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Canadian content

Canadian content (abbreviated CanCon, cancon or can-con; contenu canadien) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television broadcasters (including cable and satellite specialty channels) must produce and broadcast a certain percentage of content that was at least partly written, produced, presented, or otherwise contributed to by persons from Canada. CanCon also refers to that content itself, and, more generally, to cultural and creative content that is Canadian in nature.

Current Canadian content percentages are as follows: radio airplay is 35% (with partial exceptions for some specialty formats such as classical). Some stations are required to air a higher percentage based on their "promise of performance" information during their license submission. Broadcast television is 55% cancon yearly or 50% daily (CBC has a 60% CanCon quota; some specialty or multicultural formats have lower percentages).

The loss of the protective Canadian content quota requirements is one of the concerns of those opposed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Canada entered into the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral free trade agreement, in October 2012.

Origins
In enforcing the  Broadcasting Act, the CRTC is obligated to ensure that "each element of the Canadian broadcasting system shall contribute in an appropriate manner to the creation and presentation of Canadian programming", and that every broadcast undertaking "[makes] maximum use, and in no case less than predominant use, of Canadian creative and other resources in the creation and presentation of programming".

Music radio
For music, the Canadian content requirements are referred to as the MAPL system, referring to the music, artist, performance and lyrics.

Criteria
To qualify as Canadian content a musical selection must generally fulfil at least two of the following conditions (one if recorded prior to January 1972):

For the purposes of MAPL, a "Canadian" refers to a citizen, permanent resident, someone whose "ordinary place of residence" has been in Canada prior to their contribution to the musical selection, or someone who is a CRTC licensee.
 * M (music) — the music is composed entirely by a Canadian
 * A (artist) — the music is, or the lyrics are, performed principally by a Canadian
 * P (performance) — the musical selection consists of a performance that is:
 * Recorded wholly in Canada, or
 * Performed wholly in Canada and broadcast live in Canada.
 * L (lyrics) — the lyrics are written entirely by a Canadian

A musical selection may also qualify as Canadian content if it:

Some stations – especially those playing formats where there may be a limited number of Canadian recordings suitable for airplay, such as classical, jazz or oldies, may be allowed by the CRTC to meet Canadian content targets as low as 20 per cent. Stations in Windsor, Ontario, are also permitted to meet lower Canadian content targets, due to Windsor's proximity to the Metro Detroit media market in the United States. Community radio and campus-based community radio stations often choose to meet higher Canadian content levels than commercial broadcasters, because of their mandate to support independent and underground and provide content not readily available on commercial radio or the CBC; however, this is a voluntary commitment made by these stations rather than a core CRTC requirement, and CanCon requirements may be lower for campus and community stations as they often air large quantities of category 3 music.
 * Is an instrumental performance of a composition by a Canadian.
 * Is a "performance of a musical composition that a Canadian has composed for instruments only."
 * Was performed live or recorded after September 1, 1991, meets the criteria for either artist or performance, and a Canadian receives at least half of the credit for music and lyrics.

On satellite radio services, Canadian content regulation is applied in aggregate over the whole subscription package. Sirius XM Canada produces channels focused on Canadian music, talk, and spoken word programming (such as Canada Talks, The Verge, and Just for Laughs Radio), and carries the CBC's main national networks (CBC Radio One and Ici Radio-Canada Première). All of these channels are incorporated into the overall lineup of the U.S. Sirius XM Radio service. The CBC also produced channels carried on the service, such as CBC Radio 3, but these channels were quietly dropped from Sirius XM in 2022 in favour of making them exclusive to the CBC's internet radio platform CBC Music, which does not require any subscription.

History
Following an extensive public hearing process organized by the CRTC, the MAPL system, created by Stan Klees (co-creator of the Juno Award), was adopted in 1971 to define and identify Canadian content in pieces of music for the purposes of increasing exposure of Canadian music on Canadian radio through content regulations governing a percentage (25%) of airplay to be devoted to Canadian music. The percentage was increased to 30% in the 1980s, and to 35% effective January 3, 1999. However, most new commercial radio stations licensed since 1999 have been licensed at 40%.

Before the MAPL system was established in 1971, Canadian music was regarded with indifference by Canadian radio, and during the 1960s, Canadian radio was dominated by British or American acts. This was a major hurdle for Canadian musicians, since they could not gain attention in their home country without having a hit single in the United States or Europe first. Even after MAPL was implemented in the early 1970s, some radio stations were criticized for ghettoizing their Canadian content to dedicated program blocks, in off-peak listening hours such as early mornings or after midnight, during which the music played would be almost entirely Canadian — thus having the effect of significantly reducing how many Canadian songs would actually have to be played during peak listening times. These program blocks became mockingly known as "beaver hours," featuring Canadian songs selected from the "beaver bin." This practice is now reduced by CRTC regulations stipulating that CanCon percentages must be met between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., rather than allowing a station to save all their Canadian content for off-peak hours.

Artists who were active in the early CanCon era in the 1970s and 1980s have noted that their music was often dismissed by Canadian audiences as inferior product, propped up by quotas rather than quality, if they were unable to replicate their Canadian success internationally. Yet, at the same time, artists who did break through internationally also ran the risk of becoming dismissed by Canadian audiences as no longer truly Canadian.

By the 1980s, there were a range CanCon requirements depending on the radio band (AM or FM) and music programming format. AM radio required 30% of the music broadcast in a day be Canadian, and that these selections be "reasonably distributed throughout the [6:00 am to midnight] broadcast day". Five percent of all records had to be two-count Canadian. FM radio had different requirements; the CRTC's Peter G. Fleming explained in 1985 that "perceiving AM as low brow and FM as high brow [the CRTC] wanted to ensure the status quo". Hit music was limited on FM radio by restricting a single song to 3 plays per day and a playlist to only 50% top-40 hits. FM stations had to commit to play a certain format and each of these FM formats had a different CanCon quotas (e.g. The "Pop And Rock Softer" stations required 10% for easy listening and 20% for adult contemporary, album-oriented rock stations were also at 20% and country at 30%).

The 1991 half credit for music and lyrics provision was added after Canadian Bryan Adams' album Waking Up the Neighbours did not qualify as Canadian as Adams co-wrote both the music and the lyrics with South African producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, and he did not primarily record the album in Canada, and therefore only fulfilled one of the criteria fully. It was noted that if Adams had written all the lyrics, and Lange all the music (or vice versa), the collaboration would have counted as Canadian content. As a result, under CRTC regulations of the time, none of the album's songs were considered Canadian content.

In December 2022, the CRTC announced a proposal to update the MAPL system to account for changes in the music industry and reduce regulatory burden. The proposal would remove the "performance" condition entirely, and only require lyrics and music to be principally (at least 50%) written or composed by a Canadian to qualify as Canadian content.

Talk radio and American syndicated programming
Unlike music radio, the rules on talk radio are more ambiguous. The vast majority of Canadian commercial English-language talk radio stations operate with local talk for most of the daylight hours, with the exception of two nationally syndicated Canadian talk show hosts: news/talk personality Charles Adler and sports talk host Bob McCown. The lone restriction is that the station must have a working studio within the region it broadcasts, which prohibits the use of entirely satellite-operated stations (which are commonplace in the United States).

Syndicated programming from the United States invariably airs after 7:00 pm local time in virtually all markets, and usually features non-political programs such as The Jim Rome Show and Coast to Coast AM. More political American shows such as The Rush Limbaugh Show are rarely picked up by Canadian radio stations, although the now defunct CFBN aired Dennis Miller and the Glenn Beck Program on tape delay in the evenings for a few months, from April through November 2007, when CFBN stopped broadcasting over the air, and The Phil Hendrie Show aired for many years on CKTB, even during the period when it focused on political content. Miller also aired on CHAM for two years from 2008 to 2010. No rule prevents programs such as Limbaugh or Beck from being aired on Canadian radio stations; such programs are simply not carried because their focus on American politics limits their relevance to Canadian radio audiences, especially given the high rights fees Limbaugh charged his affiliates.

As in the United States in the 1980s, the trend for AM stations in Canada in the 1990s was to apply for an FM broadcasting license or move away from music in favour of talk radio formats. (Since the late 2000s, AM radio in North America has been declining as stations have shut down and moved to FM.) The total amount of Canadian-produced content declined as broadcasters could license syndicated radio programs produced in the U.S., while the Cancon regulations were conceived to apply to music only, and not to spoken-word programming. This became particularly controversial in 1998 when stations in Toronto and Montreal started airing The Howard Stern Show from New York City during prime daytime hours. Stern was forced off the air not because of Canadian content, but because the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council reprimanded the stations broadcasting Stern numerous times for Stern's comments, which prompted the two stations to drop him in short order. Stern would later move exclusively to satellite radio.

American shows that combine talk and music, such as Blair Garner, Elvis Duran, Delilah and John Tesh, usually have special playlists for airing in Canada to assist in meeting Canadian content requirements. Because of the different requirements, American syndicated oldies programs are widely popular in Canada, such as American Gold, Wolfman Jack, and M. G. Kelly's American Hit List. These shows usually do not substitute Canadian songs, due in part to a fairly large library of Canadian musicians already in rotation in the format (such as The Guess Who, Gordon Lightfoot, Paul Anka, Terry Jacks or R. Dean Taylor). In other formats, an American syndicated program sometimes is supplemented with an all-Canadian program; for instance, CKMX will broadcast Country Countdown USA and America's Grand Ole Opry Weekend along with the Canadian syndicated programs Canadian Country Spotlight and Hugh McLennan's Spirit of the West, the last of which is also carried by several U.S. stations. American syndicated series are usually played in "off peak" and weekend hours.

A notable exception to the majority-Canadian spoken word programming came in 2012 when Astral Media introduced CKSL and CHAM, two stations in southern Ontario, as full-time affiliates of 24/7 Comedy Radio, a service of the U.S.-based Cumulus Media Networks. CHAM meets its studio requirement by maintaining a locally based interstitial host.

Film and television
To an even greater extent than on radio, Canadian television programming has been a perennially difficult proposition for the broadcast industry, particularly dramatic programming in prime-time. It is much more economical for Canadian stations to buy the Canadian rights to an American prime-time series than to finance a new homemade production. Perhaps more importantly, given the reach of the major U.S. broadcast networks in Canada, it is virtually impossible to delay or modify a U.S. program's broadcast schedule, as regularly occurs in other foreign markets, to weed out failures or to otherwise accommodate homegrown programming.

In English Canada, presently only the public network, CBC Television, devotes the vast majority of its prime time schedule to Canadian content, having dropped U.S. network series in the mid-1990s. The French-language industry, centered in Quebec, similarly places a larger emphasis on original productions, as they have historically been more profitable than dubs of imported English-language programming, and to prioritize the province's insular "star system" of local talent. The English commercial networks (CTV, Global and Citytv), conversely, rely on news and information programs for the bulk of their Canadian content while running mostly American network series, but have still occasionally commissioned domestic productions for prime time broadcasts.

Some have suggested that Canadian content minimums be enacted for movie theatres, in order to improve the visibility and commercial viability of Canadian film, although none have ever been put in place. Most film festivals in Canada devote at least a portion of their schedules to Canadian films, although this is by choice rather than government regulation; a few film festivals are devoted exclusively to Canadian films, although most screen a mix of Canadian and international films. However, as movie-based premium television services such as Crave, Super Channel, Hollywood Suite and Super Écran operate on television and thus must follow Canadian content regulations, they do acquire and program Canadian films; this often still represents a Canadian film's best opportunity to attract an audience beyond the film festival circuit.

Regulations
The CRTC presently requires that at least 55% of all programming aired annually by broadcast television stations, and at least 50% of programming aired daily from 6:00 pm to midnight, must be Canadian content. In May 2011, the annual CanCon requirement for private television broadcasters was lowered from 60% to 55% yearly. The CBC remains subject to the 60% quota.

As part of its current "group-based" approach to the licensing of broadcast and discretionary specialty channels owned by the largest private broadcasting groups (such as Bell Media, Corus, and Rogers), the CRTC requires that at least 30% of a group's revenue (which is aggregated across all of a group's television services, based on their individual revenue and historical expenditure mandates) must be spent on Canadian programming expenditures (CPEs). CPEs can be reallocated between a group's individual services, and up to 25% of CPEs for local stations can be allocated from a discretionary service. All services must also invest 5% of their revenue towards the production of "programs of national interest" (PNI), which include comedy, drama, long-form documentaries, children's programming, and qualifying awards presentations honouring Canadian creative talent. In 2017, the CRTC instituted a further requirement that 75% of the PNI expenditure must fund productions by independent companies. The CRTC also added credits on CPE for the involvement of producers from Indigenous (50%) and official language minority communities (25%; French outside of Quebec, and English within Quebec).

Historically, much of these requirements have been fulfilled by lower-cost non-scripted programming, including networked talk shows and entertainment news programs, local newscasts and public affairs programming, and reruns of Canadian-produced library programs. Further complicating matters for Canadian content is the existence of simultaneous substitution, a regulation that allows over-the-air broadcasters to require the substitution of feeds from American broadcast channels on local multichannel television providers if they are airing the same programming in simulcast, thus protecting their exclusive rights to earn revenue off such programming whenever it is broadcast in Canada. Therefore, Canadian networks have made significant effort to import popular American series to take advantage of the rule, which in turn crowds out Canadian programming to less-desirable time slots.

Over the years the CRTC has tried a number of strategies intended to increase the success of Canadian programming, including expenditure requirements and time credits for productions with specific requirements. In 1999, the CRTC mandated that stations owned by the largest private groups air at least eight hours of Canadian "priority programming" per-week between the hours of 7 and 11 p.m.; priority programming included scripted programs, documentaries, entertainment news, and variety programs. This was replaced in 2010 with the current licensing framework, which places a larger focus on overall investments into Canadian content and the similar concept of "programs of national interest", as opposed to scheduling and quantity.

Criteria
What is considered Canadian content is determined by either the CRTC, or the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO) for film and television productions that are seeking its tax credit. The CRTC's requirements for a television program to be considered Canadian content include that:

 * The producer of the program must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and hold "full responsibility" in overseeing development, creative and financial control. The producer must also receive a remuneration that exceeds the aggregated remuneration of all foreign producer-related positions.
 * The production must employ a minimum number of Canadian citizens or permanent residents in key creative positions, as determined by a points system.
 * The director or screenwriter for live-action productions, or the scriptwriter or storyboard supervisor for animated productions, and at least one of the two highest-paid lead performers, must be Canadian.
 * For animated works, the key animation must be performed in Canada.
 * Non-Canadians may not be credited as a producer, co-producer, line producer, or production manager
 * At least 75% of all costs incurred for production services, as well as 75% of all costs incurred in post-production, must be for services provided in Canada.
 * The program must fall within a CRTC-defined program category.

Examples
Early Canadian programming was often produced merely to fill content requirements, and featured exceedingly low budgets, rushed production schedules, poor writing and little in the way of production values, and as a result did not attract much of an audience. One Canadian series, The Trouble with Tracy, is sometimes claimed as one of the worst television shows ever produced. However, even given these limitations, some productions managed to rise above the mediocre – both SCTV (originally on Global) and Smith & Smith (CHCH) grew from local low-budget productions with a limited audience to large production companies with a North American audience. SCTV notably lampooned the Cancon rules, as well a request by the CBC for a filler segment featuring distinctively Canadian content, by developing the characters of Bob and Doug McKenzie—a caricature of stereotypical Canadians played by cast members Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas. Bob and Doug became the program's most popular characters, and spawned spin-offs such as comedy albums, commercials, the feature film Strange Brew, and the animated series Bob & Doug.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, distinctly Canadian drama series such as CBC's Street Legal or CTV's E.N.G. consistently drew hundreds of thousands of viewers each week. In the latter part of the 1990s and the early 2000s, Global's Traders and the CBC dramas Da Vinci's Inquest and Republic of Doyle completed long runs, buoyed by critical approval if not overwhelming viewer success (though they have since became mainstays of both Canadian and American syndication). As for CTV, after short-lived runs of planned "flagship" drama series such as The City, The Associates and The Eleventh Hour, the network later found ratings success with series such as Corner Gas (a sitcom set at an eponymous gas station in rural Saskatchewan, filmed in the town of Rouleau), Flashpoint, and Motive. The CBC dramedy This Is Wonderland was a moderate success with a loyal fan base, but was nonetheless cancelled in 2006 after three seasons. Specialty channels also naturally produce Canadian content, some of which, most notably Showcase's mockumentary series Trailer Park Boys, have been able to generate a strong mass appeal.

To complement their airings of American or British versions, Canadian networks have also produced local versions of unscripted television formats, including reality television series such as The Amazing Race Canada, Canadian Idol, MasterChef Canada, and The Traitors Canada (CTV), The Great Canadian Baking Show (CBC), Big Brother Canada (Global), The Bachelor Canada and Canada's Got Talent (Citytv), and Canada's Drag Race (Crave).

Canadian networks have sometimes fulfilled Cancon requirements by commissioning series filmed in Canada, but intended to be sold to broadcasters in larger foreign markets such as the United States and United Kingdom, such as CTV's Saving Hope, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, Mysterious Ways, andTwice in a Lifetime, and Global's Wild Card and Rookie Blue. International co-productions such as Orphan Black (Space and BBC America), Copper (Showcase and BBC America), Killjoys (Space and Syfy), The Tudors (CBC, Showtime, BBC and TV3), and the early seasons of the current incarnation of Doctor Who (which was partially funded by the CBC) are also common.

A few Canadian drama series, including Due South, The Listener, Motive, Flashpoint, and Saving Hope, have also been picked up by American networks and aired in prime time, although the majority of Canadian TV series which have aired in the United States have done so either in syndication, on cable channels, or on minor networks such as The CW and Ion Television. SCTV aired in a late night slot on NBC in the early 1980s. CBS aired Crimetime After Primetime, a late-night block of crime dramas in the late 1980s and early 1990s which included a number of Canadian series, including Night Heat, Hot Shots, Adderly, Forever Knight and Diamonds, and later aired The Kids in the Hall in a late-night slot as well. The Red Green Show was also a success, being imported into the United States via PBS member stations. That show's cast often did pledge drive specials and received strong viewer support on PBS stations in the northern part of the United States, such as Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire and New York.

The CBC sitcom Schitt's Creek was co-produced with U.S. cable network Pop as its first original scripted series, but its later addition to the streaming service Netflix helped to bolster wider public awareness and critical acclaim of the series in the United States and worldwide. This culminated at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2020 following its final season, where Schitt's Creek became the first series to sweep all seven major awards in their respective genre in the same year, and Dan Levy became the first to win awards for acting, directing, producing, and writing in the same year.

Canadian commercial television networks schedule a large percentage of their Canadian productions to air in the summer season; although traditionally a season of low viewership, this practice has actually been beneficial for Canadian television productions, influenced by widespread viewer preference for new programming over off-season repeats, as well as an increased chance of gaining a lucrative sale to one of the big four American networks—a revenue stream which is generally unavailable during the fall and winter television seasons.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on television in the United States provided a major exception, with NBC importing the CTV medical drama Transplant (which premiered at midseason in Canada) for its fall primetime lineup, filling the timeslot normally filled by its own medical drama New Amsterdam (whose premiere was deferred to 2021). NBC subsequently picked up another Canadian medical drama from Global, Nurses, and ordered the second season of Transplant for a mid-season premiere in 2022. The third season would also be picked up by NBC, with its U.S. premiere held back to fall due to the WGA and SAG–AFTRA strikes.

Children's programming
Canadian studios have had a significant presence in the children's television market, the domestic studio Nelvana has had interests in both children's television and publishing, and was acquired by Canadian broadcaster Corus Entertainment in 2000. In the 1990s, Nelvana made several major deals for educational programming with U.S. broadcasters such as CBS and PBS Kids (taking advantage of new U.S. mandates for educational programming), with many of them being adaptations of children's books.

The Montreal-based studio CINAR was well known for producing and distributing animated series with tie-ins for the educational market, such as Arthur—which was distributed on U.S. public television by Boston's PBS station WGBH. The company collapsed in 2001 following an accounting scandal, and had also faced allegations that it paid American writers to write for its shows under the names of Canadian citizens, while continuing to accept Canadian federal tax credits. The company was later purchased in 2004 by former Nelvana executives, and renamed Cookie Jar Group. The company was in turn acquired by Halifax-based DHX Media (now WildBrain) in 2012, which made it the largest independent owner of children's television content in the world.

Trans-Pacific Partnership
There is concern about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Intellectual Property Provisions of the TPP in terms of CanCon. In October 2012, Canada formally became a TPP negotiating participant. In order to enter into the TPP agreement, Canada had to accept the terms agreed upon by the nine original signatory countries: Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Peru, United States, and Vietnam. According to MP Don Davies, Canada had no veto power over these terms and accepted the "existing unbracketed text, sight unseen and without input."

In September 2012, the International Intellectual Property Alliance, a U.S. private sector coalition representing over 3,200 U.S. producers and distributors of copyright protected materials, sent a submission to the U.S. Trade Representative's office requesting that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement "be comprehensive in scope, strictly avoiding any sectoral carveouts that preclude the application of free trade disciplines. We note that several market access barriers [in] Canada involve, for example, content quota requirements for television, radio, cable television, direct-to-home broadcast services, specialty television, and satellite radio services."

After the replacement of the TPP with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership in 2018, it was reported that Canada had secured an exemption from a clause in the agreement that prohibits discriminatory rules on foreign audio-video services in order to ask services to financially support the creation of Canadian content.

Theatre
In 1971, a group of Canadian playwrights issued the Gaspé Manifesto as a call for at least one-half of the programming at publicly subsidized theatres to be Canadian content. The numerical goal was not achieved, but the following years saw an increase in Canadian content stage productions.

Reception
University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist has criticized the current requirements for film and television production to qualify as Canadian content as being outdated, citing that its requirements being largely dependent on Canadian involvement in specific roles (such as the producer, lead actors, directors, screenwriters, and composers) has led to situations where productions filmed in Canada, using Canadian personnel and talent, or adapted from works by Canadians (such as The Handmaid's Tale) may not necessarily qualify as "Canadian content"—instead being a "foreign location and service production" (FLSP) that uses Canadian resources. Geist noted in some cases that these productions were "frequently indistinguishable" from certified Canadian content, such as All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs (which was filmed by Canadian crews, narrated by Canadian actor Will Arnett, and followed a Canadian sports franchise), and films such as The Decline and Turning Red (which both include a number of Canadian actors, personnel in prominent roles, and are set in Canadian locations). He also pointed out that Gotta Love Trump—a Canadian-produced documentary on former U.S. president Donald Trump—was able to receive the CAVCO certification despite only featuring one Canadian citizen as an interview subject.

title: Canadian content


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Cancon

Cancon (Cancor) is a commune in the Lot-et-Garonne department in south-western France.

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

title: Cancon


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Shakatak

Shakatak is an English jazz-funk band founded in 1980 by Bill Sharpe, Nigel Wright, Roger Odell and Keith Winter. Following an initial white label release, "Steppin", the band's name was derived from a record store in Soho, London Record Shack with the name created by Les McCutcheon, Passion records label owner and Northern Soul DJ Kev Roberts, It was they who first showed interest in the initial single.

Shakatak scored a number of chart entries, including two Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart, "Night Birds" (1982) and "Down on the Street" (1984), plus a further 12 entries in the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles. The group is still active and popular throughout the world, particularly in Japan and the Far East, and generally produce a new album every two years on JVC Records.

From their first release in August 1980 (the Bill Sharpe composition "Steppin'" on the Polydor record label), and their first 1981 album, Drivin' Hard, the band's singles and albums have entered the charts regularly.

Career
It was the release of the 1981 single "Easier Said Than Done" that gave the band the radio exposure needed for their first top-twenty hit. This record introduced their instrumental-unison vocal sound to a much wider audience, and the track stayed in the UK Singles Chart for seventeen weeks. The follow-up, "Night Birds" (1982), was their first single to reach the top ten and it also peaked in Australia at number 92. The album of the same name gave Shakatak their first gold album, entering at number four and remaining in the charts for twenty-eight weeks. By now a major international act, the success of the release gave them the number-one jazz album slot in Japan, and attracted interest across Europe and South America. "Night Birds" was used in the 2009 feature film Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes, and was used as the demonstration song on many Casio piano keyboards such as the Casio CT-460.

Two more albums – Invitations and Out of This World – were recorded in 1982 and 1983, resulting in several more chart hits, and paving the way for the next major breakthrough in the band's career. With a subtle change in musical direction, yet still retaining the band's identity, Jill Saward (formerly of Fusion Orchestra, Brandy and Citizen Gang) became their sole lead singer to make Shakatak's fifth album, Down on the Street (1984). The resulting single releases "Down on the Street" and "Watching You" had great success, and brought them attention in new parts of the world. The following year saw the release of the group's second live album, Live! (1985), which was recorded in both Tokyo and London.

In 1988, Shakatak were commissioned to write the official song for the 1988 Kenwood Cup yacht race entitled "Racing with the Wind" which was used in Japanese Kenwood advertisements and was released on an album called Da Makani (1988) exclusively released in Japan.

However, following this success the band felt it was time that they re-directed their efforts back to singles and an album for release to the rest of the world. The result was "Something Special" (1987), closely followed by the night club and chart hit "Mr Manic & Sister Cool" from their next LP, Manic & Cool (1988).

In the 1990s, the band achieved success in the US when two of their albums went to No 1 in the contemporary jazz charts and were also awarded the Japanese Grammy for best international instrumental album six years running.

Shakatak continue to appear regularly throughout the world with recent festival performances at Jakjazz, the Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival, Bangkok Jazz Festival, Hua Hin Jazz Festival and the Bratislava Jazz Days. They make annual appearances at the Billboard Clubs in Japan, and the Pizza Express Jazz Room in London, plus numerous other concert and club performances.

The band celebrated their thirtieth anniversary year in 2010.

To celebrate their fortieth anniversary year in 2020, the 3-CD and DVD box set All Around The World 40th Anniversary was released through Secret Records.

Independent projects
Bassist George Anderson released his second solo album, Expressions, on 3 September 2012 through Secret Records. Coming three years after his first 2009 album Positivity, this album again had Anderson writing, arranging and producing all of the tracks. The albums Body and Soul (10 March 2017) and Songs From Tomorrow (5 March 2021) followed, again through Secret Records.

Keyboardist Bill Sharpe worked with American jazz pianist Don Grusin on a joint project called Geography released in 2007. Sharpe's second collaboration with Grusin, Trans Atlantica, was released on 3 September 2012. It was also issued through Secret Records, and included Geography as a special 2-CD package. On 23 February 2024 Leee John and Bill Sharpe released the album Intimate Glow.

Drummer Roger Odell has released three albums with his band Roger Odell's Beatifik: The Blue Window (2000, Passion Jazz), Intrigue (15 November 2015, Secret Records) and The Long Drive Home (2019, Secret Records as Beatifik). These albums feature Jacqui Hicks (lead vocals), saxophonist Mornington Lockett as well as Roger's wife Larraine Odell (vocals) and son Jamie Odell a.k.a. Jimpster (keyboards, vocals, producer).

Personnel

 * Current members
 * Jill Saward – vocals, percussion, flute (1980–present)
 * Bill Sharpe – keyboards (1980–present)
 * Roger Odell – drums (1980–present)
 * George Anderson – bass (1981–present)

 * Touring musicians
 * Jacqui Hicks – backing vocals, sax & flute
 * Debby Bracknell – backing vocals, flute
 * Malcolm MacFarlane – guitar

 * Former members
 * Keith Winter – electric guitar (1980–1989) has returned in 2023 and currently touring with the band.
 * Jackie Rawe – vocals (1980–1983)
 * Nigel Wright – keyboards (1980–1982)
 * Steve Underwood – bass guitar (1980–1981)
 * Tracy Ackerman – vocals (1980s–1990s)
 * Lorna Bannon – vocals (1982)
 * Norma Lewis – vocals (1983)
 * Friðrik Karlsson – electric guitar (1990s–2000s)
 * Alan Wormald – guitar (1995-2023)

In studio

 * Dick Morrissey – saxophone
 * Mornington Lockett – saxophone
 * Derek Nash – saxophone
 * Malcolm Tagg-Randall – saxophone
 * Fridrik Karlsson – guitar
 * Roberto Tola – guitar
 * Kazumi Watanabe – guitar

title: Shakatak


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Canon Cat

The Canon Cat is a task-dedicated microcomputer released by Canon Inc. in 1987 for US$1,495 1987. Its appearance resembles dedicated word processors of the late 1970s to early 1980s, but it is far more powerful, and has many unique ideas for data manipulation.

The system is primarily the creation of Jef Raskin who originated the Macintosh project at Apple. After leaving the company in 1982 and founding Information Appliance, Inc., he began designing a new computer closer to his original vision of an inexpensive, utilitarian "people's computer". Information Appliance first developed the SwyftCard for the Apple II, then licensed it to Canon as the Cat. BYTE in 1987 described the Cat as "a spiritual heir to the Macintosh".

Overview
The Canon Cat uses a text-based user interface, without any pointer, mouse, icons, or graphics. All data are seen as a long "stream" of text broken into several pages. Instead of using a traditional command-line interface or menu system, the Cat uses its special keyboard, with commands activated by holding down a "Use Front" key and pressing another key. Special "Leap keys" are held down to allow the user incremental search for strings of characters.

The hardware consists of a 9-inch (229 mm) black-and-white monitor (80 x 24 character display, 672 x 344 resolution), a single 3½-inch 256 KB floppy disk drive, and an IBM Selectric–compatible keyboard. It uses a Motorola 68000 CPU (like the Macintosh) running at 5 MHz, has 256 KB of RAM, and an internal 300/1200 bit/s modem. Setup and user preference data are stored in 8 KB of non-volatile RAM with battery backup. The array of I/O interfaces encompasses one Centronics parallel port, one RS-232C serial port (DB-25), and two RJ11 telephone jacks for the modem loop. The total weight is 17 lbs.

A range of application software is built into 256 KB of ROM: a standard office suite, telecommunications, a 90,000-word spelling dictionary, and user programming toolchains for Forth and assembly language.

Graphics routines are in ROM, and connectors for a mouse or other pointing device are never used.

Legacy
Archy, originally called The Humane Environment, was a project initiated by Raskin in 2005 with similar principles to the Canon Cat.

SwiftCard

 * SwyftCard guide, glossary, and reference manual
 * BYTE SwyftCard review

title: Canon Cat


text:
Talk:Huntsman spider

What?
One paragraph states that a bite will cause nausea, headache, vomiting and heart palpitations, and another says bite victims will only notice minor swelling and localized pain. I'd like to know which. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.255.15.9 (talk) 12:41, 6 May 2007 (UTC).

Clock Spider
There's an internet meme, although a bit old, for the "clock spider," which is a large huntsman spider hiding behind a clock. Does anyone think this article could use a "Huntsman Spider in Popular Culture" (or something to that effect)? --MadameArsenic 14:27, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
 * There is a real photograph that shows the legs of a large spider creeping out from behind a hanging wall clock. The size of the clock is not readily apparent, which makes its utility as a standard for size comparison a little weak. But passing a photograph around via the Internet does not constitute a comment of considerable importance nor does it constitute a major cultural movement. It's just a passing oddity. P0M 22:51, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

---Ah, well, a few years ago it was pretty popular. Maybe you didn't notice... --MadameArsenic 19:08, 22 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I don't think popularity has as much to do with it as it being a "passing oddity". I agree -- there's a link to the clock spider under "external links", and that's all there needs to be.  It doesn't merit a whole section by itself.  Lomaprieta 11:46, 23 October 2006 (UTC)
 * For the record, the "Clock Spider" originated on the Something Awful forums, though the thread is likely archived and a direct link would be pointless, but on Fark in September 2005 the original source was mentioned in a discussion: http://www.fark.com/comments/1646904/Its-not-every-day-you-come-home-hear-a-noise-behind-TV-find-a-venomous-South-American-centipede-hiding-under-some-papers 97.113.26.113 (talk) 08:01, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Does this all justify it actually having "clock spider" listed at the top of the article as an official name? Spin off  11:48, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

 * I agree. Removed name. It seems quite inappropriate and unencyclopedic to me. I never was comfortable with it. If anyone re-inserts it, I shall demand a citation. JonRichfield (talk) 15:30, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Range
The range of the huntsman spiders is far wider than Australia and New Zealand. They also occur in the U.S., and, I'm pretty sure, across Eurasia. I'm pretty sure I've seen them in Japan, in the Kyoto area too. I wouldn't be surprised to discover that they occur in Africa as well. It's odd, but I just got started on them tonight because I was trying to identify something that ran up and tried to bite in the Riverside, CA area.

Patrick0Moran 07:10, 3 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * I expect you're right - I've only seen them in Australia but that doesn't mean they are not elsewhere. All I can say is they are NOT found in the UK! A Google search was inconclusive - almost all refs I found were Australian. GRAHAMUK 07:14, 3 Aug 2003 (UTC)
 * The article seems a little bit biased towards Australia.--218.223.193.144 15:11, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

- - I found one source that says their distribution is all across the topics: http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/guidebooks/spiders/text/Heteropoda_venatoria.htm

Then for Laos: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~dp7a-tnkw/referenc.txt

Thailand: http://www.axbridgecavinggroup.org/page32.html

Can huntsman spiders run on glass? I've seen something that looks like a large wolf spider in the SW part of the US and in Japan. It is about 3/4 in long, looks in general conformation like one of the wolf spiders, but it can run like crazy on vertical surfaces, even glass. And it is the only spider I've ever seen that will run up to a pencil tip and bite. Unfortunately, I didn't have anything to collect the spider with that day...

Patrick0Moran 22:32, 3 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Also, Israel: http://research.amnh.org/entomology/spiders/catalog81-87/BIB7.html

Also, Japan -- but their charset is strange, haven't been able to get it to change into Japanese for me yet. http://mirukashihime.cool.ne.jp/asidaka2.htm
 * I think that this is a huntsman. In Japanese it is called "Ashidakagumo" or Leg-tall-spider, & has a mottled look. I saw one about the same size today in Japan almost identical to the one in the photos on the site you reference. It is cute, or scary, that if you put a stick in front of it, it attacks the stick, in a sort of playful way, almost like a cat (like... it can't help but attack and then thinks better of it, and then has another go..cute, scary.). --218.223.193.144 15:11, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Also, Tunisia -- http://www.britishspiders.org.uk/bultn/v11.html

Also, Virginia, USA -- http://www.loven.plus.com/nicksspiders/readers.htm

Anyone have a picture of one of these things? I would love to see a good pic of a 15cm spider. :)--Lucky13pjn 01:04, Jun 9, 2004 (UTC)

There are some spiders with leg spans of around those dimensions, but not huntsman spiders. I have fixed the figures to something more reasonable. Also will need to "globalize" this article as it currently pertains mostly to Australia and New Zealand. P0M

§ Wow! I have to take that back. Just by chance I received the following communication from one of the tarantula enthusiasts/specialists:

 * Heteropoda maxima males can get a legspan of 25-30 cm:

 * JÄGER, P. (2001): A new species of Heteropoda (Araneae, Sparassidae,

Heteropodinae) from Laos, the largest huntsman spider? Zoosystema 23(3): 461-465.

Of course people usually mention the body length of spiders, but even so, the body to go along with a legspan of nearly one foot must be four inches or more. Huntsman spiders, generally speaking, are not built like some of the web weavers that are designed to keep their bodies well away from their thrashing prey. I would like to see a picture of one of these creatures too. P0M

P.S. See http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_425061.html

Merge cane spider
There is a notice suggesting that this article be merged with the cane spider article. "Cane spider" is just a local English term for the Huntman spider found there. There is hardly any other information in that article that is not found in this one. P0M 06:27, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

Huntsman spider northeast US?
The article does state a few species in non tropical areas, and I have photos of male and female - identical to description of huntsman spider. The female is quite large, hence my intrigue to take photos. I am certain it is a variant of huntsman spider (found in maine) photos here

 * Sorry, but Huntsman spiders do not make spiral webs. I have one much like her on my back porch. They like to come in close to buildings, and they seem to be able to locate places where there are electric lights that are left on at night. I brushed her web last night and she dropped like a shot, evidently concluding that anything that could shake her web so badly was something to get far away from. They are reaching their full adult size around this time of the year, so people tend to notice them.  Treat her well, she'll rid your environment of lots of horse flies and other such bugs. P0M 21:14, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

Check Google for Araneus species. My guess: A. diadematus. The body can be 3/5 of an inch long. P0M 01:26, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Lifespan
How long is the average lifespan of a Huntsman? I just thought that this might warrant a mention in the article. Gamer Junkie 06:10, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Huntsman in New Zealand?
There was a recent biosecurity scare about Huntsman spiders in New Zealand but other than that, as a New Zealander I am pretty sure there aren't any Huntsman spiders living here.

Click link to see proof:

--203.97.127.185 20:15, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

The intro
There is a sentence in the introduction that states "very few spider species are palearctic."

This sounds like a general statement. How does it link directly to Huntsman? What does palearctic mean, anyway? One ought not to have to leave the introduction to an article in order to do a vocab check. Can we have it in non-specialist terms, or is palearctic the only way of saying it? I'm not suggesting that all technical terms that are appropriate should be left out (like the scientific name of the species for example). --Amandajm 13:44, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Relational behaviour in hunstman spiders
I observed a male and female huntsman who lived in my letterbox for weeks before I managed to catch them in a plastic lunchbox and relocate them to a large tree. They spent most of their time cuddled up together in a very cosy way. I have never witnessed male and female spiders of any sort that appeared to have "a relationship" although I have see Huntsman taking care of an egg sack.

We had one poor brute that lived in the rafters in the loo, having lost three legs in the hinge of the front door. Sometimes he would go for a wander and I would encounter him near the light switch which made me a little tetchy. He would sit and look at me until I got the broom and then run. The broom was the enemy. The night I found him sitting on the toilet paper roll I decided he had to go. I put my raincoat on over my pjs, caught him in the dreaded plastic lunchbox, slopped two hundred yards down the street to one of the nice paperbark trees and tipped him out. When I got back to the front gate, I shone the torch down the sidewalk, and there was the spider, scurrying along home on all five legs as fast as he could.

I have heard other people say that it is almost impossible to get rid of a huntsman that calls your house their home. Are there any scientific studies of this sort of behaviour in huntsman spiders? To what extent can they be tamed if kept as pets? Are there reliable observations of male/female relational behaviour?

--Amandajm 14:18, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

 * I've never heard about this kind of behavior. It is fascinating. We would need sources that we could cite to put something like that into the article, however.

 * Honeybees have a very good map of where they live in their tiny brains. The variety that is adapted to life in oases in the Sahara desert forage up to five miles for nectar and pollen and still manage to find their way back to their hives. The varieties of honeybees present in the rest of the world regularly forage up to a mile away from home. So it is not inconceivable that a member of a spider species that forages over great distances could have a map of a certain neighborhood and find its way back. Evolutionarily, the ability of a spider to return to the place it had stored its egg sac(s) would be important. Many kinds of spiders even tend their babies for a while after they hatch. Wolf spiders take eggs, and later babies, with them wherever they go, but lots of species attach the egg sacs to some object and some species even construct nursery structures out of silk to protect their young.

 * I kept a Huntsman for over a year and she never became tame around me. While a jumping spider can be curious about humans and even approach to take a better look, the best the Huntsman did was to be a little less frantic about getting away from me. She was o.k. as long as she thought she was hidden in a shadow. But if I had to open the cage to fix something she would immediately make a mad scramble to get away from the area into which I had intruded.  So I don't think you have to worry if your roommate has temporarily settled on something you might pick up. I guess it might be possible to reach out and grab one of these spiders, but only if they sleep or it is totally dark and your hand doesn't touch anything nearby before it contacts the spider. People do get bitten by these spiders, but I've never been able to figure out how it can happen -- except that one time in Japan one of them mistook my wooden pencil for prey and ran over to bite it. Putting your pinky down near a hungry Huntsman might be a bit risky... P0M 15:49, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Changing text back and forth repeatedly
It appears that somebody favors "sometimes fearsome" and somebody favors "a bit fearsome" and they are changing back and forth between one formulation and the other. These spiders do not change their appearance, and they don't act friendly in the way that jumping spiders sometimes do, so I don't think "sometimes" can be used. I would say that, to me at least, they look "rather fearsome." They don't come forward and menace people the way that Australia funnelweb spiders may do. On the other hand, they are neither as inoffensive as an Avicularia metallica or some of the other very calm tarantulas, nor are they curious but unmenacing as are some/most of the jumping spiders. Their general demeanor seems to give me a clear "Don't mess with me!" message.

Anyway, please don't change the wording again until you discuss the issue here. P0M 15:49, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

--24.20.139.39 07:22, 4 July 2007 (UTC) Removed link to museum, because it redirected and did not provide any useful information related to the topic.

Legs
They look like a Daddy-long legs.--Rory666 08:11, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

Triantelope ??
What!! I lived all around Australia and have never heard it called by this name. Australians either call this spider one of two names;

For the ignorant; Triantulas For those who know better; Huntsman Spider.

Never heard of it called a triantelop. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.171.117.156 (talk) 10:41, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Error in the map showing where this spider is found
I am writing from Yemen Hadramout area where few days ago I found one of these beautiful creatures in my office. Kept it for a day in a container and released it again in the evening. In your page "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntsman_spider" I found the spider and after knowing its unharmful character I let it go free in my office again. I noticed one error though, The map shows that it is not found in Arabian peninsula and that is exactly where I found it so you may want to add a bit of green to the map. Regards,204.209.24.2 11:14, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

‘most parts of Australia’ / ‘Many Australians’
These kind of assertions are a bit hard to prove. I’ve lived in various parts of South Australia and Victoria, but never heard huntsmen called wood spiders. OTOH I did relocate one to the garden this evening and I suppose many does allow for the many people who’re probably squishing them with shoes or wasting entire cans of fly spray on them at this moment. ☸ Moilleadóir (talk) 11:14, 28 February 2008 (UTC) ☏

Just jumping in here too. I live in NSW (Australia) and I too have never once heard someone refer to Hunstman spiders as Wood spiders, every time they are called Huntsman. Also not too sure where the author got the information to back up that a lot of Australians will take these outside, I'm not afraid to admit that I'll hurl both my shoes and then beat one to death with a can of fly spray rather then move it outside as too do most people I know.

143.238.101.25 (talk) 22:38, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Seconding the "most parts of Australia" is incorrect as far as I know. I've never heard of them referred to as such in WA or SA. However I will jump in and say (in completely anecdotal and unverified way) a lot of people i know will attempt to avoid killing them (202.7.183.131 (talk) 17:02, 4 November 2008 (UTC))

Actually, I'm from SA and we have huntsmans - referred to as huntsmans. :) --118.208.77.96 (talk) 14:56, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

I would like to also say that our family have never heard them called anyhing but huntsmans - We have lived in Victoria for all our lives. I would be confident to say that they are only known as Huntsmans in at least SE Australia. And we too avoid killing them, and try to put them outside in the garden. But I refuse to let them live inside the house like some of my friends. That's stretching the friendship a bit. Stevefrommelbourne (talk) 08:28, 26 April 2009 (UTC)

Another Victorian chiming in to say he's never heard of a Huntsman being called anything but a Huntsman. Also I admire people that go to the effort of putting them outside, but I go the little girl route and spray them from 15 feet away with whatever canned and compressed poisons are nearby, then watch them like a hawk for the next 20 minutes to make sure they're dead. Then I suck them up with a vacuum cleaner. I'm a horrible person I know but they seriously creep me out and the thought of physically handling a live one makes my skin crawl. If it's any consolation I play with jumping spiders.:3 -Anonymous IP from Melbourne —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.171.197.27 (talk) 18:34, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Relative sizes of species
The fourth sentence of the second paragraph of the Appearance section states:

The Banded Huntsman (Holconia) is larger and grey to brown with striped bands on its legs. The Badge Huntsman (Neosparassus) is larger still, and brown and hairy.

The only possible referrant is the first sentence of the first paragraph of that section:

While frequently very large – in Laos, Heteropoda maxima males can attain a legspan of 250–300 mm (9.8–11.8 in) – Huntsman spiders are not deadly to humans.

These two references to the size of the spiders are rather far apart, and it's somewhat doubtful whether the Banded Huntsman and Badge Huntsman are supposed to be larger than the largest spider (Heteropoda maxima). It looks like it should be rewritten to provide a referrant closer in the text to the Banded and Badge Huntsman spiders.

I'm no expert, just a curious reader, so this is offered as a suggestion for someone who has actual facts. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.165.63.21 (talk) 13:19, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Bite effects?
Under Appearance, we have "Its bite will inflict the worst injury, and local swelling and pain may cause nausea, headache, vomiting and heart palpitations," while under Toxicity and Aggression we have "however, a scientific study into the bite of these spiders did not note any severe or unusual symptoms resulting from confirmed Neosparassus bites" and "huntsman spiders are not regarded as dangerous". It seems a bit inconsistent. 199.76.152.150 (talk) 05:56, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

My house in Hobart is full of huntspeople (the P.C. plural for huntsman)and we regard them as friends. My Great Dane puppy was seen to have been bitten on the nose by a big huntsman and within thirty seconds was totally ataxic and in a state of collapse. It was mentally alert but nearly paralyzed, as if it had been give curare. The animal survived. The dog recovered as well, after four hours. Anyone have information on the effect of these bites on mammals other than humans?...

All I can tell you offhand is anecdotal.

1: Our cat caught a local (South African) species of Palystes and got bitten on his paw. It swelled like a boxing glove, which caused him to act puzzled for a while, but he was OK next day.

2:I cannot remember the species, but I have seen a claim that on Australian Mygalomorph spider (not closely related to the Sparassidae, pls note!) which is essentially harmless to humans, is deadly to dogs. If you find more info, pls tell.

3:In general, one generally expects that what affects one animal will affect other animals similarly, and the more closely related, the more similarly.

4:However there are dramatic exceptions, even within the same species. Also, herbivores and omnivores tend to withstand various poisons (especially substances common in plant materials such as onions, chocolate, raisins and macadamias) very well, whereas quite modest amounts will kill a cat or dog. So watch it!!! JonRichfield (talk) 15:11, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

Ireland
That map shows Ireland as grayed out but i am certain i have seen spiders like these fairly often — Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.125.98.8 (talk) 02:32, 26 May 2011 (UTC)

Clock Spider NEEDS to be mentioned
Some of you rule nerds who follow them to the letter might not think so because you're out of touch with the main purpose wikipedia serves (satisfying curiosity and not as a useful research tool) but the fact is typing clock spider in the search redirects to this page and yet there's zero explanation. It's like that time I found the definition of hootenanny as a thingumajig in the OED yet thingumajiggy wasn't defined. It's just piss poor sloppy editing and a failure on your part. 24.136.140.42 (talk) 09:18, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Apparent sentence fragment
Under APPEARANCE the first sentence (While frequently very large – in Laos, Heteropoda maxima males can attain a legspan of 250–300 mm (9.8–11.8 in))appears to be incomplete and fragmented.

Masterius2011 (talk) 00:56, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

Venom and aggression???
Would anyone object to my renaming the section on "Toxicity and aggression" to "Venom and aggression" or something equally technically correct? Every time I see that heading it irks me to think of the impression it must make on informed readers. JonRichfield (talk) 12:54, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

OK, no one said nowt in several months, so I injected Venom. JonRichfield (talk) 15:31, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Folklore and urban legend
With a section proclaiming ...subjects of many superstitions and exaggerations, just one fairly lame example seems inadequate. I looked around for other examples, and found one that seems like it should be included; but can't quite figure out how to concisely word it. It is/was an email hoax, and in some versions claimed to include a warning from the Australian Red Cross, adding: "... if it looks like a huntsman and you are not sure...unfortunately, but for your safety's sake...KILL IT!!". Some versions include a photo of spider:, but I'm not sure if it is a Huntsman or an actual Brown recluse.

Anyway, that section either needs more examples or should be reworded - one example doesn't qualify as "many".

 * Source = Spider Hoaxes

Another interesting story is the "Bananna Spider Myth" (re: Huntsman) from Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture, The Spider Myths Site.

If anybody wishes to add either or both, please do (otherwise I'll attempt, perhaps, eventually ) ~Eric F 74.60.29.141 Modified:74.60.29.141 (talk) 20:22, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

 *  Unfortunately I have passed the point where spider legends give me the heaves at the very thought, so I'll beg off this one. Meanwhile, that spider pic you linked and were uncertain about is NOT a member of the Sparassidae. And it does look like convincingly like a Loxosceles species. JonRichfield (talk) 07:59, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
 * How about creating a 'Modern myth and urban legend' section in Cultural depictions of spiders article, and moving 'Clock spider', etc. over there? That way we can eliminate "Folklore and urban legend" from this article. ;) ~Eric F74.60.29.141 (talk) 18:43, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
 * Sounds a good idea to me. Good luck! JonRichfield (talk) 19:54, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
 * ✅ Let's see if it sticks. ~Eric F 74.60.29.141 (talk) 03:05, 14 November 2012 (UTC)

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Big ol nest of babies
They lay over 100 babies in the nest 2600:8807:A040:4F00:98BE:3EA8:62E1:506C (talk) 17:05, 1 July 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Huntsman spider


text:
Sanderling

The sanderling (Calidris alba) is a small wading bird. The name derives from Old English sand-yrðling, "sand-ploughman". The genus name is from Ancient Greek kalidris or skalidris, a term used by Aristotle for some grey-coloured waterside birds. The specific, alba, is Latin for "white".

It is a circumpolar Arctic breeder, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to South America, South Europe, Africa, and Australia. It is highly gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks on coastal mudflats or sandy beaches.

It is somewhat unlike other sandpipers in appearance, which has led to the suggestion that it should be placed into a monotypic genus Crocethia. A more recent review (Thomas et al., 2004) indicates, however, that the sanderling is a fairly typical "stint" or small sandpiper and should be separated from the large knots with its closest relatives in a distinct genus.

This bird is similar in size to a dunlin, but stouter, with a thick bill. It shows a strong white wingbar in flight, and runs along the sandy beaches it prefers with a characteristic "bicycling" action of its legs, stopping frequently to pick small food items. It eats small crabs and other small invertebrates. In spring, birds migrating north from South America consume large numbers of horseshoe crab eggs in the Delaware Bay area.

In spring, the birds arrive on the High Arctic breeding grounds (see map), where they lay 3–4 eggs in a ground scrape. On the nesting grounds, these birds mainly eat insects and some plant material.

The sanderling was described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name Trynga alba.

The sanderling is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Description
The sanderling is a small plump sandpiper, 18 – in length. Its weight ranges from 40 –. The winter bird is very pale, almost white apart from a dark shoulder patch. This is the source of the specific name, alba, which is the Latin for "white". Later in the summer, the face and throat become brick-red. The juvenile bird is spangled black and white, and shows much more contrast than the adult.

If its size is misjudged, a sanderling in breeding plumage can be mistaken for some varieties of stint, or a sanderling in winter plumage can be mistaken for a dunlin or red knot. It can be told from other small wading birds, given good views, by its lack of a hind toe. Its behavior is also distinctive.

Distribution, habitat and migration
The sanderling breeds in the High Arctic areas of North America, Europe and Asia. In North America, it breeds in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Nunavut, Greenland (and to a lesser extent Alaska). In Eurasia, it breeds in Spitsbergen and areas of northern Russia from the Taymyr Peninsula to the New Siberian Islands. In the northern winter, it has a nearly cosmopolitan distribution across the world's marine coasts. It is a complete migrant, travelling between 3000 to 10000 km from its breeding grounds to its wintering sites. Birds that travel further also arrive later and leave sooner. Most adults leave the breeding grounds in July and early August, whereas juvenile birds leave in late August and early September. The northward migration begins in March at the southern end of their winter distribution.

The breeding habitat of the sanderling is coastal tundra north of 5 C July isotherm. The species typically chooses nesting sites on dry stony areas near wet areas, from 60 m above sea level to 800 m. During the winter and its migration, it is most commonly found on coastal sandy beaches, but also occurs on tidal sand flats, mud flats and the shores of lakes and rivers. More infrequently, it may occur on rocky shores.

Subspecies
The sanderling consists of two subspecies:

 * C. a. alba, (Pallas, 1764), breeds on Ellesmere Island, north & east Greenland, Svalbard, Franz Josef Land and the Taymyr Peninsula
 * C. a. rubida, (Gmelin, 1789), breeds in northeast Siberia, Alaska and northern Canada

Feeding behaviour
Sanderlings feed on invertebrate prey buried in the sand in the upper intertidal zone. In North America, this diet largely consists of the isopods Excirolana linguifrons, Excirolana kincaidii, and the mole crab, Emerita analoga. When the tide is out, these crustaceans live in burrows some way beneath the surface. When the tide comes in, they move into the upper layers of sand and feed on the plankton and detritus that washes over them with each wave. They then burrow rapidly down again as the water retreats. They leave no marks on the surface, so the sanderlings hunt for them by plunging their beaks into the sand at random, consuming whatever they find. Their bills can penetrate only 2 or and as the water swirls around and retreats, the sand is softer; this makes it easier for the birds' beaks to penetrate further. In the spring, when much breeding activity is taking place in the benthic community, there may be as many as 4000 invertebrates per square metre, but their average size is smaller than later in the year. The birds appear to rush madly around at the edge of the surf, but in reality they are maximising their chances of catching as many prey animals as possible when they are at their most vulnerable near the surface.

Breeding behaviour
At breeding time sanderlings are territorial, with the male aggressively defending its territory. They may either form monogamous pairs or polyandrous (one female and two male) pairings.

title: Sanderling


text:
Talk:Theory of imperialism

From Votes for deletion

 * theories of imperialism - an article started by the banned user Vera Cruz. Contains nothing more than redundant material borrowed from another page, on which this same material is posted.
 * It was created by Vera Cruz before that user was banned. The presence of redundant material has never been a reason for deletion. It is a reason for rewriting, redirecting, or the removal of the redundant material from the more general article (i.e. splitting). Keep. -- Tim Starling 03:24 28 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * redirected to Theories of New Imperialism. Keep. Martin 02:49, 3 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Hold up! I saw this thing and wanted to write something!! Sorry it's not very good; if the page is to be moved, can we get it deleted and off of the "fix this stub" list?!? Thanks- mythrandir 17:39. 23 Dec 2003 (EST)

 * Ah. Right. It is supposed to be deleted. Sorry. How do I go about that? mythrandir 17:41. (EST)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Theory of imperialism which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 03:53, 22 August 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Theory of imperialism


text:
Talk:Ronald Regan

From Votes for deletion

 * Ronald Regan - redirects to Ronald Reagan. Misspelling of last name. 172 06:29 26 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * keep; common misspellings are perfectly legitimate redirects according to Deletion_policy --Jiang
 * keep; Might be a bit confusing against Donald Regan although I suppose that error is vastly less common (missing vowel vs. changed first letter). If it seems confusing, then someone could create a disambiguation page.  Daniel Quinlan 22:59 26 Jul 2003 (UTC)

title: Talk:Ronald Regan


text:
Talk:Life under Taliban rule

From Votes for deletion

 * Life under Taliban rule - i don't see anything enciclopedic on this one. It was a piece of news during the Afgan war. It's a very dated article: will it be interesting in 10 years? Muriel Gottrop 11:23 26 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * I don't understand why you want to delete this. This is history, not news.  These were things that did happen under Taliban rule.  RickK 19:15 26 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * The name alone suggest that it doesn't meet encyclopedic standards. Valid content should be moved to the history of Afghanistan page. 172 03:23 27 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * It was moved from the main Taliban article by User:Ed Poor. I would keep it. --Jiang 03:27 27 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * Seems fine to me. Of recent interest, yes, but that doesn't make it less worthy of being an article.  I think it is a long-term piece.  Daniel Quinlan 05:37 27 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * I still think that the article could be easily replaced by a setence in Taliban. Lists of atrocities are not my idea of an encyclopedia. Next thing somebody is making an article like: List of experiments on jews during second WW. Muriel Gottrop 13:23 28 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * I think that's a bit of a straw man. A much more general article like: "Nazi treatment of Jews" would be encyclopedic and useful. We almost have that, actually, it's called Holocaust (although it does lack mention of pre-Holocaust stuff like Kristallnacht). In the case of the Taliban, it is just placed the Life under Taliban rule page. Daniel Quinlan 01:50, Jul 30, 2003 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the straw man information :) I still don't agree with this (it's all a bit of voyerism to me), but i seem to be alone! See you around Muriel Gottrop 09:21, 30 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * No problem. It might be more of a slippery slope argument than a straw man, but it's been a while since I took that logic class.  Daniel Quinlan 09:55, Jul 30, 2003 (UTC)

Tagged
I have tagged this article with the 'wikify' and 'references' templates. Wikipedia articles are supposed to be continuous prose, not entirely composed of bullet points. It also fails to cite a single source. I'm considering renominating this for Afd, but it seems sensible to wait to see if it can be improved first. Cynical 22:18, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Life under Taliban rule


text:
Edward Burleson

Edward Murray Burleson (December 15, 1798 – December 26, 1851) was the third vice president of the Republic of Texas. After Texas was annexed to the United States, he served in the State Senate. Prior to his government service in Texas, he was a commander of Texian Army forces during the Texas Revolution. Before moving to Texas, he served in militias in Alabama, Missouri, and Tennessee, and fought in the War of 1812. Burleson was the soldier who was given Santa Anna's sword when he surrendered.

Early life
Edward Burleson was born in North Carolina on December 15, 1798 in Buncombe County, North Carolina. He was the son of James B. Burleson, a company captain in the volunteer American army in the War of 1812 and later a participant in the Texas Revolution, as a Captain under his son's command. Edward learned of life in the field as an aide to his father, who could neither read nor write. Aaron Burleson, his grandfather, had fought as a minuteman in the Revolutionary War. He was a second cousin of Baylor University president Rufus Columbus Burleson. The Burleson family were ancestrally from Wales.

Burleson became known as the "Old Indian Fighter", and was also a veteran of the War of 1812 where he had served in the Missouri and Texas militias. In October 1835 he was appointed a lieutenant colonel in the Texas army and served under Stephen F. Austin in the opening stages of the Texas Revolution. During the Siege of Béxar, Burleson served as the second-in-command to Gen. Austin, and in November 1835 he was elected Major General of Texas Volunteers and took command of the volunteer army besieging San Antonio de Béxar and received the surrender of Mexican general Martín Perfecto de Cos. In March, he was appointed a Colonel of Texas Regulars and led the First Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Runaway Scrape and at the Battle of San Jacinto.

With the capture of Antonio López de Santa Anna at San Jacinto, the Mexican general rode double into Sam Houston's camp on the horse of Joel Walter Robison, a soldier in most of the revolutionary battles and later a member of the Texas House of Representatives from Fayette County.

Burleson continued to serve in the Republic of Texas army after the war and was eventually promoted brigadier general of Texas Regulars.

His brother Jacob was killed and mutilated in a battle with Comanches in 1839.

Political service
On account of his military credentials, Burleson was elected to the Texas Senate in September 1838, as a local representative for Bastrop, Gonzales, and Fayette Counties.

He served as vice-president of the Republic of Texas in President Sam Houston's second term from 1841 to 1844. He was a presidential candidate in the Texas presidential election of 1844, but he was defeated by Anson Jones.

He served under Sam Houston, and they got along very well.

Burleson was also involved in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848), after Texas was annexed by the U.S.

The location of his grave is in what later became the Texas State Cemetery, in Austin.

Private life
Edward Burleson married Sarah Griffen Owen on April 25, 1816, in Madison County, Alabama.

In May 1830, Burleson arrived at San Felipe de Austin as a prospective settler. After scouting the land around the upper Colorado River, Burleson submitted an application to be a colonist. He then returned to Tennessee, where the rest of his family was living at the time, and brought them to Texas. Upon their arrival, Burleson and his family settled near the fledgling community of Bastrop. In the ensuing years, Burleson would become heavily involved with local affairs affecting Bastrop, Gonzales, and Fayette Counties, as he was elected to the Texas Senate in September 1838.

Memorials

 * Burleson County, Texas

title: Edward Burleson


text:
Stint

A stint is one of several very small waders in the paraphyletic "Calidris" assemblage – often separated in Erolia – which in North America are known as peeps. They are scolopacid waders much similar in ecomorphology to their distant relatives, the charadriid plovers.

Some of these birds are difficult to identify because of the similarity between species, and various breeding, non-breeding, juvenile, and moulting plumages. In addition, some plovers are also similarly patterned, especially in winter. With a few exceptions, stints usually have a fairly stereotypical color pattern, being brownish above and lighter – usually white – on much of the underside. They often have a lighter supercilium above brownish cheeks.

Systematics and taxonomy
The genus Calidris is not monophyletic in its traditional delimitations and should be restricted to the stout red knot and its allies. The genus Erolia was often used for the stints ever since it was proposed by Louis Pierre Vieillot in 1816. However, the type species of Erolia is the curlew sandpiper, which is not traditionally included among the stints.

No firm consensus has been reached on the curlew sandpiper's phylogenetic status (i.e., what its closest relatives are) and hence Erolia cannot be exactly delimited at present. This notwithstanding, the stints together with a few slightly more distinct calidrids would indeed warrant separation as a distinct genus. The sanderling, sometimes placed in Crocethia, is among these and it may be that this genus name would apply.

The species usually considered stints/peeps are:
 * Semipalmated sandpiper, Calidris pusilla or Erolia pusilla
 * Western sandpiper, Calidris mauri or Erolia mauri
 * Red-necked stint, Calidris ruficollis or Erolia ruficollis
 * Little stint, Calidris minuta or Erolia minuta
 * Temminck's stint, Calidris temminckii or Erolia temminckii
 * Long-toed stint, Calidris subminuta or Erolia subminuta
 * Least sandpiper, Calidris minutilla or Erolia minutilla
 * White-rumped sandpiper, Calidris fuscicollis or Erolia fuscicollis
 * Baird's sandpiper, Calidris bairdii or Erolia bairdii

title: Stint


text:
Peep

Peep, Peeps, or PEEP may refer to:

People

 * Peep (given name), Estonian masculine given name
 * Lil Peep (1996–2017), American singer and rapper
 * Helend Peep (1910–2007), Estonian actor
 * Viljar Peep (born 1969), Estonian historian and civil servant
 * People, or peeps, often referring to a certain group

Other uses

 * Peep (album), by Rasmus
 * Peeps, a type of candy
 * Peeps (novel), by Scott Westerfeld
 * Positive end-expiratory pressure, a measure of lung function
 * Stint, a type of bird
 * Peeps (Regular Show), an episode
 * Peep, a baby chick in the television series Peep and the Big Wide World

title: Peep