text:
New Party (UK)

The New Party was a political party briefly active in the United Kingdom in the early 1930s. It was formed by Sir Oswald Mosley, an MP who had belonged to both the Conservative and Labour parties, quitting Labour after its 1930 conference narrowly rejected his "Mosley Memorandum", a document he had written outlining how he would deal with the problem of unemployment.

Mosley Memorandum
On 6 December 1930, Mosley published an expanded version of the "Mosley Memorandum", which was signed by Mosley, his wife and fellow Labour MP Lady Cynthia and 15 other Labour MPs: Oliver Baldwin, Joseph Batey, Aneurin Bevan, W. J. Brown, William Cove, Robert Forgan, J. F. Horrabin, James Lovat-Fraser, John McGovern, John James McShane, Frank Markham, H. T. Muggeridge, Morgan Philips Price, Charles Simmons, and John Strachey. It was also signed by A. J. Cook, general secretary of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain.

Founding the New Party
On 28 February 1931 Mosley resigned from the Labour Party, launching the New Party the following day. The party was formed from six of the Labour MPs who signed the Mosley Manifesto (Mosley and his wife, Baldwin, Brown, Forgan and Strachey), although two (Baldwin and Brown) resigned membership after a day and sat in the House of Commons as independent MPs; Strachey resigned in June. The party received £50,000 funding from Lord Nuffield and launched a magazine called Action, edited by Harold Nicolson. In addition, Nicolson produced a New Party propaganda film titled Crisis and aimed to get it shown in the cinemas but the censors banned the film as it was considered it would "bring Parliament into disrepute" due to its depiction of MPs asleep on the benches. In the event the film was only shown at New Party meetings. Mosley also set up a party militia, the "Biff Boys" led by the England rugby captain Peter Howard.

The New Party's first electoral contest was at the Ashton-under-Lyne by-election in April 1931. The candidate was Allan Young, and his election agent was Wilfred Risdon. With a threadbare organisation they polled some 16% of the vote, splitting the Labour vote and allowing a Conservative to be returned to the Commons. Two more MPs joined the New Party later in 1931: W. E. D. Allen from the Unionists and Cecil Dudgeon from the Liberals. At the 1931 general election the New Party contested 25 seats, but only Mosley himself, and a candidate in Merthyr Tydfil (Sellick Davies stood against only one Independent Labour Party (ILP) candidate in Merthyr, while Mosley stood against both Conservative and Labour candidates in Stoke) polled a decent number of votes, and three candidates lost their deposits. Mosley's New Party general election campaign received prominent press coverage in various national newspapers during 1931 with The Manchester Guardian reporting that "The stewards were wearing rosettes of black and amber – the Mosley colours. Busy bees, hiving the honey of prosperity? That may be the symbolism of it."

Policies
The New Party programme was built on the "Mosley Memorandum", advocating a national policy to meet the economic crisis that the Great Depression had brought. His desire for complete control of policy making decisions in the New Party led many members to resign membership. He favoured granting wide powers to the government, with only general control by Parliament, and creating a five-member Cabinet without specific portfolio, similar to the War Cabinet adopted during the First World War. His economic strategy broadly followed Keynesian thinking and suggested widespread investment into housing to provide work and improve housing standards overall and also supporting protectionism with proposals for high tariff walls.

Demise
After the election, Mosley toured Europe and became convinced of the virtues of fascism. Gradually, the New Party became more authoritarian, with parts of it, notably its youth movement NUPA, adopting overtly fascist thinking and the wearing of "Greyshirt" uniforms. The New Party's sharp turn to fascism led previous supporters such as John Strachey and Harold Nicolson to leave it. In 1932, Mosley united most of the various British fascist organisations to form the British Union of Fascists into which the New Party subsumed itself. Out of the Scottish section was formed the Scottish Democratic Fascist Party, headed by William Weir Gilmour.

An unrelated New Party was launched in Britain in 2003.

title: New Party (UK)


text:
Equation solving

In mathematics, to solve an equation is to find its solutions, which are the values (numbers, functions, sets, etc.) that fulfill the condition stated by the equation, consisting generally of two expressions related by an equals sign. When seeking a solution, one or more variables are designated as unknowns. A solution is an assignment of values to the unknown variables that makes the equality in the equation true. In other words, a solution is a value or a collection of values (one for each unknown) such that, when substituted for the unknowns, the equation becomes an equality. A solution of an equation is often called a root of the equation, particularly but not only for polynomial equations. The set of all solutions of an equation is its solution set.

An equation may be solved either numerically or symbolically. Solving an equation numerically means that only numbers are admitted as solutions. Solving an equation symbolically means that expressions can be used for representing the solutions.

For example, the equation $ax^{2} + bx + c = 0$ is solved for the unknown $x$ by the expression $f(x) = 0$, because substituting $x + y = 2x – 1$ for $x = y + 1$ in the equation results in $y + 1$, a true statement. It is also possible to take the variable $x$ to be the unknown, and then the equation is solved by $(y + 1) + y = 2(y + 1) – 1$. Or $y$ and $y = x – 1$ can both be treated as unknowns, and then there are many solutions to the equation; a symbolic solution is $x$, where the variable $a$ may take any value. Instantiating a symbolic solution with specific numbers gives a numerical solution; for example, $y$ gives $(x, y) = (a + 1, a)$ (that is, $a = 0$), and $(x, y) = (1, 0)$ gives $x = 1, y = 0$.

The distinction between known variables and unknown variables is generally made in the statement of the problem, by phrases such as "an equation in $x$ and $y$", or "solve for $a = 1$ and $(x, y) = (2, 1)$", which indicate the unknowns, here $x$ and $y$. However, it is common to reserve $x$, $y$, $z$, ... to denote the unknowns, and to use $a$, $b$, $c$, ... to denote the known variables, which are often called parameters. This is typically the case when considering polynomial equations, such as quadratic equations. However, for some problems, all variables may assume either role.

Depending on the context, solving an equation may consist to find either any solution (finding a single solution is enough), all solutions, or a solution that satisfies further properties, such as belonging to a given interval. When the task is to find the solution that is the best under some criterion, this is an optimization problem. Solving an optimization problem is generally not referred to as "equation solving", as, generally, solving methods start from a particular solution for finding a better solution, and repeating the process until finding eventually the best solution.

Overview
One general form of an equation is
 * $$f\left(x_1,\dots,x_n\right)=c,$$

where $f$ is a function, $x$ are the unknowns, and $y$ is a constant. Its solutions are the elements of the inverse image
 * $$f^{-1}(c)=\bigl\{(a_1,\dots,a_n)\in D\mid f\left(a_1,\dots,a_n\right)=c\bigr\},$$

where $x_{1}, ..., x_{n}$ is the domain of the function $f$. The set of solutions can be the empty set (there are no solutions), a singleton (there is exactly one solution), finite, or infinite (there are infinitely many solutions).

For example, an equation such as
 * $$3x+2y=21z,$$

with unknowns $c$ and $D$, can be put in the above form by subtracting $x, y$ from both sides of the equation, to obtain
 * $$3x+2y-21z=0$$

In this particular case there is not just one solution, but an infinite set of solutions, which can be written using set builder notation as
 * $$\bigl\{(x,y,z)\mid 3x+2y-21z=0\bigr\}.$$

One particular solution is $z$. Two other solutions are $21z$, and $x = 0, y = 0, z = 0$. There is a unique plane in three-dimensional space which passes through the three points with these coordinates, and this plane is the set of all points whose coordinates are solutions of the equation.

Solution sets

The solution set of a given set of equations or inequalities is the set of all its solutions, a solution being a tuple of values, one for each unknown, that satisfies all the equations or inequalities. If the solution set is empty, then there are no values of the unknowns that satisfy simultaneously all equations and inequalities.

For a simple example, consider the equation
 * $$x^2=2.$$

This equation can be viewed as a Diophantine equation, that is, an equation for which only integer solutions are sought. In this case, the solution set is the empty set, since 2 is not the square of an integer. However, if one searches for real solutions, there are two solutions, $x = 3, y = 6, z = 1$ and $x = 8, y = 9, z = 2$; in other words, the solution set is $x^{2}⁄4 + y^{2} = 1$.

When an equation contains several unknowns, and when one has several equations with more unknowns than equations, the solution set is often infinite. In this case, the solutions cannot be listed. For representing them, a parametrization is often useful, which consists of expressing the solutions in terms of some of the unknowns or auxiliary variables. This is always possible when all the equations are linear.

Such infinite solution sets can naturally be interpreted as geometric shapes such as lines, curves (see picture), planes, and more generally algebraic varieties or manifolds. In particular, algebraic geometry may be viewed as the study of solution sets of algebraic equations.

Methods of solution
The methods for solving equations generally depend on the type of equation, both the kind of expressions in the equation and the kind of values that may be assumed by the unknowns. The variety in types of equations is large, and so are the corresponding methods. Only a few specific types are mentioned below.

In general, given a class of equations, there may be no known systematic method (algorithm) that is guaranteed to work. This may be due to a lack of mathematical knowledge; some problems were only solved after centuries of effort. But this also reflects that, in general, no such method can exist: some problems are known to be unsolvable by an algorithm, such as Hilbert's tenth problem, which was proved unsolvable in 1970.

For several classes of equations, algorithms have been found for solving them, some of which have been implemented and incorporated in computer algebra systems, but often require no more sophisticated technology than pencil and paper. In some other cases, heuristic methods are known that are often successful but that are not guaranteed to lead to success.

Brute force, trial and error, inspired guess
If the solution set of an equation is restricted to a finite set (as is the case for equations in modular arithmetic, for example), or can be limited to a finite number of possibilities (as is the case with some Diophantine equations), the solution set can be found by brute force, that is, by testing each of the possible values (candidate solutions). It may be the case, though, that the number of possibilities to be considered, although finite, is so huge that an exhaustive search is not practically feasible; this is, in fact, a requirement for strong encryption methods.

As with all kinds of problem solving, trial and error may sometimes yield a solution, in particular where the form of the equation, or its similarity to another equation with a known solution, may lead to an "inspired guess" at the solution. If a guess, when tested, fails to be a solution, consideration of the way in which it fails may lead to a modified guess.

Elementary algebra
Equations involving linear or simple rational functions of a single real-valued unknown, say $x$, such as

 * $$8x+7=4x+35 \quad \text{or} \quad \frac{4x + 9}{3x + 4} = 2 \, ,$$

can be solved using the methods of elementary algebra.

Systems of linear equations
Smaller systems of linear equations can be solved likewise by methods of elementary algebra. For solving larger systems, algorithms are used that are based on linear algebra. See Gaussian elimination and numerical solution of linear systems.

Polynomial equations
Polynomial equations of degree up to four can be solved exactly using algebraic methods, of which the quadratic formula is the simplest example. Polynomial equations with a degree of five or higher require in general numerical methods (see below) or special functions such as Bring radicals, although some specific cases may be solvable algebraically, for example
 * $$4x^5 - x^3 - 3 = 0$$

(by using the rational root theorem), and
 * $$x^6 - 5x^3 + 6 = 0 \, ,$$

(by using the substitution $\sqrt{2}$, which simplifies this to a quadratic equation in $z$).

Diophantine equations
In Diophantine equations the solutions are required to be integers. In some cases a brute force approach can be used, as mentioned above. In some other cases, in particular if the equation is in one unknown, it is possible to solve the equation for rational-valued unknowns (see Rational root theorem), and then find solutions to the Diophantine equation by restricting the solution set to integer-valued solutions. For example, the polynomial equation
 * $$2x^5-5x^4-x^3-7x^2+2x+3=0\,$$

has as rational solutions $–\sqrt{2}$ and $\{\sqrt{2}, −\sqrt{2}\}$, and so, viewed as a Diophantine equation, it has the unique solution $x = z^$.

In general, however, Diophantine equations are among the most difficult equations to solve.

Inverse functions
In the simple case of a function of one variable, say, $x = −1⁄2$, we can solve an equation of the form $x = 3$ for some constant $c$ by considering what is known as the inverse function of $h$.

Given a function $x = 3$, the inverse function, denoted $h(x)$ and defined as $h(x) = c$, is a function such that

 * $$h^{-1}\bigl(h(x)\bigr) = h\bigl(h^{-1}(x)\bigr) = x \,.$$

Now, if we apply the inverse function to both sides of $h : A → B$, where $c$ is a constant value in $B$, we obtain

 * $$\begin{align}

h^{-1}\bigl(h(x)\bigr) &= h^{-1}(c) \\ x &= h^{-1}(c) \\ \end{align}$$

and we have found the solution to the equation. However, depending on the function, the inverse may be difficult to be defined, or may not be a function on all of the set $h^{−1}$ (only on some subset), and have many values at some point.

If just one solution will do, instead of the full solution set, it is actually sufficient if only the functional identity

 * $$h\left(h^{-1}(x)\right) = x$$

holds. For example, the projection $h^{−1} : B → A$ defined by $h(x) = c$ has no post-inverse, but it has a pre-inverse $B$ defined by $π_{1} : R^{2} → R$. Indeed, the equation $π_{1}(x, y) = x$ is solved by

 * $$(x,y) = \pi_1^{-1}(c) = (c,0).$$

Examples of inverse functions include the $n$th root (inverse of $π−1 1$); the logarithm (inverse of $π−1 1(x) = (x, 0)$); the inverse trigonometric functions; and Lambert's $W$ function (inverse of $π_{1}(x, y) = c$).

Factorization
If the left-hand side expression of an equation $x^{n}$ can be factorized as $a^{x}$, the solution set of the original solution consists of the union of the solution sets of the two equations $xe^{x}$ and $P = 0$. For example, the equation
 * $$\tan x + \cot x = 2$$

can be rewritten, using the identity $P = QR$ as
 * $$\frac{\tan^2 x -2 \tan x+1}{\tan x} = 0,$$

which can be factorized into
 * $$\frac{\left(\tan x - 1\right)^2}{\tan x}= 0.$$

The solutions are thus the solutions of the equation $Q = 0$, and are thus the set
 * $$x = \tfrac{\pi}{4} + k\pi, \quad k = 0, \pm 1, \pm 2, \ldots.$$

Numerical methods
With more complicated equations in real or complex numbers, simple methods to solve equations can fail. Often, root-finding algorithms like the Newton–Raphson method can be used to find a numerical solution to an equation, which, for some applications, can be entirely sufficient to solve some problem. There are also numerical methods for systems of linear equations.

Matrix equations
Equations involving matrices and vectors of real numbers can often be solved by using methods from linear algebra.

Differential equations
There is a vast body of methods for solving various kinds of differential equations, both numerically and analytically. A particular class of problem that can be considered to belong here is integration, and the analytic methods for solving this kind of problems are now called symbolic integration. Solutions of differential equations can be implicit or explicit.

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

title: Equation solving


text:
Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake is a 2003 novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood. She has described the novel as speculative fiction and adventure romance, rather than pure science fiction, because it does not deal with things "we can't yet do or begin to do", yet goes beyond the amount of realism she associates with the novel form. It focuses on a lone character called Snowman, who finds himself in a bleak situation with only creatures called Crakers to keep him company. The reader learns of his past, as a boy called Jimmy, and of genetic experimentation and pharmaceutical engineering that occurred under the purview of Jimmy's peer, Glenn "Crake".

The book was first published by McClelland and Stewart. It was shortlisted for the 2003 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, as well as for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction. Oryx and Crake is the first of the MaddAddam trilogy, followed by The Year of the Flood (2009) and MaddAddam (2013).

In 2023, the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden premiered an opera based on the novel, composed by Søren Nils Eichberg, conducted by Albert Horne and directed by Daniela Kerck.

Plot summary
The novel focuses on a character called "Snowman", living in a post-apocalyptic world near a small group of primitive and innocent human-like creatures whom he calls Crakers. Flashbacks reveal that Snowman was once a boy named Jimmy who grew up in a world dominated by multinational corporations that built privileged walled compounds to isolate and protect their employees and the employees' families from a degenerating outside society. The companies had operated by developing and marketing advanced technology products such as medical treatments and genetically engineered hybrid animals, but now no other humans are evident, and the compounds have become decaying ruins.

Near starvation, Snowman decides to return to the ruins of a compound named RejoovenEsense to search for supplies, even though his excursion risks encountering dangers including feral populations of the hybridized animals. He concocts an explanation for the Crakers, who regard him as a teacher, and begins his foraging expedition.

In Snowman's recollection of past events, Jimmy's family moves to the HelthWyzer compound, where his father works as a genetic engineer. Jimmy meets and befriends a brilliant science student named Glenn. Jimmy begins to refer to him as Crake when he uses that name in an online trivia game called Extinctathon. Jimmy and Crake spend much of their leisure time playing online games, smoking "skunkweed", and watching underground videos such as live executions, graphic surgery, Noodie News, frog squashing, and child pornography. During one of their child pornography viewings, Jimmy is very much lovestruck and horrified by the gazing eyes of a young girl seen in the porn known as Hott Tott.

After graduating from high school, Crake attends the highly respected Watson–Crick Institute, where he studies advanced bioengineering, but Jimmy ends up at the loathed Martha Graham Academy, where students study humanities, only valued for their propaganda applications. Jimmy gets a job writing ad copy, while Crake becomes a bioengineer at RejoovenEsense. Crake uses his prominent position to create the Crakers, peaceful, gentle, herbivorous humanoids, who have sexual intercourse only during limited polyandrous breeding seasons. His stated purpose for the Crakers, actually a deliberate deception, is to create "floor models" of all the possible options a family could choose in the genetic manipulation of their future children. Crake's bio-engineering team consists of the most expert players gathered from the online Extinctathon community.

Crake tells Jimmy about another very important project, a Viagra-like super-pill called BlyssPluss, which also promises health and happiness, but secretly causes sterilization in order to address overpopulation. Crake officially hires Jimmy to help market it. At the Rejoov compound, Jimmy notices a human in the Craker habitat and thinks he recognizes her as the girl from the pornographic video. Seemingly unaware of Jimmy's obsession with her, Crake explains that her name is Oryx and that he has hired her as a teacher for the Crakers. Oryx notices Jimmy's feelings for her and makes herself sexually available to him, despite also being Crake's romantic partner. As their relationship progresses, Jimmy becomes increasingly fearful that Crake has found out about it or has known all along. He also makes a promise to both Oryx and Crake that he will look after the Crakers if anything happens to them.

After Crake's wonder drug BlyssPluss is widely distributed, a global pandemic breaks out and begins wiping out the human race and causing mass chaos outside of the protected Rejoov compound. Realizing that the pandemic had been deliberately introduced by Crake and was distributed by including it within BlyssPluss, and sensing further immediate danger, Jimmy grabs a gun and goes to confront Crake, who is returning with Oryx from outside the compound and needs Jimmy to let them in. Crake presents himself to Jimmy with his arm around an unconscious Oryx, saying that he and Jimmy are immune to the virus. Jimmy lets them in, whereupon Crake slits Oryx's throat with a knife. Jimmy then immediately shoots Crake dead.

During Snowman's journey to scavenge supplies, he encounters aggressive hybrid animals and retreats into the RejoovenEsense compound. He finds some indications that other humans have survived – seeing smoke on the horizon near the compound and briefly hearing voices on radio receivers in the compound. He carelessly breaks a scavenged bourbon bottle after binge drinking its content, and cuts his foot on a sliver of the glass. The cut becomes infected. His treatment of the wound with the medications he can find has some initial success, but the infection later gets worse again. He returns to the Crakers' camp and learns that three other humans have recently encountered the Crakers and are camping nearby. Snowman follows the smoke to where they are gathered around a campfire. Snowman is unsure of what to do, and considers killing them. Whether he kills them, introduces himself or quietly flees, and whatever happens afterwards, is left open to question at the end of the book.

Main characters

 * Snowman, whose original name is Jimmy, is the main protagonist; the story is told from his perspective. The name "Snowman" is short for "abominable Snowman", a reference to the Yeti, a mythical ape-like creature of the Himalaya. For the online-game Extinctathon, Jimmy temporarily also has the animal code name "Thickney" (bush thick-knee or bush stone-curlew, Burhinus grallarius), which Crake chooses for Jimmy from an Australian bird known for inhabiting cemeteries (p. 81).
 * Crake, whose original name is Glenn, is Jimmy's childhood friend; an excellent student in high school, he becomes a brilliant geneticist and eventual mad scientist. He devises a plan to rid the Earth of Homo sapiens and replace this destructive, poorly designed species with a more peaceful and environmentally friendly version. His player-name in Extinctathon is from the red-necked crake, a small Australian bird. In Robin Elliott's essay on Atwood, he explains the parallels between Glenn and the famous pianist Glenn Gould: the novel states that Glenn is named after a famous pianist, and Atwood has explained that Glenn has Asperger syndrome, which Gould is suspected to have also had.
 * Oryx is a mysterious woman, recognized by Jimmy and Crake as the waif-like girl from a child pornography site. Crake hires her for sexual services and as a teacher to the Crakers, but she secretly becomes Jimmy's lover as well. After the catastrophe, her memory continues to haunt Snowman. Her name is from the oryx, an African antelope: "It's not even her real name, which he'd never known anyway; it's only a word. It's a mantra" (p. 110). She is described as likely originating from the South or South-East Asian region.
 * Sharon is Jimmy's mother. She once worked at OrganInc, like her husband, but stopped due to an untreated nervous breakdown related to her opposition to the bio-corporations' business. She is depressed and often fights with Jimmy's father. Jimmy vies for his mother's attention, but she spends much of her time sitting in her bathrobe and smoking. Eventually, Sharon runs away from the HelthWyzer compound, abandoning her son and taking his treasured genetically engineered pet rakunk [a genetic splice between a raccoon and a skunk] named "Killer". She takes up with various underground opposition groups and is hunted by the deadly CorpSeCorps corporate security services. Jimmy is haunted by his mother's absence and is visited often by CorpSeCorps inspectors attempting to track her whereabouts.
 * Jimmy's father, unnamed in the book, works first for OrganInc and later for HelthWyzer as a scientist. He is heavily involved in the development of pigoons (genetically engineered pigs that produce organs for human transplants). He is more pragmatic about the morality of genetic splicing than his wife. After Jimmy's mother deserts the compound, he pursues a relationship with his laboratory technician, Ramona, and they eventually marry.
 * Ramona is one of Jimmy's father's lab technicians at OrganInc. Ramona, Jimmy, and Jimmy's father frequently go out to eat together. When Jimmy's father leaves OrganInc to accept a new position at HelthWyzer, Ramona makes the move with him. After Jimmy's mother's mysterious departure, Ramona moves in and takes on a motherly role in Jimmy's life.

Beginnings
Margaret Atwood started writing the novel much earlier than she expected, while still on a book tour for her previous novel, The Blind Assassin. In March 2001, Atwood found herself in the Northern region of Australia, birdwatching with her partner during a break from the book tour. Here, while watching the red-necked crakes in their natural habitat, she was struck with inspiration for the story. However, Atwood explained that the work was also a product of her lingering thoughts on such a scenario throughout her life, as well as spending a great amount of time with scientists throughout her childhood. She stated

Several of my close relatives are scientists, and the main topic at the annual family Christmas dinner is likely to be intestinal parasites or sex hormones in mice, or, when that makes the non-scientists too queasy, the nature of the Universe.

Atwood continued to write the novel through the summer of 2001 while visiting the Arctic North, witnessing global warming's effect on the region. However, shaken by the September 11 attacks, she stopped writing for a few weeks in the autumn, saying, "It's deeply unsettling when you're writing about a fictional catastrophe and then a real one happens". However, with the looming questions of the end, Atwood finished the novel for release in 2003. These questions in Oryx and Crake, Atwood explained, are "simply, What if we continue down the road we're already on? How slippery is the slope? What are our saving graces? Who's got the will to stop us?"

To other works
The cover of some editions contains a portion of the left panel of Hieronymous Bosch's painting The Garden of Earthly Delights. The cover of other editions contains a modified portion of Lucas Cranach the Elder's painting The Fall.

The French translation of the title to "Le dernier homme" (The Last Man) is an allusion to Mary Shelley's work of the same name, both set in the apocalyptic genre as a plague results in the near-extinction of humanity.

In the first chapter, Snowman utters a reference from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five: "'It is the strict adherence to daily routine that tends towards the maintenance of good morale and the preservation of sanity,' he says out loud. He has the feeling he's quoting from a book, some obsolete, ponderous directive written in aid of European colonials running plantations of one kind or another."

One of Snowman's musings, "Now I'm alone [...] All, all alone. Alone on a wide, wide sea" is an allusion to part four of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

In chapter 5 (subsection "Bottle") is "Out, out, brief candle" from Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Crake finds, as Hamlet does, that his father was probably killed by his mother and step father. Like Hamlet, he plots to avenge him.

To scientific history
The book alludes to green fluorescent protein multiple times. The Children of Crake are described having green eyes from a jellyfish protein, indicating that Crake used this gene in their creation. Green rabbits are wild animals in this world, alluding to Alba, a rabbit created by the scientist Louis-Marie Houdebine with the gfp gene in order to glow green.

Reception
The book received mostly favourable reviews in the press. The Globe and Mail, Maclean's, and the Toronto Star ranked the novel high among Atwood's works and Helen Brown, for the Daily Telegraph, wrote "The bioengineered apocalypse she imagines is impeccably researched and sickeningly possible: a direct consequence of short-term science outstripping long-term responsibility. And just like the post-nuclear totalitarian vision of The Handmaid's Tale, this story is set in a society readers will recognise as only a few steps ahead of our own." For The New Yorker, Lorrie Moore called the novel "towering and intrepid". Moore wrote, "Tonally, 'Oryx and Crake' is a roller-coaster ride. The book proceeds from terrifying grimness, through lonely mournfulness, until, midway, a morbid silliness begins sporadically to assert itself, like someone, exhausted by bad news, hysterically succumbing to giggles at a funeral." Joyce Carol Oates noted that the novel is "more ambitious and darkly prophetic" than The Handmaid's Tale. Oates called the work an "ambitiously concerned, skillfully executed performance".

Joan Smith, writing for The Observer, faulted the novel's uneven construction and lack of emotional depth. She concluded: "In the end, Oryx and Crake is a parable, an imaginative text for the anti-globalisation movement that does not quite work as a novel."

In a review of The Year of the Flood, Ursula K. Le Guin defended the novel against criticism of its characters by suggesting the novel experiments with components of morality plays.

On 5 November 2019, the BBC News listed Oryx and Crake on its list of the 100 most influential novels. The same year, The Guardian included it on their list of the 100 best books of the 21st century.

Darren Aronofsky's company Protozoa Pictures were developing a television adaptation of the entire MaddAddam trilogy, under the working title MaddAddam. Aronofsky was to serve as executive producer and possibly director, with the script written by playwright Eliza Clark. The project was formerly being developed for HBO; in 2016 Aronofsky said that the network was no longer attached, but confirmed that the scripts were written and the project was still underway. In January 2018, Paramount Television and Anonymous Content announced they had won the bidding war for rights to the trilogy and planned to bring the series to cable or video on demand. No network had yet agreed to carry the series.

Sequels
The Year of the Flood was released on 7 September 2009 in the United Kingdom, and 22 September 2009 in Canada and the United States. Though chronicling a different set of characters, the follow-up expands upon and clarifies the relationships of Crake with Oryx and Jimmy with his high school girlfriend Ren. Glenn makes a brief appearance. It also identifies the three characters introduced at the end of the original, and finishes the cliffhanger ending.

The third book in the series, MaddAddam, was published in August 2013.

title: Oryx and Crake


text:
Talk:List of dog breeds/Archive 2

OK, with all those changes I think I ought to comment. All these breeds are recognised by one or more of: the Fédération Cynologique Internationale, the American Kennel Club, the Australian National Kennel Council, the Canadian Kennel Club, the Kennel Club (UK) or the New Zealand Kennel Club. I've listed the name most commonly used by those organisations. Where only the FCI recognises the breed (and so its not clear if the English name is commonly used), I did a Google to find the most commonly used version on English language pages. Which is why we have "Greek Harehound" but "Deutsche Bracke".

I've also checked the capitalisation of the names. In some cases "terrier", "hound" and so on are part of the breed name and so are capitalised. I used the same checks as above to decide whether it was part of the name or not. If not, I didn't include it in the name listed here ("Azawakh" rather than "Azawakh Hound" and "Maltese" rather than "Maltese terrier" etc.)

I'm not sure what to do about listing alternative names. Should we have something like:

 * Patterdale Terrier - see Lakeland Terrier

or:

 * Patterdale Terrier
 * see Lakeland Terrier

or:

 * Patterdale Terrier (i.e. using a pipe to hide that the link is to "Lakeland Terrier")

I don't like the last option myself, It would make it look as though there are more breeds than there are.

Including variations would make the list very long, but perhaps more useful. It's possibly too long already, and doesn't yet include unrecognised breeds. Maybe it needs splitting already. Any advice or opinions welcome! -- sannse 20:39 Mar 22, 2003 (UTC)

--

What about making a genealogical tree of dog breeds? I always wanted to know how do they evolved from the wolf. What are the more primitive breeds? Do all terriers share a common ancestor? And... is it possible to make such a tree? Or is a megalomaniac job? Muriel Gottrop

 * Personally I wouldn't know where to start! I guess you could try and write some sort of tree, but the origin of many of the breeds isn't clear.  And others are crosses of several breeds.  But still, if you want to try.... ;) -- sannse 16:37 Apr 3, 2003 (UTC)

Discussion moved from Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Dog breeds/General

Adding new breeds
What about adding breeds to the list? I'm new here, obviously, so thought probably I should ask before doing something like that. There are a lot of rare breeds around these days that are outside the AKC/CKC/FCI orbit: Shiloh Shepherd Dog, Olde Englishe Bulldogge, Seppala Siberian Sleddog, Alapaha Blue Blood Bulldog, and so on. What does Sannse think about this? Ditkoofseppala 23:34 1 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Well it's not just down to me of course :) but here are my thoughts...

 * I've avoided putting these on the list so far, partly because I wanted to concentrate on the recognised breeds to start with and partly because it brings up the question: what is a breed? Many of these developing breeds could be seen as crossbreeds at this point, so should we have them as a separate list or on the "dog breeds" page?

 * At this point, I think my preferred solution is to list them all together and have an introductory paragraph explaining that not all the breeds listed can be considered purebred, then we can discuss individual issues on the article pages. That will reduce problems of which list a particular breed should be on and give us the most complete list possible.  We could also have a separate list of developing dog breeds if someone is interested in the subject in the future (without removing them from the main list).

 * How does that sound? I think it will give us the most complete list while avoiding controversy (well, as much as is possible round here anyway ;) -- sannse 08:54 2 Jul 2003 (UTC)

The whole concept of "purebred" becomes quite a can of worms if you examine it closely, that's the problem. AKC, CKC and other big umbrella registries have few if any real controls on genetic input to their breeds, and there's a lot of cheating! Racing Greyhound Club of Australia instituted mandatory DNA microsatellite testing for parentage verification a few years ago, and found that most of their pedigrees were worthless.

In addition, there's a growing realisation that the rigidly closed stud books — in which breeding has taken place from a handful of founders (like, six or a dozen dogs in some instances) over sixty to a hundred years without fresh genetic input — are a genetic disaster for the dogs. They talk about the "genetic crisis in purebred dogs" — there sure is one, and it's all due to the closed stud book system. A gene pool is like a bank account — you can't go on making withdrawals forever without ever making a deposit. :) The "withdrawals" are automatic through inbreeding/selection and genetic drift, but the closed-studbook "breed purity" system forbids new deposits!

Rather than support the dinosaurs with their racist breed-purity fetish, I'd rather see us go with the spreading knowledge of population genetics and not penalise the newer breeds that ARE enjoying a little big of fresh genetic material by stigmatising them as "crossbreeds".

Would it be possible to make the distinction on another less judgmental level, refusing to open the "defining purebred" can of worms, and just classifying breeds as "traditional breeds," "new breeds," and "rare breeds," or something of that nature? The energy and interest in new and rare breeds these days often far exceeds what's found in the traditional breeds handled by the big umbrella registries. AKC and CKC have been forced to recognise this by adding quite a number of minority or rare breeds to their own rosters in recent years.

I agree with your overall approach of listing all together and discussing the issues in individual articles, but think maybe it would be fairer to say that some breeds are popular breeds with huge populations, some breeds are traditional breeds with century-long breeding history as registered breeds, some breeds are rare breeds with their own registries, and some breeds are new breeds that haven't been around as registered breeds for long and may still be in their developmental stages. Point being that "purebred" and "crossbreed," far from avoiding controversy, are actually rather judgmental terms. How does this strike you? Ditkoofseppala 19:16 2 Jul 2003 (UTC)

end of moved text

 * OK, so the general approach should work, but the introductory paragraph needs work. I'll have a think about how to reword it, but if you can see ways to improve it before I get there, go right ahead :) You are obviously very knowledgeable in this area.

 * I think it's important to remember our overall policy of neutral point of view. We need to find a wording that doesn't support the "dinosaurs" or the "new-breeders" (to make up terminology as I go along ;).  I think we need to mention the concept of "purebred", but indicate the limitations and problems of this terminology - and explain that we are using a wider, more inclusive definition of the term "breed".

 * I'll have another look at the introductory paragraph in the morning and see how I can improve it. -- sannse 22:15 2 Jul 2003 (UTC)

This weekend I went to the Tendring Hundred Show and took more than forty photos of various breeds - all with my camera on the wrong setting! Forty pictures I would have been really pleased with if they weren't completely blurred :-/

I gave the Wikipedia address to some of the owners who kindly allowed me to borrow their dogs. So if any of them come across this page while looking for their pictures - that's what happened. Many thanks for your help and I'm sorry it didn't work! Regards - sannse 10:47 14 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Finally found time to write the Siberian Husky article. I have removed the existing photo as it *isn't* of Siberian Huskies, but probably Greenland dogs (photo was credited to NOAA, who have used Greenland dog teams in the past). Would be nice if Sannse could put one of her tables on the page. Too bad about all those photos, Sannse; I know what a dreadful feeling it is to do that! Maybe I can find a public-domain SH photo; I know of a couple places to look. Trouble with writing a new article is: if you put the links in, then you see all those holes where other new articles are then needed!!! It could turn into a geometrically-expanding task, couldn't it! But that is one beauty of the Wikipedia system -- it sure does show you what you need to do next! BTW, sorry -- I left the site to search something, was absent-minded, didn't open my search in a new window, got back and failed to realise I wasn't logged in anymore when I placed the new article -- how do you fix that??? Ditkoofseppala 22:41 19 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Addendum: I've been messing with the list, Sannse, putting in a few extra breeds. I'll probably do others from time to time. Also I'm putting in links to registries beyond just AKC and KC (UK). FCI serves nicely to cover Europe, so probably we don't need to link LOE (Spain) or FCC (France) and others, but Oz and Ennzed probably yes. Also major alternative registries such as UKC and Continental deserve a link. If I can keep my momentum and don't get called away to something else I'm going to try to cover some red-linked breeds. If I don't know enough about them to do a definitive article I can at least stub a few. It's fun getting things fixed up. If you want a giggle, check out the Talk page for "Sleddog" ;-) Ditkoofseppala 03:41 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Is it still Jack Russell Terrier? I was watching a dog show on TV last week and they claimed that the new official name of the breed is "Parson Russell Terrier". RickK 03:50 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * I wondered about that, too, as I had just noticed both names in the list. I've just done a cursory search and on AKC's website appears: "Note: The name of the Jack Russell Terrier was changed to the Parson Russell Terrier effective April 1, 2003 as requested by the Jack Russell Terrier Association of America, which was changed to the Parson Russell Terrier Association of America." No idea of why, as I didn't search it in depth. Learn something new every day . . . Ditkoofseppala 04:34 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * But you left it in the "J" position when you corrected it, Rick! (Gotcha) ;-) Ditkoofseppala 04:56 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Whoops. But then, it got reverted, anyway.  :(  RickK 05:00 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * Sinn Fein strikes again! Ditkoofseppala 05:05 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

There are now two (or possibly three) breeds. The Parson Russell is recognised by the FCI and in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. There is also a Jack Russell, sometimes called the Australian Jack Russell, which is recognised by Australia and New Zealand and has just been recognised by the FCI (as of May 2003). Then there are the good old-fashioned non-recognised dogs, also called Jack Russels (in the UK anyway, I'm not sure about elsewhere) that basically includes any Jack Russell-like little yappy thing. -- sannse 09:20 20 Jul 2003 (UTC)

 * BTW - I was wrong - there are three (possibly four) breeds. I've tried to expand the Jack Russell Terrier article to explain all this -- sannse 22:25, 18 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Links
Some links need either removing or redirecting(Some, not all). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.88.37.98 (talk) 20:20, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Great Pyrenees
There was no great pyrenees on the list, so I added it. 69.239.153.17 20:48, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

How are cross-references to alternative breed names listed?
Here's what I've been doing:
 * Primary breed name (as above): alphabetized and linked, e.g.:
 * * Chart Polski
 * Secondary name that's very similar to original and in about the same place alphabetically--don't list. E.g.:
 * * Foobar Shepherd (don't list Foobar Sheepdog at all)
 * Secondary name that's in about the same place alphabetically but is notably different--include next to primary name in parens with no link. E.g.:
 * * Bernese Mountain Dog (Berner Sennenhund)
 * Secondary name that's very different: Place in alpha order without linking and add xref to primary name. E.g.:
 * * Polish Greyhound - see Chart Polski
 * * Bouvier Bernois - see Bernese Mountain Dog

Elf | Talk 21:31, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

Photo questions
Elf | Talk
 * 1) Can someone identify the breed in this photo? American Bulldog, perhaps?
 * 2) Does anyone know anything about the breed Kintamani, which is how this photo was identified?

 * I think so; I'm not a bulldog person though
 * Never heard of it, but going on looks alone, I want one! Swamped now, but if no response after this week I'll do a search if you remind me.
 * Quill 23:51, 20 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Could be an American Bulldog, but it might be a Boxer or Boxer mix.... it's not quite girthy enough to fix the usual AB standards....
 * Couldn't find much info on them. A few pages found through google (very few), mostly personal pages and the like... seems to be a native dog in Bali. [[User:Lachatdelarue|Lachatdelarue (talk)]] 03:02, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Got email back from the original photographer who says it's a Boxer. Hm. I knew a woman who had what I thinkn she called an American Bull Terrier that looked a lot like this dog, but I'm lost in the morass of bulls and terriers and americans... But now that I look again, no, it doesn't look like that at all. Could be a boxer. Maybe I'll ask my boxer friends. Elf | Talk 05:09, 21 Sep 2004 (UTC)

The articles "Dog breed" and "List of dog breeds" need foreign links
Just wanted to drop a note that the article "Dog breed" does not have any link to another language until now. In German there is a REDIRECT from "Liste_der_Hunderassen" to "Hunderasse". I can not follow exactly where the other languages are supposed to point. Regards Gangleri 02:08, 2004 Sep 23 (UTC)

 * Wish I spoke any other languages well enough to figure these out. Thanks for mentioning it; perhaps someone will be able to track them down. Elf | Talk 02:26, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I added a link to the spanish list of dog breeds. The french dog and cat pages only have a short list of breeds on them, with almost no articles... those are the only languages i even know the words for dog or cat in... [[User:Lachatdelarue|Lachatdelarue (talk)]] 13:47, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Norrbottenspets
Another interesting spelling case. This is what our original researcher indicated was the most common name from English-language sources. I have found the following using Google searches of English-language sites:
 * Norrbottenspets (1660 pgs) (FCI spells it this way on its main page--but see below-- Oh, look CKC spells it like this, too)
 * Nordic Spitz (2270 pages)
 * Norbottenspets (notice only one R) (2250 pages) (spelled this way in my main reference dog encycopedia and by the UKC, the only kennel club other than FCI to recognize the breed)
 * Norrbottenspitz (56 pages) (FCI spells it this way in its published breed standard, linked to by EN on this page )
 * Norbottenspitz (287 pages)
 * Norrbotten Spitz (38 pages)
 * Norbotten Spitz (18 pages)

There are norrbottenspets.org and norrbottenspets.net (both kennels) but none for norbottenspets, norrbottenspitz, norbottenspitz, or nordicspitz.

 * Elf | Talk 02:13, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I only looked at the most common name via Google if there was an even split between the breed associations or if just the FCI recognised the breed (in which case it is often unclear whether the native name or the English language name is most often used in English). I used the name most often used by the breed associations as first choice.  In this case I would have chosen the name used by the CKC, especially as that was confirmed by the FCI (although I didn't notice the discrepancy in the standard - well spotted there!).  I didn't look at the UKC at the time, which confuses the issue somewhat.

 * My inclination is to stick with the Canadian/FCI (main page) version as the main title, include the other versions in the table or article text, and ensure all the redirects are in place. What do you think? -- sannse (talk) 10:31, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * I agree. Elf | Talk 15:45, 23 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Landseer (Continental-European type)/Newfoundland
The FCI considers the Landseer (Continental-European type) a different breed from the black and white Newfoundland. this is discussed a little at Newfoundland (dog) but is probably one of those cases where we will eventually need an article at Landseer (Continental-European type) describing the issue in more detail. I've set up the links to reflect this. Does it look like the best format? -- sannse (talk) 18:40, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Hmmm, it's not "full" correct; in standard FCI is black and white newfoundland and people say: it's newf in landseer's "couleur", but is really newfoundland; and is also white and black dog - have another standard in FCI - landseer ect...   Gr. --Andrzej z Helu 19:15, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * I think that Landseer (dog) should be sufficient. I checked the FCI breed standards after reading preceding; indeed, it recognizes a black & white Newfie:
 * COLOUR : Black, white and black, and brown. ... White and black : This variety is of historical significance for the breed.  The preferred pattern of markings is black head with, preferably, a white blaze extending onto the muzzle, black saddle with even markings and black croup and upper tail.  The remaining parts are to be white and can show a minimum of ticking.
 * and a separate Landseer:
 * The Landseer should convey the impression of a tall, powerful and well balanced dog. The legs are comparatively longer than those of the black Newfoundland. ... COLOUR : Main colour of coat is a clear white with distinct black patches on body and croup.  Collar, forechest, belly, legs and tail must be white.  Head black, with white muzzle and white symmetrical blaze - neither too narrow, nor too wide - extending from muzzle over head to the white collar, being considered  a definite breeding goal.  Ticking still occuring in the white not to be penalized, but should be bred away.
 * The New Encylopedia of the Dog sheds a little light by saying: "Before the Newfoundland's breed std was written, it sometimes occurred in black & white...In the 1930s a group of breeders attempted to recreate that look. Their efforts eventually resulted in the Landseer."
 * And The Simon & Schuster Guide to Dogs adds "In the 1920s, the breed nearly disappeared, but German dog lovers 'reconstructed' it by crossing St. Bernards and Great Pyrenees." So it's not in fact the same breed. Huh. Interesting.  Elf | Talk 19:44, 13 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * I moved this; just found this discussion checking the 'what links here'. Quill 10:11, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Griffon Bruxellois and Belgian Griffon
On Affenpinscher Elf raised the issue of the discrepancy between Griffon Bruxellois and Belgian Griffon.

'Belgian Griffon/Griffon Belge : only recognised by the FCI

Google:
 * 3,140 English pages for "Belgian Griffon"
 * 491 English pages for "Griffon Belge"

Griffon Bruxellois/Brussels Griffon:

 * AKC: Brussels Griffon
 * ANKC:Griffon Bruxellois
 * CKC: Griffon (Brussels)
 * KC(UK): Griffon Bruxellios
 * NZKC: Griffon Bruxellois

Google (although we would usually go on the above anyway):

 * 39,600 English pages for "Brussels Griffon"
 * 3,300 English pages for "Griffon Bruxellois"

Which is quite a discrepancy - but I still think we are doing the right thing in using the name used by three out of the five above KCs. this is a case where we will have to be very sure to get redirects set up though -- sannse (talk) 18:20, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Anyone recognize this breed?
Image:Berry & brandy.jpg -- A new user has uploaded an image for his personal photo album. The album was deleted, but maybe we can use the dog picture. Since you're the local dog-expert, do you recognize/can use the dog in Image:Berry & brandy.jpg? Currently it is listed on Images for deletion. Thanks -- Chris 73 Talk 04:19, Oct 29, 2004 (UTC) (Reposted by Elf | Talk 15:56, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC) from my talk page.)
 * (shrugging) Long-haired GSD cross or Shiloh Shepherd cross? Quill 07:49, 30 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Romanian Shepherd Dogs
(My, WP is sloooowwww this morning.) Someone just added 3 Romanian Shepherd Dogs to the list. Another set to decide what names to use. :-) They're legit breeds; according to this Tripod site they're about to be recognized by the FCI. But they have a bunch of possible names; see this site on Molosser-and-related breeds.  The first site indicates that the 3 should be Mioritic (old name  Barac), Carpatin  (old name  Zãvod), and  Ciobănesc de Bucovina, not simply Bucovina (dog).  Since they're rare breeds, guess we'll have to figure out which name to use--

 * For Bucovina: BUKOVINA SHEPHERD (Ciobanesc Romanesc de Bucovina, Ciobanesc de Bucovina, Romanian Bukovina Sheepdog, Bukovina Wolfdog, Bukovinac, Bucovina Sheepdog)
 * NOTE: Bukovina (and redir from Bucovina) is a place name, so it looks like Ciobănesc de Bucovina would be the better name to use for the dog link. (Other choice would be Bucovina (dog), which we can do also & put as a redirect, I suppose.)

 * For Carpatin: CARPATHIAN SHEPHERD DOG (Ciobanesc Romanesc Carpatin, Romanian Carpathian Shepherd, Caine Ciobanesc Carpatian, Carpathian Sheepdog, Carpatin, Romanian Carpatin Herder, Rumanian Carpatin)
 * For Mioritic: MIORITIC SHEEPDOG (Ciobanesc Romanesc de Mioritic, Romanian Mioritic Sheepdog, Mocano, Barac, Rumanian Barak)

Looks like it might also be worth having a page on Romanian shepherd dogs, although the Tripod site calls them Romanian sheep dogs. Thoughts? Also should have a page for Molossus (dog). (Hmm, not in the books I'm currently looking at but I know I've encountered that category of breeds many times before.) Elf | Talk 19:09, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

New AKC FSS dogs
The Estrela Mountain Dog (Working group designation) and the Portuguese Podengo (Hound group designation) have also just been accepted into the AKC's FSS category. Elf | Talk 01:05, 7 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Feedback wanted on Akita
Please review my proposed renames & moves on Talk:Akita Inu. Thanks. Elf | Talk 22:55, 17 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Capitalization of breed names
See discussion & closed vote at Talk:Airedale_Terrier. Elf | Talk 01:03, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

Polish Ogar/Hound
Per FCI: Ogar Polski - FCI Standard No. 052 (Brachet polonais, Polnische Bracke, Polish Hound, Sabueso Polaco); list earlier researched indicated that Polish Hound would be the most commonly used English name. Elf | Talk 23:38, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

New Guinea Singing Dog
Tekana removed "new guinea singing dog" from list "as it is a wild member of the canidae family and not a domesticated pet".

According to Wikipedia the New Guinea Singing Dog can be (and is, I thought) kept as a pet. It is recognized as a breed by United Kennel Club (since 1996). So it looks as if it should be reinstated. Flapdragon 20:21, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

 * I removed it from the list as i felt it should not be there, of course you will find some people who feel the need to take a wild animal and domesticate it, people do (illegally) keep wolves and other wild creatures as pets, would that class the entire species as a domesticated animal?

 * These are my views; and of course I may be wrong! If anyone else were to share your views i would gladly return it to the list. thank you Tekana | Talk 09:24, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

New Guinea Singing Dog, Carolina Dog, and others
I've actually been trying to sort these out for a while, and it's not easy.

Bruce Fogle's The New Encyclopedia of the Dog (2000), which I've found to be a valuable breed references, lists a group of what he calls "Primitive dogs" or pariah dogs, which includes, among others:
 * Canaan Dog
 * Podenco Canario
 * Basenji
 * Xoloitzcuintli (Mexican Hairless)
 * Carolina Dog
 * Dingo
 * New Guinea Singing Dog

Most notable are the last 3. He mentions that all of these were kept at times as pets, guard dogs, etc. by indigenous populations. He also notes that the Dingo alone among these has some clear physical and genetic traits that might distinguish it from the domestic dog. It appears that Dingos and true purebred New Guinea dogs are most likely to be found (but not exclusively) in zoos now, which seems to be a distinguishing factor from other domestic dogs, but that's not true for the Carolina dog, which many seem to view as simply a long-time feral domestic dog.

The Encyclopedia of Dog Breeds by J. Cunliffe (UK, 1999) includes the NG Singing Dog as an "exotic" dog breed, but it doesn't include the Carolina Dog or the Dingo in its lists; it includes the latter among wild dogs like wolves and coyotes; it mentions "pariah dogs which scatter the world" as not belonging to any other category in the book but worth mentioning--but doesn't specifically list any breeds or groups of pariah dogs.

And, as mentioned above, UKC, which isn't entirely unreliable, includes NGSG as a regular breed of dog. SO--I believe that NGSD needs to be readded to the list.

Which brings me to the next question--Carolina Dog. Someone added "California-Carolina Dog (aka American Dingo)" to the list of dog breeds by country, and I'm wondering whether it should be there and/or here. On a web search, it looks like it's a single breeder that is developing this line from one Carolina Dog puppy and (some other) dogs. I'm on the fence about Carolina Dog and even more about Cal-Car Dog. Thoughts? (If you made it thru all that background...) Elf | Talk 22:07, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

 * Personally, I dont agree with putting any of the above three on "the list". As I have mentioned, I dont believe how a few unscrupulous people ripping wild pups from their wild mothers and then classing it as a "pet" or "exotic breed of dog" is right, moral or even a true domestic dog. That just happens to be one pup that some person has reared and has made half domesticated. A wild animal is a wild animal, and as such will never be fully domesticated, no matter how they are reared or who with! I just fail to see how a few animals that have been forced to live along people can class the entire species as a domestic animal.

 * People keep tigers, would that class all tigers as domesticated creatures? Will we soon be seeing "Siberian Tiger" on the list of cat breeds? I somehow dont think so! Yet, what is the real difference between having Tigers in the cat breeds and wild dogs such as Dingoes and Coyotes on the dog list? There isnt any!

 * Of course, these are my views, and I do feel strongly about them, and I really dont want to have to see these "breeds" on the list. But for the sake of NPOV, I think the least that should be done is that if these animals were returned to the list, they should have a seperate article to their wild counterparts! Tekana (O.o) Talk 09:26, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

The difference between tigers, coyotes, and the NGSG is that neither of the former have ever been domesticated in any way, while the NGSG most certain has been and has lived with humans for a good part of its history, apparently; in addition, it's been recognized by UKC at least and is listed in multiple dog-breed books as a breed, not separately as wolf & coyote & dingo usually are. In other words, mainstream dog world appears to accept that NGSD is a breed of domestic dog. Elf | Talk 16:37, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

 * But listing with registries means practically nothing! The Dingo has a standard in the ANKC yet it is illegal to "exhibit, breed or own" the dingo is most parts of austalia. Therefore, although it does have a breed standard, it is still recognised as a wild or feral dog and not a domestic one!

Shows what walking around upsidedown all the time does to the collective consciousness' mind! ;-) Elf | Talk 19:38, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

 * LOL. Well, i have said my views, you have said yours, we need an answer to our arguement discussion (-) ) so that things can be done. Can I just request that if they are returned to the list they have seperate articles to the wild counterparts, and preferably with a section on the fact that these are wild dogs and only a few of which have been domesticated (to a degree of domestication), they are not breeds that have been selectively bred by humans! Tekana (O.o) Talk 20:38, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

I sort of agree with that. (See how easy I am, really?) I think you're suggesting that there be 2 articles each, which I don't think is necessary. We can probably just deal with that by having a separate section in the list for, um, I dunno, "semidomesticated dogs" or "feral dog breeds" or something. Elf | Talk 22:35, 14 September 2005 (UTC)

 * Okay, thats great. I agree with that completely Tekana (O.o) Talk 14:45, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Tekana's comment about the Siberian tiger is a red-herring. The fact that a tiger has been kept in captivity does not alter its taxonomy as a specie separate from domestic cats. No one seriously claims that a tiger is a domestic animal. The comparison of NGSD to Siberian tigers is distracting, not enlightening. According to the most prevalent taxonomic discourse of the last 10 years, aided by DNA research (not merely someone's description of observable similarities or differences) New Guinea Singing Dogs are members of the same specie as domestic dogs. For that reason they have fallen into disinterest among zoos who exhibit and breed "wild" species. Zoos keep breeding records enhancing the survival of rare species. Domestic dogs, dingoes, and wolves are the same specie (coyotes are a separate specie). People wishing to preserve the NGSD as a unique life form "lost the toss" of DNA-based taxonomy. If NGSD are the same specie as domestic dogs then they are not protected by endangered species laws, species survival plans, captive breeding programs of zoos, etc. Being in the Canus lupus specie, NGSD could rightfully be described as a sub specie (or in the terminology of dog registries - a breed). Breed registries also keep breeding records to ensure the survival and improvement of each breed. Certainly there are people who are still arguing that NGSD’s are a different specie. But for now (and probably in the future) they have been thrown out of the endangered species game. NGSD’s only hope for survival is as a breed of dog. And since more than one dog breed registry lists NGSD, then they are in fact a breed. There are several breeds of dogs considered to be primitive, meaning they came into being a long time ago. Examples are Siberian Husky, Saluki, Pharaoh Hound, and Basenji. These breeds were documented in their current form thousands of years ago. Most breeds are the creation of the last few centuries. There are also several breeds that are called "pariah dogs", meaning that they live on the edge of human civilization. These dogs can live as pets or as feral dogs. Examples are Dingo, Canaan Dog, Carolina Dog, Thai Ridgeback, and New Guinea Singing Dog. (Pariah dogs are considered by many to be in the same group as primitive dogs.) Natives of New Guinea were keeping these dogs for guards and hunting before modern zoologists arrived to incorrectly classify them as a separate canine specie. Now that we know they are the same specie, and we know that they are kept as pets by people, is see no reason not to agree with the United Kennel Club and the Continental Kennel Club and treat them as a dog breed. To say that they are a specie of wild animals is to disregard zoology, microbiology and taxonomy that use the concept of specie. To say that they are not a breed of dog is to disregard the dog registries who invented the concept of a breed. rbg

 * I think I agree with this and that the place to point out that they're possibly lacking in certain niceties of domestication that go with more "advanced" (vs. primitive) dog breeds is in the individual articles. That's not to say that we couldn't also come up with a list in pariah dog of these, as well, as the equivalent of a breed group. Elf | Talk 02:17, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:List of dog breeds/Archive 2


text:
Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public

The Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public (Антисионистский комитет советской общественности, Antisionistsky komitet sovyetskoy obshchestvennosti; abbreviated AZCSP АКСО) was a body formed in 1983 in the Soviet Union as an anti-Zionist propaganda tool. Formation of AZCSP was approved on 29 March 1983 by the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in resolution 101/62ГС: "Support the proposition of the Department of Propaganda of the Central Committee and the KGB USSR about the creation of the Anti-Zionist Committee of the Soviet Public..."

Anti-Zionist manifesto
On 1 April 1983, the CPSU official newspaper, Pravda, ran a full front-page article titled From the Soviet Leadership:
 * "...By its nature, Zionism concentrates ultra-nationalism, chauvinism and racial intolerance, excuse for territorial occupation and annexation, military opportunism, cult of political promiscuousness and irresponsibility, demagogy and ideological diversion, dirty tactics and perfidy... Absurd are attempts of Zionist ideologists to present those who criticize them, or condemn the aggressive politics of Israel's ruling circles, as antisemitic... We call on all Soviet citizens: workers, peasants, representatives of intelligentsia : take active part in exposing Zionism, strongly rebuke its endeavors; social scientists : activate scientific research to criticize the reactionary core of that ideology and aggressive character of its political practice; writers, artists, journalists : to more fully expose the anti-populace and anti-humane diversionary character of the propaganda and politics of Zionism..." (highlights preserved)

The fundamental idea of the anti-Zionist manifesto was that potential Jewish emigrants from the Soviet Union were to be considered enemies of the Soviet Union. The anti-Zionist manifesto was signed by 8 anti-Zionist Jews:
 * David Abramovich Dragunsky, Colonel-General, twice the Hero of the Soviet Union
 * Samuel Zivs, law professor
 * Genrikh Gofman
 * Yuri Kolesnikov
 * Martin Kabachnik, Lenin Prize winner
 * Gregory Bondarevsky, history professor
 * Boris Sheinin, filmmaker
 * Henrikas Zimanos, philosopher

Background and history
From late 1944, Joseph Stalin adopted a pro-Zionist foreign policy, apparently believing that the new country would be socialist and would speed the decline of British influence in the Middle East. Accordingly, in November 1947, the Soviet Union, together with the other Soviet bloc countries, voted in favor of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, which paved the way for the creation of the State of Israel. On May 17, 1948, three days after Israel declared its independence, the Soviet Union officially granted de jure recognition of Israel, becoming only the second country to recognise the Jewish state (preceded only by the United States' de facto recognition) and the first country to grant Israel de jure recognition.

By 1983, the Soviet regime needed a new propaganda weapon in the Cold War, as well as against an increasingly active internal dissident movement, to arrest or discredit the mass emigration of Soviet Jews and to alleviate the Arab concerns about its effects on Israel's demographics. By the dramatic stepping-up of "anti-Zionist" activities, the AZSCP was designed to solve these problems.

David Abramovich Dragunsky, Colonel-General, twice Hero of the Soviet Union and World War II hero (he was the commander of the 55th Guards Tank Brigade), well known inside the country and abroad, was designated its chairman.

The writers who specialized in the Soviet-invented and sponsored doctrine of Zionology ("сионология") considered any expressions of Jewishness as Zionist and therefore subject to being stamped out. In November 1975, the leading Soviet historian academic M. Korostovtsev wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Central Committee, Mikhail Suslov, regarding the book The encroaching counterrevolution by prominent Zionologist Vladimir Begun: "...it perceptibly stirs up anti-Semitism under the flag of anti-Zionism".

In addition to propaganda in the mass media and publishing, the AZCSP's projects included the "International symposium on contemporary problems of anti-Zionism" and preparation for an "International anti-Zionist congress".

By the end of the 1980s, with the new policies of glasnost and perestroika, and with the impending dissolution of the Soviet Union, the old Soviet regime had lost its stability and many of those plans had to be cancelled. Finally it was dismantled in October 1994.

Some materials produced by the AZCSP were used by ultra-nationalist groups such as Pamyat.

List of members
and others.
 * David Dragunsky, chairman – Colonel-General, Hero of the Soviet Union (twice)
 * S.L. Zivs, v.c. – doctor of jurisprudence
 * M. B. Krupkin, v.c. – vice-chairman of Agenstvo Pechati Novosti (APN) publishing house, director of department of Literaturnaya Gazeta
 * Elina Bystritskaya, actress
 * I. P. Belyayev – doctor of economics
 * Yury A. Kolesnikov – writer
 * M. I. Kabachnik – academician, Hero of Socialist Labor
 * Teodor Oizerman – philosopher and academician
 * V. N. Kudryavtsev – member of the Academy of sciences of the USSR
 * Matvey Blanter – composer, Hero of Socialist Labor
 * Angelina Stepanova – artist, Hero of Socialist Labor
 * Tatyana Lioznova – film director, the State Award nominee
 * B. S. Sheinin – cinematographer
 * A. K. Marinich – director of a kolkhoz, Hero of Socialist Labor
 * G. B. Gofman – writer, Hero of the Soviet Union
 * Caesar Solodar – writer
 * Aron Vergelis – poet
 * G. O. Zimanas – professor
 * Yakov Fishman – chief rabbi of Moscow (died a few months after the creation of the committee)
 * Adolf Shayevich – the chief rabbi of Moscow (declared on 1989-01-01 that he was no longer a member)


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User:Tornfalk~enwiki

sv:Användare: Tornfalk

Swedish national currently residing in Japan.

Student of molecular gas dynamics (see also kinetic theory).

Much too busy to spend time at Wikipedia. Yet here I am. Current activites:
 * I managed to get the admins to remove the block on recreating an article about Suicide City. I probably should try to write the article too, but I haven't had time.
 * I just discovered that Sydney Chapman (astronomer) only has a small stub. I must expand it!
 * Removing errors and irrelevant information from the Wards of Kyoto. Already edited:
 * Sakyō-ku
 * Higashiyama-ku

Next
 * probably Yamashina-ku

title: User:Tornfalk~enwiki


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Otto Loewi

Otto Loewi (3 June 1873 – 25 December 1961) was a German-born pharmacologist and psychobiologist who discovered the role of acetylcholine as an endogenous neurotransmitter. For this discovery, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1936, which he shared with Sir Henry Dale, who was a lifelong friend that helped to inspire the neurotransmitter experiment. Loewi met Dale in 1902 when spending some months in Ernest Starling's laboratory at University College, London.

Biography
Loewi was born in Frankfurt, Germany on June 3, 1873 in a Jewish family. He went to study medicine at the University of Strasbourg, Germany (now part of France) in 1891, where he attended courses by famous professors Gustav Schwalbe, Oswald Schmiedeberg, and Bernhard Naunyn among others. He received his medical doctoral degree in 1896. He also was a member of the fraternity Burschenschaft Germania Strassburg.

Subsequently, he worked with Martin Freund at Goethe University of Frankfurt and with Franz Hofmeister in Strasbourg. From 1897 to 1898, he served as an assistant to Carl von Noorden, clinician at the City Hospital in Frankfurt. Soon, however, after seeing the high mortality in countless cases of far-advanced tuberculosis and pneumonia, left without any treatment because of lack of therapy, he decided to drop his intention to become a clinician and instead to carry out research in basic medical science, in particular pharmacology. In 1898, he became an assistant of Professor Hans Horst Meyer, the renowned pharmacologist at the University of Marburg. During his first years in Marburg, Loewi's studies were in the field of metabolism. As a result of his work on the action of phlorhizin, a glucoside provoking glycosuria, and another one on nuclein metabolism in man, he was appointed «Privatdozent» (lecturer) in 1900. Two years later he published his paper «Über Eiweisssynthese im Tierkörper» (on protein synthesis in the animal body), proving that animals are able to rebuild their proteins from their degradation products, the amino acids – an essential discovery with regard to nutrition.

In 1902 Loewi was a guest researcher in Ernest Starling's laboratory in London, where he met his lifelong friend Henry Dale.

In 1903, he accepted an appointment at the University of Graz in Austria, where he would remain until being forced out of the country in 1938. In 1905, Loewi became Associate Professor at Meyer's laboratory and received Austrian citizenship. In 1909 he was appointed to the Chair of Pharmacology in Graz. He had also been a professor at the University of Vienna.

He married Guida Goldschmiedt (1889-1958) in 1908. They had three sons and a daughter. He was the last Jew hired by the University between 1903 and the end of the war.

In 1921, Loewi investigated how vital organs respond to chemical and electrical stimulation. He also established their relative dependence on epinephrine for proper function. Consequently, he learnt how nerve impulses are transmitted by chemical messengers. The first chemical neurotransmitter that he identified was acetylcholine.

After being arrested, along with two of his sons, on the night of the German invasion of Austria, March 11, 1938, Loewi was released after three months on condition that he "voluntarily" relinquish all his possessions, including his research, to the Nazis. He went initially to Britain and shortly afterwards he was offered a visiting professorship at the Université libre de Bruxelles via the Francqui Foundation. Loewi moved to the United States in 1940, where he became a research professor at the New York University College of Medicine. In 1946, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1954, he became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society. He died in New York City on December 25, 1961.

Shortly after Loewi's death in late 1961, his youngest son bestowed the gold Nobel medal on the Royal Society in London. He gave the Nobel diploma to the University of Graz in Austria in 1983, where it currently resides, along with a bronze copy of a bust of Loewi. The original of the bust is at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Loewi's summer home from his arrival in the US until his death.

Research

Before Loewi's experiments, it was unclear whether signaling across the synapse was bioelectrical or chemical. While pharmacology experiments had established that physiological responses such as muscle contraction could be induced by chemical application, there was no evidence that cells released chemical substances to cause these responses. On the contrary, researchers had shown that physiological responses could be caused by applying an electrical impulse, which suggested that electrical transmission may be the only mode of endogenous signaling. In the early 20th century the controversy of whether cells used chemical or electrical transmission divided even the most prominent scientists.

Loewi's famous experiment, published in 1921, largely answered this question. He dissected out of frogs two beating hearts: one with the vagus nerve which controls heart rate attached, the other heart on its own. Both hearts were bathed in a saline solution (i.e. Ringer's solution). By electrically stimulating the vagus nerve, Loewi made the first heart beat slower. Then, Loewi took some of the liquid bathing the first heart and applied it to the second heart. The application of the liquid made the second heart also beat slower, proving that some soluble chemical released by the vagus nerve was controlling the heart rate. He called the unknown chemical Vagusstoff, naming it after the nerve and the German word for substance. It was later found that this chemical corresponded to acetylcholine. His experiment was iconic because it was the first to demonstrate the endogenous release of a chemical substance that could cause a response in the absence of electrical stimulation. It paved the way for the understanding that the electrical signaling event (action potential) causes a chemical event (release of neurotransmitter from synapses) that is ultimately the effector on the tissue.

Loewi's investigations "On an augmentation of adrenaline release by cocaine" and "On the connection between digitalis and the action of calcium" stimulated a considerable body of research in the years following their publication.

He also clarified two mechanisms of therapeutic importance: the blockade and the augmentation of nerve action by certain drugs.

Loewi is also known for the means by which the idea for his experiment came to him. On Easter Saturday 1921, he dreamed of an experiment that would prove once and for all that transmission of nerve impulses was chemical, not electrical. He woke up, scribbled the experiment onto a scrap of paper on his night-stand, and went back to sleep.

The next morning, he found, to his horror, that he couldn't read his midnight scribbles. That day, he said, was the longest day of his life, as he could not remember his dream. That night, however, he had the same dream. This time, he immediately went to his lab to perform the experiment. From that point on, the consensus was that the Nobel was not a matter of "if" but of "when."

Thirteen years later, Loewi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which he shared with Sir Henry Hallett Dale.

Loewi's mydriatic test
Loewi observed that by removing the pancreas from dogs, it gave them an experimental form of diabetes, which led to a change of the response of the eye to adrenaline. This compound in normal dogs has no effect, but in the dogs without a pancreas the pupil dilated. This test involves instilling repeated doses of 1:1000 adrenaline solution into the eye and looking for pupillary dilation. Surgeons used this as a diagnostic test for acute pancreatitis, which was based on Loewi's observation of such a phenomenon in dogs that had had their pancreas removed. The usefulness of this test was reported in a case series of two patients; it was, as expected, negative in a case involving carcinoma of the bile duct, but positive in a case of pancreatitis. The effectiveness of this test was subsequently investigated. The mechanism of action of this phenomenon is unclear, but has been attributed to "a functional toxic disturbance of the sympathetic post-ganglionic neuron innervating the iris".

Awards and honours

 * 1936: Nobel Prize for Medicine (with Henry Hallett Dale)
 * Honorary doctorates from New York University, Yale University, University of Graz and the University of Frankfurt
 * Physiology Prize of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Bologna
 * Lieben Prize of the Academy of Vienna
 * 1944: Cameron Prize for Therapeutics of the University of Edinburgh
 * Honorary member of The Physiological Society in London, Harvey Society in New York and the Società Italiana di Biologia Sperimentale
 * Corresponding member of the Medical Association in Vienna, Biological Society of Vienna, and the Society for the Advancement of Science in Marburg.
 * Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in Halle.
 * Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1954
 * 1957: Schmiedeberg badge of the German Pharmacological Society
 * 1959: Austrian Medal for Science and Art
 * 1959: Honorary Ring of the city of Graz
 * A street, "Otto Loewi Gasse" was named after him in the parish of St. Peter, Graz, Austria.

title: Otto Loewi


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Sustrans

Sustrans is a United Kingdom-based walking, wheeling and cycling charity, and the custodian of the National Cycle Network.

Its flagship project is the National Cycle Network, which has created 12,763 mi of signed cycle routes throughout the United Kingdom, including 5273 mi of traffic-free paths. The rest of the network is on previously existing and mostly minor roads, in which motor traffic will be encountered.

In Scotland, Sustrans has established partnership teams, embedding officers in local councils as well as NHS Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage, and Transport for Edinburgh.

History
Sustrans was formed in Bristol in July 1977 as Cyclebag by a group of cyclists and environmentalists, as a result of doubts about the desirability of dependence on the private car, following the 1973 oil crisis, and the almost total lack of specific provision for cyclists in most British cities, in contrast to some other European countries.

A decade earlier, the Beeching Axe closed many British railways that the government considered underused and too costly. One such railway was the former Midland Railway line between central Bristol and Bath, closed in favour of the more direct, former Great Western Railway between the cities. Led by John Grimshaw, Cyclebag leased part of the old route and together with many volunteers and the help of Avon County Council (Bristol and Bath were then part of the County of Avon) turned it into its first route, the Bristol & Bath Railway Path.

In the early 1980s, when unemployment rose, the organisation took advantage of government schemes to provide temporary employment to build similar "green routes". British Waterways and Cyclebag collaborated to improve towpaths along some canals, which resulted in increased use of the towpaths, especially by cyclists.

In 1983, the charity Sustrans was founded. It had 11 directors (trustees, members, and board members of the charity) chosen by the existing board. The executive board was composed of the chief executive, John Grimshaw, and one of the two company secretaries.

By the early 1990s, Sustrans had a growing number of supporters, and the network of national routes was emerging. In 1995, it was granted £43.5 million from the Millennium Lottery Fund to extend the National Cycle Network to smaller towns and rural areas, as well as launch the "Safe Routes to Schools" project, based on earlier state projects in Denmark.

The five-year project, Connect2 was launched in 2006, and it aimed at improving local travel in 79 communities by creating new walking and cycling routes. In 2007, it received £50 million from the Big Lottery's 'Living Landmarks; The People's Millions' competition, following a public vote.

In 2015, Sustrans ran the Campaign for Safer Streets, which encouraged people to write to Prime Minister David Cameron to encourage him to commit to funding safer walking and cycling routes to schools.

In October 2015, Sustrans released its first Bike Life report. It was a survey of residents in seven UK cities, undertaken in conjunction with local councils and transport authorities, attempting to assess the current state of cycling in the UK. It covered areas such as safety, provision of cycling infrastructure and people's attitudes towards cycling.

In 2020–2021, Sustrans' executive team had a combined payroll cost of GB£715,000, with its CEO receiving over GB£110,000.

Funding
The National Cycle Network was the first project to receive Millennium Commission funding in 1995. Sustrans has many sources of funding, and in the 2004/05 financial year, its income was £23.6 million: £2.1 million from supporters' donations, £8.5 million from the Department for Transport and a further £2.5 million from the National Opportunities Fund specifically for the Safe Routes projects. Additional funding comes from charitable grants and trusts, local government, and the sales of maps and books. In Scotland in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, £30 million of Spaces for People funding was granted to Sustrans by the Scottish Government to assist local authorities and statutory bodies in Scotland to provide safe walking and cycling infrastructure.

National Cycle Network

The National Cycle Network was officially opened in June 2000, when 5000 mi had been completed, although some routes had been open for over a decade. In 2005 the network reached 10000 mi. In urban areas, almost 20% of the network is free from motor traffic, though these sections can account for up to 80% of use. The more rural parts of the network see less motor traffic and are used primarily for leisure cycling.

Sustrans estimated that in 2005, the network carried 232,000,000 journeys by all classes of non-motorized users. In 2010, the figure had risen to over 420,000,000 journeys. The data collected by Sustrans to compile monitoring reports, from traffic counters and user surveys, showed that National Cycle Network usage is predominantly urban and on traffic-free sections. Furthermore, surveys show that only 35% of usage on urban sections of the NCN is for leisure purposes.

In 2018, Sustrans published the "National Cycle Network Review: Paths for Everyone" report which reviewed the quality and usage of the Network and set out a vision for its future. It estimated that in 2017–2018, 4.4 million users carried out 786 million cycling and walking trips on the Network.

Criticism
Sustrans has opponents within organisations that wish to reduce road haulage and motor travel by promoting the expansion of the modern railway network. It has also received criticism from members of the heritage railway movement. It has been accused of being uncompromising on route sharing; an example is the planned section of the Bodmin & Wenford Railway between Boscarne Junction and Wadebridge.

In 2000, requests by EWS and English China Clays to reopen former rail links for freight paths such as the former Weedon to Leamington Spa line were objected to by the charity. Sustrans refused to support the application unless the rail promoter provided an alternative cycle track; EWS responded it was an uneconomic provision for both reopening and building replacement pathway expenses.

Sustrans have occasionally been criticised by other cycling organisations and activists over allegedly giving approval to cycle facilities regarded by critics as inadequate or dangerous, allowing local councils and similar bodies to reject criticism by pointing out that Sustrans have approved of the design being questioned. In 2013, for example, the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain criticised Sustrans for the extensive use of "shared use" provision—in which cycle routes are placed on pavements and footpaths without separation from pedestrians—in designs that Sustrans prepared for London. In 2016, the University of the West of England's Centre for Transport and Society identified shared use designs, and in particular Sustrans Design Guidance which encouraged such designs, because shared-use paths can offer a source of conflict between pedestrians and cyclists. This is a cause for frustration among some campaigning for better cycling infrastructure provision.

Specific routes

 * The Taff Trail (NCN 8)
 * Valley Rides By Tony Gibbs (NCN 8)

title: Sustrans