text:
Roger Abbott

Roger Abbott (July 10, 1946 – March 26, 2011) was an English-born Canadian sketch comedian who was a founding member of the long-lived Canadian comedy troupe Royal Canadian Air Farce, and remained one of its stars and writers until his death.

Early life
Abbott was born in Birkenhead, England; at age 7, he and his family moved to Montreal. While attending Loyola High School, he met Don Ferguson, who would become a co-star of Royal Canadian Air Farce. After graduation in 1963, he attended Loyola College (now Concordia University).

Career
Abbott began his career in behind-the-scene jobs in radio. In 1970, comedians John Morgan and Martin Bronstein, who were looking for non-actors who could write and perform their own material, convinced Abbott to join the cast of an improvisational theatre revue called The Jest Society (a pun on then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's famous goal of making Canada a "Just Society"). After a number of personnel changes, the troupe — now consisting of Abbott, Morgan, Bronstein, Don Ferguson, Luba Goy and Dave Broadfoot— became known as the Royal Canadian Air Farce. On December 9, 1973, they began a weekly broadcast on CBC radio in front of a live audience at the CBC's Parliament Street studio in Toronto. Abbott quickly showed his organizational abilities — Don Ferguson called him "the guiding light of Royal Canadian Air Farce" and "a combination of artistic, organizational and business talent". Abbott also became the "warm-up man" for the weekly broadcasts, chatting to the audience before introducing the rest of the cast. Abbott said the greatest influences on his style of comedy were Dave Broadfoot and the British comedy troupe Monty Python. Bronstein left the troupe the following year —the remaining members became the ongoing cast of Royal Canadian Air Farce for many years.

Air Farce branched into television in 1980 with a 10-week series of television shows for CBC, although they continued to produce their weekly radio show. About the same time, the producers of the American sitcom Taxi offered Abbott and Ferguson a chance to be writers on the show, but they turned the offer down.

In 1989, Abbott directed Huge Jumbo Comedy Thing, a show starring a troupe called the Maroons that CHOM-FM described as "Canada's answer to Monty Python".

For many years, Abbott and Don Ferguson co-hosted the annual televised Easter Seals Telethon.

In 1992, Royal Canadian Air Farce returned to television, this time as a weekly series, although the weekly radio series also continued to be produced until 1997. Abbott became well known for many roles on the television show, including parodies of Jean Chrétien, The Queen Mother, Yasser Arafat, Leonard Cohen, George W. Bush, Brian Williams, Peter Mansbridge, Don Newman, Craig Oliver, and "Native Persons Spokesman" Billy Two-Willies.

The title of the television show changed several times, first shortened to Air Farce, then to Air Farce Live, and in its final season (2008–2009), Air Farce Live—The Final Flight. Air Farce continued to produce occasional specials for CBC, and Abbott's last appearance on Air Farce was their New Year's Eve special that aired on December 31, 2010.

Death
Abbott was diagnosed with the progressive disease chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 1997, but only shared this fact with family and close friends. After a 14-year battle, he succumbed to leukemia on March 26, 2011, at Toronto General Hospital at the age of 64.

Tributes

 * A video tribute to Abbott from his friends and colleagues at Royal Canadian Air Farce was posted on YouTube on March 27, 2011.
 * An hour-long tribute to Abbott, featuring many of his memorable sketches, aired on CBC Television on March 29, 2011.
 * A memorial service entitled "Roger's Wrap Party" was held in Toronto on April 11, 2011. Speakers included Jessica Holmes, Dave Broadfoot, Vicki Gabereau, Luba Goy, and Don Ferguson.
 * The Air Farce New Years Day special was dedicated to the memory of Roger Abbott. A small segment was shown with the donut foursome sitting at the table with the also late John Morgan.  At the end of the special, the message "Dedicated to the Memory of Roger Abbott" appeared on screen.
 * In the episode 10, season 8 of The Big Bang Theory series that aired on November 20, 2014, the main characters go through the notes of a deceased professor called Roger Abbott.

Awards

 * Gemini Humanitarian Award
 * Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement
 * 15 ACTRA Awards
 * a Juno Award
 * a star on the Canada's Walk of Fame
 * Honorary doctor of laws, Brock University, 1993

title: Roger Abbott


text:
User talk:Prichardson

Welcome
Hello, welcome to Wikipedia.

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Again, welcome! - UtherSRG 15:14, 17 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Sir Clive's oversight
Heh, regarding the lack of a much-needed reset button on the Speccy: its main competitor, the C64, didn't have one either, as you probably know. One is led to wonder if there was some secret masonic agreement between home computer makers and electronics repair shops... :-) --Wernher 23:17, 17 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Re: Bio
Er, no I'm not that worried really. All the information on there is available elsewhere in the public domain and in order to properly steal my identity so that they won't get caught there are certain bits of info about me they would need that are not listed. I'm well aware of the risk, and actually the bigger risk is any of my clients from work seeing the page but I'm prepared for that too... -- Graham :) | Talk 16:53, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Hi :) You may want to list speedy delete candidates also at Speedy deletions. Thanks Dysprosia 10:26, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * Computer mouse, for example :) Dysprosia 10:29, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

 * Done well :) (I don't really like this Speedy deletions system, but it does sort of work). Dysprosia 11:12, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Re: PAG
I was intrigued to find out the real history behind Lincoln's departure from the PAG. If you have a general interest in cars, you are welcome to join WikiProject Automobiles. We always need more input and new ideas! Cheers. akaDruid 10:08, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

When writing articles about British/European Ford vehicles, you might want to mention pretty early on that you're talking Ford of Britain / Europe. With Ford being an multinational company and their habit of using the same names in different markets for different cars, it could get a little confusing. —Morven 14:24, 12 Apr 2004 (UTC)

 * Good point, I'll keep that in mind, thanks! --Pete Richardson 10:58, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Hydropneumatic
I added a comment at Talk:Hydropneumatic. Mackerm 13:22, May 26, 2004 (UTC)

Request for Review
Hello Peter,

A while back you expressed concerns about the article on Ashida Kim being libel because of being highly POV and one-sided. I've made some changes to the article to try to correct this, and I would appreciate if you'd review these and let me know what you think. Some notes on my work can be found on Talk:Ashida Kim. This is the first real editing I've done on Wikipedia, so I'd appreciate any feedback and recommendations for improvement.

Thanks,

Aesopian 14:03, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Matthew Sweet
Hi, I noticed that this article seemed to be rather fawning of him, reading like a publicity text. I'm not sure if you wrote it yourself, or copied it from somewhere, but please try to remember NPOV -- that encyclopedia articles are not supposed to sound like they're written by a major fan or someone who dislikes the topic being discussed. I've edited that article for tone. --Improv 16:21, 29 Sep 2004 (UTC)
 * Good point - as a fan it can be difficult to write non-pov! And yes, it was my own.. Thanks! --Pete Richardson 14:51, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

Important WikiProject Automobiles Discussion
Hello! As a WikiProject Automobiles member, I just thought you might want to input your opinions on an important discussion we're currently having about whether articles regarding similar vehicles should be merged into one or split by brand. If you would like to comment or read further, please see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Automobiles. Thank you in advance for your thoughts and feedback. Airline 23:48, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Wikiproject Automobiles Notification
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If you no longer wish to be a member of the project, simply don't add the userbox or category, there's no pressure. Thanks for your time, James086Talk 04:17, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

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

title: User talk:Prichardson


text:
Don Ferguson (actor)

Don Ferguson (born May 30, 1946) is a Canadian actor, writer, and producer and is one of the stars of the Royal Canadian Air Farce. He and Dave Broadfoot were the only Canadian-born original cast members of Air Farce. In 1998, Ferguson and the original Air Farce cast of Roger Abbott, Luba Goy, and John Morgan received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.

His many Air Farce roles included parodies of Paul Martin, Pierre Trudeau, Ron MacLean, Jack Layton, Joe Clark, Preston Manning, Stockwell Day, Rex Murphy, Lucien Bouchard, Bill Clinton, Brian Mulroney, Vladimir Putin, Bob Dylan, and Keith Richards. Many of these portrayals involve Ferguson as the 'straight man' to the more eccentric personalities played by Roger Abbott.

Don Ferguson is a graduate from Loyola High School, Loyola College, (now Concordia University), in Montreal, with an Honours English degree, and afterward worked in radio and as an audio-visual producer and photographer until he discovered that he preferred comedy writing and performing. He has written and directed documentary programs for CBC, a science-fantasy series for radio (″Johnny Chase″), a political farce for the stage, ("Skin Deep"), and a stage drama about the World War II raid of Dieppe.

Ferguson starred in the 2004 situation comedy pilot XPM. Ferguson is the owner and executive producer of Don Ferguson Productions. In 2012 he produced Comedy Bar, a sketch comedy series for Bite TV. He previously produced a similar series, SketchCom, in the late 1990s. Ferguson was also a producer on the various Air Farce television series since 2004 and has been the executive producer of the annual Air Farce New Year's Eve specials since 2010.

title: Don Ferguson (actor)


text:
Kahoku, Ishikawa

Kahoku (かほく市) is a city located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 35,188 in 12787 households, and a population density of 550 persons per km2. The total area of the city was 64.44 sqkm.

Geography
Kahoku is located in central Ishikawa Prefecture. It is approximately 20 km north of the capital of, Kanazawa, or thirty minutes by train. Kahoku lies between the Sea of Japan to the west, the town of Hōdatsushimizu to the north, the town of Tsubata to the east and the town of Uchinada to the south. Geographically from the east to west, Kahoku is composed of a mountainous region, a hilly region, a terrace region, a lowland region and then a coastal region. In the northern part of town the Ōmi River flows into the Sea of Japan and in the southern area, the Unoke River flows into the Kahoku Lagoon which marks the southernmost part of Kahoku.

Neighbouring municipalities

 * Ishikawa Prefecture
 * Tsubata
 * Uchinada
 * Hōdatsushimizu

Climate
Kahoku has a humid continental climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by mild summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kahoku is 14.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2500 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.9 °C.

Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Kahoku has remained steady over the past 40 years.

History
The area around Kahoku was mostly part of ancient Kaga Province, with a small portion of its northern area in Noto Province. The area became part Kaga Domain under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate. Following the Meiji restoration, the area was organised into Kahoku District, Ishikawa. The villages of Takamatsu, Nanatsuka and Unoke were established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Takamatsu was raised to town status on August 1, 1922, Nanatsuka on February 11, 1940, and Unoke on February 11, 1948. The three towns merged on March 1, 2004, to form the city of Kahoku.

Government
Kahoku has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 18 members.

Economy
The local economy of Kahoku is dominated by agriculture.

Education
Kahoku has six public elementary schools and three middle schools operated by the city government; however, the city does not have a high school. The Ishikawa Prefectural Nursing University is also located in Kahoku.

Junior high schools

 * Unoke Junior High School
 * Kahokudai Junior High School
 * Takamatsu Junior High School

Elementary schools

 * Unoke Elementary School
 * Kanazu Elementary School
 * Takamatsu Elementary School
 * Ōmi Elementary school
 * Nanatsuka Elementary school
 * Sotohisumi Elementary school

Railway
West Japan Railway Company - Nanao Line
 * Unoke - Yokoyama - Takamatsu

Twin towns – sister cities
Kahoku is twinned with:
 * 🇩🇪 Meßkirch, Germany (1985)

Local attractions

 * Kamiyamada Shell Mound, a National Historic Site

Mascot
Kahoku's mascot is Nyantaro (にゃんたろう), a 5-year-old cat. His birthday is 28 May. He ends his sentences with the Japanese onomatopoeia for "meow".

Notable people from Kahoku

 * Kitaro Nishida, philosopher

title: Kahoku, Ishikawa


text:
Luba Goy

Luba Goy (Люба Ґой; born November 8, 1945) is a Canadian actress, comedian and one of the stars of Royal Canadian Air Farce.

Life and career
Goy was born in Haltern, Germany, to Ukrainian parents and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They immigrated to Canada in 1951. She is a graduate of the Glebe Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, Ontario. In 1969, she graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada, then went on to act in theatre productions in Stratford, Ontario. In 1971, she joined "The Jest Society", a comedy troupe, which evolved into the Royal Canadian Air Farce in 1973. In the early 1980s, she starred (as herself, alongside Billy Van) in an educational series on computers called Bits and Bytes. Produced by TVOntario, the show was aired by PBS stations in the United States.

Later that decade, she played Lotsa Heart Elephant, Treat Heart Pig and Gentle Heart Lamb in Nelvana's animated Care Bears franchise. As part of the Air Farce team, Goy has won 15 ACTRA awards, a Juno, the Maclean's Honour Roll, and was among the first Canadians to be inducted into the International Humour Hall of Fame. In 1993, Goy and her Air Farce cast members received Honorary Doctor of Law degrees from Brock University. In 1996, Goy received the Outstanding Achievement Award from Women in Film and Television. In 1998, Goy, along with her Air Farce colleagues, received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, Canada's highest honour in the performing arts.

She has also done voices for various animated TV series featuring The Elephant Show, Babar, AlfTales, My Pet Monster, Sylvanian Families, Tales from the Cryptkeeper, The Rosey and Buddy Show, Rupert, The New Archies, Little Shop, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, and Wild C.A.T.s.

Within the Ukrainian Canadian community she occasionally has comedy performances that highlight her Ukrainian heritage. One such example was her involvement in 1999 with the Ukrainian pavilion at Folklorama, a cultural festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She speaks Ukrainian fluently. Goy's film roles have included an 18th-century innkeeper in the Ukrainian film Vid'ma (Відьма, Witch), filmed in 1990 in Kyiv.

In 2011, she performed at the Toronto Ukrainian Festival. In May 2012 Goy debuted her one-person show Luba, Simply Luba at the Berkeley Street Theatre, Toronto. Goy has performed at the Riverdale Share concerts at the Danforth Music Hall and St Barnabas Church.

Characters portrayed by Goy
List is Incomplete
 * Yoko Ono
 * Ann Medina
 * Hillary Clinton
 * Anne McLellan
 * Rita MacNeil
 * Ethel Blondin-Andrew
 * Barbra Streisand
 * Wendy Mesley
 * Elizabeth II
 * Alexa McDonough
 * Pamela Wallin
 * Sheila Copps
 * Adrienne Clarkson
 * Elizabeth Taylor
 * Laura Bush
 * Bev Oda
 * Bobbie Battista
 * Margaret Atwood
 * Elizabeth May
 * Martha Stewart
 * Suze Orman
 * Lorena Bobbitt
 * Kim Campbell
 * Madeleine Albright
 * Sharon Carstairs
 * Donald Duck
 * Anita Sarkeesian
 * John Leguizamo
 * Theresa May
 * Bif Naked
 * Eva Braun

She also provided voices for the animated Care Bears characters Lotsa Heart Elephant, Treat Heart Pig and Gentle Heart Lamb.

title: Luba Goy


text:
Edmund Sylvers

Edmund Theodore Sylvers (January 25, 1957 – March 11, 2004) was an American singer–songwriter, actor and musician. Sylvers was best known as the lead singer of the American family disco/soul music vocal group The Sylvers, which had popular success with songs such as "Boogie Fever" during the mid- to late-1970s.

Biography
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Los Angeles, California, Sylvers was the fifth child born to Shirley Mae (née Wyble) (1932 – 2014) and Leon Frank Sylvers Jr. (1932 – 2005). At the age of 14, he began his entertainment career as a voice actor playing the role of Marlon Jackson on the ABC–TV cartoon series The Jackson 5ive. After the series ended when he was 15, Sylvers joined his family-based group as the lead singer, and he was 18 in 1975 when he sang lead on the group's biggest hit, "Boogie Fever". After the group's success passed, Sylvers embarked on a solo career, releasing his debut Have You Heard in 1980.

Personal life
Sylvers dated singer Freda Payne (who was 15 years his senior) from 1979 until January 1983. Sylvers had 11 children, one of whom is actor Jeremy Sylvers, who is most known for his role in the 1991 horror film Child's Play 3. After a ten-month battle with lung cancer, Edmund Sylvers died at a Virginia hospital on March 11, 2004, at age 47.

title: Edmund Sylvers


text:
Jessica Holmes

Jessica Holmes (born August 29, 1973) is a Canadian comedian and actress. She is best known for her work with the Royal Canadian Air Farce, which she joined in 2003, after starring in her own show, The Holmes Show in 2002. She is married to actor Scott Yaphe.

Holmes attended Canterbury High School in Ottawa followed by Ryerson University in Toronto.

For one season, Holmes hosted her own show, The Holmes Show. She also appeared on XPM and History Bites.

Holmes is the daughter of a feminist mother and a Mormon father. She joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) at age 19; beginning at age 21, for 18 months she was a Mormon missionary in Venezuela. She is no longer a member of the LDS Church. In her comedy, she parodies right wing Christian fundamentalists through her character, Candy Anderson Henderson. She also parodies this by appearing as Sister Bessy, a nun with a thick Scottish accent who comments on politics.

On both The Holmes Show and Air Farce, she has performed caricatures of various celebrities, including Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Liza Minnelli, Myriam Bédard, Belinda Stronach, Geri Halliwell, Britney Spears, Tim Allen, Jim Carrey and others.

Jessica and Scott have 2 children. Penelope Corrin was her fill-in on Air Farce during Jessica's first maternity leave during the first two months of 2007. She returned to the show in March 2007. Holmes took her second leave during the first few episodes of Air Farce's last season in October 2008, as she gave birth to her second child.

Air Farce left the air as a regular show as of December 2008. Though the show has broadcast an annual reunion special every year since, Holmes has only participated in the 2010 and 2016 reunion special.

In 2010, she published a memoir entitled I Love Your Laugh: Finding the Light in My Screwball Life.

Holmes has appeared in a number of Ross Petty's annual Christmas pantomime family musicals at the Toronto's Elgin Theatre.

She received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Lead Performance in a Web Program or Series at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022, for her role in The Communist's Daughter.

title: Jessica Holmes


text:
Monophthong

A monophthong is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at only beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation. The monophthongs can be contrasted with diphthongs, where the vowel quality changes within the same syllable, and hiatus, where two vowels are next to each other in different syllables. A vowel sound whose quality does not change over the duration of the vowel is called a pure vowel.

Sound changes
The conversions of monophthongs to diphthongs (diphthongization), and of diphthongs to monophthongs (monophthongization), are major elements of language change and are likely the cause of further changes.

In some languages, due to monophthongization, graphemes that originally represented diphthongs now represent monophthongs.

title: Monophthong


text:
ABET

ABET, also known as The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc., is a non-governmental accreditation organization for post-secondary programs in engineering, engineering technology, computing, and applied and natural sciences.

As of October 2023, ABET has accredited 4,674 programs across 920 organizations in 42 countries. ABET also accredits online educational programs.

History
In 1932, ABET was established as the American Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD). The organization evaluated its first engineering program in 1936, and by 1947, 580 programs had been accredited across 133 institutions.

In 1980, the ECPD changed its name to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. In 1985, the organization helped establish the Computing Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB), one of ABET's largest member societies with over 300 programs.

Accreditation process
The request for ABET accreditation is initiated by the institution seeking accreditation. Accreditation is given to individual programs rather than to the institution as a whole. Re-evaluation is required every six years. Programs with no previous accreditation can request accreditation if they have produced at least one program graduate.

Each program is assigned to one of four accreditation commissions within ABET based on the title. Each commission has different accreditation criteria:

Programs conduct an internal evaluation and complete a self-study report documenting how well the program is meeting established accreditation criteria.
 * Applied and Natural Science Accreditation Commission (ANSAC)
 * Computing Accreditation Commission (CAC)
 * Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC)
 * Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC)

The appropriate ABET commission appoints a team chair to lead the on-campus evaluation visit. The team chair and program evaluators (typically one per program requesting accreditation) are made up of volunteers from academia, government, industry, and private practice. During the visit to the institution, the evaluation team reviews program course materials and interacts with students and faculty, culminating in an exit interview with the dean. Following the team's visit, the institution is given 7 days to address any topics communicated during the exit interview. ABET provides an evaluation statement to the institution, who is given 30 more days to respond to any additional issues

Criteria
ABET specifies the minimum curriculum requirements for various engineering programs, including a capstone project and a design class. Because of the organization's involvement, engineering curricula are somewhat standardized across the bachelor's level.

Members
ABET is a federation of the following professional and technical member societies representing the fields of applied science, computing, engineering and engineering technology:
 * American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists (AAEES)
 * American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA)
 * American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
 * American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
 * American Nuclear Society (ANS)
 * American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE)
 * American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
 * American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE)
 * American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers (ASHRAE)
 * American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
 * American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP)
 * American Welding Society (AWS)
 * Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI)
 * Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES)
 * Construction Management Association of America (CMAA)
 * Computing Sciences Accreditation Board (CSAB)
 * Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
 * Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE)
 * International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)
 * International Society of Automation (ISA)
 * Materials Research Society (MRS)
 * National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES)
 * National Institute of Ceramic Engineers (NICE) of the American Ceramic Society (ACerS)
 * National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE)
 * National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS)
 * SAE International
 * Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE)
 * Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME)
 * Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME)
 * Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME)
 * Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)
 * Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
 * Society of Women Engineers (SWE)
 * The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS)
 * Women in Engineering Proactive Network (WEPAN)

EC 2000
For most of its history, ABET's accreditation criteria specifically outlined the major elements that accredited engineering programs must have, including the program curricula, the faculty type and the facilities. However, in the mid-1990s, the engineering community began to question the appropriateness of such rigid accreditation requirements.

After intense discussion, in 1997, ABET adopted Engineering Criteria 2000 (EC2000). The EC2000 criteria shifted the focus away from the inputs (what material is taught) and to the outputs (what students learned). EC2000 stresses continuous improvement and accounts for specific missions and goals of the individual institutions and programs. The intention of this approach was to enable innovation in engineering programs rather than forcing all programs to conform to a standard, as well as to encourage new assessment processes and program improvements.

ISO 9000:2015
ABET- Accreditation is certified by the International Organization for Standardization. ISO 9000 family of quality management systems standards is designed to help organizations ensure that they meet the needs of customers and other stakeholders while meeting statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service.

International recognition
ABET's accreditation process is recognized by these international entities:

Miscellaneous
To become a licensed professional engineer, one common prerequisite is graduation from an Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET-accredited program. Requirements for professional engineer testing for EAC accredited programs vary from state to state.

The Engineering Credential Evaluation International (ECEI) was established in 1997 as the credential evaluation service of ABET. ECEI specialized in the evaluation of degrees in engineering, engineering technology, computer science and surveying from outside the U.S. As of October 30, 2006, ECEI stopped accepting applications for credentials evaluation; a business decision made by the ABET board of directors.

title: ABET


text:
Committee for Non-Violent Action

The Committee for Non-Violent Action (CNVA) was an American anti-war group, formed in 1957 to resist the US government's program of nuclear weapons testing. It was one of the first organizations to employ nonviolent direct action to protest against the nuclear arms race.

The CNVA's immediate antecedent, a committee known as Non-Violent Action Against Nuclear Weapons, was formed by radical Quaker Lawrence Scott. Other leaders of the CNVA included A.J. Muste, Albert Bigelow, Bayard Rustin and George Willoughby.

History
In August 1957, members of the CNVA were arrested when they attempted to enter the Camp Mercury nuclear testing grounds near Las Vegas, Nevada. In February 1958, Albert Bigelow and the crew of the Golden Rule were intercepted by the US Coast Guard five nautical miles (9 km) from Honolulu, Hawaii, as they attempted to sail their vessel into the Eniwetok Proving Grounds, the US test site in the Marshall Islands. Two further attempts to defy a hastily enacted regulation banning US citizens from sailing to the test site led to the arrest and 60-day imprisonment of the crew.

The voyage of the Golden Rule inspired anthropologist Earle L. Reynolds and his family to undertake a similar journey, and on 1 July 1958, their yacht, Phoenix of Hiroshima, entered the test zone at Bikini Atoll. The Phoenix penetrated 65 nmi into the test area before the vessel was boarded by the Coast Guard and ordered to sail to Kwajalein atoll, where Reynolds was charged with violating the Atomic Energy Commission's new regulation.

In 1958, a CNVA group from Philadelphia travelled to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to raise consciousness and to convince locals to oppose the construction of Atlas missile sites at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base.

In 1959, CNVA sponsored protests at the construction site of an intercontinental ballistic missile near Omaha, Nebraska. Around 15 protestors, including A.J. Muste and Karl H. Meyer, the son of Vermont Senator William Meyer, were arrested and handcuffed as they climbed the fence to invade the site. They were each sentenced to six months in jail. In 1960, the group co-ordinated nonviolent protests against construction of the nuclear weapons equipped Polaris submarine in New London, Connecticut.

During the early 1960s, the CNVA organised two 'Walks for Peace', including a 6000 mi march from San Francisco to Moscow, during which the walkers called on the governments of the world to disarm. During a Walk for Peace from Quebec to Cuba, via Washington, D.C., walkers were attacked and jailed as black and white activists walked together through Macon, Georgia. Both walks were led by peace activist Bradford Lyttle.

In 1962, the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC) on the Eastern shore of Maryland led protests in their city that led to the declaration of Martial Law. On July 23, the Kennedy Administration intervened, negotiating an agreement with the city for, among other things, the complete desegregation of public schools and public accommodations.

In the mid-1960s, CNVA began to focus on the Vietnam War. Activists traveled to Hanoi in Vietnam and picketed the US embassy, and the CNVA advocated tax refusal as a method of resistance.

In 1968, after the 1967 death of leader A.J. Muste, the CNVA merged with the pacifist War Resisters League.

Legacy
While never a mass-membership organization, the CNVA's pioneering use of nonviolent direct action would have a significant influence on movements to follow. In particular, it was the example set by the voyages of the Golden Rule and the Phoenix that would inspire the first Greenpeace activists to use similar methods in their campaigns to halt nuclear testing at the island of Amchitka, Alaska, and at Muraroa Atoll in the Pacific.

title: Committee for Non-Violent Action


text:
Clonogenic assay

A clonogenic assay is a cell biology technique for studying the effectiveness of specific agents on the survival and proliferation of cells. It is frequently used in cancer research laboratories to determine the effect of drugs or radiation on proliferating tumor cells as well as for titration of Cell-killing Particles (CKPs) in virus stocks. It was first developed by T.T. Puck and Philip I. Marcus at the University of Colorado in 1955.

Although this technique can provide accurate results, the assay is time-consuming to set up and analyze and can only provide data on tumor cells that can grow in culture. The word "clonogenic" refers to the fact that these cells are clones of one another.

Procedure
The experiment involves three major steps:

 * 1) The treatment is applied to a sample of cells.
 * 2) The cells are "plated" in a tissue culture vessel and allowed to grow.
 * 3) The colonies produced are fixed, stained, and counted.

At the conclusion of the experiment, the percentage of cells that survived the treatment is measured. A graphical representation of survival versus drug concentration or dose of ionizing radiation is called a cell survival curve.

For Cell-killing Particle assays, the surviving fraction of cells is used to approximate the Poisson Distribution of virus particles amongst cells and therefore determine the number of CKPs encountered by each cell.

Any type of cell could be used in an experiment, but since the goal of these experiments in oncological research is the discovery of more effective cancer treatments, human tumor cells are a typical choice. The cells either come from prepared "cell lines," which have been well-studied and whose general characteristics are known, or from a biopsy of a tumor in a patient. The cells are put in petri dishes or in plates which contain several circular "wells." Particular numbers of cells are plated depending on the experiment; for an experiment involving irradiation it is usual to plate larger numbers of cells with increasing dose of radiation. For example, at a dose of 0 or 1 gray of radiation, 500 cells might be plated, but at 4 or 5 gray, 2500 might be plated, since very large numbers of cells are killed at this level of radiation and the effects of the specific treatment would be unobservable.

Counting the cell colonies is usually done under a microscope and is quite tedious. Recently, machines have been developed that use algorithms to analyse images. These are either captured by an image scanner or an automated microscope that can completely automate the counting process. One such automated machine works by accepting certain types of cell plates through a slot (not unlike a CD player), taking a photograph, and uploading it to a computer for immediate analysis. Reliable counts are available in seconds.

Variables
The treatment is usually a drug, ionizing radiation, or a combination of the two. Some current research studies the potentiation of drug effects by concurrent irradiation—a synergistic effect—and in this situation two groups are studied: a control group, which is not treated with the drug; and a treatment group, which is treated with the drug. Both groups are irradiated. If the slopes of their survival curves differ significantly, then a potentiating effect may be evident and could be studied further. Since many tumor cells won't grow colonies in culture, cell proliferation assay, which has a satisfactory accuracy reportedly in measuring synergistic effects between ionizing radiation and drugs, may be used as a surrogate

A thorough discussion of the promising research being conducted with the aid of this technique is beyond the scope of this text, but some studies involve the effect of the expression of particular genes or receptors on the cell, the responses of different cell types, or synergistic effects of multiple drugs.

title: Clonogenic assay


text:
Erythema

Erythema (from Greek 'red') is redness of the skin or mucous membranes, caused by hyperemia (increased blood flow) in superficial capillaries. It occurs with any skin injury, infection, or inflammation. Examples of erythema not associated with pathology include nervous blushes.

Types

 * Erythema ab igne
 * Erythema chronicum migrans
 * Erythema induratum
 * Erythema infectiosum (or fifth disease)
 * Erythema marginatum
 * Erythema migrans
 * Erythema multiforme (EM)
 * Erythema nodosum
 * Erythema toxicum
 * Erythema elevatum diutinum
 * Erythema gyratum repens
 * Keratolytic winter erythema
 * Palmar erythema

Causes
It can be caused by infection, massage, electrical treatment, acne medication, allergies, exercise, solar radiation (sunburn), photosensitization, acute radiation syndrome, mercury toxicity, blister agents, niacin administration, or waxing and tweezing of the hairs—any of which can cause the capillaries to dilate, resulting in redness. Erythema is a common side effect of radiotherapy treatment due to patient exposure to ionizing radiation.

Diagnosis
Erythema disappears on finger pressure (blanching), whereas purpura or bleeding in the skin and pigmentation do not. There is no temperature elevation, unless it is associated with the dilation of arteries in the deeper layer of the skin.

title: Erythema


text: User talk:69.105.104.249

title: User talk:69.105.104.249


text:
Bill Skowron

William Joseph Skowron (December 18, 1930 – April 27, 2012), nicknamed "Moose", was an American professional baseball first baseman. He played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1954 to 1967 for the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, and California Angels. He was an eight-time All-Star and a five-time World Series champion.

Skowron had been a community relations representative for the Chicago White Sox for several years when he died in 2012.

Early years
Skowron was born in Chicago, Illinois, and was of Polish descent. His father was a city garbage collector. One day his grandfather gave the seven-year-old Skowron a haircut resembling that of Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini. His friends jokingly calling him "Mussolini", which his family shortened to "Moose." The name stuck throughout his career.

Skowron attended Weber High School in Chicago, then went to Purdue University in Indiana, where he was a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. Though Skowron went to the school on a football scholarship, he found himself better suited to baseball, hitting .500 as a sophomore in 1950, a record in the Big Ten Conference that lasted ten years.

Professional baseball career
Following his sophomore year at Purdue, Skowron was signed to play baseball for the Austin (MN) Packers in the Southern Minny League (Class AA-level town-team baseball). He hit .343 for the Packers in 23 games. He also displayed his power with a three home run game against the Rochester Royals. He did so well in Austin that the Yankees made a contract offer.

Major leagues
Skowron signed with the New York Yankees in September as an amateur free agent by Yankees scout Lou Maguolo. He played his first game for the Yankees on April 13,. In the beginning, he was platooned at first base with Joe Collins, but from on he became the Yankees' full-time first baseman. He played in seven American League (AL) All-Star games as a Yankee:, , twice in , twice in , and (two All-Star Games were played in 1959 through 1962).

After batting .270 with 23 home runs and with Joe Pepitone ready to succeed him as the starting first baseman, Skowron was traded from the Yankees to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Stan Williams at the Winter Meetings on November 26,. Although he floundered against National League pitching the next season, batting just .203 in 237 at bats with four homers, he stunned his former team in the 1963 World Series, leading the Dodgers with a .385 average and a home run, as Los Angeles swept New York in four straight games. As a result, Skowron become one of few players in MLB history to have won back-to-back Series championships with different teams.

On December 6,, he returned to the AL when he was purchased from the Dodgers by the Washington Senators. On July 13,, he was traded by the Senators to the Chicago White Sox. In, he played in his eighth All-Star Game. On May 6,, he was traded by the White Sox to the California Angels. He was released by the Angels on October 9,.

He played in a total of 1,478 major-league games, all but 15 as a first baseman. (He was in 13 games as a third baseman, and two as a second baseman.)

Skowron made the last out of the 1957 World Series, but the following year he knocked in the winning run in game six of the 1958 World Series. Skowron also hit a three-run home run in game seven to propel the Yankees to a World Series win, and a comeback from a 3-1 series deficit. He also scored the only run in game seven of the 1962 World Series against the San Francisco Giants, on a double play grounder by Tony Kubek.

In total, Skowron played on eight World Series teams, on the winning side five times: Seven World Series with the Yankees, winning four rings, 1956, 58, 61 and 62; and won with Dodgers in 1963 against the Yankees.

Skowron was a consistently good hitter throughout most of his career, and more than held his own in World Series play, batting .293, with 8 homers, 29 RBIs, and a .519 slugging percentage in eight World Series.

Skowron was once a playful target of his friend, Yankee pitcher Fritz Peterson. A known practical joker, Peterson was reportedly popular with his teammates, entertaining them with his elaborate jokes. He once used a fake Baseball Hall of Fame letterhead to ask Skowron to donate his pacemaker after he died.

Personal life
Skowron met and married Virginia Hulquist while he was playing for the Austin, MN Packers. During his time with the Yankees, he resided in Hillsdale, New Jersey. In 1963, he appeared as himself in the Mister Ed episode "Leo Durocher Meets Mister Ed".

He was inducted into the National Polish-American Hall of Fame in 1980 while living in Schaumburg, Illinois. In 1999, he became a community relations representative for the Chicago White Sox, holding the job through his passing in 2012.

Skowron died at age 81 on April 27, 2012, in Arlington Heights, Illinois, of congestive heart failure following a long battle with lung cancer.

title: Bill Skowron


text:
Talk:Mob rule

Untitled
I'm not an expert on this topic, but this article seems to imply a very spefic sense of "mob rule" (cf. the Tianmen paragraph). I put a POV message on top, in the hope that someone with more knowledge wants to sort this article out a bit. -- till we *) 15:49, 17 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * Did you have a complaint about the original point of view, that described the government's battle to regain its capitol city as "slaughter"? That description does not seem to align with typical military science documents describing the likelihood of high-casualties among both parties in any urban combat situation, and it tends to mirror a point of view broadcast in the first hours of the PLA's action, which were quickly repudiated when accurate accounts of the battle were available. For better or worse, the myth of a massacre in the square, or of a "slaughter," is often repeated without comparison to similar actions, such as those of United States armed forces in Panama City later that year.
 * I propose that your lack of expertise might incline you to see information that contradicts an uninformed point of view as not being from a neutral point of view. This might be because a neutral examination of mob activities requires a person to re-examine myths perpetrated by mobs with no well-organized or coherent dialectic other than repetition of self-interested versions of events. Nudder1 16:36, 17 Mar 2004 (UTC)

The Oxford English Dictionary has Ochlocracy not mob rule. This needs to be changed over to the classical term.WHEELER 16:22, 22 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Would not the term mobocracy be more pertinent?--Numerousfalx 22:20, 1 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I have edited the article to make it more objective--Robert Claypool Review my changes, and if it is objective enough, remove the tag. Of course it can always be edited again to make it more objective. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.40.46.38 (talk) 06:48, 25 October 2004 (UTC)

Milnea Trudenau seems to think that censorship is his purview. The prestigious Oxford English Dictionary puts in occurences of the word in actual instances to prove the point of its defintion of the word. It is to make a reference to all instances in proving actual usage--historical usage. Milnea Trudenau is a democrat, he wants to cover over by censorship things that disagree with his orthodoxy.

That is why I am putting back the occurences, because the historical usage of the term refutes what is written in the article itself and points out the slant of Wikipedia and the way users are using it to slant information their way of course. WHEELER 16:50, 26 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * On the contrary, I am a firm believer in absolute freedom of speech. You are most welcome to create your own website and write on it whatever you wish. But don't try to insert your POV on Wikipedia. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu 10:45, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * And what is your authority on Wikipedia, that your POV reigns on Wikipedia? Your user page is of no help whasoever. Robert Claypool —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.213.15.15 (talk) 00:53, 10 November 2004 (UTC)
 * How can historical use of a term (any term) serve as a "refutation" for anything? I was under the impression that arguments are normally used to refute things. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu 10:45, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Historical use of a term can be posed as an arguement. Just about anything can be posed as an arguement, so your post makes no sense. Robert Claypool —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.213.15.15 (talk) 00:50, 10 November 2004 (UTC)
 * Before going higher in the steps, Milnea Tudoreanu seems intent on deleting "Occurences of the word "Ochlocracy" from the article Ochlocracy. I have taken two examples from the OED and found other historical examples on the way it has been used.  Tudoreanu deletes the lot of them.  I think it would be NPOV if he found his own references of the word and added them also but he deletes them all.  This is not right.  He doesn't seem to acknowledge history but wants to change history to suit himself.  I quoted from Mr. Muller, a very famous classical scholar of ancient Greece.  Do you not think that this man is quite capable of knowing what the word means.  I also quoted from Eric von Kuehnelt-Leddihn who uses the same term in the same way as Mr. Muller does 100 years later.  Isn't that being pretty good evidence of the meaning of the term?  I need help here to resolve this issue. I really do believe that Mr. Tudoreanu is not being honest in his edits and is playing games.WHEELER 18:11, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Here's the deal: Let's just put in the occurences that are given in the Oxford English Dictionary. I think we can all agree that they are appropriate. But leave the other ones out. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu 10:45, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I am waiting for a response and a discussion from Mr. Tudorneau.WHEELER 19:18, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I am waiting for a response and a discussion from Mr. Tudorneau.WHEELER 19:34, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Waiting for a response Mr. Tudorneau of why the deletions. Do you have any evidence of why you deleted the occurences or did you just delete because you didn't like the meaning of the word?WHEELER 21:36, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm not on Wikipedia every day, you know... sorry for keeping you waiting. -- Mihnea Tudoreanu 10:45, 8 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * What evidence, what scholary book refutes the instances of the word "Ochlocracy" that I have put in? Of course, the word "Ochlocracy" is derogatory towards democracy.  Every Aristocrat calls democracy an Ochlocracy.  This is NPOV.  Let the Aristocrats have their voice.WHEELER 18:18, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I again ask Mr. Tudoreanu for any evidence. Two people have come back on and restored the occurences of the word.  Mr. Tudoreanu reverts it again and has not responded at all on the talk page.  Can Mr. Tudoreanu please supply the reasons why he is reverting the occurences.WHEELER 01:17, 16 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm still expanding my limited exposure to Chinese history, but the Tianamen Square portion completely ignores the Red Guard, whose actions appear to consist mainly of mob rule. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hackwrench (talk • contribs) 16:40, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

Mob rule
I'm not taking Wheeler's side, but I cursory glance at the article suggests a division of the topic into two articles: Just my 2 cents. --Uncle Ed (El Dunce) 18:58, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * mob rule - for the modern phenomenon
 * ochlocracy - for the Greek word and ancient ideas about it
 * I suggested something similar on my talk very recently, myself suggesting a move of this page to Mob rule. Your idea seems even better however, since WHEELER felt (and I feel legitimately) that there is a special need for a page to focus on the classical meaning. So long as the two link to each other, I see no disadvantage to splitting the classic term "Ochlocracy" (which I'd never heard before finding this article) off from the modern concept of "Mob rule". I second Ed's proposal. Sam [Spade] 20:08, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Wow, we actually agree on something. (Does this mean we are budding ochlogarchs? ;-) --Uncle Ed (El Dunce) 20:32, 1 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Actually I may be one, Thomas Jefferson is perhaps my most favored political figure, and he felt regular revoloution (Ochlogarchy, if you will), enabled by the right to bear arms, was a necessary component of true democracy and protection from tyranny. God I wish I could vote Thomas Jefferson for President... Sam [Spade] 19:57, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)

You are aware, of course, that Jefferson was closer to being a deist than a Christian. He wrote his own version of the New Testament removing all the "supernatural" elements. AndyL 23:52, 5 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * He also made it a habit of F***ing his slaves, what of it? Sam [Spade] 01:04, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Just thought you might not know:) AndyL 03:29, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I find a lot of Americans are under the illusion that their country is founded on 'Christian principles" or that the Founding Fathers were Christian when neither is true. AndyL 04:38, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * You remind me of a Chick tract I read once... Sam [Spade] 14:14, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Here ya go, knock yerself out. Sam [Spade] 14:17, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

So how about splitting off this new page, now that we have consensus? Sam [Spade] 14:18, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm more interested in finding consensus than concensus (whatever that is). AndyL 16:41, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * Concensus is a horse, and a rather fine one at that. As fine a troll as you make, I think you made a better editor. Cheers, Sam [Spade] 16:59, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

How do you break wikipedia's association of the term "mob rule" with the article "Ochlocracy"? Hackwrench 19:04, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The technical term is "Ochlocracy" it is a slang term used for democracies because that is what they slide into. It is about pandering to the biggest block or biggest group in order to gain power and keep it. The OED uses the term in its dictionary. Really, I need to get Polybius and read him to find out what he really meant by it for he coined the term.WHEELER 18:21, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)
 * "Ochlocracy" is in my Webster's dictionary. It's the current term (not just the ancient one) for a system of mob rule.  So I agree with Wheeler.  Surprised, Wheeler? :) —  Stevie is the man!  Talk 20:14, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Mob rule blanking
I changed Mob rule back into a redirect for now. The page there was extremely specious, and this article actually discusses it in some depth. Until someone's prepared to actually write a decent separate article about mob rule, I think it's best this page remain the one people see. Deco 01:42, 14 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Do the objections still hold
Or can we take off the neutrality? It seems fair to me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.175.244.224 (talk) 06:13, 13 March 2005 (UTC)
 * Go ahead. Be bold. —  Stevie is the man!  Talk 20:15, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)

There are some orthographical faults in the ancient Greek! - Be careful with it! [PeterSh] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.231.88.4 (talk) 17:37, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

Pronunciation
Could somebody have the decency to put a pronunciation in IPA for the word ochlocracy so we know how to pronounce it. A sound file would be nice too but its up to you guys. TY Lincher 18:08, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

I don't know the IPA, but -ch- in Greek words borrowed into English is generally pronounced as /k/, as in monarchy, chronic, chrome, christ, chrysanthemum, and for that matter kilometer. So now, if you know the IPA, you can deploy your own decency and do it. Flounderer 09:46, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

Would Wikipedia be "Mob Rule"?
Seriously. In a way, it sometimes seems that way, and I'm not a burned out "this place sucks, I quit" user. ;-) Bobak 02:33, 1 March 2006 (UTC)
 * It is. The alternative is an oligarchy like the Encyclopedia Britannica ;) --212.239.229.161 (talk) 10:51, 17 August 2021 (UTC)

From the article Angry mob
Angry Mob The Angry Mob is a large group of people that are upset or angry with something. They can be Men, Women, children of any height, religeion, gender, culture and status. These people, frustrated and angry, by an event or person, find they have strenght in numbers and they therfore do things that as an idividual they could never do. A Mob mentality ensuses. Angry mobs are an extremly destrucive force.

Armament They can be armed with anything, from AK-47s to baseball bats, Molotov cocktails, rocks, torches, pitchforks and scythes. Mobs seek only to destroy and disrupt, and although they are comprised only of civilians, they can do a very large amount of damage in a very short time.

History Angy Mobs have been prevelent scince biblical times, and there are many references to them in hisorical manuscrips. Even today in places such as Iraq, Yemen and Togo there is continualy Mob Violence.

Weakness The Mob is almost impossible to tame, lead and co-ordinate. They are irrational and spontaious, often turning on one another. Because they are so undisiplined an small number of riot police, police or solders can easliy fight off and disperse a mob, due to their superior training,discipline and weapons.

Mob IQ To work out the IQ of a Mob, follow this simple rule: The IQ of the Smartest Member (SM) divided by Number of people (N) minus the amount of Weapons (W) $$ SM / N - W  $$

In popular culture Mobs are a strong symbol of uprising or revelution, so they can be seen widely in the Media, on the news, in movies, in books and in video games. Two such examples are:
 * In the movie Van Helsing, an Angry mob comprised of villegers with torches and pitchforks come to destroy the scientists lebrotory.
 * In the popular video game Command and Conquer Generals As the faction GLA you can trian Angry Mobs and arm them with AK-47s. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dfrg.msc (talk • contribs) 23:17, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Split
I think we should split this article into Ochlocracy and Angry Mob.--Taida 02:53, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Fuckheads and dickheads
It seems to me that there is a link or overlap between Ochlocracy and the "social web". I've just come across Doug's page and found "The Rule" of Wikipedia there and then http://davidgerard.co.uk/fsckhead.html. It prompted me to examine my own behaviour, and I began to redden. So I read on to find the error of my ways and absolution. Then the writings of Wittgenstein and Chomsky, who I had been reading here popped into my mind. It seemed to me that their "frank" mode of expression fitted firmly into the definition of "dickheads". I suggest that the "social" aspect of the web, even if still resonating with echoes of West Coast geniality, is actually simply an Ochlocracy. It shuns misfits of one type or another, and, from The Rule et seq seems proud of the fact. That is a short term view as the loss in the end is to the diversity and viablity of the Ochlocracy itself. Just a thought. The thought that follows that is then: Are the people who "invent" things that significantly impact upon the whole of society, and the people most "skilled" in their use, the people who should control the use made of those things? LookingGlass (talk) 19:59, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Moldavian ”democracy”
The last events 07.04.09, occurred in Moldavian capital Chişinău, may be an example of installation of a interesting form of government which is much closer to ochlocracy than any other forms of government. who is interested could study this phenomena in detail. --Kalatorul (talk) 09:40, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

See Also: California?
I went ahead and removed California from this article's See Also list. If you want to link to a specific historical entry about California where Ochlocracy is directly visible, please do so. However, I think linking directly to the California article with no insight as to why or what you're referencing is a little weasely. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rekutyn (talk • contribs) 17:20, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

The idea of a "Monster Mob"
I have added a section to this article to refer to a cliche that pervades literature and cinema; namely, that paranoid, ignorant, and irascible villagers- who often wield torches- assemble to confront someone whom they perceive as a monster.

While the term "Monster Mob" does not show up in dictionaries and encyclopedias, I think that this phenomenon occurs so often in world culture that it needs- and deserves- a term to describe it, even if a neologism needs to be coined; I think the only reason that such a term doesn't show up is because it has yet to be coined and introduced into popular lexicon.

I have cited at five noteworthy examples of and references to a Monster Mob, and I'm sure a survey of classic and contemporary horror films would produce many more.

While a Monster Mob is not technically an example of government, it is nonetheless one of the most prominent examples of an angry mob, and "angry mob" redirects to Ochlocracy. --MonkeyPundit (talk) 17:42, 3 December 2010 (UTC)
 * See WP:OR. Wuh  Wuz  Dat  20:22, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Inaccurate history
(1) The article states: 'In ancient Greek political thought ochlocracy was considered as one of the three "bad" forms of government...' However, in the preceding paragraph, the article states: 'The term appears to have been coined by Polybius in his Histories (6.4.6).'  How could the term have been considered at all by ancient Greeks if they never had any such term, it being coined only later by Polybius?

(2) Returning to the entire sentence: 'In ancient Greek political thought ochlocracy was considered as one of the three "bad" forms of government tyranny, oligarchy and ochlocracy) as opposed to the three "good" forms of government (monarchy, aristocracy and democracy).' Wrong again.  First, there was no agreed meaning of democracy in 'ancient Greek thought', but rather differing opinions.  However, more importantly, if we mean the leading thinkers, such as Plato and Aristotle, NEITHER of them calls 'democracy' a 'good' form.  Plato constantly condemns it as a degenerate form, and Aristotle sees it as fundamentally defective.  The best that either of them say about democracy is that it is the 'least worst', which is something very different from 'good', a description they never use.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.198.166.20 (talk) 09:17, 9 March 2011 (UTC)

You're exactly right. But no one here will care. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.182.244.103 (talk) 04:21, 10 September 2014 (UTC)

Comparison to "democracy"
The article avoid remarking the main differences between "democracy" and "ochlocracy", like the massive power of demagogues and the systemic exploitation of the general ignorance of the masses.

Perhaps the similitudes of "ochlocracy" with the "advanced capitalist democracies" of our times can be better evidenced, instead of focusing on "arabian spring and angry mobs elsewere" that it is my humble opinion will be in future revealed to what they really are: grand scale manipulations of entire populations. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.12.95.19 (talk) 16:15, 29 May 2012 (UTC)

 * Well, demos is a group of people with citizenship. Being citizen means being hard bound to a) rights and b) obligations. Democracy is rule of the country by this group. So whoever controls citizenship and sets these obligations and rules, controls country. This is certaintly not "public rule", but is a subset of minority group controlling majority. 85.197.12.198 (talk) 13:07, 2 November 2023 (UTC)

Ochlocracy versus anarchism
I've tried to improve this section, to remove violations of WP:NPOV, and inaccuracies such as the statement that Anarchism is a Socialist movement aiming at the destruction of capitalist governments (it's actually many movements, which don't always see themselves as socialist, don't want rid of only capitalist governments, and would often prefer to 'replace' them, which sounds less violent than 'destruction', which matters if we wish to remain NPOV). I've also thrown in a few links to seemingly relevant Wiki articles.

But the section remains unsatisfactory in many ways, and I'm not sufficiently interested to fix it, so I'm just going to list some of the issues in case anybody else wants to tackle them:

1) No references: there is still no authority for the claim that Anarchists argue that Anarchism is not inherently Ochlocratic because it includes theories of structure and mutual support rooted in democracy and free association. Common sense tells us that they reject the accusation of being Ochlocratic, but not what arguments they deploy, if they even think it necessary to reply to the charge. The charge was originally described as a 'popular misconception' (or some similar expression), but that seems unlikely, partly because Ochlocratic (as distinct from 'mob rule') is not a word in most people's vocabulary, and Anarchism is not a subject that greatly occupies most people's minds, and partly because the term 'anarchy' conjures up in most people's minds many problems far worse than mere mob rule, such as tyranny by local bandits or warlords, economic collapse followed by starvation, and so on. So anarchists may not necessarily feel any great need to answer that particular charge. And if they do answer it, they would quite likely avoid incomprehensible waffle about 'theories of structure and mutual support rooted in democracy and free association' in favour of something much simpler such as 'we anarchists object to being ruled, so what makes you think we are trying to get ourselves ruled by mobs?'. And that is what I would probably say if I were an anarchist (I'm not), but I'm not supposed to put that in Wikipedia without a reference to back it up.

2) Incomprehensible waffle: 'autonomous self-realizing democratic structures' and 'theories of structure and mutual support rooted in democracy and free association' are two examples. I'd like to get rid of them, but I don't really know what to put in their place. Ironically that may well be why it is incomprehensible - anarchists want to get rid of governments but many probably don't really know what to put in their place, so perhaps they deal with this by trying to hide their uncertainty and the flaws in their thinking behind incomprehensible waffle.

3) The stuff about Anarchism not necessarily being Socialist properly belongs in the Anarchism article. I've only left it in here to try to reduce the risk of a row with the original author who asserted it was Socialist.

4) I've linked the words 'democracy' and 'democratic' to the Wiki 'direct democracy' article, because the Wiki 'democracy' article begins by describing democracy as a system of government, whiich is obviously not what anarchists mean by the term. But I'm not sure that the link to the 'direct democracy' article is all that much of an improvement, and ideally it should link to an articke on 'theories of democracy', or 'anarchist theories of democracy', but no such article currently exists. Perhaps I should have linked the two instances to either one or two such non-existant articles to indicate a possible need for such articles, but I'll leave that decision to somebody else. There may or may not be a similar need for linking 'self-realizing' to a currently non-existant article on 'theories of self-realization', or 'anarchist theories of self-realization', but I've put no link at present (the current 'self-realization' article is about spirituality and Eastern religion, not Anarchism).

5) WP:NPOV presumably requires giving various counter-arguments from 'reputable' sources. Presumably these would include people claiming that Anarchism always leads to Ochlocracy (or 'mob rule'); or always does except in irrelevant circumstances such as small scattered Inuit populations in the Arctic or isolated small islands in some ocean; or always does with true Anarchism as distinct from theories falsely claiming to be Anarchist through, for instance, actually having a government but claiming it isn't really a government for one reason or another; or that Anarchism always carries an uncertain but unacceptably high risk of Ochlocracy; and so on. Plus there would probably also have to be arguments from people accepting that Ochlocracy was not a significant risk of Anarchism but arguing that this was irrelevant because Anarchism carried other far greater risks. But finding 'reputable' sources for any of this may not be too easy, if only because 'reputable' sources may not feel much need to argue about Anarchism, any more than they feel much need to argue about belief in a Flat Earth, or Satanism, or belief in Santa Claus, regardless of how unfair such analogies may seem to Anarchists. And, incidentally, I certainly wouldn't expect any 'reputable' source to carry my own views on the subject (which presumably means those views can't appear in the article, no matter how sensible they seem to me). For what little it's worth, my views are roughly that the world has never had a World Government, and consequently we've always lived in a relatively sophisticated form of anarchy, with anarchy turning out in practce to mean not absence of goverment, but absence of central government, leaving government by the strongest local bandits or warlords, currently named Barack Obama, Vadimir Putin, etc... Consequently Ochlocracy is at worst a fairly minor consequence of anarchy, except perhaps in its earliest stages, and being for or against anarchy is as pointless as being for or against gravity, as we're currently stuck with both. Plus it's probably all just that old cliche - an argument about deckchairs on the Titanic; because either humankind or civilisation self-destructs in the near future, or else, for better or worse, we will probably all soon be governed by benevolent and/or tyrannical quasi-super-intelligent machines or persons, who will presumably see little or no reason to pay much attention to our barely intelligent thoughts on the subject. But, as already mentioned, it seems that none of this can legitimately be mentioned in the article.

That said, none of this means that I think the section should simply be deleted. It always has violated quite a few Wiki rules, and currently still does (though hopefully rather fewer than before), but, as made clear by WP:IAR (one of the five pillars of Wikipedia), that is not in itself a reason for deletion unless deletion would improve the article, and I don't think deletion would improve it. Tlhslobus (talk) 00:59, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Nothing constructive, I just had to say: Hear, Hear! Great points Tlhslobus, imo both well made and founded.  And especially your conclusion.  I only wish that sort of sanity could be codified in some way, so that other editors could be encouraged to follow suit, instead of merely deleting or reverting all that doesn't precisely fit some literally interpreted "regulation" (actually of course, guidance).  But I also believe that bowing to the feelings of "original editors" is bad practice.  Of course it is very hard to let go of one's creations, but it is necessary nonetheless.  Wiki is a community SERVICE imo.  Perhaps the most substantial part of being a parent is letting go of your child.  Otherwise its life is smothered. Creating an article is making a gift to the community, not claiming a stake. LookingGlass (talk) 11:20, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the compliments, LookingGlass. You're probably right in principle that bowing to the feelings of "original editors" is bad practice. But what makes sense in principle doesn't necessarily always make sense in practice. In this case, a few true words that ideally belong elsewhere seems to me to be a small price to pay for reducing my risk of finding myself in an edit war which I would probably lose through lack of ideological fervour on my part compared to my opponent, with consequences that might seriously disimprove the article. The French allegedly have a saying 'Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien' - 'Better is the enemy of good', and I guess this is the kind of situation they have in mind; English equivalents are 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it', 'It's often best to leave well enough alone', and 'Let sleeping dogs lie'. Of course, if you feel strongly about the suggested changes, then there's nothing to stop you making them yourself, though in that case you probably need to be willing to put up a fight to defend them if the original editor decides to object and scream censorship, etc, as seems a stronger than usual possibility in this particular instance, since the original editor's entry at least reads like it's partly motivated by his or her own ideological commitment. Tlhslobus (talk) 22:34, 26 February 2013 (UTC)
 * Sounds like pragmatic cynicism to me Tlhslobus, and a view I share in darker moments. For myself, I've begun a process of withdrawal both from editing and subscription.  I hadn't really noticed that until now.  It is really a remarkable waste of copious quantities of time trying to share via wiki the results that come from referring to wiki in the first place.  Sad but there it is.  Wiki is an oddity, another dead cat bounce from the 60's, something to watch in fascination, like a formicary.  Perhaps facts and truth should be held as secondary to pragmatism, something politicians routinely do while maintaining the reverse, but I don't think this is the most valuable contribution of French culture.  "If it 'ain't broke etc" refers to something completely different imo and also depends on what you see as "it".  Perhaps a little OTT if one doesn't see the significance of knowledge but: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." seems pertinent.  I therefore take comfort in my own withdrawal in the plurality of Burke's observation! LookingGlass (talk) 20:11, 5 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Perhaps you're right, LookingGlass. But I don't normally equate pragmatism with cynicism. To me it doesn't seem cynical to say that a little good achieved in practice is preferable to a lot of harm achieved through the unwise pursuit of unachievable perfection. And, at least in this particular instance, there's no suppression of truth or knowledge at issue, merely leaving in place bits of the truth that a perfectionist would remove on grounds that ideally they belonged elsewhere. I agree that in other instances in Wikipedia, there often is a genuine problem of truth suppression - but, at least in my limited experience, that is usually the result of obeying Wikipedia rules regarding so-called reliable sources (or allegedly reliable sources) when those 'reliable' sources seem wrong to me, while it seems the truth is either only found in 'unreliable' sources or in my own 'original research'. But I don't see any easy fix for that kind of problem, because the 'cure' of getting rid of those rules, or just ignoring them, will in the long run probably almost always be worse than the disease, as well as usually failing to work even in the short run (because one's 'illegal' edits usually just get reverted). So to me it seems pragmatic, but not cynical, to try to concentrate my efforts to promote 'knowledge' and 'the truth' in those areas where they seem to have a reasonabe chance of being successful. That way hopefully I can avoid being 'a good man doing nothing'. But of course if that doesn't appeal to you, there are plenty of other ways for 'good men to do something' that do not require them to edit Wikipedia :) Tlhslobus (talk) 23:14, 6 March 2013 (UTC)
 * I think there may have been a wire crossed Tlhslobus. I appreciate your reply. My frustration was in coming up against a rule-enforcer whose obduracy, in the face of facts which s/he acknowledged, prevented information central to the article being included.  I didn't get involved in an edit war.  I did try to resolve the situation through discussion, but without the remotest glimmer of success.  The other editor simply didn't engage, and only quoted chapter and verse.  You and I seem to me to be very much on the same page, which I find a relief.  The "good men doing nothing" thing is sensitive to me at present.  I am finding myself on the boot end of the nationalist surge in Europe and deafened by the silence coming from the "reasonable" and "fair-minded majority".  Plus ca change!  The issue seems common in all this and a question of balancing human with machine, justice with law, the spirit of the law v. the letter of the law.  It is a process and ongoing struggle.  There is no "answer" or silver bullet.  The growing reliance and dependence of Western societies on the letter of the law is not delivering an increase in justice in them.  Wiki is important to me because of the opportunity it provides to balance the history of the victors (which I suggest forms the preponderance of third party sources) and "the truth" - ie facts in balance.  Education is not the answeer but learning is and wiki has become a central resource in this.  In general I choose to see wiki succeeding in this role, however, the sort of over-zealousness which I recently encountered here powerfully pushes things in the opposite direction.  IMO there needs to be some form of mediation to resolve matters in this area. Anarchy is a sweet dream but the reality is Somalia, and what flows from it. LookingGlass (talk) 08:43, 7 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I seem to have missed your above reply, LookingGlass. There is a form of mediation to resolve matters in this area, at WP:DRR. So far I've never used it, so I don't know how well it works in practice, especially if the rulebook is against you - though even then you can presumably quote WP:IAR and argue that the rules should be ignored to improve the encyclopedia, though I suspect you would still have a near-impossible task trying to get stuff 'likely to be disputed' into Wikipedia without a reliable source to back you up. If you like, you can point me to the Talk Page where your dispute was if you wanted an unofficial (and very unauthoritative) second opinion from me - though you might prefer to look for an official and authoritative second opinion, presumably from an admin, via WP:DRR. Tlhslobus (talk) 13:00, 15 May 2013 (UTC)

Aristotle?
The ideas in second paragraph of the introductory text seems to be more or less straight out of Aristotle's Politics, and while they are more clearly referred to as such later in the article, it seems a bit weird to me to present them first without any sort of reference or citation, giving the impression that Aristotle's views qualify as neutral facts or the current consensus in political science or something like that. 88.235.150.215 (talk) 12:33, 9 May 2014 (UTC)

Differences between Tyranny of the Majority and Ochlocracy
Just was looking at these two articles and trying to figure out the difference to help improve them. Trying to start a discussion over at the Tyranny of the Majority Talk page. This talk page doesn't seem particularly active recently but wanted to see if anyone here wanted to join there. XinJeisan (talk) 09:01, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

This article needs thorough review or rewriting
I returned to this article today and found it in a poor state of repair compared to what I recall from the past. Haven't reviewed the edit history but maybe there is material that one can go back to. The Spanish article is infinitely better. This article is very thin on the ancient Greek origins of the term but full of what appears to be original research that doesn't even belong in this article. 2601:583:8205:9C20:4549:C62A:D5BC:6F8A (talk) 18:54, 25 July 2016 (UTC)

I concur, there was a whole paragraph on Brexit that had no citations and tried to claim that thin majority wins in contested votes are an example of ochlocracy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 148.75.193.112 (talk) 18:47, 9 September 2016 (UTC)

Paragraph distinguishing ochlocracy, democracy, oligarchy, aristocracy and monarchy
See revision. "Ochlocracy ('rule of the general populace') is democracy ('rule of the people') spoiled by demagoguery, 'tyranny of the majority', and the rule of passion over reason, just as oligarchy ('rule of a few') is aristocracy ('rule of the best') spoiled by corruption, and tyranny is monarchy spoiled by lack of virtue." Although this was seen as "pure opinion" by the editor it does seem to be an interesting statement and sources could be found to support it. This could be moved to another page about governments in general. --JamesPoulson (talk) 00:08, 29 November 2016 (UTC)
 * There's so much original research (of more than one WP:AEIS variety in that), I am extremely skeptical this could be sourced. It's well said, but is basically op-ed writing not encyclopedic writing.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  17:16, 21 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Demos are not "people", demos are "citizens", entitled people. Democracy is "rule of entitled". 85.197.12.198 (talk) 13:10, 2 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Athenian democracy was about citizens at a time when slaves without citizen status were a reality. You could argue that there are still non-citizens in this day and age. JamesPoulson (talk) 03:55, 15 February 2024 (UTC)

Requested move 21 November 2020

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved with the disambiguation going to Mob Rule (disambiguation) per Zxcvbnm's observation that the ambiguous title is capped, but Mob Rule was not notified in this MR. No prejudice against a new bold move, technical request, or full discussion on that move. --  JHunterJ (talk) 13:41, 28 November 2020 (UTC)

– Patently obvious WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. The obtuse ivory-tower jargon "ochlocracy" is a word virtually no one has ever seen or will even be able to guess at the meaning of. The entry for Mob (crime) on the DAB page should be moved to the "See also" section on that page, since "mob rule" never refers to the mafia, the Irish mob, etc. (Even if it did, there is zero chance that is the primary topic). The handful of pop-culture entries are all derivative uses, of no lasting encyclopedic significance. — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  17:11, 21 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Ochlocracy → Mob rule
 * Mob rule → Mob rule (disambiguation)
 * Support per nom. -- Calidum  00:06, 22 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Support per nomination and Calidum. There are a number of Greek and/or Latin terms under Category:Forms of government which serve as main title headers of Wikipedia entries. Most of those may not have a succinct word or term such as "mob rule", which can become their WP:COMMONNAME replacement, but when there is such a term, as in this case, it should be used as the main header. —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 05:03, 22 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Support first, oppose second The disambiguation page is unnecessary and should simply be overwritten. Besides Mob Rule the other definitions are unlikely or non-notable. If it is decided it should stay then it should go to Mob Rule and that article go to Mob Rule (video game) and possibly have Mob Rules merged into it.ZXCVBNM (TALK) 12:52, 22 November 2020 (UTC)

 * The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Stub
There are citations and sections and paragraphs but any discussion of mob rule that thinks it started in the 17th century and solely focuses on recent English and American experiences is so incomplete and ed that it is a stub discussion of the topic regardless. — Llywelyn II   13:56, 16 January 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Mob rule


text:
Rumelihisarı

Rumelihisarı (also known as Rumelian Fortress and Roumeli Hissar Fortress ) or Boğazkesen Fortress (literally 'strait-cutter fortress') is a medieval Ottoman fortress located in Istanbul, Turkey, on a series of hills on the European banks of the Bosphorus. The fortress also lends its name to the immediate neighborhood around it in the city's Sarıyer district.

Conceived and built between 1451 and 1452 CE on the orders of Sultan Mehmed II, the complex was commissioned in preparation for a planned Ottoman siege on the then-Byzantine city of Constantinople, with the goal of cutting off maritime military and logistical relief that could potentially come to the Byzantines' aid by way of the Bosphorus Strait, hence the fortress's alternative name, "Boğazkesen", i.e. "Strait-cutter" Castle. Its older sister structure, Anadoluhisari ("Anatolian Fortress"), sits on the opposite banks of the Bosporus, and the two fortresses worked in tandem during the final siege to throttle all naval traffic along the Bosphorus, thus helping the Ottomans achieve their goal of making the city of Constantinople (later renamed Istanbul) their new imperial capital in 1453.

After the Ottoman conquest of the city, Rumelihisarı served as a customs checkpoint and occasional prison, notably for the embassies of states that were at war with the Empire. After suffering extensive damage in the Great Earthquake of 1509, the structure was repaired, and was used continuously until the late 19th century.

Today, the fortress is a popular museum open to the public, and further acts as an open-air venue for seasonal concerts, art festivals, and special events.

Construction

The necessity of a strategic fortress on the Bosphorus was well known to the Ottomans, who had started in the late 14th century to harbor intentions of capturing the city of Constantinople as a new capital for their then-nascent Empire. In a previous Ottoman attempt to conquer the city, Sultan Murad II (1421–44, 1446–51) had encountered difficulties due to a blockade of the Bosphorus by the Byzantine fleet. Having learned the importance of maritime strategy from this earlier attempt, Sultan Mehmed II (1444–46, 1451–81), son of Murad II, started planning a new offensive immediately following his ascent to the throne in 1451.

In response to the coronation of the ambitious young Sultan, Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI (1449–53), who understood Mehmed's intentions on Constantinople and was wary of the threat posed by the growing Ottoman influence in the region, hoped to secure a diplomatic solution that would protect the city, while averting the Byzantines' long-term decline.

Mehmed refused the offer of peace proffered, and proceeded with his siege plans by commissioning the construction of a large fortress that would be used to control all sea traffic along the Bosphorus, and would work together with the older Anadoluhisari (Anatolia Fortress) on the strait to prevent any possible maritime aid from reaching Constantinople during the final Ottoman siege of the city in 1453, particularly from Genoese colonies along the Black Sea, such as Caffa, Sinop and Amasra.

The site for the new fortress was quickly decided to be the narrowmost point of the Bosphorus, where the strait is a mere 660 meters wide. This tall, hilltop site on the strait's European banks not only made for easier control of the waterway, but also had the advantage of being situated directly across the Anadoluhisarı ("Anatolian Fortress") on the Anatolian (i.e. Asian) banks of the Bosphorus; an older Ottoman fortress built between 1393 and 1394 by Sultan Bayezid I. Historically, there had been a Roman fortification at the hilltop where Rumelihisari was to be built, which had later been used as a prison by the Byzantines and Genoese. Later on, a monastery had been built there.

Construction began on April 15, 1452. For good luck, ram's blood was mixed with the mortar for the first layer. Some have speculated the layout is a cabbalistic combination (Abjad numerals) of the initials of Mehmed and the Muhammad. Each one of the three main towers was named after the royal vizier who supervised its respective construction; Sadrazam Çandarlı Halil Pasha, who built the large tower next to the gate; Zağanos Pasha, who built the south tower; and Sarıca Pasha, who built the north tower. The Sultan himself personally inspected the activities on the site.

Architecture

The Rumelihisarı fortification has one small tower, three main towers, and thirteen small watchtowers placed on the walls connecting the main towers. One watchtower is in the form of a quadrangular prism, six watchtowers are shaped as prisms with multiple corners, and six others are cylindrical.

The main tower in the north, Sarıca Pasha Tower, is cylindrical in form, with a diameter of 23.30 m, walls that are 7 m thick, and a total of 9 stories reaching a height of 28 m. Today, this tower is also known as Fatih ("Conqueror") Tower after Sultan Mehmed II's cognomen. The large tower at the waterfront in the middle of the fortress, Halil Pasha Tower, is a dodecagonal prism, and also has 9 stories. It is 22 m high with a 23.30 m diameter, and walls measuring 6.50 m thick. The main tower in the south, Zağanos Pasha Tower, has only 8 stories. This cylindrical tower is 21 m high, and has a 26.70 m diameter with 5.70 m thick walls. The space within each tower was divided up with wooden floors, each equipped with a furnace. Conical wooden roofs covered with lead originally crowned the towers, although these no longer survive today.

The outer curtain walls of the fortress are 250 m long from north to south, and vary between 50 and 125 m long from east to west. The complex's total area is 31250 m2.

The fortress had three main gates next to the main towers, one side gate and two secret gates for the arsenal and food cellars next to the southern tower. There were wooden houses for the soldiers and a small mosque, endowed by the Sultan at the time of construction. Only the minaret shaft remains of the original mosque, while the small masjid added in the mid-16th century has not survived. A new mosque has since been built in the grounds. Water was supplied to the fortress from a large cistern underneath the mosque and distributed through three wall-fountains, of which only one remains. Two inscriptive plaques are found attached to the walls.

The fortress was initially called "Boğazkesen", literally meaning "Strait Cutter", referring to the Bosporus Strait. The name carries a secondary and more macabre meaning; as boğaz not only means strait but also "throat" in Turkish.

It was later renamed as Rumelihisarı, which means "Fortress on the Land of the Romans", i.e. Byzantine Europe, or the Balkan peninsula.

Usage in the past
A battalion of 400 Janissaries was stationed in the fortress, and large cannons were placed in the Halil Pasha Tower, the main tower on the waterfront. Having completed his fortresses, Mehmed proceeded to levy a toll on ships passing within reach of their cannon. A Venetian vessel ignoring signals to stop was sunk with a single shot and all the surviving sailors beheaded, except for the captain, who was impaled and mounted as a human scarecrow as a warning to further sailors on the strait. These cannons were later used until the second half of the 19th century to greet the sultan when he passed by sea.

After the conquest of Constantinople, the fortress served as a customs checkpoint. Rumelihisarı, designated to control the passage of ships through the strait, eventually lost its strategic importance when a second pair of fortresses was built farther up the Bosphorus, where the strait meets the Black Sea. In the 17th century, it was used as a prison, primarily for foreign prisoners of war. Rumelihisarı was partly destroyed by an earthquake in 1509 but was repaired soon after. In 1746, a fire destroyed all the wooden parts in two of the main towers. The fortress was repaired by Sultan Selim III (1761–1807). However, a new residential neighborhood was formed inside the fortress after it was abandoned in the 19th century.

Modern history
In 1953, on the orders of President Celal Bayar, the inhabitants were relocated and extensive restoration work began on 16 May 1955, which lasted until 29 May 1958. Since 1960 Rumelihisarı has been a museum.

The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, named after the Ottoman Sultan that commissioned Rumelihisarı and conquered the city, is located close to the fortress, to the north.

Rumelihisarı is open to public every day except Mondays from 9:00 to 16:30.

The fortress was depicted on various Turkish banknotes during 1939–1986. The fortress was depicted in the following Turkish banknotes: Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey. Banknote Museum. – Links retrieved on 20 April 2009.
 * On the reverse of the 1 lira banknote of 1942-1947 (2. Emission Group - One Turkish Lira - I. Series ).
 * On the reverse of the 500 lira banknotes of 1939-1946 (2. Emission Group - Five Hundred Turkish Lira - I. Series & II. Series ).
 * On the reverse of the 100 lira banknote of 1947-1952 (4. Emission Group - One Hundred Turkish Lira - I. Series ).
 * On the reverse of the 1000 lira banknote of 1953-1979 (5. Emission Group - One Thousand Turkish Lira - I. Series ).
 * On the reverse of the 1000 lira banknotes of 1978-1986 (6. Emission Group - One Thousand Turkish Lira - I. Series, II. Series & III. Series ).

Notes and references

 * Silburn, P. A. B. (1912). The evolution of sea-power. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
 * Silburn, P. A. B. (1912). The evolution of sea-power. London: Longmans, Green and Co.

title: Rumelihisarı