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Temperate climate

In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (approximately 23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout the year and more distinct seasonal changes compared to tropical climates, where such variations are often small; they usually differ only in the amount of precipitation.

In temperate climates, not only do latitudinal positions influence temperature changes, but various sea currents, prevailing wind direction, continentality (how large a landmass is) and altitude also shape temperate climates.

The Köppen climate classification defines a climate as "temperate" C, when the mean temperature is above -3 C but below 18 C in the coldest month to account for the persistence of frost. However, some adaptations of Köppen set the minimum at 0 C. Continental climates are classified as D and considered to be varieties of temperate climates, having more extreme temperatures, with mean temperatures in the coldest month usually being below -3 C.

Zones and climates
The north temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Cancer (approximately 23.5° north latitude) to the Arctic Circle (approximately 66.5° north latitude). The south temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Capricorn (approximately 23.5° south latitude) to the Antarctic Circle (at approximately 66.5° south latitude).

In some climate classifications, the temperate zone may be divided into several smaller climate zones, based on monthly temperatures, the coldest month, and rainfall. These can include the subtropical zone (humid subtropical and Mediterranean climate), and the cool temperate zone (oceanic and continental climates).

Subtropical zone
These are the climates that are typically found toward the more equatorial portion of the temperate zone between 23.5° and 35° north or south, and thus are far more influenced by the tropics than any other temperate climate type, usually having warmer temperatures over the year; longer and hot summers; and shorter, mild winters. Freezing precipitation is uncommon in this portion of the temperate zone.

Humid subtropical (Cfa) and monsoon subtropical (Cwa) climates
Humid subtropical climates generally have long, hot and humid summers with frequent convective showers in summer, and a peak seasonal rainfall in the hottest months. Winters are normally mild and above freezing in the humid subtropics. Warm ocean currents are usually found in coastal areas with humid subtropical climates. This type of climate is normally located along leeward lower east coasts of continents such as in southeast and central Argentina, Uruguay and south of Brazil, the southeast portions of East Asia, southern and portions of the northeast and midwestern United States and portions of, South Africa, Ethiopia, and eastern Australia. In some areas with a humid subtropical climate (most notably southeast China and North India), there is an even sharper wet-dry season, called a monsoon subtropical climate or subtropical monsoon (Cwa). In these regions, winters are quite chilly and dry and summers have very heavy rainfall. Some Cwa areas in southern China report more than 80% of annual precipitation in the five warmest months (southwest monsoon).

Mediterranean climates (Csa, Csb)
Mediterranean climates have the opposite rainfall pattern to dry-winter climates, with a dry summer and wet winter. This climate occurs mostly at the western edges and coasts of the continents and are bounded by arid deserts on their equatorward sides that brings dry winds causing the dry season of summer, and oceanic climates to the poleward sides that are influenced by cool ocean currents and air masses that bring the rainfall of winter. The five main Mediterranean regions of the world are the Mediterranean Basin in North Africa, Southern Europe, and West Asia, coastal California in the United States, the South and West states of Australia, the Western Cape of South Africa and the south and southwestern coast of Chile.

Subtropical highland climates (Cwb, Cfb)

Subtropical highland climates are climate variants often grouped together with oceanic climates found in some mountainous areas of either the tropics or subtropics. They have characteristically mild temperatures year-round, featuring the four seasons in the subtropics and no marked seasons in the tropics, the latter usually remaining mild to cool through most of the year. Subtropical highland climates under the Cfb classification usually have rainfall spread relatively evenly in all months of the year similar to most oceanic climates while climates under the Cwb classification have significant monsoon influence, usually having dry winters and wet summers.

Middle latitude zone
These climates occur in the middle latitudes, between approximately 35° and 66.5° north and south of the equator. There is an equal climatic influence from both the polar and tropical zones in this climate region. Two types of climates are in this zone, a milder oceanic one and more severe seasonal continental one. Most prototypical temperate climates have a distinct four-season pattern, especially in the continental climate sector.

Oceanic climates (Cfb)
Oceanic climates are created by the on-shore flow from the cool high latitude oceans to their west. This causes the climate to have mild summers and cool (but not cold) winters, and relative humidity and precipitation evenly distributed throughout the year. These climates are frequently cloudy and cool, and winters are milder than those in the continental climate.

Regions with oceanic climates include northwestern Europe, northwestern North America, southeastern and southwestern South America, southeastern Australia and most of New Zealand.

Humid continental climates (Dfa, Dfb, Dwa, Dwb, Dsa, Dsb)
Humid continental climates are considered as a variety of temperate climates due to lying in the temperate zones, although they are classified separately from other temperate climates in the Köppen climate classification. In contrast to oceanic climates, they are created by large land masses and seasonal changes in wind direction. This causes humid continental climates to have severe temperatures for the season compared to other temperate climates, meaning a hot summer and cold winter. Precipitation may be evenly distributed throughout the year, while in some locations there is a summer accent on rainfall.

Regions with humid continental climates include southeastern Canada, the upper portions of the eastern United States, portions of eastern Europe, parts of China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula.

Subpolar zone
These are temperate climates that compared to the subtropics are on the poleward edge of the temperate zone. Therefore, they still have four marked seasons including a warmer one, but are far more influenced by the polar zones than any other but the very polar climates (tundra and ice cap climate).

Subpolar oceanic and cold subtropical highland climates (Cfc, Cwc)
Areas with subpolar oceanic climates feature an oceanic climate but are usually located closer to polar regions. As a result of their location, these regions tend to be on the cool end of oceanic climates. Snowfall tends to be more common here than in other oceanic climates. Subpolar oceanic climates are less prone to temperature extremes than subarctic climates or continental climates, featuring milder winters than these climates but still with similar summers. This variant of an oceanic climate is found in parts of coastal Iceland, the Faroe Islands, parts of Scotland, northwestern coastal areas of Norway such as Lofoten and reaching to 70° north on some islands, uplands near the coast of southwestern Norway, the Aleutian Islands of Alaska and northern parts of the Alaskan Panhandle, some parts of Southern Argentina and Chile (though most regions are still classified as continental subantarctic), and a few highland areas of Tasmania, the Australian Alps and Southern Alps of New Zealand. This type of climate is even found in tropical areas such as the Papuan Highlands in Indonesia. Cfc is the categorization for this regime. Even in the middle of summer, temperatures exceeding 20°C (68 °F) are exceptional weather events in the most maritime of those locations impacted by this regime. In some parts of this climate, temperatures as high as 30°C (86°F) have been recorded on rare occasions, while temperatures as low as -15 C have still been recorded on rare occasions.

A cold variant of the monsoon-influenced subtropical highland climate similar to subpolar oceanic climates occurs in small areas in Yunnan, Sichuan and parts of the Altiplano between Bolivia, Peru and Chile, where summers are sufficiently short to be Cwc with fewer than four months over 10 C due to the high altitudes at these locations. El Alto, Bolivia, is one of the few confirmed towns that features this variation of the subtropical highland climate.

Cold summer mediterranean climates (Csc)
Cold summer mediterranean climates (Csc) are present in high-elevation areas around coastal Csb climate areas, where the strong maritime influence prevents the average winter monthly temperature from dropping below 0 °C. Despite the maritime influence, they are classified alongside other mediterranean climates in the Köppen classification rather than oceanic climates like subtropical highland climates due to the opposite rainfall pattern. This climate is rare and is predominantly found in climate fringes and isolated areas of the Cascades and Andes Mountains, as the dry-summer climate extends further poleward in the Americas than elsewhere.

Demography, fauna and flora
The vast majority of the world's human population resides in temperate zones, especially in the Northern Hemisphere, due to its greater mass of land and lack of extreme temperatures. The biggest described number of taxa in a temperate region is found in southern Africa, where some 24,000 taxa (species and infraspecific taxa) have been described.

Agriculture
Farming is a large-scale practice in the temperate regions (except for boreal/subarctic regions) due to the plentiful rainfall and warm summers, because most agricultural activity occurs in the spring and summer, cold winters have a small effect on agricultural production. Extreme winters or summers have a huge impact on the productivity of agriculture which is less common.

Urbanization
Temperate regions have the majority of the world's population, which leads to large cities. There are a couple of factors why the climate of large city landscapes differs from the climate of rural areas. One factor is the strength of the absorption rate of buildings and asphalt, which is higher than that of natural land. The other large factor is the burning of fossil fuels from buildings and vehicles. These factors have led to the average climate of cities to be warmer than surrounding areas.

title: Temperate climate


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Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg

Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg (1 January 1937 – 30 August 1995) was a Polish science fiction author.

He was born in Płock, Poland.

Although unpopular during his life, after his suicide he became recognized as one of the most significant authors of Polish SF.

His novel Robot was first published in English in 2021 in a translation by Tomasz Mirkowicz, who died in 2003.

He was the prototype of Sneer, the main character of Limes inferior, one of the novels by Janusz A. Zajdel.

Publications

 * Robot ("Robot") (1973)
 * Według łotra ("According, to the Thief") (Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 1978)
 * Nagi cel ("The Naked Target") (1980)
 * Arka ("The Ark") (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1989)
 * Jednolita teoria czasoprzestrzeni ("The Uniform Theory of the Spacetime") (1990)
 * A non-science fiction book, in which the author presents his vision of the "General Theory of Everything", i.e., the unifying theory for all physical aspects of the universe. This theory was not taken seriously by physicists.

Posthumous

 * "ORO" ("ORO") (Amber, Warszawa 1997)
 * "Trzecia cywilizacja" ("The Third Civilization") (C&T, Toruń 1998)

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

title: Adam Wiśniewski-Snerg


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Celje

Celje (, Cilli, ) is the fourth-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje (Mestna občina Celje). The town of Celje is located below Upper Celje Castle (407 m) at the confluence of the Savinja, Hudinja, Ložnica, and Voglajna rivers in the lower Savinja Valley, and at the crossing of the roads connecting Ljubljana, Maribor, Velenje, and the Central Sava Valley. It lies 238 m above mean sea level (MSL).

Name
Celje was known as Celeia during the Roman period. Early attestations of the name during or following Slavic settlement include Cylia in 452, ecclesiae Celejanae in 579, Zellia in 824, in Cilia in 1310, Cilli in 1311, and Celee in 1575. The proto-Slovene name *Ceľe or *Celьje, from which modern Slovene Celje developed, was borrowed from Vulgar Latin Celeae. The name is of pre-Roman origin and its further etymology is unclear. In the local Slovene dialect, Celje is called Cjele or Cele. In German it is called Cilli, and it is known in Italian as Cilli or Celie.

Early history
The first settlement in the area of Celje appeared during the Hallstatt era. The settlement was known in the Celtic times and to Ancient Greek historians as Kelea; findings suggest that Celts coined Noric money in the region.

Once the area was incorporated in the Roman Empire in 15 BC, it was known as Civitas Celeia. It received municipal rights in AD 45 under the name municipium Claudia Celeia during the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius (41–54). Records suggest that the town was rich and densely populated, secured with the walls and towers, containing multi-storied marble palaces, wide squares, and streets. It was called Troia secunda, the second; or small Troy. A Roman road through Celeia led from Aquileia (Sln. Oglej) to Pannonia. Celeia soon became a flourishing Roman colony, and many great buildings were constructed, such as the temple of Mars, which was known across the Empire. Celeia was incorporated into Aquileia c. 320 under the Roman Emperor Constantine I (272–337).

The city was razed by Slavic tribes during the Migration period of the 5th and 6th centuries, but was rebuilt in the Early Middle Ages. The first mention of Celje in the Middle Ages was under the name of Cylie in Wolfhold von Admont's Chronicle, which was written between 1122 and 1137. The town was the seat of the Counts of Celje from 1341 to 1456, with princely status from 1436. It acquired market-town status in the first half of the 14th century and town privileges from Count Frederick II on 11 April 1451.

After the Counts of Celje died out in 1456, the region was inherited by the Habsburgs of Austria and administered by the Duchy of Styria. The city walls and defensive moat were built in 1473. The town defended itself against Turks and in 1515 during great Slovene peasant revolt against peasants, who had taken Old Castle.

Many local nobles converted to Protestantism during the Protestant Reformation, but the region was converted back to Roman Catholicism during the Counter-Reformation. Celje became part of the Habsburgs' Austrian Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1867, after the defeat of Austria in the Austro-Prussian War, the town became part of Austria-Hungary.

19th century
The first service on the Vienna-Trieste railway line came through Celje on 27 April 1846. In 1895, Celje secondary school, established in 1808, began to teach in Slovene.

At the end of the 19th century and in the early 20th century, Celje was a center of German nationalism which had repercussions for Slovenes. The 1910 census showed that 66.8% of the population was German. A symbol of this was the German Cultural Center (Deutsches Haus), built in 1906 and opened on 15 May 1907, today it is Celje Hall (Celjski dom). The centuries-old German name of the town, Cilli, sounded no longer German enough to some German residents, the form Celle being preferred by many.

Population growth was steady during this period. In 1900, Celje had 6,743 inhabitants and by 1924 this had grown to 7,750. The National Hall (Narodni dom), which hosts the Mayors Office and Town Council today, was built in 1896. The first telephone line was installed in 1902 and the city received electric power in 1913.

Slovene and German ethnic nationalism increased during the 19th and early 20th centuries. With the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918 as a result of World War I, Celje became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as Yugoslavia). During this period, the town experienced a rapid industrialization and a substantial growth in population.

Second World War
Celje was occupied by Nazi Germany in April 1941. The Gestapo arrived in Celje on 16 April 1941 and were followed three days later by SS leader Heinrich Himmler, who inspected Stari pisker prison. During the war, the city suffered from allied bombing, aimed at important communication lines and military installations. The National Hall was severely damaged.

The toll of the war on the city was heavy. The city (including nearby towns) had a pre-war population of 20,000 and lost 575 people during the war, mostly between the ages of 20 and 30. More than 1,500 people were deported to Serbia or into the German interior of the Third Reich. Around 300 people were interned and around 1,000 people imprisoned in Celje's prisons. An unknown number of citizens were forcibly conscripted into the German army. Around 600 "stolen children" were taken to Nazi Germany for Germanization. A monument in Celje called Vojna in mir (War and Peace) by the sculptor Jakob Savinšek, commemorates the World War II era.

After the end of the war, the remaining German-speaking portion of the populace was expelled. Anti-tank trenches and other sites were used to create 25 mass graves in Celje and its immediate surroundings and were filled with Croatian, Serbian, and Slovenian militia members that had collaborated with the Germans, as well as ethnic German civilians from Celje and surrounding areas.

Independent Slovenia
Celje became part of independent Slovenia following the Ten-Day War in 1991. On 7 April 2006, Celje became the seat of a new Diocese of Celje, created by Pope Benedict XVI within the Archdiocese of Maribor.

Sights
The town's tourist sights include a Grayfriars' monastery founded in 1241 and a palace from the 16th century.

The parish church, dating from the 14th century, with its Gothic chapel, is a specimen of medieval architecture. The so-called German church, in Romanesque style, belonged to the monastery, which was closed in 1808. The throne of the counts of Cilli is preserved here, and also the tombs of several members of the family.

Climate
Celje has an Oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb).

Symbols
The coat of arms of Celje are based on the coat of arms of the Counts of Celje.

The coat-of-arms of Celje was selected for the national arms immediately after World War I in 1918, when Slovenia together with Croatia and Serbia formed the original Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia). A similar coat of arms was integrated into the Slovenian national arms in 1991.

Districts and local communities
The city of Celje is divided into 10 districts (mestne četrti) and the municipality has 9 local communities (krajevne skupnosti):

Districts
 * Center
 * Dečkovo Naselje
 * Dolgo Polje
 * Gaberje
 * Hudinja
 * Karel Destovnik Kajuh
 * Lava
 * Nova Vas
 * Savinja
 * Slavko Šlander

Local communities
 * Aljažev Hrib
 * Ljubečna
 * Medlog
 * Ostrožno
 * Pod Gradom
 * Škofja Vas
 * Šmartno v Rožni Dolini
 * Teharje
 * Trnovlje

Demographics
In 1991 the population consisted of:
 * Slovenes: 33,434 (82.1%)
 * Serbs: 1,864 (4.6%)
 * Croats: 1,687 (4.1%)
 * ethnic Muslims: 466 (1.1%)
 * Yugoslavs: 405 (1%)
 * Albanians: 189
 * Macedonians: 140
 * Montenegrins: 93
 * Hungarians: 41
 * Others: 82
 * Unknown: 1,972 (4.8%)
 * Undeclared: 249
 * Regionally declared: 88

Education
Celje does not have its own university, although some college-level education has been established in the city.

 * The Faculty of Logistics, formally part of the University of Maribor, was established in Celje in 2005.
 * International School for Social and Business Studies
 * Faculty of Commercial and Business Sciences
 * UP Faculty of Management

Mayor
The current mayor of Celje is Matija Kovač.

Vice mayors
The current vice mayors of Celje are Saša Kundih, Samo Seničar and Uroš Lesjak.

Courts
In Celje there are three courts of general jurisdiction:
 * Celje Higher Court;
 * Celje District Court;
 * Celje Local Court.

In addition to that there are also Celje Labour Court for resolving labour law disputes and an external department of Administrative Court for resolving disputes arising from administrative procedures.

Communications
Postal number: SI-3000 (from 1991). (Old one: 63000 (between 1945–1991)).

Twin towns – sister cities
Celje is twinned with

 * 🇲🇪 Budva, Montenegro (1984)
 * 🇷🇸 Ćuprija, Serbia (1966)
 * 🇧🇦 Doboj, Bosnia and Hercegovina (1965)
 * 🇹🇷 Gaziantep, Turkey (2014)
 * 🇩🇪 Grevenbroich, Germany (1986)
 * 🇷🇸 Šabac, Serbia (2012)
 * 🇷🇺 Shchyolkovo, Russia (2017)
 * 🇩🇪 Singen, Germany (1990)
 * Sisak, Croatia (1965)
 * Slavonski Brod, Croatia (2010)
 * 🇷🇸 Sombor, Serbia (1986)
 * 🇲🇰 Veles, North Macedonia (1979)

Celje also cooperates with Cherepovets in Russia and has informal friendly relations with Graz and Spittal an der Drau in Austria.

Notable people

 * Anna of Celje (1381–1416), second wife of Jogaila, king of Poland and grand duke of Lithuania
 * Lenore Aubert (1918–1993), Hollywood actress and model
 * Barbara of Celje (1390/1395–1451), second wife of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor
 * Trude Breitschopf (1915–2001), film actress
 * Gregor Cankar (born 1975), athlete
 * Jolanda Čeplak (born 1976), athlete
 * Anica Černej (1900–1944), poet, author, and schoolmistress
 * Janez Drnovšek (1950–2008), politician, statesman, and third president of Slovenia
 * Janez Drozg (1933–2005), television director
 * Dejan Glavnik (born 1975), Slovenian extreme cyclist
 * (born 1964), singer
 * Bojan Gorišek (born 1962), pianist
 * Hermann II of Celje (1365–1435), Count of Celje, Ortenburg and Seger
 * Andrej Hieng (1925–2000), writer, playwright, screenwriter and dramaturgist
 * Andrej Inkret (1943–2015), critic, essayist, theatrologist and dramaturgist
 * Romana Jordan Cizelj (born 1966), physicist and politician
 * Boban Jović (born 1991), footballer
 * Jelko Kacin (born 1955), politician
 * Alma Karlin (1889–1950), traveller, author, poet, and collector
 * Margareta of Celje (1411–1480), noblewoman member of the House of Celje, duchess of Głogów and Ścinawa.
 * Margit Korondi (born 1932), gymnast, Olympic champion
 * Janez K. Lapajne (1937–2012), geophysicist and seismologist
 * Janez Lapajne (born 1967), film director
 * Marianne Elisabeth Lloyd-Dolbey (1919-1994), personal secretary to the Brunei sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien III
 * Janko Orožen (1891–1989), historian, honorary citizen
 * Oto Pestner (born 1956), musician and singer
 * Milan Pogačnik (born 1946), politician
 * Lucija Polavder (born 1984), judoka
 * Elza Premšak (1914–1947), worker, victim of the communist regime
 * Fran Roš (1898–1976), writer, poet, playwright, honorary citizen
 * Johann Gabriel Seidl (1804–1875), archeologist, poet, storyteller and dramatist
 * Bina Štampe Žmavc (born 1952), poet and author
 * Tina Trstenjak (born 1990), judoka, Olympic champion
 * Beno Udrih (born 1982), basketball player
 * Bogumil Vošnjak (1882–1955), scholar, politician, diplomat
 * Urška Žolnir (born 1981), judoka, Olympic champion

title: Celje


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Talk:Ring Lardner

Untitled
While the highlighting I removed was colorful, it did not particularly add to the content of the article and might make reading difficult with some browsers. See Policies and guidelines: Use color sparingly and Do not highlight every instance of title item in text body. I therefore reverted the article to remove it. -- April

 * "Lardner never intentionally wrote a novel"  Does this mean he might have written one accidently? DMorpheus 13:39, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

The Young Immigrunts (1920)
Ought this be mentioned somewhere in the article? After all, it does contain what he is most famous for today, the line ""Shut up", he explained." Smyslov 18:51, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Much Cited But Never Attributed
There is a song called Let's Take a Walk Around the Block by Harold Arlen with lyrics written by Ira Gershwin and E.Y. Harburg, made popular by Ella Fitzgerald in the US and Geraldo in the UK. One of its verses says: You're just the companion I want at Grand Canyon For throwing old blades down the rock....

Searching for the origin of what I assumed was some honeymooner's tradition or the like, I turned to a popular Internet search engine. It turns out that the reference is to a quote attributed to Ring Lardner, one suppoedly made in reponse to seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time: "What a marvelous place to throw old razor blades!" But this attribution occurs online only in an article called Theology and Imagination, and in none of the many posted copies thereof could I find the citation's source. Does anyone know how we know that he said that, or even if he did?

Though the quote certainly seems plausible, I hope to be sure before I pass it on in my own writings. More misinformation is an Internet blessing we just don't need. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.219.118.86 (talk) 23:10, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

 * Somehow that sounds like Yip Harburg :D ELSchissel (talk) 14:24, 11 February 2022 (UTC)

Naming his son Ringgold Jr
Lardner never liked his given name and shortened it, naming one of his sons Ring Jr.
 * In fact, he named his son Ringgold Wilmer Lardner, Jr, the very same name that he himself rejected. Why would any father be so perverse as to foist onto his child a name he himself disliked and refused to use?  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  22:39, 8 December 2013 (UTC)

 * The notion that Lardner never liked his given name seems to have legs - a search reveals many repetitions of the very phrase you quote above, over the net - but now you have me wondering if there's a source!... ELSchissel (talk) 02:15, 16 September 2022 (UTC)

Bush league baseball player?
Will someone explain this term, for those of us unfortunate enough not to have been born in the USA, the Greatest Nation in the World ? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:44B8:3102:BB05:1D7:7383:8B27:376F (talk) 22:45, 29 August 2017 (UTC)

Birth date
Most sources say 6 March, but we're saying 5 March. Whence the discrepancy? --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  22:31, 24 July 2021 (UTC)

 * I've changed it to 6 March. One source saying 5 March does not outweigh all the others. --  Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  20:48, 3 February 2022 (UTC)

Julian uncertainty?
The USA changed to Gregorian calendar in the 1750s. Why the uncertainty? ELSchissel (talk) 12:20, 2 February 2022 (UTC) (I withdraw the question :) ELSchissel (talk) 14:22, 11 February 2022 (UTC))

title: Talk:Ring Lardner


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Opera buffa

Opera buffa (, "comic opera"; : opere buffe) is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as commedia in musica, commedia per musica, dramma bernesco, dramma comico, divertimento giocoso.

Especially associated with developments in Naples in the first half of the 18th century, whence its popularity spread to Rome and northern Italy, buffa was at first characterized by everyday settings, local dialects, and simple vocal writing (the basso buffo is the associated voice type), the main requirement being clear diction and facility with patter.

The New Grove Dictionary of Opera considers La Cilla (music by Michelangelo Faggioli, text by Francesco Antonio Tullio, 1706) and Luigi and Federico Ricci's Crispino e la comare (1850) to be the first and last appearances of the genre, although the term is still occasionally applied to newer work (for example Ernst Krenek's Zeitoper Schwergewicht). High points in this history are the 80 or so libretti by Carlindo Grolo, Loran Glodici, Sogol Cardoni and various other approximate anagrams of Carlo Goldoni, the three Mozart/Da Ponte collaborations, and the comedies of Gioachino Rossini and Gaetano Donizetti.

Similar foreign genres such as French opéra comique, English ballad opera, Spanish zarzuela or German Singspiel differed as well in having spoken dialogue in place of recitativo secco, although one of the most influential examples, Pergolesi's La serva padrona (which is an intermezzo, not opera buffa), sparked the querelle des bouffons in Paris as an adaptation without sung recitatives.

Opéra bouffon
Opéra bouffon is the French term for the Italian genre of opera buffa (comic opera) performed in 18th-century France, either in the original language or in French translation. It was also applied to original French opéras comiques having Italianate or near-farcical plots.

The term was also later used by Jacques Offenbach for five of his operettas (Orphée aux enfers, Le pont des soupirs, Geneviève de Brabant, Le roman comique and Le voyage de MM. Dunanan père et fils ), and is sometimes confused with the French opéra comique and opéra bouffe.

History
Comic characters had been a part of opera until the early 18th century, when opera buffa began to emerge as a separate genre, an early precursor having been the operatic comedy, Il Trespolo tutore, by Alessandro Stradella, in 1679. Opera buffa was a parallel development to opera seria, and arose in reaction to the so-called first reform of Apostolo Zeno and Pietro Metastasio. It was, in part, intended as a genre that the common man could relate to more easily. Whereas opera seria was an entertainment that was both made for and depicted kings and nobility, opera buffa was made for and depicted common people with more common problems. High-flown language was generally avoided in favor of dialogue that the lower class would relate to, often in the local dialect, and the stock characters were often derived from those of the Italian commedia dell'arte. The 1701 scherzo drammatico (dramatic jest), Il mondo abbattuto by Nicola Sabini was particularly influential in Naples, creating a popular model due to its use of both Tuscan and Neapolitan dialects.

In the early 18th century, comic operas often appeared as short, one-act interludes known as intermezzi that were performed in between acts of opera seria. There also existed, however, self-contained operatic comedies. La serva padrona (1733) by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736), is the one intermezzo still performed with any regularity today, and provides an excellent example of the style. Lo frate 'nnamorato (1732) and Il Flaminio (1735), by Pergolesi as well, are examples of the three-act commedia per musica.

Apart from Pergolesi, the first major composers of opera buffa were Alessandro Scarlatti (Il trionfo dell'onore, 1718), Nicola Logroscino (Il governatore, 1747) and Baldassare Galuppi (Il filosofo di campagna, 1754), all of them based in Naples or Venice. The work of these was then resumed and expanded by Niccolò Piccinni (La Cecchina, 1760), Giovanni Paisiello (Nina, 1789) and Domenico Cimarosa (Il matrimonio segreto, 1792). The genre declined in the mid-19th century, despite Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff staged in 1893.

The importance of opera buffa diminished during the Romantic period. Here, the forms were freer and less extended than in the serious genre and the set numbers were linked by recitativo secco, the exception being Donizetti's Don Pasquale in 1843. With Rossini, a standard distribution of four characters is reached: a prima donna soubrette (soprano or mezzo); a light, amorous tenor; a basso cantante or baritone capable of lyrical, mostly ironical expression; and a basso buffo whose vocal skills, largely confined to clear articulation and the ability to "patter", must also extend to the baritone for the purposes of comic duets.

The type of comedy could vary, and the range was great: from Rossini's The Barber of Seville in 1816 which was purely comedic, to Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in 1786 which added drama and pathos. Another example of Romantic opera buffa would be Donizetti's The Elixir of Love of 1832.

Relation to and differences from opera seria
While opera seria deals with gods and ancient heroes and only occasionally contained comic scenes, opera buffa involves the predominant use of comic scenes, characters, and plot lines in a contemporary setting. The traditional model for opera seria had three acts, dealt with serious subjects in mythical settings, as stated above, and used high voices (both sopranos and castrati) for principal characters, often even for monarchs.

In contrast, the model that generally held for opera buffa was having two acts (as, for example, The Barber of Seville), presenting comic scenes and situations as earlier stated and using the lower male voices to the exclusion of the castrati. This led to the creation of the characteristic "basso buffo", a specialist in patter who was the center of most of the comic action. (A well-known basso buffo role is Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni.)

title: Opera buffa


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Nord-Pas-de-Calais

Nord-Pas-de-Calais ; Nord-Pas-Calés); is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region Hauts-de-France. It consisted of the departments of Nord and Pas-de-Calais. Nord-Pas-de-Calais borders the English Channel (west), the North Sea (northwest), Belgium (north and east) and Picardy (south). Until the 17th century, the history of the North was largely in common with the history of Belgium (the Celtics Belgians during Antiquity were a multitude of Celtic peoples from the north of Gaul), that of a land that “for almost a thousand years served as a battlefield for all of Europe.” The majority of the region was once part of the historical Southern Netherlands, but gradually became part of France between 1477 and 1678, particularly during the reign of king Louis XIV. The historical French provinces that preceded Nord-Pas-de-Calais are Artois, French Flanders, French Hainaut and (partially) Picardy (part of Hainaut and Flanders is in the Kingdom of Belgium). These provincial designations are still frequently used by the inhabitants. The former administrative region was created in 1956 under the name "Nord" and maintained that name until 1972 when "Pas-de-Calais" was added. This remained unchanged until its dissolution in 2016.

With its 330.8 people per km2 on just over 12,414 km2, it is a densely populated region, having some 4.1 million inhabitants, 7% of France's total population, making it the fourth most populous region in the country, 83% of whom live in urban communities. Its administrative centre and largest city is Lille. The second largest city is Calais, which serves as a major continental economic/transportation hub with Dover of Great Britain 42 km away; this makes Nord-Pas-de-Calais the closest continental European connection to the island of Great Britain. Other major towns include Valenciennes, Lens, Douai, Béthune, Dunkirk, Maubeuge, Boulogne, Arras, Cambrai and Saint-Omer. The region is featured in numerous films, including Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis.

Name
Nord-Pas-de-Calais combines the names of the constituent departments of Nord (literally 'North', the northernmost department of France) and Pas-de-Calais ('Strait of Calais', the French name of the Strait of Dover). The regional council, however, spells the name Nord-Pas de Calais.

The northern part of the region was historically a part of the County of Flanders, with Lille as its capital. Those who wish to evidence the historical links the region has with Belgium and the Netherlands prefer to call this region the French Low Countries, which also means French Netherlands in French (French: Pays-Bas français; Dutch: Franse Nederlanden or Franse Lage Landen). Other alternative names are Région Flandre(s)-Artois, Hauts-de-France, ('Upper France') and Picardie-du-Nord ('Northern Picardy').

History
Inhabited since prehistoric times, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region has always been a strategic (and hence one of the most fought-over) region in Europe. French President Charles de Gaulle, who was born in Lille, called the region a "fatal avenue" through which invading armies repeatedly passed. Over the centuries, it was conquered in turn by the Celtic Belgae, the Romans, the Germanic Franks, England, the Spanish and Austrian Netherlands, and the Dutch Republic. After the final French annexation in the early 18th century, much of the region was again occupied by Germany during the First and Second World Wars.

During the 4th and 5th centuries, the Roman practice of co-opting Germanic tribes to provide military and defense services along the route from Boulogne to Cologne created a Germanic–Romance linguistic border in the region that persisted until the 8th century. By the 9th century, most inhabitants north of Lille spoke a dialect of Middle Dutch, while the inhabitants to the south spoke a variety of Romance dialects. This linguistic border is still evident today in the place names of the region. Beginning in the 9th century, the linguistic border began a steady move to north and the east. By the end of the 13th century, the linguistic border had shifted to the river Lys in the south and Cap-Griz-Nez in the west. During the Middle Ages, the Pas-de-Calais department comprised County of Boulogne and the County of Artois, while the Nord department was mostly made up of the southern portions of the County of Flanders and the County of Hainaut. Boulogne, Artois, and Flanders were fiefs of the French crown, while Hainaut and after 1493 Flanders were within the Holy Roman Empire. Calais was an English possession from 1347 to 1558, when it was recovered by the French throne. In the 15th century, all of the territories, except Calais, were united under the rule of the Dukes of Burgundy, along with other territories in northern France and areas in what is now Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. With the death of the Burgundian duke Charles the Bold in 1477, the Boulonnais and Artois were seized by the French crown, while Flanders and Hainaut were inherited by Charles's daughter Marie. Shortly thereafter, in 1492, Artois was ceded back to Marie's son Philip the Handsome, as part of an attempt to keep Philip's father, Emperor Maximilian I, neutral in French King Charles VIII's prospective invasion of Italy. Thus, most of the territories of what is now Nord-Pas-de-Calais were reunited to the Burgundian inheritance, which had passed through Marie's marriage to the House of Habsburg. These territories formed an integral part of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands as they were defined during the reign of Philip's son, Emperor Charles V, and passed to Charles's son, Philip II of Spain. During the Italian Wars much of the conflict between France and Spain occurred in the region. When the Netherlands revolted against Spanish rule, beginning in 1566, the territories in what is now Nord-Pas-de-Calais were those most loyal to the throne, and proved the base from which the Duke of Parma was able to bring the whole southern part of the Netherlands back under Spanish control. It was also a base for Spanish support of French Catholics in the French Wars of Religion. During the wars between France and Spain in the 17th century (1635–1659, 1667–68, 1672–78, 1688–97), these territories became the principal seat of conflict between the two states and French control over the area was gradually established. Beginning with the annexation of Artois in 1659, most of the current Nord department territory had been acquired by the time of the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678. The current borders were mostly established by the time of the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697.

The area, previously divided among the French provinces of Flanders, Artois, and Picardy, was divided into its two present departments following the French Revolution of 1789. Under Napoleon, the French boundary was extended to include all of Flanders and present-day Belgium until the Congress of Vienna in 1815 restored the original French boundary.

During the 19th century, the region underwent major industrialisation and became one of the leading industrial regions of France, second only to Alsace-Lorraine. Nord-Pas-de-Calais was barely touched by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870; the war actually helped it to cement its leading role in French industry due to the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. However, it suffered catastrophic damage in the two World Wars of the 20th century.

World War I
When the First World War started, the region became a strategic target for the Allies and the Central Powers, mostly because of the coal and mining resources. When the German troops launched their attack from Belgium, the region was one of the first to fall under German occupation. Nevertheless, when the Allies stopped Germany at the Battle of Marne, the front moved back to the area and stabilized near Arras. During the next four years, the region was split in two: the German holding the French Flanders and Cambrai area, the Allied controlling Arras and the Area of Lens. Nevertheless, the combat did not stop, each side wanting the total control of the area.

The Nord pas de Calais was one of the main theaters of the conflict, with many battles occurring between 1914 and 1918, including the Battle of Vimy Ridge assault during the Battle of Arras (1917), the Battle of Artois, Battle of Loos and the Battle of Cambrai. By the time the region was finally liberated by the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, the entire country was devastated and Arras had been 90% destroyed. Currently, there are 650 military cemeteries throughout the Nord-Pas-de Calais, mostly British and Canadian, as well as large memorials such as the Canadian National Vimy Memorial and Notre Dame de Lorette, the world's largest French military cemetery.

World War II
During the occupation of France, it was attached to the Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France, ruled from the Wehrmacht kommandantur in Brussels. The Nord-Pas-de-Calais region was used for vengeance weapon installations, including extensive V-1 "ski sites" that launched attacks on England and massive bunkers for the V-2 rocket and V-3 cannon. Operation Crossbow counteroffensive bombing by the Allies devastated many of the region's towns. Although most of the region was liberated in September 1944, Dunkirk was the last French town to be freed from German occupation (on 9 May 1945).

Postwar period
Since the war, the region has suffered from severe economic difficulties (see Economy below) but has benefited from the opening of the Channel Tunnel and the growth in cross-Channel traffic in general.

Demographics
While the region is predominantly French-speaking, it also has two significant minority language communities: the western Flemings, whose presence is evident in the many Dutch place names in the area and who speak West Flemish, a dialect of Dutch (perhaps 20,000 inhabitants of Nord-Pas-de-Calais use Flemish daily and an estimated 40,000 use it occasionally, both primarily in and around the arrondissement of Dunkirk ); and the Picards, who speak the Picard language, or Ch'ti (speakers, "chitimi", have been working to revive the nearly-extinct regional speech since the 1980s). Although neighbouring Belgium currently recognizes and fosters both Picard and Dutch, and a few city-level governments within Nord-Pas-de-Calais have introduced initiatives to encourage both languages, the national French government maintains a policy of linguistic unity and generally ignores both languages, as it does with other regional languages in France.

The region's ethnic diversity has been affected by repeated waves of immigrant workers from abroad: Belgians and Welsh before 1910; Poles and Italians in the 1920s and 1930s; Eastern European groups and Germans since 1945; and North Africans and Portuguese since 1960; and large cities like Lille, Calais, and Boulogne-sur-Mer are home to sizable communities of British, Dutch, Scandinavian, Greek and Balkans, Sub-Saharan African, and Latin American immigrants and their descendants.

The French state has sought to boost the region's relatively neglected culture. In 2004, it was announced that a branch of the Louvre would be opened in the city of Lens. For decades, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais has been viewed as a conservative region when compared culturally to the rest of France, but recently the region has at times displayed left-wing tendencies. In the early 2000s, the leftist Green Party won the largest number of votes to nearly carry a majority in regional and local representation. The Greens managed to attract many conservative voters from small towns and farmers moved by the Greens' commitment to boosting agri-industry.

The region's religious profile is representative of France as a whole, with the majority being Roman Catholic. Other Christian groups are found in the region: Protestants have a few churches. North Africans have introduced Islam to the region, and small but growing communities of Buddhists have been established in recent years. Prior to World War II, around 4,000 Jews lived in Nord-Pas-de-Calais. A small Jewish community remains active as it has been for hundreds of years.

General data
In 2014, the Nord-Pas de Calais GDP reached €140 billion making it the 4th biggest French economy, although this figure has to be put in the context of the large population of the region. The region was only in 16th place out of 24 for GDP per capita in 2014 with €34,422.

The unemployment rate is higher than the national average. About 11% of the population was unemployed in 2014, particularly people aged between 18 and 25.

The economy is essentially led by the service sector, which employs 75% of the working population, followed by manufacturing (23%) and agriculture (2%).

Agriculture and fishing
Due to its location close to the North Sea, the Nord-Pas de Calais region has a strong fishing industry.

The Boulogne-sur-Mer harbor is the biggest French port in terms of capacity with more than 150 boats. 45,000 tons of fish were traded there in 2012. The harbor is also a leading European seafood processing center with 380,000 tons of shellfish, fish and seaweed traded every year. Some 140 companies are present in the port.

The agricultural sector comprises 13,800 farm businesses using 820000 ha of farmland. The temperate climate as well as great fertility makes the region a leading production center. The Nord-Pas de Calais region supplied 26.1 million tons of wheat (approximately 7% of the national production) and a third of the French potato production.

Industry
The region's industry was originally focused on coal and textile production, and was one of the cradles of the Industrial Revolution on the continent. After the end of the Second World War, migrant workers from all over Europe came to the region, making up for population losses due to the war. In the 1970s, the leading coal and textile industries began to fade away and unemployment rates increased rapidly. The region started a process of restructuring which still continues today. Nowadays, the manufacturing sector is led by the automobile industry.

The Nord-Pas de Calais Mining Basin was the leading region of coal production in France in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For its three-hundred-year history of mining and its testimony to the advent of industrialization in France, the mining basin was listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2012.

Automobile industry
In the 1970s, the sector represented a small part of the working population. Some 40 years later, it is the main industry in the region, employing 55,000 people. In terms of productivity, the Nord-Pas de Calais region is ranked second nationwide and is one of the main export areas.

Three main worldwide car manufacturers operate plants in the region: Toyota produce the Yaris in Valenciennes, Renault build the Scénic in Douai, and PSA Peugeot Citroën operate a plant in Lieu-Saint-Amand where Peugeot 807, Citroën C8, Fiat Scudo, Peugeot Expert and Citroën Jumpy are fabricated. In addition, automotive equipment manufacturers such as Faurecia employ 6,200 workers in the region. Small-scale manufacturers have also been based in the region, such as microcar manufacturers ERAD, Savel, and Secma.

Nord-Pas de Calais is the second main region for the automotive industry in France after Île de France (Paris region). The sector trade fair, the Forum on European Automotive Industry in Lille Region (FEAL), takes place biennially to showcase the industry of the region and its importance for France and Europe.

Food industry
The food industry in Nord-Pas de Calais draws on the agricultural sector of the region. By income, this is the most important industry of the region due to strong exports (€3.2bn in 2006). More than 27,000 employees were employed in the sector in 2007. Many global corporations such as McCain Foods, Roquette Freres, Bonduelle, Pasquier or Boulangeries Paul are present in the Nord-Pas de Calais region.

Mulliez Family
The services sector of the Nord-Pas de Calais region is dominated by the multi-billionaire Mulliez family, who own the main superstore chains of the region, some of which are known worldwide: Auchan, Decathlon or Leroy Merlin as well as the Flunch restaurant chain. The family also holds a stake in 3 Suisses, Norauto and many other companies.

Transport Infrastructures
As most of its population is urbanized, the region has a dense and complex transport system of highways, railways, airport and seaports.

Highways
Nine highways are passing through the region; most of them are free:
 * A1 between Lille and Paris
 * A2 towards Brussels
 * A16 Between Dunkirk and Paris
 * A21 between Bouvignies and Pecquencourt
 * A22 between Lille and Ghent
 * A23 between Lesquin and Valenciennes
 * A25 between Dunkirk and Lille
 * A26 between Calais and Troyes
 * A27 between Lille and Tournai

Eurotunnel
Since 1994, the Nord-Pas de Calais region is linked to the United Kingdom by the Eurotunnel. The structure comprises three tunnels (one single-track railway tunnel each way and a service road tunnel for maintenance and emergency use) and has the longest undersea tunnel section of the world (38 km). The whole structure is 50 km long and connects Coquelles, France with Folkestone, UK. Between its official opening and 2012, 300 million passengers have crossed the English Channel aboard Eurostar trains. In addition to Eurostar services, the tunnel is used by trains carrying road vehicles, branded as Le Shuttle, as well as freight trains.

TER-Nord
The TER-Nord is the regional rail network operated by the SNCF. It links the major cities and villages throughout Nord-Pas de Calais. The network is controlled by the Conseil régional.

Air transportation
The main airport of Nord-Pas de Calais is Lesquin Airport near Lille. Originally a regional hub, the airport now has several international routes to destinations in Europe and the Maghreb.

Dunkirk harbour
Dunkirk Harbour is one of the biggest seaports of France. It is the third-largest port nationally in terms of total volume but first in fruit and copper imports. A terminal able to handle LNG carriers is built by TotalEnergies.

Canal Seine-Nord
The Canal Seine-Nord is a future high-capacity canal between the Seine and Arleux in order to connect the former to the other northern canals in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. It is due to open in 2016. The project has attracted controversy mostly because of its huge cost (€4.6bn).

Training base for the Olympics
Before London 2012, the region had been chosen by the Organising Committee as a training base for the participating delegations. During the months ahead of the Olympics, several countries sent their athletes to the region in order to prepare for the competitions. Among the teams training in Nord-Pas de Calais were the UK Gymnastics team in Arques, the New Zealand Rowing team in Gravelines and France's national basketball and handball teams.

Sports in Nord-Pas de Calais
Football is the most developed sport of the region. More than 145,000 players are members of a football club. Four clubs have professional status and play at the highest levels: Lille OSC and RC Lens in Ligue 1 and Valenciennes FC in Ligue 2 and USBCO in the Championnat National. Arras Football's ladies play in Division 1.

Major communities

 * Lille and surrounding area is home to over 1.5 million inhabitants.
 * Arras
 * Boulogne
 * Calais
 * Cambrai
 * Douai
 * Dunkirk
 * Lens
 * Liévin
 * Marcq-en-Barœul
 * Maubeuge
 * Roubaix
 * Saint-Omer
 * Tourcoing
 * Valenciennes
 * Villeneuve d'Ascq
 * Wattrelos

Education
The regional education system of the Académie de Lille includes one million pupils and students. Higher education and research are supported within the Community of Universities and Institutions (COMUE) Lille Nord de France - (University of Lille).

An invitation to tender for a school construction and maintenance contract let by the region and the Département du Nord in 1998 included provision for employment generation to be included as an evaluation criterion for the award of the contract. The European Court of Justice held that the award criterion was illegal, but also ruled that where a contracting authority had to assess two or more economically equivalent bids, they could adopt employment opportunities as an "accessory criterion" as long as the use of this criterion was not discriminatory.

title: Nord-Pas-de-Calais


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Beefalo

Beefalo constitute a hybrid offspring of domestic cattle (Bos taurus), usually a male in managed breeding programs, and the American bison (Bison bison), usually a female in managed breeding programs. The breed was created to combine the characteristics of both animals for beef production.

Beefalo are primarily cattle in genetics and appearance, with the breed association defining a full Beefalo as one with three-eighths (37.5%) bison genetics, while animals with higher percentages of bison genetics are called "bison hybrids".

History
Accidental crosses were noticed as long ago as 1749 in the Southern states of North America, during British colonization. Cattle and bison were first intentionally crossbred during the mid-19th century.

One of the first efforts to cross-breed bison and domestic cattle was in 1815 by Robert Wickliffe of Lexington, Kentucky. Mr. Wickliffe's experiments continued for up to 30 years.

Another early deliberate attempt to cross-breed bison with cattle was made by Colonel Samuel Bedson, warden of Stoney Mountain Penitentiary, Winnipeg, in 1880. Bedson bought eight bison from a captive herd of James McKay and inter-bred them with Durham cattle. The hybrids raised by Bedson were described by naturalist Ernest Thompson Seton: "The hybrid animal is [claimed] to be a great improvement on both of its progenitors, as it is more docile and a better milker than the Buffalo, but retains its hardihood, while the robe is finer, darker and more even, and the general shape of the animal is improved by the reduction of the hump and increased proportion of the hind-quarters."

After seeing thousands of cattle die in a blizzard in 1886, Charles "Buffalo" Jones, a co-founder of Garden City, Kansas, also worked to cross bison and cattle at a ranch near the future Grand Canyon National Park, with the hope the animals could survive the harsh winters. He called the result "cattalo" in 1888. Mossom Martin Boyd of Bobcaygeon, Ontario first started the practice in Canada, publishing about some of his outcomes in the Journal of Heredity. After his death in 1914, the Canadian government continued experiments in crossbreeding up to 1964, with little success. For example, in 1936 the Canadian government had successfully cross-bred only 30 cattalos.

It was found early on that crossing a male bison with a domestic cow would produce few offspring, but that crossing a domestic bull with a bison cow apparently solved the problem. The female offspring proved fertile, but rarely so for the males. Although the cattalo performed well, the mating problems meant the breeder had to maintain a herd of wild and difficult-to-handle bison cows.

In 1965, Jim Burnett of Montana produced a hybrid bull that was fertile. Soon after, Cory Skowronek of California formed the World Beefalo Association and began marketing the hybrids as a new breed. The new name, Beefalo, was meant to separate this hybrid from the problems associated with the old cattalo hybrids. The breed was eventually set at being genetically at least five-eighths Bos taurus and at most three-eighths Bison bison.

Nutrition characteristics
A United States Department of Agriculture study found Beefalo meat, like bison meat, to be lower in fat and cholesterol than standard beef cattle.

Registration
In 1983, the three main Beefalo registration groups reorganized under the American Beefalo World Registry. Until November 2008, there were two Beefalo associations, the American Beefalo World Registry and American Beefalo International. These organizations jointly formed the American Beefalo Association, Inc., which currently operates as the registering body for Beefalo in the United States.

Effect on bison conservation
Most current bison herds are "genetically polluted", meaning that they are partly crossbred with cattle. There are only four genetically unmixed American bison herds left, and only two that are also free of brucellosis: the Wind Cave bison herd that roams Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota; and the Henry Mountains herd in the Henry Mountains of Utah.

Dr. Dirk Van Vuren, formerly of the University of Kansas, however, points out that "The bison today that carry cattle DNA look exactly like bison, function exactly like bison and in fact are bison. For conservation groups, the interest is that they are not totally pure."

Environmental impacts
Although popular with tourists and hunters, escaped beefalo have been destroying parts of the ecosystem, as well as ancient stone ruins, in the Grand Canyon and threatening native species. By 2015, numbers were growing by 50% per year and the there were at least 600 animals roaming the park. Grand Canyon National Park was reporting an accident a day due to tourist interactions with beefalo. In 2018, the park began trapping the animals and giving them to Native American tribes outside the state. In addition, volunteer hunters were enlisted to cull the herds, with a goal of reducing the population to 200 animals. As of 2022, the herd was down to 216 individuals, with only 4 having been taken by hunters.

Cattalo
The term "cattalo", a portmanteau of cattle and buffalo, is defined by United States law as a cross of bison and cattle which have a bison appearance.

In some American states, cattalo are regulated as "exotic animals", along with pure bison and deer. However, in most states, bison and hybrids which are raised solely for livestock purposes similar to cattle, are considered domestic animals like cattle, and do not require special permits.

title: Beefalo


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Talk:Opera buffa

Section: Mozart's Opera Buffa
The Opera Buffa article is brief and concise; as it should be for an opening definition.

However, I feel that Mozart has made an incredibly important effort to the rise and progress of Opera Buffa. Mozart's operas embodied the social constructs of the day and catapulted them into the future. It is important to recognize these traditional views and how Mozart's operas reformed these ideas. Specifically I am looking at Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, and Cosi Fan Tutte which challenged the ideas of hierarchy and the role of women. These three operas are 3 of the most recognizable operas in the style of buffa and it would be a shame not to focus on them and how they changed society. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Klai01 (talk • contribs) 23:18, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

 * Klai01: Much of this new section (that you have just written) needs editing (lots of wrong capitalization, typos, English problems etc.) but much of it is also of limited relevance to this article (Mary Wollstonecraft etc.). I suggest moving usable material to the articles about the specific operas, where general discussions about social significance etc. are appropriate. -- Klein zach  05:42, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

title: Talk:Opera buffa