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Talk:Linear A

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 14 January 2019 and 8 May 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): L.anny.C.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 02:37, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

DNA could help?
Are there bones synchronic with the Minoan ruins and Linear A? In which case, the DNA of such bones may show us where the Minoans came from, and thus indicate a language or parent language for Linear A. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.223.187.157 (talk) 10:21, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

The analysis of a small number of Bronze Age DNA samples from Greece and Crete was published by Lazarides et al. 'Genetic origins of the Minoans and Mycenaeans' in Nature in 2017. They concluded that "Minoans and Mycenaeans were genetically similar, having at least three-quarters of their ancestry from the first Neolithic farmers of western Anatolia and the Aegean,and most of the remainder from ancient populations related to those of the Caucasus and Iran", so nothing surprising. European Prehistorian (talk) 19:21, 30 March 2019 (UTC)

The Minoans lack steppes DNA, so their pre Mycenaean Greek language is unlikely to be Indo-European. It is more likely another Anatolian descendant. Metta79 (talk) 12:27, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Problem with the dates
This article lists the dates for Linear A from 2500 BCE to 1450 BCE. However, the source used (Haarmann, H. The Danube Script and Other Ancient Writing Systems:A Typology of Distinctive Features. J. of Archaeomythology 4,1:12-46) uses the term "Cretan Linear A" conflating both, the Cretan hieroglyphs and Linear A.

All other sources date Linear A from 1850 BCE or 1800 BCE. For example:

"Linear A is attested in Crete and on some Aegean islands from approximately 1850 bc to 1400 bc."

"The first linear script, Linear A, dates from about 1700 B.C. and was also partly pictorial in nature. It appears on clay tablets written between 1750 B.C. and 1400 B.C. and has been classified as a West Semitic script."

"Linear A was in use in Phaistos as early as 1850 B.C., long before the disappearance of the first script [Cretan hieroglyphs]; but the bulk of the surviving texts date from the destruction of the palaces at the end of LM Ib (around 1450 B.C.) with a smaller number assignable to MM III and none securely dated after 1400 B.C.

Even the Wikipedia article on Cretan hieroglyphs states:

"Cretan hieroglyphs are undeciphered hieroglyphs found on artefacts[sic] of early Bronze Age Crete, during the Minoan era. It predates Linear A by about a century, but the two writing systems continued to be used in parallel for most of their history."

However, the date range for the Cretan hieroglyphs is given as 2100-1700 BC. This error causes both chronologies of Linear A and Linear B on Wikipedia to be completely out of range when compared to the scholarly versions.

Also note in the Linear B article, the chronology has Cretan hieroglyphs comprising the period only from 1625 BCE(?) to 1500 BCE. No scholarly source places the Cretan hieroglyphs that late, and no scholarly source places Linear A as early as 2500 BCE. Both articles, Linear A and Linear B, are in sore need of correction. 96.50.8.92 (talk) 22:29, 12 January 2017 (UTC)

 * Yeah, and now the article even claims that Linear A was used from 2500 BCE. This seems wholly idiosyncratic and cannot be sustained. I'll change the early dates to 1800 BCE. —Pinnerup (talk) 09:44, 1 April 2019 (UTC)

Greek Archeology & Art Homework
I really hope I'm doing this right. I am a college sophomore in no way an expert on anything to do with Wikipedia or Linear A. But, upon review of the article these are the improvements that I can see can be made with the page.

At first read through, I am impressed by the detail and thoroughness of the wikipedia page. If I were first researching Greek early writing styles, and wanted to familiarize myself with Linear A, I would trust the accuracy of the information presented to me. The article is setup in an organized way that is easy to follow. It is helpful in that it starts with a brief interdiction, using language that is easy to follow, before starts with an overview before diverging into subsections. I feel that everything in the article is relevant to Linear A. The one suggestion of improvement I would make is the inclusion of random “fun-facts” throughout, such as including in the script section that “an interesting feature is that of how numbers are included in the script. The highest number that has been recorded is 3000…”. There are a few of these details that seem unnecessary to the main point.

While the article was well organized, however one point of distraction was the variety of different sub-organization tools under the “Theories of deciperment section”. Here, information was organized in summaries, by quoting chunks of text, or in bullet points. The different methods of organizing text weren't visually pleasing and was confusing to follow. My other suggestion in organization is to bring the Discovery section to before the Corpus section. To me, it makes more sense to talk about the original discovery of Linear A before then proceeding to talk about other places the language has been found.

As far as I can tell all of the claims seemed neutral. In my read through certain subtopics received far more attention than others. The discovery of Linear A was a total of three sentances, while theories of theories of decipherment was eight paragraphs. If I were to edit this page I would add more detail to the discovery section and summarize the different theories of decipherment into a few paragraphs, rather than give each theory their own paragraph. Another section that seemed to be missing was a history on Linear A. While it is not deciphered, and we don’t know its use, it would have been helpful to place Linear A within its historical context. This information could be placed in the beginning with the general overview of Linear A. Linear A is a topic discussed alot within my class so I came in with prior knowledge. However to someone not knowing anything about Ancient Greece from c. 2500-1400 B.C.E, then they wouldn’t know where to pinpoint what society looked like when Linear A was being used.

The links to the citations I clicked on work. Overall, the citations seem to come from reputable sources including books and academic journals. There are also a multitude of sources used, so we know information collected is from a variety of viewpoints. The one imporvement the article could make are there are a few spots were a distinct fact was placed with no citation. Such as with the highest number being 3000 quote in the Script section.

Looking at the talk page I saw discussion on what sections were being underrepresented (which agreed with my perspective). There was also a lot of talk trying to confirm is certain facts were 100% accurate. A lot of this had to do with Theories of Decipherment, and which theories were still being considered and which ones proven wrong. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Char flower (talk • contribs) 23:26, 17 September 2017 (UTC)

Actually, it is deciphered.
Hello,

After the reading of the books about minoan script written bij Peter G. van Soesbergen, I am pretty sure he deciphered a Huge part of the minoan linear a. The website about his books is http://www.minoanscript.nl

Kind regards, Jodocus — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.167.198.196 (talk) 17:50, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiLyN9T2stY&feature=youtu.be deciphering some Linear A texts by Peter Revesz — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:A03F:C30A:1F00:7842:F540:954E:F14B (talk) 12:24, 5 December 2020 (UTC)

 * Linear B is considered deciphered, even though there are some unknown characters. Linear A is considered undeciphered; some of it is, but much of it isn't. It might be a matter of the meanings of characters and words. Linear B is written in an ancient form of Greek, which is much more known about than the Minoan of Linear A. 64.124.38.140 (talk) 19:16, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

Unicode Linear A
The first question that occurred to me when I saw the section on Unicode was 'why??' I don't have an answer, and it isn't addressed in the text, but I thought I'd ask here if anyone has some idea why someone would add a long dead, undeciphered script to a modern character set standard. just for convenience among researchers?? Beergeekjoey (talk) 20:28, 17 May 2019 (UTC)
 * The goal of Unicode is to provide a unique number for every character including historical characters. – Þjarkur (talk) 20:40, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

t/d
In the context of whether there was a voicing distinction in the language behind Linear A, the article reads "The distinction t / d reflected in the Linear A, Linear B and Cypriot is an example of speech stops" and cites an article. I'm a linguist, and I can't figure out what is being said here. I looked the article cited up in the Wayback machine, but I could not see that it spoke to this issue at all. At any rate, it's *possible* that the text in this Wikipedia article is saying that /t/ and /d/ are stops, which is true (although whether the corresponding Linear A symbols represent these sounds is perhaps harder to determine, I assume this is relying on Linear A/ Greek). But that doesn't seem terribly relevant, unless I'm missing s.t. Mcswell (talk) 04:58, 28 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Good observation, the passage was inserted here. Since it is a close-to-gibberish statement with a reference that does not back up whatever is meant by the statement, I'll delete it. The meaningful part of it (the partially defective coding of voice contrasts) is mentioned in the page Linear B anyway. Next time you find stuff like this, just be WP:BOLD and tag or remove it. Thanks for having a closer look at this page! –Austronesier (talk) 09:59, 28 June 2020 (UTC)
 * I agree, the removed fragment is close to incomprehensible.--Bob not snob (talk) 10:02, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

Ugric
While we're at it, yesterday an edit-warring IP was unhappy with 's removal of the "Ugric" section, which is based on two non-RS published in predatory journals (cf page history). Such sources may be included (but even then only with caution) if they have been cited by scholars in peer-reviewed non-predatory journals (thus reliable sources), which may "heal" their default status as non-RS. I cannot see that this is the case with these two fringe papers. –Austronesier (talk) 10:13, 28 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Agree, removed, .--Bob not snob (talk) 10:53, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

The "A distinct, otherwise unknown branch of Indo-European" Section
I would like to seriously condense this section as it hinges exclusively on one scholar's unsupported, personal interpretation of the script, using Linear B values for Linear A -- a method referred to in this Wikipedia article as resulting in a text "[no] scholar can read." While I would like to remove the section entirely, as it's based on a claim of decipherment of the Linear A script (along with numerous fringe beliefs, e.g. PIE had already begun to disintegrate prior to 10,000BCE(1)(2)(3)), the theory is from a peer-reviewed source, and therefore presumably meets the criteria for inclusion on the page. The quote, however, does not; it is from a non-peer-reviewed newspaper(?) article, elementary in its description of Indo-European, and fraught with inconsistencies and/or flat-out contradictory assertions ("In the Minoan language (Linear A), there are no purely Greek words, as is the case in Mycenaean Linear B" (?!)). While the medium of a newspaper article is admittedly most conducive to elementary or introductory explanations of any material, there is a reason such sources do not quite meet WP requirements for inclusion. I would recommend at the very least removing the quote, and replacing it with something more appropriate from one of the author's peer-reviewed sources. The reason I believe that removing the entire section may still be warranted is that once all the aforementioned issues are dealt with, it leaves little of substance in the sub-section in question.

Also, both footnotes associated with the author's works: 33 and 34, are dead links, leading to pages with page not found errors. I would also suggest removing the entire Indo-Iranian section as it's also just based on bad science (which is thankfully explained), but that's a different story.

(1) Ringe, D. and Anthony, D., 2015. The Indo-European Homeland from Linguistic and Archaeological Perspectives.

(2) Gamkrelidze,T.V., & Ivanov, V., 1995. . Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans: A Reconstruction and Historical Analysis of a Proto-Language and a Proto-Culture.

(3)Renfrew, C., 1987. Archaeology and Language: The Puzzle of Indo-European Origins. (hilariously, Owens actually cites this specific article, and then seemingly proceeds to completely disregard its contents even though the time-depth contained within is probably closest to his ridiculous one)

Vindafarna (talk) 06:05, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Agree 100%, go ahead and WP:boldly change what needs to be changed. –Austronesier (talk) 09:42, 9 October 2020 (UTC)

 * I disagree. Owens' work is legitimate and well-studied. It's quite common for authors to cite articles in on section approvingly and disagree with their other sections. CessnaMan1989 (talk) 21:40, 13 December 2020 (UTC)

Display problem!
I cannot see the Glyph column in "Proposed values of fraction glyphs". What character set should I use? Mazarin07 (talk) 07:49, 2 August 2021 (UTC)
 * You'll need a Unicode Linear A font installed to see those characters properly. DRMcCreedy (talk) 15:48, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

Opening Image
Does anyone know where that first image is from? I checked the cited source (which is available on IA) but it doesn't match. AtticEdit (talk) 13:12, 18 January 2022 (GMT+13)
 * Check the online corpus (cannot add the link as the English Wikipedia blocks it, but you can check it in the references on the Russian version of the article). It is a golden ring from Mavro Spilio. Dmitri Lytov (talk) 21:33, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

Corpus
I tidied up and updated the article but it needs work on what the current Linear A inscriptions are (and what they are on). Seriously, I thought things were bad in the cuneiform world but given there are only a few hundred inscriptions and maybe a few thousand total glyphs in existance its amazing how underpublished and poorly published the Linear A corpus is. This is a long winded way of asking if someone more up to date on things Minoan than I am could fix this up. ThanksPloversegg (talk) 22:08, 16 March 2022 (UTC)

Images for Fractions
It would be cool if there were SVG files for the fraction glyphs like there are for the common glyphs. I looked at the unicode and they are VERY simple. Of course I have No Idea how to do this but maybe someone smarter than I am can do it.Ploversegg (talk) 22:17, 16 March 2022 (UTC)

 * Someone did this, which is cool.Ploversegg (talk) 22:17, 26 February 2024 (UTC)

LIbation Formulas
I see that someone did a draft article on Libation Formulas Draft:Libation Formula which was soundly rejected by the PTB. Maybe some of it could be incorporated into this article.Ploversegg (talk) 17:58, 5 May 2022 (UTC)
 * It looks like the main intent of the draft was to promote a preprint article that was rejected for inclusion here in this article. But of course, quality content that can be supported with reliable sources is a welcome addition here. –Austronesier (talk) 19:31, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

Cool. Thanks for looking at it.Ploversegg (talk) 20:49, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

Method of equivalent hieroglyphs
Hi,

There is a new method for translating based on Egyptian hieratics: https://nantt44.wordpress.com/2022/08/10/chapter-xv-charmuthas-betius-minoan-theology-through-linear-a/

According to this method, PO-NI-ZA the last three symbols of the historical coin KO ZF2 would give the Immortal lord of Sky, Ba'al Shamin. We can also find the main gods and goddesses of the Minoans. These hieroglyphs could thus be the key to decipher the Linear A of the Cretans. Lepoivre Bertrand (talk) 20:19, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

 * This appears to just be someone's blog, not a reliable source. – Scyrme (talk) 21:15, 30 August 2022 (UTC)

Chronology
Almost everything I've read had Linear A beginning c. 1800 BC. The Minoan civilization article (and another paper I saw) says 2500 BC based on one paper. I read that paper (Haarman 2008) and it quotes no source for that claim. What it does do is move Middle Minoan IIB back to 2500 BC. Odd. So I disbelieve and plan to change the Minoan article unless someone has a better idea.Ploversegg (talk) 04:31, 15 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Agree. ~1800 BCE is what you find most sources, including the ones cited in this article. And even if there is a source that explicitly pushes the date of the earliest attestations of Linear A back to 2500 BCE (and not just its cultural horizon), we should mention it only here as an outlier proposal, but not in Minoan civilization. –Austronesier (talk) 21:44, 15 December 2022 (UTC)

I think, after consideration, that the author was trying to link Linear A to the Danube Script and needed to cook the dating to make that even remotely work.Ploversegg (talk) 21:50, 15 December 2022 (UTC)

The language of Linear A is a close relative of Hattic
This point should be marked in the “Other languages” section and should not be deleted. The idea that the language of Linear A is related to Hattic is much more realistic than any other hypothesis about the language of Linear A.

Alexander Akulov and Peter Schrijver have independently come to the conclusion that the language of Linear A is a quite close relative of Hattic.

Akulov, A. 2021. The deciphering of the Linear A tablet Malia 10. Cultural Anthropology and Ethnosemiotics, Vol. 7, № 3; pp.: 8 - 18

The Linear A tablet Malia 10 has inscriptions on four sides of six. Sides A and B have relatively well-preserved inscriptions containing syllabograms, logograms depicting different vessels, and numerals. Previously it was shown that Minoan and Hattic are rather close, so phrases from the tablet can be decoded through Hattic. The component tew from the phrase dupitewa from side B correlates with Hattic tepušne/tewušne "libation". The -a ending correlates with Hattic imperative -a. The component -u- in the syllable du correlates with Hattic marker of 2sgsb -u- / un-. The syllable pi correlates with Hattic marker of plural object -p-. The phrase ru from the side A correlates with Hattic verb lu "to be able". https://www.academia.edu/53367491/The_deciphering_of_the_Linear_A_tablet_Malia_10

Schrijver, P. 2019. Talking Neolithic: the case for Hatto-Minoan and its relationship to Sumerian, Proceedings of the workshop on Indo-European origins held at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, December 2-3, 2013

The word sarja, followed by a logogram/determinative depicting human being, on the Linear A tablet Haghia Triada 102 correlates with Hattic word zariu meaning “human being”. https://www.academia.edu/38376555/Talking_Neolithic_the_case_for_Hatto_Minoan_and_its_relationship_to_Sumerian Pepe mantani (talk) 22:47, 3 April 2023 (UTC)

 * For background Hattic language and Minoan language. Ploversegg (talk) 23:25, 3 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Is this Peter Schrijver the same as Peter Schrijver? Seems a bit out of his field if so. – Scyrme (talk) 02:31, 4 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Yep, Peter Schrijver Pepe mantani (talk) 02:38, 4 April 2023 (UTC)
 * It's looks like they already did "explain the source on the talk page" (above, posted before your revert). I don't know whether these sources are credible or whether mentioning them would be undue, but your edit summary seems unclear and possibly unfair. – Scyrme (talk) 01:56, 4 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Yes, I can see now. There wasn't any explanation on the edit tags, such as 'see talk' so I assumed it was a simple wp:BRD issue. All good now, thanks for reverting. Roger 8 Roger (talk) 03:00, 4 April 2023 (UTC)
 * As an aside, the 1st papers is at (wordpress) and the 2nd paper is available at .Ploversegg (talk) 03:08, 4 April 2023 (UTC)
 * What on earth are you doing? Don't revert 's contributions without a proper explaination. –Austronesier (talk) 20:41, 4 April 2023 (UTC)

Dolkos
I reverted this edit today and the IP who made it has left a polite message on my talk. I thought it best to open a discussion here. There were various problems with the edit as it was, but at the heart of it there is a paper by Dolkos, which may be interesting. . My reason for reverting it all, however, is that the paper is a primary source, and if Dolkos is worth a mention, it would be better if we took it from a secondary source. Nevertheless these types of articles often end up referring to such primary sources in places, so it would be a matter of deciding how. The paper is about attempts to interpret messages in two engravings. There is a question as to how due this is to the article as a whole. Additionally the edit contained external links in the body - we don't do that. There were some spelling errors, but we can fix those easily. The links to a wordpress site were also self published sources - we can't use those for verifiability. So the question is whether there is anything we can say about Dolkos that does not lend undue weight to one primary source. Sirfurboy🏄 (talk) 18:15, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

Article
I poked at it a bit and hopefully improved it here and there (I thought about merging the sfns into inline refs to make it more maintainable but was too lazy, I also wanted to tighten up the underlying language part a bit more but had squeezed it as hard as I dared).

The one thing I am not happy with was the new Decipherment section. For the earlier work it is "challenging" to compress maybe 130 years of science (with a healthy mix of speculation and wishful thinking) into a couple paragraphs. And the current (leading edge) work does not impress me, though its good to see people thinking outside the usual box, so that could be better as well. If anyone feels up to that task it would be cool.Ploversegg (talk) 01:41, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

 * I like what you've done with the place! :) With these kinds of articles, I don't think it's really necessary to mention all the research and speculation, and in fact that can be counterproductive. My recommendation would be to trumpet the fact that it's undeciphered (for drive-by readers) and to clearly lay out the knowns and unknowns (for casual readers), and just enough detail about how we know what we know to satisfy someone who's reading a bit more seriously. I can attempt this at some point when I have time and energy, but it won't be soon.  Botterweg14  (talk)  02:21, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I'll probably wander away from LA now, maybe create another archaeological site article as a palette cleanser. If someone else hasn't stepped up by the time I come this way again I'll finish up that section. :-) Ploversegg (talk) 15:40, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I agree this is great work, but also that we need to do some pruning per WP:DUEWEIGHT. Low or zero impact proposals (measured by how often they are cited in secondary sources) should better be kept out. –Austronesier (talk) 19:59, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Agreed. Usually I do a pass for that sort of thing when I finish but the article wasn't "finished" in my mind I so I had not. I will say, and yes this is a philosophical point, I resist that notion of overweighting "secondary sources" in history/archaeology or science type articles. Leaning on secondary sources in other area, say if you are doing an article on a rock band, makes sense but in these field the sources ARE the primary sources. Wait, how did I get up on my soap box? :-) Anyway, I agree that there is some undersupported speculation in the article, especially in the underlying language section. Ploversegg (talk) 20:17, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
 * No, no, not secondary sources in the sense of research reviews, but reliable sources of decent quality that mention the primary source. These sources of course can well be primary sources themselves, but they document the scholarly resonance that the primary source we want to cite actually has received. My creed goes: if hardly any decent other source has talked about a piece of research, why should we do so?
 * In my own field (historical linguistics) you have to wait for genuine secondary sources (like research reviews or handbooks) in 20 year-intervals, so I go by the same principle in articles about linguistic classification and subgrouping. –Austronesier (talk) 20:46, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Very true. In archaeology the review articles are often much longer and more informative the original work.Ploversegg (talk) 20:49, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
 * I'm actually gonna stick up for handbook articles (and their kin) as sources. In my experience, they make it so much easier to write cohesive articles, i.e. ones that state what's known in wikivoice and summarize the arguments for different positions where there's genuine disagreement. I'm often reluctant to use regular journal articles to support those kinds of claims, and the alternative is to write "Jones (1995) claims bladibla. Dekker (2001) claims foo. Xiang (2003) claims fnord" which (imo) is suboptimal unless the literature is really just a sea of incommensurate or hard-to-reconcile claims.

 * FWIW, there is this and also this handbook article on Linear A, though it doesn't focus on decipherment in particular. Botterweg14  (talk)  22:12, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Tertiary sources?!?! Heavens for-fend. I guess I should stop cleaning out all that old 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica crud or mocking people who try to ref the "encyclopedia iranica"! :-) Ok, more seriously I have no objection to that IF the handbook type is clear where they got the info from. I meant to add that even a few years ago I would have disagreed with you but primary sources ain't what they used to be. With predatory publishing, "special issues" etc, you can get ANYTHING published and it will look all nice and proper to the unobservant. Ploversegg (talk) 22:55, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

 * Hahahaha I do try to aim for recent and high quality ones (and the ones I linked would certainly qualify). Botterweg14  (talk)  23:25, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

 * Just thought I'd give and  (or anyone else reading this) a heads up that I'm gradually working on a potential rewrite in my sandbox. What I have is far from camera-ready, but you're welcome to edit there or discuss here.  Botterweg14  (talk)  17:55, 8 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Cool. I won't hover over your shoulder but feel free to say if you want me to poke at some small point or other. And is the Minoan Language an isolate? Do seem to be a suspicious number of "isolates" banging around in that period, Sumerian, Elamite, etc.Ploversegg (talk) 02:00, 9 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Wow, I took a quick peek at Minoan language there is a whole Keftiu/Caphtor thing going which I find pretty odd. That either gets a small mention in the LA article or (I think), should be exorcised from the Minoan language article before it confuses someone. :-) Ploversegg (talk) 04:34, 9 March 2024 (UTC)
 * I think that we should tranfer the Keftiu piece in Minoan language to Caphtor, and change the redirect target of Keftiu language accordingly. A mention in Linear A only is due if the Keftiu material ever has played a role in one of the attempts to decipher Linear A or to identify the language written in it. –Austronesier (talk) 12:02, 9 March 2024 (UTC)

Syllabograms and ideograms
A table of the signs with assumed syllabic values can easily be added, just as the Linear B article contains one. There seems to be broad agreement about the sound value of numerous syllabograms that are shared with Linear B: see e.g. here, p. 319 (with references) and here, p. 5. Some ideograms are the same as in Linear B, too (a number are identified even in the Unicode Standard document), and could be listed just as they are listed in the Linear B article. The main obstacles to proper 'decipherment' seem to be the unknown logograms and the fact that the language apparently isn't sufficiently closely related to any known language to make it easy to understand or even classify. Anyway, the agnosticism maintained by this article about the sound value of the signs seems peculiar and excessive. 62.73.69.121 (talk) 00:11, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

 * Assuming is not the same as Knowing. Language glyphs can and have been re-used with different meaning and sounds. There appears to have been at least a half century lapse between the end of Linear A and Linear B. Certainly the designers of Linear B used some of the Linear A glyphs they found lying around. Any notion that those glyphs have the same sound or the same meaning is an Assumption. If you substitute the Linear B sounds in Linear A texts AFAIK you get gibberish. Maybe some are the same, maybe not. That is not Known. Certainly Linear B is built on Mycenae Greek. Its pretty certain that Linear A is not.
 * I looked at those references. One is built on the idea that the underlying language of Linear A was Hurrian which seems unlikely. The other merely says that in some specific cases in some specific circumstances a glyph may have the same meaning in Linear A and Linear B. That is all.
 * How many Assumptions were made made for Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Linear B which looked reasonable at the time but turned out in retrospect to be tragically wrong? Many.Ploversegg (talk) 02:03, 27 March 2024 (UTC)

 * On the contrary, all 'knowing' is nothing but assuming - everything can turn out to be wrong in retrospect, and all we can do is retell what scholars believe at present, this is what Wikipedia's job is per WP:NPOV and WP:V. If we had been writing Wikipedia in the 19th century, we would have and should have endorsed the misconceptions that were dominant at among scholars at that the time. We have no right to be more sceptical than the experts are, that would be WP:Original Research. As for the references, you clearly haven't 'looked' at them well enough. The first reference doesn't just say that 'in some specific cases in some specific circumstances a glyph may have the same meaning in Linear A and Linear B'. It presents a complete syllabary on p. 319, and it sources it to two other publications by leading experts dealing with this issue, Younger and Davis. The second reference also contains such a syllabary, and that syllabary isn't 'built on on the idea that the underlying language is Hurrian' - it's the other way around, the arguments that the language is Hurrian are built on readings using a syllabary and interpretations of logograms deduced from Linear B, which just goes to show that this scholar, too, subscribes to these same interpretations. You don't have to accept that the language is Hurrian to accept the syllabary and the logograms. Peter Schrijver's article, which this Wikipedia article cites, makes a completely different case, namely that the language is Hattic, but it also starts from the same principle of reading syllabograms and logograms as in Linear B (p. 341-342). All of this just goes to show that pretty much everybody working with Linear A shares the idea that the syllabograms and logograms stand for roughly the same things as their counterparts in Linear B (another proof of the same: : 'Linear B took most of its signs from Linear A, and because we can read Linear B, we can actually pronounce Linear A inscriptions'). Another recent book, by Ester Salgarella, goes even further in the same direction, basically arguing that 'Linear A' and 'Linear B' are essentially the same script in two stages of its development; and given how many of the signs are the same, this doesn't seem unreasonable. What we see here is a scholarly consensus if there ever was one, and Wikipedia is supposed to reflect the scholarly consensus.--62.73.69.121 (talk) 21:29, 28 March 2024 (UTC)

 * I'm a little squeamish about including a table that presents the presumed values in Wikivoice. But FWIW, I have an unfinished rewrite waiting in my sandbox where I report what appears to be the current consensus / lack thereof regarding the phonetic values. Botterweg14  (talk)  01:39, 29 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Well, it can be included in 'non-Wikivoice' then, as in 'scholars A, B and C assume', if you absolutely insist; but 'Wikivoice' means just 'most scholars say' in any case. As far as I can see, there is no 'lack (of current consensus) regarding the phonetic values': see my references above. You write that 'this does not amount to a decipherment since it results in words that are uninterpretable', citing a 2022 article by Salgarella; I would be interested to how her statement was worded, because, as I said, the main thrust of her 2020 book (Aegean linear script(s): rethinking the relationship between Linear A and Linear B) is that Linear B and Linear A are essentially the same script, and Linear B obviously is deciphered. It seems to me that there is a confusion here between decipherment of a script and 'decipherment'/understanding of a language; we could have texts in an unknown language written in the Latin or Greek alphabet and still not understand them (reading in them with Latin and Greek sound values would 'result in words that are uninterpretable'), but it would be odd to say that 'the script is undeciphered' on that basis. It's as if people for some reason expect the language to be Greek or something else well-known and easily understandable, and the very fact that what comes out is not Greek (it's 'gibberish', as put by Ploversegg above) is seen as discrediting the sound values. The ancient Near East and Mediterranean were full of language isolates or members of tiny and obscure families; if anything, I would be surprised if Minoan, which clearly had been indigenous to Crete for a long time, was closely related to any other well-known language. We were lucky that Linear B happened to be in a variety of something as well-known as Greek - that is the exception, not the norm, and expecting the same kind of 'decipherment' story to take place with Linear A is highly unrealistic. Scholars' readings of Sumerian, Elamite and Hurrian are essentially based on the values known from Akkadian cuneiform (with greater or lesser subsequent modifications based on later evidence), and the only reason why this results in words that are 'interpretable' is because we happen to have some bilingual texts.--62.73.69.121 (talk) 09:52, 29 March 2024 (UTC)
 * I don't deeply disagree with anything you're saying, but the hedging I'm suggesting comes from the scholars themselves, e.g. Salgarella describes the sounds values as "reasonably secure". I like the way you handled the uncertainty in your table, though I've moved it to the "Decipherment" subsection. Botterweg14  (talk)  20:51, 30 March 2024 (UTC)

Well, I've been bold and made the tables of syllabograms and logograms, following closely the model of the Linear B article, which, after all, lists basically the same signs. There are some divergences between the sources on some of the signs, which I've reflected partly in the table by writing 'disputed' and adding question marks. A neater-looking option might be simply to stick only to Davis' version, who is probably the best of the cited sources (Raison & Pope are a bit older, and I suspect that there might be some accidental errors in Fang et al.), but I couldn't find the glyph or even the Bennett number for at least one of his sign shapes (ju).--62.73.69.121 (talk) 20:19, 29 March 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Linear A


text:
The Go-Go's

The Go-Go's were an American all-female rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1978. Except for short periods when other musicians joined briefly, the band has had a relatively stable lineup consisting of Charlotte Caffey on lead guitar and keyboards, Belinda Carlisle on lead vocals, Gina Schock on drums, Kathy Valentine on bass, and Jane Wiedlin on rhythm guitar. They are widely considered the most successful all-female rock band of all time.

The quintet emerged from the L.A. punk rock scene of the late 1970s and in 1981 released their debut album Beauty and the Beat. A first for an all-female band writing their material and playing their instruments, the LP topped the Billboard album chart and remains an achievement yet to be matched. Beauty and the Beat is considered one of the "cornerstone albums of US new wave" (AllMusic), having broken barriers and paved the way for a host of other new American acts. It yielded two of the Go-Go's four biggest Hot 100 hits—"Our Lips Are Sealed" (no. 20) and "We Got the Beat" (no. 2)—and, after a long and steady climb, reached number one in the chart dated March 6, 1982. The album stayed at the top for six consecutive weeks, eventually selling over two million copies. The group, credited as simply Go-Go's on all of their US releases, was nominated for the Best New Artist award at the 24th Annual Grammy Awards.

Two more albums followed: Vacation (1982)—whose title track reached no. 8 on Billboard's Hot 100—and Talk Show (1984), which included the hits "Head over Heels" (no. 11) and "Turn to You" (no. 32). The Go-Go's have sold more than seven million records worldwide.

The Go-Go's broke up in 1985, with each member embarking on a solo career and Carlisle being the most successful, having several top-5 singles through the late 1980s. They reconvened several times in the 1990s, releasing a new album in 2001, God Bless the Go-Go's, and touring. They received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011. Though the band's 2016 performances were billed as a farewell tour, the band remained active on an ad hoc basis for several years afterward. Head Over Heels, a musical featuring the songs of the Go-Go's, ran on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre from 2018 to 2019. The group was inducted into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, and shortly after that announced their disbandment.

Original incarnation (1978–1980)
Formed in Los Angeles in 1978 as the Misfits by Charlotte Caffey, Belinda Carlisle (vocals), Jane Wiedlin (guitar, background vocals), the Go-Go's also included Margot Olavarria on bass and Elissa Bello on drums.

They were formed as a punk band and had roots in the L.A. punk community. They shared a rehearsal space with the Motels and Carlisle, under the name "Dottie Danger", had briefly been a member of punk rock band the Germs. After she became temporarily ill, she separated from the Germs before ever playing a gig.

The band began playing gigs at punk venues such as The Masque and the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles and the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco alongside bands such as X, Fear, the Plugz and the Controllers. Charlotte Caffey (lead guitar, keyboards, background vocals) was added later in 1978, and in the summer of 1979, Gina Schock replaced Bello on drums. With these lineup changes, the group began moving towards their more familiar power pop sound.

The group frequently met at a Denny's on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and it was there they chose the band's name.

In late 1979, the band recorded a five-song demo at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, and in 1980, they supported the British ska revival groups Madness and The Specials in both Los Angeles and England. The Go-Go's subsequently spent half of 1980 touring England, earning a sizable following and releasing the demo version of "We Got the Beat" on Stiff Records, which became a minor UK hit.

In December 1980, original bassist Olavarria fell ill and was replaced with Kathy Valentine, who had played guitar in bands such as Girlschool and the Textones. Valentine had not previously played bass guitar. Carlisle also related in her autobiography, Lips Unsealed, that according to the band's view, another reason for Olavarria's dismissal from the Go-Go's was that she frequently missed rehearsals, due largely to her dissatisfaction with the band's move away from punk and toward pop. In late 1982, Olavarria sued the remaining band members for wrongful removal. The lawsuit was settled in 1984. Olavarria later joined Martin Atkins' band Brian Brain.

Career peak (1981–1983)
The Go-Go's signed to I.R.S. Records in April 1981. The following year, they toured with The Police on the Ghost in the Machine Tour. Their debut album, Beauty and the Beat, was a surprise hit: it topped the U.S. charts for six weeks in 1982 and eventually received a double platinum certification. The album was also successful outside the U.S., charting at No. 2 in Canada, where it received a platinum certification, and No. 27 in Australia. In 2003, the album was ranked No. 413 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. "Our Lips Are Sealed" and a new version of "We Got the Beat" were popular singles in North America in early 1982. During this period, the Go-Go's started building a fanbase.

In 1982, the group was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist.

The follow-up album, Vacation, received mixed reviews and sold less than Beauty and the Beat. However, the album was certified gold in the U.S. and spawned another Top 10 U.S. hit with the title track. Other singles released from the album were "Get Up and Go" and "This Old Feeling", neither of which made it into the Top 40. In 1983, Vacation was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Packaging. During the album's promotion, the group went on hiatus when Schock underwent surgery for a congenital heart defect.

Talk Show and initial breakup (1984–1985)
In 1984, the group returned with the Martin Rushent-produced album Talk Show. The album tracks "Head over Heels" and "Turn to You" were both Top 40 hits in the US. Despite the favorable reception, the album sold less than the previous two, not reaching the top 10 and not receiving any certification.

Personality conflicts and creative differences within the group were also taking a toll, as were drug addiction problems for some band members. Wiedlin announced her departure from the group in October 1984. The band sought a replacement, selecting Paula Jean Brown (of Giant Sand) as their new bass guitarist, with Valentine moving to rhythm guitar. This lineup debuted at the 1985 Rock in Rio festival, playing two shows, but Carlisle and Caffey soon realized their hearts were no longer in the group and decided to disband the Go-Go's in May 1985.

Reunions and lawsuit (1990–1999)
In 1990, the Go-Go's classic lineup (Caffey, Carlisle, Schock, Valentine, and Wiedlin) reunited to play a benefit concert for the California Environmental Protection Act, a 1990 ballot initiative. The band also entered the studio with producer David Z to re-record a cover of "Cool Jerk" for a greatest hits compilation.

In 1994, the same lineup got together again to release a two-disc retrospective entitled Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's, featuring three new recordings. The single "The Whole World Lost Its Head" peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Modern Rock charts and "bubbled under" on the US charts at No. 108, and became the band's first and only Top 40 hit in the UK, peaking at No. 29. The band toured again to promote the release; ex-Bangle Vicki Peterson stood in on several dates for Caffey, who was pregnant.

In 1997, Schock sued the other group members, claiming that she had not been adequately paid for her contributions since 1986 and that a songwriting agreement with Caffey had been breached. The suit was resolved by 1999 and the Go-Go's toured regularly from 1999 onward.

God Bless the Go-Go's (2000–2009)
In 2001, the band (still with the "classic" lineup) released an album of new material, God Bless the Go-Go's. Green Day's lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong co-wrote the only released single, "Unforgiven", which peaked at No. 22 on Billboard's Adult Top 40 chart. The album was well received by critics and peaked at number 57 in the Billboard 200 chart. The band also released a DVD of their reunion concert in Central Park.

Also in 2001, the Go-Go's, along with artists Elton John, Billy Joel, David Crosby and Paul Simon, performed at the concert "An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson" at Radio City Music Hall, hosted by the TNT network.

In 2002 the Go-Go's recorded the theme song for the WB comedy series "Do Over". Written by Charlotte Caffey, Kathy Valentine, and Jane Wiedlin, the track was recorded in Los Angeles for the show, which premiered on Sept. 19 on the network.

In 2004 the band hosted a concert in Costa Mesa together with The Motels.

Farewell tour, departure of Kathy Valentine and Broadway musical (2010–2019)
In February 2010, Carlisle announced that the 2010 tour would be billed as the "Farewell Tour", but this tour was canceled when Wiedlin injured her knee while hiking near her home in Northern California, requiring surgery and up to a year of recovery time.

After 2010, the idea of a farewell tour seemed to have been abandoned, with the Go-Go's touring frequently. In 2011, the Go-Go's announced the "Ladies Gone Wild" tour to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the release of Beauty and the Beat. They toured the US in 2012, with Abby Travis subbing for an injured Valentine during the latter part of the tour.

On March 8, 2013, the group's official website said "irreconcilable differences" had led to the departure of bassist Valentine. On May 24, Valentine sued her former bandmates for "breach of fiduciary duty and abuse of control...in an attempt to deprive [her] of her position and interest in the group". Officially a quartet (Caffey, Carlisle, Schock, and Wiedlin—Travis continued to play bass, but was not an official group member), the Go-Go's continued on, playing a series of tour dates in 2013 and 2014, including several double bills with the B-52's.

In 2014, the band was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. That same year, Valentine's lawsuit against her former bandmates was settled out of court. On March 21, 2016, plans for a Go-Go's farewell tour (minus Valentine) were officially announced. A band statement said: "After a 38-year run, we are gearing up for one last blast of a summer tour".

Valentine rejoined the band to perform their first show together as a quintet in six years at New York's Bowery Ballroom on January 31, 2018, to announce the Broadway dates of their new musical, Head Over Heels. The new musical—which premiered at New York's Hudson Theatre in the summer of 2018—features the band's hits (including "Get Up and Go" and "Lust to Love") as well as Carlisle's solo hits "Mad About You" and "Heaven Is a Place on Earth". The musical had a preview at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2015.

Documentary movie, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, reunion tour (2020–2023)
In 2020, a documentary movie about the band premiered at Sundance, directed by Allison Ellwood after the band saw her work on the 2013 History of the Eagles documentary. In the US, the movie was seen on television on Showtime. The documentary features the formation and rise of the band through the 1980s breakup, skipping the lawsuits and reunions through the 1990s-2010s, ending with a 2019 reunion. On July 31, 2020, the Go-Go's released their first new song in 19 years, "Club Zero", which is featured in the documentary.

In January 2020, the band, which was to include Kathy Valentine, announced an 11-date reunion tour scheduled to begin in June 2020 however in May 2020 the tour was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On October 30, 2021, the band was inducted by longtime fan Drew Barrymore into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

On December 14, 2021, the band performed a special show, with most of the audience being contest winners, at the Whisky a Go Go to celebrate their induction. Clem Burke filled in on drums for Gina Schock. On December 27, 2021, the band postponed a short West Coast tour scheduled for the first week of January 2022 due to a COVID-19 case involving someone on the tour.

After playing six US dates in March 2022 (in Reno and several stops in California), the band announced plans for a 2022 UK tour with Billy Idol that should have started in June 2022. Due to Billy Idol's illness, the tour had to be postponed without the Go Go's.

In 2023, Belinda Carlisle declared that the group had disbanded, noting "we felt there was something to be said about leaving on a high note and it doesn't get much bigger than being inducted into the Hall of Fame. That's kind of the pinnacle. After that, we felt it was time." Their last show was their performance in San Diego on March 31, 2022.

The band reunited in Sacramento on February 7, 2024, to be inducted into the California Hall of Fame, and "played a short, rowdy, acoustic set" at the afterparty.

Final lineup

 * Belinda Carlisle – lead vocals, percussion (1978–1985, 1990, 1994, 1999–2022)
 * Jane Wiedlin – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (1978–1985, 1990, 1994, 1999–2022), lead guitar (1978)
 * Charlotte Caffey – lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals (1978–1985, 1990, 1994, 1999–2022)
 * Gina Schock – drums (1979–1985, 1990, 1994, 1999–2022), backing vocals (1982–1985, 1990, 1994, 1999–2022)
 * Kathy Valentine – bass, backing vocals (1980–1985, 1990, 1994, 1999–2012, 2018–2022), rhythm guitar (1985)

Former members

 * Margot Olavarria – bass (1978–1980)
 * Elissa Bello – drums (1978–1979)
 * Paula Jean Brown – bass (1985)
 * Abby Travis (touring only) – bass, backing vocals (2012–2018)
 * Clem Burke (touring only) – drums (2021)

Discography
Studio albums
 * Beauty and the Beat (1981)
 * Vacation (1982)
 * Talk Show (1984)
 * God Bless the Go-Go's (2001)

Books

 * The Go-Go's: A YinPop Guide by S. White (2016). Fly-By-Night Books. ISBN 978-0-9905386-4-6.

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

title: The Go-Go's


text:
Bert (Sesame Street)

Bert is a golden yellow Muppet character on the PBS/HBO children's television show Sesame Street. Bert was originally performed by Frank Oz.

Since 1999, Muppeteer Eric Jacobson has been phased in as Bert's primary performer. Bert has also made cameo appearances within The Muppets franchise, including The Muppet Show, its second pilot episode The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, The Muppet Movie, and The Muppets Take Manhattan, in addition to an appearance with Ernie on The Flip Wilson Show on September 14, 1972, on which he sang "Clink, Clank", a song about noises. Jacobson joined Sesame Street in 1994.

Characteristics
Physically, Bert represents a human, with yellow skin and a vertically elongated head, with a tuft of black hair at the top. Bert has a noted unibrow. Bert typically wears a shirt with vertical stripes, most commonly with red blue and green stripes. He also sports green pants and blue & white saddle, pigeon shoes.

Bert's age has never been defined, but performer on Sesame Street Live, Taylor Morgan, has said that "I just kind of try to think like a six year old or a seven year old, because that's how old Bert is." Bert's twin brother Bart is depicted as a traveling salesman who has a son named Brad. Bert and his roommate Ernie form a comic duo that is one of the program's centerpieces, with Bert acting as the world weary foil, to Ernie's naive troublemaking.

Discography
As the duo often sing in their skits, several albums were released, containing studio recorded versions of their songs. Bert's best known song is "Doin' the Pigeon". He and Ernie both had their own video, The Best of Ernie and Bert, and their own album, Bert and Ernie's Greatest Hits. Only Ernie, however, has hit the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with his song "Rubber Duckie", in September 1970.

title: Bert (Sesame Street)


text:
Ernie (Sesame Street)

Ernie is an orange Muppet character created and originally performed by Jim Henson for the children's television show Sesame Street. He and his roommate Bert form the comic duo Bert and Ernie, one of the program's centerpieces, with Ernie acting the role of the naïve troublemaker, and Bert the world-weary foil.

Characteristics
Ernie has a characteristic chuckling laugh (a trait he shares with his baby cousin, Ernestine), and he also has his signature pronunciation of the word "again" (ay-gain). He is a friend and roommate of Bert; they share an apartment on Sesame Street. Ernie's appearance and clothing contrast with Bert, as he is the shorter and more round of the pair, and he wears a shirt with horizontal stripes, whereas Bert's shirt has vertical stripes, and Bert has a tall, narrow head while Ernie's is wider than it is high. Additionally, Ernie has no visible eyebrows, while Bert displays a pronounced unibrow.

Ernie is known for his fondness for baths with his Rubber Duckie and for trying to learn to play the saxophone. Ernie is also known for keeping Bert awake at night, for reasons such as wanting to play the drums, wanting to count something (like sheep), to observe something like a blackout, or even because he is waiting for his upstairs neighbor to drop his shoes.

Ernie (and Bert) are typically characterized as childlike. Bert's twin brother, Bart, however, is depicted as a traveling salesman, which would mean Bert (and probably Ernie) are both adults.

Sesame Street
A typical Bert and Ernie skit has Ernie coming up with a harebrained idea, and Bert trying to talk him out of it, ending with Bert losing his temper, while Ernie becomes oblivious to his own bad idea.

Other sketches have involved Bert and Ernie sharing a snack by division, but finding that one of them has a bit more; Ernie humorously decides to try to make it even by eating the extra piece, which goes forth until the entire snack is all eaten up. Others have also involved Ernie eating part of Bert's snack he prepares for himself, and when Bert comes back from somewhere, Ernie tries to make several (usually unsuccessful) attempts to cover up the crime in front of Bert.

Some other plotlines involved Ernie wanting to play a game with Bert, who would much rather do something else (like read). Ernie keeps irking Bert with the game until Bert joins — and usually, by the time Bert starts enjoying the game, Ernie is tired of playing the game and wants to do something else.

Ernie makes appearances without Bert, usually within the framework of another double act. He has regularly appeared in skits with Grover, Cookie Monster, Sherlock Hemlock and Lefty the Salesman.

Ernie and Bert also appear in Out to Lunch (1974), and are the hosts of this crossover special.

In Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1978), Ernie decides to buy Bert a cigar box to store his paper clips in. As he does not have any money, he trades his own Rubber Duckie for it. At the same time, Bert decides to get Ernie a soap dish to put his Rubber Duckie in, so that it will not keep falling into the tub, but has to trade his paper clips for it. Thankfully, Mr. Hooper can tell that neither of them really wants to give up their prized possessions, and so gives them their things back as presents.

In Sesame Street... 20 Years & Still Counting (1989), he and Bert get a new video camera, and he talks Bert into using the camera to record footage of Sesame Street so that they can watch Sesame Street on television.

Ernie appears in both of the Sesame Street movies. In Follow That Bird (1985), he and Bert search for Big Bird by plane. Ernie pilots the plane, and eventually, after they find Big Bird, he flies the plane upside-down, singing "Upside Down World". However, after they lose Big Bird, Ernie blames Bert.

Ernie appears in the video special 123 Count with Me (1997), teaching Humphrey and Ingrid at the Furry Arms Hotel how counting can be very useful.

Journey to Ernie
From Sesame Street season 33 (2002) until season 36 (2005), Ernie and Big Bird starred in a daily segment called "Journey to Ernie". Ernie was one of the hosts of the show Play with Me Sesame, where he was performed by John Tartaglia during the second season. One regular segment that he hosted was "Ernie Says", a variation of the game Simon Says. In season 39 Bert and Ernie have appeared in the Bert and Ernie's great adventures segment

Roles in other projects
Ernie also appears in the finales of The Muppet Movie and The Muppets Take Manhattan, in the last of which he gets a line.

Ernie and Bert introduce a montage of Sesame Street clips in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years. Ernie also narrates a Christmas pageant, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, in A Muppet Family Christmas. In that same special, Ernie and Bert have a conversation with Doc, making them the only Sesame Street characters (not counting Kermit the Frog) to have interacted with Doc.

"Rubber Duckie" song
Ernie sang about his affection for Rubber Duckie in a skit, which aired during the first season of Sesame Street. The song "Rubber Duckie" from that skit became a modest mainstream hit, reaching No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1970.

Performing Ernie
Ernie is a "Live Hand Muppet," meaning that while operating the head of the puppet with his right hand, the puppeteer inserts his left hand into a T-shaped sleeve, capped off with a glove that matches the fabric "skin" of the puppet, thus "becoming" the left arm of the puppet. A second puppeteer usually provides the right arm, although sometimes the right arm is simply stuffed and pinned to the puppet's chest or the second puppeteer will perform both arms.

The original segment of the song "I Don't Want to Live on the Moon" was one of the rare instances when Ernie's full body was shown. It reportedly took three puppeteers to perform Ernie in this segment: Jim Henson performed Ernie's head and left hand, while two other puppeteers operated Ernie's right hand and feet respectively. Other puppets of this type include Cookie Monster, Fozzie Bear, Beaker, and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew.

Jim Henson's original Ernie puppet is on display at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, Georgia.

Books
Ernie is the subject of numerous books including:
 * 2021, Bert & Ernie, Random House ISBN 9780593308233
 * 2019, The Importance of Being Ernie (and Bert), Imprint ISBN 9781250304568
 * 2012, Bert and Ernie Go Camping, Candlewick Press ISBN 9780763657932
 * 1992, Ernie And His Merry Monsters, Western Publishing ISBN 9780307295019
 * 1990, Ernie and Bert's New Kitten, Random House ISBN 9780679804208
 * 1987, Ernie's Neighborhood, Western Publishing ISBN 9780303231585
 * 1987, Just like Ernie, Golden Books Publishing ISBN 9780307290083
 * 1987, Little Ernie's Animal Friends, Random House ISBN 9780394885087
 * 1984, The Adventures of Ernie & Bert in Twiddlebug Land, Random House ISBN 9780394859255
 * 1983, Ernie's Little Lie, Random House ISBN 9780394854403
 * 1981, Ernie's Big Mess, Random House ISBN 9780394848471
 * 1984, Ernie's Work of Art, Western Publishing ISBN 9780307601094
 * 1979, The Many Faces of Ernie, Western Publishing

Theme parks
Ernie was one of the first characters to appear at Sesame Place theme park as a costumed character, in May 1983. (He had previously appeared at the attraction's groundbreaking event.)

International
Sesame Street is localized for some different markets, and Ernie is often renamed. For instance, in episodes that are aired in Portugal, Ernie's name has been changed to Egas, in Brazil, his name is Ênio, in Spain, he is renamed "Epi", in Latin America, his name is "Enrique", on Egyptian Alam Simsim (Sesame World) Ernie's name is given as "Shadi" (rhyming with Bert's which is "Hadi"), in Russia, he also known as Yenik (Еник), in Turkey, he is named "Edi", in Israel, he is called "Arik" (אריק) and in Norway, he is known as "Erling".

title: Ernie (Sesame Street)


text:
George Grenville

George Grenville (14 October 1712 – 13 November 1770) was a British Whig statesman who rose to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain, during the early reign of the young George III. He served for only two years (1763-1765), and attempted to solve the problem of the massive debt resulting from the Seven Years' War. He instituted a series of measures to increase revenue to the crown, including new taxes and enforcement of collection, and sought to bring the North American colonies under tighter crown control.

Born into an influential political family, Greville first entered Parliament in 1741 as an MP for Buckingham. He emerged as one of Cobham's Cubs, a group of young members of Parliament associated with Lord Cobham. In 1754, Grenville became Treasurer of the Navy, a position he held twice until 1761. In October 1761 he chose to stay in government and accepted the new role of Leader of the Commons causing a rift with his brother-in-law and political ally William Pitt who had resigned. Grenville was subsequently made Northern Secretary and First Lord of the Admiralty by the new Prime Minister Lord Bute. On 8 April 1763, Lord Bute resigned, and Grenville assumed his position as Prime Minister.

His government tried to bring public spending under control and pursued an assertive policy over the North American colonies and colonial settlers. His best-known policy is the Stamp Act, a long-standing tax in Great Britain which Grenville extended to the colonies in America, but which instigated widespread opposition in Britain's American colonies and was later repealed. Grenville had increasingly strained relations with his colleagues and the King. In 1765, he was dismissed by George III and replaced by Lord Rockingham. For the last five years of his life, Grenville led a group of his supporters in opposition and staged a public reconciliation with Pitt.

Grenville married Elizabeth Wyndham, the granddaughter of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset the great great grandson of Lady Katherine Grey, who was herself a great-granddaughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, and sister of Lady Jane Grey.

Family
George Grenville was born at Wotton House on 14 October 1712. He was the second son of Richard Grenville and Hester Temple (later the 1st Countess Temple). He was one of five brothers, all of whom became MPs. His sister Hester Grenville married the leading political figure William Pitt. His elder brother was Richard Grenville, later the 2nd Earl Temple. It was intended by his parents that George Grenville should become a lawyer.

Education
Grenville was educated at Eton College and at Christ Church, Oxford, but did not graduate.

Member of Parliament
He entered Parliament in 1741 as one of the two members for Buckingham, and continued to represent that borough for the next twenty-nine years until his death. He was disappointed to be giving up what appeared to be a promising legal career for the uncertainties of opposition politics.

In Parliament, he subscribed to the "Boy Patriot" party, which opposed Sir Robert Walpole. In particular he enjoyed the patronage of his uncle Lord Cobham, the leader of a faction that included George Grenville, his brother Richard, William Pitt and George Lyttelton that became known as Cobham's Cubs.

Administration
In December 1744 he became a Lord of the Admiralty in the administration of Henry Pelham. He allied himself with his brother Richard and with William Pitt (who became their brother-in-law in 1754) in forcing Pelham to give them promotion by rebelling against his authority and obstructing business. In June 1747, Grenville became a Lord of the Treasury.

In 1754 Grenville was made Treasurer of the Navy and Privy Councillor. Along with Pitt and several other colleagues he was dismissed in 1755 after speaking and voting against the government on a debate about a recent subsidy treaty with Russia which they believed was unnecessarily costly, and would drag Britain into Continental European disputes. Opposition to European entanglements was a cornerstone of Patriot Whig thinking.

He and Pitt joined the opposition, haranguing the Newcastle government. Grenville and Pitt both championed the formation of a British militia to provide additional security rather than the deployment of Hessian mercenaries favoured by the government. As the military situation deteriorated following the loss of Minorca, the government grew increasingly weak until it was forced to resign in Autumn 1756.

Treasurer of the Navy
Pitt then formed a government led by the Duke of Devonshire. Grenville was returned to his position as Treasurer of the Navy, which was a great disappointment as he had been expecting to receive the more prestigious and lucrative post of Paymaster of the Forces. This added to what Grenville regarded as a series of earlier slights in which Pitt and others had passed him over for positions in favour of men he considered no more talented than he was. From then on Grenville felt a growing resentment towards Pitt, and grew closer to the young Prince of Wales and his advisor Lord Bute who were both now opposed to Pitt.

In 1758, as Treasurer of the Navy, he introduced and carried a bill which established a fairer system of paying the wages of seamen and supporting their families while they were at sea which was praised for its humanity if not for its effectiveness. He remained in office during the years of British victories, notably the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 for which the credit went to the government of which he was a member. However his seven-year-old son died after a long illness and Grenville remained by his side at their country house in Wotton and rarely came to London.

In 1761, when Pitt resigned upon the question of the war with Spain, and subsequently functioned as Leader of the House of Commons in the administration of Lord Bute. Grenville's role was seen as an attempt to keep someone closely associated with Pitt involved in the government, in order to prevent Pitt and his supporters actively opposing the government. However, it soon led to conflict between Grenville and Pitt. Grenville was also seen as a suitable candidate because his reputation for honesty meant he commanded loyalty and respect amongst independent MPs.

Northern Secretary
In May 1762, Grenville was appointed Northern Secretary, where he took an increasingly hard line in the negotiations with France and Spain designed to bring the Seven Years' War to a close.

Grenville demanded much greater compensation in exchange for the return of British conquests, while Bute favored a more generous position which eventually formed the basis of the Treaty of Paris. In spite of this, Grenville had now become associated with Bute rather than his former political allies who were even more vocal in their opposition to the peace treaty than he was. In October he was made First Lord of the Admiralty. Henry Fox took over as Leader of the Commons, and forced the peace treaty through parliament.

Bute's position grew increasingly untenable as he was extremely unpopular, which led to him offering his resignation to George III on several occasions. Bute was the target of the radical John Wilkes's criticism and satire and he ridiculed in Wilkes' newspaper The North Briton, stereotypical reference to the prime minister's Scottish heritage.

Appointment
Bute's intention to resign was genuine, and the hostile press attacks and the continuing unpopularity of his government finally led to King George III to reluctantly accept his resignation. Though the king was unsure whom should be appoint to the position and Bute highly recommended that the King should appoint Grenville as the new prime minister. Despite the King's disapproval and distrust of his ministers, he considered appointed Grenville to office.

When Grenville was asked about becoming the new prime minister, he agreed only on the condition that Bute would not take an active part in politics and be barred from voicing policies for the government. The King agreed and thus appointed Grenville as new Prime Minister. George III assured Grenville that "he meant to put his government solely into his hand". Grenville set to work and formed his government on 16 April 1763. He appointed two of his trusted allies Lord Halifax and Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont as Northern Secretary and Southern Secretary respectively. He also appointed the Lord Northington as Lord High Chancellor, Lord Granville as Lord President of the Council as well.

Arrest of John Wilkes
House of Commons was thrown into doubt by the first case involving the Member of Parliament John Wilkes, a radical reformer and political activist who promoted parliamentary representation and reform, whose critique of the former prime minister led to his resignation. Wilkes was regarded by many as threat to the government and therefore was treated suspiciously. In 1763, it came to be one of Grenville's first acts to prosecute Wilkes for publishing in The North Briton newspaper an article deriding King George III's speech made on 23 April 1763. Wilkes was prosecuted for "seditious libel". That was a massive tactical blunder by the secretaries of state, for it was perceived as a violation of individual liberty that raised the political discontent.

After fighting a duel with a supporter of the Grenville ministry, Samuel Martin, Wilkes fled to France for asylum. Despite government officials calling on him to be arrested, Wilkes was later returned to England and was elected and re-elected by the Middlesex constituency. He was continually refused admission to parliament by parliament, and proved a problem to several successive governments.

Monetary debt
The time of the Seven Years' War was a tumultuous period in the history of Europe and was fought on a global conflict scale. Even though Great Britain defeated France and its allies and rose to the position as a dominant world power, the victory came at a great cost. In January 1763, Great Britain's national debt was more than £122 million pounds, an enormous sum for the time. Interest on the debt was more than £4.4 million a year. Figuring out how to pay the interest alone absorbed the attention of the King and his ministers.

As Britain was trying to recover from the costs of the Seven Years' War and now in dire need of finances for the British army in the American colonies, Grenville's most immediate task was to restore the nation's finances. He also had to deal with the fall-out from Pontiac's Rebellion, which erupted in North America in 1763. Although, initially, prominent measures of his government included the prosecution of John Wilkes, focus shifted from arresting radicals to paying off the national debt. The passing of the tax measures in America had proved to be a disaster and would lead to the first symptoms of alienation between American colonies and Great Britain.

Measures and taxes
Many of the acts passed by the British were perceived by the colonists as threatening to their liberties. Although not a part of the Grenville government's programme, the issue was generally attributed to him by the colonists. Another one of the most controversial acts passed by Grenville was the Quartering Act on 15 May 1765. Enacted because of a request by Major General Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief in North America, to give better housing for his troops stationed in the colonies. One of the more prominent measures of the Grenville's government occurred in March 1765 when Grenville authored the Stamp Act, enacted in November of that year. It was an exclusive tax placed on the colonies in America requiring that documents and newspapers be printed on stamped paper from London bearing an embossed revenue stamp that had to be paid for in British currency. It was met with general outrage and resulted in public acts of disobedience and rioting throughout the colonies in America.

Foreign policy
The signing of the treaty in February 1763 formally marked the conclusion of the Seven Years' War experienced by Britain and as such, foreign policy, along with military policy and diplomacy, no longer became the dominant concern of both domestic politics and government agenda. Focus thus shifted to seemingly more relevant issues such as the survival of the Grenville Ministry. But overall the British relations, after negotiating, with the French and the Spanish, remained hostile and suspicious of its enemies and that wariness concluded the entirety of Grenville's policy.

When seemingly, the French and the Spanish began to support Britain's colonial dissenters in the Americas and beyond and threatening British allies in the continent, promoting disputes and resentment from British politicians who viewed them as a violation of British sovereignty. Britain begun a process of isolation, when Britain had no allies in the continent and the allies it did have were weak or less significant in military or political might.

In disputes with Spain and France, Grenville managed to secure British objectives by deploying what was later described as gunboat diplomacy. During his ministry. Britain's international isolation increased, as Britain failed to secure alliances with other major European powers, a situation that subsequent governments were unable to reverse leading to Britain fighting several countries during the American War of Independence without a major ally.

Dismissal
The King made various attempts to induce Pitt to come to his rescue by forming a ministry, but without success, and at last had recourse to Lord Rockingham. When Rockingham agreed to accept office, the king dismissed Grenville in July 1765. He never again held office.

The nickname of "gentle shepherd" was given him because he bored the House by asking over and over again, during the debate on the Cider Bill of 1763, that somebody should tell him "where" to lay the new tax if it was not to be put on cider. Pitt whistled the air of the popular tune (by Boyce) Gentle Shepherd, tell me where, and the House laughed. Though few surpassed him in knowledge of the forms of the House or in mastery of administrative details, he lacked tact in dealing with people and affairs.

In Opposition
After a period of active opposition to the Chatham Ministry led by Pitt between 1766 and 1768, Grenville became an elder statesman during his last few years – seeking to avoid becoming associated with any faction or party in the House of Commons. He was able to oversee the re-election of his core group of supporters in the 1768 General Election. His followers included Robert Clive and Lord George Sackville and he received support from his elder brother Lord Temple.

In late 1768 he reconciled with Pitt and the two joined forces, re-uniting the partnership that had broken up in 1761 when Pitt had resigned from the government. Grenville was successful in mobilising the opposition during the Middlesex election dispute.

Grenville prosecuted John Wilkes and the printers and authors for treason and sedition for publishing a bitter editorial about King George III's recent speech in "The North Briton" a weekly periodical. After losing the case Grenville lost favor from the public who regarded the act as an attempt to silence or control the press.

Advocate and critic
Although personally opposed to Wilkes, Grenville saw the government's attempt to bar him from the Commons as unconstitutional and opposed it on principle.

Following a French invasion of Corsica in 1768 Grenville advocated sending British support to the Corsican Republic. Grenville was critical of the Grafton Government's failure to intervene and he considered such weakness would encourage the French. In the House of Commons he observed "For fear of going to war, you will make a war unavoidable".

In 1770 Grenville steered a bill concerning the results of contested elections, a major issue in the eighteenth century, into law – despite strong opposition from the government.

Death
Grenville died on 13 November 1770, aged 58. His personal following divided after his death, with a number joining the government of Lord North. In the long-term, the Grenvillites were revived by William Pitt the Younger who served as Prime Minister from 1783 and dominated British politics until his death in 1806. Grenville's own son, William Grenville, later served briefly as Prime Minister. Grenville is buried at Wotton Underwood in Buckinghamshire

George Grenville's post mortem was carried up by John Hunter who retained specimens in his collection which later became the Hunterian Museum. Subsequent analysis of these specimens published by the Royal College of Surgeons of England suggests that George Grenville was affected by Multiple myeloma at the time of his death.

Legacy
He was one of the relatively few prime ministers (others include Henry Pelham, William Pitt the Younger, Spencer Perceval, George Canning, Sir Robert Peel, William Ewart Gladstone, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Bonar Law, Ramsay MacDonald, Neville Chamberlain, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Edward Heath, Sir John Major, Sir Tony Brown, Gordon Brown, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss) who never acceded to the peerage).

The town of Grenville, Quebec, was named after George Grenville. The town is in turn the namesake for the Grenville orogeny, a long-lived Mesoproterozoic mountain-building event associated with the assembly of the supercontinent Rodinia. Its record is a prominent orogenic belt which spans a significant portion of the North American continent, from Labrador to Mexico, and extends to Scotland.

Family life
In 1749 Grenville married Elizabeth Wyndham (1719 – 5 December 1769), daughter of Sir William Wyndham, and the granddaughter of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset. Somerset did not approve of their marriage and consequently left Elizabeth only a small sum in his will.

The couple had four sons and four daughters. (One account states they had five daughters.)

 * 1) Richard Grenville (died 1759), died young
 * 2) George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham (17 June 1753 – 11 February 1813), father of the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
 * 3) Charlotte Grenville (c. 1754 – 29 September 1830), married Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet (1749–1789) on 21 December 1771, and had eight children, six of whom survived to adulthood
 * 4) Thomas Grenville (31 December 1755 – 17 December 1846), MP and bibliophile, died unmarried
 * 5) Elizabeth Grenville (24 October 1756 – 21 December 1842), married (as his second wife) John Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort (1751–1828), on 12 April 1787, and had three daughters
 * 6) William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville (25 October 1759 – 12 January 1834), later Prime Minister
 * 7) Catherine Grenville (1761 – 6 November 1796), married Richard Neville-Aldworth (1750–1825), afterwards Richard Griffin, 2nd Baron Braybrooke, on 19 June 1780, and had four children.
 * 8) Hester Grenville (before 1767 – 13 November 1847), married Hugh Fortescue, 1st Earl Fortescue, on 10 May 1782 and had nine children

At the time of his death in 1770, he was the heir presumptive to the Earldom of Temple held by his elder brother Richard (who had succeeded their mother in that title in 1752, but had no sons). When Richard died in 1779, George's second (but eldest surviving) son, also George, therefore succeeded as 3rd Earl Temple, and was later created Marquess of Buckingham. His male line survived until the death of the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos in 1889.

title: George Grenville


text:
Reform Party

The Reform Party can refer to a number of current and disbanded political parties of various ideologies.

Canada

 * Reform Party of Canada, a major political party in Canada from 1987 until 2000 when it became the Canadian Alliance
 * Reform Party of Alberta (1989–2004)
 * Reform Party of Alberta (2016–present)
 * Reform Party of Ontario
 * Reform Party of British Columbia
 * Manitoba Reform Party (defunct)
 * Reform movement (pre-Confederation Canada), Canadian political movement agitating for responsible government

United States

 * Toleration Party (American Toleration and Reform Party), founded in Connecticut in the 1810s
 * Reform Party (19th-century Wisconsin), a short-lived coalition of the 1870s
 * Reform Party of the Hawaiian Kingdom
 * Reform Party of New York State
 * Reform Party of the United States of America, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot
 * Reform Party of Minnesota, supporters of the above, now the Independence Party
 * American Reform Party, factional offshoot from the Reform Party of the United States, which only endorsed other party candidates
 * Reform Party of Syria, a United States lobbying organization
 * Reform Party (Mormon), founded by Joseph Smith in 1844; went defunct that same year

Baltic States

 * Estonian Reform Party
 * Patriotic Party (defunct) of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, active in the late 18th century
 * Reform Party (Latvia) (2011–2016)

British Territories and Dependencies

 * Gibraltar Reform Party
 * Reform Jersey

United Kingdom

 * English Democrats (Reform UK), a small UKIP splinter group active during 2000–2004
 * Reform UK, the new name for the Brexit Party following the exit of the UK from the European Union

Others

 * Reform Party (Northern Cyprus)
 * Reform Party (Iceland) (2016)
 * Party of Reform (Moldova), now called Liberal Party
 * Reform Party (Norway) (2004–2009), founded to oppose user-financing of highway construction
 * Reform Party (Norway, 1974) (defunct), active in 1974–75, split from Anders Lange's Party

Africa

 * Reform Party (Ghana)
 * Reform Party (Rhodesia)
 * Reform Party (Kenya)
 * Reform Party (South Africa)
 * Reform and Renaissance Party (Egypt)
 * Egyptian Reform Party
 * Reform and Development Misruna Party (Egypt)

Asia and Oceania

 * New Zealand Reform Party (defunct)
 * Reform Party (Palestine)
 * Reform Party (Singapore)
 * Shinui, which means reform in Hebrew, an Israeli party.
 * Al-Islah (Yemen), which means reform in Arabic, a Yemeni party
 * Reformers' Party, active in Iran during late Qajar and early Pahlavi dynasty
 * Reform Party (Northern Mariana Islands)
 * Reform Party (South Korea)

title: Reform Party


text:
Acer saccharinum

Acer saccharinum, commonly known as silver maple, creek maple, silverleaf maple, soft maple, large maple, water maple, swamp maple, or white maple, is a species of maple native to the eastern and central United States and southeastern Canada. It is one of the most common trees in the United States.

Although the silver maple's Latin name is similar, it should not be confused with Acer saccharum, the sugar maple. Some of the common names are also applied to other maples, especially Acer rubrum.

Description
The silver maple tree is a relatively fast-growing deciduous tree, commonly reaching a height of 15 –, exceptionally 35 m. Its spread will generally be 11 – wide. A 10-year-old sapling will stand about 8 m tall. It is often found along waterways and in wetlands, leading to the colloquial name "water maple". It is a highly adaptable tree, although it has higher sunlight requirements than other maple trees. The leaves are simple and palmately veined, 8 – long and 6 – broad, with deep angular notches between the five lobes. The 5 – long, slender stalks of the leaves mean that even a light breeze can produce a striking effect as the downy silver undersides of the leaves are exposed. The autumn color is less pronounced than in many maples, generally ending up a pale yellow, although some specimens can produce a more brilliant yellow and even orange and red colorations. The tree has a tendency to color and drop its leaves slightly earlier in autumn than other maples. The flowers are in dense clusters, produced before the leaves in early spring, with the seeds maturing in early summer. The fruit is a schizocarp of two single-seeded, winged samaras. The wing of each samara is about 3 – long. The fruit of this species is the largest among the maples native to its range. Although the wings provide for some transport by air, the fruit are heavy and are also transported by water. Silver maple and its close cousin red maple are the only Acer species which produce their fruit crop in spring instead of fall. The seeds of both trees have no epigeal dormancy and will germinate immediately. Seed production begins at 11 years of age and large crops are produced most years. Like most maples, silver maple can be variably dioecious (separate male or female trees) or monoecious (male and female flowers on the same tree) but dioecious trees are far more common. They can also change sex from year to year.

On mature trunks, the bark is gray and shaggy. On branches and young trunks, the bark is smooth and silvery gray.

Cultivation and uses

Wildlife uses the silver maple in various ways. In many parts of the eastern U.S., the large rounded buds are one of the primary food sources for squirrels during the spring, after many acorns and nuts have sprouted and the squirrels' food is scarce. The seeds are also a food source for chipmunks and birds. The bark can be eaten by beaver and deer. The trunks tend to produce cavities, which can shelter squirrels, raccoons, opossums, owls and woodpeckers, and are frequented by carpenter ants. Additionally, the leaves serve as a source of food for species of Lepidoptera, such as the rosy maple moth (Dryocampa rubicunda).

The wood can be used as pulp for making paper. Lumber from the tree is used in furniture, cabinets, flooring, musical instruments, crates, and tool handles, because it is light and easily worked. Because of the silver maple's fast growth, it is being researched as a potential source of biofuels. Silver maple produces a sweet sap but it is generally not used by commercial sugarmakers because its sugar content is lower than in other maple species.

Silver maple is often planted as an ornamental tree because of its rapid growth and ease of propagation and transplanting. It is highly tolerant of urban situations and is frequently planted next to streets. However, its quick growth produces brittle wood which is commonly damaged in storms. The silver maple's root system is shallow and fibrous and easily invades septic fields and old drain pipes; it can also crack sidewalks and foundations. It is a vigorous resprouter, and if not pruned, will often grow with multiple trunks. Although it naturally is found near water, it can grow on drier ground if planted there. In ideal natural conditions, A. saccharinum may live up to 130 years but in urban environments often 80 or less.

Following World War II, silver maples were commonly used as a landscaping and street tree in suburban housing developments and cities due to their rapid growth, especially as a replacement for the blighted American elm. However, they fell out of favor for this purpose because of brittle wood, unattractive form when not pruned or trained, and tendency to produce large numbers of volunteer seedlings. Today the tree has fallen so far out of favor that some towns and cities have banned its use as a street tree.

Silver maple's natural range encompasses most of the eastern US, the Midwestern US and southern Canada, that being Southern Ontario and southwestern Quebec. It is generally absent from the humid US coastal plain south of Maryland, so it is confined to the Appalachians in those states. It does not occur along the Gulf Coast or in Florida outside a few scattered locations in the panhandle.

It is commonly cultivated outside its native range, showing tolerance of a wide range of climates, and growing successfully as far north as central Norway. It also is in Anchorage, Alaska. It can thrive in a Mediterranean climate, as at Jerusalem and Los Angeles, if summer water is provided. It is also grown in temperate parts of the Southern Hemisphere: Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, the southern states of Brazil (and in a few low-temperature locations within the states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais).

The silver maple is closely related to the red maple (Acer rubrum) and can hybridise with it. The hybrid is known as the Freeman maple (Acer × freemanii). The Freeman maple is a popular ornamental tree in parks and large gardens, combining the fast growth of silver maple with the less brittle wood, less invasive roots, and the beautiful bright red fall foliage of the red maple. The cultivar Acer × freemanii = 'Jeffersred' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

The silver maple is the favored host of the maple bladder gall mite Vasates quadripedes.

Native American ethnobotany
Native Americans used the sap of wild trees to make sugar, as medicine, and in bread. They used the wood to make baskets and furniture. An infusion of bark removed from the south side of the tree is used by the Mohegan as cough medicine. The Cherokee take an infusion of the bark to treat cramps, menstrual pains, dysentery, and hives. They boil the inner bark and use it with water as a wash for sore eyes. They take a hot infusion of the bark to treat measles. They use the tree to make baskets, for lumber, building material, and for carving.

title: Acer saccharinum


text:
Cabaret Voltaire

Cabaret Voltaire may refer to:
 * Cabaret Voltaire (Zürich), a Swiss cabaret founded in 1916, distinguished by the involvement of Dada artists
 * Cabaret Voltaire (band), a British industrial/techno musical group
 * Cabaret Voltaire (magazine), a Dada magazine published in 1916 in Zurich
 * Cabaret Voltaire, a 1916 painting by Marcel Janco
 * Cabaret Voltaire, a Houston, Texas punk club

title: Cabaret Voltaire