text:
Religion in Belgium

Christianity is the largest religion in Belgium, with the Catholic Church representing the largest community, though it has experienced a significant decline since the 1950s (when it was the nominal religion of over 80% of the population). Belgium's policy separates the state from the churches, and freedom of religion of the citizens is guaranteed by the country's constitution. According to the Eurobarometer poll carried out by the European Commission in 2021, the share of Christians was 49%, with Catholicism being the largest denomination at 44%. Protestants and other Christians comprised 4% and Orthodox Christians comprised 1%. Non-religious people comprised 41% of the population and were divided between those who primarily identified as atheists (15%) or as agnostics (26%). A further 2% of the population was Muslim, with the remainder belonging to other religious or unspecified groups.

Beliefs and practices
According to a 2010 Eurobarometer poll:

 * 37% of Belgian citizens believe there is a god.
 * 31% believe there is some sort of spirit or life force.
 * 27% do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force.
 * 5% declined to answer.

Some religious people dispute these precise figures, as it is difficult to determine the number of Belgian Christians that believe in a personal deity. What is also unclear is the number of registered Belgian Catholics with deistic beliefs or who periodically attend small Evangelical churches.

Chronological statistics
An online Ipsos survey conducted between 20 January and 3 February 2023 on a representative sample of Belgians aged 16 to 74 found that 47% had no religion, 44% was Christian, 4% was Muslim and 2% followed an other religion. The remaining 3% refused to answer. The Christians were further subdivided into 38% of total respondents being Catholic and 5% being other Christians. The sample size was more than 500 people and the confidence interval was +/- 5 percentage points.

Government and religion
The Belgian constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice. However, government officials have the authority to research and monitor religious groups that are not officially recognised. There are a few reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice, and some reports of discrimination against minority religious groups.

Belgian law officially recognizes many religions, including Catholicism, Protestantism, Anglicanism, Islam, Judaism, and Eastern Orthodoxy, as well as non-religious philosophical organizations (Dutch: vrijzinnige levensbeschouwelijke organisaties; French: organizations laïques). Buddhism is in the process of being recognized under the secular organization standard. Official recognition means that priests (called "counselors" within the secular organizations) receive a state stipend. Also, parents can choose any recognized denomination to provide religious education to their children if they attend a state school. Adherents to religions that are not officially recognized are not denied the right to practice their religion but do not receive state stipends.

After attaining autonomy from the federal government in religious matters, the Flemish Parliament passed a regional decree installing democratically elected church councils for all recognised religious denominations and making them subject to the same administrative rules as local government bodies, with important repercussions for financial accounting and open government. In 2006, however, Catholic bishops still appointed candidates to the Catholic Church councils because they had not decided on the criteria for eligibility; they were afraid that candidates might be merely baptized Catholics. By 2008, however, the bishops decided that candidates for the church councils had only to prove that they were over 18, a member of the parish church serving the town or village in which they lived, and baptized Catholic.

In 2022, the country was scored 3 out of 4 for religious freedom.

Catholicism

Catholicism has traditionally been Belgium's majority religion, with particular strength in Flanders. However, by 2009, Sunday church attendance was 5.4% in Flanders, down from 12.7% in 1998. Nationwide, Sunday church attendance was 5% in 2009, down from 11.2% in 1998. As of 2015, 52.9% Belgian population claimed to belong to the Catholic Church. According to Ipsos, only 41% of the working-age, internet connected people declared to be Catholics.

Until 1998, the Catholic Church annually published key figures such as Sunday mass attendance and the number of baptized children. In 2006, it announced that mass attendance for the Christmas period was 11.5%, and weekly mass attendance (not only on Sundays) was 7%, for the Flanders region. Since 2000, Sunday church attendance in Flanders has dropped by an average of 0.5%–1% each year. In the years 2010 to 2016, 12,442 people in Flanders formally left the Catholic Church.

The “Catholic Church in Belgium 2023” report said that 50% of Belgium’s population identified as Catholic in 2022 down from 53% in 2017 with 8.9% attending Mass at least once a month.

Protestantism
In 1566, at the peak of Belgian Reformation, there were an estimated 300,000 Protestants, or 20% of the Belgian population. The Spanish reconquest of the Southern Netherlands in the Eighty Years' War prompted most of the Belgian Protestants to flee to the north or convert, causing the region to again be overwhelmingly Catholic. As of 2017, Protestantism represented 4% of the total population, according to Pew Research.

The Administrative Council of Protestant and Evangelical Religion in Belgium is a coordinating group that mediates between many Protestant groups and the government. The largest Protestant denomination is the United Protestant Church in Belgium, with some 138 affiliated churches.

Belgium had thirteen Anglican churches as of 2012, including the pro-cathedral, Holy Trinity, Brussels. They are part of the Church of England's Diocese in Europe, and of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.

Orthodox Christianity
Eastern Orthodox Christians made up 1.6% of the total Belgian population in 2015. The region with the greatest proportion of Eastern Orthodox Christians was the Bruxelles-Capital Region, in which they formed 8.3% of the population. Ipsos' survey in 2016 found that Orthodox Christianity was the religion of about 1% of the working-age, internet connected Belgians. The Eastern Orthodox Church in Belgium is subdivided into several canonical jurisdictions: Russian, Ecumenical, Serbian, Romanian, and Bulgarian.

There are significant Armenian communities that reside in Belgium, many of them are descendants of traders who settled during the 19th century. Most Armenian Belgians are adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church, with smaller numbers belonging to the Armenian Catholic Church or the Armenian Evangelical Church. These churches have not yet received official recognition.

Islam
In 2015, according to the Eurobarometer survey made by the European Commission, 5.2% of the total Belgian population was Muslim. In a 2016 study, Ipsos found that 3% of the working-age, internet connected Belgian population declaring to be believers in Islam.

As of 2015, it was estimated that 7% of the Belgians (781,887) were Muslims, including 329,749 in Flanders (forming 5.1% of the region's population), 174,136 in Wallonia (4.9%), and 277,867 in Brussels (23.6%).

Judaism

There is a small but long-standing Jewish community concentrated in Antwerp.

Buddhism
Eurobarometer 2015 found only 0.2% of the total Belgian population declaring to be Buddhist. Despite that, one year later Ipsos found that 2% of the working-age, internet connected Belgians were Buddhists.

Confucianism
According to Ipsos, 1% of the working-age, internet-connected Belgians declared that they believed in Confucianism. This segment of the population may include many – if not all – the Chinese communities in Belgium.

Hinduism
Hinduism forms a negligible but growing minority in Belgium. In 2006, there were about 6,500 Hindus in the country. this increased to 7,901 Hindus in 2015 and 10,000 in 2020. The majority of Hindus in Belgium originate from Nepal, some come from diamond trading communities in India, and some are native converts, mostly of the ISKON movement. Hindus in Belgium in 2023 push to be recognized as an official religion in Belgium.

Antoinism
Antoinism is a Christian-inspired new religious movement which was created by Louis-Joseph Antoine (1846–1912). It remains the only significant such movement to originate in Belgium and has adherents in France and elsewhere.

Jainism
Jainism is an Indian religion which has around 2,000 adherents in Belgium (as of 2020), consisting mainly of Indian migrants who specialize in the diamond trade within Antwerp. The Shankheswar Parshvanath Jain temple, which is located in the Antwerpian municipality of Wilrijk, remains the only Jain temple within continental Europe.

6th–7th century: Christianisation
After the Roman period, Christianity was brought back to the southern Low Countries by missionary saints like Willibrord and Amandus. In the 7th century, abbeys were founded in remote places, and it was mainly from these abbeys that the Christianization process was started. This process was expanded under the auspices of the Merovingian dynasty, and later by Charlemagne, who even waged war to impose the new religion.

17th–18th century: Catholicism as the state religion
From the Spanish military conquest of 1592 until the re-establishment of religious freedom in 1781 by the Patent of Toleration under Joseph II of Austria, Catholicism was the only religion allowed, on penalty of death, in the territories now forming Belgium. However, a small number of Protestant groups managed to survive at Maria-Horebeke, Dour, Tournai, Eupen, and Hodimont.

19th–20th century
Religion was one of the differences between the almost solidly Catholic south and the predominantly Protestant north of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, formed in 1815. The union broke up in 1830 when the south seceded to form the Kingdom of Belgium. In Belgium's first century, Catholicism was such a binding factor socially that it prevailed over the language divide (Dutch versus French). The decline in religion's importance as a social marker across late-20th-century Western Europe explains to a large extent the current centrifugal forces in Belgium, with language differences (increasingly reinforced by a positive feedback effect in the media) no longer being kept in check by a religious binding factor. If anything, the Catholic Church has acquiesced to these changes by having a Dutch-speaking university (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) and a French-speaking university (Universite Catholique de Louvain).

Until the late 20th century, Catholicism played an important role in Belgian politics. One significant example was the so-called Schools' Wars (Dutch: schoolstrijd; French: guerres scolaires) between the country's philosophically left-wing parties (liberals at first, joined by Socialists later) and the Catholic party (later the Christian Democrats), which took place from 1879 to 1884 and from 1954 to 1958. Another important controversy happened in 1990, when the Catholic monarch, King Baudouin I, refused to ratify an abortion bill that had been approved by Parliament. The king asked Prime Minister Wilfried Martens and his government to find a solution, which proved novel. The government declared King Baudouin unfit to fulfill his constitutional duties as monarch for one day. Government ministers signed the bill in his place and then proceeded to reinstate the king after the abortion law had come into effect.

21st century
In 2002, the officially recognized Protestant denomination at the time, the United Protestant Church of Belgium (consisting of around 100 member churches, usually with a Calvinist or Methodist past) and the unsubsidized Federal Synod of Protestant and Evangelical Churches (which had 600 member churches in 2008 but did not include all Evangelical and Charismatic groups outside the Catholic tradition) together formed the Administrative Council of the Protestant and Evangelical Religion (ARPEE in Dutch, CACPE in French). The council is now the accepted mouthpiece of Protestantism in all three linguistic communities of Belgium: Dutch, French, and German.

The 21st century has witnessed significant changes in the religious demography of Belgium, characterized by a decline of Catholicism and the growth of irreligion and other religions, some of them brought by waves of immigration from foreign countries, including Pentecostalism, Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Chinese religions.

Apart from Islam, however, these groups are very small demographically, especially alongside the unaffiliated demographic of 37%.

title: Religion in Belgium


text:
Talk:James Fergusson

-

Untitled
I have presumed that the Privy Council member as of 1868, Governor of South Australia 1869-1873, the Governor-General of New Zealand 1873-1874, and the UK Postmaster General 1891-1892, all named Sir James Fergusson (1832-1907), are in fact the same person. They all link to this page  --Chuq 06:51, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
 * It looks like you're right - http://www.maybole.org/notables/fergusson/sirjames.htm --ScottDavis 07:56, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:James Fergusson


text:
User:Topbanana/Reports

Howdy.

I've written a number of scripts that generate reports on unusual articles when run against my local copy of the wikipedia database (get your own local copy from here). While I'll try to keep the lists below up to date, I'm not making any promises. The reports below will be moved to the Wikipedia namespace once I'm happy they are in a state where anyone could run them. Until then, consider these to be beta-version software.

I'm more than happy for people to make use of these lists, edit them, rework them and generally play with them as much as they want. There's a suggested improvements section on each page which I'll be checking periodically and using to improve the reports.

Reports that I've 'completed' - that is I've stopped developing them - and which may be of use to wikipedians have been moved to Offline reports.

'Apologies, many of the reports below are rather out of date. I no longer have enough storage capacity on my local PC to manipulate the several copies of the Wikipedia database needed to regenerate many of them. Hopefully I'll solve the problem soon, until then I'll update what I can. - TB 13:09, 2005 Feb 18 (UTC)'

Spelling & punctuation

 * Articles with missing spaces surrounding commas
 * Articles containing repeated words - Updated 15th May 2005
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 * Articles containing malformed HTML entities - Done as of 14:32, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Special features

 * Articles containing badly formed ISBN references - Updated 15th May 2005

Redirects

 * Redirect pages that point to other redirect pages - (Done as of 03:19, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC))
 * Redirect pages that point to non-existant articles - (Done as of 11:27, 2004 Dec 6 (UTC))

Broken wikilinks
--- All reports redundant - see WikiProject Red Link Recovery intead. ---

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 * Pages that contain the only link to a topic that doesn't exist yet - (Empty as of 04:24, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC))

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Upcoming

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 * Pages with multiple interwiki links to one language (A:X links to B:X and B:Y)
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 * Potential commutations (A:X links to B:X and C:X. Should B:X should link to C:X also?)
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Extra-wikipedia reports

 * Articles in wikipedia that are also in wiktionary
 * Articles in wikipedia that are also in wikiquote

title: User:Topbanana/Reports


text:
Homocystinuria

Homocystinuria or HCU is an inherited disorder of the metabolism of the amino acid methionine due to a deficiency of cystathionine beta synthase or methionine synthase. It is an inherited autosomal recessive trait, which means a child needs to inherit a copy of the defective gene from both parents to be affected. Symptoms of homocystinuria can also be caused by a deficiency of vitamins B6, B12, or folate.

Signs and symptoms
This defect leads to a multi-systemic disorder of the connective tissue, muscles, central nervous system (CNS), and cardiovascular system. Homocystinuria represents a group of hereditary metabolic disorders characterized by an accumulation of the amino acid homocysteine in the serum and an increased excretion of homocysteine in the urine. Infants appear to be normal and early symptoms, if any are present, are vague.

Signs and symptoms of homocystinuria that may be seen include the following: • A family history of homocystinuria

• Flush across the cheeks

• Musculoskeletal

• * Tall, thin build resembling Marfanoid habitus

• * Long limbs (dolichostenomelia)

• * High-arched feet (pes cavus)

• * Knock knees (genu valgum)

• * Pectus excavatum and Pectus carinatum

• Intellectual disability

• Seizures

• Psychiatric disease

• Eye anomalies:

• * Ectopia lentis – in contrast to Marfan syndrome which features upward ectopia lentis, downward dislocation is the typical finding of homocystinuria or subluxation of lens

• * Myopia (nearsightedness)

• * Glaucoma

• * Optic atrophy

• * Retinal detachment

• * Cataracts

• Vascular disease

• * Homocysteine binds to the endothelium of the blood vessels and activate signaling pathways leading to the release of pro-inflammatory molecules. This may cause the following :

• * Extensive atheroma formation at a young age which affects many arteries but not the coronary arteries

• * Intravascular thrombosis

Cause
It is usually caused by the deficiency of the enzyme cystathionine beta synthase, mutations of other related enzymes such as methionine synthase, or the deficiency of folic acid, vitamin B12 and/or pyridoxine (vitamin B6).

Diagnosis
The term homocystinuria describes an increased excretion of the thiol amino acid homocysteine in urine (and incidentally, also an increased concentration in plasma). The source of this increase may be one of many metabolic factors, only one of which is CBS deficiency. Others include the re-methylation defects (cobalamin defects, methionine synthase deficiency, MTHFR) and vitamin deficiencies including riboflavin (vitamin B2), pyridoxal phosphate (vitamin B6), folate (vitamin B9), and cobalamin (vitamin B12). In light of this, a combined approach to laboratory diagnosis is required to reach a differential diagnosis.

CBS deficiency may be diagnosed by routine metabolic biochemistry. Genetic testing may be used to screen for known SNPs (mutations). In the first instance, plasma or urine amino acid analysis will frequently show an elevation of methionine and the presence of homocysteine. Many neonatal screening programs include methionine as a metabolite. The disorder may be distinguished from the re-methylation defects (e.g., MTHFR, methionine synthase deficiency, or the cobalamin defects) in lieu of the elevated methionine concentration. Additionally, organic acid analysis or quantitative determination of methylmalonic acid should help to exclude cobalamin (vitamin B12) defects and vitamin B12 deficiency giving a differential diagnosis.

The laboratory analysis of homocysteine itself is complicated because most homocysteine (possibly above 85%) is bound to other thiol amino acids and proteins in the form of disulphides (e.g., cysteine in cystine-homocysteine, homocysteine in homocysteine-homocysteine) via disulfide bonds. Since as an equilibrium process the proportion of free homocysteine is variable a true value of total homocysteine (free + bound) is useful for confirming diagnosis and particularly for monitoring of treatment efficacy. To this end it is prudent to perform total homocyst(e)ine analysis in which all disulphide bonds are subject to reduction prior to analysis, traditionally by HPLC after derivatisation with a fluorescent agent, thus giving a true reflection of the quantity of homocysteine in a plasma sample.

Treatment
No specific cure has been discovered for homocystinuria; however, many people are treated using high doses of vitamin B6 (also known as pyridoxine). Slightly less than 50% respond to this treatment and need to take supplemental vitamin B6 for the rest of their lives. Those who do not respond usually respond to supplementation with folic acid and trimethylglycine (betaine). Typically this is mediated by cystathionine beta-synthase activity, i.e. those who have adequate CBS activity typically respond to B6. Occasionally adding cysteineto the diet can be helpful, as glutathione is synthesized from cysteine (so adding cysteine can be important to reduce oxidative stress). Riboflavin, a cofactor for the MTHFR enzyme pathway and multiple glutathione-related pathways, may also be used.

Betaine (N,N,N-trimethylglycine) is used to reduce concentrations of homocysteine by promoting the conversion of homocysteine back to methionine, i.e., increasing flux through the re-methylation pathway independent of folate derivatives (which is mainly active in the liver and in the kidneys). The re-formed methionine is then gradually removed by incorporation into body protein. The methionine that is not converted into protein is converted to S-adenosyl-methionine which goes on to form homocysteine again. Betaine is, therefore, only effective if the quantity of methionine to be removed is small. Hence treatment includes both betaine and a diet low in methionine. In classical homocystinuria (CBS, or cystathione beta synthase deficiency), the plasma methionine level usually increases above the normal range of 30 micromoles/L and the concentrations should be monitored as potentially toxic levels (more than 400 micromoles/L) may be reached.

Recommended diet
For the subset of patients whose homocystinuria is caused by cystathionine beta-synthase deficiency (i.e. those that don't respond to B6 supplementation), low-protein food is recommended for this disorder, which requires food products low in particular types of amino acids (e.g., methionine) in addition to supplementation.

Prognosis
The life expectancy of patients with homocystinuria is reduced only if untreated. It is known that before the age of 30, almost one quarter of patients die as a result of thrombotic complications (e.g., heart attack).

Society and culture
One theory suggests that Akhenaten, a pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, may have had homocystinuria.

title: Homocystinuria


text: User talk:132.239.1.231

title: User talk:132.239.1.231


text:
Talk:Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen

Untitled
This article is missing its country. Per Naming conventions (names and titles) it needs to be included. See also Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria for further reference. Gryffindor 15:16, 27 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Done. JenLouise 02:11, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

As of 18th of May 2004 the Archduke Charles page is not a balanced biography!

"Serving with distinction against Napoleon Bonaparte in 1796, Charles then beat lesser opponents such as General Jourdan and General Massena"

Massénamay have lost to Charles at The First Battle of Zurich 1799 but he beat him at the Battle of Caldiero October 1805. According to Rothenberg and my opinion, I believe this is a draw battle. Both sides claimed their victory and both got the similar numbers of casualties. So Massena actually did not beat Charles at Caldiero. Philip Baird Shearer 06:56, 18 May 2004 (UTC) I think that it meant that the Archduke had vanquished him for that time, Mr. Shearer. --Anglius 02:47, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

At the end of the campaign the archduke gave up all his military offices.
Is not Generalfeldmarschall a permanent ("life-long") rank? --Anglius 02:47, 27 July 2005 (UTC). He was "forced" to resign after the battle of Wagram by his brother (Emperor Francis) and the war faction who hated him (Metternich and the Hofkriegstrat). He also wanted to come back in the later stage but was ignored by the authorities. And he was a "Generalissimus" at the time he resignd, who held the most power (after the Emperor) of the army, not just a Feldmarschall.

Aspern-Essling
"the Archduke won the Battle of Aspern-Essling"...uh, no, he did not. You can clearly read on the article for that particular battle that the result was INCONCLUSIVE. The Austrians also lost a good many more men than the French - some other language used detracts from this article's objectivity. Leave out the editorializing! Well, Rothenberg mentions that the Archduke defeated Napoleon although it was a costly victory, so if your point is to argue that the Archduke did not win Aspern-Essling at all then I think you're wrong.

Monarchical Styles Infobox
This infobox, besides looking like a gaudy wine label, doesn't have any practical use in the biography. It's a bit silly (and not at all reverent) to address an Austrian archduke in English, especially when he has been in his tomb for a long time. I'm going to remove it, as (for instance) happened on the King Christian VIII of Denmark page. Glatisant (talk) 11:13, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Lack of neutrality
There is a lack of neutrality throughout this article. A few examples: The caution which the archduke preached so earnestly in his strategic works, he displayed in practice only when the situation seemed to demand it. Even more so: He was at the same time capable of forming and executing the most daring offensive strategy, and his tactical skill in the handling of troops, whether in wide turning movements, as at Würzburg and Zürich, or in masses, as at Aspern and Wagram, was certainly equal to that of any leader of his time, with only a few exceptions., and ''His campaign of 1796 is considered almost faultless. That he sustained defeat in 1809 was due in part to the great numerical superiority of the French and their allies(...)". --Lubiesque (talk) 18:59, 14 February 2016 (UTC)
 * This is the kind of writing typically found in Wikipedia articles when portions have been copied more or less verbatim from older texts, often the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, from an era when it was common for historians, often experts in the field, to blend factual reporting with prevalent assessment. FactStraight (talk) 21:21, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

Move discussion in progress
There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Karl von Habsburg which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 17:47, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

Election of a King of the Belgians (1831)
When the National Congress of Belgium voted for the first time on a King (3 february 1831), he got 35 votes in the first round and 21 in the second round.-- Bancki (talk) 06:48, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

"He was considered one of Napoleon's most formidable opponents"
Napoleon thought very little of Charles, and whilst Charles did battle him more than many others, he lost almost all of the time. 2A01:B340:86:17E3:2A4E:CA50:3308:5A89 (talk) 08:27, 10 July 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen


text:
Wikipedia:Historical archive/Logs/Offline reports/This article has a lot of links

Overview
The list below shows the pages in the main english article namespace containing the greatest number of wikilinks. It was generated on 1st November 2004 from the 23rd October June 2004 database dump.

Preamble
Pages with many links may be perfectly valid list or indexes of popular topics. However, any list or table containing so many items is likely to be cumbersome to use - consideration should be given to splitting it into a more hierarchical form.

Regenerating this report
This report is generated from a Link Analysis Database using the SQL:

select concat( '#', art_title, ' (', links_from, ' links)' ) from art order by links_from desc limit 200;

Suggested improvements

 * This list hasn't seen much use. Need to link to guidelines or a discussion of the effect of large numbers of links in a single article on wiki performance.  - TB 09:48, Jun 9, 2004 (UTC)

List

 * 1) List_of_IC_objects (5392 links)
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 * 24) List_of_stadiums (2119 links)
 * 25) List_of_mathematical_topics_(A-C) (2059 links)
 * 26) Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame (1982 links)
 * 27) List_of_craters_on_Mars (1901 links)
 * 28) List_of_Amiga_games (1894 links)
 * 29) List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States (1871 links)
 * 30) List_of_firearms (1828 links)
 * 31) List_of_religious_topics (1825 links)
 * 32) Recent_deaths (1819 links)
 * 33) List_of_Australian_musicians (1805 links)
 * 34) List_of_music_videos_by_year (1794 links)
 * 35) Meanings_of_asteroid_names_(1-1000) (1777 links)
 * 36) Olympic_medalists_in_athletics_(men) (1743 links)
 * 37) List_of_China-related_topics_123-L (1732 links)
 * 38) List_of_popular_music_performers (1689 links)
 * 39) List_of_acronyms_and_initialisms (1683 links)
 * 40) List_of_Knights_and_Ladies_of_the_Garter (1653 links)
 * 41) List_of_volcanoes (1596 links)
 * 42) List_of_life_baronies (1592 links)
 * 43) List_of_mathematical_topics_(S-U) (1557 links)
 * 44) List_of_Middle-earth_articles (1552 links)
 * 45) List_of_painters (1549 links)
 * 46) Political_families_of_the_world (1548 links)
 * 47) Lists_of_office-holders (1546 links)
 * 48) Federal_Standard_1037C (1532 links)
 * 49) List_of_Viscountcies (1521 links)
 * 50) List_of_asteroids_(3001-4000) (1493 links)
 * 51) List_of_asteroids_(1-1000) (1486 links)
 * 52) List_of_mathematical_topics_(P-R) (1469 links)
 * 53) List_of_asteroids_(1001-2000) (1463 links)
 * 54) List_of_China-related_topics_M-Z (1460 links)
 * 55) List_of_poets (1452 links)
 * 56) Peerage_of_the_United_Kingdom (1443 links)
 * 57) List_of_asteroids_(2001-3000) (1438 links)
 * 58) List_of_placental_mammals (1420 links)
 * 59) List_of_asteroids_(4001-5000) (1398 links)
 * 60) List_of_all_two-letter_combinations (1373 links)
 * 61) TLAs_from_YAA_to_ZZZ (1361 links)
 * 62) List_of_Ohio_townships (1351 links)
 * 63) List_of_reference_tables (1345 links)
 * 64) List_of_Earldoms (1344 links)
 * 65) List_of_mathematical_topics_(D-F) (1337 links)
 * 66) Abbeys_and_priories_in_England (1307 links)
 * 67) List_of_legal_topics (1296 links)
 * 68) List_of_musicals (1295 links)
 * 69) Academy_Award_for_Writing_Adapted_Screenplay (1282 links)
 * 70) List_of_sets_of_unrelated_songs_with_identical_titles (1280 links)
 * 71) List_of_mathematical_topics_(G-I) (1265 links)
 * 72) List_of_electronics_topics (1262 links)
 * 73) European_route (1256 links)
 * 74) List_of_terms_relating_to_algorithms_and_data_structures (1254 links)
 * 75) List_of_cryptography_topics (1237 links)
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 * 77) List_of_Baronetcies (1216 links)
 * 78) List_of_North_American_birds (1205 links)
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 * 82) List_of_Number_1_singles_(UK) (1163 links)
 * 83) Deaths_in_2003 (1163 links)
 * 84) List_of_LSTs (1152 links)
 * 85) List_of_gay_erotic_actors (1151 links)
 * 86) List_of_Saturday_Night_Live_hosts_and_musical_guests (1141 links)
 * 87) Table_of_Chinese_monarchs (1138 links)
 * 88) Athletics_at_the_2004_Summer_Paralympics (1134 links)
 * 89) List_of_ancient_Romans (1125 links)
 * 90) List_of_World_International_Organizations (1119 links)
 * 91) List_of_United_States_Navy_aircraft_squadrons (1119 links)
 * 92) List_of_asteroids_(7001-8000) (1118 links)
 * 93) List_of_state_leaders_in_2004 (1111 links)
 * 94) List_of_ancient_Greeks (1108 links)
 * 95) List_of_towns_in_Wisconsin (1101 links)
 * 96) List_of_television_programs (1098 links)
 * 97) List_of_members_of_the_Académie_française (1087 links)
 * 98) Academy_Award_for_Original_Music_Score (1081 links)
 * 99) List_of_destroyers_of_the_United_States_Navy (1079 links)
 * 100) Looney_Tunes_&_Merrie_Melodies_filmography (1079 links)
 * 101) List_of_ZIP_Codes_in_Ohio (1077 links)
 * 102) List_of_wars (1071 links)
 * 103) List_of_asteroids_(8001-9000) (1067 links)
 * 104) U.S._House_election,_2004 (1064 links)
 * 105) List_of_mathematicians (1061 links)
 * 106) List_of_cultural_and_regional_genres_of_music (1059 links)
 * 107) List_of_Roman_cognomina (1057 links)
 * 108) List_of_Philippine-related_topics (1057 links)
 * 109) Timeline_of_invention (1056 links)
 * 110) List_of_rivers_of_New_Zealand (1054 links)
 * 111) List_of_PlayStation_games (1054 links)
 * 112) List_of_mathematical_topics_(M-O) (1051 links)
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 * 114) List_of_life_peers (1042 links)
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 * 118) Table_of_divisors (1011 links)
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 * 121) List_of_Members_of_the_European_Parliament_2004-2009 (1002 links)
 * 122) List_of_fish_common_names (1000 links)
 * 123) List_of_rivers_of_Europe (1000 links)
 * 124) List_of_towns_and_villages_in_Illinois (996 links)
 * 125) List_of_commercial_brands_of_beer (991 links)
 * 126) List_of_diseases_starting_with_C (990 links)
 * 127) 2004_in_music (989 links)
 * 128) List_of_Famicom_games (984 links)
 * 129) List_of_cities_in_the_United_States (981 links)
 * 130) List_of_cities,_villages,_and_townships_in_Michigan (978 links)
 * 131) March_1 (977 links)
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 * 143) List_of_NES_games (941 links)
 * 144) List_of_battles_(alphabetical) (936 links)
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 * 151) List_of_Game_Boy_games (920 links)
 * 152) List_of_novelists (916 links)
 * 153) April_2004 (913 links)
 * 154) List_of_flags (912 links)
 * 155) 2004 (911 links)
 * 156) Academy_Award_for_Best_Art_Direction (909 links)
 * 157) Communes_of_the_Pas-de-Calais_département (908 links)
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 * 190) December_2003 (855 links)
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 * 192) List_of_aircraft_by_category (845 links)
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 * 194) Swimming_at_the_2004_Summer_Paralympics (838 links)
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 * 197) Communes_of_the_Aisne_department (826 links)
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 * 199) 2004_in_Canada (825 links)
 * 200) Stage_name (825 links)


text:
Talk:Evolutionary biology

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 20 August 2021 and 11 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): DakotaLynn13.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 20:58, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Molecular Genetics
— Assignment last updated by Alec4465 (talk) 16:33, 11 September 2022 (UTC)

Lead Section
The lead section is clear and concise, not overly detailed, but grasping the main points of the article in an easy to understand manner.Kacasti6 (talk) 22:33, 10 October 2022 (UTC)

Further sections
Would adding a section about key papers (ie. Galapagos finch work done by the Grants) be beneficial? --AccidentalHerpetologist (talk) 16:07, 19 January 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Evolutionary biology


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Existenzpop

This page is an archive of the discussion surrounding the proposed deletion of the page entitled Existenzpop.

This page is kept as an historic record.

The result of the debate was to delete the article.

Only one non-derivative Google hit, and it's promotion for a band (Mardukh) with one self-produced EP. User:145.254.69.87 seems to be peppering WIkipedia with dubious entries to promote this band. Someone might want to take the time to look at all recent contributions from this IP address. -- Jmabel 07:02, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, delete and delete. Good idea regarding that IP address. - Lucky 6.9 18:06, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Looks like self-promotion. Delete. -- Cyrius|&#9998 20:35, May 18, 2004 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue or the deletion should be placed on other relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text:
Wikipedia:Historical archive/Logs/Offline reports/This article is empty

- ''This report is no longer useful. See Special:Shortpages for a routinely updated list of short and empty wikipedia articles.'' -

Overview
The list below shows pages in the main english article namespace with a zero-length article. It was generated on August 16 2004 from the August 14 2004 database dump.

Preamble
Blank pages may exist because an author has decided to move their work elsewhere and could not delete an old article themself. Consider making it a redirect or marking it for speedy deletion. A blank page may also be vandalism - check the page history and revert to the last good version if this is the case.

Regenerating this report
This report is generated from a Link Analysis Database using the SQL:

select concat( '*', art_title, '' ) from art where art_len = 0 order by art_title;

Suggested improvements

 * This list is very dynamic - it would be useful to run this against the live database - TB 09:34, Jun 9, 2004 (UTC)

List
(all done)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Andrew Phelps

This page is an archive of the discussion surrounding the proposed deletion of the page entitled Andrew Phelps.

This page is kept as an historic record.

The result of the debate was to delete the article.

Delete. Completely non-famous, vanity. Moncrief 06:57, May 18, 2004 (UTC)
 * Another juvenile vanity page. -- Jmabel 07:05, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Seems to have been speedy deleted once before (by you, Moncrief?), a very short version that was a definite candidate for speedy. Now the same IP has posted a longer and very readable version. Probable autobiography, no reason to think it's encyclopedic. Andrewa 15:27, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
 * A better vanity page than most. Delete as probable autobiography. -- Cyrius|&#9998 20:33, May 18, 2004 (UTC)
 * Non-encyclopediatric, delete. Beelzebubs 20:35, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
 * LOL! And, did you happen to notice that all but one paragraph began with "Andrew?"  He even went so far as to claim to be left-handed.  Vanity, thy name is Phelps.  Delete. - Lucky 6.9 22:22, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. JFW | T@lk  22:44, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Geez, is he running for office? Delete.  RickK 01:28, 19 May 2004 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue or the deletion should be placed on other relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


text:
User:Arrowhead~enwiki/Apis mellifera communication

Communication
Bees are able to learn how to communicate their floral findings. As the bee returns to the hive, it performs a dance which indicates the distance and direction of many flowers producing nectar. Thus, many bees observe the dance and will travel towards the source of food.


text: Wikipedia:Historical archive/Logs/Offline reports/This is one of the longest articles


text:
National Assessment Agency

The National Assessment Agency (NAA) was, until December 2008, a subsidiary unit of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB) of the Department for Education and Skills (now the Department for Education) in England and Wales. The agency was based on Bolton Street in west London.

History
First announced in November 2003, the agency was not officially launched until April 2004. The agency took over the delivery and administration of the National Curriculum Tests in England, previously undertaken by the QCA to whom they are accountable.

Functions
As well as being responsible for the national curriculum tests, the agency worked work with examination bodies in further reforms of the GCSE and A-level examinations in England and Wales.

Examination reforms
The agency claimed that it would modernise the examination system, for which it was given a remit from the government of £100m. The remit covered a two-year period from 2004 to 2006. The NAA's Managing Director was David Gee. He was forced to leave on 16 December 2008.

Administration of tests
Whilst the NAA took over the administrative task of test delivery, QCA retained their role in regulating testing standards. Prior to the launch of the NAA, Charles Clarke, the then Secretary of State for Education and Skills stated that the separation of these two roles, made possible by the creation of the new agency, would decrease what was regarded by the government as conflicting responsibilities.

News items

 * End of the NAA in December 2008 - Telegraph

title: National Assessment Agency


text:
Talk:History of zoology through 1859

Talk
This article needs to start with a discussion of Aristotle's zoology.--ragesoss 22:55, 9 January 2006 (UTC)
 * This article needs to start with paleolithic cave drawings of animals.--Wloveral (talk) 16:35, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

new out line

 * Pre-Aristotle
 * Domestication
 * Collections of wild animals
 * Aristotle's classification to Linaus
 * Pliny a step backward
 * Albertus Magnus, Vincentius Bellovacensis, and Thomas Cantipratensis
 * several others mentioned and

 * the page needs to be rewritten this is just my thoughts on a new outline Be Bold J8079s (talk) 19:18, 22 October 2014 (UTC)

 * See my comment on the next item. I agree that Pre/Post Aristotle is the distinction: before him, it wasn't zoology, however many animals were collected to impress people or beautify palaces; nor were domestication and the Neolithic revolution science either. Chiswick Chap (talk) 22:02, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

Off the track a bit
Zoology is a theoretical field of study on the topic of all animals, wherever and whatever they might be. This article delves, incorrectly, I believe, into other more practical fields, more in the line of arts, crafts, or skills, such as animal breeding or animal domestication. These are not strictly theoretical topics of study. So, the facts that Neolithic man domesticated animals or that ancient Egypt used cattle aren't zoology as such. What we would want to know is, what theory of animals did the Egyptians have? If they didn't have any, they shouldn't be in the article. The fact that they could milk or slaughter cattle or knew how to keep and feed them is not zoologic. A zoologist is a theoretical man; he studies facts about animals and comes up with theories, which he publishes with the evidence, to be learned by students and reviewed by peers. A stock-breeder is not per se a zoologist, although some stock-breeders might also be zoologists or be familiar with zoology.

A history of zoology is therefore a history of a field of study. It seems to me a good place to start would be the origin of the named field, zoology. We might mention how and when this named field began, and with whom. Then of course we would be covering the topic of zoological theories not under that name. How far back do those go? Aristotle, of course, the king of the theoreticians, offers much zoological theory under the general term "animals." He does not talk about stock-breeding. He mainly wants to describe and classify different animals, focusing on method of reproduction. I wish I knew more about animal theory in other ancient cultures. Since others no doubt have the same problem this is going to have to be a pooling of knowledge, as is so much of WP, by now practically an indispensable source. It seems to me the furthest back you possibly could go would be the first utterance of a classification of objects, say plant, animal, mineral. I'm afraid the Neolithic will be of no use to us there, as their languages are mainly vanished away.

In short, the best place to start is with definitions of animals and then of their field of study. Ciao.Botteville (talk) 22:36, 9 October 2016 (UTC)

 * I pretty much agree. Zoology is the systematic study of animals, and that began with Aristotle's biology. Then for nearly 2000 years, Aristotle guided and shaped zoology, so we ought to say how that worked. I'll see about cutting out the non-zoological precursor stuff. Chiswick Chap (talk) 21:59, 24 November 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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title: Talk:History of zoology through 1859


text:
Talk:Cajun Country

Any reason not to just turn this into a redirect to Cajun?

If anything, I'd suggest a redirect to Acadiana, which is the official name of the area.--Xj14y 21:17, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Cajun Country


text:
Chinese mantis

The Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) is a species of mantis native to Asia and the nearby islands. In 1896, this species was accidentally introduced by a nursery tender at Mt. Airy near Philadelphia, United States. Tenodera sinensis often is erroneously referred to as Tenodera aridifolia sinensis because it was at first described as a subspecies of Tenodera aridifolia, but Tenodera sinensis is now established as a full species.

Tenodera sinensis feeds primarily on other insects, though adult females sometimes catch small vertebrates. For example, they have been observed feeding on hornets, spiders, grasshoppers, katydids, small reptiles, amphibians, and even hummingbirds. Like most mantids, they are known to be cannibalistic. One study found that cannibalism occurs in up to 50% of matings. These mantids have been observed eating the larvae of monarch butterflies, while discarding the entrails.

Description
The Chinese mantis is a long, slender, brown and green praying mantis. It is typically longer than other praying mantis species, reaching just over 11 cm, and is the largest mantis species in North America (spread throughout the Northeast United States). Its color can vary from overall green to brown with a green lateral stripe on the borders of the front wings in the brown color form. In low light, the eyes of the mantis appear black, but in daylight appear to be clear, matching the color of the head. Chinese mantids look similar to another mantis species that has been introduced to the United States, the narrow-winged mantid (Tenodera angustipennis). Tenodera sinensis and Tenodera angustipennis are similar in appearance; however, it is possible to tell them apart by locating a spot in between their front legs, as the spot is yellow in the Chinese mantis but orange in the narrow-winged mantis. The female can produce several semi-spherical oothecae, roughly 2 cm in diameter, containing up to 300 eggs. The oothecae are often affixed to vegetation such as bushes and small trees.

Native range
This mantis is native to China, Japan, the Korean Peninsula, Micronesia, and Thailand. Populations of T. sinensis in Japan are sympatric with Tenodera aridifolia, the Japanese giant mantis, of which T. sinensis was formerly considered a subspecies.

Growth
Chinese mantises hatch in the spring, eat, grow, and molt through the summer, and lay eggs at the end of summer. When it gets too cold, they die, only living around a year long. First instar nymphs that eat less take a longer time to molt to the next instar and are smaller at the second instar than first instar nymphs that have been fed more.

Captivity
Tenodera sinensis is a common pet for mantis enthusiasts, and oothecae can be purchased from plant nurseries across the US.

Predators
The Chinese mantis is preyed on by other mantises, birds, and the Asian giant hornet in its native range. The female mantis specifically preys on male mantises. She often kills and eats her male partner after mating, providing nutrition for her offspring. Sexual cannibalism is a strange phenomenon not yet completely understood by scientists.

Similar species
The European mantis (Mantis religiosa) and the Carolina mantis (Stagmomantis carolina) are both smaller mantises closely resembling the Chinese mantis. The European mantis is anywhere from tan to green in color and about 7.5 cm (3 in) long. The Carolina mantis, on the other hand, is only 6 cm (2.5 in) in length and varies more in color.

Culture
There are two martial arts styles created to mimic the movements of the Chinese mantis. Developed in the Shandong province of China in the mid-17th century, Praying Mantis kung-fu is based on the quick movements and techniques of the Chinese mantis. An unrelated style of kung fu that was developed by the Hakka people in Southern China is known as Southern Praying Mantis.

Master Mantis, one of the supporting characters in the 2008 Dreamworks Animation film franchise Kung Fu Panda, is a Chinese mantis and one of the members of the Furious Five.

title: Chinese mantis


text:
User talk:Charles Matthews/Talk:Lubos Motl

What is my "ridiculous misuse" of this page? It's my intention to talk about the content of the article, which requires talking about the subject of the article. I'm not talking about the author of the article, except coincidentally, if the author and the subject happen to be the same person. Under those circumstances, wrote I wrote becomes awkward, even ironic, but hardly a misuse of the page. The purpose of the talk page is to discuss the content of the article, for example, to justify edits -- which is what I did. -- Toby Bartels 19:40, 13 May 2004 (UTC)

I'm actually surprised you want to go public on this.

 * A user talk page in Wikipedia is private enough. As far as I can tell, only you, Lumidek, and I are paying any attention.
 * Well, then, let me clarify that Talk:Lubos Motl is not a user talk page. Charles Matthews
 * Sorry, I misunderstood what you meant by "go public". In fact, now I don't think that I know what you mean at all. '_` -- Toby Bartels 01:21, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

 * I'm paying attention! Lethe

 * Let me just say that I am a string theory grad student, and also a long time reader of s.p.r and now also of s.p.s. I have only been a wikipedian for a month or two, but at this point, I cannot see anything wrong with Toby's actions.  I defer to more experienced Wikipedians Lethe

 * Charles MatthewsWell, I may have this entirely wrong. Maybe the way to get Edward Witten as a contributor here would be to write on the discussion page there that it's a sad reflection on the Fields Medal committee that he got an award (which some people have thought).

 * Well, why not? I mean, isn't that what the Talk page is for?  to discuss with other people what sorts of things should be in the article and why or why not?  doesn't that necessarily include expressing opinions about people?  like saying that Witten didn't deserve his medal on the talk page might lead to a more NPOV position in the article, right? Lethe

 * From Talk pages - Wikipedians generally oppose the use of talk pages just for the purpose of partisan talk about the main subject. Wikipedia is not a soapbox, it's an encyclopedia. In other words, talk about the article, not about the subject.
 * So, I think Toby was out of order here; and if Lethe thinks the talk pages are for general gossip, that is not correct. Charles Matthews 06:13, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

 * OK, you are right. According to the letter of the policy, that may not have been acceptable usage.  But also note that on the page you link, it states  "That said, Wikipedians are fallible creatures, so it's entirely natural that a bit of partisan wrangling takes place on talk pages - and occasionally this even leads to improvements in the article! So there's a fair degree of tolerance, and most Wikipedians succumb to a bit of wrangling from time to time".  So i don't think we should get upset if there was some "partisan wrangling".  Toby is a valuable contributor, let's have some tolerance!Lethe

 * I have to say, I'd assumed this discussion had run its course. Lubos is adding many new physics pages. I wrote and thanked him, apologising on behalf on WP for Toby's reception of him. There may or may not be any connection.

Charles Matthews 20:42, 10 Jun 2004 (UTC)

As I wrote on your page, I have had trouble replying to your email.

 * I'd like to figure this out then. As I wrote there, I don't understand what the trouble is. If you want to talk about this only by email, then let's talk here about how to fix the email problem instead.
 * So when I tried to reply to your email, I met some spam-block at your institution; and at an alternate address. Maybe this was a temporary glitch.Charles Matthews
 * I hope that it is! I consider this a very serious matter, since I've never instructed UCR to block any of my incoming mail. (I even got upset when they started deleting viruses!) So if you can't email me, then I'd definitely like to get to the bottom of it. Where exactly did you mail the reply, and what exactly was the spam-block message? -- Toby Bartels

I know you have embarrassed me with this.

 * I'm sorry that you're embarrassed! I don't think that you have any reason for embarrassment, since you're just a bystander. But at the same time, if you want to drop the whole thing, then that's fine by me.

 * I'm embarrassed for the project. How many people in the world could write us survey pages on strings that are well-informed? 100? What attitude does WP show? Petty, demeaning retailing of gossip from a physics schism. Charles Matthews

 * Ah, I understood what you mean now. My impression is that Lubos finds the situation amusing; I would feel embarrassed too if he'd gotten upset and I was now scrambling to make him stay. But he seems to have forgiven me. -- Toby Bartels

If you are not yourself embarrassed, I don't know why.

 * I don't generally find it embarrassing to dicuss my mistakes. There are exceptions to that, but also keep in mind that I don't find my mistake here to be nearly as big as you seem to find it.

 * Well, then, I'd say you're less of a person than I took you for. Look, you could have done the edit summary 'no, not flame wars'; not solicit people's recent Lubos stories and call him 'a big jerk'. Normal where you come from, is this? Charles Matthews

 * It's normal for me, when editing a newbie for the first time, to explain myself carefully and (if possible) express sympathy for their position. This is the first time that that has backfired, but I'll take more care in the future. -- Toby Bartels

In terms then: it is a ridiculous misuse of Wikipedia talk pages to bring up UseNet exchanges; someone's suitability as a newsgroup moderator; and things you believed to be true of them a year ago.

 * What's ridiculous about that? Outside of context, nobody would agree with your statement. If an article talks about a famous person's behaviour on UseNet, then the article's talk page is precisely the place to discuss that person's behaviour on UseNet. Certainly, if I'd known that the person that I was talking about was the same as the person that I was talking to, then I would have said different things. As it was, they seemed to be different people; the article Lubos Motl is now nicer to Lubos, thanks to my edit, than the original article that User:Lumidek wrote!

 * Give me patience. No, you don't have to balance the article tweak with saying bad things on the talk page. I think you assumed the article writer was 'sympathetic' to your negative view, and didn't want to offend some ally for some other battle later. So, are you in with the crowd who shout 'Lysenkoism'? It should be quite obvious that WP's interests are to keep clear of forums where it's all about personalities. Charles Matthews

 * No, my crowd is the one surrounding John Baez, which is why I had handy the link that I did. The guy that was shouting "Lysenkoism" (he doesn't have a crowd that I know of) is Jack Sarfatti (no article on him '_`), and he's rather antipathetic to Baez (more so than to Lubos, as far as I know).

 * To the extent that I worry about battles in Wikipedia, I think more in terms of clashes of issues. There are many personalities in Wikipedia that are my allies in one sense while my opponents in another. (But mostly I don't think in terms of opponents and battles, since we're all allies in the greater scheme of things.)

 * It's natural for me to comparmentalise issues like this. Lubos might be my opponent in a debate on loop quantum gravity but my ally in a debate on the mind-body problem. You're my opponent in this present discussion, but you're my ally in trying to get your email past UCR's blocking. I don't hold grudges (nor develop personal loyalty). -- Toby Bartels

I'm surprised, considering your history here, that you could think otherwise.

 * We disagree about this situation, but given your opinion, this is a compliment about my usual behaviour. So thank you for that! ^_^

 * I disagree that you should be defending your abuse of the talk page, beginning with abuse of Lubos, by reverting. I don't do revert wars. You apparently think it's smart. You could be contrite. Instead you think an emoticon will do. Well, I've had enough of you. Charles Matthews 06:36, 15 May 2004 (UTC)

 * I was contrite earlier, but I'm obviously not contrite about the matters that we disagree on. My emoticon was sincere. My only insincerity is that I haven't revealed to you how funny I find the whole thing -- because the one thing that is not funny is your reaction. In fact, I still hope to convince you that things aren't so bad. I haven't had enough of you and look forward to being your ally in the future. -- Toby Bartels 01:21, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Oh, so I lack a sense of humour, now. No, you have been behaving in a partisan, UnWikipedian way, contrary to policy. I reference the WP page about talk pages above, which perhaps you should re-read - it makes it clear that there are other fora for your kind. And next time you don't like someone's newsgroup postings, do us a favour and take it up with them there. Charles Matthews 06:13, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Your sense of humour is fine as far as I know. I clearly did not use the talk page "just for the purpose of partisan talk about the main subject". -- Toby Bartels 01:25, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

Charles Matthews 20:27, 13 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Toby Bartels 00:15, 15 May 2004 (UTC)

By the way, Talk:Loop quantum gravity, compiled in parallel, seems to show how it should work. Charles Matthews 10:24, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

Yes, that went more smoothly (only "has a big mouth", not "is a big jerk"), although it happened under different circumstances. Ironically (I can't let a day of this go by without irony, eh? ^_^), the discussants on that page went on to say unkinder (or at least more unkind) things about LM later on (after you posted the link above). -- Toby Bartels 01:38, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

You don't really mean Miguel; you mean this anonymous dan IP. Who is another person with a stake in past UseNet activity; and who is not really discussing the article, just doing the tale-telling bit.

Charles Matthews 07:07, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

 * This whole thing is an unfortunate case of overspill from USENET onto Wikipedia Talk, as everyone involved except for Charles "met" on s.p.r. Amusingly, I first "met" Charles outside Wikipedia, too (on Sensei's Library), so I guess the Internet is still a small place. As I just said on Talk:LQG, Let's just forget the debate and get on with the content. — Miguel 07:20, 2004 May 27 (UTC)


text:
Royal Automobile Club of Australia

The Royal Automobile Club of Australia (RACA) is an Australian motoring organisation, which has also incorporated the Australian Imperial Services Club since 1987.

The RACA was established in March 1903 in Sydney, and is the oldest motoring club in Australia, founded by Henry Alfred ‘Harrie’ Skinner, WE Fisher and HE Jones. The Royal Automobile Club of Australia had an important role in shaping early motoring legislation, in safeguarding the rights of motorists, and in establishing motorsport in Australia.

The organisation used to provide roadside service and insurance but in 1945 in an agreement with the NRMA ceased offering these services with members gaining reciprocal access to NRMA provided services.

The RACA is a member of the Australian Automobile Association.

Original Office Bearers
The first Office Bearers of the Royal Automobile Club of Australia (RACA), in 1903, were:

 * President: HA Jones
 * First Vice President: James Macken
 * Second Vie President: Dr C McCarthy
 * Third Vice President: Harrie Skinner
 * Fourth Vice President: Harry Vale
 * Hon Treasurer:	George Lane
 * Hon Secretary:	WE Fisher
 * Consulting Engineer: AJ Knowles
 * General Committee:
 * AA Hunter
 * W Reid
 * G Hamilton
 * R Empson
 * J Gibbs
 * RS Gillett
 * Original or Founder Members:
 * CA Berry
 * JS Brunton
 * C Bennett
 * Dr P Cooley
 * R Empson
 * WE Fisher
 * Mark Foy
 * J Gibbs
 * R Gillett
 * Dr F Hall
 * G Hamilton
 * Dr H C Hinder
 * AA Hunter
 * HA Jones
 * WH Kelly
 * AJ Knowles
 * OG Lane
 * Dr CW McCarthy
 * James Macken
 * RJC Maddrell
 * AR Marks
 * HF Maddrell
 * J Spencer Nolan
 * I Phizackerle
 * Dr Rowland Pope
 * W Reid
 * H Skinner
 * EP Simpson
 * AE Starkey
 * E Tyson
 * H Vale

Past Presidents

 * HA Jones (1903-1908)
 * S Horden Sr. (1908-1909)
 * GF Todman (1909-1910)
 * Sir Samuel Hordern, KBE (1910-1912, 1914–1930)
 * Colonel JM Arnott (1912-1914)
 * PA Oatley (1930-1936)
 * WJ Bradley QC BA LLB (1936-1937)
 * Sir John Butters, KB CMG MBE VD (1937-1949)
 * H Scougall (1949-1956)
 * HA Fisher-Webster BA (Oxon) (1956-1967)
 * GW Cutts (1967-1970)
 * AF Bode FCA (1970-1973)
 * JO Sherwood MBE (1973-1982)
 * BV Clifton (1982-1987)
 * RG Wagland (1987-1992)
 * BD Kelly (1992-1997)
 * HE Nicholls (1997-1998)
 * BJ Fisher (1998-2003)
 * G. Thomas (2003-2016)
 * M. Callanan (2016-2021)
 * M. Lavender (2021-2022)
 * R. Armitage (2023-

title: Royal Automobile Club of Australia


text:
Henry Skinner (businessman)

Henry Alfred 'Harrie Skinner (July 12, 1854 – October 1936) was the founder of the Royal Automobile Club of Australia (RACA) . He was a photographic pioneer and was a manager of a circus.

Early life
Skinner was born in England on 12 July 1854. He came with his parents to Sydney around 1870, eventually settling in Melbourne. From there he found a bank job. At age 21, he decided to run off and join the circus. The circus he joined was called Cooper and Bailey's Great American International Circus.

Career
In his 1936 obituary in The Truth, Harrie went on to run various sideshows, becoming a manager for Harrie Rickards. Harrie Skinner was the scheme behind several celebrities such as the US Minstrels, Ada Ward and Millie Walton and the Fakir of Oolu (actually an English magician called Sylvester, who performed Indian-style levitations). It is likely that Harrie introduced the gramophone to Sydney with a stage performance in mind – the first gramophones were pitted against live musicians in theatre.

He was in Sydney as early as 1878, when he took control of the Pier Hotel in Manly, and afterwards the Tivoli in Castlereagh Street and the Agincourt in George Street. For 11 years from 1882 he published Skinner's NSW Gazetteer, detailing timetables, postal and telegraph information according to the Evening News "replete with all information commonly found in such publications and much that is not". The Gazetteer was a success, but foundered when the Commissioners for Railways began publishing their own timetables "at about one fourth of the cost of production".

His theatrical management continued, with 27 years spent as the sole manager of the Palace Theatre, and some time as acting manager of the Tivoli. With the eye for spectacle, Harrie was the only businessman who agreed to back a foreign aviator who arrived in Sydney claiming he would build a machine that would flap its wings and fly. Harrie charged thousands of spectators to see the machine during its construction in a Castlereagh Street allotment, and interest reached high following a trial run with a donkey engine and the construction of a runway down one of the hills over Chowder Bay. Ferry boats kept a cautious distance below, with all the passengers paying the promoters for the privilege of their close-up view.

While the foreign aviator was keen to go ahead with the flight of his machine, Harrie had few illusions as to the likelihood of success and, fearing for the life of the pilot, arranged for the chocks holding the machine to be deliberately kicked out. The machine rolled down the hill without a pilot, hitting the water with a great splash and sinking like a stone. The machine's builder was distraught, despite his share of the takings, and stories were placed in the newspapers about "ruffians from Woolloomooloo" sabotaging the flight.

Founding of the Royal Automobile Club of Australia
Harrie Skinner's love of machines made him an enthusiast for the new automobiles arriving in Sydney, and he purchased his De Dion car from retail baron Mark Foy, who would later become another founding member of the Royal Automobile Club of Australia. The story of his founding of the club is detailed down below.

The following tale relates a trip taken with good friend William 'Billy' Elliott driving a new vehicle to Bulli one Saturday. "Mr Elliott worked on the car all Friday night and we set off about 9.30 in the morning, hoping to arrive at Bulli about lunch time," Mr Skinner later recalled. "Everything went well until we reached the turning to Helensburgh, via Brown's Hill, and the top Sandy Road via Bulli Pass. Here we discovered the petrol was running out too quickly. Additional supplies had been sent to Bulli by rail.

"At the top of Brown's Hill, Billy said, 'Here's where we save some petrol'. He shut off the supply and started to coast down the hill. After going about 20 yards the pace became a cracker.

"I said, 'What's up?' and Billy replied, 'The damned brakes won't work!' Next, he tried to put his gears in, but they stripped, and off we went on our mad race.

"Two tires burst, we jumped water-courses, and the scenery rushed past in whirling array. There were two cows on the road; one went up the hill and the other down.

"There was no fence in those days and few places where a cart could pass. Fortunately, we met none. At the bottom Billy drove sideways into an embankment. Four tires were burst and missing, the gears were gone and our nerves were not functioning well. Billy says we reached 150 miles an hour (241.4 kilometers per hour). My estimate was 500. With the assistance of three different horses, we reached our destination at 7.30 PM. Ultimately, one of the brakes was found in the back of the car."

In the early days when horseless carriages were still drawing crowds of onlookers wherever they went, the difficulty was finding a place to stop the car. One day Harrie Skinner took his wife for a drive to La Perouse. On arriving, a tire was flat, and he proceeded to pump the tyre up, surrounded by an audience of hundreds, according to a story printed in The Motor in 1927, Mrs Skinner objected to this publicity, and threatened never to get into the car again. To please her, Skinner drove into the bush away from prying eyes, and continued working on the car. While he was busy, three young fellows drove up in a horse-drawn cart, and sensed that something was wrong.

"Can we gi' yer a hand?"

"No, thanks," replied Mr Skinner.

"Gi' yer a pull?"

"No."

"Well, can we take yer tart?"

Driving examiner
As car numbers began to increase on New South Wales roads, and public safety became an issue for police, the authorities, who had already worked in close association with the club on motoring issues, approached it to provide an experienced driver to undertake the examination of drivers for licences. Harrie was nominated as the member "with the most time on his hands" — a surprising statement given his level of activity. He was authorised to examine drivers and issue certificates.

Harrie Skinner's work for the RACA and his founding role earned him the honour of the first Honorary Life Membership of what was by then the Royal Automobile Club of Australia. A year before his death in 1936, an honorary portrait of him was unveiled at a special presentation at the RACA's Club House in Macquarie Street, where it remains on display.

Death
Skinner died in October 1936 presumably at the age of 81. His body was buried in Waverley Cemetery, with his self-penned epitaph on his headstone:

"Life is Done, Time Ends, Eternity's Begun".

"Life was a funny proposition after all."

title: Henry Skinner (businessman)