text:
Poljčane

Poljčane is a settlement in northeastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Poljčane. It lies 35 km south of Maribor and 35 km northeast of Celje. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. The town lies in the Dravinja Valley north of Mount Boč. It is a crossing of two important regional roads, the route from Maribor to Rogaška Slatina and the route from Celje to Ptuj. The railway line from Ljubljana to Maribor runs through the settlement, and the town has a railway station. There are also a primary school, a health centre, a post office, two supermarkets, a small inn, bars, and some restaurants.

History
Poljčane was officially created in 1957, when the former villages of Maharska Vas and Pekel pri Poljčanah were merged into a single settlement.

Recreation
Poljčane is a popular starting point for excursions to Mount Boč, a popular destination for day trips with mountain bikes or on foot. The top of the mountain offers a view of eastern Slovenia.

Economy
The town has some industry; mostly wood production, construction, and electronics. The surrounding area is also heavily cultivated. Many people commute to work to Slovenska Bistrica, Pragersko, Maribor, Slovenske Konjice, and Celje.

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

title: Poljčane


text:
Harrowing of Hell

In Christian theology, the Harrowing of Hell (Descensus Christi ad Inferos, "the descent of Christ into Hell" or Hades) is the period of time between the Crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection. In triumphant descent, Christ brought salvation to the souls held captive there since the beginning of the world.

Christ's descent into the world of the dead is referred to in the Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed (Quicumque vult), which state that he "descended into the underworld" (descendit ad inferos), although neither mention that he liberated the dead. His descent to the underworld is alluded to in the New Testament in 1 Peter 4:6, which states that the "good tidings were proclaimed to the dead". The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes Ephesians 4:9, which states that "[Christ] descended into the lower parts of the earth", as also supporting this interpretation. These passages in the New Testament have given rise to differing interpretations. The Harrowing of Hell is commemorated in the liturgical calendar on Holy Saturday.

According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, the story first appears clearly in the Gospel of Nicodemus in the section called the Acts of Pilate, which also appears separately at earlier dates within the Acts of Peter and Paul. The descent into Hell had been related in Old English poems connected with the names of Cædmon (e.g. Christ and Satan) and Cynewulf. It is subsequently repeated in Ælfric of Eynsham's homilies c. 1000 AD, which is the first known inclusion of the word "harrowing". Middle English dramatic literature contains the fullest and most dramatic development of the subject.

As a subject in Christian art, it is also known as the (Greek for "resurrection"), considered a creation of Byzantine culture and first appearing in the West in the early 8th century.

Background
The Old Testament view of the afterlife was that all people when they died, whether righteous or unrighteous, went to Sheol, a dark, still place. Several works from the Second Temple period elaborate the concept of Sheol, dividing it into sections based on the righteousness or unrighteousness of those who have died.

The New Testament maintains a distinction between Sheol, the common "place of the dead", and the eternal destiny of those condemned at the Final Judgment, variously described as Gehenna, "the outer darkness", or a lake of eternal fire.

Terminology
The Greek wording in the Apostles' Creed is κατελθόντα εἰς τὰ κατώτατα, and in Latin is descendit ad inferos. The Greek τὰ κατώτατα (, "the lowest") and the Latin inferos ("those below") may also be translated as "underworld", "netherworld", or "abode of the dead".

The realm into which Jesus descended is called Hell, in long-established English usage, but is also called Sheol or Limbo by some Christian theologians to distinguish it from the Hell of the damned. In Classical mythology, Hades is the underworld inhabited by departed souls, and the god Pluto is its ruler. Some New Testament translations use the term "Hades" to refer to the abode or state of the dead to represent a neutral place where the dead awaited the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

The word "harrow" originally comes from the Old English hergian meaning "to harry or despoil", and is seen in the homilies of Aelfric, c. 1000. The term 'Harrowing of Hell' refers not merely to the idea that Jesus descended into Hell, as in the Creed, but to the rich tradition that developed later, asserting that he triumphed over inferos, releasing Hell's captives, particularly Adam and Eve, and the righteous men and women of the Old Testament period.

Scripture

The Harrowing of Hell is mentioned or suggested by several verses in the New Testament:
 * Matthew 12:40: "For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth."
 * Matthew 27:50–54: "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.  So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, 'Truly this was the Son of God!
 * Acts 2:24: "But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power."
 * Acts 2:31: "Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, 'He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption'."
 * Ephesians 4:9: "In saying, 'he ascended', what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?"
 * Colossians 1:18: "He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything."
 * 1 Peter 3:18–19: "For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, ..."
 * 1 Peter 4:6: "For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does."

Theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar sees parallels with Mark 3:24: "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered." That and Matthew 16:18 ("And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.") speak to Jesus's power and the impotence of Satan.

Early Christian teaching
The Harrowing of Hell was taught by theologians of the early church: St Melito of Sardis (died c. 180) in his Homily on the Passover and more explicitly in his Homily for Holy Saturday, Tertullian (A Treatise on the Soul, 55, though he himself disagrees with the idea), Hippolytus (Treatise on Christ and Anti-Christ), Origen (Against Celsus, 2:43), and, later, Ambrose (died 397) all wrote of the Harrowing of Hell. The early heretic Marcion and his followers also discussed the Harrowing of Hell, as mentioned by Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Epiphanius. The 6th-century sect called the Christolytes, as recorded by John of Damascus, believed that Jesus left his soul and body in Hell, and only rose with his divinity to Heaven.

The Gospel of Matthew relates that immediately after Christ died, the earth shook, there was darkness, the veil in the Second Temple was torn in two, and many people rose from the dead, and after the resurrection (Matthew 27:53) walked about in Jerusalem and were seen by many people there. Balthasar says this is a "visionary and imaginistic" description of Jesus vanquishing death itself.

According to the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus, the Harrowing of Hell was foreshadowed by Christ's raising of Lazarus from the dead prior to his own crucifixion.

In the Acts of Pilate – usually incorporated with the widely-read medieval Gospel of Nicodemus – texts built around an original that might have been as old as the 3rd century AD with many improvements and embroidered interpolations, chapters 17 to 27 are called the Decensus Christi ad Inferos. They contain a dramatic dialogue between Hades and Prince Satan, and the entry of the King of Glory, imagined as from within Tartarus.

Orthodoxy

John Chrysostom's Paschal Homily also addresses the Harrowing of Hades, and is typically read during the Paschal Vigil, the climactic service of the Orthodox celebration of Pascha (Easter).

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Harrowing of Hades is celebrated annually on Holy and Great Saturday during the Vesperal Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil, as is normative for the Byzantine Rite. At the beginning of the service, the hangings in the church and the vestments worn by the clergy are all somber Lenten colours (usually purple or black). Then, just before the Gospel reading, the liturgical colors are changed to white and the deacon performs a censing, and the priest strews laurel leaves around the church, symbolizing the broken gates of Hell; this is done in celebration of the harrowing of Hades then taking place, and in anticipation of Christ's imminent resurrection.

Icon
The Harrowing of Hades is generally more common and prominent in Orthodox iconography compared to the Western tradition. It is the traditional icon for Holy Saturday, and is used during the Paschal season and on Sundays throughout the year.

The traditional Orthodox icon of the Resurrection of Jesus, partially inspired by the apocryphal Acts of Pilate (4th c.), does not depict simply the physical act of Christ coming out of the Tomb, but rather it reveals what Orthodox Christians believe to be the spiritual reality of what his Death and Resurrection accomplished. The icon depicts Jesus, vested in white and gold to symbolize his divine majesty, standing on the brazen gates of Hades (also called the "Doors of Death"), which are broken and have fallen in the form of a cross, illustrating the belief that by his death on the cross, Jesus "trampled down death by death" (see Paschal troparion). He is holding Adam and Eve and pulling them up out of Hades. Traditionally, he is not shown holding them by the hands but by their wrists, to illustrate the theological teaching that mankind could not pull himself out of his original or ancestral sin, but that it could come about only by the work (energia) of God. Jesus is surrounded by various righteous figures from the Old Testament (Abraham, David, etc.); the bottom of the icon depicts Hades as a chasm of darkness, often with various pieces of broken locks and chains strewn about. Quite frequently, one or two figures are shown in the darkness, bound in chains, who are generally identified as personifications of Death or the devil.

Catholicism

There is an ancient homily on the subject, of unknown authorship, usually entitled The Lord's Descent into Hell that is the second reading at the Office of Readings on Holy Saturday in the Roman Catholic Church.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "By the expression 'He descended into Hell', the Apostles' Creed confesses that Jesus did really die and through his death for us conquered death and the devil 'who has the power of death' (Hebrews 2:14). In his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened Heaven's gates for the just who had gone before him."

As the Catechism says, the word "Hell"—from the Norse, Hel; in Latin, infernus, infernum, inferni; in Greek, ᾍδης (Hades); in Hebrew, שאול (Sheol)—is used in Scripture and the Apostles' Creed to refer to the abode of all the dead, whether righteous or evil, unless or until they are admitted to Heaven (CCC 633). This abode of the dead is the "Hell" into which the Creed says Christ descended. His death freed from exclusion from Heaven the just who had gone before him: "It is precisely these holy souls who awaited their Savior in Abraham's bosom whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into Hell", the Catechism states (CCC 633), echoing the words of the Roman Catechism, 1, 6, 3. His death was of no avail to the damned.

Conceptualization of the abode of the dead as a place, though possible and customary, is not obligatory (Church documents, such as catechisms, speak of a "state or place"). Some maintain that Christ did not go to the place of the damned, which is what is generally understood today by the word "Hell". For instance, Thomas Aquinas taught that Christ did not descend into the "Hell of the lost" in his essence, but only by the effect of his death, through which "he put them to shame for their unbelief and wickedness: but to them who were detained in Purgatory he gave hope of attaining to glory: while upon the holy Fathers detained in Hell solely on account of original sin, he shed the light of glory everlasting."

While some maintain that Christ merely descended into the "limbo of the fathers", others, notably theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (inspired by the visions of Adrienne von Speyr), maintain that it was more than this and that the descent involved suffering by Jesus. Some maintain that this is a matter on which differences and theological speculation are permissible without transgressing the limits of orthodoxy. However, Balthasar's point here has been forcefully condemned by conservative Catholic outlets.

Lutheranism
Martin Luther, in a sermon delivered in Torgau in 1533, stated that Christ descended into Hell.

The Formula of Concord (a Lutheran confession) states, "we believe simply that the entire person, God and human being, descended to Hell after his burial, conquered the devil, destroyed the power of Hell, and took from the devil all his power" (Solid Declaration, Art. IX).

Many attempts were made following Luther's death to systematize his theology of the descensus, whether Christ descended in victory or humiliation. For Luther, however, the defeat or "humiliation" of Christ is never fully separable from His victorious glorification. Luther himself, when pressed to elaborate on the question of whether Christ descended to Hell in humiliation or victory responded, "It is enough to preach the article to the laypeople as they have learned to know it in the past from the stained glass and other sources."

Anglicanism
"Anglican orthodoxy, without protest, has allowed high authorities to teach that there is an intermediate state, Hades, including both Gehenna and Paradise, but with an impassable gulf between the two." The traditional language of the Apostles' Creed affirms that Jesus "descended into hell"; the contemporary Book of Common Prayer says that Jesus "descended to the dead" (BCP, pp. 53, 96).

Calvinism
John Calvin expressed his concern that many Christians "have never earnestly considered what it is or means that we have been redeemed from God's judgment. Yet this is our wisdom: duly to feel how much our salvation cost the Son of God."

Calvin's conclusion is that "If any persons have scruples about admitting this article into the Creed, it will soon be made plain how important it is to the sum of our redemption: if it is left out, much of the benefit of Christ’s death will be lost." Calvin strongly opposed the notion that Christ freed prisoners, as opposed to traveling to Hell as part of completing his sufferings.

The Reformed interpret the phrase "he descended into Hell" as referring to Christ's pain and humiliation prior to his death, and that this humiliation had a spiritual dimension as part of God's judgement upon the sin which he bore on behalf of Christians. The doctrine of Christ's humiliation is also meant to assure believers that Christ has redeemed them from the pain and suffering of God's judgment on sin.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Harrowing of Hell has been a unique and important doctrine among members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since its founding in 1830 by Joseph Smith, although members of the church (known as "Mormons") usually call it by other terms, such as "Christ's visit to the spirit world". Like Christian exegetes distinguishing between Sheol and Gehenna, Latter-day Saints distinguish between the realm of departed spirits (the "spirit world") and the portion (or state) of the wicked ("spirit prison"). The portion or state of the righteous is often referred to as "paradise".

Perhaps the most notable aspect of Latter-day Saint beliefs regarding the Harrowing of Hell is their view on the purpose of it, both for the just and the wicked. Joseph F. Smith, the sixth president of the Church, explained in what is now a canonized revelation, that when Christ died, "there were gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of the just, ... rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand. They were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death".

In the Latter-day Saint view, while Christ announced freedom from physical death to the just, he had another purpose in descending to Hell regarding the wicked. "The Lord went not in person among the wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach them; but behold, from among the righteous, he organized his forces ... and commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men; and thus was the gospel preached to the dead, ... to those who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in transgression, having rejected the prophets". From the Latter-day Saint viewpoint, the rescue of spirits was not a one-time event but an ongoing process that still continues. This concept goes hand-in-hand with the doctrine of baptism for the dead, which is based on the Latter-day Saint belief that those who choose to accept the gospel in the spirit world must still receive the saving ordinances in order to dwell in the kingdom of God. These baptisms and other ordinances are performed in Latter-day Saint temples, wherein a church member is baptized vicariously, or in behalf of, those who died without being baptized by proper authority. The recipients in the spirit world then have the opportunity to accept or reject this baptism.

Rejection of the doctrine
Although the Harrowing of Hell is taught by the Lutheran, Catholic, Reformed, and Orthodox traditions, a number of Christians reject the doctrine of the "harrowing of hell", claiming that "there is scant scriptural evidence for [it], and that Jesus's own words contradict it". John Piper, for example, says "there is no textual [i.e. Biblical] basis for believing that Christ descended into hell", and, therefore, Piper does not recite the "he descended into hell" phrase when saying the Apostles' Creed. Wayne Grudem also skips the phrase when reciting the Creed; he says that the "single argument in ... favor [of the "harrowing of hell" clause in the Creed] seems to be that it has been around so long. ...But an old mistake is still a mistake". In his book Raised with Christ, Pentecostal Adrian Warnock agrees with Grudem, commenting, "Despite some translations of an ancient creed [i.e. the Apostles' Creed], which suggest that Jesus ... 'descended into hell', there is no biblical evidence to suggest that he actually did so."

Augustine, in his 99th epistle, confesses that this text is replete with difficulties. This he declares is clear, beyond all doubt, that Jesus Christ descended in soul after his death into the regions below, and concludes with these words: Quis ergo nisi infidelis negaverit fuisse apud inferos Christum? ("Who, then, but an unbeliever, has denied that Christ was in hell?") In this prison souls would not be detained unless they were indebted to divine justice, nor would salvation be preached to them unless they were in a state that was capable of receiving salvation.

Christian mortalism
The above views share the traditional Christian belief in the immortality of the soul. The mortalist view of the intermediate state requires an alternative view of the and, taking a view of the New Testament use of Hell as equivalent to use of Hades in the Septuagint and therefore to Sheol in the Old Testament. William Tyndale and Martin Bucer of Strassburg argued that Hades in Acts 2 was merely a metaphor for the grave. Other reformers Christopher Carlisle and Walter Deloenus in London, argued for the article to be dropped from the creed. The Harrowing of Hell was a major scene in traditional depictions of Christ's life avoided by John Milton due to his mortalist views. Mortalist interpretations of the Acts 2 statements of Christ being in Hades are also found among later Anglicans such as E. W. Bullinger.

While those holding mortalist views on the soul would agree on the "harrowing of hell" concerning souls, that there were no conscious dead for Christ to literally visit, the question of whether Christ himself was also dead, unconscious, brings different answers:
 * To most Protestant advocates of "soul sleep" such as Martin Luther, Christ himself was not in the same condition as the dead, and while his body was in Hades, Christ, as second person of the Trinity, was conscious in heaven.
 * To Christian mortalists who are also non-Trinitarian, such as Socinians and Christadelphians, the maxim "the dead know nothing" includes also Christ during the three days.

Of the three days, Christ says "I was dead" (Greek egenomen nekros ἐγενόμην νεκρὸς, Latin fui mortuus).

Drama
The richest, most circumstantial accounts of the Harrowing of Hell are found in medieval dramatic literature, such as the four great cycles of English Mystery plays which each devote a separate scene to depict it. Christ was portrayed as conquering Satan, and then victoriously leading out Adam and Eve, the prophets, and the patriarchs. The earliest surviving Christian drama probably intended to be performed is the Harrowing of Hell found in the 8th-century Book of Cerne.

The subject is found also in the Cornish Mystery plays and the York and Wakefield cycles. These medieval versions of the story derive from scripture, but the details come from the Gospel of Nicodemus.

Middle Ages
In Dante's Inferno the Harrowing of Hell is mentioned in Canto IV by the pilgrim's guide Virgil. Virgil was in Limbo (the first circle of Hell) in the first place because he was not exposed to Christianity in his lifetime, and therefore he describes Christ in generic terms as a "mighty one" who rescued the Hebrew forefathers of Christianity, but left him and other virtuous pagans behind in the very same circle. It is clear that Virgil does not fully understand the significance of the event as Dante does.

An incomplete Middle English telling of the Harrowing of Hell is found in the Auchinleck manuscript.

Although the Orfeo legend has its origin in pagan antiquity, the medieval romance of Sir Orfeo has often been interpreted as drawing parallels between the Greek hero and Jesus freeing souls from Hell, with the explication of Orpheus' descent and return from the Underworld as an allegory for Christ's as early as the Ovide Moralisé (1340).

Modern
The Catholic philologist and fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien echoes the Harrowing of Hell theme in multiple places in The Silmarillion (1977) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). Identified instances include the tale "Of Beren and Lúthien" in which Beren is rescued from Sauron's dark dungeons, and Gandalf's freeing of King Théoden of Rohan from the dark insinuations of the traitorous Wormtongue.

In Stephen Lawhead's novel Byzantium (1997), a young Irish monk is asked to explain Jesus Christ's life to a group of Vikings, who were particularly impressed with his "descent to the underworld" (Helreið).

Parallels in Jewish literature refer to legends of Enoch and Abraham's harrowings of the Underworld, unrelated to Christian themes. These have been updated in Isaac Leib Peretz's short story "Neilah in Gehenna", in which a Jewish hazzan descends to Hell and uses his unique voice to bring about the repentance and liberation of the souls imprisoned there.

Music

 * The Harrowing of Hell is the subject of baroque oratorios including Salieri's Gesù al Limbo (1803) to a text by Luigi Prividali.

Art

 * A follower of Hieronymus Bosch depicts Christ in Limbo in a vivid composition, now owned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Television

 * The harrowing is mentioned in the eponymous episode of the British dark comedy anthology series Inside No. 9.
 * In Supernatural, the seraph Castiel is said to have earned the respect of other angels during the harrowing due to his military prowess.

title: Harrowing of Hell


text:
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System

The Aegis ballistic missile defense system (Aegis BMD or ABMD), also known as Sea-Based Midcourse, is a Missile Defense Agency program under the United States Department of Defense developed to provide missile defense against short and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. The program is part of the United States national missile defense strategy and European NATO missile defense system.

Aegis BMD is an expansion of the Aegis combat system deployed on warships, designed to intercept ballistic missiles in mid-course phase (i.e., after the rocket burn has completed but prior to reentry into the atmosphere). Aegis BMD-equipped vessels can engage potential threats using the Standard Missile 3 mid-course interceptors and the Standard Missile 2 and Standard Missile 6 terminal-phase interceptors.

Origins
The current effort to deploy Aegis ballistic missile defense (ABMD) was begun during the mid-1980s as part of President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). The SDI plan was initially for a space-based railgun system. However, technological constraints caused the system to be transformed into a surface-based system known as the Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile (LEAP). The original testing of the LEAP was done as part of the Army LEAP program.

Later, SDIO worked with the Navy to test the LEAP on the Terrier missile. The Terrier LEAP demonstration program lasted from 1991 into 1995 and consisted of four flight tests. Two of these were intercept tests in early 1995; both failed to intercept—the first had a software error in the second-stage booster, the second had a squib (pyrotechnic switch to connect power) in the kinetic kill vehicle that was mounted backwards and failed to fire.

Program history and development
During the late 1990s, the U.S. Navy was tasked to provide a weapon system for exploratory testing of LEAP. This phase was designated the Aegis LEAP Intercept (ALI) program. The program was for two successful intercepts in five attempts. On June 13, 2002, the second successful ALI intercept occurred during the FM-3 flight test mission. Initial Aegis BMD success may have contributed to President George W. Bush's decision to deploy an emergency ballistic missile capability by late 2004.

Upon the completion of the ALI program, Aegis BMD was transitioned to the production phase. The first Block I production SM-3 was delivered in October 2004, and the Aegis 3.0 update was delivered in 2005.

This system was given major new importance by President Obama in September 2009, when he announced plans to scrap the plans for a missile defense site in Poland, in favor of missile defense systems located on U.S. Navy warships. On 18 September 2009, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin welcomed Obama's plans for missile defense which may include stationing American Aegis armed warships in the Black Sea, as these are likely to be less effective against Russia's missile attacks. In 2009 several U.S. Navy ships were fitted with SM-3 missiles to serve this function, which complements the Patriot systems already deployed by American units. Warships of Japan and Australia also have been given weapons and technology to enable them to participate as well.

Current Aegis BMD hardware includes the SM-3 Block-1a missile and other improvements to the Aegis Weapons System. Future development of the Aegis BMD system includes Launch on Remote capability, upgraded SM-3 avionics and hardware, and an upgraded Aegis Weapon System. In 2012 Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense will merge with Aegis Open Architecture and deliver the benefits of both platforms. The Launch on Remote capability involves the use of off-board sensors, such as the Space Tracking and Surveillance System to provide a targeting solution for a SM-3 launch.

As of 2022, variations of the Aegis BMD system currently in service are the 4.x, 5.x and 6.x. The improved versions are equipped with advanced processors and software, as well as upgraded variants of the SM-3 interceptor missile. BMD capable ships can have their BMD capabilities upgraded from earlier versions to later versions. BMD version 6.x comes with AN/SPY-6 radar in Flight III and Flight IIA destroyers.

US Army Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS) program will integrate MIM-104 Patriot, NASAMS, AN/TPY-2 and F-35 Lightning II radars with Aegis radars to create a plug and fight network of land, sea, and air-based sensors and aid surface-to-air Patriot and THAAD launchers in anti-ballistic missile capabilities.

SM-3, SM-2 Block IV, SM-6 and GPI interceptors

The Aegis BMD uses the RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 mid-course interceptors and the RIM-156 Standard Extended Range Block IV (SM-2ER Block IV) terminal-phase interceptors developed by Raytheon. The Standard Missile 3 is a development of the SM2-ER Block IV, capable of intercepting ballistic missiles above the atmosphere (i.e., exo-atmospheric intercept) during the midcourse phase of a hostile ballistic missile's flight. The missile is launched from the Mk 41 Vertical Launching System (VLS) of the warships. It receives in-flight target updates from the ship. The kinetic warhead (KW) is designed to destroy a ballistic missile's warhead with more than 130 megajoules of kinetic energy by colliding with it. The existing SM-3 Block IA version will be upgraded to SM-3 Block IB, SM-3 Block IIA and SM-3 Block IIB to counter future ballistic missile threats.

The SM-2ER Block IV can engage the ballistic missiles within the atmosphere (i.e., endoatmospheric intercept) in the terminal phase of a missile's trajectory. The missile carries a blast fragmentation warhead. The SM-2ER Block IV was further developed in a new extended range active missile, RIM-174 Standard ERAM (Standard Missile 6), which adds an active radar homing seeker. SM-6 is a dual-capability missile that can be used for either air defense (i.e., countering aircraft and anti-ship cruise missiles) or terminal ballistic missile defense; it is not meant to replace the SM-2 series of missiles, but will serve alongside and provide extended range and increased firepower. In January 2018 the Navy approved plans to develop a Dual Thrust Rocket Motor for the SM-6, with a larger 21-inch diameter to replace the current 13.5-inch propulsion package. The new rocket motor would sit atop the current 21-inch booster, producing a new variant of the missile: the SM-6 Block IB.

In March 2018 the MDA announced it "is evaluating the technical feasibility of the capability of the SM-3 Block IIA missile, currently under development, against an ICBM-class target. If proven to be effective against an ICBM, this missile could add a layer of protection, augmenting the currently deployed GMD system." The MDA plans to conduct a demonstration of the SM-3 Block IIA against an ICBM-like target by the end of 2020. On November 17, 2020, an SM-3 Block IIA missile successfully intercepted a threat-representative Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) target in its mid-course phase of flight, reaffirming the capability to intercept non-separating, simple separating, and complex-separating ballistic missiles.

Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) will provide defense against hypersonic weapons. Glide Phase Interceptor will be integrated with modified Baseline 9 Aegis Weapon System.

Aegis Ashore
As of the 2014 NATO Wales summit a land-based component, Aegis Ashore, was being developed. The first site to be declared operational was Deveselu Romania in 2016. This consists of equipment commonly used by the Navy being deployed in land-based facilities. This includes SPY-1 radars and a battery of Standard Missile-3s. The Obama administration's plans call for two sites: the first in Romania at Deveselu that was opened in May 2015 and the second in Redzikowo, Poland (planned for 2018, but delayed twice, to 2022 ). In 2020, both will get the latest versions of the Aegis BMD software and the latest version of the SM-3. Some radar facilities will be placed in Turkey at a future date.

On 21 May 2014, U.S. DOD headlined, "Standard Missile Completes First Test Launch from Aegis Ashore Test Site," and reported that: "The Missile Defense Agency, the U.S. Navy, and sailors at the Aegis Ashore Missile Defense Test Complex and Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), successfully conducted the first flight test involving components of the Aegis Ashore system. During the test, a simulated ballistic missile target was acquired, tracked, and engaged by the Aegis Weapon System. At approximately 7:35 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time, May 20 (1:35 a.m. EDT, May 21), the Aegis Weapon System fired a Standard Missile (SM)-3 Block IB guided missile from the Vertical Launch System. Several fire control and engagement functions were exercised during the test. A live target missile launch was not planned for this flight test."

On 19 December 2017, the Cabinet of Japan approved a plan to purchase two Aegis Ashore systems equipped with the AN/SPY-7(V)1, based on Lockheed Martin's LRDR to increase Japan's self-defence capability against North Korea, using SM-3 Block IIA missiles, and also could work with SM-6 interceptors capable of shooting down cruise missiles. The installation sites are at a Ground Self-Defense Force training area in Araya District, Akita Prefecture and the Mutsumi training area in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture.

On 15 June 2020, Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono announced that work had been halted on the deployment of the system because additional costs would be needed to ensure that residential buildings would not be hit by rocket boosters used to launch the missiles. Later in the month Japan's National Security Council confirmed the cancellation of the plan. On 23 September 2020, Lockheed Martin commented that it would be expensive to potentially convert the AA system for maritime use since a revamp in the design is required.

In July 2020 Admiral Philip S. Davidson, the head of United States Indo-Pacific Command advised that he sought funding to construct an Aegis Ashore system in Guam by 2026 both to defend existing U.S. military facilities on Guam and to provide offensive "long-range precision strike capability into the First Island Chain" dominated by China. Speaking in March 2021 Davidson said that the "Guam Defense System" of an Aegis Ashore Facility would free up three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers for service elsewhere. Davidson said that Chinese submarines and surface ships together with its ballistic missiles pose "a 360-degree threat" to Guam beyond the capabilities of the existing Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system on Guam.

Developers and Contractors
Notable subcontractors and technical experts include Boeing Defense, Space & Security, Alliant Techsystems (ATK), Honeywell, Engility, Naval Surface Warfare Center, SPAWAR Systems Center, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (Lincoln Lab).

Aegis Ashore
The U.S., Romania and Poland have deployed the land based Aegis BMD. Test installation was built at the US Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii in 2000s. A site in Deveselu, Romania is operational since 2016, while a site at Redzikowo, Poland has been operational since the summer of 2024. Though Japan intended to deploy two sites which would use an AN/SPY-7 AESA radar, these plans were cancelled in 2020. Possible deployments of Aegis Ashore include US naval base at Guam.

U.S. Navy Aegis BMD vessels
As of October 2017, there were 5 Ticonderoga-class cruisers and 28 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers (DDGs 51–78) of the US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers equipped with BMD in the U.S. Navy. Of the 33 ships, 17 are assigned to the Pacific Fleet and 16 to the Atlantic Fleet. The Navy's FY2015 30-year (FY2015-FY2043) shipbuilding plan projects that the total number of Aegis cruisers and destroyers will be between 80 and 97 during the 30-year period.

USS Carney (DDG-64), USS Ross (DDG-71), and USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) were upgraded in fiscal year 2012, while USS Cole (DDG-67), USS McFaul (DDG-74) and USS Porter (DDG-78) were upgraded in fiscal year 2013.

Japanese Aegis BMD vessels
The JMSDF has equipped four ships of the Kongo-class destroyers for LRST and engagement: JS Kongo, JS Chokai, JS Myoko, and the JS Kirishima (in 2010) (See table below). Japan's foreign minister, Hirofumi Nakasone and South Korea's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yu Myung-hwan, agreed that early April 5, 2009, launch of the North Korean Unha-2 satellite violated UN resolutions 1695 and 1718 of July 2006. Japan's cabinet examined approval of a JMSDF AEGIS BMD engagement in the event of a failure of the Taepondong launch. The Japanese government also noted that it could bypass cabinet for an interception under Article 82, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the Self-Defence Forces law. In total, five AEGIS destroyers were deployed at that time. Supplemental to SM-3 capability the Japanese system incorporates an airborne component. Together discrimination between platform tests and satellite launches is possible by analyzing the angle of ascent.

On August 31, 2022, the Japan Ministry of Defense announced that JMSDF will operate two "Aegis system equipped ships" (イージス・システム搭載艦 in Japanese) (pictured) to replace its earlier cancellation of the Aegis Ashore program, commissioning one ship by the end of fiscal year 2027, and the other by the end of FY2028. The budget for design and other related expenses are to be submitted in the form of "item requests", without specific amounts, and the initial procurement of the lead items are expected to clear legislation by FY2023. Construction is to begin in the following year of FY2024. When completed, at 20,000 LT each, the two warships will be the largest surface combatant ships operated by Japan.

On 6 October 2022, five warships from the United States, Japan, and South Korea held a multilateral ballistic missile defense exercise in the Sea of Japan (pictured) as part of the military response to ongoing North Korean intermediate-range ballistic missile tests over the Japanese home islands.

On 16 November 2022, the guided-missile destroyer JS Maya (DDG-179) fired an SM-3 Block IIA missile, successfully intercepting the target outside the atmosphere in the first launch of the missile from a Japanese warship. On 18 November 2022, the JS Haguro (DDG-180) likewise fired an SM-3 Block IB missile with a successful hit outside the atmosphere (pictured). Both test firings were conducted at the U.S. Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai Island, Hawaii, in cooperation with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Missile Defense Agency. This was the first time the two ships conducted SM-3 firings in the same time period, and the tests validated the ballistic missile defense capabilities of Japan's newest Maya-class destroyers.

On 23 December 2022, the Japanese Ministry of Defense's 2023 budget and program guidance illustrated examples of operation (運用の一例) for the Aegis-equipped naval forces of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force (MSDF). The two ASEV warship would be exclusively tasked for dedicated ballistic missile defense (BDM) missions (BMD等) and operate off the Korean peninsula in the Sea of Japan, allowing the other Aegis guided-missile destroyers to meet other contingencies (侵攻阻止) while operating independently to keeping the sea lines of communication (SLOC) open in the East China Sea southwest of the Japanese home islands.
 * List of JMSDF Aegis Afloat ships (Aegis BMD vessels)

Joint BMD patrols
In early October 2022, five warships from the United States, Japan, and South Korea held a ballistic missile defense exercise (pictured) in the Sea of Japan as part of the ongoing military response to ongoing North Korean intermediate-range ballistic missile tests over the Japanese home islands.

Political debate
Tom Laliberty of Raytheon said that President Barack Obama was forced to shift from a land based missile defense system to a sea based one because of the difficulties of coordinating with partner nations. There is discussion about the effectiveness of this plan. Some critics say it is not as effective as a ground-based defense since the most advanced Standard missiles lack even half the range to hit ICBMs and even IRBMs arcing overhead. Also, the U.S. Defense Department has said it would be just one component of a wider defense which might also include ground-based facilities.

A Navy panel headed by retired Vice Adm. Phillip Balisle has asserted that since the late 1990s there has been an over-emphasis on saving money, including cuts in crews and streamlined training and maintenance, which has led to a drastic decline in readiness, and has left Aegis combat systems in low state of readiness. And in spite of a reduction in the objective for the number of Aegis armed warships to field, the U.S. Navy will still fall short of this reduced objective under the fiscal year for 2012 shipbuilding plan for the next 30 years.

International reaction
The Russian government has claimed that the system is "fueling a new arms race", and is constructed "on ridiculous fabricated pretexts" of protection against non-existent threats of the so-called rogue states. Dmitry Rogozin, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian government, said in 2012 that the country would "react in the sharpest manner" to any American ships armed with the system found near their shores.

Other capabilities
The Aegis BMD system, coupled with the RIM-161 Standard missile (SM-3), has also demonstrated a limited capability as an anti-satellite weapon against satellites in the lower portion of low Earth orbit. On February 20, 2008, USA 193 was destroyed by a group of Aegis ships in the Pacific; the stated reason was concern that satellite's hydrazine payload might contaminate land area upon re-entry from an uncontrolled orbit. The launching vessel was USS Lake Erie (CG-70), and one SM-3 missile was used. Interception was at an altitude of 133 nautical miles (247 kilometers).

Target for simulating endo-atmospheric flight of DF-21 ASBM
According to a Congressional Research Service report dated July 31, 2014, the lack of a test target simulating the Chinese DF-21 ASBM is highlighted. A threat representative Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) target for operational open-air testing has become an immediate test resource need. China is fielding the DF-21D ASBM, which threatens U.S. and allied surface warships in the Western Pacific. While the Missile Defense Agency has exo-atmospheric targets in development, no program currently exists for an endo-atmospheric target. The endo-atmospheric ASBM target is the Navy's responsibility, but it is not currently budgeted. The Missile Defense Agency estimates the non-recurring expense to develop the exo-atmospheric target was $30 million with each target costing an additional $30 million; the endo-atmospheric target will be more expensive to produce according to missile defense analysts. Numerous Navy acquisition programs will require an ASBM surrogate in the coming years, although a limited number of targets (3-5) may be sufficient to validate analytical models

The December 2012 report from DOT&E (i.e., DOT&E's annual report for FY2012) did not further discuss this issue; a January 21, 2013, press report stated that this is because the details of the issue are classified.

The U.S. arsenal has a "variety of potential countermeasures" and the "kill chain" of for example a potential DF-21D attack would be so "complicated" that it would provide a "number of opportunities to defeat the attack". He also stated that unless one country integrates an "entire system of systems" to make this work, the missile itself would be pretty "useless". "'Some countries might buy them just to impress their neighbors, but their combat effectiveness would be negligible unless the country also invested in the needed detection, data processing, and communications systems'. - Roger Cliff"

A December 16, 2016, press report states the following: The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said its new Sea Based Terminal (SBT) system achieved its second ballistic missile intercept during a Dec. 14 test over the Pacific Ocean. During the test, the USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53)... fired a salvo of two Raytheon [RTN] Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) interceptors in immediate succession against a medium-range ballistic missile target launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii. The first interceptor was not armed and was designed to collect test data, MDA said. The second interceptor, which carried an explosive warhead, intercepted the Lockheed Martin-built target….

MDA called the target "complex" but declined to elaborate. However, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, the target emulated China's Dong-Feng 21 (DF-21), a ballistic missile equipped with a maneuverable re-entry vehicle and designed to destroy U.S., aircraft carriers. The event, designated Flight Test Standard Missile-27 (FTM-27), was SBT's first salvo test and its second intercept in as many tries.

In March 2020, Mike Griffin, the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, revealed that SM-6 missile was being considered for hypersonic defense and that there are plans to test it against an actual hypersonic boost-glide vehicle in the 2023 Fiscal Year. An April 14, 2021 press report stated: "The Missile Defense Agency, together with the U.S. Navy, plan to test an SM-6 missile against an 'advanced maneuvering threat,' a term that has been used in relation to unpowered hypersonic boost-glide vehicles, later this year. The Pentagon says that unspecified versions of the SM-6 have already demonstrated some degree of capability against these types of weapons, examples of which Russia and China have already begun putting to service. A new variant of the SM-6, the Block IB, is already under development and will itself be able to reach hypersonic speeds. Barbara McQuiston, a senior U.S. official currently performing the duties of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, including mention of the scheduled SM-6 test in her testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Defense yesterday…."

Flight tests to date
As of April 2024, Aegis BMDS has performed 45 successful intercepts in 54 attempts against ballistic missile targets.

title: Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System


text:
List of decorative stones

This is a geographical list of natural stone used for decorative purposes in construction and monumental sculpture produced in various countries.

The dimension-stone industry classifies stone based on appearance and hardness as either "granite", "marble" or "slate".

The granite of the dimension-stone industry along with truly granitic rock also includes gneiss, gabbro, anorthosite and even some sedimentary rocks.

Natural stone is used as architectural stone (construction, flooring, cladding, counter tops, curbing, etc.) and as raw block and monument stone for the funerary trade. Natural stone is also used in custom stone engraving. The engraved stone can be either decorative or functional. Natural memorial stones are used as natural burial markers.

Africa
Marble

India

 * See Stones of India

Pakistan
Pakistan has more than 300 kinds of marble and natural stone.

Iran
Iran has more than 250 kinds of marble, travertine, onyx, granite, and limestone.

Belgium

 * Limestone
 * Petit Granit

France

 * Limestone
 * Caen stone
 * Pierre de Comblanchien, see also Côte d'Or (escarpment)
 * Pierre d'Euville
 * Pierre de Jaumont
 * Tuffeau stone

Greece

 * Marble
 * Verde Antico

Italy

 * Carrara marble
 * Peperino
 * Pietra serena
 * Portoro Buono
 * Travertine

Norway

 * Anorthosite
 * Larvikite
 * Marble
 * Quartzite

Poland

 * Sandstone
 * Radków
 * Szczytna
 * Czaple (Heron)
 * Skała (Rock)
 * Limestone
 * Dębnik
 * Kielce
 * Granite
 * Strzegom
 * Strzelin
 * Syenite, Granodiorite
 * Kośmin
 * Przedborowa
 * Serpentinite
 * Nasławice

United Kingdom

 * Chalk
 * Clunch
 * Flint
 * Granite
 * Aberdeen granite
 * Limestone
 * Ancaster stone
 * Barnack rag
 * Beer stone
 * Clipsham stone
 * Corallian limestone
 * Cotswold stone (Oolitic limestone)
 * Forest marble
 * Frosterley Marble
 * Ketton Stone
 * Magnesian Limestone
 * Portland stone
 * Portland Admiralty Roach
 * Portland Bowers Basebed
 * Portland Bowers Lynham Whitbed
 * Portland Bowers Saunders Whitbed
 * Portland Grove Whitbed
 * Portland Hard Blue
 * Portland Independent Basebed
 * Portland Independent Bottom Whitbed
 * Portland Independent Top Whitbed
 * Portland New Independent Whitbed
 * Purbeck marble
 * Sandstone
 * Banktop
 * Bearl
 * Blaxter
 * Catcastle
 * Corsehill
 * Corncockle
 * Dunhouse Blue
 * Dunhouse Buff
 * Hall Dale
 * Haslingden Flag
 * Heavitree stone
 * Locharbriggs
 * Ravensworth
 * Yorkstone
 * Slate
 * Welsh Slate
 * Skiddaw Slate

Turkey

 * Elazig Cherry Marble
 * Burdur Beige Marble
 * Emprador
 * Marmara marble
 * Mugla White
 * Noche Travertine

Israel

 * Limestone/Dolomite
 * Jerusalem stone

Canada

 * Anorthosite
 * Charnockite
 * Diabase
 * Diorite
 * Granite
 * Gabbro
 * Gneiss
 * Limestone
 * Marble
 * Monzonite
 * Sandstone
 * Slate
 * Steatite (Soapstone)

 * Stromatolites
 * Syenite

Mesoamerica

 * Tezontle — a volcanic rock used in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican architecture.
 * Archaeological sites with tezontle structures are located in present day México and northern Central America.

United States

 * Brownstone, a type of Triassic sandstone
 * Granite, extensively quarried in Vermont, Georgia and New Hampshire
 * Black granite – a common trade name for gabbro used as architectural material
 * Austin limestone – a marble-like stone widely used as a building stone for interior and exterior wall cladding and interior and exterior paving

New Zealand

 * Oamaru stone — a creamy limestone mined in North Otago used for architecture and sculpture
 * Port Chalmers bluestone (also called Timaru bluestone) — a dark basalt mined in Otago and Canterbury used for architecture

title: List of decorative stones


text:
Plains zebra

The plains zebra (Equus quagga, formerly Equus burchellii) is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. Its range is fragmented, but spans much of southern and eastern Africa south of the Sahara. Six or seven subspecies have been recognised, including the extinct quagga which was thought to be a separate species. More recent research supports variations in zebra populations being clines rather than subspecies.

Plains zebras are intermediate in size between the larger Grévy's zebra and the smaller mountain zebra and tend to have broader stripes than both. Great variation in coat patterns exists between clines and individuals. The plains zebra's habitat is generally, but not exclusively, treeless grasslands and savanna woodlands, both tropical and temperate. They generally avoid desert, dense rainforest and permanent wetlands. Zebras are preyed upon by lions and spotted hyenas, Nile crocodiles and, to a lesser extent, leopards, cheetahs and African wild dogs.

Plains zebras are a highly social species, forming harems with a single stallion, several mares and their recent offspring; bachelor groups also form. Groups may come together to form herds. The animals keep watch for predators; they bark or snort when they see a predator and the harem stallion attacks predators to defend his harem.

The plains zebra remains common in game reserves, but is threatened by human activities such as hunting for its meat and hide, as well as competition with livestock and encroachment by farming on much of its habitat, and is listed as near threatened by the IUCN as of 2016. The species population is stable and not endangered, though populations in most countries have declined sharply.

Taxonomy
The plains zebra was formally classified by British zoologist John Edward Gray in 1824 as Equus burchellii. After the quagga, described by Pieter Boddaert in 1785, was found to be the same species in the 21st century, the plains zebra was reclassified as Equus quagga due to the principle of priority. The plains zebra and mountain zebra were traditionally placed in the subgenus Hippotigris, in contrast to Grévy's zebra, which was considered the sole species of the subgenus Dolichohippus; however, recent (2013) phylogenetic evidence finds that plains zebras are more closely related to Grévy's zebras than mountain zebras. Groves and Bell (2004) place all three species in the subgenus Hippotigris, and zebras appear to be a monophyletic lineage. In areas where plains zebras are sympatric with Grévy's zebras, finding them in the same herds is not unusual, and fertile hybrids occur.

Subspecies
In their 2004 study of cranial and pelage differences between specimens, Groves and Bell found support for the division of the plains zebra into six subspecies: * Sometimes a seventh subspecies is recognised.

Burchell's zebra was thought to have been hunted to extinction. However, Groves and Bell concluded that "the extinct true Burchell's zebra is a phantom". Careful study of the original zebra populations in Zululand and Eswatini and of skins harvested on game farms in Zululand and Natal has revealed that a certain small proportion shows similarity to what now is regarded as typical burchellii. The type localities of the subspecies Equus quagga burchellii and Equus quagga antiquorum are so close to each other that the two are in fact one and that, therefore, the older of the two names should take precedence over the younger. They suggested that the correct name for the subspecies must be burchellii, not antiquorum.

A 2005 genetic study confirmed the quagga being the same species as the plains zebra. It showed that the quagga had little genetic diversity and that it diverged from the other plains zebra subspecies only 120,000–290,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene and, possibly, the penultimate glacial maximum. Its distinct coat pattern may have evolved rapidly because of geographical isolation and/or adaptation to a drier environment. In addition, plains zebra subspecies tend to have less striping the further south they live, and the quagga was the most southern-living of them all.

The simplified cladogram below is based on the 2005 analysis (some taxa shared haplotypes and could therefore not be differentiated):

A 2018 DNA study found no evidence for a subspecies structure in plains zebras but, instead, observed a north–south genetic continuum. Modern plains zebra populations appear to have originated from Southern Africa around 370,000 years ago with plains zebras in Uganda, the most northern population, being the most distinct.

Physical description
The plains zebra stands at a height of 127 – with a head-body length of 217 – and a tail length of 47 –. Males weigh 220 – while females weigh 175 –. The species is intermediate in size between the larger Grévy's zebra and the smaller mountain zebra. It is dumpy bodied with relatively short legs and a skull with a convex forehead and a somewhat concave nose profile. The neck is thicker in males than in females. The ears are upright and have rounded tips. They are shorter than in the mountain zebra and narrower than in Grévy's zebra. As with all wild equids, the plains zebra has an erect mane along the neck and a tuft of hair at the end of the tail. The body hair of a zebra is 9.4 ±, shorter than in other African ungulates.

Like all zebras, they are boldly striped in black and white and no two individuals look exactly alike. Compared to other species, the plains zebra has broader stripes. The stripes are vertical on the fore part of the body, and tend towards the horizontal on the hindquarters. Northern zebra populations have narrower and more defined striping; southern populations have varied but lesser amounts of striping on the under parts, the legs and the hindquarters. Southern populations also have brown "shadow" stripes between the black and white colouring. These are absent or poorly expressed in northern zebras. The natal coat of a foal is brown and white and the brown darkens with age.

Various abnormalities of the patterns have been documented in plains zebras. Melanistic zebras have high concentrations of dark stripes on the torso but low concentrations on the legs. "Spotted" individuals display interruptions in black striping patterns. There have even been morphs with white spots on dark backgrounds. Striping abnormalities have been linked to inbreeding. Albino zebras have been recorded in the forests of Mount Kenya, with the dark stripes being blonde. The quagga had brown and white stripes on the head and neck, brown upper parts and a white belly, tail and legs.

Range and habitat
The plains zebra's range stops short of the Sahara from South Sudan and southern Ethiopia extending south along eastern Africa, as far as Zambia, Mozambique, and Malawi, before spreading into most southern African countries. They may have lived in Algeria in the Neolithic era. Plains zebras generally live in treeless grasslands and savanna woodlands, but can be found in a variety of habitats, both tropical and temperate. However, they are generally absent from deserts, dense rainforests, and permanent wetlands. They generally prefer Acacieae woodlands over Commiphora. They are water-dependent and live in more mesic environments than other African equids. They seldom wander 10 – from a water source. Zebras also live in elevations from sea level to 4,300 ft on Mount Kenya.

Depending on the population, zebra herds may be sedentary, being highly dense with small ranges, or migratory, being less populated with separate, extensive dry and wet home ranges. When migrating, zebras appear to rely on some memory of the locations where foraging conditions were best and may predict conditions months before their arrival.

Diet and predation
Plains zebras primarily feed on grass; preferred species being Themeda triandra, Cynodon dactylon, Eragrostis superba and Cenchrus ciliaris. Zebra sometimes browse or dig for corms and rhizomes during the dry season. They appear to partial to eating scorched Colophospermum mopane and Pterocarpus rotundifolius, consuming both the leaves and twigs.

Plains zebras are adapted for grazing on both long, tough grass stems and newly emerging short grass. In some areas, it rarely feeds below 100 – to ground level. It ranges more widely than many other species, even into woodlands, and it is often the first grazing species to appear in a well-vegetated area. The flexible upper lip allows them to push plant material between the incisors to cut. Zebras have a less efficient digestive system than ruminants but food passage is twice as fast. Thus, zebras are less selective in foraging, but they do spend much time eating. The zebra is a pioneer grazer and prepares the way for more specialised grazers such as blue wildebeests and Thomson's gazelles.

The plains zebra's major predators are lions and spotted hyenas. Lions are most successful when targeting lone individuals, usually an old male while hyenas chase and isolate an individual from the group, usually a female or foal. Nile crocodiles also prey on zebras when they are near water. Less common predators include leopards, cheetahs and African wild dogs, which mostly hunt foals. When in the presence of a lion, zebras remain alert and stand in a semi-circle at as much as 100 m and no less than 50 m. Stallions sometimes try to drive lions away with bluff charges. By contrast, zebras may approach cheetahs and wild dogs and a single hyena is allowed to come within a few metres. To escape from predators, an adult zebra can run at 60 - 70 km/h. When being hunted by hyenas or wild dogs, a zebra harem stays close together and cooperates to protect threatened members, particularly the young. The harem stallion goes on the offensive and attacks the dogs or hyenas.

Behaviour
Plains zebras are nomadic and non-territorial, home ranges vary from 30 km2 to 600 km2, depending on the area and if the population is migratory. They are more active during the day and spend most of their time feeding. Other activities include dust bathing, rubbing, drinking and intermittent resting which is very brief. At night, zebra activity is subdued except when threatened by predators. They may rest or sleep laying down, while one individual keeps guard.

Social structure
The plains zebra is highly social and usually forms small family groups called harems, which consist of a single stallion, several mares and their recent offspring. The adult membership of a harem is highly stable, typically remaining together for months to years. Groups of all-male "bachelors" also exist. These are stable groups of up to 15 males with an age-based hierarchy, led by a young male. These males stay in their groups until they are ready to start a harem. The bachelors prepare for their adult roles with play fights and greeting/challenge rituals, which take up most of their activities.

Multiple harems and bachelor groups come together to form larger herds of hundreds of animals, especially during migrations. Plains zebras are unusual among harem-holding species in forming these groups. In addition, pairs of harems may create temporarily stable subgroups within a herd, allowing individuals to interact with those outside their group. Among harem-holding species, this has only been observed in primates such as the gelada and the hamadryas baboon. Bachelor groups tend to be at the periphery of herds and when the herd moves, the bachelors trail behind.

Stallions form and expand their harems by abducting young mares from their natal harems. When a mare reaches sexual maturity and has her first oestrous cycle, she attracts the attention of nearby stallions, both bachelors and harem leaders. Her family stallion (likely her father) chases off or fights stallions attempting to abduct her. Even after a young mare is isolated from her natal harem, the fight over her continues until her oestrous cycle is over and it starts again with the next oestrous cycle. It is rare that the mare's original abductor keeps her for long. When the mare finally ovulates, the male that impregnates her keeps her for good. Thus, the mare becomes a permanent member of a new harem. Oestrus in a female becomes less noticeable to outside males as she gets older, hence competition for older females is virtually nonexistent.

Mares exist in a hierarchy, with the alpha female being the first to mate with the harem stallion and being the one to lead the group. When new mares are added to the group, they are met with hostility by the other mares. Thus, the harem stallion must shield the new mares until the aggression subsides. The most recently added females rank lowest. Females that become unfit or weak may drop in their rank, though. The female membership of a harem stays intact, even if a new stallion takes over. During herd gatherings, family stallions may be cordial towards each other, while the mares are less tolerant.

A stallion defends his harem from other males. When challenged, the stallion issues a warning to the invader by rubbing nose or shoulder with him. If the warning is not heeded, a fight breaks out. Zebra fights often become very violent, with the animals biting at each other's necks, heads, or legs, wrestling to the ground and occasional kicking. Sometimes, a stallion lies still on the ground as if surrendering, but once the other male lets up, he strikes and continues the fight. Most fighting occurs over young mares in oestrus and as long as a harem stallion is healthy, he usually is not challenged. Only unhealthy stallions have their harems taken over and even then, the new stallion gradually takes over, pushing the old one out without a fight.

Communication
At least six different calls have been documented for the plains zebra. One is its distinctive, high-pitched, contact call (commonly called "barking") heard as "a-ha, a-ha, a-ha" or "kwa-ha, kaw-ha, ha, ha" also transcribed as "kwahaah", or "oug-ga". The species name quagga is derived from the Khoikhoi word for "zebra" and is onomatopoeic for its call. When a predator is sighted, a zebra makes a two-syllable alarm call. A loud snort is made when moving in cover of potential danger. When in contentment, a zebra makes a more drawn-out snort. Males make a short, high-pitched squeal when hurt, and foals emit a drawn-out wail when in distress.

Two main facial expressions are made by zebras; the greeting and threat. In both cases, the lips are pulled back and chewing motions are made. Greeting involves the ears sticking up and directing forward; while the threat involves the ears down. Zebras strengthen their social bonds with grooming. Members of a harem nip and scrape along the neck, withers, and back with their teeth and lips. Mothers and foals groom the most often, followed by siblings. Grooming shows social status and eases aggressive behaviour.

Reproduction and parenting
The stallion mates with all his mares. Males exhibit the flehmen response to test for female receptivity, which involves the upper lip curling back to smell for urine (via the vomeronasal organ). The female signals her readiness for copulation by straddling her legs and raising her tail. The gestation period lasts around a year, and a single young is produced. Mares may give birth to one foal every twelve months. The birthing peak is during the rainy season. A mare gives birth within the vicinity of her group and while lying down on her side. The newborn foal weighs 30 – and the afterbirth is rarely consumed.

A newborn is capable of standing almost immediately and starts to eat grass within a week. Early on, a mother zebra keeps any other zebra away from her foal, including the stallion, the other mares, and even her previous offspring. Later, though, they all bond. Within the group, a foal has the same rank as its mother. The stallion is generally intolerant of foals that are not his, and zebras may practice infanticide and feticide.

Mortality for foals is high in their first year of life and is usually caused by predation. However, zebra young are afforded more protection than those of species like wildebeest and hartebeest. A foal is usually weaned at around eleven months, but may suckle for longer. Females reach puberty before three years, and males after five or six. Young male zebras eventually leave their family groups as the relationship with their mothers fades after the birth of a sibling. The young stallion then seeks out other young stallions for company. Young females may stay in the harem until they are abducted by another stallion. Plains zebras have an average lifespan of 25 years in the wild.

Conservation
In 2016, the plains zebra was classified as near threatened by the IUCN. As of that year, the total population is estimated to be around 500,000 individuals. The species remains common throughout its range but has experienced population declines in 10 of the 17 countries where it is native. They are stable in Ethiopia, Malawi, and South Africa and possibly Angola; stable or increasing in Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini; and decreasing in Botswana, DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. They are extinct in Burundi, Lesotho and possibly Somalia.

Zebras are threatened by hunting for their hide and meat, and habitat change from farming. They also compete with livestock for food, and fencing blocks migration routes. Civil wars in some countries have also caused declines in zebra populations. The zebra can be found in numerous protected areas across its range, including the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, Tsavo and Masai Mara in Kenya, Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, Etosha National Park in Namibia, and Kruger National Park in South Africa. Some stable populations live in unprotected areas.

The quagga was hunted by early Dutch settlers and later by Afrikaners to provide meat or for their skins. The skins were traded or used locally. The quagga was probably vulnerable to extinction due to its limited distribution, and it may have competed with domestic livestock for forage. The last known wild quagga died in 1878. The last captive quagga, a female in Amsterdam's Natura Artis Magistra zoo, lived there from 9 May 1867 until it died on 12 August 1883, but its origin and cause of death are unclear. In 1984, the quagga was the first extinct animal to have its DNA analysed, and the Quagga Project is trying to recreate the phenotype of hair coat pattern and related characteristics by selectively breeding Burchell's zebras.

In popular culture
Zebras have been featured in African art and culture for millennia. They have been depicted in rock art in Southern Africa (modern Botswana, Namibia and South Africa) dating from 20,000–28,000 years ago, though not as commonly as antelope species like eland. How the zebra got its stripes has been the subject of folk tales, some of which involve it being scorched by fire. The San people associated zebra stripes with water, rain and lighting due to its dazzling pattern.

The plains zebra is the national animal of the Republic of Botswana and its stripes are depicted on the country's flag. The flag stripes also represent racial harmony in the country. The zebra has also been associated with beauty and the women of various societies would paint much of their bodies in stripes. For the Shona people of Zimbabwe, the zebra is a totem animal, along with the eland, buffalo, lion and monkey. The zebra is praised in a poem as an "iridescent and glittering creature". Its stripes have symbolised the joining of male and female and at Great Zimbabwe, zebra stripes decorate what is believed to be a domba, a premarital school meant to initiate women into adulthood. In the Shona language, the name "madhuve" means "woman/women of the zebra totem" and is a given name for girls in Zimbabwe.

Zebras have also been represented in Western culture. They have been thought of as a more exotic alternative to horse; the comic book character Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is depicted riding a zebra. The film Racing Stripes features a captive zebra ostracised from the horses and end up being ridden by a rebellious girl. In the film Fantasia, two centaurs are depicted being half human and half zebra, instead of the typical half human and half horse. Zebras have been featured as characters in other animated films like Khumba, The Lion King and the Madagascar films.

title: Plains zebra


text:
George Amabile

George Amabile (born 29 May 1936) is a Canadian poet who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His poetry, fiction and non-fiction have been published in Canada, the USA, Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand in over a hundred anthologies, magazines, journals and periodicals.

He has published seven books. The Presence of Fire won the Canadian Authors' Association Silver Medal for Poetry; his long poem, Dur, placed third in the CBC Literary Competition for 1991; Popular Crime won first prize in the Sidney Booktown International Poetry Contest in February, 2000; and he is the subject of a special issue of Prairie Fire. From October 2000 to April 2001 he was Writer in Residence at the Winnipeg Public library.

title: George Amabile


text:
Antigonus

Antigonus or Antigonos (Ἀντίγονος), a Greek name meaning "comparable to his father" or "worthy of his father", may refer to:

Rulers

 * Three Macedonian kings of the Antigonid dynasty that succeeded Alexander the Great:
 * Antigonus I Monophthalmus (382–301 BC)
 * Antigonus II Gonatas (319–239 BC)
 * Antigonus III Doson (263–221 BC)
 * Antigonus, son of Echecrates, the nephew of Antigonus III Doson
 * Antigonus II Mattathias (died 37 BC), last ruler of the Hasmonean kingdom of Judea

Military leaders

 * Antigonus (Seleucid admiral), son of Menophilus, Seleucid admiral of the mid-2nd century BC
 * Antigonus, a general of King Perseus in the Third Macedonian War, was sent to Aenia to guard the coast

Authors

 * Antigonus (historian), Greek writer on history
 * Antigonus of Alexandria, ancient Greek grammarian
 * Antigonus of Carystus, 3rd century BC Greek writer on various subjects
 * Antigonus of Cumae, ancient Greek writer on agriculture
 * Antigonus of Sokho, Jewish scholar of the 3rd century BC
 * Antigonus, writer on painting, mentioned by Diogenes Laërtius

Others

 * Antigonus (physician), an ancient Greek surgeon
 * Antigonus (sculptor), a Greek sculptor of the 3rd century BC
 * Antigonos (son of Callas), Macedonian hetairos and athlete of the late 4th century BC
 * Antigonus (butterfly), a genus of skipper butterflies

title: Antigonus


text:
Talk:Flagellation

To do

 * Mention the "English vice"
 * Discuss BDSM/kink flagellation practices — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.48.89.253 (talk) 22:09, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

(moved from the main article -- Timwi 15:11 19 Jun 2003 (UTC))

Judaism
Why does it say that Judaism has no history of flagellation yet earlier in the article it says "the Jews" used a standard 40 whips?

 * Ancient Judaism did have "40 lashes lacking one" (39) as the maximum number of times one can be flogged during biblical and rabbinic times, but hasn't been exercised for over a millenium. Judaism does have some sort of self-flaggelation, well, sorta: During the sixth prayer of the Daily Amidah, a Jew lightly beats his or her chest twice. In addition, during recitation of Selichot (penitential) prayers during the High Holidays and on fast days, each word of the Ashamnu and each verse of the Al Chet confessionals gets its own light breast-beating. I don't know if this fits the classical definition of flagellation, but I think it could be considered flagellation, albeit a less violent one. All of these flagellations have in common the theme of desiring atonement for sin. What does everyone else think? Should I include it?Valley2city 02:28, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Paraphilia
The section about the paraphilia seems to be rather incorrect. For one thing, floggers used for this use are not restricted to multi-tailed or broad whips; in my experience, these are more commonly used by people who only occasionally use it as a kink. Handling a single-tail requires great care or some amount of training to be safe, but is absolutely not uncommon. Also, it is quite possible to pierce the skin, even with the multi-tailed ones, even in the well-padded areas of the body; it depends on the force used. One might also want to mention the formation of endogenous opiates during flagellation, which may have profound effects on the recipient (cf. "sub space", etc.); this particular effect has also been employed by Russian psychiatrists to circumvent the limitations on the use of opiates in the treatment of depression. Could someone with a broader knowledge of these subjects chime in? Zuiram 02:18, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

40 minus 1
Also, in reference to the 40 minus one, I have never heard of the reasoning given (to be sure you didnot exceed the 40 limit) but I have heard that a person sentenced to 40 lashes was given "one less" as a sign of Gods Mercy. unfortunatly I cannot remember what time span that it applies to be it Middle ages, Oceanic times(on or off the high seas; as in the period of pirates), or bibical or I would have changed the article myself instead of wasting my time here where so few will see :\ --207.181.234.158 (talk) 04:44, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Photo of a flogged woman
I checked the source website of the photo of a woman's backside, and the alleged reason for her flogging is entirely different from what the caption in this article claims. Why would you just make up facts when the source website gives its own explanation? "This picture was sent to Dr. Homa Darabi from a woman in Iran.This picture was taken 20 days after she was lashed fifty times for being present at a family gathering where men other than her father and brother were present. Her crime? She is a single woman. It is forbidden for women to be present under the same roof with men other than their close relatives (father, brother and son) without proper hijab." |(source) Anyway, the Wikipedia editor's fiction has also propagated to the "Human rights in Iran" article (or vice versa), so I'm correcting that reference too.

How bad is it?
Can someone re-insert the lost ref. at the end of the section headed "Islam". It sounds informative. If I were expecting to be lashed by the state I lived in, or if I am trying to make a decision about how the practice of lashing compares with other forms of punishment (such as for example those meted out in the UK, where I currently live), then the main questions of interest to me are of the practical kind: "quantitative details" about severity: How hard is one hit; with what implement; can you be clothed; are painkillers permitted (after? before?); how long does the skin hurt for afterwards; is there a risk to long term physical health? How carefully and consistently is the level of severity of lashing controlled? If there is a longer term health risk, how great is that risk - what are the probabilities? What are the statistics about longer term complications (scarring, loss of skin tactile sensitivity, wounds and infection risk, damage to bone or internal organs......?). How do these risks compare with equivalent long terms risks in say UK (e.g. being beaten up while in prison, unemployment as a result of criminal record, family breakdown, suicide). These seem almost to be taboo questions, but I am sure that they are of real interest, to at least the actual recipients of punishment meted out by the criminal justice system, if not to the moralist who discuss these matters.

(corrected spelling above also) pain is subjective, while a hypersensitive person can yell and scream in agony from a skinned knee a masochist might laugh at the pain from a multiple fracture. so listing its quantity is hard if not impossible. and while all would agree that salt in a wound is more severe than the wound alone, trying to compare a broken digit to a broken leg has the difficulty of higher concentration of pain receptors in the digit while the thicker bone of the leg would require more force to break, I would be hard pressed to say it is worse than the broken finger or toe due to the increased pain and other problems (for instance, I have heard that you can walk on a led with a simple break but if both big toes are removed you need to learn how to walk again so I would assume that a broken big toe would greatly hamper the ability to walk, if it is possible at all)--207.181.234.158 (talk) 04:33, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

This entry seems confused
This entry seems like it's trying to be about the religious practice of flagellation, but leads with the paragraph "Typically, whipping is performed on unwilling subjects as a punishment; however, flagellation can also be submitted to willingly, or performed on oneself, in religious or sadomasochistic contexts." The opening paragraph seems to indicate broader coverage that the rest of the article doesn't quite deliver. Perhaps this article should confine itself to flagellation in the religious context and flogging and other forms of punitive whipping should be directed to another page? 66.57.229.78 (talk) 05:06, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

To further expand on this idea, I think erotic whipping, religious flagellation, and punitive whipping are three very different things with different contemporary practices and different histories. It doesn't seem appropriate for them to be together in the same article. Perhaps fold erotic whipping into the article on BDSM, punitive whipping into the article on torture, punishment, etc, and allow religious flagellation to stand alone in this article? or maybe split them into three articles with a disambiguation page?66.57.229.78 (talk) 05:20, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

While I understand your concern of ambiguity, I disagree that a disambiguous page pointing to sub sections of other articles should be used. I see this as one word/phrase that only means one thing... thus pointing to only one page for it's entire subject.... but sub divided for clarity on the points of reasons-for and maybe ever the severity (erotic versions can be mock in severity while punishment would never be less severe that the severity called for by the punishment.... the religious reasons would also have a level of severity in addition to the quantitative property mentioned so far)

The ability to sub-section to multiple levels, can and should be used in this context. Also, additional information is needed to meet your concern that this article is too weighted towards the religious aspects of the subject. Sub-sections would clarify what portions concern the subject in general (including the opening paragraph) and what information is more pertinent to specific applications.

FOR INSTANCE: a cat-o-nine-tails is a very severe punitive measure (compared to the switch, aka ROD) but erotically it is used almost to a playful tickling application in most applications.... the exception being the article on BDSM that you suggest its erotic use be relegated; where a [i]"cat"[/i] of punitive strength is very severe, tearing of flesh is a virtual must for this description, but is seldom used due to it's severity opting for welts rather than bleeding tears. Conversely, the Self-Flagellation application in Christianity has many times, though mostly in the Middle Ages, been as severe as the punitive application. Christianity requires the switch as punishment (KJV calls it a ROD in Psalm 23 and various Proverb admonitions) while other religions (and countries) have other forms of rod and "cat" uses (China use a rod often and didn't understand the uproar in the United States  when it was applied in a well publicised case of vandalistic graffiti and the cat is still used in the middle east)

my suggestions in these three preceding paragraphs are complex but when implemented should avoid the above editor's fears on this needing a disambiguous page--207.181.234.158 (talk) 04:17, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

 * Many months have elapsed and nobody seems to have done much about the above concerns. I incline to the view that different contexts should have separate articles. In fact there is now a separate Judicial corporal punishment article, which is more or less all about flogging, if you include caning in your definition of flogging, which seems to be slightly moot. There is also a separate Cat-o'-nine-tails article and a separate Birching article and a separate Caning article, not to mention a Caning in Singapore article and a Caning in Malaysia article, as well as the overarching Corporal punishment article. So I think this one should probably concentrate on the military and religious stuff, with pointers to all those other articles where appropriate. As for the BDSM/erotic bit, I agree that that needs to be shifted to the "erotic spanking" article or some other BDSM place. If nobody objects, I will aim to tackle all this accordingly. Alarics (talk) 06:16, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Reference issue?
While cleaning up the reference list and attempting to find an ISBN for Tomasson & Buist's Battles of the '45, I observed that the 1974 Pan Books edition is conspicuously absent from WorldCat. It may be beneficial to obtain a reference from an edition of established provenance. Afelah (talk) 02:29, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

Contemporary Catholic attitudes about flagellation
I made an edit to the Christianity section to clarify how much this formerly common practice (more commonly with a "discipline" of knotted cords, rather than chain with spikes) has fallen out of favor within Catholic religious orders, and why this is so. There were serious theological and human problems which have been resolved by almost entirely giving up the practice of self-flagellation. It would be inaccurate for this article to represent self-flagellation as a common and well accepted practice today in most monasteries, or anywhere else except perhaps certain locales where it has remained a part of the culture. And specifically it's no longer a common practice of the Carmelites. Since many people editing this article are probably enthusiasts of this practice, I feel it's important to include this truth that it's no longer a common practice, and that although some still defend it as having (at least potential) value, many arguments have been made against it as a religious practice. --Elizdelphi (talk) 16:04, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

abolition
In 1939 UK Parliament instructed the legal services to introduce legislation that would finally abolish flogging in the British armed forces.

According to the RINA the last known person to have actually witnessed a flogging was by a Midshipman who died as a Rear Admiral in 1922.

By the time of the abolition it seems that there was no longer anybody alive who had actually witnessed such a punishment.AT Kunene (talk) 10:04, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

improve image placement
the graphics are physically divorced from the text on the same subject. In particular, the photo of the slave needs to move up, the woodcut of the flagellants (a Christian term) needs to move down. 4.248.222.243 (talk) 17:32, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

"lesbian, gay and bisexual"
Is it really necessary to write it like that? Why not merely "gay and bisexual" or "homo- and bisexual" or something along those lines? Or, of course, you could instead exclusively refer to the acts instead of the people, in which "homosexual" and its variants will be the most logical choiced for a word. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A00:C440:20:1116:E953:818A:61C9:44B (talk) 23:14, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Possible copyright problem
This article has been revised as part of a large-scale clean-up project of multiple article copyright infringement. (See the investigation subpage) Earlier text must not be restored, unless it can be verified to be free of infringement. For legal reasons, Wikipedia cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions must be deleted. Contributors may use sources as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences or phrases. Accordingly, the material may be rewritten, but only if it does not infringe on the copyright of the original or plagiarize from that source. Please see our guideline on non-free text for how to properly implement limited quotations of copyrighted text. Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously. Diannaa (talk) 01:27, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

Source attribution
Please note that some of the text in this article has been adapted from material taken from the BDSM article. This notice is provided purely to satisfy Wikipedia's licensing requirement for source attribution. -- The Anome (talk) 06:04, 29 August 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Flagellation. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20040402184621/http://www.e-forensicmedicine.net/Turin2000.htm to http://e-forensicmedicine.net/Turin2000.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 01:06, 2 October 2017 (UTC)

Title Change
Does anybody else think that we should change the title to something the general populace would know better? For example, should we change the title to "Flogging" or "Lashing", and then change which searches redirect to the page?

—TetanicRain7592 — Preceding unsigned comment added by TetanicRain7592 (talk • contribs) 21:32, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Nah. Flogging and Lashings (plural) already redirect here, as do Whipping and Lashes and a few others, so anyone searching on those terms get here. Lashing (singular) redirects to Lash, a disambiguation page that includes an entry here; and someone searching on "Lashing" may indeed want Lashing (ropework) anyway.
 * I can't think of anything you could rename this article to that wouldn't potentially misnavigate someone looking for a similarly-titled subject, so there'd have to be a bunch of hatnoting.
 * It's fine. Redirects work. TJRC (talk) 21:56, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks for this though, Whipping needs to be changed to a disambiguation page: as well as the related whipping boy and whipping post there is a whole gamut of different whippings used in ropework, let alone a couple of bands. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 22:50, 12 March 2020 (UTC)

title: Talk:Flagellation


text:
User:Ottawakungfu

I am interested in all things that are related to the history, culture, philosophy and practice of Chinese Martial Arts.

I also run a a website dedicated to the promotion of traditional martial arts training and occasionally published materials on the history and practice of different martial arts.

title: User:Ottawakungfu


text:
John Braine

John Gerard Braine (13 April 1922 – 28 October 1986) was an English novelist. Braine is usually listed among the angry young men, a loosely defined group of English writers who emerged on the literary scene in the 1950s.

Early life
John Braine was born in the Westgate area of central Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire. The family later moved to the suburb of Thackley on the northern edge of the city. Braine left St. Bede's Grammar School at 16 and worked in a shop, a laboratory and a factory before becoming, after the war, a librarian in Bingley, a small town 5 mi up the Aire Valley and at Darton in 1954 where locals put his inattention down to his spending his time writing his first novel.

Works
Although he wrote 12 works of fiction, Braine is chiefly remembered today for his first novel, Room at the Top (1957). The novel was conceived when he was being treated for tuberculosis in a hospital near the Yorkshire Dales town of Grassington. He stated that his favourite author was Guy de Maupassant and that Room at the Top was based on Bel Ami, but that "the critics didn't pick it up". Room at the Top was turned into a successful 1959 film, with Laurence Harvey as Joe Lampton and featuring an Oscar–winning performance by Simone Signoret. In September 2012, BBC television broadcast a two-part dramatisation that had been delayed because of a dispute over copyright. Matthew McNulty was in the lead role.

After achieving literary success, Braine moved to the south of England, living from 1966 until his death in Woking. He wrote several more novels, including Life at the Top, a sequel to Room at the Top. His 1968 novel The Crying Game is set in London and captures some of the atmosphere of the 'Swinging Sixties' (it is not related to the 1992 film of the same name). His 1974 book, Writing a Novel, was a guide for aspiring novelists.

Political views
Braine was mildly left-wing in his youth, but, like his contemporaries (and fellow "angry young men") Kingsley Amis and John Wain, he later moved to the political right and supported America's involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1967, Braine, Robert Conquest, Amis and several others signed a controversial letter to The Times titled "Backing for U.S. Policies in Vietnam", supporting the US government in Vietnam.

Personal life
Braine was married to Helen Wood and had four children. They separated in the early 1980s, and Helen moved to Shropshire with the two youngest children. He died from a gastric haemorrhage in 1986 at the age of 64.

Fiction

 * Room at the Top (1957) Reissued in 2013 by Valancourt Books
 * The Vodi (1959) Reissued in 2013 by Valancourt Books
 * Life at the Top (1962) Reissued in 2015 by Valancourt Books
 * The Jealous God (1964)
 * The Crying Game (1968) (not related to the 1992 film of the same title)
 * Stay with Me Till Morning (1970) (U.S. title: "The View from Tower Hill")
 * The Queen of a Distant Country (1972)
 * The Pious Agent (1975)
 * Waiting for Sheila (1976)
 * Finger of Fire (1977)
 * One and Last Love (1981)
 * The Two of Us (1984)
 * These Golden Days (1985)
 * Man at the Top (Thames Television, 1970–1): five scripts for the first series of this drama based on Braine's character Joe Lampton

Non-fiction

 * A Personal Record (Monday Club, 1968)
 * Writing a Novel (1974)
 * J.B. Priestley (1978)

title: John Braine