text:
Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Plautus satire vs Raul654/Evidence

Please place evidence here regarding Requests for arbitration/Plautus satire vs Raul654

User contributions

 * 500 to 1000 contributions from February 23 to February 26
 * Edits on Talk:September 11, 2001 attacks

Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Plautus satire

 * Requests for comment/Plautus satire

Evidence gathered by Raul654 et al

 * User:Raul654/Plautus contains a work-in-progress timeline of Plautus' actons. →Raul654 06:36, Feb 27, 2004 (UTC)

 * User:Evercat/Plautus - some history up till Feb 22 (when I (Evercat) tried to stop being involved).

 * User:Bcorr/Plautus - this page documents the emails I received from him. And a link to an example of similar behavior on another site. BCorr ¤ Брайен 05:03, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

 * User:Silsor/fanmail - rather extreme reaction to his second ban.

Evidence posted by Plautus satire on the wikEN-l mailing list

 * As Plautus satire is temporarily banned by Jimbo Wales pending outcome of this case and thus cannot add material to this page, I am copying the posts he has made in his defense to the wikiEN-l mailing list, so they may be considered here as appropriate. I have done some minor formatting so they look reasonable in wikitext. --Delirium 04:46, Feb 27, 2004 (UTC)

rebuttal
I intend to use this forum to present my defense. My primary contention is that I was banned due to a perversion of the discuss-mediate-arbitrate-ban process, which henceforth I will refer to as the "paint by numbers ban procedure". In my defense I will attempt to explain clearly and succinctly why I feel this process was perverted, nay, subverted, and in particular how my attempt to use this process to peacefully settle disputes was perverted and turned against me.

disclaimer
While I do not feel it is relevant, since I have been challenged, I intend to post numerous examples and cite them to wikipedia pages where I was treated with hostility and responded with civility, where I was greeted with changes and corrections and responded with gratitude.

I do not think that is an appropriate use of this forum, as the page histories are all clearly still there, but since it seems some of my critics are unwilling to do the required reading to be informed on this issue I feel only if there are strong objections will I refrain from fully making my case here.

My case against Curps? Curps admitted harassing me, stated it boldly on the requests for mediation page
***BEGIN QUOTE*** Rick wrote:

> So where is the Wikipedia jail? Right now, the accuseds are allowed > to continue what they were doing, willy-nilly.

To summarize the matters currently under consideration: * Plautus Satire is currently temp-banned for a week pending a decision in his case, as Jimbo did so, and there was significant consensus that this should be done. ***END QUOTE***

My case? The only case I'm involved in that has reached mediation is my case against Curps. Curps has been harassing me and I have largely been trying to work around it, but it became to cumbersome so I sought assistance.

Curps is the defendant, I am the claimant.

Why is the process being ignored here?

Nobody has contacted me regarding anyone else's requests for mediation.

Why is the process being ignored here?

Curps announced his intention in the request I initiated involving his abuse.

The first version was titled "3 Curps v. Plautus satire"

The text follows:

***BEGIN QUOTE*** Curps v. Plautus satire I would like to request some outside intervention for a situation that has arisen. The user Curps seems intent on reversioning every edit I make, without explanation in the summaries or on talk pages. I've made several changes to entries recently, and all of them seem to have been reverted by Curps, so either he is watching the same pages I am, or watching my contributions, and reversioning them without explanation. I would like for somebody to epxlain to Curps that he needs to discuss reversions, especially if he is going around unmaking everything one user (me) does. - Plautus satire 01:32, 21 Feb 2004 (UTC) Curps reversions of Plautus satire as shown by page histories:[2][3][4][5] [6][7] ***END QUOTE***

I am reluctant to disclose the details of my attempts to get mediation with respect to Curps' abuse, because the other participants have demanded they remain secret.

What is said during mediation sessions is private, and won't be disclosed without agreement of all parties.
If you don't like this, then change it:

This is straight out of wikipedia policy on mediation. I hate to be blunt, but who will argue this with me? I think you may now all stand down.

This is patently ridiculous, people.

I initiated the mediation
I initiated the mediation.

Curps refuses to let the proceedings be open, thus, Curps is refusing mediation.

Curps is abusing me, he admitted it, I have now superfluosly and redundantly proven it.

Why is the process being ignored?

Privacy of mediation is optional, not a requirement for mediation. I brought the mediation request, I want it open.
I initiated this process, why am I being treated like the defendant when I am the claimant?

Why is the process being ignored here?

There is no requirement of secrecy in mediation. I do not wish it and do not intend to abide by secrecy. Curps has refused this condition, thus he refuses mediation, thus my case against him should go to arbitration.

personal curiosity; escalation to arbitration
Plautus Satire wrote:
 * Because it is irrelevant to my defense.

But it's completely relevant. I just wrote about it to the list, actually. The fact that you would simultaneously insult me while asking me for a rehearing is *exactly* relevant to the situation.

You're a complete and total asshole, and getting rid of you will be a great joy.

You may attempt to divert the discussion to issues having to do with your crackpot pseudo-scientific theories, but those are not the real issue. The real issue is your insulting behavior towards me and towards others who have tried to help you.

You seem completely oblivious to that behavior, though, so I don't suppose there's any hope for your change. I've told you several times today in simple language what the problem is, and it's as if you're completely deaf to what I'm saying.

--Jimbo

explanation: arbitration escalation
I would also like to point out another thing about which I tried to remind Mr. Wales. I brought up the fact that I initiated the only known (to me) process of mediation that has accorded with wikipedia policy. Since then that request has been hijacked by those who wish to ban me using the paint-by-numbers-ban procedure(1).

(1) Paint-by-numbers-ban procedure is a characterization by Plautus satire of the current wikipedia guidelines involving resolution of dispute. Paint-by-numbers-ban procedure is not a term recognized by wikipedia proper.

List of productive contributions to Wikipedia
The following entries in wikipedia are there because I put them there, and they remain largely intact. The talk page histories of many of these pages show my collaborative efforts in bringing them up to snuff from my original small entries.

 * Aquaponics
 * Dark compact
 * Garden cress
 * Laser broom
 * Laser star hypothesis
 * Watercress

This list may not be comprehensive.

Codie Vickers

(P.S.: In case I forgot to post the link to the page history for my original request for mediation in the matter of Curps' admitted abuse, here it is: )

Relevant passages in tornado
The following is a partial, selective audit trail of a recent conflict that was thrust on me by other users. I post links only to my own changes.

 * added association of tornadoes with plasma glow discharge in atmosphere
 * inserted accompanying electromagnetic phenemona associated with tornadoes
 * inserted observed radio emissions from tornadoes and associated (implied) electrical discharges
 * (until a better explanation than "no." arises) reinserted observed radio emissions and implied plasma discharges (tornado lightning) and cited
 * added similarity of tornado lightning to fluorescent bulbs, cited reference for tornado lighting (also other plasma effects of tornadoes not inserted into entry; point discharge, plasmoids, etcetera))
 * added plasmoids and point discharges to known phenomena associated with tornadoes
 * rewording of second paragraph, addition of various observed plasma and electromagnetic phenomena associated with tornadoes
 * reworded opening of second paragraph, citation supporting observed plasma and electromagnetic phenomena associated with tornadoes
 * additional citation, reference to other well-known plasma effects observed in association with tornadoes
 * added nocturnal tornadoes and citation
 * added reference to rRetired U.S. Army captain Roy S. Hall's family encounter with interior of tornado, cited
 * reworded passage about multiple funnels
 * addition of fowl killed and plucked by tornadoes
 * clarification of wind plucking falsification
 * addition of observed cellular structure inside tornadoes
 * -have
 * reinsertion of electromagnetic phenomena as a result of the plasma arcing going on inside tornado, despite Curps insistence that tornadoes are not ass. with these

I now cite below the first change I made (that started this "war") before I was banned for continuing to advocate on the talk pages for my last edition.

***BEGIN QUOTE*** A tornado is a violent windstorm characterized by a twisting, funnel-shaped cloud. The word "tornado" comes from the Spanish verb "tornar", meaning "to turn." Tornadoes accompany (and obscure) plasma glow discharges in the atmosphere similar to the discharge in a fluorescent light bulb. Nocturnal tornadoes offer opportunity to observe this glow discharge.

It is spawned by a supercell thunderstorm (or sometimes as a result of a hurricane) and produced when cool air overrides a layer of warm air, forcing the warm air to rise rapidly. ***END QUOTE***

Now I cite the extant entry.

***BEGIN QUOTE*** A tornado is a violent windstorm characterized by a twisting, funnel-shaped cloud. The word "tornado" comes from the Spanish verb tornar, meaning "to turn."

It is spawned by a supercell thunderstorm (or sometimes as a result of a hurricane) and produced when cool air overrides a layer of warm air, forcing the warm air to rise rapidly. Tornados are sometimes associated with lightning. Many tornadoes are the tail end of a mesocyclone and they have a characteristic "hook echo" signature on a radar screen. ***END QUOTE***

Note that this current entry says that tornadoes are spawned by thunder (lightning) storms, and also says they are only "sometimes" "associated with" lightning. Is this accurate?

I think everyone can judge which of these entries is more factual and complete.

Codie Vickers

Curps solution to a nonexistent problem. Is it time for mediation yet?
Tornado plasma hypothesis

This is Curps' "solution" to the "problem" of his vague notions about tornadoes. Move all references to electricity associated with tornadoes to another entry for NPOV. Huh?

Here is the audit trail for this dangling participle left in wikipedia like a whithered seedling stomped under a jackboot:

(cur) (last). . 02:25, 26 Feb 2004. . Curps (add intro sentence, wording similar to "laser star hypothesis" intro) (cur) (last). . 01:15, 26 Feb 2004. . Curps (material moved here from Tornado page, as per discussion with user Lir)

Huh? Add intro sentence, wording similar to laser star hypothesis? What's this? Oh, right, the laser star hypothesis which was introduced to eliminate all mention of quasars observed to be lasing to observe NPOV.

Open source journalism was not there before Plautus satire put it there? Is this a conspiracy?
These entries were also initiated by Plautus satire, and remain largely unmolested by troubled people such as Curps.

 * Open source journalism
 * Phytochemicals

What's this? An entry for open source journalism did not exist before Plautus satire entered it? Why has it remained? Plautus satire cites Slashdot and an obscure periodical only, yet this entry remains unchallenged.

Who will be the first to step up and call open source journalism one of Plautus satire's "conspiracy theories"?

Codie Vickers

The devil's advocate does not make deals with the devil
I think I've demonstrated quite clearly to all that I wish to continue and am capable of and more than willing to engage in improving wikipedia for the betterment of us all. Yes, we are all volunteers, and what we are volunteering is our effort to make this a great project for one man who is now paying us for that work by allowing us to stay here.

Sincere thanks
Look at all the busy little beavers watching this "case", who are now merrily improving wikipedia by expanding and glorifying my contributions. I want to thank all concerned for showing such faith in my tedious contributions that you wish to add to them and make them even better. It speaks volumes of the confidence in me which you display so openly.

If you are perfect, please identify yourself
I cite here an example where I committed a minor breach of faith, I mocked another user. If I remember correctly, this was in response to a comment I made, I asked in an edition summary if SheikYerBooty was a human being or a poorly-designed AI. I admit this was glib, but I only meant if he were a cleverly-designed AI I wouldn't suspect he was an AI.

***BEGIN QUOTE*** Please refrain from mocking other users. Review Wikiquette when you can. Thanks! Kingturtle 06:03, 26 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Good advice, Kingturtle. All I can say is it's all meant in fun, I mean no disrespect. - Plautus satire 06:21, 26 Feb 2004 (UTC) OK. Fair enough :) Kingturtle 06:26, 26 Feb 2004 (UTC) ***END QUOTE***

As you can see here, I realized I may have inadvertantly offended somebody, perhaps SheikYerBooty's talk page would have been the place for me to discuss it with him but he didn't comment on my edition summary so I didn't think it had offended him.

Is it just me, or are these people scrambling very hard to find "the goods" on me?
Is it just me, or are these people scrambling very hard to find "the goods" on me? I submit if it's this difficult, it's not worth pursuing, time would be better spent finding a compromise.

***BEGIN QUOTE*** Plautus, your constant manipulations of talk pages is not going to work. I will check every edit you make and revert them when I see moving other people's comments around. You've been asked not to do this and it's been pointed out many times that it's a violation of accepted practice. So cut it out. --SheikYerBooty 06:13, Feb 26, 2004 (UTC)

It's not a violation of accepted practice to organize a thread so it's coherent instead of one long incoherent ramble. - Plautus satire 06:20, 26 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Maybe check out the Big Bang talk page.. Plautus hasnt touched it in a while, and another user has completely moved things around, almost even more incoherent. I swear that some paragraphs of mine have been removed.. odd too, since I try to write with grace, clarity, and references. I dont know what Plautus has been up to, but its obvious he is not the only one who edits talk pages. -Ionized 23:38, Feb 26, 2004 (UTC)

Correction, my paragraphs where not erased, just moved. Im trying to piece togethor the original order again. -Ionized 00:08, Feb 27, 2004 (UTC) ***END TRANSCRIPT***

This little exchange reminds me of a recent blunder, where I accused silsor of deleting pages to cover a setup of me. I quickly learned this was an erroneous belief and I immediately retracted it and tried to lessen the effect of that nonsense.

Should we all be punished similarly for the same acts? Perhaps these two are good candidates for a ban... I doubt it, but "try it, it might work" seems to be the attitude of some.

CC of email sent to Mr. Wales and MyRedDice
I have accepted Tuf-Kat as a moderator and Tuf-Kat informed me that Curps would not participate in moderation over his vigilante actions unless 1. Raul654 was also involved and unless 2. the moderation was kept secret.

I do not accept Curps' conditions, so to follow the guidelines it should go to arbitration, with Curps as the defendant for his admitted vigilante action, and me as the claimant or injured party.

How this got turned into a ban for me is truly mysterious. If you look at the request I initiated, the section contains many statements from me, all of which state quite clearly that I intended to seek mediation with Curps for his vigilante action, and he admitted he did it.

The case seems open and shut to me. All of my statements in that section (my request for mediation) and the compendium I added to remind everyone which quoted the relevant statements I made confirm what I say is true.

Why is the process being ignored here? I am the claimant or injured party? Why am I the one being punished?

Drowning Man v. Two Swimming Men
If I recall correctly, a certain user named Ed Poor had a campaign spring up to ban him when he was discovering wikipedia. I suspect this is because he is able to easily (if tediously) and effectively and most importantly convincingly construct very compelling arguments while simultaneously being able to deconstruct opposing arguments.

I postulate that because he is able to do this so easily, he was perceived as a threat. A threat to existing knowlege (are we all ignorant or is Ed Poor?), a threat to authority (who do we believe, the newspaper or Ed Poor?), a threat to wikipedia (should wikipedia be a forum for Ed Poor to post facts?).

Did Ed Poor ever make a mistake in his life? I don't know Ed Poor, but I can categorically state "yes". And I will make similar statements about us all if necessary, and then make my case for my belief if warranted.

(P.S.: Ed Poor's alleged sense of humor may also have contributed to the prior campaign to expunge him.)

response to "content free email" accusation
I expressed in that email a legitimate concern I had on a very personal matter unrelated to my present difficulties here.

I would like to respond to one critic of this email:

***BEGIN QUOTE*** Message: 1 Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 13:11:35 -0800 From: Delirium  Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] About Plautus Satire To: English Wikipedia  Message-ID: <403E6107.7030600@...> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed

Jimmy Wales wrote:

''p.s. Just to make sure I'm clear on what I find insulting about the "revenue streams" question, it isn't the notion that I might someday make some revenue from wikipedia. It's my dream, in fact, that this could someday be my fulltime job, an honorable job which I would be proud to have earned. It's the notion that I'd debase my ideals for the encyclopedia in the process that I find offensive.''

Oddly enough, you've even been one of the more stringent voices against putting Wikipedia in a position where that might even unintentionally, as might happen if it were to become financially reliant on large grants from a particular government or organization (which would then be able to say "well, you can do what you want, but we don't feel we can continue to support you if you do [...]").

So really a content-free email, but I think most (all?) of us here aren't too worried about that possibility.

-Mark ***END QUOTE*

I would just like to say that in my defense, the accusations that have been laid against me recently are in strong contradiction with my recent behaviour.

I have gone out of my way to be courteous, considerate and cooperative in contributing content. hmm Please overlook that alliteration, it was completely coincidental but I see upon brief reflection that it may be interpreted as a glib remark. I am now considering backspacing over this text, but recent experience has taught me that a better course of action would be to explain in minute detail precisely why it should be inoffensive.

Thank you for your consideration, and I hope you see my point here. I am not trying to be combative, on the contrary, I have tried to end hostilities, and not seek any retaliation for what I perceive as bad behaviours against me.

(P.S.: On an irrelevant side note, Mr. Wales is now being taken at face value for reasonable comments he made about me. Should my comments about myself ever after be taken as jokes or dodges because of bad behaviour (like calling people insane assholes in private emails only tangentally related to wikipedia)?

Frenetic tone of opposition to Plautus satire
I offer, as evidence that this crusade (my characterization of this campaign to get me banned permanently) is unfair and unwarranted, all of the repeated needling and prodding and poking and jamming of this subject in front of everyone who may or may not take an interest in it. If my "abuse" was as obvious as many claim, this type of redundant, hyperactive rhetoric would be unnecessary, and since it bears no resemblance and only tangental relation to the ongoing mediation processes (of myself and others) it is moot.

Evidence for this is all over wikipedia where I have made my contributions. I do not quote and cite the evidence here because it is copious. Also unquoted and uncited are about half the comments from this email list on this issue regarding banning me (and others, apparently). A cursory glance at the archives demonstrates the frantic nature and high decibel level of this organized, announced campaign to see me banned no matter what my future actions may hold.

Plautus Satire's e-mails to Bcorr
See User:Bcorr/Plautus for emails (and Bcorr's interleaving emails, where applicable). You can use this link if you are concerned that someone may alter that page, which is the version as originally first posted by BCorr. Martin 22:35, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Plautus satire's emails to AllyUnion
Email 1:

Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2005 15:26:07 GMT To: AllyUnion Subject: Wikipedia e-mail From: Plautus satire

Plautus' ban expires 06:00, Jul 27, 2005.

Email 2 + AllyUnion's reply:

Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2005 01:43:56 -0700 From: AllyUnion To: Plautus satire  Subject: Re: Wikipedia e-mail

Please do not email me any further, otherwise I will consider it as unsolicited spam email and will sue you under the maximum +extent of California law.

On Fri, Jul 29, 2005 at 05:57:50PM +0000, Plautus satire wrote: > > Please see: > > http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Plautus_satire&oldid=19863722#Troll_Mafia > > Raul654 has unfairly had me banned from wikipedia. He has a personal agenda, > and has banned me motivated purely by malice. > If you are able to, please help reverse this ban and/or help me get Raul654 punished > for his damaging and childish actions.

-- AllyUnion

Email 3:

This is not an unsolicited email. You are an administrator on wikipedia, which is a public forum, and I am a user of that forum. If you do not want emails like this, surrender your administrator account to me and I will field them for you.

Comments: It is apparent that he emailed many administrators the same message, which, in my opinion, considered as spam. --AllyUnion (talk) 02:39, 1 August 2005 (UTC)


text:
Wawrzyniec Samp

Wawrzyniec Samp (born 25 June 1939) is a Polish sculptor and graphic artist.

Samp was born in Danzig, Free City of Danzig (present-day Gdańsk, Poland). He graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk in 1965, and now he has his own artistic study in the city. He specializes in Pomeranian-Kashubian, marine and sacral graphics.

Projects
His main projects include:
 * monuments:
 * Tym co za polskośc Gdańska, Gdańsk
 * Czynu partyzanckiego kolejarzy, Czarna Woda
 * Józef Wybicki, Kościerzyna
 * Pope John Paul II, Gdynia
 * Stefan Wyszyński, Gniezno Cathedral
 * Swietopelk II, Duke of Pomerania, Gdańsk
 * Izydor Gulgowski and Teodora Gulgowska, Wdzydze
 * Jerzy Popiełuszko, St. Brigid basilic in Gdańsk
 * memorial plates:
 * Józef Wrycza, Wiele and Zblewo
 * bishop Konstantyn Dominik, Swarzewo
 * primate Stefan Wyszyński, Stoczek Klasztorny
 * Józef Wybicki, patron of a high-school in Gdańsk-Orunia
 * Loen Roppel, Luzino
 * Florian Ceynowa, Wejherowo hospital
 * Polish Kings Coronations, Gniezno cathedral
 * Pope John Paul II, Gdynia
 * Pope John Paul II, New Port in Gdańsk
 * bishop W. Pluta, Gorzów Wielkopolski
 * bishop Józef Drzazga, Olsztyn
 * Jozef Wilczek, Luzino
 * medals and medallions:
 * 27 medals of Dukes of Pomerania
 * 650-years of NMP basilic in Gdańsk
 * Srebrna Tabakieta Abrahama
 * Cech Piekarzy i Cukierników in Gdańsk
 * 400-years of Gdańsk Library of PAN
 * 40-years of Kashubian-Pomeranian Association

Publications:
 * L. Bądkowski, W. Samp, Poczet książąt Pomorza Gdańskiego, Gdańsk 1974

Awards:
 * Medal Stolema, 1974
 * Złoty Krzyż Zasługi
 * Zasłuzonym Ziemi Gdańskiej
 * Złoty Medal Prymasowski Zasłużony w posłudze dla Kościoła i Narodu
 * Nadgoda Miasta Gdańska

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

title: Wawrzyniec Samp


text:
VLC media player

VLC media player (previously the VideoLAN Client and commonly known as simply VLC) is a free and open-source, portable, cross-platform media player software and streaming media server developed by the VideoLAN project. VLC is available for desktop operating systems and mobile platforms, such as Android, iOS and iPadOS. VLC is also available on digital distribution platforms such as Apple's App Store, Google Play, and Microsoft Store.

VLC supports many audio- and video-compression-methods and file-formats, including DVD-Video, Video CD, and streaming-protocols. It is able to stream media over computer networks and can transcode multimedia files.

The default distribution of VLC includes many free decoding and encoding libraries, avoiding the need for finding/calibrating proprietary plugins. The libavcodec library from the FFmpeg project provides many of VLC's codecs, but the player mainly uses its own muxers and demuxers. It also has its own protocol implementations. It also gained distinction as the first player to support playback of encrypted DVDs on Linux and macOS by using the libdvdcss DVD decryption library; however, this library is legally controversial and is not included in many software repositories of Linux distributions as a result. It is available on iOS under the MPLv2.

History
The VideoLAN software originated as a French academic project in 1996. VLC used to stand for "VideoLAN Client" when VLC was a client of the VideoLAN project. Since VLC is no longer merely a client, that initialism no longer applies. It was intended to consist of a client and server to stream videos from satellite dishes across a campus network. Originally developed by students at the École Centrale Paris, it is now developed by contributors worldwide and is coordinated by VideoLAN, a non-profit organization. Rewritten from scratch in 1998, it was released under GNU General Public License on February 1, 2001, with authorization from the headmaster of the École Centrale Paris. The functionality of the server-program, VideoLan Server (VLS), has mostly been subsumed into VLC and has been deprecated. The project name has been changed to VLC media player because there is no longer a client/server infrastructure.

The cone icon used in VLC is a reference to the traffic cones collected by École Centrale's Networking Students' Association. The cone icon design was changed from a hand drawn low resolution icon to a higher resolution CGI-rendered version in 2005, illustrated by Richard Øiestad.

In 2007 the VLC project decided, for license compatibility reasons, not to upgrade to the just-released GPLv3. After 13 years of development, version 1.0.0 of VLC media player was released on July 7, 2009. Work began on VLC for Android in 2010 and it has been available for Android devices on the Google Play store since 2011. In September 2010, a company named "Applidium" developed a VLC port for iOS under GPLv2 with the endorsement of the VLC project, which was accepted by Apple for their App Store. In January 2011, after VLC developer Rémi Denis-Courmont's complaint to Apple about the licensing conflict between the VLC's GPLv2 and the App store's policies, the VLC had been withdrawn from the Apple App Store by Apple. Subsequently, in October 2011 the VLC authors began to relicense the engine parts of VLC from the GPL-2.0-or-later to the LGPL-2.1-or-later to achieve better license compatibility, for instance with the Apple App Store. In July 2013 the VLC application could be resubmitted to the iOS App Store under the MPL-2.0. Version 2.0.0 of VLC media player was released on February 18, 2012. The version for the Windows Store was released on March 13, 2014. Support for Windows RT, Windows Phone and Xbox One were added later. VLC is the third in the sourceforge.net overall download count, and there have been more than 3 billion downloads.

Version 3.0 was in development for Windows, Linux and macOS since June 2016 and released in February 2018. It contains many new features including Chromecast output support (except subtitles ), hardware-accelerated decoding enabled by default, 4K and 8K playback, 10-bit and HDR playback, 360° video and 3D audio, audio passthrough for HD audio codecs, BD-J menu support, and local network drive browsing.

In December 2017 the European Parliament approved a budget that funds a bug bounty program for VLC to improve the EU's IT infrastructure.

Release-history
Starting with version 1.1.0, VLC release codenames refer to characters from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels; an exception is release 2.2.1, which came out shortly after Pratchett's death on March 12, 2015, and which was codenamed Terry Pratchett in honor of the author himself.

Modular design
VLC, like most multimedia frameworks, has a very modular design which makes it easier to include modules/plugins for new file formats, codecs, interfaces, or streaming methods. VLC 1.0.0 has more than 380 modules. The VLC core creates its own graph of modules dynamically, depending on the situation: input protocol, input file format, input codec, video card capabilities and other parameters. In VLC, almost everything is a module, like interfaces, video and audio outputs, controls, scalers, codecs, and audio/video filters.

Interfaces

The default GUI is based on Be API on BeOS, Cocoa for macOS, and Qt 5 for Linux and Windows, but all give a similar standard interface. The old default GUI was based on wxWidgets on Linux and Windows. VLC supports highly customizable skins through the skins2 interface, and also supports Winamp 2 and XMMS skins. Skins are not supported in the macOS version. VLC has ncurses, remote control, and telnet console interfaces. There is also an HTTP interface, as well as interfaces for mouse gestures and keyboard hotkeys.

Effects (desktop version)
The desktop version of VLC media player has some filters that can distort, rotate, split, deinterlace, and mirror videos as well as create display walls or add a logo overlay during playback. It can also output video as ASCII art.

An interactive zoom feature allows magnifying into video during playback. Still images can be extracted from video at original resolution, and individual frames can be stepped through, although only in forward direction.

Playback can be gamified by splitting the picture inside the viewport into draggable puzzle pieces, where the row and column count can be set as desired.

For audio playback, this feature includes an equalizer and other filters that help customize sound quality.

Formats
Because VLC is a packet-based media player it plays almost all video content. Even some damaged, incomplete, or unfinished files can be played, such as those still downloading via a peer-to-peer (P2P) network. It also plays m2t MPEG transport streams (.TS) files while they are still being digitized from an HDV camera via a FireWire cable, making it possible to monitor the video as it is being recorded. The player can also use libcdio to access .iso files so that users can play files on a disk image, even if the user's operating system cannot work directly with .iso images.

VLC supports all audio and video formats supported by libavcodec and libavformat. This means that VLC can play back H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 2 video as well as support FLV or MXF file formats "out of the box" using FFmpeg's libraries. Alternatively, VLC has modules for codecs that are not based on FFmpeg's libraries. VLC is one of the free software DVD players that ignore DVD region coding on RPC-1 firmware drives, making it a region-free player. However, it does not do the same on RPC-2 firmware drives, as in these cases the region coding is enforced by the drive itself, however, it can still brute-force the CSS encryption to play a foreign-region DVD on an RPC-2 drive.

VLC media player can play high-definition recordings of D-VHS tapes duplicated to a computer using. This offers another way to archive all D-VHS tapes with the DRM copy freely tag. Using a FireWire connection from cable boxes to computers, VLC can stream live, unencrypted content to a monitor or HDTV. VLC media player can display the playing video as the desktop wallpaper, like Windows DreamScene, by using DirectX, only available on Windows operating systems. VLC media player can record the desktop and save the stream as a file, allowing the user to create screencasts. On Microsoft Windows, VLC also supports the Direct Media Object (DMO) framework and can thus make use of some third-party DLLs (Dynamic-link library). On most platforms, VLC can tune into and view DVB-C, DVB-T, and DVB-S channels. On macOS the separate EyeTV plugin is required, on Windows it requires the card's BDA Drivers.

VLC can be installed or run directly from a USB flash drive or other external drive. VLC can be extended through scripting; it uses the Lua scripting language. VLC can play videos in the AVCHD format, a highly compressed format used in recent HD camcorders. VLC can generate a number of music visualization displays. The program is able to convert media files into various supported formats.

Both desktop and mobile releases are equipped with an audio equalizer.

Christmas logo
A red Santa hat appears on top of VLC's traffic-cone logo during Christmas seasons.

Keyboard shortcuts
There are single-button shortcuts in VLC that don't require Ctrl or Alt button.

For example, pressing keys F and G while a video file is running in VLC shifts the file's audio/video sync for 50 millisecond per adjustment. This is useful to fix an issue with the sound being ahead or lagging behind the video.

Operating system compatibility
VLC media player is cross-platform, with versions for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, tvOS, ChromeOS, Windows Phone, various BSD-based systems, Solaris, BeOS, OS/2, and Syllable. However, forward and backward compatibility between versions of VLC media player and different versions of OSes are not maintained over more than a few generations. 64-bit builds are available for 64-bit Windows, starting with version 2.0.1.

Windows 8 and 10 support
The VLC port for Windows 8 and Windows 10 is backed by a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to add support for a new GUI based on Microsoft's Metro design language, that will run on the Windows Runtime. All the existing features including video filters, subtitle support, and an equalizer are present in Windows 8. A beta version of VLC for Windows 8 was released to the Microsoft Store on March 13, 2014. A universal app was created for Windows 8, 8.1, 10, Windows Phone 8, 8.1 and Windows 10 Mobile.

Android support
In May 2012, the VLC team stated that a version of VLC for Android was being developed. The stable release version 1.0 was made available on Google Play on December 8, 2014.

Bindings
Several APIs can connect to VLC and use its functionality:

 * libVLC API – the VLC Core, for C and C++
 * VLCKit – an Objective-C framework for macOS
 * LibVLCSharp – Crossplatform .NET bindings to libVLC (C#/F#/VB)
 * JavaScript API – the evolution of ActiveX API and Firefox integration
 * D-Bus controls
 * Go bindings
 * Python controls
 * Java API
 * DirectShow filters
 * Delphi/Pascal API: PasLibVlc by Robert Jędrzejczyk
 * Free Pascal bindings and an OOP wrapper component, via the libvlc.pp and vlc.pp units. This comes standard with the Free Pascal Compiler as of November 6, 2012.
 * The Phonon multimedia API for Qt and KDE applications can optionally use VLC as a backend.

Applications that use libVLC
VLC can handle some incomplete files and in some cases can be used to preview files being downloaded. Several programs make use of this, including eMule and KCeasy. The free/open-source Internet television application Miro also uses VLC code. HandBrake, an open-source video encoder, used to load libdvdcss from VLC Media Player. Easy Subtitles Synchronizer, a freeware subtitle editing program for Windows, uses VLC to preview the video with the edited subtitles.

Input formats
VLC can read many formats, depending on the operating system it is running on, including:
 * Container formats: 3GP, ASF, AVI, DVR-MS, FLV, Matroska (MKV), MIDI, QuickTime File Format, MP4, Ogg, OGM, WAV, MPEG-2 (ES, PS, TS, PVA, MP3), AIFF, Raw audio, Raw DV, MXF, VOB, RM, Blu-ray, DVD-Video, VCD, SVCD, CD-DA, DVB, HEIF, AVIF
 * Audio coding formats: AAC, AC3, ALAC, AMR, DTS, DV Audio, XM, FLAC, It, MACE, MOD, Monkey's Audio, MP3, Opus, PLS, QCP, QDM2/QDMC, RealAudio, Speex, Screamtracker 3/S3M, TTA, Vorbis, WavPack, WMA (WMA 1/2, WMA 3 partially).
 * Capture devices: Video4Linux (on Linux), DirectShow (on Windows), Desktop (screencast), Digital TV (DVB-C, DVB-S, DVB-T, DVB-S2, DVB-T2, ATSC, Clear QAM)
 * Network protocols: FTP, HTTP, MMS, RSS/Atom, RTMP, RTP (unicast or multicast), RTSP, UDP, Sat-IP, Smooth Streaming
 * Network streaming formats: Apple HLS, Flash RTMP, MPEG-DASH, MPEG Transport Stream, RTP/RTSP ISMA/3GPP PSS, Windows Media MMS
 * Subtitles: Advanced SubStation Alpha, Closed Captions, DVB, DVD-Video, MPEG-4 Timed Text, MPL2, OGM, SubStation Alpha, SubRip, SVCD, Teletext, Text file, VobSub, WebVTT, TTML
 * Video coding formats: Cinepak, Dirac, DV, H.263, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, H.265/MPEG HEVC, AV1, HuffYUV, Indeo 3, MJPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2, RealVideo 3&4, Sorenson, Theora, VC-1, VP5, VP6, VP8, VP9, DNxHD, ProRes and some WMV.
 * Digital Camcorder formats: MOD and TOD via USB.

Output formats
VLC can transcode or stream audio and video into several formats depending on the operating system, including:
 * Container formats: ASF, AVI, FLAC, FLV, Fraps, Matroska, MP4, MPJPEG, MPEG-2 (ES, MP3), Ogg, PS, PVA, QuickTime File Format, TS, WAV, WebM
 * Audio coding formats: AAC, AC-3, DV Audio, FLAC, MP3, Speex, Vorbis
 * Streaming protocols: HTTP, MMS, RTSP, RTP, UDP
 * Video coding formats: Dirac, DV, H.263, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, H.265/MPEG-H HEVC, MJPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 Part 2, Theora, VP5, VP6, VP8, VP9

Legality
The VLC media player software installers for the macOS platform and the Windows platform include the libdvdcss DVD decryption library, even though this library may be legally restricted in certain jurisdictions.

India
In May 2022, it was reported by MediaNama that VLC was banned in India and its website was inaccessible from India under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Neither the developers, nor the Indian government offered any explanation to the ban, according to India Today. The official VideoLAN Twitter account stated in August that the website was blocked in India from 13 February 2022. A report by Hindustan Times indicated that the ban could be due to links with China. India had in 2020 banned over 200 Chinese apps following the 2020–2022 China–India skirmishes. Another Hindustan Times report from April quoting Symantec said that Chinese hackers were depending on VLC to launch malware they had previously installed on Windows machines. The technique they used is called DLL side-loading, in which an external library that a legitimate program loads at runtime is substituted with a modified version containing the malware. VideoLan president and lead developer Jean-Baptiste Kempf said, the block was most likely a result of a misunderstanding of the Chinese security issue, although the Indian Government did not provide for a reason as to why it was blocked. In October 2022, VLC, with assistance from the Indian digital rights organization Internet Freedom Foundation sent a legal notice to the Indian Government, following which, in November 2022, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India decided to remove the ban from the VLC website.

United States
The VLC media player software is able to read audio and video data from DVDs that incorporate Content Scramble System (CSS) encryption, even though the VLC media player software lacks a CSS decryption license. The unauthorized decryption of CSS-encrypted DVD content or unauthorized distribution of CSS decryption tools may violate the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Decryption of CSS-encrypted DVD content has been temporarily authorized for certain purposes (such as documentary filmmaking that uses short portions of DVD content for criticism or commentary) under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act anticircumvention exemptions that were issued by the US Copyright Office in 2010. However, these exemptions do not change the DMCA's ban on the distribution of CSS decryption tools; including those distributed with VLC.

title: VLC media player


text:
Kuyavia

Kuyavia (Kujawy; Kujawien; Cuiavia), also referred to as Cuyavia, is a historical region in north-central Poland, situated on the left bank of Vistula, as well as east from Noteć River and Lake Gopło. It is divided into three traditional parts: north-western (with the capital in Bydgoszcz, ethnographically regarded often as non-Kuyavian), central (the capital in Inowrocław or Kruszwica), and south-eastern (the capital in Włocławek or Brześć Kujawski).

Etymology
The name Kuyavia first appeared in written sources in the 1136 Bull of Gniezno (Bulla Gnieźnieńska, Latin: Ex commisso nobis) issued by Pope Innocent II, and was then mentioned in many documents from medieval times. It is also mentioned in the chronicles of Wincenty Kadłubek.

Geography
In the north, Kuyavia borders with the historic regions of Gdańsk Pomerania (Pomerelia) and Chełmno Land, in the west with proper (exact) Greater Poland, in the south with Łęczyca Land and in the east with Masovia and Dobrzyń Land. The borders of Kuyavia stretch out on the left bank of Vistula River: from the mouth of Skrwa Lewa in the south-east, almost to the mouth of the Wda River to the north. The borders of Kuyavia spread out to the west from Koronowo and Nakło to the Noteć River where they turn south-west, cross Trląg Lake, and on to Strzelneński Forest, reaching Skulski Lake and the upper Noteć River. The borders also enclose Brdowski Lake, Przedecz and Lubień Kujawski through the Skrwa Lewa, ending at the Vistula River.

General description
The Kuyavian lowlands have an average elevation of 100–130 meters above sea level. It is post-glacial landscape, slightly undulating, in some places there are moraine hills and sandy gravel embankments. In deep dykes and depressions there are approximately 600 lakes larger than 1 km2. Under the glacial formations there are layers of rock-salt and potassium, and under Tertiary Period sediments there is lignite and ceramic clay. In Kuyavia there are black fertile soils, thanks to which Kuyavia is called "the granary of Poland".

Capital and region
The episcopal see of Kuyavia was probably Kruszwica, and later Włocławek (after the episcopal see in the early 12th century). The capital of this Duchy, and - from the late 14th century - the residences of the Voivode governors were Inowrocław, Brześć Kujawski, and Radziejów as the seat of the shared regional Sejmik council of the two voivodeships. Today, the biggest center of Kuyavia is Bydgoszcz. Also the southern part of Toruń (Podgórz) lies in the historical region.

Some ethnographers and historians, for example Oskar Kolberg and Zygmunt Gloger, count the lands of Dobrzyń and Chełmno north-east of the Vistula as parts of the Kuyavia region.

History
The Linear Pottery culture existed in the area. The earliest solid evidence of cheese-making, dating to 5,500 BC, was found in Kuyavia.

Middle Ages
The beginnings of the state in Kuyavia are connected with the tribal state of the West Slavic Goplans. The Goplans, which some researchers identify with the Mazowszanie-Kłobianie or simply with the Kuyavians, had created a country with the main centers in Kruszwica on the northern shore of Lake Gopło. During the 10th century, their territory was conquered by another West Slavic tribe, the Polans settling in the adjacent Greater Polish land around Poznań and Gniezno and upon the death of Duke Mieszko I of Poland in 992, the Kuyavia lands were part of the early Duchy of Poland, mentioned as Civitas Schinesghe as circumscribed in the Dagome iudex papal regesta.

According to Andrzej Bańkowski, the Polans had moved into the region of Greater Poland after they had to leave together with the Morawianie, their former Pannonian territories, conquered by the Avars. According to some sources, during the war with the Goplans, the Polans were supported by a Great Moravian army. As a result of occupation of the Goplans' territory, the lands of Kuyavia were under the strong influence of the Pannonian culture and they lost their primary Masovian spirit.

When the name Cuiavia arose for the first time in the 1136 Bull of Gniezno, it referred to the lands east of Greater Poland around Kruszwica and Włocławek, bordering with the Vistula river. The bull confirmed the position of the Bishopric of Kuyavia at Włocławek as a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Gniezno.

In the times of the Polish fragmentation upon the 1138 Testament of Bolesław III Krzywousty, Kuyavia at first became part of the Duchy of Masovia under Bolesław IV the Curly and his son Leszek; it was claimed by the Polish High Duke Casimir II the Just in 1186, contested by his elder brother Mieszko III the Old and his son Bolesław. Casimir's son Duke Konrad I of Masovia in 1233 created the Duchy of Kuyavia for his second son Casimir I. When Casimir's elder brother Duke Bolesław I of Masovia died in 1248, he took the occasion and took Dobrzyń Land east of the Vistula River from the heritage of his younger brother Siemowit I. Upon Casimir's death 1267, the Duchy of Kuyavia was divided by his sons Leszek II the Black (d. 1288), Ziemomysł (d. 1287) and Władysław I the Elbow-high into the two separate duchies of Inowrocław and Brześć Kujawski.

In 1306 Ziemomysł's son Casimir II swore allegiance to his uncle Władysław I, who began to re-unite the Lands of the Polish Crown under his rule. The duchy was devastated during the Polish–Teutonic War of 1326–32, culminating in the 1331 Battle of Płowce, but was finally restored to Poland by the Teutonic Knights in the 1343 Treaty of Kalisz. With the death of Casimir's son Władysław the White in 1388, the Kuyavian line of the Piast dynasty became extinct. After the reunification of Polish lands in the 14th century, the division into provinces and counties was introduced. That division finalized in the 15th century, existed until the dissolution of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. Kuyavia was divided into the two administrative divisions of Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship and Inowrocław Voivodeship. The Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship was further divided into five powiats (counties): Brześć, Kowal, Kruszwica, Przedecz and Radziejów, while the Inowrocław Voivodeship was divided into the Bydgoszcz and Inowrocław powiats and Dobrzyń Land east of the Vistula. Both voivodeships formed part of the larger Greater Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Battle of Koronowo of the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War was fought in the region on 10 October 1410, and ended in a Polish victory.

Partitions of Poland
As a result of the First Partition of Poland in 1772 the Kingdom of Prussia took a considerable part of Inowrocław Voivodeship and the western part of Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship, and included it within its newly formed Netze District. After the Second Partition of 1793 the whole of Kuyavia was taken by Prussia and incorporated into the newly formed province of South Prussia. Upon the 1807 Treaties of Tilsit, it was part of the Napoleonic Duchy of Warsaw and administered within the Bydgoszcz Department. In 1815 under the provisions of the Congress of Vienna, Kuyavia was divided between the Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland remaining in a personal union with the Russian Empire, from 1831 direct part of Russian Empire) and the Kingdom of Prussia. While the Brześć Kujawski province (counties: Aleksandrów, Radziejów and Włocławek) remained with the Masovia Governorate of Congress Poland in Russian Empire, Inowrocław (Hohensalza) and Bydgoszcz (Bromberg) was incorporated into the Prussian Grand Duchy of Posen. The Polish population resisted anti-Polish policies, which included forced Germanisation and Russification, and took part in several uprisings incl. the Greater Poland uprising of 1848 and January Uprising of 1863–1864. That division outlasted the 1871 unification of Germany until the end of World War I.

Republic of Poland
Following World War I, Poland regained independence and control of the region. Within the Second Polish Republic, from 1918, the western part of Kuyavia belonged to Poznań Voivodeship, and the eastern part belonged to the Warsaw Voivodeship. In 1938 almost all Kuyavia became a part of Pomeranian Voivodeship. In 1934 the Muzeum Nadgoplańskie in Kruszwica was built. It was opened in 1939, and it had valuable collection of ethnographical objects, inter alia: furniture and clothing. Following the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, it was occupied by Nazi Germany. During the occupation, almost all of Kuyavia was annexed into the newly formed province of Reichsgau Wartheland, except the northwestern part with the city of Bydgoszcz that was annexed to the newly formed province of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. The Polish population was subjected to various crimes, such as mass arrests, imprisonment, slave labor, expulsions, kidnapping of children, deportations to Nazi concentration camps and extermination, incl. the Intelligenzaktion. Major sites of massacres of Poles in the region included Gniewkowo, Fordon, Otorowo, Buszkowo, Tryszczyn, Odolion and Borówno. The Germans also operated subcamps of the Potulice and Stutthof concentration camps in Bydgoszcz, and the large Stalag XX-A prisoner-of-war camp for Polish, British, French, Australian and Soviet POWs in southern Toruń. In 1945, the German occupation ended and the region was restored to Poland.

In the years 1945-1975 Kuyavia was in the borders of Bydgoszcz Voivodeship. The Włocławek Voivodeship was created in 1975, and the western part of Kuyavia remained in the Bydgoszcz Voivodeship. In 1999 almost the whole of Kuyavia was joined to the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Furthermore, small parts of the region were included in the borders of the Masovian Voivodeship (regions between the border of the province and Skrwa Lewa River) and Greater Poland Voivodeship (Przedecz, Wierzbinek).

Sports
The most successful and popular sports clubs in the region include motorcycle speedway team Polonia Bydgoszcz, basketball teams Anwil Włocławek, Astoria Bydgoszcz (men) and Basket 25 Bydgoszcz (women) and volleyball teams Chemik Bydgoszcz (men) and Pałac Bydgoszcz (women).

title: Kuyavia


text:
Billy the Cat (British comics)

Billy the Cat is a fictional character first published in the British comic magazine The Beano in 1967. He is a vigilante dressed in a "cat suit" who stars in his eponymous adventure story, and occasionally teams with Katie Cat. A popular character, Billy the Cat is a prolific figure in DC Thomson's comic magazines, his character appearing in a variety of series and issues of non-Beano magazines.

Background
In The Beano 1967 Easter issue, a DC Thomson advert announced a new superhero would feature in the magazine soon. The advert read: "Look at this chap! It's the amazing Billy the Cat! Follow his strange, exciting adventures in the big city—starting in The Beano next week!" as the artwork depicted a figure in a black outfit running across a roof. Superheroes were not new to The Beano, but Billy the Cat's pre-production developments are unknown. Lew Stringer noted Billy the Cat published when the Batman television adaptation aired, but the character having a secret identity as a schoolboy was similar to Spider-Man's characterisation.

Synopsis
William Grange is the orphaned son of police officers who died in a car accident. He lives with his Aunt Mabel and attends Burnham Academy, but he is inspired by his parents' legacy to fight crime as well. When his peers are distracted, he disguises as a masked vigilante to help Burnham's police force catch criminals in his town. The disguise, Billy the Cat, is a catsuit and a hard helmet with cat ears, whiskers, and/or designed with eyes on the front. As the disguise, Grange becomes superhumanly agile: jumping off the ground onto roofs, and somersaulting great lengths; and strong enough to defeat adult criminals in hand-to-hand combat. His gadget rucksack is also well-equipped with gadgets, as well as rope and grappling hooks so he can swing around the town. The police and the armed forces admire the hero, willingly following his lead and are inspired by his fighting techniques.

Official runs
Billy the Cat was part of The Beano adventure story genre: text comics with photorealistic artwork of adventure stories starring men and boys who depicted hobbies and interests the male readers stereotypically had. Although the genre had featured in the magazine since the first issue, the paragraphs of text under each panel would eventually become unpopular with readers who preferred the visual and humorous comic strips. Grange would become the last adventure story character to debut in the magazine but his Billy the Cat stories looked similar to an American superhero comic. Stories were episodic, rarely expanding beyond one issue, and authors were uncredited, but the artists have been retroactively revealed.

The first series spanned from issues 1289 to 1332, drawn by David Sutherland. The second and third series was illustrated by frequent adventure story artist Sandy Calder (also illustrated for General Jumbo and Danny's Deep-Sea Iron Fish). The third series finished in 1971 in issue 1494. Thirty-two years later, Billy the Cat reappeared in issue 3195 with a new series designed by Wayne Thomson, which ran for a month until issue 3200. Nigel Dobbyn illustrated the 2005 nine-issue reboot, and Barrie Appleby illustrated the 2008 reboot, which featured after Laura Howell's one-off strip from the 70th anniversary issue.

Grange would return in his original 20th century run in Billy the Cat and Katie. Illustrated by Sandy Calder, Grange is joined by his cousin Kathleen, whose parents are visiting the United States and is sent to stay with him until they return. She is made Katie the Cat (sometimes Katie Cat) with an identical uniform, and identical abilities and gadgets. The stories had two series that finished Billy the Cat's 20th century sagas, ending in issue 1677. The second was the only serialised story Billy the Cat would have in the magazine, in which Kathleen and William go on a school trip cruise.

The Beano
The superhuman vigilante did not stop featuring in the Beano franchise after he disappeared in 1974. The Billy the Cat stories have featured frequently in The Beano Annual from since 1969. 2008's edition was a notorious three-part story where Billy the Cat discovers the antagonist is General Jumbo, mind-controlled by his army model Private Pike. 2010's edition featured William the Cat, a similar-themed superhero strip set in the Victorian era, revealed to be Grange's imagination during a school trip to a museum. He and Katie Cat joined 253 characters on a double-page spread in 2019's annual in celebration of the 80th anniversary.

He also appeared in The Beano Summer Specials of 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, and 1988.

DC Thomson
Grange's series has been revived frequently throughout DC Thomson's history, notably showing him in other stages in his life. Although Grange (and cousin Kathleen)'s age was never specified, Buddy Billy the Cat series depicted him as looking notably older, possibly his late teens, and the story relocated to Marham, finishing in issue 128.

In 2013, The Digital Dandy shared universe story Retro Active featured Kathleen in her Katie Cat persona joining the superhero team, and an adult William had a supporting role, revealing he was now a police officer in charge of the force's Costumed Crime Division. Years before, Billy the Cat appeared in The Dandy Comic Cuts section between November 1986 and March 1988.

A reprint featured in issue 171 of Classics from the Comics along with other reprints from several superheroes by DC Thomson.

Reception and legacy
Billy the Cat and his series was popular enough to be passed amongst DC Thomson's children's magazines. However, readers became curious about Grange's history before his parents' deaths. Former reader David Carman wrote online fanfiction to give William and Kathleen an (unofficial) origin story, which DC Thomson approved.

title: Billy the Cat (British comics)


text:
Paulina Luisi

Paulina Luisi Janicki (1875–1950) was a leader of the feminist movement in Uruguay. In 1909, she became the first Uruguayan woman to earn a medical degree and was a firm advocate of sex education in the schools. She represented Uruguay in international women's conferences and traveled throughout Latin America and Europe. She was also the first Latin American woman to participate in the League of Nations and became one its most influential early activists. Her work has had a lasting effect on women of the Americas.

Biographical Information
Paulina Luisi was born in Argentina in 1875. Her mother, Maria Teresa Josefina Janicki, was of Polish descent and her father, Angel Luisi, was believed to be of Italian ancestry. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Uruguay. Luisi also had two sisters, Clotilde Luisi, who was the first female lawyer in Uruguay, and Luisa Luisi, who was a famous poet.

The primary figures whom Luisi drew inspiration from and who provided her with undivided support were her parents. Maria encouraged Luisi to pursue her dreams despite the social constraints placed on women in the early twentieth century. Her father, Angel, an educator and socialist, instilled in her “an uncontainable desire for justice and liberty.” Following her father, throughout her life, Luisi was a socialist interested in questions of moral reform.

Medical Education and Teaching
Luisi received a bachelor's degree in 1899 and graduated from the Medical School of the University of the Republic of Uruguay. In 1908 she became Uruguay's first female physician and surgeon. She became the head of the gynecology clinic of the Faculty of Medicine at the National University in Montevideo. In 1907 there were only four female doctors and three-hundred and five male doctors in Uruguay. As more women joined the medical field, the number of women physicians started to rise. Luisi wrote medical papers on topics ranging from prophylaxis of contiguous diseases, hygiene, eugenics, open air schools, hereditary qualities, and social diseases, to the "white slave trade," prostitution, venereal diseases, and mother's rights.

Sex-Health Education
In 1916 Luisi gave the keynote address before the First Pan-American Child Congress with an emphasis on sociology and education of women and children in Latin -America. Controversially, in the speech. Luisi advocated obligatory sex-health education programs in the public school system from primary through secondary school, as well as women's right to vote. She defined sex education as the pedagogic tool to teach the individual to subject sexual drives to the will of an instructed, conscientious, and responsible intellect. Classes in sex education would emphasize the need for will power and self-discipline, regular moderate physical exercise to burn up sexual energy, and the desirability of avoiding sexually stimulating entertainments. As opposed to sex education, health education classes would focus more on the scientific aspects of reproduction of the species, natural history, anatomy, personal hygiene, and the prevention of venereal diseases. Due to these suggestions, Luisi was called an anarchist and a revolutionary. She was also accused of wanting to teach students how to become prostitutes. In 1944, her suggestions for sex-health education were finally incorporated into the Uruguayan public school system. Luisi believed that “man and woman are nothing but two forms of the same being, equipped only with the differences that the preservation of the species requires." In her understanding, then, differences in anatomy did not dictate different roles for men and women. Luisi also worked as a teacher at the Teacher's Training College for Women and as an advocate for including hygiene among the subjects taught to future teachers. Her lectures and arguments were specifically designed to introduce prophylaxis as a subject within the teachers' training syllabus.

Feminist Influences
Josephine Butler, a famous 19th-century English moral reformer, had powerful influence on Luisi. Her fight against the Contagious Disease Act of 1864, and her founding of the International Abolitionist Federation in Geneva, Switzerland to curb the white slave trade served as a continual source of inspiration for Luisi.

Luisi’s feminist ideas built upon other movements occurring in the early twentieth century. While Luisi was still a student, Argentine liberal feminist Petrona Eyle wrote to her in her capacity as president of the Universitarias Argentinas (Argentine Association of University Women, affiliated with the American Association of University Women (AAUW)), recruiting her to join the organization. In a letter dated May 1, 1907, Eyle encouraged Luisi and her female colleagues in the university to form a Uruguayan branch of the Universitarias, stating that “although there aren’t many of you now, you will always be the nucleus around which others will come together.” It appears that Luisi and others accepted this invitation and joined with their Argentine counterparts in 1907. Important also to Luisi’s insertion into Pan-American liberal feminist networks and to her propulsion to the leadership of Uruguayan liberal feminism was her participation in the Women's Congress (Congreso Femenino) held in Buenos Aires in 1910. There she became acquainted with prominent Argentine feminists such as Alicia Moreau de Justo and Cecilia Gierson Organized by the Universitarias, the conference brought together more than 200 women, representing Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Paraguay, and Chile. It was likely at this conference that Luisi first came into contact with many of the leaders (or soon-to-be leaders) of liberal feminism in South America, and where she would establish ontacts and friendships that would endure for decades afterwards. Trips to Europe brought her into contact with women such as Ghenia Avril de Saint Croix, president of the moral unity committee of the International Council of Women, and Julie Siegfried, president of the French National Council of Women.

Uruguayan Feminism
Prior to Luisi's feminist activism, there were no organized movements for women's rights in Uruguay, despite the country's progressive stance on social legislation in the early twentieth century. As a Uruguayan representative at the First Pan-American Scientific Congress meeting in 1915, Luisi helped found a Pan-American Women's Auxiliary, which advocated for "social and economic betterment " of women and children. After this experience, Luisi turned her attention to developing women’s organizations in her home country.

Luisi, together with Isabel Pinto de Vidal and Francisca Beretervide, founded the Consejo Nacional de Mujeres (CONAMU), a branch of the International Council of Women in Uruguay in 1916. Luisi became the founder and primary editor of the CONAMU bulletin Acción Femenina (Feminine Action). The bulletin primarily focused on topics concerning women's values and equality. In the 1917 edition, Luisi published her definition of feminism stating the term implies "…that woman is something more than material created to serve and obey man like a slave, that she is more than a machine to produce children and care for the home; that women have feelings and intellect; that it is their mission to perpetuate the species and this must be done with more than the entrails and the breasts; it must be done with a mind and a heart prepared to be a mother and an educator; that she must be the man’s partner and counselor not his slave." The CONAMU served as a place for women to empower each other, with Luisi at the forefront, and focused on social problems including women’s social welfare and education, working women’s conditions, alcoholism, and equal moral standards.

Luisi was a strong advocate for working women as well. She created the two first female trade unions that existed in Uruguay – Unión de Telefonistas (Telephone Operators Union) and the Costureras de sastrerías (Seamstresses from Tailor's Shops). Luisi worked with the Telephone Workers Union to get better work conditions, and the women went from having to operate one hundred phones to eighty thanks to Luisi's involvement. Uruguayans warmed to the idea of women’s suffrage in the 1910s, and in 1919 Luisi founded the Alianza de Mujeres para los Derechos Femeninos (Women Alliance for Women's Rights), which was affiliated with the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. The Alianza pressured elected officials to enact women’s political rights. The Alianza worked closely with deputy Alfeo Brum to get congress to pass a bill authorizing women’s vote at the municipal level, so that women could fulfill their "legitimate social duty of rendering service to the different domains of public welfare." The bill did not pass. With suffrage stalled, four years after its creation the Alianza expanded its agenda to include women’s economic and civil rights.

Pan-American Feminism
In addition to fighting for women’s rights in Uruguay, Luisi aspired to create a Pan-American feminist movement that would benefit countries in the Americas. She also wanted to achieve equality globally. Luisi traveled to the United States with the hope of having American feminists help develop Pan-American feminism, but she emerged disappointed in American women’s disdain for South American feminists. It wasn't until World War II broke out that Luisi once again advocated for "sisterhood" between the US and Latin American feminists. Luisi's activism was internationally recognized and popular in Latin America. In 1947, the Primer Congreso Interamericano de Mujeres (First Inter-American Women’s Conference) in Guatemala paid tribute to Luisi, recognizing her as the mother of inter-American feminism.

Radio Femenina
Paulina Luisi's activism was also prevalent in public radio stations in Latin America. Radio Femenina, a radio station in Uruguay, was host to Luisi in the 1930s. On air, Luisi urged feminists to remain active because women were the only ones who could make a difference as mediators and peacemakers. Luisi was very influential as the radio allowed her to speak her mind freely and reach places beyond Argentina and Uruguay. Luisi's radio personality placed her in a position of authority as an older wise women among the feminists. A milestone within her radio involvement occurred in her later years when she encouraged women to vote in the 1942 elections in Uruguay to prove that women were worthy of their citizenship. In her older age in the 1940s, Luisi became known as La Abuela, the grandmother, a nickname that displayed ideals of motherhood attached to feminism.

League of Nations Work on Sex Trafficking
Luisi acted as a Delegate of the Uruguayan Government to the League of Nations Commission for the Protection of Children and Youth, where she took up the fight against the illegal sex trade. She was also a member of the Technical Commission, and she was responsible of the examination of the women trade question.

One of Paulina Luisi's accomplishments as an activist was to end sex trafficking in women. Luisi's experience in the medical field, where she witnessed women having sexual health issues such as infections. This experience drove her to become involved in issues against prostitution. Luisi viewed prostitution as an act degrading to all women, regardless of their nationalisty. Prostitution was a growing issue in Latin America and around the world, and women were oftentimes forced into that lifestyle. Luisi viewed prostitution as product of economic hardship and saw the correlation between prostitution and low wages.

Luisi's famous speech, "The White Slave Trade and the Problem of Reglementation" at the University of Buenos Aires in 1919 led to the creation of the Argentine-Uruguayan Abolitionist Committee. Luisi's efforts were also seen in Argentina where she collaborated with the Municipal Council that created laws that would aid prostitutes who sought rehabilitation. The laws provided work opportunities, legal protection, and hostels.

Commitment to sexual health also led to her involvement in the League of Nations through the Committee on the Traffic of Women and Children. The initial convention for the suppression of traffic reflects Luisi's influence. In 1934, Luisi and the Uruguayan National Council of Women passed the Children's Code. The law provided protection of pregnant women, granted protection of children from birth, and tackled problems of illegitimacy.

In Luisi's case, the main purpose of moral unity was to restrain the practice of prostitution, to check the spread of venereal disease, to protect the future of the human race, and to elevate motherhood from the realm of lust to that of progenitor and guardian of the species.

title: Paulina Luisi


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Pseudocopulation

Pseudocopulation describes behaviors similar to copulation that serve a reproductive function for one or both participants but do not involve actual sexual union between the individuals. It is most generally applied to a pollinator attempting to copulate with a flower. Some flowers mimic a potential female mate visually, but the key stimuli are often chemical and tactile. This form of mimicry in plants is called Pouyannian mimicry.

In orchids
Several species of orchids mimic insects to facilitate pollination, secreting chemicals from glands (osmophores) in the sepals, petals, or labellum, that are indistinguishable from the insect's natural pheromones. The pollinator then has a pollinium attached to its body, which it transfers to the stigma of another flower when it attempts another 'copulation'. Pollinators are often bees, wasps, or flies.

The cost to the pollinating insects might be seen as negligible, but study of Cryptostylis (an Australian orchid) pollinators shows that they may waste large amounts of sperm by ejaculating onto the flower. Thus there could be antagonistic coevolution such that pollinators become better at identifying their own species correctly and orchids become better mimics.

One mechanism is through the use of incentives or rewards. These are beneficial offerings to a pollinator, enticing it to engage with the reward and thus transfer pollen. Flowering plants that do not produce such rewards can instead attract pollinators through mimicry — a form of convergent evolution. Floral mimicry, which has independently evolved in a diverse range of plant species, involves the imitation of other plants or animals, including of coloration, morphology, egg deposition sites, provoking scents, and mating signals. Such plants are called "deceptive plants" as they mimic the characteristics or rewards of other species without providing any benefit to the pollinator.

Several orchids (Orchidaceae) make use of floral mimicry. Using sex-based deception, these species imitate female mating signals of certain pollinator species. This results in attempted copulation by males of the pollinator species, facilitating pollen transfer. Bee orchids (Ophrys apifera) and fly orchids (Ophrys insectifera), specifically, utilize flower morphology, coloration, and scent to deceive their respective pollinators. These orchids have evolved traits matching the preferences of specific pollinator niches, leading to adaptive speciation.

Although bee and fly orchids are visual mimics of their pollinators, visual traits are not the only (nor the most important) ones mimicked to increase attraction. Floral odors have been identified as the most prominent way of attracting pollinators, because these odors imitate the sex pheromones of females of the pollinator species. Male pollinators then track these scents over long distances. The proportions of such odor compounds have been found to be varied in different populations of orchids (in a variety of locations), playing a crucial role in attracting specific pollinators at the population level. The evolution of these interactions between plants and pollinators involve natural selection favoring local adaptation, leading to a more precise imitation of the scents produced by local pollinators.

Chemical compounds (more specifically, alkanes and alkenes), while used for sexual deception, are produced in many species of Ophrys, and likely were preadapted for other functions before being co-opted for mimicry. These orchids increased ancestral levels of alkene production to mimic the female pheromones that attract male pollinators, a form of sensory exploitation called a sensory trap.

Although mimetic plants typically receive fewer interactions with pollinators than truly-rewarding plants do, the evolution of sexual deception appears to be linked to benefits associated with mating behavior. Sex-based mimicry results in pollinator fidelity, the continued revisiting of flowers of the same species by a pollinator, as a result of sexual deception. In support of this, sex-based deception in an Australian orchid results in a higher proportion of pollen reaching stigmas than food-based deception. In another study, deception of male pollinators results in a long-distance dispersal of pollen.

title: Pseudocopulation


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Talk:Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Can the four horsemen apocalypse represent the 4 major super powers?
4 Horsemen symbol for 4 major super powers? 122.59.22.161 (talk) 22:28, 5 June 2023 (UTC)

 * Everything is possible, but we don't state in our articles just because it is merely possible. See also WP:FORUM. tgeorgescu (talk) 04:53, 6 June 2023 (UTC)

yeah but what are they, upfront?
It makes no sense to not have the 4 horsemen (the entry) actually be defined in the first or second sentence of this article. Even on search engines, this information doesn't pop up on wikipedia immediately. 87.89.215.78 (talk) 14:10, 10 June 2023 (UTC)
 * ok, done that. Johnbod (talk) 03:16, 11 June 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse


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User:RadicalBender/World leaders

Proposal:

For each year, the following table would be listed in a "World Leaders" section with the appropriate data.

For example, on the page for the year 1215, the following is currently displayed:

 * England - John, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou (ruled England 1167 - 1216)
 * France - Philippe II, Auguste, King of France (1180 - 1223)
 * Germany:
 * Otto IV, (King of Germany 1208 - 1215)
 * Frederick II, King of Germany (1212 - 1250), King of Sicily
 * Holy Roman Empire:
 * Otto IV, King of Germany (1208 - 1215) and Holy Roman Emperor (1209-1215).
 * Frederick II (elected Emperor 1211, crowned 1220, died 1250), King of Germany, King of Sicily
 * Holy See - Pope Innocent III (1198 - 1216)
 * Mongol Empire - Genghis Khan, Mongol Khan (1206 - 1227)
 * Venice - Pietro Ziani Doge of Venice (ruled 1205 - 1229)

Under this proposal, that information would be replaced with the following:

The table here covers a total of 20 years - 10 years in either direction starting at the first of the year in question: January 1, 1205 - December 31, 1225 (basically). Anyways, 20 was chosen because it was a nice round number that allowed me to make round computations in table cell widths. Ten may be even more workable.

Let me address the big problem first: this was a big pain in the neck to create. Partly because I had to look up all this information; partly because I had to mathematically figure out every cell width and compute all that together on my own. It took me a couple of hours to get this nailed down the way I wanted it (more or less).

Secondly, it's not something that a bot could recreate easily (I don't think). And if it can, each year will need to be inspected by hand to make sure everything looks right.

Thirdly, it's not lining up the way it should. This seems to be a function of the HTML itself (or it could be my browser - Safari). So, the distance in the one-year space before Genghis Khan is twice as big as the one-year space between the 1215 line and King Henry III.

Fourthly, it assumes neat, clean lines between transfers of power. King John's reign ended during 1216 and was immediately taken over by King Henry III, but this line is demarcated at the year 1216, not during it. This is simplifying things.

Enough cons, though, here are the pros: it's very pretty to look at, much, much, much more so than the existing inconsistent bulleted lists. Secondly, and more importantly, it establishes context through time and across nation-states. The context through time is useful for getting an idea of what happened around this year and the context across nation-states is useful to see what was happening in different places at the same time (this would be useful around the time of the Hundred Years War, for example, to see leadership changes in England and France.

So, does that trump the cons of getting this all set up? I don't know. Using a bot would be helpful. I might be able to write something in ColdFusion that can generate the appropriate code, perhaps. However, all of the leadership information would need to be entered into some sort of database and spat back out. I dunno.

If there are any thoughts, please use the talk page.

 * Oh, and I know the flags are wrong. We'd need to find like the French Fleur de Lis flag and what not as replacements.  The existing flags are there for illustrative purposes.

Sorry, this is not the table for current leaders.

title: User:RadicalBender/World leaders


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Triple Alliance (1788)

The Triple Alliance of 1788 was a military alliance between Great Britain, Prussia and the Dutch Republic. Great Britain saw it as necessary to maintain the balance of power, and Prussia was hoping for the territorial gains. The alliance was primarily aimed at the Russian Empire, which stood to increase its influence with its looming victory over the Ottoman Empire. Due to efforts of Russian diplomacy (Ochakov Affair), particularly in fostering parliamentary dissent in Great Britain, where the main proponent of action against Russia, William Pitt the Younger, lost support, the Alliance fell apart before it was ready to engage in planned military action against Russia. The destruction of the Triple Alliance is considered a major success of the Russian diplomacy.

Formation
In April 1788 Prussia secured a credit in case of a war with Russia from the Dutch Republic. In return, Prussia provided military backing for the unstable Dutch government. On 13 August 1788, the Anglo-Prussian military alliance was signed. This marked the formation of the Triple Alliance.

From the British perspective, the Alliance was formed to maintain the balance of power in Europe, particularly with regards to France and Russia, and the potentially unstable regions of the Baltics, the Balkans and the Netherlands. Prussia, on the other hand, was hoping for some territorial gains in the Baltic region, through war (with Russia) or diplomacy (from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), or a combination of the above. With regards to the Balkans, the Triple Alliance aimed at restraining the Russian Empire, as well as the Austrian Empire, then in alliance (Austro-Russian alliance), and there were expectations of a war between the Alliance and Russia (and possibly Austria) around 1791.

Evolution
Great Britain did not want war, in so much as it would be content if Russia would retreat from its war with the Ottomans without any territorial changes, but it realized this was an unlikely outcome. Starting in August 1790, British and Prussian diplomats in Russia started pressuring the Russians to begin negotiations with the Ottomans, with no luck.

Realizing that William Pitt the Younger was seriously considering hardline politics towards Russia, and that a war with Prussia and Great Britain would likely end up with a loss, Russian Empress Catherine the Great ordered her ambassador in London, Semyon Vorontsov, to aid Pitt's opponent, Charles Fox, in the British Parliament. Vorontsov and other members of the Russian diplomatic staff had arranged, on occasion through bribery, for support from many members of the British establishment.

The Dutch Republic was much less interested in a war with Russia, as Russia had significant debts to Dutch bankers, which the war could jeopardize. William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, British ambassador to the Dutch Republic, was on good terms with local Russian diplomatic staff, and tended to argue against any action that would involve hostilities with Russia.

Britain also failed at improving its relations with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which at that point considered itself on good terms with Russia and did not want to jeopardize those relations by getting closer to the Triple Alliance. The end of the Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790) also meant one less potential ally for the Triple Coalition, as the king of Sweden was not willing to reopen the Russian front.

By early 1791, around February, Prussian diplomacy managed to secure an agreement with Austria. Although Austria refused to switch sides, it also agreed to remain neutral in case of a war between Russia and Prussia. This convinced Pitt to assure Frederic that Britain would send a fleet to the Baltic, and to craft an ultimatum to Russia, requiring it to retreat from its war with the Ottomans or face an Anglo-Prussian intervention; by late March this position got royal approval and the debate in British parliament was to take place soon. In the meantime, in early March, Frederic Wilhelm II assured an Ottoman representative of his desire to attack Russia as soon as the Royal Navy appeared in the Baltic Sea, and encouraged him, in a handwritten letter, to continue the ongoing war with Russia and undertake a new offensive in the Balkans. Prussia's military preparations were very advanced, with about 90,000 troops massing on the border, and plans for three corps to advance on Riga. Russia itself was gearing itself to defend the Baltic sea border against the expected invasion.

Aware of the significance of the debate to take place in the British parliament in late March, Russian diplomats in London pulled out all stops to mobilize allies to oppose an Anglo-Russian conflict. Russian diplomats spent significant funds on diplomacy and propaganda. It had assured the support of about twenty British newspapers, and begun printing and distribution of many leaflets arguing against the "Russian armament" proposal of Pitt the Younger, as the issue became known in contemporary British discourse. Russian supporters included merchants with influence at the London Stock Exchange, writers and publicists such as John Paradise ("Doctor Johnson"), as well as members of the British Parliament, such as the son of Thomas Dimsdale, Charles Fox, Edmund Burke and others.

In the days before the British debate, the Dutch had offered to negotiate between Russia and the Triple Alliance, and Auckland reported that he saw documents in which Frederick Wilhelm questioned the need for the war and expressed concerns over the militant Austrian attitude (according to Polish historian Jerzy Łojek, that was either Auckland's own or Russian misinformation, or a combination of both). The debate begun on March 29. Despite criticism from the minority opponents, like Charles Fox, the House of Commons expressed its approval for the war with Russia thrice on that day. However, over the next two or three days, debates within Pitt's own government resulted in a drastic change of plans. The specific reasons for this sudden conflict within Pitt's government are not fully understood; Łojek suggests it was through the influence of Fox, Auckland and the Russian diplomacy on several of its members. Pitt could have forced the issue by creating a new government, but he decided that was not a viable solution, as a crisis in the government could result in an unpredictable shift of power. By mid- and late April, with William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville replacing Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds as the Foreign Secretary, the British policy was now set as pro-Russian, and anti-French.

A British courier with an ultimatum and a joint British-Prussian declaration to Russia arrived in Berlin on the night of April 3 to 4, but before he left, was intercepted on April 8 by another courier ordering a delay. It was only in early June that Prussia realized that British politics had taken a significant shift, and Britain no longer desired a war with Russia. This meant the end of the Triple Alliance.

Aftermath
The end of the alliance was cemented by the British-Netherlands-Prussian-Russian treaty of 26 July 1791, in which the Triple Alliance de facto capitulated to all Russian demands, accepting all Russian territorial demands on Ottomans. Within two years all the signatories of the alliance were at war with France following the outbreak of the French Revolutionary War.

Łojek notes that historiography of the fall of the Triple Alliance is sparse, as it was overshadowed by the interest in issues related to the French Revolution; as he notes, a war that never started is much less interesting than the revolution that changed the world. He notes that the end of the alliance was a triumph of the Russian diplomacy, and failure of the British one, as well as a personal failure of Pitt, who since this defeat removed himself from the British foreign policy. From the Polish perspective, he notes that the failure of the Polish diplomacy to pursue an alliance with the Triple Alliance was another major factor which resulted in its weakening, and by correspondingly strengthening Russia, this Polish inactivity contributed to the fall of Poland. He notes that although some Poles, like Antoni Augustyn Deboli, argued for an alliance with Great Britain, king Stanisław August Poniatowski, who controlled most of Polish diplomacy, refused to stand in opposition to Russia, which in hindsight was a major blow for Poland.

title: Triple Alliance (1788)


text:
User:Onesys

I own and operate a small software development company in Salt Lake City, UT. 84116

title: User:Onesys


text:
List of French armies in World War I

French army formations in World War I include:

 * 1st Army
 * 2nd Army
 * 3rd Army
 * 4th Army
 * 5th Army
 * 6th Army
 * 7th Army
 * 8th Army
 * 9th Army
 * 10th Army
 * Armée d'Orient

title: List of French armies in World War I


text:
Deal porter

The deal porters were a specialist group of workers in London's docks. They handled baulks of softwood or "deal", stacking them up to 60 feet (18 m) high in quayside warehouses. This was a demanding and dangerous job. It required physical strength, dexterity and a head for heights, to such an extent that they were nicknamed "Blondins" after the famous acrobat, Charles Blondin. Deal porters wore special leather headgear (backing hats) with long "aprons" over their shoulders in order to protect their heads and necks from wooden splinters.

Their trade was a notably hazardous one. The New Survey of London Life and Labour, published in 1928, noted:

 * "Deal portering is heavy and dangerous work which cannot safely be undertaken by any save experienced men. The shoulder of an experienced deal porter is said to develop a callosity which enables it to bear the weight and friction of a load of planks. But even with a hardened shoulder the deal porter has an unenviable task. To carry over a shaking slippery plankway a bundle of shaking slippery planks, when a fall would almost certainly mean serious injury, is work for specialists."

Most of the deal porters worked at the Surrey Commercial Docks in Rotherhithe, which specialised in timber. The workers were represented by the Port of London Deal Porters' Union. They were eventually rendered obsolete by the 1940s as mechanisation provided a better and cheaper way of moving timber cargo, and less arduous jobs became available elsewhere.

There are a number of commemorations of the deal porters in Rotherhithe. At Canada Water there is a sculpture in their honour, designed by Philip Bews. There is a street named "Deal Porters Way", a street named "Blondin Way", a path named "Deal Porters Walk", and a public square alongside Canada Water Library named "Deal Porters Square". The Compass pub in Rotherhithe Street was formerly named "The Deal Porter".

title: Deal porter