if they wanted to be unblocked. The question is not whether he would or could make useful contributions. The question is whether they would be overshadowed by other issues, such as the way he interacts with others or his judgement in assessing the appropriateness of a particularly topic. What we really have to do is to assess his behaviour and consider whether it would be a problem. What was history of contributions before the block, during the block, and what is the current position now? Where there have been issues, do we think he has changed or can we develop measures to deal with any such issues reoccurring? My personal opinion is that Thekohser shouldn't be unblocked. That view is formed on the basis of his contributions before he was blocked, his conduct whilst he was blocked, and a judgement of his current position. I think I have previously explained my view of his past contributions, both whilst blocked and before that, but perhaps I should explain my judgement of Thekohser's current position. It has been my view for a long time that Thekohser's sudden enthusiasm for Wikiversity is less about developing useful learning resources and more about trying to win one over on Jimbo, who was responsible for the original block and with whom Thekohser seems to have had a long running feud. This was today reinforced by another of Thekohser's comments on Wikipedia Review where he's said "...just settle the matter between me and my nemesis Jimmy Wales, once and for all. If I "behave" on Wikiversity, I win and Jimmy loses. If I can't "behave", then I lose and Jimmy wins. If I "behave", but then Jimmy re-introduces himself into the battle, then I really, really win and Jimmy really, really looks like a pathetic loser." So to conclude, my position is that Thekohser shouldn't participate here but, if there is community consensus that he should be allowed, that he use his original proper User:Thekohser. I also don't believe the experiments to determine whether he can or will produce some useful content are particularly useful in determining whether he should be unblocked. If the community believes that he will behave appropriately then he should be unblocked. Adambro 20:55, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

 * User:Thekohser did nothing wrong. He should be unblocked/unlocked immediately, asked to forgive the horrible treatment he has been subjected to by misguided Wikimedia functionaries and allowed to return to full participation at Wikiversity. An end should be put to the barbaric and disruptive practice of blocking Wikiversity community members. It is obvious that those who abuse their sysop tools by imposing unjustified blocks can't be trusted beyond blocking obvious vandals. All other block decisions need to be made by community consensus. --JWSchmidt 01:53, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

 * I pretty much agree with Adambro. I don't know why some people are so keen to "rehabilitate" people like Moulton and Thekohser, both of whom have long track records of trolling. Even if I did see the worth in rehabilitation, I just don't think the Wikiversity community is currently robust enough to be able to absorb the kinds of drama that they are associated with. Wikiversity has been deeply damaged by Moulton's arrival in 2008 and the subsequent failure to 'manage' his presence. (JWSchmidt is entirely wrong in suggesting that any of this is due to a gang of Wikipedians or rogue admins/bureaucrats, as he is wont to claim.) I would much rather we focus our efforts on rehabilitating the Wikiversity community - to come to consensus about what we want to do here and what we're about. Those with track records of trolling, or with points to prove, will not help that process. I've always wanted Wikiversity to be an open, tolerant and welcoming place, but long and painful experience tells me that there are some people whose presence will not be conducive to such conditions. Cormaggio talk 12:23, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Cormaggio, Neither do I know why some people are so keen to "follow the lead of" the number one troll on wikiland... [and so on, practically verbatim.]  Hillgentleman | //\\ |Talk 12:46, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
 * "Moulton and Thekohser, both of whom have long track records of trolling" <-- Cormaggio, your track record for accusing people of trolling is now a matter for community review. Cormaggio, please list examples of Moulton's trolling or retract your accusation that Moulton has a long track record of trolling." "I don't know why some people are so keen to "rehabilitate" people like Moulton and Thekohser" <-- I agree, since they have done nothing wrong. The user accounts of Moulton and Thekohser should be unblocked/unlocked and they should be allowed to return to normal participation as Wikiversity community members. "Wikiversity has been deeply damaged by Moulton's arrival in 2008" <-- This is a misrepresentation of events. Moulton participated at Wikiversity as an expert in online learning communities and a valued member of the Wikiversity community. He was then viciously harassed by sock puppets from Wikipedia on a declared mission to get Moulton banned. A gang of Wikipedians disrupted Wikiversity. Moulton was blocked against Wikiversity community consensus by someone who had been gamed into taking unwise action. Wikiversity needs to protect itself from such outside sources of disruption and protect honest and innocent Wikiversity community members. --JWSchmidt 15:44, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Moulton might have been biased, but wikiversity does allow bias so long as points of views are made explicit. The pan-wikimedia saga is long, but within the wikiversity epsiode, it was the still-unclaimed sock puppet User:Salmon of Doubt who started to turn the soup sour, firing the first rounds of personal attacks, and saying up front that his goal was to get moulton banned on wikiversity.  He subsequently got custodial tools for a time and then disappeared.  Hillgentleman | //\\ |Talk 18:47, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
 * We know who Salmon of Doubt was. I received the information in 2009. Apparently, SB Johnny had the info from the beginning. I can't reveal things publicly on Wikiversity but there is something on Wikipedia Review that says who the socks were. Ottava Rima (talk) 20:43, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Wrongo! Didn't know then, don't know now. I'll ask on WR though, because I've always wondered! --SB_Johnny talk 21:17, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I have IRC logs from the involved parties saying otherwise if anyone wants to see how SB Johnny is blatantly lying again. Ottava Rima (talk) 22:19, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Horse hockey. I assure you: have no idea who he/she was. --SB_Johnny talk 22:40, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Yeah, you only had dozens of shared page edits with them, worked with them regularly at WR, chatted with them under both names on IRC in multiple channels, and they stated that you were told by them and by KC who they were. Funny how you suddenly feign ignorance. It is amazing to look back at your interaction under his primary name on WR to see how it all makes sense, especially regarding your statements with him about Moulton. Ottava Rima (talk) 23:33, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
 * The above exchange leads me to a conclusion that without some radical restructuring, Wikiversity is hopeless. Not useless, but unreliable. I will be considering what actions might possibly improve the situation, but it's looking like the damage of 2008 and March 2010 has cut way too deeply, it might not be possible to recover. Cormaggio, it's not about rehabilitating this or that specific user, but about rehabilitating Wikiversity as a community. From my point of view, it's nearly dead, and I could show sign after sign of that. --Abd 00:03, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I disagree. There is a vibrant community but it is being trampled by three individuals who are unwilling to stop with their games and trying to drive Wikiversity into the ground. If you notice, those same people started a competing community, so it is even in their interest to do that. Without them around, it would be far more peaceful and normal life would resume. Ottava Rima (talk) 13:58, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Sure you disagree, Ottava. However, I see more damage being done here, by active participants here, other than the "three individuals" -- who are? -- than they could possibly be causing. My comment was based on your participation in the exchange, tossing gas on the smouldering fire instead of acting to heal it or at least being careful not to make it worse. There is no justification for your accusations against SBJohnny, even if they are true, which I find doubtful on the face. Starting netknowledge.org is an essential step: basic principle in securing academic freedom: don't put all your eggs in one basket. I'm registered there and I intend to participate and help it be successful, which will not harm wikiversity and should, in fact, help it. Someone who expects otherwise has missed a very important educational principle: one size does not fit all, one set of rules and one oligarchy cannot preserve freedom, diversity is crucial. That is true within the WMF and true beyond it. --Abd 20:20, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
 * You haven't been around long enough to know who are standard members, how they act, and the rest. You have only been around during the summer and only in areas with the trolling and disruption. If you want to say I have no evidence, fine. I don't need to provide evidence to you about it. We aren't here for "academic freedom" or whatever fake concept used to justify some nonsense campaign. Moulton et al have their project. They can stay there and do whatever they want there. Their use of these serves has been reaffirmed as merely disruptive and they have never been part of the true academic community here. Ottava Rima (talk) 20:25, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

 * "three individuals who are unwilling to stop with their games and trying to drive Wikiversity into the ground" <-- This is an unusual statement, possibly indicating a failure of someone to assume good faith with respect to other Wikiversity community members. In the interest of allowing the Wikiversity community to discuss and understand the threat that you perceive, Ottava Rima, please list these three individuals. "they have never been part of the true academic community here" <-- Ottava Rima, do I correctly understand you to be claiming that Moulton has never participated constructively at Wikiversity? --JWSchmidt 20:37, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Demanding me to list the three individuals when they are blatantly clear to you is exactly why so many people in this community have lost patience for you. I started out this as your biggest defender. You worked hard to turn me completely against you. You should be proud. Ottava Rima (talk) 20:47, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
 * (← tabs reset)

Ottava, assuming I'm one of those three people, I'll just point out a few things.

First, I think it's rather snooty of you to say I've "never been part of the true academic community here". I originally got involved here because I wanted to see if Original Research was feasible on a wiki for something like the Bloom Clock. The experiment worked to some degree, but we were never able to get the proper software extensions here to make it really work. (Maybe now that Brion is gone we could ask again, but I don't think the WMF staff is all that interested in WV nowadays.)

Second, I'm not on any campaign at all... in fact the only reason I'm posting today is because you brought me into it (again), and since you've apparently "called the FBI" on me, it's in my interest to respond to your flights of fancy when correction is needed. If you don't want me to respond to you, please just stop bringing me into it.

Finally, NetKnowledge isn't a "competing community" in the sense of a zero-sum game. It's really more or less an experiment to find ways of configuring wikis that will avoid some of the entrenched problems that the WMF's wikis are having due to their particular configurations (and for me, of course, I have better software for the bloom clock).

For the record: I don't want Wikiversity to fail, and I'm not particularly happy about what the "other two" are doing either. However, I'm not going to waste my time trying to convince them to see things your way. I have better things to do. --SB_Johnny talk 21:14, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
 * You were drama mongering and backroom dealing with people on IRC months before Moulton was banned. It seems like you are completely incapable of admitting the sleaze that you have pulled on this community. Go keep your drama on your own site and play your games there. Ottava Rima (talk) 21:20, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Since you are a Custodian (and therefore in some sense representing the management), you might want to avoid that particular tone, since it's rather hard to tell the difference between your statements and the statements of "the other two" when you do that. No charge for the advice this time. --SB_Johnny talk 21:43, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
 * You burnt your bridges here long ago, then you came back to cause disruption against Jimbo. You aren't welcome. You have done a lot to try and bring down this community, probably more than anyone else. Ottava Rima (talk) 22:35, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Not welcome by whom, exactly? --SB_Johnny talk 22:39, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

 * "they are blatantly clear to you" <-- You can call me clueless, but I honestly do not know who you think is, "trying to drive Wikiversity into the ground". You seemed to suggest that Moulton is one. His goals are listed on his user page. Ottava Rima, I think it would be best if you listed the three individuals so that the Wikiversity community does not have to guess. --JWSchmidt 22:45, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

I blocked Ottava Rima for incivility in the above discussion, continued after warning, see Request_custodian_action Please do not discuss this block here, and perhaps this whole sequence should be moved to the Talk page or even deleted. But I'll leave that to someone else. The Colloquium page has been going south rapidly. --Abd 00:38, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

title: Wikiversity:Colloquium/2010/Thekohser


text:
User talk:Amer.riaz

 Hello Amer.riaz, and welcome to Wikiversity! If you need help, feel free to visit my talk page, or contact us and ask questions. After you leave a comment on a talk page, remember to sign and date; it helps everyone follow the threads of the discussion. The signature icon in the edit window makes it simple. To get started, you may

 * Take a guided tour and learn to edit.
 * Visit a (kind of) random project.
 * Browse Wikiversity, or visit a portal corresponding to your educational level: pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, non-formal education.
 * Find out about research activities on Wikiversity.

 * Read an introduction for teachers and find out how to write an educational resource for Wikiversity.
 * Give feedback about your initial observations
 * Discuss Wikiversity issues or ask questions at the colloquium.
 * Chat with other Wikiversitans on #wikiversity-en.

And don't forget to explore Wikiversity with the links to your left. Be bold to contribute and to experiment with the sandbox or your userpage, and see you around Wikiversity! If you're a twitter user, please follow http://twitter.com/Wikiversity. --JWSchmidt 11:06, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

title: User talk:Amer.riaz


text:
User:Amer.riaz

Amer Riaz is a graduate in Computer Science. He works as Senior Technical Writer at software house in Lahore, Pakistan.

title: User:Amer.riaz


text:
User talk:Moulon Rouge

 Hello Moulon Rouge, and welcome to Wikiversity! If you need help, feel free to visit my talk page, or contact us and ask questions. After you leave a comment on a talk page, remember to sign and date; it helps everyone follow the threads of the discussion. The signature icon in the edit window makes it simple. To get started, you may

 * Take a guided tour and learn to edit.
 * Visit a (kind of) random project.
 * Browse Wikiversity, or visit a portal corresponding to your educational level: pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, non-formal education.
 * Find out about research activities on Wikiversity.

 * Read an introduction for teachers and find out how to write an educational resource for Wikiversity.
 * Give feedback about your initial observations
 * Discuss Wikiversity issues or ask questions at the colloquium.
 * Chat with other Wikiversitans on #wikiversity-en.

And don't forget to explore Wikiversity with the links to your left. Be bold to contribute and to experiment with the sandbox or your userpage, and see you around Wikiversity! If you're a twitter user, please follow http://twitter.com/Wikiversity. --JWSchmidt 14:23, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

title: User talk:Moulon Rouge


text:
Human Legacy Course/Feedback

Feedback
Please post your feedback to these questions here whenever you feel like you want to try to answer them. You can answer these questions as many times as you would like, whenever you would like. This will give us some incentive as to what we can do to better improve this course for you and for future students.

Make sure that you put your signature with your timestamp when you are finished.

Questions For The Instructor
Please post any questions that you have for Mr. Blair right here and he will get back to them as soon as possible. sorry. im not sure if i signed up for the class properly. Is linfam09 on your class roster? Where do I check to see if I received any messages from you on how to begin?

thanks : ) Linfam09 02:39, 14 November 2011 (UTC)Maryann

I am not sure if I signed up properly either and when I try took look at some chapters it says "No resource by this exact name is available yet." Please Help Thanks

title: Human Legacy Course/Feedback


text:
User:J.Peters~enwikiversity

I am the current organizer for the Endymion Society, a group of academics that seek to spread free access educational content regarding to notable works written in the English language.

This account is to release material as GFDL/CCSA3.0 compatible that was previously copyrighted under the identified name.

title: User:J.Peters~enwikiversity


text:
User talk:J.Peters~enwikiversity

.

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called J.Peters. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name J.Peters~enwikiversity that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:34, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 06:11, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:J.Peters~enwikiversity


text:
User:Vive la Rosière

French contributor.

title: User:Vive la Rosière


text:
User talk:Vive la Rosière

Feel free to ask me question here about french language or other.

title: User talk:Vive la Rosière


text:
User talk:Imploviser

This is my personal list of interests and objects of study, in a (hopefully) organized format that I can navigate with relative ease and minimal frustration. My main issue is simply the fact that I try to learn everything at once, including very difficult and specialized areas parallel to their simpler and fundamental counterparts. I need a system; I need to learn these things in order to truly be able to cherish and grokthem in full.

Mathematics

 * Topic:Elementary_mathematics
 * Topic:Primary_School_Mathematics
 * Topic:High_School_Mathematics
 * Topic:College_Algebra
 * Topic:Euclidean_Geometry
 * Topic:Trigonometry
 * Topic:Calculus

Technology

 * School:Information_Technology
 * School:Computer_Science
 * Topic:Artificial_Intelligence
 * Topic:Computer_programming
 * Topic:Software_Engineering

title: User talk:Imploviser


text:
User:Audriusa

I am the founder and major maintainer of Ultrastudio.org.

Ultrastudio.org is an educational site built along the lines of “encyclopedia that anyone can edit” with content interactivity enhancements. Next to educational articles it also shows demos in the form of Java applets. These applets are written and contributed by community, same as the rest of content. The site is free to use for anyone, and most of the contents are under various Free licenses. All applets on the site are so called "unsigned applets" that are not allowed to access your local disk and other resources. Server removes all signatures when rebuilding applet on the server side. Also, applets are approved to run only after testing by the site team and public code review.

This is currently just a tiny initiative about 30 applets, adding several every week.

title: User:Audriusa


title: File:Structure.1.A.pdf


text:
File:Style electronic chamber entity bar13-23 59s.ogg

Summary
This is a sound sample from a commercial recording. Its inclusion here is claimed as fair use because:
 * It's used in an article about the techniques and metodes of the contemporary composer Martin Lohse, and is used to illustrate the electronic style in his compositions.
 * It is of a lower quality than the original recording, and could not be used as a substitute for the original commercial recording.
 * It is not replaceable with an uncopyrighted or freely copyrighted sample of comparable educational value.
 * It will not affect the value of the original work or limit the copyright holder's rights or ability to distribute the original recording.


text:
Template:History merge

This template is intended for uncontroversial merges, where discussion is not believed necessary. The edit summary from template addition should give the merge reason. (which will remain in history). This template may also be used after discussion, to express consensus or lack of opposition, in which case the edit summary should refer to the discussion.

Pages with this template are added to Category:History merge requests.

If page history is complex, history merge can be tedious to undo, custodians should exercise caution. If in doubt, substitute Template:Merge to and discuss.

title: Template:History merge


text:
Category:History merge requests

Pages in this category wait an administrator to merge the edit history. Use on the page where the original information was taken from to add it to this category.

title: Category:History merge requests


text:
User:Fire in the Hole

This is an alternate account of User:Diego Grez.

Custodians: If it starts editing disruptively/vandalizing, don't hesitate to block it immediately.

title: User:Fire in the Hole


text:
User:Minor4th

Hello

title: User:Minor4th


text:
User talk:Minor4th

 Hello Minor4th, and welcome to Wikiversity! If you need help, feel free to visit my talk page, or contact us and ask questions. After you leave a comment on a talk page, remember to sign and date; it helps everyone follow the threads of the discussion. The signature icon in the edit window makes it simple. To get started, you may

 * Take a guided tour and learn to edit.
 * Visit a (kind of) random project.
 * Browse Wikiversity, or visit a portal corresponding to your educational level: pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, non-formal education.
 * Find out about research activities on Wikiversity.

 * Read an introduction for teachers and find out how to write an educational resource for Wikiversity.
 * Give feedback about your initial observations
 * Discuss Wikiversity issues or ask questions at the colloquium.
 * Chat with other Wikiversitans on #wikiversity-en.

And don't forget to explore Wikiversity with the links to your left. Be bold to contribute and to experiment with the sandbox or your userpage, and see you around Wikiversity! If you're a twitter user, please follow http://twitter.com/Wikiversity. --Ottava Rima (talk) 23:03, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. Minor4th 23:12, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

title: User talk:Minor4th


text: User:Jack

title: User:Jack


text:
User:Limpama

I'm matthias kang,living in ULSAN, South Korea. I'm working for shipbuilding company, HHI, one of the biggest shipyard in the world. I'm in charge of hull outfitting and accommodation facilities in Project Planning dep't.

Hope to see what you have, Hope to share what I have. That's the reason I'm here.

title: User:Limpama


text:
The periodic table/Nitrogen

Discovery
Nitrogen was discovered in 1772 by Daniel Rutherford in Edinburgh, Scotland. The name is derived from the Greek, 'nitron' and 'genes' meaning nitre forming.

Nitrogen gas itself was obtained in the 1760s by both Henry Cavendish and Joseph Priestley. They did this by removing the oxygen from air, but neither man deduced that it was an element. The first person to suggest this was the young student Daniel Rutherford in his doctorate thesis of September 1772.

Quick Facts
Name: Nitrogen

Symbol: N

Mass: 14.00674

Atomic Number: 7

Electron Configuration: [He] 2s2 2p3

Classification: non-metal

CAS Number: 7727-37-9

Appearance: colourless odourless gas

Discovery in: 1772

Key Isotopes: 14N

Allotropes: N2

Density: 1.2506 g/L

Crystal Structure: hexagonal

Melting Point: -210 °C

Boiling Point: -195.795 °C

Uses
About 50 million tonnes of nitrogen are extracted every year by the Haber Process, mainly for the manufacture of fertilisers but also for making plastics, dyes and explosives. Large amounts of nitrogen are also used by the electronics industry, which uses the gas as a blanketing medium during production of components such as transistors, diodes etc. Large quantities of nitrogen are used in annealing stainless steel and other steel mill products. Liquid nitrogen is used as a refrigerant for storing sperm, eggs and other cells for medical research and reproductive technology, as well as for the preservation of food products and for their transportation. Liquid nitrogen is also used in missile work and by the oil industry to build up great pressures in wells to force crude oil upwards.

Nitrogen is cycled naturally by living organisms (The nitrogen cycle). It is taken up in solution by green plants and algae as nitrate to build up the bases needed for constructing DNA and RNA and for all amino acids which are used for constructing proteins. Non-photosynthesising life forms, such as animals, obtain their nitrogen by consuming other living things and digesting the proteins and DNA into their constituent bases and amino acids to be reformed for their own use, otherwise excreting it mostly as urea. Microbes in the soil convert the nitrogen compounds back to nitrates for the plants to re-use, hence the value of returning animal excrement to the fields. The nitrate supply is replenished by nitrifying bacteria which are able to ‘fix’ molecular nitrogen directly from the atmosphere. Crop yields can be greatly enhanced by adding additional ‘fixed’ nitrogen to the soil in the form of chemical fertilisers manufactured from Haber Process ammonia.

Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air, by volume. From this source it can be obtained by liquefaction and fractional distillation. In compound form it is found in all living things and hence also in coal and to a lesser extent in other fossil fuels.

Atomic Data
Atomic radius: 1.550 Å

Covalent radius: 0.71 Å

Electronegativity: 3.040

Electron affinity: unstable

Ionisation energies

First: 1402.330 kJ mol-1

Second: 2856.089 kJ mol-1

Third: 4578.152 kJ mol-1

Fourth: 7475.051 kJ mol-1

Fifth: 9444.961 kJ mol-1

Sixth: 53266.790 kJ mol-1

Seventh: 64360.105 kJ mol-1

Supply Risk
Unknown

Oxidation States and Isotopes
Common oxidation states: 5, 4, 3, 2, -3

Isotopes

Pressure and Temperature Data
Molar heat capacity: 29.124 J mol-1 K-1

title: The periodic table/Nitrogen


text:
User:Twhk2011

在「」的其他語言版本

title: User:Twhk2011


text:
History of the Ottoman Empire/Mehmed II (Fatih) and the rise of the Ottoman Empire

Last lesson / Course Page / Next lesson
 * Mehmed II wanted to capture Constantinople, because the Byzantine Empire was a potential threat. In April 1453, they attacked Constantinople with 100,000 - 150,000 soldiers. The Byzantine Empire on the other hand had only 7 - 10,000 soldiers. The Republic of Venice and other European countries supported the Byzantine Empire in Constantinople.
 * The Ottomans attacked Constantinople constantly, but could not get results because European countries continually sent reinforcements. In May, the Ottomans lost a large number of soldiers. The Byzantine Empire defended the city successfully. The Ottomans wanted to enter the Golden Horn because, the Byzantine walls were weak there. But, there was a thick chain in the entry of the Golden Horn so, the Ottomans ships were unable to enter. Mehmed II ordered his troops to pull the ships over Kasımpaşa (which is the shore of Golden Horn) with ropes. This was an incredible feat and it allowed the Ottoman warships to enter the Golden Horn. Shortly afterwards they attacked the Byzantine warships. A large number of the Byzantine warships were sunk. Constantinople became too weak, after this attack to hold off Mehmed II's army for much longer. Thus, a few days later, the Ottomans captured Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire fell. Mehmed II made Constantinople the new capital city of the Ottoman Empire, and he renamed it Istanbul. New mosques, hospitals, schools, residences and even a university (Istanbul University) were founded there.
 * After the fall of Constantinople, the Serbs gave some castles to the Ottomans. A few years later, Ottomans attacked the Serbs in 1454 - 1457. The Ottomans captured a lot of Serb castles. Also the Ottomans attacked the Peloponnese and they captured there(Where?) in 1460. The Ottomans attacked the Balkans constantly. The Ottomans captured the Empire of Trebizond in 1461 and so the last Rûm country fell. Two years later, the Ottomans captured Bosnia. Some years later, in the east, Beylik of Karaman and Beylik of Ak Koyunlu formed an alliance against the Ottomans. So, the Ottomans attacked the Eastern Anatolia Region in 1466 and captured Konya Province. The same year Beylik of Karaman was captured there. Because of this attacking, Ottomans attacked there. ( Give context) Beylik of Ak Koyunlu fell in 1473, a year later Beylik of Karaman fell.
 * In 1477, the Crimean Khanate became a state of the Ottoman Empire. Ottomans also captured all of the ports and cities situated on the coast of the Black Sea Thus, the entire Black Sea belonged to the Ottoman Empire.
 * Mehmed II died in 1481. When he died, the people of Europe were said to have been very happy and across the continent, bells rang for days. During his term, the Balkans, Peloponnese, the Crimean Khanate, all of Anatolia, the Caucasus, Northern Syria, and North Iraq became parts of the Ottoman Empire and the Ottomans became a strong force in the region. After the death of Mehmed II, his son Bayezid II became the emperor of the Ottoman Empire.

Quiz on Mehmed II (Fatih) and the rise of the Ottoman Empire


text:
User talk:Pi zero

 Hello Pi zero, and welcome to Wikiversity! If you need help, feel free to visit my talk page, or contact us and ask questions. After you leave a comment on a talk page, remember to sign and date; it helps everyone follow the threads of the discussion. The signature icon in the edit window makes it simple. To get started, you may

 * Take a guided tour and learn to edit.
 * Visit a (kind of) random project.
 * Browse Wikiversity, or visit a portal corresponding to your educational level: pre-school, primary, secondary, tertiary, non-formal education.
 * Find out about research activities on Wikiversity.

 * Read an introduction for teachers and find out how to write an educational resource for Wikiversity.
 * Give feedback about your initial observations
 * Discuss Wikiversity issues or ask questions at the colloquium.
 * Chat with other Wikiversitans on #wikiversity-en.

And don't forget to explore Wikiversity with the links to your left. Be bold to contribute and to experiment with the sandbox or your userpage, and see you around Wikiversity! If you're a twitter user, please follow http://twitter.com/Wikiversity. --Diego Grez 16:22, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

title: User talk:Pi zero


text:
History of the Ottoman Empire/Mehmed II (Fatih) and the rise of the Ottoman Empire/Quiz

{When did Mehmed II capture Constantinople? -1451 +1453 -1455 -1457
 * type=""}

{Who made Constantinople capital city of Ottoman Empire? -Murat I -Mehmed I -Murat II +Mehmed II
 * type=""}

{When did Ottomans capture Peloponnese? -1457 +1460 -1463 -1466
 * type=""}

{When did Beylik of Karamanoğlu fall? -1471 -1472 -1473 +1474
 * type=""}

{When did Crimean Khanate become state of Ottomans? -1473 -1475 +1477 -1479
 * type=""}

{When did Mehmed II die? -1477 -1479 +1481 -1483
 * type=""}


text:
User:Aetern142/Sanctuary of Humanity/The Dynamic Book/Parables

--->:Sanctuary of Humanity--->:Book:The Dynamic Book--->Book:The Dynamic Book:The Parables

Section 12: The Parables
1. This is The parable of the Orchestra.

The conductor stands before the orchestra, moving with the tempo to conduct the groups of instruments therein. While the conductor has the ability to bring changes in the way the music is played, by virtue of his postition...a good conductor chooses to flow along with the music and conduct in harmony with the instrument sections natural flow throughout the song being played. The harmony of a good conductor is better than that of one that forces emphassis in places that only HE sees fit. A natural balance is established by the good conductor, through following the harmony created. Not by leading...but by following does the good conductor ...become one with the music

So to does the Son flow in natural harmony with the harmony of the father. The father could be said to BE the music, The son, the conductor or follower of the music, and the people, the highly skilled instrument players of the orchestra.

The time is set by the creator of the music, and we all play by that time because we harmonize in synchronicity to the beat and measure set forth. We could take off on our own and play our own music while the orchestra plays, but this would throw off the natural sound and harmony of the music that is played in beautiful difference and harmony. Each person plays their own part... and by knowing the conductor, so too can we know the music.


text:
User:Aetern142

Aetern142:

title: User:Aetern142


text:
Human Legacy Course/Early India

Human Legacy Course I Early India LECTURER: Mr. Blair

Course Page / Take The Quiz / Next Lecture

Hello and welcome to Week 4. In this week, we will be taking a look at Ancient India & China. Now, in this lecture today, we are going to be looking at early India. Our question for the day is:

What do all these characters mean? In the 1920s an archaeologist working in northwest India discovered a remarkable set of ruins, all that remained of a huge ancient city. His discovery was the first clue modern archaeologists had about the advanced civilization of the Indus River Valley that flourished thousands of years ago.

Since that original discovery, archaeologists have learned a great deal about the Indus civilization. Among the artifacts they have found are small seals like the ones above that contain what appears to be writing. Despite the best efforts of the archaeologists and linguists, however, no one has yet been able to decipher even one word from any of the seals.

Part of the challenge of deciphering the script is that linguists know of no related languages from which they can start their studies. In fact, no one knows even the first thing about the Indus language, though linguists have various theories. Some believe that the characters found in Indus writings are part of an alphabet, like that of the Phoenicians. Others believe that each character represents an object or an idea, like characters in Sumerian and Egyptian writing. Even among scholars who agree that characters represent objects, there is much disagreement. One symbol on the elephant tile in the picture, for example, has been variously identified as a fish, a twist of rope, and a noble title. Until such disputes can be resolved, there is little chance that the language can be translated.

India's Geography
The Indus River, home of one of the ancient world’s great river valley civilizations, flows across the northwest edge of the Indian subcontinent. As its name implies, most of the Indian subcontinent is occupied by the country of India.

The Indian subcontinent includes three major geographic zones. In the far north are the Himalaya and Hindu Kush (home of the Khyber Pass, which was the route of the Indo-Arayns who invaded the ancient Indians in/around 1500 BCE) mountain systems, which separate India from the rest of the world. In the south is the Deccan Plateau, a high plateau that receives less rain than other parts of the subcontinent. Between the mountains and the plateau are the Northern Plains, where society first developed in India. Flood deposits from three rivers—the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra—enrich the soil of the plains, making it very fertile. And to the east is the Thar Desert, which is home to a few sanctuaries today.

Heavy rains also add to the fertility of the Northern Plains. Much of this rain is brought to India by seasonal winds called monsoons. During the summer months, monsoon winds from the southwest bring warm air and heavy rains from the Indian Ocean. Most of India’s annual rainfall occurs at this time. In the winter, northeast monsoons blow cool, dry air from Central Asia, resulting in drier months.

The people of India’s first civilizations depended upon the monsoons to bring the water that their crops needed. Monsoon rains flooded rivers, which then deposited fertile silt in which farmers could grow their crops. But with the abundance of rainfall came the threat of devastation. If the monsoon rains were too heavy, crops, homes, and lives could be lost. In contrast, if the rains came too late or did not last long enough, people could not grow crops and famine became a danger.

Indus Valley Civilization
People have lived in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent for thousands of years. At first, people lived as hunter-gatherers, but slowly people began to settle down in farming communities. In time, these communities gave rise to India’s first civilization, which developed in the valley of the Indus River. Historians generally date the beginnings of this civilization to about 2500 BC, when people there first developed a system of writing.

Cities & Settlements
The first ruins of the Indus Valley civilization found by archaeologists were the remains of two large cities. Harappa, named after a nearby modern city, and Mohenjo Daro, which means “mound of the dead,” were both discovered in the 1920s. In fact, the civilization is sometimes called Harappan after the first ruins found. Since then, several large cities have been uncovered, as have hundreds of smaller towns and villages. Much of what we know about Indus society has come from studying their remains.

Indus settlements were well planned and carefully laid out. Streets ran in a grid pattern, north-south and east-west, with major avenues that were twice as wide as minor streets. People drew water from community wells or smaller wells dug in the courtyards of their homes, and public drainage systems carried away waste-water. In the largest cities, a walled, elevated citadel, or fortress, enclosed buildings such as granaries, warehouses, and meeting halls. Homes, workshops, and shrines were built outside the citadel. Such planning and uniformity among cities suggests that a central authority held power over the civilization.

Economy
Historians believe the economy of the Indus civilization focused on agriculture and trade. Most people probably farmed and herded livestock. In cities, however, many people specialized in crafts such as pottery, metalwork, and jewelry. Example of all these crafts have been found in Harappan cities.

The Indus traded the goods they produced not only with people of nearby communities but with distant civilizations as well. Traders from the Indus Valley brought goods to locations as distant as Central Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Mesopotamia (Babylon, etc.).

Society
Unfortunately, archaeologists and historians have not been able to learn many details about Indus society. Although the people of the Indus Valley had a writing system (pictograms), historians are not yet able to read it. The inability to read what people wrote makes it difficult to learn about society and daily life.

Based on material evidence, some scholars believe that Indus civilization was a single society rather than a collection of independent city-states. As we have already discussed, cities and towns throughout the Indus Valley were remarkably similar. In addition, the people of the Indus Valley apparently shared common tool designs and a standard set of weights and measures. These factors all suggest a single authority in control, though it is not yet possible to know for sure.

Scholars, additionally, believe that the Indus Valley citizens honored a great god, BUT used animals/symbols in rituals. Scholars came to that conclusion because there were no temples or shrines in the area.

Decline
The Indus Valley civilization thrived from about 2500 BC to 2000 BC. After that time, the civilization began to decline. For example, the city of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa was abandoned. No one knows what led to the decline of the Indus civilization, or even if there was a single cause. Evidence from Mohenjo Daro suggests that the city suffered repeated flooding, which may indicate environmental reasons. Meanwhile, for Harappa, they are four theories to what happened to Harappa. One theory was that the Indus River changed course, the second theory is that the city was invaded, the 3rd theory was that an earthquake struck, and the last theory is that the climate changed.

Ancient records mention a river, the Sarasvati, that once flowed through the Indus Valley but later disappeared. The disappearance of that river could have had devastating effects on agriculture and sped the decline.

In truth, we may never know just why the Indus civilization disappeared.

Invasion of the Indo-Aryans
Indo-Aryan (European people who crossed the Hindu Kush using the Khyber Pass) migrants appeared around 1750BCE. The Indo-Aryans were skilled warriors and skilled sheepherders, who were seeking ancient India because of the rich, pasture land that Ancient India held.

The Indo-Aryans managed to conquer all of Northern India. We know about the Indo-Aryans because of Vedas, which are religious literature of the Hindu people. Eventually, the Indo-Aryans developed a writing called Sanskirt.

The religion of the Indo-Aryan society was polytheistic (worshiping more than one god). The Indo-Aryan people had nature gods: Earth, Fire, Light, Rain, Sky, Sun, Storms, water, etc. The sky was the father god, the earth was the mother goddess, and to wrap up all these gods was one main creator god, who created the whole universe. This religion, which is now known as Hinduism, have simple ceremonies with sacrifices of food. Though, the Brahmin (priests) will lead more complicated ceremonies.

Not only did the Indo-Aryans have their own religion, but also social groups (Original settlers being dark; Migrants, being the Indo-Aryan people, who were light skinned and nomadic). These social groups led to something known as the caste system.

The caste system was a type of social structure that determined the basis of your life by birth, and NOT personality. For example, if you were to be born into a family of slaves, you are going to be stuck as a slave. If you were born into a priest family, you would stay in that caste level which are designated for the priests. You couldn't move up or down the caste system.

The caste system has FOUR total caste levels, with the fifth being out of the caste system. The highest of them is called the Brahmin, who were priests. The priests are, seen in the caste system, intelligent and spiritual leaders. The caste system below the Brahmins are the Kshartriyas, who were the warriors/rulers. The Kshartriyas were seen as the protectors of society, and the equivalent of the Kshartriyas in present-day life would be the policemen, politicians, military, etc.. The one below the Kshartriyas would be the Vaisyas, who were merchants, farmers, artisans, craftsmens, etc.. These people would be the skillful producers of material things/objects. The last of the caste system are the Sudras, who were servants and unskilled laborers. The fifth one (out of the caste system) would be the Pariahs, the slaves/untouchables. Your level in society is called your varna.

Not only did religion and culture (caste system for example) take affect on the ancient Indian culture, but also the economy. The economy of the Indo-Aryans were mostly wheat, barley, rice, sugarcane, vegetable gourds, peas, beans, and lentis. Village trades were common, but transportation was poor.

Assignment

 * Question #1: What are monsoons, and how do they affect life on the Indian subcontinent?
 * Question #2: Why did Indian civilization begin in the Northern Plains?
 * Question #3: How might the geography of India have helped protect the Indus Valley civilization?
 * Question #4: What were two characteristics of cities built in the Indus River Valley?
 * Question #5: Why do many historians think that a single central authority ruled in the Indus Valley?
 * Question #6: Do you think it is important that historians learn to read Indus writing? Why or why not?
 * Question #7: What were the varnas?
 * Question #8: Why did priests gain influence within Vedic society?
 * Question #9: How do you think the development of the caste system affected India’s social structure after the Vedic period?

Thank you very much for listening and goodbye.

title: Human Legacy Course/Early India


text:
User:John Bessa/Rainbow Gathering notes

History and Culture
The history as I remember being told by the elders over twenty years is much different than the history I am reading here:
 * It was formed by returning Vietnam veterans and their families, essentially, to create a therapeutic environment
 * Unlike other gatherings of the time, such as Woodstock, early Rainbow Gatherings were small, consisting mostly of families
 * It was first held in the Colorado Rockies, and it was attacked by local "cowboys" who were associated with ranchers and may have been KKK
 * The Rainbows formed a circle around their children to protect the children from from gunfire
 * It is an un-organization that defines Kropotkin's natural anarchy in Mutual Aid
 * It is tribal in the Native American sense, rather than a rebellion, say, specifically against capital
 * As such each camp does exactly its "own thing," which shows the Gathering's hippie background, which itself was tribal and often based on Native American culture
 * It is purely democratic:
 * Issues spontaneously trigger a council circle
 * Decisions are made by consensus
 * Anyone may speak
 * A feather is passed around, and only the Rainbow holding the feather may speak
 * Shanta-sena, who have radio contact with officials, may hover in the background if an issue is contentious
 * The culture honors elders exactly as native tribes do
 * Every individual group is thought of as tribe (much as everything on the WP is technically-speaking an article), including animals and authorities, and each is usually represented by a camp
 * Specific cultural traits may come and go depending if a camp is set up based on them
 * There may be a dog tribe camp, or even an ant tribe camp protected with yellow warning tape
 * Not mentioned here is the "Fairy Camp" (spelled different ways) that is one of the handful of perennial camps
 * The camping culture of this camp predates the first Gathering
 * Brought experience to early Gatherings
 * Introduced advanced hygiene standards in 1988
 * The only prohibition is alcohol, but is not effectively enforced
 * Police repression comes and goes; it was mild in 2010, it was brutal in 2003
 * 6-up has been well-received at many camps in recent years, not being an active part of enforcement
 * 6-up calls itself "6-up," apparently "6-up" has become a familiar term over time
 * In 2010, LEOs (National Parks Law Enforcement Officers) were the goons, but I don't recall them having much luck with arrests
 * People at the Gathering may be anti-Rainbow
 * There was a purely disruptive camp in 2010 that violated all the sacred events, drank in excess, and attempted to burn a cross, a hate crime
 * I spoke to one of these anti-Rainbows who had crashed a wedding I was photographing to disrupt it, and he specifically told me that their goal is to replace the hippies and legalize alcohol

I think it may be difficult to quantify knowledge about the Gathering and the Family for several reasons:
 * Rainbows are not necessarily the type to carefully document things
 * News reports of popular happenings tend to be sensationalized and secondhand
 * As a tribal culture, it relies on the aural/oral tradition, which tends to myth (which is fine by me but not WP!)
 * The elders are, in fact, becoming very old

A good strategy might be to describe each camp especially with photographs to show the cultural components, as well as the main circle events.

A value of the Gathering to society and social science may be that it is a real-life neolithic culture, and defensively so. In that money is forbidden, the capital culture, such as it is, functions purely on barter-- and often that even gets out of control in the minds of the elders. While my post-modernest sense makes me think that the trade circle (often not exactly a circle) would beg for a common currency, it functions well without one. Well, it functioned well for me, anyway.

On the topic of alcohol:
 * It is forbidden except at "A Camp," which is supposedly a welcome camp.

Alcohol is confiscated at the A Camp, and you guessed it, drunk there. So it is a drunk camp, and tends to attract, well, not the best of the Rainbows. But if you look at the ratios, perhaps 10,000 great people, and a few not-so-great, the Rainbow is a very stable culture, and the A Camp acts as its social tonsils. "A Campers" tend to stand in the road and stop cars as if they are officials supposedly to ask if there is alcohol in the cars, but they generally have nefarious intent. I saw an A Camper throw a beer can at an infant's face in Utah in 2003. So the best strategy is to avoid the A Camp by taking another road in if you go. --John Bessa (talk) 20:01, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

2010 Gathering
I was there for all seven days, and I would like to upload some images. Please take a look, and note which ones you like.--John Bessa (talk) 19:28, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

title: User:John Bessa/Rainbow Gathering notes


text:
Human Legacy Course/Hinduism

Human Legacy Course I Hinduism LECTURER: Mr. Blair

Previous Lecture / Course Page / Take The Quiz / Next Lecture

Hello and welcome to Lecture 2 of Week 4. In this lecture, we will be taking a brief look at Hinduism. Our question today is:

What would Rama do to save his wife? For centuries, readers have considered Rama and Sita, the main characters of the sacred Hindu epic the Ramayana, a model of an ideal couple. In the Ramayana, both Rama and Sita are willing to face great hardships to remain loyal to each other.

Early in the Ramayana, the young prince Rama renounces his claim to his father’s throne and becomes an exile from the kingdom at the demand of his father’s wife. Facing a potentially difficult and dangerous life in the wilderness, Rama begs his wife Sita to remain in the city where she will be safe. However, Sita does not want to live without Rama, and she follows him into the forest to share his exile.

Their happiness is shattered, though, when Sita is kidnapped by the demon king Ravana. Distraught, Rama immediately sets out to find and rescue his beloved. Joined by powerful allies, Rama builds a mighty army with which he challenges the powerful Ravana. In the end, the prince kills the demon and, at long last, is reunited with Sita.

Rama and Sita are widely admired for their total devotion to each other. In addition, both are praised for their devotion to their duties and obligations. Rama, for example, does not complain when he is ordered to give up his claim to the throne, because he sees it as his duty. Likewise Sita considers it her duty to accompany him into exile. Fulfilling one’s duties, or dharma, as Rama and Sita did is a central teaching of Hinduism, one of the world’s major religions.

Basic Teachings of Hinduism
One of the world’s oldest religions, Hinduism is practiced by most people in India today. Because it is so old, however, its origins are difficult to trace. Unlike other major religions, Hinduism has no founder. It evolved over thousands of years and was influenced by the cultures and traditions of many peoples.

Largely because it was influenced by so many cultures, the practice of Hinduism varies widely. Practices differ from place to place and even from person to person. However, a few fundamental teachings are shared by nearly all Hindus.

Brahman
Among the most basic tenets of Hinduism is the belief in Brahman, the eternal being that created and preserves the world. Hindus believe that everything in the world is simply an aspect of Brahman.

Because Brahman is all-encompassing, literally including all of creation, many Hindus do not believe that the human mind is capable of understanding it. That is because people themselves are aspects of Brahman. Hindus also believe that each person has an atman, or soul, that is an aspect of Brahman. A person’s atman shapes his or her personality and cannot be destroyed, even by death.

Most Hindus believe that various manifestations of Brahman called devas are active in the world, helping to maintain order in nature. For example, Ganesha is considered the lord of wisdom, while Lakshmi grants wealth. Like many teachings of Hinduism, people’s views of the devas vary widely. For example, many Hindus recognize three devas—Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver, and Siva the Destroyer—as particularly influential. Some believe in thousands of devas, while others worship only one, usually Vishnu or Siva, as the true manifestation of Brahman.

Rebirth & Salvation
Hindus believe that the universe and everyone in it are part of a continual pattern of birth, death, and rebirth. After death, they believe that the atman will be released from the body and later reborn in another, a process called reincarnation, or samsara. The nature of the person’s new life will be shaped by his or her karma, the sum effect of his or her deeds and actions during life. People who have behaved well will have good karma and can be reincarnated to a better station in the next life. Conversely, those who have bad karma will have a lower station.

For Hindus, the ultimate goal of human existence is moksha, escape from the cycle of rebirth. When a person achieves moksha, the atman leaves the world and reunites fully with Brahman. During their lives, Hindus work toward achieving moksha because it releases a person from worldly cares and the difficulties of life on Earth.

The way to achieve moksha is to fulfill one’s dharma, or set of spiritual duties and obligations. Individuals’ dharmas vary based on their class and their station in life. Fulfilling one’s dharma allows a person to create good karma, to avoid suffering, and, eventually, to break free from the cycle of rebirth.

Sacred Texts & Practices
As we have discussed, Hinduism has grown and evolved over centuries. Much of the religion’s evolution stemmed from a number of sacred writings that have been produced during that time. These texts influenced not only what people believed about Hinduism, but how they practiced the religion in their own lives.

Sacred Texts
The teachings and practices of Hinduism are based upon not one but many sacred texts. Most of these texts can be sorted into one of three categories:

 * the Vedas
 * later writings inspired by the Vedas
 * sacred epics

The Vedas, sacred hymns of praise, were among the earliest sacred texts of Hinduism. The name Veda means “knowledge” in Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language used for many sacred texts. Hindus consider the Vedas to contain eternal knowledge not written by humans but revealed to them by Brahman. The written Vedas, parts of which date back more than 3,000 years, are considered the core of Hinduism even today.

As time passed, sacred texts that built upon the Vedas appeared in India. Some, such as the Upanishads, were also believed to have been revealed to rather than written by people. The Upanishads are philosophical reflections on the Vedas, dealing with such questions as the nature of the world and the meaning of life.

Other sacred texts were based on themes found in the Vedas but composed by sages. Among them were two sacred epic poems, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Each of these epics tells a story but at the same time reflects on what it means to live according to Vedic teachings. The Ramayana tells of the relationship between Rama—the deva Vishnu in human form—and his wife Sita. For centuries, Rama and Sita have been seen as a model for Hindu couples to follow, both for their devotion to each other and their willingness to obey their dharma. The Mahabharata tells of a war between two families who want to control part of the Ganges River Valley. As it tells the story, the epic also teaches about dharma and proper behavior for rulers, warriors, and others.

Included within the Mahabharata is a passage that many people consider the most sacred of all Hindu texts, the Bhagavad Gita. The Gita, as it is sometimes called, was written as a dialogue between the warrior Arjuna and Krishna, again Vishnu in human form. Their conversation addresses in great detail many aspects of Hindu belief and philosophy.

Hindu Religious Practices
Because Hindu beliefs vary so widely, religious practices vary as well. Worship can take place anywhere— in large elaborate temples, in small village shrines, or at home. At temples, priests or other spiritual leaders might recite or read portions of the Vedas to worshippers. Sometimes an image of a deva is carried out of the temple and brought before the people. At home, individual worshippers might offer food, drink, or gifts to a deva. He or she might say special prayers, or meditate, or silently reflect upon the world and its nature.

To help them meditate, some Hindus also practice a series of integrated physical and mental exercises called yoga. The purpose of yoga is to teach people how to focus their bodies and minds, which will aid their meditation and help them attain moksha.

At some point during their lives, many Hindus desire to make a pilgrimage, or religious journey, to a holy location. Among the places considered sacred by many Hindus is the Ganges River, which is thought to flow from the feet of Vishnu and over the head of Siva. Through this contact with two devas, the river’s waters become holy. As a result, many Hindus believe that bathing in the Ganges will purify them and remove some of their bad karma. Huge festivals held in towns along the Ganges each year attract millions of Hindu pilgrims from around the world.

Jainism
Around 500 BC, a group of Hindus broke away from the religion and founded a new religion called Jainism. Led by a teacher named Mahavira, the Jains thought that most Hindus of the time put too much emphasis on ritual. The Jains thought this ritual was unnecessary, because people could achieve moksha by giving up all worldly things and carefully controlling their actions.

Central to Jain teaching was the idea of ahimsa, or nonviolence. Ahimsa was not a new idea. In fact, most Hindus also practiced ahimsa, though not to the same extent as the Jains did. Jains carefully avoid harming any living creature, from people to insects. As a result, Jains are usually vegetarians, refusing to eat meat from any animal.

In addition to renouncing violence, Jains promise to tell only the truth and to avoid stealing. They strive to eliminate greed, anger, prejudice, and gossip from their lives. Any of these things, they believe, can prevent a person from achieving moksha.

The most devout of Jains give up all of their possessions and become monks or nuns. They live outdoors, seeking shelter only during the rainy season. Monks and nuns cover their mouths with masks and sweep the ground before them as they walk. In this way they avoid accidentally killing insects by inhaling them or by stepping on them.

Most Jains are not monks or nuns. However, their pledge to uphold the principles of ahimsa leads many Jains to careers that do not involve the harming of animals. Jainism calls upon those who are not monks to periodically fast, especially during festivals and on holy days, and to limit their worldly possessions.

Assignment

 * Question #1: In Hindu teaching, what are moksha and karma? How are these two ideas related to reincarnation?
 * Question #2: What is the nature of Brahman in Hindu belief?
 * Question #3: Why would a Hindu consider it important to follow his or her dharma?
 * Question #4: What role does yoga play in Hindu religious practice?
 * Question #5: What spiritual lessons do the Ramayana and the Mahabharata teach?
 * Question #6: How does the name Veda signify the importance of the Vedas to Hinduism?
 * Question #7: What is ahimsa? How do the principles of ahimsa shape life for Jains?
 * Question #8: What is one way in which life is similar for Jains who are monks and those who are not? What is one way in which life is different?

Thank you very much for listening to this. Goodbye.

title: Human Legacy Course/Hinduism