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Tony Blackburn

Antony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter.

Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC Light Programme.

Blackburn was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1 at its launch, on 30 September 1967, and has had several stints working for the corporation. He has also worked for Capital London, Classic Gold Digital and BBC Local Radio, and currently BBC Radio 2 and British Forces Broadcasting Service. He has also had a singing career. As a DJ, Blackburn is known for his championing of Motown and soul music as well as his popular presenting style.

In 2002, Blackburn was the first winner of the British reality TV series I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

Early life
Blackburn was born in Guildford, Surrey, on 29 January 1943, but in 1946 his family moved to Poole, Dorset, where his youngest sister, Jacqueline, was born. His sister was born suffering from polio and was unable to walk from birth. Blackburn's father, Kenneth Fleming Blackburn, was a GP and his mother, Pauline Cubitt (née Stone), was a nurse. He was educated at Castle Court School in Corfe Mullen, near Poole in Dorset. He gained entry to Millfield in Somerset on a sports scholarship and captained the school's cricket team.

Blackburn left before taking any examinations, but gained O-levels following private tuition, and enrolled for an HND course in Business Studies at Bournemouth Technical College.

Early career as disc jockey
After beginning his career as a singer, Blackburn then worked as a DJ for the offshore pirate radio stations Radio Caroline and Radio London (1964–1967), before joining the BBC in the summer of 1967, initially broadcasting on the BBC Light Programme.

After a simulcast with BBC Radio 2 hosted by Paul Hollingdale, Blackburn was the first DJ to be heard on BBC Radio 1 when it officially launched at 7 am on 30 September 1967, with his first words on the new station being "And good morning everyone! Welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1!" The Move's "Flowers in the Rain" was the first complete record he played. In a 2024 interview with Vernon Kay, Blackburn revealed that film of this scene had actually been recorded the previous day. Blackburn recalled in 2014: "My job was to entertain and tell corny jokes, not have opinions or talk politics. If I wanted to wish the Queen a happy birthday, I had to get clearance from above." In the early years of his Radio 1 career Blackburn often employed an audio clip of a barking dog, "Arnold", which he had previously used at Radio Caroline and Radio London.

At first he was associated mainly with mainstream pop, but he later championed soul music. It was largely due to him that "I'm Still Waiting" by Diana Ross, which was initially just an album track, was released as a single in the UK in 1971 and reached number one. He was a regular host of Top of the Pops for more than a decade and he appeared with fellow DJs Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett on the 500th anniversary show where he performed the spoken part of "Won't Somebody Dance with Me" and then danced with singer Lynsey de Paul.

In 1968, he fronted his own show, Time For Blackburn, produced by Southern Television for the ITV network. "The Radio 1 DJs were a massive attraction. We were mobbed everywhere we went", Blackburn told Simon Hattenstone, referring to personal appearances. "It was all a bit mad, but great fun", he told Judith Woods in 2014. We "were built up to be stars in our own right, and as a result we were as famous as the artists we played."

In 1973, when his pantomime performance was interrupted by a power cut, he said the miners should "go back to work". He was admonished by management and taken off-air for two weeks. In an interview for the Radio Academy's Radio Talk podcast in 2013, Blackburn said that it is "not advisable" for a broadcaster to reveal their political allegiances. In this interview, he said that he is "not a great lover of the TUC or of unions ... but I keep it to myself now."

Singing career
He was in a group called Tony Blackburn and the Rovers which at one point included Al Stewart; they performed in Bournemouth and the surrounding areas. His singing career failed to take off, although three studio albums and fourteen singles were released, of which two, "So Much Love" and "It's Only Love", made the UK Top 40 in 1968 and 1969 respectively. "So Much Love" suffered from a shortage of copies because "the pressing plant went on strike, so nobody could get the record", he once recalled. "I don't think the strike was anything to do with the record, though it might have been... quality control or something."

In 1972, he released a self-titled album on the RCA label. Two of the tracks were released as singles: "Chop Chop", written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, and "House of Cards", written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Green. His version of Doris Troy's "I'll Do Anything" was recorded in 1969 for his second album, Tony Blackburn, which was released on Polydor label. This version of the Gamble and Huff song was re-discovered by Northern soul fans when it was pressed up as a white label and became a hit on the scene's dancefloors. The single was re-released as a single under the pseudonym Lenny Gamble on Casino Classics in June 1978, with the pseudonym being a portmanteau of songwriters Leon Huff and Kenny Gamble.

All of Blackburn's singles, including "I'll Do Anything" and "House of Cards" were released in 2012 on a CD compilation album The Singles Collection 1965–1980 on the Cherry Red label.

From 1973 to 1984
In June 1973, he took over Jimmy Young's mid-morning slot when Young moved across to Radio 2, where he introduced "The Golden Hour". The feature was to prove durable, being carried on by Simon Bates, Simon Mayo, and Chris Moyles when they subsequently took over that time slot.

Over several years of the 1970s, Blackburn was a co-presenter on the BBC's summer programme Seaside Special, alongside other well-known names from BBC Radio, such as Dave Lee Travis and David Hamilton. On 16 August 1975 he appeared singing "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", with a lion tamer, in a cage of lions.

In November 1977 he took over the weekday afternoon show and from September 1979 until December 1981 he presented the Sunday Top 40 show on Radio 1.

At the start of 1980 he took over from Ed Stewart as the presenter of Junior Choice, broadcast on Saturday and Sunday mornings from 8am to 10am, while continuing to present the Sunday chart show until the end of 1981. He was succeeded by Tommy Vance. During 1982, BBC Radio 1 dropped the name Junior Choice and the show became the Tony Blackburn's Saturday Show and Tony Blackburn's Sunday Show. Blackburn hosted both shows until his final show on 23 September 1984.

In addition to his Radio 1 weekend show, he joined BBC Radio London in 1981, where he presented the afternoon show. It was here that he showed his appreciation of soul music. "Soul music is sexy music, raunchy music. I didn't want it to be a niche thing, I wanted to bring it to a mass audience. I wanted cab drivers to listen to it because I think pop soul is fabulous, I do, really", he told Simon Hattenstone. He left the station after over 40 years in December 2023.

From the mid to late 1980s, Blackburn presented the show "Soul Station" on BFBS Radio.

Blackburn had a difficult relationship with fellow DJ John Peel, whom he recalled saying: "'People don’t realise how much you’ve done for soul music', and I said: 'I bet you’d never say that publicly', and he said: 'Oh no!'"

Having left Radio 1 after seventeen years of broadcasting, he took over Radio London's weekday mid-morning show in 1984, playing a pure soul format.

Later career
He joined Capital London in 1988, and was involved in the launch of Capital Gold London station, presenting programmes such as the Breakfast show, Weekends, Drivetime then the Weekday evening show playing his own choice of music, where he remained until 2002. He hosted similar shows on Jazz FM in London and Smooth FM Smooth, and the Real Radio Network.

In 1987, Blackburn made an extended appearance on the second ever edition of After Dark on Channel 4. In 1989 Blackburn co-presented the morning TV show Sky by Day on Sky One. The show aired weekdays at 11:00 and was broadcast live.

He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1992, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel while broadcasting his Capital Gold radio show at the company's studios in London.

In 2002, Blackburn was the winner of the first series of the British reality TV show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!

In 2004, Blackburn re-joined BBC Radio London, originally taking over a two-hour timeslot on Monday evening from 20:00 to 22:00. Here he would be given free rein on his choice of music. In addition to this he also took over the station's Saturday Lunchtime show, broadcasting from 12:00 to 14:00.

Blackburn began presenting the Breakfast show for Bedfordshire-based Classic Gold Digital in late 2003. He was suspended in June 2004 for playing too many Cliff Richard records as the singer was not on the station's playlist. Noel Edmonds, whose company owned a majority shareholding, thought Blackburn would soon return to broadcasting for the station. The suspension was short-lived. Blackburn won his dispute with management over the playlist a few days later, and Cliff Richard was added to it. "We should be playing him as much as The Beatles", said the station head. Whilst doing the Breakfast show, he left his Monday evening show on Radio London but continued to present Saturday Lunchtime.

"I’m still a part of the disco generation," Blackburn told The Times in December 2004. "There is no pretence there and it never seems to date. I think disco did much more as a contribution to music than Bob Dylan or Neil Young. People get snobbish about music. Disco never takes itself too seriously."

In early 2008, Blackburn took over Weekend Breakfast on Smooth Radio, originally broadcasting to London audiences only, but a couple of months later the show was networked across the Smooth Radio network.

On 6 November 2010, Blackburn replaced Dale Winton as the regular host of BBC Radio 2's Pick of the Pops programme. One of his remaining ambitions was to present a programme on Radio 2. "I was 37 when I left Radio 1, and 2 seemed a natural progression. So it's only taken 30 years", Blackburn said in 2010. Blackburn presented the show every Saturday from 13:00 to 15:00. He also presented shows on BBC Radio Berkshire from 22:00 to 01:00 on Fridays and Sundays, and BBC London 94.9 on Sundays from 12:00 to 15:00.

Between 2 July 2016 and June 2017, Blackburn presented a weekly four-hour soul music show, the Soul and Motown Show, every Saturday from 18:00 to 22:00 on London's DAB station Thames Radio.

From 2007 to 2020, he presented a weekly three-hour show, Tony's Blackburn's Playlist every Sunday from 16:00 to 19:00 on KMFM in Kent. This included a retro chart feature for many years.

Blackburn has won two lifetime achievement awards from the Radio Academy, the second of which was to mark his fifty years of broadcasting.

In 2023, Blackburn launched the digital music channel That's 60s, focusing on 1960s music. He chose "Flowers in the Rain" as the first song to be played, similar to Radio 1.

BBC dismissal and return
On 25 February 2016, Blackburn was dismissed by the BBC in an announcement from Lord Hall, the corporation's Director General, stating that the contents of documents from the early 1970s were in conflict with evidence Blackburn had given to Dame Janet Smith's inquiry into Jimmy Savile's sexual abuse at BBC premises. Blackburn said he repeatedly told Smith and the BBC that he had never been interviewed about an alleged incident in the 1970s and that Smith's report made no suggestion that he was guilty of any misconduct whatsoever. Smith found Blackburn's denial that he was interviewed by light entertainment head Bill Cotton and Sir Brian Neill QC unsatisfactory. Neill had been appointed by the BBC to look into unrelated matters concerning Top of the Pops. Cotton's colleague, Tony Preston, had written a memo at the time concerning the interviews. Neill, the only one of the three men still alive, initially declined to comment, but later said he had interviewed Blackburn and, in 1972, had cleared him of wrongdoing.

Blackburn complained that the BBC was dismissing him and damaging his career based on the discrepancy. He said that like Smith's report, a coroner's inquest and a police inquiry had made no suggestion that he was guilty of any misconduct, adding that the report was a "whitewash" and that he had been "scapegoated" for giving his best recollections of events 45 years before. He asked: "Given Dame Janet Smith's concerns of a culture of fear in coming forward at the BBC, what whistle-blower at the BBC would ever come forward when they see the way they have hung me out to dry?" He said he intended to take legal action against the BBC.

Nina Myskow commented on Radio 2: "It should be a sad black day for the BBC because of the revelations about the whole Savile episode, but in fact that's been buried very cleverly by the BBC as usual by sacking Tony Blackburn."

Blackburn continued to present a show on KMFM. A spokesman for the station said, "He is a great asset, a fantastic broadcaster and someone we are proud to work with."

In October 2016, it was reported that Blackburn would again be working for the BBC, presenting an hour-long programme on BBC Radio 2 on Friday evenings, and additionally returning to BBC Local Radio. He returned to BBC Radio 2 on New Year's Eve 2016, and to BBC Local Radio on both New Year's Day and 6 January 2017, opening with Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive".

Blackburn now presents Sounds of the 60s on Radio 2, having taken over on 4 March 2017 from Brian Matthew, who hosted it for 27 years. The show is now broadcast live on Saturday mornings between 06:00 and 08:00, and he now also presents his Golden Hour music programme on Sunday nights.

On 30 September 2017, Blackburn recreated his first Radio 1 breakfast show on BBC Radio 2, playing the songs from vinyl, and he later joined Nick Grimshaw, and guests Mike Read, Simon Mayo and Sara Cox for a special show to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the launches of Radio 1 and Radio 2.

In 2020 Blackburn teamed up with Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson to present a new series of podcasts entitled Ricky and Tony's Pop Detectives. The shows centre around Blackburn and Wilson trying to unravel long-held myths and rumours about pop stars' lives and their music. The first episode centred around whether Debbie Harry had really been in a car with serial killer Ted Bundy, as she had previously claimed. The series was released to positive reviews and a further series was released in the summer of 2020.

On 2 January 2023, in the month in which he celebrated his 80th birthday, Blackburn presented a two-hour slot, "Your Soul Mate" for BBC Radio 2, sharing his favourite genre of music and his personal memories associated with the playlist.

In April 2023 Blackburn took a leave of absence from his radio work and other work commitments. While working in Milton Keynes he felt unwell and on returning home, he collapsed and was admitted to hospital with a chest infection; he fully recovered and resumed his radio work.

Personal life
In 1972 Blackburn married actress Tessa Wyatt. The couple had a son, Simon, who was born on 8 April 1973, but they divorced in November 1977 after separating the previous year. In June 1992 he married his second wife, Debbie, a theatrical agent. They have a daughter, Victoria, who was born in 1997. He has two grandsons.

Blackburn has been a vegetarian since the age of four. He lives in Arkley, London Borough of Barnet.

Blackburn was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to broadcasting and charity.

title: Tony Blackburn


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Georg Michaelis

Georg Michaelis (8 September 1857 – 24 July 1936) was the chancellor of the German Empire for a few months in 1917. He was the first (and the only one of the German Empire) chancellor not of noble birth to hold the office. With an economic background in business, Michaelis' main achievement was to encourage the ruling classes to open peace talks with Russia. Contemplating that the end of the war was near, he encouraged infrastructure development to facilitate recovery at war's end through the media of Mitteleuropa. A somewhat humourless character, known for process engineering, Michaelis was faced with insurmountable problems of logistics and supply in his brief period as chancellor.

Early life
Michaelis, born in Haynau in the Prussian Province of Silesia, grew up in Frankfurt (Oder). He studied jurisprudence at the University of Breslau, the University of Leipzig and the University of Würzburg from 1876 to 1884, becoming a Doctor of Laws.

From 1885-89, he lived and worked in Tokyo, Japan as a law professor of the Law School of the Society for German Sciences.

After his return to Germany, he became a member of the Prussian administration. In 1909 he was appointed as undersecretary of state to the Prussian Treasury in Berlin. From 1915 onward, he headed the Imperial Grain Office, which was responsible for the administration of Prussian corn and wheat during World War I.

Chancellor
After the Reichstag and the High Command (OHL) forced the resignation of Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg on 10 or 13 July 1917, Michaelis emerged as the surprise candidate for both chancellor of Germany and Minister President of Prussia. Army commander Paul von Hindenburg agreed because Michaelis was the army's man.

He had visited the OHL on several occasions in his position as Undersecretary of State in the Prussian Ministry of Finance and Commissioner of Food Supplies, when his brusque manner had made a good impression on staff officers present. “The truth was that anyone more radical than Bethmann would have been unacceptable to the High Command as Chancellor, while anyone more reactionary would have been unacceptable to the Reichstag; the only way out was to choose a nonentity.”

Michaelis was described as "Germany's first bourgeois chancellor", as he was the only non-titled person to serve as chief minister during the Hohenzollern monarchy's 400-year rule over Prussia and Germany. But the forces of the German General Staff remained in control behind the scenes.

On 19 July, the Reichstag passed Erzberger's Peace Resolution for "a peace without annexations or indemnities", after the Chancellor's speech had "devalued" the resolution. The inability of the government to impose controls on rising prices, demands for wage increases, strikes, and mounting economic chaos, drove the "political fixers" towards a military takeover of the reins of power. The Kaiser wanted a chancellor who could manage the Reichstag, and the army wanted a chancellor who would bring about a "German Peace".

On 25 July 1917, Michaelis told the crown prince that the devil was in the detail; "I have deprived it of its most dangerous features by my interpretation of it. One can make any peace one likes with this resolution", he reassured the heir to the throne. But it was a feint, and Michaelis’ role in the discreditable episode was designed to facilitate a permanent closure of the Reichstag.

The army perceived the majority parties as posing a threat to stability in Germany in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution had brought an end to the Russian war effort. But this had left him very "uncertain" as to the place of the Central Powers. Knowing Austro-Hungary was bankrupted by the fighting, he understood their demand to sue for peace; but the military was unwilling to relinquish any power to the civilian authorities. The OHL hoped to destabilize Ukraine and the Baltic States so as to bring Russia's ailing Tsarist regime to the negotiations, while guaranteeing Germanic frontiers, in more than Michaelis' status quo ante bellum.

But Michaelis was a pragmatist and a realist, whatever the Kaiser might have believed about military victory.

The Chancellor chaired the Second Kreuznach Conference discussing the fate of Alsace-Lorraine on 14 August 1917.

The proposal included one for an integrated Federal State coupled to socio-economic changes connecting the Prussian-Hessian railways across Germany. Alsace's connectivity was an extension of a war aims policy via Aachen into the Belgian occupied zones and across neutral Netherlands, as had already been achieved in Luxembourg. Longwiy was the centre of German Steel Association's industry. Located on the border of Belgium and Lorraine, it was at the contractual nexus of the Low Countries adjacent to the Dutch treaty town of Maastricht. German industrialists, including Thyssen and Krupp, wanted a guaranteed supply of coal from France and return to an answer to the Belgian Question, which monopolised the thinkers on the Western Front.

On 29 August, it was in light of the Longwy-Briey Plan railway carriage meeting near Aachen that he was given "an impossible task" of perpetuating the war for "another ten years". But the economic plan Mitteleuropa depended on the Quadruple Alliance which was in trouble. The brains behind the second conference was the new Secretary of State, Max von Kuhlmann, with Czernin and Hohenlohe (Austria) chaired in chamber by Michaelis. But he underestimated Britain's economic determination to stay the course until the bitter end.

The unenviable task to spell out the myth of a German victory fell to Michaelis, still obliged to the Kaiser and OHL in a report to the Conference.

In the end the government won over the Reichstag with only one small party outstanding in its continual opposition to the plan. The Fatherland Party and the OHL, now under Ludendorff, demanded a rigorous pro-Kaiser pursuance of a Rumanian-Germany. Bessarabia, a rich and fertile agricultural basin, was ripe for the Central Powers to pick. Michaelis was sceptical of OHL's avowal of the closest relationship with Austria when another conference was called for 7 October. Still dominated by the obsession with seaports for the Reich, Michaelis demanded access in Dalmatia from the Austrians, as well as those on the Belgian coast. Through the vehicle of Mitteleuropa he sought to enable the Austrian economy to withstand the peace conditions he knew would be imposed on the German customs union.

But the candidate chosen as the new Chancellor was the Army's and not that of the Reichstag. "We have lost a statesman and secured a functionary in his place", remarked Conrad Haussmann, a member of the Reichstag from the Progressive People's Party.

Decline
In August, the naval mutinies at Wilhelmshaven led to executions. Michaelis blamed the socialists in the Reichstag hoping to split the coalition. But the Reichstag demanded his resignation. On 24 October 1917 the National Liberals three socialist parties in the coalition made representations to the Kaiser. In his autobiography he laid the blame on his own refusal to bend to pressure for liberal electoral reforms. The deputies hoped to replace him with a Centre Party aristocrat, Georg von Hertling.

He remained in this position until 1 November 1917, when he was forced to resign after coming under fire for refusing to commit himself by endorsing a resolution passed by the Reichstag favouring peace without annexation or indemnities. Michaelis attempted to retain his role as Prussian Minister President, but without success as Count Hertling was determined that the two posts could not be separated.

Late life and death
From 1 April 1918 to 31 March 1919 he served as Oberpräsident of the Prussian province of Pomerania. After the end of World War I, he cooperated with the local workers' and soldiers' council. Nevertheless, the socialist-dominated government of Prussia soon replaced him.

Michaelis worked in the fields of economic lobbying, in student organizations, in the synod of the Evangelical Church of the old-Prussian Union and became a member of the monarchist/national conservative German National People's Party (DNVP). In 1921, he published his memoirs, ''Für Staat und Volk. Eine Lebensgeschichte'' (For State and People. A Life Story).

Georg Michaelis died on 24 July 1936 in Bad Saarow-Pieskow (Brandenburg) at the age of 78.

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

title: Georg Michaelis


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Trans

Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of".

Used alone, trans may refer to:

 * Transgender, people who identify themselves with a gender that differs from their sex societally designated/assigned at birth
 * Transsexual, people who seek to transition from their birth-assigned sex to another via therapy and/or surgery

Arts, entertainment, and media

 * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
 * Trans (film), a 1998 American film
 * Trans Corp, an Indonesian business unit of CT Corp in the fields of media, lifestyle, and entertainment
 * Trans Media, a media subsidiary of Trans Corp
 * Trans TV, an Indonesian television network
 * Trans7, an Indonesian television network

Literature

 * Trans: Gender and Race in an Age of Unsettled Identities, a 2016 book by Rogers Brubaker
 * Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, a 2021 book by Helen Joyce

Music

 * Trans (album), by Neil Young
 * Trans (Stockhausen), a 1971 orchestral composition

Places

 * Trans, Mayenne, France, a commune
 * Trans, Switzerland, a village

Science and technology

 * Cis-trans isomerism, in chemistry, a form of stereoisomerism
 * Trans fat, fats containing trans-isomer fatty acids
 * Trans effect in inorganic chemistry, the increased lability of ligands that are trans to certain other ligands
 * Trans-acting in molecular biology, an external factor which acts on a molecule
 * Trans-lunar injection, propulsive maneuver of a spacecraft towards the Moon
 * TRANS.COM, an 8080/Z80 to 8088/8086 computer code translator

Other uses

 * Transition House Association of Nova Scotia (TRANS), Canada
 * FC Narva Trans, an Estonian football team
 * SEAT Trans, a van variant of the SEAT Panda

title: Trans


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QinetiQ 1

QinetiQ 1 was a balloon designed to set a new world altitude record for manned balloon flight of around 40 km (25 miles, 132,000 feet). The balloon was named after the main sponsor, QinetiQ (formerly part of DERA, the British Defence Evaluation and Research Agency).

The immense 381 m high zero-pressure balloon was constructed from 5,000 kg of polyethylene. The lift gas used for the balloon was helium. At the anticipated flight ceiling, the balloon's volume would have been 1.25 million m3 (40 million ft3). The two pilots, Andy Elson and Colin Prescot, were to occupy an open deck, relying on Zvezda-manufactured Sokol space suits to keep them alive during the anticipated twelve-hour flight.

The attempt was originally planned for 2002, but adverse high altitude conditions halted attempts in that year. The launch site for the twelve-hour flight was decided to be off the coast of Cornwall.

In 2003 the launch was initially set to take place on 2 September from the deck of RV Triton off the coast of St Ives. Early that morning, it was decided to postpone the launch for 24 hours due to cloud cover at high altitude. The following morning an attempt was made to inflate the balloon. At around 6.55 AM with the balloon inflated to a height of 15 metres, helium began to escape from the envelope. An irreparable tear was discovered along one of the seams of the balloon, and all efforts for a flight in 2003 were abandoned.

Other record attempts
The current balloon flight record was set by Malcolm Ross (USNR) and Victor Prather (USN), who took the Strato-Lab V balloon to 34,668 m (113,740 ft) on 4 May 1961 above the Gulf of Mexico. The balloonists landed successfully, but Victor Prather slipped from the helicopter lift harness while being transferred to a waiting aircraft carrier, and he drowned before US Navy divers could rescue him. Nicholas Piantanida, while attempting to set a new skydiving jump record, is claimed to have reached 123,800 feet (37.73 km) on 2 February 1966. Piantanida was unable to disconnect his breathing apparatus from the gondola, so the ground crew jettisoned the balloon at the flight ceiling. Piantanida's attempt did not set a flight record because he descended without the balloon.

title: QinetiQ 1


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Syntax error

In computer science, a syntax error is an error in the syntax of a sequence of characters that is intended to be written in a particular programming language.

For compiled languages, syntax errors are detected at compile-time. A program will not compile until all syntax errors are corrected. For interpreted languages, however, a syntax error may be detected during program execution, and an interpreter's error messages might not differentiate syntax errors from errors of other kinds.

There is some disagreement as to just what errors are "syntax errors". For example, some would say that the use of an uninitialized variable's value in Java code is a syntax error, but many others would disagree and would classify this as a (static) semantic error.

In 8-bit home computers that used BASIC interpreter as their primary user interface, the SYNTAX ERROR error message became somewhat notorious, as this was the response to any command or user input the interpreter could not parse. A syntax error can occur or take place, when an invalid equation is being typed on a calculator. This can be caused, for instance, by opening brackets without closing them, or less commonly, entering several decimal points in one number.

In Java the following is a syntactically correct statement:

while the following is not:
 * System.out.println(Hello World);

The second example would theoretically print the variable  instead of the words "Hello World". However, a variable in Java cannot have a space in between, so the syntactically correct line would be.

A compiler will flag a syntax error when given source code that does not meet the requirements of the language's grammar.

Type errors (such as an attempt to apply the ++ increment operator to a boolean variable in Java) and undeclared variable errors are sometimes considered to be syntax errors when they are detected at compile-time. However, it is common to classify such errors as (static) semantic errors instead.

Syntax errors on calculators
A syntax error is one of several types of errors on calculators (most commonly found on scientific calculators and graphing calculators), representing that the equation that has been input has incorrect syntax of numbers, operations and so on. It can result in various ways, including but not limited to:
 * An open bracket without closing parenthesis (unless missing closing parenthesis is at very end of equation)
 * Using minus sign instead of negative symbol (or vice versa), which are distinct on most scientific calculators. Note that while some scientific calculators allow a minus sign to stand in for a negative symbol, the reverse is less common.

title: Syntax error


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Joseph Boniface de La Môle

Joseph Boniface de La Môle (c. 1526 – 30 April 1574) was a French nobleman. He was the son of Jacques Boniface, seigneur de la Môle et de Colobrières, of Marseille.

Life
La Môle was the Provençal lover of Marguerite de Valois, among others, during the early part of her marriage to King Henry III of Navarre, the future king of France.

He served François, Duke of Anjou and Alençon, Marguerite's brother and youngest son of King Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. He represented the Duc d’Alençon during marriage negotiations with Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1572. In 1574 he was implicated in a Malcontent conspiracy against the reigning king, Charles IX, who was gravely ill, supported by the duke of Alençon. He was accused of making an attempt on the king's life when a wax figurine pricked with needles, which he had obtained from the astrologer Cosimo Ruggeri, was found in his possession. After being subjected to questioning and torture, he was condemned to death. He was quartered and beheaded at the Place de Grève in Paris with his co-conspirator, Annibal de Coconas. It has been rumoured that Marguerite embalmed la Môle's head and kept it in a jewelled casket.

In popular culture
William Shakespeare seems to have heard of the incident. In Act IV, scene I of 2 Henry VI, the character William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk and lover of Queen Margaret, is beheaded. In scene iv, Margaret brings his head to a conference at the palace, where she weeps over and embraces it.

A major character of Alexandre Dumas's novel La Reine Margot, la Môle is transformed into Joseph-Hyacinthe Boniface de Lerac de la Mole, a Protestant nobleman saved by Queen Marguerite during the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. The figure who was saved after stumbling into the Queen's bed chamber was not, in fact, la Môle, who took part in the Massacre, but rather was a gentleman named M. de Teian.

Fictional descendants of La Môle also feature prominently in Stendhal's novel The Red and the Black.

He is portrayed by Swiss actor Vincent Pérez in the film La Reine Margot and Dmitry Kharatyan in the Russian miniseries "La Reine Margot" ("Королева Марго" (1996)).

title: Joseph Boniface de La Môle


text:
Talk:Femur

Turgid intro
The following is my prompt and the reply from ChatGPT about the introduction to this article. I concur with GPT's wry assessment and suggest that the introduction be re-written so it can no longer be a target for GPT's--or a human's--well-earned scorn: "Prompt: "The introduction to the Wikipedia article on "Femur" uses much jargon and technical medical terms, making it hard to understand for the average reader. Write a sarcastic essay criticizing the introduction for being unfriendly to readers."

ChatGPT responds:

"Ah, the joy of reading Wikipedia articles! You can learn so much about any topic you want! That is, of course, if you're able to decipher the technical jargon that is often used in the introduction. Take for instance the introduction to the article on the femur - the largest and strongest bone in the human body. Now, for all those non-medical folks out there, brace yourselves for a ride into a world of perplexing terminology. You see, the femur is located in the thigh and it extends from the hip to the knee joint. It plays a significant role in supporting and moving the body, connecting the pelvis to the knee, transferring weight and force between the two. Oh, and let's not forget the bone marrow, which produces blood cells. But wait, there's more! Injuries to the femur can be quite serious and require medical attention. So if you're a normal person and have no idea what any of those words mean, then you might be out of luck. Who needs plain language when you can throw around medical jargon, right? Surely, the average person can easily understand words like "hip," "knee," "support," and "weight," but why stop there? Let's just throw in a few more complex words to make it extra confusing. Who cares if readers have to consult a dictionary just to get through the first sentence? It's not like we want everyone to understand the topic, right? In conclusion, if you're not a medical professional, then don't bother trying to read the introduction to the femur article on Wikipedia. You'll just be left scratching your head and wondering why anyone would use such confusing language. But hey, at least you'll know where to go if you ever break your thigh bone!"" DonFB (talk) 12:46, 1 May 2023 (UTC)

 * Collapsed per WP:NOTFORUM. Mathglot (talk) 18:49, 10 June 2023 (UTC)

Intro--further talk
I decided to follow up the wise-guy interaction with ChatGPT above with a more serious discussion. It is excessively long and certainly qualifies as TL;DR. I regard it, however, as a stand-in for discussion with actual editors about the issue of overloading article introductions with reader-unfriendly jargon and technical terminology. My peeve about that extends far beyond the Femur article and applies to numerous articles whose introductions I've encountered in Google searches, or while browsing Wikipedia. I made zero edits to ChatGPT's responses, and corrected a typo I made; I also adjusted some line breaks to clearly separate the questions and answers. Comments (from real editors) invited.

Rewrite
Here is a further step toward a user-friendly rewrite of the Femur introduction. For additional (and wordy) background on this process, see the "Virtual discussion" above.

The following is my latest unedited interaction with ChatGPT:

User

The Femur introduction uses these words and [a] phrase of jargon/technical terminology: "proximal", "tetrapod vertebrates", "head", "articulates", "acetabulum", "distal". For each of these, can you show a substitute in plain English, while maintaining accuracy, that a layperson can understand.

ChatGPT

Sure, here are some possible substitutes for the technical terms used in the Femur introduction that you mentioned:

Proximal: "the end closest to the center of the body" Tetrapod vertebrates: "four-limbed animals with backbones" Head: "the rounded part of a bone that fits into a joint" Articulates: "forms a joint with" Acetabulum: "the cup-shaped socket in the pelvic bone that the femur bone fits into to form the hip joint" Distal: "the end farthest from the center of the body"

These substitutes maintain the accuracy of the technical terms while making the language more accessible to a layperson.

User

Good job. Now, using these plain English substitutes to replace the jargon, please rewrite the introduction that I displayed above of the text of the Femur article.

ChatGPT

Sure, here's a version of the Femur introduction that uses plain English substitutes for the technical terms:

 * "The femur (thigh bone) is the upper bone in the back leg of four-legged animals. The top of the femur fits into a socket in the pelvis called the hip joint, and the bottom of the femur connects to the shinbone (tibia) and kneecap (patella) to form the knee joint. The femur is one of the strongest and largest bones in the human body."

[end of chat]

I will keep an eye here for any comments or suggestions by editors. So far, things have been pretty quiet. If that remains the case, I will replace the current jargony introduction with the rewritten version, possibly with any slight change that might be appropriate (for example, "animals with four limbs" instead of "four-legged animals"). I reiterate that I am not trying to delete technical terms from the body of the article, only from the introduction, where they are not helpful to general, non-specialized readers and also violate multiple Wikipedia guidelines about writing introductions. DonFB (talk) 01:38, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Femur


text:
Whyalla

Whyalla is a city in South Australia. It was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta is one of the three towns to make up the Iron Triangle. As of June 2018, Whyalla had an urban population of 21,742, having declined at an average annual rate of -0.75% year-over-year over the preceding five years. It is a seaport located on the east coast of the Eyre Peninsula and is known as the "Steel City" due to its integrated steelworks and shipbuilding heritage. The port of Whyalla has been exporting iron ore since 1903.

Description
The city consists of an urban area bounded to the north by the railway to the mining town of Iron Knob, to the east by Spencer Gulf, and to the south by the Lincoln Highway. The urban area consists of the following suburbs laid from east to west extending from a natural hill known as Hummock Hill: Whyalla, Whyalla Playford, Whyalla Norrie, Whyalla Stuart, and Whyalla Jenkins. A port facility, a rail yard serving the railway line to Iron Knob, and an industrial complex are located to the immediate north of Hummock Hill. Whyalla Barson and the Whyalla Conservation Park are located about 10 km north of the city. It is an iron-rich exporting town that supplies China.

Nomenclature
The origin of the name Whyalla is disputed. In 1916 it was referred to as the "native" name, having been ascribed during a survey conducted a few years beforehand. During the 1940s, Norman Tindale, the ethnologist at the South Australian Museum believed that the name could have been derived from aboriginal words "Wajala", meaning "west" in a language common to Port Pirie, or "Waiala", meaning "I don't know" in a language more common to Port Augusta. In 1945, BHP advised that the name had been taken from nearby Mount Whyalla, which lies northwest of Whyalla, roughly midway between the town and Iron Knob. Other meanings ascribed to the word Whyalla include "dingo", "by the water", and "a place of water". Another hypothesis is that the name was brought by European settlers and was derived from a place called Whyalla in Durham, England.

History
Whyalla is part of the Barngarla Aboriginal country.

A mariner named William Morgan Burgoyne purportedly recommended the site for the establishment of a port on False Bay to Harry Morgan of BHP. Burgoyne had spent several weeks there on a trip out from Port Augusta hunting kangaroo with his brother and another man called Alf Rowarth. At that time there was no settlement between Middleback Station and the Point Lowly Lighthouse, and kangaroos were plentiful there.

Burgoyne recalled that the tug Florrie ferried a crew there a week later and pegged out the settlement first known as Hummocky. It was officially founded as Hummock's Hill in 1901 by the BHP Whyalla Tramway, which transported iron ore from Iron Knob in the Middleback Range to the sea. Its first shipment was transported across Spencer Gulf to Port Pirie, where it was used in lead smelters as a flux. A jetty was built to transfer the ore and the first shipment was sent in 1903. The early settlement consisted of small cottages and tents clustered around the base of the hill. The post office opened in 1901 as Hummock's Hill.

In 1905 the town's first school opened. It was originally called Hummock Hill School but was subsequently renamed to Whyalla Primary School and Whyalla Higher Primary School. The school's current name is Whyalla Town Primary School.

The arid environment and lack of natural fresh water resources made it necessary to import water in barges from Port Pirie.

The Post Office was renamed Whyalla on 1 November 1919, and on 16 April 1920 the town was officially proclaimed with its new name. The ore conveyor on the jetty was improved, and the shipping of ore to the newly built Newcastle Steelworks commenced. The town grew slowly prior to the development of steelmaking and shipbuilding facilities in the late 1930s.

The BHP Indenture Act was proclaimed in 1937 and provided the impetus for the construction of a blast furnace and harbour. In 1939 the blast furnace and harbour began to be constructed and a commitment for a water supply pipeline from the Murray River was made. A shipyard was built to provide ships for the Royal Australian Navy during World War II. The population began to rise rapidly and many new facilities, including a hospital and abattoirs, were built.

In 1941 the first ship from the new shipyard, HMAS Whyalla (J153), was launched and the blast furnace became operational. By 1943 the population was more than 5,000. On 31 March 1943, the Morgan - Whyalla pipeline became operational. In 1945 the city came under combined company and public administration and the shipyard began producing commercial ships. In 1948, displaced persons began arriving from Europe increasing the cultural diversity of Whyalla.

In 1958 BHP decided to build an integrated steelworks at Whyalla and it was completed in 1965. In the following year, salt harvesting began and coke ovens were built. The population grew extremely rapidly, and the South Australian Housing Trust was building 500 houses each year to cope with the demand. Plans for a city of 100,000 were produced by the Department of Lands. A second water supply pipeline from Morgan was built to cope with the demand.

In 1970 the city adopted full local government status. Fierce competition from Japanese ship builders resulted in the closing of the shipyards in 1978, which were at the time the largest in Australia. From a peak population of 38,130 in 1976, the population dropped rapidly. A decline in the BHP iron and steel industry since 1981 also impacted employment.

The BHP long products division was divested in 2000 to form OneSteel, which is the sole producer of rail and steel sleepers in Australia. On 2 July 2012, OneSteel changed its name to Arrium. After going into administration in 2016 Arrium was purchased by UK entity GFG Alliance with the steelworks placed under Liberty Steel Group and called Liberty Primary Steel and Mining.

From 2004 onward, northern South Australia enjoyed a mineral exploration boom, and Whyalla found itself well placed to benefit from new ventures, being situated on the edge of the Gawler Craton. The city experienced an economic upturn with the population slowly increasing and the unemployment rate falling to a more typical level.

Heritage listings
Whyalla has a number of heritage-listed sites, including:

 * Broadbent Terrace: Whyalla High School
 * 13 Forsyth Street: Hotel Bay View, Whyalla
 * 5 Forsyth Street: Spencer Hotel, Whyalla
 * Gay Street: World War Two Gun Emplacements, Hummock Hill
 * 3 Whitehead Street: Whyalla Court House

Port
Since its beginnings as Hummock Hill, the town has served as a port for the shipment of iron ore from deposits along the Middleback Range.

The port's first conveyor-belt loading system was installed in 1915 and was capable of loading 1,000 tonnes of ore per hour. In 1943, it took 5½-to-6 hours to load a single 5,000-ton freighter.

In 2007, new transshipment handling processes were implemented, which allowed Arrium (formerly Onesteel) to load iron ore onto larger capesize bulk carrier vessels in deeper water. The transshipment process involves filling barges with ore that is then transferred into the receiving vessels at one of three transshipment anchorages.

In the financial year 2014–15, 12.5 million tonnes of haematite ore was exported from Whyalla using the transshipment process.

In October 2015 Arrium loaded its largest capesize cargo via transshipment. The FPMCB Nature was loaded with approximately 205,698 wet metric tonnes (wmt) of iron ore – significantly more than the average load of about 170,000 wmt.

The port's inner harbour receives shipments of coal that is used to produce coke for the Whyalla steelworks and exports smaller cargoes of finished steel products.

Economy and energy
Much of the town's economy is centred around the Whyalla Steelworks. Santos has supplied gas to the steelworks for several years, and in February 2024 signed an MoU with GFG Alliance to start discussions to reduce emissions from the steelworks.

The Whyalla Hydrogen Facility (WHF, aka Hydrogen Jobs Plan) is a proposed 250MWe hydrogen electrolyser (producing green hydrogen), a 200MW combined cycle gas turbine generator, and 3600-tonne hydrogen storage facility. A South Australian Government company called Hydrogen Power South Australia was established to own and operate the plant, which is expected to be completed in 2025 and begin operations in 2026. ATCO Australia, BOC, and Epic Energy will deliver the plan. in which the government has invested A$593 million. In February 2024, the government signed an agreement with GFG Alliance reaching "to explore opportunities for hydrogen offtake" from the WHF.

Once it is up and running, it will supply power to the steelworks, which will then produce green steel.

Climate
Whyalla experiences a cold semi-arid climate, bordering on a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSk/BSh, Trewartha: BSal); with hot, dry summers; mild to warm, dry springs and autumns; and mild, relatively dry winters.

Demographics
According to the 2016 census of Population, there were 21,751 people in Whyalla.
 * Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 4.7% of the population.
 * 73.8% of people were born in Australia. The nextmost common countries of birth were England 7.2%, Scotland 2.4%, Philippines 1.4%, South Africa 0.8% and Germany 0.7%.
 * 87.0% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Afrikaans 0.7%, Tagalog 0.6%, Greek 0.5%, Italian 0.5% and Filipino 0.5%.
 * The most common responses for religion were No Religion 38.7%, Catholic 19.5%, Anglican 10.5%.
 * Of the employed people in Whyalla, 12.4% worked in Iron Smelting and Steel Manufacturing. Other major industries of employment included Iron Ore Mining 7.3%, Hospitals 4.2%, Supermarket and Grocery Stores 3.8% and Primary Education 3.4%.
 * There were 9,452 people who reported being in the labour force in the week before Census night. Of these 52.5% were employed full-time, 29.5% were employed part-time and 12.5% were unemployed.
 * The median weekly household income is $989.

Road
The Lincoln Highway passes directly through Whyalla. The city is served by a coach bus service operated by Stateliner which operates four services to and from Adelaide (via Port Augusta) each week day (less on weekends) and one service each way to Port Lincoln. There are however occasional exceptions to the week day route due to lack of demand to travel through Whyalla.

Rail
The BHP Whyalla Tramway was built to Iron Knob to supply iron ore originally used as flux when smelting copper ore. This ore became the basis of the steelworks. As the Iron Knob deposits were worked out, the railway was diverted to other sources of ore at Iron Monarch, Iron Prince, Iron Duke and Iron Baron.

To enable interchange between the BHP's other steelworks in Newcastle and Port Kembla of specialised rollingstock, the railway system within the Whyalla steelworks was converted to standard gauge in the 1960s.

Although the steelworks produced railway rail, for several decades there was no railway connection to the mainland system. Finally in 1972, the standard gauge Whyalla line to Port Augusta was completed and Whyalla railway station opened. The station was served daily from Adelaide until 1975, then again from 1986 to 1990 by the Iron Triangle Limited. The station was demolished in 2012.

Some iron ore is exported from Whyalla. In 2007, steps were being taken to export iron ore mined at Peculiar Knob near Coober Pedy, 600 km away. To meet this increased demand, a balloon loop was installed in 2012 at the port for both gauges.

Air
Whyalla Airport is 4 nmi southwest of the city. It was served by Rex Airlines flying into Whyalla from Adelaide it served the airport several times a day however due to passenger security screening charges Rex Airlines ceased flying into Whyalla on the 1st of July 2023 REX exits Whyalla-Adelaide route due to council imposed security charges], and QantasLink which operates twice daily services from Adelaide.

Sea
There is a small boat marina (populated by a number of dolphins), a sailing club, and a boat ramp on the coastline below Hummock Hill, where there is a fish-cleaning station situated nearby. Iron ore is exported through an off-shore facility.

Media
Whyalla is served by several radio and TV stations. Radio stations include 5YYY FM (Local community station), Magic FM (Commercial station based in Port Augusta), and 5AU/5CS (Commercial station based in Port Pirie). The local TV stations are Southern Cross Seven, Southern Cross Nine, and Southern Cross 10.

The local newspaper, The Whyalla News, was first published on 5 April 1940, and is currently owned by Australian Community Media. Historically, another short-lived monthly newspaper called the Whyalla Times (January - October 1960) was also printed for the town by E.J. McAllister and Co., from its premises in Blythe Street, Adelaide. Another publication called Scope (May 1973–November 1982) was also printed in the town. According to the State Library, "Scope was a monthly regional magazine in newspaper format published by the Willson family of the Whyalla News. It was issued as an insert to six local newspapers: the Recorder (Port Pirie), Transcontinental (Port Augusta), Eyre Peninsula Tribune (Cleve), Port Lincoln Times, West Coast Sentinel (Streaky Bay) and Northern Argus (Clare)."

Tourism
The industrial and cultural history of Whyalla is accessible to tourists via several museums and public tours.

Visitors can view the ex-HMAS Whyalla from the Lincoln Highway and take a guided tour of it via the Whyalla Maritime Museum. The ship is a retired World War II-era corvette and was the first ship built in the city of Whyalla during the war. It was relocated to the highway in 1987. The Whyalla Maritime Museum features various displays commemorating the town's ship building and mining history, including miniature replicas of various ships and a model railway diorama. Further displays introduce visitors to the region's natural and indigenous cultural histories.

Tours of the Whyalla Steelworks allow visitors to view the production of long products at the working plant. Tours departing from the Whyalla Visitors Centre.

The town's development and social history is presented at the volunteer-run Mount Laura Homestead National Trust Museum, which is located near the Westlands shopping centre.

One of the main tourist attractions of Whyalla is the world-renowned beach, and the many attractions based around it. Especially the shops and pop-ups in the car park.

Ecotourism
In the late 1990s the annual migration of the Australian giant cuttlefish Sepia apama to shallow, inshore rocky reef areas in Spencer Gulf north of Whyalla became recognised by divers and marine scientists. Divers and snorkellers can see the aggregation of animals from May through August each year, in water one to six metres deep. The most popular places to view the aggregation are Black Point, Stony Point and Point Lowly. Car parking and boardwalks or stairs to the waters edge are present at each location, making access easy.

Dolphins frequent the Whyalla marina, but concerns have been raised that their confidence around humans may increase their vulnerability.

The Whyalla Conservation Park provides an example of the natural semi-arid environment accessible via walking trails. A gentle climb to the top of Wild Dog Hill provides a view of the surrounding landscape and information on native vegetation via a series of interpretive signs.

Fishing
Boat launching facilities exist at Whyalla and Point Lowly North marinas. The Whyalla Marina also has a jetty which is illuminated at night for the convenience of fishers.

Whyalla was home to an annual Snapper Fishing Competition. The largest of its kind and renowned for attracting tourists and fisherman from all over Australia, if not the world. However, due to major over fishing, a blanket ban was put in place to help population growth until 30 June 2026. Subsequently, the annual fishing competition was closed.

State and federal
Whyalla is part of the state electoral district of Giles, which is presently held by Labor MP Eddie Hughes. Giles was previously held by Labor MP Lyn Breuer from 1997 until her retirement in 2014. In federal politics, the city is part of the division of Grey, and has been represented by Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey since 2007. Grey is held with a margin of 8.86% and is considered safe-liberal. The results shown are from the largest polling station in Whyalla Norrie – which is located at Nicolson Avenue Primary School.

Local
Whyalla is in the City of Whyalla local government area along with Point lowly and some sparsely inhabited areas around it.

Primary schools
Primary schools in Whyalla include Whyalla Town Primary School, Fisk Street Primary School, Long Street Primary School, Hincks Avenue Primary School, Memorial Oval Primary School, Whyalla Stuart Campus, Nicolson Avenue Primary School, Sunrise Christian School, St Teresa's and Our Lady Help of Christians (both Samaritan College).

Secondary schools
Until 2021 Secondary Education was provided by Whyalla High School, Stuart High School, Samaritan College, Edward John Eyre High School and Saint John's College, Whyalla. Saint John's College is one of the three schools that make up Samaritan College.

On 1 November 2017 a new high school was announced by Department for Education & Child Development for Whyalla which would combine Edward John Eyre, Stuart High and Whyalla High Schools into a new purpose built facility located between the University of South Australia and TAFE SA campuses.

In 2022 Whyalla Secondary College opened, with capacity for 1500 students and amalgamating Edward John Eyre High, Whyalla High and Stuart High. The building firm who undertook the construction won an Australian Institute of Building award for construction.

Tertiary education
Tertiary education is provided by the Spencer Institute of TAFE, and the Whyalla Campus of the University of South Australia. UniSA Whyalla's academic programs include business, social work, nursing and research opportunities in rural health and community development.

Arts
The D'Faces of Youth Arts community youth arts organisation has run workshops and activities for young people aged 7 to 27 in theatre, dance, visual arts and music since 1994.

The Whyalla Recording Scholarship is awarded annually for Whyalla residents aged from 12 to 21. The Inaugural (2017) Winner was seventeen year old Breeze Millard from Whyalla. The Second (2018) Whyalla Recording Scholarship was launched on 23 April 2018 with 2 Winners (17 year old Liberty Tuohy from Port Neill and 19 year old Shakira Fauser from Whyalla) and 1 Runner-Up (15 year old Jaylee Daniels from Whyalla) being announced on 17 September 2018. On 24 February 2019 Jaylee Daniels' Debut Single "Papa's Song" reached Number 7, and Shakira Lea's "I Miss You" Number 18 on the iTunes Australia Country Chart  In 2021 both Jaylee (with "Tonight") and Shakira (with "Drowning") released their second Singles. On 21 February 2021 Jaylee Daniels' "Tonight" reached Number 3 on the iTunes Australia Singer Songwriter Chart.

Sport
The Whyalla Football League is an Australian rules football competition supporting half-a-dozen clubs. In 1998, Bennett Oval hosted a National Rugby League match between the Adelaide Rams and Illawarra Steelers. The Steelers won 39–4.

But Whyalla also have sports for Basketball, Hockey, Soccer & Boxing. Out of the 4 just mentioned, The Whyalla Basketabll Association is the most popular, along with the Whyalla Soccer Association.

Hockey is still popular across Whyalla, with its league, the Whyalla Hockey Association, getting many players and even schools to join in with the Hockey Games. Fishing is also pretty popular in Whyalla as well, with its good beaches and wonderful jetty, it's one of the best places to fish in the Eyre Peninsula.

Whyalla Speedway (also known as Westline Speedway) takes place 3 kilometres northwest of the city, off Speedway Road (-32.99472°N, 137.50861°W). It opened on 30 April 1972 and holds racing for many classes, including sprint cars, sedans and stock cars. The venue hosts motorcycle speedway and held the South Australian Individual Speedway Championship in 1986.

Sister cities
Whyalla's sister city is Texas City, Texas. It was proclaimed in 1984, during the sesquicentennials of both Texas and South Australia.

Ties with a former sister city, Ezhou in China, were cut in the 1990s. In 1997, both cities signed an agreement reestablishing their sister city relationship.

Notable people from Whyalla

 * Leigh Hoffman - cyclist
 * Ben Pengelley - cricketer
 * Robert Bajic – soccer player
 * Lachlan Barr - soccer player with Adelaide United FC
 * Edwina Bartholomew – journalist and television presenter
 * Max Brown – politician
 * Brett Burton – former AFL player with the Adelaide Crows
 * Alan Didak - AFL player with the Collingwood Football Club
 * Karyne Di Marco – hammer thrower
 * Alistair Edwards – Australian soccer player
 * Connie Frazer – poet, feminist, and writer
 * Sophie Gonzales - author and psychologist
 * Gary Gray – Special Minister of State in the Gillard government
 * Levi Greenwood – AFL player with the Collingwood Football Club
 * Alison Hams – musician and recording artist; 2015 Whyalla Australia Day Citizen Of The Year.
 * Graeme Jose – Australian Olympic cyclist
 * Rex Patrick – South Australian senator
 * Ian Rawlings – television actor
 * Barrie Robran - South Australian National Football League player with North Adelaide Football Club
 * Vern Schuppan – former Formula One driver
 * Robert Shirley – AFL player with the Adelaide Crows
 * Peter Stanley – historian
 * Carl Veart – international soccer player who played 18 games for the Socceroos
 * Darryl Wakelin – AFL footballer
 * Shane Wakelin – AFL footballer
 * Isaac Weetra – AFL player with the Melbourne Football Club
 * Sean Williams – science fiction author
 * Douglas Wood - engineer and Iraq war hostage
 * Bianca Woolford - para-cyclist
 * Shantae Barnes-Cowan – Award Winning Actress
 * Stephen Yarwood – Lord Mayor of the City of Adelaide 2009–2014
 * Dylan Stanton - Junior Cyclist

title: Whyalla


text:
User:Lazyr

I'm born in 1978, I'm from Trondheim, Norway.

title: User:Lazyr


text:
Bufflehead

The bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) is a small sea duck of the genus Bucephala, the goldeneyes. It breeds in Alaska and Canada and migrates in winter to southern North America. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Anas albeola.

Taxonomy
The bufflehead was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Anas albeola. Linnaeus based his account on the "little black and white duck" that had been described in 1747 by the English naturalist George Edwards in the second volume of his A Natural History of Uncommon Birds. Edwards examined a specimen from Newfoundland provided by the archivist George Holmes (archivist), the deputy Keeper of Records in the Tower of London. Linnaeus specified the type locality as America, but this has been restricted to Newfoundland following Edwards. The bufflehead is now placed with two goldeneye species in the genus Bucephala that was introduced in 1858 by the American naturalist Spencer Baird. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek boukephalos, "bullheaded", from bous, "bull", and kephale, "head", a reference to the oddly bulbous head shape of the species. The species name albeola is a diminutive of Latin albus meaning "white".

Description
The bufflehead ranges from 32 – long and weighs 270 –, with the drakes larger than the females. Averaging 35.5 cm and 370 g, it rivals the green-winged teal as the smallest American duck. The bufflehead has a wingspan of 21.6 in (55 cm).

Adult males are striking black and white, with iridescent green and purple heads and a large white patch behind the eye. Females are grey-toned with a smaller white patch behind the eye and a light underside.

Distribution and habitat
They are migratory and most of them winter in protected coastal waters, or open inland waters, on the east and west coasts of North America and the southern United States. They can also be observed wintering on the Great Lakes. The bufflehead is an extremely rare vagrant to western Europe. Their breeding habitat is wooded lakes and ponds in Alaska and Canada, almost entirely included in the boreal forest or taiga habitat. From 1966 - 2015, the bufflehead experienced a >1.5% yearly population increase throughout its breeding range.

Behavior

Buffleheads have evolved their small size to fit the nesting cavity of their "metabiotic" host, a woodpecker, the northern flicker. Due to their small size, they are highly active, undertaking dives almost continuously while sustained by their high metabolism. They do not tend to collect in large flocks; groups are usually limited to small numbers. One duck serves as a sentry, watching for predators as the others in the group dive in search of food. Buffleheads are amongst the last waterfowl to leave their breeding grounds and one of the world's most punctual migrants, arriving on their wintering grounds within a narrow margin of time.

Breeding
Buffleheads are monogamous, and the females may return to the same nest site, year after year. They nest in cavities in trees, primarily aspens or poplars, using mostly old flicker nests, close (usually < 25 m) to water. Nest competitors include mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides), tree swallow (Tachycineta bicolor), and European starling. There was one recorded instance of a female Barrow's goldeneye killing a bufflehead adult female and her brood. Smaller cavities are preferred because of less competition with the larger goldeneyes. Females may be killed on the nest by mammals, such as foxes (Vulpes and Urocyon sp.), weasels (Mustela and Neogale sp.) or mink (Neogale vison), and by goldeneyes over nest competition.

Average clutch size is nine (range six to 11), and eggs average 50.5 by. Incubation averages 30 days, and nest success is high (79% in one study) compared to ground-nesting species like the teal. A day after the last duckling hatches, the brood leaps from the nest cavity. The young fledge at 50–55 days of age. Predators of adults include the peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus), bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), and Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii).

Diet
These diving birds forage underwater. They prefer water depths of 1.2 - 4.5 m. In freshwater habitats, they eat primarily insects, and in saltwater, they feed predominantly on crustaceans and mollusks. Aquatic plants and fish eggs can often become locally important food items, as well.

Relationship with humans
Because of their striking plumage, highly active nature, and proximity to humans on waterfront properties, buffleheads are one of the most popular birds amongst bird watchers. The bufflehead, also known as the spirit duck, was added to the coat of arms of the town of Sidney, British Columbia, in 1995. Buffleheads are hunted and are considered a gamebird. In contrast to many other seaducks that have declined in recent decades, bufflehead numbers have remained relatively constant. Habitat degradation is the major threat to this bird, since they depend on very limited coastal habitat on their wintering grounds, and very specific habitat in their boreal breeding grounds. Although buffleheads do use man-made nest boxes, they still need the forest habitat to thrive.

title: Bufflehead


text:
Talk:Operation Tailwind

POV Check
The POV of the statement "Like the dissidents who became "non-persons" under Stalin, Operation Tailwind is now officially a "non-event"." may not be NPOV. It leaves a bad connotation when I read it, comparing Tailwind to Stalin. --68.76.145.110 09:45, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

This operation never happened. I think we can all agree on that.
 * Oh, please. Branden 18:03 10 Jul 2003 (UTC)

The issue was raised on CNN/Newsweek's TV program "Newsstand" and was quickly retracted.

Let's just consider: All the nerve agent in Pacific Theatre is stored on Johnston's Atoll. Moving more than a litre at a time requires Congressional approval. Moving smaller amounts requires a special "Tech Escort" team.

Even if there was a secret cashe of nerve agent somewhere. Even if our secret team decided to use it, the story still doesn't pan out. I know of no example anywhere in the world of a nerve agent being packed into hand grenades. Nerve agents are strategic weapons used against nations, not tactical ones used against a Laotian border guard.

(I would digress if I mentioned the one excpetion. The Soviet Special Forces used to have spray cans of anti-guard dog nerve gas. But I digress.)

Anywho, the biggest objection to this story is the fact it would have been easier and cheaper to kill the bad guys with regular ol' weapons. Using nerve agent added nothing to the mission.

The whole idea is silly.

(Now if someone would be willing to calm me down and write all this coherently I would be much obliged.)

 * Whoever made the first remark on this page said the operation never happened. As far as I know, CNN and Time did not allege, and the Pentagon did not deny, that an "operation" called Tailwind took place.  They merely differ with regards to whether or not nerve agents were used.  Regarding your remark about moving nerve agent requiring "Congressional approval", well, it was undisputed as early as 1974, maybe even sooner, that Cambodia was being bombed illegally.  Which means, among other things, without Congressional approval.  Nixon and Kissinger weren't going to let the law stand in their way.    (Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson didn't either.)

 * Additionally, how do we know that small "Tech Escort" teams weren't used to get some nerve agent off the atoll? How about from anyplace else?  How reasonable is it to assume that all U.S. stashes of nerve agent are publicly known now?  How reasonable is it to assume that all U.S. stashes of nerve agent were known publicly during the Vietnam War?  (Are there any we now know about that did exist then and which weren't known about then?)

 * Your personal lack of knowledge of nerve agent "ever" being packed into hand grenades, except when the Soviets did it (which would appear to demonstrate a bit more than just a theoretical feasibility of the practice) hardly seems a reason to lean one way or the other in this story.

 * Furthermore, I see no reason to assume that the U.S. government (or any government) would be any more likely to adopt reasonable projects with known expenditures, or avoid cost overruns, in military operations that it does anywhere else in the public sector. (SDI and Crusader, anyone?)  Why send strategic weapons to do a tactical job?  I don't know -- ask Douglas MacArthur and Edward Teller.  I am reminded how many self-styled "conservatives" spew so much rhetoric about how everything you let the government do results in a circus of inefficiency and stupidity which you wouldn't see if we'd let private companies handle it -- until you reach a government function they personally want to see the government keep control of, then all of a sudden inefficiency, waste, and just plain wrongheadedness are unimportant concerns.  At least Murray Rothbard, who wanted to privatize the courts, the police, and the military, was consistent!

 * So, no, I don't think we can "all agree" that Operation Tailwind "never happened". There is, as always, reason to think carefully and critically both about CNN and Time's claims, and about the Department of Defense's.  Branden 11:17, 24 Aug 2003 (UTC)

-- Even if you don't believe the operation happened, the Wikipedia article doesn't claim it did or have any incorrect facts I can see. The one sentence alluded to appears to be the only questionable comment in terms of POV, and is in no way necessary to understanding the article. Raising a POV argument on this seems cheesy to me (personal opinion).

I am convinced Air America could have EASILY flown in ANYTHING needed for this operation. Their "owners" (read, "handlers") are people who would want to know about diverse uses of lethal substances. Probably the ones blowing the smoke then, as well as now.

In an article about covert operations, it would be practically impossible to be free from POV accusations, IMHO. When I first read the article, I thought the POV argument must be about the statement "erroneously reported that this operation included the use of Sarin gas" since the article later admits there is evidence this may not have been "erroneous."

TampaDAve 03:07, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

I dont see any reference to the fired producers, who like the CBS scapegoats in the "forged" Bush TANG document setup, most likely still stick to their guns. See also the CIA blackout of Gary Webb's Dark Alliance. Also the Politics of Heroin, but then, who needs context when rewriting history?

-

I removed the word "alleged" from the opening sentence because it looks like a Pentagon apologist got a little carried away. The Pentagon's own report acknowledges the existence of the operation. http://www.cnn.com/US/9807/21/pentagon.tailwind.report/

The operation was launched as a reconnaissance in force to engage the enemy and to divert enemy attention from OPERATION GAUNTLET, an offensive operation to regain control of terrain in Laos.

-- Branden 10:55, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

The whole thing needs to be removed and re-writen. While "tailwind" was an actual operation, it has nothing in common with the imaginary events descriped in the article.

Remove POV label?
While the subject of the article is controversial, currently I don't see anything in it that is POV. If no one can point to something that is, I suggest removing the POV template. Lawyer2b 22:41, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Operation Tailwind
Operation Tailwind DID occur. It was a joint operation conducted with Army Special Forces, Montyard (sp) troops and supported by Marine helicopters from Marble Mountain (Danang). The Air Force provided most of the fixed wing support. The operation was designed to act as a diversionary tactic to pull Communist Laotion troops away from the western portion of Laos. At the time, they were putting significant pressure on the royal Laotion troops. As for the sarin gas. Did not happen. If it had been employed, there would have been many of the 130 plus "friendlies" on the ground that would have been effected. If it had been employed, it is doubtful that we would have lost two CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters to ground fire. If it had been employed, it is doubtful that the insertion force would have been in constant enemy contact for the 2-3 days they were on the ground. If it had been employed, the Marine Cobras would not have looked like swiss cheese after the insertion of the ground force.

I was the co-pilot for the lead Marine Cobra.

Patrick Owen

Wierd beyond belief
Paranoia, it strikes deep. Into your life its going to creep. It starts when your always afraid, step out of line the man coming gonna shoot you down. Anyone with any knowledge of SOG's personnel or operations knew that the news story was bullshit from the get-go. What freaks me out is that so many people believed it (and still believe it). The fact that the reporters twisted the facts and statements of the participants and used Van Buskirk and Moorer in that way made me sick to my stomach. If Edward R. Murrow were still alive, he would have kicked both reporter's asses simultaneously while chain-smoking Pall Malls. They should be working for some ass-wipe paper in Pago-Pago now, yet, look what happened to them. This country is indeed turning into the ultimate in bizzaro. RM Gillespie 12:57, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

 * This is not the place for your personal opinions. 69.22.242.15 (talk) 16:11, 7 August 2017 (UTC)

Not "air operation"
"Airborne", yes. --HanzoHattori 17:10, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Good point. Should it be moved from "air operations" to the main list in ? - Crockspot 17:31, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
 * I went ahead and changed the template. - Crockspot 19:33, 22 July 2007 (UTC)

Operation Tailwind
I assure you that Operation Tailwind did happen, as I was the SF Medic on the operation, and still have a scare on my right foot where I received a B40 rocket fragment.

G. M. Rose —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.208.22.25 (talk) 20:23, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Operation Tailwind
Sorry about the date: G. M. Rose wrote his comment 3 January 2008. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.208.22.25 (talk) 20:26, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Not fabricated
I take issue with the use of the term "fabricated" in conjunction with the CNN/Time "Tailwind" story. In his comprehensive report on the story in its aftermath for CNN, the attorney Floyd Abrams specifically notes that the reporters DID NOT fabricate the story.

And I quote: "While we offer considerable criticism in this report of CNN's newsgathering for this broadcast, we do not believe it can reasonably be suggested that any of the information on which the broadcast was based was fabricated or nonexistent."

In concluding his report, Abrams recommends that CNN retract the story and apologize, but he very clearly denies that the story was fabricated.

Dogwig (talk) 00:08, 30 September 2008 (UTC)
 * You're right, and "fabricated" raises BLP issues, not a very intelligent thing to do when there have been lawsuits in this matter, so I removed it.John Z (talk) 04:38, 30 September 2008 (UTC)

Well, let's see, they slapped together a story by relying on the testimony of two individuals: one that was admittedly psychologically traumatized and the other who was 86 years old. They then selectively edited the testimony of the other members of the Hatchet force to fit their story. They obviously conducted no historical research into SOG or its operations obviously failed to question the Vietnamese authorities as to the use of chemical weapons against them (not even a peek into Victory in Vietnam). This is what the "new journalism" boils down to. Fabricate the story? Sensationalism or a complete failure of journalistic ethics? You be the judge.RM Gillespie (talk) 12:01, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

 * It wasn't quite fabricated but it was far from accurate reporting. There are people who have believed since the 1970s that the US used chemical weapons in Vietnam and that the large number of wartime MIAs could be explained by Americans defecting to the VC & NVA. But while the stories of these things circulated, there were no facts to back them up. In the 1990s reporters latched on to someone claiming to have seen Americans during a mission from a distance, combined it with a "gas" being used on the same mission and came up with a story where Tailwind was a conspiracy to kill American deserters with nerve gas that fit all the conclusions that they had come to before they started. They then went out and pressed interview subjects hard to gather sound bytes to use in support of the story. They used leading questions and hypotheticals often on elderly interview subjects to get what they wanted. They also went and found the typical Vietnam story tellers who claimed to know all about the operation in spite of having no involvement. It wasn't fabricated. It was more that the reporters wanted it to be true so bad that they broke all the rules and disregarded what the evidence was actually saying. They assumed that all the written evidence was lies and that anyone in the military who didn't agree with the story was part of a conspiracy. The story wasn't fabricated in the same way that UFO and bigfoot stories are not fabricated. Its a matter of wanting something to be true so bad that normal judgement fails. 12.12.144.130 (talk) 21:57, 13 April 2018 (UTC)

Gas Trivia
In the "Controversy" section, how does "nerve gas" morph into "teargas?" There is a vast difference.

As an idle thought, though, why in the hell would anybody who planned to employ tear gas, let alone (hypothetically) nerve gas in an attack not make sure his own troops had gas masks?

This whole thing is indeed a bazaar of the bizarre.

Terry J. Carter (talk) 17:47, 4 March 2013 (UTC)
 * On the larger question of morphing from one gas type to another, consider this was done frequently at the time and during the investigation.

 * The Tailwind investigation disclosed documents that showed use more than once of a bomb (I forget the bomb type) that carried a designation which was confirmed by numerous people to be a Sarin bomb. "Sleeping gas" was the term some of the witnesses used for Sarin.  The counter claim was that the designation was not for sarin gas bombs but for CS -CS- gas or by symptoms DM or similar.  Sarin was not always a lethal agent.  At lower dosages and with rapid atropine injections for friendly troops it was also designated as an incapacitating agent.

 * Did you know? On Wednesday August 6, 1969, 50 containers of what was reported to be a lethal paralyzing gas was reported to have been stolen from a U.S. depot on Okinawa during the previous week. The depot was not further identified and a spokesman claimed that the missing gas was very similar to those agents and gasses used for riot control.Johnvr4 (talk) 21:22, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Project 112
I'd like to point out this is very similar to an R&D project known as Project 112 had not been declassified at the time of this "investigation" in the 1990s. So there actually was a "cover-up" that started in Congressional hearings around 1977 to conceal even the name Project 112 before the tailwind investigation ever started. There was actual documentation and factual information that came out of this in the form of records, depositions of Generals, statements of officials etc. Another incident in Cambodia was an R&D Project known Waterfall or Red Cap was discussed as part of Tailwind. Today, released Project 112 documentation shows that Phase II Item 7 was to fulfill the need for Special Forces to have available several dissemination devices for chemical agents by June 1964 and (five) biological dissemination devices by June 1963. Another document relating to Project 112 was the development of new gas masks for helicopter crews as discussed in tailwind. just two off the top of my head. My opinion is there is very likely something to this but we'll probably never know as sources are so limited. Sorry, that I don't have those available sources right in front of me. I do have them for another entry I'm working on.Johnvr4 (talk) 21:07, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

 * Project 112 was another of JFK's brilliant ideas. It doesn't relate to tailwind because 112 was generally speaking a failure. They did a great deal of generally foolish and useless research which resulted in almost nothing of practical use. It was in the same bucket of things as "Project Popeye" which aimed to control weather over Laos. Tailwind was just an SOG mission into Laos. As far as "Red Cap and Waterfall", there were no such projects. They were invented in a conspiracy oriented newspaper in the early 1970s. 12.12.144.130 (talk) 22:27, 13 April 2018 (UTC)

Honorable Dragon?
Hello,

Arrived here while editing the referred to military operation in Laos. I find reliable sources referring to said Lao operation as Operation Honorable Dragon. Over here, it is called Operation Gauntlet. Neither name is in the List of allied military operations of the Vietnam War (1970).Georgejdorner (talk) 00:36, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Not B Class
When I double-checked Class B standards on the Talk page template, someone had already failed it for lack of cites. I changed the mistaken assessment to Start class.Georgejdorner (talk) 00:36, 13 December 2015 (UTC)

Who is "the plaintiff"?
This article mentions "the plaintiff" four times, but fails to mention his identity. Who was he? 173.88.246.138 (talk) 00:28, 4 July 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Operation Tailwind


text:
Size (disambiguation)

Size is the concept of how big or small something is. It may also refer to:

 * In statistics (hypothesis testing), the size of the test refers to the rate of false positives, denoted by α
 * File size, in computing
 * Magnitude (mathematics), magnitude or size of a mathematical object
 * Magnitude of brightness or intensity of a star or an earthquake as measured on a logarithmic scale
 * In mathematics there are, in addition to the dimensions mentioned above (equal if there is an isometry), various other concepts of size for sets:
 * measure (mathematics), a systematic way to assign to each suitable subset a number
 * cardinality (equal if there is a bijection), of a set is a measure of the "number of elements of the set"
 * for well-ordered sets: ordinal number (equal if there is an order-isomorphism)
 * Resizing (fiction), a theme in fiction, in particular in fairy tales, fantasy, and science fiction
 * Sizing, or size, a filler or glaze
 * Size (surname)
 * Clothing size, the label sizes used for garments sold off-the-shelf
 * Size (band), a Mexican punk rock band

title: Size (disambiguation)