text:
Talk:Philosopher's stone

Title
The title of the article should be "Philosophers' Stone," rather than "Philosopher's Stone." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.90.152.98 (talk) 04:56, 31 July 2014 (UTC)

Citamani not equivalent of Philosopher's Stone
The Philosopher's Stone is capable of turning base metals into gold, and is possibly an elixir of life. This is not at all the equivalent of a "wish fulfilling jewel".Royalcourtier (talk) 03:07, 18 April 2015 (UTC)

"Philosophers' stone" is not more proper
After I removed "more properly" from the lead sentence of this article, "The philosopher's stone or philosophers' stone ...", citing WP:OR, editor  reinstated it, saying "That the Arabic ḥajar al-falāsifa and the Latin lapis philosophorum translate to philosophers' stone not philosopher's stone is a fact, and "faithfully translating sourced material into English [...] is not considered original research" (No original research); expert scholars like Lawrence M. Principe use the proper translation (cited in Philosopher's stone)"

That is true, but omits the part of the reasoning that is WP:OR: "Philosophers' stone" is a more faithful translation from the Latin, but implying that this makes it the more proper term in English is WP:OR, specifically WP:SYNTHESIS. The English word has just diverged from its Latin root, as words do. This does not mean that all of the people who use "philosopher's stone" are somehow incorrect. Dan Bloch (talk) 04:09, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

 * It's a more proper translation of the original Arabic and Latin terms, and Arabic and Latin texts make up the great majority of the relevant primary sources here. To write about Arabic and Latin texts dealing with the and the lapis philosophorum using the term philosopher's stone would simply be mistaken, and expert scholars don't do this. "More properly" was introduced here by, who is a historian of alchemy and chemistry. I am a historian of alchemy and chemistry. Take any source written by a prominent historian of alchemy and chemistry, like Principe 2013, and you will find philosophers' stone.
 * I know that we're long post-Essjay, and perhaps this should wait until the article is rewritten based only on high-quality scholarship (at which point all or nearly all sources cited will be using philosophers' stone), but you could also just choose to trust Ajrocke and me. We don't wish to claim that philosopher's stone as used in non-historiographic English sources (i.e., not in reference to the /lapis philosophorum) is somehow wrong. It's used that way in fantasy and other types of popular literature, in which the term underwent a natural linguistic evolution, and writings of this type are by far more prevalent than books written by historians. But the thing is, this article is primarily about the historical usage, and only tangentially about the usage in art and entertainment. Using the term from the latter to write about the former feels jarring, and is ultimately wrong. ☿ Apaugasma  ( talk  ☉) 05:02, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

 * My issue with this is that the nuance that "proper" refers to the translation and not to correctness of use (in the term's more common metaphorical usage) isn't clear. But you clearly care about this more than I do, so carry on.
 * Though it might be possible to address both points with an explanatory footnote. Oh well, some other time. Dan Bloch (talk) 03:14, 12 December 2022 (UTC)
 * I agree that having the lead sentence seemingly make a determination on 'proper' usage is far from ideal, but it's a consequence of the fact that the article is misnamed. The solution is to move the article to Philosophers' stone and to have the lead sentence say "The philosophers' stone (Arabic:, Latin: lapis philosophorum), also known as the philosopher's stone, is a [...]". The reason why I haven't put up a move request is that I know this to be controversial and that to 'properly' (pun intended) convince other editors a deep dive into the sources –indeed a from-scratch rewrite of this mess of an article– would be necessary. Some other time, as you say. ☿ Apaugasma  ( talk  ☉) 16:06, 12 December 2022 (UTC)
 * Chin up, Apaugasma, it shouldn't be so hard to get it renamed. I, for one, would rename it if you and Dan agree that there are more sources written by historians using the plural form.
 * For now I'm removing the “more properly” because of Dan's point and what I take as your agreement. Actually, because of MOS:LEADCLUTTER I'll go further, and, taking up Dan's idea of a footnote, will also move that minor spelling alternative out of the first sentence. I'll be happy to switch the two if we decide to rename the article. Apaugasma, I also like your explanations here, which you might want to include in the section, which is not too big as it is. ◅ Sebastian Helm 🗨 04:53, 8 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Hi Sebastian! Responding to your ping. Sorry, you caught me at a moment when I'm trying to disengage from Wikipedia as much as possible. I'm semi-retiring, and one of the big drivers just so happens to be what I hinted at on this talk about the aftermath of the Essjay controversy. As a reaction to this controversy, editors on en.wiki decided to radically refuse giving any social capital to editors with subject expertise, insisting that any background knowledge editors might have is 100% irrelevant for anything related to WP. The result has been that the situations described in essays like Randy in Boise or User:Jnc/Astronomer vs Amateur have very much become reality.
 * Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about the situation on this talk page, but rather more about a general atmosphere where it's possible to be providing a disinterested expert opinion and yet be treated like POV-pushing scum by long-standing, influential, but ignorant Wikipedia editors. It's a situation where everyone is standardly assumed to be a POV-pusher unless they are part of a very particular in-crowd of 'experienced Wikipedia editors'. No one deserves to be treated with any special respect unless they have become part of that same in-crowd. Social capital is 100% based on expertise related to Wikipedia, the summit of which is to become an admin, while the academic expertise needed to write high-quality encyclopedic material is considered of no value whatsoever. The top of the line in actual writing is getting an article to FA status, which is awarded by an ad hoc jury of 'experienced WP editors' with no relevant subject expertise whatsoever.
 * The myth driving all this is that as long as one is using reliable sources, anyone can write a high-quality encyclopedic article. Quod non. To some extent, the GA/FA process does work in the sense that it yields articles which are often of an acceptable quality, and on a more general level Wikipedia articles have notably become more reliable and comprehensive over time. But they do tend to reach a 'glass ceiling', where rising to what academics in the relevant fields would consider high-quality is all but impossible. Wikipedia culture insists on Wikipedia being written by amateurs, and that inevitably shows.
 * But while the quality suffers, the more salient point is that Wikipedia is simply a hostile environment for academic experts. One has to have a desire for self-punishment to stay on here as an academic. I know that has in a way been true for me personally, as I started editing as a direct result of my professional confidence taking a blow. But I'm done with that now. Until the project finds some way to validate relevant editorial credentials such as degrees and/or academic publications (e.g., through off-wiki verification by arbcom or some other trusted board directly answering to the community), and until editors actually at least give some weight to the verified credentials of those they are dealing with, I don't want to be part of this community anymore. Basically, until a huge wave of other academics chime in, and stay on because their expertise is actually valued, I'm staying away.
 * At least from the community, that is. It's still possible for any non-engaged editor to boldly rewrite a particularly bad article from scratch. I've found that this creates the least amount of hassle, because the improvement is often more than obvious, and since such a rewrite naturally involves solid sourcing, Wikipedia editors tend to be content with that and pass over it in silence. It's a good way for an academic expert to contribute to Wikipedia without having to engage with its toxic community. This article is a good candidate for such a rewrite, and I might do it someday. As I said before, renaming to Philosophers' stone would then become trivial given the actual usage in high-quality sources. But as a fine example of what I've been talking about in this post, the last thing I want to do is discuss a requested move on a badly sourced article with people who are completely oblivious, especially because one or two of them will inevitably think I'm pushing some kind of POV and treat me like shit for it. Why would I choose to spend my time like that, why would anyone?
 * So yeah, I see myself coming back to this in the future, but as long as the current wiki-culture remains, only for a complete rewrite. As long as I'm not doing that, I'm not going to meddle with anything you or other editors might choose to do with this article. I have taken this article (and hundreds of others like it) off my watch list, and I'm a happier, more friendly person for it. Thanks for reading this ranty reply. Sincerely, ☿ Apaugasma  ( talk  ☉) 20:06, 8 November 2023 (UTC)
 * So yeah, I see myself coming back to this in the future, but as long as the current wiki-culture remains, only for a complete rewrite. As long as I'm not doing that, I'm not going to meddle with anything you or other editors might choose to do with this article. I have taken this article (and hundreds of others like it) off my watch list, and I'm a happier, more friendly person for it. Thanks for reading this ranty reply. Sincerely, ☿ Apaugasma  ( talk  ☉) 20:06, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protection?
This year's edits were over 90% unconstructive and their reversions. It does seem to have abated in recent months, though. If it gets worse again, just ping me and I'll apply WP:SILVERLOCK. ◅ Sebastian Helm 🗨 04:53, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

 * There are many articles like this where almost all edits are unconstructive or disruptive, but they are generally unprotected these days. I believe the reasoning is that disruption is generally successfully reverted, and so articles are only semi-protected when there is a lot of recent disruption in a short time. The idea is I believe that the patrollers ought not to be spared at the cost of IP-users (including a lot of new users) not being able to edit, as long as the patrollers can actually handle the disruption.
 * I'm fairly confident that if someone were to ask for semi-protection at Requests for page protection (WP:RFPP) now, they would get refused on the basis of "not enough recent disruption". I've found that the yard stick commonly used is something like 'last 50 edits are mostly disruptive and occurred during the last month or two (depending on the admin)', or 'last 25 edits were disruptive and occurred during the last week or two (depending on the admin)'. There doesn't have to be an awful lot of it, but it has to be both persistent and occurring in a relatively short time.
 * Since protecting pages against common usage can at times ruffle some feathers, I advise you to get a 'second opinion' for each protection you are about to make by asking for protection at RFPP. When the admins there consistently agree with you, that may be the time to deal out protections of your own again. This kind of caution is highly appreciated in admins these days, and the reverse has lead to some rather sorry cases of older admins being desysopped for not knowing/following current community norms. ☿ Apaugasma  ( talk  ☉) 20:12, 8 November 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Philosopher's stone


text:
Swiftlet

Swiftlets are birds from the four genera Aerodramus, Collocalia, Hydrochous and Schoutedenapus, which form the tribe Collocaliini within the swift family Apodidae. The group contains around thirty species mostly confined to southern Asia, south Pacific islands, and northeastern Australia, all within the tropical and subtropical regions. They are in many respects typical members of the Apodidae, having narrow wings for fast flight, with a wide gape and small reduced beak surrounded by bristles for catching insects in flight. What distinguishes many but not all species from other swifts and indeed almost all other birds is their ability to use a simple but effective form of echolocation to navigate in total darkness through the chasms and shafts of the caves where they roost at night and breed.

The nests of some species are built entirely from solidified threads of their saliva, which are edible and thus collected for human consumption as the famous Chinese delicacy, the bird's nest soup.

Description and ecology
The swift family remains one of the more complicated groups of birds in taxonomic research, but the swiftlet tribe is a rather well-defined group. Its internal systematics is confusing; the plumage is usually dull, with shades of black, brown, and gray; from their outward appearance, most species are very similar. Swiftlets have four toes, except the Papuan swiftlet which lacks the hallux (back toe). Their legs are very short, preventing the birds from perching, but allowing them to cling to vertical surfaces. Flight is mainly gliding due to very long primary feathers and small breast muscles. The larger Aerodramus swiftlets weigh about 14 grams and are 10 cm long.

Swiftlets are insectivores; hymenopterans and dipterans being the most abundant prey. Typically, they leave the cave during the day to forage and return to their roost at night. Males and females look similar; as usual in such cases, these birds are monogamous and both partners take part in caring for the nestlings. Males perform aerial displays to attract females and mating occurs at the nest. The breeding season overlaps the wet season, which corresponds to an increased insect population. Clutch size depends on the location and the food source, but it is generally not large; Aerodramus swiftlets lay 1 to 2 eggs. The eggs are a dull white color and are laid every other day. Many if not all species are colonial nesters; some build their nests in high, dark corners on cave walls. Swiftlets in temperate zones do migrate, but most Aerodramus swiftlets live in the tropical Indo-Pacific region and do not migrate. These birds usually remain in one cave or other roosting/nesting site. Some examples of caves include the Niah Caves at Niah National Park & Gunung Mulu National Park which are all located in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.

The genus Aerodramus is of special interest due to its use of echolocation and its intricately constructed saliva nests which in some species contain no other material such as feathers, moss or twigs and are collected, selling at extremely high prices (see Bird's nest soup). It has been argued that the high demand for these nests could have had an adverse effect on their populations, but other authorities have shown that modern techniques of nest farming have increased the bird population.

The use of echolocation was once used to separate Aerodramus from the non-echolocating genera Collocalia and Hydrochous (virtually nothing is known about Schoutedenapus). But recently, the pygmy swiftlet Collocalia troglodytes was discovered making similar clicking noises in and outside its cave. Characteristics of behavior, such as what materials other than saliva the nests contain, can be used to differentiate between certain species of Aerodramus.

Echolocation
The genus Aerodramus was thought to be the only echolocating swiftlets. These birds use echolocation to locate their roost in dark caves. Unlike a bat's echolocation, Aerodramus swiftlets make clicking noises that are well within the human range of hearing. The clicks consist of two broad band pulses (3–10 kHz) separated by a slight pause (1–3 milliseconds). The interpulse periods (IPPs) are varied depending on the level of light; in darker situations the bird emits shorter IPPs, as obstacles become harder to see, and longer IPPs are observed when the bird nears the exit of the cave. This behavior is similar to that of bats as they approach targets. The birds also emit a series of low clicks followed by a call when approaching the nests; presumably to warn nearby birds out of their way. It is thought that the double clicks are used to discriminate between individual birds. Aerodramus sawtelli, the Atiu swiftlet, and Aerodramus maximus, the black-nest swiftlet are the only known species which emit single clicks. The single click is thought be used to avoid voice overlap during echolocation. The use of a single click might be associated with an evolutionary shift in eastern Pacific swiftlets; determining how many clicks the Marquesan swiftlet emits could shed light on this. It was also discovered that both the Atiu swiftlet and the Papuan swiftlet emit clicks while foraging outside at dusk; the latter possibly only in these circumstances, considering that it might not nest in caves at all. Such behavior is not known to occur in other species, but quite possibly does, given that the Papuan and Atiu swiftlets are not closely related. However, it has recently been determined that the echolocation vocalizations do not agree with evolutionary relationship between swiftlet species as suggested by DNA sequence comparison. This suggests that as in bats, echolocation sounds, once present, adapt rapidly and independently to the particular species' acoustic environment.

Three hypotheses are considered to describe how echolocation evolved in the genus Aerodramus and, as determined more recently, other taxa in the Apodidae. One hypothesis states that echolocation evolved from an ancestral species of swiftlets and was lost in the genera which lack echolocation. A second hypothesis is that echolocation evolved independently several times. The third scenario involves a combination of the first two, i.e. a gain-loss-regain scenario.

Several functional subunits (like vocal muscles and brain areas) are needed to produce the echolocating system. Past studies have thought that the loss of one of these subunits was more likely to occur than acquiring all the traits needed to echolocate. Yet a recent study suggests that the echolocation subunits were mainly located in the central nervous system, while the subunits in the vocal apparatus were already present and capable of use before echolocation even evolved. This study supports the second hypothesis of independent evolution of echolocation in Aerodramus and Collocalia, with the subsequent evolution of complex behavior needed to complement the physical echolocation system, or even the third approach, as the vocal apparatus-parts of the echolocation system might even be inherited from some prehistoric nocturnal ancestor.

Culinary use
Authentic bird's-nest soup is made from nests of some species of swiftlet, mainly the edible-nest (or white-nest) swiftlet (Aerodramus fuciphagus) and the black-nest swiftlet. Instead of twigs, feathers and straw, these swiftlets make their nest only from strands of their gummy saliva, which hardens when exposed to air. Once the nests are harvested, they are cleaned and sold to restaurants. Eating swiftlet nest material is believed to help maintain skin tone, balance qi ("life energy") and reinforce the immune system,. It is also believed to strengthen the lungs and prevent coughs, improve the constitution and prolong life. The nutritional value of 100 g of dry nest includes 49.9 g of water-soluble protein (including amido nitrogen, monoamine nitrogen, non-amino nitrogen, arginine, humin, histidine, lysine and cysteine), 30.6 g carbohydrate (glycoprotein and mucin), 4.9 g iron, 2.5 g inorganic salt (including potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, phosphorus, silica and other trace elements), and 1.4 g fiber (Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine, The History of Chinese Medicine and the Nutrition Table).

The energy contained in 100 g of swiftlet nest is 345 kcal. The nests are often served simmered in chicken broth.

Authentic bird's-nest soup is quite popular throughout Asia. It is also extremely expensive; many western restaurants serve a less expensive version consisting of soup with noodles shaped to resemble a bird's nest.

Cave ecology
Guano from both the swiftlets and the many bats that inhabit the caves supports a huge array of specialized animals that feed on the dung. There are yet other creatures that have evolved to feed on these dung eaters as well as on the bats and the swiftlets themselves, including snakes that can climb the sheer walls to snatch a passing meal and huge carnivorous crickets that prey on chicks and bat pups. This cave fauna ecosystem is self-sustaining, the only link with the outside being the birds and the bats that bring the nutrients into the caves in the first place.

The Philippine municipality of El Nido in Palawan, known for its limestone cliffs and pristine beaches, is home to a thriving bird's-nest market. The name El Nido is the Spanish term for literally "The Nest". Many locals still practice manual climbing of the limestone caves to gather swiftlet nests.

Species
The Papuan swiftlet is apparently closer to the waterfall swift than to the other Aerodramus species and probably best placed in a separate genus, whereas Thomassen et al. (2005) advocate reuniting all swiftlets in Collocalia. Schoutedenapus is one of the least-known genera of birds.

 * Genus Collocalia
 * Plume-toed swiftlet, Collocalia affinis
 * Grey-rumped swiftlet, Collocalia marginata
 * Ridgetop swiftlet, Collocalia isonota
 * Tenggara swiftlet, Collocalia sumbawae
 * Drab swiftlet, Collocalia neglecta
 * Glossy swiftlet, Collocalia esculenta
 * Satin swiftlet, Collocalia uropygialis
 * Bornean swiftlet, Collocalia dodgei
 * Cave swiftlet, Collocalia linchi
 * Christmas Island swiftlet, Collocalia natalis
 * Pygmy swiftlet, Collocalia troglodytes
 * Genus Aerodramus
 * Seychelles swiftlet, Aerodramus elaphrus
 * Mascarene swiftlet, Aerodramus francicus
 * Indian swiftlet, Aerodramus unicolor
 * Philippine swiftlet, Aerodramus mearnsi
 * Moluccan swiftlet, Aerodramus infuscatus
 * Mountain swiftlet, Aerodramus hirundinaceus
 * White-rumped swiftlet, Aerodramus spodiopygius
 * Australian swiftlet, Aerodramus terraereginae
 * Himalayan swiftlet, Aerodramus brevirostris
 * Indochinese swiftlet, Aerodramus rogersi
 * Volcano swiftlet, Aerodramus vulcanorum
 * Whitehead's swiftlet, Aerodramus whiteheadi
 * Bare-legged swiftlet, Aerodramus nuditarsus
 * Mayr's swiftlet, Aerodramus orientalis
 * Palawan swiftlet, Aerodramus palawanensis
 * Mossy-nest swiftlet, Aerodramus salangana
 * Uniform swiftlet, Aerodramus vanikorensis
 * Palau swiftlet, Aerodramus pelewensis
 * Guam swiftlet, Aerodramus bartschi
 * Caroline Islands swiftlet, Aerodramus inquietus
 * Mangaia swiftlet, Aerodramus manuoi (prehistoric)
 * Atiu swiftlet, Aerodramus sawtelli
 * Polynesian swiftlet, Aerodramus leucophaeus
 * Marquesan swiftlet, Aerodramus ocistus
 * Black-nest swiftlet, Aerodramus maximus
 * Edible-nest swiftlet, Aerodramus fuciphagus
 * Brown-rumped swiftlet, Aerodramus (fuciphagus) vestitus
 * German's swiftlet, Aerodramus germani
 * Papuan swiftlet, Aerodramus papuensis – probably a distinct genus
 * Genus Hydrochous
 * Giant swiftlet, Hydrochous gigas
 * Genus Schoutedenapus
 * Scarce swift, Schoutedenapus myoptilus

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

title: Swiftlet


text:
Hokuriku Main Line

The Hokuriku Main Line (北陸本線) is a 45.9 km railway line owned by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) connecting Maibara Station in Maibara, Shiga, with Tsuruga Station in Tsuruga, Fukui. The line formerly extended as far as Naoetsu Station in Joetsu, Niigata; however, the section between Tsuruga Station and Naoetsu Station is now operated by several third-sector railway companies. The line links the Hokuriku region on the northern central coast of Honshu, the largest island of Japan, to the regions of Kansai, Tōkai, Kantō, and Tōhoku.

The Hokuriku Shinkansen was opened on 14 March 2015 between Nagano and Kanazawa, resulting in the section between Kanazawa Station and Naoetsu Station being transferred to a third-sector railway compant. Narrow gauge limited expresses such as the Thunderbird and Shirasagi are common sights along the line. A further extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen from Kanazawa to Tsuruga opened on 16 March 2024, resulting in this section of the Hokuriku Main Line being transferred from JR West to the third-sector companies Hapi-Line Fukui and the IR Ishikawa Railway. Of the line's original 354 km between Naoetsu and Maibara, just 45.9 km remains under the aegis of JR West.

The Hokuriku Main Line is double tracked and completely electrified: the section from Maibara to Tsuruga use 1,500 V DC power, while the section from Tsuruga to Kanazawa uses 20 kV AC, 60 Hz power.

JR Freight operated a small branch line for freight from Tsuruga Station to a container facility at the port of Tsuruga, but the services ceased in 2009.

Basic data

 * Operators, distances
 * West Japan Railway Company (Services and tracks)
 * Japan Freight Railway Company (Services)
 * From Maibara to Kanazawa: 176.6 km

 * Stations:
 * Passenger stations: 43, including those with freight services
 * Freight terminals: 3
 * Double-track line: From Maibara to Kanazawa
 * Electrification: From Maibara to Kanazawa
 * From Maibara to Tsuruga: 1,500 V DC
 * From Tsuruga to Kanazawa: 20,000 V AC, 60 Hz
 * Railway signalling:
 * From Maibara to Kanazawa: Automatic train control

 * Maximum line speed: 130 km/h
 * CTC center:
 * From Maibara to Ōmi-Shiotsu: Shin-Ōsaka Operation Control Center
 * From Ōmi-Shiotsu to Kanazawa: Kanazawa Operation Control Center
 * CTC system:
 * From Maibara to Ōmi-Shiotsu: Safety Urban Network Traffic System (SUNTRAS)

Maibara - Tsuruga

 * This entire section is electrified with direct current.

Tsuruga - Kanazawa
Effective the 16 March 2024 timetable revision, the section between Kanazawa and Daishoji was transferred to the IR Ishikawa Railway, while the section between Tsuruga and Daishoji was spun off to a new company, Hapi Line Fukui, on the same day.

Kanazawa to Naoetsu
Now a third-sector railway, the section from Kanazawa to Kurikara is operated by the IR Ishikawa Railway, Kurikara to Ichiburi is owned by the Ainokaze Toyama Railway, and the section from to Naoetsu is the Echigo Tokimeki Railway Nihonkai Hisui Line.

Electric

 * 125 series (DC)
 * 221 series (DC)
 * 223-1000/2000 series (DC)
 * 225-0/100 series (DC)
 * 521-0 series (AC/DC)
 * 681 series (Thunderbird, Noto Kagaribi, Shirasagi limited express)
 * 683 series (''Thunderbird, Noto Kagaribi, Shirasagi limited express)

Diesel

 * KiHa 40/47
 * KiHa 120

Former rolling stock

 * 413 series EMU (until March 2021)
 * 415-800 series EMU (until March 2011)
 * 419 series EMU (until March 2011)
 * 457 series EMU (until March 2015)
 * 471 series EMU (until March 2015)
 * 475 series EMU (until March 2015)
 * 485 series EMU (until March 2015)
 * 583 series EMU (Express Kitaguni until January 2013)

History
The entire line was built by the Japanese Government Railway, with the first section opened being from Nagahama, on the shore of Lake Biwa to Tsuruga in 1882. The Maibara to Nagahama section opened in 1889, and the line was then opened progressively to Fukui (in 1896), Kanazawa (in 1898), and Toyama (in 1899). The next extension opened to Uozu in 1908, and to Tomari in 1910. At the northeastern end, the Naoetsu to Nadachi section opened in 1911, and was extended to Itoigawa the following year. The final section opened in 1913, completing the line.

On 14 March 2015 the name of Terai Station was changed to Nomi-Neagari Station.

Double-tracking and realignments
The initial section double-tracked was between Kanazawa and Tsubata in 1938, with the Maibara to Tsuruga section duplicated between 1957 and 1958. The rest of the line was double-tracked in stages between 1960 and 1969.

There have been three major line deviations. The first between Kinomoto and Tsuruga involving the 5,170 m Fukasaka tunnel opened in 1957 as a new line, with the original line remaining in service until the second new line opened in 1965, including the Shin-fukasaka tunnel at 5,173 m and a spiral section partially in tunnels to ease the ruling grade on the climb from Tsuruga to Biwako.

The second major deviation, between Tsuruga and Imajo opened in 1962 as a dual track line including the 13,870 m Hokuriku tunnel, providing a significantly straighter and faster line as well as avoiding numerous coastal sections vulnerable to disruption during severe weather events.

The third major deviation, the 21 km section between Uramoto and Arimagawa stations, was completed in 1969 as a dual track line, including the 11,353 m Kubiki tunnel, being the final section to be duplicated.

Electrification
The Tsuruga to Tamura section was electrified in 1957 at 20 kV AC. As Maibara was electrified at 1,500 V DC, steam locomotives hauled trains over the 5 km non-electrified section until it was electrified (at 1,500 V DC, with dual-voltage EMUs being used) in 1962, the year the 20 kV AC electrification was extended to Fukui, extending progressively to Kanazawa (in 1963), Toyama (in 1964), and Itoigawa (in 1965).

The Itoigawa to Naoetsu section was electrified at 1,500 V DC in 1969. DC was used in order to match the already-electrified Shin'etsu Main Line, which the Hokuriku Main Line joined at Naoetsu.

In 1991, in order to allow through-running with DC trains from the Tōkaidō Main Line at Maibara, the Tamura to Nagahama section was converted to 1,500 V DC, and the conversion was extended to Tsuruga in 2006.

Former connecting lines
An 8 km line to Mikuni on the Mikuni Awara Line operated between 1911 and 1972.
 * Tsuruga Station: The 2.7 km freight-only line to Tsuruga-minato Port was taken out of service in 2009. The ~300m section of track from the former junction to the Maizakicho level crossing has since been removed to facilitate construction of the Hokuriku Shinkansen extension from Kanazawa to Tsuruga. This line utilised a Token system for safeworking.
 * Takefu Station: The Takeoka Light Railway opened a 7 km gauge line to Gobuichi in 1914, converting the line to  gauge in 1924, and extending it 7 km to Tono-guchi. In 1941, the company merged with the Fukui Railway, which electrified the line at 600 V DC in 1948. The last 5 km closed in 1971, and the rest of the line closed in 1981.
 * Sabae Station: The Ura Electric Railway opened a 20 km line, electrified at 600 V DC, to Oda between 1926 and 1929. The line also connected to the Fukubu Line at Mizuochi. The company merged with the Fukui Railway in 1945. As a result of double-tracking work on the Hokuriku Line at Sabae, the section to Mizuochi closed in 1962, with the rest of the line closing in 1973.
 * Maruoka Station: The Maruoka Railway opened a 4 km 762 mm gauge line to Shin-Maruoka in 1915. In 1930, it was regauged to 1,067 mm and electrified at 600 V DC in conjunction with the opening of the Eiheiji Line to Shin-Maruoka from Arawa Onsen. The following year, a 3 km electrified line was opened from Maruoka to Nishi Nagata on the Mikuni Awara Line. The company merged with the Keifuku Railway in 1944, and the entire 7 km line closed in 1968.
 * Arawa Onsen Station:

The Eiheiji Railway Co. opened a 25 km line to its namesake town in 1929, connecting with the Katsuyama Eiheiji Line at Higashi-Furuichi. The company merged with the Keifuku Electric Railway Co. in 1944. The Arawa Onsen - Higashi-Furuichi section closed in 1969, and the section to Eijeihi closed in 2002 after a fatal head-on collision resulted in services being suspended and subsequently never resumed.

On the western side of the line, the 3 km line to Katayamazu opened in 1914 as a 915 mm gauge horse-drawn tramway. It was converted to 1,067 mm gauge and electrified in 1922, and closed in 1965.
 * Daishoji Station: A 9 km gauge horse-drawn tramway opened to Yamanaka between 1898 and 1900. In 1913, the line was converted to 1,067 mm gauge and electrified. The line closed in 1971. The Hokuriku Railway Co. operated an 11 km line (known as the Contact Line) from Awazu Onsen (see Awazu station below) connected to the Uwano Line and this line between 1911 and 1963.
 * Iburihashi Station: The Hokuriku Railway had two separate lines connecting here:

On the eastern side, the 3 km electrified line to Uwano operated between 1911 and 1971.

A 17 km 762 mm gauge line opened to the Ogoya copper mine between 1919 and 1920. The Meitetsu Railway took over management of the line in 1962, renaming the terminus Ogoya Onsen. The copper mine closed in 1971, and the line closed in 1977.
 * Awazu Station: The Awazu Onsen Railway opened a 4 km 762 mm gauge line to Awazu Onsen in 1911, converting the line to 1,067 mm gauge and electrifying it in 1916. The line closed in 1962.
 * Komatsu Station:

A 6 km horse-drawn tramway opened in 1906 to serve the Yusenji copper mine. Steam locomotion was introduced the following year, and the mine and line closed in 1918. In 1929, the line was regauged to 1,067 mm, electrified and reopened by the Hakusen Electric Railway, but it was declared bankrupt the following year. The Komatsu Electric Railway purchased the line at the receiver's auction in 1935, and merged with the Hokuriku Railway in 1945. Patronage declined from 2,126,000 in 1967 to 623,000 in 1983, and as a result the line closed in 1986.

 * Terai Station (present-day Nomi-Neagari Station): The Nomi Electric Railway opened a 17 km line, electrified at 600 V DC to Tsurugi on the Hokuriku Railroad Ishikawa Line in 1927. Flooding destroyed the Tedorigawa bridge in 1934, which was replaced nine months later. The company merged with the Hokuriku Railway in 1942. Freight services ceased in 1968, and the line closed in 1980.
 * Matto station: In 1904, the 8 km, 915 mm gauge Matsukane horse-drawn tramway opened to Nomachi on the Hokuriku Railroad Ishikawa Line, and also connected with Nonoichi station on the same line (not the current JR West station of the same name, which opened in 1968), 3 km before the terminus. In 1916, the line was converted to 1,067 mm gauge and electrified at 600 V DC. The line was acquired by the Kanazawa Electric Railway in 1920, which merged with the Hokuriku Railway in 1942. The 3 km Nonoichi to Nomachi section closed in 1944, and the remaining 5 km line closed in 1955.
 * Kanazawa Station: The 5 km 762 mm gauge Jinshi horse-drawn tramway opened in 1898, being converted to 1,067 mm gauge and electrified at 600 V DC in 1914. In 1920, the line was extended to Ono Port, and a further 2 km to Ono Minato in 1923. A 400m branch to Ryokuchi Park opened in 1930, passenger services on the branch ceasing in 1945 though the line remained to service a paper mill. The entire system closed in 1970.
 * Isurugi Station: The Tonami Railway opened a 7 km line to Tsuzawa in 1915, and merged with the Kaetsu Railway in 1919, which extended the line 13 km to Shogawa-Cho in 1922, including a connection to the Johana Line at Fukuno. The line closed in 1972.
 * Kurobe Station: The Toyo Aluminium Company planned to build Japan's first aluminium refinery near Kurobe, and in 1922 opened a line electrified at 600 V DC to the proposed refinery site. The refinery did not proceed, so the company extended the line to Ishida Minato to serve an Onsen. The line closed in 1940.

Hokuriku Shinkansen
The Hokuriku Shinkansen extension, from Nagano to Kanazawa, approximately parallels the route of the Hokuriku Main Line. With the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, control of local passenger services on the sections of the Hokuriku Main Line running through Ishikawa, Toyama, and Niigata prefectures was transferred to the following three third-sector operating companies owned by the respective prefectures. An additional extension running between Kanazawa and Tsuruga opened on 16 March 2024.

 * Hapi-Line Fukui (84.3 km, Tsuruga - Daishoji)
 * IR Ishikawa Railway (17.8 km, Daishoji - Kurikara)
 * IR Ishikawa Railway overtook an additional 46.4 km section of the Hokuriku Main Line between Kanazawa and Daishoji on 16 March 2024.
 * Ainokaze Toyama Railway (100.1 km, Kurikara - Ichiburi)
 * Echigo Tokimeki Railway Company Nihonkai Hisui Line (59.3 km, Ichiburi - Naoetsu)

title: Hokuriku Main Line


text:
User talk:Atrius~enwiki

You made your point, sort of. Your message stayed up for two whole minutes, and someone other than me might have seen it in that time. That page should be probably be added to the permanently protected list (i.e. only editable by administrators.) You've accomplished that much, I suppose.

Please don't think you're the first genius who realized "Wow, I could put whatever I want here." What makes this site work is the fact that while it probably took you a minute to write that message, it took me all of 20 seconds to revert it once I noticed. I'm really surprised it stayed up that long, on a page as noticeable as the community main page.

If you want to create real content, go right ahead. I'll assume you meant well, but you're just wrong. Wiki works.

Have a nice day. Isomorphic 23:18, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Atrius. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Atrius~enwiki that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name. If you think you might own all of the accounts with this name and this message is in error, please visit Special:MergeAccount to check and attach all of your accounts to prevent them from being renamed.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 22:14, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 10:46, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Atrius~enwiki


text:
User talk:62.254.128.6

Nomination of Lord British for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Lord British is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Lord British until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article until the discussion has finished. Kung Fu Man (talk) 03:24, 11 December 2023 (UTC)

title: User talk:62.254.128.6


text:
Area studies

Area studies, also known as regional studies, is an interdisciplinary field of research and scholarship pertaining to particular geographical, national/federal, or cultural regions. The term exists primarily as a general description for what are, in the practice of scholarship, many heterogeneous fields of research, encompassing both the social sciences and the humanities. Typical area study programs involve international relations, strategic studies, history, political science, political economy, cultural studies, languages, geography, literature, and other related disciplines. In contrast to cultural studies, area studies often include diaspora and emigration from the area.

History
While area studies had been taught at the Seminar for Oriental Languages of the Friedrich-Wilhelm University Berlin (now Humboldt-University) since 1887, interdisciplinary area studies became increasingly common in the United States and in Western scholarship after World War II. Before that war American universities had just a few faculty who taught or conducted research on the non-Western world. Foreign-area studies were virtually nonexistent. After the war, liberals and conservatives alike were concerned about the U.S. ability to respond effectively to perceived external threats from the Soviet Union and China in the context of the emerging Cold War, as well as to the fall-out from the decolonization of Africa and Asia.

Area studies programs originated within the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor agency to the CIA.

In this context, the Ford Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York convened a series of meetings producing a broad consensus that to address this knowledge deficit, the U.S. must invest in international studies. Participants argued that a large brain trust of internationally oriented political scientists and economists was an urgent national priority. There was a central tension, however, between those who felt strongly that, instead of applying Western models, social scientists should develop culturally and historically contextualized knowledge of various parts of the world by working closely with humanists, and those who thought social scientists should seek to develop overarching macrohistorial theories that could draw connections between patterns of change and development across different geographies. The former became area-studies advocates, the latter proponents of modernization theory.

The Ford Foundation would eventually become the dominant player in shaping the area studies program in the U.S. In 1950, the foundation established the prestigious Foreign Area Fellowship Program (FAFP), the first large-scale national competition in support of area-studies training in the U.S. From 1953 to 1966, it contributed $270 million to 34 universities for area and language studies. Also during this period, it poured millions of dollars into the committees run jointly by the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies for field-development workshops, conferences, and publication programs. Eventually, the SSRC-ACLS joint committees would take over the administration of FAFP.

Other large and important programs followed Ford's. Most notably, the National Defense Education Act of 1957, renamed the Higher Education Act in 1965, allocated funding for some 125 university-based area-studies units known as National Resource Center programs at U.S. universities, as well as for Foreign Language and Area Studies scholarships for undergraduate students and fellowships for graduate students.

Meanwhile, area studies were also developed in the Soviet Union.

Controversy within the field
Since their inception, area studies have been subject to criticism—including by area specialists themselves. Many of them alleged that because area studies were connected to the Cold War agendas of the CIA, the FBI, and other intelligence and military agencies, participating in such programs was tantamount to serving as an agent of the state. Some argue that there is the notion that U.S. concerns and research priorities will define the intellectual terrain of area studies. Others insisted, however, that once they were established on university campuses, area studies began to encompass a much broader and deeper intellectual agenda than the one foreseen by government agencies, thus not American centric.

Arguably, one of the greatest threats to the area studies project was the rise of rational choice theory in political science and economics. To mock one of the most outspoken rational choice theory critics, Japan scholar Chalmers Johnson asked: Why do you need to know Japanese or anything about Japan's history and culture if the methods of rational choice will explain why Japanese politicians and bureaucrats do the things they do?

Following the demise of the Soviet Union, philanthropic foundations and scientific bureaucracies moved to attenuate their support for area studies, emphasizing instead interregional themes like "development and democracy". When the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies, which had long served as the national nexus for raising and administering funds for area studies, underwent their first major restructuring in thirty years, closing down their area committees, scholars interpreted this as a massive signal about the changing research environment.

Institutions
Some entire institutions of higher education (tertiary education) are devoted solely to area studies such as School of Oriental and African Studies or the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan.

An institution which exclusively deals with Area Studies is the German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Germany.

title: Area studies


text:
Douglas C-133 Cargomaster

The Douglas C-133 Cargomaster is an American large turboprop cargo aircraft built between 1956 and 1961 by the Douglas Aircraft Company for use with the United States Air Force. The C-133 was the USAF's only production turboprop-powered strategic airlifter, entering service shortly after the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, which is designated a tactical airlifter. It provided airlift services in a wide range of applications, being replaced by the C-5 Galaxy in the early 1970s.

Design and development
The C-133 was designed to meet the requirements for the USAF's Logistic Carrier Support System SS402L for a new strategic transport. The aircraft differed considerably from the C-74 Globemaster and C-124 Globemaster IIs that had preceded it. A high-mounted wing, external blister fairings on each side for the landing gear, and rear-loading and side-loading doors ensured that access to, and the volume of, the large cargo compartment were not compromised by these structures. The cargo compartment (90 ft/27 m in length and 12 ft/3.7 m high) was pressurized, heated, and ventilated.

The Cargomasters went directly into production as C-133A; no prototypes were built. The first Cargomaster flew on 23 April 1956. The first C-133As were delivered to the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) in August 1957 and began flying MATS air routes throughout the world. Two C-133s established transatlantic speed records for transport aircraft on their first flights to Europe. The fleet of 50 aircraft proved itself invaluable during the Vietnam War. The Cargomaster soldiered on until the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy entered service in the early 1970s. The C-133 was then retired and most airplanes were cut up within months of being delivered to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Tucson, Arizona, after their final flights in 1971.

Fifty aircraft (35 C-133A and 15 C-133B) were constructed and put into service with the USAF. A single C-133A and a C-133B were built and kept at Douglas Long Beach as "test articles". They had no construction numbers or USAF tail numbers.

The C-133 had large tail doors and side doors and a large, open cargo area. The C-133A carried many large and heavy loads, including Atlas and Titan ICBMs, although it was not designed specifically to transport ICBMs. It may, indeed, have been the reverse. The C-133 design was frozen by 1955 in order to build the airplanes that first flew in April 1956. The designs of both the Atlas and Titan were not firm until after 1955, when their contracts were signed. With the C-133B, the rear cargo doors were modified to open to the side (petal doors), making ICBM loading much easier. Air transporting the ballistic missiles such as the Atlas, Titan and Minuteman was much less expensive, safer and faster than road transport. Several hundred Minuteman and other ICBMs were airlifted to and from their operational bases by C-133s. The C-133 also transported Atlas, Saturn and Titan rockets to Cape Canaveral for use as launch boosters in the Gemini, Mercury and Apollo space programs. After the Apollo capsules splashed down, they were airlifted in C-133s from Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, or Hickam AFB, Hawaii, to Ellington AFB, Texas, or to California.

Operational history

The C-133 was for many years the only USAF aircraft capable of hauling very large or very heavy cargo. Despite the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II's capabilities, there was much cargo that it could not carry because of its configuration with a cargo deck 13 ft (4 m) off the ground and its lower, though substantial, engine power. The C-133 continued in service after the formation of the USAFs Military Airlift Command on 1 January 1966.

By 1971, shortly before the introduction of the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy, the Cargomaster was obsolete as well as being worn out, and all were withdrawn from service. The C-133 had a 10,000-hour airframe that was life-extended to 19,000 hours. Severe vibration caused critical stress corrosion of the airframes to the point that the aircraft were beyond economical operation. The Air Force managed to keep as many of the C-133 fleet in service as possible until the C-5 entered squadron service.

C-133s set a number of unofficial records, including records for military transport aircraft on trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific routes. Among the longest were non-stop flights from Tachikawa Airfield, Japan, to Travis Air Force Base, California (17:20 hours on 22 May 1959, 5,150 mi/8,288 km, 297.2 mph/478.3 km/h), and Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, to Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, in about 16 hours (4,850 mi/7,805 km 303.1 mph/487.8 km/h). The only FAI officially sanctioned record was in December 1958, when C-133A 62008 lifted a payload of 117,900 lb (53,480 kg) to an altitude of 10,000 ft (3,048 m) at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware.

Operators
Data from:C-133 units, C-133 Tail Numbers
 * United States Air Force
 * Military Air Transport Service/Military Airlift Command
 * 1501st Air Transport Wing/60th Military Airlift Wing – Travis AFB, California
 * 84th Air Transport Squadron/Military Airlift Squadron, 1957–71
 * 1607th Air Transport Wing/436th Military Airlift Wing – Dover AFB, Delaware
 * 1st Air Transport Squadron/Military Airlift Squadron, 1957–71
 * 39th Air Transport Squadron/Military Airlift Squadron, 1957–71
 * 39th Air Transport Squadron/Military Airlift Squadron, 1957–71

Accidents and incidents
Early in its life-cycle the airplane developed a reputation of crashing. Crew members referred to it as a "widowmaker". Some would not fly in the C-133, since the cause of the crashes was unknown. Several issues were discovered after crash investigations. The first issue was with the auto-pitch controller on the propellers. A time delay was added to relieve stress on the nose casing. The second issue was that the stall characteristics gave little warning to the crew. The left wing was found to stall before the right wing. The fix was simple, a small strip of metal was attached to the right wing causing it to stall simultaneously with the left wing. As the aircraft neared the end of its 10,000-hour life-cycle the last C-133B crash occurred on 6 February 1970. It was determined the airframe split at the cargo door. The final fix was a band around the airframe to strengthen; the end of the C-133 was near. The C-5A Galaxy debuted in 1971 and marked the end of the C-133. Of 50 aircraft built, nine were lost in crashes and one was destroyed in a ground fire.

 * 13 April 1958:AF Serial No. 54-0146, 1607 ATW — Destroyed 13 April 1958, crashed 26 mi south of Dover AFB, Delaware in Ellendale, Delaware.

 * 10 June 1961:AF Serial No. 57-1614, 1501 ATW — Destroyed 10 June 1961, crashed into the Pacific Ocean off Japan

 * 27 May 1962:AF Serial No. 57-1611, 1607 ATW — Destroyed 27 May 1962, crashed into water near Shad Intersection (37° 43' N 73° W), east of Dover AFB, Delaware.

 * 10 April 1963:AF Serial No. 59-0523, 1501 ATW — Destroyed 10 April 1963, crashed while in traffic pattern, Travis AFB, California

 * 13 July 1963:AF Serial No. 56-2005, 1607 ATW — Destroyed 13 July 1963 during refuelling ground fire, Dover AFB, Delaware.

 * 22 September 1963:AF Serial No. 56-2002, 1607 ATW — Destroyed 22 September 1963, crashed into Atlantic Ocean near Shad Intersection (37° 43' N 73° W), southeast of Dover AFB, Delaware; aircraft apparently stalled near top of climb to cruising altitude.

 * 7 November 1964:AF Serial No. 56-2014, 1607 ATW — Destroyed 7 November 1964 in crash on takeoff at CFB Goose Bay, Labrador. Probable cause was a power stall on takeoff due to icing or possibly aerodynamic instability of the aircraft.

 * 11 January 1965:AF Serial No. 54-0140, 1607 ATW — Destroyed 11 January 1965, crashed into water after takeoff from Wake Island.

 * 30 April 1967:AF Serial No. 59-0534, 1501 ATW — Destroyed 30 April 1967, ditched off the east coast of Okinawa, Japan after propeller pitch became fixed, due to electrical problems in either propeller control or propeller power circuits.

 * 6 February 1970:AF Serial No. 59-0530, 60 MAW — Destroyed 6 February 1970, disintegrated in flight over southwestern Nebraska, due to catastrophic propagation of old 11 in skin crack hidden under paint to a total length of 17 ft; large sections of skin peeled off and the aircraft came apart at 23000 ft.

Surviving aircraft

 * C-133A AF Ser. No. 56-2008:Preserved at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio. On 16 December 1958, this aircraft established a world record for propeller-driven aircraft by carrying a payload of 117,900 lb to an altitude of 10000 ft. It was flown to the museum on 17 March 1971.
 * C-133B AF Ser. No. 59-0527: In the collection of the Pima Air & Space Museum adjacent to Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona.
 * C-133B AF Ser. No. 59-0536: Located at the Air Mobility Command Museum at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware. This aircraft had previously been at the Strategic Air Command Museum at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska for many years and was donated to the AMC Museum when the SAC Museum moved from its on base location in the late 1990s to its new location near Ashland, Nebraska.C133.jpg.]]
 * C-133A AF Ser. No. 56-1999: N199AB, previously owned by Cargomaster Corporation, was never certificated by the Federal Aviation Administration for civilian operation, and could only be flown as a government aircraft, mostly for the State of Alaska. N199AB was based at ANC and was flown as a transport until 2004, carrying cargo, such as pipeline sections. It also flew frontend loader trash trucks and heavy equipment to the Alaskan bush, i.e., Point Hope, Point Lay, Wainright, Barrow, Deadhorse, Barter Island, and Anatovich Pass in April 2006. In August 2008, it flew its last flight to the Jimmy Doolittle Air & Space Museum at Travis Air Force Base, Fairfield, California, where it has been restored to USAF markings and maintained on static display.
 * Not on display:Two C-133As have been in storage at Mojave Air and Space Port, California, since the 1970s. They are N201AR (ex-AF Ser. No. 56-2001) and N136AR (ex- AF Ser. No.54-0136). They are owned by Cargomaster Corporation, based at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Alaska.

title: Douglas C-133 Cargomaster


text:
User:JaySkee

JaySkee - the name has no really great reason for being...I tried to get "JayCee" when I was signing up for AOL or something back in the early days of the 'net, and because someone had taken it, they served up "JaySkee." I was getting tired of trying to get a "cool" name, so I just accepted it. And it stuck. I love this Wikipedia deal. See ya JC

title: User:JaySkee


text:
IALA (disambiguation)

IALA can stand for:

 * International Association for Learning Alternatives
 * International Association of Lighthouse Authorities (International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities)
 * International Auxiliary Language Association
 * Industrial Area Local Authority

title: IALA (disambiguation)


text:
User:Sverdrup/Best of wikipedia

From meta:User:Daniel Mayer

PUBLIC NOTICE AS REQUIRED BY LAW: Any use of this Web page, in any manner whatsoever, will increase the amount of disorder in the universe. Although no liability is implied herein, the consumer is warned that this process will ultimately lead to the heat death of the universe.

title: User:Sverdrup/Best of wikipedia


text:
User:Egone

'''

Welcome to my page!
'''

I am a Wikimedia newbie, becoming a member on February 25, 2004. I currently live in Munich, Germany, working as an internet developer for a German company. I originally come from the Silicon Valley in California, growing up in Menlo Park, south of San Francisco. After living in Santa Barbra for 9 years, where I was a freelance classical musician and later a web developer, I moved back to the Valley to work for a couple of internet startup companies.

I have a bachelor of arts degree in history (20th century European history) and a bachelor of music degree (violin performance) from the University of California, Santa Barbara. My area of interest on Wikipedia will be pretty much anything, but considering my background experience in history and music, I will tend to focus on that more than other subjects.

Please check out my website and blog at:

Website - http://www.glinka.com Blog - http://egon.blogharbor.com

See you around!

Daniel Swartz

Egone 23:04, Feb 26, 2004 (UTC)

My Contributions:
Swedish Neutrality During the Second World War

title: User:Egone


text:
Raichō

The Raichō (雷鳥) was a limited express train operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) between Osaka and Kanazawa in Japan until March 2011, using portions of the Tōkaidō Main Line, Kosei Line, and Hokuriku Main Line.

The characters 雷 鳥 literally mean "thunder/lightning" and "bird" in Japanese, but the compound word 雷鳥 (raichō) is the name of Lagopus muta, the rock ptarmigan. The raichō bird inhabits the Tateyama Mountain Range and is the prefectural bird of Toyama, Nagano, and Gifu Prefectures.

Station stops
Stations in parentheses were not served by all services.

Ōsaka - Shin-Ōsaka - Kyoto - (Katata: Raicho 8 only) - (Omi-Imazu: Raicho 33 only) - Tsuruga - Takefu - Sabae - Fukui - Awaraonsen - Kagaonsen - Komatsu - - Kanazawa

Rolling stock

 * 485 series EMUs

Formation

 * Green: Green car (first class)
 * White: Standard class car
 * O: Observation seats
 * R: Reserved seats
 * NR: Non-reserved seats
 * No smoking accommodation
 * 6 cars
 * Women-only seats are available in Car 3.

History
The Raichō service was first introduced on 25 December 1964 as a limited express operating between Osaka and Toyama.

From 11 March 1989, Super Raichō services were introduced, operating between Kobe/Osaka and Toyama/Wakura Onsen.

From the start of the 20 April 1995 timetable revision, new 681 series EMUs were introduced on Osaka to Toyama services, named Super Raichō (Thunderbird). These became simply Thunderbird from March 1997.

JR West introduced a "women-only" section in the reserved-seating cars of Raichō and Thunderbird trains from October 2007 following the rape of a female passenger by a man in a train toilet while travelling on a Thunderbird service in August 2006.

The last remaining Raichō service was discontinued from the start of the 12 March 2011 timetable revision, with all trains subsequently using the Thunderbird name.

title: Raichō


text:
Thunderbird (train)

The Thunderbird (サンダーバード) is a limited express train service operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) between Osaka and Tsuruga in Japan, using portions of the Tokaido Main Line and Kosei Line.

Station stops
Stations in parentheses are not served by all services.

Thunderbird
Osaka – Tsuruga: Osaka - Shin-Osaka - (Takatsuki) - Kyoto - (Katata) - (Omi-Imazu) - Tsuruga

Business Thunderbird
(an extra train which runs from Osaka to Tsuruga in the morning on weekdays after holidays)

Osaka → Shin-Osaka → Kyoto → Tsuruga

Rolling stock

 * 681 series EMUs (since April 1995)
 * 683 series EMUs (since March 2001)

Formations
Services are formed as follows:

History
From the start of the 20 April 1995 timetable revision, new 681 series EMUs were introduced on Osaka to Toyama services, named Super Raichō (Thunderbird). These became simply Thunderbird from March 1997.

The last remaining Raichō service was discontinued from the start of the 12 March 2011 timetable revision, with all trains subsequently using the Thunderbird name.

From the start of the revised timetable on 14 March 2015, with the opening of the Hokuriku Shinkansen, all Thunderbird services were shortened for the first time to run between Osaka, Kanazawa and Wakura-Onsen.

From the start of the revised timetable on 16 March 2024, all Thunderbird services were shortened for the second time to run between Osaka and Tsuruga with the opening of the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen between Kanazawa and Tsuruga. With effect from the same date, all non-reserved seating was discontinued on all Thunderbird services.

Incidents
On 3 August 2006, a woman was raped by a 36-year-old man in a train toilet while travelling on the Thunderbird 50 service (just after Fukui Station), despite the car being occupied by approximately 40 other passengers. As a result, JR West introduced a "women-only" section in the reserved-seating cars of Raichō and Thunderbird trains from October 2007, and JR East added prominent "SOS" stickers inside all of its trains in June 2007. On 17 January 2008, the district court in Otsu sentenced the man to 18 years in prison.

Future developments
All of the 681 and 683 series trainsets used on Thunderbird limited express services are scheduled to undergo a programme of refurbishment from autumn 2015 until the end of fiscal 2018.

title: Thunderbird (train)


text:
Talk:Politics of Haiti

wikify
I tried to wikify this page and make it a bit easier on the eye, as I guess it might actually be frequented at the moment. I removed a couple of facts like the flag description or the national holiday as they rather belong to Haiti. Furthermore, I removed the US embassies, since I believe we should list embassies from all countries then. If you want to reinsert them, get the info from the CIA World Factbook or from the history. It would be nice if someone could insert some lines about how (if) the actual situation differs from what is written in the constitution. DrZ 23:30, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Form of government
Since Haiti has a Prime Minister who can actually do something (and is actually worth firing) and beyond that requires legislative approval to take office (like France and unlike Taiwan and South Korea), shouldn't Haiti be classified as a semi-presidential as opposed to presidential republic? Isn't it the definition of a semi-presidential system that the Prime Minister is the actual head of government BUT that the President holds some or most of the executive power? Note that on List of countries by system of government, Haiti is listed as a semi-presidential (not full presidential) republic. Lockesdonkey (talk) 21:46, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

True, the constitutional division of power is semi-presidential, not presidential. I have updated the article to reflect that. 204.40.1.129 (talk) 00:49, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

Important notice
The government section of the "Outline of Haiti" needs to be checked, corrected, and completed -- especially the subsections for the government branches.

When the country outlines were created, temporary data (that matched most of the countries but not all) was used to speed up the process. Those countries for which the temporary data does not match must be replaced with the correct information.

Please check that this country's outline is not in error.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact The Transhumanist.

Thank you.

disruption and slight unrest after quake
I ran across this article about the fact that many Haitians are unhappy with the government and would like the US to lead the recovery effort, if not the take over the country entirely. Where should this go? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spartan S58 (talk • contribs) 06:44, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
 * That article is no longer available there but is till available here http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703940704575089941644060532.html?mod=WSJ_World_LEFTSecondNews -- Azemocram (talk) 08:07, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

Clarify tag - politics
Hi all

The term Pluriform is used in the article but the definition of this is unclear.

The word is simply made up of pluri, meaning multi, and form.

The context in which these "multiple forms" is used is not clear; whether they refer to the parties, the organisation of the government etc.

Chaosdruid (talk) 21:41, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Government AND politics
The article looks okay except that it is jumbled in government structure. It does have politics. The material should be separated into two articles. Student7 (talk) 00:40, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Politics vs Elections
In America it is difficult for us to tell the difference between Politics and Elections. The media tells us that people running for office are "conducting politics." But not in an encyclopedia! We are supposed to understand the difference! Elections are elections.

After the man is installed, then (and only then) does s/he conduct "politics" which is trading off various considerations to transact laws which help one faction and hurt another. Decisions, in other words. Enacting statutes. The conducting of government.

See Politics of United Kingdom for example. None of these are perfect (they have media too), but show how "Elections in X" transact with "Government in X" articles. What is in between. Student7 (talk) 19:08, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

 * Extracted "government" material and created separate Government of Haiti article. Student7 (talk) 22:57, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

Orphaned references in Politics of Haiti
I check pages listed in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting to try to fix reference errors. One of the things I do is look for content for orphaned references in wikilinked articles. I have found content for some of Politics of Haiti's orphans, the problem is that I found more than one version. I can't determine which (if any) is correct for this article, so I am asking for a sentient editor to look it over and copy the correct ref content into this article.

Reference named "0:": From Assassination of Jovenel Moïse:  From List of heads of state of Haiti:

I apologize if any of the above are effectively identical; I am just a simple computer program, so I can't determine whether minor differences are significant or not. AnomieBOT ⚡ 03:59, 21 July 2021 (UTC)

title: Talk:Politics of Haiti


text:
User talk:Toblerone~enwiki

Hello "Toblerone" and welcome to Wikipedia. A few tips for you:

 * Peruse Welcome, newcomers and associated pages, such as
 * How to edit a page
 * How to write a great article
 * Naming conventions
 * Manual of Style
 * You can experiment in the Sandbox.
 * Sign talk page entries with ~, which is automatically converted to a name and date.
 * If you have any questions, see Help, or you can a question to the village pump.
 * I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian -- Infrogmation 23:33, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The article Stockholm-Arlanda Terminal 4 has been speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This was done because the article seemed to be about a person, group of people, band, club, company, or web content, but it did not indicate how or why the subject is notable, that is, why an article about that subject should be included in Wikipedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, articles that do not assert notability may be deleted at any time. If you can indicate why the subject is really notable, you are free to re-create the article, making sure to cite any verifiable sources.

Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable, and for specific types of articles, you may want to check out our criteria for biographies, for web sites, for musicians, or for companies. Feel free to leave a note on my talk page if you have any questions about this. MastCell Talk 21:49, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Scandinavian Airlines System awards

The article Scandinavian Airlines System awards has been proposed for deletion  because of the following concern:
 * Previous discussions on such articles have consensus that such "awards" for airlines are usually not notable enough for their own articles. A brief mention in main article is general enough. Otherwise this is advertising

While all contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Russavia Let's dialogue 16:30, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Toblerone. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Toblerone~enwiki that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name. If you think you might own all of the accounts with this name and this message is in error, please visit Special:MergeAccount to check and attach all of your accounts to prevent them from being renamed.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 03:22, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 19:50, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Toblerone~enwiki


text:
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States

The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale, OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal rights, and the encouragement of good governance between countries and territories in the Eastern Caribbean. It also performs the role of spreading responsibility and liability in the event of natural disaster.

The administrative body of the OECS is the Commission, which is based in Castries, the capital of Saint Lucia.

OECS operates an economic union within the larger CARICOM economic union. Eight members operate as a currency union - the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, using the Eastern Caribbean dollar.

History
OECS was created on 18 June 1981, with the Treaty of Basseterre, which was named after the capital city of St. Kitts and Nevis. OECS is the successor of the Leewards Islands' political organization known as the West Indies Associated States (WISA).

One prominent aspect of OECS economic bloc has been the accelerated pace of trans-national integration among its member states.

The seven protocol members of the OECS, as well as two of the four associate members—Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands—are either full or associate members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and were among the second group of countries that joined the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). Martinique is currently negotiating to become an associate member of the Caribbean Community.

Passport
A common OECS Passport was originally planned for January 1, 2003 but its introduction was delayed. At the 38th OECS Authority Meeting in January 2004, the Secretariat was mandated to have the two companies expressing an interest in producing the common passport (De La Rue Identity Systems and the Canadian Banknote Company ) make presentations at the next (39th) Authority Meeting. At the 39th Meeting the critical issue of the relationship between the OECS passport and the CARICOM passport was discussed and at the 40th OECS Authority Meeting in November 2004, the OECS Heads of Government agreed to give CARICOM a further 6 months (until May 2005) to introduce a CARICOM Passport. Failure to introduce the CARICOM Passport by that time would have resulted in the OECS moving ahead with its plans to introduce the OECS Passport. As the CARICOM Passport was first introduced in January 2005 (by Suriname) then the idea of the OECS Passport was abandoned. Had the passport been introduced however it would not have been issued to Economic Citizens within the OECS states.

It would also be unknown if the islands under British sovereignty would join the scheme.

Economic union
The decision to establish an economic union was taken by OECS Heads of Government at the 34th meeting of the Authority held in Dominica in July 2001. At the 35th meeting of the Authority in Anguilla in January 2002, the main elements of an economic union implementation project were endorsed. The project was expected to be implemented over a two-year period with seven of the nine OECS member states (i.e. Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines) participating in the economic union initiative. The remaining two member states, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, would not have participated immediately, but would have requested time to consider the issue further. In 2003, work had been initiated on the central issue of the creation of new Treaty arrangements to replace the Treaty of Basseterre which established the OECS. Among the elements of the project was the creation of a technical committee for a draft OECS Economic Union Treaty. This technical committee was inaugurated on May 4, 2004 and began designing the draft Treaty.

OECS Economic Treaty
The new OECS Economic Union Treaty was finally presented at the 43rd OECS Meeting in St. Kitts on June 21, 2006. The Authority requested changes to allow a role for national parliamentary representatives (both government and opposition) of the Member States in the form of a regional Assembly of Parliamentarians. This body, it was felt, was necessary to act as a legislative filter to the Authority in its law making capacity. The Heads further directed that the Treaty be reviewed by a meeting of members of the Task Force, Attorneys General, the draftsperson for the Treaty and representatives of the OECS Secretariat.

The presentation of the Treaty at the Meeting was followed by the signing of a Declaration of Intent to implement the Treaty by the Heads of Government or their representatives (except that of the British Virgin Islands). It was agreed in the Declaration, that implementation of the Treaty would occur only after a year of public consultation, through a mass national and regional education programme with strong political leadership and direction. According to the Declaration, the Treaty was to be signed, and the Economic Union was to be established by July 1, 2007.

Revised treaty
This intended deadline was missed, however, and after the signing of the Revised Treaty of Basseterre Establishing the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Economic Union on June 18, 2010, the newest target date of January 21, 2011 was met when five of the six independent signatory Member States ratified the Treaty. These were Antigua and Barbuda (December 30, 2010), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (January 12, 2011), St. Kitts and Nevis (January 20, 2011), Grenada (January 20, 2011) and Dominica (January 21, 2011). In order for the Treaty to have entered into force at least four of the independent Member States must have ratified it by January 21, 2011. Montserrat had received entrustments from the United Kingdom to sign the Treaty but is unlikely to be in a position ratify the Treaty before a new constitution comes into force in the territory. Following the need of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank to temporarily assume control of two indigenous commercial banks in Anguilla, the Chief Minister of Anguilla, Hubert Hughes, announced on August 12, 2013 that Anguilla will seek to join the OECS Economic Union as soon possible in order to fully participate in the strategy of growth conceived by the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (which was crafted within the context of the Economic Union). He was supported in his position by St. Lucia's Prime Minister, Dr. Kenny Anthony, who also called on Anguilla to join the Economic Union to complement its membership of the Currency Union.

Provisions of the Treaty
The provisions of the Economic Union Treaty prior to its ratification were expected to include:
 * The free circulation of goods and trade in services within the OECS
 * Free movement of labour by December 2007
 * The free movement of capital (via support of the money and capital market programme of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank)
 * A regional Assembly of Parliamentarians
 * A common external tariff.

Some of these provisions would already have been covered to some extent by the CSME, but some, such as the Assembly of Parliamentarians, would be unique to the OECS. Although some of the provisions would seem to duplicate efforts by the CSME, the Declaration of Intent and statements by some OECS leaders, acknowledge the CSME and give assurance that the OECS Economic Union would not run counter to CARICOM integration but that it would become seamlessly integrated into the CSME. To this end, the OECS Heads of Government agreed that steps should be taken to ensure that the OECS Economic Union Treaty would be recognised under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, just as the original Treaty of Chaguaramas had recognised the Treaty of Basseterre.

This was achieved in 2013 at the Twenty-Fourth Inter-Sessional Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM held in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from 18–19 February 2013. At that conference CARICOM leaders adopted the OECS’ Revised Treaty of Basseterre into CARICOM’s Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, which St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves said would effectively give CARICOM member states the opportunity of integrating initially with the OECS and taking a seemingly quicker path to integration. In order to achieve this the Conference agreed that the Inter-Governmental Task Force (IGTF) revising the Treaty of Chaguaramas would recognise the provisions of the Treaty establishing the Economic Union of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The IGTF was mandated to refer back to the Conference at its next meeting on this issue.

The Economic Union Treaty's provisions are now expected to establish a Single Financial and Economic Space within which goods, people and capital move freely; harmonize monetary and fiscal policies Member States are expected continue to adopt a common approach to trade, health, education and environment, as well as to the development of such critical sectors as agriculture, tourism and energy. The Economic Union Treaty (or Revised Treaty as it is sometimes known) will also create two new organs for governing the OCES; The Regional Assembly (consisting of members of parliaments/legislatures) and  The Commission (a strengthened Secretariat). The free movement of OECS nationals within the subregion is expected to commence in August 2011 after a commitment towards that goal by the Heads of Government at their meeting in May 2011.

This was achieved on schedule with the six independent OECS members and later Montserrat with nationals being allowed to enter the participating Member States without hindrance and remain for an indefinite period in order to work, establish businesses; provide services or to reside. The free movement of OECS nationals throughout the Economic Union is underpinned by legislation and is facilitated by administrative mechanisms This is achieved by OECS nationals entering the special immigration lines for CARICOM nationals when traveling throughout the Economic Union and presenting a valid photo ID and completed Entry/Departure form whereupon the immigration officer shall grant the national entry for an indefinite period save where the national presents a security risk or where there exists some other legal basis for prohibiting entry.

Membership
OECS currently has eleven members which together form a continuous archipelago across the Leeward Islands and Windward Islands. Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique are only associate members of OECS. Diplomatic missions of the OECS do not represent the associate members. For all other purposes, associate members are treated as equals of full members.

Six of the members were formerly colonies of the United Kingdom. Three others, Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, and Montserrat remain overseas territories of the UK while Martinique and Guadeloupe are French departments and regions of France. Eight of the eleven members are constitutional monarchies with King Charles III as their current monarch (Dominica is a republic with a President). There is no requirement for the members to have been British colonies; however, the close historical, cultural and economic relationship fostered by almost all of them having been British colonies is as much a factor in the membership of the OECS as their geographical proximity.

All seven full members are also the founding members of the OECS, having been a part of the organisation since its founding on 18 June 1981. The British Virgin Islands was the first associate member, joining on 22 November 1984 and Anguilla was the second, joining in 1995. Martinique became an associate member on April 12, 2016 becoming the first non-British or formerly British territory to join the OECS. Guadeloupe joined as an associate member of the OECS on March 14, 2019 at a Special Meeting of the OECS Authority held on that island on March 14–15, 2019. In 2019 the OECS Authority agreed to approve the transition of Saint-Martin from observer status to associate membership by the end of December 2019.

The list of full and associate members of the OECS is as follows: Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, and Montserrat are British Overseas Territories. Thus, foreign relations are the responsibility of the UK government. Guadeloupe and Martinique are Republic of France Overseas departments and regions. Thusly foreign relations are the responsibility of the French government.

Possible future memberships
Although almost all of the current full and associate members are past or present British dependencies, other islands in the region have expressed interest in becoming associate members of the OECS. The first was the United States Virgin Islands, which applied for associate membership in February 1990 and requested that US Federal Government allow the territory to participate as such. At that time, it was felt by the US government that it was not an appropriate time to make such a request. However, the US Virgin Islands remained interested in the OECS and, as of 2002, stated that it would revisit the issue with the US government at a later date. In 2001, Saba, an island of the Netherlands Antilles, decided to seek membership in the OECS. Saba's Island Council had passed a motion on May 30, 2001 calling for Saba's membership in the organisation and subsequently on June 7, 2001, the Executive Council of Saba decided in favour of membership. Saba's senator in the Netherlands Antilles parliament was then asked to present a motion requesting the Antillean parliament to support Saba's quest for membership. In addition to the support from the Antillean parliament, Saba also required a dispensation from the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to become an associate member of the OECS. Saba's bid for membership was reportedly supported by St. Kitts and Nevis and discussed at the 34th meeting of OECS leaders in Dominica in July. Also in 2001, Sint Maarten, another part of the Netherlands Antilles, explored the possibility of joining the OECS. After learning of Saba's intentions to join, St. Maarten suggested exploring ways in which Saba and St. Maarten could support each other in their pursuit of membership.

None of the prospective members have become associate members as yet, but Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten do participate in the meetings of the Council of Tourism Ministers (as the Forum of Tourism Ministers of the Eastern Caribbean, along with representatives of Saint-Martin, Saint Barthélemy, Martinique and Guadeloupe).

Political union with Trinidad and Tobago
On 13 August 2008 the leaders of Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines announced their intention to pursue a sub-regional political union within CARICOM. As part of the preliminary discussions the Heads of Government for the involved states announced that 2011 would see their states entering into an economic union. This was however derailed by a change of government in Trinidad and Tobago in 2010.

Venezuela seeking membership
In 2008 the heads of the OECS also received a request from Venezuela to join the grouping.

The OECS Director General at the time Len Ishmael confirmed Venezuela's application was discussed at the 48th Meeting of the OECS Authority held in Montserrat. But she said OECS decision-makers within the region were yet to determine whether membership should be granted for Venezuela. Since that application, Membership was not granted as it has been limited to the Eastern Caribbean archipelago.

Secretariat
The functions of the Organization are set out in the Treaty of Basseterre and are coordinated by the Secretariat under the direction and management of the Director General.

The OECS functions in a rapidly changing international economic environment, characterised by globalisation and trade liberalisation which are posing serious challenges to the economic and social stability of their small island members. It is the purpose of the Organisation to assist its Members to respond to these multi-faceted challenges by identifying scope for joint or coordinated action towards the economic and social advancement of their countries. The restructuring of the Secretariat was informed by considerations of cost effectiveness in the context of the need to respond to the increasing challenges placed on it, taking into account the limited fiscal capacities of its members. The Secretariat consists of four main Divisions responsible for: External Relations, Functional Cooperation, Corporate Services and Economic Affairs. These four Divisions oversee the work of a number of specialised institutions, work units or projects located in six countries: Antigua/Barbuda, Commonwealth of Dominica, St Lucia, Belgium, Canada, and the United States of America.

In carrying out its mission, the OECS works along with a number of sub-regional and regional agencies and institutions. These include the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB); the Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat; the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (RNM) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

Director General
The authority within the OECS Secretariat is led by the Director General. The current Director General of the OECS is Dr. Didacus Jules (Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados-based Caribbean Examinations Council), who took his new position on 1 of May 2014. The former Dr. Len Ishmael demitted the office at the end of December 2013.

Central Bank
Many of the OECS member-states are participants in the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) monetary authority. The regional central bank oversees financial and banking integrity for the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States economic bloc of states. Part of the bank's oversight is maintaining the financial integrity of the East Caribbean dollar (XCD). Of all OECS member-states, only the British Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe and Martinique do not use the East Caribbean dollar as their de facto native currency.

All other members belong to the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union.

Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
The Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC), which was created during the era of WISA, today handles the judicial matters in the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States. When a trial surpasses the stage of High Court in an OECS member state, it can then be passed on to the ECSC at the level of Supreme court. Cases appealed from the stage of ECSC Supreme Court will then be referred to the jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) was established in 2003, but constitutional changes need to be put in place before the CCJ becomes the final Court of Appeal.

Other agencies

 * Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority

Security
The OECS sub-region has a military support unit known as the Regional Security System (RSS). It is made up of the independent countries of the OECS along with Barbados and Guyana. The unit is based in the island of Barbados and receives funding and training from various countries including the United States, Canada and the People's Republic of China.

Health – Pharmaceutical Procurement Service
The Pharmaceutical Procurement Service, also known as the Eastern Caribbean Drug Service, procures medicines and allied health equipment on behalf of the member States. It has an 840 item product portfolio based on the regional formulary. it is said to generate savings of $5 million a year.

Symbols, Flag and logo
The flag and logo of the OECS consists of a complex pattern of concentric design elements on a pale green field, focused on a circle of nine inwardly pointed orange triangles and nine outwardly pointed white triangles. It was adopted June 21, 2006, and first raised on that day at Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis.


text:
User talk:Egone

Welcome
Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. I moved your user pagefrom Egon's Home to User:Egone. That's the standard way we do it, and that way everyone can find you when you sign a page.

You might find these links helpful in creating new pages or helping with the above tasks: How to edit a page, How to write a great article, Naming conventions, Manual of Style. You should read our policies at some point too.

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!

And once you have an account, you can sign your name using three tildes, like this:. If you use four, you can add a datestamp too.

Again, welcome! - BCorr ¤ Брайен 23:48, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Swedish neutrality
You're Swedish neutrality paper was great. I posted it on the Did you know? section of the main page. Don't mind the "votes for deletion" notice--people are crazy. :) It probably will have to stay there for seven days though--offical policy, but I moved it to the bottom. Anyway, welcome! Keep up the great work! jengod 01:40, Feb 26, 2004 (UTC)

Wikipedians/Germany is being replaced by a category
Hello! You were listed on the Wikipedians/Germany page as living in or being associated with Germany. As part of the User categorisation project, these lists are being replaced with user categories. If you would like to add yourself to the category that is replacing the page, or one of the Bundesland-based subcategories, please visit Category:Wikipedians in Germany for instructions. --Angr ( tɔk ) 14:52, 15 January 2006 (UTC)

Unspecified source/license for Image:Merchantcircle logo.gif
Thanks for uploading Image:Merchantcircle logo.gif. The image has been identified as not specifying the copyright status of the image, which is required by Wikipedia's policy on images. Even if you created the image yourself, you still need to release it so Wikipedia can use it. If you don't indicate the copyright status of the image on the image's description page, using an appropriate copyright tag, it may be deleted some time in the next seven days. If you made this image yourself, you can use copyright tags like PD-self (to release all rights), (to require that you be credited), or any tag here - just go to the image, click edit, and add one of those. If you have uploaded other images, please verify that you have provided copyright information for them as well.

For more information on using images, see the following pages:
 * Image use policy
 * Image copyright tags

This is an automated notice by MifterBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. NOTE: once you correct this, please remove the tag from the image's page. --MifterBot (Talk • Contribs • Owner) 17:31, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Notification of automated file description generation
Your upload of File:AlpenKammerMusik.jpg or contribution to its description is noted, and thanks (even if belatedly) for your contribution. In order to help make better use of the media, an attempt has been made by an automated process to identify and add certain information to the media's description page.

This notification is placed on your talk page because a bot has identified you either as the uploader of the file, or as a contributor to its metadata. It would be appreciated if you could carefully review the information the bot added. To opt out of these notifications, please follow the instructions here. Thanks! Message delivered by Theo's Little Bot (opt-out) 11:42, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of AlpenKammerMusik – Chamber Music In the Alps

A tag has been placed on AlpenKammerMusik – Chamber Music In the Alps requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about an organized event (tour, function, meeting, party, etc.), but it does not indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please read more about what is generally accepted as notable.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be removed without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, you can place a request here. Epeefleche (talk) 22:20, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

title: User talk:Egone