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Seibel grapes

Seibel grapes are a group of wine grape varieties which originated with the work of French viticulturist Albert Seibel crossing European grape with American grape species to increase disease resistance. They were planted widely in France during the 1950s but have seen decline in recent years because French wine law prohibits hybrid grapes in appellation wine. The grapes are still commonly used as blending grapes in table wine and mass commercial wines. New Zealand, England, and Canada also have plantings of Seibel grapes.

Almost all of Albert Seibel's hybrid grapes were descended from only four parent grapes: two European grapes (Vitis vinifera), Aramon and Alicante Bouschet; one wild American grape, Jaeger 70 (Vitis rupestris x Vitis lincecumii); and one rootstock, AxR1, which was created by crossing Aramon with a wild American V. rupestris. Although Seibel bred tens of thousands of grapes, he did so almost entirely by crossing and re-crossing his original varieties, all of which were descended from the original four vines, so the basic gene pool of his collection remained largely unchanged.

Almost all later grapevine hybridizers, such as Bertille Seyve and his father-in-law Victor Villard, would simply breed one or two of Albert Seibel's grapes together and name their creations after themselves, such as Seyve-Villard 5276 ("Seyval Blanc").

List of some Seibel grapes and their common names

 * Seibel 1 (a Munson and unknown Vitis vinifera crossing)
 * Seibel 29 (a Munson and unknown Vitis vinifera crossing)
 * Seibel 30
 * Seibel 99
 * Seibel 405
 * Seibel 452 (a crossing of Alicante Ganzin and Seibel 1)
 * Seibel 788 (a Sicilien and Clairette Dorée Ganzin) crossing)
 * Seibel 793
 * Seibel 867 (a crossing of Noah and Vivarais)
 * Seibel 880
 * Seibel 1000 Rosette
 * Seibel 1020 Flot rouge
 * Seibel 2003 Vivarais
 * Seibel 2007 Aramon du Gard
 * Seibel 2510 Cinsaut Seibel
 * Seibel 2524
 * Seibel 2653 Flot d'Or
 * Seibel 2679 (a crossing of Triumph and Alicante Terras 20)
 * Seibel 2859 Le Bienvenu
 * Seibel 3015 (a crossing of Bayard x Afus Ali (de))
 * Seibel 4199
 * Seibel 4461
 * Seibel 4595
 * Seibel 4643 Roi des Noirs
 * Seibel 4646 Le Pourpre
 * Seibel 4986 Rayon d'Or (a crossing of Aramon du Gard and Seibel 405)
 * Seibel 5001 Florental (a crossing of Seibel 2510 and Seibel 867)
 * Seibel 5163
 * Seibel 5279 Aurore (a crossing of Seibel 788 & Seibel 29)
 * Seibel 5351 (a crossing of Seibel 880 and Seibel 2679)
 * Seibel 5409 Gloire de Seibel (a crossing of Seibel 867 and Seibel 452)
 * Seibel 5410
 * Seibel 5455 Plantet
 * Seibel 5474 (a crossing of Seibel 405 and Seibel 867)
 * Seibel 5487 Le Redessan
 * Seibel 5575 Le Rubis
 * Seibel 5656 (a crossing of Seibel 4595 and Seibel 4199)
 * Seibel 5898 Rougeon (a crossing of Jaeger 70 and Seibel 3015)
 * Seibel 6150 (a crossing of Seibel 405 and Flot rouge)
 * Seibel 6268 (a crossing of Seibel 4614 and Seibel 3011)
 * Seibel 6468 (a crossing of Seibel 4614 and Seibel 3011)
 * Seibel 6905 Le Subéreux
 * Seibel 7042 (a crossing of Seibel 5351 and Seibel 6268)
 * Seibel 7053 Chancellor
 * Seibel 8216 (a crossing of Seibel 5410 & 5001)
 * Seibel 8357 Colobel
 * Seibel 8665
 * Seibel 8724
 * Seibel 8745 Seinoir
 * Seibel 9110 Verdelet
 * Seibel 9549 De Chaunac
 * Seibel 10173 Ambror
 * Seibel 11803 Rubilande
 * Seibel 10878 Chelois
 * Seibel 13053 Cascade (a crossing of Seibel 7042 and Gloire de Seibel)
 * Seibel 14514 Dattier précoce de Seibel
 * Seibel 14596 Bellandais

title: Seibel grapes


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Alexander Mosaic

The Alexander Mosaic, also known as the Battle of Issus Mosaic, is a Roman floor mosaic originally from the House of the Faun in Pompeii, Italy.

It is typically dated between c. 120 and 100 B.C. and depicts a battle between the armies of Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia. This work of art is a combination of different artistic traditions such as Italic, Hellenistic, and Roman. The mosaic is considered "Roman" based on the broader context of its time and location in relation to the later Roman Republic. The original is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples. The mosaic is believed to be a copy of a late 4th or early 3rd-century BC Hellenistic painting, perhaps by Philoxenus of Eretria or Apelles.

Subject
This mosaic represents a battle in which Alexander of Macedonia charges the Persian king Darius III, the commander-in-chief of the Persian army. Alexander fought Darius III in a series of battles over control of the Persian Empire. Alexander defeated Darius at the Battle of Issus and again two years later at the Battle of Gaugamela. The work is traditionally believed to show the Battle of Issus.

The battle scene comprises over 50 men. It stands out among ancient works of art because it represents a large group of soldiers, depicts each figure with meticulous attention to detail, expertly captures the expressions that appear on the warriors' faces, and uses muted colors. The mosaic features many figures in a very large space. The two most distinguished and recognizable figures are Alexander the Great and King Darius III of Persia.

On the left side of the picture, Alexander of Macedonia is seen with his helmet fallen off his head and a worried expression on his face. He stabs the soldier on the horse in front of him with his spear and kills him. Alexander is depicted in a profile view facing the left side of the mosaic. He is posed in action with his lance in his right arm being warded off by the hand of an enemy cavalryman gripping it on the shaft below its sharp head as his mount tumbles to the ground. Alexander wears a linen breastplate, or linothorax, with the head of Medusa, the traditional emblem of Athena and he rides his horse Bucephalus. He is shown with a lot of curly soft-textured hair. His hair is typical of Greek royal portraiture as established in the 4th century BC. Alexander's gaze is trained on the Persian King Darius. Alexander does not wear a helmet, allowing him to be recognized.

The painting's protagonist, Darius III, is reaching out to the dying soldier, while another soldier tries to get the king's chariot out of the battle scene. At this precise moment, Darius is making the order, because the Persian spears are still pointed in the direction of the Greeks, and the king is riding in a chariot being wheeled around. Darius can be recognized as the other large figure in the mosaic. Darius and his charioteer take up a large portion of the right half of the mosaic. There are various precarious elements surrounding him. In the background Darius' charioteer whips the horses to flee from the battle scene. There is visible fear and anxiety in the Persian king's face, seen especially in his furrowed brows and deep frown. Darius is positioned holding a bow in his left hand while his right arm is outstretched towards Alexander. Darius' brother Oxyathres is also portrayed, sacrificing himself to save the King. Directly in front of the king's chariot is a soldier holding the reins to his horse. The horse is a large figure that draws much attention because of its backward facing positioning. The horse's hindquarters are facing the audience with a raised tail. This may be seen as a reference to the Persian defeat and weak leadership displayed, or, more simply, a reference to Darius being "a horse's ass," a turn of phrase that may have been around since ancient days.

Radical foreshortening—as in the central horse, seen from behind—and the use of shading to convey a sense of mass and volume enhance the naturalistic effect of the scene. Repeated diagonal spears, clashing metal, and the crowding of men and horses evoke the din of battle. At the same time, action is arrested by dramatic details such as the fallen horse and the Persian soldier in the foreground who watches his own death throes reflected in a shield.

Production
The mosaic is made of about one and a half million tiny colored tiles called tesserae, arranged in gradual curves called opus vermiculatum (also known as "worm work", because they seem to replicate the slow motion of a crawling worm) rather than opus signinum or other forms of stone chips put in mortar. These tesserae were about 0.08 in wide, and it is estimated that over four million pieces were used in the mosaic.

The color scale of Roman mosaics are extremely rich in gradation. The process of gathering materials for mosaics was a complex undertaking since the color scale was based solely on the pieces of marble that could be found in nature. Following the style of many other Hellenistic artists, the entire mosaic is composed of reds, yellows, black, and white. The mosaic is an unusually detailed work for a private residence and was likely commissioned by a wealthy person or family. There is evidence that the mosaic was imported from the East, as there are places where some details are distorted and changed. Some scholars argue that this is evidence that the mosaic was created in pieces and reassembled in Pompeii.

The fact that this scene was made to be viewed in the house of a Roman civilian reveals that Alexander the Great was more than just a heroic image to the Romans. Because Roman leaders followed after Alexander's image, Roman civilians also aspired to emulate the power he represented. Since the mosaic was arranged on the floor where the patron could receive guests, it was the first decorative object a visitor would see upon entering that room. Modern research indicates that there may have been multiple columns removed from the colonnade to improve lighting and viewing of the mosaic.

Similar to Greek paintings, the mosaic of Alexander the Great lacks rich iconography towards the top, which, on a vertical surface, would have been considerably higher above the viewer's line of sight and garnered less creative attention. This is one way in which the two forms of art are comparable to one another. As a bonus, the mosaic displays the realism and naturalism typical of Greek portrayals of humans, especially regarding facial expression, emotional tone, and anatomical structure.

Originality
The Alexander Mosaic is believed to be a copy of a Hellenistic Greek painting made during the 4th century BC. The style of the mosaic is distinctly Greek in that it depicts close up portraits of the main heroes of the battle. Typically within Greek battle scenes the heroes are difficult to define within the commotion. The mosaic contains very specific details that scholars believe would have been lost if the mosaic was created any later than a couple hundred years after the battle. It is a commonly accepted belief concerning the Alexander mosaic that one must use the Greek original to interpret the meaning of the Roman copy. The debate among scholars over the significance of the Roman copy is that it cannot and should not be interpreted in the same cultural and historical context as the Greek original. Some believe that in doing so, it takes away both context and achievement from Roman artists. The mosaic is held to be a copy either of a painting by Aristides of Thebes, or of a lost late 4th-century BC fresco by the painter Philoxenus of Eretria. The latter is mentioned by Pliny the Elder (XXXV, 110) as a commission for the Macedonian king Cassander.

Contextualizing both Greek and Roman versions
There is limited evidence in existence today to contextualize many, if not most, rediscovered Roman artworks. The Alexander Mosaic depicts a rich subject narrative of two historical figures engaged in a defining battle. This imagery was most likely placed in the House of the Faun to incorporate and evoke the power of Alexander the Great into Roman canonical depictions. This mosaic is fully capable of communicating a broader message due to its find date and location site, conveying a rich Greek and Roman historical context and background, particularly through its commemoration of a decisive Greek victory over the Persians.

Since the mosaic associates the figures of Alexander and Darius with untraditional symbols, Alexander with the gorgon and Darius with the cross, some scholars have argued that it depicts the Persians in a sympathetic manner.

Modern history
The Alexander Mosaic was preserved due to the volcanic ash that collected over the mosaic during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the city of Pompeii in 79 AD. This Roman artwork was found inlaid into the ground of the House of the Faun in between two open peristyles. The mosaic was used to decorate the floor of a second tablinum or exedra (an open room or area that contains seating that is used for conversing). The House of the Faun was a large estate comprising one whole block in Pompeii; this is an area of about 3,000 square meters.

As a significant artwork and piece of history, the scene of the Mosaic remained in the social and cultural sphere. The mosaic was rediscovered in 1831 in Pompeii, Italy, and was later transported to Naples in September 1843. The Alexander Mosaic is now displayed on a wall and preserved in Naples. Until recently it has been on display at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, although currently its site is covered with a facsimile banner and it appears to have been removed for restoration or display elsewhere. In 1956, the Alexander Mosaic was featured on the ₯1,000 banknote.

Modern copy
In 2003, the International Center for the Study and Teaching of Mosaic (CISIM) in Ravenna, Italy, proposed creating a copy of the mosaic. After CISIM received approval for the project, the mosaic master Severo Bignami and his eight-person team took a large photograph of the mosaic, made a tracing of the image with a dark marker and created a negative impression of it.

The team composed the mosaic in sections in 44 clay frames, trying to preserve the pieces of the mosaic in the exact positions they are in the original mosaic. They had to keep the plates wet at all times. Then they pressed a tissue on the clay to create an image of the outlines of the mosaic in the clay. The team recreated the mosaic with about 2 million pieces of various marble types. When they had placed all the pieces, they covered the result with a layer of glue and gauze and pulled it out of the clay. They placed each section on synthetic concrete and then united the sections with the compound of glass, wool and plastic.

The project took 22 months and cost the equivalent of $216,000. The copy was installed in the House of the Faun in 2005.

Conservation
In 2015, IPERION CH, the Integrated Platform for the European Research Infrastructure ON Cultural Heritage, researched the mosaic and used various non-invasive analysis techniques to discover the physical composition of the mosaic, in addition to learning which parts were original and which were added after rediscovery. In 2018, a photogrammetric model was created of the mosaic, revealing flaws and cracks invisible to the human eye.

In January 2021 the National Archaeological Museum of Naples began a major restoration project to attempt to conserve the mosaic. In the initial assessment of the mosaic, multiple issues were discovered, including detached tesserae, cracks, bulges and surface depressions. Some areas had been already treated, such as multiple cracks that had been covered by thin paper bandages in a "velinatura" technique, in prior restoration efforts.

The Alexander Mosaic in the History of the House
The House of the Faun at Pompeii was immediately recognized by its size and decoration as one of the town’s most important houses. Adolf Hoffmann argues that the House of the Faun was constructed in two principal phases.

Hoffmann refers to the first phase as the "first House of the Faun" and has recently attempted a reconstruction. In the first half-or at latest by the middle of the second century B.C., the two atria (from image: 27 and 7) and the first peristyle (from image: 36, originally in the Doric order) were constructed. Another distinctive feature of this first phase was the absence, from the north side of the first peristyle, of the Alexander Mosaic and its exedra (37). A large room, underlying the later rooms to the east of the Alexander exedra (from image: 42, 38, and 43), served the first peristyle as its principal exedra during this first phase. Overall, the first incarnation of the House of the Faun dated back to ca. 180 B.C.E., occupied two-thirds of the insula and consisted of two atria, one small house and one peristyle.

According to Hoffmann, the Alexander exedra was not originally part of the layout of the first peristyle. Hoffmann has observed that the first peristyle, originally built in the Doric order, belongs to the earliest phase of the house. The layout of the first peristyle is the key to the house's design, in both practice and theory. The first peristyle dominates the house not only visually and functionally, but it also commands the design, determining the locations and the dimensions of the other major parts. The room is so strategically placed that it would not be an exaggeration to say that the rest of the house had been designed and built around the site with the great treasure of mosaic art set in its floor.

Next, Hoffmann argues, the second phase of the house-the second House of the Faun-commenced through an extensive rebuilding and renovating of the first house. The first peristyle (36) was "refashioned in the Ionic order and was reconstructed into a new peristyle. The Alexander exedra (37) was constructed, facing south, onto the first peristyle. A major renovation phase beginning ca. 110 B.C.E. and ending ca. 75 B.C.E., comprised a new decoration in the so-called First Style (including all the well-known mosaic pavements), as well as the insertion of a second entrance into the tetrastyle atrium, a switch from Doric to Ionic in the portico of the small peristyle, and the construction of the large north peristyle.

In addition to the Alexander Mosaic, several other floor mosaics representing Nilotic events and theatrical masks surround the Alexander Mosaic. This piece of art draws from various artistic periods and movements, including Roman, Hellenistic, and Italic. The name of this mosaic comes from the fact that it was found in a period of the Roman Empire known as the "late Roman Republic."

Eight pictorial mosaics were laid in the House of the Faun as part of a major renovation program of the early 1st c. BCE Many of them have iconography linking them to Ptolemaic Egypt like a mosaic triptych depicting Egyptian animals in a Nilotic landscape, fish emblema, an emblema depicting a cat attacking a bird that represents statues with the same theme from Ptolemaic Egypt and emblemas of other animals with Ptolemaic Egypt themes. It has traditionally been held that these compositions were laid at different times, the Alexander Mosaic in ca. 110 BCE and the Nilotic triptych in ca. 80 BCE. This view rests on the observation that the bases of the threshold columns were cut back to accommodate the panels of the triptych, and on a perception that the triptych is technically less accomplished than the Alexander Mosaic.

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

title: Alexander Mosaic


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Alicante Bouschet

Alicante Bouschet or Alicante Henri Bouschet is a wine grape variety that has been widely cultivated since 1866. It is a cross of Petit Bouschet (itself a cross of the very old variety Teinturier du Cher and Aramon) and Grenache. Alicante is a teinturier, a grape with red flesh. It is one of the few teinturier grapes that belong to the Vitis vinifera species. Its deep colour makes it useful for blending with light red wine. It was planted heavily during Prohibition in California for export to the East Coast. Its thick skin made it resistant to rot during the transportation process. The intense red color was also helpful for stretching the wine during prohibition, as it could be diluted without detracting from the appearance. At the turn of the 21st century, Alicante Bouschet was the 12th most planted red wine grape in France with sizable plantings in the Languedoc, Provence and Cognac regions. In 1958, Alicante Bouschet covered 24,168 hectares (mainly across southern France); by 2011, plantings represented less than 4,000 hectares. This scenario is largely reversed in other regions of Europe, and in southern Portugal, where its wines are highly prized and frequently outscore traditional autochthonous varieties.

History and breeding
The grape was first cultivated in France in 1866 by Henri Bouschet as a cross of Petit Bouschet and Grenache. The Petit Bouschet grape was created by his father Louis Bouschet. The result was to produce a grape with deep color and of higher quality than the Teinturier du Cher. Several varieties of Alicante Bouschet were produced of varying quality. The grape's high yields and easy maintenance encouraged its popularity among French wine growers, especially in the years following the Phylloxera epidemic. By the end of the 19th century there were Alicante Bouschet plantings in Bordeaux, Burgundy, Loire Valley and Alentejo, Portugal

The grape was widely popular in the United States during the years of Prohibition. Grape growers in California's Central Valley found that its pulp was so fleshy and juicy that fermentable juice could be retrieved even after the third pressing. In contrast, wines made from grapes like Chardonnay and Merlot typically only include the juice from the free run (before pressing) and first or second pressing. The grape's thick skin also meant that it could survive the long railway transportation from California to New York City's Pennsylvania Station which had auction rooms where the grapes were sold.

The superior transportability of this variety was significant because of a ruling by the Internal Revenue Service on July 25, 1920, in connection with original wording in the Volstead Act, which allowed up to 200 gallons of home-made wine per year, per household, for consumption in the home only. In 1928, one single auction lot of 225 carloads of grapes were purchased by a single buyer. The amount of grapes was enough to make more than 2000000 USgal of wine.

Wine regions
In France, the grape was historically a blending partner with Aramon but in recent times has been made more into its own varietal. However, planting of new vines has steadily declined. In some areas of France the grape is now extinct. According to international wine guru and Master of Wine, Jancis Robinson, Alicante Bouschet is thought to have found its true home in Portugal's Alentejo where it was first planted at Herdade do Mouchão in the late 1800s. Widely planted across the Alentejo wine region today (having grown exponentially in popularity from the late 1990s) it is frequently expensive, surpassing the quality and personality of other noble varieties. These top-end wines are prized for their 'size', dense colour and phenolic content. In Chile the grape is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and to make concentrated varietal wines. In California the grape was popular among home winemakers during Prohibition and still grown today in Napa, Sonoma, Madera, and Calaveras counties. Other areas with notable Alicante Bouschet plantings include Algeria, Israel and parts of central and southern Italy.

In Spain Alicante Bouschet is called garnacha tintorera or negral and it is the fifth most planted red grape variety in with 22,572 ha (55,776 acres) grown in 2015.

Viticulture and wine
Recognized by many today as a noble red variety (particularly in southern Iberia), Alicante Bouschet is known for its deep dark color, more than 15 times the color of Aramon and twice the darkness of the Grand Noir de la Calmette. Under specific conditions, the grape can produce high yields of up to 80 hl/ha. It buds and ripens early-to-mid season to produce wines high in alcohol, particularly where jamminess is valued and extended 'hang-time' is practiced. The wines tend to be short on primary aromas and can lack character and complexity when young. Alicante Bouschet performs best under specific conditions and where tertiary aromas are allowed to predominate through ageing. The grape vine is thought to be prone to grape diseases like anthracnose, downy mildew and occasionally bunch rots in rare instances where bunches are tight at harvest. Alicante Bouschet leaves turn a beautiful purple hue in late autumn.

Synonyms
Alicante Bouschet is also known under the synonyms Alicant de Pays, Alicante, Alicante Bouchet, Alicante Bouschet 2, Alicante Extra Fertile, Alicante Femminello, Alicante H. Boushet, Alicante Henri Bouschet, Alicante Nero, Alicante Noir, Alicante Tinto, Alicantina, Alikant Buse, Alikant Buse Bojadiser, Alikant Bushe, Alikant Bushe Ekstrafertil, Alikant Bushe Nr. 2, Alikant Genri Bushe, Alikante Henri Bouschet, Aragonais, Aragones, Arrenaou, Baga, Bakir Uezuemue, Barvarica, Blasco, Bojadiserka, Carignan Jaune, Cupper Grape, Dalmatinka, Garnacha, Garnacha Tintorera, Lhadoner, Kambuša, Moraton, Mouraton, Murviedro, Negral, Pe de Perdiz, Pe de Pombo, Petit Bouschet, Redondal, Rivesaltes, Rivos Altos, Roussillon, Rouvaillard, Sumo Tinto, Tinta Fina, Tinta Francesa, Tinto, Tinto Nero, Tinto Velasco, Tintorera, Tintorera de Liria, Tintorera de Longares, Tinturao, and Uva di Spagna.

Crosses
Alibernet - crossing of Alicante Bouschet x Cabernet Sauvignon was bred in 1950 in the Ukrainian Scientific Research Institute for Wine and Vines in Odessa. It is planted in Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Lusitano - Alicante Bouschet is thought to be a parent of this rare Portuguese grape having been crossed with Castelão (aka Periquita)

"Roger's Red" — Prized for its scarlet-crimson fall leaf color, this naturally occurring hybrid of Vitis californica and Vitis vinifera, "Alicante Bouschet" was discovered in Sonoma County, California, in 1983 by Roger Raiche. It is widely propagated and sold in nurseries. Genetic testing at the University of California, Davis, confirmed its hybrid status, not a natural variant of the native California grape.

title: Alicante Bouschet


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Common eider

The common eider (pronounced ) (Somateria mollissima), also called St. Cuthbert's duck or Cuddy's duck, is a large (50 – in body length) sea-duck that is distributed over the northern coasts of Europe, North America and eastern Siberia. It breeds in Arctic and some northern temperate regions, but winters somewhat farther south in temperate zones, when it can form large flocks on coastal waters. It can fly at speeds up to 113 km/h.

The eider's nest is built close to the sea and is lined with eiderdown, plucked from the female's breast. This soft and warm lining has long been harvested for filling pillows and quilts, but in more recent years has been largely replaced by down from domestic farm-geese and synthetic alternatives. Although eiderdown pillows or quilts are now a rarity, eiderdown harvesting continues and is sustainable, as it can be done after the ducklings leave the nest with no harm to the birds.

Taxonomy
The common eider was formally named by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other ducks in the genus Anas and coined the binomial name Anas mollissima. It is now placed with two other species in the genus Somateria that was introduced in 1819 by the English zoologist William Leach. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek sōma 'body' (stem somat-) and  erion 'wool'. The specific mollissimus is Latin, meaning 'very soft'. Both parts of the name refer to its down feathers.

Six subspecies are recognised:
 * S. m. v-nigrum Bonaparte & Gray, GR, 1855 – breeds in northeast Asia and Alaska; winters in the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands
 * S. m. borealis (Brehm, CL, 1824) – breeds in northeast Canada, Greenland and Iceland; winters in the north Atlantic
 * S. m. sedentaria Snyder, 1941 – breeds in Hudson Bay and James Bay (Canada)
 * S. m. dresseri Sharpe, 1871 – breeds in southeast Canada and northeast USA; winters around northwest Atlantic coasts
 * S. m. faeroeensis Brehm, CL, 1831 – Faroe Islands
 * S. m. mollissima (Linnaeus, 1758) – breeds in northwest Eurasia; winters in northwest and central Europe

Description

The common eider is both the largest of the four eider species and the largest duck found in Europe, and is exceeded in North America only by smatterings of the Muscovy duck, which only reaches North America in a wild state in southernmost Texas (and arguably south Florida where feral but non-native populations reside). It measures 50 to 71 cm in length, weighs 0.81 to 3.04 kg and spans 80 - 110 cm across the wings. The average weight of 22 males in the North Atlantic was 2.21 kg while 32 females weighed an average of 1.92 kg. It is characterized by its bulky shape and large, wedge-shaped bill. The male is unmistakable, with its black and white plumage and green nape. The female is a brown bird, but can still be readily distinguished from all ducks, except other eider species, on the basis of size and head shape. The drake's display call is a strange almost human-like "ah-ooo", while the hen utters hoarse quacks. The species is often readily approachable.

Drakes of the European, eastern North American and Asia/western North American races can be distinguished by minor differences in plumage and bill colour. Some authorities place the subspecies v-nigra as a separate species.

This species dives for crustaceans and molluscs, with mussels being a favoured food. The eider will eat mussels by swallowing them whole; the shells are then crushed in their gizzard and excreted. When eating a crab, the eider will remove all of its claws and legs, and then eat the body in a similar fashion.

It is abundant, with populations of about 1.5–2 million birds in both North America and Europe, and also large but unknown numbers in eastern Siberia (HBW).

A particularly famous colony of eiders lives on the Farne Islands in Northumberland, England. These birds were the subject of one of the first ever bird protection laws, established by Saint Cuthbert in the year 676. About 1,000 pairs still nest there every year. Because St. Cuthbert is the patron saint of Northumberland, it was natural that the eider should be chosen as the county's emblem bird; the birds are still often called Cuddy's ducks in the area, "Cuddy" being the familiar form of "Cuthbert".

In Canada's Hudson Bay, important eider die-offs were observed in the 1990s by local populations due to quickly changing ice flow patterns. The Canadian Wildlife Service has spent several years gathering up-to-date information on their populations, and preliminary results seem to show a population recovery. The common eider is the object of the 2011 documentary People of a Feather, which studies the historical relationship between the Sanikiluaq community and eiders, as well as various aspects of their ecology.

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

Social behaviour
Eiders are colonial breeders. They nest on coastal islands in colonies ranging in size of less than 100 to upwards of 15,000 individuals. Female eiders frequently exhibit a high degree of natal philopatry, where they return to breed on the same island where they were hatched. This can lead to a high degree of relatedness between individuals nesting on the same island, as well as the development of kin-based female social structures. This relatedness has likely played a role in the evolution of co-operative breeding behaviours amongst eiders. Examples of these behaviours include laying eggs in the nests of related individuals and crèching, where female eiders team up and share the work of rearing ducklings.

title: Common eider


text:
Talk:Chinese Puerto Rican

Non-Chinese don't usually call them like "los Puertorriqueños chinos", right? Do they just call them "el chino" and "la china"? --Menchi 19:40 7 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Yeppers.....

Antonio Rock Tha Mike Martin

<<<<<>>>

"Large numbers"??? The numbers of Asians that arrived in the island were incredibly small during the 19th century...can you state what historical sources you are basing that comment on?

<<>>>>

Yes, and they also worked on the roads...but the majority of Asians who did come to the island where men not women --do you have any references for the number of women who came to the island during that time?

<<<>>>>

Again, can you please state the source with specific numbers and time periods? I would truly want to read more into this...

About Chinese Puerto Rican having Hispanic last names, trust me, I lived in Puerto Rico 17 years, my neighbor, whose grandparents were Chinese, his last name is Rosa, I knew a Chinese-Puerto Rican girl that worked at some Wong Chuu or something restaurant, Lii Rodriguez, I dated her. Another girl I dated (but this one, her grandparents were actually from Vietnam), last name was Morales. And there are thousands of Chinese and Oriental-Puerto Ricans who have Latino names, cause someone outthere got married to a Puerto Rican guy along the line...

Antonio Kung Fu Fighting Martin

<<<>>>

I have somewhat researched the topic myself and cannot find any large influx of Asians on the island --especially one regarding Asian women. I know that Cuba had a significant influx of Asians during that time period but the same cannot be said of Puerto Rico --the majority of our 19th century immigrants were Spaniards. I would appreciate it you could remember the title of the article or author?

F.P.S

title: Talk:Chinese Puerto Rican


text:
Eider (disambiguation)

Eider are large seaducks in the genus Somateria, including:
 * Common eider (Somateria mollissima)
 * Spectacled eider (Somateria fischeri)
 * King eider (Somateria spectabilis)

Eider may also refer to:
 * Steller's eider (Polysticta stelleri) of the duck subfamily Merginae
 * Eider (river), in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
 * Eider (Amt Kirchspielslandgemeinde), a collective municipality in Dithmarschen, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
 * Eider (brand), Korean company

 * Surnames
 * Max Eider (born Peter Millson), a guitarist and songwriter
 * Rabbi Shimon Eider, a rabbi

 * Forenames
 * Eider Arévalo (born 1993), Colombian racewalker
 * Eider Torres, (born 1983), baseball player from Venezuela

 * Fictional characters
 * Eider Duck, a Disney character who is Donald Duck's paternal uncle
 * Sir Eider McDuck, a Disney character who is an ancestor of Scrooge McDuck and Donald Duck
 * Aunt Eider, a Disney character who is the aunt of both Scrooge McDuck and John D. Rockerduck

 * Ships
 * USFS Eider, a motor schooner in commission in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries from 1919 to 1940, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from 1940 to 1949, and U.S. Geological Survey from 1949 to 1954

title: Eider (disambiguation)


text:
Patrick Friesen

Patrick Frank Friesen (born 5 July 1946) is a Canadian author born in Steinbach, Manitoba, primarily known for his poetry and stage plays beginning in the 1970s.

Life and career
Friesen was born into a Mennonite family in Steinbach, Manitoba in 1946. As a child growing up in Steinbach, he was friends with Shingoose, who later became a well-known musician, and Wayne Tefs, future author and co-founder of Turnstone Press. After graduating high school at the Steinbach Collegiate Institute, he studied at the University of Manitoba and lived in Winnipeg for thirty years.

In addition to poetry, Friesen has also written songs and collaborated with dancers, choreographers, composers and musicians. His Mennonite upbringing still influences his writing in work such as "The Shunning", which is about the persecution of a Mennonite farmer questioning his religion. Friesen won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award at the Manitoba Book Awards for his work on "Blasphemer's Wheel," and was runner up in Milton Acorn's People's Poetry Awards. In 1997, his work, "A Broken Bowl", was short listed for the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry.

Friesen collaborated with Per Brask on the translation from Danish of Ulrikka S. Gernes' Frayed Opus for Strings & Wind Instruments, which has been shortlisted for the 2016 Griffin Poetry Prize. Friesen lives in Victoria, British Columbia, and is a teacher of creative writing at the University of Victoria. He is married to poet Eve Joseph.

Audio

 * Blue Door – 1997 (with Marilyn Lerner)
 * Small Rooms – 2003 (with Marilyn Lerner)
 * Calling the Dog Home – 2005 (with Marilyn Lerner)

Anthologies

 * An Anthology of Prairie Poetry – 1981 (Draft)
 * Ride Off Any Horizon – 1983
 * Visions and Reality – 1985
 * Pieces of the Jigsaw: A Multicultural Anthology for Young Readers – 1986
 * Why I am a Mennonite – 1988
 * Section Lines: A Manitoba Anthology – 1986
 * A Labour of Love – 1989
 * A/long Prairie Lines: An Anthology of Long Prairie Poems – 1989
 * Liars and Rascals, anthology of Mennonite short stories – 1989
 * Prairie Fire: New Mennonite Writing – 1989
 * Mennonite/s Writing in Canada – 1990
 * The Perfect Piece, Monologues from Canadian Plays – 1990
 * Inscriptions, A Prairie Poetry Anthology – 1992
 * Let the Earth Take Note, First Anthology of the National Milton Acorn Festival from 1987 to 1991 – 1994
 * Poetry and Knowing, essays – 1995
 * Our Fathers, Poetry and Prose, by daughters and sons from the prairies – 1995
 * Instant Applause, Volume II, Thirty Very Short Complete Plays – 1996
 * Passeport: La Poésie Moderne de Langue Anglaise au Canada – 1998
 * Following the Plough: Recovering the Rural – 2000
 * New Life in Dark Seas: Brick Books 25 – 2000
 * Mocambo Nights: Poetry From the Mocambo Reading Series – 2001
 * The New Long Line Anthology, 2nd Edition – 2001
 * 15 Canadian Poets x 3 – 2001
 * Why I Sing the Blues – 2001
 * Instant Applause: Twenty-nine Very Short Complete Plays – 2004

Other works and collaborations

 * The Shunning, the Play, staged in 1985 by Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg, in 1992 by Theatre & Co. in Kitchener, in 1992 by Trinity Theatre in Livonia, Michigan, in 1993 by MAUS Theatre in B.C., and in 1995 by Two Planks and a Passion in Nova Scotia.
 * Amanda, a short drama on CBC Radio Manitoba, 1986.
 * Anna, a dance/words collaboration with choreographer Stephanie Ballard, with guest artist Margie Gillis, performed in 1987 at the Gas Station Theatre in Winnipeg.
 * Noah, a multi-disciplinary collaboration, presented as a working piece in 1987 at Main Access Gallery, Winnipeg.
 * Singer, a docu-drama on Richard Manuel for CBC Radio Manitoba, 1989 (with Big Dave McLean).
 * The Shunning, a one-hour radio adaptation for CBC Radio Canada, 1990 (producer: John Juliani).
 * Second Birth, a short drama for CBC Radio Canada, 1991.
 * Handful of Rain, a multi-disciplinary collaboration with Dance Collective, and various artists, performed at Gas Station Theatre, Winnipeg, April 1991.
 * The Raft, an original play, performed January 1992 at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg, in February 1995 by Theatre & Co. in Kitchener.
 * The Raft, adapted for CBC Radio Canada, by Nancy Trites Botkin (producer: Kathleen Flaherty), 1997.
 * Friday, 6:32 p.m., an original short play written for the Short Shots series, staged by the Manitoba Association of Playwrights, 1993.
 * Old Woman and the Bones, collaboration with composer Michael Matthews, the musical group Thira, and Primus Theatre, staged at the New Music Festival in Winnipeg in February 1993.
 * Madrugada (a longer version of Old Woman and the Bones), performed by Groundswell and Primus Theatre at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre in Winnipeg, April 1995.
 * The Shunning, adapted, choreographed and performed by Motus O dance theatre at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, 13–17 Sept. 1995.
 * Broken Bowl (a segment from A Broken Bowl), created, performed with jazz pianist Marilyn Lerner, Sunstone Coffee, Winnipeg, 17 July 1996, at The Glass Slipper, Vancouver, 3 Oct 1996, four performances at the Atlantic Jazz Festival, Halifax, July 1997, and recorded by CBC Radio Manitoba, and called Blue Door (Producer: Andrea Ratuski), 1996.
 * Voice, a radio documentary (featuring Big Dave McLean and Tracey Dahl), by CBC Radio Manitoba (Producer: Andrea Ratuski), 1996.

Film

 * Esther Warkov: A Spy in the House; producer – 1983.
 * Don Proch: The Spirit of Assessippi; writer/producer/director – 1985.
 * Patrick Lane; director/producer – 1985.
 * A Ritual of Horses: The Art of Michael Olito; director – 1987.
 * Rising to Dance, a documentary on senior students at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet; director – 1990.
 * Together As One: A Dance Collaboration; writer/director/producer – 1991.

title: Patrick Friesen


text:
Chancellor (grape)

Chancellor is a hybrid wine grape variety produced by Albert Seibel c. 1860. It is also known as Seibel 7053 and is a cross of Seibel 5163 and Seibel 880.

The grape produces a fruity red wine. It is susceptible to both downy and powdery mildew.

Synonyms
Chancellor is also known under the synonyms or breeding codes S 70-53, S-7053, Seibel 70-53, and Seibel 7053.

title: Chancellor (grape)


text:
James McCord

James or Jim McCord may refer to:
 * James Bennett McCord (1870–1950), American medical missionary, physician, and founder of McCord Zulu Hospital
 * James W. McCord Jr. (1924–2017), American CIA officer and Watergate scandal figure
 * James I. McCord (1919–1990), Canadian-born president of Princeton Theological Seminary
 * Jim Nance McCord (1879–1968), American journalist and governor of Tennessee
 * Jim McCord (American football) (1932–2009), American football coach

title: James McCord


text:
Open file format

An open file format is a file format for storing digital data, defined by an openly published specification usually maintained by a standards organization, and which can be used and implemented by anyone. An open file format is licensed with an open license.

For example, an open format can be implemented by both proprietary and free and open-source software, using the typical software licenses used by each. In contrast to open file formats, closed file formats are considered trade secrets.

Depending on the definition, the specification of an open format may require a fee to access or, very rarely, contain other restrictions. The range of meanings is similar to that of the term open standard.

Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems defined the criteria for open formats as follows:
 * The format is based on an underlying open standard
 * The format is developed through a publicly visible, community driven process
 * The format is affirmed and maintained by a vendor-independent standards organization
 * The format is fully documented and publicly available
 * The format does not contain proprietary extensions

UK government
In 2012 the UK Government created the policy Open Standards Principles, stating that the Open Standards Principles apply to every aspect of government IT and that Government technology must remain open to everyone. They have seven principles for selecting open standards for use in government, following these principals many open formats were adopted, notably Open Document Format (ODF). The seven principles for selecting open standards for use in the UK government are:

 * Open standards must meet user needs
 * Open standards must give suppliers equal access to government contracts
 * Open standards must support flexibility and change
 * Open standards must support sustainable cost
 * Select open standards using well-informed decisions
 * Select open standards using fair and transparent processes
 * Specify and implement open standards using fair and transparent processes

US government
Within the framework of Open Government Initiative, the federal government of the United States adopted the Open Government Directive, according to which: "An open format is one that is platform independent, machine readable, and made available to the public without restrictions that would impede the re-use of that information".

State of Minnesota
The State of Minnesota defines the criteria for open, XML-based file formats as follows:

 * The format is interoperable among diverse internal and external platforms and applications
 * The format is fully published and available royalty-free
 * The format is implemented by multiple vendors
 * The format is controlled by an open industry organization with a well-defined inclusive process for evolution of the standard

Commonwealth of Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts "defines open formats as specifications for data file formats that are based on an underlying open standard, developed by an open community, affirmed and maintained by a standards body and are fully documented and publicly available."

The Enterprise Technical Reference Model (ETRM) classifies four formats as "Open Formats":
 * 1) OASIS Open Document Format For Office Applications (OpenDocument) v. 1.1
 * 2) Ecma-376 Office Open XML Formats (Open XML)
 * 3) Hypertext Document Format v. 4.01
 * 4) Plain Text Format

The Linux Information Project
According to The Linux Information Project, the term open format should refer to "any format that is published for anyone to read and study but which may or may not be encumbered by patents, copyrights or other restrictions on use" – as opposed to a free format which is not encumbered by any copyrights, patents, trademarks or other restrictions.

Examples of open formats
Open formats (in the royalty-free and free access sense) include:
 * PNG — a raster image format standardized by ISO/IEC
 * FLAC — lossless audio codec
 * WebM — a video/audio container format
 * HTML — is the main markup language for creating web pages and other information that can be displayed in a web browser.
 * gzip — for compression
 * CSS — style sheet format usually used with (X)HTML, standardized by W3C

The following formats are open (royalty-free with a one-time fee on the standard):
 * PDF: old versions are free in both senses, but since PDF 1.8 the standards require a fee;
 * Office Open XML: the ECMA version is free to access, but the newer ISO versions require a fee;
 * OpenDocument: As adopted by the UK Government in 2012 to meet their open standards principles, for Government technology to remain open to everyone.
 * C language: royalty-free, but ISO standard requires a fee (drafts available for free);

title: Open file format


text:
Ladan and Laleh Bijani

Ladan and Laleh Bijani (Persian: لادن و لاله بیژنی; 17 January 1974 – 8 July 2003) were Iranian conjoined twin sisters. They were joined at the head and died soon after their complicated surgical separation.

Biography
They were born in Firuzabad, a city in southwest Iran, to Dadollah Bijani and Maryam Safari, members of a farming family from the nearby Lohrasb village. The Bijani sisters were lost in a hospital in 1979 after the doctors responsible for them had to suddenly leave for the United States during the revolution in Iran. The Bijanis' parents did not find the sisters again until several years later in the city of Karaj near Tehran, where Alireza Safaian had adopted them. While in his custody, Safaian attempted to protect them by sequestering them from the world as best as he could. In 1996, after years of searching, the girls' biological parents finally tracked them down and made contact. In their early twenties, the twins lived on their own in an apartment while attending law school.

Ladan wanted to be a lawyer, while Laleh wished to become a journalist; in the end, they settled on Ladan's choice. They studied law for four years at Tehran University. Most other personal decisions also had to meet each other's approval. For these and other reasons, they had wanted to be separated since they were children. Laleh hoped that she could then move to Tehran, the capital city of Iran, to study journalism, while Ladan wanted to continue with graduate studies in law and then move to Shiraz.

In addition, the sisters had different hobbies. While Laleh liked to, among other things, play computer games, Ladan preferred computer programming. Ladan also described Laleh as more introverted and herself as quite talkative.

Separation
In 1996, they travelled to Germany, trying to convince doctors there to separate them; the German doctors however declined to operate, saying that the risk of separation surgery would be too high for both of them.

In November 2002, after meeting Keith Goh, the Bijani sisters travelled to Singapore to undergo the controversial operation. Even though they were warned by the doctors that the surgery to separate them would still be very risky, the sisters were very determined. Their decision to proceed with the operation led to considerable international media interest.

Surgery
After eight months in Singapore, doing extensive psychiatric and legal evaluations, they underwent surgery on 6 July 2003, under the care of a large team of international specialists at Raffles Hospital, composed of 28 doctors and more than 100 medical assistants working in shifts. A specially-designed chair was required that allowed the operation to be performed with both sisters in a sitting position.

Goh led the team to operate on Laleh while Ben Carson, director of paediatric surgery at the Johns Hopkins Children's Centre, led the team operating on Ladan.

The attempt to separate the twins turned out to be very difficult, because their brains not only shared a major vein (the superior sagittal sinus), but had fused together. In addition, an undetected major vein hidden from the scans was discovered during the operation.

During the operation, doctors encountered a mass of previously undetected blood vessels. Goh decided to continue with the operation while Carson felt that the surgery should have stopped at that moment.

The separation was achieved on 8 July 2003, but it was announced then that the twins were in critical condition, both having lost a large volume of blood due to complications of the operation.

The separation stage of the surgery was completed at 13:30 SST, but there was significant blood loss during the blood vessel repairing process, and Ladan Bijani died at around 14:30 on the operating table; her sister Laleh Bijani died 90 minutes later. Their deaths were announced by the chairman of Raffles Hospital, Loo Choon Yong.

A coroner inquest was held after the deaths of the conjoined twins and their deaths were ruled a misadventure by the coroner.

The twins operation was referenced in an episode of Grey's Anatomy with Annie and Lizzie being conjoined twins attempting separation.

Burials
The sisters were buried in accordance to Shiite Muslim traditions in separate tombs, side by side, in Lohrasb. The sisters willed their property to blind and orphaned children.

A documentary about the operation was broadcast soon after. Later, people named 17 January as Hope's day.

title: Ladan and Laleh Bijani


text:
Luo Gan

Luo Gan (born July 18, 1935) is a retired Chinese politician. Between 2002 and 2007, Luo was one of China's top leaders, serving as a member of the nine-man Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and as the Secretary of Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (Zhengfawei), which became one of China's most powerful political offices, and well-funded bureaucracies, during Luo's term. In his Zhengfawei role, Luo held oversight for many law-enforcement institutions, including the police, public security officers, armed police, labor camps, prisons, and the judicial system. Luo retired from politics in 2007.

Early career
Luo Gan was born in Jinan, Shandong province. In 1953, he began studying engineering at the Beijing Steel and Iron Institute. A year later, he was selected as part of a Chinese contingent to go study at Karl Marx University in Leipzig, East Germany where he studied German language. He interned at the Leipzig steel and metalworks plant. He then continued studying machine works at Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg. Luo joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1960, while still in Germany. It was said that Luo had stellar grades and won the Agricola prize for academic achievement while studying in Germany.

Upon returning to China, Luo continued to work in the steel industry, first being sent to the First Ministry of Machine-Building, a state-run department in charge of machines, telecommunications, and shipbuilding. There he worked as a technician and project leader in its mechanics department. As a technical specialist, Luo, like many others in his field, were displaced from their posts during much of the Cultural Revolution, and sent to perform manual labour at a May 7 Cadre School. In 1970, Luo returned to work in Henan province, working for a government machine-building project in Luohe, then transferred to Zhengzhou.

Rise to power
In October 1978, as part of a nationwide reshuffle following the demise of the Gang of Four, former First Machine-Building minister Duan Junyi took on the post of party chief of central Henan Province. While in Henan, Duan was eager to promote his former associates, including Luo Gan. In 1980, Luo was made head of the provincial science and technology commission, and also a leader in the provincial trade office. A year later, Luo was made Vice Governor of Henan.

In 1983, Luo was sent to Beijing and became deputy chairman of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the state-sponsored trade union group. As a major leader of the ACFTU, Luo was in charge of the day-to-day management of the organization. As a result of his tenure in the union, Luo was made Minister of Labour in March 1988. In December 1988, Luo took over duties of the Secretary-General of the State Council as a result of the illness of his predecessor Chen Junsheng.

During his term as a minister, Luo had developed a close relationship with Li Peng came to be considered one of Li's protégés. Luo was appointed a State Councilor, a position with equivalent rank but slightly lesser responsibility compared as a Vice-Premier, in 1993. He served in the position until 2003. In September 1997 at the 15th Party Congress, Luo advanced further, being named a Secretary of the Central Secretariat, the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (Zhengfawei), and a member of the 15th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, joining the inner sanctum of party leaders.

Luo oversaw a diverse portfolio with jurisdiction over law enforcement and internal security, as well as "comprehensive social management", a nebulous new phrase that essentially meant asserting control and preventing organized protests and social disturbances; as part of his responsibilities, he was tasked by Jiang Zemin to head the 610 Office, an extrajudicial organ established to suppress the spiritual group Falun Gong. As a result of his role, Luo faced heavy criticism from Falun Gong adherents.

Standing Committee
Luo entered the Politburo Standing Committee in 2002, at the 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party at the age of 67. The Standing Committee was expanded from seven members to nine in 2002, some say as a result of then-Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin attempting to stack the body with his supporters. Luo, then branded by overseas media as an associate of Li Peng, became a major beneficiary of this increase in membership. That he held a seat on the nation's highest ruling council, coupled with the relative weakness of the new party General Secretary Hu Jintao, as well as the general focus placed by the Communist Party on internal security and combating dissent to party authority, vastly increased the power of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission. Regarded as the "security chief" of the country, Luo implemented the "strike hard" campaign against extremism in Xinjiang and against organised crime, increasing the harshness of sentences; some suggest that this policy led to increased executions; it was said that Luo had personally directed the suppression of "illegal organisations" such as the Falun Gong movement and protests such as that at the Pubugou Dam protest in 2004.

Luo's term as the chief of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission was also characterized by proponents of the Weiquan movement as having further solidified party control over legal and judicial affairs, and thus impeding progress on human rights and legal freedoms. During his tenure, Luo was seen to have warned party officials to rein in judicial independence and but also pay heed to the international implications of legal activities in China, while also expanding "rule by law".

Luo retired from the Politburo Standing Committee at the age of 72, after the 17th Party Congress in October 2007. By 2007, rules related to mandated retirement age have been largely entrenched within the Communist Party hierarchy. Luo, as the oldest member of the Standing Committee by that time, naturally must retire. His Zhengfawei portfolio was then inherited by Zhou Yongkang, a former oil baron who went on to oversee an even greater expansion of powers of the portfolio. Zhou was eventually convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to prison in 2015.

Luo largely disappeared from the public eye following his retirement in 2007. In 2015, the Chinese authorities published Luo Gan on Law and Politics Work in China (罗干谈政法综治工作), a compilation of Luo's thoughts on law enforcement work during his tenure. Luo also made a public appearance at the 2015 China Victory Day Parade.

On December 17, 2009, Argentinian Federal Judge Octavio Araoz de Lamadrid issued a national and international Interpol warrant for the detention of Luo Gan, along with Jiang Zemin. The warrant was issued with basis on the investigation of 17 testimonies of Falun Gong practitioners victims of persecution, along with reports by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the UN detailed in case Nº 17885/2005.

title: Luo Gan


text:
Li Changchun

Li Changchun (born February 1, 1944) is a retired Chinese politician and a former senior leader of the Chinese Communist Party. He served on the Politburo Standing Committee, the Communist Party's top leadership council, and as the top official in charge of propaganda, between 2002 and 2012. He also served as Chairman of the CCP Central Guidance Commission for Building Spiritual Civilization, de facto head of propaganda and media relations. Li had a widely varying political career spanning three provinces, first as Governor of Liaoning, then Party Secretary of Henan, and then Party Secretary of Guangdong, before being promoted to the national leadership in 2002. He retired in 2012.

Early life and career
Li Changchun was born in February 1944 in modern-day Dalian, Liaoning, then administered by the Empire of Japan as "Dairen", Kwantung Leased Territory. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1965 and graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology in 1966. In 1983, at age 39, he became the youngest mayor and Party secretary of a major city, of Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning. In 1982, he was also made an alternate member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party at the age of 38, the youngest member of the body at the time. In 1987, he became governor of Liaoning province, a post he kept until 1990. As governor, mainland China's first expressway was built in the province, linking the cities of Shenyang and Dalian. In addition, Li pushed for the reform of state-owned enterprises, aiming to decrease state involvement in their operations.

After General Secretary Zhao Ziyang was purged from the party leadership in 1989 during the fallout from the Tiananmen Square protests that same year, Li was initially also thought to have been removed from the leadership because he was a supporter of Zhao. Li's appearance on state television weeks later showed that this was not the case.

In 1990, Li was transferred from his job in Liaoning province to central Henan province. In his memoirs, Li recounted that he was ill-prepared for his new assignment and felt homesick. The central authorities had not given him much prior notice about his transfer, and did not inform him why he was being moved or facilitate an orderly transition process. Li, as a result, was somewhat critical of the party's transfer process but nonetheless duly accepted his new assignment. He had succeeded then-Henan governor Cheng Weigao, who had been transferred to Hebei province as part of a three-province 'leader swap' orchestrated by the party's leaders. Henan, a populous agricultural province without a strong industrial base, presented Li with significant challenges, and Li had experienced unease settling into his new home.

Two years later, in 1992, Li was promoted to party chief of Henan. It would be Li's first job as "first-in-charge" of a province. Being accustomed to serving in government administration, Li's tenure in Henan was his first taste of being in charge of party affairs. Li said that initially being the top leader in the province made him uncomfortable as he had to shoulder all responsibility, especially at a time when other regions were developing economically at a pace much faster than that of Henan. Overall, his tenure in Henan was seen as mediocre. Rural incomes remained stagnant during his term, and his government was also criticized for its role in the Plasma Economy, where farmers were encouraged to donate blood through unsafe practices, triggering China's largest outbreak of HIV/AIDS.

Guangdong
Li was promoted to the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party in 1997, largely due to having secured the patronage of the paramount leader and Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin. In his memoirs, Li said that he was surprised at having been appointed to the Politburo. In 1998, Jiang dispatched Li to serve as Guangdong Party Secretary. It was said that Jiang wanted to use Li as a counterbalance to the entrenched local political establishment composed mostly of people native to the province. In Guangdong, Li cracked down on corruption to "put the house in order." In the wake of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-98, Li set up a special task force to evaluate what to do with non-performing loans owed by two of the province's largest financial companies. He appointed former central bank deputy governor Wang Qishan to oversee the task force. Li shook up the local banking sector and closed a plethora of local credit unions and agencies. He also increased access to the legal aid system for the poor in the province. His tenure in Guangdong was seen as largely successful, having averted the brunt of the Asian Financial Crisis and also bringing Guangdong back to the political control of the central leadership under Jiang Zemin after sidelined many local officials promoted by Ye Xuanping, former Governor of Guangdong and the elder son of Marshal Ye Jianying.

Li's tenure in Guangdong made him one of Jiang's favourites and as such Jiang was preparing to groom him for succession for the premiership upon incumbent Premier Zhu Rongji's scheduled retirement in 2003. However, Zhu had been favouring Wen Jiabao for the Premier office, and criticized Li over his handling of an "export rebate fraud" scandal in the coastal city of Shantou in 2000, which took place during Li's term as Guangdong party chief. By the end, Wen Jiabon won this competition and became Premier of China in March 2003. Li's intention to promote Huang Liman, a female friend of Jiang's who was considered incompetent, to the party chief position in the coastal city of Shenzhen became a sticking point for Jiang's political opponents.

Politburo Standing Committee
As expected, Li was named a member of the Politburo Standing Committee after Jiang's departure as General Secretary of the CCP in 2002. By then, Li was seen by political observers as firmly belonging to Jiang's camp. He was considered one of Jiang's major 'patronage appointments' to the top ruling council along with other staunch Jiang loyalists such as Jia Qinglin and Huang Ju. Li was ranked eighth in the party hierarchy out of the nine members of the new PSC, given the portfolio of supervising the Party organs that dealt with propaganda and ideology while taking on no other official party or state titles.

Li was the first propaganda chief to preside over the growth of the internet in China, and as a result was largely seen as having been the forerunner in developing the internet censorship regime that became increasingly extensive over the course of his tenure. In October 2007, at the 17th Party Congress, it was announced that Li, then aged 63 (below the unofficial age of retirement for PSC members, 67), would serve another term as propaganda chief. In addition, Li was elevated from eight position in the protocol sequence to fifth, in front of Hu Jintao's putative successor Xi Jinping.

There were high hopes among some in media circles that Li would signal a more liberal change from the strictures of former propaganda chief Ding Guangen. Li had made a major speech advocating that media stay "close to the public" and to real events, "instead of mechanically following Party directives." In addition, Li was also seen as a leading reformer due to his legacy in Guangdong, where he was not afraid to take on entrenched interests and introduce further market economic reforms. The hopes were short-lived however, though, after the Central Propaganda Department began closing newspapers, firing journalists, and would not allow foreign companies to produce content for TV stations in China. Many editors were punished and Li Changchun "started sounding and acting like another Ding Guangen."

Li retired from PSC in 2012, when Liu Yunshan succeeded his position as the propaganda chief.

Propaganda work
In his position as China's propaganda chief from 2002 to 2012, Li was said to have contributed heavily to China's censorship campaign and frequently ordered media to downplay or not report on certain events. In 2006, he told the members of the All-China Journalists Association to "closely encircle the overall work of the party and state". Li approved the construction of the National Museum in 2006 after a series of disputes and delays about the building of the museum. He was the guest of honor at the opening of the National Center for the Performing Arts.

Li has put his support behind a number of creative projects that might otherwise have been censored by the government. He supported Zen Shaolin, a music, dance and martial arts show intended to increase tourism that opened in 2007 in Henan, despite the producers' concerns that a celebration of religion and sacred music would be opposed by the government. Li allowed a 2009 movie Nanking! Nanking! by Lu Chuan to continue running in theaters in the face of strong pressure from nationalists who objected to the sympathetic characterization in the film of a Japanese soldier. The film was one of ten chosen to help commemorate 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.

In May 2009, American diplomats reported in a cable that was later leaked that Li was a driving force behind China's renewed pressure against Google to comply with Chinese censorship laws. Li was reportedly unhappy that Chinese Google search results for his and his children's names contained results critical of them. He subsequently ordered major Chinese firms to cease doing business with Google, and one source with connections to political elite claimed Li had directed a subsequent cyberattack against Google in retaliation.

Personal life
Li is married to Zhang Shurong (张淑荣), his college sweetheart. Zhang was an engineer.

title: Li Changchun


text:
Robert Fulford (journalist)

Robert Marshall Blount Fulford (born February 13, 1932) is a Canadian journalist, magazine editor, and essayist. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Personal life
Fulford was born in Ottawa, Ontario to Frances (Blount) Fulford and A. E. Fulford, a journalist and editor at Canadian Press. He grew up in The Beaches neighbourhood in Toronto and was a childhood friend of Glenn Gould. He and his first wife, writer Jocelyn Jean Dingman Fulford (1930—1976), had two children, Margaret and James. Margaret Fulford is the University College Librarian at the University of Toronto and is married to Professor Jeffrey Rosenthal.

His second wife is writer and former CBC Radio producer Geraldine Sherman, with whom he has two children, Sarah and Rachel. Sarah Fulford became editor-in-chief of Maclean's magazine in February 2022, after serving as editor-in-chief of Toronto Life magazine for 14 years.

Career
Fulford's media career began at the age of 16, while still in high school, when he worked for Toronto radio station CHUM reporting on high school sports and producing a weekly radio show for teenagers.

In the summer of 1950, Fulford left high school and went to work for The Globe and Mail as a sports reporter. Subsequently, Fulford rose to various editorial positions at the newspaper before moving to The Toronto Star as a columnist (1959–1962, 1964–1968 and 1971–1987). From 1963 to 1964 he was a columnist and editor of the Reviews section at Maclean's magazine before returning to the Star. He covered Expo 67 for the newspaper and wrote a book on the world's fair, This Was Expo.

From 1968 until 1987, Fulford was the editor of Saturday Night magazine and also wrote both a general column for the magazine under his own name, and film reviews under the pseudonym "Marshall Delaney". He then worked as a columnist for the Financial Times of Canada (1988–1992), The Globe and Mail (1992–1999) and the National Post (1999–2019)

Fulford was critical of David Cronenberg's films and the usage of funding from the CFDC and wrote the article You Ought To Know How Bad This Film Is Because You Paid For It. Michael Spencer, the head of the CFDC, contacted Cronenberg about Fulford and Cronenberg stated that "only 100 people read Saturday Night magazine", but Spencer replied "Yes but it's the wrong hundred people".

Fulford worked as the co-host with Richard Gwyn of Realities, a long-form interview show on TVOntario (1982–1989) and as a regular panelist on CBC Radio's Morningside (1989–1993). In 1999, he delivered the Massey Lecture. In 1984, Fulford was awarded the honour of Officer of the Order of Canada.

In his 1988 entry for The Canadian Encyclopedia, Douglas Fetherling described Fulford's politics as being on "the more conservative end of the liberal spectrum".

Fulford is also a critic of literature, art and films. He has written extensively about the Canadian abstract art group Painters Eleven, its members (particularly William Ronald, Tom Hodgson, and Harold Town), and the Saskatchewan abstract artist Mashel Teitelbaum.

Selected bibliography

 * This Was Expo - 1968
 * Crisis at the Victory Burlesk: Culture, Politics and Other Diversions - 1968
 * Harold Town Drawings - 1968 (editor)
 * Marshall Delaney at the Movies - 1974
 * An Introduction to the Arts in Canada - 1977
 * Canada: A Celebration - 1983
 * Best Seat in the House: Memoirs of a Lucky Man - 1988
 * Accidental City: The Transformation of Toronto - 1995
 * Toronto Discovered - 1998
 * The Triumph of Narrative: Storytelling in the Age of Mass Culture - 1999

title: Robert Fulford (journalist)


text:
Ergot

Ergot or ergot fungi refers to a group of fungi of the genus Claviceps.

The most prominent member of this group is Claviceps purpurea ("rye ergot fungus"). This fungus grows on rye and related plants, and produces alkaloids that can cause ergotism in humans and other mammals who consume grains contaminated with its fruiting structure (called ergot sclerotium).

Claviceps includes about 50 known species, mostly in the tropical regions. Economically significant species include C. purpurea (parasitic on grasses and cereals), C. fusiformis (on pearl millet, buffel grass), C. paspali (on dallis grass), C. africana (on sorghum), and C. lutea (on paspalum). C. purpurea most commonly affects outcrossing species such as rye (its most common host), as well as triticale, wheat, and barley. It affects oats only rarely.

C. purpurea has at least three races or varieties, which differ in their host specificity:
 * G1 — land grasses of open meadows and fields;
 * G2 — grasses from moist, forest, and mountain habitats;
 * G3 (C. purpurea var. spartinae) — salt marsh grasses (Spartina, Distichlis).

Life cycle
An ergot kernel, called a sclerotium, develops when a spore of fungal species of the genus Claviceps infects a floret of flowering grass or cereal. The infection process mimics a pollen grain growing into an ovary during fertilization. Infection requires that the fungal spore have access to the stigma; consequently, plants infected by Claviceps are mainly outcrossing species with open flowers, such as rye (Secale cereale) and ryegrasses (genus Lolium). The proliferating fungal mycelium then destroys the plant ovary and connects with the vascular bundle originally intended for seed nutrition. The first stage of ergot infection manifests itself as a white soft tissue (known as sphacelia) producing sugary honeydew, which often drops out of the infected grass florets. This honeydew contains millions of asexual spores (conidia), which insects disperse to other florets. Later, the sphacelia convert into a hard dry sclerotium inside the husk of the floret. At this stage, alkaloids and lipids accumulate in the sclerotium.

Claviceps  species from tropic and subtropic regions produce macro- and microconidia in their honeydew. Macroconidia differ in shape and size between the species, whereas microconidia are rather uniform, oval to globose (5×3 μm). Macroconidia are able to produce secondary conidia. A germ tube emerges from a macroconidium through the surface of a honeydew drop and a secondary conidium of an oval to pearlike shape is formed, to which the contents of the original macroconidium migrates. Secondary conidia form a white, frost-like surface on honeydew drops and spread via the wind. No such process occurs in Claviceps purpurea, Claviceps grohii, Claviceps nigricans, and Claviceps zizaniae, all from northern temperate regions.

When a mature sclerotium drops to the ground, the fungus remains dormant until proper conditions (such as the onset of spring or a rain period) trigger its fruiting phase. It germinates, forming one or several fruiting bodies with heads and stipes, variously coloured (resembling a tiny mushroom). In the head, threadlike sexual spores form, which are ejected simultaneously when suitable grass hosts are flowering.

Ergot infection causes a reduction in the yield and quality of grain and hay, and if livestock eat infected grain or hay it may cause a disease called ergotism. Black and protruding sclerotia of C. purpurea are well known. However, many tropical ergots have brown or greyish sclerotia, mimicking the shape of the host seed. For this reason, the infection is often overlooked.

Insects, including flies and moths, carry conidia of Claviceps species, but it is unknown whether insects play a role in spreading the fungus from infected to healthy plants.

Evolution
Regarding the evolution of plant parasitism in the Clavicipitaceae, an amber fossil discovered in 2020 preserves a grass spikelet and an ergot-like parasitic fungus. The fossil shows that the original hosts of the Clavicipitaceae could have been grasses. The discovery also establishes a minimum time for the conceivable presence of psychotropic compounds in fungi. Several evolutionary processes have acted to diversify the array of ergot alkaloids produced by fungi; these differences in enzyme activities are evident at the levels of substrate specificity (LpsA), product specification (EasA, CloA) or both (EasG and possibly CloA). The "old yellow enzyme", EasA, presents an outstanding example. This enzyme catalyzes reduction of the C8=C9 double-bond in chanoclavine I, but EasA isoforms differ in whether they subsequently catalyze reoxidation of C8–C9 after rotation. This difference distinguishes most Clavicipitaceae from Trichocomaceae, but in Clavicipitaceae it is also the key difference dividing the branch of classical ergot alkaloids from dihydroergot alkaloids, the latter often being preferred for pharmaceuticals due to their relatively few side effects.

Effects on humans, other mammals and LSD
The ergot sclerotium contains high concentrations (up to 2% of dry mass) of the alkaloid ergotamine, a complex molecule consisting of a tripeptide-derived cyclol-lactam ring connected via amide linkage to a lysergic acid (ergoline) moiety, and other alkaloids of the ergoline group that are biosynthesized by the fungus. Ergot alkaloids have a wide range of biological activities including effects on circulation and neurotransmission.

Ergot alkaloids are classified as:
 * 1) derivatives of 6,8-dimethylergoline and
 * 2) lysergic acid derivatives.

Ergotism is the name for sometimes severe pathological syndromes affecting humans or other animals that have ingested plant material containing ergot alkaloid, such as ergot-contaminated grains. The Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony, an order of monks established in 1095, specialized in treating ergotism victims with balms containing tranquilizing and circulation-stimulating plant extracts. The common name for ergotism is "St. Anthony's fire", in reference to this order of monks and the severe burning sensations in the limbs which was one of the symptoms. There are two types of ergotism. The first is characterized by muscle spasms, fever and hallucinations and the victims may appear dazed, be unable to speak, become manic, or have other forms of paralysis or tremors, and suffer from hallucinations and other distorted perceptions. This is caused by serotonergic stimulation of the central nervous system by some of the alkaloids. The second type of ergotism is marked by violent burning, absent peripheral pulses and shooting pain of the poorly vascularized distal organs, such as the fingers and toes, and are caused by effects of ergot alkaloids on the vascular system due to vasoconstriction, sometimes leading to gangrene and loss of limbs due to severely restricted blood circulation.

The neurotropic activities of the ergot alkaloids may also cause hallucinations and attendant irrational behaviour, convulsions, and even death. Other symptoms include strong uterine contractions, nausea, seizures, high fever, vomiting, loss of muscle strength and unconsciousness. Since the Middle Ages, controlled doses of ergot were used to induce abortions and to stop maternal bleeding after childbirth. Klotz offers a detailed overview of the toxicities in mammalian livestock, stating that the activities are attributable to antagonism or agonism of neurotransmitters, including dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. He also states that the adrenergic blockage by ergopeptines (e.g., ergovaline or ergotamine) leads to potent and long-term vasoconstriction, and can result in reduced blood flow resulting in intense burning pain (St. Anthony's fire), edema, cyanosis, dry gangrene and even loss of hooves in cattle or limbs in humans. Reduced prolactin due to ergot alkaloid activity on dopamine receptors in the pituitary is also common in livestock. Reduced serum prolactin is associated with various reproductive problems in cattle, and especially in horses, including agalactia and poor conception, and late-term losses of foals and sometimes mares due to dystocia and thickened placentas. Although both gangrenous and convulsive symptoms are seen in naturally occurring ergotism resulting from the ingestion of fungus infected rye, only gangrenous ergotism has been reported following the excessive ingestion of ergotamine tartrate. Ergot extract has been used in pharmaceutical preparations, including ergot alkaloids in products such as Cafergot (containing caffeine and ergotamine or ergoline) to treat migraine headaches, and ergometrine, used to induce uterine contractions and to control bleeding after childbirth. Clinical ergotism as seen today results almost exclusively from the excessive intake of ergotamine tartrate in the treatment of migraine headache.

In addition to ergot alkaloids, Claviceps paspali also produces tremorgens (paspalitrem) causing "paspalum staggers" in cattle. The fungi of the genera Penicillium and Aspergillus also produce ergot alkaloids, notably some isolates of the human pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus, and have been isolated from plants in the family Convolvulaceae, of which morning glory is best known. The causative agents of most ergot poisonings are the ergot alkaloid class of fungal metabolites, though some ergot fungi produce distantly related indole-diterpene alkaloids that are tremorgenic.

Ergot does not contain lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) but instead contains lysergic acid as well as its precursor, ergotamine. Lysergic acid is a precursor for the synthesis of LSD. Their realized and hypothesized medicinal uses have encouraged intensive research since the 1950s culminating on the one hand in development of drugs both legal (e.g., bromocriptine) and illegal (e.g., LSD), and on the other hand in extensive knowledge of the enzymes, genetics, and diversity of ergot alkaloid biosynthetic pathways.

The January 4, 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine includes a paper that documents a British study of more than 11,000 Parkinson's disease patients. The study found that two ergot-derived drugs, pergolide and cabergoline, commonly used to treat Parkinson's Disease may increase the risk of leaky heart valves by up to 700%.

History
Ergotism is the earliest recorded example of mycotoxicosis, or poisoning caused by toxic molds. Early references to ergotism date back as far as 600 BC, an Assyrian tablet referred to it as a "noxious pustule in the ear of grain." In 350 BC, the Parsees described "noxious grasses that cause pregnant women to drop the womb and die in childbed." In ancient Syria, ergot was called "Daughter of Blood." Radulf Glaber described an ailment he called "hidden fire," or ignus ocultus, in which a burning of the limb is followed by its separation from the body, often consuming the victim in one night. In 1588, Johannes Thallius wrote that it is called "Mother of Rye," or rockenmutter, and is used to halt bleeding.

Human poisoning due to the consumption of rye bread made from ergot-infected grain was common in Europe in the Middle Ages. The first mention of a plague of gangrenous ergotism in Europe comes from Germany in 857; following this, France and Scandinavia experienced similar outbreaks; England is noticeably absent from the historical regions affected by ergotism as its main source of food was wheat, which is resistant to ergot fungi. In 994, a massive outbreak of potentially attributed to ergotism caused 40,000 deaths in the regions of Aquitaine, Limousin, Périgord, and Angoumois in France. In Hesse, in 1596, Wendelin Thelius was one of the first to attribute ergotism poisoning to grain. In 1778, S. Tessier, observing a huge epidemic in Sologne, France, in which more than 8,000 people died, recommended drainage of fields, compulsory cleaning of grain, and the substitution of potatoes for affected grain.

In 1722, the Russian Tsar Peter the Great was thwarted in his campaign against the Ottoman Empire as his army, traveling down the Terek steppe, was struck by ergotism and was forced to retreat in order to find edible grains. A diary entry from the time notes that as soon as people ate the poisoned bread, they became dizzy, with such strong nerve contractions that those who did not die on the first day found their hands and feet falling off, akin to frostbite. The outbreak was known as Saint Anthony's fire, or ignis sacer.

Some historical events, such as the Great Fear in France at the outset of the French Revolution, have been linked to ergot poisoning.

Saint Anthony's fire and the Antonites
Saint Anthony was a 3rd Century Egyptian ascetic who lived by the Red Sea and was known for long fasting in which he confronted terrible visions and temptations sent from the Devil. He was credited by two noblemen for assisting them in recovery from the disease; they subsequently founded the Order of St. Anthony in his honor. Anthony was a popular subject for art in the Middle Ages, and his symbol is a large blue "T" sewn onto the shoulder of the order's monks, symbolizing the crutch used by the ill and injured.

The Order of St. Anthony, whose members were known as Antonites, grew quickly, and hospitals spread through France, Germany, and Scandinavia and gained wealth and power as grateful patrons bestowed money and charitable goods on the hospitals. By the end of the Middle Ages, there were 396 settlements and 372 hospitals owned by the order, and pilgrimages to such hospitals became popular, as well as the donation of limbs lost to ergotism, which were displayed near shrines to the saint. These hagiotherapeutic centers were the first specialized European medical welfare systems, and the friars of the order were knowledgeable about treatment of ergotism and the horrifying effects of the poison. The sufferers would receive ergot-free meals, wines containing vasodilating and analgesic herbs, and applications of Antonites-balsam, which was the first transdermal therapeutic system (TTS) in medical history. These medical recipes have been lost to time, though some recorded treatments still remain. After 1130, the monks were no longer permitted to perform operations, and so barber surgeons were employed to remove gangrenous limbs and treat open sores. Three barbers founded a hospital in Memmingen in 1214 and accepted those who were afflicted with the gangrenous form of ergotism. Patients were fed and housed, with the more able-bodied individuals acting as orderlies and assistants. Patients with the convulsive form of ergotism, or ergotismus convulsivus, were welcomed for only nine days before they were asked to leave, as convulsive ergotism was seen as less detrimental. Though the sufferers often experienced irreversible effects, they most often returned to their families and resumed their livelihoods.

An important aspect to the Order of St. Anthony's treatment practices was the exclusion of rye bread and other ergot-containing edibles, which halted the progression of ergotism. There was no known cure for ergotism itself; however, there was treatment of the symptoms, which often included blood constriction, nervous disorders, and/or hallucinations; if the sufferer survived the initial poisoning, his limbs would often fall off, and he or she would continue to improve in health if he or she halted consumption of ergot. The trunk of the body remained relatively untouched by the disease until its final stages, and the victims, not understanding the cause of their ailment, would continue to imbibe ergot-laden food for weeks until the condition reached their digestive system. It is believed that the peasantry and children were most susceptible to ergotism, though the wealthy were afflicted as well, as, at times, entire villages relied on tainted crops for sustenance, and during times of famine, ergotism reached into every house. Ergot fungus is impervious to heat and water, and thus it was most often baked into bread through rye flour; though other grasses can be infected, it was uncommon in Medieval Europe to consume grasses other than rye. The physiological effects of ergot depended on the concentration and combinations of the ingested ergot metabolites, as well as the age and nutritional status of the afflicted individual. The Antonites began to decline after physicians discovered the genesis of ergotism and recommended methods for removing the sclerotium from the rye crops. In 1776, the cloisters of the Antonites were incorporated into the Maltese Knights Hospitaller, losing much of their medical histories in the process and losing the ergotism cures and recipes due to lack of use and lack of preservation.

Usage in gynaecology and obstetrics
Midwives and very few doctors in Europe have used extracts from ergot for centuries:
 * 1) In a Nürnberg manuscript of 1474 powdered ergot was prescribed together with Laurel-fruits and rhizomes of Salomon's seals to cure permutter or heffmutter, which refers to pain in the lower abdomen caused by 'uprising of the womb'
 * 2) In a printed book of 1582 the German physician Adam Lonicer wrote, that three sclerotia of ergot, used several times a day, were used by midwives as a good remedy in case of the "uprising and pain of the womb" (auffſteigen vnd wehethumb der mutter)
 * 3) Joachim Camerarius the Younger wrote in 1586, that sclerotia of ergot held under the tongue, would stop bleeding

To prove that ergot is a harmless sort of grain, in 1774 the French pharmacist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier edited a letter he had received from Madame Dupile, a midwife of Chaumont-en-Vexin. She had told him that if uterine contractions were too weak in the expulsion stage of childbirth, she and her mother gave peeled ergot in an amount of the filling of a thimble dispersed in water, wine or broth. The administration of ergot was followed by a mild childbirth within 15 minutes. The French physician Jean-Baptiste Desgranges (1751–1831) published in 1818, that in 1777 he had met midwives in Lyon, who successfully treated feeble uterine contractions by administering the powder of ergot. Desgranges added this remedy to his therapeutic arsenal. From 1777 to 1804, he was successful in alleviating childbirth for more than twenty women by the administration of the powder of ergot. He never saw any side-effect of this treatment.

In the United States, in 1807 Dr. John Stearns of Saratoga County, New York wrote to a friend, that he had used over several years a pulvis parturiens with complete success in patients with "lingering parturitation". This pulvis parturiens consisted of ergot, that he called a "spurious groth of rye". He boiled "half a drachm" (ca. 2g) of that powder in half a pint of water and gave one third every twenty minutes, till the pains commenced. In 1813, Dr. Oliver Prescott (1762–1827) of Newburyport, Massachusetts published a dissertation "on the natural history and medical effects of the secale cornutum", in which he described and analysed the experience he had gathered over five years while using ergot in cases of poor uterine action in the second stage of labour in childbirth.

The 1836 Dispensatory of the United States recommended "to a woman in labour fifteen or twenty grains [ca. 1 to 1,3g] of ergot in powder to be repeated every twenty minutes, till its peculiar effects are experienced, or till the amount of a drachm [ca. 3,9g] has been taken".

In 1837, the French Codex Pharmacopee Francaise required ergot to be kept in all pharmacies.

Low to very low evidence from clinical trials suggests that prophylactic use of ergot alkaloids, administered by intravenous (IV) or intramuscular (IM) in the third stage of labor, may reduce blood loss and may reduce the risk of moderate to severe hemorrhage following delivery, however this medication may also be associated with higher blood pressure and higher pain. It is not clear if oral ergot alkaloids are beneficial or harmful as they have not been well studied. A 2018 Cochrane Systematic Review concluded that other medications such as oxytocin, syntometrine and prostaglandins, may be preferred over ergot alkaloids.

Though ergot was known to cause abortions in cattle and humans, this was not a recognized use for it as abortion was illegal in most countries, thus evidence for its use in abortion is unknown. Most often, ergot was used to speed the process of parturition or delivery, and was not used for the purpose of halting postpartum bleeding, which is a concern of childbirth. However, until anesthesia became available, there was no antidote or way of controlling the effects of ergot. So if the fetus did not move as expected, the drug could cause the uterus to mold itself around the child, rupturing the uterus and killing the child. David Hosack, an American physician, noted the large number of stillbirths resulting from ergot use and stated that rather than pulvis ad partum, it should be called pulvis ad mortem. He began advocating for its use to halt postpartum bleeding. Eventually, doctors determined that the use of ergot in childbirth without an antidote was too dangerous. They ultimately restricted its use to expelling the placenta or stopping hemorrhage. Not only did it constrict the uterus, ergot had the ability to increase or decrease blood pressure, induce hypothermia and emesis, and influence pituitary hormone secretions. In 1926, Swiss psychiatrist Hans Maier suggested to use ergotamine for the treatment of vascular headaches of the migraine type.

In the 1930s, abortifacient drugs were marketed to women by various companies under various names such as Molex pills and Cote pills. Since birth control devices and abortifacients were illegal to market and sell at the time, they were offered to women who were "delayed". The recommended dosage was seven grains of ergotin a day. According to the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) these pills contained ergotin, aloes, Black Hellebore, and other substances. The efficacy and safety of these pills are unknown. The FTC deemed them unsafe and ineffective and demanded that they cease and desist selling the product. Currently, over a thousand compounds have been derived from ergot ingredients.

Speculated cause of hysterics and hallucinations
It has been posited that Kykeon, the beverage consumed by participants in the ancient Greek Eleusinian Mysteries cult, might have been based on hallucinogens from ergotamine, a precursor to the potent hallucinogen LSD, and ergonovine.

An article appearing in the July 23, 1881 edition of Scientific American entitled "A New Exhilarating Substance" denotes cases of euphoria upon consuming tincture of ergot of rye, particularly when mixed with phosphate of soda and sweetened water. In rainy years, it was thought rye bread exceeded 5% ergot.

British author John Grigsby contends that the presence of ergot in the stomachs of some of the so-called 'bog-bodies' (Iron Age human remains from peat bogs Northeast Europe, such as the Tollund Man) is indicative of use of Claviceps purpurea in ritual drinks in a prehistoric fertility cult akin to the Greek Eleusinian Mysteries. In his 2005 book Beowulf and Grendel, he argues that the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf is based on a memory of the quelling of this fertility cult by followers of Odin. He writes that Beowulf, which he translates as barley-wolf, suggests a connection to ergot which in German was known as the 'tooth of the wolf'.

Linnda R. Caporael posited in 1976 that the hysterical symptoms of young women that had spurred the Salem witch trials had been the result of consuming ergot-tainted rye. However, Nicholas P. Spanos and Jack Gottlieb, after a review of the historical and medical evidence, later disputed her conclusions. Other authors have likewise cast doubt on ergotism as the cause of the Salem witch trials.

Claviceps purpurea
Mankind has known about Claviceps purpurea for a long time, and its appearance has been linked to extremely cold winters that were followed by rainy summers.

The sclerotial stage of C. purpurea conspicuous on the heads of ryes and other such grains is known as ergot. Favorable temperatures for growth are in the range of 18–30 °C. Temperatures above 37 °C cause rapid germination of conidia. Sunlight has a chromogenic effect on the mycelium, with intense coloration. Cereal mashes and sprouted rye are suitable substrates for growth of the fungus in the laboratory.

Claviceps africana
Claviceps africana infects sorghum. In sorghum and pearl millet, ergot became a problem when growers adopted hybrid technology, which increased host susceptibility. It only infects unfertilized ovaries, so self-pollination and fertilization can decrease the presence of the disease, but male-sterile lines are extremely vulnerable to infection. Symptoms of infection by C. africana include the secretion of honeydew (a fluid with high concentrates of sugar and conidia), which attracts insects like flies, beetles, and wasps that feed on it. This helps spread the fungus to uninfected plants.

In Sorghum this honeydew can be spotted coming out of head flowers. A whitish sticky substance can also be observed on leaves and on the ground.

C. africana caused ergot disease that caused a famine in 1903-1906 in Northern Cameroon, West Africa, and also occurs in eastern and southern Africa, especially Zimbabwe and South Africa. Male sterile sorghums (also referred to as A-lines) are especially susceptible to infection, as first recognized in the 1960s, and massive losses in seed yield have been noted. Infection is associated with cold night temperatures that are below 12 °C occurring two to three weeks before flowering.

Sorghum ergot caused by Claviceps africana Frederickson, Mantle and De Milliano is widespread in all sorghum growing areas, whereas the species was formerly restricted to Africa and Asia where it was first recorded more than 90 years ago, it has been spreading rapidly and by the mid-1990s it reached Brazil, South Africa, and Australia. By 1997, the disease had spread to most South American countries and the Caribbean including Mexico, and by 1997 had reached Texas in the United States.

Management
Partners of the CABI-led programme, Plantwise including the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock in Zambia have several recommendations for managing the spread of ergot, these include; planting tolerant varieties, disk fields after harvest to prevent sorghum ratoon and volunteer plants from developing, remove any infected plants, and carrying out 3 year crop rotations with legumes.

Claviceps paspali
Claviceps paspali infects wild grasses and could be found on the common grass Paspalum. Like the C. africana, C. paspali also secretes honeydew which is consumed by bees. The bees then create a honey called fic'e (Paraguayan Makai Indian language), which is infused with secretions from the plants and has a pungent aroma. If consumed in high amounts, the honey can cause drunkenness, dizziness and even death.

title: Ergot