text:
Serval

The serval (Leptailurus serval) is a wild cat native to Africa. It is widespread in sub-Saharan countries, except rainforest regions. Across its range, it occurs in protected areas, and hunting it is either prohibited or regulated in range countries.

It is the sole member of the genus Leptailurus. Three subspecies are recognised. The serval is a slender, medium-sized cat that stands 54 - 62 cm at the shoulder and weighs 9 - 18 kg. It is characterised by a small head, large ears, a golden-yellow to buff coat spotted and striped with black, and a short, black-tipped tail. The serval has the longest legs of any cat relative to its body size.

The serval is a solitary carnivore and active both by day and at night. It preys on rodents, particularly vlei rats, small birds, frogs, insects, and reptiles, using its sense of hearing to locate prey. It leaps over 2 m above the ground to land on the prey on its forefeet, and finally kills it with a bite on the neck or the head. Both sexes establish highly overlapping home ranges of 10 to 32 sqkm, and mark them with feces and saliva. Mating takes place at different times of the year in different parts of their range, but typically once or twice a year in an area. After a gestational period of two to three months, a litter of one to four is born. The kittens are weaned at the age of one month and begin hunting on their own at six months of age. They leave their mother at the age of around 12 months.

Etymology
The name "serval" is derived from (lobo-) cerval, i.e. Portuguese for lynx, used by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1765 for a spotted cat that was kept at the time in the Royal Menagerie in Versailles; lobo-cerval is derived from Latin lupus cervarius, literally and respectively "wolf" and "of or pertaining to deer".

The name Leptailurus derives from the Greek λεπτός leptós meaning "fine, delicate", and αἴλουρος aílouros meaning "cat".

Taxonomy
Felis serval was first described by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber in 1776. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the following serval zoological specimens were described:
 * Felis constantina proposed by Georg Forster in 1780 was a specimen from the vicinity of Constantine, Algeria.
 * Felis servalina proposed by William Ogilby in 1839 was based on one serval skin from Sierra Leone with freckle-sized spots.
 * Felis brachyura proposed by Johann Andreas Wagner in 1841 was also a serval skin from Sierra Leone.
 * Felis (Serval) togoensis proposed by Paul Matschie in 1893 were two skins and three skulls from Togo.
 * Felis servalina pantasticta and F. s. liposticta proposed by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1907 were based on one serval from Entebbe in Uganda with a yellowish fur, and one serval skin from Mombasa in Kenya with dusky spots on its belly.
 * Felis capensis phillipsi proposed by Glover Morrill Allen in 1914 was a skin and a skeleton of an adult male serval from El Garef at the Blue Nile in Sudan.

The generic name Leptailurus was proposed by Nikolai Severtzov in 1858. The serval is the sole member of this genus.

In 1944, Pocock recognised three serval races in North Africa. Three subspecies are recognised as valid since 2017:
 * L. s. serval, the nominate subspecies, in Southern Africa
 * L. s. constantina in Central and West Africa
 * L. s. lipostictus in East Africa

Phylogeny
The phylogenetic relationships of the serval have remained in dispute; in 1997, palaeontologists M. C. McKenna and S. K. Bell classified Leptailurus as a subgenus of Felis, while others like O. R. P. Bininda-Edmonds (of the Technical University of Munich) have grouped it with Felis, Lynx and Caracal. Studies in the 2000s and the 2010s show that the serval, along with the caracal and the African golden cat, forms one of the eight lineages of Felidae. According to a 2006 genetic study, the Caracal lineage came into existence 8.5 million years ago, and the ancestor of this lineage arrived in Africa 8.5–5.6 mya.

The phylogenetic relationships of the serval are as follows:

Hybrid
In April 1986, the first savannah cat, a hybrid between a male serval and a female domestic cat, was born; it was larger than a typical domestic kitten and resembled its father in its coat pattern. It appeared to have inherited a few domestic cat traits, such as tameness, from its mother. This cat breed may have a dog-like habit of following its owner about, is adept at jumping and leaping, and can be a good swimmer. Over the years it has gained popularity as a pet.

Characteristics
The serval is a slender, medium-sized cat; it stands 54 to(-) at the shoulder and weighs 8 to(-), but females tend to be lighter. The head-and-body length is typically between 67 and(-). Males tend to be sturdier than females. Prominent characteristics include the small head, large ears, spotted and striped coat, long legs and a black-tipped tail that is around 30 cm long. The serval has the longest legs of any cat relative to its body size, largely due to the greatly elongated metatarsal bones in the feet. The toes are elongated as well, and unusually mobile.

The coat is basically golden-yellow to buff and extensively marked with black spots and stripes. The spots show great variation in size. Facial features include the whitish chin, spots, and streaks on the cheeks and the forehead, brownish or greenish eyes, white whiskers on the snout and near the ears, which are black on the back with a white horizontal band in the middle; three to four black stripes run from the back of the head onto the shoulders and then break into rows of spots. The white underbelly has dense and fluffy basal fur, and the soft guard hairs (the layer of fur protecting the basal fur) are 5 - 10 cm long. Guard hairs are up to 3 cm long on the neck, back and flanks, and are merely 1 cm long on the face. The serval has a good sense of smell, hearing and vision.

The serval is similar to the sympatric caracal, but has a narrower spoor, a rounder skull, and lacks its prominent ear tufts. The closely set ears can rotate up to 180 degrees independently of each other and help in locating prey efficiently.

Both leucistic and melanistic servals have been observed in captivity. In addition, the melanistic variant has been sighted in the wild, with most melanistic servals having been observed in Kenya.

Distribution and habitat
In North Africa, the serval is known only from Morocco and has been reintroduced in Tunisia, but is feared to be extinct in Algeria. It inhabits semi-arid areas and cork oak forests close to the Mediterranean Sea, but avoids rainforests and arid areas. It occurs in the Sahel, and is widespread in Southern Africa. It inhabits grasslands, moorlands, and bamboo thickets at high altitudes up to 3800 m on Mount Kilimanjaro. It prefers areas close to water bodies such as wetland and savanna, which provide cover such as reeds and tall grasses. In the East Sudanian Savanna, it was recorded in the transboundary Dinder–Alatash protected area complex during surveys between 2015 and 2018.

In Zambia's Luambe National Park, the population density was recorded as 0.1 /km2 in 2011. In South Africa, the serval was recorded in Free State, eastern Northern Cape, and southern North West. In Namibia, it is present in Khaudum and Mudumu National Parks.

Behaviour and ecology
The serval is active in the day as well as at night; activity might peak in early morning, around twilight, and at midnight. Servals might be active for a longer time on cool or rainy days. During the hot midday, they rest or groom themselves in the shade of bushes and grasses. Servals remain cautious of their vicinity, though they may be less alert when no large carnivores or prey animals are around. Servals walk as much as 2 to 4 km every night. Servals will often use special trails to reach certain hunting areas. A solitary animal, there is little social interaction among servals except in the mating season, when pairs of opposite sexes may stay together. The only long-lasting bond appears to be of the mother and her cubs, which leave their mother only when they are a year old.

Both males and females establish home ranges, and are most active only in certain regions ('core areas') within them. The area of these ranges can vary from 10 to 32 sqkm; prey density, availability of cover and human interference could be significant factors in determining their size. Home ranges might overlap extensively, but occupants show minimal interaction. Aggressive encounters are rare, as servals appear to mutually avoid one another rather than fight and defend their ranges. On occasions where two adult servals meet in conflict over territory, a ritualistic display may ensue, in which one will place a paw on the other's chest while observing their rival closely; this interaction rarely escalates into a fight.

Agonistic behavior involves vertical movement of the head (contrary to the horizontal movement observed in other cats), raising the hair and the tail, displaying the teeth and the white band on the ears, and yowling. Individuals mark their ranges and preferred paths by spraying urine on nearby vegetation, dropping scats along the way, and rubbing their mouths on grasses or the ground while releasing saliva. Servals tend to be sedentary, shifting only a few kilometres away even if they leave their range.

The serval is vulnerable to hyenas and African wild dogs. It will seek cover to escape its view, and, if the predator is very close, immediately flee in long leaps, changing its direction frequently and with the tail raised. The serval is an efficient, though not frequent, climber; an individual was observed to have climbed a tree to a height of more than 9 m to escape dogs. Like many cats, the serval is able to purr; it also has a high-pitched chirp, and can hiss, cackle, growl, grunt, and meow.

Hunting and diet
The serval is a carnivore that preys on rodents, particularly vlei rats, small birds, hares, frogs, insects, and reptiles, and also feeds on grass that can facilitate digestion or act as an emetic. Up to 90% of the preyed animals weigh less than 200 g; occasionally it also hunts larger prey such as duikers, hares, flamingoes and young antelopes. The percentage of rodents in the diet has been estimated at 80–97%. Apart from vlei rats, other rodents recorded frequently in the diet include the African grass rat, African pygmy mouse and multimammate mice.

The serval locates prey by its strong sense of hearing. It remains motionless for up to 15 minutes; when prey is within range, it jumps with all four feet up to 4 m in the air and attacks with its front paws. To kill small prey, it slowly stalks it, then pounces on it with the forefeet directed toward the chest, and finally lands on it with its forelegs outstretched. The prey, receiving a blow from one or both of the serval's forepaws, is incapacitated, and the serval bites it on the head or the neck and immediately swallows it. Snakes are dealt more blows and even bites, and may be consumed even as they are moving. Larger prey, such as larger birds, are killed by a sprint followed by a leap to catch them as they are trying to flee, and are eaten slowly. Servals have been observed caching large kills to be consumed later by concealing them in dead leaves and grasses. Servals typically get rid of the internal organs of rodents while eating, and pluck feathers from birds before consuming them. During a leap, a serval can reach more than 2 m above the ground and cover a horizontal distance of up to 3.6 m. Servals appear to be efficient hunters; a study in Ngorongoro showed that servals were successful in half of their hunting attempts, regardless of the time of hunting, and a mother serval was found to have a success rate of 62%. The number of kills in a 24-hour period averaged 15 to 16. Scavenging has been observed, but very rarely.

Reproduction
Both sexes become sexually mature when they are one to two years old. Oestrus in females lasts one to four days; it typically occurs once or twice a year, though it can occur three or four times a year if the mother loses her litters. Observations of captive servals suggest that when a female enters oestrus, the rate of urine-marking increases in her as well as the males in her vicinity. Zoologist Jonathan Kingdon described the behavior of a female serval in oestrus in his 1997 book East African Mammals. He noted that she would roam restlessly, spray urine frequently holding her vibrating tail in a vertical manner, rub her head near the place she has marked, salivate continuously, give out sharp and short "miaow"s that can be heard for quite a distance, and rub her mouth and cheeks against the face of an approaching male. The time when mating takes place varies geographically; births peak in winter in Botswana, and toward the end of the dry season in the Ngorongoro Crater. A trend generally observed across the range is that births precede the breeding season of murid rodents.

Gestation lasts for two to three months, following which a litter of one to four kittens is born. Births take place in secluded areas, for example in dense vegetation or burrows abandoned by aardvarks and porcupines. Blind at birth, newborns weigh nearly 250 g and have soft, woolly hair (greyer than in adults) and unclear markings. The eyes open after nine to thirteen days. Weaning begins a month after birth; the mother brings small kills to her kittens and calls out to them as she approaches the "den". A mother with young kittens rests for a notably lesser time and has to spend almost twice the time and energy for hunting than do other servals. If disturbed, the mother shifts her kittens one by one to a more secure place. Kittens eventually start accompanying their mother to hunts. At around six months, they acquire their permanent canines and begin to hunt themselves; they leave their mother at about 12 months of age. They may reach sexual maturity from 12 to 25 months of age. Life expectancy is about 10 years in the wild and up to 20 years in captivity.

Conservation
The degradation of wetlands and grasslands is a major threat to the survival of the serval. Trade of serval skins, though on the decline, still occurs in countries such as Benin and Senegal. In West Africa, the serval has significance in traditional medicine. Pastoralists often kill servals to protect their livestock, though servals generally do not prey on livestock.

The serval is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List, and is included in CITES Appendix II. It occurs in several protected areas across its range. Hunting of servals is prohibited in Algeria, Botswana, Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tunisia, and South Africa's Cape Province; hunting regulations apply in Angola, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Malawi, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, and Zambia.

In culture
The association of servals with human beings dates to the time of Ancient Egypt. Servals are depicted as gifts or traded objects from Nubia in Egyptian art.

Servals are occasionally kept as pets, although their wild nature means that ownership of servals is regulated in some countries.

title: Serval


text:
Talk:Mahjong

Limit Hand: Heavenly Gates
My understanding is that the hand Heavenly Gates is never ever melded. The 13 tiles must be concealed, and depending on rule variations, the 14th can be a discard (impure) or self drawn (pure), although both ways pay the limit. The whole reason behind its name Heavenly Gates, and reputation as the most perfect hand, is that any of the same suit tiles will complete the hand (complementing the 13 tiles in hand as a pair, pung or chow, to produce the required four sets and a pair): Note how the sets shift depending on which tile completes the hand. If any sets are melded, the winning tile is much more limited and the hand is thus not 'Heavenly', but ordinary. Having melded sets would be considered cheating - it elevates a mere single suit hand of multiple chows and one or two pungs to a limit hand. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.210.161.120 (talk) 08:21, 23 August 2012 (UTC)
 * If the hand is completed by a 1: the hand is 111 123 456 789 99
 * If the hand is completed by a 2: the hand is 111 345 678 999 22
 * If the hand is completed by a 3: the hand is 123 345 678 999 11
 * If the hand is completed by a 4: the hand is 111 234 456 789 99
 * If the hand is completed by a 5: the hand is 111 234 678 999 55
 * If the hand is completed by a 6: the hand is 123 456 678 999 11
 * If the hand is completed by a 7: the hand is 111 234 567 789 99
 * If the hand is completed by a 8: the hand is 111 234 567 999 88
 * If the hand is completed by a 9: the hand is 123 456 789 999 11
 * In most versions Heavenly gates must be concealed or fully concealed. In a few variations or table rules...a previously melded pong of 1 and or 9 can be included and it is considered half-limit or specific amount of points less than a limit hand/max points.. --Shabidoo | Talk 03:50, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

Beijing Mahjong
In the flash game Beijing Mahjong http://www.mahjongready.com/games/Play/Beijing-Mahjong.htm (fully Chinese), I don't understand any of the unusual winning hands (from the instructions). Can anyone translate these winning hands (and the conditions) so I can try them while playing:

 * 坐庄 (坐莊) - 两翻 (points doubled for hand)
 * 听牌 (聽牌)- 两翻
 * Won with a ready hand
 * 门清 (門清) - 两翻
 * 自摸 - 两翻
 * Won with the winning tile drawn?
 * 地胡 - 四翻 (points quadrupled for hand)
 * 天听 (天聽) - 两翻
 * 天胡 - 四翻
 * 杠呲 - 两翻
 * Winning tile is from a Kong
 * 捉伍魁 - 两翻
 * 一条龙 (一條龍) - 两翻
 * Hand has 1-9, Chow (吃) of a suit.
 * 七小对 (七小對)- 两翻
 * Hand has seven pairs
 * 豪华七小对 - 四翻
 * 字一色 - 四翻
 * Hand is pure honors (no wan, circle, or bamboo tiles)
 * 清一色 - 四翻
 * Hand is purely either wan, circle, or bamboo tiles (no honors)
 * 全求人 - 十六翻 (points multiplied by a power of 16?)

For the kongs:
 * 明杠 - 1個(5分/個)
 * Exposed kong, 5 points for each said kong in winning hand.
 * 暗杠 - 1個(10分/個)
 * Concealed kong, 10 points for each said kong in winning hand.

Some already have conditions, so I would like others to help me as well. (In-game, some of the characters are in Traditional Chinese) Thanks!
 * 99.27.105.64 (talk) 01:45, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

 * Sorry for the long wait, here are the doubles:
 * 坐莊 - dealer bonus
 * 聽牌 - declared ready hand
 * 門清 - no open melds
 * 自摸 - win by self-pick
 * 地胡 - hand of earth
 * 天聽 - win by first discard?
 * 天胡 - hand of heaven
 * 杠呲 - win by dead tile after a kong
 * 捉伍魁 - "catch" a 5 wan for a winning chow of 456 wan
 * 一條龍 - run of 123-456-789 of same suit
 * 七小對 - seven pairs
 * 豪华七小對 - pairs and at least a quad/tile hog (latter should not be of a wind tile or called kong)
 * 字一色 - all honors
 * 清一色 - flush
 * 全求人 - at least a chow, pung, and kong (no added kong) from discards, then win by pair
 * 明杠 - open kong (5 points per kong)
 * 暗杠 - concealed kong (10 points per kong)
 * Enjoy! ～ POKéTalker（═◉═） 13:49, 21 October 2020 (UTC)

Old Hong Kong mahjong but with American terminology?
The section describes mahjong as played in Hong Kong but the terminology is from the American version. Examples: bamboo, stones, characters, dragons, goulash, going mahjong.--Countakeshi (talk) 21:30, 25 April 2016 (UTC)
 * The game doesn't describe how mahjong is played in Hong Kong (many play modern hong kong or ISR)...it describes one particular rule set which is called "Hong Kong Mahjong" which was in the past played by some in Hong Kong as well as others outside of Hong Kong. It does not belong to Hong Kong and few English speaking players use Cantonese or Mandarin terms when playing. When English players play Mahjong, they use English (not American) terminology with the possible exception of "chow, pong, kong" translated from various Chinese dialects or even Japanese/Korean. We aren't going to put five different langauge translations next to every single mahjong term. It is the English language term as not all English speaking players are American. If it was American terminology then it would include terms only used in "American mahjong rules" which is not the case here. There is already a heavy saturation of Chinese, Japanese, Korean translated terms listed next to most terms listed in English. The article will only become even more jammed with terminology translations and pronunciations at a level that is rarely seen in other articles on Wikipedia. --Shabidoo | Talk 14:02, 2 May 2016 (UTC)
 * As far as I know there are no other widely used English terms for Mahjong, American or otherwise, so I don't know what other terminology could be used. --5.65.87.152 (talk) 15:26, 3 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your input. "American terminology" should be better described as "Babcock terminology". From looking around at the wikis in other languages, every language except for Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and Korean uses Babcock's terms. The Vietnamese were already well acquainted with Chinese terms since they use various types of Chinese playing cards including the closely related Bài tới and Tổ tôm decks. The Japanese imported the game in 1909 and transliterated the Chinese terms. Korean seems to be part translation and part transliteration probably through multiple vectors including Japanese influence during the occupation period. Babcock was not entirely wrong when he used "dragons" for the three elemental or cardinal honors. He preferred (and sold) a less common variant set that used red dragons (龍) and green phoenixes (鳳). I think the section "Mahjong in the West" is too narrow as it deals primarily with the US and not where it is most popular, other East and Southeast Asian countries. The game's popularity lasted longer in the British Empire and there are various continental European styles as well.--Countakeshi (talk) 16:38, 31 May 2016 (UTC)

Old text
"Old Hong Kong Mahjong" uses the same basic features and rules as the majority of the different variations of the game. This form of Mahjong uses all of the tiles of the most commonly available sets, includes no exotic complex rules, and has a relatively small set of scoring sets/hands with a simple scoring system. For these reasons Hong Kong mahjong is a suitable variation for the introduction of game rules and play and is the focus of this article.

The above text is not neutral view at all. It favors one form of mahjong over others. KyuuA4 (Talk:キュウ) 21:28, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

Foreign terms should be used sparringly
As per MOS:FOREIGN I think parts of this article has become filled with foreign terms. It's totally appropriate in the section: "name" and "variations" as well as in the lede and infobox, they clog up the article in other sections. We don't need a translations of the word "chow" or "dragons" in multiple languages in the actual article. This creates information overload and disrupts the flow of the article. I do believe having these terms in other languages is useful. I would like to either put these terms in footnotes, or have an embedded glossary (as the glossary wouldn't be large enough to have a standalone article. Shabidoo | Talk 19:39, 6 July 2016 (UTC)

Potential source material
Just leaving it here: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/phr.2010.79.3.329?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents KyuuA4 (Talk:キュウ) 21:31, 14 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Great. Thanks kyuuA4! I'll read it when i get a chance. Considere editing the article and/or offer suggestions etc! --Shabidoo | Talk 14:18, 15 October 2016 (UTC)

too many cooks spoil the broth
"mahjong is also spelled mahjong"... wut? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.189.203.163 (talk) 23:47, 23 November 2016 (UTC)
 * Good point. I have corrected. --Roly (talk) 09:24, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

Some inconsistencies in the explanation of scoring
I'm not an expert but hoping someone who is can clarify these apparent inconsistencies in the text:
 * 1) Bonus Fan: "A player only scores a bonus fan for Flowers or Seasons if it is their own flower or season (East=1, South=2, West=3 and North=4) or if the player has all four Flowers or all four Seasons (scoring 5 fan in total)."  According to the table above however it would be 3 fan, as the table says "All 4 Flowers: 2 (plus one for own flower)."  Which is correct?
 * 2) Examples, Hand 1: states that 4 fan --> 1 base point, but the fan to base point table says 4 fan --> 2 base points.  Which is correct?
 * 3) Limit hands: "A common scoring limit is 64 points, which is the highest base points doubled twice."  According to what precedes this sentence, the highest base points is 8, and doubling that twice would lead to 8->16->32.  So is 32 the common scoring limit, or should it say doubled thrice, or is 8 not really the highest base points?

Ottosmo (talk) 17:14, 30 June 2017 (UTC)

 * Thanks a lot for pointing out these inconsistencies!

 * 1. Yes, this should be corrected. I'll take a look at the article history to see how that happened.

 * Limit hands: What was meant (but not well expressed) was that the limit of 64 is double "two doubles" or "twice as much as 2x2" (as there cannot be more than two doubles for a regular hand. This means a limit hand will score twice as much as you could get for a regular hand. I'll also check out the history there. I'll also mention that 64 is just one possible limit. 16 and 32 are also accepted limit hands amongst various players

 * Heavenly gates. Yes, there are nine legal hands (though it's hard to imagine how before trying to work them out). I was also surprised when I realised that it is possible:
 * 11(1) 123 456 789 99
 * 111 (2)2 345 678 999
 * 11 123 (3)45 678 999
 * 111 234 (4)56 789 99
 * 111 234 (5)5 678 999
 * 11 123 456 (6)78 999
 * 111 234 567 (7)89 99
 * 111 234 567 (8)8 999
 * 11 123 456 789 (9)99

 * Shabidoo | Talk 02:20, 1 July 2017 (UTC)

Another scoring inconsistency?
If one's hand always consists of 14 tiles, how can a winning hand have "Four kongs, plus eyes" or "Four concealed pongs, plus eyes"? --108.24.202.139 (talk) 05:59, 26 August 2023 (UTC)

Additional suggestions

 * I think we need to elaborate on the Drawing tiles section:
 * As I understand it, the "stacks" of the "wall" (ie. the four sides of the square wall that the players have made) are two tiles high. We do not say whether tiles are drawn from the highest level or in top-tile-then-bottom-tile pairs.  I assume you work your way around the top level of the entire wall, then continue with the bottom layer, as opposed to making a larger and larger gap in the wall, but we should be explicit.
 * We say that "players in anti-clockwise order draw blocks of four tiles", but later, we say that, depending on house rules, the dealer might be penalized for exposed tiles. So, are the players drawing blocks of four tiles, or is the dealer dealing blocks of four tiles to the players?  If the players are drawing the tiles, then the example penalty should be that the drawing player might be penalized for exposing a tile.  If the dealer is dealing to the other players then we shouldn't say that players draw the blocks of four tiles.
 * Are tiles drawn clockwise or widdershins from the stacks?  We do not state the direction in which tiles are pulled from the stacks; we only say the order of players who will be receiving those tiles.
 * We say that "If a player gets any Flowers or Seasons tiles in the replacement draw, the players must wait for the next turn to draw replacement tiles." What is a turn?  Did we mean that the player who drew a second bonus tile as a replacement must set the bonus tiles aside and wait until their next turn to draw a replacement?

 * I think we need a dedicated seizure section to explain the mechanics of how tiles are seized, rather than forcing somebody down into the "Melding another player's discard" portion of the vaguely named "Interruption of play" section. The main Rules section just says a player can "seize" a discarded tile.
 * The scetion should say up front that you can only seize a tile if you can form a meld with it.
 * A seizure section should mention the order of priority.
 * We should be explicit that play continues to the right of the player who just seized and melded unless somebody can seize the tile they just discarded. (At least, I assume this is so)
 * Is there any way to seize tiles that were discarded earlier? If not, we should explicitly say that.

 * In the melds section:
 * To avoid confusion, we should explicitly say that, in spite of the term, a concealed meld is not fully hidden, face down.
 * Under "Kong", we say "Whenever a Kong is formed, that player must draw an extra tile from the end of the wall and then discard a tile". We should probably add "so that a tile will still be available for seizure (Since the previously gained tile is now part of the Kong)" or some such thing.  (At least, I assume that is why the Konger has to draw then discard a second time)
 * Can you only rob a Kong in order to win the hand? We should be explicit.

These might be glaringly obvious to most people, but I have had to read through the rules a few times to understand these points, and I am still not sure (which is why I am not editting directly)

-- Bertrc (talk) 20:08, 24 September 2021 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Mahjong. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110516224304/http://gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/Archives/Culin/Majong1924/index.html to http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/Archives/Culin/Majong1924/index.html

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

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 03:18, 13 January 2018 (UTC)

GREAT WORK EVERYONE
Really well done dog2 for copyediting and clarifying, there was a lot that needed cleaning up or exapnding on! And mliu92 for modifying tables and images and other tweaks making the article look great! It's a much better article now everyone!! Shabidoo | Talk 21:19, 24 August 2018 (UTC)
 * My pleasure. I was just trying to add the terms that I know as someone who is somewhat familiar with mahjong myself. I hope it's been of help. The dog2 (talk) 00:52, 25 August 2018 (UTC)

Categorizing variants
Currently, the variants section is just a list of games. They should be sorted out based on similarity and lineage possibly with a branching diagram to show descent.--Countakeshi (talk) 02:03, 26 August 2019 (UTC)

Simples
The term "simples" (in 2.1.1) to denote the suits seems incorrect. The table in 3.3.2 (Tiles) refers, I think, correctly, to them as "suits". My understanding was that the ones and nines are called "terminals", and the twos to eights are called "simples". This distinction doesn't seem to be made in "Hong Kong" rules, but in European rules they take an important place in scoring. 124.168.145.69 (talk) 22:38, 2 July 2021 (UTC)
 * You are completely correct. I'll get to changing it ASAP! Thanks for pointing that out. Shabidoo | Talk 15:26, 3 July 2021 (UTC)

wind directions
In the article there is talk of inverted wind directions, where North is left of East. Yes, this is not the way we are used to in geography, but for astronomers such as me this is quite natural, as we are looking outwards from the earth on the sky, so when North is up on a map, East is naturally on the left. I don't know if you want a new word for that, instead of *inverted*, but perhaps a reference to astronomy where this is natural is in place. Made we wonder how the game designers came up with this convention though. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Teuben (talk • contribs) 01:10, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

Sources/Translations for Vietnamese and other regional rules
A friend recently bought a tile set with unfamiliar tiles that, based on the info on this page, are tiles from the Vietnamese ruleset. However, the current page does not have details on the Vietnamese ruleset, and the only two citations on the page are academic articles and a hobbyist website which only describe the tiles and not how Vietnamese mahjong is actually played (scoring, faan, hands, etc).

I'd appreciate it if more sources on the Vietnamese ruleset could be included, or that the page include a translation from the Vietnamese wikipedia page. It's minor enough that I'm not going to add a translation request template, but I would greatly appreciate if the relevant info was added; I think it makes sense to not just unique tiles for regional rulesets but also differing rules. The same also applies for the info on Thai mahjong. --LatakiaHill (talk) 04:36, 20 February 2022 (UTC)
 * By all means, please do improve the Vietnamese section! Shabidoo | Talk 22:01, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

Sixteenth source
mahjong.wikidot.com is listed as a source. However, Wikidot is an unreliable source as it is a wiki hosting site, and thus user-generated. --112.213.213.216 (talk) 10:05, 6 June 2022 (UTC)

Advice wanted: Articles for deletion/Mahjong Competition Rules
Please take a look at the Articles for deletion/Mahjong Competition Rules discussion and at the article itself, Mahjong Competition Rules. This article is very long and detailed -- perhaps too long for Wikipedia? The idea has been raised to move it from Wikipedia to Wikibooks. What does the Wikipedia mahjong community think? How does this article fit with the other mahjong-related articles? Mahjong players' advice would benefit this discussion.

Thanks, -- A. B. (talk • contribs • global count) 18:10, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

Comparison of Mahjong variations: American does not have melded chows?
Hi In the table it is green check mark for melded chows for American variant. I'm not to familiar with the American version but on the Mahjong Wiki it says it does not have Melded chows. http://mahjong.wikidot.com/rules:american-scoring So this may need to be corrected. 80.217.29.225 (talk) 07:41, 28 July 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Writing Workshop
— Assignment last updated by Nymaker (talk) 20:41, 16 November 2023 (UTC)

Why Mahjong is important to Asians?
Mahjong culture is very important to trans-asian from the very beginning. As Heinz, Annelise says in her book Mahjong : A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture:''Men crowded around the table where the mahjong game was in full swing. Others gathered near the phonograph spinning Cantonese opera records. Domino players shuffled Chinese coins nearby; the mahjong players had smaller piles of their own. The high window of this former bathroom let in enough light to play but offered no view of the ocean. Just as well, since the men could not venture past the fences anyway. Stuck indefinitely in the immigration detention center at Angel Island just offshore San Francisco, they waited for their interrogations to begin, end, or be decided. The hours were long and the company changed from one week to the next as young and old came and went through the detention center’s locked doors. Rumors lingered in the air about a man whom they deported, a food riot, a woman who hanged herself in the bathroom. All over the Chinese barracks, the walls sang silently with poems of longing and frustration carved into the wooden boards. The players focused for the moment on the game. It was 1930.''In the book, Heinz illustrate the figurative scene of the 19s' mahjong culture.

Besides the origin of Mahjong, China, Mahjong has been having essential cultural factor in other Asian countries, and even in Asian communities all around the world. Heinz mentioned in her book that “For the first half of the twentieth century, Asians in America encountered an acute tension between inclusion and exclusion. Individuals of Chinese and Japanese heritage, resident by migration or American by birth, shared experiences of segregation and incarceration. Their positions were indelibly shaped by the twists and turns of geopolitics between the United States and China or Japan, as well as American domestic politics around economic competition felt or feared by white Americans. Geopolitical relationships had profound consequences for policies that targeted one national group or another, particularly those focused on movement— whether migration across borders or residence during wartime. American concepts of race and ethnicity dynamically fractured and solidified— sometimes hardening distinctions between the meaning of Chinese and Japanese descent while offering more inclusion to one or another, and sometimes unifying them under a racial understanding of essential difference that could never be assimilated. Chinese and Japanese Americans and immigrants also positioned themselves in opposition to each other for reasons beyond American politics, related especially to China’s relative weakness and vulnerability to Western and Japanese aggression, and Japan’s rising militarism and invasions of China.” Mahjong is not only a game today, it is a connection of communities with same cultural background.

Heinz, Annelise. Mahjong : A Chinese Game and the Making of Modern American Culture, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2021. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nyulibrary-ebooks/detail.action?docID=6524250. DtHammonddd (talk) 21:36, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

 * Ma 112.201.254.16 (talk) 01:35, 15 January 2024 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:Mahjong


text:
Half Moon Bay (disambiguation)

Half Moon Bay is a city in San Mateo County, California

Half Moon Bay may also refer to:

Australia

 * Halfmoon Bay (Tasmania), a bay in Tasmania, near Hobart
 * Half Moon Bay (Victoria), a bay in Black Rock, Victoria

In Canada

 * Half Moon Bay (Nunavut), an Arctic waterway in Nunavut
 * Half Moon Bay (Toronto), a body of water near Ontario Place (west of Stanley Barracks / New Fort York) and place where United States Navy made land fall during the Battle of York
 * Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia, a community on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia

New Zealand

 * Half Moon Bay, Auckland, a coastal suburb located near Pakuranga in Auckland
 * Halfmoon Bay (Stewart Island), a bay on the eastern coast of Stewart Island/Rakiura and also sometimes the name for Oban, New Zealand on the same island

Saudi Arabia

 * Half Moon Bay, Saudi Arabia

United States

 * Half Moon Bay (California), a bay on the San Mateo County coast of California, namesake of the city there

Other uses

 * Half Moon Bay (album), by Bill Evans, 1998
 * "Half Moon Bay", a 2009 song by Train from Save Me, San Francisco
 * Half Moon Beach, Gokarna

title: Half Moon Bay (disambiguation)


text:
Talk:Gary Hart

Infobox photo
I've believe Hart's official congressional photo is the best to use for the info box. Would like to hear others views one way or the other Work permit (talk) 19:45, 10 August 2018 (UTC).

title: Talk:Gary Hart


text:
User talk:Quoting mungo

Hi, and welcome to Wikipedia! It's good to see you taking an interest in our policy pages, such as How to edit a page. However, there is a reason that eth and thorn were not included in the list of special characters. Check out Special characters, towards the bottom where it says "Unsafe characters." I must admit, I am not too sure why they are considered unsafe. Probably because they may not render correctly in some browsers. Anyway, the general policy seems to be to avoid them (and use substitutes such as "d", "dh" or "th"), so I have removed them from How to edit a page. Let me know if you think we should reconsider our policy of considering them unsafe, and maybe we can re-insert them. Thanks! -- Wapcaplet 18:05 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)
 * My wrong, I had not seen the reference to the special characters page, and have previously seen eth and thorn left out out of ignorance. Must admit I find it strange that some far weirder characters are included in standard ASCII.

Little context in Taxidermist
Hello, this is a message from an automated bot. A tag has been placed on Taxidermist, by another Wikipedia user, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. The tag claims that it should be speedily deleted because Taxidermist is very short providing little or no context to the reader. Please see Wikipedia:Stub for our minimum information standards for short articles. To contest the tagging and request that administrators wait before possibly deleting Taxidermist, please affix the template to the page, and put a note on its talk page. If the article has already been deleted, see the advice and instructions at WP:WMD. Please note, this bot is only informing you of the nomination for speedy deletion, it did not nominate Taxidermist itself. Feel free to leave a message on the bot operator's talk page if you have any questions about this or any problems with this bot. --Android Mouse Bot 2 00:17, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Quoting mungo


text:
Yo (greeting)

Yo is a slang interjection, commonly associated with  North American English. It was popularized by the Italian-American community in  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the 1940s.

Although often used as a greeting and often deployed at the beginning of a sentence, yo may also come at the end of a sentence and/or may be used to place emphasis on or to direct focus onto a particular individual, group, or issue at hand, or to gain the attention of another individual or group. It may also be used to express excitement, surprise, disbelief, enthusiasm, anger, or amazement.

Etymology and history
The interjection yo was first used in Middle English. In addition to yo, it was also sometimes written io.

Though the term may have been in use in an isolated manner in different contexts earlier in English, its current usage and popularity derives from its use in Philadelphia's Italian American population in the twentieth century, which spread to other ethnic groups in the city, notably among Philadelphia African Americans, and later spread beyond Philadelphia.

From the late twentieth century, it frequently appeared in hip hop music and became associated with African American Vernacular English, as seen in the title Yo! MTV Raps, a popular American television hip-hop music program in the late 1980s.

Notable uses
A frequent example of the expression is fictional Philadelphian Italian-American Rocky Balboa, where the word is used throughout all of the Rocky films and is part of the iconic line, "Yo, Adrian, I did it!", which was ranked 80th in the AFI's list of 100 best movie quotes.

The phrase "Yo, Blair. What are you doing?" was supposedly an informal greeting that United States President George W. Bush gave to British prime minister Tony Blair during the G8 summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on July 17, 2006. However, other sources state that Bush’s usage of the word "yo" is a “myth” and that the president actually said "Yeah, Blair".

Other uses

 * In Baltimore, and possibly other cities, yo (or a word coincidentally identical to it) has become a gender-neutral pronoun.

title: Yo (greeting)


text:
Freediving

Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving, is a mode of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.

Besides the limits of breath-hold, immersion in water and exposure to high ambient pressure also have physiological effects that limit the depths and duration possible in freediving.

Examples of freediving activities are traditional fishing techniques, competitive and non-competitive freediving, competitive and non-competitive spearfishing and freediving photography, synchronised swimming, underwater football, underwater rugby, underwater hockey, underwater target shooting and snorkeling. There are also a range of "competitive apnea" disciplines; in which competitors attempt to attain great depths, times, or distances on a single breath.

Historically, the term free diving was also used to refer to scuba diving, due to the freedom of movement compared with surface supplied diving.

History

In ancient times freediving without the aid of mechanical devices was the only possibility, with the exception of the occasional use of reeds and leather breathing bladders. The divers faced the same problems as divers today, such as decompression sickness and blacking out during a breath hold. Freediving was practiced in ancient cultures to gather food, harvest resources such as sponge and pearl, reclaim sunken valuables, and to help aid military campaigns.

In Ancient Greece, both Plato and Homer mention the sponge as being used for bathing. The island of Kalymnos was a main centre of diving for sponges. By using weights (skandalopetra) of as much as 15 kg to speed the descent, breath-holding divers would descend to depths up to 30 m to collect sponges. Harvesting of red coral was also done by divers.

The Mediterranean had large amounts of maritime trade. As a result of shipwrecks, particularly in the fierce winter storms, divers were often hired to salvage whatever they could from the seabed. Divers would swim down to the wreck and choose the most valuable pieces to salvage.

Divers were also used in warfare. Defenses against sea vessels were often created, such as underwater barricades, and hence divers were often used to scout out the seabed when ships were approaching an enemy harbor. If barricades were found, it was divers who were used to disassemble them, if possible. During the Peloponnesian War, divers were used to get past enemy blockades to relay messages as well as supplies to allies or troops that were cut off, and in 332 BC, during the Siege of Tyre, the city used divers to cut the anchor cables of Alexander's attacking ships.

In Japan, ama divers began to collect pearls about 2,000 years ago. For thousands of years, most seawater pearls were retrieved by divers working in the Indian Ocean, in areas such as the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and in the Gulf of Mannar (between Sri Lanka and India). A fragment of Isidore of Charax's Parthian itinerary was preserved in Athenaeus's 3rd-century Sophists at Dinner, recording freediving for pearls around an island in the Persian Gulf.

Pearl divers near the Philippines were also successful at harvesting large pearls, especially in the Sulu Archipelago. At times, the largest pearls belonged by law to the sultan, and selling them could result in the death penalty for the seller. Nonetheless, many pearls made it out of the archipelago by stealth, ending up in the possession of the wealthiest families in Europe. Pearling was popular in Qatar, Bahrain, Japan, and India. The Gulf of Mexico was also known for pearling. Native Americans harvested freshwater pearls from lakes and rivers like the Ohio, Tennessee, and Mississippi, while others dived for marine pearls from the Caribbean and waters along the coasts of Central and South America.

In 1940, Dottie Frazier pioneered freediving for women in the United States and also began teaching classes. It was also during this time that she began to design and sell rubber suits for Navy UDT divers.

Spearfishing
Spearfishing is an ancient method of fishing that has been used throughout the world for millennia. Early civilizations were familiar with the custom of spearing fish from rivers and streams using sharpened sticks.

Today modern spearfishing makes use of elastic powered spearguns and slings, or compressed gas pneumatic powered spearguns, to strike the hunted fish. Specialised techniques and equipment have been developed for various types of aquatic environments and target fish. Spearfishing may be done using free-diving, snorkelling, or scuba diving techniques. Spearfishing while using scuba equipment is illegal in some countries. The use of mechanically powered spearguns is also outlawed in some countries and jurisdictions. Spearfishing is highly selective, normally uses no bait and has limited by-catch.

Collection of shellfish
Some types of shellfish are collected by freediving. One example is the historical recreational collection of abalone in South Africa, before illegal harvesting reduced stocks to levels which resulted in recreational collection being banned indefinitely. This did not completely stop illegal harvesting because selling illegally harvested abalone remained lucrative.

Aquathlon
Aquathlon (also known as underwater wrestling) is an underwater sport where two competitors wearing masks and fins wrestle underwater in an attempt to remove a ribbon from each other's ankle band in order to win the bout. The "combat" takes place in a 5-metre (16 ft) square ring within a swimming pool, and is made up of three 30-second rounds, with a fourth round played in the event of a tie. The sport originated during the 1980s in the former USSR (now Russia) and was first played at international level in 1993. It was recognised by the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) in 2008.

Competitive spearfishing
Competitive spearfishing is defined by the world governing body CMAS as "the hunting and capture of fish underwater without the aid of artificial breathing devices, using gear that depends entirely on the physical strength of the competitor." They publish a set of competition rules that are used by affiliated organisations.

Synchronised swimming
Synchronized swimming is a hybrid form of swimming, dance, and gymnastics, consisting of swimmers (either solos, duets, trios, combos, or teams) performing a synchronized routine of elaborate moves in the water, accompanied by music. Synchronized swimming demands advanced water skills, and requires great strength, endurance, flexibility, grace, artistry and precise timing, as well as exceptional breath control when upside down underwater. During lifts swimmers are not allowed to touch the bottom.

Traditionally it was a women's sport, but following the addition of a new mixed-pair event, FINA World Aquatics competitions are open to men since the 16th 2015 championships in Kazan, and the other international and national competitions allow male competitors in every event. However, men are currently still barred from competing in the Olympics. Both USA Synchro and Synchro Canada allow men to compete with women. Most European countries also allow men to compete, and France even allows male only podiums, according to the number of participants. In the past decade, more men are becoming involved in the sport and a global biannual competition called Men's Cup has been steadily growing.

Swimmers perform two routines for the judges, one technical and one free, as well as age group routines and figures. Synchronized swimming is both an individual and team sport. Swimmers compete individually during figures, and then as a team during the routine. Figures are made up of a combination of skills and positions that often require control, strength, and flexibility. Swimmers are ranked individually for this part of the competition. The routine involves teamwork and synchronization. It is choreographed to music and often has a theme. Synchronized swimming is governed internationally by FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation).

Underwater hockey
Underwater hockey (also called octopush, mainly in the United Kingdom) is a globally played limited-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a hockey puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into the opposing team's goal by propelling it with a hockey stick. The sport originated in England in 1954 when Alan Blake, the founder of the newly formed Southsea Sub-Aqua Club, invented the game he called octopush to keep the club's members interested and active during the cold winter months, when open-water diving lost its appeal. Underwater hockey is now played worldwide, governed by the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS). The first Underwater Hockey World Championship was held in Canada in 1980, after a planned championship in 1979 was scuttled by international politics and apartheid.

Underwater football
Underwater football is a two-team underwater sport that shares common elements with underwater hockey and underwater rugby. As with both of those games, it is played in a swimming pool with snorkeling equipment (mask, snorkel, and fins). The goal of the game is to manoeuvre (by carrying and passing) a slightly negatively buoyant ball from one side of a pool to the other by players who are completely submerged underwater. Scoring is achieved by placing the ball (under control) in the gutter on the side of the pool. Variations include using a toy rubber torpedo as the ball, and weighing down buckets to rest on the bottom and serve as goals.

It is played in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Saskatchewan.

Underwater rugby
Underwater rugby is an underwater team sport. During a match, two teams try to score a negatively buoyant ball (filled with saltwater) into the opponents’ goal at the bottom of a swimming pool. It originated from within the physical fitness training regime existing in German diving clubs during the early 1960s and has little in common with rugby football except for the name. It was recognised by the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) in 1978 and was first played as a world championship in 1980.

Underwater target shooting
Underwater target shooting is an underwater sport that tests a competitors’ ability to accurately use a speargun via a set of individual and team events conducted in a swimming pool using free diving or apnea technique. The sport was developed in France during the early 1980s and is currently practised mainly in Europe. It is known as Tir sur cible subaquatique in French and as Tiro al Blanco Subacuático in Spanish.

Competitive apnea
Competitive freediving is currently governed by two world associations: AIDA International and Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS). Historically, there were two more organisations that regulated freediving records and activities — International Association of Freedivers (IAFD) and Freediving Regulations and Education Entity (FREE). Each organization has its own rules on recognizing a record attempt which can be found on the organization's website. Alongside competitive disciplines, there are record disciplines — disciplines that are not held in competitions, that are just for setting world records. There is a third organization, Guinness, which in addition to AIDA and CMAS presides over record disciplines.

Almost all types of competitive freediving are individual sports based on the best individual achievement. Exceptions to this rule are the bi-annual AIDA Team World Championship, where the combined score of the team members makes up the team's total points, and Skandalopetra diving competitions held by CMAS, the only truly ‘team’ event in freediving for which teams are formed by two athletes: one acting as the diver (βουτηχτής) and the other acting as an assistant (κολαουζέρης).

Disciplines
There are currently eleven recognized disciplines defined by AIDA and CMAS, and a dozen more that are only practiced locally. All disciplines can be practiced by both men and women, and only CMAS currently separates records in fresh water from those at sea. The disciplines of AIDA can be done both in competition and as a record attempt, with the exception of variable weight and no limits, which are both solely for record attempts. For all AIDA depth disciplines, the depth the athlete will attempt is announced before the dive; this is accepted practice for both competition and record attempts. Most divers choose monofin (MF) over bifins (BF) where there is a choice.

 * Overview of the above disciplines

World records
The best official result in static apnea is the Guinness WR of 11:54 by Branko Petrović in 2014, a freediver who has results over 10 minutes under both AIDA and CMAS. The best no limits result is 253.2m by Herbert Nitsch in 2012; his intention of having the dive sanctioned by AIDA fell through due to a sponsoring conflict. After 2001, AIDA International no longer separated the records achieved in fresh water from those in the sea.

CMAS recognized world records
, the CMAS recognized world records are:

AIDA recognized world records
The AIDA recognized world records are:

Guinness recognized world records
The following table only includes those disciplines that are modifications of existing AIDA or CMAS disciplines and Guinness-exclusive (as it recognizes and inherits some AIDA/CMAS records) or Guinness-conceived (CMAS and AIDA do/did sanction at some time) disciplines.

Recreational
Freediving as a recreational activity is widely practiced and differs significantly from scuba diving. Although there are potential risks to all freediving, it can be safely practiced using a wide range of skill levels from the average snorkeler to the professional freediver. Compared to scuba diving, freediving offers:

 * Freedom from cumbersome equipment and short preparation times.
 * Low cost.
 * It is quiet and does not disturb fish, the noise of breathing and bubbles can be quite loud on open circuit scuba though rebreathers are much quieter.
 * Mobility and speed, but for a much more limited period.
 * No decompression time for deep dives, although it is possible to get decompression sickness, or taravana, from repetitive deep free-diving with short surface intervals.
 * The lack of exhaled air bubbles on ascent gives greater visibility on ascent.
 * Accessibility, if the site can be walked to it can, potentially, be dived.
 * Appropriately skilled and fit freedivers can go as deep, or deeper than, recreational scuba divers, the depth being limited only by the willingness to accept the risks; scuba diving is restricted by the level of certification.

Freshwater springs, often with excellent visibility, provide good freediving opportunities but with greater risks. Diving into spring caverns with restricted access to the surface is very different from diving in open water. The time available to a freediver to solve problems underwater before hypoxia sets in is severely restricted in comparison with scuba. Freediving into confined cave systems such as Eagle's Nest Cave, Florida and Blue Springs State Park, Florida has resulted in several deaths. Cave freediving is commonly discouraged in basic freediver safety training.

Physiology
The human body has several oxygen-conserving adaptations that manifest under diving conditions as part of the mammalian diving reflex. The adaptations include:
 * Reflex bradycardia: Significant drop in heart rate.
 * Blood-shift: Blood flow and volume is redistributed towards vital organs by means of a reflex vasoconstriction. Blood vessels distend and become engorged, which in the case of the pulmonary capillaries assists with pressure compensation that comes with increasing diving depth, and without which a largely air-filled chest cavity would simply collapse for lack of compliance.
 * Body-cooling: peripheral vasoconstriction results in cooling of peripheral tissue beds, which lower their oxygen demand in a thermodynamic manner. In addition, Murat et al. (2013) recently discovered that breath-holding results in prompt and substantial brain cooling, just like in diving birds and seals. (Dry) breath-holds result in cooling on the order of about 1 °C/minute, but this is likely to be greater with cold water submersion, in proportion to the magnitude and promptness of the dive response.
 * Splenic contraction: Releasing red blood cells carrying oxygen.

Techniques
Breath-holding ability, and hence dive performance, is a function of on-board oxygen stores, scope for metabolic rate reduction, efficient oxygen utilization, and hypoxia tolerance. Athletes attempt to accomplish this in various ways. Some divers use "packing", which increases lung volume beyond normal total lung capacity. In addition, training is allocated to enhance blood and muscle oxygen stores, to a limited extent. Most divers rely on increasing fitness by increasing tolerance and lung capacity. Simple breath-holding practice is highly effective for the build-up of tolerance to CO2  and to some degree increased lung capacity. In an interview on the radio talk show Fresh Air, journalist James Nestor, author of the book Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, stated: "Some divers have a lung capacity of 14 liters, which is about double the size for a typical adult male. They weren't born this way. ... They trained themselves to breathe in ways to profoundly affect their physical bodies."

Certification
There is no requirement by law that free-divers are required to do freediving courses or get certified. Although, due to the risks, it is recommended to take lessons and get certified. The free-divers course contains three levels: theory studies, a confined water sessions generally completed in a swimming pool, and open water sessions in the ocean or Reservoir.

Training
Training for freediving can take many forms, some of which can be performed on land. The University of Miami presents a scientific freediving class that was developed by Claire Paris, a professor and freediver, the class is the first of its kind at the university.

One example is the apnea walk. This consists of a preparation "breathe-up", followed by a short (typically 1 minute) breath hold taken at rest. Without breaking the hold, participants then begin walking as far as possible until it becomes necessary to breathe again. Athletes can do close to 400 meters in training this way.

This form of training is good for accustoming muscles to work under anaerobic conditions, and for tolerance to CO2 build-up in the circulation. It is also easy to gauge progress, as increasing distance can be measured.

Before competition attempts, freedivers perform a preparation sequence, which usually consists of physical stretching, mental exercise and breath exercise. It may include a succession of variable length static apnea and special purging deep breaths. Results of the preparation sequence are slower metabolism, lower heart rate and breath rate, and lower levels of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream and overall mental equilibrium.

Hazards
The most obvious hazard is lack of access to air for breathing – a necessity for human life. This can result in asphyxia from drowning if the diver does not reach the surface while still capable of holding their breath and resuming breathing. The risk depends on several factors, including the depth, duration and shape of the dive profile.

Latent hypoxia is a specific hazard of deeper freedives. This effect can cause hypoxic blackout during surfacing.

There is also a wide range of environmental hazards possible specific to the site and water and weather conditions at the time of diving, and there may be other hazards specific to the freediving activity.

Risk
Failing to respond to physiological warning signals, or crossing the mental barrier by strong will, may lead to blackout underwater or on reaching the surface. Trained freedivers are well aware of this and competitions must be held under strict supervision and with competent first-aiders on standby. However, this does not eliminate the risk of blackout. Freedivers are encouraged by certification and sporting organisations to dive only with a 'buddy' who accompanies them, observing from in the water at the surface, and ready to dive to the rescue if the diver loses consciousness during the ascent. This is only reasonably practicable if the water clarity allows observation, and the buddy is capable of safely reaching the diver. Due to the nature of the sport, the risks of freediving can be reduced by strict adherence to safety measures as an integral part of the activity, but cannot be eliminated. Competition rules may require all participants to be adept in rescue and resuscitation.

Statistics and notable accidents
Nicholas Mevoli, a diver from New York died on 17 November 2013 after losing consciousness on surfacing from a 3-minute 38 second dive to a depth of 72 metres during an official record attempt in the "constant weight without fins" event. He had previously reached greater depths and longer times in other disciplines.

Documentaries

 * Ocean Men (2001) is a documentary film about the art and science of freediving, featuring two of its most outstanding exponents: Francisco "Pipín" Ferreras and Umberto Pelizzari.
 * My Pilot, Whale (2014) is a short documentary film directed by Alexander and Nicole Gratovsky, demonstrating direct communication between a human and free pilot whales in the open ocean. The entire underwater part was shot without underwater breathing equipment; both the operator and the person appearing in the frame are freediving.
 * My Octopus Teacher (2020) is a nature documentary. Filmmaker Craig Foster captured most of the footage used in the film while freediving.
 * The Deepest Breath (2023) is a feature-length documentary written and directed by Laura McGann about Italian freediver Alessia Zecchini and Irish safety diver Stephen Keenan.

Fiction

 * In the film Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Tom Cruise plays super spy Ethan Hunt fighting the forces of evil, and goes freediving in a scene to expose the villains.
 * The Pearl by John Steinbeck (1947) is a novel about a poor pearl diver, Kino, who finds the 'Pearl of Heaven', which is exceptionally valuable, changing his life forever. The novel explores themes of man's nature as well as greed and evil.
 * In South Sea Adventure (1952) by Willard Price the Hunt brothers, marooned on a coral island, use free diving to collect both pearls and fresh water.
 * In Ian Fleming's (1964) James Bond novel You Only Live Twice, the character Kissy Suzuki is an ama diver. This connection was also mentioned in the film version.
 * Man from Atlantis was a 1970s TV series which featured a superhero with the ability to breathe underwater and freedive in his own special way.
 * The Big Blue (1988) is a romantic film about two world-class freedivers, a heavily fictionalized depiction of the rivalry of freedivers Jacques Mayol and Enzo Maiorca.
 * In the movie Phoenix Blue (2001), protagonist Rick is a musician who freedives competitively.
 * The children's novel The Dolphins of Laurentum by Caroline Lawrence (2003), which takes place in ancient Rome, describes the applications of freediving (sponge and pearl diving) and its hazards, as one of the principal characters, as well as the main antagonist, try to beat each other to a sunken treasure.
 * The Freediver (2004) is a film about a talented female freediver who is discovered and brought to an island, where she is trained by an ambitious scientist to break a freediving world record currently held by an American woman.
 * In the film Into the Blue (2005) starring Jessica Alba, a group of divers find themselves in deep trouble with a drug lord after they come upon the illicit cargo of a sunken airplane in the Caribbean. Jessica Alba is an accomplished freediver, and did much of the underwater work; some other stunts were performed by Mehgan Heaney-Grier.
 * In Greg Iles' novel Blood Memory (2005), the main character Cat Ferry is an odontologist and a freediver.
 * H2O: Just Add Water Series 3 added a freediver (Will Benjamin played by Luke Mitchell) as a regular. Freediving is featured in some episodes.
 * The Greater Meaning of Water (2010) is an independent film about competitive constant weight freediving, focusing on the 'zen' of freediving.
 * In the Canadian television series Corner Gas, the character Karen Pelly (Tara Spencer-Nairn) competed in static apnea, ranking fifth in Canada with a personal best of over six minutes.
 * In the American television series Baywatch episode "The Chamber" (Session 2, Episode 17), the character Mitch Buchannon rescues a diver trapped 90 feet below the ocean surface, but almost dies while suffering the effects of decompression sickness; decompression sickness is highly improbable following freediving exposure to this depth.
 * In the book Hornblower and the Atropos, CS Forester's character Horatio Hornblower is tasked by the Royal Navy to retrieve sunken treasure with the help of freediving Sinhalese pearl divers
 * In the film Avatar: The Way of Water the Metkayina Clan of the Na'vi have adapted to freediving and have built their entire culture around it, which they teach to the Sully family.
 * In Black Panther: Wakanda Forever a Mayan priest freedives and discovers a mutated plant that is used to mutate his tribe into merpeople.

title: Freediving


text:
Tipton

Tipton is an industrial town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands County in England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeast of Wolverhampton. It is also contiguous with nearby towns of Darlaston, Dudley, Wednesbury and Bilston.

Historically within Staffordshire and briefly Worcestershire. It is located between both Wolverhampton and Birmingham. It incorporates the surrounding villages and suburbs of Tipton Green, Ocker Hill, Dudley Port, Horseley Heath and Great Bridge.

Tipton was an urban district until 1938, when it became a municipal borough. Much of the Borough of Tipton was transferred into West Bromwich County Borough in 1966, but parts of the old borough were absorbed into an expanded Dudley borough and the newly created County Borough of Warley. Along with the rest of West Bromwich and Warley, Tipton was moved into the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in 1974.

Etymology
Tipton gains its name from the Anglo-Saxon name 'Tibba' followed by 'tun', the Old English word for farm or settlement. The town of Tipton was recorded as Tibintone in the Domesday Book of 1086, meaning Tibba's estate. The present spelling of Tipton derives from the 16th century.

History
Until the 18th century, Tipton was a collection of small hamlets. Industrial growth started in the town when ironstone and coal were discovered in the 1770s. A number of canals were built through the town and later railways, which greatly accelerated its industrialisation.

James Watt built his first steam engine in Tipton in the 1770s, which was used to pump water from the mines. In 1780, James Keir and Alexander Blair set up a chemical works there, making alkali and soap on a large scale.

The 1801 census records 834 houses with 872 families living in Tipton: 46 houses were stated as being empty. An adult population of 4,280 is recorded with males numbered at 2,218 and slightly fewer females at 2,062. Iron making and mining were the main employment for the population. Trades and manufacturing provided work for 1,740 people and other jobs totalled 2,484. Between Tipton and Dudley there were a few farms listed, which gave employment to 56 people.

Expansion in the iron and coal industries led to the population of Tipton expanding rapidly through the 19th century, going from 4,000 at the beginning of the century to 30,000 at the end. Tipton gained a reputation as being "the quintessence of the Black Country" because chimneys of local factories belched heavy pollution into the air, whilst houses and factories were built side by side. Most of the traditional industries which once dominated the town have since disappeared.

In March 1922, 19 girls - as young as 13 - and young women were killed in an explosion at an unlicensed factory that was dismantling surplus World War I ammunition, in an event dubbed the Tipton Catastrophe.

The Black Country Living Museum in nearby Dudley re-creates life in the early 20th century Black Country, in original buildings which have been rebuilt and furnished, many of them being transported from – or based on – sites originally located in Tipton. There is a residential canal basin at the museum, reflecting Tipton's former status in popular local culture as the Venice of the Midlands. Some of the town's canals were infilled during the 1960s and 1970s. The towpaths of the remaining canals, the Old and New BCN Main Lines are today a cycling, wildlife and leisure facility.

The landscape of Tipton began to change further from the late 1920s when new housing estates were built by the town's council, in response to the growing need to replace slum housing. Among the first council estates to be built were the Shrubbery Estate at Tipton Green, the Tibbington Estate near Princes End, (Princes End came under Coseley at the time) the Moat Farm Estate at Ocker Hill (which earned the nickname "Lost City" due to its isolated location) and the Cotterill's Farm Estate at Ocker Hill, the Glebefields Estate at Ocker Hill and Great Bridge. Private houses were also built on smaller developments around the same time. The "Lost City" was integrated with the rest of Tipton as further housing developments sprang up around it namely The Glebefields Estate and The Gospel Oak Estate.

During the Second World War (1939–1945), there were a number of air raids on the town. On 19 November 1940, three people were killed by a Luftwaffe bomb which was dropped in Bloomfield Road and destroyed several buildings including the Star public house; it was rebuilt after the war but demolished in 1996. Just before Christmas in 1940, an anti-aircraft shell fired from the hills at Rowley Regis fell down the chimney of the Boat Inn, Dudley Road East, Tividale; fatally injuring 12 people at a wedding reception (including the bride, while the groom lost both legs) as well as the resident of an adjacent house. On 17 May 1941, six people died in an air raid in New Road, Great Bridge. Tipton Tavern and New Road Methodist Church were destroyed and a number of nearby houses were damaged. Tipton Tavern landlord Roger Preece was trapped in the rubble but survived with minor injuries.

Tipton Tavern was rebuilt in the 1950s and became the Hallbridge Arms during the 1990s and, more recently, the Pearl Girl, the world's first licensed pearl bar. It closed in 2016 and has since been converted into a day nursery for young children.

The last major council housing development by Tipton council was the Glebefields Estate part of Ocker Hill and not Princes End as many suggest, due to Princes End not being part of Tipton at this time, and built during the first half of the 1960s. A stretch of the Wednesbury Oak Loop Canal was filled in to make way for it. The last major private housing development to be built in the Municipal Borough of Tipton was the Foxyards Estate, on land straddling the borders with Dudley and Coseley, in the mid 1960s.

Until 1966, the town had its own council. The urban district council of Tipton was formed in 1894, then received Municipal Borough status in 1938. The headquarters were originally based in a 19th-century building on Owen Street until 1935 when it relocated to the former Bean offices site on Sedgley Road West, straddling the border with Coseley. The council remained at that site for the next 31 years, until the dissolution of the borough council in April 1966. The building was later taken over by Dudley College, who retained it until 1993. It has since been occupied by businesses and training scheme providers.

The bulk of the Tipton borough was absorbed into an expanded West Bromwich borough, although a fragment of the town near the border with Coseley (including the former council offices and the bulk of the new Foxyards housing estate) was absorbed into Dudley and most of the Tividale area became part of the new County Borough of Warley. In this reorganisation, the township of Tipton was expanded around Princes End to take over a section of the former Coseley urban district.

Since 1974, Tipton has been split between the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, which was created by a merger of the former West Bromwich and Warley boroughs, and the neighbouring Metropolitan Borough of Dudley.

By the end of the 1970s, most of the housing in Tipton built before 1890 had been demolished. Owen Street, the town's main shopping area, was redeveloped between 1979 and 1982, with a reduced number of shop units as well as new low-rise council houses and flats.

In 1956, one of Britain's first comprehensive schools, Tividale Comprehensive School, was opened in Tipton near the border with Oldbury, in the area which became part of Warley a decade later and was not included in the modern Tipton DY4 postal district.

Tipton's first gasworks was opened in 1958 and redeveloped as a state-of-the-art Naphta Gas plant by 1965, but owing to the emergence of North Sea gas, the gasworks closed in 1975 and stood empty for a decade before demolition. The site of the gas plant was redeveloped as the Standbridge Park housing estates in the 1990s.

Tipton has two railway stations, the main railway station at Owen Street and another station at Dudley Port. There were several other stations in the town on three different railway lines, but these were gradually closed between 1916 and 1964 as passenger trains were phased out on these lines. The Dudley-Wolverhampton railway line, which straddled Tipton's border with Coseley, closed in 1968. The Princes End Branch Line, which was only two miles long, closed in 1981. The South Staffordshire Line through Tipton, which led to Walsall northwards and Dudley southwards, closed in 1993. The part of the line between Wednesbury and Brierley Hill is scheduled to re-open in 2023 as a part of Midland Metro line 2.

Most of the archive collection for Tipton is held at Sandwell Community History and Archives Service, although some items have been retained by the town's library.

Local industry
Tipton was one of the key towns in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century. Even during the 18th century it had established its first key industries. This included the world's first successful steam pumping engine, which was erected at Conygre Coalworks in 1712 by industrialist Thomas Newcomen. A full-size replica of the engine now exists at the Black Country Living Museum just over Tipton's borders in Dudley.

In 1800, Tipton was a predominantly rural area, with a few coal mines and some 4,000 residents. Mass building of factories and digging of coal mines then took place, and resulted in Tipton becoming a heavily built-up and industrialised area with more than 30,000 residents by the end of the 19th century. The town's population grew further in the 20th century after new housing developments, mostly by the local council but with a significant number in the private sector. Local industry also expanded further during this time.

In 1840, the Batson family established a lubricant blending plant to serve the local industries at the junction of High Street and Dudley Road. The site is still operational today, owned by German refiner H&R AG, although the original buildings have long since been replaced.

Coal mining had disappeared from Tipton by the mid-20th century, and the town lost a large percentage of its factories during the recessions of the 1970s and 1980s, which contributed to a rise in unemployment and poverty in Tipton, while living conditions continued to improve.

Bean Cars, a company that manufactured cars and lorry engines and other vehicle parts, had a factory in Tipton. Further industrial sites have been abandoned since the 1970s, paving the way for mass private house building on the land. The town's naphtha gas plant opened in 1965 but closed just 10 years later, unable to compete with natural gas from the North Sea. The gasworks stood abandoned for about a decade afterwards, when it was finally demolished. Standeridge Park housing estate was built on its site during the 1990s. By the late 2000s, most of the town's large factories had closed.

Transport
The M5 motorway between the West Midlands and the West Country and its junction with the M6 motorway passes a few miles to the South and East of the town but not through the town itself. The M5 runs along the eastern region passing over canals and railways. M5 Junction 1 is accessible at West Bromwich using the A41 road Black Country Spine Road. M5 Junction 2 is accessible at Oldbury on the A4123 Wolverhampton Road (Harborne to Wolverhampton) at Birchley Island. The M5 also enables access to other motorways.

Buses
Tipton has direct bus links with the towns of Dudley, Walsall, Sedgley, West Bromwich, Bilston, Wednesbury on Diamond Bus services 42 and 229, seven days a week.

Railways
Tipton has direct, frequent rail services to Wolverhampton and Walsall via Birmingham New Street with some additional services during evening rush hour direct to Telford and Shrewsbury. There are two railway stations - Tipton in the town centre and Dudley Port. Both are on the electrified line from Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton which is a section of the West Coast Main Line.

South Staffordshire Line
Closed lines include that from Walsall to Stourbridge, closed to all traffic in 1993 after some 150 years in use. This line had served stations at Dudley Port Lower Level and Great Bridge North, but both were closed in 1964 by the Beeching cuts. The line is set to re-open around 2023, with the lines shared between goods trains and the West Midlands Metro.

In October 2015, it was announced that due to high transport funding for the West Midlands, the Stourbridge to Walsall line could re-open as a Network Rail operated line served by West Midlands franchise services and the delivery date was 2018-2020, however this did not occur. Instead, the line will partially reopen operated by the West Midlands Metro as its second line, running between Wednesbury and Brierley Hill. Services are anticipated to start in 2023 and the stations within the Tipton boundaries will be Great Bridge, Horseley Heath, Dudley Port (Low Level), Sedgley Road East and Birmingham New Road.

Other closed lines
The line between Great Bridge and Swan Village in nearby West Bromwich was closed in 1968 under the Beeching cuts, and most of its route was occupied by the southern section of the Black Country Spine Road, completed in 1995.

The line between Princes End and Ocker Hill closed to passenger trains in 1916 but remained open to goods traffic until 1981. The closure of the railway was followed by the construction of a pedestrian walkway on the trackbed, while the tunnel under the road at Ocker Hill was filled in. The final stub of the line, which linked Wednesbury with Ocker Hill Power Station, was closed in 1991.

The Dudley-Wolverhampton railway closed in 1968, several years after passenger trains were withdrawn, and by the 1990s some sections of it had been built over, making it impossible to reopen this route at any stage. The former Tipton Five Ways and Princes End & Coseley stations were redeveloped for housing and road access. A bridge abundment that carried the line in and out of Tipton Five Ways another on the Birmingham New Road near the Black Country Museum are some of the last remaining signs of this railway in Tipton.

Notable people

 * Alan Baker (born 1944), footballer, born in Tipton.
 * Scott Baker (born 1986), darts player.
 * Philip Bradbourn OBE MEP (1951–2014), politician, born in Tipton and attended Tipton Grammar School.
 * Chris Brookes (born 1991), professional wrestler, born in Tipton.
 * Steve Bull MBE (born 1965), footballer, born in Tipton and played for Tipton Town before signing for West Bromwich Albion in 1985, Wolverhampton Wanderers 1986 and also played for England.
 * David Burrows (born 1968), footballer, born in Dudley but grew up on the Denbigh Estate, Tipton.
 * Yan Dhanda (born 1998), footballer for Swansea City, grew up in Tipton.
 * Jack Holden (athlete) (1907–2004), a long distance runner for Tipton Harriers and Great Britain, running in both the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. A public garden was named after him in Tipton.
 * Jamie Hughes (born 1986), darts player.
 * Alec Jackson (born 1937), footballer, born and lived in Tipton.
 * Nicky James (1943–2007), musician and music writer.
 * Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1864–1933) and Frances Macdonald (1873–1921), artist sisters best known for their founding work in the Glasgow style, were born in Tipton.
 * Joe Mayo (born 1951), footballer, born and lived in Tipton.
 * William Perry (1819–1880), Victorian bareknuckle boxer and Champion of England, aka 'The Tipton Slasher'. There is a statue of Perry in the Coronation Gardens, Tipton.
 * Alan Roper (born 1939), footballer, born in Tipton and played as a defender for Walsall FC from 1962–65, following which he ran the Union Pub in Tipton.
 * Joseph Williams (composer) (c.1800–1834), English coal-miner and composer of sacred music, lived in Watery Lane, Tipton.

Sport
Tipton Town Football Club were formed in 1948 as Ocker Hill United, adopting their current name in 1967. They currently play in the non-league West Midland league division one and made history in the 2010-11 football season by reaching the FA Cup first round proper for the first time in their history, earning a trip to Carlisle United, the League One (third highest English division) club. They were the first club that Steve Bull played for; he joined them on leaving school in 1981 and remained with them until he signed for West Bromwich Albion, a top division club, in 1985. However, it was after signing for Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 1986 that Bull achieved fame; by the time he retired in 1999, he had scored more than 300 goals for the club. He was also capped 13 times by the England national football team between May 1989 and October 1990, scoring four goals.

The Sandwell Steelers who are an American Football team who play in the BAFA National Leagues operate from the Tipton Sports Academy.

Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central. Television signals are received from the Sutton Coldfield TV transmitter. Local radio stations are BBC Radio WM, Capital Midlands, Heart West Midlands, Smooth West Midlands, Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands, and Black Country Radio, a community based station which broadcast to the town and across the Black Country. The town is served by the local newspapers, Dudley News and Express & Star.

Districts

 * Great Bridge
 * Glebefields
 * Dudley Port
 * Horseley Heath
 * Ocker Hill
 * Moat Farm
 * Princes End
 * Tibbington
 * Tipton Green
 * Tividale Quays
 * Toll End

Secondary schools

 * Q3 Academy Tipton (formerly Tipton Central School, Tipton Grammar School and Alexandra High School and Sixth Form Centre, Ace Academy)
 * Gospel Oak School (formerly Willingsworth High School and RSA Academy)

The town has two secondary schools, though in the Tipton Green area of the town a significant percentage of children attend High Arcal School in the borough of Dudley. Ormiston Sandwell Academy, formed in September 2009 from Tividale High School, also takes in pupils from parts of Dudley and Oldbury.

Until 1958 there was also a secondary school at Ocker Hill, which was then replaced by Willingsworth Secondary Modern School.

Alexandra High School was formed in 1969 on a merger of Tipton Grammar School and Park Lane Boys and Girls Secondary Modern Schools, with the Park Lane buildings being retained until 1990 for the teaching of younger pupils at the new school.

Primary schools

 * Tipton Green Junior School – on Park Lane West, Tipton Green, Tipton. Started life in 1880 at a site on Sedgley Road West before relocating to Park Lane West in 1976, a new building opening in that building's grounds in 2011.
 * Victoria Infant School – in Queen's Road, Tipton Green. Opened in 1995 to replace Manor Road Infant School, which was built in the 1930s. The current school exists on the site of the former Park Lane Secondary Modern School, which was later an annex for the younger pupils of Alexandra High School and Sixth Form Centre.
 * Summerhill Primary School – on Central Avenue, Tibbington, on the merger of Locarno Primary School and Prince's End Primary School.
 * Great Bridge Primary School – in Mount Street, Great Bridge, Tipton.
 * Ocker Hill Infant and Nursery School - located in Prospect Street, Ocker Hill, Tipton.
 * Ocker Hill Junior School – located in Gospel Oak Road, Ocker Hill, Tipton.
 * Glebefields Primary School – Located on Sandgate Road, the Glebefields Estate, Ocker Hill, Tipton.
 * Sacred Heart Primary School – originally located on Victoria Road, Tipton Green and was Tipton's only Roman Catholic school. Recently relocated to a new site on Sedgley Road East after pupil admission numbers rapidly increased. The previous building still remains unoccupied.
 * Wednesbury Oak Primary School – off Wednesbury Oak Road, Tipton. It was constructed in 1972 to serve the recently built Wednesbury Oak housing estate.
 * St Paul's Church of England Primary School – off Robert Road. It was formed in 1874 at a site in Wood Street. It remained at this site until 1992, when it relocated to a new building in nearby Robert Road. It takes its name from the parish church of St Paul, which opened in Owen Street, Tipton. in 1839.
 * St Martin's Church of England Primary School – on Upper Church Lane, Tipton.
 * Joseph Turner Primary School – on Powis Avenue, Cotterills Farm Estate, Ocker Hill, Tipton.
 * Jubilee Park Primary School – on Highfield Road, the Glebefields Estate, Ocker Hill, Tipton.
 * Burnt Tree Primary School – on Hill Road, Burnt Tree Estate, Tipton.
 * Foxyards Primary School – on Foxyards Road, Foxyards Estate, Tipton.

Religion

 * Tipton Christian Church was established around 70 years ago and today is a Pentecostal Church situated in Waterloo Street.
 * Tipton Family Church was established in November 1992. It is an Evangelical Christian fellowship.
 * St Matthew's Church Tipton is a Church of England Evangelical church on Dudley Road, established in 1890.
 * St Marks Church Ocker Hill is a Church of England church in the Anglo-Catholic tradition.

Public parks

 * Jubilee Park – Located between Powis Avenue, Highfields Road on the Glebefields Estate.
 * Victoria Park – on Victoria Road in the Tipton Green area.

title: Tipton


text:
First Succession Act

The First Succession Act (25 Hen. 8. c. 22) of Henry VIII's reign was passed by the Parliament of England in March 1534. The Act was formally titled the Succession to the Crown Act 1533, or the Act of Succession 1533; it is often dated as 1534, as it was passed in that calendar year. However, the legal calendar in use at that time dated the beginning of the year as March 25, and so considered the Act as being in 1533.

Provisions
The Act made Elizabeth, daughter of Henry VIII by Anne Boleyn, who had been born on 7 September 1533, the heir presumptive to the Crown by declaring Mary, daughter of Henry VIII by Catherine of Aragon, a bastard. The Act also required all subjects, if commanded, to swear an oath to recognize this Act as well as the kings supremacy. Under the Treasons Act 1534 anyone who refused to take the oath was subject to a charge of treason.

The Act was later altered by the Second Succession Act, which made Elizabeth illegitimate, and the Third Succession Act, which returned both Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession.

title: First Succession Act


text:
Agora

The agora (ἀγορά, romanized: , meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of the polis. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center of the athletic, artistic, business, social, spiritual, and political life in the city. The Ancient Agora of Athens is the best-known example.

Origins
Early in Greek history (10th–4th centuries BC), free-born citizens would gather in the agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the agora also served as a marketplace, where merchants kept stalls or shops to sell their goods amid arcades. This attracted artisans who built workshops nearby.

From these twin functions of the agora as a political and a commercial spot came the two Greek verbs ἀγοράζω, agorázō, "I shop", and ἀγορεύω, agoreúō, "I speak in public".

Ancient Agora of Athens
The Ancient Agora of Athens was situated beneath the northern slope of the Acropolis. The Ancient Agora was the primary meeting ground for Athenians, where members of democracy congregated affairs of the state, where business was conducted, a place to hang out, and watch performers and listen to famous philosophers. The importance of the Athenian agora revolved around religion. The agora was a very sacred place, in which holiness is laid out in the architecture of the ground upon which it lay. The layout of the agora was centered around the Panathenaic Way, a road that ran through the middle of Athens and to the main gate of the city, Dipylon. This road was considered tremendously sacred, serving as a travel route for the Panathenaic festival, which was held in honor of the goddess Athena every four years. The agora was also famously known for housing the Temple of Hephaestus, the Greek god of metalworking and craftsmen. This temple is still in great condition to this day. Other temples priorly standing in the agora include honor for Zeus, Athena, Apollo, and Ares.

Location and constituents
The agora was usually located in the middle of a city or near the harbor. Agoras were built of colonnades, or rows of long columns, and contained stoae, also known as a long open walkway below the colonnades. They were beautifully decorated with fountains, trees, and statues. When the Athenian agora was rebuilt after the Greco-Persian Wars, colonnades and stoae were not incorporated.

Phobia
The term agoraphobia denotes a phobic condition in which the sufferer becomes anxious in unfamiliar environments – for instance, places where they perceive that they have little control. Such anxiety may be triggered by wide-open spaces, crowds, or public situations, and the psychological term derives from the agora as a large and open gathering place.

title: Agora


text:
Talk:Pedestal/Archive 1

Untitled
Is this better suited for Wiktionary? Don't know the guidelines. Jwrosenzweig 18:31 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * hmmm... we could have more on the architectural use of plinths. -- Tarquin 18:43 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Makes sense to me. I know nothing about the subject, but assuming someone does (or eventually will), I understand why we'd leave it.  Should it be marked as a stub?  I'm new here, and don't know how that works, or when it ought to happen. Jwrosenzweig 20:15 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Allied Therapies use of word
In Australia (and possibly elsewhere) there seems to be widespread use of the word plinth to describe a rectangular treatment table or bed used for patients - it is commonly used by Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Podiatrists and the like and by the manufacturers of such equipment. However, when searching I only came across the architectural definitions - and this was surprising. I'm guessing that perhaps the large rectangular block aspect might suggest that early physical treatments were conducted on similar blocks....but could locate no reference to such. Should this aspect of the word and its use should be included somewhere in Wikipedia? SS8842 23:57, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Moved unsourced statement to talk page
A plinth in interior design is a base block, sitting at the base of the vertical trim on both sides of a door. The vertical trim butts the plinth. Sincerely, --Mattisse 00:01, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Merger proposal
I propose that Plinth be merged with Pedestal, as the Pedestal article states that plinth is an alternate name for pedestal. 64.236.208.25 (talk) 19:14, 9 August 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Pedestal/Archive 1