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Marcus

Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to:

 * Marcus (name), a masculine given name
 * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name

Places

 * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44
 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârlău Commune, Covasna County, Romania
 * Marcus, Illinois, an unincorporated community, United States
 * Marcus, Iowa, a city, United States
 * Marcus, South Dakota, an unincorporated community, United States
 * Marcus, Washington, a town, United States
 * Marcus Island, Japan, also known as Minami-Tori-shima
 * Mărcuș River, Romania
 * Marcus Township, Cherokee County, Iowa, United States

Other uses

 * Markus, a beetle genus in family Cantharidae
 * Marcus (album), 2008 album by Marcus Miller
 * Marcus (comedian), finalist on Last Comic Standing season 6
 * Marcus Amphitheater, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
 * Marcus Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
 * Marcus & Co., American jewelry retailer
 * Marcus by Goldman Sachs, an online bank
 * USS Marcus, a US Navy destroyer (1919–1935)

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Banga

Banga may refer to:

Arts and entertainment

 * Banga (album), a 2012 album by Patti Smith
 * A song by Ali Shaheed Muhammad from the 2004 album Shaheedullah and Stereotypes
 * The name of Pontius Pilate's dog in Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita
 * BANGA, a collective of Angolan architects

Food

 * Banga (soup), a type of meat, fish and palm fruit soup from Southern Nigeria
 * Agastache rugosa, a culinary herb known as banga in Korea

Places

 * Banga, Aklan, a municipality in the Philippines
 * Banga, Angola, municipality in Angola
 * Banga, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso
 * Banga, Entebbe, Uganda
 * Banga, India, a town and nagar panchayat in India
 * Banga Assembly Constituency
 * Banga, Pakistan, a town in Punjab, Pakistan
 * Banga, South Cotabato, a municipality in the Philippines
 * Vanga Kingdom (also known as the Banga Kingdom), an ancient name for the region of Bengal in India and Bangladesh

People

 * Banga Sainis, a sub clan of Saini people
 * Ajaypal Singh Banga, CEO of Mastercard
 * Harindarpal Banga, Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist
 * Radek Banga, Czech-Romani singer

Other uses

 * Banga (pottery), large earthen jars made in the Philippines
 * Banga language, a language of Nigeria

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

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Talk:Home on the Range (disambiguation)

I am inclined to reserve this page for the primary meaning: the song, and move all other links into Home on the Range (disambiguation). Any opinions? Mikkalai 20:47, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * You may do the latter, but for the former, the reason the song is considered more primary than the movie is because it has existed for a longer amount of time. Thus, the best thing is to create Home on the Range (disambiguation) and make it re-direct to Home on the Range. 66.32.132.196 22:17, 18 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Removed Tori Amos' lyrics. They are not part of the published song and perhaps belong on another page, perhaps "Home on the Range (Political Pastiche)".Scott Adler 01:36, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Home on the Range (disambiguation)


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Beaver Falls

Beaver Falls may refer to:

Places in the United States

 * Beaver Falls, Minnesota
 * Beaver Falls, New York
 * Beaver Falls (Columbia County, Oregon)
 * Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania
 * Beaver Falls Township, Renville County, Minnesota
 * Beaver Falls, on Havasu Creek, Arizona

Other uses

 * Beaver Falls (TV series), a British comedy-drama

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Erol Otus

Erol Otus is an American artist and game designer, who contributed art to the fantasy role-playing game (RPG) genre, especially early in the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. He created art for the award winning Star Control II as well as providing the voice for one of the character races, the Chmmr, in the same game.

Biography
Otus graduated from high school in Berkeley, California. A self-taught artist since childhood, Otus developed an interest in role-playing games. His first professional artwork in the genre was for the Arduin Grimoire in 1977. He won an honorable mention in a fanart contest in Dragon magazine No. 13, which also led to employment in the art department of game company TSR in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin in the 1970s. After leaving the company, he studied painting at UC Berkeley and also took classes at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. He has cited a wide range of influences on his work from Dr. Seuss and Frank Frazetta to modern artists such as Joan Miró, Willem de Kooning and Wassily Kandinsky.

Role-playing games
Erol Otus was a prolific contributor to the early Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) franchise, creating full covers as well as many interior illustrations for TSR materials. For example, he created the cover for the first version of the D&D manual Deities & Demigods and illustrated the Cthulhu pantheon within. According to fellow contributor Jeff Dee, many of the original versions of this work were lost during a later clean-out of the TSR offices.

Otus has also provided cover art and interior illustrations for Goodman Games, Oracle Games (in particular Alma Mater - The High School RPG) and the Arduin series. His art was featured on the covers of the new HackMaster edition and issue #8 of Fight On!

While working at TSR, Otus was a runner-up in TSR's 4th Invitational AD&D Masters Tournament at Gen Con XIII, a contest to choose the game's best overall dungeon master. He competed against the likes of Lenard Lakofka and first place was taken by Frank Mentzer.

In 2014, Scott Taylor of Black Gate, named Erol Otus as 9A in a list of The Top 10 RPG Artists of the Past 40 Years, saying "I applaud Otus for keeping his style and staying true to his roots, so an inclusion on this list is a worthy honor."

Video games
Otus has also provided illustrations, production design and voice overs for computer games such as The Last Ninja, Star Trek: Generations, Mail Order Monsters and Star Control II. Star Control II was named by IGN as the 17th best game of all time, and by GameSpot as one of the greatest games of all time.

Other work
Otus provided the cover art for the album Down Among The Deadmen (2000) by American heavy metal band Slough Feg (then known as Lord Weird Slough Feg).

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Beaver dam (disambiguation)

A beaver dam is a structure built by beavers.

Beaver Dam or Beaverdam may also refer to:

Canada

 * Beaverdam, Alberta
 * Beaver Dam, New Brunswick
 * Beaver Dam, Nova Scotia

United States

 * Beaver Dam, Arizona
 * Beaver Dam, a dam on Beaver Lake, Arkansas
 * Beaver Dam, Indiana
 * Beaver Dam, Kentucky
 * Beaver Dam (Maryland), flooded marble quarry
 * Beaverdam, Missouri
 * Beaver Dam Township, Butler County, Missouri
 * Beaverdam, Nevada
 * Beaver Dams, New York
 * Beaver Dam Township, Cumberland County, North Carolina
 * Beaver Dam (Knightdale, North Carolina), a historic plantation house
 * Beaverdam, Ohio
 * Beaver Dam, Texas
 * Beaver Dam, Utah
 * Beaverdam, Virginia
 * Beaverdam, West Virginia
 * Beaver Dam, Wisconsin
 * Beaver Dam (town), Wisconsin
 * South Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community
 * Beaver Dam Lake (Wisconsin)
 * Beaver Dam Mountains Wilderness, in Arizona and Utah
 * Beaver Dam River, in Wisconsin

Battles

 * Battle of Beaver Dam Creek, in the American Civil War, 1862
 * Battle of Beaver Dams, in the War of 1812

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Talk:Bob Ross/Old history

Explanation
This page contains old history that used to be at the title Bob Ross. Graham 87 16:09, 5 May 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Bob Ross/Old history


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High Mass

High Mass may refer to:
 * Solemn Mass, Tridentine Mass or Mass of Anglican (or Anglo-Catholic) tradition, celebrated by a priest with deacon and subdeacon (international and general United States usage)
 * Missa cantata, a sung Tridentine Mass celebrated by a priest without deacon and subdeacon (usage among United States Catholics)

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Self-replicating spacecraft

The concept of self-replicating spacecraft, as envisioned by mathematician John von Neumann, has been described by futurists and has been discussed across a wide breadth of hard science fiction novels and stories. Self-replicating probes are sometimes referred to as von Neumann probes. Self-replicating spacecraft would in some ways either mimic or echo the features of living organisms or viruses.

Theory
Von Neumann argued that the most effective way of performing large-scale mining operations such as mining an entire moon or asteroid belt would be by self-replicating spacecraft, taking advantage of their exponential growth. In theory, a self-replicating spacecraft could be sent to a neighbouring planetary system, where it would seek out raw materials (extracted from asteroids, moons, gas giants, etc.) to create replicas of itself. These replicas would then be sent out to other planetary systems. The original "parent" probe could then pursue its primary purpose within the star system. This mission varies widely depending on the variant of self-replicating starship proposed.

Given this pattern, and its similarity to the reproduction patterns of bacteria, it has been pointed out that von Neumann machines might be considered a form of life. In his short story "Lungfish" (see Self-replicating machines in fiction), David Brin touches on this idea, pointing out that self-replicating machines launched by different species might actually compete with one another (in a Darwinistic fashion) for raw material, or even have conflicting missions. Given enough variety of "species" they might even form a type of ecology, or – should they also have a form of artificial intelligence – a society. They may even mutate with untold thousands of "generations".

The first quantitative engineering analysis of such a spacecraft was published in 1980 by Robert Freitas, in which the non-replicating Project Daedalus design was modified to include all subsystems necessary for self-replication. The design's strategy was to use the probe to deliver a "seed" factory with a mass of about 443 tons to a distant site, have the seed factory produce many copies of itself there to increase its total manufacturing capacity over a 500-year period, and then use the resulting automated industrial complex to construct more probes with a single seed factory on board each.

It has been theorized that a self-replicating starship utilizing relatively conventional theoretical methods of interstellar travel (i.e., no exotic faster-than-light propulsion, and speeds limited to an "average cruising speed" of 0.1c.) could spread throughout a galaxy the size of the Milky Way in as little as half a million years.

Debate on Fermi's paradox
In 1981, Frank Tipler put forth an argument that extraterrestrial intelligences do not exist, based on the fact that von Neumann probes have not been observed. Given even a moderate rate of replication and the history of the galaxy, such probes should already be common throughout space and thus, we should have already encountered them. Because we have not, this shows that extraterrestrial intelligences do not exist. This is thus a resolution to the Fermi paradox – that is, the question of why we have not already encountered extraterrestrial intelligence if it is common throughout the universe.

A response came from Carl Sagan and William Newman. Now known as Sagan's Response, it pointed out that in fact Tipler had underestimated the rate of replication, and that von Neumann probes should have already started to consume most of the mass in the galaxy. Any intelligent race would therefore, Sagan and Newman reasoned, not design von Neumann probes in the first place, and would try to destroy any von Neumann probes found as soon as they were detected. As Robert Freitas has pointed out, the assumed capacity of von Neumann probes described by both sides of the debate is unlikely in reality, and more modestly reproducing systems are unlikely to be observable in their effects on our solar system or the galaxy as a whole.

Another objection to the prevalence of von Neumann probes is that civilizations that could potentially create such devices may have a high probability of self-destruction before being capable of producing such machines. This could be through events such as biological or nuclear warfare, nanoterrorism, resource exhaustion, ecological catastrophe, or pandemics. This obstacle to the creation of von Neumann probes is one potential candidate for the concept of a Great Filter.

Simple workarounds exist to avoid the over-replication scenario. Radio transmitters, or other means of wireless communication, could be used by probes programmed not to replicate beyond a certain density (such as five probes per cubic parsec) or arbitrary limit (such as ten million within one century), analogous to the Hayflick limit in cell reproduction. One problem with this defence against uncontrolled replication is that it would only require a single probe to malfunction and begin unrestricted reproduction for the entire approach to fail – essentially a technological cancer – unless each probe also has the ability to detect such malfunction in its neighbours and implements a seek and destroy protocol (which in turn could lead to probe-on-probe space wars if faulty probes first managed to multiply to high numbers before they were found by sound ones, which could then well have programming to replicate to matching numbers so as to manage the infestation). Another workaround is based on the need for spacecraft heating during long interstellar travel. The use of plutonium as a thermal source would limit the ability to self-replicate. The spacecraft would have no programming to make more plutonium even if it found the required raw materials. Another is to program the spacecraft with a clear understanding of the dangers of uncontrolled replication.

Applications for self-replicating spacecraft
The details of the mission of self-replicating starships can vary widely from proposal to proposal, and the only common trait is the self-replicating nature.

Von Neumann probes
A von Neumann probe is a spacecraft capable of replicating itself. It is a concatenation of two concepts: a Von Neumann universal constructor (self-replicating machine) and a probe (an instrument to explore or examine something). The concept is named after Hungarian American mathematician and physicist John von Neumann, who rigorously studied the concept of self-replicating machines that he called "Universal Assemblers" and which are often referred to as "von Neumann machines". Such constructs could be theorised to comprise five basic components (variations of this template could create other machines such as Bracewell probes):

 * Probe: which would contain the actual probing instruments & goal-directed AI to guide the construct.
 * Life-support systems: mechanisms to repair and maintain the construct.
 * Factory: mechanisms to harvest resources & replicate itself.
 * Memory banks: store programs for all its components & information gained by the probe.
 * Engine: motor to move the probe.

Andreas M. Hein and science fiction author Stephen Baxter proposed different types of von Neumann probes, termed "Philosopher" and "Founder", where the purpose of the former is exploration and for the latter preparing future settlement.

A near-term concept of a self-replicating probe has been proposed by the Initiative for Interstellar Studies, achieving about 70% self-replication, based on current and near-term technologies.

If a self-replicating probe finds evidence of primitive life (or a primitive, low-level culture) it might be programmed to lie dormant, silently observe, attempt to make contact (this variant is known as a Bracewell probe), or even interfere with or guide the evolution of life in some way.

Physicist Paul Davies of University of Adelaide has "raised the possibility of a probe resting on our own Moon", having arrived at some point in Earth's ancient prehistory and remained to monitor Earth, a concept that, per Michio Kaku, was what Stanley Kubrick used as the basis of his film, 2001: A Space Odyssey (though the director cut the relevant monolith scene from the movie). Kubrick's work was based on Arthur C. Clarke's story, "The Sentinel", expanded by the pair in the form of a novel that became the basis for the movie and so Davies' lunar probe/observatory concept is also considered reminiscent of Clarke.

A variant idea on the interstellar von Neumann probe idea is that of the "Astrochicken", proposed by Freeman Dyson. While it has the common traits of self-replication, exploration, and communication with its "home base", Dyson conceived the Astrochicken to explore and operate within our own planetary system, and not explore interstellar space.

Anders Sandberg and Stuart Armstrong argued that launching the colonization of the entire reachable universe through self-replicating probes is well within the capabilities of a star-spanning civilization, and proposed a theoretical approach for achieving it in 32 years, by mining planet Mercury for resources and constructing a Dyson Swarm around the Sun.

Berserkers
A variant of the self-replicating starship is the Berserker. Unlike the benign probe concept, Berserkers are programmed to seek out and exterminate lifeforms and life-bearing exoplanets whenever they are encountered.

The name is derived from the Berserker series of novels by Fred Saberhagen which describes a war between humanity and such machines. Saberhagen points out (through one of his characters) that the Berserker warships in his novels are not von Neumann machines themselves, but the larger complex of Berserker machines – including automated shipyards – do constitute a von Neumann machine. This again brings up the concept of an ecology of von Neumann machines, or even a von Neumann hive entity.

It is speculated in fiction that Berserkers could be created and launched by a xenophobic civilization (see Anvil of Stars, by Greg Bear, in the section In fiction below) or could theoretically "mutate" from a more benign probe. For instance, a von Neumann ship designed for terraforming processes – mining a planet's surface and adjusting its atmosphere to more human-friendly conditions – could be interpreted as attacking previously inhabited planets, killing their inhabitants in the process of changing the planetary environment, and then self-replicating to dispatch more ships to "attack" other planets.

Replicating seeder ships
Yet another variant on the idea of the self-replicating starship is that of the seeder ship. Such starships might store the genetic patterns of lifeforms from their home world, perhaps even of the species which created it. Upon finding a habitable exoplanet, or even one that might be terraformed, it would try to replicate such lifeforms – either from stored embryos or from stored information using molecular nanotechnology to build zygotes with varying genetic information from local raw materials.

Such ships might be terraforming vessels, preparing colony worlds for later colonization by other vessels, or – should they be programmed to recreate, raise, and educate individuals of the species that created it – self-replicating colonizers themselves. Seeder ships would be a suitable alternative to generation ships as a way to colonize worlds too distant to travel to in one lifetime.

Von Neumann probes

 * 2001: A Space Odyssey: The monoliths in Arthur C. Clarke's book and Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey were intended to be self-replicating probes, though the artifacts in "The Sentinel", Clarke's original short story upon which 2001 was based, were not. The film was to begin with a series of scientists explaining how probes like these would be the most efficient method of exploring outer space. Kubrick cut the opening segment from his film at the last minute, however, and these monoliths became almost mystical entities in both the film and Clarke's novel.
 * Cold As Ice: In the novel by Charles Sheffield, there is a segment where the author (a physicist) describes Von Neumann machines harvesting sulfur, nitrogen, phosphorus, helium-4, and various metals from the atmosphere of Jupiter.
 * Destiny's Road: Larry Niven frequently refers to Von Neumann probes in many of his works. In his 1998 book Destiny's Road, Von Neumann machines are scattered throughout the human colony world Destiny and its moon Quicksilver in order to build and maintain technology and to make up for the lack of the resident humans' technical knowledge; the Von Neumann machines primarily construct a stretchable fabric cloth capable of acting as a solar collector which serves as the humans' primary energy source. The Von Neumann machines also engage in ecological maintenance and other exploratory work.
 * The Devil's Blind Spot: See also Alexander Kluge, The Devil's Blind Spot (New Directions; 2004.)
 * Grey Goo: In the video game Grey Goo, the "Goo" faction is composed entirely of Von Neumann probes sent through various microscopic wormholes to map the Milky Way Galaxy. The faction's units are configurations of nanites used during their original mission of exploration, which have adapted to a combat role. The Goo starts as an antagonist to the Human and Beta factions, but their true objective is revealed during their portion of the single-player campaign. Related to, and inspired by, the Grey Goo doomsday scenario.
 * Spin: In the novel by Robert Charles Wilson, Earth is veiled by a temporal field. Humanity tries to understand and escape this field by using Von Neumann probes. It is later revealed that the field itself was generated by Von Neumann probes from another civilization, and that a competition for resources had taken place between earth's and the aliens' probes.
 * The Third Millennium: A History of the World AD 2000–3000: In the book by Brian Stableford and David Langford (published by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1985) humanity sends cycle-limited Von Neumann probes out to the nearest stars to do open-ended exploration and to announce humanity's existence to whoever might encounter them.
 * Von Neumann's War: In Von Neumann's War by John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor (published by Baen Books in 2007) Von Neumann probes arrive in the solar system, moving in from the outer planets, and converting all metals into gigantic structures. Eventually, they arrive on Earth, wiping out much of the population before being beaten back when humanity reverse engineers some of the probes.
 * We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor: Bob Johansson, the former owner of a software company, dies in a car accident, only to wake up a hundred years later as a computer emulation of Bob. Given a Von Neumann probe by America's religious government, he is sent out to explore, exploit, expand, and experiment for the good of the human race.
 * ARMA 3: In the "First Contact" single-player campaign introduced in the Contact expansion, a series of extraterrestrial network structures are found in various locations on Earth, one being the fictional country of Livonia, the campaign's setting. In the credits of the campaign, a radio broadcast reveals that a popular theory surrounding the networks is that they are a type of Von Neumann probe that arrived on Earth during the time of a supercontinent.
 * Questionable Content: In Jeph Jacques' webcomic, Faye Whitaker refers to the "Floating Black Slab Emitting A Low Hum" as a possible Von Neumann probe in Episode 4645: Accessorized.
 * In the third act of the incremental game Universal Paperclips, after all of Earth's matter has been converted into paperclips, players are tasked with sending Von Neumann probes into the universe to find and consume all matter in service of making paperclips, eventually entering a war with another class of probes called "drifters" that are created as a result of random mutations.

Berserkers

 * In the science fiction short story collection Berserker by Fred Saberhagen, a series of short stories include accounts of battles fought against extremely destructive Berserker machines. This and subsequent books set in the same fictional universe are the origin of the term "Berserker probe".
 * In the 2003 miniseries reboot of Battlestar Galactica (and the subsequent 2004 series) the Cylons are similar to Berserkers in their wish to destroy human life. They were created by humans in a group of fictional planets called the Twelve Colonies. The Cylons created special models that look like humans in order to destroy the twelve colonies and later, the fleeing fleet of surviving humans.
 * The Borg of Star Trek – a self-replicating bio-mechanical race that is dedicated to the task of achieving perfection through the assimilation of useful technology and lifeforms. Their ships are massive mechanical cubes (a close step from the Berserker's massive mechanical Spheres).
 * Science fiction author Larry Niven later borrowed this notion in his short story "A Teardrop Falls".
 * In the computer game Star Control II, the Slylandro Probe is an out-of-control self-replicating probe that attacks starships of other races. They were not originally intended to be a berserker probe; they sought out intelligent life for peaceful contact, but due to a programming error, they would immediately switch to "resource extraction" mode and attempt to dismantle the target ship for raw materials. While the plot claims that the probes reproduce "at a geometric rate", the game itself caps the frequency of encountering these probes. It is possible to deal with the menace in a side-quest, but this is not necessary to complete the game, as the probes only appear one at a time, and the player's ship will eventually be fast and powerful enough to outrun them or destroy them for resources – although the probes will eventually dominate the entire game universe.
 * In Iain Banks' novel Excession, hegemonising swarms are described as a form of Outside Context Problem. An example of an "Aggressive Hegemonising Swarm Object" is given as an uncontrolled self-replicating probe with the goal of turning all matter into copies of itself. After causing great damage, they are somehow transformed using unspecified techniques by the Zetetic Elench and become "Evangelical Hegemonising Swarm Objects". Such swarms (referred to as "smatter") reappear in the later novels Surface Detail (which features scenes of space combat against the swarms) and The Hydrogen Sonata.
 * The Inhibitors from Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space series are self-replicating machines whose purpose is to inhibit the development of intelligent star-faring cultures. They are dormant for extreme periods of time until they detect the presence of a space-faring culture and proceed to exterminate it even to the point of sterilizing entire planets.  They are very difficult to destroy as they seem to have faced every type of weapon ever devised and only need a short time to 'remember' the necessary counter-measures.
 * Also from Alastair Reynolds' books, the "Greenfly" terraforming machines are another form of berserker machines. For unknown reasons, but probably an error in their programming, they destroy planets and turn them into trillions of domes filled with vegetation – after all, their purpose is to produce a habitable environment for humans, however in doing so they inadvertently decimate the human race. By 10,000, they have wiped out most of the Galaxy.
 * The Reapers in the video game series Mass Effect are also self-replicating probes bent on destroying any advanced civilization encountered in the galaxy. They lie dormant in the vast spaces between the galaxies and follow a cycle of extermination. It is seen in Mass Effect 2 that they assimilate any advanced species.
 * Mantrid Drones from the science fiction television series Lexx were an extremely aggressive type of self-replicating Berserker machine, eventually converting the majority of the matter in the universe into copies of themselves in the course of their quest to thoroughly exterminate humanity.
 * The Babylon 5 episode "Infection" showed a smaller scale berserker in the form of the Icarran War Machine. After being created with the goal of defeating an unspecified enemy faction, the War Machines proceeded to exterminate all life on the planet Icarra VII because they had been programmed with standards for what constituted a 'Pure Icaran' based on religious teachings, which no actual Icaran could satisfy. Because the Icaran were pre-starflight, the War Machines became dormant after completing their task rather than spreading. One unit was reactivated on-board Babylon 5 after being smuggled past quarantine by an unscrupulous archaeologist, but after being confronted with how they had rendered Icara VII a dead world, the simulated personality of the War Machine committed suicide.
 * The Babylon 5 episode "A Day in the Strife" features a probe that threatens the station with destruction unless a series of questions designed to test a civilization's level of advancement are answered correctly. The commander of the station correctly surmises that the probe is actually a berserker and that if the questions are answered the probe would identify them as a threat to its originating civilization and detonate.
 * Greg Bear's novel The Forge of God deals directly with the concept of "Berserker" von Neumann probes and their consequences. The idea is further explored in the novel's sequel, Anvil of Stars, which explores the reaction other civilizations have to the creation and release of Berserkers.
 * In Gregory Benford's Galactic Center Saga series, an antagonist berserker machine race is encountered by Earth, first as a probe in In the Ocean of Night, and then in an attack in Across the Sea of Suns. The berserker machines do not seek to completely eradicate a race if merely throwing it into a primitive low technological state will do as they did to the EMs encountered in Across the Sea of Suns.  The alien machine Watchers would not be considered von Neumann machines themselves, but the collective machine race could.
 * On Stargate SG-1 the Replicators were a vicious race of insect-like robots that were originally created by an android named Reese to serve as toys. They grew beyond her control and began evolving, eventually spreading throughout at least two galaxies. In addition to ordinary autonomous evolution they were able to analyze and incorporate new technologies they encountered into themselves, ultimately making them one of the most advanced "races" known.
 * On Stargate Atlantis, a second race of replicators created by the Ancients were encountered in the Pegasus Galaxy. They were created as a means to defeat the Wraith. The Ancients attempted to destroy them after they began showing signs of sentience and requested that their drive to kill the wraith be removed. This failed, and an unspecified length of time after the Ancients retreated to the Milky Way Galaxy, the replicators nearly succeeded in destroying the Wraith. The Wraith were able to hack into the replicators and deactivate the extermination drive, at which point they retreated to their home world and were not heard from again until encountered by the Atlantis Expedition. After the Atlantis Expedition reactivated this dormant directive, the replicators embarked on a plan to kill the Wraith by removing their food source, i.e. all humans in the Pegasus Galaxy.
 * In Stargate Universe Season 2, a galaxy billions of light years distant from the Milky Way is infested with drone ships that are programmed to annihilate intelligent life and advanced technology. The drone ships attack other space ships (including Destiny) as well as humans on planetary surfaces, but don't bother destroying primitive technology such as buildings unless they are harboring intelligent life or advanced technology.
 * In the Justice League Unlimited episode "Dark Heart", an alien weapon based on this same idea lands on Earth.
 * In the Homeworld: Cataclysm video game, a bio-mechanical virus called Beast has the ability to alter organic and mechanic material to suit its needs, and the ships infected become self-replicating hubs for the virus.
 * In the SF MMO EVE Online, experiments to create more autonomous drones than the ones used by player's ships accidentally created 'rogue drones' which form hives in certain parts of space and are used extensively in missions as difficult opponents.
 * In the computer game Sword of the Stars, the player may randomly encounter "Von Neumann". A Von Neumann mothership appears along with smaller Von Neumann probes, which attack and consume the player's ships. The probes then return to the mothership, returning the consumed material.  If probes are destroyed, the mothership will create new ones.  If all the player's ships are destroyed, the Von Neumann probes will reduce the planets resource levels before leaving.  The probes appear as blue octahedrons, with small spheres attached to the apical points.  The mothership is a larger version of the probes. In the 2008 expansion A Murder of Crows, Kerberos Productions also introduces the VN Berserker, a combat oriented ship, which attacks player planets and ships in retaliation to violence against VN Motherships. If the player destroys the Berserker things will escalate and a System Destroyer will attack.
 * In the X Computer Game Series, the Xenon are a malevolent race of artificially intelligent machines descended from terraforming ships sent out by humans to prepare worlds for eventual colonization; the result caused by a bugged software update. They are continual antagonists in the X-Universe.
 * In the comic Transmetropolitan a character mentions "Von Neumann rectal infestations" which are apparently caused by "Shit-ticks that build more shit-ticks that build more shit-ticks".
 * In the anime Vandread, harvester ships attack vessels from both male- and female-dominated factions and harvest hull, reactors, and computer components to make more of themselves. To this end, Harvester ships are built around mobile factories. Earth-born humans also view the inhabitants of the various colonies to be little more than spare parts.
 * In Earth 2160, the Morphidian Aliens rely on Mantain strain aliens for colonization. Most Mantain-derived aliens can absorb water, then reproduce like a colony of cells. In this manner, even one Mantain Lady (or Princess, or Queen) can create enough clones to cover the map. Once they have significant numbers, they "choose an evolutionary path" and swarm the enemy, taking over their resources.
 * In the European comic series Storm, numbers 20 & 21, a kind of berserk von Neumann probe is set on a collision course with the Pandarve system.
 * In PC role-playing game Space Rangers and its sequel Space Rangers 2: Dominators, a league of 5 nations battles three different types of Berserker robots. One that focuses on invading planets, another that battles normal space and third that lives in hyperspace.
 * In the Star Wolves video game series, Berserkers are a self-replicating machine menace that threatens the known universe for purposes of destruction and/or assimilation of humanity.
 * The Star Wars expanded universe features the World Devastators, large ships designed and built by the Galactic Empire that tear apart planets to use its materials to build other ships or even upgrade or replicate themselves.
 * The Tet in the 2013 film Oblivion is revealed to be a Berserker of sorts: a sentient machine that travels from planet to planet, exterminating the indigenous population using armies of robotic drones and cloned members of the target species. The Tet then proceeds to harvest the planet's water in order to extract hydrogen for nuclear fusion.
 * In Eclipse Phase, an ETI probe is believed to have infected the TITAN computer systems with the Exsurgent virus to cause them to go berserk and wage war on humanity. This would make ETI probes a form of berserker, albeit one that uses pre-existing computer systems as its key weapons.
 * In Herr aller Dinge by Andreas Eschbach, an ancient nano machine complex is discovered buried in a glacier off the coast of Russia. When it comes in contact with materials it needs to fulfill its mission, it creates a launch facility and launches a space craft. It is later revealed that the nano machines were created by a pre-historic human race with the intention of destroying other interstellar civilizations (for an unknown reason). It is proposed that the reason there is no evidence of the race is because of the nano-machines themselves and their ability to manipulate matter at an atomic level. It is even suggested that viruses could be ancient nano machines that have evolved over time.

Replicating seeder ships

 * Code of the Lifemaker by James P. Hogan describes the evolution of a society of humanoid-like robots who inhabit Saturn's moon Titan. The sentient machines are descended from an uncrewed factory ship that was to be self replicating, but suffered radiation damage and went off course, eventually landing on Titan around 1,000,000 BC.
 * Manifold: Space, Stephen Baxter's novel, starts with the discovery of alien self-replicating machines active within the Solar system.
 * In the Metroid Prime subseries of games, the massive Leviathans are probes routinely sent out from the planet Phaaze to infect other planets with Phazon radiation and eventually turn these planets into clones of Phaaze, where the self-replication process can continue.
 * In David Brin's short story collection, The River of Time (1986), the short story "Lungfish" prominently features von Neumann probes. Not only does he explore the concept of the probes themselves, but indirectly explores the ideas of competition between different designs of probes, evolution of von Neumann probes in the face of such competition, and the development of a type of ecology between von Neumann probes. One of the vessels mentioned is clearly a Seeder type.
 * In The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke, humanity on a future Earth facing imminent destruction creates automated seedships that act as fire and forget lifeboats aimed at distant, habitable worlds. Upon landing, the ship begins to create new humans from stored genetic information, and an onboard computer system raises and trains the first few generations of new inhabitants. The massive ships are then broken down and used as building materials by their "children".
 * On the Stargate Atlantis episode "Remnants", the Atlantis team finds an ancient probe that they later learn was launched by a now-extinct, technologically advanced race in order to seed new worlds and re-propagate their silicon-based species. The probe communicated with inhabitants of Atlantis by means of hallucinations.
 * On the Stargate SG-1 episode "Scorched Earth", a species of newly relocated humanoids face extinction via an automated terraforming colony seeder ship controlled by an Artificial Intelligence.
 * On Stargate Universe, the human adventurers live on a ship called Destiny. Its mission was to connect a network of Stargates, placed by preceding seeder ships on planets capable of supporting life to allow instantaneous travel between them.
 * The trilogy of albums which conclude the comic book series Storm by Don Lawrence (starting with Chronicles of Pandarve 11: The Von Neumann machine) is based on self-replicating conscious machines containing the sum of all human knowledge employed to rebuild human society throughout the universe in case of disaster on Earth. The probe malfunctions and although new probes are built, they do not separate from the motherprobe, which eventually results in a cluster of malfunctioning probes so big that it can absorb entire moons.
 * In the Xeno series, a rogue seeder ship (technically a berserker) known as "Deus" created humanity.

title: Self-replicating spacecraft


text: Talk:University of Maryland Eastern Shore


text:
File:Deities & Demigods (front cover, first edition).jpg

Summary
Cover for Deities and Demigods D&D manual, covered under "fair use." Obtained from The Acaeum (http://www.acaeum.com/) by permission.


text:
Finnish Democratic Republic

The Finnish Democratic Republic (Suomen kansanvaltainen tasavalta or Suomen kansantasavalta, Demokratiska Republiken Finland, Russian: Финляндская Демократическая Республика), also known as the Terijoki Government (Terijoen hallitus), was a short-lived communist puppet state of the Soviet Union in occupied Finnish territory from December 1939 to March 1940.

The Finnish Democratic Republic was established by Joseph Stalin upon outbreak of the Winter War and headed by Otto Wille Kuusinen to govern Finland after Soviet conquest. The Finnish Democratic Republic was only recognised by the Soviet Union and nominally operated in Soviet-occupied areas of Finnish Karelia from the de facto capital of Terijoki. The Finnish Democratic Republic was portrayed by the Soviet Union as the official socialist government of Finland capable of restoring peace, but lost favor as the Soviets sought rapprochement with the Finnish Government. The Finnish Democratic Republic was dissolved and merged into the Karelo-Finnish SSR upon the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty.

Creation
The Finnish Democratic Republic was established on 1 December 1939 in the Finnish border town of Terijoki (present-day Zelenogorsk, Saint Petersburg, Russia), a day after the beginning of the Winter War. Terijoki was the first town in Finland captured by the Red Army after the Soviet invasion, and the new government was seated there as its de facto capital. The Finnish Democratic Republic regime was commonly known by the colloquial name the Terijoki Government (Terijoen hallitus, Terijokiregeringen), but officially the government was called the Finnish People's Government (Suomen kansanhallitus Finlands folkregering). In Finnish historiography, the government is also occasionally called the Kuusinen Government (Kuusisen hallitus Kuusinenregeringen).

Otto Wille Kuusinen was chosen as the prime minister and head of government. Kuusinen's cabinet was made up of Soviet citizens and left-wing Finns who had fled to Soviet Russia after the Finnish Civil War. A declaration delivered via TASS on behalf of the Finnish Democratic Republic stated:

"The People's Government in its present composition regards itself as a provisional government. Immediately upon arrival in Helsinki, capital of the country, it will be reorganised and its composition enlarged by the inclusion of representatives of the various parties and groups participating in the people's front of toilers. The final composition of the People's Government, its powers and actions, are to be sanctioned by a Diet elected on the basis of universal equal direct suffrage by secret ballot."

Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov spoke to the German ambassador to the Soviet Union on 30 November—a day before the proclamation of the Finnish Democratic Republic—saying, "This government will not be Soviet but a democratic republic. Nobody will set up soviets there, but we hope that it will be a government that we can reach agreement with on safeguarding the security of Leningrad." Soviet leaflets dropped over Helsinki on the first day of the Winter War stated: "Finnish Comrades! We come to you not as conquerors, but as liberators of the Finnish people from the oppression of the capitalists and the landlords".

Relations with the Soviet Union
The Soviet government entered into diplomatic relations with the Finnish Democratic Republic's government immediately after its creation. On the first day of its existence, the Kuusinen regime agreed to lease the Hanko Peninsula; to cede a slice of territory on the Karelian Isthmus; and to sell an island in the Gulf of Finland, along with sections of the Kalastajasaarento near the Arctic Ocean to the Soviet Union.

On 2 December 1939, Kuusinen and Molotov signed a mutual assistance agreement and a secret protocol in Moscow. The content of the agreement was very similar to what the Soviet foreign ministry had planned earlier in October 1939, though it never was presented to the Finnish government. According to the new agreement, the Soviet Union would cede a much larger area, Eastern Karelia, except for the Murmansk railroad, in exchange for the same territories that the Soviets had demanded in earlier negotiations from the Republic of Finland.

An earlier draft of the Moscow agreement was signed ten days earlier at Petrozavodsk by Andrei Zhdanov for the USSR and Kuusinen for the Republic. The Molotov–Kuusinen agreement mentioned leasing the Hanko Peninsula, and determining the number of troops to be appointed in a separate agreement. Before the 1990s, historians could only speculate about its existence and content. In 1997, during a joint Finnish-Russian project, Russian professor Oleg Rzesevski discovered the protocol in the Kremlin. The content is quite similar to protocols the Soviet Union signed with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in September–October 1939.

Reaction in Finland and abroad
The Finnish Democratic Republic failed to gain support among Finnish workers as the Soviet Union had hoped. Instead, in the face of the invasion, Finnish society became strongly united in what is called the "Spirit of the Winter War". The Democratic Republic also failed to gain any international recognition aside from the Soviet Union itself, although a number of prominent left-wing activists and writers such as Jawaharlal Nehru, George Bernard Shaw, Martin Andersen Nexø and John Steinbeck voiced their support for the government. In Nazi Germany, state newspapers gave their support for the Democratic Republic because of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

Joseph Stalin was well aware of the domestic political situation in Finland based on Soviet intelligence information, and thus did not anticipate that the establishment of the Democratic Republic would cause any revolutionary action or popular uprisings against the existing Finnish Government.

The Kuusinen Government was officially recognised by the Soviet Union and the Soviet satellite states of the Mongolian People's Republic and the Tuvan People's Republic.

Dissolution
The Soviets had increasingly began to seek rapprochement with the Finnish government during the course of the Winter War and the Kuusinen regime fell out of favor. Although the Soviets had captured two-thirds of the Karelian Isthmus, casualties were very high and the upcoming spring thaw threatened their offensive. Both sides were exhausted from the war, but the Soviets held the upper hand and successfully pressured the Finns into peace on Soviet terms. On 12 March 1940, the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed between Finland and the Soviet Union, ending hostilities the following morning. By the terms of the treaty, Finland ceded 9% of its territory to the Soviet Union, though the Soviets' attempt to conquer Finland had failed. Subsequently, the Finnish Democratic Republic became obsolete and merged with the Karelian ASSR within the RSFSR to form the new Karelo-Finnish SSR, a Soviet republic in its own right, after Finland had ceded the areas specified in the treaty to the Soviet Union.

title: Finnish Democratic Republic


text:
Talk:Stoat

Weasel Photo
The photo in "Physical Description" -> "Build" is clearly labeled "Weasel" --120.32.145.217 (talk) 06:41, 9 November 2012 (UTC)

The Latin name underneath shows what it really is. Stoats are sometimes called "weasels" in America and Ireland.Mariomassone (talk) 08:48, 9 November 2012 (UTC)

References in pop culture

 * In the book The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, stoats were among the occupiers of Toad Hall after Mr. Toad was imprisoned.
 * In the Redwall series, by Brian Jacques, stoats appear as antagonists in virtually every book.
 * In The Wild Thornberrys, a stoat was an antagonist in the episode Show Me The Bunny.
 * In the His Dark Materials series, by Philip Pullman, the main character's daemon frequently takes the form of an ermine.
 * In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the character Hagrid offers Harry Potter stoat sandwiches on several occasions.
 * In the anime/manga Negima the character Chamo is a talking Ermine. Also, being transformed into an ermine is a punishment for various crimes.
 * In the Eddie Dickens Trilogy, by Philip Ardagh, Even Madder Aunt Maud has a stuffed stoat she carries with her everywhere and calls Malcolm.
 * The popular website Cute Overload uses a stoat themed song to encourage voting.

These should be properly cited before reinclusion. Kthxbai. dfg (talk) 04:15, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Move to ermine?
Ermine has about 3 times as many google hits as stoat, and the animal's latin name is Mustela erminea. Is there some other valid reason why this article is using the title stoat? - TheMightyQuill (talk) 22:47, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

 * Yes but ermine has more uses than stoat, so you would expect it to have more results. I thought ermine was used as the name of the stoat during winter months when it is all white (apart from the tip of the tail), hence calling the white pelt an ermine. I'm sure stoat must be the more common name used by more people than ermine. C  hris_huh talk 18:14, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

I think ermine is US usage, stoat UK. Certainly in the latter, ermine usually refers to the fur/pelt, or winter coat of the stoat. Not too bothered either way, but not sure why 'ermine' is capitalized throughout the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.96.5.226 (talk) 22:23, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

 * I agree on capitalisation, and I have switched them to lower case. I will leave someone else to decide if the plural is "ermine" or "ermines" - at present the article has a mix. Grafen (talk) 20:36, 18 January 2009 (UTC)

The change of name from stoat to ermine seems to violate normal Wikipedia policies, since stoat is undoubtedly the correct common name everywhere but North America, and since the article was first written under that name it ought to be retained. Furthermore using the name ermine degrades a useful distinction, between the animal in its winter and summer coats. Yet another case where the software is inadequate - these are really two titles of equal validity and it is awkward to have to privilege either. Sometimes one can escape a decision by titling an article by a systematic name rather than a common name, but to do so for such a familiar animal also goes against the grain. seglea (talk) 14:46, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

 * The heading of this section is out of date as the article is currently under "Ermine". Plus, we now have an article where the first bold headword is different from the title. Not a great idea generally. There are other minor bumps too - the pic of the "stuffed ermine" from Bristol looks really odd, since nobody in Bristol would ever call something looking like that an ermine. I'm not really fussed about the name of the article, but I don't really see why it was moved in the first place. "The US has more people than the UK" would imply always using US names for things that occur in both countries, but that doesn't happen and indeed flies in the face of WP practice. 81.158.1.233 (talk) 02:23, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

 * I Agree, with the move to Ermine. In Canada the word Stoat is barely known and certainly hardly ever used. Most use Ermine, some use some erroneous weasel terminology. If there is no move, then at least the lead should include Ermine as linguistic common usage. for example the Yukon Government website: http://www.env.gov.yk.ca/animals-habitat/mammals/ermineweasel.php Tallard (talk) 05:15, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

Elizabeth 1 has an ermine on her arm
‘the Virgin Queen’ painted with an ermine on her arm. In this painting the ermine has, unnaturally, black spots over its entire body

The above section which is found below the Queen's portrait is possibly more representative of the stoats natural colouring when in change than stated. The colour change may take only a few days in cold areas and might in warmer areas go a more patchy colour and appear more like the portait's stoat although the symmetrical nature of the coat is suspect it might have areas similar.

I assume this change in colour to be similar to that of a Siamese cat who seem to have areas of creamy coat that slowly go darker or lighter in different temperature conditions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Parismouse (talk • contribs) 15:33, 29 July 2009 (UTC)
 * The living stoat is a symbol for the ermine coat, which those Royals normally are painted. The spots are the black tail ends, which are sewed on the ermine garments.--Kürschner (talk) 04:37, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Do stoats 'transfixing' rabbits?
I can find no evidence of it - indeed the video footage of Stoats hunting rabbits is anything but transfixing, they chase them down. I suspect this is a myth. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Derivadow (talk • contribs) 23:59, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Range map
The range map should include New Zealand. DGERobertson (talk) 15:48, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

Winter coat
The article lacks a photograph of the stoat in its winter coat. -- B.D.Mills  (T, C) 02:08, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

Reproduction
Citations needed for references to ".. its mating system is promiscuous. Copulation occurs during the mating season with multiple partners and is often forced by the male, who does not help raise the offspring. Sometimes it occurs when the female is so young that she has not even left the den." I've not found anything to substantiate this. I also believe use of the word "promiscuous" is an opinion. Svsinnys (talk) 22:11, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

Range map colour issue
The range map, being in red and green specifically, is impossible for some people with colour blindness to read at all. I'll add this to the category of articles with graphics problematic for colour blind users, in the hope that this graphic can be altered. Otherwise it's a great article.NearlyDrNash (talk) 19:57, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Etymology
I commend the person who cites John Guillim's Display of Heraldrie in reference to the origin of "ermine" in "Armenia". Clearly, this folk etymology is of some antiquity - but it is a folk etymology all the same. Wiktionary cites the correct ancestry of the word: Middle English ermine (also ermin, ermyn), from Old French hermine (also ermine, ermin), from Old Dutch (or a close relative thereof) *harmino "ermine skin", a derivative of *harmo "stoat, weasel", from Proto-Germanic *harmōn "ermine" (compare Old English hearma "stoat, weasel, shrew(?)", Old High German harmo (adj. harmin)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱormon (compare Romansch carmun "stoat", obsolete Lithuanian šarmuõ "stoat").

Regarding the given possible etymologies of "stoat": a borrowing from Gothic stautan "to push", while not impossible, would be so markedly unusual as to be unlikely; in addition, the semantic connection is rather weak. The "Belgic" language, given as the source of stout "bold" (actually from Old French estout "brave, fierce, proud", from earlier estolt "strong" (compare Modern High German stolz "proud, haughty, arrogant, stately")) is not clearly defined in the given link. Obscurum per obscurius ((explaining) the obscure by means of the more obscure) is the refuge of scoundrels. A more promising match can be found in the Old Norse stútr. Compare its descendants: Swedish stut "bull", Danish stud "bullock, steer", Scottish English stot "ox, bull; heifer (dialectical); inferior/worthless horse (obsolete)". The Scots language also contains a related and very relevant verb: to stot (Stotting) "to bounce, to walk with a bounce". This appears to have some limited cognates (Dutch stuiteren, Swedish studsa (both "to bounce")). The bounding gait of mustelids can well be described, in terms of "walking with a bounce", as "stotting".

174.91.140.173 (talk) 19:26, 1 December 2012 (UTC) (Casey Goranson)
 * ('actually from Old French' = but not in any documented fashion) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.169.168.165 (talk) 09:00, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

Allow me to produce some links to Old French documents containing "estout":

1) Medieval France: An Encyclopedia — https://books.google.ca/books?id=MQoKeohhNkMC&pg=PA620&lpg=PA620&dq=Old+French+%22estout%22&source=bl&ots=M48OCzAeFt&sig=MkvF8yCdvv0bFbmjSzildybLpM4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SmNlVc2iBMGxsATZyoK4Bg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBDgU#v=onepage&q=Old%20French%20%22estout%22&f=false

2) Constructions of Childhood and Youth in Old French Narrative — https://books.google.ca/books?id=wTtI-gEUQFEC&pg=PA165&lpg=PA165&dq=Old+French+%22estout%22&source=bl&ots=jWyQwrdeNk&sig=No8J-lvRqK0vawteBjPE2TvpuU0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=emdlVa6kIcmxsAT8zoC4Bw&ved=0CEEQ6AEwCDge#v=onepage&q=Old%20French%20%22estout%22&f=false

3) Jehan Renart: Le lai de l'ombre (line 84) — http://www.liv.ac.uk/media/livacuk/modern-languages-and-cultures/liverpoolonline/ombre.pdf

And for the connection between "stout" and "estout": https://books.google.ca/books?id=8GcCAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA122&lpg=PA122&dq=Old+French+%22estout%22&source=bl&ots=qjnMcgDAIu&sig=u-5MymW3dv4QpKfprh68ekstNEM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=32dlVZuZKKbfsATLzYDoAg&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAjgo#v=onepage&q=estout&f=false

104.204.246.128 (talk) 06:53, 27 May 2015 (UTC)

Why does "ermilin" redirect here?
Not mentioned in article. Is this a former genus, or what is it? 109.157.79.50 (talk) 23:07, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a forum for boasting
This sentence has no citations and smacks of outright national aggrandizement: "The Soviet Union also contained the highest grades of stoat pelts, with the best grade North American pelts being comparable only to the 9th grade in the quality criteria of former Soviet stoat standards." — Preceding unsigned comment added by 27.252.66.102 (talk) 23:54, 12 July 2016 (UTC)

 * Did you even bother to check the source? https://archive.org/stream/mammalsofsov212001gept#page/1028/mode/2up -Mariomassone (talk) 07:42, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Stoat


text:
Uist

Uist is a group of six islands that are part of the Outer Hebridean Archipelago, which is part of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.

North Uist and South Uist ( or ; Uibhist ) are two of the islands and are linked by causeways running via the isles of Benbecula and Grimsay.

From south to north, the inhabited islands in the island group are Èirisgeigh (Eriskay), Uibhist a Deas (South Uist), Grimsay (South), Beinn nam Faoghla (Benbecula), Eilean Fhlodaigh (Flodaigh), Griomasaigh (Grimsay (North)), Fraoch-eilean, Uibhist a Tuath (North Uist), Am Baile Sear (Baleshare) and Beàrnaraigh (Berneray).

The islands, collectively, have a population of 4,723.

Major settlements
The main settlements in Uist are:

South Uist

 * Dalabrog (Daliburgh)
 * Loch Baghasdail (Lochboisdale)
 * Snaoishabhal (Snishvale)
 * Staoinebrig (Stoneybridge)
 * Iochdar (Eochar)
 * Pollochar (Polochar)
 * Èirisgeidh (Eriskay)

Benbecula

 * Baile a' Mhanaich (Balivanich)
 * Creag Ghoraidh (Creagorry)
 * Lioniclate (Liniclate)

North Uist

 * Càirinis (Carinish)
 * Ceann a' Bhàigh (Bayhead)
 * Solas (Sollas)
 * Loch nam Madadh (Lochmaddy)
 * Baile Mòr (Balemore)

Geography
Writing in 1549, Sir Donald Monro, High Dean of the Isles stated of "Ywst" that it was a fertile country full of high hills and forests on the east coast with five parish kirks. He also noted that in the north of "Ywst ther is sundrie covis and holes in the earth, coverit with heddir above, quhilk fosters maney rebellis in the countrey".

Fishing
Monro referred to the "infinite number of fresh water loches", including Loch Bì, which is South Uist's largest loch and at 8 km long it all but cuts the island in two. Monro stated that "the sea has gotten enteries to this fresche water loche" and described the "thicke dyke of rough staines" that had been created to prevent salt water ingress. This apparently resulted in numerous fish being caught in the stones, including "fluikes, podloches, skatts, and herings" and he described another "kynd of fishe, the quhantitie and shape of ane salmont, but it has na skaills at all; the under haffe, narrest his vombe is quhite, and the upmaist haffe narrest his back is als black as jett".

Land tenure
Monro's description was: "This countrey is bruiked by sundrey captains; to witt, the south southwest end of it, callit Bayhastill, be M’Neill of Barray, the rest of the ile, namit Peiter’s parochin, the parochin of Howes, and the mayne land of the mid countrey callit Mackermeanache, perteins to Clanronald, halding of the Clandonald. At the end heirof the sea enters, and cuts the countrey be ebbing and flowing through it: and in the north syde of this there is ane parochin callit Buchagla, perteining to the said Clandonald. At the north end thereof the sea cuts the countrey againe, and that cutting of the sea is called Careynesse, and benorth this countrey is called Kenehnache of Ywst, that is in Englishe, the north head of Ywst, whilk term is twa paroche kirks, and is mair of profit than the rest of haill of Ywst, perteining to Donald Gormesone."

Bonnie Prince Charlie
Benbecula was the island from which Flora MacDonald aided the escape of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) to Kilbride, Skye in June 1746, following his defeat at the Battle of Culloden.

title: Uist


text:
Low Mass

Low Mass (Latin Missa Privata) is a Tridentine Mass defined officially in the Code of Rubrics included in the 1962 edition of the Roman Missal as a Mass in which the priest does not chant the parts that the rubrics assign to him. A sung Mass celebrated with the assistance of sacred ministers (deacon and subdeacon) is a High or Solemn Mass; without them it is a Missa Cantata.

History
Low Mass originated in the early Middle Ages as a shortened or simplified form of Solemn Mass. In the early church, as in the Orthodox church today, all services were chanted, and there was no equivalent to the Roman Low Mass or to the Anglican "said celebration".

Masses without solemnity in early Christianity
Alongside the public solemn Masses, the practice developed from the 4th century onwards, of smaller private Masses for smaller groups of believers. These masses were often celebrated in the catacombs, for the deceased or on a special anniversary. An example is provided by Saint Augustine:"Hesperius, of a tribunitian family, ... finding that his family, his cattle, and his servants were suffering from the malice of evil spirits, he asked our presbyters, during my absence, that one of them would go with him and banish the spirits by his prayers. One went, offered there the sacrifice of the body of Christ, praying with all his might that that vexation might cease. It did cease immediately, through God's mercy."

- Saint Augustine of Hippo

Medieval origins of the Low Mass
Christian practice had been that there was, at most, one Mass in a monastery or parish church each day. At Cluny in the 11th century a lay-brother (conversus) was summoned to serve any priest-monk who wanted to celebrate; rules and obligations, as the reading of a Sequence, during the celebration of the private Masses gradually fell, for reasons of convenience. This history of liturgy shows how "out of the private Mass grew the read Mass – the low Mass".

In the late Middle Ages, with a growing awareness of the infinite value of the Mass, came a growing desire to multiply its celebration. Spiritual, as well as material reasons were at hand. The most pronounced result of the multiplying of Masses was the increase in low Masses, since most of them were for private requests and had no public character. This trend to the private and the subjective, to an independence from the grand order of things was also displayed in another abuse, namely, setting aside the arrangement of the ecclesiastical year and confining oneself to Votive Masses either chosen at will or arranged according to the rules of the Mass series. Over time it became necessary for a variety of reasons to celebrate more than one on the same day. It also became customary for monasteries to ordain most of their monks, though originally monks were almost all laymen, and for every priest to say a daily Mass. For a while, concelebration, whereby several priests took a full priestly part in offering Mass, provided all with the possibility to celebrate Mass each day, but this custom died out. Low Mass is considered to be a necessity that falls short of the ideal, which is Solemn Mass.

The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 describes the result as follows: "[…] concelebration was in the early Middle Ages replaced by separate private celebrations. No doubt the custom of offering each Mass for a special intention helped to bring about this change. The separate celebrations then involved the building of many altars in one church and the reduction of the ritual to the simplest possible form. The deacon and subdeacon were in this case dispensed with; the celebrant took their part as well as his own. One server took the part of the choir and of all the other ministers, everything was said instead of being sung, the incense and kiss of peace were omitted. So we have the well-known rite of low Mass (missa privata). This then reacted on high Mass (missa solemnis), so that at high Mass too the celebrant himself recites everything, even though it be also sung by the deacon, subdeacon, or choir."

By the end of the Middle Ages, critics had grown more numerous, and mystics, such as Nicholas of Cusa, or bishops, attempted a spiritual and disciplinary reform, to avoid scandals of botched Masses and abuse of stipends. A special work of Martin Luther's deals with "the abomination of the low Mass called the canon" (Von dem Greuel der Stillmesse so man Canon nennet, 1524). His criticisms were such that priests, who had been living on Mass stipends, could no longer do so as easily, even in staunchly Catholic areas as the Archbishopric of Salzburg.

Tridentine Reform
The Council of Trent was concerned above all with the "Low Mass" (that is, with a liturgy that was recited and not sung), which had become the ordinary form of the Eucharistic celebration in the parishes. In 1562, a special commission was to assemble the abusus missae. The Roman Missal revised after the Council of Trent appears as a work that defines, above all, the rituals of "Low Mass" or the "private Mass". Some have argued that in giving priority to the "Low Mass", a practice developed of making the Eucharistic celebration an act of private devotion by the priest, whereas the faithful were simply invited to attend the Mass and to unite their prayers with it as sincerely as possible as a certain individualism developed alongside the devotio moderna.

Those who during the Counter-Reformation attempted to rebuild religious life had to look for different ways and means to enable the faithful to participate in a devout manner. One of the ways was to encourage vocal prayer during Mass, to meditate on the mysteries of the life of Christ by praying the Rosary, a practise which had existed locally since the Middle Ages, but which become popular under the influence of the popular missions organized by the Jesuits. The German Singmesse, which added sung hymns to the Low Mass, gradually won great popularity, to the place that it began to take over the Solemn Mass.

By the mid-20th century, a new form of the Low Mass, the missa dialogata, appeared as a new mode of encouraging the participation of the faithful. In the Low Mass, the alternation of functions between priest, lector, singing choir and people had been leveled off to a uniform speaking by the priest alone. However, the Low Mass had acquired such a great preponderance over the various forms of high Mass that without further ado it was used as the groundwork for the development of the dialogue Mass. In essentials nevertheless, the High Mass had to set the norm. Various local churches went in various directions and the so-called Betsingmesse ("pray and sing mass") very quickly gained recognition since its first trial use at the Vienna Catholic Day in 1933. No changes affected the Missale Romanum, neither its texts nor its rubrics, as the changes concerned the participation of the faithful solely.

Stratford Caldecott has lamented that the influence of Low Mass has extended even into the post-Vatican II Mass and that, despite protestations to the contrary, the Low Mass may in his view be said to be its real model.

In 2007 Pope Benedict XVI introduced an optional novelty into the traditional Low Mass: in Masses with a congregation celebrated according to the 1962 Missal, the vernacular language, and not Latin alone, may be used in proclaiming the Scripture readings, provided that the translation used comes from an edition approved by the Holy See.

"Private Mass"
"Private Mass" (in Latin, Missa privata or secreta, familiaris, peculiaris), which is now understood as Mass celebrated without a congregation (sine populo), formerly meant any Low Mass, even with a large congregation. In editions of the Roman Missal earlier than that of 1962, "Missa privata" was still contrasted with "Missa solemnis". In 1960 Pope John XXIII, who in 1962 removed from the Roman Missal the section headed Rubricae generales Missalis, replacing it with his Code of Rubrics, decried use of the term "Missa privata": "The most sacred Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated according to the rites and regulations is an act of public worship offered to God in the name of Christ and the Church. Therefore, the term 'private Mass' should be avoided." When applied to Low Mass in general, the word privata indicated that that form of Mass was deprived of certain ceremonies.

Structure of the Low Mass
The Eucharistic celebration is "one single act of worship" but consists of different elements, which always include "the proclamation of the Word of God; thanksgiving to God the Father for all his benefits, above all the gift of his Son; the consecration of bread and wine, which signifies also our own transformation into the body of Christ; and participation in the liturgical banquet by receiving the Lord's body and blood".

Low Mass, celebrated in exactly the same way whether a congregation is present or not, was the most common form of Mass before 1969. In the 1970 edition of the Roman Missal a distinction was made between Mass celebrated with a congregation and Mass celebrated without a congregation. No such distinction was made in earlier (Tridentine) editions of the Roman Missal, which only distinguished between Solemn Mass and Low Mass (calling the latter Missa lecta or, as in the Rubricae generales Missalis included in pre-1962 editions, Missa privata).

The structure of the Low Mass is generally the same as that of the Solemn High Mass. However, prayers after Mass, including the Leonine prayers, are added. The main celebrant is not assisted by a deacon nor subdeacon, nor is he answered by a choir, but one or two altar servers follow their duties as acolytes, and answer the responses in Latin. All prayers are recited and no singing is expected. The incensement rite is not included. The faithful are expected to kneel for most of the Mass, except for the proclamation of the Gospel.

National variations
Originally, Low Mass was sung in monotone. Thus we read of priests in the Middle Ages going to sing their "Missa privata" or "Low Mass". This custom of singing died out in the 18th century. Much of Low Mass is said in a voice audible only to the celebrating priest and the server(s).

The French and Germans evolved the concept of accompanying Low Mass with music as an aid to the devotion of the faithful, thus giving rise to the French Organ Mass and the Deutsche Singmesse. Also Messe basse, the French translation of Low Mass, was used to indicate Mass compositions, e.g. Fauré's Messe basse.

In 1922, the Holy See granted approval to the Dialogue Mass, which enabled the faithful to speak, with the server, the Latin responses of the Tridentine Mass and to recite the parts that they were permitted to sing at a Missa Cantata, as well as the triple "Domine non sum dignus" that the priest said as part of the rite of Communion of the faithful, which, though not envisaged in the Ordinary of the Mass until after the Second Vatican Council, could be inserted into the celebration of Mass.

The three Masses of All Souls Day
All Souls Day is the only non-Sunday, non-Holy Day in the Church Year on which a priest is permitted to celebrate three Masses. The Tridentine Missal contains three distinct sets of Mass Propers to be celebrated, should a priest be able to celebrate all three Masses. Note that no matter how many Masses are celebrated, the faithful may receive Holy Communion at no more than two Masses per day.

Pontifical Low Mass
At a Pontifical Low Mass, i.e. a Low Mass celebrated by a bishop, in addition to the two servers that you find at any typical low Mass, there are also two priest-attendants to the bishop that assist him, reminding us that a bishop retains the fullness of holy orders. Instead of a mitre, a biretta is used by the prelate.

Before the Second Vatican Council, at a Papal Low Mass (which was usually celebrated at a portable altar set up in one of the rooms of the Apostolic Palace and is distinct from the private Mass the Pope said in his private chapel), the Pope was assisted by two bishops and four papal Masters of Ceremonies. Chamberlains (cubicularii) served as torchbearers. The pontifical canon was used, as was the bugia. Vesting and unvesting at the altar is another peculiarity of Pontifical Low Mass.

In popular culture
The Three Low Masses (Les Trois Messes basses) is a Christmas story by Alphonse Daudet, published in 1875 in the Tales of Monday and integrated in 1879 in the collection of the Letters from my Windmill. The story is at the end of the eighteenth century, in an imaginary Provençal castle. Pleasant and irreverent, tinged with fantasy, it depicts a priest guilty of the sin of gluttony. Tempted by the devil who, in the guise of his young sexton, has described to him in great detail the exquisite menu of New Year's Eve, he sends off three Christmas Masses to rush more quickly to the table. God punishes his offense: before going to heaven, he will have to recite, for a century, in the company of his faithful culprits, a service of the Nativity, or three hundred low masses.

A French-language film with the same title was made in 1954 by Marcel Pagnol.

However, the Christmas Low Masses are a goof as the rubrics extended the privilege of three sung Masses from the Pope to all the clergy, and in no case applied to the Low Mass. The three stational Masses celebrated by the Pope in Rome extended to three Christmas Masses to be sung, not without interruption: that of the day, solemnissima,; that of the night, valde solemnis,; that of daybreak, minus solemnis and resulted of a duplicate of the feast of the Epiphanies in Jerusalem. The privilege of celebrating at night did not extend, except indult, to private Masses, i.e. low Masses; the contrary custom was an abuse and was condoned.

Media

 * Video tutorial of Low Mass with over 500 photos and accompanying liturgical texts
 * Video of a Low Mass offered by an FSSP priest in North America on the Feast of the Transfiguration
 * Video of the same Low Mass as above, but with a voice-over meditation taken from the writings of St. Peter Julian Eymard (alternate host)
 * Another video of a Low Mass

title: Low Mass


text:
Ingwavuma

Ingwavuma is a town in the Umkhanyakude District Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. It is unclear where the name of the town came from; one theory is that it was named after the Ngwavuma River while another is that there was a leader called Vuma, the name then meaning "Vuma's place" in Zulu. Trees found on the river bank are also named Ngwavuma (Elaeodendron transvaalense or Bushveld Saffron) but it is unclear which entity was named after which (person, river, town or trees). It is over 700 m above sea level in the Lebombo Mountains and boasts several highly scenic spots. The town is 3 km from the country's border with Eswatini and overlooks the plains of Maputaland to the East.

History
Zulu king Dingane was assassinated and buried in the nearby Hlatikhulu Forest in 1840. Ingwavuma was founded by Sir Charles Saunders of Eshowe in 1895 as a magistracy for the Ngwavuma region. During the Second Boer War in 1899 the settlement was razed to the ground by a Boer commando under the command of Joachim Ferreira. The serving magistrate, B. Colenbrander, escaped with his staff to the flats below and eventually found his way to Ubombo. Ingwavuma remained desolate until 1900 when it was re-established and the magistrate returned.

In the 1980s the Apartheid government planned to transfer the town and surrounding magisterial district to Swaziland as part of a land deal to give Eswatini access to the sea. This move was opposed by the then KwaZulu government and the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini established a residence near the town. The transfer was never executed. The surviving historic buildings of the town include the residency (now the municipal buildings), the police station and the Old Gaol Building.

Services and facilities

 * Mosvold Hospital is located within the centre of the town. The hospital was initially established by The Evangelical Alliance Mission as a mission hospital but has subsequently been taken over by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health.
 * There are a number of schools in and around the town including Ingwavuma High School, Nansindlela School, Isicelosethu High School, Magugu Primary, Our Lady Primary, Lundini Primary, Mbalekelwa primary and Khethani Christian School.
 * Local offices of the government departments of Social Development, Agriculture, Education and Home Affairs. There is also a police station, magistrate's court and prison.
 * Several NGOs also provide services including Zisize (Ingwavuma) Educational Trust which is the mother to Ekukhanyeni cluster foster care scheme, Ingwavuma Women's Centre and Embathisa, both providing income generation activities for local women, Ingwavuma Orphan Care providing community hospice care and orphan care in the community.
 * There is a small shopping centre consisting of a Spar, PEP, Ellerines, Ithala Bank and a petrol garage along with some Chinese-owned shops.
 * In 1962, the town was made the seat of the Apostolic Prefecture of Ingwavuma.
 * Ingwavuma has an access road to the border with Swaziland, known as Cecil max pas border post which was closed due to stolen vehicles being smuggled through there. Later it was renamed to Freedom dots border post. The road to this border post to Swaziland lies between a Lebombo mountain hillside and the Ngwavuma river.

Geography
Ingwavuma is located on top of a mountain in the Lebombo mountain range with several caves in its vicinity. To the west it overlooks the plains of Eswatini. East the hills drop towards the Maputaland while the Lebombo mountain range continues north towards Mozambique and south towards Jozini.

The Ngwavuma River, one of five major rivers in Eswatini originates in this area.

HIV/AIDS
The Ingwavuma Area has been decimated by HIV/AIDS since the 1990s. In 2002, in Jozini municipality, 57% of people were less than 19 years of age, one third of adults were thought to be HIV positive with uninfected adults having a 3% chance of contracting HIV in any particular year. Several Non-Governmental Organisations are addressing the problems caused by HIV/AIDS, led by Ingwavuma Orphan Care. A mobile voluntary counseling and testing unit (VCT) was started in 2008 by Ingwavuma Orphan Care. It tests around 5000 people a year, with its focus on youth. It found a prevalence rate of 8% among males and 18% among females. While antiretroviral treatment is now available through the government, there are already thousands of orphans who require support. The majority of these are cared for by their extended family with support from churches, NGOs and the government.

title: Ingwavuma


text:
Bastrop

Bastrop may refer to the following places in the US, named directly or indirectly for Felipe Enrique Neri, Baron de Bastrop:

 * Bastrop, Louisiana
 * Bastrop High School (Louisiana)
 * Bastrop County, Texas
 * Bastrop, Texas
 * Bastrop High School (Texas)

title: Bastrop


text:
Alpha Gamma Delta

Alpha Gamma Delta (ΑΓΔ), also known as Alpha Gam, is an international women's fraternity and social organization. It was founded on May 30, 1904, by eleven female students at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, and thus it is the youngest member of the Syracuse Triad of North American social sororities that also includes Gamma Phi Beta (1874) and Alpha Phi (1872). Since its founding, Alpha Gamma Delta has,, initiated over 201,000 members and installed 199 collegiate chapters and more than 250 alumnae groups.

The fraternity provides various social, academic, leadership, and community service opportunities for collegiate members and alumnae. Throughout the organization's history, it has sponsored charities and causes via grants, scholarships, and volunteer hours. Its current philanthropic initiative is a fight against hunger partnered with the nonprofit organizations Feeding America and Meals on Wheels.

Alpha Gamma Delta is one of 26 North American fraternities that are members of the National Panhellenic Conference. The fraternity's international headquarters is located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Founding
In 1904, efforts to introduce a new women's fraternity at Syracuse University began from eleven women and Dr. Wellesley Perry Coddington, a professor at the university who encouraged his students to form new fraternities  and was instrumental in the early development of Alpha Gamma Delta. In May of that year, the founding women chose the fraternity's colors, motto, and badge.

Alpha Gamma Delta was officially founded on May 30, 1904, at Dr. Coddington's home with eleven founders: • Ethel Evelyn Brown Distin

• Flora Knight Mayer

• Georgia Alberta Dickover

• Estelle Shepard Beswick

• Emily Helen Butterfield

• Edith MacConnell Hickok

• Georgia Otis Chipman

• Grace Mosher Harter

• Mary Louise Snider

• Jennie Titus Smith Morris

• Marguerite Shepard.

At the founding, its constitution and bylaws were read and adopted and suggestions for a ritual were made. Jennie Titus was elected as the first president. Unlike many other groups founded at the time, Alpha Gamma Delta was founded as a US-wide women's fraternity rather than a local fraternity or a literary or professional society, also refusing an offer to join one of the other two US-wide women's fraternities on campus.

The organization's official designation as a fraternity rather than a sorority derives from an early advisor who noted that soror is a Latin word with no connection to the Greek traditions cited by similar collegiate social groups. Many other Greek-letter organizations for women also refer to themselves as fraternities, although in the collective sense, they are generally called sororities.

Expansion and first philanthropies
Alpha Gamma Delta expanded to an unusual extent during its early years; its Beta chapter was founded at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1905 and by 1909, its 9th chapter—Iota—was founded at the University of Washington. The fraternity's first National Conference was held in 1907, and two years later it joined the National Panhellenic Conference.

Alpha Gamma Delta began international expansion in 1919 with the chartering of its Tau chapter at the University of Toronto. The fraternity held its annual meeting at the International Convention and adopted an international philanthropy project.

The 1910s and 1920s saw the beginning of the fraternity centralizing its philanthropic objectives toward single causes. Instead of hosting its sixth annual National Convention, the fraternity's national president canceled the meeting and asked chapters to donate their $50 fees to war relief efforts. Many chapters adopted war orphans or made garments, beginning the fraternity's timeline of organized charitable activity. During World War I, the fraternity supported the American Red Cross and various war relief efforts. This service continued during World War II. In 1920, the fraternity created its first official philanthropy by starting a summer camp for underprivileged children in Jackson, Michigan, which expanded into Wellington, Canada. These camps hosted more than 7,000 children and ran for 27 years.

In 1947, Alpha Gamma Delta's primary philanthropic activities shifted from volunteering with underprivileged children to sponsoring counselors for the National Society for Crippled Children and Adults. That year, the fraternity held its first International Convention outside the United States, in Banff, Alberta. By 1949, the fraternity had installed 60 chapters and had initiated 20,840 members.

In 1959, at the organization's 22nd International Convention, Theta Sigma Upsilon merged with Alpha Gamma Delta and added 19 chapters to the latter's roster.

Organizational and philanthropic changes
During and after the 1960s, the organization underwent restructuring, in which it created a separate branch to manage its philanthropic sponsorships and run programs for its members. A separate foundation, originally called the Founders Memorial Foundation, was established in 1962 to handle fundraising; it was later renamed the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation. This Foundation managed the funds raised by collegiate and alumnae chapters via activities and by direct donations to the foundation. In 1979, the fraternity partnered with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and again changed its primary philanthropic focus, which would later expand in 1991 to diabetes treatment and research.

Alpha Gamma Delta celebrated its centennial anniversary during its 2004 International Convention.

In the 2010s, Alpha Gamma Delta continued to change and restructure, creating a separate branch to manage its collegiate housing and again changing its service and philanthropy programs. The fraternity founded its Fraternity Housing Corporation in 2010 to provide local chapters with a national property management and funding option; in 2021, circa 100 out of 125 active chapters are managed under this corporation. The fraternity partnered with Feeding America and Meals on Wheels in 2017 and now focuses its community service and fundraising initiatives towards fighting hunger.

Alpha Gamma Delta gives back to the community through community service efforts. In 2016, they launched their first International Week of Service where members from all over North America participate in local community service initiatives. Members volunteer their time at humane societies, retirement communities, local clean-up services, and many more. By volunteering together during the Week of Service, they can impact their communities.

Symbols
While Alpha Gamma Delta has no official symbols, it has official flowers, colors, and a jewel chosen by the founders. Alpha Gamma Delta's flowers are red and buff roses, and green asparagus plusmosa ferns, matching the official colors red, buff, and green. The jewel is the pearl. The armorial bearings of the fraternity were designed by founding member Emily Helen Butterfield in 1906.

The fraternity's vision is to "Inspire the woman. Impact the world", while its motto is to "Loving, Leading, Lasting"

Mascot
In 1915, Gamma chapter at Wesleyan University chose the mascot, a squirrel, and named it Skiouros, with the following explanation: "'...[S]ome [members] sought a mascot to symbolize the characteristics of the colors and progress of Alpha Gamma Delta ... the little squirrel, a typical frequenter of autumn haunts, was chosen as the mascot. Our little friend, we find, is also nimble and agile—he leaps from branch to branch and [symbolizes] the spirit that never dies, the spirit of energetic alertness and progress.'"

Badge
The fraternity's founders designed a badge; they decided on a new design submitted by Mr. J. F. Newman, a jeweler, in the following months: "The second, and current, badge features a plain Delta (Δ), a chased Gamma (Γ), and an Alpha (Α) set with pearls [the official jewel] or diamonds superimposed on the other two letters". Members may attach one of several honors chains to their badges if they have received the appropriate honor.

Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation
Alpha Gamma Delta participates in philanthropy through donations made through a separate arm, the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation. Created in 1962, the Foundation provides grants to organizations and individuals in the U.S. and Canada who are involved in fields related to certain causes. The Foundation currently and historically awards scholarships and grants, funds wellness programs, and provides leadership training and other courses.

Since 2017, the fraternity's philanthropic objective has been to fight hunger, and it currently works with Feeding America and Meals on Wheels America. , its campaign, which is titled "Full Plates. Hearts. Minds", provides meals for hungry people and creates awareness of food insecurity.

Local activities
Collegiate and alumnae members participate in fundraising activities for the Alpha Gamma Delta Foundation and volunteer with and raise funds for food-based organizations in local communities, including Feeding America and Meals on Wheels. Chapters plan their local events, which include fundraisers and galas.

Chapters also plan social events such as formals and mixers with fraternities, host sisterhood activities, and reunions, and participate in charity-related events. As for academics, each chapter must maintain a 2.9 average GPA to remain in good standing with the national organization. The fraternity has scholastic recognition and programs for individuals who maintain a GPA above 3.14 and for chapters averaging from 3.14 to 3.5 and higher.

Alpha Gamma Delta created an annual internal celebration called International Reunion Day in 1936, as many of its collegiate chapters could not celebrate the organization's Founder's Day on May 30 due to university vacation closures or final exams held on that day. Collegiate and alumnae chapters were—and still are—encouraged to meet on the third Saturday of April instead.

Membership
According to Alpha Gamma Delta, the fraternity has an initiated member base of over 201,000 and 119 active chapters. As with all National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) sororities, women may join Alpha Gamma Delta if they attend as an undergraduate a university with an active chapter from which they receive a membership offer. Prospective members must meet the fraternity's national minimum GPA requirement (2.5/4.0) as well as the chapter's requirement. Alternatively, women past college age may be invited or may apply to join via alumnae initiation if they are not already a member of another NPC sorority, a process which 20 of the 26 NPC members also participate in. Due to NPC agreements, no woman who has been initiated into another NPC sorority may join another one, although no NPC member is restricted from joining a professional or service Greek letter organization.

Collegiate members have chapter meetings, philanthropy events, and chapter leadership opportunities; according to the fraternity's website, active membership involves programming with the Epsilon Pi Journey. Alumnae in good standing may join one of 250+ alumnae clubs in North America.

Leadership
International Headquarters is the governing body for all members—undergraduate, and alumnae—and is headed by an International President. The International Headquarters calls an annual meeting of chapter presidents and any alumnae or collegiate members who wish to attend. As chapters expanded early in the 20th century, Alpha Gamma Delta established fraternity provinces organized by geographic region; these have directors who lead each province and represent them to the International Headquarters.

Individual collegiate chapters follow a standardized leadership structure; they have an elected executive board consisting of a president and several vice presidents with different responsibilities. Alumnae often act as advisors or volunteers for a nearby collegiate chapter.

In 1982, the fraternity launched an annual leadership program, The Leadership Conference, to provide its members with leadership education. However, after continual requests for the program to speak at conferences, present at events, or run corporate retreats, this program branched into an organization of its own, the Leadership Institute, which now runs around 60 programs to address women's leadership, both inside and outside of workplaces and careers.

Today, Alpha Gam hosts an annual Academy for Collegiate Officers and biannual Academies for Chapter Officers and its Volunteer Service Team.

Chapters

Alpha Gamma Delta has 199 collegiate chapters across North America; these are grouped and named by geographical region. The longest-running active collegiate chapter is Delta chapter at the University of Minnesota. Since its re-establishment in 2010, the oldest active collegiate chapter is the Alpha chapter at Syracuse University.

Fraternity Housing Corporation
The Alpha Gamma Delta Fraternity Housing Corporation (FHC) is a 501(c)(7) organization formed in 2010 to provide student housing for the fraternity's undergraduate members. Currently, the FHC provides property management services to about 100 collegiate chapters and about 100 staff members in the headquarters office and local US chapters. Outside of housing, the FHC manages meal services for the members of the fraternity. It reported assets of US$78 million in 2019.

Business, philanthropy, education, and science

 * Jani Macari Pallis (Gamma Phi) – founder of Cislunar Aerospace
 * Kelly M. Miller (Zeta Kappa) – first female president of Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi
 * Gail Saltz (Zeta Beta) – Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, columnist, author, TV commentator on psychiatry
 * Beth Ford (Rho) – CEO, Land O'Lakes

Entertainment and arts

 * Fran Allison (Pi) – radio and TV personality (Kukla, Fran and Ollie)
 * Amber Brkich Mariano (Alpha Epsilon) – TV personality (Survivor: All-Stars winner, The Amazing Race)
 * Emily Helen Butterfield (Alpha) – Michigan's first licensed female architect, artist, Women's Movement pioneer
 * Clyde Connell (Mu) – international artist
 * Rita Coolidge (Gamma Beta) – Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter
 * Ashley Durham (Gamma Zeta) – model; Miss Tennessee USA 2011; Miss USA 1st runner-up 2011
 * Wynn Everett (Gamma Delta) – actress, poet; best known as Whitney Frost on Agent Carter
 * Donna Fargo (Gamma Eta) – Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter
 * Gloria Loring (Delta Alpha) – singer/songwriter, author, actress, national spokesperson for the JDRF
 * Dorothy Provine (Iota) – actress (The Alaskans, Sugarfoot, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock)
 * Jeanne Robertson (Gamma Delta) – comedian, Miss North Carolina 1963
 * Karen Staley (Alpha Omicron) – country music singer/songwriter
 * Barbara Jo Walker (Gamma Zeta) – Miss America, 1947
 * Marcelle LeBlanc (Gamma Delta) – Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2022 and actress

Journalism

 * Andrea Mead Canning (Zeta Chi) – TV anchor, journalist (Dateline, Weekend Today)

Literature

 * Mignon G. Eberhart (Beta Alpha) – mystery writer proclaimed as “America’s Agatha Christie”
 * Donna Lewis Friess (Delta Alpha) – author, college professor, activist
 * Agnes Newton Keith (Omicron) – author, Japanese POW/civilian internment camp survivor
 * Heather MacAllister (Epsilon Eta) – novelist
 * Karen McCullah Lutz (Gamma Mu) – screenwriter, author (10 Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde, The House Bunny)
 * Samara O'Shea (Alpha Omega) – author (Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing, Note to Self: On Keeping a Journal and Other Dangerous Pursuits)

Politics

 * Carolyn Bennett (Tau) – member of Canadian Parliament
 * Beth Chapman (Gamma Upsilon) – former Alabama secretary of state
 * Kerry-Lynne Findlay (Delta Zeta) – former member of Canadian House of Commons and minister of national revenue
 * Jennie M. Forehand (Gamma Epsilon) – former Maryland state senator
 * Kay Ivey (Gamma Delta) – Governor of Alabama and former Alabama state treasurer
 * Mildred Jeffrey (Delta) – political activist and organizer
 * Kelly Loeffler (Sigma) – former U.S. senator (R-GA)
 * Dee Long (Lambda) – former Minnesota House speaker
 * Elaine Marshall (Alpha Xi) – North Carolina secretary of state
 * Marian Heiss Price (Beta Alpha) – former Nebraska state senator
 * Judy Baar Topinka (Lambda) – former comptroller and treasurer of Illinois

Sports

 * Cheyenne Knight (Psi) – professional golfer
 * Maria Maunder (Zeta Chi) – 1996 Summer Olympics women's rower
 * Teri McKeever (Delta Alpha) – 2012 Summer Olympics women's swim team coach
 * Jo Ann Washam (Delta Beta) – professional golfer

Local chapter or member misconduct
In 1970, at Eastern Illinois University, Donna Bedlinger died from head trauma after she was left in the woods with other pledges as part of hazing.

In 2000, a member at the University of Georgia filed a discrimination complaint against her chapter, alleging that members denied a black classmate a membership offer due to her race. The chapter was temporarily suspended and received racial sensitivity training. After this incident, the university Interfraternity Conference created a diversity improvement program.

In 2013 and 2014, sorority women from multiple chapters at the University of Alabama – including Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, Phi Mu, Kappa Delta, Pi Beta Phi, Delta Delta Delta, and Chi Omega – alleged that either active members or some alumnae had prevented them from offering membership to black candidates because of their race. Alpha Gamma Delta member Melanie Gotz stated that the entire collegiate chapter had "wanted this girl to be in Alpha Gam [but] were just powerless over the alums." An alum denied the allegations in the report, and the national headquarters issued a statement saying that the sorority "prohibits discrimination based on race in all of its activities including recruitment." Gotz and fellow students held a campus march to integrate campus Greek life, and following media and national outcry, the university held a second round of recruitment to offer membership to more women, including black women. The Alabama chapter initiated its first black member that year.

title: Alpha Gamma Delta