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Kichijōji

Kichijōji (吉祥寺) is a neighborhood in the city of Musashino in Western Tokyo, Japan. It is centered on a compact but popular commercial area to the north and south of Kichijoji Station, with a full range of shops, restaurants, bars, and coffee houses. The area is a popular center for shopping and leisure in the Tokyo metropolitan area due in part to its close proximity to Inokashira Park and Inokashira Park Zoo.

Kichijoji has been voted the number 1 place in Japan that Japanese would like to live every year since the 1990s according to polls by the magazine CNN GO. Kichijōji Station is served by the Chūō Line which runs to Tokyo Central Station in around 30 minutes, the Chūō–Sōbu Line, a Tozai Line through service and is also a terminus of the Keiō Inokashira Line, which takes passengers as far as Shibuya in around 20 minutes on the express service.

History
This town was named after the Kichijō-ji Temple which was located in Bunkyō City, Tokyo, before being destroyed by fire in the year 1657. This temple, in turn, derived its name from the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, corresponding to Kisshōten in Japan.

During the Great fire of Meireki, the town in front of Suwazan Kichijō-ji Temple gate, Edo's Hongo Motomachi (now: Hongō 1-chome, Bunkyō, near Suidōbashi Station) was destroyed by fire. Afterwards, based on town planning, the shogunate rebuilt the area for daimyō residences. Since the residents who used to live in front of Kichijo-ji gate had suffered great loss of residence and farm land, the shogunate's official reed lands named "Reno" and "Mureno" were provided as substitute land for them. Those hoping to apply were given a rice stipend and house construction loans with a 5 year limit. Kichijo-ji samurai, Sato Sadaemon and Miyazaki Jinemon, in cooperation with local farmer Matsui Jurozaemon, opened up the eastern district of present day Musashino and relocated the residents there.

Soon after, with the opening of the Tamagawa Aqueduct, the previously poorly watered uninhabited Musashino Plateau was cultivated, turning it into a vast farmland. In the process, the neatly partitioned thin rectangular shaped plots of land along Itsukaichi Kaidō (ja) (currently Tokyo Metropolitan Route 7, Suginami Akiruno Line) were formed. Some migrants were granted great lengths of land of more than 1000 meters long in the land area extending from Itsukaichi Kaidō to the Tamagawa Aqueduct, up to where the Senkawa Aqueduct (ja) divides. But the soil was not particularly fertile, so all of the farmland became dry soil fields, with no wet rice fields. Because of the residents who still had attachment to the former Kichijo-ji, the new fields were named Kichijōji Village.

Economy
The neighborhood is dominated by a shopping district centered on a covered street, Sun Road, which extends north from Kichijōji Station. This well organized and clean area includes amenities, shops, entertainment and restaurants.

Halfway up this shopping street is the Buddhist temple Gessō-ji (月窓寺), with graveyard, and at the northern end of it are Shinto shrines, the latter holding the occasional festival, with amusements such as fishing for gold fish, sweet food stalls, and typical dishes.

On the north, east, and south sides of the station is a large nightlife area with many restaurants, bars, izakaya, and "live" houses. On the north-east side of the station lies a red-light district on the Chūō Line between Tachikawa and Shinjuku, containing numerous cabarets, bars, and pink salons.

The anime and manga companies Coamix and Bee Train have their headquarters in Kichijōji. Studio Ghibli was previously located in Kichijōji.

Inokashira Park
Inokashira Park, the source of the Kanda River (神田川 Kanda-gawa), is located south of Kichijōji Station, and is a favorite spot for springtime hanami, or cherry-blossom viewing. Public-opinion surveys consistently designate Kichijōji one of Tokyo's most desirable residential neighborhoods. It features a large center lake, petting zoo, small cafes, food vendors, and street performers around the perimeter of the park. Nearby is the Ghibli Museum, which is part of the neighboring city Mitaka.

Education
Seikei University (成蹊大学) is a private university in the northwestern area of the district. It is part of a wider educational institute—an escalator school—which teaches from elementary school right through to university level, and is situated amongst rows of large trees in that area of Kichijōji.

Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education operates area high public schools.

Musashino City operates public elementary and junior high schools.

Little Angels International School, a private international school, previously had a campus in Kichijōji.

Axis International School is a private school accepting children from the age of 1 to the second year of university.

Kichijōji in popular culture
Kichijōji is often portrayed in a variety of television shows, motion pictures, literature, and other media.

Video games

 * Shin Megami Tensei: The protagonist lives in Kichijōji along with his mother and his dog.
 * First Kiss Story: The town in which the game takes place is modeled after Kichijōji.
 * Persona 5: Inokashira Park is one of the hangout spots in the game. In the Royal edition, Kichijōji is added as a fully explorable area allowing players to visit popular spots such as Sun Road, Harmonica Yokocho (alley) and Daiyagai mall.
 * NG: Visual novel game for PS Vita and PS4 taking place in Kissōji, a fictional town based on Kichijōji.

Anime

 * Kujibiki Unbalance
 * Ocean Waves: The first and last scene of the film take place at Kichijōji station.
 * Code-E
 * Ultimate Girls (1st episode)
 * Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu: "Uncontrollable Bluebird"
 * Yawara! (14th episode)
 * Maria-sama ga Miteru
 * Aura Battler Dunbine: The main protagonist lives in Kichijōji.
 * Genma Wars
 * Megazone 23
 * To Love-Ru
 * DD Fist of the North Star
 * Tesagure! Bukatsu-mono
 * Happy Jozy: A comedic family of Americans experience life in Japan taking place in Kichijōji.
 * Occultic;Nine
 * Brothers Conflict (Noticeable in episode 1)
 * Shirobako

Manga

 * Kichijōji Catwalk
 * Tokyo Tribes (Santa Inoue)
 * Fourteen (Kazuo Umezu)
 * Nantoka Narudesho! (Hisashi Eguchi)
 * Cher Gou Gou ... Mon Petit Chat, Mon Petit Ami (Yumiko Ōshima)
 * I"s (Masakazu Katsura)
 * Video Girl Ai (Masakazu Katsura)
 * Ellie My Love (Mako Takami)
 * Itazura na Kiss (Kaoru Tada)
 * Kodoku no Gourmet
 * Restore Garage 251 (Ryuji Tsugihara)
 * Kichijōji Gang (Sachiko Nagahama)
 * Café Kichijōji de
 * Great Teacher Onizuka (Toru Fujisawa)
 * Cat's Eyes (2010)
 * Chūō-sen Drops (Natsuo Motomachi)
 * Rokudenashi Blues (Masanori Morita)
 * Sgt. Frog (Mine Yoshizaki)
 * Is Kichijōji the Only Place to Live? (Hirochi Maki)
 * Hinako Note (Mitsuki)

Film

 * Sebastian (Sōkichi Miyata)
 * Amacchoroi Love Song (Sōkichi Miyata)
 * The Mirage Flowers (Tadaaki Horai)
 * Sayonara Kēki to Fushigina Ranpu (Jun'ichi Kanai)
 * Kichijōji no Asahina-kun (Shōichi Katō)
 * Rinjō (Hajime Hashimoto)
 * Parks (Natsuki Seta)

title: Kichijōji


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Bobby Thompson (comedian)

Robert Michael Thompson (18 November 1911 – 16 April 1988) was an English stand-up comedian, actor and entertainer from Penshaw, Sunderland. Although he was raised in Penshaw, he also lived in Great Lumley and Barley Mow, near Chester-le-Street, later moving to Whitley Bay.

Early years
He was the seventh child of John and Mary Thompson, both of whom died by the time Bobby was eight years old. He was then raised by his elder sister in the village of Fatfield.

After leaving school at fifteen, he started work at North Biddick Colliery, earning seven shillings and sixpence a week. He would supplement his income by playing the harmonica around local public houses and competing in Domino tournaments. His first stand-up performance took place at the Gem Cinema in Penshaw as a young boy.

Thompson was married three times. His first wife was Anna Marjoram. His second wife, Phyllis, died on 25 April 1967. He announced his engagement to Mary Douglass, 62, of Annfield Plain a few years later, but the engagement was called off. In 1982, Thompson married his housekeeper, Eleanor Cicely Palmer, more commonly known as Cissy Ward (née Wake). Thompson was her third husband and she was famous for being taller than him.

Career
Famous for his broad Pitmatic (County Durham pit village) accent (often mistaken for Geordie), self-deprecating humour and mastery of the Mother in Law joke, Thompson was affectionately known as The Little Waster due to his short stature, which he often played on during his act. His most famous outfit was a worn out stripey jumper (Wooly gansey) and flat cap. His ever-present Woodbine (Cigarette) stub, hanging from the corner of his mouth, was also an integral part of his on-stage persona.

His attempts to move beyond North East England were limited. and the regional bias of his humour, although he did enjoy some success with the BBC show, Wot Cheor Geordie. He did appear on the Wogan show in 1985.

Bobby made recordings of three comedy songs written for him by local composer Eric Boswell: You Little Waster. The songs incorporated jokes from Bobby's act.

Personal problems and his health affected his career in the 1970s, but he remained a North East favourite, particularly on the club scene, until his death.

Death
Thompson died on 16 April 1988, after suffering from emphysema and cancer.

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

title: Bobby Thompson (comedian)


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Charles Poletti

Charles Poletti (July 2, 1903 – August 8, 2002) was an American lawyer and politician. He became the 46th governor of New York in December 1942, and was the first person entirely of Italian-American ancestry to become the governor of a U.S. state.

Born in Barre, Vermont to Italian immigrants, Poletti graduated from Barre's Spaulding High School, Harvard University, and Harvard Law School, and became an attorney in New York City. He became active in the Democratic Party, and served as counsel to the Democratic National Committee, counsel to Governor Herbert H. Lehman, and a justice of the New York State Supreme Court.

Poletti served as lieutenant governor of New York from 1939 to 1942. He lost his bid for reelection in 1942, as did gubernatorial nominee John J. Bennett Jr. In December, Lehman resigned as governor in order to accept an appointment with the United States Department of State; Poletti succeeded to the governorship and served the final month of Lehman's term. After leaving office, Poletti served in World War II, initially as a special assistant to the Secretary of War, and then in the United States Army as a Civil Affairs officer responsible for rebuilding and restoring democracy in Italy following its liberation by the Allies.

After the war, Poletti practiced law, served as a member of the New York State Power Authority, and was an executive responsible for planning and overseeing execution of foreign exhibits at the 1964 New York World's Fair. After retiring, he resided in Florida and Elizabethtown, New York. He died in Florida at age 99, and was buried in Elizabethtown. At the time of his death, he was the earliest-serving living former governor of a U.S. state.

Early life and education
Aldo Charles Poletti was born in Barre, Vermont to Dino Poletti (April 28, 1865, Pogno, Italy—February 12, 1922, Barre, Vermont) and Carolina (Gervasini) Poletti. Dino Poletti worked as a stonecutter in a Barre granite quarry.

Poletti intended to manage a bakery after graduating from Spaulding High School in 1920, but was encouraged by his principal to attend college. He attended Harvard University on a scholarship, and worked a variety of part-time jobs to finance his studies, including waiting tables, washing dishes, and tutoring. In 1924, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics summa cum laude, was admitted to Phi Beta Kappa, and then studied at the University of Rome, the University of Bologna and the University of Madrid. Poletti later served on Harvard's Board of Overseers.

Start of career
In 1928, Poletti graduated from Harvard Law School with a LL.B. degree, cum laude. After passing the bar exam he joined the New York City firm of 1924 Democratic presidential nominee John W. Davis.

In 1928 Poletti was active in the presidential campaign of Governor Alfred E. Smith, and in 1932 he became counsel to the Democratic National Committee. In addition, he was appointed to a seat on the state Board of Social Welfare.

In 1933 Poletti was appointed on Felix Frankfurter's recommendation to be counsel to Governor Herbert H. Lehman. Lehman relied heavily on Poletti, asked him to move into the executive mansion, and assigned him tasks from drafting legislation and speeches to lobbying for passage of New Deal measures advocated by the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt.

In 1937 Lehman appointed Poletti to a vacancy as a justice of the New York State Supreme Court, and later that year he was elected to a full 14-year term.

Election as lieutenant governor and succession to governorship
In 1938, Poletti was elected lieutenant governor of New York on the Democratic ticket with Lehman.

In 1939 Poletti was elected to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's board of directors. In 1940 he threw out the first pitch at a game between the New York Cubans and the New York Black Yankees, opening the season of the Negro National League with a speech advocating the integration of Major League Baseball.

Poletti, state Attorney General John J. Bennett Jr. and U.S. Senator James M. Mead were candidates for the Democratic nomination for governor in 1942. When party leaders coalesced around Bennett, Poletti withdrew and accepted renomination for lieutenant governor. Bennett defeated Mead for the gubernatorial nomination. The ticket of Bennett and Poletti were defeated in the general election by Thomas E. Dewey and Thomas W. Wallace.

When Lehman resigned as governor on December 3, 1942, to accept appointment as Director of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation Operations for the United States Department of State, Poletti succeeded to the governorship. He served 29 days, the shortest term of any New York governor.

As governor, Poletti controversially pardoned three convicts with ties to labor unions, without consulting New York's parole board. These included Alexander Hoffman, a CIO official who had served just eight months of a four-to-eight year prison term for the attempted arson of a non-union laundry firm. In response to adverse media coverage, Poletti stated "I was advised that Hoffman enjoyed an excellent reputation as an honorable citizen [...] I acted honestly and I believe courageously on the basis of the facts submitted to me".

After leaving office Poletti was appointed special assistant to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. In this position he worked to racially integrate the military.

World War II
On Dec. 27, 1942, Poletti broadcast for the Office of War Information a radio address in the Italian language to the Italian people, urging them to "throw out both Hitler and Mussolini."

In July 1943 Poletti was assigned to serve as a U.S. Army civil affairs officer in Italy, largely because as a first-generation Italian-American who had studied in Italy, was fluent in Italian and had served as a governor, he had an understanding of the local culture and sufficient stature to earn the Sicilian people's respect. Initially assigned to assist in restoring civil government in Palermo, he became responsible for rebuilding efforts throughout Sicily.

As the Allies continued to liberate mainland Italy Poletti's command followed to restore water and electricity, distribute food and water, and begin returning the formerly fascist country to democracy. Some sources say that while Poletti served in Sicily his driver and interpreter was Mafia boss Vito Genovese, who had fled New York in the 1930s to escape prosecution for murder. Genovese was allegedly heavily involved in black-market activities with other Sicilian Mafiosi, including Calogero Vizzini. Another Mafia boss, Lucky Luciano, is also alleged to have once described Poletti as "one of our good friends." Poletti always said he had no connection to Genovese, Luciano, the Mafia, or black market activities. In a 1993 interview for BBC TV, Poletti said, "We had no problems at all with the Mafia. Nobody ever heard of it. While we were there, nobody heard of it. Nobody ever talked about it." In addition, the stories alleging a Genovese-Poletti connection fail to explain why Poletti would have needed an Italian language interpreter, given his fluency in Italian (including the Sicilian and Neapolitan dialects), Spanish, and German as the result of his heritage, his college studies, a job in his twenties working as a tour guide for college students visiting Europe, and his regular visits to his mother after she began residing in Italy following the death of his father.

After World War II
After leaving the Army as a colonel Poletti became the senior partner in a Manhattan law firm, which was reorganized as Poletti, Diamond, Rabin, Freidin & MacKay, and later became known as Poletti, Freidin, Prashker, Feldman and Gartner From May 1946 to June 1947 he carried out an appointment as an arbitrator assigned to resolve labor disputes in New York City's clothing industry.

In 1955 Poletti was appointed to the New York State Power Authority, serving until 1960, the period in which the St. Lawrence Project and Niagara Project were built.

From 1960 to 1965 he was the executive responsible for foreign exhibits at the 1964 New York World's Fair.

Retirement and death
Poletti died at age 99 in his San Marco Island, Florida home. He was survived by his second wife, Elizabeth, and his children, Charles Poletti, Carla Tidmarsh, and Joanna Todisco. At the time of his death, he was the earliest-serving living former U.S. governor. He was interred at Calkins Cemetery in Elizabethtown, New York.

Awards and honors
Poletti received the Legion of Merit for his service in Italy. In 1945 Poletti received the Order of Saint Gregory the Great from Pope Pius XII. In addition, Italy's government named him a Knight of the Grand Cross of the Crown of Italy. Poletti was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1948. For his work at the World's Fair Poletti received the Order of the Star of Jordan. He also received the Grand Officer of the Order of Saint Agatha of San Marino. The Charles Poletti Power Project (renamed in 1982 to honor him) was located in Astoria, Queens, across the East River from Manhattan in New York City. In 2002 it was scheduled to be closed, and it was shut down in February, 2010.

title: Charles Poletti


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Long-legged buzzard

The long-legged buzzard (Buteo rufinus) is a bird of prey found widely in several parts of Eurasia and in North Africa. This species ranges from Southeastern Europe down to East Africa to the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. The long-legged buzzard is a member of the genus Buteo, being one of the larger species therein. This species is simultaneously considered relatively powerful and aggressive for its taxonomic group as well as a relatively sluggish raptor overall. Like most buzzards, it prefers small mammals such as rodents, including gerbils, ground squirrels, voles and rats, also taking reptiles, birds and insects as well as carrion. Adaptable to a variety of habitats, long-legged buzzards may nest on a variety of surfaces, including rocks, cliffs and trees. it is a typical buzzard in its reproductive biology. The long-legged buzzard is widely distributed and appears to be quite stable in population. Therefore, it is considered as Least Concern by the IUCN.

Form and colouring
This is a large and fairly sturdy Buteo. The long-legged buzzard possesses a relatively large bill on a smallish head, long wings and a rather long tail and relatively long legs with powerful feet. The species tends to be considered sluggish, perching openly and prominently and in rather upright positions on a rock, crag or similar vantage point with a good commanding view; they will also perch regularly on artificial raised points such as pylons or utility poles. The long-legged buzzard also often takes to standing on the ground where it walks slowly, often waddling somewhat. This species is highly variable in plumage, with three to four main morphs. The adult pale morph long-legged buzzard has a rather plain pale head, coloured creamy rufous to light sandy with at most a few darker streaks on the crown and a dark line through an eye, usually with a more solidly dark nape. The pale morph possess dark brown upper parts with sandy buff streaks against a more conspicuous sandy-brown mantle and wing coverts with dark feather-eters causing a contrasting effect. The pale morph adult's tail is light rufous-orange. The paleness of the head in light morphs continues down to breast, the lower part of which having pencil thin streaks, while the belly down to flanks and trousers is a darker rufous-brown. Meanwhile, the intermediate adult are similar to pale adult but with somewhat richer colour, darker and more rufous upperparts and having a slightly darker and more patterned breast. The rufous morph, arguably separate from the intermediate, is more ochracecous overall and a darker rufous on the dark parts of the plumage against the more contrasting pale head. Some rufous adult long-legged buzzards can show a greyish tail with some banding and at times a darker subterminal band. Dark morph adults are all blackish-brown to black with some whitish streaks on nape. The tail of dark morphs are gray to brown-grey with a broad subterminal band and 7 rather narrow and faint bars although many completely lack the latter bars. Juveniles of the pale, intermediate and rufous morphs are similar to the respective adults of their morphs but tend to possess neater, paler edging above, especially on the tips of the greater and median coverts. Also the juveniles are more streaky about the head and breast with tail going from pale whitish darkening outwards to grey-brown with irregular faint brown bars. Dark morph juveniles are less dark than the adult of that morph, sometimes evidencing a small paler patch on breast. The juvenile dark morph long-legged buzzard's tail pattern differs from the dark adult, generally browner than adult with 3 very broad bands and a slightly broader subterminal band but dark morph juvenile tails apparently very variable. Juvenile plumage lasts up to 2–3 years when first breeding occurs. Adults have very dark brown eyes, while the eyes of juveniles are pale grey to greyish yellow turning light brown before darking. The cere and legs are both dull yellow.

In flight, the long-legged buzzards appears as a mid-sized rather broad-bodied raptor. Possessing an almost eagle-like silhouette, it tends to appear with a protruding head with a somewhat heavy bill, long broad wings with fairly straight edges and only slightly tapering hands with rounded five-fingered end. It is relatively long-tailed with the tail having a fairly rounded shape. Juveniles tend to be slimmer looking with narrower wings and more S-shaped trailing edges as well as a somewhat longer tail. Long-legged buzzards tend to fly with comparatively slow, deep beats and to have a relatively slow flight. The species glides with their arms raised and hands more level, wings noticeably kinked at carpals and soars in wide circles with the wings in shallow dihedral. The upward bent tips can enhance their eagle-like appearance. Long-legged buzzards often hover frequently and for extended periods. In the flight, the whitish based orangey tail often looks all white at a distance and to stand out in its paleness against the dark rear body and the rear wings. The primary coverts and many greater coverts are blackish in adult long-legged buzzards with the greater coverts pale tipped. Adults are dark grey on the flight feathers with blackish bars radiating outwards on wingtips and on the trailing edges. The underwing coverts are usually lightly streaked with rufous in pale adults, while intermediate adult has a stronger contrast from pale head and breast to darker, browner upperbody and wing coverts, breast and wing linings. The flying rufous adult tends to look more uniform above with colours varying from ochre to tawny to darker rufous brown and to possess richer coloured darker parts, with the tail very variable in rufous morph. Dark adult in flight may appear with or without a pale nape patch. Dark morph long-legged buzzards above evidence pale bases to primaries, some less dark individuals showing slight contrast of brown-tinged wing coverts against blacker carpal areas with grayish cast to secondaries but tail more obviously pale and greyer and variable. Below dark morph adult striking contrasting from dark body and underwing coverts against pale flight feathers. Juvenile long-legged buzzards are evidently more streaky in pale, intermediate and rufous morphs with differing wing shape. Juveniles of the 3 morphs have comparatively uniform secondaries above with a paler based hand, the inner four primaries being thinly barred, the whitish tail becoming greyer brown and appear indistinctly barred distally. The trailing wing edges are more diffuse, greyer and narrower than on adults with a dark line often evidence along greater coverts. Dark morph juveniles in flight even more uniform above without darker trailing edges above and below greyish secondaries are much duskier-looking with broader but diffuse barring and often markedly wide trailing edges, this increasing the contrast against the dark tipped whitish hand.

Size
This is one of the largest species of the Buteo genus. Only two species, the upland buzzard (Buteo hemilasius) and the ferruginous hawk (Buteo regalis), notably exceed the average and maximum weight of nominate long-legged buzzards or attain similar wingspans, but several other species of the genus broadly overlap in body size with the long-legged buzzard (for instance the Galapagos, rufous-tailed and red-tailed hawks and the Augur, rough-legged and jackal buzzards). Length can range from 50 to 66 cm and wingspan from 112 to 163 cm. Mean wingspan may be about 145 cm, with wingspans surely rivaling the upland buzzard as the greatest of all Buteo. The long-legged buzzard displays the typical size sexual dimorphism in favor of females, as they may be to 15% larger and can average up to 30% heavier. The mean body mass of males is 1035 g, amongst a sample of 8 with weights ranging from 590 to 1281 g, while the mean was 1315 g in females, in a sample of 11 ranging from 945 to 1760 g. Meanwhile, the weights of migrating long-legged buzzards migrating in Eilat were 1182 g in mature buzzards and 1047 g in second-year juveniles. The measurements of live Indian long-legged buzzards were 1000 to 1300 g with slighter lengths of 46 to 55 cm and wingspans of 129 to 150 cm. Among standard measurements, nominate subspecies males attain a wing chord of 405 to 459 mm while the female attains a wing chord of 428 to 496 mm. In males the tail may measure 204 to 244 mm while the female may measure 223 to 262 mm. In tarsal length, males may measure 83 to 93 mm while females attain 87 to 96 mm. In the nominate race, the culmen from the cere is 23.4 to 30 mm in both sexes, with an average of 27.9 mm in migrants at Eilat. Mature migrants in Eilat measured from 24.8 to 32.1 mm, averaging 27.8 mm, on the enlarged hallux-claw.

Identification
Paler individuals of the long-legged buzzard are typically reasonably distinctive but their highly variable plumage leads to mistaken identity. The main confusion is with the even more variable common buzzard (Buteo buteo), principally of the steppe subspecies, which breeds and migrates in often similar areas. Steppe buzzards are told apart by various features of plumage, i.e. darker head and chest with a contrasting paler breast band, fully barred and darker uppertails, less distinct carpal patch both above and below, more contrasting wing lining with median coverts paler, with the greater covert darkest. Due to much variation in plumage, steppe buzzards often not reliably distinguished and in distant sightings best told apart by their smaller size and differing proportions. The steppe buzzard is distinctly smaller, of more compact build and possess a distinctly shorter wings and tail than nominate long-legged buzzards. Furthermore, the steppe buzzard has a more pronounced head but less protruding bill and flies with faster but stiffer and less flexible beats. Furthermore, steppe buzzards tend to fly with flatter wings in a glide and less pronounced dihederal without tips pointed up. Dark morphs of the respective species are so similar that they must be told by size, proportions and flight actions. Especially hard to tell apart from the steppe buzzard is the smaller North African subspecies. In Asia the long-legged buzzard is similar to the upland buzzard, which averages slightly bigger in size but is somewhat narrower winged. Typically the upland species has a large white patch on the hand above, with a uniform looking greyish white tail (with at most 2-3 dark bars only visible at close range), darker, more earthen brown on the breast and thighs and lacks the long-legged's typical warm, rufous tones. In dark morph upland buzzards, though they may manifest some darker ground colour on under secondaries and sometimes show pale U on breast but otherwise almost identical in appearance to dark morph long-legged buzzards. The only other Buteo that can be potentially confused with the long-legged buzzard is the migrant rough-legged buzzard (Buteo lagopus) which is similar in size, proportions and flight behaviour, extending to hovering (however the rough-legged is marginally smaller in size with shorter legs and a shorter bill). The rough-legged buzzard should be told apart from the long-legged by having a distinctive white based tail with a broad dark subterminal band as well as fully feathered legs, Juvenile rough-legged buzzards lack the dark underwing diagonals of many juvenile long-legged buzzards. The long-legged buzzard is potentially confusable with other medium or large unrelated species of raptor from outside of the Buteo, including multiple species of small to mid-sized eagle and two species of honey buzzard. However, all of these usually tend to have a number of distinctive morphological, especially the proportion and shapes of their wings, head and tail and flight actions, as well as plumage features that tend to easily separate them from even the most similarly hued and sized of long-legged buzzards.

Voice
The long-legged buzzard's voice is not well studied nor is it believed to be particularly vocal. The species is known to sometimes calls on display but it is less vocal than common buzzard. The call is similar to the latter species but the notes are shorter and slightly higher. The long-legged buzzard's commonest call is a short mew. It is also sometimes transcribed as a kyaaah and drops in pitch at the end of the brief 0.5-0.8 second call. It is said that compared to the common buzzard, the calls of the long-legged buzzard are "less squealing" and more "gull-like". A long-legged buzzard leaving its nest in Morocco just after sunrise was said to have uttered a repeated ar note, shorter fuller and apparently lower than the comparable call of a common buzzard.

Distribution and habitat
The long-legged buzzard inhabits arid areas of northern Africa, southeastern Europe, west and central Asia east to China, and down to as far as central India. The farthermost western part of their breeding range is in west Africa, in Western Sahara, extreme northern Mauritania, much of Morocco west to northern Algeria (spottily elsewhere in the nation), Tunisia and northern Libya (mainly northwestern parts). Long-legged buzzards occur accidentally in several other parts of Africa. In mainland Europe, they mainly nest in the southeastern region. Nesting long-legged buzzards have been known in eastern Hungary, central and eastern Ukraine, southern Moldova, southern and far eastern Romania, southern Serbia and more broadly in Bulgaria and somewhat so in northern Greece. Recent sightings indicate that there is a small population in the Apulian region of south-eastern Italy. Similarly, increasing records of long-legged buzzards are known in far southern Spain with the first nesting occurring in Gibraltar in 2009. The recent colonization Europe due to the climate in southern Europe becoming more suitable for this species. Vagrant accidental long-legged buzzards have been documented several times in many parts of Europe, including Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Out of Europe in the eastern Mediterranean or Asia Minor, the long-legged buzzard is one of the most continuously found and abundant breeding resident raptors, being distributed throughout all of Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The range continues into southwestern Russia up to about Saratov and Orenburg.

It is also widely and regularly distributed through much of the Middle East, residing almost throughout Syria, Lebanon, Israel, as well as the northern central parts of both Iraq and Iran. More uncommonly the breeding ranges extends into Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The range continues almost throughout Central Asia, residing in essentially all of Turkmenistan (including broadly along the Caspian Sea coast), Uzbekistan, all but the northern stretches of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and northern and central Afghanistan. The breeding range discontinues in Northwestern China but isolated breeding was documented in the Kashmir region, perhaps straddling both Pakistan and India. During times of passage, long-legged buzzards have been seen more broadly in areas such as the Arabian Peninsula, southern Iraq, western China and northeast Africa, with those that breed in Europe, Russia and Central Asia often departing their breeding grounds for the winter. The wintering areas of migrating long-legged buzzards extend through much of lower Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent including southern Afghanistan, much of Pakistan and northern India through to Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Seldom vagrants have been recorded to as south as Sri Lanka, northern Burma and the Andaman Islands. Less consistent wintering populations may live from central Sudan and Eritrea, northern South Sudan, much of Ethiopia, into far northeastern Uganda and central Kenya, seldom into far northern Tanzania.

Habitat
The long-legged buzzard inhabits open, uncultivated areas, with high bushes, trees, cliffs or hillocks are favoured as nesting areas as well as access to freshwater. The species normally lives in steppe, semi-desert and desert edge, barren rocky landscapes, dry shrubland and sometimes sea coasts. More irregularly, the species will adapt to woodland as long as plentiful openings are available. As a whole slightly hilly plains are ideal nesting areas. In a study in Iran, 41% of long-legged buzzards were on open plains with low vegetation, 29% on plains with somewhat taller vegetation, 12% were in mountain areas and 18% were in cultivated lands. While long-legged buzzards predominantly forage in wildlands, they are also adaptable to cultivations, pastures, village outskirts and sometimes even heavily farmed areas. Grasslands are often predominantly utilized during winter. Those wintering in the Indian subcontinent largely use similar arid open plains, semi-deserts and cultivated areas but perhaps surprisingly are considered a characteristic wintering raptor of dry mixed forests with open glades and barren hill slopes. In the Indian subcontinent, the species may often be seen using a variety of perches including bushes, hedges, Acacia nilotica, sand dunes, haystacks, mounds and power poles. The North African and Arabian race may reportedly show a strong preference for open wooded and/or rocky areas but has been reported in a similarly broad amount of habitats as the nominate subspecies. The species may occur from sea-level up to about 1600 m in Europe, but in Asia uncommonly lives in mountains at elevations of up to 3000 m or even 3900 m with migrants recorded to 5000 m. Younger birds disperse north of breeding grounds and there are records from Northern Europe. The breeding population in Greece is around 60 pairs. Reforestation in the Judean Hills in Israel and the West Bank is increasing potential interspecific conflict for other raptors in the vicinity.

Taxonomy and systematics
The long-legged buzzard is a member of the Buteoninae subfamily, of origin in the Americas. The genus Buteo, with nearly 30 species (one of the most diverse genera of diurnal raptors), radiated through Eurasia and Africa, relatively recently in the subfamily's evolutionary history. The most similar extant species and once thought both of as conspecific and to be part of a superspecies is the upland buzzard. However, a genetic study indicated that the long-legged and upland buzzards do not bear a strong genetic relation and the species are by and large allopatric. The upland buzzard abuts the range of long-legged buzzards from Tarbagatay to northwestern Mongolia south to Dzungaria. Evidence has been found of extensive hybridization between the two species. Although the common buzzard is not considered closely related either, hybridization has also been recently appearing between long-legged buzzards and common buzzards in Gibraltar, as well as in the Great Hungarian Plains. Additionally, little-known buzzards (once thought to be part of the common buzzard) living on the respective islands of Socotra and Cape Verde have been found to be more closely related to the long-legged buzzard if not necessarily conspecific.

Subspecies
There are two subspecies recognised:

 * Buteo rufinus rufinus: With the exceptional of Arabia and perhaps the southern Middle East, the nominate race comprises all Eurasian breeding long-legged buzzards, being distributed from The Balkans east to Mongolia and India; winters in several areas of South Asia and Africa. All prior descriptions primarily refer to the nominate subspecies
 * Buteo rufinus cirtensis: Northern Africa from Mauritania east to Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula, with some evidence that they can reach far southern Israel and the subspecies additionally penetrated Europe in the Gibraltar area. It has been long hypothesized that this may be a distinct species but extreme variations of both races and minimal differences in behaviour, voice and morphology have prevented said species recognition. Unlike some populations of B. r. rufinus, this subspecies is entirely residential and is not known to migrate. This subspecies tends to be notably smaller than the nominate long-legged buzzard, however evidence indicates that B. r. cirtensis breeding in Arabia and perhaps southern Israel may be larger than the African birds of the races. Wing chord of this race measures 343 to 394 mm in males and 380 to 425 mm in females. Additionally, tail length measures 188 to 197 mm in males and 196 to 201 mm in females while tarsus length is 72 to 79 mm in both sexes. One B. r. cirtensis in Israel weighed 865 g. Furthermore B. r. cirtensis tends to be paler overall than nominate long-legged buzzards, with a somewhat more strongly contrasting rufous belly. It is said that this race lacks a dark morph despite some confusion on the issue.

Migration
While the North African race is largely sedentary some short-range dispersal, wandering occasionally to Iberia, while one moved to Senegal in October, rarely southward movements occur, such as to Burkina Faso and Lagos. The nominate race more or less residential in the southern part of the breeding range but almost wholly migratory in north and east of range. Autumn migration commences any time from late August to throughout September. Data from intermediate areas such as Lebanon indicates that autumn passage can extend occasionally into November. Unlike common buzzards, long-legged buzzards tend to migrate singly or in small flocks. Quite small numbers tend to be recorded at main migratory hawk-watches. For example, 1,816 at Suez from September to early November in 1981. In the south Red Sea coast at Bab-el-Mandeb the total number of long-legged buzzards is up to around 130 each autumn. The species normally reaches the Indian subcontinent by about September or October and leaves by about March. Corresponding arrival and departure dates as in the Indian subcontinent were documented for wintering long-legged buzzards in Korea. A majority of the species winter in the eastern Mediterranean, i.e. Greece, Asia Minor through Middle East and Arabia to southern Tibet and northern India, as well as elsewhere in Asia. Central Asian areas may show a mixture of migratory populations, staging grounds and some wintering buzzards. Moderate numbers of long-legged buzzards tend to be documented in Africa, mostly in the Nile Valley in Sudan and the species seldom ranges south of the Sahara but migrants have been documented in both west Africa and east Africa as vagrants. Spring returns flights occur from late February on for about a month and a half, peaking in the 2nd half of March with even fewer typically seen at major migratory sites than in the fall. For example, only about 105 are recorded throughout an average spring in Eilat. Breeding usually already commenced by March-mid April to May, even for birds breeding in the northerly part of the range.

Dietary biology
Although frequently described as sluggish, the long-legged buzzard appears by most accounts to be a fairly active and powerful predator. This species often hunts by pounces on unwary prey from a variety of lookout perches. Long-legged buzzards, like many Buteo, regularly still-hunt, using tallish or high perch sites or mounds, spending long periods of time scanning the ground. Regular perch sites while hunting may include power poles, pylons, powerlines, boulders, rocky outcrops and dead and sometimes live trees. They also will watch for prey whilst standing on the ground, sometimes right by the entrance of a prey's burrow. No less often, they may hunt on the wing from hovering or active flight. During hunting on the wing they often hang in the air, at up to about 30 m above the ground, for sometimes several minutes, before dropping steepwise and making a short stoop. It is likely that the habitat being used and dictating availability of perches or sloping land from which to watch the ground dictate the variations in hunting modes seen in this species. Often the preferred hunting habitat is fairly open including upland steppe, arid semi-desert and cultivated fields. Occasionally they've been recorded in small towns as engaging in "stampeding" of pigeons resting on ledges, crevices and under the eaves of old buildings by suddenly flying up using the cover of the buildings and catching them as they rise. Long-legged buzzards are known to visit jungle or grass fires in order to capture displaced prey, often engaging in this along with other raptors. The long-legged buzzard has a fairly typical diet for a Buteo, having a generalist opportunistic diet overall, but with a preference for small mammal prey. Somewhat more so than many Buteo species, long-legged buzzards tends to take a great number of reptiles as prey, from fairly small to quite large sizes as well. More secondary prey types include birds, insects, other invertebrates and very rarely other types of vertebrates. The dietary biology of the long-legged buzzard is rather less well-documented than that of common buzzard, even in the European portion of their range, still nearly 200 prey species have been described for it. Staple prey, i.e. vertebrates, for long-legged buzzards taken generally fall in body mass between 20 g and 1500 g. Scavenging for carrion is not uncommon in long-legged buzzards, having been reported extensively on dog (Canis lupus familaris) carcasses in Romania, however carrion seems to be only regularly ingested during the non-breeding season.

In one of the westernmost dietary studies, in Ukraine, 450 mammalian prey remains found, with 565 total prey items (5.3% birds, 8.3% reptiles, 0.2% amphibians and 6.5% beetles). Main prey here were common vole (Microtus arvalis), averaging an estimated 25 g and constituting 48.4% of the diet by number and 12.59% of the biomass and the greater mole-rat (Spalax microphthalmus) and Podolsk mole-rat (Spalax zemni), both averaging an estimated 215 g and collectively comprising 22% of the diet by number and 49.2% of the biomass. Other important prey were speckled ground squirrels (Spermophilus suslicus) with the larger mammalian prey being very young European hare (Lepus europaeus) at 500 g and adult European hamsters (Cricetus cricetus) at 443 g, on average. Different Ukrainian study found a predominance of greater mole-rats in the diet, with these constituting 44.5% of the diet by number, rodents altogether making up 77.5% of the foods. Meanwhile, the diet in this second Ukrainian study showed an unusual profusion of bird prey, making up 22.3%. The diet in the Hungarian Hortobágy Plains were found surprisingly among 94 prey items that 69.1% of the diet was beetles, with the European ground squirrel (Spermophilus citellus) most frequent mammal at 19.1%. Elsewhere in Hungary, European ground squirrels were dominant in the diet in Dobruja while outside in Slovakia's Eastern Slovak Flat, the diet almost entirely based upon common vole but only reportedly when the voles were at the peak of their population cycle. Further study on the Great Hungarian Plains seems to reinforce the importance as elsewhere in eastern Europe of common voles and European hamsters in the diet of long-legged buzzards. In southeastern Bulgaria, among 189 prey items, Microtus species made up 22.2% of the diet, European ground squirrels were at 18.6%, brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) at 10.6%, European water vole (Arvicola terrestris) at 8.5% and Balkan green lizard (Lacerta trilineata) at 4.76%. In Bulgaria, 68.8% of the diet was mammalian, 13.23% reptilian, 9% avian, 7.41% arthropods and other vertebrates the remaining balance, with prey varying in size from invertebrates weighing a fraction of a gram to mammals of up to 1.5 kg such as young European hare and non-native muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus). Long-legged buzzards in northeastern Greece were found to be highly reliant on the European ground squirrel which comprised 21.2% of 268 prey items there. Most other prey were largely unidentified but included Orthoptera (10.8%) Scolopendra species (10.8%), snake sp. (8.2%), Lacerta sp. (7.83%) and common voles (7.46%). The long-legged buzzard population in Georgia was found to live off of very small mammals. For instance, in Kvernaki Ridge, of 223 prey items, the main prey identified to species was social vole (Microtus socialis) (at 27.35%) and house mouse (Mus musculus) (at 7.17%), followed by assorted unidentified rodents (nearly 15% of diet) and Lacerta sp. (7.17%) and Caucasian agama (Paralaudakia caucasia) (4.93%). In the uplands of Ninotsminda, 244 prey items were recorded to feed mostly on unidentified small rodents, especially voles, as well as larger European water vole (7.78%) and identified common voles (5.74%). In both study areas of Georgia, mammals comprised just over 59% of the total remains, unidentified insects comprised 18.4% and 22.5% of prey numbers, birds 6.3% and 13.5% of the diet and reptiles 16.2% and 4.52% of the diets, respectively. It appears in Armenia that their diet was very reptile based, mostly small to medium-sized lizards but even the remains of a Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca) were reported. On the isle of Cyprus, 559 prey total prey items were found by combination of observation, prey remains and pellets. The main prey here by far were black rats (Rattus rattus) at 46.3% of the diet and starred agama (Stellagama stellio) at 30.4%. Overall in Cyprus, 49.1% of the diet was mammalian, reptiles more than 40%. Young rats, agamas and Schneider's skinks (Eumeces schneiderii) were well represented in the Cyprus diet, rendering an estimated rough two-thirds of the diet to consist of small prey weighing 100 g or less. However, a not inconsiderable amount of prey weighing in the range of 500 g were taken including young European hares, large whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius) (at 5% of the diet by number) and birds such as chukar (Alectoris chukar) and common wood pigeon (Columbus palumbus).

Accompanying food studies of the long-legged buzzards were conducted in the Israeli Judean Hills. Among 1239 total prey items from 32 nests here, the primary prey appeared to be Schneider's skinks at 16.3% and starred agamas at 14.6%, with an old study finding rock doves or feral pigeons (Columbus livia) the most significant at 19.6% of 561 prey items (pigeons were 10.7% amongst the 1239 prey items). Overall the Judean Hills long-legged buzzards preferred reptiles, at 47.2% of the foods, and birds, at 32.2%, rather strongly over mammals, 18.3%, which is not unexpected in the region's semi-desert environment. The predominant prey in Jordan was reportedly the fat sand rat (Psammomys obsesus) followed by again the starred agama and generally appeared not dissimilar from the diet of the species on Cyprus. On the Arabian Peninsula, long-legged buzzards were reported to feed mostly on the largish Uromastyx lizards, but also took hares, birds, and carrion. In northern Iran's Khar Turan National Park, 34 remains seemed to be predominantly represented by unidentified hares, occasionally supplemented by birds, tortoises and smaller mammals like Meriones and Gerbillus species. In southwestern Iran, 100 estimated prey items found by combination of prey remains, pellets and video recordings. The main prey were Caucasian squirrels (Sciurus anomalus) at 29.85% by number, 39.4% by biomass (with an estimated mean mass of 300 g and mature adult agamas such as brilliant ground agamas (Trapelus agilis), large-scaled agama (Laudakia nupta) (both estimated at 300 g when taken and small-scaled agama (Paralaudakia microlepis), these three comprising 30.3% of the diet collectively and 36.5% of the prey biomass. Several snakes like spotted whipsnakes (Hemorrhois ravergieri) were also taken frequently here.

While the diet is reasonably well studied in the European, eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern areas, farther east the diet is largely incidentally known, from secondary observations and rarely quantitatively analyzed (while the North African populations are almost entirely unknown in terms of dietary biology). In the East Kazakhstan Region, two long-legged buzzard nests were found to primarily contain the remains of contained the remains of Tamarisk gerbil (Meriones tamariscinus) and red-cheeked ground squirrels (Spermiphilus erythrogenys). A study in the Kalmykia region of Russia found that about 100 prey items of long-legged buzzards consisted of by diverse prey and less based in small mammals or lizards than other regions. The most frequent identified prey here were unidentified larks, at 18% of the diet by number and 4.7% by biomass, while very young juvenile European hare, at estimated mean of 400 g body mass, were second in number, at 9%, and primary in biomass at 21.8%. Other significant prey here were social voles, at 9% by number as well, and adult rooks (Corvus frugilegus), at a mean mass of 460 g comprising 15.7% of the biomass. In northeastern China, the diet was fairly well studied, albeit in a somewhat small study. Of 50 prey items, here great gerbils (Rhombomys opimus) led the diet at 48%, followed by Tartar sand boa (Eryx miliaris) (18%), cape hare (Lepus capensis) (6%), goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa) (6%) (likely but not certainly taken to the nest as carrion) and Mongolian finch (Bucanetes mongolicus) (6%). Overall mammals made 60% of the diet, reptiles 22% and birds 18%. The diet in the Indian subcontinent is quite diverse, with prey often observed to be taken consisting of small mammals, being up to 85% of the diet, with primary prey often being Indian desert jird (Meriones hurrianae) in arid areas and voles and pikas in highland areas. Lizards are significant, especially Indian spiny-tailed lizard (Saara hardwickii) and agamas, as well as snakes and various other prey.

Interspecific relationships
The long-legged buzzard occurs over a broad range across Eurasia. They often co-exist in several areas with the steppe subspecies of the common buzzard. Little is known how the two co-exist, but the long-legged buzzard is known to be more of a bird of open and rocky habitat rather than wooded edge, nesting often on or about rocks rather than in trees. Both the common and long-legged buzzards are often highly opportunistic but the long-legged buzzard is liable to take a variety of small mammals such as mole-rats, hamsters, ground squirrels, rats and various reptiles such as lizards and to be generally less strongly reliant on voles as prey. It was documented in northeastern Greece that the two species often engaged in interspecific conflicts around the nests, with the common buzzard comprising the largest percent of aggressive interactions documented for long-legged buzzards, at 10 out of 47 such interactions. In their distribution, long-legged buzzards often share relatively open, sunny and partially arid habitats and prey extensively with a number of other raptors, from smaller, weaker harriers of about three species to larger more powerful eagles such as eastern imperial eagles (Aquila heliaca) and steppe eagle (Aquila nipalensis), as well as quite often saker falcons (Falco cherrug) It was documented that the long-legged buzzard was the most significant nest constructor for nesting saker falcons in Kazakhstan, with the falcons usually using old or alternate buzzard nests. Nesting habitat often coincides with and prey is somewhat similar to the Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo), as in Bulgaria where they can even nest in the same groves, but the much larger eagle-owl can seldom be said to compete directly given its nocturnality. Evidence in the Judean Foothills shows that the long-legged buzzard is competing with the short-toed snake eagle (Circateus gallicus) there. Although there were differences in the diet, the short-toed taking more snakes, the long-legged buzzard more lizards and birds, with partitioning in primary hunting times, the long-legged buzzard fared well in interactions being the swifter and often more aggressive raptor than the somewhat larger eagle.

The long-legged buzzard appears to occupy an intermediate position in the food guild of medium to large diurnal raptors in steppe, meadows, plateaus and coastal areas, in keeping with its body size (which is large for a buzzard but smaller than many species of eagle that it is obligated to share habitats with). There is little information on their position except for their place in the food chain. Their main predator appears to be Eurasian eagle-owls. Although no predation acts have been documented in Bulgaria, in many other mutual parts of the range, long-legged buzzards have turned up in the diet of the powerful eagle-owls. Other larger raptors birds are known to occasionally hunt down long-legged buzzards as well. These have been documented to include eastern imperial eagles, steppe eagles and Bonelli's eagles (Aquila fasciata). A few raptorial birds have also turned up at different times in the diet of long-legged buzzards as well and, compared to the common buzzard, the lesser studied long-legged buzzards may be more prone to interspecific killings from the number reported despite their being relatively few prey studies. Among the raptorial birds documented as apparent prey of long-legged buzzards are Eurasian sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus), levant sparrowhawk (Accipiter brevipes), short-toed snake eagle, barn owl (Tyto alba), European scops owl (Otus scops), little owl (Athene noctua), long-eared owl (Asio otus ), short-eared owl (Asio flammeus), common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) and red-footed falcon (Falco vespertinus). Mammalian carnivores are also known to be occasional prey for long-legged buzzards as well, including least weasels (Mustela nivalis ) and marbled polecat (Vormela peregusna) as well as, although these are more likely taken either while young or as carrion, red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and European wildcats (Felis silvestris).

Breeding
The long-legged buzzard is, as is typical for Buteo and accipitrids, usually rather solitary outside of the pair bond. However, occasionally forms very loose breeding groups, at times several as close as 300 m or in the same crag. It is also slightly gregarious sometimes in passage in small groups, rarely traveling in large flocks. The long-legged buzzard's aerial display similar but less well documented than that of the common buzzard. They tend to engage in mutual high circling, with both sexes diving at each other. Additionally, an impressive sky dance is sometimes undertaken by the male in which he circles before plunging on part closed wings, swooping up again, after which he may engage in tilting or even looping the loop at the zenith, drops nearly vertically, repeating dance one or more times. Territories are fairly large for long-legged buzzards. In Ukraine, there was an estimated per pair occupancy of about 120 km2 while in Kazakhstan, in an area of 100 km2, there an estimated mean of 2.8 nesting pairs.

The breeding season of the long-legged buzzard can fall at variable times of the years. In Europe, it tends to breed from March to July. Similarly phenology of breeding is reported in Armenia and even in Iraq. In the United Arab Emirates, a nest with eggs which must have been laid in December was reported, with pair occupancy lasting to at least March. In Morocco, nuptial displays begin in January and February, peaking in March, with egg laying usually from March to April in the northern part of the country and from February to April in southern part. Elsewhere in North Africa, breeding seems to fall somewhat earlier from February to March, with possibly fledging completed by the month of May. The nesting period in Pakistan is about March to July, but records of eggs as late as June may refer to second or replacement clutches being laid. The nest is a large pile of sticks and branches, typically lined with green leaves, twigs, straw and wool. Nests are fairly large structures, averaging around 71 to 99 cm in diameter, as in Bulgaria and Kazakhstan, respectively, but could easily exceed 1 m across in some cases. The average depth was 20 and 49 cm, ranging in Bulgaria and Kazakhstan from 15 to 100 cm in depth. Often this species nests are located on a cliff ledge, crag or low rocks, often in fairly shaded relative to the often sunny environs. In Kazakhstan, more than 75% of 53 nests were on such ledges or in granite niches, with a further 11% on power poles, 8% in trees and 4% on high hills less frequently nest ground, in a tree or steep slope or old large bird nest. In Cyprus, of 22 nests, only 1 was in a tree, while the rest were a variety of cliffs from sea cliffs to mountainous areas of around 1100 m elevation. All known nests in northwestern China as well as in southwestern Iran were located on cliffs. In Bulgaria, in the absence of natural rocks, the long-legged buzzards largely adapted to nesting alongside manmade quarries rather than use trees. Nesting locations were exceptional then in Ukraine where most (85.7%) were built in oak trees, with one additionally placed in a pear tree. Data from the Volga region of Russia also suggests that tree nesting is common for the species there, especially in Malus apple trees. Additionally, the few known nests from Pakistan have appeared to be located in trees such as Abies firs or junipers. Some nests along the perimeter of old buildings have been documented as well. At times the long-legged buzzard will use the old nest of another species, apparently largely ravens such as common ravens (Corvus corax) or brown-necked raven (Corvus ruficollis). Nests are frequently reused in subsequent years and added to over time.

The long-legged buzzard may lay a variably sized clutch. Typically 2 to 4 eggs are laid but from 1 to 6 egg clutches have been documented. The average clutch size in Ukraine was 2.7, in a sample of 8. The same clutch size mean was reported in Cyprus as well. The average clutch size in North Africa was reported (in a sample of 57) as 2.54. The clutch size in northwestern Iran averaged 3. In northwestern China, the mean clutch size was 3.3. The eggs are slightly rough, oval and largely whitish with a yellowish tint and a few wart like projections, with indistinct gray-brown to reddish brown markings, which tend to fade at the pointer tip of the oval. The average egg sizes in Ukraine, Armenia and northwestern China were 59.5 x, 60.3 x and 56 x, respectively. Egg heights ranged from 53 to 63 mm and diameter ranged from 42 to 49.5 mm, while in Armenia eggs weighed 72.9 g on average and in China they weighed 68.2 g. Incubation appears to last for about 28 to 30 days.

Upon hatching, the young are expectedly semi-altricial. The brood size averages about 2.3. The chicks initially have fine white down at first and then develop a second down coat with white to creamy white. The chicks are brooded considerably, especially by their mother for about 30 days, after which she may resume hunting. Fledgling of the chicks may occur at between 40 and 46 days of age for the young buzzards. The dependence period after they leave the nest can be relatively prolonged for a temperate-zone raptor, reaching perhaps a month in total. Breeding success rates are relatively quite poorly known in long-legged buzzards, with many sources failing to find extensive data on this topic. Data from Cyprus shows the nesting success varying greatly, perhaps based on food supplies, with an annual mean success rate varying from 46% to 93%. In northwestern China, the mean number of fledglings per nest was 0.7 while the mean fledged from successful nests was 1.4. The maximum estimated mean productivity per pair in Israel was about 0.96.

Status
Some declines have been reported in western Russia and generally the long-legged buzzard may be somewhat less numerous than they once were in the more western parts of the range. On the other hand, since the 1990s, there have been recent increases reported in Europe, mainly Bulgaria, where expanding population and post-breeding dispersals have enlarged their range in Hungarian steppes. In the 1990s, the estimated population in the Western Palearctic was between 5000 and 15,000 pairs while by 2015 the estimated population where was 11,800-19,200 pairs breeding pairs. The following estimates show from the smaller numbers of the 1990s to the generally higher estimated numbers by 2015. There are an estimated 800-1500 pairs nesting in western Russia, 200-750 pairs occurring in Bulgaria and about 60-300 pairs in Greece and 50 pairs in Ukraine, with fewer in Albania and a few other countries. Europe contains less than a quarter of the global population and the declines from historic numbers were still over 30%, so the long-legged buzzard is considered locally a Vulnerable species in Europe. Furthermore, about 500 pairs are estimated to nest in Israel, as recorded after slight population depletions due largely to pesticide use in the 1950s. The Turkish population is ample at 1000-10,000 pairs, probably 3000-6000; with about 1000-2500 in Azerbaijan. Additionally, numbers are considered unchanged in Armenia. There are less well known populations and trends in North Africa, with perhaps 400 pairs in Tunisia, 1000 or more pairs in Morocco. A small number nest in the Arabian Peninsula. Arabia has thought to experience a 5% decline in long-legged buzzard populations, perhaps due to overly extensive conversion of habitat to farmland and stone quarries. Saudi Arabia holds about 600 pairs, Oman and Yemen both about 100 pairs and the United Arab Emirates about 5 pairs. Fewer figures still are available from Asia, where the species is considered uncommon to rare in Pakistan, slightly more common in Kashmir and variously rare to uncommon in northwestern China and Turkmenia. Good habitat and strong circumstantial evidence of strong continuous breeding pairs in Central Asia has led to a projected fairly ample but poorly documented population in this region.

title: Long-legged buzzard


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Summit League

The Summit League, or The Summit, is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletic conference with its membership mostly located in the Midwestern United States, from Minnesota in the east, to the Dakotas, Nebraska and Colorado to the West, and Missouri and Oklahoma to the South. Founded as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities in 1982, it rebranded as the Mid-Continent Conference in 1989, then again as the Summit League on June 1, 2007. The league headquarters are in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The membership currently consists of 9 full members plus 7 associate members. The most recent change in the core conference membership is the 2021 arrival of the University of St. Thomas, which began an unprecedented transition from NCAA Division III to Division I. A year earlier, the University of Missouri–Kansas City returned as a full member after a seven-year absence with the new athletic identity of the Kansas City Roos, while Purdue University Fort Wayne left for the Horizon League. A total of 32 schools have been full members; the last charter member remaining in the league, Western Illinois University, left for the Ohio Valley Conference on July 1, 2023, though it will remain in the Summit men's soccer league through the fall 2023 season.

Early Days
The conference can trace its roots back to 1978, when the Mid-Continent Athletic Association was founded as a football-only conference playing in Division II at the time. Its inaugural members were the University of Akron, Eastern Illinois University, University of Northern Iowa, Northern Michigan University, Western Illinois University, and Youngstown State University; Wayne State University had also expressed interest in joining, but ultimately never did. Akron left after the 1979 season, while Northern Michigan and Youngstown State left the following year; they were replaced by Southwest Missouri State (now known as Missouri State University) in 1981. The 1981 season also saw the conference as a whole move from Division II to Division I-AA; this would be the conference's final season under the name of the Mid-Continent Athletic Association.

Foundation
The new association was officially created on June 18, 1982, at the O'Hare Hilton Hotel in Chicago, Illinois as the Association of Mid-Continent Universities (or AMCU or AMCU-8, pronounced Am-cue), which it was known as until 1989. Covering all men's sports now in addition to football, the new conference consisted of current MCAA members Northern Iowa, Eastern Illinois, Western Illinois, and Southwest Missouri State, along with non-football sponsoring Cleveland State University, University of Illinois-Chicago, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and Valparaiso University. The conference continued to sponsor football at the Division I-AA level, now under the new AMCU name, from 1982 until 1984, when the football sponsoring members of the Missouri Valley Conference joined with the football sponsoring members of the AMCU to form the beginnings of what is now the Missouri Valley Football Conference; current members North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, and South Dakota State continue to house their FCS football programs there to this day.

Changes and the addition of women's sports
The conference saw its first changes in the early 1990s. Southwest Missouri State departed for membership in the Missouri Valley Conference as the University of Akron and Northern Illinois University joined in 1990. Then Wright State University joined in 1991 as Northern Iowa followed Southwest Missouri State to the MVC.

Major changes came to the conference in 1992. First, Akron left for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) and another Ohio school, Youngstown State University, replaced it. More significantly, the Mid-Continent added women's sports by absorbing the North Star Conference (NSC), a women's-only league whose final seven members were in the Mid-Continent. All of the final NSC members except for Akron moved their women's sports into the Mid-Continent. At the same time, Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois moved their women's sports into the Mid-Continent when their former women's sports home, the Gateway Conference, merged into the Missouri Valley Conference. The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee joined the Mid-Continent a year later.

Horizon and ECC transitions
In 1994, charter members Cleveland State, UIC, and Green Bay, as well as newer members Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Northern Illinois, and Wright State left the conference to join the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, now known as the Horizon League.

The Mid-Continent absorbed Central Connecticut State University, Chicago State University, the University at Buffalo, Troy State University (now Troy University), and Northeastern Illinois University from the collapsed East Coast Conference in response. None of these institutions remain in the league.

Missouri-Kansas City, formerly an independent, also joined the Mid-Continent Conference in 1994.

Declining membership
Eastern Illinois moved to the Ohio Valley Conference in 1996, reducing membership to nine programs. Troy State departed for the Trans America Athletic Conference while Central Connecticut joined the Northeast Conference in 1997. Buffalo joined the MAC in 1998 while Northeastern Illinois ceased intercollegiate athletics at that time. Oral Roberts University and Southern Utah University replaced the former pair while Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and Oakland University moved into the latter duo's spots a year later.

Youngstown State switched to the Horizon League in 2001, and Centenary College replaced it in 2003. Chicago State University announced in the spring of 2006 that it would withdraw from the conference to compete as an independent starting in the 2006–07 school year. Charter member Valparaiso then moved to the Horizon in 2007.

Renewed expansion and contraction
Conference expansion was discussed at length at the Mid-Continent Conference annual Presidents Council meeting in 2006, and Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW, now Purdue Fort Wayne), North Dakota State, and South Dakota State were approved for site visits. On August 30, 2006, IPFW accepted an invitation to join the Mid-Continent Conference as a full member starting July 1, 2007. Both North Dakota State and South Dakota State also accepted invitations to join the conference the next day.

The Summit League continued its renewed expansion push with the admission of the University of South Dakota. The Coyotes began conference play in the 2011–12 academic year and become eligible for all championships the following season. Centenary College subsequently announced that it would leave the Summit League following the 2010–2011 campaign.

The University of North Dakota had also been openly rumored to have been courted by the Summit League, but controversy over the Fighting Sioux nickname in all likelihood prevented UND's admission at that time. Expectations that UND would join the Summit League came to an end on November 1, 2010, when North Dakota instead accepted an invitation to join the Big Sky Conference. The University of South Dakota entered into very brief negotiations to join the Big Sky as well, rather than continuing their plans to join the Summit. However, South Dakota chose instead to remain with the more compact Summit League (along with other Dakota schools, NDSU and SDSU). As the University of Nebraska Omaha began the transition to Division I athletics in all sports, it joined the Summit League on July 1, 2012. With the departures of Centenary to Division III at the end of the 2010–11 athletic year, and Southern Utah and Oral Roberts for other Division I conferences at the end of the 2011–12 athletic year, the Summit League continued with nine institutions, all within the Midwest geographical region.

The conference unveiled the University of Denver (DU) as its 10th member on November 27, 2012, and the Pioneers joined in July 2013. While Denver is slightly outside The Summit's current Midwestern base, the city's status as a major air hub seemingly minimized travel issues for the other members. With Denver among the eight of ten WAC members switching to other conferences, that league searched for new members. UMKC announced on February 7, 2013, that it would be one of six schools joining the WAC for the 2013–14 season, dropping the Summit league back to nine member schools. Membership fell to eight schools on May 7, 2013, when Oakland announced that it was joining the Horizon League. Eight of the nine then-current Horizon League programs were former Summit League members with Oakland's move (the Horizon has since added two more members that were never in The Summit League, Northern Kentucky and Robert Morris, as well as another former Summit member in Purdue Fort Wayne).

In December 2013, The Summit League office announced that Oral Roberts University returned to the conference in all sports, effective July 1, 2014.

The next changes to the conference's core membership were announced in 2017. First, on January 26, North Dakota, which had resolved its controversy by selecting the new nickname Fighting Hawks, unveiled as a new member beginning in 2018. Then, on June 28, IUPUI announced it would leave the conference to join the Horizon League effective July 1, 2017.

For much of 2018, speculation involving further league expansion focused on Augustana University, a Division II school located in the Summit's headquarters city of Sioux Falls. Many of the school's boosters have ties to Sanford Health, a hospital company that has long been a major league sponsor and also owns the office complex that houses the league headquarters. The university announced on December 14 that it would start a transition to Division I, though stating at the time that no such move would take place until at least 2021. However, on May 22, 2020, the Summit League commissioner, Tom Douple, informed Augustana president Stephanie Herseth Sandlin that the conference would not be adding more new teams "at this time." The conference expanded anyway, announcing in June 2019 that UMKC would return in 2020 after a seven-year absence. However, shortly thereafter, Purdue Fort Wayne announced its 2020 departure for the Horizon League, maintaining the full-time conference membership at nine schools. Then, on October 4, 2019, the University of St. Thomas, a Minnesota school that was set to be expelled from its longtime athletic home of the NCAA Division III Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) in 2021, announced that it received an invitation to join the Summit upon its MIAC departure. St. Thomas eventually received a waiver of an NCAA rule mandating that Division III schools can only transition to Division II, allowing the school to move directly to D-I on the originally announced schedule.

Shortly before St. Thomas' future conference membership was confirmed, the University of Northern Colorado was announced as a baseball-only member effective in 2021–22. The most recent change to the affiliate membership was announced on May 11, 2022, when Lindenwood University and the University of Southern Indiana were announced as new affiliates in men's soccer plus men's and women's swimming & diving effective in 2022–23. Both institutions began transitions from Division II as new members of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC), which at the time did not sponsor any of these schools' Summit League sports, in July 2022. Southern Indiana started its swimming & diving program for both sexes in 2022–23. In late March 2023, the OVC announced that it would begin sponsoring men's soccer that fall, leading to Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, and Southern Indiana moving that sport to their full-time home. All three remain swimming & diving affiliates.

In early May 2023, it was announced that founding member, Western Illinois would be leaving the Summit League in all sports and would join the Ohio Valley Conference beginning in Fall 2023. In mid-June, Western Illinois announced that their men's soccer team would remain in the Summit League for the Fall 2023 season, and depart for the OVC after that.

On April 4, 2024, both entities announced that Delaware would be joining the conference as an associate member in men's soccer starting in 2025.

On May 7, 2024, the league announced that Northern Colorado, who is also an affiliate in baseball, and Weber State would be joining the league for men's golf starting in the Fall of 2024.

Current full members

 * Notes:

Former members
All institutional names and nicknames used reflect those in the final school year of conference membership.

Former full members
The Summit League has 23 former members.

 * Notes

Former associate members

 * Notes:

Membership timeline
undefined undefined undefined undefined undefined undefined

 * Purdue Fort Wayne joined the league as IPFW. The athletic branding was changed to "Fort Wayne" in 2016, and to Purdue Fort Wayne shortly before the dissolution of IPFW on July 1, 2018.
 * Southwest Missouri State adopted its current name of Missouri State University in 2005.
 * The two former members that are part of the University of Wisconsin System, namely UW–Green Bay and UW–Milwaukee, now brand themselves for athletic purposes as "Green Bay" and "Milwaukee".
 * Troy State adopted its current name of Troy University in 2004.
 * UMKC rebranded its athletic program as "Kansas City" in 2019, a year before its return to the league.

Sponsored sports
The Summit League sponsors championship competition in nine men's and ten women's NCAA sanctioned sports. Former full member Eastern Illinois is an associate member for men's and women's swimming and diving and men's soccer. Drake and Illinois State became associate members in men's tennis starting in 2017–18, and former full member Valparaiso rejoined for men's swimming and men's tennis at the same time. Valparaiso dropped men's tennis after the 2019–20 season; it remained a swimming associate until moving that sport to the Mid-American Conference in 2021. Northern Colorado became a baseball associate starting in the 2022 season (2021–22 school year), and Lindenwood and Southern Indiana became associates in men's soccer plus men's and women's swimming & diving in the 2022–23 school year. Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, and Southern Indiana moved men's soccer to their primary home of the Ohio Valley Conference in 2023–24 while remaining Summit affiliates in swimming & diving. Western Illinois elected to leave the league full time in 2023, but its men's soccer team remained in the Summit through the fall 2023 season.

Men's sponsored sports by school
Men's varsity sports not sponsored by The Summit League which are played by member schools:

Women's sponsored sports by school

 * Notes

Women's varsity sports not sponsored by The Summit League which are played by member schools:

Men's basketball in the NCAA tournament
* At-large bid

** First Four game

Summit League championships won per school
Italics indicate a school no longer a part of the Summit League

Summit League championships won per school
Italics indicate a school no longer a part of the Summit League

Facilities
Future members in gray.

Media Rights
On August 10, 2023, the Summit League announced the signing of a new three-year media rights deal that would tie the league with CBS Sports Network and even closer ties with Midco Sports through the 2025-26 academic year. The new deal transfers the Summit League's men's/women's basketball championship game rights over to CBS Sports Network from ESPN, and adds a guaranteed six regular season men's basketball games on the network with an option of six more men's or women's basketball games during the season. For the 2024 tournament, CBS Sports Network will also broadcast the women's basketball tournament semifinal. In 2025 and 2026 there will remain an option to have the men's and women's tournaments semifinals on CBS Sports Network if scheduling allows.

The Midco contract will now expand to the creation of a new all-league media platform called The Summit League Network. It will provide access to all nine member institutions' live streams of every home game, both non-conference and in-conference, as well as interviews and other league info. This expansion will preserve the local media rights given out at select institutions, as the provider for the university will supply Midco with that broadcast/live stream to be simulcast on the Summit League Network.

title: Summit League


text:
Ice Cold in Alex

Ice Cold in Alex is a 1958 British war film set during the Western Desert campaign of World War II based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Landon. Directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring John Mills, the film was a prizewinner at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival. Under the title Desert Attack, a shortened, 79-minute version of the film was released in the United States in 1961. Film critic Craig Butler later referred to the shortened versions as nonsensical.

Plot
Captain Anson, the officer commanding a British RASC Motor Ambulance Company in Tobruk, is suffering from battle fatigue and alcoholism. Ahead of the Siege of Tobruk by the German Afrika Korps, Anson and most of his unit are ordered to evacuate to Alexandria. During the evacuation, Anson, MSM Tom Pugh and two nurses, Sister Diana Murdoch and Sister Denise Norton, become separated from the others in an Austin K2/Y ambulance nicknamed "Katy". The quartet decide to drive across the desert back to British lines.

As they depart, they come across an Afrikaner South African officer, Captain van der Poel, who carries a large pack, to which he seems very attached. After the South African shows Anson two bottles of gin in his backpack, van der Poel persuades Anson to let him join their drive to the safety of the British lines in Alexandria.

En route, the group meets with various obstacles, including a minefield, a broken suspension spring (during its replacement, van der Poel's great strength saves the group when he supports "Katy" on his back when the jack collapses), and the dangerous terrain of the Qattara Depression.

Twice the group encounters motorised elements of the advancing Afrika Korps; in one encounter they are fired upon, and Norton is fatally wounded. Anson blames himself and his drinking for Norton's death, and vows not to drink any alcohol until he can have an "ice cold lager in 'Alex'". Van der Poel, who claims to have learned German while working in German South West Africa, is able to talk the Germans into allowing them to go on their way. The second time however, the Germans seem reluctant, until van der Poel shows them the contents of his backpack.

This pack becomes the focus of suspicion. Pugh, already troubled by van der Poel's lack of knowledge of the South African Army's tea-brewing technique, follows him when he heads off into the desert with his pack and a spade (supposedly to dig a latrine). Pugh thinks he sees an antenna. Later, at night, they decide to use the ambulance headlights to see what van der Poel is really up to. He panics, blunders into some quicksand, and submerges his pack, though not before Anson and Murdoch see that it contains a radio set. They drag him to safety. While he recovers, they realise he is probably a German spy but decide not to confront him about this. During the final leg of the journey, Katy must be hand-cranked in reverse up a sand dune escarpment, and van der Poel's strength is again crucial to achieving this.

Continuing their drive, the party discuss their conviction that "van der Poel" is a spy, and decide that they do not want to see him shot. When they reach Alexandria, Anson delivers everyone's papers except "van der Poel's" to the Military Police check point and (off-screen) reports to the MP's senior officer that "van der Poel" is a regular German soldier that they met lost in the desert and has surrendered to them under his parole (word of honour). Anson secures the MP's agreement to allow the party to enjoy a beer with their "captive" before taking him into custody as a prisoner of war.

The party then make their way to a bar and Anson orders a cold beer, which he consumes with relish. But before they have drunk their first round, a Corps of Military Police officer arrives to arrest van der Poel. Anson orders him to wait. Having become friends with van der Poel and indebted to him for saving the group's lives, Anson tells him that if he gives his real name, he will be treated as a prisoner of war, rather than as a spy (which would mean execution by firing squad).

Van der Poel admits to being Hauptmann Otto Lutz, an engineering officer with the 21st Panzer Division. Pugh, noticing that Lutz is still wearing fake South African dog tags, rips them off before the police see them. Lutz, after saying his farewells and concluding that they were "all against the desert, the greater enemy", is driven away, with a new respect for the British.

Cast

 * John Mills as Captain Anson
 * Sylvia Syms as Sister Diana Murdoch
 * Anthony Quayle as Captain van der Poel/Hauptmann Otto Lutz
 * Harry Andrews as MSM Tom Pugh
 * Diane Clare as Sister Denise Norton
 * Richard Leech as Captain Crosbie
 * Liam Redmond as Brigadier, Deputy Director Medical Services
 * Allan Cuthbertson as the Brigadier's Staff Officer
 * David Lodge as CMP Captain (tank trap)
 * Michael Nightingale as CMP Captain (checkpoint)
 * Basil Hoskins as CMP Lieutenant (Alexandria)
 * Walter Gotell as 1st German Officer
 * Frederick Jaeger as 2nd German Officer
 * Richard Marner as German Guard
 * Peter Arne as British Long Range Desert Group officer at oasis
 * Paul Stassino as the barman

Production
The film was based on the 1957 novel Ice Cold in Alex and its serialisation (as Escape in the Desert) in the magazine Saturday Evening Post. The New York Times described the book as "an excellent escape story played out in the best Hitchcock manner."

The screenplay contains multiple key changes from the novel, including making Anson rather than Pugh the protagonist. ABPC bought the rights and assigned T. J. Morison to collaborate on a treatment with Landon under the supervision of Walter Mycroft.

The producers had intended to shoot the location work for Ice Cold in Alex in Egypt, but they had to switch to Libya because of the Suez conflict.

Filming began 10 September 1957.

Sylvia Syms (Sister Murdoch) said in a 2011 interview about the film that conditions during the desert shoot were so difficult it felt like they were actually in the situation the film portrays. She said: "You may find this hard to believe, but there was very little acting. It was horrible. We became those people ... we were those people". She said that today people would probably call it method acting, but added: 'We didn't know what Method Acting was, we just called it 'getting on with it'." Syms said that during the scene where the ambulance rolls backwards down the hill narrowly avoiding her, the actors assumed there would be a hawser to stop the vehicle if anything went wrong, but there was not. The actress said she was "pretty sure" Mills, Quayle and Andrews angrily upbraided director J. Lee Thompson for this risky approach. She added: "He liked to push actors a bit". The quicksand sequence was filmed in an ice cold artificial bog in an English studio (some scenes were shot at Elstree) and was "very tough" on Quayle and Mills. Syms said the producers got a good deal out of her for "£30 a week", adding: "But I made a lot more when they turned it into an advert for Carlsberg". She said there are "no false heroics in it" and that she had been told by desert war veterans it is a good picture of soldiers in that theatre of war, adding: "I am proud of it".

There were a number of British films being shot in Africa around this time, including No Time to Die, Nor the Moon by Night and The Black Tent.

Music
Although some sources claim that music was kept to a minimum, there is in fact a great deal of dramatic underscoring. Leighton Lucas wrote a stirring military march called "The Road to Alex", which was the main theme, and a "Romance".

Box office
The film was one of the twelve most popular at the British box office in 1958 (that list included several other war related movies – The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Camp on Blood Island, Dunkirk, The Key, Carve Her Name with Pride, The Wind Cannot Read – as well as Carry On Sergeant, A Cry from the Streets, Happy Is the Bride and Indiscreet.) Kinematograph Weekly listed it as being "in the money" at the British box office in 1958.

Awards
The film was nominated for several awards:
 * Winner FIPRESCI Award at the Berlin International Film Festival
 * Nominated BAFTA Award for Best Film
 * Nominated BAFTA Award for Best British Film
 * Nominated BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Anthony Quayle)
 * Nominated BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay (T. J. Morrison)
 * Nominated Golden Bear Berlin International Film Festival

Legacy
The film is arguably the best known credit for Sylvia Syms.

Home media
A Region B/2 Blu-ray restoration of Ice Cold in Alex was released in the United Kingdom on 18 February 2018. A restored region B/2 version was previously released on 11 September 2011. In March 2020, the film was released on Blu-ray in region A/1 (North America) by Film Movement Classics in a five-film set called Their Finest Hour 5 British War Classics.

Lager advertisement
The final scene, in which Mills's character finally gets his glass of lager, was used in the 1980s in beer advertisements on television. The scene was reportedly filmed some weeks after the rest of the film, at Elstree. Real lager had to be used to "look right", and Mills had to drink numerous glasses full until the shots were finished, and was "a little 'heady'" by the end.

Sylvia Syms has said that the Danish beer Carlsberg was chosen because they could never have been seen to be drinking a German lager, since the United Kingdom and Germany are at war during the film. The beer referred to in the original novel is Rheingold, which, despite its German name, is American.

Scenes from the film were used in a late-1980s’ television advertising campaign for the German Holsten Pils lager. Each advertisement mixed original footage from a different film (another example was The Great Escape, 1963) with new humorous material starring British comedian Griff Rhys Jones and finishing with the slogan: "A Holsten Pils Production". In retaliation, rival Carlsberg simply lifted the segment in which Mills contemplates the freshly poured lager in the clearly Carlsberg-branded glass, before downing it in one go and declaring, "Worth waiting for!" This was followed by a variation in the usual Carlsberg tagline: "Still probably the best lager in the world."

title: Ice Cold in Alex


text:
Talk:Debian Project

This text is from http://www.debian.org/intro/about -- which is licensed as follows:

Debian WWW Pages License Copyright © 1997-2004 Software in the Public Interest, Inc. P.O. Box 502761 Indianapolis, IN 46250-2761 United States

This material may be distributed only subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Open Publication License, Draft v1.0 or later (the latest version is presently available at http://www.opencontent.org/openpub/ ).

“Debian” and the Debian Logo are trademarks of Software in the Public Interest, Inc.

merge
I've marked embeded debian for merge since it barely merits a section in this article, what with being dead. Hell, it may be worth deleting instead of turning into a section. But I leave that for other minds. 65.95.124.5 07:15, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Debian Project


text:
Section 8

Section 8 or Section Eight may refer to:

Arts and entertainment

 * Section 8 (album), by MC Eiht, 1999
 * Section 8 (comics), a fictional team of superheroes
 * Section 8 (video game), 2009
 * Section 8: Prejudice, a 2011 sequel
 * Section Eight (Artemis Fowl), a fictional element in Artemis Fowl and the Lost Colony
 * Section 8 (record producer), record producer and songwriter
 * Section Eight (film), a 2022 American action film starring Ryan Kwanten
 * "Section 8", a song by Whitechapel from the album Whitechapel

Businesses and organisations

 * Section 8 (NYSPHSAA), governing body for high school sports in Nassau County, New York, U.S.
 * Section 8 Chicago, the independent supporter's association for the Chicago Fire Soccer Club
 * Section Eight Productions, a film production company

Other uses

 * Section 8 (military), a United States military form of discharge
 * Section 8 (housing), a U.S. government-funded housing program
 * Section 8 notice, used in England and Wales and is part of the Housing Act 1988
 * Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
 * Section 8 of the Indian Penal Code, describing the usage of gender pronouns in the code

title: Section 8


text:
Rube Marquard

Richard William "Rube" Marquard (October 9, 1886 – June 1, 1980) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball in the 1910s and early 1920s. He achieved his greatest success with the New York Giants. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.

Early life
Rube Marquard was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to German immigrant Fred Marquard and Lena Heiser Marquard. Marquard claimed an 1889 year of birth, but 1900 census data and a birth certificate show an 1886 year of birth. Lena Marquard died of an abdominal infection in 1899, and Rube's grandmother took responsibility for raising him. Marquard quit school after the fifth grade; biographer Larry Mansch writes that he "simply refused to attend any longer".

Newspaper reports first mentioned Marquard in 1905, when he played with an amateur team in Cleveland. Though pitching for a poor team that had a 1–15 win–loss record at one point, Marquard attracted attention as a top pitcher. He broke a City League record with 16 strikeouts in a game against a team known as Brittons Printing. In September, the City League season finished and he signed with the semiprofessional Telling Strollers, an independent team sponsored by an ice cream company.

Career
He started his minor-league baseball career in 1906. Despite his nickname, he was a city kid. As he told it in the 1966 book The Glory of Their Times, a writer in his minor-league days compared him favorably with Rube Waddell, and soon Marquard was being called "Rube", also.

In 1907, he went 23–13 with a 2.01 earned run average (ERA) and led the Central League in wins. In 1908, he went 28–19 with a 1.69 ERA and led the American Association in wins. The New York Giants purchased Marquard for $11,000 — a then unheard-of sum to pay for a baseball player's contract — and his lack of success early in his major-league career led to his being tagged "the $11,000 lemon".

From 1911 to 1913, Marquard won at least 23 games each season, and helped the Giants win three consecutive National League pennants. In 1911, he led the league with 237 strikeouts. In 1912, he led the league with 26 wins. He also made baseball history by winning 19 decisions in a row. Marquard allegedly celebrated by buying an opal stickpin to reward himself. Upon being told by a friend that opals were a jinx, he threw the pin into a river, but apparently, the curse had already done its work, as he lost his next decision.

In 1914, Marquard went 12–22, and in 1915, he joined the Brooklyn Robins. He helped the team win pennants in 1916 and 1920. He then played for the Cincinnati Reds in 1921 and Boston Braves from 1922 to 1925.

During the 1920 World Series, he was arrested for ticket scalping in Cleveland. He was alleged to be selling eight world box seats for $350 ($0 in current dollar terms), while the original cost was $52.80 ($0 in current dollar terms). He was found guilty and fined $1 plus $3.50 in court costs.

Marquard finished his major-league career in 1925 with a record of 201–177 and a 3.08 ERA. His 1,593 strikeouts ranked third in major-league history among left-handers at the time (behind Rube Waddell and Eddie Plank), and stood as the National League record for southpaws until his total was surpassed by Carl Hubbell, another New York Giant, in 1942.

He later pitched and managed in the minor leagues until 1933. After baseball, he worked as a betting window teller at Narragansett Park.

Legacy
Marquard was a performer in vaudeville, appearing with Blossom Seeley and later marrying her. That same year, Seeley gave birth to a son, Richard William Marquard II.

He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971. His selection has often been criticized by the sabermetrics community, since Marquard's career adjusted ERA+ was only slightly better than league average. Bill James described Marquard as "probably the worst starting pitcher in the Hall of Fame." Marquard had been interviewed for the popular 1966 baseball book, The Glory of Their Times, and his chapter is thought to be one of the primary reasons for his election. However, most of the stories that he "recounted" were later found to be false.

Marquard died in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 1, 1980, at the age of 93. He is interred in Baltimore Hebrew Cemetery in Baltimore.

title: Rube Marquard