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Sexuality in Christian demonology

To Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Jews there were male and female demons (Jewish demons were mostly male, although female examples such as Lilith exist). In Christian demonology and theology there is debate over the gender and sexual proclivities of demons. These questions are referenced in Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese phrases that imply that the question is pointless and unanswerable, akin to the English phrase How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?.

Gender of demons
Traditional demons of Christianity, such as Satan, Beelzebub, and Asmodeus are almost invariably assigned a male gender in religious and occultist texts. This is true also for succubi, who despite taking a female shape to copulate with men, are often thought of as male nonetheless.

The Testament of Solomon, an early treatise on demons of Judeo-Christian origin, presents the demon Ornias, who assumes the shape of a woman to copulate with men (though in other versions he does it while in the shape of an old man ). After meeting him, King Solomon asks Beelzebub if there are female demons, suggesting a difference between male shapeshifting demons (incubi/succubi) and genuine female demons. Similarly, angels in Christianity have also masculine genders, names and functions.

John Milton, in Paradise Lost, specifies that although demons may seem masculine or feminine, spirits "Can either Sex assume, or both; so soft And uncompounded is thir Essence pure". Nonetheless, these feminine shapes may be just temporal disguises to deceive people, just as at one point Satan takes the shape of a toad. Everywhere else demons are described as male, and Satan is the father of Death with Sin, a female spirit. In Paradise Lost, Adam explicitly states that all angels of heaven are masculine:

Gregory of Nyssa (4th century), as well as Ludovico Maria Sinistrari (17th century), believed in male and female demons, or at the very least demons having male and female characteristics.

Lust in demons
Lust in demons is a controversial theme for Christian demonology, and scholars disagree on the subject.

Early advocates
Justin Martyr (2nd century), Origen of Alexandria (3rd century), Tertullian (2nd-3rd century), Augustine of Hippo (5th century), Hincmar (early French theologian, archbishop of Rheims, 9th century), Michael Psellus (11th century), William of Auvergne, Bishop of Paris (13th century), Johannes Tauler (14th century), and Ludovico Maria Sinistrari (17th century), among others, supported the idea that demons were lustful and lascivious beings.

Augustine, Hincmar and Psellos thought that lust was what led demons to have sexual relationships with humans. William of Auvergne conceived the idea that demons felt a particular and morbid attraction to long and beautiful female hair, and thus women had to follow the Christian use of covering it to avoid exciting desire in them. Tauler had the opinion that demons were lascivious and thus they wanted to have sexual intercourse with humans to satisfy their lewdness. Sinistrari supported the idea that demons felt sexual desire, but satisfaction and pleasure were not the only motivation to have sexual relationships with humans, another reason being that of impregnating women.

Early opponents
Plutarch (1st and 2nd centuries), Thomas Aquinas (13th century), Nicholas Remy (16th century), and Henri Boguet (16th and 17th centuries), among others, disagreed, saying that demons did not know lust or desire and cannot have good feelings like love; as jealousy would be a consequence of love, they could not be jealous. Ambrogio de Vignati agreed with them.

Plutarch wrote that demons could not feel sexual desire because they did not need to procreate; his work inspiring later Remy's opinion. Thomas Aquinas asserted that demons could not experience voluptuousness or desire, and they only wanted to seduce humans with the purpose of inducing them to commit terrible sexual sins. Remy wrote that "demons do not feel sexual desire inspired by beauty, because they do not need it to procreate, having been created since the beginning in a predetermined number". Boguet said that demons did not know lust or voluptuousness "because they are immortal and do not need to have descendants, and so they also do not need to have sexual organs", so demons could make people imagine that they were having sexual relationships, but that actually did not occur. Vignati agreed with Boguet saying that sexual relationships with demons were imaginary, a mere hallucination provoked by them, and Johann Meyfarth agreed too.

By supporting the idea that demons could rape women and sexual relationships with them were painful, Nicholas Remy assigned a sadistic tendency to their sexuality.

Intermediate views
Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger (15th century), authors of the Malleus Maleficarum, adopted an intermediate position. According to their book, demons did not feel love for witches. This is because sexual relationships with them were a part of the diabolical pact these men and women made with Satan. Demons acting as incubi and succubi with common people were passionate lovers that felt the desire of being with their beloved person and have sexual intercourse with them.

Pierre de Rostegny supported the idea that Satan preferred to have sexual intercourse with married women to add adultery to other sins like lust, but told nothing about his lust or that of other demons.

In literature
Supporting the idea that demons had feelings of love and hate, and were voluptuous, there are several stories about their jealousy.

The first story of this type is narrated in the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, in which the demon Asmodeus either fell in love with Sarah or felt sexual desire for her (or both). Out of jealousy, Asmodeus killed seven of her husbands before the marriages could be consummated. Asmodeus never had sexual intercourse with Sarah, and intended to kill Tobias, her eighth husband, but was foiled by the angel Raphael.

Another of these stories about demonic lewdness and passionate love is told in The Life of Saint Bernard, written by Geoffrey of Auxerre c. 1160. He wrote that during the 11th century a demon fell in love with a woman, and when her husband was asleep he visited her, awoke the woman and began to do with her as if he were her husband, committing every type of voluptuous acts during several years, and inflaming her passion.

A story referring to demonic jealousy was told by Erasmus (16th century), who blamed a demon for the fire that destroyed a village in Germany in 1533, saying that a demon loved deeply a young woman, but discovered that she had also sexual relationships with a man. Full of wrath, the demon started the fire.

Sexual relations
Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 – c. 395) said that demons had children with women called cambions, which added to the children they had between them, contributed to increase the number of demons. However, the first popular account of such a union and offspring does not occur in Western literature until around 1136, when Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote the story of Merlin in his pseudohistorical account of British history, Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), in which he reported that Merlin's father was an incubus.

Anne Lawrence-Mathers writes that at that time "... views on demons and spirits were still relatively flexible. There was still a possibility that the daemons of classical tradition were different from the demons of the Bible." Accounts of sexual relations with demons in literature continues with The Life of Saint Bernard by Geoffrey of Auxerre (c. 1160) and the Life and Miracles of St. William of Norwich by Thomas of Monmouth (c.  1173). The theme of sexual relations with demons became a matter of increasing interest for late 12th-century writers.

It was only beginning in the 1150s that the Church turned its attention to defining the possible roles of spirits and demons, especially with respect to their sexuality and in connection with the various forms of magic which were then believed to exist. Christian demonologists eventually came to agree that sexual relationships between demons and humans happen, but they disagreed on why and how. A common point of view is that demons induce men and women to the sin of lust, and adultery is often considered as an associated sin.

In 1546, the Malleus Maleficarum established that sexual relationships between demons and humans were an essential belief for Christians. But its authors considered also the possibility that demons provoked a false pregnancy in some women, filling their belly with air due to certain herbs they made them drink in beverages during the Sabbaths; at the time of giving birth to the child, a big quantity of air escaped from the woman's vagina. The false pregnancy was later explained by medicine.

title: Sexuality in Christian demonology


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Wattle-eye

Platysteiridae is a family of small, stout passerine birds of the African tropics. The family contains the wattle-eyes, batises and shrike-flycatchers. They were previously classed as a subfamily of the Old World flycatchers, Muscicapidae. These insect-eating birds are usually found in open forests or bush. They hunt by flycatching, or by taking prey from the ground like a shrike. The nest is a small, neat cup, placed low in a tree or bush.

Distribution and habitat
The Platysteiridae are arboreal birds, primarily of the woodlands and forests of sub-Saharan Africa. The family is restricted to mainland Africa and its offshore islands. The shrike-flycatchers and genus Dyaphorophyia are inhabitants of dense forest, while the rest of the wattle-eyes are found in woodland, and the batises range across all wooded habitats except the densest forests of the Congo Basin. The pririt and pygmy batis survive in very arid environments with some cover, and the white-fronted wattle-eye favours mangrove forests in Angola. Many species in the family have adapted to human-altered habitats. The family has its highest diversity at equatorial latitudes, with half the known species native to Tanzania and almost half also ranging into the DRC and Kenya.

The family is overwhelmingly sedentary. However, there are a few exceptions; the African shrike-flycatcher is probably an intra-African migrant, as it is seasonally absent from parts of its range. In addition, some batis species undertake seasonal migrations, besides some local movements in response to changing local conditions.

Morphology
The Platysteiridae are small to medium-sized passerines. They have short legs and an upright stance while perched. The tail length is variable, with the Dyaphorophyia wattle-eyes and batises having short tails and the Platysteria wattle-eyes and shrike-flycatchers possessing longish tails. The bill is flat and hooked at the tip, and generally wide with well-developed rictal bristles. With the exception of a few batises, the plumage of the family is sexually dimorphic. Overall the family has white undersides and dark, speckled upperparts, with many species sporting a band across the chest. A few wattle-eyes depart from this pattern and possess brightly coloured plumage. The plumage on the back of some genera are erectile, giving the family the alternative name of puffback flycatchers. The irides of batises and the black-and-white shrike-flycatcher are brightly coloured and used in communication, becoming more brightly coloured when the adults are excited. In the wattle-eyes the supra-orbital wattles above the eyes, for which they are named, are used in communication. In addition the family is highly vocal, with a repertoire that includes a range of whistles, harsh calls and duets.

Diet
The most important component in the diet of all species is insects, although spiders, millipedes and scorpions are also taken, and there are even records of small lizards being consumed. Amongst the insect prey, a number of different types are eaten: beetles, grasshoppers and other Orthoptera, flies, mosquitoes, wasps, termites, mantises and others. Members of this family forage either individually or in family groups. Some species will also join mixed species feeding flocks, which confers some foraging advantages. The different species and genera use a variety of methods to obtain prey, ranging from foliage-gleaning to flycatching.

Conservation and threats
One species, the banded wattle-eye, is considered threatened by human activities. The species has a restricted range in Cameroon which is vulnerable to forest clearance, and it is listed as endangered by the IUCN. Two other species are considered near-threatened, the Gabon batis and the white-fronted wattle-eye; both species are threatened by habitat loss. Some species are also very poorly known, and one species, the dark batis, was only identified as a species in 2006.

Platysteiridae

 * Genus Batis
 * Cape batis, Batis capensis
 * Malawi batis, Batis dimoprha
 * Forest batis, Batis mixta
 * Dark batis, Batis crypta
 * Woodwards's batis, Batis fratrum
 * Margaret's batis, Batis margaritae
 * Rwenzori batis, Batis diops
 * Fernando Po batis, Batis poensis
 * West African batis, Batis occulta
 * Angola batis, Batis minulla
 * Gabon batis, Batis minima
 * Ituri batis, Batis ituriensis
 * Senegal batis, Batis senegalensis
 * Grey-headed batis, Batis orientalis
 * Chinspot batis, Batis molitor
 * Pale batis, Batis soror
 * Pririt batis, Batis pririt
 * Eastern black-headed batis, Batis minor
 * Western black-headed batis, Batis erlangeri
 * Pygmy batis, Batis perkeo
 * Genus Platysteira
 * Black-throated wattle-eye, Platysteira peltata
 * Black-necked wattle-eye, Platysteira chalybea
 * Banded wattle-eye, Platysteira laticincta
 * Chestnut wattle-eye, Platysteira castanea
 * West African wattle-eye, Platysteira hormophora
 * Brown-throated wattle-eye, Platysteira cyanea
 * Jameson's wattle-eye, Platysteira jamesoni
 * Red-cheeked wattle-eye, latysteira blissetti
 * White-fronted wattle-eye, Platysteira albifrons
 * White-spotted wattle-eye, Platysteira tonsa
 * Yellow-bellied wattle-eye, Platysteira concreta
 * Genus Lanioturdus
 * White-tailed shrike, Lanioturdus torquatus, is usually considered to be part of the family, sometimes considered belonging with bushshrikes (Malaconotidae).

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

title: Wattle-eye


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Evergreen Game

The Evergreen Game is a famous chess game won by Adolf Anderssen against Jean Dufresne in 1852.

This was probably an. At the time, there was no formal title of "World Champion", but the German mathematics professor Anderssen was widely considered the best player in the world after winning the first major international chess tournament in London in 1851. Though not in the same class as Anderssen, Dufresne, a popular author of chess books, was also a strong player. It is usually assumed that the game was played in Berlin, where Dufresne lived and Anderssen often visited, but no details of the game's circumstances were given in the original publication in the September and October 1852 issues of the Berlin-based Deutsche Schachzeitung.

Beginning with Howard Staunton in 1853, the game has been extensively analysed over the years, particularly the critical positions before and after White's remarkable 19th move, Rad1. Although defensive resources for Black have since been found, Anderssen's combination remains much admired.

After Anderssen's death in 1879, Wilhelm Steinitz published a tribute in The Field in which he annotated Anderssen's two most famous games, the Evergreen and the Immortal Game against Lionel Kieseritzky. Annotating 19.Rad1, Steinitz wrote, "An evergreen in the laurel crown of the departed chess hero", thus giving this game its name.

The game
White: Anderssen Black: Dufresne  Opening: Evans Gambit (ECO C52)

'''1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4'''
 * The Evans Gambit, an opening popular in the 19th century and still seen occasionally today. White gives up to gain an advantage in.

'''4... Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4'''
 * A solid alternative, unknown to theory at the time, is 6...d6 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.0-0 Bb6 with the idea of ...Na5, driving White's bishop off the dangerous diagonal. (Spielmann-Salwe, Vienna 1908)

7. 0-0 d3 (diagram)
 * Black attempts to slow White's rapid development by depriving the of its preferred c3 square and forcing White to spend a tempo capturing the pawn. This move was favoured by Dufresne, but is today considered inferior. Most popular today is 7...Nge7, in order to answer 8.cxd4 or 8.Ng5 with 8...d5. Other alternatives include 7...dxc3 (the risky "Compromised Defence"), 7...Nf6 and 7...d6.

8. Qb3
 * Immediately attacking the f7-pawn. FIDE Master Graham Burgess suggests 8.Re1 instead.

'''8... Qf6 9. e5 Qg6'''
 * White's e5-pawn cannot be taken: if 9...Nxe5, then 10.Re1 d6 11.Bg5, when 11...Qf5 (11...Qg6 12.Nxe5 dxe5 13.Rxe5+ wins the bishop) 12.Nxe5 wins the knight (if the knight is recaptured with 12...dxe5, then 13.Qb5+ followed by 14.Rxe5+ wins).

10. Re1 (diagram)
 * In his 2023 book Re-Engineering the Chess Classics, in which he analyzes 35 classic chess games with the aid of modern chess engines, Grandmaster Matthew Sadler criticizes this move, preferring 10.Rd1, with the idea of regaining the pawn after the inevitable ...d6.

'''10... Nge7 11. Ba3'''
 * Consistent with the previous move, but 11.Qd1 and 11.Re3, eliminating the d3-pawn, are preferred by the engines.

11... b5
 * Rather than defending his own position, Black offers a counter-sacrifice to activate his a8 rook with tempo. Sadler considers that White should be "somewhat worse" after 11...d5 12.exd6 cxd6 13.Re3 0-0 14.Bxd3 Qh6 15.Nbd2 Be6. Burgess suggests 11...a6, to allow the b-pawn to advance later with tempo.

'''12. Qxb5 Rb8 13. Qa4 Bb6'''
 * Black cannot castle here because 14.Bxe7 would win a piece, as the knight on c6 cannot simultaneously protect the knight on e7 and the bishop on a5.

14. Nbd2 Bb7
 * Black must castle without delay.

15. Ne4 Qf5?
 * A poor move that loses a tempo. 15...0-0 16.Bxd3 also gives White a very dangerous attack (Neishtadt, 1961). Better was 15...d2! 16.Nexd2 0-0 (Lasker), although White still has a clear advantage.

'''16. Bxd3 Qh5 17. Nf6+?'''
 * A dramatic sacrifice, but this move is objectively bad, turning a won position into a draw. 17.Ng3 Qh6 18.Bc1 Qe6 19.Bc4 wins material in a simpler way. 18.Nf5 is also winning.

'''17... gxf6 18. exf6 Rg8 19. Rad1!''' (diagram)
 * A somewhat controversial move, which has been both exulted and criticised over the years. It sets a deep, which Black walks into. In Common Sense in Chess (1895), the then-world champion Emanuel Lasker praised it as "one of the most subtle and profound moves on record". However, probably influenced by the analysis of Paul Lipke which revealed defensive possibilities for Black, he later criticised the move, saying that 19.Be4 would have won relatively easily. Lasker's analysis turned out to be faulty, however. Analysis by Jacob Murey and German Fridshtein published in the Soviet magazine 64 in 1975 found that after 19.Be4 Qh3! 20.g3 Rxg3+ 21.hxg3 Qxg3+ 22.Kh1 Bxf2 23.Bxe7! (Lasker's 23.Re2? is refuted by 23...Nd4!) 23...Qh3+! 24.Nh2 Bxe1 25.Rxe1 Qh4! 26.Qd1! Nxe7 27.Bxb7 Qxf6 the game will likely end in a draw. Subsequent analysts such as Zaitsev and Kasparov have agreed with this assessment.

19... Qxf3?
 * "Who would have played anything else here?!" (Lipke, 1898). White cannot play 20.gxf3 since the g2-pawn is pinned by the rook on g8. Black now threatens to take either on f2 or g2, both major threats to the white king, but Anderssen has a shattering resource available.
 * Dissatisfied with the lack of analysis in the game's original publication, Howard Staunton published a detailed analysis of several of Black's alternatives in the Chess Player's Chronicle in 1853. Staunton analysed 19...Ne5, 19...d6, 19...Bc5, 19...Rxg2+ and 19...Qh3, concluding that Black was lost in all lines.
 * This was the accepted view for many years, until the German master Paul Lipke published analysis in the May and June 1898 issues of the Deutsche Schachzeitung. Lipke recommended 19...Rg4!? for Black, concluding that it offered Black excellent drawing chances with . Lipke's main line went 19...Rg4 20.Bc4 Qf5! 21.Rxd7! Kxd7 22.Ne5+ Kc8 23.Nxg4 Nd5 24.Qd1 Nd8 25.Re5 Bxf2+ 26.Kh1 Nf4 27.h3 and now either 27...Qb1 or 27...Nxg2 will probably draw for Black. Analysis published in the early 1930s by O. Hoppe and H. Heckner found a win for White after 25.Bd3! (instead of 25.Re5), but Black can also improve with 24...Nxf6 (Kasparov). Zaitsev's 21...Rxg2+ (rather than 21...Kxd7) also appears to be sufficient for a draw. Hoppe and Heckner also found a win for White after 20.c4 Rf4? (Lipke) 21.Bg6!!. Better is 20...Bd4 (Zaitsev, 64, 1976)  or 20...Rxg2+! (Kasparov). 20.Re4 has also received renewed attention as an attempt for White to gain the advantage. The final assessment of 19...Rg4 remains unclear;  according to Burgess in the 2021 edition of The Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games, White has a slightly better endgame after 20.Re4 Rxe4 21.Qxe4 d6 22.Re1 Qg6! 23.Qxc6+ Bxc6 24.Rxe7+ Kf8 25.Bxg6 hxg6 26.Ne5! Be8.
 * Most analysts have followed Staunton in rejecting 19...Rxg2+?! on account of 20.Kxg2 Ne5 21.Qxd7+!!, but I.J. Good contended that after 21...Kxd7 22.Bg6+ Ke6 23.Bxh5 Rg8+ 24.Kh3! N7g6 25.Bg4+ Kxf6 26.Nxe5 Nxe5 27.Be7+ Kxe7 28.Rxe5+ Kf6 White does not have a clear win in the endgame.
 * In 1958, analysis by readers of the Schach-Echo came to the conclusion that 19...Bd4 and 19...Qh3 are even better than 19...Rg4 and sufficient to force a draw. (19...Bd4 was also found independently by Zaitsev. ) This view is endorsed by Burgess, who quotes the lines (a) 19...Bd4 20.cxd4 Qxf3 21.Be4 Rxg2+ 22.Kh1 Rxh2+ 23.Kxh2 Qxf2+ and (b) 19...Qh3 20.Bf1 Qf5! (not analysed by Staunton) 21.Bd3 Qh3, repeating moves in each case.

'''20. Rxe7+! Nxe7?'''
 * This loses instantly to a very attractive mate in four. 20...Kd8 would put up more resistance, but White should win after 21.Rxd7+ Kc8 22.Rd8+!! Kxd8 (if 22...Rxd8 23.gxf3; if 22...Nxd8 23.Qd7+ Kxd7 24.Bf5+ Ke8 25.Bd7) (Staunton, 1853) 23.Bf5+ Qxd1+ (Rubinstein, 1921). Another way is 23.Be2+, but White must play accurately: after 23...Nd4! 24.Bxf3 Bxf3 25.Rxd4+? leads to a probable draw after 25...Bxd4 26.Qxd4+ Kc8 27.Qd3 Bxg2 28.f3 Bh3+ 29.Kf2 Rb6 30.Qxh7 Rg2+ 31.Ke3 Be6 (Levenfish, 1959). White must instead play 25.g3! (Neishtadt, 1961) Bxd1 26.Qxd1 "with a boring but winning endgame" (Kasparov).
 * It is unclear whether the following moves were actually played, or whether Anderssen simply "announced mate", a common practice at the time. The Deutsche Schachzeitung where the game was originally published simply said "White mates in 4 moves", without providing the actual moves.

'''21. Qxd7+ Kxd7 22. Bf5+'''
 * Double checks like 22.Bf5+ are powerful because they force the king to move. Here it is decisive.

22... Ke8
 * Or 22...Kc6 23.Bd7.

23. Bd7+ Kf8
 * Some sources give 23...Kd8 as Black's move, with the same reply, 24.Bxe7#.

24. Bxe7#

Savielly Tartakower commented, "A combination second to none in the literature of the game."

title: Evergreen Game


text:
Bati

Bati or Baati may refer to:
 * Bati (Fiji), traditional Fijian warriors
 * The Fiji national rugby league team
 * The town of Baati, Ethiopia
 * Baati (woreda)
 * Bati District, a district of Takeo Province, Cambodia
 * The wattle-eye, or puffback flycatcher, a small, stout passerine bird of the African tropics
 * One of the Bamileke ethnic groups of Cameroon
 * Baati, a type of bread popular in western India
 * Luca Bati, an Italian Baroque composer and music teacher

title: Bati


text:
Potato pancake

Potato pancakes are shallow-fried pancakes of grated or ground potato, matzo meal or flour and a binding ingredient such as egg or applesauce, often flavored with grated garlic or onion and seasonings. They may be topped with a variety of condiments, ranging from the savory (such as sour cream or cottage cheese), to the sweet (such as apple sauce or sugar), or they may be served plain. The dish is sometimes made from mashed potatoes to make pancake-shaped croquettes. Some variations are made with sweet potatoes.

In different cultures
Potato pancakes are associated with various European cuisines, including Irish (as boxty), German and Austrian (as Kartoffelpuffer, Reibekuchen, Reiberdatschi, Erdäpfelpuffer and Erdäpfellaibchen), Dutch (as aardappelpannenkoek, reifkoeken, reifjes), Belarusian (as дранікі draniki), Bulgarian (as patatnik), Czech (as bramborák, cmunda or vošouch), Hungarian (as tócsni, lapcsánka and other names), Jewish (as latka, לאַטקע, לביבה levivah, plural לביבות levivot), Latvian (as kartupeļu pankūkas), Lithuanian (as bulviniai blynai), Luxembourg (Gromperekichelcher), Polish (as placki ziemniaczane), Romanian (as tocini or tocinei), Russian (as драники draniki), Slovak (as zemiakové placky), Ukrainian (as деруни deruny), Italian (Frittelle di patate) and any cuisine that has adopted similar dishes. In Spain they are called tortillitas de patatas; in Mexico in some areas they are called tortas de patatas or camaron, and are only prepared in some regions for Lent or meatless Fridays.

It is the national dish of Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Slovakia. In Germany, potato pancakes are eaten either salty (as a side dish) or sweet with apple sauce, or blueberries, sugar and cinnamon; they are a very common menu item during outdoor markets and festivals in colder seasons. In Swiss cuisine, rösti is a variation that never contains egg or flour. American hash browns are also without eggs and flour. Potato pancake is a traditional favorite in the southern parts of Indiana during holiday festivities. In Taranto, Italy potato pancakes are called frittelle di patate alla tarantina and are made with potatoes, salt and Canestrato Pugliese.

Swedish raggmunkar, potatisplättar, rårakor and potatisbullar
There are four Swedish versions of potato pancakes.
 * Raggmunkar are prepared with a pancake batter of wheat flour, milk and egg, into which shredded raw potatoes are added. They are fried in butter and look like crêpes (i.e. thin pancakes).
 * Potatisplättar are also made of pancake batter and shredded potatoes, but the potatoes are cooked before they are shredded.
 * Rårakor are a variant more akin to hash browns and rösti, i.e. shredded raw potatoes formed as thin pancakes, but without any batter, which are fried in butter.
 * Potatisbullar are rather thick pancake-like patties of mashed potatoes and eggs, which are turned in breadcrumbs and then fried in butter. Can be bought ready-made in Sweden.

All four variants are traditionally served with fried bacon and lingonberry jam.

British potato cakes
Potato cakes are common in the United Kingdom. In the North-East of England (particularly County Durham), there is a dish known as "tattie fish" because the pancake resembles a deep-fried piece of fish. The pancake consists of flour, eggs, shredded potatoes and onions. Some people add tomato or cheese to the mix.

The British also brought potato pancakes to former colonies such as Zimbabwe, where they are an affordable dish still eaten today.

Irish boxty
A form of potato pancake known as boxty (bacstaí) is a popular traditional dish in most of Ireland, particularly north Connacht and southern Ulster. It is made similarly to the British type, with more starch and often with buttermilk and baking soda. It has a smooth, grained consistency.

Jewish latke
Latkes (לאַטקע, sometimes spelled latka) are potato pancakes that Ashkenazi Jews have prepared as part of the Hanukkah festival since the mid-1800s, when a series of crop failures in Poland and Ukraine led to mass planting of potatoes, which were easy and cheap to grow. The potato dish is based on an older variant made with cheese instead of potatoes that goes back to at least the Middle Ages.

Latkes need not necessarily be made from potatoes. Prior to the introduction of the potato to the Old World, latkes were and in some places still are made from a variety of other vegetables, cheeses, legumes, or starches, depending on the available local ingredients and foods of the various places where Jews lived. Numerous modern recipes call for the addition of ingredients such as onions and carrots. Daily variations on a simple potato latka might include zucchini, sweet onion and gruyere (for French onion flavor) and some variations made with sweet potatoes.

The word latke itself is derived (via Yiddish) from the East Slavic word ladka, oladka, a diminutive from oladya (оладья), "small pancake". The word levivah (לביבה), the Hebrew name for latke, refers in the Book of Samuel to a dumpling made from kneaded dough, as part of the story of Amnon and Tamar. Some interpreters have noted that the homonym levav (לבב) means "heart", and the verbal form of l-v-v occurs in the Song of Songs as well. In the lexicon of Ashkenazi Jews from Udmurtia and Tatarstan there are recorded versions of the kosher-style appellation of latkes (draniki, dranki, krezliki, kremzliki, kakorki, etc.) during the eight-day Hanukkah holiday.

Korean gamja-jeon
Gamja-jeon is a Korean pancake made by pan-frying in oil the mixture of grated potato and potato starch. It can be made without additional ingredients, but is sometimes mixed with onion, chilli and perilla leaf. Generally, it is seasoned with a small amount of salt and served with soy sauce.

Polish placki ziemniaczane
Potato pancakes, literally translated in Polish as placki ziemniaczane, are often served in Poland topped with meat sauce, pork crisps or goulash, as well as sour cream, apple sauce, mushroom sauce, and cottage or sheep's cheese or even fruit syrup. Placki ziemniaczane was a food staple at the 17th-century Polish monasteries according to written recipe from Stoczek Warmiński with one onion, two eggs and a spoonful of wheat flour per each kilogram of potatoes, served only with salt and pepper. In the 19th century, especially in times of economic difficulty during the foreign partitions, potato pancakes often replaced missing bread among the peasants. The lower-quality crops given to field laborers were sometimes turned by them quickly into pancakes to improve taste and prolong freshness. Also, their popularity is closely associated with the historic presence of one of the largest Jewish communities in the world flourishing in Poland.

The largest potato pancake (possibly in the world), measuring 2 meters and 2 centimeters, was made during the annual two-day celebrations of Świt Plinzy (Plinza Dawn festival) in Rzechta, Poland (see photo). The tongue-in-cheek games in Rzechta include the throwing of bad potato pancake, with the record of 29 meters.

Brigand's pancake
A derived dish consists of thick goulash laid on a potato pancake. It has origins in or near Tatra mountains, on either Polish or Slovak side. The dish bears a variety of names:

 * placek zbójnicki (brigand's) — most common
 * placek cygański (gypsy's)
 * placek węgierski (Hungarian) — despite being unknown in Hungary; but goulash (the topping) itself comes from Hungary
 * jadło drwali (lumberjacks' food)
 * placek góralski (mountainmen's)

Czech bramborák
A Czech potato pancake is called bramborák (from brambor, potato) and it is made of grated potatoes with egg, breadcrumbs or flour and seasoning (salt, pepper, most importantly garlic and marjoram; sometimes ground, cracked or whole caraway seeds) and is served as it is (see recipe). Some regional versions blend in dough, sauerkraut or sliced smoked meat. The same potato dough is used also as coating of fried pork chop called kaplický řízek. It is sometimes deep fried.

Iranian kuku sib zamini
In Iranian cuisine, kuku sib-zamini (, 'potato kuku') is made with shredded potatoes, eggs, onion, saffron, sometimes garlic chives and sometimes cinnamon. Frequently, potato kuku is cooked as smaller patties, but it is also cooked in a larger pancake-style or baked. This dish has been compared to the latke, rösti and tortilla Española (Spanish omelette).

title: Potato pancake


text:
Algebraic data type

In computer programming, especially functional programming and type theory, an algebraic data type (ADT) is a kind of composite type, i.e., a type formed by combining other types.

Two common classes of algebraic types are product types (i.e., tuples and records) and sum types (i.e., tagged or disjoint unions, coproduct types or variant types).

The values of a product type typically contain several values, called fields. All values of that type have the same combination of field types. The set of all possible values of a product type is the set-theoretic product, i.e., the Cartesian product, of the sets of all possible values of its field types.

The values of a sum type are typically grouped into several classes, called variants. A value of a variant type is usually created with a quasi-functional entity called a constructor. Each variant has its own constructor, which takes a specified number of arguments with specified types. The set of all possible values of a sum type is the set-theoretic sum, i.e., the disjoint union, of the sets of all possible values of its variants. Enumerated types are a special case of sum types in which the constructors take no arguments, as exactly one value is defined for each constructor.

Values of algebraic types are analyzed with pattern matching, which identifies a value by its constructor or field names and extracts the data it contains.

History
Algebraic data types were introduced in Hope, a small functional programming language developed in the 1970s at the University of Edinburgh.

Singly Linked List
One of the most common examples of an algebraic data type is the singly linked list. A list type is a sum type with two variants,  for an empty list and   for the combination of a new element x with a list xs to create a new list. Here is an example of how a singly linked list would be declared in Haskell: or is an abbreviation of construct. Many languages have special syntax for lists defined in this way. For example, Haskell and ML use  for ,   or   for  , respectively, and square brackets for entire lists. So  would normally be written as   or   in Haskell, or as   or   in ML.

Binary Tree
For a slightly more complex example, binary trees may be implemented in Haskell as follows: or

Here,  represents an empty tree,   represents a leaf node, and   organizes the data into branches.

In most languages that support algebraic data types, it is possible to define parametric types. Examples are given later in this article.

Somewhat similar to a function, a data constructor is applied to arguments of an appropriate type, yielding an instance of the data type to which the type constructor belongs. For example, the data constructor  is logically a function , meaning that giving an integer as an argument to   produces a value of the type. As  takes two arguments of the type   itself, the datatype is recursive.

Operations on algebraic data types can be defined by using pattern matching to retrieve the arguments. For example, consider a function to find the depth of a, given here in Haskell:

Thus, a  given to   can be constructed using any of ,  , or   and must be matched for any of them respectively to deal with all cases. In case of, the pattern extracts the subtrees   and   for further processing.

Abstract Syntax
Algebraic data types are highly suited to implementing abstract syntax. For example, the following algebraic data type describes a simple language representing numerical expressions:

An element of such a data type would have a form such as.

Writing an evaluation function for this language is a simple exercise; however, more complex transformations also become feasible. For example, an optimization pass in a compiler might be written as a function taking an abstract expression as input and returning an optimized form.

Pattern matching
Algebraic data types are used to represent values that can be one of several types of things. Each type of thing is associated with an identifier called a constructor, which can be considered a tag for that kind of data. Each constructor can carry with it a different type of data.

For example, considering the binary  example shown above, a constructor could carry no data (e.g.,  ), or one piece of data (e.g.,   has one Int value), or multiple pieces of data (e.g.,   has two   values).

To do something with a value of this  algebraic data type, it is deconstructed using a process called pattern matching. This involves matching the data with a series of patterns. The example function  above pattern-matches its argument with three patterns. When the function is called, it finds the first pattern that matches its argument, performs any variable bindings that are found in the pattern, and evaluates the expression corresponding to the pattern.

Each pattern above has a form that resembles the structure of some possible value of this datatype. The first pattern simply matches values of the constructor. The second pattern matches values of the constructor. Patterns are recursive, so then the data that is associated with that constructor is matched with the pattern "n". In this case, a lowercase identifier represents a pattern that matches any value, which then is bound to a variable of that name — in this case, a variable “ ” is bound to the integer value stored in the data type — to be used in the expression to evaluate.

The recursion in patterns in this example are trivial, but a possible more complex recursive pattern would be something like:

Recursive patterns several layers deep are used for example in balancing red–black trees, which involve cases that require looking at colors several layers deep.

The example above is operationally equivalent to the following pseudocode:

The advantages of algebraic data types can be highlighted by comparison of the above pseudocode with a pattern matching equivalent.

Firstly, there is type safety. In the pseudocode example above, programmer diligence is required to not access field2 when the constructor is a. Also, the type of field1 is different for  and. For Leaf it is Int but for Node it is Tree. The type system would have difficulties assigning a static type in a safe way for traditional record data structures. However, in pattern matching such problems are not faced. The type of each extracted value is based on the types declared by the relevant constructor. The number of values that can be extracted is known based on the constructor.

Secondly, in pattern matching, the compiler performs exhaustiveness checking to ensure all cases are handled. If one of the cases of the depth function above were missing, the compiler would issue a warning. Exhaustiveness checking may seem easy for simple patterns, but with many complex recursive patterns, the task soon becomes difficult for the average human (or compiler, if it must check arbitrary nested if-else constructs). Similarly, there may be patterns which never match (i.e., are already covered by prior patterns). The compiler can also check and issue warnings for these, as they may indicate an error in reasoning.

Algebraic data type pattern matching should not be confused with regular expression string pattern matching. The purpose of both is similar (to extract parts from a piece of data matching certain constraints) however, the implementation is very different. Pattern matching on algebraic data types matches on the structural properties of an object rather than on the character sequence of strings.

Theory
A general algebraic data type is a possibly recursive sum type of product types. Each constructor tags a product type to separate it from others, or if there is only one constructor, the data type is a product type. Further, the parameter types of a constructor are the factors of the product type. A parameterless constructor corresponds to the empty product. If a datatype is recursive, the entire sum of products is wrapped in a recursive type, and each constructor also rolls the datatype into the recursive type.

For example, the Haskell datatype:

is represented in type theory as $$\lambda \alpha. \mu \beta. 1 + \alpha \times \beta$$ with constructors $$\mathrm{nil}_\alpha = \mathrm{roll}\ (\mathrm{inl}\ \langle\rangle)$$ and $$\mathrm{cons}_\alpha\ x\ l = \mathrm{roll}\ (\mathrm{inr}\ \langle x, l\rangle)$$.

The Haskell List datatype can also be represented in type theory in a slightly different form, thus: $$\mu \phi. \lambda \alpha. 1 + \alpha \times \phi\ \alpha$$. (Note how the $$\mu$$ and $$\lambda$$ constructs are reversed relative to the original.) The original formation specified a type function whose body was a recursive type. The revised version specifies a recursive function on types. (The type variable $$\phi$$ is used to suggest a function rather than a base type like $$\beta$$, since $$\phi$$ is like a Greek f.) The function must also now be applied $$\phi$$ to its argument type $$\alpha$$ in the body of the type.

For the purposes of the List example, these two formulations are not significantly different; but the second form allows expressing so-called nested data types, i.e., those where the recursive type differs parametrically from the original. (For more information on nested data types, see the works of Richard Bird, Lambert Meertens, and Ross Paterson.)

In set theory the equivalent of a sum type is a disjoint union, a set whose elements are pairs consisting of a tag (equivalent to a constructor) and an object of a type corresponding to the tag (equivalent to the constructor arguments).

Programming languages with algebraic data types
Many programming languages incorporate algebraic data types as a first class notion, including:

• Ceylon

• Clean

• Coq

• C++

• Elm

• Dart

• Flow

• F#

• F*

• Free Pascal

• Haskell

• Haxe

• Hope

• Idris

• Java (16 for product types, 17 for sum types )

• Kotlin

• Limbo

• Language Of Temporal Ordering Specification (LOTOS)

• Mercury

• Miranda

• Nemerle

• Nim

• OCaml

• Opa

• OpenCog

• Perl

• PureScript

• Python

• Racket

• Reason

• Rust

• Scala

• Standard ML

• Swift

• Tom

• TypeScript

• Visual Prolog

title: Algebraic data type


text:
Doomsday

Doomsday may refer to:

 * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions.
 * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fiction where human civilization or life is at risk of partial or complete destruction.

Novels

 * Doomsday (novel), a 1927 novel by Warwick Deeping
 * Doomsday, a novel in the Endworld series by David L. Robbins

Film

 * Doomsday (2008 film), a 2008 British film by Neil Marshall
 * Doomsday (1928 film), a 1928 American romance drama silent film

Television

 * "Doomsday" (Doctor Who), a 2006 episode of Doctor Who
 * "Doomsday" (Smallville episode), an episode of Smallville
 * "Doomsday" (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys), an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
 * "Doomsday" (The Office), a 2011 eighth-season episode of the American version of The Office
 * "Doomsday" (Beavis and Butt-Head), episode 211 of Beavis and Butt-Head
 * "Doomsday", an episode of the Super Friends
 * "Doomsday", a first-season 1964 episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea written by William Read Woodfield

Music

 * Doomsday (band), a heavy metal band from California

Albums

 * Doomsday (Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.album), 1994
 * Doomsday (Skinny Puppy album), 2001
 * Operation: Doomsday, 1999

Songs

 * "Doomsday" (Architects song), 2017
 * "Doomsday" (Atreyu song), 2007
 * "Doomsday" (Lyrical Lemonade, Juice Wrld and Cordae song), 2023
 * "Doomsday" (MF Doom song), 1999
 * "Doomsday" (Nero song), 2011
 * "Doomsday" (Vassy & Lodato song), 2018
 * "Doomsday", a song by Impending Doom from Death Will Reign
 * "Doomsday", a song by Mephiskapheles from God Bless Satan
 * "Doomsday", a song by Murray Gold for the Doctor Who episode of the same name, 2006
 * "Doomsday", a song by Overseer from Wreckage
 * "Doomsday", a song by Six Feet Under from the album Commandment
 * "Doomsday", a song by Lizzy McAlpine from the album Five Seconds Flat
 * "Doomsday Pt. 2" (Lyrical Lemonade and Eminem song), 2023

Other uses in culture

 * Hearts of Iron II: Doomsday, a stand-alone expansion for Hearts of Iron II
 * Doomsday Zone, a level from the game Sonic & Knuckles
 * Doomsday (DC Comics), a fictional character in the DC Comics Universe
 * Doomsday rule, a way of calculating the day of the week of a given date
 * Doomsday cult, a cult that believes in apocalypticism and millenarianism

Other uses

 * Glenn Jacobs or Doomsday, Spanish-born professional wrestler
 * Domesday Book (or the "Book of Winchester") is the "Great Survey" of England and Wales of 1086.
 * BBC Domesday Project, a "survey" of children's daily life in the United Kingdom, made in 1986.
 * BBC Domesday Reloaded, a web site for the digitised content of the BBC's 1986 Domesday Project.
 * Doomsday Clock, a symbol that represents the likelihood of man-made global catastrophe.

title: Doomsday


text:
Talk:Potato pancake

Another name
Is this pancake also called Latkas? Yes it is! Germam Jews which are also referred to as Aushkinauzi Jews refer to it as latkas! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.163.252.135 (talk • contribs) 06:09, 29 July 2003

This page gives undue prominence to latkes over all the other forms of potato pancake in the introduction, e.g. as a Brit ( we dont really have a potato pancake of our own); I encountered them first as placki (ziemniacane) from the Polish or Roesti from the Swiss - perhaps the page should contain an (alphabetic?) list of all the various names and their regional or cultural associations like other articles? Anyway the point is that they are delicious!Truth regards not who is the speaker, nor in what manner it is spoken, but that the thing be true; and she does not despise the jewel which she has rescued from the mud, but adds it to her former treasures 13:12, 31 December 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nenniu (talk • contribs)

Rearrangement
Information was spreadout in a semi-random way in this article, so I put each into their own category.--Ernstk (talk) 19:35, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Sweet potatoes
I don't know if it's cultural, but in my french-canadian town, Latkas are traditionally made with sweet potatoes. I have never seen them made with regular potatoes until I moved south to an all english area in Ontario, Canada. Perhaps if someone can find more information we can add a clause indicating they can also be made with sweet potatoes and if there is any culture that it's prevalent in. Silver 22:58, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm from the Canadian prairies (Manitoba and Alberta) and I've never heard of latkes made of sweet potato. That's kinda cool. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.154.122.52 (talk) 17:14, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

German?
Are these the same as the German reibekuchen (sp?) or in Kölsch riefkooche? The recipe looks exactly the same.
 * Just click on the Deutsch link to get the German article which shows that they are called, in German, Kartoffelpuffer, Reibekuchen, Reibeplätzchen oder Kartoffelpfannkuchen, Rievkooche, Schepperlinge, Kröbbelche, Hatscheln, Baggers, Flinsen, Klitscher, Fratzen, Bambis, Reiberdatschi, Pickat, Dätscher, Dotsch, Pratsch, Krumber Schnietchen oder Pratschen. Rmhermen 14:44, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

The entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latke should also mention 'knish' which is (often?) identical and ubiquitous in NYC.
 * Knish is a different food. Rmhermen 14:44, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes, its a German recipe (Reibekuchen), not a Jewish one. Entire article should be deleted or edited so as only to contain references to potatoe pancakes. Anything in excess of this is cultural usurpation and myth-construction. 21:15, 28 July 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.166.217.51 (talk • contribs) 19:15, 28 July 2008

 * Since this is the English-language Wikipedia, we should be using English titles for articles instead of foreign terms or loanwords wherever possible. —QuicksilverT @ 20:18, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

from VfD
This article was nominated for deletion on 26 July 2004. The final decision was to keep the article. See Votes for deletion/Potato pancakes for a record of the discussion. Rossami 21:58, 6 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Advertising?
The "News" section near the bottom looks like advertising. I'm pretty new here. Can a more senior person say whether the section should remain? Cognita 07:06, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

 * Good call, Cognita. I was thinking earlier it just didn't belong in the article, but you are right that it can very well be construed as advertising. I have removed it. Valley2city 07:45, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Mashed potato pancake?
What about mashed potato pancakes? No mention is made of these. --71.235.102.239 01:54, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Potato Pancakes are Ukrainian! Djamorpheus 22:50, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

This is what I think most Americans would call a potato pancake - fried mashed potato patties - what's described by this article, fried shredded potatoes, are hash browns. Usually, the mashed potato patties get a outside coating of corn meal before frying - now that's a potato pancake. jmdeur 16:37 24 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Although potatoes come from the New World, potato pancakes almost certainly were being made in Europe before there was an America, i.e., U.S.A. I think they get dibs on defining what a "potato pancake" is. —QuicksilverT @ 19:51, 10 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Sources, please? Although an American I have never heard of this mashed potato pancake. We do have this kind because there is a large Polish-American population where I live. Rmhermen (talk) 20:02, 10 November 2008 (UTC)

Hairy donuts
It is said that the Swedish name (raggmunk) has connections with the swedish for hair (ragg - actually hair standing up - as in the neck hairs of an angry dog/cat). It seems a bit farfetched. I think donuts (munk) was introduced long after potatoe pancakes in Sweden. Anyway references would help to prove me right or wrong. Benkeboy 15:15, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Introduction of potato in Jewish cuisine
The potato originated in South America, and was only introduced in Europe by the 18th century. This is the first Jewish recipe I've ever seen that uses potato.

I believe this should be mentioned in the article somehow. I've just seen someone calling this a "very traditional Jewish recipe", but of course it can't be that much traditional, as the potato is not a traditional European food... There should be a link somewhere in this article about the potato. -- NIC1138 (talk) 16:19, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

 * Furthermore, the food is more correctly considered to be a more "Yiddish" food - it is a food very common in the Germanic and Central European regions. Even though potatoes were brought to Europe, they became very popular, and a staple in many areas because of its ease of growth (vis e.g. Ireland).--Ernstk (talk) 06:54, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

 * That's the reason this article only supports a further artificial myth with regard to Jewish culture. In fact, it's an usurpation attempt, trifle as it may be. It should be deleted entirely. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.166.168.45 (talk • contribs) 15:01, 29 July 2008 ; edited by 89.166.208.37 (talk) (contribs) 19:11, 29 July 2008

Recipe links
I've removed the recipe links on the grounds that they are inappropriate for Wikipedia. Per WP:ELNO, blogs and personal page links should not be included, which these were. The rest of the links are from unreliable sources, such as cooks.com, simplestupid.com, and so on. Wiki is also not a collection of links. The Wikibooks link is more than sufficient here; external links like the ones that I removed largely amount to linkspam. I should also point out that no other food articles have recipes listed, and this page is no different than those. —  Hello Annyong  (say whaaat?!) 06:17, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Ingredients
In Judaism many ingredients are actual spiritually oriented and perhaps instead of removing the ingredients we should explain the origins of the history and tradition of these ingredients. For example oil is related to the oil that we used to light the menorah, potatoes mean the fruit of the ground (pre adama) in hebrew and therefore represent the creation of man mundane into a spiritual entity. One recipe does make sense though I think if an ingredient has a spiritual meaning it would make sense for wikipedia to include those links onto the respected pages. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ygreenman (talk • contribs) 06:31, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

 * Sounds like a great idea. Are there good sources on this? I'd be happy to help. I was wrestling with the "oil" discussion trying to phrase it, but a good source would go a long way in directing the phrasing and inclusion. ChildofMidnight (talk) 18:51, 22 December 2008 (UTC)
 * There is a thoroughly sourced discussion of the "oil miracle" in the main article Hanukkah—where it belongs. There is a link from Potato pancake to Hanukkah, so no further sourcing is necessary. --Zlerman (talk) 02:12, 23 December 2008 (UTC)
 * As Hanukkah celebrations often include latkes the information belongs in the the Hanukkah article. And as latkes are often eaten around Hanukkah, the information also belongs in this article. Why would it be helpful to leave out relevant cultural and religious aspects of this food? ChildofMidnight (talk) 17:29, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

There needs to be some more research here. Potato pancakes were clearly a post-New World development in Europe and were (and are) common to much of Germanic and Eastern Europe as a basic foodstuff in wintertime, and with the immigration from Europe to North America, potato pancakes became common to ethnic groups with heritage from the entire region, the Jewish latke being only one variant, and likely, by quantitative measures, a minor variant in comparison with that of larger immigrant groups. Any attribution of a particular spirituality to a recipe like this, by any particular ethnic or religious community, will have to be treated here with a NPOV, and at the very least will require some solid references. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.193.53.95 (talk) 12:21, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Ukrainian word for potato pancakes
I think there are actually two different names for this food in Ukrainian, one is daruny but the other is Kartoplyanyky. --86.135.136.120 (talk) 21:42, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

Pre-history before Spain brought the Potato to Europe?
Was there a previous form of the Latka before the potato was brought back by the Conquistadors? --173.60.153.11 (talk) 06:06, 17 July 2012 (UTC)

According to the footnote (no. 13), the early latkes alluded to in Jewish cuisine were mainly made from ricotta cheese. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:CF99:2080:3589:F8A0:9402:37B3 (talk) 14:43, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

what were Latke's made of before Potatoes arrived in Eurasia?
It doesn't seem to make sense that the Latkes in the Book of Samuel are the same recipe as those we enjoy today, chiefly because Northman immigration aside, Eurasia never met the potato before the European conquests of the Americas beginning in the late 1400s. The current article seems to ignore this twist of history. Does anyone have any information on it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Refractionsofthedawn (talk • contribs) 19:15, 15 December 2014
 * The fritters in 2 Samuel are a form of bread made from kneaded dough (2 Samuel 13:8). I will clarify this in the article. Ibadibam (talk) 20:03, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Ukrainian festival
I've removed, for now, the image File:Пам'ятник Деруну в місті Коростені на Житомирщині.JPG showing the potato pancake monument in Korosten, because it's crowding the article. But as this is related to a potato pancake festival held in the town (per this Kyiv Post article, it may warrant inclusion, along with mention of the festival. Can anyone figure out if the festival has continued (2009 was apparently the second year)? Also there are multiple pancake images that seem to be a bit redundant. Could we get away with removing one (maybe the Austrian one) to keep the quantity of images balanced with the text when we re-add the monument? Ibadibam (talk) 00:02, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

 * Support img removal. — This article is about the potato pancake as a food item for all Wikipedia readers who wish to learn about it, and also, get the feel for its history and origins. The images of statues or any promotional posters (right) would have no relevance to what "latke" is, as in the case of the 67th Annual Latke-Hamantash Debate in Chicago since 1946 or the Korosten Festival in Ukraine. We can mention it, but without clutter. If we don't put a stop to it, there would be no end to all types of derivatives amounting to free advertising for local businesses. Poeticbent talk 00:29, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Latke Photo
Commenting of a 5-year old thread (below) I notice the current picture is the same picture used for hash browns. While it's a minor issue, especially as I can't tell which the picture is actually of, one of them is inaccurate. ---D--- (talk) 06:26, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Late to this discussion, but I agree with @ Haphazardjoy. While the image in question is no longer used on the hash brown page, the image currently being used here on the Potato pancake page looks just like hash browns which are just fried, shredded potatoes and not latkes. At least as I—an American born Polish Jew—knows them. The most representative picture on the page seems to be the Belarusian Draniki. That said, I don’t want to get into any deep cultural or culinary debates on the topic, but if someone gave me a plate of those featured “Latkes” I would wince. They look wrong. --SpyMagician (talk) 05:05, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

Please note, five years ago on 27 January 2010, when user ---D--- (above) made his comment, the current lead image did not exist yet! It was uploaded on 14 January 2011 by User:Jonathunder. Therefore, responding to post by user @ Haphazardjoy (rather than starting a new thread) was absurd. Haphazardjoy was talking about this image. Poeticbent talk 00:15, 4 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Concur. The lead image can easily by mistaken for loosely portioned North American hash browns. Suitable replacements are here. Poeticbent talk 16:11, 3 July 2015 (UTC)

 * ✅. Poeticbent talk 15:53, 6 July 2015 (UTC)

international versions on wikipedia
There is some mess with the wikidata language links. For example Tócsni on Hungarian wikipedia links to Rösti, and not Potato pa°ncake. There is also a page for Boxty, that links to seven pages on other language wikipedias, and i haven't checked all national versions here. There should be a single version, probably this one. I just don't know how to do it on wikidata? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.224.72.250 (talk) 15:43, 13 November 2017 (UTC)
 * There aren't necessarily any easy solutions. We still haven't figured out what a cookie is in German, for instance. Rmhermen (talk) 22:23, 13 November 2017 (UTC)
 * It seems less a problem of definition and more an issue of regional variants that have standalone articles on some projects but not on others. So do we let stand false equivalencies or make the standalones on other projects point here? And surely they're not all false equivalencies, particularly in Central Europe where there is a continuum of potato pancakes. Ibadibam (talk) 05:52, 14 November 2017 (UTC)

Vegan potato pancakes
I would like a small (but pithy) section on (the challenge of) vegan potato pancakes. Ordinarily, potato latkes are held together with a scrambled egg, and well-known egg replacement strategies have reportedly been superseded with some of the VeganEgg products currently marketed. But recipe tweaks can produce a batter than can be fried well for vegan latkes or vegan pancakes. Potatoes, flour, oats, oil, onion, salt and pepper. There are variations, but today's 'vegan potato pancakes' are usually made with grocery store substitutions that are clearly one-for-one replacements - not what vegan potato pancakes of decades ago would have been. The 'old-fashioned' German way was to cover the top with apple sauce 'to cut the fat'. Of course, sauerkraut or horseradish sauce could be used instead. May I proceed? MaynardClark (talk) 03:42, 15 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Do you have sources? Ibadibam (talk) 05:40, 15 December 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Potato pancake


text:
User:Feygan

Born January 2, 1982 in Harris Memorial Hospital in Washington State, Feygan is an avowed Capricorn with Scorpio tendencies (whatever that means!)

Feygan enjoys sci-fi/fantasy novels, horror movies, and spicy food. Feygan dislikes immensely egomaniacal madmen and Xander-bashers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) (though Feygan sometimes indulges in this behavior herself.)

A big fan of American comic books and Japanese manga, Feygan has an extensive collection of "geekware" and has been known to ramble on about such topics as "gay '70's Batman versus dark, psychotic Batman" and "Dragon Knights versus Ranma 1/2." Feygan also enjoys alternative music (AFI, Green Day, Bowling for Soup, Audioslave) and has been known to indulge in a musical "freak-out," which involves ear-splitting, speaker exploding parties, booze, half-naked men and women and a three-day hangover.

Feygan can most often in Washington State in the little-known town of Poulsbo, which has a strange history all its own (the town's founder had such horrible handwriting that "Paulsbo" ended up as "Poulsbo" on the list.)

title: User:Feygan


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Manute Bol

Manute Bol (d. June 19, 2010) was a Sudanese-American professional basketball player and political activist. Listed at 7ft 6in or 7ft 7in tall, Bol was one of the tallest players in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

After he played college basketball for the Bridgeport Purple Knights, Bol was selected by the Washington Bullets in the 1985 NBA draft. Bol played for the Bullets and three other teams over the course of his NBA career, which lasted from 1985 to 1995. A center, Bol is considered among the best shot-blockers in the history of the sport and is the only NBA player to retire with more career blocked shots than points scored. , he ranked second in NBA history in blocked shots per game and 16th in total blocked shots.

Bol was notable for his efforts to promote human rights in his native Sudan and aid for Sudanese refugees.

Early life
Manute Bol was born to Madute and Okwok Bol in Turalei, Sudan (South Sudan), and raised near Gogrial. Bol's father, a Dinka tribal elder, gave him the name Manute, which means "special blessing". Bol had no formal record of his birthdate.

Bol came from a family of extraordinarily tall men and women. He said: "My mother was 6ft 10in, my father 6ft 8in, and my sister is 6ft 8in. And my great-grandfather was even taller—7ft 10in." His ethnic group, the Dinka, and the Nilotic people of which they are a part, are among the tallest populations in the world. Bol's hometown, Turalei, is the origin of other exceptionally tall people, including 7 foot 3½ inches tall (2.22 meters) basketball player Ring Ayuel. "I was born in a village where you cannot measure yourself," Bol reflected. "I learned I was 7 foot 7 in 1979, when I was grown. I was about 18 or 19."

Bol started playing soccer in 1972 but abandoned the game because he was too tall. During his later teens, Bol started playing basketball in Sudan, for several years with teams in Wau and Khartoum, where he experienced prejudice from the northern Sudanese majority.

Move to the United States
Coach Don Feeley, formerly the basketball coach at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, traveled to Sudan to coach and held clinics for the Sudanese national team in 1982. Feeley convinced Bol to go to the United States and play basketball.

With Feeley's input, Bol first landed in Cleveland. According to Cleveland State University basketball coach Kevin Mackey, Bol could not provide a record of his birth date. Mackey listed it as October 16, 1962, on Cleveland State documents, but believed Bol was actually much older. Bol did not speak or write English at the time of his arrival in Cleveland. He improved his English skills after months of classes at ESL Language Centers at Case Western Reserve University, but not enough to qualify for enrollment at Cleveland State. Bol never played a game for Cleveland State. Five years later, Cleveland State was placed on two years' probation for providing improper financial assistance to Bol and two other African players.

Again with Feeley's influence, Bol declared his intention to play professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The San Diego Clippers drafted him in the 1983 NBA draft as the 97th overall pick. Clippers head coach Jim Lynam received a call about Bol from Feeley, whom he knew from coaching circles. "So, I said, 'Have you told anyone else about this?'" Lynam recalled. "Feeley said the only one in the NBA he had called was Frank Layden at Utah. He said Frank said he couldn't take another big guy like this. He already had Mark Eaton. I was the second guy Feeley had called. I told him he didn't have to call anyone else."

After the June 1983 draft, Lynam traveled to Cleveland and watched Bol play pickup games. In speaking with Bol, through a fellow Sudanese player, Lynam learned that he had become hesitant about playing professionally because he did not know the language well enough to understand coaches. Lynam said, "One of the things everyone was looking at was his passport. His passport said he was 19 years old. His passport also said he was five feet two." When Lynam asked Bol about the discrepancy between his real height and his passport height, Bol said he had been sitting down when measured by Sudan officials.

Language and passport concerns were set aside when the NBA ruled that Bol had not been eligible for the draft as he had not declared 45 days before the draft as required and declared the pick invalid.

College basketball career
With the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) questioning his eligibility for NCAA Division I basketball, Bol enrolled at the University of Bridgeport, an NCAA Division II school with an English program for foreign students. He played for the Purple Knights in the 1984–85 season. His coach was Bruce Webster, a friend of Feeley. Bol averaged 22.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 7.1 blocks per game for the Purple Knights. The team, which previously drew 500–600 spectators, routinely sold out the 1,800-seat gym. With Bol, Bridgeport qualified for the 1985 NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament.

Professional basketball career
Bol turned professional in May 1985, signing with the Rhode Island Gulls of the spring United States Basketball League. Going into the 1985 NBA draft, scouts believed that Bol needed another year or two of college; however, Bol opted for the draft because he felt it was the only way to earn enough money to get his sister out of Sudan, which was in a state of political unrest at the time.

Washington Bullets (1985–1988)
The Washington Bullets drafted Bol in the second round with the 31st overall selection.

When he arrived in the United States, Bol weighed 180 lb and had gained just under 20 lb by the time he entered the NBA. The Bullets sent Bol to strength training with University of Maryland coach Frank Costello, where he could initially lift only 44 lb on 10-repetition bench press and 55 lb on 10-repetition squat (his body mass index was 15.3 and he initially had a 31" (80 cm) waist).

Bol's first tenure with the Bullets lasted three seasons, from 1985 to 1988. In his rookie season (1985–1986), he appeared in 80 games and recorded a career-high 5.0 blocks per game. That year, during his first career start on December 12, Bol set a Washington franchise record with 12 blocks and scored a career high 18 points in a 110–108 overtime victory against the Milwaukee Bucks. His total of 397 blocks set the NBA rookie record and remains the second-highest single-season total in league history, behind Mark Eaton's 456 in 1984–85. Bol led the league with 5.0 blocks per game during the 1985-86 season.

Bol was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 1986.

In 1987, the Bullets drafted the 5ft 3in point guard Muggsy Bogues, pairing the tallest and shortest players in the league on the court for one season.

Bol competed in the NBA playoffs with the Bullets in 1986, 1987, and 1988.

Golden State Warriors (1988–1990)
On June 8, 1988, the Bullets traded Bol to the Golden State Warriors for Dave Feitl and a 1989 second round draft pick (Doug Roth was later selected).

Bol's first tenure with the Warriors lasted two seasons, from 1988 to 1990. In his first season with Golden State, he attempted three-point shots with regularity. In that season he attempted a career-high 91 three-pointers and made 20 of them. During this time, he may have helped to popularize the expression "my bad", although a 2005 suggestion that he coined the phrase has been discounted.

Bol led the league with 4.3 blocks per game for the 1988-89 season.

Philadelphia 76ers (1990–1993)
On August 1, 1990, Golden State traded Bol to the Philadelphia 76ers for a 1991 first round draft pick (Chris Gatling was later selected).

Bol's first tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers lasted three seasons, from 1990 to 1993. After playing in all 82 games in 1990–91, he played in 71 games the next season and in 58 games the following season. During his last season in Philadelphia, he had a memorable night playing against former teammate Charles Barkley and the Phoenix Suns, making 6 of 12 three-pointers in the second half in a losing effort. Fans were known to yell "shoot" as soon as Bol received the ball far from the basket.

Later career (1993-1997)
After being released by Philadelphia in July 1993, Bol played in eight games in the 1993–94 season with the Miami Heat. He scored only one two-point field goal with the team and blocked six shots in 61 total minutes.

After being released by Miami on January 25, 1994, Bol played two games for the Washington Bullets in 1994 and then returned to Philadelphia, where he played four games.

In October 1994, Bol returned to the Warriors. He played his last five NBA games there. On November 15, 1994, Bol came off of the bench to play 29 minutes against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He attempted three three-pointers in the fourth quarter and made them all. Seven nights later in Charlotte, in a game nationally televised by TNT, he was in the starting lineup again. By this time, two weeks into the season, his career seemed rejuvenated under Warrior head coach Don Nelson; he was again a defensive force, making threes and contributing as a starter to create matchup problems. After playing only ten minutes against the Hornets on November 22, 1994, he suffered a season-ending knee injury. Before he left the game, he recorded one block and two points and attempted a three-pointer in ten minutes of play. Bol was waived by Golden State on February 15, 1995.

Bol played 22 games for the Florida Beach Dogs of the Continental Basketball Association during the 1995–96 season under Coach Eric Musselman. The Beach Dogs' games against the Sioux Falls Skyforce that season were broadcast by ESPN, as the Skyforce also featured a former NBA player, Darryl Dawkins.

In 1996, the Portland Mountain Cats of the United States Basketball League announced that Bol would be playing with the team, but he never appeared in uniform.

Bol played professionally in Italy in 1997 and in Qatar in 1998 before rheumatism forced him to retire permanently.

Player profile and accomplishments
Bol and Gheorghe Mureșan are the two tallest players in the history of the NBA. Official NBA publications have listed Bol at either 7ft 6in or 7ft 7in tall. He was measured by the Guinness Book of World Records at 7 ft 6 $3/4$ in tall. Complementing his great height, Bol had exceptionally long limbs (inseam 49 in) and large hands and feet (size 16 1/2). His arm span, at 8 ft, is the longest in NBA history, and his upward reach was 10 ft.

With his great height and very long limbs, Bol was one of the NBA's most imposing defensive presences. Along with setting the rookie shot-blocking record in 1985–86, Bol later tied the NBA record for most blocked shots in one half (11) and in one quarter (eight, twice). On January 31 1992, in a game against the Orlando Magic, he blocked four consecutive shots in a single possession. On average, he blocked one shot per every 5.6 minutes of playing time. Bol's other basketball skills, however, were very limited. His rail-thin physique made it difficult for him to establish position against the league's bulkier centers and power forwards, and he also suffered from a claw hand on his right hand (his natural hand), which severely affected his shooting and ball-handling abilities. To compensate for this inherited deformity on his right hand, Bol learned to dribble, block shots and rebound with his (non-dominant) left hand.

Off the court, Bol established a reputation as a practical joker; Charles Barkley, a frequent victim of his pranks, has attested to Bol's sense of humor.

In his NBA career, Bol averaged 2.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 0.3 assists, and 3.3 blocks per game, playing an average of 18.7 minutes. He finished his career with 1,599 points, 2,647 rebounds, and 2,086 blocks. He appeared in 624 games over 10 seasons. As of 2019, Bol had the second-highest career blocks-per-game average (3.3) in the history of the NBA and was the only player in NBA history to have more blocked shots than points scored.

Humanitarian efforts and activism
Bol was active in charitable causes during and after his basketball career. He said he spent much of the money he made during his NBA career supporting various causes related to the war-ravaged nation of his birth, Sudan.

Bol frequently visited Sudanese refugee camps, where he was treated like royalty. In 2001 the Sudanese government offered him the post of minister of sport. Bol, a Christian, refused because one of the conditions was converting to Islam.

Later, the Sudanese government hindered Bol from leaving the country, accusing him of supporting the Dinka-led Christian rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It refused to grant him an exit visa unless he came back with more money. Assistance from supporters in the United States, including Senator Joe Lieberman, raised money to provide Bol with plane tickets to Cairo, Egypt. After six months of negotiations with U.S. consulate officials regarding refugee status, Bol and his family were finally able to leave Egypt and return to the United States. He was admitted to the United States as a religious refugee in 2002 and settled in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Bol established the Ring True Foundation to continue fund-raising for Sudanese refugees. He gave most of his earnings (an estimated $3.5 million) to their cause. In 2002, Fox TV agreed to broadcast the foundation's phone number in exchange for Bol's agreement to appear on their Celebrity Boxing show. After the referee goaded, "If you guys don't box, you won't get paid", he scored a third-round victory over former football player William "The Refrigerator" Perry.

In late 2002, Bol signed a one-day contract with the Indianapolis Ice of the Central Hockey League. Though he could not skate, the publicity generated by his single-game appearance helped raise money to assist children in Sudan.

Bol was involved in the April 2006 Sudan Freedom Walk, a three-week march from the United Nations building in New York City to the United States Capitol in Washington, DC. The event was organized by Simon Deng, a former Sudanese swimming champion who was a longtime friend of Bol's. Deng, who was enslaved from age 9 to 12, is from another tribe in Southern Sudan. His Sudan Freedom Walk focused on finding a solution to the genocide in Darfur (western Sudan) but also sought to raise awareness of the modern-day slavery and human-rights abuses throughout Sudan. Bol spoke in New York City at the start of the walk, and in Philadelphia at a rally organized by former hunger striker Nathan Kleinman.

Bol was also an advocate for reconciliation efforts, and worked to improve education in South Sudan. A Nicholas Kristof article in The New York Times highlighted Bol's work for reconciliation and education with an organization called Sudan Sunrise. Bol first began working with Sudan Sunrise to raise awareness on issues of reconciliation in 2005. This included speaking at the United States Capitol and subsequently partnering with Sudan Sunrise to build schools across South Sudan that, in the spirit of reconciliation, would enroll students regardless of tribe or religion.

Personal life
Bol had six children with his first wife, Atong, and four with his second wife, Ajok. Bol's son Madut (born December 19, 1989) played college basketball at Southern University and graduated in 2013. Another son, Bol Bol (born November 16, 1999), is an NBA basketball player. Bol was a Catholic.

Bol spoke Dinka and Arabic before learning English.

In July 1988, Bol was arrested for driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest. On August 28, 1988, Bol was arrested in Maryland for driving while intoxicated.

Despite initially knowing little English or Western culture upon arriving in the United States, Bol adjusted and was widely regarded as well-rounded, inquisitive, and well-read. He developed a strong friendship with Charles Barkley, who remarked, "If everyone in the world was a Manute Bol, it's a world I'd want to live in. He's smart. He reads The New York Times. He knows what's going on in a lot of subjects. He's not one of these just-basketball guys".

During his time in Egypt, Bol ran a basketball school in Cairo. One of his pupils was a fellow Sudanese refugee, former NBA player Luol Deng, the son of a former Sudanese cabinet minister. Deng later moved to the United States to further his basketball career, maintaining a close relationship with Bol.

On February 11, 2004, Bol was arrested in West Hartford, Connecticut for assault, disorderly conduct, and interfering with a police officer. Police alleged that Bol had struck his daughter and injured her lip. According to the Hartford Courant, Bol was intoxicated and also attempted to harm himself. He received medical treatment for his injuries following the incident.

In July 2004, Bol was seriously injured in a car accident in Colchester, Connecticut; he was ejected from a taxi that hit a guardrail and overturned, resulting in a broken neck. The driver, who died following the accident, was driving with a suspended license and was intoxicated. Because his fortunes were mostly donated to Sudan and he had no health insurance, Bol was financially ruined by the accident. Bol was hospitalized for three months following the accident. When he recovered from his injuries, he moved to Olathe, Kansas.

On February 26, 2006, Bol and his wife Ajok were both arrested in West Harford, Connecticut following a physical altercation at their home.

Death
On June 19, 2010, Bol died from acute kidney failure and complications from Stevens–Johnson syndrome at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is buried in South Sudan.

Funeral service and tributes

Bol's memorial service was held on June 29, 2010, at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC. His body lay in an eight-foot-long, specially-built casket. At the funeral, U.S. Senator Sam Brownback said, "I can't think of a person that I know of in the world [who] used [his] celebrity status for a greater good than what Manute Bol did. He did it for his people. He gave his life for his people." NBA Development Vice President Rory Sparrow added, "'He had a heart that was very large and full of compassion for his fellow man'".

After his death, tributes to Bol's career and charitable works came from around the United States and the world. His former teams, and the NBA, issued statements in recognition of his impact on the sport of basketball and on Sudan. Brownback paid tribute to Bol on the floor of the United States Senate.

Honors

 * Bol was inducted into the University of Bridgeport Athletics Hall of Fame, Class of 2010.
 * On January 27, 2015, the Golden State Warriors honored Bol with a Manute Bol bobblehead giveaway. The team sponsored a giveaway of 10,000 of the tallest bobbleheads in franchise history, at 10 inches.
 * The "Manute Bol Court" was built and constructed in South Sudan by the Luol Deng Foundation in 2015.
 * The Manute Bol Peace Builders Basketball Tournament is held annually throughout Sudan.
 * In 2016, Bol was inducted into the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame.

Influence
At the peak of his career, Bol was so widely recognizable in pop culture as to become the object of teasing in a 1993 episode of MTV's Beavis and Butthead entitled "True Crime'". While watching a music video of the song "Demolition Man" by Grace Jones, Butthead mistakes the tall, androgynous Jones for Bol and asks, "Is this Manute Bol?" Beavis responds, "Yeah. That dude can slam dunk without even jumping", to which Butthead deadpans, "Yeah. It's too bad he can't sing," as the pair chuckle together. Later, Beavis says, "Maybe this isn't Manute Bol", and Butthead opines, "Yeah. Manute Bol can sing better than this. That man has lipstick on."

title: Manute Bol


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Bačka Palanka

Bačka Palanka (Бачка Паланка, ; Palánka) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the left bank of the Danube. In 2011 the town had a total population of 28,239, while Bačka Palanka municipality had 55,528 inhabitants.

Name
In Serbian, the town is known as Бачка Паланка or Bačka Palanka, in Slovak as Báčska Palanka, in Croatian as Bačka Palanka, in Hungarian as Bácspalánka, in German as Plankenburg and in Turkish as Küçük Hisar.

Its name means "a town in Bačka" in Serbian. The word "palanka" itself originates from Turkish language. This word was also adopted by Serbs and it is used in the Serbian language with the same meaning. Older Serbian names for this town were Palanka (Паланка), Stara Palanka (Стара Паланка), Nova Palanka (Нова Паланка) and Nemačka Palanka (Немачка Паланка).

History
Archeologists have proved that people have lived in the area for centuries. There are many archaeological objects from the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Roman period.

In the 11th century, this area was populated by Hungarians and Serbs. Bačka Palanka is first mentioned as a settlement in 1486, as a suburb of Ilok called Iločka. Until the 16th century, this area was administered by the Kingdom of Hungary.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the village was the property of a landowner Laurence of Ilok, a duke of Syrmia. It was destroyed by the Ottomans after The Battle of Mohács in 1526, but was then rebuilt as a small Ottoman fortress named Palanka. During the Ottoman administration (16th-17th century), Palanka was mostly populated by ethnic Serbs.

In 1687 Palanka was absorbed into the Habsburg monarchy and more Orthodox Serbs settled here. Palanka was then mentioned as a small town with 167 houses, all of which were Serb (1720 census data). Later, Germans, Slovaks and Hungarians settled here as well.

It was part of the Habsburg Military Frontier from 1702 to 1744. Nova Palanka (New Palanka) was founded between 1765 and 1770, 2 kilometers away from the original Palanka (which then became known as Stara Palanka - Old Palanka) and Nemačka Palanka (German Palanka) was founded by Danube Germans in 1783. Those three towns became one city, Bačka Palanka, in the 20th century.

Palanka's industrial development started in 1765, when a brick plant was built. It got its first post office in 1828. In 1875, one of the first libraries in Vojvodina was opened. In 1884 the Sintelon company was founded. In 1886, the first state school started functioning. By 1894, a railway was built from Bačka Palanka to Feketić and a first phone call was made to Novi Sad.

In the second half of the 19th century, the German population became more numerous than the Serbian. According to the 1910 census, the population of Stara Palanka was mostly Serb, while populations of Nova Palanka and Nemačka Palanka were mostly German (Donauschwaben). A large number of them immigrated to North America both before and after World War II. Trenton, New Jersey was the most popular settling place for these German Palankaers.

The city was under Habsburg administration until 1918, when it became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed as Yugoslavia). During the World War II (from 1941 to 1944), it was under Axis (Horty Hungary) occupation. In 1944, one part of Bačka Palanka's citizens of German ethnicity left the city, together with the defeated German army. As a consequence of the war, the site of a post-World War II work camp for the remaining ethnic Germans (Donauschwaben) was formed here under a new communist administration. After the work camps were dissolved (in 1948), the remaining German population was expelled from Yugoslavia in an ethnic cleansing. To replace the Germans, 3,609 (mostly Serb) colonists were settled in the town after World War II. Most of them originated from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

During the 1990s, about 5,000 refugees from Croatia and Bosnia moved to Bačka Palanka because of the Yugoslav wars. During the NATO bombing in 1999, Bačka Palanka was bombed by NATO twice, on 2 and 27 April. On both occasions the target was the Ilok–Bačka Palanka Bridge. It was only damaged, but not destroyed.

In 2002, 4 tons of fish stew were cooked at Kaloš Čarda at the Bager Lake in Bačka Palanka and it entered the Guinness Book of Records.

Inhabited places
The Bačka Palanka municipality includes the city of Bačka Palanka and several villages.

Villages on the northern bank of the river Danube, in the region of Bačka:
 * Gajdobra
 * Despotovo
 * Karađorđevo
 * Mladenovo
 * Nova Gajdobra
 * Obrovac
 * Parage
 * Pivnice
 * Silbaš
 * Tovariševo
 * Čelarevo

Villages on the southern bank of the river Danube, in the region of Syrmia:
 * Neštin
 * Vizić

Demographics
According to the last official census done in 2011, the municipality of Bačka Palanka has 55,528 inhabitants.

Ethnic composition of the town and municipality:

Tourism
Tourism is developed in Bačka Palanka. The city is famous for Tikvara, a natural monument. Tikvara is a Danube lake. Tikvara covers an area of 5 km². The Tikvara Resort complex is built along the lake for practicing various sports, recreational and entertaining activities. There are 33 archeological sites in the municipality. It is also known for Karađorđevo, which has a hunting ground and horse farm. People enjoy racing derbies in Karađorđevo. At the time of Serbia's emancipation, engraver Marko Vujatović worked on the intricate iconostasis of the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. John the Baptist. Bačka Palanka's Serbian church is one of the oldest churches in Vojvodina some built on foundations of temples of even earlier times. The north of the town is the Bagremara forest.

Economy and industry
Industry in Bačka Palanka started developing in the 18th century. The first companies were built in the second half of the 18th century. A brick plant was opened in 1765, and a tobacco storehouse was opened a year later. In 1974 the Bridge of Youth was built to connect Bačka Palanka and Ilok in Croatia. Today, Bačka Palanka falls among the ten most developed municipalities in Vojvodina. Bačka Palanka municipality is an agricultural and industrial center. The main industries are food, metallurgy, textiles, electronic and machine industry. The most famous factories are Enia, Sintelon, Tarkett, Nectar, Dunavprevoz, AD Bačka, Carlsberg, Marina, Majevica, Plattner, Žitoprodukt, Budućnost and others.

The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):

Sports
Sport is very popular in Bačka Palanka. People enjoy swimming in Lake Tikvara and cycling down the banks of The Danube. Sports include handball, football (soccer), basketball and karate. There is a chess tournament every year, Bačka Palanka Open.

The most famous sport clubs in Bačka Palanka are:
 * FK Bačka, the most popular and most successful football (soccer) club in the municipality, and the second division club's longest trail in northern Serbia after the football club Spartak Subotica, Proleter Zrenjanin and Novi Sad.
 * Stari Grad, football (soccer) club
 * Krila Krajine, football (soccer) club
 * FK ČSK Čelarevo, football (soccer) club in Čelarevo
 * Sintelon, handball club
 * Nopal, women's handball club
 * Sintelon, kayak club
 * Bačka Palanka, basketball club
 * Bačka Palanka, table tennis club

List of town mayors

 * Zvezdan Kisić (Socialist Party of Serbia)
 * Dragan Bozalo (Serbian Radical Party) (2004–08)
 * Kosta Stakić (Democratic Party) (2008–10)
 * Dragan Bozalo (Serbian Radical Party) (2010–12)
 * Bojan Radman (Socialist Party of Serbia) (2012–13)
 * Aleksandar Đedovac (Serbian Progressive Party) (2013–16)
 * Branislav Šušnica (Serbian Progressive Party (2016–)

Municipal parliament
Seats in the municipality parliament won in the 2004 local elections:
 * Serbian Radical Party (16)
 * Democratic Party (9)
 * Socialist Party of Serbia (6)
 * Democratic Party of Serbia (4)
 * Strength of Serbia Movement (3)
 * Serbian Renewal Movement (2)
 * Group of citizens "Club of Pivnice citizens" (2)

Seats in the municipality parliament after 2008 elections:
 * SRS (18)
 * DS (13)
 * SPS (4)
 * DSS (4)
 * G17 (3)
 * PSS
 * SNP

Notable people

 * Alex Andjelic, ice hockey player and coach.
 * Antal Benda (1910-1997), a Hungarian field handball player who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics. Born in Bačka Palanka.
 * Branislav Lončar, a Serbian sport shooter, European champion
 * Franz Eisenhut (1857-1903), a Danube Swabian Orientalist and Realist painter. Born in Bačka Palanka.
 * Milan Janić (1957–2003), a sprint canoeist, Olympic silver medalist and World champion. Born in Bačka Palanka.
 * Natasa Dusev-Janics, a Hungarian canoeist, six-time Olympic medalist. Born in 1982 in Bačka Palanka.
 * Zvezdan Jovanović, also known as Zveki and Zmija (Viper) assassinated former Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić on 12 March 2003.
 * Mihalj Kertes, director of Federal Customs Bureau of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a close associate and man of trust of Slobodan Milošević.
 * Kalman Konrad (1896–1980), one of the best football players in the Kingdom of Hungary in the 1910s. Born in Bačka Palanka.
 * Nikola Krstić, that earned the title of honorary citizen of this town, even though he originated from Belgrade.
 * Milan Kurepa (1933–2000), a renowned Serbian atomic physicist. Born in Bačka Palanka.
 * Milan Mačvan, Serbian basketball player, Olympic silver medalist
 * Aleksandar Petrović (Aca Seltik), singer of the band "Orthodox Celts" from Belgrade.
 * Đorđe Stojaković, Serbian revolutionary, active in the Revolutions of 1848.
 * Dragan Sudžum, handball player.
 * Žarko Šešum, handball player, silver medalist at the European championships.
 * Marko Vujin, handball player, silver medalist at the European championships.
 * Dragan Zorić, a Serbian flatwater canoer and current (2006) world champion. Born in 1979 in Bačka Palanka.
 * Bojan Beljanski, handball player, silver medalist at the European championships.
 * Miljana Knezevic, a Serbian flatwater canoer. 3rd place (2007) in World championship and 3rd place (2008) in European championship.

Twin towns – sister cities
Bačka Palanka is twinned with:
 * 🇷🇺 Otradny, Russia
 * 🇺🇦 Kalush, Ukraine
 * 🇸🇰 Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia

title: Bačka Palanka


text:
Bečej

Bečej (Бечеј, ; Óbecse, ) is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 23,895, while the municipality has 37,351 inhabitants. It is a multiethnic town, predominantly inhabited by Serbs and Hungarians.

History
Bečej was mentioned first during the administration of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1091 under its Latin name Bechey and later in 1238 under Hungarian name Becse. The name probably originated from the Bechey family that had possessions in this area. In the 15th century (from 1419 to 1441) the town was a possession of the Serbian despot Đurađ Branković. Expecting the upcoming defeat of the Serbian Despotate Đurađ Branković transferred all of his movable assets to Bečej before his death in 1456.

In the end of the 15th century, the army of the Kingdom of Hungary led by Serbian despot Vuk Grgurević (Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk) defeated the Ottoman army near Bečej. In 1551, an Ottoman army led by Mehmed paša Sokolović conquered the town. Bečej was administered by the Ottomans between 1551 and 1687 (nominally to 1699) and was part of the Sanjak of Segedin, which was initially in Budin eyalet, latterly in Eğri Eyalet. In Ottoman Turkish it was known as "Beçe".

In the end of the 17th century the Ottoman administration was replaced by a Habsburg one and the settlement was populated by ethnic Serbs from Banat who had run away from the Ottoman Empire. Between 1702 and 1751, the town belonged to the Tisza-Maros section of the Habsburg Military Frontier. After the abolishment of this part of the Frontier in 1751, many Serbs from the town emigrated to Russia (notably to New Serbia and Slavo-Serbia). They founded a new settlement with name Bečej in New Serbia. To prevent this emigration, the Habsburg authorities formed the autonomous District of Potisje with seat in Becse. The District of Potisje was in existence between 1751 and 1848. Three privileges were given to the district in 1759, 1774 and 1800 respectively. The first privilege of the District defined its autonomous status, while the second one allowed ethnic Hungarians to settle in the district. In the following period many Hungarians settled in Becse (the first ones in 1757 ) and gradually replaced the Serbs as the dominant ethnicity in the town. In 1751, the entire population of the town had been composed of Serbs, while in 1774 half of the population was made up of Serbs and another half was composed of Hungarians. According to the 1910 census, the population of Becse municipality numbered 54,275 people, of whom 30,465 spoke Hungarian and 22,821 Serbian. The town of Becse had 19,372 inhabitants in 1910, of which 12,488 spoke Hungarian (64.46%), 6,582 Serbian (33.98%) and 193 German (1%).

A Serb elementary school in Becse was opened in 1703; it is one of the oldest schools in Vojvodina as well as the first elementary school among Serbs. A Hungarian elementary school was opened in Bečej in 1765, while the Jewish elementary school was opened in 1882. A Serb reading house was opened in 1862, and a Hungarian reading house was opened in 1869.

In 1918 Bečej became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and subsequent South Slavic states. During the Hungarian Axis occupation, in the 1942 raid, 215 inhabitants of the town were murdered by Hungarian forces, of whom 111 were men, 72 women, 13 children, and 19 elders. By nationality, the victims included 110 Jews, 102 Serbs, and 1 Hungarian.

Inhabited places
Bečej municipality includes the town of Bečej and the following villages:
 * Bačko Gradište (Hungarian: Bácsföldvár)
 * Bačko Petrovo Selo (Hungarian: Péterréve)
 * Mileševo (Hungarian: Kutaspuszta and Drea)
 * Radičević (Also known as Čikerija)

Note: for settlements with absolute or relative Hungarian majority names are also given in Hungarian.

There are also several sub-settlements in the municipality, including:
 * Poljanice (Hungarian: Pecesor)
 * Novo Selo
 * Drljan

Demographics
Bečej is an ethnically mixed town and municipality. Settlements with a Hungarian ethnic majority are: Bačko Petrovo Selo and Mileševo. There is one settlement with a Serb ethnic majority: Radičević. Two settlements: Bečej and Bačko Gradište are ethnically mixed.

The ethnic composition of the municipality:

Economy
The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2018):

Notable people

 * Janika Balaž, Romani tamburica musician
 * Dejan Perić, Serbian handball player
 * Aleksandar Popović Sandor, first Serb geologist
 * Carl von Than, Austro-Hungarian chemist
 * Mór Than, Hungarian painter
 * Aleksandar Maćašev, Serbian artist and designer
 * Emeric Feher, French photographer
 * Marko Tomićević, Serbian sprint canoer, Olympic silver medalist, World and European champion
 * Marko Novaković, Serbian sprint canoer, World and European champion
 * Dejan Terzić, Serbian sprint canoer
 * Borislava Perić, Serbian table tennis player, Paralympic champion and three-time silver medalist
 * Melinda Nadj Abonji, Swiss writer born in Bečej
 * Milos Sarcev, IFBB professional bodybuilder and coach
 * Slobodan Kalinic, Serbian basketball coach
 * Porfirije, Serbian Patriarch

Twin towns – Sister cities
Bečej is twinned with:
 * 🇷🇴 Miercurea-Ciuc, Romania
 * 🇭🇺 Szekszárd, Hungary
 * 🇭🇺 Csongrád, Hungary

Sports
Bečej is famous for its water polo club VK Bečej which won LEN Champions League in 2000. when the city of Bečej was the host of Final Four.

title: Bečej