text:
Pope John XXII

Pope John XXII (Ioannes PP. XXII; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death, in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Pope, elected by the Conclave of Cardinals, which was assembled in Lyon. Like his predecessor, Clement V, Pope John centralized power and income in the Papacy and lived a princely life in Avignon.

John opposed the policies of Louis IV the Bavarian as Holy Roman Emperor, which prompted Louis to invade Italy and set up an antipope, Nicholas V. John also opposed the Franciscan understanding of the poverty of Christ and his apostles, promulgating multiple papal bulls to enforce his views. This led William of Ockham to write against unlimited papal power.

Following a three-year process, John canonized Thomas Aquinas on 18 July 1323.

One of John’s sermons, on the beatific vision, caused controversy which lasted until he retracted his views just before his death. John died in Avignon on 4 December 1334.

Early life and election
Born in 1244, Jacques was the son of Arnaud Duèze, who was probably a Cahorsin merchant or banker. He studied canon law at Montpellier and theology in Paris.

Jacques taught civil law at Cahors and later canon law at Toulouse. By 1295, he was counselor to Bishop Louis of Toulouse. Following Louis's death in 1297, Jacques was installed as the temporary chancellor of the University of Avignon and by 1299 was canon of Puy. On the recommendation of Charles II of Naples he was made Bishop of Fréjus in 1300. Jacques was still bishop of Fréjus when in 1307, a knight named William d'Arcis and a priest named Bertrand Recordus attempted to kill him. Both were imprisoned and in 1309 were sentenced to death.

In 1308, Jacques was appointed chancellor of Charles II, and it was due to his influence that the gladiatorial games in Naples were banned. On 18 March 1310, he was made Bishop of Avignon. He delivered legal opinions favorable to the suppression of the Templars, but he also defended Boniface VIII and the Bull Unam Sanctam. On 23 December 1312, Clement V made him Cardinal-Bishop of Porto-Santa Rufina.

The limits of papal power became a source of conflict between reigning pope Clement V and Emperor Henry VII, culminating with the sudden death of Pope Clement V in 1314. The period that followed was an interregnum of two years due to disagreements between the cardinals, who were split into three factions. After two years of inaction, Philip, Count of Poitiers summoned a papal conclave of 23 cardinals to Lyon in August 1316. Philip forbade the cardinals from leaving until they had chosen a new Pope. On 7 August 1316, this conclave elected Jacques, who took the name John XXII and was crowned in Lyon. He set up his residence in Avignon rather than Rome, continuing the Avignon Papacy of his predecessor.

Papacy
Upon his election, John gave 35,000 florins, of the 70,000 left to him by Clement V, to the cardinals that had voted for him. He was an excellent administrator and efficient at reorganizing the Catholic Church. He favored a regulation-heavy form of governance. John was known to have a temper, and involved himself in the politics and religious movements of many European countries in order to advance the interests of the papacy. He would routinely write to non-Catholic leaders asserting his authority over them.

On 7 April 1317, John canonized Louis of Toulouse with the papal bull Sol oriens.

In 1318, he sent a letter of thanks to the Muslim ruler Uzbeg Khan, who was tolerant of Christians and treated them kindly.

John has traditionally been credited with having composed the prayer "Anima Christi", which has become the English "Soul of Christ, sanctify me ...".

On 27 March 1329, John condemned many writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical in his papal bull In Agro Dominico. He allowed the consuls of Cahors to establish a small university in that city.

In June 1332, John declared his intention to move his residence to Bologna. In preparation of this, the cardinal legate, Bertrand du Pouget, had been working for years in Bologna to oversee the construction of a papal palace and to integrate the political climate for the papacy's arrival. By August, however, John deemed the safety of the city insufficient. The Bishop of Embrun, Bertrand de Deaux, arrived to assist Pouget but simply exacerbated the situation. This led to a revolt in 1334, Pouget's expulsion, and death threats for any member of the Curia. The papal palace was destroyed and it took John's successor, Benedict XII, many years to find peace with Bologna.

John died in Avignon on 4 December 1334 (aged 89/90). He was buried in Avignon, at the cathedral of Notre-Dame-des-Doms.

Edward II and Irish bishoprics
John received an embassy, in December 1316, from Edward II of England concerning the empty bishoprics of Dublin and Cashel. Edward presented his preferred appointees and was adamant that John not promote any native Irishman to bishop or archbishop. John promoted William FitzJohn, bishop of Ossory to the bishopric of Cashel, while Alexander Bicknor, a personal recommendation of Edward, was given Dublin.

In January 1318, John sent a congratulatory letter to Edward II on his victory over Edward Bruce. He had passed an excommunication of all enemies of Edward II and later singled out Robert and Edward Bruce. John had allowed Edward II to keep the crusade tax imposed by the Council of Vienne, while reminding him that England was a papal fief and that he owed John an oath of loyalty. A few months later, John heard from Irish princes petitioning for the replacement of Edward II as sovereign lord of Ireland, stating that successive kings of England had not respected the papal grant of Ireland to Henry II of England. John's letter to Edward implied that a second papal evaluation of the lordship of Ireland was not out of the question.

Canonization of Thomas Aquinas
By November 1317, Guillelmo de Tocco, Prior of the Benevento Dominican monastery, was heading a preliminary investigation into Thomas Aquinas' sainthood. In the summer of 1318, John met with de Tocco, who presented letters from the regal heads of Sicily imploring for a papal inquiry into the sainthood of Aquinas. De Tocco also presented John with notarized records of Aquinas's miracles and requests from princes and universities asking for Aquinas's canonization.

John chose three cardinals, none of whom was a Dominican, to scrutinize the presented records. Finding no errors, they gave their recommendation to John. John then issued two letters, nominating as papal commissioners: Umberto, Archbishop of Naples; Angelo, Bishop of Viterbo; and Pandulpho de Sabbello, who was unable to attend.

De Tocco gathered two of the three papal commissioners in the Archbishop's palace in Naples and the inquiry lasted from 21 July to 18 September 1319. On the final day, the documentation of the inquiry was signed, sealed and sent to the Papal Curia at Avignon. Upon receiving the documents, John turned them over to a cardinal committee. On 23 June 1321, John created a new commission consisting of Peter Ferri, Bishop of Agnani, Andrew, Bishop of Terracina, and Pandulpho de Sabbello. This inquiry lasted fifteen days, during which the commission heard the testimony of 111 witnesses. The commission sent finalized documents to the Papal Curia and John XXII canonized Thomas Aquinas formally on 18 July 1323.

Conflict with Louis IV
Prior to John XXII's election, a contest had begun for the Holy Roman Empire's crown between Louis IV the Bavarian and Frederick I of Austria. Initially, John was neutral and refrained from being an arbiter. On 25 November 1314, Louis, with the votes from five of the seven electors, was crowned king of the Germans at Aachen, by the archbishop of Mainz, while Frederick received only two votes the day before. In response, in April 1317, John imposed a new concept, vacante imperio, granting the power to administer the empire to the pope, which was contained within the papal bull Si fratrum.

By 1322, faced with a growing Ghibelline movement in northern Italy, John had instructed his papal legate, Bertrand du Poujet, to call for a crusade against Milan. Louis, acting with Imperial powers, sent an army to reinforce Milan in early 1323. In response, John detailed violations committed by Louis and upon receiving no response excommunicated him on 23 March 1324 and then deposed him on 11 July. Louis called a council of Italian Ghibellines to Trent, where Louis declared his support for the Spiritualist Franciscans and denounced John as an illegitimate and heretical pope. John retaliated by declaring any city to offer Louis welcome would be placed under interdict. He received an embassy from Rome which issued an ultimatum of either returning to Rome or suffering the Holy City's submission to Louis IV. John sent his papal legate, Giovanni Orsini, to Rome, but Orsini was denied entry. In reprisal, Orsini placed Rome under interdict.

Louis entered Rome on 17 January 1328. In St. Peter's cathedral, he was consecrated by two sympathetic cardinal bishops, and crowned by Rome's representative, Sciarra della Colonna. Pietro Rainalducci was created Antipope Nicholas V in May 1328, by Louis. In response, John, using the death of archbishop Matthias von Buchegg to gain an ecclesiastical and political edge, appointed Heinrich von Virneburg as Archbishop of Mainz to assist in the struggle against the Emperor.

Following Louis's coronation of Nicholas V, Franciscan Minister General Michael Cesena, Bonagrazia Bergamo, and William of Ockham all fled Avignon. In 1330, Antipope Nicholas V submitted just before the Pope's death.

Franciscan poverty
John XXII was determined to suppress what he considered to be the excesses of the Spirituals, who contended eagerly for the view that Christ and his apostles had possessed absolutely nothing, citing in support of their view Pope Nicholas III's bull Exiit qui seminat. On 7 October 1317, John XXII promulgated the bull Quorumdam exigit, clarifying the earlier bulls issued by Nicholas III and Clement V, Exiit qui seminat and Exivi de paradiso, and stating unequivocally that obedience was a greater virtue than chastity or poverty. On 26 March 1322, with the bull Quia nonnunquam, he removed the ban on discussion of Exiit qui seminat and commissioned experts to examine the idea of poverty based on belief that Christ and the apostles owned nothing. The experts disagreed among themselves, but the majority condemned the idea on the grounds that it would deny the church's right to have possessions. The Franciscan chapter held in Perugia in June 1322 responded with two encyclicals stating that all judgments made by the Roman Church were to be regarded as final and could not be revoked if they were not erroneous. By the bull Ad conditorem canonum of 8 December 1322, John XXII declared it ridiculous to pretend that every scrap of food given to the friars and eaten by them belonged to the pope, refused to accept ownership over the goods of the Franciscans in future and granted them exemption from the rule that absolutely forbade ownership of anything even in common, thus forcing them to accept ownership. On 12 November 1323, he issued the bull Quum inter nonnullos, which declared "erroneous and heretical" the doctrine that Christ and his apostles had no possessions whatsoever.

Influential members of the order protested, such as the minister general Michael of Cesena, the English provincial William of Ockham, and Bonagratia of Bergamo. In reply to the argument of his opponents that Nicholas III's bull Exiit qui seminat was fixed and irrevocable, John XXII issued the bull Quia quorundam on 10 November 1324, in which he declared that it cannot be inferred from the words of the 1279 bull that Christ and the apostles had nothing, adding: "Indeed, it can be inferred rather that the Gospel life lived by Christ and the Apostles did not exclude some possessions in common, since living 'without property' does not require that those living thus should have nothing in common." With the bull Quia vir reprobus of 16 November 1329, John replied to Michael of Cesena's Appellatio.

Beatific vision controversy
Between November 1331 and March 1332, John XXII made four questionable sermons concerning the beatific vision. John argued that those who died in the faith did not see the presence of God until the Last Judgment. This caused a theological controversy concerning the beatific vision. He continued this argument for a time in sermons while he was pope, although he never taught it in official documents. In January 1334, in complete opposition to John XXII, the Faculty of Theology of the Sorbonne stated that after death the blessed souls are raised to the beatific vision. Louis, sensing an opportunity to remove him, conspired with cardinal Napoleone Orsini to depose John at an ecumenical council. John, considered by many to be theologically incompetent, backed down from his position on the day before his death, agreeing that those who die in grace do indeed immediately enjoy the beatific vision.

Role in witchcraft suppression
The thought of witchcraft seemed to be in its early stages, while Kors states John XXII had a personal reason for setting out to stop witchcraft. Kors points to the fact that Pope John had been the victim of an assassination attempt via poisoning and sorcery. As such, Pope John's involvement with witchcraft suppression can be officially traced to his 1326 papal bull Super illius specula in which he laid out a description of those who engage in witchcraft. Pope John also warned people against not only learning magic or teaching it but against the more "execrable" act of performing magic. Pope John stated that anyone who did not heed his "most charitable" warning would be excommunicated. Pope John officially declared witchcraft to be heresy, and thus it could be tried under the Inquisition. Although this was the official ruling for the church, Pope John's first order dealing with magic being tried by the Inquisition was in a letter written in 1320 by Cardinal William of Santa Sabina. The letter was addressed to the Inquisitors of Carcassonne and Toulouse. In the letter Cardinal William states that with the authority of Pope John the Inquisitors there were to investigate witches by "whatever means available" as if witches were any other heretic. The letter went on to describe the actions of those who would be seen as witches and extended power to the Inquisition for the prosecution of any and all cases that fit any part of the description laid out in the letter.

title: Pope John XXII


text:
Aristocracy

Aristocracy is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats.

At the time of the word's origins in ancient Greece, the Greeks conceived it as rule by the best-qualified citizens—and often contrasted it favorably with monarchy, rule by an individual. The term was first used by such ancient Greeks as Aristotle and Plato, who used it to describe a system where only the best of the citizens, chosen through a careful process of selection, would become rulers, and hereditary rule would actually have been forbidden, unless the rulers' children performed best and were better endowed with the attributes that make a person fit to rule compared with every other citizen in the polity. Hereditary rule in this understanding is more related to oligarchy, a corrupted form of aristocracy where there is rule by a few, but not by the best. Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Xenophon, and the Spartans considered aristocracy (the ideal form of rule by the few) to be inherently better than the ideal form of rule by the many (politeia), but they also considered the corrupted form of aristocracy (oligarchy) to be worse than the corrupted form of democracy (mob rule). This belief was rooted in the assumption that the masses could only produce average policy, while the best of men could produce the best policy, if they were indeed the best of men. Later Polybius in his analysis of the Roman Constitution used the concept of aristocracy to describe his conception of a republic as a mixed form of government, along with democracy and monarchy in their conception from then, as a system of checks and balances, where each element checks the excesses of the other.

In modern times, aristocracy was usually seen as rule by a privileged group, the aristocratic class, and has since been contrasted with democracy.

Concept
The concept evolved in ancient Greece in which a council of leading citizens was commonly empowered. That was contrasted with representative democracy in which a council of citizens was appointed as the "senate" of a city state or other political unit. The Greeks did not like the concept of monarchy, and as their democratic system fell, aristocracy was upheld.

In his 1651 book Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes describes an aristocracy as a commonwealth in which the representative of the citizens is an assembly by part only. It is a system in which only a small part of the population represents the government; "certain men distinguished from the rest". Modern depictions of aristocracy tend to regard it not as the ancient Greek concept of rule by the best, but more as an oligarchy or plutocracy—rule by the few or the wealthy.

The concept of aristocracy according to Plato has an ideal state ruled by the philosopher king. Plato describes "philosopher kings" as "those who love the sight of truth" (Republic 475c) and supports the idea with the analogy of a captain and his ship or a doctor and his medicine. According to him, sailing and health are not things that everyone is qualified to practice by nature. A large part of the Republic then addresses how the educational system should be set up to produce philosopher kings.

Differentiation
In contrast to its original conceptual drawing by Aristotle in classical antiquity, aristocracy is not in modern times understood in opposition to oligarchy or strictly as a form of government, with entitled nobility as in monarchies or aristocratic merchant republics. Its original classical understanding has been taken up by the modern concepts that can be loosely equivalent to meritocracy or technocracy.

History
Aristocracies dominated political and economic power for most of the medieval and modern periods almost everywhere in Europe, using their wealth and land ownership to form a powerful political force. The English Civil War involved the first sustained organised effort to reduce aristocratic power in Europe.

In the 18th century, the rising merchant class attempted to use money to buy into the aristocracy, with some success. However, the French Revolution in the 1790s forced many French aristocrats into exile and caused consternation and shock in the aristocratic families of neighbouring countries. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, some of the surviving exiles returned, but their position within French society was not recovered.

Beginning in Britain, industrialization in the 19th century brought urbanization, with wealth increasingly concentrated in the cities, which absorbed political power. However, as late as 1900, aristocrats maintained political dominance in Britain, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Austria and Russia, but it was an increasingly-precarious dominion. The First World War had the effect of dramatically reducing the power of aristocrats in all major countries. In Russia, aristocrats were imprisoned and murdered by the communists. After 1900, liberal and socialist governments levied heavy taxes on landowners, spelling their loss of economic power.

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

title: Aristocracy


text:
Symbol

A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different concepts and experiences. All communication (and data processing) is achieved through the use of symbols. Symbols take the form of words, sounds, gestures, ideas, or visual images and are used to convey other ideas and beliefs. For example, a red octagon is a common symbol for "STOP"; on maps, blue lines often represent rivers; and a red rose often symbolizes love and compassion. Numerals are symbols for numbers; letters of an alphabet may be symbols for certain phonemes; and personal names are symbols representing individuals.

The academic study of symbols is semiotics. In cartography, an organized collection of symbols forms a legend for a map.

Etymology
The word symbol derives from the late Middle French masculine noun symbole, which appeared around 1380 in a theological sense signifying a formula used in the Roman Catholic Church as a sort of synonym for 'the credo'; by extension in the early Renaissance it came to mean 'a maxim' or 'the external sign of a sacrament'; these meanings were lost in secular contexts. It was during the Renaissance in the mid-16th century that the word took on the meaning that is dominant today, that of 'a natural fact or object evoking by its form or its nature an association of ideas with something abstract or absent'; this appears, for example, in François Rabelais, Le Quart Livre, in 1552. This French word derives from Latin, where both the masculine noun symbolus and the neuter noun symbolum refer to "a mark or sign as a means of recognition." The Latin word derives from σύμβολον symbolon, from a verb meaning 'put together', 'compare', alluding to the Classical practice of breaking a piece of ceramic in two and giving one half to the person who would receive a future message, and one half to the person who would send it: when the two fit perfectly together, the receiver could be sure that the messenger bearing it did indeed also carry a genuine message from the intended person. A literary or artistic symbol as an "outward sign" of something else is a metaphorical extension of this notion of a message from a sender to a recipient. In English, the meaning "something which stands for something else" was first recorded in 1590, in Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene.

Concepts and definitions
Symbols are a means of complex communication that often can have multiple levels of meaning. Symbols are the basis of all human understanding and serve as vehicles of conception for all human knowledge. Symbols facilitate understanding of the world in which we live, thus serving as the grounds upon which we make judgments. In this way, people use symbols not only to make sense of the world around them, but also to identify and cooperate in society through constitutive rhetoric.

Human cultures use symbols to express specific ideologies and social structures and to represent aspects of their specific culture. Thus, symbols carry meanings that depend upon one's cultural background. As a result, the meaning of a symbol is not inherent in the symbol itself but is culturally learned.

Heinrich Zimmer gives a concise overview of the nature, and perennial relevance, of symbols. "Concepts and words are symbols, just as visions, rituals, and images are; so too are the manners and customs of daily life. Through all of these a transcendent reality is mirrored. There are so many metaphors reflecting and implying something which, though thus variously expressed, is ineffable, though thus rendered multiform, remains inscrutable. Symbols hold the mind to truth but are not themselves the truth, hence it is delusory to borrow them. Each civilisation, every age, must bring forth its own.""

In the book Signs and Symbols, it is stated that "A symbol... is a visual image or sign representing an idea – a deeper indicator of universal truth."

Symbols and semiotics
Semiotics is the study of signs, symbols, and signification as communicative behavior. Semiotics studies focus on the relationship of the signifier and the signified, also taking into account the interpretation of visual cues, body language, sound, and other contextual clues. Semiotics is linked with linguistics and psychology. Semioticians not only study what a symbol implies but also how it got its meaning and how it functions to make meaning in society. For example, symbols can cause confusion in translation when the same symbol mean different things in the source and target languages. A potential error documented in survey translation is the symbol of "x" used to denote "yes" when marking a response in the English language surveys, but "x" usually means "no" in the Chinese convention. Symbols allow the human brain continuously to create meaning using sensory input and decode symbols through both denotation and connotation.

Psychoanalysis, rhetoric, and archetypes
An alternative definition of symbol, distinguishing it from the term sign was proposed by Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung. In his studies on what is now called Jungian archetypes, a sign stands for something known, as a word stands for its referent. He contrasted a sign with a symbol: something that is unknown and that cannot be made clear or precise. An example of a symbol in this sense is Christ as a symbol of the archetype called self.

Kenneth Burke described Homo sapiens as a "symbol-using, symbol making, and symbol misusing animal" to suggest that a person creates symbols as well as misuses them. One example he uses to indicate what he means by the misuse of symbol is the story of a man who, when told that a particular food item was whale blubber, could barely keep from throwing it up. Later, his friend discovered it was actually just a dumpling. But the man's reaction was a direct consequence of the symbol of "blubber" representing something inedible in his mind. In addition, the symbol of "blubber" was created by the man through various kinds of learning.

Burke goes on to describe symbols as also being derived from Sigmund Freud's work on condensation and displacement, further stating that symbols are not just relevant to the theory of dreams but also to "normal symbol systems". He says they are related through "substitution", where one word, phrase, or symbol is substituted for another in order to change the meaning. In other words, if one person does not understand a certain word or phrase, another person may substitute a synonym or symbol in order to get the meaning across. However, upon learning the new way of interpreting a specific symbol, the person may change his or her already-formed ideas to incorporate the new information.

Jean Dalby Clift says that people not only add their own interpretations to symbols, they also create personal symbols that represent their own understanding of their lives: what she calls "core images" of the person. Clift argues that symbolic work with these personal symbols or core images can be as useful as working with dream symbols in psychoanalysis or counseling.

William Indick suggests that the symbols that are commonly found in myth, legend, and fantasy fulfill psychological functions and hence are why archetypes such as "the hero", "the princess" and "the witch" have remained popular for centuries.

Symbolic value
Symbols can carry symbolic value in three primary forms: Ideological, comparative, and isomorphic. Ideological symbols such as religious and state symbols convey complex sets of beliefs and ideas that indicate "the right thing to do". Comparative symbols such as prestigious office addresses, fine art, and prominent awards indicate answers to questions of "better or worse" and "superior or inferior". Isomorphic symbols blend in with the surrounding cultural environment such that they enable individuals and organizations to conform to their surroundings and evade social and political scrutiny. Examples of symbols with isomorphic value include wearing a professional dress during business meetings, shaking hands to greet others in the West, or bowing to greet others in the East. A single symbol can carry multiple distinct meanings such that it provides multiple types of symbolic value.

Paul Tillich
Paul Tillich argued that, while signs are invented and forgotten, symbols are born and die. There are, therefore, dead and living symbols. A living symbol can reveal to an individual hidden levels of meaning and transcendent or religious realities. For Tillich a symbol always "points beyond itself" to something that is unquantifiable and mysterious; symbols open up the "depth dimension of reality itself". Symbols are complex, and their meanings can evolve as the individual or culture evolves. When a symbol loses its meaning and power for an individual or culture, it becomes a dead symbol. When a symbol becomes identified with the deeper reality to which it refers, it becomes idolatrous as the "symbol is taken for reality." The symbol itself is substituted for the deeper meaning it intends to convey. The unique nature of a symbol is that it gives access to deeper layers of reality which are otherwise inaccessible.

Role of context in symbolism
A symbol's meaning may be modified by various factors including popular usage, history, and contextual intent.

Historical meaning
The history of a symbol is one of many factors in determining a particular symbol's apparent meaning. Consequently, symbols with emotive power carry problems analogous to false etymologies.

Context
The context of a symbol may change its meaning. Similar five-pointed stars might signify a law enforcement officer or a member of the armed services, depending upon the uniform.

Symbols in cartography
Symbols are used in cartography to communicate geographical information (generally as point, line, or area features). As with other symbols, visual variables such as size, shape, orientation, texture, and pattern provide meaning to the symbol. According to semiotics, map symbols are "read" by map users when they make a connection between the graphic mark on the map (the sign), a general concept (the interpretant), and a particular feature of the real world (the referent). Map symbols can thus be categorized by how they suggest this connection:
 * Pictorial symbols (also "image", "iconic", or "replicative") appear as the real-world feature, although it is often in a generalized manner; e.g. a tree icon to represent a forest, or green denoting vegetation.
 * Functional symbols (also "representational") directly represent the activity that takes place at the represented feature; e.g. a picture of a skier to represent a ski resort or a tent to represent a campground.
 * Conceptual symbols directly represent a concept related to the represented feature; e.g. a dollar sign to represent an ATM, or a Star of David to represent a Jewish synagogue.
 * Conventional symbols (also "associative") do not have any intuitive relationship but are so commonly used that map readers eventually learn to recognize them; e.g. a red line to represent a highway or a cross to represent a hospital.
 * Abstract/geometric symbols (also "ad hoc") are arbitrary shapes chosen by the cartographer to represent a certain feature.

Related terms
A symbolic action is an action that symbolizes or signals what the actor wants or believes. The action conveys meaning to the viewers. Symbolic action may overlap with symbolic speech, such as the use of flag burning to express hostility or saluting the flag to express patriotism. In response to intense public criticism, businesses, organizations, and governments may take symbolic actions rather than, or in addition to, directly addressing the identified problems.

title: Symbol


text:
Duck

Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form taxon; they do not represent a monophyletic group (the group of all descendants of a single common ancestral species), since swans and geese are not considered ducks. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water.

Ducks are sometimes confused with several types of unrelated water birds with similar forms, such as loons or divers, grebes, gallinules and coots.

Etymology
The word duck comes from Old English dūce 'diver', a derivative of the verb *dūcan 'to duck, bend down low as if to get under something, or dive', because of the way many species in the dabbling duck group feed by upending; compare with Dutch duiken and German tauchen 'to dive'.

This word replaced Old English ened /ænid 'duck', possibly to avoid confusion with other words, such as ende 'end' with similar forms. Other Germanic languages still have similar words for duck, for example, Dutch eend, German Ente and Norwegian and. The word ened /ænid was inherited from Proto-Indo-European; cf. Latin anas "duck", Lithuanian ántis 'duck', Ancient Greek νῆσσα /νῆττα (nēssa /nētta) 'duck', and Sanskrit ātí 'water bird', among others.

A duckling is a young duck in downy plumage or baby duck, but in the food trade a young domestic duck which has just reached adult size and bulk and its meat is still fully tender, is sometimes labelled as a duckling.

A male is called a drake and the female is called a duck, or in ornithology a hen.

Taxonomy
All ducks belong to the biological order Anseriformes, a group that contains the ducks, geese and swans, as well as the screamers, and the magpie goose. All except the screamers belong to the biological family Anatidae. Within the family, ducks are split into a variety of subfamilies and 'tribes'. The number and composition of these subfamilies and tribes is the cause of considerable disagreement among taxonomists. Some base their decisions on morphological characteristics, others on shared behaviours or genetic studies. The number of suggested subfamilies containing ducks ranges from two to five. The significant level of hybridisation that occurs among wild ducks complicates efforts to tease apart the relationships between various species.

In most modern classifications, the so-called 'true ducks' belong to the subfamily Anatinae, which is further split into a varying number of tribes. The largest of these, the Anatini, contains the 'dabbling' or 'river' ducks – named for their method of feeding primarily at the surface of fresh water. The 'diving ducks', also named for their primary feeding method, make up the tribe Aythyini. The 'sea ducks' of the tribe Mergini are diving ducks which specialise on fish and shellfish and spend a majority of their lives in saltwater. The tribe Oxyurini contains the 'stifftails', diving ducks notable for their small size and stiff, upright tails.

A number of other species called ducks are not considered to be 'true ducks', and are typically placed in other subfamilies or tribes. The whistling ducks are assigned either to a tribe (Dendrocygnini) in the subfamily Anatinae or the subfamily Anserinae, or to their own subfamily (Dendrocygninae) or family (Dendrocyganidae). The freckled duck of Australia is either the sole member of the tribe Stictonettini in the subfamily Anserinae, or in its own family, the Stictonettinae. The shelducks make up the tribe Tadornini in the family Anserinae in some classifications, and their own subfamily, Tadorninae, in others, while the steamer ducks are either placed in the family Anserinae in the tribe Tachyerini or lumped with the shelducks in the tribe Tadorini. The perching ducks make up in the tribe Cairinini in the subfamily Anserinae in some classifications, while that tribe is eliminated in other classifications and its members assigned to the tribe Anatini. The torrent duck is generally included in the subfamily Anserinae in the monotypic tribe Merganettini, but is sometimes included in the tribe Tadornini. The pink-eared duck is sometimes included as a true duck either in the tribe Anatini or the tribe Malacorhynchini, and other times is included with the shelducks in the tribe Tadornini.

Morphology
The overall body plan of ducks is elongated and broad, and they are also relatively long-necked, albeit not as long-necked as the geese and swans. The body shape of diving ducks varies somewhat from this in being more rounded. The bill is usually broad and contains serrated pectens, which are particularly well defined in the filter-feeding species. In the case of some fishing species the bill is long and strongly serrated. The scaled legs are strong and well developed, and generally set far back on the body, more so in the highly aquatic species. The wings are very strong and are generally short and pointed, and the flight of ducks requires fast continuous strokes, requiring in turn strong wing muscles. Three species of steamer duck are almost flightless, however. Many species of duck are temporarily flightless while moulting; they seek out protected habitat with good food supplies during this period. This moult typically precedes migration.

The drakes of northern species often have extravagant plumage, but that is moulted in summer to give a more female-like appearance, the "eclipse" plumage. Southern resident species typically show less sexual dimorphism, although there are exceptions such as the paradise shelduck of New Zealand, which is both strikingly sexually dimorphic and in which the female's plumage is brighter than that of the male. The plumage of juvenile birds generally resembles that of the female. Female ducks have evolved to have a corkscrew shaped vagina to prevent rape.

Distribution and habitat
Ducks have a cosmopolitan distribution, and are found on every continent except Antarctica. Several species manage to live on subantarctic islands, including South Georgia and the Auckland Islands. Ducks have reached a number of isolated oceanic islands, including the Hawaiian Islands, Micronesia and the Galápagos Islands, where they are often and less often. A handful are endemic to such far-flung islands.

Some duck species, mainly those breeding in the temperate and Arctic Northern Hemisphere, are migratory; those in the tropics are generally not. Some ducks, particularly in Australia where rainfall is erratic, are nomadic, seeking out the temporary lakes and pools that form after localised heavy rain.

Feeding
Ducks eat food sources such as grasses, aquatic plants, fish, insects, small amphibians, worms, and small molluscs.

Dabbling ducks feed on the surface of water or on land, or as deep as they can reach by up-ending without completely submerging. Along the edge of the bill, there is a comb-like structure called a pecten. This strains the water squirting from the side of the bill and traps any food. The pecten is also used to preen feathers and to hold slippery food items.

Diving ducks and sea ducks forage deep underwater. To be able to submerge more easily, the diving ducks are heavier than dabbling ducks, and therefore have more difficulty taking off to fly.

A few specialized species such as the mergansers are adapted to catch and swallow large fish.

The others have the characteristic wide flat bill adapted to dredging-type jobs such as pulling up waterweed, pulling worms and small molluscs out of mud, searching for insect larvae, and bulk jobs such as dredging out, holding, turning head first, and swallowing a squirming frog. To avoid injury when digging into sediment it has no cere, but the nostrils come out through hard horn.

The Guardian published an article advising that ducks should not be fed with bread because it damages the health of the ducks and pollutes waterways.

Breeding
Ducks generally only have one partner at a time, although the partnership usually only lasts one year. Larger species and the more sedentary species (like fast-river specialists) tend to have pair-bonds that last numerous years. Most duck species breed once a year, choosing to do so in favourable conditions (spring/summer or wet seasons). Ducks also tend to make a nest before breeding, and, after hatching, lead their ducklings to water. Mother ducks are very caring and protective of their young, but may abandon some of their ducklings if they are physically stuck in an area they cannot get out of (such as nesting in an enclosed courtyard) or are not prospering due to genetic defects or sickness brought about by hypothermia, starvation, or disease. Ducklings can also be orphaned by inconsistent late hatching where a few eggs hatch after the mother has abandoned the nest and led her ducklings to water.

Communication
Female mallard ducks (as well as several other species in the genus Anas, such as the American and Pacific black ducks, spot-billed duck, northern pintail and common teal) make the classic "quack" sound while males make a similar but raspier sound that is sometimes written as "breeeeze", but, despite widespread misconceptions, most species of duck do not "quack". In general, ducks make a range of calls, including whistles, cooing, yodels and grunts. For example, the scaup – which are diving ducks – make a noise like "scaup" (hence their name). Calls may be loud displaying calls or quieter contact calls.

A common urban legend claims that duck quacks do not echo; however, this has been proven to be false. This myth was first debunked by the Acoustics Research Centre at the University of Salford in 2003 as part of the British Association's Festival of Science. It was also debunked in one of the earlier episodes of the popular Discovery Channel television show MythBusters.

Predators
Ducks have many predators. Ducklings are particularly vulnerable, since their inability to fly makes them easy prey not only for predatory birds but also for large fish like pike, crocodilians, predatory testudines such as the alligator snapping turtle, and other aquatic hunters, including fish-eating birds such as herons. Ducks' nests are raided by land-based predators, and brooding females may be caught unaware on the nest by mammals, such as foxes, or large birds, such as hawks or owls.

Adult ducks are fast fliers, but may be caught on the water by large aquatic predators including big fish such as the North American muskie and the European pike. In flight, ducks are safe from all but a few predators such as humans and the peregrine falcon, which uses its speed and strength to catch ducks.

Hunting
Humans have hunted ducks since prehistoric times. Excavations of middens in California dating to 7800 – 6400 BP have turned up bones of ducks, including at least one now-extinct flightless species. Ducks were captured in "significant numbers" by Holocene inhabitants of the lower Ohio River valley, suggesting they took advantage of the seasonal bounty provided by migrating waterfowl. Neolithic hunters in locations as far apart as the Caribbean, Scandinavia, Egypt, Switzerland, and China relied on ducks as a source of protein for some or all of the year. Archeological evidence shows that Māori people in New Zealand hunted the flightless Finsch's duck, possibly to extinction, though rat predation may also have contributed to its fate. A similar end awaited the Chatham duck, a species with reduced flying capabilities which went extinct shortly after its island was colonised by Polynesian settlers. It is probable that duck eggs were gathered by Neolithic hunter-gathers as well, though hard evidence of this is uncommon.

In many areas, wild ducks (including ducks farmed and released into the wild) are hunted for food or sport, by shooting, or by being trapped using duck decoys. Because an idle floating duck or a duck squatting on land cannot react to fly or move quickly, "a sitting duck" has come to mean "an easy target". These ducks may be contaminated by pollutants such as PCBs.

Domestication
Ducks have many economic uses, being farmed for their meat, eggs, and feathers (particularly their down). Approximately 3 billion ducks are slaughtered each year for meat worldwide. They are also kept and bred by aviculturists and often displayed in zoos. Almost all the varieties of domestic ducks are descended from the mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), apart from the Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata). The Call duck is another example of a domestic duck breed. Its name comes from its original use established by hunters, as a decoy to attract wild mallards from the sky, into traps set for them on the ground. The call duck is the world's smallest domestic duck breed, as it weighs less than 1 kg.

Heraldry
Ducks appear on several coats of arms, including the coat of arms of Lubāna (Latvia) and the coat of arms of Föglö (Åland).

Cultural references
In 2002, psychologist Richard Wiseman and colleagues at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, finished a year-long LaughLab experiment, concluding that of all animals, ducks attract the most humor and silliness; he said, "If you're going to tell a joke involving an animal, make it a duck." The word "duck" may have become an inherently funny word in many languages, possibly because ducks are seen as silly in their looks or behavior. Of the many ducks in fiction, many are cartoon characters, such as Walt Disney's Donald Duck, and Warner Bros.' Daffy Duck. Howard the Duck started as a comic book character in 1973 and was made into a movie in 1986.

The 1992 Disney film The Mighty Ducks, starring Emilio Estevez, chose the duck as the mascot for the fictional youth hockey team who are protagonists of the movie, based on the duck being described as a fierce fighter. This led to the duck becoming the nickname and mascot for the eventual National Hockey League professional team of the Anaheim Ducks, who were founded with the name the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The duck is also the nickname of the University of Oregon sports teams as well as the Long Island Ducks minor league baseball team.

title: Duck


text:
Denver (disambiguation)

Denver is the capital of the U.S. state of Colorado.

Denver may also refer to:

Places

 * Denver, Victoria, a locality in Australia
 * Denver, Nova Scotia, a village in Canada
 * Denver, Norfolk, a village and civil parish in the United Kingdom

United States

 * Denver Basin, a geologic basin in eastern Colorado
 * Denver, Illinois, an unincorporated community
 * Denver Township, Richland County, Illinois
 * Denver, Indiana, a town
 * Denver, Iowa, a city
 * Denver, Kentucky, an unincorporated community
 * Denver Township, Isabella County, Michigan
 * Denver Township, Newaygo County, Michigan
 * Denver Township, Rock County, Minnesota
 * Denver, Missouri, a village
 * Denver Township, Adams County, Nebraska
 * Denver, North Carolina, a census-designated place and unincorporated community
 * Denver, Ross County, Ohio, an unincorporated community
 * Denver, Wood County, Ohio, an unincorporated community
 * Denver, Pennsylvania, a borough
 * Denver City, Texas, a town
 * Denver, West Virginia, an unincorporated community

Schools

 * Denver Academy, a private day school in Denver, Colorado
 * Denver School of the Arts, a pioneering magnet school in Denver, Colorado
 * Denver School of Science and Technology, a public charter school in Denver, Colorado
 * Denver Seminary, an accredited, graduate-level institution in Littleton, Colorado
 * University of Denver, a private university in Denver, Colorado

Ships

 * Denver-class cruiser, a US Navy class of protected cruisers
 * USS Denver (CL-16), a cruiser commissioned in 1904
 * USS Denver (CL-58), a light cruiser commissioned 1942
 * USS Denver (LPD-9), an amphibious transport dock commissioned in 1968

Sports

 * Denver Broncos, a National Football League team based in Denver, Colorado
 * Denver Nuggets, a National Basketball Association team based in Denver, Colorado
 * Denver Bears (Western League), a former minor league baseball team based in Denver, Colorado
 * Denver Outlaws, a professional men's field lacrosse team based in Denver, Colorado
 * Denver Pioneers, the sports teams of the University of Denver
 * Denver Zephyrs (formerly the Denver Bears), a former Minor League Baseball team based in Denver, Colorado

Other uses

 * Denver (name), a list of people with the surname or given name
 * Denver omelette or Western omelette
 * Denver sandwich or Western sandwich
 * "Denver" (song), by Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers Band
 * Duke of Denver, a fictional English title of nobility in the Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy Sayers
 * Denver, the title character of the cartoon Denver, the Last Dinosaur
 * Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, Denver, Colorado
 * Denver International Airport, serving Denver, Colorado
 * Denver Health (hospital), formerly named Denver General Hospital, Denver, Colorado
 * Denver Windmill, listed windmill in England
 * Project Denver, codename of a computer microarchitecture designed by Nvidia
 * The Denver Dry Goods Company or The Denver, a defunct company in Denver, Colorado

title: Denver (disambiguation)


text:
User:King of birds

I have brown hair; there I go.

title: User:King of birds


text:
Talk:Owl

Semi-protected edit request on 12 October 2022
This article uses both "centimeter" and "centimetre". Please make it uniform by switching "centimeter" to "centimetre". 123.51.107.94 (talk) 00:13, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

✅ 3mi1y (talk) 02:50, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

Sleeping habits
Just watched a video on how some owls, or maybe all of them, can sleep face-down. It would be interesting to add it to the article. - Joaquin89uy (talk) 11:18, 28 November 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 9 January 2023
Under Families in the infobox, please link Palaeoglaucidae to Palaeoglaux as Palaeoglaux is the only known genus in the family. Also add the Ypresiglaucidae family (linked to Ypresiglaux). 50.196.175.13 (talk) 16:21, 9 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Regarding Palaeoglaucidae, I don't see why it should be linked to Palaeoglaux if it isn't the actual family. Regarding Ypresiglaucidae, a source will be needed to add that. Thanks! ~ Eejit43 ( talk ) 01:54, 18 January 2023 (UTC)

Poetic Access
There is a poem by Baudelaire: ´´ The Owls´´. Perhaps one could bring it in, there are some english versions. ( Ulftomme ) 2A00:1830:A001:F007:0:0:0:8 (talk) 14:54, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Owl


text:
User:Amf (usurped)

AMF is Alex Frantz, a software engineer and miscellaneous autodidact living in California and currently with time on my hands due to the tech flareout of 2001.

Articles I have written or contributed to significantly include:

 * As You Like It
 * Conservative
 * Cordelia Chase
 * Elizabethan theater
 * House of Representatives
 * Lois McMaster Bujold
 * The Merchant of Venice
 * Miles Vorkosigan
 * Ronald Reagan
 * Scientology
 * Scooby Gang (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
 * Shakespeare Authorship
 * SQL
 * Watergate conspiracy
 * W H Auden
 * William Shakespeare
 * Willow Rosenberg

title: User:Amf (usurped)


text:
Libertarian Movement (Costa Rica)

The Libertarian Movement Party (Partido Movimiento Libertario; PML) is a political party based on libertarian conservatism in Costa Rica. It was founded in May 1994. After an important protagonism during early 2000s with its perennial nominee Otto Guevara among the main candidates and reaching third place in 2006 and 2010, it was affected by several corruption scandals and lack of funds, the party gradually suffered a debacle in 2014 ending in fourth on the presidential ticket, and fifth in Parliament. Later losing all its mayors in the mid-term local election of 2016, to finally having bad results in 2018 with Guevara's candidacy reaching only 1% of support and losing all seats in Congress.

History
Founded by non-partisan liberals from the Academy and liberal defectors of Social Christian Unity Party, contested the 1998 election with Federico Malavassi as candidate receiving only 0.4% of the vote but succeeding in getting attorney Otto Guevara elected as member of the Legislative Assembly. In this time the party was strongly libertarian and was in favor of minimal government (something quite polemic in a welfare state like Costa Rica when even the right-wing parties as the Social Christians tend to accept social programs and government intervention ), legalization of recreational drugs, same-sex marriage, abortion and the like.

In 2002, Guevara ran for president (unsuccessfully, 1.7% of the vote), and the party at the legislative elections won 9.3% of the popular vote and 6 out of 57 seats. A few weeks after taking office, one Congressman left the party and became independent, leaving PML with five seats. In 2006, Guevara again ran for president (unsuccessfully, 8.4% of the vote), and the party at the legislative elections won 9.1% of the popular vote and 6 out of 57 seats. Evangelical pastor Fernando Alexis Castillo Villanueva endorsed the party in this period. In the 2010 general election Guevara was again the PML's presidential candidate and received 20% of the popular vote, it also increased its number of deputies to nine (even so three of these deputies defects from the party before the end of the legislative period). At the municipal level the party obtain one mayor in 2006 and two in 2010.

In its 2014 electoral campaign, the party took a more socially conservative position, totally opposing the legalisation of abortion and rejecting homosexual couples' right to a marriage license.

The party suffered a debacle in the 2014 election, as was relegated to fourth place after PAC, PLN and FA parties, and reducing its congressional representation to less than half (four seats), also was unable to elect any mayor in the 2016 mid-term municipal election. This electoral debacle was also costly, as the party was unable to pay some of its campaign debts to both workers, Social Security, loaners and Banks. As previously, in 2015 another deputy defects; Carmen Quesada, who declares herself independent.

Also in 2015 several party members went to trial after being accused of fraud by the State, apparently trying to trick the Electoral Tribunal in paying for trainings that were already cover by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation. Judges sentenced party's vice president, treasurer and accountant to eight years in prison.

For the 2018 general election the party held the first primary election in their history, due to there being more than one members aspiring for the party's nomination for the presidency. The two pre-candidates were Otto Guevara, running for the fifth time, this time under a right-wing populist tone, inspired by the campaigns of Donald Trump. The other candidate was Natalia Díaz, a young, first-time deputy, who promised, if elected, she'll bring a new face to the party and renew its structure and administration. Guevara won with 59.49% of the votes.

Due to previous fraud allegations against the party, Otto Guevara's campaign had difficulty finding a bank willing to give the party a loan for campaigning. This changed on January 20, when Promérica Bank loaned the party 500 million colones for the purpose of financing their electoral campaign. On November, 2019 Guevara announced the foundation of a new political party named Liberal Union as the Libertarian Movement is unable to pay its debts.

In 2019 Guevara announced that the party would not take part in elections anymore and that a new formation would be founded named Liberal Union.

The party's candidacy was taken originally by credit tycoon Carlos Valenciano Kamer, however he resign soon after arguing health issues. The candidacy was then taken by former president of the Arias Foundation Luis Alberto Cordero Arias receiving only a little more than 3000 votes and being the least voted candidate of all 25 in that election.

Policy positions
The political party generally has a moderately libertarian perspective on policy issues, although sometimes policy proposals on social issues are more conservative, than libertarian, i.e. a legislator introduced legislation that would have banned same-sex couples from adopting or having custody of children.

During the 2014 campaign, the party expressed opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, although congressman and presidential candidate Otto Guevara has since said that his major concern about legalizing gay marriage is that the debate over such libertarian legislation would distract the nation from more important matters.

On most policy issues, the party favors moderate libertarian reforms such as:
 * Moderate intervention of the State in health, education, infrastructure and other areas
 * Break up of all of the state-owned monopolies and eliminate legal barriers on private economic activities
 * Provide a low flat tax for the income produced within the country, eliminate many of the current taxes
 * Free trade – eliminate tariffs and barriers to the entry of goods
 * Freedom to choose the currency that consenting individuals want
 * Freedom to choose your own doctor within the social security system
 * Strengthen individual pension accounts
 * Freedom of parents to choose schools through vouchers
 * Respect for private property
 * Reduction of the participation of government in the economy
 * Freedom of speech and press
 * Transfer of responsibility from central government to local
 * Strengthening of immigration, particularly from Nicaraguans

External link

 * Reason Magazine interview with Otto Guevara

title: Libertarian Movement (Costa Rica)


text:
Parasports

Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing non-disabled sports, while others have been specifically created for persons with a disability and do not have a non-disabled equivalent. Disability exists in four categories: physical, mental, permanent and temporary. At a competitive level, disability sport classifications are applied to allow people of varying abilities to face similar opposition.

Etymology
The term "parasports" arose as a portmanteau of the words paraplegic and sports. Other terms for the concept include adapted sports, adaptive sports, disability sports, and disabled sports. The term Paralympic sports may also be used interchangeably with parasports, though technically this only refers to sports contested at the Paralympic Games.

Organization and history
Organized sport for athletes with a disability is generally divided into three broad disability groups: the deaf, people with physical disabilities, and people with intellectual disabilities. Each group has a distinct history, organization, competition program, and approach to sport.

Hearing impairment
Formal international competition in deaf sport began with the 1924 Paris Silent Games, organized by the Comité International des Sports des Sourds, CISS (The International Committee of Sports for the Deaf). These games evolved into the modern Deaflympics, governed by the CISS, which maintains separate games for deaf athletes based on their numbers, their special communication needs on the sports field, and the social interaction that is a vital part of sports.

Intellectual disability
Sports for persons with intellectual disabilities began to be organized in the 1960s through the Special Olympics movement. This grew out of a series of summer camps organized by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, beginning in 1962. In 1968 the first international Special Olympics were held, in Chicago. Today, Special Olympics provides training and competition in a variety of sports for persons with intellectual disabilities.

In 1986, the International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability (INAS-FID) was formed to support elite competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities. This was established in contrast to the more participative, "sport for all" approach of Special Olympics. For a time, athletes with intellectual disabilities were included in the Paralympic Games. After a cheating scandal at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, where a number of athletes participating in intellectual disability events were revealed to not be disabled, INAS-FID athletes were banned from Paralympic competition, but the ban on intellectually disabled athletes has since been lifted.

Physical disability
Organized sport for persons with physical disabilities existed as early as 1911, when the "Cripples Olympiad" was held in the U.S.A. One of the successful athletes was Walter William Francis, a Welshman, who won both the running and wrestling championships. Later, events often developed out of rehabilitation programs. Following the Second World War, in response to the needs of large numbers of injured ex-service members and civilians, sport was introduced as a key part of rehabilitation. Sport for rehabilitation grew into recreational sport and then into competitive sport. The pioneer of this approach was Sir Ludwig Guttmann of the Stoke Mandeville Hospital in England. In 1948, while the Olympic Games were being held in London, he organized a sports competition for wheelchair athletes at Stoke Mandeville. This was the origin of the Stoke Mandeville Games, from which evolved both the IWAS World Games and the Paralympic Games. The first official Paralympic Games, which were simultaneously the 9th International Stoke Mandeville Games ('international' having been added when Dutch service personnel first took part in the Games in 1952), were held in Rome in 1960. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th Paralympic Games were simultaneously the 13th, 17th and 21st international Stoke Mandeville Games.

Sports for persons with physical disabilities began to be organized in the US in the late 1960s through Disabled Sports USA. Disabled Sports USA was established in 1967 by disabled military veterans, including Jim Winthers, to help rehabilitate the injured soldiers returning from Vietnam and originally named the National Amputee Skiers Association. In 1970, Hal O'Leary founded the National Sports Center for the Disabled (NSCD) at Winter Park in Colorado. Today, NSCD has 19 certified instructors and more than 1,000 volunteers. Disabled Sports USA has become one of the largest national multi-sport, multi-disability organizations in the United States, serving more than 60,000 wounded warriors, youth and adults annually.

In 1975, the Paralympic Games expanded to include those with limb amputations and visual impairments. Individuals with cerebral palsy were allowed to compete beginning in 1980.

Since 1988, the International Olympic Committee has chosen to validate Disabled Sports (physical disabilities) and incorporate it as a part of the Games: the staging of the Paralympic Games immediately follows the Olympic Games. This scheduling helps to foster greater interest in disabled sports. An investigation published on a Swiss website has shown that more and more International Sports Federations list disabled athletes than any other sportsmen or sportswomen.

In 2006, the Extremity Games were formed for people with limb loss or limb difference to compete in extreme sports. College Park Industries, a manufacturer of prosthetic feet, organized this event to give amputee athletes a venue to compete in this increasingly popular sports genre also referred to as action sports. This annual event held in the summer in Orlando, includes competitions in skateboarding, wakeboarding, rock climbing, mountain biking, surfing, moto-x and kayaking. Various organizations, such as Paradox Sports, have arisen to help empower and inspire disabled people through equipping and welcoming them into the extreme sports community.

Also in 2006, The Federation de Internationale Powerchair Football Association and The United States Power Soccer Association were formed to standardize the rules of play and promote one of the few competitive team sports for motorized wheelchair users — powerchair football (or power soccer).

In 2007, a group of athletes, coaches, volunteers, and parents based in San Diego split from Special Olympics Southern California to gain local control over disabled athletics programs. This group – SPORTS for Exceptional Athletes (S4EA) – serves people with developmental disabilities within the age range of 5 years old through adults. By combining people with and without disabilities, S4EA hopes that participating athletes will interact and form lasting bonds of friendship through shared sports and recreational activities in S4EA's served communities. Although the organization's focus is primarily San Diego County, S4EA has grown from this base to satellite programs in Ventura and Temecula, California.

Currently, Paralympic sport is governed by the International Paralympic Committee, in conjunction with a wide range of other international sport organizations.

Today, there are many sport opportunities throughout the United States for injured service members, including cycling, shooting, wheelchair tennis and basketball, track and field, adapted water sports, and snow skiing. The Army Wounded Warrior Program offers sitting volleyball to injured service members, and some organizations also offer sport opportunities to family and friends of injured service members in addition to the members themselves. Two Paralympic-style multi-sport events exist exclusively for wounded, injured or sick armed services personnel and veterans: the Warrior Games in the United States and the Invictus Games which originated in the United Kingdom.

Sports
A wide range of sports have been adapted to be played by people with various disabilities, as well as several that are unique just to disabled athletes, such as goalball. Within each movement, different sports are practiced at different levels; for example, not all sports in the Paralympic movement are part of the Paralympic Games. In addition, many sports are practiced by persons with a disability outside the formal sports movements.

Adapted sports help society learn about disability. They also can help remove some of the stigma associated with having a disability.

Training
There is evidence to support that the use of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) as a training intervention can be implemented to increase the aerobic fitness, respiratory function, and overall quality of life in this population of athletes. IMT in particular has been shown to improve respiratory muscle function and might help to reduce dyspnea on exertion. Long term physiological adaptations through prolonged training demonstrated within athletes with disabilities include increased respiratory volume, improved executive functions and increased reaction time among other benefits in relation to non athletes in the same age group. Although parasports seem to have a positive impact on the disabled athletes, the impact really can interlude with one another. Specific authors, like Marques and Alves, found that there are pros and cons to a parasport athlete's life.

Inclusion
Beginning in the late 1980s and early 1990s, work began within several countries and organizations to include athletes with disabilities in the non-disabled sport system. This included adding events for athletes with disabilities to major games such as the Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games, and integration of these athletes into non-disabled sports organizations. Since 1984, the Olympics have included exhibition events for Paralympic athletes. However, integration of full medal events has not taken place, and the status of athletes with a disability in the Olympic movement remains controversial. Within the Commonwealth Games, athletes with a disability were first included in 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games, then at the exhibition events in 1994, and at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games they were included as full members of their national teams, making these the first fully inclusive international multi-sport games. This policy has continued with the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, where Canadian Chantal Petitclerc became the first athlete with a disability to carry her country's flag in the Opening Ceremonies of an integrated games. Individual athletes such as swimmer Natalie du Toit and track athlete Oscar Pistorius have competed as equals against able bodied athletes at various events including the Olympic Games.

2013 the FIFA decided that Austrian footballer Martin Hofbauer can continue to play competitive football with prosthetics after he lost his right lower leg due to cancer.

The self-determination theory has been one of the most proven theories on how athletes participate in competitions of this level. Studies have supported this theory especially in intellectually or developmentally disabled athletes. Studies have continued to question the motivation for joining such competitions like the Special Olympics as well as the Paralympic Games. The Motivations for joining the Special Olympics uncover themes among individuals and families for their participation or abstention from these Olympic programs.

There are specific strategies that may be employed to increase inclusion of people with disabilities in sports. This includes modifying rules or adapting activities for a particular individual. As well, maintaining a non-competitive focus helps to increase the inclusion of participants with disabilities.

Including children with intellectual disabilities in sports programs in which they play with non-disabled athletes results in these children becoming more involved in mainstream sports, incorporating more physical activity in their daily lives and it increases their interactions with children who are not disabled. It is important for children with disabilities to get different types of support while participating in sports programs, for example, direct support from coaches and other athletes, indirect support from parents and non-human support from therapy dogs. Activities should be modified to suit different types of children's abilities and inclusivity is easier when activities are non-competitive.

Unified sports
"Unified sports" involve heterogeneous teams with athletes of mixed ability. Since the 1990s, Special Olympics Unified Sports have been promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition. This initiative has expanded globally and now involves more than 700,000 players in 127 countries worldwide. The principle behind unified sports is simple: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding.

The NBA has been a major supporter of Unified Sports, sponsoring the annual NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified Basketball Game during the NBA All-Star Weekend. The Walt Disney Company, ESPN and Special Olympics are also working on a two-year global initiative that will leverage the power of sports to promote an environment of social inclusion and acceptance.

Disabled drivers have competed in motorsport versus fully able drivers; for example Alex Zanardi, Albert Llovera, Clay Regazzoni and Jason Watt.

title: Parasports