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'Pataphysics

 'Pataphysics ('pataphysique) is a "philosophy" of science invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of imaginary solutions".

Introduction
'Pataphysics was a concept expressed by Jarry in a mock-scientific manner, with undertones of spoofing and quackery, as expounded in his novel Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician. Here, Jarry toyed with conventional concepts and interpretations of reality. Another attempt at a definition interprets 'pataphysics as an idea that "the virtual or imaginary nature of things as glimpsed by the heightened vision of poetry or science or love can be seized and lived as real". Jarry defines 'pataphysics in a number of statements and examples, including that it is "the science of imaginary solutions, which symbolically attributes the properties of objects, described by their virtuality, to their lineaments". A practitioner of 'pataphysics is a pataphysician or a pataphysicist.

Definitions
One definition of 'pataphysics is that it is "a branch of philosophy or science that examines imaginary phenomena that exist in a world beyond metaphysics; it is the science of imaginary solutions." Jean Baudrillard defines 'pataphysics as "the imaginary science of our world, the imaginary science of excess, of excessive, parodic, paroxystic effects - particularly the excess of emptiness and insignificance".

There are over one hundred definitions of 'pataphysics. Some examples are shown below.

"'Pataphysics is the science of that which is superinduced upon metaphysics, whether within or beyond the latter's limitations, extending as far beyond metaphysics as the latter extends beyond physics. ... 'Pataphysics will be, above all, the science of the particular, despite the common opinion that the only science is that of the general. 'Pataphysics will examine the laws governing exceptions, and will explain the universe supplementary to this one."

"'Pataphysics is patient; 'Pataphysics is benign; 'Pataphysics envies nothing, is never distracted, never puffed up, it has neither aspirations nor seeks not its own, it is even-tempered, and thinks not evil; it mocks not iniquity: It is enraptured with scientific truth; it supports everything, believes everything, has faith in everything, and upholds everything that is."

"'Pataphysics passes easily from one state of apparent definition to another. Thus it can present itself under the aspect of a gas, a liquid or a solid."

"'Pataphysics 'the science of the particular' does not, therefore, study the rules governing the general recurrence of a periodic incident (the expected case) so much as study the games governing the special occurrence of a sporadic accident (the excepted case). [...] Jarry performs humorously on behalf of literature what Nietzsche performs seriously on behalf of philosophy. Both thinkers in effect attempt to dream up a 'gay science' whose joie de vivre thrives wherever the tyranny of truth has increased our esteem for the lie and wherever the tyranny of reason has increased our esteem for the mad."

Etymology
The word 'pataphysics is a contracted formation that derives from the Greek τὰ ἐπὶ τὰ μεταφυσικά (tà epì tà metaphusiká). It is a phrase/expression that mean "that which is above metaphysics". It is itself a sly variation on the title of Aristotle's Metaphysics, which in Greek is "τὰ μετὰ τὰ φυσικά" (tà metà tà phusiká).

Jarry mandated the inclusion of the apostrophe in both the words 'pataphysique and 'pataphysics "... to avoid a simple pun". The words pataphysician or pataphysicist and the adjective pataphysical should not include the apostrophe. Only when consciously referring to Jarry's science itself should the word  'pataphysics carry the apostrophe.

The term pataphysics is a paronym (considered a kind of pun in French) of metaphysics. Since the apostrophe in no way affects the meaning or pronunciation of pataphysics, this spelling of the term is a sly notation, to the reader, suggesting a variety of puns that listeners may hear, or be aware of. These puns include patte à physique ("physics paw"), as interpreted by Jarry scholars Keith Beaumont and Roger Shattuck, pas ta physique ("not your physics"), and pâte à physique ("physics paste").

History
The term first appeared in print in the text of Alfred Jarry's play Guignol in the 28 April 1893 issue of L'Écho de Paris littéraire illustré, but it has been suggested that the word has its origins in the same school pranks at the lycée in Rennes that led Jarry to write Ubu Roi. Jarry considered Ibicrates and Sophrotatos the Armenian as the fathers of this "science".

The Collège de 'Pataphysique
The Collège de 'Pataphysique, founded in 1948 in Paris, France, is "a society committed to learned and inutilious research". (The word 'inutilious' is synonymous with 'useless'.) The motto of the college is Eadem mutata resurgo ("I arise again the same though changed").

The permanent head of the college is the Inamovable Curator, Dr. Faustroll, assisted by Bosse-de-Nage (Starosta): both are fictional.

The Vice-Curator is the "first and most senior living entity" in the college's hierarchy. The Vice-Curatrice is Tanya Peixoto of the London Institute of 'Pataphysics and Bookartbookshop. She was elected in 2014 to succeed Her Magnificence Lutembi – a crocodile – who succeeded Opach, the Baron Mollet, and Doctor Sandomir.

Jean-Christophe Averty was appointed Satrap in 1990.

Publications of the college, generally called Viridis Candela ("green candle"), include the Cahiers, Dossiers, the Subsidia Pataphysica and since september 2021, the Spéculations.

Notable members have included Marcel Duchamp, Joan Miró, Eugène Ionesco, Noël Arnaud, Jean Baudrillard, Jean-Christophe Averty, René Daumal, Luc Étienne, François Le Lionnais, Jean Lescure, Raymond Queneau, Boris Vian, Jacques Carelman, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Julien Torma, Roger Shattuck, Groucho, Chico and Harpo Marx, Philippe de Chérisey, Rolando Villazón, Fernando Arrabal and Gavin Bryars. The Oulipo began as a subcommittee of the college.

Offshoots of the Collège de 'Pataphysique
Although France had been always the centre of the pataphysical globe, there are followers in different cities around the world. In 1966 Juan Esteban Fassio was commissioned to draw the map of the Collège de 'Pataphysique and its institutes abroad.

The college stopped its public activities between 1975 and 2000, referred to as its occultation. However through that time, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, The Netherlands, and many other countries showed that the internationalization of 'pataphysics was irreversible.

In the 1950s, Buenos Aires in the Western Hemisphere and Milan in Europe were the first cities to have 'pataphysical institutes. London, Edinburgh, Budapest, and Liège, as well as many other European cities, caught up in the sixties.

Czechoslovakia
During the communist era, a small group of 'pataphysicists in Czechoslovakia started a journal called PAKO, or Pataphysical Collegium. Jarry's plays had a lasting impression on the country's underground philosophical scene.

London Institute of 'Pataphysics
The London Institute of 'Pataphysics was established in September 2000 to promote 'pataphysics in the English-speaking world. The institute has various publications, including a journal, and has six departments: Bureau for the Investigation of Subliminal Images, Committee for Hirsutism and Pogonotrophy, Department of Dogma and Theory, Department of Potassons, Department of Reconstructive Archaeology, and The Office of Patentry.

The institute also contains a pataphysical museum and archive and organised the Anthony Hancock Paintings and Sculptures exhibition in 2002.

The official orchestra of the London Institute of 'Pataphysics is the London Snorkelling Team.

Peter Blegvad has been the president of the London Institute of 'Pataphysics since 2011.

Musée Patamécanique
Musée Patamécanique is a private museum located in Bristol, Rhode Island. Founded in 2006, it is open by appointment only to friends, colleagues, and occasionally to outside observers. The museum is presented as a hybrid between an automaton theatre and a cabinet of curiosities and contains works representing the field of Patamechanics, an artistic practice and area of study chiefly inspired by 'pataphysics.

Examples of exhibits include a troupe of singing animatronic chipmunks, a time machine the museum says is the world's largest automated phenakistoscope, an olfactory clock, a chandelier of singing animatronic nightingales, an Undigestulator (a device that purportedly reconstitutes digested foods), a peanuts enlarger, a syzygistic oracle, the earolin (a 24-inch tall holographic ear that plays the violin), and a machine for capturing the dreams of bumble bees.

'Pataphysics Institute in Vilnius
A 'Pataphysics Institute opened in Vilnius, Lithuania in May 2013.

Concepts

 * Clinamen : A clinamen is the unpredictable swerve of atoms that poet Christian Bök calls "... the smallest possible aberration that can make the greatest possible difference". An example is Jarry's merdre, a swerve of merde ("shit"). Véritable portrait de Monsieur Ubu.png's belly is a symbol of 'pataphysics.]]

 * Antinomy : An antinomy is the mutually incompatible. It represents the duality of things, the echo or symmetry, the good and the evil at the same time. Hugill mentions various examples including the plus-minus, the faust-troll, the haldern-ablou, the yes-but, the ha-ha and the paradox.
 * Syzygy : The syzygy originally comes from astronomy and denotes the alignment of three celestial bodies in a straight line. In a pataphysical context it is the pun. It usually describes a conjunction of things, something unexpected and surprising. Serendipity is a simple chance encounter but the syzygy has a more scientific purpose. Bök mentions Jarry suggesting that the fall of a body towards a centre might not be preferable to the ascension of a vacuum towards a periphery.

 * Absolute : The absolute is the idea of a transcended reality.

 * Anomaly : An anomaly represents the exception. Jarry said that, "Pataphysics will examine the laws governing exceptions, and will explain the universe supplementary to this one." Bök calls it "... the repressed part of a rule which ensures that the rule does not work".

 * Pataphor : A pataphor is an unusually extended metaphor based on 'pataphysics. As Jarry claimed that 'pataphysics exists "... as far from metaphysics as metaphysics extends from regular reality", a pataphor attempts to create a figure of speech that exists as far from metaphor as metaphor exists from non-figurative language.

Pataphysical calendar
The pataphysical calendar is a variation of the Gregorian calendar. The Collège de 'Pataphysique created the calendar in 1949. The pataphysical era (E.P.) started on Jarry's birthday, 8 September 1873 vulg. When converting pataphysical dates to Gregorian dates, the appendage (vulg.) for vulgate ("common") is added.

The week starts on a Sunday. Every 1st, 8th, 15th, and 22nd is a Sunday and every 13th day of a month falls on a Friday (see Friday the 13th). Each day is assigned a specific name or saint. For example, the 27 Haha (1 November vulg.) is called Occultation d'Alfred Jarry or the 14 Sable (14 December vulg.) is the day of Don Quichote, champion du monde.

The year has a total of 13 months each with 29 days. The 29th day of each month is imaginary with two exceptions:
 * the 29 Gidouille (13 July vulg.) is always non-imaginary
 * the 29 Gueules (23 February vulg.) is non-imaginary during leap years

The table below shows the names and order of months in a pataphysical year with their corresponding Gregorian dates and approximate translations or meanings by Hugill.

For example:
 * 8 September 1873 (vulg.) = 1 Absolu 1
 * 1 January 2000 (vulg.) = 4 Décervelage 127
 * 10 November 2012 (vulg.)(Saturday) = 8 As 140 (Sunday)

Works influenced by 'Pataphysics
In the 1960s 'pataphysics was used as a conceptual principle within various fine art forms, especially pop art and popular culture. Works within the pataphysical tradition tend to focus on the processes of their creation, and elements of chance or arbitrary choices are frequently key in those processes. Select pieces from the artist Marcel Duchamp and the composer John Cage characterize this. At around this time, Asger Jorn, a pataphysician and member of the Situationist International, referred to 'pataphysics as a new religion.

In literature
In 1948 Raymond Queneau, Jean Genet, and Eugène Ionesco founded Collège de pataphysique and published OULIPO, which influenced the following writers:
 * Boris Vian became involved with the Collège de 'Pataphysique.
 * René Daumal has references to pataphysics in his writings.
 * Handspring Puppet Company produces theatrical works with elements of pataphysics.
 * Pat Murphy features pataphysics in several works of science fiction.
 * Jean Baudrillard is often described as a pataphysician and identified as such for some part of his life.
 * Pablo Lopez has developed an extension of 'pataphysics called the pataphor.

In music

 * In the song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" on the Beatles album Abbey Road, "pataphysical science" is mentioned as a course of study for Joan, the first victim of Maxwell Edison.
 * The debut album by Ron 'Pate's Debonairs, featuring Reverend Fred Lane (his first appearance on vinyl), is titled Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Revue (1977), a live theatrical performance. A review in The Wire magazine said, "No other record has ever come as close to realising Alfred Jarry's desire 'to make the soul monstrous' – or even had the vision or invention to try." 'Pate (note the pataphysical apostrophe) and Lane were central members in the Raudelunas art collective in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
 * Professor Andrew Hugill, of de Montfort University, is a practitioner of pataphysical music. He curated Pataphysics, for the Sonic Arts Network's CD series, and in 2007 some of his own music was issued by UHRecordings under the title Pataphysical Piano; The sounds and silences of Andrew Hugill.
 * British progressive rock band Soft Machine were self-described as "the Official Orchestra of the College of Pataphysics" and featured the two songs "Pataphysical Introduction" parts I and II on their 1969 album Volume Two.
 * Japanese psychedelic rock band Acid Mothers Temple refer to the topic on their 1999 release Pataphisical Freak Out MU!!.
 * Autolux, a Los Angeles–based noise pop band, have a song "Science of Imaginary Solutions" on their second album Transit Transit.
 * The composer Gavin Bryars has been a member of the Collège de 'Pataphysique since 1974; he was appointed Regent in 2001 and a Transcendent Satrap in 2015 at the pataphysical New Year's Eve Vigil E.P. 143 (7 September 2015 vulg.)
 * The Pataphysical Broadcasting Foundation Inc. (established 1972, dissolved 2015) founded radio station KUSP in Santa Cruz, California, for (then) non-conventional radio programming.

In visual art

 * In 1962 American artist James E. Brewton developed a style of abstract expressionism he called Graffiti Pataphysic. A survey of Brewton's 'pataphysics-related work was shown in 2014 in Philadelphia.
 * American artist Thomas Chimes developed an interest in Jarry's 'pataphysics, which became a lifelong passion, inspiring much of the painter's creative work.
 * In 2000, The Laboratory of Feminist Pataphysics was founded by Canadian visual artist, writer and scholar, Mireille Perron. The Laboratory of Feminist Pataphysics has been shown at the Nickle Arts Museum, The New Gallery and Stride Gallery in Calgary, Alberta.
 * In 2010 American artist Kevin Ferreira began a visual exploration into the imaginary solutions for the constructs of reality (pataphysics=pata art). The exhibit SpektrumMEK that resulted from this endeavor has been put into his book SpektrumMEK: A pataphysical gestation to the birth of Lil' t.
 * The League of Imaginary Scientists, a Los Angeles-based art collective specializing in 'pataphysics-based interactive experiments. In 2011 they exhibited a series of projects at Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
 * Brian Reffin Smith, a Berlin-based British artist and Regent of Catachemistry and Speculative Metallurgy in the Collège de 'Pataphysique, Paris, often shows art based upon or influenced by 'Pataphysics and conducts performances at Pataphysical events. He was part of a group of German and Czech artists who exhibited at Patadata, in Zlín, Czech Republic, 2017.

In online fiction

 * The SCP Foundation has multiple articles referencing pataphysical concepts, such as SCP-2747 ("As below, so above"), where the pataphysical reality is described as "layers of metafictional narrative" and the anomaly in question ascends the narratives to destroy them. "Pataphysics" articles often deal with the fictional nature of the Foundation. For example, SCP-3309 ("Where We Go When We Fade, Fade Away") features Foundation scientists attempting to manipulate the real-life website's article deletion feature to destroy problematic SCP objects and SCP-5999, which is an attempt at killing the authors of the site itself.

In architecture

 * Le Corbusier developed an interest in Jarry's work.

Pataphor
The pataphor (patáfora, pataphore), is a term coined by writer and musician Pablo Lopez, for an unusually extended metaphor based on Alfred Jarry's "science" of 'pataphysics'.

As Jarry claimed that 'pataphysics existed "as far from metaphysics as metaphysics extends from regular reality", a pataphor attempts to create a figure of speech that exists as far from metaphor as metaphor exists from non-figurative language. Whereas a metaphor compares a real object or event to a seemingly unrelated subject to emphasize their similarities, the pataphor uses the newly created metaphorical similarity as a reality on which to base itself. In going beyond mere ornamentation of the original idea, the pataphor seeks to describe a new and separate world, in which an idea or aspect has taken on a life of its own.

Like 'pataphysics itself, pataphors essentially describe two degrees of separation from reality (rather than merely one degree of separation, which is the world of metaphors and metaphysics). The pataphor may also be said to function as a critical tool, describing the world of "assumptions based on assumptions" – such as belief systems or rhetoric run amok. The following is an example: ";Non-figurative: Tom and Alice stood side by side in the lunch line.
 * Metaphor: Tom and Alice stood side by side in the lunch line, two pieces positioned on a chessboard.
 * Pataphor: Tom took a step closer to Alice and made a date for Friday night, checkmating. Rudy was furious at losing to Margaret so easily and dumped the board on the rose-colored quilt, stomping downstairs."

Thus, the pataphor has created a world where the chessboard exists, including the characters who live in that world, entirely abandoning the original context.

The pataphor has been subject to commercial interpretations, usage in speculative computer applications, applied to highly imaginative problem solving methods and even politics on the international level. The Firesign Theatre is a comedy troupe whose jokes often rely on pataphors. There is a band called Pataphor and an interactive fiction in the Interactive Fiction Database called "PataNoir", based on pataphors. Pataphor is used by the Writer's Program at the University of North Florida, and has appeared in works affiliated with the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University.

Pataphors have been the subject of art exhibits, as in Tara Strickstein's 2010 "Pataphor" exhibit at Next Art Fair / Art Chicago, other artworks, and architectural works. Pataphors have also been used in literary criticism, and mentioned in Art in America.

There is also a book of pataphorical art called Pataphor by Dutch artist Hidde van Schie.

In The Disappearance of Literature: Blanchot, Agamben, and the Writers of the No, Aaron Hillyer writes:

title: 'Pataphysics


text:
Talk:MIT OpenCourseWare

Youtube has taken down all videos?
All videos of their youtube channel have been deleted together with other educational channels.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/user/MIT/videos

[1] https://www.youtube.com/user/BlenderFoundation/videos

But this might be based on my country, Germany. When i open the links [0,1] it says "there are no videos", can anyone outside of Germany try to open these links?

--Scisne 21:44 UTC 18. Jun. 2018 —Preceding undated comment added 20:47, 18 June 2018 (UTC)

MIT does not do Open Courseware
MIT has refused to provide Opencorseware meeting the definition of courseware. [A class one could use to master the the subject matter] Mit only provides curriculum outlines and certain related info. Not Courseware. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.113.213.199 (talk) 23:19, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

MIT Admits to lies
They admited to lies and changed their home page:

"OCW shares free lecture notes, exams, and other resources from more than 1700 courses spanning MIT's entire curriculum."

We all knew the 1,800 number was false but there are only 9 courses with the fontent needed for a person to teach or learn the class from.

Thank you Wikipedians for forcing them to tell the truth! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.113.213.199 (talk) 10:00, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Government intervention
I think it is important to include some additional information in this section showing that currently a possible conflict of interest exists in national and state policy regarding education. It is one thing when there are private companies competing with state produced and tax-payer funded curricula, and it is quite another when a family member of the President of the United States and the Governor of Florida is trying to change how the United States goes about producing educational curricula. In the section below:

"It is possible to look at this initiative as a shot across the bow of those who are trying to turn curricula into a commodity. Consolidation in the publishing industry has led to the formation of huge corporations that sell books and teaching materials to schools."

Perhaps we could add a link to Neil Bush as an example of those who might potentially be effected by OCW.

Individual States' Department of Education and OCW - online lecture advocates
I have been trying to find mathematics lectures on each individual state's Department of Education web sites. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be one single state that offers a standardized online program of video lectures to students. If you do a google search for mathematics video, mostly, for profit videos will comprise the search results. Are the companies that produce these videos lobbying the states to stop them from offering video lectures on state web sites? Why aren't the states DOE's taking advantage of video on demand technology. Obviously, from the number of private companies producing this type of curriculum, people want it. If we really want to make sure that no child is left behind, instead of Neil Bush's bank account is not left behind (Neil Bush owns Ignite Learning- which I believe is a for profit curriculum development company), wouldn't tax dollars be spent on the kinds of resources that rich people purchase for their children? Producing high quality lecture videos is not that expensive given the billions of dollars spent by the Federal Government's DOE alone. The Federal DOE is not involved in curriculum, but why can't the states cooperatively or seperately develope video curriculum for online access? It seems obvious that this would be the most cost effective use of a small percentage of DOE dollars. I am also sure that most teachers would welcome ready access to lecture material of this type. Local, in the classroom, school teachers will never be replaced. They will be needed to answer questions, etc.

Are there any movements that advocate state produced online math and science curriculum for high school students and high school honors students? - I realize that a single state produced humanities course would be likely to be too ideologically slanted. Could we put links in this article to those movements or groups? It is wonderful that MIT is at the forefront offering lectures in differential equations, etc. But the average high school student or adult learner does not have the background for this class. Nevertheless, the MIT courses do have the ability to motivate students. Knowing that this material is available once the student is ready gives the hope of a chance at some level of participation in a first class education.

Use of OCW material in Wikipedia?
I have a question. I found MIT OpenCourseWare, the site providing a course materials from MIT's faculty. (I found that site from the list at ). I read the term of use and it looks like the materials in there can be adapted to here, wikipedia. What do you think? -- Taku 22:54 Jan 10, 2003 (UTC)

 * My answer is a bit late, but I think that we are not free to use OpenCourseWare materials. I have read their license and it seems to restrict uses to non-commercial purposes.  This is an "additional restriction" that is conflict with the GFDL.  --DanKeshet 19:26 Jan 19, 2003 (UTC)

 * I was looking through the article, and it mentions that copyright remains in MIT- but not what terms the material is licensed under, which is something pretty important that should be mentions. --Maru (talk) 17:30, 22 October 2005 (UTC)

I am sorry I didn't notice your comment until now. Anyhow, thanks a lot. -- Taku 16:02 Jan 27, 2003 (UTC)

 * However, I see no harm in placing extensive links to their materials in Wikipedia since they're definitely doing something we should approve of. I'll aim to place links to their courses at closely related articles. --bodnotbod 18:55, Feb 9, 2005 (UTC)

 * Indeed, all items on the page are still copyrighted by MIT or MIT staff, so I don't think it would go over well if they were adapted to MIT. That being said, I just went through and recounted the courses, 1435, up from 915 in January. MIT's been busy, it seems. --Dataphiliac 05:48, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Concerning copyrights, I know I was paid by OpenCourseware for a non-exclusive license to post materials that I wrote for course 18.441 (statistical inference). So it's certainly nothing like public-domain stuff. Michael Hardy 17:47, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

 * Yes, but it's all still valuable stuff to have online, and if non-commerical interests are allowed to redistribute freely, then we can at least be confident some copy will be mirrored somewhere online. --maru  (talk)  contribs 23:28, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Subject list
Is there a reason to keep the subject list? It seems so comprehensive that its meaningless. Doug Alford 15:00, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

Worse than that, it looks like a set of links to MIT CourseWare when it is actually a set of links to Wikipedia general articles on these subjects. Cuvtixo

OCW ≠ MIT OCW
There are several other schools that have OCW now, including Utah State (http://ocw.usu.edu/), Johns Hopkins (http://ocw.jhsph.edu/), and Tufts (http://ocw.tufts.edu/). Perhaps OCW should not redirect here, but be its own article? --Uttaddmb 21:04, 30 September 2005 (UTC)
 * No. There is no such thing as "courseware" or "open courseware" or "OCW" outside of project names themselves. It is "course material" or "open course material" or better Open educational resources we are talking about. Plain English is called for in Wikipedia articles. --Roger Chrisman 08:19, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

 * The redirect from OpenCourseWare to MIT Open Course Ware was canceled, because the word "OpenCourseWare" is permitted in the world, Universities behind MIT maked up "OCW"'s site, maked up world wide consortiums and conferences for OCW. The article of OpenCouuseWare in Wikipedia is opened. Please add text if you know about OCW.--HATA A. K. (talk) 06:06, 20 May 2008 (UTC)

Faculty resistance
The article states that there isn't a lot of resistance from the faculty, but I wonder how many faculty would allow their lectures to be videorecorded and then put in public libraries for all to view. The MIT website states that the video streaming isn't accessible for a lot of people but I think tapes and CD's in libraries would be more accessible. --Anon.

 * When I taugh 18.075 in the summers of 2000, 2001, and 2002, all of my lectures were videotaped. For all I know, the tapes may still exist. -Michael Hardy 00:26, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

I think we should just go ahead and delete the "Implications" section, because it reads like a press release. It's nothing but speculation and bragging. The warning at the top says that the claims are unverified. I say that those claims are unverifiable. It's not about facts. I say just delete it. --Gnebulon 17:12, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Why aren't others doing this?
Additionally we should discuss, at least via a link to a new article, the darkside of education. For example, why isn't the US Dept. of Ed. publishing open courseware? Does OCW conflict with private for profit curriculum development companies like Neil Bush's Ignite Learning and his cash COW (Curriculum on Wheels)? What pressures, if any, do private companies like his put on programs that are beneficial to the nation.

What damage might companies do to public policies in order to privatize (convert) national resourses. Surely, if american tax dollars are going to curriculum development, shouldn't the licenses for these products be held by those who contracted to make these products. Why should americans have to buy twice the products that their tax dollars produce.

I should say that I write this not knowing if the DOE is producing Video Lectures, applets, and online HTML textbooks. I find it difficult to conceive that the DOE could possibly claim to be the leader for educational policy without doing so. Nevertheless, there does not seem to be any usable link to such resources on the DOE website.

Additionally, I have spent many hours searching the internet, without success for government produced lecture series on High School and College mathematics.

I feel real shame that my country is not helping children and young adults to realize their potential by providing an excellent course of free online education at least through high school.

Other countries are doing this, e.g. Ireland and England have very good online education through high school. (See skoool.ie and the bbc's asguru.com. If we care more about our children than our wealthiest citizen's bank accounts, we will insist on free, firstclass, streaming video lectures and free textbooks online. --Anon.

 * But can we discuss any of this in the article without decending into original research? --maru  (talk)  contribs 23:28, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

The Department of Education is not a college or university. Why should it behave as if it is? Michael Hardy 18:43, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Is DOE supposed to be that kind of leader, or is it supposed to be more of a coordinator? I'm inclined to suspect centralization of actual content would lead to dumbing down. Michael Hardy 18:45, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Making MIT courseware more Wikimedia friendly
I'm in the process of drafting a paper trying to argue for improving the MIT open course ware license to make it more wikimedia friendly. The draft paper is on my wiki at http://www.gnacademy.org/joe. --Roadrunner 18:52, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

 * BTW: I like your homepage! Especially the "Q: Does convection help iron core collapse supernova models to explode? A: No" bit. Classic humor! (Funnier for me than you I suppose...) That said, what little I see of your essay (this is it, right?) looks like you are trying to argue for basically a Creative Commons Share-Alike Attribute license. --maru  (talk)  contribs 03:09, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

 * I've been wondering about this too, esp for using the material at Wikibooks. With the current licenses, requiring attribution, would it be enough to have a notice (using a template) on the relevant page acknowledging the source, with the url to the specific material? --Singkong2005 talk 07:03, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

OpenCourseWare is not just MIT
OpenCourseWare redirects here; however other institutions do OpenCourseWare, including those listed at the bottom of OpenCourseWare Finder and I think the University of Osaka. --Singkong2005 talk 07:03, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

 * I've created OpenCourseWare as a stub, and moved some material from here to there. --Singkong2005 · talk 22:24, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Question for Wikipedia Community
From Steve Carson (scarson at mit dot edu), External Relations Director for MIT OpenCourseWare

Hi all,

I just stopped by to update the total courses number here, as I do from time to time, and I wanted to ask about the following statement and how it might be altered to better reflect what OCW is all about:

''As of June 2009, of the over 1800 courses available, only 27 included complete video lectures, and not all of these have complete lecture notes. The lack of lecture notes makes it difficult to follow some lectures, for example, when the lecturer is referring to slides being projected in the lecture hall. The selection of available courses is somewhat incomplete. For example, prerequisite classes for a given course are frequently not available. However, the quality of those courses which include complete materials is very high, and many of the lecturers are extremely compelling.''

It seems to me the above includes a bit of editorializing about the project (eg "only 27 courses"). The factual statement would be "27 of which contain full video lectures"). "The lack of lecture notes..." line is editorializing as well, an unsupported opinion. Again, "The selection of courses is somewhat incomplete..." has a bias to it, considering that MIT's OpenCourseWare covers at least 80% of MIT's total undergraduate and graduate curriculum, far more than any other OCW site.  The line about high quality, while complementary, is also editorial in nature.  What is the Wikipedia policy on this?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 18.193.0.205 (talk) 16:23, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

 * «The lack of lecture notes can make it difficult to follow some lectures, for example, when the lecturer is referring to slides being projected in the lecture hall» seems reasonable, so it may be considered "common knowledge", while "The selection of courses is somewhat incomplete" etc. needs a source; however, you can specify that no OCW does better (with a source), etc. The high quality, if undisputed, can be reported without a specific source. --Nemo bis (talk) 08:07, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

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title: Talk:MIT OpenCourseWare


text:
Talk:Table of integrals

Should we include definite integrals (e.g. gamma functions, var. functions involving $$e^x$$ integrated) here? Should we include formulae like integrating by parts? - Paddu

What about some simple stuff, too?
It seems like you don't have some simple stuff indeed, which young students often need, such as, for example: $$\int \sqrt x\,\,dx$$
 * I think all the 'simple' integrals are covered. In your particular example, we're hoping the students would know that $$\sqrt {x} = x^{1/2}$$, so $${1 \over 2}$$ can be substituted for n in $$\int x^n\,dx = \frac{x^{n+1}}{n+1} + C$$, which is on the page. -- Jacottier 04:10, Apr 10, 2005 (UTC)
 * I found $$\int \sqrt{1 + x^2}\,\,dx$$ in the list of integrals of irrational functions but it seems that simple forms such as this one should be presented on the fisrt few pages and more comple forms put in the back -- Rtdrury 22:59, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

logs
What about $$\int \log_a x dx = {x\ln|x| - x \over \ln a} + c$$?

General form or the particular form
While I see your point about the Gaussian integral, Oleg, from my point of view as a scientist, it's much more convenient to have the more general form. I've never seen a table of integrals without this more general form. If this is not the appropriate article for the more general forms of integrals, where might I find such an article? Ed Sanville 19:52, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

 * OK, I don't feel strongly about it. I did not want a parameter in there since the other formulas around it did not have a parameter, and since putting that parameter did not add value. But I see your point. If you wish, you of course can add that back. Oleg Alexandrov 22:55, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

correct?
at cos^n, is there not a "-" too much?--80.144.112.154 14:54, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

?
Is there any reason why wikipedia doesn't have a real table of integrals? I realize that there are other sources, but a good table (that includes the derivation of each integral) can be a useful thing. Perhaps no one has just done it yet? 24.59.193.0 03:45, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

I agree, and also there is a complete lack of complex intedrals. Derivations should be very usefull, perhaps each derivation should have its own page? --Ravn 08:12, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Improving readability
Is it possible to arrange the equations in an actual table? It would be easier to browse through them if they were all aligned equally. Also I propose we remove the constant C since it only makes the equations more messy. Roger 18:09, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

 * Ummmm, why remove C? It's a true fact the C needs to be there, otherwise, it's inaccurate. RaNdOm26 11:16, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

 * Maybe have 'C' in lowercase instead? Junh1024 09:09, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

 * No, C is always capital (at least whenever I've seen it it has been) -- Imperator3733 01:06, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Printing problems
I noticed that when I print this page from my Windows XP Professional workstation to a HP LaserJet 8150DN printer, some, but not all, of the equations are distorted. The equations are slanted about 45 degree to the left, almost as if they were in reverse italics. For instance, the first equation in the Rules for integration of general functions and the second and third in the Integrals of simple functions, Rational functions sections.

However, if I use the same PC and print to a Xerox Phaser 7750 color printer, the output looks just fine.

Anyone else notice this? Is there any easy fix? Is some part of my system malfunctioning or out of date?

Just some feedback on the page. Thank you for all the work devoted to getting this page entered. I found it really helpful.

Kevinz 20:16, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Help with integral
Does anyone know what $$\int \frac{1}{\sqrt{x^3+x}} \;dx$$ is? Thanks for your help. -- Imperator3733 01:16, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't know. If the equation didn't have the square root over x^3+x, the integral would be quite easy to solve - factor the x, then separate the denominators into partial fractions, then integrate each fraction separately. But since the square root is there, it is much harder to do, so I can't help too much with that, cheers. RaNdOm26 14:01, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Table, List of Integrals
Why is it that we have distinct "table" and "list" of integrals? The pages are essentially redundant. We should merge them and establish a redirect.

title: Talk:Table of integrals


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Bocholt, Belgium

Bocholt (Bóggetj) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On 1 January 2021, Bocholt had a total population of 13,144. The total area is 59.34 km2 which gives a population density of 208 inhabitants per km2.

Besides the historical Bocholt centre, it also includes the parishes of Kaulille, Reppel and Lozen.

The Priory of Our Lady of Klaarland of the Trappistins is located in Bocholt. Martens brewery, established in 1758, has the second highest production capacity in Belgium at 360 million litres per year.

The town is home to Achilles Bocholt handball club.

Also, the town is known for its historical event in 1910, when the church tower was lifted off its fundaments and moved 9,40 metres, in order to enlarge the church itself, because of it becoming too small to take in the crowd. Italian Alberto Morglia and American engineer Henry Weiss lead the project between April and September 1910.

title: Bocholt, Belgium


text:
Bree, Belgium

Bree (Brée, ) is a city and municipality in the Flemish province of Limburg, Belgium. In December 2021, Bree had a total population of 16,097. The total area is 64.96 km2 which gives it a population density of 246 PD/sqkm. The mayor of Bree is Liesbeth van der Auwera.

Cultural center

 * De Zeepziederij, the cultural center of Bree. This center was known till 2019 as the cultural center of De Breughel.

Musea

 * Stadsmuseum Bree, located in the old town hall
 * Rijtuigmuseum Bree
 * De Gulden Tas, the smallest coffee roastery in Belgium, founded in 1995

Events

 * The yearly Sint-Niklaasmarkt on 5 December, organized from the start of the 17th century
 * The yearly Goat market which takes place on the first Monday after the first week of October. Many years ago the best goats were sold here, now it is a folklore-event

Climate
Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).

Demographics
Bree had a population of 16,097 (7,991 men and 8,106 women) as of 6 December 2021, 9% of the population has a foreign nationality.

Income
The average income in Bree is €18,659 per year as of 2019.

Notable inhabitants

 * Jaak Broekx, oldest man in Belgium from 2021 to 2023
 * Kim Clijsters, tennis player, former WTA number 1
 * Lei Clijsters, football player, father of Kim
 * Thibaut Courtois, football player for Real Madrid and the Belgium national football team
 * Gert Doumen, former football player
 * Stefan Everts, motocross racer, 10-time Motocross World Champion
 * Johnny Galecki, American actor, born in Bree; raised in the United States
 * Bas Leinders, racing driver, tested for the Minardi Formula 1 team in 2004, born in Bree
 * Max Verstappen, three time Formula One World Champion driver for Red Bull Racing

Twin towns – sister cities
Bree is twinned with:
 * 🇩🇪 Geldern, Germany
 * 🇪🇸 Salomó, Spain
 * 🇮🇹 Volpago, Italy

In addition, Bree established economic cooperation with Yangzhou, China.

title: Bree, Belgium


text:
Dilsen-Stokkem

Dilsen-Stokkem (Dilse-Stokkem; Dilsen-Stockem) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On 1 January 2018, Dilsen-Stokkem had a total population of 20,454. The total area is 65.61 km² which gives a population density of 312 inhabitants per km².

The municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities: Dilsen, Elen, Lanklaar, Rotem, and Stokkem.

Notable people of Dilsen-Stokkem

 * Luca Brecel (born 8 March 1995), professional snooker player, 2023 World Snooker Champion
 * Sonja Doumen (Miss Belgium 1968)
 * Jacky Mathijssen (born 20 July 1963), football player and manager
 * Jos Vaessen (born 21 March 1944)

title: Dilsen-Stokkem


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Hamont-Achel

Hamont-Achel (Haëmet-Achel) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. It was founded in 1977 by a fusion of the city Hamont and the village Achel. On January 1, 2020, Hamont-Achel had a total population of 14.294. The total area is 43.66 km2 which gives a population density of 315 inhabitants per km2. The municipality houses the Trappist Abbey of Achel, part of which is Brouwerij de Achelse Kluis, one of the 11 Trappist breweries.

The professional tennis player Elise Mertens lives in Hamont-Achel.

Languages

 * Dutch in Hamont-Achel is often spoken with a distinctive Limburgish accent, which should not be confused with the Limburgish language.
 * Limburgish (or Limburgian) is the overlapping term of the tonal dialects spoken in the Belgian and Dutch provinces of Limburg. The Hamont-Achel dialect is only one of many variants of Limburgish.

Deadly explosion
On 18 November 1918, the municipality was the site of one of the worst train explosions in history, when two German munitions trains caught fire and exploded. Not only were the trains destroyed, but three German ambulance trains were also wiped out, along with most of the town. More than 1,000 individuals were killed.

title: Hamont-Achel


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Hechtel-Eksel

Hechtel-Eksel is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On 1 January 2018 it had a total population of 12,290 an area of 76.70 km2 giving a population density of 150 inhabitants per km2.

The municipality was created in January 1977 as a merger of the two former municipalities Hechtel and Eksel.

Events
Hechtel was home to the "KBC Night of Athletics", a yearly international athletics meeting and the annual International Airshow at Sanicole Airport, taking place in September.

Battle of Hechtel
For seven days during World War II, from 6 to 12 September 1944, the town of Hechtel became the front line between German and British troops in what is known as the battle of Hechtel. German troops consisted of the 2nd Hermann Göring Tank Regiment. The 1st battalion was in Hechtel, with the 2nd placed 2km to the east in Wijchmaal. British forces were from the 1st and 2nd Battalion Welsh Guards, Irish Guards, Scots Guards 'X'-Company, Grenadier Guards and other supporting units.

During the battle, 62 British and 127 German soldiers were killed with another 250 captured. Thirty-five civilians also lost their lives with most being executed by German troops. The town centre was heavily damaged.

The battle ended on 12 September when the Irish Guards flanked the Germans, took a strategic bridge isolating the German forces.

A German Jagdpanther tank knocked out during this battle may be seen at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, although exact provenance is uncertain, its claimed to be one knocked out by Hugh Griffiths and was previously at The Imperial War Museum London. The battle is commemorated every year on the 2nd Sunday of September.

Hechtel was the site of the death of the famous Anglican priest Hugh Lister, who served as a combatant officer in the Welsh Guards.

title: Hechtel-Eksel


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Houthalen-Helchteren

Houthalen-Helchteren (Hôtele-Helichtre) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. Houthalen-Helchteren consists of Houthalen-centrum, Houthalen-Oost, Helchteren, Sonnis, Laak, Meulenberg and Lillo. On 1 January 2020 Houthalen-Helchteren had a total population of around 30.000. The total area is 78.27 km² which gives a population density of 389 inhabitants per km².

Geography
Houthalen-Helchteren is located near the watershed between the Meuse and the Scheldt. In the immediate vicinity the Dommel (which flows to the Meuse near Den Bosch), the Grote Nete (which flows to the Scheldt) and the Neer (that joins the Meuse just south of Roermond) all originate.

History of Helchteren
Helchteren could have become famous in 1702 when, during the War of the Spanish Succession, a French Army under Boufflers faced an alliance army under Marlborough. A battle could have ensued, but instead it came to the not so famous cannonade of Helchteren. The cannonade itself is however a seldom occurring event in military history.

Notable people

 * Ingrid Daubechies (born in Houthalen on 17 August 1954) physicist and mathematician.
 * Nemo (Belgian band) was founded here in 1991.
 * Divock Origi (raised in Houthalen) professional footballer.

title: Houthalen-Helchteren


text:
Kinrooi

Kinrooi (Kinder) is a municipality in the Belgian province of Limburg, between Maaseik and Bree. On January 1, 2006, Kinrooi had a total population of 11,978. The total area is 54.76 km2, which gives a population density of 219 inhabitants per km2.

Kinrooi was formed on September 18, 1971, when the four municipalities Kinrooi, Kessenich, Geistingen-Ophoven and Molenbeersel were fused. There have been three mayors. The current mayor is Jo Brouns.

History
Before, Kinrooi was a hamlet of the village of Kessenich. The flag reminds to that; the clarions stood on the shield of Kessenich. After the independence of Belgium in 1839 it became a little municipality, together with some nearby hamlets. In 2005 there are prehistoric remains found in the center, when it was being renovated.

Economy

Kinrooi's main economic activities are agriculture, tourism and the reclamation of gravel, sand and loam. The downside of this reclamation is that a lot of land surface gets lost. Tourism is also an important resource. Kinrooi attracts a lot of tourists because it has seven nature reserves that harbor rare animal and plant species, it has a marina and because it has several old windmills. Besides, there is a lot of watersporting, in the old gravel pools. One of them, lying in Ophoven, is now the greatest inner harbour of Europe.

Places of interest

 * The Lemmensmolen, a windmill built in 1856
 * Sint-Martinuskerk (Kinrooi), a neogotical church built in 1853

title: Kinrooi


text:
Lommel

Lommel is a municipality and a city in the Belgian province of Limburg. The Kempen city has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the electoral district and the judicial district Lommel Neerpelt.

Besides residential town of Lommel also has a number of nature reserves, such as the nature reserve De Watering, the Lommel Sahara, and numerous forests and heathlands. Lommel is the third shopping city in Belgian Limburg with a commercial and shopping center De Singel. Importantly, the silver sand that is mined here for the benefit of the glass industry. Some sand mining quarries are transformed into nature reserves and recreational areas, including Lommel Sahara.

The city of Lommel is the watershed of the basins of the Scheldt, and Meuse, and within these basins Nete Dommel respectively.

Language
The dialect of Lommel is, despite its location in Limburg, part of the East Brabantian, not the Limburgish dialects, reflecting the particular history of the city.

Etymology
The name comes from Lommel Loemelo. Loem means moist, swampy and Lo is forest or woodland.

Demographic development
All historical data relating to the current municipality, including towns such as arose after the merger of January 1, 1977.

Structure
The city of Lommel is located in the electoral district Neerpelt (which is identical to the county district Neerpelt) and the electoral district Hasselt Tongeren-Maaseik (same as the constituency constituency of Limburg).

List of mayors of Lommel

 * 1808 – 1813: Joannes Aerts, Catholic
 * 1813 – 1847: William Karel Koek Court, Catholic
 * 1847 – 1857: Jan Daels, Catholic
 * 1857 – 1861: Jan Van Leemput, Catholic
 * 1861 – 1863: Henry Alen, Catholic
 * 1863 – 1872: Peter Slegers, Catholic
 * 1872 – 1879: Peter Stevens, Catholic
 * 1879 – 1885: Jan Alen, Catholic
 * 1885 – 1890: Jan Vanden Boer, Catholic
 * 1891 – 1904: Peter Senders, Catholic
 * 1904 – 1921: François Van Ham, Catholic
 * 1921 – 1923: John Bouly, Catholic
 * 1924 – 1927: Peter Joosten, Catholic
 * 1927 – 1941: Joseph Tournier, liberal Catholics
 * 1941 – 1944: Peter Luykx, Flemish nationalist
 * 1944 – 1945: Joseph Tournier, liberal Catholics
 * 1945 – 1958: Henri Van Reempts, Catholic
 * 1959 – 1979: René Verhoeven, Catholic
 * 1979 – 1988: Staff Matthijs, Catholic
 * 1989 – 2006: Louis Vanvelthoven, socialist
 * 2007 – 2018: Peter Vanvelthoven, socialist
 * 2019–present: Bob Nijs, Catholic

Results municipal elections since 1976
seats formed coalition  'bold'  printed

Sporting events
Since 2017 the European Open a Snooker ranking tournament of the World Snooker Tour took place in Lommel.

Lommel is home to the Belgian Motocross Grand Prix, part of the Motocross World Championship. The track at Lommel is among the most famous in the motocross world and is known for its deep and unforgiving sand surface. Notable motocross racers such as Jeffrey Herlings and Ryan Villopoto have said that Lommel is the most physically demanding motocross track to ride in the world, and many top European motocross riders live in or around the city to hone their skills at the track.

Notable people

 * Kevin Hulsmans, road bicycle racer
 * Peter Luykx, federal representative
 * Peter Maes, former footballer, coach of Sporting Lokeren
 * Roy Meeus (born 1989), professional footballer
 * Wim Mennes, footballer
 * Pieter Mertens, road bicycle racer
 * Steve Ramon, motocross world champion
 * Kathleen Smet, triathlete
 * Dirk Swartenbroekx, DJ Buscemi
 * Johan Vansummeren, road bicycle racer
 * Marcel Vanthilt, musician, TV presenter
 * Louis Vanvelthoven, honorary-mayor, former chairman of the Flemish Parliament
 * Peter Vanvelthoven, mayor, former Belgian Minister for Employment and Informatisation
 * Steven Van Broeckhoven, windsurfer, two-time champion on the European Freestyle Pro Tour
 * Stefano Marzo, footballer

title: Lommel


text:
Maaseik

Maaseik (Mezeik) is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Limburg. Both in size (close to 77 km2) and in population (approx. 25,000 inhabitants, of whom some 3,000 non-Belgian), it is the 8th largest municipality in Limburg. The town is the seat of the administrative arrondissement of Maaseik (kieskanton). Internationally, Maaseik is known as the assumed birthplace of the famous Flemish painters Jan and Hubert van Eyck.

Geography
The town of Maaseik is located on the left bank of the Meuse (Maas), bordering the Netherlands. For this reason the river is called Grensmaas (for "border Meuse") here. Two smaller rivers, the Bosbeek (or Oeterbeek) and the Zanderbeek (or Diepbeek), flow into the Meuse near Maaseik. Because of its location in the Meuse valley, Maaseik has mostly fertile soils. The northwestern part of the municipality is situated on the plain of Bocholt and has less fertile soils.

The Meuse valley at Maaseik is about 4 kilometres wide. Maaseik has mostly been protected from floods by its slightly elevated position on a fluvial terrace. The riverbed has moved eastwards considerably over the centuries and has left several anabranches, meanders and oxbow lakes. An old anabranch of the Meuse (Oude Maasarm) can be seen in Heppeneert, a hamlet south of Maaseik. Deposition of sediments (mainly gravel, loam and clay) occurred on the inner edges of the meanders. For many decades gravel has been extracted from the area, resulting in a multitude of disused gravel pits, which have been mostly redesignated as nature reserves or watersports areas.

The Maaseik municipality includes the town of Maaseik and the sub-municipalities of Neeroeteren and Opoeteren. Smaller villages and hamlets include Aldeneik, Heppeneert, Wurfeld, 't Ven, Gremelslo, Berg, Schootsheide, Voorshoven, Waterloos, De Riet and Dorne.

Etymology and origins
As its name would suggest, Aldeneik (possibly to be translated as 'old oak') is older than Maaseik ('Meuse oak'). Although most toponyms with the affix -eik refer to a landscape with oaks, it is also possible that it is derived from the German word Ecke, which means 'corner'. 'Old corner' or 'bend' may in that case be linked to the fact that historically, the Meuse formed a bend around Aldeneik. An oaktree, however, is present in the town's coat of arms, which includes three crosses (perhaps representing the three oldest parishes) and a fish (representing the river Meuse).

According to tradition, Aldeneik Abbey was established by Adelard, a local Frankish lord, around 700 AD, as a Benedictine nunnery. His two daughters, Herlindis and Relindis, both became abbesses of the monastery and eventually became saints. The abbey at Aldeneik soon became the center of a small village community.

The abbey probably suffered destruction by the Vikings in the 9th century. Around 950, emperor Otto I gave the restored monastery to the bishop of Liège, who turned it into a religious chapter for (male) canons. The reason for this reform may have been that there were already several religious institutions for noble women in the area: Susteren Abbey, Thorn Abbey and Munsterbilzen Abbey. Aldeneik Abbey was abandoned at the beginning of the Eighty Years' War but the chapter continued in Nieuw-Eycke ('new oak'), now Maaseik.

Middle Ages
The town of Maaseik was probably founded around 1000, perhaps by the canons of nearby Aldeneik. It lay near the old Roman road that connected Maastricht and Nijmegen and was relatively safely situated in the valley of the Meuse. The settlement was originally part of the County of Loon. The village grew and became an important trading place in the Meuse region. Maaseik received its city charter in 1244. In the 14th century Loon was incorporated into the Bishopric of Liège and Maaseik became one of the 23 Liège Bonnes Villes.

As a typically planned town, the four main streets start at the marketplace and led to the four city gates, none of which has been preserved. The rectangular shape of the city walls is also typical. Against the western wall, a castle was built. The walls were dismantled however in 1467, when during the Liège Wars the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, attacked the Prince-Bishopric of Liège and destroyed many towns in the region.

16th-18th century
Up till the 16th century Maaseik's economy was flourishing, thanks to commerce and the production of broadcloth. However, a large section of the population in these days were priests, canons, monks, nuns, beguines or beghards. Until the French Revolution, no fewer than six monasteries were present in the small town.

During the religious troubles of the 16th century, Maaseik was a stronghold for Anabaptism and almost broke away from Liège, but prince-bishop Gerard van Groesbeek was able to calm the people and retain the town.

Maaseik was besieged again in 1672 by Louis XIV. The walls, which had been rebuilt in the 16th century, were strengthened by Vauban during this period. The town suffered two disastrous fires in 1650 and 1684; the 1684 fire destroyed one third of the entire town which up till then largely consisted of wooden houses. After that the building of wooden houses was no longer permitted.

Modern period
After the French retreat in 1814, Maaseik became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–39). Effectively, the town, having sympathized with the Belgian Revolution, became a Belgian town in 1831.

The Industrial Revolution of the 19th century seems to have bypassed Maaseik. The town had lost its importance and did not experience much growth, which perhaps accounts for the survival of many houses from the 17th and 18th century. Until well into the 20th century, several farms were active within the city walls. The walls were gradually taken down in the course of the 19th and 20th century. Only a portion of the south section at Walstraat remains. Some street names recall the names of the old city gates (Bospoort, Maaspoort). In 2007, remains of a fortified tower were found during excavations for an underground parking garage.

A railroad built in the 19th century connected Maaseik to the provincial capital Hasselt, but fell into disuse and was removed around 1950; it now serves as part of a bicycle network in Belgian Limburg. In the early 20th century, a bridge was built over the Meuse, connecting Maaseik directly with the Netherlands. The bridge was destroyed several times during World Wars I and II. The present bridge was built in 1951 and replaced a temporary bridge built by American troops in 1944.

Today, Maaseik is mostly a regional centre for the surrounding communities with some small factories and businesses, shops, restaurants, a theater, schools, a court house and a hospital.

Places of interest
In Maaseik many buildings are protected as Beschermd erfgoed (National Heritage Sites). Notable are several churches and monasteries, mostly in Baroque and Neoclassical style, and a large number of houses in the local Mosan style. Twelve watermills around Maaseik have been restored, some of which are still functioning and can be visited.

Churches, monasteries and listed houses
The main church of Maaseik is the Neoclassical Sint-Catharinakerk (Church of Saint Catherine), built in 1840–45. The predecessor of this church was for over 300 years the seat of a powerful religious institution, the chapter of Aldeneik, which was originally based at nearby Aldeneik Abbey, but in 1571 moved to Maaseik in order to escape the religious troubles of the period. The canons of Aldeneik took their treasures with them, which can now be seen in the sacristy of Saint Catherine's. In Aldeneik, all that remains of the once mighty abbey is the heavily restored Sint-Annakerk (Church of Saint Anne).

Several monasteries from the Baroque era have been preserved in Maaseik. The most notable once are the monasteries of the Franciscans, the Capuchins and the Holy Cross Canons. The latter church (Kruisherenkerk) has a Rococo interior.

Maaseik, although a small town, boasts of many listed houses, predominantly in Mosan Renaissance style. Most of the houses are built in brick in combination with soft, yellowish Limburg chalk and a much harder, blueish limestone from the Ardennes region, locally called Naamse steen (Namur stone). Along Markt, Bosstraat, Hepperstraat and Grote Kerkstraat several beautifully adorned Mosan gables can be seen, many with original gable stones.

Market square
The main square and the true centre of Maaseik is the Markt (Market Square) with the 19th-century statue of the town's famous sons, Jan and Hubert van Eyck. On the North side of the square is the 18th-century town hall and a copy of the old perron, the symbol of judicial freedom of the prince-bishopric of Liège, placed in front of the town hall. The market place is surrounded by old houses, some of which are medieval in core but with 17th or 18th-century gables. Several buildings have been converted into pubs and restaurants and although the tree-lined square is still partly used as a car park, in Summer a number of street terraces give it a lively atmosphere.

Museums

 * The church of Saint Catharine houses an important church treasure, which was originally in Aldeneik, but was moved to Maaseik in 1571 when the canons of Aldeneik fled to the safety of the walled town. The church treasury holds the oldest Gospel Book of the Benelux, the Codex Eyckensis, which dates from the early 8th century. The church treasure also includes ancient textiles, some of which are described as garments belonging to the local saints Herlindis and Relindis, and the oldest known embroidered Anglo-Saxon textiles from the 7th, 8th and 9th century. Other treasures in the museum collection are reliquaries, some dating back to the 9th and 10th century, liturgical vessels made of gold and silver, paraments, and ancient manuscripts.
 * The Regionaal Archeologisch Museum (RAM) on Markt includes a museum of regional archeology and local history, and a pharmacy museum. The latter is considered the oldest pharmacy in Belgium and has retained most of its original display of Delftware pots and tin jars. Behind the museum is a small herbal garden.
 * In the nearby Franciscan monastery the privately owned John Selbach Museum displays collections of art and antique dolls. The building also houses a permanent exhibition about the Van Eyck brothers and a scale model of the town as it was in 1672. The building is also used for large-scale exhibitions (in 2008 the Terracotta Army of Xi'an and in 2012 treasures from the Tang dynasty).

City council
The current city council was elected in the 2018 Belgian local elections. These elections have resulted in a takeover from former opposition party Open VLD who formed a coalition with PRO3680 and N-VA, ousting CD&V from the majority for the first time this century. The new coalition is led by mayor Johan Tollenaere

Notable people of Maaseik

 * Saint Herlindis (d. 745), abbess and saint
 * Saint Relindis (d. 750), sister of Herlindis, abbess and saint
 * Hubert van Eyck, (ca.1366 – 1426), painter, thought to have been born in Maaseik.
 * Jan van Eyck (ca.1385 – 1441), painter, thought to have been born in Maaseik.
 * Johann Campanus (ca.1500 - ca.1575), Anabaptist preacher and religious reformer
 * Patrick Damiaens (born 1966), woodcarver
 * Jürgen Conings (1974-2021), corporal in Belgian Air Component, shooting instructor, terrorist

Sport

 * Harry Everts (born 1952), 1975 motocross world champion
 * Vital Borkelmans (born 1963), football fullback
 * Vital Heynen (born 1969), volleyball player and coach
 * Sandra Stals (born 1975), 800m athlete; 2000 European Indoor Championships bronze medallist
 * Kristof Vliegen (born 1982), tennis player
 * Max Verstappen (born 1997), three-time Formula One drivers champion
 * Kristof Downer (born 1975), lived in Maaseik 1975-1998 and played right back for KMFC.

Twin cities

 * 🇩🇪: Wegberg
 * 🇳🇱: Echt-Susteren, across the Meuse

title: Maaseik


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Meeuwen-Gruitrode

Meeuwen-Gruitrode (Miëve-Roj, ) is a former municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. In 2021, Meeuwen-Gruitrode had a total population of 13,117. The total area is 91.31 km2.

The municipality consisted of the following sub-municipalities: Meeuwen, Belgium, Gruitrode, Ellikom, Neerglabbeek, and Wijshagen. It also includes the hamlets of Muisven, Ophoven, Zoetebeek, Koestraat, and Plokrooi.

Effective 1 January 2019, Opglabbeek and Meeuwen-Gruitrode were merged into the new municipality of Oudsbergen.

title: Meeuwen-Gruitrode


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Neerpelt

Neerpelt (, literally Lower Pelt) is a town in Pelt and a former municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. In 2018, the municipality had a total population of 17,174. The total area is 42.78 km2.

Effective 1 January 2019, Neerpelt and Overpelt were merged into the new municipality of Pelt.

Culture
Provinciaal Domein Dommelhof is the cultural center of Neerpelt. This institute houses several smaller organisations:
 * Musica: Impulse Center for music, and manager of het Klankenbos (the sound forest) on the Dommelhof site
 * Zebracinema: arthouse cinema in Belgian Limburg
 * Circus Center: Flemish anchor point for circus art
 * Jazzcase: Northern Limburg jazz platform

The Klankenbos is the biggest sound art collection in public space in Europe. In the forest there are 15 sound installation pieces by artists such as Pierre Berthet, Paul Panhuysen, Geert Jan Hobbijn (Staalplaat Soundsystem), Hans van Koolwijk, and others.

Famous inhabitants
Famous people who were born or lived in Neerpelt include:
 * Stijn Coninx, director of Academy Award nominated film "Daens"
 * Ken De Dycker, motocross racer
 * Eric Geboers, motocross world champion
 * Bart Goor, football (soccer) player, played 65 times for the Belgium national team
 * Wim Mertens, composer, musician, and musicologist (b. 1953)
 * , singer-songwriter with the bands Monza and Noordkaap
 * Belle Perez, singer
 * Raf Simons, fashion designer
 * Jelle Vanendert, professional cyclist who currently rides for Lotto-Belisol
 * Joost Zweegers, singer-songwriter with the band Novastar
 * Hans Vanaken, football player

title: Neerpelt


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Overpelt

Overpelt (, literally Upper Pelt) is a town in the municipality of Pelt and a former municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. In 2018, the municipality of Overpelt had a total population of 15,478.

The municipality consisted of the following population centres: centre, Holheide, Overpelt-Fabriek, and Lindelhoeven.

Three hospitals are in Overpelt. In 2005, the St. Mary hospital opened as a merger of hospitals in Lommel and Neerpelt. In addition there is the MS-clinic and a center for disabled, Sainte-Ode.

Effective 1 January 2019, Neerpelt and Overpelt were merged into the new municipality of Pelt.

title: Overpelt


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Peer

Peer or peeress may refer to:

Sociology

 * Peer, an equal in age, education or social class; see Peer group
 * Peer, a member of the peerage; related to the term "peer of the realm"

Education

 * Peer learning, an educational practice in which students interact with other students to attain educational goals
 * Peer education, an approach to health promotion

Computing

 * Peer, one of several functional units in the same layer of a network; See Peer group (computer networking)
 * Peer (networking), a computer system connected to others on a network
 * Peer, a computer network in a voluntary interconnection of administratively separate Internet networks in peering

Organizations

 * Partnership for European Environmental Research, a network of seven European environmental research centres
 * Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an organization of anonymous public employees promoting environmental responsibility

Given name

 * Peer Åström (born 1972), Swedish composer, lyricist, musician and record producer
 * Peer Guldbrandsen (1912–1996), Danish screenwriter, actor, film director and producer
 * Peer Hultberg (1935–2007), Danish author and psychoanalyst
 * Peer Joechel (born 1967), German bobsledder
 * Peer Lisdorf (born 1967), Danish footballer and coach
 * Peer Lorenzen (born 1944), Danish jurist and judge and section president of the European Court of Human Rights
 * Peer Mascini (1941–2019), Dutch actor
 * Peer Moberg (born 1971), Norwegian sport sailor
 * Peer Nielsen (born 1942), Danish sprint canoer
 * Peer Qvam (1911–1977), Norwegian architect
 * Peer Raben (1940–2007), German composer born Wilhelm Rabenbauer
 * Peer Smed (1878–1943), Danish-American silversmith and metalworker
 * Peer Steinbrück (born 1947), German politician
 * Peer Stromme (1856–1921), American pastor, teacher, journalist and author

Surname

 * Elizabeth Peer (1936–1984), American pioneering woman journalist
 * Ralph Peer (1892–1960), American talent scout, recording engineer, record producer and music publisher

Other uses

 * Peer, the title character of Peer Gynt, a play by Henrik Ibsen, or Peer Günt Finnish rock band
 * Peer, Belgium, a municipality
 * Twelve Peers, in legend, the twelve foremost knights of Charlemagne's court

title: Peer


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Alken, Belgium

Alken (Alleke ) is a municipality located in Belgian province of Limburg. The community lies just south of the provincial capital of Hasselt, in the Hesbaye region. Alken has about 11,300 residents, which gives the village a larger population than the nearby small cities of Borgloon and Herk-de-Stad.

History
Alken appeared for the first time in history in 1066 under the name Alleche. Since 1180, the official name of the municipality is Alken but 'Alleke' is still often used by locals.

Alken was an enclave of the Bishopric of Liège surrounded by the county of Loon. Many Prince Bishops had a summer residence here.

Village centers
The municipality has no districts. But has 3 village centers or major neighborhoods. Alken-Centre, Sint-Joris (St. George) and Terkoest.

Alken-Centre is located in the east of the municipality, neighboring Hasselt and Wellen. The parish is dedicated to St. Aldegondis and it is the oldest parish in Alken. The city hall, the CPAS, most shops and institutions are located here.

Sint-Joris (St. George) is located south of Alken, neighboring Sint-Truiden and Nieuwerkerken. The parish is dedicated to St. George Patron Saint, known from the story of Saint George and the dragon.

Terkoest located in the northwest of the town, neighboring Hasselt and Nieuwerkerken. The name Terkoest comes from an old Dutch word for marshy areas.

A fourth neighborhood in Alken grew around the station, though this station area is not developed into a real village. The station was closed for a while and the local school closed.

Sights
Alken is best known for its brewery and the beer brewed there, but also for its many castles, churches, chapels and water mills. In recreational terms, one can indulge in the leisure park "De Alk" between large and the small Herk (river), one can walk in the Mombeek-valley and explore the well-equipped bicycle network.

Alken is located in the most productive fruit cultivation area of Belgium and the area is famous for its blossoming fruit trees filling the landscape.

Transport
The municipality is served by Alken railway station.

title: Alken, Belgium


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Bilzen

Bilzen is a city and a municipality located in the   Belgian province of Limburg.

In 2021, Bilzen had a total population of 32,536. The total area is 75.90 km2 which gives a population density of 426 inhabitants per km2.

Bilzen consists of the city of Bilzen and the following villages: Beverst, Eigenbilzen, Grote-Spouwen, Hees, Hoelbeek, Kleine-Spouwen, Martenslinde, Mopertingen, Munsterbilzen, Rijkhoven, Rosmeer, and Waltwilder. It was in 1977 that they all became part of the municipality Bilzen because of the fusion of municipalities.

Cities in Bilzen's neighbourhood are all within a distance of some 10 to 15 kilometers: to its north, Genk; to its east, Maastricht (Netherlands); to its south Tongeren; and to its north-west, Diepenbeek.

From 1965 to 1981 Bilzen hosted Jazz Bilzen, a jazz and rock festival that lasted several days. In its time Jazz Bilzen was the most important Belgian festival. Artists that performed there were, among many others, Humble Pie, The Moody Blues, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Humble Pie, The Kinks, The Troggs, Procol Harum, Golden Earring, Rod Stewart, Status Quo, Lou Reed, Aerosmith, AC/DC, The Cure, Toots Thielemans, Keith Jarrett and John McLaughlin. From the 1980s onwards the festival was superseded by Torhout-Werchter, that has now become Rock Werchter.

History
For over 300 years, Bilzen was part of the County of Loon (comté de Looz).

Places of interest

 * Alden Biesen Castle in the village of Rijkhoven.
 * Munsterbilzen Abbey

Born in Bilzen

 * Bert Appermont (born 1973), composer, conductor
 * Elke Clijsters (born 1985), tennis player and younger sister of Kim Clijsters.
 * Kim Clijsters (born 1983), tennis player.
 * Valérie Courtois (born 1990), volleyball player
 * Lisa del Bo (born 1961), singer
 * Camille Huysmans (1871–1968), politician, Prime Minister (August 1946 – 1947); mayor of Antwerp (1933–1946).
 * Jelle Vossen (born 1989), football player
 * Thibaut Courtois (born 1992) football player

title: Bilzen


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Borgloon

Borgloon (Looz, ; Loeën) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2006, Borgloon had a total population of 10,697. The total area is 51.12 km2 which gives a population density of 209 /km2. Borgloon gave its name to the former county of Loon and was its capital until 1200.

The municipality includes the following 13 sub-municipalities: Bommershoven, Borgloon proper, Broekom, Gors-Opleeuw, Gotem, Groot-Loon, Hendrieken, Hoepertingen, Jesseren, Kerniel, Kuttekoven, Rijkel, and Voort.

title: Borgloon


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Heers

Heers (, Hiër ) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg.

Merger municipality
The municipality of Heers was formed by several mergers. In 1971:
 * Heers was merged with Batsheers, Opheers, Veulen, Gutschoven and Mettekoven.
 * Mechelen-Bovelingen and Rukkelingen-Loon were merged to form Bovelingen municipality
 * Heks, Horpmaal, and Vechmaal were merged to form Heks municipality
 * Klein-Gelmen was merged with Gelinden, Engelmanshoven and Groot Gelmen to form Gelmen municipality

In 1977 the current municipality of Heers was formed by merging:
 * Heers municipality
 * Bovelingen municipality
 * Heks municipality
 * Klein-Gelmen village (The rest of Gelmen was merged into the municipality of Sint-Truiden).

title: Heers


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Herstappe

Herstappe is a Flemish municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2016, Herstappe had a total population of 89. The total area is 1.35 km2 which gives a population density of 66 inhabitants per km2. It is the least populous municipality in Belgium, and the third smallest in area.

Herstappe has a bilingual (Limburgish and Walloon) population. Formally it is a municipality with linguistic facilities for French speakers, which has so far prevented a merger with neighbouring Tongeren from taking place.

Public buildings
The village holds a cafe, a municipal office, a Roman Catholic church and a post office. All have bilingual signposts.

Elections
For the Belgian local elections, 2012, Herstappe was the only Belgian municipality where elections were not held as there was only one candidate list. Previously, this had already happened between 1958 and 1994.

Mayors
The former mayor (mayor from 1994 to 2014), Serge Louwet, was the lowest paid Belgian mayor in 2012 with €675 for his monthly wages. Actually, his official salary is €1,400 but he considered it too high and kept only 675, the rest being given back to the municipal treasurer.

In 2014, mayor Louwet resigned in favour of Claudy Prosmans. The first action of the new mayor was to guide Herstappe into the digital era. He wanted to buy a computer for the town hall, complete with an internet connection, and they were also looking into the creation of an official website.

title: Herstappe


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Hoeselt

Hoeselt (Hoeiselt) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2018, Hoeselt had a total population of 9,685. The total area is 30.02 km2 which gives a population density of 323 inhabitants per km2.

Situated close to the "Roman" Tongeren, many traces from the Roman empire were found in the fertile soil of Hoeselt. In 1066, this village came under the surveillance of Hoei; it was in that time still named Housle (from hus and lo, meaning house by the forest). These forests of Hoeselt were cultivated in the 12th and 13th century.

Later, Hoeselt was part of the Frankish Kingdom; and then its territory fell under the Bishop of Liège.

The old centre of Hoeselt, with its triangular shape, and the motheuvel (motte hill), both show the influence of its Frankish past.

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The Last Messiah

"The Last Messiah" ("Den sidste Messias") is a 1933 essay by the Norwegian philosopher Peter Wessel Zapffe. One of his most significant works, this approximately 10 pages long essay would later be expanded upon in Zapffe’s book, On the Tragic, and, as a theory describes a reinterpretation of Friedrich Nietzsche's Übermensch. Zapffe believed that existential crisis or angst in humanity was the result of an overly evolved intellect, and that people overcome this by "artificially limiting the content of consciousness."

The human condition
Zapffe views the human condition as tragically overdeveloped, calling it "a biological paradox, an abomination, an absurdity, an exaggeration of disastrous nature." Zapffe viewed the world as beyond humanity's need for meaning, unable to provide any of the answers to the fundamental existential questions.

Throughout the essay, Zapffe alludes to Nietzsche, "the poster case, as it were, of seeing too much for sanity."

After placing the source of anguish in human intellect, Zapffe then sought as to why humanity simply didn't just perish. He concluded humanity "performs, to extend a settled phrase, a more or less self-conscious repression of its damaging surplus of consciousness" and that this was "a requirement of social adaptability and of everything commonly referred to as healthy and normal living." He provided four defined mechanisms of defense that allowed an individual to overcome their burden of intellect.

Remedies against panic

 * Isolation is the first method Zapffe noted. It is defined as "a fully arbitrary dismissal from consciousness of all disturbing and destructive thought and feeling". He cites "One should not think, it is just confusing" as an example.
 * Anchoring, according to Zapffe, is the "fixation of points within, or construction of walls around, the liquid fray of consciousness". The anchoring mechanism provides individuals a value or an ideal that allows them to focus their attentions in a consistent manner. Zapffe compared this mechanism to Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's concept of the life-lie from the play The Wild Duck, where the family has achieved a tolerable modus vivendi by ignoring the skeletons and by permitting each member to live in a dreamworld of his own. Zapffe also applied the anchoring principle to society, and stated "God, the Church, the State, morality, fate, the laws of life, the people, the future" are all examples of collective primary anchoring firmaments. He noted flaws in the principle's ability to properly address the human condition, and warned against the despair provoked resulting from discovering one's anchoring mechanism was false. Another shortcoming of anchoring is conflict between contradicting anchoring mechanisms, which Zapffe posits will bring one to destructive nihilism.
 * Distraction is when "one limits attention to the critical bounds by constantly enthralling it with impressions." Distraction focuses all of one's energy on a task or idea to prevent the mind from turning in on itself.
 * Sublimation is the refocusing of energy away from negative outlets, toward positive ones.

The last messiah
Zapffe concluded that "As long as humankind recklessly proceeds in the fateful delusion of being biologically fated for triumph, nothing essential will change." Humankind will get increasingly desperate until 'the last messiah' arrives, "the man who, as the first of all, has dared strip his soul naked and submit it alive to the outmost thought of the lineage, the very idea of doom. A man who has fathomed life and its cosmic ground, and whose pain is the Earth's collective pain." Zapffe compares his messiah to Moses, but ultimately rejects the precept to "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth," by saying "Know yourselves – be infertile, and let the earth be silent after ye."

Influence
In his book The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, horror writer and philosopher Thomas Ligotti refers frequently to "The Last Messiah" and quotes sections of the essay, using Zapffe's work as an example of philosophical pessimism.

title: The Last Messiah


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Kortessem

Kortessem (Kotsoeve) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. On January 1, 2006, Kortessem had a total population of 8,074. The total area is 33.90 km2 which gives a population density of 238 inhabitants per km2.

The municipality consists of the following sub-municipalities: Kortessem, Guigoven, Vliermaal, Vliermaalroot, and Wintershoven.

Up until its destruction by a storm in 2009, Kortessem was the home of the Onzelievehereboom: a 1200-year-old oak.

Since 16 May 2014 Herman Van Rompuy is an honorary citizen.

Since 1990 the most famous party of Vlaanderen, Nacht van de Hoegaarden, was made in Kortessem

title: Kortessem


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Talk:Man of Aran

Untitled
This page duplicates Man Of Aran. Which goes, which stays? I think this one has more accurate use of lowercase 'of'.

Referred to by Nik Kershaw?
Near a tree by a river there's a hole in the ground where an old ... --84.177.42.28 (talk) 22:31, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Original presentation
One crucial fact which is missing in this article is: was this film originally portrayed as or perceived as a documentary when it came out? Much of the article is devoted to showing that it is not a dispassionate documentary, which is fine, but was it intended as one? was it seen as one? --Macrakis (talk) 17:46, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

Seeking permission to revert article
I want to revert the edits of the user with IP: 67.40.214.223, to the version by, as the well-meaning but anonymous editor has made the references section nigh on incomprehensible. Xx78900 (talk) 18:31, 25 October 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Man of Aran


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Lanaken

Lanaken (Laoneke) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On January 1, 2007, the municipality of Lanaken had a total population of 24,724. Its area is 59.00 km2 which gives a population density of 415 inhabitants per km2.

Lanaken is located on the Belgian-Dutch border, bordering Maastricht directly. In the 2006 census, some 20 percent of the inhabitants turned out to have the Dutch nationality. A number of neighbourhoods in Lanaken is characterized by these immigrants' numerous villas and exclusive landhouses.

Lanaken consists of the following villages: Lanaken proper, Rekem, Neerharen, Gellik, Veldwezelt, Smeermaas and Kesselt. Also located in Lanaken are the hamlets Briegden and Herbricht and the old village centre Oud-Rekem.

The Veldwezelt-Hezerwater Palaeolithic archaeological site is located in the municipality.

History
Archaeological finds on the territory of Lanaken are known from the Neolithic, Roman and Merovingian periods. There were several Gallo-Roman cemeteries and in Smeermaas was the Gallo-Roman villa of Smeermaas was located.

In the Middle Ages, the domain of Lanaken probably belonged to the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 12th century Lanaken was part of the seigniory of Pietersheim of Loon, whose lords founded the Abbey of Hocht around 1186. In 1106 the patronage right of the parish church was given to the Maastricht chapter of St. Servaas.

In 1808 the present borough was formed, merging Lanaken with Smeermaas, Hocht, Pietersem, Ca(u)berg, Bessemer and Briegden. In 1839, as a result of the Belgian revolution and subsequent Treaty of London, the municipality was split into a Belgian and a Dutch part (Caberg). Caberg then became an independent parish. Smeermaas received its own church in 1870. The borough of Bessemer was later incorporated into the municipality of Zutendaal.

From 1824-1829 the South Willemsvaart was built, and from 1930-1934 the Briegden-Neerharen canal. These canals cut through the territory of Lanaken. In 1856 followed the Hasselt-Maastricht railroad line, which was closed to passenger traffic in 1954.

On October 4, 1914, during World War I, the center of Lanaken was set on fire by the Germans, partly in retaliation for the resistance of a Belgian volunteer group led by Mayor Edgard de Caritat de Peruzzis. The castles of de Caritat de Peruzzis and Alicebourg were then blown up.

On May 10, 1940, during World War II, German planes bombed the barracks of de Caritat de Peruzzis killing Captain-Commander Henri Giddelo and five other soldiers.

In 1957, the Saint Barbara Hospital in Lanaken was established by the Limburg mines to enable research and combat occupational diseases, especially dust lung, which mostly affected the miners of the Kempen coal basin.

On January 1, 1977, Lanaken merged with the surrounding municipalities of Gellik, Neerharen, Rekem and Veldwezelt to form the present municipality of Lanaken.

Etymology
Lanaken was mentioned in 810 as Ludinaca and in 1106 as Lodenaken. This contains the personal name Hlodo or Ludo followed by the word haka, meaning sand plate.

Nature and landscape
Lanaken is characterized by being located on the southern edge of the Kempen Plateau, separated from the more southern region of Haspengouw by the Albert Canal. To the southeast, Lanaken is cut off from Smeermaas and the Maas basin by the Briegden-Neerharen Canal. Lanaken itself lies at an altitude of about 60 meters, to the northwest one finds steep edges to the plateau, which reaches heights of up to 100 meters, and the deeply cut valleys of the brooks Asbeek and Ziepbeek. This part, which is part of the Hoge Kempen National Park, has marshy lowlands, heaths, and forests, consisting of coniferous forest, once planted for the production of mining wood, and mixed forest. The most famous areas are Pietersembos and Asbroek.

Marked walks through this area start both at Pietersheim Castle and at the parking lot near the Saint-Barbara Hospital.

Economy
Lanaken grew as a result of the presence of railroad and canals, there was commuter traffic to Maastricht, and jobs were created at the Eisden coal mine. Also established were a paper factory (today: Sappi), a rubber factory (today: Hercorub) and a factory for synthetic fibers (Celanese), among others.

In 2006, four 100 meter high wind turbines were built to provide electricity to the Celanese factory. Later on 8 more have been built.

The South African pulp and paper company Sappi operates a large mill on the outskirts of the town and is an important source of employment for the town's residents. In October 2023, Sappi announced the closure of their facility in Lanaken.

Lanaken is part of the Albert Canal Economic Network together with 24 other municipalities through which the canal runs.

Transportation
The reactivation of the former railway Maastricht-Lanaken-Hasselt as a light rail known as the Hasselt – Maastricht tramway as part of the Belgian Spartacus plan was scheduled for 2014. It was later postponed to 2025, to be later canceled in June 2022 and in favour of an electric "trambus" which will start operations in 2024.

Born in Lanaken

 * Eric Gerets (1954) Former professional football (soccer) player for Belgium, born in Rekem
 * Edgar Willems (1890–1978), artist, musician, and music educator
 * Jeroen Kusters (1980) renowned supply chain planning expert, operations management leader and technologist

title: Lanaken