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Wikipedia talk:Featured pictures visible

I just started a discussion thread on the future of this page at Wikipedia talk:Featured pictures - Gaz 12:12, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I removed Image:London_Eye_panorama_small.JPG by User:Fantasy for the following reasons: (i) I can find no record of consensus or even discussion on WP:FPC. (ii) The image does not appear on WP:FP. Also, (my personal gripes about the image) (iii) it's way, way too wide to be usefully displayed. (iv) It's incompetently stitched together. Looking at the full version, seams are not only clearly visible, they make me wonder whether it was even stitched together in the right order. grendel|khan 15:32, 2004 Sep 12 (UTC)

Gallery
I've made the first 3 sections into the gallery format. I am happy to do the whole page, but I didn't want to waste my time if people aren't happy with it. It is the format that Commons uses for it's featured pictures, and I think it will be quicker to load the page. Not to mention the page will be much shorter. Please comment here if you would like the whole page to be in the gallery format or not. -- Silversmith Hewwo 4 July 2005 14:13 (UTC)

 * FP visible is getting rather large, and hopefully will only continue to get bigger. But I don't think that switching to use a gallery layout is a good idea, as it then mostly duplicates Featured pictures thumbs. Also the thumbnail size is useful for locating an image you already know, but rather too small to browse Featured Pictures and see them clearly.
 * If we are to stay with the ~300px width we have at the moment, I image the only solution is to split the page by topic/section and setup a navigation bar to allow paging through the sections.
 * Any other ideas? -- Solipsist 4 July 2005 14:21 (UTC)

 * So at the moment we have 3 pages for FP's: Featured pictures which has links to each image, Featured pictures visible, which has a 300px format of each image, and Featured pictures thumbs which has a gallery format but doesn't break up the images, it just puts them in alphabetical order. I would prefer we did away with the thumb page and had the visible page in the gallery format but broken into the sections.  I find the thumbs large enough to get a good idea of what the image looks like.  I think it will be far less annoying and inconvenient to do the gallery format then to split up the page. IMO -- Silversmith  Hewwo 4 July 2005 14:47 (UTC)
 * Well actually Featured pictures thumbs is in the order of promotion. Personally I find it useful when managing the Pic of the Day, but there are other ways that could be handled.
 * In principle, there isn't too much harm in displaying featured pictures in a number of ways (these pages are only links to the images), but reducing the number of FP pages would make promoting images easier and the variety of formats can be confusing. -- Solipsist 7 July 2005 10:49 (UTC)
 * I'm a big fan of simplicity, and I agree, I don't think the featured pictures visible page is very helpful. If you want to see an image near the bottom of the page, pretty much regardless of the speed of your connection you're going to have to wait a bit for it to load.  Splitting the page into sections would increase the complexity of the promotion process, I think.  The order of promotion is apparent from the FPC archives, though I admit that that isn't as simple as the thumbs page.  I say make the rest of the featured pictures visible page look like the first three sections, and get rid of featured pictures thumbs. --Spangineer  (háblame)  July 9, 2005 00:17 (UTC)
 * I would say the least helpful page is "Feature pictures", but may be necessary for those on very slow connections. If I had to get rid of one of the pages I'd say get rid of that. I think the 300px thumbs are too large and this page should also be converted to <gallery>'s. The result would be "Featured pictures (list/text)", "Featured pictures (by category)" and "Featured pictures (by date)", with the last two being <gallery>'s. I find (as do others apparently) FP by date to be very useful for checking out all the new promotions. ed g2s  •  talk  14:03, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Gallery or split the page?
Well the last thread didn't reach a resolution but the page is still too big in my opinion, and at the moment we have three sections in gallery format and the rest not, so it does want sorting out and I'm volunteering to do it.

Before I start, lets hold a quick approval poll. I'll post this at WP:FPC as well to invite more opinions.

With ref to the above discussion, what do people want to see? ~ Veledan • Talk 09:36, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) Translate the whole page to gallery format. That would give us two thumbs pages: WP:FPT which show FPs in order of promotion, and WP:FPV which would show them all on one page, and categorised
 * 2) Leave the pictures at their larger sizes but split the sections into faster-loading /subpages
 * 3) Old format: convert the sections that are already galleries back to larger pics, and leave the whole page as is

Opinions

 * I'd prefer #2, with a weaker vote for #1. I'm not in favour of #3 because the page is just getting too unwieldy and the situation will only get worse. ~ Veledan • Talk 09:26, 13 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I also prefer #2, but I suggest putting the images into gallery format as well. (In other words, follow the example laid out at Featured pictures, which works well.) The current page takes forever to load; and, on days when the servers are slow, often I find it impossible to load the entire page. So I'm very strongly in favor of reducing the size into manageable pieces somehow. bcasterline t 02:34, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree, something needs to be done. Along the lines up #2, maybe we should split it into Wikipedia created images and non-Wikipedia created images? --PS2pcGAMER (talk) 02:54, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Why not break them up topically as is done at Commons? I think that's probably the most intuitive, and cutting it into two pieces still leaves it pretty big. (And growing.) bcasterline t 03:57, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * I thought about that and certainly wouldn't be opposed to that. I just think that the distinction between Wikipedian work and PD work is big.  However, the average person probably wouldn't care who created the image, so your method would be better. --PS2pcGAMER (talk) 04:13, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Could we do both, perhaps? The front page could just show each header with recent thumbs like on the commons page, but the /subpages you get when you click to see the full set of pics for any heading could still be divided into two sections, with 'Created by wikipedian' above 'Found by' ~ Veledan • Talk 11:22, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Wouldn't that make it even more tedious to promote pictures (whatever happened to our bot)? We wouldn't be able to transclude that way...BrokenSegue 03:14, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

 * The bot is working (on all my machines, at least) and could be adjusted to accommodate any of the above. It hasn't been issued for general release because PS2 has had problems with it, but I can't replicate them :-( . RaveDave was going to test it for me too but I haven't heard anything from him yet. If you can help me test it (especially if you have used pywikipediabot before), please let me know. Anyway, I don't think this suggestion would make promotion much more tedious even without the bot - it would only involve one more edit, and in return for that you wouldn't have to edit the current massive FPV page which is a pain to preview ~ Veledan • Talk 15:36, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Lay off the promoting for a day and i'll test it out :) -Ravedave 17:43, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Oops sorry :-) ~ Veledan • Talk 19:19, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
 * And BrokenSegue, I meant that each /subpage could have two section headers on it, not that we should use sub-sub sections, sorry ~ Veledan • Talk 20:56, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

 * I don't know how possible it is, but an idea that occurred to me is that we could leave it in the current format but have two page listings. The first (and default) view would be merely text-linked to the images, and there could be another link to a page displaying them as thumbnails for those that would prefer to view it that way. It doesn't exactly solve the issue of an unwieldly, large list but it does solve the issue of extremely large page downloads that presumably put load on the servers as the images are resized for thumbnails (or are they cached on the server?). Otherwise, I'd prefer #2 as well. Diliff  | (Talk)   (Contribs) 09:58, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Sorry Diliff I don't quite understand. We already have WP:FP which is text links — do you mean something else? The images are cached, but the simple bandwidth required by WP:FPV must be putting the servers under strain, judging by the fact that the page won't even load fully when the wiki is busy ~ Veledan • Talk 15:36, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

I think the pages need to be split. Even on broadband that page takes suprisingly long to load, I can't imagine what it would be like for dialup users. --Mad Max 01:57, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

So...?
So what's the verdict here? There hasn't been any discussion in a long time and nothing seems to be getting done on the page. Personally, I think we should go with something like Commons:Featured pictures, using the galleries and putting the different topics on different sub-pages. If there are no objections within a week or so, I'll start moving these.  howch e  ng   {chat} 18:40, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I proposed at Wikipedia talk:Featured pictures the COM:FPC-style FP list could serve as a merger of this page and WP:FP. If anyone has comments on the idea, please discuss there to keep all the discussion threads together. Thanks.  howch e  ng   {chat} 06:43, 4 October 2006 (UTC)
 * As there were no objections, I finished refactoring WP:FP so now, this page serves no real purpose. Thus, I changed it to redirect to WP:FP.  howch e  ng   {chat} 22:01, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

RSS feed
- Another question: Would it be possible to set up an RSS feed of wikipedia featured pictures?
 * Not without changes to the software.  howch e  ng   {chat} 18:50, 2 October 2006 (UTC)


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Mahadevi Varma

Mahadevi Verma (26 March 1906 – 11 September 1987) was an Indian Hindi-language poet, essayist, sketch story writer and an eminent personality of Hindi literature. She is considered one of the four major pillars of the Chhayawadi era in Hindi literature. She has been also addressed as the Modern Meera. Poet Nirala had once called her "Saraswati in the vast temple of Hindi Literature". Verma had witnessed India both before and after independence. She was one of those poets who worked for the wider society of India. Not only her poetry but also her social upliftment work and welfare development among women were also depicted deeply in her writings. These largely influenced not only the readers but also the critics, especially through her novel Deepshikha.

She developed a soft vocabulary in the Hindi poetry of Khadi Boli, which before her was considered possible only in Braj bhasha. For this, she chose the soft words of PUJAN JAIN and adapted them to Hindi. She was well-versed in music. The beauty of her songs lies in the tone that captures the euphemistic style of sharp expressions. She started her career with teaching. She was the Principal of Prayag Mahila Vidyapeeth. She was married, but she chose to live an ascetic life. She was also a skilled painter and creative translator. She had the distinction of receiving all the important awards in Hindi literature. As the most popular female litterateur of the last century, she remained revered throughout her life. The year 2007 was celebrated as her birth centenary. Later, Google also celebrated the day through its Google Doodle.

Early life
Verma was born on 26 March 1907 in a Hindu Chitraguptavanshi Kayastha    family of Farrukhabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Her father Govind Prasad Verma was a professor in a college in Bhagalpur. Her mother's name was Hem Rani Devi. Her mother was a religious, passionate and vegetarian woman with a keen interest in music. Her mother would recite for many hours of Ramayana, Gita and Vinay Patrika. On the contrary, her father was a scholar, music lover, atheist, hunting enthusiast and cheerful person. Sumitranandan Pant and Suryakant Tripathi Nirala were close friends of Mahadevi Varma. It is said that for 40 years Varma kept tying Rakhis to Nirala.

Education
Verma was originally admitted to a Convent school, but upon protests and an unwilling attitude, she was admissioned to Crosthwaite Girls College at Allahabad. According to Verma, she learned the strength of unity while staying in the hostel at Crosthwaite. Here students of different religions lived together. Verma started to write poems secretly; but upon discovery of her hidden stash of poems by her roommate and senior Subhadra Kumari Chauhan (known in the school for writing poems), her hidden talent was exposed.

"While others used to play outside, me and Subhadra used to sit on a tree and let our creative thoughts flow together...She used to write in Khariboli, and soon I also started to write in Khariboli...this way, we used to write one or two poems a day..."

She and Subhadra also used to send poems to publications such as weekly magazines and managed to get some of their poems published. Both the budding poets also attended poetry seminars, where they met eminent Hindi poets, and read out their poems to the audience. This partnership continued till Subhrada graduated from Crosthwaite.

In her childhood biography Mere Bachpan Ke Din (My Childhood Days), Verma has written that she was very fortunate to be born into a liberal family at a time when a girl child was considered a burden upon the family. Her grandfather reportedly had the ambition of making her a scholar; although he insisted that she comply with tradition and marry at the age of nine. Her mother was fluent both in Sanskrit and Hindi, and was a very religious pious lady. Mahadevi credits her mother for inspiring her to write poems and to take an interest in literature.

Following her graduation in 1929, Mahadevi refused to go and live with her husband Swarup Narain Verma because they were incompatible. She found his hunting and meat-eating offensive. Since she had been married as a child, she was to go and live with her husband only after completing her education, as was the custom, but when she finished her BA, she refused to live with him. Her remorseful father offered to convert along with her if she wanted to divorce and remarry (as Hindus could not legally divorce at the time) but she refused, saying she wanted to remain single. She even unsuccessfully tried to convince her husband to remarry. Later, she was reported to have considered becoming a Buddhist nun but eventually chose not to, although she studied Buddhist Pali and Prakrit texts as part of her master's degree.

Literary
Nihar (IPA: Nīhār) was her debut collection of poems. In 1930, Nihar, in 1932, Rashmi, in 1933, Neerja were composed by her. In 1935, her collection of poems called Sandhyageet was published. In 1939, four poetic collections were published with their artworks under the title Yama. Apart from these, she had written 18 novels and short stories in which Mera Parivar (My Family), Smriti ki Rekhaye (Lines of Memory), Patha ke Sathi (Path's Companions), Srinkhala ke Kariye (Series of Links) and Atit ke Chalachrit (Past Movies) are prominent. She is also considered the pioneer of feminism in India.

Women's advocacy

Varma's career had always revolved around writing, editing and teaching. She contributed significantly to the development of Prayag Mahila Vidyapeeth in Allahabad. This kind of responsibility was considered a revolutionary step in the field of women's education during that time. She also had been its Principal. In 1923, she took over the women's leading magazine Chand. In the year 1955, Varma established the Literary Parliament in Allahabad and with the help of Ilachandra Joshi and took up the editorship of its publication. She laid the foundation for women's poets' conferences in India. Mahadevi was greatly influenced by Buddhism. Under the influence of Mahatma Gandhi, she took up public service and worked in Jhansi alongside the Indian freedom struggle. In 1937, Mahadevi Varma built a house in a village called Umagarh, Ramgarh, Uttarakhand, 25 km from Nainital. She named it Meera Temple. She started working for the village people and their education till she stayed there. She did a lot of work, especially for women's education and their economic self-sufficiency. Today, this bungalow is known as Mahadevi Sahitya Museum. In the series of attempts, she was able to raise the courage and determination for the liberation and development of women. The way she has condemned social stereotypes made her to be known as a woman liberationist. She had also been called a social reformer due to the development work and public service towards women and their education. Throughout her creations, there are no visions of pain or anguish anywhere, but the indomitable creative fury reflected in the society's indomitable desire for change and an innate attachment towards development.

In Hindu Stree Ka Patnitva (The Wifehood of Hindu Women) marriage is compared to slavery. Not being affiliated with any political or financial authority, she writes, women are assigned to lives of being wives and mothers. Her feminism is often overshadowed by her poetic persona. Through poems like Cha, she explored themes and ideas of female sexuality, while her short stories such as Biblia, discuss the subject of experiences of women's physical and mental abuse.

She spent most of her life in Allahabad (Prayagraj) of Uttar Pradesh. She died in Allahabad on 11 September 1987.

Works
Verma was a poet as well as a distinguished prose writer. Her creations are as follows.

Poetry

 * Nihar (1930)
 * Rashmi (1932)
 * Neerja (1933)
 * Sandhyageet (1935)
 * Pratham Ayam (1949)
 * Saptaparna (1959)
 * Deepshikha (1942)
 * Agni Rekha (1988)

Several other poetic collections of Mahadevi Verma are also published, in which selected songs from the above compositions have been compiled.

Prose
List of selected prose works includes

 * Ateet Ke Chalchitr (1961)
 * Smriti ki Rekhaye (1943)
 * Patha ke Sathi (1956)
 * Mera Parivar (1972)
 * Sansmaran (1943)
 * Sambhasan (1949)
 * Shrinkhala ki Kadiyan (1942)
 * Vivechamanak Gadya (1972)
 * Skandha (1956)
 * Himalaya (1973)

Others
Two compilations of children's poems of Mahadevi Verma are
 * Thakurji Bhole Hai
 * Aaj Kharidenge hum Jwala

Critical analysis
A section of critics is those who believe that the poetry of Mahadevi is very personal. Her agony, anguish, and compassion, are artificial.

Moral critics like Ramchandra Shukla have put a question mark on the truth of her anguish and feelings. He quotes "Concerning this anguish, she has revealed such sensations of heart, which are extraterrestrial. As far as these sensations are concerned and how far the sensations are real, nothing can be said. (English translation)" On the other hand Hazari Prasad Dwivedi consider her poetry to be a collective criterion. Poetic works like Deep from (Nihar), Madhur Madhur Mere Deepak Jal from (Neerja) and Mome Sa Tan Gal Hai, concludes that these poems not only explain Mahadevi's self-centeredness but also to be considered a representative form of general posture and texture of her poems. Satyaprakash Mishra says about her philosophy of metaphysics related to cinematography - "Mahadevi did not only differentiate and distinguish from the earlier poetry of the object craft of Shadowism and Mysticism under rationalism and examples but also showed in what sense it is human. There is a poetry of change of sensation and newness of expression. She did not accuse anyone of sentiment, adoration etc. but only described the nature, character, appearance and uniqueness of Chhayavad. (English translation)"

American novelist David Rubin has said the following about her works "What arrests us in Mahadevi's work is the striking originality of the voice and the technical ingenuity which enabled her to create in her series of mostly quite short lyrics throughout her five volumes a consistently evolving representation of total subjectivity measured against the vastness of cosmic nature with nothing, as it were, intervening—no human social relationships, no human activities beyond those metaphorical ones involving weeping, walking the road, playing the Veena, etc."

Prabhakar Shrotriya believes that those who consider her a poet of anguish and despair do not know how much fire there is in that suffering which exposes the truth of life. He says: "In fact, the centre of Mahadevi's experience and creation is fire, not tears. What is visible is not the ultimate truth, what is invisible is the original or inspiring truth. These tears are not the tears of easy simple anguish, but how much fire goes behind them, the thunderstorm, the electric roar of the cloud, and the rebellion are hidden. (English translation)" Varma's poetic world indeed comes under the shadow of Chhayavaad (shadows), but to see her poetry completely unconnected to her era, one would be doing injustice to her. Mahadevi was also a conscious writer. During the Bengal famine in 1973, she published a poetry collection and also wrote a poem called "Banga Bhu Shanth Vandana" related to Bengal. Similarly, in response to the invasion of China, she had edited a collection of poems called Himalaya.

Honours and awards

 * 1956: Padma Bhushan
 * 1979: Sahitya Akademi Fellowship
 * 1982: Jnanpith Award for her poetry collection Yama.
 * 1988: Padma Vibhushan

Besides these, in 1979, the famous Indian filmmaker Mrinal Sen produced a Bengali film on her memoir Woh Chini Bhai titled Neel Akasher Neechey. On 14 September 1991, the Postal Department of the Government of India, issued a doubles stamp of ₹2 along with Jaishankar Prasad, in her honour.

Literary contributions

The emergence of Mahadevi Varma in literature happened at a time when the shape of Khadi Boli was being refined. She introduced Braj bhasha softness to Hindi poetry. She gave us a repository of songs with a heartfelt acceptance of Indian philosophy. In this way, she did important work in the three fields of language, literature and philosophy which later influenced an entire generation. She created a unique rhythm and simplicity in the composition and language of her songs, as well as the natural use of symbols and images that draw a picture in the mind of the reader. Her contribution to the prosperity of Chhayavadi poetry is very important. While Jaishankar Prasad gave naturalization to the Chhayavadi poetry, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala embodied the liberation in it and Sumitranandan Pant brought the art of delicateness, but Varma embodied life to the Chhayavadi poetry. The most prominent feature of her poetry is emotionalism and intensity of feeling. A such lively and tangible manifestation of the subtlest subtle expressions of the heart makes 'Varma' among the best Chhayavadi poets. She is remembered with respect for her speeches in Hindi. Her speeches were full of compassion for the common man and firm in the truth. At the 3rd World Hindi Conference, 1983, Delhi, she was the chief guest of the closing ceremony.

Apart from the original creations, she was also a creative translator with works like her translation ' Saptaparna ' (1980). With the help of her cultural consciousness, she has presented 39 selected important pieces of Hindi poetry in her work by establishing the identity of Vedas, Ramayana, Theragatha and the works of Ashwaghosh, Kalidas, Bhavabhuti and Jayadeva. In the beginning, in the 61-page ' Apna Baat ', she gives thorough research with this invaluable heritage of Indian wisdom and literature, which enriches the overall thinking and fine writing of Hindi, not just limited female writing.

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

title: Mahadevi Varma


text:
Flying ace

A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied but is usually considered to be five or more.

The concept of the "ace" emerged in 1915 during World War I, at the same time as aerial dogfighting. It was a propaganda term intended to provide the home front with a cult of the hero in what was otherwise a war of attrition. The individual actions of aces were widely reported and the image was disseminated of the ace as a chivalrous knight reminiscent of a bygone era. For a brief early period when air-to-air combat was just being invented, the exceptionally skilled pilot could shape the battle in the skies. For most of the war, however, the image of the ace had little to do with the reality of air warfare, in which fighters fought in formation and air superiority depended heavily on the relative availability of resources. The use of the term ace to describe these pilots began in World War I, when French newspapers described Adolphe Pégoud, as l'As (the ace) after he became the first pilot to down five German aircraft. The British initially used the term "star-turns" (a show business term).

The successes of such German ace pilots as Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke, and especially Manfred von Richthofen, the most victorious fighter pilot of the First World War, were well–publicized for the benefit of civilian morale, and the Pour le Mérite, Prussia's highest award for gallantry, became part of the uniform of a leading German ace. In the Luftstreitkräfte, the Pour le Mérite was nicknamed Der blaue Max/The Blue Max, after Max Immelmann, who was the first pilot to receive this award. Initially, German aviators had to destroy eight Allied aircraft to receive this medal. As the war progressed, the qualifications for Pour le Mérite were raised, but successful German fighter pilots continued to be hailed as national heroes for the remainder of the war.

The few aces among combat aviators have historically accounted for the majority of air-to-air victories in military history.

World War I

World War I introduced the systematic use of true single-seat fighter aircraft, with enough speed and agility to catch and maintain contact with targets in the air, coupled with armament sufficiently powerful to destroy the targets. Aerial combat became a prominent feature with the Fokker Scourge, in the last half of 1915. This was also the beginning of a long-standing trend in warfare, showing statistically that approximately five percent of combat pilots account for the majority of air-to-air victories.

As the German fighter squadrons usually fought well within German lines, it was practicable to establish and maintain very strict guidelines for the official recognition of victory claims by German pilots. Shared victories were either credited to one of the pilots concerned or to the unit as a whole – the destruction of the aircraft had to be physically confirmed by locating its wreckage, or an independent witness to the destruction had to be found. Victories were also counted for aircraft forced down within German lines, as this usually resulted in the death or capture of the enemy aircrew.

Allied fighter pilots fought mostly in German-held airspace and were often not in a position to confirm that an apparently destroyed enemy aircraft had in fact crashed, so these victories were frequently claimed as "driven down", "forced to land", or "out of control" (called "probables" in later wars). These victories were usually included in a pilot's totals and in citations for decorations.

The British high command considered the praise of fighter pilots to be detrimental to equally brave bombers and reconnaissance aircrew – so that the British air services did not publish official statistics on the successes of individuals. Nonetheless, some pilots did become famous through press coverage, making the British system for the recognition of successful fighter pilots much more informal and somewhat inconsistent. One pilot, Arthur Gould Lee, described his own score in a letter to his wife as "Eleven, five by me solo — the rest shared", adding that he was "miles from being an ace". This shows that his No. 46 Squadron RAF counted shared kills, but separately from "solo" ones—one of a number of factors that seems to have varied from unit to unit. Also evident is that Lee considered a higher figure than five kills to be necessary for "ace" status. Aviation historians credit him as an ace with two enemy aircraft destroyed and five driven down out of control, for a total of seven victories.

Other Allied countries, such as France and Italy, fell somewhere in between the very strict German approach and the relatively casual British one. They usually demanded independent witnessing of the destruction of an aircraft, making confirmation of victories scored in enemy territory very difficult. The Belgian crediting system sometimes included "out of control" to be counted as a victory.

The United States Army Air Service adopted French standards for evaluating victories, with two exceptions – during the summer 1918, while flying under the operational control of the British, the 17th Aero Squadron and the 148th Aero Squadron used British standards. American newsmen, in their correspondence to their papers, decided that five victories were the minimum needed to become an ace.

While "ace" status was generally won only by fighter pilots, bombers and reconnaissance crews on both sides also destroyed some enemy aircraft, typically in defending themselves from attack. The most notable example of a non-pilot ace in World War I is Charles George Gass with 39 accredited aerial victories.

Between the world wars
Between the two world wars, there were two theaters that produced flying aces, the Spanish Civil War and the Second Sino-Japanese War.

The Spanish ace Joaquín García Morato scored 40 victories for the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War. Part of the outside intervention in the war was the supply of "volunteer" foreign pilots to both sides. Russian and American aces joined the Republican air force, while the Nationalists included Germans and Italians.

The Soviet Volunteer Group began operations in the Second Sino-Japanese War as early as December 2, 1937, resulting in 28 Soviet aces. The Flying Tigers were American military pilots who recruited sub rosa to aid the Chinese Nationalists. They spent the summer and autumn of 1941 in transit to China, and did not begin flying combat missions until December 20, 1941.

World War II

In World War II many air forces adopted the British practice of crediting fractional shares of aerial victories, resulting in fractions or decimal scores, such as $11 1/2$ or 26.83. Some U.S. commands also credited aircraft destroyed on the ground as equal to aerial victories. The Soviets distinguished between solo and group kills, as did the Japanese, though the Imperial Japanese Navy stopped crediting individual victories (in favor of squadron tallies) in 1943.

The Soviet Air Forces has the top Allied pilots in terms of aerial victories, Ivan Kozhedub credited with 66 victories and Alexander Pokryshkin scored 65 victories. It also claimed the only female aces of the war: Lydia Litvyak scored 12 victories and Yekaterina Budanova achieved 11. The highest scoring pilots from the Western allies against the German Luftwaffe were Johnnie Johnson (RAF, 38 kills) and Gabby Gabreski (USAAF, 28 kills in the air and 3 on the ground). In the Pacific theater Richard Bong became the top American fighter ace with 40 kills. In the Mediterranean theater Pat Pattle achieved at least 40 kills, mainly against Italian planes, and became the top fighter ace of the British Commonwealth in the war. Fighting on different sides, the French pilot Pierre Le Gloan had the unusual distinction of shooting down four German, seven Italian and seven British aircraft, the latter while he was flying for Vichy France in Syria.

The German Luftwaffe continued the tradition of "one pilot, one kill", and now referred to top scorers as Experten. Some Luftwaffe pilots achieved very high scores, such as Erich Hartmann (352 kills) or Gerhard Barkhorn (301 kills). There were 107 German pilots with more than 100 kills. Most of these were won against the Soviet Air Force. The highest scoring fighter ace against Western allied forces were Hans-Joachim Marseille (158 kills) and Heinz Bär (208 kills, of which 124 in the west). Notable are also Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer, with 121 kills the highest-scoring night-fighter ace, and Werner Mölders, the first pilot to claim more than 100 kills in the history of aerial warfare. Pilots of other Axis powers also achieved high scores, such as Ilmari Juutilainen (Finnish Air Force, 94 kills), Constantin Cantacuzino (Romanian Air Force, 69 kills) or Mato Dukovac (Croatian Air Force, 44 kills). The highest scoring Japanese fighter pilot was Tetsuzō Iwamoto, who achieved 216 kills.

A number of factors probably contributed to the very high totals of the top German aces. For a limited period (especially during Operation Barbarossa), many Axis victories were over obsolescent aircraft and either poorly trained or inexperienced Allied pilots. In addition, Luftwaffe pilots generally flew many more individual sorties (sometimes well over 1000) than their Allied counterparts. Moreover, they often kept flying combat missions until they were captured, incapacitated, or killed, while successful Allied pilots were usually either promoted to positions involving less combat flying or routinely rotated back to training bases to pass their valuable combat knowledge to younger pilots. An imbalance in the number of targets available also contributed to the apparently lower numbers on the Allied side, since the number of operational Luftwaffe fighters was normally well below 1,500, with the total aircraft number never exceeding 5,000, and the total aircraft production of the Allies being nearly triple that of the other side. A difference in tactics might have been a factor as well; Erich Hartmann, for example, stated "See if there is a straggler or an uncertain pilot among the enemy... Shoot him down", which would have been an efficient and relatively low-risk way of increasing the number of kills. At the same time, the Soviet 1943 "Instruction For Air Combat" stated that the first priority must be the enemy commander, which was a much riskier task, but one giving the highest return in case of a success.

Korean War
The Korean War of 1950–53 marked the transition from piston-engined propeller driven aircraft to more modern jet aircraft. As such, it saw the world's first jet-vs-jet aces. The highest scoring ace of the war is considered to be the Soviet pilot Nikolai Sutyagin who claimed 22 kills.

Vietnam War

The Vietnam People's Air Force had begun development of its modern air-forces, primarily trained by Czechoslovak and Soviet trainers since 1956. The outbreak of the largest sustained bombardment campaign in history prompted rapid deployment of the nascent air-force, and the first engagement of the war was in April 1965 at Thanh Hóa Bridge which saw relatively outdated subsonic MiG-17 units thrown against technically superior F-105 Thunderchief and F-8 Crusader, damaging 1 F-8 and killing two F-105 jets. The MiG-17 generally did not have sophisticated radars and missiles and relied on dog-fighting and maneuverability to score kills on US aircraft. Since US aircraft heavily outnumbered North Vietnamese ones, the Warsaw Pact and others had begun arming North Vietnam with MiG-21 jets. The VPAF had adopted a strategy of "guerrilla warfare in the sky" utilizing quick hit-and-run attacks against US targets, continually flying low and forcing faster, more heavily armed US jets to engage in dog-fighting where the MiG-17 and MiG-21 had superior maneuverability. The VPAF had carried out the first air-raid on US ships since WW2, with two aces including Nguyễn Văn Bảy attacking US ships during the Battle of Đồng Hới in 1972. Quite often air-to-air losses of US fighter jets were re-attributed to surface-to-air missiles, as it was considered "less embarrassing". By the war's end, the US had nevertheless confirmed 249 air-to-air US aircraft losses while the figures for North Vietnam are disputed, ranging from 195 North Vietnamese aircraft from US claims to 131 from Soviet, North Vietnamese and allied records.

American air-to-air combat during the Vietnam War generally matched intruding United States fighter-bombers against radar-directed integrated North Vietnamese air defense systems. American F-4 Phantom II, F-8 Crusader and F-105 fighter crews usually had to contend with surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft artillery, and machine gun fire before opposing fighters attacked them. The long-running conflict produced 22 aces: 17 North Vietnamese pilots, two American pilots, three American weapon systems officers or WSOs (WSO is the USAF designation, one of the three was actually a US Naval aviator, with an equivalent job, but using the USN designation of Radar Intercept Officer or RIO).

Arab–Israeli war

The series of wars and conflicts between Israel and its neighbors began with Israeli independence in 1948 and continued for over three decades.

Iran–Iraq war

Brig. General Jalil Zandi (1951–2001) was an ace fighter pilot in the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force, serving for the full duration of the Iran–Iraq War. His record of eight confirmed and three probable victories against Iraqi combat aircraft qualifies him as an ace and the most successful pilot of that conflict and the most successful Grumman F-14 Tomcat pilot worldwide.

Brig. General Shahram Rostami was another Iranian ace. He was also an F-14 pilot. He had six confirmed kills. His victories include one MiG-21, two MiG-25s, and three Mirage F1s.

Colonel Mohammed Rayyan was also another ace fighter pilot who shot down 5 to 8 Iranian aircraft, mostly F-4 Phantoms during the war.

Indo-Pakistan War
Air Commodore Muhammad Mahmood Alam was an ace fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Alam claimed to have downed five aircraft in a single sortie on 7 September 1965 with four downed in less than a minute, establishing a world record. These claims, however, have been widely contested by Indian Air Force officials.

Russo-Ukrainian War
According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, during the fighting in Ukraine, Lieutenant Colonel Ilya Sizov "destroyed 12 Ukrainian aircraft (3 Su-24 aircraft, 3 Su-27 aircraft, 3 MiG-29 aircraft, 2 Mi-24 helicopters, 1 Mi-14 helicopter) and two Buk-M1 anti-aircraft missile complexes.

Red Sea crisis
In February 2024, it was reported that Captain Earl Ehrhart V of the United States Marine Corps had shot down seven Houthi drones while piloting an AV-8B Harrier II ground-attack aircraft from the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan.

Accuracy
Realistic assessment of enemy casualties is important for intelligence purposes, so most air forces expend considerable effort to ensure accuracy in victory claims. In World War II, the aircraft gun camera came into general usage by the Luftwaffe as well as the RAF and USAAF, partly in hope of alleviating inaccurate victory claims.

In World War I the standards for confirmation of aerial victories were developed. The most strict were the German and French ones which required both the existence of traceable wrecks or observations of independent observers. In contrast to this, the British system also accepted single claims of the pilots and deeds such as enemy planes "out of control", "driven down" and "forced to land". Aerial victories were also divided among different pilots. This led to vast overclaims on the British and partially on the US American side. Some air forces, such as the USAAF, also included kills on the ground as victories.

The most accurate figures usually belong to the air arm fighting over its own territory, where many wrecks can be located, and even identified, and where shot down enemy are either killed or captured. It is for this reason that at least 76 of the 80 aircraft credited to Manfred von Richthofen can be tied to known British losses —the German Jagdstaffeln flew defensively, on their own side of the lines, in part due to General Hugh Trenchard's policy of offensive patrol.

In World War II overclaims were a common problem. Nearly 50% of RAF victories in the Battle of Britain, for instance, do not tally statistically with recorded German losses—but some at least of this apparent over-claiming can be tallied with known wrecks, and aircrew known to have been in British PoW camps. An overclaim of about 2-3 was common on all sides,   and Soviet overclaims were sometimes higher. The claims of the Luftwaffe pilots are considered as mostly reasonable and more accurate than those according to the British and American system.

To quote an extreme example, in the Korean War, both the U.S. and Communist air arms claimed a 10-to-1 victory/loss ratio.

Non-pilot aces

While aces are generally thought of exclusively as fighter pilots, some have accorded this status to gunners on bombers or reconnaissance aircraft, observers in two-seater fighters such as the early Bristol F.2b, and navigators/weapons officers in jet aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. Because pilots often teamed with different air crew members, an observer or gunner might be an ace while his pilot is not, or vice versa. Observer aces constitute a sizable minority in many lists.

In World War I, the observer Gottfried Ehmann of the German Luftstreitkräfte was credited with 12 kills, for which he was awarded the Golden Military Merit Cross. In the Royal Flying Corps the observer Charles George Gass tallied 39 victories, of which 5 were actually confirmed. The spread was caused by the lavish British system of aerial victory confirmation.

In World War II, United States Army Air Forces S/Sgt. Michael Arooth, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress tail gunner serving in the 379th Bombardment Group, was credited with 19 kills and the Consolidated B-24 Liberator gunner Arthur J. Benko (374th Bombardment Squadron) with 16 kills. The Royal Air Force's leading bomber gunner, Wallace McIntosh, was credited with eight kills while serving as a rear turret gunner on Avro Lancasters, including three on one mission. Flight Sergeant F. J. Barker contributed to 12 victories while flying as a gunner in a Boulton Paul Defiant turret-equipped fighter piloted by Flight Sergeant E. R. Thorne. On the German side, Erwin Hentschel, the Junkers Ju 87 rear gunner of Luftwaffe pilot and anti-tank ace Hans-Ulrich Rudel, had 7 confirmed kills. The crew of the bomber pilot Otto Köhnke from Kampfgeschwader 3 is credited with the destruction of 11 enemy fighters (6 French, 1 British, 4 Soviet).

With the advent of more advanced technology, a third category of ace appeared. Charles B. DeBellevue became not only the first U.S. Air Force weapon systems officer (WSO) to become an ace but also the top American ace of the Vietnam War, with six victories. Close behind with five were fellow WSO Jeffrey Feinstein and Radar Intercept Officer William P. Driscoll.

Ace in a day

The first military aviators to score five or more victories on the same date, thus each becoming an "ace in a day", were pilot Julius Arigi and observer/gunner Johann Lasi of the Austro-Hungarian air force, on August 22, 1916, when they downed five Italian aircraft. The feat was repeated five more times during World War I.

Becoming an ace in a day became relatively common during World War II. A total of 68 U.S. pilots (43 Army Air Forces, 18 Navy, and seven Marine Corps pilots) were credited with the feat, including legendary test pilot Chuck Yeager.

In the Soviet offensive of 1944 in the Karelian Isthmus, Finnish pilot Hans Wind shot down 30 Soviet aircraft in 12 days with his Bf 109 G. In doing so, he obtained "ace in a day" status three times.

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Pakistani pilot Muhammad Mahmood Alam claimed to have downed five aircraft in a single sortie on 7 September 1965 with four downed in less than a minute, establishing a world record. These claims, however, have been widely contested by the Indian Air Force.

title: Flying ace


text:
Takifugu

Takifugu, also known by the Japanese name fugu (河豚), is a genus of pufferfish with 25 species, most of which are native to salt and brackish waters of the northwest Pacific, but a few species are found in freshwater in Asia or more widely in the Indo-Pacific region. Their diet consists mostly of algae, molluscs, invertebrates and sometimes crustaceans.

The fish contains lethal amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin in the internal organs, especially the liver and the ovaries, but also in the skin and the testes. The poison paralyzes the muscles while the victim stays fully conscious, and eventually dies from asphyxiation. There is currently no antidote, and the standard medical approach is to try to support the respiratory and circulatory system until the effect of the poison wears off.

Distribution and conservation status
There are 25 species belonging to the genus Takifugu. Most species are restricted to salt and brackish waters of the northwest Pacific, but a few occur more widely in the Indo-Pacific region or in freshwater of Asia. Although several are euryhaline (can adapt to various salinities) to some extent, most are unable to live in freshwater. Two exceptions are the anadromous Takifugu obscurus and the Takifugu ocellatus, which lives in coastal marine waters but migrates into fresh water to spawn in rivers.

Most species in the genus are not considered threatened, but there are two notable exceptions: the critically endangered Takifugu chinensis and the endangered Takifugu plagiocellatus.

Takifugu rubripes serves as a model organism in biological research.

Morphology and behaviour
Not all Takifugu have been studied in detail, but the most researched species is Takifugu rubripes, due to the commercial farming of this fish for human consumption. Takifugu rubripes, for example, breeds from March to May and lays eggs attached to rocks at a depth of around 20 m. As far as known, most species live exclusively in marine and brackish water, also breeding in this habitat. The anadromous Takifugu obscurus migrates from its coastal marine habitat into fresh water to spawn. An even more exceptional and unique breeding behavior is displayed by Takifugu niphobles. They gather in groups at certain beaches, throw themselves onto land where fertilization happens and then return to the water. The eggs either float back into the water or may stay on land under rocks for a period, only hatching when again submerged by high tide. This breeding behavior is unique among pufferfish, but found in a few other unrelated fish like capelin and grunion.

Fugu can also change color over time. This helps them to camouflage.

Toxicity
The fish's main defense is the neurotoxin contained in its internal organs, mainly the ovaries and the liver, to a lesser extent in the intestines and the skin, and only minute amounts in the muscles and blood. This makes the fugu a lethal meal for most predators, including the occasional human.

The toxin is called tetrodotoxin, or more precisely anhydrotetrodotoxin 4-epitetrodotoxin and is about 1200 times deadlier than cyanide. This poison can also be found in other animals such as the blue-ringed octopus, cone snails, and even some newts. The pufferfish does not create the poison itself; rather it is generated by bacteria e.g. Pseudomonas within the fish. The fish obtains the bacteria by eating food containing these bacteria. Pufferfish that are born and grown in captivity do not produce tetrodotoxin until they receive some of the poison-producing bacteria, often by eating tissues from a toxin-producing fish. Also, some fish are more poisonous than others. Each fish has enough poison to kill around thirty adult humans.

Genome
Apparently due to some unknown selection pressure, intronic and extragenic sequences have been drastically reduced within this family. As a result, they have the smallest-known genomes yet found amongst the vertebrate animals, while containing a genetic repertoire very similar to other fishes and thus comparable to vertebrates generally. Since these genomes are relatively compact it is relatively fast and inexpensive to compile their complete sequences, as has been done for two species of pufferfishes (Takifugu rubripes and Tetraodon nigroviridis). The former species was the second vertebrate in history to have its genome mapped, after humans.

Species
, there are 25 recognized species in the genus Takifugu: * Fish that have edible body parts according to the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare

title: Takifugu


text:
Suryakant Tripathi

Suryakant Tripathi "Nirala" (21 February 1899 – 15 October 1961) was an Indian poet, novelist, essayist and story-writer who wrote in Hindi. He was also an artist, who drew many contemporary sketches.

Biography
Tripathi was born on 21 February 1899 at Mahishadal in Midnapore in Bengal Presidency into a Kanyakubja Brahmin family. Nirala's father, Pandit Ramsahaya Tripathi, was a government servant and was a tyrannical person. His mother died when he was very young. Nirala was educated in the Bengali medium at Mahishadal Raj High School at Mahishadal, a princely state in Purba Medinipur. Subsequently, he shifted to Lucknow and thence to village Gadhakola of Unnao district, to which his father originally belonged. Growing up, he gained inspiration from personalities like Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, and Rabindranath Tagore.

After his marriage at the age of 20, Nirala learned Hindi at the insistence of his wife, Manohara Devi. Soon, he started writing poems in Hindi, instead of Bengali. After a bad childhood, Nirala had a few good years with his wife. But this phase was short-lived as his wife died when he was 22, and later his daughter (who was a widow) also expired. Nirala lost half of his family, including his wife and daughter, in the 1918 Spanish flu influenza outbreak.

Most of his life was somewhat in the bohemian tradition. He wrote strongly against social injustice and exploitation in society. Since he was more or less a rebel, both in form and content, acceptance did not come easily. What he got in plenty was ridicule and derision. All this may have played a role in making him a victim of schizophrenia in his later life and he was admitted to Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi.

Work
Many of Nirala's poems were translated by David Rubin, and are available in the collections, A Season on the Earth: Selected Poems of Nirala (Columbia University Press, 1977), The Return of Sarasvati: Four Hindi Poets (Oxford University Press, 1993), and Of Love and War: A Chayavad Anthology (Oxford University Press, 2005). Nirala : Aatmhanta Astha was a critical analysis of his works written by Doodhnath Singh.

Legacy
Today, a park, Nirala Uddyan, an auditorium, Nirala Prekshagrah, and a degree college, Mahapran Nirala Degree College, in the Unnao District are named after him.

In popular culture
The Films Division of India produced a short documentary film on his life, titled Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, directed by Rajiv Kumar. It covers his works and achievements.

Poetry

 * Ram Ki Shakti Puja (राम की शक्ति पूजा)
 * Dhwani (ध्वनि)
 * Apara (अपरा)
 * Saroj Smriti (सरोज स्मृति)
 * Parimal (परिमल)
 * Priyatam (प्रियतम)
 * Anaamika (अनामिका, 1938)
 * Geetika (गीतिका)
 * Kukurmutta (कुकुरमुत्ता, 1941)
 * Adima (अणिमा)
 * Bela (बेला)
 * Naye Patte (नये पत्ते)
 * Archana (अर्चना)
 * Geet Gunj (गीतगुंज)
 * Aradhana (आराधना)
 * Tulsidas (तुलसीदास, 1938)
 * Janmabhumi (जन्मभूमि)
 * Jago Phir Ek Bar (जागो फिर एक बार)
 * Bhikshuk (भिक्षुक)
 * Todti Patthar (तोड़ती पत्थर)

Novels

 * Apsara (अप्सरा)
 * Alka (अलका)
 * Prabhavati (प्रभावती)
 * Nirupama (निरुपमा)
 * Chameli (चमेली)
 * Choti ki Pakad (चोटी की पकड़)
 * Indulekha (इन्दुलेखा)
 * Kale Karname (काले कारनामे)

Collections of stories

 * Chhaturi Chamar (चतुरी चमार)
 * Sukul ki Biwi (सुकुल की बीवी, 1941)
 * Sakhi (साखी)
 * Lily (लिली)
 * Devi (देवी)

Essay-collections

 * Prabandha-Parichaya (प्रबंध परिचय)
 * Bangbhasha ka Uchcharan (बंगभाषा का उच्चारण)
 * Ravindra-Kavita-Kannan (रवीन्द्र-कविता-कानन)
 * Prabandh-Padya (प्रबंध पद्य)
 * Prabandh-Pratima (प्रबंध प्रतिमा)
 * Chabuk (चाबुक)
 * Chayan (चयन)
 * Sangraha (संग्रह)

Prose

 * Kullibhat (कुल्लीभाट)
 * Billesur Bakriha (बिल्लेसुर बकरिहा)

Translations

 * Anand Math (आनन्दमठ)
 * Vish-Vriksh (विष वृक्ष)
 * Krishnakant ka Vil (कृष्णकांत का विल)
 * Kapal Kundala (कपाल कुण्डला)
 * Durgesh Nandini (दुर्गेश नन्दिनी)
 * Raj Singh (राज सिंह)
 * Raj Rani (राज रानी)
 * Devi Chaudharani (देवी चौधरानी)
 * Yuglanguliya (युगलांगुलीय)
 * Chandrasekhar (चन्द्रशेखर)
 * Rajni (रजनी)
 * Sri Ramkrishna Vachnamrit (श्री रामकृष्ण वचनामृत)
 * Bharat mein Vivekanand (भारत में विवेकानंद)
 * Rajyog (राजयोग)

title: Suryakant Tripathi


text:
Damyan Velchev

Damyan Velchev or Velcev (Дамян Велчев) (4 March 1883, Gabrovo – 25 January 1954, Paris) was a Bulgarian politician and general.

From 1925 to 1935 he was the leader of the Military League (Bulgaria) (1919–1947), an organization of Bulgarian officers which carried the 1923, 1934 and 1944 coup d'etats. In 1930 he became a member of the Zveno group. In 1934 he led the pro-Zveno coup, but did not become a minister and stayed in the background. After King Boris III's counter-coup of 1935 Velchev fled abroad, but later slipped back into the country wanting to make another coup d'etat and was arrested. He was sentenced to death in 1936, but Boris spared his life.

In 1943 he joined the Fatherland Front, an anti-Axis resistance movement. In 1944 the Fatherland Front seized power and Velchev became Minister of Defence with the rank of colonel general. He resigned in 1946 because of communist purges within the army. Later he became ambassador to Switzerland as an act by the communists to keep him away from Bulgarian matters, but in 1947 he resigned and asked for political asylum. He remained in Switzerland until his death in France in 1954.

title: Damyan Velchev


text:
List of cities in Togo

This is a list of cities and towns in Togo.

Other places

 * Adeta
 * Agbodrafo
 * Cinkassé
 * Kambole
 * Ketao
 * Tandjouare
 * Togoville

title: List of cities in Togo


text:
Euonymus

Euonymus is a genus of flowering plants in the staff vine family, Celastraceae. Common names vary widely among different species and between different English-speaking countries, but include spindle (or spindle tree), burning-bush, strawberry-bush, wahoo, wintercreeper, or simply euonymus. It comprises about 130 species of deciduous and evergreen shrubs, small trees and lianas. They are mostly native to East Asia, extending to the Himalayas, and they are also distributed in Europe, Australasia, North America, and Madagascar. Fifty species are endemic to China.

Description
The inconspicuous flowers occur in small groups, and can be green, yellow, pink or maroon in color depending on species. The leaves are opposite (rarely alternate) and simple ovoid, typically 2–15 cm long, and usually with a finely serrated margin. The fruit is a pink or white four- or five-valved pod-like berry, which splits open to reveal the fleshy-coated orange or red seeds.

The seeds are eaten by frugivorous birds, which digest the fleshy seed coat and disperse the seeds in their droppings. Many species are used for medicinal use, and parts of the plants can be poisonous to humans.

Cultivation and uses

The wood of some species was traditionally used for the making of spindles for spinning wool; this use is the origin of the British English name of the shrubs.

Euonymus are popular garden shrubs, grown for their foliage, the deciduous species often exhibiting very bright red autumnal colours, and also for the decorative berries. However, Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus or burning-bush) is considered an invasive species in the woodlands of the northeastern United States.

Diversity
Species include:

title: Euonymus


text:
Talk:École Spéciale d'Architecture

Untitled
this school seems to be central to many persons of influence. I found it releated to Farah Diba, the Shah's wife, from Iran. Paul Virilio is educated here, and now a professor here (?).

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title: Talk:École Spéciale d'Architecture


text:
Sokodé

Sokodé is the second largest city in Togo, with a population of about 189,000. It is a commercial center for the surrounding agricultural areas, and seat of the Tchaoudjo Prefecture and Centrale Region. It is in the center of the country, 339 km north of Lomé, between the Mo and Mono rivers. It is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious city, but is dominated by Islam. The ethnic majority are Kotokolis, who live alongside Muslims.

History

Ancient indigenous stock of the region mixed with more recent migrants of Gurma, from the eastern part of the Niger Bend, between Ouagadougou and Niamey, who brought the political system of chiefdoms with them. Added to this structure were Sudanese traders and craftsmen (the Mandinka, from historic Mali) and Hausa, a dynamic force since the 16th century. By choosing, in late 1897, to establish an outpost at Sokodé, Germans entrenched the role of the now dominant Kotokoli chiefdoms.

The city developed in precolonial times as a commercial crossroads on the Kola nut route between Ghana and Benin. Currently it is center on the only north-south road in Togo, linking the capital Lomé to Burkina Faso. Urbanization accelerated during colonization. The city consists of older villages that have now become neighborhoods.

Sokodé continues to be governed by a system balanced between a municipal administration and traditional chiefs. Historically, the chiefs of various villages were included in a leadership council, the Tchaoudjo.

Geography
Sokodé's region is characterized by a dense network of rivers and hilly terrain. The two main rivers are the Kpondjo and Kpandi, which flow into the Na which in turn feeds the Mono River. The border between the Mono and the Volta River drainage basins is located a few kilometers north of the city. It is now in the catchment of the river Mô.

Demographics
Sokodé is the city with the highest proportion of Muslims in Togo. 70% of the population is Muslim and the remaining 30% are Christians, mostly Catholics. Sokodé is home to the Tem people and most people in Sokodé speak Kotokoli (or Tem). The ethnonym Kotokoli is the name that was given to these speakers by traders of the Niger Bend. Many other languages are spoken in Togo, especially Ewé, the dominant language of the south, and Kabyé, dominant language of the Kara region, further north. The Kotokoli and Kabyè languages are closely related.

From the standpoint of urban landscape, the city can be divided into two parts: the center, with high density traditional housing, and the suburbs, with housing becoming progressively less dense as one moves away from the center. Modern materials have been increasingly replacing traditional materials (mudbrick).

Climate
Situated at an average altitude of 340 m, midway between the ocean and the Sahel strip, Sokodé experiences a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw), with two distinct seasons: the rainy season, which lasts from April to October, peaking from July to September and the dry season from November to March. The rainfall is between 1,200 and 1,500 mm per year and the number of rainy days varies between 100 and 130. The average temperature is 26 °C (1961–1990). The evaporation rate is high, estimated at 1500 mm / year, and is particularly marked in the harmattan period from November to January. The humidity is very variable, and depends on all the above factors.

Economy
The economy of Sokodé is dominated by transport, trade and handicrafts. There is little industrial activity, like cotton ginning and sugar processing.

Farmers grow primarily corn, cassava, yams, pepper and beans, and many gardeners and farmers live on the periphery of Sokodé. They have herds of cows in the fields. Meanwhile, nomadic Fulani frequently pass near Sokodé, with their herds of zebu en route between Burkina Faso and Nigeria.

The vegetables are grown especially along the Kpondjo and Inusayo rivers. Most agricultural areas are floodplains, with growers beginning cultivation following the rainy season.

Festivals

 'Gadao-Adossa-Kosso': the main Kotokoli festival consists of three days of festivities, from Friday to Sunday. Celebrated the evening before Adossa, Gadao's function is to thank the ancestors for abundant harvests. Adossa, or the Festival of Knives, is an initiation rite originating with Semassi warriors who demonstrate their strength and courage by undergoing physical challenges. The next day is Kosso, the Festival of Women, in which women dance in the Municipal Park in Sokodé City.

Among others, major festivals are held by different Sokodé clans. In most festivals traditional dancers are invited from the region, as well as riders mimicking the Semassi warriors, spinning at full speed in the middle of the crowd.

Places of worship
Among the places of worship, they are predominantly Muslim mosques. There are also Christian churches and temples : Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokodé (Catholic Church), Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Togo (World Communion of Reformed Churches), Togo Baptist Convention (Baptist World Alliance), Living Faith Church Worldwide, Redeemed Christian Church of God, Assemblies of God.

Sport
The town is home to AC Semassi F.C. who play at the Stade Municipal as do the Tchaoudjo Athlétic Club.

Notable people

 * Kotokro - the founder of Sokodé.
 * Zarifou Ayéva - politician
 * Mohamed Kader - footballer
 * Edem Kodjo - former Prime Minister of Togo
 * Assimiou Touré - footballer
 * Arissou Traorè - footballer

title: Sokodé


text:
Of Moths and Men

Of Moths and Men is a book by journalist Judith Hooper about the Oxford University ecological genetics school led by E.B. Ford. The book specifically concerns Bernard Kettlewell's experiments on the peppered moth which were intended as experimental validation of evolution. She highlights supposed problems with the methodology of Kettlewell's experiments and suggests that these issues could invalidate the results obtained, ignoring or disparaging evidence supporting natural selection while repeatedly implying that Kettlewell and his colleagues committed fraud or made careless errors. Subject matter experts have described the book as presenting a "conspiracy theory" with "errors, misrepresentations, misinterpretations and falsehoods". The evolutionary biologist Michael Majerus spent the last 7 years of his life systematically repeating Kettlewell's experiments, demonstrating that Kettlewell had in fact been correct.

Allegations of poor experimental practice
Hooper alleges several flaws in experimental methodology, including gluing the moths in place on parts of trees where they would not naturally settle, feeding birds heavily enough to condition them to expect feeding at that point, artificially boosting recapture rates, altering experiments (unconsciously) to favour the expected outcome, and errors in statistical analysis.

The historian of biology David Rudge has carefully reexamined the records upon which Hooper's argument is based. His conclusions were that her historical research was poor and she had shown fundamental misunderstandings about the nature of science.

Reviews
The book was described as well-written in reviews in the mainstream press, but it was severely criticised in scientific publications. Writing in Nature, Coyne (2002) attacked Hooper's "flimsy conspiracy theory [of] ambitious scientists who will ignore the truth for the sake of fame and recognition [by which] she unfairly smears a brilliant naturalist". In Science, Grant (2002) critically summarised the book's content, saying "What it delivers is a quasi-scientific assessment of the evidence for natural selection in the peppered moth (Biston betularia), much of which is cast in doubt by the author’s relentless suspicion of fraud". Bryan Clarke, who worked alongside Kettlewell at Oxford, described Hooper's book as "a treasury of insinuations worthy of an unscrupulous newspaper".

The entomologist and expert on peppered moth evolution Michael Majerus described the book as "littered with errors, misrepresentations, misinterpretations and falsehoods". He spent the last 7 years of his life on research, systematically refuting Hooper's claims. Much of the work was published posthumously, the data being reviewed by a team of evolutionary biologists, leading to a vindication of Kettlewell's findings, the re-establishment of his reputation, and the restoration of the peppered moth as an exemplar of Darwinian evolution.

title: Of Moths and Men


text:
Moratorium

Moratorium (from Late Latin morātōrium, neuter of morātōrius, "delaying"), may refer to:

Law

 * Moratorium (law), a delay or suspension of an activity or a law

Music

 * "Moratorium", a song by Alanis Morissette on her album Flavors of Entanglement
 * "Moratorium", a song by Band-Maid on their album Just Bring It

Protests

 * Black Moratorium, January 1972 Indigenous rights protest in Australia
 * Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, demonstrations against the Vietnam War held in the United States and Australia in 1969

Other uses

 * 2010 United States deepwater drilling moratorium, a six-month suspension following a catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico
 * Debt moratorium, delay allowed in repayment of debts
 * July Moratorium, a period with limited activity in the National Basketball Association (NBA) before their salary cap is announced
 * Moratorium (entertainment), the practice of suspending sales of home videos by the distributors
 * United Nations moratorium on the death penalty, 2007/8 resolutions of the UN

title: Moratorium