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Talk:Robert E. Lee

Extensive edits needed - tone, length, grammar
A Wikipedia article should be concise, as neutral as possible, and understandable to someone with little to no previous knowledge of the subject. As someone with little knowledge of this figure, I found this article very difficult to navigate, poorly written, and overtly opinionated - which in this kind of format reads not only as unnecessary, but also incredibly misleading.

From an editing perspective, this article could really do with some professional writers/editors to read over it a couple times. It doesn't flow particularly well, lots of lengthy sentences could be shortened or divided, or even cut completely, which goes onto my next point. There is a lot of unnecessary narrative detail and misguided analysis of historiography. Much of this detail reads more as the author's opinion than fact, and some pretty disturbing ideas are put forth without appropriate acknowledgment of whether they are the author's opinion, a secondary opinion, or from the subject himself. For example: "Robert Lee was tidy and punctual, qualities his wife lacked." Look - no Wikipedia article is truly 'neutral' - but this seems like either an bold assumption or a quote from someone else's work - or simply a personal opinion from the author which really shouldn't appear so blatantly in this format. This becomes a much more harmful issue throughout the article, especially when discussing slavery.

Firstly, there is some very ignorant, outdated use of language, which comes across as racist and insensitive. In particular, the author repeatedly used the term 'blacks' to refer to black people. This might seem like nitpicking but these terms are dehumanising and have a history of being used for exactly that purpose. If the author is simply rephrasing the language of primary sources from the time this NEEDS to be specified.

Next, the author seems conflicted with their own personal opinions about Lee and slavery, (which shouldn't come across in a Wikipedia article in the first place), sometimes defending Lee without critically evaluating why - and these are big, sometimes horrific things to be uncertain about! For example, under the heading 'Arlington plantation and Custis slaves' the author describes Lee's barbaric, horrifyingly oppressive and violent treatment towards enslaved people. The author's tone in this section is inappropriately flippant. After this section, the author goes on to discuss the historical disputes over Lee's position on slavery, which conflicts with what we have just been told about in the previous section. I might be misremembering but I think it said early on the article that Lee owned hundreds of slaves, and later that he only owned a few. Which either way is terrible!? Why do we need to know the specific details of this historical debate anyway, when we've been given information about Lee's treatment of enslaved people, which a reader is capable of evaluating themselves?

One more example of a big historical generalisation - 'There are various historical and newspaper hearsay accounts of Lee's personally whipping a slave, but they are not direct eyewitness accounts.' This reads as a middling-mark high school essay. ‘They are not direct eyewitness accounts’ is not relevant. Very few primary sources are direct eyewitness accounts, this does not make them less valuable. A Wikipedia author does not necessarily need to have extensive knowledge of historical practice, but if you don’t, then don’t write about it extensively as if you do know what you’re talking about.

Overall, this article needs extensive editing, maybe even rewriting completely. It is incredibly long and rambling, full of conflicting information, misinformation and unnecessary opinions and details. The sections of slavery especially need to be reevaluated and read over by an academic, really given the state of this article a black writer/editor should be consulted. If this isn’t possible, this article should really be taken down, it reads as a confused, insensitive, and overly-assuming. I am not an experienced editor myself and even I can see that it’s a mess, please consult a second, third, and even fourth opinion, from someone who at least knows how to edit a Wikipedia article.

And on a personal note to the author of this article - as a history nerd myself, I know how it is having to restrain yourself from dumping out every piece of information and every opinion you have on to whoever asks. But an account of an individual figure on Wikipedia needs to be concise and readable, meaning no rambling anecdotes, no unelaborated generalisations, and no lengthy (and obviously uninformed) explanation of historical debates which the average reader doesn’t want to know about. Then again I struggle to sympathise with you because this article is so full of racism. You should really do something about this!!! Leahbindmancohen (talk) 18:07, 18 April 2024 (UTC)

 * @Leahbindmancohen Many valid points! But please understand that there no "author" of this article ... there are hundreds of contributors, and I invite you to become on of them.  You already have 2 edits, and if you make 8 more edits on unprotected articles, you will be auto-confirmed and be able to contribute to this article.  I suggest visiting the Introduction page to get started.  • Bobsd •  (talk) 03:19, 30 June 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Robert E. Lee


text:
Talk:List of scientific laws named after people

Summary of previous Talks
by Saeed.Veradi (talk) 10:39, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

feel Bold to Edit it

Distinction Between tags
to me tag means: the type of a sentence from Scholastic view
 * like: law, theory, theorem, rule, principle, axiom

this is a brief answer to Confused Jay (look below). I'v studied this separation frequently, seriously, and scientificly for 7 years Saeed.Veradi (talk) 10:39, 23 November 2008 (UTC)
 * some meanings in language
 * law = a statement of fact, deduced from observation, to the effect that a particular natural or scientific phenomenon always occurs if certain conditions are present. (oxford dictionary)
 * theory (1)a guess or assumption (2)an organized and classified set of facts and explainations
 * rule = a claim proved using experiment or ...
 * some meanings defined in "logic"
 * Definition (has lots of meanings and types in classic logic)
 * some meanings defined in "Mathematical logic". see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_connective#Introduction
 * Definition = A Biconditional Statement (if and only if) that we accept as True
 * Axiom = A Material implication statement (if...then) that we accept as True
 * Theorem = a statement that we proove it's Truth
 * Equation = a statement containing equal sign
 * some meanings that are/were popular among scientist, but has no exact definition
 * principle = (1)any True and very fundamental statement (2)method (3)a Theorem that provides a method
 * no refrence. I collected a list of about 130 principles and Thought about their similarities and reached to this conclusion

Examples that shows tags has not been used very accurately and based on "standard" among scientists:
 * Bernoulli's law / Bernoulli's principle / Bernoulli's Theorem -- AJim

Controvercies
Should Statements that may define laws, but are NOT laws Themselves, be removed? --Kaiserkarl13
 * Schroedinger equation --Kaiserkarl13
 * Riemann zeta function --Kaiserkarl13
 * Newton's Law of Cooling --Kaiserkarl13
 * Abel's Theorem --Kaiserkarl13
 * Pythagorean theorem (Mathematics - plane geometry)
 * Asimov's Laws of Robotics -- Motorneuron

Should Statements that are NOT laws be added?
 * Noether's theorem -- Michael Hardy
 * all the hundreds of theorem's named after people that are already Wikipedia articles -- Michael Hardy
 * geometrical laws
 * Linus's law
 * Ahad's Sphere of the Sun

Is it a law?
 * Curie's law -- Ross 200805
 * Yes! "Magnetization is proportional to the applied magnetic field divided by temperature." --

195.137.93.171
 * Scheimpflug principle
 * No it's a geometry theory

 * Titius-Bode "law"
 * Although it is partically wrong, yes.

 * Moore's law? Computer science
 * No. it's a statistical research that predict's a human trend for a while. not the world's trend

Can parts of the science be perfectly distinguished? 'Computer Science' could straddle the line? --195.137.93.171
 * 3000 years effort have made it possible. specially in the most general fields. including Computer science. see: Map of science

Suggestions
separation of Mathemathics and Scientific Statements. the one's that are prooved by experiment are Scientific. the ones that are prooved by math reasoning are mathematical. -- AJim

What about the one's that has both proofs?
 * if it needs a fundamental physics rule and can't be prooved without it, then it's a derived rule (not fundamental rule), and must be placed in rules. not theorems.
 * Example: Math can proove that "work" (in physics) is a function of path. but if we use the first law of thermodynamics, math can proove it is a function of point in "adiabatic process". with other formulated observations, math can proove that "work" of gravitational, electrical, and some spring Forces are also a function of point.
 * if it can be prooved for a meaningless parameter, but it is correct for meaningful physical parameters, then it's mathematical.
 * Example: the basic Equation of Fluid Dynamics can be prooved using mathematics only, but it is true for Energy, Mass, Force, Momentum, ...

Geometrical theorems are also mathematical. because geometry have advanced so much, that describes without needing shapes. yet shapes are still very usefull for understanding.

info merged from List_of_eponymous_laws must be moved to correct place --Henrygb. see:

Equations too, or just laws?
Many of the things listed on this page are equations, functions, etc., (e.g., Schroedinger equation, Riemann zeta function) not scientific laws (e.g., Newton's Law of Cooling) or mathematical theorems (e.g., Abel's Theorem). Should such eponymous equations---which may define laws, but are themselves NOT laws---be removed? --Kaiserkarl13 (talk) 22:25, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Pythagorean theorem (Mathematics - plane geometry)
If Noether's theorem is included, should we include Pythagorean theorem and all the hundreds of theorem's named after people that are already Wikipedia articles? Michael Hardy 01:03, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * Noether's theorem is a scientific law whereas Pythagorean theorem is a mathematical one. I'm not very clear with the science vs. mathematics distinction when its comes to laws and theories. For that matter I'm not clear on the distinction between the terms "law", "theory", "theorem", "rule", "principle", "axiom", et. al. Confused Jay

I think it might be more useful if mathematical theorems had a page of their own, if for no other reason than space. Perhaps the cases can be discriminated on something like this basis: the Pythagorean theorem is established by a proof, and is part of an abstract system, plane geometry. The physical laws are established and confirmed by experimental measurements on real things, and they are subject to refinement and possible repudiation. I see that there is some confusion in nomenclature, for instance, Bernoulli's law is sometimes Bernoulli's principle and sometimes Bernoulli's theorem. AJim 02:21, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Apparently this includes info merged from List_of_eponymous_laws --Henrygb 01:45, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I see that the Pythagorean theorem I added to the list does not belong to the category of scientific laws, so I remove it. --Anastasios 17:51, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

 * What about the other geometry-related laws? Olin 20:16, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Interesting trying to draw a line between Maths & Science : 'Computer Science' could straddle the line ? --195.137.93.171 (talk) 02:18, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Linus's law?
i don't realy think i would call this a scientific law. Anyone care to comment? (mind you the whole use of the term law in science is archaic anyway) Plugwash 16:19, 2 May 2005 (UTC)

 * Linus Torvalds has two:
 * "Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow."
 * "All of our motivations fall into three basic categories : 'survival', 'social life', and 'entertainment'."
 * Generalisations - not falsifiable ? --195.137.93.171 (talk) 02:08, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Curie's law?
What about Curie's law? Ross 200805
 * "Magnetization is proportional to the applied magnetic field divided by temperature." - Yes ! --195.137.93.171 (talk) 02:08, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Scheimpflug principle? (Photography - geometric optics)
If a lens is not parallel to the film: the lens-plane, film-plane and the plane of objects in focus all intersect at one line. --195.137.93.171 (talk) 02:08, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Asimov's Laws of Robotics are not science
Asimov's laws of robotics come from science fiction and are not science, which is to say that they originated in science fiction and are applied primarily within science fiction. But on top of that, they are not scientific in the way that almost all of these other laws are: empirical or logical principles that have been proven. Rather, Asimov's laws are specifications for how robots *should* behave, or how a human designing a robot might *want* robots to behave; they are laws the same way that it's a law that you can't cross the street except at corners. Even the Three Laws of Robotics article does not attempt (much) to claim that they are scientific laws. For these reasons I think the entry should be removed from this article, and I will do so if I don't hear back within a week or two. Motorneuron 10:05, 31 August 2007 (UTC)motorneuron

Category
If no one objects, I'm turning this into a category. Isopropyl 22:47, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

You really should, I don't see a reason for it to be an article. Rend 00:54, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Empirical and theoretical laws
The table lists a mixture of empirical laws and theoretical laws. Shouldn't there be two tables? DFH 21:27, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Titius-Bode "law"
Why is Titius-Bode included here? It would appear to fail the tests at Physical law. Thoughts? --Ckatz chat spy  00:16, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Because a law has to explain and predict. exceptions of law decrease it's value, credibility, and application partially. not wholly. Bohr's atomic theory has also been problematic in explaining the electron's path. but we don't throw it away. and we use it in electromagnetics.Saeed.Veradi (talk) 10:49, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

Moore's law? Computer science.

Moore's law
Perhaps Moore's law would be better described as "Material science" because it's about transistor fabrication technology. Peter 06:34, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Capitalization of "law" in the names of these laws?
Should there be a consistent capitalization of the word "law" in the name of the law? - Bevo 15:55, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * No. Because tags like law, theorem, ... have been used inacurately throughout the history Saeed.Veradi (talk) 11:08, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

Description
Will someone please add descriptions of these laws to the table so those of us who want a quick reference sheet can have them on hand? It would be appreciated, thanks. --Aaron Kinney —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.51.165.224 (talk) 03:46, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I suggest not. It needs hagh skill and high knowledge. and It can be more easily vindilised. besides, it is a list. It is already TOO SHORT. the task will prevent the expansion of the list and instead, expands explainations; because people will think that they have to write explainations.

Ahad's Sphere of the Sun
Missing from the list is a theorem of the Sun's radiation flux. It was defined c. 2004 and overlaps across the categories of cosmology, astronomy and astrosphysics

See also:

 * Computational proof by User:Gilgamesh007 and
 * Consensus of the Ahad Radius on the Sun's talk page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.36.214.12 (talk) 14:52, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Keep only the laws
I think it would be easier to sort which articles are here if we just go for statements that contain the word "law", independent of their nature. If not every time this article is going to find new cases and nuances that have not been thought before. --MaoGo (talk) 16:11, 11 January 2018 (UTC)

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


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Group polarization

In social psychology, group polarization refers to the tendency for a group to make decisions that are more extreme than the initial inclination of its members. These more extreme decisions are towards greater risk if individuals' initial tendencies are to be risky and towards greater caution if individuals' initial tendencies are to be cautious. The phenomenon also holds that a group's attitude toward a situation may change in the sense that the individuals' initial attitudes have strengthened and intensified after group discussion, a phenomenon known as attitude polarization.

Overview
Group polarization is an important phenomenon in social psychology and is observable in many social contexts. For example, a group of women who hold moderately feminist views tend to demonstrate heightened pro-feminist beliefs following group discussion. Similarly, studies have shown that after deliberating together, mock jury members often decided on punitive damage awards that were either larger or smaller than the amount any individual juror had favored prior to deliberation. The studies indicated that when the jurors favored a relatively low award, discussion would lead to an even more lenient result, while if the jury was inclined to impose a stiff penalty, discussion would make it even harsher. Moreover, in recent years, the Internet and online social media have also presented opportunities to observe group polarization and compile new research. Psychologists have found that social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter demonstrate that group polarization can occur even when a group is not physically together. As long as the group of individuals begins with the same fundamental opinion on the topic and a consistent dialogue is kept going, group polarization can occur.

Research has suggested that well-established groups suffer less from polarization, as do groups discussing problems that are well known to them. However, in situations where groups are somewhat newly formed and tasks are new, group polarization can demonstrate a more profound influence on decision-making.

Attitude polarization
Attitude polarization, also known as belief polarization and polarization effect, is a phenomenon in which a disagreement becomes more extreme as the different parties consider evidence on the issue. It is one of the effects of confirmation bias: the tendency of people to search for and interpret evidence selectively, to reinforce their current beliefs or attitudes. When people encounter ambiguous evidence, this bias can potentially result in each of them interpreting it as in support of their existing attitudes, widening rather than narrowing the disagreement between them.

The effect is observed with issues that activate emotions, such as political "hot-button" issues. For most issues, new evidence does not produce a polarization effect. For those issues where polarization is found, mere thinking about the issue, without contemplating new evidence, produces the effect. Social comparison processes have also been invoked as an explanation for the effect, which is increased by settings in which people repeat and validate each other's statements. This apparent tendency is of interest not only to psychologists, but also to sociologists and philosophers.

Empirical findings
Since the late 1960s, psychologists have carried out a number of studies on various aspects of attitude polarization.

In 1979, Charles Lord, Lee Ross and Mark Lepper performed a study in which they selected two groups of people, one group strongly in favor of capital punishment, the other strongly opposed. The researchers initially measured the strength with which people held their position. Later, both the pro- and anti-capital punishment people were put into small groups and shown one of two cards, each containing a statement about the results of a research project written on it. For example:"Kroner and Phillips (1977) compared murder rates for the year before and the year after adoption of capital punishment in 14 states. In 11 of the 14 states, murder rates were lower after adoption of the death penalty. This research supports the deterrent effect of the death penalty."or:"Palmer and Crandall (1977) compared murder rates in 10 pairs of neighboring states with different capital punishment laws. In 8 of the 10 pairs, murder rates were higher in the state with capital punishment. This research opposes the deterrent effect of the death penalty."The researchers again asked people about the strength of their beliefs about the deterrence effect of the death penalty, and, this time, also asked them about the effect that the research had had on their attitudes.

In the next stage of the research, the participants were given more information about the study described on the card they received, including details of the research, critiques of the research, and the researchers' responses to those critiques. The participants' degree of commitment to their original positions were re-measured, and the participants were asked about the quality of the research and the effect the research had on their beliefs. Finally, the trial was rerun on all participants using a card that supported the opposite position to that they had initially seen.

The researchers found that people tended to believe that research that supported their original views had been better conducted and was more convincing than research that didn't. Whichever position they held initially, people tended to hold that position more strongly after reading research that supported it. Lord et al. point out that it is reasonable for people to be less critical of research that supports their current position, but it seems less rational for people to significantly increase the strength of their attitudes when they read supporting evidence. When people had read both the research that supported their views and the research that did not, they tended to hold their original attitudes more strongly than before they received that information. These results should be understood in the context of several problems in the implementation of the study, including the fact the researchers changed the scaling of the outcome of the variable, so measuring attitude change was impossible, and measured polarization using a subjective assessment of attitude change and not a direct measure of how much change had occurred.

Choice shifts
Group polarization and choice shifts are similar in many ways; however, they differ in one distinct way. Group polarization refers to attitude change on the individual level due to the influence of the group, and choice shift refers to the outcome of that attitude change; namely, the difference between the average group members' pre-group discussion attitudes and the outcome of the group decision.

Risky and cautious shifts are both a part of a more generalized idea known as group-induced attitude polarization. Though group polarization deals mainly with risk-involving decisions and/or opinions, discussion-induced shifts have been shown to occur on several non-risk-involving levels. This suggests that a general phenomenon of choice-shifts exists apart from only risk-related decisions. Stoner (1968) found that a decision is impacted by the values behind that circumstances of the decision. The study found that situations that normally favor the more risky alternative increased risky shifts. More so, situations that normally favor the cautious alternative increased cautious shifts. These findings also show the importance of previous group shifts. Choice shifts are mainly explained by largely differing human values and how highly these values are held by an individual. According to Moscovici et al. (1972) interaction within a group and differences of opinion are necessary for group polarization to take place. While an extremist in the group may sway opinion, the shift can only occur with sufficient and proper interaction within the group. In other words, the extremist will have no impact without interaction. Also, Moscovici et al. found individual preferences to be irrelevant; it is differences of opinion which will cause the shift. This finding demonstrates how one opinion in the group will not sway the group; it is the combination of all the individual opinions that will make an impact.

History and origins
The study of group polarization can be traced back to an unpublished 1961 Master's thesis by MIT student James Stoner, who observed the so-called "risky shift". The concept of risky shift maintains that a group's decisions are riskier than the average of the individual decisions of members before the group met.

In early studies, the risky-shift phenomenon was measured using a scale known as the Choice-Dilemmas Questionnaire. This measure required participants to consider a hypothetical scenario in which an individual is faced with a dilemma and must make a choice to resolve the issue at hand. Participants were then asked to estimate the probability that a certain choice would be of benefit or risk to the individual being discussed. Consider the following example:"'Mr. A, an electrical engineer, who is married and has one child, has been working for a large electronics corporation since graduating from college five years ago. He is assured of a lifetime job with a modest, though adequate, salary and liberal pension benefits upon retirement. On the other hand, it is very unlikely that his salary will increase much before he retires. While attending a convention, Mr. A is offered a job with a small, newly founded company which has a highly uncertain future. The new job would pay more to start and would offer the possibility of a share in the owner- ship if the company survived the competition of the larger firms.'"Participants were then asked to imagine that they were advising Mr. A. They would then be provided with a series of probabilities that indicate whether the new company that offered him a position is financially stable. It would read as following

"Please check the lowest probability that you would consider acceptable to make it worthwhile for Mr. A to take the new job."

____The chances are 1 in 10 that the company will prove financially sound.

____The chances are 3 in 10 that the company will prove financially sound.

____The chances are 5 in 10 that the company will prove financially sound.

____The chances are 7 in 10 that the company will prove financially sound.

____The chances are 9 in 10 that the company will prove financially sound.

____Place a check here if you think Mr. A should not take the new job no matter what the probabilities.

Individuals completed the questionnaire and made their decisions independently of others. Later, they would be asked to join a group to reassess their choices. Indicated by shifts in the mean value, initial studies using this method revealed that group decisions tended to be relatively riskier than those that were made by individuals. This tendency also occurred when individual judgments were collected after the group discussion and even when the individual post-discussion measures were delayed two to six weeks.

The discovery of the risky shift was considered surprising and counter-intuitive, especially since earlier work in the 1920s and 1930s by Allport and other researchers suggested that individuals made more extreme decisions than did groups, leading to the expectation that groups would make decisions that would conform to the average risk level of its members. The seemingly counter-intuitive findings of Stoner led to a spurt of research around the risky shift, which was originally thought to be a special case exception to the standard decision-making practice. Many people had concluded that people in a group setting would make decisions based on what they assumed to be the overall risk level of a group; because Stoner's work did not necessarily address this specific theme, and because it does seem to contrast Stoner's initial definition of risky shift, additional controversy arose leading researchers to further examine the topic. By the late 1960s, however, it had become clear that the risky shift was just one type of many attitudes that became more extreme in groups, leading Moscovici and Zavalloni to term the overall phenomenon "group polarization."

Subsequently, a decade-long period of examination of the applicability of group polarization to a number of fields in both lab and field settings began. There is a substantial amount of empirical evidence demonstrating the phenomenon of group polarization. Group polarization has been widely considered as a fundamental group decision-making process and was well established, but remained non-obvious and puzzling because its mechanisms were not fully understood.

Major theoretical approaches
Almost as soon as the phenomenon of group polarization was discovered, a number of theories were offered to help explain and account for it. These explanations were gradually narrowed down and grouped together until two primary mechanisms remained, social comparison and informational influence.

Social comparison theory
The social comparison theory, or normative influence theory, has been widely used to explain group polarization. According to the social comparison interpretation, group polarization occurs as a result of individuals' desire to gain acceptance and be perceived in a favorable way by their group. The theory holds that people first compare their own ideas with those held by the rest of the group; they observe and evaluate what the group values and prefers. In order to gain acceptance, people then take a position that is similar to everyone else's but slightly more extreme. In doing so, individuals support the group's beliefs while still presenting themselves as admirable group "leaders". The presence of a member with an extreme viewpoint or attitude does not further polarize the group. Studies regarding the theory have demonstrated that normative influence is more likely with judgmental issues, a group goal of harmony, person-oriented group members, and public responses.

Informational influence
Informational influence, or persuasive arguments theory, has also been used to explain group polarization, and is most recognized by psychologists today. The persuasive arguments interpretation holds that individuals become more convinced of their views when they hear novel arguments in support of their position. The theory posits that each group member enters the discussion aware of a set of items of information or arguments favoring both sides of the issue, but lean toward that side that boasts the greater amount of information. In other words, individuals base their individual choices by weighing remembered pro and con arguments. Some of these items or arguments are shared among the members while some items are unshared, in which all but one member has considered these arguments before. Assuming most or all group members lean in the same direction, during discussion, items of unshared information supporting that direction are expressed, which provides members previously unaware of them more reason to lean in that direction. Group discussion shifts the weight of evidence as each group member expresses their arguments, shedding light onto a number of different positions and ideas. Research has indicated that informational influence is more likely with intellective issues, a group goal of making correct decision, task-oriented group members, and private responses. Furthermore, research suggests that it is not simply the sharing of information that predicts group polarization. Rather, the amount of information and persuasiveness of the arguments mediate the level of polarization experienced.

In the 1970s, significant arguments occurred over whether persuasive argumentation alone accounted for group polarization. Daniel Isenberg's 1986 meta-analysis of the data gathered by both the persuasive argument and social comparison camps succeeded, in large part, in answering the questions about predominant mechanisms. Isenberg concluded that there was substantial evidence that both effects were operating simultaneously, and that persuasive arguments theory operated when social comparison did not, and vice versa.

Self-categorization and social identity
While these two theories are the most widely accepted as explanations for group polarization, alternative theories have been proposed. The most popular of these theories is self-categorization theory. Self-categorization theory stems from social identity theory, which holds that conformity stems from psychological processes; that is, being a member of a group is defined as the subjective perception of the self as a member of a specific category. Accordingly, proponents of the self-categorization model hold that group polarization occurs because individuals identify with a particular group and conform to a prototypical group position that is more extreme than the group mean. In contrast to social comparison theory and persuasive argumentation theory, the self-categorization model maintains that inter-group categorization processes are the cause of group polarization

Support for the self-categorization theory, which explains group polarization as conformity to a polarized norm, was found by Hogg, Turner, and Davidson in 1990. In their experiment, participants gave pre-test, post-test, and group consensus recommendations on three choice dilemma item-types (risky, neutral, or cautious). The researchers hypothesized that an ingroup confronted by a risky outgroup will polarize toward caution, an ingroup confronted by a caution outgroup will polarize toward risk, and an ingroup in the middle of the social frame of reference, confronted by both risky and cautious outgroups, will not polarize but will converge on its pre-test mean. The results of the study supported their hypothesis in that participants converged on a norm polarized toward risk on risky items and toward caution on cautious items. Another similar study found that in-group prototypes become more polarized as the group becomes more extreme in the social context. This further lends support to the self-categorization explanation of group polarization.

The Internet
The rising popularity and increased number of online social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, has enabled people to seek out and share ideas with others who have similar interests and common values, making group polarization effects increasingly evident, particularly in generation Y and generation Z individuals. Similar to the social media platforms, video streaming platforms like YouTube are forming groups unconsciously through intelligent algorithm seeking for extreme contents. Owing to this technology, it is possible for individuals to curate their sources of information and the opinions to which they are exposed, thereby reinforcing and strengthening their own views while effectively avoiding information and perspectives with which they disagree.

One study analyzed over 30,000 tweets on Twitter regarding the shooting of George Tiller, a late term abortion doctor, where the tweets analyzed were conversations among supporters and opponents of abortion rights, post shooting. The study found that like-minded individuals strengthened group identity whereas replies between different-minded individuals reinforced a split in affiliation.

In a study conducted by Sia et al. (2002), group polarization was found to occur with online (computer-mediated) discussions. In particular, this study found that group discussions, conducted when discussants are in a distributed (cannot see one another) or anonymous (cannot identify one another) environment, can lead to even higher levels of group polarization compared to traditional meetings. This is attributed to the greater numbers of novel arguments generated (due to persuasive arguments theory) and higher incidence of one-upmanship behaviors (due to social comparison).

However, some research suggests that important differences arise in measuring group polarization in laboratory versus field experiments. A study conducted by Taylor & MacDonald (2002) featured a realistic setting of a computer-mediated discussion, but group polarization did not occur at the level expected. The study's results also showed that groupthink occurs less in computer-mediated discussions than when people are face to face. Moreover, computer-mediated discussions often fail to result in a group consensus, or lead to less satisfaction with the consensus that was reached, compared to groups operating in a natural environment. Furthermore, the experiment took place over a two-week period, leading the researchers to suggest that group polarization may occur only in the short-term. Overall, the results suggest that not only may group polarization not be as prevalent as previous studies suggest, but group theories, in general, may not be simply transferable when seen in a computer-related discussion.

Politics and law
Group polarization has been widely discussed in terms of political behavior (see political polarization). Researchers have identified an increase in affective polarization among the United States electorate, and report that hostility and discrimination towards the opposing political party has increased dramatically over time.

Group polarization is similarly influential in legal contexts. A study that assessed whether Federal district court judges behaved differently when they sat alone, or in small groups, demonstrated that those judges who sat alone took extreme action 35% of the time, whereas judges who sat in a group of three took extreme action 65% of the time. These results are noteworthy because they indicate that even trained, professional decision-makers are subject to the influences of group polarization.

War and violent behavior
Group polarization has been reported to occur during wartime and other times of conflict and helps to account partially for violent behavior and conflict. Researchers have suggested, for instance, that ethnic conflict exacerbates group polarization by enhancing identification with the ingroup and hostility towards the outgroup. While polarization can occur in any type of conflict, it has its most damaging effects in large-scale inter-group, public policy, and international conflicts.

College life
On a smaller scale, group polarization can also be seen in the everyday lives of students in higher education. A study by Myers in 2005 reported that initial differences among American college students become more accentuated over time. For example, students who do not belong to fraternities and sororities tend to be more liberal politically, and this difference increases over the course of their college careers. Researchers theorize that this is at least partially explained by group polarization, as group members tend to reinforce one another's proclivities and opinions.

title: Group polarization


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Manchester Arena

Manchester Arena (currently known as AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. Prior to the opening of Co-op Live, the arena had the highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the United Kingdom, and is the fourth-largest in Europe with a capacity of 21,000.

The arena is one of the world's busiest indoor arenas, hosting music and sporting events such as boxing and swimming. The arena was a key part of Manchester's bids to host the Olympic Games in 1996 and 2000 and was eventually used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

The arena was temporarily closed following a terror attack on 22 May 2017, in which suicide bomber Salman Abedi killed 22 people, and injured 500 more, at the end of an Ariana Grande concert during her Dangerous Woman Tour. Shows and events that were scheduled to take place at the arena were either moved to alternative venues, or cancelled completely. The arena was reopened on 9 September with a special benefit concert headlined by Manchester-born singer Noel Gallagher.

Arena design
First proposed during the regeneration of Manchester city centre during the 1980s, the structure was designed by DLA Ellerbe Beckett, Ove Arup & Partners, and Austin-Smith:Lord. The arena is sited in air rights space over the Manchester Victoria railway station and was constructed without disrupting use of the station. The original plans included a glass tower which was not built. It originally hosted a seven-screen multiplex cinema, a multi-purpose arena and multi-storey parking. The former multiplex cinema, which opened in 1996, closed after just four years and is now a call centre. Following the bombing, the foyer underwent renovation.

A large truss measuring 105 m spans the roof. Reinforced concrete is used to increase sound insulation. The upper parts of the building are clad in purple-grey with green glass. The arena was opened on 15 July 1995.

The arena is the only indoor venue in the UK to be built following a layout of 360-degree seating. (London's The O2, formerly the Millennium Dome, also has 360-degree seating, but only on its lower tier, whereas Manchester's arena features it on both tiers). Other European indoor venues built to the same concept include the Lanxess Arena (Cologne, Germany), Arena Zagreb (Zagreb, Croatia), Spaladium Arena (Split, Croatia), Kombank Arena (Belgrade, Serbia), O2 Arena (Prague, Czech Republic), and the Barclaycard Arena (Hamburg, Germany).

A three-year £50million re-development started in 2022. The arena's capacity will increase to 24,000, and new public entrances and custom lounges will be opened. Once complete, the increase in capacity will retain the indoor arena's place as the largest in the city after the 23,500-seat Co-op Live Arena opened.

Background
The arena was constructed as part of the city's unsuccessful bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics. Construction cost £52 million of which £35.5m was provided by government grants and £2.5m from the European Regional Development Fund. Although built as an American style sports arena, it has been more successful hosting large music events.

The arena opened in July 1995, sponsored by NYNEX CableComms as NYNEX Arena. In July 1998, it was renamed the Manchester Evening News Arena, or just the MEN Arena, when it was sponsored by the Manchester Evening News newspaper. In December 2011, the newspaper ended its 13 year sponsorship, and the arena was renamed Manchester Arena in January 2012. In July 2013, the arena was renamed Phones 4u Arena after the mobile phone company Phones 4u, but this deal ended in January 2015 after Phones 4u went out of business, renaming the arena back to Manchester Arena. In September 2020, the arena was rebranded as the AO Arena as part of a five year sponsorship deal by the online electricals retailer AO.

On the opening night, 15,000 spectators watched Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean perform. The crowd was a record for an ice event. Attendance records were set in 1997 when 17,425 people watched Manchester Storm play Sheffield Steelers, a record for an ice hockey match in Europe at that time. When 14,151 people watched Manchester Giants play London Leopards, it set a British record for attendance at a basketball match. The venue attracts over a million customers each year for concerts and family shows, making it one of the world's busiest indoor arenas, and was named "International Venue Of The Year" in 2002 in the 'Pollstar' awards, and was nominated in the same category from 2002 to 2009. The arena was named "Busiest Arena Venue In The World", based on ticket sales for concerts from 2003 to 2007, ahead of other indoor arenas including Madison Square Garden and Wembley Arena. The arena was the 'World's Busiest Arena' from 2001 until 2007 based on ticket sales for concerts, attracting five and a half million customers. It was voted 'Europe's Favourite Arena' at the TPi Awards in 2008 by the touring companies that bring the shows to the venue.

On the evening of 27 May 1999, a reception was held at the arena to celebrate Manchester United's UEFA Champions League triumph in Barcelona 24 hours earlier, following the victorious side's parade around Manchester at the end of the season in which they became the first English team to win the treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season, which remained the case until Manchester City achieved the same feat in 2022-23.

In 2008, the arena was the world's third busiest arena behind London's The O2 Arena and New York's Madison Square Garden. In 2009, it was the world's second busiest arena behind The O2, and ahead of the Sportpaleis in Antwerp and Madison Square Garden in New York City. Although second to London's The O2, Manchester's arena had its busiest year with over 1,500,000 people attending concerts and family shows. The arena hosts over 250 events annually including comedy, live music and tours, sporting events, and occasionally musicals.

Music
As one of the largest venues in the UK, the arena has hosted music concerts since opening in 1995.

As of 2019, British pop group Take That, who were formed in Manchester, hold the record for the most performances, with 46. During the five-concert Manchester leg of their 2019 tour, the arena was temporarily renamed after the band to honour their 30-year career. Irish pop group Westlife previously held the record with 33 performances.

Spice Girls performed 4 sold-out shows during their Spiceworld Tour in April 1998, 4 sold-out shows in December 1999 on the Christmas in Spiceworld Tour, and 3 sold-out shows in January 2008 on The Return of the Spice Girls World Tour.

Led Zeppelin legends Jimmy Page and Robert Plant performed a sell out concert at the arena on 3 November 1998 as part of their Walking into Clarksdale tour.

On 26 March 2000, English boy band Five performed at this venue as part of their Invincible Tour. The show was also filmed for a concert special called Five Live that was released on DVD and VHS later that same year.

Janet Jackson performed here on 31 May 1998 as part of her The Velvet Rope Tour. Jackson was scheduled to perform during her All for You Tour on 5 December 2001, but the show was cancelled with the rest of her European tour because of possible terrorist threats. Her 2016 Unbreakable World Tour was also cancelled, this time because of scheduling conflicts.

Britney Spears performed at the arena for the first time for two sold-out shows on 13 and 14 October 2000 during her Oops!...I Did It Again Tour. She has returned for additional sold-out shows on 1 May 2004 during Onyx Hotel Tour, 17 June 2009 during her Circus Tour, in 2011 for the Femme Fatale Tour, and on 18 August 2018 as part of her Piece of Me Tour.

U2 performed at the arena on 11 and 12 August 2001, for their Elevation Tour. The band came back in 2018 during their Experience + Innocence Tour for two shows on 19 and 20 October.

In 2002, Kylie Minogue performed for six shows as part of her KylieFever2002 tour. She returned for five sold-out shows in April 2005 as part of her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour. In 2007, she performed for seven sold-out shows in January as part of her Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour. In 2008, she returned for six sold-out shows in July as part of her KylieX2008 tour. Minogue performed for four shows in April 2011 as part of her Aphrodite: Les Folies Tour. Minogue performed again at the arena on 26 September 2014. The performance marked the 30th time Minogue has performed at the arena. It is a record for Minogue as the venue she has played to most in the world; she has played to 400,000 fans in total in the Manchester Arena.

Barbadian singer Rihanna would perform her first concert in England here, as part of her worldwide Good Girl Gone Bad Tour that ran September 2006 to January 2009, starting and ending in North America. The full concert, named Good Girl Gone Bad Live was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 9, 2008, by Def Jam Recordings. The concert promoted the songs from the album of the same name, however, also featured songs by Rihanna's two previous albums Music of the Sun (2005) and A Girl like Me (2006).

Madonna performed twice on her Re-Invention World Tour in Summer 2004, returning in 2009, on the second leg of the Sticky & Sweet Tour. Two shows were planned but one was cancelled due to unknown reasons. Madonna was late on stage in 2015 on the Rebel Heart Tour due to problems with the screen visuals resulting in a shortened set.

Pop/R&B singer Whitney Houston would hold her last concerts ever here, June 16 & 17, 2010 on her Nothing But Love World Tour. Houston died February 11, 2012, at age 48.

On 12 December 2006 comedy rock duo Tenacious D performed as part of their Pick of Destiny Tour, Neil Hamburger was opening act. Tenacious D also performed on 8 May 2024 as part of The Spicy Meatball Tour.

In July 2010, the arena celebrated its 15th birthday with a multi-artist gig, presented by Real Radio (North West).

Gorillaz performed at the arena on 12 November 2010 during their Escape to Plastic Beach Tour, and came back on 1 December 2017, as part of their Humanz Tour.

Coldplay performed a sold-out show at the arena on 4 December 2011 as part of their Mylo Xyloto Tour.

American entertainer Beyoncé performed three sold-out shows at the arena as part of her The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour on 7, 8 and 9 May 2013. She returned on 25 and 26 February 2014 for two more sold-out shows. Both shows became the fastest concert to sell out the entire arena. This was the fifth tour Beyoncé has performed at the arena, following concerts for her Dangerously in Love Tour (2003), Destiny Fulfilled...and Lovin' It (2005), The Beyoncé Experience (2007) and the I Am... World Tour (2009).

In 2014, Katy Perry performed twice at the venue, on 20 and 24 May as part of her third concert tour, Prismatic World Tour.

Taylor Swift performed at the arena on the 24th of June 2015, as part of her fourth concert tour, The 1989 World Tour.

Adele performed at the arena during her world tour on 7, 8 March and 10, 11 March 2016.

Olly Murs performed at the arena on 17 and 18 March 2017, as part of the first leg for his new UK tour, Spring & Summer Tour 2017.

Shawn Mendes performed at the arena on 18 April 2017 as the second date of the Illuminate World Tour. He also performed on April 7, 2019 as part of his self-titled tour.

Ariana Grande performed at the arena on 22 May 2017 as part of the Dangerous Woman Tour. After this, a suicide bombing took place at the foyer of the arena.

The arena was reopened by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and a cohort of local stars such as The Courteeners, Blossoms, Rick Astley and comedian Peter Kay as part of the "We Are Manchester" event on 9 September 2017.

Metallica performed at the arena on 28 October 2017 in front of 19,423 people, as a part of their WorldWired Tour.

On 29 November 2017, Phil Collins performed one night here with his Not Dead Yet Tour.

On 10 December 2017, Mariah Carey brought her All I Want for Christmas Is You, A Night of Joy and Festivity show here.

On 16 December 2017, Liam Gallagher performed here as part of his UK tour to celebrate the release of his debut album As You Were.

On 10 February 2018, Kendrick Lamar performed the 3rd date of the European leg of The Damn Tour. This was his first time performing in Manchester since 2013.

On 22 June 2018, Katy Perry performed the 90th show of her fourth concert tour Witness: The Tour.

South Korean girl group Blackpink performed their first UK arena concert on 21 May 2019 as part of the Blackpink World Tour (In Your Area) schedule here.

Six time Grammy award-winning artist Christina Aguilera performed her 14th date of The X Tour to full attendance on 12 November 2019.

On 15 April 2022, Dua Lipa performed the 1st date of the European leg of highly anticipated Future Nostalgia Tour. This was her first time performing in Manchester since 2016.

On 7 and 8 May 2022, Little Mix performed 3 shows here. 2 evening shows and 1 Matinée, one of their 3 Matinée shows on The Confetti Tour.

Panic! at the Disco performed the final date of the project's Viva Las Vengeance Tour on 10 March 2023. It was its farewell concert, as leader Brendon Urie will subsequently disband the name to focus on family. Panic! at the Disco had previously performed at the arena on 30 March 2019 for its Pray for the Wicked Tour.

On 5 and 6 April 2023, Celine Dion was supposed to perform here during her Courage World Tour due to a neurological disease, she had to cancel the remainder of her tour including these 2 shows.. During her 2017 tour, Dion planned to perform two concerts here, but the shows were moved to Leeds following the arena closure in May 2017. She had previously performed at the arena on 14 November 1996 during her Falling into You: Around the World tour and on 2 and 3 May 2008 during her Taking Chances World Tour.

Hong Kong boy group MIRROR performed their second UK arena concert on 14 March 2024 as part of the FEEL THE PASSION CONCERT TOUR 2024

Queens of the Stone Age played here as part of their The End Is Nero tour on November 14th, 2023.

Sports
The arena has been the home of three sports teams: the Manchester Storm and Manchester Phoenix ice hockey teams, and the Manchester Giants basketball team with limited success, as it is no longer used by sports teams but is used for one-off sporting events such as boxing and football masters.

Many boxers have had bouts in the arena, such as Amir Khan, Jermaine Johnson, Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, Mike Tyson, and David Haye. Hatton, from Manchester, became a regular and favourite at the arena. American professional wrestling promotion WWE have regularly hosted both live events and TV tapings at the Arena, including Mayhem in Manchester in 1998, pay-per-view events such as the UK version of No Mercy in 1999, and Rebellion in 2001 and 2002.

The arena hosted mixed martial arts events. UFC 70 on 21 April 2007, and UFC 105 on 14 November 2009 for which it set the European record attendance for the largest UFC event outside the US with 16,000 spectators. The arena also hosted UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Munoz on 26 October 2013 as well as UFC 204 on 8 October 2016, headlining was a middleweight championship match between Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping. The World Taekwondo Qualification Event for the Beijing Olympic Games was held there on 28–30 September 2007 when 103 countries competed for 24 places at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. In April 2008, the arena hosted the FINA Short Course World Swimming Championships, the first time the event has been held in the UK. The arena was transformed with two 25 m swimming pools constructed in 18 days and seating provided for 17,250 spectators. On 26 February 2011, it played host to BAMMA 5.

Monster truck racing events have been staged but the floor space has to be extended and the front section of seating in the lower tier removed.

Since 2008, it has played host to a week of the Premier League Darts.

In May 2011, the arena hosted a basketball contest between the Atlanta Dream (WNBA) and the Great Britain women's basketball team, billed as "WNBA Live", the first time a WNBA team had played in Europe. In July 2012, the arena hosted an international between Great Britain men's basketball team and the United States men's basketball team in the buildup to the 2012 Summer Olympics.

In early April 2018, the revamped Dancing on Ice tour performed at the venue.

On 13–15 April 2018, Universal's Fast & Furious: LIVE performed at the arena, as part of the tour's second UK leg.

On 25 August 2018, a boxing match between KSI and Logan Paul was held at the arena. The match was live streamed via pay-per-view on YouTube.

On 15–19 May 2019, the arena hosted the 2019 World Taekwondo Championships.

On 14 October 2023, KSI and Logan Paul returned to the arena fighting a double main event, with KSI taking on the brother of Tyson Fury and WBC Diriyah Champion, Tommy Fury, and Logan Paul taking on Dillon Danis.

Comedy
The first stand-up comedy performance was Peter Kay's final performance of his Mum wants a bungalow Tour in July 2003. He worked at the arena when it opened in 1995 and the performance was filmed for DVD release as Peter Kay at the Manchester Arena. In 2005, Lee Evans set a world record for performing to the biggest audience in front of a crowd of 10,108. Peter Kay's The Tour That Doesn't Tour Tour...Now On Tour ran for 20 consecutive nights and 20 nights at the end of the tour – a record for the venue. Alan Carr filmed the DVD for Spexy Beast in Manchester.

Other
In 1998, the game show Ice Warriors was filmed on the arena's ice rink.

On 19 July 2011, (with a final dress rehearsal in front of an audience on 16 July 2011) the arena hosted the world premiere of Batman Live, a touring stage show, including theatrical, circus and stage-magic elements, that focuses on the DC Comics superhero Batman.

The arena also hosted the annual convention of Jehovah's Witnesses. In 2014, this was held on 22–24 August.

The arena also hosted Ant & Dec's Takeaway on Tour: Live on 15–16 August 2014. Over the two days, about more than 120,000 people attended both matinee and evening shows.

The American league Monster Jam attended the venue for the first time in 2005 during the European Tour. They would not attend again for over ten years until 2019 when a second show took place.

2017 bombing
Following the Dangerous Woman Tour concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande on 22 May 2017, a suicide bombing occurred in the arena's foyer area. Greater Manchester Police confirmed that twenty-three adults and children were killed, including the bomber, and 500 were injured. The terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Reopening
On 14 June 2017, it was confirmed that the arena would remain closed until September, with scheduled concerts either cancelled or moved to other venues. On 9 September 2017, the arena re-opened with a benefit concert featuring Noel Gallagher and other acts associated with the North West. This was broadcast live on BBC Radio Manchester, Key 103 and Radio X.

Transport

The arena adjoins Manchester Victoria station which is served by Northern, TransPennine Express, and Metrolink.

The arena car park is operated by Citipark, and has 958 standard and 65 disabled spaces.

title: Manchester Arena


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Asplenium platyneuron

Asplenium platyneuron (syn. Asplenium ebeneum), commonly known as ebony spleenwort or brownstem spleenwort, is a fern native to North America east of the Rocky Mountains. It takes its common name from its dark, reddish-brown, glossy stipe and rachis (leaf stalk and midrib), which support a once-divided, pinnate leaf. The fertile fronds, which die off in the winter, are darker green and stand upright, while the sterile fronds are evergreen and lie flat on the ground. An auricle at the base of each pinna points towards the tip of the frond. The dimorphic fronds and alternate, rather than opposite, pinnae distinguish it from the similar black-stemmed spleenwort.

The species was first described in 1753 by Linnaeus as Acrostichum platyneuros, although Linnaeus' type drew on material from several other species as well. It was more commonly called Asplenium ebeneum, a name published by William Aiton in 1789, until the rediscovery and revival of the Linnaean epithet in the late nineteenth century. Several forms and varieties of the species have been described, but few are recognized today; in particular, larger and more fertile specimens, those with more or less toothed leaves, and those with proliferating buds are considered to fall within the natural range of variation of the species, and do not require taxonomic distinction. A. platyneuron f. hortonae, a sterile form with the pinnae cut to toothed pinnules, and f. furcatum, with forking fronds, are still recognized.

The formation of proliferating buds is one of several unusual adaptations for reproduction in this species. The buds form near the base of the stipe, and when covered with soil, can grow into new individuals as the frond that bore them dies. Ebony spleenwort is also well-adapted to propagate by spores: the upright sterile fronds help the spores enter the airstream for long-distance dispersal, and a low genetic load allows spores that have grown into a gametophyte to self-fertilize with a high degree of success. This dispersal ability seems to have helped the species spread rapidly in the Great Lakes region in the late 20th century. Long-distance dispersal may also explain its naturalized appearance in South Africa, and the existence of an isolated population found in Slovakia in 2009, its first known occurrence in Europe.

Ebony spleenwort has broad habitat preferences, growing both on rocks like many other North American spleenworts and in a variety of soils. Unlike many other spleenworts, it is not particularly sensitive to soil pH. It hybridizes with several other spleenworts, particularly mountain spleenwort and walking fern; these species, their sterile hybrid offspring, fertile allotetraploid hybrids, and backcrosses between allotetraploids and the parents are collectively known as the "Appalachian Asplenium complex". Two hybrids between A. platyneuron and spleenworts outside of this complex are also known.

Description
Ebony spleenwort is a small fern with pinnate fronds, growing in tufts, with a shiny reddish-brown stipe and rachis. The fronds are dimorphic, with long, erect, dark green fertile fronds, which are deciduous, and shorter, spreading, lighter green sterile fronds, which are evergreen.

Roots and rhizomes
This fern does not spread and form new plants via the roots. The rhizome, from 1 to 2.5 mm or perhaps 4 mm in diameter, bears a few narrowly linear-deltate scales, black to dark brown in color and strongly clathrate (bearing a lattice-like pattern). The scales are 2 to 4 mm or 5 mm long and 0.3 to 0.6 mm wide, with margins entire (untoothed) or very nearly so.

Leaves
The stipe (the stalk of the leaf, below the blade) is 1 to 10 cm long, and comprises one-quarter to one-third of the length of the blade. It lacks wings, and is a shiny reddish-brown or blackish-brown throughout its length. Towards the base, it has a few threadlike scales similar in color to those of the rhizome. Starch granules are stored in tissue at the base of the stipe and, to a lesser extent, in the rhizome, giving the bases an enlarged appearance and a firm texture. The stipe bases are long-lived and may survive the disintegration of the rest of the stipe and the blade.

The leaf blade of ebony spleenwort is linear to narrowly oblanceolate (slightly wider in the upper half of the blade) in shape, measuring from 4 to 50 cm long and from 2 to 5 cm wide, sometimes as wide as 7 cm. It is acute (pointed) at its tip and gradually tapers at its base. The blade is shiny and has a few scattered hairs, or lacks them entirely. The rachis (leaf axis), like the stipe, is reddish-, purplish- or blackish-brown, shiny and hairless.

The blade is cut into pinnae (leaflets) throughout its length, from 15 to 45 pairs per leaf. The pinnae are distinctly alternate along the rachis. They are oblong (roughly rectangular) or quadrangular in shape, sometimes somewhat falcate and angled towards the leaf base, those in the middle of the leaf blade measuring from 1 to 2.5 cm in length and from 0.3 to 0.5 cm in width. Each pinna has an obvious auricle at its base, pointing towards the tip of the blade and overlapping the rachis. Sometimes a small auricle pointing at the base of the blade is present as well The edges of the pinnae are crenate or serrulate (bearing rounded or small sharp teeth); they are more deeply cut in small forms. The tips of the pinnae may be acute or obtuse (blunt. On the underside of the blade, veins are clearly visible and free (they do not anastomose or rejoin each other). A few minute scales may also be scattered on the underside.

Sori and spores
Pinnae of the fertile fronds carry from one to twelve, or even eighteen, pairs of sori on their underside, each 1 to 2 mm long. Each pair of sori forms a chevron, pointing towards the base of the pinna along its midvein, on which they are centered. An indusium covers each sorus; these are whitish and translucent or silvery with a slightly toothed or erose (irregularly jagged) edge, soon withering to reveal the sori. Each sporangium in a sorus carries 64 spores. The diploid sporophyte has a chromosome number of 72.

The light to dark brown spores are monolete, with a straight laesura with a margo (raised border). They are 41 to 52 microns long along their long axis. The perine (outermost layer of the spore) appears spiny, with rough ridges forming a netted pattern. The region of the perine between ridges has a smooth, rather than granular, texture.

Proliferating buds
Ebony spleenwort is capable of proliferating by forming new plantlets from buds on the rachis at the base of the plant. These allow new individuals to form at different levels when prostrate fronds become buried in the leaf litter. Wagner & Johnson found proliferous buds in almost every site in the Great Lakes populations they studied; very rarely did more than one bud per plant occur. They occurred, on average, on 1 out of 6 plants, both on sterile and fertile fronds, and their position at the base of the lowest pinnae made them difficult to find among the cluster of fronds. The buds are button-like, pale in color, and appear on the upper side of the lowest pinnae. Each bud contains a shoot and one or sometimes two leaf primordia, covered in clathrate scales, occasionally with roots if the bud has begun to develop. Contact with soil at the plant base stimulates their development, and the decay of their connection with the parental leaf results in the development of a new plant. Similar buds have also been reported from the single-sorus spleenwort, Asplenium monanthes.

Identification
The species most similar to Asplenium platyneuron is the black-stemmed spleenwort, A. resiliens. However, this stipe of this species is darker, and the pinnae are opposite, rather than alternate, along the rachis. Maidenhair spleenwort, A. trichomanes, is also pinnately cut with a dark, glossy rachis, but the pinnae are oval and somewhat rounded rather than broadly oblong, usually less than two times as long as wide. Neither of these two species, nor the other pinnate American spleenworts, have dimorphic fertile and sterile fronds. It is very similar to Boydston's spleenwort, Asplenium × boydstoniae, an extremely rare backcross with Tutwiler's spleenwort, Asplenium tutwilerae; however, Boydston's spleenwort has an elongated, acute frond tip similar to that of Tutwiler's spleenwort. Among similar South African spleenworts, A. lunulatum has proliferating frond tips, while A. monanthes has only one sorus on each pinna.

Among the larger ferns, A. platyneuron might be confused with a young Christmas fern, Polystichum acrostichoides, but that species is generally much larger and has a green, scaly stipe and rachis. Fishbone fern, Nephrolepis cordifolia, is likewise larger, with yellowish-green pinnae and a green rachis.

Taxonomy
This species is commonly known as "ebony spleenwort" or "brownstem spleenwort" for the dark color of its stipe and rachis.

The basionym for the species is Acrostichum platyneuros, published by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum in 1753 (the official starting point of modern botanical nomenclature). Linnaeus' treatment came from a 1745 dissertation by his student J. B. Heiligtag, which in turn drew on the descriptions by several earlier authorities. The first description listed was that of Jan Gronovius, botanist and mentor of Linnaeus, in his Flora Virginica of 1743, based on a specimen collected by the collector John Clayton. The specific epithet platyneuros ("flat nerves") was drawn from a description by the botanist Leonard Plukenet in his Almagestum of 1696. Unfortunately, only Clayton's specimen, now the lectotype for the species, represents the species now known as Asplenium platyneuron; the specimens upon which the other descriptions are based, including that of Plukenet which yielded the specific epithet, are a mixture of Pleopeltis polypodioides and Polypodium virginianum sensu lato. In 1789, the species was independently described by William Aiton in Hortus Kewensis, and given the name Asplenium ebeneum, referring to the ebony color of its stalk. The species was also independently described by Olof Swartz in 1801, as Asplenium polypodioides, and by André Michaux in 1803 as Asplenium trichomanoides; both these names were reduced to synonymy with Asplenium ebeneum by Carl Ludwig Willdenow. The name Asplenium trichomanoides, however, had already been used by Linnaeus in 1767, making Michaux's name a nomen illegitimum.

It was Aiton's epithet, ebeneum, that was used by American botanists throughout most of the 19th century. The transfer of Linnaeus' specific epithet to form the name Asplenium platyneuron was mooted by D. C. Eaton in 1878, who attributed the combination to a pencil notation by William Oakes in the margin of a copy of Flora Virginica. Therefore, the combination has historically been attributed to Oakes or Oakes ex D.C.Eaton. However, in 1981, David B. Lellinger pointed out that Eaton had not, in fact, accepted the combination in 1878, preferring the more descriptive epithet ebeneum to the less accurate through senior platyneuron. Eaton's use, therefore, was to be treated as provisional, and not as a published combination by him. Eaton aside, the first valid publication of Asplenium platyneuron was that of Britton, Emerson E. Sterns, and Justus F. Poggenburg in 1888, which implicitly references Linnaeus's basionym. Despite the revival of Linnaeus' epithet, the name Asplenium ebeneum continued to be widely used through 1896, when Lucien Underwood, in Britton & Brown's Illustrated Flora, used the name Asplenium platyneuron with explicit reference to the basionym.

The species has twice been placed in genera segregated from Asplenium: as Chamaefilix platyneuros by Oliver A. Farwell in 1931, and as Tarachia platyneura by Sizuo Momose in 1960. Neither combination was widely accepted and current authorities do not recognize these genera.

A global phylogeny of Asplenium published in 2020 divided the genus into eleven clades, which were given informal names pending further taxonomic study. A. platyneuron belongs to the "A. incisum subclade" of the "Schaffneria clade". The Schaffneria clade has a worldwide distribution, and members vary widely in form and habitat. There is no clear morphological feature that has evolved within the A. incisum subclade to define it, but members of the subclade do share a chestnut-brown stipe base. Relationships within the clade are not well-resolved; it includes species from South America, Europe, and China, but no other North American species.

Forms and varieties
Three varieties were recognized by Carl Taylor et al. in 1976 in their treatment of the species: A. platyneuron var. platyneuron, the typical variety, A. platyneuron var. incisum, with more deeply cut pinnae, and A. platyneuron var. bacculum-rubrum, larger and more fertile than the others with toothed pinnae. However, they note that both these varieties intergrade, and Flora of North America does not recognize any infraspecific taxa. In addition to these varieties, three forms were recognized by Taylor et al. A. platyneuron f. proliferum, discussed below, is not recognized by later treatments. A. platyneuron f. hortonae is only known from sporadic, sterile specimens, with pinnae imbricate and deeply cut and lobed. In A. platyneuron f. furcatum, the rachis is multiply branched near the tip, but the form appears otherwise normal.

Asplenium ebeneum var. bacculum-rubrum was first described in 1871 by Americus Featherman. His epithet refers to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he found it growing at the edges of cultivated fields and canebrakes. He described it as standing from 1 to 2 ft high, with twenty to thirty "elongated" sori on each pinna. A large variety of Asplenium platyneuron found throughout the southeastern United States, with distinct rather than confluent sori, was described by M. L. Fernald in 1935 as Asplenium platyneuron var. euroaustrinum, who was then unaware of Featherman's publication. He subsequently deemed the two to be identical, and transferred Featherman's variety to A. platyneuron, as A. platyneuron var. bacculum-rubrum, in 1936. According to Taylor et al., this variety may be recognized by a longest pinna length greater than 3.5 cm and the almost universal presence of sori on erect fronds. They described it as bearing fertile fronds up to 70 cm, with as many as seventy pinnae, and a coarse appearance with roughly toothed leaf edges intergrading with A. platyneuron var. incisum. Herb Wagner and David M. Johnson, who collected similar material in Cass County, Michigan (well to the northwest of the supposed range of the variety) did not consider morphological variation in var. bacculum-rubrum to be distinct from typical material except for its size, and recommended it be given taxonomic status no higher than that of a form, if recognized at all.

Asplenium ebeneum var. incisum was collected by Elliot C. Howe in Poestenkill, New York and described in 1869 by Charles H. Peck. Although described as having pinnae largely "incised-pinnatifid", most of the pinnae in the type material are doubly serrate (toothed) or serrate-incised. In 1873, Elihu S. Miller collected fronds from Wading River, New York which were wider than usual and sharply serrate. This he named Asplenium ebeneum var. serratum, at the suggestion of Asa Gray. Although Miller's type material has not been located, specimens determined as var. serratum by Gray were found by Taylor et al. to be indistinguishable from var. incisum. However, both epithets continued to be recognized by authors for some time. Britton, Sterns and Poggenburg transferred var. serratum as A. platyneuron var. serratum in 1888; Willard Clute lowered its rank to become A. ebeneum f. serratum in 1901, and the combination at this rank was transferred to A. platyneuron by Ralph Hoffmann in 1922. Benjamin Lincoln Robinson transferred var. incisum to A. platyneuron in 1908, and Farwell recognized var. serratum when he segregated Chamaefilix from Asplenium in 1931. Edgar T. Wherry, in 1940, synonymized not only var. serratum with var. incisum, but included var. bacculum-rubrum and var. euroaustrinum under that epithet. He also created the epithet var. typicum for the normal form of ebony spleenwort. Taylor et al., reviewing these treatments, distinguished var. incisum as having doubly serrate pinnae cut less than 80% of the way to the costa, with normal fertility (unlike the sterile A. platyneuron f. hortonae). As these plants occur throughout the range of the species intermixed with typical specimens and intergrading with them morphologically, Wagner and Johnson did not think them worth of taxonomic recognition.

Another taxon characterized by deeply incised margins was described in 1901 by George E. Davenport as Asplenium ebeneum var. hortonae. These specimens were found in 1900 growing on limestone in Brattleboro, Vermont by Frances B. Horton, for whom Davenport named the variety. In this variety, all the pinnae (including the more reduced basal pinnae) are obliquely toothed or cut very nearly into separate, toothed pinnules. The upright fronds are sterile. Willard Clute treated it as a form, A. ebeneum f. hortonae, in 1906. B. L. Robinson, in 1908, declared A. ebeneum var. hortonae a synonym of A. platyneuron var. incisum. Clute transferred the epithet at the varietal level to form A. platyneuron var. hortonae in 1909, but he also equated this with var. incisum. Lyman B. Smith continued to recognize it in Massachusetts, treating it as the form A. platyneuron f. hortonae in 1928. In 1937, Arthur Leeds explicitly distinguished it at varietal level, noting that a photograph of the type of A. ebeneum var. incisum did not closely correspond to A. ebeneum var. hortonae, having merely toothed rather than deeply cut and overlapping pinnae. Edgar Wherry also explicitly distinguished A. platyneuron var. hortonae from A. platyneuron var. incisum, erroneously duplicating Clute's 1909 combination. Material collected from St. Mary's County, Maryland was described by James E. Benedict, Jr. in 1947 as A. platyneuron f. dissectum, noting that while similar to f. hortonae, some of the pinnae in his material were completely cut into pinnules, which were themselves deeply lobed. Taylor et al. noted that much of Benedict's material, however, resembled typical f. hortonae, although approaching var. bacculum-rubrum in size. They equated f. dissectum with f. hortonae, and noted that specimens of the latter could approach var. incisum and var. bacculum-rubrum. While Wagner and Johnson declined to distinguish most infraspecific taxa within A. platyneuron, they did recognize f. hortonae as a "rare sterile form".

A form with forked fronds was known around the end of the nineteenth century, and was formally described in 1909 by Willard Clute as A. platyneuron f. furcatum. The form differs from normal A. platyneuron only in forking near the apex of the blade. Robert M. Tetrick II discovered similar plants in West Virginia, which he described as having "fronds much branched, the ultimate divisions crested" and named A. platyneuron f. multifidum. Taylor et al. compared the type of this form with Clute's illustration of f. furcatum and considered them to be the same. Wagner & Johnson noted that such forms were a frequent developmental error in many species of North American fern.

The formation of proliferating buds in ebony spleenwort has also given rise to a taxonomic distinction. Bud formation was first observed by the nurseryman Conrad Loddiges in 1817, in specimens in cultivation in Great Britain. However, the phenomenon was overlooked until 1879, when D. C. Eaton observed it in specimens from Florida. He took this for an aberrant variety, which he named A. ebeneum var. proliferum. Willard Clute reduced its status from a variety to a form, A. ebeneum f. proliferum, in 1906. Similar specimens were subsequently reported from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut; the buds appeared on the rachis of sterile fronds, and were often only detected when mounting the specimen. In 1924, Frederick G. Floyd argued that the formation of these proliferations was a normal characteristic of the species, which appeared regularly, if not universally, and did not warrant a varietal designation. He also observed the formation of proliferating buds on a fertile rachis of A. ebeneum var. serratum. Floyd's position was not universally accepted: Louise Tanger made a new combination for the form, A. platyneuron f. proliferum in 1933, and Taylor et al. recognized it in a discussion of infraspecific taxa in the species in 1976. However, these authors noted that specimens of A. platyneuron f. proliferum would be assigned to various other varieties if they were not proliferous. Wagner & Johnson, in 1981, declined to recognize the taxon on grounds similar to Floyd's, and Wagner's treatment in Flora of North America does not mention the form.

Hybrids
As part of the "Appalachian Asplenium complex", ebony spleenwort has been found to form hybrids with a number of other spleenworts. The hybrid with mountain spleenwort (A. montanum) has been collected only rarely, but on multiple occasions, this hybrid has undergone chromosome doubling to give rise to the fertile species known as Bradley's spleenwort (A. bradleyi). A backcross between A. bradleyi and A. platyneuron is believed to have been collected twice, from a now-destroyed site in Pennsylvania, and in a preliminary report from Sequatchie County, Tennessee. The hybrid with walking fern (A. rhizophyllum), known as Scott's spleenwort (A. × ebenoides), regularly appears where the two parent species grow together. At one locality, in Havana Glen, Alabama, A. × ebenoides has undergone chromosome doubling to produce a fertile species, Tutwiler's spleenwort (A. tutwilerae). The backcross between A. platyneuron and A. tutwilerae is known as Boydston's spleenwort (A. × boydstoniae), occurring in nature only with A. tutwilerae at Havana Glen. A. platyneuron is also known to hybridize with lobed spleenwort (A. pinnatifidum), a descendant of mountain spleenwort and walking fern, to produce the rare Kentucky spleenwort (A. × kentuckiense). Evidence for these hybridizations was obtained through cytological studies, chromatography, and allozyme electrophoresis.

Outside of the "Appalachian Asplenium complex", A. platyneuron can also hybridize with wall-rue (A. ruta-muraria), forming Morgan's spleenwort (A. × morganii), and with maidenhair spleenwort (A. trichomanes) to form Virginia spleenwort (A. × virginicum''). A. × morganii is known from one specimen, collected from a limestone cliff overlooking the Potomac River in Maryland, while A. × virginicum has been collected three times, from Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. A hybrid with Asian walking fern, A. ruprechtii, has been produced in cultivation and is informally known as A. × crucibuli in horticulture. It is similar to A. × ebenoides, but the frond is linear in shape, rather than being wider at the base.

Distribution and habitat
In North America, A. platyneuron is native throughout the eastern United States from southern Maine to the southeastern corner of Wisconsin, south to Florida and west to eastern Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas, and in the far southeast of Canada. It is also found around the meeting point of Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, and in isolated small populations in New Mexico, Arizona and the West Indies. Outside of North America, A. platyneuron is found in tropical and subtropical southern Africa, a distribution not known for any other North American fern. It ranges from the Western Cape province of South Africa northwards along the eastern seaboard to Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces, its distribution including Lesotho. An isolated population was found on serpentine soil in an oak woodland in Slovakia in 2009. Since the 1960s, A. platyneuron has spread rapidly and aggressively in the Great Lakes region, where it was formerly uncommon. Though widespread in southern Africa, it is not particularly abundant, and in that part of its range is most commonly found in Lesotho.

Asplenium platyneuron can be found in a wide variety of habitats, at altitudes from 0 to 1300 m. It will tolerate soils ranging from mediacid (pH 3.5–4.0) to subalkaline (pH 8.0–8.5), although it prefers subacid soils (pH 4.5–5.0) over mediacid. Unlike many other North American spleenworts, it can grow on soil as well as rock. When growing in soil, it can be found in forests and woodlands, including sandy pinelands, as well as old fields and other disturbed sites. It can colonize a variety of rocks, particularly (but not limited to) calcareous ones, and will also grow on mortared walls. In South Africa, it is generally found at altitudes over 600 meters (2,000 ft), in habitats similar to those it prefers in North America (under small bushes and on rocky banks). It typically occurs neither in full shade nor in full sun, but at the base of rocks in grasslands and at forest edges and in Leucosidea scrub.

Ecology and conservation
Protein extracts from A. platyneuron have been shown to deter insect predation on soybeans to a significant extent, and the Missouri Botanical Garden describes it as lacking "serious insect or disease problems". However, a population of several hundred individuals in Florida was reported to have been almost wiped out by insect activity. It is susceptible to slugs. The black fern aphid (Idiopterus nephrelepidis) can feed on it.

Sporophytes are fairly tolerant of drought, but require well-drained soils. The prothallia (gametophytes) of A. platyneuron can survive periods of drought for up to a month. There is some evidence to show that the prothallia may undergo clonal reproduction and fission, which has been induced in the laboratory through variations in light intensity.

A variety of adaptations make A. platyneuron an aggressive colonizer, even weedy, when compared with other spleenworts, although a warming climate and an increase in second growth habitats may also have played a role in its expansion in the Great Lakes region. It tolerates broad variation in soil conditions, including pH, and will grow in both sun and shade. The starchy stipe bases provide energy for rapid growth in the spring, allowing the fronds to keep ahead of competing vegetation. The erect fertile fronds, unusual for Asplenium, help release spores into the wind for long-distance dispersal, while the proliferative buds allow clonal propagation in moist, fertile habitats. The species also carries a very low genetic load, so that viable sporophytes can develop from intragametophytic self-fertilization with 83–89% success. This means that new sporophytes can usually grow from the gametophyte formed from a single spore. This has allowed ebony spleenwort to be an early colonizer, from distant locations, of recently disturbed habitats, such as coal spoils in southern Iowa. The appearance of A. platyneuron in a disturbed habitat in Slovakia, 6500 km from the nearest known sites in eastern North America, is probably the result of long-distance dispersal, which may also have allowed it to colonize and naturalize in South Africa.

While globally secure, ebony spleenwort is considered an endangered species in some of the states and provinces at the northern and western edges of its North American range. NatureServe considers it to be critically imperiled in Arizona and Colorado, imperiled in Nebraska, Maine, Rhode Island, and Quebec, and vulnerable in Minnesota.

Cultivation
The ebony spleenwort is sometimes grown as a terrarium or garden plant. It can be cultivated in sandy peat, subacid garden soil, other gravelly, sandy or gritty soils, or potting mix under moist to dry conditions. Both acid and alkaline soils are acceptable. Good drainage is essential, and the species will grow even in dry soil. Partial sun or low to high light is recommended, although full shade is tolerated. Plants are said to be easy to maintain once they have become established, but it has been described as "rather difficult" to grow in Germany. Conrad Loddiges found it necessary to use artificial heat to cultivate ebony spleenwort in Great Britain.

title: Asplenium platyneuron


text:
CPAP (disambiguation)

CPAP is continuous positive airway pressure, a form of positive airway pressure ventilator.

CPAP may also refer to:

 * Center for Public Administration and Policy, an academic department of Virginia Tech
 * Centrosomal P4.1-associated protein, a protein
 * Coalition for the Prevention of Alcohol Problems, a public advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.
 * Consecutive primes in arithmetic progression, a mathematical term relating to prime number series
 * C/PAP, a code for paper and cardboard/plastic/aluminum composite in recycling code #84

title: CPAP (disambiguation)


text:
Howard Kazanjian

Howard G. Kazanjian (born July 26, 1942) is an Armenian-American film producer best known for the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, as well as the Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. Kazanjian was an originating member of Lucasfilm, Ltd., serving as its vice president for approximately eight years (1977 to 1984).

Howard Kazanjian is a published non-fiction author, with a focus on the factual Old West of US history. In 2021, Kazanjian also published his well-received 340-page memoir Howard Kazanjian: A Producer's Life,  edited and compiled by prolific Star Wars historian J.W. Rinzler.

Early life
Kazanjian was born in Los Angeles County, California, and is of Armenian descent. He graduated from the University of Southern California. While there he first met a young George Lucas, and they became not only Delta Kappa Alpha cinema fraternity brothers but also long standing friends. They were members of a clique of filmmakers known to the Hollywood system and the university circuit as The Dirty Dozen. During those college years, Kazanjian and Lucas both met their respective future wives, and the couples would often double date.

Kazanjian's early credits include being First Assistant Director on Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot and Second Assistant Director on Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch. He later worked with director Robert Wise on his production of The Hindenburg. Kazanjian eventually moved into film production rather than directorial work. He later stated, "The films offered to me I don't want to direct. The films I want to direct are not offered."

Lucasfilm
As Lucasfilm's Vice President of Production, Howard Kazanjian was intimately involved in the day-to-day strategic and practical operations of Lucasfilm during the times immediately after the 1977 release of Star Wars until approximately 1984 or 1985.

Star Wars and Indiana Jones
Kazanjian is most notable for having served as executive producer on Raiders of the Lost Ark and producer on Return of the Jedi. He is also recognized as an uncredited producer on The Empire Strikes Back, replacing producer Gary Kurtz midway through the production. For Jedi he came up with the idea of shooting the production under a fake name, Blue Harvest, in order to forestall any attempts at price gouging by suppliers. Blue Harvest was purported to be a horror film with the tag line "horror beyond imagination". Hats and T-shirts were printed up for the crew to wear and to further add to the authenticity of the ruse.

During the casting of Raiders, Kazanjian heavily campaigned for Harrison Ford to be cast as Indiana Jones, to the point he almost lost his job over it. Jones was intended to be a smoker and a drinker, but Kazanjian convinced Lucas and Steven Spielberg to remove that. The scene where sunlight passing through the Headpiece to the Staff of Ra reveals the location of the Well of the Souls was proposed by Kazanjian, who was inspired by the golden statues of Ramesses II at the Abu Simbel temples in Egypt. The temple was positioned so that sunlight would penetrate the sanctuary and illuminate the statues once a year.

The issue of whether Ford would reprise his role of Han Solo for the third Star Wars film arose during pre-production. Kazanjian was responsible for getting him to return: "I played a very important part in bringing Harrison back for Return of the Jedi. Harrison, unlike Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill signed only a two picture contract. That is why he was frozen in carbonite in The Empire Strikes Back. When I suggested to George we should bring him back, I distinctly remember him saying that Harrison would never return. I said what if I convinced him to return. George simply replied that we would then write him in to Jedi. I had just recently negotiated his deal for Raiders of the Lost Ark with Phil Gersh of the Gersh Agency. I called Phil who said he would speak with Harrison. When I called back again, Phil was on vacation. David, his son, took the call and we negotiated Harrison's deal. When Phil returned to the office several weeks later he called me back and said I had taken advantage of his son in the negotiations. I had not. But agents are agents."

The ending scene of Return of the Jedi was originally only going to show the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, but two days before the scene was shot, Kazanjian suggested that the ghost of Anakin Skywalker appear as well.

Later years
Kazanjian has authored books with Chris Enss. In 2004, they collaborated on The Cowboy and the Senorita: A Biography of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans ISBN 0-7627-3053-6 and Happy Trails: A Pictorial Celebration of the Lives of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans ISBN 0-7627-3089-7; In 2006, The Young Duke: The Early Life of John Wayne ISBN 0-7627-3898-7; in 2009, Thunder over the Prairie: The True Story of a Murder and a Manhunt by the Greatest Posse of All Time ISBN 0-7627-4493-6.

He has been an instructor at "Act One", a group designed to train Christians entering into film and television, and was named by Beliefnet as one of the twelve most powerful Christians in Hollywood.

Kazanjian is an active member of the Armenian charity and cultural community, and a USC alumnus.

Since 1998 Kazanjian has been co-chairman and 50% shareholder of Tricor Entertainment, Inc, an independent production company, which owns and operates a 19,000+ seat theater chain in Southeast Asia and a film distribution company.

Personal life
Kazanjian lives and works in the community of San Marino, California with his wife Carol (née Eskijian), and three children, Peter, Noah, and Andrew.

Kazanjian and George Lucas remain close friends to this day.

Filmography
He was producer for all films unless otherwise noted.

Film

 * Second unit director or assistant director

 * Miscellaneous crew

 * Thanks

 * As an actor

Television

 * Second unit director or assistant director

Awards and honors

 * 1982 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series or Special for The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark
 * 1982 Inkpot Award winner
 * 2009 Briner Impact Award
 * On June 8, 2009, Howard Kazanjian was deputized as an Honorary Marshal of Dodge City, Kansas.

title: Howard Kazanjian


text:
Talk:Milnes

Original research
The original of this page was adapted from an original web page written by me and first published on my own web site in 1996 or '97. I confirm that I used various sources to obtain my information, including some earlier text I had written up on border clans in the 1980s. I am almost certain that every single sentence would be in my own wording. That part of another page not only contains similar information but has some sentences that are exactly the same text is no indication that I have lifted it from that site but is an indication of the opposite, though I suspect that www.sprowltek.com probably lifted the information from some other source which was based upon my own work, either of the 1980s or the version I published on the Internet. I am content that extracts of my work are effectively now in the public domain. --Douglas Milnes 01:13, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Whether this information is or is not in the public domain is not really the problem. The problem is that this article is about a family history, and that is not the purpose of Wikipedia. RickK 01:40, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Deletion policy discussion
There is a proposal to create a precedent that names are not encyclopedic. Articles about names regularly show up on various deletion pages and are summarily deleted. Perhaps - since you've been working on an article about a name, you hold a different opinion that you'd like to express. Please do: Deletion policy/names and surnames SchmuckyTheCat 17:05, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

title: Talk:Milnes