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Simon Boccanegra

Simon Boccanegra is an opera with a prologue and three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the play Simón Bocanegra (1843) by Antonio García Gutiérrez, whose play El trovador had been the basis for Verdi's 1853 opera, Il trovatore.

Simon Boccanegra was first performed at Teatro La Fenice in Venice on 12 March 1857. Given the complications of the original plot and the generally poor popular response – although the critical one was more encouraging – the opera dropped out of favour after 1866. Finally, 23 years later, Verdi's publisher persuaded the composer to revise the opera, with text changes to be prepared by Arrigo Boito, the librettist who aspired to work with the aging composer on a project which eventually became a new opera, Otello, but to which Verdi had not totally committed at that time.

The revised version of Simon Boccanegra, with the now-famous Council Chamber scene, was first performed at La Scala in Milan on 24 March 1881. It is this version which is the one most frequently performed today.

Composition history: the 1857 version
Musicologist and author Julian Budden points to three projects which the composer had in mind when, at the beginning of 1855, he turned down an invitation from La Fenice to write a new opera for them for the following year. He responded: "the chief obstacle is my unshakable determination not to bind myself anymore to a definite period for either the composition or the production". While that approach did not turn out to be practicable at that time, it was an ultimate goal and, in aiming to achieve it, his partner of the previous four years, Giuseppina Strepponi greatly encouraged it when she wrote to him at the time of his frustrations two years earlier when working in Paris on Les vêpres siciliennes.

The only project for which there was forward motion was towards accomplishing his long-planned Re Lear, an opera to be based on King Lear, for which his new librettist (following Salvadore Cammarano's death) was Antonio Somma. But a year later, when overseeing a revival of La traviata at La Fenice, he agreed to a new opera for that house for the 1856/7 season, and he proposed the Gutiérrez play, which Budden presumes he had read in translation. Budden also presumes that the translation had been done by Strepponi, because she had been the translator of Gutiérrez' other play which had become Il trovatore.

The somewhat convoluted plot of Simon Boccanegra can be hard to follow. Budden notes: "All the characters define themselves against an ingeniously shifting pattern of intrigue such as can be highly effective in a play but well-nigh impossible to follow in an opera". Verdi had gone so far as to actually write out the scenario in prose, which he then submitted to Piave in August; all that he expected from his librettist was that it would be turned into poetry, so Verdi balked somewhat when the censors demanded a complete poetic version: "what does it matter for the moment it's in prose or verse?" He pushed harder, stating that "I plan to compose music for a prose libretto! What do you think of that?" In the end, there was a poetic version and all was well: it was accepted by the opera house and the censors.

Beginning in July and throughout most of the period of the preparation of the libretto, the composer and Strepponi had been in Paris taking care of securing various performance and publication rights, including working on a translated version of Il trovatore, the opera which became Le trouvère. Piave was informed that Verdi's stay would need to be lengthened and everything would be handled between them and the Venetian authorities by mail.

However, Verdi's dissatisfaction with some of the librettist's work led him to find a local collaborator to help revise some of the sections. Accordingly, he called upon an Italian exile in Paris, the politician, former professor of law, poet and writer Giuseppe Montanelli, to do this. Piave learned nothing of the revisions until he received a note from Verdi: "Here is the libretto, shortened and altered more or less as it must be. You can put your name to or it, just as you please". However, he also learned nothing of the anonymous collaborator either. After the premiere of Le trouvère on 12 January 1857, Verdi and Strepponi left Paris to return to Italy, then both went to Venice for the March premiere.

However, the relationship was soon restored and Piave came to Sant'Agata in April to work on some revisions, but it was the libretto which came in for the heaviest criticism: "It was generally condemned as one of the most unintelligible to have reached the stage" notes Kimbell and its general dark and gloomy feel was to affect its fortunes for many years.

Composition history: the 1881 revision
In 1868, Giulio Ricordi suggested the idea of revisions to Boccanegra; the idea was again broached ten years later, early in 1879, but was shrugged off by Verdi with a note saying that the 1857 score, which had been sent to the composer for review, would remain untouched "just as you sent it to me". Persisting with further attempts to convince the composer, Ricordi had also broached the idea of a collaboration with Arrigo Boito for a new opera based on Shakespeare's Othello. Musicologist Roger Parker speculates that Verdi's final agreement to revise Boccanegra was based on a desire to "test the possibility" of working with Boito before possibly embarking on the larger project.

Once Verdi began to re-look at his earlier work, objections – and new ideas – began to emerge: "the score is not possible as it stands" and "I shall have to redo all the second act [1857: act 2, which became act 1 in the 1881 revision] and give it more contrast and variety, more life" are examples of his reasoning, which he laid out in a letter to Ricordi in November 1880. His principal concern was how to make changes to the 1857, act 2. "I have said in general it needs something to give life and variety to the drama's excessive gloom", he writes and he continues by recalling:
 * two magnificent letters of Petrarch's, one addressed to [the historical] Boccanegra, the other to the [then-]Doge of Venice, warning them not to start a fratricidal war, and reminding them that both were sons of the same mother, Italy, and so on. This idea of an Italian fatherland at this time was quite sublime!

In spite of the complexity of many of Boito's proposed ideas, along with his alternative scenarios, which are expressed in a long letter to Verdi (most of which the composer regarded as excessive), the Council Chamber scene emerged as the focus of the new collaboration. Although he had confidence in the young librettist's abilities ("[The scene] written by you could not possibly be dull" ), Verdi did caution Boito that he appeared to be "aiming at a perfection impossible here. I [Verdi] aim lower and am more optimistic than you and I don't despair", in essence, expressing an unwillingness to re-write the opera as completely as Boito had proposed. It would have been far more work than the composer wished to be involved in at the time.

The pair spent the latter part of 1880 and into January 1881 with back-and-forth additions and revisions (the composer in Genoa, the librettist in Milan and meeting only once), all of which are heavily documented in the Verdi-Boito correspondence, the Carteggio Verdi-Boito, and significantly quoted in Budden. All this was the build-up to performances in Milan the following March, although the composer was constantly concerned about the suitability of the singers engaged there for that season, and he threatened to withdraw the opera on more than one occasion.

The result was the contrast, which Parker describes, between the original 1857 act 2 finale, "set in a large square in Genoa, [as] a conventional four-movement concertante finale, a grand ceremonial scene" whereas, in the 1881 revision, "[Verdi] injected into the heart of the work an episode of enormous vividness and power, enriching the character of Boccanegra in such a way that his subsequent death scene gains considerably in impressiveness". And, as Budden puts it, "Simone (sic) rises to spiritual greatness. For the first time, his moral authority puts forth all its strength, ... positively as in the appeal for peace ..."

Performance history
Original 1857 version While not a popular success, it did garner some critical acclaim, "with the music being praised for its fidelity to the text, the orchestration for its elegance, the melody for its inspiration" noted the Gazzetta Musicale, but Budden notes that "complaints of 'obscurity', 'severity', harmonic abstruseness' are heard from even the most respectful of critics". And Verdi himself was fairly blunt in his assessment: "I've had a fiasco in Venice almost as great as that of La traviata" he reported to Clara Maffei.

Following its 1857 premiere, Simon Boccanegra was performed in Reggio Emilia, "where it triumphed ... ... and again in Naples in 1858 ..." There was similar acclaim after the Rome presentation about the same time, but "on the other hand, Boccanegra had been laughed off the stage in Florence" and "had been a fiasco at La Scala in 1859".

It was given in Malta in 1860, Madrid and Lisbon in 1861, and Buenos Aires and Montevideo in 1862, but, after that, it almost completely disappeared with only a sporadic performance or two, including Corfu in 1870 and Alexandria in late 1880.

A concert performance of the original version, possibly its first hearing in 100 years (and its UK premiere), took place at the Golders Green Hippodrome in London on 2 August 1975 before an invited audience "masterminded" by Julian Budden with Sesto Bruscantini in the title role and André Turp as Gabriele. This production was broadcast on 1 January 1976 and issued on CD. It was also performed by the Royal Opera, London in concert in June 1995 with Anthony Michaels-Moore and José Cura and staged at Covent Garden in June 1997 with Sergei Leiferkus and Plácido Domingo in the two aforementioned male roles. The Amelias in the 1995 and 1997 versions were Amanda Roocroft and Kallen Esperian respectively. In August 1999 there was a set of performances at the Festival della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca, which was recorded. That same year it was given by New York Grand Opera, this being its first New York performance. Sarasota Opera, in its "Verdi Cycle" series of all of the composer's works, gave it its American premiere in 1992.

Revised version of 1881

It is this later version, unveiled in 1881 in Milan, and given in Vienna and Paris in 1882 and 1883, respectively, that has become part of the standard operatic repertory. The British premiere did not occur until 1948, when it was given in English at Sadler's Wells, with Arnold Matters (Simone), James Johnston (Adorno), Joyce Gartside (Amelia) and Howell Glynne (Fiesco).

Synopsis

 * Time: The middle of the 14th century.
 * Place: In and around Genoa.

(Act 1 in the 1857 original)
A piazza in front of the Fieschi palace

Paolo Albiani, a plebeian, tells his ally Pietro that in the forthcoming election of the Doge, his choice for the plebeian candidate is Simon Boccanegra. Boccanegra arrives and is persuaded to stand when Paolo hints that if Boccanegra becomes Doge, the aristocratic Jacopo Fiesco will surely allow him to wed his daughter Maria. When Boccanegra has gone, Paolo gossips about Boccanegra's love affair with Maria Fiesco – Boccanegra and Maria have had a child, and the furious Fiesco has locked his daughter away in his palace. Pietro rallies a crowd of citizens to support Boccanegra. After the crowd has dispersed, Fiesco comes out of his palace, stricken with grief; Maria has just died (Il lacerato spirito – "The tortured soul of a sad father"). He swears vengeance on Boccanegra for destroying his family. When he meets Boccanegra he does not inform him of Maria's death. Boccanegra offers reconciliation and Fiesco promises clemency only if Boccanegra lets him have his granddaughter. Boccanegra explains he cannot because the child, put in the care of a nurse, has vanished. He enters the palace and finds the body of his beloved just before crowds pour in, hailing him as the new Doge.

(Act 2 in the 1857 original)

 * [Twenty-five years have passed. Historically the action has moved from 1339, the year of Simon's election in the prologue, forward to 1363, the year of the historical Simone Boccanegra's death – for acts 1, 2 and 3.]

 * [The Doge has exiled many of his political opponents and confiscated their property. Among them is Jacopo Fiesco, who has been living in the Grimaldi palace, using the name Andrea Grimaldi to avoid discovery and plotting with Boccanegra's enemies to overthrow the Doge. The Grimaldis have adopted an orphaned child of unknown parentage after discovering her in a convent (she is in fact Boccanegra's child, Maria – known as Amelia – named after her mother, and she is Fiesco's granddaughter). They called her Amelia, hoping that she would be the heir to their family's fortune, their sons having been exiled and their own baby daughter having died. Amelia is now a young woman.]

Scene 1: A garden in the Grimaldi palace, before sunrise

Amelia is awaiting her lover, Gabriele Adorno (Aria:Come in quest'ora bruna – "How in the morning light / The sea and stars shine brightly"). She suspects him of plotting against the Doge and when he arrives she warns him of the dangers of political conspiracy. Word arrives that the Doge is coming. Amelia, fearing that the Doge will force her to marry Paolo, now his councilor, urges Adorno to ask her guardian Andrea (in reality, Fiesco) for permission for them to marry: Sì, sì dell'ara il giubilo / contrasti il fato avverso – "Yes, let the joy of marriage be set against unkind fate".

 * [1857 original version: the duet ended with a cabaletta (set to the same words as the 1881 text) then "a coda and a battery of chords followed by applause."]

Fiesco reveals to Adorno that Amelia is not a Grimaldi, but a foundling adopted by the family. When Adorno says that he does not care, Fiesco blesses the marriage. Boccanegra enters and tells Amelia that he has pardoned her exiled brothers. She tells him that she is in love, but not with Paolo, whom she refuses to marry. Boccanegra has no desire to force Amelia into a marriage against her will. She tells him that she was adopted and that she has one souvenir of her mother, a picture in a locket. The two compare Amelia's picture with Boccanegra's, and Boccanegra realizes that she is his long-lost daughter. Finally reunited, they are overcome with joy. Amelia goes into the palace. Soon after, Paolo arrives to find out if Amelia has accepted him. Boccanegra tells him that the marriage will not take place. Furious, Paolo arranges for Amelia to be kidnapped.

Scene 2: The council chamber
 * [1881 revision: This entire scene was added by Verdi and Boito in place of the 1857 scene, which took place in a large square in Genoa.]

The Doge encourages his councillors to make peace with Venice. He is interrupted by the sounds of a mob calling for blood. Paolo suspects that his kidnapping plot has failed. The Doge prevents anyone leaving the council chamber and orders the doors to be thrown open. A crowd bursts in, chasing Adorno. Adorno confesses to killing Lorenzino, a plebeian, who had kidnapped Amelia, claiming to have done so at the order of a high-ranking official. Adorno incorrectly guesses the official was Boccanegra and is about to attack him when Amelia rushes in and stops him (Aria: Nell'ora soave – "At that sweet hour which invites ecstasy / I was walking alone by the sea"). She describes her abduction and escape. Before she is able to identify her kidnapper, fighting breaks out once more. Boccanegra establishes order and has Adorno arrested for the night (Aria: Plebe! Patrizi! Popolo! – "Plebeians! Patricians! Inheritors / Of a fierce history"). He orders the crowd to make peace and they praise his mercy. Realizing that Paolo is responsible for the kidnapping, Boccanegra places him in charge of finding the culprit. He then makes everyone, including Paolo, utter a curse on the kidnapper.

(Act 3 in the 1857 original)
The Doge's apartments
 * [1881 revised version: There are some small adjustments in this act which include expanding Paolo's opening aria, thus giving him greater stature in the work: Me stesso ho maledetto! / "I have cursed myself", the wording of which was originally: O doge ingrato ... ch'io rinunci Amelia e i suoi tesori? / "O ungrateful Doge! ... Must I give up Amelia and her charms".]

Paolo has imprisoned Fiesco. Determined to kill Boccanegra, Paolo pours a slow-acting poison into the Doge's water, and then tries to convince Fiesco to murder Boccanegra in return for his freedom. Fiesco refuses. Paolo next suggests to Adorno that Amelia is the Doge's mistress, hoping Adorno will murder Boccanegra in a jealous rage. Adorno is furious (Aria: Sento avvampar nell'anima – "I feel a furious jealousy / Setting my soul on fire"). Amelia enters the Doge's apartments, seeming to confirm Adorno's suspicions, and he angrily accuses her of infidelity. She claims only to love him, but cannot reveal her secret – that Boccanegra is her father – because Adorno's family were killed by the Doge. Adorno hides as Boccanegra is heard approaching. Amelia confesses to Boccanegra that she is in love with his enemy Adorno. Boccanegra is angry, but tells his daughter that if the young nobleman changes his ways, he may pardon him. He asks Amelia to leave, and then takes a drink of the poisoned water, which Paolo has placed on the table. He falls asleep. Adorno emerges and is about to kill Boccanegra, when Amelia returns in time to stop him. Boccanegra wakes and reveals to Adorno that Amelia is his daughter. Adorno begs for Amelia's forgiveness (Trio: Perdon, Amelia ... Indomito – "Forgive me, Amelia ... A wild, / Jealous love was mine"). Noises of fighting are heard – Paolo has stirred up a revolution against the Doge. Adorno promises to fight for Boccanegra, who vows that Adorno shall marry Amelia if he can crush the rebels.

(Act 4 in the 1857 original)

 * [1857 original version: Act 4 opened with a double male voice chorus, and a confused dialogue involving references to details in the original play.]

Inside the Doge's palace

The uprising against the Doge has been put down. Paolo has been condemned to death for fighting with the rebels against the Doge. Fiesco is released from prison by the Doge's men. On his way to the scaffold, Paolo boasts to Fiesco that he has poisoned Boccanegra. Fiesco is deeply shocked. He confronts Boccanegra, who is now dying from Paolo's poison. Boccanegra recognizes his old enemy and tells Fiesco that Amelia is his granddaughter. Fiesco feels great remorse and tells Boccanegra about the poison. Adorno and Amelia, newly married, arrive to find the two men reconciled. Boccanegra tells Amelia that Fiesco is her grandfather and, before he dies, names Adorno his successor. The crowd mourns the death of the Doge.

Music
Budden makes a useful observation on the musical qualities of the original version: "all the devices that we associate with the term bel canto are sparingly used" and he suggests that, at mid-century, "this amounted to a denial of Italy's national birthright" for an audience brought up on the conventions employed by Vincenzo Bellini or Gaetano Donizetti. In his "Introduction to the 1881 Score", James Hepokoski emphasizes that Budden's assertion appeared to be true, since the 1857 original "resounded with clear echoes of [Verdi's] earlier style" and that he employed the known techniques but, at the same time, moved away from them, so that:
 * the basic musical conventions of the Risorgimento (separate numbers with breaks for applause, multi-movement arias and duets with repetitive codas, cadenzas and repeated cabalettas, static concertato ensembles, and so on) were indeed present, if usually modified [so that] the musical discourse was characteristically terse, angular, and muscular.

Budden goes on to suggest the implications of this move away from the standard forms, albeit that "[it] was a daring, innovative work. Without altering the letter of the contemporary Italian forms, it certainly altered their spirit ... Quite unheard of was a protagonist without a single extended lyrical solo to himself. Additionally, Budden suggests that musically "the richness and subtlety of the musical language acquired over twenty-four years suffice to fill out Simon's personality further.

The 1881 revisions then, which, in most cases, did not require changes in the libretto, were made to the music by Verdi. As David Kimbell demonstrates with a few examples, areas such as which illustrate more refined use of the orchestra include the first scene of the Prologue: "the dialogue, instead of being punctuated by the customary figurations of accompanied recitative, is set against a gravely flowing orchestral theme."

title: Simon Boccanegra


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Professional association

A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) is a group that usually seeks to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that profession, and the public interest. In the United States, such an association is typically a nonprofit business league for tax purposes. In the UK, they may take a variety of legal forms.

Roles
The roles of professional associations have been variously defined: "A group of people in a learned occupation who are entrusted with maintaining control or oversight of the legitimate practice of the occupation;" also a body acting "to safeguard the public interest;" organizations which "represent the interest of the professional practitioners," and so "act to maintain their own privileged and powerful position as a controlling body." Professional associations are ill defined although often have commonality in purpose and activities. In the UK the Science Council defines a professional body as "an organisation with individual members practicing a profession or occupation in which the organisation maintains an oversight of the knowledge, skills, conduct and practice of that profession or occupation". The Quality Assurance Agency distinguishes between statutory bodies and regulators that "have powers mandated by Parliament to regulate a profession or group of professions and protect the use of professional titles" and professional bodies that "are independent membership organisations that oversee the activities of a particular profession and represent the interests of [their] members" and which "may offer registration or certification of unregulated occupations on a voluntary basis."

Many professional bodies are involved in accrediting degrees, defining and examining the skills and competencies necessary to practice, and granting professional certifications to indicate that a person is qualified in the subject area.

Many professional bodies also act as learned societies for the academic disciplines underlying their professions, such as the American Statistical Association.

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

title: Professional association


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Shinobi (1987 video game)

Shinobi (忍) is a side-scrolling hack and slash video game produced by Sega, originally released for arcades on the Sega System 16 board in 1987. The player controls ninja Joe Musashi, to stop the Zeed terrorist organization from kidnapping students of his clan.

Shinobi was a commercial success in arcades; it topped the monthly Japanese table arcade charts in December 1987, and became a blockbuster arcade hit in the United States, where it was the highest-grossing conversion kit of 1988 and one of the top five conversion kits of 1989. It was adapted by Sega to its Master System game console, followed by conversions to the Nintendo Entertainment System, PC Engine, and home computers. It was re-released as downloadable emulated versions of the original arcade game for the Wii and Xbox 360. The arcade game joined the Nintendo Switch in January 2020 through the Sega Ages series. Shinobi's success inspired various sequels and spin-offs of the Shinobi series.

Gameplay

The controls of Shinobi consist of an eight-way joystick and three action buttons for attacking, jumping, and using ninjutsu techniques called "ninja magic". The player can walk, or perform a crouching walk by pressing the joystick diagonally downward. The player can jump to higher or lower floors by pressing the jump button while holding the joystick up or down. The protagonist Joe Musashi's standard weapons are an unlimited supply of shurikens, and punches and kicks. Rescuing certain hostages in each stage will grant him an attack upgrade replacing throwing stars with a gun, and his close-range attack becomes a katana slash. Musashi's ninjutsu techniques can only be used once per stage and will clear the screen of all enemies, or greatly damage a boss. Depending on the stage, the three ninjutsu techniques are a thunderstorm, a tornado, and a doppelganger attack.

Enemies include punks, mercenaries, ninjas, and the Mongolian swordsmen guarding each hostage. Musashi can bump into most enemies without harm and can only be killed if he gets struck by an enemy's attack, gets hit by a projectile, or falls into a bottomless hole. Then, the stage restarts but retains any saved hostages. When the player runs out of lives, additional coins will continue the game except the final mission. The time limit is three minutes per stage and bonus points are awarded for time, with additional bonuses for refraining from ninjutsu technique (except on the fifth level) or using only melee attacks. Extra lives are awarded for achieving certain scores, completing the bonus round, or rescuing a special hostage.

A bonus round has a first-person perspective of throwing shurikens at incoming enemy ninjas, for an extra life.

Plot
A ninja named Joe Musashi must stop a criminal organization called Zeed from kidnapping the children of his ninja clan. Five missions consist of three stages in the first mission and four stages each in the rest, where Musashi approaches Zeed's headquarters and frees all the hostages in the first two or three stages with a boss at the final stage of each mission. At the start of each mission, the player is shown the objective, with a file containing a photograph of the enemy boss and a map display pinpointing the location of the next stage.

Master System
Sega converted Shinobi to its Master System game console. It was released in Japan on June 19, 1988, and in North America and Europe. Some of the play mechanics were altered. Instead of one-hit kills, the player now has a health gauge before losing a life. Hostage rescue is now an optional task but provides upgrades to the close and long-range weapons, and restores or expands the health gauge. Rescuing certain hostages is a requirement to access the game's bonus stages, which now occur after the regular stages instead of each boss fight. Bonus rounds provide the ninjutsu skills.

In October 1993, Atari Corporation filed a lawsuit against Sega for an alleged infringement of a patent originally created by Atari Corp. in the 1980s, and Atari sought a preliminary injunction to stop manufacturing, usage, and sales of hardware and software for the Genesis and Game Gear. On September 28, 1994,   both parties reached a settlement involving a cross-licensing agreement to publish up to five games each year across their systems until 2001. The Master System version is one of the first five games approved from the deal by Sega in order to be converted for the Atari Jaguar, but it was never released.

Home computers
In 1989, conversions of Shinobi were released for the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and ZX Spectrum. All five were developed by The Sales Curve and published by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe and by Sega in North America except the Amstrad and Spectrum versions. An IBM PC version was developed by Micromosaics Inc. and released in North America by Sega.

PC Engine
A PC Engine version was released exclusively in Japan by Asmik on December 8, 1989. The graphics and play mechanics of the PC Engine version are similar to the arcade version's, but the close-range attacks and power-ups are missing and there are extra lives for points instead of bonus rounds. There is no life gauge, time limit, or Mission 2.

Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System version of Shinobi was released by Tengen exclusively in North America as an unlicensed release in 1989. The play mechanics are based on the Master System's version, but without close-range weapons and grenades. All the vertical-scrolling stages (such as Mission 2-2 and Mission 3-2) were redesigned into horizontal-scrolling stages.

Wii and Xbox 360
The arcade version was published on the Wii's Virtual Console and Xbox 360's Live Arcade services, with slight graphical modifications due to licensing issues over one character's resemblance to Spider-Man.

Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection
Shinobi is unlockable in Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 after the first round of Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master without using a continue.

Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Shinobi in its December 15, 1987, issue as the most successful table arcade unit of the month. In the United States, Shinobi became a blockbuster hit. It became America's highest-grossing arcade conversion kit of 1988, and again one of America's top five highest-grossing conversion kits of 1989.

The arcade game received critical acclaim. Clare Edgeley of Computer and Video Games noted it as one of several popular "martial arts simulation" games at London's Amusement Trades Exhibition International (ATEI) show in January 1988, along with Taito's Ninja Warriors and Data East's Vigilante; she said it plays similarly to Ninja Warriors, but that Shinobi also has elements from Namco's run and gun video game Rolling Thunder (1986), introduces bonus stages, and is more challenging overall. She praised the "clean colourful graphics" with large "well defined" sprites, and the action gameplay for being fast-paced and challenging, concluding that the game is "well worth playing". Nick Kelly of Commodore User rated it 8 out of 10, also noting similarities to Rolling Thunder but said Shinobi looks good, "plays brilliantly", and "combines several kinds of shoot'em and beat'em up action in one well-thought-out, well-executed game." Sinclair User also compared it to Rolling Thunder and other martial arts games, but considers Shinobi "sufficiently different to be familiar without being boring." Retrospectively, Black Belt magazine in 2003 called Shinobi "one of the best martial arts arcade games of the 1980s".

Sega's conversion for the Master System received critical acclaim. Computer and Video Games praised the "well defined" graphics, good sound, and "excellent" gameplay. Computer Entertainer scored it a full 8 out of 8 stars, calling it "the best game with a martial arts theme that we've seen on a video game system." It was awarded 4 out of 5 stars in Dragon. Classic Game Room's retrospective review reflected that the game is a classic, though less so than the 16-bit sequel The Revenge of Shinobi.

Zach Gass of Screen Rant included Shinobi and its sequels in his list of ten "awesome" hack-and-slash games in 2020.

Legacy
According to Den of Geek, "Shinobi is arguably the most ‘important’ and influential ninja game, as well as kicking off the genre’s longest running franchise."

Sequels and related games
In 1989, Sega released a sequel called The Revenge of Shinobi (The Super Shinobi in Japan) as one of the first games for its new Mega Drive game console. An arcade sequel called Shadow Dancer was also released in 1989. Shadow Dancer retains the original gameplay, adding a canine companion.

Other sequels were released for the Game Gear, Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, the PlayStation 2, and the Nintendo 3DS. Alex Kidd in Shinobi World is a parody of Shinobi starring former Sega mascot Alex Kidd, released for the Master System in 1990.

title: Shinobi (1987 video game)


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Leonard Warren

Leonard Warren (April 21, 1911 – March 4, 1960) was an American opera singer. A baritone, he was a leading artist for many years with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Especially noted for his portrayals of the leading baritone roles in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi, he had few rival baritones in his time. His power and range were the highlights of his vocal instrument.

Biography
Born Leonard Warenoff in the Bronx to Russian Jewish immigrant parents, Warren was first employed in his father's fur business. In 1935, he joined the chorus at Radio City Music Hall. In 1938, he entered the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air. The Met sent him to Italy that summer with a stipend to study.

Returning to the United States, Warren made his concert debut at the Metropolitan Opera in excerpts from La traviata and Pagliacci during a concert in New York City in November 1938. His operatic debut took place there in January 1939, when he sang Paolo in Simon Boccanegra. A recording contract with RCA Victor soon followed.

Warren later sang in San Francisco, Chicago, Mexico City and Buenos Aires, and he appeared at La Scala in Milan in 1953. In 1958, he made a tour of the Soviet Union, but for most of his career he remained in New York City and sang at the Met. In 1950, he converted to Roman Catholicism, the faith of his wife Agatha, and became extremely devout.

Although he sang Tonio in Pagliacci, Escamillo in Carmen, and Scarpia in Tosca, he was particularly acclaimed as an interpreter of the great Verdi baritone roles, above all the title role in Rigoletto, which was captured in 1950 on an RCA Victor recording with soprano Erna Berger and tenor Jan Peerce, conducted by Renato Cellini. This was one of the earliest complete operatic recordings to be released on LP records. He also sang the role in a Madison Square Garden Red Cross benefit concert in 1944, in which only the final act of the opera was featured. Jan Peerce again sang the Duke, but Zinka Milanov was Gilda, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Arturo Toscanini. This Rigoletto excerpt was later released on records and CD by RCA Victor, and the entire concert was available years later on various unofficial CD releases. His other published complete opera recordings include La traviata with Rosanna Carteri, Cesare Valletti, and conductor Pierre Monteux; Tosca, Aida, and Il trovatore, each with Zinka Milanov and Jussi Björling; La forza del destino with Milanov, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Rosalind Elias and Giorgio Tozzi; a second recording of Il trovatore with his final tenor co-star, Richard Tucker, featuring a young Leontyne Price in her Met debut role of Leonora; and Verdi's Macbeth, with Leonie Rysanek and Carlo Bergonzi. Private recordings exist of his Simon Boccanegra and Iago in Otello. He also was the Renato in an album of highlights from Un ballo in maschera made with Marian Anderson as Ulrica on the occasion of her Met debut.

In 1948, Warren sang in the first-ever live telecast from the Metropolitan Opera. Verdi's Otello was broadcast complete by ABC-TV on November 29, 1948, the opening night of the season. Ramón Vinay was Otello, Licia Albanese was Desdemona, and Warren sang the role of Iago.

In 1958, Warren toured the USSR. He was one of the few American artists invited to do so and had great success at concerts in Leningrad and Kyiv. The concerts were recorded and excerpts have been released by RCA Victor on the album Leonard Warren: On Tour in Russia, available on both LP and CD.

In his book The American Opera Singer (1997, ISBN ), Peter G. Davis wrote of Warren:

"The rich, rounded, mellow quality of [Warren's] voice, fairly bursting with resonant overtones, may not have been to every taste, particularly those preferring a narrower baritonal focus that 'speaks' more quickly on the note. But by any standards it was a deluxe, quintessentially 'Metropolitan Opera sound', one that seemed to take on a special glow and lustrousness as it opened up and spread itself generously around the big auditorium. And of course the easy top was its special glory—when relaxing with friends Warren would often tear into tenor arias like 'Di quella pira' and toss off the high Cs that many tenors lacked. He could have, but never did, overindulge that applause-getting facility."

Death
Warren's last complete performance was in the title role of Simon Boccanegra on March 1, 1960, at the Met. Three days later, on March 4, during a performance of La forza del destino with Renata Tebaldi as Leonora and Thomas Schippers conducting, Warren suddenly collapsed and died on stage. Eyewitnesses including Rudolf Bing reported that Warren had completed Don Carlo's Act III aria, which begins Morir, tremenda cosa ("to die, a momentous thing"), and was supposed to open a sealed wallet, examine the contents and cry out "È salvo, o gioia" (He is safe, oh joy), before launching into the vigorous cabaletta. While Bing reports that Warren simply went silent and fell face-forward to the floor, others state that he started coughing and gasping, and that he cried out "Help me, help me!" before falling to the floor, remaining motionless. Roald Reitan, singing the Surgeon, was on stage with Warren at the time of his death, and attempted to render aid.

Although no autopsy was performed, Warren's death was initially thought to have been caused by a massive cerebral hemorrhage, but was later believed by the Met house physician who attended Warren after his collapse, to have been a heart attack; Warren was only forty-eight years old. His death affected the Met schedule for several years following; he had been cast in the title role for a future Met premiere of Verdi's Nabucco during the 1960–61 season. Warren is interred at Saint Mary's Cemetery in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Ted Morgan, writing (as Sanche de Gramont) for the New York Herald Tribune, won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, Edition Time in 1961 for his account of Warren's death.

title: Leonard Warren


text:
William Connolley

William Michael Connolley (born 12 April 1964) is a British software engineer, writer, and blogger on climatology. Until December 2007 he was Senior Scientific Officer in the Physical Sciences Division in the Antarctic Climate and the Earth System project at the British Antarctic Survey, where he worked as a climate modeller. After that he became a software engineer for Cambridge Silicon Radio.

Connolley received national press attention over several years for his involvement in editing Wikipedia articles relating to climate change. Connolley was a member of the RealClimate website until 2007 and now operates a website and blog that discuss climate issues. He has also been active in local politics as a member of the Green Party.

Background
Connolley holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics and a DPhil from St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford for his work on numerical analysis. He works as a software engineer for Cambridge Silicon Radio, designing embedded firmware.

Until December 2007, Connolley was Senior Scientific Officer in the Physical Sciences Division in the Antarctic Climate and the Earth System project at the British Antarctic Survey. His research focused on sea ice measurement and modelling, including the HadCM3 global climate model (GCM). Connolley also worked on the validation of satellite data against more direct upward looking sonar observations in the Weddell Sea area. He concluded that Bootstrap data produced a better fit than data produced by NASA and that GCM predictions are more realistic than previously thought.

Connolley served as a parish councillor in the village of Coton (near Cambridge, England) until May 2007. He was also a Green Party candidate for South Cambridgeshire District Council and Cambridgeshire County Council.

Writing and editing
Connolley has authored and co-authored articles and literature reviews in the field of climatological research, with an emphasis on the climate of the Antarctic and the study of sea ice. Connolley was a member of the RealClimate website until 2007, and he operates a website and blog that discuss climate issues. His blogs and one of his papers conclude that a majority of scientific papers in the 1970s predicted warming, not global cooling. The Christian Science Monitor noted in 2007 that on Connolley's "personal website, and as a contributor to RealClimate.org (a website written and edited by working climate scientists), he's authored a number of articles that try to clarify the place of global cooling in the history of science" and commented, "Connolley and Schneider say that if the public had looked directly at the peer-reviewed scientific papers, and not at the popular media coverage, they would not have found any basis for a global-cooling scare."

Wikipedia editing
Connolley began editing Wikipedia in 2003 and served as a Wikipedia administrator from 2006 until 2009. He has been cited and quoted in the media regarding these activities, especially with respect to his editing in the area of climate change. He was cited by Nature magazine, in their December 2005 review of the reliability of Wikipedia, as an example of an expert who edits Wikipedia. Nature quoted Connolley, in 2006, as saying that "some scientists have become frustrated with Wikipedia" but that "conflict can sometimes result in better articles".

No weight given to subject matter experts
In July 2006, a New Yorker article described him as briefly becoming "a victim of an edit war over the entry on global warming", in which a sceptic repeatedly "watered down" the article's explanation of the greenhouse effect. Connolley told the magazine that Wikipedia "gives no privilege to those who know what they're talking about". Various books have cited Connolley as an example of how expert editors on Wikipedia are given "no more credence" than anonymous editors of the site. In 2007, The Sunday Times of London ran an interview of author Andrew Keen that discussed Connolley and his Wikipedia editing. It identified Connolley as "an expert on global warming", stating: "After trying to correct inaccuracies Connolley was accused of trying to remove 'any point of view which does not match his own'. Eventually he was limited to making just one edit a day." The article stated that Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee "gave no weight to [Connolley's] expertise, and treated him with the same credibility as his anonymous opponent."

Alleged abuse of administrative privileges
Two internal disputes at Wikipedia in which Connolley was involved received additional attention. A 2005 Wikipedia climate change dispute involving breaches of etiquette, rather than content bias, was cited by a paper in the Journal of Science Communication as an example that "resonated deeply as it highlighted what can befall respected experts who wade into controversial wiki-waters". The paper stated that Connolley did "not suffer...fools gladly". The same paper noted a 2009 Wikipedia arbitration in which it was concluded that Connolley had used administrator privileges to his own advantage in content disputes, and these privileges were removed. Other academic papers have discussed Connolley's editing activities on Wikipedia and the dispute resolution process as it has been applied to him.

Personal life
Connolley has two children.

Selected publications

 * Translation of Fourier 1827: Mémoire sur les temperatures du globe terrestre et des espaces planetaires
 * See also Sea ice: What I do in my spare time for a popular exposition.
 * Translation of Fourier 1827: Mémoire sur les temperatures du globe terrestre et des espaces planetaires
 * See also Sea ice: What I do in my spare time for a popular exposition.
 * Translation of Fourier 1827: Mémoire sur les temperatures du globe terrestre et des espaces planetaires
 * See also Sea ice: What I do in my spare time for a popular exposition.
 * Translation of Fourier 1827: Mémoire sur les temperatures du globe terrestre et des espaces planetaires
 * See also Sea ice: What I do in my spare time for a popular exposition.
 * See also Sea ice: What I do in my spare time for a popular exposition.
 * See also Sea ice: What I do in my spare time for a popular exposition.
 * See also Sea ice: What I do in my spare time for a popular exposition.
 * See also Sea ice: What I do in my spare time for a popular exposition.
 * See also Sea ice: What I do in my spare time for a popular exposition.

title: William Connolley


text:
Diyala River

The Diyala (Arabic: Nahr Diyālā; Sîrwan; Farsi:  Diyâlah,  Sīrvān) is a river and tributary of the Tigris. It is formed by the confluence of the Sirwan and Tanjaro rivers in Darbandikhan Dam in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate of Northern Iraq. It covers a total distance of 445 km.

Course
It rises near Hamadan, in the Zagros Mountains of Iran. It then descends through the mountains, where for some 32 km it forms the border between the two countries. It finally flows into the Tigris below Baghdad. Navigation of the upper reaches of the Diyala is not possible because of its narrow defiles, but the river's valley provides an important trade route between Iran and Iraq.

The river flows southwest of the Hamrin Mountains.

Name
Its Aramaic origin is "Diyalas" and in Kurdish it is called "Sirwan", meaning 'roaring sea' or 'shouting river'. In early Islamic period, the lower course of the river formed part of the Nahrawan Canal. The Diyala Governorate in Iraq is named after the river.

It may be the ancient Tornas river.

Bronze Age
This area flourished already during the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods, through to the Akkadian period.

In Eshnunna (Tell Asmar), the Tell Asmar Hoard is particularly notable. Twelve remarkable statues were found belonging to the Early Dynastic period (2900–2350 BC).

Scarlet Ware
A type of pottery known as 'Scarlet Ware', a brightly coloured pottery with pictorial representations, was typical of sites along the Diyala River. It developed around 2800 BC, and is related to the Jemdet Nasr ware in central Mesopotamia of the same period. The red colour was achieved predominantly by using haematite paint.

Scarlet Ware is typical of Early Dynastic I and II periods. Along the Diyala is located one of the most important trade routes linking south Mesopotamia with the Iranian plateau. Thus, Scarlet ware was also popular in Pusht-i Kuh, Luristan, and it was traded to Susa during Susa II period.

Middle Bronze
During the Larsa period, Eshnunna especially became prominent. The Diyala river also bore the name "Shu-durul" at the time.

Iron Age
In 693 BC, the Battle of Diyala River took place between the forces of the Assyrians and the Elamites of southern Iran.

The river is mentioned in Herodotus' Histories under the name Gyndes, where it is stated that the king Cyrus the Great dispersed it by digging 360 channels as punishment after a sacred white horse perished there. The river returned to its former proportions after the channels disappeared under the sand.

Modern History
In March 1917 the British Empire defeated the Ottoman Empire at the confluence with the Tigris, leading to the Fall of Baghdad, part of the Mesopotamian Campaign of World War I.

Excavations
Major excavations were done in the lower Diyala river basin in the 1930s. They were conducted by the University of Chicago Oriental Institute (1930–1937) and by the University of Pennsylvania (1938–1939). The sites such as Tell Agrab, Tell Asmar (ancient Eshnunna), Ishchali (ancient Neribtum), and Khafaje (ancient Tutub) were excavated.

At that time, the Diyala was relatively unexplored compared to southern and northern Mesopotamia. But looting of sites was already underway. As the result, the professional excavations were launched.

Archaeologists James Breasted and Henri Frankfort were leading these projects.

These excavations provided very comprehensive data on Mesopotamian archaeology and chronology. They covered the time between the late Uruk period and the end of the Old Babylonian period (3000–1700 BC).

Subsequently, nine detailed monographs were published, but most of the objects, numbering 12,000, remained unpublished. Launched in 1992, the Diyala Database Project has been publishing a lot of this material.

Other scholars who worked there were Thorkild Jacobsen as epigrapher, Seton Lloyd, and Pinhas Delougaz.

Around 1980, the Diyala region was also explored intensively as part of the Hamrin Dam Salvage Project. The following sites were excavated from 1977 to 1981: Tell Yelkhi, Tell Hassan, Tell Abu Husaini, Tell Kesaran, Tell Harbud, Tell al-Sarah, and Tell Mahmud.

Dams
In Iran the Daryan Dam is constructed near Daryan in Kermanshah Province. One of the goals of the dam is to divert a portion of the water to Southwestern Iran for irrigation through the 48 km long Nosoud Water Conveyance Tunnel and to produce hydroelectric power. In Iraq, the river first reaches the Darbandikhan Dam which generates hydroelectric power and stores water for irrigation. It then flows down to the Hemrin Dam for similar purposes. In the lower Diyala Valley near Baghdad the river is controlled by the Diyala Weir which controls floods and irrigates the area northeast of Baghdad.  File:Lake Darbandikhan.jpg|Lake Darbandikhan File:Darbandikhan Dam Spillway USACE NWD.jpg|Darbandikhan Dam File:Diyala Weir3 USACE NWD.jpg|Diyala Weir
 * Darbandikhan Dam, Iraq - water storage capacity: 3,000 MCM
 * Bawanur Dam (under construction), Iraq - water storage capacity: 31 MCM
 * Hemrin Dam, Iraq - water storage capacity: 2,040 MCM
 * Diyala Weir, Iraq - water diversion dam
 * Garan Dam, Iran - water storage capacity: 110 MCM
 * Daryan Dam, Iran - water storage capacity: 316 MCM

title: Diyala River


text:
D. A. Thomas

David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, PC (26 March 1856 – 3 July 1918), was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician. He was UK Member of Parliament (MP) for Merthyr Tydfil from 1888 until the January 1910 general election, then MP for Cardiff until the December 1910 general election, when he left politics to concentrate on his business interests. He was made a member of the Privy Council in 1916. He later held office, notably as "Food Controller" in Lloyd George's wartime coalition government.

Early life
The son of coal owner Samuel Thomas of Ysguborwen, David Thomas was a second-generation industrialist. His energy and flair for innovation swiftly led him to build a commercial empire larger than his father's. Samuel, a man not noted for a cheerful temperament, is said to have remarked on the day of his son's birth (during a thunderstorm), "Well, I see nothing for him but the workhouse."

Although tradition cited D. A. Thomas' birthplace as being an old white-walled cottage in Aberdare, this is unlikely, given that the family home, Ysguborwen (also in Aberdare), was completed in 1855. This house was built as a suitable residence for a rising industrial entrepreneur, and sets Samuel Thomas' gloomy remark in context. Samuel Thomas was one of the pioneers of the Welsh coal business.

Samuel Thomas was a hard man, perhaps the secret of his business success, and his tastes were simple. He could never forget the hardships through which he had had to pass, and as the above quotation indicates, he was unable to shake off the fear of failure. A Welsh Baptist, he managed his household according to the "Protestant work ethic". This seems to have been its own reward, for Samuel attained civic office as High Constable of Merthyr, then the roughest town in Wales.

D. A. Thomas' mother, Rachel, is described as a contrast to the sometimes miserly, always prudent Samuel. She gave young David the love that he needed, nurturing the more sensitive side that D. A. Thomas' daughter, Margaret, was to cherish.

The family home, Ysguborwen, seems to have been a fairly typical Welsh home. At first, only the Welsh language was spoken there. After all, it was the language of both of David's parents. However, Mrs. Thomas, like many Welsh parents before and since, realising that the language of the business world was English, engaged an English nurse to get her children used to speaking English. In 1859, the family moved from Calfaria Welsh Baptist Chapel to Carmel, the English Baptist Chapel opposite. English was becoming the language of the valleys, and the language of respectability. Accordingly, the upwardly mobile Thomases were going to be Anglo-Welsh.

D. A. Thomas' upbringing was stern and Victorian, teaching him discipline, mediated through love. That discipline remained with Thomas, in business and in politics. Towards the end of Thomas' life, William Brace, the Trade Union leader commented that "Rhondda has the income of a Duke and the tastes of a Peasant."

Thomas was educated at Manila Hall, Clifton, Bristol, before going up to Cambridge University Initially, Thomas was to have gone to Jesus College on a scholarship originally intended for the sons of Anglican Ministers. Since Samuel Thomas was neither an Anglican nor a minister, it would be interesting to know exactly how D. A. Thomas obtained such a scholarship. An attack of Typhoid fever, contracted in Clermont-Ferrand meant that Thomas was unable to take up the scholarship. As it was, Thomas obtained a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics, and would have finished top of his year, if it had not been for his indifferent health. Even so, Thomas was in the University Rowing and Boxing teams. Thomas left Cambridge in 1880, on the death of his father.

Personal life
In an age of religion, D. A. Thomas was that rarity, a man honestly uninterested in religion. That said, Thomas does not appear to have been an atheist, but to have found the religious sectarianism that marked the life of Wales at that time distasteful. Although brought up a Baptist (and later Congregationalist), he was received into the Anglican Church upon his marriage to Sybil Margaret Haig in 1882 and was baptised at St. Andrew's Church, near Barry. The wedding took place in a billiard-room at her parents' house. A daughter, Margaret, was born in 1883, the only issue to the couple.

Perhaps Thomas' estrangement from organised religion is due to the religious controversies of the day, or the way in which his father managed to alienate himself altogether from organised religion. After moving to Carmel English Baptist Church, Samuel Thomas appears to have become embroiled in an argument with Rev. Thomas Price, the second minister. This appears to have been over no more than personalities, for Samuel had supported the man's predecessor, and the move to Tabernacle English Congregational church ended similarly, when the minister was replaced. Samuel Thomas took it upon himself to un-church his family and conduct worship at home. Such rancour cannot have endeared organised religion to the young David.

Grigg describes Thomas' upbringing as 'Strict Congregationalist, yet D. A. Thomas was not baptised as an infant, suggesting that Samuel Thomas never abandoned his Baptist views. As a schoolboy at Bristol D. A. Thomas attended Highbury Congregational Chapel, Clifton, where his uncle, David Thomas, was minister.

Although D. A. Thomas was heavily involved in the Disestablishment controversy and was an advocate of Disestablishment, this appears to have sprung from the belief that the endowments of the church should be used for the general good He advocated the allocation of church endowments on a population basis, which alienated many of the North Wales MPs. The Rev. J. Vyrnwy Morgan, Thomas' earliest biographer writes that: '...religion was a subject concerning which he spoke less than he thought.'

Despite attacks of rheumatic fever, which plagued him for much of his life, D. A. Thomas was no shrinking violet. At college, he rowed and boxed enthusiastically, and his obituary in the South Wales Daily News spoke of him being seldom happier than 'when romping with children.' In 1881, D. A. Thomas rescued a boy who fell through the ice on Hirwaun Pond, Aberdare, an act for which he received an award from the Humane Society. In this, and in his later survival of the wreck of the Lusitania, D. A. Thomas' prowess in swimming, another college sport in which he excelled, holding a medal in the long-dive, stood him in good stead.

Early career
Thomas joined Osborn Henry Riches in the sales department of the Cambrian Collieries, later moving to Clydach Vale to learn the management of the mines themselves. In the course of this work, which went on for more than a year, he descended the pit with the workers and remained underground until four in the afternoon.

David Alfred Thomas moved to London in 1882, where he worked in a Stockbroker's Office in Cornhill. There he had an attack of rheumatic fever, a complaint which had plagued him since his youth. After the death of Mr. Riches, he returned to Cardiff to manage the Cambrian Collieries.

Business interests
Not long after inheriting his father's business, Thomas assessed the state of the company. To expand the business, D. A. Thomas converted the company from private ownership into a limited liability company, securing the capital to expand operations. The sale of shares was not a means for the heir to become an idler, for D. A. Thomas continued to take an active part in the management for the company. In the great coal strike of 1898, D. A. Thomas refused to take the side of the coal-owners' organisation. The Cambrian Collieries continued to work through the strike, an action that made a great deal for the collieries' shareholders. In 1910, D. A. Thomas was involved in a coal strike begun at the Ely Pit in Penygraig, an action that infuriated him. He saw the strike as a betrayal, and his actions at attempting to break the strike turned into one of the most important and violent events in Rhondda history, the Tonypandy riots. From 1901 to 1906, ill-health forced Thomas to take a break from his business activities. He became director of the company that acquired The Cambrian News newspaper in 1915.

Llanwern
In 1887, a year before his election to Parliament, Thomas took the lease of Llanwern House, at Llanwern, just outside Newport, Monmouthshire, where he lived the life of a somewhat unconventional country squire, riding to hounds and breeding prize Hereford cattle. He bought the house in 1900 and acquired the neighbouring Pencoed estate shortly before his death, with the intention of presenting Pencoed Castle to his daughter, Margaret. Despite his fearsome reputation as an industrialist, Thomas appears to have been a genuinely well-loved landowner, the tenants of Pencoed actively lobbying him to buy the estate. This purchase left Thomas the largest landowner in Monmouthshire after Lord Tredegar.

Despite his fortune, Thomas was quite content to retain the mansion at Llanwern, a large square house on a hilltop overlooking the village of Llanwern. The house, dating to 1760, was old-fashioned in its appearance with an interior decorated in a Chinese-influenced style.

Political career
D. A. Thomas was elected MP for Merthyr Tydfil at a by-election in 1888, and represented the seat until he stepped down to fight the marginal seat of Cardiff in January 1910. Thomas consistently topped the poll, not even Keir Hardie was able to topple him from his perch. Although an employer, he was felt to be a fair man, and was genuinely respected by the voters of Merthyr.

He was an early supporter of the Cymru Fydd movement, but opposed its integration with the South Wales Liberal Federation, thus making an enemy of David Lloyd George, being largely responsible for that movement's demise. As President of the South Wales Liberal Federation from 1894 to 1897, Thomas believed that the southern counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, which together contained over half the Welsh population, would suffer under the proposed scheme for a single national federation. He held similar views on the disestablishment of the Church in Wales, believing that the revenues wrested from the church should be distributed to the counties on the basis of population. With David Lloyd George, Francis Edwards and Herbert Lewis, Thomas revolted against the Rosebery Government's perceived downgrading of Disestablishment in 1894.

D. A. Thomas was much disappointed when he was not offered Government office after the Liberal election victory of 1906. Unlike Herbert Lewis and Lloyd George, more had been expected from Thomas in 1894, and his actions in joining the revolt had not endeared him to the Liberal leadership. Thomas became increasingly disillusioned with politics, and left parliament at the December 1910 General Election, apparently a political failure. Certainly, his early promise had not been vindicated. In many ways Thomas was not suited to party politics and he was described by Stuart Rendel as 'a Tory in disguise. His greatest political success came later, during the wartime coalition (see below).

"Coal King"
After D. A. Thomas' expectations of high office were disappointed following the 1906 General Election he concentrated once more on business. In 1908 the Cambrian Combine was formed, with the merger of the Glamorgan, the Naval and the Britannic Merthyr collieries with the Cambrian Collieries. This great industrial combine would later take in further collieries. As Thomas came to realise that the golden age of the Welsh coal trade would not continue. Thomas sought to organise the Welsh coal trade to prevent destructive competition.

In the pre-war years Thomas acquired tracts of coal-bearing land in North America which was not fully developed.

He was awarded the Guy Medal in 1904 from the Royal Statistical Society for The Growth and Direction of our Foreign Trade in Coal (1850–1900) written in 1903.

First World War
Having made a fortune as owner of the Cambrian Collieries, he would return to politics as David Lloyd George's emissary to the United States, for which purpose he was created Baron Rhondda in 1916 and later Viscount Rhondda in 1918.

In May 1915 he was on the RMS Lusitania when she was torpedoed. He and his daughter, Margaret, were among the survivors. A humorous story, remembered by his daughter, was that the local (Cardiff) Evening Express newspaper displayed a poster about the sinking that read "Great National Disaster. D. A. Saved". The somewhat equivocal compliment amused D. A. Thomas immensely.

Clement Edwards, MP, related the story of an aged collier who, on being informed that Thomas had been in the ship when it had gone down, declared, "I will wait till tomorrow. He always comes out on top, and I promise you this: he will come to the top of the water again with a big fish in each of his hands."

In 1916, he became President of the Local Government Board. As Minister of Food Control during the latter part of the First World War, he was very successful, introducing an efficient system of rationing.

Last years
The work took a terrible toll on his constitution, however, and he died at Llanwern on the morning of Wednesday, 3 July 1918, aged 62. He was cremated at Golders Green, but his ashes were returned to Llanwern, where they lie alongside the bodies of previous squires of Llanwern (although D. A. Thomas' monument is by far the largest – "on a recent visit to Llanwern, it took me two circuits of the churchyard to find the tomb, since I had initially mistaken it for the War memorial", in the words of one D. A. Thomas Scholar), his wife and daughter. His epitaph reads, 'He counted his life not dear to himself.'

While the Rhondda Barony died with him, the title of Viscount Rhondda passed to his daughter Margaret by special remainder, something Thomas had insisted on when he was offered the honour. Following his death, and with the recent passage of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, she attempted to take his seat in the House of Lords. After initially being accepted, the relevant committee's membership was altered and her request was rejected.

Thomas's widow, Sybil, Viscountess Rhondda (1857–1941) was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1920.

Legacy
Thomas had extensive investments in the coalfields on the Peace River, in remote northern Alberta, Canada. He commissioned what was to be the largest riverboat on the Peace River, which was named D.A. Thomas in his honour.

title: D. A. Thomas


text:
Lechlade

Lechlade is a town at the edge of the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England, 55 mi south of Birmingham and 68 mi west of London. It is the highest point at which the River Thames is navigable, although there is a right of navigation that continues south-west into Cricklade, in the neighbouring county of Wiltshire. The town is named after the River Leach that joins the Thames near the Trout Inn and St. John's Bridge.

The low-lying land is alluvium, Oxford Clay and river gravels and the town is surrounded by lakes created from disused gravel extraction sites, forming parts of the Cotswold Water Park; several have now been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and nature reserves. Human occupation dates from the neolithic, Iron Age and Roman periods and it developed as a trading centre served by river, canal, roads and railway, although the station closed in 1962.

The Anglican Church of St Lawrence is a Grade I listed building dating from the 15th century. The development of the nearby RAF Fairford and RAF Brize Norton after World War II contributed to the expansion of the town.

History
A neolithic cursus was discovered from cropmarks on aerial photographs was identified in 1943. There are several archaeological remains of dwellings from the Iron Age and Roman periods, which have now been scheduled as an ancient monument.

William the Conqueror gave the manor of Lechlade to Henry de Ferrers, who had accompanied him to England in 1066, and the manor is mentioned in the Domesday Book. A charter granting market to the town was passed in 1210. Lechlade Priory was founded in the early 13th century and lasted until 1472. The town developed as a trading centre linked by the river, canal, roads and railway. The town's railway station opened in 1873 and closed in 1962. The development of RAF Fairford and RAF Brize Norton after World War II increased local employment and the need for housing.

Governance
Lechlade falls in the Kempsford–Lechlade electoral ward. This ward stretches from Lechlade in the east to Kempsford in the west. The total population of this ward taken from the 2011 census was 3,973.

Although in Gloucestershire, and traditionally in the hundred of Brightwells Barrow, from 1894 till 1935 the town was administered as part of Faringdon Rural District in Berkshire. From 1935 till 1974 it was part of Cirencester Rural District in Gloucestershire, and since 1974 it has been a part of Cotswold District.

The town is part of The Cotswolds UK Parliament constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, since its 1997, creation by Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a Conservative.

Geography
The geology of the area consists of Alluvium, Oxford Clay and River Gravels. The land is generally fairly flat and low lying. It is surrounded by lakes created from disused gravel extraction sites, forming parts of the Cotswold Water Park and several have now been designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and nature reserves. The Edward Richardson & Phyllis Amey nature reserve consists of marsh and reedbeds which attract dragonflies and birds such as grey heron and great crested grebe. At Roundhouse Lake common visitors are Eurasian wigeon, red-crested pochard, common goldeneye, common pochard and tufted duck.

The River Thames
Lechlade is the highest town to which the River Thames is navigable by relatively large craft including narrowboats. It is possible to travel by river or walk the Thames Path from here to London. In the early eighteenth century goods unloaded in Bristol were transported to Gloucester, carried overland to Lechlade and sent down the Thames to London. The Halfpenny Bridge is therefore the usual start for a water based Thames meander – the term for a long-distance journey down the Thames. The Thames Path also continues upstream to the traditional source of the Thames at Thames Head. The river is actually navigable for a short distance further upstream, near the village of Inglesham, where the Thames and Severn Canal joins the River Thames. Rowing boats can reach even further upstream, to Cricklade. Lechlade is a popular resort for Thames boating. Boats of different types can be hired from here, from rowing boats to river cruisers.

The highest lock on the Thames is St John's Lock, at Lechlade, where there is a statue of Old Father Thames overlooking the boating activities. There is a view from St John's Bridge across the lock and the meadows to the spire of St Lawrence's parish church. The River Leach flows into the Thames at St John's Bridge. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley composed A Summer Evening Churchyard here which includes the lines Clothing in hues of heaven thy dim and distant spire Around whose lessening and invisible height Gather among the stars the clouds of night

Economy
The town is a popular venue for tourism and river-based activities.

There are several pubs, some antique shops, a convenience store, food outlets, a garden centre and a Christmas shop.

Culture and community
Lechlade has hosted a music festival since 2011. In 2015 the festival's headline act was Status Quo. The festival was cancelled in 2023 due to poor weather causing the ground to be too soft, which resulted in the Lechlade Festival company going into liquidation.

Lechlade has a number of youth activities, most of them centred on the Memorial Hall and the adjacent Lechlade Pavilion Hall. Behind the Town Hall are large playing fields, an astro turf pitch, a skate park and a playground. The memorial hall has been rebuilt after a fire in 2016.

1970 Squadron, Air Training Corps was founded in the town in 1997. The squadron's membership consists of young people from Lechlade and neighbouring towns such as Fairford and Faringdon. The unit has disbanded and all cadets have been transferred many attending the group in Highworth. The 1st Lechlade Scout Group can trace its origins back to 1915 when Robert Baden-Powell inspected Scouts from Lechlade and the surrounding area.

Landmarks
Lechlade Manor, north east of the town centre, was built in a Jacobean style in 1872. During World War II it became the Catholic Convent of St Clotilde.

Transport
The main roads through the town are busy, as the town is at the crossroads of the A417 and A361. Where the A361 enters the town from the south it crosses the River Thames on Halfpenny Bridge. Another tributary of the Thames, the River Coln, joins the Thames at the Inglesham Round House.

The town's railway station opened in 1873 and closed in 1962.

Religious sites
The Church of England parish church of St Lawrence is a Grade I listed building. It replaced an earlier structure in the 15th century (probably around 1470-1476 ), though the nave roof and clerestory, the north porch, and the tower and spire may have been added in the early 16th century. A west gallery for singers was installed in 1740 and there were further internal additions in the 1880s. The church contains a Monumental brass of John Twynyho (died 1485), set into his ledger stone on floor of north aisle. He, and his wife Agnes, acquired the manor of "Hallecourte" in Lechlade. This may have been the same property as "Butler's Court", a 4-yardland estate which in 1304 had been granted by John de Bellew to John Butler. John Twynyho of Cirencester was lord of Butler's Court in 1479.

There is a Baptist Church on Sherborne Street which was built in 1817.

Notable people

 * Reginald Arkell (1881-1959) was born in Lechlade. He went on to train as a journalist and then became a script writer and comic novelist who wrote many musical plays for the London theatre.
 * Thomas Prence (1599-1673), emigrated to America in 1621 and was a co-founder of Eastham, Massachusetts, a political leader in both the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, and governor of Plymouth, Massachusetts (1634, 1638, and 1657–1673).

title: Lechlade


text:
Talk:Avocado

Semi-protected edit request on 13 February 2024
Hello :)

It is my first edit request.

Please change "the China" to "China". There is an accidental "the".

Thanks,

Ed Eh23233 (talk) 09:02, 13 February 2024 (UTC)
 * ✅ Tollens (talk) 11:27, 13 February 2024 (UTC)

Sentence doesn't belong
This seems very weird. It breaks up the flow of the article and it just seems like an advertisement for this random product.

"A line of US-produced dog and cat food, AvoDerm, uses oils and meal made from avocado meat as main ingredients." 173.24.77.12 (talk) 18:21, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

 * Agree. ❌. Zefr (talk) 19:10, 11 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you! 173.24.77.12 (talk) 22:16, 11 March 2024 (UTC)

The idea with the ground sloths is just oft-recited speculation
... according to SciShow who posted a correction video on their earlier content about this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpcBgYYFS8o). They say there was never any actual data that backed up that claim but it was a speculation in an old scientific paper and got copied on and on... Maybe worth a look? 37.82.7.116 (talk) 37.82.7.116 (talk) 19:34, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

 * The statement attributing to Janzen and Barlow on the evolutionary anachronism for avocados having likely coevolved with "now-extinct megafauna in South America, notably giant ground sloths and the gomphothere genus of the elephant lineage", is widely accepted by taxonomists, as explained and sourced in the first two paragraphs of the Taxonomy section. No change is needed. Zefr (talk) 19:51, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
 * That is not quite correct, Zefr.
 * In this section, it is stated: In 1982, evolutionary biologist Daniel H. Janzen concluded that the avocado is an example of an "evolutionary anachronism", a fruit adapted for ecological relationship with now-extinct large mammals (such as giant ground sloths or gomphotheres), source is . But in that paper avocado isn't even mentioned. Only giant ground sloths were shorty mentioned, but definitely not avocados.
 * As for Barlow, this is also confusing. She pointed out that Robert E. Cook, was citing Janzen and Martin: "Cook published an essay in 1982 in Natural History that described the avocado, Persea americana, as an ecological anachronism". But even she did not establish a relationship between giant ground sloths and avocados. And we don't know that Cook was referring to those slots. Do you have Cook's essay from 1982?
 * So it seems like someone simply connected thereafter avocados and those slots (acc. to SciShow in the 2000s, which must be Barlow's "The ghosts of evolution: nonsensical fruit, missing partners, and other ecological anachronisms").
 * What is not helping is the way this article makes a statement, even the page number of Barlow's book is missing (which is a strong sign that it was simply put as reference without having read anything from it). Also the other reference (Nigel-Wolstenholme, #31) is weak: The authors only speculate that "certainly Persea spp. have seeds and fruits with at least some of Janzen and Martin's (1982) megafaunal dispersal syndrome characteristics". But this is too weak to demonstrate that giant sloths were distributing avocado seeds. --Julius Senegal (talk) 20:29, 23 March 2024 (UTC)
 * It's always a fascinating inference about what animals may have been the dispersers. The 2023 Berdugo ref on genomics states "our data are consistent with long-distance dispersal mediated by big mammals such as the giant ground slots that inhabited the Americas during the Pleistocene." Your specific suggestions for clarification would be welcome. Zefr (talk) 21:22, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

"Mexican Avocado Dispute" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mexican_Avocado_Dispute&redirect=no Mexican Avocado Dispute] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Marcocapelle (talk) 08:37, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Avocado


text:
User talk:Auric

Thank you for the edit help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2603:7080:AF03:E389:758D:7D12:1D44:4309 (talk) 02:04, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

Query
Hello, Auric,

I've wondered this for a while, why do you make minor edits to drafts like Draft:Quinton Khumalo just when they are approaching their six month expiration date as a stale draft? I've been seeing this for years and it doesn't seem to depend on the quality of the draft...I don't see that this draft is worth preserving in case the draft creator chooses to return. I'm just curious, thanks. Liz Read! Talk! 02:41, 27 June 2024 (UTC)
 * In this case it was because he was a youtuber. The timing has nothing to do with it. Sometimes I will pass up editing if the draft is properly formatted or if it doesn't seem there is any possibility for expansion.-- Auric   talk  13:34, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

CS1 error on Jack Katz (artist)
Hello, I'm Qwerfjkl (bot). I have automatically detected that this edit performed by you, on the page Jack Katz (artist), may have introduced referencing errors. They are as follows: Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?action=edit&preload=User:Qwerfjkl/Botpreload&editintro=User:Qwerfjkl/boteditintro&minor=&title=User_talk:Qwerfjkl&preloadtitle=Qwerfjkl%20(bot)%20–%20Auric&section=new&preloadparams%5b%5d=&preloadparams%5b%5d=1235440708 report it to my operator]. Thanks, Qwerfjkl (bot) (talk) 09:00, 19 July 2024 (UTC)
 * A bare URL error. References show this error when one of the URL-containing parameters cannot be paired with an associated title. Please edit the article to add the appropriate title parameter to the reference. ([//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jack_Katz_(artist)&action=edit&minor=minor&summary=Fixing+reference+error+raised+by+%5B%5BUser%3AQwerfjkl%20(bot)%7CQwerfjkl%20(bot)%5D%5D Fix] | [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&preload=User:Qwerfjkl%20(bot)/helpform&preloadtitle=Referencing%20errors%20on%20%5B%5BSpecial%3ADiff%2F1235440708%7CJack%20Katz%20(artist)%5D%5D Ask for help])

title: User talk:Auric


text:
User talk:Thesilverbail

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. Here are some useful links in case you haven't already found them;

 * How to edit a page
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style

If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my talk page. I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian!

snoyes 18:54, 24 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Hi,

I don't know why you changed comprehensible to incomprehensible in Tamil language. Please discuss it on the talk page. Thanks. Arvindn 09:46, 26 Nov 2003 (UTC)

--- Mind reviewing Auto rickshaw ?? - Kesava, 11:26, Apr 16, 2004 (UTC).

Captions
Hey! Thanks for the great work on WikiProject Writing Captions! -- ke4roh 13:56, Aug 12, 2004 (UTC)

WP:LCOTW
Filiocht 10:47, Nov 10, 2004 (UTC)

The Scream FAC
Please address the FAC concerns currently forcing voters to object to this article. Harro5 08:17, May 26, 2005 (UTC)

deletion policy on vanity
Hi. I noticed that you moved the db-bio notice I placed on Gurdev S Moore to a PotentialVanity notice. So what is the procedure now? Wait a few days and then send it back to Afd? Thanks Deepak 20:07, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

 * Hello, Deepak. I think it's best to get the newbie to userfy it. -- PFHLai 20:15, 7 May 2006 (UTC)
 * And, after the pagemove, the resulted redirect can be speedied. -- PFHLai 20:18, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

 * You are welcome. I just did the userfying myself. The nn-userfy template isn't entirely accurate, but I think it's okay. -- PFHLai 20:32, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

Pedophilia
I've reverted your edits, Please take you time and read Neutral point of view. Thanks. --Haham hanuka 16:26, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

links
Please. The article titled residual sum of squares exists. When you linked to Residual Sum of Squares, you got a red link because of the three incorrectly capitalized letters. I've created the redirect page and bypassed it. Michael Hardy 23:09, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

 * Sorry, my oops :-(. I changed the article. Doesn't capitalization automatically redirect? Deepak 23:12, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Certainly not! Michael Hardy 23:13, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

Re: Dihydrogen monoxide hoax
You changed "that illustrates" to "to illustrates" in the article; you probably want to either change tense in "illustrates" or revert back to "that".

Good catch that nobody had cited water intoxication yet, but it is real. Georgewilliamherbert 21:17, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Infinite monkey theorem FAR
Infinite monkey theorem has been nominated for a featured article review. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. Please leave your comments and help us to return the article to featured quality. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, articles are moved onto the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article from featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. Reviewers' concerns are here. LuciferMorgan 04:53, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
Hi, You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:13, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Thesilverbail


text:
Bauhinia

Bauhinia is a large genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Cercidoideae and tribe Bauhinieae, in the large flowering plant family Fabaceae, with a pantropical distribution. The genus was named after the Bauhin brothers Gaspard and Johann, Swiss-French botanists.

Many species are widely planted in the tropics as orchid trees, particularly in India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Nepal and southeastern China. Other common names include mountain ebony and kachnar. Before the family was reorganised, a number of genera including the lianas of genus Phanera were placed here (see related genera). In the United States, the trees grow in Hawaii, coastal California, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. There are native species, like Bauhinia lunarioides native to Texas and widely planted in the Southwest as a landscape plant.

Parts of some species of bauhinia like B. purpurea and B. malabarica are used in Filipino cuisine (known collectively as alinbánban or alinbángbang, "butterfly").

Bauhinia × blakeana is the floral emblem of Hong Kong—a stylized orchid tree flower appears on the flag of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Airlines (formerly CR Airways) uses 'Bauhinia' as its radio callsign in air traffic communication.

Description
Bauhinia trees typically reach a height of 6–12 m and their branches spread 3–6 m outwards. The lobed leaves usually are 10–15 cm across.

The five-petaled flowers are 7.5–12.5 cm diameter, generally in shades of red, pink, purple, orange, or yellow, and are often fragrant. The tree begins flowering in late winter and often continues to flower into early summer. Depending on the species, Bauhinia flowers are usually in magenta, mauve, pink or white hues with crimson highlights.

Cultivation
Propagation of Bauhinia species is from seeds or cuttings. They thrive in alkaline soils and do not tolerate salty conditions. Full sun exposure is preferred but they can be grown under partial sun. Generous watering is needed during summer; moderate moisture required in winter.

Accepted species
Plants of the World Online currently (March 2023) includes the following species:

 * 1) Bauhinia acreana Harms
 * 2) Bauhinia aculeata L.
 * 3) Bauhinia acuminata L.
 * 4) Bauhinia acuruana Moric.
 * 5) Bauhinia affinis Vogel
 * 6) Bauhinia albicans Vogel
 * 7) Bauhinia amambayensis Fortunato
 * 8) Bauhinia amatlana Wunderlin
 * 9) Bauhinia andrade-limae A.C.B.Santos & Vaz
 * 10) Bauhinia andrieuxii Hemsl.
 * 11) Bauhinia ankarafantsikae Du Puy & R.Rabev.
 * 12) Bauhinia anomala Hassl.
 * 13) Bauhinia arborea Wunderlin
 * 14) Bauhinia argentinensis Burkart
 * 15) Bauhinia arleneae A.C.B.Santos & L.P.Queiroz
 * 16) Bauhinia augusti Harms
 * 17) Bauhinia aurantiaca Bojer
 * 18) Bauhinia aureopunctata Ducke
 * 19) Bauhinia ayabacensis Wunderlin
 * 20) Bauhinia bartlettii B.L.Turner
 * 21) Bauhinia bauhinioides (Mart.) J.F.Macbr.
 * 22) Bauhinia beguinotii Cufod.
 * 23) Bauhinia bicolor (Bong.) D.Dietr.
 * 24) Bauhinia bohniana H.Y.Chen
 * 25) Bauhinia bombaciflora Ducke
 * 26) Bauhinia bowkeri Harv.
 * 27) Bauhinia brachycalyx Ducke
 * 28) Bauhinia brachycarpa Wall. ex Benth.
 * 29) Bauhinia brevicalyx Du Puy & R.Rabev.
 * 30) Bauhinia brevipes Vogel
 * 31) Bauhinia bryoniflora Franch.
 * 32) Bauhinia burchellii Benth.
 * 33) Bauhinia burrowsii E.J.D.Schmidt
 * 34) Bauhinia buscalionii Mattei
 * 35) Bauhinia calliandroides Rusby
 * 36) Bauhinia caloneura Malme
 * 37) Bauhinia calycina Pierre ex Gagnep.
 * 38) Bauhinia campestris Malme
 * 39) Bauhinia candelabriformis R.S.Cowan
 * 40) Bauhinia capuronii Du Puy & R.Rabev.
 * 41) Bauhinia catingae Harms
 * 42) Bauhinia chapulhuacania Wunderlin
 * 43) Bauhinia cheilantha (Bong.) Steud.
 * 44) Bauhinia cinnamomea DC.
 * 45) Bauhinia coclensis R.Torres
 * 46) Bauhinia conceptionis Britton & Killip
 * 47) Bauhinia concinna Drake
 * 48) Bauhinia conwayi Rusby
 * 49) Bauhinia cookii Rose
 * 50) Bauhinia corifolia L.P.Queiroz
 * 51) Bauhinia corniculata Benth.
 * 52) Bauhinia coulteri J.F.Macbr.
 * 53) Bauhinia crocea Drake
 * 54) Bauhinia cupulata Benth.
 * 55) Bauhinia curvula Benth.
 * 56) Bauhinia darainensis Thulin & Nusb.
 * 57) Bauhinia decandra Du Puy & R.Rabev.
 * 58) Bauhinia decora L.Uribe
 * 59) Bauhinia deserti (Britton & Rose) Lundell
 * 60) Bauhinia dimorphophylla Hoehne
 * 61) Bauhinia dipetala Hemsl.
 * 62) Bauhinia diptera Blume ex Miq.
 * 63) Bauhinia divaricata L.
 * 64) Bauhinia dubia G.Don
 * 65) Bauhinia dumosa Benth.
 * 66) Bauhinia eilertsii Pulle
 * 67) Bauhinia ellenbeckii Harms
 * 68) Bauhinia erythrocalyx Wunderlin
 * 69) Bauhinia esmeraldasensis Wunderlin
 * 70) Bauhinia estrellensis Hassl.
 * 71) Bauhinia eucosma S.F.Blake
 * 72) Bauhinia euryantha H.Y.Chen
 * 73) Bauhinia exellii Torre & Hillc.
 * 74) Bauhinia eximia Miq.
 * 75) Bauhinia farec Desv.
 * 76) Bauhinia flagelliflora Wunderlin
 * 77) Bauhinia floribunda Desv.
 * 78) Bauhinia forficata Link
 * 79) Bauhinia fryxellii Wunderlin
 * 80) Bauhinia funchiana Vaz & G.P.Lewis
 * 81) Bauhinia fusconervis (Bong.) Steud.
 * 82) Bauhinia galpinii N.E.Br.
 * 83) Bauhinia gardneri Benth.
 * 84) Bauhinia geniculata Wunderlin
 * 85) Bauhinia gilesii F.Muell. & F.M.Bailey
 * 86) Bauhinia glaziovii Taub.
 * 87) Bauhinia godefroyi Gagnep.
 * 88) Bauhinia goyazensis Harms
 * 89) Bauhinia grandidieri Baill.
 * 90) Bauhinia grandifolia (Bong.) D.Dietr.
 * 91) Bauhinia grevei Drake
 * 92) Bauhinia gypsicola McVaugh
 * 93) Bauhinia hagenbeckii Harms
 * 94) Bauhinia hainanensis Merr. & Chun ex H.Y.Chen
 * 95) Bauhinia haughtii Wunderlin
 * 96) Bauhinia hildebrandtii Vatke
 * 97) Bauhinia hirsuta Weinm.
 * 98) Bauhinia holophylla (Bong.) Steud.
 * 99) Bauhinia hostmanniana Miq.
 * 100) Bauhinia humilis Rusby
 * 101) Bauhinia integerrima Mart. ex Benth.
 * 102) Bauhinia involucrans Gagnep.
 * 103) Bauhinia isopetala Griff.
 * 104) Bauhinia jenningsii P.Wilson
 * 105) Bauhinia jucunda Brandegee
 * 106) Bauhinia kalantha Harms
 * 107) Bauhinia kleiniana Burkart
 * 108) Bauhinia leptantha Malme
 * 109) Bauhinia leucantha Thulin
 * 110) Bauhinia longicuspis Spruce ex Benth.
 * 111) Bauhinia longifolia (Bong.) Steud.
 * 112) Bauhinia longipedicellata Ducke
 * 113) Bauhinia longiracemosa Hayata
 * 114) Bauhinia lorantha Pierre ex Gagnep.
 * 115) Bauhinia lunarioides A.Gray ex S.Watson
 * 116) Bauhinia macrantha Oliv.
 * 117) Bauhinia macranthera Benth. ex Hemsl.
 * 118) Bauhinia madagascariensis Desv.
 * 119) Bauhinia malacotricha Harms
 * 120) Bauhinia malacotrichoides R.S.Cowan
 * 121) Bauhinia malmeana Vaz & G.P.Lewis
 * 122) Bauhinia marginata (Bong.) Steud.
 * 123) Bauhinia melastomatoidea R.Torres
 * 124) Bauhinia membranacea Benth.
 * 125) Bauhinia mendoncae Torre & Hillc.
 * 126) Bauhinia miriamae R.Torres
 * 127) Bauhinia mollis (Bong.) D.Dietr.
 * 128) Bauhinia mombassae Vatke
 * 129) Bauhinia monandra Kurz
 * 130) Bauhinia moningerae Merr.
 * 131) Bauhinia morondavensis Du Puy & R.Rabev.
 * 132) Bauhinia multinervia (Kunth) DC.
 * 133) Bauhinia natalensis Oliv.
 * 134) Bauhinia ombrophila Du Puy & R.Rabev.
 * 135) Bauhinia ovata (Bong.) Vogel
 * 136) Bauhinia oxysepala Gagnep.
 * 137) Bauhinia pansamalana Donn.Sm.
 * 138) Bauhinia parkinsonii C.E.C.Fisch.
 * 139) Bauhinia parviloba Ducke
 * 140) Bauhinia pauletia Pers.
 * 141) Bauhinia pentandra (Bong.) Vogel ex D.Dietr.
 * 142) Bauhinia pervilleana Baill.
 * 143) Bauhinia pes-caprae Cav.
 * 144) Bauhinia petersiana Bolle
 * 145) Bauhinia petiolata (Mutis ex DC.) Triana ex Hook.
 * 146) Bauhinia phoenicea B.Heyne ex Wight & Arn.
 * 147) Bauhinia pichinchensis Wunderlin
 * 148) Bauhinia picta (Kunth) DC.
 * 149) Bauhinia pinheiroi Wunderlin
 * 150) Bauhinia pinnata Blanco
 * 151) Bauhinia piresii Vaz & G.P.Lewis
 * 152) Bauhinia platypetala Burch. ex Benth.
 * 153) Bauhinia platyphylla Benth.
 * 154) Bauhinia podopetala Baker
 * 155) Bauhinia pottsii G.Don
 * 156) Bauhinia prainiana Craib
 * 157) Bauhinia pringlei S.Watson
 * 158) Bauhinia proboscidea P.Juárez, Rod.Flores & M.A.Blanco
 * 159) Bauhinia pulchella Benth.
 * 160) Bauhinia purpurea L.
 * 161) Bauhinia racemosa Lam.
 * 162) Bauhinia ramirezii Reynoso
 * 163) Bauhinia ramosissima Benth. ex Hemsl.
 * 164) Bauhinia retifolia Standl.
 * 165) Bauhinia richardiana DC.
 * 166) Bauhinia rubeleruziana Donn.Sm.
 * 167) Bauhinia rufa (Bong.) Steud.
 * 168) Bauhinia rufescens Lam.
 * 169) Bauhinia saccocalyx Pierre
 * 170) Bauhinia saksuwaniae Mattapha, Chantar. & Suddee
 * 171) Bauhinia seleriana Harms
 * 172) Bauhinia seminarioi Harms ex Eggers
 * 173) Bauhinia smilacifolia Burch. ex Benth.
 * 174) Bauhinia stenantha Diels
 * 175) Bauhinia subclavata Benth.
 * 176) Bauhinia subrotundifolia Cav.
 * 177) Bauhinia taitensis Taub.
 * 178) Bauhinia tarapotensis Benth.
 * 179) Bauhinia tenella Benth.
 * 180) Bauhinia thailandica Chatan & Promprom
 * 181) Bauhinia thompsonii I.M.Johnst.
 * 182) Bauhinia tomentosa L.
 * 183) Bauhinia tuichiensis Cayola & A.Fuentes
 * 184) Bauhinia uberlandiana Vaz & G.P.Lewis
 * 185) Bauhinia ungulata L.
 * 186) Bauhinia urbaniana Schinz
 * 187) Bauhinia uruguayensis Benth.
 * 188) Bauhinia variegata L.
 * 189) Bauhinia vespertilio S.Moore
 * 190) Bauhinia viridescens Desv.
 * 191) Bauhinia weberbaueri Harms
 * 192) Bauhinia wunderlinii R.Torres
 * 193) Bauhinia xerophyta Du Puy & R.Rabev.

Hybrids
One hybrid is known:
 * Bauhinia × blakeana S. T. Dunn (Bauhinia variegata × Bauhinia purpurea)—Hong Kong orchid tree

Fossils
Several fossils of Bauhinia species have been discovered:
 * †Bauhinia cheniae Qi Wang, Z. Q. Song, Y. F. Chen, S. Shen & Z. Y. Li
 * †Bauhinia cretacea Newberry
 * †Bauhinia fotana F.M.B. Jacques et al.
 * †Bauhinia gigantea Newberry
 * †Bauhinia gracilis J.R. Tao
 * †Bauhinia larsenii D.X. Zhang & Y. F. Chen
 * †Bauhinia ningmingensis Qi Wang, Z. Q. Song, Y. F. Chen, S. Shen & Z. Y. Li
 * †Bauhinia potosiana Berry
 * †Bauhinia thonningii Schum.
 * †Bauhinia ungulatoides Y.X.Lin, W.O.Wong, G.L.Shi, S.Shen & Z.Y.Li
 * †Bauhinia wenshanensis H.H. Meng & Z.K. Zhou
 * †Bauhinia wyomingiana Brown

Segregated genera
Species in the genera Barklya, Gigasiphon, Lysiphyllum, Phanera (including Lasiobema), Piliostigma, Schnella, and Tylosema are sometimes included in Bauhinia sensu lato or considered as tribe Bauhinieae.

title: Bauhinia