text:
Lamia

Lamia (Λάμια), in ancient Greek mythology, was a child-eating monster and, in later tradition, was regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit or "daimon".

In the earliest stories, Lamia was a beautiful queen of ancient Libya who had an affair with Zeus. Upon learning this, Zeus's wife Hera robbed Lamia of her children, the offspring of her affair with Zeus, either by kidnapping or by killing them. The loss of her children drove Lamia insane, and in vengeance and despair, Lamia snatched up any children she could find and devoured them. Because of her cruel acts, her physical appearance changed to become ugly and monstrous. Zeus gave Lamia the power of prophecy and the ability to take out and reinsert her eyes, possibly because she was cursed by Hera with insomnia or because she could no longer close her eyes, so that she was forced to always obsess over her lost children.

The lamiai (λάμιαι) also became a type of phantom, synonymous with the empusai who seduced young men to satisfy their sexual appetite and fed on their flesh afterward. An account of Apollonius of Tyana's defeat of a lamia-seductress inspired the poem "Lamia" by John Keats.

Lamia has been ascribed serpentine qualities, which some commentators believe can be firmly traced to mythology from antiquity; they have found analogues in ancient texts that could be designated as lamiai, which are part-snake beings. These include the half-woman, half-snake beasts of the "Libyan myth" told by Dio Chrysostom, and the monster sent to Argos by Apollo to avenge Psamathe, daughter of King Crotopos.

In previous centuries, Lamia was used in Greece as a bogeyman to frighten children into obedience, similar to the way parents in Spain, Portugal and Latin America used the Coco.

Etymology
A scholiast to Aristophanes claimed that Lamia's name derived from her having a large throat or gullet (λαιμός; laimós). Modern scholarship reconstructs a Proto-Indo-European stem *, "nocturnal spirit", whence also comes lemures.

Classical mythology
In the myth, the Lamia was originally a beautiful woman beloved of Zeus, but Zeus's jealous wife Hera robbed her of her children, either by kidnapping and hiding them away, killing them, or causing Lamia herself to kill her own offspring. She became disfigured from the torment, transforming into a terrifying being who hunted and killed the children of others.

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (vii.5) refers to the lore of some beastly lifeform in the shape of a woman, which tears the bellies of pregnant mothers and devours their fetuses. An anonymous commentator on the passage states this is a reference to the Lamia, but muddlingly combines this with Aristotle's subsequent comments and describes her as a Scythian of the Pontus (Black Sea) area.

According to one myth, Hera deprived Lamia of the ability to sleep, making her constantly grieve over the loss of her children, and Zeus provided relief by endowing her with removable eyes. He also gifted her with a shapeshifting ability in the process.

De-mythologized
Diodorus Siculus (fl. 1st century BC) gave a de-mythologized account of Lamia as a queen of Libya who ordered her soldiers to snatch children from their mothers and kill them, and whose beauty gave way to bestial appearance due to her savageness. The queen, as related by Diodorus, was born in a cave. Heraclitus Paradoxographus (2nd century) also gave a rationalizing account.

Diodorus's rationalization was that the Libyan queen in her drunken state was as if she could not see, allowing her citizens free rein for any conduct without supervision, giving rise to the folk myth that she places her eyes in a vessel. Heraclitus's euhemerized account explains that Hera, consort of Zeus, gouged the eyes out of the beautiful Lamia.

Genealogy
Lamia was the daughter born between King Belus of Egypt and Lybie, according to one source.

According to the same source, Lamia was taken by Zeus to Italy, and that Lamos, the city of the man-eating Laestrygonians, was named after her. A different authority remarks that Lamia was once queen of the Laestrygonians.

Aristophanes
Aristophanes wrote in two plays an identically worded list of foul-smelling objects which included the "Lamia's testicles", thus making Lamia's gender ambiguous. This was later incorporated into Edward Topsell's 17th-century envisioning of the lamia.

It is somewhat uncertain if this refers to the one Lamia or to "a Lamia" among many, as given in some translations of the two plays; a generic lamia is also supported by the definition as some sort of a "wild beast" in the Suda.

As children's bogey
The "Lamia" was a bogeyman or bugbear term, invoked by a mother or a nanny to frighten children into good behavior. Such practices are recorded by the 1st century Diodorus, and other sources in antiquity.

Numerous sources attest to the Lamia being a "child-devourer", one of them being Horace. Horace in Ars Poetica cautions against the overly fantastical: "[nor should a story] draw a live boy out of a Lamia's belly". Lamia was in some versions thus seen as swallowing children alive, and there may have existed some nurse's tale that told of a boy extracted alive out of a Lamia.

The Byzantine lexicon Suda (10th century) gave an entry for lamía, with definitions and sources much as already described. The lexicon also has an entry under mormo (Μορμώ), stating that Mormo and the equivalent μορμολυκεῖον mormolykeion are called lamía, and that all these refer to frightful beings.

"Lamia" has as synonyms "Mormo" and "Gello" according to the scholia to Theocritus.

Other bogeys have been listed in conjunction with "Lamia", for instance, the Gorgo (ἡ Γοργώ), the eyeless giant Ephialtes, a Mormolyce (μορμολύκη named by Strabo.

As a seductress
In later classical periods, around the 1st century A. D., the conception of this Lamia shifted to that of a sultry seductress who enticed young men and devoured them.

Apollonius of Tyana
A representative example is Philostratus's novelistic biography Life of Apollonius of Tyana.

It purports to give a full account of the capture of "Lamia of Corinth" by Apollonius, as the general populace referred to the legend. An apparition (phasma φάσμα ) which in the assumed guise of a woman seduced one of Apollonius's young pupils.

Here, Lamia is the common vulgar term and empousa the proper term. For Apollonius in speech declares that the seductress is "one of the empousai, which most other people would call lamiai and mormolykeia". The use of the term lamia in this sense is however considered atypical by one commentator.

Regarding the seductress, Apollonius further warned, "you are warming a snake (ophis) on your bosom, and it is a snake that warms you". It has been suggested from this discourse that the creature was therefore "literally a snake". The empousa admits in the end to fattening up her victim (Menippus of Lycia) to be consumed, as she was in the habit of targeting young men for food "because their blood was fresh and pure". The last statement has led to the surmise that this lamia/empusa was a sort of blood-sucking vampiress.

Another aspect of her powers is that this empusa/lamia is able to create an illusion of a sumptuous mansion, with all the accoutrements and even servants. But once Apollonius reveals her false identity at the wedding, the illusion fails her and vanishes.

Lamia the courtesan
A longstanding joke makes a word play between Lamia the monster and Lamia of Athens, the notorious hetaira courtesan who captivated Demetrius Poliorcetes (d. 283 BC). The double-entendre sarcasm was uttered by Demetrius's father, among others. The same joke was used in theatrical Greek comedy, and generally. The word play is also seen as being employed in Horace's Odes, to banter Lucius Aelius Lamia the praetor.

Golden Ass
In Apuleius's The Golden Ass appear two Thessalian "witches", Meroe and her sister Panthia, who are called lamiae in one instance.

Meroe has seduced a man named Socrates, but when he plots to escape, the two witches raid his bed, thrust a knife in the neck to tap the blood into a skin bag, eviscerate his heart, and stuff the hole back with sponge.

Some commentators, despite the absence of actual blood-sucking, find these witches to share "vampiric" qualities of the lamiae (lamiai) in Philostratus's narrative, thus offering it up for comparison.

Kindreds
Lamia's possible kindred kind appear in Classical works, but may be known by other names except for isolated instance which calls it a lamia. Or they may be simply unnamed or differently named. And those analogues that exhibit a serpentine form or nature have been especially noted.

Poine of Argos
One such possible lamia is the avenging monster sent by Apollo against the city of Argos and killed by Coroebus. It is referred to as Poine or Ker in classical sources, but later in the Medieval period, one source does call it a lamia (First Vatican Mythographer, c. 9th to 11th century).

The story surrounds the tragedy of the daughter of King Crotopus of Argos named Psamathe, whose child by Apollo dies and she is executed for suspected promiscuity. Apollo as punishment then sends the child-devouring monster to Argos.

In Statius' version, the monster had a woman's face and breasts, and a hissing snake protruding from the cleft of her rusty-colored forehead, and it would slide into children's bedrooms to snatch them. According to a scholiast to Ovid, it had a serpent's body carrying a human face.

In Pausanias's version, the monster is called Poinē (ποινή), meaning "punishment" or "vengeance", but there is nothing about a snake on her forehead.

One evidence this may be a double of the Lamia comes from Plutarch, who equates the word empousa with poinē.

Libyan myth
A second example is a colony of man-eating monsters in Libya, described by Dio Chrysostom. These monsters had a woman's torso and beastly hands, and "all the lower part was snake, ending in the snake's baleful head". The idea that these creatures were lamiai seems to originate with Alex Scobie (1977), and to be accepted by other commentators.

Middle Ages
By the Early Middle Ages, lamia (pl. lamiai or lamiae) was being glossed as a general term referring to a class of beings. Hesychius of Alexandria's lexicon (c. 500 A.D.) glossed lamiai as apparations, or even fish. Isidore of Seville defined them as beings that snatched babies and ripped them apart.

The Vulgate used "lamia" in Isaiah 34:14 to translate "Lilith" of the Hebrew Bible. Pope Gregory I (d. 604)'s exegesis on the Book of Job explains that the lamia represented either heresy or hypocrisy.

Christian writers also warned against the seductive potential of lamiae. In his 9th-century treatise on divorce, Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, listed lamiae among the supernatural dangers that threatened marriages, and identified them with geniciales feminae, female reproductive spirits.

Interpretations

This Lamia of Libya has her double in Lamia-Sybaris of the legend around Delphi, both indirectly associated with serpents. Strong parallel with the Medusa has also been noted. These, and other considerations have prompted modern commentators to suggest she is a dragoness.

Another double of the Libyan Lamia may be Lamia, daughter of Poseidon. Lamia by Zeus gave birth to a Sibyl according to Pausanias, and this would have to be the Libyan Lamia, yet there is a tradition that Lamia the daughter of Poseidon was the mother of a Sibyl. Either one could be Lamia the mother of Scylla mentioned in the Stesichorus (d. 555 BC) fragment, and other sources. Scylla is a creature depicted variously as anguipedal or serpent-bodied.

Identification as a serpent-woman
Diodorus Siculus (fl. 1st century BC), for instance, describes Lamia of Libya as having nothing more than a beastly appearance. Diodorus, Duris of Samos and other sources which comprise the sources for building an "archetypal" picture of Lamia do not designate her as a dragoness, or give her explicit serpentine descriptions.

In the 1st-century Life of Apollonius of Tyana the female empousa-lamia is also called "a snake", which may seem to the modern reader to be just a metaphorical expression, but which Daniel Ogden insists is a literal snake. Philostratus's tale was reworked by Keats in his poem Lamia, where it is made clear she bears the guise of a snake, which she wants to relinquish in return for human appearance.

Modern commentators have also tried to establish that she may have originally been a dragoness, by inference. Daniel Ogden argues that one of her possible reincarnations, the monster of Argos killed by Coroebus had a "scaly gait", indicating she must have had an anguipedal form in an early version of the story, although the Latin text in Statius merely reads inlabi (declension of labor) meaning "slides".

One of the doubles of Lamia of Libya is the Lamia-Sybaris, which is described only as a giant beast by Antoninus Liberalis (2nd century). It is noted that this character terrorized Delphi, just as the dragon Python had.

Close comparison is also made with the serpentine Medusa. Not only is Medusa identified with Libya, she also had dealings with the three Graeae who had the removable eye shared between them. In some versions, the removable eye belonged to the three Gorgons, Medusa and her sisters.

Hecate
Some commentators have also equated Lamia with Hecate. The basis of this identification is the variant maternities of Scylla, sometimes ascribed to Lamia (as already mentioned), and sometimes to Hecate. The identification has also been built (using transitive logic) since each name is identified with empousa in different sources.

Stench of a lamia
A foul odor has been pointed out as a possible common motif or attribute of the lamiai. The examples are Aristophanes's reference to the "lamia's testicles", the scent of the monsters in the Libyan myth which allowed the humans to track down their lair, and the terrible stench of their urine that lingered in the clothing of Aristomenes, which they showered upon him after carving out his friend Sophocles's heart.

Mesopotamian connection
Lamia may originate from the Mesopotamian demoness Lamashtu.

Modern age

Renaissance writer Angelo Poliziano wrote Lamia (1492), a philosophical work whose title is a disparaging reference to his opponents who dabble in philosophy without competence. It alludes to Plutarch's use of the term in De curiositate, where the Greek writer suggests that the term Lamia is emblematic of meddlesome busybodies in society. Worded another way, Lamia was emblematic of the hypocrisy of such scholars.

From around the mid-15th century into the 16th century, the lamia came to be regarded exclusively as witches.

Bestiary

In Edward Topsell's History of Four-footed Beasts (1607), the lamia is described as having the upper body (i.e., the face and breasts) of a woman, but with goatlike hind quarters with large and filthy "stones" (testicles) that smell like sea-calves, on authority of Aristophanes. It is covered with scales all over.

Adaptations
John Keats's "Lamia" in his Lamia and Other Poems is a reworking of the tale in Apollonius's biography by Philostratus, described above. In Keats's version, the student Lycius replaces Menippus the Lycian. For the descriptions and nature of the Lamia, Keats drew from Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy. August Enna wrote an opera called Lamia.

English composer Dorothy Howell composed a tone poem Lamia which was played repeatedly to great acclaim under its dedicatee Sir Henry Wood at the London Promenade concerts in the 1920s. It has been recorded more recently by Rumon Gamba conducting the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra for Chandos Records in a 2019 release of British tone poems.

The 1982 novel Lamia by Tristan Travis sees the mythological monster relocated to 1970s Chicago, where she takes bloody vengeance on sex offenders while the cops try to figure out the mystery.

Lamia, also known as Ramia, also appears as a boss in the Nintendo DS action role-playing game Deep Labyrinth.

Lamia is the main antagonist in the 2009 horror movie Drag Me to Hell voiced by Art Kimbro. In the film, Lamia is described as "the most feared of all Demons" and having the head and hooves of a goat. A gypsy curse associated with him has Lamia torment the victim for three days before having its minions drag them into Hell to burn in its fires for all eternity.

Lamia appears as an antagonist in Rick Riordan's The Demigod Diaries, appearing in its fourth short story "The Son of Magic". She is depicted as the daughter of Hecate and as having glowing green eyes with serpentine slits, shriveled-up hands with lizard-like claws on them, and crocodile-like teeth.

In the anime Monster Musume, the character Miia is a lamia.

Lamias are featured in the progressive rock album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway by Genesis on the track "The Lamia". They are depicted as female creatures with "snake-like" bodies and seduce the protagonist Rael in an attempt to devour him, but as soon as they "taste" Rael's body, the blood that enters the lamias' bodies causes their death.

Lamia is mentioned several times in the Iron Maiden song "Prodigal Son" from their 1981 album Killers. The band often refer to mythology and mythical beasts in their compositions.

The American TV series Raised by Wolves features a character named Lamia, an android mother, who has removable eyes and the ability to shapeshift.

The 2024 British fantasy TV series Domino Day, set in modern-day Manchester, features Siena Kelly as the titular lead character, a witch who feeds on the energy of her dating-app hook-ups. She eventually realizes that she is actually a lamia.

Modern folk traditions
In modern Greek folk tradition, the Lamia has survived and retained many of her traditional attributes. John Cuthbert Lawson remarks "the chief characteristics of the Lamiae, apart from their thirst for blood, are their uncleanliness, their gluttony, and their stupidity". The contemporary Greek proverb, "της Λάμιας τα σαρώματα" ("the Lamia's sweeping"), epitomises slovenliness; and the common expression, "τό παιδί τό 'πνιξε η Λάμια" ("the child has been strangled by the Lamia"), explains the sudden death of young children.

Later traditions referred to many lamiae; these were folkloric monsters similar to vampires and succubi that seduced young men and then fed on their blood.

Fine arts

In a 1909 painting by Herbert James Draper, the Lamia who moodily watches the serpent on her forearm appears to represent a hetaera. Although the lower body of Draper's Lamia is human, he alludes to her serpentine history by draping a shed snakeskin about her waist. In Renaissance emblems, Lamia has the body of a serpent and the breasts and head of a woman, like the image of hypocrisy.

General and cited references

 * Kerényi, Karl (1951), The Gods of the Greeks pp 38–40. Edition currently in print is Thames & Hudson reissue, February 1980, ISBN 0-500-27048-1.
 * ISBN 0199323747
 * Kerényi, Karl (1951), The Gods of the Greeks pp 38–40. Edition currently in print is Thames & Hudson reissue, February 1980, ISBN 0-500-27048-1.
 * ISBN 0199323747
 * ISBN 0199323747
 * ISBN 0199323747
 * ISBN 0199323747

title: Lamia


text:
Hampden County

Hampden County may refer to:
 * County of Hampden, Victoria, Australia
 * Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States

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

title: Hampden County


text:
Kalush, Ukraine

Kalush (Калуш, ) is a city set in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of Kalush Raion (district) and hosts the administration of Kalush urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Its estimated population was Some of its important local industries include chemicals and concrete.

Geography
Kalush is in the western portion of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in the region of Western Ukraine at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains. It stands on the Dniester tributary, the Limnytsia River that begins from the slopes of the Carpathians. The city is at the eastern border of the ethnographical region of Boyko Land.

History
The earliest known mention of Kalush is the accounting of a village of that name in a chronicle dated May 27, 1437. At that time, together with all Red Ruthenia, the village belonged to the Kingdom of Poland and was known under its Polish name, Kałusz. Until the mid-16th century, Kałusz was part of Halicz Land, Ruthenian Voivodeship. It was known for producing malt, its brewery, and salt mining. In 1469, King Kazimierz Jagiellonczyk founded a Roman Catholic parish church there.

In 1549 Kalush was incorporated as a city by Crown Hetman Mikołaj Sieniawski on the authority of the Polish Crown (Magdeburg rights). Already then Kalush became also known as a city of chemical industry specializing in producing nitrate. The contemporary city coat of arms is derived from the Leliwa coat of arms of the Sieniawski family and is dedicated to the victory in the Battle of Vienna, while the upper portion of the shield contains three white salt furnaces. In 1595 Kalush, which had 55 houses, was ransacked by Crimean Tatars. Here, two important battles took place. In 1672, forces of Hetman Jan Sobieski clashed with Tatars of Selim I Giray, and three years later, Andrzej Potocki fought here with Turks. In 1772, following the Partitions of Poland, the town was seized by the Habsburg Empire, where it remained until 1918.

In 1912–13 prior to World War I near the city of Kalush an oil rig was built. However, instead of oil, the rig ended up extracting a natural gas. For a long time the gas was not utilized, but later was used for heating a potassium quarry and boilers in Boryslav and Drohobych.

In the Second Polish Republic, Kalush/Kalusz was the seat of a county in Stanislawow Voivodeship. Its population was 15,000, almost equal proportions of Poles, Ukrainians and Jews. Following the 1939 Invasion of Poland, the town was annexed by the Soviet Union. Occupied by the Third Reich from 2 July 1941 until 30 July 1944, it returned to the Soviet Union in 1944. During World War II the residents of the city witnessed many ethnocides. In 1940, the Soviets forced inhabitants of Kalush to leave the town and forcefully moved them to Siberia, many of whom were people of various nationalities: Poles, Ukrainians, and others. Then, in late 1941 and 1942, the majority of Kalush's Jewish inhabitants were murdered by the Germans. Since the 16th century, a Jewish community had flourished in the city and at times constituted a majority of its population; however, in 1941, while under Nazi control, that community was virtually eliminated. Polish Home Army (AK) was active in the town and its area. The town itself was captured by the AK in mid-July 1944, during the Operation Tempest. In 1945, Polish residents of Kalush were expelled to the Recovered Territories.

On March 20, 1972, the city of Kalush became a city of regional importance.

Recently several renovations have taken place of several local temples such as the Temple of All Saints of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate), the Catholic Saint Valentine Church, and the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church of Saint Nicholas. Kalush residents presented a bust of Taras Shevchenko to Simferopol and erected the first monument to Kobzar on Crimean soil on August 21, 1997. A monument to Shevchenko was also presented to the city of Novohrodivka, Donetsk region, in honor of the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence.

Until 18 July 2020, Kalush was incorporated as a city of oblast significance and served as the administrative center of Kalush Raion though it did not belong to the raion. In July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast to six, the city of Kalush was merged into Kalush Raion.

Language
Distribution of the population by native language according to the 2001 census:

Kalush city council in 2010
Note: Percentage indicates correlation to the total number of seats in the city council which is 50. The results of the election were taken from kalush.net where they were published on 4 November 2010. Election was half and half, one (25 seats) by the "majority rule", another (25 seats) – by "party-list". There were 15 non-affiliated members, all of whom associated themselves with the Ukrainian Party (2006).

Points of interest
The city still contains an old rathaus which was declared as the National Landmark of Architecture #591. The previous Rathaus was destroyed during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. The new Rathaus served as a town hall and a directory of agriculture since the 20th century. The conditions of the landmark in 2010 were terrible and the Rathaus required some major renovations. A fire broke out ruins of the Rathaus in 2013.

In the city, there is a mount Vysochanka named after a colonel of the Lysyanka Regiment during the Cossack Hetmanate and a leader of the local uprising in 1648 Semen Vysochan.

Notable people

 * Stepan Bandera
 * August Aleksander Czartoryski
 * Jakub Sobieski
 * Jan "Sobiepan" Zamoyski
 * Tomasz Zamoyski
 * Fedir Danylak
 * Vlad DeBriansky
 * Oksana Franko
 * Natalie Papazoglu
 * Oleh Psiuk, co-founder of Kalush, winners of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022
 * Yuriy Izdryk
 * M. Lincoln Schuster

 * Aryeh Leib HaCohen Heller, Prominent Rabbi and author of the "Ketzos Hachoshen"
 * Yehuda Heller Kahana, Prominent Rabbi and author of the "Kuntras HaSfeikos"

Twin towns – sister cities
Kalush is twinned with:
 * 🇷🇸 Bačka Palanka, Serbia
 * 🇨🇿 Český Krumlov, Czech Republic
 * 🇺🇸 Grand Prairie, United States
 * 🇵🇱 Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Poland

Location

 * Local orientation

 * Regional orientation

authors: Максим Огородник

title: Kalush, Ukraine


text:
Hampshire County

Hampshire County is the name of two counties in the United States:

 * Hampshire County, Massachusetts
 * Hampshire County, West Virginia

title: Hampshire County


text:
Talk:Finsteraarhorn

Untitled
What's the link between the Finsteraarhorn and the Jungfrau? They may be located close-ish to each other, but is that enough? Kokiri 13:24, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Orogeny
The article referred to uplift six million years ago, which is too recent. A quick survey of the online material available indicates that uplift of the Aarmassif occurred relatively late, in the Oligocene. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.3.255.103 (talk) 21:11, 28 June 2013 (UTC)

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Ali al-Sistani

Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani (علي الحسيني السيستاني; born 4 August 1930) is an Iranian-Iraqi Islamic scholar. One of the most senior scholars of Twelver Shia with the rank of Grand Ayatollah and marja', he has been described as the spiritual leader of Shia Muslims worldwide (as of 2003), "the undisputed leader of Iraq's Shias", included in top positions of "The Muslim 500: The World's Most Influential Muslims", from 2009 to 2024,  and named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2004 and 2005.

Early life
Al-Sistani was born in either 1929 or 1930 in Mashhad, to a family of religious clerics who claim descent from Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad. His father was Mohammad-Baqir al-Sistani and his mother was the daughter of Ridha al-Mehrebani al-Sarabi.

Sistani began his religious education as a child, first in Mashhad in his father's, and continuing later in Qom. In Qom he studied under Grand Ayatollah Hossein Borujerdi. Later in 1951, Sistani traveled to Iraq to study in Najaf under Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei. Sistani rose to the rank of mujtahid in 1960 at thirty-one.

Grand Ayatollah

When Ayatollah Khoei died in 1992, Abd al-A'la al-Sabziwari briefly became the leading marja'. However, when he died in 1993, al-Sistani ascended to the rank of Grand Ayatollah through formal peer recognition of his scholarship. His role as successor to Khoei was symbolically cemented when he led funeral prayers for Khoei, and he also inherited most of Khoei's network and following.

Baath Party
During the years of Saddam Hussein's rule of Iraq through the Arab nationalist and Sunni dominated Baath Party, al-Sistani was untouched during the violent Baathist repression and persecution that killed many clerics including Muhammad al-Sadr in 1999, for which Saddam denied any involvement. Al-Sistani's mosque was forcefully shut down in 1994 and did not reopen until the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq.

Role in contemporary Iraq
Since the overthrow of the Baath Party of Iraq in 2003, al-Sistani has played an increasingly prominent role in regional religious and political affairs and he has been called the "most influential" figure in post-invasion Iraq.

Shortly after the American invasion began, al-Sistani issued a fatwa advising Shia clergy to become engaged in politics to better guide the Iraqi people toward "clearer decisions" and to fight "media propaganda." As the summer of 2003 approached, al-Sistani and his followers began petitioning the occupying forces for a constitutional convention. Later, al-Sistani called for a democratic vote of the people to form a transitional government. Observers described the move as being a path leading directly to Shia political dominance over Iraq's government, as Shia Muslims make up approximately 65% of the total Iraqi population. Subsequently, al-Sistani criticized plans for an Iraqi government for not being democratic enough.

In early August 2004, al-Sistani experienced serious health complications related to a previously diagnosed heart condition. He traveled to London to receive medical treatment. It was, reportedly, the first time that al-Sistani had left Iraq in decades, and may have been due, in part, to growing concerns for his safety from sectarian violence. Though still recovering, al-Sistani returned later in the month to broker a military truce at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf where Muqtada al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army had been cornered by American and Iraqi forces. Sadr, who rose rapidly to prominence through a series of independent military actions beginning in 2004, has since actively challenged al-Sistani's more progressive influence over Shia in the region.

Al-Sistani's edicts reportedly provided many Iraqi Shia cause for participating in the January 2005 elections—he urged, in a statement on October 1, 2004, that Iraqis recognize the election as an "important matter," additionally, al-Sistani asked that the elections be "free and fair ... with the participation of all Iraqis." Soon after, al-Sistani issued a fatwa alerting Shia women that they were religiously obligated to participate in the election, even if their husbands had forbidden them from voting. In an issued statement al-Sistani remarked that "truly, women who go forth to the polling centers on election day are like Zaynab, who went forth to Karbala."

He has consistently urged the Iraqi Shia not to respond in kind to attacks from Sunni Salafists, which have become common in Sunni-dominated regions of Iraq like the area known as the "Triangle of Death," south of Baghdad. Even after the destruction of the Shia Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra in February 2006, his network of clerics and preachers continued to urge calm and told their followers that "it was not their Sunni neighbors who were killing them but foreign Wahhabis." Al-Sistani's call for unity after the bombing of the mosque helped to control a potentially dangerous situation, preventing the country from entering in a bloody sectarian war. Al-Sistani did the same when the same mosque was bombed again in 2007.

An alleged plot to assassinate al-Sistani was foiled on January 29, 2007, when three Jund al-Samaa gunmen were captured at a hotel near his office. It is believed to have been part of a larger attack against several targets in Najaf.

In an online open poll 2005, Ali al-Sistani was selected as the 30th topmost intellectual person in the world on the list of Top 100 Public Intellectuals by Prospect (UK) and Foreign Policy (US).

On 13 June 2014, al-Sistani appealed that Iraqis should support the government against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militant group, which had taken over Mosul and Tikrit and was threatening Baghdad. Later in June 2014, al-Sistani revised his statement and issued a fatwa calling for "citizens to defend the country, its people, the honor of its citizens, and its sacred places," against the ISIL.

Al-Sistani said the Iraqi government and police were liable for killing protestors during the 2019–2021 Iraqi protests. He requested that the government prosecute those who gave the command to shoot protesters. The ayatollah rarely voices his opinion on politics except in extreme unrest. The protests have been described as Iraq's worst violence since ISIL was militarily defeated in 2017. A month later in November 2019, in response to the death of three Iraqi protesters, al-Sistani said "No person or group, no side with a particular view, no regional or international actor may seize the will of the Iraqi people and impose its will on them."

Shia patronage
As the leading cleric in Najaf, al-Sistani oversees sums amounting to millions of US dollars. His followers offer him a fixed part of their earnings (khums), which is used for educational and charitable purposes. Al-Sistani's office has reported that it supports 35,000 students in Qom, 10,000 in Mashhad, and 4,000 in Isfahan. It also oversees a network of representatives (wakil) "who promote his views in large and small ways in neighborhoods, mosques, bazaars, and seminaries from Kirkuk to Basra."

In Iran, due to the post-invasion opening of the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala to Iranians, many Iranians are said to return from pilgrimage in Iraq as supporters of al-Sistani.

Ayatollah al-Sistani sent nearly 1,000 aid packages, mostly food, but also other basic needs, to Balkhab, Afghanistan during the Balkhab uprising to help out the displaced Hazaras.

Religious and political views
According to scholar Vali Nasr, Al-Sistani, like his mentor Al-Khoei, sees Islamic scholars "mainly as teachers and defenders of the faith". In government he saw the "role of Islam as providing values and guidelines for social order" rather than rule.

He "was not shy" in confronting US occupation authorities about issues such as who had the authority to write Iraq's new constitution and kept them at arm's length, but also avoided "Khomeini-style denunciations" of the United States as the 'Great Satan'. His supporters' demonstrations were "impressively large but peaceful". He opposes both secularism and Shi'i sectarianism.

For Iraq, he "put forth a simple model of government" based "on the principle of majority rule … accountable and representative government that would reflect and protect Shia identity".

At the same time he is conservative in matters of religious law, "unaffected" by the ideas of "modernism".

Though his differences with Iraq's larger and more powerful neighbor the Islamic Republic of Iran and their theory of Velayat-e-faqih are "profound" according to Nasr, al-Sistani has avoided "entanglements" with them and with the rivalries of Iranian politics, politics and clerics in Lebanon, and "never tried to promote a rivalry" between his religious center of Najaf and the Iranian center in Qom, a reflection, Nasr believes, of al-Sistani's reluctance to become involved in politics. He maintains good relations with the Iranian government.

In October 2023, during the Israel–Hamas war, Al-Sistani condemned Israel; and called on the world to stand up to the “terrible brutality” in besieged Gaza. Sistani met with Pope Francis on 6 March 2021 during Pope Francis's visit to Iraq. They met for about 40 minutes in Sistani's home in Najaf.

Views about Mysticism
Ayatollah al-Sistani doesn't support mystic worldview inspired from Ibn Arabi. Answering a question regarding Ibn Arabi's school of thought, he said:

"'I believe in the method of the great jurists of Twelver Shi‘ism in obtaining religious wisdom, which is in accordance with the verses of the Holy Qur’an and the traditions of the pure infallibles of the Household, peace be upon them, and I do not approve the above-mentioned method.'" He has also warned young students of the seminary against the rising mystic tendencies in religious circles.

Views on homosexuality
In 2005, Sistani issued a Fatwa, calling for homosexuals to be killed in "the most severe way". Sistani then retracted the call in 2011.

Guardianship of Islamic Jurists (Wilayat al-Faqih)
Perhaps because of his great influence, what exactly the position of Al-Sistani is on Ayatollah Khomeini's theory of rule of the Islamic jurist is disputed.

A number of sources include him as opposing the concept. Al-Monitor news service lists him as one of the "four leading Marja' of Najaf (Bashir al-Najafi, Muhammad al-Fayadh, Muhammad Saeed al-Hakim being the others) who oppose Ruhollah Khomeini's concept" of rule by Islamic jurisprudence. Researcher Hayder Al-Khoei writes that pro-Islamic Republic of Iran propagandists have gone to the trouble of publishing books with fabricated quotes by Sistani in favor of rule by jurists as one of their "propaganda campaigns" in Najaf, to obscure the fact that "al-Sistani, like the vast majority of Shia clerics based in the city of Najaf, is well-known for his opposition to Wilayat al-Faqih".

Journalist Ali Muhammad quotes political analyst Abdul Wahhab al-Hussaini concerning Khomeini's follower and successor Ali Khamenei: "'The conflict between Najaf and Tehran has become obvious as the two schools are fairly different - especially when it comes to the issue of wilayat al-faqih [the guardianship of the jurist] ... Najafi scholars do not believe in this concept at all, but Khamenei uses it to shore up his authority and influence in the region, especially in Iraq. Khamenei believes that his wilayat al-faqih authority extends to Iraq, while Sistani rejects such intervention, because the country has its own system of governance and the role of the religious authority [in Iraq] is strictly advisory.'"

Vali Nasr calls his differences with ruling clerics in Iran "profound", and his model of government based on majority rule. Ali Mamouri Medi Khalaji talks of him "explicitly" referring to "velayat-e insan (state guardianship by the people), as opposed to velayat-e faqih (guardianship of the jurist)".

But according to the pro-Khomeini organization Ahl-ul-bayt Islamic Mission, there has been a "West-based campaign" to manipulate "Shi’i public opinion" concerning the "character of Sayed ‘Ali al-Sistāni and jurists of the Najaf seminary" and to claim the "existence of a quietist and apolitical tradition of Shi’ism among the jurists".

An archived question and answer from his website has this to say on the subject: "Question: What is Grand Ayatollah Sistani's opinion about velayat-e faqih? Answer: Every jurisprudent (faqih) has wilayah (guardianship) over non-litigious affairs. As for general affairs to which social order is linked and enforcement of doctrine, this depends on certain conditions, one of which is the popularity of the faqih among the majority of momeneen (believers)."

On the specific question of obedience to a supreme leader, according to "Ayatollah Watch", al-Sistani has said that any pronouncement given by a supreme leader "supersedes all (including those given by other Maraji') unless the pronouncements are proven to be wrong or the pronouncements are proven to be against what is in the Qur'an or in Religious Tradition".

Yet another interpretation of his statements comes from Sadegh Zibakalam, who states that al-Sistani has consistently avoided supporting a strict interpretation of the theory of velayat-e faqih, especially of absolute guardianship, and has not explicitly offered any substantive affirmation of the theory as a whole (including limited guardianship); thereby creating "a major lacuna" in the "grand ideological scenario" of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Al Jazeera
In May 2007, hundreds of Shias demonstrated publicly in Basra and Najaf to protest comments made by television presenter and journalist Ahmed Mansour during a Qatari broadcast of Al Jazeera television programming. While presenting, Bela Hodod (a.k.a. Without Borders), Mansour voiced skepticism of al-Sistani's leadership credentials while directing questions about the Iraqi-born cleric, to his guest, Shia cleric Jawad al-Khalsi. Mansour also suggested that al-Sistani was unaware of contemporary problems in Iraq and of prevailing post-war conditions, and he alleged that Sistani's edicts were largely, written and disseminated by aides. At another point, Mansour asked Khalsi whether the United States was using Iraqi politicians, and also al-Sistani, to promote Western interests in Iraq.

Saudi criticism
In January 2010, during a Jumu'ah khutba (Friday sermon), an imam employed by the Saudi government, Mohamad al-Arefe, said al-Sistani was an "obscene, irreligious atheist." The remarks prompted a protest by his followers in Iraq, Qom and Lebanon. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rebuked the Saudi religious authorities. Lebanon-based Islamist militant organization Hezbollah also condemned the attack on al-Sistani, calling the speech "inauspicious," while praising al-Sistani as one of Shia Islam's "most prominent religious references."

Internet
By working with Shia computer programmers and other specialists, al-Sistani sponsored the establishment of The Ahlulbayt Global Information Center, an international web resource, and he has since been called "the electronic grand ayatollah par excellence."

Cyber attacks
On 18 September 2008, hackers attacked hundreds of Shia websites. The attacks were reportedly the work of a Muslim faction known as group-xp, based in the Arabian peninsula and linked to Salafi and Wahhabi movements. They attacked an estimated three hundred Shia internet websites, including The Ahlulbayt (a.s.) Global Information Center. It was later dubbed the "largest Wahhabi hacker attack" in recent years.

After the attack, visitors to the site were greeted by a red attack banner bearing the slogan "group-xp" paired with a message in Arabic denouncing Shia beliefs and officials. Hackers also replaced a video of Sistani with one of comedian Bill Maher mocking Sistani.

However, the attack led to the retaliatory hacking of more than nine hundred Wahhabi and Salafi websites. One such successful attack was documented on video and uploaded to YouTube on 3 October 2008. The hacker, a Shia from the United Arab Emirates using the handle "ShiaZone", was shown logging into email accounts of suspected members of group-xp. The hacked email accounts reportedly yielded group-xp's contact information, information that was subsequently posted on Shia websites.

Public appearances
Al-Sistani has notoriously avoided public appearances, despite his widespread fame and not shying away from attention. In practice, al-Sistani never delivers public sermons or speeches and only releases official statements through "official representatives". The statements are later transcribed and posted on Sistani's official webpage, with the Grand Ayatollah's official stamp, indicating the authenticity of the remarks. Though al-Sistani has appeared in a few short videos, he does not say anything in these videos and is usually motionless. The only public recording of Sistani's voice is a short, Persian-language lecture by al-Sistani to students. Another video depicts al-Sistani in the back of a room conversing with a fellow cleric, again in Persian, and faintly captures sparse bits of Sistani's vocalizations.

Sheikh Abdul-Mahdi Al-Karbalai is Sistani's foremost representative and gives speeches in Sistani's stead. Abdul-Mahdi Al-Karbalai is noted for having announced Sistani's famous fatwa (edict) obligating Iraqis to vote, and with the rise of terrorism, to join the military to oppose ISIS.

Personal life
Al-Sistani is married to the daughter of Muhammad Hasan al-Shirazi (d. 1972), the grandson of Mirza Shirazi. He has two sons, Muhammad Rida and Muhammad Baqir.

Works translated into English

 * Current Legal Issues
 * A Code of practice for Muslims in the West
 * Hajj Rituals
 * Islamic Laws
 * Jurisprudence Made Easy
 * Contemporary Legal Rulings in Shia Law

Not translated into English
His office states that thirty-two other works exist, but have not been translated into English.

title: Ali al-Sistani


text:
Bizone

The Bizone or Bizonia was the combination of the American and the British occupation zones on 1 January 1947 during the occupation of Germany after World War II. With the addition of the French occupation zone on 1 August 1948 the entity became the Trizone (sometimes jokingly called Trizonesia (Trizonesien, ) ). Later, on 23 May 1949, the Trizone became the Federal Republic of Germany, commonly known as West Germany.

Division of Germany into occupation zones
At the conclusion of World War II, the Allies began organising their respective occupation zones in Germany. The easternmost lands were permanently annexed to either Poland or the Soviet Union. The lands that were to remain "German" were divided four ways: The Americans occupied the South, the British the West and North, France the South-West, and the Soviets Central Germany (the future East Germany). Berlin was similarly divided into four zones.

Initial breakdown of four-zone cooperation
Cooperation between the four occupying powers broke down between 1945 and 1947. The Soviet Union, which encouraged and partly carried out the post-war expulsions of Germans from the areas under its rule, stopped delivering agricultural products from its zone in Germany to the more industrial western zones, thereby failing to fulfill its obligations under the Potsdam Agreements to provide supplies for the expellees, whose possessions had been confiscated. At Potsdam, it had been agreed that 15% of all equipment dismantled in the Western zones – especially from the metallurgical, chemical, and machine manufacturing industries – would be transferred to the Soviets in return for food, coal, potash (a basic material for fertilisers), timber, clay products, petroleum products, etc. The Western deliveries had started in 1946.

The Soviet deliveries – desperately needed to provide the eastern expellees with food, heat, and basic necessities, and to increase agricultural production in the remaining cultivation area – did not materialise. Consequently, the American military administrator, Lucius D. Clay, stopped the transfer of supplies and dismantled factories from the Ruhr area to the Soviet sector on 3 May 1946 while the expellees from the areas under Soviet rule were deported to the West until the end of 1948. As a result of the halt of deliveries from the western zones, the Soviet Union started a public relations campaign against American policy and began to obstruct the administrative work of all four zones.

Local governance by zone
The Soviets had established central administration in their zone for nutrition, transport, jurisdiction, finance, and other areas already in July 1945, before the participants of the Potsdam Conference had officially agreed to form central German administrations. The central administrations (Zentralverwaltungen) in the Soviet zone were not a form of German self-government, but were rather subdivisions of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SVAG), which had the legislative power. The states in the Soviet zone had only limited functions.

After Potsdam, in the summer of 1945, the Control Commission for Germany – British Element (CCG/BE) in Bad Oeynhausen created central offices (Zentralämter) for its zone. Its chairpersons were appointed by the British military government and were more influential than the minister-presidents of the states in the British zone, which at the time were administrative bodies rather than republics. After March 1946 the British zonal advisory board (Zonenbeirat) was established, with representatives of the states, the central offices, political parties, trade unions, and consumer organisations. As indicated by its name, the zonal advisory board had no legislative power, but was merely advisory. The Control Commission for Germany – British Element made all decisions with its legislative power.

In reaction to the Soviet and British advances, in October 1945 the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) encouraged the states in the US zone to form a co-ordinating body, the so-called Länderrat (council of states), with the power to legislate for the entire US zone. It created its own central bodies (Ausschüsse or joint interstate committees) headed by a secretariat seated in Stuttgart. While the British and Soviet central administrations were allied institutions, these US zone committees were not OMGUS subdivisions, but instead were autonomous bodies of German self-rule under OMGUS supervision.

France had not participated in the Potsdam Conference, so it felt free to approve some of the Potsdam Agreements and ignore others. Generally the French military government obstructed any interzonal administrations in Allied-occupied Germany; it even blocked interstate co-operation within its own zone, aiming at total decentralisation of Germany into a number of sovereign states. Therefore, the states in the French zone were given a high level of autonomy but under French supervision, inhibiting almost any interstate co-ordination.

Interzone efforts
At a conference of representatives of the states (Länder) within the American and British zones of occupation during 5-11 September 1946, decisions were taken on administrative bodies for the economy (Minden), transportation (Frankfurt am Main), food and agriculture (Stuttgart), postal and radio communications (Frankfurt am Main), and a German Finance Commission (Stuttgart). On 6 September, at the conference in Stuttgart, US Secretary of State James F. Byrnes delivered a Restatement of Policy on Germany, referring to the need for German economic unity and the development of its economic powers, as well as the strengthening of the Germans' responsibility for their own politics and economy, repudiating the Morgenthau Plan.

Formation of Bizonia
At the conference of minister-presidents of the Länder in the British and American zones on 4 October 1946 in Bremen, proposals were discussed for the creation of a German Länderrat (Länder Council), after the US example. In New York on 2 December 1946, British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin and his American counterpart James F. Byrnes agreed on the economic unification of the American and British zones, effective 1 January 1947.

The Americans and the British united their zones on 1 January 1947, creating the Bizone, in order to advance the development of a growing economy accompanied by a new political order in northwestern, western and southern Germany. In early 1947 the British zonal advisory board was restructured according to the example of the US zone Länderrat, so that the states in the British zone were empowered as autonomous legislating bodies, with the British military government confining itself to supervision. No agreement with the Soviets was possible. Allowing the states in the Soviet zone to govern the central administrations, then still subject to the SVAG, would have meant the end of communist rule in the east. If the state parliaments and governments were not clearly dominated by communists, as had resulted from the last somewhat free elections in the Soviet zone in 1946, the Soviet Union would have had to waive the establishment of a communist dictatorship in the Soviet zone. The Soviets had begun mass expropriations of entrepreneurs, real estate owners, and banks in September 1945, a process that had continued ever since.

The Bizone was the first step in coordinating the policies in at least two zones of occupation in Germany, which up to that time had operated mostly unconnected due to French obstructionism. The establishment of the Bizone became the nucleus of the future West Germany, ignoring for the time being the SVAG dominated policy in the Soviet zone and the anti-collaboration attitude imposed onto the states in the French zone. At the Washington Conference of Foreign Ministers (4–8 April 1949) France agreed to merge its zone with the Bizone into the Trizone. The unification of the three zones materialised only six weeks before the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany on 24 May 1949, with France only reluctantly having permitted the participants from its zone to join the necessary preparations.

The economic management of the two zones was handled by the Administrative Council for the Economy, based in Minden. Later, administrative cooperation expanded, paving the way to a West German rump state, even though many West German politicians were still strongly opposed to this. With the Bizone, the foundation for new constitutional and economic developments was laid, cemented by the currency reform of June 1948. On the other hand, Germany was now on a track to the eventual division into an East and a West. The United States and the United Kingdom had emphasised the administrative and economic nature of the Bizone, but it still counts as the basis for the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, which took over the rights and duties of the administration of the Bizone (Article 133 of the Grundgesetz).

On 29 May 1947, the American and British military governments signed an agreement creating an Economic Council for the Bizone, to be based in Frankfurt am Main.

Lewkowicz argues that the establishment of the Bizone was the most significant factor in the creation of two blocs in Europe and therefore in the configuration of the Cold War international order.

Trizonia, end of inter-Allied control, and formation of West Germany
Bizonia governance was extended to include the French occupation zone on 1 August 1948 and the resulting structure was unofficially called either Trizonia or Trizonesia. Relations among the four occupying powers continued to deteriorate, and the quadripartite structures became unmanageable. In March 1948, the Allied Control Council ceased to operate and was replaced for the Trizone by the Allied High Commission. Subsequently, the Trizone became the Federal Republic of Germany, commonly known as West Germany, on 23 May 1949. The Soviet-sponsored Kommandatura ceased to operate in June 1948.

Geography and population
The Bizone included the Länder Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Bremen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Bavaria, and Württemberg-Baden – the northern part of the later Baden-Württemberg – but not the states of the French zone, to wit Württemberg-Hohenzollern, Baden, Rheinland-Pfalz, or those in the Soviet zone Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Saxony. Neither part of Berlin was part of the Trizone nor were any former parts of Germany, such as the Saarland, which, since February 1946, had not been under the joint allied (French) occupational control. The Bizone had a population of approximately 39 million people.

British military deployments

 * British Army of the Rhine (later British Forces Germany, now British Army Germany)
 * Royal Air Force Germany

United States military deployments

 * United States Air Forces in Europe
 * U.S. Seventh Army
 * U.S. Third Army

title: Bizone


text:
James Milne Wilson

Sir James Milne Wilson (29 February 1812 – 29 February 1880) was a colonial Australian politician who served as premier of Tasmania from 1869 to 1872.

Biography
Wilson was born in 1812 in Banff, Scotland; the third son of John Wilson, a shipowner, and his wife, Barbara Gray; maternal grandson of Alexander Gray and wife, Jean Bean (See Pedigree of Bean of Portsoy). Educated at Banff and Edinburgh, he emigrated to Van Diemen's Land (later Tasmania) in 1829, studied practical engineering and afterwards became a ship's officer. He was connected with the Cascade Brewery for 14 years and became its manager. He entered politics in October 1859 as member for Hobart in the legislative council, and in January 1863 joined the Whyte cabinet as minister without portfolio. In 1868, at the time of the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh, Wilson was mayor of Hobart and on 4 August 1869 became premier and colonial secretary in a ministry which lasted until November 1872.

Anthony Trollope, who came to Australia in 1871, formed a high opinion of Wilson: "I thought I had not met a sounder politician in Australia... Victoria is desirous of annexing Tasmania. Perhaps when she has done so, Mr Wilson will become premier for the joint colonies, and then great things may be expected." In 1872, Wilson was elected president of the Tasmanian Legislative Council, and held this position until his death on 29 February 1880, on his "seventeenth" birthday aged 68.

In 1847, he married Deborah Hope, daughter of Peter Degraves. Lady Wilson survived him with children. He was knighted in 1873 and created KCMG in 1878. He was a man of unbounded popularity, well known for his charities. He was president of the Southern Tasmanian Agricultural Society and chairman of committees and president of the Tasmanian Jockey Club. As a politician, Wilson showed wisdom in his advocacy of free-trade between the Australian colonies. Tasmania passed an intercolonial free trade act in 1870 during his premiership, but the question made no headway on the mainland.

In an extremely rare coincidence, he was born on 29 February (making him a leapling) and died on the same date at the age of 68.

title: James Milne Wilson


text:
Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/May 14

 * 1607 - The JamestownSettlement is established in Virginia
 * 1787 - In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, delegates begin to meet to write a new Constitution for the United States.
 * 1948 - Israel declares itself to be an independent state and a provisional government is established.
 * 1955 - Cold War: Eight communist bloc countries including the Soviet Union sign a mutual-defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
 * 1961 - American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama and the civil rights protestors are beaten by an angry mob.
 * 1973 - Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched.
 * 1995 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama proclaims 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the eleventh reincarnation of the Panchen Lama.

Paraguy flag day unsourced.
The Paraguy flag day isn't mentioned at Paraguay or May 14. At Flag Day it's listed at "August 14" but that article has no references. -- Jeandré, 2007-05-19t18:11z

 * August not May according to (thanks Lambiam). -- Jeandré, 2007-05-21t21:01z

2012 notes
— howcheng  {chat} 05:36, 13 May 2012 (UTC)
 * Omitted: Mise of Lewes; Lina Medina; Talyllyn Railway; Skylab
 * Included: Constitutional Convention (United States) (first appearance); AHS Centaur (2nd appearance, last in 2010); Israeli Declaration of Independence (6th appearance, last in 2010)
 * Repeats: Battle of Utsunomiya Castle (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Warsaw Pact (2nd consecutive appearance, 8 total)

2013 notes
— howcheng  {chat} 06:26, 13 May 2013 (UTC)
 * New articles (ineligible): Carrollton, Kentucky bus collision (maintenance)
 * Omitted: Constitutional Convention (United States); Israeli Declaration of Independence; Warsaw Pact (ineligible—maintenance)
 * Included: Edward Jenner (6th appearance, last in 2009; rescued from Ineligible); Lewis and Clark Expedition (9th appearance, last in 2009; rescued from Ineligible); Mrs Dalloway (first appearance); Skylab (6th appearance, last in 2011; 40th anniversary)
 * Repeats: Battle of Utsunomiya Castle (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total); AHS Centaur (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total; 70th anniversary)

2014 notes
— howcheng  {chat} 07:54, 13 May 2014 (UTC)
 * Moved to Ineligible: AHS Centaur (TFA for 2014)
 * Omitted: Lewis and Clark Expedition; Battle of Utsunomiya Castle; Mrs Dalloway; Skylab
 * Included: Mise of Lewes (3rd appearance, last in 2011; 750th anniversary); Jamestown, Virginia (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Rockefeller Foundation (first appearance); Israeli Declaration of Independence (7th appearance, last in 2012)
 * Repeats: Edward Jenner (2nd consecutive appearance, 7 total)

2015 notes
— howcheng  {chat} 10:39, 12 May 2015 (UTC)
 * Rescued from Ineligible (unused): AHS Centaur
 * Moved to Ineligible: Mrs Dalloway (maintenance)
 * Omitted: Jamestown, Virginia; Edward Jenner (ineligible—maintenance); Rockefeller Foundation; Israeli Declaration of Independence
 * Included: Constitutional Convention (United States) (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Ådalen shootings (first appearance); Battle of the Netherlands (first appearance; 75th anniversary); Freedom Riders (first appearance)
 * Repeats: Mise of Lewes (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total)

2016 notes
— howcheng  {chat} 15:58, 13 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Omitted: Mise of Lewes; Constitutional Convention (United States); Ådalen shootings; Battle of the Netherlands; Freedom Riders
 * Included: Battle of Agnadello (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Edward Jenner (8th appearance, last in 2014; rescued from Ineligible); Battle of Utsunomiya Castle (4th appearance, last in 2013); AHS Centaur (3rd appearance, last in 2012); Skylab (7th appearance, last in 2013)

2017 notes
— howcheng  {chat} 17:43, 15 May 2017 (UTC)
 * Moved to Ineligible: Jamestown, Virginia (maintenance); Rockefeller Foundation (maintenance); Lina Medina (maintenance); Freedom Riders (maintenance)
 * Omitted: Battle of Agnadello (ineligible—maintenance); Battle of Utsunomiya Castle; AHS Centaur; Skylab (ineligible—maintenance)
 * Included: Mise of Lewes (5th appearance, last in 2015); Salem witchcraft trial (1878) (first appearance); Ådalen shootings (2nd appearance, last in 2015); Battle of the Netherlands (2nd appearance, last in 2015); Mary Seacole (first appearance); Charlotte Auerbach (first appearance); Marjory Stoneman Douglas (first appearance)
 * Repeats: Edward Jenner (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total)

2018 notes
— howcheng  {chat} 16:04, 14 May 2018 (UTC)
 * Moved to Ineligible: Lewis and Clark Expedition (maintenance)
 * Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Lina Medina
 * Omitted: Mo Chutu of Lismore (moved to May 15); Edward Jenner; Salem witchcraft trial (1878); Ådalen shootings; Battle of the Netherlands; Mary Seacole; Charlotte Auerbach
 * Included: Battle of Utsunomiya Castle (5th appearance, last in 2016; 150th anniversary); AHS Centaur (4th appearance, last in 2016; 75th anniversary); Israeli Declaration of Independence (8th appearance, last in 2014; 70th anniversary); Skylab (8th appearance, last in 2016; rescued from Ineligible); Sambhaji (first appearance); Fanny Imlay (first appearance)
 * Repeats: Mise of Lewes (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total); Marjory Stoneman Douglas (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 20th anniversary)

2019 notes
— howcheng  {chat} 15:50, 14 May 2019 (UTC)
 * Deleted: Constitutional Convention (United States) (moved to May 25)
 * Omitted: AHS Centaur; Israeli Declaration of Independence; Sambhaji (ineligible—maintenance); Fanny Imlay; Marjory Stoneman Douglas
 * Included: Lina Medina (2nd appearance, last in 2011; 80th anniversary); Sumpul River massacre (first appearance); William Walcher (first appearance); Fanny Mendelssohn (first appearance); George Lucas (first appearance)
 * Repeats: Battle of Lewes/Mise of Lewes (Battle: 3rd appearance, last in 2008, was previously ineligible; Mise: 2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total); Battle of Utsunomiya Castle (2nd consecutive appearance, 6 total); Skylab (2nd consecutive appearance, 9 total)
 * I've restored Talyllyn Railway to this page from Selected anniversaries/July 5. It shouldn't be used in 2020 since it will be less than one year since it was last on the main page, but hopefully can be selected for the 70th anniversary in 2021. — O Still Small Voice of Clam 16:59, 11 October 2019 (UTC)

2020 notes
— howcheng  {chat} 16:50, 15 May 2020 (UTC)
 * New articles (unused): Talyllyn Railway (moved from July 5); Two-minute silence; Lysander Spooner; Lawrence Weathers
 * Omitted: Battle of Lewes/Mise of Lewes; Battle of Utsunomiya Castle; Lina Medina; Skylab; William Walcher; Fanny Mendelssohn; George Lucas
 * Included: Edward Jenner (10th appearance, last in 2017); Lewis and Clark Expedition (10th appearance, last in 2013; rescued from Ineligible); Battle of the Netherlands (3rd appearance, last in 2017; 80th anniversary); Hans Joachim von Zieten (first appearance); Magnus Hirschfeld (first appearance); Cate Blanchett (first appearance)
 * Repeats: Sumpul River massacre (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 40th anniversary)

2021 notes
— howcheng  {chat} 18:50, 15 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Omitted: Edward Jenner; Lewis and Clark Expedition; Battle of the Netherlands; Hans Joachim von Zieten; Magnus Hirschfeld; Cate Blanchett
 * Included: Salem witchcraft trial (1878) (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Two-minute silence (first appearance); Ådalen shootings (3rd appearance, last in 2017); Talyllyn Railway (5th appearance, last in 2019; 70th anniversary); Fanny Imlay (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Lysander Spooner (first appearance); Lucrezia Bori (first appearance)
 * Repeats: Sumpul River massacre (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

2022 notes
— howcheng  {chat} 08:16, 15 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Omitted: Salem witchcraft trial (1878); Ådalen shootings; Talyllyn Railway; Sumpul River massacre; Fanny Imlay; Lysander Spooner; Lucrezia Bori
 * Included: Battle of Lewes/Mise of Lewes (Battle: 4th appearance; Mise: 8th; both last in 2019); United States Camel Corps (2nd appearance, last in 2013); Lina Medina (3rd appearance, last in 2019); 2008 UEFA Cup Final riots (first appearance); Pope John XII (first appearance); Ants Kurvits (first appearance); Christian B. Anfinsen (first appearance)
 * Repeats: Two-minute silence (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)


text:
Hancock County

Hancock County is the name of ten counties in the United States. All are named for John Hancock who was a leader in the American Revolution. The counties are:

 * Hancock County, Georgia
 * Hancock County, Illinois
 * Hancock County, Indiana
 * Hancock County, Iowa
 * Hancock County, Kentucky
 * Hancock County, Maine
 * Hancock County, Mississippi
 * Hancock County, Ohio
 * Hancock County, Tennessee
 * Hancock County, West Virginia

Formerly

 * Winston County, Alabama, named Hancock County until 1858

title: Hancock County


text:
Cheesecloth

Cheesecloth is a loose-woven gauze-like carded cotton cloth used primarily in cheesemaking and cooking.

Grades
Cheesecloth is available in at least seven different grades, from open to extra-fine weave. Grades are distinguished by the number of threads per inch in each direction.

Food preparation
The primary use of cheesecloth is in some styles of cheesemaking, where it is used to remove whey from cheese curds, and to help hold the curds together as the cheese is formed. Cheesecloth is also used in straining stocks and custards, bundling herbs, making tofu and ghee, and thickening yogurt. Queso blanco and queso fresco are Spanish and Mexican cheeses that are made from whole milk using cheesecloth. Italian Ricotta is made from cow, sheep or goat acidified whey, traditionally formed in cheesecloth cones. Quark is a type of German unsalted cheese that is sometimes formed with cheesecloth. Paneer is a kind of Indian fresh cheese that is commonly made with cheesecloth. Fruitcake is wrapped in rum-infused cheesecloth during the process of "feeding" the fruitcake as it ripens.

Manufacturing, testing and preservation
Cheesecloth can also be used for several printmaking processes including lithography for wiping up gum arabic. In intaglio, a heavily-starched cheesecloth called tarlatan is used for wiping away excess ink from the printing surface.

Cheesecloth #60 is used in product safety and regulatory testing for potential fire hazards. Cheesecloth is wrapped tightly over the device under test, which is then subjected to simulated conditions such as lightning surges conducted through power or telecom cables, power faults, etc. The device may be destroyed but must not ignite the cheesecloth. This is to ensure that the device can fail safely, and not start electrical fires in the vicinity.

Cheesecloth made to United States Federal Standard CCC-C-440 is used to test the durability of optical coatings per United States Military Standard MIL-C-48497. The optics are exposed to a 95–100% humidity environment at 120 °F for 24 hours, and then a 1/4 in thick by 3/8 in wide pad of cheesecloth is rubbed over the optical surface for at least 50 strokes under at least 1 lb-f. The optical surface is examined for streaks or scratches, and then its optical performance is measured to ensure that no deterioration occurred.

Cheesecloth is used in India and Pakistan for making summer shirts. Cheesecloth material shirts were popular for beachwear during the 1960s and 1970s in the United States. Cheesecloth has been used to create the illusion of "ectoplasm" during spirit channelling or other ghost-related phenomena.

Cheesecloth has a use in anatomical dissection laboratories to slow the process of desiccation. The cloth can be soaked with a preservative solution such as formalin then wrapped around the specimen or at other times simply wrapped first then sprayed with water.

title: Cheesecloth


text:
SLP

SLP may refer to:

Science and technology

 * Sea level pressure
 * FN Self-Loading Police, an FN Herstal shotgun
 * Super long play, a speed format for VHS videotapes
 * Systematic Layout Planning, in Management and Organisational science

Medicine

 * Speech-language pathologist

Computing

 * Service Location Protocol, a service discovery protocol
 * Straight-line program, in computational algebra
 * Successive linear programming
 * System Locked Pre-installation

Places

 * St. Louis Park, Minnesota
 * Spring Lake Park, Minnesota
 * Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad, Sriharikota, India
 * Ponciano Arriaga International Airport, by IATA airport code
 * San Luis Potosi, a city and state in Mexico.

Organizations

 * SLP College, Leeds, England
 * Saba Labour Party
 * Saint Lucia Labour Party
 * Socialist Labour Party (disambiguation)
 * Socialist Left Party (Austria)
 * Social Liberal Party (Belgium)
 * South London Press, a local newspaper

People

 * Marwan (rapper), formerly known as Statsløs Palæstinenser

title: SLP


text:
USS Mason

USS Mason has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship, and may refer to:

 * USS Mason (DD-191), a destroyer in commission from 1920 to 1922 and from 1939 to 1940
 * USS Mason (DE-529), a destroyer escort in commission from 1944 to 1945
 * USS Mason (DDG-87), a destroyer in commission since 2003

title: USS Mason


text:
Hemocytometer

The hemocytometer (or haemocytometer) is a counting-chamber device originally designed and usually used for counting blood cells.

The hemocytometer was invented by Louis-Charles Malassez and consists of a thick glass microscope slide with a rectangular indentation that creates a precision volume chamber. This chamber is engraved with a laser-etched grid of perpendicular lines. The device is carefully crafted so that the area bounded by the lines is known, and the depth of the chamber is also known. By observing a defined area of the grid, it is therefore possible to count the number of cells or particles in a specific volume of fluid, and thereby calculate the concentration of cells in the fluid overall. A well used type of hemocytometer is the Neubauer counting chamber.

Other types of hemocytometers with different rulings are in use for different applications. Fuchs-Rosenthal rulings, commonly used for spinal fluid counting, Howard Mold rulings used for mold on food and food packaging products, McMaster Egg Slide ruling used for counting microbial eggs in fecal material, Nageotte Chamber ruling for counting low levels of white cells in white cell-reduced platelet components, Palmer Nanoplankton ruling for counting smaller plankters. Petroff-Hausser counter using Improved Neubauer rulings is used for bacteria or sperm counts, and is offered with varying chamber depths. The Sedgwick-Rafter Cell ruling in a hemocytometer is primarily designed for use in the microscopy of drinking water.

Principles
The gridded area of the Improved Neubauer ruled hemocytometer consists of nine 1 x 1 mm (1 mm2) squares. These are subdivided in three directions; 0.25 x 0.25 mm (0.0625 mm2), 0.25 x 0.20 mm (0.05 mm2) and 0.20 x 0.20 mm (0.04 mm2). The central square is further subdivided into 0.05 x 0.05 mm (0.0025 mm2) squares. The raised edges of the hemocytometer hold the coverslip 0.1 mm off the marked grid, giving each square a defined volume (see figure on the right).

Usage
To use the hemocytometer, first make sure that the special coverslip provided with the counting chamber is properly positioned on the surface of the counting chamber. When the two glass surfaces are in proper contact Newton's rings can be observed. If so, the cell suspension is applied to the edge of the coverslip to be sucked into the void by capillary action which completely fills the chamber with the sample. The number of cells in the chamber can be determined by direct counting using a microscope, and visually distinguishable cells can be differentially counted. The number of cells in the chamber is used to calculate the concentration or density of the cells in the mixture the sample comes from. It is the number of cells in the chamber divided by the chamber's volume, which is known from the start, taking account of any dilutions and counting shortcuts:

where the volume of the diluted sample (after dilution) divided by the volume of the original mixture in the sample (before dilution) is the dilution factor. For example, if the volume of the original mixture was 20μL and it was diluted once (by adding 20μL dilutant), then the second term in parentheses is 40μL/20μL. The volume of the squares counted is the one shown in the table at the top, depending on the size (see figure on the right). The number of cells counted is the sum of all cells counted across squares in one chamber. The proportion of the cells counted applies if not all inner squares within a set square are counted (i.e., if only 4 out of the 20 in a corner square are counted, then this term will equal 0.2). When counting large squares with a volume of 100 nanoliter (nL), a multiplication by 10000 leads to the desired cell count per milliliter.

For most applications, the four large corner squares are only used. The cells that are on or touching the top and left lines are counted, but the ones on or touching the right or bottom lines are ignored.

Requirements
The original suspension must be mixed thoroughly before taking a sample. This ensures the sample is representative, and not just an artifact of the particular region of the original mixture it was drawn from.

An appropriate dilution of the mixture with regard to the number of cells to be counted should be used. If the sample is not diluted enough, the cells will be too crowded and difficult to count. If it is too dilute, the sample size will not be enough to make strong inferences about the concentration in the original mixture.

By performing a redundant test on a second chamber, the results can be compared. If they differ more than 2 times the counting error (square root of the count ), the method of taking the sample may be unreliable (e.g., the original mixture is not mixed thoroughly).

The counting chamber should be filled by capillary action after the chamber lid (special cover-slip with certified thickness and flatness) has been put in place. This avoids the risk that the cells could sediment/stick to the glass or some volume to evaporate before the cover-slip is placed on top and resulting in an overestimation of the cell concentration. Sedimentation is less of a problem with bacteria but evaporation, more prevalent in low-humidity air-conditioned laboratories, still has to be minimized.

Applications

 * Blood counts: for patients with abnormal blood cells, where automated counters don't perform well.
 * Sperm counts
 * Urine microscopy
 * Cell culture: when subculturing or recording cell growth over time.
 * Beer brewing: for the preparation of the yeast.
 * Phytoplankton cell counting
 * Cell processing for downstream analysis: accurate cell numbers are needed in many tests (PCR, flow cytometry), while some others require high cell viability.
 * Measurement of cell size: in a micrograph, the real cell size can be inferred by scaling it to the width of a hemocytometer square, which is known.

title: Hemocytometer