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Salmon River

Salmon River may refer to:

British Columbia

 * Salmon River (Fraser River), in the Central Interior
 * Salmon River (Haida Gwaii), on Moresby Island
 * Salmon River (Langley), in the Lower Fraser Valley
 * Salmon River (Portland Canal), in northwestern British Columbia
 * Salmon River (Shuswap Lake), near Salmon Arm
 * Salmon River (Vancouver Island), near Kelsey Bay
 * The Salmo River, in the West Kootenay region, was known historically as the Salmon River
 * The Pa-aat River, on Pitt Island in the North Coast region, was formerly called the Salmon River

Nova Scotia

 * Salmon River (Nova Scotia), in Colchester County
 * Salmon River, Colchester County (community), a community located along this river
 * Salmon River, Digby County
 * Salmon River, Richmond County

Ontario

 * Salmon River (Ontario)

United States

 * Salmon River (Alaska) any of several rivers in Alaska
 * Salmon River (California)
 * Salmon River (Connecticut)
 * Salmon River (Idaho), known as the River of No Return, the largest US river with this name
 * Salmon River (New York), a tributary of Lake Ontario
 * Salmon River (Lake Champlain), south of Plattsburgh, New York
 * Salmon River (Clackamas County, Oregon)
 * Salmon River (Lincoln County, Oregon)
 * Salmon River (Washington)

title: Salmon River


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List of classical and art music traditions

"Classical music" and "art music" are terms that have been used to refer to music of different cultural origins and traditions. Such traditions often date to a period regarded as the "golden age" of music for a particular culture.

The following tables list music styles from throughout the world and the period in history when that tradition was developed:

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


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Gesture

A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of, or in conjunction with, speech. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other parts of the body. Gestures differ from physical non-verbal communication that does not communicate specific messages, such as purely expressive displays, proxemics, or displays of joint attention. Gestures allow individuals to communicate a variety of feelings and thoughts, from contempt and hostility to approval and affection, often together with body language in addition to words when they speak. Gesticulation and speech work independently of each other, but join to provide emphasis and meaning.

Gesture processing takes place in areas of the brain such as Broca's and Wernicke's areas, which are used by speech and sign language. In fact, language is thought by some scholars to have evolved in Homo sapiens from an earlier system consisting of manual gestures. The theory that language evolved from manual gestures, termed Gestural Theory, dates back to the work of 18th-century philosopher and priest Abbé de Condillac, and has been revived by contemporary anthropologist Gordon W. Hewes, in 1973, as part of a discussion on the origin of language.

Research throughout the ages
Gestures have been studied throughout time from different philosophers. Marcus Fabius Quintilianus was a Roman Rhetorician who studied in his Institutio Oratoria on how gesture can be used on rhetorical discourses. One of his greatest works and foundation for communication was the "Institutio Oratoria" where he explains his observations and nature of different oratories.

A study done in 1644, by John Bulwer an English physician and early Baconian natural philosopher wrote five works exploring human communications pertaining to gestures. Bulwer analyzed dozens of gestures and provided a guide under his book named Chirologia which focused on hand gestures. In the 19th century, Andrea De Jorio an Italian antiquarian who considered a lot of research about body language published an extensive account of gesture expressions.

Andrew N. Meltzoff an American psychologist internationally renown for infant and child development conducted a study in 1977 on the imitation of facial and manual gestures by newborns. The study concluded that "infants between 12 and 21 days of age can imitate the facial and manual gestures of parents". In 1992, David Mcneill, a professor of linguistics and psychology at the University of Chicago, wrote a book based on his ten years of research and concluded that "gestures do not simply form a part of what is said, but have an impact on thought itself." Meltzoff argues that gestures directly transfer thoughts into visible forms, showing that ideas and language cannot always be express. A peer-reviewed journal Gesture has been published since 2001, and was founded by Adam Kendon and Cornelia Müller. The International Society for Gesture Studies (ISGS) was founded in 2002.

Gesture has frequently been taken up by researchers in the field of dance studies and performance studies in ways that emphasize the ways they are culturally and contextually inflected. Performance scholar Carrie Noland describes gestures as "learned techniques of the body" and stresses the way gestures are embodied corporeal forms of cultural communication. But rather than just residing within one cultural context, she describes how gestures migrate across bodies and locations to create new cultural meanings and associations. She also posits how they might function as a form of "resistance to homogenization" because they are so dependent on the specification of the bodies that perform them.

Gesture has also been taken up within queer theory, ethnic studies and their intersections in performance studies, as a way to think about how the moving body gains social meaning. José Esteban Muñoz uses the idea of gesture to mark a kind of refusal of finitude and certainty and links gesture to his ideas of ephemera. Muñoz specifically draws on the African-American dancer and drag queen performer Kevin Aviance to articulate his interest not in what queer gestures might mean, but what they might perform. Juana María Rodríguez borrows ideas of phenomenology and draws on Noland and Muñoz to investigate how gesture functions in queer sexual practices as a way to rewrite gender and negotiate power relations. She also connects gesture to Giorgio Agamben's idea of "means without ends" to think about political projects of social justice that are incomplete, partial, and legibile within culturally and socially defined spheres of meaning.

Within the field of linguistics, the most hotly contested aspect of gesture revolves around the subcategory of Lexical or Iconic Co-Speech Gestures. Adam Kendon was the first to hypothesize on their purpose when he argued that Lexical gestures do work to amplify or modulate the lexico-semantic content of the verbal speech with which they co-occur. However, since the late 1990s, most research has revolved around the contrasting hypothesis that Lexical gestures serve a primarily cognitive purpose in aiding the process of speech production. As of 2012, there is research to suggest that Lexical Gesture does indeed serve a primarily communicative purpose and cognitive only secondary, but in the realm of socio-pragmatic communication, rather than lexico-semantic modification.

Typology (categories)
Humans have the ability to communicate through language, but they can also express through gestures. In particular, gestures can be transmitted through movements of body parts, face, and body expressions. Researchers Goldin Meadow and Brentari D. conducted research in 2015 and concluded that communicating through sign language is no different from spoken language.

Communicative vs. informative
The first way to distinguish between categories of gesture is to differentiate between communicative gesture and informative gesture. While most gestures can be defined as possibly happening during the course of spoken utterances, the informative-communicative dichotomy focuses on intentionality of meaning and communication in co-speech gesture.

Informative (passive)
Informative gestures are passive gestures that provide information about the speaker as a person and not about what the speaker is trying to communicate. Some movements are not purely considered gestures, however a person could perform these adapters in such way like scratching, adjusting clothing, and tapping.

These gestures can occur during speech, but they may also occur independently of communication, as they are not a part of active communication. While informative gestures may communicate information about the person speaking (e.g. itchy, uncomfortable, etc.), this communication is not engaged with any language being produced by the person gesturing.

Communicative (active)
Communicative gestures are gestures that are produced intentionally and meaningfully by a person as a way of intensifying or modifying speech produced in the vocal tract (or with the hands in the case of sign languages), even though a speaker may not be actively aware that they are producing communicative gestures.

For instance, on the U.S. Army recruitment poster of Uncle Sam, he is pointing and sending a non-verbal form of gesture by implying he wants the viewer to join the U.S. Army. This is a form of symbolic gesture, usually used in the absence of speech.

Body language relating to gestures
Body language is a form of nonverbal communication that allows visual cues that transmit messages without speaking. Gestures are movement that are made with the body: arms, hands, facial, etc. Authors Barbara Pease and Allan Pease, of "The Definitive Book of Body Language" concluded that everyone does a shoulder shrug, a gesture signifying that the person is not comprehending what they are supposed to be understanding. Also, that showing the palms of both hands to show a person is not hiding anything, and raising the eyebrows to indicate a greeting.

Finger gestures are commonly used in a variety of ways, from point at something to indicate that you want to show a person something to indicating a thumbs up to show everything is good.

Some gestures are near universals, i.e., found all over the world with only some exceptions. An example is the head shake to signify "no". Also, in most cultures nodding your head signifies "Yes", which the book "The Definitive Book of Body Language" describes as submissive gesture to representing the conversation is going the direction of the person speaking. The book explains that people who are born deaf can show a form of submissive gesture to signify "Yes".

Manual vs. non-manual communicative gestures
Within the realm of communicative gestures, the first distinction to be made is between gestures made with the hands and arms, and gestures made with other parts of the body. Examples of Non-manual gestures may include head nodding and shaking, shoulder shrugging, and facial expression, among others. Non-manual gestures are attested in languages all around the world, but have not been the primary focus of most research regarding co-speech gesture.

Manual gestures
A gesture that is a form of communication in which bodily actions communicate particular messages. Manual gestures are most commonly broken down into four distinct categories: Symbolic (Emblematic), Deictic (Indexical), Motor (Beat), and Lexical (Iconic)

Manual gesture in the sense of communicative co-speech gesture does not include the gesture-signs of sign languages, even though sign language is communicative and primarily produced using the hands, because the gestures in sign language are not used to intensify or modify the speech produced by the vocal tract, rather they communicate fully productive language through a method alternative to the vocal tract.

Symbolic (emblematic)

The most familiar are the so-called emblems or quotable gestures. These are conventional, culture-specific gestures that can be used as replacement for words, such as the handwave used in the US for "hello" and "goodbye". A single emblematic gesture can have a very different significance in different cultural contexts, ranging from complimentary to highly offensive. The page List of gestures discusses emblematic gestures made with one hand, two hands, hand and other body parts, and body and facial gestures.

Symbolic gestures can occur either concurrently or independently of vocal speech. Symbolic gestures are iconic gestures that are widely recognized, fixed, and have conventionalized meanings.

Deictic (indexical)
Deictic gestures can occur simultaneously with vocal speech or in place of it. Deictic gestures are gestures that consist of indicative or pointing motions. These gestures often work in the same way as demonstrative words and pronouns like "this" or "that".

Deictic gestures can refer to concrete or intangible objects or people.

Motor (beat)
Motor or beat gestures usually consist of short, repetitive, rhythmic movements that are closely tied with prosody in verbal speech. Unlike symbolic and deictic gestures, beat gestures cannot occur independently of verbal speech and convey no semantic information. For example, some people wave their hands as they speak to emphasize a certain word or phrase.

These gestures are closely coordinated with speech. The so-called beat gestures are used in conjunction with speech and keep time with the rhythm of speech to emphasize certain words or phrases. These types of gestures are integrally connected to speech and thought processes.

Lexical (iconic)
Other spontaneous gestures used during speech production known as iconic gestures are more full of content, and may echo, or elaborate, the meaning of the co-occurring speech. They depict aspects of spatial images, actions, people, or objects. For example, a gesture that depicts the act of throwing may be synchronous with the utterance, "He threw the ball right into the window." Such gestures that are used along with speech tend to be universal. For example, one describing that he/she is feeling cold due to a lack of proper clothing and/or a cold weather can accompany his/her verbal description with a visual one. This can be achieved through various gestures such as by demonstrating a shiver and/or by rubbing the hands together. In such cases, the language or verbal description of the person does not necessarily need to be understood as someone could at least take a hint at what's being communicated through the observation and interpretation of body language which serves as a gesture equivalent in meaning to what's being said through communicative speech.

The elaboration of lexical gestures falls on a spectrum of iconic-metaphorical in how closely tied they are to the lexico-semantic content of the verbal speech they coordinate with. More iconic gesture very obviously mirrors the words being spoken (such as drawing a jagged horizontal line in the air to describe mountains) whereas more metaphorical gestures clearly contain some spatial relation to the semantic content of the co-occurring verbal speech, but the relationship between the gesture and the speech might be more ambiguous.

Lexical gestures, like motor gestures, cannot occur independently of verbal speech. The purpose of lexical gestures is still widely contested in the literature with some linguists arguing that lexical gestures serve to amplify or modulate the semantic content of lexical speech, or that it serves a cognitive purpose in aiding in lexical access and retrieval or verbal working memory. Most recent research suggests that lexical gestures serve a primarily socio-pragmatic role.

Language development
Studies affirm a strong link between gesture typology and language development. Young children under the age of two seem to rely on pointing gestures to refer to objects that they do not know the names of. Once the words are learned, they eschewed those referential (pointing) gestures. One would think that the use of gesture would decrease as the child develops spoken language, but results reveal that gesture frequency increased as speaking frequency increased with age. There is, however, a change in gesture typology at different ages, suggesting a connection between gestures and language development. Children most often use pointing and adults rely more on iconic and beat gestures. As children begin producing sentence-like utterances, they also begin producing new kinds of gestures that adults use when speaking (iconics and beats). Evidence of this systematic organization of gesture is indicative of its association to language development.

Sign languages
Gestural languages such as American Sign Language operate as complete natural languages that are gestural in modality. They should not be confused with finger spelling, in which a set of emblematic gestures are used to represent a written alphabet. Sign languages are different from gesturing in that concepts are modeled by certain hand motions or expressions and has a specific established structure while gesturing is more malleable and has no specific structure rather it supplements speech.

Before an established sign language was created in Nicaragua after the 1970s, deaf Nicaraguans would use "home signs" in order to communicate with others. These home signs were not part of a unified language but were still used as familiar motions and expressions used within their family—still closely related to language rather than gestures with no specific structure.

Home signs are similar to the gestural actions of chimpanzees. Gestures are used by these animals in place of verbal language, which is restricted in animals due to their lacking certain physiological and articulation abilities that humans have for speech. Corballis (2010) asserts that "our hominid ancestors were better pre-adapted to acquire language-like competence using manual gestures than using vocal sounds." This leads to a debate about whether humans, too, looked to gestures first as their modality of language in the early existence of the species. The function of gestures may have been a significant player in the evolution of language.

Social significance
Gesturing is probably universal; there has been no report of a community that does not gesture. Gestures are a crucial part of everyday conversation such as chatting, describing a route, negotiating prices on a market; they are ubiquitous. Gestures are learned embodied cultural practices that can function as a way to interpret ethnic, gender, and sexual identity.

Gestures, commonly referred to as "body language," play an important role in industry. Proper body language etiquette in business dealings can be crucial for success. However, gestures can have different meanings according to the country in which they are expressed. In an age of global business, diplomatic cultural sensitivity has become a necessity. Gestures that we take as innocent may be seen by someone else as deeply insulting.

The following gestures are examples of proper etiquette with respect to different countries' customs on salutations:
 * In the United States, "a firm handshake, accompanied by direct eye contact, is the standard greeting. Direct eye contact in both social and business situations is very important."
 * In the People's Republic of China, "the Western custom of shaking a person's hand upon introduction has become widespread throughout the country. However, oftentimes a nod of the head or a slight bow will suffice."
 * In Japan, "the act of presenting business cards is very important. When presenting, one holds the business card with both hands, grasping it between the thumbs and forefingers. The presentation is to be accompanied by a slight bow. The print on the card should point towards the person to which one is giving the card."
 * In Germany, "it is impolite to shake someone's hand with your other hand in your pocket. This is seen as a sign of disrespect".
 * In France, "a light, quick handshake is common. To offer a strong, pumping handshake would be considered uncultured. When one enters a room, be sure to greet each person present. A woman in France will offer her hand first."

Gestures are also a means to initiate a mating ritual. This may include elaborate dances and other movements. Gestures play a major role in many aspects of human life.

Additionally, when people use gestures, there is a certain shared background knowledge. Different cultures use similar gestures when talking about a specific action such as how we gesture the idea of drinking out of a cup.

When an individual makes a gesture, another person can understand because of recognition of the actions/shapes.

Gestures have been documented in the arts such as in Greek vase paintings, Indian Miniatures or European paintings.

In religion
In Hinduism and Buddhism, a mudra (Sanskrit, literally "seal") is a symbolic gesture made with the hand or fingers. Each mudra has a specific meaning, playing a central role in Hindu and Buddhist iconography.

A common religious gesture include crossing oneself in a number of religions as a sign of respect, typically by kneeling before a sacred object in many. Gestures play a central role in religious or spiritual rituals such as the Christian sign of the cross.

An example, Vitarka Vicara, the gesture of discussion and transmission of Buddhist teaching. It is done by joining the tips of the thumb and the index together, while keeping the other fingers straight.

Neurology
Gestures are processed in the same areas of the brain as speech and sign language such as the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area) and the posterior middle temporal gyrus, posterior superior temporal sulcus and superior temporal gyrus (Wernicke's area). It has been suggested that these parts of the brain originally supported the pairing of gesture and meaning and then were adapted in human evolution "for the comparable pairing of sound and meaning as voluntary control over the vocal apparatus was established and spoken language evolved". As a result, it underlies both symbolic gesture and spoken language in the present human brain. Their common neurological basis also supports the idea that symbolic gesture and spoken language are two parts of a single fundamental semiotic system that underlies human discourse. The linkage of hand and body gestures in conjunction with speech is further revealed by the nature of gesture use in blind individuals during conversation. This phenomenon uncovers a function of gesture that goes beyond portraying communicative content of language and extends David McNeill's view of the gesture-speech system. This suggests that gesture and speech work tightly together, and a disruption of one (speech or gesture) will cause a problem in the other. Studies have found strong evidence that speech and gesture are innately linked in the brain and work in an efficiently wired and choreographed system. McNeill's view of this linkage in the brain is just one of three currently up for debate; the others declaring gesture to be a "support system" of spoken language or a physical mechanism for lexical retrieval.

Because of this connection of co-speech gestures—a form of manual action—in language in the brain, Roel Willems and Peter Hagoort conclude that both gestures and language contribute to the understanding and decoding of a speaker's encoded message. Willems and Hagoort's research suggest that "processing evoked by gestures is qualitatively similar to that of words at the level of semantic processing." This conclusion is supported through findings from experiments by Skipper where the use of gestures led to "a division of labor between areas related to language or action (Broca's area and premotor/primary motor cortex respectively)", The use of gestures in combination with speech allowed the brain to decrease the need for "semantic control". Because gestures aided in understanding the relayed message, there was not as great a need for semantic selection or control that would otherwise be required of the listener through Broca's area. Gestures are a way to represent the thoughts of an individual, which are prompted in working memory. The results of an experiment revealed that adults have increased accuracy when they used pointing gestures as opposed to simply counting in their heads (without the use of pointing gestures) Furthermore, the results of a study conducted by Marstaller and Burianová suggest that the use of gestures affect working memory. The researchers found that those with low capacity of working memory who were able to use gestures actually recalled more terms than those with low capacity who were not able to use gestures.

Although there is an obvious connection in the aid of gestures in understanding a message, "the understanding of gestures is not the same as understanding spoken language." These two functions work together and gestures help facilitate understanding, but they only "partly drive the neural language system".

Electronic interface
The movement of gestures can be used to interact with technology like computers, using touch or multi-touch popularised by the iPhone, physical movement detection and visual motion capture, used in video game consoles.

It can be recorded using kinematic methodology.

Kendon's continuum
In order to better understand the linguistic values that gestures hold, Adam Kendon, a pioneer in gesture research has proposed to look at it as a continuum from less linguistic to fully linguistic. Using the continuum, speech declines as "the language-like properties of gestural behaviors increase and idiosyncratic gestures are replaced by socially regulated signs".

Gestures of different kinds fall within this continuum and include spontaneous gesticulations, language-like gestures, pantomime, emblems, and sign language. Spontaneous gesticulations are not evident without the presence of speech, assisting in the process of vocalization, whereas language-like gestures are "iconic and metaphoric, but lack consistency and are context-dependent". "Language-like gesture" implies that the gesture is assuming something linguistic (Loncke, 2013). Pantomime falls in the middle of the continuum and requires shared conventions. This kind of gesture helps convey information or describe an event.

Following pantomime are emblems, which have specific meanings to denote "feelings, obscenities, and insults" and are not required to be used in conjunction with speech. The most linguistic gesture on Kendon's continuum is sign language, where "single manual signs have specific meanings and are combined with other manual signs according to specific rules".

Philosophy
Giorgio Agamben, in the book Karman, says gesture is a pure means without purpose, as an intermediate form between the doing of praxis and that of poiesis. In an opposite spirit, Giovanni Maddalena introduced The philosophy of gesture where gesture is defined as any performed act with a beginning and an end that carries on a meaning (from the latin gero = to bear, to carry on). According to this philosophy, gesture is our normal procedure to embody vague ideas in singular actions with a general meaning. Gesture is forged by a dense blending of icons, indices, and symbols and by a complexity of phenomenological characteristics, such as feelings, actual actions, general concepts, and habits (firstness, secondness, and thirdness in Charles S. Peirce's phenomenology).

title: Gesture


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The Greens (Netherlands)

The Greens (DG, De Groenen) is a political party in the Netherlands. It advocates for Green politics, an unconditional basic income and emphasises its anti-militarism.

History
A group of Dutch environmentalists led by Marten Bierman founded The Greens on 17 December 1983. They entered the European elections under the name "European Greens" since the name "The Greens" was controlled by Bas de Gaay Fortman. The party's foundation was supported by the Francophone Belgian green party Ecolo, while the German Greens supported the Green Progressive Accord. The party became involved in the formation of the Coordination of European Green Parties. It won 1.3% of vote in the 1984 European parliament election, below the threshold of 4% for a seat.

For the 1986 national elections, the party used now the name "The Greens", which was abandoned. With Marten Bierman as top-candidate, it won 0.2% of the votes, below the threshold of 0.7% for a seat. The party had a federal structure consisting of provincial parties. In 1987, The Greens participated in the North Holland, South Holland and Gelderland provincial elections. They won one seat on the States of North Holland, partially because of the support of Green Amsterdam led by Roel van Duijn. On March 10, 1989 Green Amsterdam merged with The Greens.

In 1989, GroenLinks was formed by a merger of PPR, PSP, CPN and the Christian left Evangelical People's Party. The Greens rejected to join the merger because it emphasised social-economic issues too much and environmental issues too little. Independently, they participated in the 1989 elections with Roel van Duijn as their top candidate. The party won 0.35% of votes, below the threshold. The party abandoned its federal structure in 1992.

For the Dutch general election of 1994, GroenLinks proposed a candidate chosen by The Greens on place 10 on their list, but this was rejected by The Green's Congress. The party entered the election with Hein Westerouen van Meeteren as top-candidate and won 0.2% of vote. In the 1994 municipal elections the party expanded its number of seats and won seats in Leiden, Nijmegen, Zwolle and Amsterdam. In 1991, GroenLinks MEP Herman Verbeek left his party and continued as an independent. He became a member of The Greens in 1994 and led their European list in the European Parliament election. The party won 2.36% of vote, below the threshold.

In 1995, the party contested several provincial elections. It won seats in North Holland and South Holland (on a combined GroenLinks/The Greens list). The party cooperated with several provincial parties to form a common list for the indirect elections for the Senate by the States-Provincial. The first seat was taken by the "Federation of Frisian Municipal-interest Parties" and the second by Marten Bierman. Bierman was elected by preference votes. He formed a separate Independent Senate Fraction, a novelty in Dutch politics. Before no group had previously had representation in the Senate without also being present in the House of Representatives. In the 1998 elections the party participated with Jaap Dirkmaat as top-candidate and won 0.2% of the votes. The party did keep its seats in municipal councils and expanded to Haarlem, Zeist, Arnhem, Groningen and Haren.

The Greens have not participated in the Dutch general elections since 1998. The party received 0.19% of the vote in the European elections of 2009 and 0.23% of the vote in the European elections of 2014.

By 2017, the party was split into two conflicting groups both claiming legitimacy with the total party membership being 33. One faction held a congress with 10 attendees which elected Otto ter Haar party leader.

House of Representatives
The Greens have participated in five elections, failing to pass the threshold of 0,67 percent on each occasion.

European Parliament
The Greens is a founding party of the European Green Party.

The Greens participated since 1984 six times in the European elections.

States-Provincial
The Greens have been elected in the States of North Holland between 1987 and 2003, South Holland (1995–1999) and Gelderland (1995–2003).

Municipal councils
The Greens have been elected in the municipal councils of Amsterdam, Leiden, Zwolle, Nijmegen, Haarlem and Haren.

Water boards
In March 2015 The Greens were elected to the water board of Amstel, Gooi en Vecht with 23,604 votes (5.9%).

title: The Greens (Netherlands)


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Visual comparison

A visual comparison is to compare two or more things by eye. This might be done by placing them side by side; by overlaying them; by alternating an image or by presenting each image to a separate eye.

Such comparisons are the first stage in a child's development of an understanding of geometry and measurement, before they move to an understanding of measuring devices such as a ruler.

People with sufficient control over the parallax of their eyeballs (e.g. those who can easily view random-dot stereograms) can hold up two paper printouts and go cross-eyed to superimpose them. This invokes deep, fast, built-in image comparison wetware (the same machinery responsible for depth perception) and differences stand out almost immediately. This technique is good for finding edits in graphical images, or for comparing an image with a compressed version to spot artefacts.

Visual comparison with a standard chart or reference is often used as a means of measuring complex phenomena such as the weather, sea states or the roughness of a river. A colour chart is used for this purpose in many contexts such as chemistry, cosmetics, medical testing and photography.

Comparison by eye may also be used as a source of amusement or intelligence testing, as in the popular puzzle of spot the difference.

In policing, the technique is used for analysis of fingerprints and identity parades.

Visual comparison task can be simplified by using a computer software that automatically aligns a pair of images based on common visual features present in the two images.

Computer jargon
A visual diff or vdiff finds differences between two files by eyeball search. The term optical diff has also been reported, and is sometimes more specifically used for the act of superimposing two nearly identical printouts on one another and holding them up to a light to spot differences. Though this method is poor for detecting omissions in the ‘rear’ file, it can also be used with printouts of graphics, a claim few diff programs can make.

title: Visual comparison


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Trou de loup

In medieval fortification, a trou de loup (French for "wolf hole"; plural trous de loup, also commonly referred to as a tiger pit in the East) was a type of booby trap or defensive obstacle. Each trou de loup consisted of a conical pit about 2 m deep and 1.2 to 2 m wide at the top. At the bottom of the pit, a sharpened punji stick (wooden stake) would be hammered in. In some cases, the pit was concealed by light cover of wicker and a layer of soil.

Trous de loup might be found singly as a trap (in which case they were always concealed), or in a dense pattern with no gaps between pits, used as an obstacle in front of a defended position.

A field of trous de loup could be made more effective if subsequently flooded to a shallow depth, which would conceal the pits, make their sides slippery, and add the risk of drowning.

Sometimes rotting meat or feces would be smeared onto the points to cause serious infection or death.

History
Even though the term has a medieval origin, this kind of device was first described by Julius Caesar, in the seventh book of his Commentarii de Bello Gallico (Commentaries on the Gallic Wars), who employed the device during the siege of Alesia. Caesar writes they were called lilies for their resemblance to the flower of the same name. Later Roman examples can be seen at Rough Castle on the Antonine Wall in Great Britain.

title: Trou de loup


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Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) (नेपाल कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी (माओवादी केन्द्र)), abbreviated CPN (Maoist Centre), CPN-Maoist Centre, CPN Maoist Centre, or CPN (MC), is the third largest political party in Nepal and a member party of Samajbadi Morcha. It was founded in 1994 after breaking away from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre). The party launched an armed struggle in 1996 against the Nepalese government. In 2006, the party formally joined mainstream politics after signing a peace agreement following the 2006 Nepalese revolution.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal has served as the leader of the party since its foundation. The party holds 32 seats in the House of Representatives making them the third largest parliamentary group. Dahal recently served as Prime Minister of Nepal as part of a ruling coalition following the 2022 general election for almost 1.5 years to 2024 July. The party has previously led three previous governments; in 2008 and 2016 under Dahal, and in 2013 under Baburam Bhattarai.

The party was formed in 1994 with same name as its parent party Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) and was named as the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) in 1996. After the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre–Masal) and its electoral front, Janamorcha Nepal merged with the party in 2009, the unified party came to be known as the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The party emerged in its current state in 2016 following the unification of various splinter groups with the party.

The party was dissolved on 17 May 2018, after merging with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) to create the Nepal Communist Party but was revived on 8 March 2021 following a Supreme Court ruling in favor of Rishi Kattel, who had claimed the Nepal Communist Party name. The party claimed to have 750,000 members as of December 2021, making them the third largest party in Nepal by membership.

Founding, 1994–1996
The party was formed in 1994 following a split in the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre) into two factions, one led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal and the other led Nirmal Lama. The electoral front of the party, the United People's Front of Nepal, also split and the faction led by Baburam Bhattarai allied with the Pushpa Kamal Dahal led Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre). The two United People's Front of Nepal decided to register itself with the Election Commission, but the commission only recognized the Nirmal Lama backed party. Baburam Bhattarai responded by calling for a boycott of the 1994 mid-term elections.

Preparations for struggle, 1995–1996
The Unity Centre led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal went completely underground after the split to begin preparations for its next phase of struggle. The party held its Third Plenum in March 1995, where the party renamed itself to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). It also decided that the for "the true liberation of the people, all efforts must be concentrated for the development of a people's war that would usher in the new people's democratic form of government" and officially decided to give up its policy of taking part in parliamentary elections.

The March meeting was followed by six months of preparations to recast the old organizational structure into a fighting machine, and in September 1995, the 'Plan for the Historic Initiation of the People's War' was adopted by the Central Committee of the party. There then began a series of public meetings all over the country under the aegis of the United People's Front of Nepal as part of the final politico-ideological preparation. The party launched the 'Sija campaign' in Rolpa and Rukum, named after the Sisne and Jaljala mountains in the two districts, to propagate the ideology of Marxism–Leninism–Maoism.

In October 1995, during the Sija campaign, a fight broke out between supporters of the United People's Front of Nepal and other parties, mainly the Nepali Congress and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party, at a village in the eastern part of Rukum. The newly formed government under Sher Bahadur Deuba moved swiftly to arrest the UPFN supporters, accusing them of creating public disorder. The police then launched 'Operation Romeo' in November 1995. Officially, Operation Romeo was labeled as an operation to control a rise in criminal activities in Rolpa. Operation Romeo resulted in gross violations of human rights, including the arbitrary arrest and detention of hundreds of members of left-of-center parties, rapes, executions and “disappearances.” In the light of this action, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the party met briefly in January 1996 and made the final decision on the historic initiation of the 'People's War' for 13 February 1996.

On 4 February 1996, Baburam Bhattarai led a three-member delegation of the United People's Front of Nepal to present a memorandum to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba. The memorandum warned that unless the government took initiative to fulfill their 40-point demands by 17 February the UFPN would launch an armed revolution.

People's war, 1996–2001
On 13 February 1996, after Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba had left for a state visit to India two days before, the office of the Small Farmer's Development Programme run by the Agricultural Development Bank was overrun in Gorkha district and the loan papers were destroyed. This was followed in the evening by attacks on police posts in Aathbiskot-Rari in Rukum, Holeri in Rolpa and Sindhuligadhi in Sindhuli. The 'People's War' was formally launched.

After the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) came into government in 1997, violence between both sides stopped but the issue could not be resolved. The government formed a taskforce to look into the 'Maoist Activities and a Search for Solutions' in April 1997 under CPN (UML) MP Prem Singh Dhami but the commission report was ultimately shelved in August of the same year. A local election was called in May 1997, but polls could not be held in 87 village development committees due to intimidation by the Maoists. The government in response attempted to introduce the Terrorist and Destructive Activities (Control and Punishment) Act in July 1997 at the initiative of deputy prime minister and home minister Bam Dev Gautam. The act would give the police wide-ranging powers against perceived 'terrorists'. But the government was forced to backtrack on the law before it was placed in front of the parliament owing to mass protests from the civil society, the media, and international organizations.

On 13 February 1998, the second anniversary of the 'people's war', the Maoists announced the existence of a Central Military Commission under Prachanda. By May 1998, 51 village development committees in Rolpa district and western Nepal were under Maoist control and they were operating a parallel administration called the 'People's Government'. When the new Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala went on tour of the Maoist influenced area he realized that the situation was getting out of hand. After an attack on Kalikatar in Tanahun, the home district of the home minister, Govinda Raj Joshi, the state launched a moved swiftly and launched the 'Kilo Serra II'. The operation was meant to be a 'search and kill' operation to prevent Maoist movement from gaining strength. Unlike Operation Romeo, which was concentrated on the western hills, 'Kilo Serra Two' was spread out across all the Maoist controlled regions of the country. From mid-1998 an unprecedented number of Maoists and their supporters—as well as civilians caught in the middle—were killed. Almost five hundred people were killed under 'Kilo Serra Two'.

During the elections in 1999, the Maoists simply called for a boycott and did not disrupt the polls. In December 1999, the Krishna Prasad Bhattarai government formed the 'High-Level Committee to Provide Suggestions to Solve the Maoist Problem' under Sher Bahadur Deuba, and two months later authorised it to hold talks with the Maoists. Contact was established with the Maoist leadership, and the response was positive. A letter by Prachanda to a government intermediary stated that three minimum conditions need to fulfilled before any high level negotiations and that they would cease all operations during this time. The conditions were, reveal the whereabouts of a central committee member of the CPN-Maoist along with others who had 'disappeared', initiate moves to release arrested workers and sympathizers; and end state terrorism and begin process to investigate the incident of arson and killing in Rukum district. After Krishna Prasad Bhattarai resigned and was replaced by Girija Prasad Koirala, the new prime minister declared: 'The first priority of the government will be to restore law and order in the country to protect lives of the people.'

Following this an 'Armed Nepal Bandh' was announced for 6 April 2000 and attacks on the police resumed. In late September, the Maoists overran Dunai, the district headquarters of Dolpa. Following this attack the Royal Nepal Army was mobilized for security duty in 16 districts. The army could not be brought to the fight against the Maoists however due to disagreements between the Prime Minister and the King of Nepal, the supreme commander of the Royal Nepal Army.

Girija Prasad Koirala came in contact with the Maoist leadership during this time and the deputy prime minister, Ram Chandra Paudel, met with a Central Committee member of the CPN-Maoist. The breakthrough came to be a naught in the end as the government released a top Maoist leader after having him renounce his party at a press conference. In February 2001, informal talks with the government and the Maoists almost began but the Maoists backed out, asking for a postponement. Then on February 26, they announced that they had just conducted their second national conference and Pushpa Kamal Dahal was elected chairman. Furthermore, it was announced that the guiding ideology of the party will become Marxism–Leninism–Maoism–Prachanda Path.

In March 2001, the government published the names of 294 individuals who were in police custody charged with being sympathizers and members of the CPN-Maoist. Then in early April 2001, without any warnings, the Maoists carried out devastating attacks in police posts in Rukum and Dailekh districts within a week of each other, killing 70 policemen. The Maoists also announced that no negotiations would be held with the government until Girija Prasad Koirala stepped down. On 7 July 2001, the birthday of the new king Gyanendra, 41 policemen were killed by the Maoists in Gulmi, Lamjung and Nuwakot districts. Later that month, they attacked a police post in Rolpa and took 69 policemen hostage. The Koirala government immediately mobilized the army but when the soldiers failed to engage with the Maoists, Koirala resigned as Prime Minister. Sher Bahadur Deuba followed him as prime minister and immediately announced a ceasefire, which was reciprocated by the Maoist side with a ceasefire of their own.

People's Liberation Army, 2001–2002
In mid-August 2001, a meeting between the mainstream communist parties and the CPN-Maoist was arranged by the Communist Party of Nepal (Masal) near Siliguri, but nothing significant emerged from this meeting since Prachanda's request for support on the Maoist call for a republic was turned down. The first official meeting between the government and the Maoists were held on August 30, 2001, led by deputy prime minister Chiranjibi Wagle and Krishna Bahadur Mahara from the Maoist side. Nothing substantial happened during this meeting except for mutual commitment to hold talks again. Two weeks later, the second was held in western Nepal and the Maoists placed a full range of demand on the table. These demands were of three categories. The first was calls for a constituent assembly, an interim government and a republic. The second dealt with treaties with India and policies regarding India. The third was going public with details of arrested Maoists and a rollback of police operations.

The parliament passed the Armed Police Force Act, 2001 in August 2001 for the formation of an Armed Police Force to counter the Maoists as the Royal Nepal Army could only be mobilized by the king, who was the supreme commander of the army. In September 2001, the 'people's army' was restructured into the 'People's Liberation Army' and was under the supreme command of Prachanda. The PLA consisted of the bulk of the Maoist guerrilla fighting force, which was estimated anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 strong. The Maoists also had a militia, who were assigned guard duty in Maoist-controlled village development committees.

Before the third round of talks were going to held, the government scrapped the Public Security Regulations and freed 68 prisoners, while the Maoist side gave up their calls for a republic and an interim government. The third round of talks were held on 13 November 2001 but was inconclusive as demands for a constituent assembly was rejected by the government, a call backed by other political parties.

The Maoists ended the four month-long ceasefire on 23 November 2001 by attacking government and private installations throughout the country after a statement two days earlier by Prachanda which signaled that talks were about to break down. The Maoists also attacked army barracks for the first time. The Maoists attacked Ghorahi in Dang and briefly took control of the district headquarters. They killed more than two dozen police and army personnel, blew up government offices, freed prisoners from the local jail and stole NPR 64.8 million worth of gold and silver from local banks. This coincided with attacks all over the country the most serious of which was in Syangja where 14 policemen were killed. This was followed two days later by an attack on the headquarters and army barracks in Solukhumbu District. The attack on the headquarters was unsuccessful but they made out with a substantial amount of ammunition and sophisticated weapons from their attack on the army barracks. The party also announced the formation of a 37-member United Revolutionary People's Council of Nepal and was headed by Baburam Bhattarai.

Following this the prime minister, Sher Bahadur Deuba, imposed a state of emergency and promulgated an anti-terrorist ordinance that labeled the CPN (Maoist) a terrorist organization. After failure to increase the time period for the state of emergency, King Gyanendra on the recommendation of the prime minister dissolved the parliament in May 2002 and buoyed by the success against the Maoist insurgents,   decided to call for elections in November of the same year. But following a surprise attack in Sandhikharka in Arghakhanchi District which killed 65 security personnel, the prime minister asked for more time to conduct the polls. The king promptly removed Deuba in October 2002 for his 'incompetence' and assumed the country's executive authority.

King's rule, 2002–2006
On 26 January 2003, the Maoists killed the Inspector General of the Armed Police Force, Krishna Mohan Shrestha, his wife and a bodyguard during a morning walk. After the government decided to retract the terrorist label, bounties and a red corner notice against the Maoists, another ceasefire was announced on 29 January 2003. The peace talks between the government and the Maoists resumed on 27 April 2003, led by deputy prime minister Badri Prasad Mandal and Baburam Bhattarai from the Maoists. Another round of talks were held on 10 May 2003, following which the government decided to restrict army movement to five kilometres from their barracks, forming a code of conduct during the ceasefire and releasing some top Maoist leaders. After the government released key members of the Maoist party the third round of talks finally began on 17 August 2003. The ceasefire was broken on 27 August 2003 by Prachanda, after the two groups could not agree on the formation of a constituent assembly.

Although there were intermittent ceasefires, fighting was roughly continuous through 2005. In 2005, the CPN (Maoist) sought a different strategy of seeking permanent peace accords while forming a pro-democratic alliance with several other mainstream political parties in opposition to the monarchical dictatorship of King Gyanendra. Following massive popular uprisings and protests (some involving over a million people), a prolonged general strike in 2006, and several violent clashes between protesters and the Nepalese Army, the monarchy finally capitulated. The CPN (Maoist) gained international legitimacy as they agreed to lay down arms and participate in the new electoral process. In the aftermath of the conflict, several western European powers removed the CPN (Maoist) from their government's terrorist lists. In 2012, the US State Department followed suit and delisted the CPN (Maoist) as a "terrorist organization", citing the party's "...credible commitment to pursuing peace and reconciliation...".

Comprehensive Peace Accord, 2006–2008
After waging the Civil War for ten years, the CPN (Maoist) sat down for peace talks after the success of the People's Movement in 2002/03. The Twelve-Point Agreement reached between the then seven-party alliance and the Maoist rebels in Delhi created a path for peaceful agitation against the direct rule of the king and to end autocracy in Nepal. The civil war conducted by the CPN (Maoist) created the foundation for the establishment of a republic in Nepal. It also created political consciousness among the people at the grassroots level and, to some extent, awareness of the need for national socio-economic transformation.

After the declaration of the king to reinstate the parliament, the CPN (Maoist) insisted that the declaration was a betrayal to the people. Instead the king should bring down his institution for his deeds. But there was no hearing from the other parties in the alliance. Maoist chairman Prachanda appeared at the prime minister's residence, Baluwatar for the peace talk and said that he was there to establish a new kind of democracy in Nepal, but he didn't reveal details.

After the peace talks held between the CPN (Maoist) and the Government of Nepal, the Maoist rebels were ready to put an end to the ten-year-long Civil War. Signing the Comprehensive Peace Accord, Maoist chairman Prachanda said that the Civil War had come to an end and a new revolution was to be waged by the reinstated parliament. The peace accord was signed on September 21, 2006, ending the Maoist revolution. However, Prachanda was able to provide legacy to the 19,000-member People's Liberation Army that was kept in the cantonment under the supervision of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN).

The interim constitution of Nepal 2063, gave a constitutional position to these Maoist cadres. There was a provision for providing monthly allowance for the Maoist armies staying at the cantonment. The Maoist leaders believe that the revolution has not ended here but only the form of struggle was changed.

First Constituent Assembly, 2008–2012
In the 2008 Constituent Assembly elections, the CPN (Maoist) won 220 seats and an additional 9 members were nominated from the party giving them a strength of 229 seats and making them the largest party in the 1st Constituent Assembly. Despite accusations of fraud from older parties like the Nepali Congress and CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist), international observers reported that the elections were held in a peaceful, orderly manner and were satisfying. The Maoists did not have a majority to form the government and had to form a coalition with CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and Madhesi Janaadhikar Forum, Nepal. Chairman of the party, Pushpa Kamal Dahal was elected prime minister after getting 464 out of 577 votes against Nepali Congress candidate Sher Bahadur Deuba. As the first proposal of the first meeting of this Constituent Assembly received full support, it was declared that the monarchy of Nepal has ended forever and the monarchy that has been in power for 240 years has been formally ended and Nepal has become a federal democratic republic.

On 13 January 2009 the party merged with the CPN (Unity Centre–Masal) to form the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). The election front of CPN (Unity Centre–Masal), Janamorcha Nepal also merged into the party and with its 8 seats took the Maoists' total strength to 237 in the Constituent Assembly. The Maoist government fell after its coalition partners withdrew support from the government after Dahal tried to sack the army chief, Rookmangud Katuwal. President Ram Baran Yadav rejected Dahal's proposal to sack the army chief and he resigned on 4 May 2009. After the Maoist government fell, a faction under Matrika Prasad Yadav split from the party and reformed the former CPN (Maoist). Matrika Prasad Yadav and Jagat Prasad Yadav also resigned from the Constituent Assembly and were replaced from among the party list.

In February 2011 the Maoists formed a coalition with the CPN (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and formed a government under UML's Jhala Nath Khanal. The government could not agree a deal to complete the integration of former Maoist combatants and Khanal resigned on 15 August 2011 to pave the way for a formation of a national consensus government. Almost two weeks later, Baburam Bhattarai was elected prime minister defeating Ram Chandra Paudel from the Nepali Congress 340–235. The government under Bhattarai was able to get finalize a deal to integrate the former Maoist guerrillas and a deal was signed with all major parties on 1 November 2011. Hardliner factions inside the party, like party vice-chairman Mohan Baidya, were however unsatisfied with the decision.

The government however failed to agree a consensus on the drafting of the new constitution and on 28 May 2012, Baburam Bhattarai requested President Ram Baran Yadav to dissolve the Constituent Assembly and call for fresh elections. On 18 June 2012, party vice-chairman Mohan Baidya split the party and formed the Communist Party of Nepal—Maoist. He accused the party of being filled with opportunists and the leadership of destroying the achievements of the People's War. He also termed accepting the line of "democratic republic" in 2005 and signing the Comprehensive Peace Accord in 2006 as major mistakes by the Maoist leadership. Baburam Bhattrai resigned as prime minister and on 14 March 2013, Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi was appointed as an interim prime minister to hold the elections.

Second Constituent Assembly, 2013–2015
In the 2013 Constituent Assembly election, held on 19 November 2013, the UCPN (Maoist) won just 80 seats and an additional 3 seats were nominated from the party to the 2nd Constituent Assembly compared to 237 in the 1st Constituent Assembly. The result meant that the Maoists were dropped to be the third largest party in the Constituent Assembly from first in past. The party rejected the results and blamed it on an "international and national" conspiracy and warned that the party would sit out of the newly elected Constituent Assembly.

The party later agreed to join the new constituent assembly and Onsari Gharti Magar from the party was elected as the vice-chairman of the Constituent Assembly on 26 February 2014. Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala became the new prime minister of Nepal but the Maoists did not join his government. The new Constituent Assembly was finally able to deliver a constitution and on 17 September 2015, the Constitution of Nepal, 2015 was approved by 507 members. Baburam Bhattarai resigned from the newly formed Legislature Parliament of Nepal and the party following the announcement of the constitution and formed Naya Shakti Party, Nepal.

Federal Republic and dissolution, 2016–2018
Pushpa Kamal Dahal became prime minister for the second time on 3 August 2016, before resigning on 25 May 2017 to make way for Sher Bahadur Deuba to become prime minister as per an agreement with Nepali Congress. On 19 May 2016, ten Maoist parties including pro-unity factions from the Communist Party of Nepal (Revolutionary Maoist) and Communist Party of Nepal and the Matrika Yadav-led Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) merged with the party. The party renamed itself to Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) following the merger.

In the 2017 local elections, the party won 5,411 seats including 106 mayor and chair positions of 753 becoming third largest. The party won the mayoral post in only one metropolitan city, Bharatpur with the support of Nepali Congress and Renu Dahal(Daughter of Puspa Kamal Dahal) became mayor.

The party announced an alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) before the start of the 2017 legislative and provincial elections but did not quit the government led by Sher Bahadur Deuba. The party won 53 seats and again emerged as the third largest party in the House of Representatives. The party also won 108 seats to provincial assemblies and formed coalition governments with the CPN (UML) in six out of the seven provinces. According to the power sharing agreement, Maoist Centre would lead the government in Karnali and Sudurpashchim. The party also formed a coalition government with the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) to lead the federal government. In the National Assembly elections on 6 February 2018, the party won 12 of the 56 elected seats. Nanda Bahadur Pun was also re-elected as vice-president on 19 March 2018.

On 17 May 2018, the Party Unification Coordination Committee decided to dissolve both coalition parties in order to create a merger party, the Nepal Communist Party.

Revival, 2021–present
On 8 March 2021, Nepal's Supreme Court stated that the allocation of the name "Nepal Communist Party" upon the merger of the CPN(UML) and CPN (Maoist Centre), and by extension the merger itself, was void ab initio, as the name was already allotted to a party led by Rishiram Kattel, and that the NCP stood "dismissed". Upon the ruling, the two predecessor parties were revived in their original state immediately prior to the merger, although should the two wish to merge again with proper procedure being followed, it would be fully allowed.

2021 Split
The party faced a split when the MPs Prabhu Sah, Gauri Shankar Chaudhary, Lekhraj Bhatta, Deputy prime minister Top Bahadur Rayamajhi) and two National Assembly members (including Ram Bhadur Thapa) split from the party and joined the CPN(UML), along with nine provincial assembly members. Two mayors and three rural municipality chairpersons also left the party and joined the CPN(UML).

Ideology
The Maoists announced a ‘People's War’ on 13 February 1996, under the slogan: "Let us march ahead on the path of struggle towards establishing the people's rule by wrecking the reactionary ruling system of state." Maoists strongly believe in the philosophy of Mao Zedong who proclaimed, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." Maoists also draw inspiration from the ‘Revolutionary Internationalist Movement’, Peru's left wing guerrilla movement—the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), and from radical communist parties in different parts of the world.

The Maoists' aims in the ‘People's War’ were to establish a ‘People's Democracy’ in Nepal. The Maoists view it as an "historical revolt against feudalism, imperialism and reformists." The catalyst for declaring the ‘People's War’ was the failure of the Nepalese government to respond to a memorandum presented by its representatives to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on 4 February 1996. The memorandum listed 40 demands related to "nationalism, democracy and livelihood". These included the abolition of royal privileges, the promulgation of a new constitution, and the abrogation of the Mahakali Treaty with India, which regulated the distribution of water and electricity as well as the delineation of the border between the two countries.

In second conference of the CPN (Maoist), a post for chairman was created for the Maoist chief Prachanda. Until then, the chief of the organization had been its general secretary. A report titled “The great leap forward: An inevitable need of history” was presented by Prachanda. This report was in serious discussion in the central committee and the top leaders of the party. Based on this report, the CPN (Maoist) adopted Prachanda Path as its ideology. After five years of armed struggle, the party realized that none of the proletarian revolutions of the past could be carried out on Nepal's context. So having analyzed the serious challenges and growing changes in the global arena, and moving further ahead than Marxism, Leninism and Maoism, the party determined its own ideology, Prachanda Path.

Prachanda Path in essence is a different kind of uprising, which can be described as the fusion of a protracted people's war strategy which was adopted by Mao in China and the Russian model of armed revolution. Professor Lok Raj Baral, in his writing about Prachanda Path says that this doctrine doesn't apparently make an ideological break with Marxism and Leninism but finds that these doctrines' strategies aren't able to be replicated in Nepal as it was done in the past. Most of the Maoist leaders think that the adoption of Prachanda Path after the second national conference is what nudged the party into moving ahead with a clear vision ahead after five years of ‘people's war’.

Senior Maoist leader Mohan Vaidya alias Kiran says, ‘Just as Marxism was born in Germany, Leninism in Russia and Maoism in China, Prachanda Path is Nepal's identity of revolution. Just as Marxism has three facets- philosophy, political economy and scientific socialism, Prachanda Path is a combination of all three totally in Nepal's political context.’ The adoption of Prachanda Path was inspired truly from the Shining Path. In fact, the bringing up of new doctrine worked out with the concept of giving a new identity to Nepal's revolution. Talking about the party's philosophy, Maoist chairman Prachanda says, ‘The party considers Prachanda path as an enrichment of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism.’ After the party brought forward its new doctrine, the government was trying to comprehend the new ideology, Prachanda Path.

Women in the party
Women have been prominent in the recruiting profile. Available reports indicate that one-fifth to one-third of the cadre and the combatants during the Nepalese Civil War may be women. Reportedly, every village under Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) control had a revolutionary women's organization. According to a Jane's Intelligence Review report of October 2001, there were usually two women in each unit of 35–40 men, and they were used to gather intelligence and act as couriers. Baburam Bhattarai was quoted as saying in Spacetime on 18 April 2003, that fifty percent of cadres at the lower level, thirty percent of soldiers and ten percent of members of central committee of the outfit were women. Durgha Pokhrel, then Chairman of National Women's Commission, who visited more than 25 Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) controlled districts, stated on 3 July 2003, during a talk delivered at the Nepal Council of World Affairs that percentage of women cadres could be as high as forty. A women's group, the All Nepal Women's Association (Revolutionary), is alleged to be a front outfit of the CPN-M.

Use of children
During the Nepalese Civil War, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) resorted to mass under-age recruitment, particularly of young students, usually between 12 and 16 years old. At the conclusion of the war, an estimated 12,000 Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) soldiers were below 18 years of age, and Human Rights Watch estimates that the majority of the current militia joined as minors. The United Nation Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) has verified that there were nine thousand child soldiers in Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) cantonment training camps.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) used children as soldiers, messengers, cooks, porters and suppliers. Regardless of role, all children received rudimentary military training concerning explosives, so they would be able to recognize and avoid land mines. The current Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre), however, continues to deny that any of its soldiers during the war were less than 18 years of age. They also claim that they have cared for orphans of adult soldiers killed in the war, and that these children were not placed in danger.

Links with fraternal parties
According to available information, the Maoists of Nepal have well-established linkages with Indian revolutionary communist organizations, primarily with the Communist Party of India (Maoist), currently leading a protracted "people's war" throughout the subcontinent. The first signs of contacts were reportedly registered during 1989–1990, when the two groups started collaborating in order to expand their influence. According to Indian government analysis, they began the process of laying a corridor, which is now widely referred to as the Revolutionary Corridor (RC) extending from Nepal to across six Indian States, including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. This entire area has been identified in Maoist literature as the Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ). The CRZ was organized by the Nepal and Indian members of the Naxalite movement, in a meeting at Siliguri in the Indian State of West Bengal during August 2001. Indian Maoists are known as Naxalites (or Naxals) in reference to a popular uprising that began decades ago centered in the village of Naxalbari.

Nepalese Maoists had sent their delegates to the March 2001 Congress of PWG held at Abuz Marh in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The establishment of CRZ gave a wider space and platform for all the proscribed Nepal and Indian Naxalite organizations to strengthen their bases in both the countries.

The CPN (Maoist) is a participating organization of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM), a global association of revolutionary communist parties. In July 2001, ten regional Maoist groups formed the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organization of South Asia (CCOMPOSA), in which the Nepalese Maoists, PWG, MCC, Purbo Banglar Sarbahara Party (Bangladesh), Communist Party of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and other Indian communist parties became members. The appearance of graffiti in remote villages in Naxalite-strongholds, in Rayakal and Mallapur mandals (administrative unit) of Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh, hailing CCOMPOSA points the spread of the idea of a common front of revolutionary communist groups in South Asia. Moreover, the Central Committee of the Maoists, in late-January 2002, passed a resolution stating that it would work together with the PWG and the MCC in fighting the ban imposed on the latter two organisations in India, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, 2002. A year earlier, in 2001, the Maoists had sent a senior leader named Gaurav as a fraternal delegate to attend the 9th Congress of the PWG. Reports indicate that the Maoists and the PWG have also formed the Indo-Nepal Border Region Committee to coordinate their activities in North Bihar and along the India-Nepal border.

During the civil war, the Maoists also gathered a lot of support from organizations in South Asia, which was very important in carrying out the struggle with certain pace. Having visited several districts in India, Maoist chairman Prachanda studied the challenges of launching an armed struggle. Chairman Prachanda drafted war policies and tactics staying in India. Chairman Prachanda says, “First and foremost, there was the RIM Committee. There were important ideological and political exchanges. From the RIM committee we got the experience of the Communist Party of Peru, the two line struggle there, and also the experience in Turkey, the experience in Iran and the experience in the Philippines.” The CPN Maoist also participated in a South Asian Conference where they held discussions with the civil war group and Maoist communist Centre groups. The party believes in achieving a lot from this meet about conducting a civil war.

Having realized the necessity of spreading the party's message to the world, the party came up with a decision to host a website which was to spread the knowledge about Nepalese revolution. Thus, www.cpnm.org was hosted with the help of some of the fraternal Maoist organization in Europe. The CPN Maoist currently after the jump into the ‘mainstream’ politics played an initiative role in introducing a Maoist Communist Party in Bhutan as well. The new party in Bhutan is said to have greatly inspired from the Nepalese Civil War and want to have a same practice there.

MCC Compact
MCC compact entered Nepal during the premiership of Bhattarai while a committee was formed during second premiership of Dahal to rectify MCC. During premiership of Bhattarai, Barsaman Pun was the finance minister while Krishna Bahadur Mahara was the finance minister during premiership of Dahal. Maoist leaders Matrika Prasad Yadav, Bina Magar, Shakti Bahadur Basnet, Giriraj Mani Pokharel and Ram Bahadur Thapa were part of Second Oli cabinet which took MCC to parliament. At the time, they had given approval to table MCC.

Party president Prachanda publicly maintained that the Millennium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) Nepal Compact could not be ratified without amending certain clauses. It was found that he was in favor of ratification as it was. MCC later released the letter dated September 29, 2021, in which Prachanda and Prime Minister of Nepal Sher Bahadur Deuba assured MCC that the compact would be ratified within four to five months. Major national newspapers criticized Prachanda's move, saying it would deteriorate Nepal's diplomatic strength and virtue.

They reported that it was dual nature of the party to both stay in government and protest at the same time for personal profit and vote swing. This move was highly criticized by people and medias.

The party chairman had given approval to table MCC while several fellow politicians stood in opposition to the chairman's decision. They called for protests even on streets. Many police were attacked. Trees were broken, the blocks of footpath were removed to attack police as shown in picture. The branches of trees were broken. The Maoist cadets destroyed a boutique while the owner was saving police. Government had to pay for the loss. Leader of opposition and chairman of Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), KP Sharma Oli of condemned the decision of Maoists to stay in government while destroying public property at the same time. The Home Minister of Nepal, Bal Krishna Khan's and Prime minister asked the protesters to stay calm and not destroy public properties casing loss to the government and economy.

Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha
In 2004, a small group split from the CPN (Maoist) to form Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha. This group has subsequently split up into more than five groups and said to have no specific ideological destiny. The group accused the CPN (Maoist) of not guaranteeing the autonomy of the Terai region. The name is in Nepalese which means "Terai Peoples Liberation Front" in English. The Jwala Singh faction of the Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (JTMM-J) was formed by Nagendra Kumar Paswan a.k.a. Jwala Singh in August 2006 after he broke away from the Jaya Krishna Goit led JTMM. Jwala Singh is a former CPN-Maoist cadre and had joined Goit when he floated the JTMM. Later, he developed differences with Goit over the strategies to be adopted for the liberation of the Terai and establishment of an independent Terai state.

Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
In 2009, a faction under Matrika Yadav split from UCPN (Maoist) to reorganise the previous Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

In June 2012 party suffered a vertical split. The hardliner faction formed a new party named Communist Party of Nepal—Maoist, later Communist Party of Nepal (Revolutionary Maoist), headed by Mohan Baidya. The Communist Party of Nepal—Maoist further split to form another Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which was later renamed to Nepal Communist Party, headed by Netra Bikram Chand.

Legislative elections
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Chairmen

 * Pushpa Kamal Dahal, 2001–2018, 2021–present

General secretaries

 * Pushpa Kamal Dahal, 1994–2001
 * Post Bahadur Bogati, 2013–2014
 * Krishna Bahadur Mahara, 2014–2016
 * Ram Bahadur Thapa, 2016–2018
 * Dev Prasad Gurung, 2022–Present

Sister organizations

 * Young Communist League, Nepal
 * All Nepal National Independent Students' Union (Revolutionary)
 * All Nepal Women's Association Revolutionary
 * Press Centre Nepal
 * All Nepal Trade Union Federation (Revolutionary)
 * Nepal National Civil Servants Employees Association
 * Newa Rastriya Mukti Morcha, Nepal


text:
User:Ilya (usurped)

fr:Utilisateur:Ilya de:Benutzer:Ilia

As of 2005
 * User:Ilya/Wikimania

What I am trying to understand:
 * supersymmetry game
 * lots of other topics...

What I have written:
 * /AG

title: User:Ilya (usurped)


text:
Talk:AS-90

What does "ERA" mean in this context?
What does "ERA" mean in this context? The current list on the disambiguation page do not seem to apply. RedWolf 02:11, Dec 16, 2003 (UTC)

acronymfinder.com seems to have the best guess of "Extended Range Ammunition" or "Extended Range Artillery". ugen64 02:13, Dec 16, 2003 (UTC)

Often also known as 'Base Bleed' Ammunition. Rob cowie 19:59, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

The correct name for the program was 'ERA/ERO', meaning Extended Range Ammunition/Extended Rage Ordnance Nfe 10:09, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

In service with the Yanks?
Isn't this weapon in service with the Yanks as propelled weapons were built in 2005 at BAE Telford for the US Army. King Konger

 * It's not in US service Chwyatt 13:42, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Nomenclature
It's missing. AS90 has to have a FV number, and land-service numbers for the complete equipment (eg something around L125) and ordnance (eg something around L27).

There's also the matter of the auxiliary engine. Nfe 10:14, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Howitzer 155mm L131 Self Propelled (AS90) is the Guns full designation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.42.173.207 (talk) 23:06, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Why delete picture?
It is of an AS-90 and comes from the UK MoD Defence Image Library and hence is in the public domain. What's wrong with it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nfe (talk • contribs)

 * The problem is that the image is copyrighted and using it here infringes that copyright. Because the copyright is owned by a department of the British government does not mean that it is public domain, in fact as I remember it means that it is copyrighted for 50 more years. It is the US government that releases all their images into the public domain - this does not apply to most other countries.--Konstable 08:27, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

I'd suggest a bit more study on intellectual property law, notably that of UK and what copyright actually means. The purpose of copyright is to give the owner control over their property, these property rights can be transferred in their entirety or in part. MoD's terms and conditions for use of their images are at http://www.defenceimagedatabase.mod.uk/fotoweb/terms.fwx

This explicitly grants the right of non-commercial use. This means that if you use an image in something you produce for sale then you must pay a licence fee. However, if you are not using it to turn a buck then you can use it free of charge. Wikipedia is not a commercial operation (unless someone's being very naughty and telling porkies).

Every work has copyright attached to it. Copyright means the copyright owner has can grant whatever rights they choose to other parties. For example my words here are copyright to me but I have granted free publication rights to Wikipedia. However, if Wikipedia decided to become a commercial operation then I would revoke my waivure and take approprate legal action if Wikipedia did not remove my work (or paid me lots). MoD waives their copyright so long as someone else doesn't try and make a buck from it, then they take the entirely reasonable view that the UK taxpayer should get a fraction of this buck. A commercial purpose does of course include such things as BAE, the producer of AS-90, using MoD's image in their promotional material (although I suspect BAE pay a lump sum and can use whatever they want).

If Wikipedia wanted to be doubly sure then they could approach MoD for confirmation that publication on Wikipedia does not constitute a commercial purpose. If MoD states that they consider Wikepdia to be commercial then the options are to either remove all MoD copyright images or argue the toss in court. Has Wikipedia approached MoD for confirmation and have they said Wikipedia is commercial?

The reality is that MoD publishes their images so that they get publicity, that's what they want. They just object to people making money out of their work and not giving them a share. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nfe (talk • contribs)

 * I'm sorry I did not write this policy, but Wikipedia is strict on images - they must be able to be re-used commercially as well (see WP:NONFREE). While Wikipedia itself does not make money off them (or at least claims not to, they still get millions in donations) the goal of this project is to also allow our content to be re-usable even in commercial settings (such as the WP:V1.0 project or maybe producing printed copies). And as the copyright tag currently used on the image says, someone did in fact already ask the branch of UK government that handles copyrights for permissions to use their content and they refused. This is not my individual decision to remove the image, it is the wishes of the copyright owner not to have these images here due to Wikipedia's licensing policies.--Konstable 05:47, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Probably best just to leave the pictures there, no ill would ever come of it, plus by deleting the picture you adversely impact the quality of the article and Wikipedia. A picture speaks a thousand words and unless you want to add a detailed visually descriptive paragraph it's probably better for everyone if you just quit deleting pics. (Sapperhutch (talk) 06:01, 17 August 2008 (UTC))

 * Obviously you completely ignored the previous posting about Wiki policy.
 * 2603:6080:21F0:7880:6CA3:8805:72AB:6B1C (talk) 05:46, 16 January 2023 (UTC)

The Royal Regiment of Artillery
I have changed certain wording to better reflect the actuall relationship between the Royal Horse Artillery and the Royal Artillery - both are parts of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. I know this may seem like mere semantics and hair-splitting and I couldn't care less. Darth Doctrinus 19:00, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Technical terms should be explained
"...uses a conforming 39 calibre barrel which fires the L15 unassisted projectile out to a range of 24.7 km. However, this was a new design of ordnance and uses a split sliding block breech with Crossley obturation, instead of the more usual screw breech...". Technojargon like conforming, split sliding block, Crossley obturation needs to be explained for the lay reader, otherwise it may be meaningless. Rcbutcher (talk) 23:59, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Blacklisted Links Found on the Main Page
Cyberbot II has detected that page contains external links that have either been globally or locally blacklisted. Links tend to be blacklisted because they have a history of being spammed, or are highly innappropriate for Wikipedia. This, however, doesn't necessarily mean it's spam, or not a good link. If the link is a good link, you may wish to request whitelisting by going to the request page for whitelisting. If you feel the link being caught by the blacklist is a false positive, or no longer needed on the blacklist, you may request the regex be removed or altered at the blacklist request page. If the link is blacklisted globally and you feel the above applies you may request to whitelist it using the before mentioned request page, or request its removal, or alteration, at the request page on meta. When requesting whitelisting, be sure to supply the link to be whitelisted and wrap the link in nowiki tags. The whitelisting process can take its time so once a request has been filled out, you may set the invisible parameter on the tag to true. Please be aware that the bot will replace removed tags, and will remove misplaced tags regularly.

Below is a list of links that were found on the main page:

 * http://www.army-technology.com/projects/as90/
 * Triggered by  on the local blacklist

If you would like me to provide more information on the talk page, contact User:Cyberpower678 and ask him to program me with more info.

From your friendly hard working bot.— cyberbot II NotifyOnline 09:12, 3 April 2014 (UTC)

✅ This issue has been resolved, and I have therefore removed the tag, if not already done. No further action is necessary.— cyberbot II NotifyOnline 19:24, 9 April 2014 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 1 one external link on AS-90. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071211233430/http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/EquipmentAndLogistics/ArmyToGetNewPrecisionsearchAndDestroyAntiarmourWeapon.htm to http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/EquipmentAndLogistics/ArmyToGetNewPrecisionsearchAndDestroyAntiarmourWeapon.htm

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were these ever used in combat?
Iraq, perhaps? -HammerFilmFan 2603:6080:21F0:7880:6CA3:8805:72AB:6B1C (talk) 06:11, 16 January 2023 (UTC)

firing rate
I was under the impression that firing rate was limited due to heat dissipation; stuff needs time to cool down, but "...2 per minute for 60 minutes" is pretty remarkable, does it really need 30 seconds to cool down after each shot, and actually, what is being called down? Is it the barrel or that and something else? Or is the whole process more complex than just heat? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.25.37.98 (talk) 16:59, 17 May 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:AS-90


text:
Cosmotheism

"Cosmotheism" is a term which refers to the idea that the entire universe (kosmos) is God (theos). It is thus similar to pantheism and the idea of the anima mundi (world-soul). The term was coined by Lamoignon de Malesherbes (1721–1794) in 1782 to refer to the Stoic worship of the cosmos or mundus as a Supreme Being. Jan Assmann ascribed the doctrine to ancient Egyptian theology as well as various Greek philosophies. According to Assmann, "Malesherbes could not have found a better term for what seems to be the common denominator of Egyptian religion, Alexandrinian (Neoplatonic, Stoic, Hermetic) philosophy, and Spinozism, including the medieval traditions such as alchemy and the cabala that have served as intermediaries." Assmann also sees cosmotheistic ideas in the German Romanticism of figures like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Schiller.

title: Cosmotheism


text:
6th Division (Norway)

The 6th Division (6. divisjon) is a former Norwegian military formation.

History
The pinnacle of this division's service was during World War II, during the German invasion of Norway. It was commanded by General Carl Gustav Fleischer, who was one of the King of Norway's favourite military officers. His division was one of the few Norwegian military commands that was battle ready on 9 April 1940 when the Germans invaded. With help from British, French, and Polish forces, 6th Division were able to recapture the city of Narvik, during what became known as the Battle of Narvik.

The Germans took Narvik at the beginning of the battle, but it was retaken 28 May in what became known as the first major victory for the Allies in World War II. However, the successful German attack on France forced the Allied task force to evacuate, which they did in June. As a result of the withdrawal of allied air and naval support the Norwegians were forced to lay down their arms and demobilize.

In one of the most controversial episodes in history of Norway's role in World War II General Fleischer ended his life in 1942, after being sent to Canada as the Norwegian military attaché, a role that was basically a demotion.

After the demobilisation, 6th Division was disbanded. However, when Norway was liberated in 1945, the division was immediately re-established. One long-term consequence of the action at Narvik was the close cooperation between the British military and Norwegian Army, along with close cooperation with France's alpine forces.

During the Cold War the division fought in no conflicts. But by the 1980s the division comprised the North Hammerfest and South Hammerfest land force areas, controlling the 15th and 14th mobilization brigades respectively; Brigade Nord in Tromso, 5,000 strong, with three infantry battalion, an armoured company, and an artillery battalion with four self-propelled artillery batteries; and the two northern garrisons in Finnmark: the Garrison of Porsanger and the Garrison of Sør-Varanger.

After the end of the Cold War the 6th was re-organized in 2002, as part of an overall reform of the Norwegian Armed Forces.

Final organisation
In its peacetime organisation, 6th Division consisted of approximately 1,200 commissioned and non-commissioned officers (COs and NCOs), with approximately 3,000 enlisted soldiers and 200 civilian support staff. In wartime, its numbers could exceed 12,000 in total.

Being the only division in the Norwegian Army, the 6th utilised a wide range of modern combat equipment. Its heaviest weapons included Leopard 2A4NO MBTs, CV9030 IFVs and modernized M109A3GN howitzers. The infantry use Bv206 tracked all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles and light off-road vehicles. Their airlifting capabilities were provided by the Tactical Helicopter Group of the Royal Norwegian Air Force, which is stationed at Bardufoss. The division's motto is "Styrke for fred, evne til strid", or "Strength for peace, capability for war".

Subsidiary units

 * Brigade Nord - Mechanised infantry brigade including armoured and artillery battalions.
 * 6th Brigade - Light infantry reserve brigade.
 * Army Ranger Command.
 * Border Guard Battalion.
 * Intelligence & EW Battalion.
 * Home Guard - Although technically a separate branch from the Army, all Home Guard districts are under the 6th Division mobile Command.

The 6th division also included a number of support functions such as engineering and NBC units. The 6th Division was disbanded on 1 August 2009.

Insignia
The 6th Division has utilized different insignia throughout its history.

title: 6th Division (Norway)


text:
List of anime and manga conventions

This is a list of noteworthy anime conventions from around the world, as distinct from comic book conventions, furry conventions, gaming conventions, horror conventions, multigenre conventions, and science fiction conventions. This list is sectioned by location, and included with the list is the year the convention was established, as well as the months or dates which the convention are typically held within. Multi-genre, comic book, furry, gaming, and science fiction conventions are not listed here.

Defunct and on-hiatus conventions
These are notable conventions that have at one time existed, but have either gone on hiatus for more than one year, were merged into other conventions, or have finished operating entirely. The category conventions fall under are determined by the amount of communication given by convention officials. Anime conventions disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic are not listed here unless they became defunct.

 * On Hiatus - Any convention that has had an official announcement of hiatus of 3 years or less.
 * Inactive - Any convention that has been on Hiatus for more than 3 years, but has a working website.
 * Defunct - An official or reliable announcement is made saying that the convention has ceased operations. If there is no communication then another criterion can be considered, such as an official website appearing to be dead (HTTP 404 errors) or the website has been changed to another individual with no relation.
 * Merged - An official announcement of a merger between two conventions has been made.

title: List of anime and manga conventions


text: Talk:6th Division (Norway)

title: Talk:6th Division (Norway)