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Air mass

In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and humidity. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adapt to the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to latitude and their continental or maritime source regions. Colder air masses are termed polar or arctic, while warmer air masses are deemed tropical. Continental and superior air masses are dry, while maritime and monsoon air masses are moist. Weather fronts separate air masses with different density (temperature or moisture) characteristics. Once an air mass moves away from its source region, underlying vegetation and water bodies can quickly modify its character. Classification schemes tackle an air mass's characteristics, as well as modification.

Classification and notation
The Bergeron classification is the most widely accepted form of air mass classification, though others have produced more refined versions of this scheme over different regions of the globe. Air mass classification involves three letters. The first letter describes its moisture properties – "c" represents continental air masses (dry), and "m" represents maritime air masses (moist). Its source region follows: "T" stands for Tropical, "P" stands for Polar, "A" stands for Arctic or Antarctic, "M" stands for monsoon, "E" stands for Equatorial, and "S" stands for adiabatically drying and warming air formed by significant downward motion in the atmosphere. For instance, an air mass originating over the desert southwest of the United States in summer may be designated "cT". An air mass originating over northern Siberia in winter may be indicated as "cA".

The stability of an air mass may be shown using a third letter, either "k" (air mass colder than the surface below it) or "w" (air mass warmer than the surface below it). An example of this might be a polar air mass blowing over the Gulf Stream, denoted as "cPk". Occasionally, one may also encounter the use of an apostrophe or "degree tick" denoting that a given air mass having the same notation as another it is replacing is colder than the replaced air mass (usually for polar air masses). For example, a series of fronts over the Pacific might show an air mass denoted mPk followed by another denoted mPk'.

Another convention utilizing these symbols is the indication of modification or transformation of one type to another. For instance, an Arctic air mass blowing out over the Gulf of Alaska may be shown as "cA-mPk". Yet another convention indicates the layering of air masses in certain situations. For instance, the overrunning of a polar air mass by an air mass from the Gulf of Mexico over the Central United States might be shown with the notation "mT/cP" (sometimes using a horizontal line as in fraction notation).

Characteristics
Tropical and equatorial air masses are hot as they develop over lower latitudes. Tropical air masses have lower pressure because hot air rises and cold air sinks. Those that develop over land (continental) are drier and hotter than those that develop over oceans, and travel poleward on the southern periphery of the subtropical ridge. Maritime tropical air masses are sometimes referred to as trade air masses. Maritime tropical air masses that affect the United States originate in the Caribbean Sea, southern Gulf of Mexico, and tropical Atlantic east of Florida through the Bahamas. Monsoon air masses are moist and unstable. Superior air masses are dry, and rarely reach the ground. They normally reside over maritime tropical air masses, forming a warmer and drier layer over the more moderate moist air mass below, forming what is known as a trade wind inversion over the maritime tropical air mass.

Continental Polar air masses (cP) are air masses that are cold and dry due to their continental source region. Continental polar air masses that affect North America form over interior Canada. Continental Tropical air masses (cT) are a type of tropical air produced by the subtropical ridge over large areas of land and typically originate from low-latitude deserts such as the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, which is the major source of these air masses. Other less important sources producing cT air masses are the Arabian Peninsula, the central arid/semi-arid part of Australia and deserts lying in the Southwestern United States. Continental tropical air masses are extremely hot and dry. Arctic, Antarctic, and polar air masses are cold. The qualities of arctic air are developed over ice and snow-covered ground. Arctic air is deeply cold, colder than polar air masses. Arctic air can be shallow in the summer, and rapidly modify as it moves equatorward. Polar air masses develop over higher latitudes over the land or ocean, are very stable, and generally shallower than arctic air. Polar air over the ocean (maritime) loses its stability as it gains moisture over warmer ocean waters.

Movement and fronts

A weather front is a boundary separating two masses of air of different densities, and is the principal cause of meteorological phenomena. In surface weather analyses, fronts are depicted using various colored lines and symbols, depending on the type of front. The air masses separated by a front usually differ in temperature and humidity. Cold fronts may feature narrow bands of thunderstorms and severe weather, and may on occasion be preceded by squall lines or dry lines. Warm fronts are usually preceded by stratiform precipitation and fog. The weather usually clears quickly after a front's passage. Some fronts produce no precipitation and little cloudiness, although there is invariably a wind shift.

Cold fronts and occluded fronts generally move from west to east, while warm fronts move poleward. Because of the greater density of air in their wake, cold fronts and cold occlusions move faster than warm fronts and warm occlusions. Mountains and warm bodies of water can slow the movement of fronts. When a front becomes stationary, and the density contrast across the frontal boundary vanishes, the front can degenerate into a line which separates regions of differing wind velocity, known as a shearline. This is most common over the open ocean.

Modification

Air masses can be modified in a variety of ways. Surface flux from underlying vegetation, such as forest, acts to moisten the overlying air mass. Heat from underlying warmer waters can significantly modify an air mass over distances as short as 35 km to 40 km. For example, southwest of extratropical cyclones, curved cyclonic flow bringing cold air across the relatively warm water bodies can lead to narrow lake-effect snow bands. Those bands bring strong localized precipitation since large water bodies such as lakes efficiently store heat that results in significant temperature differences (larger than 13 °C or 23 °F) between the water surface and the air above. Because of this temperature difference, warmth and moisture are transported upward, condensing into vertically oriented clouds (see satellite picture) which produce snow showers. The temperature decrease with height and cloud depth are directly affected by both the water temperature and the large-scale environment. The stronger the temperature decrease with height, the deeper the clouds get, and the greater the precipitation rate becomes.

title: Air mass


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User:Stephen Gilbert/Portal page survey

This was my survey of the state of our main topic pages around 2003.

This is my personal survey of the current state of the portal pages. Jump in if you like.

The portal pages are those big, general topics we link to from the Main Page, such as biology and history. They're meant to be good entry points into the database, but because writing a decent article on such large topics is a lot of work, most of them are not very good. Improving Portal Pages has a very old essay on the topic, and all of the points still apply.

A good portal page should be an article providing a general overview of the topic, with links to articles that treat the subtopics in greater detail. Link lists alone should be avoided; links should be embedded in prose paragraphs whenever possible. -

Philosophy and Mathematical and Natural Sciences
Astronomy and astrophysics - medium-length, fairly good quality writing. Should be divided into two articles, Astronomy and Astrophysics, with the former being the portal page. Still has a list of links.

Biology - medium-length, good organization.

Chemistry - definition plus a list of links.

Computer science - two short paragraphs, list of links.

Earth science - definition, list of links.

Mathematics - medium-length article, not bad but could use a little organization. Well-organized links to subtopics. Philosophy - Larry Sanger did some major work on this one. Long, lots of information. Needs more organizing. Focuses on Western philosophy, Eastern is left as a link to Eastern philosophy (Larry wasn't happy about that).

Physics - Quite good. Introduction, broad topic links well organized, conise history, "further directions" sectiong.

Statistics - Short article, no list of links. Could use expansion and more connections to the database.

Applied Arts and Sciences
Agriculture - Quite good, lots of introductory information. Could use some polishing.

Architecture - a few short introductory paragraphs and a long quote, short list of topical links.

Business and industry - redirects to business: short intro and list o' links.

Communication - a mess. I'm working on a decent article for this space, but it's slow going.

Education -

Engineering -

Family and consumer science -

Health science -

Law -

Library and information science -

Public affairs -

Software engineering -

Technology -

Transport -

Social Sciences
Anthropology -

Archaeology -

Economics -

Geography -

History -

History of science and technology -

Language -

Linguistics -

Mythology -

Political science -

Psychology -

Sociology -

Culture
Classics -

Cooking -

Dance -

Entertainment -

Film -

Games -

Handicraft -

Hobbies -

Literature -

Music -

Opera -

Painting -

Poetry -

Recreation -

Religion -

Sculpture -

Sports -

Television -

Theater -

Tourism -

Visual arts and design -

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

title: User:Stephen Gilbert/Portal page survey


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Talk:History of Germany/Archive 1

(1) I think it should be Holy Roman Empire of German Nation (singular) (Heiliges Römisches Reich Deutscher Nation), but i don´t know if this is correct in english.

(2) Should we write ß and umlaute (ö instead of oe ...) in german words?

--Vulture

 * As much as I believe that most foreign words should be written with a full set of diacritics uncertainty about how a system will interpret these makes me hesitant on a couple of fronts. Will the other guy's computer show the same character as mine?  How will these special characters be alphabetized?

I've been merrily including umlauts aplenty: has anyone out there had trouble viewing them? (Here they are, just as examples: ä,ö,ü, which should look like a,o,u with two dots above each) User:David Parker

 * OK, I've typically used alt+0228 for ä (the "&-uml" format seems terribly awkward), and I can be just as merry as you with that. Perhaps I was overreacting to the Wiki-rule that words should be in English, and I still have concerns.  I don't know if the system is capable of distinguishing that Godel and Gödel are meant to be the same thing by different people.  Many English speaking people have a horrible time knowing what to do with diacritics.  This says nothing about how to handle languages with characters outside of ISO 8859-1.  User:Eclecticology

2002-04-28 In my opinion, please use umlauts heavily. The Latin-1 character set (which this wiki defaults to) has support for all those characters, and I can see no problems arising with that. Godel and Gödel are two completely different things in German. Now, for those who -- unlike me -- have no German keyboard, the alt-keys work, or the following HTML circuventions:

 * ä -> &auml;
 * ö -> &ouml;
 * ü -> &uuml;
 * ß (sharp s) -> &szlig;
 * Ä -> &Auml;
 * Ö -> &Ouml;
 * Ü -> &Uuml;

As you can see, these are case sensitive; there is no capital sharp-s in German. -- djmutex

Update: Also see the Umlaut page for a detailed reference. Djmutex 15:30 20 May 2003 (UTC)

No historians believe that the Magna Germania recorded by Tacitus was a govermental confederation. No one. Agreed. How does one ask Larry for a rollback? This is a mess. Ok -- and let me make this PERFECTLY CLEAR. The Carolingians NEVER tried to unite the existing German tribes/peoples. They didn't care. They were Germanic rulers who kept their power by providing lands and plunder to their warriors. To do this, they had to expand their territory. Now, they may well have wanted to create a great Empire -- maybe -- but really, they were just reinforcing Carolingian clout and it had NOTHING to do with some romanticized idea of "us Germans against the world". Culturally, the Carolingians were much more interested in emulating Roman/Christian ideas of imperium. None of the Carolingians ever demonstrated that they thought the Carolingian kingdoms needed only one ruler. Who got to be Emperor was a fairly minor detail....stop the insanity at once!!! I will be back to clean up the Germanic tribes through the establishment of the HRE under Otto. So there! JHK the new introduction is wonderful! We need much the same sort of thing for France (hint, hint!) --MichaelTinkler I agree with M. Tinkler's note. I really like the introduction. H. Jonat Referring to post-reunification Germany as "the new country" isn't really correct -- West Germany (but not East Germany) and post-reunification Germany are legally one and the same entity, and the former West Germany is dominant within Germany. East and West Germany didn't merge -- the West absorbed the East. -- SJK

The article as it sounds looks like a history of modern Germany to me: perhaps it should be called that? Why can't we reserve the history of Germany for, well...the history of Germany? You say the history of Germany is very complex and vague; well, why not say precisely that in the article? --Larry Sanger

This, as with most other articles outlining a country's history needs a chronological flow. I've been working on the Library of Congress Classification articles, and Class D in that system may give a basis for organizing some of this. For German history by period LC begins with a breakdown into three periods with the years 481 and 1519 as the dividing lines. Each period can then be logically broken down again at appropriate historical events. I'll consider reorganizing the text and inserting headings when I've finished with the LC outline.--User:Eclecticology What the article really needs is filling out somewhat, notably the slight gap (yes, I noticed it too!) between 962 and 1806: but please note the references to other entries which should eventually carry part of the coverage - Holy Roman Empire and the various states: at the moment we certainly have a shortfall in that neither the Germany nor HRE article carries the history of the period, though some of the narrower states are coming along gradually. The Germany article certainly shouldn't end up containing everything that was going on in the area during this period - much of that belongs in the Empire, states or lesser regions.

What it definitely doesn't want is chopping into minute chronological subdivisions - I can think of nothing more guaranteed to disrupt the historical flow, especially in a country so diverse and constitutionally diffuse. If you want a chronology, then by all means start a chronology - I'll be happy to contribute (I like dates: I just cant't imagine anything worse than writing "1519-1618: In 1519 this happened. In 1525 that happened" and then calling it a history). What most of Wilkipedia's "history" articles need is to free themselves from the tyranny of dreary redundant narrative which makes so many lifted articles unreadable - that can all be included in the framework of a chronology proper.

And I wouldn't rely on the LoC as a leading authority in this matter: the importance of 481 to most of Germany is what, precisely? And what of the 10th century? Or the Black Death or the economic revival around 1470? All they've done with 1519 is to take the Imperial succession closest to 1517, so that the prehistory of the Reformation, the Peasant War etc. are cut off from the events themselves: that's not history, it's chronological subdivision - fine in a library history classification but worse than useless in writing history. User:David Parker

 * In 481 Clovis I became the first Merovingian king. I agree with your views. I was really suggesting nothing more than a series of headings where people could fill in the details. Mediaeval period could then begin with a sub-heading "Merovingian kings". Showing these headings may encourage people to fill in the details, and discourage unnecessary sub-pages. As an analogy, pie-crusts alone are not very appealing to the taste until they have received a filling, but some cooks hesitate to make pies because they can't get the crust right; I'm merely suggesting to make a supply of pie crusts available for these cooks.--User:Eclecticology

 * I accept that such headings may sometimes serve as an invitation to enter text, but I'm still concerned that they reinforce a particular approach. My point about 481 is that Childeric I's death was an event of very limited relevance to most Germans at the time (though the 5th century as a whole is obviously of great importance}. If we think in terms of long overlaps a broad periodisation need not be unhelpful, but I wouldn't have "Merovingians" as a section in Germany - it's already an article. I think it's such links that we ought to be making more use of, so that an article headed "History of Germany" can offer a broad outline of the development of the country as a whole. User:David Parker

 * I think that the headings are unnecessary. In fact, there are very good reasons that they should not be included until more is written.  Try looking at history of Poland which is terrible.  It needs tons of editing.  Anyhow, putting headings in first requires knowing what the headings should be -- and I'm not at all sure that the Merovingians should be included.  in fact, I'm not sure that any of the history before Henry the Fowler should be included in a "history of Germany' except as an overview of what had happened before.  THis is one of the major reasons I've not done any serious copyediting or writing on this particular article.  As a medievalist who specializes in the Carolingian east, I would say that even under Ludwig der Deutsch, there is little to support an idea of a German nation. I  vote with David on this.  User:JHK

I removed this:

Industrialization of Germany

 * Roughly between the Congress of Vienna and the Franco-Prussian War, Britain reaped the benefits of being the world’s sole modern, industrial nation. Following the defeat of Napoleon, Britain was the ‘workshop of the world’, meaning that its finished goods were no longer produced so efficiently and cheaply that they could often undersell comparable, locally manufactured goods in almost any other market. If political conditions in a particular overseas markets were stable enough, Britain could its economy through free trade alone without having to resort to formal rule or mercantilism. Britain was even supplying half the needs in manufactured goods of such nations as Germany, France, Belgium, and the United States.

 * As ther newly industrial powers, such as France, Germany, and the United States, rose, however, Britain's comparative advantage in trade of any finished good began diminishing, and it began to face far stiffer competition. Britain’s share of world trade fell from one-forth in 1880, one-sixth in 1913, and one-eight in 1948. Britain was no longer supplying half the needs in manufactured goods of such nations as Germany, France, Belgium, and the United States.

Age of Aggressive National Rivalry, New Imperialism

 * Following the lead of Britain under Disraeli, even the once hesitantly imperialistic Bismarck was eventually brought to realize the value of colonies for securing (in his words) “new markets for German industry, the expansion of trade, and a new field for German, activity, civilization, and capital”. Examples of strategic competition following the passing of the scene of Bismarck, the era’s premier diplomat, that would intensify the drive to consolidate existing spheres of influence and grab new colonies, include the Moroccan Crisis of 1905, the Tangier Crisis resulting from Kaiser Wilhelm’s recognition of Moroccan independence, an the second Moroccan Crisis, in which Germany sent its navy to Morocco, thereby testing the precarious Anglo-French Entente. The Entente Cordiale, in fact, was a gentleman’s agreement between Britain and France to curtail further German expansion. The Entente Cordiale and the Franco-Russian alliances were also made because of a common interest.

 * The absolutist Central Powers, led by a newly unified, dynamically industrializing Germany, with its expanding navy—doubling in size between the Franco-Prussian War and the Great War—were a strategic threat to the markets of these relatively declining empires that would one day consist of the Great War Allies. British policymakers feared the prospect of another German military victory over France, which could have reasonably resulted in a German take-over of France’s formal colonies, a sort of reversal of the actual outcome of the Great War, after which Britain occupied the vast majority of German and Ottoman colonies as “protectorates”. This prospect was especially frightening considering that French colonies tended to be closely situated to Britain’s; Nigeria, for instance, was surrounded by French territory, India was near French Indochina, and so forth.

The first paragraph has nothing to do with Germany but talks about Britain's strength. The next two paragraphs contain some valuable material but were at the wrong position: they have to moved somewhere else. AxelBoldt 00:31 Dec 24, 2002 (UTC)

There needs to be some more depth in the transitional period between the fall of rome and the founding of the Holy Roman Empire. I'll look into this later. The most probable source is The Barbarian West - Reboot

Lengthy Suggestion. In my years of university, I have spent quite a bit of time on legal history and was thus forced into general German history to quite some extent as well. Thus having a bit of a perspective, I would like to make the following suggestions and request for comments:

The article is very good on modern history, but appears to be somewhat indecisive about what to do with earlier times. As noted in the epilogue at the bottom of the article, there are several other in-depth articles covering specific aspects of German history... but some is included in this article anyway, leading to duplication. The epilogue does point to the important article, but this should be done from the respective sections in the main text.

 * I would think that a detailed Holy Roman Empire history in this article would be overwhelming for most readers, who are probably mostly looking for the modern times. As Samuel Pufendorf aptly stated, the Empire was monstro simile. I would be willing to work on the Holy Roman Empire article to contain the main lines of how this strange beast developed, with a focus on the process of how the Reich slowly disintegrated into a bunch of largely independent states. See my new entry on Reichstag (institution) which hints at what I'd be interested in concerning the institutions. (Note that the bottom of it, under "Collection of Imperial Records", is left from the original Reichstag article, and I didn't quite know what to do with it.) Another focus would have to be made on Feudalism, without which the Empire cannot really be understood.  So if nobody objects, I'd start reworking the Holy Roman Empire and then the respective section here.

 * There seems to be little about the time between 1806 and 1871. Information about the 1848 revolution appears to be completely missing, although this is certainly one of the more important events... or did I just not find it? Since the period is relatively short, I'd suggest including this in the main "History of Germany" article.

 * There is lots of information here about 1871-1918, while the information about the Weimar Republic is in a separate article. This looks illogical. I'd say move the section into German Empire.

 * The Weimar Republic article needs quite some work, IMO. That period is important for the understanding about how the Nazis could happen... although I'd rather work on the Nazi times first.

 * Several good articles exist on the Nazi times, although with duplication and lacking a bit of focus. Some good information is in this article; other in Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler, and for the military aspects (which I have little interest in anyway), the WW2 article looks very good. However, information about the destruction of Weimar in the time of 1933-34 by the Nazis looks little focused.  For that, I have already added quite a bit of detail about the context of the Gleichschaltung (see Reichstag fire, Reichstag Fire Decree for examples; the Enablement Act would be next on my list, and I was thinking of making the Gleichschaltung entry sort of a reference item about how the Nazis took power.

In summary, this would be my "to-do list" for history of Germany:

 * 1) Only very short introductions about the time before 1806 (probably in three sections: Rome, Frankish empire, Holy Roman Empire), and clearly point to at least three articles with the details. The Franks overlap with French history anyway.
 * 2) There should be some information about the 1806-1871 time here.
 * 3) For the time from 1871-1918, I suggest moving the present text from here to  German Empire, stripping it to introductions as with #1.
 * 4) Add a short section with an introduction to the Weimar Republic, rework  Weimar Republic and clearly link to that.
 * 5) Same with the Nazism section and Gleichschaltung and Nazi Germany.
 * 6) Then focus on post-war Germany in the main text, as the present text looks excellent.

Please comment. :-) -- djmutex

Update (2003-04-30): I have rewritten most of Holy Roman Empire for starters. It's become quite lengthy, and it's not yet done, and it's basically about broad lines how and why the Empire disintegrated. Still need to fill in many more dates. -- djmutex

Update: Weimar Republic has been greatly extended, and I moved some information from this page over there. I have integrated the meta-information from the bottom article (where nobody finds it before being entirely confused) as links into the main text, where appropriate. I also restructured some of the headings a bit. Still left to do is moving the 1871--1918 period into German Empire, and more work on Weimar Republic and Holy Roman Empire. -- Djmutex 15:30 20 May 2003 (UTC)

title: Talk:History of Germany/Archive 1


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Lew Rockwell

Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr. (born July 1, 1944) is an American author, editor, and political consultant. A libertarian and a self-professed anarcho-capitalist, he founded and is the chairman of the Mises Institute, a non-profit promoting the Austrian School of economics.

After graduating from university, Rockwell had jobs at the conservative Arlington House Publishers, the radical-right John Birch Society, and the traditionalist Hillsdale College. Reading the works of Murray Rothbard, who became his mentor, led Rockwell to become an ardent believer in Austrian economics and what he calls "libertarian anarchism". Rockwell was chief of staff to Congressman Ron Paul from 1978 to 1982, and was a founding officer and former vice president at Ron Paul & Associates, which published political and investment-oriented newsletters bearing Paul's name. Racist and homophobic content in those newsletters became a controversy in Paul's later campaigns; Rockwell denied ghostwriting it but acknowledged a role in the promotion. Rockwell partnered with Rothbard in 1982 to found the Mises Institute in Alabama, where, Rockwell still serves as chairman.

Rockwell's website, LewRockwell.com, was launched in 1999. The website features articles about political philosophy, economics, and contemporary politics. The website's motto is "anti-war, anti-state, pro-market". Rockwell, his website and the Mises Institute have promoted neo-Confederate views.

Life and career
Rockwell was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1944. After college, Rockwell worked at Arlington House publishers and became acquainted with the works of Ludwig von Mises.

A former lifetime member of the radical-right John Birch Society, Rockwell worked in its Member's Monthly Message Department before resigning amid disputes with the society's leaders. In the mid-1970s, Rockwell worked at the traditionalist Hillsdale College in fundraising and public relations.

Rockwell met the anarcho-capitalist Murray Rothbard in 1975 and credits Rothbard with convincing him to abandon minarchism and reject the state completely. In 1985, Rockwell was named a contributing editor to Conservative Digest. Rockwell also served as Vice President of the Center for Libertarian Studies in Burlingame, California, which published the Rothbard-Rockwell Report. Rockwell was closely associated with Rothbard until Rothbard's death in 1995.

Work for Ron Paul (1978–)
Rockwell was Ron Paul's congressional chief of staff from 1978 to 1982 and was a consultant to Paul's 1988 Libertarian Party campaign for President of the United States. He was vice-chair of the exploratory committee for Paul's run for the 1992 Republican Party nomination for president.

Ron Paul newsletters
Rockwell was a founding officer and former vice president at Ron Paul & Associates, which was one of the publishers of a variety of political and investment-oriented newsletters bearing Paul's name.

In January 2008, during Ron Paul's 2008 presidential campaign, James Kirchick of The New Republic uncovered a collection of Ron Paul newsletters that contained "decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays." For instance, one issue approved of the slogan "Sodomy = Death" and said homosexuals suffering from HIV/AIDS "enjoy the pity and attention that comes with being sick".

Most of the articles contained no bylines. Numerous sources alleged that Rockwell had ghostwritten the controversial newsletters; Rockwell is listed as "contributing editor" on physical copies of some newsletters and listed as sole Editor of the May 1988 "Ron Paul investment Newsletter". Reason magazine reported that "a half-dozen longtime libertarian activists – including some still close to Paul" had identified Rockwell as the "chief ghostwriter" of the newsletters, as did former Ron Paul Chief of Staff (1981–1985) John W. Robbins.

Rockwell admitted to Kirchick that he was "involved in the promotion" of the newsletters and wrote the subscription letters but denied ghostwriting the articles. He said there were "seven or eight freelancers involved at various stages" of the newsletter's history and indicated another individual who had "left in unfortunate circumstances" and "is now long gone", but whom he did not identify, was in charge of editing and publishing the newsletters. Rockwell has described discussion of the newsletters scandal as "hysterical smears aimed at political enemies." Ron Paul himself repudiated the newsletters' content and said he was not involved in the daily operations of the newsletters or saw much of their content until years later. In 2011, Paul's spokesperson Jesse Benton said that Paul had "taken moral responsibility because they appeared under his name and slipped through under his watch".

Mises Institute (1982–)
In 1982, Rockwell founded the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, and is chairman of the board.

The Mises Institute published Rockwell's Speaking of Liberty, an anthology of editorials which were originally published on his website, along with transcripts from some of his speaking engagements. The institute hosted conferences on secession; Rockwell wrote before a 1995 conference, "We'll explore what causes [secession] and how to promote it."

Paleolibertarianism (1980s–2000s)
Rothbard, Rockwell and others described their views as paleolibertarian to describe their cultural conservatism fused with their otherwise anti-statist beliefs. They forged a "paleo alliance" between paleolibertarians and paleoconservatives in the form of the John Randolph Club in 1989, which allied the Mises Institute and the paleoconservative Rockford Institute.

In a 2007 interview, Rockwell revealed he no longer considered himself a "paleolibertarian" and was "happy with the term libertarian." He explained "the term paleolibertarian became confused because of its association with paleoconservative, so it came to mean some sort of socially conservative libertarian, which wasn't the point at all...."

LewRockwell.com (1999–)
Rockwell's website, LewRockwell.com, formed in 1999, features articles and blog entries by various columnists and writers. Its motto is "anti-war, anti-state, pro-market". There also is a weekly podcast called The Lew Rockwell Show. , it was in the top 10,000 websites in the United States. LewRockwell.com publishes articles questioning United States participation in World War II, opposing "economic fascism" and supporting Austrian economics and secessionism. The website is primarily home to right-libertarian authors, although left-wing anti-war writers have been featured. The academic Tanni Haas wrote in his 2011 book on political bloggers that of the 20 figures he interviewed, "none have more radical views" than Rockwell, whose avowed goal was to "do everything he can to undermine the state".

Brian Doherty of Reason wrote that the site's "Mises Institute-associated writers" tend to emphasize the domestic and international fallout from government action. Conservative writer Jonah Goldberg of National Review wrote that the site regularly hosts invective against icons of American mainstream conservatism, including National Review, The Weekly Standard, neoconservatives, and William F. Buckley Jr. A writer in The American Conservative described the site as paleolibertarian and "an indispensable source" of news on Ron Paul. The site published InfoWars articles by the conspiracy theorist Paul Joseph Watson from 2011 to 2016. The site has been criticized for presenting articles which advocate HIV/AIDS denialism, the view that HIV does not cause AIDS, and the view that vaccines cause autism.

Other activities and views
Rockwell's paleolibertarian ideology, like Rothbard's in his later years, combines a right-libertarian theory of anarcho-capitalism based on natural rights with the cultural conservative values and concerns of paleoconservatism, and he identifies strongly with the modern Rothbardian tradition of Austrian economics. In politics, he advocates federalist or Anti-Federalist policies as means to achieve increasing degrees of freedom from central government and secession for the same political decentralist reasons. Rockwell has called environmentalism "an ideology as pitiless and Messianic as Marxism."

Rockwell is Catholic.

Author

 * Speaking of Liberty (2003; online e-book) ISBN 0-945466-38-2
 * The Left, The Right, and The State (2008; online e-book) ISBN 978-1-933550-20-6
 * Against the State: An Anarcho-Capitalist Manifesto (2014) ISBN 0990463109
 * Fascism vs. Capitalism (2013) ISBN 1494399806
 * Against The Left: A Rothbardian Libertarianism (2019) ISBN 978-0-9904631-5-3

Editor

 * Man, Economy, and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard (with Walter Block) (1986; online e-book) ISBN 99911-786-2-7
 * The Free Market Reader (1988; online e-book)ISBN 0-945466-02-1
 * The Economics of Liberty (1990; online e-book) ISBN 0-945466-08-0
 * The Gold Standard: Perspectives in the Austrian School (1992; online e-book), ISBN 0-945466-11-0
 * Murray N. Rothbard: In Memoriam (1995; online e-book) ISBN 0-945466-19-6
 * The Irrepressible Rothbard (2000; online e-book – Rockwell's introduction) ISBN 1-883959-02-0

title: Lew Rockwell


text:
Talk:1989 Loma Prieta earthquake

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-- Marchjuly (talk) 00:15, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

SF Chronicle continued to publish
Someone with better knowledge than I could add a section about how the Chronicle (or maybe the Examiner?) managed to get published even though the paper's entire physical plant was out of commission. The newspaper was more or less thrown together with Macintoshes and printed elsewhere (Sacramento, I think). The paper was not typeset as normal but instead was a mishmash of laserprinted stories (often in different typefaces). I recall that everyone was astounded that the paper sort of magically appeared the next day -- very impressive, and a reassuring example of resilience and can-doism in the face of disaster. I wish I'd kept a copy. Cellmaker (talk) 01:57, 26 October 2022 (UTC)
 * That kind of content would probably be best presented on the articles for the newspapers as it's really about them and not about the earthquake and/or the effects of the earthquake. Dawnseeker2000  04:05, 26 October 2022 (UTC)

This makes no sense
I've read this repeatedly, but I can't parse it in any way that makes any sense: 'The Federal Communications Commission later investigated the issue of KNBR's EBS malfunction, calling the fail "revoked".' Does anyone know what this sentence actually means? Dstar3k (talk) 01:38, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

 * This was added on 13:39, 9 April 2021, and has not been changed since as far as I can tell. Unless someone can explain what it's supposed to mean in the next week, I'm going to delete it. Dstar3k (talk) 01:51, 30 October 2022 (UTC)

Los Gatos
There was a great deal of destruction in downtown Los Gatos. After the earthquake, my boyfriend took me there on his motorcycle. I remember seeing commercial buildings on the Main Street whose front double doors were off kilter, one side was higher than the other. Los Gatos damage is barely mentioned. I wish I had pictures. I know there was at least one building collapsed into rubble. This article only mentions broken windows and toppled chimneys. I cried when I saw the damage in Los Gatos. It was a pretty little town. 72.130.17.17 (talk) 03:59, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

Los Altos
The mention of "casualties" in Los Altos may be inaccurate. There was damage to property and utilities but I am not aware of fatalities. My parents lived there and went through the quake. Donmiguel ic (talk) 18:24, 9 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for that. I wrote Los Altos when I intended to write Los Gatos. Dawnseeker2000  21:46, 9 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:1989 Loma Prieta earthquake


text: Talk:Marcus Garvey

title: Talk:Marcus Garvey


text:
Loma Prieta

Loma Prieta (from Spanish loma -hill, prieta -dark) is 3790 ft high and is the highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains in Northern California.

Although the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was named for this mountain, the actual epicenter was five miles southwest of the peak, across the San Andreas fault, in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park.

In the 19th century, the peak was called Mount Bache, a name given in honor of Alexander Dallas Bache; the name is no longer in use.

From 1955 to 2005, the mountain was the longtime site for the transmitter tower of San Jose television station KNTV. In September 2005, it moved its transmitter 83 km northwest to San Bruno Mountain after it became the Bay Area's NBC affiliate.

Geology
Loma Prieta is the tallest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains and it is common to see snow on the mountain during the winter.

Loma Prieta and other nearby mountain peaks are pushed upward by local collision forces associated with a left bend in the San Andreas fault. Starting near Uvas Canyon, the fault stops trending northwest but instead bends west-northwest for about eight miles before continuing its northwest direction. This left bend is renowned among geologists as an archetypal restraining bend which acts to oppose strike-slip motion along the fault. From the perspective of Loma Prieta and other mountains atop the Sierra Azul block, the Pacific Plate is trying to shear them off the North American Plate but can't break them off. Rather, the resulting transpression force pushes up the local terrain and helps explain why these are the highest peaks in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Astronomy
From 1976 through 1990 amateur astronomer Donald Machholz set up his telescope an average of 120 times a year on the south slope of this mountain to search for comets. From this site he discovered three new comets that bear his name, including Periodic Comet Machholz 1 96P/Machholz on May 12, 1986.

The first official West Coast Messier marathon was conducted from this site in March 1979.

title: Loma Prieta


text: Talk:Loma Prieta

title: Talk:Loma Prieta


text:
Caucus

A caucus is a meeting or grouping of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures.

The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting of members of a political party to nominate candidates, plan policy, etc., in the United States Congress, or other similar representative organs of government. It has spread to certain Commonwealth countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa, where it generally refers to a regular meeting of all members of Parliament (MPs) who belong to a parliamentary party: a party caucus may have the ability to elect or dismiss the party's parliamentary leader. The term was used historically in the United Kingdom to refer to the Liberal Party's internal system of management and control.

Etymology

The word caucus came into use in the British colonies of North America to describe clubs or private meetings at which political matters were discussed. It is first found in reference to the Caucus Club of Boston, which was established in c. 1719, although the name is not documented until c. 1760. There are three main theories for the word's origins:

 * Native American
 * James Hammond Trumbull suggested to the American Philological Association that the word comes from an Algonquian word for "counsel", cau´-cau-as´u. It might also derive from the Algonquian cawaassough, meaning an advisor, talker, or orator. This explanation was favored by Charles Dudley Warner.

 * Drinking associations
 * The American Heritage Dictionary suggests that the word possibly derives from medieval Latin caucus, meaning "drinking vessel", such as might have been used for the flip drunk at the Caucus Club (see John Adams quotation below). The appearance of the term coincides with the spreading in England – and therefore also in America – of the inns called cocues because they were places to drink the new cheap liquor called "gin" or "cuckoo liquor", since it was obtained from the distillation of so-called "cuckoo barley"; namely, barley sown very late in the spring and therefore unsuitable for the distillation of beer. That caucuses were places where people drank abundantly is attested by Obadiah Benjamin Franklin Bloomfield in his autobiography: "Richard had set out hospitably [...] A caucus had been accordingly held by these worthies, and it was resolved nem. con. that they should first make a drunkard of him, and then pluck him, aye, even of the last feather."

 * Shipbuilding
 * A third theory is that the word is a corruption of "caulkers" (i.e., persons who apply caulk), in the sense of shipbuilders. This derivation was suggested by John Pickering in 1816 in A Vocabulary; or, Collection of Words and Phrases Which Have Been Supposed to Be Peculiar to the U.S. of America. It was later adopted by Noah Webster and also appears in an article of 1896 on the origins of the caucus – in all cases citing the 1788 passage by William Gordon quoted below (though Gordon does not in fact draw a direct connection between shipbuilding and the caucus). It likewise appears in Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1888), where it is suggested that the term's roots lay in what is here called the "caulkers' club" of Boston, formed by Samuel Adams Sr. and a group of "sea-captains, shipwrights, and persons otherwise connected with the shipping interest". This entry also discusses Samuel Adams Jr.'s fondness for quoting Greek and Latin "after the pedantic fashion of the time", which might provide a context for a coinage with a Latin suffix.

Early usage
The Boston Gazette of May 5, 1760, includes an essay commenting:

"Whereas it is reported, that certain Persons, of the Modern Air and Complexion, to the Number of Twelve at least, have divers Times of late been known to combine together, and are called by the Name of the New and Grand Corcas, tho' of declared Principles directly opposite to all that have heretofore been known: And whereas it is vehemently suspected, by some, that their Design is nothing less, than totally to overthrow the ancient Constitution of our Town-Meetings, as being popular and mobbish …"

The writer goes on to argue that this body's underhand attempts to influence voters are in opposition to the more laudable activities of "the old and true Corcas".

A February 1763 entry in the diary of John Adams demonstrates that the word already held its modern connotations of a "smoke-filled room" where candidates for public election were pre-selected in private: "This day learned that the Caucas Clubb meets at certain Times in the Garret of Tom Daws, the Adjutant of the Boston Regiment. He has a large House, and he has a moveable Partition in his Garrett, which he takes down and the whole Clubb meets in one Room. There they smoke tobacco till you cannot see from one End of the Garrett to the other. There they drink Phlip I suppose, and there they choose a Moderator, who puts Questions to the Vote regularly, and Selectman, Assessors, Collectors, Wardens, Fire Wards, and Representatives are Regularly chosen before they are chosen in the Town …"

The following month, a writer signing himself "E. J." and claiming to be "a late Member" of the Boston "Corkass", explained in greater detail how the inner circle of the "Petty Corkass" manipulated the business of the broader "Grand Corkass":

"At present the heads of this venerable Company meet some weeks before a Town-Meeting, and consult among themselves, appoint town officers, and settle all other affairs that are to be transacted at town meeting; after these few have settled the affairs, they communicate them to the next better sort of their brethren; when they have been properly sounded and instructed, they meet with the heads; these are called the Petty Corkass: Here each recommends his friends, opposes others, juggle and trim, and often have pretty warm disputes; but by compounding and compromising, settle every thing before the Grand Corkass meets; tho' for form sake … a number of warm disputes are prepared, to entertain the lower sort …"

William Gordon commented in 1788: "The word caucus, and its derivative caucusing, are often used in Boston […] It seems to mean, a number of persons, whether more or less, met together to consult upon adopting or presenting some scheme of policy, for carrying a favorite point. The word is not of novel invention. More than fifty years ago, Mr. Samuel Adams's father, and twenty others, one or two from the north end of the town, where all the ship business is carried on, used to meet, make a caucus, and lay their plan for introducing certain persons into places of trust and power."

An analogical Latin-type plural "cauci" is occasionally used.

In the United States
In United States politics and government, caucus has several distinct but related meanings. Members of a political party or subgroup may meet to coordinate members' actions, choose group policy, or nominate candidates for various offices.

Caucuses to select election candidates
There is no provision for the role of political parties in the United States Constitution. In the first two presidential elections, the Electoral College handled nominations and elections in 1789 and 1792 which selected George Washington. After that, Congressional party or a state legislature party caucus selected the party's presidential candidates. Nationally, these caucuses were replaced by the party convention starting in 1832 following the lead of the Anti-Masonic Party 1831 convention.

The term caucus is frequently used to discuss the procedures used by some states to select presidential nominees such as the Iowa caucuses, the first of the modern primary presidential election cycle, and the Texas caucuses. Since 1980 such caucuses have become, in the aggregate, an important component of the nomination process.

Congressional caucuses
Another meaning is a sub grouping of officials with shared affinities or ethnicities who convene, often but not always to advocate, agitate, lobby or to vote collectively, on policy. At the highest level, in Congress and many state legislatures, Democratic and Republican members organize themselves into a caucus (occasionally called a "conference"). There can be smaller caucuses in a legislative body, including those that are multi-partisan or even bicameral. Of the many Congressional caucuses, one of the best-known is the Congressional Black Caucus, a group of African-American members of Congress. Another prominent example is the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, whose members voice and advance issues affecting Hispanics in the United States, including Puerto Rico. In a different vein, the Congressional Internet Caucus is a bipartisan group of Members who wish to promote the growth and advancement of the Internet. Other congressional caucuses such as the Out of Iraq Caucus, are openly organized tendencies or political factions (within the House Democratic Caucus, in this case), and strive to achieve political goals, similar to a European "platform", but generally organized around a single issue.

Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa
The term is also used in certain Commonwealth nations, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa. However, when used in these countries, "caucus" is more usually a collective term for all members of a party sitting in Parliament, otherwise called a parliamentary group, rather than a word for a regular meeting of these members of Parliament. Thus, the Australian Federal Parliamentary Labor Party is commonly called "the Labor Caucus".

The word was used in New Zealand from at least the 1890s, when organized political parties began to emerge: the largest of them, the Liberal Party, used it to refer to its parliamentary members.

In New Zealand, the term is now used by all political parties, but in Australia, it continues to be used only by the Labor Party. For the Australian Liberal, National and Green parties, the usual equivalent term is "party room". In South Africa all parties use the term "caucus". In Canada, "caucus" refers to all members of a particular party in Parliament, including senators, or a provincial legislature. These members elect among themselves a caucus chair who presides over their meetings. This person is an important figure when the party is in opposition, and is an important link between cabinet and the backbench when the party is in government.

In such contexts, a party caucus can be quite powerful, as it can elect or dismiss the party's parliamentary leader. The caucus system is a departure from the Westminster tradition in giving members of the upper house a say in the election of the party leader, who may become head of government. The caucus also determines some matters of policy, parliamentary tactics, and disciplinary measures against disobedient MPs. In some parties, the caucus also has the power to elect MPs to Cabinet when the party is in government. For example, this is traditionally so in the Australian Labor Party and the New Zealand Labour Party.

Historic usage
The word "caucus" had a wide currency in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century, meaning a highly structured system of management and control within a political party, equivalent to a "party machine" in the United States. It was used with specific reference to the structure of the Liberal Party. Originally a pejorative term, used by detractors of the system with overtones of corrupt American practices, the name was soon adopted by the Liberals themselves.

The system had originated at a local level in Birmingham in preparation for the 1868 general election, when, under the 1867 Reform Act, the city had been allocated three parliamentary seats, but each elector had only two votes. In order to spread votes evenly, the secretary of the Birmingham Liberal Association, William Harris (later dubbed the "father of the Caucus") devised a four-tier organizational structure (of ward committees, general committee, executive committee, and management committee) through which Liberal voters in different wards could be instructed in the precise combinations in which to cast their votes. In 1877 the newly formed National Liberal Federation was given a similar structure, on the initiative of Joseph Chamberlain, and again worked out in detail by Harris.

Shortly afterwards the term "caucus" was applied to this system by The Times newspaper, which referred to "the 'caucus' with all its evils", and by the Conservative prime minister, Benjamin Disraeli. In 1880 Queen Victoria, following a meeting with Disraeli, wrote disapprovingly in a private note of "that American system called caucus". The Liberal Caucus was also vilified by socialists and trade unionists, who (prior to the establishment of the Independent Labour Party) sought a route to parliamentary representation through the Liberal Party via the Labour Representation League and the Labour Electoral Association, but found their way barred by the party's management structures.

Moisey Ostrogorsky devoted some nine chapters of his Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties (1902) to discussion of the development and operation of the "Caucus" in this sense.

Contemporary usage
The word "caucus" is only occasionally encountered in contemporary politics in the British Isles. In contrast to other Anglosphere nations, it is never used for all members of a party in Parliament: the usual term for that concept, both in the UK and in the Republic of Ireland, is "parliamentary party".

On the rare occasions when the term is used, it generally refers to a subgroup, faction or pressure group within a political party. For example, in 2019 the One Nation Conservatives and Blue Collar Conservatives were established as factions within the Conservative Party, both being described as "caucuses".

In organizations
In conventions, where the membership from different parts of the organization may gather, each separate group within the organization may meet prior to the convention as a caucus. Each caucus may decide how the group would vote on various issues that may come up at the convention. Unless the votes are made binding, however, each delegate is still free to vote in any fashion.

In alternative dispute resolution
The term caucus is also used in mediation, facilitation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution to describe circumstances wherein, rather than meeting at a common table, the disputants retreat to a more private setting to process information, agree on negotiation strategy, confer privately with counsel or with the mediator, or simply gain "breathing room" after the often emotionally difficult interactions that can occur in the common area where all parties are present. The degree to which caucuses are used can be a key defining element, and often an identifier, of the mediation model being used. For example, "facilitative mediation" tends to discourage the use of caucuses and tries to keep the parties talking at a single table, while "evaluative mediation" may allow parties to separate more often and rely on the mediator to shuttle information and offers back and forth.

title: Caucus


text:
Mason

Mason may refer to:

Occupations

 * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces
 * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutting and shaping industry

Organizations

 * Mason (Freemasonry), a general term for a Freemason
 * George Mason University in Virginia, US
 * Its athletic program, the George Mason Patriots

People

 * Mason (given name)
 * Mason (surname), an English, French or Italian surname
 * Mason sept of Clan Sinclair
 * Mason (musician) (born 1980), Dutch electronic music producer, real name Iason Chronis

Places

 * Mason, Illinois
 * Mason, Grant County, Kentucky
 * Mason, Magoffin County, Kentucky
 * Masons, Maryland
 * Mason, Michigan, in Ingham County
 * Mason, Houghton County, Michigan
 * Mason, Nevada
 * Mason, New Hampshire
 * Mason, Ohio
 * Mason, Oklahoma
 * Mason, South Dakota
 * Mason, Tennessee
 * Mason, Texas
 * Mason, West Virginia
 * Mason (town), Wisconsin
 * Mason, Wisconsin, village within the town
 * Mason City (disambiguation)
 * Mason County (disambiguation)
 * Mason Township (disambiguation)

Science and technology

 * Mason (crater), on the Moon
 * MASON (Java), an artificial-life computer simulation development environment
 * Mason jar, a molded glass jar used in home canning to preserve food

Transport and military

 * Mason (streetcar), first streetcar in the U.S.
 * Mason Machine Works, Taunton, Massachusetts, known for its locomotives
 * Mason Motor Car Company, a brass era car company
 * Mason Truck, a subsidiary of Durant Motors of the 1920s
 * USS Mason, several warships

Other uses

 * Mason (American band), a rock band from Virginia
 * Masons (novel), a novel by Alexey Pisemsky
 * Mason bee (Osmia species), of the family Megachilidae

title: Mason


text:
Charles Sherwood Noble

Charles Sherwood Noble (1873 – July 5, 1957) invented a minimum disturbance cultivator called the Noble blade. The Noble blade (or Noble plow) cuts weed roots beneath the soil surface without turning the soil over, thus reducing topsoil loss due to wind erosion. The village of Nobleford, Alberta is named after him.

Early life
Noble was born in State Center, Iowa, the eldest of six boys. His mother died when he was very young and Noble left school when he was age 15 to assist his father in supporting the family. In 1896 Noble took out a 160 acre homestead near Knox, North Dakota.

In 1902 Noble moved to the Claresholm, Alberta area in what was then part of the Northwest Territories. The next year, he married Margaret Naomi Fraser. In the following years Noble purchased large tracts of land southeast of Claresholm. He constructed many of the area's first buildings and the hamlet of Noble (later renamed Nobleford) was established in 1909.

By 1922 Noble had accumulated about 30000 acre of land but a series of poor crops, falling prices and too much debt meant he was unable to keep up the payments on the land. In the autumn of that year the Spokane Trust Company to whom he owed $600,000 foreclosed on the Noble estate and he lost all his holdings.

By 1930 he had regained some of his holdings and was farming approximately 8000 acre of land.

Noble blade
The land that Charles Noble farmed in southern Alberta sits in what is known as the dry-belt. During the period of drought known as the dirty thirties, farmland within the dry-belt, cultivated with mold-board plow and/or double disc and summer fallowed every other year, was subject to massive soil erosion. In 1935, while on a visit to California, Noble observed a sugar beet farmer using a straight blade tool to cut into the subsoil beneath the beets to loosen them for harvesting. He noticed that the blade was disturbing and killing weeds without burying them. Noble realized if he could apply a similar implement to the dry land back in Alberta thus leaving the crop stubble as "trash" on top to hold the soil and protect it from blowing the problem of soil erosion may be solved. He immediately fabricated a tillage implement patterned after the sugar beet harvesting tool. He called his invention the Noble blade. The next year he carried out all his summer fallow work using his invention. The results were so successful by 1937 he had fabricated 50 of the implements which he sold to friends and neighbors. By 1941 a factory was built within the village of Nobleford. Sales of the Noble blade occurred throughout the dry land farming areas of the world. The Noble blade is touted as one of the most important agricultural inventions of the 20th century. In 1982 the company that Noble had founded was sold to Versatile Manufacturing Ltd.

Other neighboring farmers have been proven to have invented this style of blade earlier than Noble. Lethbridge Historical Society

· Otto Wobick The photograph (not attached)shows Otto Wobick with an early wing blade cultivator that he helped design. Wobick was a Barons area farmer. Working with John Turner, another farmer in the Barons area, Otto made the first V-blade cultivator on the continent. The development of blades was a vital part in the development of what became known as “trash-cover” farming, where weeds were killed by their roots being cut but left in place to help control soil erosion and moisture loss. The idea of a sliding-blade type of cultivator occurred to several farmers, including Turner and Wobick. C.S. Noble, who also developed a blade, would in time get more recognition then Turner and Wobick, though theirs was invented first.

title: Charles Sherwood Noble


text:
Maynard

Maynard may refer to:

Names

 * Maynard (given name)
 * Maynard (surname)

Places
Canada
 * Maynard, Ontario, a village in Augusta Township

United States
 * Maynard, Arkansas
 * Maynard, Iowa
 * Maynard, Kentucky
 * Maynard, Massachusetts
 * Maynard, Minnesota
 * Maynard, Ohio

Other uses

 * Maynard (album), by Maynard Ferguson, 1981
 * Maynard (software), a shell for Weston competing with the GNOME Shell
 * Maynard Electronics, an American company that manufactured tape drives in the 1990s
 * The Maynard School, a girls' school in Exeter, UK
 * Maynard tape primer, a system for reloading muskets
 * Maynards, a sweets manufacturer in the United Kingdom

title: Maynard


text:
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), also referred to simply as the Wisconsin Synod, is an American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as theologically conservative, it was founded in 1850 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

As of 2022, it had a baptized membership of 340,511 in 1,250 congregations, with churches in 47 US states and 4 provinces of Canada. The WELS also does gospel outreach in 40 countries around the world. It is the third largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. The WELS school system is the fourth largest private school system in the United States.

The WELS is in fellowship with the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) and is a member of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC), a worldwide organization of Lutheran church bodies of the same beliefs.

Doctrinal standards
The WELS subscribes to the Lutheran Reformation teaching of Sola scriptura—"by Scripture alone." It holds that the Bible is the final authority by which church teachings can be judged. WELS pastors have a quia subscription to the 16th century Lutheran Confessions; that is, they teach that the confessions are valid because they are faithful to the Bible. As such, pastors and congregations within the WELS agree to teach in accordance with it.

The WELS also agrees with the doctrine of Biblical inerrancy, the doctrine that the Bible is inspired by God and is without error (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21, 1 Corinthians 2:13, John 17:17, Psalm 12:6, Titus 1:2). For this reason, they reject much of modern liberal theology.

Differences from Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod
The main facets of doctrinal difference between the WELS and the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) include:

 * Fellowship – The WELS teaches that all forms of Christian fellowship require a complete unity in matters of doctrine (Romans 16:17, Ephesians 4:3-6). The LCMS, meanwhile, teaches that there are different levels of fellowship among Christians, so that altar fellowship (sharing in the Eucharist together), pulpit fellowship (exchange of preaching privileges among ministers of various congregations), and other manifestations of Christian fellowship (such as fellowship in prayer), are distinct. Thus, according to LCMS doctrine, members of different church bodies can engage in greater or lesser degrees of fellowship depending on the extent of their doctrinal disagreement.
 * Doctrine of the ministry – The WELS believes that there are many different forms of one, divinely established Ministry. These forms of the Ministry include pastor, Christian day-school teacher, and others (1 Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 4:11). The LCMS teaches that only the pastoral office is divinely established, while all other church offices are human institutions.
 * Role of women in the church – The LCMS and WELS agree that Scriptures reserve the pastoral office for men. In "This We Believe," published in 1999, WELS states that "women may participate in offices and activities of the public ministry except where that work involves authority over men (1 Timothy 2:11,12). This means that women may not serve as pastors nor participate in assemblies of the church in ways that exercise authority over men (1 Corinthians 11:3; 14:33–35)." WELS does not allow women suffrage in congregational matters that would exercise authority over men. LCMS teaches that women may take on roles of lay authority in the church, such as voting in church elections and serving in "humanly established offices" such as congregation president, reader, or member of church councils, including elected executive roles in the church.

Differences from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

 * Scriptural interpretation – The WELS confesses that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21, 1 Corinthians 2:13, John 17:17, Psalm 12:6, Titus 1:2) and follows a historical-grammatical approach to interpretation. The meaning of a portion of Scripture is discerned by paying careful attention to grammar, syntax, vocabulary and context. In this regard, the historical setting forms part of the context of Scripture, the text itself indicating how important a part. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), on the other hand, has been open to historical-critical methods of Biblical interpretation which seek to understand the scriptures with primary reference to historical and social context. Most other specific doctrinal differences between the two churches stem from this overarching disagreement.
 * Creation – The WELS teaches that the account of creation given in Genesis 1–3 is a factual, historical account, while the ELCA has not enforced an official position, allowing members to embrace positions ranging from strict creationism to theistic evolution.
 * Sexuality – The WELS teaches that extramarital sex (1 Corinthians 7:2, Hebrews 13:4) and homosexual relations (Romans 1:18-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Timothy 8-11) are sins, while the ELCA and its predecessor churches are open to multiple viewpoints on these matters.
 * Fellowship – The WELS teaches that churches must agree on all doctrines of Scripture before they can enjoy any form of fellowship with each other (Romans 16:17, Ephesians 4:3-6), while the ELCA teaches that agreement on all aspects of doctrine is not necessarily required as a prerequisite for fellowship. It thus practices fellowship with a handful of other mainline Protestant denominations.
 * Role of women in the church – The WELS holds that, according to Scripture, women may not serve as clergy nor vote within their congregations where authority is exercised over men (see above), while the ELCA's three predecessor churches began ordaining women into the ministry in the 1970s, according to their interpretation of Scripture.
 * Communion – The WELS practices closed communion (1 Corinthians 10:16-17, 1 Corinthians 1:10, 1 Corinthians 11:26-32); it holds that the Eucharist is reserved for confirmed members of the WELS, any sister church in fellowship with WELS, and other individuals found upon examination to be in doctrinal agreement with the WELS.

Beginning
The WELS's direct predecessor, known as The German Evangelical Ministerium of Wisconsin was founded in 1850 by several churches in and around Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Many of the early pastors were educated and trained by mission societies in Germany. The early churches in the Wisconsin Synod had a strong German background; services and church business were conducted in German. Many of the pastors and congregations brought with them a tolerance towards forming joint congregations with the Reformed, similar to the Union Churches they left behind in Germany. In 1864, the German Evangelical Lutheran synod of Wisconsin was incorporated by an act of the state legislature.

General Council
In the 1860s, the Wisconsin Synod became increasingly conservative along the Lutheran viewpoint and against the Reformed. In the synod convention of 1867, the synod joined the General Council, a group of Neo-Lutheran synods that left the General Synod because the latter body sought to compromise Lutheran doctrine in order to join with non-Lutheran American Protestantism. However, some pastors in the Wisconsin Synod agreed with the "open questions" position of the Iowa Synod that some doctrines could be left unresolved and good Lutherans could agree to disagree about them.

The 1868 convention witnessed a meaningful discussion on the topic of pulpit and altar fellowship, one of the Four Points in American Lutheranism. Although there were several dissenting opinions, most of the pastors and lay delegates realized that they could not in good conscience exchange pastors with non-Lutherans or invite them to commune at their altar. They felt that the position the General Council took on this subject was inadequate. They resolved that, unless it changed course, they would withdraw from the General Council.

Synodical Conference
Following the 1868 convention, representatives of the Wisconsin and Missouri Synods held a meeting in Milwaukee during October 21–22, 1868. They discussed various points of doctrine, writing an agreement recognizing the Missouri and Wisconsin synods as orthodox Lutheran church bodies and that they have fellowship. The agreement noted that in the event a doctrinal error arose in one of the two synods, they would not question each other's orthodoxy as long as they both used all Christian means at their disposal to resolve the problem. This agreement was later adopted by each of the synods in convention.

The Ohio Synod invited the Wisconsin Synod, Illinois Synod, Missouri Synod, and Norwegian Synod, to Chicago on January 11–13, 1871. There the synods drew up a document of association for the synods to vote on at their next convention. They also invited the entire membership, both teachers and pastors, of all the synods to attend a general convention the next year. This first meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America, commonly called the "Synodical Conference", was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on July 10–16, 1872. They wrote the constitution to the Synodical Conference, which arranged the synods together as a federation and did not vest any real authority with the Synodical Conference, either at the convention or board level. The fellowship union included full communion among members, the sharing of educational facilities, joint mission and benevolence work, and open pulpit between pastors of the different synods.

Reorganization
The first convention of the Synodical Conference also endeavored to reduce the severe competition between synods. The delegates planned to reorganize all Synodical Conference Lutherans into separate state synods, although allowing for separate organization along the lines of the three languages—German, Norwegian, and English. The 1876 and 1877 conventions also took up this cause, and added to it the goal of providing centrally located ministerial and teacher education campuses. The Minnesota Synod favored the approach of organizing state synods, but only if they would be independent of the larger Ohio and Missouri Synods. Likewise, the Wisconsin Synod desired organization along state lines, but only on the condition that they would be prohibited from joining any larger synodical body, that is, the already existing Ohio and Missouri Synods. The Wisconsin Synod also did not think that it could derive any benefit out of a centrally run seminary. In response to this strained relation between the Wisconsin Synod and the other synods, the Synodical Conference elected a committee made up of Wisconsin Synod delegates and other synods' representatives to repair relations with the Wisconsin Synod in time for the next convention in 1878.

In 1878, the Wisconsin Synod withdrew its demand that the state synods had to be independent of the Missouri or Ohio Synods. The Missouri Synod needed to build a new seminary, since location at its current campus was strained. Although there was considerable plans to build a new joint Synodical Conference seminary near Chicago, because of the hesitance of the Wisconsin Synod on this subject and the inability of any of the other members besides Missouri to contribute financially to the new project, it was tabled, and ultimately never happened.

The 1878 convention voted in favor of establishing state synods. These state synods were to organize into two or three larger synods, one for the east (corresponding to the Ohio Synod), one for the southwest (corresponding to the Missouri Synod), and one for the northwest (which would include all congregations in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas and all parts west). This formed three larger synods, which solved the longstanding concern that if either the Missouri or Ohio synods were allowed to keep their identity, they would dominate the rest of the Synodical Conference, or, even worse, the Minnesota or Wisconsin Synods would be forced to join one of them. This new organization did not apply to congregations speaking Norwegian, and English speaking congregations were to organize as separate district synods within one of the larger synods.

Schism
The Synodical Conference split when the Ohio Synod left the Synodical Conference in 1881 over the issue of whether God predestined people according to his foreknowledge of whether they would come to faith. The Ohio Synod had some pastors that allowed for this position, while the Missouri Synod declared it to be false doctrine. This Election Controversy had been introduced by a German professor in the Norwegian Synod, Friedrich A. Schmidt. The Norwegian Synod left the Synodical Conference in 1883, attempting to keep the disunity they experienced within their synod from creeping into the Synodical Conference. Meanwhile, the Wisconsin and Missouri synods stood together in cooperation and harmony during this period of fierce debate.

Bennett Law
Along with other ethnically German denominations, the Wisconsin Synod successfully spoke out in opposition to the Wisconsin Bennett Law, a compulsory education law that also required certain subjects be taught in English and put public authorities in charge of enforcing compliance in both public and private schools. Wisconsin's German-American Lutherans and Catholics saw the law as an attack on their parochial schools and parental rights. They also believed the law was a nativist attack on their German culture. The law was enacted in 1889 and repealed in 1891.

Apache mission
In 1893, two Wisconsin Synod missionaries began work in Arizona at Peridot and Old San Carlos in the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation among the Apache people. Congregations were soon established. Currently there are nine Wisconsin Synod congregations on the reservation.

1917 merger
In 1892, the Wisconsin Synod had federated with the Michigan and Minnesota synods to form the General Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Other States. The Nebraska Synod joined the federation in 1904. In 1917 the synods voted to turn their federation into a formal union, known as the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Wisconsin and Other States. By 1930, the merger and other factors had pushed the Wisconsin Synod to become a primarily English-speaking synod. The present name was adopted in 1959.

Protes'tant controversy
From 1926 to 1929, a small group of persons and congregations were expelled or voluntarily left the WELS in an incident known as the "Protes'tant Controversy." They formed the Protes'tant Conference.

Breakup of the Synodical Conference
Doctrinal differences among the synods of the Synodical Conference, especially concerning the doctrine and practice of church fellowship, surfaced during the 1940s and '50s. Problems began when the LCMS began exploratory talks with leaders of the American Lutheran Church (ALC). The ALC differed on its doctrine of Predestination and therefore did not share doctrinal fellowship with the Synodical Conference. Since there had been no recent change on the ALC's doctrinal position, the LCMS was then charged by some within the Synodical Conference of changing its position on church fellowship. After years of continued talks, the ELS severed its fellowship relations with the LCMS in 1955 and withdrew from the Synodical Conference. Two years later the WELS publicly recognized the same doctrinal disagreements with the LCMS, but rather than break fellowship, decided to admonish the LCMS to return to its former practice.

Dissatisfaction over this decision led about 70 pastors and a similar number of congregations to leave the WELS, ELS, and LCMS to form the Church of the Lutheran Confession (CLC). Their chief complaint was that the WELS misapplied the principles of Christian fellowship by not breaking immediately with the Synodical Conference and the LCMS after it had publicly recognized doctrinal disagreements. While the WELS broke fellowship with the LCMS in 1961, the CLC and the WELS remain at odds regarding this issue to this day. Recently, the WELS and ELS have been in formal discussions with the CLC over doctrinal issues. The goal of these discussions is to restore fellowship with each other.

Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference
In 1993, the ELS and WELS, working with a number of other Lutheran synods around the world—some of which had been founded through mission work by both synods—founded a new international fellowship organization which is the theological successor of the Synodical Conference: the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC).

Martin Luther College
Martin Luther College (MLC) was established in 1995 when Northwestern College (NWC) in Watertown, Wisconsin combined with Dr. Martin Luther College (DMLC) in New Ulm, Minnesota at the New Ulm campus. MLC is a private liberal arts college that is owned and operated by the WELS. MLC offers several undergraduate and graduate degree programs, all of which train students for service in the Wisconsin Synod. Men who graduate from the college's pre-seminary program may enroll at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. Men and women who graduate from its education programs may be assigned by the Wisconsin Synod as teachers and staff ministers to synod churches, schools, and missions.

The Chapel of the Christ was dedicated in 2010 at Martin Luther College to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the WELS.

New Latin American synod
In 2021, WELS sister churches in Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Venezuela came together with the WELS to form a new synod: Iglesia Cristo WELS Internacional.

Presidents
The following is a list of presidents of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod from 1850 to the present.

Synodical government
The WELS is headed by a president and is supported by two vice presidents elected during its synod convention for terms of four years. The president oversees the administration of the synod. The current synod president is the Rev. Mark G. Schroeder.

Beneath the president are numerous administrative divisions addressing various areas of ministry. Among these are ministerial education, world missions, home missions, parish services, and fiscal services.

Synod conventions are held biennially in odd-numbered years and consist of elected male lay members from individual congregations from within the synod, ordained pastors and certified male teachers. Half of all delegates are to be lay members while the remaining half is divided between pastors and teachers. Synod conventions elect synodical leaders, and discuss and vote on synodical business. The WELS Synodical Council governs the church when the church is not in convention. The council is made up of twenty-three WELS members including eleven clergy and thirteen laymen. These men "act as a corporate board to plan and direct WELS worldwide ministry", but their decisions may be overruled by a synod convention.

The WELS is divided into 12 geographical districts in the United States and Canada, each headed by a district president elected in district conventions held during even-numbered years. District presidents serve terms of two years.

Missions
WELS Missions consists of all of the mission efforts of the WELS. These missions are made up of Home, World, and Joint Missions. Multi-Language Productions is an arm of WELS World Missions.

“Home Missions supports 126 congregations in the United States, Canada, and English-speaking West Indies, and assists hundreds of other congregations with their campus ministry programs. World Missions conducts gospel outreach in 40 foreign countries and is exploring outreach opportunities in 14 prospective new mission fields. Joint Missions oversees any mission opportunity that is a combination of Home Missions, World Missions, and Ministerial Education.“

WELS Mission Journeys is the official WELS program for short-term mission trips for WELS members. “Through church- or school-based volunteer trips to WELS mission fields at home and abroad, members have the opportunity to engage in Christian service. Pre-trip training led by a Mission Journeys team leader equips volunteers to have significant impact during their trip. While volunteering, the learning and sharing of outreach ideas will allow teams to explore how they can use their God-given abilities to lead an outreach event upon their return home.”

Education
The WELS school system is one of the largest private school system in the United States. As of 2021, WELS churches and associations operate 362 early childhood centers, 284 elementary schools, 29 high schools, 2 colleges, and 1 seminary across the nation.

The WELS maintains four schools of ministerial education: two college preparatory schools, Michigan Lutheran Seminary and Luther Preparatory School; a pre-seminary and teacher training college, Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota; and a seminary for training pastors, Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, located in Mequon, Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Lutheran College, a liberal arts college in Milwaukee, is affiliated with the WELS and "is owned and operated by a corporation whose members consist of WELS congregations from across the country."

Campus ministry
The WELS has an extensive campus ministry system. The WELS provides financial support for 30 campus ministry programs and assistance for 550 campus ministries in the United States and Canada. The WELS also supports full and part-time campus pastors.

The first campus ministry program started in 1920 at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. Today, Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel is a campus ministry of the WELS that serves students of UW—Madison and other colleges in Madison, WI.

Christian Aid & Relief
Christian Aid & Relief (CAR) is a WELS organization that provides disaster relief and humanitarian aid to people and WELS churches and missions in need.

“The mission of Christian Aid and Relief is to reflect Christ’s love and compassion to souls suffering from disasters and hardships. Because of what Christ has freely done for us, we eagerly show we care by offering our time, talents, and treasures to those in need.”

CAR is made up mostly of volunteers who help in various ways. CAR also works with WELS missions and churches for various efforts. CAR also partners with various organizations to help carry out their efforts including Central Africa Medical Mission, Kingdom Workers, WELS Nurses Association, and Christian Family Solutions.

Discipleship
The WELS Commission on Discipleship is an organization that “... provides resources, encouragement, and training to assist congregations as they seek to strengthen individuals and families in their connection to Christ and their ongoing walk of faith.” The focus of the WELS Commission on Discipleship is in the following areas:

Military services
The WELS Military Services Committee provides spiritual services through full and part-time chaplains to WELS members and other people in the United States Armed Forces. The WELS has a full-time civilian chaplain in Europe and a national civilian chaplain and liaison to the military. The WELS also has 122 pastors who serve as part-time chaplains throughout the United States and around the world.

Deaf and hard of hearing
The WELS Mission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing helps congregations to serve the deaf and hard of hearing. “The Mission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing offers resources to aid ministry to people who are deaf or have any degree of hearing loss.”

Visually impaired
The WELS Mission for the Visually Impaired helps congregations serve those who cannot see or who because of visual impairment or a print impairment cannot read a book or other printed material. The WELS Mission for the Visually Impaired is able to provide a wide variety of Christian resources for free to anyone who qualifies because of copyright law.

“Volunteers at the Mission for the Visually Impaired Workshop in South St Paul, Minn. and across the US produce Christian materials in audio formats, braille and large print. These materials are distributed free of charge throughout the world to WELS and non-WELS people who need them.”

Evangelism
The WELS Commission on Evangelism “... assists congregations to seize opportunities the Lord provides to evangelize lost souls by developing and promoting evangelism resources and by promoting evangelism attitudes, structures, and programs consistent with Christian doctrine.”

What About Jesus is “... a website that presents basic belief topics in an easy-to-understand format for those who aren’t familiar with God’s Word.“

The WELS Commission on Evangelism also has made a series of Christian movies to be used as evangelism tools. These movies include Road to Emmaus, Come Follow Me, My Son, My Savior, and To the Ends of the Earth.

The WELS Commission on Evangelism also offers the School of Outreach for WELS congregations. “The School of Outreach serves WELS congregations with planning, assistance, and resources for congregational evangelism programming and implementation of outreach strategies.”

The WELS Commission on Evangelism also offers evangelism courses through the Martin Luther College continuing education program.

Multi-Language Productions
The WELS Multi-Language Productions (MLP) has made more than 2.9 million audio, video, and print materials. MLP has also made online training resources in over 54 languages. “Through these resources MLP can assist and enhance outreach for all churches, especially in places where WELS does not have resident missionaries. The majority of MLP products are evangelism and Bible Study resources to be used by anyone who sees a need for ministering to others in Christ.”

Congregational counseling
The WELS Commission on Congregational Counseling “assists WELS congregations to assess and evaluate ministry, review biblical teachings and principles that impact ministry, develop plans to adjust and expand ministry in appropriate ways, and carry out their plans over a period of time.”

Publishing
Northwestern Publishing House (NPH) is the official publishing house for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it produces a wide variety of materials including curriculum, periodicals, books, and worship resources. The publications are mainly for use of churches, schools, pastors, and members of the WELS. Its retail store, NPH Christian Books and Gifts, was also located in Milwaukee, but closed in September 2018. NPH has since moved to the synod's headquarters, the WELS Center for Mission and Ministry.

Since June 23, 1891, Northwestern Publishing House has served the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and its members with a variety of products and programs. The mission of NPH is to publish and provide biblically sound material that communicates, fosters, and supports the Christian faith and life.

Main WELS periodicals include Forward in Christ: A Lutheran Voice, the WELS's monthly family magazine, and Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly, a quarterly theological magazine.

Most WELS churches use Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal, with some using the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal or no hymnal at all. In 1911, the Wisconsin Synod published Church Hymnal for Lutheran Services. Christian Worship: Hymnal is a new hymnal published by Northwestern Publishing House. It was released during the Advent season, 2021.

Membership
The WELS experienced significant growth during much of the twentieth century. In 1925, there were 139,226 members in 662 churches. By 1950 there were over 300,000 members. Membership peaked in the early 1990s at just over 400,000 and has declined slightly since that time. In 2006 the denomination reported 395,497 members in 1,276 congregations. In 2022, the denomination reported 340,511 baptized members. Wisconsin remains the geographic center of the denomination, with over 400 churches and over 200,000 members. Other than Wisconsin, the states with the highest rates of adherents are South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, and Nebraska.

Before the late 1960s, the denomination was almost entirely found in the states of the Great Lakes and Great Plains, but with the migration of WELS people to Southern and Western states and the influx of former LCMS conservatives to the WELS, membership outside the region grew strongly in the 1970s and 1980s.

Church fellowship
Fellowship between the WELS and other church groups is established only upon investigation and confirmation that both church groups hold complete unity in doctrine. The WELS is in fellowship with the members of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, which meets this requirement.

title: Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod