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Trace fossil

A trace fossil, also known as an ichnofossil (from ἴχνος ikhnos "trace, track"), is a fossil record of biological activity by lifeforms but not the preserved remains of the organism itself. Trace fossils contrast with body fossils, which are the fossilized remains of parts of organisms' bodies, usually altered by later chemical activity or mineralization. The study of such trace fossils is ichnology and is the work of ichnologists.

Trace fossils may consist of physical impressions made on or in the substrate by an organism. For example, burrows, borings (bioerosion), urolites (erosion caused by evacuation of liquid wastes), footprints, feeding marks, and root cavities may all be trace fossils.

The term in its broadest sense also includes the remains of other organic material produced by an organism; for example coprolites (fossilized droppings) or chemical markers (sedimentological structures produced by biological means; for example, the formation of stromatolites). However, most sedimentary structures (for example those produced by empty shells rolling along the sea floor) are not produced through the behaviour of an organism and thus are not considered trace fossils.

The study of traces – ichnology – divides into paleoichnology, or the study of trace fossils, and neoichnology, the study of modern traces. Ichnological science offers many challenges, as most traces reflect the behaviour – not the biological affinity – of their makers. Accordingly, researchers classify trace fossils into form genera based on their appearance and on the implied behaviour, or ethology, of their makers.

Occurrence
Traces are better known in their fossilized form than in modern sediments. This makes it difficult to interpret some fossils by comparing them with modern traces, even though they may be extant or even common. The main difficulties in accessing extant burrows stem from finding them in consolidated sediment, and being able to access those formed in deeper water.

Trace fossils are best preserved in sandstones; the grain size and depositional facies both contributing to the better preservation. They may also be found in shales and limestones.

Classification
Trace fossils are generally difficult or impossible to assign to a specific maker. Only in very rare occasions are the makers found in association with their tracks. Further, entirely different organisms may produce identical tracks. Therefore, conventional taxonomy is not applicable, and a comprehensive form of taxonomy has been erected. At the highest level of the classification, five behavioral modes are recognized:
 * Domichnia, dwelling structures reflecting the life position of the organism that created it.
 * Fodinichnia, three-dimensional structures left by animals which eat their way through sediment, such as deposit feeders;
 * Pascichnia, feeding traces left by grazers on the surface of a soft sediment or a mineral substrate;
 * Cubichnia, resting traces, in the form of an impression left by an organism on a soft sediment;
 * Repichnia, surface traces of creeping and crawling.

Fossils are further classified into form genera, a few of which are even subdivided to a "species" level. Classification is based on shape, form, and implied behavioural mode.

To keep body and trace fossils nomenclatorially separate, ichnospecies are erected for trace fossils. Ichnotaxa are classified somewhat differently in zoological nomenclature than taxa based on body fossils (see trace fossil classification for more information). Examples include:
 * Late Cambrian trace fossils from intertidal settings include Protichnites and Climactichnites, amongst others
 * Mesozoic dinosaur footprints including ichnogenera such as Grallator, Atreipus, and Anomoepus
 * Triassic to Recent termite mounds, which can encompass several square kilometers of sediment

Information provided by ichnofossils
Trace fossils are important paleoecological and paleoenvironmental indicators, because they are preserved in situ, or in the life position of the organism that made them. Because identical fossils can be created by a range of different organisms, trace fossils can only reliably inform us of two things: the consistency of the sediment at the time of its deposition, and the energy level of the depositional environment. Attempts to deduce such traits as whether a deposit is marine or non-marine have been made, but shown to be unreliable.

Paleoecology
Trace fossils provide us with indirect evidence of life in the past, such as the footprints, tracks, burrows, borings, and feces left behind by animals, rather than the preserved remains of the body of the actual animal itself. Unlike most other fossils, which are produced only after the death of the organism concerned, trace fossils provide us with a record of the activity of an organism during its lifetime.

Trace fossils are formed by organisms performing the functions of their everyday life, such as walking, crawling, burrowing, boring, or feeding. Tetrapod footprints, worm trails and the burrows made by clams and arthropods are all trace fossils.

Perhaps the most spectacular trace fossils are the huge, three-toed footprints produced by dinosaurs and related archosaurs. These imprints give scientists clues as to how these animals lived. Although the skeletons of dinosaurs can be reconstructed, only their fossilized footprints can determine exactly how they stood and walked. Such tracks can tell much about the gait of the animal which made them, what its stride was, and whether the front limbs touched the ground or not.

However, most trace fossils are rather less conspicuous, such as the trails made by segmented worms or nematodes. Some of these worm castings are the only fossil record we have of these soft-bodied creatures.

Paleoenvironment
Fossil footprints made by tetrapod vertebrates are difficult to identify to a particular species of animal, but they can provide valuable information such as the speed, weight, and behavior of the organism that made them. Such trace fossils are formed when amphibians, reptiles, mammals, or birds walked across soft (probably wet) mud or sand which later hardened sufficiently to retain the impressions before the next layer of sediment was deposited. Some fossils can even provide details of how wet the sand was when they were being produced, and hence allow estimation of paleo-wind directions.

Assemblages of trace fossils occur at certain water depths, and can also reflect the salinity and turbidity of the water column.

Stratigraphic correlation
Some trace fossils can be used as local index fossils, to date the rocks in which they are found, such as the burrow Arenicolites franconicus which occurs only in a 4 cm layer of the Triassic Muschelkalk epoch, throughout wide areas in southern Germany.

The base of the Cambrian period is defined by the first appearance of the trace fossil Treptichnus pedum.

Trace fossils have a further utility, as many appear before the organism thought to create them, extending their stratigraphic range.

Ichnofacies
Ichnofacies are assemblages of individual trace fossils that occur repeatedly in time and space. Palaeontologist Adolf Seilacher pioneered the concept of ichnofacies, whereby geologists infer the state of a sedimentary system at its time of deposition by noting the fossils in association with one another. The principal ichnofacies recognized in the literature are Skolithos, Cruziana, Zoophycos, Nereites, Glossifungites, Scoyenia, Trypanites, Teredolites, and Psilonichus. These assemblages are not random. In fact, the assortment of fossils preserved are primarily constrained by the environmental conditions in which the trace-making organisms dwelt. Water depth, salinity, hardness of the substrate, dissolved oxygen, and many other environmental conditions control which organisms can inhabit particular areas. Therefore, by documenting and researching changes in ichnofacies, scientists can interpret changes in environment. For example, ichnological studies have been utilized across mass extinction boundaries, such as the Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction, to aid in understanding environmental factors involved in mass extinction events.

Inherent bias
Most trace fossils are known from marine deposits. Essentially, there are two types of traces, either exogenic ones, which are made on the surface of the sediment (such as tracks) or endogenic ones, which are made within the layers of sediment (such as burrows).

Surface trails on sediment in shallow marine environments stand less chance of fossilization because they are subjected to wave and current action. Conditions in quiet, deep-water environments tend to be more favorable for preserving fine trace structures.

Most trace fossils are usually readily identified by reference to similar phenomena in modern environments. However, the structures made by organisms in recent sediment have only been studied in a limited range of environments, mostly in coastal areas, including tidal flats.

Evolution
The earliest complex trace fossils, not including microbial traces such as stromatolites, date to. This is far too early for them to have an animal origin, and they are thought to have been formed by amoebae. Putative "burrows" dating as far back as may have been made by animals which fed on the undersides of microbial mats, which would have shielded them from a chemically unpleasant ocean; however their uneven width and tapering ends make a biological origin so difficult to defend that even the original author no longer believes they are authentic.

The first evidence of burrowing which is widely accepted dates to the Ediacaran (Vendian) period, around. During this period the traces and burrows basically are horizontal on or just below the seafloor surface. Such traces must have been made by motile organisms with heads, which would probably have been bilateran animals. The traces observed imply simple behaviour, and point to organisms feeding above the surface and burrowing for protection from predators. Contrary to widely circulated opinion that Ediacaran burrows are only horizontal the vertical burrows Skolithos are also known. The producers of burrows Skolithos declinatus from the Vendian (Ediacaran) beds in Russia with date have not been identified; they might have been filter feeders subsisting on the nutrients from the suspension. The density of these burrows is up to 245 burrows/dm2. Some Ediacaran trace fossils have been found directly associated with body fossils. Yorgia and Dickinsonia are often found at the end of long pathways of trace fossils matching their shape. The feeding was performed in a mechanical way, supposedly the ventral side of body these organisms was covered with cilia. The potential mollusc related Kimberella is associated with scratch marks, perhaps formed by a radula, further traces from appear to imply active crawling or burrowing activity.

As the Cambrian got underway, new forms of trace fossil appeared, including vertical burrows (e.g. Diplocraterion) and traces normally attributed to arthropods. These represent a "widening of the behavioural repertoire", both in terms of abundance and complexity.

Trace fossils are a particularly significant source of data from this period because they represent a data source that is not directly connected to the presence of easily fossilized hard parts, which are rare during the Cambrian. Whilst exact assignment of trace fossils to their makers is difficult, the trace fossil record seems to indicate that at the very least, large, bottom-dwelling, bilaterally symmetrical organisms were rapidly diversifying during the early Cambrian.

Further, less rapid diversification occurred since, and many traces have been converged upon independently by unrelated groups of organisms.

Trace fossils also provide our earliest evidence of animal life on land. Evidence of the first animals that appear to have been fully terrestrial dates to the Cambro-Ordovician and is in the form of trackways. Trackways from the Ordovician Tumblagooda sandstone allow the behaviour of other terrestrial organisms to be determined. The trackway Protichnites represents traces from an amphibious or terrestrial arthropod going back to the Cambrian.

Common ichnogenera

 * Anoigmaichnus is a bioclaustration. It occurs in the Ordovician bryozoans. Apertures of Anoigmaichnus are elevated above their hosts' growth surfaces, forming short chimney-like structures.
 * Arachnostega is the name given to the irregular, branching burrows in the sediment fill of shells. They are visible on the surface of steinkerns. Their traces are known from the Cambrian period onwards.
 * Asteriacites is the name given to the five-rayed fossils found in rocks and they record the resting place of starfish on the sea floor. Asteriacites are found in European and American rocks, from the Ordovician period onwards, and are numerous in rocks from the Jurassic period of Germany.
 * Burrinjuckia is a bioclaustration. Burrinjuckia includes outgrowths of the brachiopod's secondary shell with a hollow interior in the mantle cavity of a brachiopod.
 * Chondrites (not to be confused with stony meteorites of the same name) are small branching burrows of the same diameter, which superficially resemble the roots of a plant. The most likely candidate for having constructed these burrows is a nematode (roundworm). Chondrites are found in marine sediments from the Cambrian period of the Paleozoic onwards. They are especially common in sediments which were deposited in reduced-oxygen environments.
 * Climactichnites is the name given to surface trails and burrows that consist of a series of chevron-shaped raised cross bars that are usually flanked on either side by a parallel ridge. They somewhat resemble tire tracks, and are larger (typically about 4 in wide) than most of the other trace fossils made by invertebrates. The trails were produced on sandy tidal flats during Cambrian time. While the identity of the animal is still conjectural, it may have been a large slug-like animal – its trails produced as it crawled over and processed the wet sand to obtain food.
 * Cruziana are excavation trace marks made on the sea floor which have a two-lobed structure with a central groove. The lobes are covered with scratch marks made by the legs of the excavating organism, usually a trilobite or allied arthropod. Cruziana are most common in marine sediments formed during the Paleozoic era, particularly in rocks from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods. Over 30 ichnospecies of Cruziana have been identified. See also Isopodichnus.
 * Entobia is a boring produced by endolithic clionaid sponges consisting of galleries excavated in a carbonate substrate; often has swollen chambers with connecting canals.
 * Gastrochaenolites are clavate (club-shaped) borings also produced in calcareous hard substrates, usually by bivalves.
 * Oikobesalon is an unbranched, elongate burrow with single-entrance and circular cross-section produced by terebellid polychaetes. They are covered with thin lining which has a transverse ornamentation in the form of fusiform annulation.
 * Petroxestes is a shallow groove boring produced by mytilacean bivalves in carbonate hard substrates.
 * Planolites is a small, 1-5mm (0.039–0.197 in), unlined and rarely branched, elongate burrow with fill that differs from the host rock, and is found throughout the Ediacaran and the Phanerozoic.
 * Protichnites consists of two rows of tracks and a linear depression between the two rows. The tracks are believed to have been made by the walking appendages of arthropods. The linear depression is thought to be the result of a dragging tail. The structures bearing this name were typically made on the tidal flats of Paleozoic seas, but similar ones extend into the Cenozoic.
 * Rhizocorallium is a type of burrow, the inclination of which is typically within 10° of the bedding planes of the sediment. These burrows can be very large, over a meter long in sediments that show good preservation, e.g. Jurassic rocks of the Yorkshire Coast (eastern United Kingdom), but the width is usually only up to 2 cm, restricted by the size of the organisms producing it. It is thought that they represent fodinichnia as the animal (probably a nematode) scoured the sediment for food.
 * Rogerella is a small pouch-shaped boring with a slit-like aperture currently produced by acrothoracican barnacles.
 * Rusophycus are bilobed "resting traces" associated with trilobites and other arthropods such as horseshoe crabs.
 * Skolithos: One well-known occurrence of Cambrian trace fossils from this period is the famous 'Pipe Rock' of northwest Scotland. The 'pipes' that give the rock its name are closely packed straight tubes- which were presumably made by some kind of worm-like organism. The name given to this type of tube or burrow is Skolithos, which may be 30 cm in length and between 2 and 4 cm in diameter. Such traces are known worldwide from sands and sandstones deposited in shallow water environments, from the Cambrian period (542–488 Ma) onwards.
 * Thalassinoides are burrows which occur parallel to the bedding plane of the rock and are extremely abundant in rocks, worldwide, from the Jurassic period onwards. They are repeatedly branched, with a slight swelling present at the junctions of the tubes. The burrows are cylindrical and vary from 2 to 5 cm in diameter. Thalassinoides sometimes contain scratch marks, droppings or the bodily remains of the crustaceans which made them.
 * Teichichnus has a distinctive form produced by the stacking of thin 'tongues' of sediment, atop one another. They are again believed to be fodinichnia, with the organism adopting the habit of retracing the same route through varying heights of the sediment, which would allow it to avoid going over the same area. These 'tongues' are often quite sinuous, reflecting perhaps a more nutrient-poor environment in which the feeding animals had to cover a greater area of sediment, in order to acquire sufficient nourishment.
 * Tremichnus is an embedment structure (i.e. bioclaustration) formed by an organism that inhibited growth of the crinoid host stereom.
 * Trypanites are elongated cylindrical borings in calcareous substrates such as shells, carbonate hardgrounds, and limestones. Usually produced by worms of various types and sipunculids.

Other notable trace fossils
Less ambiguous than the above ichnogenera, are the traces left behind by invertebrates such as Hibbertopterus, a giant "sea scorpion" or eurypterid of the early Paleozoic era. This marine arthropod produced a spectacular track preserved in Scotland.

Bioerosion through time has produced a magnificent record of borings, gnawings, scratchings and scrapings on hard substrates. These trace fossils are usually divided into macroborings and microborings. Bioerosion intensity and diversity is punctuated by two events. One is called the Ordovician Bioerosion Revolution (see Wilson & Palmer, 2006) and the other was in the Jurassic. For a comprehensive bibliography of the bioerosion literature, please see the External links below.

The oldest types of tetrapod tail-and-footprints date back to the latter Devonian period. These vertebrate impressions have been found in Ireland, Scotland, Pennsylvania, and Australia. A sandstone slab containing the track of tetrapod, dated to 400 million years, is amongst the oldest evidence of a vertebrate walking on land.

Important human trace fossils are the Laetoli (Tanzania) footprints, imprinted in volcanic ash 3.7 Ma (million years ago) – probably by an early Australopithecus.

Confusion with other types of fossils
Trace fossils are not body casts. The Ediacara biota, for instance, primarily comprises the casts of organisms in sediment. Similarly, a footprint is not a simple replica of the sole of the foot, and the resting trace of a seastar has different details than an impression of a seastar.

Early paleobotanists misidentified a wide variety of structures they found on the bedding planes of sedimentary rocks as fucoids (Fucales, a kind of brown algae or seaweed). However, even during the earliest decades of the study of ichnology, some fossils were recognized as animal footprints and burrows. Studies in the 1880s by A. G. Nathorst and Joseph F. James comparing 'fucoids' to modern traces made it increasingly clear that most of the specimens identified as fossil fucoids were animal trails and burrows. True fossil fucoids are quite rare.

Pseudofossils, which are not true fossils, should also not be confused with ichnofossils, which are true indications of prehistoric life.

History
Charles Darwin's The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms is an example of a very early work on ichnology, describing bioturbation and, in particular, the burrowing of earthworms.

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Drottningholm Palace Theatre

The Drottningholm Palace Theatre (Drottningholms slottsteater) is an opera house located at Drottningholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the few 18th century theatres in Europe that is still used as a theatre with its original stage machinery.

Currently, the reinvigorated theatre has acquired a growing international reputation as a summer opera festival theatre by focusing on works by Haydn, Handel, Gluck and Mozart and emphasis on authentic performance. The theatre has also had guest performances by the Royal Swedish Opera.

History
The first theatre to be built on the Drottningholm site was built at the behest of the Queen Lovisa Ulrika by the German master builder, Georg Greggenhofer (1718 or 1719–1779). The theatre opened in 1754 and hosted a new troupe of French actors, the Du Londel Troupe, that had been engaged by the court a year earlier and was to use the theatre until 1771. The troupe used the theatre in the summer months to show French theatre and Italian opera for the queen and her court.

When the original theatre burned down on 27 August 1762 during the performance of a comic opera, Queen Lovisa Ulrika quickly decided to rebuild a theatre for the Drottningholm Palace court, commissioning a replacement opera house by Carl Fredrik Adelcrantz. Work began on the building in 1764, and it eventually included the theatre as well as a complex of smaller chambers off the main auditorium to house members of the court who did not stay at the palace, including Adelcrantz, the master of the revels, the noble chambermaids, the actors and staff of the theatre, and young aristocrats. The building that Adelcrantz created was unusual architecturally in several respects. Most notably, although the theatre was intended to mimic Versailles's artistic style, the lack of funds of the Swedish Treasury forced a much sparser style. The exterior of the building is very plain in comparison to other palatial theatres, in the style of a country manor with no indication from the exterior that an opera house is inside. The interior, decorated by Adrien Masreliez, uses trompe l'oeil, papier-mâché, and stucco to imitate more expensive materials like marble and gold. The theatre is also architecturally unusual for its shape, since the auditorium is shaped like a T with the two thrones for the reigning monarchs placed in the cross of the T in front of the stage and the rest of the court seated on wooden benches. The stage is also unusually deep, 27 by, which helped the set designers to create optical illusions of great distance on the stage.

For scholars, the most important part of the theatre, however, is not the architectural uniqueness of the space, but instead the stage machinery that is a rare surviving example of common stage effects from its time. The machinery for the theatre was possibly designed by the Italian Donato Stopani, although some historians think the designer may have been George Fröman, master builder for the court who studied similar stage machinery when he travelled through Europe in 1755. One of the stage machines that is still intact and in use in the theatre is the chariot-and-pole system, which helps to change scenes quickly by sliding the wings with wheels ("chariots") on tracks in the floor, controlled by a capstan under the stage ("pole"). The theatre has an unusually large number of wings, with a total of four possible scene changes in a single performance, but the chariot-and-pole system allows a scene change in as little as six seconds. Other machines that are still used in the theatre are purely for special effects, including a wave machine consisting of giant painted corkscrews that are turned to simulate a rough sea, a thunder machine to create storm sound effects, and a flying chair which is often used for "deus ex machina" effects. Lighting is controlled by turning metal sconces and their candles toward or away from the stage.

In 1766, the theatre was opened by Queen Lovisa Ulrika, and there were several performances that included court members and the royal family as actors celebrating the occasion. The theatre was used every summer by the court until 1771, when Adolf Frederik died and the French acting troupe he had imported was dismissed. The theatre remained unused until 1777, when Queen Lovisa Ulrika gave it to her son King Gustav III. King Gustaf was deeply interested in the theatre, hiring an acting troupe, and even writing and directing several works at Drottningholm. The theatre that was performed under King Gustaf was a departure from the theatre of his predecessors, since although French and Italian theatre was still performed, he encouraged the use of Swedish stories and language to create a new operatic tradition. He also made some alterations to the theatre building itself, adding the Dejeuner Salon that is used as the foyer today. After the assassination of King Gustav III in 1792 (which is the basis of the Giuseppe Verdi opera, Un ballo in maschera), the theatre was used as a storage room for Drottningholm Palace's unused furniture.

20th-century restoration and revival
In 1921, Swedish theatre historian Agne Beijer rediscovered Drottningholm Theatre and, with royal permission, preserved what was left of the theatre's interior and stage machinery. Some small changes were made, including the addition of electric lights, which were designed to flicker like candles, the replacement of the original ropes that moved the machinery, and the substitution of replicas for delicate backdrops. Most of the theatre, however, was unchanged from the original design, and much of the stucco work and original wallpaper remains today. The theatre re-opened on 19 August 1922. Until 1935, performances were limited to occasional showcases for visiting scholars, usually including dances performed by the Swedish Ballet School. In 1935, the theatre began to host seasonal performances, starting with three ballad operas by Arvid Niclas von Höpken, Joseph Martin Kraus and Carl Michael Bellman. In 1951, the Royal Swedish Opera became the permanent company performing in Drottningholm Theatre, using the space for their summer performances. In 1953, the Royal Swedish Ballet joined in partnership with the Opera, and the company's new director, Mary Skeaping, pushed the dancers to revive the 17th and 18th century court ballet style. In August 1998, a Gluck programme was staged, including Paris and Helen with Magdalena Kožená singing Paris, Alceste in the Italian version and the ballet Don Juan. The first new opera to be premiered at the theatre in modern times was Jonas Forssell's Trädgården (The Garden) in July 1999, conducted by Roy Goodman, with Malena Ernman in the trouser role of Ziöberg.

Today, a private foundation, the Drottningholm Theatre Museum, funded by government and private grants, runs the theatre, performing operas in the summer months. The operas are often performed by musicians wearing period costume, and the orchestra performs using period or copies of authentic instruments. Most productions demonstrate some of the possible stage effects using the original equipment. The theatre remains a place to train musicians, dancers, and opera singers in Baroque style.

In 1991, the theatre, along with the Drottningholm Palace (the residence of the Swedish royal family), the Chinese Pavilion and the surrounding park, became the first Swedish patrimony to be inscribed in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Parts of the palace, the pavilion and the theatre are open to the public for tours.

Recent artistic directors of the theatre are Arnold Östman (1980–92), Elisabeth Söderström (1993–96), Per-Erik Öhrn (1996–2006). Mark Tatlow (2007–2013). Sofi Lerström, the theatre's managing director from 2011, took over as artistic director in 2013. It is under her direction that took place a widely acclaimed (then touring) "Mozart – Da Ponte Trilogy" conducted by Marc Minkowski and staged by Ivan A. Alexandre. Mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg was artist in residence in 2019 and 2020. Her choice of repertoire for 2019 was Ariodante conducted by Ian Page.

As featured in Bergman's The Magic Flute
A copy of the theatre is visible in Ingmar Bergman's 1975 film version of The Magic Flute. According to film historian Peter Cowie's notes for the DVD release of the film, Bergman wanted to recreate as closely as possible the original 1791 production in the Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, and originally hoped to film in the Drottningholm Theatre. However, "the scenery was considered too fragile to accommodate a film crew. So the stage – complete with wings, curtains, and wind machines – was painstakingly copied and erected in the studios of the Swedish Film Institute". Introductory exterior shots of the theatre are, however, visible in the film.

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

title: Drottningholm Palace Theatre


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Pseudofossil

Pseudofossils are inorganic objects, markings, or impressions that might be mistaken for fossils. Pseudofossils may be misleading, as some types of mineral deposits can mimic lifeforms by forming what appear to be highly detailed or organized structures. One common example is when manganese oxides crystallize with a characteristic treelike or dendritic pattern along a rock fracture. The formation of frost dendrites on a window is another common example of this crystal growth. Concretions are sometimes thought to be fossils, and occasionally one contains a fossil, but are generally not fossils themselves. Chert or flint nodules in limestone can often take forms that resemble fossils.

Background
Pyrite disks or spindles are sometimes mistaken for fossils of sand dollars or other forms (see marcasite). Cracks, bumps, gas bubbles, and such can be difficult to distinguish from true fossils. Specimens that cannot be attributed with certainty to either fossils or pseudofossils are treated as dubiofossils. Debates on whether specific forms are pseudo or true fossils can be lengthy and difficult. For example, Eozoön is a complex laminated form of interlayered calcite and serpentine originally found in Precambrian metamorphosed limestones (marbles). It was at first thought to be the remains of a giant fossil protozoan (Dawson, 1865), then by far the oldest fossil known. Similar structures were subsequently found in metamorphosed limestone blocks ejected during an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. It was clear that high-temperature physical and chemical processes were responsible for the formation of Eozoön in the carbonate rock (O'Brien, 1970). The debate over the interpretation of Eozoon was a significant episode in the history of paleontology (Adelman, 2007).

Chemical gardens can produce branching microtubuli of 2-10 μm in diameter and can resemble very closely the shapes of fossilized primitive fungi or microorganisms. It has been proposed that ancient, precambrian, structures that have been identified as the evidence for the first fungi or even the first life, are more probably products of ancient natural chemical gardens.

title: Pseudofossil


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Concretion

A concretion is a hard, compact mass formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles, and is found in sedimentary rock or soil. Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape, although irregular shapes also occur. The word 'concretion' is derived from the Latin concretio "(act of) compacting, condensing, congealing, uniting", itself from con meaning "together" and crescere meaning "to grow".

Concretions form within layers of sedimentary strata that have already been deposited. They usually form early in the burial history of the sediment, before the rest of the sediment is hardened into rock. This concretionary cement often makes the concretion harder and more resistant to weathering than the host stratum.

There is an important distinction to draw between concretions and nodules. Concretions are formed from mineral precipitation around some kind of nucleus while a nodule is a replacement body.

Descriptions dating from the 18th century attest to the fact that concretions have long been regarded as geological curiosities. Because of the variety of unusual shapes, sizes and compositions, concretions have been interpreted to be dinosaur eggs, animal and plant fossils (called pseudofossils), extraterrestrial debris or human artifacts.

Origins
Detailed studies have demonstrated that concretions form after sediments are buried but before the sediment is fully lithified during diagenesis. They typically form when a mineral precipitates and cements sediment around a nucleus, which is often organic, such as a leaf, tooth, piece of shell or fossil. For this reason, fossil collectors commonly break open concretions in their search for fossil animal and plant specimens. Some of the most unusual concretion nuclei are World War II military shells, bombs, and shrapnel, which are found inside siderite concretions found in an English coastal salt marsh.

Depending on the environmental conditions present at the time of their formation, concretions can be created by either concentric or pervasive growth. In concentric growth, the concretion grows as successive layers of mineral precipitate around a central core. This process results in roughly spherical concretions that grow with time. In the case of pervasive growth, cementation of the host sediments, by infilling of its pore space by precipitated minerals, occurs simultaneously throughout the volume of the area, which in time becomes a concretion. Concretions are often exposed at the surface by subsequent erosion that removes the weaker, uncemented material.

Appearance
Concretions vary in shape, hardness and size, ranging from objects that require a magnifying lens to be clearly visible to huge bodies three meters in diameter and weighing several thousand pounds. The giant, red concretions occurring in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, in North Dakota, are almost 3 m in diameter. Spheroidal concretions, as large as 9 m in diameter, have been found eroding out of the Qasr el Sagha Formation within the Faiyum depression of Egypt. Concretions occur in a wide variety of shapes, including spheres, disks, tubes, and grape-like or soap bubble-like aggregates.

Composition
Concretions are commonly composed of a mineral present as a minor component of the host rock. For example, concretions in sandstones or shales are commonly formed of a carbonate mineral such as calcite; those in limestones are commonly an amorphous or microcrystalline form of silica such as chert, flint, or jasper; while those in black shale may be composed of pyrite. Other minerals that form concretions include iron oxides or hydroxides (such as goethite and hematite), dolomite, siderite, ankerite, marcasite, barite,  and gypsum.

Although concretions often consist of a single dominant mineral, other minerals can be present depending on the environmental conditions that created them. For example, carbonate concretions, which form in response to the reduction of sulfates by bacteria, often contain minor percentages of pyrite. Other concretions, which formed as a result of microbial sulfate reduction, consist of a mixture of calcite, barite, and pyrite.

Occurrence

Concretions are found in a variety of rocks, but are particularly common in shales, siltstones, and sandstones. They often outwardly resemble fossils or rocks that look as if they do not belong to the stratum in which they were found. Occasionally, concretions contain a fossil, either as its nucleus or as a component that was incorporated during its growth but concretions are not fossils themselves. They appear in nodular patches, concentrated along bedding planes, or protruding from weathered cliffsides.

Small hematite concretions or Martian spherules have been observed by the Opportunity rover in the Eagle Crater on Mars.

Types of concretion
Concretions vary considerably in their compositions, shapes, sizes and modes of origin.

Septarian concretions
Septarian concretions (or septarian nodules) are carbonate-rich concretions containing angular cavities or cracks (septaria; sg. , from the Latin septum "partition, separating element", referring to the cracks or cavities separating polygonal blocks of hardened material). Septarian nodules are characteristically found in carbonate-rich mudrock. They typically show an internal structure of polyhedral blocks (the matrix) separated by mineral-filled radiating cracks (the septaria) which taper towards the rim of the concretion. The radiating cracks sometimes intersect a second set of concentric cracks. However, the cracks can be highly variable in shape and volume, as well as the degree of shrinkage they indicate. The matrix is typically composed of argillaceous carbonate, such as clay ironstone, while the crack filling is usually calcite. The calcite often contains significant iron (ferroan calcite) and may have inclusions of pyrite and clay minerals. The brown calcite common in septaria may also be colored by organic compounds produced by bacterial decay of organic matter in the original sediments.

Septarian concretions are found in many kinds of mudstone, including lacustrine siltstones such as the Beaufort Group of northwest Mozambique, but are most commonly found in marine shales, such as the Staffin Shale Formation of Skye, the Kimmeridge Clay of England, or the Mancos Group of North America.

It is commonly thought that concretions grew incrementally from the inside outwards. Chemical and textural zoning in many concretions are consistent with this concentric model of formation. However, the evidence is ambiguous, and many or most concretions may have formed by pervasive cementation of the entire volume of the concretion at the same time. For example, if the porosity after early cementation varies across the concretion, then later cementation filling this porosity would produce compositional zoning even with uniform pore water composition. Whether the initial cementation was concentric or pervasive, there is considerable evidence that it occurred quickly and at shallow depth of burial. In many cases, there is clear evidence that the initial concretion formed around some kind of organic nucleus.

The origin of the carbonate-rich septaria is still debated. One possibility is that dehydration hardens the outer shell of the concretion while causing the interior matrix to shrink until it cracks. Shrinkage of a still-wet matrix may also take place through syneresis, in which the particles of colloidal material in the interior of the concretion become gradually more tightly bound while expelling water. Another possibility is that early cementation reduces the permeability of the concretion, trapping pore fluids and creating excess pore pressure during continued burial. This could crack the interior at depths as shallow as 10 m. A more speculative theory is that the septaria form by brittle fracturing resulting from earthquakes. Regardless of the mechanism of crack formation, the septaria, like the concretion itself, likely form at a relatively shallow depth of burial of less than 50 m and possibly as little as 12 m. Geologically young concretions of the Errol Beds of Scotland show texture consistent with formation from flocculated sediments containing organic matter, whose decay left tiny gas bubbles (30 to 35 microns in diameter) and a soap of calcium fatty acids salts. The conversion of these fatty acids to calcium carbonate may have promoted shrinkage and fracture of the matrix.

One model for the formation of septarian concretions in the Staffin Shales suggests that the concretions started as semirigid masses of flocculated clay. The individual colloidal clay particles were bound by extracellular polymeric substances or EPS produced by colonizing bacteria. The decay of these substances, together with syneresis of the host mud, produced stresses that fractured the interiors of the concretions while still at shallow burial depth. This was possible only with the bacterial colonization and the right sedimentation rate. Additional fractures formed during subsequent episodes of shallow burial (during the Cretaceous) or uplift (during the Paleogene). Water derived from rain and snow (meteoric water) later infiltrated the beds and deposited ferroan calcite in the cracks.

Septarian concretions often record a complex history of formation that provides geologists with information on early diagenesis, the initial stages of the formation of sedimentary rock from unconsolidated sediments. Most concretions appear to have formed at depths of burial where sulfate-reducing microorganisms are active. This corresponds to burial depths of 15 to 150 m, and is characterized by generation of carbon dioxide, increased alkalinity and precipitation of calcium carbonate. However, there is some evidence that formation continues well into the methanogenic zone beneath the sulfate reduction zone.

A spectacular example of boulder septarian concretions, which are as much as 3 m in diameter, are the Moeraki Boulders. These concretions are found eroding out of Paleocene mudstone of the Moeraki Formation exposed along the coast near Moeraki, South Island, New Zealand. They are composed of calcite-cemented mud with septarian veins of calcite and rare late-stage quartz and ferrous dolomite. The much smaller septarian concretions found in the Kimmeridge Clay exposed in cliffs along the Wessex coast of England are more typical examples of septarian concretions.

Cannonball concretions
Cannonball concretions are large spherical concretions, which resemble cannonballs. These are found along the Cannonball River within Morton and Sioux Counties, North Dakota, and can reach 3 m in diameter. They were created by early cementation of sand and silt by calcite. Similar cannonball concretions, which are as much as 4 to 6 m in diameter, are found associated with sandstone outcrops of the Frontier Formation in northeast Utah and central Wyoming. They formed by the early cementation of sand by calcite. Somewhat weathered and eroded giant cannonball concretions, as large as 6 m in diameter, occur in abundance at "Rock City" in Ottawa County, Kansas. Large and spherical boulders are also found along Koekohe beach near Moeraki on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The Moeraki Boulders, Ward Beach boulders and Koutu Boulders of New Zealand are examples of septarian concretions, which are also cannonball concretions. Large spherical rocks, which are found on the shore of Lake Huron near Kettle Point, Ontario, and locally known as "kettles", are typical cannonball concretions. Cannonball concretions have also been reported from Van Mijenfjorden, Spitsbergen; near Haines Junction, Yukon Territory, Canada; Jameson Land, East Greenland; near Mecevici, Ozimici, and Zavidovici in Bosnia-Herzegovina; in Alaska in the Kenai Peninsula Captain Cook State Park on north of Cook Inlet beach and on Kodiak Island northeast of Fossil Beach;

Hiatus concretions
Hiatus concretions are distinguished by their stratigraphic history of exhumation, exposure and reburial. They are found where submarine erosion has concentrated early diagenetic concretions as lag surfaces by washing away surrounding fine-grained sediments. Their significance for stratigraphy, sedimentology and paleontology was first noted by Voigt who referred to them as Hiatus-Konkretionen. "Hiatus" refers to the break in sedimentation that allowed this erosion and exposure. They are found throughout the fossil record but are most common during periods in which calcite sea conditions prevailed, such as the Ordovician, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Most are formed from the cemented infillings of burrow systems in siliciclastic or carbonate sediments.

A distinctive feature of hiatus concretions separating them from other types is that they were often encrusted by marine organisms including bryozoans, echinoderms and tube worms in the Paleozoic and bryozoans, oysters and tube worms in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Hiatus concretions are also often significantly bored by worms and bivalves.

Elongate concretions
Elongate concretions form parallel to sedimentary strata and have been studied extensively due to the inferred influence of phreatic (saturated) zone groundwater flow direction on the orientation of the axis of elongation. In addition to providing information about the orientation of past fluid flow in the host rock, elongate concretions can provide insight into local permeability trends (i.e., permeability correlation structure; variation in groundwater velocity, and the types of geological features that influence flow.

Elongate concretions are well known in the Kimmeridge Clay formation of northwest Europe. In outcrops, where they have acquired the name "doggers", they are typically only a few meters across, but in the subsurface they can be seen to penetrate up to tens of meters of along-hole dimension. Unlike limestone beds, however, it is impossible to consistently correlate them between even closely spaced wells.

Moqui Marbles
Moqui Marbles, also called Moqui balls or "Moki marbles", are iron oxide concretions which can be found eroding in great abundance out of outcrops of the Navajo Sandstone within south-central and southeastern Utah. These concretions range in shape from spheres to discs, buttons, spiked balls, cylindrical forms, and other odd shapes. They range from pea-size to baseball-size.

The concretions were created by the precipitation of iron, which was dissolved in groundwater. The iron was originally present as a thin film of iron oxide surrounding sand grains in the Navajo Sandstone. Groundwater containing methane or petroleum from underlying rock beds reacted with the iron oxide, converting it to soluble reduced iron. When the iron-bearing groundwater came into contact with more oxygen-rich groundwater, the reduced iron was converted back to insoluble iron oxide, which formed the concretions. It is possible that reduced iron first formed siderite concretions that were subsequently oxidized. Iron-oxidizing bacteria may have played a role.

Kansas pop rocks
Kansas pop rocks are concretions of either iron sulfide, i.e. pyrite and marcasite, or in some cases jarosite, which are found in outcrops of the Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Formation within Gove County, Kansas. They are typically associated with thin layers of altered volcanic ash, called bentonite, that occur within the chalk comprising the Smoky Hill Chalk Member. A few of these concretions enclose, at least in part, large flattened valves of inoceramid bivalves. These concretions range in size from a few millimeters to as much as 0.7 m in length and 12 cm in thickness. Most of these concretions are oblate spheroids. Other "pop rocks" are small polycuboid pyrite concretions, which are as much as 7 cm in diameter. These concretions are called "pop rocks" because they explode if thrown in a fire. Also, when they are either cut or hammered, they produce sparks and a burning sulfur smell. Contrary to what has been published on the Internet, none of the iron sulfide concretions, which are found in the Smoky Hill Chalk Member were created by either the replacement of fossils or by metamorphic processes. In fact, metamorphic rocks are completely absent from the Smoky Hill Chalk Member. Instead, all of these iron sulfide concretions were created by the precipitation of iron sulfides within anoxic marine calcareous ooze after it had accumulated and before it had lithified into chalk.

Iron sulfide concretions, such as the Kansas Pop rocks, consisting of either pyrite and marcasite, are nonmagnetic. On the other hand, iron sulfide concretions, which either are composed of or contain either pyrrhotite or smythite, will be magnetic to varying degrees. Prolonged heating of either a pyrite or marcasite concretion will convert portions of either mineral into pyrrhotite causing the concretion to become slightly magnetic.

Claystones, clay dogs, and fairy stones
Disc concretions composed of calcium carbonate are often found eroding out of exposures of interlaminated silt and clay, varved, proglacial lake deposits. For example, great numbers of strikingly symmetrical concretions have been found eroding out of outcrops of Quaternary proglacial lake sediments along and in the gravels of the Connecticut River and its tributaries in Massachusetts and Vermont. Depending the specific source of these concretions, they vary in an infinite variety of forms that include disc-shapes; crescent-shapes; watch-shapes; cylindrical or club-shapes; botryoidal masses; and animal-like forms. They can vary in length from 2 in to over 22 in and often exhibit concentric grooves on their surfaces. In the Connecticut River Valley, these concretions are often called "claystones" because the concretions are harder than the clay enclosing them. In local brickyards, they were called "clay-dogs" either because of their animal-like forms or the concretions were nuisances in molding bricks. Similar disc-shaped calcium carbonate concretions have also been found in the Harricana River valley in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue administrative region of Quebec, and in Östergötland county, Sweden. In Scandinavia, they are known as "marlekor" ("fairy stones").

Gogottes
Gogottes are sandstone concretions found in Oligocene (~30 million years) aged sediments near Fontainebleau, France. Gogottes have fetched high prices at auction due to their sculpture-like quality.

title: Concretion


text:
Talk:Water gun

File:Watergun.jpg
I removed the picture as it was a rather un-necessarily gratuitous picture. Out of the millions of different water guns available, I didn't think it was necessary to show a sexually connotive one, especially as a page like this would mostly be viewed by children. Not that there's anything wrong with the picture technically, but rather I feel this is a move by a user to get sexually suggestive content onto pages which is completely un-needed. --86.24.162.140 (talk) 15:24, 31 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I've been monitoring and thus reviewing this article for some time and it's never occurred to me that it might sexually connotative. Only when you pointed it out did I consider it, and even now it took some time to realize what you might be pointing out.  (It's the trigger, yes?) Your concern is appreciated, but I think you're over cautious in this case. — Alan De Smet | Talk 20:15, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

The trigger? The water gun is in the form of a bent-over rabbit with a red cone shaped object inside it. I didn't think it could be much more obvious as I noticed it within seconds of opening the page. Please consider finding another equally informative picture of a water pistol - there are many, many to choose from. --86.24.162.140 (talk) 21:49, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

To put it into context, if I used this picture it would be considered inappropriate. --86.24.162.140 (talk) 17:31, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

 * I'm decidedly unclear how an explicitly "naughty" water gun sheds any light on this particular image. File:Male human buttocks.jpg would also be inappropriate and provides similar insight into the situation.  Heck, were someone to note (ideally with citations), "Some water guns are shaped like other objects, including taboo objects, for novelty effect," a photo of the penis shaped water gun might be a very appropriate illustration.  Ultimately Wikipedia has no particular goal to protect children from any of a wide and set of possible offensive images.  Any child smart enough to browse the web can trivially find extremely explicit imagery (e.g penis).  A child's toy that might be perceived as offensive by some people isn't a big danger.  If you'd like to offer up a superior photo of another water gun, that would be great.  But for now it's the image we have.  A photograph of reasonably typical, cheap children's toy is a useful illustrative example, and the article is stronger for it. — Alan De Smet | Talk 04:36, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

I didn't notice and neither will little kids. Martianshark (talk) 21:39, 29 March 2012 (UTC)martianshark

idiot. --86.24.162.140 (talk) 12:58, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

I've replaced it with File:Weapon.jpg, which has been on Commons since 2007. --McGeddon (talk) 08:51, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

Regulations
Import regulations and domestic laws where? I am assuming United States? -- Cimon Avaro on a pogostick 18:08, Nov 15, 2003 (UTC)

Proposed link to i-mockery
Wonder if this link would be appropriate?--Vertigo200 01:55, 30 November 2005 (UTC)

"gun" or blaster?
thought that these are classified as toys, why the reference to firearms? Seems like the media in general regards any projectile launching device to be some sort of "gun" or "firearm" even if its clearly a toy. would an image from the following image be possible to use? strange why such an akward and uncommon shape of a water blaster is used. link: https://www.google.com/search?q=water+blaster&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=KAOkUbP2FPj84AOJi4DwBQ&biw=1024&bih=653&sei=KQOkUZOZNNj64APju4DoAw

Nerfmaster8 (talk) 01:09, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

History?
There's no history section in this article? 90.2.141.89 (talk) 23:59, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

 * Also according to this article, the earliest reference to squirt guns is in 1865, but in an article about Jeffery Hudson, a dwarf of the queen, he shot and killed a guy in 1644 that came to a dual armed with a squirt gun. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Hudson#Duel_and_disaster 73.98.228.38 (talk) 15:19, 6 May 2023 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on Water gun. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090708072151/http://www.isoaker.com:80/WaterWar/Players/soaker_tech_basics.html to http://www.isoaker.com/WaterWar/Players/soaker_tech_basics.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090119041222/http://www.isoaker.com:80/Armoury/Analysis/0/larami_uzi.html to http://www.isoaker.com/Armoury/Analysis/0/larami_uzi.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers. —cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 15:40, 18 October 2015 (UTC)

Water guns against riots?
I see it the first time in a video about violent protests against Trump at the Inauguration day. E.g. here http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/inauguration-anti-donald-trump-protesters-smash-windows-clash-washington-dc-police-ceremony-a7538031.html at 0:30. If this is a water gun that the police use, should this not added? --Lastwebpage (talk) 23:17, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

title: Talk:Water gun


text:
User talk:RowdyRhodes

Hello RowdyRhodes, welcome to Wikipedia. Unfortunately your page on Http://www.fwointl.com has been proposed for deletion. Generally, only sites which affect significant numbers of people are listed, and as this one has an Alexa rank of only around 68,000, this would not seem to be the case unless you can justify its inclusion along some other terms. I would encourage you to contribute to other areas rather than ones you are too personally involved with to avoid claims that articles you write are advertisements as Wikipedia is not a vehicle for advertising. The advice at Auto-biography and the accompanying discussion on writing on subjects close to your heart may be relevant.

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!

Angela 18:12, 15 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Wikimedia Canada
Hi there! I'd like to invite you to explore Wikimedia Canada, and create a list of people interested in forming a local chapter for our nation. A local chapter will help promote and improve the organization, within our great nation. We'd also like to encourage everyone to suggest projects for our national chapter to participate in. Hope to see you there!--DarkEvil 15:07, 5 February 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:RowdyRhodes


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The Dead Zone

The Dead Zone may refer to:

 * The Dead Zone (novel), a 1979 novel by Stephen King
 * The Dead Zone (film), a 1983 film adaptation of the novel, starring Christopher Walken and directed by David Cronenberg
 * The Dead Zone (TV series), a television series on USA Network that ran from 2002 through 2007, loosely based on the King novel

title: The Dead Zone


text:
Simone Melchior

Simone Cousteau (née Melchior; 19 January 1919 – 1 December 1990) was a French explorer. She was the first woman scuba diver and aquanaut, and wife and business partner of undersea explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau.

Although never visible in the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau series, Simone played a key role in the operation at sea. Acting as mother, healer, nurse and psychiatrist to the all-male crew for 40 years, her nickname was "La Bergère", the Shepherdess. She led Jacques to the men and money who would build his scuba invention, she helped buy their beloved ship Calypso, saved the ship during a storm, and made sure each exploration achieved its objective.

Life and career
Simone was born on 19 January 1919 in Toulon, France. Her father Henri Melchior and both grandfathers Jules Melchior (paternal) and Jean Baehme (maternal) were admirals in the French Navy. Simone's mother was Marguerite Melchior (née Baehme), affectionately called Guitte. She had two brothers: Maurice, and Simone's twin, Michel.

In 1924, Henri Melchior, as a director with Air Liquide (France's main producer of industrial gases), moved his family to Kobe, Japan. Simone learned Japanese at the age of five years.

Simone met her future husband, Jacques, at a cocktail party in 1937. He was a naval officer of 26 and she was 17. They were married at Saint-Louis-des-Invalides, in Paris, on 12 July 1937.

After a honeymoon in Switzerland and Italy the Cousteaus settled in Le Mourillon, a district of Toulon. They had two sons, Jean-Michel (born 6 May 1938) and Philippe Pierre (30 December 1940 – 28 June 1979). Both sons were born on the family's kitchen table.

In 1942, Simone's father provided financing and the manufacturing expertise of Émile Gagnan at Air Liquide to build Jacques Cousteau's aqua-lung. Simone was indirectly to hold the key to this significant step in diving history. She was present in 1943 at the testing of the prototype for the aqua-lung, in the Marne River outside Paris. The new invention was employed to locate and remove enemy mines after World War II.

The Cousteau family's underwater investigation and exploration led to the purchase of the minesweeper Calypso on 19 July 1950. Thomas Loel Guinness bought the ship and leased it to Jacques for a dollar a year. Simone sold her family jewels for the Calypso's fuel, and her fur to buy a compass and gyroscope. The Calypso set off in 1952 on her maiden voyage, to the Red Sea. Simone was the only woman on board.

In 1963, Simone became the world's first female aquanaut by living in Starfish House, an underwater habitat, for the final four days of the Conshelf II project.

Describing his wife, Jacques Cousteau said, "She was the happiest out of camera range, in the crow's nest of Calypso, for example, scanning the sea for whales. Nothing would get by her." He continued, "She lives to spend hour after hour in the wind and the sun, watching, thinking, trying to unravel the mystery of the sea." Simone died in 1990 of cancer. She received a full military funeral, during which her ashes were scattered over the Sea of Monaco.

Grant
On 8 March 2021, the Women Divers Hall of Fame announced on International Women's Day, that a new research grant in the name of the French diver, Simone Melchior-Cousteau was being launched.

title: Simone Melchior


text:
Prey (novel)

Prey is the thirteenth novel by Michael Crichton under his own name and his twenty-third novel overall. It was first published in November 2002, making it his first novel of the twenty-first century. An excerpt was first published in the January–February 2003 issue of Seed magazine. Prey brings together themes from two earlier Crichton best-selling novels, Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain and serves as a cautionary tale about developments in science and technology, in particular, nanotechnology, genetic engineering, and distributed artificial intelligence.

The book features relatively new advances in the computing/scientific community, such as artificial life, emergence (and by extension, complexity), genetic algorithms, and agent-based computing. Fields such as population dynamics and host-parasite coevolution are also at the heart of the novel.

Film rights to the book were purchased by 20th Century Fox.

Plot summary
The novel is narrated by protagonist Jack Forman, an unemployed software programmer who is a stay-at-home husband. His wife, Julia, serves as an executive for a nanorobotics company called Xymos, and claims to be working on revolutionary imaging technology, which takes up most of her time. This leads to Jack being suspicious of her having an affair.

In the novel, Julia showed Jack a video of Xymos nanobots being injected into a human test subject leaving Jack impressed yet suspicious of the new technology. The couple's baby Amanda awakens in agony, but is cured instantly after an emergency room MRI was performed that same night.

Julia begins to display strange and abusive behavior toward her family until she's injured in a car crash, leaving Jack to consult for Xymos where project manager Ricky was struggling with the nanobots.

Jack was taken to the Xymos research facility in Nevada's Basin Desert, where he was given a tour of the lab and introduced to the programming team (Mae, Charley, David, Rosie, Bobby and Vince). He is shown a machine used to make nanobot assemblers from bacteria, though isn't shown the source code for said nanobots. Ricky claims that contractors improperly installed filters in a vent, causing assemblers, bacteria, and nanobots to be blown into the desert, where they began forming into autonomous swarms. These "swarms" appear to be clouds of solar-powered self-sufficient nanobots, reproducing and evolving (necroevolution) at rapid speeds. The swarms exhibit predatory behavior, killing wild animals through the use of code that Jack had worked on. Jack learns Julia was helping to make the swarms more benign, but they regressed when she stopped coming to the facility.

Persuaded by Jack, the team decides to destroy the swarm, but are overwhelmed and retreat as the swarm injures and kills several members. As night falls, Jack, Mae, and Bobby set out to find the swarms. While searching, they discover that the swarms are dragging Rosie's corpse through the desert. The team is also shocked to discover that the swarms can replicate the physical features, perceptions, and motions of humans when they see the swarms form replicas of Ricky, David, and Rosie. The group follows Rosie's body and find the swarms nesting in a cave and destroy the swarms, their nest, and their organic assembly plant using explosive thermite caps.

Returning to the plant, Jack, Mae, and Bobby are greeted by Julia, who had discharged herself from the hospital and acts strangely as the remaining team looks for the cause of the nanobots' escape. Mae discovers security footage of when they were in the desert. To Jack's horror, the video reveals that Julia and Ricky had an affair, and shows Charley engaging in a vicious fight with Ricky and Vince. All of them end up in the communications room where Julia kisses a subdued Charley, injecting a swarm into his mouth. Jack and Mae realize that Julia, Ricky, Vince and Bobby have all been infected by a symbiotic version of the nanobot swarms. These swarms do not show aggressive predatory behavior; instead, they take over human hosts, affecting their decision-making, and slowly devour them over time to produce more nanobots. This allows the swarms to remain hidden, while also allowing them to spread and contaminate other humans.

Jack comes up with a plan to destroy this new strain. He and Mae drink vials containing a form of phage that kills the nanobot-producing E. coli bacteria, thereby protecting them from infection by the nanobots. Jack then takes a sample of the phage and plans to pour it into the sprinkler system to vaccinate everyone in the facility. He has Mae alert Julia and the infected team, who set out to stop Jack. In the struggle that ensues, Jack is captured and thrown into a magnetic chamber. Jack feigns surrender when Julia walks in to interrogate him, but reactivates the magnetic chamber, remembering the incident with Amanda in the MRI. Julia's swarm is pulled away by the magnetic field to temporarily reveal the real Julia, who is gradually being consumed by the parasitic swarm. Before the swarm can repossess her body, Julia begs Jack to forgive her, says she loves him, and tells him to stop the swarms and save their children, as they have been infected too. Motivated, Jack runs to the roof, fights off the infected team, and finally manages to place the sample into the sprinkler system.

Jack and Mae are able to distribute the phage around the facility, destroying the infected. They escape the facility in a helicopter shortly before the facility explodes due to a methane gas leak combined with thermite that Mae had placed in the building.

After returning home, Jack doses his children and sister with the phage, curing them as well. While Mae calls the U.S. Army and sends a sample of the phage to her lab, Jack discovers that Xymos had intentionally released the swarm into the desert so that it would evolve to stay in a cohesive group in the wind, but called him in to destroy the wild strain once it became uncontrollable.

Major characters

 * Jack Forman – A former team lead/manager at MediaTronics working on distributed, multi-agent systems and advanced computer algorithms
 * Julia Forman – Jack's wife, Vice President at the Xymos company.
 * Mae Chang – A field biologist on Jack's consulting team
 * Ricky Morse – A friend of Jack's, works for Xymos
 * Charley Davenport – A member of Jack's team who specializes in genetic algorithms.
 * David Brooks – An engineer on the team.
 * Rosie Castro – A specialist in natural language processing.
 * The "Swarm" – Any of the many predatory clouds of nano-machines that "eat" animals serving as an antagonistic force in the novel.  A notable aspect of the swarm is its capacity for fully Lamarckian evolution, as each cloud's members can effectively choose exactly which aspects are to be transmitted or modified down into the next generation.
 * Vince Reynolds – the maintenance operator of the Xymos lab.
 * Amanda – Jack and Julia's baby daughter.
 * Nicole – Jack and Julia's preteen daughter.
 * Eric – Jack and Julia's son.

Minor characters

 * Ellen – Jack's sister from out of town. She takes care of his kids while he is in Nevada and believes Julia is on stimulants.
 * Don Gross – Jack's former boss, who fired Jack.
 * Gary – Jack's lawyer.
 * Maria – Jack and Julia's housekeeper.
 * Annie – Jack's headhunter.
 * Carol – Julia's assistant.
 * Mary – Ricky's wife.
 * Bobby Lembeck – Computer programmer at Xymos
 * Tim Berman – The man that took over Jack's job.

Reception
In writing for The New York Times, Jim Holt found the book "absurd" but exciting, and said that he "kept turning the pages feverishly".

Peter Guttridge, writing for The Observer, said that it finds Crichton "doing what he does best", in that he takes "the very latest scientific advances" and shows "their potentially terrifying underbelly".

Even while pointing out the flaws in Crichton's science, in Prey, multiple critics have praised the book's impact and overall message.

title: Prey (novel)


text:
Prey (disambiguation)

Prey are organisms attacked and eaten by other organisms.

Prey may also refer to:

Places

 * Prey, Eure, a commune in Eure, France
 * Prey, Vosges, a commune in Vosges, France
 * Prey Veng Province, Cambodia
 * Prey Veng (city), capital of the province

People

 * Edmond Lefebvre du Prey (1866–1955), French politician (family name is Lefebvre du Prey)
 * Hermann Prey (1929–1998), German lyric baritone

Film

 * The Prey (1920 film), American drama film directed by George L. Sargent
 * The Prey (1921 film), a French-Italian silent film
 * The Prey (1974 film), an Italian erotic film
 * Prey (1977 film), a low-budget British science-fiction horror film, directed by Norman J. Warren
 * The Prey (1983 film), an American horror film, written and directed by Edwin Brown
 * Prey (2007 film), a South African horror film
 * Prey (2009 film), a low-budget Australian supernatural horror film
 * The Prey (2011 film), a French film with the French title La Proie
 * The Prey (2016 film), a 2016 American film produced by Juan Feldman
 * The Prey (2018 film), a US-Cambodian film
 * Prey (2019 Canadian film), a Canadian documentary film
 * Prey (2019 American film), an American horror film directed by Franck Khalfoun
 * Prey (2021 film), a German film
 * Prey (2022 film), an American film in the Predator franchise.
 * Prey (2024 film), an American action thriller film

Literature

 * Prey (novel), by Michael Crichton
 * "Prey", a short story by Richard Matheson, basis for the "Devil Doll" segment of the film Trilogy of Terror
 * Prey: Immigration, Islam, and the erosion of women's rights, a 2021 non-fiction book by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
 * Batman: Prey, a Batman comics story arc

Albums

 * Prey (Tiamat album), 2003
 * Prey (Planes Mistaken for Stars album), 2016

Songs

 * "The Prey" (song), a 1981 B-side by the Dead Kennedys
 * "Prey", a song by Brutal Truth from the 1997 album Sounds of the Animal Kingdom
 * "Prey", a song by 10 Years from the 2005 album The Autumn Effect
 * "Prey", a song by Recoil from the 2007 album subHuman
 * "The Prey", a song by Suede from the 2022 album Autofiction

Television

 * Prey (American TV series), a 1998 science-fiction TV series starring Debra Messing
 * Prey (British TV series), an ITV 2014–2015 detective-drama TV series starring Rosie Cavaliero
 * "Prey" (Star Trek: Voyager), an episode of season four of Star Trek: Voyager
 * "Prey" (The Walking Dead), an episode of the television series The Walking Dead
 * "Prey", season 3, episode 5 of the TV series Animal Kingdom

Video games

 * Prey (2006 video game), a first-person shooter developed by Human Head Studios
 * Prey (2017 video game), a first-person shooter developed by Arkane Studios

Other uses

 * Prey (software), a service for tracking stolen electronic devices

title: Prey (disambiguation)


text:
The Idle Race

The Idle Race were a British rock group from Birmingham who in the late 1960s and early 1970s had a cult following but never enjoyed mass commercial success. In addition to being the springboard for Jeff Lynne, the band holds a place of significance in British Midlands' pop-rock history as a link between the Move, Electric Light Orchestra, the Steve Gibbons Band and Mike Sheridan & The Nightriders.

The Nightriders (1959–1966)
The band was initially formed in 1959, under the name Billy King and the Nightriders, and consisted of the core members Dave Pritchard on rhythm guitar and Roger Spencer on drums, along with vocalist Billy King, bass guitarist Brian Cope, and lead guitarist Al Johnson. In 1962, King departed the band and was replaced by Mike Tyler, who changed his surname to Sheridan for performance purposes. This change coincided with the band's rise (as Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders), culminating with a record deal with EMI in 1964. By this time Cope had been replaced by Greg Masters, and Johnson by lead guitarist and composer Roy Wood, in 1963 and 1964, respectively. Wood, who went on to find greater success in his subsequent bands, had his first commercially released composition with The Nightriders, "Make Them Understand", which appeared as the B-side of a 1965 single.

By December 1965, Wood had joined forces with other musicians to form the Move, leading to his departure from the Nightriders in January 1966, when the Move started touring. Wood's place in the Nightriders was filled by Johnny Mann, who had previously performed with Wood's new bandmate in the Move, Carl Wayne, in Wayne's previous band the Vikings. Sheridan, feeling that the band had come full circle, decided to depart the group shortly thereafter—although Sheridan later toured with various musicians using the Nightriders' moniker. The losses of Sheridan and Wood led the band to change direction. The band shortened their name to the Nightriders (dropping Sheridan's name), reflecting the fact that the band was now going to lack a dedicated frontman and would feature various members performing lead vocals. Shortly after signing a new recording contract with Polydor Records, Mann departed and was replaced by Jeff Lynne, who at the time was an unknown guitar prodigy from the Birmingham district of Shard End. Their time at Polydor was short, and they recorded only one single, "It's Only The Dog"/"Your Friend", released in November 1966, with Lynne on lead guitar. Spencer sang lead on the A-side while the B-side was written and sung by Pritchard.

The Idle Race (1966–1972)
Eager to showcase Lynne's vocal and guitar skills as well as his growing cache of catchy Beatlesque songs, and wishing to embrace the new psychedelic movement, the group changed its name again, first to the Idyll Race and then to the Idle Race. Wood, now a major star as the Move became a successful chart act, helped arrange a partnership with pop producers Eddie Offord and Gerald Chevin for the Idle Race. In 1967, the band were the first major signing by the new British arm of Liberty Records. Only their first single (not issued in the UK) and their first album got released in the US on Liberty.

The group were well received by the music press for their melodies, whimsical lyrics, and inventive production. They often appeared on the same bill with such bands as the Spencer Davis Group, the Who, Small Faces, Pink Floyd, the Moody Blues, Status Quo, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Yes, Free, and the Move. In addition to original material, their set list included extended covers of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild", the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Purple Haze", Moby Grape's "Hey Grandma," The Lemon Pipers' "Blueberry Blue," The Doors' "Love Me Two Times", and an electric version of "Debora" by Tyrannosaurus Rex.

BBC disc jockeys such as John Peel and Kenny Everett were big boosters of the group. But despite critical respect and famous admirers such as The Beatles and Marc Bolan, Idle Race failed to catch on with the public.

Bad luck sabotaged efforts from the start. Their debut single on Liberty, a cover of Wood's "Here We Go 'Round the Lemon Tree", was scheduled for release and heavily promoted in September 1967. When the Move's version began getting national airplay around the UK as the B-side of the hit "Flowers In The Rain," Liberty abruptly pulled the single in the UK. It was, however, released by Liberty in the US. The record company replaced it in the UK with Lynne's "Impostors of Life's Magazine" in October.

"The Skeleton and the Roundabout" (February 1968) and "The End of the Road" (June 1968) suffered similar fates. Work continued throughout the year on the Idle Race's debut album, the group commuting in from Birmingham to London on Sundays, when they were granted free studio time at Advision. The resulting album, The Birthday Party, was released in October of that year.

Lynne and Wood's mutual respect and friendship deepened. The demo for the Move hit "Blackberry Way" was recorded in Lynne's front room and borrowed motifs from the Idle Race; the chorus of Lynne's 1969 song "Days of the Broken Arrows" lifted part of a riff from the Move's "Wild Tiger Woman".

Lynne received an offer to replace Trevor Burton in the Move in February 1969 but declined with hopes of steering The Idle Race to commercial success — and producing the band's second LP for Liberty.

The self-titled Idle Race was released in September 1969 in the UK with sleeve photography and design by Michael Hasted. The two Lynne-penned and produced singles that preceded the LP, "Days of the Broken Arrows" (April 1969) and "Come With Me" (July 1969) also failed to chart. Idle Race, the first album to be produced by Lynne, flopped.

In January 1970, Lynne accepted a second offer by Wood to join the Move, on condition that they would eventually retire that band and concentrate on a new venture, Electric Light Orchestra.

Lynne made two albums, Looking On and Message from the Country, and a handful of singles with the Move, including the first version of "Do Ya", as work on the first ELO album continued in the studio throughout 1970 and 1971. The Move, now comprising just Wood, Lynne and drummer Bev Bevan, ceased touring in 1970, and adopted the name ELO permanently in 1972.

Meanwhile, Mike Hopkins (guitar) and Dave Walker (vocals) were hired to replace Lynne in the Idle Race. A cover of Mungo Jerry's "In the Summertime" on Liberty in 1970 finally got them into the top 10 in Argentina. A cover of Hotlegs' "Neanderthal Man" did not fare as well. In 1971 the band produced their final album, Time Is for Regal Zonophone (UK only); despite this, the band collapsed shortly thereafter with the departures of remaining founding members Pritchard and Spencer (who later became comic "Ollie Spencer"), along with Hopkins and Walker. Sole-remaining member Greg Masters built another version of the band with guitarists Dave Carroll and Bob Wilson and drummer Bob Lamb; with Steve Gibbons being recruited later as front-man. Ultimately however, this lineup was short-lived and Masters himself departed in February 1972, and was replaced by Bob Griffin; whose tenure in the band was brief and who was replaced by former the Move member Trevor Burton. The Idle Race then, finally, disbanded; with the final lineup becoming the founding lineup of the Steve Gibbons Band.

Members

 * Dave Pritchard – rhythm guitar, vocals (1959–1971)
 * Roger Spencer – drums, vocals (1959–1971)
 * Al Johnson – lead guitar (1959–1964)
 * Brian Cope – bass guitar (1959–1963)
 * Billy King – vocals (1959–1962)
 * Mike Sheridan – vocals (1962–1966)
 * Greg Masters – bass guitar, vocals (1963–1972)
 * Roy Wood – lead guitar, vocals (1964–1966)
 * Johnny Mann – lead guitar (1966)

 * Jeff Lynne – lead guitar, keyboards, vocals (1966–1970)
 * Mike Hopkins – lead guitar, vocals (1970–1971)
 * Dave Walker – vocals (1970–1971)
 * Dave Carroll – guitar (1971–1972)
 * Bob Lamb – drums (1971–1972)
 * Bob Wilson – guitar (1971–1972)
 * Steve Gibbons – vocals (1971–1972)
 * Bob Griffin – bass guitar (1972)
 * Trevor Burton – bass guitar (1972)

Albums

 * The Birthday Party (October 1968) (issued in UK and US)
 * Idle Race (September 1969) (UK Only) Sleeve by Michael Hasted
 * Time Is (May 1971) (UK only)

Singles

 * "Here We Go 'Round the Lemon Tree"/"My Father's Son" (not issued in UK but issued in Europe and US) 1967
 * "Imposters of Life's Magazine"/"Sitting in My Tree" (Liberty LBF 15026) October 1967 (UK only)
 * "Imposters of Life's Magazine" was erroneously credited to "G. Lynn"
 * "The Skeleton and the Roundabout"/"Knocking Nails Into My House" (Liberty LBF 15054) February 1968 (UK only)
 * "The End of the Road"/"Morning Sunshine" (Liberty LBF 15101) June 1968 (UK only)
 * "I Like My Toys"/"Birthday" (Liberty LBF 15129) 1968 *Unissued*
 * "Days of Broken Arrows"/"Worn Red Carpet" (Liberty LBF 15218) April 1969 (UK only)
 * "Worn Red Carpet" was erroneously issued as "Warm Red Carpet" on the UK Liberty single
 * "Come With Me"/"Reminds Me of You" (Liberty LBF 15242) July 1969 (UK only)
 * "In the Summertime"/"Told You Twice" (not issued in UK or US but issued in other countries) 1970
 * "Neanderthal Man"/"Victim of Circumstance" (not issued in UK or US but issued in Canada) 1970
 * "Dancing Flower"/"Bitter Green" (Regal Zonophone RZ 3036) 1971 (UK only)

Compilation albums

 * Impostors of Life's Magazine (Daffodil DDAF10046) 1974 (2-record set, Canada)
 * Best of Idle Race Featuring Jeff Lynne 1990 (1 CD, UK only)
 * Jeff Lynne - A Message From The Country 1968-1973 1990 (1 CD) Also features tracks by the Move and the Electric Light Orchestra - there is a companion disc, You Can Dance the Rock and Roll which focuses on Lynne's Move and ELO bandmate Roy Wood.
 * Back to the Story 1996 (Re-issued 2007, 2 CDs)
 * A 5-disc Idle Race box (with Nightriders tracks) has supposedly been in the works since 2007, although a release date has yet to be determined.

Cover versions of the Idle Race songs

 * "The Birthday" was recorded by The Fall with vocals by then-band member Lucy Rimmer and no apparent contributions from bandleader Mark E. Smith; it was released as "Birthday" on their 1996 compilation album Sinister Waltz. (The Idle Race are also mentioned in the lyrics of The Fall's 1978 song "No Xmas for John Quays".)
 * Ambrose Slade (pre-Slade) covered "Knocking Nails Into My House" on their 1969 Beginnings
 * Tinkerbells Fairydust covered "Follow Me Follow" as the B-side to their January 1969 Decca Records release (Decca – F12865) "Sheila's Back In Town"
 * Finnish band Spider covered "Follow Me Follow" on their second album 1980.
 * "Morning Sunshine" was covered by Jeremy as part of the "Lynne Me Your Ears" tribute collection to Jeff Lynne in 2001.
 * "I Like My Toys" was covered by Radio DJ, Ed Stewart (under the name Stewpot) and the Save the Children Fund Choir.
 * "End of the Road", "I Like My Toys", "The Skeleton and the Roundabout" and "Sitting in My Tree" were covered by Norwegian pop group The Tables on their 7-inch EP The Tables play The Idle Race (Kippers Records, 2000)
 * "Days Of Broken Arrows" was covered by The Liquor Giants on the album Something Special For The Kids in 1998.
 * "On With The Show" was covered by Pugwash as a double A side with "At the Sea" released in 2010. The chorus vocals are provided by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy
 * The Move recorded a BBC Session in which they covered "The Birthday" with Roy Wood singing lead.
 * Mauri Martínez from Old Future Crash covered "Please No More Sad Songs" on 2021. Available on YouTube.
 * “Please no more sad songs” Sheridan & Price from the album “This is to Certify”.
 * “No More Sad Songs” recorded by the Tremeloes with an alternative middle 8

title: The Idle Race


text:
Talk:PowerPC

Suggested updates - 2022
Some of the information in the article is out-of-date and some incomplete.

 * Freescale Semiconductors was acquired by NXP a few years ago.
 * Freescale (now NXP) also still makes 32 bit PowerPCs
 * The embedded 32-bit e500 core has 3 variants: the e500, e500v2, and e500mc; the first two have some a different floating point architecture (embedded floating point) and additional signal processing using the SPE (Signal Processing Extension), both of which use operands in the GP registers (which are 64 bits wide); the last (e500mc, for 'multi core') lacks SPE and returns to the 'classic' floating point (separate registers).
 * The 64 bit embedded architectures are named e5500 and e6500; as far as I know, there are no single-core variants offered by NXP.
 * The PowerQUICC series (eg, MPC8248) was followed by the QorIQ series of SOCs, such as the P1020 (32 bit) and T2080 (64 bit); some flavors of the e500v2 based SoCs offer the QUICC engine (CMP) along side the QorIQ peripheral set
 * A lot more embedded devices use PPC; it is used in many current Avionics subsystems, for example.

(I do a lot of embedded work related to avionics and communications, and the PPC is the preferred embedded processor for airborne applications, where safety and security are of paramount importance. ARM is gaining ground because there is more development being done on that architecture, not because it is a superior ISA.)

--Daniel.glasser (talk) 21:22, 12 February 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:PowerPC


text:
Nemo me impune lacessit

Nemo me impune lacessit is the national motto of Scotland. It also served as the national motto of the historic Kingdom of Scotland prior to the Treaty of Union 1707.

The motto was the Latin motto of the Royal Stuart dynasty of Scotland from at least the reign of James VI when it appeared on the reverse side of merk coins minted in 1578 and 1580. It is the adopted motto of the Order of the Thistle and of three Scottish regiments of the British Army.

The motto also appears, in conjunction with the collar of the Order of the Thistle, in later versions of the royal coat of arms of the Kingdom of Scotland and subsequently in the version of the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom used in Scotland. It has been loosely rendered in Scots as Wha daur meddle wi' me? (in Scottish Gaelic Cha togar m' fhearg gun dìoladh, ). It more or less translates as 'No one can harm me without (detrimental) consequence' or 'Whatever harm comes to me, shall be returned'.

Possible origin of the motto

According to legend, the "guardian thistle" (see Cirsium vulgare) played a vital part in Alexander III, King of Scots' defence of the Kingdom of Scotland against a night-time raiding party of Vikings under King Haakon IV of Norway, prior to the Battle of Largs (1263): one or more raiders let out a yell of pain when stepping on a prickly thistle, thus alerting the Scots. In the motto "No one harasses me with impunity" (Latin: Nemo me impune lacessit), "me" was therefore originally the thistle itself, but by extension now refers to the Scottish regiments which have adopted it.

The modern form of the motto was used by Francesco I, Duke of Milan and had been used in Britain on the colours of the Scottish Royalist officer John Urry during the English Civil War. It was also used by the Parliamentarian propagandist Marchamont Nedham as the motto for his newsletters.

Another traditional source appears in the form of a Scots proverb, "Ye maunna tramp on the Scotch thistle, laddie", this being immortalised in marble by Glasgow monumental sculptors James Gibson & Co. for the Kelvingrove International Exhibition of 1888. The phrase "Wha daur meddle wi' me?" also appears in a traditional border ballad entitled "Little Jock Elliot", which recalls the exploits of a 16th-century Border Reiver ("John Elliot of the Park"), with particular reference to an infamous encounter in the summer of 1566 with James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.

The French city of Nancy has a similar motto, Non inultus premor ("I cannot be touched unavenged"), also a reference to the thistle, which is the symbol of the region of Lorraine.

In the British Isles and Commonwealth
The motto of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, the Scottish chivalrous order, is also that of the British Army regiments The Royal Regiment of Scotland, Scots Guards and Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. It was also the motto of several former units of the British Army, including the Royal Scots, Royal Scots Greys, Royal Highland Fusiliers and Black Watch, some of which went on to be amalgamated to form the Royal Regiment of Scotland in 2006. The motto is also that of the Royal Company of Archers and has been displayed upon the unit's second standard since 1713, following the grant of a Royal charter by Queen Anne.

During the reign of Charles II, the motto, appearing on a scroll under the shield and overlying the compartment, was added to the Royal coat of arms of Scotland, as displayed in relief above the entrance to Holyrood Palace. Since 1707 it has appeared in the Scottish version of the arms of British Monarchs, including the present Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom used in Scotland. The motto appears in conjunction with the collar of the Order of the Thistle, which is placed around the shield. (The collar of the order appears in earlier versions of the Royal coat of arms of Scotland, but without the order motto.)

The motto of the Order of the Thistle (Nemo me impune lacessit) should not be confused with the motto of the Royal arms (In Defens), which appears on an escroll above the crest in the tradition of Scottish heraldry (In Defens being an abbreviated form of the full motto In My Defens God Me Defend). Nemo me impune lacessit is displayed prominently above the Gatehouse entrance added to Edinburgh Castle in 1888.

Armed forces units elsewhere have also adopted this historic motto. In Australia, members of Heavy Weapons Platoon (DFSW) of the 3rd battalion (PARA) Royal Australian Regiment proudly use this motto as a symbol of platoon brotherhood and bonds forged in service together, the motto was also used by the Victoria Scottish Regiment, which subsequently became 5th Battalion Royal Victoria Regiment (RVR) which now forms one of the rifle companies of the RVR. (The motto is also used by the RVR Pipes and Drums Association). The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, a reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Forces, also bears this motto (the motto appearing upon the regimental cap badge).

The motto is also that of the Cape Town Highlanders Regiment, a reserve mechanised infantry unit of South African Army.

The Caledonian Railway used the motto as part of its crest, until "grouped" into the London, Midland and Scottish railway in 1923.

The motto (with the verb in the future tense [lacesset]: "Nemo Me Impune Lacesset") appears as a reverse inscription on the Scottish "Bawbee" (6 pence) coin of King Charles II surrounding a crowned thistle. Examples exist for 1677, 1678 and 1679. The coin is scarce but not considered rare. This coin is of copper, and was later revalued as a half penny.

The motto appears as an inscription on the rim of both the 1984 (and 1989) "Thistle and royal diadem" and the 1994 (and 1999) "Lion rampant" designs of the "Scottish" themed editions of the British one pound coin, and again on the rim of one of two new "floral" designs for 2014.

Union College, University of Queensland, Australia, also adopted the motto.

The motto also appears on the back collar of Edinburgh Rugby official kit.

In continental Europe
In Belgium, the 1st Squadron of the Belgian Air Force bears the motto.

The motto was also used by the Italian noble family Malacrida, of Como.

Wilhelm II, German Emperor used the motto in a telegram to Foreign Minister Bernhard von Bülow on 7 November 1897 following the Kiautschou Bay concession, arguing that Chinese aggression towards Catholic missionaries would no longer be tolerated, and would be met with swift military action.

The motto also appears above the entrance of a gate in Gent (see nl:Citadel van Gent).

It was the motto of the Swedish Tre Kronor-class cruiser HSwMS Göta Lejon.

It's the motto of Smålands Nation in Uppsala.

In North America
The 1st Battalion, 24th Marines of the United States Marine Corps uses the phrase as its motto.

It is also referred to in the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Cask of Amontillado" (Poe was adopted by a Scottish merchant), and in Stanisław Lem's Fiasco.

The motto also appears (with the verb in the future tense: Nemo Me Impune Lacesset) above an American timber rattlesnake on a 1778 $20 bill from Georgia as an early example of the colonial use of the coiled rattlesnake symbol, which later became famous on the Gadsden flag. The phrase also appears on mourning bands worn over the badges of law enforcement officers in the United States.

Nemo me impune lacessit is the motto of Dartmouth College's independent conservative newspaper, The Dartmouth Review.

The motto also appears on the crest of the Grand National Curling Club.

The motto is adopted by the eponymous heroine of Fran Ross's 1974 novel, Oreo, republished in 2000 by Northeastern University Press.

In India
On 10 December 1992, addressing Gentleman Cadets at the Indian Military Academy, India's Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw conveyed the motto from a regiment he had served in Scotland, first conveying the Latin form, "Nemo me impune lacessit" and then translating it for the GCs: "... in soldier's language, 'If my enemy punches me on my nose I shall black both his eyes and make him swallow his teeth. Let that be your motto. No one must provoke you with impunity.'"

In fiction

 * In the short story "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe, Nemo me impune lacessit is the motto on the family coat of arms of the character Montresor.
 * In the 1986 science fiction novel "Fiasco" by Stanislaw Lem, Nemo me impune lacessit is quoted on several occasions in response to hostile acts during attempted contacts with an alien civilisation
 * In the 1994 novel Mortal Causes by Ian Rankin, the motto is a clue in solving a young man's murder.
 * In the miniature wargame Warhammer 40,000, the motto is used by the Raven Guard
 * In the miniature wargame Battletech, the motto is used by the Black Watch, the elite guard of the Star League Defense Force.

title: Nemo me impune lacessit


text:
Talk:1941 Iraqi coup d'état

Untitled
This article appears to be an inaccurate description of the 1941 coup and subsequent events:

References for the 1941 British invasion of Iraq
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Jamesday (talk • contribs) 18:39, 15 November 2003 (UTC)
 * Battle of Baghdad, 1941
 * Country report, see Iraq as an independent monarchy section.
 * BA Hin History thesis describing the revolt in a political context
 * A history of the Iraq levies, 1915-1955
 * chronology of wars in Iraq involving British forces
 * another timeline
 * another timeline
 * Iraq, 1941 campaign and main page for the site
 * Mention of the 1941 pogrom against Jews in Baghdad.
 * war diary, The Battle for Habbaniya and Falluja, to assist in tracking down units
 * Imperial War Museum record to assist in tracking down unit histories to pin down the timing.
 * British Army Units site for further research into unit histories involved

This was a precursor
A merger is rather inappropriate, I think. This event was a forerunner of the war, not its direct cause. The siege of Habbaniya was the direct cause. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wally (talk • contribs) 18:30, 23 June 2005 (UTC)

Internet sources on the 1941 Iraq coup d'etat
The internet sources quoted above should be used with care.

The Sparticus.schoolnet page for example contains the widely repeated allegation that Arthur Harris whilst an RAF officer in Iraq during the mandate made gas attacks on Iraqi civilians. No such gas attacks were made. Conventional attacks were made on rebellious tribes, after due warning had been given.

PDFM — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pdfm~enwiki (talk • contribs) 11:14, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

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title: Talk:1941 Iraqi coup d'état