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Wardroom

The wardroom is the mess cabin or compartment on a warship or other military ship for commissioned naval officers above the rank of midshipman. Although the term typically applies to officers in a navy, it is also applicable to marine officers and coast guard officers in those nations that have such service branches. On larger vessels, such as aircraft carriers of the United States Navy, there may be more than one wardroom. It may also be used on stone frigates to refer to similar officer mess facilities at naval, marine, and coast guard installations ashore.

Terminology
The term the wardroom is also used (metonymically) to refer to those individuals with the right to occupy that wardroom, meaning 'the officers of the wardroom'.

Usage
The wardroom provides a place of rest, relaxation and recreation, as well as being an officers' dining room. Usually, a galley or scullery adjoins the wardroom. Table service is provided by stewards, now known in some services as mess specialists or culinary specialists.

On warships other than those of the U.S. Navy, there is usually a bar where alcoholic drinks may be purchased. Ships may be either 'wet' or 'dry': the former allowing the consumption of alcohol whilst at sea (though may still be prohibited during action stations), whilst a dry ship only allows alcohol to be consumed when alongside at port, if at all. Ships of the United States Navy have not allowed alcohol consumption onboard since 1913, although since 1980 unique, by exception, single-day waivers have been granted to vessels deployed in excess of 60 days without a port call.

Etiquette
Wardrooms have rules governing etiquette and military customs. Traditionally considered taboo are three topics: politics, religion, and sex (earlier guidebooks referred to the latter as 'ladies', this being changed as increasing numbers of female officers joined the wardrooms of warships and coast guard vessels). On large ships in peacetime, talking about professional business is also frowned upon. It is also considered inappropriate to perform work, or to meet with subordinates in a wardroom. Typically, upon entering the wardroom at meal time, members ask permission from the most senior officer present before joining the table.

The ship's executive officer is usually the mess president. On warships and coast guard vessels, the commanding officer is normally not a member of the wardroom but is invited to join the members for special occasions.

Of significant note in ships' wardrooms of the Royal Navy is the daily toast to the monarch. In all other circumstances and settings, those toasting the monarch would first rise to their feet and face the monarch before raising their glass and declaring their affirmation. In ships wardrooms, officers remain seated to toast the monarch. This practice came about following the permission of King William IV; when the King who was dining in a wardroom aboard a warship himself rose to return the compliment and banged his head, due to the low headroom height between warship decks of the period.

title: Wardroom


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LaGuardia Community College

LaGuardia Community College is a public community college in New York City. It is in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in and part of the City University of New York. LaGuardia is named after former congressman and New York City mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia. The college offers associate degrees in the arts, sciences, and applied sciences, as well as continuing education programs.

History
LaGuardia Community College was founded on January 22, 1967, by a resolution of the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York, a New York State government agency which was the precursor to the City University of New York's board of trustees. The new college, originally designated "Community College Number Nine", was to be comprehensive: "The college will be oriented to the needs and interests of the community in which it is located, providing cultural activities, special services, continuing education and skills training opportunities for community residents of all ages."

The college's first president was Joseph Shenker, who had been Acting President of Kingsborough Community College and at age 29, the youngest community college president anywhere in the United States. In October 1970, the Board of Higher Education, breaking with CUNY's geographic naming convention, named the new college after Mayor LaGuardia, noting his "lifelong public service to the people of the City of New York and of the United States, and his ambitious and successful leadership of good government campaigns to provide decent living conditions and guarantee democratic processes for all...."

The college was officially opened on September 22, 1971, and received its first accreditation from the Middle States Association in December 1972 when the college graduated its first class. Shenker was succeeded as president by Raymond C. Bowen in 1989 and by Gail Mellow in 2000.

The La Guardia and Wagner Archives was established on campus in 1982.

The college has supported numerous educational projects and conferences in collaboration with the Wikipedia community since 2012.

In early 2024, Steve Cohen's Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation donated $116 million for the establishment of a workforce development center at LaGuardia Community College, which is planned to open in 2029.

Campus
On March 24, 1970, the New York City Board of Higher Education approved the former Ford Instrument Company building on Long Island City's Thomson Avenue as the location for the College. At this time, Joseph Shenker was named president of the proposed college. Renovations to the five-story, former factory began the same year. This building would serve as the Main building of the new college—renamed Shenker Hall in 2008 in honor of the College's founding president.

The Ford Instrument Building was intended to be a temporary home for the college. On September 22, 1972, the school received from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, for payment of $1, a 5.2 acre site in Astoria that had formerly been the U.S. Army Pictorial Center, with the intention of moving the college to a campus on the new site. Originally the Famous Players–Lasky film studio, the complex consisted of 15 buildings. However, in 1974 during the city's fiscal crisis the site had to be sold off, as the expense of maintaining it in the interim was too high. The Army Pictorial Center would later become Kaufman Astoria Studios.

The current campus including Shenker Hall is located at the east end of Long Island City near Sunnyside. The area is physically separated from the rest of Long Island City by the Long Island Rail Road's Sunnyside Yard. The campus runs between Thomson Avenue to the north and 47th Avenue to the south, extending east from 28th Street near the Queensboro Bridge approach to Van Dam Street. The buildings of the campus consist of former Long Island City factories and warehouses converted for school use.

The closest New York City Subway station to the campus is the 33rd Street–Rawson Street station on the IRT Flushing Line.

C Building
At the far west end of the campus is the C Building or Center III, located between 29th and 30th Street near the Queensboro Bridge approach. The ten-story former factory was constructed in 1912 as the Loose-Wiles Sunshine Biscuits Building. Due to its size and numerous windows, the building was dubbed the "largest factory in Long Island", "world's largest bakery", and the "Thousand Window Bakery". The building was designed by architect William Higginson, with a reinforced concrete frame, and a glazed white terra cotta facade produced by the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company. A spur track from the nearby Long Island Rail Road fed into the rear of the building, allowing freight cars to load and unload inside the facility. The complex also included a two-level garage building for the storage of delivery trucks. The biscuit factory was erected as part of the Degnon Terminal area of Long Island City, created by developer Michael Degnon. Degnon's firm was the contractor that excavated the Steinway Subway Tunnel to Midtown Manhattan. He also proposed and partially developed a major industrial port revolving around Flushing Bay, which later became Flushing Meadows–Corona Park.

By the 1970s, the building was used as the headquarters for Executone, a producer of telephone systems. It also served as a Gimbels warehouse. In 1975, LaGuardia Community College began leasing 20000 ft2 of space on the third floor the Executone Building, including seven classrooms and a lecture hall. In 1981, the college leased an additional 40000 ft2 of space on the building's seventh floor. In 1985, the Executone Building became part of a four-building complex known as the International Design Center New York (IDCNY). The complex included the adjacent Bucilla Building (Center II) and the former American Chicle Company factory (Center I). The name "Center III" originated from its use within the Design Center. Due to the 1987 stock market crash, Center III was never redesigned for IDCNY like the other two buildings. The entire Center III building was purchased by LaGuardia in 1998 for $52 million to create a West Campus. The college also purchased the adjacent garage (Center IV), the former Loose-Wiles truck garage. The purchase increased the size of the college campus by 70 percent, and would relieve space in the E Building.

In 2006 the college announced a series of projects to renovate the C Building. One of the projects completed circa 2010 renovated the interior of the building, creating new classrooms and office space. This involved removing a grain elevator used during the Sunshine Biscuit era. Other work involved constructing escalators in the building, overhauling passenger elevators, and converting three freight elevators into passenger elevators. In 2013, LaGuardia announced a project to install a new facade on the C Building, designed by Mitchell Giurgola Architects. An aluminum and terra cotta curtainwall would be installed atop the original terra cotta which was in disrepair, and new windows would also be installed. Both renovations improved the insulation and energy efficiency of the building. In addition, the two front entrances along Thomson Avenue were consolidated into a single main entrance. The project was completed in 2018.

The building features a large rooftop billboard sign which is illuminated at night. Over the years it has featured the names of its various tenants, including Loose-Wiles, Executone, and IDCNY. As part of the modern renovations to the C Building, the sign was fitted with branding for LaGuardia Community College.

B Building
The B Building or Center II is located between 30th Street and 30th Place, across from the C Building. The eight-story building was constructed in 1914 as the American Eveready Building within the Degnon Terminal, designed by Maynicke and Francke. The building occupies the northern half of the block between Thomson and 47th Avenues; the southern half was purchased by Eveready for a future expansion which was never built, and it is currently used as a parking lot. In 1929, the American Knit Goods company leased space in the building, beginning its use as a clothing and textile factory. By the 1940s, the plant was used by the Bernhard Ulmann Company and its subsidiary Bucilla Yarn.

The Bucilla Building became Center II of the International Design Center New York in 1985. As part of renovations for the design center created by I. M. Pei & Partners, the open-air courtyards at the center of the building and the adjacent American Chicle Building (Center I) were covered with skylights to create atriums, while indoor walls were taken down to create more open interiors. By 1998, the International Design Center was renamed the Queens Atrium Corporate Center, and three floors from Center II were leased to DeVry University.

In 2006, LaGuardia Community College received $55 million allocated by the New York State Legislature for the purchase of new school buildings. This was used to lease two floors in the Bucilla Building beginning in 2008. In November 2009, the college opened a Healthcare Career Center inside the B Building.

Four of the eight floors of the building are occupied by the Queens High School Complex of the New York City Department of Education. The complex houses three public high schools: Bard High School Early College Queens, the Academy of Finance and Enterprise, and the High School of Applied Communication.

Joseph Shenker Hall and E Building
Located at the east end of the campus are the adjacent Joseph Shenker Hall, a.k.a. the Main Building or M Building; and the E Building or East Building, formerly the Annex Building. The two buildings occupy a two-block-wide site between 31st Street and Van Dam Street, with a common courtyard in between the two buildings along the de-mapped 31st Place.

The M Building was constructed in 1920 as the White Motor Company truck factory and service station, part of the Degnon Terminal. It replaced the company's plant at Broadway and 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan. In 1941, the building was sold to the Ford Instrument Company, a subsidiary of Sperry Rand. The factory manufactured electronics for the United States Armed Forces' World War II efforts. Following the war, the factory produced missile guidance systems for the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, designed the controls and instrumentation for the USS Seawolf nuclear submarine, and created other computer systems such as aircraft navigation systems for the U.S. military.

The Ford Instrument building was purchased by CUNY for the college, then provisionally known as "Community College IX", in 1970. "Phase I" renovations were conducted in the building prior to the opening of the college in September 1971. At this time, the building included basic classrooms and offices, a 115-seat library, and a "Great Hall" at the south end of the building for assemblies inherited from Sperry Rand. Additional "Phase II" renovations were completed in 1976, which added new classrooms and a theater, an atrium or mall referred to as an "interior street", and converted the Great Hall into a gymnasium.

The E building was originally operated as the Equitable Paper Bag factory building. In 1954, the company claimed to manufacture the largest paper bag in the world, measuring 14 ft long. The building was purchased by LaGuardia in 1984, with the college proposing a major project to renovate the building and connect it to the Main Building. The plans were drawn up by Danforth Toan of the Warner, Burns, Toan and Lund firm. Ground was broken for the project on November 16, 1989, and the new building complex was dedicated and opened on June 4, 1992. The project included the LaGuardia Performing Arts Center at the south end of the E Building, featuring an 800-seat proscenium theater, and a new campus library at the north end. The basement of the complex contains the athletic facilities of the college. This includes a six-lane NCAA regulation swimming pool constructed in the 1992 project, a fitness center, and a gymnasium for multiple sports including basketball.

On August 14, 2008, the college dedicated the M Building as "Joseph Shenker Hall" in honor of founding president Joseph Shenker. Shenker would pass away in September of that year.

Middle College High School Campus

At the far east end of the campus across from the M and E Buildings is the Middle College High School Campus, formerly the college's L Building, located at Van Dam Street and 47th Avenue. The building houses two public high schools affiliated with the college, Middle College High School and International High School. Prior to educational use, the building served as the factory for X-Acto hobby knives, and as a depot for Pan American World Airways.

The building was purchased by the college in 1989. At this time, Middle College High School was moved into the building, with classrooms used by the high school during the day and by the college at night. In addition, an Early Child Care Learning Center for the children of college students was created in the building. On October 20, 1989, the building was dedicated as the Marie LaGuardia Building or L Building in honor of the wife of Fiorello La Guardia, who in 1982 donated records and memorabilia that formed the basis of the La Guardia and Wagner Archives.

An 820-seat addition or annex was completed in October 2012, designed by Goshow Architects. This allowed International High School to move from the M Building into the Middle College Campus.

S Building
The former S Building, a.k.a. the Satellite Building or Satellite College (31-11 Thomson Avenue),  is located on Thomson Avenue across to the north of the Main Building. It was originally known as the Sony Building. It was also the headquarters and warehouse for Stroheim & Romann, a fabric and interior design company.

LaGuardia began renting space in the building in 1973, occupying 71000 ft2 of space. It was the original home of Middle College High School when it opened in 1974. In 1984, the college began leasing the second and third floors of the building, in addition to the basement and first floor already in use. The building features a rooftop parking lot, which was used by the college. The college ceased use of the building in the 1990s, after the completion of the E & M Building complex and the acquisition of the L Building.

In 2008, the New York Public Library began leasing the building. The library renovated the building for use as its Library Services Center, opening in 2010 at the cost of $50 million. The center contains a 238 ft automated book sorting machine in the building's basement, and a digital imaging center.

Academics
The College offers associate degrees and certificates in over 50 majors in Business and Technology, Liberal Arts, Health, Math, and Science.

Enrollment
As of the Fall of 2011, LaGuardia had an enrollment of 17,569 undergraduate students, 58% of them attending full-time, and 42% part-time. This undergraduate enrollment made the college the third largest community college in the CUNY system, after the Borough of Manhattan Community College and Kingsborough Community College.

Student body
LaGuardia's student body is made up of people from 160 different countries who speak 127 languages natively.

Of the student population, 43% (6,386) are Hispanic, 22% (3,171) are Asian, 18% (2,699) are Black, 13% (1,937) are White, and 4% (656) described themselves as Other.

Athletics
LaGuardia Community College teams participate as a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). The Red Hawks are a member of the community college section of the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) since the 2013-14 season (the inaugural year of the school's athletic program). Sports include men's and women's basketball. Men's & women's soccer and men's & women's swimming & diving will also be added within its athletic program, effectively on the 2014-15 season.

Alumni

 * Elly Gross, Holocaust survivor, poet and author
 * Heather Foster, Jamaican American professional bodybuilder
 * Ruben Diaz Jr., Bronx Borough President
 * Reby Sky, professional wrestler
 * Rudy Washington, Deputy Mayor under Rudolph Giuliani
 * Jeffrey Archer Disk Jockey

Faculty

 * Bruce Davidson (former), photojournalist
 * John A. Williams (former), novelist
 * Barbara Zucker (former), sculptor

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

title: LaGuardia Community College


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Ostashkov

Ostashkov (Оста́шков) is a town and the administrative center of Ostashkovsky District in Tver Oblast, Russia, on a peninsula at the southern shore of Lake Seliger, 199 km west of Tver, the administrative center of the oblast. Population:

Early developments
The island of Klichen was first mentioned in a letter sent by Grand Duke Algirdas of Lithuania to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1371. After the island was pillaged by Novgorod pirates several years later, two of Klichen's surviving inhabitants, Ostashko and Timofey, moved to the mainland, where they founded the villages Ostashkovo and Timofeyevo, respectively. The former belonged to the Moscow Patriarchs, and the latter—to the Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery. In 1770, both villages were merged into the town of Ostashkov.

Ostashkov is commonly regarded as one of the finest Russian provincial towns. Its main streets were laid out in Neoclassical style after the plans of Ivan Starov (1772). Local landmarks include the Ascension Church (1689), the Trinity Cathedral (1697), the Monastery of the Sign (1673, 1730s, 1880s), and the mid-18th century Zhitny Cloister. There is also a fanciful column erected by people of Ostashkov in 1787 to mark a spot where a wooden fort (1587) used to stand. The town's pleasant architecture and attractive setting by the lake combine to make Ostashkov one of the most popular resorts in Western Russia.

The well-known Nilov Monastery is on Stolobny Island, about 10 km north from Ostashkov. It was the place where the Ostashkov Special Camp of the NKVD was and where roughly 6,300 Polish policemen and prisoners of war were kept before they were executed in Tver. Approximately 4,300 of their comrades, held in Kozelsk, were around this time executed in Smolensk Oblast, in what is now known as the Katyn massacre.

In 1772, Ostashkov was granted town status, and Ostashkovsky Uyezd of Novgorod Governorate was established, with the seat in Ostashkov. In 1775, Tver Viceroyalty was formed from the lands which previously belonged to Moscow and Novgorod Governorates, and the area was transferred to Tver Viceroyalty, which in 1796 was transformed to Tver Governorate.

On 1 October 1929, governorates and uyezds were abolished, and Ostashkovsky District with the administrative center in Ostashkov was established. It belonged to Velikiye Luki Okrug of Western Oblast. On August 1, 1930, the okrugs were abolished, and the districts were subordinated directly to the oblast. On January 29, 1935 Kalinin Oblast was established, and Ostashkovsky District was transferred to Kalinin Oblast. In February 1963, during the abortive administrative reform by Nikita Khrushchev, Kirovsky and Penovsky Districts were merged into Ostashkovsky District.

Second World War
During World War II, Ostashkov was not occupied by German troops but until 1943 stayed in the immediate vicinity of the front lines. Soviet flotilla on the lake Seliger was involved in evacuation of Leningrad and Kalinin industrial equipment, military supplies, wounded and refugees.

In the period 1939 to 1941, during the first years of World War II, the monastery at Stolobny Island, about 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Ostashkov, was a prisoner-of-war camp of the Russian secret service NKVD, which held approximately 7,000 Poles who had been taken captive by the Soviet Union as a result of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. Between April 3 and April 19, 1940, 6,311 Polish officers from the POW camp were executed by shooting as part of the Katyn massacre, and buried near Mednoye.

On 25 September 1941 the frontline approached the town, and local authorities were ordered to evacuate all the industrial equipment from Ostashkov to Bely Gorodok. Only flotilla which were still involved in evacuation of the town were left.

The barges and ships were under constant bombings by Luftwaffe. On 7 October 1941 Colonel Belov ordered to evacuate flotilla and workshops towards Kalinin but after front near Rzhev collapsed, the flotilla returned from Selizharovo to Lake Seliger and stationed on the Krapivnya river. After the Germans entered the village of Selizharovo, all the barges were dispersed along the river and covered by trees and bushes. Crews were ready to destroy their barges with explosives.

However Germans failed to capture Ostashkov and the front line was stabilized. Due to German occupation of Kalinin the only way to supply the troops near Ostashkov was Lake Seliger waterway. Soviet lake flotilla command faced German bombardments in harsh winter conditions when the barges were blocked by ice. During spring 1942 flotilla faced the threat to be crushed by ice and washed away by the floods. However all the barges survived the spring and became ready to the 1942 navigation. As the northern lake shore was occupied, all the northern waterways were under shelling by German artillery. The new waterways across the Khrestnoye, Seremo and Glubokoye lakes, which were not considered navigable earlier, were used for evacuation of the wounded and shipping the military supplies. During the German air raids steamers and barges were hiding near the islands. Wooden shores also served as a shelter for the ships.

Ostashkov workshop which remained in the town, repaired the damaged ships. As the Ostashkov tannery was evacuated to Kazakhstan the only industries remaining in the town were: workshop, power plant, mechanized bakery and mill. All of them were mined in case of capture by Germans. The power plant was operated by several workers and it was often bombed by Luftwaffe. It also lacked fuel and power plant workers had to disassemble the wooden buildings inside the power plant territory and use them as a fuel.

There were 63 hospitals in the city. All of them were powered from the local power plant. Some of them were bombed by German aviation. All the evacuated factory buildings were used as a military warehouses. Food and military supplies were transported to the front lines by barges and narrow gauge railway.

The frontline was in a swampy and wooded area. Both sides built many trenches, pillboxes and infrastructure. In summer 1942 most of the Ostashkov area was liberated from German occupation and the frontline was moved far away from the town.

In January 1943 most of the evacuated industries were returned into the town. Fish factory, woodworking plant, mechanized bakery, power plant, printing house, tannery and ship repairing workshops functioned in Ostashkov.

Post-war period
On January 12, 1965, Selizharovsky District (which occupied the same area as Kirovsky District), and on December 27, 1973, Penovsky District were re-established. In 1990, Kalinin Oblast was renamed Tver Oblast.

Nowadays the town is popular among tourists from Moscow and Saint Petersburg as a nearby resort near the Seliger lake. Educational forum held since 2005 at the lake shore near Ostashkov.

The lake is also attracts thousands of campers from all over the nearby cities. Ostashkov itself also attracts tourists because it contains a lot of cultural heritage monuments. Since September 30, 2018 Russian Railways established regular train connection with steam locomotive in addition to regular diesel powered trains. Such move of promoting local tourism by using old steam locomotive and old time - styled traincars, was first of its kind in Russia, and soon was followed by another tourism sites in Russia(such as Ruskeala in Karelia).

Administrative and municipal status
Within the framework of administrative divisions, Ostashkov serves as the administrative center of Ostashkovsky District. As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Ostashkovsky District as Ostashkov Urban Settlement. As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban settlement status and is a part of Ostashkovsky Municipal District.

Industry
The main industrial enterprise in Ostashkovsky District is Ostashkov Leather Factory. Additionally, enterprises of timber, textile, and food industries are present.

Transportation
The railway connecting Bologoye with Velikiye Luki runs through Ostashkov. There are daily suburb trains to Bologoye and Velikiye Luki (except for Monday and Wednesday). There is also regular(on Saturday) steam locomotive train connection with Bologoe(station located on the Moscow - Saint Petersburg railway). Such move of promoting local tourism by using old steam locomotive and old time - styled train cars, with ticket price equal to ordinary suburb train, was first of its kind in Russia.

There are also suburb trains going to Kuvshinovo twice a week (on Monday and Friday). There are infrequent trains to Saint Petersburg and Moscow, mostly during summer touristic season.

Ostashkov is connected by road with Torzhok via Kuvshinovo. This road has access to M10 highway, connecting Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Ostashkov is further connected with Staritsa via Selizharovo, with Andreapol via Peno, and with Demyansk and Maryovo. There are also local roads, with bus traffic originating from Ostashkov.

Culture and recreation
Ostashkov contains 125 cultural heritage monuments of federal significance and additionally 118 objects classified as cultural and historical heritage of local significance. Essentially, the whole center of Ostashkov consists of listed buildings.

Ostashkovsky District Museum was founded in 1889 and is in Ostashkov. It has displays on local history and ethnography.

Twin towns and sister cities
Ostashkov is twinned with:
 * 🇪🇪 Maardu, Estonia

title: Ostashkov


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Ricardo Salinas Pliego

Ricardo Benjamín Salinas Pliego (born 19 October 1955) is a Mexican businessman, founder and chairman of Grupo Salinas, a corporate conglomerate with interests in telecommunications, media, financial services, and retail.

An outspoken supporter of minarchism and neoliberalism, he is the third richest person in Mexico and the 172nd richest person in the world with an estimated net worth of US$13.6 billion in February 2021.

Career
Ricardo Salinas Pliego is a CPA graduate of the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). After earning an MBA at Tulane University, he joined Elektra in 1981 as import manager. He learned the business moves when the company faced dire financial straits at the continuing devaluation of the eighties. Between 1981 and 1986, Salinas experimented with other businesses such as a restaurant in Monterrey, satellite dishes and the sale of systems multi communication.

In 1987 Ricardo succeeded his father Hugo Salinas Price as CEO of Grupo Elektra. The company began as a family-owned furniture manufacturing company called Salinas & Rocha founded in 1906 by Salinas' great-grandfather, Benjamin Salinas. In 1950, Hugo Salinas Rocha created Grupo Elektra and when Ricardo Salinas became CEO of the company in 1987 he refocused Elektra on basic products: appliances, electronics, and furniture. Significantly, he developed at Elektra a vast new consumer market among Mexico's lower middle income consumers by providing credit sales and diverse financial products and services.

Grupo Elektra expanded further and became Mexico's biggest consumer-finance company when, in 2002, it won the first banking license granted to any Mexican institution in nearly a decade. The strategy was to build new markets by creating new buying power among classes of people largely ignored by most other major Mexican businesses. Thus was born Banco Azteca, which currently has operations in Mexico, Panama, Guatemala and Honduras. Subsequently, Grupo Elektra obtained two financial licenses from the federal government to create Seguros Azteca and Afore Azteca.

Salinas is also chairman of TV Azteca, one of the world's two largest producers of Spanish-language television programming. Under his leadership, TV Azteca broke Mexico's long-standing television monopoly through the successful privatization of a media package offered by the government.

In 2001, TV Azteca launched Azteca America, a wholly owned Spanish-language broadcasting network aimed at the 50 million-strong Hispanic population of the United States. Azteca America had affiliates in 70 markets, including Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Miami and Houston, reaching 89 percent of the Hispanic population in the U.S. Azteca America was sold to HC2 Holdings in 2017.

In 2003, Salinas bought Iusacell (the first cell phone company in Mexico) and four years later, merged it with Unefon, another cell phone company, founded by him in 1999. However, in early 2015, Grupo Salinas announced the sale of Iusacell to AT&T Today, with Totalplay, offers the most innovative internet and television services and telephony via fiber optics to home. Also, Totalplay Empresarial provides broadband internet access video surveillance, broadband interfaces, videoconferencing, among other services to institutions and companies throughout Mexico.

In 2012, Grupo Elektra acquired Advance America, —currently Purpose Financial —, a company that provides short-term non- bank loans in the United States. Also put into operation Punto Casa de Bolsa. The Group operates more than six thousand points of contact in Mexico, United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru and Panama.

Salinas has participated and addressed The World Economic Forum, The Economist Roundtable on Mexico, the Young Presidents' Organization, UCLA, the Institute of the Americas, Harvard Business School and TED, where he discussed issues related to globalization, education, entrepreneurship, freedom and opportunity in the BOP. He also has a blog where he publishes his business, political, economic and cultural ideas. His articles have been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Hill, Newsweek in Spanish, La Opinión, and regularly writes in the Mexican press. Mr. Salinas was the first Mexican to elect the board of trustees of the Aspen Institute.

It was announced in 2020 that Salinas had 10% of his liquid portfolio invested in Bitcoin.

Philanthropy
Salinas formed the nonprofit Fundación Azteca in 1997 to address a broad range of social problems with ongoing campaigns in healthcare and nutrition, education, and the protection of the environment. It is a foundation that finances and supports other foundations. Fundación Azteca has raised millions of dollars, benefiting hundreds of thousands of lives.

In April 2021, the Ricardo B. Salinas Pliego Center was inaugurated, a space that seeks to promote the development of ideas that contribute to the transformation of Mexico, based on six lines of action: Freedom, Rule of Law, Education, Leadership, Art and Culture, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The initiative is made up of the following programs: Arte & Cultura, through which artistic and cultural activities are promoted to raise the quality of life of society; Caminos de la Libertad, a space for reflection on different aspects of freedom that seeks to raise awareness of its value and Kybernus,  which promotes the formation of young leaders from the local level.

Controversies
Salinas has been involved in a series of political and financial scandals (which include investigations by the American Securities and Exchange Commission and the Mexican Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores), and has been linked to ex-President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. Salinas was charged by the American Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2005 with being engaged in an elaborate scheme to conceal Salinas's role in a series of transactions through which he personally profited by $109 million. The SEC complaint also alleged that Salinas and Padilla sold millions of dollars of TV Azteca stock while Salinas's self-dealing remained undisclosed to the market place. This was settled in September 2006 with Salinas required to pay $7.5M while not admitting guilt. Esteban Moctezuma (ex-Secretary of Interior of PRI President Ernesto Zedillo), was appointed as chief executive officer of Fundación Azteca in 2002 by Salinas Pliego. His daughter, Ninfa, entered to the PVEM party (linked to the PRI party, some old but now of recent political endeavor) in 2009.

Football game and presidential debate
Salinas decided to air the 2011–12 quarter final game between Tigres de la UANL and Monarcas Morelia, two professional football teams from the Mexican Primera División, during the same time as the presidential debate of the 2012 Mexican general elections. The day of these two events were set for 6 May 2012.

He posted on Twitter the following message on 30 April 2012:

Emilio Azcárraga Jean, the CEO of Televisa, posted a message on Twitter to "clarify the doubts" by stating that it was not Televisa who was planning to air the game between Tigres and Morelia, but rather TV Azteca, the closest television competitor to his company.

The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) and its president, Leonardo Valdés Zurita, asked for TV Azteca to not air the game at the same time as the presidential debate. According to Zurita, the IFE has already set up the permissions and invitations to carry out the debate, but also recognized that other media companies can air programs they consider relevant. In addition, the electoral councils in Mexico recognized that this incident will leave the Mexican people with two difficult dilemmas: "watch football or the presidential debate between Josefina Vázquez Mota (PAN), Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI), Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD) and Gabriel Quadri de la Torre (PANAL)." Nonetheless, the majority of the messages posted on Twitter criticized Salinas Pliego for this incident.

Anonymous group and Grupo Salinas
Following the decision of Salinas, the internet group Anonymous "attacked" the official website of Grupo Salinas on 1 May 2012, posting on Twitter that they wanted the presidential debate and not the football game. The official webpage—www.gruposalinas.com—was not available for some time.

TV Azteca accepts to air debate
On 3 May 2012, the IFE acknowledged that TV Azteca decided to air the presidential debate on XHTVM-TV, commonly referred to as Proyecto 40. On his defense, Salinas said on 4 May 2012 that the "majority of the population is not interested in the presidential debate." He claimed that only 15% of the population is interested in the debate, while 54% of them claim they are not interested at all. If the statistics were different, he said, then he would have adjusted his strategy. Salinas then said that his business "understands well" the preferences of the population and takes decisions accordingly.

COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Salinas Pliego (previously an economic ally of President López Obrador) repeatedly called the public to ignore official social distancing and quarantine measures, expressing concerns that the economy and freedom should not be tampered with. He ordered his tens of thousands of employees at his several companies to remain working normally, the private schools he owns remained open, and via his TV channel, TV Azteca, the businessman disseminated opposition to government health measures to the population at large.

Companies

 * Grupo Salinas.

 * Retail and Financial Services
 * Grupo Elektra.
 * Purpose Financial.
 * Punto Casa de Bolsa.
 * Banco Azteca.
 * Seguros Azteca.
 * Afore Azteca.
 * Tiendas Neto.

 * Media
 * TV Azteca.
 * Azteca Guatemala.
 * Azteca Honduras.

 * Telecommunications
 * Totalplay.
 * Totalplay Empresarial.

 * Motorcycles
 * Italika.

 * Other Companies
 * Upax.
 * Agencia i.
 * Promo Espacio.
 * Grupo Dragón.
 * Totalsec.

 * Social Value
 * Fundación Azteca.
 * Centro Ricardo B. Salinas Pliego.
 * Kybernus.
 * Arte y Cultura Grupo Salinas.

 * Soccer
 * Mazatlán F.C.

title: Ricardo Salinas Pliego


text:
Talk:English billiards

Ball return after potting
Question: how are the balls returned to play once they are sunk?

 * The cue balls are not returned until the round ends. The other (red) ball goes back to a spot on the table. Leon 00:04, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

 * The opponent's cue ball remains off table until the end of inning, the striker's cue ball after going in-off is in-hand, which means it can be placed anywhere inside the D. Balls out of baulk can be played directly, balls inside the baulk area can only be played after contact with a cushion (rail) outside the baulk.CWSteiner (talk) 16:36, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Wikified
Wikified! --144.132.75.11 12:31, 20 May 2005 (UTC)

Picture
I'm going to remove the image from this article; it's confusing since the balls are all wrong Leon 00:04, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

 * What's wrong with them? — SMcCandlish [talk] [contrib] ツ 01:38, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Er.. well it's a picture of a snooker match, which is a completely different game. BennyFromCrossroads 15:02, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

U.S. terminology on Commonwealth game?
To follow up my ill-advised digression at the stub proposals page (which seemed to have something of a cascade effect) in a more appropriate location: Wouldn't it be more accurate to say that this game 'is known as "English billiards" in the U.S.' (and Canada?), rather than suggesting that's it's only known as "billiards" in "England" (which is certainly too narrow)? On the "what's it called by the people that actually play it" test, I'd suggest this be moved to billiards (now 'freed' by the move of the article formerly at that title), or at any rate to billiards (game), or billiards (), and the use of terminology be flipped correspondingly. Alai 02:57, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Hmm, interesting. Not really sure.  The reference materials I have call it "English billiards" (Shamos, etc.), and the very best bio article to date in all of WP:CUE's purview, Walter Lindrum (which was a great article long before that WPP even existed) was already using "English billiards" (in the para. beginning "It was not till 1929...")  I'm not sure how to get around the ambiguity issues otherwise.  "Billiards (game)" would perhaps make sense to UK readers but not to a lot of other people, even Commonwealth people. "Billiards (English)" just seems to be the same as "English billiards", but hard to find.  I honestly don't have a better idea, especially not a "Billiards (something)".  Isn't "English billiards" just like WP's use of "American football", a necessary disambiguation-through-specificity?  Actual Americans at-large, and certainly the game's players, don't actually call it that.  I get the feeling there is an extant organization that still sanctions/organizes English billiards tournaments, though I am not certain of its name; do they have a site, rule books, and stuff that we can turn to? —  SMcCandlish [talk] [contrib] ツ 03:32, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
 * PS: I agree with you that the text is Yank-centric and overly-narrow in saying "England"; just to be clear. Am uncertain of what the replacement text should be, because some non-US, non-UK speakers of English use "billiards" in other senses, especially carom billiards, particularly three-cushion. What to do? —  SMcCandlish [talk] [contrib] ツ 03:37, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

 * So far as I know, even United Statesians do call the NFL/pigskin/gridiron game "American football" (however resolutely they'd otherwise prefer and claim exclusive use of the unqualified term "football", too) -- see whose corporate website one gets if one googles for the term. Or at any rate, recognise and acknowledge the term, if not actually active "use" in their own speech until such time as they have to introduce "no-not-that-football" qualifiers.  It's also until very recently only been played in the United States, and where it is played elsewhere these days, it's invariably referred to explicitly as "American football".  (If one considers the Canadian game distinct, at least.) It's fair clearly not possible to have the NFL game article at football, due to the massive name clash.  None of those things are true of "English billiards".  "Billiards (English)" would be highly illogical, but I don't see any force to the "hard to find" argument:  English billiards would still redirect to, well, wherever the article ends up.  "Billiards (English billiards)" would be getting into Stroke City territory.  Isn't the use of billiards to mean the carom variety basically a French thing, and accordingly a Francophone one?  Which English speakers use it in that sense?  I think the simplest what-to-do is simply to move to "billiards", on the basis of it being the common name for the subject, and the predominant sense of the term;  to billiards-with-some-parenthical-qualifier would be my second preference (by a distance proportionate to the unnaturalness of the term involved).  "Billiards (all-in game)" would be a little quaint-sounding, but not utterly infeasible.  Alai 12:29, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

 * The fact that US people don't say "American football" was kind of my whole point. It's not a term in general usage by the people to whom it applies (a criterion you raised), but WP has settled on it as a disambiguator, which is basically what I'm saying about "English billiards", a term that's so far sourceable while alternatives so far aren't. (And the Candian version of the rugby variant that North Americans mean by "football" dates to 1861 so it's hardly "very recent".)  Agreed strongly that football should not go to some specific game, due to the widespread ambiguity.  But I don't see that this leaves us in a different situation.  "Billiards" presently redirects to cue sport which is evolving into a summary-style article that forks off in various directions.  Given the quadruple ambiguity of "billiards" this seems to be a Good Thing to me.  A radically different way of looking at it: If I lived in Botswana, and we played a game there in which one tried to intentionally scratch the cue ball, to score points, by caroming it off of an object ball into a pocket, and we locals uniformly referred to this game as "billiards", and called other cue sports by other names, would it be fair to insist that Billiards be the article for our game?  Or shouldn't wikipedia have an article about this game at Botswanan billiards instead?  Agree strongly that Billiards (English) and Billiards (English billiards) are non-starters. Re: "the French connection" - I'm not sure I get the point.  We get the word "billiard" from French to begin with, as wel as the game-class itself, ultimately, but I don't quite see what that has to do with what the Wikipedia articles ought to be called.  I guess the real question comes down to, "Should Billiards stop redirecting to Cue sport, because one group of people use it to mean a specific game with specific rules, despite the fact that another group of people use it more generically"?  I honestly don't think this really is a US vs. Commonwealth English usage issue, because not all non-US English speakers use the term to mean "the game sometimes called English billiards" particularly.  I guess I'm coming right back to "I don't know how to address your concern, but don't like the proposals to do so, so far".  What is it about "English billiards" as a term (cf. "American football", "Canadian football") that bothers you, in the WP context, whatever some geographically-limited usages might be?  Related anecdote: The Irish (real Irish, not umpteenth-generation Irish-American) owners of an Irish pub I know in San Francisco, use "pool" and "billiards" about 50/50 to refer to pocket billiards, and never mean English billiards when they say "billiards", despite speaking Hibernian-inflected Commonwealth English, if you see what I mean.  Anyway, I think the article itself could use a de-'Mericanizing edit, per related concerns you raised.  Maybe that by itself would be enough? —  SMcCandlish [talk] [contrib] ツ 22:03, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
 * If I might chime in, billiards and similar spellings, is used by a large portion of the world to refer to all cuesports (as well as historically). In some places, I have read (but never seen any citation of a reliable source), that billiards refers to a specific game and does not at all have a generic usage (I have actually no idea if this is really true across the whole of the UK). In the US it is often use loosely, most commonly by the public as a generic term for all games (but then again even this is deceptive; I would be willing to wager that more than 20% of the entire U.S. population only knows of eight ball and think pool and billiards are synonyms for just that game). By contrast, many aficionados mean any carom game, and a subset of those only know of three cushion so call that "billiards". Billiards alone more properly refers to all games than anything else, so it would not make sense to make it into the article title of one country's usage (which I'm not sure is even accurate). The move to cuesports was organizational (or so I thought), but for instance, if we have an article on (history of ____) it should be called History of billiards because that is the umbrella term most properly across the world, and very much so historically.--Fuhghettaboutit 22:45, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I'll try and dig up a suitable source, but it most certainly has the meaning I've suggested throughout the UK, and in Ireland, at least that I've encountered. See this page for an indication of the usage down-under.  Come to that, if you google for "snooker and billiards" (or vice versa, with quotes), it's a decent bet that the user intends "billiards" in the "English" sense (if annoyingly hard to confirm).  I think you have it entirely backwards as to what's "one country's usage", and what's the "proper" reference -- I don't see any argument for that beyond "it's what they're called in the U.S.", but they're not even their primary descriptors there, either.  McC, I said at length, and by way of a number of itemised points, why I don't think the "football" case is at all comparable;  I don't think you've addressed those at all.  And no, I don't believe it's a "good thing" that "billiards" redirects to "cue sport" (which should surely be "cue sports"?), since that's to assert that the two are synonymous, which is specifically the U.S. usage, and makes no sense in the context of the UK (et al) usage.  If it's not an article on the singular game, it should at least be a disambig page (which purpose is also served by having the former article, with a disambig strapline).  Your "Botswannan billiards" example is a little off-the-point, to put it (disproportionately) mildly.  I'd point out why in detail, but that didn't seem to get me very far with your "football" analogy.  (And, I think I'd suggest it be called "Billiards (Botswanna)", though not before asking to see the reliable sources for your hypothetical.)  Ask yourself:  what does the term "billiards" mean, to those English speakers who use it systematically to mean anything in particular?  And, what is "English" billiards called, by those why have cause to call it anything?  I mention the French only because you mentioned people to whom the term primarily means "carom billiards":  if not they, then who?  (Didn't I just say that?)  I ask again, what 'non-US English speakers' don't 'use the term to mean "the game sometimes called English billiards"'?  (OK, I admit I came across some Canadian instances...)  Are you citing the SF pub owners as representive of a "non-US" class of speakers?  (I can readily conduct a vox pop of non-US-based Hiberno-English speakers...)  I'd strongly prefer we stayed away from the whole family of "why does it bother you?"/ILIKEIT types of discussion, since I have have some residual hopes of articles being at the names they conventionally should be at, rather than what an super- (or not-so-super-) majority decide their personal prefences are, notorious counterexamples like the "U.S. Highways naming convention" fiasco notwithstanding.  I also don't see how anything but a token de-'Mericanizing edit would be even possible (setting aside its insufficiency), if it continues to be obliged to use the U.S. descriptor throughout.  Are you in effect just suggesting expanding the list of places that call the game "billiards"?  (And explicitly or implicitly, the implication as to where it's called "English billiards"?)  Alai 03:51, 13 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I thought I had addressed the "football" issues; to be clear, Americans do not say "American football", unless they absolutely must, e.g. in a context like Wikipedia where disambiguation is needed; . And in that sort of case I think it would be plausible to call the game in question here "English billiards", even if you were English.  Cue sport is called that instead of Cue sports (which redirs to it) because of WP naming conventions.  You'll note that the article text itself uses the plural.  "Billiards" remains ambiguous because there are way more players of carom billiards games than of English billiards, throughout the world, and they tend to simply use the term "billiards" unless they are being very specific (i.e. "I play three-cushion").  I honestly don't think that calling the present article is an Americanism, it's simply disambiguation.  I'm not sure I can say anything else without just repeating myself.  I'm sorry that I don't have better ideas that would satisfy everyone.  I'm guessing this needs more input from other people over a longer time. —  SMcCandlish [talk] [contrib] ツ 20:31, 13 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Shakespeare wrote the line for Cleopatra: "let us to billiards" (Julius Caesar) 200 years before [whatever we are to call this game] had developed. The Illustrated Encyclopeda of Billiards states that the word was in use in English printed works by 1591 with the modern spelling by 1598, and defines it as: "1. (game) A generic term for any game played on a billiard table, specifically one employing small solid balls... 2.=Carom Billiards... 3. In Britain, the game of English Billiards." Meanwhile, from the British English Cambridge University Press: "Billiards: a game played by two people on a table covered in green cloth in which a cue (= a long pole) is used to hit balls against each other and into pockets around the table." This is not to mention that all the numerous versions of the word in other languages, all meaning either the game in general or a specific other game (biljart (Dutch); billards (French); biliardi (Italian); biljard (Maltese) etc., ad nauseum). I am curious what the OED has to say but I don't have access.--Fuhghettaboutit 23:45, 13 February 2007 (UTC)
 * And further, the Asian Games use the term "English billiards", despite the fact that any English speakers particpating would very likely come from a Commonwealth or Commonwealth-influenced English speaking pool (Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, etc.), unless someone from Guam or Samoa showed up. There's the real-world non-UK, non-North American evidence Alai wanted.  I think this debate has kind of concluded, on the facts if not the feelings; though again, the article text itself should probably be written from a British perspective, leaving us with still that to-do item. —  SMcCandlish [talk] [contrib] ツ 07:53, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
 * More discussion at stub naming guidelines.Her Pegship  (tis herself) 15:45, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Discussion never materialized there, actually. — SMcCandlish [talk] [contrib] ツ 07:36, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

 * [outdent]
 * Solid demonstration that English people call it "English billiards", too, just like everyone else, when they have a need to disambiguate: ["The largest break ever recorded at English billiards was..." (non-HTMLized original version here). Wasn't even looking for it (was looking for info on the game of Indian pool instead); bet there are hundreds more if anyone actually did bother to look for them.  —  [[User:SMcCandlish|SMcCandlish]] [talk] [contrib] ツ 07:36, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

What if the red spot is blocked?
I've not come accross this very often, but have done on occasion in my time playing billiards - what happens if the red spot is obscured after a pot red (i.e. one of the cue balls occupies the spot, by coincidence of landing there)? Anyone know? [The previous unsigned comment was posted by, 19 April 2007 (UTC)]
 * In every other billiards-family game of which I am aware in which balls are spotted and a similar situation sometimes arises, with one exception, it is placed behind the blocking ball (i.e. on the center line, between the spot and the foot rail, which I believe is called the top rail in UK/Aus. usage) as close to that ball as possible without touching it. (The one exception I encountered was some game in which it is instead spotted against the foot rail.)  Anyway, it would need to be sourced to add it to the article. —  SMcCandlish  [talk] [cont]  ‹(-¿-)› 17:14, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

In Case the Spot is occupied the red will have to be spot on the "Pyramid"-Spot (Pink in Snooker)--84.112.100.169 (talk) 11:10, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Two-pot rule, three-pot rule
Bob Marshall (billiards player) mentions a (historical) "two-pot" rule. What is this rule, with source(s)? Need to be added here in detail, menioned in summary form at Glossary of cue sports terms and linked to either here or there at the Marshall article, which presently has a redlink to a Two-pot rule which should not be its own article, and at Geet Sethi which mentions the three-pot rule but links to nothing. —  SMcCandlish  [talk] [cont] ‹(-¿-)› 17:07, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Two different scoring methods
The two radically different scoring methods used need to be explained here, in a linkable section, so that results like the scores in the following (partial) chart can be easily explained to non-experts (and same goes for the "up" aspect):

These different scoring methods reflect the different modes of play. The first match obviously has been a timed game(probably 4 hrs of play). The second must have been a set of games to 150-up, best of 11, whereas the fourth one has been a very short format game, first to reach 50 scores (50-up), best of 21.CWSteiner (talk) 17:22, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Sources to plunder
The English Amateur Billiards Association provides three pages of trascribed old materials that may be of use, esp. with regard to the history of the game:
 * http://www.eaba.co.uk/books/book-index.html
 * http://www.eaba.co.uk/articles/article-index.html
 * http://www.eaba.co.uk/mags/mag-index.html

—  SMcCandlish  [talk] [cont] ‹(-¿-)› 01:29, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

Triple, quadruple, etc., centuries
Are there any jargon terms for quadruple centuries and the like? ("Quads", or something like that?) Just want to make sure that Glossary of cue sports terms accounts for them if so. —  SMcCandlish  [talk] [cont] ‹(-¿-)› 02:28, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

All-in vs. spot-barred
The terms all-in and spot-barred are used and discussed a little bit at World Professional Billiards Championship, but not defined, and are very likely to be impenetrable to users unfamiliar with the topic. —  SMcCandlish  [talk] [cont] ‹(-¿-)› 04:17, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

External links removed
I agree that eaba.co.uk is not an Organisation reaching for European or even Worldwide relevance, BUT it still contains a fantastic compendium on English Billiards history, with facts, figures, articles from books and magazines, certainly the rules and holds the calendar of scheduled events of the current and past seasons with their results. Therefore the EABA external link seems more than worth mentioning in WP.

Secondly, what in an Organization called 'English Billiards Open Series - European Tour' does not reach out for European/Worldwide level? If you'd checked the current ranking you'd find players from Poland, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Austria, Spain, England, and even from Singapore, Thailand and India as participants, reflecting the Open character of the series and its Worldwide relevance is underlined by the fact that the IBSF already had allowed three or four EBOS players a definite space in the IBSF Amateur World Championships starting from 2008 onwards. EBOS as well is organizing the European Championships in conjunction with EBSA, Duffel, Belgium June 11-13, 2009!

The billiard-junkies forum is a worldwide open playground for the community of billiards enthusiasts. If you checked the forum categories you had seen the tabs Amateur, Professional, Worldwide, Asian, European and Oceania Billiards very well reflecting the unlimited access and widespread field of interest. And in its uniqueness it certainly deserves a mention in WP.

Regarding the coaching site, I put up a link to, I have to admit the coach speaks solely English and only is six-times English Amateur Champion, but for the game of 'English Billiards' these circumstances should also be sufficiently effectual to earn a display in WP. The user has to register, though, but still it is free and non-profit-oriented with the mere intention to foster the game of English Billiards. Additionally, it is the best coaching one could get, and again, it's the only one.

Thanks for probably reconsidering putting up these enhancements as suggestions to every Billiards player.--CWSteiner (talk) 10:08, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

 * HI, I've reinstated the EABA site, as a national governing body (NGB). All the best, bigpad (talk) 13:04, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Dickens on billiards
See Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Cue sports/Archive 1 for details.

Unusual occurance?
I've read up on these rules. There is one situation which I cannot find the scoring system for, or if it is not scored. I strike my cue ball and it hits my opponent's cue ball, my opponent's cue ball then hits the red ball and the red ball is pocketed. If this occurs, do I get the 3 points for a winning hazard even though my cue ball did not come in contact with the red ball? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 27.32.52.240 (talk) 09:12, 30 October 2012 (UTC)

This is an old question, but the answer is "yes": 3 points are scored. Billsmith60 (talk) 23:35, 10 November 2021 (UTC)

Snooker Table vs Billiards table
In the USA in 1915 billiards hall owners bought more snooker table? Snooker didn't exist then? Surely that they bought more 'billiard tables' is more appropriate? The article also says "(and in many venues, both games are played on the same equipment)" - in ALL venues both games are played with the same equipment because there is no distinction between the two - they are played on EXACTLY the same equipment. All snooker is played on a billiards table, technically there is no such thing as a snooker table although the term has entered common parlance as snooker has become the dominant format. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.254.146.4 (talk) 09:43, 30 November 2012 (UTC)

 * You are correct on the name of the table, but "billiard table" carries confusion with it, because of the preference among some Americans including the body who govern pool to call pool "pocket billiards". If we were to use the term "billiard table" instead of "snooker table" then some readers would be confused--just as Commonwealth readers are confused if pool is referred to as pocket billiards. As to the second one what happens if only one game is played at a venue (ie a snooker hall that has no billiard balls)? -- PBS (talk) 09:55, 30 November 2012 (UTC)
 * More to the point, "billiard table" or "billiards table" means carom billiards table.  The term is hopelessly ambiguous.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼  03:21, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

Western Europe and carom billiards
From the history of the article @SMcCandlish: Britain and Ireland are in Western Europe. Where is your source that says carom or carambole billiards, is popular in Western Europe and not specific countries within Western Europe. -- PBS (talk) 21:02, 15 March 2015 (UTC)
 * Revision as of 10:56, 15 March 2015 SMcCandlish (Reverted to revision 650967617 by Thryduulf "Um, no, it's also popular in Spain, Italy, etc., etc."

 * No one ever made any claim that carom is popular in in Western Europe. Let's not be silly. The English language doesn't work that way. If I say I lived in the UK that does not mean I have lived in every county of the UK. There is no source that it's only popular in France, and that's a ridiculous notion. See Five-ball, as just one example, for a carom sport popular in Italy and Spain, and see the list of world champions of three-cushion billiards, most of whom are from various Western European countries, or Asia.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼  01:56, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

 * I've revised the text with an accurate and reliably sourced statement that carom billiards was largely "popularized by" France, and clarified "Western Europe" to "western Continental Europe". That should be the end of it.  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼  03:18, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

 * PS: This isn't the place to get into the origins of billiards, but there is no proof of where it came from, nor where pocketless vs. pocket games originated; both kinds were known throughout Europe historically. "Sources in Europe generally ascribe the invention of the game to other European countries.  The Académie des Jeux, a French work, stated that the game appeared to have been invented in England.  The Great Soviet Encyclopedia credits the game to India or China. ..." Src:   If you go back far enough, the game bears little resemblance to either modern pocket or pocketless billiards, and was played with croquet-like hoops and pins on the table.  See Billiards and Snooker Bygones (Norman Clare, 1996, Shire Pubs., ISBN: 9780852637302) for period images illustrating pocket, pocketless, and pin billiards all over post-Mediaeval Europe. There's a lot of this also in: .  — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼  03:41, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

"If I say I lived in the UK that does not mean I have lived in every county of the UK." No but if you say that cricket is popular in the UK you will soon have people correct that, because it is only popular in one country in the UK (and one border county in Wales). Above you wrote above "See Five-ball, as just one example, for a carom sport popular in Italy and Spain," but we are not talking about five-ball we are only talking about three-ball, and where it is popular now is irrelevant to this article, all that is relevant is that it was popular in France at the time that billiards was developing in England. So why have you added "(and today also popular in many parts of Asia and South America)" to this article? -- PBS (talk) 16:44, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

Citation cleanup
I undid recent changes that changed inline references of the form:

to

for three reasons:

 * 1) It's unnecessarily duplicative and redundant.
 * 2) The Template:Sfn footnoting system is unnecessarily complicated (as is the half-baked attempt at Harvard referencing being used in this short article for no apparent reason, but that's another matter).
 * 3) It makes the poor state of the references even worse, by inserting in the text at every citation point to this source the claim that the fact in question at that point is sourceable to  of those pages, which is false.

The present situation is that we're citing, in text, one source, and in one footnotes listign all the relevant pages. This is poor sourcing, but better than nothing. I've started using Template:Rp to identify specific pages for specific facts, but it will take a while to clean up the entire article to properly cite which pages it's getting what information from. Replacing every  call with a call to  in the above manner is a step backward. — SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ᴥⱷʌ≼  03:58, 21 March 2015 (UTC)

 * I do not think it unnecessarily duplicative and redundant. I agree with your third point but using   exacerbates the problem. What is needed is someone with the source to split the page numbers up between the inline citations. the advantage of using sfn over ref pairs is that it automagically takes care of duplicates (one less thing to do manually). rp is a change is style an unacceptable without consensus and I do not agree to it usage. -- PBS (talk) 15:44, 23 March 2015 (UTC)
 * If you give me a few days, I will attempt to clean this up with specific page numbers using sfn.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 16:03, 23 March 2015 (UTC)

In the article, there is a link with text "billiard mace". The link takes you to a glossary of terms in which the term billiard mace is not defined. In the glossary, there is one mention of a mace, but this does not define the term. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.184.194.59 (talk) 19:32, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Too obscure for beginners
Like many descriptions of games and sports, on Wiki and elsewhere, this article will be too obscure for beginners or other people just trying to understand the game. For example, technical terms like 'in hand' are used without explanation, and crucial matters like how each player's 'turn' is ended are not covered at all. It will also be confusing to most people who are more familiar with snooker that an 'in-off' pot appears to score points for the perpetrator, rather than being a foul, though this is not clearly stated, and I have seen other accounts of billiards where it is said that points are awarded to the opponent. Any article of this kind should really be 'road tested' on people with no prior knowledge of the subject.2A00:23C8:7907:4B01:242F:76F9:6275:CD6E (talk) 23:56, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:English billiards


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Randle, Washington

Randle is a small town in eastern Lewis County, Washington, United States. Randle is located on U.S. Route 12 and is notable as the northeastern access point to the Mount St. Helens Windy Ridge viewpoint, by way of forest service roads that cut through the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

Randle is located next to the Cowlitz River and is about 4 mi north of the Cispus River, a tributary of the Cowlitz. The Cowlitz River winds westward through a rural valley in Randle known locally as "Big Bottom Valley," which is reflective of the fact that the valley floor, in certain areas, is "big". The flat, fertile land is, in places, more than 3 mi wide.

Etymology
An 1889 petition to open a post office for the community was created by an early settler of the area, James Randles, but it lacked a town name in the paperwork. Due to a clerical decision by the then existing rules of the Washington Territory, the surname of Randles (excluding the "s") was determined as the moniker for the town.

History
William Joerk explored in the area around 1882 and the townsite was officially founded in 1902. One of the first to settle the town was James L. Randles in 1886 who helped deliver mail in the site's infancy and would spearhead the creation of a post office. Randles would pass away in 1920 and be buried in Centralia due to winter conditions at the time of his death. In 2023, his body was ceremoniously reburied next to family members in a Randle cemetery.

The White Pass High School was built in 1951. In 2011, it was demolished and built into a new school.

In 2021, a charge of sexual assault was filed against the rapper and songwriter, Lil Mosey; the incident, occurring in Randle, was reported to have happened in 2020. A trial and acquittal of the musician took place at the Lewis County courthouse in Chehalis in early 2023.

Geography
Randle is the center of the White Pass School District, which, in addition to Randle, covers the small towns of Glenoma, Washington, and Packwood, Washington (its school district jurisdiction includes a vast rural expanse in extreme eastern Lewis County, terminating at the Cascade Mountains and the county border with Yakima County). The community of Randle is located within Census Tract 9719 of Lewis County.

Climate
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Randle has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.

Historic buildings and sites
Randle is home to the Randle Ranger Station-Work Center, a complex of rustic buildings built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The North Fork Guard Station No. 1142, another NRHP site, is located near the town.

Economy
In 2019, Crystal Geyser Water Company purchased property in Randle and proposed the construction of a water bottling plant. The proposal drew extensive opposition from local residents who were concerned about damage to the Cowlitz River watershed and industrialization of the area. In 2022, Lewis County PUD authorized a deal to acquire the property from Crystal Geyser to expand the adjacent campground and wilderness areas along the Cowlitz River.

Parks and recreation
The community is located northeast of several recreation areas, including Riffe Lake, Taidnapam Park, and Cowlitz Falls Park which is located on the Cispus River near its junction to the reservoir, Lake Scanewa. The Cowlitz Falls Campground, also known as Leonard “Bud” Allen Park, is a 110 acre park under the control of the Lewis County PUD and is situated near the Cowltiz River, southwest of the town center.

Education
The White Pass High School was built in 1951. In 2011, it was demolished and built into a new school.

Politics
Note that the voting information is based on the Randle East and Randle West precincts only. As this is an unincorporated community, there are no defined bounds, and the precinct may be incongruous with the census boundaries.

The 2020 election included votes for candidates of the Libertarian Party and Green Party.

Infrastructure
The community is among 8 locations that are part of an EV installation project on the White Pass Scenic Byway. The program will stretch from the White Pass Ski Area to Chehalis and is run in partnership with Lewis County PUD, Twin Transit, state government agencies, and local community efforts. The venture began in 2023 from two grants totaling over $1.8 million.

title: Randle, Washington


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Commanding officer

The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG) or general officer commanding (GOC), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as they see fit, within the bounds of military law. In this respect, commanding officers have significant responsibilities (for example, the use of force, finances, equipment, the Geneva Conventions), duties (to higher authority, mission effectiveness, duty of care to personnel), and powers (for example, discipline and punishment of personnel within certain limits of military law).

In some countries, commanding officers may be of any commissioned rank. Usually, there are more officers than command positions available, and time spent in command is generally a key aspect of promotion, so the role of commanding officer is highly valued. The commanding officer is often assisted by an executive officer (XO) or second-in-command (2i/c), who handles personnel and day-to-day matters, and a senior enlisted advisor. Larger units may also have staff officers responsible for various responsibilities.

Army
In the British Army, Royal Marines, and many other Commonwealth military and paramilitary organisations, the commanding officer of a unit is appointed. Thus the office of CO is an appointment. The appointment of commanding officer is exclusive to commanders of major units (regiments, battalions and similar sized units). It is customary for a commanding officer to hold the rank of lieutenant colonel, and they are usually referred to within the unit simply as "the colonel" or the CO. "The colonel" may also refer to the holder of an honorary appointment of a senior officer who oversees the non-operational affairs of a regiment. However, the rank of the appointment holder and the holder's appointment are separate. That is, not all lieutenant colonels are COs, and although most COs are lieutenant colonels, that is not a requirement of the appointment.

Sub-units and minor units (companies, squadrons and batteries) and formations (brigades, divisions, corps and armies) do not have a commanding officer. The officer in command of a minor unit holds the appointment of "officer commanding" (OC). Higher formations have a commander (usual for a brigade) or a general officer commanding (GOC). Area commands have a commander-in-chief (e.g. C-in-C Land Army, C-in-C British Army of the Rhine). The OC of a sub-unit or minor unit is today customarily a major (although formerly usually a captain in infantry companies and often also in cavalry squadrons), although again the rank of the appointment holder and the holder's appointment are separate and independent of each other. In some cases, independent units smaller than a sub-unit (e.g. a military police platoon that reports directly to a formation such as a brigade) will also have an OC appointed. In these cases, the officer commanding can be a captain or even a lieutenant.

Appointments such as CO and OC may have specific powers associated with them. For example, they may have statutory powers to promote soldiers or to deal with certain disciplinary offences and award certain punishments. The CO of a unit may have the power to sentence an offender to 28 days' detention, whereas the OC of a sub-unit may have the power to sentence an offender to 3 days' restriction of privileges.

Commanders of units smaller than sub-units (e.g. platoons, troops and sections) are not specific appointments and officers or NCOs who fill those positions are simply referred to as the commander or leader (e.g. platoon commander, troop leader, section commander/leader, etc.).

Royal Air Force
In the Royal Air Force, the title of commanding officer is reserved for station commanders or commanders of independent units, including flying squadrons. As with the British Army, the post of a commander of a lesser unit such as an administrative wing, squadron or flight is referred to as the officer commanding (OC).

Royal Navy
In the Royal Navy and many others, commanding officer is the official title of the commander of any ship, unit or installation. However, they are referred to as "the captain" no matter what their actual rank, or informally as "skipper" or even "boss".

United States
In the United States, the status of commanding officer is duly applied to all commissioned officers who hold lawful command over a military unit, ship, or installation.

Army
The commanding officer of a company, usually a captain, is referred to as the company commander (or the battery/troop commander for artillery/cavalry) units. The commanding officer of a battalion (or squadron of cavalry/armored cavalry) is usually a lieutenant colonel. The commanding officer of a brigade, a colonel, is the brigade commander. At the division level and higher, however, the commanding officer is referred to as the commanding general, as these officers hold general officer rank.

Although holding a leadership position in the same sense as commanders,

The individual in charge of a platoon, the smallest unit of soldiers led by a commissioned officer, is referred to as the "platoon leader", not the "platoon commander". This officer, typically a second lieutenant, does have command of the soldiers under him but does not have many of the command responsibilities inherent to higher echelons. For example, a platoon leader cannot issue non-judicial punishment.

Non-commissioned officers may be said to have charge of certain smaller military units. They cannot, however, hold command as they lack the requisite authority granted by the head of state to do so. Those wielding "command" of individual vehicles (and their crews) are called vehicle commanders. This distinction in title also applies to officers who are aircraft commanders ("pilot in command"), as well as officers and enlisted soldiers who are tank and armored vehicle commanders. While these officers and NCOs have tactical and operational command (including full authority, responsibility, and accountability – especially in the case of aircraft commanders) of the soldiers and equipment in their charge, they are not accorded the legal authority of a "commanding officer" under the UCMJ or military regulations.

Warrant officers in the United States Armed Forces are single career-track officers that can, and occasionally do, hold command positions within certain specialty units, i.e. Special Forces and Army Aviation. However, warrant officers usually do not command if a commissioned officer is present; normally they serve as executive officer (2IC).

Marine Corps
The commanding officer of a company, usually a captain, is referred to as the company commander or the battery commander (for field artillery and low altitude air defense units). The commanding officer of a battalion or a squadron (Marine aviation), is usually a lieutenant colonel. The commanding officer of a regiment, aviation group, or Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), a colonel, is the regimental/group/MEU commander. At the Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB), Marine Logistics Group (MLG), Marine Division (MARDIV), Marine Aircraft Wing (MAW), Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF), and Fleet Marine Force (FMF) levels; however, the commanding officer is referred to as the commanding general, as these officers hold general officer rank.

The officer in charge of a platoon, the smallest tactical unit of Marines usually led by a commissioned officer, typically a first or second lieutenant, is referred to as the platoon commander. This distinction in title also applies to officers who are aircraft commanders, as well as officers, staff non-commissioned officers (staff sergeant – master sergeant), and non-commissioned officers (corporal and sergeant) who are tank and armored vehicle commanders. While these officers, SNCOs, and NCOs have tactical and operational command (including full authority, responsibility, and accountability—especially in the case of aircraft commanders) of the Marines and equipment in their charge, they are not accorded the legal authority of a "commanding officer" under the UCMJ or military regulations.

Navy and Coast Guard
In the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard, commanding officer is the official title of the commander of a ship, but they are usually referred to as "the Captain" regardless of their actual rank: "Any naval officer who commands a ship, submarine or other vessel is addressed by naval custom as 'captain' while aboard in command, regardless of their actual rank." They may be informally referred to as "Skipper", though allowing or forbidding the use of this form of address is the commanding officer's prerogative.

A prospective commanding officer (PCO) is a U.S. Navy officer who has been selected for his/her own command. The term is used in correspondence or in reference to the officer before they assume command of the unit (ship, squadron, unit, etc.).

If the sailor in command of a unit is an enlisted member, rather than a commissioned or warrant officer, he or she is referred to as the "officer in charge" rather than "commanding officer." In the Coast Guard it is common for smaller cutters to be commanded by a chief petty officer.

Air Force
In the United States Air Force, the commanding officer of a unit is similarly referred to as the unit commander, such as squadron commander, group commander, wing commander, and so forth. Squadron commanders (the base unit of the United States Air Force) are usually majors or lieutenant colonels. Group commanders (made up of two or more squadrons) are usually colonels, while wing commanders may be colonels (typical wings) or generals (larger wings).

title: Commanding officer


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Subdwarf

A subdwarf, sometimes denoted by "sd", is a star with luminosity class VI under the Yerkes spectral classification system. They are defined as stars with luminosity 1.5 to 2 magnitudes lower than that of main-sequence stars of the same spectral type. On a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram subdwarfs appear to lie below the main sequence.

The term "subdwarf" was coined by Gerard Kuiper in 1939, to refer to a series of stars with anomalous spectra that were previously labeled as "intermediate white dwarfs".

Since Kuiper coined the term, the subdwarf type has been extended to lower-mass stars than were known at the time. Astronomers have also discovered an entirely different group of blue-white subdwarfs, making two distinct categories:
 * Cool subdwarfs
 * Hot subdwarfs

Cool (red/pink) subdwarfs
Like ordinary main-sequence stars, cool subdwarfs (of spectral types G to M) produce their energy from hydrogen fusion. The explanation of their underluminosity lies in their low metallicity: These stars are not enriched in elements heavier than helium. The lower metallicity decreases the opacity of their outer layers and decreases the radiation pressure, resulting in a smaller, hotter star for a given mass. This lower opacity also allows them to emit a higher percentage of ultraviolet light for the same spectral type relative to a Population I star, a feature known as the ultraviolet excess. Usually members of the Milky Way's halo, they frequently have high space velocities relative to the Sun.

Cool subdwarfs of spectral type L and T exist, for example ULAS J131610.28+075553.0 with spectral type sdT6.5.

Subclasses of cool subdwarfs are as following:
 * cool subdwarf: Examples: Kapteyn's Star (sdM1), GJ 1062 (sdM2.5)
 * extreme subdwarf: Example: APMPM J0559-2903 (esdM7)
 * ultrasubdwarf: Example: LSPM J0822+1700 (usdM7.5)

Subdwarfs of type L, T and Y
The low metallicity of subdwarfs is coupled with their old age. The early universe had a low content of elements heavier than helium and formed stars and brown dwarfs with lower metallicity. Only later supernovae, planetary nebulae and neutron star mergers enriched the universe with heavier elements. The old subdwarfs belong therefore often to the older structures in our Milky Way, mainly the thick disk and the galactic halo. Objects in the thick disk or the halo have a high space velocity compared to the Sun, which belongs to the younger thin disk. A high proper motion can be used to discover subdwarfs. Additionally the subdwarfs have spectral features that make them different from subdwarfs with solar metallicity. All subdwarfs share the suppression of the near-infrared spectrum, mainly the H-band and K-band. The low metallicity increase the collision induced absorption of hydrogen, causing this suppressed near-infrared spectrum. This is seen as blue infrared colors compared to brown dwarfs with solar metallicity. The low metallicity also change other absorption features, such as deeper CaH and TiO bands at 0.7 μm in L-subdwarfs, a weaker VO band at 0.8 μm in early L-subdwarfs and stronger FeH band at 0.99 μm for mid- to late L-subdwarfs. 2MASS J0532+8246 was discovered in 2003 as the first L-type subdwarf, which was later re-classified as an extreme subdwarf. The L-type subdwarfs have subtypes similar to M-type subdwarfs: The subtypes subdwarf (sd), extreme subdwarfs (esd) and ultra subdwarfs (usd), which are defined by their decreasing metallicity, compared to solar metallicity, which is defined on a logarithmic scale:
 * subdwarfs have $$\ -1.0 < \bigl[ \tfrac{ \mathsf{Fe} }{ \mathsf{H} } \bigr]_\star \leq -0.3\ ,$$
 * extreme subdwarfs have $$\ -1.7 < \bigl[ \tfrac{ \mathsf{Fe} }{\mathsf{H} } \bigr]_\star \leq -1.0\ ,$$ and
 * ultra subdwarfs have $$\ \bigl[ \tfrac{ \mathsf{Fe} }{\mathsf{H} } \bigr]_\star \leq -1.7 ~.$$
 * The Sun sets the scale at $$\ \bigl[ \tfrac{\mathsf{Fe} }{\mathsf{H}} \bigr]_\odot \equiv 0\ ,$$ by definition.

For T-type subdwarfs only a small sample of subdwarfs and extreme subdwarfs is known.

2MASSI J0937347+293142 is the first object that was discovered in 2002 as a T-type subdwarf candidate and in 2006 it was confirmed to have low metallicity. The first two extreme subdwarfs of type T were discovered in 2020 by scientists and volunteers of the Backyard Worlds project. The first extreme subdwarfs of type T are WISEA 0414−5854 and WISEA 1810−1010. Subdwarfs of type T and Y have less methane in their atmosphere, due to the lower concentration of carbon in these subdwarfs. This leads to a bluer W1-W2 (WISE) or ch1-ch2 (Spitzer) color, compared to objects with similar temperature, but with solar metallicity. The color of T-types as a single classification criterion can be misleading. The closest directly imaged exoplanet, COCONUTS-2b, was first classified as a subdwarf of type T due to its color, while not showing a high tangential velocity. Only in 2021 it was identified as an exoplanet.

The first Y-type subdwarf candidate was discovered in 2021, the brown dwarf WISE 1534–1043, which shows a moderate red Spitzer Space Telescope color (ch1-ch2 = 0.925±0.039 mag). The very red color between J and ch2 (J-ch2 > 8.03 mag) and the absolute brightness would suggest a much redder ch1-ch2 color of about 2.4 to 3 mag. Due to the agreement with new subdwarf models, together with the high tangential velocity of 200 km/s, Kirkpatrick, Marocco et al. (2021) argue that the most likely explanation is a cold very low-metal brown dwarf, maybe the first subdwarf of type Y.

Examples of cool subdwarfs

 * Kapteyn's Star
 * Groombridge 1830
 * Mu Cassiopeiae
 * 2MASS J05325346+8246465, a possible halo brown dwarf and the first substellar subdwarf.
 * SSSPM J1549-3544

Hot (blue) subdwarfs
Hot subdwarfs, of bluish spectral types O and B are an entirely different class of object than cool subdwarfs; they are also called "extreme horizontal-branch stars". Hot subdwarf stars represent a late stage in the evolution of some stars, caused when a red giant star loses its outer hydrogen layers before the core begins to fuse helium.

The reasons for their premature loss of their hydrogen envelope are unclear, but the interaction of stars in a binary star system is thought to be one of the main mechanisms. Single subdwarfs may be the result of a merger of two white dwarfs or gravitational influence from substellar companions. B-type subdwarfs, being more luminous than white dwarfs, are a significant component in the hot star population of old stellar systems, such as globular clusters and elliptical galaxies.

Heavy metal subdwarfs
The heavy metal subdwarfs are a type of hot subdwarf star with high concentrations of heavy metals. The metals detected include germanium, strontium, yttrium, zirconium and lead. Known heavy metal subdwarfs include HE 2359-2844, LS IV-14 116, and HE 1256-2738.

title: Subdwarf


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Acamptopappus

Acamptopappus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae described as a genus in 1873.

Acamptopappus is native to the deserts in southwestern North America. The name is derived from a- (not), campto- (bent), and pappus (down). They are also commonly known as goldenheads.

Acamptopappus plants are eaten by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora acamtopappi which feeds on A. sphaerocephalus.

 * Species
 * A. shockleyi A.Gray -- Shockley's Goldenhead - California, Nevada
 * A. sphaerocephalus (Harv. & A.Gray) A.Gray -- Rayless Goldenhead - California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona

title: Acamptopappus


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User:Tri-x pan

Member Since 05 12 04

title: User:Tri-x pan


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Arracacia xanthorrhiza

Arracacia xanthorrhiza is a root vegetable that originates in the Andes, whose starchy taproot is a popular food item across South America where it is a major commercial crop.

Common names
Being a South American plant, its most common names are in either Spanish or Portuguese, the two most spoken languages in that continent.

The name arracacha (or racacha) was borrowed into Spanish from Quechua raqacha, and is used in the Andean region. The plant is also called apio or apio criollo ("Creole celery") in Venezuela, apio in Puerto Rico, zanahoria blanca ("white carrot") in Ecuador, and virraca in Peru.

Its Portuguese names are usually derived from the plant's similarity to other well known vegetables and roots. It is known as either mandioquinha ("little cassava") or batata-baroa ("baroness potato") in most regions of Brazil, but other common names in certain regions of that country include batata-salsa (“parsley potato”), batata fiúza ("trustworthy potato"), cenourinha-branca ("little white carrot"), and cenourinha-amarela or simply cenoura-amarela ("little yellow carrot" or simply "yellow carrot"), among others.

It is sometimes called white carrot or yellow cassava in English, but these names may also refer to other vegetables.

Description and varieties
The leaves of arracacha are similar to parsley, and vary from dark green to purple. The roots resemble fat short carrots, with off-white skin. The interior may be white, yellow, or purple.

Cultivation

The plant is native to the region west of the Andes and grows at altitudes varying from 200 to 3,600 meters with an optimal altitude of between 1,800 and 2,500 meters. It is frequently grown with other crops such as maize, beans, and coffee. The plant is very susceptible to viruses and is slow to mature (10–12 months), but requires much less fertilizer input than the potato. Its harvest season in the Southern Hemisphere spans from January to September. Arracacia's roots need to be picked promptly lest they become woody. They have a short shelf life and must reach consumers within a week of harvest. Fresh arracachas can be kept in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks.

Arracacha cultivation can be very lucrative. It was imported into Brazil in the 19th century and has been grown commercially since the 1960s. Brazilian crop improvement programs have developed varieties that are ready to harvest in seven months.

Culinary uses

The most widely used part of arracacia is its starchy root. It cannot be eaten raw, but when cooked it develops a distinctive flavor and aroma that have been described as "a delicate blend of celery, cabbage and roasted chestnuts."

The boiled root is used in similar ways to boiled potatoes, including being served as side dishes, mashed or whipped into purées, formed into dumplings and gnocchi, as an ingredient in pastries, or creamed into soups, commonly garnished with chopped cilantro and croutons, though arracacia's flavor is stronger, and (depending on the variety) its color is more brilliant.

In the Andes region, arracacia is made into fried chips, biscuits, and ground into a coarse flour. The small size of arracacia starch grains make it highly digestible, and so purées and soups made from it are considered excellent as food for babies and young children.

The young stems can be eaten cooked or in salads, and the leaves can be fed to livestock.

Nutrition
100 grams of arracacha provide about 100 calories, 26g of which are dry matter, 23g being carbohydrate, and less than 1g of protein. The plant is rich in calcium, having four times as much as potatoes.

The yellow cultivar contains substantial amounts of carotenoid pigments, precursors to vitamin A, to the point that excessive consumption of arracachas may cause yellowing of the skin, a condition that is not considered to be harmful.

title: Arracacia xanthorrhiza