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Support Through Court

Support Through Court (formerly The Personal Support Unit (The PSU)) is a UK legal charity that supports people who have to represent themselves in court. The aim is to "reduce the disadvantage of people facing the civil and family justice system without a lawyer, enabling them to access justice" and believe that "no one should face court alone".

Support Through Court does not offer legal advice, but provides support to clients in a variety of other ways including: explaining how the court system works, helping to fill in court forms and papers, and accompanying clients to their hearings.

History
The PSU was founded in 2001, led by Diana Copisarow OBE, Michael Naish and Mark Sheldon CBE. Whilst volunteering at the Old Bailey for the Witness Service, Lady Copisarow supported an unrepresented litigant through contested divorce proceedings at the Royal Courts. The litigant's experience was horrendous as she faced the confusion of the court system, uncertainty about appearing before a judge, and the general emotions of litigation. These experiences drove Lady Copisarow, Michael Naish and Mark Sheldon CBE to establish the PSU to meet the human, non-legal, needs of people attending court alone and without legal representation. The PSU grew rapidly from 2007 onwards.

Following changes to legal aid in 2012, the PSU had a rise in demand for its services and now operates from 23 courts in 17 different cities across England and Wales.

In 2014 the PSU won The Guardian 'Small Charity, Big Difference' Award.

In February 2017 the PSU reached the milestone of having helped on over 200,000 occasions.

In October 2019 the PSU was rebranded as Support Through Court to convey more effectively the services offered to litigants in persons.

In February 2020 Support Through Court launched its national helpline to offer individuals who cannot commute to an office an alternative method of accessing its services.

In April 2020 Support Through Court won the SME News' 'Best Legal Support Volunteers 2020, England and Wales' award.

Aims and principles
Support Through Court aims to reduce the disadvantage of people facing the civil and family justice system without a lawyer, enabling them to access justice. Support Through Court believes that no one should face court alone and their vision is that every person in England and Wales who wants help should be able to access the help of a Support Through Court volunteer.

Support Through Court volunteers can:
 * Explain how the court works, help fill in forms, organise papers, and discuss settling issues without going to court
 * Help plan what you want to say in court, and if needed accompany you in court to take notes and help afterwards
 * Provide details of other specialist agencies and help you find out whether you can get free legal advice

Impact
Support Through Court volunteers will help with any aspect of civil legal proceedings: over half of Support Through Court help is in a family matter, with two thirds of these cases concerning children; nearly 17% of cases involve a money claim; and 14% concern housing problems, which often place people at risk of homelessness. Many of their clients are vulnerable and disadvantaged, and to Support Through Court volunteers for reassurance and guidance. Most clients cannot afford a lawyer and are not eligible for legal aid.

In 2017-18 the PSU helped clients on a record 65,000 occasions.

After being helped by a Support Through Court volunteer, 98% of clients report that they feel the Support Through Court helped them get a fairer hearing.

Locations
Support Through Court has offices across England and Wales:
 * Barnet Civil and Family Courts Centre, London
 * Birmingham Civil Justice Centre
 * Cardiff Civil and Family Justice Centre
 * Central London County Court, London
 * Central Family Court, London
 * Chelmsford County Court
 * Leeds Combined Court Centre
 * Liverpool Civil and Family Court
 * Manchester Civil Justice Centre
 * Newcastle Civil and Family Courts and Tribunals Centre
 * Newport Civil and Family Court
 * Nottingham Law School
 * School of Law, University of Sheffield
 * Southend Court House
 * The Royal Courts of Justice, London
 * Wandsworth County Court, London
 * West London Family Court, London

title: Support Through Court


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Puerto Peñasco

Puerto Peñasco is a small city located in Puerto Peñasco Municipality in the northwest of the Mexican state of Sonora, 100 km from the border with the U.S. state of Arizona. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 62,689 inhabitants. It is located on the northern shores of the Sea of Cortez on the small strip of land that joins the Baja California Peninsula with the rest of Mexico. The area is part of the Altar Desert, one of the driest and hottest areas of the larger Sonoran Desert.

Since the late 1990s, there has been a push to develop the area for tourism. It is now one of the most important tourist destinations in northern Mexico. Puerto Peñasco is often called "Rocky Point" in English, and has been nicknamed "Arizona’s Beach" as it is the closest beach to cities such as Phoenix and Tucson. The warm sea surface temperatures of the northern end of the gulf cause Puerto Peñasco to have a much warmer climate than coastal cities on the Pacific both in the Mexican and American Californias. Nights also remain hot and muggy during summer due to the warm-water influence.

The Mar de Cortés International Airport serves Puerto Penasco, but currently has no regularly-scheduled flights in or out. A new highway shortens the drive from California by 160 km. Tourism and fishing are the most important economic activities for the city. Development to date includes over one hundred restaurants, forty-two hotels and motels, and fourteen RV facilities. The new "Home Port del Mar de Cortés" (Sea of Cortez) cruise ship terminal began construction in 2014 between Sandy Beach and Cholla Bay (La Choya), northwest of the central city. The construction has been suspended for financial reasons.

History
The city is known by two names, Puerto Peñasco (rocky cliff port) in Spanish and Rocky Point in English. In 1826, retired Robert William Hale Hardy of the British Royal Navy was sailing in this area searching for pearls and precious metals. He named the area Rocky Point, and it was identified as Rocky Point on marine maps until President Lázaro Cárdenas changed it to Puerto Punta Peñasco. To simplify pronunciation, the English name lost the word “Port” and the Spanish name dropped “Punta”.

Prior to the 1920s, the area was just one of the safe harbors for wandering fishermen who worked the upper Gulf of California. During fishing seasons, fishermen from Guaymas, Bahía Kino, Puerto Libertad, and Puerto Lobos began to come here to camp out. The main attraction for these fishermen was a fish called totoaba, which was fished not for its meat, but for its use in medicine. At this time the area was known as Punta de Piedra o Punta Peñasco. The name comes from a large quantity of solidified lava that hit the Gulf. Even as early as the 19th century, fishermen from Arizona came here. Since there was no source of drinking water, it was not settled permanently.

In the 1930s, under President Lázaro Cárdenas, a railroad was built to connect Baja California to the rest of Mexico, passing by Puerto Peñasco. The town began to grow again, adding a police delegation in 1932, as a dependency of the nearby municipality of Sonoyta, even though the town was part of the municipality of Caborca. The railroad line created new population centers and the initial layout of the city and port of Puerto Peñasco was begun in the 1940s. During this same time shrimp fishing was having an impact on the local economy.

In 1952, Puerto Peñasco separated from the municipality of Caborca and comprised the localities of Sonoyta, Bahía La Choya, 21 de Marzo and Cuauhtémoc. Sonoyta was the second largest population center at the time. In 1989, the municipality of Plutarco Elías Calles was split from Puerto Peñasco. Until the 1990s, there had been little tourism here except for campers and fishermen. The municipality's pristine beaches with clear waters stretched for a hundred miles north or south with almost no development. The push to make Puerto Peñasco or Rocky Point a major tourism center was initiated in 1993, with the government joining with private investors to build condominiums and other facilities. The goal has been to take advantage of the area's proximity to the United States.

Much of the inspiration for the effort came from the success of Cancún, which was a nearly virgin beach before a government/private venture developed it. Another reason to look to tourism was the declining catches of fishermen here, due to overfishing and pollution. The federal government contributed two billion pesos in infrastructure, especially roadways and an airport and the area was declared a free zone, meaning foreigners could visit the area without a visa (although a passport is still needed). There was some economic instability in 1994 and 1995, but it did not derail development here for long, coming back by 1999. Between 2002 and 2007 economic growth was at twelve percent. The local real estate market started to go bust in 2007 due to the economic slowdown in the United States.

Cityscape
The oldest part of the town was founded between the edge of the sea and Ballena Hill. The base of the area is volcanic rock, much of it solidified lava flows from when ancient eruptions met the ocean. To promote tourism here, the city was declared to be part of the border “free zone” although it is about 100 km from the U.S. This means that foreigners can drive from the U.S. to Puerto Peñasco without obtaining visas. This makes the area attractive to visitors from Arizona, California, and Nevada. In a relatively short time, Puerto Peñasco has become a major tourist center. It contains numerous hotels as well as RV and primitive camping sites. Puerto Peñasco is described as "by far the most American city in Mexico" and "Arizona’s beach", with Tucson, Phoenix, and Yuma closer than the Mexican cities of Mexicali and Hermosillo. Most visitors come for the beaches and to fish. The annual fishing festival begins on Navy Day on June 1. These celebrations feature mariachis, folklorico dance, and a festival queen. Another fishing tournament is sponsored by the La Choya Bay Club. Beaches here include Sandy Beach, Las Conchas, El Mirador, La Choya, Playa Encanto, Estero de Morúa, Playa La Joya, Playa Miramar, and Playa San Jorge. Sandy Beach is noted for its sand which is a light brown color. One attraction of the beaches is the tidal pools. Tides here can raise and lower the sea on the relatively flat land up to 8 m. Low tide reveals a large number of tidal pools in the craters of the rocky coast. In these pools there used to be large numbers of crabs, starfish, and other marine life. There is also an estuary by the name of Morúa east of the community of Las Conchas. Here live thousands of birds, including migratory species.

A large number of beachfront condominiums have been built in this area including Las Conchas, Sandy Beach Resorts, Costa Diamante, Las Palomas Beach and Golf Resort, Sonoran Sea, Bella Sirena, and Las Palmas. The first condos, Las Conchas and Bahías Choya, were built in the far southeast and far northwest respectively. Interest in property here has been unexpectedly strong, prompting further developments such as Sandy Beach. This development has plans for a golf course, malls, marinas and more condos.

Crafts for sale here include shell jewelry, iron pieces and carved ironwood.

The airport is a joint government and private enterprise project which was inaugurated in 2008 and has a daily capacity of 2,000 passengers. Puerto Peñasco is a popular destination for spring break, especially for high school and college students from Arizona and California for both its proximity and its 18-year-old legal drinking age.

The Universidad de Sonora has its Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas (Scientific and Technological Research Center) as well as its Centro de Estudios del Desierto (Center for Desert Studies) here which are open to visitors. These institutions started as a joint project with the Laboratory of Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Arizona in 1963 to develop methods of desalinization of sea water. In 1973 and 1974, the Unidad Experimental Peñasco was founded to research the raising of blue shrimp or Penaeus stylirostris. This project has been the leader in the development of shrimp farming techniques in Mexico. The CET-MAR Aquarium is a marine research center open to the public with displays of marine life such as turtles, octopus, and numerous fish species.

Many residents are from the United States or Canada. Most restaurants offer menus in English, and most businesses accept U.S. dollars. Puerto Peñasco is popular with retirees, especially those from the United States and Canada who have trailers and RVs. However, there are retirees here from all over the world. The town also has newspapers in English.

Geography
The city of Puerto Peñasco (Rocky Point) is found in the northwest of the Mexican state of Sonora, a state that is located directly to the south of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is located on the eastern coast of the Gulf of California approximately 60 miles south of the Arizonan border, only about a four-hour drive from Phoenix or Tucson. The city's maximum elevation is 100 meters (328 feet) above sea level and its minimum is 0 meters (0 feet) above sea level. It is found in the Sonoran Desert, a desert which stretches from the U.S. states of Arizona and California down to the northern tip of the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Because of this, its climate reaches extreme temperatures during the summer and relatively high temperatures in the winter. The city itself is relatively flat, with the exception of Ballena hill that is found near its port. Further, remnants of ancient volcanoes can be found on the beaches of Puerto Peñasco and several dormant volcano peaks can be seen throughout the entire state.

Climate
Puerto Peñasco has a desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) with an average of 10 days of rain per year. The average yearly high temperature is 27.5 C, but temperatures of 40 C are very common in the summer months. The average yearly low temperature is 17.5 C, and frosts are rare. Though very rare, it is possible for a tropical storm or hurricane to reach the northern Gulf of California and cause significant damage. Hurricane Kathleen in 1976, Hurricane Nora in 1997, and Hurricane Rosa in 2018 were the last hurricanes to hit Puerto Peñasco. Due to the influence of the Gulf waters, summers are moderated compared to inland areas in both Sonora and Arizona to its north in terms of air temperature, although the apparent temperature remains very hot due to high humidity.

Demographics
As of 2020, the city of Puerto Peñasco has a total of 62,689 inhabitants, making it the eighth largest locality in the state. The population of the town has doubled since the year 2000, due to the developments in tourism.

Education and Health
According to data provided by the 2010 census, approximately 2.65% of the population over the age of 15 are illiterate. And about 15.02% of the same age do not have a basic primary education. About 3.48% of children between the ages of 6 and 14 do not attend any type of institution of education. Furthermore, about 36.73% of inhabitants over the age of 15 did not finish their primary education, and about 31.74% of the population is not inscribed in any government health service. However, since 2010 Puerto Peñasco has been among the healthiest cities in the state.

Institutes of Education
Puerto Peñasco is full of educational institutions ranging from elementary schools to universities. The city also houses several private schools and trade schools. Since 2015, the following have been registered in the municipality.

·     A school that specializes in special education of public character and administration for the Federal Government.

·     Four education centers of elementary education, three private and one public.

·     Fifteen kindergarten schools, ten of which are public and five of which are private.

·     Twenty-three elementary schools, twenty of which are public and three that are private.

·     Four public and two private high schools.

Universities
·     Superior Technological Institute of Puerto Peñasco.

·     Technological University of Puerto Peñasco.

·     University of Professional Development.

·     CEUNO University.

Health Centers
Puerto Peñasco also has two General Hospitals, a Center of Urban Health, a Hospital of Social Insurance, a Family Medical Unit of the IMSS (Mexican Social Security Institute), as well as many clinics and private consults all around the city.

In popular culture

 * The city is mentioned in Season 3 Episode 6 of Narcos: Mexico, when Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada tells Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix and Enedina Arellano Félix, "Amado's expanded operations - taken over Puerto Peñasco, made it hard for my boats to unload."
 * Season 1 Episode 7 of the Netflix series Yankee is entitled "Penélope in Puerto Peñasco."
 * The Hoyt Axton song “Evangelina” mentions Puerto Peñasco as the home of the protagonist’s Mexican lover.

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

title: Puerto Peñasco


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Scott Reeves

Gregory Scott Reeves (born May 16, 1966) is an American actor and country music singer. His best known roles include Noel Laughlin on ABC's Nashville, Ryan McNeil on The Young and the Restless, and Steven Webber on General Hospital.

Musical career
Reeves and Aaron Benward founded the duo Blue County in 2003, which recorded one album for Curb Records. Aaron and Scott departed Curb in 2007 and continue to write and perform together all over the world, playing for fans ranging from 5 to 95. Reeves co-wrote Toby Keith's 2011 number 1 single, "Made in America". Between Blue County dates and movie/television roles, Reeves plays in the 80s cover rock band, "Port Chuck", along with General Hospital co-stars Steve Burton, Bradford Anderson, and Brandon Barash.

Personal life
Reeves was born in Santa Monica, to a family from Delight, Arkansas and Tennessee. Since March 1990, Reeves has been married to soap opera actress Melissa Reeves. They currently live in Franklin, Tennessee and have 2 children: Emily Taylor Reeves (born June 23, 1992) and Lawrence "Larry" David Reeves (born August 4, 1997).

Awards and nominations
Daytime Emmy Awards
 * 1997: Nominated, "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" – The Young and the Restless
 * 1998: Nominated, "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" – The Young and the Restless

Soap Opera Digest Awards
 * 1993: Nominated, "Outstanding Young Lead Actor" – The Young and the Restless
 * 1994: Won, "Outstanding Young Lead Actor" – The Young and the Restless
 * 1999: Nominated, "Outstanding Young Lead Actor" – The Young and the Restless

title: Scott Reeves


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Ensenada, Baja California

Ensenada is a city in Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, situated on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Located on the Bahía de Todos Santos, the city had a population of 279,765 in 2018, making it the third-largest city in Baja California. The city is an important international trade center and home to the Port of Ensenada, the second-busiest port in Mexico. Ensenada is a major tourist destination, owing to its warm climate and proximity to the Pacific Ocean, and is commonly known as La Cenicienta del Pacífico ("The Cinderella of the Pacific").

Ensenada was founded in 1882, when the small community of Rancho Ensenada de Santos was made the regional capital for the northern partition of the Baja California Territory. The city grew significantly with the proliferation of mines in the surrounding mountains. While the Mexican Revolution curtailed much of Ensenada's expansion, the onset of Prohibition in the United States transformed the city into a popular tourist destination for Americans seeking entertainment and alcohol. Ensenada's reputation as a resort town was cemented by the 1950s and 1960s, which saw a construction boom and the city's rise in international prominence outside of North America.

Today, Ensenada is a major economic and cultural hub for Baja California. The city is home to numerous universities, like the Ensenada Institute of Technology and the Autonomous University of Baja California, Ensenada. Ensenada is an important biotechnology hub and is home to numerous research institutions, like the Ensenada Center for Scientific Research. The city is a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.

History
At the time the first European explorers arrived in the region, Yuman–Cochimí speaking peoples inhabited the region. Groups such as the Kiliwa, Paipai and Kumeyaay still exist. These hunter-gatherer indigenous peoples lived in the bay area and interior valleys of the Sierra de Juárez and Sierra de San Pedro Mártir. The Kumeyaay had a village where the city is seated that was called Pa-tai.

Bahía de Todos Santos, which Ensenada now borders, was first reached by sea by the Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo on the vessels El Salvador and Victoria. The city was founded on September 17, 1542, under the name San Mateo. In 1602, while mapping the coast of the Californias in search of safe harbors for returning Spanish galleons from Manila to Acapulco, Sebastián Vizcaíno renamed the city to Ensenada de Todos Santos. Ensenada means "bay" or "cove".

The first permanent settlement was established by the Jesuits during the 17th or 18th century. After the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1768, the Dominicans took over the representation of Europe in what is now Ensenada. In 1805, José Manuel Ruiz Carillo obtained permission to establish himself in Ensenada, being appointed governor of Baja California and building in Ensenada a house that survived until the final part of that century, despite being briefly taken by William Walker, the self-declared "president" of the Republic of Baja California, in 1853–54. In 1882, Ensenada was designated the capital of Baja California, and attempts at developing the area were made by the English Mexican Land and Colonization Company. These were interrupted by the Mexican Revolution, which left the area devastated. In 1915, the capital was transferred to Mexicali, and in 1930, the population of Ensenada was only 5,000. During the early part of the twentieth century, the city's name was shortened from Ensenada de Todos Santos to Ensenada, a change made in order to avoid confusion with Todos Santos in Baja California Sur. The twentieth-century development of Ensenada was assisted by prohibition, which sent Americans and Canadians south of their border in search of entertainment and alcohol, developing first Tijuana, then Rosarito, and finally Ensenada as tourist destinations. The Hotel Riviera del Pacífico was opened in 1930, briefly placing Ensenada on the international glamor map and was visited several times by President Miguel Alemán Valdés, international artists and political personalities.

Ensenada truly began to flourish in the early 1950s, at which time the city's population had risen to 20,000. The hotel finally closed in 1964. It was later reopened as a cultural center and museum. By this time, other hotels had opened, and the population and economy of Ensenada had grown and diversified towards their present status.

On January 26, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI created the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ensenada with territory taken from the Archdiocese of Tijuana and Mexicali Diocese, making it a suffragan diocese of the Metropolitan Church of Tijuana.

In 2023, ten people were killed in a shootout.

Geography
Many of the terrestrial or marine species inhabiting the surrounding the Greater Ensenada area in the Baja California islands are unique. Guadalupe Island, off the coast of the city, is one of the best places in the world for observing the great white shark. The island has been a wildlife sanctuary since 1975.

The city's offshore is host to an array of aquatic mammals including the gray whale, the northern elephant seal, the Guadalupe fur seal and California sea lion; terrestrial mammals include various squirrel species, otters, the ring-tailed cat, coyote, bobcat, and puma.

Bird species include hawks, pelicans, roadrunners, and various waterfowl and oceangoing species.

Fish include tilapia, rainbow trout, leopard shark, and the great white shark.

There are no rivers in the city, only surface runoff streams that flow when there have been large amounts of rainfall.

Ensenada has one natural fresh water body, the Lagunita pond, located to the north of El Ciprés military air field, and which has ecological importance.

Climate
The average rainfall is 280 mm per year, falling mainly in the winter months. Ensenada has a mild semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk), much like the rest of northwestern Baja California. During the colder months from November to February, rainfall is scarce and temperatures average 13 °C. On the other hand, the warmer months from June to September are the driest, and during this time maintain an average temperature of 21 °C.

For Ensenada's warm summer coastal location, the city's climate is greatly affected by the offshore cold California Current. Due to the current, the late summer and early fall seasons are typically the warmest periods for the city. Santa Ana winds – observed in much of Southern California as well – are responsible for temperature rises at any time of the year. During Santa Anas, wind direction changes and brings warm air from the interior to the coast. Snowfall is rare with the last recent one in January 2007, when the hills south of the city received small amounts of snowfall.

Similar to the South Coast of California, Ensenada experiences the periodic May Gray and June Gloom marine layer effects.

Demographics

The populace of Ensenada is cosmopolitan in composition. A reflection of the cultural dynamics involved in the city, many ethnic groups and nationalities are present.

Ensenada is the third-largest city in Baja California, following Tijuana and Mexicali.

The predominant language of the city is Spanish, though English is spoken to a degree in tourist areas and the city center.

Government
Ensenada is the municipal seat of the Ensenada Municipality. The city is made up of the boroughs of Ensenada and Chapultepec.

The city is administered by a city council. Port lands are administered by the Port Authority of Ensenada.

Ensenada is covered by the Third Federal Electoral District of Baja California, which elects 1 member to the federal Chamber of Deputies.

The Emilio López Zamora dam was built in 1976 by the federal government, with the objective of controlling overflow and supporting the water supply of the city.
 * Public utilities

On June 10, 2018, a desalination plant with a capacity of 250 L per second started operation.

Tourism
Ensenada is located some 108 km south of the border with the United States, connected via a four-lane toll road MX-1D and a two lane free road, which makes it a natural destination for tourists on short vacations by car. Ensenada's proximity to California also makes it a destination for short cruise ship trips from Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach. As of 2005, four cruise lines maintained ships that docked in Ensenada weekly, though, one of these ships—the Monarch of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines—ceased operations in the Pacific in mid-October 2008. The world-renowned Baja 1000 off-road race is held in Ensenada every year in late November, while the Baja 500 race is held in early June. Off-road enthusiasts use Ensenada year-round as a starting point to explore Baja California. Watersports and ocean proximity have formed an integral part of the structure of tourism and its relation to economics in the city. Ensenada and coastal beach towns of Greater Ensenada have several renowned surfing spots, such as San Miguel Beach, California Trailer Park, Stacks and 3 M's (Tres Emes in Spanish), which are located on the north coast of the city. Todos Santos Island is a small island located west of Ensenada (about two hours by boat) and a world-famous surfing spot. A number of surfing contests, such as the Billabong XXL. have been held at Todos Santos Island. Wave faces can reach above 60 ft on the island and in December 2006 Brad Gerlach, 2006 winner of Big XXL, surfed a wave of 68 ft. Tourists also stop in the city on their way to their destinations farther south in the municipality where windsurfing spots are located. Maritime activities associated with the city also include the global Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race, billed as the world's largest international sailing event, which begins in Newport Beach and finishes in Ensenada. SCORE International's Baja 1000 and Baja 500 desert races also traditionally begin and/or end in the city. Whale watching has also developed as a tourist draw in the city due to the gray whale's annual migration from Alaska to the lagoons of Baja California Sur. Between the months of December and March, and back in the months of April and May, whales can be seen from the coast of Ensenada. The nearby historical mission town of Guadalupe, was revitalized from 1905 to 1910 with immigrant Spiritual Christians, mostly Pryguny from the Caucasus, South Russia. After WWII most moved to California to join more prosperous relatives, while many who remained intermarried with Mexicans and live in Ensenada and Tijuana. Two families remaining in the Guadalupe Valley opened museums, a cafe, and participate in wine tourism. The traditional economic activities in Guadalupe are olive and wine production. Currently, about 90% of wine production in Mexico originates in the valleys of Guadalupe and adjacent Calafia. Many local wine producers offer tours and tastings. Every year during the month of August, the beginning of wine harvest season is celebrated in the Guadalupe Valley and in the city of Ensenada with a two-week-long series of cultural and culinary events, all under the title banner of Fiestas de la Vendimia (Wine Harvest Festival). This event attracts people from all over the world. There is a street in Ensenada called "La Calle Primera" or Adolfo Lopez Mateos ("1st Street"). It's a tourism spot in Ensenada due to its many "Curios" (short for "Curiosidades"—trinkets and souvenirs) shops, restaurants, hotels, bars, and popular club. La Primera is a very busy street, filled with tourists and locals. La Primera is just one block away from Ventana al Mar ("Window to the Sea"), a boardwalk/seawall avenue where an enormous Mexican flag is located. The Ensenada Carnaval is one of the country's largest, as thousands of people gather in the streets for six days and nights. Just south of the city on Highway 1 is located one of the largest marine geysers in the world, colloquially known as La Bufadora ("The Blowhole"). La Bufadora attracts many tourists. The street leading to the viewpoint is a commercial area where a variety of authentic Mexican arts and crafts are for sale; bartering over prices with vendors is customary. There are also seafood restaurants and street vendors selling "churros" (fried pastry with cinnamon and sugar) and other delicacies.

Research and manufacturing
Ensenada is developing scientific research and natural science sectors, with special focus in the marine sciences sectors. Ensenada is claimed to be the city with the highest number of scientists per capita in Latin America. The Center of Scientific Research and Higher Education of Ensenada (CICESE) conducts research in Earth Sciences, Applied Physics, Oceanography, Communications and Experimental and Applied Biology. Further research is conducted on the campus of the Autonomous University of Baja California, Ensenada (UABC), mainly in Oceanography and education areas although there are groups in Physics, Biology, and other related sciences. The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) has a research campus in the city. The campus hosts the Institute of Astronomy and the Centre for Nanosciences and Nanotechnology (CNyN). The National Astronomical Observatory (Mexico) is located on the mountains of the Sierra de San Pedro Martir, south of the city.

The city is home to the largest cluster of bio-medical device companies in Mexico and is a developing center that is drawing a growing number of biotech researchers. Unique to the city is that its biotech cluster is near that of another, larger, cluster in San Diego. The proximity of these two biotech clusters fuels their interaction.

The city is not part of any rail transport grid with which it could use to transport cargo and other materials, although there are plans to build a rail line to the United States border in the short to mid-term future that would link it to San Diego–Tijuana. Unlike the larger cities to the north, Ensenada has only six major industrial parks, compared to 26 in Mexicali and 51 in Tijuana, as its economy is more focused on tourism and technology. Fender guitars and Lowrance fishfinders are manufactured in Ensenada.

Maritime industry
The Port of Ensenada has a large influence on the civic economy. Ensenada is home to the only deep-water port in the state of Baja California and on the Baja California Peninsula. The port is part of standard shipping routes that directly link it with the Mexican cities of La Paz, Manzanillo, Mazatlán, Acapulco and Lázaro Cárdenas; the American cities of San Diego, Long Beach and Los Angeles; the Guatemalan city of Puerto Quetzal, the Chilean city of Valparaíso, the Japanese city of Yokohama, and the city of Hong Kong. Ensenada is where the Fender standard series guitars and basses are produced.

In addition to revenue generated by docking cruise ships, fishing accounts for a large part of the economy. More than 90 species of fish are commercially fished in Ensenada; the most important fisheries are tuna, shrimp, California spiny lobster, abalone, sea urchin, sardine, mackerel and seaweed. A large percentage of all catches are exported to East Asia. A tuna embargo imposed on Mexico during the 1990s caused most of the fishing fleet to relocate to the ports of Guaymas, and Mazatlán, further south. To survive, Ensenada's tuna industry has shifted its focus to tuna farming, exporting the highly valued meat almost exclusively to Japan. Ensenada has been known for sports fishing over 50 years. Each year hundreds of anglers head for Ensenada to go fishing and take advantage of the shorter distances needed to travel by sea to get to the big catch.

Agriculture
The municipality of Ensenada has three main agricultural zones: the Guadalupe-Calafia valleys to the north, the Ojos Negros valley to the east and the San Quintin valley to the south. The main crops are grapes, olives, tomato, wheat, alfalfa, asparagus, green onions and broccoli.

Mining
One of the earliest activities in the Ensenada region was gold and silver mining, and some of these mines remain in limited operation. In recent years, very large amounts of gravel have been extracted from creek beds in rural areas and exported for infrastructure works in California in the US. However, this has been a controversial activity, as environmentalists have argued that depleting the creekbeds will decrease the amount of water that is absorbed by the soil during the brief rainy season, negatively impacting the agriculture. As of November 2005, the extraction of gravel remains unchecked. Said extraction activities have been linked to former governor Ernesto Ruffo.

Education
The following higher education institutions are based in Ensenada. With UNAM's research headquarters, the Marine Sciences Department of the UABC and the thriving CICESE scientific institute in town, Ensenada boasts the highest concentration of scientists and science students in all of Latin America, chiefly in the fields of astronomy, physics, biology, geology and oceanography. Fittingly, Ensenada has been coined the City Of Science. Ensenada's four main institutions have a dominant focus on marine and agricultural biotechnology, nanoscience and nanotechnology, information and communication technologies, oceanography and marine science, optics and applied physics, and economic development.
 * Autonomous University of Baja California, Ensenada (UABC)
 * Center of Nanociences and Nanotecnology National Autonomous University of Mexico (CNyN-UNAM)
 * Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior (CETYS), Ensenada
 * Institute of Astronomy, National Autonomous University of Mexico (IA-UNAM) IAUNAM-E
 * Ensenada Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education (CICESE)
 * Institute for Oceanologic Research (IIO)
 * Catholic University - Technological Baja California, Ensenada (TBC)
 * Technological Institute of Ensenada (ITE)
 * Universidad Del Noroccidente de Latinoamerica (UNDL)
 * Xochicalco University, Ensenada
 * Iuniversi, Ensenada

Culture
Ensenada's diversity as a city is in part attributed to Spanish, Russian, and American influences. Spanish missionaries and Russian settlers began the growth of the wine industry in the city. Reminiscent of this time period are Russian museums in the city.

The city is known for its festivities and laid-back atmosphere, the city hosts many events including the Wine Harvest Festival (Fiestas de la Vendimia) and Ensenada Carnaval. The Wine Harvest Festival celebrates the wine harvest season and in the city and nearby Guadalupe Valley, a series of events takes place.

Typical food in Ensenada consists of fish tacos, which originated in the city, shrimp tacos, and ceviche. These dishes are usually accompanied by avocado and salsa. Another dish characteristic of the port city is carpaccio. The city's Mediterranean climate allows for the cultivation of grapes and olives, which in turn make wine and olive oil, respectively. Development of such foods complement Spanish, Italian, French, and Mexican dishes in Ensenada.

Sports
Ensenada maintains no professional sports teams in association football, basketball, or baseball, but is known for its water sports. The city has sports fishing venues, and swells that are known for drawing professional surfers.

A baseball team, the Marineros de Ensenada, play in the Liga Norte de México and have won five championships (2010, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2022).

In addition to its watersports scene, the city is known for a place of biking, both cycling and motorsport varieties. The 80 km Rosarito-Ensenada bike race ends in the city. The Baja 500, which starts and ends in the city, and Baja 1000 – both races that take their names from their distance in miles – are motorsport races that begin in the city.

It is also the birthplace of the tennis player Raúl Ramírez.

Media
Ensenada is served by three major newspapers. These are El Vigía, El Mexicano, and the Gringo Gazette North All of which cover local news, sports, business, jobs, and community events, though the Gringo Gazette is the dominant paper that publishes in the English-language. Since the 2013 La Jornada and El Frontera newspapers began to be distributed in the city. Also there are other options exclusively on-line as Ensenada.net, El Septentrión and Plex.

Transportation
The city lies at a crossroads of major federal highways on the peninsula that lead to the northern centers of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Mexicali and south to Cabo San Lucas and La Paz. The junction occurs at the meeting of Federal Highway 1 and Federal Highway 3. The main roads of the city include Bahia de La Paz and Lázaro Cárdenas, northwest bound, and southeast bound roads.

Ports and marinas
The Port of Ensenada is an international deepwater port and the city's major water port. It maintains commercial, industrial, and tourist terminals.

In addition to the port, the coast around Bahia de Todos Santos is dotted with numerous marinas, including Marina Baja Fiesta, Marina Cruiseport Village, Marina Coral, and Marina Baja Naval with docking facilities for pleasure craft and commercial and sport fishing vessels. In order to comply with United States cabotage laws, many cruise ships operating between Pacific ports in the U.S. call at Ensenada en route.

Airport
The city is served by Ensenada Airport, an official port of entry into Mexico.

In popular culture

 * A Fender manufacturing plant is located in Ensenada.
 * The city is the setting of a song by Neil Diamond titled "In Ensenada" on the album Heartlight.
 * Lyle Lovett titled his 1996 album The Road to Ensenada as a reference to the spectacular 100. km coastal toll road between Tijuana and Ensenada.
 * Warren Zevon mentions Ensenada in his song "Carmelita".
 * The Hollywood-based British actor Nigel Bruce, best remembered for his portrayal of Doctor Watson opposite Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, was born in Ensenada in 1895 while his parents were on holiday in the city.
 * Ween mentions Ensenada in the song "Bananas and Blow".
 * Actor Brandon Lee and his girlfriend were due to be married in Ensenada on April 17, 1993, but Lee died while filming The Crow.
 * In an episode of Mister Ed, Ed tries to convince his master Wilbur to take him to Ensenada on vacation and Wilbur tries to convince his wife.
 * The first episode of TV series Simon & Simon, "Details at Eleven," was partially filmed in Ensenada at Ruiz Avenue.
 * In the South Park episode "Probably," Kenny is hit by a bus that arrives in Ensenada. When he phones home Cartman believes Kenny is calling from hell and mistakenly thinks a description of Ensenada is a description of hell.
 * In a 2006 episode of The O.C., Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie) and Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) go to Ensenada in search of Kevin Volchok (Cam Gigandet), who committed vehicular homicide (charged as second-degree murder in California) against Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) by running Ryan's vehicle off the road, causing it to flip over and catch on fire. Ryan wants to confront Volchok, but Seth, fearing Ryan will kill his enemy, gives him the wrong address, and Seth instead visits Volchok, advising him to turn himself in and let his father, Sandy (Peter Gallagher), negotiate a plea. Ryan and Seth are found by Sandy and Kirsten (Kelly Rowan), and the four return to Newport Beach.
 * Barbara Stanwyck and family head to Ensenada for a fishing and camping trip in the 1953 thriller Jeopardy.

Sister cities
Ensenada has three sister cities as designated by Sister Cities International, including relations formalized between other cities.

title: Ensenada, Baja California


text:
Fireflies (novel)

Fireflies is a novel by Shiva Naipaul originally published in 1970. It was his first book, a comic novel set in Trinidad. In an essay in An Unfinished Journey, Naipaul described how in 1968 as a final year student at Oxford University studying Chinese, he had been moved to write down a sentence, which proved to be the beginning of his first novel, which he then worked on for the next two years. The novel was hailed on publication, winning the Jock Campbell New Statesman Award, the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize.

Writer Martin Amis said of Fireflies

The moment I finished his first novel, Fireflies, I felt delight in being alive at the same time as such a writer. I passed the book round to friends (I must have bought half a dozen of those Penguins), and there are many with whom I can initiate a long train of quotation - and laughter - from that book alone.

title: Fireflies (novel)


text:
John of Cornwall (theologian)

John of Cornwall, in Latin Johannes Cornubiensis or Johannes de Sancto Germano was a Christian scholar and teacher, who was living in Paris about 1176.

He is not to be confused with the fourteenth-century John of Cornwall who expounded Latin at his grammar school in English instead of French. There was also an archdeacon of Worcester called John of Cornwall around 1197, who probably was a different person.

Life and writings
Little is known of his life. From his names, it is surmised that he was a native of St Germans in Cornwall. He studied with Peter Lombard in Paris, and wrote Eulogium ad Alexandrum Papam III, quod Christus sit aliquis homo, a treatise refuting Abelard's doctrine that the humanity of Jesus was only a garment clothing the Logos.

The Eulogium (dated 1176 or later) was printed by Edmond Martène in Thesaurus novus anecdotum (Paris, 1717), and by Jacques Paul Migne's in Patrologiae Latinae Cursus Completus (1844-1855), vol. CXCIX. Other books attributed to him are:

 * Apologia de Christi Incarnatione (disputed authorship; perhaps by Hugh of St. Victor).
 * Summa qualiter fiat Sacramentum Altaris per virtutem sanctae crucis et de septem canonibus vel ordinibus Missae. Migne, Patrologiae Latinae, vol. CLXXVII.
 * Prophetia Merlini or Merlini prophetia cum expositione. A poem written between 1141 and 1155, known from a unique manuscript in the Vatican Library.
 * De diuersa consuetudine legendi Sacram Scripturam. See Friedrich Stegmüller, Bibl. 4419; Richard Sharpe, Latin Writers, 229.

title: John of Cornwall (theologian)


text:
Talk:Racism/Archive 5

Archive 5 | Archive →

Explanation of cuts

 * Originally, all I did was delete unsubstsantiated and likely wrong claims, e.g. this:

 * Racism may have originated as an extension of feelings of loyalty to family. People may see a race as an extended family, and have loyalties to their own as they would to their own family, tribe, clan, or nation. This often translates to a distrust and dislike of "out-groups".
 * Although normaly I just get pissed-off at such right-wing neo-fascist propeganda, I think it is unwise to bring this level of politics into Wikipedia. The only reason I deleted it is because it is unsusbtsnatiated speculation that has no basis in any research.  I really do not think this is the right way to go about writing an encuyclopedia article.  This view in academc circles is called "primordialism" (itself a misinterpretationof an argument made by the sociologist Edward Shils and anthropologist Clifford Geertz) andit is just embarassing to include it in an encyclopedia.  There is as much psychological evidence for intrafamilial forces that lead to conflict and dispersion as to closeness and identification; the history of "race" and "family" as social institutions and ideas are quite distinct; the passage uses words "clan, tribe" and so on anachronistically, the way ournalists used them in the 19th century and not the way social scientists use them today.  Look, I didn't mean to piss off someone's political agenda, I was just deleting non-scientific and non-empirical crap.  But I respect those who argue that one should add and not cut, so I drew on two of the most well-established and well-regarded theorists of national identity and ethnic segmentation (Anderson and Wolf); I am not so expert on Gellner but of course he should be broughtin.  The crucial issue here is to distinguish conceptually between ethnonational identities and racial ones.  The bodies of research are different (although I admit some overlap) and clearly racial and national discources become salient and operate at differet times in different places.   My main pint is that contributors to an encyclopedia should do research and draw on resaearch and not just scribble down their personal reflections on a Discovery channel documentary. There are people who research this stuff for a living.

 * I did not delete any previous factual claims. I am just not sure what to make of your remarks -- historians are pretty clear on the rise of modern races in the 17th-19th centuries, I certainly see no basis for explaining "racism" based on anything prior to that.  (by the way, there is no political axe being grinded here; the colonial origins of race and racism explain hatred by non-European races against European races; I simply do not get your comment about "Europe colonial villains;" what I added says nothing about "european colonial villains."    Similarly, all important scholarship today dwells on the iportance of distinguishing between 'ancient ethnic hatred" (whateve that means) and racism; an encyclopdia article should not be sloppy when dozzens of first-race scholars are going over documentary evidence and oral history quite carefully to sort out what is going on tiday.  In any event you need to be clear as to what you mean by "racism" which you are trying to explain.

 * As for more recent racial conflicts (e.g. over bussing and affirmative action in the United States) I certainly agree with you that the explanation you asked me to put in is inadequate (I only insist that it not be "explained" the same way as "ancient ethnic hatreds!"). What is needed is less speculation and more concrete historical and socail research.  But this  was my objection all along, that the earlier paragraph was pure speculation that was utterly ignroant of any research.  If you are suggesting a need to add more detail to explain more recent forms of racial conflict, I simply agree with you.  I do not think that what I put in needs to be deleted, since it reflects recent scholarship and is relevant -=- but I wholehartedly agree with you that more recent scholarship should be added. Slrubenstein

 * By the way, I agree with you that my claim that Darwinian theory ws misconstrued is POV but only in the catholic sense that ALL statements in Wikipedia express some POV. Are you asking that if be rephrased in some way like, "The notion of evolution, currentlypopular and increasingly legitimate through the work of naturalists such as Charles Darwin, was intepreted and put to political uses that virutally all historialns of science and biologists today consider a thorough miconstrual?"  A admit that his is more accurate and precise, but isn't it rather overwroguht for a simple point?Slrubenstein

Foo Tribe

 * There is much to disagree with here. I don't know what is trendy in this branch of academia, and forgive me if I'm skeptical.  "Right-wing neo-fascist propaganda" seems quite a pile to lay on these ideas.  But I will take immediate issue with the racism/ethnic hatred divide.  Is someone from the Foo tribe who in 800 AD considered the Bar tribe members to be filthy animals not racist?

 * This is a fair question and an empirical question. What evidence do you have that someone from the Foo tribe who considered members of he Bar tribe "filthy animals" to be racist?  Slrubenstein

The normal use of the word would I believe say that is (was) racism.

 * Peak: Yes, we understand that many people today might call things like you describe as racist (though perhaps your particular example, as Slr suggests, is not very persuasive), but what about the people at the time? If they did not have a word for "racism", how would we know that they thought of it as what we call "racism"? Here is an example of where someone writing in the first century AD might well have chosen to include something to do with "racism" but did not. The text is from Colossians 3:11. "Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free...."  The relevant distinctions being made here have to do with ethnicity (language/culture/religion), cultural practices, and so on.
 * Peak If you look at Chinese sources, you will probably find much the same thing. (If you don't, then let us know!) Take a look at Topics in Premodern Chinese History (Gregory James Smits). Here's a sample:

 * When, in modern times, Europeans brought their obsession with "colors" and "races" to China (where these notions took root and flourished), Chinese intellectuals began to regard the Yellow Emperor as the biological progenitor of "the Chinese people" and thus the founder of "the Chinese race."
 * Peak 21:47, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * what you call "the normal" use of the word I consider anachronistic and sloppy scholarship. I will give an analogy.  People today get married (let's make things simple and say "in a Catholic Church").  1500 years ago people also got married (again, in a Catholic Church).  It would be the worst kind of scholarship to assume that they are getting married for the same reasons, and that the institution of marriage has the same meanings and functions.  It may, but it may not andin fact much evidence suggests that it doesn't.  This is an encyclopedia, a serious endeavor.  You give the example of the Foo tribe.  Now please give your evidence for your interpretation.  Prove it is "racism." Slrubenstein

 * I guess I don't understand the question. What kind of "evidence" or "proof" would you accept?  As a native English speaker, this screams "racism" to me.  I think most other native speakers would feel similarly.  This alone should resolve the question, at least about the colloquial use, which deserves coverage.  I'm also not sure what your marriage example proves.  I would say Odysseus and Penelope were married, even if the function of marriage then was somewhat different, just as I would say Achilleus was angry, even if the things likely to get people angry have changed. -- VV 21:28, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

If you mean racism in some technical sense used by scholars, that definition should be given in parallel with the colloquial one.
 * PeakYes, but what is missing in the current version?

 * Agreed. But we can certainly agree that an encyclopedia should at least include scholarly views.Slrubenstein

Also see my comments to Peak above; human evolution into races occured tens of thousands of years ago, not last week.

 * Peak: When do you think the "white race" (I think you used the term "Caucasian") first came into existence? Please give at least one recent scientific source.

 * I'm not concerned about the hyperboly. But I think POM and many other contributors to this project would disagree with you.  There has been an extensive debate on the race page as well.  Most scientists disagre with your view, although some agree. Slrubenstein

(note: that's hyperbole, like the villains comment; I know you said 17th century). -- VV 03:55, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * However, regarding this: A famous experiment of this nature in cognitive psychology showed that the majority of Americans would remember a lower-status "black" man as having a knife in his hand, after viewing a picture which in fact showed a "white" man in a suit with a knife facing this lower status man. This suggests that the way memory is organized may actually help create racism in human beings. I think that this actually suggests racism affects perceptions, and therefore memories we store -- not the other way around. -- BCorr € Брайен 22:42, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

For more recent explanations this seems valuable -- will you add it? I think by the way that if we are going to develop the section on explanations we need to rorganize it. I suggest at least two crude divisions: explanations from the Mercantilist period, when modern notions of race and racism were being developed, versus explanations from the late 19th century (e.g. after the decline of the slave conomy); alos, sociological (by which I inlude politiocal and economic explanations, and psychological explanations. What do you think, Bcorr?

The Fray, part N + 1
Part of the problem of writing this article is that no one wants to admit to being a "racist". See Zionism is racism, for example.

It's hard to define terms like racial profiling, racial discrimination, racial prejudice and so on except in terms of injustice. And who's going to allow a charge of unjustice to go unanswered? Only a dead man. --Uncle Ed 22:25, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * P0M: So true.

 * P0M: A moment ago the first sentence said: "Racism refers to beliefs, practices, and institutions that negatively discriminate against people based on their perceived 'race'." I think we've been by that sentence once before and somebody objected to "perceived". I would like to urge that we retain this formulation as close enough. English does not seem to have a better word, and "perception" can be interpreted more broadly than just the reports of our sense organs. It is the old question of why people perceive a black cord to be a black snake. Perception almost always involves a component of interpretation. The other way would be to work at it the other way around, speaking of what a person believes the race of another person to be.

 * "Race" is only perception. There's no objective definition for it, certainly not in genetics, and the perception has been closely studied in social psychology and even cognitive psychology in some very famous experiments - "race perception" is a form of stereotyping and categorizing like any other that goes on in the human mind. Ann Kyslowski 22:54, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * P0M: I agree. The problem is to get other people to let what you have said be said clearly, so clearly that people don't get snowed.

As an American, I can say flatly that there has been racism in the United States of America since 1676. Whoever has been editing this article is in serious denial. Try reading some Howard Zinn or anything by anyone darker than a brown paper bag, folks. What's wrong with this picture? Ann Kyslowski

 * A number of people have been working on this -- often at cross-purposes and in conflict. So it would help if you give specific examples (of recent edits you think are bad) Slrubenstein

 * P0M: Again, I agree, at least about the reality of racism and the irreality of race. Some of us are trying to say these things the right way, which means starting with fundamentals and nailing down every plank in the structure.

 * Racism is real. Race isn't.  I can't say it any clearer than that.  Ann Kyslowski 23:11, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * P0M: As Chip Delaney says, "Race is a myth." But it is a powerful myth, and some of us want to hold onto it. We need to discuss clearly what is real and what is a social construct. Some people want to maintain that there is something real out there that is sufficiently close to what people have meant by "race" that it makes sense to talk about "race" -- or something like that. I'm not always good at reproducing points of view that I have trouble with in a way that satisfies the other person.

 * Well, this is of course the challenge of NPOV -- you are right, and know you are right, and have good criticms of the other view that must be included in n encyclopedia. Yet, you cannot say you are right, and you cannotsay the other view is wrong.  We have been struggling with this for years and there has been a lot written on it -- but for now, my briefest advice is -- when looking for advice on NPOV process -- ask Ed Poor! Slrubenstein

 * P0M: And how refreshing to have a person with a real name!

 * We'll see if I regret using it. I hear from people who edit here that there are serious issues with libel, and other games like "outing", which would get your balls or breasts cut off where I come from, and rightfully so.  I'm tough so I don't mind people lying about me.  We'll see how it all works out.  Ann Kyslowski 23:11, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * Obviously you are not the only one to use her real neame (if it is your real neame!) Welcome to Wikipedia.  In my experience, you will get tired of some people real quick, but very very seldom does it reach a point where libel is a real issue (mostly because people judge accusations of libel based on who is making the accusation) Slrubenstein

 * In my experience, libel doesn't become a "real issue" only because those most seriously libelled often lack the legal resources or expertise or contacts to make it one. If "people judge" based on reputations of who makes the accusation, usually the abused person, then, that will always favour powerful people abusing less powerful people and using "the system" to get away with it.  I don't think you would like the words I use to describe people who do this.  As a libertarian I think exploiting complex legal systems and systemic racism to keep certain people "down", is the most reprehensible thing someone can do, especially someone with the priveleges of a full Western legal education.  Where I come from, we don't report crimes of person against this kind of lawyer who aligns himself to power.  Clear?  That's kind of a "tribal" attitude, but it's what we are about.   Talk to anyone in South Central LA about OJ if you still don't get it.  Ann Kyslowski 00:14, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * Too much to respond to now! Quickly -- as Ann said, "Racism is real. Race isn't" But this is a hard one for people -- my first melee at Wikipedia was with RK over the Race and intelligence article. This is going to take some time... -- BCorr € Брайен 23:14, 16 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * Truth is always hard for people. There really shouldn't be articles like race and intelligence that assume "Race is real" in their very title.  Also the proposed rewrite above uses "race" as a noun way too much.

 * Without getting into me personally, I just don't fit any racial category. The image of me you get from my name is wrong.  That causes me endless problems.  It's pretty hard not to imagine that if someone gives you an interview thinking you are "white", and then tells you the job is filled when you arrive, that this is not racism.   If there are racists editing, and a lot of comments in the logs suggest there are, I suggest you drive them off.  They have no right to exist, let alone to be writing anything impressionable people may read.   You don't have to be nice to racists.  Quite the opposite.  You have to cost them opportunities, and turn the other way when bad things happen to them.  It's really that simple.  That's all that they understand. Ann Kyslowski 00:14, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * Peak: Over on the "Race" page, the point you make about the existence of race has been a topic of contention for some time, and I speak as a victim of many reversions to changes that I thought were necessary to eliminate the assumption that "race exists".

 * Given the way Wikipedia currently works, the best I think one can hope for is that changes to favor NPOV and the inclusion of the descriptions of different POVs from a NPOV will not be reverted. (If they are, one can call in the Sysop police.) In the present case, since it is a fact that words like "race" and "racism" have several different meanings, I think it is simplest to list them, so that one can be quite specific about which referent one has in mind.  (See my December 14 draft above, for example.)  As for "race", some contemporary botanists do use the word "race" in a specific scientific sense (much like bacteriologists use the word "strain").  This has nothing to do with "racism", but it is relevant on the "race" page.Peak 00:54, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * P0M: I believe that, like vampires, it is better to treat the [existence] of ideas like this as a phenomenon, to explore how the phenomenon arose, how it came into question (with scholars like Boas who still used the word while pointing out what was wrong with the concept), how the social construct has been picked apart, how some have attempted to patch it back together again, etc.

 * P0M: If you do not carefully dissect an idea like this, then it is much easier for people with an agenda to introduce naive people to the "truth" (said sarcastically) about various [races]. I'm putting ungrounded words in square brackets. Sorry to be phenomenological about it.  People hate it, I know.

 * FYI, Ann Kyslowski turned out to be a banned user, so we can take "her" words however we wish, but know that this user loves to stir up the pot and cause trouble. Cheers, BCorr € Брайен 03:12, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * Too bad, because EoT or Ann was making some very good points. I wish banned users would show their "toughness" and send that humble-pie-eating e-mail to Jimbo that would get them re-instated. Lir managed to do it (with a little coaching and cheerleading from me), why not EoT? Tip: if you do decide to come back, try to pick a nicer name -- I never liked the way you packed Ents and Trolls into the same name: Ents are the good guys, and Trolls are irredeemably bad. If you want to talk about irredeemably bad racists, it might make it easier for everyone here if you chose a name that didn't carry a connotation of badness mixed in with the good (at least as far as Tolkien fans are concerned). --Uncle Ed 17:02, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * I must greatly disagree. "Her" turning out to be a banned user (and troll) explains a lot.  Her rhetoric was way over the top, hinting at violence and saying "racists" (presumably whoever fits her definition of such) should be "driven off" (and their POVs presumably not accommodated), and that violence etc. is all they understand.  Did you catch all those comments?  This is the work of either a lunatic or a troll. -- VV 21:15, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

I took out the sentence I mentioned before:  This suggests that the way memory is organized may actually help create racism in human beings. It seems like a supposition, etc., etc. -- BCorr € Брайен 17:53, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC)

The Fray, part N + 2
P0M 16:40, 17 Dec 2003 (UTC):Peak asked a question a while back, and nobody has answered it. It really has two parts, I think. How would you know whether the Ainu, the Hunza, etc. are [races], and how would you know whether somebody was truly a member of one of those groups? Or, as he put it himself, "By the way, what do *you* mean by race? Would it enable me to determine if there is a Japanese race? What about the Ainu? The Hunza people? "

Simple Editing Problems
P0M: Right after the "external links" section begins, there is quoted text that begins: "who study the concept". It should presumably begin: "Those who study..." Moreover, since the line begins with a space, it appears on-screen as a single line that marches off the screen to the right. Could somebody who knows what is going on with that quotation (?) please fix it appropriately? Thanks.

P0M 15:00, 18 Dec 2003 (UTC): If nobody says anything about this intrusive line of text I will probably just move to this talk page to see whether anybody claims this orphan or wants to rehabilitate it.

Race as a social -- not genetic -- construct
I'm working on this for something else, but I think it adresses a number of items raised above by everyone. Specifically, I think this speaks to VV's comment on my race not being really about biology.

Although there are dissenters, nearly all scientists agree that there is no single trait, characteristic, or gene that distinguishes all members of one race from all the members of another race. And most scientists reject the common perception that these differences are grouped around clearly defined characteristics that can be identified as races.

 * P0M: The question that one faces in this "fray" is how to adopt a NPOV to those who maintain that "race is real" and yet not end up using the word "race" in such a way as to assume its validity.

In spite of the surface appearances that we tend to be very attuned to, humans are one of the most similar of species. In fact, most genetic variation occurs within -- not between -- races. Of the remaining genetic variation in humans, 85 percent exists within any given local population -- Russian, Inuit, Kenyan, Thai, or Canadian. Approximately 94 percent of that genetic variation can be found on any continent – so that two random Japanese people may be as genetically different as a Japanese and an Brazilian.

 * P0M: I think nobody here (or on the Race:talk page) would deny that, but there are those that try to argue that there are clusters of genetic characteristic the possession of which selects groups that "closely correspond" to traditional racial characteristics -- as though we didn't already know that, e.g., the Chinese population has a high level of agenesis, shovel-shaped incisors, epicanthic folds, lactose intolerance, etc. And they seem to me to avoid talking about whether the occasional Chinese person without shovel-shaped incisors is "not really Chinese". I think you are preaching both to the choir and also to the incorrigible free thinkers.

So in short, the visual differences which tell how to perceive someone's race – and which we are attuned to -- do not tell us anything significant about a person's biological makeup or intellect, as variation between humans is highly non-concordant. Most human traits are influenced by different genes, and are therefore inherited independently. They are not bundled into the same groupings that are defined as races -- which one would expect if they were concordant – and the presence of one trait does not guarantee or suggest the presence of another.

 * P0M: Of course that is true. But you will find people arguing that a high percentage of people who are around two meters tall are either from somewhere in northern Europe or are from among the Tutsi, Nuer, and Shilluks of Africa, and that "therefore" Africans and Lithuanians are genetically privileged when it comes to playing basketball. The trick is to separate prediction in probabalistic terms ("If I'm only given a one hour window in which to find fifteen people over 6' 6" tall, I've got a better shot at it in Lithuania than in Okinawa.") from statements about [races]. -- and do it all in a way that does not make a POV characterization regarding anyone who might claim that, e.g., "All Estonians are over 6 feet tall."

For example, few would argue that you can identify or even guess a person's eye color from their height, or their blood type from the size of their head -- or from the color of their skin. And when examining more complex and subtle and issues – for example, how someone's mathematical skills or their athletic ability are related to their facial features or skin color, most scientists agree that one cannot talk about that racial characteristics, whether internal or external.

 * P0M: I think what you say is true. (You may need to define "few". ;-) Again, is there a way that one can talk about the fact that racism is a reality, that people look at a little kid's skin color and decide on that basis whether to follow him around their store to prevent shoplifting, without departing from an entirely objective point of view? When we are talking about racism, our focus is not likely to be on people who systematically avoid subjective biases.

While there are indeed genetic differences between people, a more accurate description is ancestry, as opposed to "race," when looking at the roots of inherited diseases or conditions. Obviously, not everyone who appears to look alike or who lives in the same nation or region shares a common ancestry, so more often than not, using race as shorthand for ancestry is also misleading.

 * P0M: I would prefer "genetic heritage". It would seem good policy to me that if you have a grant for a few million to be spent on skin cancer in Africa, and an equivalent amount to be spent on skin cancer in Europe and North America, you probably will want to direct most of the African money toward treatment of the rare courses of skin cancer that turn up, and part of the Europe/NA money toward educational efforts aimed at teaching high risk (light-skinned)people to recognize the signs of skin cancer and get themselves to their family doctor if they see something suspicious-looking, while reserving some money for treatment of individuals not covered by health insurance. But the problem in an article on racism is to show how what you are saying, and what I am agreeing with, does not make sense to people who practice racism.

For example, sickle-cell disease is often thought of as a racial disease that afflicts Africans and African-Americans. But it is one result of a gene that increases resistance to malaria, and sickle-cell disease is found in areas where malaria is or was endemic -- such as western and central western Africa, around the Mediterranean, and in Arabia -- and not in southern Africa. And while most people agree that racial profiling is wrong when done by the police, doctors are still trained to immediately categorize all patients by age, race, and gender: "a 62-year-old Hispanic woman is complaining of..." or "the patient is a eight-year-old Caucasian male with a fever of 102. These deeply rooted ideas and practices concerning race are generally considered "a given," "obvious," or "just common sense," and are part of everyday life in many societies.

 * P0M: Again, you are correctly characterizing realities. The question that needs to be addressed is how people are influenced to jump from what makes sense to what doesn't make sense.

At the same time, the societal effects of race -- and the reality of living one's life as a member of a given race in society -- do have actual biological consequences. For example, African American males die of heart disease at a rate five times higher than white American men, and Native Americans have the highest rates of diabetes in the United States.

 * P0M: The fear that one will be pistol-whipped for "driving while black" must have health consequences. I suspect that lab animals raised in trick cages, the bottoms of which would drop out from under them on a random schedule, would display blood pressure abnormalities, immune system dysfunction, etc. And if a certain human population has a high incidence of inability to clear the body of alcohol in an efficient way, and alcoholism is viewed as a moral failing and therefore not treated by public health authorities, then I would expect high mortality in that population due to the sequelae of alcoholism. The failures of reason, the lack of objectivity, the hatreds, etc., behind these ills all need to be explicated.

And while it is important to look at whether this is a result of genetic makeup or social conditions, it is difficult to identify how to measure this relationship. How would a scientific experiment determine who is Native American or African American on a "genetic level?" So while access to medical care, health insurance, and living conditions affect individuals' overall, so does the stress that comes from living with racism -- but these items are not determined by a person's genetic makeup.

 * P0M: It is ironic that what were originally adaptations become problematical due to the deficiencies of other people. Occasionally useful adaptations protect some people against certain hazards, and those who do not share the adaptations are demonized for being morally lax when they can't handle the alcohol (or whatever) that the well-adapted ones have made a part of their daily lives and even urge on other people. ("Come on, have a drink. Why won't you drink with me, you uppity SOB?")

That's it for now... -- BCorr € Брайен 04:43, 18 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Nature-Nurture controversy
I haven't studied the article carefully. It keeps changing too fast, and there's so much argument about whether "race" exists or not that I get lost.

But the racism and race articles should complement each other. And maybe both articles would benefit from an attempt to separate:
 * biological aspects (like susceptibility to sickle-cell disease or sunburn); from
 * social or psychological aspects (like average SAT scores, or success in business or politics)

 * P0M: We need to keep our eyes crossed. One eye looks at the realities (such as were restated in the section immediately above), and the other eye needs to look at the ungrounded assertions that buzz around them like the fruit flies that come after the vapors rising from my glass of wine.

 * P0M: If we fail to establish a properly grounded methodology in inquiry, then we will keep raising and re-raising these questions. In my attempt to understand some of what I regard as problematical areas in the Race and the Racism articles, I have gone back over the archives fairly thoroughly. It is rather shocking to see how much good stuff has been consigned to oblivion.

 * P0M: I learned a rather brutal lesson while residing in a country where, shall we say, freedom on inquiry in certain subjects was frowned upon. It is essential to explore very carefully what the realities are first, and name the realities second. Otherwise, people with 50 different ideas on what "race" is will fight forever.

Some aspects cross the line I just proposed, or blur the distinction I'm trying to make. Do black people have more "soul"? And can that account for their success as popular entertainers?

 * P0M: The only way to know whether somebody has "soul" is to examine them for possession of "soul." One of the English jazz singers (sorry, I can't remember his name) went to the U.S. and met with some of the good jazz performers in Chicago or wherever it was. "I'm Beek Splavendorst," said he. "No you aren't," said the Afro-American jazz man, "He's black!"  I think the English singer took that as a compliment and left it at that.

 * P0M: Once while living in Taiwan I rode my bicycle out to visit a friend who lived in a neighborhood that I had not visited before. While fishing out my notebook to check my friend's street number, I saw an American teenager ride his bicycle up. I suppose I thought something like, "Strange, what's an army brat doing this far away from the American ghetto?" Then the boy called out loudly, "Mama, wo hui lai le!" and my illusions were shattered. Here was a boy with an entirely American (white) appearance who was entirely Chinese in behavior. It is culture that makes the difference of "guo2 cui4" or "national character", or "ethnicity."

Why are there so many famous black basketball champions? Or, more to the point, is there a biological reason that so many recent marathon winners come from the same tribe in one small African country?

 * P0M: There are not many famous black basketball champions with an Ituri genetic heritage. On the other hand, having a Tutsi genetic heritage will not guarantee the ability to play basketball well -- even if the guy is tall. And being Chinese does not preclude being way tall. The pitfall lies at the landing point when you try to jump from statistical facts to absolute predictions.

We know that skin color and the shape of noses, eyes and lips are inherited. But do these physical, biological things really correlate with social and psychological things?

 * P0M: In a way, perhaps. I weighed 118 pounds and stood 5' 10" at age 18. Years later, after training in karate that would have probably been criminal due to its intensity had it not been entirely voluntary (Hi, sensei, I don't really mean it.) I got my weight up to 175. Two things: (1) I suffered for being the "98 pound weakling" that Charles Atlas used to sell physical development plans to. (2) I suffered to get my body up to its maximum level -- and proved to myself that I would be highly unlikely to gain another 75 pounds of muscle.

 * P0M: Correlation is not the same as causation.

 * P0M: Some psychological characteristics are probably heritable. Depression, for instance. But brains are not finished at birth. Growing up in an environment that makes you a target because of your skin color or your violet eyes or whatever may expose you to stress, to stress-produced endocrine abnormalities, and therefore may grow you a different brain. A person who has inherited risk factors for depression might make it safely through life given one family environment from infancy to maturity, and might grow a depression-prone brain given a dysfunctional family environment. It is extremely difficult to pick those factors apart, and carefully crafted twin studies are probably the only hope of our doing so.

And IF THEY DO CORRELATE, what does this mean? If American blacks score 15 points lower on IQ tests, is this because of:
 * cultural bias in the tests - controversial
 * black kids watch more TV - easily checked statistic
 * black kids more often don't have a father who is married to their mother - easily checked statistic
 * affirmative action programs (perhaps unintentionally) give them lower expectations, so they have less confidence - controversial
 * their genes biologically predispose them for lower intellingence - highly controversial

 * P0M: One of the must useful thinks I have learned to do is to form sentences that begin with "How would you know when..." E.g., "How would you know when you had a real Afro-American?" (Maybe it's really a person of Shan ethnic heritage or Sri Lankan ethnic heritage who has walked into a fight that has nothing to do with her on either side.) "How would I know that Joey doesn't know what a silo is because of his cultural heritage?" "How would I know whether the answer, 'A silo is a place to store grain or ICBMs,' indicates intelligence or a lamentable ignorance of what ensilage is, and the kind of building construction that is needed to produce and store it?

People treat "different-looking" people according to stereotypes. Perhaps it would help if we examine these stereotypes and try to determine what basis in fact they each have or do not have. --Uncle Ed 14:35, 18 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * P0M: A "stereotype" is an "unvarying form or pattern" (Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language). It must take the logical form exemplified by something like this: "All swans are large, white, aquatic birds with nasty tempers." As soon as you find one counterexample for any such statement, any statement that begins with some form of "All X...", then your stereotype is proven wrong. The way around that is to change it to something like, "For some X, if X is a swan then it is large, white, aquatic, and ill tempered." You've fixed your logic but you've lost your "sure bet" stereotypical judgment. And the next thing you know somebody says, "What about swans that have been surgically or chemically neutered? Can we predict that all those things will be true of them? Maybe they won't be nasty even if they are large, black or white or black and white, and aquatic." The trick is to express the idea that stereotypes are only true of the people they fit to begin with, i.e., people who can be verified to match each and every character included in the list that defines the stereotype, and to express the idea, while retaining a neutral point of view, that people who use stereotypes correctly are wasting their time, and that people who use stereotypes wrongly can do great mischief. P0M 17:58, 18 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Sorry, I would not rely on Webster's for a deinition of stereotypes when there has been a good deal of theroetical discussion -- and empirical research -- about "stereotypes" (e.g. how people think about them, talk about them, use them). The scholarly literature is vast (but hey, isn't that the task of contributors to an encyclopedia -- to do research?) and I have only read some literature reviews bbut my sense is that the current understanding of stereotypes is probabalistic descriptions; Webster's here is defining what people in other fields (feminist theory, queer theory, critical theory) call "essentialism," again there is a huge literature but Diane Fuss's 1989 book gives a good overview. Slrubenstein

 * P0M: O.K., we have fuzzy logic, so I guess we can have fuzzy stereotypes too. If that is the case, perhaps SLR can tell us of whom fuzzy stereotypes are true. Are they true of "fuzzy people"? (The .7 child in the family of income range X that has 2.7 children, perhaps?) And perhaps SLR can tell us how one uses a fuzzy stereotype correctly and how one uses a fuzzy stereotype incorrectly. Or perhaps fuzzy stereotypes can only be declared to be fuzzily correct with regard to fuzzy people?

If you are ignorant of the literature, just say so. I'd recommend starting with Stereotype Accuracy: Toward Appreciating Group Differences, edited by Yueh-Ting Lee, Lee J. Jussim, and Clark R. McCauley. Washington D.C.: APA Books. It came out in 1995 so it is already dated, but I believe there has been research on stereogyptes since the 1940s and this may review some of that literature. Slrubenstein

 * P0M: Am I to understand your point to be that this book supports racial stereotyping? Or merely that I am ignorant?

 * P0M: Either way, I see that you choose to avoid answering my question. If stereotypes are indeed probabilistic descriptions, then it would seem on the face of it that they can yield only probable predictions. If that is true, and if people who "think about them, talk about them, use them" are consistent in maintaining the distinction between essentialism and nominalism, and the distinction between absolute predications and probabilistic predications, then they would seem be behaving like scientists who speak of populations rather than of races. If we were to "examine these stereotypes and try to determine what basis in fact they each have or do not have", as Ed Poor suggests, we should be engaging in circular argument, because if a stereotype is a "probabilistic description" as you maintain, then it ought to be based on objective statistical analyses and we would be given the "basis in fact" for the stereotypes by those very statistics -- that would be the end of it unless we were to go out into the field ourselves and measure the real-world factors again.

The question is not whether the book "supports" racial stereotyping or not; the point is it has a collection of scientific papers based on psychological researchon what "stereotype" are. I do not see how you can consider this an inferior source to Websters -- that was my point. Slrubenstein

 * P0M: It is one thing to characterize me as ignorant and as one who produces BS. It is another thing to put words in my mouth.

Sorry, I do not quite see your point. The research suggests that most stereotypes do have a "basis in fact," of course what that baiss is and what it means are important questions (what I think Ed was getting at). Slrubenstein

 * P0M: My comment was directed toward Ed Poor's suggestion that we "we examine these stereotypes and try to determine what basis in fact they each have or do not have". An example of a stereotype and how one might examine it and its basis in fact would be more persuasive to me than your characterizing my personal attributes.

Social psychologists usually provide "objective data," but it is data bout people's perceptions, which complicates the question of where the stereotype comes from and how it operates. Thus,how stereotypes are used is another question. Slrubenstein

 * P0M:I think I would be in favor of a section relating to studies that show the social functions of racism.

Look, if youwant to go have an argument with the APA, go ahead. Slrubenstein

 * P0M:Again, you choose to put words in my mouth.

I certainly do not mind labeling any summary of discussion on stereotypes to, "According to the APA," or "According to some psychologists" in other words, poviding the "point of view." Slrubenstein

 * P0M: Any such summary should cite its sources.

MY point is that I have nothing to argue with you over the nature of stereotypes. This is an encyclopedia article, it is not about what you or I think.

 * P0M: I did not set out to argue with you. I did not address any comments to you until you jumped in with comments on how the meaning of the word "stereotype" is not given correctly by the dictionary, i.e., what you think about my use of a standard definition, and what you think about what authorities in the field have to say about a kind of "new stereotype." The validity of empirical studies of the rehabilitated stereotypes and how they are are used is one thing. The validity and/or utility of the rehabilitated stereotypes themselves is another question. My original concern was that it would not be profitable to seek to validate stereotypes as they are understood in the minds of lexicographers. Then you argued that current "stereotypes" are probabalistic, and I questioned what difference there may be between stereotypes that apply to "races" and statistical profiles that apply to populations. I also questioned whether these probabalistic stereotypes could have any meaningful application to individuals.

We are suposed to research and summarize and contextualize research. Thee has been considerable research on stereogtypes. If you want to contribute to this article by adding material on stereotypes, do the research, don't just BS. Slrubenstein

 * P0M: You defend against many things are are not even in the pipeline. Who said that I want to contribute to this article by adding material on stereotypes?

 * P0M: You indicate that there is considerable research on stereotypes that could be summarized and contextualized. If it is research of the sort that says thing like, "White people are likely to get skin cancer if they spend lots of time in high UV environments," I think it is unlikely that I would find to many problems with a conscientiously crafted report on such research. If somebody somewhere has an answer to Ed Poor's question: "Do black people have more 'soul'? And can that account for their success as popular entertainers?" and that answer takes some such as the following, "Black people have more 'soul,' and, consequently they are more successful as popular entertainers," I would cast a very critical eye on how referents are discriminated for "black people," "soul," and "success as popular entertainers." I'm not saying that I would fight over any of these determinations, I would just want to check them all out.

 * P0M:But I would not consider the section of the article complete until it had discussed how receiving a probabilistically stereotypical identification as "a black person" and being regarded on that grounds as probably likely to have lots of soul, and probably likely on that basis to have great potential for success as a popular entertainer would then impact on the life of the individual saddled with these probabilistic determinations. If a person has 4/5 probability of being black, if people who are black have a 2/3 probability of "having soul", and if people who "have soul" have a 3/4 probability of a successful entertainment career, then that person has an overall probability of 1/5 of being a successful entertainer. In the real world examined by these researchers, then, how often is a black child steered toward a career in entertainment (be it basketball or bee-bop) rather than a career in physics?

 * P0M: My contribution to any section on stereotypes would likely be to attempt to keep the BSQ at a tolerable level.

As of the edit of Ann Kosłowska of 16 Dec, most of the article was included twice, starting from below External link. i did a diff on the two bits and it looks like they were identical, so (by chance) nobody edited either copy of the doubled up bit. So i fixed it simply by removing the second copy. Anyone feel free to doublecheck this in case i made an error and removed anything which was not duplicated.

In fact, this was probably what P0M wrote as Simple Editing Problems P0M: Right after the "external links" section begins,... without his realising that it was not just one sentence, but nearly the whole article that was doubled up. Maybe people working on the article have been looking at it so long that they missed the obvious? Anyway, IMHO it's fixed now. Boud 02:44, 24 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * P0M 02:49, 24 Dec 2003 (UTC): No, there was a single long line stuck in there by accident. When I sent back to check on it, it was gone, so I didn't do anything whatsoever. I have no idea how the text got doubled unless somebody was editing when another user was editing and didn't get the merge process right. (I usually just save my own changes to an external document and come back after things have calmed down if I get into a merge situation.)

Anyway, thanks for fixing the problem.

Stereotypes and expectations
I appreciate Patrick Moran's point about stereotypes and expectations. It seems to be the old "chicken and egg" problem: which comes first? Do blacks have lower average SATs and Chinese higher average SATs because of parental and societal expectations? And do some people, observing these varying averages, develop stereotypes about blacks being 'less smart' and Chinese being 'smarter'?

Or is it that something intrinsic about black or Chinese people causes them to have lower or higher average SAT scores?

I have read extensively about education and even done some. I believe that EXPECTATIONS OF OTHERS have a significant effect on student performance. Shifting to sports for a moment, what do coaches and cheerleaders do besides tell athletes "You're the best! You can do it!" The 'home ground advantage' is not an illusion; sports teams, whether academic or professional, do better in their own arena with a supportive crowd around them.

Arthur Jensen of Harvard, and Charles Murray of The Bell Curve are each like the kid from the Emperor's New Clothes. They are daring to say out loud what everyone knows: differences exist. Our task as encyclopedia article writers is to sift through the research and present the various findings. A year from now (or three months, if we help each other!) I'd like to be able to refer my colleagues and friends to race and racism for a definitive examination of the issues.

If we simply don't know ("we" meaning scientists) why people with different skin color act or react differently, then the article should simply say so. Correlation is not causation, but if experiments ever do uncover some causes, I hope we are brave enough to reveal those causes here. --Uncle Ed 15:51, 24 Dec 2003 (UTC)

 * P0M: A great deal depends on where the teacher enters the educational process. Personal experience show me that most gym teachers were willing to relegate me to the locker room because I had no prior background in athletics. My most excellent of all karate teachers gave me special attention (a persistent shinai to the backside to motivate my hip action, among other things) when he could have ignored me to pay attention to his students who had real potential. My English teacher in 8th grade thought I committed plagiarism because she could not believe a student at that level writing that well. (I gave her my source materials and told her I'd willingly take an F if she could find one sentence I'd copied. End of story.) The point is that a good teacher of an academic subject has to be willing to treat a "bad" student with a nothing background as such, and begin the process of education from where the student stands not where the son or daughter of the college president or Harvard dean stands. I've seen students with an IQ of 140 or so who read at 4th grade level in 8th grade and couldn't tell you what 3 times 7 equals -- but for reasons of family background and other forms of educational neglect. You can't tell what is going on with some students until the student has plumbed the depths of your soul and has given you some access to less than superficial levels of his/her own personal experience.

title: Talk:Racism/Archive 5


text:
Highly elliptical orbit

A highly elliptical orbit (HEO) is an elliptic orbit with high eccentricity, usually referring to one around Earth. Examples of inclined HEO orbits include Molniya orbits, named after the Molniya Soviet communication satellites which used them, and Tundra orbits.

Such extremely elongated orbits have the advantage of long dwell times at a point in the sky during the approach to, and descent from, apogee. Bodies moving through the long apogee dwell appear to move slowly, and remain at high altitude over high-latitude ground sites for long periods of time. This makes these elliptical orbits useful for communications satellites.

Geostationary orbits cannot serve polar latitudes because their elevation above the horizon from these ground sites is too low. The latitude limit for a GEO sat is 81 degrees with a practical limit of just above 75 degrees. Many GEO comm sats have custom "foot prints" and focus their signals at their primary service areas, so above 60 degrees a larger ground antenna and clear line of sight is needed.

Sirius Satellite Radio used inclined HEO orbits, specifically the Tundra orbits, to keep two satellites positioned above North America while another satellite quickly sweeps through the southern part of its 24-hour orbit. The longitude above which the satellites dwell at apogee in the small loop remains relatively constant as Earth rotates. The three separate orbits are spaced equally around the Earth, but share a common ground track.

title: Highly elliptical orbit