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Richard Meinertzhagen

Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, CBE, DSO (3 March 1878 – 17 June 1967) was a British soldier, intelligence officer, and ornithologist. He had a decorated military career spanning Africa and the Middle East. He was credited with creating and executing the Haversack Ruse in October 1917, during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War, but his participation in this matter has since been refuted.

While early biographies lionized Meinertzhagen as a master of military strategy and espionage, later works such as The Meinertzhagen Mystery present him as a fraud for fabricating stories of his feats and speculated he murdered his wife, in addition to mass extrajudicial killings while in the colonial service. The discovery of stolen museum bird specimens resubmitted as original discoveries has raised serious doubts on the veracity of many of his ornithological records.

Background and youth
Meinertzhagen was born into a wealthy, socially connected British family. His father, Daniel Meinertzhagen, was head of the Frederick Huth & Co. merchant-banking dynasty, which had an international reputation, that one biographer claimed in the introduction to his book was second in importance only to the Rothschilds. His mother was Georgina Potter, sister of Beatrice Webb, a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Meinertzhagen's surname derives from Meinerzhagen in Germany, the home of an ancestor. On his mother's side (the wealthy Potter family), he was of English descent. Among his relations were "many of Britain's titled, rich, and influential personages." Although he had his doubts, he also claimed to be a distant descendant of Philip III of Spain. His nephew, Daniel Meinertzhagen (1915–1991), was a chairman of Lazard. His niece, Teresa Georgina Mayor (1915–1996), married the 3rd Baron Rothschild.

Young Richard was sent as a boarding student to Aysgarth School in the north of England, then was enrolled at Fonthill in Sussex, and finally at Harrow School, where his stay overlapped with that of Winston Churchill. In 1895, at the age of 18, he reluctantly obeyed his father's wishes to join the family bank as a clerk. He was assigned to offices in Cologne and Bremen. There, he picked up the German language, but remained uninterested in banking. After he returned to the bank's home office in England in 1897, he received his father's approval to join the Hampshire Yeomanry. In 1911, he married Armorel, the daughter of Colonel Herman Le Roy-Lewis, who commanded the Hampshire Yeomanry.

Meinertzhagen's passion for bird-watching began as a child. His brother Daniel and he were encouraged by a family friend, the philosopher Herbert Spencer, who, like another family friend, Charles Darwin, was an ardent empiricist. Spencer would take young Richard and Daniel on walks around the family home of Mottisfont Abbey, urging them to observe and enquire on the habits of birds. Around 1887, they kept a pet sparrowhawk, which was taken to Hyde Park to let it prey on sparrows. The first serious ornithologist whom Richard met was Brian Hodgson. Daniel took an interest in bird illustration, which brought them in contact with Archibald Thorburn and led to an introduction to Joseph Wolf and G.E. Lodge. They had first met Richard Bowdler Sharpe at the Natural History Museum in 1886 and noted that he was very fond of encouraging children, showing them around the bird collections.

Military career
Lacking the desire to make a career in merchant banking, Meinertzhagen took examinations for a commission in the British Army, and after training at Aldershot, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers on 18 January 1899. He was sent to India to join a battalion of his regiment. Other than routine regimental soldiering, he participated in big-game hunting, was promoted, sent on sick leave to England, and after recovery posted to the relocated battalion at Mandalay in Burma. He was promoted lieutenant on 8 February 1900. He then started his "zealous campaign" for a transfer to Africa, and in April 1902, was seconded for service with the Foreign Office, which attached him to the 3rd (East African) Battalion of the King's African Rifles. The following month, he finally arrived at Mombasa in British East Africa.

Kenya and South Africa
Meinertzhagen was assigned as a staff officer with the King's African Rifles (KAR). Again, he participated in big-game hunting, but "regarded himself as scientist-explorer first, and only incidentally as a soldier." His maps, landscapes, and wildlife drawings proved him an artist of exceptional talent. In 1903, he was delegated to conduct a wild animal census in the Serengeti and Athi plains.

In 1902 and 1903 when Meinertzhagen travelled through Northern Gikuyuland, it is believed on British imperial missions, he is credited to have given the name Nyeri to the place where modern day Nyeri Town stands today. The name is from the local name of nearby Nyeri Hill. He later on, after establishing relations with local chiefs, got into an altercation because of the government taxes he imposed, and harassment. Meinertzhagen ordered his soldiers to burn Gikuyu villages in the night, without warning. This resulted in the death of more than a hundred people.

During Meinertzhagen's assignment to Africa, frequent native "risings and rebellions" occurred. By 1903 KAR's retaliatory ventures focused on confiscation of livestock, a highly effective form of punishment, and "the KAR had become accomplished cattle-rustlers." In 1904, one such punitive expedition was commanded by a Captain Francis Arthur Dickinson of the 3rd KAR with participation by Meinertzhagen, where more than 11,000 cattle were captured at the cost of 3 men killed and 33 wounded. The body count on the African side was estimated at 1,500 from the Kikuyu and Embu tribes.

In the Kenya Highlands in 1905, Meinertzhagen ended the anti-colonial Nandi Resistance, by killing its leader, the Nandi Orkoiyot (spiritual leader) Koitalel Arap Samoei. He arranged a meeting to negotiate by Koitalel's home on 19 October 1905, at which he planned to kill him. Meinertzhagen shot Koitalel at point-blank range while shaking his hand and his men killed Koitatlel's accompanying entourage, including most of his advisors. It is claimed that he also decapitated Koitalel and sent some of Koitalel's body parts to England. Initially, he had been able to orchestrate a cover-up and was commended for the incident. However, after news of what had actually happened became known, Meinertzhagen claimed self-defense and eventually, after a third court of inquiry, he was cleared by the presiding officer, Brig. William Manning. Meinertzhagen collected tribal artefacts after this revolt. Some of these items, including a walking stick and baton belonging to Koitalel, were returned to Kenya in 2006. Pressure from the Colonial Department on the War Office eventually brought about Meinertzhagen's removal from Africa, as "he had become a negative symbol" and on 28 May 1906 "he found himself on a ship being trundled back to England in disgrace and in disgust." Meinertzhagen spent 1902 to 1906 in East Africa with a pay of £400 but returned from Africa with £4000, the rest being earnings from hunting, largely from the sale of ivory.

Captain Meinertzhagen then spent the latter part of 1906 at "dreary administrative War Office desk jobs pushing papers." However, "... by making full use of his wide network of contacts in high places" he was able to rehabilitate himself and was assigned to the Fusiliers' Third Battalion in South Africa, arriving at Cape Town on 3 February 1907. He served there in 1908 and 1909, then on Mauritius. By 1913, he was again in India.

At the beginning of the First World War, he was posted to the intelligence staff of the British Indian Expeditionary Force. His map-making skills were much valued and recognized, though his assessments of the strength of the German Schutztruppe and other contributions to the conduct of the Battle of Tanga and the Battle of Kilimanjaro were a complete miss. From January 1915 through August 1916, Meinertzhagen served as chief of British military intelligence for the East Africa theatre at Nairobi. His diary record of this campaign contain harsh assessments of senior officers, of the role played by the Royal Navy, and of the quality of the Indian units sent to East Africa. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in February 1916. In November of that year General J.C. Smuts ordered him invalided to England.

Palestine campaign
During 1917, Meinertzhagen was transferred from East Africa to be put in place at Deir el-Belah. He made contact with Nili, a Jewish spy network headed by the agronomist Aaron Aaronsohn. Meinertzhagen later asserted that he respected Aaronsohn more than anyone else he ever met. They were instrumental in contacting Jewish officers in the Ottoman army, amongst many other sources, for information, and attempted their defection to the allies. A German Jewish doctor stationed at el-Afulah railway junction gave valuable reconnaissance reports on troop movements south. Meinertzhagen's department produced regular maps from the data showing the dispositions of enemy forces in the desert. In October 1917, the Turks broke up the network by intercepting a carrier pigeon and subjecting the Jews to hideous torture. Sarah Aaronsohn, (Aaron's sister), age 27, a key figure, committed suicide in her home after torture. Meinertzhagen's sources of information dwindled to the occasional prisoner caught out by patrols and deserters.

The 'Haversack Ruse'
He is frequently credited with a surprise attack known as the Haversack Ruse in October 1917; during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War, according to his diary, he let a haversack containing false British battle plans fall into Ottoman military hands, thereby bringing about the British victory in the Battle of Beersheba and Gaza.

The documents were taken to Kress von Kressenstein, who examined them and doubted their authenticity. According to an account by Turkish Colonel Hussein Husni, Chief of Staff of 7th Army, Meinertzhagen's German-sounding name caused confusion in the German and Turkish staff as to why a British officer would have a German name and added to the suspicion of the inauthenticity of the documents. Von Kressenstein later wrote that he did not believe the documents were real: "The English knew they could not begin a large campaign after the beginning of the rainy season... there could be no doubt that the attack on Beersheba and Gaza was to begin very soon. Therefore I was sure the information of the satchel must be dismissed as fake." No changes in German-Turkish positions took place in the weeks leading up to the British operations at Beersheba or Gaza, indicating that the ruse had no effect on the decision-making of the Turkish-German leadership. To the fault of von Kressenstein, no significant reinforcements were sent to Beersheba even though the deception was uncovered.

Although Meinertzhagen's participation in this ruse has been refuted (he neither planned nor executed it), his stories of the ruse themselves would have a major impact on events in the Second World War. Research conducted by Brian Garfield, author of The Meinertzhagen Mystery, has proven that the idea was actually that of Lieutenant Colonel J.D. Belgrave, a member of Allenby's general staff, and the rider who dropped the satchel was Arthur Neate. Arthur Neate was an active military intelligence officer at the time when a Times article was printed in 1927 describing the Haversack Ruse and Meinertzhagen's (fraudulent) role in it. Neate, therefore, could not publicly refute the false claims without violating security norms, though he did finally correct the record in 1956. The true author of the ruse, Lt Col Belgrave, had never contradicted Meinertzhagen's account because he was killed in action on 13 June 1918.

The ruse inspired Winston Churchill to create the London Controlling Section, which planned countless Allied deception campaigns during the war, and such operations as Mincemeat and diversions covering D-Day were influenced by the Haversack Ruse.

Military intelligence reservations
Another story from 1917 refers to a number of Arab spies suspected of wandering through British lines in disguise. Meinertzhagen caught a couple of Arabs and extracted the identity of their Ottoman paymaster, a merchant who lived in Beersheba. He sent him money with an Arab he knew would talk. The merchant was executed by the Turks. "Near the end of 1917, having participated in no battles, he was ordered back to England for reassignment [and] found office duty as dreary as ever."

Meinertzhagen was outraged by the continual sorties to bomb the enemy camp, given the bombs always missed their target and invaluable reconnaissance planes were shot down with lives lost. On one such raid, as many as eight planes went down. From an intelligence viewpoint, it was pointless, as the Germans gave as good as they got in return to no overall gain. He hated the notion that the Holy City of Jerusalem would be bombed from the air, and expressed outrage when this occurred, for example, the bombing of the enemy's HQ at Mount of Olives. Allenby told him that the Turks had to be induced to escape Jerusalem, northwards if possible, so a boundary was set at 6 mi, a no-fighting zone to facilitate their flight.

Mandate Palestine and Israel
From the spring of 1918 until August, he commuted between England and France, delivering lectures on intelligence to groups of officers – then was assigned full-time to France at GHQ. After the armistice, he attended the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and was Edmund Allenby's chief political officer, involved in the creation of the Palestine Mandate, which eventually led to the creation of the state of Israel. In the film A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (1990), which depicted the Paris Peace Conference, Meinertzhagen was a major character and was played by Jim Carter. His unpublished diaries hint, among other exploits, at a successful rescue attempt of one of the Czarist-Russian Grand Duchesses, possibly Tatiana (see The Romanov Conspiracies by Michael Occleshaw).

In the August 1920 Report of the Palin Commission, Meinertzhagen was attacked for an alleged bias: ...it is fairly clear from Colonel Meinertzhagen's own statement that what he demands is not this equal holding of the scales, but a definite bias in favour of the Zionists. He is wholly unable to appreciate the justice of the native case, which he dismisses contemptuously as "superficially justifiable", because in his view, the Arab is a very inferior person... It is fairly clear that, just as in one or two unfortunate cases certain individual officials have betrayed anti-Zionist bias, so Colonel Meinertzhagen arrived with a definite anti-Arab bias and a prejudice in favour of Zionism and took his views from the Zionists alone. It is possible that the unfortunate example of Colonel Gabriel threw him violently into the opposite camp; there is something significant in his admission to Brig. General Waters Taylor that he believed that he was Dr. Weizmann's nominee. A careful examination of Colonel Meinertzhagen's reckless championship of the Zionist cause fails to convince the Court that he has added materially to the proof of general bias charged against the O.E.T.A.(S) officials, while Colonel Meinertzhagen's own indiscretions on a tour which was apparently intended to conciliate the Arabs, reveal him as an agent who, however capable of doing good work in other spheres is singularly out of place in the East.

Israeli historian Tom Segev considers Meinertzhagen both a "great antisemite and a great Zionist," quoting from his Middle East Diary: "I am imbued with antisemitic feelings. It was indeed an accursed day that allowed Jews and not Christians to introduce to the world the principles of Zionism and that allowed Jewish brains and Jewish money to carry them out, almost unhelped by Christians save a handful of enthusiasts in England."

In Weizmann's biography, he wrote of Meinertzhagen,"At our first meeting, he told me the following story of himself: he had been an anti-Semite, though all he had known about Jews had been what he picked up in a few casual, anti-Semitic books. But he had also met some of the rich Jews, who had not been particularly attractive. But then, in the Near East, he had come across Aaron Aaronsohn, a Palestinian Jew, also a man of great courage and superior intelligence, devoted to Palestine. Aaronson was a botanist, and the discoverer of wild wheat. With Aaronson, Meinertzhagen had many talks about Palestine, and was so impressed by him that he completely changed his mind and became an ardent Zionist – which he has remained till this day. And that not merely in words. Whenever he can perform a service for the Jews or Palestine he will go out of his way to do so."

In 1973 Middle East Diary was published in Hebrew, translated by Aharon Amir.

Diaries
Meinertzhagen was a prolific diarist and published four books based on these diaries. However, his Middle East Diary contains entries that are in all probability fictional, including those on T. E. Lawrence and a bit of absurd slapstick concerning Adolf Hitler. In October 1934, Meinertzhagen claimed to have mocked Hitler in response to being "baffled when Hitler raised his arm in the Nazi salute and said, 'Heil Hitler.' After a moment's thought, Meinertzhagen says he raised his own arm in an identical salute and proclaimed, 'Heil Meinertzhagen'." He claimed to have carried a loaded pistol in his coat pocket at a meeting with Hitler and Ribbentrop in July 1939 and was "seriously troubled" about not shooting when he had the chance, adding "... [I]f this war breaks out, as I feel sure it will, then I shall feel very much to blame for not killing these two."

Authors Lockman and Garfield show that Meinertzhagen later falsified his entries. The original diaries are kept at Rhodes House (the Bodleian Library), Oxford, and contain differences in the paper used for certain entries as well as in the typewriter ribbon used, and oddities exist in the page numbering.

Dates of promotions

 * Second lieutenant on 18 January 1899
 * Lieutenant on 8 February 1900
 * Captain in February 1905
 * Major in September 1915
 * brevet lieutenant colonel in March 1918
 * brevet colonel in August 1918, but he was a major when he retired from the Army in 1925. Upon retirement, British officers are granted title and pension of the highest rank held while on active duty, thus he had the right to call himself "Colonel".

He was reinstated as a lieutenant colonel in 1939 in Military Intelligence, G.S.O.-3 (General Staff Officer, 3rd grade); the nature of his duties was confined mainly to public-relations work.

Character
Meinertzhagen has inspired three biographies since his death in 1967. Early biographers largely lionized him as a grand elder statesman of espionage and ornithology.

T. E. Lawrence, a sometime colleague in 1919 and again 1921, described him more ambiguously and with due attention to his violence:"Meinertzhagen knew no half measures. He was logical, an idealist of the deepest, and so possessed by his convictions that he was willing to harness evil to the chariot of good. He was a strategist, a geographer, and a silent laughing masterful man; who took as blithe a pleasure in deceiving his enemy (or his friend) by some unscrupulous jest, as in spattering the brains of a cornered mob of Germans one by one with his African knob-kerri. His instincts were abetted by an immensely powerful body and a savage brain...."

Meinertzhagen himself traced the "evil" side of his personality to a period during his childhood when he was subjected to severe physical abuse at the hands of a sadistic schoolmaster when he was at Fonthill boarding school in Sussex:"Even now I feel the pain of that moment, when something seemed to leave me, something good; and something evil entered into my soul. Was it God who forsook me, and the devil took his place. But whatever left me has never returned, neither have I been able to entirely cast out the evil which entered me at that moment.... The undeserved beatings and sadistic treatment which were my lot in childhood so upset my mind that much of my present character can be traced to Fonthill."

Gavin Maxwell wrote about how his parents would scare him and other children to behave themselves when Meinertzhagen visited with "... remember ... he has killed people with his bare hands..."

Salim Ali noted Meinertzhagen's special hatred for Mahatma Gandhi and his refusal to believe that Indians could govern themselves.

In The Meinertzhagen Mystery, Garfield presents a fuller perspective of Meinertzhagen as not only a fraud, but also a murderer. The book argues many of Meinertzhagen's accomplishments were myths, including the famous haversack incident, which Garfield claims Meinertzhagen neither came up with nor carried out. In another example, Garfield researched Meinertzhagen diary records, noting three meetings on separate dates with Adolf Hitler. Although Meinertzhagen was in Berlin on these dates in 1934, 1935, and 1939, Garfield found no record of any of these alleged meetings in surviving German chancellory records, British embassy files, British intelligence reports, or newspapers of the day.

Garfield's research leads him to speculate that Richard also killed his second wife, Annie (born Anne Constance Jackson daughter of Major Randle Jackson of Swordale, married Meinertzhagen in 1921 ), an ornithologist, and that her death was not an accident as claimed and ruled in court. She died in 1928 at age 40 in a remote Scottish village in an incident that was officially ruled a shooting accident. The finding was that she accidentally shot herself in the head with a revolver during target practice alone with Richard, but Garfield argues Meinertzhagen shot her out of fear that she would expose him and his fraudulent activities. Storrs L. Olson has pointed out some errors in Garfield's research, while confirming the validity of its overall negative tone.

Meinertzhagen has been referred to as a "serial psychopath" in relation to his acts in Kenya.

Zoology
As Garfield writes, "From boyhood on, [Meinertzhagen] had been in tune with nature; he took photographs, made drawings, and provided armchair tourists with keen descriptions of rain forests and snowy mountains ... and discovered new (previously unrecorded) species of bats, birds, and mallophaga (bird lice)". In 1940, a genus of bird lice, Meinertzhageniella, was named after him by the German zoologist Wolfdietrich Eichler. He became a chairman of the British Ornithologists' Club and a recipient in 1951 of the Godman-Salvin Medal; the British Museum (Natural History) named a room after him.

Discoveries
Meinertzhagen "first achieved a sliver of international fame when he discovered, killed, stuffed, and shipped back to London the first known to Europeans giant African forest hog, soon dubbed Hylochoerus meinertzhageni, and attributed to Richard Meinertzhagen". At that time, while on active duty in 1903, he was "fearlessly exploring and mapping areas no European had seen before."

He later also discovered the Afghan snowfinch or Montifringilla theresae, and the Moroccan Riparia rupestris theresae and named them, and ten others, after Theresa Clay.

Nicoll's Birds of Egypt (1930)
He edited Nicoll's Birds of Egypt in 1930. Michael J. Nicoll was a friend and assistant director of the Zoological Gardens at Giza; Nicoll attempted to write a comprehensive guide to the ornithology of Egypt, but died in 1925 before it could be published. The work was finished by Meinertzhagen with contributions of his own independent research and illustrations. It was printed with the title "that seems appropriate," "Nicoll's Birds of Egypt by Col. R. Meinertzhagen."

Birds of Arabia (1954); controversy
In 1948–49, he was accompanied by Dr. Phillip Clancey on an ornithological expedition to Arabia, Yemen, Aden, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa. As the author of numerous taxonomic and other works on birds, and possessing a vast collection of bird and bird lice specimens, he was long considered one of Britain's greatest ornithologists. Meinhertzhagen's magnum opus, Birds of Arabia (1954), however made extensive use of the unpublished manuscript of another naturalist, George Bates, who has been insufficiently credited in the work.

Fraud and theft
In the 1990s, an analysis of Meinertzhagen's bird collection at the Walter Rothschild Zoological Museum in Tring, Hertfordshire, revealed large-scale fraud involving theft and falsification. The birds claimed as specimens collected by Meinertzhagen matched with the ones that had been reported missing and the examination of the style of specimen preparation and the DNA sequences of the cotton used inside them matched the cotton used in other specimens prepared by the collectors of the stolen specimens. This also corroborated hear-say and other evidence on the specimen fraud.

Many of the specimens that he submitted as his own were found to be missing samples belonging to the Natural History Museum and collected by others, such as Hugh Whistler. A species of owl, the forest owlet, thought to have gone extinct, was rediscovered in 1997 based on searches made in the locality where the original specimens were collected. Searches for the bird had failed before as these were made in a locality falsely claimed by Meinertzhagen. More research by Pamela C. Rasmussen and Robert Prŷs-Jones indicates the fraud was even more extensive than first thought.

First marriage
In 1911, Meinertzhagen married Armorel, the daughter of Colonel Herman Le Roy-Lewis, who commanded the Hampshire Yeomanry. This marriage was dissolved in 1919.

Second marriage
In 1921, Meinertzhagen married Anne Constance Jackson, a fellow ornithologist and the daughter of Major Randle Jackson of Swordale, Ross-shire in Scotland. They had three children: Anne (born 1921), Daniel (born 1925), and Randle (born 1928). From about 1926, Meinertzhagen started to have a cold relationship with his wife and became increasingly close with his cousin Tess Clay, then aged 15, spending much time with her sisters and her.

In 1928, three months after the birth of Randle, Anne was killed, aged 40, at her birth village of Swordale. The finding, ruled in court, was that she accidentally shot herself in the head with a revolver during target practice alone with Richard. As noted above, Brian Garfield's research led him to speculate that in fact she was murdered by Meinertzhagen, out of fear that she would expose him and his fraudulent activities. This idea was never conclusively proved or disproved.

Annie Constance Meinertzhagen left £113,466 (net personalty £18,733) in her will to her husband if he remained her widower, while if he remarried, he was to get an annuity of £1200 and interest in their London home for life.

Later relationship
Meinertzhagen never remarried; however he had a lasting relationship with Tess Clay, more than three decades his junior. The unmarried couple lived in Kensington in adjacent buildings originally constructed with an internal passage connecting the foyers of the two houses. Clay was his housekeeper, secretary, "confidante", and later scientific partner who studied and eventually documented the vast collections of bird lice that Meinertzhagen had gathered.

When they travelled, they sometimes took separate rooms. He introduced her as his housekeeper or cousin or sometimes, inaccurately, as his niece. If Meinertzhagen and Clay's relationship was physical is unknown; Meinertzhagen's friend Victor Rothschild asked Meinertzhagen this outright, but was told "in no uncertain terms to shut up"; and a 1951 article in Time referred to their relationship with "wink-wink, nudge-nudge innuendo".

Legacy
He was played by Anthony Andrews in the film The Lighthorsemen (1987).

Published works
Meinertzhagen wrote numerous papers for scientific journals such as the Ibis, as well as reports on intelligence work while in the army. Books authored or edited by him include:
 * 1930 – Nicoll's Birds of Egypt. (Ed), (2 vols). London: Hugh Rees.
 * 1947 – The Life of a Boy: Daniel Meinertzhagen, 1925–1944. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.
 * 1954 – Birds of Arabia. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.
 * 1957 – Kenya Diary 1902–1906. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.
 * 1959 – Middle East Diary, 1917–1956. London: Cresset Press.
 * 1959 – Pirates and Predators. The piratical and predatory habits of birds. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.
 * 1960 – Army Diary 1899–1926. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.
 * 1964 – Diary of a Black Sheep. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd.

Own writings

 * Middle East Diary, 1917–1956, London, 1959
 * Army Diary, 1899–1926, Edinburgh, 1960

Primary and secondary sources

 * Ali, Salim. The Fall of a Sparrow. Delhi: Oxford University Press. 1985. xv, 265 pp., ISBN 978-0195687477
 * Boxall, Peter. "The legendary Richard Meinertzhagen." The Army Quarterly and Defence Journal, [October 1990] 120(4): pp. 459–462
 * Capstick, P.H. Warrior: The Legend of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen. 1998, ISBN 978-0312182717
 * Cocker, Mark. Richard Meinertzhagen. Soldier, Scientist and Spy. London: Secker & Warburg. 1989. 292 pp., ISBN 978-0436102998
 * Dalton, R. "Ornithologists stunned by bird collector's deceit." Nature [September 2005] 437(7057): pp. 302–3
 * Fortey, Richard. Dry Store Room No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum. New York: HarperCollins. 2008, ISBN 978-0007209897
 * Judd, Alan. "Eccentric hero." New Statesman and Society [23 June 1989] 2(55): pp. 37–38
 * Lockman, J. N. Meinertzhagen's Diary Ruse. 1995, p. 114, ISBN 978-0964889705
 * Lord, John. Duty, Honour, Empire. New York: Random House. 1970, ISBN 978-0091058203
 * Occleshaw, Michael. The Romanov Conspiracies. London: Chapman Publishers. 1993, ASIN: B000M6DS1A
 * Lockman, J. N. Meinertzhagen's Diary Ruse. 1995, p. 114, ISBN 978-0964889705
 * Lord, John. Duty, Honour, Empire. New York: Random House. 1970, ISBN 978-0091058203
 * Occleshaw, Michael. The Romanov Conspiracies. London: Chapman Publishers. 1993, ASIN: B000M6DS1A
 * Occleshaw, Michael. The Romanov Conspiracies. London: Chapman Publishers. 1993, ASIN: B000M6DS1A
 * Occleshaw, Michael. The Romanov Conspiracies. London: Chapman Publishers. 1993, ASIN: B000M6DS1A

title: Richard Meinertzhagen


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Watsonia, Victoria

Watsonia is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Banyule local government area. Watsonia recorded a population of 5,352 at the.

History
Watsonia originally belonged to the Wurundjeri people. It is named after early property developer and landowner Frank Watson.

Watsonia was surveyed by Robert Hoddle in 1838 as part of the parish of Keelbundora, for subdivisional sale as farms. Until the 1870s, much of Watsonia remained part of the vast property holdings of John Brown. The Grace Park area was purchased in 1877 by Frederick Augustus Nell, and then by Frank Watson in the early twentieth century. Watson subdivided the property for housing in 1924. The area remained primarily rural until the 1940s, when property prices became affordable.

Watson and other local landowners paid for the establishment of a railway station in order to attract property buyers. Subdivision commenced with the sale of 44 allotments from the Grace Park Estate, next to the new railway station, in June 1924. Watsonia railway station was named after Mr. F. Watson and was opened on Monday 23 June 1924, between the existing Macleod and Greensborough Stations. It was initially intended to be called Collins. Watsonia Post Office opened around 1934.

In 1931, 40 acres of land at Watsonia was purchased to build a novitiate for the Jesuit Order of the Roman Catholic Church. November 1932, a foundation stone was laid for the construction of a Jesuit seminary. The studies and retreat house was opened in 1934. In 1974, the Watsonia Institure of social welfare opened on the site. Months later plans to use the site as a periodic detention centre were rejected by the local community. In 1979, the land was donated to the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) for the purpose of building a Catholic secondary school. Loyola College was established in 1980 and is set on 27 acres. It is a member of the Ignatian Network, a group of Jesuit and non-Jesuit schools worldwide. In 1973 Concord School opened in Grimshaw Street, a specialist school.

Watsonia Station is in Zone 2 on the Hurstbridge railway line and is currently served by Metro Trains Melbourne. The North East Link Project will impact Watsonia, with a tunnel being constructed from Watsonia to Bulleen. There will also be a new tree-lined Greensborough Road boulevard from Watsonia to Rosanna.

Loyola College Alumni Association organise an annual classic car show.

Demographics
78.0% of Watsonia residents were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth other than Australia are England 2.3%, China (excluding SARs and Taiwan) 2.0%, India 1.3%, Italy 1.0% and Sri Lanka 0.8%.

Landmarks
The Simpson Army Barracks, Yallambie was originally known as the Watsonia Military Camp during World War II. This complex was built on the property formerly owned by Ainslie Meares. In 1951, surrounding land was purchased for the extension of the barracks.

Local schools include Watsonia Primary School, Greensborough College and Loyola College.

Watsonia Library is a bright, modern, well-equipped community library located in Watsonia's shopping precinct with ample parking and adjacent to the Watsonia train station. It is a branch of Yarra Plenty Regional Library

Sport
Watsonia Football Club, an Australian Rules football team, competes in the Northern Football League.

Popular culture
The early 2000s punk indie band Klinger has a song called Watsonia.

LGBT romance film Of An Age is set in Watsonia.

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

title: Watsonia, Victoria


text:
Luca Damiano

Luca Damiano (born Franco Lo Cascio; 29 August 1946) is an Italian film director.

Born in Rome, Lo Cascio started his career as the assistant director of Fernando Di Leo in almost all the films he directed between 1967 and 1974. In 1974, he made his directorial debut with the parody film Piedino il questurino starring Franco Franchi.

After having directed a number of comedies and the supernatural thriller Un urlo dalle tenebre in 1976, Lo Cascio withdrew from directing to focus on his distribution company "Patrizia Cinematografica" he founded together with Diego Spadaro. In 1984, he adopted his stage name Luca Damiano and directed and produced numerous pornographic films.

Awards and nominations

 * 2000 FICEB Ninfa Award winner – Lifetime Achievement Award
 * 2001 FICEB Ninfa Award winner – Special Jury Award

Partial filmography

 * Piedino il questurino (1974)
 * Un urlo dalle tenebre (1975)
 * Mark of Zorro (1975)
 * Sesso allo specchio (1981)
 * Erotic Adventures of Red Riding Hood (1986)
 * La Signora dell'Oriente Express (1989)
 * Il Marchese de Sade – Oltre ogni perversione (1994)
 * Ladri gentiluomini – Donne, gioielli... e culi belli (1994)
 * The Erotic Adventures of Marco Polo (1994)
 * The Erotic Adventures of Aladdin X (1994)
 * Hamlet: For the Love of Ophelia (1995)
 * Snow White & 7 Dwarfs (1995)
 * War Games (1996)
 * Napoleon (1996)
 * Orient Express (1996)
 * The Princess, the Bodyguard and the Stripper (1996)
 * C'era una volta il... bordello (1997)
 * Rock Erotic Picture Show (1997)
 * Don Juan (1998)
 * Paolina Borghese ninfomane imperiale (1998)
 * Snow White... Ten Years Later (1999)
 * Penocchio (2002)

title: Luca Damiano


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Gargantua River

The Gargantua River is a river in the Algoma District of Ontario, Canada.

title: Gargantua River


text:
FreeType

FreeType is a software development library used to render text onto bitmaps, and which provides support for other font-related operations. The FreeType font rasterization engine is free and open-source software with the source code dual-licensed under a BSD-like license and the GPL. FreeType supports a number of font formats, including TrueType, Type 1, and OpenType.

History
The FreeType rendering engine was started in 1995 by David Turner with the intent to provide TrueType font support for the OS/2 operating system, including an interpreter for handling TrueType bytecode. Originally written in the Pascal programming language, it was ported in 1997 by Robert Wilhelm to C.

FreeType 1 had support only for the TrueType font format, but it included an extension to support OpenType text layout features.

Major rewrite 2.0
Version 2.0 of FreeType was a complete rewrite to make it more modular. FreeType 2 brought support for more font formats and an evolved source code which the developers stated was "simpler and more powerful". FreeType 2 is not backward-compatible with FreeType 1 but the developers stated that moving from FreeType 1 to FreeType 2 poses little difficulty. As text layout processing was not an objective of FreeType 2, however, the OpenType text layout functionality of FreeType 1 was removed in FreeType 2. A very evolved form of the OpenType text layout functionality of FreeType 1 is used in the Pango text layout library. The HarfBuzz project is further evolving that functionality with a complete rewrite offered as a standalone library with a less restrictive license than Pango's license.

Patent conflicts
In 1999, the Freetype project was informed by Apple Incorporated that FreeType was infringing patents related to TrueType font hinting. Following that, Freetype deactivated by default or worked around patent relating technologies. Therefore, several open source projects, such as FreeBSD or Linux, had FreeType included with font hinting functionality disabled or degraded to avoid the issue of software patents held by Apple Inc.

Since May 2010, all conflicting software patents related to font hinting have expired, allowing FreeType's TrueType font hinter to be used in open source. Many of the operating systems which disabled the renderer now give the user the option to enable it. In Fedora, freetype-freeworld was switched from the proprietary yum repository to the free repository.

Since August 2019, all conflicting software patents related to ClearType color filtering have expired, allowing FreeType to use ClearType color filtering method in 2.10.3.

Compact Font Format engine donation
In 2013 Adobe donated a Compact Font Format rendering engine to the FreeType project which integrated it and made it the default with version 2.5.

Users
FreeType is used as a font renderer in Android, ChromeOS. Apple uses FreeType in iOS and macOS next to Apple Advanced Typography. In 2007, Sun Microsystems switched from using a proprietary font rasterizer to using FreeType in the OpenJDK Java development kit. On Windows, projects like gdipp and MacType aim to override the system renderer with FreeType. FreeType is also used as a font renderer in ReactOS.

As well as being used by the major free software desktop systems, FreeType has been used as a rasterization engine for some modern video games,  and Opera for the Wii. Sony ships FreeType with its PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation Vita consoles.

title: FreeType


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Talk:Cockchafer

Request for image
An image of a chafer grub (but please, really one of the species discussed here, not just any odd other white grub!) would be nice. I have found a few, e.g. this one from that page, which appers to have been copied from here on this page, with unclear copyright status, or this one on that page, which is copyrighted, but none that we could use here on Wikipedia. Lupo 11:14, 14 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Well, thanks to Lupo for importing one from our friends auf Deutshland.

Etymology
Just a question, where did the name for this beetle come from? It's quite a funny name... Eridani 1829, 19 July 2006 (EST)

 * Well, it doesn't really answer your question, but both Merriam-Webster and the AHD give cockchafer = cock + chafer as the etymology. As to why the "cock"... I don't know. Maybe because of the shape of the antennas, which are reminiscent of a cockscomb. Lupo 07:43, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

 * Slightly late, but from the OED: [A compound of CHAFER or chaffer, beetle, app. of rustic origin; not in the dictionaries till quite recently. (Not in Craig 1847.) Cock is probably prefixed to express size or valour, or in reference to the practice of making these insects fight. Another form is Jeffrey (= chaffer) Cock.] Stannered (talk) 11:53, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

 * Either way, the name actually made me double-check to make sure this article wasn't the victim of a vandalous move when I first saw it. Gracious. - Vianello (talk) 14:58, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

 * I giggled and cringed at the name -- just happened upon the article today --Kvuo (talk) 04:33, 22 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Does anyone think some mention on the etymology of this name might be helpful for inclusion in the main article?Sochwa (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 18:43, 10 August 2009 (UTC).
 * Certainly, if someone can find a RS with useful information. —Zach425 talk / contribs 16:23, 10 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I thought it might be that Cockchafer might be the technical name for crabs (the genital kind), until I read the article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.148.183.5 (talk) 19:22, 27 September 2010 (UTC)
 * Isn't kafer German for "bug" and "cock" is a common prefix in English for "chief" or "biggest" (e.g. Cockfosters for the residence of the Chief Forester) - so "big bug"? 62.196.17.194 (talk) 12:11, 28 April 2017 (UTC)

Alternate names
I can't find anywhere else that refers to this insect as a 'Tara Reid'. Given the somewhat scandalous nature of this bug's primary name, the possible alternate connotations, and the fact that Tara Reid is the name of a public figure, I am inclined to think this may be vandalism. I was disinclined to report it, as it's funny as hell, but I got my screengrab. If this can't be sourced, it should be changed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by GringoDeMaio (talk • contribs) 21:21, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Tropical cockchafer species
I have been coming across the term "cockchafer" as a pest in tropical agriculture. I take it this term refers to many other species not mentioned in this article. If anyone is knowledgeable about this and can edit this article accordingly it would be much appreciated. Brian Z (talk) 16:06, 28 June 2013 (UTC)

June Bug
Under notes: I think "june bug" or Amphimallon solstitiale is not a cockchafer. Fibe101 (talk) 18:02, 16 June 2018 (UTC)

Split
Please split this article into each of its constituent species and make it a disambiguation. 26zhangi (talk) 14:11, 4 June 2022 (UTC)
 * This article is a mess that largely consists of general information about beetles of the genus Melolontha, but also usurps separate treatment of three valid and separately notable species. The problem stems from trying to make an article about three species that happen to have cockchafer as part of their common name and happen to be found in Europe, when there are no sources that link them as a group. I propose to make the following changes to establish a set of five articles, instead of the current two at "Cockchafer" and Melolontha.
 * At the moment, there are no articles specifically devoted to the common cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha), large cockchafer(Melolontha pectoralis) and forest cockchafer, (Melolontha hippocastani). All of those terms redirect to this article, and there is no article with a taxobox and taxobar for each species. I propose to create those articles. The species level articles will refer readers to the genus article for information on Melolantha spp. as pests, food, in folklore, and so on. These articles will be under the scientific names.
 * Melolontha should contain science-based information about those beetles as a group, including the three species currently highlighted in this article. Most the current sections in this article are sufficiently relevant to Melolontha spp. to go there, including the material on cockchafers as pests, food, and in folklore.
 * The article "Cockchafer" will redirect to Cockchafer (disambiguation), which will list other species known as cockchafers, ships, etc.
 * However, if proceeding to a set of five articles, I can see it is also arguable that:
 * Most of the material on cockchafers as pests, food, and in folklore belongs in the article about the common cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha).
 * Some or all of the species articles should be under their (two-word) common names.
 * The article at "Cockchafer" should not be a redirect, but should be about the genus Melolontha or the species Melolontha melolontha, in which case material on cockchafers as pests, food, and in folklore might go under that title too.
 * The article at "Cockchafer" should redirect to Melolontha or to the article about the common cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha), and the target article should have a head note about Cockchafer (disambiguation)
 * Any of these alternatives would be an improvement. William Avery (talk) 11:19, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

Languages
Many languages refer top Melolontha melolontha - see the list of languages in german wiki - who can help to connect them to en-wiki? Thanks! --Kai.pedia (talk) 21:29, 19 December 2023 (UTC)

Article Review
I made some edits to the larvae description section because the timing of the hatching and development of the larvae was unclear in this section. In the larvae life cycle section, there is a more informative description that larvae hatch 4-6 weeks after being laid and take 3-4 years to go through 3 stages of larval development into adults. I think it is helpful that readers understand this description earlier in the article, so I edited some of the larvae description to reflect that information. Additionally, I created a "Behavior" heading and made "adult behavior" and "larvae behavior" subheadings. Also, I made capitalization corrections to some of the subheadings of the "pest control and history section" and changed the heading "modern times" to "21st century".

I think the name of the article should be changed to the scientific name of the beetle,	Melolontha melolontha or to the full non-scientific name, Common cockchafer. Lastly, I think the “Life cycle” section should have more citations referenced for the information provided. Frenchfrylvr (talk) 22:17, 17 March 2024 (UTC)

Article Review
In this Wikipedia entry I included Distribution section to offer information on their occurrence throughout Europe and their absence in North America and Australia, at the beginning of the article it only said where this beetle is from, which it doesn't get deeper on where else we can find this beetle in. Additionally, I introduced a new section on 'Ecological Impact' to discuss environmental factors influencing cockchafer populations. In the 'Natural Enemies' section, I included details about the European mole as a predator. These changes aim to enhance the article's depth and understanding, and I welcomed feedback for further refinement. Abeer.hreedeen (talk) 17:10, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

Peer Review
This assignment was written with good detail and facts. I went through to add grammatical and syntactical edits throughout the page which included punctuation, and rewording sentences that were long. There were also a few incorrect uses of larva that were corrected to larvae (specifically in the natural enemies section); I renamed that section to “Enemies” and split up two subsections: Predators and Parasites. I also moved some of the pictures around that were initially extremely concentrated around the life cycle section. Since these pictures do not specifically pertain to that particular section, I spaced them out which included adding the picture of the seven-leaves on the male beetle up to the Description section of the page. My last edit was including a few Wikipedia links to some words/processes that aren’t intuitively/commonly known such as: overwintering, European mole, and Dexia rustica.

I would agree with an earlier comment that the article should be renamed its scientific name. Hahelen (talk) 00:37, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

Good Article Nomination Opinion
I think this Wiki page is well done and it meets the criteria for Good Article. It is well written with clear and precise language. It avoids the use of complex terms which makes the page more accessible to a broad audience. It has a clear structure where some relatively long sections are subdivided using subheadings and other sections all have reasonable lengths. There is no original research present on this page. It addresses a broad range of topics related to cockchafer, such as life cycle, various kinds of behavior, history, microbiome and pest control. The entire page is written using a neutral viewpoint and there is no content dispute. Relevant images are included which depict the physiology of the beetle at different life stages.

I expanded the leading section and added a new section for Food Resources, which I think can further improve the overall quality of this page. Chri Ye (talk) 15:55, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Cockchafer


text:
1973 Greater London Council election

The fourth election to the Greater London Council (GLC) was held on 12 April 1973. Labour won a large majority of 58 seats to 32 for the Conservatives; the Liberals also won their first two seats on the council.

Electoral arrangements
As there had been a boundary commission report with new Parliamentary constituencies which coincided with the border of Greater London, the electoral system was changed (as had always been intended) so that the GLC was elected from single member electoral divisions which were identical with the Parliamentary constituencies.

Councillors were elected for a three-year term. This was extended for an extra year in 1976 when the electoral cycle was switched to four-yearly.

General election of councillors
The Labour Party won a majority of seats at the election.

With an electorate of 5,313,470, there was a turnout of 36.8%.

Among those who were first elected to the GLC in 1973 were Ken Livingstone (Labour, Lambeth, Norwood), later to lead it, Andrew McIntosh (Labour, Haringey, Tottenham) who was his brief moderate rival for the Labour leadership, and Serge Lourie (Labour, Havering, Hornchurch), who became a founder member of the SDP and leader of Richmond upon Thames London Borough Council in 2001.

Aldermanic election
In addition to the 92 elected councillors, there were fifteen aldermen elected by the council. Eight aldermen elected in 1970 continued to serve until 1976 and the eight elected in 1967 retired before the 1973 election. Seven aldermen were elected by the council on 4 May 1973 to serve until 1979.

Aldermen elected in 1973, to retire in 1979:

The aldermen divided 9 Labour and 6 Conservative, so that Labour had 67 members to 38 for the Conservatives following the aldermanic election. It would be the final election of aldermen to the council, with those elected in 1970 and 1973 having their terms altered to all end in 1977.

Constituency results
Members of the old council*

Camden

 * Fierz - Anti-Redevelopment
 * Goulstone - Great Joint Happiness Homes for All

Hackney
Curtis - Parent Action Group for Education

Hammersmith
Ashworth - Centre Party

Kingston upon Thames
Scruby - Surbiton Residents & Ratepayers

Lambeth

 * Jackson - Anti-Motorway, Support Community Involvement in Planning
 * Solomon - Lambeth Residents for Democratic Local Government

Boaks - Air Road Public Safety White Resident

Newham
Ower - Ratepayers & Citizens Association

Westminster and the City of London
Wilson - Anti-Mass Redevelopment

By-elections 1973–1977
The first by-election of the term was caused by the court voiding the election in Croydon North East (see Morgan v Simpson). The former Conservative member Billie Morgan regained the seat she had narrowly lost in Croydon North East on 5 September 1974. Labour retained seats in Greenwich on 24 October 1974 and Dagenham on 30 January 1975 caused by the deaths of sitting councillors. The Conservatives kept their seat in Finchley on 15 May 1975 caused by the resignation of Roland Freeman and St Marylebone on 8 April 1976 caused by the resignation of former GLC leader Desmond Plummer.

There was one aldermanic by-election caused by the resignation of Oliver Piers Stutchbury (Labour) in 1976. Alfred Frederick Joseph Chorley (Labour) was elected by the council on 21 September 1976, to serve until 1977.

title: 1973 Greater London Council election


text:
Byculla

Byculla (ISO: Bhāykhaḷā; pronunciation: [bʱaːjkʰəɭaː]) is an area of South Mumbai.

Location
Byculla is neighboured by Nagpada and Mumbai Central and Mahalaxmi on the west; Agripada, Jacob Circle on the north-west: Chinchpokli to the north; Madanpura in the centre; Reay Road and Ghodapdeo on the north-east; Mazagaon and Dockyard Road to the east; and Sandhurst Road and Bhendi Bazaar to the south.

Byculla falls under "E" Ward within the municipal limits of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC.

History
During the late 18th century, Byculla was an extension of Mazagaon, one of the seven islands that originally formed the city of Mumbai. The area was low-lying Flats inundated during the high tide through the Great Breach at Mahalaxmi. However, the breach was closed by the Hornby Vellard project in 1784, which joined all seven islands of Bombay into a single island. This was followed by the construction of the Bellasis Road causeway in 1793. Thereafter the area saw habitation as Europeans living in the Mazagaon area started shifting here. The Byculla Club was opened in 1833. Birthplace of Lady Patricia Helen Marie Rodrigues

The Byculla railway station was completed by 1857. This was also the time the first mills came into this area, until then, used only for residential purposes. Byculla used to house many of the city's textile mills until the mills shut shop and moved out of the island city. As of today, few mills are operational and even they are on the brink of closure. Many of these old mills are now desolate and some are being razed down to make way for newer constructions. The Khatau Mills were situated in Byculla, in the news for the alleged murder of the owner Sunit Khatau in May 1994.

Byculla saw some horrible riots during 1936-37 rose during temple-mosque dispute.

Demographics

 * Traditionally, Byculla has been inhabited by Parsis, Christians, Jews, Hindus and Muslims.
 * Byculla, like many other locations of Mumbai have witnessed strong real estate growth, particularly in the Motisha Lane area where there are many tall residential buildings, occupied by affluent Jain community.
 * Of late, Byculla has also witnessed the increase of population of Dawoodi Bohra and other traditional Muslims, who are primarily a business community like most of the Gujaratis.
 * The Magen David Synagogue of Byculla, the place of worship of the Jewish community is a tourist attraction.
 * There is also a BIT Chawl in Love lane, primarily housing Marathi working class community, home to one of the largest Ganesha idols during the Ganeshotsav celebrations. Love Lanecha Raja is one of the largest Ganeshotsav Mandal in Byculla East.

Places of interest

 * Heritage Botanical Garden & Zoo: Veermata Jijabai Bhonsale Udyan or Rani Baug (earlier the Victoria Gardens). Spread over 50 acres in the heart of central Mumbai, it is the oldest public garden in the city.
 * Mumbai's oldest museum: Byculla is home to the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum (formerly, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Bombay, which opened to the public on 2 May 1872. It reopened on 5 January 2008, following an extensive restoration project.
 * Gloria Church: The Nossa Senhora de Gloria or Our Lady of Gloria Church originally stood in Mazagaon. The Church was rebuilt at its prominent corner site in Byculla in 1913.
 * Khada Parsi: The Khada Parsi statue, or the Standing Parsi Statue, is a memorial fountain dedicated to Seth Cursetjee Manockjee Shroff (1763–1845), a Parsi businessman and educational reformer. Originally, the cast-iron structure with the bronze statue atop a Corinthian pillar was placed at the Nagpada junction. Today, it stands at the intersection of Byculla, Clare Road and Nagpada, between the branches of the Y-Bridge.
 * BIT Chawl: The old and most amazing chawl. The houses and build structures are most ungraded then other Mumbai Chawls.
 * National Railway Hospital: Byculla also possesses the biggest National Railway Hospital called "Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Railway Hospital " in front of Veermata Jijabai Prani Sangrahalaya.
 * Vegetable Market: The Byculla Vegetable Market is the largest vegetable market in Mumbai (even larger than Crawford Market).
 * Fly-overs and bridges: Byculla is also known for Mumbai's first-ever Y-shaped bridge built across Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Road which then splits further to go to Byculla East and West before the Clare Road intersection, thereby forming a Y shape when seen from the air. This was one of the oldest fly-overs built in Mumbai. It also has one of its kind S-shaped bridge called as P. S. Mandlik bridge which connects the Byculla East to West near Jijamata Udyaan.
 * Fire Brigade Headquarters: Mumbai Fire Brigade's headquarters are situated just below the "Y Bridge". In the front of the Headquarters building stands a memorial built in the memory of the numerous fire fighters who died during the Bombay Explosion of April 1944.
 * Mustafa bazaar: A wholesale timber market is frequently visited by many from the city.
 * Jerbai Baug and Rustom Baug: are the two Parsi colonies where most of the Parsis of Byculla live.
 * Masina Hospital: Built in memory of Jerbai Masina by her family and descendants, this hospital is a well-known landmark in Byculla. It is run by a Parsi trust.
 * Seva Niketan: A solar-powered Jesuit-run men's hostel that has served as headquarters for various NGOs.
 * Mazagaon: A residential locality close to Byculla which has a hospital named "Prince Aly Khan Hospital".
 * Orphanage: Ashadaan is an old age home and a home for specially abled kids.

Places of worship

 * Christ Church, Byculla, built in 1833, was one of the last 19th-century churches to be built in the Neoclassical style, as thereafter Gothic Revival became the preferred style
 * Hindu Temple: Byculla has an old Shree Mankeshwar Shivmandir in east and Shree Vitthal Mandir in west.
 * Jain Temple: Byculla is also known for the Jain Temple, Motisha Jain Derasar. This Jain temple is situated in Love Lane, which has now been renamed as Motisha Lane.
 * St. Anne's Church: Byculla is also home to St. Anne's Church in Mazagon. The present structure of St Anne's Church was erected in 1881 on top of the foundation of the small chapel that was originally built in 1787. The original chapel was erected by an Armenian woman called Rose Nesbit. The land on which the chapel (and now St Anne's Church) was built was her farmland, on the Island of Mazagon where she lived with her parents.
 * Gloria Church: Byculla also houses Gloria Church, the church frequented by most local Christians. The Church shares a common playing ground with Antonio D'Souza High School which was built in 1825.
 * Magen David Synagogue is believed to be one of the oldest ones in the city. David Sassoon, a Baghdadi Jew, built the Magen David Synagogue in 1861 in Byculla, where the family first lived.
 * Byculla Aerial View.jpg most other localities of Mumbai, Byculla also is home to a number of small Hindu temples and Muslim Mosques located in its small pockets.

Transportation
Byculla is well connected by Central Railway line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway via Byculla railway station, as well as bus routes serviced by BEST.

Most of the bus routes servicing South Mumbai, South-Central Mumbai, Central Mumbai and North-East Mumbai pass through Byculla. The resulting heavy traffic prompted city planners to develop major fly-overs in Byculla, as early as the 1980s.

Almost all local trains halt at Byculla railway station - meaning it is a halt station for the 'Fast' local trains on Mumbai's Central Railway line. Mumbai Central and Mahalakshmi on the Western Railway line and Dockyard Road and Reay Road stations on the Harbour Line of Mumbai Suburban Railway also lie close to Byculla.

Ferry Wharf, a major ferry servicing port is located at a small distance from Byculla, in the Dockyard Road locality.

Another fly-over built near the Gloria Church was in the news when there was a collapse of one of its portions during its construction in the 1980s

In popular culture

 * The Y-Bridge fly-over was filmed in the Hindi comedy-satire film called Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron where the coffin scene between inebriated Om Puri and the dead-body of Satish Shah takes place. The fly-over is also shown being inaugurated at the beginning of the film.
 * Gloria Church has been filmed in many Hindi films, including Amar Akbar Anthony.
 * Byculla Boy is the name of a novel written by the eminent author Ashok Banker, on the place where he and his mother grew up.
 * Byculla to Bangkok, a book about organised crime and terror in Mumbai by S. Hussain Zaidi was published in 2014.
 * To Byculla, a song from the album "The Golden Sun of the Great East (Metropolis Records, Wakyo Records) by the project Juno Reactor, released in 2013.

Hospitals

 * Masina Hospital
 * Prince Aly Khan Hospital
 * Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals

Educational institutes

 * Grant Medical College
 * Christ Church School
 * E.E.E. Sassoon High School
 * M. H. Saboo Siddik College of Engineering
 * St. Agnes High School
 * St. Mary High School
 * Antonio De Souza High School
 * Gloria Convent High School

title: Byculla


text:
Wrinkle

A wrinkle, also known as a rhytid, is a fold, ridge or crease in an otherwise smooth surface, such as on skin or fabric. Skin wrinkles typically appear as a result of ageing processes such as glycation, habitual sleeping positions, loss of body mass, sun damage, or temporarily, as the result of prolonged immersion in water. Age wrinkling in the skin is promoted by habitual facial expressions, aging, sun damage, smoking, poor hydration, and various other factors. In humans, it can also be prevented to some degree by avoiding excessive solar exposure and through diet (in particular through consumption of carotenoids, tocopherols and flavonoids, vitamins (A, C, D and E), essential omega-3-fatty acids, certain proteins and lactobacilli).

Causes for aging wrinkles
Development of facial wrinkles is a kind of fibrosis of the skin. Misrepair-accumulation aging theory suggests that wrinkles develop from incorrect repairs of injured elastic fibers and collagen fibers. Repeated extensions and compressions of the skin cause repeated injuries of extracellular fibers in derma. During the repairing process, some of the broken elastic fibers and collagen fibers are not regenerated and restored but replaced by altered fibers. When an elastic fiber is broken in an extended state, it may be replaced by a "long" collagen fiber. Accumulation of "long" collagen fibers makes part of the skin looser and stiffer, and as a consequence, a big fold of skin appears. When a "long" collagen is broken in a compressed state, it may be replaced by a "short" collagen fiber. The "shorter" collagen fibers will restrict the extension of "longer" fibers, and make the “long" fibers in a folding state permanently. A small fold, namely a permanent wrinkle, then appears.

Sleep wrinkles
Sleep wrinkles are created and reinforced when the face is compressed against a pillow or bed surface in side or stomach sleeping positions during sleep. They appear in predictable locations due to the underlying superficial musculoaponeurotic system (SMAS), and are usually distinct from wrinkles of facial expression. As with wrinkles of facial expression, sleep wrinkles can deepen and become permanent over time, unless the habitual sleeping positions which cause the wrinkles are altered.

Water-immersion wrinkling
The wrinkles that occur in skin over prolonged exposure to water are sometimes referred to as pruney fingers or water aging. This is a temporary skin condition where the skin on the palms of the hand or feet becomes wrinkly. This wrinkling response may have imparted an evolutionary benefit by providing improved traction in wet conditions, and a better grasp of wet objects. These results were called into question by a 2014 study that failed to reproduce any improvement of handling wet objects with wrinkled fingertips. However, a 2020 study of gripping efficiency found that wrinkles decreased the force required to grip wet objects by 20%, supporting the traction hypothesis.

Prior to a 1935 study, the common explanation was based on water absorption in the keratin-laden epithelial skin when immersed in water, causing the skin to expand and resulting in a larger surface area, forcing it to wrinkle. Usually the tips of the fingers and toes are the first to wrinkle because of a thicker layer of keratin and an absence of hairs which secrete the protective oil called sebum.

In the 1935 study, however, Lewis and Pickering were studying patients with palsy of the median nerve when they discovered that skin wrinkling did not occur in the areas of the patients' skin normally innervated by the damaged nerve. This suggested that the nervous system plays an essential role in wrinkling, so the phenomenon could not be entirely explained simply by water absorption. Recent research shows that wrinkling is related to vasoconstriction. Water probably initiates the wrinkling process by altering the balance of electrolytes in the skin as it diffuses into the hands and soles via their many sweat ducts. This could alter the stability of the membranes of the many neurons that synapse on the many blood vessels underneath skin, causing them to fire more rapidly. Increased neuronal firing causes blood vessels to constrict, decreasing the amount of fluid underneath the skin. This decrease in fluid would cause a decrease in tension, causing the skin to become wrinkly.

This insight resulted in bedside tests for nerve damage and vasoconstriction. Wrinkling is often scored with immersion of the hands for 30 minutes in water or EMLA cream with measurements steps of 5 minutes, and counting the number of visible wrinkles in time. Not all healthy persons have finger wrinkling after immersion, so it would be safe to say that sympathetic function is preserved if finger wrinkling after immersion in water is observed, but if the fingers emerge smooth it cannot be assumed that there is a lesion to the autonomic supply or to the peripheral nerves of the hand.

Other animals with wrinkles
Examples of wrinkles can be found in various animal species that grow loose, excess skin, particularly when they are young. Several breeds of dog, such as the Pug and the Shar Pei, have been bred to exaggerate this trait. In dogs bred for fighting, this is the result of selection for loose skin, which confers a protective advantage.

Techniques for reducing the appearance of aging wrinkles
Current evidence suggests that tretinoin decreases cohesiveness of follicular epithelial cells, although the exact mode of action is unknown. Additionally, tretinoin stimulates mitotic activity and increased turnover of follicular epithelial cells. Tretinoin is better known by the brand name Retin-A.

Topical glycosaminoglycans supplements can help to provide temporary restoration of enzyme balance to slow or prevent matrix breakdown and consequent onset of wrinkle formation. Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are produced by the body to maintain structural integrity in tissues and to maintain fluid balance. Hyaluronic acid is a type of GAG that promotes collagen synthesis, repair, and hydration. GAGs serve as a natural moisturizer and lubricant between epidermal cells to inhibit the production of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs).

Dermal fillers are injectable products frequently used to correct wrinkles, and other depressions in the skin. They are often a kind of soft tissue designed to enable injection into the skin for purposes of improving the appearance. The most common products are based on hyaluronic acid and calcium hydroxylapatite.

Botulinum toxin is a neurotoxin protein produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. Botox is a specific form of botulinum toxin manufactured by Allergan for both therapeutic and cosmetic use. Besides its cosmetic application, Botox is used in the treatment of other conditions including migraine headache and cervical dystonia (spasmodic torticollis) (a neuromuscular disorder involving the head and neck).

Dysport, manufactured by Ipsen, received FDA approval and is now used to treat cervical dystonia as well as glabellar lines in adults. In 2010, another form of botulinum toxin, one free of complexing proteins, became available to Americans. Xeomin received FDA approval for medical indications in 2010 and cosmetic indications in 2011.

Botulinum toxin treats wrinkles by immobilizing the muscles which cause wrinkles. It is not appropriate for the treatment of all wrinkles; it is indicated for the treatment of glabellar lines (between the eyebrows) in adults. Any other usage is not approved by the FDA and is considered off-label use.

Laser resurfacing is FDA-cleared skin resurfacing procedure in which lasers are used to improve the condition of the skin. Two types of lasers are used to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles on the face; laser ablation, which removes thin layers of skin, and nonablative lasers that stimulate collagen production. Nonablative lasers are less effective than ablative ones but they are less invasive and recovery time is short. After the procedure people experience temporary redness, itching and swelling.

title: Wrinkle


text:
Talk:Timeline of ornithology

300 BC
May be of interest something from around 300 BC

From Salim Ali (1979) Azad Memorial Lecture

"The Indian Koel and its habit of brood-parasitism was well-known to the Vedic seers, and described unambiguously in Sanskrit literature. Interestingly enough, this appears also to be the earliest record of avian brood-parasitism, since it was described many centuries before Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) or his immediate colleagues or predecessors began to write about the European Cuckoo. "

temporarily in Google cache

http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:QUR02r9gYLoJ:www.envisbnhs.org/ENVIS-Website/..%255C%255CBuceros%255C%255CVol4No2%255C%255CBIRD%2520STUDY%2520IN%2520INDIA.doc+Raghuvira+brood+parasitism&hl=en

Shyamal 11:25, 14 May 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Timeline of ornithology


text:
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil may refer to:

 * Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903), British statesman and Prime Minister
 * Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood (1864–1958), British politician and diplomat, and an architect of the League of Nations
 * Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 5th Marquess of Salisbury (1893–1972), prominent Tory politician
 * Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 6th Marquess of Salisbury (1916–2003), Conservative Member of Parliament for Bournemouth West
 * Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of Salisbury (born 1946), Conservative politician

title: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil


text:
Zit

Zit or Zits may refer to:

 * a pimple
 * Zit (comic), an adult British comic
 * Zits (comics), a syndicated daily comic strip by Jerry Scott
 * Zhuzhou Institute of Technology, former name of the Hunan University of Technology

title: Zit


text:
Wotho Atoll

Wotho Atoll (Marshallese: Wōtto, ) is a coral atoll of 13 islands in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands. Its total land area is only 4.33 km2, but it encloses a lagoon of 94.92 km2. The name "Wotho" means either "entrance through the reef", or "island far away" according to different sources.

The population of Wotho Atoll was 88 at the 2021 census.

History
First recorded sighting of Wotho Atoll by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi on 12 January 1565. They were charted as Las Hermanas (The Sisters in Spanish). It is likely that it had been visited earlier, in between December 1542 and January 1543, by the Spanish expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos. The atoll was later also known as Schantz Islands after Johan Eberhard von Schantz, who rediscovered the islands on his circumnavigation of the globe on the Imperial Russian Navy ship America in 1835. Wotho Atoll was claimed by the German Empire along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1885. After World War I, the island came under the South Seas Mandate of the Empire of Japan. At the end of World War II, it came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands until the independence of the Marshall Islands in 1986.

Education
Marshall Islands Public School System operates Wotho Elementary School. Kwajalein Atoll High School on Kwajalein serves the community.

title: Wotho Atoll


text:
1977 Greater London Council election

The fifth election to the Greater London Council (GLC) was held on 5 May 1977. The Conservatives, led by Horace Cutler, gained control of the council from Labour.

Electoral arrangements
The GLC was elected from 92 single-member electoral divisions which were identical with the Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London. The election date was fixed by section 43 of the Local Government Act 1972 as the first Thursday in May. Councillors had been elected for a three-year term at previous elections, with those elected in 1973 having their terms extended to four years in 1976. From the 1977 election councillors were elected for a four-year term. All aldermen went out of office in 1977 and no further aldermen were elected by the council.

Results
The Conservative Party won a majority of seats at the election. The Liberal Party lost both of its councillors.

Turnout: 2,242,064 people voted.

Constituency results
Members of the old council*

Haringey

 * North East Tottenham Campaign Against Traffic

title: 1977 Greater London Council election


text:
Lake of Menteith

Lake of Menteith, also known as Loch Inchmahome (Scottish Gaelic: Loch Innis Mo Cholmaig), is a loch in Scotland located on the Carse of Stirling (the flood plain of the upper reaches of the rivers Forth and Teith, upstream from Stirling).

Name
Until the early 19th century, the loch was more commonly known by the Scottish name, “Loch of Menteith”, although, on the 1654 map, Blaeu Atlas of Scotland, it is identified as “Loch Inche Mahumo”. The only settlement of any size on the Loch of Menteith is the Port of Menteith.

Geography
There are a number of small islands in the loch. On the largest, Inchmahome, is Inchmahome Priory, an ancient monastery. The priory served as refuge to Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1547. She was only four years old at the time and stayed for three weeks after the disastrous Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in September of that year. The loch is not particularly deep and can freeze over completely in exceptionally cold winters. If the ice becomes thick enough, at least 7 in, an outdoor curling tournament called the Bonspiel (or the Grand Match) is held on the loch. The event can attract thousands of curlers even though it is held very infrequently. The last Grand Match was held in 1979. The Bonspiel that had been planned for 2010 was abandoned on health and safety grounds.

The Lake of Menteith is often thought of as the only body of water in Scotland that is referred to as a lake. Actually, there are several others, some of which have been artificially created: Pressmennan Lake, East Lothian; the Lake of the Hirsel, Berwickshire; Lake Louise (within the grounds of Skibo Castle, Sutherland); Raith Lake, Fife; Upper Lake and Kelly Lake (both near Haddo House, Aberdeenshire); Pitfour Lake and Cally Lake (near Gatehouse of Fleet, Kirkcudbrightshire). There is also a sea bay near Kirkcudbright known as Manxman's Lake. Nearly all other major bodies of water in Scotland are known as lochs.

The unusual name “Lake of Menteith” is believed to be due to the UK Government's Ordnance Survey in 1838 who mapped the area for the first time, and identified it as a “lake” because it was referred to as a lake in literature that was prominent at the time.

Malling Roman Fort
There was a Roman fort at a site associated with the Gask Ridge, to the west of the lake. The Romans may have referred to the site as "Lindon". It was discovered by David Wilson and Kenneth St Joseph in 1968 when they were conducting an aerial survey of Flanders Moss. After taking aerial photographs, they assessed the site by measuring resistance and magnetic susceptibility at ground level.

In popular culture
In 2020, the lake was featured in the BBC programme Springwatch, presented by wildlife photographer Gordon Buchanan.

title: Lake of Menteith


text:
Talk:ArmaLite

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 22 August 2018 and 4 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): RollTide323.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 14:42, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Tangents
I think this article goes into too much detail about the AR-18, which is a relatively minor firearm in the scope of things. If you feel like writing volumes on a specific weapon, post it on the relevant page for that weapon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.33.74.117 (talk) 00:50, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Various points about article
"Armalite" has also become a generic word for "assault rifle" or "machine gun."

Didn't Colt design and market the M4 Carbine? --ejail 01:25, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

7.62x39mm does NOT outrange 5.56x45mm. Not according to US Army field manuals, not according to FAS, not according to GlobalSecurity, and not Wiki's own entry on the weapons. Oh, and the Army had made no plans to use the M-14 as a squad automatic weapon. Why, M-14s have been getting back into army squads since 2004 or 2005. They are called squad MARKSMAN rifles.

Paragraphs 5 thru 9 are simple M16 bashing and have next to nothing to do with the history of Armalite. They would be more appropriate to the AR-15 or M16 articles but do not even belong there as they violate viewpoint neutrality.
 * sign ftw. its 7.62x51 that outshoots the 5.56... the m14 uses the nato 7.62, and it never went out of service with the army -- Cannibalicious!

image
should be of an ar-15, IMO (though why i use that i dunno, seeing as my opinion is fact.) -- Cannibalicious!

Pop culture
In addition to the fact that this section is HORRIBLY written, I was surprised to see the no one cited Ed Norton's speech to his boss in Fight Club (film). RoyBatty42 01:09, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

i agree that this section is poorly done, and i suspect that it has been edited. if it has been edited, im sure that a reference to fight club was in there. i think that someone who knows more about this should edit it. i personally do not have a lot of pop culture referneces for the armalites

-anonymous

Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, the word "armalite" (all-lowercase except at the beginning of a sentence) seems to have become a somewhat generic term for a rifle... AnonMoos (talk) 22:59, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Circular link
The article links Strategic Armory Corps as the current parent company, but the link merely redirects back to this very page. Suggest to either add at least a stub for Strategic Armory Corps or delete the link. --2A02:8106:258:3A00:F4FB:C61B:70D9:AB5C (talk) 09:30, 30 January 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:ArmaLite


text:
1981 Greater London Council election

The sixth election to the Greater London Council (GLC) was held on 7 May 1981. Following the election Andrew McIntosh the leader of the Labour Group was replaced by Ken Livingstone, a member of the party's left-wing. This was the last election to the GLC. The Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher soon decided to abolish the council in the mid-1980s. Following the abolition of the GLC, there was a direct election to the Inner London Education Authority in 1986.

Electoral arrangements
The GLC was elected from 92 single-member electoral divisions which were identical with the Parliamentary constituencies in Greater London. The election date was fixed by section 43 of the Local Government Act 1972 as the first Thursday in May.

Councillors were elected for a four-year term. This was extended for an extra year in 1984 when the elections that had been scheduled for 1985 were cancelled.

Results
The leader of the Labour GLC group Andrew McIntosh led the party into the election. Within 24 hours of the result, however, McIntosh's leadership was toppled by Ken Livingstone; a member of the party's left-wing. Livingstone was then elected GLC leader. The results were as follows (all parties shown):

Constituency results
Member of the old council*

Kingston upon Thames
Russell: Abolitionist

By-elections 1981-1986
The following by-elections took place between May 1981 and May 1986.

title: 1981 Greater London Council election


text:
Writer's cramp

Writer's cramp or focal hand dystonia (FHD) is an idiopathic movement disorder of adult onset, characterized by abnormal posturing and movement of the hand and/or forearm during tasks requiring skilled hand use, such as writing. Overcontraction of affected muscles, cocontraction of agonist and antagonist pairs, and activation of muscles inappropriate to a task all impair use of the affected hand.

Writer's cramp is a task-specific focal dystonia of the hand. 'Focal' refers to the symptoms being limited to one location (the hand in this case), and 'task-specific' means that symptoms first occur only when the individual engages in a particular activity. Writer's cramp first affects an individual by interfering with their ability to write, especially for prolonged periods of time.

Epidemiologic studies report a prevalence of 7–69 per million population for writer's cramp, which explains its recognition as a rare disease, like all other forms of dystonia.

Symptoms and signs
Onset usually occurs between the ages of 30 and 50 years and often starts with a feeling of tension in fingers and forearms that interferes with writing fluency.

More specifically, early symptoms may include loss of precision muscle coordination (sometimes first manifested in declining penmanship, frequent small injuries to the hands, dropped items and a noticeable increase in dropped or chipped dishes), cramping pain with sustained use and trembling. Significant muscle pain and cramping may result from very minor exertions like holding a book and turning pages. It may become difficult to find a comfortable position for arms and legs with even the minor exertions associated with holding arms crossed causing significant pain similar to restless leg syndrome. Affected persons may notice trembling in the diaphragm while breathing, or the need to place hands in pockets, under legs while sitting or under pillows while sleeping to keep them still and to reduce pain. Trembling in the jaw may be felt and heard while lying down, and the constant movement to avoid pain may result in the grinding and wearing down of teeth, or symptoms similar to TMD. The voice may crack frequently or become harsh, triggering frequent throat clearing. Swallowing can become difficult and accompanied by painful cramping. Patients may also present with varying degree of disability and symptoms, such as experiencing more difficulty writing down-stroke as compared to writing upstroke.

Electrical sensors (EMG) inserted into affected muscle groups, while painful, can provide a definitive diagnosis by showing pulsating nerve signals being transmitted to the muscles even when they are at rest. The brain appears to signal portions of fibers within the affected muscle groups at a firing speed of about 10 Hz causing them to pulsate, tremble and contort. When called upon to perform an intentional activity, the muscles fatigue very quickly and some portions of the muscle groups do not respond (causing weakness) while other portions over-respond or become rigid (causing micro-tears under load). The symptoms worsen significantly with use, especially in the case of focal dystonia, and a "mirror effect" is often observed in other body parts: use of the right hand may cause pain and cramping in that hand as well as in the other hand and legs that were not being used. Stress, anxiety, lack of sleep, sustained use and cold temperatures can worsen symptoms.

Direct symptoms may be accompanied by secondary effects of the continuous muscle and brain activity, including disturbed sleep patterns, exhaustion, mood swings, mental stress, difficulty concentrating, blurred vision, digestive problems and short temper. People with dystonia may also become depressed and find great difficulty adapting their activities and livelihood to a progressing disability. Side effects from treatment and medications can also present challenges in normal activities.

In some cases, symptoms may progress and then plateau for years, or stop progressing entirely. The progression may be delayed by treatment or adaptive lifestyle changes, while forced continued use may make symptoms progress more rapidly. In others, the symptoms may progress to total disability, making some of the more risky forms of treatment worth considering in the future.

Causes
Although the cause of writer's cramp is not well known, it was historically believed to be the result of excessive fine motor activity, possibly complicated by a tense or otherwise inappropriate writing technique. More recently, Karin Rosenkranz et al. have suggested that this is not necessarily the case.

Recent studies point out that there appears to be a genetic component to focal hand dystonia (FHD). In fact, up to 20% of those with writer's cramp have a family member with some form of dystonia.

Musician's cramp (a similar focal dystonia which affects less than 1% of instrumentalists ) has historically been grouped together with writer's cramp because of this and their common task-specificity. Rosenkranz et al. have more recently identified significant differences between the two populations, however. No matter exactly how it arises, researchers generally agree that these types of focal dystonia are the result of a basal ganglia and/or sensorimotor cortex malfunction in the brain.

Treatment
Although dystonias may be induced by chemical exposure/ingestion, brain injury, or hereditary/genetic predisposition, the task-specific focal dystonias such as writer's cramp are a unique challenge to diagnose and treat. Some cases may respond to chemical injections - botulinum toxin (botox) is often cited, though it is not helpful in all cases. Behavioral retraining attempts may include writing devices, switching hands, occupational therapy, biofeedback, constraint-induced motion therapy, and others. Some writing instruments allow variations of pressure application for use. None of these are effective in all cases, however. The work of Dr. Joaquin Farias has shown that proprioceptive stimulation can induce neuroplasticity, making it possible for patients to recover substantial function that was lost from focal dystonia.

Anticholinergics such as Artane can be prescribed for off-label use, as some patients have had success.

title: Writer's cramp