text:
Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Sam Spade and Bryan Derksen

I don't want to focus on complaining/arguing here. I want an end to the broken record of circular arguments and constant reverts I am recieving from this user, and I would appreciate some assistance. Sam Spade 23:30, 13 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * And I would love to expand the number of people who are aware of what Sam's been up to. He's made a variety of complants about me in the past already, notably Conflicts between users/JackLynch (Sam's username used to be JackLynch) and Requests for comment/Bryan Derksen, and as far as I'm concerned he's simply trying to bully me away with these things. Any of the members of the mediation committee look fine to me, where do we go now to present our respective cases? Bryan 20:22, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Assuming there is no objection, I have a preference for User:Dante Alighieri. Sam Spade 02:42, 15 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Sam and I have had a prior conversation over IM about the issue, but I see no reason that I can't be unbiased. I certainly haven't "taken his side" or anything. Still, in the interest of propriety, I'm mentioning it now and offering to disqualify myself if the community thinks it appropriate. Comments? --Dante Alighieri | Talk 05:31, 15 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * I want to concur with what Dante has said, and mention that I requested him both because of my brief contact with him, and his approach to the logic at the heart of the matter, rather than the emotionalism of the situation. If he is rejected, I'll have to go with someone I have minimal prior knowledge of, which could be messy, since there is obviously a hotbed of POV involved. The mediator definately needs to be someone like Dante, whose POV on the subject is a desire for accuracy, not a theist or anti-theist agenda. Sam Spade 06:15, 15 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * I would really like it if we could tie in the dispute over atheism into this mediation, because otherwise I'm going to have to request mediation on that seperately, and IMO these are very much related matters (to clarify, I think w/o the issues/edit warring betwixt bryan and myself, this article would be alot closer to concensus). The objections I and others have raised (and incidentilly have not been allowed to place a dispute header in regards to) are quite few in number, and require very little compromise on the part of my opposition for me to be satisfied. A proper use of grammer (regarding the letter "G" in the proper noun "God"), respect for sourcing, and a disclaimer as to the objections towards the broader definition of atheism included in "soft" or "weak" atheism would have me perfectly happy with that article. Agnosticism would require a similarly modest amount of agreement on as well. Sam Spade 23:20, 15 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * I think it would be inappropriate to tie the Bryan-Sam mediation thing into the atheism dispute, since many other people were involved in that as well and it's a separte issue from whether I personally am persecuting you in some way. Create a separate request for mediation and I'll be willing to participate in that just fine. Bryan 00:19, 16 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * well, they only have so much time and energy (and they have asked me not to overwhelm them in the past). Besides, I would like to tie the soloution together w the two of us agreeing to go away from the article. I'm really tired of what I see as a complete waste of time, and a detriment to the quality of the article. Our personality conflict (or whatever the problem is) has nothing to do w making the wiki a better place. If things wern't so clear cut, I would have given up a long time ago. But for whatever reason, I just can't bring myself to leave a mess. Sam Spade 00:30, 16 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * So, is your problem specifically over this one article, and you'd have no complaint if I contested changes you were making to some other article such as agnosticism or Pascal's Wager? I suspect that you'd still complain just as loudly, considering the accusations you've levelled against me elsewhere, so I think if there's to be a mediation it should be about your complaints against me in particular. Either withdraw your request or follow through on it to a conclusion, don't waffle. I'm sick of this and want it done with. Bryan 00:44, 16 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * For potential mediators and interested bystanders, I should note that a short while ago I wrote up an exhaustive description of my experiences with Sam and his previous incarnation Jack at the bottom of Requests for comment/Bryan Derksen. It's my personal perspective, of course, but perhaps handy as an intro. Bryan 00:51, 16 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Yeah, nothing quite like a biased intro... I think talk:atheism archives, Talk:Atheism/Godvrs.god poll or User Talk:Bryan Derksen might be more handy than that request for comment (which rapidly became a troll chorus the likes of which I had not before heard outside of Tolkien films ;) Sam Spade 02:42, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * I have links to most of those already in the summary I wrote (the one I didn't mention was the poll talk, because I didn't think it was particularly controversial or significant to the matter at hand). What I put on that request for comment page was a detailed analysis of those talks, pointing out specific events I think are significant and describing why I think so. As such I think it's somewhat more helpful than just dumping a link to a few hundred kilobytes of talk and saying "it's all in here somewhere." You are of course free to write up your own detailed analysis of our interactions, too. I assume you'll be making specific complaints against me to the mediator in any event. Bryan 03:01, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Not really. I just want you to go away. And not even from the wiki. Just from me. You make me unhappy. Thats my complaint. I assume the best about how you conduct yourself when I'm not involved. I've never bothered to inspect your other contributions for their utility, or whatever. I could care less about leveling charges against you. If your a bad user, somebody else can fight to have you banned, I don't know you well enough to say much more than that you arn't nice to be around, for me, and you semed to be fundamentally POV in regards to matters of religion. I'm quite optomistic about our mediation. Anybody with any sense is going to have at least a general idea of the particulars, and will behave reasonably so long as they arn't inherently biased. And if they are, and if for some bad reason or another I am sided against, and told you and others have been justified in their trollings, I will go away, because that will mean this place sucks. The goal is to make the a good wikipedia, not to engage in political one-upmanship. But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. Thank God I have better stuff to do then peice thru our long and sordid history of communications to find points of contention to jab at you with. I'm rather optomistic that the mediation isn't going to invlove much cross examining and rhetoric in any case. I would hope its focused on people getting along, following rules, and making quality edits. Sam Spade 03:09, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * You seem to have got the idea somehow that I'm "stalking" you, personally. I'm not, unless you count having a couple of articles you took an interest in watchlisted because I also have an interest in them. All I've done here is respond to the various complaints you've initiated against me. Bryan 03:23, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)


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Wikipedia:WikiProject Maps

Maps are useful in presenting key facts within a geographical context and enabling a descriptive overview of a complex concept to be accessed easily and quickly. WikiProject Maps encourages the creation of free maps and their upload on Wikimedia Commons. On the project's pages can be found advice, tools, links to resources, and map conventions.

The project suggests some web-friendly map conventions that may help to make maps more readable. The suggested conventions are free for graphists to adapt to their specific needs. Graphists who are unsure of an appropriate style, colour, or style of labelling, may find these suggestions helpful.

Scope
The aim of WikiProject Maps is to improve the quality of maps across the Wikimedia Foundation.
 * The Maps for Wikipedia page is an overview of different formats and tools for maps available on Wikipedia.
 * The Map conventions page provides advice for creating and improving maps.
 * The Map workshop page can be used to add your map requests and your sources. A graphist will create the requested map. The page is forum-based, to enable cross-teaching conversations to take place.
 * The Resources page provides advice to both beginners (in the form of tutorials) and experienced map-makers.

Please feel free to ask questions on our talk page.

Citing sources
As maps can be politically charged, it is important to cite your sources and/or your methodology when editing or creating any map. This is particularly true for historical maps.

For some sources you can use, see WikiProject Maps/Source materials

Exemplars
Map styles is a subject of on-going discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Maps. Please join in the conversation there. For general use, the following is a gallery of maps that have been approved by Wikiproject Maps as exemplars:

File formats to use

The use of JPEG is discouraged, since it is a lossy compression format and so will result in a blurry map or diagram. The quality of GIF images is better than JPEG. GIF images allow for the creation of animations.

PNG is a lossless, truecolor image format. It is good for all maps and particularly for maps with more than 256 colours. As a pixel-based image, it is more difficult than an SVG image to edit. Some uploaders prefer to work with SVG and then upload a PNG version.

SVG is vector graphics format, which has three main advantages:

 * Images can be scaled without data loss, which allows large-sized and very high quality maps to be made;
 * It is a text-based XML language and so can be edited and shared quickly and easily.
 * It is a precisely-coded language which can be converted by script or CSS.

When drawing an SVG map, please name any objects, groups and layers you create, so as to assist anyone who wants to correct the map, look at how the map is set up, or learn how to make an image of their own. SVG image support has been retained as a Wikimedia Meta-wiki for historical interest.

Coordinate-referenced map templates
The process of supplying freely licensed maps for direct use in Wikipedia articles is important to make the articles complete, especially for offline versions. A complementary effort, however, is adding latitude and longitude coordinates to articles about geographically fixed entities. This enables readers to click through to find maps of the surrounding area on external web sites like Google Maps. to be automatically plotted on maps.

To learn how to add geographic coordinates to a page using templates, please see WikiProject Geographical coordinates.

To paste a location map with a dot (using the city of Madrid as an example), copy and paste the following code:

This is the result:

To paste multiple dots on one location map, use Template:Location map many or Template:Location map+. For instruction on creating a map template, see Template:Location map/Creating a new map template.

Using multiple icons
This layout usually works well. It places major fixed-length items in columns on the left and minor variable-length items on the right. Decimal degrees are easier than degrees-minutes-seconds. Two digits are usually enough. Use negative longitude for the western hemisphere.

Relief option on the first line turns relief on and off (sometimes). Error messages are poor, so save early and often.

Additional information can be found at:

 * Template:Location map
 * Template:Location map many
 * Template:Location map+
 * Template:Location map~

Maps can be searched for at Commons:Category:Location maps by country. Icons can be found at Commons:Category:Map icons.

These tricks are sometimes useful:
 * Comment:
 * Label: None: label= or position=none; Big=label_size=200; background=yellow; Split=top bottom; Mouseover: label=[*[Jail|Go To]]
 * Icon: None:mark=clear pog.svg or marksize=0; Big: marksize=16
 * Caption: Linefeed: ; Icon in caption:

Some good icons:

Userboxes
With these userboxes in your user page you can be listed in the relevant category.

User WikiProject Maps

User WP Maps (non-animated)

Members
To see a relevant list, visit Category:Wikipedians interested in maps.

Subpages
A list of all.

Banner
A template for adding articles to Category:WikiProject Maps articles, WikiProject Maps, can be added to talk pages:

Barnstar
—an award placed at another users talk page for improving Map-related articles.

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

title: Wikipedia:WikiProject Maps


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Tim Traveller

Tim Traveller was a British comic strip created by Vic Neill and published in the British comics magazine The Beano. He first appeared in issue 2862, dated 24 May 1997, as part of a continuing set of six new comic strips where the one with the most votes would be voted into the comic by readers.

Concept
The first strip featured Tim looking for a bicycle in the town dump, and finding an unusual one. Pulling a dial at the front he was transported to caveman times, at which point he realised the bike could travel through time. He and Crazy for Daisy were the joint winners of the poll, beating Camp Cosmos, Have a Go Jo, Sydd and Trash Can Ally. It was drawn by Vic Neill until his death in 2000. However, Neill strips continued to run for some time in the comic as they had been stockpiled. Once these had run out, Keith Reynolds drew it up to 2004 when the strip was dropped. Only 5 strips appeared in the character's final twelve months in the comic. In the 2003 Beano annual, his strip was drawn by Richard Elson.

Tim Traveller would use his bicycle to travel back and forth in time, encountering all sorts of crazy mishaps, occasionally getting in so much trouble he had to rush back to the present day to avoid it. Some of his trips resulted in him causing or learning the truth about various historical mysteries, such as why the Leaning Tower of Pisa leaned (it fell over in an earthquake and Tim only managed to partly pull it back into position) or what happened to the crew of the Mary Celeste (Tim visited the ship and fell into a large fish, appearing to the crew as a sea monster, causing them to dive overboard).

The character was revived briefly in 2019 this time written by Tommy Donbavand.

title: Tim Traveller


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Coat of arms of the Cook Islands

The coat of arms of the Cook Islands has a shield as its focal point. The shield is blue with fifteen white stars arranged in a circle, as found on the national flag, and is supported by a flying fish (maroro) and a white tern (kakaia). The helmet is an ariki head-dress (pare kura) of red feathers, symbolising the importance of the traditional rank system, and the name of the nation is on a scroll below the shield. The achievement is augmented by a cross and a Rarotongan club (momore taringavaru) used by orators during traditional discourses, respectively symbolizing Christianity and the richness of Cook Islands' tradition, placed in saltire behind the shield.

The coat of arms was designed by Mataiapo Metuakore Teremoana Ngametua Tutakiao Kora, also known as Papa Motu Kora.

title: Coat of arms of the Cook Islands


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User talk:Helenmarie

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

 * Peruse Welcome, newcomers and associated pages
 * Sign talk page entries with ~, which is automatically converted to a name and date
 * Ask questions on Village pump

 * Have fun.

-- Gentgeen 18:29, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Thank you for your swift welcome - I'm sure I will have fun
 * Helen 19:43, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Welcome from me too. :) You can introduce yourself on the new users page. Angela. 19:01, Feb 21, 2004 (UTC)

Swap the H in your preferences for the following to have the full stop link to your talk page:

 * Helen]][[user talk:Helen|.

This will sign as Helen, rather than H which would be much better. And check out the List of psychological topics if you want to do anything useful. :) Angela. 19:22, Feb 21, 2004 (UTC)

 * Look - I found my sister - ignor your phone, but I know I can always find you here!

Cult Notification
Welcome, Helen!

Hope you don't mind being venerated as the Chief Acolyte of a cult, second only to the Great God Angela. Now that we know about you, it's impossible to imagine how we could get along without your existence! [smile] --Jerzy 17:04, 2004 Feb 25 (UTC)

If it's on Wikipedia, it must be true...
Y'aint done nowt useful yet then? Have you figured out how to use page history yet? If so, you might want to check the diff on your user page. ;) Angela. 08:02, Feb 27, 2004 (UTC)

Saw this and thought of you. :) My phone is nearly dead now. :( Angela. 02:01, Mar 9, 2004 (UTC)

I don't remember much about it. Have you seen our Kimba the White Lion article? There are a lot of websites about it linked to from here. According to, it was originally shown in Japan, and that company went bankrupt in 1973. It then ran in the US until 1978, and in other countries in the early 90s. That same site does mention Kimba's mum dying and appearing in the stars. You should really now add this information to our article! Why did you want to know anyway? Don't forget to use the show preview button to prevent you needing to save a page multiple times. We also have an article on it Japanese. :) Angela. 15:23, Mar 19, 2004 (UTC)

No idea. Have you tried the Reference desk? Be careful not to indent first lines or the whole page will be widened! By the way "Wiki" with a capital generally refers to the Portland Pattern Repository. Wikipedia is "a wiki" (lowercase). Don't forget to send the photos, and have you seen this? Angela. 18:07, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

was: Admin powers at User talk:Angela
As an objective 3rd party I can't help think that one of the most important things about wiki is to introduce the website to others and to widen the sphere of users through intergrating our systems with that of other countries. If this should mean that somebody, nah, someone from the board of trusties for instance, should travel elsewhere in order to do this, surely the cost is justifiable in the spirit of the site. The cost these days of travelling somewhere such as France is insignificant when compared to the number of hours some people spend contributing to the venture that is wikipedia and no doubt the invaluable public relations obtained while on wiki business. This website is not simply about people writing and editing articles - surely it is about enabling a free source of invaluable knowledge to those who yearn to access it - if, in the tireless efforts of some, this incurs a minor cost (note the point about Angela self funding some of it) then surely this is a small price to pay for the benefits of supporting and intergrating with other wiki users europe (or world) wide and no doubt widening the wiki world, thus increasing the encyclipedic capabilities of the site - is that such a bad thing??

Helen. 21:23, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * Helen, thank you for your input. If you don't mind, I would like to explain my views here instead of cluttering up Angela's page which I am afraid I have done already.

 * Wikimedia is an online collaborative community, and a vast, overwhelming majority of Wikimedians will never attend a meatspace meeting of Wikimedians. I have only heard mention of having the trustee meet Wikimedians in very pleasant places, like Florida, London, and Paris.

 * The board has only existed for a month. It's not very likely any meetings beyond where those trustees happen to live or be on vacation would have occured yet.

 * Developing nations, such as India, Brazil, and South Africa will have to continue their correspondence online. I feel this will only cement the European and American slant within Wikimedia, giving only residents of developed nations personal access to Wikimedia's leadership.

 * Actually, Jimbo has expressed an interest in visiting Wikipedians in India.

 * Even if the trustees decided to go on a world tour, to meet Wikimedians everywhere, I would oppose it on grounds of cost. At present, the Wikimedia Foundation needs tens of thousands of dollars for more server capacity, funding is needed for Media Wiki code development, and Mr. Wales and his partners at Bomis continue to pay ever increasing bandwidth costs out of their own pockets. We can only hope that Wikimedia will have the funds to continue its growth.

 * Jimbo no longer works at Bomis actually.

 * Considering the short term needs of the Foundation, and the lack of funds to fulfill them, I feel the Board needs to exercise fiscal restraint. And they have, for now, considering the trip was privately funded (though the same funds could have been raised for buying desparately needed new servers). A meeting conducted by free Internet Relay Chat could have been attended by all Wikimedians, instead of just those who could be in Paris. --H. C HENEY 22:24, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

 * Part of the day was linked up with the IRC channel so other people could ask questions of the new Board. Angela. 23:41, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Sorry Helen for answering on your page. Feel free to move it elsewhere if you think that would be more appropriate. Angela. 23:41, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Hello from Erik
Hi Helen,

don't know how often you check this page, but just wanted to take the opportunity to say hello in this fashion! It was nice meeting you in Colchester in March, and I hope we'll see each other again soon. Greetings to Richard as well.--Erik, April 4, 2005

Welcome back
Welcome back to Wikipedia. You need to fix your signature due to software changes. Go to special:preferences and where it says nickname, change it to Helenmarie. and then tick the "Raw signature" box and press save. I've not updated the scan since you only gave me a hard copy, and I left that in my coat pocket in Colchester. Angela. 12:07, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Helenmarie


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Tricky Dicky

Tricky Dicky may refer to one of the following:
 * US President Richard Nixon, as an unfriendly nickname with origins in the 1950 United States Senate election in California (also "Tricky Dick")
 * A song about Richard Nixon by Country Joe McDonald
 * Tricky Dick: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Richard M. Nixon, a biography by Roger Stone and Mike Colapietro
 * "Tricky Dicky", a 1962 song by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, recorded by Richie Barrett and The Searchers among others
 * Tricky Dicky (Cor!), a British comic strip by Cyril Gwyn Price, which appeared in the magazine Cor!! from 1970 to 1973
 * Tricky Dicky (Topper), a British comic strip by John Dalles which appeared in the magazine The Topper and The Beano, from 1977 on
 * Richard Hillman, in the Coronation Street TV series
 * Richard Cole (EastEnders), in the EastEnders TV series
 * Tricky Dicky's Mission Impossible, a character from the children's television show, ZZZap!
 * Man Called Invincible, a 1973 western comedy film also known as Tricky Dicky

title: Tricky Dicky


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Swan River

Swan River may refer to:

 * Australia
 * Swan River (Western Australia)
 * Swan River Colony, a British settlement on the river, later became Perth

 * Canada
 * Swan River (Manitoba–Saskatchewan)
 * Swan River, Manitoba
 * Swan River Airport, servicing the town of Swan River in Manitoba
 * Swan River (electoral district), a provincial electoral district in Manitoba

 * Pakistan
 * Soan River, also spelled as Swan River

 * United States
 * Swan River (Colorado)
 * Swan River (Michigan)
 * Swan River (northern Minnesota), a tributary of the Mississippi
 * Swan River (central Minnesota), a tributary of the Mississippi
 * Swan River (Montana)
 * Swan River (New York), on Long Island

title: Swan River


text:
Pigeon River

Pigeon River may refer to:

 * Rivers:
 * Pigeon River (Minnesota–Ontario), between Minnesota, United States, and Ontario, Canada
 * Pigeon River (Manitoba), a tributary of Lake Winnipeg, Canada
 * One of four rivers named the Pigeon River (Michigan) in Michigan, United States
 * Pigeon River (Tennessee – North Carolina), United States
 * Pigeon River (Mississippi River tributary), Minnesota, United States

 * Places:
 * Pigeon River, Minnesota, United States
 * Pigeon River, a rural community in Neebing, Ontario, Canada
 * Pigeon River 13A, a reserve of the Berens River First Nation, Manitoba, Canada

title: Pigeon River


text:
Odissi

Odishi (ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ), also referred to as Orissi in old literature, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the temples of Odisha – an eastern coastal state of India. Odissi, in its history, was performed predominantly by women, and expressed religious stories and spiritual ideas, particularly of Vaishnavism through songs written and composed according to the ragas & talas of Odissi music by ancient poets of the state. Odissi performances have also expressed ideas of other traditions such as those related to Hindu deities Shiva and Surya, as well as Hindu goddesses (Shaktism).

The theoretical foundations of Odissi trace to the ancient Sanskrit text Natya Shastra, its existence in antiquity evidenced by the dance poses in the sculptures of Kalingan temples, and archeological sites related to Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. It was suppressed under the British Rule. The suppression was protested by the Indians, followed by its revival, reconstruction and expansion since India gained independence from the colonial rule.

Odissi is traditionally a dance-drama genre of performance art, where the artist(s) and musicians play out a story, a spiritual message or devotional poem from the Hindu texts, using symbolic costumes, body movement, abhinaya (expressions) and mudras (gestures and sign language) set out in ancient Sanskrit literature. Classical Odia literature & the Gita Govinda set to traditional Odissi music are used for the abhinaya. Odissi is learnt and performed as a composite of basic dance motif called the Bhangas (symmetric body bends, stance). It involves lower (footwork), mid (torso) and upper (hand and head) body as three sources of perfecting expression and audience engagement with geometric symmetry and rhythmic musical resonance. An Odissi performance repertoire includes invocation, nritta (pure dance), nritya (expressive dance), natya (dance drama) and moksha (dance climax connoting salvation of the soul and spiritual release).

Traditional Odissi exists in two major styles, the first perfected by women and focussed on solemn, spiritual temple dance (maharis); the second perfected by boys dressed as girls (gotipuas) which diversified to include athletic and acrobatic moves, and were performed from festive occasions in temples to general folksy entertainment. Modern Odissi productions by Indian artists have presented a diverse range of experimental ideas, culture fusion, themes and plays.

Odissi was the only Indian dance form present in Michael Jackson's 1991 hit single Black or White.

History of Odissi
The foundations of Odissi are found in Natya Shastra, the ancient Hindu Sanskrit text of performance arts. The basic dance units described in the Natya Shastra, all 108 of them, are identical to those in Odissi. The text is attributed to the ancient scholar Bharata Muni, and its first complete compilation is dated to between 200 BCE and 200 CE, but estimates vary between 500 BCE and 500 CE. The most studied version of the Natya Shastra text consists of about 6000 verses structured into 36 chapters. The text, states Natalia Lidova, describes the theory of Tāṇḍava dance (Shiva), the theory of rasa, of bhāva, expression, gestures, acting techniques, basic steps, standing postures – all of which are part of Indian classical dances. Dance and performance arts, states this ancient text, are a form of expression of spiritual ideas, virtues and the essence of scriptures. The Natya Shastra refers to four pravrittis (methods of expressive delivery) in vogue – Avanti, Dakshinatya, Panchali and Odra-Magadhi ; of these, the Odra refers to Odisha.

More direct historical evidence of dance and music as an ancient performance art are found in archaeological sites such as caves and in temple carvings of Bhubaneswar, Konark and Puri. The Manchapuri cave in Udayagiri shows carvings of dance and musicians, and this has been dated to the time of Jain king Kharavela in the first or second century BCE. The Hathigumpha inscriptions, also dated to the same ruler, mention music and dance :

 (he [the king]) versed in the science of the Gandharvas (i.e., music), entertains the capital with the exhibition of dapa, dancing, singing and instrumental music and by causing to be held festivities and assemblies (samajas)... — Hathigumpha inscription, Line 5, ~ 2nd–1st century BCE

The classical music tradition of Odisha, known as Odissi music, also has ancient roots. Archeologists have reported the discovery of 20-key, carefully shaped polished basalt lithophone in Sankarjang, the highlands of Odisha, which is dated to about 1000 BCE.

Medieval era
The Hindu, Jain and Buddhist archaeological sites in Odisha state, particularly the Assia range of hills show inscriptions and carvings of dances that are dated to the 6th to 9th century CE. Important sites include the Ranigumpha in Udaygiri, and various caves and temples at Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Alatgiri sites. The Buddhist icons, for example, are depicted as dancing gods and goddesses, with Heruka, Vajravarahi, and Marichi in Odissi-like postures. Historical evidence, states Alexandra Carter, shows that Odissi Maharis (Hindu temple dancers) and dance halls architecture (nata-mandapa) were in vogue at least by the 9th century CE.

According to Kapila Vatsyayan, the Kalpasutra of Jainism, in its manuscripts discovered in Gujarat, includes classical Indian dance poses – such as the Samapada, the Tribhangi and the Chauka of Odissi. This, states Vatsyayan, suggests that Odissi was admired or at least well known in distant parts of India, far from Odisha in the medieval era, to be included in the margins of an important Jain text. However, the Jain manuscripts use the dance poses as decorative art in the margins and cover, but do not describe or discuss the dance. Hindu dance texts such as the Abhinaya Chandrika and Abhinaya Darpana provide a detailed description of the movements of the feet, hands, the standing postures, the movement and the dance repertoire. It includes illustrations of the karanas mentioned in Natya Shastra. Similarly, the illustrated Hindu text on temple architecture from Odisha, the Shilpa Prakasha, deals with Odia architecture and sculpture, and includes Odissi postures.

Actual sculptures that have survived into the modern era and panel reliefs in Odia temples, dated to be from the 10th to 14th century, show Odissi dance. This is evidenced in Jagannatha temple in Puri, as well as other temples of Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism and Vedic deities such as Surya (Sun) in Odisha. There are several sculptures of dancers and musicians in Konark Sun Temple and Brahmeswara Temple in Bhubaneswar.

The composition of the poetic texts by 8th century Shankaracharya and particularly of divine love inspired Gitagovinda by 12th century Jayadeva influenced the focus and growth of modern Odissi. Odissi was performed in the temples by the dancers called Maharis, who played out these spiritual poems and underlying religious plays, after training and perfecting their art of dance starting from an early age, and who were revered as auspicious to religious services.

Mughal and British period
After 12th-century, Odia temples, monasteries and nearby institutions such as the Puspagiri in eastern Indian subcontinent came under waves of attacks and ransacking by Muslim armies, a turmoil that impacted all arts and eroded the freedoms previously enjoyed by performance artists. The official records of Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq's invasion in Odisha (1360–1361 CE), for example, describe the destruction of the Jagannath temple as well as numerous other temples, defacing of dancing statues, and ruining of dance halls. This led to a broad decline in Odissi and other religious arts, but there were some benevolent rulers in this period who supported arts particularly through performances at courts. During the Sultanate and Mughal era of India, the temple dancers were moved to entertain the Sultan's family and courts. They became associated with concubinage to the nobility.

The Odissi dance likely expanded in the 17th century, states Alexandra Carter, under King Ramachandradeva's patronage. This expansion integrated martial arts (akhanda) and athletics into Odissi dance, by engaging boys and youth called Gotipuas, as a means to physically train the young for the military and to resist foreign invasions. According to Ragini Devi, historical evidence suggests that the Gotipuas tradition was known and nurtured in the 14th century, by Raja of Khordha.

During the British Raj, the officials of the colonial government ridiculed the temple traditions, while Christian missionaries launched a sustained attack on the moral outrage of sensuousness of Odissi and other Hindu temple dance arts. In 1872, a British civil servant named William Hunter watched a performance at the Jagannatha temple in Puri, then wrote, "Indecent ceremonies disgraced the ritual, and dancing girls with rolling eyes put the modest worshipper to the blush...", and then attacked them as idol-worshipping prostitutes who expressed their devotion with "airy gyrations".

Christian missionaries launched the "anti-dance movement" in 1892, to ban all such dance forms. The dancers were frequently stigmatized as prostitutes by Europeans during the colonial era. In 1910, the British colonial government in India banned temple dancing, and the dance artists were reduced to abject poverty from the lack of any financial support for performance arts, combined with stereotyping stigma.

Post-independence
The temple dance ban and the cultural discrimination during the colonial rule marshaled a movement by Hindus to question the stereotypes and to revive the regional arts of India, including Odissi. Due to these efforts, the classical Indian dances witnessed a period of renaissance and reconstruction, which gained momentum particularly after Indians gained their freedom from colonialism.

Odissi, along with several other major Indian dances gained recognition after efforts by many scholars and performers in the 1950s, particularly by Kavichandra Kalicharan Pattanayak, an Oriya poet, dramatist and researcher. Pattanayak is also credited with naming the dance form as "Odissi".

Repertoire
Odissi, in the classical and medieval period has been, a team dance founded on Hindu texts. This drama-dance involved women (Maharis) enacting a spiritual poem or a religious story either in the inner sanctum of a Hindu temple, or in the Natamandira attached to the temple. The Odissi performing Maharis combined pure dance with expression, to play out and communicate the underlying text through abhinaya (gestures). The performance art evolved to include another aspect, wherein teams of boys – dressed as girls – called Gotipuas expanded the Odissi repertoire, such as by adding acrobatics and athletic moves, and they performed both near the temples and open fairs for general folksy entertainment. In the Indian tradition, many of the accomplished gotipuas became the gurus (teachers) in their adulthood. Modern Odissi is a diversified performance art, men have joined the women, and its reconstruction since the 1950s have added new plays and aspects of other Indian dances.

Love is a universal theme and one of the paradigmatic values in Indian religions. This theme is expressed through sensuous love poems and metaphors of sexual union in Krishna-related literature, and as longing eros (Shringara) in its dance arts such as in Odissi, from the early times. Hinduism, states Judith Hanna, encourages the artist to "strive to suggest, reveal or re-create the infinite, divine self", and art is considered as "the supreme means of realizing the Universal Being". Physical intimacy is not something considered as a reason for shame, rather considered a form of celebration and worship, where the saint is the lover and the lover is the saint. This aspect of Odissi dancing has been subdued in the modern post-colonial reconstructions, states Alexandra Carter, and the emphasis has expanded to "expressions of personal artistic excellence as ritualized spiritual articulations".

The traditional Odissi repertoire, like all classical Indian dances, includes Nritta (pure dance, solo), Nritya (dance with emotions, solo) and Natya (dramatic dance, group). These three performance aspects of Odissi are described and illustrated in the foundational Hindu texts, particularly the Natya Shastra, Abhinaya Darpana and the 16th-century Abhinaya Chandrika by Maheshwara Mahapatra of Odisha.
 * The Nritta performance is abstract, fast and rhythmic aspect of the dance. The viewer is presented with pure movement in Nritta, wherein the emphasis is the beauty in motion, form, speed, range and pattern. This part of the repertoire has no interpretative aspect, no telling of story. It is a technical performance, and aims to engage the senses (prakriti) of the audience.
 * The Nritya is slower and expressive aspect of the dance that attempts to communicate feelings, storyline particularly with spiritual themes in Hindu dance traditions. In a nritya, the dance-acting expands to include silent expression of words through the sign language of gestures and body motion set to musical notes. This part of a repertoire is more than sensory enjoyment, it aims to engage the emotions and mind of the viewer.
 * The Natyam is a play, typically a team performance, but can be acted out by a solo performer where the dancer uses certain standardized body movements to indicate a new character in the underlying story. A Natya incorporates the elements of a Nritya.
 * The Mokshya is a climatic pure dance of Odissi, aiming to highlight the liberation of soul and serenity in the spiritual.

Odissi dance recitals are in Odia and Sanskrit language in the music strictly follows ragas & talas of the Odissi music tradition. The talas used in Odissi dance are Ekatali, Khemata, Rupaka, Tripata, Jhampa, Jati Tala, Adatali, Matha, Aditala, Sarimana, Kuduka and others.

Sequence
Traditional Odissi repertoire sequence starts with an invocation called Mangalacharana. A shloka (hymn) in praise of a god or goddess is sung, such as to Jagannath (an avatar of Vishnu), the meaning of which is expressed through dance. Mangalacharana is followed by Pushpanjali (offering of flowers) and Bhumi Pranam (salutation to mother earth). The invocation also includes Trikhandi Pranam or the three-fold salutation – to the devas (gods), to the gurus (teachers) and to the lokas or rasikas (fellow dancers and audience).

The next sequential step in an Odissi performance is Batu, also known as Battu Nrutya or Sthayee Nrutya or Batuka Bhairava. It is a fast pace, pure dance (nritta) performed in the honor of Shiva. There is no song or recitation accompanying this part of the dance, just rhythmic music. This pure dance sequence in Odissi builds up to a Pallavi which is often slow, graceful & lyrical movements of the eyes, neck, torso & feet & slowly builds in a crescendo to climax in a fast tempo at the end.

The nritya follows next, and consists of Abhinaya, or an expressional dance which is an enactment of a song or poetry. The dancer(s) communicate the story in a sign language, using mudras (hand gestures), bhavas (enacting mood, emotions), eye and body movement. The dance is fluid, graceful and sensual. Abhinaya in Odissi is performed to verses recited in Sanskrit or Odia language. Most common are Abhinayas on Oriya songs or Sanskrit Ashthapadis or Sanskrit stutis like the Dashavatara Stotra (depicting the ten incarnations of Vishnu) or the Ardhanari Stotra (half man, half woman form of the divine). Many regionally performed Abhinaya compositions are based on the Radha-Krishna theme. The Astapadis of the Radha-Krishna love poem Gita Govinda written by Jayadeva are usually performed in Odisha, as part of the dance repertoire.

The natya part, or dance drama, is next in sequence. Usually Hindu mythologies, epics and legendary dramas are chosen as themes.

A distinctive part of the Odissi tradition is the inclusion of Moksha (or Mokshya ) finale in the performance sequence. This the concluding item of a recital. Moksha in Hindu traditions means “spiritual liberation”. This dance movement traditionally attempts to convey a sense of spiritual release and soul liberation, soaring into the realm of pure aesthetics. Movement and pose merge in a fast pace pure dance climax.

Basic moves and mudras
The basic unit of Odissi are called bhangas. These are made up of eight belis, or body positions and movements, combined in many varieties. Motion is uthas (rising or up), baithas (sitting or down) or sthankas (standing). The gaits or movement on the dance floor is called chaalis, with movement tempo linked to emotions according to the classical Sanskrit texts. Thus, for example, burhas or quick pace suggest excitement, while a slow confused pace suggests dejection. For aesthetics, movement is centered on a core, a point in space or floor, and each dancer has her imaginary square of space, with spins and expression held within it. The foot movement or pada bhedas too have basic dance units, and Odissi has six of these, in contrast to four found in most classical Indian dances.

The three primary dance positions in Odissi are:
 * Chouka – the square position, with weight equally placed on the two legs in a squatting position, spine straight, arms raised up with elbows bent.
 * Abhanga – the body weight shifts to one foot, while the feet and knees are kept forward in a standing position, one hip extending sideways and torso deflected away from supporting leg.
 * Tribhanga – is an S-shaped three-fold bending of body, with torso deflecting in one direction while the head and hips deflecting in the opposite direction of torso. Further, the hands and legs frame the body into a composite of two squares (rectangle), providing an aesthetic frame of reference. This is described in the ancient Sanskrit texts, and forms of it are found in other Hindu dance arts, but tribhanga postures developed most in and are distinctive to Odissi, and they are found in historic Hindu temple reliefs.

Mudras or Hastas are hand gestures which are used to express the meaning of a given act. Like all classical dances of India, the aim of Odissi is in part to convey emotions, mood and inner feelings in the story by appropriate hand and facial gestures. There are 63 Hastas in modern Odissi dance, and these have the same names or structure as those in the pan-Indian Hindu texts, but most closely matching those in the Abhinaya Chandrika. These are subdivided into three, according to the traditional texts:
 * Asamyukta Hasta – Single hand Mudras – 28 Prakar (gestures, for instance to communicate a salute, prayer, embrace, energy, bond, swing, carriage, shell, arrow, holding a thing, wheel, and so on.)
 * Samyukta Hasta – Double hand Mudras – 24 Prakar (gestures, for instance to indicate a flag, flower, type of bird or animal, moon, action like grasping, and so on.)
 * Nritya Hasta – “Pure Dance” Mudras

The Mudra system is derived from the "Abhinaya Darpana" by Nandikeshavara and the ancient Natya Shastra of Bharata Muni.

Costumes
The Odissi dancers are colorfully dressed with makeup and jewellery. The sari worn by Odissi dancers are brightly coloured, and usually of local silk (Pattasari). It is worn with pleats, or may have a pleat tailor stitched in front, to allow maximum flexibility during the footwork. These saris have traditional prints of Odisha with regional designs and embellishments, and may be the Sambalpuri sari and Bomkai sari.

The jewellery includes silver pieces, a metal favored in regional tradition. The hair is tied up, and typically drawn into an elaborate bun resembling a Hindu temple spire, and decorated with seenthi. The hairstyle may contain a moon shaped crest of white flowers, or a reed crown called mukoot with peacock feathers (symbolism for Krishna). The dancers forehead is marked with tikka, and adorned with various jewelry such as the allaka (head piece on which the tikka hangs). The eyes are ringed with kajal (black eyeliner).

Ear covers called kapa or ear rings decorate the sides of the head, while necklace adorns the neck. The dancer wears a pair of armlets also called bahichudi or bajuband, on the upper arm. The wrist is covered with kankana (bangles). At the waist they wear an elaborate belt which ties down one end of the sari. The ankles are decorated with a leather piece on top of which are bells (ghungroo). The dancer's palms and soles may be painted with red coloured dye called the alta.

Modern Odissi male performers wear dhoti – a broadcloth tied around waist, pleated for movement, and tucked between legs; usually extends to knee or lower. Upper body is bare chested, and a long thin folded translucent sheet wrapping over one shoulder and usually tucked below a wide belt.

Music and instruments
Odissi dance is accompanied by the traditional classical music of the state of Odisha, Odissi music. The primary Odissi ragas are Kalyana, Nata, Shree Gowda, Baradi, Panchama, Dhanashri, Karnata, Bhairavee and Shokabaradi.

Odissi dance, states Ragini Devi, is a form of "visualized music", wherein the Ragas and Raginis, respectively the primary and secondary musical modes, are integrated by the musicians and interpreted through the dancer. Each note is a means, has a purpose and with a mood in classical Indian music, which Odissi accompanies to express sentiments in a song through Parija. This is true whether the performance is formal, or less formal as in Nartana and Natangi used during festive occasions and the folksy celebration of life.

Like most Indian dance forms, an Odissi troupe performs with the accompaniment of a musical ensemble. The mini-orchestra consists of a number of instruments, often varying slightly by region; the ubiquitous tanpura is used for a consistent, droning ambience throughout, with either the mardala (a barrel drum variant of the pakhavaj), tabla or mridangam for percussion. Melodic instruments range from the harmonium, bansuri (bamboo flute) or sarangi to the sitar and violin. Additionally, manjira (finger cymbals) or other small, percussive instruments may be used. At times, vocalists may be featured, usually singing simple, rhythmic phrases and melodies with dancing specifically choreographed to match.

Styles
The Odissi tradition existed in three schools: Mahari, Nartaki, and Gotipua:

 * Maharis were Oriya devadasis or temple girls, their name deriving from Maha (great) and Nari (girl), or Mahri (chosen) particularly those at the temple of Jagganath at Puri. Early Maharis performed Nritta (pure dance) and Abhinaya (interpretation of poetry) dedicated to various Hindu gods and goddesses, as well as Puranic mythologies and Vedic legends. Later, Maharis especially performed dance sequences based on the lyrics of Jayadev's Gita Govinda. This style is more sensuous and closer to the classical Sanskrit texts on dance, music and performance arts.
 * Gotipuas were boys dressed up as girls and taught the dance by the Maharis. This style included martial arts, athletics and acrobatics. Gotipuas danced to these compositions outside the temples and fairgrounds as folksy entertainment.
 * Nartaki dance took place in the royal courts, where it was prevalent before the British period.

Odissi maestros and performers
Kelucharan Mohapatra, Pankaj Charan Das, Deba Prasad Das and Raghunath Dutta were the four major gurus who revived Odissi in the late forties and early fifties. Sanjukta Panigrahi was a leading disciple of Kelucharan Mohapatra who popularized Odissi by performing in India and abroad. In the mid-sixties, three other disciples of Kelucharan Mohapatra, Kumkum Mohanty and Sonal Mansingh, were known for their performances in India and abroad. Some other notable disciples include, Debi Basu, Jhelum Paranjape, Shubhada Varadkar, Daksha Mashruwala and Nandita Behera. Laximipriya Mohapatra performed a piece of Odissi abhinaya in the Annapurna Theatre in Cuttack in 1948, a show upheld as the first classical Odissi dance performance after its contemporary revival. Guru Mayadhar Raut played a pivotal role in giving Odissi dance its classical status. He introduced Mudra Vinyoga in 1955 and Sancharibhava in the Odissi dance items, and portrayed Shringara Rasa in Gita Govinda Ashthapadis. His notable compositions include Pashyati Dishi Dishi and Priya Charu Shile, composed in 1961.

IIT Bhubaneswar
Odissi has been included in Indian Institute of Technology Bhubaneswar's BTech syllabus since 2015 as the first Indian national technical institute to introduce any classical dance in syllabus.

In Guinness World records
Guinness World Records has acknowledged the feat of the largest congregation of Odissi dancers in a single event. 555 Odissi dancers performed at the event hosted on 23 December 2011, in the Kalinga stadium, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The dancers performed the mangalacharana, Battu, Pallavi, Abhinaya and Mokshya dance items from the Odissi repertoire.

More than 1000 Odissi dancers performed at the World Cultural Festival 12 March 2016. This is till date the largest congregation of Odissi dancers in a single event.

Odissi Centre at Oxford University
An Odissi dance centre has been opened from January 2016, at the University of Oxford. Known as Oxford Odissi Centre, it is an initiative of the Odissi dancer and choreographer Baisali Mohanty who is also a post-graduate scholar at the University of Oxford.

Beside holding regular Odissi dance classes at its institution, the Oxford Odissi Centre also conducts Odissi dance workshops at other academic institutions in the United Kingdom.

title: Odissi


text:
32P/Comas Solà

32P/Comas Solà is a periodic comet with a current orbital period of 8.8 years.

The comet nucleus is estimated to be 8.4 kilometers in diameter.

History
32P/Comas Solà was discovered November 5, 1926, by Josep Comas Solà. As part of his work on asteroids for the Fabra Observatory (Barcelona), he was taking photographs with a 6 in telescope. The comet's past orbital evolution became a point of interest as several astronomers suggested early on that the comet might be a return of the then lost periodic comet Spitaler (aka 113P/Spitaler). In 1935 additional positions had been obtained, and P. Ramensky investigated the orbital motion back to 1911. He noted the comet passed very close to Jupiter during May 1912 and that, prior to this approach, the comet had a perihelion distance of 2.15 AU and an orbital period of 9.43 years. The identity with comet Spitaler was thus disproven.

In 1933, the Danish astronomer Julie Vinter Hansen undertook significant new research which calculated the orbit of the comet up to 1980, predicting when it would return to the Earth's orbit.

Trivia
The title of the early Tangerine Dream piece "Fly and Collision of Coma[s] Sola", appearing on the Alpha Centauri (1971) album, refers to this comet, which at the time was undergoing a moderately close (0.73 AU) approach to Jupiter.

title: 32P/Comas Solà


text:
Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album

The Grammy Award for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to artists, producers, and engineers for quality gospel music albums. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".

Originally called the Grammy Award for Best Southern Gospel Album, the award was first presented to Bruce Carroll at the 33rd Grammy Awards in 1991 for the album The Great Exchange. Three years later, the category's name was changed to the Best Southern Gospel, Country Gospel or Bluegrass Gospel Album. The category's name was changed to Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album in 1998. After 2011 it was merged with the Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album and the Grammy Award for Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album, forming the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album. The NARAS made this change in order to "tighten the number of categories" at the Grammy Awards. In 2015, a similar category, Best Roots Gospel Album was introduced.

Bill Gaither has the most wins in the category, with a total of four: two from his work in the Gaither Vocal Band, and another two in combination with his wife, Gloria. Randy Travis has won one less Grammy than Gaither in this category, with three. Gaither has the most nominations in the category, with eleven; the Light Crust Doughboys have eight, trailing Gaither by three nominations. Kyle Lehning holds the record for most wins as a producer or engineer, with a total of three. Nominated bands include Karen Peck and New River, who were selected in three of the final four years of the Grammy, and the Cathedral Quartet.

Recipients
undefined Each year is linked to the article about the Grammy Awards held that year.

General

 * Note: User must select the "Gospel" category as the genre under the search feature.


text:
Brooke Claxton

Brian Brooke Claxton (23 August 1898 – 13 June 1960) was a Canadian veteran of World War I, federal Minister of National Health and Welfare and Minister of National Defence.

Early life
He was born in Montreal and received his early education at Lower Canada College. He was a gifted student and entered McGill University in September 1915 after completing grade 11. While at McGill he was a member of the Kappa Alpha Society. After a year at university he left McGill in 1916 and enlisted with the Victoria Rifles of Canada.

Professional career and achievements
He served overseas with the Royal Canadian Field Artillery on the Western Front, and saw action, which experience marked him profoundly. He was promoted to the rank of Battery Sergeant-Major in the field and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Returning to Canada after the War, Claxton completed his course at McGill, graduating with honours in Law. He practised his profession in Montreal. In 1939 he was created a King's Counsel. He had an academic post at McGill where he was associate professor of commercial law until 1944.

Claxton was active in community service. He served as President of the Canadian Club of Montreal, Chairman of the Montreal branch of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs, chairman of the Board of Governors of Lower Canada College from 1925 until 1934, and was a graduate fellow of the Corporation of McGill University. The burgeoning nationalism after World War I led Claxton to become involved in associations such as the Canadian League and the League of Nations Society. He was also an intervenor on behalf of the federal government in the constitutional issue concerning jurisdiction over radio broadcasting. He was active in laying the foundations for the establishment of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Political career

His political career began in the general election of 1940 when he was first elected to the House of Commons as Liberal Member for the constituency of St. Lawrence-St. George, Montreal. He was re-elected in 1945 and again in 1949. He was appointed in 1943 as Parliamentary Assistant to the Prime Minister. He served in the federal Liberal cabinets of Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent. In 1944 he was named the first Minister of the newly created Department of National Health and Welfare (1944–46). He was responsible for the organization of the department and implementation of the administration system for the universal Family Allowances social welfare scheme. In 1946 Claxton became Minister of National Defence in which portfolio he served until 1954.

In 1947 he headed the Canadian delegation to the British Commonwealth Conference on Japan held in Australia. As vice-chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Newfoundland, in 1949 he signed the terms of union on behalf of Canada. He represented Canada at the meetings of the Defence Committee under the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C., Paris and The Hague. As Minister of National Defence he guided post-war demobilization, helped shape Canadian Cold War foreign policy, and presided over Canada's participation in the Korean War. In 1947, Claxton reopened RMC as a 3-service cadet college offering a 4-year academic degree. He said, "The role of the officer in modern war can only be properly discharged if they have education and standing in the community comparable to that of any of the other professions as well as high qualities of character and physique."

In 1949 he appointed Rear-Admiral Rollo Mainguy to head a commission of inquiry into the so-called "mutinees" on several navy ships that year. The Mainguy Report found no sign of Communist subversion, and noted that the sailors involved had some justified grievances.

Family
Claxton's brother-in-law was Second Lieutenant Donaldson Lizars Savage who died on 15 November 1916 at the age of 20. Savage was killed in action in Somme, France the same year he graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada. Savage, who served in the 56th Field Coy, Royal Engineers, informed Claxton about the recruiting (hazing) practises then in place at the RMC. As Minister of National Defence, Claxton gave instructions that abuses would not be tolerated when RMC reopened after the war.

Later life
In 1954 he retired from politics, but continued to play an important role in the creation of the Canada Council. He was just sixty-one when he died. At his death in 1960, The Montreal Gazette wrote that the Honourable Brooke Claxton "faced death … with unbreakable courage." He astounded associates by working hard right to the end and "never relaxing his grip."

He was honoured by the University of Saskatchewan with the degree of Doctor of Laws at its Golden Jubilee Convocation in 1959.

The Brooke Claxton Building in Ottawa, where the Department of Health is based, was named in his honour.

Archives
There is a Brooke Claxton fonds at Library and Archives Canada.

title: Brooke Claxton


text:
Talk:Province of Posen

On the population table
The population table for Prussia is great, but shouldn't it be in the Prussia article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bwood (talk • contribs) 19:07, 21 February 2004 (UTC)

 * Definitely. I also think it's almost certainly wrong.  I can't believe that there were only a few thousand people in Posen and West Prussia who did not speak German.   john 19:22, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Perhaps the footnote isn't worded correctly, and the column heading can be interpretted more literally. The numbers might match "foreigners". Certainly in 1890, a significant portion of the ethnic Polish in Posen couldn't speak German very well, even if most of the children had been forced to learn it in school. - Bwood 01:19, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * Perhaps. Certainly it is difficult to understand how there could be more non-German speakers in the Rhineland than in Posen.  I'd add that a fairly substantial of Poznanian peasants probably had no education at all, and many will have been educated before 1863, when education would likely still have been in Polish. john 01:52, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Added ethnic or national structure ("Nationalverschiedenheit" in German) for year 1819
Data for year 1819 (Poles - 77.0% of the population; Germans - 17.5%; Jews - 5.5%) is from Dr. Georg Hassel, "Statistischer Umriß der sämmtlichen europäischen und der vornehmsten außereuropäischen Staaten, in Hinsicht ihrer Entwickelung, Größe, Volksmenge, Finanz- und Militärverfassung, tabellarisch dargestellt", Erster Heft, "Welcher die beiden großen Mächte Österreich und Preußen und den Deutschen Staatenbund darstellt", Verlag des Geographischen Instituts Weimar, page 43.

Can someone please provide a source reference for 1861 ethnic figures? Currently they are unsourced. Peter558 (talk) 14:30, 3 February 2016 (UTC)

On feudalism
(moved from page to Talk) (see Freiherr vom Stein), I feel this is more appropriate in an article about feudalism, and perhaps we should see if one exists and link into it or create one. I'm taking your word about the 1810 date, I was thinking that serfdom was removed in stages by decree, and am pretty confidant that it was not stringently enforced for decades, allowing the old practices to continue in some form on many estates until the late 1800s. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bwood (talk • contribs) 16:55, 25 April 2004 (UTC)

 * After looking at the link, I'm going to put it back in pending more research. The vom Stein article has a lot of useful detail, but it is buried and needs to be added to a separate article about German and Polish feudalism. I'm particularily interested on how the Prussian laws affected Posen, since the law changed when Napoleon had removed Posen from Prussia. I seem to remember that the laws were different from Prussia proper and the annexed provinces. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bwood (talk • contribs) 17:03, 25 April 2004 (UTC)

WikiProject Historical States
The article is being conformed to the project template of WikiProject Historical States Bwood 03:07, 1 May 2004 (UTC)

Meh.
Western Posen at around this time would have been primarily German -- Greater Poland only begins with the eastern portions, regardless of what Cold War nationalist Polish propaganda says.

Regardless, I rewrote the section that pertains to ownership of it thruought history -- it is now written more clearly. Ameise -- chat 08:43, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

German-speaking Jews... Germans???
Prussian censuses classified German speaking Jewish minority as German speakers! Germans were a clear majority only on the westernmost (West of the Warta and Obra rivers) and northernmost fringes - around the Notec (Netze) river.

Anyway, the Poznan Voivodship, which corresponded almost exactly to Province Posen, had 90% Poles and only 7% Germans. Why in Province Posen German speakers constituted a minority of 38%. Even if some were excluded in Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen, where did most of them go??? They were simply re-classified as Jewish minority. After Holocaust and WW II expulsions of Germans, the number of German speakers fell to less than 1% —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.67.46.111 (talk) 12:33, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

the first Germans coming as settlers
The link to Settlers is incorrect, because it redirects to Settler (disambiguation). What the author wanted to say? I bet that many Germans came to Poland before the partition and many of them became Poles. Later some Germans came under Prussians.Xx236 10:39, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

German (re-)settlement in the area of the Province of Posen started in the 14th/15th century, centuries before the Polish partitions, according to the English language "Ostsiedlung" wikipedia page. Up until the migration period (approx. 400 to 800 AD) the area was inhabited mainly by germanic tribes. From then on, slavs moved in as the germanic tribes moved west and south. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.61.212.198 (talk) 11:47, 30 September 2015 (UTC)

Two references and a realted title that might be added:

The naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1834 and 1835 / compiled by Edward David Luft ; foreword by Sallyann Amdur Sack., Rev. ed., [Bergenfield, N.J.] : Avotaynu, 2004, xxix, 278 pp. DS135.P62 P636 2004. Related title: Verzeichniss sämmtlicher naturalisirten Israeliten im Grossherzogthum Posen.,

Luft, Edward David, The Jews of Posen Province in the Nineteenth Century: A Selective Source Book, Research Guide, and Supplement to The Naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1834 and 1835, Washington, D.C.:  Edward David Luft, ©2015, 1,967 pp.  Available on Digibaeck at https://www.lbi.org/digibaeck/results/?term=Luft+ Posen+Province&qtype=basic&stype=contains&paging=25&dtype=any/; at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC; at https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/2586236?availability=Family%20History%20Library; and online at http://kehilalinks. jewishgen.org/poznan/Jews_of_Posen.html; at https://www.wbc. poznan.pl/dlibra/publication/472066/edition/381538/content — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr. Posen (talk • contribs) 20:41, 10 July 2022 (UTC)

Germanized Jews
The Jews obtained many rights in Prussia and Germanized (they used to talk German dialect before, the Yddish). There were many of them. Some of them emigrated from Prussia, some moved to Germany after 1918.Xx236 10:43, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

It's strange that the table under "Divisions" contains a column "Jewish" but nothing is entered for any district. In fact, the Polish and German speakers add up to 100% in every case. The sentence "The German figure includes the German-speaking Jewish population" below makes you ask the question: where are Polish or Yiddish speaking Jews included, if there were any? No proof is given for the claim that the figures of the census were falsified, and by the looks of it this is unlikely to be true: some areas are listed as 90% Polish speaking, so if there was any "falsification" this would probably have been very minor (the Polish historian Leszek Belzyt estimates a minor underrepresentation of 2 - 3% for Polish speakers in the 1890 and 1910 censuses, see German language page). The added information that garrisons were included isn't really relevant - today most countries still go about censuses this way. The garrisons hardly made up a large proportion of the population and were mixed German/Polish anyway. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.61.212.198 (talk) 11:40, 30 September 2015 (UTC)

Grand Duchy of Posen
It's the same area and population as in the Grand Duchy of Posen. Wouldn't it be better to start with this information instead of craddle?Xx236 10:46, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Data in Grand Duchy entry has now been changed to a pre-1848 value. - 52 Pickup 10:54, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

I mean the introduction with "cradle of the Polish nation" and Jewish information (BTW without the number of Jews). SUch informations can be eventually in the Grand Duchy of Posen, her ethe text should start with Grand Duchy of Posen was reorganized to .... or something like that. I don't know that period. Xx236 11:23, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Maps
I removed one map with several innacuracies, the current German map is more precise then even the map put here.--Molobo (talk) 03:39, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Poor article
Seems like copy of old Brittanica or Catholic Encyclopedia. Needs a serious re-write--Molobo (talk) 00:52, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Minor corrections
Poles voted against joining the German Confederation. The Frankfurt Parliament ignored this, led by demands to pursue German nationalism in its politics.--Molobo (talk) 01:15, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

Greater Poland / Wielkpolska
Is it correct to say that Province of Posen roughly corresponded to the region of Greater Poland / Wielkopolska? I find it strange that the current article doesn't mention Greater Poland / Wielkpolska at all. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 16:48, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

 * "Is it correct to say that Province of Posen roughly corresponded to the region of Greater Poland?" That is correct and should be mentioned. I introduced it into the text (2nd para, 1st sentence). Skäpperöd (talk) 04:47, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Hey, Skäpperöd! - In the text you introduced, the two words "later province" don't quite make sense in English. After trying to find a smoother way to convey your point, I reckon it would be better to put it on the end of the 2nd sentence in the 1st para, as ", roughly corresponding to the historical region of Greater Poland." What do you say? Permacultura (talk) 14:06, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Fine with me, when I introduced "later province" I thought of the current voivodeship bearing this name and its |historic predecessor. Skäpperöd (talk) 14:30, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Notable People?
What exactly is the criteria to be listed here? Is it originating from the Province or being famous for work within it? I don't doubt that the people listed did important things, however, it seems rather odd to have a (relatively over sized) list of people whose entries are little more than a sentence and one reference. I suppose if the criteria is indeed restricted to work within the area itself, the list would suffice. However, if it can include people originating from there, why are there no mentions of Marian Rejewski, Mieczysław Garsztka, Kurt Tank, or Paul von Hindenburg? Perhaps a separate list would be beneficial for listing everyone while the article itself should try to cover those with a bit more notability? MagicBear (talk) 22:24, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

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text:
Tricky Dicky (Topper)

Tricky Dicky is a British comic strip which debuted in the magazine Topper in December 1976 and was drawn by John Dallas. From 1979 to 1986 he was the cover star of the comic, succeeding Danny's Tranny and preceding Beryl the Peril. The strip survived the merger with the Beezer in 1990 and continued in The combined Beezer and Topper comic til it ended in 1993. The character later reappeared in The Beano.

Concept
The comic strip was a gag-a-day strip starring a young boy named Dicky, who plays practical jokes on people, but they usually managed to get the last laugh. From 1999 to 2000 he re-appeared as a 'Guest Star' in The Beano, again drawn by Dallas, running against The Three Bears, Inspector Horse and Jocky and Gordon Bennett to be voted into the comic by readers, though The Three Bears was the winner. The basic premise of the strip was expanded to include that Dicky's father now owned a joke shop, explaining where he got all these jokes from. In Issue #4 of BeanoMAX, Tricky Dicky makes a surprise guest one-off appearance with a new look trying to trick Ball Boy, but it doesn't work. Tricky Dicky also starred alongside Roger the Dodger in the Beano Summer Special 2003. Tricky Dicky reappeared in a new strip in The Beano in 2013, this time drawn by Laura Howell. This new strip was a reboot with Tricky Dicky's appearance being changed and the character being given the new first name of Gordon. In the new strip, he is a more heroic figure, as he only plays pranks on people who deserve it.

Comparison to other comics with the same name
A character of the same name appeared in the children's TV series ZZZap!. Another trickster child character of the same name, but otherwise a different character appeared in the "Cor!!" Comic published by Fleetway. And, finally a character called "Tricky Dicky Doyle" appeared in The Dandy in 1997.

Appearances in Annuals
Tricky Dicky was put in the 2020 Annual as his own comic strip, but he did have an appearance on the Beano Annual 2016 cover. He also appeared in the 2017 Annual as a non-speaking character.

title: Tricky Dicky (Topper)