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USS Congress (1799)

USS Congress was a nominally rated 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. James Hackett built her at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and she was launched on 15 August 1799. She was one of the original six frigates whose construction the Naval Act of 1794 had authorized. The name "Congress" was among ten names submitted to President George Washington by Secretary of War Timothy Pickering in March 1795 for the frigates that were to be constructed. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so Congress and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than the standard frigates of the period.

Her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War. During the War of 1812 she made several extended length cruises in company with her sister ship USS President (1800) and captured, or assisted in the capture of twenty British merchant ships. At the end of 1813, due to a lack of materials to repair her, she was placed in ordinary for the remainder of the war. In 1815 she returned to service for the Second Barbary War and made patrols through 1816. In the 1820s she helped suppress piracy in the West Indies, made several voyages to South America, and was the first U.S. warship to visit China. Congress spent her last ten years of service as a receiving ship until ordered broken up in 1834.

Construction
In 1785 Barbary pirates, most notably from Algiers, began to seize American merchant vessels in the Mediterranean. In 1793 alone, eleven American ships were captured and their crews and stores held for ransom. To combat this problem, proposals were made for warships to protect American shipping, resulting in the Naval Act of 1794. The act provided funds to construct six frigates, but included a clause that if peace terms were agreed to with Algiers, the construction of the ships would be halted.

Joshua Humphreys' design was unusual for the time, being deep, long on keel and narrow of beam (width) and mounting very heavy guns. The design called for a diagonal scantling (rib) scheme intended to restrict hogging while giving the ships extremely heavy planking. This design gave the hull a greater strength than a more lightly built frigate. Humphreys' design was based on his realization that the fledgling United States of the period could not match the European states in the size of their navies. This being so, the frigates were designed to overpower other frigates with the ability to escape from a ship of the line.

Congress was given her name by President George Washington after a principle of the United States Constitution. Her keel was reportedly laid down late in 1795 at a shipyard in Kittery, Maine (then a district of Massachusetts). James Hackett was charged with her construction and Captain James Sever served as a superintendent. Her construction proceeded slowly and was completely suspended when in March 1796, a peace treaty was signed with Algiers. Congress remained at the shipyard, incomplete, until relations with France deteriorated in 1798 with the start of the Quasi-War. At the request of then President John Adams, funds were approved on 16 July to complete her construction.

Armament

The Naval Act of 1794 had specified 36-gun frigates. However, Congress and her sister-ship USS Constellation (1797) were re-rated to 38s because of their large dimensions, being 164 ft in length and 41 ft in width.

The "ratings" by number of guns were meant only as an approximation, and Congress often carried up to 48 guns. Ships of this era had no permanent battery of guns such as modern Navy ships carry. The guns and cannons were designed to be completely portable and often were exchanged between ships as situations warranted. Each commanding officer outfitted armaments to their liking, taking into consideration factors such as the overall tonnage of cargo, complement of personnel aboard, and planned routes to be sailed. Consequently, the armaments on ships would change often during their careers, and records of the changes were not generally kept.

During her first cruise in the Quasi-War against France, Congress was noted to be armed with a battery of forty guns consisting of twenty-eight 18 pdr and twelve 9 pdr. For her patrols during the War of 1812, she was armed with a battery of forty-four guns consisting of twenty-four 18 pounders and twenty 32 pdr.

Quasi-War
Congress launched on 15 August 1799 under the command of Captain Sever. After fitting-out in Rhode Island, she set off on her maiden voyage 6 January 1800 sailing in company with Essex to escort merchant ships to the East Indies. Six days later she lost all of her masts during a gale. Because her rigging had been set and tightened in a cold climate, it had slackened once she reached warmer temperatures. Without the full support of the rigging, all the masts fell during a four-hour period, killing the ship's Forth Lieutenant trying to repair the main mast. She was away from the convoy at the time, Essex had lost sight of her, probably because of the dismasting, and was located at (38.36667°N, -52.11667°W) at the time.

The crew rigged an emergency sail, accomplished by 22 January, and limped back to the Gosport Navy Yard for repairs, arriving off Hampton Roads on 24 February. While there, some of Sever's junior officers announced that they had no confidence in his ability as a commanding officer. A Court of Inquiry was held on 26 April, 1800 on board USS Chesapeake (1799), and Captain Sever was cleared of any wrongdoing and remained in command of Congress, though many of his crew soon transferred out to USS Chesapeake (1799). · Travel back to the Civil War era with our favorite historian, Brian Rucker! Join us this Thursday, July 18th, at 6 pm in the Niceville Community Center as he examines military and civilian reminiscences of people, North and South, who participated in Civil War activity in the Florida Panhandle. These are eyewitness recollections from those who often left behind accounts that add details not found in the official military records. This free event is part of our 2024 Summer Reading Program for Adults. #CSLP #AdventureBeginsAtYourLibrary #History #CivilWar #FloridaHistory #LibraryFriends #SummerReading

Remaining in port for six months while her masts and rigging were repaired, she finally sailed again on 26 July for the West Indies. Congress made routine patrols escorting American merchant ships and seeking out French ships to capture. On two occasions she almost ran aground; first while pursuing a French privateer, she ran into shallow water where large rocks were seen near the surface. Although their exact depth was not determined, Sever immediately abandoned pursuit of the privateer and changed course towards deeper waters. Her second close call occurred off the coast of the Caicos Islands, when during the night she drifted close to the reefs. At daybreak her predicament was discovered by the lookouts.

A peace treaty with France was ratified on 3 February 1801 and Congress returned to Boston in April. In accordance with an act of Congress passed on 3 March and signed by President John Adams, thirteen frigates then currently in service were to be retained. Seven of those frigates, including Congress, were to be placed in ordinary. En route to the Washington Navy Yard, she passed Mount Vernon on her way up the Potomac and Captain Sever ordered her sails lowered, flag at half mast, and a 13-gun salute fired to honor the recently deceased George Washington. Congress decommissioned at Washington along with USS United States (1797) and USS New York (1800).

First Barbary War
During the United States' preoccupation with France during the Quasi-War, troubles with the Barbary States were suppressed by the payment of tribute to ensure that American merchant ships were not harassed and seized. In 1801 Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli, dissatisfied with the amount of tribute he was receiving in comparison to Algiers, demanded an immediate payment of $250,000. In response, Thomas Jefferson sent a squadron of frigates to protect American merchant ships in the Mediterranean and pursue peace with the Barbary States.

The first squadron, under the command of Richard Dale in USS President (1800), was instructed to escort merchant ships through the Mediterranean and negotiate with leaders of the Barbary States. A second squadron was assembled under the command of Richard Valentine Morris in USS Chesapeake (1799) however, the performance of Morris's squadron was so poor that he was recalled and subsequently dismissed from the Navy in 1803. A third squadron was assembled under the command of Edward Preble in USS Constitution and by mid-1804 they had successfully fought the Battle of Tripoli Harbor.

President Jefferson reinforced Preble's squadron in April and ordered four frigates to sail as soon as possible. President, Congress, Constellation and Essex were placed under the direction of Commodore Samuel Barron. Congress was captained by John Rodgers and two months were spent preparing the squadron for the voyage. They departed in late June and arrived at Gibraltar on 12 August. Congress and Essex were immediately sent to patrol off the coast of Tangier and when they returned to Gibraltar two weeks later, Congress continued on to Tripoli.

Congress, accompanied by Constellation, assumed blockade duties of Tripoli and captured one xebec before sailing for Malta on 25 October for repairs. On 6 November Rodgers assumed command of Constitution and in his place, Stephen Decatur assumed command of Congress. The next recorded activity of Congress is in early July 1805 when she was sent in company with USS Vixen (1803) to blockade Tunisia. They were joined on the 23rd by additional U.S. Navy vessels. In early September, Congress carried the Tunisian ambassador back to Washington DC. Afterward, placed in ordinary at the Washington Navy Yard, she served as a classroom for midshipmen training through 1807.

War of 1812

In 1811 Congress required extensive repairs before recommissioning with Captain John Rogers in command. She performed routine patrols early in 1812 before war was declared on 18 June. Captain John Smith assumed the command of her on 11 July 1812 and took her to join the squadron of Commodore Rodgers, where she sailed in company with USS Argus (1803), USS Hornet (1805 brig), President and USS United States (1797).

Almost immediately Rogers was informed by a passing American merchant ship of a fleet of British merchantmen en route to Britain from Jamaica. Congress sailed along in pursuit, but was interrupted when President began pursuing HMS Belvidera on 23 June. Congress trailed behind President during the chase and fired her bowchasers at the escaping Belvidera. Unable to capture Belvidera, the squadron returned to the pursuit of the Jamaican fleet. On 1 July they began to follow a trail of coconut shells and orange peels the Jamaican fleet had left behind them. Sailing to within one day's journey of the English Channel, the squadron never sighted the convoy and Rodgers called off the pursuit on the 13th. During their return trip to Boston, Congress assisted in the capture of seven merchant ships, including the recapture of an American vessel.

Making her second cruise against the British with President, Congress sailed from Boston on 8 October. On the 31st of that month, both ships began to pursue HMS Galatea (1810), which was escorting two merchant ships. Galatea and her charges were chased for about three hours, during which Congress captured the merchant ship Argo. In the meantime, President kept after Galatea but lost sight of her as darkness fell. Congress and President remained together during November but they did not find a single ship to capture. On their return to the United States they passed north of Bermuda, proceeded towards the Virginia capes, and arrived back in Boston on 31 December. During their entire time at sea, the two frigates captured nine prizes.

Congress and President were blockaded in Boston by the Royal Navy until they slipped through the blockade on 30 April 1813 and put to sea for their third cruise of the war. On 2 May they pursued HMS Curlew (1812) but she outran them both and escaped. Congress parted company with President on the 8th and patrolled off the Cape Verde Islands and the coast of Brazil. She only captured four small British merchant ships during this period and returned to the Portsmouth Navy Yard for repairs in late 1813. By this time of the war, materials and personnel were being diverted to the Great Lakes, which created a shortage of resources necessary to repair her. Due to the amount of repairs she needed, it was decided instead to place her in ordinary, where she stayed for the remainder of the war.

Louis F. Middlebrook in Vol. LXIII, October 1927 of Essex Institute Historical Collections listing following prizes taken by her under the command of Captain John Smith: "November 1, 1812, off Western Islands, the British whaler Argo, 10 guns and 26 men, with a cargo of oil and whalebone, bound for London, and ordered to the United States.""May 19, 1813, in Lat. 28 N., Long. 42 W., the British brig Jean, 10 guns and 17 men, with a cargo of copper, hides, etc., bound to Greenock. After taking out the copper, the brig was burned.""May 22, 1813, in Lat. 24 N., Long. 40 W., the British brig Diana, 10 guns and 14 men, with a cargo of copper and hides bound to London, and sent into Barbadoes with the prisoners, after throwing overboard her cargo.""October 25, 1813, in Lat. 19 N., Long. 40 W., the British ship Rose, of 182 tons, crew of 12 men, with a cargo of wine and potatoes. Burned. All of her crew voluntarily enlisted in the service of the United States.""December 5, 1813, in the North Atlantic, the British brig Atlantic, crew of 12 men and a cargo of sugar and cotton from the West Indies to Cork. This brig was sent into Boston."

Second Barbary War
Soon after the United States declared war against Britain in 1812, Algiers took advantage of the United States' preoccupation with Britain and began intercepting American merchant ships in the Mediterranean. On 2 March 1815, at the request of President James Madison, Congress declared war on Algiers. Work preparing two American squadrons promptly began—one at Boston under Commodore William Bainbridge, and one at New York under Commodore Steven Decatur.

Captain Charles Morris assumed command of Congress and assigned to the squadron under Bainbridge. After repairs and refitting, she transported the Minister to Holland William Eustis to his new post. Congress departed in June and after a few weeks at Holland, sailed for the Mediterranean and arrived at Cartagena, Spain in early August joining Bainbridge's squadron. By the time of Congress's arrival, however, Commodore Decatur had already secured a peace treaty with Algiers.

Congress, USS Erie (1813), USS Chippewa (1815) and USS Spark (1813) sailed in company with Bainbridge's flagship USS Independence (1814)—the first commissioned ship of the line of the U.S. Navy—as a show of force off Algiers. The squadron subsequently made appearances off Tripoli and Tunis and arrived at Gibraltar in early October. From there, Congress and many other ships were ordered back to the United States. She arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, remained there shortly, and proceeded to Boston where she decommissioned in December and assigned to ordinary.

Later career
In June 1816 Charles Morris again commanded Congress and began preparations for a cruise to the Pacific Coast of the United States. His objective was taking possession of Fort Astoria from the British and conducting inquiries at various ports along the coast to further improve commercial trade. These plans were canceled, however, when a U.S. Navy ship collided with a Spanish Navy vessel in the Gulf of Mexico. Consequently, Morris commanded a squadron of ships in the Gulf to ensure that American merchant commerce in the area would continue unmolested.

Congress arrived in the Gulf of Mexico in December 1816 and made patrols through July 1817 performing duties that Morris described as "tedious and uninteresting". From there she sailed for Haiti where Morris and an agent of the United States negotiated a settlement with Henri Christophe over the case of a captured vessel. Afterward, Congress sailed for Venezuela to observe and gather information regarding the ongoing Venezuelan War of Independence. She arrived about 21 August and visited the Venezuelan city of Barcelona soon after.

Upon return to the Norfolk Navy Yard later the same year, Morris requested relief as commander due to failing health and Arthur Sinclair assumed command. Sinclair began preparing for a return voyage to South America carrying a diplomatic contingent to assure various South American countries of the United States' intention to remain neutral in their conflicts with Spain for independence. The diplomats included Caesar A. Rodney, John Graham, Theodorick Bland, Henry Brackenridge, William Reed, and Thomas Rodney. Congress departed on 4 December and returned to Norfolk in July 1818.

Early in 1819 Congress made a voyage under the command of Captain John D. Henley to China, becoming the first U.S. warship to visit that country. She returned to the United States in May 1821. Shortly afterward, pirates in the West Indies began seizing American merchant ships and in early 1822, she served as the flagship of Commodore James Biddle. She is recorded as collecting prisoners from the captured pirate ship Bandara D'Sangare on 24 July of that year. Her next recorded activity is returning to Norfolk in April 1823 where Biddle immediately prepared for a voyage to Spain and Argentina to deliver the newly appointed Ministers, Hugh Nelson and Caesar A. Rodney respectively.

Extensive modifications were required to the berth deck of Congress in order to accommodate Rodney's wife and eleven children. Additionally, Rodney's household goods and furniture, described by Biddle as "enough to fill a large merchant ship," were loaded into her hold that required much of the ships stores to be relocated. She departed from Wilmington, Delaware, on 8 June and arrived at Gibraltar where Hugh Nelson disembarked for Spain. On 18 September Congress arrived at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where Rodney hired his own merchant ship to carry his family the rest of the distance to Buenos Aires. Congress subsequently returned to Norfolk on 17 December.

After her return, Congress served as a receiving ship; being moved between the Norfolk and Washington Navy Yards under tow as needed. She remained on this duty for the next ten years until a survey of her condition was performed in 1834, and found unfit for repair, she was broken up the same year.

title: USS Congress (1799)


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Talk:George Bush, Jr.

Hrm. George W. Bush isn't a junior, his father being George Herbert Walker Bush and he not having the middle name of Herbert. Slathering 05:47 6 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * Redirects are not set up because they are alternate correct forms but because they are forms that people might use in searching. Rmhermen 06:05 6 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * And yet Cuba Gooding Jr. is Cuba M. Gooding. His father didn't have the middle initial. Go figure. Webbbbbbber (talk) 08:32, 19 October 2017 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:George Bush, Jr.


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Panay Gulf

Panay Gulf is an extension of the Sulu Sea, reaching between the islands of Panay and Negros in the Philippines. The gulf contains the island-province of Guimaras and extends into the Iloilo Strait, between Panay and Guimaras, and into Guimaras Strait, between Guimaras and Negros. Guimaras Strait connects Panay Gulf with the Visayan Sea.

The Port of Iloilo is the busiest port on the gulf, which is a major route used by ships plying the areas between Iloilo City, Bacolod, and Zamboanga further to the south.

The Panay Landing during World War II occurred in Panay Gulf.

title: Panay Gulf


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Peter Binsfeld

Peter Binsfeld (alternate spelling Peter of Binsfeld, lat. Petrus Binsfeldius; c. 1540 – 1598 or 1603) was a German auxiliary bishop and theologian.

Peter, a son of a farmer and craftsman, was born in the village of Binsfeld in the rural Eifel region, located in the modern state of Rhineland-Palatinate; he died in Trier as a victim of the bubonic plague. Binsfeld grew up in the predominantly Catholic environment of the Eifel region.

Education and career
Considered by a local abbot to be a very gifted boy, Peter Binsfeld was sent to Rome for study.

After his studies, Binsfeld returned to his home region and became an important personality in the anti-Protestant Catholic activities of the late 16th century. He was elected Auxiliary bishop of Trier and became a well-known writer on theology, who achieved notoriety as one of the most prominent witch-hunters of his time. Binsfeld was one of the main drivers of the Trier witch trials that ravaged the area under the dominion of Archbishop Johann von Schönenberg between 1581-93. Binsfeld wrote the influential treatise De confessionibus maleficorum et sagarum ('Of the Confessions of Warlocks and Witches'), translated into several languages (Trier, 1589). This work discussed the confessions of alleged witches, and claimed that even if such confessions were produced by torture, they should still be believed. He also encouraged denouncements.

He thought that girls under age twelve and boys under age fourteen could not be considered guilty of practising witchcraft, but due to the precocity of some children the law should not be completely strict. This point of view can be considered as moderate, taking into account that some tribunals had condemned children between two and five years of age to be burnt at the stake.

Contrary to other authors of the time, Binsfeld doubted the ability of shapeshifting and the validity of the diabolical mark.

In 1589 Binsfield published an influential list of demons and their associated sins, including the demons associated with the Seven Deadly Sins: Lucifer (pride), Mammon (greed), Asmodeus (lust), Leviathan (envy), Beelzebub (gluttony), Satan (wrath) and Belphegor (sloth).

title: Peter Binsfeld


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Oilbird

The oilbird (Steatornis caripensis), locally known as the guácharo, is a bird species found in the northern areas of South America including the Caribbean island of Trinidad. It is the only species in the genus Steatornis, the family Steatornithidae, and the order Steatornithiformes. Nesting in colonies in caves, oilbirds are nocturnal feeders on the fruits of the oil palm and tropical laurels. They are the only nocturnal flying fruit-eating birds in the world (the kākāpō, also nocturnal, is flightless). They forage at night, with specially adapted eyesight. However, they navigate by echolocation in the same way as bats, one of the few birds to do so. They produce a high-pitched clicking sound of around 2 kHz that is audible to humans.

Taxonomy and etymology
Oilbirds are related to the nightjars and have sometimes been placed with these in the order Caprimulgiformes. However, the nightjars and their relatives are insectivores while the oilbird is a specialist fructivore, and it is sufficiently distinctive to be placed in a family (Steatornithidae) and suborder (Steatornithes) of its own. Some research indicates that it should even be considered a distinct order (Steatornithiformes).

The specific name caripensis means 'of Caripe', and the generic name Steatornis means 'fat bird', in reference to the fatness of the chicks. The oilbird is called a guácharo or tayo in Spanish, both terms being of indigenous origin. In Trinidad it was sometimes called diablotin (French for 'little devil'), presumably referring to its loud cries, which have been likened to those of tortured men. The common name oilbird comes from the fact that in the past chicks were captured and boiled down in order to make oil.

The fossil record of the family suggests that they were once more widely distributed around the globe. The first fossil oilbird was described by Storrs Olson in 1987 from a fossil found in the Green River Formation in Wyoming. The species, Prefica nivea, was probably not adapted to hovering flight or living in caves, unlike the oilbird. Some of the same families and genera of plants the present day oilbird feeds on have been found in the Green River Formation, suggesting that prehistoric species may have eaten the same fruit and spread the same seeds. Another species from the Upper Eocene has been discovered in France.

Description
This is a large, slim bird at 40 –, with a wing span of 95 cm. It has a flattened, powerfully hooked, beak surrounded by deep chestnut rictal bristles up to 5 cm long. The adult weighs 350 - 475 g but the chicks can weigh considerably more, at up to 600 g, when their parents feed them a good deal of fruit before they fly. The feathers of the oilbird are soft like those of many nightbirds, but not as soft as those of owls or nightjars, as they do not need to be silent like predatory species. The oilbird is mainly reddish-brown with white spots on the nape and wings. Lower parts are cinnamon-buff with white diamond-shaped spots edged in black, these spots start small towards the throat and get larger towards the back. The stiff tail feathers are a rich brown spotted with white on either side.

The feet are small and almost useless, other than for clinging to vertical surfaces. The long wings have evolved to make it capable of hovering and twisting flight, which enables it to navigate through restricted areas of its caves. For example, the wings have deep wingtip slotting, like New World vultures, to reduce the stalling speed, and the wings have a low aspect ratio and low wing-loading, all to make the oilbird capable of flying at low speeds.

The eyes of oilbirds are highly adapted to nocturnal foraging. The eyes are small, but the pupils are relatively large, allowing the highest light-gathering capacity of any bird (f-number of 1.07). The retina is dominated by rod cells, 1,000,000 rods per mm2, the highest density of any vertebrate eye, which are organised in layers, an arrangement unique among birds but shared by deep-sea fish. They have low numbers of cone cells, and the whole arrangement would allow them to capture more light in low light conditions but probably have poor vision in daylight.

Although they have specially adapted vision to forage by sight, they are among the few birds known to supplement sight by echolocation in sufficiently poor light conditions, using a series of sharp audible clicks for this purpose. The only other birds known to do this are some species of swift.

In addition to clicks used for echolocation, oilbirds also produce a variety of harsh screams while in their caves. Entering a cave with a light especially provokes these raucous calls; they also may be heard as the birds prepare to emerge from a cave at dusk.

Distribution and habitat
The oilbird ranges from Guyana and the island of Trinidad to Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. They range from sea-level to 3400 m. The species has highly specific habitat requirements, needing both caves to breed in and roost in frequently, and forest containing fruiting trees. Where suitable caves are absent, oilbirds will roost and breed in narrow gorges and grottos with suitable rock shelves.

One such colony in Ecuador held a population of a hundred birds in a canyon with ledges protected by vegetation. Some smaller caves and gorges are used only for roosting. While it was once thought that oilbirds always or nearly always roosted in caves, canyons or gullies, researchers placing GPS trackers on non-breeding birds found that they regularly roost in trees in the forest as well as in caves.

It is a seasonal migrant across some of its range, moving from its breeding caves in search of fruit trees. It has occurred as a rare vagrant to Costa Rica, Panama and Aruba. The Guácharo Cave (Oilbird Cave), in the mountainous Caripe district of northern Monagas, Venezuela, is where Alexander von Humboldt first studied the species.

Behaviour

Oilbirds are nocturnal. During the day the birds rest on cave ledges and leave at night to find fruit outside the cave. It was once thought that oilbirds only roosted in caves, and indeed never saw daylight, but studies using GPS/acceleration loggers found that non-breeding birds only roosted in caves or other rock shelters one night in three, the other nights roosting in trees.

The scientists responsible for the discovery also found that birds roosting in caves were highly active through the night, whereas birds roosting in the forest were far less active. They hypothesised that each environment carried costs; birds roosting in the forest were more vulnerable to predators and birds roosting in caves expended considerable energy competing with rivals and defending nesting and roosting ledges.

Breeding
Oilbirds are colonial cave nesters. The nest is a heap of droppings, usually above water—either a stream or the sea—on which 2–4 glossy white eggs are laid which soon become stained brown. These are rounded but with a distinctly pointed smaller end and average 41.2 mm by 33.2 mm. The squabs become very fat before fledging, weighing around a third more than the adult birds.

Status and conservation
The Guácharo Cave was Venezuela's first national monument and is the centerpiece of a national park; according to some estimates there may be 15,000 or more birds living there. Colombia also has a national park named after its "Cueva de los Guácharos", near the southern border with Ecuador. Oilbirds have been reported in various other places along the Andean mountain chain, including near Ecuador's Cueva de los Tayos and in Brazil: they are known to dwell as far south as the Carrasco National Park in Bolivia. Dunston Cave, at the Asa Wright Nature Centre in Trinidad, is home to about 200 nesting pairs. The species is classified as 'Least Concern' by the IUCN red list as of October 2016, despite a decreasing population.

title: Oilbird


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Sporgery

Sporgery is the disruptive act of posting a flood of articles to a Usenet newsgroup, with the article headers falsified so that they appear to have been posted by others. The word is a portmanteau of spam and forgery, coined by German software developer, and critic of Scientology, Tilman Hausherr.

Sporgery resembles IRC flooding, which is also intended to disrupt a forum. However, sporgery is not merely disruptive but also deceptive or libellous because it involves falsifying the headers of objectionable posts so they appear to originate from newsgroup regulars. The purpose is not merely to jam the forum, but also to sully the reputations of its regular users by falsely signing their names to offensive posts.

According to internet security company ESET, sporgery was one of the vulnerabilities of the Usenet model which "probably contributed to a decline in [its] general use".

Origins in alt.religion.scientology
The word sporgery was coined in the newsgroup alt.religion.scientology, an Internet newsgroup where people discuss the controversial belief system of Scientology. One of the various actions of the "war" between Scientology and the Internet involved various individuals who had posted more than a million forged newsgroup articles to the newsgroup, using the message headers (valid names and e-mail addresses) of articles written by Scientology critics and other legitimate posters, and appending to those headers the bodies of other articles harvested from racist newsgroups. The result was to flood the newsgroup with over one million forged articles that made the other posters appear to be hateful "racist bigots". Critics accused Scientology of planning and conducting the spam flood, but the organization denied this.

The apparent intent of this attack was to render the newsgroup useless for discussion and criticism of Scientology. Another purpose may have been to lower the reputation of the posters so that people would not take their criticisms of Scientology seriously.

At the peak of this attack, the attackers had six computers posting sporgeries into the newsgroup, dumping into USENET an average of 170 megabytes in 44,075 articles every month. From October 1998 to September 1999, 1,462,390,911 sporgery bytes were detected: that figure does not include the sporgery which was canceled (deleted from USENET) before it could propagate. Just before the sporgery attack ended, the sporgery resulted in more than 90% of the newsgroup's traffic.

To accomplish the sporgery attack, the spammers used several methods to acquire Internet access. Open NNTP servers were used when available, to such an extent that a great many had to be closed by their owners. When open NNTP servers eventually became scarce, open proxies were used. These proxies allowed Scientology partisans to use someone else's computer hardware to sporge. Because default security policies in many proxy server products at the time (late 1990s) were lax, many such proxies were available for abuse. Since that time, open proxies have become the most popular resource for other spammers to abuse, eclipsing open relays and other insecure hosts.

The third method used to acquire newsgroup posting access, and the method used the most, was to use volunteers to go out and buy Internet dialup access from an Internet service provider using a false name and address, and using cash or a money order. They were given a large amount of cash and air fare to fly to a city specifically to acquire Internet access for later use in sporging. One such volunteer, Tory Bezazian, later left Scientology and confessed to performing this task, giving the names of the Scientology staff members who were allegedly in charge of the sporgery project.

The sporgery attack against alt.religion.scientology ended a few months after the name and address of one of the perpetrators was acquired by one of the victims, at which time the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation got involved. No indictments were made, nor were there any arrests.

Other sporgery attacks
Since the emergence of this technique of disrupting a newsgroup, a few other groups have been targeted this way. One, news.admin.net-abuse.email, is used for discussion of spamming and other email abuse problems. A person or persons using the pseudonym "Hipcrime" have attacked this and other groups with sporgeries, usually nonsense or Dissociated Press text posted under random names of legitimate posters. Sporgery is also common in warez newsgroups.

title: Sporgery


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Talk:Hannah Arendt

Which portrait?
I recently changed the lead image to this one from 1933 (left):

My argument was that this image has a clearer view of face, better lighting, etc. Overall I find this image much more striking, and the contrast is excellent. It's really a true portrait of the individual.

Francisoftheforest then reverted back to this one from 1958 (right):

Their argument was: Putting back previous infobox image: in the 1930s, Arendt was running away from the Nazis (note the look in her eyes); in the 1950s, WWII was over and her work was taking off (note her smile)

Would anyone else like to weigh in on this? Generalrelative (talk) 05:03, 7 June 2022 (UTC)

 * Given Wikipedia's concern for notability, I think its preferable that the lead image be of Arendt at the height of her literary output (i.e, during the period for which she is most noteworthy) and not a picture from her youth. It is the norm on Wikipedia for philosophers and political theorists to be depicted in maturity. 129.67.173.14 (talk) 14:35, 8 May 2023 (UTC)
 * It should be from the height of her output. Look at other pictures of great thinkers. Hers stands out for being too young. 209.37.78.211 (talk) 21:36, 8 December 2023 (UTC)
 * @Generalrelative
 * I don't have a good reason to choose any from other, I do find they we can do better with the quality and AI enhanced versions. Colored or reconstruction. Thoughts? AR3D666 (talk) 07:52, 10 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I prefer the cropped version [[File:Hannah Arendt auf dem 1. Kulturkritikerkongress, Barbara Niggl Radloff, FM-2019-1-5-9-16 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.6]].  JimRenge (talk) 08:43, 10 October 2023 (UTC)
 * AR3D666: I'm afraid that I don't quite understand the question. Which enhanced versions are you referring to? Can you show us? Generalrelative (talk) 14:19, 10 October 2023 (UTC)
 * I would also vote for that one. Reading the article, and I don't know much about her except read one of her books in college, I noticed that the young picture seemed unusual. SnailsSpace (talk) 17:29, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Agreed. I'll go ahead and change it now. Zanahary (talk) 21:46, 31 May 2024 (UTC)

Ai enhanced pictures
What is the possibility to use these in Wikipedia? Like from apps like remini and recolor?? AR3D666 (talk) 07:54, 10 October 2023 (UTC)

 * Is there a policy about it? SnailsSpace (talk) 17:30, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

Views section insufficiently neutral
The sub section under "Views" titled "Accusations of Racism" contains a brief discussion of Hannah Arendt's essay Reflections on Little Rock. It seems like this section is avoiding the issue somewhat and trying to talk around the problem.

The section is on Hannah Arendt's 'views', so titling it 'Accusations of Racism' is incorrect, because it is not discussing her accusing anyone of racism, it is rather accusations against her. If this section is discussing her views, and the response of further writers to discussing and understanding those views, then it should simply be titled 'Race,' much as her writing about Feminism is simply called 'Feminism.'

It mentions her claims that the essay was delayed publication, but misquotes her as saying that it was due to 'apparently' differing from the publication's unspecified 'liberal values,' when she states it was "because of the controversial nature of my reflections which, obviously, were at variance with the magazine's stand on matters of discrimination and segregation." (Emphasis Mine). She is clear what she believes the dispute was about, and in a section about Arendt's 'views,' we should be representing her views accurately.

It also has too much sympathetic language. She is 'defending' herself rather than responding to criticism. The response is 'vehement'; meaning 'to express strong feelings,' 'to be characterized by anger,' 'marked by extreme intensity of emotions or convictions,' giving a negative impression of her critics. It also says that critics "felt she was fundamentally racist." Is that a fair representation of their arguments? That they were claiming she, personally, in her very character, was 'fundamentally racist?' Or were they arguing and disagreeing with her expressed ideas? It claims that her defenders were 'pointing out' that Arendt's concern was for the welfare of children, but this implies without evidence that her critics had ignored or forgotten that point.

Finally, the section includes a defense of her words that "She felt that white children were being thrown into a racially disharmonious "jungle" to serve a broader political strategy of forcible integration."

Despite the quotations I cannot find a source for this. Arendt expresses concern over the welfare of the children in her essay, and in the essay by Vicky Lebeau that is cited in this sentence she continues to explore this theme of Arendt's concern for child welfare, but nowhere in either Arendt or Lebeau's writings does it say that her concern was for, specifically, 'white' children being 'thrown' into a 'racially disharmonious jungle.' And I don't think I need to explain why this is insufficiently neutral.

I think the section needs some pretty major reworking. It needs to represent what Arendt's views actually were, as she herself states in her essay, rather than talking around them to focus on making her critics seem unreasonable. Vulpes Publius (talk) 13:58, 24 May 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Hannah Arendt


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Potoo

Potoos (family Nyctibiidae) are a group of birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. They are sometimes called poor-me-ones, after their haunting calls. The family Nyctibiidae was formerly included with the nightjars in the order Caprimulgiformes but is now placed in a separate order, Nyctibiiformes. There are seven species in two genera in tropical Central and South America. Fossil evidence indicates that they also inhabited Europe during the Paleogene.

Potoos are nocturnal insectivores that lack the bristles around the mouth found in the true nightjars. They hunt from a perch like a shrike or flycatcher. During the day they perch upright on tree stumps, camouflaged to look like part of the stump. The single spotted egg is laid directly on the top of a stump.

In Argentina and Bolivia, they are known as kakuy or cacuy from Quechua meaning 'to remain'. In Brazil, they are called urutau from Guaraní guyra 'bird' and tau 'ghost'.

Evolution and taxonomy
The potoos today are exclusively found in the Americas, but they apparently had a much more widespread distribution in the past. Fossil remains of potoos dating from the Eocene have been found in Germany. A complete skeleton of the genus Paraprefica has been found in Messel, Germany. It had skull and leg features similar to those of modern potoos, suggesting that it may be an early close relative of the modern potoos. Because the only fossils other than these ancient ones that have been found are recent ones of extinct species, it is unknown if the family once had a global distribution which has contracted, or if the distribution of the family was originally restricted to Europe and has shifted to the Americas.

A 1996 study of the mitochondrial DNA of the potoos supported the monophyly of the family although it did not support the previous assumption that it was closely related to the oilbirds. The study also found a great deal of genetic divergence between the species, suggesting that these species are themselves very old. The level of divergence is the highest of any genus of birds, being more typical of the divergence between genera or even families. The northern potoo was for a long time considered to be the same species as the common potoo, but the two species have now been separated on the basis of their calls. In spite of this there is no morphological way to separate the two species.

The family Nyctibiidae was introduced (as Nyctibie) in 1853 by the French naturalists Jean-Charles Chenu and Œillet des Murs. Prior to this, its species were classified in the Caprimulgidae.

Species
The family Nyctibiidae contains seven species in two genera: Prior to 2018, Nyctibius was considered the only extant genus within the Nyctibiidae; however, a study that year found a deep divergence between the rufous potoo and all other species in the genus, leading it to be described in the new genus Phyllaemulor and expanding the number of genera within the family. This was followed by the International Ornithological Congress in 2022.
 * Family Nyctibiidae Chenu & Des Murs, 1851
 * Subfamily Nyctibiinae Chenu & Des Murs, 1851
 * Genus Phyllaemulor Costa, Whitney, Braun, White, Silveira & Cleere 2018
 * Rufous potoo, Phyllaemulor bracteatus ( Gould 1846)
 * Genus Nyctibius Vieillot 1816
 * Great potoo, Nyctibius grandis (Gmelin 1789)
 * Long-tailed potoo, Nyctibius aethereus (zu Wied-Neuwied 1820)
 * Northern potoo, Nyctibius jamaicensis (Gmelin 1789)
 * Common potoo or lesser potoo, Nyctibius griseus (Gmelin 1789)
 * Andean potoo, Nyctibius maculosus Ridgway 1912
 * White-winged potoo, Nyctibius leucopterus (zu Wied-Neuwied 1821)

In addition, the fossil genus Paraprefica, the only member of the extinct subfamily Parapreficinae, is known from the Eocene of Germany (the Messel pit), marking the earliest fossil evidence of potoos. The fossil genus Euronyctibius, from the Oligocene of France, was formerly considered a potoo, but analysis supports it instead being a close relative of the oilbird (family Steatornithidae).

Description
The potoos are a highly conservative family in appearance, with all the species closely resembling one another; species accounts in ornithological literature remark on their unusual appearance. Potoos range from 21 - 58 cm in length. They resemble upright sitting nightjars, a closely related family (Caprimulgidae). They also resemble the frogmouths of Australasia, which are stockier and have much heavier bills. They have proportionally large heads for their body size and long wings and tails. The large head is dominated by a massive broad bill and enormous eyes. In the treatment of the family in the Handbook of the Birds of the World, Cohn-Haft describes the potoos as "little more than a flying mouth and eyes". The bill, while large and broad, is also short, barely projecting past the face. It is delicate, but has a unique "tooth" on the cutting edge of the upper mandible that may assist in foraging. Unlike the closely related nightjars, the potoos lack rictal bristles around the mouth. The legs and feet are weak and used only for perching.

The eyes are large, even larger than those of nightjars. As in many species of nocturnal birds, they reflect the light of flashlights. Their eyes, which could be conspicuous to potential predators during the day, have unusual slits in the lids, which allow potoos to sense movement even when their eyes are closed. Their plumage is cryptic, helping them blend into the branches on which they spend their days.

Distribution and habitat
The potoos have a Neotropical distribution. They range from Mexico to Argentina, with the greatest diversity occurring in the Amazon Basin, which holds five species. They are found in every Central and South American country. They also occur on three Caribbean islands: Jamaica, Hispaniola and Tobago. The potoos are generally highly sedentary, although there are occasional reports of vagrants, particularly species that have traveled on ships. All species occur in humid forests, although a few species also occur in drier forests.

Behavior
The potoos are highly nocturnal and generally do not fly during the day. They spend the day perched on branches with the eyes half closed. With their cryptic plumage they resemble stumps, and should they detect potential danger they adopt a "freeze" position which even more closely resembles a broken branch. The transition between perching and the freeze position is gradual and hardly perceptible to the observer.

The English zoologist Hugh Cott, describing Nyctibius griseus as "this wonderful bird", writes that it "habitually selects the top of an upright stump as a receptacle for its egg, which usually occupies a small hollow just, and only just, large enough to contain it ... the stump selected had thrown up a new leader just below the point of fracture ... and the birds sat facing this in such a way that when viewed from behind they came into line and blended with the grey stem."

Food and feeding
Potoos feed at dusk and at night on flying insects. Their typical foraging technique is to perch on a branch and occasionally fly out in the manner of a flycatcher in order to snatch a passing insect. They occasionally fly to vegetation to glean an insect off it before returning to their perch, but they do not attempt to obtain prey from the ground. Beetles form a large part of their diet, but they also take moths, grasshoppers and termites. One northern potoo was found with a small bird in its stomach as well. Having caught an insect, potoos swallow it whole without beating or crushing it.

Breeding
Potoos are monogamous breeders and both parents share responsibilities for incubating the egg and raising the chick. The family does not construct a nest of any kind, instead laying the single egg on a depression in a branch or at the top of a rotten stump. The egg is white with purple-brown spots. One parent, often the male, incubates the egg during the day, then the duties are shared during the night. Changeovers to relieve incubating parents and feed chicks are infrequent to minimise attention to the nest, as potoos are entirely reliant on camouflage to protect themselves and their nesting site from predators. The chick hatches about one month after laying and the nestling phase is two months, a considerable length of time for a landbird. The plumage of nestling potoos is white and once they are too large to hide under their parents they adopt the same freeze position as their parents, resembling clumps of fungus.

Defense
The behaviors described above suggest that the common potoo adopts different defensive strategies to suit its circumstances. For a lone potoo, or a brooding adult with a potential predator close to the nest, the bird attempts to avoid detection by remaining motionless and relying on camouflage. If ineffective, the potoo breaks cover and attempts to intimidate the predator by opening its beak and eyes wide open while vocalizing or simply flies out of reach. Nocturnal predators rely less on vision for locating prey therefore a different strategy may be required at night.

title: Potoo


text:
Hit

Hit means to strike someone or something.

Hit or HIT may also refer to:

Fictional entities

 * Hit, a fictional character from Dragon Ball Super
 * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization in MacGyver
 * Homicide Intervention Team or HIT, a fictional investigative organization in the HIT Indian film series (see below)

Film and television

 * HIT (TV series), a Spanish high school-drama themed-awarded series
 * H.I.T (TV series), a South Korean drama miniseries
 * HIT Entertainment, a British-American production company
 * Hit!, a 1973 crime film
 * TV HIT, a Bosnian television channel
 * HIT Universe, Indian crime thriller film series
 * HIT: The First Case, 2020 Indian Telugu-language crime thriller film by Sailesh Kolanu
 * HIT: The Second Case, 2022 sequel film by Kolanu
 * HIT: The First Case (2022 film), 2022 remake of the 2020 Telugu film in Hindi

Music

 * Hit song, a recorded song that becomes popular or commercially successful
 * Hit (album), by Peter Gabriel
 * "Hit" (The Sugarcubes song), a single by The Sugarcubes from their 1992 album Stick Around for Joy
 * "Hit", a song by Guided by Voices from the 1995 album Alien Lanes
 * "Hit", a song by The Wannadies from the 1997 album Bagsy Me
 * Hit Records (Croatia), a Croatian record label
 * Hit Records, a defunct American record company

Radio

 * Hit FM (disambiguation)
 * Hit Network, an Australian radio network

Brands and enterprises

 * Hit (drink), a Venezuelan carbonated soft drink
 * Hitachi, Ltd., a Japanese multinational conglomerate
 * Hongkong International Terminals Ltd.
 * Heavy Industries Taxila, a military complex in Pakistan

Computing

 * Hit (internet), a single request for a file from a web server
 * An intersection of the cursor and graphic object during hit-testing in computer graphics
 * Human Intelligence Task, an Amazon Mechanical Turk task

Education

 * Hanze Institute of Technology, in the Netherlands
 * Harare Institute of Technology, in Zimbabwe
 * Harbin Institute of Technology, in China
 * Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata, in India
 * Holon Institute of Technology, in Israel

Language

 * Hit (pronoun), Old English, third-person singular neuter accusative, "it" in modern English
 * Hit, slang for contract killing
 * Hittite language

Places

 * Hit, Qasr-e Qand, a village in Iran
 * Hit Rural District, Iraq
 * Hit, Iraq, a town
 * Hit District, a district centered on the town
 * Hit, Syria

Science and medicine

 * Health information technology
 * Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia
 * Herd immunity threshold; see herd immunity § Mechanism
 * Hibernation induction trigger

Sports

 * Hit (baseball) or base hit
 * High intensity training
 * The Hit (Chuck Bednarik), a November 20, 1960, tackle by Chuck Bednarik of the Philadelphia Eagles on Frank Gifford of the New York Giants

title: Hit


text:
Tim Henman

Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in the 1970s. Henman reached six major semifinals and won 15 career ATP Tour titles (eleven in singles and four in doubles), including the 2003 Paris Masters. He also earned a 40–14 win-loss record with the Great Britain Davis Cup team.

Henman was the British No. 1 player in 1996 and again from 1999 to 2005, at which point he was overtaken by Andy Murray. He reached a career-high ranking of world No. 4 three different times between July 2002 and October 2004. He is one of the most successful British players of the Open Era, winning $11,635,542 prize money. In the 2004 New Year Honours, he was appointed an OBE.

Henman started playing tennis before the age of three, and began systematic training in the Slater Squad at eleven. After suffering a serious injury which affected him for the better part of two years, he began touring internationally as a junior and achieved some successes. He rose quickly up the ATP rankings, and by 1996 had reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. For most of his career, Henman was considered a grass court specialist, reaching four Wimbledon semifinals in the five years between 1998 and 2002. He also achieved considerable success on hard courts early in his career, with his first title on the top tier ATP tour won in Sydney with a straight sets win over Carlos Moya. He became comfortable on clay only later in his career, when in 2004 he reached the semifinals of the French. Henman retired from professional tennis in late 2007, but remains active on the ATP Champions Tour (a tour for former professional tennis players).

Early life
Henman was born in Oxford, Oxfordshire, as the youngest of a family of three boys. Henman's father Anthony, a solicitor, was accomplished at various sports, including tennis, hockey and squash. His mother Jane, a dress designer, played Junior Wimbledon and introduced Tim and his elder brothers, Michael and Richard, to tennis as soon as they could walk on the family's grass tennis court. His great-grandfather played at Wimbledon. His maternal grandfather, Henry Billington, played at Wimbledon between 1948 and 1951, and he represented Britain in the Davis Cup in 1948, 1950 and 1951.

In 1901 his maternal great-grandmother, Ellen Stanwell-Brown, was reputedly the first woman to serve overarm at Wimbledon. His maternal grandmother, Susan Billington, appeared regularly at Wimbledon in the 1950s, playing mixed doubles on Centre Court with her husband Henry, reaching the third round of the ladies' doubles in 1951, 1955 and 1956.

Henman grew up in Weston-on-the-Green, Oxfordshire, a village between Oxford and Bicester with a population of around 500. At home, the family owned a grass tennis court in their back garden. Henman began playing tennis before the age of three with a shortened squash racket. At this stage, he was already teaching himself how to serve and volley. At an early stage in his life, Henman decided if he did not succeed in tennis, he would become a golfer instead.

Henman attended the Longbridge School for boys between the ages of five and seven, and was enrolled in the private Dragon School in Oxford from seven to 11. He excelled in all sports but was always best at tennis. But Henman was small for his age, a factor which would bode against him in the future. In 1985, he was appointed the school's captain of tennis and led the school's tennis team to win 21 out of 27 matches. He remains to this day the only pupil who has won both the school's junior and senior tennis tournaments in the same year. From the age of eight until his introduction to the Slater Squad, Henman received coaching from the David Lloyd Tennis Centre, where he was given personal lessons by former professional player Onny Parun from New Zealand. In retrospect, Parun stated that Henman's greatest strength "had always been his head." David Lloyd noticed the same mental toughness and was impressed.

He left the Dragon School after he attained a scholarship for Reed's School in Cobham, Surrey. Henman received the scholarship after a physical test: to run until you dropped. Henman, along with Marc Moreso and David Loosemore, did not drop, and was given a scholarship. At this point in his life, Lloyd persuaded Henman's parents to allow him to pursue a tennis career. In retrospect, Lloyd notes, Henman's parents understood what many don't: "you can always go back to higher education at 22 or 23 but that that is far too late to start a serious tennis career."

Henman was picked up by the Slater Squad, a group funded by financier Jim Slater, at the age of 11. The main goal of the Slater Squad was to pick and coach young players from the ages of nine or ten, instead of 11 and 12 as the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) did. The original intake for the squad was eight players between the ages of eight and 11. In addition to Tim, the squad consisted of Jamie Delgado, Gary Le Pla, Paul Jessop, James Bailey, Adrian Blackman, James Davidson and Marc Moreso. In the squad, Henman worked on tennis three hours a day: two hours playing tennis and receiving advice from Donald Watt, and the last hour on gymnastics and learning about the game. In contrast to popular belief, Henman was not considered the best of the bunch, and Sue Barker, the British 1976 French Open Women's champion, judged that there was "nothing particularly special in his game in those days". She notes, however, that while Henman did not have the natural skills of a tennis player, he was "a hard worker". None of his fellow players in the Slater Squad saw Henman as a potential British number one, with most believing Marc Moreso to be the group's brightest hope. Not long after becoming a member of the Slater Squad, Henman was diagnosed with osteochondritis, a bone disease. He was unable to play tennis for six months, and it was two years before he could return to tournaments. Luckily for Henman, Slater kept funding him while he was recuperating, because of insistence from Lloyd who believed in Henman's tennis abilities.

At Reed's School he passed ten GCSE exams, but failed chemistry. Outside of school, he worked in Anji's emporium in order to save money for a new racquet. As Henman notes in retrospect, "I passed the others with a few As, a few Bs and a few Cs. It was nothing dazzling by any means, but I got by." At the age of 16, Henman told his mother that it was impossible for him to retain his good grades while keeping up in the tennis world. In 1990 he dropped out of school altogether and focused on becoming a singles player, though Lloyd and the leadership of the Slater Squad had confidence in him as a doubles player, not singles. On the statistics that were available to them, Henman had managed to win five doubles tournaments but only two singles tournaments. But Henman disagreed with the Slater Squad leadership and began playing for the LTA in 1991. At the age of 17, Henman toured South America for eight weeks.

Personal life
On 11 December 1999, Henman married his longtime girlfriend, TV producer Lucy Heald, in Hampshire. They have three daughters, Rose Elizabeth (born 19 October 2002), Olivia Susan (born 15 December 2004), and Grace (born 14 September 2007). Having lived in Barnes, southwest London, the family moved in 2003 to a Grade 2 listed property in Aston Tirrold, south Oxfordshire. Henman occasionally smoked cigarettes during his tennis career. He is a supporter of Oxford United.

Junior tour
During his first tour year in 1991, Henman fared badly. He won the first round in the New South Wales Championship against Andrew Turner, 6–1, 6–3, but lost in the second round to Corrado Borroni 5–7, 1–6. He was defeated by Australian Michael Hill in the first round of the 1991 Australian Open junior class, 7–5, 3–6, 5–7. At the National Championships the same year, he reached the third round, but was defeated 6–1, 6–2 by Andrew Richardson. His performance in doubles matches was markedly better. Henman reached the quarter-finals in the New South Wales Championship with Richardson, and won the Midland Bank Junior Championship in doubles with Jamie Delgado, an associate from the Slater Squad days.

1992 began well, with Henman reaching the finals in Nottingham after defeating Delgado in straight sets in the semi-final. But Henman was defeated in the final by top-seed Mark Schofield, and in the junior French Open by Björn Jacob in three sets, 6–7, 6–1, 9–7. He was defeated in the first round of the Wimbledon junior by Mexican clay specialist Enrique Abaroa in straight sets; 6–2, 6–1. However, things improved dramatically from then on, and in the National Junior Championships he reached the semi-finals without dropping a single set. In the semi-finals Henman met Schofield, and defeated him in four sets; 2–6, 6–3, 7–6, 6–2. Henman met Nick Baglin in the final, and won the match 3–6, 7–5, 6–4, 6–4. In 1992 he turned 18, and Henman began his tennis career in the senior satellite tournaments.

1993–1995: early years
From July 1992 to July 1993, Henman grew six inches to six feet one, and went from seven stones to nine stones in weight. This would prove important for his career, as he acknowledged: "As a junior I had pretty good technique. Now I've got the strength and reach, and on the serve that has helped tremendously." Henman was ranked 774th in the world at the beginning of 1993, but by July he had come close to the top 600. In July, Henman received a wildcard to participate in the ATP Challenger tournament in Bristol, England. In the first round, he defeated Colombian Miguel Tobón, ranked 257th, in straight sets, 6–0, 6–3. In the second round he met the Frenchman Éric Winogradsky and defeated him also in straight sets, 7–6, 6–3. Henman was defeated in the quarter-final by British player Chris Bailey, 6–2, 6–1. By November Henman's rank had increased to 415th. Henman's next tournament was the Volkswagen National Championships in Telford, England; he reached the quarter-final but lost to top-ranked British male player Jeremy Bates, 7–5, 7–6. As 1993 drew to a close, Henman played one last tournament in Israel, which he won.

He started the 1994 season with the four-legged Indian satellite circuit; there he won 18 singles matches in a row. Henman was fairly successful at the British Satellite Masters in Croydon, and by the end of the tournament he was ranked 222nd in the world. Encouraged by his success in the satellite circuit, Henman tried his luck at the ATP tour. Henman travelled to the Far East with Bates, and qualified for his first ATP tournament in April, at the Japan Tennis Championship. In his first round he defeated Kelly Jones, 6–2, 6–3, in the second round he defeated Darren Cahill, 6–2, 7–5 and in the third round Henman was defeated by Pete Sampras, 6–1, 6–2. From this performance Henman increased his ranking to 184th. His success in the Japan Open was followed by a failure to qualify at the Hong Kong Open. Because of this failure, he ended the Far East tour by entering a number of satellite tournaments. Henman entered the Nagoya Open, and defeated eighth seed Eyal Ran in the first round, but lost in the second round to Gouichi Motomura. At the Manila Open, another satellite tournament, Henman reached the final but was defeated by fifth seed Michael Tebbutt, 2–6, 2–6.

After Manila he returned to Europe. In his first Grand Slam bid, Henman failed to qualify in the 1994 French Open, losing the first qualifier round to Australian Wayne Arthurs. His next tournament was the Annenheim Open in Austria, where he lost in the first round to Canadian Sébastien Lareau in straight sets, 6–3, 6–2. However, not all was bad, and Henman, ranked 161st at the time, received a wildcard to qualify for the Stella Artois Championship. In the first round Henman defeated Swedish Peter Lundgren, 7–5, 7–6, but in the second round he succumbed to the eventual champion American Todd Martin, 6–4, 6–4. Henman received a wildcard for the Manchester Open, where he lost in the first round to American Alex O'Brien, and the Wimbledon Championship, the first Grand Slam he had ever played (he failed to qualify to Wimbledon in 1993). At Wimbledon, Henman lost in the first round to German David Prinosil in four sets, 6–4, 3–6, 2–6, 2–6. His early defeat in Wimbledon forced Henman into short period of obscurity in the satellite circuit. Henman reached the semi-finals at the Bristol Open and the fourth round at the Winnetka Open (in Illinois).

By September Henman was ranked 146th, and in the same month he returned to the Far East. His first tournament in the Far East was the Seoul Open. Henman lost in the second round to Korean Kim Nam-hoon, who was ranked outside the top 700. At the Singapore Challenger, he reached the quarterfinals and lost to fellow Brit Chris Wilkinson. He was forced to retire in the third set against Wilkinson when he fell and received a blow to his leg. When he returned to England not long after the tournament, it was revealed that Henman had broken his ankle in three places and would not play another tournament until February 1995. In fact, he was not fully recovered until May. While injured, his ranking went from 146th to 272nd in the world. That year's grass season would prove highly successful for Henman; he reached the semi-finals at the Annenheim Open, later at the Queen's Club Championships he reached the second round after defeating German Martin Sinner, and in Nottingham he reached the quarter-finals, his first quarter-final in the ATP tour. His success in these tournaments increased his ranking from 272nd to 219th. To make matters better for Henman, he won his first match ever in a Grand Slam event at the Wimbledon Championship over Kenyan Paul Wekesa in straight sets, 7–6, 6–0, 6–4. However, Henman's winning streak did not last long, and in the second round he met Sampras, and was defeated 6–2, 6–3, 7–6. Two days later he partnered Jeremy Bates in the first round of the doubles at Wimbledon but the pair became the first players in the Open era to be defaulted at Wimbledon after Henman accidentally hit a ballgirl on the side of head with a ball, having lashed out with his racket in frustration after losing a point to a net cord in the fourth set tie-break of their match against Jeff Tarango and Henrik Holm. Because he hit the ball in anger, the referee Alan Mills ruled that this was an automatic disqualification for unsportsmanlike conduct. He was very apologetic about the incident, presenting the girl with a bunch of flowers. The rest of the grass season was fairly successful for Henman, he appeared at the Manchester Open and reached the semi-final at the Newcastle Open. At the end of the grass season, Henman's rank had risen to 150th in the world.

After the grass season, Henman headed for the United States. He participated in the RCA Championships and defeated 16th seed Frenchmen Cédric Pioline, the 1993 US Open finalist, in straight sets. He lost the following round, but was later able to qualify for the US Open. In the first round, Henman defeated Spanish Juan Albert Viloca in four sets, 6–3, 4–6, 6–3, 6–2. In the second round, Henman was defeated by American Jared Palmer in four sets, 4–6, 7–6, 3–6, 1–6. Henman's 1995 end-of-year ranking was 95.

1996–2000: breakthrough
Henman climbed up the rankings very quickly. In 1994, he was among the top 200 players in the world; by 1995, among the top 100; and by 1996, he had made it into the top 30 and won a medal at the Atlanta Olympics. He was the UK's highest-ranked player that year, and won the Most Improved Player trophy at the ATP awards. He was subsequently elected to the ATP Tour Player Council and went on to win his first championship in January 1997. In March of that year, he underwent surgery on his elbow which kept him out of action for two months.

Henman came to the attention of the wider tennis world in 1996 when he came from match point down, saving two successive match points with aces when serving at 3–5 and 15/40, and then breaking his opponent's serve twice in a row to win the final set 7–5 and beat reigning French Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the first round at Wimbledon, going on to reach the quarter finals before losing to Todd Martin. A few weeks later he was to reach the men's doubles final at the 1996 Summer Olympics in partnership with Neil Broad, losing to No. 1 seeds Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde to receive the silver medal. By the time he reached the last 16 at the US Open later in the year, he was firmly established as a top player.

He won his first ATP Tour title in January 1997, beating Carlos Moyá at the Sydney International event. He was seeded 14th at Wimbledon, and again reached the quarter-final, defeating reigning champion and 4th seed Richard Krajicek in the fourth round before falling to 1991 champion Michael Stich. In 1998 he went one better, reaching the semi-final for the first time, by which time he was ranked as one of the top 10 ATP players.

Henman came close to reaching the final on a number of occasions, losing in the semi-finals to the eventual champion in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002. The first two of those semi-final losses were to Pete Sampras; in 2001 he lost to Goran Ivanišević, a former two-time finalist; in 2002 he lost to Lleyton Hewitt, ranked number one in the world at the time. In 2000 Henman reached the fourth round at Wimbledon; and in 1996, 1997, 2003 and 2004 he lost in the quarter-finals.

One of the tournaments in which he has been most successful is Queen's Club. He reached the final in 1999, where he lost to Pete Sampras, and went on to reach the final again in 2001 and 2002, where both times he lost to Lleyton Hewitt. Based on that success he was expected, at least within England, to be the first man since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a major for Britain – which in the end he never managed, Wimbledon 2001 being the closest that he ever came to reaching a final. He became well known for the Henman fist, which would become his trademark on winning a point.

2001–2004: career peak
Henman started the 2001 ATP season with a ranking of tenth in the world. At the Adelaide International Henman lost in the semi-finals to Nicolás Massú. His next tournament was the Australian Open; Henman had wins over Hicham Arazi, Nicolás Lapentti, and Wayne Arthurs, but lost to Patrick Rafter in the fourth round in straight sets. He then won the Copenhagen Open, dispatching Andreas Vinciguerra in two sets. Henman then lost in the second round of the Rotterdam Open. Rotterdam was followed by a defeat in the Scottsdale Open. In March, Henman reached the third round at Indian Wells, where he lost to Nicolás Lapentti in straight sets. The hard court season wrapped up with the Miami Masters where Henman lost in round two to Fabrice Santoro.

By the beginning of the clay season in April, Henman's ranking had slipped from 10th to 12th in the world. He reached the second round of the Estoril Open, the quarter-finals of Monte-Carlo, round two in Rome, and lost in round one at the Hamburg Masters. At the French Open Henman had wins over Tomas Behrend and Sjeng Schalken, but lost to Guillermo Cañas in five sets in round three. At the end of the clay season, Henman's ranking had risen back up to 11th.

On the grass at Queen's Club Championships Henman reached the final, where he was defeated in straight sets by Australian Lleyton Hewitt. Many commentators believed Henman had a chance to win that year's Wimbledon with several top-seeds being defeated early in the tournament. Henman came through the first three rounds with ease, winning over Artem Derepasko, Martin Lee, and Sjeng Schalken. However, it took five sets to defeat the 22nd American seed Todd Martin in round four. In the quarter-finals Henman beat a young Roger Federer in four tough sets, the latter having defeated Henman's longtime nemesis Sampras in the fourth round in the only tour match that Sampras and Federer would ever play. In his semi-final Henman met wildcard entrant, Goran Ivanišević where Ivanišević eventually managed to win in five sets in a match that spanned 3 days because of numerous rain delays. Henman had come back from losing the first set and played some stunning tennis – including crushing Ivanišević in the third set 6–0 – to take the lead by 2 sets to 1 before rain first stopped play. The players returned the following day but Henman couldn't recapture his form from the Friday and lost the fourth set in a tie break. Henman had got as close as 2 points from victory but serve was with his opponent and he was not able to hang on. Only 5 games into the deciding set, rain fell again and the players were forced to wait it out overnight to finish the epic encounter. When the pair finally returned on Sunday, Ivanišević was able to wrap up the final set and dash the English player's dream of reaching a Wimbledon final.

In August, Henman only reached the second round in the Canada Masters but bounced back and made it to the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters. There he lost to Gustavo Kuerten in three sets. His next tournament was nearly as successful, with Henman reaching the quarter-finals at the RCA Championship. Henman lost in the quarter-finals, again to Kuerten in three sets. At the US Open he reached the third round; Henman defeated Vacek and Fernando Meligeni, but was upset by Xavier Malisse in five sets. Near the end of the season, Henman won the Swiss Indoors, by defeating the previous runner-up Roger Federer in straight sets.

In 2002, Henman reached the 4th round at the Australian Open and the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the last time in his career, losing this time to Lleyton Hewitt: for the fourth time, his conqueror in the semi-finals went on to win the tournament. He was defeated in the second round of the French Open, and the third round of the US Open. At the ATP tour, Henman was the runner-up at three finals; at one ATP Masters Series, at one ATP 500 Series and at one normal ATP tournament. Henman did not participate in the 2003 Australian Open, reached the third round in the French Open, his best so far, reached the quarter-finals at the Wimbledon Championship and lost in the first round at the US Open to eventual champion Andy Roddick. He reached two ATP finals in 2003, one of them being the Paris Masters, winning both of them—his victory at the 2003 Paris Masters would be his only victory at an ATP Masters tour event.

In 2004, Henman failed to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open and failed to reach the semi-finals at the Wimbledon Championships. However, he reached, to the surprise of commentators, the semi-finals of the French Open and later, the semi-finals of the US Open. His ATP tour was not as successful, but he managed to reach the finals of the Indian Wells, where he was defeated by world No. 1 Roger Federer in two sets, 3–6, 3–6. 2004 would be the last time Henman participated in the Tennis Masters Cup (a tournament between the eight best players of the world). 2004 would prove Henman's last successful year as a tennis player; he failed to reach beyond the third round in any of the Grand Slams from 2005 until his retirement in 2007.

At the Davis Cup World Group Play-off against Austria, Henman and Greg Rusedski played all five rubbers on the Austrian clay, but were beaten 3–2. Henman now decided to withdraw from the Davis Cup to concentrate on his own career.

2005–2007: decline
His first tournament in 2005 was the Australian Open. Henman defeated Frenchmen Cyril Saulnier in four sets, 6–1, 6–2, 4–6, 6–3, and defeated Romanian Victor Hănescu in three sets, 7–5, 6–1, 6–4, but lost to the 28th seed Russian Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets; 4–6, 2–6, 2–6. The next tournament was the Rotterdam Open where he reached the third round, being defeated by Croatian Mario Ančić, 5–7, 4–6. He did not fare much better at the Dubai Open, and lost in the third round to Croatian Ivan Ljubičić, 5–7, 4–6. Henman's next tournament was the first ATP Masters Series event of the year; at the Indian Wells he reached the quarterfinals after receiving a bye (meaning he could skip the first round). He lost in the quarter-finals to Argentinian Guillermo Cañas, 6–7, 5–7. At the Miami Masters Henman again lost in the quarter-finals, this time to Swiss world no. 1 Roger Federer in straight sets, 4–6, 2–6.

At Henman's first clay tournament of 2005, the Monte-Carlo Masters, he lost in the first round to Argentinian Mariano Zabaleta, 4–6, 6–4, 2–6. Henman improved his clay record that year by reaching the third round at both the Italian Open and the Hamburg Masters, but he disappointed his fans by being defeated by Peruvian Luis Horna in the second round of the French Open in four sets, 5–7, 7–6, 3–6, 4–6. In contrast to the clay season, the grass season began well, with Henman reaching the quarter-finals at the Queen's Club Championships, losing to Swedish Thomas Johansson, 4–6, 4–6. However, after defeating Jarkko Nieminen in the first round of the Wimbledon Championship, he lost in the second round to Russian Dmitry Tursunov in five sets, 6–3, 2–6, 6–3, 3–6, 6–8. His hard court season was not much better; Henman was defeated in the first or second round in all the remaining tournaments he participated in that year. At the US Open he lost to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in straight sets, 4–6, 2–6, 2–6. At his last match of the year, Henman was beaten by Britain's rising tennis star Andy Murray in the first round in three sets, 3–6, 7–5, 7–6. His opening tournament of 2006 was the Qatar Open, where he lost in the second round to Tommy Haas 2–6, 6–7 and 7–5 in tie-break. In that year's Australian Open he was defeated in the first round by Russian Dmitry Tursunov, 7–5, 3–6, 4–6, 5–7. His early defeat in the Australian Open was followed by success in the Zagreb Open; Henman reached the semi-finals, but was defeated by Stefan Koubek, 3–6, 6–3, 2–6. His success in Zagreb was met by failure at the Rotterdam Open, where he was beaten in the second round by future world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in three sets, 7–5, 3–6, 4–6. At the Dubai Open Henman reached the quarter-finals, but lost the match to the Spanish world no. 2 Rafael Nadal in straight sets; 6–7 (1–7 in tie break), 1–6. Henman was defeated in the second round of Indian Wells by up-and-comer Tomáš Berdych in two sets, 4–6, 4–6. Henman ended an eight-match losing streak against Lleyton Hewitt on 25 March 2006, with a 7–6, 6–3 victory at the Miami Masters tournament, but lost in the third round to unseeded German Simon Greul in three sets; 6–0, 1–6, 5–7.

He was defeated in the first round of the Monte-Carlo Masters by Argentinian world no. 8 Gastón Gaudio, 1–6, 3–6. At the Italian Open Henman managed to reach the third round, but lost to Nadal, 2–6, 2–6. His success in the Italian Open was met with a defeat in the second round of the French Open by Dmitry Tursunov in four sets; 3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 4–6. His run at the Queen's Club Championships was far more successful, with Henman losing to Lleyton Hewitt 6–3, 3–6, 6–2 in the semi-finals.

Henman was unseeded at Wimbledon in 2006 for the first time in a number of years after his world ranking slipped down to number 62. At that Wimbledon, he lost in the second round to eventual champion Federer, 6–4, 6–0, 6–2, after a five-set victory over Robin Söderling of Sweden in the first round. At the US Open, Henman reached the second round where he was defeated by Roger Federer, 3–6, 4–6, 5–7. Following his failure at the US Open, Henman played two tournaments in the far east. Starting in Bangkok, Henman reached the quarter-finals where he lost to Paradorn Srichaphan 6–7, 6–4, 7–6. Henman then reached his first final since 2004 at the AIG Open in Tokyo, losing to Roger Federer, 6–3, 6–3. Although Henman was scheduled to play in both Basel & Paris at the end of the 2006 season, he lost in the second round in Basel against the rising Swiss star Stanislas Wawrinka 2–6, 7–6, 6–4. He twisted a knee; he did not retire but resorted to a less mobile game that saw Wawrinka win. On Henman's last practice session before departing for the Australian Open at the start of 2007, having recovered from his knee injury, he injured his hamstring which forced him to withdraw from the tournament. He returned in time to enter Masters Series events in Indian Wells and Miami after withdrawing from Rotterdam and Zagreb but lost in the first round in both of them. Henman's poor luck with injury and form continued into the 2007 clay court season with first round losses to Juan Carlos Ferrero, 5–7, 2–6 in Monaco, Nicolás Almagro, 5–7, 1–6 in Rome and a poor showing against 18-year-old grand slam debutant Ernests Gulbis, 4–6, 3–6, 2–6 in the French Open. Henman's clay-court season ended without a set won. His grass court season got underway on 12 June 2007 at Queens Club, but was put to an abrupt end by Croatian wildcard entry Marin Čilić. However, he ended the day with a doubles victory with partner Lleyton Hewitt over Australian Jordan Kerr and Austrian Alexander Peya. An early loss at a grass court event in Nottingham was followed up with a poor showing at Wimbledon, with Henman losing in the second round to Feliciano López in five sets. Henman played three more tournaments before retiring; at his last Grand Slam appearance ever, he lost in the second round of the US Open to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets; 6–7, 6–2, 5–7, 4–6.

Retirement and post-playing career
Henman announced at a press conference on 23 August 2007 that he would retire from tennis after playing in the US Open and Britain's Davis Cup tie against Croatia in September 2007.

Henman defeated his rival Dmitry Tursunov (who had won five of their six previous matches ) in the first round of the US Open, 6–4, 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, in what many had assumed would be his final Grand Slam match. His actual final match was in the next round on 31 August 2007, losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6–7(2–7), 6–2, 5–7, 4–6. Henman seemed sluggish compared to his first-round match, he served for the first set but could not close it out and lost the tiebreaker.

Henman played his final match in the Davis Cup tie against Croatia on 22 September 2007. The doubles match with Jamie Murray was played on Court 1 at Wimbledon which they won, 4–6, 6–4, 7–6, 7–5. The match put Great Britain in an unassailable 3–0 lead and back in the World Group, with the doubles win being added to singles wins the previous day from Henman and Andy Murray. After the match Henman told Sue Barker in an interview on BBC Television and in front of the Court 1 crowd, "It's occasions like this and fans like this that I will miss so much".

At the time of his retirement, Henman had already committed to playing a Charity Exhibition at London's Royal Albert Hall during the Seniors Tennis Event The Blackrock Masters in December 2007. Henman's opponent was veteran Swede and former Wimbledon Champion Stefan Edberg, Tim won the pro-set 8–4.

Henman became part of the commentary team for the BBC coverage of the 2008 Wimbledon Championships and has remained there since.

Henman took part in a test event for the adoption of the centre court roof in May 2009, playing mixed doubles with Kim Clijsters against husband and wife team Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.

Finally he became a member of the AELTC board and became an important member of the Wimbledon organisation. He created his own foundation, called The Tim Henman Foundation, which is to help disadvantaged children.

Equipment
Henman's clothing was manufactured by Adidas and he wore Adidas Equipment Barricade shoes. He used Slazenger Pro Braided racquets.

title: Tim Henman


text:
Frogmouth

The frogmouths (Podargidae) are a group of nocturnal birds related to owlet-nightjars, swifts, and hummingbirds. Species in the group are distributed in the Indomalayan and Australasian realms.

Biology
They are named for their large flattened hooked bill and huge frog-like gape, which they use to capture insects. The three Podargus species are large frogmouths restricted to Australia and New Guinea, that have massive flat broad bills. They are known to take larger prey, such as small vertebrates (frogs, mice, etc.), which are sometimes beaten against a stone before swallowing. The ten Batrachostomus frogmouths are found in tropical Asia. They have smaller, more rounded bills and are predominantly insectivorous. Both Podargus and Batrachostomus have bristles around the base of the bill, and Batrachostomus has other, longer bristles which may exist to protect the eyes from insect prey. In April 2007, a new species of frogmouth was described from the Solomon Islands and placed in a newly established genus, Rigidipenna.

Their flight is weak. They rest horizontally on branches during the day, camouflaged by their cryptic plumage. Through convergent evolution as night hunters, they resemble owls, with large front-facing eyes.

Up to three white eggs are laid in the fork of a branch, and are incubated by the female at night and the male in the day.

Taxonomy
DNA-DNA hybridisation studies had suggested that the two frogmouth groups may not be as closely related as previously thought, and that the Asian species may be separable as a new family, the Batrachostomidae. Although frogmouths were formerly included in the order Caprimulgiformes, a 2019 study estimated the divergence between Podargus and Batrachostomus to between 30 and 50 mya and forming a clade well separated from the nightjars and being a sister group of the swifts, hummingbirds, and owlet-nightjars. The name Podargiformes proposed in 1918 by Gregory Mathews was reinstated for the clade.

Species

 * Genus Podargus
 * Tawny frogmouth, Podargus strigoides
 * Marbled frogmouth, Podargus ocellatus
 * Papuan frogmouth, Podargus papuensis

 * Genus Batrachostomus
 * Large frogmouth, Batrachostomus auritus
 * Dulit frogmouth, Batrachostomus harterti
 * Philippine frogmouth, Batrachostomus septimus
 * Gould's frogmouth, Batrachostomus stellatus
 * Sri Lanka frogmouth, Batrachostomus moniliger
 * Hodgson's frogmouth, Batrachostomus hodgsoni
 * Sumatran frogmouth, Batrachostomus poliolophus
 * Javan frogmouth, Batrachostomus javensis
 * Blyth's frogmouth, Batrachostomus affinis
 * Sunda frogmouth, Batrachostomus cornutus
 * Palawan frogmouth, Batrachostomus chaseni
 * Bornean frogmouth, Batrachostomus mixtus

 * Genus Rigidipenna
 * Solomons frogmouth, Rigidipenna inexpectata

In culture
In a journal article published in April 2021, researchers Katja Thömmes and Gregor Hayn-Leichsenring from the Experimental Aesthetics group at the University Hospital Jena, Germany, found the frogmouth to be the most "instagrammable" bird species. Using an algorithm to analyze the aesthetic appeal of more than 27,000 bird photographs on Instagram, they found that photos depicting frogmouths received the highest number of likes relative to the posts' exposure to users. The journal article was picked up by several news outlets, including The New York Times and The Guardian.

title: Frogmouth


text:
Talk:James Soong

Taiwanese & Media
Its conventional knowledge here in Taiwan that Soong barred the use of Taiwanese in Television media and had helped propagate the widespread use of Mandarin in Taiwan. Should that detail be included?

Son's "real" name
(Quick Note): I'm not exactly clear what the first sentence means (on Taiwan?)

Maybe Taiwanese media has extremely good etiquette, but despite the controversies about James Soong's son, only detailed info on James Soong is available, not on his son. For example, the most basic info: what is the son's English name? English translations of Chinese news simply uses half-decent Wade-Giles: Soong Chen-yuan (combining a non-Wade surname).

But obviously Soong Chen-yuan would not use this order in the USA, regardless how Chinese he is. But it's apparently not Chen-yuan Soong or Chenyuan Soong. Nor is it his Chinese give name with "Sung" or "Song". So he probably has an English name like his father. In any case, Googling around showed no result. I just thought that if we have his son's name here, we should have his "real" name too, since he's American.

--Menchi 07:10 6 Jul 2003 (UTC)

"Soong is rumored to have close ties to organized crime as exemplified by his cordial friendship with convicted racketeer and local heavy, Yen Ching-piao."

The statement above by the pro-independence anon could not be verfied. Googling both names at once does not present a direct relationship, except in a highly biased article by the Taipei times. And in that article, it just stated "And in fact only a few days before Chen's visit to the pilgrimage, PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and KMT Vice Chairman Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) turned up at the start of the pilgrimage to pay their respects to Yen." This does not imply there was a close relationship. --Jiang 06:32, 11 Aug 2003 (UTC)

MT: I've added a blurb about the Lafayette scandal, and about the recent conviction of Soong on tax evasion charges.

MT: Why was the content about Soong's involvement in the Lafayette scandal deleted? It's a shame that this page is basically a highly pro-Soong account of Soong. I'll be reinstating that information as soon as possible.

FB: Please read Official Biographies of living persons Unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material — whether negative, positive, or just questionable — about living persons should be removed immediately and without discussion from Wikipedia articles,[2] talk pages, user pages, and project space. These claims by Dumas are dubious and made in a tabloid newspaper. MT, you earlier claimed Dumas fingered Soong in French courts. Where is the quality source? Where is the hard evidence? Just read the highly biased article by Taipei Times. They had to change the article just to avoid being sued.

MT: That's ridiculous. Soong's supporters have already conceded that the KMT received the money when they argued that Dumas must have been mistaken in who the money was given too -- implicitly conceding that money was given. Dumas' claims were made publicly and he has not been forced to retract, nor has he been sued. Fact is, he was telling the truth as everyone knows and a trail of dead bodies confirms. There is nothing "unsourced or poorly sourced" about a public confession made to a newspaper. The money was confirmed by French customs documents according to the testimony of another public official, also made publicly. Also Le Figaro is not a "tabloid" -- it's a conservative paper with a long upper class connection.

Finally, it is totally ridiculous to deny this when in fact Wiki has an extensive article on the affair in French. Have you rushed over there to make certain that it doesn't mention any living individuals? http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affaire_des_fr%C3%A9gates_de_Ta%C3%AFwan

The fact is that any article on Soong's life needs to mention this claim, as well as the other evidence. About the only thing right in your claim is that it wasn't made in court. Mea culpa. Is there any way to agree on language to express it? How about

"In an interview with Le Figaro in 2003 former French Foreign Minister claimed that the "secretary-general" of the KMT was the recipient of a $400 million kickback from the government of France, payment to the KMT for the sale of Lafayette frigates to Taiwan. The secretary general of the KMT at the time of the sale was James Soong. Soong's supporters deny that Soong was the recipient, and argue that Dumas did not understand the governmental structure of the KMT or of Taiwan." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.162.132.222 (talk) 13:34, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Relations
Is James Soong related to the Soong sisters? David Cannon 11:17, 26 Apr 2004 (UTC)

 * Not in the least. Unless you go back like 100 generations... It is a fact that the Soong Sistes' family originally was not even the Soongs, but the Hans. See Charlie Soong. --Menchi 11:33, 26 Apr 2004 (UTC)

 * Thank you, Menchi, for clarifying this matter for me. David Cannon 01:03, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I'm confused by the amount he allegedy stole. The article mentions the total being 12 million dollars, divided into individual banking accounts of his relatives. Yet, one sentence later, it states that there was 6 billion in his son's. That doesn't seem to add up.

 * I've changed the 6 billion to 6 million on the assumption that it was a typo, but I could be wrong. -anonymous

PFP does favor unification
The idea of cross strait unification obviously appeared in PFP 2004 NATIONAL COMMITTEE presidential speech (親民黨第一屆全國委員會閉幕典禮主席致詞全文) for many times. I guess they have no reason trying to hide it. Instead, they conveyed their idea of unification clearly and cordially to the public. Based on Soon'g speech, we really should not distort the fact and deprive PFP of the credential as a strong proponent for unification.

1)　此外，楚瑜希望....能重新整合成統一的中國，讓人民感受到尊嚴、驕傲與自豪. 2)　除了「一中屋頂」，我們更主張「兩岸兩席」. 親民黨的「兩岸兩席」概念是以「一個中國」為前提，.....親民黨的兩岸兩席，則是朝向「合」的方向發展. 3)我們盼望兩岸和平....大陸也變得更開放自由民主時，兩岸能自然走向整合或統一.

The quote above conveniently omitted important sections of the full quote provided by the PFP 2004 NATIONAL COMMITTEE presidential speech to support the claim "PFP favors unification". However, this is not the case.

1) 楚瑜希望在台灣寶島所推行的民主政治，不僅能展現出優質的民主，更期盼在未來影響中國大陸的民主走向；到那一天，能重新整合成統一的中國，讓人民感受到尊嚴、驕傲與自豪

It aims to promote democracy and hopes to influence China to become democratic. Until that day comes, China and Taiwan can then reunite

Full translation of PFP political viewpoint below: (http://www.pfp.org.tw/article_show.asp?id=104)

In addition to the "One Chinese Roof", we propose "cross-strait two seats." PFP "cross-strait two seats" concept is based on the "one China" premise, to promote cross-strait differences between two seats respectively, the participation of non-political international organizations to ensure Taiwan's 23 million people's living, security, and dignity. This and Mr. Lee Teng-hui advocated "two states theory" are different. Because "two states theory" not only violates the Constitution of the Republic, but also the idea of separation of consciousness, not only conducive to cross-strait peace, but will impact the balance of the current situation on both sides. In other words, the two-state theory aims to "separate", the People First Party's "cross-strait two seats", aims to "unite". Therefore, the People First Party advocate, whether WTO or WHO, World Bank, IMF, should let Taiwan join, so that Taiwan people are not suppressed, confident, have more living space, to the public safety and peace of mind protection. Chu Yu believes that only through allowing the two sides to jointly participate in the international community, will end cross-strait relations' "sometimes tense, sometimes ease" cycle of instability and reduce the possibility of cross-strait military conflict, in order to ensure the Taiwan Strait Peace.

Vandalism/Censorship
I have restored what user 206.15.185.25 deleted. This user also vandalised a different page (one on my watchlist). What he appears to have done here is to censor/vandalise paragraphs without reasonable explanation in talk.--Toddy1 04:32, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Requested move
The page was moved back to its original location as it was moved without consensus or prior discussion.--Jiang (talk) 10:18, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the proposal was
 * Apparently this article should be move BACK to James Soong according to Naming conventions (common names).--Neo-Jay (talk) 14:23, 25 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Support move to/retention at James Soong. Subject uses this name himself in English contexts. —   AjaxSmack   02:33, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Note. Now Soong Chuyu has been moved back to James Soong, but the talk page Talk:Soong Chuyu has not been moved back to Talk:James Soong. --Neo-Jay (talk) 05:43, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Just go ahead with the WP:RM process and then if some joker tries to move it back to Soong Chuyu, we can Wikilawyer him/her to death with this as evidence. —  AjaxSmack   08:18, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the proposal. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page. No further edits should be made to this section.

"conservative"
I thought that "more conservative" means the PFP was a "radical right" party. luuva (talk) 10:06, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 18:08, 12 January 2020 (UTC)
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A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for speedy deletion: You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 16:38, 2 May 2020 (UTC)
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Neutrality?
Can the person who tagged this for neutrality please indicate which sections or aspects they are referring to? DrIdiot (talk) 08:08, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

I removed the tag. Kaihsu (talk) 20:03, 29 January 2022 (UTC)

Lafayette scandal, Suisse secrets
I see that Lafayette scandal and hints of bribery were in the past removed from this airbrushed BLP. I will re add it to the page with a reliable source. I warn those out there, who repeatedly remove sourced information, because it sheds an unpleasant light on Mr Soong.--Wuerzele (talk) 00:14, 24 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Honestly this scandal seems like it could use its own page as well, if anyone has the energy to do so... DrIdiot (talk) 04:24, 24 February 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:James Soong