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Fictional currency

A fictional currency is some form of system of money defined, depicted, or alluded to, in works of fiction, such as novels, films or video games. The names of units of such currency are sometimes based on extant or historic currencies (e.g. "Altairian dollars" or "Earth yen") while other names, such as "Kalganids" in Asimov's Foundation series, may be wholly invented. A particularly common type, especially in science fiction, is electronically managed "credits". In some works of fiction, exchange media other than money are used. These are not currency as such, but rather nonstandard media of exchange used to avoid the difficulties of ensuring "double coincidence of wants" in a barter system.

Concept and creation

Authors doing worldbuilding and creating imaginary societies have to take care when naming fictional currencies because of the associations between currency names and countries; recognizable names for currencies of the future (e.g. dollar or yen) may be used to imply how history has progressed, but would appear out of place in an entirely alien civilization. Historical fiction may need research. Writers need not explain the exact value of their fictional currencies or provide an exchange rate to modern money; they may rely on the intuitive grasp of their readers, for instance that one currency unit is probably of little value, but that millions of units will be worth a lot.

Currencies in science fiction face particular problems due to futuristic technology allowing matter replication and hence forgery. Authors have proposed currencies that are incapable of replication such as the non-replicable "latinum" used by the Ferengi in the Star Trek universe, or the currency in Pandora's Millions by George O. Smith, which is booby-trapped to explode if scanned by a replicating machine. Money in fantasy fiction faces analogous challenges from the use of magic; in the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, magically created currency is time-limited, while in Ursula K. Le Guin's fictional realm of Earthsea, the world's equilibrium is unbalanced when something is created from nothing.

In the Demon Princes pentalogy by Jack Vance the currency "SVU" or Standard Value Unit was described as being employed on most major settled worlds and as having a value equivalent to one hour of unskilled labor in standardized conditions. Its printed notes were verifiable by scanning with a device called a "fake meter", the function of which comprised a critical theme of the second book in the series, The Killing Machine. The protagonist undermines the system and prints 10 billion SVU undetectable by the fake meter, thus setting the stage for three books to follow.

The long-term value of currency is an issue in works featuring journeys through time or the lapse of very long periods (for instance due to the deep sleep or cryopreservation of the protagonists). In some cases, compound interest may swell small amounts into a fortune, as happens in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, When the Sleeper Wakes by H. G. Wells, and the Futurama episode "A Fishful of Dollars". In other stories, inflation reduces the value of money, as in The Age of the Pussyfoot by Frederik Pohl. Other plot factors can affect the worth of currency: for instance, in The Moon Metal by Garrett P. Serviss the world's currency standard must be switched from gold to a mysterious new chemical, "artemisium", after the discovery of vast mineral deposits in the Antarctic devalues all known precious metals.

While modern fiat currencies lack intrinsic worth, some fictional currencies are designed to be valuable in their own right. Intrinsically valuable currencies are used in the Frank Herbert's Dune universe; the Dragonlance world of Krynn where steel coins are the primary currency and are more valuable than gold by weight; and the Apprentice Adept series by Piers Anthony. The space opera Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks features coins convertible for chemical elements, land, or computers. In utopian fiction, a money-free economy may still need a unit of exchange: in The Great Explosion by Eric Frank Russell, the Gands use favor-exchange based on "obs" (obligations).

Trends in depictions
The use of "credits" is particularly common in futuristic settings, so much so that Sam Humphries has pointed it out as a cliché: "In any science-fiction movie, anywhere in the galaxy, currency is referred to as 'credits. Credits are frequently envisioned as a form of electronic money.

In science fiction set in the near future, modern currency names are often used. The selection of familiar currencies such as the dollar or yen, particularly in the far future, may be used to make suggestions about the way history unfolded; however, it would seem strange for aliens to use a recognizable currency.

title: Fictional currency


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User talk:Bummerbobsmoll

am not terribly computer savvy. lived in summit 1981-1985. knew glen, jim, bummer bob. if any of these folks still online let me know. is great to know u haven't sold out..montezuma still montezuma..one love

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

title: User talk:Bummerbobsmoll


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Category:Medicine

Medicine is a branch of health science concerned with maintaining human health and restoring it by treating disease and injury; it is both an area of knowledge, a science of body systems and diseases and their treatment, and the applied practice of that knowledge.

NOTE: Most of the articles pertaining to the actual work and practice of medicine are located in Category:Clinical medicine and its subcategories, such as and, along with Category:Diseases and disorders. Articles pertaining to non-conventional approaches are located in.

title: Category:Medicine


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Sleepwalker (comics)

Sleepwalker is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Bob Budiansky and Bret Blevins, he first appeared in Sleepwalker #1 (June 1991). The character is named after his race and is the star of a self-titled comic book which ran for 33 issues, from June 1991 to February 1994, with one Holiday Special. All but two of the issues were written by Budiansky, with Tom Brevoort and Mike Kanterovich writing the Holiday Special and one fill-in issue. Dan Slott also contributed a humorous side story in issue #25.

Creation
Bob Budiansky spoke on the creation of the character saying, "I originally conceived him as a lean, lanky bug-eyed alien, which is the way Bret Blevins initially drew him. But at the time he debuted, the look that was sweeping through many other Marvel comics and seemed very popular with fans was that of impossibly over-muscled characters like Cable. Sleepwalker editor Don Daley felt that Sleepwalker's physique should be adapted to that look since he felt that was what the fans of that time responded to, so he asked Bret and subsequent artists to pump up Sleepwalker and turn him into the steroid-inflated mass of muscles he would eventually become. It was not a look I was all that happy with, but Don was trying to do what he thought would help boost sales."

Publication history
Budiansky's concept dates back to the late 1970s; however, he originally called the character Alien until the Ridley Scott film of the same name was released, at which point he abandoned the idea of using the character.

The character finally saw release in reaction to the DC Comics character the Sandman, written by Neil Gaiman. A second Sleepwalker character was planned to receive a self-titled series by Robert Kirkman in 2004, but instead debuted in the 2004 Epic Anthology, which was cancelled after one issue. The original Sleepwalker's next appearance was in Marvel Team-Up vol. 3 #15, nearly a decade after his original cancellation.

At the end of 2018, as a tie-in to the Marvel Infinity Wars event, a four-issue Sleepwalker miniseries was released. The series is written by Chad Bowers and Chris Sims, with artwork by Todd Nauck.

In 2017, Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool addressed persistent rumors that Tom DeFalco (at the time, Marvel Comics' editor-in-chief) had described Sleepwalker as "Sandman done right". After researching the phrase, the most Johnston was able to find was "mention of a press release that described [Sleepwalker] as 'Sandman done the Marvel way;'" however, this was "only a reference, never an actual quoted piece". Johnston posited that the rumor's source may have been a parody of earlier Marvel editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.

Fictional character biography
The Mindscape is a dimension that borders on the minds of all intelligent beings and living things, inhabited by many strange creatures. Some of them are very dangerous, seeking to invade the sleeping minds of humans. The Sleepwalkers act as guardians to defend these minds and the Mindscape, almost as a sort of "dream police", apprehending such evil creatures. One such Sleepwalker was tricked by his archenemy Cobweb (who like Sleepwalker had a real name that is unpronounceable by humans) into entering the mind of a New York college student named Rick Sheridan and became trapped.

Rick himself is an ordinary human being, majoring in Film Studies as a college student. He lived in a Brooklyn apartment with his dog Rambo, where he worked as a building superintendent, doing maintenance work in exchange for living rent-free. He also earns a living as a part-time job teaching English to immigrants. Rick had an on-again off-again romance with a girl named Alyssa Conover.

Sleepwalker first emerged from Rick's mind to battle a gang of thieves. He battled dream-images of the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, X-Factor, and the X-Men. After a few confrontations in Rick's dreams, Rick reacts by tearing off Sleepwalker's Imaginator (a badge like device worn by Sleepwalkers used to teleport around the Mindscape, and to banish and imprison monsters they captured). This causes the two to become bonded. When Rick sleeps, Sleepwalker could materialize in reality or he could stay in Rick's mind and converse with him via his dreams. It was through a conversation in dreams that Sleepwalker is able to dispel Rick's initial fears that he was a malicious entity and work out agreeable terms to cohabitation.

Rick and Sleepwalker eventually worked out an understanding, allowing the alien to fight crime and various injustices. This was not easy, as Sleepwalker's appearance caused fear among regular people.

With Spider-Man, Sleepwalker battled Kingpin and Crimewave. With Darkhawk, Deathlok, Moon Knight, and the Squadron Supreme, he attempted to stop Eon's body from invading Earth's Universe; he also battled the Chain Gang. With Deathlok's help, he also rescued Alyssa Conover and a number of other innocent people from being experimented on by the mysterious Mr. FX. He fought Nightmare, and then battled Spectra. Alongside Mister Fantastic and the Thing, he battled the Thought Police. Alongside Darkhawk and Spider-Man, Sleepwalker saved Portal from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He also battled various supernatural menaces, including a demonic genie known as Mr. Jyn and the spirit of a traumatized young man that had gained superhuman powers and became obsessed with recreating the scene of his mother's murder

Sleepwalker is one of the few entities who remember the events of "The Infinity Gauntlet" storyline. Sleepwalker spent most of it fighting the villains called the Chain Gang and rescuing people from numerous natural disasters. However, the villain called Nebula turned back time, neutralizing what he had gone through. He considers his vague memories to be just a dream.

Sleepwalker played an important role in the Infinity War, helping to defeat the forces of the Magus, by channeling mental powers from Professor X, Jean Grey, Psylocke, and Moondragon through Rick Sheridan's mind. He also contributed to the battle against the evil clones of the superheroes, fighting the clones of Beast, Firestar, and Daredevil, saving the lives of a number of innocent New York civilians. Part of the fight against the evil doubles involved Sleepwalker impersonating his own evil clone.

In the "Infinity Crusade" storyline, Sleepwalker is brainwashed by the Goddess and taken to a planet on the other side of the sun. He keeps Rick asleep by drugging the orange juice in his refrigerator. During the battle between the Goddess's forces and the rest of Earth's heroes, Sleepwalker subdues Darkhawk and the Human Torch by dragging them into the water with his shape-changing powers.

Sleepwalker exchanged bodies with Rick Sheridan, and battled Cobweb, the Chain Gang, 8-Ball, and the Hobgoblin. Later in the series, Sleepwalker is revealed to supposedly be the lead scout for the dimension conquering Mindspawn race, an invasion force from the Mindscape intent on conquering Earth. However, in actuality, Cobweb had put in motion a complicated plot to invade the Earth and disrupt Rick's relationship with Sleepwalker. This involves disguising his minions as members of Sleepwalker's race and framing his archenemy as their leader. The plot is only partially successful; Sleepwalker and the Avengers thwart the initial attack, although Sleepwalker's reputation was ruined in the process. Many people still mistakenly believe that Sleepwalker's race planned to invade and conquer the Earth and that Sleepwalker himself was an advanced scout for the invasion force, betraying his own people to protect humanity.

During the confrontation, Sleepwalker pretended to destroy Rick's mind as a means of protecting him from Cobweb's minions. Unfortunately, the authorities retrieved the "mindrake" weapon Sleepwalker had used to store Rick's mind, preventing the alien from recovering it, also gathering up one of Cobweb's demons that was left behind after the Avengers drove them away. The demon and the mindrake were both taken to a federal prison and research facility where serial killer Jeremy Roscoe was also being held as part of a psychiatric experiment. Roscoe staged an escape from the prison hospital and became fused with the demon in the process, transforming into a nightmarish creature calling himself Psyko. The monster began spreading mass insanity across New York, until Sleepwalker managed to defeat him and retrieve the mindrake Psyko had taken with him.

Later, Sleepwalker thwarts Cobweb's second attack and banishes his archenemy once and for all, before seemingly dying to save Rick Sheridan's life. However, Sleepwalker would later turn up alive and still trapped in Rick's mind.

Sleepwalker eventually gains the ability to interact with the real world again. He is seen investigating the after-effects of an explosion caused by the villainous Ringmaster. He had attempted to become more involved in the situation but was foiled by Rick's sleeping schedule.

Sleepwalker is seen as having become a registered superhuman under the Initiative after Alyssa Conover's death in an auto accident. He then appears alongside Machine Man and Agent Sum as a member of Ms. Marvel's Operation: Lightning Storm (by default, his human host Rick Sheridan becomes an unofficial member as well).

During the Fantastic Four's confrontation with the Quiet Man, they recruited Sleepwalker's assistance to neutralize the threat posed by the heroes from Counter-Earth, reasoning that Sleepwalker was particularly suited to advise them on it, since Counter-Earth was basically Franklin Richards' dream. During his time on Counter-Earth, Sleepwalker noted that none of the human inhabitants there were real, as they did not have actual souls, allowing the FF to freely take them out, as they were not actually killing anyone.

Powers and abilities
Sleepwalker possesses superhuman strength, exceptional durability and resistance to injury, and flotation-like flight. He is also capable of the projection of crude images of what he's seen from his eyes. His only offensive power was his "warp gaze". With this vision-based power, Sleepwalker could alter the shape of physical objects and twist them to his purposes. He could also modify the physical characteristics of the objects he affected-making them harder or softer, for example. Sleepwalker initially demonstrated this power by using it to distort a sidewalk to capture a criminal. He also used this ability once on air molecules to create a wind tunnel for faster aerial travel. Owing to an oath sworn by all members of his race due to the great physical and mental pain it could cause, Sleepwalker tried not to use his warp beams on living entities.

The effects of the warp vision on living entities was demonstrated when Rick, trapped in Sleepwalker's body after an encounter with the Chain Gang, inadvertently used the beam on his former girlfriend Alyssa Conover, who was about to kill Sleepwalker in Rick's body. Sleepwalker's vision causes living bodies to twist and contort, causing intense physical agony in the process, although this effect is only temporary. The beam also has the side effect of breaking the mental control of any outside entity possessing the victim's mind, expelling the controller in the process. As a result, Rick unintentionally freed Alyssa from the domination of the Chain Gang, a tactic Sleepwalker himself would later adopt when freeing other people from the mental enslavement of Cobweb's minions, using his ability to detect mental enslavement to identify the humans who needed his help. In these cases, when he used his warp beams on their human victims, the humans suffered little to no mental trauma, only experiencing a mild shock that they quickly recovered from. Alyssa Conover, on the other hand, suffered both the physical pain of her contortion and a serious mental shock from the effects of Sleepwalker's warp beams, which according to Sleepwalker forced her to repeatedly experience her worst nightmares. It seems that the mindspawn demons, who had completely suppressed the wills of their human victims and had completely taken over their bodies, took the brunt of the blast. In Alyssa's case, on the other hand, the Chain Gang did not completely take over her body, but rather attempted to force her conscious mind to do their bidding, leaving her vulnerable to the full effects of the beam.

Sleepwalker's warp vision had different effects on demons and other extraplanar creatures not from Earth, often incapacitating and banishing them back to their native planes, as he did to dispatch Cobweb's minions back to the Mindscape and also to defeat Mr. Jyn. His ability to use his warp-beam diminishes as he uses it; the greater the intensity of its usage, the faster it is used up. His warp-beam power is replenished by rest.

As an alien resident of the Mindscape, Sleepwalker had exceptional visual abilities, being able to see over a much farther distance than an average human, as well as being able to see and follow energy trails, and see wavelength colors invisible to human eyes. Sleepwalker shares a mental link with the human Rick Sheridan that facilitates Sleepwalker's entry into Rick's mind. Instead of food, Sleepwalker fed on mental energy, needing to periodically return to Rick's mind to be able to regain his strength. When Rick appeared to be dead, Sleepwalker formed a temporary bond with a homeless man named Pike to borrow some of his mental energy, although he did this only with Pike's express permission. His training as a warrior of the Mindscape makes him skilled tracker and an expert in the combat use of his powers, and also gives him a certain amount of knowledge about various supernatural entities and the workings of the mind. Sleepwalker's presence could also strengthen the powers of psychic powers and mind-related magic, enhancing the mental abilities of Professor X, Moondragon, Jean Grey and Psylocke, enabling them to connect with the mind of every human on Earth to free the human race from mental enslavement by the Magus. Similarly, Sleepwalker's mere presence increased the power of Doctor Strange's mental spells and enabled him to imprison a mental demon released from a woman's mind by Nightmare. Continuing his supernatural 'expertise', Sleepwalker's nature also allows him to be aware of souls, allowing him to confirm that the natives of Counter-Earth did not have souls as they were nothing more than psychic manifestations created by Franklin Richards; he was also able to confirm that Jim Hammond had a soul despite his artificial origin.

Being a resident of the mental plane also gives Sleepwalker a resistance, but not an immunity, to various mental attacks. When battling the monster Psyko, a creature that had the power to instill madness in his opponents, Sleepwalker briefly suffered from insanity, although he managed to resist and overcome Psyko's madness to finally defeat him. At the same time, Sleepwalker was shown as able to absorb the energy of the attack and use it to increase his own strength and power, although he still suffered its effects.

Sleepwalker had several notable weaknesses. The first was his bond to Rick—whenever Rick awoke or regained consciousness, Sleepwalker would automatically disappear from the human world and return to Rick's mind. At the same time, Sleepwalker's strength was related to his connection with the ground and the Earth—the higher he levitated, the greater his loss of strength, although he gained his full strength when actually standing on the ground itself. Similarly, Sleepwalker would weaken if he did not return to the mental plane or Rick's mind to rest and renew his supply of mental energy, which happened both when Rick was killed during the Infinity Gauntlet and when Rick seemed to be dead (actually a ruse by Sleepwalker to protect him from Cobweb's minions). Prolonged stay on Earth can lead to death. Finally, upon being exposed to a certain frequency of light, Sleepwalker initially experienced hallucinations and other pleasurable effects that distracted him from his frustration and anger at being hated and rejected by humans, despite his attempts to help them. He became addicted to the light, using it to escape his problems in a way similar to drug abuse or alcoholism. Sleepwalker's obsession with the light had tragic consequences, including the creation of Spectra and putting Rick into a coma. Horrified at what he had done, Sleepwalker managed to overcome his addiction and saved Rick's mind from the invasion of the Thought Police.

Sleepwalker also used the Imaginator device, which was in the shape of an amulet. The Imaginator was capable of teleporting Sleepwalker and other targets into, out of, and to different locations within the Mindscape. Sleepwalker's Imaginator was at one point lost within the mind of Rick Sheridan.

During an Infinity Wars tie-in, Sleepwalker began to discover underlying truth about his peoples place in the universe and their worlds denizen's connection to the Infinity Stones. As the six gems of ultimate power form a circuit, being an entity begotten of the Mindscape; revealed to be an inner realm within the Mind Stone, enables Sleepwalker to tap into that crucible of virtual omnipotence without need of using said regalia and their adjacent manacle crucible directly. Meaning he can access unlimited supertropical capability thru Mind's hold over power, supplant inter-relative distances with or without his Imaginator using Space's confluence threshold via power, traverse the river of Time and its streams of myriad possible outcomes through its subservice to space, alter the very texture of localized to universal Reality using his understanding of time and finally deviate the physical, moral or characteristic quandaries of the Soul by his comprehending reality. Making the Sleepwalkers powers veer on the limitless scale.

Enemies
Sleepwalker possessed a colorful gallery of mostly original villains, with a new one introduced each issue during the title's beginnings. They include:

Sleepwalker's original villains faded into obscurity faster than Sleepwalker himself and haven't been seen since the end of the series, save for 8-Ball who appeared briefly in the 2005 She-Hulk series and the Daughters of the Dragon miniseries.
 * Jeff Hagees / 8-Ball: A criminal who based his costume and equipment on the game of pool.
 * Nelson Gruber / Bookworm: An angry, bitter social misfit who gained the ability to channel energy from the Mindscape into creations of whatever he read after an encounter with Sleepwalker, and used his abilities to get revenge on his tormentors.
 * The Chain Gang: Four convicted felons linked together in a chain gang who escaped during the upheavals caused by the Infinity Gauntlet, gaining superhuman powers in an accident, that lasted only as long as they stayed chained together. It consists of Master Link (Willis Hayworth), Missing Link (Ray Morgan), Uplink (Hector Fuentes), and Weak Link (Ernest Mills).
 * Mr. FX: A mysterious special effects designer who was known for his stunningly lifelike displays, which he actually achieved by kidnapping people and imprisoning them within specially designed costumes.
 * Nightmare: Usually a Doctor Strange villain, Sleepwalker faced off against the living embodiment of bad dreams. He promised the reward of sending Sleepwalker back to his home realm, but he fought back when he threatened Rick Sheridan.
 * Selena Slate / Spectra: The assistant of a scientist who was studying the properties of a strange form of diamond, and planned to steal it and split the proceeds with her junkie boyfriend, until Sleepwalker's obsession with the light produced by the diamond led her to be imbued with its energies, allowing her to emit a rainbow of colored lights with many different powers.
 * Mr. Jyn: A demonic genie that tricked humans into letting him manifest on Earth by pretending to serve them, even as he manipulated them into letting him cause more and more mayhem until he would be released.
 * Edward "Eddie" Cicala: A young boy traumatized by his father murdering his mother, who became catatonic before his mind made contact with a malign energy force from the Mindscape, which allowed him to possess innocent people and make them kill each other in a re-creation of his mother's death.
 * Cobweb: Sleepwalker's nemesis, a demon of the Mindscape that could cause madness in his human victims, responsible for trapping Sleepwalker in Rick Sheridan's mind as part of a plot to invade Earth without being thwarted by his enemy.
 * Felicity Hopkins / Lullaby: A teenage mutant who discovered she had the ability to sing people to sleep and put them into zombie-like trances, where they would obey her every command.
 * Carl Wilkinson / Crimewave: A crime boss who plotted to embarrass the Kingpin and replace him as the top crime lord on the East Coast by capturing Spider-Man.
 * The Thought Police: A special team of government agents assembled to capture Sleepwalker, led by the obsessed Agent Tolliver Smith.
 * Jeremy Roscoe / Psyko: A human serial killer who became fused with a monster from the Mindscape and transformed into a hideous creature with warping powers similar to Sleepwalker's and the additional power to cause insanity in his opponents and victims.

Sleepwalker also battled the Hobgoblin and teamed up with Darkhawk and Spider-Man to battle the Brotherhood of Mutants to rescue the mutant Portal.

Marvel Team-Up: League of Losers
Sleepwalker features in an arc of Robert Kirkman's Marvel Team-Up vol. 3, featuring a group of C-list heroes dubbed "The League of Losers". A group of heroes including Sleepwalker, Darkhawk, Dagger, Araña, X-23, Gravity, and Terror go to the future to prevent the villain Chronok from stealing Reed Richards' time machine, (Chronok comes to the present after killing all of Marvel's major heroes). Although Araña dies along the way, the rest of the team succeeds.

It is revealed Chronok is from the same time period as Kirkman's Mutant 2099; the group stays with him and his mentor Reed Richards to wait for Chronok. During this time, Sleepwalker experiences difficulties with being away from his host Rick Sheridan, but ultimately comes to terms with it. The team defeats Chronok, but at the end of the story, Richards reveals they can't go back to their present, due to time travel and alternate timelines. The group decides to stay in the future, satisfied with the impact they made, however unnoticed. Mutant 2099 suggests reforming the Avengers or the "Fantastic Nine".

Note that due to the Marvel Universe's method for resolving time travel paradoxes, this story occurred in an alternate universe.

Marvel Zombies: Dead Days
Sleepwalker is shown among the surviving heroes in the Dead Days prequel to Marvel Zombies, during the meeting on the Helicarrier. This is the last time he is seen however, and Rick's sleeping body is killed.

Ultimate Sleepwalker
Ultimate Sleepwalker was seen in Ultimate X-Men #89 (February 2008); there, he is shown to be not one man, but a group of creatures that police the "mindscape" on which Amahl Farouk grew to become the Shadow King.

The Wozuans
"The Anatomy of a Nightmare" in Tales of Suspense #22 (Oct. 1961) by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko features an alien race bearing a strong resemblance to the Sleepwalkers. The story was reprinted in Monsters on the Prowl #18 (Aug. 1972). The main character was hidden in shadows and takes pills to give him nightmares; his appearance is revealed to be the same as the aliens he visits, the Wozuans. He is finally revealed to be a green-skinned alien complaining that the pills failed to show him anything other than his own world.

Other appearances

 * He was seen briefly in a six issue Spider-Man miniseries, Revenge of the Sinister Six.
 * Sleepwalker also appears in the preview image for Avengers: The Initiative #1.
 * Sleepwalker appeared in Secret Defenders #4, #5, fighting Roadkill
 * As part of the Infinity Wars, Sleepwalker had a cameo in Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme #46
 * As well as appearing in the main Infinity Crusade series, Sleepwalker had a cameo in The Mighty Thor #464
 * Two creatures slightly resembling Sleepwalker appear in Ultimate X-Men #89. It is revealed they are "policing" the mindscape reality Amahl Farouk (the Shadow King) finds himself trapped in with an iron hand, causing more trouble than actually protecting it.
 * Sleepwalker can also be seen on the cover of the Irredeemable Ant-Man #12. This final issue of the canceled series, shows other characters doomed to obscurity.
 * Sleepwalker teams up with the Superior Spider-Man in Avenging Spider-Man #19.
 * Sleepwalker can also be seen on the cover of the Irredeemable Ant-Man #12. This final issue of the canceled series, shows other characters doomed to obscurity.
 * Sleepwalker teams up with the Superior Spider-Man in Avenging Spider-Man #19.
 * Sleepwalker teams up with the Superior Spider-Man in Avenging Spider-Man #19.

title: Sleepwalker (comics)


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Mount Baw Baw

Mount Baw Baw is a mountain summit on the Baw-Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range, located in Victoria, Australia. The name is from the Woiwurrung language spoken by Eastern Kulin people. It is of uncertain meaning, but possibly signifies, echo, or ghost.

The Mount Baw Baw Alpine Resort is an unincorporated area, that includes the Mt Baw Baw summit, which is under the direct administration of the government of Victoria, and is surrounded by the Baw Baw National Park, in the Shire of Baw Baw.

Location
Mount Baw Baw is about 120 km east of Melbourne and 50 km north of the Latrobe Valley. Mount Baw Baw itself is one of a number of peaks on the Baw Baw Plateau, a long plateau tending about 20 km north-east and is about 10 km wide. Other peaks on the plateau include Mount Mueller, Mount Whitelaw, Talbot Peak, Mount St Phillack, Mount Tyers, Mount Kernot and Mount St Gwinear. The plateau itself is isolated from most of Victoria's high country by the deep valleys of the Thomson and Aberfeldy rivers and tributaries of the La Trobe River, including the Tanjil and Tyers rivers to the south.

Geology and biology
The Baw Baw massif consists of a late Devonian granodiorite pluton. There is relatively little relief on the plateau itself, the highest point reaching 1567 m. The lower slopes of the plateau are covered in montane eucalypt forest and tall forest, and creek valleys have cool temperate rainforest of myrtle beech, Nothofagus cunninghamii. Above 1200 m snow gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora) woodland occurs. There is no altitudinal treeline limit; subalpine grasslands and shrublands occur in flat valley bottoms on the plateau as a result of cold-air drainage. Much of this subalpine zone is included in the 133 km2 Baw Baw National Park. The Baw Baw Village ski resort is technically outside the national park.

The climate of the plateau itself is subalpine, with an average annual precipitation of 1900 mm. Snow covers the plateau from June to September.

It is thought that Baron Ferdinand von Mueller made the first recorded European ascent of Baw Baw in 1860, naming Christmas Creek on one of his major collecting expeditions. It was on this trip that he collected the Baw Baw Berry, Wittsteinia vacciniacea. There are two routes up the mountain; one via Noojee and Icy Creek which is very winding, and the unsealed South Face Road via Erica.

Mount Baw Baw is home to the critically endangered Baw Baw Frog.

Climate
Mount Baw Baw has a subpolar oceanic climate (Cfc). The mountain summit receives more annual precipitation than most places in mainland Australia, with frequent and heavy snow between May and October but can occur at any time of the year (as well as a persistent snowpack). Frequent, heavy cloud cover and strong winds mean that minimum temperatures rarely drop below -5 °C, whereas maximum temperatures are frequently at or below 0 °C; the mountain is often shrouded in low cloud or mist in winter, thereby reducing diurnal range. The mean afternoon humidity of 80%, is extreme (especially for a mainland Australian region).

Summers are cool with temperatures rarely rising above 25 °C; summers can also be very cold, with a maximum temperature of just -0.4 °C recorded on 25 December 2006, and 1.0 °C on both 11 Jan 2012 and 16 Feb 1998. During the 2009 Victorian heatwave most of the state saw highs of above 45 °C, while the temperature on Mount Baw Baw's summit reached a comparatively cool maximum of just 31.3 °C.

Ski resort
The summit is located within the boundaries of the Mount Baw Baw Alpine Resort, an unincorporated area of Victoria. There are about 30 hectare of mainly beginner-intermediate ski runs. Seven lifts service a variety of runs, with the highest going almost to the top of Mount Baw Baw with a 91 m rise. The resort village is at the bottom of the lifts, offering ski in-ski out access. In addition to the downhill runs there are a number of cross country trails offering access to other parts of the Baw Baw plateau. Like most lower-lying Australian ski resorts, snow cover varies greatly from year to year, but is regularly available for the local ski season from about July to the end of September.

The alpine resort village has modern facilities and caters for both day-trippers and long-term visitors, with accommodation, ski hire, food outlets, medical and information centres all within walking distance of the car parks.

Walking
During the summer months, Mt Baw Baw is popular for hiking and bushwalking given its location in the Baw Baw National Park. The alpine grasses are blanketed with wildflowers and walks at a higher elevation pass through snow gum forest.

Popular walks include the Great Walhalla Alpine Trail, which starts at the gold mining town of Walhalla and finishes at the Mt Baw Baw Alpine Resort. The hike is the first 40 km of the Australian Alps Walking Track. The Mt Baw Baw Summit Walk arrives at the highest peak of the Baw Baw plateau, elevation 1564m. Situated at the summit is the historic cairn used as a survey reference in 1903.

Cycling
The access road to the resort, the Mount Baw Baw Tourist Road, features one of the toughest climbs accessible by road bicycles in Australia. The final climb of 6.2 km rises 718 m at an average grade of 11.5%, maxing out at 20.3%. The climb is not as long as, but considerably steeper than, any of the hors catégorie climbs featured in the Tour de France. The Mount Baw Baw Classic, which began in 2001, is an annual cycling race held by the Warragul Cycling Club, and ends at the Mount Baw Baw village.

Downhill mountain biking
There is a purpose-built downhill track located on the south western side of the mountain, facing towards the sea. The course has hosted the Victorian Downhill Championships as well as a number of state rounds. The track is around $3 1/2$ min in duration, comprising a good mix of cambered dirt, rocks, fire road and technical sections. A shuttle service is provided from the base of the track along the Mount Baw Baw Tourist Road back to the Baw Baw Village, so that the venue is very mountain bike friendly.

title: Mount Baw Baw


text: Category:1979 albums

title: Category:1979 albums


text: Category:Soundgarden albums

title: Category:Soundgarden albums


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Category:Comedy films

Comedy is a film genre in which humorous content makes up much of the film.

title: Category:Comedy films


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Talk:Joseph Conrad

Date of birth
Considering the contested nature of the place where Conrad was born, it isn't obvious whether his birth date was recording in the Gregorian or Julian calendar. If it was recorded in the Julian calendar, it isn't clear whether some of the sources we might use have translated it from Julian to Gregorian. If someone can find out, an appropriate footnote should be added to indicate which it is.

If it turns out to be Julian the Birth date and Death date and age templates should be removed because they emit false metadata for Julian dates.
 * Conrad's birth and death dates, as stated in "Joseph Conrad", are the same as those given in Zdzisław Najder, Joseph Conrad: A Life, translated by Halina Najder, Rochester, New York, Camden House, 2007, pp. XXI–XXII, which is sufficiently authoritative.
 * Nihil novi (talk) 08:53, 28 February 2024 (UTC)
 * That doesn't answer the question. Does Najdler say whether 3 December 1857 is a Julian calendar date or a Gregorian calendar date? Jc3s5h (talk) 16:52, 28 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Footnote, p. 12:
 * "Bobrowski's 'Document' gives the date and place of birth as 21 November (Old Style) 1857, at Berdyczów, at which place the child was christened with water... Conrad himself gave the date as 3 December; both that date and the fact of the previously performed private baptism are confirmed by an extract from the Żytomierz parish register, preserved in the Jagiellonian Library, Cracow... The formal christening was registered at Żytomierz in 1862; paradoxically, Conrad was not present at the ceremony!... 'A Song for the Day of Christening,' a poem written by Apollo for his son, bears the date 13 November (obviously Old Style) 1857, Berdyczów..."
 * I wonder whether the "21 November" quoted above ("Bobrowski's 'Document'") is an error and should actually have been "11 November".
 * Nihil novi (talk) 04:03, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
 * 21 November to 3 December is 12 days. At the time, this was the number of days the Gregorian calendar was ahead of the Gregorian calendar, so 21 November 1857 Julian calendar was the same day as 3 December 1857 Gregorian calendar. Jc3s5h (talk) 15:19, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
 * Just a note that we have to go by what reliable sources say. Discrepancies can be noted in the text or a footnote. Trying to interpret what his birth date "really" was is OR. - Donald Albury 17:37, 29 February 2024 (UTC)

Jessie's cookbook
Jessie Conrad wrote A Handbook of Cookery for a Small House, published in 1923 (see [Https://www.gutenberg.org/files/67482/67482-h/67482-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/67482/67482-h/67482-h.htm], for which JC wrote a rather touching preface. I think that's worth a mention in the Personal Life section. Thoughts? Plutonium27 (talk) 14:46, 3 May 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Joseph Conrad


text:
Category:Andrology

Articles relating to andrology, the medical specialty that deals with male health, particularly relating to the problems of the male reproductive system and urological problems that are unique to men.

title: Category:Andrology


text: Category:Smashing Pumpkins albums

title: Category:Smashing Pumpkins albums


text: Category:United States

title: Category:United States


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Category:Numismatics

Numismatics is the study or collection of money, coins, medals, tokens, exonumia and banknotes.

title: Category:Numismatics


text: Category:Cardiology

title: Category:Cardiology


text:
Talk:Johnsoe

From VfD:

Johnsoe
Sub-stub-stub, hardly worthy of its own article, not even really worthy of incorporation into Johnson. RickK 23:47, 22 May 2004 (UTC)

Redirected to Johnson Guanaco 00:58, 23 May 2004 (UTC)

end moved discussion

title: Talk:Johnsoe


text: Category:1998 albums

title: Category:1998 albums


text: Category:2002 albums

title: Category:2002 albums


text:
Fractional coloring

Fractional coloring is a topic in a young branch of graph theory known as fractional graph theory. It is a generalization of ordinary graph coloring. In a traditional graph coloring, each vertex in a graph is assigned some color, and adjacent vertices — those connected by edges — must be assigned different colors. In a fractional coloring however, a set of colors is assigned to each vertex of a graph. The requirement about adjacent vertices still holds, so if two vertices are joined by an edge, they must have no colors in common.

Fractional graph coloring can be viewed as the linear programming relaxation of traditional graph coloring. Indeed, fractional coloring problems are much more amenable to a linear programming approach than traditional coloring problems.

Definitions

A b-fold coloring of a graph G is an assignment of sets of size b to vertices of a graph such that adjacent vertices receive disjoint sets. An a:b-coloring is a b-fold coloring out of a available colors. Equivalently, it can be defined as a homomorphism to the Kneser graph $KG_{a,b}$. The b-fold chromatic number $$\chi_b(G)$$ is the least a such that an a:b-coloring exists.

The fractional chromatic number $$\chi_f(G)$$ is defined to be:

 * $$\chi_{f}(G) = \lim_{b \to \infty}\frac{\chi_{b}(G)}{b} = \inf_{b}\frac{\chi_{b}(G)}{b}$$

Note that the limit exists because $$\chi_b(G)$$ is subadditive, meaning:$$\chi_{a+b}(G) \le \chi_a(G) + \chi_b(G).$$

The fractional chromatic number can equivalently be defined in probabilistic terms. $$\chi_f(G)$$ is the smallest k for which there exists a probability distribution over the independent sets of G such that for each vertex v, given an independent set S drawn from the distribution:

 * $$\Pr(v\in S) \geq \frac{1}{k}.$$

Properties
We have:

 * $$\chi_f(G)\ge \frac{n(G)}{\alpha(G)},$$

with equality for vertex-transitive graphs, where n(G) is the order of G, α(G) is the independence number.

Moreover:
 * $$\omega(G) \le \chi_f(G) \le \chi(G),$$

where ω(G) is the clique number, and $$\chi(G)$$ is the chromatic number.

Furthermore, the fractional chromatic number approximates the chromatic number within a logarithmic factor, in fact:

 * $$\frac{\chi(G)}{1+\ln \alpha(G)} \le \chi_f(G) \le \frac{\chi_b(G)}{b} \le \chi(G).$$

Kneser graphs give examples where: $$\chi(G) /\chi_f(G)$$ is arbitrarily large, since: $$\chi(KG_{m,n}) =m-2n+2,$$ while $$\chi_f(KG_{m,n}) = \tfrac{m}{n}.$$

Linear programming (LP) formulation
The fractional chromatic number $$\chi_f(G)$$ of a graph G can be obtained as a solution to a linear program. Let $$\mathcal{I}(G)$$ be the set of all independent sets of G, and let $$\mathcal{I}(G,x)$$ be the set of all those independent sets which include vertex x. For each independent set I, define a nonnegative real variable xI. Then $$\chi_f(G)$$ is the minimum value of:

 * $$\sum_{I\in\mathcal{I}(G)} x_I,$$

subject to:
 * $$\sum_{I\in\mathcal{I}(G,x)} x_I \ge 1$$

for each vertex $$x$$.

The dual of this linear program computes the "fractional clique number", a relaxation to the rationals of the integer concept of clique number. That is, a weighting of the vertices of G such that the total weight assigned to any independent set is at most 1. The strong duality theorem of linear programming guarantees that the optimal solutions to both linear programs have the same value. Note however that each linear program may have size that is exponential in the number of vertices of G, and that computing the fractional chromatic number of a graph is NP-hard. This stands in contrast to the problem of fractionally coloring the edges of a graph, which can be solved in polynomial time. This is a straightforward consequence of Edmonds' matching polytope theorem.

Applications
Applications of fractional graph coloring include activity scheduling. In this case, the graph G is a conflict graph: an edge in G between the nodes u and v denotes that u and v cannot be active simultaneously. Put otherwise, the set of nodes that are active simultaneously must be an independent set in graph G.

An optimal fractional graph coloring in G then provides a shortest possible schedule, such that each node is active for (at least) 1 time unit in total, and at any point in time the set of active nodes is an independent set. If we have a solution x to the above linear program, we simply traverse all independent sets I in an arbitrary order. For each I, we let the nodes in I be active for $$x_I$$ time units; meanwhile, each node not in I is inactive.

In more concrete terms, each node of G might represent a radio transmission in a wireless communication network; the edges of G represent interference between radio transmissions. Each radio transmission needs to be active for 1 time unit in total; an optimal fractional graph coloring provides a minimum-length schedule (or, equivalently, a maximum-bandwidth schedule) that is conflict-free.

Comparison with traditional graph coloring
If one further required that each node must be active continuously for 1 time unit (without switching it off and on every now and then), then traditional graph vertex coloring would provide an optimal schedule: first the nodes of color 1 are active for 1 time unit, then the nodes of color 2 are active for 1 time unit, and so on. Again, at any point in time, the set of active nodes is an independent set.

In general, fractional graph coloring provides a shorter schedule than non-fractional graph coloring; there is an integrality gap. It may be possible to find a shorter schedule, at the cost of switching devices (such as radio transmitters) on and off more than once.

title: Fractional coloring


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Catherine Gore

Catherine Grace Frances Gore (née Moody; 12 February 1798 – 29 January 1861), was a prolific English novelist and dramatist. The daughter of a wine merchant from Retford, Nottinghamshire, she became among the best known of the silver fork writers, who depicted gentility and etiquette in the high society of the Regency period.

Early life and marriage
Gore was born in 1798 in London, the youngest child of Mary (née Brinley) and Charles Moody, a wine merchant. Her father died soon afterwards, and her mother remarried in 1801, to the London physician Charles D. Nevinson. She is therefore referred to sometimes as "Miss Nevinson" by contemporary reviewers and in scholarly writings. Gore herself was interested in writing from an early age, gaining the nickname "the Poetess".

She married Lieutenant Charles Arthur Gore of the 1st Regiment of Life Guards on 15 February 1823 at St George's, Hanover Square; Gore retired later that year. They later moved to France. They had ten children, eight of whom died young. Their one surviving son, Captain Augustus Frederick Wentworth Gore, married Hon. Emily Anne Curzon, daughter of MP Robert Curzon and granddaughter of Viscount Curzon, in 1861, and was the father of tennis champion Arthur Wentworth Gore. Their eldest child and sole surviving daughter, Cecilia Anne Mary, married Lord Edward Thynne in 1853.

Literary career
Gore's first novel, Theresa Marchmont, or The Maid of Honour, was published in 1824. Her first major success was Pin Money, published in 1831, but her most popular and well-known novel was to be Cecil, or Adventures of a Coxcomb, published in 1841. Gore also met with success as a playwright, writing eleven plays that made their way onto the London stage, although her plays never quite matched the fame of her witty novels. Amongst her plays are The School for Coquettes (1831) and Quid Pro Quo (1844).

The Gores resided mainly in Continental Europe, where Catherine supported her family by her voluminous writings. Between 1824 and 1862 she produced about 70 works, the most successful of which were novels of fashionable English life, such as Manners of the Day (1830), Cecil, or the Adventures of a Coxcomb and The Banker's Wife (1843). She wrote articles in Bentley's Miscellany under the pseudonym "Albany Poyntz". She also wrote for the stage, and composed music.

Gore's 1861 obituary in The Times concluded that Gore was "the best novel writer of her class and the wittiest woman of her age."

Novels
• The Broken Hearts (1823)

• Theresa Marchmont, or the Maid of Honour (1824)

• The Bond: A Dramatic Poem (1824)

• Richelieu, or the Broken Heart (1826)

• The Lettre de Cachet: A Tale (1827)

• The Reign of Terror: A Tale (1827)

• Hungarian Tales (1829)

• Romances of Real Life (1829, revised 1835)

• Women as They Are (1830)

• The Historical Traveller (1831)

• The School for Coquettes (1831)

• Pin Money: A Novel (1831)

• The Tuileries (1831)

• Mothers and Daughters: A Tale of the Year 1830 (1831)

• The Opera: A Novel (1832)

• The Fair of Mayfair (1832)

• The Sketchbook of Fashion (1833)

• Polish Tales (1833)

• The Hamiltons, or the New Era (1834)

• The Maid of Crossey, King O'neil, and The Queen's Champion (1835)

• The Diary of a Désennuyée (1836)

• Mrs. Armytage, or Female Domination (1836)

• Stokeshill Place, or The Man of Business (1837)

• The Rose Fancier's Manual (1838)

• Mary Raymond and Other Tales (1838)

• The Woman of the World (1838)

• The Cabinet Minister (1839)

• The Courtier of the Days of Charles II, with other Tales (1839)

• A Good Night's Rest (1839)

• Dacre of the South, or the Olden Time: A Drama (1840)

• The Dowager, or the New School for Scandal (1840)

• Preferment, or My Uncle the Earl (1840)

• The Abbey and Other Tales (1840)

• Greville, or a Season in Paris (1841)

• Cecil, or Adventures of a Coxcomb (1841)

• Cecil, A Peer (1841), a sequel

• Paris in 1841 (1842)

• The Man of Fortune and Other Tales (1842)

• The Ambassador's Wife (1842)

• The Moneylender (1843)

• * Der Geldverleiher : ein viktorianischer Roman, übersetzt von Theodor Fontane ; ediert und mit einer Einleitung versehen von Iwan-Michelangelo D'Aprile, Berlin : Die Andere Bibliothek, September 2021, ISBN 978-3-8477-0441-6

• * Der Geldverleiher, Deutsch von Ludwig Hauff, Stuttgart : Franckh, 1846

• Modern Chivalry, or a New Orlando Furioso (1843)

• The Banker's Wife, or Court and City (1843)

• Agathonia: A Romance (1844)

• Marrying for Money (in Omnibus of Modern Romance (1844)

• The Birthright and Other Tales (1844)

• Quid per Quo, or the Day of The Dupes, a Comedy (1844)

• The Popular Member: The Wheel of Fortune (1844)

• Self (1845)

• The Story of a Royal Favourite (1845)

• The Snowstorm: A Christmas Story (1845)

• Peers and Parvenus: A Novel (1846)

• New Year's Day: A Winter's Tale (1846)

• Men of Capital (1846)

• The Debutante, or The London Season (1846)

• Sketches of English Character (1846)

• Castles in The Air: A Novel (1847)

• Temptation and Atonement and Other Tales (1847)

• The Inundation, or Pardon and Peace: A Christmas Story (1847)

• The Diamond and the Pearl: A Novel (1849)

• Adventures in Borneo (1849)

• The Dean's Daughter, or The Days We Live In (1853)

• The Lost Son: A Winter's Tale (1854)

• Transmutation, or The Lord and the Lost (1854)

• Progress and Prejudice (1854)

• Mammon, or The Hardships of an Heiress (1855)

• A Life's Lessons: A Novel (1856)

• The Two Aristocracies: A Novel (1857)

• Heckington: A Novel (1858)

title: Catherine Gore


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Almond milk

Almond milk is a plant-based milk substitute with a watery texture and nutty flavor manufactured from almonds, although some types or brands are flavored in imitation of cow's milk. It does not contain cholesterol or lactose and is low in saturated fat. Almond milk is often consumed by those who are lactose-intolerant and others, such as vegans, who avoid dairy products. Commercial almond milk comes in sweetened, unsweetened, vanilla and chocolate flavors, and is usually fortified with micronutrients. It can also be made at home using a blender, almonds and water.

Global almond milk sales in 2018 were US$5.8 billion, growing at 14% per year, and forecast to be a $13 billion global market by 2025.

History
Almond milk was used as a substitute for animal milk in the Middle Ages in areas that followed Catholic fasting doctrines. Historian Carolyn Walker Bynum notes that: ... Medieval cookbooks suggest that the aristocracy observed fasting strictly, if legalistically. Meat-day and fish-day recipes were not separated in medieval recipe collections, as they were in later, better-organized cookbooks. But the most basic dishes were given in fast-day as well as ordinary-day versions. For example, a thin split-pea puree, sometimes enriched with fish stock or almond milk (produced by simmering ground almonds in water), replaced meat broth on fast days; and almond milk was a general (and expensive) substitute for cow's milk. Almond milk's popularity as a dairy substitute continued throughout history, going well into modern times. It is even mentioned under the secondary definition of "milk" in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary in 1755, alongside pistachio milk.

Commerce
In the United States, almond milk remained a niche health food item until the early 2000s, when its popularity began to increase. In 2011 alone, almond milk sales increased by 79%. In 2013, it surpassed soy milk as the most popular plant-based milk in the US. As of 2014 it comprised 60 percent of plant-milk sales and 4.1 percent of total milk sales in the US.

Manufacturers and distributors of animal milk have advocated that plant-based milk not be labelled as "milk". They complain that consumers may be confused between the two, and that plant-based milks are not necessarily as nutritious in terms of vitamins and minerals. In the United States, as of 2021, though the USDA is investigating and various state legislatures are considering regulation, various courts have determined that reasonable consumers are not confused, and the FDA has enacted no regulations against plant-based milk labels. European Union regulations require "milk" to be used for animals only, except coconut milk. (See .)

Within the Italian regions of Sicily, Apulia, Calabria, and Campania, almond milk is a protected traditional agricultural product.

Brands include Almond Breeze, Elmhurst 1925, Mooala, Silk and Kirkland Signature.

Nutrition
If unfortified, almond milk has less vitamin D than fortified cows' milk; in North America, cows' milk must be fortified with vitamin D, but vitamins are added to plant milks on a voluntary basis. Vitamin E is released from the almonds and absorbed. The positive effects of the vitamin E includes strengthening the cells. Because of its low protein content, almond milk is not a suitable replacement for breast milk, cows' milk, or hydrolyzed formulas for children under two years of age.

Production
The general production method involves soaking and grinding almonds in an excess of water. A milky white liquid is obtained after filtering the almond pulp (flesh). Almond milk can also be made by adding water to almond butter. In commercial production, almond milk is homogenised with high pressure and pasteurised for greater stability and shelf life.

Almond milk can be stored in the fridge in an air-tight container (preferably a glass container) for about 4-5 days. However, certain factors, such as the temperature of the refrigerator, sterilization of the blender or storing jar, and surface cleanliness, can decide how many days you can keep it fresh. Storing homemade almond milk for more than a week may reduce its nutrition or even make it unhealthy.

In July 2015, a class action lawsuit was filed in New York City against two American manufacturers, Blue Diamond Growers and White Wave Foods, for false advertising regarding the small quantity of almonds (only 2%) contained in the final product. In October 2015, a judge denied the plaintiff's request for an injunction.

Sustainability
Almond production in California is concentrated mainly in the Central Valley, where the mild climate, rich soil, and abundant sunshine and water supply make for ideal growing conditions. Due to the persistent droughts in California in the early 21st century, it became more difficult to raise almonds in a sustainable manner.

Almond sustainability is challenged because of the high amount of water needed to grow almonds: a single glass of almond milk requires roughly 74 litre of water to produce. Among plant-based milks, almond milk requires substantially more water during the growing and production stages than soy, rice or oat milk (graph). Dairy milk requires more water to produce than almond milk (graph). In 2014, California produced 42.3 billion pounds of cow's milk and only 2.14 billion pounds of almond milk.

Sustainability strategies implemented by the Almond Board of California and almond farmers include:
 * tree and soil health, and other farming practices
 * minimizing dust production during the harvest
 * bee health
 * irrigation guidelines for farmers
 * food safety
 * use of waste biomass as coproducts with a goal to achieve zero waste
 * use of solar energy during processing
 * job development
 * support of scientific research to investigate the potential health benefits of consuming almonds
 * international education about sustainability practices

title: Almond milk


text:
User:Louisisthebest 007

Louis contact Details
Only Screenname: Louisisthebest_007

AIM: louisisthebest07

E-Mail: louisisthebest_007@yahoo.co.uk

Website: LITB Website

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Cool sites and W.P. User Referals

 * Contaru
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First Template Evar!
W00t, I created my first template on wikipedia!! The new reqimage message will be great to use when requesting articles to have images ^_^...hope it doesn't get deleted by jelous wikipedians ^_^;

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title: User:Louisisthebest 007


text:
The Vanguard Group

The Vanguard Group, Inc. (commonly known as simply Vanguard) is an American registered investment advisor based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, with about $7.7 trillion in global assets under management, as of April 2023. It is the largest provider of mutual funds and the second-largest provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the world after BlackRock's iShares. In addition to mutual funds and ETFs, Vanguard offers brokerage services, educational account services, financial planning, asset management, and trust services. Several mutual funds managed by Vanguard are ranked at the top of the list of US mutual funds by assets under management. Along with BlackRock and State Street, Vanguard is considered to be one of the Big Three index fund managers that play a dominant role in corporate America.

Founder and former chairman John C. Bogle is credited with the creation of the first index fund available to individual investors and was a proponent and major enabler of low-cost investing by individuals, though Rex Sinquefield has also been credited with the first index fund open to the public a few years before Bogle.

Vanguard is owned by the funds managed by the company and is therefore owned by its customers. Vanguard offers two classes of most of its funds: investor shares and admiral shares. Admiral shares have slightly lower expense ratios but require a higher minimum investment, often between $3,000 and $100,000 per fund. Vanguard's corporate headquarters is in Malvern, a suburb of Philadelphia. It has satellite offices in Charlotte, North Carolina, Dallas, Texas, Washington D.C., and Scottsdale, Arizona, as well as Canada, Australia, Asia, and Europe.

Formation

In 1951, for his undergraduate thesis at Princeton University, John C. Bogle conducted a study in which he found that most mutual funds did not earn more money compared to broad stock market indexes. Even if the stocks in the funds beat the benchmark index, management fees reduced the returns to investors below the returns of the benchmark.

Immediately after graduating from Princeton University in 1951, Bogle was hired by Wellington Management Company. In 1966, he forged a merger with a fund management group based in Boston. He became president in 1967 and CEO in 1970. However, the merger ended badly and Bogle was therefore fired in 1974. Bogle has said about being fired: "The great thing about that mistake, which was shameful and inexcusable and a reflection of immaturity and confidence beyond what the facts justified, was that I learned a lot. And if I had not been fired then, there would not have been a Vanguard."

Bogle arranged to start a new fund division at Wellington. He named it Vanguard, after Horatio Nelson's flagship at the Battle of the Nile, HMS Vanguard (1787). Bogle chose this name after a dealer in antique prints left him a book about Great Britain's naval achievements that featured HMS Vanguard. Wellington executives initially resisted the name, but narrowly approved it after Bogle mentioned that Vanguard funds would be listed alphabetically next to Wellington Funds.

Growth of company
The Wellington executives prohibited the fund from engaging in advisory or fund management services. Bogle saw this as an opportunity to start a passive fund tied to the performance of the S&P 500, which was established in 1957. Bogle was also inspired by Paul Samuelson, an economist who later won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, who wrote in an August 1976 column in Newsweek that retail investors needed an opportunity to invest in stock market indexes such as the S&P 500.

In 1976, after getting approval from the board of directors of Wellington, Bogle established the First Index Investment Trust (now called the Vanguard 500 Index Fund). This was one of the earliest passive investing index funds, preceded a few years earlier by a handful of others (e.g., Jeremy Grantham's Batterymarch Financial Management in Boston, and index funds managed by Rex Sinquefield at American National Bank in Chicago, and John "Mac" McQuown at Wells Fargo's San Francisco office).

Bogle's S&P 500 index raised $11 million in its initial public offering, compared to expectations of raising $150 million. The banks that managed the public offering suggested that Bogle cancel the fund due to the weak reception, but Bogle refused. At this time, Vanguard had only three employees: Bogle and two analysts. Asset growth in the first years was slow, partially because the fund did not pay commissions to brokers who sold it, which was unusual at the time. Within a year, the fund had only grown to $17 million in assets, but one of the Wellington Funds that Vanguard was administering had to be merged in with another fund, and Bogle convinced Wellington to merge it in with the Index fund. This brought assets up to almost $100 million.

Growth in assets accelerated after the beginning of a bull market in 1982, and the indexing model became more popular at other companies. These copy funds were not successful since they typically charged higher fees, which defeated the purpose of index funds. In November 1984, Vanguard launched the Vanguard Primecap fund in collaboration with Primecap. In December 1986, Vanguard launched its second mutual fund, a bond index fund called the Total Bond Fund, which was the first bond index fund ever offered to individual investors. One earlier criticism of the first Index fund was that it was only an index of the S&P 500. In December 1987, Vanguard launched its third fund, the Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund, an index fund of the entire stock market, excluding the S&P 500. Over the next five years, other funds were launched, including a small-cap index fund, an international stock index fund, and a total stock market index fund. During the 1990s, more funds were offered, and several Vanguard funds, including the S&P 500 index fund and the total stock market fund, became among the largest funds in the world, and Vanguard became the largest mutual fund company in the world. Noted investor John Neff retired as manager of Vanguard's Windsor Fund in 1995, after a 30-year career in which his fund beat returns of the S&P 500 index by an average of 300 basis points (3%) per year.

Environmental impacts
In March 2021, Vanguard joined over 70 asset managers, aiming to have companies within their portfolios to achieve net-zero emissions by 2060, a goal that parallels the Paris Agreement. Climate and Indigenous advocates felt optimistic about this development, but stressed the issue that Vanguard must also stop investing in companies that engage in deforestation, fossil fuel extraction, and environmental degradation. In line with their sustainability efforts, Vanguard has put out a number of statements aimed at tackling climate change within their portfolios and the world at large. Despite these statements, the company still continues to have companies within their investor portfolios, such as ENAP Sipetrol, CPNC, and Petroamazonas, all of which contribute to fossil fuel production and the furtherance of climate change. When it comes to the issue of Indigenous rights, Vanguard has released a statement titled "Social Risks and Right of Indigenous Peoples" which lists a series of questions for companies on the topic. However Vanguard frames these questions in the aims of protecting Indigenous culture without any concrete policy to safeguard Indigenous rights and ensure that the internationally recognized right of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent is present in discussions with Indigenous communities.

In terms of financial involvement, today, Vanguard holds at least $86 billion in coal, making them the world's number-one investor in the industry. Additionally, according to Amazon Watch, the company holds $2.6 billion in debt and $9.6 billion in equities for oil companies currently working within the Amazon rainforest.

Recent
Bogle retired from Vanguard as chairman in 1999 when he reached the company's mandatory retirement age of 70 and he was succeeded by John J. ("Jack") Brennan. In February 2008, F. William McNabb III became President and in August 2008, he became CEO. Both of Bogle's successors expanded Vanguard's offerings beyond the index mutual funds that Bogle preferred, in particular into exchange traded funds (ETFs) and actively managed funds. Some of Vanguard's actively-managed funds predate Bogle's retirement however (their healthcare stock fund began in 1984). Bogle had been skeptical of ETFs as they trade mid-day like single stocks while mutual funds trade on a single price at day's end. He believed buy and hold investors could make good use of ETFs tracking broad indices, but thought ETFs had potentially higher fees due to the bid ask spread, could be too narrowly specialized, and worried anything that could be traded mid-day would be traded mid-day, potentially reducing investor returns.

In May 2017 Vanguard launched a fund platform in the United Kingdom.

In July 2017, it was announced that McNabb would be replaced as chief executive officer by chief investment officer Mortimer J. Buckley, effective January 1, 2018. McNabb remains at the company as chairman.

In 2020, Vanguard rolled out a digital adviser and began building up an investment team in China. In October 2020, Vanguard returned about $21 billion in managed assets to government clients in China due to concerns about legal compliance, staffing and profitability. In response to its China investments, the Financial Times reported that the nonprofit group Coalition for a Prosperous America criticized Vanguard for "acting as a pipeline through which US investment dollars are being funneled into Chinese military companies and corporations sanctioned over human rights abuses."

In February 2021, Vanguard launched its fractional share program of its exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, where investors can invest for as little as $1. Fractional share ownership is a derivative of micro-investing, a type of investment strategy that is designed to make investing regular, accessible and affordable, especially for those who may not have a lot of money to invest or who are new to investing.

The Vanguard Group has been the subject of conspiracy theories, including the conspiracy theory that the Vanguard Group is part of a plot that orchestrated the COVID-19 pandemic. Some Vanguard Group conspiracy theories have also incorporated antisemitism, such as a conspiracy theory falsely claiming that Vanguard Group CEO Mortimer J. Buckley, who is of Irish Catholic heritage, is Jewish and is part of a Jewish cabal responsible for COVID and a "COVID agenda".

In November 2022, Vanguard launched its superannuation fund in Australia under the name Vanguard Super.

On May 14, 2024, Vanguard announced the appointment of Salim Ramji, a veteran from BlackRock Inc., as its next CEO, succeeding Tim Buckley. Ramji, the first outsider to lead Vanguard, assumed his role on July 8, 2024.

title: The Vanguard Group


text: Category:1986 albums

title: Category:1986 albums


text:
Lingfield Park Racecourse

Lingfield Park Racecourse (commonly referred to as Lingfield) is a horse racing course at Lingfield in Surrey, United Kingdom. It is owned by the ARC Racing and Leisure Group, formerly Arena Leisure Plc.

Lingfield is best known as a winter all-weather flat racing course; the track is Polytrack, rather than the usual turf found in the UK. There are only five other all-weather courses in the UK, the others being at Southwell, Kempton, Wolverhampton, Newcastle, and Chelmsford City (formerly Great Leighs Racecourse). Lingfield also stages National Hunt and flat races on turf.

Lingfield railway station adjoins the course, served by trains from London to East Grinstead via Oxted.

History
Lingfield Park racecourse is located in a 450 acre estate and was opened in 1890 by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII), who gave permission for the Prince of Wales' feathers to be incorporated into the course's official logo. The course initially held jumps racing only, but in 1894 the Jockey Club granted permission for flat racing to be held. Racing has been held continuously ever since, with the exception of the Second World War.

The War Office requisitioned the course during the Second World War and it was used as an internment camp, to detain civilians who were citizens of one of the Axis powers.

After the war, the racecourse returned to its pre-war owners, the Beckwith-Smith family. The racecourse was put up for sale by the family in 1974 at a price of £500,000. A few weeks later, it was sold to Ladbrokes. Ladbrokes sold the course in 1982 to Ron Muddle. The new owner installed flood defences on the estate to alleviate the flooding that had become a major problem in the years immediately after the war. A golf course was developed and this opened in June 1987.

Leisure Investments purchased the Lingfield Park from Muddle in 1988 and work to install an all-weather track on the inside of the turf course was completed in October 1989. The racecourse was sold again in 1991 to Arena Leisure three years later and replacement of the Equitrack all-weather surface with Polytrack, was completed in November of the same year. Other recent developments have been the re-laying of the back straight on the turf course in 2002/2003 and the construction of a £5.5 million grandstand in 2004. In early 2009 the course had another record broken as Matsunosuke became the highest rated horse to win on the all-weather surface rated 112 or 117 by Racing Post rating. This was dubbed as the greatest all-weather horse of all time in the UK.

In addition, there's now a Marriott hotel based on the racecourse.

The racecourse is featured in the 1954 film The Rainbow Jacket.

Notable races

 * Other races
 * Churchill Stakes
 * Fleur De Lys Fillies' Stakes
 * Golden Rose Stakes
 * Quebec Stakes
 * River Eden Fillies' Stakes
 * All Weather Championship Series

title: Lingfield Park Racecourse


text: Category:Regions of the United States

title: Category:Regions of the United States


text: Category:Slayer albums

title: Category:Slayer albums


text:
Category:Anatomy

Anatomy is the study of the structure and organization of living things. The main branches are gross anatomy, which deals with structures that can be seen with the naked eye, and histology, which deals with anatomy at the microscopic level.

title: Category:Anatomy


text: Category:Heavy metal albums

title: Category:Heavy metal albums


text:
Larry W. Esposito

Larry W. Esposito (born April 15, 1951 ) is an American planetary astronomer and a professor at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder. A 1973 graduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Esposito received his Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In 1985, he was awarded the H. C. Urey Prize by the American Astronomical Society. He was also awarded The NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement, and the Richtmeyer Lecture Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Physical Society. His current work involves planetary atmospheres and ring systems.

Esposito was the principal investigator for the Ultra-Violet Imaging Spectrograph aboard the NASA Cassini-Huygens uncrewed mission to the Saturn system.

title: Larry W. Esposito


text:
Category:Cricket

This is the root category for the sport of cricket. It contains the articles which have been assessed as top importance by the cricket project. All other articles about cricket need to placed in an appropriate sub-category.

title: Category:Cricket


text:
UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying

Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2000 final tournament, took place throughout 1998 and 1999. Forty-nine teams were divided into nine groups. All teams played against each other, within their groups, on a home-and-away basis. The winner of each group and the best runner-up qualified automatically for the final tournament. The rest of the runners-up played an additional set of playoff matches amongst each other.

Both Belgium and the Netherlands qualified automatically as co-hosts of the event.

Qualification seeding
The draw occurred on 18 January 1998, in Ghent, Belgium. The 49 participating teams were divided into five drawing pots based on the newly introduced 1997-edition of the UEFA national team coefficient ranking, which calculated an average of the team's points per game achieved combined in the Euro 1996 and 1998 World Cup qualifiers. The seeding list was however subject to some few minor modifications:
 * Germany were seeded first and not fifth as the defending champions (title holders).
 * Netherlands (ranked 11th) and Belgium (ranked 18th) were not seeded, as they did not participate in the qualifying tournament due to already having qualified automatically for the final tournament as hosts. Consequently, all teams ranked below them moved up one or two seeding places higher than their rankings.

Nine groups were formed by drawing one team from each of the five pots. The remaining four teams from pot five, were subsequently drawn into four of the groups (randomly selected); meaning that the four groups with six teams featured two teams from pot five.

Note: The UEFA national team coefficient ranking automatically had taken into account in its ranking calculation, that France automatically qualified as hosts for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, meaning that the coefficient for France only factored their UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying record. Similarly, the coefficient considered only the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification record for England, FR Yugoslavia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. England automatically qualified as hosts of UEFA Euro 1996 while FR Yugoslavia were suspended due to UN sanctions. Bosnia and Herzegovina made their European qualification debut. Andorra made their qualification debut after being admitted to UEFA in November 1996.

Summary
{{legend|#BBF3BB|Group winners and the best ranked runner-up qualified directly for UEFA Euro 2000}} {{legend|#BBF3FF|The remaining runners-up advanced to the play-offs}} {{legend||Other teams were eliminated after the qualifying group stage}}

Tiebreakers
If two or more teams finished level on points after completion of the group matches, the following tie-breakers were used to determine the final ranking:
 * 1) Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question;
 * 2) Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question;
 * 3) Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played among the teams in question;
 * 4) Superior goal difference in all group matches;
 * 5) Higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
 * 6) Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches;
 * 7) Fair play conduct in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card).

Ranking of second-placed teams
The best runner-up of the entire group phase qualified automatically for the final tournament. To determine the best runner-up, a comparison was made between all of them. As some groups had five teams and others had six, matches played against fifth and sixth placed teams were discarded, despite the fact that only discarding matches against sixth-place teams would’ve been sufficient enough. After the best runner-up was found, all the others entered a random playoff to determine the last four qualifiers.

Portugal qualified automatically as best runner-up, beating Turkey on goal difference.

Play-offs
The remaining eight runners-up entered a random playoff, disputed in two legs, home and away.

title: UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying


text: Category:Add N to (X) albums

title: Category:Add N to (X) albums


text:
User talk:Dr. Dan Waniek

Bonjour professeur docteur Waniek, je souhaite vous souhaiter la bienvenue à Wikipedia ! (mon Français n'est pas bon, ma petite amie a dû écrire ceci pour moi).

Bonjour Dr. Waniek, welcome à Wikipedia !

J'espère que vous avez beaucoup d'amusement ici. Il y a un bon nombre de ressources autour à aider à vous guider soit sûr de vérifier :

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Village pump

Ou demandez-moi à mon page d'entretien User talk:Plato

Merci! Camarade Nick

Eu din Londra vin anume... :O)
Dane, pe unde umbli? Mergem mâine la Londra ? - irismeister 21:51, 2004 Jun 4 (UTC)

title: User talk:Dr. Dan Waniek


text: Category:1983 albums

title: Category:1983 albums


text: Category:1985 albums

title: Category:1985 albums


text:
User:Tsca/notes

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Welcome
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title: User:Tsca/notes


text: Category:1977 albums

title: Category:1977 albums


text: Category:Aerosmith albums

title: Category:Aerosmith albums


text:
Elective dictatorship

"Elective dictatorship", also called "executive dominance" in political science, is a phrase describing the state in which a typical Westminster system state's parliament is dominated by the government of the day. It refers to the fact that the legislative programme of Parliament is determined by the government, and government bills virtually always pass the legislature because of the nature of the majoritarian first-past-the-post electoral system, which almost always produces strong government, in combination with the imposition of party discipline on the governing party's majority, which almost always ensures loyalty.

The phrase was popularised by the former Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom, Lord Hailsham, in a Richard Dimbleby Lecture at the BBC in 1976. The phrase is found a century earlier, in describing Giuseppe Garibaldi's doctrines, and was used by Hailsham (then known as Quintin Hogg) in lectures in 1968 and 1969.

Constitutional background
In the United Kingdom, ultimate legislative sovereignty resides in Parliament (Parliamentary sovereignty). Parliament may pass any legislation on any subject it wishes. Parliament operates without restraints such as, for instance, an obligation to legislate in accordance with fundamental constitutional rights. The apparent exceptions to this rule are situations in which Parliament has chosen to limit itself as with the case of implementation of European Union law, where British courts can "disapply" UK legislation that is in conflict with EU law (see Factortame), but could withdraw such authority, as it has by and large done since leaving the European Union.

Parliament consists of the House of Lords, the House of Commons and the Monarch. The customary common law rule is that in order for a bill to become an act of Parliament, it is necessary for it to be passed in both the Commons and the Lords. The bill will then go before the Monarch who has formal discretion whether to assent to the bill. On receiving Royal Assent, it will become an Act of Parliament and will be applied by the courts.

Such is the theory; in practice Royal Assent has become a formality, the monarch has not refused (or threatened to refuse) assent to a bill for some 300 years (Queen Anne in 1708). Further, since 1911, the House of Lords has lost its position of equality with the Commons. The Parliament Acts of 1911 and 1949 reduced the power of the Lords from an absolute veto to a suspensive veto. Once the same bill has been passed by the Commons and rejected by the Lords in two different sessions of Parliament, a third introduction of the bill will require only the consent of the Commons. Such a bill will then go for Royal Assent and will become law, irrespective of the view of the Lords. The Commons have, therefore, become the dominant component of Parliament – whoever controls the Commons controls Parliament, the primary legislative body of the land.

Operation
The party which commands a majority in the House of Commons forms the government. The governing party should consequently be able to pass any bill they wish through the Commons, provided that voting discipline is enforced amongst their Members of Parliament (MPs). This is accomplished largely through the whip system. The dominance of Parliament's legislative programme by the majority party is such that 95 per cent of bills are initiated by the government. Rebellions, though not unknown, are rare.

The government, so long as they can keep their MPs on-side, stand an excellent chance of getting their legislation through the Commons. The Lords may or may not also approve the legislation, however a combination of judicious compromise from the government, combined with the Salisbury Convention and the overarching threat of the Parliament Act means that most legislation also manages to get through the Lords. Royal Assent then invariably follows.

Hailsham borrowed the expression "elective dictatorship" to describe this situation in which control of the Commons (and thus of Parliament) by the government is actually weak. His paper was published as a criticism of the Labour government of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. He saw these governments as undemocratic, as despite their slim hold on the Commons they were able to pass a large number of their bills. He saw this as undemocratic as they did not reflect, as Hailsham saw it, wide enough support in the country. Many have interpreted Hailsham's criticism as being one against large majorities. In fact, he actually saw these as more democratic, as they had commanded more support at elections.

Proposals for reform
A common proposal from reformers to reduce this executive dominance is to reduce the power of the majority party by adopting an electoral system based on proportional representation for the House of Commons. The Green Party of England and Wales, Liberal Democrats, and Scottish National Party have consistently supported proportions representation for the House Commons but without noticeable support from larger parties.

Some groups, such as Charter 88, have argued that a codified, written constitution with appropriate checks and balances is also essential to solving the problem of executive dominance but again without popular success.

The Power Inquiry in its 2006 report Power to the People made recommendations on how to deal with the democratic deficit inherent in the British system of governance.

title: Elective dictatorship