text:
Black rhinoceros

The black rhinoceros, black rhino or hook-lipped rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern Africa and southern Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Although the species is referred to as black, its colours vary from brown to grey. It is the only extant species of the genus Diceros.

The other African rhinoceros is the white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum). The word "white" in the name "white rhinoceros" is often said to be a misinterpretation of the Afrikaans word ' (Dutch ') meaning wide, referring to its square upper lip, as opposed to the pointed or hooked lip of the black rhinoceros. These species are now sometimes referred to as the square-lipped (for white) or hook-lipped (for black) rhinoceros.

The species overall is classified as critically endangered (even though the south-western black rhinoceros is classified as near threatened) and is threatened by multiple factors including poaching and habitat reduction. Three subspecies have been declared extinct, including the western black rhinoceros, which was declared extinct by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2011. The IUCN estimates that there are 3,142 mature individuals remaining in the wild.

Taxonomy
The species was first named Rhinoceros bicornis by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema naturae in 1758. The name means "double-horned rhinoceros". There is some confusion about what exactly Linnaeus conceived under this name as this species was probably based upon the skull of a single-horned Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis), with a second horn artificially added by the collector. Such a skull is known to have existed and Linnaeus even mentioned India as origin of this species. However he also referred to reports from early travellers about a double-horned rhino in Africa and when it emerged that there is only one, single-horned species of rhino in India, Rhinoceros bicornis was used to refer to the African rhinos (the white rhino only became recognised in 1812). In 1911 this was formally fixed and the Cape of Good Hope officially declared the type locality of the species.

Subspecies
The intraspecific variation in the black rhinoceros has been discussed by various authors and is not finally settled. The most accepted scheme considers seven or eight subspecies,  of which three became extinct in historical times and one is on the brink of extinction:

 * Southern black rhinoceros or Cape black rhinoceros (D. b. bicornis) – Extinct. Once abundant from the Cape of Good Hope to Transvaal, South Africa and probably into the south of Namibia, this was the largest subspecies. It became extinct due to excessive hunting and habitat destruction around 1850.
 * North-eastern black rhinoceros (D. b. brucii) – Extinct. Formerly central Sudan, Eritrea, northern and southeastern Ethiopia, Djibouti and northern and southeastern Somalia. Relict populations in northern Somalia vanished during the early 20th century.
 * Chobe black rhinoceros (D. b. chobiensis) – A local subspecies restricted to the Chobe Valley in southeastern Angola, Namibia (Zambezi Region) and northern Botswana. Nearly extinct, possibly only one surviving specimen in Botswana.
 * Uganda black rhinoceros (D. b. ladoensis) – Former distribution from South Sudan, across Uganda into western Kenya and southwesternmost Ethiopia. Black rhinos are considered extinct across most of this area and its conservational status is unclear. Probably surviving in Kenyan reserves.
 * Western black rhinoceros (D. b. longipes) – Extinct. Once lived in South Sudan, northern Central African Republic, southern Chad, northern Cameroon, northeastern Nigeria and south-eastern Niger. The range possibly stretched west to the Niger River in western Niger, though this is unconfirmed. The evidence from Liberia and Burkina Faso mainly rests upon the existence of indigenous names for the rhinoceros. A far greater former range in West Africa as proposed earlier is doubted by a 2004 study. The last known wild specimens lived in northern Cameroon. In 2006 an intensive survey across its putative range in Cameroon failed to locate any, leading to fears that it was extinct in the wild. On 10 November 2011 the IUCN declared the western black rhinoceros extinct.
 * Eastern black rhinoceros (D. b. michaeli) – Had a historical distribution from South Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, down through Kenya into north-central Tanzania. Today, its range is limited primarily to Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania. In addition, its population is in South Africa's Addo Elephant National Park.
 * South-central black rhinoceros (D. b. minor) – Most widely distributed subspecies, characterised by a compact body, proportionally large head and prominent skin-folds. Ranged from north-eastern South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal) to northeastern Tanzania and southeastern Kenya. Preserved in reserves throughout most of its former range but probably extinct in eastern Angola, southern Democratic Republic of Congo and possibly Mozambique. Extinct but reintroduced in Malawi, Botswana, and Zambia. It also ranges in parts of Namibia and inhabit national parks in South Africa.
 * South-western black rhinoceros (D. b. occidentalis) – A small subspecies, adapted to survival in desert and semi-desert conditions. Originally distributed in north-western Namibia and southwestern Angola, today restricted to wildlife reserves in Namibia with sporadic sightings in Angola. These populations are often referred to D. b. bicornis or D. b. minor, but some experts consider them a subspecies in their own right.

The most widely adopted alternative scheme only recognizes five subspecies or "eco-types": D. b. bicornis, D. b. brucii, D. b. longipes, D. b. michaeli, and D. b. minor. This concept is also used by the IUCN, listing three surviving subspecies and recognizing D. b. brucii and D. b. longipes as extinct. The most important difference to the above scheme is the inclusion of the extant southwestern subspecies from Namibia in D. b. bicornis instead of in its own subspecies, whereupon the nominal subspecies is considered extant.

Evolution
The rhinoceros originated in the Eocene about fifty million years ago alongside other members of Perissodactyla. Ancestors of the black and the white rhinoceros were present in Africa by the end of the Late Miocene about ten million years ago. The two species evolved from the common ancestral species Ceratotherium neumayri during this time. The clade comprising the genus Diceros is characterised by an increased adaptation to browsing. Between four and five million years ago, the black rhinoceros diverged from the white rhinoceros. After this split, the direct ancestor of Diceros bicornis, Diceros praecox was present in the Pliocene of East Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania). D. bicornis evolved from this species during the Late Pliocene – Early Pleistocene, with the oldest definitive record at the Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary c. 2.5 million years ago at Koobi Fora, Kenya.

A cladogram showing the relationships of recent and Late Pleistocene rhinoceros species (minus Stephanorhinus hemitoechus) based on whole nuclear genomes, after Liu et al., 2021:

Description
An adult black rhinoceros stands 132 – high at the shoulder and is 2.8 - 3.75 m in length. An adult typically weighs from 800 to 1400 kg, however unusually large male specimens have been reported at up to 2896 kg. The cows are smaller than the bulls. Two horns on the skull are made of keratin with the larger front horn typically 50 cm long, exceptionally up to 135.9 cm.

The longest known black rhinoceros horn measured nearly 1.5 m in length. Sometimes a third, smaller horn may develop. These horns are used for defense, intimidation, and digging up roots and breaking branches during feeding. The black rhino is smaller than the white rhino and close in size to the Javan rhino of Indonesia. It has a pointed and prehensile upper lip, which it uses to grasp leaves and twigs when feeding, whereas the white rhinoceros has square lips used for eating grass. The black rhinoceros can also be distinguished from the white rhinoceros by its size, smaller skull, and ears; and by the position of the head, which is held higher than the white rhinoceros, since the black rhinoceros is a browser and not a grazer.

Their thick-layered skin helps to protect black rhinos from thorns and sharp grasses. Their skin harbors external parasites, such as mites and ticks, which may be eaten by oxpeckers and egrets. Such behaviour was originally thought to be an example of mutualism, but recent evidence suggests that oxpeckers may be parasites instead, feeding on rhino blood. It is commonly assumed that black rhinos have poor eyesight, relying more on hearing and smell. However, studies have shown that their eyesight is comparatively good, at about the level of a rabbit. Their ears have a relatively wide rotational range to detect sounds. An excellent sense of smell alerts rhinos to the presence of predators.

Prehistorical range
As with many other components of the African large mammal fauna, black rhinos probably had a wider range in the northern part of the continent in prehistoric times than today. However this seems to have not been as extensive as that of the white rhino. Unquestionable fossil remains have not yet been found in this area and the abundant petroglyphs found across the Sahara desert are often too schematic to unambiguously decide whether they depict black or white rhinos. Petroglyphs from the Eastern Desert of southeastern Egypt relatively convincingly show the occurrence of black rhinos in these areas in prehistoric times.

Historical and extant range
The natural range of the black rhino included most of southern and eastern Africa, except the Congo Basin, the tropical rainforest areas along the Bight of Benin, the Ethiopian Highlands, and the Horn of Africa. Its former native occurrence in the extremely dry parts of the Kalahari desert of southwestern Botswana and northwestern South Africa is uncertain. It was abundant in an area stretching from Eritrea and Sudan through South Sudan to southeastern Niger, especially around Lake Chad. Its occurrence further to the west is questionable, although this is often claimed in literature. Today it is found only in protected nature reserves, having vanished from many countries in which it once thrived, especially in the west and north of its former range. The remaining populations are highly scattered. Some specimens have been relocated from their habitat to better protected locations, sometimes across national frontiers. The black rhino has been successfully reintroduced to Malawi since 1993, where it became extinct in 1990. Similarly it was reintroduced to Zambia (North Luangwa National Park) in 2008, where it had become extinct in 1998, and to Botswana (extinct in 1992, reintroduced in 2003).

In May 2017, 18 eastern black rhinos were translocated from South Africa to the Akagera National Park in Rwanda. The park had around 50 rhinos in the 1970s but the numbers dwindled to zero by 2007. In September 2017, the birth of a calf raised the population to 19. The park has dedicated rhino monitoring teams to protect the animals from poaching.

In October 2017, The governments of Chad and South Africa reached an agreement to transfer six black rhinos from South Africa to Zakouma National Park in Chad. Once established, this will be the northernmost population of the species. The species was wiped out from Chad in the 1970s and is under severe pressure from poaching in South Africa. The agreement calls for South African experts to assess the habitat, local management capabilities, security and the infrastructure before the transfer can take place.

Behavior
Black rhinos are generally thought to be solitary, with the only strong bond between a mother and her calf. In addition, bulls and cows have a consort relationship during mating, also subadults and young adults frequently form loose associations with older individuals of either sex. They are not very territorial and often intersect other rhino territories. Home ranges vary depending on season and the availability of food and water. Generally they have smaller home ranges and larger density in habitats that have plenty of food and water available, and vice versa if resources are not readily available. Sex and age of an individual black rhino influence home range and size, with ranges of cows larger than those of bulls, especially when accompanied by a calf. In the Serengeti home ranges are around 70 to 100 km2, while in the Ngorongoro it is between 2.6 to 58.0 km2. Black rhinos have also been observed to have a certain area they tend to visit and rest frequently called "houses" which are usually on a high ground level. These "home" ranges can vary from 2.6 km2 to 133 km2 with smaller home ranges having more abundant resources than larger home ranges.

Black rhinos in captivity and reservations sleep patterns have been recently studied to show that males sleep longer on average than females by nearly double the time. Other factors that play a role in their sleeping patterns is the location of where they decide to sleep. Although they do not sleep any longer in captivity, they do sleep at different times due to their location in captivity, or section of the park.

Black rhinos have a reputation for being extremely aggressive, and charge readily at perceived threats. They have even been observed to charge tree trunks and termite mounds. Black rhinos will fight each other, and they have the highest rates of mortal combat recorded for any mammal: about 50 percent of males and 30 percent of females die from combat-related injuries. Adult rhinos normally have no natural predators, due to their imposing size, thick skin, and deadly horns. However, adult black rhinos have fallen prey to crocodiles in exceptional circumstances. Calves and, very seldom, small sub-adults may be preyed upon by lions as well.

Black rhinos follow the same trails that elephants use to get from foraging areas to water holes. They also use smaller trails when they are browsing. They are very fast and can get up to speeds of 55 km/h running on their toes.

While it was assumed all rhinoceros are short-sighted, a study involving black rhinoceros retinas suggests they have better eyesight than previously assumed.

Diet

Black rhinos are herbivorous browsers that eat leafy plants, twigs, branches, shoots, thorny wood bushes, small trees, legumes, fruit, and grass. The optimum habitat seems to be one consisting of thick scrub and bushland, often with some woodland, which supports the highest densities. Their diet can reduce the number of woody plants, which may benefit grazers (who focus on leaves and stems of grass), but not competing browsers (who focus on leaves, stems of trees, shrubs or herbs). It has been known to eat up to 220 species of plants. They have a significantly restricted diet with a preference for a few key plant species and a tendency to select leafy species in the dry season. The plant species they seem to be most attracted to when not in dry season are the woody plants. There are 18 species of woody plants known to the diet of the black rhinoceros, and 11 species that could possibly be a part of their diet too. Black rhinos also have a tendency to choose food based on quality over quantity, where researchers find more populations in areas where the food has better quality. Black rhinos show a preference for Acacia species, as well as plants in the family Euphorbiaceae.

In accordance with their feeding habit, adaptations of the chewing apparatus have been described for rhinos. The black rhinoceros has a two phased chewing activity with a cutting ectoloph and more grinding lophs on the lingual side. The black rhinoceros can also be considered a more challenging herbivore to feed in captivity compared to its grazing relatives. They can live up to 5 days without water during drought. Black rhinos live in several habitats including bushlands, Riverine woodland, marshes, and their least favorable, grasslands. Habitat preferences are shown in two ways, the amount of sign found in the different habitats, and the habitat content of home ranges and core areas. Habitat types are also identified based on the composition of dominant plant types in each area. Different subspecies live in different habitats including Vachellia and Senegalia savanna, Euclea bushlands, Albany thickets, and even desert. They browse for food in the morning and evening. They are selective browsers but, studies done in Kenya show that they do add the selection material with availability in order to satisfy their nutritional requirements. In the hottest part of the day they are most inactive- resting, sleeping, and wallowing in mud. Wallowing helps cool down body temperature during the day and protects against parasites. When black rhinos browse they use their lips to strip the branches of their leaves. Competition with elephants is causing the black rhinoceros to shift its diet. The black rhinoceros alters its selectivity with the absence of the elephant.

There is some variance in the exact chemical composition of rhinoceros horns. This variation is directly linked to diet and can be used as a means of rhino identification. Horn composition has helped scientists pinpoint the original location of individual rhinos, allowing for law enforcement to more accurately and more frequently identify and penalize poachers.

Communication

Black rhinos use several forms of communication. Due to their solitary nature, scent marking is often used to identify themselves to other black rhinos. Urine spraying occurs on trees and bushes, around water holes and feeding areas. Cows urine spray more often when receptive for breeding. Defecation sometimes occurs in the same spot used by different black rhinos, such as around feeding stations and watering tracks. Coming upon these spots, rhinos will smell to see who is in the area and add their own marking. When presented with adult feces, bulls and cows respond differently than when they are presented with subadult feces. The urine and feces of one black rhinoceros helps other black rhinoceroses to determine its age, sex, and identity. Less commonly they will rub their heads or horns against tree trunks to scent-mark.

The black rhino has powerful tube-shaped ears that can freely rotate in all directions. This highly developed sense of hearing allows black rhinos to detect sound over vast distances.

Reproduction
The adults are solitary in nature, coming together only for mating. Mating does not have a seasonal pattern but births tend to be towards the end of the rainy season in more arid environments.

When in season the cows will mark dung piles. Bulls will follow cows when they are in season; when she defecates he will scrape and spread the dung, making it more difficult for rival adult bulls to pick up her scent trail.

Courtship behaviors before mating include snorting and sparring with the horns among males. Another courtship behavior is called bluff and bluster, where the black rhino will snort and swing its head from side to side aggressively before running away repeatedly. Breeding pairs stay together for 2–3 days and sometimes even weeks. They mate several times a day over this time and copulation lasts for a half-hour.

The gestation period for a black rhino is 15 months. The single calf weighs about 35 – at birth, and can follow its mother around after just three days. Weaning occurs at around 2 years of age for the offspring. The mother and calf stay together for 2–3 years until the next calf is born; female calves may stay longer, forming small groups. The young are occasionally taken by hyenas and lions. Sexual maturity is reached from 5 to 7 years old for females, and 7 to 8 years for males. The life expectancy in natural conditions (without poaching pressure) is from 35 to 50 years.

Conservation
For most of the 20th century the continental black rhino was the most numerous of all rhino species. Around 1900 there were probably several hundred thousand living in Africa. During the latter half of the 20th century their numbers were severely reduced from an estimated 70,000 in the late 1960s to only 10,000 to 15,000 in 1981. In the early 1990s the number dipped below 2,500, and in 2004 it was reported that only 2,410 black rhinos remained. According to the International Rhino Foundation—housed in Yulee, Florida at White Oak Conservation, which breeds black rhinos —the total African population had recovered to 4,240 by 2008 (which suggests that the 2004 number was low). By 2009 the population of 5,500 was either steady or slowly increasing.

In 1992, nine black rhinos were brought from Chete National Park, Zimbabwe to Australia via Cocos Island. After the natural deaths of the males in the group, four males were brought in from United States and have since adapted well to captivity and new climate. Calves and some subadults are preyed on by lions, but predation is rarely taken into account in managing the black rhinoceros. This is a major flaw because predation should be considered when attributing cause to the poor performance of the black rhinoceros population. In 2002 only ten western black rhinos remained in Cameroon, and in 2006 intensive surveys across its putative range failed to locate any, leading to fears that this subspecies had become extinct. In 2011 the IUCN declared the western black rhino extinct. There was a conservation effort in which black rhinos were translocated, but their population did not improve, as they did not like to be in an unfamiliar habitat.

Under CITES Appendix I all international commercial trade of the black rhino horn is prohibited since 1977. China though having joined CITES since 8 April 1981 is the largest importer of black rhino horns. However, this is a trade in which not only do the actors benefit, but so do the nation states ignoring them as well. Nevertheless, people continue to remove the rhino from its natural environment and allow for a dependence on human beings to save them from endangerment. Parks and reserves have been made for protecting the rhinos with armed guards keeping watch, but even still many poachers get through and harm the rhinos for their horns. Many have considered extracting rhino horns in order to deter poachers from slaughtering these animals or potentially bringing them to other breeding grounds such as the US and Australia. This method of extracting the horn, known as dehorning, consists of tranquilizing the rhino then sawing the horn almost completely off to decrease initiative for poaching, although the effectiveness of this in reducing poaching is not known and rhino mothers are known to use their horns to fend off predators.

The only rhino subspecies that has recovered somewhat from the brink of extinction is the southern white rhinoceros, whose numbers now are estimated around 14,500, up from fewer than 50 in the first decade of the 20th century. But there seems to be hope for the black rhinoceros in recovering their gametes from dead rhinos in captivity. This shows promising results for producing black rhinoceros embryos, which can be used for testing sperm in vitro.

A January 2014 auction for a permit to hunt a black rhinoceros in Namibia sold for $350,000 at a fundraiser hosted by the Dallas Safari Club. The auction drew considerable criticism as well as death threats directed towards members of the club and the man who purchased the permit. This permit was issued for 1 of 18 black rhinoceros specifically identified by Namibia's Ministry of Environment and Tourism as being past breeding age and considered a threat to younger rhinos. The $350,000 that the hunter paid for the permit was used by the Namibian government to fund anti-poaching efforts in the country.

In 2022 South Africa granted permits to hunt 10 black rhinos, stating that the population is growing.

Threats

Today, there are various threats posed to black rhinos including habitat changes, illegal poaching, and competing species. Civil disturbances, such as war, have made mentionably negative effects on the black rhinoceros populations in since the 1960s in countries including, but not limited to, Chad, Cameroon, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Somalia. In the Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa, the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) is posing slight concern involving the black rhinoceroses who also inhabit the area. Both animals are browsers; however, the elephant's diet consists of a wider variety of foraging capacity, while the black rhinoceros primarily sticks to dwarf shrubs. The black rhinoceros has been found to eat grass as well; however, the shortening of its range of available food could be potentially problematic.

Black rhinos face problems associated with the minerals they ingest. They have become adjusted to ingesting less iron in the wild due to their evolutionary progression, which poses a problem when placed in captivity. These rhinoceroses can overload on iron, which leads to build up in the lungs, liver, spleen and small intestine. Not only do these rhinoceros face threats being in the wild, but in captivity too. Black rhinoceros have become more susceptible to disease in captivity with high rates of mortality.

Illegal poaching for the international rhino horn trade is the main and most detrimental threat. The killing of these animals is not unique to modern-day society. The Chinese have maintained reliable documents of these happenings dating back to 1200 B.C. The ancient Chinese often hunted rhino horn for the making of wine cups, as well as the rhino's skin to manufacture imperial crowns, belts and armor for soldiers. A major market for rhino horn has historically been in the Middle East nations to make ornately carved handles for ceremonial daggers called jambiyas. Demand for these exploded in the 1970s, causing the black rhinoceros population to decline 96% between 1970 and 1992. The horn is also used in traditional Chinese medicine, and is said by herbalists to be able to revive comatose patients, facilitate exorcisms and various methods of detoxification, and cure fevers. It is also hunted for the Chinese superstitious belief that the horns allow direct access to Heaven due to their unique location and hollow nature. The purported effectiveness of the use of rhino horn in treating any illness has not been confirmed, or even suggested, by medical science. In June 2007, the first-ever documented case of the medicinal sale of black rhino horn in the United States (confirmed by genetic testing of the confiscated horn) occurred at a traditional Chinese medicine supply store in Portland, Oregon's Chinatown.

title: Black rhinoceros


text:
Westwood, Los Angeles

Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bordering the campus on the south is Westwood Village, a major regional district for shopping, dining, movie theaters, and other entertainment.

Wilshire Boulevard through Westwood is a major corridor of condominium towers, on the eastern end and of Class A office towers, on the western end. Westwood also has residential areas of multifamily and single family housing, including exclusive Holmby Hills. The neighborhood was developed starting in 1919, and UCLA opened in 1929, while Westwood Village was built up starting in 1929 through the 1930s.

Geography
According to the Westwood Neighborhood Council, the Westwood Homeowners Association, and the Los Angeles Times Mapping L.A. project, Westwood is bounded by:

Sub-neighborhoods
Westwood Village is immediately south of the UCLA campus, bounded by LeConte, Gayley, Thornton (between Lindbrook and Wilshire: Glendon) and Wilshire Boulevard. Westwood Village north of Wilshire is an on-street shopping, dining and entertainment district that was planned in the 1920s - the second such district ever to be built in the nation's history. It was planned by Janss and businesses started to open in 1929. It was the Westside's busiest such district through the 1980s.

A portion of Holmby Hills, home to the Playboy Mansion, south of Sunset Blvd., east of both Beverly Glen Bl. and Comstock Av., and west of the L.A. Country Club, is within Westwood. The northern section of Holmby Hills is part of Bel Air. Together, Holmby Hills, Bel Air and Beverly Hills form the "Platinum Triangle" of Los Angeles.

North Westwood Village (or North Village) consists mainly of multifamily residential units where many UCLA students live, west of Gayley, north of Weyburn, and east of Veteran aves.

Tehrangeles, also known as "Little Persia", refers to the large number of Persian restaurants, grocery stores, bookstores, art galleries, travel agencies, and rug stores along Westwood Boulevard that has served as a cultural hub for the Persian community in Los Angeles since the 1960s.

Climate
Westwood has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb) with dry summers, relatively wet winters, and mild temperatures year-round. Like the rest of coastal Los Angeles County, Westwood experiences an Indian summer, where its warmest highs, in the upper 70s, are towards the end of summer and early fall. After mid-October temperatures dip down quicker. as the cold season approaches, than they rise from late spring to summer. Ocean temperatures tend to moderate the climate more than inland locations.

The average precipitation in Westwood is 17.43 inches which tends to be higher than most populated places in LA County. This is due to its proximity to the ocean andhillside location resulting in heavier and abundant rainfall. The most rainfall in a wet season was 43.55 from September 1997 to June 1998.

Development
Westwood was developed on the lands of the historic Wolfskill Ranch, a 3000 acre parcel that Arthur Letts, the successful founder of the Broadway, and Bullock's department stores, purchased in 1919. Upon Arthur Lett's death, his son-in-law, Harold Janss, vice president of Janss Investment Company, inherited the land. He began to develop the area and started to advertise for new homes in 1922.

The Los Angeles Times reported the news: "Westwood, the subdivision of the Wolfskill Ranch, 3300 acre of scenic territory between the city and Santa Monica, is to be opened to homeseekers and investors today by the Janss Investment Company. The tract comprises approximately 1000 residential and business lots, situated west of the Los Angeles Country Club on Santa Monica Boulevard and the Rancho Country Club on Pico Boulevard."

UCLA
Meanwhile, the Southern Branch of the University of California had been established on Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, where enrollment expanded so rapidly that by 1925 the institution had outgrown the site. The selection of a new campus in the Westwood hills was announced on March 21, 1925. The owners of the estate, the Janss brothers, agreed to sell the property for approximately $1 million ($ million in dollars), less than one-third the land's value. Municipal bond measures passed by Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and Venice provided for that amount. Proposition 10, a state bond measure passed that year, provided $3 million for construction. Thus the University of California at Los Angeles was established in Westwood; ground was broken on September 12, 1927, and the campus opened for regular classes on September 20, 1929.

The nation's second planned suburban shopping district
Westwood Village, a planned, 55-acre suburban shopping district immediately south of the UCLA campus, was only the second such district on this scale ever to be built worldwide, preceded only by Country Club Plaza (1922–23) in Kansas City. It with was created by the Janss Investment Company, run by Harold and Edwin Janss and their father, Peter, in the late 1920s as a shopping district and headquarters of the Janss Company. Its boom was complemented by the boom of UCLA which opened in 1929 and served not only faculty, staff and students but also affluent shoppers from the surrounding upscale single-family-home neighborhoods.

Opening in 1929, the design was considered one of the nation's best-planned and beautifully laid out commercial areas. Harold Janss had hired major architects and instructed them to follow a Mediterranean theme, with clay tile roofs, decorative Spanish tile, paseos, patios and courtyards. Buildings at strategic points, including theaters, used towers to serve as beacons for drivers on Wilshire Boulevard. Janss picked the first slate of businesses and determined their location in the neighborhood; the area opened with 34 businesses, and, despite the Great Depression, had 452 businesses in 1939, including Bullock's (Parkinson & Parkinson), Desmond's (Percy Parke Lewis) and Sears department stores, and a Ralphs grocery (Stiles Clements).

1970s–1980s
The architectural style met a turning point in 1970, when a 24-story office building now known as the Oppenheimer Tower was built in the neighborhood and the design of new buildings soon became a blend of styles. The Oppenheimer Tower was used for the primary location in the 1978 episode of Emergency!, "The Steel Inferno". Wilshire Boulevard through Westwood is would become a major corridor of condominium towers, from Westwood Boulevard east towards the Beverly Hills city line, and of Class A office towers, at Westwood Boulevard and westward. The 1980s saw Iranian immigration to the area after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the beginnings of the Tehrangeles business corridor along Westwood Boulevard south of Wilshire Boulevard. Westwood Village's popularity as a shopping, dining, and nighttime entertainment district continued to rise, with commercial rents peaking in 1988.

Decline of Westwood Village
The Village suffered a major setback in the late 1980s, when gangs began to frequent the neighborhood and crime increased. The problems culminated in January 1988 when a gang shootout resulted in the death of a 27-year-old bystander. On January 30, 1988, gang violence brought nationwide attention to Westwood Village when Karen Toshima, a 27-year-old graphics artist, was killed as she crossed a Village street in a shootout between gang members. Her killer, Durrell DeWitt Collins, 23, was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 27 years to life in prison. In 2016, he was again denied parole until at least 2021. The episode led to the widespread impression that even affluent Westwood was not immune to the crime wave then ravaging Los Angeles.

"The Los Angeles establishment reacted with horror. Newspapers and television headlined the story for days. Police patrols in Westwood tripled, and the L.A.P.D. assigned a 30-member antigang unit to capture Toshima's killer.    — 'The Price of Life in Los Angeles: Is one killing in Westwood worse than hundreds in the ghetto?', Margaret Carlson, Time magazine, February 22, 1988" There was a conviction in December 1988 for a September 1985 abduction and double-murder that started as an auto theft in Westwood. The neighborhood's well-known bookstores and some movie cinemas began closing with the advent of large chain stores, Amazon.com and multiplex theaters.

Current status of the Village
A 2014 report for the Westwood Village Improvement Association reported that Westwood Village, although still a busy place, used to be the Westside's dominant retail and entertainment destinations for decades, but no longer is. The Village suffers from deteriorating public spaces, a high number vacancies and—unlike when it was originally master-planned—a mix of tenants that no longer is planned or coordinated. Multiple revitalization efforts over decades were essentially unsuccessful, marred by decades of challenges and failure, and the Village's image and reputation suffered. Even a quarter century later, Los Angeles Magazine referred to the 1988 gang‐related murder of an innocent bystander as a cause of Westwood Village's "diminished activity". Limited and expensive parking, as ever, remained a problem. Macy's (originally Bullock's) closed in 1999, leaving the district without a department store anchor. In that quarter-century, multiple nearby districts new customers away from the Village, such as Westfield Century City, The Grove, the now-closed Westside Pavilion, and Downtown Santa Monica with its pedestrian mall, shopping mall and pier.

Architecture
Westwood Village was master-planned in the late 1920s and Janss carefully selected not only the architects, but also the style of the buildings and their juxtaposition. Towers were built as landmarks and businesses on corner lots were carefully selected for their attractiveness and as landmarks.

Table of architecturally significant buildings in Westwood Village
Buildings which according to a 1985 study by Gruen and Associates identified the following buildings of historic architectural significance:

Demographics
In 2018, about 50,288 people lived in the 90024 ZIP code, which grossly corresponds to Westwood, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The 2000 U.S. census counted 47,916 residents in the 3.68-square-mile Westwood neighborhood—or 13,036 people per square mile, an average population density for the city. In 2008, the city estimated that the population had increased to 52,041. The median age for residents was 27, considered young for the city; the percentages of residents aged 19 to 34 was among the county's highest.

The neighborhood was considered moderately diverse ethnically, with a high percentage of Asians and of whites. The breakdown was whites, 62.9%; Asians, 23.1%; Latinos, 7.0%; blacks, 2.0%; and others, 4.9%. Iran (23.5%) and Taiwan (7.3%) were the most common places of birth for the 31.3% of the residents who were born abroad—about the same percentage as in the city at large.

The median yearly household income in 2008 dollars was $68,716, a high figure for Los Angeles. The percentages of households that earned $125,000 yearly and higher or that earned $20,000 or less were high for Los Angeles County. The average household size of two people was low for Los Angeles. Renters occupied 64.1% of the housing stock and house-or-apartment owners held 35.9%. The percentages of never-married men and women were among the county's highest. In 2000 there were 309 families headed by single parents, a low percentage for the city. Five percent of the population had served in the military, a low figure for both the city and the county.

Entertainment and cultural facilities
Besides the many facilities of UCLA itself, cultural and entertainment facilities include:

Historic cinemas
The Village has two historic movie theaters Fox Village Theater (opened 1931, architect Percy Parke Lewis and the Bruin Theater (S. Charles Lee, 1937), which hosted many Hollywood premieres over past decades.

Hammer Museum
The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with UCLA, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur-industrialist Armand Hammer to house his personal art collection, the museum has since expanded its scope to become "the hippest and most culturally relevant institution in town." Particularly important among the museum's critically acclaimed exhibitions are presentations of both historically overlooked and emerging contemporary artists. The Hammer Museum also hosts over 300 programs throughout the year, from lectures, symposia, and readings to concerts and film screenings. As of February 2014, the museum's collections, exhibitions, and programs are completely free to all visitors.

Geffen Playhouse Theater
The Geffen Playhouse Theater was built in 1929 at 10886 LeConte Avenue as the Masonic Affiliates Club, or the MAC, for students and alumni at UCLA. One of the first dozen structures built in Westwood Village, it was designed by architect Stiles O. Clements.

LDS (Mormon) Temple
The Los Angeles California Temple, the second-largest temple operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is on Santa Monica Boulevard in Westwood. The temple grounds also includes a Visitors' Center open to the public and the headquarters for the Church's missionary efforts in Los Angeles. The church purchased the land for the temple from silent film star Harold Lloyd in 1937, but did not open the temple until 1956.

The temple grounds are also home to the Los Angeles Regional Family History Center (LARFHC), which is open to the public as well. It is the second-largest branch in the Family History Library system of the LDS Church, and contains more than 100,000 microfiche and 30,000 books.

Parks and recreation
The Westwood Recreation Center is in Westwood. The facility includes barbecue pits, a lighted baseball diamond, lighted outdoor basketball courts, racquetball courts, a children's play area, a community room, an indoor gymnasium with weights, and a picnic table. The center also has Aidan's Place, which opened on December 5, 2001. The place, named after wheelchair-bound Aidan James, is a playground developed for joint use by handicapped and non-handicapped children.

Holmby Park is also in Westwood.

Government and infrastructure
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services SPA 5 West Area Health Office serves Westwood.

In 2018, Westwood stakeholders voted to subdivide the area into two official neighborhood council districts. Since then the North Westwood Neighborhood Council has represented UCLA, Westwood Village, the North Westwood Village, and Persian Square areas, while the Westwood Neighborhood Council has continued to represent the surrounding residential areas.

Police
The Los Angeles Police Department operates the West Los Angeles Community Police Station at 1663 Butler Avenue, which serves the community. Law enforcement for the UCLA campus is the responsibility of the UCLA Police Department, a division of the independent, statewide University of California Police Department. As a state police agency, the UCLA PD has full law enforcement powers on and off campus.

Fire and EMS
Fire and emergency medical services are provided by the Los Angeles Fire Department. UCLA Emergency Medical Services, a division of the UCLA Police Department, operates a Basic Life Support ambulance for the UCLA campus and supports LAFD on medical aid calls in the surrounding community. UCLA also maintains a small fire suppression apparatus staffed by campus fire marshals that responds to university-owned properties and helps the outside community when requested to by LAFD.

Education
Sixty-six percent of Westwood residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, a high figure for both the city and the county. The percentages of residents of that age with a master's degree or higher was the third-highest in the county.

Westwood is home to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

The Los Angeles Unified School District operates public schools. Schools in Westwood are
 * Fairburn Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 1403 Fairburn Avenue
 * Warner Avenue Elementary School, LAUSD, 615 Holmby Avenue
 * Westwood Charter Elementary School, LAUSD, 2050 Selby Avenue
 * Sinai Akiba Academy, private elementary, 10400 Wilshire Boulevard
 * Saint Paul the Apostle, private elementary, 1536 Selby Avenue
 * Ralph Waldo Emerson Middle School, LAUSD, 1660 Selby Avenue

The zoned senior high school is University High School in West Los Angeles.

UCLA Lab School Corinne A. Seeds Campus, formerly the Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School and renamed in 2009, is the University of California, Los Angeles laboratory school.

The Los Angeles Public Library opened a branch in Westwood in 2005.

Notable residents

 * Andy Hill (born c. 1950), college basketball player, business executive and public speaker

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

title: Westwood, Los Angeles


text:
Lomer Gouin

Sir Jean Lomer Gouin, (March 19, 1861 – March 28, 1929) was a Canadian politician. He served as 13th premier of Quebec, as a Cabinet minister in the federal government of Canada, and as the 15th lieutenant governor of Quebec.

Biography
He was born in Grondines, Quebec to Dr. Joseph-Nérée Gouin, a doctor and Séraphine Fugère. On May 24, 1888, he married Éliza Mercier, daughter of Honoré Mercier. Their son, Paul Gouin, later led the Action libérale nationale party.

He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Quebec in 1897 in Montréal division no. 2, and was re-elected in 1900 and 1904. In the 1908 election he ran in both Portneuf and Montréal no. 2, and was elected in the former and defeated in the latter. In 1912 he won election in both Portneuf and Saint-Jean; he elected to resign the Saint-Jean seat. He was re-elected in Portneuf in 1916 and 1919.

In 1920, he was named to the Legislative Council of Quebec but resigned in 1921 without ever having taken his seat, and moved to federal politics.

In the federal election of 1921, he was elected as a Liberal member of Parliament, and served as Justice Minister under prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King until 1924.

He was subsequently named Lieutenant Governor of Quebec in 1929, but served only two months until his death in Quebec City.

Lomer Gouin is interred in the Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery in Montreal.

Elections as party leader
He won the 1908 election, 1912 election, 1916 election and 1919 election and resigned in 1920.

Honours
Many sites and landmarks were named to honour Lomer Gouin. They include:

 * Gouin Boulevard, the longest street on the Island of Montreal;
 * Gouin Reservoir (In French: Réservoir Gouin), a man-made collection of lakes in the center of the province of Quebec;
 * Rue Gouin (Gouin Street) and Place Gouin, located in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada;
 * Rue Gouin (Gouin Street), located in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada;
 * The provincial district of Gouin;
 * Lomer-Gouin, intra-provincial ferry services between Levis to Quebec City operate by Société des traversiers du Québec.

title: Lomer Gouin


text:
Pentamedia Graphics

Pentamedia Graphics, formerly known as Pentafour Software, is a software and digital media company based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The main activities are projects, products, consultancy and training in software and digital media.

Pandavas: The Five Warriors received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English in 2000. Alibaba, Son of Aladdin (released as Mustafa and the Magician), The Legend of Buddha and Gulliver's Travels were submitted for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, but were not able to get a nomination.

Films produced under Media Dreams

 * Bharathi (2000)
 * Nila Kaalam (2001)
 * Pandavar Bhoomi (2001)
 * Krishna Krishna (2001)
 * Little John (2001)
 * Pammal K. Sambandam (2002)
 * Whistle (2003)

Computer animation in animated films

 * The King and I (1999)

title: Pentamedia Graphics


text:
Compatibilism

Compatibilism is the belief that free will and determinism are mutually compatible and that it is possible to believe in both without being logically inconsistent. As Steven Weinberg puts it: "I would say that free will is nothing but our conscious experience of deciding what to do, which I know I am experiencing as I write this review, and this experience is not invalidated by the reflection that physical laws made it inevitable that I would want to make these decisions." The opposing belief, that the thesis of determinism is logically incompatible with the classical thesis of free will, is known as "incompatibilism".

Compatibilists believe that freedom can be present or absent in situations for reasons that have nothing to do with metaphysics. In other words, that causal determinism does not exclude the truth of possible future outcomes. Because free will is seen as a necessary prerequisite for moral responsibility, compatibilism is often used to support compatibility between moral responsibility and determinism.

Similarly, political liberty is a non-metaphysical concept. Statements of political liberty, such as the United States Bill of Rights, assume moral liberty: the ability to choose to do otherwise than what one does.

History
Compatibilism was mentioned and championed by the ancient Stoics and some medieval scholastics. More specifically, scholastics like Thomas Aquinas and later Thomists (such as Domingo Báñez) are often interpreted as holding that human action can be free, even though an agent in some strong sense could not do otherwise than what they did. Whereas Aquinas is often interpreted to maintain rational compatibilism (i.e., an action can be determined by rational cognition and yet free), later Thomists, such as Báñez, develop a sophisticated theory of theological determinism, according to which actions of free agents, despite being free, are, on a higher level, determined by infallible divine decrees manifested in the form of "physical premotion" (praemotio physica), a deterministic intervention of God into the will of a free agent required to reduce the will from potency to act. A strong incompatibilist view of freedom was, on the other hand, developed in the Franciscan tradition, especially by Duns Scotus, and later upheld and further developed by Jesuits, especially Luis de Molina and Francisco Suárez. In the early modern era, compatibilism was maintained by Enlightenment philosophers (such as David Hume and Thomas Hobbes).

During the 20th century, compatibilists presented novel arguments that differed from the classical arguments of Hume, Hobbes, and John Stuart Mill. Importantly, Harry Frankfurt popularized what are now known as Frankfurt counterexamples to argue against incompatibilism, and developed a positive account of compatibilist free will based on higher-order volitions. Other "new compatibilists" include Gary Watson, Susan R. Wolf, P. F. Strawson, and R. Jay Wallace. Contemporary compatibilists range from the philosopher and cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett, particularly in his works Elbow Room (1984) and Freedom Evolves (2003), to the existentialist philosopher Frithjof Bergmann. Perhaps the most renowned contemporary defender of compatibilism is John Martin Fischer.

A 2020 survey found that 59% of philosophers accept or lean towards compatibilism.

Defining free will
Compatibilists often define an instance of "free will" as one in which the agent had the freedom to act according to their own motivation. That is, the agent was not coerced or restrained. Arthur Schopenhauer famously said: "Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills." In other words, although an agent may often be free to act according to a motive, the nature of that motive is determined. This definition of free will does not rely on the truth or falsity of causal determinism. This view also makes free will close to autonomy, the ability to live according to one's own rules, as opposed to being submitted to external domination.

Alternatives as imaginary
Some compatibilists hold both causal determinism (all effects have causes) and logical determinism (the future is already determined) to be true. Thus statements about the future (e.g., "it will rain tomorrow") are either true or false when spoken today. This compatibilist free will should not be understood as the ability to choose differently in an identical situation. A compatibilist may believe that a person can decide between several choices, but the choice is always determined by external factors. If the compatibilist says "I may visit tomorrow, or I may not", he is saying that he does not know what he will choose—whether he will choose to follow the subconscious urge to go or not.

Non-naturalism
Alternatives to strictly naturalist physics, such as mind–body dualism positing a mind or soul existing apart from one's body while perceiving, thinking, choosing freely, and as a result acting independently on the body, include both traditional religious metaphysics and less common newer compatibilist concepts. Also consistent with both autonomy and Darwinism, they allow for free personal agency based on practical reasons within the laws of physics. While less popular among 21st-century philosophers, non-naturalist compatibilism is present in most if not almost all religions.

Criticism
A prominent criticism of compatibilism is Peter van Inwagen's consequence argument.

Critics of compatibilism often focus on the definitions of free will: incompatibilists may agree that the compatibilists are showing something to be compatible with determinism, but they think that this something ought not to be called "free will". Incompatibilists might accept the "freedom to act" as a necessary criterion for free will, but doubt that it is sufficient. The incompatibilists believe that free will refers to genuine (i.e., absolute, ultimate, physical) alternate possibilities for beliefs, desires, or actions, rather than merely counterfactual ones.

The direct predecessor to compatibilism was soft determinism (a term coined by William James, which he used pejoratively). Soft determinism is the view that we (ordinary humans) have free will and determinism is true. (Compatibilists, by contrast, take no stand on the truth-value of determinism.) James accused the soft determinists of creating a "quagmire of evasion" by stealing the name of freedom to mask their underlying determinism. Immanuel Kant called it a "wretched subterfuge" and "word jugglery". Kant's argument turns on the view that, while all empirical phenomena must result from determining causes, human thought introduces something seemingly not found elsewhere in nature—the ability to conceive of the world in terms of how it ought to be, or how it might otherwise be. For Kant, subjective reasoning is necessarily distinct from how the world is empirically. Because of its capacity to distinguish is from ought, reasoning can "spontaneously" originate new events without being itself determined by what already exists. It is on this basis that Kant argues against a version of compatibilism in which, for instance, the actions of the criminal are comprehended as a blend of determining forces and free choice, which Kant regards as misusing the word free. Kant proposes that taking the compatibilist view involves denying the distinctly subjective capacity to re-think an intended course of action in terms of what ought to happen.

title: Compatibilism


text:
User:Justanyone

Hi! I'm JustAnyone, or Kevin J. Rice, Kevin@justanyone.com.

My homepage is http://justanyone.com

I live near Chicago, Illinois, USA.

title: User:Justanyone


text:
Major League Baseball Manager of the Year Award

In Major League Baseball, the Manager of the Year Award is an honor given annually since 1983 to two outstanding managers, one each in the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner is voted on by 30 members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). Each submits a vote for first, second, and third place among the managers of each league. The manager with the highest score in each league wins the award.

Several managers have won the award in a season in which they led their team to 100 or more wins. They are:
 * Lou Piniella – 116 (Seattle Mariners, 2001)
 * Joe Torre – 114 (New York Yankees, 1998)
 * Gabe Kapler – 107 (San Francisco Giants, 2021)
 * Sparky Anderson – 104 (Detroit Tigers, 1984)
 * Tony La Russa – 104 (Oakland Athletics, 1988)
 * Dusty Baker – 103 (San Francisco Giants, 1993)
 * Larry Dierker – 102 (Houston Astros, 1998)
 * Whitey Herzog – 101 (St. Louis Cardinals, 1985)
 * Rocco Baldelli – 101 (Minnesota Twins, 2019)
 * Buck Showalter – 101 (New York Mets, 2022)
 * Brandon Hyde – 101 (Baltimore Orioles, 2023)
 * Kevin Cash – 100 (Tampa Bay Rays, 2021)

In 1991, Bobby Cox became the first manager to win the award in both leagues, winning with the Atlanta Braves and having previously won with the Toronto Blue Jays in 1985. La Russa, Piniella, Showalter, Jim Leyland, Bob Melvin, Davey Johnson, and Joe Maddon have since won the award in both leagues. Cox, La Russa, and Showalter have won the most awards, with four. Baker, Leyland, Piniella, Maddon, Melvin, and Terry Francona have won three times. In 2005, Cox became the first manager to win the award in consecutive years. Cash became the second manager in 2021, and first in the AL, to win the award in consecutive years. Brandon Hyde and Skip Schumaker are the most recent winners.

Because of the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike cut the season short and canceled the post-season, the BBWAA writers effectively created a de facto mythical national championship (similar to college football) by naming managers of the unofficial league champions (lead the leagues in winning percentage) (Buck Showalter and Felipe Alou) as Managers of the Year. The Chicago White Sox have seen five managers win the award, most in the majors, while one franchise, the Milwaukee Brewers, has not had a manager win the award.

Only five managers have won the award while leading a team that finished outside the top two spots in its division. Buck Rodgers was the first, winning the award in 1987 with the third-place Expos. Tony Peña and Showalter won the award with third-place teams in back-to-back years: Peña with the Royals in 2003, and Showalter with the Rangers in 2004. Joe Girardi is the only manager to win the award with a fourth-place team (2006 Florida Marlins); he is also the only manager to win the award after fielding a team with a losing record.


text:
Talk:Anarcho-capitalism/Archive 1

Somebody had written (!):-o that "Prominent anarcho-capitalists include ... Robert Nozick, ... James Buchanan" etc. And that "The Natural Law approach (see for instance Robert Nozick and his book [Anarchy, the State and Utopia]?) argues that the existence of the state is immoral, and that unlimited capitalism is the only ethical political system, or rather anti-political system."

Who ever wrote this, for his information that neither Robert Nozick nor James Buchanan are anarcho-capitalists! On the contrary, about a third of Nozick's book "Anarchy, State and utopia" is devoted on criticizing anarcho-capitalism. Claiming otherwise proves that the person has never read the book. Already in the preface Nozick writes: " Our main conclusions about the state are that a minimal state, limited to the narrow functions of protection against force, theft, fraud, enforcement of contracts, and so on, is justified; that any more extensive state will violate persons' rights not to be forced to do certain things, and is unjustified; and that the minimal state is inspiring as well as right. Two noteworthy implications are that the state may not use its coercive apparatus for the purpose of getting some citizens to aid others, or in order to prohibit activities to people for their own good or protection."

It should be common knowledge, that James Buchanan is an opponent of Anarcho-capitalism, aswell.

I made the needed corrections.

Someone wrote on another page:

'In case anyone really doesn't know what anarcho-capitalism is supposed to be about, have a look at this article. '

This particular article isn't bad overall, but it might lead the reader to a few misconceptions. First, the anarchocapitalism is not the 'house ideology' of the Libertarian Party. No doubt there are some anarchists in the ranks of the LP, but as far as I know they do not dominate.

It should be noted that the author, MikeHuben, is best known on the Internet for his critique of libertarianism.

Another problem with that article is that Benjamin Tucker is given as an example of an "early" anarcho-capitalist. Tucker's attachment to capitalism is fictional as explained in "Benjamin Tucker: Capitalist or Anarchist?". There were no early anarcho-capitalists; the "movement" was invented out of thin air a mere couple of decades ago. Electioneering experts call this an astro-turf movement. AnarchoCapitalism's styling itself after anarchism is propaganda based on lies.

Nothing wrong with critiques. I find they're usually a better way of evaluating ideas: everyone will defend their own position eloquently, but you can only build a strong counter-attack against an idea with flaws. So looking at how strong criticisms are usually gives you a better idea of how good the original was.

I agree completely. The only point, though, is that Huben may wish to tar libertarianism by association with AnarchoCapitalism.

What does libertarianism mean in the above sentence? Does it refer to the right-libertarianism of the proponents of the Libertarian party or does it also include anarcho-syndicalists as left-libertarians? And what does right-libertarianism mean if one does not take it to be synonymous with AnarchoCapitalism? If Mike Huben does wish to tar left-libertarians by associating them with right-libertarians, he need do no more than recognize the right-libertarians' own claims.

These two claims make no sense to me:
 * The theory assumes a genuinely free market, independent of geographic distributions and economies of scale, which prevents abuse of monopolies and extreme inequalities in the execution of justice.

 * A classic argument against cooperatives by anarcho-capitalists is precisely that it is irrational to have all one's stock in one company (your own) and so workers would seek to spread their risk by diversifying their stock portfolio.

--LMS

The first sentence is my mangled synopsis of the perfect free market, and the second one I copied from the anarchism/talk page or something like that.

The point of the first sentence is, for example: it should be better for a protection company to protect the assets of 100 poor men than the assets of one rich man, since the assets of the poor men are already protected by 100 people. But the reality is the geographic factors and economies of scale come into play, so protection companies would rather protect the rich man's assets.

Hey, I don't get it either, but I'm trying.

--The Cunctator

 * It is hard to "get" what is insane. But you are to be commended for trying.  EofT

A lot of useful text was deleted from this revision.

--The Cunctator

I agree some of that info should go back in, my only concern is finding the right place to put it. -- SJK

The fundamental element of the philosophical approach is a belief in absolute private property rights.

No way.

The fundamental element of the philosophical approach is a belief in absolute individual liberty. This includes, but is not limited, to right to effects of one's work. And proporty right for things that aren't effects of somebody's works aren't absolute. --Taw
 * But what do they mean by "absolute individual liberty"? They mean property rights without any government interference. You can be silenced, you can be starved to death, just so long as no one takes any of your property. -- SJK

 * That's about right. As if anyone would really put up with that.  In real life,  course, cornered animals fight back, especially if they see those who prosper by fraud and cheating and influence peddling taking all they own.  This is a common experience among those who have been colonized or subjugated to an Empire whose capital is very far away and whose disputes are settled in a language they don't understand, and cannot afford lawyers to argue in.  A-C is an inherently and necessarily small scale theory.  But it can't work without a lot of unreal assumptions. EofT

Facts:
 * There are no serious economic arguments against AC.

 * This actually says something bad about economics, nothing good about AC. EofT

Could somebody please change these into some statements that adhere to NPOV ? --Taw
 * Some people who oppose AC use social arguments.
 * ACists don't accept validity of these social arguments.

The first "fact" you mention here may or may not be a fact, but probably doesn't belong in an encyclopedic presentation. One of the key difference between encyclopedics and polemics is that an encyclopedic tends to refrain from drawing conclusions or making evaluations.

Additionally, I think that there are serious economic arguments against AC. I have made such arguments myself to David Friedman and he conceded that my arguments were, at the least, interesting. He thinks I'm wrong of course, but I think he would concede that my argument is at least serious.

To sum it up in one paragraph: many forms of organized crime involve A violating B's rights in such a fashion that A and B both make money at the expense of C. From economics we know that the only thing that can sustain a cartel is coercion, i.e. the use of force or threat thereof. Sustaining a cartel under AC is possible for a corrupt defense agency which represents only clients in a particular industry.

 * Like, oh, say, hm, the oil industry? Just a guess.  EofT 02:59, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)

The costs of the cartel are spread widely throughout the population in such a  --Jimbo Wales

"* Some people who oppose AC use social arguments.
 * ACists don't accept validity of these social arguments."

-Isn't that the case for any dogma in general? The fact is that there is arguments aginst the dogma, but the supporters of the dogma doesn't accept the validity of the arguments.

Anonymous

"There are no serious economic arguments against AC"? I am not aware of any, but I am sure there are. Most economists reject AC, and I am sure at least some of those opposed to it have come up with at least some arguments against it. -- SJK.

They do ? Really ? If you know some arguments, please list them. --Taw

Fare: indeed, if you do, please list them.

I have a problem with the wording of this sentence that was inserted during Revision 11: Services traditionally provided by governments (police, defense, courts) are provided by private corporations. 'Corporation' is NOT a generic term for any type of business and there is nothing in Anarcho-capitalism that requires these services to be provided by corporations (as opposed to sole proprietorships or whatever). Moreover corporations, as such, would not even exist in a purely free market as they require a charter from the state which shields their CEOs and stockholders from certain kinds of legal liability (by the way the free market equivalent is a 'joint stock company'). I suggest the more neutral: "Private businesses compete to supply services traditionally provided by governments(like police, defense, and courts)".

I removed Wendy McElroy from the list of proponents of Anarcho-capitalism. She is an Individualist Anarchist, not an Anarcho-capitalist. --MemoryHole.com I'd really like to see a suggested reading list about Anarcho-capitalism but is that appropriate? --MemoryHole.com

What's the difference? Maybe you could explain, and in your explanation cite Wendy McElroy as an example of an individual anarchist. Would she herself consider herself an anarcho-capitalist? --Larry Sanger There is an interesting essay here: http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/mcelroy1.html by McElroy herself on the various differences between several flavors of anarchism. But the most obvious difference is that "under individualist anarchism, you could have communist communities existing beside capitalist ones so long as membership was voluntary" (a concept also known as Panarchy). While anarcho-capitalism and anarcho-communismare ends oriented (ie resulting in a specific economic system), individualist anarchism is means oriented (anything that's peaceful) with no hard vision of what would result. You can see from her website: http://www.zetetics.com/mac/ she prefers the label individualist anarchist. --MemoryHole.com

Fare: No, anarcho-capitalism, like classical liberalism in general, is not ends-oriented. It predicts general results, and claims several essential liberties. By no way would anarcho-capitalists accept that anyone be forced to work in a company rather than a cooperative. Anarcho-communists seem to be ends-oriented indeed, although I prefer to believe (until given sufficient evidence) that not all left anarchists are. About a classical liberal view on means and ends, I recommend of Henry Hazlitt's Foundations of Morality.

Fare: I removed Brian Giovannini from the list of prominent anarcho-capitalists. I had never heard about him. It turns out he's a cartoonist (see his site), and he's anarcho-capitalist indeed: he wrote one web page about anarcho-capitalism. But I don't think this qualifies to put him in the same list as Murray Rothbard.

Fare: Do quotes fit in here? e.g. Emile Faguet: "[U]n anarchiste est un libéral intransigeant." An anarchist is an uncomprimising liberal. -- Émile Faguet, Politiques et moralistes du dix-neuvième siècle, Vol. 1 (Paris: Société Française d'Imprimerie et de Librairie, c. 1898), p. 226.

Hi, folks. I'm Ethan Mitchell, and I'm new here. I am one of these terrible left-anarchists we've been hearing about; I am also an economist and right now I work as a market analyist. I think it is silly for any of us wingnut fringe ideologues (left or right) to make statements like "There are no serious arguments against our crazed scheme." Of course there are. "Your scheme is crazed" is a serious argument all by itself, its called majority rule.

That aside, I want to take a shot at characterizing the problem here. Most (I almost said all) schools of anarchy envision a stateless market. We cannot be entirely sure how people would behave in such a situation. Really we can't. Anarcho-capitalists tend to assume that people would not form cooperatives, labor unions, mutual aid societies, or other collectivist organizations. Left-anarchists (which for some ^*#$ing reason we are calling libertarian socialists)

 * Left-anarchist is subordinated as a term mostly because no one sees left-anarchism as a legitimate name of a political movement. But there are in fact texts on libertarian socialism.  To me left-anarchist is a more extreme form of it, though.

tend to assume that at least a significant number of people *would* form such organizations. The fact that e.g. labor unions continue to exist in state economies, despite a lot of pressure to eliminate them, is at least evidence for this assumption. But either way, we are making *assumptions* about how the market would behave in the absence of the state.

 * Obviously, and they are bad assumptions, given how humans behave in situations without states now: badly, and with a kind of herd mentality that make soldiers look enviously individualistic.

Next, there is relatively little anarcho-capitalist discussion of asset inequality patterns. Yet right now, we see that gini or thiel inequality is increasing over several economic scales, including the global.

 * Whoa. One step at a time.  How about Gini inequality and Thiel inequality and economic scale as articles on the list of economics articles?  You can't expect us to assess what we can't read about.

Probably the magic wand of no-more-government would reduce the spread we are currently experiencing, but it is hard to believe that it will *reverse* it. So the question must be asked: Does anarcho-capitalism countenance a free society with drastic imbalances in assets? Forget the moral issue; it is a practical issue. If a small group of people hold all the wealth, and a large group of people are facing extremity, they are very apt to resort to warfare, government, and similar troublemaking. And while we (rich people) might argue that inequality is not our fault, that is unlikely to be a persuasive position.

Reference to "anomy" deleted. From what I've been reading anomie is more a root of some kinds of anarchy than an equivalent to any of them. Eclecticology, Wednesday, May 1, 2002

about anarcho-capitalisms and corporations : some argue that you can have limited liability in a state-less society : by incorporating, you are saying that you accept only limited responsability, so potentials creditors are warned and can take the risk in account before accepting or refusing to contract with you(actually it's a part of the contract). see http://www.anti-state.com/mccracken/mccracken1.html for a more clear and detailled explanation, and a better english ;-) susano 03:40 Sep 2, 2002 (PDT)

A previous editor compared anarcho-capitalism to green anarchism, based on the expression "natural law". I don't think that this expression has quite the same meaning to anarcho-capitalists and green anarchists, so that the comparison is confusing rather than enlightening:

 * It did require more depth, so, that depth is now there. EofT

to a libertarian, natural law is law as it should be, law such that the violations of it naturally lead to pain, sorrow, destruction, etc. To an ecologist, "natural law" would mean something like letting nature rule, not acting "against nature". While these two interpretations have common roots, they are independent, and variants of them can be construed to be compatible as well as incompatible.

 * Hoom. Acting "against nature" would seem to "naturally lead to pain, sorrow, destruction, etc".  Last I heard libertarians did not advocate allowing someone with property upstream to dump unlimited toxic waste in it to flow downstream.   The concept of diversity may or may not favour biodiversity if it is based on delusions, like Ayn Rand's delusion that pollution did not cause any kind of illness, or that one could prosper by ignoring say deforestation as if only human values placed on things mattered.  So there is an answer to the anarcho-capitalist from medicine, from environmental sciences, from ecology, from biology, much of which did not exist when the ideology was formed. EofT

I don't think that it is wise to mention a comparison here. But there certainly ought to be an article on natural law to discuss these things. -- Faré 14:06 6 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Not only does it seem wise to me, but, it seems necessary. As it stands this article is a bald-faced promotion of anarcho-capitalism as the ideal political system, and would simply be deleted without same kind of serious balancing.  Thus the Dan Sullivan mention, and more contrasting of different views than just the "bad old left" would help.  For instance what do anarcho-capitalists think of feminism?  Syndicalism?  This article is about to become an NPOV dispute.  It needs not less comparison to other recent movements, but more.

 * I think the dispute has its place on Wikipedia, just not in this article.

 * Of course you don't think so, since you advocate this position yourself, obviously, and don't want to see challenges to the a-c idea of natural law appearing right beside it. But you have to put up with that, since this is about NPOV, and neutrality includes balancing outrageous and absurd statements about natural law from an anarcho-capitalist with reasonable ones from someone who recognizes nature at the root of so-called natural law. EofT

 * See for instance the article on Anarchism. It had become unreadable because of the disputes that grew and grew, so you couldn't distinguish the main points among the endless disputes in detail; moreover, the disputes where over the editors' various pet questions, giving the reader a distorted sense of what usually appears as relevant to people concerned.

 * That problem arose because of poor division into incorrectly named subtypes of anarchism, which forced variant that didn't fit directly onto that page. The actual dispute that defines anarchism is not ideological but economic - how big can a social unit get, and how divorced from ecology, before it gets oppressive and anti-ecological?  EofT

 * Nowadays, the page is concise, and any discussion is moved to different articles. The same should be done here.

 * No, that has become a bad and useless article, and this one need not be. It can be saved by actually answering to challenges to its own core assumptions.  The article on capitalism does this very well.  That is a better template.  EofT

 * As for feminism, see Wendy McElroy. As for syndicalism, the usual libertarian stance applies, though I haven't a ready reference here, especially not in English. -- Faré 00:15 7 Jun 2003 (UTC)

 * Try de Paepe versus von Mises or something. EofT

Indeed, it sounds like 'drivel' to me also. Apparently (edited by Kevin- I have removed this in order to make myself less of an obvious target, feel free to contact me by email at kevehs@hotmail.com or my ISP if you feel my actions are inappropriate, please refrain from any further attempts to crash my computer) has gone on a one-person expedition to rid Wikipedia of virtually all reference to "anarcho-capitalism" in a single day. The subject matter's really not my area, so I'm not going to fix it myself; I have little doubt that it will be fixed fairly quickly though, so it's probably not worth editing fine points at this stage. - Hephaestos 00:55, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)

 * Since the whole concept is so foolish I assumed that the article had always been pure drivel, but it seems I caught it at an unusually drivelly stage. GrahamN 01:44, 25 Aug 2003 (UTC)

I reverted to the last version before his edit. He basically turned it into an "anarcho-capitalists aren't 'real' anarchists" rant, which I'm sure the anarcho-capitalists themselves would dispute. I'll look through the additions in a bit to see if any of it is salvageable though. --Delirium 01:07, Aug 27, 2003 (UTC)

 * His version should be a whole section, as it's a legitimate criticism that man herding, ganging and coercion clearly precede the concept of money and markets - no market can exist without property rights and that not without a state. A-C is in this sense a fantasy world made out of pure neoclassical economics - see Principles of Economics for what went both wrong and right with the Austrian School, and monetarism for the history of the "capitalism is all" school.

I've rewritten it again, and I will continue to do so, as I see the use of the term "anarcho-capitalist" as a hostile attempt by liberals to co-opt the anarchist movement and turn it against itself. I'm happy to discuss the matter, I'm happy to respect notions of two seperate sections, one that gives the anarchist POV, and one that give the anti-state capitalist POV. What I will NOT do is sit around and watch capitalists bias readers of wikipedia into thinking that capitalism is even remotely capable of being associated with anarchism without even mentioning the arguments to the contrary, as it existed when I came upon it. Until a clear advisory is made concerning the arguments against the use of the term, and the page is pushed away from a clear bias against anarchism, and the distinction between anarcho-individualists and anti-state capitalists is made clear, I will continue to repost my rewrites. If caps and others want to continue reposting old pages until we all get blue in the face, so be it. And I did not attempt to remove the term "anarcho-capitalist" from all of wikipedia, in fact I left a large number of pages completely intact. What I did attempt to remove was referance to anti-state liberalism as "anarcho-capitalism" on pages that dealt with anarchism, given that it is an unrelated subject. - Kevin/Kevehs - 02:31 CST 28 Aug

I guess no one is interested in discussing this, but someone is interested in reposting the old page everytime it is changed. NPOV dispute. Kevin/Kevehs - Nov 5

---

I'm duns0014 (my AIM id is the same, you can message me).

we can discuss this, but refering to anarchosocialists as the only anarchists has to stop. I can understand it if you don't like the ancaps, but since it rejects the state, it is still anarchist. refering to left-anarchists as anarchists is a serious bias issue.

 * This is ridiculous. This is nothing more than a dispute over terminology, whether anarcho-capitalists are "real" anarchists.  The answer is clearly yes as (a) they want to get rid of government, (b) they consider themselves anarchists, (c) there is ample historical precedent for this usage.  It is like the No true Scotsman argument; what if someone claimed Lutherans are not real Christians?  This quibble over who "owns" the word anarchist does not justify an NPOV notice.  I'm just going to pull it in a couple of days unless someone can give a reason not to.  In the mean time, I'm going to adjust the article's language some more. -- VV 06:38, 6 Nov 2003 (UTC)

This is not ridiculous. Of course it is an dispute over terminology, but terminology is the basis of our understanding of these concepts. Anarchism, since its very first use, has always meant more than mere anti-statism. To limit it to the rejection of the state is like claiming that Christians believe in nothing more than a monotheistic deity. Even modern dictionaries give far more of a definition to anarchism than mere anti-statism.

Furthermore, capitalism easily pertains to the word government, as most anti-state capitalists still support governance institutions such as courts, police, and even at times prisons or indentured servitude. To say that this is no longer government simply because you call the institutions which fund it "private" or "corporate" instead of "state" is to remove all meaning from the words themselves. This is not a matter of "not liking" anti-state capitalists, it is a matter of not watching the word and its use become erroded under our feet simply because some people don't know enough about history, or the etymology of the word, or simple logic, to know better than to use it to describe things it clearly stands against.

Why should it matter whether or not capitalists consider themselves anarchists? If fascists consider themselves anarchists should we then stand aside and admit that anarcho-fascism is not a contradiction in terms? To call capitalists anarchists, when most of them whole-heartedly support the legitimate violent enforcement of their property mandates upon even peaceful resistors, is about as meaningful as refering to people as anarcho-statists.

This claim of "ample" historical precedent itself flies in the face of history. Anarchism has meant more than anti-statism for more than 150 years by the people who first used the word as a self-description. Just because Rothbard decided to start calling himself an anarchist by denying that entire past does not in itself lend historical precedence to its current misuse. In fact, it simply denies history.

I could care less who is a "real" anarchist and who is not. What I do care about is that this article -still- includes arguments against anarchism itself in the guise of "anarcho-capitalism." It -still- includes straw-men arguments against anarchists themselves, and it -still- claims that capitalism is compatible with the anarchist conception of freedom even when it flies in the face of everything anarchism has always stood for. This is either dishonesty, or ignorance, and either way it needs to be challenged. NPOV dispute is the very least this page requires, but if you want to hold a vote over it go right ahead. - Kevin Nov 6

--- anarchism means no state, that's all it means from the definition of the word. "Even modern dictionaries give far more of a definition to anarchism than mere anti-statism."

the same dictionaries that define it as chaos and violence?

"Furthermore, capitalism easily pertains to the word government, as most anti-state capitalists still support governance institutions such as courts, police, and even at times prisons or indentured servitude."

if you get a dozen people together, you'll get a dozen definitions of "capitalism". it might be better if we just replaced capitalism with "free market" throughout the entire essay. courts, police, etc are not necessarily govt functions. a group of people could come together to start a community voluntarily and they could agree beforehand that they should have some legal system. since this is entirely voluntary, it's not a state. I believe many ansocs would advocate some sort of legal system as well.

"It -still- includes straw-men arguments against anarchists themselves"

examples please.

how's the voting system work anyway?

"anarchism means no state, that's all it means from the definition of the word."

Plainly not true. www.m-w.com Anarchism 1. a political theory holding all forms of governmental authority to be unnecessary and undesirable and advocating a society based on voluntary cooperation and free association of individuals and groups

Courts, police, laws, prisons, and indentured servitude all count as governance and authority in my book. Furthermore, restriction from private property claims which is upheld by legitimated enforcement is not my idea of voluntary cooperation.

-- the same dictionaries that define it as chaos and violence? --

Is it really your place to deny one definition of anarchism while dismissing any possible arguments that deny yours?

--- it might be better if we just replaced capitalism with "free market" throughout the entire essay. ---

Sure, except that the market advocated by most capitalists is not considered to be "free" by most individualist anarchists, who themselves have always advocated a free market.

--- courts, police, etc are not necessarily govt functions. ---

They govern a populace, by definition. How is it then, that they are not governmental institutions?

--- a group of people could come together to start a community voluntarily and they could agree beforehand that they should have some legal system. since this is entirely voluntary, it's not a state. ---

First, this is your own personal definition of state, lots of statists would argue that a state can be entered into voluntarily. Second, the moment a single person dissented from such a system it would cease to be voluntary, thus become a state by your own standards. Are you suggesting people would always accept the rulings (that is right, rulings as in rulership) of this legal system?

Because there would be rulings, made by rulers, and according to the greek root of the word anarchism means literally "without rulers."

--- I believe many ansocs would advocate some sort of legal system as well. ---

title: Talk:Anarcho-capitalism/Archive 1


text:
Manager of the Year

Manager of the Year may refer to:

 * Major League Baseball Manager of the Year Award
 * League Managers Association Manager of the Year
 * Premier League Manager of the Season

title: Manager of the Year


text:
Principality of Seborga

The Principality of Seborga (Principato di Seborga, Ligurian: Prinçipatu de A Seborca) is an unrecognised micronation that claims a 14 km2 area located in the northwestern Italian Province of Imperia in Liguria, near the French border, and about 35 km from Monaco. The principality is coextensive with the comune of Seborga; assertions of sovereignty were instigated in 1963 by a local campaigner based on unproven claims about territorial settlements made by the Congress of Vienna after the Napoleonic Wars.

History

The claim of sovereignty for Seborga was put forward in 1963 by a Seborgan former flower grower named Giorgio Carbone. He claimed to have found documents from the Vatican archives which, according to Carbone, indicated that Seborga had never been a possession of the House of Savoy and was therefore not legitimately included in the Kingdom of Italy when it was formed in 1861 during Italian unification. Carbone claimed that Seborga had existed as a sovereign state of Italy since 954, and that from 1079 it was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Sovereignty claims assert that Seborga was overlooked by the Congress of Vienna in its redistribution of European territories after the Napoleonic Wars.

Carbone promoted the idea of Seborgan independence as a principality, and in 1963 the town's inhabitants elected him as their putative head of state. Carbone assumed the style and title His Tremendousness (Sua Tremendità) Giorgio I, Prince of Seborga. He formed a "cabinet" of ministers; minted a local currency, the luigino; introduced a Seborgan flag, a white cross on a blue background; and established a Latin motto, Sub Umbra Sede (Sit in the shade). Carbone's campaign has generally not been taken seriously and is widely viewed as a ruse to attract tourists to the town, although his supporters in the town claim that their small state has been recognised by Burkina Faso.

Giorgio Carbone retained his ceremonial position until his death on 25 November 2009. The position of the Serborgan "monarch" is not hereditary, and since Carbone's death, elections have been held in Seborga every seven years among the town's 200 registered voters. Carbone was succeeded by businessman Marcello Menegatto, who was elected on 25 April 2010 and crowned on 22 May 2010 as His Serene Highness (Sua Altezza Serenissima or SAS) Prince Marcello I. Menegatto was re-elected as Prince on 23 April 2017, after an unsuccessful challenge to the position by Mark Dezzani, a British-born radio DJ who had lived in Seborga for nearly 40 years.

On 12 April 2019, Menegatto abdicated from his position, and he was succeeded by his ex-wife, Nina Menegatto, who was elected by the town as Her Serene Highness Princess Nina on 10 November 2019.

False titles
There have been pretenders to the Seborgan throne, which include such pretenders as the self-styled "Princess" Yasmine von Hohenstaufen Anjou Plantagenet, and Nicolas Mutte, a French writer.

Seborga today
Seborga's independence claims continue today, and an official Principato di Seborga website asserts the historical arguments put forward by Carbone. Seborga claims to maintain a volunteer border guard, the Corpo delle Guardie. Participants wear a blue-and-white uniform and during the tourist season they stand guard at sentry boxes on the unofficial border crossing on the main road into Seborga.

The unrecognised micronation that claims Seborga Town understands that the town still falls directly within the laws and borders of Italy.

Currency

Seborga's local currency, the Seborga luigino, is divided into 100 cents. Luigini coins circulate in Seborga alongside the euro. The currency has no value outside of the town. The value of the luigino is pegged to the US dollar at SPL1 = USD6.00. On 20 August 2023 the Principality presented the first banknote ever of the luigini.

Population
As of 1 January 2018, Seborga had a population of 297 people, with 146 males and 151 females. As of 2021, the population of Seborga has gone down to 217 people.

title: Principality of Seborga