text:
Apollo Guidance Computer

The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) was a digital computer produced for the Apollo program that was installed on board each Apollo command module (CM) and Apollo Lunar Module (LM). The AGC provided computation and electronic interfaces for guidance, navigation, and control of the spacecraft. The AGC was the first computer based on silicon integrated circuits. The computer's performance was comparable to the first generation of home computers from the late 1970s, such as the Apple II, TRS-80, and Commodore PET.

The AGC has a 16-bit word length, with 15 data bits and one parity bit. Most of the software on the AGC is stored in a special read-only memory known as core rope memory, fashioned by weaving wires through and around magnetic cores, though a small amount of read/write core memory is available.

Astronauts communicated with the AGC using a numeric display and keyboard called the DSKY (for "display and keyboard", pronounced "DIS-kee"). The AGC and its DSKY user interface were developed in the early 1960s for the Apollo program by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and first flew in 1966.

Operation
Astronauts manually flew Project Gemini with control sticks, but computers flew most of Project Apollo except briefly during lunar landings. Each Moon flight carried two AGCs, one each in the command module and the Apollo Lunar Module, with the exception of Apollo 7 which was an Earth orbit mission and Apollo 8 which did not need a lunar module for its lunar orbit mission. The AGC in the command module was the center of its guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system. The AGC in the lunar module ran its Apollo PGNCS (primary guidance, navigation and control system), with the acronym pronounced as pings.

Each lunar mission had two additional computers:

 * The Launch Vehicle Digital Computer (LVDC) on the Saturn V booster instrumentation ring
 * the Abort Guidance System (AGS, pronounced ags) of the lunar module, to be used in the event of failure of the LM PGNCS. The AGS could be used to take off from the Moon, and to rendezvous with the command module, but not to land.

Design
The AGC was designed at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory under Charles Stark Draper, with hardware design led by Eldon C. Hall. Early architectural work came from J. H. Laning Jr., Albert Hopkins, Richard Battin, Ramon Alonso, and Hugh Blair-Smith. The flight hardware was fabricated by Raytheon, whose Herb Thaler was also on the architectural team.

According to Kurinec et al, the chips were welded onto the boards rather than soldered as might be expected. Apollo Guidance Computer logic module drawings specify resistance-welding.

Logic hardware
Following the use of integrated circuit (IC) chips in the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) in 1963, IC technology was later adopted for the AGC. The Apollo flight computer was the first computer to use silicon IC chips.

While the Block I version used 4,100 ICs, each containing a single three-input NOR gate, the later Block II version (used in the crewed flights) used about 2,800 ICs, mostly dual three-input NOR gates and smaller numbers of expanders and sense amplifiers. The ICs, from Fairchild Semiconductor, were implemented using resistor–transistor logic (RTL) in a flat-pack. They were connected via wire wrap, and the wiring was then embedded in cast epoxy plastic.

The use of a single type of IC (the dual NOR3) throughout the AGC avoided problems that plagued another early IC computer design, the Minuteman II guidance computer, which used a mix of diode–transistor logic and diode logic gates. NOR gates are universal logic gates from which any other gate can be made, though at the cost of using more gates.

Memory
The computer had 2,048 words of erasable magnetic-core memory and 36,864 words of read-only core rope memory. Both had cycle times of 11.72 microseconds. The memory word length was 16 bits: 15 bits of data and one odd-parity bit. The CPU-internal 16-bit word format was 14 bits of data, one overflow bit, and one sign bit (ones' complement representation).

DSKY interface
The user interface to the AGC was the DSKY, standing for display and keyboard and usually pronounced "DIS-kee". It has an array of indicator lights, numeric displays, and a calculator-style keyboard. Commands were entered numerically, as two-digit numbers: Verb, and Noun. Verb described the type of action to be performed and Noun specified which data were affected by the action specified by the Verb command.

Each digit was displayed via a green (specified as 530 nm ) high-voltage electroluminescent seven-segment display; these were driven by electromechanical relays, limiting the update rate. Three five-digit signed numbers could also be displayed in octal or decimal, and were typically used to display vectors such as space craft attitude or a required velocity change (delta-V). Although data was stored internally in metric units, they were displayed as United States customary units. This calculator-style interface was the first of its kind.

The command module has two DSKYs connected to its AGC: one located on the main instrument panel and a second located in the lower equipment bay near a sextant used for aligning the inertial guidance platform. The lunar module had a single DSKY for its AGC. A flight director attitude indicator (FDAI), controlled by the AGC, was located above the DSKY on the commander's console and on the LM.

Timing
The AGC timing reference came from a 2.048 MHz crystal clock. The clock was divided by two to produce a four-phase 1.024 MHz clock which the AGC used to perform internal operations. The 1.024 MHz clock was also divided by two to produce a 512 kHz signal called the master frequency; this signal was used to synchronize external Apollo spacecraft systems.

The master frequency was further divided through a scaler, first by five using a ring counter to produce a 102.4 kHz signal. This was then divided by two through 17 successive stages called F1 (51.2 kHz) through F17 (0.78125 Hz). The F10 stage (100 Hz) was fed back into the AGC to increment the real-time clock and other involuntary counters using Pinc (discussed below). The F17 stage was used to intermittently run the AGC when it was operating in the standby mode.

Central registers
The AGC had four 16-bit registers for general computational use, called the central registers:
 * A: The accumulator, for general computation
 * Z: The program counter – the address of the next instruction to be executed
 * Q: The remainder from the  instruction, and the return address after   instructions
 * LP: The lower product after  instructions

There were also four locations in core memory, at addresses 20–23, dubbed editing locations because whatever was stored there would emerge shifted or rotated by one bit position, except for one that shifted right seven bit positions, to extract one of the seven-bit interpretive op. codes that were packed two to a word. This was common to Block I and Block II AGCs.

Other registers
The AGC had additional registers that were used internally in the course of operation:
 * S: 12-bit memory address register, the lower portion of the memory address
 * Bank/Fbank: 4-bit ROM bank register, to select the 1 kiloword ROM bank when addressing in the fixed-switchable mode
 * Ebank: 3-bit RAM bank register, to select the 256-word RAM bank when addressing in the erasable-switchable mode
 * Sbank (super-bank): 1-bit extension to Fbank, required because the last 4 kilowords of the 36-kiloword ROM was not reachable using Fbank alone
 * SQ: 4-bit sequence register; the current instruction
 * G: 16-bit memory buffer register, to hold data words moving to and from memory
 * X: The 'x' input to the adder (the adder was used to perform all 1's complement arithmetic) or the increment to the program counter (Z register)
 * Y: The other ('y') input to the adder
 * U: Not really a register, but the output of the adder (the ones' complement sum of the contents of registers X and Y)
 * B: General-purpose buffer register, also used to pre-fetch the next instruction. At the start of the next instruction, the upper bits of B (containing the next op. code) were copied to SQ, and the lower bits (the address) were copied to S.
 * C: Not a separate register, but the ones' complement of the B register
 * IN: Four 16-bit input registers
 * OUT: Five 16-bit output registers

Instruction set
The instruction format used 3 bits for opcode, and 12 bits for address. Block I had 11 instructions:,  ,  ,  ,  ,  ,  , and   (basic), and  ,  , and   (extra). The first eight, called basic instructions, were directly accessed by the 3-bit op. code. The final three were denoted as extracode instructions because they were accessed by performing a special type of  instruction (called  ) immediately before the instruction.

The Block I AGC instructions consisted of the following:
 * (transfer control): An unconditional branch to the address specified by the instruction. The return address was automatically stored in the Q register, so the  instruction could be used for subroutine calls.
 * (count, compare, and skip): A complex conditional branch instruction. The A register was loaded with data retrieved from the address specified by the instruction. (Because the AGC uses ones' complement notation, there are two representations of zero. When all bits are set to zero, this is called plus zero. If all bits are set to one, this is called minus zero.) The diminished absolute value (DABS) of the data was then computed and stored in the A register. If the number was greater than zero, the DABS decrements the value by 1; if the number was negative, it is complemented before the decrement is applied—this is the absolute value. Diminished means "decremented but not below zero". Therefore, when the AGC performs the DABS function, positive numbers will head toward plus zero, and so will negative numbers but first revealing their negativity via the four-way skip below. The final step in  is a four-way skip, depending upon the data in register A before the DABS. If register A was greater than 0,   skips to the first instruction immediately after  . If register A contained plus zero,   skips to the second instruction after  . Less than zero causes a skip to the third instruction after , and minus zero skips to the fourth instruction after  . The primary purpose of the count was to allow an ordinary loop, controlled by a positive counter, to end in a   and a   to the beginning of the loop, equivalent to an IBM 360's  . The absolute value function was deemed important enough to be built into this instruction; when used for only this purpose, the sequence after the   was   *+2,   *+2,   ONE. A curious side effect was the creation and use of  -holes when the value being tested was known to be never positive, which occurred more often than one might suppose. That left two whole words unoccupied, and a special committee was responsible for assigning data constants to these holes.
 * : Add the data retrieved at the address specified by the instruction to the next instruction.  can be used to add or subtract an index value to the base address specified by the operand of the instruction that follows  . This method is used to implement arrays and table look-ups; since the addition was done on both whole words, it was also used to modify the op. code in a following (extracode) instruction, and on rare occasions both functions at once.
 * : A special instance of  (  25). This is the instruction used to return from interrupts. It causes execution to resume at the interrupted location.
 * (exchange): Exchange the contents of memory with the contents of the A register. If the specified memory address is in fixed (read-only) memory, the memory contents are not affected, and this instruction simply loads register A. If it is in erasable memory, overflow "correction" is achieved by storing the leftmost of the 16 bits in A as the sign bit in memory, but there is no exceptional behavior like that of.
 * (clear and subtract): Load register A with the ones' complement of the data referenced by the specified memory address.
 * (transfer to storage): Store register A at the specified memory address.  also detects, and corrects for, overflows in such a way as to propagate a carry for multi-precision add/subtract. If the result has no overflow (leftmost 2 bits of A the same), nothing special happens; if there is overflow (those 2 bits differ), the leftmost one goes the memory as the sign bit, register A is changed to +1 or −1 accordingly, and control skips to the second instruction following the  . Whenever overflow is a possible but abnormal event, the   was followed by a   to the no-overflow logic; when it is a normal possibility (as in multi-precision add/subtract), the   is followed by   ZERO (  =   to fixed memory) to complete the formation of the carry (+1, 0, or −1) into the next higher-precision word. Angles were kept in single precision, distances and velocities in double precision, and elapsed time in triple precision.
 * (add): Add the contents of memory to register A and store the result in A. The 2 leftmost bits of A may be different (overflow state) before and/or after the . The fact that overflow is a state rather than an event forgives limited extents of overflow when adding more than two numbers, as long as none of the intermediate totals exceed twice the capacity of a word.
 * : Perform a bit-wise (boolean) and of memory with register A and store the result in register A.
 * (multiply): Multiply the contents of register A by the data at the referenced memory address and store the high-order product in register A and the low-order product in register LP. The parts of the product agree in sign.
 * (divide): Divide the contents of register A by the data at the referenced memory address. Store the quotient in register A and the absolute value of the remainder in register Q. Unlike modern machines, fixed-point numbers were treated as fractions (notional decimal point just to right of the sign bit), so you could produce garbage if the divisor was not larger than the dividend; there was no protection against that situation. In the Block II AGC, a double-precision dividend started in A and L (the Block II LP), and the correctly signed remainder was delivered in L. That considerably simplified the subroutine for double precision division.
 * (subtract): Subtract (ones' complement) the data at the referenced memory address from the contents of register A and store the result in A.

Instructions were implemented in groups of 12 steps, called timing pulses. The timing pulses were named TP1 through TP12. Each set of 12 timing pulses was called an instruction subsequence. Simple instructions, such as TC, executed in a single subsequence of 12 pulses. More complex instructions required several subsequences. The multiply instruction used 8 subsequences: an initial one called , followed by an   subsequence which was repeated 6 times, and then terminated by an   subsequence. This was reduced to 3 subsequences in Block II.

Each timing pulse in a subsequence could trigger up to 5 control pulses. The control pulses were the signals which did the actual work of the instruction, such as reading the contents of a register onto the bus, or writing data from the bus into a register.

Memory

Block I AGC memory was organized into 1 kiloword banks. The lowest bank (bank 0) was erasable memory (RAM). All banks above bank 0 were fixed memory (ROM). Each AGC instruction had a 12-bit address field. The lower bits (1-10) addressed the memory inside each bank. Bits 11 and 12 selected the bank: 00 selected the erasable memory bank; 01 selected the lowest bank (bank 1) of fixed memory; 10 selected the next one (bank 2); and 11 selected the Bank register that could be used to select any bank above 2. Banks 1 and 2 were called fixed-fixed memory, because they were always available, regardless of the contents of the Bank register. Banks 3 and above were called fixed-switchable because the selected bank was determined by the bank register.

The Block I AGC initially had 12 kilowords of fixed memory, but this was later increased to 24 kilowords. Block II had 36 kilowords of fixed memory and 2 kilowords of erasable memory.

The AGC transferred data to and from memory through the G register in a process called the memory cycle. The memory cycle took 12 timing pulses (11.72 μs). The cycle began at timing pulse 1 (TP1) when the AGC loaded the memory address to be fetched into the S register. The memory hardware retrieved the data word from memory at the address specified by the S register. Words from erasable memory were deposited into the G register by timing pulse 6 (TP6); words from fixed memory were available by timing pulse 7. The retrieved memory word was then available in the G register for AGC access during timing pulses 7 through 10. After timing pulse 10, the data in the G register was written back to memory.

The AGC memory cycle occurred continuously during AGC operation. Instructions needing memory data had to access it during timing pulses 7–10. If the AGC changed the memory word in the G register, the changed word was written back to memory after timing pulse 10. In this way, data words cycled continuously from memory to the G register and then back again to memory.

The lower 15 bits of each memory word held AGC instructions or data, with each word being protected by a 16th odd parity bit. This bit was set to 1 or 0 by a parity generator circuit so a count of the 1s in each memory word would always produce an odd number. A parity checking circuit tested the parity bit during each memory cycle; if the bit didn't match the expected value, the memory word was assumed to be corrupted and a parity alarm panel light was illuminated.

Interrupts and involuntary counters
The AGC had five vectored interrupts: The AGC responded to each interrupt by temporarily suspending the current program, executing a short interrupt service routine, and then resuming the interrupted program.
 * Dsrupt was triggered at regular intervals to update the user display (DSKY).
 * Erupt was generated by various hardware failures or alarms.
 * Keyrupt signaled a key press from the user's keyboard.
 * T3Rrupt was generated at regular intervals from a hardware timer to update the AGC's real-time clock.
 * Uprupt was generated each time a 16-bit word of uplink data was loaded into the AGC.

The AGC also had 20 involuntary counters. These were memory locations which functioned as up/down counters, or shift registers. The counters would increment, decrement, or shift in response to internal inputs. The increment (Pinc), decrement (Minc), or shift (Shinc) was handled by one subsequence of microinstructions inserted between any two regular instructions.

Interrupts could be triggered when the counters overflowed. The T3rupt and Dsrupt interrupts were produced when their counters, driven by a 100 Hz hardware clock, overflowed after executing many Pinc subsequences. The Uprupt interrupt was triggered after its counter, executing the Shinc subsequence, had shifted 16 bits of uplink data into the AGC.

Standby mode
The AGC had a power-saving mode controlled by a standby allowed switch. This mode turned off the AGC power, except for the 2.048 MHz clock and the scaler. The F17 signal from the scaler turned the AGC power and the AGC back on at 1.28 second intervals. In this mode, the AGC performed essential functions, checked the standby allowed switch, and, if still enabled, turned off the power and went back to sleep until the next F17 signal.

In the standby mode, the AGC slept most of the time; therefore it was not awake to perform the Pinc instruction needed to update the AGC's real time clock at 10 ms intervals. To compensate, one of the functions performed by the AGC each time it awoke in the standby mode was to update the real time clock by 1.28 seconds.

The standby mode was designed to reduce power by 5 to 10 W (from 70 W) during midcourse flight when the AGC was not needed. However, in practice, the AGC was left on during all phases of the mission and this feature was never used.

Data buses
The AGC had a 16-bit read bus and a 16-bit write bus. Data from central registers (A, Q, Z, or LP), or other internal registers could be gated onto the read bus with a control signal. The read bus connected to the write bus through a non-inverting buffer, so any data appearing on the read bus also appeared on the write bus. Other control signals could copy write bus data back into the registers.

Data transfers worked like this: To move the address of the next instruction from the B register to the S register, an RB (read B) control signal was issued; this caused the address to move from register B to the read bus, and then to the write bus. A WS (write S) control signal moved the address from the write bus into the S register.

Several registers could be read onto the read bus simultaneously. When this occurred, data from each register was inclusive-ORed onto the bus. This inclusive-OR feature was used to implement the Mask instruction, which was a logical AND operation. Because the AGC had no native ability to do a logical AND, but could do a logical OR through the bus and could complement (invert) data through the C register, De Morgan's theorem was used to implement the equivalent of a logical AND. This was accomplished by inverting both operands, performing a logical OR through the bus, and then inverting the result.

Software

AGC software was written in AGC assembly language and stored on rope memory. The bulk of the software was on read-only rope memory and thus could not be changed in operation, but some key parts of the software were stored in standard read-write magnetic-core memory and could be overwritten by the astronauts using the DSKY interface, as was done on Apollo 14.

A simple real-time operating system designed by J. Halcombe Laning consisting of the 'Exec', a batch job-scheduling using cooperative multi-tasking, and an interrupt-driven pre-emptive scheduler called the 'Waitlist' which scheduled timer-driven 'tasks', controlled the computer. Tasks were short threads of execution which could reschedule themselves for re-execution on the Waitlist, or could kick off a longer operation by starting a 'job' with the Exec. Calculations were carried out using the metric system, but display readouts were in units of feet, feet per second, and nautical miles – units that the Apollo astronauts were accustomed to.

The AGC had a sophisticated software interpreter, developed by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, that implemented a virtual machine with more complex and capable pseudo-instructions than the native AGC. These instructions simplified the navigational programs. Interpreted code, which featured double precision trigonometric, scalar and vector arithmetic (16 and 24-bit), even an  (matrix × vector) instruction, could be mixed with native AGC code. While the execution time of the pseudo-instructions was increased (due to the need to interpret these instructions at runtime) the interpreter provided many more instructions than AGC natively supported and the memory requirements were much lower than in the case of adding these instructions to the AGC native language which would require additional memory built into the computer (in the 1960s memory was very expensive). The average pseudo-instruction required about 24 ms to execute. The assembler, named YUL for an early prototype Christmas Computer, enforced proper transitions between native and interpreted code.

A set of interrupt-driven user interface routines called 'Pinball' provided keyboard and display services for the jobs and tasks running on the AGC. A set of user-accessible routines were provided to let the astronauts display the contents of various memory locations in octal or decimal in groups of 1, 2, or 3 registers at a time. 'Monitor' routines were provided so the operator could initiate a task to periodically redisplay the contents of certain memory locations. Jobs could be initiated.

The design principles developed for the AGC by MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, directed in late 1960s by Charles Draper, became foundational to software engineering—particularly for the design of more reliable systems that relied on asynchronous software, priority scheduling, testing, and human-in-the-loop decision capability. When the design requirements for the AGC were defined, necessary software and programming techniques did not exist so they had to be designed from scratch. Many of the trajectory and guidance algorithms used were based on earlier work by Richard Battin. The first command module flight was controlled by a software package called CORONA whose development was led by Alex Kosmala. Software for lunar missions consisted of COLOSSUS for the command module, whose development was led by Frederic Martin, and LUMINARY on the lunar module led by George Cherry. Details of these programs were implemented by a team under the direction of Margaret Hamilton. Hamilton was very interested in how the astronauts would interact with the software and predicted the types of errors that could occur due to human error. In total, software development on the project comprised 1400 person-years of effort, with a peak workforce of 350 people. In 2016, Hamilton received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her role in creating the flight software.

The Apollo Guidance Computer software influenced the design of Skylab, Space Shuttle and early fly-by-wire fighter aircraft systems.

The Apollo Guidance computer has been called "The fourth astronaut" for its role in helping the three astronauts who relied on it: Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.

Block II
A Block II version of the AGC was designed in 1966. It retained the basic Block I architecture, but increased erasable memory from 1 to 2 kilowords. Fixed memory was expanded from 24 to 36 kilowords. Instructions were expanded from 11 to 34 and I/O channels were implemented to replace the I/O registers on Block I. The Block II version is the one that actually flew to the moon. Block I was used during the uncrewed Apollo 4 and 6 flights, and was on board the ill-fated Apollo 1.

The decision to expand the memory and instruction set for Block II, but to retain the Block I's restrictive three-bit op. code and 12-bit address had interesting design consequences. Various tricks were employed to squeeze in additional instructions, such as having special memory addresses which, when referenced, would implement a certain function. For instance, an  to address 25 triggered the   instruction to return from an interrupt. Likewise,  17 performed an   instruction (inhibit interrupts), while   16 reenabled them. Other instructions were implemented by preceding them with a special version of  called. The address spaces were extended by employing the Bank (fixed) and Ebank (erasable) registers, so the only memory of either type that could be addressed at any given time was the current bank, plus the small amount of fixed-fixed memory and the erasable memory. In addition, the bank register could address a maximum of 32 kilowords, so an Sbank (super-bank) register was required to access the last 4 kilowords. All across-bank subroutine calls had to be initiated from fixed-fixed memory through special functions to restore the original bank during the return: essentially a system of far pointers.

The Block II AGC also has the  instruction (the name is a contraction of Ed's Interrupt, after Ed Smally, the programmer who requested it). This instruction does not generate an interrupt, rather it performs two actions that are common to interrupt processing. The first action, inhibits further interrupts (and requires a  instruction to enable them again). In the second action, the  register is loaded with the current value of the program counter (Z). It was only used once in the Apollo software, for setting up the DAP cycle termination sequence in the Digital Autopilot of the lunar module. It is believed to be responsible for problems emulating the LEM AGC Luminary software.

1201 and 1202 program alarms
PGNCS generated unanticipated warnings during Apollo 11's lunar descent, with the AGC showing a 1202 alarm ("Executive overflow - NO CORE SETS"), and then a 1201 alarm ("Executive overflow - NO VAC AREAS"). The response of the AGC to either alarm was a soft restart. The cause was a rapid, steady stream of spurious cycle steals from the rendezvous radar (tracking the orbiting command module), intentionally left on standby during the descent in case it was needed for an abort.

During this part of the approach, the processor would normally be almost 85% loaded. The extra 6,400 cycle steals per second added the equivalent of 13% load, leaving just enough time for all scheduled tasks to run to completion. Five minutes into the descent, Buzz Aldrin gave the computer the command 1668, which instructed it to periodically calculate and display DELTAH (the difference between altitude sensed by the radar and the computed altitude). The 1668 added another 10% to the processor workload, causing executive overflow and a 1202 alarm. After being given the "GO" from Houston, Aldrin entered 1668 again and another 1202 alarm occurred. When reporting the second alarm, Aldrin added the comment "It appears to come up when we have a 1668 up". The AGC software had been designed with priority scheduling, and automatically recovered, deleting lower priority tasks including the 1668 display task, to complete its critical guidance and control tasks. Guidance controller Steve Bales and his support team that included Jack Garman issued several "GO" calls and the landing was successful. For his role, Bales received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom on behalf of the entire control center team and the three Apollo astronauts.

The problem was not a programming error in the AGC, nor was it pilot error. It was a peripheral hardware design bug that had already been known and documented by Apollo 5 engineers. However, because the problem had only occurred once during testing, they concluded that it was safer to fly with the existing hardware that they had already tested, than to fly with a newer but largely untested radar system. In the actual hardware, the position of the rendezvous radar was encoded with synchros excited by a different source of 800 Hz AC than the one used by the computer as a timing reference. The two 800 Hz sources were frequency locked but not phase locked, and the small random phase variations made it appear as though the antenna was rapidly "dithering" in position, even though it was completely stationary. These phantom movements generated the rapid series of cycle steals.

J. Halcombe Laning's software and computer design saved the Apollo 11 landing mission. Had it not been for Laning's design, the landing would have been aborted for lack of a stable guidance computer.

Applications outside Apollo
The AGC formed the basis of an experimental fly-by-wire (FBW) system installed into an F-8 Crusader to demonstrate the practicality of computer driven FBW. The AGC used in the first phase of the program was replaced with another machine in the second phase, and research done on the program led to the development of fly-by-wire systems for the Space Shuttle. The AGC also led, albeit indirectly, to the development of fly-by-wire systems for the generation of fighters that were being developed at the time.

Source code release
In 2003, an effort was started by Ron Burkey to recover the source code that powered the AGC and build an emulator able to run it, the VirtualAGC. Part of the large amount of source code rescued as a result of this effort was uploaded by a former NASA intern to GitHub on July 7, 2016, attracting significant media attention. The original Apollo 11 Guidance Computer source code was originally made accessible in 2003 by the Virtual AGC Project and MIT Museum. It was transcribed and digitalized from the original hard-copy source code listings that were made in the '60s. In mid-2016, former NASA intern Chris Garry uploaded the AGC Source code onto GitHub.

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

title: Apollo Guidance Computer


text:
Neutron source

A neutron source is any device that emits neutrons, irrespective of the mechanism used to produce the neutrons. Neutron sources are used in physics, engineering, medicine, nuclear weapons, petroleum exploration, biology, chemistry, and nuclear power. Neutron source variables include the energy of the neutrons emitted by the source, the rate of neutrons emitted by the source, the size of the source, the cost of owning and maintaining the source, and government regulations related to the source.

Spontaneous fission
Some isotopes undergo spontaneous fission (SF) with emission of neutrons. The most common spontaneous fission source is the isotope californium-252. 252Cf and all other SF neutron sources are made by irradiating uranium or a transuranic element in a nuclear reactor, where neutrons are absorbed in the starting material and its subsequent reaction products, transmuting the starting material into the SF isotope. 252Cf neutron sources are typically 1/4" to 1/2" in diameter and 1" to 2" in length. A typical 252Cf neutron source emits 107 to 109 neutrons per second when new; but with a half-life of 2.6 years, neutron output drops by half in 2.6 years.

Alpha decay
Neutrons are produced when alpha particles hit any of several light isotopes including isotopes of beryllium, carbon, or oxygen. Thus, a neutron source can be fabricated by mixing an alpha-emitter such as radium, polonium, or americium with a low-atomic-weight isotope, usually by blending powders of the two materials. Alpha neutron sources typically produce ~106–108 neutrons per second. An alpha-beryllium neutron source may produce about 30 neutrons per 106 alpha particles. The useful lifetime for such sources depends on the half-life of the radioisotope. The size and cost of these neutron sources are comparable to spontaneous fission sources. Usual combinations of materials are plutonium-beryllium (PuBe), americium-beryllium (AmBe), or americium-lithium (AmLi).

Photodisintegration
Gamma radiation with an energy exceeding the neutron binding energy of a nucleus can eject a neutron, a process known as photodisintegration. Two example reactions are:
 * 9Be + >1.7 MeV photon → 1 neutron + 2 4He
 * 2H (deuterium) + >2.26 MeV photon → 1 neutron + 1H

Sealed-tube neutron generators
Some accelerator-based neutron generators induce fusion between beams of deuterium and/or tritium ions and metal hydride targets which also contain these isotopes.

Dense plasma focus
The dense plasma focus neutron source produces controlled nuclear fusion by creating a dense plasma within which heats ionized deuterium and/or tritium gas to temperatures sufficient for creating fusion.

Inertial electrostatic confinement
Inertial electrostatic confinement devices such as the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor use an electric field to heat a plasma to fusion conditions and produce neutrons. Various applications from a hobby enthusiast scene up to commercial applications have developed, mostly in the US.

Light ion accelerators
Traditional particle accelerators with hydrogen, deuterium, or tritium ion sources may be used to produce neutrons using targets of deuterium, tritium, lithium, beryllium, and other low-Z materials. Typically these accelerators operate with energies in the > 1 MeV range.

Bremsstrahlung systems
In a bremsstrahlung system, Neutrons are produced when photons above the nuclear binding energy of a substance are incident on that substance, causing it to undergo giant dipole resonance after which it either emits a neutron (photoneutron) or undergoes fission (photofission). The number of neutrons released by each fission event is dependent on the substance. Typically photons begin to produce neutrons on interaction with normal matter at energies of about 7 to 40 MeV, which means that radiotherapy facilities using megavoltage X-rays also produce neutrons, and some require neutron shielding. In addition, electrons of energy over about 50 MeV may induce giant dipole resonance in nuclides by a mechanism which is the inverse of internal conversion and thus produce neutrons by a mechanism similar to that of photoneutrons.

Nuclear fission reactors
Nuclear fission within a reactor, produces many neutrons and can be used for a variety of purposes including power generation and experiments. Research reactors are often specially designed to allow placement of material samples into a high neutron flux environment.

Nuclear fusion systems
Nuclear fusion, the fusing of heavy isotopes of hydrogen, has the potential to produces large numbers of neutrons. Small scale fusion systems exist for (plasma) research purposes at many universities and laboratories around the world. A small number of large scale fusion experiments also exist including the National Ignition Facility in the US, JET in the UK, and soon the ITER experiment currently under construction in France. None are yet used as neutron sources.

Inertial confinement fusion has the potential to produce orders of magnitude more neutrons than spallation. This could be useful for neutron radiography which can be used to locate hydrogen atoms in structures, resolve atomic thermal motion and study collective excitation of nuclei more effectively than X-rays.

High-energy particle accelerators
A spallation source is a high-flux source in which protons that have been accelerated to high energies hit a target, prompting emission of neutrons. The world's strongest neutron sources tend to be spallation based as high flux fission reactors have an upper bound of neutrons produced. As of 2022, the most powerful neutron source in the world is the Spallation Neutron Source in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with the European Spallation Source in Lund, Sweden under construction to become the world's strongest intermediate duration pulsed neutron source.

Subcritical nuclear fission reactors are proposed to use spallation neutron sources and can be used both for nuclear transmutation (e.g. production of medical radionuclides or synthesis of precious metals) and for power generation as the energy required to produce one spallation neutron (~30 MeV at current technology levels) is almost an order of magnitude lower than the energy released by fission (~200 MeV for most fissile actinides).

Neutron flux
For most applications, higher neutron flux is better (since it reduces the time needed to do the experiment, acquire the image, etc.). Amateur fusion devices, like a fusor, generate only about 300 000 neutrons per second. Commercial fusor devices can generate on the order of 109 neutrons per second, hence a usable flux of less than 105 n/(cm2 s). Large neutron beams around the world achieve much greater flux. Reactor-based sources now produce 1015 n/(cm2 s), and spallation sources generate > 1017 n/(cm2 s).

title: Neutron source


text:
User talk:Infrogmation/Archive1

 * This is an archive of older talk for user Infrogmation

 * For recent discussion, see User talk:Infrogmation. For not quite so old talk, there is User talk:Infrogmation/Archive2.

Hello there Infrogmation, welcome to the 'pedia! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. If you ever need editing help visit How does one edit a page and experiment at Sandbox. If you need pointers on how we title pages visit Naming conventions or how to format them visit our manual of style. If you have any other questions about the project then check out Help or add a question to the Village pump. BTW, nice work on the Blues and Jazz articles. Cheers! --maveric149

I'd like to thank you for adding a comment on A. Baldwin Wood to the Zuiderzee Works page. I wasn't aware of this bit of information, but after some research (e.g. see here all the way at the bottom) it turns out he was the inventor of the screw pump, which is indeed used in the pumping stations. I've edited your comment primarily for brevity, as I feel the article is overly long as it is, but Baldwin Wood certainly should be added. Scipius 18:33 Oct 7, 2002 (UTC)

Thanks. Wood is fairly well known here in New Orleans (and I recently visited some friends that live in Wood's former house). I'd heard mentioned that he also designed pumping systems for the draining of the Zuider Zee. Thanks for the link to the pdf cache-- I got some additional information from that article. If your Zuiderzee Works article is long, it looks to me to be well organized and appropriate for the topic. -- Infrogmation

I hadn't gotten around to saying hello, so "Hello!" Welcome to Wikipedia. I look forward to bouncing some more r&b, jazz, and rock&roll ideas off you in the future. Ortolan88 - Hello, I'd like to offer a belated welcome too. :-) I notice you've worked on some film entries, so I just wanted to let you know that Danny, Zoe, Eclecticology, & some other film buffs have subscribed to the filmtv list serv as a means of fact checking or posting questions when something comes up we can't find the answer to.  Cheers,  --KQ

 * Thanks for the welcome. I'm not a real film buff -- I have some friends who are, so I can tell I'm not :-) -- it was just a case of seeing something I could add to.  Best wishes, Infrogmation

- Thanks for great scans of the engravings! I am new to wikipedia, so I haven't done much yet myself, but I find wikipedia invaluable! Thanks, Jesse

 * Sure thing. Since I have a few late 19th century and early 20th century books and magazines in the clutter of my shelves, I thought I'd scan some relevent images. --Infrogmation 23:55 Nov 4, 2002 (UTC)

When I first came into Wikipedialand, I got into a squabble with the guy who wrote Cajun. It seems he's long gone, but the article still needs work. See Talk:Cajun for the squabble, my questions. I wonder if you'd be interested in improving it. (Unlesss that was you I got into the squabble with under another name, in which case, sorry, but it still needs work). Ortolan88

 * No, that wasn't me. Being from New Orleans I know that Cajuns are from the South Western part of the state, not here, but beyond that have no particular detailed knowledge about the subject.  I'd like to see that entry turned into a decent encyclopedia article, maintaining at least some of that colorful language if possible. Sorry, I'm not volunteering.  Cheers, --- Infrogmation 07:32 Nov 15, 2002 (UTC)

Ah, well, someday someone will fix it. Nice work on Muggles. Have you heard this story? Louis Armstrong was making a State Department trip to Moscow at the same time as Richard Nixon. They met in the airport and Nixon came over and said he was great fan and admirer and if there was anything he could do, he would be glad to. "Well, Mr. Vice President," Armstrong said, could you carry my bags over there for me?" Nixon was surprised, but complied, thus smuggling the band's stash through customs.  Ortolan88

 * Heh, yes, I'd heard that story. Not from any verifiable sources. I can picture it though...  -- Infrogmation

Hi - I just saw on your user page: "I'll leave writing the needed article on abstract impressionism to someone else" - is abstract impressionism something I don't know about, or do you mean abstract expressionism? If you do mean that, by the way, I think they're very pretty ;-) --Camembert

 * D'oh! Thanks for the correction-- and the fine article!   Certainly, it's a matter of taste, and that was a subject I thought would be better approached by  someone whose tastes were different than mine.  While I have some understanding of the creative impulse that would prompt an artist to make a work of abstract expressionism, I've never been quite sure why anyone else is supposed to want to spend time looking at it ;-)  -- Infrogmation

- Thanks for cleaning up History of Mexico. :-) I was trying to merge two different sources of text and it apparently resulted in some redundancy.  --KQ

 * Yes, thanks. The article still needs work, but it's getting better bit by bit. -- Infrogmation

- What is your source for History of the Philippines? This certainly isn't what is taught to us in school. There was very little mention of the Philippine Revolutionary Movement, a topic that is quite a history in itself.

I particularly take exception to this part:

 * "...the Asiatic Squadron, under Commodore George Dewey, defeated the Spanish fleet in the Battle of Manila Bay. This encouraged a large revolt against the Spanish by Filipinos, who looked upon the Americans as liberators."

This is misleading because it implies the Americans defeating the Spanish fleet is the spark that led to the Philippine Revolution. The Revolution started with the Propaganda Movement years before, which eventually led to the founding of the Katipunan, and later, with the help of the Americans, to the routing of the Spaniards.

Maybe if I have a bit of time, I can re-edit those parts. Nice job, by the way. :-)  --Eugene

 * Hm, I don't recall if I was the one who wrote that paragraph or not. My sources were a couple of books in my collection (all published in the USA over 50 years ago) supplimeted with a few websites I found on Google.  I certainly don't consider what I wrote a final version of the article; I just left it much improved from what was there before.  Further improvements welcome! -- Infrogmation 22:54 Jan 9, 2003 (UTC)

Hi Infrogmation. For Chichen Itza, I have yet unposted photos of the adoratorio, a section of the relief of skulls from the tzompantli, a relief of a jaguar and an eagle from the platform of jaguar and eagles, the chacmool and the red jaguar inside the castillo (dark pic..isnt the best) and some reliefs from inside the ballcourt. I don't want to overdue the chichen article...are there any of those I've listed you think are worth adding? The adoratorio is a at least one more good pic that I plan to add after I get it scanned in. I see that you're not the best speller...I won't give you a hard time about that any more. B

 * Thanks for adding the photos. If you have particularly good or illustrative pics, sure add them.  If the article starts to get too long we can always make some of the major structures into seperate articles.  I plan to scan some of my own photos of Maya ruins one of these days... also some good pix from pre WWI era books. -- Infrogmation 05:51 Jan 30, 2003 (UTC)

I see you're modest about your journal too. :-) Koyaanis Qatsi

Nice catch on Jump Jim Crow

Re HMV: What a dope; since I have no sense, I'd better go to bed. Ortolan88

I was banned before I could finish the articles on emir and shaikh. Now you will have to do it all by yourself. Vera Cruz

Thanks for the review of Stephen Decatur, but it turns out we're both wrong about how to format ship names - the "USS" and "HMS" are definitely not italicized, but they should be replicated inside the link so they go with the name, as in USS Hornet and HMS Resolution. Stan Shebs 17:17 Feb 11, 2003 (UTC)

 * Thanks. Infrogmation

Want to comment on my disambiguation proposal on the Stardust talk page? --AW

 * Stardust and associated pages look good now. -- Infrogmation

Let's please not start referring to all Americans as "USA". That's not even a nationality. -- Zoe

 * Yep...it should be Usian :)

 * Hm. Since an encyclopedia should value precision, I like using "USA" when practical instead of "America" or "American" as it is short, clear, and unambiguous. Do you think that this is wrong or inappropriate? Perhaps there is somewhere in Meta or such where this should be discussed?  Cheers, -- Infrogmation 20:52 Feb 18, 2003 (UTC)

Discussion of when to best use terms like "American", "USA", etc moved to Talk:List of United States people (see).

BTW, I've wondered from some reactions I've seen: Does anyone consider the abreviation "USA" to be somehow insulting or deragatory? -- Infrogmation 23:37 Feb 26, 2003 (UTC)

I am a new user of Wikipedia. I tried to adapt some material that I wrote about Dan Dennett's book Elbow Room for Wikipedia. I had previosly posted my work at my GeoCities website. Can you tell me what the correct method is for doing this? JWSchmidt 20:39 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)

 * Hi. Wikipedia has to beware of people trying to put copyrighted material without permission. When an unlogged in user places a large block of text that duplicates websites elsewhere it raises flags. It looks like in Talk:Elbow Room you explained the situation fine. Your text is now back in the article.
 * For future reference of others in similar situations, it might be a good idea to put a short explanation on the discussion page when adding a prexisting chunk of text to Wikipedia, as I did on Talk:Sidney Bechet. Other info at: Welcome, newcomers and Copyrights.
 * Welcome to Wikipedia -- Infrogmation 20:59 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)

Thanks so much for your editing at Fletcher Henderson. I appreciate the improvements and, just as important, the demonstation of correct Wikipedia-style --User:SeanO (how does one add the time??)

 * Thanks. To put your user name in a comment, use three tildes (~) in a row. For time as well, make it 4 tildes. -- Infrogmation 22:48 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)

Thanks again. Very handy. -- SeanO 00:15 Mar 11, 2003 (UTC)

Directing your attention to Champion Jack Dupree and Lester Melrose. When Champion Jack sings about "Rampart and Dumaine", what is the spelling of the second street and what is the significance of the intersection? Ortolan88

 * Rampart Street on both sides of Canal Street was heavily given over to entertainment establishments for African Americans. Dumaine is on the downtown side, on the edge of the French Quarter.  I'd have to do some research to know what clubs/bars/etc were at that intersection when Dupree made that record. -- Infrogmation

Rampart and Dumaine, address of J&M Records and J&M Studio of Cosimo Matassa. Ortolan88

 * Aha, of course! The uptown river corner of the intersection, IIRC. --Infrogmation

&#34521&#36039 (frog+data) - &#35918&#30505

 * (re: how to view characterson User_talk:Stevertigo)

 * Glad you asked... What system/browser are you using...? - &#35918&#30505

 * Usually Win98/Opera. Opera has several encoding options which include Chinese, Big 5, but switching to that and reloading didn't help; maybe I need to have fonts loaded somewhere? I had no beter luck with IE. --Infrogmation

Hmm. Maybe Unicode UTF-8 encoding is the issue... and try explorer again, but just do the winupdate - and select Chin and Jap options... let it do its thing and restart... I use 98 /IE6 and it works fine... Im running it in western ISO mode as well, so no need to change encoding... The big5 GB and Jis codes can be overkill... JIS x gets into 68,000 characters! useless... --- &#35918&#30505

 * Hm. I tried IE changing to ISO and UTF-8 and other "Encoding" options. I was sorta hoping for a link to something where I could figure out what to switch/upload myself. Ah well. --Infrogmation 22:08 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

Ah. Ok. How about now? You need the update, I think... Ive got a speedy con, so its not a problem... 3mb isnt a joke on dialp. - &#35918&#30505sv

The Brownie was not the first camera using roll film. It was the first camera for the "man in the street", and the first camera produced in very large quantities, though. -- Egil 19:41 Mar 15, 2003 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the clarification. I was aware that roll film somewhat predated the Brownie, but I was under the impression that the Brownie did much to popularize this still new medium. If someone can provide some historical data to Photographic film that would probably be useful. -- Infrogmation

RE: Irreversible (movie) - You made it sound as though a film is only controversial if it is released in North America. This film became controversial as soon as it came out all over Europe in Oct. 2002. At the premiere some people even vomited, most closed their eyes. Every critic labelled it the most crontroversial ever (at least one available in cinemas). I saw it today, I agree with them,it is by a country mile and then some! User:Black Widow

 * I think you miss the point I was trying to make. I think it's a bit premature to call any film (even if it currently arouses a great deal of controversy) "the most controversial in history" when it has been out for less than a year. If you really hold that this is undebatable, I think it's up to you to explain how it surpasses "Clockwork Orange", "Citizen Kane" etc etc in controversy.  Until then, qualifying with "one of" seems IMO more prudent. I suggest any further discussion of the topic should go on Talk:List of 'years in film' where more people interested in such discussion will see it.  Cheers, -- Infrogmation 02:33 Mar 16, 2003 (UTC)

Hi, thank you for the touch-up to the Brisbane, Queensland article, especially the rewording of the link back to Brisbane at the bottom (I'll be copying that). One question though. Why did you move the image down? Its previous location (top right) was not an accident. I'll watch this page until you reply. - Gaz 08:17 Mar 19, 2003 (UTC)
 * While I was editing I moved the image down as it of a size that takes a few seconds to load on a dialup connection. That's just my preference to have a bit of text availible on top that can be read while the image loads. Put it back on top if you wish, but count to five or ten to yourself imagining nothing on the page is loaded to simulate the experience :-) -- Cheers, Infrogmation 08:37 Mar 19, 2003 (UTC)

Thanks for that :). Can I just check, I see two delete links - one next to the image (del) the other the usual "delete this page" link at the bottom. Do I need to use both? or just the image (del)?  Sorry, I being dense tonight -- sannse 22:19 Mar 21, 2003 (UTC)

I enjoyed your aricle on "You Don't Know What You're Doin'".Though, I have to admit, I was surprised to see someone do an article on such an obscure cartoon. What prompted you to do the synopsis? You planning any more? BrianSmithson 21:55 Mar 24, 2003 (UTC)

 * Thanks. That's just a cartoon I like and I recalled enough off the top of my head to write some stuff. I don't have any specific plans, but may do a few more eventually if noone else does 'em first-- I'm most likely to do some of the cartoons with good hot jazz sound tracks. Keep up your great work on classic animation! Cheers, -- Infrogmation 00:17 Mar 30, 2003 (UTC)

Why was I blocked!!! Danny

 * I don't know. I didn't block User:Danny. -- Infrogmation 04:55 Apr 15, 2003 (UTC)

Actually, Frumpysnarf was linked to, but it's in the How to start a page page, so it's linked as http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frumpysnarf instead of the usual double brackets. That's why it doesn't show up with anything linking to it, but it's going to be created and re-created anyway. -- John Owens 01:17 Apr 16, 2003 (UTC)

 * Aha; thanks. So, despite all the contributions to wikipidia, no one has yet written a decent article about Frumpysnarf :-) -- Infrogmation 01:27 Apr 16, 2003 (UTC)

With reference to the term "search string" on Booker T. Washington, would you mind explaing what this means? I'm a novice at computers, so bear with me. Thanks. User:JoanB

 * Sure. It's a minor point; there was nothing wrong with your fine work on the article. In sizable biographic articles I like including the subject's most commonly known name in the text as this helps people using Google or other internet search engines to find the page. As the text lists him by his full but less well known name of "Booker Talifero (T.) Washington", I replaced a couple of "he"s with "Booker T. Washington". Welcome to Wikipedia! Cheers, -- Infrogmation 16:45 Apr 16, 2003 (UTC)

-

Hey, where did you read Nanook of the North referred to as a docudrama? I've always seen it listed as a documentary, and I study documentary film. (Incidentally, that constant reference throws some water on the (generally uninformed) assertion that Michael Moore doesn't make documentaries because of their stagings, but that's a topic for another day). Koyaanis Qatsi

 * That was from a conversation some 10 years ago with some film buffs at an alternative video store that rented Nanook. If you think the opinion I mention is inappropriate, be bold. Cheers, -- Infrogmation 05:32 Apr 21, 2003 (UTC)

 * I'll defer to documentary film makers; maybe I can find one canonical director who comments to that effect (I haven't so far, but I haven't specifically looked for a comment like that, either). Otherwise I'd rather remove it.  Koyaanis Qatsi

 * Fine, I took that comment out. -- Infrogmation

Wrt: Al Capone: When making an improved version of an image, I think it is much preferred to upload the new version with exactly the same name. There are then convenient methods to revert or delete the old version. Changing names, you will need to edit the article too, plus, the old image ends up as an orphan. -- Egil 11:48 May 4, 2003 (UTC)

 * Good point! I have sometimes done that (eg, at Adlai E. Stevenson) but did not with Capone. Thanks for explaining why that's prefered. -- Infrogmation 11:53 May 4, 2003 (UTC)

I have also been blocked, apparently because I'm on the same IP address as "Michael/Weezer." He probably used AOL, as I am right now, so blocking his IP might block a lot of other people as well. RL Barrett 22:38 May 6, 2003 (UTC)
 * Hmm... I'm not sure of the proper procedure here; I've brought it up on Village pump. -- Infrogmation 22:55 May 6, 2003 (UTC)

Why did you remove White House from Requested pictures? It currently only has 19th century pictures. --Eloquence 04:48 May 11, 2003 (UTC)

 * Sorry. I recall it was there when I put up those 19th century pictures months ago, and I hadn't seen any further action on it since. I didn't know that the request was still relevent. If you like, put it back there, perhaps with the specific request for a good recent photograph. Cheers, -- Infrogmation 04:53 May 11, 2003 (UTC)

Opps! Thanks for fixing my Mum's Day error. --mav 05:43 May 12, 2003 (UTC)

Thanks! I was surprised we didn't have anything on White/Thaw/Nesbit, so...! -- Someone else 01:06 May 13, 2003 (UTC) - Good call on the Stillborn article/photo. I tried my warmest and fuzziest on the talk page to try and get a reasonable response, rather than an instant reversion from anon. I fear my warm and fuzzy is a little out of practice, more like a cold and balding :( -- Someone else 06:29 May 15, 2003 (UTC)

Re: Revert to saying "one of the longest lasting" unless you have written proof that the Tokaji advocates have surrendered

Good point, forgot about Tokaji. I see that crownestates-tokaji.com claims a bottle of 1641 was drinkable in the 1970s, which probably beats Madeira by a long shot. Still, 1799 Madeira still being bottled (12 bottles a year) has to count for something, right? Hey, you're not volunteering to write the Tokaji article and fully express their position, are you? Regards, Wnissen 21:00 20 May 2003 (UTC)

 * No, but I gave the Tokaji subject a stubby start. Thanks for your fine contributions about wine. Cheers, -- Infrogmation

-
 * # (diff) (hist) . . M Epitaph Records; 04:32 . . Infrogmation (Talk) (Reverted to last edit by Black Widow)

Now there's something I thought I'd never see! :-) Koyaanis Qatsi

I just started an article at George Leybourne that I thought you might have something to add to (which I'd be glad for) - there's a bit of a connection to New Orleans and the Rex Krewe... -- Someone else 01:53 22 May 2003 (UTC)

Talk:Lee_Harvey_Oswald -- user_talk:hfastedge

I guess bad jokes and other deleted nonsense has fallen out of fashion. Oh well, it's good for a laugh when you have some spare time. :-) Koyaanis Qatsi

While I didn't check the rest of the names on the list of famous Lithuanians, I do think Daffy Duck was not on the list, however the "voice" of Daffy Duck, Mel Blanc was on the list... YMMV, but I think your deletion might have been slightly quick. -- Cimon Avaro on a pogo stick 16:43 31 May 2003 (UTC)

 * You may be right. The article certainly looked a mess, a quick glance showed many non-Lituanians with no indication of their possible Lituanian ancestry. I now moved it to Talk:List of famous Lithuanians, which I almost did at first. -- Infrogmation 16:55 31 May 2003 (UTC)

Odds on the list is infact a dud. But there may be something to salvage from it. And it may not be maliciously intended. -- Cimon Avaro on a pogo stick 17:09 31 May 2003 (UTC)

June 2003
The last two Liam Lynchs you wrote about were the same person :) LittleDan 16:50 1 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Thanks. I was wondering if they might be, but I didn't find anything in 5 min on Google confirming it. Long live the wonders of the informal peer-review of Wikipedia! -- Infrogmation 16:56 1 Jun 2003 (UTC)

In case you didn't already know, I've created a group watchlist of sorts at Favorite pages of banned users to help with tracking when Michael is vandalizing (and any future vandals like him). So feel free too use it, I have already found it helpful, and please add to it when he vandalizes more. Thanks. MB 22:11 6 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Hi, I'm trying to add a bit about John Densmore's drumming for the article on the Doors, but I keep seeing it referred to as "jazz drumming." Is there in fact, anything such as "jazz drumming"--distinct characteristics of drumming in jazz, which Densmore's drumming shares? Or is "jazz drumming" a term, much like "uptempo," created by non-musicians to describe music? Koyaanis Qatsi 20:42 8 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Hm, there is such a thing as jazz drumming, but it's more than one single style. That might warrent an article in the future. Sorry, I don't have any particular reccomendations for the Densmore article. --Infrogmation

Hi- Thanks for your efforts in cleaning up the list of people by name listings. I've been copying descriptions wholesale from other lists where the names show up; it's good to have some better edits. Thanks! -- Amillar 17:58 10 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Thank you for all your work in the name listings. --Infrogmation 18:51 11 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Hi... why was the sentence "it is believed to have functioned as pets in the Mayan and Aztec civilizations" removed from my Mexican Hairless article?
 * See: Talk:Mexican Hairless. --Infrogmation 18:51 11 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Jolly good job~ Pizza Puzzle

Hi. I'm not clear of the point of the png added to Condor, which looks like a 19th century drawing. Whilst it's not as bad as the cartoon bird I've just removed from finch, I'm not sure it adds to the article either, especially as I can't tell which condor it is supposed to be. As it happens, Californian Condor is one of the few birds for which there are lots of good public domain images. If it is just a matter of adding another image, I'd rather add another good quality jpg. Let me know your views, or if I've misunderstood something. jimfbleak 05:38 26 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Replied to at User talk:Jimfbleak

I see you uploaded to the article Oakland Motor Car. Could you please provide the name, Vol. And issue # of the 1917 magazine this photo came from so as to be certain in case someone questions our copyright and source. Thank you. ChuckM 03:31 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Nov 24 1917, page 24, of a USA national weekly of the era. No volume or issue number given. Further info, or scans of sections of that issue in my personal collection, availible upon specific request. Any reason you're asking about that particular one? --Infrogmation 03:55 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

See User:ChuckM for the reason... Evercat 03:56 27 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Thanks for fixing my mistake in Melbourne Beach, Florida. I can't believe I wrote that Ponce De Leon was the first person in Florida! Paullusmagnus 19:04 30 Jun 2003 (UTC)

July

From VfD: "Unless some football fan thinks this is worth fixing (perhaps making the goat article a redirect to a team article), I'd say sacrifice the goat." - That made me chuckle. :-) --Eloquence 23:49 15 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I have a couple of minor issues to raise. Unfortunately, I don;t seem to be capable of raising them briefly.

1. I saw you reverted Art Blakey to a version with date links. I've been removing irrelevant date links from all the jazz stubs I've been creating, in line with Make_only_links_relevant_to_the_context. However, this isn't an issue I feel deeply about, and I don't want to get into reversion battles over the issue (I did by accident remove the date links again -- at my age you assume that your memory's wrong before you assume someone else restored them -- but have now re-reverted to the linked version). So I thought before doing any more link removal I'd ask if you have any firm opinion on this issue. Incidentally, I am the Jfitzg who started the Blakey article.

 * Okay, forget that issue. now Hephaestos is restoring the date links, too. Who am I against so many? Still interested in the next question, though. Trontonian

 * While the relevency of some dates are debatable, it seems to me that both Make_only_links_relevant_to_the_context and Biography standards suggest the birth and death dates of people should be wikilinked. I noted that you were taking those out too. BTW, as you can observe in the article history, you were not logged on while you were doing those edits; I saw someone with no Wikipedia User history except for removing links from articles. This made me (and perhaps others) more scheptical of just what you were up to. --Infrogmation 21:19 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * A littler learning was a dnagerous thing for me, then. I don't see the point of linking the birth dates, but I'll do it. Thanks. I'll take the condescending remarks off my user page, too. Trontonian

 * Heh, I hadn't noticed "the condescending remarks" while they were there. Infrogmation

2. I liked your expansion of Jazz standard. It's much more useful now. I had earlier added "Bags' Groove" to the instrumental list, but am still wondering whether it's substantial enough to qualify as a standard. What do you think? Trontonian

 * Kudos for your fine contributions in jazz related topics. While I enjoy listening to many styles, my research has pretty much been limited to the early (pre- Swing era) stuff, and I can't claim any expertise for the later stuff. Perhaps you could google search that title and see how many hits it gets compared to titles of other standards? Um, in other words, my answer is "Sorry, I don't know". Cheers, -- Infrogmation 21:19 17 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Thanks. My knowledge of jazz has developed from my early fondness for Jackie McLean and Dizzy Gillespie. I'm mainly familiar with the people they played with. Jazz is such a huge field that no one can know a lot about it, and the musicians are continually changing it -- it's music controlled by the people who play it. Trontonian

 * Cool. I had the privledge to hear Dizzy play back in the early '80s. Jazzily, Infrogmation 05:33 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Re: Lower Middle Earth in League. This was an oblique reference to Bored of the Rings that I put in months ago and had thought got taken back out. Shouldn't have gotten back in, really Williamv1138

-- Great article! I should read Wikipedia more often. --mav 04:50 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Thanks! Re the specific reference, it's here on The Guardian site; I didn't link to it as it only mentions bathing machines in passing, but might be of interest about history of going to the beach.   You should read Wikipedia more often?! Is that physically possible? -- Infrogmation 05:26 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * LOL - I guess I'm a work-a-holic. --mav

User talk:Infrogmation/Archive2

User talk:Infrogmation

title: User talk:Infrogmation/Archive1


text:
Entente Cordiale

The Entente Cordiale (lit. 'Cordial Agreement') comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. On the surface, the agreement dealt with issues strictly related to fishing and colonial boundaries. Egypt was recognized as part of Britain's sphere of influence, and Morocco as part of France's. The Entente was not a formal alliance and did not involve close collaboration, nor was it intended to be directed against Germany. However, it paved the way for a stronger relationship between France and Britain in the face of German aggression. It should not be mistaken for the official Anglo-French military alliance, which was only established after the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

The main colonial agreement was the recognition that Egypt was fully in the British sphere of influence and likewise Morocco in France's, with the proviso that France's eventual dispositions for Morocco include reasonable allowance for Spain's interests there. At the same time, Britain ceded the Los Islands (off French Guinea) to France, defined the frontier of Nigeria in France's favour, and agreed to French control of the upper Gambia valley; while France renounced its exclusive right to certain fisheries off Newfoundland. Furthermore, French and British proposed zones of influence in Siam (Thailand), which was eventually decided not to be colonised, were outlined, with the eastern territories, adjacent to French Indochina, becoming a proposed French zone, and the western, adjacent to Burmese Tenasserim, a proposed British zone. Arrangements were also made to allay the rivalry between British and French colonists in the New Hebrides.

In long-term perspective, the Entente Cordiale marked the end of almost a thousand years of intermittent conflict between the two states and their predecessors, and replaced the modus vivendi that had existed since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 with a more formal agreement. The Entente Cordiale represented the culmination of the policy of Théophile Delcassé (France's foreign minister from 1898 to 1905), who believed that a Franco-British understanding would give France some security in Western Europe against any  German system of alliances (see Triple Alliance (1882)). Credit for the success of the negotiation of the Entente Cordiale belongs chiefly to Paul Cambon (France's ambassador in London from 1898 to 1920) and to the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne. In signing the Entente Cordiale, both powers reduced the virtual isolation into which they each had withdrawn. Britain had no major-power ally apart from Japan (1902). France had only the Franco-Russian Alliance. The agreement threatened Germany, whose policy had long relied on Franco-British antagonism. A German attempt to check the French in Morocco in 1905 (the Tangier Incident, or First Moroccan Crisis), and thus to upset the Entente, served only to strengthen it. Military discussions between the French and the British general staffs were initiated. Franco-British solidarity was confirmed at the Algeciras Conference (1906) and reconfirmed in the Second Moroccan Crisis (1911).

Background
The French term Entente Cordiale (usually translated as "cordial agreement" or "cordial understanding") comes from a letter written in 1843 by the British Foreign Secretary Lord Aberdeen to his brother, in which he mentioned "a cordial, good understanding" between the two nations. This was translated into French as Entente Cordiale and used by Louis Philippe I in the French Chamber of Peers that year. When used today the term almost always denotes the second Entente Cordiale, that is to say, the written and partly secret agreement signed in London between the two powers on 8 April 1904.

The agreement was a change for both countries. France had been isolated from the other European powers, in part because of the destruction of the Napoleonic Wars, threat of liberalism and perceived recklessness in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck also managed to estrange France from potential allies, as it was thought that France might seek revenge for its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, reverse its territorial losses and continue to press for the conquest of the Saar and territories in the Ruhr. Britain had maintained a policy of "splendid isolation" on the European continent for nearly a century, intervening in continental affairs only when it was considered necessary to protect British interests by limiting the power of other countries, such as Russia in the Balkans, or supporting the creation of Belgium to weaken the Netherlands and create a buffer between France and the German states. The situation for Britain and France changed in the last decade of the 19th century.

The change had its roots in a British loss of confidence after the Second Boer War and a growing fear of the strength of Germany. As early as March 1881, the French statesman Léon Gambetta and the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, met at the Château de Breteuil to discuss an alliance against Germany. The Scramble for Africa prevented the countries from coming to terms, however. On the initiative of Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain, there were three rounds of British-German talks between 1898 and 1901. The British decided not to join the Triple Alliance, broke off the negotiations with Berlin, and revived the idea of a British-French alliance.

When the Russo-Japanese War was about to erupt, France and Britain found themselves on the verge of being dragged into the conflict on the side of their respective allies. France was firmly allied with Russia, while the British had recently signed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. In order to avoid going to war, both powers "shucked off their ancient rivalry" and resolved their differences in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific. Toward this end, French foreign minister Théophile Delcassé, and Lord Lansdowne, the British Foreign Secretary, negotiated an agreement on colonial matters, and Lord Lansdowne and Paul Cambon, the French Ambassador to the Court of St James's, signed the resulting convention on 8 April 1904.

Documents signed
The Entente was composed of three documents:
 * The first and most important document was the Declaration respecting Egypt and Morocco. In return for the French promising not to "obstruct" British actions in Egypt, the British promised to allow the French to "preserve order ... and provide assistance" in Morocco. Free passage through the Suez Canal was guaranteed, finally putting the Convention of Constantinople into force, and the erection of fortifications on part of the Moroccan coast forbidden. The treaty contained a secret annex dealing with the possibility of "changed circumstances" in the administration of either of the two countries.
 * The second document dealt with Newfoundland and portions of West and Central Africa. The French gave up their rights (stemming from the Treaty of Utrecht) over the western coast of Newfoundland, although they retained the right to fish the coast. In return, the British gave the French the town of Yarbutenda (near the modern border between Senegal and the Gambia) and the Iles de Los (part of modern Guinea). An additional provision dealt with the border between French and British possessions east of the River Niger (present-day Niger and Nigeria).
 * The final declaration concerned Siam (Thailand), Madagascar, and the New Hebrides (Vanuatu). In Siam, the British recognised a proposed French sphere of influence to the east of the Menam (Chao Phraya) River basin; in turn, the French recognised a proposed British influence over the territory to the west of the Menam basin. Both parties eventually disclaimed any idea of annexing Siamese territory. The British withdrew their objection to the French introducing a tariff in Madagascar. The parties came to an agreement which would "put an end to the difficulties arising from the lack of jurisdiction over the natives of the New Hebrides".

Aftermath
It is unclear what exactly the Entente meant to the British Foreign Office. For example, in early 1911, following French press reports contrasting the virility of the Triple Alliance with the moribund state of the Entente, Eyre Crowe minuted: "The fundamental fact of course is that the Entente is not an alliance. For purposes of ultimate emergencies it may be found to have no substance at all. For the Entente is nothing more than a frame of mind, a view of general policy which is shared by the governments of two countries, but which may be, or become, so vague as to lose all content."

Such commentary however proved spurious, for the Triple Alliance collapsed as a result of Italy remaining neutral at the outbreak of World War I, while the Entente endured.

Commemoration
The 100th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale in 2004 was marked by a number of official and unofficial events, including a state visit to France in April by Queen Elizabeth II, and a return visit by President Jacques Chirac in November. British troops (the band of the Royal Marines, the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, the Grenadier Guards and the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery) also led the Bastille Day parade in Paris for the first time, with the Red Arrows flying overhead.

At both London Waterloo International and Paris Gare du Nord, the flags of United Kingdom and of France were depicted, connected with the words 'Entente cordiale' superimposed on posters. Some French political leaders had complained about the name "Waterloo" for the destination of trains from Paris, because the London terminus is named after the 1815 battle in which a British-led alliance defeated Napoleon's army, and in 1998 French politician Florent Longuepée wrote to British Prime Minister Tony Blair demanding, without success, that the name be changed. However, in November 2007 St Pancras International became the new London terminus for the Eurostar service.

In April 2024, to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale, France's Gendarmerie's Garde Républicaine took part in the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.

Entente Cordiale Scholarships
The name "Entente Cordiale" is used for the Entente Cordiale Scholarships scheme, a selective Franco-British scholarship scheme which was announced on 30 October 1995 by British Prime Minister John Major and French President Jacques Chirac at an Anglo-French summit in London. It provides funding for British and French students to study for one academic year on the other side of the Channel. The scheme is administered by the French embassy in London for British students, and by the British Council in France and the British embassy in Paris for French students. Funding is provided by the private sector and foundations. The scheme aims to foster mutual understanding and to promote exchanges between the British and French leaders of tomorrow. The programme was initiated by Sir Christopher Mallaby, British ambassador to France between 1993 and 1996.

title: Entente Cordiale


text:
Nathaniel Bacon (Virginia colonist)

Nathaniel Bacon  (January 3, 1647 –October 26, 1676) was an English merchant adventurer who emigrated to the Virginia Colony, where he sat on the Governor's Council but later led Bacon's Rebellion. The Rebellion was briefly successful; but after Bacon’s death from dysentery the rebel forces collapsed.

Early life and education
Bacon was born on January 3, 1647, in Friston Hall in Suffolk, England, to influential landowner parents Thomas Bacon and his wife Elizabeth (daughter of Sir Robert Brooke of Cockfield Hall, Yoxford and his wife Elizabeth). Nathaniel was his father's only son, and had one full sister, and a half-sister by his father's second wife Martha (Reade), his natural mother having died in 1649 when he was two years old. He was educated at the University of Cambridge, where he was admitted as a Fellow-Commoner at St Catharine's College in 1661. He traveled around Europe (Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, Netherlands) in 1663–1664 with the celebrated naturalist John Ray and fellow pupils Francis Willughby and Philip Skippon. At the end of April 1664, in Naples, Ray and Skippon took ship for Messina, to continue their expedition together to Sicily, leaving Willughby and Bacon to return north to Rome. He was admitted to study law at Gray's Inn in November 1664.

Nathaniel married Elizabeth Duke, the daughter of Sir Edward Duke of Benhall (1604–1671) and his wife Ellenor Panton, reputedly in direct defiance of her father's veto. After accusations that Nathaniel had cheated another young man of his inheritance, Thomas Bacon gave his son the considerable sum of £1,800 and the young man sailed into exile across the Atlantic. Upon arriving in Virginia, Nathaniel Bacon bought two frontier plantations on the James River.

Emigration to Virginia
Since his cousin and namesake Nathaniel Bacon was a prominent colonial leader and friend of governor William Berkeley, Bacon initially settled in Jamestown, the capital. By 1675 Bacon was himself appointed to the governor's council. Berkeley's wife, the former Frances Culpeper, may also have been Bacon's cousin by marriage.

Bacon's Rebellion
Before the "Virginia Rebellion" (as it came to be called) began in earnest in 1674, some freeholders on the Virginian frontier demanded that Native Americans, including those in friendly tribes living on treaty-protected lands, should be driven out or killed. Historians have noted that the hatred among the settlers towards the Native Americans is a historically underrepresented catalyst of Bacon's Rebellion, as the rebellion was equally about "violently [displacing] Indians" and "[exploiting] that hatred" as it was about changing frontier policy in Virginia. They also protested against corruption in the government of Governor Berkeley, which has been described as "incorrigibly corrupt, inhumanely oppressive, and inexcusably inefficient, especially in war".

Predating Bacon's Rebellion, the Anglo-Powhatan Wars instituted the distinct hierarchical separation and selfishness between the Indians and the Virginians that would eventually mold into the basis for the subduing of the Indians during Bacon's Rebellion. Following a raid by Doeg Indians in Stafford County, Virginia, in which were killed two white settlers associated with a trader named Thomas Mathew (whom later reports found regularly "cheated and abused" Indians), a group of Virginia militiamen raided settlements of the Susquehannock tribe, instead of the Doeg tribe, including some across the Potomac River in Maryland. Maryland Governor Calvert protested against the incursion, and the Susquehannocks retaliated. Maryland militia under Major Thomas Trueman then joined Virginia forces (now led by John Washington and Isaac Allerton), and attacked a fortified Susquehannock village. After five chiefs accepted the Maryland leader's invitation to parley, they were slaughtered, an action which provoked later legislative investigations and reprimands. The Susquehannocks retaliated in force against plantations, killing 60 settlers in Maryland and a further 36 in their first assault on Virginia soil. Then other tribes joined in, killing settlers, burning houses and fields and slaughtering livestock as far as the James and York rivers.

Seeking to avoid a larger conflict similar to King Philip's War in New England, Berkeley advocated containment, proposing the construction of several defensive fortifications along the frontier and urging frontier settlers to gather in a defensive posture. Frontier settlers dismissed the plan as expensive and inadequate, and also suspected that it might be a pretext for raising tax rates.

In the meantime, Bacon owned two large plantations along the James River. This main plantation called "Curles" (about 1000 acres, although only a third cleared since it was formed by others circa 1630, and by now worked by a dozen slaves) was on a peninsula formed by a bend of the James River (hence its name). Another plantation was significantly upstream, near the falls of the James River at Shockoe Creek, and had more cattle. Indian raiders killed Bacon's overseer on that upriver plantation, and Bacon soon emerged as a rebel leader. When Berkeley refused to grant Bacon a military commission to attack all Indians, Bacon mustered his own force of 400–500 men and moved up the James River to attack the Doeg and Pamunkey tribes. Although both had generally lived peaceably with the colonists, and had not attacked the frontier settlements, their cultivated lands were valuable.

In March, Berkeley had attempted to secure warriors from the Pamunkey tribe to fight hostile tribes pursuant to earlier treaties. The Pamunkey queen Cockacoeske passionately reminded the Governor's Council of the deaths 20 years ago of her husband and 100 warriors whom they had provided in a similar situation. The chairman had ignored her complaint, and instead continued to demand more warriors, receiving a promise in return to supply a dozen. Berkeley did arrest Bacon and remove him from the council, but Bacon's men quickly secured his release, and forced Berkeley to hold legislative elections. Meanwhile, Bacon's men continued their offensive against the Pamunkeys, who fled into Dragon Swamp. When the friendly Occoneechee managed to capture a Susquehannock fort, Bacon's forces demanded all the spoils, although they had not assisted in the fighting. They then attacked the Oconeechee by treachery, killing 100 to 400 men, women and children.

Despite Bacon's outlaw status, voters of Henrico County elected him and his mentor James Crewes to the recomposed House of Burgesses. That body enacted a number of sweeping reforms, limiting the governor's powers and restoring suffrage rights to landless freemen. They also made the sale of any arms to any Indian punishable by execution. Bacon's followers were unmollified, accusing Berkeley of refusing to authorize retaliation against natives to protect his own fur-trading investments and the monopolies which he had granted to his favorites. After a number of verbal altercations, including a quarrel in a Jamestown street, Berkeley retreated to his plantation and signed the military commission Bacon demanded. Scouting parties accordingly set out to requisition supplies, as well as to kill and enslave Indians, prompting protests from citizens of Gloucester County who were subject to the militia's exactions. Bacon's forces retreated to Middle Plantation (later renamed Williamsburg).

On July 30, 1676, Bacon and his makeshift army issued a Declaration of the People, which criticized Berkeley's administration, accusing him of levying unfair taxes, appointing friends to high positions, and failing to protect outlying farmers from Indian attack. They also issued a 'Manifesto' urging the "extirpation" of all Indians, asserting that they did not deserve legal protections because they "have bin for these Many years enemies to the King and Country, Robbers and Thieves and Invaders of his Majesty's Right and our Interest and Estate". Months of conflict ensued, including a naval attempt across the Potomac and in Chesapeake Bay by Bacon's allies to capture Berkeley at Accomac. Bacon himself focused on the Pamunkey in Dragon Swamp; his forces seized 3 horse-loads of goods, enslaved 45 Indians and killed many more, prompting the queen Cockacoeske (who narrowly escaped with her son) to throw herself on the mercy of the Governor's Council. Berkeley raised his own army of mercenaries on the Eastern Shore, and also captured Bacon's naval allies and executed the two leaders. Bacon's forces then turned against the colony's capital, burning Jamestown to the ground on September 19, 1676.

Before a Royal Navy squadron could arrive, Bacon died of dysentery on October 26, 1676. Although John Ingram took control of the rebel forces, the rebellion soon collapsed. Governor Berkeley returned to power, seizing the property of several rebels and ultimately hanging twenty-three men, many without trial. After an investigative committee returned its report to King Charles II, which criticized both Berkeley and Bacon for their conduct toward friendly tribes, Berkeley was relieved of the governorship, returned to England to protest, and died shortly thereafter. Charles II later supposedly commented, "That old fool has put to death more people in that naked country than I did here for the murder of my father." This may be a colonial myth, arising about 30 years later.

Legacy
Despite recent historians' views of the conflict, many in the early United States, including Thomas Jefferson, saw Bacon as a patriot and believed that Bacon's Rebellion was a prelude to the later American Revolution against the control of the Crown. This understanding of the conflict was reflected in twentieth-century commemorations, including a memorial window in Colonial Williamsburg, and a prominent tablet in the Virginia House of Delegates chamber of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond, which recalls Bacon as "A great Patriot Leader of the Virginia People who died while defending their rights October 26, 1676."

title: Nathaniel Bacon (Virginia colonist)