text:
Wikipedia:Article series boxes

Created May 2004 by user:AlexR

Introduction
For some time now so called article series boxes (ASBs in this text) have been turning up in the en:Wikipedia.

I got involved in the subject over the article Heteronormativity, which acquired two of them, an LGBT box and a Critical Theory box. There has been much debate about them; also, there have been debates on Wikipedia talk:Article series and the wikien-l mailing list. Those who followed or read those debates will know I am not very fond of those boxes. Mind you, it is the format of a box I object to, especially in their current usage, not article series in general.

Hyacinth suggested creating clear guidelines for writing and placing boxes in Talk:Heteronormativity, which is a good idea, in my opinion. Here, therefore, is my attempt.

Don't stop reading yet
I hope the fact that things like heteronormativity, LGBT people and critical theory are mentioned does not deter people from considering the general points that are made; they are only used as examples here. If somebody wishes to replace those examples with others, I have no objections. It's also fairly long, but I wanted the arguments to be stated clearly, so that those people who did not follow all debates mentioned above know why I propose what I will propose. Those who did follow the debate can probably skip over the first points and jump right to ASBs and Projects and the proposals following it.

Series boxes
The article series boxes differ from the old series boxes in that they do not list articles that are clearly part of a series of events or people or similar, like lists of rulers or lists of battles in a war, or articles on a clearly definied and finite list, like "Members of NATO" or "Federal states of Germany" or similar. See the bottom of de:Hans-Jochen Vogel as an example of what many consider too many of those; they list all people who ever held the offices Vogel held. (Note that in the German Wikipedia there are usually no boxes around those "boxes", as there would be in the English one.) (Feel free to replace that example with one from en:WP, of course.)

ASBs
ASBs on the other hand link to a number of articles the makers of these boxes, usually projects, consider particularly relevant to a general topic. There are several problems associated with that principle, however:

What is relevant?
There will be quite some disagreements over what is relevant enough to warrant a box. It would be no problem at all to make two or three more boxes in Heteronormativity alone (besides the two already mentioned), maybe more, say, a transgender box, an intersex box, a box on feminism, maybe a box on discrimination in general ... . These are all topics to which heteronormativity is relevant, after all.

Too much emphasis on the "boxed" topics
Another problem those boxes create is that merely putting some related topics in boxes, while other related topics are linked in the article itself, or the see also section, is that simply by standing out, they create an emphasis on the relation of the article to the "boxed" topic that seems to be more important than the others. Obviously, that will lead to more boxes being created, because those people who's related topics seem less important now will feel compelled to make ASBs themself. Given that the placement of boxes on the article page is right now quite random, that could lead to rather unreadable pages, or, at best, pages that do not look particularly well. Have a look at Music of the United States (particularly these old versions of it, , ) to see what I mean. And remember - other people might not have a monitor as big as yours, or not use the browser in full screen mode. Not to mention people who use screen readers or similar.

Who decides which articles should be in the box?
Given that those boxes, at least those I have seen, seem mostly deal with matters of social sciences or humanities, debates about what is so relevant that it should be put into a box is inevitable.

See the history of the LGBT box for example. In the beginning, it was just a list of articles that seemed a bit randomly chosen. It listed, among others, transgender, transsexual and intersex. This box also did not become less random at all; now many articles seem to be put in because they relate somehow to LGBT - but when you look at the List of gay-related topics that box might become a wee bit too big.
 * Intersex was taken out by somebody who objected that many intersex people do not feel they are part of the LGBT community, and should not be claimed as part of it. In fact, there are about 30 separate conditions which are subsummized under "Intersex", and intersex therefore covers a very wide field of personal experiences, most of which do in fact not related directly to LGBT. Undoubtably they often do indirectly, but I consider the objection and the removal in this case to be perfectly appropriate.
 * Transsexual people also often object to the notion of being part of the LGBT community; even those who are gay or lesbian after transitioning feel they belong to the LGBT community because they are gay or lesbian, not because they are transsexual. And while many transsexual people are discriminated against under the mistaken assumption that being transsexual is just a form of being gay or lesbian, (just as some intersex people are, which is even more wrong), many try not not solve this problem by fighting against the discriminiation of LGB(T?) people, but by distancing themselves from them. So it is only a matter of time before that is taken out.
 * The objections against linking transgender are different: Transgender is a very complex subject, which is why a List of transgender-related topics exists (which does include transsexual and intersex, btw.). It might have been more appropriate to link to that instead.

Borderline cases
Some boxes are borderline cases, like Influential Western Philosophers by WikiProject Philosophy which can be seen in Immanuel Kant and others. While you can probably incite a heated debate among any group of philosophers about which philosophers were especially influential in western philosophy, most likely there will be several names mentionend in every proposal. It might be a good idea, in cases like this one, though, to draw a line at some point in the past, say, 50 years ago or similar. Whether current or recent philosophers will in the future be considered relevant is not only guessing, it would also ignite very heated debates.

ASBs vs. lists
Lists are quite common, I should say; in fact, the word list-o-mania can be heard occasionally. Lists however differ from ASBs in an important point: They strife to include all articles on a subject, not just those considered "relevant" or particularly "important". Since many lists are somewhat structured, too, they do, in my opinion, enable the reader much better than a pre-chosen series to decide what they want to read next. See the List of transgender-related topics for an example.

ASBs vs. See also sections
Under See also there are usually links to other articles that are either not mentioned in the text, but are relevant, particularly lists, or links to articles considered so important that they are listed again. The See also section is pretty egalitarian (unless it is flooded with links, but that is usually quickly corrected); no link looks more "important" than the others, and if there is trouble, they get sorted alphabetically.

ASBs and Projects
All ASBs seem to have WikiProjects behind them.

The idea behind ASBs seems to be that it will make it easier for people to get an overview over a given field without overwhelming them with too many details. That is, by itself, of course a good idea.

However, an article that gives that overview is probably a better idea in many cases, though, even if it is namend "Overview over whatever topic", and therefore not very detailed. Many articles are quite detailed, and might by themselfes confuse or overwhelm people looking for an overview. On the other hand, articles might be linked that are not very good, but are there because that subject should be explained.

That is what projects are supposed to do, the management of a specific family of information within the Wikipedia; which of course includes improving articles, and very likely a "List of" articles on that subject. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. (Although the project behind LGBT is not much of a project; throwing the box into articles is their only activity, but there is no debate whatever about it, and not even a statement of their aim or purpose or whatever. That does not make sense.)

So before anybody consideres making an article series, they should consider whether a) the articles listed in the series are good enough to be listed there; if they are not, they should be improved first. And b) they should consider whether there is a good introduction to the subject itself anywhere around. The article LGBT itself, for example, might just pass for an introduction, although it is rather short and does not explain what does link lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people, or even "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgendered, intersex and/or queer or questioning". The article critical theory though, I don't know how to put it politely, but I did ask a few people to read it; all people who are used to theoretical texts, but who don't know much about critical theory. Let's just say they don't feel they know much more about it after reading the article. Other projects about less complicated and/or controversial subjects probably do better in that respect.

Proposal One - No Boxes
From what I said above, I do believe that the Wikipedia does not need article series boxes at all; because they do nothing that cannot be done with a link to a list in See also. If there is a (perceived) need for an article series, it could be done on a separate page, one that explicitly is named "Article series on ..." or "Selected articles on ..." or whatever, like a "List of ...", and be linked in see also.

Proposal Two - If there have to be boxes
I fear, though, that this will not do; some people seem to be too much in love with their ASBs to give them up. So in case they cannot be prevented, here is my proposal for ASBs:

No box without project
There should be no boxes without a project associated with them. Otherwise there would be no place where the ASBs themself could be discussed and improved. Theoretically there is of course the possibility to change the text of an ASB without project, but how many users know how to, and how many edit wars would we get if everybody did?

Valid Reasons to Use Boxes
please populate and clarify!
 * 1) Link together a family of related articles where readers or contributors may easily be unaware of related articles' existence
 * 2) Provide a large topic with a conceptual structure if the topic does not have a clear one inherently. (for example where entities overlap in complex ways)

Innapropriate Reasons to use Boxes

 * 1) Assert contentious POV relationships
 * 2) Advertise obscure topics in prominent places
 * 3) Merely list the all members of a well defined set (example: all the members or NATO on a box on all member nations, when the interested reader can easily follow a link to NATO to read the member list)

please populate and clarify!

What should be in an ASB?
Article series boxes should really link only to article series, that is selected articles from a field that can give people an overview over that field. People who already know that field are served much better with a complete list of articles.

The header of the box should link to the project itself, so that people know where to go if they have anything to say about the ASB or the project. (Looking for a project's page can be a pain in the lower rear; I couldn't find the project page for LGBT for days.)

The very first link in the box should link to the introductory article, and that article really should explain why there is a project with an ASBs. Not explicitly like "We made this project because ..." of course, but the article should tell people what this is all about and why that field and why particular subjects are important enough to go into the box.

The last link should point to a list or, if necessary, several lists that list all articles on that topic. "Several lists" should be the exception, though! It could for example apply to the LGBT box.

Also, articles should be listed in a way that is rather objective, if that's possible. Birthdates for people make sense, so do alphabetical listings. Listing them by "what we consider important" might not only confuse the reader but is also a value judgement that should be avoided; not only on general WP principles, but also because value judgements tend to result in edit wars.

(See also ASBs and Projects above)

What should NOT be in an ASB?
ASBs should not contain:
 * "List of"s that try to list every article from a given field should not be in boxes, and particularly there should be no long "List of" inside that box. These should, together with links to single articles, remain in See also.
 * External links should not be in boxes, either, even if they do belong together in any way.
 * Boxes should not just link to projects. No matter how much a project needs people to help them, article pages are not the place to recruit them. According to Angela, there is already a rule in place saying that, so consider that a reminder.

"This article is part of ..."
Many ASBs use the words "This article is part of the article series on ..." or similar. This is, in my opinion, not a good idea. First, the ASBs should not contain any sentences commenting on the ASB or its project or other meta-matters; at most they should contain a reference to the purpose of the ASBs, and only if it can not be figured out from the title of the box. And second, to declare articles as "part of" something might be seriously annoying people who worked on that article, and who maybe never had in mind the field of the ASB, or did not have so primarily; especially if there is only one box that makes that declaration, and other field are only linked through simple links or links to lists.

Size
Hyacinth wondered about whether there should be a maximum length. I have been wondering about that myself, but I think that if there is a limit it should be set rather high. The problem is that some subjects like "Influential whatever people" will, to be fair, probably need rather larger numbers of entries than say an overview over a particular field of philosophy or social sciences. On the other hand, people are sometimes quite enthusiastic, so a limit might be necessary. I leave this point open for now, as it needs some more input from others; preferably from people making or planing to make ASBs.

Look
Whatever is decided on that question, all ASBs should look the same. I do not want to suppress anybody's creativity here, but having different designs would create a few problems.

Oblong boxes vs. broad boxes
I put the current LGBT and the current "Influential Western Philosophers" boxes below for comparison. (I hope I choose the correct words; LGBT is "oblong", Philosophers is "broad" (and English not my first language).)

Despite the fact that some article series would work better in broad, and others in oblong boxes, I think that having both styles would make placing those boxes together a bit difficult. Mixing them is pretty much impossible; so either all the oblong boxes are put first, then one very long box could push the broad boxes virtually out of sight. Or the broad ones come on top of the oblong ones, then chances are high that the oblong ones go unnoticed.

Since the oblong boxes also would have different hights and widths, broad boxes are probably the better choice; but there is probably some way to make oblong ones work, too.

Colourfull boxes
One word: Don't. Every box should have the same chance at being noticed, and that means they have to look pretty similar. Also, a colour-war could lead to pages that hurt the eyes if you look at them. I don't think anybody would like to see a yellow box next to a bright green one next to an orange one. Not to mention that some people's eyesight is not the best, and therefore, there might be legibility problems as well.

Placement: Boxes at the bottom of the page
Boxes should stand at the bottom of pages, not on top or in the middle. People come to an article to read about that subject, not another more or less related one. Only when they are finished reading, they (hopefully) can decide what else they want to read. Also, if people come to an article to find related subjects, they will be able figure out (because this is standard not only in the WP, but since the beginning of writing) that related subjects are usually mentioned at the bottom of articles.

Putting them all together at the bottom of the page should also prevent the article itself becoming harder to read, because they don't intrude visually. And due to their rather impressive visual effect (when compared to plain text or plain links) that should mean the very bottom of the page, below all other entries, including See also and Links.

And now please feel free to comment on this proposal as much as you like. I made a comment page for this proposal, too. It's here: User:AlexR/Article series boxes/Comments Now that the page has been moved, please use the talk page here. Old comments have been moved there, too. -- AlexR

Boxes are used to indicate districts of proprietorship
First of all, do not the categories system now make boxes more or less redundant?
 * No, because navigational templates have a number of features that categories do not currently have, such as:
 * Boxes can be ordered in any way that is appropriate, while categories must be alphabetically ordered.
 * Boxes are more convenient for navigational purposes than categories, because they allow readers to see and go to related articles without having to visit a separate page.
 * [[User:JoshG|Josh | Talk]] 00:21, Oct 22, 2004 (UTC)

Secondly, some articles have been pwned by boxey editors who wish to own them for their own purpose. Take Yama for instance, which has a box nearly as big (let me exaggerate slightly!) as the article, implicitly proclaiming Yama as exclusively belonging to Hinduism. Which is just not true. (This is not a dig at LordSurya, who applied the box - I appreciate the contributions he makes to WP). IMHO this sort of application (as well as edit-hogging) is a means of attempting to establish POV as fact. (20040302)

 * It is true that non-neutral points of view are an issue, but that is the same everywhere in Wikipedia. Plus, I think "proprietorship" is a bit too of a word for that situation. In any case, a series box can be modified to have a neutral point of view just as an article can be, although it is admittedly a bit more difficult. [[User:JoshG|Josh | Talk]] 00:21, Oct 22, 2004 (UTC)

 * Josh, thank-you for clearing up the distinction between categories and boxes. It may be that the category system could be enhanced.. Regarding the second point, do you not see that e.g. a particular article that is considered central to a whole set of different series may end up being washed out by series boxes? If, for instance, I were to add one of the Buddhism boxes to Yama, it would appear to me that there was some proprietorial battle going on concerning the Yama article.

 * I am not against boxes per se, but I do think that they often are used to indicate districts of proprietorship, and the fact that this may be a problem with WP everywhere is not an argument against attempting to weaken some of the resources at hand for such behaviour. (20040302)

 * Probably the best solution for that sort of problem would be to have more than one box in the article, so it could cover more than one use or application of the article's topic. It is important to be careful, though. Especially with smaller articles, too many navigational template boxes could make the page look crowded and overshadowed. [[User:JoshG|Josh | Talk]] 19:19, Oct 31, 2004 (UTC)

 * I have come to the conclusion to leave it. My position is reverted - I feel that the categories mechanism could be enhanced to make boxes redundant. Anything else is a nightmare to organise. Regardless, I will continue to use and make boxes until I feel that the category system is enhanced enough. (20040302 23:37, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC))

title: Wikipedia:Article series boxes


text:
Hoyleton

Hoyleton may refer to:
 * Hoyleton, Illinois
 * Hoyleton, South Australia

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

title: Hoyleton


text:
User talk:Troll Silent, Troll Deep

Hi, You may have inadvertently chosen an inappropriate user name, please see Username. Please follow the procedure outline there an pick a user name which does not contain or refer to "troll". I will check back in a day or two, but must block the name Troll Silent, Troll Deep whether you have created a new account or not. You will still be able to create an account under a different name even if I block Troll Silent, Troll Deep. Fred Bauder 16:44, May 4, 2004 (UTC)
 * Thanks - I don't see any reason to block this account simply for having the word 'Troll' in it - see comments by Jimbo on this topic: Well, clearly a person might innocently and with no harmful intentions have a username which happens to contain the word 'troll', which is after all a perfectly normal word which has been hijacked by contemporary Internet slang. So clearly, a policy which says that people should be quickbanned just for that would be misguided at best. - Jimbo Wales. Troll Silent, Troll Deep 18:37, 4 May 2004 (UTC)
 * I'm not trying to quickban you. That would be only for one day in any event. I propose to ban your user name for an indefinite time based on its inappropriateness. You may not be aware of the history of this, but there have been a large number of user names which have been created which are plays on the word "troll". If you are an innocent person who somehow unknowingly stubbled into the hornet's nest that those folks have created, I'm sorry, but the name you have chosen is unacceptable and can be banned by any Wikipedia administrator provided proper procedure is followed. Part of that procedure is to politely ask you to choose a new name and point you to the Wikipedia policy on inappropriate user names. Please select a new name, happy editing. Fred Bauder 18:48, May 4, 2004 (UTC)
 * I read the policy, and cannot see which category my username fits into - why could this possibly be offensive? Troll Silent, Troll Deep 18:56, 4 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Because of the history of its use any user name which contains the word "troll" is inappropriate. Any user name which contains "troll" is offensive to a significant number of Wikipedia users. If you are a user who innocently chose the name it is a simple matter to chose another name. All the history of troll this and troll doesn't matter. Fred Bauder 20:11, May 4, 2004 (UTC)
 * So let me understand your point. Anyone with a word in their username which a 'significant number of wikipedia users' claim is offensive, can be asked to change their name by anyone else? Aren't you kind of opening a Pandora's Box there? BTW, how many is significant? Thanks! Troll Silent, Troll Deep 20:15, 4 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Yes, you have correctly restated the established Wikipedia policy, although only Wikipedia administrators may enforce it. As to opening Pandora's box, it was opened long ago by those who began using names with "troll" contained therein. How many is significant is a matter of judgement. In the case of "troll" quite a few have expressed their distaste. Fred Bauder 21:01, May 4, 2004 (UTC)

I disagree - there seems to be no concensus about this. 'Troll' is clearly not an offensive word, and there is dispute about this within the admin Cabal. You can't unilaterily decide that a normal word is offensive just to facilitate your witchhunt. Distastefull, or not, from your point of view a good username, is not the same thing as offensive. Stop trolling and let people get on with writing. Yours, Troll Silent, Troll Deep 21:05, 4 May 2004 (UTC)
 * You are very welcome to create a user name which is appropriate and disagree to your heart's content, but the user name you are now using is subject to blocking. Troll is not an ordinary word on Wikipedia due to the history of its use. Fred Bauder 23:08, May 4, 2004 (UTC)

Jimbo thought differently, and it certainly is an ordinary word, having over 12 different meanings. The fact that you have chosen to conduct a witchhunt is entirely divisive and a waste of everyones time. Please find something more productive to do - you have no mandate to decide these things, unless the Cabal has officially taken over. Troll Silent, Troll Deep 23:13, 4 May 2004 (UTC)
 * Sir, your references to witch-hunts and the "cabal" only support the suggestion that your choice of name was malicious. If you are a truly concerned Wikipedian, you should attempt to bring yourself in compliance with this policy. - Fennec 23:32, May 4, 2004 (UTC)

 * On the contrary. To sit back and do nothing while control is siezed by an unaccountable group of power-mad egomaniacs would be irresponsible and show only contempt for wikipedia. Re the 'policy', see my comment below to Fred. Troll Silent, Troll Deep 15:27, 5 May 2004 (UTC)

 * My understanding is that there is an established Wikipedia policy which mandates blocking of inappropriate user names. Fred Bauder 05:56, May 5, 2004 (UTC)

 * There has never been a policy. A group of Admins have always behaved as if they could bully other users without consequence. When this issue (re usernames, which came to a head when Heph started banning people with names he didn't like) was raised with Jimbo, Jimbo stated that he did not believe that people should be banned for having the word 'troll' in them. You and a few of your goons started a kangaroo court to give yourselves this power despite Jimbo and many other's objections. Saying that you will be 'bound by this decision' is a little disigenous, since you are making it. Troll Silent, Troll Deep 15:27, 5 May 2004 (UTC)

I will consider myself bound in this matter by the decision at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration/JRR_Trollkien#Blocking_of_JRR_Trollkien Fred Bauder 13:36, May 5, 2004 (UTC)

George Bush
Why the reversion of the As of link? Troll Silent, Troll Deep 19:18, 4 May 2004 (UTC)

 * It is a redirect to 2001. There is no point in changing to a redirect that ends at the same article. - Tεx τ urε 19:27, 4 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Take a look at Wikipedia talk:As of - it is a time sensitive marker - you can use the 'what links here' to tell which articles contain info that needs updating. Troll Silent, Troll Deep 19:30, 4 May 2004 (UTC)

 * This does not appear to be an accepted practice yet. I don't understand why you would replace the link with a redirect but keep the same "2001" text.  I don't agree with the idea or, in this case, the implementation. - Tεx τ urε 19:42, 4 May 2004 (UTC)

It's pretty common on many articles - As of will tell you how to access the list of articles that are linked to it. The purpose of keeping the same text is so that the reader doesn't need to worry about it. An editor looking for statements made in 2001 (or any year) like 'Is President' that will change in the future, can just look at the list of what links there to tell what needs to be updated. If you disagee with it, I suggest you take up the issue on the talk pages rather than start reverting folks who are putting in an accepted marker. Thanks, Troll Silent, Troll Deep 19:47, 4 May 2004 (UTC)

 * The talk page you refer to has little traffic and little support. When it is an accepted policy it will be a different story.  I did read the link and that is why I responded that I disagree.  Can you provide a link where it was made general policy or where a vote was taken? - Tεx τ urε 19:50, 4 May 2004 (UTC)

 * (btw, thanks for the revert on my talk page. Can't figure out what the respiration image was all about...)

No, I'm not sure whether it is accepted policy - it seems that, rather than one group going round putting the links in, and another removing them, a more productive approach would be to work out whether we would do it. We are bold in making edits that there is not necessarily any policy for, and these links seem to provide a benefit, without causing harm. I am not going to start a revert war if you indist on removing them, but I find it anti-social, and think it undermines a group who are trying to make updating time sensitive pages easier. Troll Silent, Troll Deep 19:54, 4 May 2004 (UTC)

I'm sure you wouldn't want to be categorized as a liar, so goodbye. - Hephaestos|§ 17:27, 5 May 2004 (UTC)

patently false accusation
User:Hephaestos has blocked this user accusing them of "persistent disruption of discussion" -- which has been defined for a long time as tampering with other people's comments (See Blocking policy and Three strikes you're out policy, 'Definition of "disruptive"' for some attempts to codify this longstanding community consensus). This accusation is an outright, bold-faced lie. JRR Trollkien (see warning) 21:44, 5 May 2004 (UTC)

 * Removing my comment which referenced an earlier verison of Trollkien's comment. --Dante Alighieri | Talk 05:55, May 6, 2004 (UTC)

 * shut up

title: User talk:Troll Silent, Troll Deep


text:
Carmarthen Bay

Carmarthen Bay (Bae Caerfyrddin) is an inlet of the South Wales coast, including notable beaches such as Pendine Sands and Cefn Sidan sands. Carmarthen Bay is partially within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Joint Nature Conservation Committee list Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries as a Special Area of Conservation.

Geography
The River Loughor flows into the bay at the Burry estuary, and the rivers Tywi, Taf and Gwendraeth flow into the bay at the Three Rivers Estuary. Caldey Island lies in the bay near Tenby. The northwestern corner of the bay is separately named as Saundersfoot Bay. Towns and villages in the bay include, from east to west: Llanelli, Burry Port (Porth Tywyn), Pembrey (Penbre), Kidwelly (Cydweli), Ferryside (Glanyfferi), Llansteffan, Laugharne (Talacharn), Pendine (Pentywyn), Amroth, Wisemans Bridge (Pont-yr-ŵrddoeth), Saundersfoot and Tenby (Dinbych y Pysgod). There are fine beaches at Pendine Sands, Cefn Sidan, Laugharne, Llansteffan and Ferryside.

Biodiversity
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee list Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries as a Special Area of Conservation. This is a public body that advises the Welsh Government on international nature conservation. The area conserved includes sea inlets, tidal rivers, estuaries, mud flats, sand flats, lagoons (including saltwork basins), salt marshes, salt pastures, salt steppes, shingle, sea cliffs and islets. The sand and mud flats have large numbers of bivalve molluscs including the edible cockle. The large shallow inlets and bays provide habitat for a great variety of marine invertebrates. The saltmarshes have biodiverse communities of glasswort (Salicornis species), dwarf eelgrass (Zostera noltei), sea rush (Juncus maritimus) and marsh-mallow (Althaea officinalis) and all the wildlife they support. A primary reason for the listing is the presence in the bay of the twait shad (Alosa fallax), a migratory fish.

Wind turbine testing in the 1980s
An area of the Carmarthen Bay coastline near Burry Port was used in the 1980s to test wind turbines. The first turbine to be installed in the area was switched on in November 1982. Five turbines of different designs were tested at the site, installed between 1982 and 1989. The project was concluded in the late 1990s, the turbines were removed, and the land was eventually integrated into the Millennium Coastal Park.

title: Carmarthen Bay


text:
Sonny Shroyer

Otis Burt "Sonny" Shroyer Jr. (born August 28, 1935) is an American actor and singer who has appeared in various television and movie roles. He is best known for his role as Deputy Sheriff Enos Strate in the television series The Dukes of Hazzard. He also starred in the short-lived spin-off series Enos based around his Dukes of Hazzard character. Shroyer is married and has two sons, Chris and Mark.

Shroyer was born in the town of Valdosta, Georgia. He attended Florida State University on a football scholarship, but his career was cut short by an injury. He finished his degree at the University of Georgia.

He began a career as a professional model in 1961. His first screen role came in the 1972 film Payday. Shroyer almost became typecast as a bad guy before landing the role of the naive Deputy Enos Strate in the hit pop culture series The Dukes of Hazzard in 1978 (first broadcast early 1979).

The Dukes of Hazzard role was Shroyer's most visible. His character was written out at the start of the third season to be given a spinoff series titled Enos in 1980. The new show was not a success and was canceled after eighteen episodes. Shroyer returned to The Dukes of Hazzard at the start of the fifth season in 1982 and remained with the series until it ended in 1985. Shroyer also released a children's album in 1982. The album was called Back in Hazzard and featured a cover of Roger Miller's classic, "You Can't Rollerskate In a Buffalo Herd". He also recorded a song "Children in Need" with fellow actor Randall Franks for Franks's 2001 CD God's Children. He and Franks have made personal appearances together.

Shroyer remained active until he retired in 2023 due to Covid related issues. He portrayed University of Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant in Forrest Gump, Delbert Birdsong in The Rainmaker, and Governor Jimmie Davis in Ray. He is also a country and gospel singer.

Filmography

 * Payday (1972) - Dabney
 * Sixteen (1973)
 * The Longest Yard (1974) - Tannen
 * Gator (1976) - 4th Agent
 * Movin’ On (1976) -Henchman (uncredited)
 * The Farmer (1977) - Corrigan
 * Roots (1977, TV Mini-Series) - Seaman Thompson (uncredited)
 * Smokey and the Bandit (1977) - Motorcycle cop (uncredited)
 * The Lincoln Conspiracy (1977) - Lewis Paine
 * The Million Dollar Dixie Deliverance (1978, TV Movie) - Luke
 * King (1978, TV Mini-Series) - Police Officer preventing King from visiting an injured friend (uncredited)
 * They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way (1978) - Carlie
 * The Dukes of Hazzard (1979–1980, 1982–1985, TV Series) - Enos Strate
 * The Devil and Max Devlin (1981) - Big Billy Hunniker
 * Enos (1980-1981, TV Series) - Enos Strate
 * Alice TV Series (1983) "Mel Is Hog-Tied" - Deputy Enos Strate
 * In the Heat of the Night (1990, TV Series) - Emory Tanner
 * Love Crimes (1992) - Plainclothes Cop #1
 * In The Heat of the Night (1993, TV Series) - Dwight Foster
 * Forrest Gump (1994) - Bear Bryant
 * American Gothic (1995-1998, TV series) - Gage Temple
 * Bastard Out of Carolina (1996) - Sheriff
 * The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! (1997, TV Movie) - Enos Strate
 * Wild America (1997) - Bud
 * Paradise Falls (1997) - Bert Kyler
 * The Rainmaker (1997) - Delbert Birdsong
 * The Gingerbread Man (1998) - Chatham County Sheriff
 * Freedom Song (2000, TV Movie) - Police Chief
 * The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood (2000, TV Movie) - Enos Strate
 * Diggity's Treasure (2001) - Otis Cane
 * A Love Song for Bobby Long (2004) - Earl
 * Ray (2004) - Gov. Jimmie Davis (uncredited)
 * A Tale About Bootlegging (2005) - Sheriff Ed Cooper
 * The Hole in Willie's Guitar (2005, Memarie Music Video) - Sheriff
 * The Price (2008) - Ghost of Matthew Goldyn
 * Opening Day (2009) - Ray Hampton
 * The Way Home (2010) - Ed Walker
 * Unconditional (2012) - Pauly

title: Sonny Shroyer


text:
Hoyt

Hoyt may refer to:

Canada

 * Hoyt, New Brunswick

United States

 * Hoyt, Colorado
 * Hoyt, Kansas
 * Hoyt, West Virginia
 * Hoyt, Wisconsin
 * Hoyt Peak, a mountain in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Other uses

 * Hoyt (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
 * Hoyt Archery, an American bow manufacturer

title: Hoyt


text:
Catus

Catus may refer to:

 * Felis catus, the scientific name for cat
 * Catus, Lot, a commune in France

title: Catus


text:
Abergwili

Abergwili is a village and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, near the confluence of the rivers Towy and Gwili, close to the town of Carmarthen. It is also an electoral ward. Named after the village of Abergwili, the community includes the settlements of Peniel, Llanfihangel-uwch-Gwili and White Mill. The grounds of the former Bishop's Palace are listed on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

Bishop's Palace
The village is known for its Bishop's Palace, home to the Bishop of St David's since 1542, when Bishop William Barlow transferred his palace from St David's to Abergwili, re-using the premises of an older college of priests. The building is believed to have been built between 1283 and 1291, when Thomas Bek was made bishop of St Davids. It was known as a college until it was amalgamated with another to create Christ College in Brecon. It was almost completely rebuilt in 1903 following a disastrous fire. It contains the chapel originally added by Archbishop Laud in 1625, when he was Bishop of St David's. In 1974 the old episcopal palace was purchased by Carmarthenshire County Council for use as a museum, whilst a new residence for the bishops, "Llys Esgob", was built in part of the grounds, together with Diocesan Offices - thereby continuing a connection with Abergwili which has now lasted for well over 400 years.

Until 1802 the river Towy ran past the back of the Palace; it changed course and left an oxbow lake. Today it is a large lily pond with large amounts of wildlife. The park is registered at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

Amenities
Abergwili has seen a substantial increase in population in recent years with new property developments but has kept its character and rural tranquility. The Celtic cross war memorial was built in memory of those from the village who died in the two world wars. Abergwili has a bilingual primary school in the centre.

The village is home to the Carmarthen Quins rugby union team. Merlin's Hill Centre is a farm which has been opened up to the public. Merlin's Hill is next to the farm. There is a footpath that goes to the top of the hill, which is the site of an Iron Age hillfort. Merlin's Hill is down in local legend as the final resting place of Merlin from the Arthurian legend. The "Wheat Sheaf" pub in the village is one of the oldest pubs in Carmarthenshire. Around 1850 there was also a pub called the "Albion Inn".

It has a hospital, Glangwili General Hospital, and heritage railway, Gwili Railway. It once had a railway station.

Religious history
There are two places of Christian worship in the village of Abergwili: Ebeneser Chapel, a Welsh Nonconformist Independent Chapel, and St David's, a Church in Wales parish church. St David's was rebuilt in the early 1840s when the Rev. Joshua Hughes was vicar, on the foundations of a much earlier church. The new church was consecreated in 1843. The cost was £1,400, and Hughes was later to become Bishop of St Asaph. Richard Davies was buried at this church.

The parish of Abergwili also includes a number of other places of worship, including the church at Llanfihangel uwch Gwiliand the Independent (Congregationalist) chapel at Peniel.

Local government
Abergwili is an electoral ward for the purposes of elections to Carmarthenshire County Council. From 1995 until 2017, the ward was represented by Independent councillor Pam Palmer. Abergwili also has a community council. It was won by Plaid Cymru candidate Dorian Williams in 2017, who was succeeded by Neil Lewis in 2022.

The community is bordered by the communities of: Llanllawddog; Llanegwad; Llanarthney; Llangunnor; Carmarthen; and Bronwydd, all being in Carmarthenshire.

Notable people

 * David Lewis (1760–1850), Welsh Anglican priest and writer
 * Basil Jones (1822–1897), Welsh bishop and scholar, Bishop of St David's from 1874, died in Abergwili
 * John Owen (1854–1926), professor of Welsh, Dean of St Asaph and Bishop of St David's from 1897; died in Abergwili
 * Alice Abadam (1856–1940), Welsh suffragette, feminist and public speaker; died in Abergwili
 * Alfred Pullin (1860–1934), British sports journalist who wrote about rugby union and cricket

title: Abergwili


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Domesticus

Domesticus (Latin for belonging to the house), is found in the binomial or trinomial names of many species or subspecies of animals commonly found in or around the home. Examples include:
 * Domesticus (Roman Empire), a member of the Domestici, an elite guard unit of the late Roman Empire
 * Agroecius Domesticus, a man of uncertain date who died at the age of 33, and was buried in Vienne
 * Secretarius Domesticus, a title in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See
 * Silvanus domesticus, a mark of a field in Roman mythology

Bacteria

 * Olivibacter domesticus

Fungi

 * Coprinellus domesticus, the firerug inkcap.

Plantae

 * Malus domestica, the common apple

Animalia

 * Aedes domesticus, a mosquito species in the genus Aedes
 * Acheta domesticus, the house cricket
 * Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, the domestic duck
 * Anser anser domesticus, the common domestic goose
 * Anser cygnoides domesticus, the chinese goose
 * Bos domesticus, the cattle.
 * Canis domesticus, the domestic dog
 * Cryptotermes domesticus, the domestic drywood termite
 * Culex domesticus, a mosquito species in the genus Culex
 * Dolichopus domesticus, a species of long-legged fly
 * Equus caballus domesticus, the domestic horse
 * Gallus domesticus, the chicken
 * Lycalopex culpaeus domesticus, the Fuegian dog
 * Meleagris gallopavo domesticus, the domestic turkey
 * Mus musculus domesticus, the house mouse
 * Oryctolagus cuniculus domesticus, the domestic rabbit
 * Passer domesticus, the house sparrow
 * Phytoseius domesticus, Rather, 1985, a mite species in the genus Phytoseius and the family Phytoseiidae
 * Prodidomus domesticus, Lessert, 1938, a spider species in the genus Prodidomus and the family Prodidomidae found in Congo
 * Rattus rattus domesticus, a subspecies of rat
 * Sclerodermus domesticus, the hard-skinned cuckoo wasp
 * Sus domesticus, the domestic pig
 * Tydeus domesticus, a mite

 * Domesticus, the taxonomic term

title: Domesticus


text:
File talk:Synapse.png

Something wrong with this image - to me, at least, it appears solid black

 * No problem with the image on my machine - looks as it should. Three different browsers all show the same image. You might need a restart. Denni
 * I have restarted and I still just see solid black for this image. I have a Sony Vaio PCG-VX89 running Windows XP, home version 2002, browser is IE 6.0.  Dying to know what a synapse looks like.  NuclearWinner 01:17, 18 May 2004 (UTC)
 * As a Mac user, I could give you a lot of grief about what your problem really is. But I won't :) Does it show black on the two pages which access this image? (I know from experience that a black rectangle shows the image is not even downloading to your machine. Occasionally when traffic is high and the server is out to lunch, I have to wait several seconds before I see an image.) If you like, I can upload the image to my graphics page as a jpg and let you know it's there. Denni 05:11, 2004 May 18 (UTC)

Fixme
this image appears to be missing
 * okay, it's not missing, it just doesn't render in Dillo. I'm going to try to fix it in the GIMP
 * okay, I fixed it in the GIMP, but I don't know how to fix the thumbnail. it could by my ISP's cache mucking it up though. I give up.

title: File talk:Synapse.png


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James B. Pritchard

James Bennett Pritchard (October 4, 1909 – January 1, 1997) was an American archeologist whose work explicated the interrelationships of the religions of ancient Palestine, Canaan, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. Pritchard was honored with the Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement in 1983 from the Archaeological Institute of America.

He had a long association with the University of Pennsylvania, where he was professor of religious thought and the first curator of Biblical archaeology at the University Museum. Pritchard's strength lay in setting the Bible within its broader cultural contexts in the Ancient Near East. Pritchard was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1973. In 1977 Pritchard received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Theology at Uppsala University, Sweden.

Pritchard authored the book Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, which was released in three editions (1950, 1955, 1969), universally referred to as ANET, which provided reliable translations of texts that threw light on the context of Ancient Near Eastern history and the Hebrew Bible.

Early life and education
Pritchard was born in Louisville, Kentucky; he graduated from Asbury College in 1930, and earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania (1942).

Career
Pritchard's archaeological reputation began to be established by his excavations at a site called el-Jib (1956–1962). He identified it as Gibeon by inscriptions on the Al Jib jar handles. He cataloged these in Hebrew Inscriptions and Stamps From Gibeon (1959), which included the first in-depth discussion of concentric-circle incisions on jar handles associated with LMLK seals. He explained the significance of his finds for a general audience in Gibeon: Where the Sun Stood Still (1962).

He followed (1964–1967) with excavations at Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, on the east bank in the Jordan Valley, Jordan, which revealed itself as a meeting place for disparate cultures during the transition in the late Bronze Age to the use of iron, which he connected to the influence of the Sea Peoples ("New evidence on the role of the Sea Peoples in Canaan at the Beginning of the Iron Age"), in The Role of the Phoenicians, 1968. His work was cut short by the 1967 Six-Day War.

His third and last major excavation at Sarafand, Lebanon (1969–1974) revealed the ancient Phoenician city of Sarepta. It was the first time a major Phoenician city situated in the Phoenician heartland had been fully excavated. His first findings were published in 1975: he described pottery workshops and kilns, artifacts of daily use and religious figurines, a shrine, numerous inscriptions that included some in Ugaritic, and a seal with the city's name that made the identification secure. His article, "Sarepta in history and tradition" in Understanding the Sacred Texts (1972) displays his characteristic research. His book Recovering Sarepta, an Ancient Phoenician City (1978) was written for general readers.

Additional works included Archaeology and the Old Testament (1958), which traced the evolution of modern approaches to archaeology from the first excavations in the Holy Land; and Solomon and Sheba (1974), which separated fact from legend.

Prior to his tenured appointment to the University of Pennsylvania, Pritchard taught at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, 1942–1954, as the chair of Old Testament History and Exegesis. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an essay about the prophet Jeremiah for his course on the Old Testament. He also taught at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California (1954–1962).

An appreciation of James B. Pritchard appeared in the American Journal of Archaeology, Volume 102, Number 1 (January 1998, pages 175–177).

title: James B. Pritchard


text:
Mass comparison

Mass comparison is a method developed by Joseph Greenberg to determine the level of genetic relatedness between languages. It is now usually called multilateral comparison. Mass comparison has been referred to as a "methodological deception" and is rejected by most linguists, and its continued use is primarily restricted to fringe linguistics.

Some of the top-level relationships Greenberg named are now generally accepted thanks to analysis with other, more widely accepted linguistic techniques, though they had already been posited by others (e.g. Afro-Asiatic and Niger–Congo). Others are accepted by many though disputed by some prominent specialists (e.g. Nilo-Saharan), while others are almost universally rejected (e.g. Eurasiatic, Khoisan and Amerind).

Methodology
The idea of mass comparison method is that a group of languages is related when they show numerous resemblances in vocabulary, including pronouns, and morphemes, forming an interlocking pattern common to the group. Unlike the comparative method, mass comparison does not require any regular or systematic correspondences between the languages compared; all that is required is an impressionistic feeling of similarity. Greenberg does not establish a clear standard for determining relatedness; he does not set a standard for what he considers a "resemblance" or how many resemblances are needed to prove relationship.

Mass comparison is done by setting up a table of basic vocabulary items and their forms in the languages to be compared for resemblances. The table can also include common morphemes. The following table was used by to illustrate the technique. It shows the forms of six items of basic vocabulary in nine different languages, identified by letters.

According to Greenberg, basic relationships can be determined without any experience in the case of languages that are fairly closely related, though knowledge of probable paths of sound change acquired through typology allows one to go farther faster. For instance, the path p > f is extremely frequent, but the path f > p is much less so, enabling one to hypothesize that fi : pi and fik : pix are indeed related and go back to protoform *pi and *pik/x. Similarly, while knowledge that k > x is extremely frequent, x > k is much less so enables one to choose *pik over *pix. Thus, according to Greenberg (2005:318), phonological considerations come into play from the very beginning, even though mass comparison does not attempt to produce reconstructions of protolanguages as these belong to a later phase of study. The tables used in actual mass comparison involve much larger numbers of items and languages. The items included may be either lexical, such as 'hand', 'sky', and 'go', or morphological, such as PLURAL and MASCULINE. For Greenberg, the results achieved through mass comparison approached certainty: "The presence of fundamental vocabulary resemblances and resemblances in items with grammatical function, particularly if recurrent through a number of languages, is a sure indication of genetic relationship."

Relation to the comparative method
As a tool for identifying genetic relationships between languages, mass comparison is an alternative to the comparative method. Proponents of mass comparison, such as Greenberg, claim that the comparative method is unnecessary to identify genetic relationships; furthermore, they claim that it can only be used once relationships are identified using mass comparison, making mass comparison the "first step" in determining relationships (1957:44). This contrasts with mainstream comparative linguistics, which relies on the comparative method to aid in identifying genetic relationships; specifically, it involves comparing data from two or more languages. If sets of recurrent sound correspondences are found, the languages are most likely related; if further investigation confirms the potential relationship, reconstructed ancestral forms can be set up using the collated sound correspondences.

However, Greenberg did not entirely disavow the comparative method; he stated that "once we have a well-established stock I go about comparing and reconstructing just like anyone else, as can be seen in my various contributions to historical linguistics" (1990, quoted in Ruhlen 1994:285) and accused mainstream linguists of spreading "the strange and widely disseminated notion that I seek to replace the comparative method with a new and strange invention of my own" (2002:2). Earlier in his career, before he fully developed mass comparison, he even stated that his methodology did not "conflict in any fashion with the traditional comparative method" (1957:44). However, Greenberg sees the comparative method as playing no role in determining relationships, significantly reducing its importance compared to traditional methods of linguistic comparison. In effect, his approach of mass comparison sidelined the comparative method with a "new and strange invention of his own".

Reflecting the methodological empiricism also present in his typological work, he viewed facts as of greater weight than their interpretations, stating (1957:45):

 * [R]econstruction of an original sound system has the status of an explanatory theory to account for etymologies already strong on other grounds. Between the *vaida of Bopp and the *γwoidxe of Sturtevant lie more than a hundred years of the intensive development of Indo-European phonological reconstruction. What has remained constant has been the validity of the etymologic relationship among Sanskrit veda, Greek woida, Gothic wita, all meaning "I know", and many other unshakable etymologies both of root and of non-root morphemes recognized at the outset. And who will be bold enough to conjecture from what original the Indo-Europeanist one hundred years from now will derive these same forms?

Errors in application
The presence of frequent errors in Greenberg's data has been pointed out by linguists such as Lyle Campbell and Alexander Vovin, who see it as fatally undermining Greenberg's attempt to demonstrate the reliability of mass comparison. Campbell notes in his discussion of Greenberg's Amerind proposal that "nearly every specialist finds extensive distortions and inaccuracies in Greenberg's data"; for example, Willem Adelaar, a specialist in Andean languages, has stated that "the number of erroneous forms [in Greenberg's data] probably exceeds that of the correct forms". Some forms in Greenberg's data even appear to be attributed to the wrong language. Greenberg also neglects known sound changes that languages have undergone; once these are taken into account, many of the resemblances he points out vanish. Greenberg's data also contains errors of a more systematic sort: for instance, he groups unrelated languages together based on outdated classifications or because they have similar names.

Greenberg also arbitrarily deems certain portions of a word to be affixes when affixes of the requisite phonological shape are unknown to make words cohere better with his data. Conversely, Greenberg frequently employs affixed forms in his data, failing to recognise actual morphemic boundaries; when affixes are removed, the words often no longer bear any resemblance to his "Amerind" reconstructions. Greenberg has responded to this criticism by claiming that "the method of multilateral comparison is so powerful that it will give reliable results even with the poorest data. Incorrect material should merely have a randomizing effect”. This has hardly reassured critics of the method, who are far from convincing of the method's "power".

Borrowing
A prominent criticism of mass comparison is that it cannot distinguish borrowed forms from inherited ones, unlike comparative reconstruction, which is able to do so through regular sound correspondences. Undetected borrowings within Greenberg's data support this claim; for instance, he lists "cognates" of Uwa baxita "machete", even though it is a borrowing from Spanish. admits that "in particular and infrequent instances the question of borrowing may be doubtful" when using mass comparison, but claims that basic vocabulary is unlikely to be borrowed compared to cultural vocabulary, stating that "where a mass of resemblances is due to borrowing, they will tend to appear in cultural vocabulary and to cluster in certain semantic areas which reflect the cultural nature of the contact." Mainstream linguists accept this premise, but claim that it does not suffice for distinguishing borrowings from inherited vocabulary.

According to him, any type of linguistic item may be borrowed "on occasion", but "fundamental vocabulary is proof against mass borrowing". However, languages can and do borrow basic vocabulary. For instance, in the words of Campbell, Finnish has borrowed "from its Baltic and Germanic neighbors various terms for basic kinship and body parts, including 'mother', 'daughter', 'sister', 'tooth', 'navel', 'neck', 'thigh', and 'fur'". Greenberg continues by stating that "[D]erivational, inflectional, and pronominal morphemes and morph alternations are the least subject of all to borrowing"; he does incorporate morphological and pronominal correlations when performing mass comparison, but they are peripheral and few in number compared to his lexical comparisons. Greenberg himself acknowledges the peripheral role they play in his data by saying that they are "not really necessary". Furthermore, the correlations he lists are neither exclusive to or universally found within the languages which he compares. Greenberg is correct in pointing out that borrowing of pronouns or morphology is rare, but it cannot be ruled out without recourse to a method more sophisticated than mass comparison.

Greenberg continues by claiming that "[R]ecurrent sound correspondences" do not suffice to detect borrowing, since "where loans are numerous, they often show such correspondences". However, Greenberg misrepresents the practices of mainstream comparative linguistics here; few linguists advocate using sound correspondences to the exclusion of all other kinds of evidence. This additional evidence often helps separate borrowings from inherited vocabulary; for instance, Campbell mentions how "[c]ertain sorts of patterned grammatical evidence (that which resists explanation from borrowing, accident, or typology and universals) can be important testimony, independent of the issue of sound correspondences". It may not always be possible to separate borrowed and inherited material, but any method has its limits; in the vast majority of cases, the difference can discerned.

Chance resemblances
Cross-linguistically, chance resemblances between unrelated lexical items are common, due to the large amount of lexemes present across the world's languages; for instance, English and Spanish  are demonstrably unrelated, despite their similar phonological shape. This means that many of the resemblances found through mass comparison are likely to be coincidental. Greenberg worsens this issue by reconstructing a common ancestor when only a small proportion of the languages he compares actually display a match for any given lexical item, effectively allowing him to cherry-pick similar-looking lexical items from a wide array of languages. Though they are less susceptible to borrowing, pronouns and morphology also typically display a restricted subset of a language's phonemic inventory, making cross-linguistic chance resemblances more likely.

Greenberg also allows for a wide semantic latitude when comparing items; while widely accepted linguistic comparisons do allow for a degree of semantic latitude, what he allows for is incommensurably greater; for instance, one of his comparisons involves words for "night", "excrement", and "grass".

Sound symbolism and onomatopoeia
Proponents of mass comparison often neglect to exclude classes of words that are usually considered to be unreliable for proving linguistic relationships. For instance, Greenberg made no attempt to exclude onomatopoeic words from his data. Onomatopoeic words are often excluded from linguistic comparison, as similar-sounding onomatopoeic words can easily evolve in parallel. Though it is impossible to make a definite judgement as to whether a word is onomatopoeic, certain semantic fields, such as "blow" and "suck", show a cross-linguistic tendency to be onomatopoeic; making such a judgement may require deep analysis of a type that mass comparison makes difficult. Similarly, Greenberg neglected to exclude items affected by sound symbolism, which often distorts the original shape of lexical items, from his data. Finally, "nursery words", such as "mama" and "papa" lack evidential value in linguistic comparison, as they are usually thought to derive from the sounds infants make when beginning to acquire languages. Advocates of mass comparison often avoid taking sufficient care to exclude nursery words; one, Merritt Ruhlen has even attempted to downplay the problems inherent in using them in linguistic comparison. The fact that many of indigenous languages of the Americas have pronouns that begin with nasal stops, which Greenberg sees as evidence of common ancestry, may ultimately also be linked to early speech development; Algonquian specialist Ives Goddard notes that "A gesture equivalent to that used to articulate the sound n is the single most important voluntary muscular activity of a nursing infant".

Position of Greenberg's detractors
Since the development of comparative linguistics in the 19th century, a linguist who claims that two languages are related, whether or not there exists historical evidence, is expected to back up that claim by presenting general rules that describe the differences between their lexicons, morphologies, and grammars. The procedure is described in detail in the comparative method article.

For instance, one could demonstrate that Spanish is related to Italian by showing that many words of the former can be mapped to corresponding words of the latter by a relatively small set of replacement rules—such as the correspondence of initial es- and s-, final -os and -i, etc. Many similar correspondences exist between the grammars of the two languages. Since those systematic correspondences are extremely unlikely to be random coincidences, the most likely explanation by far is that the two languages have evolved from a single ancestral tongue (Latin, in this case).

All pre-historical language groupings that are widely accepted today—such as the Indo-European, Uralic, Algonquian, and Bantu families—have been established this way.

Response of Greenberg's defenders
The actual development of the comparative method was a more gradual process than Greenberg's detractors suppose. It has three decisive moments. The first was Rasmus Rask's observation in 1818 of a possible regular sound change in Germanic consonants. The second was Jacob Grimm's extension of this observation into a general principle (Grimm's law) in 1822. The third was Karl Verner's resolution of an irregularity in this sound change (Verner's law) in 1875. Only in 1861 did August Schleicher, for the first time, present systematic reconstructions of Indo-European proto-forms (Lehmann 1993:26). Schleicher, however, viewed these reconstructions as extremely tentative (1874:8). He never claimed that they proved the existence of the Indo-European family, which he accepted as a given from previous research—primarily that of Franz Bopp, his great predecessor in Indo-European studies.

Karl Brugmann, who succeeded Schleicher as the leading authority on Indo-European, and the other Neogrammarians of the late 19th century, distilled the work of these scholars into the famous (if often disputed) principle that "every sound change, insofar as it occurs automatically, takes place according to laws that admit of no exception" (Brugmann 1878).

The Neogrammarians did not, however, regard regular sound correspondences or comparative reconstructions as relevant to the proof of genetic relationship between languages. In fact, they made almost no statements on how languages are to be classified (Greenberg 2005:158). The only Neogrammarian to deal with this question was Berthold Delbrück, Brugmann's collaborator on the Grundriß der vergleichenden Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen (Greenberg 2005:158-159, 288). According to Delbrück (1904:121-122, quoted in Greenberg 2005:159), Bopp had claimed to prove the existence of Indo-European in the following way:

 * The proof was produced by juxtaposing words and forms of similar meanings. When one considers that in these languages the formation of the inflectional forms of the verb, noun and pronoun agrees in essentials and likewise that an extraordinary number of inflected words agree in their lexical parts, the assumption of chance agreement must appear absurd.

Furthermore, Delbrück took the position later enunciated by Greenberg on the priority of etymologies to sound laws (1884:47, quoted in Greenberg 2005:288): "obvious etymologies are the material from which sound laws are drawn."

The opinion that sound correspondences or, in another version of the opinion, reconstruction of a proto-language are necessary to show relationship between languages thus dates from the 20th, not the 19th century, and was never a position of the Neogrammarians. Indo-European was recognized by scholars such as William Jones (1786) and Franz Bopp (1816) long before the development of the comparative method.

Furthermore, Indo-European was not the first language family to be recognized by students of language. Semitic had been recognized by European scholars in the 17th century, Finno-Ugric in the 18th. Dravidian was recognized in the mid-19th century by Robert Caldwell (1856), well before the publication of Schleicher's comparative reconstructions.

Finally, the supposition that all of the language families generally accepted by linguists today have been established by the comparative method is untrue. Some families were accepted for decades before comparative reconstructions of them were put forward, for example Afro-Asiatic and Sino-Tibetan. Many languages are generally accepted as belonging to a language family even though no comparative reconstruction exists, often because the languages are only attested in fragmentary form, such as the Anatolian language Lydian (Greenberg 2005:161). Conversely, detailed comparative reconstructions exist for some language families which nonetheless remain controversial, such as Altaic. Detractors of Altaic point out that the data collected to show by comparativism the existence of the family is scarce, wrong and non sufficient. Keep in mind that regular phonological correspondences need thousands of lexicon lists to be prepared and compared before being established, and these lists are lacking for many of the proposed families identified through mass comparison. Furthermore, other specific problems affect "comparative" lists of both proposals, like the late attestation for Altaic languages, or the comparison of not certain proto-forms.

A continuation of earlier methods?
Greenberg claimed that he was at bottom merely continuing the simple but effective method of language classification that had resulted in the discovery of numerous language families prior to the elaboration of the comparative method (1955:1-2, 2005:75) and that had continued to do so thereafter, as in the classification of Hittite as Indo-European in 1917 (Greenberg 2005:160-161). This method consists in essentially two things: resemblances in basic vocabulary and resemblances in inflectional morphemes. If mass comparison differs from it in any obvious way, it would seem to be in the theoretization of an approach that had previously been applied in a relatively ad hoc manner and in the following additions:

 * The explicit preference for basic vocabulary over cultural vocabulary.
 * The explicit emphasis on comparison of multiple languages rather than bilateral comparisons.
 * The very large number of languages simultaneously compared (up to several hundred).
 * The introduction of typologically based paths of sound change.

The positions of Greenberg and his critics therefore appear to provide a starkly contrasted alternative:

 * According to Greenberg, the identification of sound correspondences and the reconstruction of protolanguages arise from genetic classification.
 * According to Greenberg's critics, genetic classification arises from the identification of sound correspondences or (others state) the reconstruction of protolanguages.

Time limits of the comparative method
Besides systematic changes, languages are also subject to random mutations (such as borrowings from other languages, irregular inflections, compounding, and abbreviation) that affect one word at a time, or small subsets of words. For example, Spanish perro (dog), which does not come from Latin, cannot be rule-mapped to its Italian equivalent cane (the Spanish word can is the Latin-derived equivalent but is much less used in everyday conversations, being reserved for more formal purposes). As those sporadic changes accumulate, they will increasingly obscure the systematic ones—just as enough dirt and scratches on a photograph will eventually make the face unrecognisable.

Toward a resolution of the conflict?
In spite of the apparently intractable nature of the conflict between Greenberg and his critics, a few linguists have begun to argue for its resolution. Edward Vajda, noted for his recent proposal of Dené–Yeniseian, attempts to stake out a position that is sympathetic to both Greenberg's approach and that of its critics, such as Lyle Campbell and Johanna Nichols.

title: Mass comparison


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Portimão

Portimão is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2022 was 60,879, in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão. In 1924, it was incorporated as a cidade and became known merely as Portimão. Historically a fishing and shipbuilding centre, it has nonetheless developed into a strong tourist centre oriented along its beaches and southern coast. The two largest population centers in the Algarve are Portimão and Faro.

Prehistory
The area was settled during the prehistoric epoch: the Cynetes, influenced by the Celts and Tartessos lived in the Algarve for many centuries. In the area of Alcalar there are several remnants of Neolithic funerary sites of which only one, Alcalar monument number seven, comprising a circular chamber composed of schist stone and long corridor, remains. Comparable to western European and Irish monuments, the funeral crypt, with two lateral ritual niches, was protected by a tumulus: a similar site exists in Monte Canelas.

Antiquity
The mouth of the Arade River proved an important natural shelter that soon became a small commercial port for the Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians. The Carthaginians founded two settlements nearby in the mid-6th centuryBC, known by their Roman names Portus Magonis and Portus Hannibalis ("Hannibal's Port"). The former was the nucleus of present-day Portimão.

Obvious vestiges of the Roman occupation are situated near Figueira, at Quinta da Abicada, in the confluence of two rivers, where the remains of various rooms were unearthed. Also, in the area of Coca Maravilhas was discovered a well-preserved period cistern, while along the Arade River there have been identified gold coins.

Middle Ages
In the 5th century, the Algarve was ruled by the Visigoths until the invasion of the Moors. It was during the Moorish occupation that the settlement changed to Burj Munt. The river and its ocean access to the ancient city of Shilb (Silves), then capital of the Arabian Algarve.

Kingdom
Along with Silves and Alvor, the small fishing centre in Portimão was reconquered in 1249 from the Arabs by Knights of the Order of Santiago and forcibly integrated into the fledgling Kingdom of Portugal, during the reign of Afonso III of Portugal. Due to the constant raids of pirates, the coastal area of Portimão was considered unsafe to live. Its geographic location created strong economic conditions to allow the region to prosper, eventually allowing Portimão to obtain the status of town in 1435. The inhabitants understood the necessity of constructing walls, in order to protect themselves from constant invasions. The construction of two forts, the Castle of São João (in Ferragudo) and the Fort of Santa Catarina (Portimão), protected the centre from attacks from pirates and privateers during this period.

In Portimão, a major part of the commerce was accomplished across the sea. The transport across the Arade River was done across a boat that docked at the Largo de Barca. Until bridge and road was constructed, 400 years later, it was the only form of crossing the river.

In 1453, King Afonso V of Portugal, under petition from several inhabitants in Portimão, authorized the founding of new settlement, which became the urbanized centre of Portimão (then named São Lourenço Barrosa). In 1476, Vila Nova de Portimão is donated by Afonso V of Portugal to his financial inspector, D. Gonçalo Vaz de Castelo Branco, remaining in the family until the 17th century.

The shipbuilding industry took on an important place in the city's development. These activities were registered in the royal documents that included authorization of Sebastian of Portugal (in 1536). The king visited in 1573, passing the night and assisting a solemn mass in the Convent of São Francisco.

In the port of Portimão local products, such as figs, olives, oil, wine and fish were regularly exported, while other products from the African and Brazilian colonies, such as slaves and sugar, were introduced into the Portuguese territory. But, by the 17th and 18th century, the rhythm of growth slowed considerably. As commerce decreased the inhabitants emigrated, a fact that accelerated after the 1755 earthquake, causing the destruction within the city. The main church was destroyed, while many of the small chapels were damaged. The city walls were severely damaged, not just by the earthquake but also the resulting tsunami. The Fort of Santa Catarina also suffered damage, but was reconstructed in 1792 and 1794, by the Count of Val de Reys.

Close to Portimão, Silves Castle was also destroyed in the 1775 earthquake, its Gothic portico with vegetative motifs was later rebuilt. This impressive structure offers a glimpse into the past and a vivid reminder of the region’s historical importance.

Twenty years after the earthquake, the Marquess of Pombal, wanted to make Portimão a bishopric, and in this evolution, he elevated the town to the status of city. Queen Maria I of Portugal vetoed these intentions. The civil statute was only issued in 1924, by the Marquess' illustrious son Manuel Teixeira Gomes, as Republican president.

Republic
In the 19th century, a fishing conserving industry reinvigorated the old city. Now renamed Portimão, the city turned into one of the more important fishing and packing centres in the Algarve, until the 20th century, when the 1980s recession finally caused these businesses to fold. At the end of the 20th century, visitors to the region began travelling to the beaches of Praia da Rocha or Praia da Santa Catarina. On 1 August 1910, the Praia da Rocha Casino was opened, symptom of the growing influx of tourists to the region, many aristocrats from the southern part of the country and Andalusia.

The place became populated by houses and chalets built for, or rented to, the numerous tourists. The first hotel constructed, the Hotel Viola, dated to the first part of the 20th century, and was expanded after 1932, when the space became too small to support the influx of travellers. In 1936, the Hotel Bela Vista was constructed as total tourists began to exceed a thousand people annually. It turned into a popular destination for sport fishing, and among popular nautical sports, jet skiing, sailing, windsurfing, diving and dolphin watching.

Geography
The municipality is located on the western southern coast of the Algarve, bordering the municipalities of Lagos, Lagoa, Monchique and Silves.

The geographical distribution of the altitude and relief of the municipality of Portimão generically follow the three types of territory present in the Barlavento: the coastal region, the Barrocal (a region between the coastal region and the mountains) and the mountains up north. Each one with their own geological, morphological and pedagogical characteristics.

The badlands of Ponta João D’Arens host several species of birds and the Ria de Alvor dunes allow the existence of a marshland and estuary, on which a great diversity of species depend, both fauna and flora, as well as the communities of fishermen and local shellfishers. Portimão is crossed by the Arade River.

Climate
Portimão has a hot-summer mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) with hot dry summers and mild wet winters moderated by the Atlantic Ocean. The lowest temperature the city has ever experienced was -2 C in January 1976. Along with other municipalities in the Algarve, Portimão is very sunny, averaging over 3,000 hours of sunshine a year. The average sea temperature is around 16 C in winter and 20 to 21 C in the summer.

Portimão receives approximately 300 to 350 mm of precipitation yearly. The wettest months are November, December, and January, while the driest months are June, July, and August. The city has an average of 8 to 11 rainy days per month during the wet season.

Human geography
Portimão is the most important urbanized city in the Barlavento Algarvio (the western Algarve), supporting a sizeable population with harbour and a small airfield (Portimão Airport) of its own with schedules flights to some domestic destinations by Aero VIP (the larger Faro International Airport is in the nearby district capital of Faro). Administratively, the municipality is divided into three civil parishes (freguesias):

 * Alvor (6,154 inhabitants, 2011)
 * Mexilhoeira Grande (4,029 inhabitants, 2011)
 * Portimão (45,431 inhabitants, 2011)

The municipality is primarily serviced by the A22 motorway (the Via do Infante), and the E.N.125 roadway that links it directly to the communities of Alvor (4 km), Mexilhoeira Grande (9 km) and Praia da Rocha (3 km).

Economy

The community, which was founded on the right margin of the Arade River, and oriented towards the sea, is inserted in a region whose geography and physical characteristics justify a seafaring economy. Its maritime economy allowed the development of industries oriented towards salination of fish, the open-water fishing industry, conservation and canning, the construction of ships and transport. Further, the Arade basin permitted rural commerce associated with cultivation of carob, fig, almonds and the saw-milling/forestry industry (including cork), among others.

In the last quarter of the 20th century, tourism became an accentuated economic factor in the regions growth, with the development of activities oriented towards the sea and development of seasonal infrastructures that permitted an influx of new money. By the beginning of the 21st century, 74% of the roughly 2,000 annual overnight stays originated from the United Kingdom, Portugal and Ireland. Seasonal concentration (44%) usually occurred around the high-summer months (July, August and September).

The Algarve in general is a major draw for tourists. In 2018, the region's income from tourism was over a billion euros; the number of visitors totaled 4.2 million. The region's tourism contributed €1.08 billion to the economy in that year.

Prehistoric

 * Megalithic Monuments of Alcalar (Monumentos de Alcalar/Conjunto Pré-histórico de Alcalar)

Civic

 * Roman ruins of Quinta da Abicada (Estação Romana da Quinta da Abicada)

Igreja Matriz de Portimão
The Igreja Matriz de Portimão (Portimão’s Main Church) from the 17th century is located on the highest point in the city, inside the former walls. The late-Gothic portal is inspired by the most important monument of the time, The Monastery of Batalha. It has undergone several renovations over the years.

Forte de Santa Catarina
The Fort of Santa Catarina is a historic fort located on the cliffs overlooking Praia da Rocha. The fort was built in the 17th century to protect the city from pirate attacks. The fortress was built on the site where a small chapel dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria already existed. Inside the fortifications, the original Gothic portal of this chapel has been preserved. Today, the fort is a popular tourist attraction that offers views of the beach and the sea. The fort also houses a small museum with exhibits on the history of the fort and the city.

Portimão Museum
Portimão Museum is housed in a former sardine canning factory and features exhibits on the local fishing industry, archaeology, and ethnography. The museum also has a rooftop terrace with views of the city and the river.

Marina de Portimão
Located in the safest harbour of the country, at the arade river estuary, with over 25-hectares, Marina de Portimão is framed by the historical forts of Santa Catarina and São João. The water in the marina is deep, so the vessels can come and go at any time of the tide. Marina de Portimão is located within a condominium that includes its beach, restaurants, shops, bars and swimming-pool with views of the sea.

Education
Besides kindergartens, and primary and secondary education schools with classes from grade 1 to grade 12, Portimão has a branch of the state-run University of Algarve awarding degrees in business management and tourism as well as technical specialization courses in accountancy and post-graduation in real estate appraisal & management, and also a private institution of higher education awarding degrees in fields ranging from law to data science (Instituto Superior Manuel Teixeira Gomes).

Sports
Portimão is known for its sporting events, mostly water sports, including surfing and kitesurfing; motorsport; beach soccer; and the professional football team Portimonense S.C.

Team sports
Portimonense S.C. is the main local sports club, with competitive teams in such sports such as basketball, handball, futsal, esports and association football. It is best known for its professional association football team which plays at the Estádio Municipal de Portimão and has competed in the main professional leagues of the Portuguese football league system. In the summer, a beach soccer tournament called the Mundialito de Futebol de Praia ('Little World Cup') is held.

Sailing
Being located on the South coast of Portugal, Portimão is well known in the sailing world for being an ideal location for sailing on the Atlantic Ocean, boasting much calmer seas and weather conditions than the Western coastline.

Portimão is the host venue for many prestigious sailing events including the annual Portimão, Portugal Match Cup event which is a part of the World Match Racing Tour. The event draws the world's best sailing teams to Portimão. The identical supplied (SM-40) boats are raced two at a time. Points accrued count towards the World Match Race Tour and a place in the final event of the season, with the overall winner taking the title ISAF World Match Racing Tour Champion. Match racing is an ideal sport for spectators in Portimão.

Powerboating
The Portimão coastline has also been host to the sport of powerboating. The Portuguese Grand Prix of the Sea run by Powerboat P1 as part of its international championship is also held in Portimão.

Motorsport
In the hills near Portimão stands the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. Finished in October 2008, it is a race and test circuit officially recognised for the highest categories both for cars and motorcycles. MotoGP races, Superbike races, Le Mans Series races and F1 tests are scheduled. The Lisbon to Dakar Rally passed through here.

The 2020 Portuguese Formula One Grand Prix took place over 66 laps of the 4.684-kilometer Autodromo Internacional do Algarve on Sunday, October 25, and was won by Lewis Hamilton. A month later the 2020 MotoGP season finale also took place at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve on Sunday, 22 November.

Rhythmic gymnastics
There is also an annual grand prix of rhythmic gymnastics, with an individual all-round competition, a team all-round competition, and finals by apparatus and by group at senior and junior levels.

Scuba diving
The Ocean Revival Project saw 4 Portuguese Navy Warships deliberately sunk to form the largest single artificial reef structure in the world.

Notable people

 * David Cristina (born 1978), humorist, radio and television personality, and investment consultant
 * Manuel Teixeira Gomes (1860–1941), politician and writer, the seventh President of Portugal from 1923 to 1925
 * Margarida Tengarrinha (born 1928), teacher, writer, artist, illustrator and political activist
 * António Calvário (born 1938), singer and actor

Sport

 * Diamantino Costa (born 1948), retired footballer with 253 club caps
 * António Pacheco (born 1966), professional footballer with 6 national team caps
 * twins João Vieira and Sérgio Vieira (born 1976), racewalkers
 * Hélio Pinto (born 1984), professional footballer with over 350 club caps
 * Rúben Fernandes (born 1986), professional footballer with over 420 club caps
 * João Moutinho (born 1986), professional footballer with over 530 club caps, plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers
 * Gilberto Duarte (born 1990), handball player
 * Pedro Martins (born 1990), badminton player

Town twinning
The following places are sister cities to Portimão:

 * Maia, Portugal
 * Vila Real, Portugal
 * 🇹🇷 Bodrum, Turkey

title: Portimão


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Giuseppe Vitali

Giuseppe Vitali (26 August 1875 – 29 February 1932) was an Italian mathematician who worked in several branches of mathematical analysis. He gives his name to several entities in mathematics, most notably the Vitali set with which he was the first to give an example of a non-measurable subset of real numbers.

Biography
Giuseppe Vitali was the eldest of five children. His father, Domenico Vitali, worked for a railway company in Ravenna while his mother, Zenobia Casadio, was able to stay at home and look after her children.

He completed his elementary education in Ravenna in 1886, and then spent three years at the Ginnasio Comunale in Ravenna where his performance in the final examinations of 1889 was average.

He continued his secondary education in Ravenna at the Dante Alighieri High School. There his mathematics teacher was Giuseppe Nonni who quickly realised the young Giuseppe had great potential. He wrote to Giuseppe's father, in a letter dated 28 June 1895, asking that he allow his son to pursue further studies in mathematics.

He became a student of the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa and graduated to the University of Pisa in 1899. He spent two years as assistant before leaving the academic world. From 1901 to 1922 he taught in secondary schools, first in Sassari, then Voghera and then from 1904 at the Classical High School Christopher Columbus in Genoa. In those years he was involved in politics as a member of the Italian Socialist Party until it was forcibly disbanded by the fascists in 1922. His pursuit of mathematical analysis then led him to almost total social isolation. In 1923 he won a position as professor of calculus at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. He also taught at the Universities of Padua (1924 to 1925) and Bologna (from 1930). He was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians held in Bologna in September 1928, giving the lecture Rapporti inattesi su alcuni rami della matematica (Unexpected relationships of some branches of mathematics).

From 1926 Vitali developed a serious illness and suffered a paralysed arm, meaning he could no longer write. Despite this about half his research papers were written in the last four years of his life.

On 29 February 1932 he delivered a lecture at the University of Bologna and was walking in conversation with fellow mathematician Ettore Bortolotti when he collapsed and died in the street. He was aged 56.

Vitali published a remarkable volume of mathematics over his career with his most significant output taking place in the first eight years of the twentieth century.

He was honoured with election to the Academy of Sciences of Turin in 1928, to the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in 1930, and to the Academy of Bologna in 1931.

Mathematical contributions
In 1905 Vitali was the first to give an example of a non-measurable subset of real numbers, see Vitali set. His covering theorem is a fundamental result in measure theory. He also proved several theorems concerning convergence of sequences of measurable and holomorphic functions. The Vitali convergence theorem generalizes Lebesgue's dominated convergence theorem. Another theorem bearing his name gives a sufficient condition for the uniform convergence of a sequence of holomorphic functions on an open domain. This result has been generalized to normal families of meromorphic functions, holomorphic functions of several complex variables, and so on.

In the last part of his life, he also worked on absolute differential calculus and on the geometry of Hilbert spaces.

Selected works
A selection of the mathematical papers of Giuseppe Vitali, precisely 35 out of 83 total, some lecture notes from his university courses, a book on the geometry of Hilbert spaces and 100 letters out of 300 total of his correspondence with many other mathematicians of his time are collected in the book.
 * . (Title translation) "On groups of points and functions of real variables" is the paper containing the first proof of Vitali covering theorem.

Biographical and general references

 * . The "Commemoration of Giuseppe Vitali" (title translation) by one of his colleagues at the University of Padua. Available at Numdam.
 * . "Italian mathematicians of the first century of the unitary state" is a collection of biographical notes on Italian mathematicians who worked in Italy from 1861 up to 1960. Its content is available from the website of the Società Italiana di Storia delle Matematiche.
 * F Gabici and F Toscano, Scienziati di Romagna(Alpha Test, 2007). ISBN 8851800804
 * M T Borgato, Giuseppe Vitali: Real and Complex Analysis and Differential Geometry, in Mathematicians in Bologna 1861-1960 (Springer, New York, 2012), 31-55. ISBN 978-3-0348-0227-7
 * M T Borgato and A V Ferreira, Giuseppe Vitali: mathematical research and academic activity after 1918 (Italian), Italian mathematics between the two world wars (Pitagora, Bologna, 1987), 43-58.
 * L Pepe, Giuseppe Vitali e l'analisi reale, Rendiconti del Seminario matematico e fisico di Milano 54(1984), 187-201.
 * L Pepe, Giuseppe Vitali and the didactics of mathematics (Italian), Archimede 35 (4) (1983), 163-176.
 * L Pepe, Una biografia di Giuseppe Vitali, in L Pepe (ed.), G Vitali, Opere sull'analisi reale e complessa, carteggio (Cremonese, Bologna, 1984), 1-24.
 * S Pincherle, Giuseppe Vitali, Bollettino dell'Unione matematica italiana 11 (1932), 125-126.
 * C S Roero and M Guillemot, Tullio Viola and his Maestri in Bologna: Giuseppe Vitali, Leonida Tonelli and Beppo Levi, in Mathematicians in Bologna 1861-1960 (Springer, New York, 2012), 383-413.
 * A Tonolo, Giuseppe Vitali (Italian), Archimede 11 (1959), 105-110.
 * A. Vaz Ferreira Giuseppe Vitali and the mathematical research at Bologna, Geometry and complex variables, Lecture Notes in Pure and Appl. Math. 132 (Dekker, New York, 1991), 375-395.
 * T Viola, Ricordo di Giuseppe Vitali a 50 anni dalla sua scomparsa, in Atti del Convegno La Storia delle Matematiche in Italia, Cagliari 1982 (Monograf, Bologna, 1984), 535-544

title: Giuseppe Vitali


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Yamen

A yamen (ya-men; ; Manchu: yamun) was the administrative office or residence of a local bureaucrat or mandarin in imperial China, Korea, and Vietnam. A yamen can also be any governmental office or body headed by a mandarin, at any level of government: the offices of one of the Six Ministries is a yamen, but so is a prefectural magistracy. The term has been widely used in China for centuries, but appeared in English during the Qing dynasty.

Overview
Within a local yamen, the bureaucrat administered the government business of the town or region. Typical responsibilities of the bureaucrat includes local finance, capital works, judging of civil and criminal cases, and issuing decrees and policies.

Typically, the bureaucrat and his immediate family would live in a residence attached to the yamen. This was especially so during the Qing dynasty, when imperial law forbade a person from taking government office in his native province.

Yamens varied greatly in size depending on the level of government they administered, and the seniority of the bureaucrat's office. However, a yamen at a local level typically had similar features: a front gate, a courtyard and a hall (typically serving as a court of law); offices, prison cells and store rooms; and residences for the bureaucrat, his family and his staff. At the provincial level and above, specialisation among officials occurred to a greater extent. For example, the three chief officials of a province controlled the legislative and executive, the judicial, and the military affairs of the province or region. Their yamen would accordingly be specialised according to the functions of the office. The great yamens of the central government, located in the capital, are more exclusively office complexes.

General
Yamen runner is an occupation which served for yamen, the law enforcement department in ancient China. They worked as the lowest class in the government department which made them a bridge between the common people and the government.

Classification
There were three kinds of yamen runner, zao, zhuang , kuai. But in fact, there were more different kinds in specific. Zao usually served around the court, Zhuang provided physical labor and Kuai were in charge of inspection, investigation, and arrest.

Zao
Zao acted as the officials' bodyguards. They usually followed behind the officials. During the trial, they would stand on both sides of the court to maintain order. They also performed the duties of escorting the prisoner, questioning the suspect and applying minor punishment. They had their own black uniform.

Zhuang
Zhuang were comparable to modern security guards. Their main job was to guard the critical areas such as castle gates, the court, prison, and warehouse. They also patrolled on the streets. Most of them were picked from among strong civilians.

Kuai
Kuais' duties included summoning defendants and witnesses to the court. They were usually asked to do the trips for the court, traveling long distances if necessary. During the tax season, they would be sent to remote areas to collect for the government. Therefore, Kuai had more contact with civilians than Zao and Zhuang. They didn't have their own uniform, but were required to hang a card on the waist belt to identify themselves.

Social status
In the Ming Dynasty, due to their duties, yamen runners were considered as a debased class (jianmin, ), which is even lower than good commoners (liangmin, ) such as farmers. It is the lowest stratum in society.

Income
The salary provided by the court for the yamen runner was low compared to other jobs. The average daily salary was enough for only one meal.

While the salary was not enough to live or raise a family on, working for the law enforcement department gave yamen runners some power that could be taken advantage of. The runners would charge a small fee from the litigants to cover the spendings. The prefects and magistrates acquiesced such a charging system as long as the amount is in a reasonable range. The Kuai, however, couldn't contact the litigants in the lawsuit cases. They would ask for money from the other debased classes like butchers and prostitutes. Such unwritten rule is called dirty regulation. Therefore, the actual income of the Kuai depended on their place of work; Kuai in large cities could easily collect a lot of money and Kuai in rural areas could be as poor as the homeless.

Such corruption and extortion were rampant during the reign of Xuande Emperor. The prefects and magistrates just turn a deaf ear on their clerks blackmailing the lower classes. Xuande Emperor described them "licentious, greedy, and insatiably exploitative, [or] degenerate and worthless."

Path into the occupation
Since the social status of yamen runners was low and the income was unstable (usually low), yamen runners were mostly formed by vagrants, especially among Kuai. They were often strong but uneducated.

Paper Yamen Runner
A paper yamen runner is a piece of paper on which a yamen runner was drawn, and upon which is recorded an accusation or tax liability, as well as a demand for the recipient to appear in court or pay the tax. The prefects and magistrates issued this to the litigants or tax defaulters in the hope that they would voluntarily appear in court or pay tax in arrears. It's unclear when the paper yamen runner was created, but literature about it can be found during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Because it was tempting for yamen runners to take unlawful advantage of their position, magistrates would occasionally allow plaintiffs to take litigants to the court first. If a plaintiff failed to do so, the magistrate would issue a paper yamen runner. Only if both methods failed would an actual yamen runner be sent to arrest the litigant. In this way, fewer yamen runners were required. Such practices were typically employed only for mild crimes, however. For serious crimes such as murder, theft, gambling, and fights, the magistrate would still send yamen runners directly for the arrest.

After 1911
The institution of the yamen fell victim to the Wuchang Uprising and the Xinhai Revolution, after which warlords often became the ultimate authorities, in spite of Sun Yat-sen's best efforts to establish a Republic of China covering all of China. Sun Yat-sen tried to establish a form of self-government, or home rule, on a regional (or local) basis, but he found that he needed bureaucracy to run a country as big as China. Hence, new bureaucratic offices arose, thus replicating the functions of the Imperial yamens in many ways.

The term yamen is still used in colloquial Chinese today, however, to denote government offices. It sometimes carries negative connotations of an arrogant or inefficient bureaucracy.

Notable yamens

 * The Zongli Yamen acted as an office of foreign affairs in the late Qing dynasty.
 * The yamen at Kowloon Walled City, Hong Kong is an important historical site.
 * The Presidential Palace (Nanjing) was modified from the "yamen" of the Viceroy of Liangjiang.
 * The yamen of Neixiang County, in Henan, is the best preserved county-level yamen in mainland China today.
 * The yamens of the six imperial Ministries of the Qing dynasty, in Beijing, were located within what is now Tiananmen Square, and were demolished in stages in the early to mid 20th century.
 * The Qing Dynasty Taiwan Provincial Administration Hall in Taipei is the sole surviving Qing Dynasty government building in Taiwan.

title: Yamen