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Forced perspective

Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It manipulates human visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation between them and the vantage point of the spectator or camera. It has uses in photography, filmmaking and architecture.

In filmmaking
Forced perspective had been a feature of German silent films and Citizen Kane revived the practice. Movies, especially B-movies in the 1950s and 1960s, were produced on limited budgets and often featured forced perspective shots.

Forced perspective can be made more believable when environmental conditions obscure the difference in perspective. For example, the final scene of the famous movie Casablanca takes place at an airport in the middle of a storm, although the entire scene was shot in a studio. This was accomplished by using a painted backdrop of an aircraft, which was "serviced" by dwarfs standing next to the backdrop. A downpour (created in the studio) draws much of the viewer's attention away from the backdrop and extras, making the simulated perspective less noticeable.

Role of light
Early instances of forced perspective used in low-budget motion pictures showed objects that were clearly different from their surroundings: often blurred or at a different light level. The principal cause of this was geometric. Light from a point source travels in a spherical wave, decreasing in intensity (or illuminance) as the inverse square of the distance travelled. This means that a light source must be four times as bright to produce the same illuminance at an object twice as far away. Thus to create the illusion of a distant object being at the same distance as a near object and scaled accordingly, much more light is required. When shooting with forced perspective, it's important to have the aperture stopped down sufficiently to achieve proper DOF (depth of field), so that the foreground object and background are both sharp. Since miniature models would need to be subjected to far greater lighting than the main focus of the camera, the area of action, it is important to ensure that these can withstand the significant amount of heat generated by the incandescent light sources typically used in film and TV production.

In motion
Peter Jackson's film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings make extended use of forced perspective. Characters apparently standing next to each other would be displaced by several feet in depth from the camera. This, in a still shot, makes some characters (Dwarves and Hobbits) appear much smaller than others. If the camera's point of view were moved, then parallax would reveal the true relative positions of the characters in space. Even if the camera is just rotated, its point of view may move accidentally if the camera is not rotated about the correct point. This point of view is called the 'zero-parallax-point' (or front nodal point), and is approximated in practice as the centre of the entrance pupil.

An extensively used technique in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was an enhancement of this principle, which could be used in moving shots. Portions of sets were mounted on movable platforms which would move precisely according to the movement of the camera, so that the optical illusion would be preserved at all times for the duration of the shot. The same techniques were used in the Harry Potter movies to make the character Rubeus Hagrid look like a giant. Props around Harry and his friends are of normal size, while seemingly identical props placed around Hagrid are in fact smaller.

Comic effects

As with many film genres and effects, forced perspective can be used to visual-comedy effect. Typically, when an object or character is portrayed in a scene, its size is defined by its surroundings. A character then interacts with the object or character, in the process showing that the viewer has been fooled and there is forced perspective in use.

The 1930 Laurel and Hardy movie Brats used forced perspective to depict Stan and Ollie simultaneously as adults and as their own sons. An example used for comic effect can be found in the slapstick comedy Top Secret! in a scene which appears to begin as a close-up of a ringing phone with the characters in the distance. However, when the character walks up to the phone (towards the camera) and picks it up, it becomes apparent that the phone is extremely oversized instead of being close to the camera. Another scene in the same movie begins with a close-up of a wristwatch. The next cut shows that the character actually has a gargantuan wristwatch.

The same technique is also used in the Dennis Waterman sketch in the British BBC sketch show Little Britain. In the television version, larger than life props are used to make the caricatured Waterman look just three feet tall or less. In The History of the World, Part I, while escaping the French peasants, Mel Brooks' character, Jacques, who is doubling for King Louis, runs down a hall of the palace, which turns into a ramp, showing the smaller forced perspective door at the end. As he backs down into the normal part of the room, he mutters, "Who designed this place?"

One of the recurring The Kids in the Hall sketches featured Mr. Tyzik, "The Headcrusher", who used forced perspective (from his own point of view) to "crush" other people's heads between his fingers. This is also done by the character Sheldon Cooper in the TV show The Big Bang Theory to his friends when they displease him. In the making of Season 5 of Red vs. Blue, the creators used forced perspective to make the character of Tucker's baby, Junior, look small. In the game, the alien character used as Junior is the same height as other characters. The short-lived 2013 Internet meme "baby mugging" used forced perspective to make babies look like they were inside items like mugs and teacups.

In architecture
In architecture, a structure can be made to seem larger, taller, farther away or otherwise by adjusting the scale of objects in relation to the spectator, increasing or decreasing perceived depth. When forced perspective is supposed to make an object appear farther away, the following method can be used: by constantly decreasing the scale of objects from expectancy and convention toward the farthest point from the spectator, an illusion is created that the scale of said objects is decreasing due to their distant location. In contrast, the opposite technique was sometimes used in classical garden designs and other follies to shorten the perceived distances of points of interest along a path.

The Statue of Liberty is built with a slight forced perspective so that it appears more correctly proportioned when viewed from its base. When the statue was designed in the late 19th century (before easy air flight), there were few other angles from which to view the statue. This caused a difficulty for special effects technicians working on the movie Ghostbusters II, who had to back off on the amount of forced perspective used when replicating the statue for the movie so that their model (which was photographed head-on) would not look top-heavy. This effect can also be seen in Michelangelo's statue of David.

Through depth perception
The technique takes advantage of the visual cues humans use to perceive depth such as angular size, aerial perspective, shading, and relative size. In film, photography and art, perceived object distance is manipulated by altering fundamental monocular cues used to discern the depth of an object in the scene such as aerial perspective, blurring, relative size and lighting. Using these monocular cues in concert with angular size, the eyes can perceive the distance of an object. Artists are able to freely move the visual plane of objects by obscuring these cues to their advantage.

Increasing the object's distance from the audience makes an object appear smaller, its apparent size decreases as distance from the audience increases. This phenomenon is that of the manipulation of angular and apparent size.

A person perceives the size of an object based on the size of the object's image on the retina. This depends solely on the angle created by the rays coming from the topmost and bottommost part of the object that pass through the center of the lens of the eye. The larger the angle an object subtends, the larger the apparent size of the object. The subtended angle increases as the object moves closer to the lens. Two objects with different actual size have the same apparent size when they subtend the same angle. Similarly, two objects of the same actual size can have drastically varying apparent size when they are moved to different distances from the lens.

Calculating angular size
The formula for calculating angular size is as follows:
 * $$\theta=2\cdot\arctan\frac{h}{2D}$$

in which θ is the subtended angle, h is the actual size of the object and D is the distance from the lens to the object.

Techniques employed

 * Solely manipulating angular size by moving objects closer and farther away cannot fully trick the eye. Objects that are farther away from the eye have a lower luminescent contrast due to atmospheric scattering of rays. Fewer rays of light reach the eye from more distant objects. Using the monocular cue of aerial perspective, the eye uses the relative luminescence of objects in a scene to discern relative distance. Filmmakers and photographers combat this cue by manually increasing the luminescence of objects farther away to equal that of objects in the desired plane. This effect is achieved by making the more distant object more bright by shining more light on it. Because luminance decreases by ½d (where d is distance from the eye), artists can calculate the exact amount of light needed to counter the cue of aerial perspective.
 * Similarly, blurring can create the opposite effect by giving the impression of depth. Selectively blurring an object moves it out of its original visual plane without having to manually move the object.
 * A perceptive illusion that may be infused in film culture is the idea of Gestalt psychology, which holds that people often view the whole of an object as opposed to the sum of its individual parts.
 * Another monocular cue of depth perception is that of lighting and shading. Shading in a scene or on an object allows the audience to locate the light source relative to the object. Making two objects at different distances have the same shading gives the impression that they are in similar positions relative to the light source; therefore, they appear closer to each other than they actually are.
 * Artists may also employ the simpler technique of manipulating relative size. Once the audience becomes acquainted with the size of an object in proportion to the rest of the objects in a scene, the photographer or filmmaker can replace the object with a larger or smaller replica to change another part of the scene's apparent size. This is done frequently in movies. For example, to aid in the appearance of a person as a giant next to a "regular sized" person, a filmmaker might have a shot of two identical glasses together, then follow with the person who is supposed to play the giant holding a much smaller replica of the glass and the person who is playing the regular-sized person holding a much larger replica. Because the audience sees that the glasses are the same size in the original shot, the difference in relation to the two characters allows the audience to perceive the characters as different sizes based on their relative size to the glasses they hold.
 * A painter can give the illusion of distance by adding blue or red tinting to the color of the object he is painting. This monocular cue takes advantage of the trend for the color of distant objects to shift towards the blue end of the spectrum, while the colors of closer objects shift toward the red end of the spectrum. The optical phenomenon is known as chromostereopsis.

In film
Forced perspective has been employed to realize characters in film. One notable example is Rubeus Hagrid, the half-giant in the Harry Potter series.

The technique is used in the Lord of the Rings series for depicting the apparent heights of the hobbit characters, such as Frodo, who are supposed to be around half the height or less of the humans and wizards, such as Gandalf. In reality, the difference in height between the respective actors playing those roles is only 5 in, where Elijah Wood as the hobbit Frodo is 5ft 6in tall, and Ian McKellen as the wizard Gandalf is 5ft 11in. The use of camera angles and trick scenery and props creates the illusion of a much greater difference in size and height.

Numerous camera angle tricks are played in the comedy film Elf (2003) to make the elf characters in the movie appear smaller than the human characters.

In art
In his painting entitled Still life with a curtain, Paul Cézanne creates the illusion of depth by using brighter colors on objects closer to the viewer and dimmer colors and shading to distance the "light source" from objects that he wanted to appear farther away. His shading technique allows the audience to discern the distance between objects due to their relative distances from a stationary light source that illuminates the scene. Furthermore, he uses a blue tint on objects that should be farther away and redder tint to objects in the foreground.

Full size dioramas

Modern museum dioramas may be seen in most major natural history museums. Typically, these displays use a tilted plane to represent what would otherwise be a level surface, incorporate a painted background of distant objects, and often employ false perspective, carefully modifying the scale of objects placed on the plane to reinforce the illusion through depth perception in which objects of identical real-world size placed farther from the observer appear smaller than those closer. Often the distant painted background or sky will be painted upon a continuous curved surface so that the viewer is not distracted by corners, seams, or edges. All of these techniques are means of presenting a realistic view of a large scene in a compact space. A photograph or single-eye view of such a diorama can be especially convincing since in this case there is no distraction by the binocular perception of depth.

Carl Akeley, a naturalist, sculptor, and taxidermist, is credited with creating the first ever habitat diorama in the year 1889. Akeley's diorama featured taxidermied beavers in a three-dimensional habitat with a realistic, painted background. With the support of curator Frank M. Chapman, Akeley designed the popular habitat dioramas featured at the American Museum of Natural History. Combining art with science, these exhibitions were intended to educate the public about the growing need for habitat conservation. The modern AMNH Exhibitions Lab is charged with the creation of all dioramas and otherwise immersive environments in the museum.

Theme parks
Forced perspective is extensively employed at theme parks and other such architecture as found in Disneyland and Las Vegas, often to make structures seem larger than they are in reality where physically larger structures would not be feasible or desirable, or to otherwise provide an optical illusion for entertainment value. Most notably, it is used by Walt Disney Imagineering in the Disney Theme Parks. Some notable examples of forced perspective in the parks, used to make the objects bigger, are the castles (Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Belle, Magical Dreams, and Enchanted Storybook). One of the most notable examples of forced perspective being used to make the object appear smaller is The American Adventure pavilion in Epcot.

title: Forced perspective


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Ebony

Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus Diospyros, which also includes the persimmon tree. A few Diospyros species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is finely textured and has a mirror finish when polished, making it valuable as an ornamental wood. It is often cited as one of the most expensive woods in the world.

Etymology
The word ebony comes from the Ancient Egyptian hbny, through the Ancient Greek ἔβενος (ébenos), into Latin (ebenus) and Middle English.

Species
Species of ebony include Diospyros ebenum (Ceylon ebony), native to southern India and Sri Lanka; D. crassiflora (Gabon ebony), native to western Africa; D. humilis (Queensland ebony), native to Queensland, the Northern Territory, New Guinea and Timor; and D. celebica (Sulawesi ebony), native to Indonesia and prized for its luxuriant, multi-colored wood grain. Mauritius ebony, D. tessellaria, was largely exploited by the Dutch in the 17th century. Some species in the genus yield an ebony with similar physical properties, but striped rather than the even black of D. ebenum.

Uses
Ebony has a long history of use, and carved pieces have been found in Ancient Egyptian tombs.

By the end of the 16th century, fine cabinets for the luxury trade were made of ebony in Antwerp. The wood's dense hardness lent itself to refined moldings framing finely detailed pictorial panels with carving in very low relief (bas-relief), usually of allegorical subjects, or with scenes taken from classical or Christian history. Within a short time, such cabinets were also being made in Paris, where their makers became known as ébénistes, which remains the French term for a cabinetmaker.

Modern uses are largely restricted to small items, such as crucifixes, the main body of some musical instruments such as the clarinet, oboe, or piccolo and musical instrument parts, including black piano, organ, and harpsichord keys; violin, viola, mandolin, guitar, double bass, and cello fingerboards; tailpieces; tuning pegs; chinrests; and bow frogs. Many plectrums, or guitar picks, are made from ebony.

Traditionally, black chess pieces were made from ebony, with boxwood or ivory being used for the white pieces. Modern East Midlands-style lace-making bobbins, also being small, are often made of ebony and look particularly decorative when bound with brass or silver wire. Some expensive handgun grips and rifle fore-end tips are still made of ebony, as are the butts of pool cues.

As a result of unsustainable harvesting, many species yielding ebony are now considered threatened. Most indigenous ebony in Africa in particular has been cut down illegally.

Ebony is often cited as one of the most expensive woods in the world, along with African blackwood, sandalwood, pink ivory and agarwood.

Protection
In 2011, the Gibson Guitar company was raided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for violations of the Lacey Act of 1900, which prohibits the illegal importation of threatened woods and other materials.

An ebony and rosewood expert at the Missouri Botanical Garden calls the Madagascar wood trade the "equivalent of Africa's blood diamonds".

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

title: Ebony


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Araliaceae

The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants commonly called the ginseng family. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely, but it is predominantly distinguishable based on its woody habit, tropical distribution, and the presence of simple umbels.

There are numerous plants of economic importance. Some genera, such as Hedera (the ivies), Fatsia (Japanese aralias) and Heptapleurum (formerly Schefflera, the umbrella trees), are used as ornamental foliage plants. The family also includes Panax ginseng, the root of which is ginseng, used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Overview
The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely. Many studies have found that there is no unifying characteristic capable of classifying the family. In general, Araliaceae species have large, usually alternate leaves, often with aromatic ethereal oils, five-petaled flowers, two to five carpels, simple umbels, and berries without carpophores or oil cavities. Some taxa carry prickles, and the family is often woody but also occasionally herbaceous. While Araliaceae is predominantly a tropical family, some taxa are also endemic to temperate climates. They are found in the Americas, Eurasia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Pacific islands.

Some examples of Araliaceae include the angelica tree (Aralia spinosa), the devil's club (Oplopanax horridus), ivy (Hedera spp., including H. helix), and herbs such as ginseng (Panax spp.). Leaves are sometimes lauroid (resembling Laurus) and are simple to compound; when compound, they are ternate, pinnate, or palmate.

Araliaceae are found in the pluvial montane forest, very humid montane forest, and humid lowland river forest regions. They are also present in laurel forest, cloud forest, and warm, humid habitats.

Taxonomy and Systematics
Araliaceae is one of six angiosperm families recognized by APG IV belonging to the Apiales, an order within the Asterids. Araliaceae is accepted to be a monophyletic branch within the Apiales.

Within Araliaceae, there are four accepted groups:

1.   The Greater Raukaua group, sister to the rest of the main Araliaceae clades.

2.   The Aralia-Panax group, consisting of the mostly monophyletic genera Aralia and Panax.

3.   The Polyscias-Pseudopanax group, sister to both genus Cussonia and the Asian Palmate group.

4.   The Asian Palmate group, largest of the groups representing Araliaceae.

There are also multiple taxa that float around these groups, but are not within them.

The generic level classification of the Araliaceae has been unstable and remains under study. For instance, numerous genera have been synonymized under Schefflera, within which about half the species within Araliaceae are placed. Recent molecular phylogenies have shown that this large pantropical genus is polyphyletic and some believe it should be divided again into several genera, though these would probably not correspond with the previously recognized genera.

Recent molecular systematics techniques have made major improvements into understanding of the evolution of Araliaceae, leading to the knowledge existing today. Due to widely varying morphological characters, the systematics of Araliaceae had been largely debated over the past century, especially in the absence of molecular evidence. For instance, Araliaceae were previously merged into the closely related Apiaceae (synonym: Umbelliferae) in some taxonomic treatments that have since been rejected. The family is closely related to the Apiaceae and Pittosporaceae, but some of the exact boundaries between Araliaceae and the other families of Apiales are still uncertain and are currently being examined.

One example group that proved problematic for Araliaceae systematics is subfamily Hydrocotyloideae. Molecular phylogenies suggest at least some of the genera traditionally spanning across Araliaceae and Apiaceae as Hydrocotyloideae appear to be more closely related to Araliaceae. It has been recommended that subfamily Hydrocotyloideae be narrowed to just include genera Hydrocotyle, Trachymene, and Harmsiopanax to form a monophyletic group in Araliaceae.

Subfamilies and genera

 * Subfamily Aralioideae
 * Anakasia
 * Aralia
 * Astropanax
 * Astrotricha
 * Brassaiopsis
 * Cephalaralia
 * Cephalopanax
 * Cheirodendron
 * Chengiopanax
 * Crepinella
 * Cussonia
 * Dendropanax
 * Didymopanax
 * Eleutherococcus
 * × Fatshedera
 * Fatsia
 * Frodinia
 * Gamblea
 * Harmsiopanax
 * Hedera
 * Heptapleurum
 * Heteropanax
 * Kalopanax
 * Macropanax
 * Megalopanax
 * Merrilliopanax
 * Meryta
 * Metapanax
 * Motherwellia
 * Neocussonia
 * Neopanax
 * Oplopanax
 * Oreopanax
 * Osmoxylon
 * Panax
 * Paleopanax
 * Plerandra
 * Polyscias (includes former genera Arthrophyllum, Cuphocarpus as subgenera)
 * Pseudopanax
 * Raukaua
 * Schefflera
 * Sciadodendron
 * Sciodaphyllum
 * Seemannaralia
 * Sinopanax
 * Tetrapanax
 * Trevesia
 * Woodburnia
 * Subfamily Hydrocotyloideae
 * Hydrocotyle
 * Trachymene
 * Subfamily incertae sedis
 * †Araliaceoipollenites (fossil pollen)

title: Araliaceae


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Midlands

The Midlands is the central part of England, bordered by Wales, Northern England, Southern England and the North Sea. The Midlands correspond broadly to the early-medieval kingdom of Mercia, and later became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. They are now split into two official regions, the West Midlands and East Midlands. The Midlands' biggest city, Birmingham, is the second-largest in the United Kingdom. Other important cities include Coventry, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton, and Worcester.

Symbolism
A saltire (diagonal cross) may have been used as a symbol of Mercia as early as the reign of Offa. By the 13th century, the saltire had become the attributed arms of the Kingdom of Mercia. The arms are blazoned Azure, a saltire Or, meaning a gold (or yellow) saltire on a blue field. The saltire is used as both a flag and a coat of arms. As a flag, it is flown from Tamworth Castle, the ancient seat of the Mercian kings.

The flag also appears on street signs welcoming people to Tamworth, the "ancient capital of Mercia". It was also flown outside Birmingham Council House during 2009 while the Staffordshire Hoard was on display in the city before being taken to the British Museum in London. The cross has been incorporated into a number of coats of arms of Midlands towns, including Tamworth, Leek and Blaby. It was recognised as the Mercian flag by the Flag Institute in 2014.

Extent
There is no single definition for the Midlands. If defined as being made up of the statistical regions of East Midlands and West Midlands, it includes the counties of Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, most of Lincolnshire (with the exception of North and North East Lincolnshire), Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands metropolitan boroughs.

Other definitions include a slightly larger area and the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, describes Gloucestershire as "West Midland", Bedfordshire as "South Midland", and Huntingdonshire as "East Midland" counties respectively. Cheshire is also occasionally recognised as being in the Midlands, while a lot of what was historically part of southern Mercia (Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Cambridgeshire) is often labelled as "Central England", typically used interchangeably with "the Midlands".

Additionally, there are two informal regions known as the South Midlands and North Midlands, which are not NUTS statistical regions of the United Kingdom and their definition varies by using organisation. The former includes the southern parts of the East Midlands and northern parts of Southern England. The latter covers the northern parts of the West and East Midlands, along with some southern parts of Northern England.

Divisions
The West Midlands and East Midlands regions are NUTS 1 statistical regions and were formerly constituencies of the European Parliament. Local government in the Midlands is as follows:

 * Boroughs (Metropolitan or Unitary):
 * (1) Birmingham (Metropolitan borough).
 * (2) Coventry (Metropolitan borough).
 * (3) Derby (Unitary authority).
 * (4) Dudley (Metropolitan borough).
 * (5) Leicester (Unitary authority).
 * (6) Nottingham (Unitary authority).
 * (7) Sandwell (Metropolitan borough).
 * (8) Stoke-on-Trent (Unitary authority).
 * (9) Solihull (Metropolitan borough).
 * (10) Telford and Wrekin (Unitary authority).
 * (11) Walsall (Metropolitan borough).
 * (12) Wolverhampton (Metropolitan borough).
 * Counties (Non-metropolitan or Unitary):
 * (13) Derbyshire (Districts: (a) Amber Valley, (b) Bolsover, (c) Chesterfield, (d) Derbyshire Dales, (e) Erewash, (f) High Peak, (g) North East Derbyshire and (h) South Derbyshire).
 * (14) Herefordshire (Unitary authority).
 * (15) Leicestershire (Districts: (a) Blaby, (b) Charnwood, (c) Harborough, (d) Hinckley and Bosworth, (e) Melton, (f) North West Leicestershire and (g) Oadby and Wigston).
 * (16) Lincolnshire (Districts: (a) Boston, (b) East Lindsey, (c) Lincoln, (d) North Kesteven, (e) South Holland, (f) South Kesteven and (g) West Lindsey).
 * (17) North Northamptonshire (Unitary authority).
 * (18) Nottinghamshire (Districts: (a) Ashfield, (b) Bassetlaw, (c) Broxtowe, (d) Gedling, (e) Mansfield, (f) Newark and Sherwood and (g) Rushcliffe).
 * (19) Rutland (Unitary authority).
 * (20) Shropshire (Unitary authority).
 * (21) Staffordshire (Districts: (a) Cannock Chase, (b) East Staffordshire, (c) Lichfield, (d) Newcastle-under-Lyme, (e) South Staffordshire, (f) Stafford, (g) Staffordshire Moorlands and (h) Tamworth).
 * (22) Warwickshire (Districts: (a) North Warwickshire, (b) Nuneaton and Bedworth, (c) Rugby, (d) Stratford-on-Avon and (e) Warwick).
 * (23) West Northamptonshire (Unitary authority).
 * (24) Worcestershire (Districts: (a) Bromsgrove, (b) Malvern Hills, (c) Redditch, (d) Worcester, (e) Wychavon and (f) Wyre Forest).

The unitary authorities of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire (not shown), while classed as part of the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, actually come under the Yorkshire and the Humber region and are therefore not in the officially recognised East Midlands region.

The two regions of the Midlands have a combined population of 10,350,697 (2014 mid-year estimate), and an area of 11053 sqmi.

The largest Midlands conurbation, which includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton, is roughly covered by the metropolitan county of the West Midlands (which also includes the city of Coventry); with the related City Region extending into neighbouring areas of Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Various parts of the Midlands, particularly Warwickshire and Leicestershire, are on occasion referred to as the Heart of England, especially in tourist literature given that the geographic centre of England is generally considered to lie within this arc.

Different areas of the Midlands have their own distinctive character, giving rise to many local history and industrial heritage groups. Nottingham played a notable part in the English Civil War, which is commemorated in a number of place names (Parliament Terrace, Parliament Street, Standard Hill). Areas such as Derbyshire's Amber Valley and Erewash combine attractive countryside with industrial heritage and are home to historic canals and sites associated with the mining industry. The Black Country, broadly the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Walsall, played an important part in the Industrial Revolution.

Historic counties
The historic counties ceased to be used for any administrative purpose in 1899 but remain important to some people, notably for county cricket.

 * Derbyshire
 * Herefordshire
 * Leicestershire
 * Lincolnshire
 * Northamptonshire
 * Nottinghamshire
 * Rutland
 * Shropshire
 * Staffordshire
 * Warwickshire
 * Worcestershire

Geography
The area is predominantly low-lying and flat apart from isolated hills such as Turners Hill within the Black Country conurbation at 271 m (889 ft) and the Wrekin just south of Wellington in Telford at 407 m (1,335 ft). Upland areas lie in the west and north of the region with the Shropshire Hills to the west, close to the England–Wales border and the Peak District area of the southern Pennines in the north of the region. The Shropshire Hills reach a height of 540 m (1,771 ft) at Brown Clee Hill and includes the Long Mynd, Clee Hills and Stiperstones ridge. Wenlock Edge, running through the middle of the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), is a long, low ridge, which extends for over 15 mi. The Peak District reaches heights of between 300 m (1,000 ft) and 600 m (2,000 ft); Kinder Scout is the highest point at 636 m (2,086 ft). Further south, the Welsh border reaches over 700 m (2,000 ft) high, at Twyn Llech (Black Mountain), which at 703 m (2,306 ft) is thus the highest point in Herefordshire.

The Precambrian Malverns are formed of some of the oldest rock in England (dating from the Cryogenian period, at around 680 million years old) and extend for 8 mi through two West Midlands counties (Worcestershire and Herefordshire) as well as northern Gloucestershire in the southwest. The highest point of the hills is the Worcestershire Beacon at 425 m (1,394 ft) above sea level (OS Grid reference SO768452).

The Cotswolds – designated an AONB in 1966. – extend for over 90 mi through Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. They reach a highest point of 330 m (1,082 ft) at Cleeve Hill.

Areas of lower hills, in the range 200 m (600 ft) - 300 m (1000 ft), include Charnwood Forest in Leicestershire, Cannock Chase in Staffordshire, and the Lincolnshire Wolds (100 m (300 ft) - 200 m (600 ft)); the latter having some prominence despite their modest altitude given their location in typically low-lying Lincolnshire near to the east coast.

Lincolnshire is the only coastal county in the Midlands as the region is bordered by Wales to the west. It is also where the Midlands' lowest points can be found as some places fall below sea level, with the lowest points being near Thorpe Tilney in North Kesteven and Stickford in East Lindsey.

Climate
The Midlands has a temperate maritime climate, with cold, cloudy, wet winters and comfortable, mostly dry, mostly sunny summers. The temperature usually ranges from -0.4 C during winter nights to 24.1 C during summer days. Due to its geographical location, which is furthest away from the coast than anywhere else in England, it typically receives mostly light winds, with warm days and cold nights. Sometimes the Midlands can have very cold nights such as a minimum of -18.7 C in Pershore on 20 December 2010. The previous day had a maximum of only -8.2 C, also in Pershore. Hot days are also possible, such as a maximum of 34 C in Pershore on 19 July 2006. There can also be very mild winters nights, such as in Bidford-on-Avon when the temperature at 6 pm was as high as 15.2 C on 9 January 2015. At 8 am the following morning the temperature was still at 13 C.  Both the highest and lowest temperature ever recorded in England were in the Midlands, the former on 19 July 2022 around Coningsby in Lincolnshire where it reached a maximum temperature of 40.3 C, and the latter on 10 January 1982 around Newport in Shropshire where it dropped to a minimum of -26.1 C.

Midlands named concepts
The "midland" name has been used for:
 * Midland Bank, founded in Birmingham and now part of HSBC
 * Midland Metro, now called West Midlands Metro
 * Midlands Engine, a regeneration programme of the UK government
 * Midland Main Line, a railway from London through the East Midlands to Sheffield

title: Midlands


text:
Talk:Dolphin/Archive 1

Intelligence
According to an article in the English-language part of Al Jazeera's homepage, Dolphins are not as intelligent as Goldfish. Their brains are bigger, because they are warmblooded in a cold water environment, but they have fewer neurons than Goldfish. The article also mentions some other examples of why Goldfish are smarter than Dolphins. I don't have reference, but it seems that the theory, that Dolphins should be very intelligent, needs documentation, and if proper documentation cannot be found, we should be careful about saying that Dolphins are very intelligent. Dybdahl 08:38, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

 * I've been talking to the person who made this claim and to be honest, I find it very questionable. He considers evidence supporting their intelligence in the form of behavioural studies "argueable", despite the overwhelming amount of evidence coming from this front. Read the entire article from Manger here: . Anyway, I guess it may be worth mentioning so I added it again. BabyNuke 12:14, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

 * Paul Manger's conjecture is based in part by arguing that 1) all claims to intelligence on the part of dolphins is based upon the complexity of their vocalizations and 2) dolphins don't have complex neural control of "vocal cords", ERGO there is no positive evidence of dolphin intelligence. (1) is simply false; vocalization complexity is not the only evidence of dolphin intelligence. Lori Marino at Emory University has been doing a good job of responding to Manger on this basis. (2) on the other hand, is completely irrelevant. The laryngeal sound production hypothesis for dolphins is dead and buried. Dolphins do have complex vocalizations, but the primary locus for production of these is at the phonic lips, about 2.5cm below the blowhole. Manger is apparently completely ignorant of this. --Wesley R. Elsberry 19:44, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Right, I've had an other look at it all and I think the theory has gotten no real support. If you honestly believe dolphins are as smart as goldlish look here. If you've watched that and still believe Manger is right, please reply here first before adding it back. BabyNuke 22:03, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

True Dolphin

 * There are almost 40 species of true dolphin in 17 genera.

What's a "true dolphin"? The previous paragraph just explained the various different possible meanings of the term "dolphin", and then silently one meaning seems to have been adopted for the rest of the article. For example, it is claimed that killer whales are dolphins. The article needs to clarify in what meaning it uses the term. Preferably, one meaning should be fixed globally for Wikipedia as well, because otherwise any link to this article will confuse more than clarify.

Furthermore, it would be nice if this article could list those features that all dolphins have in common, if any. Like body shape, sonar, intelligence, sound communication, what have you. AxelBoldt 15:43, 28 Nov 2003 (UTC)
 * To put it bluntly this article is a bit ropy right now. Once I get through writing an article on each species - see Cetacea to see the progress - then I don't mind volunteering to see if I can sort it out. Pete/Pcb21 16:41, 28 Nov 2003 (UTC)
 * Ok, you did it already! Brilliant, and brilliant work on Bottlenose Dolphin too. Pete/Pcb21 19:31, 1 Dec 2003 (UTC)
 * It may be problematic that there are two similar articles, this one and Oceanic dolphin. Either they will become highly redundant, or one of them will clearly predominate - in which case we have to decide which one. - BorysNr1 13 May 2004

Capitalization of "orca"
Jimfbleak, I noticed you reverted the capitalization change I made. Care to comment? As I noted in Talk:Orca (referenced in my change comment), I can't find any justification for capitalizing "orca", but perhaps I'm missing something. If you're capitalizing it for emphasis (wrong regardless), perhaps a wiki link would be more appropriate. HorsePunchKid 21:55, 2005 Jan 4 (UTC)

 * As I wrote at talk:Orca three hours before you wrote the above comment "Please read the archives of Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject Tree of Life for literally hundreds of kilobytes of talk on this issue. Please don't just change one article making it out of step with hundreds of others. See also WikiProject Cetaceans for specific whale books that use capital letters for names of species." Check your watchlist more often ;). Pcb21| Pete 22:39, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * My apologies for stepping on any toes! I have actually been watching my watchlist pretty closely, since I was particularly interested in some of the linguistic issues brought up with Orca. I didn't (and still don't) see anything on my watchlist indicating that you made any comment in Talk:Orca in the last few days outside of the "distribution" comments, so that would be why I didn't notice your comment (even though it's clearly right there under the "Capitalization?" heading...?). I found the appropriate section in the Cetacean project page. It seems truly bizarre to me to capitalize names that are not part of scientific taxonomy, but if there is such a history of acrimony on this topic, I'm not going to press the issue :). I'm sure it will be resolved in good time. Thanks for the pointers and your patience! HorsePunchKid 03:52, 2005 Jan 5 (UTC)

Unlock ETA
Any idea when this article will be unlocked? I wish to expand the section on Feeding and also vocalizations. Grika 14:06, 3 May 2005 (UTC)

 * Uh... exactly which article are you talking about? --Ihope127 8 July 2005 02:51 (UTC)

Lists
I added a list of dolphins

68.169.113.246 Talk to me, 68.169.113.246 My contributions

Law
Is their a Law in the United States outlawing the hunting and killing of dolphins? If not, how do I advocate to the government to outlaw hunting and killing? Admiral Roo (Talk to me)(My Contributions) 19:17, Jun 22, 2005 (UTC)

 * Hmm... First question, ask a lawyer. Second question, ask a senator or representative. ;-) --Ihope127 8 July 2005 02:49 (UTC)
 * Actually, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 is the relevant federal code. Unpermitted "take" of marine mammals is prohibited, with some few exceptions for depredating animals, IIRC. "Take" is not necessarily killing. "Take" can also be feeding, swimming with, approaching too closely, etc. -- Wesley R. Elsberry 10:25 28 February 2006 (PDT)

new species
Looks like there's a new species discovered recently in Australia: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/s1407213.htm - UtherSRG July 7, 2005 03:02 (UTC)

Better link: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=15752 - UtherSRG July 7, 2005 03:03 (UTC)

Ok. So I'm slow. Ignore me now. :) - UtherSRG July 7, 2005 03:05 (UTC)

Subphylum removal
Why did you revert the edit that added "subphylum: vertebrata" to the classification table? This is not my field, but looking at Vertebrate it seems to me that the edit was correct (except for "vertebrata" not being spelled "vertabrata" in Latin, as far as I know). LjL 21:16, 28 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Oh, uh, sorry, wasn't intentional. I thought I was on the talk page. LjL 22:06, 28 July 2005 (UTC)

No problem. Taxoboxes are meant to be a brief snapshot, some quick information. They are not intended to be an all-inclusive taxonomic listing. Only the major taxa should be listed, except for the intermediary taxa between the article's subject and the rank immediately above. For example, the recent addition of "Vertebrata" to mammal was good, but to this page it was not. - 22:34, July 28, 2005 (UTC)

Sex life of dolphins and interspecies sex
There are many documented cases of dolphin-human amorous relations. Dolphins are also very randy & horny creatures. Also, male dolphins sometimes rape female dolphins. I think the dolphin page should mention these things... :)
 * Maybe you could provide some references. Kappa 09:47, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
 * http://www.whalewatch.co.nz/_disc3/0000017b.htm
 * http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2031085.stm
 * Tonywalton [[Image:Pentacle_1.svg|15px]] | Talk 09:57, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

 * Where's Kim Cattrall when you really need her? Trekphiler 00:17, 23 December 2005 (UTC)

 * I agree that the rape part should be included. While I too find dolphins to be utterly fascinating and beautiful this article is currently typical in its idolization of dolphins in a very biased and unrealistic manner. Think of it this way, perhaps: maybe they are TOO close to us in intelligence, or at least behavior, though of course many other species (including primates) engage in what we would often term "rape". It is disturbing, but true. --Fitzhugh 00:09, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

 * Added the following: "Sex does not appear to be consensual in all cases however, with male Bottlenose Dolphins even being known to molest females of other dolphin species." - I cannot provide a source for the "other species" claim, it's just something I've seen on TV once but I have no idea what documentary it was from. Also, removed the claim that dolphins have sex to "bond", how would one determine this motive? That bonding may result because of it may be true, but to state that that's the goal of the act...

Mammal from Mundanea
While there's lots of interesting stuff in the article, let me offer one factoid that isn't: dolphin milk is about 33% fat, roughly the same as whipping cream. (I think I got that from the Miami Dolphin Creamery Association...so I'd verify it before including.) Trekphiler 00:17, 23 December 2005 (UTC) (& Y, I stole it from Piers)

Lifespan
There is no mention of typical lifespan of Dolphins in the article, which I thought was odd. --Colin Angus Mackay 11:35, 31 December 2005 (UTC)

 * When somebody figures out what the lifespan in the wild is, I'm sure that it will get added. There are T. truncatus in the care of man that have lived to their late thirties and early forties. I don't think that I've heard of any reaching fifty or more years of age. I suspect that average lifespan in the wild is on the short side of thirty years, but I have as little means to verify that as various others have for claiming that mean lifespan in the wild is longer than thirty. Probably the best guide to age distribution in the wild will come from the long-term study of the Sarasota, Florida population conducted under Randy Wells. They've been tracking many dolphins, and they've been doing this for a couple of decades now. Ironically, Wells and his colleagues are perenially harassed by animal rights activists. -- Wesley R. Elsberry 14:53, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

It varies per species. Orca's can live very long, some even close to a hundred years of age, while a bottlenose is unlikely to live longer than fifty. Indeed, the average lifespan in the wild seems to be an item of controversy and may also vary per location. BabyNuke 15:11, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Dodgy bits
"Their teeth are arranged in a way that works as an array or antenna focusing the incoming sound, making it easier for them to pinpoint the exact location of an object."
 * This statement is highly speculative, to say the least. Yes, there is a published paper plumping for this, but frankly, it is most likely completely erroneous. I'd recommend removal from the main page untill such time as some confirming work is done. -- Wesley R. Elsberry 21:30, 27 February 2006 (PDT)

"Stunning - using the echolocation melon, very loud clicks are directed at prey, stunning them."
 * Again, speculative stuff that doesn't deserve bald statement as fact. In fact, work reported at the recent 16th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals demonstrated that exposure to sound of the right level and frequency content didn't cause a change in behavior of various fish species, much less cause them to be disabled. -- Wesley R. Elsberry 21:35, 27 February 2006 (PDT)

"In captivity, many dolphins seem to have committed suicide. They either do so by repeatedly slamming their head against the pool walls or other solid objects or simply by not coming up for air anymore. Probably one of the best known cases of dolphin suicide is that of a dolphin named Cathy, one of the bottlenose dolphins that performed in the television series Flipper. She most likely died of self induced asphyxiation in the presence of her trainer Richard O'Barry.[1]"
 * And the source for this is what, Ric O'Barry? This isn't exactly "neutral point of view" or well-substantiated knowledge. -- Wesley R. Elsberry 21:38, 27 February 2006 (PDT)
 * Removed it. Though there's many cases known I agree it's hard to say for sure if they truely commit suicide. BabyNuke 12:52, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

"Such military dolphins, however, drew scrutiny during the Vietnam War when rumors circulated that dolphins were being trained to kill Vietnamese Skin Divers."
 * Should Wikipedia be passing on rumor-mongering? There are plenty of rumors that don't rate propagation, and this is, IMHO, one of them. -- Wesley R. Elsberry 21:39, 27 February 2006 (PDT)

 * "Dolphins were being trained to kill Vietnamese Skin Divers," is a rumor. That military dolphins drew scrutiny because of that rumor's existence is factual, and seems relevent to the topic of military dolphins in general, at least as a minor historical note, regardless of whether or not such scrutiny had any rational basis at the time.

 * Then the entry should be amended to note that there was no basis for the rumors. That is, there is no verifiability for the rumors themselves. --Wesley R. Elsberry 09:21, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism by Schmidbauer
According to some American users this article was vandalized by a German guy called User:Tobias_Schmidbauer. Well, the erratic behavior of this guy is well-known on the German Wiki.

This is my report:

Tobias Schmidbauer also vandalizes the German Wikipedia; e.g. the article on Guantanamo-Bay and organic farming. In the article on Guantanamo-Bay he changed a headline without giving a reason over a time of at least two months. He is the only user in the discussion on Guantanamo-Bay article who believes that his weird behavior is correct. He is a 19-year old student who claims on his German wikipedia user site that he is Donald Duck. When a vandalism notice was issued, he suggested as a revenge two articles of this person for deletion within half an hour after he found the notice. When the author of the two articles (a renowned scientist) opened the discussion on the deletion he found at this time only a masturbation photo which appeared to him to be posted by Schmidbauer (in fact the photo was from an anonymous IP, but the IP can well be identical to Schmidbauers computer, who knows?)!!! Schmidbauer is also calling the author a "revisionist", in other words a Nazi (for his reverts) and other insults. Two German admins endorsed this behavior, they didn't delete these insults, instead they blocked the author who just tried to keep an article free of vandalism and the German Wikipedia free of Schmidbauer's nonsense and insults.

Note: The German wikipedia has been heavily critisized in the past for being a dictatorship of a few admins.

Recreational sex
In the edit at 17:57, 18 March 2006, an anonymous user at 70.18.161.207 added the following to the article: Dolphins, along with humans and bonobos, are the only animals known to have sexual intercourse for fun. In the next edit (18:34), UtherSRG reverted this change. While I'm glad that UtherSRG has always been so vigilant about vandalism here, I think this may have been a little overambitious in this case. A brief search on Google doesn't reveal any reputable references for this meme, but it's common enough that it may warrant more research, or at least mention. I'm going to add it back, saying that it's a widespread belief, if there are no objections. --Piquan 09:06, 20 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I reverted because it is untrue. Many species have sex for fun. In fact, I would hazard that with the exception of humans, none do it with the purpose of procreation. See Non-human animal sexuality. - UtherSRG (talk) 10:49, 20 March 2006 (UTC)
 * What about simply making it something like "Dolphins are (amongst the animals) known to have sex for fun"? BabyNuke 21:55, 24 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Again, see Non-human animal sexuality. Many animals have sex for fun. - UtherSRG (talk) 00:44, 25 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I have to say I can't quite see how dolphins could have recreational sex as dolphin sex is a rather intricate buissness of some syncronised 'spraying of fluids' without going to deep into the depths of aquatic mammal intercourse. Though stimulating I can't really see why it would be recreationally fun enough to participate in. Infact recreational sex is a hard thing to pin down as you'd need to know a.) what motivates an animal to procreate, b.) whether the animal is capable of 'enjoyment'...satisfaction, release and enjoyment/fun are quite different things. The first two are primal instincts whilst the latter two are higher order processes we think. To be honest asking whether animals engage in sexual activites is virtually impossible to be sure on. The bonobo monkey's social structure is not disimilar from a human one only very very basic by comparison. They engage in sexual acts for a number of very complex social reasons. E.g. female bonobos have recreational sex with males to increase their social status, popularity one might interpret it as. Dolphins are harder to read as they are so different from humans/primates. I suspect this is a popular myth. WikipedianProlific(Talk) 21:08, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
 * First, I feel it is fair to assume that dolphins are capable of enjoyment. Like many other animals, dolphin will engage in obvious play (often using objects as toys) and the most logical reason for this play is that they enjoy it. Why does a dog participate in the game of fetch? I say because it enjoys it and I feel this assumption is reasonable. To say that dolphins have sex purely for fun, well - I even doubt that's the case with humans. Instinctive sex drive is still the primary factor, even for us - but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy it and that this also plays an important role for us. Having established that dolphins can also enjoy themselves, I see no reason why they couldn't also enjoy sex and this being at least an important factor in explaining their wide variety of sexual behaviour. BabyNuke 21:53, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
 * An interesting debate we have going, a nice well thought out arguement. Dogs play fetch because they are eager to please. In essence they play fetch because you want them to, funny eh?. I think what the dog enjoys isn't so much the game, but rather the social acceptance from the 'alpha pair' the dog recieves while playing. They are the centre of attention for the game. Cats for example 'play' (or what is interpreted as such) because it hones their hunting and survival ability. One might say a dog plays for the same reasons - its a pack hunter and so effecient operation within the social structure of the pack is important.
 * That needn't be so. Dogs (and cats) can play games all by themselves. One game I recall was a dog letting a ball roll down a slide, then run after it and catch it. No other dogs or people involved. BabyNuke 15:58, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

I think its actually harder to pin down why humans play than it is animals, as like most things humans 'play' on a very advanced social level with many factors from exersise, the relief of boredom to searching for a mate, and thats hard to interpret when your subject to it/part of it. My thought comes down to - does a dolphin enjoy sex... or does it get satisfaction from sex? Both can be said to be fun, but I think fun is a very ambigious term. Even for humans im sure most of us can remember times when we've had a.) fun sex, and b.) satisfying sex, and I don't mean just sexual satisfaction but more a relief of a biological requirement. Cats procreate for satisfaction, they are driven to it. Dogs the same. Dolphins I'm not so sure about, they evolved from animals which don't generally procreate for fun which suggestes to me they don't, and as a fairly solitary animal I can't see what it would stand to gain from fun sex, but who knows...only god and the dolphins I expect. ;) WikipedianProlific(Talk) 15:20, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
 * In the end, I think enjoyment is an important aspect, but unlikely to be the sole reason. So saying they do it "just for fun" is probably wrong. The way the article currently puts it, "other reasons than procreation", pretty much nails it if you ask me. BabyNuke 15:58, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

As smart as a two year old?
From the article: "A typical statement would be that dolphins are roughly as intelligent as a two-year-old human."

It's true that that's a typical statement, I get over 100 hits for it on google (though many of them seem to have gotten it from this article). Although the article does say that "experts in comparative psychology or animal cognition would be reluctant to make any such estimate", I feel that by including this statement here it is still presented as being fairly reliable. In my opinion, the statement is complete nonsense and has no place in the article. And all I can find about this is just this claim, I can't find anything that provides real evidence that this is the case, but besides that, you just can't compare a two year old child with an adult dolphin in any way. BabyNuke 15:04, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

 * Who added it to the article? Perhaps ask them want they meant? It does seem a rather meaningless statement. Pcb21 Pete 16:55, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

 * Some added a "citation needed" now, but that's meaningless as it is a typical statement - it just happens to be wrong. I've deleted that part completely and restructured intelligence a bit as it didn't flow well. BabyNuke 18:57, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

I seem to recall reading about dolphins able to develop their own language and call each other by names. They are intelligent animals, if you don't mind me saying so, and I personally believe that if given body parts such as humans (we have a pair of hands that could grab and so on), they could develop further... well... developments. Tools, perhaps? Or am I just thinking way too far-fetched thoughts? Forgive me if I sound ignorant. 202.73.122.227 00:49, 11 July 2006 (UTC)

 * If given body parts such as humans? What the f--k!! You'll talking about grafting humans limbs onto dolphins. Yeah, I'm sure they dolphins would -love- that. Besides, why the hell would a dolphin even want a pair of limbs. They'd be pointless, a drag, underwater. Your whole mindset seems to based on the notion that dolphins aspire to be like humans, to build cities and start fish farms and so forth. How preposterous, and how arrogant! Chris 17:39, 27 September 2006 (UTC) illustration

 * That's untrue. No evidence shows Dolphin is smarter than other advanced mammals such as dogs & monkeys. It's just human conjecture largely resulted from the observation of Dolphin's big brain.

 * Read this. Anyway, intelligence is not a measurable unit. A dolphin can be 2.5m long and weigh 300kg but we cannot just use a number for intelligence. For humans, we have an IQ test. Part of an IQ test is a mental picture test. I think it's fair to assume dolphins have a mental picture that's superior to our own, first due to their usage of echolocation and second because their world is more three dimensional. But it's also fair to assume we're better at mathematical problems. BabyNuke 18:02, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Inadvertent truth
A vandal added, "And remember...when provoked DOLPHINS WILL EAT POO." Actually, various dolphins will customarily sample water from where a conspecific has just defecated. While dolphins don't have a sense of smell, they do have a well-developed sense of taste. Researchers hypothesize that they may be able to obtain some information on health status and especially reproductive status in this way. Wesley R. Elsberry 00:22, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Sousa chinensis chinensis ???
What do they mean by Sousa chinensis chinensis? Binomials can't have 3 worlds! Binomials should always be 2 words with the first word capitalised! Chinese White Dolphin IS Sousa chinensis. It is a sub-species of Humpback Dolphin, BUT Sousa Chinensis= Indo-Pacific Humpback Dolphin. Cherubfish 17:56, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Subspecies have a trinomial, like Gorilla beringei beringei, to distinguish them from other subspecies, like Gorilla beringei graueri, and the species as a whole (Gorilla beringei). In the case of the Humpback dolphins, the taxonomy is still very fluid and scientists are not sure which populations are species and which are subspecies. - UtherSRG (talk) 18:04, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Converstaion status
Are dolphins endangered?--Are they stable? This needs to be in the little box of summary information like other animals Nastajus 15:05, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
 * No. We put those remarks on species boxes, not on higher level boxes. Look at each dolphin species article for its status. - UtherSRG (talk) 16:50, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Dolphin Training
I just got back from Mexico where I had an opportunity to swim with Dolphins, upon my return I decided to do some research on How we are able to Train dolpins. Sadly, there are no articles. Unfortunately I am not able to write an article on this topic so I was hoping that someone reading this may be able to shed some light on the topic.

 * Dolphins are trained via operant conditioning. Within that, people have figured out that positive reinforcement is the way to go. The situation with dolphins actually has some overlap with the approach falconers take with their birds, which respond quite badly if punishment is used rather than positive reinforcement. -- Wesley R. Elsberry 00:43, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

 * Needs more Skinner boxes. Seriously I majored in psych, and I have no idea what you're trying to say. Chris 18:02, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

 * What part do you find confusing, that dolphins are trained using operant conditioning and positive reinforcement, or that there is a similarity between dolphins and falcons in that both don't train well using any sort of punishment? --Wesley R. Elsberry 20:05, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

speed
Minor request for an expert, how fast can the fastest dolphin's swim? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.145.236.207 (talk • contribs).
 * I believe for the bottlenose, about 50 km/h is pretty much the maximum. I'm not sure if they're the fastest of all dolphin species though, but I do not expect any other species to be significantly faster. BabyNuke 20:52, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Killer whales have been recorded at 55km/h ;) SammytheSeal 06:39, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Merge with mythology-specific page
It seems to me that Dolphin (mythology) is more section-length than article-length (aside from probably being able to use some cleanup), and would fit better as a section in the main article. I therefore propose that it be merged into the main article. Any objections? --Drake Wilson 00:12, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

I am, after all, a mergist. --Gray Porpoise 01:29, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

 * I disagree. I recently spoke with a delphinologist at an art gallery in Seattle (Dr. Patricia Weyer), and while I couldn't add significatly to the page, it was very clear that the Dolphin (mythology) page has a lot more work before it's complete.  I'd rather see it become a stub than see it merged, because I think the expansion would be really wonderful. --Damate 23:27, 21 August 2006 (PST)

 * Never mind. The mythological aspect does have the potential to be an extensive article in itself. Still, I think "Dolphins in mythology" would be a better title. --Gray Porpoise 20:10, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

 * I see what you both mean; you make a convincing case. Proposal withdrawn; moved and stubified the mythology-specific page instead, which is now at Dolphins in mythology. --Drake Wilson 01:04, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

dolphins as food
dolphin is a very tasty food and lots of foriegn countries eat it. perhaps there should be a mention of dolphin meat, types of it and where to obtain it? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 87.194.7.253 (talk • contribs).
 * Possibly. The dolphin drive hunting article (as listed in the see also section) explains one of the most common hunting methods used, but no detailed information on the meat itself. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by BabyNuke (talk • contribs).

Swimming with Dolphins?
I heard recently (on the TV show Lonely Planet, the episode set in Perth, Australia) that new evidence is suggesting that dolphins may not enjoy swimming with us nearly as much as we thought, that many areas are banning organised dolphin swims, and that being able to swim with dolphins may soon be a thing of the past. I seem to recall that it might have mentioned something about it not being very healthy for them. Anyone else hear this, or know of a reference that could be cited? Hegar 18:36, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

 * Well, I believe that in Hawaii for example, dolphin tours are now so abundant that they start to interfere with the every day life of the animals. Constantly being followed by boats for example denies them needed resting periods. Besides this, the experience may be special for people, if dolphins have to go through the same thing every day, it's no surprise they quickly lose interest. BabyNuke 19:15, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Dolphins in human culture
I feel this section needs a re-write. First, I think it is very much possible to get rid of the list. Second, many entries are very trivial. Any ideas? BabyNuke 13:08, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Rewrote it, keeping all but one of the original entries. BabyNuke 16:59, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

Collaboration
This article, since no others were nominated, has become the Cetaceans Collaboration of the Month. Unfortunately, the only recent edits have been testing, vandalism, and reversions. Do your best to improve it! -- Gray  Porpoise Phocoenidae, not Delphinidae 10:49, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

 * I already rewrote the entire "dolphins in human culture" section. Anyway, I suppose the most important thing the article needs now is references. BabyNuke 11:32, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

I was thinking, a photo of dolphins herding a bait ball would be a really nice addition. Can't find any good fair use photos of it though, so if anyone knows where to find one... BabyNuke 16:01, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Pruned external links
I've removed the following external links: http://www.allaboutdolphins.net - disputeable information http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4034383.stm - too specific article, could function as a reference http://www.cetacea.org - website down http://www.robins-island.org/ - rather simplistic http://www.wilddolphin.org/dolphinpictures.htm - dead http://www.accobams.org/download/articles/population/Agazzi_etal_2004.pdf - again too specific for an external link, but can be used as reference http://www.projectshum.org/Dolphins/ - far too simple, plus the jokes ain't funny http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,989714,00.html - also too specific

BabyNuke 22:16, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if this is the right way/place to write this, but has anyone addressed this relevant news item? (dolphin found with 4 fins, trace of evolution from four-footed land animals) http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/05/0840227&from=rss
 * Interesting to say the least. Probably worth mentioning. No suprise where the dolphin got captured though. BabyNuke 10:08, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Introduction
At a glance, most of the article looks pretty good. One problem, though, is that the introduction is too short. -- Gray  Porpois  e cetaceans have large brains 00:26, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Extinction of Baiji
News report on failure of survey to find baiji

The baiji, or Yangtze River Dolphin, is most likely extinct. A 26-day survey failed to locate any of the baiji. --Wesley R. Elsberry 01:38, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

 * I've already mentioned it in the treaths to dolphins section. BabyNuke 11:00, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Dolphin/Archive 1


text:
Ulrich Walter

Ulrich Hans Walter (born February 9, 1954) is a German physicist, engineer and former DFVLR astronaut.

Education
Walter was born in Iserlohn. After finishing secondary school there and two years in the Bundeswehr, he studied physics at the University of Cologne. In 1980, he was awarded a diploma degree, and five years later a doctorate, both in the field of solid-state physics.

After two post-doc positions at the Argonne National Laboratory, Chicago, Illinois, and the University of California at Berkeley, California, he was selected in 1987 to join the German astronaut team. From 1988 to 1990, he completed basic training at the German Aerospace Center, and was then nominated to be in the prime crew for the second German Spacelab mission.

Walter is married, has two children, and lives near Munich, Germany.

Spaceflight
In 1993, he flew on board the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-55 (Spacelab D-2) as a Payload Specialist. He spent 9 days, 23 hours, and 40 minutes in space.

Career
After his spaceflight he worked for another four years at DLR, managing a space imaging database project. When the German astronaut team was merged into a European Space Agency, he did not transfer, but resigned to work at IBM Germany.

In 2003, he became full professor at the Technische Universität München (Munich, Germany), holding the chair of the Institute of Astronautics (space technology) at the University's faculty of mechanical engineering. In 2008, he was distinguished as Professor of the Year 2008 in the category "engineering sciences and computer science".

He serves on the advisory board of Deutsches Museum, on the advisory council of Giordano Bruno Foundation, and he is president of the Hermann Oberth Space Travel Museum in Feucht. He is the author of several books, including the illustrated book "In 90 Minuten um die Erde" ("Around the World in 90 Minutes"), and he has published more than 80 articles in various international journals.

Awards and merits

 * Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany,
 * Wernher-von-Braun Medal
 * Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Ukraine (honorary doctorate 2012)
 * National Pedagogical Dragomanov University, Ukraine (Honorary Professor)

Selected bibliography

 * In 90 Minuten um die Erde. Stürtz, Würzburg 1997, ISBN 3-8003-0876-2
 * Zivilisationen im All: Sind wir allein im Universum? Spektrum Akademie Verlag, Heidelberg 1999, ISBN 3-8274-0486-X
 * Zu Hause im Universum. Rowohlt, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-87134-450-8
 * Astronautics. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim 2007, ISBN 978-3-527-40685-2
 * Im schwarzen Loch ist der Teufel los. Komplett-Media, Grünwald 2016, ISBN 978-3-8312-0435-9
 * Höllenritt durch Raum und Zeit. Komplett-Media, Grünwald 2017, ISBN 978-3-8312-0450-2
 * Eine andere Sicht auf die Welt. Komplett-Media, Grünwald 2018, ISBN 978-3-8312-0475-5

title: Ulrich Walter


text:
König's theorem (set theory)

In set theory, König's theorem states that if the axiom of choice holds, I is a set, $$\kappa_i$$ and $$\lambda_i$$ are cardinal numbers for every i in I, and $$\kappa_i < \lambda_i$$ for every i in I, then
 * $$\sum_{i \in I}\kappa_i < \prod_{i \in I}\lambda_i.$$

The sum here is the cardinality of the disjoint union of the sets mi, and the product is the cardinality of the Cartesian product. However, without the use of the axiom of choice, the sum and the product cannot be defined as cardinal numbers, and the meaning of the inequality sign would need to be clarified.

König's theorem was introduced by in the slightly weaker form that the sum of a strictly increasing sequence of nonzero cardinal numbers is less than their product.

Details
The precise statement of the result: if I is a set, Ai and Bi are sets for every i in I, and $$A_i<B_i$$ for every i in I, then
 * $$\sum_{i \in I}A_i < \prod_{i \in I}B_i,$$

where < means strictly less than in cardinality, i.e. there is an injective function from Ai to Bi, but not one going the other way. The union involved need not be disjoint (a non-disjoint union can't be any bigger than the disjoint version, also assuming the axiom of choice). In this formulation, König's theorem is equivalent to the axiom of choice.

(Of course, König's theorem is trivial if the cardinal numbers mi and ni are finite and the index set I is finite. If I is empty, then the left sum is the empty sum and therefore 0, while the right product is the empty product and therefore 1).

König's theorem is remarkable because of the strict inequality in the conclusion. There are many easy rules for the arithmetic of infinite sums and products of cardinals in which one can only conclude a weak inequality ≤, for example: if $$m_i < n_i$$ for all i in I, then one can only conclude
 * $$\sum_{i \in I} m_i \le \sum_{i \in I} n_i,$$

since, for example, setting $$m_i = 1$$ and $$n_i = 2$$, where the index set I is the natural numbers, yields the sum $$\aleph_0$$ for both sides, and we have an equality.

Corollaries of König's theorem
If we take mi = 1, and ni = 2 for each i in κ, then the left side of the above inequality is just κ, while the right side is 2κ, the cardinality of functions from κ to {0, 1}, that is, the cardinality of the power set of κ. Thus, König's theorem gives us an alternate proof of Cantor's theorem. (Historically of course Cantor's theorem was proved much earlier.)
 * If $$\kappa$$ is a cardinal, then $$\kappa < 2^\kappa$$.

Axiom of choice
One way of stating the axiom of choice is "an arbitrary Cartesian product of non-empty sets is non-empty". Let Bi be a non-empty set for each i in I. Let Ai = {} for each i in I. Thus by König's theorem, we have: That is, the Cartesian product of the given non-empty sets Bi has a larger cardinality than the sum of empty sets. Thus it is non-empty, which is just what the axiom of choice states. Since the axiom of choice follows from König's theorem, we will use the axiom of choice freely and implicitly when discussing consequences of the theorem.
 * If $$\forall i \in I(\{\} < B_i)$$, then $$\{\} < \prod_{i \in I}B_i$$.

König's theorem and cofinality
König's theorem has also important consequences for cofinality of cardinal numbers.

 * If $$\kappa \ge \aleph_0$$, then $$\kappa < \kappa^{\operatorname{cf}(\kappa)}$$.

If κ is regular, then this follows from Cantor's theorem. If κ is singular, then κ is a limit cardinal. Choose a strictly increasing cf(κ)-sequence of cardinals approaching κ. Let λ be their sum. Each summand is less than κ, so, by König's theorem, λ is less than the product of cf(κ) copies of κ. We finish the proof by showing that λ = κ. Since each summand is a lower bound for λ, λ ≥ κ. For the other inequality, λ ≤ cf(κ)·κ = κ.

According to Easton's theorem, the next consequence of König's theorem is the only nontrivial constraint on the continuum function for regular cardinals. Let $$\mu = \lambda^\kappa$$. Suppose that, contrary to this corollary, $$\kappa \ge \operatorname{cf}(\mu)$$. Then using the previous corollary, $$\mu < \mu^{\operatorname{cf}(\mu)} \le \mu^\kappa = (\lambda^\kappa)^\kappa = \lambda^{\kappa \cdot \kappa} = \lambda^\kappa = \mu$$, a contradiction.
 * If $$\kappa \geq \aleph_0$$ and $$\lambda \geq 2$$, then $$\kappa < \operatorname{cf}(\lambda^\kappa)$$.

A proof of König's theorem
Assuming Zermelo–Fraenkel set theory, including especially the axiom of choice, we can prove the theorem. Remember that we are given $$\forall i\in I\quad A_i<B_i$$, and we want to show :$$\sum_{i\in I}A_i<\prod_{i\in I}B_i.$$

The axiom of choice implies that the condition A < B is equivalent to the condition that there is no function from A onto B and B is nonempty. So we are given that there is no function from Ai onto Bi≠{}, and we have to show that any function f from the disjoint union of the As to the product of the Bs is not surjective and that the product is nonempty. That the product is nonempty follows immediately from the axiom of choice and the fact that the factors are nonempty. For each i choose a bi in Bi not in the image of Ai under the composition of f with the projection to Bi. Then the product of the elements bi is not in the image of f, so f does not map the disjoint union of the As onto the product of the Bs.

title: König's theorem (set theory)


text:
Lucerne (disambiguation)

Lucerne (Luzern) is a city in Switzerland.

Lucerne, Luzern, or Luzerne may also refer to:

Places

 * Canton of Lucerne, a Canton in Switzerland, where the city is located
 * Lake Lucerne, a lake in Switzerland
 * La Lucerne-d'Outremer, a village and commune in France
 * Lucerna, a neighborhood in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

United States

 * Lucerne, Arkansas; see List of places in Arkansas: L
 * Lucerne, Lake County, California, a census-designated place
 * Lucerne Valley, California, a census-designated place
 * Lucerne, Colorado, an unincorporated community
 * Lucerne, Indiana, an unincorporated community
 * Lucerne, Kansas, a former town and post office
 * Luzerne, Kentucky, an unincorporated community
 * Lucerne, Michigan, a former settlement
 * Luzerne, Michigan, and unincorporated community
 * Lucerne, Missouri, a village
 * Lucerne, Columbiana County, Ohio, a ghost town
 * Lucerne, Knox County, Ohio, an unincorporated community
 * Lucerne, Pennsylvania; see List of places in Pennsylvania: Lo–Ly
 * Lucerne (Brownsville, Tennessee), a historic house and former plantation
 * Lucerne, Washington, an unincorporated community
 * Lucerne, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
 * Lucerne, Wyoming, a census-designated place
 * Lucerne Mines, Pennsylvania, a census-designated place
 * Luzerne, Iowa, a city
 * Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, a county
 * Luzerne, Pennsylvania, a borough in Luzerne County
 * Luzerne Township, Pennsylvania, a township

People

 * Anne-César, Chevalier de la Luzerne (1741–1791), French soldier and ambassador
 * Antoine Garaby de La Luzerne (1617–1679), French author and moralist

Other uses

 * Lucerne (shipwreck), shipwreck site off the coast of La Pointe, Wisconsin
 * Buick Lucerne, a full-size luxury sedan introduced for the 2006 model year
 * Lucerne hammer, a medieval polearm weapon
 * Lucerne, the store brand for dairy and other products by Safeway Inc. or its subsidiaries. The rights to the Lucerne brand in Canada belong to Agropur and is sold in Canadian Safeway and Sobeys stores.
 * Alfalfa, Medicago sativa, a species of perennial flowering plant also known as lucerne
 * Cytisus proliferus, tree lucerne, a small evergreen tree

title: Lucerne (disambiguation)


text:
Talk:America's Cup

First America's cup
This page says that there were 8 cutters and 7 schooners in the first America's cup, but on the document about the first America's cup it says that there were 8 cutters and 9 schooners in the race. Can someone please clarify this? Thanks, Kaizo block (talk) 16:48, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

New Zealanders
"Alinghi alone had 4 New Zealanders as crew"
 * I thought it was 6, Coutts inclusive.
 * There were 8 in total on the team, not sure about the actual crew. Dramatic 01:44 13 March 2003 (UTC)

Dennis Conner’s Record
I don’t understand how Conner’s win-loss record is given as 13-5 when he lost 4 races in 1983 and 5 in 1995. Shouldn’t it be 13-9? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.80.236.247 (talk) 15:34, 6 February 2021 (UTC)

Move history to its own page
I suggest to move the history section to its own page, as it is very long and only leave a brief summary in this page (comparable to the history section on this page: 38th America's Cup). This allows to focus the Americas Cup page more on general information and summary's that are more relevant to most users. Additionally, this allows to shorten and focus the pages for the Americas Cup editions, which are full of unnecessary general Americas Cup information that should be on this page.

If no one disagrees I would implement this change in the coming weeks. V.Glas (talk) 12:57, 13 January 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:America's Cup


text:
Lee College

Lee College is a public community college in Baytown, Texas. Lee College's main campus occupies 40 acre near downtown Baytown and extension campuses throughout its service area. The school has an enrollment of over 7,773 total students as of Fall 2018. Approximately 83% are part-time students, and about 17% are enrolled full-time. The college offers over 60 academic, technical education, and non-credit continuing education programs.

History
In 1934, the Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District voted unanimously to ask the Texas State Board of Education to approve the establishment of a junior college district. The petition was approved, and the college's first students matriculated in September 1934. Lee College is named after Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

At the time of its inception, the college was named Lee Junior College. Classes were held at Robert E. Lee High School in the evenings and during the summer months, after the high school classes were dismissed. Many of the original faculty also taught at Robert E. Lee High School. The inaugural class of Lee College consisted of 177 students, and the first graduation, on May 24, 1935, saw 4 students (all women) receive diplomas.

In 1948, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools granted Lee College accreditation and recommended that the college develop its own campus apart from the local high school. A successful bond election in the following year allowed for the construction of Rundell Hall and the campus gymnasium. The college experienced tremendous growth after classes began in the new buildings in 1951.

By 1965, the college had added the Social Sciences building, the Library, Moler Hall, TV1 and Bonner Hall as well as an addition to the gymnasium. Funding from the 1988 bond issue allowed for the construction of a new science building to replace the antiquated facilities formerly housed in the Math and Administration building. The renovation of the McNulty-Haddick building created additional classroom space for Allied Health and Fine Arts.

In 2000, another successful bond election led to expansion of the campus by more than 33 percent with the addition in 2002 of a new Advanced Technology Center (library). Parking was also expanded and beautification efforts including a central courtyard, covered walks, and landscaping were completed.

In 2003, the Technical-Vocational Building received major renovation, including the construction of a Cisco Academy.

In October 2004, the college completed renovation to the old library into a Student Center with game room, Cyber Café, Bayer Conference Center, Enterprise Gallery, Security office, and student club offices. In December 2004, the college finished renovation to the old gym, which now provides offices, swimming pool, weight room and other facilities.

In 2008, Lee College began construction of its showcase Performing Arts Center, which opened in 2009 and today hosts a variety of campus and community events.

In 2012, a paper by former honor student Celeste Butler earned the school a historical marker dedication.

In 2015, Rundell Hall saw its grand reopening following a $10 million restoration and expansion. Rundell Hall now serves as the administrative center of the Lee College Baytown campus and has a conference center as well as offices and various departments.

In 2013–2014, the Lee College Debate Team won the 2013-2014 International Public Debate Association (IPDA) Community College Championship as well as the 2014 IPDA National Championship Tournament Community College Championship. Lee College Debate, renamed the Mendoza Debate Society at Lee College, repeated as both 2014-2015 IPDA Community College Champions as well as 2015 IPDA National Championship Tournament Community College Champions. The Mendoza Debate Society at Lee College won the 2015-2016 IPDA Community College Championship and the 2016 IPDA National Championship Tournament Community College Championship as they hosted the 2016 IPDA National Championship Tournament & Convention. In 2020, for the fifth time in seven years, the team was named (IDPA) National Community College Champions, and ranked 9th in the nation overall.

In 2022, the Lee College Board of Regents voted to rebrand the school's mascot from the "Runnin' Rebels" and character "Rooty Rebel" to the "Lee College Navigators."

Service area
As defined by the Texas Legislature, the official service area of Lee College includes territory within the following school districts:
 * Goose Creek Independent School District
 * Crosby Independent School District
 * Dayton Independent School District
 * Liberty Independent School District
 * Barbers Hill Independent School District
 * Anahuac Independent School District
 * Huffman Independent School District
 * Devers Independent School District
 * East Chambers Independent School District
 * Hardin Independent School District
 * Hull-Daisetta Independent School District

Athletics
Lee College is home to the Navigators Men's Basketball and Women's Volleyball. The school competes in the Region XIV Athletic Conference of the NJCAA.

In 2003, the college opened a new "Wellness Center and Sports Complex". The complex contains Lee College Arena, the home arena for basketball and volleyball.

Notable alumni

 * Charles Holcomb (born 1933), judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals from 2001 to 2010, attended Lee College as an undergraduate.
 * Jeff Banister (born 1964), manager of the MLB Texas Rangers (baseball) from 2015 to 2018, attended Lee College as an undergraduate and played on the Lee College baseball team.
 * Bob Lanier (1925-2014), former mayor of Houston, Texas.

title: Lee College


text:
Soest, Germany

Soest (, as if it were 'Sohst'; Westphalian: Saust) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Soest district.

Geography
Soest is located along the Hellweg road, approximately 23 km south-west of Lippstadt, roughly 50 km east of Dortmund and roughly 50 km west of Paderborn.

Neighbouring places

 * Bad Sassendorf
 * Ense
 * Lippetal
 * Möhnesee
 * Werl
 * Welver

Legends
The Norwegian Þiðrekssaga from the 13th century, a series of tales about the Gothic King Theoderic the Great, identifies Soest (called Susat) as the capital of Attila's (?–453) Hunnic Empire. The actual location of Attila's capital has not been determined.

History
Owing to its fertile soil (predominantly brown silty clay loam ), the area around Soest is believed to have been settled well before the village is first mentioned in the Dagobertsche Schenkung in 836. Excavations in recent decades have uncovered signs of habitation stretching back more than 4000 years. During the 11th and 12th centuries, Soest grew considerably, making it one of the largest towns in Westphalia with some 10,000 citizens. It was also, until 1609, an important member of the Hanseatic League.

In the geographical work Atar Al-Belad composed by Iranian scholar Mohammad Qazvini (1203-1283), Soest is described for its salt production and referred to as a "Slavic country": “There is a salty spring, while there is no salt to be found in the surroundings. When people make salt they take water from the spring, filling a kettle and placing it in an oven made from stone, lighting a large fire underneath, turning it into a thick and murky fluid. Then it is left to cool, leaving solid white salt. In this manner, all white salt is produced in the Slavic countries.”

An increasingly confident and powerful Soest liberated itself, between 1444 and 1449, from the Bishop of Cologne, who controlled Westphalia (the so-called Soest Feud). No longer a capital of Westphalia, Soest aligned itself instead with the Duke of Cleves. This proved to be mostly a Pyrrhic victory, however. Though it had shown itself strong enough to defy the powerful Archbishop of Cologne, the town lost much of its trade as a consequence, with a "liberated" Soest surrounded by territories with other allegiances. When the last Duke of Cleves died in 1609, his dukedom was inherited by Brandenburg and, after a short siege, Soest was incorporated into it.

The painter Peter Lely, later to win fame in England, was born in 1618 in Soest to Dutch parents, where his father was an officer serving in the armed forces of Elector Johann Sigismund of Brandenburg.

During and after the Thirty Years' War, Soest suffered a tremendous loss of both population and influence; at its lowest point, in 1756, having merely 3,600 citizens.

With the creation of the Soest district in 1817, its influence again began to rise. However, the industrialization of the Ruhr area throughout the 19th century did not reach Soest, which remained a small town.

Under the re-drawing of political borders within the Reich by the Nazi Party Soest was placed in Gau Westphalia-South. During World War II, Soest was the target of several allied bomber raids targeting the marshalling yard, one of the biggest in the Reich, and the important battery factory Akku Hagen. In early April 1945, Soest suffered from major fighting as Allied forces captured the town. Though retaken by a German counterattack shortly thereafter, destructive front-line combat continued to rage in Soest and its environs at the eastern edge of the Ruhr Pocket until the Allies ultimately gained permanent control.

From 1953 to 1971, a sizable garrison of Canadian soldiers and their families was stationed at Soest (with the Canadian camps located just east of the town in Bad Sassendorf), as well as at Werl and Hemer-Iserlohn and Deilinghofen to the southwest. In addition, an American Nike Battery (66th Battalion) was situated just south of the town, and was subsequently turned over to the German military.

From 1971 to 1993, the former Canadian properties, including the Married Quarters along Hiddingser Weg, south of the B-1, were used and occupied by British military personnel and their families. With the eventual closure of the Belgian and British army facilities, many of these properties were re-purposed for civilian use, abandoned, or demolished. The former Married Quarters area was converted to civilian housing. The former CANEX (the Canadian Army's food and clothing store for NATO families) was converted to a NAAFI under the British and finally demolished in 2006.

Education
The city is home to a major branch of the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (also: Fachhochschule Südwestfalen (FH SWF)) which offers various engineering, and Business Administration programmes.

Sights
Soest has a multitude of historical buildings and attractions. The many medieval churches are built from a greenish sandstone unique to this area.

St. Patroclus
In 960, Bruno I, Archbishop of Cologne transferred relics of St. Patroclus from Troyes to Soest. From 964 on, they have been housed in what became the provost church St.-Patrokli-Dom (St. Patroclus' "Cathedral"), a particularly fine example of Romanesque architecture.

The cathedral is an example of early medieval Romanesque architecture fashioned from the local greenish sandstone. Its massive squared bell tower or steeple can be seen for many kilometres, rising up out of the city centre of the old town and a landmark of the Soester Boerde.

Allerheiligenkirmes
The Allerheiligenkirmes is named for All Saints' Day as it starts every year at the first Wednesday after All Saints' and lasts for five days. It is Europe's biggest inner-city fair and was held for the 673rd time in 2010.

Specialties of Soest
Among the traditional specialities of Soest are Möppken bread and pumpernickel. The Haverland bakery in the city centre, which formerly supplied dark bread to the royal court of Bavaria, has existed since 1570. A more recent speciality is Bullenauge (Bull's Eye), a mocha liqueur, sold mostly at the Allerheiligenkirmes. Another speciality is the Soester beer, also known as Zwiebel-Bier (Onion Beer) as it has been brewed, since 1993, in the Zwiebel (Onion) Inn.

Coat of arms
The town's coat of arms shows a key, which is the symbol for Saint Peter, the patron saint of Cologne. The key symbol remained unchanged, even after Soest no longer fell within the jurisdiction of Cologne.

Twin towns – sister cities
Soest is twinned with:

 * 🏴 Bangor, Wales
 * 🇸🇪 Gotland, Sweden
 * 🇫🇷 Guérard, France
 * 🇩🇪 Herzberg, Germany
 * Kampen, Netherlands
 * 🇺🇸 Mishawaka, Indiana, United States
 * 🇭🇺 Sárospatak, Hungary
 * Soest, Netherlands
 * 🇵🇱 Strzelce Opolskie, Poland

Notable people

 * Johannes von Soest (1448–1506), composer, theorist and poet
 * Johann Gropper (1503–1559), Catholic church politician of the Reformation period
 * Peter Lely (1618–1680), Dutch-English painter.
 * August Meineke (1790–1870), German classical scholar.
 * Heinrich von Sybel (1817–1895), historian
 * Otto Modersohn (1865–1943), landscape painter
 * Sigfrid Henrici (1889–1964), army officer of armoured forces
 * Ernst Krappe (1891–1977), lawyer and politician
 * Wilhelm Morgner (1891–1917), Expressionist painter
 * (1895–1960), member of parliament (CDU)
 * Hartwig Bleidick (born 1944), footballer
 * Ralf König (born 1960), known comic book creator
 * Sascha Schmitz (born 1972), singer-songwriter and actor
 * Sebastian Hille (born 1980), footballer
 * Oliver Kirch (born 1982), footballer
 * Michael Lejan (born 1983), footballer
 * Rebecca Handke (born 1986), pair skater
 * Gaëtan Bille (born 1988), Belgian cyclist
 * Julian Büscher (born 1993), footballer

title: Soest, Germany


text:
Soest

Soest may refer to:

Pronounced /ˈzoːst/

 * Soest, Germany
 * Soest (district), a district around the location in Germany

Pronounced /ˈsust/

 * Soest, Netherlands

Other

 * Gerard Soest, British artist
 * SOEST, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

title: Soest


text:
JEDEC

The JEDEC Solid State Technology Association is an independent semiconductor engineering trade organization and standardization body headquartered in the United States.

JEDEC has over 300 members, including some of the world's largest computer companies. Its scope and past activities includes standardization of part numbers, defining an electrostatic discharge (ESD) standard, and leadership in the lead-free manufacturing transition.

The origin of JEDEC traces back to 1944, when RMA (subsequently renamed EIA) and NEMA established the Joint Electron Tube Engineering Council (JETEC) to coordinate vacuum tube type numberings.

In 1958, with the advent of semiconductor technology, the joint JETEC-activity of EIA and NEMA was renamed into Joint Electron Device Engineering Council. NEMA discontinued its involvement in 1979. In the fall of 1999, JEDEC became a separate trade association under the current name, but maintained an EIA alliance, until EIA ceased operations in 2011.

History

The origin of JEDEC can be traced back to 1944, when the Radio Manufacturers Association (RMA), and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) established the Joint Electron Tube Engineering Council (JETEC) to coordinate vacuum tube type numberings. The expansion of the radio industry caused JETEC to expand its scope to include solid-state devices and develop standards for semiconductor devices. Eventually, the joint JETEC activity of EIA and NEMA was renamed into Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) in 1958. NEMA discontinued its involvement in 1979.

Earlier in the 20th century, the organization was known as JETEC, the Joint Electron Tube Engineering Council, and was responsible for assigning and coordinating RETMA tube designations to electron tubes (also called valves). The type 6L6, still to be found in electric-guitar amplifiers, typically has a type number that was assigned by JETEC.

In the fall of 1999, JEDEC became a separate trade association under the current name, but maintained an EIA alliance.

Standards policies
JEDEC has adopted the principle of open standards, which permit any and all interested companies to freely manufacture in compliance with adopted standards. This serves several vital functions for the advancement of electronic technologies. First and foremost, such standards allow for interoperability between different electrical components. JEDEC standards do not protect members from normal patent obligations. The designated representatives of JEDEC member companies are required to disclose patents and patent applications of which they are aware, assuming that this information is not considered proprietary. JEDEC patent policy requires that standards found to contain patented technology, whose owners do not sign a standard JEDEC patent letter, be withdrawn. Thus the penalty for a failure to disclose patents is retraction of the standard. Typically, standards are not adopted to cover technology that are subject to patent protection. In rare circumstances, standards covered by a patent may be adopted, but only on the understanding that the patent owner will not enforce such patent rights or, at a minimum, that the patent owner will provide a reasonable and non-discriminatory license to the patented technology.

Part numbers
JEDEC's early work began as a part numbering system for devices which became popular in the 1960s. The first semiconductor devices, such as the 1N23 silicon point contact diode, were still designated in the old RMA tube designation system, where the "1" stood for "No filament/heater" and the "N" stood for "crystal rectifier". The first RMA digit thus was re-allocated from "heater power" to "p-n junction count" to form the new EIA/JEDEC EIA-370 standard; for example, the 1N4001 rectifier diode and 2N2222 transistor part numbers came from EIA-370. They are still popular today. In February 1982, JEDEC issued JESD370B, superseding the original EIA-370 and introducing a new letter symbol "C" that denotes the die version, as opposed to "N", now meaning the packaged version. The Japanese JIS semiconductor designation system employs a similar pattern. JEDEC later developed a numbering system for integrated circuits, but this did not gain acceptance in the semiconductor industry. The European Pro Electron semiconductor numbering system originated in a similar way from the older Mullard–Philips tube designation.

Test methods and product standards
This early work was followed by a number of test methods, JESD22, and product standards. For example, the ESD caution symbol, which is the hand with the line drawn through it, was published by JEDEC and is used worldwide. JEDEC also has a dictionary of semiconductor terms. All of JEDEC standards are free on the Web for downloading after a free registration.

JEDEC has issued widely used standards for device interfaces, such as the JEDEC memory standards for computer memory (RAM), including the DDR SDRAM standards.

Semiconductor package drawings
JEDEC also developed a number of popular package drawings for semiconductors such as TO-3, TO-5, etc. These are on the web under JEP-95. One hot issue is the development of lead-free packages that do not suffer from the tin whiskers problem that reappeared since the recent ban on lead content. JEDEC is working with iNEMI on a joint interest group on lead-free issues.

Members
As of 2023, JEDEC has 365 members in total. Among them are large companies, which include the following.

• ABB

• Alibaba

• AMD

• Apple

• Arm

• Buffalo

• Canon

• Facebook

• Foxconn

• Fujitsu

• Google

• Kioxia – formerly Toshiba Memory Corporation

• LG

• Marvell

• Micron

• Microsoft

• NEC

• Nokia

• Nvidia

• NXP

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise

• HP Inc.

• Huawei

• IBM

• Infineon

• Intel

• Panasonic

• Qualcomm

• Realtek

• Samsung Electronics

• SK Hynix

• Sony

• Texas Instruments

• TSMC

• Western Digital

title: JEDEC